Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 afp With Indians celebrating Diwali this week, scientists fear that ban on the sale of firecrackers and other emergency pollution control measures adopted may not be sufficient to curb the air pollution. Read more Here are more top news of the day: 1) US Says Myanmar Army, Not Suu Kyi, Responsible For Rohingya Refugee Crisis Reuters The United States has said that it holds Myanmar Army accountable for the Rohingya refugee crisis. It accused the military leadership responsible, drawing a distinction with Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Read more 2) A Diwali Gift: Sushma Swaraj Grants Medical Visa To Pakistani Boy For Treatment In India AFP Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, continuing her humanitarian gesture, has directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue a medical visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. Read more 3) In A First, Indian Air Force To Land 20 Fighter Jets On Agra-Lucknow Expressway afp/representational image Traffic movement on a stretch of Agra-Lucknow expressway will be halted for five days from October 20-24 in the wake of the Indian Air Force's landing and take-off exercise on the stretch. Read more 4) Six Mumbai Properties Owned By Underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim To Be Auctioned On 14 November BCCL/ File The Union finance ministry has decided to auction Hotel Raounaq Afroz, also known as Delhi Zaika which is owned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim along with five other properties. Read more 5) Amid Controversy Picturesque Taj Mahal Gets It Due, Finds Place In UP Govts 2018 Calendar reuters Taj Mahal has finally found a place of pride in the 2018 calendar brought out by the Uttar Pradesh government. Read more Farmers from Nindar village in Jaipur, Rajasthan, went on a unique strike against land acquisition to get their plight heard. The farmers buried their bodies till neck in pits protesting the land acquisition spree by the Jaipur Development Authority for housing projects. Around 21 farmers participated in the protest which reached its 14th day on Gandhi Jayanti. patrika.com The farmers performing 'Samadhi Satyagraha' said, "If the government takes our land, they will take away our lives." The JDA in 2011 had allegedly acquired 1300 acres of land and since then the farmers have been protesting against it in various ways. The images of helpless Tamil Nadu farmers eating rats and human faeces might have drawn the attention of people towards their cries, but it seems that the government have miserably failed to address their issue even after two months of continuous protest in New Delhi. The farmers are demanding their loan waiver from the government because they have suffered a lot of losses due to drought in the state. The farmers who were in the national capital had held a 41-day-long sit in after which the government agreed to consider their demands. AFP/ File The farmers say that they were forced to come back to Delhi after the government did not do anything about them. But just like their first demonstration in Delhi, the government is yet to reach out to them or settle the issue. Bobins Abraham/Indiatimes The farmers, who are known to be using unique and innovative protests like, displaying skulls of their loved ones, eating dead rats and getting flogged publicly have done the same this time around too. Farmers leader Ayyakannu said on Monday they ate human faeces and on Tuesday they consumed human flesh. But nothing seemed to get the attention of the Indian Prime Minister. So, on Wednesday they sought some divine intervention. Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes One of the protesters, dressed as Lord Krishna 'appeared' out of a yahja and told a person wearing a mask with PM Modi's face to solve the issue of the farmers or he will kill him the way he killed his uncle Kamsa. As bizarre as it sounds farmers leader, Ayyakannu, told Indiatimes that Narendra Modi as the PM has failed in his duty to address the issues of the farmers. Now with Lord Krishna's instruction, they hope PM Modi will listen to them. The farmers said they will continue their demonstration until their demands are met or they will die in Delhi. Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes "PM Modi don't to see or hear us. He doesn't want to resolve our grievances, that is why we are sitting here. We will be here till our death or till our problems are solved. Only then we will go back to Tamil Nadu," Ayyakannu said. He also attacked the Tamil Nadu government for not doing anything to help the farmers. "Since the death of Jayalalithaa there is no political leadership in Tamil Nadu. The leaders are fighting for posts and they have no time for the farmers," Ayyakannu said. Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes He said that despite the recent rains in Tamil Nadu, most of the places are still facing water shortages as ground water has already dried up. With Karnataka refusing to share the Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, the farmers are pitching their hopes on the government's plan to interlink rivers across the country. "Water resources minister Uma Bharati has submitted a feasibility report on interlinking of rivers. But the Prime Minister has not taken any steps on this despite his promise during the elections. Now he is treating farmers as slaves," Ayyakannu said. The United States has said that it holds Myanmar Army accountable for the Rohingya refugee crisis. It accused the military leadership responsible, drawing a distinction with Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Myanmar's recent return to elected rule has given it a hybrid government in which the military still has wide powers in the security domain and in Rakhine state, where the United Nations has reported ethnic cleansing. Reuters "We're extraordinarily concerned by what is happening with Rohingya in Burma," Tillerson said. "I've been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi the leader of the civilian part of the government, as you know this is a power-sharing government. "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening," he said, warning the world won't stand and "be witness to the atrocities that have been reported." AFP In the last seven weeks, more than half a million Rohingya have fled Rakhine and crossed into Bangladesh. Their stories have shocked the world globe, with accounts of Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist mobs murdering and raping civilians before torching their villages to the ground. Channel 4 has been accused of racial stereotyping after producer gave Katie Freeman, 44, a prosthetic nose, fake teeth and darkened skin to act in a social experiment documentary on Muslims. YouTube Screenshot According to reports, Freeman went undercover as a British Pakistani Muslim for the programme My Week as a Muslim. The show documents her experiences in Manchester after a terror attack in the city's arena that killed 22 people. In a trailer for the programme, many slammed the way she was transformed, which was an indirect hit on the community's sentiments. In the documentary, Katie Freeman is at the receiving end of racial abuse for her attire. She also reiterates the fact that a lot of people look at Muslims and instantly think that "they might blow something up. Fiyaz Mughal, director and founder of interfaith and anti-extremist organisation Faith Matters, told HuffPost UK, "If youre trying to create a documentary about people changing opinion and feeling more connected, then why are you visibly doing something that reinforces difference? People on social media to slammed Ms Freeman's disguise. One wrote: "What the f*** is this? Channel 4 has totally missed the mark here. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to put prosthetics on somebody to make them a caricature of people of a different race (as if being white and Muslim are exclusive anyway)? On primetime TV in 2017? Madness." On Wednesday, American president Donald Trump celebrated Diwali in the Oval Office of the White House. Several senior Indian-American members of the administration like Nikki Haley and Seema Verma were present for the occasion. Also read: Ayodhya Gets Ready To Set World Record By Lighting Two Lakh Diyas On Diwali "Today, I was deeply honoured to be joined by so many administration officials and leaders of the Indian-American community - to celebrate Diwali - the Hindu Festival of Lights," Trump said. He further added, "As we do so, we especially remember the people of India, the home of the Hindu faith, who have built the world's largest democracy. I greatly value my very strong relationship with Prime Minister Modi." Also read: Once Again, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau Celebrates Diwali With The Indian Community In Ottawa Donald J.Trump/Facebook He lit diyas and hailed the contributions of the Indian-American community in America. He said, "You have made extraordinary contributions to art, science, medicine, business and education. America is especially thankful for its many Indian-American citizens who serve bravely in our armed forces and as first responders in communities throughout our great land." Also read: Sarai Jattan Village In Punjab To Celebrate Eco-Friendly Diwali, Says No To Crackers, Will Be Planting Saplings Last year, Trump - who was a Republican presidential nominee at the time - had addressed the Indian-American community in New Jersey where he also lit the traditional diya. Two airport security officers have been fired and two others suspended for the dragging fiasco that took place aboard United Airlines Flight 3411. Youtube Screenshot On April 9, a viral footage showed Dr Dao being dragged down the aisle of a plane from Chicago OHare airport to Louisville, Kentucky, to make space for four crew members. The incident left Dr Dao with a broken nose and tooth, and a head concussion. According to reports, besides the two officers who were fired, two others received short-term suspensions and one of them subsequently resigned. The decision was taken considering the disciplinary action recommended by Inspector General Joe Ferguson, included in Fergusons quarterly report, states Chicago Sun-Times. The report read, "The ASOs use of excessive force caused the passenger to hit his face on an armrest, resulting in the passenger sustaining a concussion, a broken nose and the loss of teeth." The second officer was accused of making misleading statements in two reports. The third officer was accused of making material omissions in a report regarding the first officers forceful removal of Dao. Dao's attorney, Thomas Demetrio told the AP "In firing him, perhaps it will send a clear message to police and airline personnel all over the world that unnecessary violence is not the way to handle passenger matters." It's 2017 and not one soul remotely believes in the concept of "Prince charming". But, this story may make you reconsider your beliefs. African-American Ariana Austin met her real-life prince charming, the Prince of Ethiopia, Joel Makonnen at a nightclub 12 years ago. Pics by @dotunayodeji of the stunning bride @chezariana He makes my signage look pretty good too #AriJo #royalwedding A post shared by Brooke Kao (@brookekao) on Oct 18, 2017 at 4:26am PDT As they describe it on their wedding website it's when "Old world aristocracy met new world charm. From the streets of Adams Morgan to boulevards in Paris, from Howard to Harvard, holidays in Nice and Addis, we talked history and culture and law. Weve always believed that when it came to our love it was written." Joel aka Prince Yoel was 23 years old when he saw a 22-year-old Ariana. What a beautiful moment! That royal kiss at the exit was priceless!! Today we are shooting the wedding of Prince Joel and his Queen Ariana @chezariana @jdmakonnen_jd Wedding Planner @favoredbyyodit #Arijo #currentsituation #habeshabrides A post shared by DC Based Wedding Photographer (@dotunayodeji) on Sep 9, 2017 at 1:54pm PDT I think we both had this feeling that this was our destiny, Ms Austin told New York Times. But I felt like I had things that I had to do. The two got hitched on September 9 in a royal wedding that has taken more than a decade to plan and organise! It was a traditional Ethiopian wedding and Ariana had converted her religion, days before the official ceremony. Joel Makonnen was born in Rome while his parents, Prince David Makonnen and Princess Adey Imru Makonnen, were living in exile from Ethiopia. He grew up in Switzerland and his father died in 1989, according to New York Times. H.I.H. Prince & Princess Makonnen Haile Selassie #blacklove #ethiopianwedding #arijo A post shared by Ausettua (@ausettua) on Sep 9, 2017 at 11:41am PDT I think I said, Lets take this journey together, Mr Makonnen told NYT. When I proposed she was like, Its about time. Now do you believe that prince charmings still exist? Sentiment Speaks: Is 4300SPX Our Next Major Target? ElliottWaveTrader.net - 13 minutes ago As long as cited support holds on the next pullback, I am looking up to 4300SPX. Triple Digit Rally in Cotton Futures Barchart - 1 hour ago Triple Digit Rally in Cotton Futures Midday cotton prices are trading with gains of as much as 366 points so far. That has the board back up from the wea start to the week. USDAs weekly Crop Progress... CTZ22 : 89.28 (+4.69%) CTH23 : 87.58 (+4.74%) CTK23 : 86.33 (+4.64%) Hogs Bouncing through Tuesday Barchart - 1 hour ago Front month lean hog futures are trading $0.67 to $1.52 through midday. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price for Tuesday morning was $0.91 stronger to $84.45. The CME Lean Hog Index was $88.63 on 11/10,... HEZ22 : 85.225 (+0.41%) HEJ23 : 95.475 (+1.17%) KMZ22 : 95.900 (+0.24%) Cattle Market Mixed on Tuesday Barchart - 1 hour ago So far the cattle market is back up by 10 cents to $1.20. Feeders are down by $0.72 to $1.40 at midday. USDA mentioned the weeks bulk price was mostly $150 in the South and $153 in the North. USDAs... LEZ22 : 151.200 (-0.25%) LEG23 : 152.900 (+0.23%) LEJ23 : 156.575 (+0.10%) GFX22 : 175.675 (-0.72%) GFF23 : 176.575 (-1.60%) Red Tuesday for Wheat Futures Barchart - 1 hour ago Midday wheat prices are down by 8 3/4 to 9 cents in Chicago. HRW futures are down 3 to 6 cents so far. MGE HRS prices are working 1 1/2 to 3 3/4 cents. USDAs weekly Crop Progress data had 96% of the... ZWZ22 : 840-2 (+2.66%) ZWH23 : 860-0 (+2.59%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7399 (+2.96%) KEZ22 : 974-2 (+1.88%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.3257 (+1.97%) MWZ22 : 981-2 (+1.90%) Gains in Soybean Market Barchart - 1 hour ago So far the soy futures market is up 5 1/2 to 6 cents so far. Meal futures are trading $0.50 to $1.90 in the black. BO futures are trading 12 to 20 points higher. USDA announced a private export sale of... ZSF23 : 1461-4 (+1.46%) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.3277 (+1.50%) ZSH23 : 1466-0 (+1.47%) ZSK23 : 1472-2 (+1.46%) Corn In Black at Midday Barchart - 1 hour ago Midday corn prices are fractionally to 2 1/4 cents in the black so far for Tuesday. The USDA announced a private corn sale of 230,185 MT to Mexico this morning. Barchart announced their corn production... ZCZ22 : 672-2 (+2.28%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7269 (+2.44%) ZCH23 : 675-0 (+2.39%) ZCK23 : 674-2 (+2.39%) Albania: Wrong for Britain to blame Tirana on migrants AP - 1 hour ago Albanias prime minister says Britain is carrying out a calculated attack on his country by blaming it for the increased number of immigrants crossing the English Channel illegally $SPX : 3,970.02 (+0.32%) $DOWI : 33,345.82 (-0.57%) $IUXX : 11,810.13 (+0.93%) Pictured at the award presentation in Cobh Pat Lemasney, Southern; Eoghan Dinan, Irish Examiner Executive Production Editor; Ann-Marie OSullivan, AM OSullivan PR; Dominic Daly, Nominator; Captain Michael McCarthy, Cork Person of the Month; John Lehane, Lexus Cork; Manus OCallaghan, Awards Organiser. Pic by Tony OConnell Photography. He was presented with the monthly award to mark his work in increasing cruise liner traffic to Cork, which will benefit the economy of the whole Cork region this year and the years ahead. Throughout his 46-year career, Michael has built up a vast knowledge of the port and marine sector in a variety of roles including Seagoing Master, Deputy Harbour Master and Terminals Manager. His current role with Port of Cork involves managing, developing and integrating Corporate and Strategic policy for the Port. As Commercial Manager, Captain Michael McCarthy and his team have been instrumental in developing a strategic plan to expand the Ports cruise liner trade, which next year will surpass the 100 arrival mark for cruise ships carrying in excess of 200,000 passengers and crew. With 69 cruise liners due to visit Cork this year, the port authorities estimate that more than 150,000 visitors will disembark in Cobh, Cork city and Ringaskiddy ports. Manus OCallaghan, Organiser of the Cork Person of the Year Awards applauded Michael's contribution. She said: Michaels 46-year contribution to the marine sector, and particularly his role with Port of Cork and increasing Cruise-Liner traffic to Cork, makes him a worthy Cork Person of the Month. "He has been very instrumental in developing that lucrative cruise liner business, both here in Ireland and throughout Europe, and his positive contribution to the business and tourism success of Cork and the wider region is extremely significant." Captain Michael McCarthy is a Class 1 Master Mariner and holds a postgraduate diploma (Hons) in Management and Marketing from UCC. He is Past President of the Irish Institute of Master Mariners, a Board Member of IMERC, and is an industry representative of the Industrial Liaison Group to the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI). He was a Director/Marine Surveyor with Sea Service, Marine Cargo Insurance Surveyors and served 14 years at sea with Irish Shipping, from Cadet to Master. Michaels shore experience is supplemented by a number of company Directorships including Board Membership of Bantry Port Company and the Sirius Arts Centre, and Chairman of Cobh Maritime Development Company. At a European level, Michael was responsible for a number of EU projects such as Motorways of the Seas and Integrated Freight Network Proposals, E-Freight, WEST-MOS and PROPOSSE, and Cruise Initiatives Celtic Wave and Cruise Atlantic Europe. At the award ceremony Captain McCarthy spoke highly of Cork and his career. He said: "I have been a very lucky person to have followed a career I love and be so genuinely passionate about our beautiful City and County, magnificent harbour, maritime heritage and culture. "Each day brings new challenges including the ongoing development of the port for business, leisure and community, the redevelopment of Marino Point and the construction of a Multi-Function/Second Cruise Terminal in Cobh to integrate the vision of Visit Cork in realising the "Maritime Paradise" potential of our harbour. As winner of the October monthly award, Captain Michael McCarthys name will go forward, with the other monthly winners, for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year 2017. The overall winner will be unveiled at a Gala Awards Lunch in mid January 2018. Burma Analysis: Still Hope Kofi Annan Recommendations will Bring Stability to Rakhine Kofi Annan, center, at a press conference to mark the Rakhine State Advisory commissions final report launch in Aug in Yangon. / Thet Htun Naing / The Irrawaddy YANGON During his five-day trip to Myanmar, the United Nations under-secretary-general for political affairs urged the government and military to comprehensively implement the recommendations from the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman is the highest UN official so far to urge the government and the countrys powerful military to implement the recommendations. His visit came days after ex-UN chief Kofi Annans briefing to UN Security Council members in his capacity as chair of the advisory commission, which was mandated to make recommendations for improving the situation in the state on conflict prevention, humanitarian assistance, reconciliation, institution-building and development. He said the recommendations of the advisory commission could still serve as a solid framework for achieving lasting peace in Rakhine before he highlighted some of the central issues the commission addressed in its recommendations. The issues include poverty, citizenship verification, closing internally displaced people (IDP) camps, border security and enhancing inter-communal dialogue between Arakanese and Muslims. Implementation of our recommendations could help to stabilize the situation and address the humanitarian crisis, he told the council members on Friday. Soon after the release of the recommendations, Muslim militant group the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked 30 police outposts and an army base in northern Rakhine. The attacks triggered Myanmar Army clearance operations, which forced more than 536,000 self-identifying Rohingya Muslims to flee for Bangladesh, bringing with them reports of indiscriminate killing, rape and arson by security forces. Tens of thousands of Arakanese have fled militant violence to other parts of the state, with the government denouncing ARSA as a terrorist group and saying it kills civilians. Kofi Annan said at the press briefing of the Security Council meeting that everybody present agreed on the short-term requirementsthe cessation of violence, provision of humanitarian assistance to those in need, and work for the eventual voluntary return of those who in Bangladesh. Based on the discussion with Security Council members on Oct. 13, he said, the international community was prepared to engage with Myanmar, working on all the issues the commission has recommended in order to stabilize the situation. If we dont, we are going to have a long term frustrating problem in the region which can be very serious down the line, he warned. Despite his encouragement to implement the recommendations, Kofi Annan acknowledged that it was difficult to get coherent and coordinated implementation of these recommendations because of the duality in the Myanmar leadershipboth government and military hold powerful positions. But we need to press ahead to work with the both sides and make sure that as a government they work together, he said. I think its important for Myanmar that [if] Rakhine is settled, that would give them time and space to focus on other major problems in the country at large because it can take lots of time and effort and resources, he added. The Myanmar government has welcomed the recommendations and vowed to implement them in the shortest possible time frame, according to a statement from the State Counselors Office shortly after the reports release. But the ARSA offensive has delayed the implementations. Only on Sep. 1218 days after the attackswas a ministerial committee formed for the recommendations rapid implementations. Some pilot projects were under way earlier this week, such as resettlement for Rakhine and Muslims villagers whose houses were burnt down. At the same time, national verifications cards for the citizenship process are being issued to Muslims at Shwezar village tract in Rakhines Maungdaw Township, according to local media reports. Burma Five Miners Shot Dead at Kachin Jade Mine A gem mine in Kachin State. / The Irrawaddy MANDALAY Five freelance miners were shot dead and at least 20 injured when security forces opened fire on them for scavenging for jade scraps on Wednesday evening in the Lone Kin mining area of Kachin State. According to witnesses, police tried to stop a couple of prospectors who were searching for residues of jade at the operation of Myanmar-China joint venture Triple One Company in the Ngopin Phawar jade mining area of Sankhar village. A witness who did not want to be named out of fear for their safety said a prospector complained of being injured by a stone thrown by police. Angry prospectors gathered later and confronted the police, said the witness. A group of prospectors then attacked the police, who were providing security for the mining company, and destroyed a piece of heavy machinery, according to first-hand accounts. The prospectors and the police threw stones at each other. Both sides were hurt and later the police opened fire, killing five prospectors on the spot, said the witness, adding that out of the injured, nine were in a serious condition. Two policemen, one of them a colonel, were also injured, said witnesses. The police station in Lone Kin said the incident is under investigation and declined to comment further. Local lawmakers told The Irrawaddy those who sustained serious injuries were sent to Myitkyina Hospital in the Kachin capital while others were sent to Lone Kin Hospital for treatment. The prospectors are allowed to work under a time limit in certain areas. We heard the prospectors went before the opening time and clashed with the police there, said U Lashi Daseng, MP of Hpakant. The lawmaker said the situation in the area is under control and calm. In Lone Kin and Hpakant jade mining areas, clashes between freelance miners, jade mining firms and security forces are not uncommon, as the firms do not want the prospectors to work in their areas. Local administration offices have mediated negotiations between the prospectors and firms in order to allow prospectors restricted access to the areas. Burma Tanintharyi Land Protest Canceled at Last Minute Protestors preparing to stage the protest. / Nyan Hline MAWLAMYINE, Mon State Some 200 demonstrators canceled a protest against Tanintharyi Regions chief minister, agriculture and irrigation minister and municipal minister over land confiscation for Dawei Urban Development Project at the last minute on Wednesday morning. At first demonstrators refused to disperse though police discouraged them from staging a protest, saying that the placards and slogans prepared by the demonstrators are against the peaceful assembly and procession law. The placards labeled the Tanintharyi Region government inefficient and also called for the resignations of the chief minister and two other ministers. At the last minute, we protest leaders negotiated with participants and decided to cancel the protest in consideration of regional law and order. We decided not to stage the protest because we were not allowed to hold those placards, Ma Yi Yi Htwe, a protest leader told The Irrawaddy. The placards reflect the voices of farmers and people and protestors decided not to stage a protest without those placards, she said. The regional government said that over 350 acres of land in what is now the Dawei Urban Development Project area were confiscated for government ownership since 1990, but farmers said they paid to farm the land until 2011. The U Thein Sein government leased out the land to private companies to build government buildings, residential apartments and shopping centers in an urban development project, leading to clashes between the authorities, company employees and local farmers. The Tanintharyi regional government said in a statement on Sept. 17, 2017 that 40 by 60 foot plots of land in other locations have been recompensed to 63 of 70 farmers whose farmlands are in the urban development project area. The statement also said the regional government would recompense land plots for the seven remaining farmers. However, the farmers have refused to accept land compensation, and called for talks with the government and private companies. The government of the National League for Democracy (NLD) continued leasing out farmlands to private businesspeople though local farmers hoped that it would return those lands instead, said Ma Yi Yi Htwe. Chief minister Dr. Lei Lei Maw, and the agricultural and municipal ministers are mainly responsible for this. So, we planned to stage a demonstration to call for their resignation, said Ma Yi Yi Htwe. Dawei Public Development Co has won most of the contracts for property development on the controversial lands and has been building residences for ministers, apartments for parliament staff, and residential buildings. About 20 farmers have been sued in clashes with company employees since construction started, according to Ma Yi Yi Htwe. The Irrawaddy was not able to contact concerned police officers, lawmakers and the speaker of the regional parliament for their remarks. Burma Wreckage of Missing Military Jet Found Pilot Maj. Kaung Htike of the G-4 military training aircraft. / Kaung Htike / Facebook PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region The wreckage of a Myanmar Air Force training jet that went missing more than one month ago was found on Wednesday evening, some 12 miles south of Gwa Township in Rakhine State. The G-4 military training aircraft flown by two pilots disappeared during a training exercise over Pathein, Gwa, Hinthada, and back to Pathein, the capital of Irrawaddy Region, on Sept. 5. The plane lost contact about 36 miles northwest of Pathein. A senior military officer who joined the search for the aircraft confirmed on the condition of anonymity to The Irrawaddy that the wreckage was recovered on Wednesday evening. He said more troops would be brought on the area on Thursday to continue the search. Ground troops carried out the search for the missing aircraft, with help from the air forces aircraft and helicopters. On Wednesdaythe 44th day of the search and rescue missiontroops found the planes nose cone, one wheel, two wings, and machine parts, according to a statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services. The statement also said seat and parachute were recovered but did not clarify whether it was one or two. The search continues for pilot Maj. Kaung Htike and co-pilot Capt. Thaw Zin Soe along with the rest of the wreckage. An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing. The incident came two months after a Chinese-made Y-8-200F Myanmar military transport plane crashed into the Andaman Sea on route to Yangon, killing all 122 soldiers, family members and crew on board. State media in July said the plane nosedived into the sea because of bad weather. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. The director of Product Management at Intuit, Alex Barnett, attended the ATSA 2017 conference this week to talk machine learning, AI, apps, acconting and plenty more. ATSA 2017 is the Accountants' Technology Showcase Australia, and while we everyday folk might wonder what's so exciting about bean counting, it turns out there's a heck of a lot of tech out there to take the numb out of number crunching. This includes the wonders of AI artificial intelligence and, of course, the buzzword of the moment, machine learning, which is already benefitting consumers globally in a variety of ways, devices, developer kits and technologies. Barnett was in town this week to speak at the ATSA conference, and I had the opportunity to conduct an audio interview with him, which I've embedded below in this article. Barnett is leading the Developer Relations, Product Management and Partnership Solutions teams at Intuit, focusing on driving developer success and growing Intuit's third party apps ecosystem. We also heard from Intuit Australia recently, when it announced it "wants to help foster prospering franchises", which you can read about here. So, before we get to the interview with Barnett, let's take a look at what he told us he'd be speaking about in his session. whos coming over from the US to speak at the ATSA conference next week. Intuit has 100 patents pending in AI and machine learning (ML), so the company is actively taking advantage of the AI and machine learning trend, with approximately 100 patents pending related to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and more than 30 machine learning systems in its products today. Barnett shared a few examples of how Intuit's customers are already benefitting from machine learning: Note the QB in the product names below naturally stands for QuickBooks, the software for which Intuit is famous. 1. QBO Auto Categorisation "solves the pain point of categorising expenses which is important yet tedious task for small business owners, with QBO now automatically categorising transactions when they import their spending activity from their bank accounts". 2. QBSE Expense Finder "helps self-employed keep track and differentiate between personal and business expenses by proactively uncovering business expenses by gathering and scanning bank accounts and credit card transactions". In a survey Intuit conducted of bookkeepers and accountants in Australia, 85% of accountants said "one of the biggest challenges they face is when their clients mix personal and business expenses". Given the average customer has "2000 transactions per year, of which 500 are business transactions, having smart technology take that task off the table saves time and gives piece of mind". 3. There's also the new "QB Assistant" which is an "AI-driven voice assistant which will help our customers trouble shoot in real time. We currently have 6000 customers using QB Assistant". Naturally, Barnett states this type of technological innovation "is crucial to our strategy globally but also here in Australia, which we know as a tech-forward market. Its one of the reasons weve experienced such great growth hereIn just four years, we have already hit more than 100K subscribers in Australia!" He noted that this represented "85% growth in last 12 months", with the comapny "proud to be the fastest growing accounting provider in Australia", and sending a warning shot across Xero and MYOB's bows by stating Intuit's intent "to be #1 in the Australian market in 5 years". Here's my audio interview with Barnett more details from his presentation, provided to iTWire, are below. So, what other information did Barnett share with ATSA 2017 conference attendees? Here's the text supplied to iTWIre: In the context of how technology is advancing overall growth globally, Intuit is "excited to celebrate having more than 2.38 million paid subscribers worldwide on QuickBooks Online." Thats 58% year over year growth, and for these customers, we want to deliver the following three key benefits: Getting and keeping more money in their pocket Giving them more time by creating efficiencies through technology and automation Providing complete confidence and that includes that the apps integrated into QBO - will help ensure long-term success for those small business customers. To truly do that, Intuit wants to be "the global platform of choice for all developers serving small businesses and accountants". That is Intuit's vision for the Developer Group. With QuickBooks Online at the heart of the platform, Intuit wants to deliver "all the apps small businesses and accountants use every day to manage their business". And Intuit is doing that by "enabling developers to integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks Online and solve all the important problems that small businesses face because QuickBooks cant do all of that alone". Intuit and apps In a study of global small businesses, Intuit found Aussie small businesses are tech savvy more so than their global counterparts. It found that 70% are using an average of 1-6 apps, and 30% of QBO users use Intuits mobile app at least once a week. But finding the right apps can be a challenge for them, with 41% of small businesses feeling overwhelmed by the all options available and they arent sure which are best apps for them and their business. On top of that, the research found 66% of small businesses said they are willing to hire someone to train and educate them on the right apps for their business. Naturally, Intuit sees this as a huge opportunity for accountants and bookkeepers to become advisors in this space to be become the app experts and help their clients choose the right apps and then on-board the apps. The number of published apps has grown five-fold in three years to more than 500 published apps overall, 225 of which are available in Australia. The number of customers using apps has grown tenfold in the last three years. Thirty percent of QBO customers in Australia are connected to at least one apps. This presents a big opportunity for accountants and bookkeepers to play an important role in making sure their clients get the most out of apps and the QBO platform. To help advise them on how to navigate apps to help create more efficiency and to evolve from computation to consultation, and in the process, guide small business clients to future success. Intuit and other product integration Another way Intuit is harnessing technology is to create more seamless product experiences through deep product integrations i.e. building solutions within QBO into the workflow with the apps small businesses use regularly. Intuit is working closely with developer partners to deliver truly seamless product experiences end-to-end within QBO that are intuitive and easy to use. This is especially so in cases where data is automatically integrated, so they dont have to manually enter data. Heres an example: Intuit recently announced a partnership with Google, because it learned many small businesses are using both of our solutions to run their businesses i.e. G Suite with Gmail, Google Sheets and Google Calendar. Intuit found 43% of QBO users have Google domains. It meant these customers were likely to be entering data twice across products manually resulting in more time spent getting the right data in and increasing the chance of error. So together, they built Bill My Time From Google Calendar "which allows SMBs to schedule client work and appointments with Google Calendar, and which makes these billable appointments available in QuickBooks for invoicing and managing finances". "So Intuit has integrated Google calendar within QBO and also worked with Google to integrate QBO into Gmail so Gmail users can send a QBO invoice directly right from Gmail." This was just an excerpt of Alex Barnett's presentation to the ATSA 2017 conference this week, and it certainly shows plenty of life in the accounting industry as it takes advantage of the latest technologies and disruptions just like every other business out there today. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is contributing $18 million towards funding for the $160 million Kennedy Park wind, solar and battery project in North Queensland. The 60.5 megawatt (MW) project will consist of 43.2 MW of wind, 15 MW of solar PV, a 2 MW lithium ion battery and a synchronous condenser. ARENA, on behalf of the Australian Government, will provide a $18 million recoupable grant. The project is a joint venture of Australian renewable energy developer Windlab and Eurus Energy and, in an ASX announcement, Windlab announced the project had reached financial close. The project will also receive up to $93 million in debt finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. ARENAs funding was originally committed in July 2016, but the project has subsequently been expanded in scope to overcome connection challenges. Kennedy Park will now include nearly double the wind power originally intended through 12 3.6MW turbines and, on completion, the combined wind and solar farm will generate 210,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year enough to power more than 35,000 average Australian homes. The project is also expected to improve stability and reliability of the grid for communities in North Queensland, through enabling technologies to control voltage and frequency, and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2018. And the project will also lay the foundations for a planned much larger second phase, called "Big Kennedy", a $2 billion 1200MW solar and wind farm due to commence in 2019. ARENA chief executive officer Ivor Frischknecht said Kennedy Energy Park would be the first time a combined large scale solar, wind and battery farm would be connected to the grid. Kennedy enjoys one of the best and largest wind resources in Australia, alongside one of the best solar sites. By integrating wind, solar and batteries, this will be able to provide reliable and dispatchable electricity to North Queensland. This project will now also help improve the stability and reliability of the network in North Queensland. ARENA is excited to be funding such an ambitious project in what will be a significant step towards Queensland generating half its electricity from renewable energy. Roger Price, Windlabs executive chairman and chief execcutive, said, We believe Kennedy Energy Park will demonstrate how effectively wind, solar and storage can be combined to provide low cost, reliable and clean energy for Australias future. The broader adoption of projects like Kennedy can address the recommendations of the Finkel review and ensure that Australia can more than meet its Paris Commitments while putting downward pressure on energy prices. ICT was one of the business and industry sectors offering the most job opportunities in September, as Australias employment market continues to trend upwards with job advertising on SEEK growing by 12% over the month. The uplift in jobs advertised on SEEK for September comes after advertising in August returned to the highest levels since 2010. And, according to SEEK chief commercial officer Australia and New Zealand, Kendra Banks, the strong performance in September signals favourable conditions for jobseekers. This growth in September was off a high base after advertising on SEEK this August returned to the highest levels seen since 2010, said Banks. Nationally, the industries that offered the most job opportunities on SEEK this September were Trades & Services, Information & Communication Technology [ICT] and Healthcare & Medical. SEEK reveals that, while off a low base, the Mining, Resources & Energy industry has, for the ninth consecutive month, taken top spot for annual growth in job ad listings on its website, up 60% y/y for September. Job ad growth across Australian industries on SEEK, August 2017 v August 2016. The fields across the Mining, Resources & Energy industry that had the most demand for workers on SEEK this September were: Mining engineering & maintenance Mining operations Health, safety & environment Our latest SEEK Laws of Attraction research has uncovered that candidates in the Mining, Resources & Energy industry are placing an even greater emphasis on job security than they were five years ago, even though the industry is starting to recover after the mining boom collapse, Banks said. However, salary and compensation remains the number one driver of attraction to work in this industry, followed by job security then work-life balance. Banks also revealed that growth in advertising on SEEK was also recorded in September by Trades & Services (up 27% y/y); Engineering (up 22% y/y); and Construction industries (up 17% y/y]. This reflects strong building construction and infrastructure spending across the country, including rail and road investments, Banks noted. And job ads on SEEK rose year on year across every state and territory in September. South Australia and Western Australia, notched up the strongest growth in job ads on SEEK this September, up 22.6% y/y and 17.8% y/y respectively. In these smaller labour markets, Trades & Services was the top advertising industry, Banks explained. Banks also says solid advertising growth was also enjoyed in the Northern Territory (up 16.4% y/y) and Queensland (up 15.7% y/y). Job ads continued rise across the countrys largest labour markets of New South Wales (up 7.1% y/y) and Victoria (15% y/y). The ICT industry continues to offer the most job opportunities across both states, Banks. In other states and territories, job ads on SEEK were up 10.8% y/y in Tasmania and up 8.8% y/y in the Australian Capital Territory. Meanwhile, the Retail & Consumer Products industry remained flat from July to September 2017, when compared to the same period last year. [The year] 2017 is the first since 2014 that weve seen flat annual growth on SEEK for the July to September period for the Retail & Consumer Products industry, Banks observed. Traditionally, the July to September period is a busy hiring time for the Retail & Consumer Products industry because hirers aim to have their seasonal teams in-place by late September and early October, ahead of the busy festive and summer season. The retail & consumer products industry has faced a number of headwinds in Australia, from globalisation increasing competition for domestic retailers, subdued growth in wages and household incomes, and more recently, higher gas and electricity prices adding to cost of living pressures. A concern for a number of retailers is of course the arrival of Amazon, which is expected to tighten margins for retailers further, due to their competitive prices. Annual job ad growth across Australian retail and consumer products industry on SEEK for July to September period. This latest SEEK index shows that over the past three months [July to September 2017], the most advertised roles on SEEK for the Retail & Consumer Products industry were: Retail assistants Store sanagers Assistant store managers And, the states and territories that offered the most job opportunities across the Retail & Consumer Products industry from July to September this year were NSW, Victoria and Queensland, as well as Western Australia. New Android malware that poses as an app on the Google Play store and adds compromise devices to a botnet has been discovered by security firm Symantec. Researcher Shaun Aimoto said that he had found eight such apps, with an install base ranging from 600,000 to 2.6 million. The malware appeared to be mainly aimed at US users but has also been seen in Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Germany. Aimoto wrote that the stated function of these apps was to provide the appearance of characters in Minecraft: Pocket Edition, behind the scenes attack functionality was enabled. The app connects to an external source and serves up ads. A single developer account named FunBlaster is associated with the campaign. "The malicious code is obfuscated and key strings are encrypted, thwarting base-level forms of detection. Additionally, the developer signs each app with a different developer key, which helps to avoid static analysis-based heuristics as well." Aimoto wrote. Google Play had been notified about the presence of the apps and had removed them on 6 October, he added. The flaw in the WPA2 wireless protocol revealed recently has a critical impact on Android phones running version 6.0 of the mobile operating system and Linux devices, a security researcher says. Ty Miller, managing director of security company Threat Intelligence, said unencrypted messages could be sent and full control gained over the wireless network traffic of anyone who was using these devices. The vulnerability, revealed on Monday night, by Belgian researcher Mathy Vanhoef. At the time, he said: "Note that if your device supports Wi-Fi, it is most likely affected. During our initial research, we discovered ourselves that Android, Linux, Apple, Windows, OpenBSD, MediaTek, Linksys, and others, are all affected by some variant of the attacks." Miller explained: "The Linux and Android specific vulnerability is due to a flaw in their implementation of the protocol standard where the Temporal Key (TK) is overwritten with zeros. "This is basically comparable to your password being overwritten with all zeros to gain access to all of your data. This allows the capture of sensitive information such as usernames and passwords, as well as the ability to inject malicious data into your Web browsing." He said even after a majority of Linux and Android devices were patched, IoT devices would constitute a major long-term risk to organisations. These devices either never had patches released or else were rarely patched. "It is a well-known fact that IoT devices have a terrible history when it comes to security, such as requesting software updates over HTTP," Miller said. "This would enable the attacker to deploy a fake update to the vulnerable device causing it to become compromised, and ultimately provides the attacker with a foothold within your wireless network. If this device is on your corporate network, then your organisation is suddenly at risk of a major security breach." The next worst affected would be Apple and OpenBSD, Miller said. "The primary challenge is that these operating systems only accept encrypted messages to be sent to the wireless client that makes it slightly more difficult," he pointed out. However, this security control could still be bypassed by identifying encrypted messages by their size, and then replaying them against the vulnerable wireless client. "This makes them just as vulnerable as in the Linux example above, except that some additional effort will be required to crack the key," Miller said. "The upside is that the main risk is associated with macOS devices in this case, which are far more likely to be patched across the board than IoT devices." Linux expert Russell Coker told iTWIre: "It (the vulnerability) sounds bad. But then given that so many systems are using old and unpatched versions of Android - I think we can assume that almost all Android 4.4 systems are unpatched - it's wide open anyway. "It seems that if you run an Android device that's not a Nexus or Pixel then security support will end long before the device wears out or becomes obsolete." Horizon State, an Australian blockchain-based start-up that is looking to build a secure digital voting system, has launched the country's second initial coin offering. The sale lasts till 30 October and will distribute what are called Decision Tokens in exchange for Ethereum contributions. The company says it aims to change the way people vote and make decisions by using the blockchain to build the secure digital voting system. An early version of the product was used earlier this year to allow the membership of MiVote, an information platform that presents a number of perspectives, to vote in four nationally inclusive polls. Horizon State co-founder Jamie Skella said: We are excited to share this vision with the world. Currently, we are engaged with global NGOs, multinational enterprises, national governments, and city councils all of which are extremely positive and encouraging discussions. "By using a distributed ledger, Horizon State aims to deliver a digital ballot box that cant be hacked and will maintain the anonymity of each voter. "The end result is a system that is quicker, more convenient, and much cheaper than centralised voting processes." Skella described the application in Australia as drastically cheaper, equating to a cost per eligible voter of less than $1, compared to traditional costs of $7 or more. Proceeds from the ICO will be used to expand globally and develop a suite of voting apps, bots, and a crowdfunding platform to help drive a new democratic process that is more convenient and relatable. Skella adds, The future of e-voting will incorporate the technology we already have at our fingertips to deliver the opportunity to vote conveniently and securely, perhaps without ever having to leave the comfort of your home. Clever countermover Kogan is always outmanoeuvering competitors, with his latest cunning stunt a countenancing face-off that makes Kogan's 16GB-laden and best unlimited mobile plan free, for 30 days - but only for 96 hours. Even in today's world of avid pre-paid users who switch from mobile plan to mobile plan like bees pollinating a field of delicate flowers, one thing's still certain - human nature, the desire not to change, and joy around delightful birthday presents. Part of the battle for telcos and their mobile virtual network operators is simply to get a consumer to port over to one's service, because once they've changed over, they'll probably stay for quite some time, especially if you're offering a deal that's more than good enough to stick with, no matter what the competition cooks up. Of course, Kogan is always cooking up new promotional flavours to see which ones resonate with the telco taste buds of Australians, with his latest telco tempter couched within a birthday bash being a telephonic triumph of temporarily tectonic proportions - a free mobile plan! Now, it has to be said that the temporary means just that - the plan is only free for 30 days, after which you're expected to pay the normal price for the next 30 days of service, which for the 16GB plan is $49.90 per month, although you could always switch to any of Kogan's lower-cost plans, all still delivering unlimited talk and text in Australia, with merely different data allocations the difference with the price plans on offer. There is also the time limited factor that urges you to take up the deal as quickly as possible, with the offer expiring at 11.59pm on Sunday, 22 October, 2017. However, the lure and allure of 30 days of free service may well be the trigger needed to tip those over who have wanted to change over to Kogan, but were kept in place by inertia. And Kogan hasn't forgotten his current customers either - also as part of the birthday celebration, "existing Kogan Mobile customers will automatically have 2GB of data applied to their accounts for free on 19 Oct 2017, which will remain valid for 30 days." It also makes you wonder what Kogan's next cleverly cunning stunt will be, because you might imagine that 60 days of free telephony might be next, save for the fact it's hard to make money by selling $1 for 95c, let alone giving services away free that must be paid for. Still, it is called a 'loss leader' strategy, where a low cost (or even free) offer turns you into someone that either buys something more expensive, or in Kogan's case, signs you up to a no-contract pre-paid deal that Kogan nevertheless hopes you'll stick with long enough for him to be able to turn a well-earned profit on, while delivering customers what is undeniably one of the best value mobile plans in Australia. There's also the catch that the deal isn't available to Vodafone customers, with Vodafone the network that Kogan uses to deliver its MVNO service, but if a Vodafone pre-paid customer is truly desirous of switching across, they need only port to Amaysim on a "pay as you go" plan (or some other similar ultra-low cost plan) which would then enable them to switch to Kogan. Whether too many Vodafone customers are going to go to all that trouble is extremely unlikely, especially if you aren't close to the end of your existing paid-for plan, but the voracious value hunters out there have probably already done it. So, for the next 96 hours, new customers to Kogan Mobile can "order a voucher to move their existing Australian mobile phone number to Kogan Mobile from another network, and receive Kogan Mobiles Extra Large plan which includes a free SIM card, free 16GB of data for 30 days, and free unlimited standard calls and texts for 30 days." Article continues below image: David Shafer, Executive Director of Kogan Mobile said: The last two years has seen Kogan Mobile grow like wildfire as an incredible number of Aussies switched their mobile service to Kogan Mobile and then told all their friends about the amazing service and deal theyre getting. We knew the Australian public was craving a mobile provider that gives them first class service, complete flexibility and disruptive prices and the Kogan team is proud to have delivered just that. Were committed to listening to our customers and providing a mobile service that ends up being the first choice for anyone who does their research. We look forward to continuing to serve and delight our new and existing customers. So, if you want to know more, or want to take advantage of the deal, you can check out Kogan Mobile's free offer here, where the old cliche applies that Kogan Mobile's turning two, but you're getting the present! Here's the fine print for those wondering: "Kogan Mobile's "FREE" deal is valid for new Kogan Mobile customers only who transfer their existing Australian mobile phone number from another network only. Not valid for customers who transfer their existing Australian mobile phone number from Vodafone. Limit 1 per customer. Not valid for existing Kogan Mobile customers. Personal use only. Offer available for purchase until 11:59PM AEDT Sunday 22 October 2017. Offer voucher will remain valid for use until 03:00AM AEDT Monday 20 November 2017. Free offer does not apply to subsequent recharges. Not available for commercial or resale purposes. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offers. Not transferable and not redeemable for cash." "Unlimited refers to national standard calls & text within Australia. Personal Use and Fair Use policy apply. All Kogan Mobile Plans are prepaid. The full amount of each Plan must be paid upon activation, recharge or purchase of a voucher. A FREE Kogan Mobile SIM card is included with this purchase and it must be delivered to you before a Prepaid Plan can be activated. SIM delivery takes up to 10 working days, after which you can bring your number across to Kogan Mobile and activate your Plan." "Standard calls include: calls to standard national fixed lines, standard national mobiles; calls to 13, 1300 and 18 numbers and calls to voicemail. All for use within Australia. For additional premium services like international calls, calls to premium numbers and call forwarding, purchase the Premier Access Bolt-On. Unlimited Plans do not include calls and SMS to international numbers, calls, SMS and data used when roaming, premium & pre-routed SMS, voice call diverts, video calls, use of the VHA network for commercial purposes or re-sale & any voice call, SMS or MMS that is re-routed by a third party and/or re-routed to an international destination or to a premium number or service." Under pressure with each passing day as the number of complaints about the NBN mount, the head of NBN Co, Bill Morrow has attempted to deflect some of the criticism levelled at the rollout by those who compare it to the New Zealand network which is progressing without any major hitch. In a long and drawn-out blog post, Morrow said today that comparing the rollouts in the two countries was like comparing apples and oranges. First, he said, the delivery model differed in that the main telco in New Zealand, Telecom NZ, was split into retail (Spark) and wholesale (Chorus) arms. Chorus retained ownership of infrastructure and was doing most of the work for building fibre networks. This, Morrow said, meant Chorus could use all existing assets to build the fibre network without paying a cent. In Australia, the NBN Co, which was set up as a government company, had no network assets; it had to pay Telstra for these assets. "Indeed, of the total $4400 it costs us to connect every brownfield FttP premise, almost $1000 is paid to Telstra in leasing or acquisition costs," he said. Another difference was that when New Zealand started building a fibre network, it already had a fibre-to-the-node network in place. This meant that much of the feeder fibre from the exchange to street corner cabinets was already in place, "meaning far less work was required to go from FttN to FttP with Chorus taking fibre only a few hundred metres in most cases". Bill Morrow: 'Don't compare us with New Zealand.' In Australia, the network was being built from scratch and NBN Co had to take fibre an average of 2.5 kilometres from the exchange to a user's residence. The same factor meant that the rollout was cheaper in New Zealand. And while there had been much talk about Chorus reducing its FttP delivery costs over the last few years, this was because it had been forced to start the fibre rollout in more expensive areas and then move to cheaper areas, Morrow claimed. The cost was also claimed to be lower because of the method of delivery. Chorus delivered a significant portion of the fibre network aerially; NBN Co could do this for only 15% of premises. Morrow added that even in non-aerial locations, Chorus could use many other ways to reach the premises. "If the lead-in conduit is blocked, they can run fibre ducting down fence-lines or even micro-trench the fibre across lawns," he claimed,. But the NBN Co had to build most of its lead-in through underground conduits, meaning the cost was much higher, sometimes well above $20,000. Morrow also cited the forced disconnection as a point of difference: in Australia, residences have 18 months to switch after being declared NBN-ready. Businesses have three years. On the negative side, this meant that only 40% of the connected premises in New Zealand had switched to fibre whereas in Australia the take-up rate was about 75%. But this allowed Chorus to keep premises, which were difficult to connect to fibre, on the old network until the problem was sorted out. The relative size of the two countries was also cited by the NBN chief as a reason why the two rollouts could not be compared. Additionally, in Australia, fibre had to be deployed to 93% of the residents while in New Zealand the model called for deployment to about 75% of the country. "NBN Co has to deploy fixed-broadband networks in places like regional Tasmania that in New Zealand are currently served by fixed wireless services this is a crucial fact to bear in mind when trying to compare what is being done in New Zealand to what is being done here in Australia," Morrow said. "It is interesting to note that Chorus anticipate that their costs to deliver FTTP to regional areas of New Zealand will increase by NZ$600 from current costs." He also cited the connectivity virtual circuit cost as a point of difference, one that made the NBN Co's network more expensive to the end user. In New Zealand, there is no such cost, with only an access charge being levied based on wholesale speed. "As can be seen, comparing Chorus to NBN Co is like comparing apples to oranges. We are confident we are managing our costs efficiently and comparing Chorus to NBN Co is interesting, but ultimately, not particularly helpful," Morrow said. Digital Commons @ IWU Exceeds 3 Million Downloads Oct. 18, 2017 An interactive graphic illustrates work in 368 disciplines available for download from the Digital Commons @ IWU. BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Research conducted primarily by Illinois Wesleyan University undergraduate students has been downloaded more than 3 million times over the past decade by scholars around the world from the Digital Commons @ IWU (DC@IWU). Reaching the 3-million download mark is a true testament to the quality of student work at Illinois Wesleyan University, and it clearly demonstrates the high standards our faculty have for our students' work, said IWU Scholarly Communications Librarian and Professor Stephanie Davis-Kahl. Launched in January of 2008, the DC@IWU exceeded 3 million downloads in September. Its top-10 downloads of all time primarily consist of student honors research across diverse disciplines. The variety of materials included in DC@IWU including honors papers from all disciplines and majors, performances and artwork from our annual John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference, and peer-reviewed, open access undergraduate journals speak to the opportunities students have at IWU to engage in independent research and establish themselves as scholars, artists, and performers, Davis-Kahl said. The DC@IWU is a unique resource because of its focus on undergraduate work in all forms. Not only is DC@IWU a platform for sharing student work, but it is also utilized as a tool for teaching students about publishing, peer review and open access. I'm especially proud that support for DC@IWU comes not only from The Ames Library, but also from the Mellon Center, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of the President, Davis-Kahl said. Our partnership sends a clear message that undergraduate research is valued at IWU. Illinois Wesleyan faculty research and scholarship is also available for download via DC@IWU, including the WGLT Collection, which complements articles, book chapters and links to faculty publications by featuring interviews with IWU faculty on the local National Public Radio affiliate in partnership with Illinois State University. The DC@IWU can be accessed at: digitalcommons.iwu.edu. By John Twork Reddit Email 611 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Irans clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that he did not intend to engage in a tit for tat with Donald Trump, who had attacked Iran in a speech last week. Naturally, I do not want to spend time right now in replying to the fables and falsehoods of this charlatan president of the republic. . . He added that replying to such as Trump is a waste of time. He complained that the US has gone about roiling the Middle East, supporting Israeli oppression of the Palestinians and of Lebanon, and creating ISIL [this is a false allegation JC] and supporting extremist groups that routinely excommunicate Shiites and other Muslims from the religion. He said the US regime is angry with Iran because Tehran had foiled their dastardly plots in the region, including in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. He quoted sardonically former secretary of state Condi Rices saying that a new Middle East is being born. Sure it is, he said, and it isnt the one Washington imagined. Khamenei said that the new US president had shown himself to be a moron, but nevertheless, Iranians should not let their guard down in the face of the sly tricks of the US. He seems worried that Iranians will discount the danger the US poses to the Iranian state because the American leader is clearly a stupid individual. He said that there will be no conventional war, but that things might take place that are just as important. He complained that the US threatened enmity if Iran did not sign the nuclear deal, but after Tehran signed, the enmity redoubled. He praised European countries for standing by the nuclear deal. He said that Iran welcomes European steadfastness in the face of Trumps threats to simply tear up the deal. But, he said, standing by their own treaty is not enough. He pointed out that the deal is in the interest of the Europeans and the Americans. He added of the Europeans, We also naturally said that as long as this side does not tear it up, neither will we. If it is torn up [by Europe] then Iran will also shred the agreement. (US news outlets are mistranslating this part as saying that If Trump tears up the deal, so will Iran; Khamenei is clearly speaking of Europe here). That is not enough, he said. If the US Congress contravenes the agreement by imposing substantial new sanctions on Iran, he said, he expects the Europeans to step up and foil them. He rejected Western concerns about Iranian missiles, on the grounds that all the Western countries also have rockets and missiles and no one is sanctioning them over it. Reddit Email 60 Shares Human Rights Watch | 288 Villages, Tens of Thousands of Structures Torched (New York) Newly released satellite images reveal that at least 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed by fire in northern Rakhine State in Burma since August 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The destruction encompassed tens of thousands of structures, primarily homes inhabited by ethnic Rohingya Muslims. Complete destruction of Rohingya villages in close proximity to intact Rakhine village, Maungdaw township, recorded on 21 September 2017. 2017 Human Rights Watch Analysis of the satellite imagery indicates both that the burnings focused on Rohingya villages and took place after Burmese officials claimed security force clearance operations had ceased, Human Rights Watch said. The imagery pinpoints multiple areas where destroyed Rohingya villages sat adjacent to intact ethnic Rakhine villages. It also shows that at least 66 villages were burned after September 5, when security force operations supposedly ended, according to a September 18 speech by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese military responded to attacks on August 25 by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) with a campaign of ethnic cleansing, prompting more than 530,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Ethnic Rohingya village completely destroyed adjacent to intact ethnic Rakhine village in Maungdaw Township, Burma. 2017 Human Rights Watch These latest satellite images show why over half a million Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in just four weeks, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. The Burmese military destroyed hundreds of Rohingya villages while committing killings, rapes, and other crimes against humanity that forced Rohingya to flee for their lives. Expand Map of villages destroyed in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung Townships. 2017 Human Rights Watch A total of 866 villages in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and Buthidaung townships in Rakhine State were monitored and analyzed by Human Rights Watch. The most damage occurred in Maungdaw Township, accounting for approximately 90 percent of the areas where destruction happened between August 25 and September 25. Approximately 62 percent of all villages in the township were either partially or completely destroyed, and southern areas of the township were particularly hard hit, with approximately 90 percent of the villages devastated. In many places, satellite imagery showed multiple areas on fire, burning simultaneously over wide areas for extended periods. Human Rights Watch found that the damage patterns are consistent with fire. Comparing recent imagery with those taken prior to the date of the attacks, analysis showed that most of the damaged villages were 90 to 100 percent destroyed. Many villages which had both Rohingya and Rakhine residing in segregated communities, such as Inn Din and Ywet Hnyo Taung, suffered heavy arson damage from arson attacks, with known Rohingya areas burned to the ground while known Rakhine areas were left intact. Expand Multiple villages on fire along the coast of Maungdaw Township, Burma on the morning of September 15, 2017. 2017 Human Rights Watch The Burmese government has repeatedly said that ARSA insurgents and local Rohingya communities were responsible for setting the fires that wiped out their villages, but has offered no evidence to support such claims. Human Rights Watch interviews in Bangladesh with more than 100 refugees who had fled the three townships gave no indication that any Rohingya villagers or militants were responsible for burning down their own villages. The Burmese government and military has not impartially investigated and prosecuted alleged serious abuses committed against the Rohingya population. UN member countries and international bodies should press the Burmese government to grant access to the UN-mandated fact-finding mission to investigate these abuses. The UN Security Council should also urgently impose a global arms embargo on Burma, and place travel bans and asset freezes on those Burmese commanders responsible for grave abuses. Governments should impose a comprehensive arms embargo against Burma, including prohibiting military cooperation and financial transactions with military-owned enterprises. The shocking images of destruction in Burma and burgeoning refugee camps in Bangladesh are two sides of the same coin of human misery being inflicted on the Rohingya, Robertson said. Concerned governments need to urgently press for an end to abuses against the Rohingya and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches everyone in need. Via Human Rights Watch Related video added by Juan Cole: ODN: 580,000 Rohingya are now seeking refuge from Myanmar Reddit Email 26 Shares By Steven Young | ( The Watchers) | Around 245 BCE Ptolemy III, ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, made a decision that still puzzles many historians: After pursuing a successful military campaign against the kingdoms nemesis, the Seleucid Empire, centered mainly in present-day Syria and Iraq, Ptolemy III suddenly decided to return home. This about-face changed everything about Near-East history, says Joseph Manning, a historian at Yale University. Now, Manning and his colleagues have identified a possible reason for Ptolemy IIIs trek back to Egypt: volcanoes. Its a strange link, but one borne out by evidence. Massive eruptions, a new study suggests, can disrupt the normal flow of the Nile River by cooling the planets atmosphere. In Ancient Times, that may have led to food shortages and heightened existing tensions in the region. The research, published Tuesday, October 17 in Nature Communications, links eruptions not just to the end of Ptolemy IIIs war, but to a series of violent uprisings and other upheavals that rocked Ptolemaic Egypt an empire that extended over large portions of Northeast Africa and the Middle East. The study creates a strong case that sudden shifts in climate can have big impacts on human society. And its remarkable, Manning says, for doing so by drawing on a wide range of methods and evidence from ice core records to Egyptian papyri. Thats the beauty of these climate records. For the first time, you can actually see a dynamic society in Egypt, not just a static description of a bunch of texts in chronological order, Manning says. This is of absolutely enormous importance. This research is a product of the Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society working group of Past Global Changes (PAGES), a global research project of Future Earth. At the heart of that dynamic society was the Nile River, the lifeblood of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. This empire arose in about 305 BCE, not long after the death of Alexander the Great, and ended around 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra. During this period, Egyptian farmers depended on the yearly flooding of the Nile in July through September to irrigate their grain fields inventing systems of channels and dams to store the rivers overflow. When the Nile flood was good, the Nile valley was one of the most agriculturally-productive places in the Ancient World, says Francis Ludlow, a climate historian at Trinity College in Dublin and a co-author of the new study. But the river was famously prone to a high level of variation. In some years the Nile didnt rise high enough to flood the land, and that could lead to trouble. Historical records suggest, for example, that a shortage of grain and the unrest that followed were behind Ptolemy IIIs return to Egypt. And Ludlow had reason to think that volcanoes could be behind some of those bad years. The reason comes down to a squiggly band of monsoon weather that circles the planets equator called the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Every year around summer in the northern hemisphere, this band moves up from the equator. That, in turn, soaks the headwaters of the Blue Nile River, a major tributary of the Nile. But when volcanoes erupt, they blast out sulfurous gases that, through a chain of events, cool the atmosphere. If that happens in the Northern Hemisphere, it can keep the monsoon rains from moving as far as they usually do. When the monsoon rains dont move far enough north, you dont have as much rain falling over Ethiopia, Ludlow says. And thats what feeds the summer flood of the Nile in Egypt that was so critical to agriculture. But how often would eruptions diminish the rivers flooding? To find out, Ludlow, Manning and their colleagues turned to computer simulations and real-world measurements of the Nile River that date back to 622 CE. The team discovered that poor flood years on the Nile lined up over and over with a recently published timeline of major volcanic eruptions around the world. That evidence suggested that when volcanoes explode, the Nile tended to stay calm. The team then dug further to see if that might have an impact on Egyptian society during the Ptolemaic era, which is rich in papyri and other written records. They include the trilingual Rosetta Stone. Again, the timelines matched: Volcanic eruptions preceded many major political and economic events that affected Egypt. They included Ptolemy IIIs exit from Syria and Iraq just after a major eruption in 247 BCE and the Theban revolt, a 20-year uprising by Egyptians against Greek rule. The researchers then examined how likely it was that these events occurred so close in time to eruptions, finding it highly unlikely to have occurred by chance, such is the level of overlap, Ludlow says. The volcanic eruptions didnt cause these upheavals on their own, both Ludlow and Manning stress. But they likely added fuel to existing economic, political and ethnic tensions. For historians, its like weve all been in a dark room bumping into furniture, and now we have a candle lit, Manning says. The results may also have implications for the modern era. Currently, Ethiopia is in the middle of building a humongous dam called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, on the Blue Nile. Tensions are already high between the nation and Egypt over how the water resources of the river will be distributed. A sudden change in climate, such as from a volcanic eruption, could make these fraught hydropolitics even more fraught, Ludlow says. The 21st century has been lacking in explosive eruptions of the kind that can severely affect monsoon patterns. But that could change at any time, he says. The potential for this needs to be taken into account in trying to agree on how the valuable waters of the Blue Nile are going to be managed between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. Via The Watchers Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Related video added by Juan Cole: Classics and Ancient History @ Warwick | Ptolemy I, 367 BCE to 283 BCE VANCOUVER, British Columbia and CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut, Oct. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (SBB-T) (Sabina) and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) announced today the execution of a binding term sheet setting forth the principle terms that are to be included in a definitive Framework Agreement (FA). The FA, upon completion, would be a comprehensive agreement which would set out rights and obligations with respect to surface land access on Inuit owned land and will include an Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement (IIBA) among other obligations required by the Nunavut Agreement. On behalf of the KIA Board, I am pleased to announce the signing of this binding term sheet, said Stanley Anablak, President of the KIA. We believe we have negotiated terms that focus on the interests of Inuit of the Kitikmeot Region providing them with training, employment, business opportunities and direct economic benefits from the Back River Project. Throughout our negotiations KIAs primary concern was including appropriate measures in the term sheet to conserve the land, water and wildlife while advancing socio-economic development for the region. We have made significant advancements in both socio-economic and caribou mitigation concerns. We thank the Sabina team for their effort and commitment to complete the term sheet and look forward to completing the definitive agreements in the coming months." Bruce McLeod, President & CEO of Sabina commented, The FA terms have been negotiated in good faith with a result that benefits both Sabina and all of our Nunavut stakeholders. We appreciate the considerable effort by the KIA throughout the process and are looking forward to working with the KIA upon completion of the FA to implement the initiatives contemplated by the FA. We believe the FA terms demonstrate our genuine long-term commitment to the Inuit of the Kitikmeot Region and Nunavut, and that our already strong partnerships in the region will be made stronger. The FA, when completed, would have a maximum term of 20 years and would include among others, the following key provisions and agreements: Land use licenses which would permit Sabina to conduct non-exclusive exploration work at Back River; Advanced exploration leases permitting various advanced exploration and pre-production activities at Back River; Commercial leases authorizing the development of mines and related operations and closure activities at the Goose Property; A 1% net smelter return royalty paid to the KIA on production at Back River on the properties that are subject to a commercial lease; A grant of 6.7 million Sabina shares to the KIA upon the effective date of the IIBA An IIBA setting out commitments associated with Inuit employment, training and education, Kitikmeot business opportunities, formation of an Inuit Environmental Advisory Committee and investments in community infrastructure projects with the objective of supporting regional wealth creation initiatives within Kitikmeot communities; An initial investment of $4 million in regional wealth creation initiatives in the Kitikmeot, $2 million of which could occur following execution of definitive agreements, and the remainder no later than upon a production decision, with additional payments commencing the third year following commercial production if Sabina-related employment targets are not achieved. The purpose of the regional wealth creation initiative is to create new long term operating jobs outside of the mine to expand and diversify the Kitikmeot economy; An annual payment to the KIA of up to $1 million to cover KIA's cost of implementing the FA; and Water and wildlife compensation agreements including additional payments if Sabina fails to implement caribou mitigation commitments regarding calving and post-calving periods made to the Nunavut Impact Review Board. Under the binding term sheet, the parties have agreed to negotiate in good faith towards completing the FA and the other definitive agreements contemplated in the term sheet. The transactions contemplated in the term sheet are subject to the completion of the FA and such definitive agreements. Work is ongoing on the FA and definitive agreements, which are targeted to be completed by early in 2018. The term sheet and the FA, involving the issuance of 6.7 million Sabina shares to the KIA, are subject to any necessary regulatory and Toronto Stock Exchange approval. The Kitikmeot Inuit Association The Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) was incorporated in 1976 to represent and promote the interests of the Kitikmeot Inuit. The KIA is a democratically elected not-for-profit society. KIA's mandate is to manage Kitikmeot Inuit lands and resources, and to protect and promote the social, cultural, political, environmental and economic well-being of Kitikmeot Inuit. KIA owns 92,619 Km2 of surface Inuit Owned Land in the Kitikmeot Region. The Back River Project footprint overlays several parcels of Inuit Owned Land south of Bathurst Inlet. KIA is also designated to implement many rights from the Nunavut Agreement to represent Kitikmeot Inuit related to land management, socio-economic, water, and wildlife matters that are relevant to the Back River Project. Sabina Gold & Silver Corp Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is a well-financed, emerging precious metals company with district scale, advanced, high grade gold assets in one of the worlds newest, politically stable mining jurisdictions: Nunavut, Canada. Sabina released a Feasibility Study on its 100% owned Back River Gold Project which presents a project that has been designed on a fit-for purpose basis, with the potential to produce ~200,000 ounces a year for ~11 years with a rapid payback of 2.9 years (see Technical Report for the Initial Project Feasibility Study on the Back River Gold Property, Nunavut, Canada dated October 28, 2015). At a US$1,150 gold price and a 0.80 (US$:C$) exchange rate, the Study delivers a potential after tax internal rate of return of approximately 24.2% with an initial CAPEX of $415 million. In addition to Back River, Sabina also owns a significant silver royalty on Glencores Hackett River Project. The silver royalty on Hackett Rivers silver production is comprised of 22.5% of the first 190 million ounces produced and 12.5% of all silver produced thereafter. The Company had approximately C$36.6 million in cash and equivalents on June 30, 2017, not including the $6 million flow-through financing completed in September 2017. VANCOUVER, Oct. 18, 2017 /CNW/ - Entree Resources Ltd. (TSX:ETG; NYSE American:EGI the "Company" or "Entree") is pleased to announce that Amec Foster Wheeler Americas Limited ("Amec Foster Wheeler") has completed its initial data review, and has commenced work on an updated National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "Technical Report") relating to Entree's 20% participating interest in the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi joint venture ("Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV") in Mongolia. The updated Technical Report will include: an updated reserve case for the first lift ("Lift 1") of the Hugo North Extension block cave on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property. The reserve will be based on information contained within the 2016 Oyu Tolgoi Feasibility Study finalized in May 2016 by Entree's joint venture partner Oyu Tolgoi LLC ("OTLLC"). First development production from Lift 1 on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property is expected in approximately 2021; and a Preliminary Economic Assessment of Entree's interest in both Lift 2 of the Hugo North Extension copper-gold deposit ("Lift 2") and the Heruga copper-gold-molybdenum deposit ("Heruga"). The Technical Report is expected to be completed by January 2018. Stephen Scott, Entree's President and CEO comments, "We are very excited work has commenced on the updated Technical Report, which will be a significant milestone for the Company and help investors understand the tremendous underlying value of Entree's flagship asset. Completion of the Technical Report will enable us to discuss preliminary economics for potential future phases of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, beyond Lift 1, including Lift 2 and Heruga, where a significant amount of the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV's mineralization occurs." Oyu Tolgoi Underground Project Update Entree management and representatives from Amec Foster Wheeler recently visited the Oyu Tolgoi underground development project and supporting infrastructure in Mongolia. Based on the visit and recent disclosure by Turquoise Hill Resources, Entree is pleased to confirm that the development of Shaft 4, which will be the first physical development work on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property, is scheduled to commence in 2018. Shaft 4 will provide the necessary ventilation required to support mining of the northern part of the Hugo North deposit (including Hugo North Extension on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property), which is reported to contain some of the highest-grade copper-gold mineralization in the entire Oyu Tolgoi project. Completion of Shaft 4 is expected in 2021, with first development production from Hugo North Extension Lift 1 also expected in 2021. The site visit, led by senior OTLLC team members, provided Entree management with an opportunity to tour some of the main surface infrastructure, including the concentrator and tailings facilities and to also go underground to observe some of the development work completed to date. In addition, Entree management was able to review plans with OTLLC for the immediate and medium-term future. Entree is pleased to report that project development, including both direct production and supporting infrastructure, appears to be on track and is being completed to the highest safety and operating standards. Mr. Scott continues, "The commencement of physical work on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property in 2018 is the second important milestone and will bring the Company one step closer to becoming a producing mining company in just three years, a timeframe coincident with market expectations of global copper supply moving towards a deficit position. The resources case in Turquoise Hill's most recent technical report on the Oyu Tolgoi project filed in October 2016 indicates an estimated mine life in excess of 95 years based on current estimated resources and throughput rates. In the context of world class mining projects such as Oyu Tolgoi, which often take several decades from initial discovery to first production, the time between now and first development production on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property in 2021 is extremely short." Additional near-term milestones for the project include the commissioning of Shaft 2, completion of the Oyut II Camp, commencement of work on Shafts 3 and 4, and completion of Shaft 5. QUALIFIED PERSON Robert Cinits, P.Geo., Entree's Vice President, Corporate Development, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has approved the technical information in this release. ABOUT ENTREE RESOURCES LTD. Entree Resources Ltd. is a well-funded Canadian mining company with a unique carried joint venture interest on a significant portion of one of the world's largest copper-gold projects the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. Entree has a 20% carried participating interest in the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV, with a 30% interest in all mineralization identified above 560 metres elevation on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property. Sandstorm Gold Ltd., Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. are major shareholders of Entree, holding approximately 14%, 10% and 8% of the shares of the Company, respectively. More information about Entree can be found at www.EntreeResourcesLtd.com. ABOUT THE ENTREE/OYU TOLGOI JV PROPERTY The Oyu Tolgoi project includes two separate land holdings: the Oyu Tolgoi mining licence, which is held 100% by OTLLC (66% Turquoise Hill Resources; 34% Government of Mongolia), and the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property, which is a partnership between Entree and OTLLC. Rio Tinto is managing the construction of Lift 1 of the Hugo North underground block cave on both the Oyu Tolgoi mining licence and the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property. The portion of the Hugo North copper-gold deposit that lies on the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV Property is known as Hugo North Extension. The Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property also includes the Heruga copper-gold-molybdenum deposit and a large prospective land package. The Entree/Oyu Tolgoi JV property contains approximately 14% of the measured and indicated copper equivalent* pounds and 22% of the inferred copper equivalent* pounds estimated in the Hugo North deposit, approximately 10% of all measured and indicated gold ounces and approximately 62% of all inferred gold ounces estimated in the entire Oyu Tolgoi project, and approximately 94% of the inferred copper equivalent* pounds estimated in the Heruga deposit. *Copper equivalency is calculated using assumed metal prices of US$3.01/lb Cu, US$1,250/oz Au, US$20.37/oz Ag, and US$11.90/lb Mo; metallurgical recoveries are considered in the formulae. Based on mineral resources reported in Turquoise Hill's 2016 Technical Report, "Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., Oyu Tolgoi, 2016 Oyu Tolgoi Technical Report, October 2016. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX-V:CXB) (the Company or Calibre) is pleased to report additional drilling has been initiated on the Eastern Borosi Gold Project, Nicaragua (the Project), which is being funded by Calibres JV partner IAMGOLD Corporation (IAMGOLD). In addition, an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Project, which will incorporate results from 26,000 metres of drilling in 138 drill holes completed over the last four years, is proceeding as planned. Highlights An additional 1,600 to 1,700 metres of diamond drilling in an estimated ten or eleven holes has begun and will be completed as part of an expanded 2017 exploration program. Drilling will consist of step out holes following up on previous high grade intercepts on structures not currently part of the on-going resource estimate including; Veta Loca (GP16-046) 6.31metres grading 10.26 AuEq g/t Cadillac (LS15-008) 4.10 metres grading 9.81 AuEq g/t Independent engineering firm RPA Inc. (RPA) has been contracted to complete the on-going resource update and data transfer is advancing, a site visit is scheduled for the last week of October, and the resource update remains on-schedule for completion before the end of 2017. Calibre Mining and our partners now have four drill rigs active on the Borosi projects: one diamond drill rig on the Eastern Borosi Project with IAMGOLD, two diamond drill rigs on the Siuna Gold Project with Centerra Gold and one RC rig active on Calibres 100% owned Primavera Gold-Copper Project. President and CEO Greg Smith stated: We are very pleased to be able to complete additional drilling on the Eastern Borosi Gold Project in 2017 in an expanded program and excited to be able to follow-up on the high grade intercepts on these two gold discoveries at Veta Loca and Cadillac. The updated NI 43-101 resource estimate which will include the maiden resource estimates for the newly defined zones at the Guapinol, Vancouver, Main Blag and East Dome gold-silver systems continues to advance and will be a significant step forward for the Project. Calibre is aggressively exploring the Borosi Gold-Silver-Copper Project with our partners with four drill rigs currently active on our 876 km2 property." IAMGOLD Eastern Borosi Project Drilling in Q4 2017 will consist of step out holes following up on previous high grade intercepts on structures not currently part of the on-going resource estimate. An additional 1,600 to 1,700 metres of diamond drilling in an estimated ten or eleven holes will be completed as part of an expanded 2017 exploration program. The drilling will test two high grade gold-silver discoveries specifically; 1) Veta Loca (GP16-046) which included 6.31metres grading 10.26 AuEq g/t (10.15 g/t Au and 6.9 g/t Ag) between 88.0 and 94.31m, and 2) Cadillac where drilling (LS15-008) intersected 4.10 metres grading 9.81 AuEq g/t (8.93 g/t Au and 57.4 g/t Ag) between 65.6 and 69.7m. Exploration to date on the Eastern Borosi Project has outlined several tens of kilometres of highly prospective mineralized structures located in an historic gold-silver mining district. Low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver mineralization intersected on the Eastern Borosi Project is hosted within porphyritic andesite and consists of structurally controlled, high energy quartz-carbonate vein breccias, vein-stockworks and discrete smokey quartz veins containing fine grained sulphide minerals. Targets have been defined by surface soil and rock sampling, trenching and drilling. All drilling completed by Calibre/IAMGOLD between 2014 and 2017 totaling 26,000 metres in 138 drill holes will now be incorporated into an updated NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Riscos de Oro Deposit and maiden NI-43-101 mineral resource estimates for the Guapinol, Vancouver, Main Blag, and East Dome gold-silver systems. RPA has been selected to complete the on-going resource update and data transfer has been advanced. A due diligence site visit is scheduled for the last week of October, and the resource estimate remains on-schedule for completion before the end of 2017. IAMGOLD has completed the First Option having made US$450,000 in payments to Calibre and completed US$5 million in expenditures and has vested a 51% interest in the Eastern Borosi Project. IAMGOLD has entered the Second Option with the right to earn a further 19% in the Project (by paying $450,000 and further exploration expenditures of $5 million) having paid the first installment of $150,000 and the 2017 work program continues. The total potential investment by IAMGOLD to earn a 70% interest in the Project is US$10.9 million. Calibre is committed to best practice standards for all exploration, sampling and drilling activities. Drilling was completed by independent firm Kluane Drilling Ltd. Analytical quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates into the sample strings. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to Acme Labs (a Bureau Veritas Group Company) in Managua, Nicaragua for sample preparation and then to Acme Labs in Vancouver, Canada for 50 gram gold fire assay and ICP-MS multi element analyses. The technical content in this news release was read and approved by Gregory Smith, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. About Calibre Mining Corp. Calibre owns a 100% interest in over 413 km2 of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua including the Primavera Gold-Copper Project and Santa Maria Gold Project. Additionally the Company has optioned to IAMGOLD (176 km2) and Centerra Gold (253 km2) concessions covering an aggregate area of 429 km2 and is party to a joint venture on the 33.6 km2 Rosita D gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corporation. Major shareholders of Calibre include gold producer B2Gold Corp, Pierre Lassonde and management. MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Oct. 19, 2017) - Osisko Metals Incorporated (the "Company" or "Osisko Metals") (TSX VENTURE:OM) (FRANKFURT:0B5) is pleased to announce that drilling on the Gilmour South project is underway. This maiden drill program along the Brunswick Belt is within the previously announced 50,000-meter program planned for the Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC") (see news release dated September 11, 2017). Figure 1: Osisko Metals' Brunswick Belt projects in the BMC. Deposits are listed but these resources are unclassified historical resources and not NI43-101 compliant. The Company is not treating these historical estimates as current mineral resources and they are shown for reference only. The objective of the drill program is to increase historical resources and to upgrade them to comply with NI43-101 regulations. A key part of this effort will be to investigate the potential for the thickening of the high-grade sulphide mineralization along previously unrecognized structural corridors that are typically associated to the major deposits in the BMC. The Gilmour South project hosts the "Brunswick Horizon", and is located 20km south of the former Brunswick No. 12 mine and 7 km south of the former Brunswick No. 6 Mine. These mines produced approximately 150 million tonnes of 12% zinc equivalent. Brunswick No. 12 was the largest underground zinc mine for nearly 50 years, processing 10,500 tonnes per day on average. Both mines occurred in structural corridors that enhanced the thickness and grade of the sulphide horizon. The Brunswick Horizon is present at Gilmour South over 1.4 kilometers and is characterized by sulphide mineralization, identical host-rock types and alteration associated to the Brunswick Mines stratiform zinc-lead sulphide mineralization. The historical resources are sparsely drilled leaving room to meet the stated objective. The drill program will investigate the periphery of the deposit along newly interpreted structural trends. This first phase of drilling will consist of 17 drill holes for a total of 9,500 meters. The deposit remains open on all sides. Significant previous intersections include: GS-99-22: 9.61% Zn, 1.02% Pb, 0.195 Cu, and 32.3g/t Ag / 7.30m GS-00-33: 3.35% Zn, 2.32% Pb and 6.9g/t Ag / 1.20m GS-98-14: 13.57% Zn, 7.63% Pb, 0.19% Cu, 436g/t Ag / 2.84m GS-98-12: 18.10% Zn, 11.20% Pb / 0.22m GS-00-38: 7.00% Zn, 1.30% Pb, 10.90g/t Ag / 7.30m Jeff Hussey, President and CEO of Osisko Metals, commented: "The Gilmour South area is one of the less explored portions of the highly prospective Brunswick Belt. We strongly believe that there is ample opportunity for a modern drill hole program to identify additional resources. Previous drilling was more widely spaced when the main objective was to find feed for the large Brunswick Mine's concentrator. We will be using an innovative and aggressive exploration strategy to develop resources and look forward to increasing the drill rig count in the near term on our other projects in the Bathurst Mining Camp." About Osisko Metals Osisko Metals is a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the base metal markets with an emphasis on the zinc. In 2017, the Company acquired over 50,000 hectares in the Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC"). The objective is to develop a multi-deposit asset base that would feed a central concentrator. In parallel, Osisko Metals is monitoring several base metal oriented peers for projects hosting zinc, copper, and nickel for acquisition opportunities. In Quebec, the Company acquired 42,000 hectares that cover 12 grass-root zinc targets that will be selectively advanced through exploration. Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. (TSX:OR)(NYSE:OR) and Osisko Mining Inc. (TSX:OSK) are significant shareholders of the Company. Nutrition for all: Kansas State University to help new initiative improve healthy food access for Kansans Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 The kickoff of the $4.2 million Kansas Healthy Food Initiative, which includes Kansas State University's Center for Engagement and Community Development, will be from 1-3 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Kansas Leadership Center's Town Hall, 325 E. Douglas Ave. WICHITA To help improve Kansans' access to healthy food, the Kansas Health Foundation is launching the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative Nov. 6 in Wichita. The kickoff of the $4.2 million initiative will be from 1-3 p.m. at the Kansas Leadership Center's Town Hall, 325 E. Douglas Ave. Of the $4.2 million the Kansas Health Foundation is putting toward the initiative, $866,000 is going to Kansas State University's Center for Engagement and Community Development. The center will contribute by assessing participating communities' food systems; offering information on funding for healthy food operations; assisting with addressing distribution needs in the supplier-retailer gap; analyzing and supporting marketing and policy efforts; educating Kansans on how to find, purchase, store and prepare healthy foods; and helping develop strategies for building partnerships to advance healthy food access. "Since 2007, when K-State launched the Rural Grocery Initiative, our university has been a leader in improving food access in the areas that need it most," said David Procter, director of the Center for Engagement and Community Development. "K-State's agricultural heritage, food systems expertise and world-class research facilities have firmly established the university as a leader in addressing the growing technological, educational and human resource needs of global food systems." More than 800,000 Kansans do not live within a reasonable distance of grocery stores that offer healthy, affordable food, and more than 30 percent of Kansas counties are considered food deserts, according to the Kansas Health Foundation. Food deserts are low-income areas where a substantial portion of the population live more than a mile from a grocery store in urban areas or more than 10 miles from a grocery store in rural areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Kansas is often referred to as 'the nation's breadbasket,' but our state has consistently ranked above the national average for food insecurity," Procter said. The Wichita event will be an opportunity for civic leaders, grocery owners and other food access stakeholders to network, ask questions and learn details of the initiative, including how to apply for funds, Procter said. "Individuals and families can improve their health when they have better access to healthy food," Procter said. "We believe every Kansan should have that access." In addition to Kansas State University, participating organizations include NetWork Kansas; The Food Trust of Philadelphia; and IFF, a community development financial institution. To show support for bringing greater access to healthy food for Kansans, register for the event at kansashealthyfood.org. By Donald Kirk The line-up of warplanes on display beside the runway at Seoul Air Base has got to be intimidating. The sight of the latest American F35s and F22s along with all those South Korean fighters may frighten anyone contemplating war on the Korean Peninsula. They're parked near spacious exhibition halls where manufacturers from dozens of nations show off aircraft components, and entire planes and helicopters, for potential buyers from around the world. The Seoul Air Show this week could hardly be better timed. While planes of all sorts are strutting their stuff, roaring around above spectators, about 40 U.S. and Korean warships are churning the surf off both coasts in what is ostensibly a training mission but is really a show of force. On the first day of the air show and the war games came news that Donald Trump will be in Seoul next month meeting President Moon Jae-in and addressing the National Assembly. The visit should solidify ideas and strategy while North Korea's Kim Jong-un shows no signs of compromising on his nukes and missiles. Trump will get to Seoul after a couple of days in Tokyo hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his next stop after Korea will be Beijing and another conversation with President Xi Jinping, whom he hosted at Mar-a-Lago in April. It's as though Korea were on the cusp of war or peace. Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have all said they're ready for anything, and the presence of some of the most advanced air and naval hardware in and around South Korea sends a message that Kim Jong-un is not likely to ignore. How Kim responds while Trump is courting the leaders of all the countries surrounding him is another matter. It's quite possible Trump's travels through the region, also including stops in Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, won't have the least effect on his defiance of global pressure in either the United Nations or the region. It will be interesting, though, to see if Trump makes a quick trip to Panmunjom for a first-hand look at the North Koreans across the line. That's a standard stop for high-level visitors, a chance to shake a symbolic fist at North Korea and utter a few fiery words. Or he could actually soften the rhetoric, come out with a message of goodwill and turn the occasion into a chance to lessen tensions. It's possible, with that goal in mind, to engage in a little wishful thinking. How about if Trump said he would like to meet Kim Jong-un? What if he suggested in advance that maybe he and Kim sit down for a talk at Freedom House on the line between the two Koreas? Why, they might even munch on hamburgers as Trump suggested last year during his presidential campaign. Ok, let's get serious. A Trump-Kim summit is not remotely possible. The last thing Kim is going to do is go to Panmunjom to meet the American president. Still, it's nice to imagine the possibilities. Think how simple it could be to open up the border to mail and commerce, tourism and reunions of long-lost relatives not just a reunion every now and then, depending on the whims of the North Korean leadership, but every day, every weekend. Then there's the other scenario, which is equally fanciful. The U.S. navy has a submarine off the east coast from which a "decapitation" team is said to be operating. Maybe they're acting out landings on the beach, then sneaking up to knock off their imaginary target. Probably no word, aside from Trump's threat to "totally destroy" North Korea, so enrages the North Koreans as "decapitation." It's not hard to understand why. There's an aura of make-believe, though, about the whole show. It's as if the Americans and South Koreans were staging a great circus. We don't get to see what those ships at sea are doing, but the planes that crisscross over South Korea just below the north-south line, warning Kim Jong-un, are there in all their glory this week at Seoul Air Base. Seeing them bright and shining on the tarmac, one forgets the holy hell they might inflict if Trump's summits with regional leaders do not go well and he goes for the military option. Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, has been covering war and peace in the region for decades. 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 * Mexicos national hydrocarbons commission (CNH) has granted state-owned oil company Pemex permission to drill the first exploratory well in the pre-salt area of the Gulf of Mexico. The Yaaxtaab-1 well is located 95km away from Ciudad del Carmen in the south-eastern state of Campeche. Exploring the area will pose an important technical challenge since the reserve is 7,800m below sea level and lies below of thick salt layer said the CNH via Twitter. Mexico hopes to benefit from tapping its pre-salt reserves after this type of exploration boosted oil production in countries such as Brazil and Angola. End of preview - This article contains approximately 98 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options Atlanta, GA A Medical Malpractice trial that began last month over a Georgia grandmothers bowel obstruction and subsequent death has resulted in a $6 million verdict against one doctor. Another medical negligence case found the anesthesiologist responsible for a womans death and resulted in a $22 million jury award, but the doctors attorney has asked the Georgia Supreme Court for a new trial. Ann Scoggins, age 72, died from a heart attack at Athens Regional hospital in 2014 while being treated for a suspected partial bowel obstruction caused by opioid painkillers shed been prescribed after a knee replacement surgery earlier that month. Scoggins husband, John, alleged that two doctors failed to diagnose her bowel obstruction in time to save her. Attorneys at the trial argued whether Scoggins died from medical malpractice or rare and unexpected complications.Scoggins first saw Dr. Elizabeth Smith in the ER, complaining of pain and nausea. Smith orderedwhich showed no sign of bowel obstruction and she diagnosed Scoggins with painkiller-induced constipation. Scoggins was admitted to the hospital and Dr. Daniel Moldoveanu ordered oral laxatives and an enema following abnormal blood test results and imaging that showed a likely obstruction. But after taking the liquids Scoggins aspirated during a round of vomiting, which led to her heart attack.At the trial, John Scoggins attorney told jurors that if Smith ordered a CT scan instead of an X-ray, it would have shown a bowel obstruction.reported attorney William Birds argument to the jury: Defendant Smith didnt follow the rulesShe should have followed differential diagnosis and ruled out obstruction, not just simply reached the opinion that its not very likely. Defendant lawyers said that the doctors took appropriate steps under the circumstances and that Scoggins died from a tragic, yet rare complication not reasonably foreseeable.Dr. Smiths attorney countered that she properly treated Scoggins based on available medical evidence. It is not malpractice to run with the obvious diagnosis Its not malpractice to consider the complete picture. Its not malpractice to follow where the evidence leads you, away from obstruction. Thats what happens every day.Jurors found Moldoveanu solely responsible for Scoggins death and hit him with a $6 million verdict, which included $5.5 million, the full value of a life, and $500,000 to Scoggins estate for her expenses, and pain and suffering.To opine, to err, to make a judgement call, is human. But doctors are human and there is often a fine line between a doctors medical judgement and medical malpractice. Negligence v. Medical Judgment has often been on trial (e.g., Moss v. Zaw, 2009).An anesthesiologist asked the Georgia Supreme Court on October 16, 2017 to vacate a $22 million jury award in a medical malpractice suit that found him responsible for a womans catastrophic brain injury and eventual death, according to. He says the evidence at trial did not support an additional claim for ordinary negligence.Dr. Dennis Doherty injected a steroid into patient Gwendolyn Browns back, which allegedly caused a lack of oxygen and led to a catastrophic brain injury and her death six years later. The medical negligence lawsuit also claims Doherty falsely informed emergency medical technicians and later a neurologist that the procedure was successful and that the patient had been breathing normally despite medical monitoring equipment indicating a lack of oxygen for 18 minutes. A jury awarded almost $22 million to Browns husband after determining that Doherty was 50 percent at fault, while Southeastern Pain Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC and Southeastern Pain Specialists PC were liable for the other 50 percent.Dohertys attorney, John Hall Jr., told the nine justices on appeal that the jury should not have been allowed to determine whether Doherty was liable for ordinary negligence, which does not require an expert medical opinion, because Dohertys actions were all, and that the jury made up of laypersons was improperly allowed to inject their own opinion regarding a physicians standard of care.Justice Nels S.D. Peterson asked Hall if the doctor told the subsequent health care providers that the procedure was successful to protect himself,. Hall answered that There is no evidence of lying, fault or fraud on that issue despite whats been briefedTheir evidence is from their expert, who admitted that this is a professional negligence question. Justice Peterson further said, The facts of the case say the patient was lying facedown on a table with needles in her spine when an oxygen monitoring machine indicated she might not be breathing, so how easy would it be for a layperson to know she wasnt breathing.Browns attorney said the doctors negligence is obvious and ordinary negligence applies. The Georgia high court took the matter under submissionstay tuned. SS Thistlegorm (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) A famous shipwreck and diving site in the Red Sea has been recreated on the web in virtual reality by a team of marine archaeologists and imaging specialists. The Thistlegorm Project, which went online this month, includes a highly-detailed three-dimensional model of the British freighter SS Thistlegorm, which was carrying a cargo of Allied war supplies to the Egyptian city of Alexandria when it was sunk by German bombers in 1941. The project website also features 360-degree video clips of several key locations around the wreck. [Read more about the SS Thistlegorm project] Filming the wreck (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) Simon Brown, a photogrammetric consultant with the Thistlegorm Project, made 12 dives totaling more than 13 hours underwater to shoot photographs of the giant shipwreck. Tens of thousands of photographs were needed to image the entire wreck, which covers an area of more than 28,000 square meters (301,000 square feet). 3D data (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) Brown then analyzed his photographs of the wreck using photogrammetric software, which can extract 3D data from sets of calibrated photographs. The vast amounts of 3D data from the photographs was then used to create an accurate 3D model of the wreck of the Thistlegorm where it now lies on the seafloor near the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, at a depth of around 30 meters (90 feet). 3D model (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) The finished 3D model of the Thistlegorm wreck, presented on the project website, is based on data from more than 24,000 underwater photographs. It is the largest photogrammetric survey of an underwater wreck yet undertaken. [Read more about the SS Thistlegorm project] Shipping freighter (Image credit: Albyn Line) The SS Thistlegorm was built in Sunderland in north-east England for the Albyn Line shipping company, and launched in 1940. As an armed freighter partly financed by the British government for wartime service, the Thistlegorm was equipped with an anti-aircraft gun and a heavy machine gun. War supplies (Image credit: Albert Kok) When the SS Thistlegorm was spotted by German bombers near the entrance to the Gulf of Suez on the night of October 6, 1941, it was carrying a full hold of Allied war supplies to the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The entire ship and its cargo including trucks, tanks, aircraft parts, ammunition and steam locomotives was sent to the bottom when the Thistlegorm was hit by two bombs dropped by a Heinkel bomber. Sunken cargo (Image credit: Javi Perez) The wreck of the SS Thistlegorm was rediscovered in the 1950s by the pioneering French diver Jacques Cousteau. Since the development of the nearby Egyptian town of Sharm El Sheikh as a dive resort in the 1990s, the Thistlegorm with its spectacular sunken cargo has become one of the world's most popular wreck diving sites. Joint effort (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) The Thistlegorm Project is a joint effort by archaeologists and imaging specialists from the University of Nottingham in the UK, Egypt's Alexandria University, and Ain Shams University in Cairo. Video clips (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) As well as the detailed 3D model based on the photogrammetric survey of the wreck, visitors to the Thistlegorm Project website can experience some of the sensations of diving at key locations on the wreck through several 360-degree video clips. Raising awareness (Image credit: Hagai Nativ) The project members hope that making the wonders of the Thistlegorm wreck accessible to an online audience will help to protect such sites by raising awareness of the underwater heritage of the region. [Read more about the SS Thistlegorm project] The model of the SS Thistlegorm wreck is compiled from three-dimensional survey data extracted from more than 24,000 photographs. A new online, virtual-reality experience will bring you face to face with one of the most famous shipwreck-diving sites in the world: the British freighter SS Thistlegorm. German bombers sunk the ship in 1941 near the mouth of the Gulf of Suez at the northern end of the Red Sea. At the time, the WWII merchant ship was carrying hundreds of tons of Allied war supplies including tanks, train engines, trucks and motorcycles to the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Since the 1990s, the Thistlegorm, with its spectacular sunken cargo, has become one of the most famous wreck-diving sites in the world, said Jon Henderson, a marine archaeologist at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Hundreds of people dive on the site each day, he said. [Dive Through the WWII-Era Shipwreck with 3D Virtual Reality Images] Henderson is the coordinator of the Thistlegorm Project, a virtual reality tour of the wreck that was released online Oct. 6, exactly 76 years to the day after German bombers sunk the ship. Marine archaeologist Jon Henderson enters the water above the Thistlegorm wreck in the Red Sea with a 360-degree underwater video camera. (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) The online experience combines a highly detailed 3D model of the sunken ship, based on thousands of photographs, with 360-degree underwater video of divers exploring key sections of the wreck. Henderson told Live Science that only divers would be able to directly see most of the world's underwater heritage sites. But with virtual reality technology, the wider public can now experience the shipwreck. "There are something like 6 million divers in the world, so less than 0.1 percent of the world's population ever gets access to these sites," he said. "But we're now at the point where we've got technology where we can reconstruct them in photo-realistic detail, and we can now create models that people can explore and interact with on their mobile phones or in their homes." Sunken treasures A team of divers and archaeologists from the University of Nottingham and Egypt's Alexandria University spent five days moored above the Thistlegorm wreck, west of the tip of the Sinai Peninsula and about 18 miles (30 kilometers) by sea from the Egyptian dive resort of Sharm El Sheikh. The team's photogrammetry specialist, Simon Brown, made 12 dives to the Thistlegorm wreck in that time, totaling more than 13 hours underwater, Henderson said. In those dives, Brown gathered thousands of photographs using a conventional Nikon camera fitted with a 6mm fish-eye lens. The camera and two strobe lights were mounted on an underwater scooter, so Brown could cover more ground during his dives. Underwater photogrammetry specialist Simon Brown spent more than 13 hours underwater shooting photographs for the model of the wreck. (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) Brown later processed and combined images of the shipwreck with photogrammetric software, which can extract 3D data from sets of 2D photographs. The result was the highly detailed 3D model of the giant wreck, based on 24,307 photographic images the largest photogrammetric survey yet made of a shipwreck, covering an area of about 7 acres (28,300 square meters), Henderson said. While Brown shot the photographs for the 3D model, Henderson focused on recording 360-degree video of key points on the wreck. Henderson said he had been inspired to apply the technology to a wreck after seeing 360-degree underwater video of a coral reef at a conference earlier this year. "I just thought, 'This would be amazing on a shipwreck,' because the 360-degree video, for me, is the closest you can come to actually diving," he said. The detailed 3D model of the giant wreck is the result of the largest photogrammetric survey of a shipwreck yet made (Image credit: Thistlegorm Project) The researchers secured a grant from the Newton Fund in the United Kingdom for a knowledge-sharing program involving the University of Nottingham, Alexandria University and Ain Shams University in Cairo, which houses a virtual-reality laboratory. Next, the researchers chose the Thistlegorm wreck for a public-outreach project because of its well-deserved fame as a dive site, Henderson said. "It's an absolutely amazing wreck to dive," he said. "There's the cargo Bedford trucks, armored vehicles, motorcycles, Bren guns, ammunition, aircraft parts and the massive steam locomotives on the decks themselves. Every time you dive on it, you find something else." Popular wonder The popularity of the wreck has come at a cost. Since the development of nearby Sharm El Sheikh as a diving center in the 1990s, the Thistlegorm has suffered damage from dive boats mooring directly onto the wreck and from souveniring done by some insensitive divers, Henderson said. [In Photos: WWII-Era Shipwrecks Illegally Plundered in Java Sea] Although Egypt joined the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Heritage in September, that convention protects only shipwrecks that are more than 100 years old. So, many World War I and all World War II wrecks in the Red Sea are not covered, Henderson said. "What we hope this website will do is help to monitor what is going on," he said. "One of the basic things for finding out how sites have been damaged is to carry out a baseline survey such as this, and then we can start to chart changes over time." Showing the wonders of the Thistlegorm to a wider audience would also benefit other wrecks and submerged archaeological sites in the region, he said. "The Red Sea is an amazing resource, but we don't know what's actually in there there has never been an official survey carried out," Henderson said. "I think once people know about this heritage, then hopefully they will start to care about it, and that will increase the level of protection, particularly for wrecks like the Thistlegorm. Original article on Live Science. Want to teach an old dog new tricks? Try letting your pet take a nap. New research finds that dogs consolidate new memories in sleep, just like humans do. The study used electroencephalography (EEG), a technique that measures electrical activity in the brain via the scalp, to track snoozing dogs' brain activity. Similar to humans, the dogs showed short bursts of activity, called sleep spindles, during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep. Also as in humans, the frequency of these sleep spindles was linked to how well a dog retained new information it had learned before its nap. "It's the first time that we can actually show this in a dog," said study co-author Ivaylo Iotchev, a doctoral student at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. [20 Weird Dog and Cat Behaviors Explained by Science] Sleep spindles Most in-depth sleep research, Iotchev said, has focused on humans and rodents, specifically mice and rats. Seeing the parallels between dog sleep and human sleep is interesting, he told Live Science, because dogs are actually more distantly related to humans than mice are, evolutionarily speaking. Sleep spindles are also an interesting area of research because they're related to learning and memory, Iotchev said. Sleep spindles are bursts of electrical activity in the brain that last about half a second, with a frequency of about 12 to 14 hertz in humans. These bursts block information from the thalamus, a chunk of gray matter in the forebrain that acts to relay sensory information, from reaching the cortex for more sophisticated processing. "When sleep spindles happen, the brain is being shielded from outside information," Iotchev said, "which is very important for memory consolidation, because when you want to remember something, you don't want it to mix with outside information." [5 Interesting Facts About Sleep] Researchers monitored brain activity of dogs as they slept. (Image credit: Zsofia Bognar and Eniko Kubinyi) Not much is known about this process in dogs, even though dogs are sometimes used as medical models for human brain disease, especially epilepsy. Until now, Iotchev said, dog EEG research focused mostly on whole-brain activity, like the transition from sleep to wakefulness. But sleep spindles specifically change with age, so understanding them can both help to improve veterinary medicine in elderly dogs and possibly reveal how similar the process of aging in dog brains is to that in human brains, Iotchev said. New tricks To examine sleep spindles in dogs, the researchers asked 15 dog owners to bring their pooches in for three separate sessions. The dogs represented a variety of breeds, ranging from mutt, to Labrador retriever, to miniature schnauzer. All of the dogs first took a snooze while researchers recorded the canines' baseline brain activity with EEG. Next, the dogs were randomly assigned to practice commands they already knew in Hungarian or to learn those same actions but with unfamiliar English words ("sit" and "lie down"). Seven of the dogs did the practice task in Hungarian first and then the new training in English. The eight completed the activities in the opposite order. [Like Dog, Like Owner: What Breeds Say About Personality] To track a snoozing dog's brain activity, researchers attached electroencephalography (EEG) wiring to their scalps. (Image credit: Zsofia Bognar and Eniko Kubinyi) After each session, whether in Hungarian or English, the dogs got the chance to zonk out while the researchers recorded their brain activity. Linking the pattern of brain waves to actual learning was a key part of the study, Iotchev said, so after the nap, the dogs learning English commands did another session to show how well they'd retained the training. Sleep spindles, the researchers found, look much the same in dogs as they do in humans. They're twice as frequent in female dogs as in male dogs, which matches the pattern seen in humans: Women have more sleep spindles than men thanks to the influence of sex hormones, Iotchev said. Dogs with more frequent sleep spindles during a snooze session also proved to be better learners than dogs with less frequent sleep spindles, the researchers found. Again, this result tracks with findings in humans and rodents. People with depression have more frequent sleep spindles than average, Iotchev said, and people with schizophrenia have less. Thus, these activity bursts may provide a window into the similarities in brain dysfunction between dogs and humans. For example, some researchers use dogs to try to understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Iotchev said. If humans with ADHD have atypical sleep spindles (and some research indicates they may), researchers would want to look to see if dogs show the same sort of aberrations. If they do, it would indicate that some of the same brain processes underlie ADHD in both humans and dogs. If they don't, dogs might not be the best models for that disorder. Iotchev and his team are especially focused on relating their findings to aging. "The next step is, we will look at a huge sample of dogs to see how sleep spindles change with age," he said. The researchers published their findings Oct. 11 in the open-access journal Scientific Reports (opens in new tab). Original article on Live Science. People in California no longer need to decide between being buried or cremated when they die. On Oct. 15, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will allow for new option called "water cremation." Water cremation, or "alkaline hydrolysis," is said to be a more eco-friendly option for handling end-of-life remains. Because nothing is burned during the procedure, no toxic gases or air pollutants are produced, according to the Mayo Clinic, which uses the procedure in their anatomy department in Rochester, Minnesota. To "water cremate" remains, the body is placed in a pressurized steel chamber filled with an alkaline solution that's 95 percent water and 5 percent potassium hydroxide, according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota. The chamber is then heated to around 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius), significantly lower than the 1,600 to 1,800 degrees F (871 to 982 degrees C) needed to cremate a body in fire, the Funeral Consumers Alliance says. Though the process might seem grotesque, it's similar to the natural processes that occur in the body after death, the Mayo Clinic says. Water cremation converts the body's tissues and cells into a watery solution of molecules in other words, it dissolves the body leaving behind just the bones. The combination of the alkaline solution, pressure and heat speeds up what could take more than two decades to occur naturally after a body is buried, the Funeral Consumers Alliance says. After the body has been dissolved, the remaining bones are crushed into ash and returned to the family, much like the remains are returned after cremation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Matt Baskerville, an Illinois funeral director, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the consistency of these ashes is akin to that of ivory-colored powdered sugar, as opposed to the dense and coarse texture of ashes recovered after a flame cremation. The California bill will go into effect in 2020. Currently, 14 other states have legalized water cremation, according to the New York Post. Originally published on Live Science. Local News, Crime, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: October 19 2017 Juan Galarza Led Crime Ring That Stole Over $100,000 In High-End Motorbikes And Distributed Heroin; Defendant Will Be Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison. New York, NY - October 19, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today the guilty plea of Juan Galarza, who led a criminal network out of New York, Queens, and Bronx counties. Todays guilty plea in Bronx Supreme Court follows a two-year investigation conducted by the Attorney Generals Organized Crime Task Force and the New York Police Departments Auto Crime Division, involving the dismantling of high-end motorcycles for shipment to the Dominican Republic. The investigation was dubbed Operation Steal Horses after police were tipped off to the stolen motorcycle thefts being committed by a group of individuals referred to as a Steal Crew by investigators. During the investigation, law enforcement officials outfitted a storage unit with covert cameras to capture the defendants illicit activities. The resulting indictments charged 11 defendants for their involvement in heroin sales and with possessing over $100,000 worth of stolen motor vehicles. Galarza, 36, of Bronx County was the ringleader of this conspiracy. Galarza is scheduled to be sentenced to 7 years in prison with 5 years of post-release supervision on November 28, 2017, by the Honorable Steven L. Barrett of Bronx County Supreme Court. We have zero tolerance for crime whether its stealing motorcycles or selling drugs and wont hesitate to act to protect New Yorkers. Well continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to bring these criminals to justice, said Attorney General Schneiderman. Galarza pleaded guilty to the A-II felony, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, for his role in selling heroin to an undercover police officer. Galarza also pleaded guilty to the D felony, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Third Degree. Members of the Steal Crew allegedly worked by canvassing the city for in demand motorcycles, such as Ducatis, which they would break the steering columns off and then lift them off of the street and into a van for transport. Defendants would dismantle the motorcycles into parts and package them for shipment. Local News, Crime, National & World News By Long Island News & PR Published: October 19 2017 Brief Says 2nd Amendment Leaves States Room To Implement Reasonable Firearm Regulations. New York, NY - October 19, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that a coalition of 13 Attorneys General filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to uphold a California ban on the possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines for guns. The brief urges the court to overturn a lower courts order preliminarily enjoining the law, and argues that nothing about the Second Amendment, under Supreme Court precedent, prevents states and the District of Columbia from enacting reasonable gun regulations. Common sense gun laws are vital to keeping families safe and states have every right to enact them to protect their communities, said Attorney General Schneiderman. Well continue to do what it takes to keep New Yorkers safe from gun violence through our comprehensive approach. The California law bans magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. These large-capacity magazines, or LCMs, are disproportionally used by mass shooters to kill and injure large numbers of people quickly, including law enforcement officers. Both common sense and empirical evidence suggest that prohibiting LCMs will reduce the number of crimes in which LCMs are used and reduce the lethality and devastation of gun crime when it does occur, the brief notes. At the same time, there is no proof that LCMs are necessaryor even commonly usedfor self-defense. The brief, available here , underscores that whatever policy judgment an individual state may make, Supreme Court precedent supports a states ability to experiment with and reform gun laws. In dismissing Californias reliance on the empirical and anecdotal evidence before it, the court below applied a cramped and overly demanding standard of what constitutes substantial evidence and eliminated the deference to which Californias predictive judgments are entitled, the brief says. Tech & Science, Nature & Weather, Local News By Long Island News & PR Published: October 19 2017 55 and over community hosts National Grids first installation NYSERDA launches additional projects throughout Long Island. Long Island, NY - October 19, 2017 - National Grid and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced two demonstration projects that will provide clean heating and cooling systems (geothermal) to Long Island residents. National Grid New York President Ken Daly and NYSERDA President and CEO Alicia Barton attended the ribbon-cutting of National Grids innovative demonstration project that will provide cost-effective, renewable clean heating and cooling technology to ten residents in Glenwood Village, a 55 and over community. At the same time, NYSERDA announced the first five of 35 sites on Long Island that will receive heating and cooling systems under the States own demonstration project. National Grid and NYSERDA will collaborate on collecting performance data and analyzing the information for all installations. Currently, fossil-fuel based thermal energy primarily natural gas (which is the cleanest fossil fuel), propane and oil is the main energy source for space heating and domestic hot water in the residential and commercial sectors. It is responsible for about one-third of New Yorks energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Clean heating and cooling technologies such as ground source heat pumps and solar hot water provide environmental benefits, energy bill savings, increased comfort levels and health benefits compared to conventional heating and cooling technologies Increasing the use of clean heating and cooling systems will play a major role in achieving Governor Andrew M. Cuomos clean energy goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030. As a large energy company right here on Long Island, we believe we can help facilitate the development and adoption of geothermal heating and cooling systems, Mr. Daly said. This is an investment in the future of clean energy and the future of our customers not only on Long Island, but across New York State. We have always provided customers with clean natural gas, and are now demonstrating the opportunity to provide customers who currently live beyond our gas distribution network with another clean, reliable low-cost heating and cooling alternative in the future. Ms. Barton said, National Grids demonstration project is a great example of how utilities are providing support for new clean energy technologies that can provide energy bill savings, increased comfort levels and a cleaner, healthier environment. NYSERDA is pleased to build on this momentum across Long Island with the States demonstration projects and to partner with National Grid to demonstrate the performance of heating and cooling technologies that will support the Governors goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. National Grid Demonstration Project Glenwood Village is part of an innovative three-year Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) demonstration project that is bringing heating and cooling to ten customers. National Grid installed a shared system (community loop field system) providing heating and cooling to all ten homes. Previously, these customers did not have a cost-effective way to benefit from natural gas heat due to their location being too far away from National Grid gas distribution pipelines. They currently heat their homes with propane and cool their homes using electric air conditioning units. The goal of the project is to gather detailed data on cost, effectiveness and customer satisfaction and ultimately determine, in collaboration with the New York State Public Service Commission and NYSERDA, whether the project can be replicated on a larger scale. The project is an outgrowth of National Grids rate case approval last year and supports Governor Cuomos REV strategy. NYSERDAs Long Island Installations NYSERDA will install 35 clean heating and cooling systems throughout Long Island, with five locations identified to date. The remaining sites will be selected in the upcoming months. The installations will be performed by Applied Energy Group, with financial incentives provided directly from PSEG Long Islands Cool Homes & Home Performance with Energy Star rebate programs. The PSEG Long Island Cool Homes program provides incentives for residential cooling systems, including geothermal heat pumps. For customers outside Long Island, NYSERDA has up to $15 million available in rebates for the installation of ground source heat pump systems (a type of clean heating and cooling technology) for residences, businesses and institutions. Rebates are available to qualified installers for two years or until all funds have been exhausted. The total amount of the rebate will be deducted from the total cost of the system, thereby passing the savings along directly to consumers. The funding opportunity followed the release of the States Renewable Heating and Cooling Policy Framework , which outlined various options to jump start the clean heating and cooling industry and stimulate the clean energy economy. When the Public Service Commission ordered this pilot program last December, it directed the companies to explore the use of geothermal technologies to avoid the need for additional gas pipeline infrastructure and reduce gas consumption, said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. This pilot program is an important step in furthering the states policy goals of encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy while increasing cost-effective technologies and affordability. Michael Voltz, director of energy efficiency and renewables for PSEG Long Island said, PSEG Long Island provides extensive support for the installation of geothermal heat pumps, delivering more than $1.3 million in rebates for the installation of 611 systems since 2014. These clean-energy systems provide savings for customers while reducing consumption of fossil fuels. Brian Stark, owner of Glenwood Village said, "This is like winning the lottery! By offering our residents cutting edge geothermal technology, they'll be able to cost effectively heat and cool their homes and be less dependent on fossil fuels, which means less trucks in our community ... it's a real win-win." Bill Nowak, Executive Director, NY-GEO said, NY-GEO is excited that National Grid is embracing geothermal heating and cooling for this project. We believe geothermal is the best way to save money for National Grids customers while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the same time." Marcia Bystryn, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters said, Getting to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and reaching our ambitious renewable energy generation goals will require innovation and also collaboration between government and the private sector. We are pleased to see National Grid moving ahead with this Reforming the Energy Vision Demo project to create a geothermal heating and cooling system at a 55 and over community in Riverhead. Ground source heat pumps provide space heating and cooling, and, in some cases, hot water for residential and commercial buildings. The technology uses an indoor heat pump unit and a heat exchanging ground loop buried underground (or underwater) to transfer thermal energy between and amongst the ground and the building. The variation in subsurface and/or groundwater temperatures remains constant across seasonstypically around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. About National Grid National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE: NGG) is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company that supplies the energy for more than 20 million people through its networks in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. National Grid also operates systems that deliver gas and electricity across Great Britain. National Grid is transforming its electricity and natural gas networks to support the 21st century digital economy with smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions. Read more about the innovative projects happening across our footprint in The Democratization of Energy , an eBook written by National Grids US president, Dean Seavers. For more information please visit our website: www.nationalgridus.com . You can also follow us on Twitter, watch us on YouTube , friend us on Facebook and find our photos on Instagram About NYSERDA Local News, National & World News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness By Long Island News & PR Published: October 19 2017 Lt. Katherine Biggs, an emergency medicine physician resident, has embarked on the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort to Puerto Rico. Port Jefferson Station, NY - October 19, 2017 - Five emergency medicine (EM) physician residents from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) embarked on the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) in support of relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, as part of their residency training. Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Perry, Lt. Katherine Biggs , Lt. Jason Hardwick, Lt. Andrew Loomis and Lt. Sean Murnan, EM residents from NMCP, work in the casualty receiving area (CASREC) aboard Comfort. Comfort was to receive four staff emergency physicians from Navy Medicine East when the ship was activated. Cmdr. John Devlin, the residency program director at NMCP, and the medical director of casualty receiving aboard Comfort, presented the idea to take two staff physicians and five residents, giving more physician manpower and allowing residents hands-on learning by executing the mission. The five are senior residents, whove been through four years of medical school, an internship, are in their third residency year and are only nine months away from graduating. I say its win-win, said Devlin. The people of Puerto Rico are getting more emergency medicine physician manpower than they would have had, had we gone with the original plan. And from the resident standpoint and the Navys standpoint, we are getting five junior physicians that, for their entire career, will have this experience base to carry forward to apply to missions in the future. Physicians in residency typically do not deploy. Here, we are coming out and doing medicine in a world thats not at our own institution in response to a natural disaster, and that opportunity just does not happen, said Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Perry, an EM resident from NMCP. Residents from NMCP embarked on Comfort in the past for Continuing Promise 2015. They came to provide primary care and humanitarian relief ashore. While [Continuing Promise] is a really great mission to be a part of, said Lt. Sean Murnan, an EM resident from NMCP, as emergency medicine residents-in-training, the ideal setting is to work in a place that allows us to respond to situations that receive different emergency patients, and to run an actual emergency room. Physicians in residency programs, in both the military and civilian sector, already have the infrastructure of an emergency room in place for them in the hospital. They rarely get a chance to oversee what goes into setting up an emergency room until theyre on the operational side, after graduating. The five residents on Comfort configured CASREC by combining existing standard operating proceduresthose for humanitarian assistance and combat-trauma mass casualty response. The mass casualty operating procedure is geared for support of combat operations during time of war, and humanitarian procedure is geared to support missions similar to Continuing Promise. All of us had an individual role, said Murnan. All we had to do was kind of mesh those two together and create a plan that could receive a blend of the sickest patients around the island, which is what were tending to receive. With the help of the Sea Knights of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22, another opportunity thats offered aboard Comfort is the chance for EM residents to personally medevac intensive care patients, with two physicians per patient treating them in the air. We offer a level of critical care in the air that the military system doesnt normally provide, said Perry. Typically, for military air ambulances, its 20-year-old marines or soldiers who have traumatic injuries. Flying chronically ill, very sick patients in theirs 80s and 90s is not something you ever do in a Navy helicopter. So its a little unique here. Perry is one of only two aeromedical dual-designated physician aviators in the Navy, having designations both as a doctor and a pilot. Aboard Comfort, hes in the tower helping coordinate the en route care medevac system. Its like the perfect scenario for us, said Murnan. Were actually able to take on these tasks individually, and come together and build this department, and then see how well it does. And so far, everythings been pretty smooth. Tech & Science, School & Education, Local News By Long Island News & PR Published: October 19 2017 Far Rockaway students strengthen college potential as utility looks for future engineers. PSEG Long Island President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Eichhorn enjoyed meeting the students taking the new STEM curriculum designed in partnership between the utility and the Queens High School for Information Research and Technology. Uniondale, NY - October 19, 2017 - An exciting educational partnership between An exciting educational partnership between PSEG Long Island and a Far Rockaway high school kicked off on Monday, one that may offer real benefits to both students and the utility. PSEG Long Island President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Eichhorn visited the Queens High School for Information, Research and Technology (QIRT) on Monday, Oct. 16, to meet the first class of students to take a full year of a STEM curriculum developed through a partnership between the school and the utility. From Oct. 17 through the end of the school year, PSEG Long Island employees will visit the school roughly twice a week to teach the students everything from the fundamentals of electrical theory to the leadership skills they will need to excel in college and the workplace. While the students gain access to a network of professionals they might not otherwise have had in their community, PSEG Long Island hopes to find its next generation of engineers and line workers by offering field trips, providing support during college application season, and offering college internships to qualified candidates. This all springs from PSEG Long Islands commitment to community involvement, Eichhorn said. We are working to strengthen the electrical infrastructure, but also to contribute to the places where our customers live and work. This partnership with QIRT was a perfect fit. We are excited to help these young people achieve their goals and I hope that someday I see some of these same faces as I walk through the halls of our offices. Located in Far Rockaway, QIRT has made significant strides in improving the graduation rate of its student body. QIRT strives to prepare its students for success in college and beyond through technology, community and parent partnerships, and enrichment activities, said QIRT principal Carl Manalo. I believe that many students dont truly know what they want to do until they actually hear someone talk about it. And for students growing up in underserved communities, this may be the first time they get that kind of firsthand exposure to the engineering profession. PSEG Long Island was pleased to have City Council Member Donovan Richards in attendance for the Oct. 16 event to show support for this collaboration and to encourage students to pursue careers in engineering and play a role in the ongoing development of the Rockaways. Over the years, too many students in the Rockaways have graduated and entered the real world without the necessary skills to find good-paying, stable jobs, said Council Member Richards. Now, with a full year of STEM, todays students at QIRT will have the tools to be our future engineers. Id like to thank PSEG Long Island for their dedication and commitment to the youth in our communities. MedTech Strategist working together with The Medical Alley Association for the very first time brought their premier innovation summit to Minnesota, a place now considered by many to be the global epicenter of health innovation and care. Over the two-day long event more than 35 start-up and emerging medical companies presented their technologies and devices to representatives of leading venture capitalist and investment banks, and also to large medical device companies. Considering that funding is of major importance to the field of medical innovation, this event gave both investors and entrepreneurs a chance to explore funding and investment opportunities in addition to ways of structuring partnerships. Kicking off the summit was Dr. William Cohn, a prominent figure in medical innovation. Dr. Cohn delivered a very inspiring presentation on how to foster a culture of medical device innovation. He talked about his journey as an innovator and shared some of the lessons he learned through his twenty plus year career in medical innovation. Dr. Cohn ended his talk by sharing some pictures of what would be the Center for Device Innovation by J&J in Houston, Texas. The facility is more than 25,000 square feet of workspace equipped with state of the art machinery and tools for innovators to use. Dr. Cohn, who was named as the director of the Center of Device Innovation, described it as a dream environment to innovate. The center is expected to open its doors this November. Following Dr.Cohns motivational speech, which managed to charge the attendees and put them in the right mindset, each of the start-up companies was given ten minutes to take on the stage and to try to persuade investors to join their quest. There were many promising start-ups who participated in the summit, but we will list only some of the companies that we found to be particularly interesting. Mardil Medicals flagship product is the VenTouch system, a unique, category re-defining approach to treating functional mitral regurgitation by simultaneously treating the distorted ventricle and the dilated (but otherwise healthy) valve. Its not a replacement for a diseased valve, as is the case with many new innovations in mitral replacement and repair. VenTouch instead is a pressure pouch that is implanted around the dilated, dysfunctional ventricle and that uses inflatable chambers to correct anatomical positions of the displaced papillary muscles to return the valve leaflets to a normalized position. During this event, Jim Buck, President and CEO of Mardil Medical, presented their second generation of VenTouch to which the company added a second inflatable chamber to directly address the ventricular displacement of the papillary muscle, the root cause mechanism in functional mitral regurgitation. Peytant Solutions (Plymouth, Minnesota) presented the first ever stent that is fully covered with amnion. Studies have shown that all stents implanted in the body are interpreted as foreign by the immune system, with a certain degree of body reaction and rejection. This might lead to complications, such as infection, restenosis, thrombosis, etc. It is established that amnion, a natural and renewable component, plays a role in protecting the fetus from being recognized as a foreign body and rejected by the mothers immune system. Amnion is also known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring capabilities. So, by covering a stent with amnion, Peytant Solutions hopes to tackle the issue of foreign body reaction. Peytant Solutions first stent, AMStent, is a tracheobronchial stent for palliative care. Patrona Medical (Greenville, South Carolina) showed off their product, Foley Garde, a new Foley catheter that can detect urinary tract infections as soon as possible. Foley Garde catheter is equipped with a disposable sensor, which is designed to change color if nitrite and leukocytes (infection markers) are detected in the urine. Subsequently, a sensor will pick up the color changes and transmit an electronic message to the medical staff to alert them of the infection. This would give the medical team a chance to intervene and remove the catheter before further complications occur. Foley Garde has both a standard mode and wireless mode, and the system is also able to monitor patients urinary flow, electronically measure urinary output, and prevent retrograde contamination. Given the fact that catheter associated urinary tract infections are some of the most common hospital acquired infections in the United States Foley Garde, could have a huge impact on healthcare said James Conner, CEO of Patrona Medical. The company will start their first in-human study in March of 2018. Impleo Medical (Saint Paul, Minnesota) presented an innovative way to treat Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), a condition that affects one in four adult Americans (nearly 65 million people in the US alone). The first line of treatment for GERD usually includes heartburn drugs called Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs). Studies have shown that chronic use of PPIs could increase the risk of heart attack, dementia, chronic kidney disease, and early death, and many patients still have symptoms despite PPIs. said Juliana Elstad, President and CEO of Impleo Medical. Impleo Medicals technology uses an injectable material composed of tiny carbon beads in a gel. This material is nonreactive and cannot be absorbed. Its injected into the lower esophagus in a one-time procedure during GI endoscopy with no hospital stay. It creates a barrier for stomach acid to flow back into the esophagus. Impleo Medical is starting a NECTAR trial conducted by gastroenterologists in multiple centers in the U.S., upon completion of which the company plans to submit for FDA approval. Cerevasc (Boston, Massachusetts) touted their product called eShunt, a new treatment option for communicating hydrocephalus. The traditional treatment for communicating hydrocephalus is a burdensome and invasive surgery called ventriculo-peritoneal shunt (VPS) placement. To complete this procedure, the surgeon performs a craniotomy to access the brain ventricles and connect it via a tube to the peritoneal cavity. Nearly 50% of these devices will fail within two years of implanting due to infection, device failure, etc. eShunt uses a completely different approach that mimics the natural system in a healthy individual, where cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is reabsorbed into the venous system. eShunt is a one way valve implanted in the subarachnoid space to regulate CSF flow from the ventricles to the venous system. This valve is implanted by a minimally invasive procedure using a catheter inserted via the percutaneous femoral venous approach under X-ray guidance to reach the inferior petrosal sinus (IPS). We believe our eShunt system represents a truly disruptive approach in the standard of care for treating communicating hydrocephalus, said Aaron Levangie, General Manager of Cerevasc. The company is currently working on launching studies to submit for FDA approval. Isomark (Madison, Wisconsin) presented their technology, also called the Canary, which looks at specific markers in exhaled breath to detect infections. Joe Kremer, CEO of Isomark noted, We are working to make breath the next vital sign. Isomark is a non-invasive test where a patient simply blows into a disposable bag. This bag is then plugged into a device that is able to measure the ratio of carbon isotopes in exhaled breath and detect any infection presymptomatically. It also monitors a patients response to treatment, and tracks the progression of an infection. Isomark wants to give health workers a tool to treat their patients early, while avoiding antibiotic overprescribing, which could create antibiotic resistant organisms. The company will be launching their regulatory studies later this fall, and it is expected that it will take up to eight months to complete. Woven Orthopedic Technologies (Manchester, Connecticut) showed off OGmend, the first technology specifically designed to help surgeons achieve screw fixation when operating in patients with compromised bone by focusing on the screw-to-bone interface. Wovens OGmend device is made of Dacron and is inserted into the bone before driving an ordinary screw during internal fixation. This technology is designed specifically for fracture repair surgeries in compromised bone, such as bones in the elderly. OGmend works similarly to anchors used by carpenters when placing screws in a wall to prevent them from loosening and/or falling out. If screws loosen or fall out in patients, this could mean going back to the operating room for a revision procedure. OGmend works by increasing the surface area of contact between the bone and screw, and distributing load transfer, among other things. It also prevents the loss of screw engagement over time by creating an environment conducive to bone healing and remodeling. Wovens OGmend is already in use in New Zealand and Australia. The company filed for FDA approval last year and is hoping to get it by the end of the year. FemPulse (Mahtomedi, Minnesota) presented FemPulse, a vaginal ring that utilizes neuromodulation to treat overactive bladder (OAB). The American Urological Association (AUA) OAB guideline literature review concludes that OAB prevalence ranges from between 9% to 43% in women. In short, OAB affects over 15 million women in the US and about 300 million women worldwide. The available treatment options range from medications, with limited efficacy and various side effects, to more effective yet invasive treatment options, such as sacral implants. These involve electrical leads implanted through a naturally occurring hole in the lower spine over a nerve root that influences bladder control. FemPulse technology provides a self-retained neuromodulation device that is vaginally inserted, and fits around a womans cervix to directly stimulate the nerves that control the sensation and function of the bladder. Fempulse is accessible, affordable, discrete, and easy to use, concludes Don Deyo, CEO of Fempulse The goal is to provide women with OAB a treatment option that has the benefits of continuous neuromodulation while avoiding surgery and implants. Oculogica (New York, New York), a neurodiagnostic company, discussed EyeBOX, a noninvasive, objective diagnostic test for TBI and concussion. Concussion is one of the greatest challenges of our lives. It is the number one cause of death and disability under the age of 35 Said Rosina Samadani, CEO of Oculogica. When you walk into the ER and you have had a heart attack or chest pain, you get five quantitative tests. If you walk in with a head injury, you get one test that hasnt changed in three decades. It is called follow my finger. We at Oculogica think we can do better. EyeBOX plays a four-minute film clip in front of the patient while tracking eye movements to measure how well the cranial nerves are functioning. There is no baseline test, so the test cant be gamed. EyeBOX is also able to detect elevated intracranial pressure, which could result in sudden death. The Medical Alley Innovation Summit included a number of panel discussions on todays startup climate, provided attendees with a unique perspective on funding options for medical innovation, and gave recommendations for how to push the industry forward. Participants also enjoyed ample networking opportunities, and the conference organizers received an abundance of positive feedback. Consequently, MedTech Strategist and the Medical Alley Association decided to add Minnesota to their list of annual stops. They will later release the date for the next Summit, but it will most likely take place next fall. Link: The Medical Alley Innovation Summit by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 18, 2017 You probably wont be surprised to learn that Utah has an office (currently unfilled) for a state porn czar. The job it is to keep smut from the eyes of children, or otherwise infiltrate the lives of upstanding citizens. However, you may be surprised to learn that the definition of pornography advanced by at least one local politician includes Cosmopolitan. Yes, the popular womens magazine famed for its naughty quizzes and moderately salacious sex tips, is a prurient menace to the children of Utah, as well as right-thinking adults, according to state senator Todd Weiler. He wants to dust off the office of porn czar, presently defunct, in order to tackle the giggly glossy. This, despite the fact the magazine has never featured, you know, actual nudity. Weiler previously proposed mandatory porn-screening software on all smartphones operating in the state. In 2016, he authored a bill declaring porn a public health crisis. Now, he is urging Utah to fill the office of Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman, which was allowed to fall into desuetude in 2003 after making Utah into a national laughingstock. advertisement advertisement According to Weiler, the office of porn czar should be filled to offer guidance to retailers on the fine points of selling magazines that mention S-E-X, including Cosmo. Per The Salt Lake Tribune, which first reported the news with some incredulity, Weiler became convinced that the obscenity and pornography complaints office may be needed because of an ad campaign attacking Cosmopolitan magazine as illegal porn. This refers to an ongoing campaign by Hearst heiress Victoria Hearst, founder of Praise Him Ministries, who has turned on the family business because of the obscenity featured in its flagship womens magazine, which she says should be illegal for sale to anyone under the age of 21. Weiler, the chairman of the Utah state senates judiciary committee, tells the SLT: I've received some complaints...that stores are selling Cosmo at eye level to a child. Worse yet, there's no blinder rack on it, even though we have some blinder rack language in the state code. Under Utahs Material Harmful to Minors law, retailers are prohibited from prominently displaying any item that presents any description or representation, in whatsoever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse when it: "taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex of minors; is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and taken as a whole, does not have serious value for minors. The proposal has met opposition from none other than the Utah attorney general, who is recommending that state legislators jettison the position of porn czar altogether. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, October 18, 2017 Google has created technology that automatically updates price and availability in Google Shopping ads that will allow it to complete better with Amazon and other ecommerce marketplaces. The "automatic item updates" feature, scheduled to launch October 31, will allow Google to automatically update a merchant's product price and availability in a Google Shopping ad based on the advertiser's website listing and other triggers without placing codes containing the schema.org markup that was previously required. A combination of statistical models and machine learning detect and extract product data from a retailer's website to update a product's price and availability in shopping ads. "The worst thing for a consumer is to see one price in a Google Shopping ad and then other price on the merchant's website," said Tien Nguyen, founder at CPC Strategy. advertisement advertisement Two emails sent from Google to merchants earlier this week describing the feature, "automatic item updates," left retail clients using Google Shopping a little confused. On Tuesday, search agencies began getting a flood of emails and calls asking about the change. The first email from Google was sent to merchants that are not currently using automatic item updates, and the second email was sent to merchants currently using it. Beginning at the end of the month, the feature will turn on by default, but merchants can opt-out. Google developed the technology to look for and identify coded signals on a website page that would determine price and availability. This way merchants are not required to have the Schema.org markup in place to function properly. The feature isn't new, but the ability to trigger it without the Schema.org markup in place is new. Nguyen said sometimes Google will reject the Shopping ad if it doesn't match the merchants' price and description on the webpage. Then the ad never serves at all. The most current price and availability for the products will be determined by "structured data annotations" or additional information when structured data isn't available. "Its not anything to be alarmed about, but it cant be completely ignored," said David Grow, digital media director, Chacka Marketing. "Advertisers can opt out." by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 19, 2017 The last decade has seen a steady erosion in the number of media industry benchmark reports at least those made publicly available to trade reporters and bloggers leaving less reliable, third-party data by which to gauge the overall health of the media business. The Publishers Information Bureau, which long provided quarterly and annual figures on print advertising pages and rate card revenue for magazine titles, stopped providing this data in favor of a digital audience report which doesnt include any information on ad revenue in 2014. The Newspaper Association of America, now the News Media Alliance, stopped reporting quarterly revenue figures in 2013, followed by annual figures in 2015. And the Radio Advertising Bureau jettisoned its quarterly reports on radio ad revenue in 2015, nixing annual reports soon after. The motivation for all these decisions was not hard to deduce. In the face of long-term secular declines in the traditional media business, what was the point of publicizing each new wave of bad news, especially for trade organizations whose raison detre is boosterism, not emphasizing doom and gloom? advertisement advertisement Now theyve been joined by another much-cited source of data on the traditional media industry. Last year, the American Society of News Editors quietly stopped providing rough estimates for the total number of journalists working in the nations newsrooms. For years, it was a good general indicator for the vitality of the U.S. newspaper business, and with it the overall news ecosystem. For several decades, ASNE provided rough estimates of the total newsroom headcount as part of its annual Diversity Survey, which tracks the proportion of minority reporters working for American news organizations. The numbers were never exact, based on projections derived from long-term employment levels. In recent years, the trend was nonetheless unmistakable. From 2001-2015, ASNE notes the total newsroom head count fell 42% from 56,400 to 32,900. According to ASNE, it dropped the newsroom head-count portion of the Diversity Survey in 2016 because the structure of modern newsrooms makes it impractical and error-prone to try to estimate the number of working journalists. While the accuracy of such figures is obviously a valid concern, the effect of the decision is to get rid of one of the few indicators of the health of the news media arguably more important now than ever, in light of the rise of fake news on social media. Theres also no question that, like the other industry orgs listed above, ASNEs decision to nix the head-count estimates minimizes unfavorable news that might be interpreted as damaging to the reputation of the industry. On that note, ASNE itself admitted: Over the past few years, layoffs, buyouts and restructuring are a norm and not an isolated event in the news industry by Tanya Gazdik , October 19, 2017 MGM International is being criticized on social media for releasing a TV spot that features shots of its multiple Las Vegas hotels. The spot debuted on YouTube on October 15 just two weeks after the horrific mass shooting at the companys Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The spot also was posted on Twitter: Together, we rise. #VegasStrong. The 30-second spot, titled Together We Shine, shows Las Vegas imagery with the song This Little Light of Mine by Odetta as the backdrop. Overlaid on the images are a series of messages, including Together We Shine. Together We Are One, and Together We Rise. It ends with MGM Resorts logo and #VegasStrong. advertisement advertisement Travel industry analyst Henry H. Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, called it painful and a marketing bellyflop. Im genuinely surprised MGM would approve, let alone produce and air, something so seemingly insensitive and uncaring, Harteveldt tells Marketing Daily. They need to pull this as soon as possible. The ad was a replacement for a previous spot called Welcome to the Show released just before a gunman opened fire on a country music concert from the 37th floor of the Mandalay Bay, killing 58 people and injuring 546 others. That TV spot was pulled by the company earlier this month. MGM Resorts CMO Lili Tomovich told attendees at the Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference there was no date set for its return. MGM Resorts International announced Oct. 3 that it will provide donations through the MGM Resorts Foundation in the amount of $3 million to fund humanitarian assistance to victims of the Las Vegas shooting, along with organizations who provide support to those who are first on the scene to assist in traumatic events. Still, the new ad ruffled the features of Twitter users, with people stating they believed the corporations latest effort seemed to be an attempt to profit off the tragedy. Im not sure this is the way the brand should have gone, says Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, Inc., which studies brand loyalty. While there eventually had to be an acknowledgment of the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history and some sense of ameliorating the fallout, this spot has the appearance of monetizing a disaster, he tells Marketing Daily. The thing is, in a more visually literate marketplace, its more the visuals than the actual message that make this less effective than it could have been, Passikoff says. They seem to have been blind to the fact that it appears to shoehorn Vegas visuals to fit the song." by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, October 19, 2017 Harmelin Media, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this week, proves some unconventional truths in the media services industry. An agency can grow, remain independent, be headquartered off-the-beaten track and be run by a woman for three-and-a-half decades. When Joanne Harmelin founded the shop in Bala Cynwyd, PA, on Oct. 18, 1982, it was just on the cusp of the hyper expansion -- and hyper-fragmentation -- of the media industry. Thirty-five years later, Harmelin remains CEO, though she has turned day-to-day operations over to President Mary Meder, one of the first employees of the media shop. Today, it boasts more than 200 employees, as many accounts and more than $500 million in annualized billings. Its mission remains the same as it did when Harmelin founded it: to exceed our clients expectations by providing unmatched customer service and expertise in an increasingly complex media world. In a gesture symbolizing that its still blazing new media paths, each of its 225 employees received an Amazon Dot, to underscore the impact that AI technology will have on the media industry moving forward, according to the agencys blog. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 19, 2017 President Donald Trump has nominated antitrust attorney Joseph Simons to lead the Federal Trade Commission. Simons currently serves as a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where has represented Mastercard, Microsoft, Time Warner and other corporate clients. Last year, Simons represented Time Warner in a Justice Department proceeding concerning the company's acquisition by Charter, according to court records. From 2001 through 2003, Simons served as director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. The FTC, a five-member panel, has functioned with only two commissioners since February -- Republican Maureen Ohlhausen, who served as acting chairwoman, and Democrat Terrell McSweeny. advertisement advertisement Earlier this year, the ad industry group Association of National Advertisers urged the White House to move forward with nominations. "It is vital for the Commission to be restored to its full five-member strength," the ANA wrote in April. "With only one Commissioner from each party, in a politically fraught environment, the FTC could end up in 1-1 tie votes, leaving the Commission essentially paralyzed and unable to act in a number of areas of high importance to consumers and advertising interests." Trump also nominated consumer advocate Rohit Chopra to the FTC. Rohit, recommended earlier this year by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, is a senior fellow with the Consumer Federation of America. He previously served as student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Noah Phillips, chief counsel to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), reportedly will be nominated for the fifth position on the FTC. by Jess Nelson , October 19, 2017 The U.S. government is finally taking steps to make its digital communication more secure. Federal agencies have three months to adopt stricter email security standards that help detect and prevent email phishing attacks, per an order issued by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday. The order gave federal agencies 90 days to embrace DMARC, an email authentication protocol, and STARTTLS, an encryption technology that makes it more difficult for third-parties to intercept emails traveling between servers. DMARC, or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, is an email authentication, policy and reporting protocol. It builds upon exiting authentication measures like DKIM and SPF to, when properly implemented, detect and negate email impersonation scams. Basically, DMARC makes email phishing more difficult because hackers are restricted to using non-protected domain names. Fewer than 10% of federal domains have fully implemented the DMARC protocol, according to a recent Global Cyber Alliance report, meaning that a majority of government entities are at risk of being impacted by email phishing attacks. advertisement advertisement Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon sent an open letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in July calling on the U.S. government to adopt DMARC immediately to protect government agencies from phishing scams and email fraud. I write to ask you to take immediate steps to ensure that hackers cannot send emails that impersonate federal agencies, begins Wydens letter. Industry-standard technologies exist, and are already used throughout the private sector and even by a few federal agencies, which, if enabled, would make it significantly harder for fraudsters and foreign governments to impersonate federal agencies. Akathisia is a side effect of certain drugs that causes an uncontrollable urge to move the legs. It often begins soon after a person starts on a new medication. It is crucial for people with akathisia to seek medical attention when they begin to show signs of it. Doctors can easily adjust medication to relieve this side effect, while still treating the condition that medication was originally prescribed for. In this article, we look at the signs, causes, and treatment options for this side effect. What is akathisia? Share on Pinterest Restlessness and the compulsion to keep moving may be a side effect of some antipsychotic medications. The word akathisia comes from Greek, meaning not to sit. As such, the condition akathisia refers to a state of mental agitation that causes an urgent need to move or restlessness, mainly in the legs. Akathisia is not a condition, but rather a side effect of medication used to treat another illness or disorder. It is often a side effect of older antipsychotic drugs used to treat conditions such as schizophrenia. Although more commonly associated with older antipsychotic medications, akathisia can also occur in people who are at the beginning of their treatment with newer antipsychotic drugs. Akathisia is broken down into three types according to its onset and how long it lasts: Acute akathisia develops soon after the antipsychotic is started and lasts less than 6 months. develops soon after the antipsychotic is started and lasts less than 6 months. Chronic akathisia lasts longer than 6 months. lasts longer than 6 months. Tardive akathisia develops after an extended period of antipsychotic use. Signs and accompanying symptoms The main aspect of akathisia that people experience is the sense of restlessness and a deep urge to move. Many people with akathisia may also experience any or all of the following symptoms: anxiety a sense of impatience panic increased irritability People with akathisia may try to relieve their sense of restlessness and urge to move by doing any of the following: pacing shuffling or dragging the feet while walking tapping feet or crossing and uncrossing legs while seated lifting knees high while walking as if marching shifting weight from one foot to the other or rocking back and forth while standing Causes Share on Pinterest It is believed that along with antipsychotic medication, other medication, including anti-nausea drugs, may cause akathisia. Doctors are not sure exactly why akathisia happens. However, they do know that akathisia is a side effect of certain antipsychotic medications that are used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression. The drugs more likely to cause akathisia include the following: chlorpromazine haloperidol perphenazine flupenthixol While these older medications have the greatest association with causing akathisia, doctors now know that newer antipsychotics may also be responsible. These drugs are called atypical antipsychotics and include the following: olanzapine risperidone lurasidone ziprasidone quetiapine paliperidone Some doctors suggest that akathisia occurs because antipsychotic medications block the areas of the brain that are sensitive to dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that helps control movement. With these areas of the brain less likely to receive dopamine signals, a persons movement may be affected. While this theory may hold true for antipsychotic medications, some other medications that may also cause akathisia do not fit into the theory. Other medications that may cause akathisia include the following: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) calcium channel blockers sedatives anti-nausea drugs drugs that treat dizziness and vertigo Risk factors Not every person who is taking one of the medications that may cause akathisia will experience akathisia. However, individuals that may be at increased risk for developing akathisia include the following groups: those taking higher doses of older antipsychotics middle-aged or older adults those who have their dosage increased quickly people with certain medical conditions including Parkinsons, traumatic brain injuries, or encephalitis Diagnosis Only a doctor can diagnose akathisia. People with symptoms that suggest akathisia should consult a doctor for an exam. During the exam, the doctor will review the persons medical history, including symptoms and medications. A doctor may ask the person about when the symptoms started in relation to when they started taking a particular drug. A doctor will also observe the person to look for signs of akathisia. Symptoms that the doctor will look for may include: frequent changes in position fidgeting foot-tapping crossing and uncrossing legs rocking or swaying Akathisia may be confused with the following conditions: drug withdrawal restless legs syndrome tardive dyskinesia anxiety other mood disorders To rule out these conditions, a doctor may order additional testing, including blood tests and behavioral assessments. When to see a doctor Anyone who experiences side effects of new antipsychotic or other medication should consult with a doctor promptly to adjust treatment. A doctor can easily change prescribed medications and remove the likely cause of akathisia. Possible complications If left untreated, akathisia may make the original condition that is causing the psychotic behavior worse. People with untreated akathisia often stop taking the medications necessary to treat their mental illnesses, which leads to their mental illness being uncontrolled. Treatment Share on Pinterest Additional medication may be prescribed to combat the symptoms of akathisia. The first step in treatment is to reevaluate the medication that caused akathisia. Also, a doctor may prescribe additional medications such as: antiviral drugs benzodiazepines (tranquilizers) blood pressure medicines anticholinergic drugs Some studies indicate that vitamin B-6 may help with cases of akathisia. In one study, high doses of vitamin B-6 were tested alongside an antidepressant and a placebo. The results indicated that vitamin B-6 improved symptoms better than a placebo did. The antidepressant, mianserin, also improved symptoms. People who need antipsychotic medication usually receive a low dose at first and build up slowly. Although newer drugs can help prevent akathisia, there is evidence that people who take them in high doses may also develop akathisia. Synthetic gene circuits that only trigger powerful, tumor-specific immune responses when they detect certain disease markers may help immunotherapies to fight cancer more effectively, according to a new study. Share on Pinterest A synthetic gene circuit has been developed that can improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge suggest that their artificial DNA-encoded circuits may help to overcome some of the problems that have dogged the translation of cancer immunotherapy from the laboratory to the clinic. They report their work in a paper that was recently published in the journal Cell. Immunotherapy is a promising, albeit relatively new, type of treatment that enlists the patients own immune system to fight the cancer. There are several ways that it can do this. For instance, it can slow or stop the growth and spread of tumor cells, or it can help the immune system to destroy them more effectively. Some immunotherapies have already been approved and are in clinical use. In 2011, for instance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the treatment of advanced melanoma that cannot be removed through surgery. Overcoming limitations of immunotherapy However, in their study paper , the MIT researchers explain how, despite its success in several clinical trials, cancer immunotherapy remains limited by several factors. These include: the rarity of markers that help to selectively target tumor cells; the fact that the tumor itself can suppress the immune system; and the toxic, off-target side effects that can arise when agents that stimulate the immune system are delivered to the whole body. Despite the fact that some of these hurdles have been overcome and tests have been successful, the treatments only work for some patients. In some therapies, only 30 to 40 percent of patients respond, notes senior author Timothy Lu, an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT. He and his colleagues have devised and tested an approach based on a synthetic gene circuit that can be inserted into cells in the affected part of the body using a virus. When activated, the circuit triggers the production of proteins that promote several anti-cancer immune responses. One response is the production of surface T cell engagers that instruct the T cells of the immune system to kill cancer cells. Another response produces an antibody called a checkpoint inhibitor that stops tumors suppressing the immune system. The activated circuit also promotes the trafficking of immune system T cells to tumor sites and enhances the power of T cells to attack cancer cells. Cancer-specific promoters Perhaps the most interesting feature of the circuit is that, because it is an AND gate, it only works in the presence of two cancer-specific markers, or promoters. If only one marker is present, the circuit remains inactive; it requires the presence of both to produce the anti-cancer immune outputs. Only when two of these cancer promoters are activated, does the circuit itself switch on, Prof. Lu explains. The promoters can be markers that are naturally present in the cancer cells, but the team also tested synthetic promoters that appeared to boost the desired response even more strongly. When they tested the circuit on cells in the laboratory, the team found that it could differentiate ovarian cancer cells from other types of cell, including noncancerous ovarian cells. Also, when they tested the synthetic gene circuit in mice implanted with ovarian cancer cells, the team found that it triggered T cells to find and kill the cancer cells without harming surrounding noncancerous cells. Autistic people, as well as their families and caregivers, are impacted uniquely by the disorder. We have chosen the best autism blogs that help to support families affected by autism, educate and inspire their readers, and provide high-quality information about the condition. Share on Pinterest Autism blogs feature information from autism experts and autistic individuals, as well as parents and caregivers. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the name given to a range of conditions that impact a persons social interactions, their ability to communicate, and their interests and behavior. Around 1 in 68 children have ASD in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ASD is roughly 4.5 times more common among boys than girls. Every child with ASD will have unique behavioral patterns and levels of severity, which range from low-functioning to high-functioning. With age, some children with ASD show fewer behavioral disturbances and engage more with others. Some children with the least severe problems can go on to live normal or near-normal lives, while others may continue to struggle with language and social skills into adulthood. Autism blogs provide an online community of support from experts, healthcare professionals, parents of children with ASD, and even those living with the condition. Here are Medical News Todays picks of the 9 best autism blogs. Ghanaian Gospel minister, song writer and an author, Moses Osei Kwarteng popularly known as Moses OK, will on October 20th,2017 storm Sunyani ICGC,Holyland Temple with Praise's and worship's ahead of the church 8th Anniversary celebration. Gospel musician Moses OK is one of the few gospel artistes who released great songs years ago. Moses OK during his reign released songs like Wone Me Adi No Yie, Mehia Wo, Kakra Kakra and many others. The event which named "Praise and Worship Night" will take place at the forecourt of ICGC Holyland Temple opposite Catholic Secretariat off Sunyani road around 7pm to 11pm, song ministrations who will join Moses OK on stage for the show includes, Solomon Jesse better known as Solo,Heavenly Philharmonic's Choir-Holyland, Harmonic Choir-Salem and among other's. The Gospel ministers will join Moses OK to lead both congregation and outsiders to experience God in a new dimension through praise and worship at the night. Pastor Raymond Botchway,Residence Pastor of ICGC, Holy Land Temple Sunyani-Abesim who disclosed this to Sunyani based radio Ahomka 90.5FM, said the event forms part of the Church activities to mark its 8th Anniversary,through praise and worship to thank God for his blessings and protections. "God has done so many things to show us that he loves us and doesn't want us to be miserable" He said great ministers of the gospel will perform and also prophesy unto the lives of the audience who will be at the venue to spend time with their Maker. Pastor Raymond Botchway told Ahomka 90.5FM, that "God alone is worthy of our devotion, praise and worship. He is God, our Creator, and we are commanded to praise and worship Him. As Psalm 96:9, says, "Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth." "Psalm 29:2 says, "Give unto the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." That's what will happen on Friday evening,we will worship our maker"he added. According to him "A life of praise and worship fills our deepest needs, and amazingly, it also brings great joy to God. Zephaniah 3:17states, "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." He said, "it is in times like this that the ICGC HolyLand Temple is calling on all Christians to proclaim and live the Christian life to the glory of our maker. This is the time for evaluation both at the individual and corporate levels; a time to re-dedicate our lives to the Gospel and seek to show in our lives the Good News of Salvation we have found". Pastor Botchway said Renowned men of God like John Adu Baidoo,Johnny Dario,Robert Adjetey and Fiifi Otabil Wilson will attend the event,"Come give the Lord some PrAiSe!!!,he concluded. Below are 8th anniversary program line-up; 1.Opening ceremony& Documentary....1st October 2017. 2.Health Walk....7th 3.Conference......Mon. 9th to Sun.15th. 4.Fun Games........ Sat. 14th. 5.Worship Night....Fri. 20th. 6. Apostolic visit 1(John Adu Baidoo,Sun.22nd) 7.Apostolic visit 2(Fiifi Otabil Wilson, 29th. 8.Church Dinner.... Sun. 29th. 19.10.2017 LISTEN The Piano Bar at Teshie will on Friday, October 27, come alive, as multiple award winner, Tic Tac, enthralls music lovers with amazing songs from his repertoire. The show dubbed Tic Tac Live in Concert will see revelers have a musical experience of a lifetime. According to Tic Tac, in an interview with the media, he noted that I will be performing with his live band crew, do all my classics and new songs, he said. The Do all hit maker entreated all his fans and industry players to be at the Piano Bar at Teshie-Nungua for relishing after long week of work. He called on his fans throughout the country and in the diaspora to watch out for him in their various communities, as there would be series of such activations going forward. Tic Tac expressed appreciation to all those who had given him the needed support throughout his career. Tic Tac currently has three songs, Do All, Carry Go, and Rashida, with three videos to match, which are receiving airplay. Currently, two of his songs, Do all which features Pappy Kojo and Carry Go, which he teamed up with African Dancehall King, Samini are among the top 10 Ghana songs in Soundcity Chart in Nigeria. Serge Mouangue is a Cameroonian artist whose own cultural heritage and interest in the particular refinement of Japanese design inspired Wafrica , a project which encapsulates both West Africa and Japanese ancient sophisticated aesthetic to create a new territory, redefining our sense of origin. A 2011 TED Fellow, Mouangue has worked with Japanese designers to create unique objects, garments, and live performances encapsulating a beautiful and universal experience. The highlight of the project is the Wafrica African Kimono, which is made in collaboration with ODASHO and has been seen in fashion shows across the globe. Take a look at the beautiful garment below, as well as a brief description of the collaboration: Tailored design cut, made in Kyoto in collaboration with 150 years kimono experience ODASHO, Wafrica kimono ca Taking it into the world, innovative variations of the African Kimono have been shown in New York, Dakar, Basel, Stockholm, Kyoto, Paris, Nairobi, Tokyo etc. The results are so much more than a blend of two existing cultures. pitalise[s] on Japanese refinement and attention to detail combined with West Africa rhythmic density and vibration. Roji1 in her wig cap. Yes it's a wig cap. That's how good she is. 19.10.2017 LISTEN Jemmy Sakodie, popularly known as Roji 1 never had training in hair styling but now styles most Television personalities in Ghana. "I think my profession is just a talent because I didn't learn it anywhere. My mom use to braid people's hair and I used to assist her after school hours," she said in an interview with modernghana.com. While a junior in boarding school at Kumasi, her seniors will let her style their hair but she didn't take it serious. She later realised she could actually make money from this gift after giving birth to her second child. She needed to caterfor her second child as a single parent. She started by braiding cornrolls for kids then moved from house to house Soon, she saved money enough to establish her first shop at Adum in Kumasi. Her customers were countless mostly made up of wives of politicians, business owners, pastors among others. She opened a second shop still in Kumasi and upon consistent requests from clients and with some capital, she moved her shop to Accra in 2009 settling at Sakaman. By word of mouth recommendation and increasing number of clients she established another shop and later relocated to her current place in Darkuman. According to her social media has contributed immensely to her success. "Instagram has been really helpful. Almost all my customers are from instagram,"she noted. Advising the youth, she said "If you have the talent, polish it up and work with it" She is hair stylist for Stacy Amoateng, Adwoa Yeboah Adjei of UTV, Anita Akuffo of GHone, celebrity makeup artist, Nancy Blaq among others. For students who are considering studying in a foreign university, the following are some great scholarship programs to consider. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 6 great scholarship programs for international students to consider. Commonwealth Scholarships This is a scholarship program for students from developing countries that are part of the Commonwealth nations, to study in the UK. The scholarship is for Masters and PhD study in the UK and it is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Its aim is to contribute to the UKs international development aims and overseas interests, and support excellence in UK higher education, as well as sustain the principles of the Commonwealth. Information on the 2018 Commonwealth Scholarships for Masters and PhD study would be available on the Commonwealth Scholarship website ( http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply/scholarships-developing-cw/ ) in November 2017. Chevening Scholarships This is a global scholarship program by the UK government and it is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organizations. The Chevening Scholarship is a program that offers awards to outstanding scholars from around the world to study for a masters degree in any subject at any UK university. It offers around 1500 scholarships globally and the scholarships are targeted to Chevening-eligible countries (of which Nigeria is part of). The scholarship normally covers the university tuition fees, a monthly stipend, travel costs to and from the UK, an arrival allowance, a homeward departure allowance, the cost of one visa application, and a travel grant to attend Chevening events in the UK. Applications for this scholarship close on 7th November 2017. International Baccalaureate Scholarship This scholarship is available to students with excellent results in the International Baccalaureate qualification. It is eligible to international undergraduate students with excellent results in the International Baccalaureate diploma; other eligibility criteria depends on the University offering the scholarship. The benefits of this scholarship is that it is guaranteed in the first year of entry and will be continued if the student is able to keep up with an excellent academic track record (as detailed by the University). PTDF Scholarship The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources established by law to develop and promote petroleum technology and to create the human resource needs of the oil and gas industry through research and training of Nigerians. Annually, the programme invites suitably qualified candidates for overseas and in-country MSc and PhD Scholarships. It awards scholarship for study in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, France (through Campus France), top Institutions in the United States of America as well as Federal Universities and Centres of Excellence in Nigeria. Shell Nigeria Exploration and Producing Company (SNEPCo) Postgraduate Scholarship Programme This is a postgraduate scholarship scheme for Nigerians and it provides an opportunity for qualifying students from any state and the Federal Capital Territory to acquire a Master's Degree in courses relevant to the oil and gas industry, with specific focus on Geotechnical Engineering and Hydrography at renowned universities in the United Kingdom. The programme is in partnership with three universities: the University of Birmingham, the Newcastle University and the University of Plymouth. Nigeria Birmingham Outstanding Achievement Scholarships This is a joint award with the local representatives of the University of Birmingham in Nigeria, which include: Bridge House Counselling, SI-UK (Study In-UK), and UKEAS. The scholarship award for 5,000 pounds is for Nigerian domiciled students applying for entry to an undergraduate program at the university and who meet the eligibility criteria. The value of the award is for 5,000 pounds towards tuition fees (for the first year only) of a full time undergraduate program at the University. The rate at which Ghanaians are dying in the public incidence is very alarming. It is intimidating to notice that people unnecessarily troupe in to watch dangerous events such as motor accidents, gas explosion and robbery attacks and even criminal activities; either sustaining injury or death. While the GNFS is trying to quench fire gutted in a house, gas filling station or company among others, curious people would block the road leading to the scene watching, jeering, wailing and sharing previous experience of accidents in the past. The reason why people behave dramatically in this ill- manner still remains unknown. Statistics indicate that the recent gas explosion killed at least seven people and left 68 others hospitalized, eight of these explosions in three years is too much and alarming. This incidence was very alarming as it was close to UNIVERISTY OF Ghana, PRESEC and an interchange where traffic is always heavy; throwing students into chaos as they run to safety away from the flames causing injuries and deaths. The Ghana Household Utilities Manufacturing Company factory in the Western Region gas explosion killed at least six fire service personnel at the scene and injured at least 80 other people; compared to more than 150 deaths in June 2015s gas explosion as many were seeking shelter from a storm at the gas station when that tragedy occurred. Most of these people died out of curiosity; wanted to be the first to report, be on the facebook among others. It is not uncommon in Ghanaian affairs when a group or an individual has shown interest in others affairs and subsequently gossip about the event leaving their own plight to deteriorate. Its noted as the adage goes; when you see a Ghanaian giggling, his fellows might be in trouble. In Ghana, when you see two people quarrelling, there would be hundreds of people yearning and misacting to support the sharp tongue or the strong instead of placating them. Recently, it was in the news that a motor accident occurred and the people there took interest in recording the scene on their phones instead of rescuing the victims and all the passengers on board died. A historical event revealed that a young man after coming from the farm was asked to pound fufu. He heard uproar and he suspended his task and went out to catch a glimpse of the scene. Unfortunately, the perpetrator lost his target and shot him dead. The Akans say that the placatory either deserves a punch or lynching. By a mistake, somebody was shot dead due to inquisitiveness. Many people watch a scene and end up being harmed or put in trouble. Such people can be invited by the security or court to bear witness because they were eye-witness of the incidence as in the case of the late Capt. Mahama. When he was being lynched, the video recordings proved that there were curious people who witnessed the barbaric incidence with misacting, jarring and jubilating over this calamity. Later on the whole community was charged against a mistaken identity. People watch dead body in their vicinity and are invited by the police to account for the death. Whether we like it or not, curiosity has become a norm in Ghana. We need to tackle this menace. The media, Nananom and politicians should add their voice to halt it. In another development, because of curiosity, a driver knocked down a young man. Several people who run to the place to watch the accident were killed by another driver whose brakes failed him at the spot. Now the question is what is the rationale for our curiosity? Is it that people just take interest in witnessing events for the sake of gossip or attitudinal impulse where people unconsciously rush to the scene without thinking of the danger that posts them or their presence would cause? Or people who dont have anything to do so just spend the day witnessing events? Perhaps, they want to be the first to record or account for the event. There have been instances where the police and GNFS have to apply force before getting the chance to operate. By so doing people would be injured; situation which is avoidable. The recent gas explosions have recorded several deaths due to the fact that people want to know from the beginning of the incidence to the end. When such events occur, the best thing is to call the appropriate bodies and give them the best direction to the site of the event. Such bodies include the media, the police, Ghana Fire Service, Hospital or ambulance service etc to rescue live instead of filming the events and dying at last. Please help to save lives rather than watching plights for curiosity. The time to adhere to clarion calls is now but not later. Daniel Djan Ministry of health Accra Kofi Osei-Ameyaw 19.10.2017 LISTEN Members of the Concerned Voters Movement (CVM) have revealed that they are now at peace with the Director-General and management of the National Lottery Authority (NLA). It could be recalled that the CVM appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to investigate activities of the Acting Director-General of the NLA, Mr Kofi Osei Ameyaw. According to the group, the NLA boss lacks consistency, because barely six months into office, he had allegedly presented a request to the newly constituted board to approve the payment of GHC15, 000, 000 to Merlin Gaming Limited as judgment debt when the company had no contract with the NLA. The group alleged that the Mr Osei-Ameyaw presented the said settlement for approval and payment at the very first official business meeting of the newly constituted Board, which was held on or around July 28, 2017. A statement issued on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, and signed by its President and Founder, Mr Razak Kojo Opoku indicated that the CVM has withdrawn their petition against the Director-General of NLA, Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw and promised to work at peace with NLA. CVM also thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders for their respective positive actions and results-oriented decisions on the various petitions they submitted to them. The group also commended the Board and Management of the National Lottery Authority for making some resolutions that will help the operations of Banker-to-Banker Lottery in Ghana. "NLA resolution to accept to legalize and regulate the operations of Banker-to-Banker Lottery in Ghana in accordance with the vision of President Akufo-Addo" The group has, therefore, hinted that they would continue to monitor, evaluate and criticise the performance of Mr Osei-Ameyaw and the Board in order for them to work strictly in accordance with the vision of President Akufo-Addo. Below is the full statement; CVM is Now at Peace with the NLA & Kofi Osei-Ameyaw First and foremost, we would like to thank the Presidency, Ministry of Finance, the Finance Committee of Parliament, the Board and Management of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) for their respective positive actions and results-oriented decisions on the various petitions we submitted to them. The CVM would like to state on record that we have withdrawn our Petition against Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, the Director-General of NLA and we are now at peace with the Board and Management of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) due to the: 1. NLA resolution to accept to legalize and regulate the operations of Banker-to-Banker Lottery in Ghana in accordance with the vision of President Akufo-Addo. 2. NLA resolution to suspend the implementation of the Lotto Courts which were established by the Former President John Mahama in 2013/2014. NPP Government has no business to implement the bad policies of the NDC Government. 3. NLA acceptance to create and subsequently launch their own Platform in November 2017. 4. NLA resolution to re-introduce the 25% Commission in November 2017. 5. NLA decision not to pay the GHS 15,000, 000 & GHS 87, 000, 000 to Merlin Gaming Ghana Limited as judgement debt. 6. NLA resolution to paid into the Consolidated Fund on monthly basis and also refrain from taking monies from the Consolidated Fund to pay the deficit in the Lotto Account. 7. NLA resolution to transfer all the NDC Mafia Cartel at the NLA who does not share the vision of President Akufo-Addo. CVM will continue to monitor, evaluate and criticize the performance of Mr Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, the Board and Management of the National Lottery Authority in order for them to work strictly in accordance with the vision of President Akufo-Addo. ....Signed.... Razak Kojo Opoku (CVM Founder & President) Source: Daniel Kaku Authorities of four district assemblies have pledged their support for inmates of five alleged 'witch' camps dotted across the Northern Region. This follows the alleged witches' recent complaints of starvation since the suspension of their grants payment under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. Representatives of Yendi, East Mamprusi, Nanumba South and Gushiegu district assemblies, at a day's workshop dubbed Working with alleged witches, renewed their commitment to support the ostracized women. The workshop was under the auspices of women and child rights advocacy Non-Governmental Organization, Songtaba, and funded by STAR-Ghana, UK Aid, DANIDA and the European Union. It brought together local government officials and Civil Society Organizations to propagate the implementation of policies required for the protection of the alleged witches. The participants included district coordinating Directors and planners, officials of the Department of Social Welfare, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana police service and the Legal Aid. Civil Society Organizations including NORSAAC, the Go Home project, and the Reintegration Committee were also present. The four district assemblies hosting the ostracized women promised to renew their health insurance, ensure the release of their LEAP grants, and support community-level sensitization and reintegration exercises. The Civil Society Organizations agreed to use the alleged witches network to build synergies as a means of mainstreaming issues of witchcraft accusations and to curtail its accompanying human rights violations. By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana Anti-graft campaigners and governance experts are kicking against the recent promotion of Deputy Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, to the position of an acting Director. The CID Director, COP Bright Oduro, was recently asked to proceed on leave, three months to the actual date of his retirement, January 3, 2018. ACP Addo-Danquah was quickly appointed to replace him, taking office on Wednesday, October 18, 2017. COP Bright Oduro himself has complained about unfair treatment and has described his removal as politically motivated. However, beyond Mr. Oduros bitterness, anti-corruption campaigners say ACP Addo-Danquahs elevation is a slap in the face of the fight against corruption. ACP Addo-Danquah is embroiled in an unresolved allegation of a possible cover-up and bias in a move to probe of two Presidential Staffers Abu Jinapor and Francis Asenso-Boakye in a corruption claim. Vitus Azeem Vitus Azeem, an anti-corruption campaigner and the Chairman of Tax Justice Coalition, said the decision to promote ACP Addo-Danquah despite the questions that still linger over her connection to the recent corruption investigations, could mar the publics perception about the governments stance on corruption. That is cause for concern, its worrying; especially coming from the President who has pledged to Ghanaians that he is going to fight corruption. Its definitely a worry, Vitus Azeem told Accra-based Citi FM. But Mr. Azeem is not the only person worried by the development. A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, also told Class FM that ACP Addo-Danquahs elevation lacks tidiness. He suggests that because the current administration has been accused by some of appointing only close relations, ACP Addo-Danquahs sudden elevation should not have happened. Ransford Gyampo ACP Addo-Danquah is rumoured to be related to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, which rumours have been made fertile because of the similarity of their names. Prof Gyampo said on Wednesday, This particular appointment is not politically smart for a government that has suffered and continues to suffer a particular accusation. If it's merely acting, then please rethink a different substantive. Political power shouldn't blindfold! Meanwhile, former Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Ayensua Opare Addo, has also condemned the Ghana Police Service for the manner in which COP Bright Oduro was asked to proceed on leave without a fair hearing. Mr. Oduro had been accused by New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyepong, of empowering land guards in parts of Accra. He believes these allegations have been the basis for his removal. Mr Opare Addo, who himself was a victim of the same circumstances, says the service should have considered COP Bright Oduros rank and long service to the police administration and allowed him to retire with dignity. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com The Ekumfi District Health Director of the Ghana Health Service in the Central Region, Abigail Nyarkoh-Cudjoe, has warned that consumption of alcohol and smoking by women increases their risk of contracting breast and cervical cancers. She said although other risk factors could be cited, alcohol consumption and smoking by women pose a great threat to Ghana's fight against breast and cervical cancers, that have become leading causes of death among women, urging women to do regular examinations for early detection and cure. She was speaking on Tuesday at Ekumfi Imuna in the Central Region, at a community health outreach programme by the Community Empowerment Network (COMENet) Ghana, an association made up of students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The programme dubbed 'Promoting Healthy Communities for Sustainable Development' offered the fishing community talks on breast and cervical cancers and family planning, as well as free breast and cervical cancer screening, HIV/AIDS counseling and testing among others. It brought together health experts, nurses, women and men as well as school girls from basic schools at Imuna. Partnering with the Department of Gender, Ghana AIDS Commission, Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), Ghana Health Service and the Ekumfi District Assembly, the group is seeking to reduce the high number of deaths among reproductive women, and the soaring teenage pregnancy at Ekumfi Imuna. The Ekumfi District, carved out of the Mfantsiman Municipality during the era of late President Atta Mills, is plagued with poverty, a high unemployment rate, teenage pregnancy, poor health system among other unfavourable conditions. Speaking to journalists, a member of COMNet and Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Thywill Eyrah Kpe, explained that, We realized that Ekumfi is quite disadvantaged when it comes to access to health care, so we looked at the reproductive health of the community; also, we realized poverty and teenage pregnancy are high in the community, and that informed our being here. Figures from the 2010 Population and Housing Census on the District, show that, about four in ten of the population of Ekumfi, aged twelve and others, are married, while its General Fertility Rate of 111.3 births per 1000 women, is the ninth highest for the Central Region, and COMNet has pledged to liaise with other stakeholders to tackle these social issues in the district. By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana President Akufo Addo will today [Thursday], inaugurate a Commission of Inquiry to begin the process of collating views for the creation of the proposed three new regions. The Commission, upon the assumption of office, will tour the Volta, Western, Northern and the Brong Ahafo Regions, to solicit the views of residents on the creation of the new regions. The Commissions recommendations will subsequently be handed over to the Electoral Commission to organize a referendum on the matter within the various regions out of which the news ones will be carved out. If 50% of persons living within the proposed areas endorse the proposal, the process of creating the new regions will then be implemented. Expressing his optimism about the process which is yet to begin, the President said: As you know, the constitution then says that, now having given a positive response to the request from the President, that the President will go ahead now and establish a commission of inquiry to look into the demand to see that it is reflecting in the responses from the people and also to deal with the ancillary issues that emerge. The boundaries, the name, and all of those matters will be the remit of the commission of inquiry. Once it is established, they will work expeditiously also as you have done. The commission's recommendations will be handed over to the Electoral Commission to organize a referendum required to secure 50% endorsement of citizens of the proposed areas under consideration. The carving of new regions was one of President Nana Addo's several campaign promises in the run up to the election in 2016. Government is seeking to split the Northern, Western, Volta and the Brong-Ahafo Regions, however some analysts have said the move is for political advantage. But the Minister for Regional Reorganization, Dan Botwe, has dispelled such claims, saying it would instead enhance the economic opportunities as well as promote effective governance in such areas. By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @EfeAnsah UNiCEF Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service is partnering with Rural Initiatives for Self- Empowerment-Ghana (RISE-Ghana) to use the medium of paintings to communicate the benefits of post-natal and ante-natal services to communities. The project is part of UNICEF- Ghana and the Ghana Health Service Mother Baby Friendly Health Facility Initiative (MBFHI) Project aimed at communicating the health benefits of post-natal and ante-natal services, increase uptake of optimal breastfeeding as well as promote the support of power structures to increase demand for the services towards a reduction of maternal and neo-natal deaths. Whilst one of the wall paintings or murals is constructed at the Sirigu market, the other one is located at the China health centre, all in the Kassena- Nankana West District. Briefing the media after a tour embarked by RISE-Ghana, locally based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO ), to communities to ascertain the impact the murals were having on maternal and infant health in the area, Mr Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director of RISE-Ghana, said in spite of the various efforts to increase demand for ante-natal and post natal services, patronage continues to be very low in some parts of the country hence, hence the need for innovative approaches to reach them. He said UNICEF Ghana, the Ghana Health Services and other Civil Society Organizations (CSO) have been using various strategies such as pregnancy schools, durbars and community fora to create awareness and deepen understanding on the importance of post-natal and ante-natal services in reducing maternal and new born deaths. He said the new innovations and non-conventional approaches have been successful and hopefully it would sustain the progress chalked by UNICEF Ghana, the Ghana Health Services and other CSOs by getting people in communities to participate in dealing with the concern. Mrs Ayamah Akwara, a trader at the Sirigu market where one of the wall painting is displayed, said it did not only attract customers to her business but had also opened up discussions around breastfeeding and other health concerns with men who traditionally would not discuss such topics in public. Mr Barnabas Aduko, the Assemblyman for Siriigu Central electoral area, commenting on the mural, said apart from it being an effective method of communicating important health issues and relaying messages that would encourage women to seek health care during pregnancy, it was also able to break the barriers of communication as the images depict the health needs of women and children. 'We in consultation with women, husbands and community leaders who shape decision-making in communities designed and placed the two murals in the most visible and unconventional spaces like markets and health centres. These are generating meaningful dialogue and increasing the visibility of the benefits and barriers to optimal breastfeeding, ante-natal care and post natal care services among market goers who traditionally will not have seen such important messages', the Assemblyman said. GNA By Samuel Akapule, GNA Nana Kwabena Baah Akwansrahene, a newly installed sub-chief to Osabarima Okogyeaman Apedwa Ofori V, Apapamhene, has called on the public to unite in the effort to halt the activities of sand winning in the area. He said the activity of sand winning has affected the provision of public infrastructure like school blocks, affected farming activities and brought about various diseases as the uncovered pits bred mosquitoes amongst other health concerns. Nana Akwansrahene made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after his installation ceremony at Akyem Apapam in the Eastern Region. He said more educational structures are needed in the area to promote teaching and learning for the children to acquire knowledge to help grow the economy but the degradation of the environment must be halted first. Nana Akwansrahene called on the chiefs to involve themselves in the effort to stop the activities sand winners and should also avoid the selling of lands without the prior knowledge of Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin who is the sole owner of the Akyem Abuakwa lands. GNA 19.10.2017 LISTEN Ghana needs efficient institutions and refined attitudes to increase productivity and spur socio-economic developmental agenda, a Management Consultant has stated in Accra on Friday. 'We need institution that allows mobility, initiative, entrepreneurship, effective competition and equal opportunities. 'Our economic development initiatives require attitudes such as efficiency, diligence, orderliness, punctuality, honesty and openness to change,'Dr George E. Gyamfi-Osew stated at the Engmann-Kulfio-Datsa Commemoration Lecture 2017. The lecture held annually by the Old Boys of Presbyterian Boys Secondary (PRESEC), Legon, was on the theme: 'Unity of Purpose, Mobilizing Odade3s around the globe for National Development'. Dr. Gyamfi-Osew who is an old boy of the school further pledged his support for E-agriculture policy to open up more opportunities for the youth who think agriculture in its current state had little to offer in terms of job creation. According to Dr. Gyamfi-Osew currently, significant number of Ghana's youth were 'digital natives' and they had skills that could be applied to agriculture to transform the sector. 'Transformation of the agricultural sector cannot be achieved in the absence of e-agriculture policy underpinned by a strong national e-agriculture vision,' he said. He said as a country we could not pay lip service to modernizing agriculture if we continue to do things in the usual manner. Dr Gyamfi-Osew recounted that in 2004, government launched an ICT for development (ICT4D) Policy known as Integrated ICT-led economic development framework which included agriculture. However, he said the GHC15 million allocated for the project was paltry, adding that, the 'money devoted to it tells us that we still under rate agriculture in Ghana.' Dr Gyamfi-Osew said all was not lost yet and the time has come to develop a national policy on the application of ICT to agriculture. He listed the inability to apply science and Technology to solve problems, lack of proper planning, gargantuan corruption, illegal mining, and poor attitude as some of the factors militating against Ghana's growth. Dr Gyamfi-Osew who is also a Director of Operations at the National Lottery Authority, appealed to Ghanaians to embark on critical self-auditing and 'desire to re-think our position towards a selfless, realistic and result- oriented transformation'. He recommended to government to pay attention to industrialization and agriculture to save the youth of the frustration of joblessness in the country. He called on all Odade3s to continue to contribute their quota effectively in building the country. 'If we fail to do that no one will do that for us'. Nana Appeanin Kwaframoa II, Krontihene of Akyeam Awisa and chairman of the occasion said it's time for alumni associations to turn into think tanks or pressure groups who would offer suggestions and solutions on national issues. The Reverend Ebenezer Markwei, National President of Presec Old Boys Association appealed to the old students to rise up and raise higher the torch of Odade3s for all to see. GNA By Joyce Danso, GNA Gold mining companies have disclosed that the declining price of gold on the international market has compelled them to adjust their operational strategy and forecast. The businesses also explain that the development has made them reduce their revenue expectations for their operations. The price of gold on the international market has been declining for some time now. An ounce of fine gold is currently estimated at 1, 280 dollars. For mining company, Newmont, its Regional Senior Vice President of Newmont Africa's operations, Alwyn Pretorius explains to Citi Business News it has reviewed its pricing downwards to protect it from any adverse shock. There is not much that we can do about the gold prices so we plan our business to be sustainable and gold prices much lower than the current gold prices. So we really look at the country risks and also look at the opportunities that we have available, he stated. Although Mr. Pretorius admits they may have little control of the global prices, he like others in the industry, are hopeful of a rebound in gold prices soon. Despite the impact of declining commodity prices, mining firms have had to contend with the impact of illegal mining activities on their operations. The activities of the illegal miners have included destruction to forests, as well as water bodies. Their activities have in some cases led to a threat of a boycott for gold produced from countries such as Ghana. 19.10.2017 LISTEN Local poultry farmers have lashed out at government for granting tax cuts to frozen chicken importers. The comment follows claims of unfair treatment in the tax regime for frozen food importers. Early this week, some members of the Frozen Foods Importers Association petitioned government over some tax cuts being granted some of its members, which they assert has created unfair competition in the industry. But the local poultry farmers have called on government to ban the importation of poultry products as it was a major contributor to the declining local market. In an interview with Citi Business News, Vice President of the Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana, Napoleon Agyeman Oduro said government must endeavor to support the local poultry industry rather than cripple it. To reduce tax for an importer of chicken means you are not putting producers of chicken in the country on a level ground. When you look at how much it cost people to produce in countries where importers get the chicken from, we do not have that leverage. We do not have a fair playing field such as they having access to credit. The credit they get is cheaper than ours but when it comes to this part of the world, we lack these. Then the person will go bring it into the country and you reduce tax for the person, you are only trying to worsen the unemployment situation of the country, he bemoaned. He believes the issue must be of grave concern to all Ghanaians and must get government to take an immediate action towards the situation. It should be a concern of the whole state. Whatever attention we need to offer poultry production in the country, as government, as people as producers we must think of the way forward than to encourage importation of chicken which is usually unwholesome anyway he stated. By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana PHILADELPHIA - On 18 October 2017 a jury of 12 in a U.S. Federal Courthouse found former Liberian rebel commander Mohammed Jabbateh, aka Jungle Jabbah, guilty of two counts of fraud and two counts of perjury for lying to U.S. government officials about his role as a combatant in the Liberian Civil War. Jabbateh will be sentenced most likely within the next few months. He faces up to 30 years in prison. In order to prove that Jabbateh provided false information to U.S. immigration authorities and procured asylum in the United States by fraud, the prosecution had to prove that he was a high-ranking rebel commander during the first Liberian civil war and committed criminal actions while in that position. Prior to immigrating to the United States, Jabbateh served as a battalion commander for the rebel group ULIMO (United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy), one of the key warring factions that fought against Charles Taylors NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) during Liberias first civil war (1989-1996). Over the course of two weeks, twenty witnesses travelled from Liberia to Philadelphia to testify in detail about horrific acts committed by Jabbateh and his ULIMO soldiers, including cannibalism, rape, murder, and slavery. Their testimonies exposed the horrors of the civil war, and Jungle Jabbahs role in perpetuating the violence that destroyed the West African nation. One witness recounted her rape and sexual enslavement by Jabbateh, while another witness described how soldiers under Jabbatehs command killed her husband and then ordered her to cook his heart. Another witness testified that she saw Jabbateh put a pistol into her pregnant sisters vagina and pull the trigger. Jabbateh was so infamous for his terrible acts in Liberia, one witness stated, that the people could never forget him and named a bridge after him. This historic case marks the first time that Liberian victims were able to testify about their experience of the atrocities committed during the first Liberian civil war in a public and fair trial. It was also the first trial of a former commander of the armed group ULIMO. The war resulted in the death of 150,000 civilians and the commission of a wide range of war crimes and human rights abuses by each warring faction in the conflict. To date, no one has been held to account in Liberia, and the trial against Jabbateh is the first confrontation of the crimes committed during the first civil war in a foreign country. Civitas Maxima (CM) and its Monrovia-based sister organization the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), both independent and apolitical NGOs, have collaborated since 2014 with U.S. authorities on the investigation of crimes Jabbateh allegedly committed in Liberia. This is the first verdict giving some measure of redress to Liberian victims who have been yearning for justice for too long. This case shows that Liberians do not have to accept the status quo of impunity in Liberia. Victims want justice and we will continue to support them in their pursuit of accountability within and outside of Liberia, independent of any tribal affiliation or political influence. This is only the beginning. As a survivor of this war and advocate for justice, I want to thank the witnesses for their courage, thank the Liberian people for their cooperation and support during the trial and thank the Liberian media for their wide coverage, said GJRPs director Hassan Bility in Monrovia. CM published daily detailed reports of the legal proceedings on its website . CM also supported, through a partnership with New Narratives , three Liberian journalists who provided independent and balanced coverage of the trial from Philadelphia and Monrovia. Moreover, CM and the GJRP launched a media campaign called the Liberian Quest for Justice, which provided a publicly accessible and unbiased account of the proceedings and information related to impunity in Liberia ( Facebook and Twitter ). The campaign used cartoons of a Liberian girl called Musu to explain the relevance of the case and engaged with Liberians online. Musu and the campaign have helped reach thousands of Liberian survivors in Liberia and the diaspora, ensuring that the impact of this trial reaches the people most affected by Jungle Jabbahs crimes. The Liberian Quest for Justice will continue to support Liberian victims in their pursuit of accountability for war time atrocities, and inform the public about other public trials of alleged Liberian war criminals coming up in Europe and the U.S. The Jabbateh trial was only Chapter 1. Not too long after the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) Hon. Alban Bagbin stirred the hornest's nest with his famous Mahama is running a friends and family regime (to paraphrase him) complaint, I had a conversation with him. The pain in him was palpable. Tears welled in his eyes as he spoke about how a president he loved as a brother was surrounded by people who seemed to forget that the NDC, a party for the ordinary people of Ghana, had made promises it needed to fulfill. He felt he had to put the interests of ordinary people, and that of the long-term survival of the NDC as a mass party with a nationwide appeal that transcended ethnocentrism, above his love for the president and take a public stand that would shake Mahama and make him see the real situation his regime was in more clearly. He knew his stand would attract criticism from those who could not see what was happening and the effect it could eventually have on the party's hold on power, but said he could live with that. He also said something that has proved prescient: "Nana, Ghanaians aren't moved by spin-doctoring because they are an aspirational people who want to get ahead in life. That is why they always want their governments to fulfil the promises they make to voters. The Stan Dogbes are inexperienced young men who have no idea what grassroots people require in their leaders. I am prepared to risk my relationship with the president to rid the NDC of their baleful influence over him. Time will prove how right I am." Well, that was then. Today, if the NDC wants to become a mass party again, its leaders must focus on fashioning policy ideas that can be harnessed to end the huge disparities in wealth in our country that threatens our nation's long-term stability. That is why it needs to find brilliant servant-leader-types to take it forward into the future. And all the nembers of our nation's political class must understand clearly the importance of the digital economy to Ghana's future and the massive entrepreneurial opportunities it offers our younger generations. They must also recognise the vital need to protect the remainder of our nation's natural heritage in aggressive fashion; find creative means of providing the private-sector with inexpensive long-term credit to provide well-designed and well-built homes in new smart planned green cities across Ghana; access to quality healthcare; free education from kindergarten to tertiary level; and above all, let blockchain technology underpin the digitisation of government ministries, departments and agencies, as well as the creation of new digital currency for Ghana. Despite our many faults as a people, our nation is on the cusp of achieving greatness and political parties that don't understand that Ghana can only succeed if it has honest leaders who surround themselves with clever and equally honest professionals who are world-class in their respective fields, will not attract voters. Only politicians who actually care about ordinary people - instead of seeking power just to line their own pockets - will be successful in future elections in this country. The NDC must take that into account in choosing their leaders at all levels. What the NDC needs are honest and caring leaders who are wise enough to listen to good advice. An alleged illegal mining kingpin operating in the Gbane area of the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, Akwasi Appiah, popularly known as Akwasi Bantama, has been arrested by the police. He is accused of deploying some illegal miners with explosives into a Shaanxi Mining company site to steal gold ores. Akwasi Appiahs activities are believed to have led to the death of some seven illegal miners who were trapped in April 2017. The Bolgatanga Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Samuel Punobyin, confirmed that, the suspect was arrested on Tuesday night during a swoop, with explosives, weapons, and ammunition found at his abode at Gbane. The suspect will be arraigned on Thursday, October 19, for possessing weapons and ammunition without authority. We got intelligence that the suspect Akwasi Appiah aka Kwasi Bantama, had in his possession weapons, ammunition and explosives which led to a swoop on his premises at the Obuasi site of the Gbane mining area in the Talensi district. Upon a search in Akwasi Appiahs room, one France made pistol, 3 rounds of AK-47 live ammunition, 15 rounds of pistol ammunition, and 15 pieces of 150g explosives were found. We also gathered that, the suspect Akwasi Appiah, supplies these explosives to illegal miners in the area, and so he will be arraigned today[Friday] 19th October, 2017, for possessing weapons, ammunition and explosives without authority Supt Punobyin stated. By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana Introduction There is no right of appeal against a refusal of a U.S. visa, including a DV visa. A legal doctrine prevents U.S. courts from determining whether or not the decision to refuse a visa was in accordance with law. You may however pursue a remedy against your refusal by other means. In this post, we will consider two ways by which you may pursue the refusal of your DV visa. These are: Request for Reconsideration Advisory Opinion from the Visa Office What is a Request for Reconsideration? As the name simply implies, you request the relevant authority to take a second look at your refusal. If your DV visa is refused, you have one year from the date of refusal to provide further evidence to overcome the refusal. If your evidence tends to overcome your ground of ineligibility, the CO may overcome the refusal and issue the visa. Provided you are entitled to visa status, reconsideration may be given to your case at any time. Who considers a request for reconsideration? Reconsideration is determined by the Post that refused your visa. Your request will normally be considered by a different CO. In some Posts, there is usually an officer who considers only prior refusals. If the CO determines that your evidence tends to overcome the refusal, they will reopen the case and adjudicate the case to its conclusion. Can I also send my request to KCC? KCC has no adjudicatory role in visa matters and has no jurisdiction to receive and determine matters relating to visas. It is only the CO who has authority to consider a request for reconsideration. Do not send your request to the KCC. If you do, your documents will be destroyed and you will have wasted precious time waiting for a response that will never come. How should I make my request? Your request must be professionally prepared. You may pursue reconsideration only when you have further evidence to overcome your refusal. You must argue why the further evidence tends to overcome the refusal. You must state new facts and support them by affidavits or other documentary evidence. If you resubmit previously provided evidence or assert a fact without providing documentation in support, your request will fail. When can I make a request? Federal Regulations state that you may bring evidence to overcome your refusal within one year from the date of the refusal. For DV visas, you may bring the evidence before the end of the fiscal year in which you were selected. For example, if you were refused a visa on 1st August 2017 of the fiscal year ending September 2017, you will have barely two months within which to pursue reconsideration. How long will it take for my request to be considered? There is no specific period within which a decision must be taken on your request. The workload of the Post may affect the consideration of your request. Busy posts attend to a high number of applicants in a day. The already overburdened consular staff may therefore consider your request an additional workload. They might therefore not give it the needed attention and consideration. What if I do not receive a decision on my reconsideration? If you do not receive a response to your initial request, you may consider sending a follow-up request. If you still do not receive a response after 30 days of sending the follow-up, you may consider sending a request for advisory opinion which will be discussed in our next post. Will I be issued a visa if my reconsideration is approved? There is no guarantee that your visa will be issued. The CO will only overcome the initial refusal, reopen the case and adjudicate the visa. Reopening the case means that the CO will consider case as a whole and take account of factors that were not a part of your initial refusal. Again, even if the CO determines that your reconsideration has merit, they will only overcome your refusal if there is availability of visa numbers for your region. The CO will not issue a visa if there are no available visa numbers. How much do I need to pay for my request? A request for reconsideration is free. You do not have to pay additional fee in addition to the fee you already paid. If your visa is granted, you will pay no additional fee. You may however incur some costs if you decide to use the services of a professional. Conclusion Given that a visa can be granted on the basis of reconsideration only when visa numbers are available, you cannot bang your hopes on obtaining a visa through reconsideration. Even if your new evidence tends to overcome your refusal, you may not receive a decision before the end of the fiscal year. In our next post, we will consider Advisory Opinion as an alternative means by which you may pursue a refusal of your DV visa. By Emmanuel Opoku Acheampong Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on the US visas. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an immigration law consultant and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on Ghana, U.S., UK, and Schengen immigration law. He is a Managing Partner for Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra. He may be contacted at [email protected] acheampongassociates .com or www.acheampongassociates.com . Mrs Golda Nunoo, Mother of four children, all special needs has been rescued from a suicide attempt by members of a support group she belongs to. Mrs Nunoo made a frantic call to one of the members of the Special Mothers Group Madam Linda Clarke amidst tears that someone in her neighborhood has been constantly ruining insults on her, referring to her as Mother of mad children She thus decided to end it all for herself and three of the children currently living with her. When Madam Linda Clarke and Mrs Ellen Affam-Dadzie both members of the Special Mothers group, got to her house in Ashiaman, a suburb of Tema, she had locked two of the children in a room and had left to a church with the two year old son to say her last prayers to God. Linda Clarke told the media that according to Golda, she has been shunned completely by people in the area. Golda, 36 years, said: No one talks to me, even if I am holding money to buy things people refuse to accept the money, they call me the curse one, saying I have given birth to mad children, I feel very isolated and want to move away from this neighbourhood. Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Initiator of the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy, said the project was introduced to Golda about two years ago when she gave birth to her last son with severe club foot. We tried to no avail to get the children into schools, even with a letter from the Ghana Education Service Special Education Unit, the children were refused admission, Mrs Awadzi said. Two years ago Ghana launched the Inclusive Education Policy supposed to ensure that all children go to school regardless of their disabilities; however, many parents of children with special needs think that the policy is not inclusive enough. Majority of children with special needs in Ghana are refused admission even in government schools Golda spends the whole of her life attending to her four children, three of them non-verbal and is unable to work, her husband even though very supportive earns only 200 cedis a month as a security man. Her first child has been adopted by her brother to lessen the burden on her Mrs Awadzi called on the Department of Social Welfare, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists and corporate organizations to come to the aid of Golda Img-20171018-wa0017 The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has selected 23 Ghanaian entrepreneurs to benefit from the mentorship programme this year. Each entrepreneur is expected to receive about $5000 and other technical support to boost their business. Speaking at the third annual TEF Forum to announce winners of the initiative, Founder of the foundation and chairman of the UBA Group, Tony Elumelu charged the winners to ensure that the funds are used for their intended purpose. Tony Elumelu said, Africas development, which must be private-sector led and entrepreneurially driven, will have at its heart, young African innovators and their transformative ideas. Only they will create the millions of jobs Africa needs. He said, The Forum has brought together Africas most important developmental force, her young entrepreneurs who will become catalysts for Africas economic liberation. Mr Elumelu said, We have united the African entrepreneurship ecosystem, putting the entrepreneurs at centre stage. He said, I want to thank those heads of government and other key policymakers, who have supported our firm belief that the private sector is the engine for growth and the private sector players, who are models of our philosophy of Africapitalism the idea that business will drive change and that change must deliver economic and social wealth. Third annual forum The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africas leading philanthropy dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship, concluded its 3rd annual TEF Entrepreneurship Forum on 14th of October 2017 in Lagos. The Forum hosted more than 1,300 participants from 54 African countries. The most diverse and inclusive gathering of African entrepreneurs on the continent, the Forum continued its strong tradition of showcasing innovation across sectors, including Agriculture, Technology, Healthcare, Fashion and Energy/Power Generation. Launched in 2015, the Forum was born out of the Foundations $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs, over a decade, through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. 19.10.2017 LISTEN Unity Party is in a free fall due to the factional battles within its ranks. With such fast degeneracy, the lack of coherence in its central command, porosity of strategy due to massive leak, coupled with the no money syndrome, a George Weah presidency engineered by the witch plutocrat Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is on the horizon. This writer maintains that the result from the first round of the presidential polls is an indictment of a regime that was blessed with twelfth years to deliver on basic social services and ameliorate the standard of living of the people, but spectacularly failed to address basic survival issues. Instead of focusing on providing practical solutions to nagging challenges, this regime prided itself in fumbling with theoretical postulates and discussing abstract concept void of addressing basic social issues. The Party does not have the luxury of time to garner the forces and recalibrate in a runoff that is about to decide the final winner of the contestation. In the ranks of the party, the Ellen faction led by Eugene Nagbe and his cohorts are bent on undermining the partys effort simply because they have been shown the exit door by the bravado highliners led by Cllr. Varney Sherman and his poster boy in Chairman Wilmot Paye. Attempts to put the broken pieces together so the party can emerge as a strong and united force in the runoff is a dream in wonderland, as all sides are expressing unwillingness to smoke the peace pipe for the sake of the general objective. This lack of coherence in the party will cost it the runoff, considering the fact that their opponent in the Coalition for Democratic Change has a sound ground work complimented by a solid internal organization, which has been lacking for the past two elections. Analysts are quibbling that the sour relationship between President Sirleaf and the party is due to the rift between she and Cllr. Varney Sherman and Chairman Wilmot Paye. The two kingpins of the Party have been embroiled in a conflict with the President since the inception of her second term. According to the two men, their bitterness with the President stemmed from her refused to prioritize the employment of partisans of the party that went in the trenches to secure its victory in 2011. New hostility between the two men and President Sirleaf took center stage when Cllr. Sherman used his privileged opportunity as orator of Liberias Independence to send volleys of punches to the President for her lethargy in resolving structural issues of governance ranging from corruption to unemployment, poverty etc. As for Chairman Paye, his was during the 2014 Special Senatorial Election when he seized the opportunity to throw nuggets of verbal missiles at the then Heir Apparent, Machiavellian Co President, and the Defacto Prime Minister in Robert Sirleaf for masterminding the prematurely pull out of the Partys candidate in the election. After recuperating from a life-threatening illness, in recent time, Cllr. Varney Sherman reignited the impasse between he and the President at a program in the Township of West point; he boastfully said that the party does not need the support of the President to win the presidential election, hinging on the argument that he won the senatorial election of Cape Mount void of the support of President Sirleaf. Many commentators have tagged Cllr. Sherman as a political man who does not know the rules of engagement, or somebody without an understanding of tactic and strategy in politics. His comment of late against the President has further soured the relationship between the Party and the President, and he thus dropped the ball on that issue. Shermans assertion could prove correct if the party had a massive grassroots support complemented by funds to run its campaign. As it stands, the party lacks the funds to discount, the organizational framework, and the gusto to discount the support of president Sirleaf. Many of their key members are junior ministers in the government who are not prepared to abandon their fat salaries to engage the process with the ferocity of their existence. In addition to such situation, the Party is experiencing insolvency, as ranks and file are openly scolding the media team for during little to articulate the success of the party to the Liberian people. Aggrieved partisans are saying that the media team lacks depth and spine to take on a Coalition for Democratic Change which has demonstrated superior propaganda firepower during the first round of the presidential polls. As it stands, a divided Unity Party with all the attendant challenges, is inadvertently delivering the presidency to the CDC on a silver platter. Yes, in the public the elements of the Party will put a brave face, but in private they admit to the disintegration of the Party. Unless there is a dramatic change in the activities of the Party, the clock is ticking towards the end of its hold on power. DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - 19 October 2017,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Africa Code Week (ACW) officially kicked-off in Tanzania today in the presence of Government officials and hundreds of pupils from surrounding areas kicking off the first series of live coding workshops. Hon. Prof. Joyce Ndalichako Tanzanian Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, joined SAP alongside Hon. Ciaran Cannon, Irish Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, UNESCO YouthMobile , the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Cape Town Science Centre , the Galway Education Centre , and Google to declare the 2017 edition of Africa Code Week open across 35 countries. 500,000 children and youth aged 8-24 are expected to participate in the thousands of free coding workshops that will be organized throughout the week. In the run-up to these events, thousands of teachers have been trained by skilled volunteers from SAP CSR EMEA and ACW Ambassadors across most participating countries. With half a million young Africans engaged over the past two years, 15 Governments and over 100 partners on board already, Africa Code Week speaks volumes on the importance and impact of public-private partnerships in the digital age. According to Claire Gillissen-Duval, Director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP and Global Project Lead for Africa Code Week, "Tanzania is a perfect example of how governments can leverage the Africa Code Week shared-value model and dynamic ecosystem to accelerate schools' digital transformation and fast-track youth empowerment through ICT across entire nations." Tanzania has grown faster than the average rate of growth in sub-Saharan Africa (6.9% compared to 4.9% growth rate since 2005) and key drivers for its path to transformation are centered around technology based innovation and improving skills. Speaking at the event, Hon. Minister Ndalichako noted that "the use of ICT has increased considerably in recent years, it is a key foundation which will lift Africa out of poverty in a sustainable manner. We are thankful to SAP and Africa Code Week partners for their support in our efforts to boost STEM skills development for our youth, and we look forward to empowering a new generation of digital innovators across Tanzania and Africa at large", she said. Attending the first series of coding workshops organized for Tanzanian pupils ahead of the ceremony, Minister Cannon commented "for the young generation to take advantage of the immense opportunities presented by the digital revolution, coding must become part of their daily learning journey: coding is the 21st century language and as with any other language, the earlier children learn it, the faster they become fluent." Celebrating more than a continent-wide education revolution in the making, the launch also shed light on the African female leaders who dedicate their life to improving digital skills and employment perspectives for girls in the digital century. As part of the Africa Code Week, the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provides micro grants to 20 female tech leaders who organize coding workshops in 17 African countries specifically for girls. "250 million fewer women than men have access to the internet. We need to take action to close this gap and make sure women and girls can benefit from the potentials of the digital revolution", said Roland Lindenthal, Head of Division Education and Digital World at BMZ. The engagement of the BMZ is part of the #eSkills4Girls initiative launched under the German G20 presidency. At their meeting in July, the G20 leaders committed to support digital skills of women and girls worldwide. To underline the political message, the BMZ takes action and supports the coding workshops and other activities to promote the participation of women in the digital economy. Africa Code Week 2017 will take place from 18-25 October across 35 countries. For more information about Africa Code Week please visit http://africacodeweek.org/ . For more information about SAP Africa, visit the SAP News Center . Follow SAP and Africa Code Week on Twitter at @sapnews and @africacodeweek Somalias president has blamed al-Shabab for the countriest deadliest attack, in which more than 300 people were killed. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo told Al Jazeera that the armed groups fingerprints could be found over Saturdays blast in the capital, Mogadishu, explaining that al-Shabab had a history of similar attacks. This is their fingerprints, this is what they have done, Farmajo said, before calling on the international community to help combat the group. Al-Shabab has a strong presence in the south of the country. If they succeed here, theyll [find it] easier to promote their crazy ideology and their political ideology to the youth in the United States and Europe, he added. Al-Shabab has not claimed responsibility for Saturdays blast but the Somali leader had no doubt it was responsible. I thought they would claim, but maybe they feel that this is a huge responsibility, Farmajo explained, referring to the scale of the atrocity. The Somali presidents comments come as emergency workers continue to comb the rubble looking for the remains of those who died, with officials warning that some bodies might never be found. Al Jazeeras Mohammed Adow, reporting from Mogadishu, said investigators were trying to find out where the attackers procured the military grade explosives believed to have been used in the attack. Another focus, officials say, is whether al-Shabab had help from within the security forces, he said. The Somali government has been fighting al-Shabab for the best part of a decade and expelled the fighters from Mogadishu in 2011 with help from African Union soldiers. Al-Shabab has since retreated southwards and continues to hold swathes of territory there. Media practitioners and journalists of Ghanaian descent based in the United States (US) placed a courtesy call on Ghana's Ambassador to to the US at the Ghana Embassy in Washington D.C. on Tuesday October 8, 2017. The Ambassador, His Excellency (HE) Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, described the meeting as a great opportunity for him to personally meet with the media practitioners and to get to know them on a one-on-one basis. He also praised their work and thanked them for all they do to bridge the information gap between Ghanaians in the US and those back home and around the world. The media men on their part expressed their appreciation to the Ambassador for granting them an audience and acknowledged the efforts he was putting in place to ensure a smooth flow of communication between the embassy and the media to keep Ghanaians and entities interested in news about Ghana informed in an accurate and timely fashoin. The media men in attendance at the meeting included Wofa Yaw Agyarko and Nana Yaw Darko, both of Sankofa radio, and Mr. Sonny Vanderpuye of West African Times, all of the state of Virginia in the US. Also present and traveling from New York was Mr. Charles Mensah of 3G Media affectionaly known in Ghanaian media circles as Mr. CNN, and Mr. George Bright-Abu, editor of the Afrikan Post newspaper based in Virginia US. Mr. Bright-Abu also stood in for Oral Ofori; Founder of the Communication Consultancy www.TheAfricanDream.net which is based in the Washington DC metro area. Mr. Ofori was unable to join his colleagues at the meeting. The Embassy of Ghana in Washington D.C. is located at 3512 International Dr NW, Washington, DC 20008. To find out more about it visit www.ghanaembassydc.org A former Environment, Science and Technology Minister, Mahama Ayariga has pledged his unflinching support for former president John Mahama, saying he will be the best bet for the party in the 2020 general elections. I have been for very long very close to John Dramani Mahama. I have been very supportive of John Dramani Mahama. Ill continue to support him unless I think that there is something fundamentally wrong with his leadership for which reason Ill change my mind. Ill back him into any election. 2020 Ill back him if he is interested, the Bawku Central (MP) told host of Starr Chat Bola Ray Wednesday. That notwithstanding, he added that he believes the second deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin will be a fine President for Ghana given his knowledge of the country. Mr. Bagbin, Member of Parliament for Nadowli/ Kaleo Constituency of the Upper West region has declared his intention to contest the flagbearership slot of the NDC for the 2020 presidential elections. He [Bagbin] was our minority leader and our majority leaderand given his knowledge of the country I have no doubt that he will be a fine President, Ayariga told host Bola Ray. A colourful ceremony of sod cutting for the construction of a state-of-the-art ultra-modern office complex for the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and a private vehicle testing center at Nsien in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region took place on Monday 16th October 2017. The project which was the brain-child of the Member of Parliament for Evalue Ajomoro Gwira constituency and the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Hon Catherine Ablema Afeku, will be executed by Fridoug Ltd. Mr. George Kofi Anderson, the project manager of Fridoug Ltd, disclosed to the media that all construction works would be given to local artisans. He said about 80% temporal workers in the Municipality will be engaged during the construction as local content, "All aspects of the project will be done by local artisans, in line with Hon Catherine Afeku's vision of creating jobs for the people in the area", he assured. Hon Catherine Afeku, Evalue Ajomoro Gwira constituency MP, who cut the sod on Monday, October 16, 2017, said the project, among others, was to create jobs for the local people. She, therefore, called on the youth to take advantage of the opportunity given. Hon Afeku expressed her profound appreciation to the Chief Executive Officer of DVLA for hailing to her call for the establishment of DVLA branch in the Nzema enclave. Hon Catherine said the new branch if completed will reduce the burden on drivers who always travelled from Nzema to Takoradi and Tarkwa for a license. "The era of frustration, the suffering of drivers and cost of transportation to Takoradi and Tarkwa to acquire driving license is going to be over very soon", she excited. Hon Afeku called on the youth of the area to rally behind His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and pray for him as he has started implementing his flagship programs. "President Nana Addo has the youth of this country at heart and he needs your total support to execute his flagship programs", she added. On the part of the Municipal Chief Executive for Nzema East Municipality, Hon Frank Okpeyen, he thanked the Member of Parliament for the area for her lobbying skills that has brought some development in the Municipality within these few months. The MCE commended the chiefs and people of Nsien Traditional Council for releasing the land for the construction of the project. He also thanked the Chief Executive Officer of DVLA for making the DVLA office in Axim a reality. The MCE also expressed his profound gratitude to the leadership of GPRTU and PROTOA for supporting the agenda for the establishment of a DVLA branch in the area. He promised to collaborate with the contractor to ensure the speedy pace of the project. He, however, said that five officers had been earmarked at the GPRTU centre for the start of the program while they wait for the completion of the project. Speaking at the official sod-cutting ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of DVLA, Mr Kwesi Agyemang Busia, commended the chiefs and people of Nsein Traditional Council for throwing their support behind Hon Catherine Afeku for her to bring this important project in the area. He said when completed, the office would help speed up the realization of the objectives of the Authority and position it to continue the drive in reducing road fatalities and optimising revenue generation towards the achievement of President Nana Addo's vision of helping Ghana. He told the gathering that Hon Catherine Afeku was a hardworking Minister who championed the setting up of the DVLA branch in the Nzema East Municipality. "Hon Catherine Afeku has been visiting my office, advocating for the establishment of the DVLA office in her constituency" "I'm appealing to you to support her endeavours because Hon Catherine Afeku really has you, the constituents at heart. "Nzema East Municipality met all the necessary preconditions for the construction of DVLA branch and the Municipality deserves it", he added. He commended Nsien residents for the good hospitality accorded him and his entourage. Mr Busia revealed that so far the Authority has 28 DVLA branches across the country. He said that the project , which is located at Nsien, off Nsien-Takoradi road is expected to be completed within six (8) months. He also said the Authority has automated its operations to drastically reduce the work of middle-men popularly known as 'Goro boys' and maximize revenue for the state. The DVLA CEO said his vision is to help the service, raise public confidence and improve upon the image of the Authority. He revealed that apart from the establishment of office for drivers to get license, a Testing Service Center is expected to be constructed alongside. Mr. Busia noted that the DVLA would not compromise when it comes to the delivery of quality services. He took the gathering through all the services the DVLA would be providing to the good people in the catchment area- thus, Vehicle Registration, Roadworthy, License Upgrade, Proficiency Test, Trade Plates and Physical Conversion. The Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Traditional Council, Awulea Attribrukusu III, who was chairman for the sod cutting ceremony thanked the Member of Parliament of the area for lobbying for the DVLA branch to be brought into the Municipality. He also thanked the DVLA CEO for accepting to Hon Catherine Afeku's call for the establishment of the project in the area. Awulea appealed to the DVLA CEO to employ the indigenous people to work at the office when completed. He therefore charged the youth of the Municipality to acquire skills and education to meet the opportunities available. "Good times are here" and I therefore urged the youth to take advantage of the job opportunities to enhance their lots. Source: Daniel Kaku The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is in dire need of mechanical ventilators, also known as lung machines, to save precious human lives. The machines are used to support patients who are suffering from breathing deformities so that they would not die. KATH's Intensive Care Unit at the Department of Medicine crucially needs six of the machines to enable them to cater for patients properly. But the department only has just one of the machines presently, and so they are appealing to benevolent organisations and individuals to support them. Prof Ohene Opare-Sem, Consultant Physician at KATH, made these known during an interview with the DAILY GUIDE when Unique Royal Club, a social club in Kumasi, donated one of the machines at a cost of GH400,000 to KATH during a short ceremony. By the donation, patients with breathing challenges who visit KATH for medical care can now be properly taken care of by medical personnel. Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, an executive member of Unique Social Club, stated that his club responded positively to KATH's appeal for support. He stated that his outfit had supported most of the medical institutions in Kumasi in the past, and now is the turn of KATH. Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba appealed to other benevolent organisations and individuals to come to the aid of KATH so they can continue to save lives. Management of the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) has presented a cheque for GH36,780 to 6BN Unit in Tamale for the completion of a three-unit classroom block at Kamina Barracks. This follows passionate appeal to the general public for support to complete the project. An initial amount of GH10,000 was donated to 6BN to start the construction of the three-unit classroom block at Kamina Barracks. Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, David Adomako-Mensah, Director of Services at NEDCO, said management assessed the project to determine its suitability. Mr Adomako-Mensah stated that over the years, NEDCO and 6BN Unit have enjoyed cordial relations and collaborated on numerous projects, adding that the donation would help strengthen the relationship between the two organizations. Director of Services at NEDCO personally donated a split air-conditioner for the teachers' common room. He indicated that NEDCO faces many security challenges and appealed to the military to help address the challenges. Receiving the donation, Major John Yaw Kwarteng, Commander of the Rear Infantry Battalions at Kamina Barracks, expressed appreciation and assured that the money would be used for the intended purpose. We assure you that there shall be value for money. FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. King: And, in the calmest and most stillest night, With all appliances and means to boot, Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Henry IV Part 2 - William Shakespeare MY HEART MISSED A BEAT. It 'skipped a beat'. It 'stood still'. I asked various questions: for which I did not expect an answer: Who! When! Why! How! What! The questions were rhetorical. The screaming headline read: Otumfuo's 350,000 cash causes stir in U.K. That was Daily Guide of Thursday, October 12, 2017. The story read: A staggering 350,000 deposited into the personal account of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in the U.K. has generated a controversy in the country. Officials in the U.K., according to news reports in some U.K. newspapers, are suspecting money laundering but so far no invitation has been extended to the office of the Asante monarch. One Mark Arthur, a British Ghanaian, who reportedly deposited the colossal amount into Otumfuo's personal account at Ghana International Bank in the U.K. has landed in trouble, as he has lost his job at the bank Then in an about turn, a volte-face, on Friday, 13th October, 2017. Daily Guide headline whimpered: 'Otumfuo is clean'. In another sniveling headline, the paper wrote: U.K. Bank clears Otumfuo. The story following this headline was: There has never been any suggestion by the bank that the king was or is involved in money laundering. In fact, we have no evidence to that effect. The bank has not in any of its submissions questioned the integrity of the king. The bank has maintained a long-standing relationship with the king and has worked closely with him on initiatives such as the Otumfuo Education Fund to provide IT education to children in deprived communities we are alarmed and disturbed over the false report which is concocted to suggest that the king erred A charge of money laundering? Do you know it is an international crime? Money laundering is the process of transforming the profits of the crime and corruption into 'legitimate' assets, it is a financial and business crime, hinged on the financial systems on securities, digital currencies, financing of terrorism as well as evasion of international sanctions. 'Dirty' money obtained from various crimes is 'cleaned' by layering with legitimate earnings and integrated into the cash flow. Money laundering dates back into ancient times and it goes with the development of money and banking, with individuals hiding their wealth from the state to escape taxation and confiscation In China, around 2000 BC, big time merchants would hide their wealth from rulers who would take it from them and even banish them. They would, therefore, hide it or invest it in businesses in remote provinces or even outside China. There is a strong international campaign to seize proceeds of drug crimes so as to nab the heads of drug cartels. Money laundering laws tend to make individuals responsible for proving that the source of funds is legitimate. Ghana, since 2007, with the enactment of the Anti Money Laundering Act 2007 (Act 749) and the Money Laundering Amendment Act, 2015 (Act 874) has joined other countries to fight the menace of money laundering. After the 9/11 (2001) attacks, leading to the Patriot Act of the US, there has been a shift of emphasis on money laundering laws to fight off terrorism. There is pressure on governments around the world to enforce laws on money laundering. Deutsche Bank suffered a fine of $630 million for their inability to prevent Russian money laundering to offshore bank accounts. Back to the discredited story on Otumfuo. It was trending on the social media. It was dirty, and I praise those who challenged the story to the point of swaying into the realm of ethnicity and tribalism. One Dr Yusuf Bala Usman remarked (in response to someone who defended Otumfuo): If you are emotionally attached to your tribe or political leaning to the point that truth and justice become secondary consideration, your education is useless. If you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind. Just while I was lamenting over such pieces, my attention was drawn to one by Kwabena Nyarko of Dichemso, Kumasi (Daily Guide, Friday, October 13 2017): Had it been a monarch from the Middle East or one of the rich dudes in the Western World to whom the British imperialists are beholden, this Otumfuo Osei Tutu II issue would not have surfaced anywhere such transactions by Western known rich people go on daily but they choose and pick who they want to call out. This is an attempt to humiliate Africans and nothing else. Those jubilating for tribal reasons the imperialists do not see tribe. It is directed at all Africans. Quite remarkable. Dr Agyenim Boateng, in his capacity as President of the Concerned Youth of Asante spoke the mind of many an Asante when he stated that the story was cooked to degrade the name of His Royal Majesty of the Asante Kingdom. What is all the long story about an Uber taxi and a bullion van? It is heartening to note that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is ranked by the Forbes Magazine as Africa's 5TH richest King, after King Mswati III of Swaziland ($50m), the King of Ile Ife ($75m), Oba Obateru King of Iboland in Nigeria ($300m), the King of Morocco ($26 billion). That was in 2014. It is reported that Otumfuo's company, Transpomech Ghana, supplies mining equipment to a number of industrial companies in Ghana. Otumfuo is said to own a large stretch of real estates in Ghana and South Africa. He also possesses a large collection of valuable gold crown jewels. Otumfuo, in his capacity as the great Monarch of Asante, no doubt, knows his commitments. He cannot be deceived into believing that he has got 'lovers' all over the world. He has not forgotten all too soon the bitter rumour that was circulating about his demise when he was holidaying in South Africa. He believes in the international law. And he knows the limits of the courtesies made available to him. Let me tell of a personal experience. In 2005, I was approached by an agent who was clearing a vehicle for a close relation of a big man. The agent expected me to extend some courtesies to that big man. I asked: Is the big man not capable of settling the financial obligation? Please, go ask him. Give him my name, and politely tell him that I have asked you that question. My friendship with the agent was terminated, but the big man knew better! All of us have a heavy task: To protect our integrityas royalty, as politicians, as men of God, as people in responsible positions The banks in the U.K. must have laws and rules that should protect the confidentiality of their customers. We want to believe that there should be 'protocol' banking or 'privileged' banking. One does not expect a potentate to carry his own money in a portmanteau or 'GhanaMustGo' bag to a bank like an ordinary customer. We must be careful about the extent to which we stretch 'equality' and 'equity'. This is good admonition for those who sit on radio and those who write. Did someone remind me of Matthew 7:20? Therefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Africanus Owusu-Ansah [email protected] As part of efforts to decentralize the process of acquiring drivers' licences, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has established a satellite office at Tarkwa in the Western Region to bring its services to the doorsteps of people. The commencement of DVLA's operations in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality would save drivers and other transport operators the cost of travelling to the regional capital, Sekondi-Takoradi to acquire their licences. At a brief ceremony to officially register the first vehicle in the municipality, the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Licensing Manager Kwasi Bona Otuo-Srebuor, noted that his outfit would deliver fast, reliable and convenient services to drivers who would patronize their service. He further entreated customers to transact business with only accredited staff of DVLA with identity tags, adding that the 'Goro' boys might swindle unsuspecting drivers. Gilbert Ken Asmah, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Tarkwa Nsuaem, observed that the opening of additional DVLA offices in the various districts was laudable. He observed that the Tarkwa office of the DVLA would also serve about 14 metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies in the Western Region considering the location of Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality. He urged vehicle owners and drivers operating in the area to give their support to DVAL officials in Tarkwa to carry out their duties. Supt Victoria Yamoah, Tarkwa Divisional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department, MTTD of Ghana Police, on her part, mentioned that her outfit would work in collaboration with the DVLA for smooth registration of vehicles, adding We shall clamp down on all unregistered vehicles. We have brought vehicle registration to your doorsteps. The process has been made simple and convenient, she disclosed. Axim DVLA Office In a related development, DVLA has the sod for the construction of DVLA Offices and Private Vehicle Testing Center at Axim in the Nzema East Municipality in the region. Upon completion, officials of DVLA would carry out vehicle inspection, issue road worthy certificates and driver licences to applicants in the municipality and other adjoining districts. The Chief Executive Officer of DVLA Kwasi Agyeman Busia revealed that government was making efforts to ensure drivers get easy access to the services of DVLA through the opening of additional offices in the country. He disclosed that Ghana can only boast of 28 offices nationwide which has paved way for Goro Boys to operate. The MP for the area, who doubles as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Arts, Catherine Afeku, said the project will ease pressure on both Tarkwa and Takoradi and will also provide jobs for the people. The Municipality Chief Executive (MCE) for Nzema East Municipality, Frank Okpenyen, thanked drivers and other vehicle owners in the area for collaborating with the assembly to execute the project, which would be completed within eight months. On his part, the Omanhene of Lower Axim Traditional Area, Awulae Attibrukusu III, appealed to officials of the DVLA and contractor, who is working on the project to employ more people from the municipality. The Children Service group of the Nativity Congregation, La of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on Sunday, October 15 donated items worth thousands of Ghana cedis to the Senior High Technical School for the Deaf at Mampong, Akwapim in the Eastern Region. The items included gallons of cooking oil, bags of rice, detergents, loaves of bread, boxes of bottled water, cartons soft drinks, toiletries, among many others. The donation formed part of a yearly activity of the children's ministry in celebrating the children's harvest. According to Michael Lartey, vice president of the childrens ministry, the items came from the children, their teachers and the entire congregation. Receiving the items on behalf of the school and students, Joseph Sam, the headmaster of the school, expressed gratitude to the donors for their support. Having donors come to us with goodies such as these is rare and the children service of La Nativity identifying us with such a kind visit is very heart-warming. It is our prayer that God restores every pesewas spent so far as this donation is concerned and like Oliver Twist, our doors are opened for more, he added. Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta is billed to deliver the keynote address at the first-ever National General Insurance conference at the Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra today. Mr Ofori-Atta will be speaking on the theme: 'Transforming the General Insurance Industry through Self-Regulation, Financial Capacity and Business Innovation.' The General Insurance conference is organised by the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) under the auspices of the General Insurance Council (GIC). The objective of the annual conference is to create a national platform for discussing and addressing key issues that affect General Insurance and to create awareness about General Insurance among policy makers and other key institutions and stakeholders in the country. The full day event will be attended by delegates from the General Insurance industry, chief executives of insurance companies and allied industry, officials from the National Insurance Commission, among others. Steven Oluoch, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICEA Lion General Insurance, one of the most prominent general insurance companies in Nairobi, Kenya and the entire East Africa, will give the main presentation. Other notable speakers will include Justice Yaw Ofori, Insurance Commissioner; Aretha Duku, President of the Ghana Insurers Association and Kwame Ofori, Chairman of the General Insurance Council of the Ghana Insurers Association. Ms. Aretha Duku, President of the GIA, said of the conference: I look forward to fruitful discussions that would direct us as to how to fully utilize the benefits of self-regulation, improve our financial capacity and tap into the benefits associated with social media and technology. Kwame Ofori, Chairman of the General Insurance Council said: This conference is a culmination of years of dreams and efforts by the General Insurance Council to tell the story of the impact of this line of insurance business on the lives and properties of individuals and on the country as a whole. He reiterated that the conference theme is quite auspicious at this time in view of its focus on three thematic areas that have the potential of making the General Insurance industry better. Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Dapaah, has urged management of Turkish Airlines to help propel air connectivity across the African sub-region. The Minister made the call on Tuesday in Accra when a five-member delegation of Turkish Airlines Ghana called on her at her office to discuss the airlines' reduction in fares in Europe and US, and its support for the upcoming Africa Air Show scheduled to take place from 24-26 October, 2017. Ms Dapaah lauded the airline for its achievements in Ghana since its inception. She called on Turkish Airlines to consider reducing airfares in Africa. She explained that I have seen some figures that you have grown from 2010 up till 2017, 75 percent and if I am right, this is unprecedented. I haven't seen such growth in any airline business. So I believe it's a testimony that Ghana is good for investment. I will at this juncture plead with you that if you are doing special fares to Europe and US, why not in Africa, she stated. Making a case for Turkish Airlines to reduce its fares to the sub-region, the minister explained that airfare in Africa is too expensive and you must lead the way. Where you make profit elsewhere, you can subsidize by having promotions in Africa because Africa lacks connectivity. Even as I speak in the ECOWAS region, you know we are 350 million people which will grow according to the projection to 500 million people in 20 years' time. Where is Turkish Airlines' policy regarding that? she quizzed. According to her, We need strategic partners to come in to help open up the aviation market in Africa. The whole world is growing at 5 percent, Africa is projected to grow at 6 percent and Ghana I am sure we will grow about 20 percent. On his part, Ghana Country Manager of Turkish Airlines, Ferhat Yerli, expressed gratitude for the support it has received from the people of Ghana over the years. We are very happy to be here in Ghana and also we will like to work with Ghanaian companies and also Ghanaian aviation, he said. President Nana Akufo- Addo 19.10.2017 LISTEN "Mr Speaker, I am indeed in a hurry. The time in which we live demands that we all be in a hurry to deal with the problems we face". These are (were) the words of President Akufo-Addo. But when facing a crisis, it's important to take an approach fitting to the situation. Leaders who make very quick decisions or who have urgent need for closure may be more likely to make a decision based on poor judgement. This is what we witnessing under the current President Nana Akufo-Addo. Prudence, they say has two eyes, one that forsees what one has to do, the other that examines afterward what one has done. The great Aristotle, defined prudence as "recta ratio agibilium", right reason applied to practice. Prudence demands openness to the whole truth of the situation, including our long held beliefs, prejudices and agenda. We are still paying the price from poor decisions taken decades ago. The challenges facing us as a result of certain reckless decisions taken in the past must urge us to think carefully through decisions we take before getting ourselves entangled in unnecessary crisis. The current administration's excessive speed without analysis the potential consequences of their decisions is dangerous not only for the present generation, but the generation to come. The best practice is clearing the land, mark the farm lines before planting. You don't plant before clearing the land. This was the reason behind the former administration concentrated on infrastructure development, invested in the communication sector, started naming our streets and roads, extended social amenities across the country etc. Zoomlion, started working on the Digital Address System and did that without taking a pesewa from Government but did that on from the company's coffers to support their waste collection operation. Why is government reneging on its major duties and channelling millions of dollars on a project already started by a private entity. How is this project going to benefit our rural folks who are still drinking from the same river source with animals, who have no health facility, good roads etc. How is this project and the millions the administration wastes on jamborees and launching of policies going help our village folks the necessities of life that exist in the cities. Our hardworking rural farmers are still living in huts. Our focus should be how to replace their huts with decent houses and free them from the fear of rains tearing off their roofs and make sure we help them get reasonable income from proceeds of their farms. Like the former President Mr Mahama once said " in the face of the yawning gap between the toiling farmer and city officials, how could we possibly think of a nation that is welded together?. Why spending $2.4 million on digital address system when millions of our hardworking folks are living in darkness, drudgery and poverty. The Bible says in Proverbs 14:29 "He that is of a hasty spirit exalteth folly". Not understanding how we make our decisions can have profound consequences on the masses hence the need to rethink how we make decisions, and recognise which repeated decision making process don't serve us well so we can learn to avoid them. Gaining insights into our irrational motives that affect our development is a good place to start. Government is spending billions of dollars on trivialities to the detriment of the poor and the hardworking Ghanaian. Projects started by the last administration in our rural areas and others in our cities have been abandoned in the name of regime change, newly trained doctors have not been posted, teachers are demanding their arrears, contracted have stopped work, fertilizer now being sold to our cocoa farmers, embargo placed on nurses recruitment, the finance minister says the economy is in limbo but government is still spending millions of the tax payers money on policies that have no direct benefit to the chunk of the populace. The previous administration introduced the rural pay phone project, ICT for sustainable fishing, the e- learning project, post office connectivity, community information centre, rural telephony project, the hope city project etc all as part of its city- rural connectivity initiative. We still have huge infrastructure deficit to clear, under President Mahama Ghana was rated the best in the subregion in terms of human development index but we still have a lot to cover. These are the areas we must channel our meagre resources. To make use of the digital address system easy, you need to improve your infrastructure to enhance connectivity and movement. Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has launched the seventh edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and Essential Medicine List (EML), with a call on health professionals to abide by the guidelines when treating patients. The sector minister said the document which is revised every two years is aimed at empowering health professionals to use medicines responsibly as it spells out first, second line of action in treating the different ailments. Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that the responsible use of essential medicines is as crucial as the supply of adequate quantities of essential medicines of acceptable quality within the health system. He, therefore, mentioned that the level of care detailed within the STGs and EML must be complied with across all levels of the healthcare system through the reimbursement scheme provided by the National Health Insurance Authority. The minister indicated that the EML in guiding local production also implies that the quality assurance mechanisms in place for medicines listed must work more effectively. Mr Agyeman-Manu also cautioned the public about fake guidelines supposed to be emanating from the Ministry of Health. The document being launched today is the ministry's approved guidelines which are also available from approved websites of the ministry of health and its agencies, he added STG/EML Standard Treatment Guidelines are systematically developed statement that assists prescribes in deciding on the appropriate treatments for specific clinical problems. They usually reflect the consensus on the optimal treatment options within a health system and aim at beneficially influencing prescribing behaviour at all levels of care. Over the years, Ghana has implemented an essential medicine policy using the STG and EML as policy tools to guide prescription, dispensing, procurement and reimbursement across all levels of the health sector. The new guideline has an increased number of items totalling 844, 453 medicines, with 72 deleted from the old guideline and 157 added to the new document. Also, 43 existing products with added formulations were added to the new document, while 78 were deleted. The Chairman of the STG Ghana Review Committee, Professor Francis W. Ofei, explained that the medicine selection process for specific treatment are very strategic, especially as Ghana moves towards Universal Health Coverage in agenda 2030 SDGS. Prof Ofei hinted that over the years, the medicines selection process has been through a national expert committee carefully selected across all disciplines with terms of reference and coordinated by the National Drug Programme of the Ministry of Health. He mentioned that the seventh edition had benefited from innovative approached and initiatives which include evidence synthesis, comparative cost-effectiveness analysis and application of global and national best practices and the lesson learnt over the years. The national expert committee working together with stakeholders has reviewed treatments and the list of medicines on the EML, including medicines for children, he said. Prof Ofei stated that the committee has advised the MoH on the specific medicines recommended for reimbursement on the Ghana Health Insurance medicines list as per the evidence for efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness. The outcome of this activity would align the National Health Insurance medicine list with EML and ensure that the reimbursement list remains a subset of EML, he said. Prof Ofei disclosed that the committee would assist the ministry to optimise the activities at a cost-saving mechanism four social health insurance. The optimisation of this instrument should be an ongoing process as we look for new opportunities within the pharmaceutical and clinical space to optimise our expenditure on health, he said. Mrs Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceutical Services, MoH, in her statement added that the recommended timeframe for review was two years, however, due to funding architectures the department cannot conduct a review as it should. She, therefore, called for a sustained source of funding that brings efficiency to the system. 19.10.2017 LISTEN 37-year-old Kofi Mensah lives in a compound house with his wife and 2 children. One night he was heard shouting on top of his voice, banging on doors, praying and commanding things to happen and even began stripping himself naked. Some neighbours rushed around and helped his wife convey him to the psychiatric hospital. A month and a half later he was discharged home. However, other tenants started looking down on him and his family; they would not allow their children to play with his, would not return his greetings and they quickly rushed into their rooms when he is seen from afar. Similar stories can be told of people who have suffered such discrimination and stigmatisation either at work or home through no fault of theirs Stigma: Greek origin , refers to bodily sign or mark which signals something unusual or bad about a person (cuts/burns). It indicates that a person is a slave, traitor or a criminal and is to be avoided especially in public places. Goffman E. (Stigma. 1963) stigma occurs when an individual is disqualified from full social acceptance because of possession of an attribute that is deeply discrediting. To discriminate according to the Cambridge advanced learner's dictionary is to treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their skin colour, sex, religion etc. (in this case because of their health status) Stigma is the biggest obstacle to recovery, treatment and societal acceptance for people living with mental illness. Stigma and discrimination against those living with mental illness is widespread and reaches into our educational institutions, workplaces, homes, health care centres, in the media and even in the churches /mosques. It causes shame, prejudice, apathy, and hopelessness and prevents over half of those living with mental illness from seeking treatment. Discrimination at work or school, bullying, physical violence or harassments, low self-esteem, tagging or labelling as abodam, seke, madman, health insurance not adequately covering mental illness are ways by which people are stigmatized. Stigma does not stop at the persons who are suffering from a stigmatized illness. Their immediate and even remote families often experience significant social disadvantages and if care is not taken apathy sets in and the family leaves the patient to his own fate bringing about institutionalization. On some wards visited at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital a few patients had been abandoned by their families after their discharge from the hospital possibly due to fear of stigmatisation by society against such individuals and families. Repatriation by the social welfare department then becomes the only alternative. People are stigmatised and discriminated because; It is believed that the patient or family has been cursed and is being tormented by a spirit or a witch It is believed that if you have a mental illness you may be aggressive, a killer, or even a sex offender. It is also believed that most mentally ill people are criminals. About 70 % of the television characters with a mental illness are often portrayed as hostile, dangerous, unpredictable and violent. It is believed they have poor interactive and social skills. Another myth is that mental illness is contagious and incurable. Need I say that people commit horrendous crimes and may not necessarily be suffering from one mental illness or the other, neither has it been scientifically proven that mental illness is contagious. It is high time we take strategic steps to minimise or reduce stigmatisation and discrimination of people suffering from mental illness. These include; Creating awareness through massive public education: This is to give insight into mental illness, treatment modalities, recovery and prevention. The need for society to realise and be willing to learn that mental illness has nothing to do with witchcraft and that it's rather a medical condition, neither does one choose it when times are tough nor is it a respecter of persons.Educating people about attitudinal change especially towards people living with mental illness and to desist from using language or words that are derogatory such as (abodam ,crazy ,lunatic,) but being friendly as a society and using less hurtful words. Getting precise facts and information will also help dispel myths and stereotypes which may help change society's ideas and actions. Dr. Sammy Ohene, consultant psychiatrist and lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana Medical School on his part believes that a major step in reducing stigma is the proper integration of mental health into primary health care and vigorous public education about the nature of mental illness. Furthermore promoting education, understanding and respect will help break down barriers of ignorance, prejudice, or unfair discrimination meted out to people living with mental illness. Advocacy/support groups: These groups can be formed on local and national levels to offer and organise programmes to inform the public by taking the campaign message of stigma reduction to their doorsteps. If education and awareness creation is intensified the stigma against persons with mental illness will gradually be a thing of the past, and families will not be forced to abandon their relatives in prayer camps or mental institutions. In other parts of the world, some state, federal and programs agencies such as Vocational Rehabilitation and Veterans Affairs (V.A ) also offer support for people who have mental health conditions. Worthy of note is the fact that discrimination against students because of a mental health condition is against the law, and educators at primary, secondary and tertiary levels are required to accommodate students as best as they can. Parents or guardians can talk to teachers if their child has a mental illness that affects learning, and find out what plans, programs and resources are available to help their wards. A good example is the New Horizon Special School, a day school in Accra geared to serve children and adults who are intellectually disabled. Promotion of mental health and stigma reduction project: a major step by government in promotion of mental health and stigma reduction is the passage of the mental health bill in May 2012 and its subsequent enactment into law in Dec, 2012. Act 846 of 2012 which is currently applicable and states that (i). it is unlawful to discriminate against or stigmatize the mentally ill (ii).PWMD are entitled to the same fundamental rights as a fellow citizen, and therefore shall not be subjected to discrimination (54).Government in conjunction with mental health institutions and non-governmental organisations can further embark on projects across the nation aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination to the barest minimum. The anti-stigma and discrimination project should ultimately seek to eliminate the barriers to achieving full inclusion in society and increase access to mental health resources to support individuals and families. Establishing a mental health fund to provide funding for partnerships to assess the effectiveness of existing stigma reduction programs and approaches, including media-oriented approaches such as public service announcements; developing innovative programs such as displaying of posters and distribution of leaflets, as well as organizing radio and television programs and examining the role of the media in perpetuating and changing mental illness, stigma and discrimination will go a long way to curb this menace. Government can also provide guides for employers that detail the benefits of hiring people who have mental illness, providing suggestions for recruiting and training them, outlining action plans for educating employees about mental health and related issues to create a conducive and a friendly environment. Behavioural therapy: Professor David Roe, chair of the department of community mental health at the University of Haifa, in his earlier studies showed that one of the central obstacles is the negative stigma attached to mental illness by society at large, which is much more powerful than the labels attached to people with other disabilities. This stigma may lead to social exclusion. Another obstacle that may result from stigma is self-stigma, whereby people with a mental illness adopt and internalize the social stigma and experience loss of self-esteem and self-efficacy. People with a mental illness with elevated self-stigma report low self-esteem and low self-image, and as a result they refrain from taking an active role in various areas of life, such as employment, housing and social life, Roe explains. In an attempt to address this problem, Prof. Philip Yanos of City University of New York, Roe and Prof. Paul Lysaker of Indiana University School of Medicine developed what they term Narrative Enhancement Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (NECT).The intervention is aimed at giving people with a mental illness the necessary tools to cope with the invisible barrier to social inclusion self-stigma. A pilot project was carried out on about 22 patients and at the end of the therapy it showed that those who participated in the intervention exhibited a reduced self-stigma and, in parallel, an increase in quality of life and self-esteem. A similar therapy can be employed as a strategy in reducing stigma and discrimination in Ghana. Let us as a nation help fight stigma and discrimination against mental illness. By: Alberta Puplampu The Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) is calling for at least, 50 per cent increment in bursary and thesis grant. The annual bursary and thesis grant ranges from 450 to 900 per graduate student depending on ones programme of study. But the leadership of the association says the money is woefully inadequate to support graduate students to produce quality research work. In a statement signed by National Secretary, Jacob Apibilla Ayembilla and National President, Kwame Bonah Osafo-Ampomah, the association appealed to government to take a look at the arrangement. We plead with government to come to the aide of the graduate student by seeing to at least a 50 per cent increment in our bursary and thesis grand across board. It further suggests that government should take a second look at the application process for the bursary and thesis grant. According to them, the current manual process is too cumbersome and stressful. In this age of technological advancement we wish to be migrated from the cumbersome manual process to an electronic platform to ease the stress on graduate students, the statement said. As a result of the situation, the bursary and thesis grant for the 2016/2017 academic year is also yet to be released. Environment, Science and Innovation Minister, Prof. Frimpong Boateng has disclosed that his Ministry is working towards setting up a National Science, Technology and Information (STI) fund. The fund, when established, is expected to support science-related innovations and also serve as a funding source for private universities to undertake research activities. The President has promised to channel one percent of GDP into this STI fund so that private universities can also access funding for research, he stressed. Prof Boateng made these revelations when he was responding to a question on what his Ministry was doing to support universities to go into satellite technology on the floor of Parliament on Thursday. Prof Boateng also said his Ministry has planned to establish a satellite ground receiving station to receive satellite information and data for national resource development, environmental monitoring and for the security of the country. He also disclosed that the Ministry is working on some key initiatives that will support the introduction of new technologies and innovations in research and technology institutions, including universities. He cited the establishment of the national high-performance computing centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Researchs Institute for Scientific and Technological Information. Prof Boateng also revealed that his Ministry will also establish technology incubating centres and technology commercialisation unit." We also plan to establish the presidential advisory council for science technology and innovation and build foundries and CnC machine top centres that will give engineers the capacity to develop machine and equipment such as satellites, he added. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected] The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Team Leader on Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, Energy Bureau for Policy and Programme Support for Africa, Aliou Dia said Ghana will need an amount of 22billion dollars to invest in renewable energy such as solar power. He indicated that the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) has been proposing 22 billion dollars for Ghana to be able to deliver on the renewable energy aspect of the Paris Agreement to mitigate climate change as a result of carbon emissions. The 22billion dollars that Ghana will have to mobilize both domestic and international is to be able to implement the NDCs. The NDCs is the contribution of each of the member countries to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The objective is to meet the Paris Agreement on SDG Goal 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, Mr. Dia stated. He added that UNDP has invest US$92.2 million in sustainable energy projects in Africa between the period of 2012 to 2015 indicating that 20perent was invested in energy efficient cook stoves projects. Speaking to Modern Ghana on the sidelines of the third Ghana Renewable Energy Fair and Exhibition organized by Energy Commission, he noted that the cost of investment in renewable energy is dwindling compared to what some critics are saying. According to him, most African Governments have been investing a lot of money trying to subsidies fossil fuel which cost a lot of money compared to solar energy which uses sunshine to generate reliable energy yet, very cheap. So what we need to do is to invest more in renewable energy by putting in place the required technology and sound policies. If we de-risk the investment in environment we will be making a difference. Over 600million Africans who do not have access to any form of electricity and it is a huge problem for our continent. So we need to leverage more on technology because that is the only way for African Governments to achieve their objectives in SDGs goal 7, he intimated. Mr. Dia added that Ghana can achieve its set targets when it is able to engage the private sector to tap in the existing potentials of renewable energy. There is a big potential in Africa on renewables and we Africans are not able to tap and maximize the use of those renewables and UNDP is ready to support countries that can be able to maximize these renewables on the continent to improve access. Our portfolio on energy is becoming bigger and bigger and now we are working in almost 40 countries on renewable energy, Mr. Dia posited. According to him, Ghana is a leading example with good regulations but the challenge is as a result of the lack of political will and practical action to push this agenda over the years. Ghana is doing well, frankly speaking, I was surprised to know that energy access in Ghana is 85percent. If all African countries are able to reach that coverage then we will be making a huge difference in our development pathways. There are several talks but no action because having the regulations in place we expect to move people into practical action to address the key issues. If I have to rate Ghana on a scale of one to five, I will chose four point five, he emphasized. Many are those who have still not recovered from the shock of the heavy lost of the National Democratic Congress at the 2016 general elections. Sam Korankye Ankrah,the Apostle General of the Royal Chapel International, a church in Ghana with more than 30,000 members revealed why the Mahama led administration lost the election. Whilst preaching, he told his Congregation that he prophesied over Mahama's life on two different occasions that he would be Vice President and a President and they all came to pass. "The first time John Mahama came to Royal House Chapel contesting for Vice Presidency, Apostle General opened his mouth and prophesied and said the next time you will come back you will come back as Vice President and it happened. "He came there again and Apostle General said, the next time you will come to Royal House, you are coming as the President of the Country it happened." He went on to tell his congregation that when it was almost time to vote ex Mahama came back to Royal House Chapel, He(Reverend) didn't say anything because he realised he would loose, but he prophised to the New Patriotic Party (Npp). "But during this last election, when he came, Apostle General didn't open his mouth to say anything then I knew we were loosing the election. "Then when the NPP people came to my mother's funeral,Second Service when I finished praying, I said May the Lord grant the desires of your heart then the NDC people were angry for me saying that. But I didnt, I don't know why I said that something just popped and by the Spirit. In a nutshell he was trying to tell his congregation that whatever words that come out from ones mouth it's powerful and it works. "Charley our tongue is dangerous, Your tongue and mouth is dangerous. Let's the weak say ...., let the poor say ...., let the sick say ...., let the fearful say ....let the the failing person say ....,Change your language! Change your language!" Watch in the video below I dont quite recall the visceral reaction of the likes of Messrs. Daniel Batidam and Vitus Azeem to the Mahama Ford Expedition Payola Cocktail, his adamant refusal to move out of the Vice-Presidents official residence and the Montie Trios flagrant violation of the integrity of the Wood Supreme Court, with the noetic complicity of the extant Council-of-State, but I vividly remember the fact that absolutely none of these so-called anti-corruption mavens and czars called for either the parliamentary censure of the former president or his outright resignation. Indeed, we actually had Mr. Batidam fervidly back up the man to whom he was presidential advisor on anti-corruption issues in the righteousness of Mr. Mahamas inglorious cause. Nevertheless, it is absolutely significant, and even imperative, for President Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo to heed the solemn call of Mr. Vitus Azeem to seriously reconsider the recent promotion of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Criminal Investigations Division (CID), MaameYaaTiwaaa Addo-Danquah, to Acting Director-General of her department (See Addo Danquahs Appointment [a] Dent on Akufo-Addo Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 10/19/17). In his submission against the promotion of Ms. Addo-Danquah, the former local representative of the global civil and human rights organization, Amnesty International (AI), or the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), referenced the so-called A-Plus Scandal, in which the Hiplife musician and New Patriotic Partys electioneering-campaign propagandist, Mr. Kwame AsareObeng, was widely reported to have leaked an audiotape recording indicating that a corruption allegation investigation that was headed by Commissioner Addo-Danquah, by her own confession, had been deliberately botched to protect the image and reputation of the ruling party. Now, what this means is that Commissioner Addo-Danquah was firmly convinced that some veritable acts of corruption had occurred at the Flagstaff House under the Presidents watch. The more serious problem here, of course, is the glaring and damning implication that, after all, Nana Akufo-Addo may not really be in charge of both the internal affairs of his own government and that of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). For instance, the recent pushing out of the former Head of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Mr. Bright Oduro, is widely known to have been instigated by the public badmouthing of the latter by Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, a notoriously undisciplined and rambunctious non-cabinet party stalwart and contractor who also serves as Member of Parliament for Assin-Central. In short, President Akufo-Addo should not be tolerating the diarrheal dumping of the ruling partys internal affairs into the public domain by such self-serving operatives as the two men mentioned above, among quite a slew of others, who clearly seem to be afflicted with nihilistic or self-destructive tendencies. Dont get me wrong: I fully appreciate the imperative need of giving a fair shake, as it were, or opportunities for highly placed and hardworking Ghanaian women public servants like Commissioner Addo-Danquah to both prove and distinguish themselves in their respective fields of professional endeavor. But, of course, as I have always maintained, such well-directed Affirmation Action policy measures ought to be purely based on merit. So far, unfortunately, in the A-Plus case in point, for example, Ms. Addo-Danquah clearly demonstrated that she woefully lacks the sort of professional diligence and objectivity that the highly sensitive position of CID Chief entails. On the aforementioned audiotape, for instance, Ms. Addo-Danquah is clearly heard playing NPP party sympathizer instead of the highly professional clinical seeker of the truth, poised to letting the proverbial chips fall where they may, that she is supposed to be. I mean, stooping abysmally low to the Stygian level of former President John Dramani Mahama is the last place that President Akufo-Addo wants to be, unless, of course, he would rather have Election 2020 become a rematch contest between him and his hopelessly inept predecessor. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs Lome (AFP) - Five people were shot and injured on Thursday as gangs of youths and the security forces clashed sporadically in Togo's capital Lome, ahead of a planned opposition protest that the government has ruled illegal. Eric Dupuy, spokesman for the main opposition National Alliance for Change (ANC) party, said the five were shot in the Be area of the city and two of them were in a "critical" condition. Shots were fired around the home of ANC leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, he added. Amnesty International's country director in Togo, Aime Adi, confirmed that five people had been shot and wounded, adding they were taken to hospital in Lome for treatment. The streets were largely deserted ahead of the rally, which the opposition coalition has refused to cancel despite a government ban on weekday marches on security grounds. Demonstrators plan to march to the offices of the West African bloc ECOWAS to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe. Gnassingbe has been president since 2005 and is the scion of Africa's longest-ruling dynasty that has been in power in Togo since 1968. At least four people were killed on Wednesday in Lome and the country's second city Sokode as protesters clashed with police and soldiers, the government said. In Lome, most shops were still shut by midday (1200 GMT) and the streets were virtually empty apart from the occasional motorbike-taxi, an AFP correspondent said. "Activity is at a standstill after days of disruption by the marches," said one mobile phone vendor in Deckon, the city's commercial hub. "What's happening is weighing heavily on us. The politicians need to talk to find a solution to this crisis." Game of cat and mouse In Be, an opposition stronghold in the southeastern part of the capital, groups of youths attempted to set up barricades and burn tyres. But the security forces, who were deployed in large numbers, sporadically fired teargas in a lengthy game of cat and mouse. In other areas such as Amoutive, efforts were under way to remove barricades and the remains of burned-out cars that had been torched on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets since August to call for Gnassingbe's resignation and limit the presidential mandate to two, five-year terms. Twelve people, most of them teenagers, have been killed since August. In Paris, the foreign ministry said it was following events in its former colony "with concern". "We strongly condemn the recent violence that has left several people dead or injured (and) call for calm on both sides and dialogue," it said in a statement. A source at the Togo presidency said Benin's head of state, Patrice Talon, made a low-key visit to Lome on Wednesday night to discuss the situation with Gnassingbe. Warri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Four people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of four British nationals in southern Nigeria, police said on Thursday. The Britons, including a husband and wife from a Christian medical charity, were seized last Friday in Delta state, where they had been providing free health treatment. Delta state police spokesman Andrew Animaka said there was still no update as to their whereabouts. But he added: "We are following up on a lead with the arrest of four persons in connection with the incident. "The suspects are currently in the custody of the state police command, in (the state capital) Asaba, and are rendering useful information. "I can assure that we are on the heels of the abductors." Kidnapping for ransom is rife in southern Nigeria, where high-profile individuals and their families are a frequent targeted for criminal gangs. Victims are usually released after a few days once payment is made. Last Thursday, an Italian priest based in Nigeria for the last three years was kidnapped by armed gunmen near Benin City, the capital of Edo state. He was released on Tuesday evening. Father Maurizio Pallu told Vatican Radio from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Wednesday that it was the second time in a year that he had been kidnapped. British diplomats in Nigeria have refused to comment about the latest abduction. Police believe militants who have attacked oil and gas pipelines in the oil-rich Niger delta region are behind the kidnapping. Nigerian intelligence sources said the Britons are thought to have been taken to militant camps in the creeks and swamps of the delta. The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency and the minority spokes person on foreign affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has stated that he is most disappointed and embarrassed by the conduct of the YEAs District Director for North Tongu, Mr. Francis Lorlornyo. Speaking to Ahotor FMs morning show host Emmanuel Quarshie (Hit man) the Member of Parliament, emphasized that the project which seeks to employ most of the unemployed youth by successive governments plays a critical role and should not be abused by any individual. The YEA project is a good one and all the political parties can take credit for its establishment, he stated. I tried reaching the Board Chairman, Mr. Samuel Awuku and my DCE to get to know the facts of the matter, but I am saddened that the YEA boss has turned this laudable project into his bed room Affairs, by taking advantage of innocent young ladies Mr. Francis Lorlornyo is a known person by all; he is the youth organizer for the NPP in the constituency and an active member as such Honestly I feel so embarrassed that this news is coming from North Tongu constituency. It is a good idea and any effort to create jobs for the youth should be supported across the political device Hon. Okudzeto stated. It was made known on the show on Thursday 19th October, 2017 that some female applicants into the community protection module under the Youth Employment Agency in the North Tongu District in the Volta Region are accusing the District Director and a former New Patriotic Party Youth organizer of the Constituency, Francis Lorlornyo Kordzo Tee of extorting money and demanding sex from them in return for jobs. Please you are hereby reminded to come to the interview with your academic certificates, birth certificate, any valid ID card and a registration fee of GHS 50.00. Please acknowledge receipt of the message. By management. Thanks, a text message sent to all applicants intercepted by The National Pen read. Francis Lorlornyo was allegedly heard on a taped conversation between him and one of the applicants, proposing and demanding to know whether his proposal was accepted. A probe by this paper revealed that Francis Lorlornyo Kordzo Tee has also demanded an amount of GHS100 as medical fees from all the applicants. All he does is demand money and sex from applicants. This has led to a near collapse of the community protection unit of the Youth Employment Agency in the district and this is the reason why unemployment is on the increase amongst job seekers, one lady (name withheld) stated. Contradicting the district director, Lawyer Justin Koduah, the Chief Executive Office of the Youth Employment Agency says the agency has not approved any amount to be charged for either application forms or medicals. He said the agency had not charged anyone for forms nor medicals. Frightened by the gravity of the issues in the district, Lawyer Koduah has expressed his readiness to investigate the matter and apply the appropriate sanctions if need be. However, Francis Lorlornyo Kordzo Tee declined to speak further on the claims when he was contacted by The National Pen on phone via the same phone number he used to send text to the applicants to demand money. Accra, Oct. 19, CDA Consult The Pan African Parliament has rolled-out a comprehensive advocacy and research modules to delve into the operations of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights, which would in the long run strengthen the Courts capacity . The Pan African Parliament through the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) would undertake series of activities including working visit to the African Court, at Arusha, Tanzania to gather information on its operations. Mr Rasheed Draman, ACEPA Executive Director old the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) based in Accra in an interview that, The Pan African Parliament is interested in the status of ratification, challenges the Continental Court is facing, as well as implementation difficulties. He said the ultimate aim of the project was to gather operational information to feed the Pan African Parliament. Mr Draman said the information gathered would form the basis for the Continental Parliaments intervention as an institution which has an advisory role as well as mobilize other key stakeholders to ensure that the African Court gets the needed support. The ACEPA Executive Director commended the Justices of the African Court as well as the staff, who had exposed the ACEPA team to the internal operations of the African Continental Court. The ACEPA Team to the African Court also included Mr Issifu L. Ampo. The African Court is a continental court established by African countries to ensure the protection of human and peoples rights in Africa. It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. The African Court was established by virtue of Article 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, (the Protocol) which was adopted by Member States of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998. The Protocol came into force on 25 January 2004. As at July 2017, only eight of the 30 States Parties to the Protocol had made the declaration recognizing the competence of the Court to receive cases from NGOs and individuals. The eight States are; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Mali, Malawi , Tanzania and Rep. of Tunisia. The 30 States which have ratified the Protocol are: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote dIvoire, Comoros, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda. The African Court has jurisdiction over all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, (the Charter), the Protocol and any other relevant human rights instrument ratified by the States concerned. Specifically, the Court has two types of jurisdiction: contentious and advisory. The Pan African Parliament was established as an organ the African Union (AU) in order to ensure the full participation of African peoples in the development and economic integration of the continent. The first Parliament was inaugurated on 18 March 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and its headquarters is in Midrand, South Africa. The ultimate aim of the Pan African Parliament is to evolve into an institution with full legislative powers, whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage. The new protocol granting these powers has been adopted by the AU and is currently under ratification by member states. However until such a time that the new protocol comes into force, the Pan African Parliament shall have consultative and advisory powers within the AU. AU Member States are represented at the Pan African Parliament by five Parliamentarians, at least one of whom must be a woman. The representation of each Members State must reflect the diversity of political opinions in each National Parliament or other deliberative organ. The African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) is an African not-for-profit organization registered in Ghana. It is dedicated to building the capacity of African Parliaments and elected representative bodies at all levels of governance. ACEPA supports African countries in ensuring effective performance throughout the governance chain - from local to national representative institutions. ACEPA has excellent working relationships with more than 20 African countries/Parliaments. ACEPA is the first African institution that is dedicated to supporting national and sub-national Legislatures across the continent and was created to respond to the urgent need for an indigenous African institution that truly understands the needs and demands of African Legislatures. The main objective of ACEPA is to provide capacity building support to elected representative institutions at all levels of governance in Africa as well as Civil Society Organizations. 19.10.2017 LISTEN The illustrious Deputy Health Minister and ever smiling and hardworking Law maker representing Weija-Gbawe Constituency has declared her intention to lead a crusade to appeal to civil societies, philanthropists and individuals to join hands to procure safety equipment for the various regional government morgues across the country. She declared her intention in an interview granted at her office at the Health Ministry in Accra on Tuesday 17th October, 2017 after she had met with the leadership of the Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana. According to her, the decision to lead a campaign to secure support to resource the various government morgues with safety equipments stems from the risk the morgue workers are exposed to in the course of rendering morgue services to the public. She stated that per the discussion she had with the leadership of the mortuary workers association, it is evident that mortuary men or attendants are not supplied with safety equipments such as hand or utility gloves as well as face masks to put on in the course of handling dead bodies. She further stated that, the unavailability of such safety equipments make them resort to the use of their bare hands which put them at high risk to infections from the dead body. It is a known fact that majority of the dead bodies brought to the morgue for preservation stands some form of diseases, thereby exposing such workers to high risk of infections. This endangers their life. When asked of her source of inspiration to lead a crusade to obtain support in the form of safety equipments for the mortuary attendants in all government morgues across the country, she remarked that, she saw the mother taken to the morgue when she passed on and since that day she has respected the mortuary attendants or the workers. They took very good care of my mother even though they had no protective gloves and face mask on she stated frankly. I believe with this campaign that I am championing, a lot of Ghanaians as well as civil societies will come on board to work hand in hand to resource the government mortuaries in all the ten regions she stated. This will go a long way to enhance professionalism in the course of rendering mortuary services in the event of death. She hinted that, in championing the course for the procurement of safety equipments to the mortuary men, she will also impress on government to take a second look at the condition of service and the salary paid to the mortuary workers. She explained that the work of the mortuary workers cannot be overemphasized or underestimated. She stated that they are specialized in the field of mortuary services and that is where their gifts are, therefore they need to be taken proper care of so as to enable them live a meaningfully to themselves and the society in which they found themselves. She finally called on individuals and civil societies to exercise their civil responsibilities towards enhancing the condition of service and also equipping mortuary men with safety equipments. Geneva, Switzerland, 19 October 2017 - The African Development Bank (AfDB) and OpenOil, a Berlin-based financial analysis firm, have jointly produced a report on how African governments use financial models to manage oil & gas and mining projects. The report was launched at the 13th Annual General Meeting of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 150 experts and representatives of international development institutions, governments, civil society and extractives companies attended the launch. These included the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Mining companies and miners associations such as Newmont Mining Corporation, AngloGold Ashanti, Anglo American and International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) also attended. The joint report was presented by Pietro Toigo of the AfDBs African Natural Resources Center and Olumide Abimbola from OpenOil. This report is the first of its kind in Africa and we hope that it will stir debate within the continents mining sector and contribute to countries getting more out of their mining projects, they told the participants. The report, Running the Numbers: How African Governments Model Extractive Projects , analyses the capacity of 19 African resource-rich countries to use financial models, which simulate a simplified version of a real-world project in order to determine their financial benefits to the countries. AfDB and OpenOil conducted a survey of nearly 50 government officials to illustrate not only how widespread use of financial models is, but also how their results are utilised to inform policy. Financial models are essential throughout the life-cycle of extractive projects, said Johnny West, Director of OpenOil. They are not just important during the development of the fiscal regime, but also for the negotiation of fiscal terms with companies, for revenue forecasting, and for auditing and tax-gap analysis. This report not only stresses the need for African Governments to make efforts to close the information gap with extractive companies, but also shows where there are capacity gaps and how those gaps could be addressed, Traore said, urging development partners to invest more in capacity building. Also, there is a substantial gap in access to data that are key inputs for financial models in African countries, with the largest gaps in assessing information on capital costs and operating costs of projects. In addition to the need to build in-house financial modelling capacity, the report suggests that governments need to improve internal business processes and address the large gap that the report shows exist between information available to different agencies, departments and ministries. This study forms a crucial part of the Centers support to African countries in realising the full potential of their natural resources, Traore said. How are countries supposed to enter into negotiations with extraction companies that use financial models if the governments of such countries are not in possession of the latest and best models to calculate what a potential project is worth? Toigo asked. The report also encourages development partners to make capacity building in financial modeling a more significant part of their support to the management of extractive resources. Partners doing so already were encouraged to not just supply financial models as part of isolated technical assistance, but to also invest in equipping government officials with skills to create and use models. The Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has rejected assertions that the sanctions imposed by the National Communications Authority (NCA), on 131 radio stations amounts to suppression of free speech, saying such arguments are deficient in logic and good sense. The Minority has described the fines handed out to the stations as excessive, adding that the NCA was trying to monetize freedom of expression. Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, backed the NCAs action, stating that the accusations against the NCA were not based on logic. It is unfortunate, and indeed sad to suggest that adherence to the law is a threat to media plurality or that implementing regulatory provisions to manage spectrum can be equated to Nazism? That might make for a good soundbite, but is certainly deficient in logic and good sense, she said. The NCA's action in no way suppresses free speech. Its inaction, on the other hand, will be irresponsible and can lead to chaos, confusion and disorder caused by the absence of regulation that will impede the exercise of free expression. The stations, including Accra-based Radio Gold, Atlantis Radio and Radio XYZ, 3-FM, were either fined or had their licenses revoked by the National Communications Authority (NCA), following the completion of a nationwide FM Spectrum Audit. Radio XYZ was fined GHc 4,090,000, Atinka FM GHc 14,800,000, while Radio Gold and Atlantis Radio picked up the heftiest fines with GHc 61,330,000 and GHc 60, 350,000 respectively. Accra-based Okay FM and Kumasi-based Hello FM, both under the Despite group, have since been shut down as a result of the failure to pay their fines. The Media Foundation For West Africa (MFWA), expressed concerns with the sanctions, stating that the NCA itself failed in its mandate as some of the stations had been in default for over a decade. Why would the NCA sit down over the years, and in their own statement they indicated that some of these affected media organizations had actually failed to renew or pay whatever it is for as many as 17 years. So you ask yourself, all these years what the NCA was doing? However, the Communications Minister dismissed these claims, stating that radio stations which have fallen foul of the law cannot be given a pass because of the inaction of the NCA under previous administrations. The fact that previous Boards and Directors of the NCA (with or without the blessing of Ministers of Communication) did not enforce their rules does not mean that a new regime with a belief in the rule of law should not apply the laws of the land. There is no timetable to enforcing regulations and ensuring compliance, and it is better late than never, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful added. By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Addah was in Parliament to conscientize legislators to adopt the habit of handwashing with soap under running water before and after they leave the Chamber. As part of ongoing celebration of this years Global Handwashing Day on Sunday 15th October, 2017, the sector minister did a demonstration on the floor of Parliament on how to wash the hands properly with soap under running water. The Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka, Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase Constituency in the Ashanti Region quickly accused the sector minister of washing his hands without following the generally acceptable best practices and procedures for handwashing. According to him, the Ministry during his demonstration misled members of the House by failing to wash his hands to the wrist level which he could have resolved that by first removing his wrist watch. He added that the Minister also failed to scratch his fingers between his palms which usually gather dirt. The MP for Efutu in the Central Region, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in a knee-jerk reaction counter-accused some minority members of several instances where they were spotted eating without properly washing their hands with soap under running water at the cafeteria. The debate, which last for 30minutes led to counter accusations by both sides of the House just to deepen the awareness on the essence of handwashing with soap under running water after usual handshakes in public before entering the chamber to avoid infections. Delivering his statement on the floor of Parliament under the theme, Our Hands, Our Future, the sector Minister said our hands are the principal carriers of diseases-cutting pathogens from either direct person-to-person contact or indirectly through surfaces of various materials. According to him, handwashing with soap removes germs from hands which help to prevent transmission of infections and diarrheal diseases including cholera. Mr. Kofi Addah added intimated that for a variety of reasons, many people do not regard handwashing with soap as a priority or undertakes that activity wrongly thus resulting in the frequent occurrence of needless deaths and lowering of productivity. The provision by the state of adequate supply of quality water and improved sanitation alone are not enough but our lifestyles do matter, personal hygiene practices such as handwashing with soap before and after meals, as well as after group functions are all essential complements to the availability of water and sanitation facilities, he emphasized. The sector minister appealed to members of the House and Ghanaians in general to make handwashing with soap a top priority in their activities. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei Mensah has expressed concern over the state in which the region is lagging behind in terms of development. According to him, the region is not rich as compared to the previous years due to the lost of its natural resources such as gold, timber cocoa. If I didnt become the regional Minister I never knew we have lagged behind like that, when I was the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe I thought the problem lies only in Bosomtwe. Nobody should say that Ashanti is a rich region, he bemoaned. And I think we have to look at those criteria again, criteria we use to assess the poorest and richest region must be changed. People are assessing us base on the past cocoa and gold money our forefathers benefited, Hon. Osei Mensah lamented. Now galamsey has destroyed our gold, Ashanti and Eastern which region beat us in terms of galamsey activities. Foreigners have taken away the entire gold concessions not and it is Ashantis who are mining now, he stated. Come and look at the people doing galamsey in Ashanti they are include Mali and Nigers you wont get 10% of Ashantis who are doing galamsey, all our roads are deplorable even come to Kumasi and look at our roads, he added. Speaking to otecfghana.com, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon Simon Osei Mensah stated that "there is not even a single land left to give for someone to farm so if you could not go to school you are lost so we have to change our paradigm". We have to change our paradigm. There should be a paradigm shift from our land of development, he emphasized. Now the major properties we have are our culture which leads to internationalize and tourism so these are the things we have to focus and develop more, he revealed. Mr. Osei Mensah however is optimistic that whiles the problems have being identified it can be solved. We have problem to solve and whiles and once we know the problem we can solve, my stands is that first step on a major step to any problem is identification of the problem itself and if you able to identify properly the problem definitely you will solve it, he concluded. Abidjan (AFP) - Africa must double its spending on infrastructure over the coming years, the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) said on Thursday, warning that overall investment in transport, energy, water and IT/communications fell back last year. In 2016, total investment in these four sectors -- from public and private sources and international institutions -- was $62.5 billion (52.82 billion euros), compared with $78.9 billion in 2015, it said. "A spending requirement of around $120bn-$140bn (at 2015 dollar rates) (is needed) in the short-term," said the report, entitled Infrastructure Financing in Africa 2016. Chinese investment fell sharply last year, to $6.4 billion from $20.9 billion in 2015, a year that was exceptional. Averaged out over the five years from 2011-16, China invested $12 billion annually, making it the biggest single investor in African infrastructure. African states invested $26.3 billion in 2016 after $24 billion in 2015. Transport accounted for 39.2 percent of infrastructure investment in 2016, followed by energy (31.9 percent), water and sanitation (16.9 percent) and information technology/communications (2.6 percent). The ICA was launched at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland with the aim of spurring infrastructure investment in Africa from all sources. Its members include G8 nations, South Africa, the World Bank, the European Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB), the African Development Bank (AfDB) group and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). Lome (AFP) - Togo's opposition on Thursday said three people were killed and dozens more injured as gangs of youths clashed with security forces trying to prevent the latest anti-government protest in the capital. "We're informed that the provisional toll at 3:30 pm (1530 GMT) is three shot dead in Lome. There have been 44 shot and wounded, and 36 beaten up," opposition spokeswoman Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson told reporters. Eric Dupuy, spokesman for the main opposition National Alliance for Change (ANC) party, said earlier that five people had been shot in the Be area of the city and that two of them were in a critical condition. It was not immediately clear whether the five were among the 44. Shots had been fired around the home of ANC leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, he added. The streets of the coastal capital were largely deserted ahead of the rally, which the opposition coalition has refused to cancel despite a government ban on weekday marches on security grounds. Demonstrators planned to march to the offices of the West African bloc ECOWAS to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe -- the latest in two months of mounting protests against his regime. Gnassingbe has been president since 2005 and is the scion of Africa's longest-ruling dynasty that has been in power in Togo since 1968. The opposition wants the constitution changed and the introduction of a limit of two, five-year terms for presidents. The deaths on Thursday followed at least four on Wednesday in Lome and the country's second city, Sokode, as protesters clashed with police and soldiers, the government said. In Lome, most shops were still shut by midday (1200 GMT) and the streets were virtually empty apart from the occasional motorbike-taxi, an AFP correspondent said. "Activity is at a standstill after days of disruption by the marches," said one mobile phone vendor in Deckon, the city's commercial hub. "What's happening is weighing heavily on us. The politicians need to talk to find a solution to this crisis." Game of cat and mouse Dozens of people were shot and wounded during the anti-government protests in Lome Adjamagbo-Johnson said the opposition was undeterred by the crackdown, despite seven deaths in two days. "We're determined. We will continue to protest every day," she said. In Be, an opposition stronghold in the southeastern part of the capital, groups of youths attempted to set up barricades and burn tyres. But the security forces, who were deployed in large numbers, sporadically fired teargas in a lengthy game of cat and mouse. In other areas such as Amoutive, efforts were under way to remove barricades and the remains of burned-out cars that had been torched on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets on an almost weekly basis since August, increasing tensions across the country, including in the north, which has typically been supportive of the Gnassingbe family. Fifteen people, most of them teenagers, have been killed in that time. Gnassingbe currently holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS and there has been little comment in the region and beyond about the unrest. In Paris, the foreign ministry said it was following events in its former colony "with concern". "We strongly condemn the recent violence that has left several people dead or injured (and) call for calm on both sides and dialogue," it said in a statement. A source at the Togo presidency said Benin's head of state, Patrice Talon, made a low-key visit to Lome on Wednesday night to discuss the situation with Gnassingbe. Washington (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis revealed new details of a Niger ambush that left four US servicemen dead, including that the body of one slain soldier was not immediately evacuated. Mattis's comments come as questions mount in the US media about what happened on October 4, and criticism over President Donald Trump's handling of the aftermath. The Pentagon boss said the body of Sergeant La David Johnson was "found later" by non-US forces following the ambush, which is thought to have been conducted by jihadists in an area where an Islamic State group affiliate operates. US officials earlier had told CNN that Johnson's body was not recovered for nearly 48 hours. "The US military does not leave its troops behind, and I would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once," Mattis said. As is routine in incidents where troops are killed, the Pentagon has opened an inquiry into the soldiers' deaths. Because the military was not expecting hostile action, it fell to French forces conducting anti-jihadist operations in the region to provide air support after the ambush. This included fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships and a medivac helicopter that air-lifted the wounded. Mattis said a contract aircraft had evacuated the bodies of those killed in action. The Americans had been on a joint patrol with Nigerien counterparts they were training when they were ambushed by motorcycle-riding and car-driving gunmen in the Tillaberi region in the Niger's southwest. At least four Nigerien troops also died. Trump has faced criticism for not immediately publicly addressing the attack, then falsely claiming that Barack Obama and other former US leaders did not call the families of fallen soldiers. He then was accused of disrespecting Johnson's family in a condolence call. During a Pentagon briefing, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said the US troops had conducted 29 previous patrols in the region and had no reason to expect an ambush. Separately, National Security Adviser HR McMaster cautioned against jumping to any premature conclusions about the incident. "In the military, the first report is always wrong," he said. Were a huge supporter of financial technology (fintech). We think that the ability to force the hand of incumbents into change is powerful. We think that banks have had it too good for too long. Change is needed. Change is coming. Change is good for people like you and me. But is change really happening, or is it just a front? Weve been in Toronto this week at a banking and finance conference. We come every two years albeit its in a different city every year. Next year is actually in Sydney. We wonder if well make it to that one Anyway. The point is we come to understand the change going on in the world that weve worked in for over a decade. Were a huge believer in the revolutionary change of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets. But were also still an analyst and researcher of public companies and traditional financial system investments. That means we currently have a foot on both sides of the financial future fence. It also gives us a unique perspective to understand the change thats taking place. And of course the change thats perceived to be taking place. And of course the change that isnt taking place. As far back as we can remember theres always been a talk at these conferences of fintech. And the world that often follows is disruption. Its the idea that fintech companies are disrupting incumbents and will replace them. Viva la fintech. Sayonara banks. Well not yet, but soon? The big idea was all our financial needs would be through our apps and phones. Even we said banks are dead and fintech will find a way to push them out. Well as we sit amongst thousands of bankers, the reality is that banks are still here. Theyre still multibillion dollar financial giants. They still grease the wheels that make the whole existing financial system turn (and grease their own pockets). They arent dead. They havent gone anywhere. If anything, theyre back to their old tricks. And loving it. Instead of changing, or crumbling under the pressure, they seem to be thriving on fintech. Many of them now run their own incubation labs, or simply buy their fintech competition. We ask the question, has fintech really made a dent on the banking world? The answer for now is no. Not yet. But perhaps we were thinking about it all wrong to start with. Rather than fintech taking over banking, they never really intended to. What we are seeing is that fintech companies are going for areas of business that existing banks left alone. These areas, remittance, payments, micro lending, banking the unbanked, these are all unprofitable areas for a bank like Bank of America Merrill Lynch or Citi. Theyre not areas they focus on, because they cant generate a profit from them. But a small nimble fintech with a team of five or 10 can capture those markets. They can build out mobile-only bank services to small countries. They can help reduce the cost of remittance to near zero. And thats exactly what theyre doing. Except now were reaching a critical juncture where some fintechs are building out from their early successes. A fintech that perhaps has focused solely on current accounts for clients has now reached the scale to do more. Now they can offer other services like lending, insurance and investment. They have the runs on the board, and now they can really start to affect change. Importantly these fintechs have been able to build a foundation on data. They realised early on that the currency of the financial system going forward is data. And its data that helps money flow better, and create more value and wealth for customers. All the big, existing banks have data too. But theyve traditionally locked it up. Theyve kept it in-house. They treated it as their data, not their customers data. But thats all changing. The real point of change is now Take for example the new open banking laws coming to the EU and UK in 2018. This will mean all banks have to open up customer data to third parties to provide everyone better choice in how and where people can manage their money. This gives fintech companies like Starling Bank a mobile-only UK bank an opportunity to be a single point of call for a customers full financial needs. It will potentially allow them to be the Amazon of the banking world. Like a marketplace within their mobile ecosystem to give customers choice and freedom with their finances. Thats real change. And while its taken a long time to get to this point, I think were finally here. Whats most exciting about all this is the continuing growth of the parallel financial system. The financial system cryptocurrencies and crypto assets are building. Well end up with two parallel systems, in the short term. One still centralised but in the midst of complete upheaval. And another, decentralised and allowing people to take full control over their financial power. What the crypto world also does is allow people to finally monetise the most important asset we all have; data creation. What it all lends itself to is one outcome. A new financial world radically different from the one we operate in now. And thats creating immense opportunity in both the existing world through companies like Starling Bank, and the new crypto world through currencies like bitcoin and assets like ethereum. Regards, Sam Volkering, Editor, Australian Small-Cap Investigator There are more than a hundred universities in Nigeria. But every student is looking to get into the top universities in Nigeria. So, if you are one of those seeking admission or just curious about the universities in Nigeria, you can see the latest Nigeria universities ranking here. Which university is the best in Nigeria? In the latest university ranking in Nigeria released by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for 2017, University of Ibadan is the best University in Nigeria. In second position we have University of Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo University in third place. Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and University of Ilorin, Kwara ranked fourth and fifth respectively to complete the top five. Covenant University, a private university in Nigeria ranked among the top 10. See the complete list of the university rating in Nigeria below. List of best universities in Nigeria The top 100 universities in Nigeria in ascending order. 100. Al-Qalam University, Katsina Katsina. 99. Wellspring University Benin City. 98. Salem University Lokoja. 97. Renaissance University Enugu. 96. Yobe State University Damaturu. 95. Obong University Obong Ntak. 94. Taraba State University Jalingo. 93. Godfrey Okoye University Ugwuomu-Nike. 92. Oduduwa University Ile Ife. 91. University of Mkar Mka 90. Federal University, Wukari Wukari. 89. Federal University, Kashere Kashere. 88. Adeleke University Ede. 87. Fountain University Oshogbo. 86. Sokoto State University Sokoto. 85. Federal University, Lafia Lafia. 84. Kano University of Science and Technology Wudil. 83. Caleb University Imota. 82. Achievers University, Owo Owo. 81. Elizade University Ilara-Mokin. 80. Igbinedion University Okada Okada. 79. Bells University of Technology Ota. 78. Ondo State University of Science and Technology Okitipupa. 77. Caritas University Enugu. 76. Cross River University of Technology Calabar. 75. Crawford University Faith City. 74. Madonna University Okija. 73. Joseph Ayo Babalola University Ikeji-Arakeji. 72. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Uli. 71. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai. 70. Baze University Abuja. 69. Bingham University Auta Balifi. 68. Lead City University Ibadan. 67. Ajayi Crowther University Oyo Town. 66. Federal University, Dutse Dutse. 65. Paul University Awka. 64. Benson Idahosa University Benin City. 63. Akwa Ibom State University Uyo. 62. Federal University, Lokoja Lokoja. 61. Kaduna State University Kaduna. 60. Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun. 59. Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago Iwoye. 58. Imo State University Owerri. 57. Federal University, Otuoke Otuoke. 56. Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola. 55. Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma. 54. Abia State University Uturu. 53. Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island Yenagoa. 52. Delta State University, Abraka Abraka. 51. Al-Hikmah University Ilorin. READ ALSO: University of Ibadan courses and requirements in 2017/2018 50. Bowen University Iwo. 49. Nile University of Nigeria Abuja. 48. Umaru Musa YarAdua University Katsina. 47. University of Maiduguri Maiduguri. 46. Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ndufu-Alike. 45. Ebonyi State University Abakaliki. 44. Federal University, Dutsin-Ma Dutsin-Ma. 43. Tai Solarin University of Education Ijebu-Ode. 42. Kogi State University Anyigba. 41. University of Calabar Calabar. 40. Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti Ado-Ekiti. 39. African University of Science and Technology Abuja. 38. Nasarawa State University Keffi. 37. University of Agriculture, Makurdi Makurdi. 36. Osun State University Oshogbo. 35. Veritas University Abuja. 34. Kwara State University Malete. 33. Redeemers University Mowe. 32. Benue State University Makurdi. 31. Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko. 30. Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt. 28. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umuahia. 27. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi. 26. University of Uyo Uyo. 25. Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. 24. Landmark University Omu-Aran. 23. University of Jos Jos. 22. Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti. 21. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso. 20. American University of Nigeria Yola. 19. Bayero University Kano Kano. 18. Babcock University Ilishan-Remo. 17. Federal University of Technology, Akure Akure. 16. Lagos State University Ojo. 15. Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto. 14. Federal University, Oye-Ekiti Oye. 13. University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Abeokuta. 12. Federal University of Technology, Owerri Owerri. 11. Federal University of Technology, Minna Minna. 10. University of Port Harcourt Port Harcourt. 9. University of Abuja Abuja. 8. University of Benin Ugbowo. 7. University of Nigeria Nsukka. 6. Covenant University Ota. 5. University of Ilorin, Kwara. 4. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 3. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. 2. University of Lagos, Lagos. 1. University of Ibadan, Ibadan. And there you have them, the top 100 universities in Nigeria. READ ALSO: Jobs in Abuja for fresh graduates 2017 Source: Legit.ng Nigerian local government system has been put through different challenges. It has gone from different pre-colonial political systems, such as the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba political systems, to the modern system of local government; it has also gone through a lot of reforms to become what we know now. Let's learn more about its most important stages from this brief history of local governments in Nigeria. Local governments in Nigeria The local governments serve as local hubs of the central federal government. These local governments do not have a lot of rights and most of its decisions are made according to the central government's rules. Their abilities are usually very restricted by the central government. The current number of local government in Nigeria is 774. Local administration in Nigeria has passed the four distinct stages of development. The first epoch took place from 1946 to 1966, the second epoch lasted from 1967 to 1976, and the final stage started from 1976 and exists till date. READ ALSO: History of education in Nigeria The 1976 Guidelines for Local Government is the most important document in the local government. Although, after the adoption of that document, eight more have been signed; The 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the 1984 Dasuki Report on the Nigerian Local Government system; the 1988 Civil Service Reforms in the Local Government system; the 1989 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the 1992 Handbook on Local Government Administration; the 1989 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the 2003 Review of Local Government Councils in Nigeria. The 1976 local government reforms guidelines set the path for further Nigerian local governments development. Three basic reasons for establishing local government autonomy in Nigeria: 1. To develop activities and make appropriate services responsive to local wishes and initiatives by developing such services in local representatives governmental bodies. 2. To bring the model of democratic self- governance and facilitate the leadership potential of Nigerians on local levels. 3. To gather human and material resources and involve them in their local government. It is important to provide a two-way channel of communication between both state and local governments. The beginning of local governments in Nigeria A long time ago, Nigeria was ruled by the colonial government and the local government was called the Administration system or Native Authority. It was a system consisting of unconditional colonial ruling classes or traditional institutions of chiefs and other traditional rulers of the natives under the supervision of British Administrative Officer. But this kind of local government system was not sufficient because it consisted of only chiefs and rulers. There was no chance for local people to be elected or to have their voice heard. It is obvious that not everything was perfect in the system of local administration, and at that time the existing governing structure was only the remains of colonialism. However, the leaders decided to create a new system which would suit the interest of local people but kept failing at achieving this or satisfying the interest of the people. For example, the Native Authority leaders were expected to be able to levy and collect tax for the salaries of the chiefs and other officials and services of the authorities, but not all local communities got accustomed to this new rule, therefore they also had their own traditional ways of carrying out such services. In short, the lack of Western education and modern approach to the ruling made the governance insufficient. The Native Authority system did not belong to legislators, executives or administrators systems. All rulers were just administrative couriers for the colonial officers. Sole native local government autonomy in Nigeria In 1946, the system of local government in Nigeria was changed to the Sole Native Authority System. As the Sole Native Authority System was put in action, Egba women all expressed their disgust, saying that this type of Sole Native Authority System hastened the marginalization of women and increased the gender imbalance in governing system. In an attempt to defend the Sole Native Authority systems principles, in 1947, the last colonial Secretary of State, Lord Creech-Jones stated: The key to resolving the problems of African administration lay in the development of an efficient and democratic system of local government. The Nigerian constitution adopted in 1979 The reform implemented in 1976 and Nigerian constitution adopted in 1979 were still unable to solve the problem of traditional ruling in Nigeria. The financial instability and fragility of local government councils loosened their power and various functions performed by them. There were some cases where locals did not even know the councilors of local government councils when election time came up. The local governmental structure in Nigeria suffered from various issues, which held back the local governments development. The 1979 - 1983 phase of the fight for the local government administration system in Nigeria was quite productive. The state government tried to manage local government councils on spot but in fact, they only fought for the authority and influence of the local government councils. Moreover, some states even created a couple of local councils within the state. The Buhari Administration was launched in December 1983 and lasted till August 1985. During the implementation of the Buhari program, the administration cut down the number of local government from 770 to 301. These 301 local councils were approved and defined by the Constitution. Although everything looked perfect on paper, the system did not work properly in reality. As a result of some inadequacies in the system, in 1984 the Federal Military Government organized the Government Review Committee with Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki responsible for the investigation. The Dasuki Report confirmed that the problem of local governments had been inherited from the 1976 local government reforms. The behavior and attitude of ruling officials did not change; therefore there was no system drawback, the failure was as a result of personal factors. In 1986, the responsibility of deployment and employment of local government staff was handed to ministries of local government. As a result, the new local democracy tendencies started and the old attitude was dropped. However, even though the local government structure still existed, the federal government controlled the basis of local governments. As at 1987, the cooperation between the states and local governments was still very tense. There was a need to enhance both citizenship participation and local level service; to achieve this, in March 1988, the federal government adopted some comprehensive reforms which aimed to reform the local governments structure, finance and administration systems radically. These radical reforms helped to change the local government councils into effective centers of local development. Despite the hope of brilliant development, the federal government suffered some failures. More states and local governments got created in 1987, but this resulted in structural changes in some communities and a refusal to support the new local councils. The 1999 Constitution and local governments In the last three decades, so many reforms have been adopted to make the local government systems better. Although there were some failures in the process of reforming the structure and functions of local governments, it still led to amazing changes in the entire system. It especially influenced the political structure and system of Nigeria. Old military regimes were forgotten by locals and the new phase of local authority begun. The recognition of local government in Nigeria at the third tier level of government was enshrined in the 1989 and 1995 Constitutions. Just like the Constitution of 1979, the 1999 Constitution addressed important issues, such as the problem of local government system, the creation of new local governments, adjustments in the system and functions of local governments, public officials code of conduct, funding and financial support of local governments, and, finally, a list of local governments. Presently Nigeria is divided into 36 states with one federal capital territory. These Nigerian states are also subdivided into 774 local government areas. These areas reflect the local development of the Nigerian federative system; the adoption of this federative system contributed to the distribution of authority on the local level. The local government areas have exact responsibilities, such as births or deaths registration, registration of marriages or divorces, maintenance or construction of roads, the collection of taxes and maintenance of public transport. The local government councils is a very democratic legislative body but still very connected to the federal government. READ ALSO: History of entrepreneurship in Nigeria Source: Legit.ng - The leaked memo of Ibe Kachikwu to President Muhammadu Buhari is still a hot topic across Nigeria - The minister of state for petroleum had written the president alleging insubordination on the part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) boss, Maikanti Baru - A Senate committee constituted to look into the issues raised is reportedly under pressure from the presidency to back down A report by This Day indicates that the presidency has initiated moves to ensure the NNPC boss, Maikanti Baru, is not indicted by the Senate ad hoc committee charged with investigating him for awarding contracts to the tune of $25 billion without recourse to the NNPC board of directors. The nine-man committee chaired by Senator Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto, APC) is charged with investigating Baru over the allegations raised against him. Kachikwu's leaked memo to President Buhari accused Baru of insubordination and keeping the NNPC board chaired by Kachikwu in the dark in the award of contracts and promotion of senior executives of NNPC. Kachikwu's memo to the president had indicted the NNOC boss, Dr Maikanti Baru (left). Photo credit: NNPC READ ALSO: 4 incriminating accusations in Ibe Kachikwu's leaked letter to Buhari In his response to the leaked memo, Baru dismissed the allegations, saying he did not need the approval of the board, as all the contracts went through the NNPC Tenders Board, got No Objections from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), and were approved by the president. He however refrained from commenting on the issue of his appointment of senior executives of NNPC without obtaining the approval of the corporations board. The Senate ad hoc committee which was supposed to hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, October 17, postponed it to next week Tuesday, October 24, without any reasons given. A source quoted in the report however said President Buhari met Wamakko later that day to lobby the committee to give Baru a soft landing. According to the source, the president was prevailed upon to personally meet with Wamakko instead of delegating the assignment to any of his aides. Wamakko has a reputation for being firm and straightforward. Obviously, many senators were certain of his handling of the probe with him at the helm of the committee, because he would say it as it is. That is why the presidents aides convinced him (Buhari) to personally meet with Wamakko to ensure that the message is clear. If not, he would have delegated someone like Abba Kyari (the presidents chief of staff), or even any of the party leaders," the source said. The source further said the motive behind the meeting was to ensure that Baru is not indicted by the committee and to prevent a recommendation for his removal from office. The motive of the meeting is to ensure that Baru is not indicted because that would make the Senate committee recommend his removal. Of course, most Nigerians already believe he was appointed for certain purposes and with Kyari on the board of NNPC, and the president himself as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, the purpose is clear. So the issue now is to make sure the purpose is not scuttled, the source added. Legit.ng could not independently verify if any such meeting took place, as at the time this article was posted. Meanwhile, the Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas has dismissed the allegations in Kachikwu's letter as diversionary and deeply political. The national chairman of PTD, Comrade Salmon Oladiti, in a statement sent to Legit.ng on Friday, October 6, warned against unnecessary politicization and promotion of certain entrenched interests in the oil industry, both in the upstream and downstream sectors, to the detriment of the nation. READ ALSO: Resignation or sack: The untold dilemma of Buharis ministers Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Nnamdi Kanus brother, Emmanuel, has debunked a report that linked him to monkeypox virus hoax in the southeast - An Igbo group, INM had accused Emmanuel Kanu of being behind the monkeypox virus rumours in the region - But Kanu insisted that the groups president is neither an Igbo man nor a Biafra person Emmanuel Kanu, a young brother to the leader of Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has denied a report that accused him of being behind the recent monkeypox vaccine hoax in the southeast region of the country. In a statement sent to Legit.ng, Emmanuel Kanu described the group as faceless, adding that the leader of the group was blind to the activities of IPOB. READ ALSO: Nnamdi Kanus brother behind rumour accusing army of infecting Igbo children with Monkey pox virus - Group He said: Does it mean out of desperation faceless groups emerge everyday just for the sake of making headline on hard copy and social media. Obviously, whoever claims to be the president is apparently not an Igbo or Biafra person and at such remains very blind to the activities of IPOB. I don't know anything INM and where they exist from. Obviously that name sounds more like a brown envelope name. If INM wants to engage me, they should do so through appropriate channels. And I don't go by the name Emma Powerful. Emma Powerful remains one and only IPOB spokesperson while I am Prince Emmanuel kanu. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a socio-activist group, Igbos for Nigeria Movement (INM), accused Emmanuel Kanu, the younger brother of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu as the face allegedly behind the recent monkeypox vaccine hoax in the southeast region of the country. Biafra Security Service (BSS) inaugurated by IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - President Muhammadu Buhari has approved payment of pension to officers who served as Biafra policemen during the civil war - The police officers were dismissed at the end of the Biafra war - They were pardoned during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of pension to police officers who served under the then Biafra police during the civil war. According to report, this was contained in a statement released on Wednesday, October 18, by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). READ ALSO: GEJ, IBB hold closed-door meeting in Minna It was announced that about 162 of such retired police officers and 57 next of kin will be paid their benefits in the first phase which kicks off this month. The police officers were granted presidential pardon in 2000. The statement read: The general public would recall that Nigeria witnessed an ugly civil war between July, 1967 and January, 1970 and as a result of that unfortunate period in our history, some members of the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and paramilitary officers who took part with the Secessionist were dismissed from the service. The dismissal of those officers was commuted to retirement in the year 2000 through a Presidential Amnesty granted on 29th May, 2000 by the Administration of the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo. A verification exercise was conducted for the pardoned officers by the defunct Police Pension Office and recently PTAD on one hand and the Police Service Commission on the other. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Despite the Presidential pardon and verification of these officers, many of them remained unpaid years after the pardon. However, the present administration under the able leadership of President, Muhammadu Buhari has graciously given approval for the payment of pension entitlements to these officers and their Next of Kin. PTAD is commencing the payment of pension benefits to the retired war affected police officers on Friday October 20, 2017 in Enugu. 162 officers will be payrolled and 57 Next of Kin who have also not been paid their death benefits will be paid in the first batch. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Kanu, a young brother to the leader of Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, denied a report that accused him of being behind the recent monkeypox vaccine hoax in the southeast region of the country. In a statement sent to Legit.ng, Emmanuel Kanu described the group as faceless, adding that the leader of the group was blind to the activities of IPOB. Biafra Security Service (BSS) inaugurated by IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The Nigerian Air Force deployed some of its air assets to Plateau state - This is to provide support to ground troops following report of violence and killings in the state - This is in compliance with a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure that an end is put to the current spate of violence and killings in the state The Nigerian Air Force has deployed some of its air assets to Plateau state in a bid to maintain peace in the state following reports of attacks. In a statement by NAF on Thursday, October 19, it explained that the deployment was ordered by Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, the chief of air staff. NAF deploys fighter helicopter to Plateau. Credit: Facebook, NAF READ ALSO: President Buhari approves payment of pension to former Biafra police This is in compliance with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to put an end to the killings and violence reported in the state. This air deployment is based on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari. Credit: Facebook, NAF NAF said the deployment was to provide air cover to ground troops in order to stop attacks in the state. Read the statement below: "The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed some of its air assets and personnel to Jos, the Plateau State capital, to support Operation SAFE HAVEN to maintain peace and curtail senseless killings as well as possible spread of violence in some parts of the State. The deployment was ordered by the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in compliance with the directive of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure that an end is put to the current spate of violence and killings in the state. The air force will provide support to ground troops. Credit: Facebook, NAF "The deployment is also to ensure the prevention of reprisal attacks, which could escalate the conflict. The deployed NAF assets include the L-39ZA aircraft and the EC-135 helicopter, which are to provide necessary air cover to the surface forces participating in the Operation in the State. "It would be recalled that the NAF has always acted in aid of civil authority, whenever called upon to do so, in line with its statutory role. NAF deploys some of its air assets to end violence in Plateau. Credit: Facebook, NAF PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app "The NAF, apart from its presence in the North East to fight Boko Haram insurgents, has also deployed its air assets and personnel in recent times to Kafachan in Southern Kaduna and Takum in Taraba State to stop incessant communal clashes. The NAF remains focused on its primary responsibility of ensuring the security of the citizenry while continuing to count on their support and understanding." Legit.ng had reported that President Buhari directed the military and the police to put mechanism in place to ensure that there is no reprisal attacks in Plateau state. Vanguard reports that President Buhari who was reacting to the killing of over 20 persons by suspected herdsmen said the madness should not be allowed to continue. Legit.ng gathered that a statement signed by Garba Shehu , the senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity on Monday night, October 16, in Abuja, revealed that Buhari said he received with deep sadness and regret, news of the killings of over 20 persons. According to the statement, President Buhari believes that this madness has gone too far. He has instructed the military and the police to not only bring the violence to an instant end, but to draw up a plan to ensure that there are no further attacks and reprisal attacks by one group against the other. STREET GIST: Signing of 2017 budget in June, same old story? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The APC said it was in support of President Buhari's order to the World Bank - There has been criticism over the president's decision but the APC said it was in support - It noted that the region was in need of urgent focus following effect of Boko Haram attacks The All Progressives Congress (APC) urged World Bank to concentrate on development of the northeast, saying it supported President Muhammadu Buharis request to the bank. NAN reports that the party took the position in a meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC) with governors and legislators elected on its platform on Wednesday in Abuja. READ ALSO: No man is bigger than the party - PDP replies Obasanjo Briefing newsmen at the end of the closed-door meeting, the partys national publicity secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party subscribed to special rehabilitation attention for the northeast after the insurgency devastation. He said that the request of the president to the bank was extensively discussed at the meeting, adding that Buhari did not make the request out of any bias. Abdullahi explained that the import of the presidents request was in recognition of the level of devastation of the region by the activities of Boko Haram. When the president was asking the World Bank to focus attention on the development of the North-East, he had in mind the necessary reconstruction that needs to happen in that part of the country, he said. He noted that the devastation was worse in the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, adding that the presidents request was not intended to divide the country or show preference for one region of the country against the other. The spokesman said that APC believed that as long as the northeast continued to suffer devastation and represented a dark spot in the country`s human development indices, there was need to direct special attention to it. Also speaking, Bauchi governor, Mohammed Abubakar, said the meeting also discussed forthcoming Anambra governorship election, and received a report of the partys committee on true federalism, especially on its recent public sittings. He said that the meeting also deliberated on the timetable for the meetings of various organs of the party and agreed on dates. The governor added that the meeting also discussed the amendment of the partys Constitution ahead of the 2019 general elections, with a view to strengthening it. He maintained that the party would always abide by its Constitution in every aspect. He, however, said that Buhari had not accused governors of being insensitive to the plight of the common man with regards to non-payment of workers salaries as reported. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app The president in his usual fashion always, wherever you meet him officially or privately, he will always express his concern on the plight of the downtrodden Nigerians and that was exactly what he did. He did not direct any accusation at the governors because the governors had actually utilized most of the intervention of the Federal Government towards payment of salaries," he said. Meanwhile, the president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, called on Nigerians not to berate President Buhari for his call for focus on the Northeast saying that the region was in dire need of attention. Speaking in an interview with newsmen at the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU) Assembly in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saraki said that the level of devastation in the region required priority attention. He stressed that it was in view of that that he had called for an international conference on the Northeast to get attention to the region and to raise fund to rebuild it. Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The race for the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria is gathering momentum - All eyes are on the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) - Leaders of the party say the emergence of an APC presidential candidate ahead of 2019 will be strictly guided by the party's constitution Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi state has revealed that the constitution of the APC, will determine the procedure to be adopted in the election of a presidential candidate in 2019. Governor Abubakar made the comment on behalf of his colleagues after the sixth APC National Working Committee (NWC) consultative meeting, in Abuja on Wednesday, October 18. Legit.ng gathered that governors and leadership of the National Assembly, represented by Senate leader Ahmed Lawan, attended the meeting. READ ALSO: Government agencies intimidating Atiku ahead of 2019 - Timi Frank When asked to comment on whether the party was mulling an automatic presidential ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Abubakar said: This meeting has not deliberated on that; but the APC has a constitution and that is one of the items that was discussed, the amendment of the APC constitution." Governor Abubakar said the meeting, which received the report of Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led committee of true federalism, deliberated on preparation for the forthcoming Anambra state governorship election campaign committee which he chairs. He said his meeting with President Buhari together with the APC gubernatorial candidate, Tony Nwoye, was meant to get an assurance that there would be a level playing ground for all the candidates. On his part, the APC national publicity secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the meeting endorsed the dates fixed for the meetings of its national caucus and National Executive Committee, adding that the date for the mid-term non elective convention would be announced after the two meetings. The meeting was attended by governors of Kebbi, Kaduna, Imo, Edo,Plateau, Adamawa, and the deputy governors of Sokoto, Kogi, Ondo and Nasarawa states. Meanwhile, a former minister of aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has charged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faithfuls across the country to gear up for a tough general election in 2019. Fani-Kayode made the call on Wednesday, October 18, during the official declaration of bid for national chairman of the PDP by the former Ogun state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Fani-Kayode who declared his support for Otunba Daniel's candidacy by endorsing him at the event, tasked PDP supporters across the country to be wary of the APC's antics ahead of the 2019 election. His words: Anyone who thinks the APC will give up power easily in 2019 is deluded. This is a quest to save our nation. We must ensure that the destiny of this nation is once again placed in the destiny of our people and that we make the right choice. READ ALSO: Reno Omokri issues warning to 2019 presidential election aspirants 2019 Presidency: Nigerians reveal why they prefer Atiku to President Buhari - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Christian lawmakers have warned that the nation might collapse soon - The lawmakers said Nigeria needed divine intervention from the Almighty God to save it from total collapse - The group set aside October 26, 2017, as a day of national prayers for divine intervention The federal lawmakers, under the aegis of Christian Legislators Fellowship in Nigeria have warned that the country is on the verge of collapsing and only a divine intervention from God can keep Nigeria together. The lawmakers picked October 26, 2017, for a national prayer to seek God intervention on the situation of the country, Vanguard reports. Senator Barnabas Gemade (APC, Benue North East) who spoke with journalist on Monday said that President Muhammadu Buhari will be the special guest of honour at the prayer session, while the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, will deliver the keynote address. READ ALSO: Biafra Nations Youth League reveals date for referendum in S/East Gemade said: Since the past seven years, our political and socio-economic landscape has been characterized by threats, which have both regional and international implications. To Nigerians, those years could have seen our dear country emerge stronger from the shocks and effects of the global economic crisis. We have, however, weathered these storms; we are still at present, a reflection of a country at the brink. Recently, hate speech, divisive and secessionist quests raise their ugly heads, but we fortunately overcame. The delivery of public values has ceased to be the essence of governance as our fellow countrymen can barely access basic social necessities. These challenges have shaken the very foundation of the Nigerian peoples faith in leadership. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that some lawmakers have warned President Muhammadu Buhari of the challenges and poverty situations faced by Nigerians. The lawmakers urged President Buhari's administration to make efforts towards tackling the problems of poverty in Nigeria. The lawmakers who are members of the House of Representatives said poverty is currently biting hard on most Nigerians. Which of President Buhari's minister should be sacked? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - The Biafra Nations Youth League has disclosed that referendum activities would begin on November 6, across the states of the southeast - The group's leader, Princewill Obuka, stated that that date was chosen as it marked the anniversary of the death of Philip Effiong, the man who signed the document for the surrender of Biafra at the end of the Civil War - Obuka also bashed the presiding judge in the Nnamdi Kanu trial for threatening to withdraw from the case; as he stressed that the judge had a duty to find out where the IPOB leader was being held The Biafra Nations Youth League (BNYL) has stated that referendum activities would begin in the southeast, on Monday, November 6. According to reports, the development was made public in a statement released by the groups leader, Princewill Obuka, on Wednesday, October 18. READ ALSO: Buhari, wife and kids travel together for D-8 Summit Legit.ng gathers that Obuja stressed that the group was committed to ensuring the actualization of Biafra. He disclosed that the date, November 6, was chosen for the commencement of referendum activities as it marked the anniversary of the death of Philip Effiong, who signed the document signaling the Biafran surrender at the end of the Civil War. He stated: Referendum activities would commence after the event on November 6 marking the death of late Philip Effiong, who signed the Biafran surrender. The BNYL leader further slammed the presiding judge in the Nnamdi Kanu trial, Justice Binta Nyako, for threatening to withdraw from the IPOB leaders case over some applications filed by Kanus counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor. Having being infuriated by Ejiofors application, Nyako had stated: If you dont want me to continue in this matter, I will recuse myself. However, Obuka faulted the judge for making such as threat as he stated that she had a duty to get to the bottom of the matter and find out where Kanu was being held. He stated: The judge is expected to move the court and cause proper investigation to ascertain whether he is being held truly by the Military or in hiding. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Recall that Legit.ng previously reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated that Biafra can only be actualized through a referendum and not by quit notice or violence. The PDPs Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Walid Jibrin, said the opposition party was not in support of any group that focused on bringing disunity and division among Nigerians. He said if the Igbos truly want their own country, all they ought to do is root for a referendum which will grant them an independence. Citing the Brexit as an example, Walid said, Britain conducted a referendum for its exit from the European Union membership. 50 years later: Is Biafra really achievable? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - Notorious kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike also known as Evans, has pleaded not guilty after his arraignment in court today for the continuation of his trial - Justice O. H. Oshodi, the presiding judge, arrived at the criminal court 18, Lagos high court, Ikeja, Lagos, where the first trial commenced; and called the case - The notorious billionaire kidnapper entered his new plea after a 45 minutes recess which was called by the trial judge - After Evans and his co-accused entered their pleas, the presiding judge adjourned the case till November 3, for further hearing Notorious billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike also known as Evans, has pleaded not guilty, at the continuation of his trial at the Lagos high court, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, October 19. Evans was brought into court along with five other suspects - four men and one lady - and all of them were handcuffed. READ ALSO: 3 persons lose their lives as petrol tanker explodes on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Legit.ng was present at the court premises and witnessed the arrival of Justice O. H. Oshodi at criminal court 18, the same place where the first trial commenced. After calling the case, the presiding judge stood it down for 45 minutes in order to allow the prosecution and defense counsels to confer. Afterwards, the judge returned and Evans and the other five co-accused persons all entered 'not-guilty' pleas after an amendment was made to the charges leveled against them. This comes despite the fact that the billionaire kidnapper had initially pleaded 'guilty' at his first trial appearance. The counsel to the accused then approached the judge, seeking an adjournment of the case. The presiding judge granted the counsel's request and adjourned the case till November 3, for further hearing. For the high-profile trial, two armored were placed at the two entrances to the court. Policemen were also strategically positioned at various corners of the courtroom. See photos below: Evans looks on before the commencement of trial (Photo credit: Emmanuel Osodi for Legit.ng) The notorious kidnapper's case has now been called (Photo credit: Emmanuel Osodi for Legit.ng) Evans bows his head despondently (Photo credit: Emmanuel Osodi for Legit.ng) Evans and his co-accused pictured waiting, before their case was called by the presiding judge (Photo credit: Emmanuel Osodi for Legit.ng) PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that notorious billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike popularly known as Evans, was arraigned before an Ikeja Division of the Lagos state High Court. The suspect has been accused of kidnapping and murder. He was arraigned alongside Uche Amadi, Ogechi Izechuwku, Okechukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and one Victor Chukwumonso. Evans the kidnapper lands in Kirikiri prison after first appearance in court - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - President Buhari has congratulated former minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, for winning the 2017 World Food Prize - Adesina is the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) - He will be presented with the $250,000 prize and Laureate sculpture at a ceremony in the United States President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria remains proud of its former minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, for the winning the 2017 World Food Prize. Adesina, who is the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), will today be presented with the $250,000 prize and Laureate sculpture at a ceremony in the United States. The Presidents Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said Buhari stated this in a video message to the AfDB President. The presidential aide, in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, October 19, quoted President Buhari as saying: I received with delight the cheery news of your award as 2017 World Food Prize Laureate. Certainly this did not come to me and many Nigerians as a surprise, given your antecedents and contributions to the development of agriculture across the African continent. We are very proud of you. According to the World Food Prize Foundation, you won the prize for driving change in African agriculture for over 25 years and improving food security for millions across the continent. Your choice as the winner of the World Food Prize is a clear recognition and appreciation of your long standing contributions, reflected in your several roles and activities which promote social economic development. By dint of hard work, persistence, diligent efforts and Gods sufficient grace, you have risen above many limitations to emerge as a notable figure and a true champion. Your life story mirrors the resilience of the African spirit and doggedness for which Nigerians are well known. On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, I congratulate you and rejoice with you, your family and the AfDB family on this well-deserved honour. Congratulations! Prior to serving as Nigerian Minister of Agriculture from 2010 to 2015, Adesina was a senior economist at West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) in Bouake, Ivoary Coast, from 1990 to 1995. Adesina was named Forbes African Man of the Year for his reform of Nigerian agriculture. He introduced more transparency into the fertiliser supply chain through the popular E-Wallet system of fertilizer distribution in Nigeria. The AfDB President had also worked at the Rockefeller Foundation as a senior scientist in 1988, and from 1999 to 2003, represented the Foundation in southern Africa. The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, appointed Adesina as one of 17 global leaders to spearhead the defunct Millennium Development Goals. PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the World Food Prize Foundation explained why Akinwumi Adesina, minister for agriculture in the regime of Goodluck Jonathan, won the $250,000 2017 World Food Prize on Monday. Legit.ng gathered that Adesina, whose name was selected on Monday, June 26, at Washington, D.C, becomes the 46th recipient and the sixth African to be so honoured. Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Ankara, Turkey's capital - The president visited the mausoleum of Turkeys founding father - He also met with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan President Muhammadu Buhari is in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The president during his working visit paid a visit to the mausoleum of Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on Thursday, October 19. He laid a wreath - of red and white colours representing the Turkey's flag - on the tomb of Ataturk and observed a minute silence in honour of the late Turkish personality. Legit.ng gathered that the president also signed the official memorial book of honuor at the Misaki-i Milli Kulesi (National Pact Tower), within the precincts of the mausoleum, and toured the museum. READ ALSO: Tension in southeast as Biafra group reveals date for referendum activities to commence President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in Ankara, Turkey's capital. Photo source: Facebook, Femi Adesina Buhari wrote: "It is an honour and privilege to visit Anitkabir, the mausoleum of a great patriotic, visionary and courageous leader who shaped modern Turkey, during my official working visit to Ankara and the ninth D-8 summit in Istanbul. Buhari met with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the country's Presidential Palace. Photo source: Facebook, Femi Adesina I pay my profound respect to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey and the first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. READ ALSO: Breaking: Billionaire kidnapper Evans changes tune, pleads 'not guilty' to charges at continuation of trial The President visited the mausoleum of Turkeys founding father. Photo source: Facebook, Femi Adesina I am pleased with the friendly relations between Turkey and Nigeria, which has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. I look forward to a more fruitful cooperation between our governments and people in areas of mutual concern and interests, for the benefit of our people." Buhari was accompanied on the visit with Nigeria's ambassador to Turkey, Iliyasu Paragalda. Photo source: Facebook, Femi Adesina He later met with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the country's Presidential Palace. President Buhari was accompanied on the visit with Nigeria's ambassador to Turkey, Iliyasu Paragalda and other senior government officials. The President visited the mausoleum of Turkeys founding father. Photo source: Facebook, Femi Adesina PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng earlier reported that the president, his wife and two children arrived Turkey to attend the D-8 Summit scheduled to hold on Friday, October 20. The president was received at the Esenboga International Airport, Ankara, at 6.20 pm by the Nigerian ambassador to Turkey. The governor of Ankara also joined in receiving President buhari upon his arrival. Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - A SARS officer, Akin Fakorede, has been accused of murder and sexual assault by Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation - The minister stated that Fakoredes men had murdered a taxi driver; and further accused the SARS officer of recently molesting a woman right in front of her husband - Fani-Kayode called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, to call Fakorede to order Former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has accused one Akin Fakorede, an officer of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), of sexual assault and murder. The former minister made the allegations in several tweets on his personal handle, @realFFK. READ ALSO: How Rivers state Government allegedly fueled the recent Army killer-vaccination rumours Legit.ng gathers that Fani-Kayode accused Fakorede of carrying out various illegal activities against Nigerians. According to the minister, Fakoredes men had been accused of murdering a taxi driver and withholding his corpse; while the SARS officer had also been indicted in 2016, for intimidating supporters of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Fani-Kayode further claimed that Fakoredes latest atrocious action was to sexually molest a woman in front of her husband. See his tweets below: PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In a related development, Legit.ng previously reported that some operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Ilorin who harassed a young lady in Ilorin were identified and locked up. The poor Nigerian lady identified as 69bars on Instagram shared her terrible experience with the operatives. The report of the incident got to Dolapo Badmus, the police public relations officer in charge of Zone 2, who then promised to do her best possible, concerning the case. Is the Nigerian police your friend? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - Some protesters of Igbo extraction have marched to the Presidential Villa - The protesters went to the Villa to commend President Muhamamdu Buhari on the success of the Operation Python Dance in the southeast - The protesters said the exercise by the Nigerian army has helped maintain peace and unity in the southeast region Some Nigerians of Igbo extraction on Thursday, October 19, marched to the Presidential Villa to commend President Muhammadu Buhari on the just concluded Nigerian military's Operation Python Dance II. The protesters in their scores convened at the Unity Fountain in Abuja before heading to the Presidential Villa. The protesters under the aegis Igbo People of Nigeria (IPON) said they appreciate President Buhari and the Nigerian army for the successful completion of the Operation Python Dance in the southeast region. The protesters commended President Muhamamdu Buhari on the success of the Operation Python Dance in the southeast. Photo credit: Chris Oko READ ALSO: Tension in southeast as Biafra group reveals date for referendum activities to commence The IPON said the exercise by the Nigerian army has helped maintain peace and unity in the southeast region. The protesters said the Igbo people will forever be grateful to President Buhari and the Nigerian army. Photo credit: Chris Oko The protesters led by IPON's national coordinator, Uche Chegwo, said the Igbo people will forever be grateful to President Buhari and the Nigerian army. Chegwo said: "Like other patriotic persons from the other ethnic groups, members of IPON have strong faith in the unity of Nigeria and a strong belief that we are stronger together and that we stand to gain more as one strong, united and indivisible entity as opposed to being fragmented into little statelets and micro-nations that are unable to take on the corporate vampires of the world." Chegwo describing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a minority group which is vocal and violent said the hatred advanced by the IPOB should not be used as a basis for judging the average Igbo man. The protesters said the exercise by the Nigerian army has helped maintained peace and unity in the southeast region. Photo credit: Chris Oko READ ALSO: Breaking: Billionaire kidnapper Evans changes tune, pleads 'not guilty' to charges at continuation of trial (photos) He said: "These merchants of hate have strive to create the impression that the only presence the Federal Government have in Igboland is destructive even as they wrongly cast the Operation Python Dance II by the Nigerian army as of such negative developments. Mr President, we of Igbo People for Nigeria want to report differently. "It took the intervention of the Nigerian Army through its Operation Python Dance in 2016 to rid Igboland of kidnappers and bandits for many of us to again dare setting foot on our ancestral land after several years for fear of being robbed, abducted or killed by hoodlums. Prior to your administration, a lot of our sons and daughters travel all the way from abroad and stay in Lagos and Abuja to celebrate the Yuletide without daring to set foot on the soil of our towns and villages. Operation Python Dance (I) changed that last year as we again breathed fresh air in places of our birth." READ ALSO: SARS officer lands in hot water as FFK accuses him of sexual assault and murder He further urged the president to listen beyond the propaganda of the IPOB and heed to the genuine demands of the Igbo people. "May we further appeal that you use your position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to direct the Nigerian Army to make Operation Python Dance an annual exercise based on the positive impacts it has been able to achieve for the two times it has held. "This will also secure the region from secessionists that are attempting to set up a Boko Haram-styled enclave there. "Your excellency is further appealed to not to forget the promises made to our leaders that you have met with as we see the fulfillment of these promises going a long way to dismiss the lies that terrorists and secessionists are telling to the people," Chegwo said. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng earlier reported that a group, the Biafra Nations Youth League said the activities for referendum would begin on November 6, across the state in the southeast region. The group said the date was chosen to mark the anniversary of late Philip Effiong, the vice president and second second president to the now defunct Republic of Biafra. BNYL also bashed the presiding judge in the Nnamdi Kanu trial for threatening to withdraw from the case; as he stressed that the judge had a duty to find out where the IPOB leader was being held. Nnamdi Kanu is absent as court begins hearing on his case - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - A 10pm to 6am curfew which was imposed in Aba, Abia state, by the state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has now been lifted - Ikpeazu lifted the curfew as a result of improved security situation in Aba, following the successful end of the Nigerian armys Operation Python Dance exercise - The curfew had been imposed in the first place, following clashes between IPOB members and soldiers carrying out the Operation Python Dance exercise Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state has lifted the 10p.m. to 6a.m. curfew imposed on Aba on Tuesday, September 12, as a result of the improved security situation in the commercial city, NAN reports. Ikpeazu via a statement issued in Umuahia on Wednesday, October 19, by his chief press secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos, commended Aba residents for compliance during the period the curfew lasted. READ ALSO: FFK accuses SARS officer of sexual assault and murder Legit.ng gathers that the governor further urged the state residents to remain law abiding in order to ensure lasting peace in the city. He also thanked security agencies for their efforts in ensuring the protection of lives and property in Aba, during the period the curfew lasted. Governor Ikpeazu had imposed the dusk-to-dawn curfew, following clashes between some members of the outlawed pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and the Nigerian army. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Recall that Legit.ng previously reported that Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor of Abia state, declared a three-day curfew in Aba, a commercial city in the state, over altercations between the army and citizens. The Operation Python Dance II launched by the army in the state had raised tensions with some IPOB youths who were against the operation. Sad state of human lives in Ohuhu, Abia state - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Senate president Bukola Saraki are scheduled to arrive in Anambra state tonight for the APCs official flag-off of its governorship campaign for its candidate, Tony Nwoye - According to the partys flag-off campaign chairman in the state, Azuka Okwosa, the flag-off would signal the demise of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state - Okwosa disclosed that the ruling party was perfecting plans to mobilize Anambrarians residing within and outside the state, for the upcoming flag-off campaign Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is set to storm Anambra state on Wednesday evening, Ocotber 19, together with the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, and All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, ahead of the states November 18 gubernatorial elections, Tribune reports. READ ALSO: Gov. Ikpeazu lifts curfew in Abia following end of Operation Python Dance Legit.ng gathers that the APC bigwigs will make the trip to the southeast state, for the ruling partys official flag-off of the partys governorship campaign for its candidate, Tony Nwoye. The development was made public at a press briefing held by Hon Azuka Okwosa, the APCs flag-off campaign chairman in the state who is also the deputy director-general of the Tony Nwoye campaign group. Okwosa declared that the flag-off would signal the death of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) which currently holds sway in the state, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nwoye revealed that as at the time of the briefing, five APC governors had already arrived in the state. He stated that the ruling party was perfecting plans to mobilize Anambrarians residing within and outside the state, for the upcoming flag-off campaign; and stated that any defectors interested in pitching tents with the winning team would be received warmly. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Samuel Odinye, special assistant to Anambra state Governor Willie Obiano on community mobilisation, said his principal will win the November 18 governorship election because he was the most qualified candidate. Odinye made this known while addressing some APGA faithful in Ward 1, Ogbunike, Oyi local government area of the state. Is Osinbajo a better president than Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit.ng - Nigerian governors have debunked report that President Buhari is not happy with them - The governors accused the presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, of twisting the president's remark after their meeting with him - Governor Abdulaziz Yari said the president's meeting with the governors was fruitful Nigerian governors have accused the special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, of spreading false information about their meeting with the president. The governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) described as unfortunate reports that President Buhari expressed his displeasure with the governors over unpaid salaries in the states. Recall that in a statement released after the governors meeting with Buhari, Adesina said Buhari asked the governors how they were able to sleep when workers had not been paid. Speaking at the State House on Wednesday, October 18, the chairman if the NGF, Abdulaziz Yari, said the governors' meeting with President Buhari was "fruitful". READ ALSO: Tension in southeast as Biafra group reveals date for referendum activities to commence Yari said the president accepted all the requests made by the governors and asked them to present their cases upon his return from Turkey. He said members of the forum have been briefed on the meeting with the president which its outcome has been "turned upside down". Yari said: We briefed the members about our meeting with Mr President yesterday (Tuesday), which Im surprised some of you turned it upside down. You got the full briefing from me and then some of your people went and said they got from another source. I dont know which source said the president is not happy with the governors. It is very unfortunate. READ ALSO: Has Evans changed? See how he looks after spending 41 days in prison (photos) The only thing Mr President said was that he, not being a technical person, we should wait for the minister of finance to return, and the chairman of the economic council to be around so that they can give him update and support on what he is going to say to us. So, he said we should reschedule this meeting. I think this is what I told the press yesterday but I wonder how they turned it around. Please, we have to be serious with our job. We are working for Nigeria; we are working for our country, working for our people so we shouldnt misinform the public and should be guided with the things discussed." PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng earlier reported that President Buhari had expressed worry over the inability of some state governors to pay salaries of workers in the state. The president said he wondered how the governors expect workers to feed and take care of their families. President Buhari also urged the governors to take payment of workers' salaries and pensions serious. Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - There was confusion in Maiduguri over alleged Monkey pox vaccine rumour - The federal ministry of health had also on Wednesday, October 18, issued a rebuttal denying the availability of such a vaccine - But despite the governments denial, the students fled their schools amid fear of the killer vaccine Public schools in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, were thrown into chaos, Wednesday, October 18 when rumours filtered in that monkeypox vaccines were being forcefully administered on pupils by unknown persons. Premium times reports that the rumour, which had caused confusion in a few other states in recent days, has been debunked by the army authorities several times. READ ALSO: Biafra Nations Youth League reveals when referendum activities would commence in southeast Legit.ng gathered that the federal ministry of health had also on Wednesday, October 18, issued a rebuttal denying the availability of such a vaccine. The defence headquarters specifically denied the allegation in a statement signed by its spokesman, John Enenche. Confusion in Maiduguri as pupils flee their schools over alleged killer Monkeypox vaccine rumour But these denials appeared to have been dismissed by residents in Maiduguri as hundreds of school children bolted out of their classes on Wednesday. Some parents equally forced their way into school premises to pick their children and wards. However, Premium Timed reported that none of the children or parents interviewed said they saw the people administering the vaccines. Despite this, the rumour quickly spread to many parts of the city. We were told that some pupils slumped and died after they injected them with the vaccine in Gwange area, a 12-year-old schoolgirl, Lam said. At Sanda Kyarimi primary school, parents reportedly engaged in fisticuffs with staff unwilling to release the kids. In a related development, Omu-Aran, Ilofa, Irepodun and Oke-Ero Local Government areas of Kwara state were thrown into turmoil on Wednesday, October 18, following the report of deadly vaccination in the communities. According to Vanguard, the development forced parents to withdraw their wards from schools for fear of being injected with unknown disease. It was gathered that parents in Omu-Aran stormed both private and public schools in the area as early as 9:00 am following the wild spread rumour of the presence of the said vaccine injection team, allegedly accompanied by military in the town. Some of the parents, mostly traders and commercial motorcyclists had to abandon their businesses in a bid to withdraw their wards from schools to prevent them from being injected with the alleged vaccines. Some schools were also forced to engage the service of security personnel when the development degenerated into confrontation between the parents and school authorities. But the state government denied the rumours. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app In a statement the special adviser to Kwara state Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on security, Alhaji Amusa Bello, advised members of the public to ignore the rumour as neither the Nigerian army nor any other security agency is currently undertaking a vaccination exercise. The state government also called on parents not to panic and to refrain from withdrawing their wards from schools based on this unfounded rumour Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Nigerian Army, 32 Artillery Brigade in Akure, Ondo state has vowed to find and punish those who spread rumours of an alleged planned vaccination of school children against monkeypox by soldiers. Monkeypox has no known cure, Nigerians should be careful - Doctor warns - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - A former minister of state for foreign affairs, Saidu Isa, is dead - Until his death, he was the Chairman Governing Council, Kwara state University, Malete - Governor Abdul Fatai Ahmed of Kwara state described his death as a big loss to Nigeria A former minister of state for foreign affairs, Saidu Isa, is dead. Premium Times reports that Isas death was confirmed by the Kwara state government on Thursday, October 19. READ ALSO: Confusion in Maiduguri as pupils flee their schools over alleged killer Monkeypox vaccine rumour Legit.ng gathered that the Kwara state Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, described the death of a former minister of state for foreign affairs and one time Secretary to the State Government, Saidu Isa, as a big loss to the state and the country as a whole. In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, the governor said the deceased made outstanding contributions and selfless services to humanity and his fatherland. My heart goes out to the families, friends and well-wishers of the former ambassador and Pro Chancellor of Kwara state University, Malete. Indeed, this death is shocking, Ahmed said. According to the governor, the deceased was a community leader and technocrat par excellence whose wealth of experience would be missed by all. The governor prayed Allah to forgive the shortcomings of the deceased, grant him Aljanatul firdaus and give his families solace and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Isa died in the early hours of Thursday at the age of 71. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Until his death, Isa was the Chairman Governing Council, Kwara State University, Malete, and occupied the same position at the Federal College of Education Osi-Ile, Abeokuta in Ogun state. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Kwara state government denied rumors that soldiers of the Nigerian army were injecting school children with killer vaccines Monkeypox has no known cure, Nigerians should be careful - Doctor warns - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed why he visited ex-military head of state Ibrahim Babangida - Jonathan had visited IBB on Wednesday, October 18 in his hometown Minna, Niger state - He had also told journalists that his meeting with IBB was personal Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed why he held a closed-door meeting with the former military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, on Wednesday, October 18. Premium Times reports that the meeting was held at IBBs uphill residence in Minna, Niger state. Legit.ng gathered that the meeting started some minutes after 10.00 a.m. and did not end until about 12.14 p.m. READ ALSO: Operation Python Dance: Igbos march to Villa to commend Buhari (photos) When journalists asked of details of the meeting by journalists, Jonathan declined, saying it was private and personal. After he was pressed further, he said he was in Minna to empathize with the former military leader on his safe return from a medical trip abroad. I have not seen General Babangida since he returned from medical vacation and I felt it was the right time to do so, the former president said. When asked to speak on the political and economic situation in the country, Mr. Jonathan said he had retired from active politicking. He then told journalists, you people are doing a nice job. Earlier, former Ogun state governor, Gbenga Daniels, had led a delegation on a visit to Mr. Babangidas residence in furtherance to his nationwide consultation to contest for the office of national chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It was also reported that Daar Communications boss, Raymond Dokpesi, also vying for the position visited Minna earlier to seek IBBs blessings and that of a former ruler, Abdulsalam Abubakar. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app Despite being in retirement, IBB is believed to still command a lot of prestige in political circles. Other persons vying for the chairmanship position of the PDP are former education minister, Tunde Adeniran and a former deputy national chairman of the PDP, Olabode George. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that former president Goodluck Jonathan held a closed door meeting with ex-military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, at his uphill residence in Minna, the Niger state capital. Who is Nigeria's greatest president ever? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that he is disturbed by ISIS support for Boko Haram - Boko Haram had claimed that it received support from ISIS - But Buhari said he was happy that his government has shown that it would contain the insurgents President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, October 19 admitted that he was disturbed and surprised by the claim made by members of Boko Haram sect about the support they have been receiving from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Vanguard reports that Buhari however said he was happy that his administration had been able to prove that it could contain the insurgents. Legit.ng gathered that a statement by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, revealed that the president at a joint press conference he held with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey after their talks in Ankara. READ ALSO: Jonathan reveals why he visited IBB in Minna We were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS. We know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it. We are very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been strengthening our educational and health institutions, Buhari reportedly said at the press conference. According to the statement, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies of both countries to counter terrorism. Buhari said he was very pleased that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism. He said: We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries. We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are. Commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the President said the improved security situation in the North East was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he came into office in May 2015 Buhari said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded $779m in the first eight months of 2017. There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments and a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria. These will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria is prepared to accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigerias potentialities, the Nigerian leader said. In his remarks, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remains a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records. He indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigerias electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships. On the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said: There is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh , which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support. We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year. Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in Turkey to take part in the Developing 8 (D-8) Summit, which is scheduled to begin on Friday, October 20. Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Trade How a group of Florida tomato growers could help derail NAFTA [WaPo]. As the United States, Canada and Mexico prepare to wrap up a fourth round of talks Tuesday about revisions to the North American Free Trade Agreement, there is growing fear that the talks could collapse around one of several poison pill provisions. Those include the demands of the Florida tomato growers, who say Mexico is selling tomatoes in the United States at artificially low prices. With the support of some berry, melon and pepper producers, the Florida producers are pushing for stronger anti-dumping measures an idea that has been soundly rejected by the Mexicans. Hope none of these growers are from Immokalee Politics 2016 Post Mortem Facebook and Google Helped Anti-Refugee Campaign in Swing States [Bloomberg]. But apparently social media embeds in political campaigns are not unusual? To put this another way, if Facebook and Google were not embedded in the Clinton campaign, was Robbie Mook worth what they were paying him? 2020 Cory Booker Explains Why Hes Making Legal Weed His Signature Issue [Vice]. My bill is focused on understanding that its not just about ending prohibition. It has to be about retroactively expunging records. It has to be about community repair and addressing the generational damage thats been done by stripping communities of their economic strength. 2018 In his first public campaign appearances since leaving office, Barack Obama today stumps for two Democratic gubernatorial candidates: Phil Murphy in New Jersey and Ralph Northam in Virginia [NBC]. Obama Returns to Campaign Trail to Rally Black Voters [New York Times]. President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail on Thursday to rally black voters behind candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey amid stern warnings that African Americans may not come out in force on an Election Day that is just three weeks away. Trump Transition The silver lining of Trumps rank cynicism [The Week]. We all understand that Trumps relationship with his evangelical base is entirely transactional. Not just that! Everything! Realignment and Legitimacy J.D. Vance joins forces with Steve Bannon [Craig Calcaterra]. Unsurprisingly. Of course, Vance love is bipartisan. Silicon Intersectionality [Current Affairs]. In particular, the language of intersectionality (the theory that different people are oppressed in different ways, and that these differing oppressions compound and intersect differently) has been keenly embraced by elements in the corporate world. Once confined to activist and academic discourse, intersectionality is now being used by some tech companies as a way to publicly demonstrate their liberal credentials. Tech risk assessment and management consultancy Deloittes web magazine asked What if the road to inclusion were really an intersection? (Even accepting the premise of intersectionality, this question makes no sense.) Deloitte urged its clients that an intersectional approach that reaches all facets of corporate life is often more fruitful. Michael Graham: Nothing is more intersectional in American life than money. Whatever his impact may be on the country or the world, Donald Trumps presidency imperils the future of his party, and there isnt a serious-minded Republican in Washington who would tell you otherwise, privately [Matt Bai, Yahoo News]. For as much time as I have spent around politicians, and I have been writing about national politics for a good 20 years now, this is the one mystery I have never come close to solving. I will never understand what it is about the job congressman, senator, city alderman that makes so many politicians willing to sacrifice all self-respect just to keep doing it. Ka-ching. The Senates top climate advocate explains why Congress is doing nothing about global warming [Vox]. Sheldon Whitehouse on the differences between the politics of Medicare for All and the politics of a carbon tax bill. Stats Watch Leading Indicators, September 2017: Hurricane-driven spikes in jobless claims pulled down the index of leading economic indicators in September which, at minus 0.2 percent, came in well below Econodays low estimate [Econoday]. But Septembers index was also pulled lower by building permits where strength has been uneven all year and also 2 indicators on the factory sector: the workweek and capital goods orders. And: Leading Indicators Post First Drop in Over a Year [247 Wall Street]. The leading aspect of this number is also not as leading as outsiders might expect due to the reading having almost a full one-month lag. But: Because of the significant backward revisions, I do not trust this index. This is a leading index, and hurricanes should not have any effect [Econintersect]. Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, October 2017: The Philly Fed report continues to post very unusual levels of strength [Econoday]. This report together with Empire States report on Monday are extensions of what have been unusually strong indications from regional reports, results that contrast sharply with much less strength in factory orders and outright contraction in manufacturing production. Its important to remember that regional reports are based on small sizes where responses are always voluntary. Still the strength of the regional reports, if nothing else, is pointing squarely at improvement ahead, at least to some degree, for the nations factory sector. And: This suggests the ISM manufacturing index will show solid expansion in October [Calculated Risk]. But: Consider this a weaker report than last month because of the decline of the key internals [Econintersect]. Econintersect believes the important elements of this survey are new orders and unfilled orders . Both new orders and unfilled orders remain in expansion but declined. Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, week of October 15, 2017: Last weeks consumer sentiment report showed a big uptick at mid-month as does the consumer comfort index [Econoday]. Both the sentiment and comfort indexes had been ebbing off long-term highs before popping back this month. Full employment, the rally in the stock market, and solid home-price appreciation are all pluses for confidence measures. Jobless Claims, week of October 14, 2017: Jobless claims have mostly returned to pre-hurricane levels [Econoday]. Hurricane effects are ebbing with Texas and Georgia back to pre-hurricane levels though Florida, at just over 11,000 in the latest week, is still running about 4,000 to 5,000 higher. Puerto Rico, which for the past 2 weeks has reported its own data and has not had to be estimated by Washington, is also at pre-hurricane levels though the jury is still out whether claims in the territory will move higher as displaced workers, amid the dislocations, get themselves to the unemployment office. Commodities: The Supply Chain Cant Handle Skyrocketing Demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries [Vice]. In short, the researchers estimated that over the next 15 years, there will likely be enough raw materials available to meet lithium-ion battery demand. But if we dont work out supply chain issues, production could slow downessentially delaying some of the worlds most promising alternative energy technologies. Aside from the element in their name, lithium-ion batteries also also composed of other elements, including manganese, nickel, graphite, and cobalt. The researchers found that cobaltwhich is also used in iPhoneswas most vulnerable to potential supply chain issues. Retail: Retailer Supreme is carving out a bigger role in apparel by turning traditional inventory and distribution strategy upside down. The underground streetwear brand has just 11 stores yet is valued at more than teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and its global network of 900 outlets [Wall Street Journa]. Limited distribution is its virtue as Supreme builds a following based on the scarcity of its products. The seller of skateboarding T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts has tapped into the zeitgeist of teens seeking hard-to-get looks that run counter to the mass-produced goods that fill big industrial supply chains. Somebodys been reading their William Gibson; Pattern Recognitions Macguffin is just such an entrepreneur. Shipping: Both freight spend and shipment levels for the third quarter showed both quarterly and annual gains, according to data issued in the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index, a new report form Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank [Logistics Management]. Looking at the shipment data, [American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello] said that he looks at drivers of freight shipments as buckets in a way, with the 3.5 buckets being: consumer (1); factory output (2); construction with a housing focus (3); and the .5 bucket being the inventory cycle. For the first time, really, since 2014, those buckets of freight are all looking good or better, and that is why there have been three consecutive quarters of at least 3.3% quarter-to-quarter shipment gains, he explained. Shipping; Analysis: is FedEx planning to put its stamp on a vulnerable Royal Mail? [The Loadstar]. The Bezzle: The most recent sign that recent IPO Blue Apron Holdings Inc. is in deep trouble is that the company announced it will lay off employees. It has only been public since June 29. Its shares trade at $5.30, down from an all-time high of $10 [247 Wall Street]. CEO Matthew Salzberg clearly cannot rally investor support to what is seen as a broken business model. The Bezzle: How the Frightful Five [See Five Horsemen of the Techpocalypse, below] Put Start-Ups in a Lose-Lose Situation [New York Times]. Because todays giants are nimbler and more paranoid about upstart competition than the tech behemoths of yore, they have cleverly created an ecosystem that enriches themselves even when they dont think of the best ideas first. The Five run server clouds, app stores, ad networks and venture firms, altars to which the smaller guys must pay a sizable tax just for existing. For the Five, the start-up economy has turned into a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition they love start-ups, but in the same way that orcas love baby seals. Five Horsemen: Apple is looking decidedly sickly on this BTFD [Buy The Fabulous Dip] day, as is Amazon. [Hat tip, Jim Haygood]. Todays Fear & Greed Index: 78 Extreme Greed (previous close: 78, Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 82 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed. Last updated Oct 19 at 12:39pm. Gaia C-sections might be relaxing the evolutionary pressure against big babies [Ars Technica]. Evolution works fast (so I wonder what effect markets are having). Health Care State governments, which run CHIP, are continuing to cover children with money left over from earlier appropriations and with emergency infusions from the federal government. But 11 states are expected to run out of federal funds by the end of December and 20 states and the District of Columbia will get to that point in the first three months of next year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. CHIP, created in 1997 to cover lower-income families who could not get Medicaid, helped lower the uninsured rate for children to 5 percent, from 14 percent. Most children in CHIP are from families with incomes below twice the poverty level, or $49,200 for a family of four [New York Times] Class Warfare Chipotle downgraded by Bank of America on concerns that labor is still too expensive [CNBC]. Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded Chipotle and cut its earnings targets for 2018 and 2019, saying the struggling restaurant chain will have trouble cutting back labor costs any further than it already has. The company has been testing new products and initiatives to drive traffic to its restaurants after its struggles with food safety outbreaks and subsequent setbacks. Im not sure how cutting wages is going to promote food safety The Social Life of Opioids [Scientific American]. In the story of Americas opioid crisis a recent tripling in prescriptions of the painkillers is generally portrayed as the villain. Researchers and policy makers have paid far less attention to how social lossesincluding stagnating wages and fraying ties among peoplecan increase physical and emotional pain to help drive the current drug epidemic. But a growing body of work suggests this area needs to be explored more deeply if communities want to address the opioid problem. One study published earlier this year found that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment in the U.S., opioid overdose death rates rose by nearly 4 percent. This is a good wrap-up; many other studies on deaths of despair are listed; no direct reference to Case-Deaton, interestingly enough. News of the Wired Because every always-on microphone in your home should be able to identify individual targets, Alexa can now recognize different users as well [New York Magazine]. Here is the video answer to the reader query I posted yesterday: Not as good as I remember, the reader commented. You Think With the World, Not Just Your Brain [The Atlantic]. Its been shown that spiders can use their webs to process and store information, essentially outsourcing mental processes to physical structures. Why is it, Clark and Chalmers ask [in their landmark paper The Extended Mind}, that mentally rearranging Scrabble tiles is considered a part of action rather than a part of thought? [T]he world of inert objects might think too, in slow and strange ways which we can only borrow for a moment, and which disappear again into what sounds like silence. I should have saved yesterdays shroom picture for today! * * * Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please put it in the subject line. Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (MF): * * * Readers: The Naked Capitalism fundraiser is over, and let me express my personal thanks to all those who have helped keep Naked Capitalism getting better and better. Water Cooler, however, is a standalone entity not covered by the NC fundraiser. So do feel free to use the dropdown and click the hat to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor that trickle in when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click the hat! By Lambert Strether of Corrente. The condition of the Alexander-Murray fix for ObamaCares markets remains day-to-day (although we seem to be running out of factions who want to take a bite at the apple: first Ryan, then McConnnell, then Cassidy-Graham, then Trump himself, and now Alexander-Murray, the first bipartisan effort, recommended to Trump by Chuck Schumer). Heres a summary of the bill. In this brief post, I want to look at one face of Alexander-Murray: The copper plans. The plans available to people on the ObamaCare exchanges are labeled by metal: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. You would infer that Copper plans are the worst of all, and you would be right: The first four plans must offer ObamaCares essential benefits. The Copper (or Catastrophic) plans do as well, but with two qualifications. First, a massive deductible: Catastrophic plans will cover all of the essential benefits defined by the ACA, after the out-of-pocket maximum ($6,850 for an individual in 2016) is reached. Catastrophic plans cover up to three primary care visits per year with no cost-sharing, and preventive care with no cost-sharing, but virtually all [other] services will be paid by the insured until the deductible is met. Second, there are no subsidies: Premium subsidies are not available for catastrophic plans (nor are cost-sharing subsidies). Now, Copper plans are available on the ObamaCare exchanges today but, ObamaCare being ObamaCare, with some complex eligibility requirements and means-testing: [T]hese plans are currently only available to individuals under the age of 30 or those who qualify for an economic hardship waiver. In 2014, only 2% of ObamaCare customers bought them. Alexander-Murray would remove these limits and make them available to everyone. Lets look at the upsides of Copper plans, and the downsides. The Upsides of Copper Plans First, Copper plans could attract young, healthy risk takers into ObamaCare. Kaiser Health News: The [Copper plan] proposals aim to attract people who havent yet bought coverage on the state marketplaces, and young or healthy people who may want a less expensive option. Plans do considerable outreach, and theyre hearing that affordability is a top priority for consumers, says Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive of AHIP. This is about access. Its about how do we give people the opportunity to get into the market. (Ah! Access to health care, as opposed to health care.) From Forbes: We all have different risk tolerance[1], different medical histories, and different levels of savings that we could access in the event of a significant medical claim. For some consumers however, Copper plans could be just right.Copper plans would have higher out-of-pocket maximums than the plans currently being sold, but beyond that, they would be solid coverage. Second, and as a result, Copper plans could help stabilize the ObamaCare risk pool. Health Affairs: The key goal of the Copper plan strategy is to bring healthier individuals in to the market to balance the costs of higher-need patients. However, analysis by Avalere Health in 2014 concluded that Copper plans would bring in only 350,000 additional enrollees over a decade, and its not clear to me thats enough. The performance of Bronze plans has also been underwhelming, so its not clear how many of those young, healthy risk-takers there really are out there. Its also not clear that Ignagi is right in her assumptions about price sensitivity. From Health Insurance: During the first open enrollment period, only 20 percent of exchange applicants selected Bronze plans. 65 percent selected Silver plans, including the Silver plans that come with cost-sharing reductions for eligible enrollees. The Downsides of Copper Plans First, Copper plans add more choice. Senators Angus King, Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, and Mark Warner, writing in Politico, 2014: [W]e want to give consumers as many choices as possible when it comes to selecting their health plans. By providing a new, lower cost, high deductible option called the Copper Plan (in addition to the existing Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze-level options in the marketplace) we will give consumers more control over their own coverage, spur competition and, most importantly, increase affordability. Choice is, of course, a tax on time, and another choice raises that tax, which is why I regard this as a downside. (The only choice we should have to make is our doctor, like Canadians.) Second, Copper plans may have a lower price, and be a worse deal. Vox: [ObamaCare] is designed to push people lower-income enrollees towards midrange silver plans, where they get special cost-sharing protections. Through those protections, the actuarial value of the silver plan can rise from 70 percent to as high as 94 percent, says Pollack. Bronze plans dont have those added protections, and copper plans, at least as currently conceived, wouldnt have them, either. The result is that copper plans might be a worse deal than is evident just from the price tag. Third, Copper plans may not prevent bankruptcy. CNBC: With an average American family bringing home $50,000 in income, a high medical bill and a high-deductible insurance plan can quickly become something they are unable to pay, [NerdWallet Health Vice President Christina LaMontagne] said. If you have an out-of-pocket maximum of $5,000 or $10,000, thats really tough, she said. (Recall the current out-of-pocket individual maximum of $6,850 is in that ballpark.) Finally, people with high-deductible plans save money by foregoing care. From the Philadelphia Inquirer: A recent study examined a large self-insured firm that shifted more than 75,000 of its employees from a zero-deductible health care plan to a high-deductible health plan. The company also contributed a $3,750 subsidy for employees to set up a health savings account that they could use for any health cost, along with online tools to look up prices. The shift saved the firm a lot of money, as expected a decline of about 15% in a single year. But, heres the bad news: these savings didnt happen because people became better shoppers, they just received less medical careincluding fewer preventive services like recommended cancer screenings. The plan didnt create smarter shoppers it risked creating sicker patients. Other studies have reached similar conclusions. A 2007 survey found that 29% of people with high-deductible health plans delayed or skipped care because of cost compared to 16% of those with low-deductible plans. Of course, sometimes the smart shopper is smartest when they dont buy the product. But when the product is cancer screenings? Conclusion For people who have chosen to pay the ObamaCare penalty, I can see why Copper plans would be attractive. After all, why pay the IRS and get nothing, when you can pay for a Copper plan, and get something, maybe? But the Alexander-Murray effort to stabilize the marketplace looks like a piece of accounting chicanery, to me. Considered as a mechanism of delivering health care, Copper plans fall short. Oh, and Alexander-Murray looks like a lovely case of conservatives and liberals joining together to support a neoliberal solution and kick the left, which is pushing for single payer Vox, on the last Copper plan effort in 2014: Whats interesting about the [2014] Expanded Consumer Choice Act is that seven Democrats are joining major business lobbies and the insurers to push Obamacare in a direction Republicans might well like. A longtime conservative complaint with Obamacare is that prices are too high because the government is demanding insurers offer overly lavish insurance. This would make that insurance a bit less lavish. Why shouldnt Schumer get together with Trump to kick the #MedicareForAll can down the road for another decade or so? What could go wrong? NOTES [1] Amazing that peoples health care should be an outcome of their risk tolerance, as opposed to being a public good. Neoliberalism! Lambert here: In Ohio, initiatives can now be removed from the ballot, either by local boards of elections or the Secretary of State, even if they gather the required number of signatures. Fighting resource-extraction projects like fracking out in the colonies through the permitting and regulatory process is already difficult, and democracy-stifling laws like this just make matters worse (although easier for the comprador class in local power structures). This is exceptionally nasty, and the fossil fuel industry used their new tool to good advantage. By Simon Davis-Cohen, editor of the Ear to the Ground newsletter, an exclusive civic intelligence service that mines local newspapers and state legislatures from across the country. Originally published at DesmogBlog. For the first time since 2013, a group of activists in Youngstown, Ohio, has been told it cannot place an anti-fracking initiative on local ballots, due in part to a misinformation campaign from the fossil fuel industry. On October 6, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that two proposed ballot initiatives one to outlaw fracking and fracking waste injections and another to regulate political campaign contributions within city limits would not be up for a vote this November. In previous years, voters weighed in on similar initiatives, which were ultimately defeated. The recent ruling came despite both initiatives receiving the required number of signatures to get on the ballot. Weve become experts at collecting signatures! said Susie Beiersdorfer of the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights Committee. The initiatives were in large part a response to earthquakes caused by fracking waste injections, illegal dumping of fracking waste in a local river, and the expansion of fracking in this area of eastern Ohio. Anti-Fracking Initiatives in Youngstown Starting in 2013, the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights Committee has successfully placed a Community Bills of Rights to outlaw fracking and fracking waste injections on six separate ballots. Each election, the group has been vastly outspent and its initiatives voted down. But it has made gains. In November 2016, its community bill of rights initiative lost by only 2,279 votes. Citizens are realizing that our government system is fixed, Beiersdorfer told DeSmog. In response to being vastly outspent on past campaigns, this year the group also proposed a second initiative, the Peoples Bill of Rights for Fair Elections and Access to Local Government. In addition to challenging corporations protections under the U.S. Constitution, the bill would ban outside private interests from contributing to local campaigns and limit campaign contributions to $100 for local elections. Big Oil and Gas Come to Town Soon after the Community Bill of Rights Committee gathered enough signatures for both initiatives to head to vote, the oil and gas industry launched a unique media campaign against not only the initiatives but the local ballot initiative process itself. The talking point: Local ballot measures cost taxpayers too much money and should be avoided. Earlier this year the pro-fossil fuel outreach website Energy In Depth filed a freedom of information request from the City of Youngstown for costs associated with the local ballot initiative process. (In 2011 DeSmog exposed Energy In Depth, which billed itself as the product of small, independent oil and gas producers, as being funded by some of the biggest fossil fuel companies on the planet, including BP, Shell, Chevron, and XTO Energy/ExxonMobil.) Energy In Depth reported that the city had spent $185,000 on the previous six anti-fracking ballot measures. However, a DeSmog analysis of the same records shows that this figure is misleading and inaccurate. The $185,000 figure represents the total cost of six primary and general elections between 2013 and 2016, which included much more than just the anti-fracking initiatives. According to the fiscal officer of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, which bills the City of Youngstown for election costs, there were five other charter amendments, 15 liquor options, and one county health board question that contributed to the citys election invoice. Additionally, the figure touted by Energy In Depth includes paying poll workers in half of those elections, a regular cost incurred whether or not ballot measures were up for vote. Despite this inaccuracy, Energy In Depths talking point and the $185,000 figure were quickly picked up by local outlets, fossil fuelfriendly publications and business journals. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce even compared the $185,000 to the amount of money that was spent managing the months-long anti-Dakota Access camps at Standing Rock (roughly $38 million) in a post called The High Cost of Fracking Protesters. Seismic Shifts in Ohio Election Law The basic insinuation that elections are not a good use of public funds filled airwaves in the midst of a critical legal battle over whether Youngstown residents would be allowed to vote on the two ballot initiatives. Organizers with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, who offered free legal services to the Youngstown petitioners, say they have seen the talking point about the cost of the local ballot process crop up elsewhere, including in Peters and Ferguson townships in Pennsylvania and in Spokane, Washington. As in previous years, challenges to keep Youngstowns community bill of rights initiatives off the ballot were filed. This year, however, the county board of elections had a new legislative tool, added to a state foreclosure law (HB463) in December 2016. The amendment gives local boards of elections unprecedented power to remove initiatives from the ballot. As the Ohio Legislative Services Commission wrote, the new law requires a board of elections or the Secretary of State to invalidate a local initiative petition if the board or Secretary determines that the petition or any portion of it does not fall within the scope of the local governments constitutional authority to enact. Before HB463 and since 2015, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, non-elected local boards of elections, and the Ohio Supreme Court have struck a total of 10 proposed county charters from Ohio ballots in five counties. Municipal ballot measures, however, were largely protected. Until now. Armed with its new powers from HB463, the local board of elections removed Youngstowns two initiatives from Novembers ballot. Energy In Depth celebrated. The petitioners appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Ohio Supreme Court. Beiersdorfer quoted the popular saying: First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win. Bring it on! she says. We dont lose until we quit! Yves here. The analysis this article relies upon makes an assumption which isnt valid, although it may not make any difference in this particular case. Many pundits in the UK have repeatedly claimed that the UK can fall back to WTO rules in the event of a failure to reach a Brexit deal. As we wrote in March: The Tories seemed unaware of the fact that there was no such thing as a default to the WTO if their Brexit talks founder, even though parties as remote as this site has flagged that as an impediment prior to the Brexit referendum. They government has apparently been trying to get some sort of special treatment from the WTO and not surprisingly isnt getting much of anywhere. Apparently its news to them that the WTO operates by consensus, and with 162 members, thats hard to achieve, and lacks any sort of established procedure for making decisions otherwise. And let us not forget that the WTO Director-General warned the UK several times before the vote that WTO deals take years to negotiate (as in typically more than five, and the approval process can easily take more than a year), that there were other countries in the pipeline and the UK would not be able to jump the queue. Its not hard to imagine that new entrants who got in the hard way would not support the UK demanding all sorts of waivers. The Director-General did say post Brexit that individual countries could elect to trade with the UK on a WTO terms, but I dont see how that happens outside of bi-lateral trade deals, which would be even more cumbersome to negotiate. Perhaps some countries would be willing to trade with the UK on what would be close to a slap-dash-y basis, but the ones most willing to play fast and loose would be the ones with the most to gain. By Irina Slav, a writer for the U.S.-based Divergente LLC consulting firm with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. Originally published at OilPrice The UKs embattled oil industry might have to tackle a twofold increase in trade costs if its separation from the European Union takes place under a no-deal scenario, an industry group has warned. The warning comes just as the regions oil and gas companies start to boost investments in the UKs continental shelf, thanks to generous government incentives. The UK government is attempting to negotiate a trade deal with the European Union, but optimism is fading as talks struggle to get off the ground. As Bloomberg noted earlier this week, after the end of yet another round of disappointing discussions, no government in Europe is willing to make concessions to London, as they have enough to deal with at home with populism on the rise and public opinion unlikely to hail any concessions to the British separatists. EU leaders chose to begin trade deal negotiations with London in December, despite the latters insistence the talks begin this week. If the talks end unfavorably for the UK, Oil & Gas U.K. warned this week, the investment rush currently underway in the UKs section of the North Sea would slow down to a trickle as the cost of labor and equipment jumps. This, the group said, will inevitably happen if the UK reverts to World Trade Organization rules in the absence of a trade agreement with the EU. Earlier this year, Oil & Gas U.K. conducted a study of the potential effects of an unfavorable Brexit scenario on the oil and gas industry and found that it could see its cost of trade swell from the current $791 million (600 million pounds) to $1.45 billion (1.1 billion pounds). This is the cost on $97 billion (73 billion pounds) worth of annual trade in goods and services related to the oil industry. For Oil & Gas U.K., this would be the worst-case scenario. While, theoretically, costs equaling one-tenth of turnover isnt insurmountable for an industry, UK oil and gas is working in one of the highest-cost oil basins in the world. Operators there also face hundreds of millions in decommissioning costs and field depletion. On the other hand, a recent Wood Mackenzie report found that the UK North Sea section has become the second hottest spot for deal making, after U.S. shale. Some oil majors have reduced their presence there, selling assets to independents who are eager to make the most of what oil remains in the North Sea, which isnt an insubstantial amount. Others, namely French Total, have expanded their footprint through acquisitions. Theres an ongoing cost-cutting drive among North Sea operators and its already paying off. In its Economic Report 2017, the UKs Oil & Gas Authority said that operation costs per unit in the North Sea have fallen the most across all oil basins in the world. While this doesnt mean that North Sea field operators can pump crude at Aramcos production costs, its attractive enough to motivate further investment. BP, for instance, has cut its production costs from $30 a barrel to about $15, and plans to further reduce this to less than $12 by 2020. Shell and other producers have managed to cut costs by as much as 60 percent. So, there could be a silver lining in the threat of trade costs doubling for UKs oil and gas players. It would motivate finding new ways to reduce costs and likely lead to faster adoption of the digital oilfieldits been hailed as a great cost-saver, after all. (Natural News) The only thing worse than Americas obesity epidemic seems to be the epidemic of being offended by everything. The rise of so-called social justice warriors seems to have risen right along with our expanding waist lines. Recently, Google unveiled a new calorie-counting feature for their ever-popular Google Maps app and the actually useful addition was met with nothing but hate. Apparently, telling someone how many calories they can burn walking a certain distance is now fat-shaming. The new (albeit short-lived) feature on Google Maps would show you how many calories you could burn by walking somewhere. And if you clicked on the walking directions, Maps would also tell you how many mini-cupcakes those calories equated to. So, if you burned about 100 calories, Maps would say the distance you walked was equal to about one mini-cupcake. Hardly anything to cry about, yet by the amount of social media fanfare surrounding Maps calorie-burning feature, youd think Google was killing a puppy for every mile a person walked. While some were open to the new feature, a storm of angry Maps users overtook Twitter, claiming that merely being told how many calories could be burned during a walk was a form of fat-shaming. The Daily Mail reports one user, Ann Richard tweeted, I truly cant wrap my head around how thoughtless and reckless this is as an automatic feature! Especially with no intuitive way to opt out. Another user reportedly tweeted, ty [thank you] for shaming me for my mini cupcake consumption google maps! Twitter user Megan Westgate added: Anyone else feel like the Google Maps mini cupcake feature reinforces the idea that all exercise must be atonement for the sin of eating? In response, Google has decided to remove the feature in its entirety. Rather than just making it easier for users to opt-out of having the calorie-burning information displayed, the tech behemoth has acquiesced to the demands of the offended even though giving that information could have actually helped people. While there may have been some strong user feedback as Google says, the truth is sometimes painful. Some have even gone so far as to say that the cupcake calorie counter was unscientific but that claim has no legs to stand on. To many people, calories are just a number it can be hard to visualize how many calories are in food as well as exercise. Putting a face (or in this case, a cupcake) on the number of calories youre burning can be extremely helpful. In fact, studies have shown people respond better and make better choices when calorie numbers are equated to something else such as cupcakes. Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, explained recently, People find symbols much easier to understand than numerical information, and activity equivalent calorie labels are easy to understand, particularly for lower socioeconomic groups who often lack nutritional knowledge and health literacy. Heaven forbid anyone under any circumstances actually becomes aware of how little exercise theyre actually doing, right? The fact that people overestimate the number of calories they burn during exercise has also been well-documented. In one study, researchers found that normal-weight men and women overestimated their calorie expenditure during exercise by between 300 and 400 percent that is a huge difference. Increasing awareness of how many calories youre actually burning, combined with more awareness of whats in your food, could in fact help people to exert greater control over their own health. But instead of empowering people to make healthy lifestyle choices to support their well-being, Google has caved in to the hive-minded plague of offended social media crusaders. [Related: Learn more about the importance of a healthy lifestyle at Prevention.news.] Sources for this article include: DailyMail.co.uk BBC.com (Natural News) A 1983 Monsanto study analyzing glyphosates effects on rodents could serve as crucial evidence in a lawsuit filed against Monsanto on behalf of plaintiffs who allege exposure to its Roundup herbicide led them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Environmental Health News reports that attorneys have enlisted the help of an expert pathologist to take a closer look at the study based on their belief that slides of tissue from the mice will prove that Monsanto covered up the health risks of glyphosate. This analysis will form a key part of the hearings, which are set to kick off the week of December 11 in Northern California. The study, A Chronic Feeding Study of Glyphosate (Roundup Technical) in Mice, took place over a two-year period and was published in 1983. In the study, 400 mice were divided into groups containing 50 females and 50 males. A control group was not exposed to glyphosate, while the remaining groups received varying doses of the chemical. In the study, some mice who were given glyphosate developed tumors at rates that were considered statistically significant. Those in the control group did not develop tumors. When EPA toxicologist William Dykstra reviewed the study a year later, he wrote that it showed glyphosate was oncogenic and produced rare tumors known as renal tubule adenomas that corresponded to the dosage they received. Nevertheless, Monsanto chose to downplay this disturbing finding, saying that these tumors werent related to the treatment. They even sent further research to the EPA to try to discount the tumors. This did little to sway the EPA experts back then, with one statistician writing in a 1985 memo that glyphosate was indeed suspect and that the argument put forth by Monsanto was not acceptable. The toxicology branch of the EPA then went on the classify the chemical as a Category C oncogene, which means it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Monsanto always finds a way out Unhappy with this turn of events, Monsanto hired Dr. Marvin Kuschner of the State University of New York at Stony Brook to review the study. A memo written by Monsantos Environmental Assessment and Toxicology Manager, George Levinskas, said that Dr. Kuschners analysis was going to give the company a favorable outcome even before the doctor had ever seen the slides of the kidney tumors! He wrote: Kuschner will review kidney sections and present his evaluation of them to EPA in an effort to persuade the agency that the observed tumors are not related to glyphosate. Sure enough, Dr. Kuschners findings were indeed in favor of Monsanto. The firm also sent the EPA a report written by a pathology working group showing that aged mice often have spontaneous chronic renal disease. Although the EPAs scientists didnt agree with that report, the rebuttal efforts made by Monsanto were enough to spur a reinvestigation. A subsequent request by the EPA for Monsanto to repeat the study was denied; the agrochemical giant insisted there was no reason to repeat the study. By 1991, the EPA had moved to reclassify glyphosate as Group E evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans although two members of the committee refused to sign it because they disagreed with the conclusion. These events are considered highly relevant to the current proceedings against Monsanto. Its worth noting that the 1983 study wasnt the only one to find a link between glyphosate and cancer; a 1981 study found that glyphosate increased the risk of testicular tumor growth in male rats and thyroid carcinomas in female rats. A 1990 study found that glyphosate exposure caused rats to develop pancreatic tumors. As you can see, Monsanto has a long-standing pattern of manipulating science. Not surprisingly, the exec who wrote the email that was so confident Dr. Kuschner would find in favor of Monsanto, the now-deceased George Levinskas, also played in a role in the companys efforts to downplay the negative findings in a study linking Monsantos PCBs to tumors in rats in the 1970s. Monsanto always seems to find a way to convince scientists, doctors, and journalists to say what they want them to say, and now these dishonest practices are being exposed in a court of law. Sources include: BaumhedLundLaw.com EnvironmentalHealthNews.org (Natural News) A radical Islamic terrorist is currently employed as a college instructor at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). His name is Mohammed Abed, a tenure-track professor of ethics, social and political philosophy, and classical Islamic philosophy, who since at least 2006 has been advocating for the genocide of racist white people as a moral imperative for society. California taxpayers are paying for Abed to tell 18-22 year-olds that mass murder isnt always a bad thing. There are some cases, he says, in which its not just permissible to target an entire racial group for annihilation, but morally required. In his thesis, entitled The Concept of Genocide Reconsidered which was first published in 2006, Abed breaks down his argument by deconstructing the readers assumed belief that massacring large numbers of people is a bad thing. One can certainly concoct a hypothetical scenario in which the deliberate annihilation of a groups way of life is a moral and political imperative,' Abeds thesis rationalizes. And there may be a case for classifying as genocide campaigns of social deconstruction that are widely considered to be not only excusable but morally required. Abed says Southern whites deserved to have their heritage, identity destroyed after Civil War Using the Confederacy as an example of the types of white folks that he thinks need to be mass murdered, Abed rewrites history in his thesis by claiming that practically all white folks living in the South before the Civil War owned slaves. Ignoring the fact that many Africans willingly sold their own people into slavery with not a single white person in sight, Abed goes on to flesh out his anti-white racism and desire for white genocide. It would not be wildly implausible to say that their (Southern whites) investment in the culture and norms of the slave-owning community rivaled in its social meaning and significance an individuals affiliation with a national or religious group, Abed argues. But because the kidnapping, enslavement, and lifelong exploitation of innocent human beings was a constitutive and thus ineliminable feature of the life led by many Southern whites, annihilating their way of life was a moral imperative. The right course of action was to strip them of an identity that gave meaning to their lives. Abed promotes Islamic jihad while suggesting that Muslims only want to integrate At the same time, Abed wants the world to know that, despite his chomping at the bit to see white people go extinct, he really does just want to integrate into Western culture. Oh, and so do all of his fellow radical Islamic terrorists relocating by the tens of thousands into Europe and the United States. What Abed is describing with Muslims invading Western nations and supplanting them is known as Hijrah. Its the immigration equivalent of jihad, where Muslim invaders flood a nation and out-populate its indigenous people. Islam has an extensive history of committing Hijrah, as evidenced by 1,400 years of Islamic history. In Islam, Hijrah is actually considered to be far more meritorious than jihad, and fetches a much greater reward in Muslim heaven than the former. Blowing oneself up with a bomb vest while screaming Allahu Akbar! just isnt as spiritually lucrative, in other words, as taking over large swaths of Europe and turning them into violent terrorist zones. Why would immigrants attempt to systematically undermine norms and institutional structures that guarantee their democratic freedoms, including their right to be culturally different and to practice their religion without hindrance? Abed writes. Were asking ourselves the same question, Abed: so why dont you tell us? Abeds RateMyProfessor profile is available here. He can also be reached by email at: [email protected] Sources for this article include: TheGatewayPundit.com NaturalNews.com Authorities say cooler temperatures and light rainfall expected Thursday will be a "welcome sight" for firefighters battling the blazes burning across the North Bay. Meanwhile, evacuees returning to little or nothing are seeking help. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says fire crews should fully contain by Friday the wildfire that devastated Sonoma County and Santa Rosa. Other large fires will take longer. The wind-whipped fires that started Oct. 8 swept through parts of seven counties, becoming the deadliest and most destructive series of blazes in California history. At least 42 people were killed and nearly 7,000 homes and structures were destroyed. Cal Fire announced it had stopped the forward progress of those fires on Wednesday as tens of thousands of evacuees were let back into their neighborhoods. More than 15,000 people remained evacuated on Thursday. As of Thursday morning, the Atlas Fire has burned 51,624 acres in Napa and Solano counties and is 85 percent contained; the Tubbs Fire has scorched 36,432 acres in Napa County and is 92 percent contained; the Nuns Fire, which includes the Partrick, Adobe, Norbbom, Pressley and Oakmont fires, has burned 54,423 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties and is 82 percent contained; and the Pocket Fire has burned 16,552 acres in Sonoma County and is 73 percent contained. Farther north, the Sulphur Fire in Lake County has torched 2,207 acres and is 96 percent contained, and the Redwood Valley Fire in Mendocino County has charred 36,523 acres and is 85 percent contained. Meanwhile, firefighters continue to battle a blaze further south in the Santa Cruz mountains that started Monday night. As people return to their homes, officials are warning them of the presence of hazardous materials. Sonoma County hosting meetings to discuss these and other issues. The meeting addressed finding housing, financial relief and preparation for people trying to return to their homes. And a timeline. When can evacuees get back into their homes? That was a common question, as was, When will the money come in from FEMA? "Registering for FEMA was a surreal experience for us," Glen Ellen resident Bonnie Barnes said. "But I felt a sense of compassion today. I feel like they are doing everything they can, but they just cant do it as fast as we all wish." FEMA assistance will pour in soon for affected homeowners, in about 5-7 days they were told. Anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, depending on one's property. But re-entry for many is not imminent, as there are many agency boxes to check off, officials said. "Everyone from the law enforcement to the fire to the telephone companies, power, road crews. Every agency that it takes to make an area safe," said Jonathan Cox, of Cal Fire. Those parties are producing hourly plans, though Cal Fire calls the task monumental. Meanwhile, air quality improved enough Thursday for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to lift a health advisory and Spare the Air alert that was issued earlier this week. However, officials warn unhealthy air quality will still be present in the immediate areas of actively burning fires. NBC Bay Area's Sam Brock contributed to this report. Opening statements will begin Monday in the trial of a man accused of fatally shooting Kathryn Steinle as she walked on San Francisco's Pier 14 in 2015. A jury and five alternate jurors were seated and sworn-in Wednesday in the murder trial of Jose Ines Garcia-Zarate, who was arrested shortly after the fatal shooting of Steinle, 32, on July 1 2015. Defense attorneys have said they expect to argue that the shooting, which appeared to be the result of a ricochet, was accidental. The arrest of Garcia-Zarate, 54, generated national controversy over San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policies. Garcia-Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, had been taken into city custody in March 2015 for a warrant on a marijuana sales charge after he completed a nearly four-year federal sentence for illegal re-entry following deportation. When the marijuana charge was dropped, local officials released him without notifying immigration authorities despite a pending civil detainer request. City authorities do not generally comply with such requests unless they are accompanied by a criminal warrant or the inmate is guilty of certain serious felonies. In the aftermath of the shooting it was also reported that the gun used in the shooting had been stolen from the vehicle of an off-duty U.S. Bureau of Land Management agent's car in San Francisco only days earlier, highlighting ongoing problems with auto burglaries and the improper storage of weapons in cars by law enforcement officers. Early Monday morning as a deadly swath of fire marched through 250 homes in Redwood Valley in Mendocino County killing eight people the spiritual residents of a pair of mountain monasteries joined those fleeing into the night while the glow of flames threatened below. Father Damian of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery was awakened by a gentle knock on his door which didnt quite seem to fit the urgency of the situation unfolding. But once he looked out his window from his mountain perch, he knew things were bad. I got up and I looked there - the world had turned upside down, he said. Right below us here I saw what looked like the sun rising from the earth itself. The sun he saw was the orange flaming terror chewing up home after home in the Redwood Valley neighborhoods below. He rang the monasterys bells then ran door to door gathering the monks. They gathered in the wooden chapel built in the 1980s, and prayed a prayer for trouble times. Meanwhile three monks drove down the mountain to find out how bad it was only to find the road impassible with fire. They returned to the monastery. They told me that it was just apocalyptic, Father Damian recalled. There was fire everywhere - there were animals running towards them. About a half mile down the hill, twenty-three monks at the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery watched the same terrifying flames licking at the hills. They hopped into cars and headed toward the only way out North on Tomki Road to Willits the treacherous dirt road no one uses. When we left we werent sure whether we were going to have a monastery, said the monasterys abbott, Ajahn Passanno. It was flames all around. Father Damian decided to wait it out, wondering if they would survive. What if they couldn't make it off the hill? We kept thinking we can just go sit in the pond, he said grinning. And go and die from algal infections there. When they finally decided to flee, the fires most potent damage had been wrought. They drove down Tomki Road past the flattened grey debris that had once been a neighborhood. We have a family home we bless each year, he said. And it looked like maybe aliens from outer space had removed it. The Buddhist monks took refuge in nearby Ukiah, in the City of 10,000 Buddhas monastery the Catholic monks roomed with a variety of supporters. For the next week, neither group would know whether their monasteries survived the fires. Heavy smoke billowed from the mountains as helicopters ran non-stop drops of fire retardant yet definitive news came as rumors. We did get word, Passano said. From a firefighter passing on word to a neighbor that's OK, the monasterys still OK. On Tuesday, more than a week since the inferno, as county officials cleared residents from Redwood Valley to return to their fallen neighborhoods probing through the ashes for objects from their lives before the fire the residents of the two monasteries were cleared to return home, not knowing what theyd find. Father Damian said the fire crept within a thousand feet of his monasterys upper buildings but seemed to spare both spiritual centers. As he walked the blackened ground just above the monasterys land, a burned-out tree spit flame and smoke a visual cue of how close the devastation that had run amok down the hill had come to his home. He said Cal Fire crews had used his monastery as a home base, cutting a fire break from the property to Tomki Road, stopping the fires spread. I was grateful that we had a home to come home to, he said. I was so sad that our neighbors didnt. On Tuesday afternoon, several carloads carrying the Buddhist monks climbed Tomki Road, past rows of destruction burned out cars with melted hubcaps, forlorn chimneys without their houses, a pair of lion statues guarding the entrance to nothing. The monks in their bright orange robes filed into the monastery for prayers of thanks the compounds buildings looking exactly as they did when the monks fled, save for a large fire truck standing guard in the middle of their yard. A lot of people have been involved in protecting the community, Passano said, in a nod to the dozens of firefighters who watched over the property, allowing us to be able to come back. Father Damian sat at a long row table inside his monasterys empty community room. The majority of the ten brothers who live at the site had not yet arrived home. He said like the Buddhist monastery, his facility was planning to house a family that had lost a home in the blaze. He pondered the emotions over things that had been spared and those that had not. I was so happy, he said of his return to the property. But I saw what we had to come through and what people had lost and so I didnt want to be too happy. No criminal charges will be filed against San Francisco officers in a fatal police shooting that led to the abrupt resignation last year of police Chief Greg Suhr, the District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Jessica Williams, 29, was killed around 9:40 a.m. on May 19, 2016, on Helena Street by a single shot from Sgt. Justin Erb after she allegedly drove toward him in car that had been reported stolen. Erb, Officer Eric Eastlund and one civilian were the only witnesses to the shooting, which occurred after officers conducting a stolen vehicle recovery operation spotted a Honda Accord listed as stolen, according to the report released Wednesday by the DA's office. When they knocked on the window, Williams allegedly started the car and drove away but crashed into a parked utility truck around 75 feet away. She then attempted to get away, first by reversing the vehicle back toward Eastlund and then forward directly toward Erb, according to the report. The shooting came at a time of rising protests over police shootings, including the death of Mario Woods in the Bayview District in December 2015 and that of Luis Gongora in April 2016. Suhr, who activists and even some elected officials had targeted with calls for resignation, pushed ahead with police reform efforts for several months but ultimately resigned just hours after Williams' death. Under state self-defense law, Erb had no legal duty to retreat, so the question of whether he could have ducked out of the Accord's path does not factor into the decision on whether to file charges, the report notes. In addition, all three witness statements are largely in agreement about what happened. "All of the available evidence suggests Sgt. Erb faced a volatile and unpredictable situation looking uphill at an approaching car when he fired his gun at Williams," the DA's office said in a statement. "Here, when the relevant legal and prosecutorial ethical standards are applied, the available evidence does not support the conclusion that Sgt. Erb's use of deadly force was objectively unreasonable." The DA's office Wednesday also released reports in two nonfatal officer-involved shootings and one in-custody death, finding that no criminal charges were warranted in any of those cases. The cases cleared included the Nov. 6, 2014, shooting of Jason Seymour by Officer Eduard Ochoa. Seymour, who survived the shooting, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of brandishing a firearm at a police officer in the incident. They also include an Oct. 24, 2015, incident in which officers fired at Randal Maykopet during a pursuit after he allegedly stole a police vehicle, struck several vehicles on city streets and then drove to Treasure Island. Officers there fired at Maykopet as he maneuvered around a roadblock by driving on the sidewalk, but did not hit him. The DA's office also found that the June 10, 2016, death of Raymond Fields while he was in the custody of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department was due to natural causes. The DA's office investigations are focused solely on a question of whether criminal charges are warranted and would stand up in court, and do not consider questions of whether officers complied with department policies and procedures or whether they might face civil liability. A newborn antelope, celebrated as a miracle due to his birth while the Tubbs Fire from which he took his name ravaged Santa Rosa, has died, according to the Safari West Wildlife Preserve. Intestinal complications, not the blaze, caused Tubbs' death, according to Aphrodite Caserta, with Safari West. "Tubbs looked strong at the outset," Safari West said in a statement. "He was quick to his feet and seemed to thrive. As the keepers and veterinarians monitored him, however, he began to falter. He was taken into veterinary care, but ultimately passed." The preserve named its newest Nile Lechwe an aquatic antelope found only in a small area of eastern Africa Tubbs, after one of the deadliest wildfires in California's history. His arrival "provided us a much-needed ray of light in a time of darkness. We named him Tubbs, in tribute to the inferno that framed his birth, and to reclaim it from an undeserving disaster," Safari West said. Nile Lechwe are endangered so "every baby born is vitally important to the survival of the species," Safari West wrote on its website. Although grieving the loss of the animal, Safari West in a news release expressed gratitude for the fact that Tubbs "visited us at all." "Through light and darkness, ash and spring growth, life goes on. Today we mourn the loss of Tubbs, but we also celebrate the cycle of life that brought him to us," the statement said in part. The devastating wildfires did not claim the lives of any other animals at Safari West, according to Caserta. "Thankfully, we have not lost any animal due to the fire all were saved and continue to be well," she said. "The support of the community, our friends, our guests, our families have been overwhelming! Our keepers come here every day and our animals are returning to their old routines while all around them our maintenance staff work to rebuild what was damaged." The community has rallied around Safari West, even going so far as to start two GoFundMe campaigns. People's donations will help Safari West staff who have lost their homes and been displaced by the devastating fires, according to Facebook. "This last week has been a changing point for all of us in the North Bay," Caserta said. "We have suffered much together but we will also recover together." Police at the University of California, Berkeley are investigating a sexual assault that occurred over the weekend, police said Wednesday. At 2:07 a.m. Monday, a female victim reported to campus police that she was sexually assaulted on Saturday in a dorm room in Unit 1, police said. According to police, the victim met the male suspect at a fraternity party. Further details were not immediately available and the case remains under investigation. Anyone with information about the case or any recent and similar crimes can contact UC Berkeley police at 510-642-0472 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 510-642-6760 at all other times. The merriest time of the year is approaching and San Francisco's Union Square is the most magical place to celebrate the holidays! Alaska Airlines presents, Safeway Holiday Ice Rink opening on Wednesday, November 1 continuing the fun until January 15, 2018! In the heart of Union Square, San Francisco's favorite outdoor ice rink is skating its way back in time for the holiday season! Bundle up and get your friends and family ready for festive fun and special events. Plan your visit to the Holiday Rink in Union Square today. For more info, please click here. When: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 Monday, January 15, 2018 Hours of Operation: 10:00AM 11:30PM Daily Where: 333 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94102 The merriest time of the year is approaching and San Francisco's Union Square is the most magical place to celebrate the holidays! Alaska Airlines presents, Safeway Holiday Ice Rink opening on Wednesday, November 1 continuing the fun until January 15, 2018! In the heart of Union Square, San Francisco's favorite outdoor ice rink is skating its way back in time for the holiday season! Bundle up and get your friends and family ready for festive fun and special events. Plan your visit to the Holiday Rink in Union Square today! For more info, please click here. When: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 Monday, January 15, 2018 Hours of Operation: 10:00AM 11:30PM Daily Where: 333 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94102 The University of Illinois is proposing a new public-private innovation center near downtown Chicago that would partner the Urbana-Champaign campus with Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Gov. Bruce Rauner backs the University of Illinois-led Discovery Partners Institute, which would be built in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. The partnership, which would focus on an array of fields such as computing, food and agriculture, and health and wellness, is to be officially announced Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reported . The center is intended to bring together faculty, students and companies to collaborate on research and turn it into new products and companies, University of Illinois president Timothy Killeen said. The University of Illinois wants to recruit 90 new faculty members and up to 1,800 students to the center, he said. "It's an attempt to really take advantage of the assets that the state and the city have to accelerate economic development and to provide opportunities for our students to stay in the state and for innovations to flow into our economy," Killeen said. However, the newspaper reports that details are lacking regarding the project's funding, including how much it would receive in state money and how much has been committed in private money. Rauner said he wants to see Illinois' top universities work together to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in Chicago. Rauner also said part of the reason he wanted to run for governor was to advance this vision from Springfield. No opening date has been set but the center would be located on land along the Chicago River donated by the development company Related Midwest. After the New Haven Board of Police Commissioners approved the General Orders for body camera use, officers in Elm City will start wearing them after training begins on November 1. "This is the reality of where 21st century, especially 21st-century community policing, is leading all of us," New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell told NBC Connecticut on Thursday. The department plans to roll out the cameras by training groups of 30 officers at a time. Eventually, every sworn member of the police force, including the chief and assistant chiefs, will wear them. "We want to make sure that the officers are familiar with the technology, familiar with the General Orders and that they have the opportunity to fully understand what is expected of them," Assistant Chief Racheal Cain, who is responsible for administration, said. Police Sgt. Rose Dell showed NBC Connecticut the docking station where patrol officers will pick up and charge their body cameras. "If theres a witness or a victim and they dont want to be on camera, they can request the officer shut the camera off," Dell said of one of the legal guidelines officers will need to learn. The president of the police officers union said there are benefits to wearing body cameras. "Its another part of equipment that will support the officers report of what truly happened," Elm City Local president Craig Miller said. But Miller said he believes the Board of Police Commissioners rushed through reviewing the final copy of the General Orders. "We just wanted to make sure they gave us a90-day window to get accustomed to using new equipment and they said no," Miller said. "So that they werent going to do it so we had a problem with it." "What they were concerned with is they wanted to continue negotiating," Campbell said. After more than two years of planning and testing, Campbell said now is the time for New Haven residents to begin seeing officers wearing the body cameras on their uniforms. "Since that time, weve had three officer-involved shootings, weve had protests on the Green, weve had officers seriously injured hit run over etc.," Campbell said. "I think these body cameras would have been extremely helpful in getting information out to the public." The police union is reviewing options with its attorney, Miller said. This week the Board of Police Commissioners also approved new guidelines for officers department-issued cell phones. Police officers will be able to view the footage they capture on their body cameras on those phones. The department has purchased more than 800 cameras so each of the more than 400 officers will have a hot one in the field and a "cold" one back at the police station charging. State police have arrested a 10th staff member of the Whiting Forensic Division, the states maximum security psychiatric hospital, amid investigations into the abuse of a patient. Michael Presnick, 26, of Cromwell, a forensic nurse at Whiting, was arrested Wednesday and charged with intentional cruelty to persons and disorderly conduct. Police released the arrest warrant Wednesday. The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters previously obtained arrest warrant for other staffers who were previously arrested. Those prior documents said staffers who were arrested were accused of offenses of varying degrees, from as severe as kicking a 59-year-old patient to the point of knocking him off his bed, to putting a soiled diaper on his head, to simply poking him repeatedly. Presnick is accused of spraying the patient in the face with an aerosol spray and putting a diaper over the patients pants, according to the arrest warrant. He was placed on administrative leave in March 2017 for an unspecified reason, according to police. When detectives went to his Cromwell home in May, Presnick described the patient as difficult to deal with and said the diaper he put over the patients pants was cleaned and unused, according to the arrest warrant. He also said the spray bottle contained Vaseline, which is applied as a part of the victims treatment, and sprayed all over his body, including his face. He told investigators that spraying the man was not done maliciously. However, when detectives spoke with a doctor about the incident, he said the spray would not be used for fear of causing irritation or damage to the patients eyes, the arrest warrant states. Bond for Presnick was set at $25,000. The Whiting Forensic Division in Middletown is Connecticuts maximum security psychiatric hospital. In a prior statement, the SEIU Healthcare 1199NE union spokeswoman Jennifer Schneider wrote: "Patient abuse is totally unacceptable. The events of the last few months have made it clear that there is much needed reform required at Whiting Forensic. Our members are working to develop reform policies in an effort to help eliminate these abuses and make Whiting a safer and more efficient facility." What to Know The 2011 Christmas fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their maternal grandparents Their mother, Madonna Badger, and her then-boyfriend Michael Borcina, escaped The girls' father, Matthew Badger, sued on their behalf, saying the city failed to properly inspect renovations at the home The former boyfriend of Madonna Badger, the New York advertising executive whose parents and three young daughters died in a horrific fire that consumed their $1.7 million Connecticut home on Christmas Day 2011, has died. Michael Borcina, 58, who was also the main contractor renovating the Victorian home at the time of the fire, died "suddenly" on Oct. 3, according to a brief obituary on the website of the Long Island funeral home holding his services. The obituary lists no cause of death, but describes Borcina as the "beloved brother of Mitch and Matthew." The Hartford Courant reports he had cancer. According to the Connecticut Post, Borcina's attorney, Robert Laney, said he's "not sure ever recovered" from that Christmas day blaze in Stamford that took out an entire family. Laney did not immediately respond to NBC 4 New York's call for comment. Badger's 9-year-old daughter Lily and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah, along with their maternal grandparents, died in the fire. She and her then-boyfriend Borcina escaped. Authorities said a bag of fireplace ashes left in a mudroom bin sparked the blaze. Borcina, as the contractor, was later accused in a lawsuit of contributing with other defendants to make the house a "firetrap," including failing to install a smoke detection system during the renovation work. He was deposed several times and originally told investigators he had put the ashes in the mudroom after feeling them to make sure they were no longer hot. Later, though, he testified that Badger had placed the ashes in the room and he had lied to protect her. Badger disputed that statement. The dead children's father, Matthew Badger, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in July 2012 against Borcina, his company Tiberias Construction of New York City, the city of Stamford and others. Three years later, Borcina agreed to settle part of that by paying Matthew Badger $5 million. Matthew Badger, who started an educational development foundation in memory of his three daughters, died in February. His cause of death was not released. The city of Stamford also agreed to settle earlier this year. The terms were not disclosed. Visitation and a religious service for Borcina will be held Wednesday afternoon and evening at at Fives Patchogue Funeral Home on East Main Street, followed by burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram. A Stonington woman and a sailboat captain are teaming up to help relief efforts on a small island off Puerto Rico severely damaged by recent hurricanes. Stoningtons Guylaine "Sky" Nicol and Captain Sequoia Sun are working to provide some relief to the isolated island of Vieques off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico that was brushed by Hurricane Irma and ravaged by Hurricane Maria. The island is isolated from relief efforts. "We dont go to the major cities because thats where everybody else goes. Thats where all the big NGOs and government agencies go," Sun said. "People are always ready to give. The first thing they tell you is, 'How can I help'," Nicol said. The community has helped them collect food, formula, diapers, construction supplies, a generator, solar panels, even water makers to get resident fresh water. Lawrence + Memorial Hospital has even donated medical supplies. It will take Sun, Nicol and a small volunteer crew about six weeks to end up in Vieques when Sun departs on Friday. Theyll make a stop in Ile-a-Vache, Haiti. Sun has been traveling to the country at least once a year since the earthquake in 2010. Among the deliveries to Haiti are boat sails and hundreds of pairs of childrens shoes. Nicol said theyre needed for children to go to school. "The smile on the childrens face because its like giving them a free pass to go to school," she said. "Theres no running water, theres no electricity. There's 15,000 people living with no infrastructure of any kind," Sun said of Ile-a-Vache. Suns boat right now is docked at the New England Science and Sailing Foundation (NESS). Theyve brought students by the boat to teach them about how locally, you can help people on a global scale. A sweeping multistate manhunt that kept the Mid-Atlantic region on high alert for more than 10 hours ended when law enforcement officers on foot chased down a man they say shot six people, killing three, in two separate shootings. Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, was captured on foot along Four Seasons Parkway near Clover Mill Drive in Newark, Delaware, about 7 p.m., police said. He shot five of his co-workers at a granite company about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore just before 9 a.m., police said. Three of them died. Harford County police identified the victims as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Arlington, Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland. Prince then drove to Wilmington, where he shot an acquaintance in the head and body at a used car lot, NBC Philadelphia reports that Wilmington police said. The second shooting occurred about 10:45 a.m. Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said in a news conference Wednesday night police found Prince's SUV, a black 2000 GMC Acadia, about 5:35 p.m. near Glasgow High School in Newark. Police then received a tip Prince had been seen walking toward the school from the SUV. Officers convened on the area and took him into custody less than 2 hours later. During a brief foot chase, Prince threw down a gun, Tracy said. "I believe he was walking down the street and then when our ATF agents, we were doing a search throughout the neighborhood...when he saw that they had spotted him, he actually took off running, threw the gun and they were able to apprehend him about 75 feet later and recover the gun where he threw it," Tracy said. Tracy said Prince didn't injure any officers or anyone else during the chase and arrest. "I even get chills talking about it because I know what it's like when we do hunt individuals that are desperate," Tracy said. Tracy said the attacks were targeted and Prince knew each of his victims. "This is a person with no conscience," he said. Prince was expected at his job at Advanced Granite Solutions on Wednesday morning. "It was scheduled to be a regular workday," the county sheriff said. Instead, police say Prince opened fire, using a handgun to shoot five coworkers in the head. A witness to the aftermath of the shooting, Kevin Doyle, said he was getting tools from his truck when he heard screaming and saw three men running from the office park. The men told him someone was shooting. He asked if they had called 911. They said no, even though they had phones in their hands. "I think they were just so scared they didn't [call 911]. They had a look of terror,'' he said. Officers were called to the workplace, in the Emmorton Business Park on the 2100 block of Emmorton Park Road, at 8:58 a.m, police said. Officers arrived within four minutes, Gahler said. In addition to the three people who died, two people were rushed to University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. They were in critical condition Wednesday night. Prince has been an employee of Advanced Granite Solutions for four months, working as a machine operator, owner Barak Caba told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview. Caba was shaken and would not provide additional details. Less than two hours after his first attack, Prince drove to a used car lot about 55 miles away in Wilmington, and opened fire on a man with whom Tracy said Prince had "beefs" in the past. The man was wounded but survived and identified Prince to police. Investigators said the gunman's motive is under investigation. Investigators are treating the shooting as a case of workplace violence and did not see ties to terrorism, said Dave Fitz, a spokesman for the Baltimore FBI field office. Prince is a felon with 42 arrests in Delaware. He also faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counseling in recent years. Prince was fired from another job earlier this year after he attacked a coworker, The Baltimore Sun reports that a restraining order says. The coworker told officials Prince punched him in the face in February, was fired and then returned to threaten employees four times. At one point, his former boss Philip Siason told the court: "He came to see me, cursed and yelled at me about unemployment benefits. I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me." Saison said he "didn't want to wait'' until Prince became physically violent, and noted his prior gun charge as a reason for feeling particularly afraid of the man. A Harford County District Court judge denied the request for the order and said the worker could not meet the required burden of proof," the Sun reported. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off Advanced Granite Solutions on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators, deputies and federal agents fanned out across the business park to investigate. Across the road, several employees, some wearing lime green T-shirts with the Advanced Granite Solutions logo, embraced each other as they waited for news about their colleagues. The sheriff said the department had set up a receiving area for family members in the Richlin Ballroom at a nearby hotel. A number of Harford County Public Schools in the area were on a "modified lockdown" for hours. Students and staff were told to stay in the buildings, with no outdoor activities. According to online court records, Prince lived in Elkton about 35 miles from the shooting scene as recently as last month. "The First Lady and I ask that all Marylanders join with us in praying for the victims, their loved ones, and those still fighting to live," Hogan said. No information about Prince's legal counsel was immediately available. Advanced Granite Solutions is fundraising for the families of the victims using a GoFundMe page. The world's largest earthquake drill will take place on Thursday, with millions set to practice what to do if a massive quake hits a scenario experts say could likely happen in Southern California in the next several decades. The "Great Shakeout," an annual earthquake drill that started in Southern California in 2008, will happen on Oct. 19 at 10:19 a.m. local time around the world. Nearly 20 million people will practice what to do if a quake strikes, with more than 10.2 million of them in California, NBC News reported. "I think we've seen with recent disasters in the past couple of months these big hurricanes and the Mexico earthquakes in September, and the wildfires that are still happening in California the need to be prepared is so important," said Jason Ballmann, a spokesman for the Southern California Earthquake Center. The center collaborated with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other partners to create the earthquake drill based on a magnitude 7.8 scenario earthquake on the San Andreas fault in Southern California. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to allow a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant, who was detained after entering the country illegally, to undergo an abortion. After a brief hearing that included a testy exchange with government lawyers, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the government to move "promptly and without delay" to transport the teenager or allow her to be transported by others to the nearest abortion provider. The case originated in Texas, where the teen is being held by federal immigration authorities, and was brought to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the American Civil Liberties Union. The teen, whose name has been withheld because she's a minor, has already received a court order permitting her to have the abortion. But officials have refused to transport her or temporarily release her so that others may transport her to the clinic. Wednesday's hearing largely consisted of a contentious debate between Chutkan and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Stewart, with the judge saying she was "astounded" by the government's position. Stewart argued that the teenager, referred to in court as either Jane Doe or JD, was free to return to her home country and seek an abortion there, but said "the government is entitled to favor childbirth" and shouldn't be required to facilitate abortions. She is being held at a facility in Texas administered under a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for sheltering children who illegally enter the United States unaccompanied by a parent. She's believed to be about 15 weeks pregnant. Texas law bans most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and requires women seeking an abortion to meet with the doctor who will perform the procedure a day beforehand. The state also requires minors to get the consent of a parent or obtain a waiver from a judge. Attorneys for the teenager say they obtained the waiver and scheduled several appointments with a doctor, but the facility that's holding her refused to let her go. Instead, she was taken by the facility to a crisis pregnancy center. Such centers try to discourage women from having abortions and are often affiliated with religious groups. "I do not want to be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against my will," the teen said in a statement filed with the court Friday. The teenager's advocates argue that HHS has effectively tried to stop all minors in its custody from having abortions. In one email obtained by the ACLU, Scott Lloyd, director of the HHS office that oversees facilities for unaccompanied children, directs a subordinate that facilities that get agency funding "should not be supporting abortion services," but instead providing "only pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling." In another, Lloyd asks about the status of a girl he met during a visit to a facility and offers to connect the teen with "a few good families" who would "see her through her pregnancy." In Wednesday's hearing, Chutkan noted the government "had no problem transporting her against her will to pregnancy counseling where they attempted to change her mind." Stewart argued the teen was free to return to her home country and get an abortion there, but the judged challenged him on whether the government had a constitutional right to single out abortions and block immigrants in custody from undergoing the procedure. "Residents of this shelter receive medical treatment all the time," Chutkan said. "Why is this any different? Why is the fact that this is an abortion any different than if she was getting her tonsils out?" After the hearing and before the judge issued her verdict, ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri said it was clear the government had overstepped its bounds. "They took a position that was basically indefensible and they couldn't defend it," Amiri said. HHS said in a statement last week about the 17-year-old immigrant's case that it was "providing excellent care to the adolescent girl and her unborn child, who remain under our care until the mother's release." It did not respond to several requests for comment on the emails published by the ACLU. In a court filing Tuesday, HHS argued it had a strong interest in "not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody." Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled last week that the government couldn't prevent the teen from getting an abortion, but declined to an issue an order forcing officials to step aside. Beeler said her court was the wrong venue for the case, leading lawyers for the teenager to bring the case to the Washington, D.C., federal court. What to Know The Orionids meteor shower lasts through the month, but peaks on Saturday night into Sunday morning As many as 80 meteors will be visible every hour near the Orion constellation in the eastern sky Weather conditions are good for viewing throughout the weekend, but will be best on Friday night Stargazers in the tri-state will be looking up this weekend as the much-loved Orionids meteor shower peaks amid mostly clear skies. The Orionids are visible into the first week of November, but theyll be at their most intense between Oct. 20 and Oct. 22. As many as 80 meteors will be visible every hour during the meteor showers peak Saturday night into Sunday morning, according to Space.com. The meteor shower is created by particles from Halleys Comet, which zooms past Earth every 75 to 76 years. The particles appear to be shooting from the Orion constellation, which is how the meteor shower got its name. [NATL-LA]Perseid Meteor Showers of Years Past Although the Orionids appear every fall, stargazers this year wont have moonlight to hamper their view. Weather-wise, Friday night will be the best night for observing in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with mostly clear skies, Storm Team 4 says. Saturday night will also provide good viewing for most of the area, as only partly cloudy conditions are in the forecast. Despite clouds, Sunday night should be a decent time to see them as well. Even with mostly clear skies, starwatchers will want to get away from city lights as much as possible, said Tom Haeberle, of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. Places like parks, beaches and cemeteries, if accessible, are great places to catch a glimpse. If youre in Brooklyn on Sunday evening, NYC Parks is hosting a free viewing featuring telescopes and binoculars at Owls Head Park in Bay Ridge. Further out in Hope, New Jersey, there's a viewing event at the UACNJ Observatory at Jenny Jump on Saturday night. What to Know Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, was arraigned on attempted murder & weapons charges in Delaware Thursday morning. Bail was set at $2.1 million. Prince shot five co-workers, killing three, at a Maryland granite company, then drove to Wilmington and shot a car dealer, police said. The motive for Prince's rampage has not been revealed. He was prohibited from possessing a gun. A Delaware judge has ordered the man accused of killing three people and wounding three others during a two-state shooting spree to remain jailed on $2.1 million cash bail. Radee Labeeb Prince was arraigned via video in Delaware Thursday morning on attempted murder and three weapons charges. Prince was prohibited from possessing a gun after being found guilty of third-degree burglary in New Castle County, Delaware, in 2003, police said in court documents obtained by NBC10. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 31. It's unclear when Prince will be sent back to Maryland to face possible murder charges. The 37-year-old shot five co-workers at a kitchen countertop company in Maryland Wednesday morning before driving to Wilmington, Delaware, and opening fire on a man with whom he had "beefs" in the past, wounding him, police said. The shooting rampage set off a multi-state manhunt. Police cruisers were stationed in medians along the Interstate 95 Northeast corridor, and overhead highway signs displayed a description of Prince's sport utility vehicle and its Delaware license plate. The FBI assisted state and local authorities in the manhunt. Prince was arrested by ATF agents Wednesday night after his unoccupied getaway vehicle was found next to Glasgow High School in Newark, Delaware. Police say Prince was spotted by a witness leaving the vehicle and walking toward the high school. The witness then contacted law enforcement. Prince was spotted walking nearby and taken into custody by the three ATF agents after a brief foot chase, police said. During the chase, Prince allegedly discarded a .380 firearm which was later recovered by police, according to Wilmington Police Chief Robert J. Tracy. No one was hurt during the arrest. "A coordinated effort brought this to a very successful conclusion on a very, very bad day," Chief Tracy said. The rampage began at about 9 a.m. Wednesday when Prince reportedly walked into Advanced Granite Solutions, which designs and installs countertops, and opened fire on is co-workers. Barak Caba, the company's owner, told the Associated Press that Prince worked there as a machine operator for the past four months. He was scheduled to work Wednesday. Five staffers were hit. Three were killed, police said. The two victims who survived were left in critical condition. The sheriff's office said Wednesday night on its Facebook page that the people who died were Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland, and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland. The company set up the Edgewood Donations fund to support the victims families. Prince then sped 51 miles north in his black 2008 GMC Acadia to Wilmington where he confronted an acquaintance, Jason Baul, investigators said. Baul was working at his used car dealership, 28th Street Auto Sales and Service, along the 2800 block of Governor Printz Boulevard when Prince shot him twice around 10:30 a.m., police said. Prince shot Baul in the head and body, but Baul is expected to survive, police said. Prince's SUV was still near the second shooting scene when Wilmington police arrived. Baul pointed out the SUV to police but Prince sped away before police could chase him, Tracy said. The motive for both shootings remains unclear, though Tracy said Prince "knew the people he wanted to shoot." "How do you get into a mind of a person that's capable of shooting five people that are coworkers? What gets in his mind? What precipitated that? It's tough to rationalize," Tracy said during a Wednesday night news conference following Prince's arrest. Co-workers said Prince kept to himself and barely talked. They remain baffled by the killings and say there were no signs of any issues. Four workers at the company said they were only feet away as Prince opened fire and killed their three co-workers. "They were all family," said Ibrahim Kucuk, a manager at Advanced Granite Solutions. "We've been working together for a long time. It's just tragic." Friends and relatives of Baul said they don't recognize Prince and didnt know why he allegedly targeted Baul. Investigators, however, said they believe Prince targeted Baul because of a previous issue related to a criminal case. The Baltimore Sun reports, citing court documents, that Prince has had problems with employers before. He was fired from a job earlier this year after he allegedly punched a co-worker in the face and threatened other staffers, the Sun reported. The assaulted co-worker tried to get a restraining order against Prince in February, but a Harford County District Court judge denied the order, saying the case didn't meet the required burden of proof. Real estate records link Prince to a home along the 500 block of Kiamensi Road in Wilmington. Margaret Melton, a woman who resides at the home, told NBC10 that Prince didn't "officially" live at the Wilmington address, but stayed there "on and off when he had issues." "He lives in Maryland," Melton said. Court records show he most recently lived in Elkton, Maryland. Another neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said she knows Prince's family. "That boy had a good upbringing," she said. "It wasn't like he was a madman or he was a crazed maniac, because he wasn't." [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More Prince faced several gun charges in March 2015 in Cecil County, including being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a handgun in vehicle. However, the charges were dropped about three months later. It's not clear why. Wilmington police said Prince was arrested 42 times in Delaware alone and had 15 felony convictions there. In King County, Washington, in 2014, he was cited for leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended license. Court records also showed that he was required to undergo drug and alcoholism counseling at the time.Prince racked up four traffic citations in King County in 2012 and 2013, mostly for speeding. "If there's violent people that are causing carnage in the community and have some violent crimes, we've gotta find a way to keep them behind bars, so they can't go out and re-offend," Tracy said. The FBI says they are treating the case as workplace violence and don't see ties to terrorism. Crowds of demonstrators gathered at the University of Florida campus in Gainesville Thursday, holding signs and chanting anti-Nazi slogans in protest of a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer. Hundreds of police officers stood outside the UF Phillips Center for the Performing Arts to prevent violence. Anti-Spencer protesters shouted, "Not in our town! Not in our state! We don't want your Nazi hate!" Inside the venue, dozens of officers in riot gear stood guard around the auditorium. Throughout the event, protesters tried to drown out Spencer's speech, chanting "go home Spencer" and "black lives matter." Spencer, who preaches a fiery brand of politics and looks to preserve a white majority in America, was one of the organizers of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August that left one counter demonstrator dead and several others injured when a vehicle plowed into a crowd of people. Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other top state officials urged people to ignore Spencer and his event. On Tuesday, Scott even declared a state of emergency to direct resources to ensure the community's safety during the event. "The values of our universities are not shared by Mr. Spencer, the National Policy Institute or his followers," UF President W. Kent Fuchs said in a taped message earlier this week. "Our campuses are places where people from all races, origins and religions are welcome and or treated with love." Fuchs estimates the school will spend $600,000 on security for Spencer's speech. The school has called in hundreds of law enforcement officers from federal, state, county and city sources. Streets will be blocked off, and movement around the campus tightly controlled. The president said Spencer is "hijacking" public universities which are compelled by the First Amendment to provide a speaking forum and forcing taxpayers to pay the resulting security costs. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government, in this case a public university, cannot charge speakers for security costs. Earlier in the day, Spencer got into a heated exchange with NBC News reporter Kerry Sanders during a press conference before his speaking event. Spencer denied Sanders claim that he would "only allow my extremist supporters into the audience" and demanded a retraction. Sanders reported on the "Today" show Thursday that Spencer had 700 tickets to distribute for the event and would "only give them to those who believe in his extremist beliefs." "I have said the exact opposite of that on multiple occasions to many reporters," Spencer said. "So, one of two things happened: You were ignorant of this and you didn't do suitable research, which is understandable, I've certainly made lots of mistakes. Or you lied. So I'm curious, which of those two things happened." Spencer initially refused to take questions until Sanders retracted his statement, to which the reporter responded, "Lets try this: Tick tock. People are here to hear you speak." The school initially said it would not approve an application for the speech from the National Policy Institute before reversing course, saying while they disapprove of Spencers message, he has a First Amendment right to speak at the public university. The leader of the conservative alt-right movement recently spoke of his First Amendment right and his upcoming speech in Gainesville. "This is where the rubber hits the road, this is where free speech is really meaningful," he said in an alt-right podcast online. "It's not just some abstract concept. I mean every single American citizen, if you ask them, 'Do you support free speech?' 99.9 percent of them say Yes, of course we love free speech.'" Spencer's National Policy Institute is paying $10,564 to rent space for the speaking event. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Delaware County, Pennsylvania, businessman was convicted Wednesday of applying for asylum in the United States under false pretenses while fleeing a civil war in the African country of Liberia. Mohammed Jabateh, 50, who had been accused of taking part in atrocities during the 1990s in Liberia under the nickname "Jungle Jabbah," was found guilty on two counts of filing false immigration documents and two counts of perjury. Each count comes with up to five years in prison and deportation. Jungle Jabbah was a feared commander in one of two warring military factions in the late 1980s and 1990s. The now 50-year-old owner of a shipping company, who lives in Lansdowne, went on trial at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia on Oct. 2. Federal prosecutors did not directly charge him with war crimes. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania In his new life since coming to America in 1998, seeking asylum, some in greater Philadelphia's close-knit Liberian community told NBC10 that they know Jabateh as a hard-working businessman. They had no idea that he was a man that prosecutors linked directly to the bloody war that left 200,000 dead and many thousands more maimed, raped and displaced. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press) The backdrop for such violence was a country divided by both military coups and ethnic hatred. "Chaos is too kind a word," said Maghan Keita, professor of history at Villanova University. He said very few Liberians escaped the war either as an aggressor or victim. Battlefields didn't exist and the brutality played on in villages and towns. The main target becomes the coercion of civilian populations, as opposed to engagement with other combatants who are as heavily armed as you are," Keita said. Maghan Keita, a professor of history at Villanova University, talks to NBC10 about those who fought in wars will always have their past following closely behind. Jabateh has been jailed since his arrest in April 2016. Among those American Liberians who have known Jabateh since his arrival in the U.S. in 1998 is a cousin and fellow businessman named Voffee Jabateh, who called Mohammed Jabateh "a pillar" of the local community. John Prall, another Liberian who escaped to southeastern Pennsylvania, told NBC10 prior to the trial that he would be watching closely. He said he hopes the trial marks a start, not an end, to the pursuit of justice for victims of his native country's civil war. Prall said he believes there are more than one former warlord living in his community. "There are so many here," he said. "There are so many." Maghan Keita, a professor of history at Villanova University, talked with NBC10 about immigrants who flee their native country and remake their lives in a new place. Kelly Ruddy was driving along Interstate 81 near Scranton, Pennsylvania when the ignition in her mothers 2005 Chevy Cobalt switched off. Ruddy lost control of the car amid the failure. The resulting crash threw her from the compact car. Ruddy landed back on the highway where her body was hit by several other vehicles. This was in January 2010. Three months later, General Motors, the maker of Chevrolet cars, would recall Ruddys vehicle because of a problem ignition switch. The faulty part, which could disable the engine and safety features like airbags, would eventually be implicated in more than 120 deaths between 2005 and 2014. And General Motors would stand accused of covering up the issue. She was 21 when she was murdered, Kellys mother, Mary Ruddy, told NBC10s Deanna Durante Thursday. Mary Ruddy, alongside her husband, Leo, spoke about their daughters death on the same day a settlement was announced in a lawsuit filed by 50 attorneys general. In the deal, General Motors will pay $120 million with about $10 million going to area states. About $4.7 million of the settlement will go to Pennsylvania to investigate and prosecute "future deceptive practices" that harm consumers, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. "This case is about much more than GM paying for their deception," Shapiro said. "Its about changing corporate behavior and protecting Pennsylvanians well into the future." Another $4.1 million will go to New Jersey. "Like any other business large or small automakers have an obligation to represent the products they sell honestly, to ensure those products are safe, and to alert consumers when they discover a product defect that threatens consumer safety," New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino said. "When they fail to do so, as was the case with GM, we are committed to holding them accountable." Delaware will get $1.12 million for its consumer protection fund, according to Attorney General Matt Denn's office. The Ruddys said data from the data chip inside their Chevy Cobalt showed the ignition fault set off a chain reaction that resulted in Kellys death. They determined it was cheaper for them to pay off a few people that should figure out what was going on instead of paying 57 cents to fix [the ignition switch] in all the defective vehicles, Leo Ruddy said. General Motors offered no comment on the familys claims. Individual families have already settled with General Motors over the ignition switch problem that impacted about 9-million GM cars recalled nationally and 412,000 cars recalled in Pennsylvania. In a statement, General Motors acknowledged Thursdays settlement and its purpose of safety. "The resolution includes a financial component, and assures GM will continue ongoing improvements made to ensure the safety of its vehicles," GM said. "These improvements include continuation of a new organizational structure devoted to global vehicle safety and the company's 'Speak Up for Safety' program." Under the settlement, General Motors is required to improve the recall process, ensure safe vehicles and protect whistleblowers and empower employees to report safety issues, Shapiro said. Theses are areas of focus, Shapiro said: Maintain a Vehicle Safety Owner Engagement Team to improve and enhance recall awareness to car owners with open recalls GM has to provide a report within 60 days after the one-year anniversary of this agreement summarizing their efforts. Not represent that any GM car is safe unless they have complied with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Maintain a Global Vehicle Safety Organization that identifies and investigates safety issues. Maintain a "Speak Up for Safety" program for its employees to report safety-related issues and require all U.S. employees to confirm annually that they have reported safety issues appropriately -- and not faced internal reprisals as a result. The hope is to also continue to hold GM responsible. "General Motors conduct here was unconscionable," Porrino said. "It put profit ahead of integrity and, more disturbingly, sat on its corporate hands as unwitting drivers and their passengers traveled throughout New Jersey and throughout our nation in GM vehicles that had the potential to fail and become uncontrollable at highway speeds." There's the Wilmington car dealer quick to lend a helping hand. Another is a native of Mongolia who emigrated to the United States in 2005. In all, six people were shot, three fatally, during a two-state shooting rampage Wednesday, allegedly by a man who police say was acquainted with all of the victims. Those killed have been identified as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, Oscar Hidalgo and Enis Mrvoljak. Here's what we know about the victims. They include five employees of Advanced Granite Solutions in Maryland and a Delaware small business owner. Jason Baul The 36-year-old owner of 28th Street Auto Sales and Service in Wilmington is engaged to be married. His future mother-in-law Ethel Jenkins said her daughter was devastated by the sudden attack. She and other relatives said Baul is an gregarious young man willing to lend a helping hand, especially to those most in need. Family Photo Recently, he loaned tow trucks to help out after a recent hurricane. He was the type of person if he could help you he would help you. Hes a good-hearted man, John Broomer, of Wilmington, said. He was shot twice shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday, but later in the day, police said Baul was conscious at a nearby hospital. Relatives and friends didn't know what his relationship to Prince is, but police said they were acquaintances. Bayarsaikhan Tudev The Arlington, Virginia, husband and father was born in Mongolia and came to the United States with some of his family in 2005, NBC4 in Washington, D.C., has reported. He worked as a polisher at Advanced Granite Solutions. He was 53, his daughter said. Two of his sons still live in Mongolia. PROVIDED Tudev was a devout Christian who hosted Bible studies. ""He was the best dad and the best husband, the most humble person," his daughter said daughter said. "He was a very friendly, soft-hearted, very easygoing guy." The multi-state manhunt of fugitive Radee Labeeb Prince ended in a Delaware neighborhood. Authorities in Maryland say Prince shot five coworkers Wednesday morning, killing three. Oscar Hidalgo The 34-year-old polisher at Advanced Granite Solutions was a native of El Salvador, and has a child living there, according to his brother. He lived in Maryland. While picking up his brother's car Thursday, Noah Orellana said they had the devastating task of figuring out how to get Hidalgo's body returned to his native country in Central America for the funeral and burial there. "Its hard to see how this is happening for us, how this lunatic took his life," Orellana said. "This was a great man here. He was a very humble guy. He was just from home to work (to) church. He was not one of the guys in a bar. Or, you know, doing bad things out there." Enis Mrvoljak The 48-year-old reportedly lived in Dundalk, Maryland. He also was a polisher at the granite company in the Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, Maryland. According to a Facebook page, he too emigrated to the East Coast, coming from Bosnia with his family. Two unidentified survivors Both are workers at Advanced Granite Solutions. They remain at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition. Many Pennsylvania natives woke up to a notification from Facebook welcoming them to the City of Brotherly Love Wednesday morning. Except ... they were across the state in parts of Western and Central Pennsylvania. And, according to some very snippy social media posts, definitely not in Philly. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune, Facebook spokesperson Emilie Fetterley reports that the site fixed the issue. Despite the fix, the glitch in Facebooks location services caused a lot of confusion to those affected, and Pittsburgh natives had some interesting perspectives on the mistake. Anthony Walker Former President Barack Obama rallied supporters of Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate and expressed frustration about the current state of political discourse Thursday evening. Obama told Virginia voters Thursday evening to back Democrat Ralph Northam in next month's election, saying Northam wants to take the state forward and not backward. He also decried the current state of politics and said "our democracy's at stake" in the Virginia election. Obama returned to the campaign trail Thursday to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia as they gear up for next month's elections. Thursday's events marked the first time the former president stepped back into the political spotlight since leaving the White House. Obama is hoping to sway voters in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two gubernatorial races this year. Both Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, are term-limited. Those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of President Donald Trump's victory last year. Democrats Hope Obama Rally Increases Voter Turnout In Richmond, thousands of people lined up on Tuesday to get tickets to Obama's Thursday evening rally in support of Northam in his campaign against Republican Ed Gillespie. Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey spoke to one man who woke up at 3 a.m. to be one of the first in line, even though doors for the event didn't open until 5 p.m. Retired Richmond social worker Nancy Jackson, 67, said she missed Obama "tremendously" and wished he could serve a third, fourth and fifth term. She said black voters like herself have been despondent since Trump took office. "I think Obama will bring some light to the end of the tunnel," she said. People in line for the rally assured they were looking forward to seeing Northam, but it was clear from their T-shirts, hats and bags the former president is generating the excitement, which is the point of the event. Some polls this week suggest the race is tightening. Northam still leads in most polls, but it's often within the margin of error. Former RNC Chairman Gillespie has strong support in rural areas of Virginia and brought in his own star power last week with Vice President Mike Pence. Some Democrats worry Northam hasn't done enough to energize people who don't always turnout strong in off-year elections, especially young voters and African-American voters, but those at the rally believe Obama can change that with the rally. "I just feel he has a lot of support with him so him being with Northam brings him support as well," Alexis Gilmore said. "I was already pretty excited for Northam," Charlie Schirra said. "Having this kind of big ticket name come down to support him is huge." "A lot of people said at beginning it was his election to lose," political analyst Bob Holsworth said. "I will tell you there are a number of Democrats right now that are very concerned that's exactly what he's doing, because he doesn't have a strong issue and is not motivating and exciting people in the way they believe can be done in this first year of a Trump presidency." Republicans said they weren't surprised to see Obama come to Virginia, and an RNC spokesman wrote in a statement, "Virginians will cast their votes based on kitchen table issues, not star power." Obama Attends 'Canvas Kickoff' in New Jersey Obama first dropped in on campaign workers in Newark, New Jersey, for a private "canvass kickoff" for Democratic candidate Phil Murphy, Obama's former ambassador to Germany, who is running against Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. He told the crowd at a Newark hotel that "you can send a message to the country and you will send a message to the world that we are rejecting a politics of division. We are rejecting a politics of fear." "Some of the politics we see now we thought we put that to bed," Obama said. "That's folks looking 50 years back. It's the 21st century, not the 19th century." Jersey City resident Diane Coleman, 70, was among the first wave of people let in the room where Obama will speak. The Democrat said she voted for Obama twice and would vote for him again if he could run. She emphasized that speaking negatively of Republican President Donald Trump could alienate some voters. Unlike more low-key appearances earlier this year, Obama's foray into two states won't be a one-and-done. He is planning more public appearances as the year closes, and preparation for the 2018 midterm elections begins. "Obama seems to be determined to be an engaged and active former president who's playing a role in different issues and is involved in politics," Rutgers University professor David Greenberg said. At the end of the month, Obama will go to Chicago to head up his first Obama Foundation leadership summit on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, bringing in speakers like England's Prince Harry, former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and artists like Gloria Estefan, Chance the Rapper and indie rock band The National. Obama Remains Popular Obama's popularity is still undeniable. In an August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 51 percent of Americans said they have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 35 percent had a negative opinion. In the same poll, 36 percent said they had a positive opinion of Trump and 52 percent had a negative opinion. Obama never completely disappeared from public life, in part because of Trump's constant criticism and efforts to undo much of Obama's legacy after eight years in office. He has publicly defended his policies that Trump and the GOP-led Congress have set out to dismantle: the Affordable Care Act - or Obamacare - and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to be temporarily shielded from deportation. Obama was forced to return "pretty quickly," presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University said. "The current president has changed all the conventional assumptions about what to do," Zelizer said. "There is a sense of urgency that makes this moment different than others and former President Obama has continued to be directly in Trump's line of fire - both his policies and his legacy." A man who was shot and killed at his workplace outside Baltimore on Wednesday was a hardworking father who had been worried about the temperament of the man who police say killed him. Bayarsaikhan Tudev of Arlington, Virginia, died after he was shot on the job at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland. He was 53. Tudev's devastated wife and daughter said Thursday that he had been worried about his coworker Radee Prince, who is suspected of shooting five people in the granite shop in Maryland and one person at a used car lot in Delaware, leaving three men dead. "He would come home and mention that he had a rough day at work with this person," Tudev's daughter, Suvd Bayarsaikhan, told News4. "I think the guy didn't really get along with the other workers." He was so concerned about the gunman's temperament that he brought it up in church prayer sessions, his widow, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren, told The Associated Press. Prince was always angry, Tudev told his family. A photo provided by Tudev's family shows him smiling alongside his wife in a field of sunflowers on Sunday, just three days before he was shot. They were married 32 years, his widow said. Tudev was a Christian who hosted Bible study at his home, a pastor at his church said. He loved his job and his family, his daughter said. "He was the best dad and the best husband -- the most humble person," Bayarsaikhan said, starting to cry. "He was a very friendly, soft-hearted, very easygoing guy. I'm sure everybody loved him." He woke up at 5 a.m. to get to his job more than an hour and a half away from home. Tudev, a father of three, immigrated to the United States from Mongolia with his wife and daughter in 2005. His two sons still live in their home country. "It was always his dream to come here and live in the U.S.," his daughter said. Bayarsaikhan said she forgives the man who killed her father. "That man who shot my dad, he's forgiven. My family, we forgive him. But not with our own strength, only through Jesus' love," she said. "We can only forgive this man through Jesus." Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland, also were killed at Advanced Granite Solutions. Romero was an immigrant from El Salvador who was dedicated to his job, his brother, Noah Orellana, told WBAL-TV. "He was a very humble guy. He was just from home to work," Orellana said. "Our heart is breaking up," he continued. "It's unbelievable." The family is making arrangements for Romero's body to be flown to his home country. Photos of Romero and Mrvoljak were not available immediately. Two other people who were shot and wounded were in critical condition Thursday morning. Loved ones of the victims picked up their cars at their workplace on Thursday. After opening fire at work, Prince then drove to Wilmington, Delaware, where he shot an acquaintance in the head and the body, police said. He was captured in Newark, Delaware, after a 10-hour manhunt. Police said the attacks were targeted and Prince knew each of his victims. His motive is still under investigation. As of Thursday evening, Prince was being held in Delaware on more than $2 bail. He will be sent to Maryland. Advanced Granite Solutions is fundraising for the families of the victims using a GoFundMe page. "Everbody's struggling and we're happy to have a great community supporting us and lifting us up," a spokeswoman for the company said at a news conference Thursday. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to explicitly declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's warning came in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with minutes to spare before the expiration of a deadline set by the central government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession. "If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonia's parliament will proceed ... with a vote to formally declare independence," Puigdemont's letter said. Spain's government quickly responded with a statement saying it was calling a special Cabinet session for Saturday in which it would trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spain's 1978 Constitution. It allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the country's 17 regions, including Catalonia. The Cabinet meeting will "approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards," the statement said. The constitutional law has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Spain's government needs to outline what are the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spain's Senate. The ruling Popular Party's majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support. The government was meeting Thursday morning with members of the leading opposition Socialist party to decide what measures to take under Article 155. Puigdemont addressed the regional parliament on Oct. 10, saying he had the mandate under a banned Oct. 1 referendum to declare independence from Spain. But he immediately suspended the implementation of the secession proclamation and called for talks with Spain and international mediators. But Spain's government responded by setting two deadlines for Puigdemont a Monday one for him to say a simple "yes" or "no" to whether he indeed had declared independence or not, and a second one for Thursday morning for him to fall in line with Spain's laws. Spain's government says that Puigdemont hasn't offered any clarity in his replies. Catalans would consider the application of Article 155 an "invasion" of the region's self-government, while Spain's central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Puigdemont's government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country's constitution. More than 40 percent of Catalonia's 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal Oct. 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Opponents boycotted the vote. Catalan officials say that hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents, who said it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Spain's government had said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out. The Catalan government's international affairs director, Raul Romeva, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that Catalonia's banned secession referendum gave the region's separatist government a mandate to declare independence from Spain. Andrew Dowling, an expert in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales, said that any declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament would be symbolic without border and institutional control and no international support. Such a declaration "will see the fracture between hardliners and the pragmatic people in Catalonia who are already seeing an economic fallout," Dowling said. The Spanish government says more than 500 companies, including Catalan banks, multinationals and mid-size businesses, have moved their registered addresses out of the troubled region because of concerns about the region's legal status. While it doesn't affect jobs, the firms could delay investments if the standoff continues. Civil society groups who have drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets in peaceful pro-independence demonstrations over the past few years are calling for new protests Thursday at the gates of the central government's office in Barcelona and a bigger march later this week. Frank Griffiths contributed to this report from London. A Massachusetts school district and museum are apologizing after a photo on Facebook depicting a black child wearing a 17th century-period dress that appeared to have leashes attached went viral. In a statement, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District's superintendent said the photo was taken last Friday when representatives from Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum, visited Mitchell Elementary School to share a lesson on clothing from the 17th century. Among the clothing students learned about that day was a garment that would have been worn by toddlers to learn how to walk, which included tethering straps, Superintendent Derek Swenson said. "We realize without this context added to the photo that was shared by the classroom teacher it could be perceived differently," Swenson's statement said. The district received a complaint about the photo on Wednesday evening, and the photo was shared on Facebook Thursday morning, where it quickly went viral. It has since been shared more than 8,000 times on the social media platform. It's unclear if the teacher who took the photo will face any discipline. A Plimoth Plantation spokesperson said it wasn't the educator's intent to be disrespectful. "Leading strings is a garment that we always show and kids are fascinated by the fact that both boys and girls wore them when they were toddlers and fascinated by the idea of leading strings," a Plimoth Plantation spokesperson said. "We realize that the photography could be perceived differently and we sincerely apologize for that." Parents expressed their outrage over the photo Thursday afternoon. "With all that's going on in the world today, with racial tensions, I think that's over the top," parent Steve Alden said. "I'm appalled and disgusted by it, really," added parent and grandparent Delores Terry. A latest study has shown that Aristolochic Acids (AA) that are commonly used as a natural product found in some natural remedies, could be associated with liver cancers. Researchers from Singapore and Taiwan showed in their study that AA could be causing mutations in the genes that predispose an individual to liver cancers. Their study, Aristolochic acids and their derivatives are widely implicated in liver cancers in Taiwan and throughout Asia, was published yesterday (18th October 2017) in the latest issue of Science Translational Medicine. The team of researchers led by Professor Steven Rozen from Duke-NUS Medical School first looked at the DNA sequences of 98 liver cancers detected in Taiwan. They then analyzed the mutations of these individuals using mutational signature analysis. Their results revealed that as many as 78 percent of these mutations were the result of AA. Mutational signatures are good at predicting patterns of DNA changes that are caused due to mutagens or chemicals and agents that are capable of causing DNA mutations. Professor Hsieh Sen-Yung from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, who was part of the study explained that exposure to AA is well documented in Taiwan from the herbal remedies. What is new in this study is the number of liver cancers that are associated with this compound. After analyzing the DNA of the liver cancers the team looked into the mutational data from 1,400 liver cancer patients worldwide. They included liver cancer cases from China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, other regions in Southeast Asia, France, Italy, Spain, and parts of North America. Exposure to AA is seen in several other regions mainly East and Southeast Asia, mostly from traditional herbal medicines. Professor Rozen noted that this exposure data was also a revelation. The connection between the compound and liver cancer was clearer he explained. AA, he added, is a known mutagen that has been linked to kidney and urinary tract cancers in Taiwan. This compound has been liked to severe kidney damage called Balkan nephropathy seen in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia. This was the first study that connected AA with liver cancer he explained. Aristolochic Acid is a naturally occurring compound found in Aristolochia and Asarum plants. There are nearly 500 species of Aristolochia, and of these nearly a 100 are used in herbal remedies. Rozen said that these plants have beautiful trumpet shaped flowers that give then the name Dutchmans pipe. The flowers, roots and stems of the plants have been used in form of extracts in herbal medicines. These plants are routinely used as part of traditional herbal remedies especially for medicines used for slimming and weight loss. Europe has banned AA 2001 and Singapore followed suit in 2004. Taiwan too has banned herbals with AA since 2003. China and United States drug authorities have restricted their usage with warnings to users. Researchers say that these liver cancer cases are a result of the use of this compound in medications much before the bans were in place. So it may still take a few years before the rates of liver cancers associated with AA stop. Further, there is no dearth of online availability of herbal remedies that contain AA. Many of these are inadequately labeled and so consumers have no clue that they are consuming AA containing medications. Professor Teh Bin Tean from the National Cancer Centre Singapore and Professor Alex Chang from Johns Hopkins Medicine Singapore were also part of this study. Professor Chang said the only way to stop this was to increase public awareness. New research suggests that rheumatoid arthritis may increase the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings, which appear in Arthritis Care & Research, indicate that greater vigilance may be needed to protect the respiratory health of individuals with chronic inflammatory conditions. Research has demonstrated an association between COPD and inflammation, raising the question of whether prolonged inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis predispose individuals to COPD. To investigate, a team led by Diane Lacaille, MD, FRCPC, MHSc, of Arthritis Research Canada and the University of British Columbia, examined information on individuals in the province of British Columbia who were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis between 1996 and 2006, and compared it with information on matched individuals in the general population. The analysis included 24,625 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 25,396 controls. The investigators found that the incidence of COPD hospitalization was greater in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than in the general population. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, individuals with rheumatoid arthritis had a 47% greater risk of needing to be hospitalized for COPD than controls. The increased risk remained significant after modeling for smoking and with varying COPD definitions. "These findings are novel because it has only recently been recognized that inflammation plays a role in the development of COPD, and clinicians treating people with rheumatoid arthritis are not aware that their patients are at increased risk of developing COPD," said Dr. Lacaille. "Our results emphasize the need to control inflammation, and in fact to aim for complete eradication of inflammation through effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis." Dr. Lacaille added that clinicians and people living with rheumatoid arthritis should be vigilant in watching for early symptoms of COPD. "That way, appropriate tests can be administered to diagnose COPD early, at the onset of symptoms, so that effective treatments for COPD can be initiated before irreversible damage to the lungs occurs." Such steps will improve long-term outcomes for patients and reduce the costs of COPD. The study also points to the need to address COPD risk factorssuch as smokingin people living with rheumatoid arthritis. Source: http://newsroom.wiley.com/press-release/arthritis-care-research/rheumatoid-arthritis-linked-increased-risk-copd Sleep loss can trigger relapse, particularly in the form of mania, in people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, finds a study by Cardiff University. The new research, led by Cardiff University PhD student Katie Lewis, from the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH), suggests that one in four individuals with bipolar disorder may be at risk of an episode of high mood following sleep loss. Understanding what factors influence the relationship between sleep and mood episodes could help predict which individuals are most likely to relapse following periods of sleep deprivation, for example, because of long-haul travel or shift work. It could also inform self-management techniques such as e-monitoring. This is the largest study to date reporting on the prevalence of sleep loss as a trigger in individuals with bipolar disorder and the first study to examine sleep loss as a trigger of both manic and depressive episodes in a large sample of individuals with bipolar disorder. The large sample size made it possible for the team to examine whether bipolar subtype (type 1 or type 2), as well as gender, could affect peoples vulnerability to sleep loss. Type 1 and type 2 bipolar subtypes can both represent serious mental health conditions, however the main difference between type 1 and type 2 bipolar disorder is that people with type 1 tend to have more severe episodes of high mood, possibly requiring hospitalization. Katie Lewis from Cardiff University, who led the research, explained: We found that 20% of people with bipolar disorder reported that sleep loss had triggered episodes of high mood, whereas 12% reported that sleep loss had triggered episodes of low mood. A tendency for sleep loss to trigger episodes of high mood was more likely among women and people with type 1 bipolar disorder. This finding was the same when controlling for things like the number of episodes experienced, age and illness severity. In contrast, the tendency for sleep loss to trigger depression appeared to be the same across bipolar subtypes and genders. In the study, Katie and her colleagues interviewed 3,140 individuals, drawn as a sample from the Bipolar Disorder Research Network. People were recruited from across the UK, through NHS community mental health teams and patient support organizations such as Bipolar UK. It is unclear why some individuals become depressed following sleep deprivation and others become manic. It is possible that other triggers associated with relapse in bipolar disorder, such as stressful or exciting life events, medication use or interpersonal conflict, may coincide with the sleep loss that people experience. Katie concluded: Future research could potentially look at the role genes play in determining which people are particularly vulnerable to sleep loss triggering episodes of illness. The study Sleep loss as a trigger of mood episodes in bipolar disorder: individual differences based on diagnostic subtype and gender is published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The team at the National Centre for Mental Health are currently taking this work further by directly measuring sleep using activity monitors, and are keen to hear from anyone with bipolar disorder who would like to help with the research. Source: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/ Large study finds stage at diagnosis, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and marital status have the greatest impact on racial/ethnic cancer survival disparities Racial/ethnic disparities in cancer survival in the U.S. are well documented, but the underlying causes are not well understood. To better explain disparities, researchers examined cancer survival by racial/ethnic group for 877,662 patients diagnosed with breast, prostate, colorectal or lung cancer between 20002013 using California Cancer Registry data. In the study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers found stage at diagnosis, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and marital status to have the biggest impact on racial/ethnic cancer survival disparities. Black patients had the lowest survival rate for all cancer types and Asian American/Pacific Islander ethnic groups had the highest survival, compared to Whites. Black patients with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer were more likely to be diagnosed with late stage tumors than Whites, with stage explaining 16-28% of overall racial/ethnic survival disparities. Living in a low socioeconomic neighborhood, far more common among Black and Hispanic patients than among Whites or Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, explained 5-18% of the overall survival disparities among racial/ethnic groups, with the largest contribution for lung cancer. The most significant racial/ethnic survival disparities were among women with breast cancer. Cancer deaths among Black women was twice that of White women. Hormone receptor status was a significant contributor to overall breast cancer racial/ethnic survival disparities, explaining 9% of survival differences. These findings reinforce that tumor subtype is a significant contributor to survival disparities, especially for the poor survival among Black compared to White women. Researchers also found the contribution of stage at diagnosis to survival disparities in colorectal cancer was considerably larger in women (28%) than in men (16%). Among men with colorectal cancer, the influence of marital status on racial/ethnic survival disparities was as large as the influence of stage. Women also experienced improved lung cancer survival rates over men. This may be explained by tumor biology, an important contributing factor to racial/ethnic survival disparities in lung cancer, especially in women, and may reflect the varying distribution of tumor subtypes across racial/ethnic groups. Married patients, particularly men, also experienced improved survival over unmarried patients. Marital status explained 14-18% of survival disparities among men, and 6-14% among women. In this study health insurance was not found to be a significant contributor of racial/ethnic survival disparities after clinical factors, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and marital status were accounted for. According to Elizabeth Ellis, the leader researcher of the study: While stage at diagnosis and the molecular type of tumor had the largest impact on racial/ethnic survival disparities, social factors were also important. The strong influence of neighborhood socioeconomic status and marital status suggests that social determinants, support mechanisms, and access to health care need to be addressed to ensure that all groups have the opportunity to experience optimal survival. The collection of cancer incidence data used in this study was supported by the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program under contract HHSN261201000140C awarded to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California. Source: http://www.cpic.org/news-media/press-releases/2017/RaceCancerSurvivalDisparities.aspx GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. A RAND study requested by the US NAvy looked at different american aircraft carrier options and concludes that the US Navy is correct with its current $13 billion a piece Gerald Ford Supercarriers. Slow and Expensive build problem Nextbigfuture thinks the US Navy problem is similar to NASAs Space Launch System or with construction of skyscrapers. Everything is too slow and expensive. The US built the Empire State building was built in 410 days. It took 4-5 years to build the World Trade Center buildings. It took over 11 years to build the Freedom Tower. Essex class aircraft carriers in WW2 (they could hold over 100 airplanes) were built in about a year. In the 1960s-1970s the Nimitz carriers were built in 4 years. The Gerald ford supercarriers will be taking about 5 years each. The US built 160 aircraft carriers during the 5 years of WW2. Elon Musk revamped rockets and is designing and building the Falcon Heavy at a far faster pace than the still untested Space Launch System. Building fast and good enough and at far lower cost would get rid of a lot of the planning and selection problems for systems. If an aircraft carrier took one year to build and cost $1 billion then it would not be something where you have to figure out a $200 billion plan over 30 years to build 12 supercarriers. You could build 2 a year and spend 7 years and spend $12 billion. If you could update and modify and adjust the designs as you went along then you would not be locked in for decades. RAND study RAND looked at overall costs and capabilities. RAND analyzed the feasibility of adopting four aircraft carrier concept variants as follow-ons to the Ford-class carrier following USS Enterprise (CVN 80) or the as-yet-unnamed CVN 81. Among these options are two large-deck carrier platforms that would retain the capability to launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft using an on-deck catapult and arresting gear system and two smaller carrier platforms capable of supporting only short takeoff and vertical landing (STVOL) aircraft. Specifically, the four concept variants are as follows: a follow-on variant continuing the current 100,000-ton Ford-class carrier but with two life-of-the-ship reactors and other equipment and system changes to reduce cost (they refer to this design concept as CVN 8X) a 70,000-ton USS Forrestalsize carrier with an updated flight deck and hybrid nuclear-powered integrated propulsion plant with capability to embark the current large integrated air wing but with reduced sortie generation capability, survivability, and endurance compared with the Ford class (they refer to this design concept as CVN LX) a 43,000-ton variant of the USS Americaclass, fossil fuelpowered and arranged to support only STOVL operations but at a higher tempo than the current LHA 6 (USS America) (tjey refer to this design concept as CV LX). This variant would incorporate the larger ships beam excursion the Navy examined in the LHA 8class flight 1 studies. a 20,000-ton variant that will resemble escort carriers that some allied navies currently operate (they refer to this design concept as CV EX). Similar to the 43,000-ton variant, it will be conventionally powered and will operate STOVL aircraft. The overall results of our cost comparison are as follows: The descoped Ford-class carrier, the CVN 8X, might generate fewer sorties than the current key performance parameter values for the Ford class and might have only incremental reduction in overall platform cost. Between the developmental costs and a reduced service life, there is little cost advantage in this variant. The CVN LX concept would allow considerable savings across the ships service life and appears to be a viable alternative to consider for further concept exploration. Construction costs would be lower; design changes and life-cycle costs would reflect the lessons already applied in the Ford class. The reliance on hybrid drive with fewer mechanical parts than legacy platforms is likely to further reduce maintenance cost. However, CVN LX would be a new design that would require a significant investment in nonrecurring engineering in the near term to allow timely delivery in the 2030s. CV LX, although it requires a larger force structure to maintain air capabilities, might still reduce overall construction costs if large carrier numbers were reduced. But, as described in the report, reducing carrier numbers with the resulting loss of capability should not be pursued without extensive further analysis for all displaced missions in the joint force execution of warfighting scenarios. CV EX, the smallest variant, is not a practical variant at all without considerable revision of the Navy warfighting concept of operations. If a new platform is introduced in the mid-2030s, the Navys force structure will still contain a large legacy force of Nimitz- and Ford-class carriers, at least until the mid-2050 time frame, which might lower the risks of introducing a new carrier for some period of time. But, ultimately, if a new carrier variant is selected, it will define the carrier force and constitute the supported capability available to the Navy. Capability shortfalls can be mitigated, to some degree, with changes in operational concepts or by adding additional platforms to the force structurewhich introduces additional cost that might offset anticipated cost savings. In addition, if the Navy stops procuring large-deck nuclear carriers, the ability to reconstitute the industrial base at some time in the future comes with substantial risk. You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person. Coincidentally, independent and local news sources depend on you too. Youve read 25 articles this month and now, wed like you to be join our mission and become a NUVO Supporter. For as little as $4 a month, you can keep us alive and fighting -- and can have unlimited access to the independent news that cant be found anywhere else. 7th Pay Commission in Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul approved payment of the arrears for 2016 as per the provisions of the seventh pay commission. For the period between January and June 2016, arrears would be given in the ongoing fiscal, whereas the remaining arrear amount for July to December 2017 would be cleared in financial year 2018-19. After deducting taxes, the amount would be deposited in the provident fund of each employee. Employees without provident fund accounts would be paid in cash. Employees who have retired or have died between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 would be given cash payment on the basis of the number of days worked during the year. Urban development minister Madan Kaushik had said that the move would cost the state exchequer Rs 150 crore and the amount would be cleared in two installments. 7th Pay Commission in Gujarat The government said "fixed-pay" teachers of government- aided secondary and higher secondary schools across the state would get a significant hike in their salaries. Employees of 105 municipalities would now get salaries according to the provisions of the 7th Pay Commission. The Gujarat government also raised the annual income cap from Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh for the 'Ma-Vatsalya' scheme for free medical treatment of up to Rs 2 lakh for serious ailments. "Till now, only people with an annual income of less than Rs 1.50 lakh were eligible for treatment of up to Rs 2 lakh at any of the government-approved hospitals. Now we have decided to raise this income limit to Rs 2.50 lakh, so that more people can benefit from the Ma-Vatsalya scheme," Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said. Around 7,000 "fixed pay" teachers -- whose salaries are fixed for five years -- as well as administrative staff of government-aided secondary and higher secondary schools will be given pay hikes. "We have decided to increase the monthly salary of 'fixed-pay' teachers of secondary schools from Rs 16,500 to Rs 25,000. Assistant teachers, who used to get Rs 10,500, will now get Rs 16,224. Administrative assistants will now get Rs 19,950 from the current salary of Rs 11,500," Patel said. A similar raise has been approved for teachers and administrative staff of higher secondary schools which are dependent on government grants, said Patel, who handles the finance portfolio. Around 15,000 employees of municipalities will also get a pay hike. Patel said the government had decided to give permission to 105 local bodies to pay salaries in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission. "Out of the total 162 municipalities in the state, 105 are paying their employees as per the 6th Pay Commission. Considering their demand, we have decided to allow these 105 local bodies to pay as per the 7th Pay Commission. This will benefit around 15,000 employees," Patel said. 7th Pay Commission in Rajasthan Rajasthan government employees will draw revised salary of October from the month of November. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday said that she had promised to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission in the 2017-2018 budget. A committee had been authorised to examine the cases of discrepancies in salary, allowances and arrears, said the Rajasthan chief minister. In February this year, the government had appointed a three-member committee to study and implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for the state. Making the announcement on implementation of Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations for state government employees, Vasundhara Raje said the government considers its employees the backbone for governance and has been sensitive towards their welfare. 7th Pay Commission in Tamil Nadu The announcement of the 7th Pay Commission for Tamil Nadu government employees did bring some cheer, but the happiness was short lived. There is a lot of resentment and disgruntlement over the recommendations being cleared and one major anomaly is that the Cabinet approved the same from October 1 2017. The biggest problem for the TN government employees is that they stand to now lose 21 months of arrears. They were hoping that it would be implemented from January 2016. However the implementation date is October 1 2017 which means the employees will all lose 21 months of arrears. The secondary grade teachers were to be granted a minimum salary of Rs 9300 and a maximum of Rs 34,800, with a grade pay of Rs 4200. But the government granted a minimum of only Rs 5200 and a maximum of only Rs 20,000 with a grade pay of Rs 2400. The case is similar with that of office assistants, block development officers and tahsildars as well. This would mean that these anomalies would lead to loses between Rs 48,000 and Rs 1 lakh a year. Violence against Hindus: How Bengal is becoming a Kashmir Valley of the 1990s Accession Day: Valley lights up on this day when J&K became part of India Armed, dangerous meet this 3 ft tall Jaish-e-Mohammad commander in Kashmir India oi-Vicky By Vicky He is armed, dangerous, radicalised and he is three feet tall. This is Noor Mohammad Tantray, the new chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Kashmir Valley. The 47 year old terrorist who has directed the recent attacks carried out by the Jaish in Jammu and Kashmir is now top on the wanted list of the security forces. Noor is a resident of Tral in Pulwama district and he recently took over the command of the outfit following the death of Khalid in an encounter. Tantray ironically was sentenced to life imprisonment by a POTA court. He was arrested in Delhi in the year 2003. He was sentenced to life in 2011. Recently he was granted parole, but he jumped the same and returned to the Jaish-e-Mohammad. In recent times, he directed two major attacks that were carried out by the Jaish. The one on the District Police Lines at Pulwama and another on the BSF camp near the Srinagar International Airport were both attacks that were directed by Noor, investigations have shown. Noor was brought into the Jaish by another commander, Ghazi Baba. Following the killing of Baba in an encounter, Noor was arrested from Delhi on August 31 2003. The Delhi police which carried out the arrest also recovered Rs 19 lakh in cash from him. He was lodged in the Tihar jail in Delhi, but later shifted to a prison in Srinagar. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had granted him parole in 2015 and the same was extended several times. However three months back, he jumped parole and returned to the Jaish. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 11:00 [IST] Great tolerance, the CBI is sitting idle in Goa says its SP Bofors: CBI to look into Fairfax detectives allegations India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Central Bureau of Investigation would look into the facts and circumstances mentioned by detective Michael Hershman, who alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government had sabotaged his investigation. Hershman, who is the president of the US-based private detective firm Fairfax, claimed in television interviews recently that Rajiv Gandhi was "furious" when he had found a Swiss bank account "Mont Blanc". Hershman, who was in New Delhi last week to address a conference of private detectives, also alleged that the bribe money of the Bofors gun scandal had been parked in the Swiss account. "The agency has learnt of the matter pertaining to the Bofors aired on certain TV channels containing an interview of Michael Hershman," CBI information officer and spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said in a statement. "Facts and circumstances as mentioned in the interview will be looked into as per due process by the CBI," he said. Hershman was quoted as telling television channels that Rajiv Gandhi got very upset when "our work was uncovered". He then established a Supreme Court commission to look into the circumstances surrounding then finance minister V P Singh's hiring of Fairfax. In his interviews, Hershman has expressed his willingness to testify and help Indian agencies on the Rs 64 crore Bofors gun pay-off scandal but the effort has to be a credible one. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 6:15 [IST] Jharkhand 'starvation' death: Did the girl die of malaria? India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Ranchi, Oct 19: The alleged "starvation" death of an 11-year-old girl in Simdega, Jharkhand, in September, has resulted into a war of words between the government officials and food rights activists. While the officials maintain that the girl died due to malaria (which is rampant in the area), the family of the deceased girl and food rights activists say she died as there was no rice in the house to feed her. Santoshi Kumari, according to her family and food rights activists, died on September 28 because of "hunger" as the poor family stopped getting rice under the government's Public Distribution System (PDS) after its ration card, which was in the name of the grandmother of the deceased girl, was rendered invalid as it was not linked to Aadhaar card. After the shocking incident of "starvation" death of the girl, a team from the Centre will visit the state to initiate a probe into the matter that has once again brought to light the horrors that could haunt anyone without an Aadhaar card. Probably the probe by the team to be sent by the Centre would reveal the actual reason behind Santoshi's sad demise. Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday said a central team would be sent to Jharkhand to probe the heart-numbing case, although the state government officials maintained that the girl died due to malaria and not starvation. "If poor people die of hunger, it is a matter of concern. We will send a central probe team," Paswan told reporters in the national capital. He added that the state had been asked to submit a report at the earliest on the "hunger" death. After receiving severe criticism for the "starvation" death, the state food and civil supplies department on Wednesday issued a fresh advisory asking officials to verify whether any genuinely needy family was denied foodgrain for lack of Aadhaar linkage. On Tuesday, Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das asked the administration to provide Rs 50,000 to the family of the deceased girl as interim relief, and asked the deputy commissioner to conduct a probe and take action against anyone found guilty. The death of the girl is the fallout of an order of the chief secretary of the state back in April to cancel ration cards not linked with Aadhaar cards to weed out fake beneficiaries. Although the incident happened last month, it came to light only a few days ago after the news website Scroll wrote about the horrific incident. OneIndia News Tuesday is now No Meeting Day in Haryana and officers to be with people on Friday Haryana panchayat polls: Public holiday in several districts on Nov 9 and 12 Chandigarh: 11 persons booked for violating court order and bursting crackers India oi-PTI Chandigarh, Oct 19: For violating a court directive that crackers could be burnt only on Diwali evening, the police have booked 11 people in Chandigarh. The police have registered cases against 11 unidentified persons in different parts of the city for bursting crackers on Wednesday night. Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed that crackers could be burnt only between 6.30 PM to 9.30 PM on Diwali day in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. No arrests have been made. Meanwhile in Delhi, Diwali celebrations are likely to be a subdued affair as the Supreme Court has banned the sale of crackers till November 1. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 14:53 [IST] Commuters' woes continue as MSRTC strike enters third day India oi-Vikas By Vikas With the talks between transport employees and the government on Wednesday remaining inconclusive, the strike by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) demading implementation of 7th pay commission entered its third day Thursday. The Wednesday's meeting between MSRTC Unions and Gvoernment representatives is said to have lasted for almost eight hours. The strike has caused great incovienience to the passengers who wanted to travel home for Diwali. With the employees MSRTC beginning an indefinite strike from Monday midnight, the state Transport Minister Diwakar Raote on Tuesday said the strike was illegal. More than 17 thousand buses run throughout the entire state, where about one lakh workers have gone on strike. Avoid bus travel to Maharashtra: MSRTC indefinite strike begins "All courts including labour court and industrial court has held this strike as illegal," news agency ANI quoted Raote as saying. The MSRTC employees are on a strike demanding a pay hike. The employees are demanding implementation of the 7th Pay Commission and an interim hike of 25% till the recommendations are implemented. The government has agreed to an interim hike of 10% but unions are opposed to it. "We have all sympathy with State Transport Employees but their demands for salary as per 7th Pay commission is not possible...Have offered to resolve the matter by talks. We are ready to nominate a committee to resolve issues," he added. Parel bus stand which is otherwise crowded MSRTC caters to the transport needs of about 65 lakh passengers who travel by ST buses across the state. Of the 58,000 buses that run daily, only 681 trips were made in the entire day. Striking MSRTC employees All the major depots, including Mumbai Central, Kurla, Dadar and Borivli, among others, were shut as none of the buses operated. The MSRTC has, however, decided to refund money to those who had already reserved tickets during this period. Buses remained parked for the third day now The MSRTC has reported a loss of Rs 22 crore because of loss of revenue during the Diwali festive season as over one lakh employees have gone on strike. (Images credit - ANI/Twitter) Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Raote met union members on Monday and they agreed that staff should get a pay hike. They set up a committee to recommend the nature of a hike keeping in mind the financial burden it will have on the state's coffers. Police has increased security to prevent any untoward incident during the strike. OneIndia News Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000 Complaint against Kamal Hassan for his comment on Siddha medicine India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar A complaint has been filed against actor Kamal Hassan for allegedly spreading false information about 'Nilavembu Kudineer', a herbal potion used as a treatment for dengue. 'Nilavembu Kudineer', also called 'Nilavembu Kashayam', is a Siddha medicine recommended for prevention and management of all types of viral infections/fevers. It acts as stimulant and immunomodulator, which boosts immunity and modulates defense response in the body, which helps to protect from infections and their complications. Kamal Hassan on Wednesday took to Twitter to urge his fans not to distribute the Siddha medicine until there is proper research into it. He tweeted stating, "It's not that the research should be done by allopathics. The traditionalists should also have done it. It is traditional for medicines to have side effects." However, Tamil Nadu health minister C Vijayabaskar backed the use of s neem drink to fight dengue. Answering a question on Nilavembu Kudineer, the Minister said it was a proven medicine. "Nilavembu is a proven medicine, it was tested at King Institute (a State run institution in Chennai) and it increases the platelet, it increases immunity, this has been proven," he said. On October 13, a five-member central team deputed to assess the dengue situation in the state had termed the 40 deaths since January. Chief Minister K Palaniswami has requested for the financial aid to Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey. (With agency inputs) Dalai Lamas healing touch to rebels of NE: Shun violence, adopt non-violent means India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Imphal, Oct 19: The Northeast region of India, one of the country's most pristine and beautiful parts, has for long grappling with violence as indigenous rebel groups are fighting for their own respective "homelands". Manipur in the region is no exception, which is stated to host at least forty various militant groups fighting their own "battles" against the elected government. Amid all these turmoil and insecurity, when Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama visited Imphal, the capital city of Manipur, residents hoped for a "healing touch" from the man whose message of peace and love has touched millions across the world. On the second day of his three-day long trip to Manipur, the Dalai Lama on Wednesday decided to address the issue of home-grown militancy in Manipur which is mostly seen by the mainstream India as a law and order problem, but for the natives, even those who detest violence, maintain that the proliferation of insurgency is the result of long neglect and lack of empathy on the part of Delhi towards the people of the region. The Noble Peace laureate urged militants in the Northeast to shun the "method of violence" and use non-violent means to get their grievances addressed at a public reception in Imphal. While answering the question on insurgency problem in the region, the Dalai Lama said, "Every country has problems. Use of violent means is totally wrong. India is a union. Small kingdoms are now (things of) the past. Narrow mindedness should be done away with and broadmindedness should step in." The Dalai Lama's speech and interaction with reporters centred on world peace and love. Several in the audience also asked him questions, which he gladly answered. "India is a great nation. It can pay a vital role in ushering in world peace. India, where various traditions and religions exist in harmony, is a perfect example of how harmony can prevail," he said. While speaking about insurgency in the region, the Dalai Lama also spoke on the spread of "terrorism" across the globe and why religion has nothing to do with violence. There are no Muslim or Christian terrorists because terrorists are no more religious once they embrace terror, he said. "People cease to be Muslim, Christian or any group the moment they became terrorists." The Tibetan spiritual leader reached Imphal on Tuesday on the invitation of Manipur Speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 6:43 [IST] Demonetised currency worth Rs 1.5 cr seized in Andhra, one arrested India oi-Vikas By Vikas Demonetised currency worth Rs 1.5 crores was seized and a person was arrested from Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada. On September 26, three men were arrested in Bengluru and demonetised currency worth around Rs 5 crore seized. Police also seized a Maruti Swift car from the accused, who were identified as Mohammed Aslma, 50, of Jayanagar, Kalingappa alias Kalinga, 35, of Ballari and Manjunath, 58, of Nelagedaranahalli near Peenya. According to police, the trio was arrested near Mahalakshmi Layout swimming pool. On June 5, Perinthalmanna police in Tamil Nadu seized banned currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations having a face value of Rs 3.22 crore. The special police team, acting on a tip-off that a group of hawala racketeers is smuggling banned currency from Kozhikode to Palakkad in a car, also arrested five persons in connection with the currency seizure during a vehicle inspection on Kozhikode-Palakkad highway. Oneindia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 12:08 [IST] Devout Hindu Rishi Sunak shares Diwali wishes from NO 10: Says our children will light Diyas When is Dev Diwali 2022? November 7th or November 8th? Know timings, significance and more Varanasi to light up for Deep Deepavali, a festival of lights that is not Diwali Vadodara: Altaf Mansuri arrested for throwing petrol bomb at police on Diwali First time in 2 decades, currency in circulation declines in Diwali week: SBI Research Watch soldiers celebrate Diwali at border India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar On the auspicious occasion of Diwali soldiers of the Indian Army lit up the border in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite ceasefire violations Pakistan, the jawans kept their spirit high during the festival. Soldiers lit 'diyas' on the Line of Control (LoC) to mark the auspicious day. Meanwhile, Army's 19 Rashtriya Rifles organized 'Jashn-e- Breng' festival in Anantnag's Kokernag to promote peace and brotherhood between Army and the local population. #WATCH: Celebrating #Diwali near LoC in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch yesterday, army jawans danced and raised 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans pic.twitter.com/2iFYCIfmSY ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2017 Also, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will spend the Diwali with military personnel at the strategically important tri-service command in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. During the visit, the minister is also expected to review operational preparedness of the country's only tri-service command. BSF soldiers near International border Border security force (BSF) soldiers light candles near the International border fence at Pargwal about 40 kms from Jammu on Wednesday. PTI Photo Border security force personnel in Jammu Border security force (BSF) soldiers light candles near the International border fence at Pargwal about 40 kms from Jammu on Tuesday. PTI Photo Army soldiers in Poonch Army soldiers celebrating Diwali near LoC in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch on Wednesday, army jawans danced and raised 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans. Courtesy: ANI news Soldiers in festive mood "Countrymen should celebrate Diwali with utmost joy. We are deployed here and are ready to reply to the enemy," a soldier told ANI. Courtesy: ANI news OneIndia News 'Why can't a Tipu Sultan statue be built?' Siddaramaiah attacks BJP Former PM Deve Gowda pays tribute to Nehru, calls him 'true secular democrat' 'Kantara' box office: Even as Bollywood's Akshays and Ajays struggle, this one hits Rs 75-crore mark KMF hikes price of Nandini milk, curd in Karnataka; check new rates Ejipura building collapse: Critically injured girl dies India oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar A girl child rescued from Ejipura building collapse site in Bengaluru on 16 October, passed away on Thursday due to multiple organ failure. The police said three-year-old Sanjana, who was rescued from the debris, had sustained 60 per cent burns and was in a critical condition. She was admitted to the Victoria Hospital. The girl had lost her parents in Ejipura building collapse and Karnataka govt had decided to adopt her. The 20-year-old building, which collapsed on Monday, had been rented out to four families. The building collapsed due to the LPG cylinder blast killing seven people and leaving scores injured. The government has announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each for the kin of the deceased. (With agency inputs) For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 17:53 [IST] It is love, not love jihad says Kerala HC while ordering reunion of husband-wife India oi-Vicky By Vicky Dont term every marriage as love jihad, the Kerala High Court observed while allowing a lady to return to her husband. The observation was made by the court which was dealing with a marriage between Sruthi and Anees Hameed in which it was alleged that it was a case of love jihad. Her marriage is not love jihad, the court observed while allowing Sruthi to go back to her husband Hameed. The court also said that love has no boundary and all marriages should not be termed as love jihad. It may be recalled that a different Bench of the court had earlier annulled an inter-faith marriage on the ground that it was a case of love jihad. In the instant case, Anees had sought an order that his wife Sruthi be released from the custody of her family. During her deposition, Sruthi said that she was forcibly being kept at a Yoga centre near Kochi. The people at the Yoga centre which helps re-convert Hindu women who have embraced another religion tortured me, she also alleged before the court. During the course of the hearing the counsel appearing for the Yoga centre said that this was a case of Love Jihad. The Bench then shot back by saying, " don't say Love Jihad every now and then and in every case." It may be recalled that the NIA is probing the Hadiya case which had also be termed as Love Jihad. The Supreme Court had ordered the NIA probe, but the Kerala government went up before the top court questioning the need for such an investigation. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 13:49 [IST] Oxygen cylinders mandatory in trains, Supreme Court tells Railways India oi-Vicky By Vicky It would be mandatory for the Railways to keep oxygen cylinders in all trains, the Supreme Court has said. The directive stated that this needed to be done so that life saving gas could be provided to passengers suffering from respiratory problems in case of an emergency. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also directed the railways to take assistance of doctors from AIIMS to explore ways to put in place a system in moving trains to provide medical treatment to travellers if they take ill. "The railways shall keep oxygen cylinders in trains so that anyone suffering from any respiratory problem can be given aid. If any passenger or his/her companion complains to the ticket collector or the attendant that he has some medical problem and immediate attention is required, it shall be the duty of the said officials to intimate the next railway station so that he/she can be given necessary medical assistance at the next railway station where the hospital is situated," the order stated. The Centre had challenged an order of the Rajasthan High Court which had made it mandatory for the Railways to provide a team comprising one medical officer, a nurse and an attendant in all long distance trains. The Centre contended that it was not feasible to deploy doctors in trains. Further the Centre also argued it would not be possible to install machines for medical check-ups of sick passengers. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 6:50 [IST] Pune: Woman denied compensation for failed sterilisation surgery India oi-PTI Mumbai, October 19: A woman's plea seeking compensation from the civic body for a failed sterilisation procedure has been rejected by Pune district consumer forum, saying government hospitals are not covered under the Consumer Protection Act and also noted there was no medical negligence. The woman had approached the forum with the complaint that the sterilisation procedure she underwent at a civic hospital was a failure and sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). "It is not established by the complainant that the doctors performing the surgery were not skilled and had no experience. "Moreover, the Kamala Nehru Hospital (where the procedure was carried out) is run by the Pune Municipal Corporation and hence she cannot become a consumer (under the Act)," observed a two-member bench of the forum comprising president V P Utpat and member Onkar Patil, last week. They rejected the woman's claim that there was medical negligence on part of the hospital. According to the complainant, after the sterilisation procedure, she was intimated that if she misses her menstrual cycle, she has to visit the hospital. As per the complaint, doctors told the woman she will start menstruating soon. However, in February 2014, when an ultra-sonography was performed, it transpired that she was pregnant for six weeks. According to her, the doctors assured her that her pregnancy can be medically terminated but they did not take any responsibility for her health and life. Therefore, the woman said, she decided to continue the pregnancy. The sterilisation failure caused her mental agony and physical pain said the complaint. The woman said she already had three children and the failed procedure "unnecessarily burdened her with a fourth child". Claiming her economical condition was very poor (her husband is a fish-vendor), she sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the civic body. However, the hospital denied all the allegations. It said the failure rate of female sterilisation is reported to be about 1.85 per cent during a period of 10 years. The civic medical facility said even after taking all precautions there may be failure of sterilisation procedure for various reasons. It said such a failure is known to medical science and reported worldwide even in the countries like the USA and the UK. Every surgery carries its "advantages and disadvantages", "pros and cons" and "success and failures", the hospital told the consumer forum. The hospital said standard medical protocol was observed at the time of the procedure and there was no medical negligence by the doctors treating her. The forum held that the complainant herself was responsible for the birth of her fourth child as she left the hospital when she was admitted for medical termination of pregnancy. The bench noted that the complainant has failed to establish medical negligence, much less deficiency in service, at the instance of the hospital. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 15:41 [IST] Sonia tells Lalu, Nitish to meet her again after Cong gets new president Lalu to hold another 'grand rally' against Centre, state govt India pti-PTI RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Thursday said it would hold another 'grand rally' to mobilise the opposition parties against the National Democratic Alliance governments at the Centre and in Bihar. Lalu told reporters in Patna that the date for the rally would be announced after consultation with the other party leaders. The RJD, which is the main opposition party in Bihar, had on August 27 organised a rally at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, which saw participation from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, rebel Janata Dal-Uniited leader Sharad Yadav and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad among others. Prasad said the JD-U needed to take note that the Centre was in favour of holding the next Bihar Assembly election simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election. "This would drastically cut short the life of the present Assembly in Bihar, which was elected in 2015, and the ruling JD-U MLAs ought to take note of it," he said. Prasad and his family members are facing a probe into various corruption charges. PTI 'Medicine can also be studied in Tamil medium!' - CM Stalin's efforts are getting a growing response Mayor Priya is not the puppet but the savior - How did Chennai recover from the floods? Stalin corners AIADMK government over dengue deaths India pti-PTI Chennai, Oct 19: Terming the ruling Palaniswami-led government as a "dengue regime", the DMK on Thursday alleged that the ruling AIADMK was not disclosing the actual deaths due to dengue in the state since it is "high." "Since those who were affected by dengue and the number of people who died due to it is high, they (the State government) are not disclosing the details and hiding the truth," DMK working president M K Stalin told reporters in Chennai. Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, has been taking potshots at the AIADMK government, describing it as "dengue regime," while alleging inaction on the issue. "I have already said that the dengue problem will be over only if the dengue regime is out," he said. Chief Minister K Palaniswami recently slammed Stalin for his remarks alleging that he was levelling such allegations "wantonly in a planned fashion," and doing it to "denigrate this government." Palaniswami had also said the state government was working at full swing to halt the spread of dengue and eradicate it besides hitting out at the DMK for seeking to politicise the issue. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar had said yesterday that dengue will be eradicated within 15 days. He had also warned against spreading rumours in social media about "Nilavembu Kudineer," a concoction of neem to fight fever. He had said Nilavembu is a proven medicine and test results made at State-run King Institute here had revealed that the traditional drink leads to increase in immunity. AIADMK government has been facing flak from opposition parties on the dengue issue. Recently, a team was deputed by the Centre to study the situation in the state. Central team member and professor of medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Ashutosh Biswas had said 40 deaths since January due to dengue was "minimal". It had invited a sharp reaction from DMK which said the remark was "insulting" and "trivialising" the lives of the people of the state. PTI Who will win Gujarat 2022 polls? Here's what ABP-C-Voter survey says Vandalising rangoli of movie 'Padmavati' in Surat, 5 arrested India oi-PTI Surat, October 19: Five people, including four members of outfit Karni Sena and one from Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), were arrested on Thursday for allegedly vandalising a rangoli inspired by an upcoming film "Padmavati" at a mall in Surat. The police had on October 16 registered an FIR against a group of people for vandalising a rangoli created by a local artist (an artwork created on floor using colourful vermilion) at Rahul Raj Mall in Umra area on Sunday last. Based on a video, which shows vandals shouting "Jai Shri Ram" as they damaged the art work, police arrested them. Talking to reporters, Surat Commissioner of Police Satish Sharma also urged mall owners to come forward to lodge a case if such vandalism takes place. "We have arrested five persons, four of them belonging to outfit Karni Sena and one from the VHP. More persons are likely to be arrested as the video footage recovered by us shows 8-10 persons involved in the activity," Sharma said. "I also want to make it clear that the police will deal with strictness against any such action. Freedom of expression is everyone's right in a democracy, but vandalism will not be allowed," he said. The arrested persons have been identified as Vikramsinh Sekhawat, Shambhusinh Rathod, Narendra Chaudhary, Shailendra Rajput and Sanjaysinh Gohil, said the official. They have been arrested under various sections of Indian Penal Code including 141, 149 (unlawful assembly), 451 (trespassing) and 427 (mischief causing damage). The rangoli showed the film's actress Deepika Padukone in her titular role as Padmavati in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed movie. Raising questions of freedom of expression, Padukone had yesterday said she was heartbroken by the attack on a rangoli inspired by her upcoming film "Padmavati" and drew Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani's attention. "Absolutely heart breaking to see the recent attack on artist Karan and his artwork! Disgusting and appalling to say the least!" she tweeted along with a photograph of the rangoli. "This has to stop now and action must be taken @smritiirani," she said on Twitter. The movie ran into controversy after a Rajput community group Karni Sena raised objections over depictions in the movie, claiming that history was being distorted. Earlier this year, Bhansali was attacked by its members , during the film's shooting in Rajasthan. They also threatened to oppose the screening of the movie in theatres if the facts were distorted. "Padmavati" is slated to release on December 1. Last month, members of the Karni Sena burnt posters of the film after the first look of the main characters -- Padmavati (Padukone), Maharawal Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) and Allaudin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) -- was released. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 18:41 [IST] Yogis attempt to bring Ram Rajya in UP with fake Ram-Sita looks comical India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Lucknow, Oct 19: Our beliefs at times make for 'comical situations'. Imagine, Lord Ram, instead of his usual chariot from the mythological days, decides to board a chopper and lands in Ayodhya, considered his birthplace. Yes, that actually happened on Wednesday when chief minister Yogi Adityanath hosted a grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The UP government made it a point that Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman joined Adityanath's Diwali celebrations in an attempt to recreate the festival of lights as described in the Ramayana. According to the epic, when Lord Ram after completing 14 years of exile arrived in Ayodhya, accompanied by his wife and brother, people of his kingdom celebrated the day as Diwali. So, on Wednesday, Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman, too came to Ayodhya once again to mark Diwali. They made a perfect landing on their hometown in a chopper decorated as the mythological "Pushpak Viman". In reality, the 'gods and goddess' who arrived in Ayodhya to join Adityanath's mammoth celebrations were not actual Ram, Sita and Laxman (do we even need to tell our readers that), but artistes dressed like the mythological characters. Everything was picture perfect as CM Adityanath and UP governor Ram Naik posed in front of cameras with artistes donning the roles of popular Hindu deities. But take a deep look at the pictures of CM with Ram, Sita and Laxman, one can't miss the fake and comical side of official celebrations, especially at a time when the state is grappling with multiple problems, including crisis in the healthcare sector and rise in crime graph. On Wednesday, the CM while attacking the opposition for criticising Diwali celebrations stated that he plans to bring "Ram Rajya" in Ayodhya by "eradicating poverty, grief and discrimination". Adityanath also announced that his government is going to spend Rs 133 crore for various schemes to develop the temple town which also hosts the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi--the battle of possession for which has left communal divisions between the Hindus and the Muslims in the country. Almost seven months after Adityanath took over the charge of the state after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the UP Assembly elections with a huge mandate early this year, the failure of the government can be seen in various spheres. It is true that seven months is too short to judge Adityanath's efficiency as an administrator, but the problems encountered by the state in this period also can't be ignored. Be it the deaths of more than a hundred children (including several newborns) at BRD Hospital in Gorakhpur in August due to lack of supply of oxygen or more than 800 rapes and 730 murders reported in the state in just two months of Adityanath's regime, UP has nothing much to cheer about. While the BJP government is yet to come up with concrete steps to tackle health crisis in the state which continues to witness a large number of deaths of children due to diseases like encephalitis, diarrhoea and malaria, Adityanath administration has resorted to police encounters to control rise in crime rate. As many as 15 persons had been gunned down in police encounters in UP since the BJP government came to power in the State. If in such a scenario, the CM of UP decides to brush aside all the allegations of misgovernance levelled by the opposition and continue to host flashy functions to carry forward the Hindutva ideology of the saffron party, it definitely makes a mockery of democracy which first rule of thumb is good governance and not celebrations of religious festivals. OneIndia News Several Afghans on Germany's evacuation list have died 13th batch of medical assistance to Afghanistan delivered by India Taliban bans women from parks and gyms in Afghanistan Afghanistan: 43 soldiers killed in military base attack in Kandahar; Taliban claims responsibility International oi-Madhuri Around 43 Afghan forces have been killed after two suicide bombers with Humvees targeted a military base in Maiwand district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan on Thursday. The militants carried out two suicide attacks using two Humvees, armored vehicles stolen from security forces, over an army center in Cheshma area of Maiwand district. According to the initial reports, after the two car bombing the attackers engaged in armed clashes with the Afghansecurity forces. Meanwhile, the ministry of defense has not yet commented, however the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Kandahar police chief, Gen. Abdul Razeq has confirmed the incident but he has not confirmed the number of causalities. The report comes as similar attacks occurred in Paktia and Ghazni provinces on Thursday which left more than 69 people killed or injured. OneIndia News PM Modi, Xi Jinping greet each other at G-20 dinner in first meet after Galwan clash From Xi Chinas jittery neighbours get assurance of peace International oi-Vicky By Vicky Chinese President Xi Jinping assured that Beijing is ready to resolve its disputes through dialogue but not at the expense of its strategic interests, as he opened a key meeting of the ruling Communist party elite that will boost his grip on power with a second term and even an unprecedented third innings. Xi, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), called the progress China had made under his watch "truly remarkable," but told the over 2,000 delegates attending the 19th Party Congress that more needed to be done as the country moves towards a goal of "national rejuvenation". "Our party, our people, our forces, and our nation have changed in ways without precedent," the 64-year-old top leader said from the Great Hall of the People adjoining the Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing on the opening day of the week-long meeting. He said China will never pursue development at the expense of others, nor will China ever give up its legitimate rights and interests. "No one should expect China to swallow anything that undermines its interests," he said amid thumping applause from over 2,300 delegates who attended the meeting telecast live. About the neighbours, Xi said China would "deepen relations with its neighbours in accordance with the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and the policy of forging friendship and partnership". "We should commit to settling disputes through dialogue and resolving differences through discussion, coordinate responses to traditional and non-traditional threats and oppose terrorism in all its forms," Xi said. His comments assume significance in the backdrop of the recent military standoff between India and China in Doklam+ area in the Sikkim sector. China has been engaged in a number of maritime disputes with the neighbours in the South and East China seas. In his address, Xi also vowed make the People's Liberation Army (PLA) a world class military during his over a three-and-a half hour speech+ at the once-in-a-five-year Congress which is set to confirm his second term and anoint a new generation of leaders to work with him. He spoke also highlighted the importance of rebuilding of the CPC while keeping its socialist structure intact. At the opening session, the party put up a united show with most of the top retired leaders including former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao besides former premiers Wen Jiabao and several other erstwhile leaders sharing the dais with Xi. The meeting, amidst tight security and internet censorship, will also amend the party's Constitution. Xi spoke at length of strengthening the military, need for continuation of his massive anti-corruption drive and bringing a " new era of socialism+ " and Chinese rejuvenation. Xi spoke at length about his plans to make the 2.3-million strong PLA, the world's largest military, into a world class force. By the year 2020, mechanisation will be basically achieved, with IT application coming a long way and strategic capabilities seeing a big improvement, he said. The modernisation of the national defence and armed forces should be basically completed by 2035, by which the "armed forces have been fully transformed into world-class military forces," he said. The Chinese military, which underwent massive reform drive since Xi took over power in 2012, has over $141 billion annual budget next only to the US military. Unlike the militaries elsewhere, the Chinese military functions directly under the leadership of the party. Xi is the Chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the PLA. Xi also devoted his address to mostly to strengthening the CPC, which has ruled the country since 1949. "We must unwaveringly uphold and improve Party leadership and make the Party still stronger," he said. Xi, who in the past warned the party of going the way the Soviet Communist Party collapsed in 1991, said the defining feature of the party is socialism with Chinese characteristics. Founded in 1921, the CPC has about 89-million members with more than 4.5 million grassroots organisations. Last year, Xi was endorsed as the core leader, a status bestowed on party founder Mao Zedong and his successor Deng Xiaoping. By heading the party, presidency and the military, Xi has emerged as the most powerful leader in the country. His ideological teachings are expected to be made part of the amended CPC Constitution during the Congress to ensure his legacy. Only the names of Mao and Deng were part of the CPC Constitution. Observers say with consolidation of power and having bulldozed the remnants of opposition in the party through his massive anti-corruption drive, Xi may be declared as the Chairman of the CPC and may even have an unprecedented, third term after 2022. All Chinese leaders retire at the age of 68. In his speech, Xi also pledged to make a sweeping victory in its fight against corruption. Calling corruption "the greatest threat" the party faces, Xi said the situation in the fight against corruption remains "grave and complex." The CPC will prevent any interest groups from arising within the Party, Xi said, adding that wherever offenders may flee, they shall be brought back and brought to justice. Since he took over power, more than 280 centrally-administered officials were investigated and over 1.4 million officials were punished, state-run Xinhua news agency said. OneIndia News INDRA 2017: Why India, Russia 'Tri-Service' military exercise is important International oi-Deepika By Deepika India and Russia have been conducting military exercise since 2003. But this time is going to be special for the two countries. For the first time all the three services of the forced would be involved in this exercise. Giving the Indo-Russian defence cooperation a major boost, Exercise INDRA-2017, the first ever Tri Services Joint Exercise between Indian and Russian Armed Forces will be conducted in the Eastern Military District of Russia from Oct 19 to 29. Exercise INDRA in its previous nine avatars has been conducted as a single service exercise alternately between the two countries. The year 2017 marks a major milestone as this Exercise has been upgraded to involve all the three Services of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force), which further accentuates the importance of Joint Services in the present world environment. This comes after the regional tensions between India and China that recently ended its month-long military standoff at the Doklam. China is engaged in expanding its naval presence in the Indian Ocean, builds infrastructure in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. India gets annoyed with all these. The Indian contingent will comprise 350 personnel from Army, 80 from Air Force, two IL 76 aircraft and one frigate and corvette each from the Navy. Russia will be represented by approximately 1000 troops of the 5th Army, marines and ships of Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District. On 18 Oct 2017, Indian contingent flew in IL-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Vladivostok comprising of Army and Air Force personnel. The contingent, led by the Task Force Commander, Maj Gen ND Prasad was accorded a warm welcome by Commander of the Fifth Army of Russian Eastern Military District, Maj Gen Kutuzov. On 19 Oct 2017, two indigenously built Indian Naval ships INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt arrived at Vladivostok Port and were given a traditional ceremonial welcome. Rear Admiral Anatoliy Zelinsky, Deputy Commander, Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy was present on the occasion. Earlier in the day, the delegation led by Maj Gen ND Prasad, Task Force Commander called on Alexey Litvinov, the acting Mayor of Vladivostok. Maj Gen ND Prasad thanked the Mayor for the extremely warm welcome accorded to the Indian contingent and expressed the hope that the exercise would lead to increased mutual cooperation between the two countries. Also, the Naval Component Commander Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta interacted with Admiral Sergei Avakyants, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet in a warm and cordial atmosphere. An observer delegation led by Lt Gen JS Negi along with Air Vice Marshal VR Chaudhari and Rear Admiral V Sreenivas visited the 249 Sergeyvsky Training Ranges where a major part of the Army and Air Force component of tri-service exercise INDRA-2017 will be conducted. The delegation was briefed on the overall conduct of the exercise, after which they visited the camp where the contingent was being accommodated. INDRA-2017 will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries. The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 18:15 [IST] International Criminal Court probing potential war crimes in Mali International pti-PTI Bamako, Oct 19: Months after finding an ex-jihadist guilty liable for millions worth of damage in Mali, the International Criminal Court has said it was investigating several potential war crimes including murder in Mali. "Our investigations are continuing (into) other crimes... sexual crimes and crimes against peacekeepers, killings and all those," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told reporters in Bamako. The Hague-based tribunal said in August that ex-jihadist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi caused 2.7 million euros worth of damage when he destroyed several fabled shrines in Timbuktu, in northern Mali, during the jihadist takeover there in 2012. The judges further ordered that the Malian state, as well as the international community, be compensated with a symbolic amount of one euro for the damages suffered. Al-Mahdi was jailed for nine years in 2016 after he pleaded guilty to directing attacks on the UNESCO world heritage site and apologised to the Timbuktu community. It was a landmark case for the ICC as it was the first time a jihadist had pleaded guilty to a war crimes charge. Bensouda said the court was expanding its investigation in Mali, which is home to a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission. "I am not in a position to talk about what else is being done regards to Al-Mahdi proper but all I can tell you the court is looking at other crimes within the context of our investigations in Mali," she said. PTI Twitterati has fun with memes after Ivanka Trump's photoshopped images at Taj Mahal goes viral Donald Trump is a warrior; needs four more years as president: Ivanka Ivanka Trump tweets Diwali wishes and a message to India ahead of her visit International oi-Madhuri US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka on Thursday tweeted her best wishes to all those who celebrate Diwali and said she's looking forward to her India trip next month. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. pic.twitter.com/O1tmiFzECc Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 18, 2017 Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the US, in August invited Trump's daughter to India for Global Entrepreneurship summit in Hyderabad on November 28. Ivanka will be in Hyderabad for two days where she will be attending Global Entrepreneurship summit. Ivanka will speak at the inaugural session along with Modi. Ivanka earlier attended Diwali celebrations in the Oval Office with US President Donald Trump. They were later joined by senior Indian-American members of his administration, including US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma. A video of the White House celebrations and Trump's message was posted to the President's Facebook page. In his last year in office in 2016, Obama for the first time observed the festival of lights in the Oval Office. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 10:45 [IST] Mike Pence thanks Pakistan PM for release of hostages International pti-PTI Washington, Oct 19: The White House has said that US Vice President Mike Pence thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his government's effort in recovering American and Canadian hostages who were held captive by the Haqqani Taliban Network in the tribal areas of Pakistan. During a phone call to the Pakistani leader, Pence noted this effort as an important development in Pakistan's support to the US strategy against terrorism in the region. At the same time he "highlighted that cooperation against militant groups must be continued and sustained," the White House said. "Just as he did during the meeting the two had in New York last month, the Vice President again discussed ways that Pakistan could work with the US and others to bolster stability and security for all in South Asia," the White House said. Pence had met Abbasi in New York last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. PTI AAP vs LG fight again and this is time it is on Gandhi Jayanti Museum inaugurated on land owned by Mahatma Gandhi in Durban International oi-PTI Johannesburg, October 19: A Gandhi museum has been inaugurated, on the eve of Diwali, on a small piece of land once owned by Mahatma Gandhi in the coastal city of Durban. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh inaugurated the museum on Wednesday, which will reflect the life and universal influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi owned the land in 1897 and used to hold public meetings there when the Natal Indian Congress planned its fight against laws discriminating against Indians in South Africa. When Gandhi left Durban in 1914, he transferred the ownership of the premises to the Natal Indian Congress, which had planned to erect a new building in 1964. But the plans were scuppered by the apartheid-era laws prohibiting this, resulting in the site being used as a car park by the 1980's before the MGMT initiated the museum plans. Many original artefacts, some retained unrestored, such as a spinning wheel, are on display at the museum. Singh, who was in Durban to attend the 8th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission and the 17th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, also inaugurated two other projects in the city that were sponsored by India following pledges after a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year. The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, first conceived eight years ago, in what was once the heart of Durban's Indian community, has been established after a grant of over R 1.25 million was provided by the Government of India to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust (MGMT). The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government also contributed about a million rand for the project. An exhibition titled 'Gandhi in Durban' has been set up at the newly-constructed venue by the Durban Local History Museum in consultation with the MGMT, reflecting the life and universal influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Singh also inaugurated kitchen and dining facilities at Ramakrishna Abalindi Home in Inanda, adjacent to the Phoenix Settlement started by Mahatma Gandhi during his tenure in the city. Modi had announced during his visit a grant of R1 million for the organisation, which provides support to indigent aged people, terminally ill, AIDS/HIV patients and also runs a cr che for poor children, an orphanage and a skills development centre for youth. The facility at the venue where Gandhi started and ran his newspaper 'Indian Opinion' is now equipped with latest computers and other IT equipment, dedicated to providing quality IT education to South African youth. Also, Singh inaugurated the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Information Technology at the Phoenix Settlement, which also received a grant of R1m from India. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 11:48 [IST] Possibility of a nuclear war soon warns North Korea International oi-Vicky By Vicky North Korea has warned that a nuclear war may break out at anytime. North Korea's deputy UN ambassador warned that the situation on the Korean peninsula has reached the touch-and-go point According to media reports, Kim In Ryong told the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to "such an extreme and direct nuclear threat" from the United States since the 1970s. He also said that the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense. He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year using "nuclear assets" and said what is more dangerous is what he called a US plan to stage a "secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership." OneIndia News Trump enters US state department for first time as his favourite Mike Pompeo takes over as secy Secretary of State's speech set tone for 100 years' India-US bilateral ties International pti-PTI Washington, October 19: In a first major India-policy speech, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set the tone of the bilateral relationship between India and the US for 100 years, a State Department official said. The official observed that the talk had many audiences, including China. "China's obviously an audience for the speech. But this is a speech, obviously, which we hope all countries in the Indo- Pacific region will take to heart, that the Secretary and the President has placed a priority," a State Department official told reporters. He was speaking after Tillerson described India as an opportunity for the US. "It's a speech that was designed for many audiences," the official said. Noting that a free and open Indo-Pacific is a priority for both the President and the Secretary of State, the official said, because India is one of the anchors of an Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump Administration wants to devote a lot of time to this country. Tillerson is travelling to India next week. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Philippines next month. "So that's the reason for the speech today; there are many audiences for this. But we really view this as a speech with a global audience," the official said. The speech on US-India relations for the next hundred years to implement President Trump's new strategy for South Asia is culmination of several months of deliberation within the national security cabinet on the best approach to address challenges in South Asia and on the opportunities. "The Trump Administration considers India as an opportunity and he wanted to present extended remarks and reflections on many ways that US can deepen its ties with India for the next hundred years, and how it is a critical component to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the official said. "There is a lot of bilateral benefits that follow deepening economic, cultural, diplomatic, and security ties with India. But there are a range of benefits that also follow for the region, the Indo-Pacific region," the State Department official said. China has risen alongside India, but China has done so less responsibly and China has undermined the international rules-based order while countries like India operate within this rules-based order, the official said. "We obviously want constructive relations with China. The Secretary is in regular contact with Chinese leadership. But we are not going to shrink or ignore China's challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries," the official said. "What we like is for many decades, the US has supported Chinas rise, we have also supported India's rise, but those two countries have risen very differently," the official said. As Tillerson said about the shared values, shared security, shared national security interests, shared economies, shared democracies, this is a great friendship that US wants to expand and deepen on all areas. The official argued that there are good reasons bilaterally for the US and India to deepen its ties, but there are opportunities to grow the connectivity in the region. Referring to the India-US and Japan tri-lateral in New York last month, the official said Japan is very supportive of a free and open Indo-Pacific. "I've had many consultations with the Japanese about this. We have also talked with the Australians, and we envision a quadrilateral sort of -- an anchoring the Indo- Pacific anchored by these four countries of Australia, the US, India, and Japan, he said. While the speech was mostly about India, the subtitle of the speech was "The Foundations of a Free and Open Indo- Pacific." The official further said that what Tillerson talked about, including financing mechanisms, and he did talk about some of the predatory economics that we see in the area. "And you have countries that are looking for better financing mechanisms and better partners, and we believe that countries like the US and India are those partners," he added. PTI At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats Suspect in Maryland office park shooting is arrested International pti-PTI Washington, October 19: Police arrested a gunman suspected Maryland shooter, who killed three people and wounded two at a suburban at a business park before shooting another man in Delaware. "The suspect in this incident has been located and is in police custody," the Wilmington, Delaware police department said of Radee Prince, 37. Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy earlier told reporters that Prince "is a dangerous individual. This person shot six people in one day" in attacks that were not random. Prince had been sought "in connection with both a multiple shooting incident early this morning in Edgewood, Maryland and another shooting incident at mid-morning today" in Wilmington, Delaware, a statement from police said. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said three people died in the first incident at a granite business just before 9:00 am (local time). He confirmed a handgun was used and two other victims were transported to trauma centers in serious condition. When the shooter was still at large, several Edgewood- area schools were placed on lockdown, officials said, while the nearby set of popular Netflix show "House of Cards" was also reportedly secured. Gahler said Prince was associated with the company, Advanced Granite Solutions, where the first shooting occurred, near Baltimore. "This does appear to be a targeted attack, limited to that business," he said. Police were investigating Prince's connection with the firm, where all five victims of the first shooting were employed, Gahler said, declining to give further details about them. He said other people beside the five victims were on the premises when the shooting took place. Tracy said the victim in the second shooting identified the gunman. "They're known to each other and they've had some past history," he told a news conference. The suspect fled the first attack in a car registered in Delaware, Gahler said. Variety magazine reported that the set of "House of Cards," which is partly filmed in Maryland, was placed on lockdown while police searched for the shooter. The executive producer of the series, Dana Brunetti, addressed the incident in a Facebook post. "Shooting near House of Cards set," Brunetti wrote. Some of the school lockdowns were later lifted, according to Harford County Public Schools. The incident was the latest mass shooting in a country where such killings have become tragically commonplace. On October 1, a gunman in a 32nd-floor casino hotel room rained fire down on concert-goers in Las Vegas, killing 58 and wounding more than 500. It was the deadliest shooting in recent US history. To date in 2017 there have been 286 mass shootings -- nearly one per day -- according to the online Gun Violence Archive. PTI Theresa May conveys Diwali wishes, thanks Indian community for contribution International pti-PTI London, Oct 19: UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday wished the Indian community on the occasion of Diwali and thanked Indians for their contribution to the British society. In her Diwali message, the British Prime Minister said the message of the festival of lights that ultimately good will triumph over evil, hope over despair and light over darkness will resonate with people of all faiths. "As Prime Minister, I want to take this opportunity to say a special thank you on behalf of the whole country for the immense contributions you all make to every sphere of life in the United Kingdom," read the message released by the Downing Street. "From the doctors and nurses serving in our NHS [National Health Service], to the soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in our armed forces, the entrepreneurs creating jobs across our communities, and the stars of arts and culture inspiring and entertaining us, Britain's Indian communities are a shining example of what makes our country great," she said. May was in Brussels for Brexit talks during the annual Diwali celebrations at 10 Downing Street earlier this week, which was hosted by Priti Patel, Britains first Indian- origin Cabinet minister in the country this year. But she said the festival remains a "special time" of the year and a chance to connect with Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in Britain. She added: "As successful and integrated communities you maintain your unique traditions while contributing fully to our national life. And you help to show the world that our United Kingdom truly is a place where people from all backgrounds and beliefs can live their lives in freedom and achieve their full potential". May said she will be joining in celebrating the values and freedoms of the festival as she ended her message with 'Shubh Diwali'. PTI Ukraine grain deal: UN says shipments are still going out Ukraine: Five killed when car ploughs into crowd, terror angle ruled out International pti-PTI Kiev, Oct 19: A car ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killing five people. The police have ruled out a terror link to the incident. The Kharkiv police department said six others were hurt, although the extent of their injuries remained unclear. But local police spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo told the Ukrainska Pravda news site that two women's condition was "very serious". The police statement said the female driver of the SUV vehicle had been detained, adding that a criminal case involving driving safety violations had been launched. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, the police statement said. Photographs published on various Ukrainian news sites showed the remains of a black SUV vehicle scattered across a crosswalk where the accident occurred. Kharkiv is located less than 300 kilometres northwest of Ukraine's eastern war zone in which more than 10,000 have died in fighting between government soldiers and Russian-backed insurgents. The city itself was briefly the site of pro-Russian protests after Ukraine toppled its Kremlin-backed leadership in a February 2014 revolt. But the city of about 1.4 million people has avoided being dragged into the conflict and remains firmly under the Ukrainian government's control. PTI When Pakistan was almost bombed out of recognition by the US International oi-Vicky By Vicky The United States was ready to launch a massive raid in Pakistan to free an American citizen and her family. The operations was to be carried out by the Navy SEALs had Pakistan not acted against the Haqqani Network, the group that had kidnapped the family five years back. Had Pakistan not acted it would have been another humiliating episode and a grim reminder of what happened when the US wanted to flush out Osama Bin Laden in 2011. The operation against Osama was conducted by the same Navy SEAL commandos without the knowledge of the Pakistani government. Officials said that if the Pakistani government did not act decisively to free the family, it would have confirmed their suspicions that it was working in tandem with the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, the New York Times reported. Caitlan Coleman (31), Joshua Boyle (34), her Canadian husband; and their three children, who were born in captivity, were freed last week after Pakistani military launched an operation with American assistance. The Pakistani officials had acted within hours after the stern warning from US authorities. The report while citing officials in the US said that Navy SEAL Team 6 was mobilised to conduct a rescue operation. However it was called off later. A CIA drone had reportedly caught the Haqqani network move the family from its camp in northwest Pakistan last month after which the raid was planned. The risky operation, however, was called off at the last moment as some in the United States government were not certain that the people spotted by the drones were in fact the kidnapped family. There were also concerns about the tough terrain. After the plan was put on hold, the US military decided to put pressure on the Pakistan government. US President Donald Trump was also briefed that if Islamabad failed to cooperate, the SEALS would go in. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 8:21 [IST] No decision to provide EWS flats to Rohingya illegal migrants in Delhi: MHA What about undocumented Indians living abroad: Manish Tewari on BJP's Rohingya threat to nation comment India's stand on Rohingyas gracious so far but housing them would be risky The Rohingya influx continues as Tripura police nets seven of them Who will take care of 14,000 Rohingya orphans? International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Dhaka, Oct 19: Be it a war or a natural disaster, it's the children and women who suffer the most. Now, when thousands of Rohingya Muslims are fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh to save themselves from violence and persecution allegedly unleashed by the Myanmarese military, it has left behind in its trail thousands of children "orphans". According to Bangladesh, which has given shelter to the Rohingya refugees in its camps in Cox's Bazar, at least 14,000 Rohingya children have lost one or both parents. In fact, as high as 582,000 Rohingyas have come to Bangladesh to seek safe haven since violence erupted in the Rakhine State of Myanmar on August 25. Most of these refugees are children, stated the United States (UN). As per the UN, every day thousands of Rohingyas continue to risk their lives as they trudge through difficult terrains connecting Myanmar to Bangladesh. During these risky journeys, several Rohingyas have already lost their lives and failed to reach the refugee camps set up in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's social services department said 13,751 children without a parent or parents were identified in a survey of the crowded refugee camps along its border, where charities warn that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding. "The majority of them said they lost one or both parents in the violence in Rakhine," Pritam Kumar Chowdhury, a department deputy director, told AFP. "Others said they didn't know what happened to their parents, and they came to Bangladesh with relatives." The UN has described the violence in Rakhine as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing, with displaced Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh describing whole villages being razed, gang rapes and massacres. Those who survived and fled to Bangladesh include an estimated 320,000 children, one-third of whom are under five years of age. Bangladesh is building the world's largest refugee camp--a sprawling three thousand acre (1,200 hectare) settlement--capable of housing 800,000-plus Rohingya. Last month a junior minister asked that 200 acres be set aside in the camp for children's facilities. Chowdhury said an orphanage would be built for unaccompanied minors, and those without a parent would be given extra assistance and familial support. Aid agencies have warned there is a real concern that vulnerable children could be victims of abuse or trafficking. Meanwhile, at a time when security agencies are casting aspersions on Rohingya refugees, citing their possible links with terror outfits, a senior official from Bangladesh stated that the refugees "can't be termed as terrorists". "60 per cent refugees (Rohingyas) are ladies, children and elderly. With such a huge population, they can't be termed as terrorists," Bangladesh's High Commissioner to India, Syed Muazzem Ali, told reporters at Foreign Correspondents' Club in Delhi on Monday. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 9:01 [IST] Slave Memorial (Image by D-Stanley) Details DMCA In the time before abolition, slave owners would cut the hamstrings of slaves so they couldn't run away. In a way, American workers who are in jobs they hate, that they are forced to stay in to keep their health insurance, are also hamstrung. They can't run away either. There are an estimated forty million slaves in the world. UNESCO describes slavery as "unable to leave employer." I wonder how many tens of millions of Americans are stuck in jobs because they'd lose health insurance. Should they be added to the slave count? When Obamacare went on line, there were some people who were joyfully able to quit jobs they hated--because the jobs were oppressive, because the employer or the company was abusive, because they couldn't stand the work. This "hamstringing" of employees through health insurance helps corporations retain low paid, unhappy employees, especially those with family members with health problems, as virtual indentured servants. A mother or father can't leave a job if they have a child with a chronic illness, or a spouse with an illness that's potentially fatal if not treated. This week, Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives made it clear that he is on board with the bi-partisan agreement on funding the part of Obamacare that Trump de-funded. This is part of the process of castrating the American worker. This is a continuation of the effort to keep the middle class and the poor so close to the edge of poverty, living paycheck to paycheck. There is a better way. It starts with, as Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus say shifting from an economics of selfishness to an economics of selflessness. And, Yunus say, capitalism must shift from the aim of companies being to extract maximum profit to aiming to help people and solve problems. The aversion to programs that support the great masses of people is a neoliberal concept, created by libertarian heroes Friederich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand, then embraced and popularized by Milton Friedman. Neoliberal philosophies include getting rid of all regulations that protect workers, the poor, nature, democracy and justice. They believe that the system should be set up to maximize benefits for the wealthy, that heirs of the wealthy deserve their inheritances and should be free to use them any way they want, even though they are not earned. The left should MUST expose neoliberals and neoliberalism and get the middle class to see it as more of a threat to Democracy, justice and equality than any of the targets the powers that be have distracted us with the in the past. Neoliberals control the Democratic and Republican parties. Trump's cabinet is full of them, as were Obama's and Bush's. The reality is, neoliberals believe in an economic system and capitalist model that enshrines what amounts to slavery. Tell everyone you know about neoliberalism and who embraces it. George Monbiot proposes that we need a new political story that supports the masses and which characterizes neoliberal philosophies as the selfish, toxic ideas that they are. We need politicians who will embrace those new stories and run against the corporate owned incumbents in both parties. From The Nation Donald Trump is claiming, for the moment, that he is on exceptionally good terms with congressional Republicans -- even with some of the Republicans that his once-and-future chief strategist Steve Bannon has targeted for political extinction. Indeed, the president declared in his shambolic attempt at a press conference Monday, "maybe, with the exception of a few -- and that is a very small few -- I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the Senate, and with the people in Congress." This is a demonstrably untrue statement. Most Republicans in Congress did not back Trump when he was bidding for the party's nomination in 2015 and early 2016. Many steered clear of him even after he was confirmed as the party's candidate. And now a rotating cast of characters in the Senate Republican Caucus continues to trip up what passes for a Trump agenda. Trump's relationship with Senate Republicans is not just chaotic. It's dysfunctional. That produces plenty of fodder for commentary, but not much else. And that's the problem. Trump is a child-man president who blames everyone else for his foibles. But those who criticize Trump are, for the most part, equally immature. They make grand pronouncements, and garner a good deal of media coverage for it. But they do not take tangible, let alone meaningful, steps to hold this president to account. Sure, a John McCain may jab at the president's "spurious nationalism," as the Arizona Republican did with his Liberty Medal speech on Monday. And a Susan Collins may suggest that she is staying in the Senate to check and balance Trump, as the Maine Republican did last week. Some of these dissenting members may even vote against a Trump-backed proposal, as both McCain and Collins have on the vital issue of health care. But Trump's Republican critics -- and, to be frank, a number of his Democratic detractors -- are not putting the brakes on this presidency. Click Here to Read Whole Article From Alon Ben-Meir Website Will Trump scrap Iran nuclear deal? President Donald Trump warned media on Thursday that they were witnessing the .calm before the storm.. This comes in the midst of hints that the Iran nuclear deal may be .de-certified..... (Image by YouTube, Channel: RT America) Details DMCA The Trump administration's approach to the Iran deal is problematic as it is taken out of the context of the multiple conflicts raging throughout the Middle East, the extent to which Iran is involved, and the role it can play in resolving them, including the conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon. The question is, will Tehran be more cooperative in the search for solutions to these conflicts if the signatories to the Iran deal, especially the US, fully adhere to it, or will Iran add fuel to the regional fires because the deal is terminated by Trump if Congress fails to reach a drastically different accord? By all accounts, Iran continues to fully adhere to all the provisions of the deal. The irony is that when the US finally makes a deal after years of mutually intense enmity following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, it reneges on it, which only reinforces the Iranians' belief that the US cannot be trusted and is still committed to regime change. Although the deal was limited to Iran's pursuit of a weaponized nuclear program, it offers opportunities to build on it in the search for solutions to the regional conflicts, especially Iran's continuing transgressions. Trump's reckless decision will take away any incentive that could entice Iran to be a positive regional player. I am not condoning Iran's reprehensible behavior. I condemn in the strongest terms its support of violent extremists and terrorist organizations; I condemn it for being one of the most vicious culprits behind Syria's tragic civil war, and its ruthless support of the Houthis in Yemen, the Shiite insurgents in Iraq, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. That said, Iran cannot simply be dismissed as if it were irrelevant to the unfolding tragic events in the region, which cannot be resolved without Iran's full participation. Those who deal with Iran will do well to remember that there is a psychological dimension to Iran's behavior. Iran is a major Middle Eastern power; it is a proud nation with a rich, millennia-long history and huge human and natural resources, enjoying a critical geostrategic position and importance unmatched by any other country in the region. This of course does not excuse Iran's behavior, but given its deeply-rooted national pride, it does not respond well to intimidation and threats. Now that Iran is in full compliance with the deal that was negotiated in good faith by the Obama administration, Tehran enhanced its credibility and stature in the eyes of the international community. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the Trump administration. Why should Tehran agree to renegotiate the deal when the EU, Russia, and China remain committed to it as it stands? Last Monday the European Union backed the accord, saying that "The EU is committed to the continued full and effective implementation of all parts of the [agreement]" because it is working and is a key-part of nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Risking the Iran deal will isolate the US rather than Iran because the US is the party who is violating the spirit and letter of the agreement. The likelihood that Congress would modify the agreement to make it palatable to Trump is extremely slim and will open the door for Iran to back out of the deal and resume its development of its nuclear program, which will inevitably lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. If Trump is true to his word and terminates the deal completely, it would trigger the re-imposition of sanctions against the will of our European allies, which will only widen their rift with the US as they are determined not to follow Trump's misguided and incongruous policy. For a president who is naive about foreign relations and the implications of terminating the deal to refuse to listen to the advice of his national security team (including Defense Secretary Mattis) that the deal serves US national security interests is astonishing. Instead, Trump is listening to Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is ignoring the fact that once the deal is terminated Iran will be free to resume its nuclear program, which could potentially pose a serious threat to Israel's national security that he wants to prevent. Moreover, he looks at Iran through the narrowest of lenses, as if Tehran responds only to the language of force and sanctions, which is beyond the pale of idiocy. Even if Iran is determined to acquire nuclear weapons somewhere down the line, which should not be overruled, to suggest that its intention is to destroy Israel or any other US ally in the region is absurd. Tehran is deliberate, careful, and rational; it knows that once it embarks on developing nuclear weapons, Israel, the US, or both will use any means (including military force) to prevent it from achieving its goal. Indeed, however hardline Iran might be, the regime is not suicidal. Any modification to the deal should first be attempted through diplomatic channels. That is, if the purpose is to prevent Iran from pursuing a weaponized nuclear program once the current deal expires, then why not engage Iran now in quiet diplomacy (notwithstanding its vocal public opposition) and gauge where it really stands and what sort of quid pro quo Tehran would seek to modify the agreement. To be sure, in the search for a solution to the conflict with Tehran, the US must seek areas where there is mutuality of interests that serve both sides well. The raging conflicts in the Middle East provide opportunities to work with Iran to bring an end to the civil war in Syria, to mitigate the conflict in Yemen, and even cooperate on addressing violent extremism and radicalization. Yes, Iran does seek regional hegemony, but as long as it is treated with respect and feels assured that the US is not seeking regime change now or at any time in the future, it would tamper its ambitions. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Harvey Weinstein (Image by david_shankbone) Details DMCA There is something truly exasperating about digesting the steady flow of horror stories relating to Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. In part, of course, it is because the reports that Weinstein allegedly raped and sexually assaulted women over decades are deeply disturbing. In part, it is because one can be certain that there are still young aspiring actresses desperate for a big break who are being exploited by the Hollywood system -- both in "casting" sessions and in the movies they must make to get noticed. But most of all, these stories are exasperating because the women who are speaking out -- and one senses they are still just the tip of the iceberg -- and the journalists who are feeding off their revelations are drawing precisely no political conclusions from these incidents. In fact, the Weinstein story perfectly illustrates how politically disempowering identity politics can be. Certainly, there can be no doubt that Weinstein, who has admitted that he abused his position with many women, while denying many of the actual reports of sexual misconduct, exploited his power. It should hardly surprise us that a rich man who had the ability to give desperate young women a shot at stardom preyed on them. The Hollywood employment system is capitalism in microcosm, at its rawest and most naked. The Weinstein revelations tell us much less about relations between men and women than they do about the nature of power and the ability of the strong to exploit the weak. Under capitalism, the weak -- the working class -- eventually gained the consciousness and discovered the tools to assert their own form of power. As individuals they were vulnerable and exploitable. As a collective, they gained the power to bargain. That led to the trade union movements, and gradual improvements in wages and conditions. The capitalist class has been trying to reverse those gains ever since. The new turbo-charged form we call neoliberalism has been atomizing western societies since the 1970s to return us to new forms of economic dependency, culminating in zero-hours contracts and an Uber culture. What does this have to do with Weinstein? This week Reese Witherspoon spoke out about her own sexual assault by a movie director when she was 16. She has joined a list of famous actors like Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Gwyneth Paltrow who have cited their own experiences. One suspects that most of Hollywood's A-list could tell similar horror stories from their early years in search of stardom. So what is the lesson that none of them is drawing? Precisely the one that workers learnt more than a century ago. You must get organized. One can understand why teenage actresses, as Witherspoon was at the time, are fearful of speaking out in a system dominated by predatory men who can destroy their careers. One can also understand that, at the very bottom of the Hollywood food chain, they are in no position to organize against the Hollywood mogul class. But none of that is true for the now fabulously rich and well-connected Witherspoon, Jolie, Paltrow, Lawrence, and all the others who have yet to speak out -- or for the A-list men who would surely want to be seen publicly supporting them. Why are they not organizing? There are many things they can do. Here is one simple idea. They could set up a union, a sort of women's Equity, that would allow actresses, in private, to register incidents of exploitation and sexual abuse with the union, naming those who committed the abuse and their modus operandi. By creating such a database, the union and its lawyers would be able to identify serial abusers and discover patterns of behaviour. The victims could then be encouraged to come forward in a group action, knowing that they would not be facing the Hollywood elite on their own. The union would redress, at least in part, the power of these male producers and directors. They, in turn, would grow more fearful of exposure. That would be a political act of organized resistance to the power of Hollywood moguls It would have much more impact than the trickle of stories from immensely successful actresses bewailing their past abuse. Creating such a union would be loose change for Jolie, Witherspoon, Lawrence, Paltrow and the other A-listers. And yet in the degraded political culture we live in, they prefer to remain disempowered individuals rather than become part of a much stronger collectivity. They prefer their confessionals in the corporate media that exploited and abused them to independent, organized action to curb the corporate system's excesses. As long as these household names nurse their individual pain rather than seek to bring about change through organized action, the next generation of young actresses will face the same exploitation and the same abuse they had to endure in their younger days. On October 16, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took her public pity party (and not so subtle hopes of somehow magically overturning the 2016 election) abroad, calling out WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as "a tool of Russian intelligence .... a kind of nihilistic opportunist who does the bidding of a dictator" in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's show "Four Corners." Clinton's evidenceless accusations don't seem to carry much weight with Assange himself. He doesn't find her "a credible person." "It is not just her constant lying," he says. "It is not just that she throws off menacing glares and seethes thwarted entitlement. Something much darker rides along with it. A cold creepiness rarely seen." Was Clinton's latest lunge at Assange and WikiLeaks a preemptive strike? An attempt, perhaps, to get ahead of extreme ugliness in the coming news cycle? On the same day, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that its former director, James Comey, had begun drafting his concluding statement on the "Servergate" investigation into Clinton's mishandling of classified information -- a statement technically exonerating Clinton, although between the lines the final draft clearly admitted that being that she didn't face indictment because, well, she's Hillary Clinton -- months before even interviewing Clinton and other key witnesses. Then, a day after Clinton's diatribe, news broke that the FBI knew as early as 2009 about Russian attempts to gain control of 20% of the US uranium supply and new uranium sales opportunities in the US through corrupt means, but covered that information up for several years. In fact, the cover-up remains at least partially in force. The Hill reports that in the run-up to last year's election, the US Department of Justice (then under control of Hillary Clinton's co-partisans in the Obama administration) threatened the FBI's confidential informant in the case with criminal prosecution for violating a non-disclosure agreement if he sued to recover the money he'd spent helping the FBI make its case. The informant's lawyer is now seeking DoJ permission to talk to Congress about the case. During the period in question, Russian sources paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to Hillary Clinton's husband (former president Bill Clinton) and donated millions more to the family's Clinton Foundation. And Clinton, at the time serving as US Secretary of State, dutifully bulldozed a path through the American bureaucracy for Vladimir Putin. That sequence of events looks like what most people would call "bribery" and "influence peddling." What was that about nihilistic opportunists who do the bidding of dictators again? If there was in fact collusion between the Russian government and a 2016 presidential campaign, it's reasonable to ask: Were the Russians working with Trump's campaign to defeat Clinton, or were the Russians paying back Clinton's campaign for her faithful service to them by helping her gin up her claims of a Trump/Putin conspiracy? Or both? Or something else? The effort to "Get Trump" may eventually bear fruit, but it's starting to look like the effort to "Get Clinton" may do so first. An apparent trend is growing among conservatives who want credit for criticizing Donald Trump's obvious lack of fitness for office, while still maintaining their right wing credentials by attack liberals with false equivalencies. First, it was John Danforth, in his appearance on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Now, MSNBC has continued its inexplicable tolerance for such insults, by allowing George F. Will to repeat Danforth's distortion: that somehow, the racist White Supremacy that Donald Trump continues to defend, is analogous to "the identity politics of the left" on Ari Melber's new show The Beat. As I pointed out in a previous op-ed here, this false equivalence confuses cause and effect. Identity politics arises from similar experiences, and is strengthened by prejudice, discrimination, and suffering. Given that, it is particularly heinous and hurtful to equate the consciousness-raising that leads to direct action against the kind of hate demonstrated by the violent demonstrators in Charlottesville, with that very hate. The whole notion that "identity politics" is the unique purview of those who are seen as having identities, is a manifestation of the hidden bias Eugene Robinson admirably uncovered during the confirmation process of Justice Sonya Sotomayor. The assumption of many of the senators questioning her, or commenting on her confirmation, is that her very identity as a Latina made her point of view automatically suspect. That her experiences would "color" her judgments in a way that doesn't exist for white men. The underlying schema is that the "generic" form of humanity is what we are used to seeing among the powerful. Anyone from another background has a point of view, in a way that is somehow lacking in those in the majority. Of course, power and privilege are invisible to those who hold it; inescapable for those who don't. As Robinson put it: "Republicans' outrage, both real and feigned, at Sotomayor's musings about how her identity as a 'wise Latina' might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any 'identity' -- black, brown, female, gay, whatever -- has to be judged against this supposedly 'objective" standard.'" The shared experiences that spawn the "identity politics on the left," are a history of oppression, discrimination, and exclusion from the very definition of humanity. In the case of women whose lives and health depend on reproductive health care, as well as people of color who are killed with impunity by law enforcement, the fight is often one of life and death. The goal is to be seen as human. To the contrary, the goal of the hate-mongers that Trump refers to as "very fine people" is at the very least, the continuation of privilege; of their perspective being seen as objective, neutral one. At its worst, it is a call for the annihilation of all others. There is no equivalence between reproductive rights or Black Lives Matter protests, and the calls for "Blood and Soil" and "Jews will not replace us!" What I can't understand, is why both Lawrence O'Donnell and Ari Melber are allowing this lie to go unanswered. As with O'Donnell, I have tremendous respect for Ari Melber. I was excited for his new show, as I was with the recent continuation of Lawrence's contract. As liberals, we look to MSNBC - especially as prime time grows near - to stand for the truism that "facts have a liberal bias." If they're desperate for conservatives voices, I suggest they follow the example of Rachel Maddow. She's been known to practically beg Republicans on air, to appear on her show. But she doesn't allow them to get away with false equivalence when they get there. From Alternet Traumatic Obamacare reversals underscore dismal new normal in Washington. Donald Trump - Digital Painting (Image by David Lacasse) Details DMCA When will President Trump stop playing games with Obamacare? By Wednesday morning, less than a day after the Senate committee overseeing health policy announced a bipartisan bill to fix near-term fiscal issues without undermining consumer protections, Trump was backtracking on his Tuesday comment that it was a "short-term solution." "I am supportive of [Tennessee senator and committee chairman] Lamar [Alexander] as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's [insurance companies] who have made a fortune w/ O'Care," Trump tweeted Wednesday. That Trump tweet prompted Alexander to reply, "I will work with the president to see if we can make it even stronger." Only a day before, Alexander told a health care forum, "The president engineered the bipartisan agreement by calling me and asking me to work with Senator [Patty] Murray (D-WA) to do it. I've talked with him three times in the last 10 days about it." What's next is anybody's guess. On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he opposed the Senate bill that, among other things, restored $7 billion in Obamacare subsidies for 7 million low-income policyholders -- which Trump last week said he would no longer pay. That decree created a needless crisis, prompting insurers to say this week that they would increase individual Obamacare premiums by an average of 20 percent in 2018, and raise rates on other policies. If this sounds confusing, it is. The status quo in Washington under Trump is anything but normal lawmaking. Instead of a process where opposing sides bicker, bargain, accept the result, and move on, Trump has introduced a deliberately chaotic dynamic. Millions of lives are toyed with. Needed programs are held hostage and threatened. And every new day finds Trump saying something that contradicts what he said -- or agreed to -- only days before. The highest-profile example is the fate of the Obamacare subsidies and Trump's similar refusal to fund enrollment drives for people to get coverage for 2018 -- which the Senate legislation also would reverse. This dynamic could also be seen in Trump's handling of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program for 800,000 visa-less children of immigrants -- the Dreamers. Trump said he would keep DACA and boasted of a deal with the Democrats. But then he changed his terms, adding items no Democrat would accept, like building a Mexico border wall. Another example is his silence on another big government-created health care crisis now unfolding, the failure of Congress to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, which serves 9 million poor children and their families across America. "He is gathering hostages -- the health of kids, a functioning insurance market, the status of Dreamers illegally brought to the U.S. as children by their undocumented parents," wrote Andy Slavitt in USA Today. (Slavitt oversaw the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid for President Obama from 2015 to 2017.) "Trump's plan is to use these hostages to get Democrats to agree to have taxpayers pay for his border wall and other demands to please his base." It's important to understand what Trump is doing -- he's creating crises that would not exist were it not for disruptive tactics that force others to clean up his mess, such as the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee having to put into legislation remedies to counter Trump's vindictive abuse of power. The bipartisan bill announced Tuesday by HELP Chairman Alexander and vice-chair Murray would do what Republicans have sought -- give states flexibility to run federal healthcare programs, rather than being forced into a do-everything-you're-told approach from Washington. But the HELP committee also had to find a way around Trump's intransigence over spending congressionally appropriated funds. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. See original here By Gabe Ortiz California wildfires (Image by pixabay.com) Details DMCA A collection of right-wing websites teamed up with half-term nitwit Sarah Palin to spread a fake news story that appeared to pin the Northern California wildfires that have tragically killed at least 40 people, onto an immigrant man who was arrested at a park in Sonoma, California. Jesus Fabian Gonzales -- who "often sleeps in the park and is well-known to law enforcement" -- was arrested Sunday after starting a small fire that he says he lit to stay warm, and one that "was so small a responding sheriff's deputy was able to mostly put it out before firefighters arrived." Gonzales was taken into custody without incident for one count of arson, but by Tuesday, Breitbart, InfoWars, and other sites were blaring sensationalist headlines, including one that stated that the "homeless arsonist behind Calif. wildfire that killed 40 people is an illegal alien": "Breitbart News and InfoWars offered no evidence to link the man's arrest to the fires and their accounts of the man's arrest were disputed the same day by Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano. "'There's a story out there he's the arsonist for these fires. That is not the case. There is no indication he is related to these fires at all,' Giordano said in a news conference also broadcast on the department's Facebook page and area TV stations. 'I just did want to kill that speculation right now so we didn't have things running too far out of control.'" Speculation from, say, Palin, who tweeted that "bet you not a single mainstream news organization is going to cover this story. Not PC or something." No, it's just fake, dumbass. In fact, USA Today notes that Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said that "the only questions Breitbart News and InfoWars asked were about Gonzales's ethnicity and whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed a detainer on him, which would hold him for an additional 48 hours at the jail." It's almost like they have an agenda here! From The Nation Jeff Sessions is a liar. As President Trump's nominee to serve as attorney general of the United States, the veteran senator from Alabama and early supporter of Trump's presidential bid was asked by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee if he had met with Russian officials during the course of the 2016 campaign. He claimed that he had not -- in response to a written question from the senior Democrat on the Committee, Vermont's Patrick Leahy, and then under questioning from Minnesota Senator Al Franken. Those were lies. Unfortunately, they worked. Sessions's nomination was endorsed by the Judiciary Committee, and he was quickly confirmed to serve as the nation's chief law-enforcement officer. After Sessions took charge of the Department of Justice, it was revealed that he had met with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the course of the campaign; that he had, in fact, met more than once with the ambassador. Sessions was outed as a liar. Because he had lied to senators during the course of the confirmation process, he was accused of perjuring himself. There were calls for his resignation. The attorney general was in hot water. He dialed down the controversy by announcing that he would recuse himself from any involvement with investigations of Russian involvement with the Trump campaign and the 2016 election. Then it was revealed that Sessions had been intimately involved in the machinations that led to Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, whose oversight of investigations into the Russian matter had, by all accounts, unnerved the president. Sessions had lied not just about his contacts with the Russians. He had lied about recusing himself. At that point, in mid-May, Sessions should have been removed from his position. At the very least, he should have been called before the Judiciary Committee to answer for his deliberate and ongoing pattern of deception. But instead he remained at the helm of the Justice Department. Click Here to Read Whole Article Note from author: "Return to South Korea", is a series of articles written on a day-to-day basis in October 2017 as I tour South Korea for a Korean War (1950 to 1953) historical tour. It is a series of articles of my first impressions and anecdote as I travel. It is being exclusively published in the OpEdNews.com section of 'Life and Art'. All articles can be found at the links below. The articles are best read in chronological order: 1. "Anticipation", [click here ]. 2. "Ambivalence", [click here ]. 3. "Getting around, and around---[click here ] Incheon International Airport to Seoul South Korea Train (Image by David William Pear) Details DMCA As I expected, South Korea is a very modern city. No surprise there. I arrive two days ahead of the group so I would have time to get over the jet lag from the 24-hour trip and time difference. Korea is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. It is now Wednesday, 7:39 PM, October 18, 2017. The days are starting to run together. On arrival at my hotel in Seoul I laid down for a short nap. My nap was about 12 hours. I awoke the next day at about 4 AM. The breakfast buffet would not open until 6:30 AM. I waited watching the night turn into morning, and I was starved from not having eaten since I left Inchon International Airport (ICN) yesterday, where luckily I ate, although I was not hungry. At ICN I had decided on a Korean cafe to get a start on acquiring a taste for Korean food. It takes acquiring, at least for me. Much of the food is lathered in a thick barbeque sauce, and it all tastes like kimchee, which I had already acquired a taste for, but that is another story---I'll tell you later. After a meal of noodles with black bean sauce, rice noodles with a mystery sauce, kimchee, and rice it was time to learn the metro. The South Korean metro is super modern and extensive. Once can get to just about anywhere. The map looks like something a child drew with colored crayons. (The metro is called either a subway or a train, I think, and the word metro gets a blank look). Once the information desk at ICN told me which stop I needed, the rest was easy thanks to a few Korean friends which are easy to make for an American who looks in destress, as I must have. The Koreans I met were super friendly, and some even stopped to offer help without my asking. A few who probably did not speak English just ignored my pleas, but I took no offence. Twice elderly women took pity and helped me with my too-big suitcase: once when I got it jammed in the turnstile and another as I encountered some stairs without an escalator---I must have bypassed the elevator. That was yesterday, and today I was at the 6:30 AM breakfast buffet. Not being bashful but hungry I ate four platefuls. First a Korean breakfast of white rice, noodles with black bean sauce, kimchee, roasted tomatoes, salad, beans, hot peppers, cream soup, and some other delicacies. Then an American breakfast, followed by a plate of fresh fruit, and finally a plate of bread, butter and jams. Cost, about 10,000 won (approximately $10 US) at my moderately priced hotel. The breakfast would hold me for 24 hours easy. Don't get the wrong impression, Korea is not cheap but not expensive either. The prices are about the same as US. With all the sleep and a belly full of food my energy level was on overdrive. I was ready to hit the train again back to ICN to meet the group. From Seoul stop to ICN takes over an hour even by the modern subway, unless one takes the express, which I didn't. The fare to ICN 4,500 won, about $4.50 US. I have learned not to throw away the used ticket because it can be cashed back in for a 500 won deposit. During the ride an older man sat next to me and started a conversation. He wanted to know where I was from and what brought me to Korea. He was delighted to hear that I was with a veterans group and he was quite open about the evils of communism, the crazy man up north, and how wonderful democracy is---he kept repeating about how democracy is 'self-correcting' because the people demand 'correction'. For example he spoke of just-impeached ex-president Park Geun-hye who is now 'self-correcting' in jail for corruption involving kickbacks from large corporations. I had a live Korean here who was willing to testify on politics so I pressed him politely. What did he think of the new President Moon---'he is too soft, Kim Jong-un is going to test him'? Is he worried about a nuclear war---'Everybody is, but they are used to it and don't show it'. How old was he during the Korean War---'3'. How did he survive---'lucky'? Did his mother and father survive---'yes'. Where does North Korea get all the money for their extravagant infrastructure projects---'selling minerals and precious metals to China, and starving the people, and starving the people some more for the nuclear program too'? This is what I came for and I am going to keep an open mind. I am here to listen, and he even gave me 'God's blessing' as he got off at his stop. I hope readers appreciate that this nice man in no way appeared to be anything but genuine and sincere. So when I got to the airport my group was nowhere to be found. After some phone calls it turned out that I was a day early. I dug out my paperwork and sure enough it said the tour started on October 18th and on day-one we would meet at the airport. It turned out that the 18th is a travel day and the 19th is day one. This is no way to run a military operation, or is it? The airport hotels wanted 150,000 won for the night. I had just paid 45,000 won a night in a nice hotel in Seoul so it was time for me to practice the train again back to Seoul. On the way back I made another friend, a nice young man who wanted to practice his English. With my bad ears, even with hearing aids, and his bad English the communication was poor, but he stayed with me to help and practice his English until I got off at my stop. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Middle East and Africa Surgical Staplers Market Industry Analysis & Opportunities-Market Data Forecast http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-surgical-staplers-market-3252/ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-surgical-staplers-market-3252/request-sample http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-surgical-staplers-market-3252/inquire The Middle East and Africa Surgical Staplers Market was worth USD 160 million in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 6.47%, to reach USD 220 million by 2021. Surgical Staplers are used during a surgical operation to connect or remove organs like lungs, bowels or to seal skin wounds, instead of sutures. During the inception, they were produced to substitute sutures as leakages from poor suturing was one among the major causes of post-surgery mortalities. In the current days, surgical clips are being used in place of surgical staples as they prevent the piercing of staples. Stapling is more faster and accurate than hand suturing and they are less likely to cause leakages of blood from stapled organs.View full report @Staples in the beginning were made of stainless steel with titanium staples loaded into reloadable stapler cartridges. Titanium is preferred over stainless steel as the former causes less immune reactions compared to the latter. Modern staples are broadly of two types, first kind is disposable and made of materials like plastic and second type is reusable & made of stainless steel. Both these types are usually loaded by disposable cartridges. Staples come in straight, curved and circular shapes. Circular staplers are chiefly used for end-to-end anastomosis and bowel resection. Various models of staplers are used for open and laparoscopic surgeries. Laparoscopic surgeries utilize longer and thinner staplers since it is easy for use with trocar ports. Synthetic bio-absorbable staplers are present which are made by materials like polyglycolic acid.The key drivers of Middle East and Africa Surgical Staplers market are rising demand for healthcare in low and middle income countries, growing number of surgical operations around the world, rising number of increased preference of staplers over sutures, medical tourism in developing countries, growing technological advancements, growing popularity for cosmetic surgeries and increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures among others. However the market is restrained by high price of devices and alternative methods available for wound care.The Middle East and Africa Surgical Staplers market is segmented on the basis of type into disposable stapler and reusable stapler segments. The reusable stapler segment is expected to have higher growth rate during forecast period. Based on product, the market is segmented into manual surgical stapler and powered surgical stapler. Manual surgical stapler has the larger share among the two. Based on end-user, the market is divided into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centres and clinics. Hospitals has the largest market share in this segment. On the basis of application, the market is divided into Pelvis, Abdominal, Thoracic, Cardiac, Haemorrhoids, Paediatric, Cosmetic and General Surgery segments.Download free sample @The region can be divided by geography broadly into Middle East and Africa. The market is experiencing initial stages of growth in the region. Factors such as increasing prevalence for medical tourism, rising demand for minimally invasive procedures and increased preference for staplers over sutures is expected to drive the growth of this market in the region.Some of the major players in the market include Ethicon Inc. (U.S.), Medtronic plc (Ireland), CONMED Corporation (U.S.), Smith & Nephew (U.K.), Purple Surgical Inc. (U.K.), Intuitive Surgical Inc. (U.S.), Welfare Medical Ltd. (U.K.), Reach surgical Inc. (China), Meril Life Science Pvt. Ltd. (India), Grena Ltd. (U.K.), B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Dextera Surgical Inc. (U.S.), Frankenman International (China), and Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.).Market Segmentation1)Type Disposable Stapler Reusable Stapler Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Type Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Type Market Share Analysis, By Type2)Product Ma nual Surgical Stapler Powered Surgical Stapler Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Product Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Product Market Share Analysis, By Product3)End Users Hospitals Ambulatory Surgical Centres Clinics Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By End Users Market Attractiveness Analysis, By End Users Market Share Analysis, By End Users4)Application Pelvis Abdominal Thoracic Cardiac Haemorrhoids Paediatric Cosmetic Y-o-Y Growth Analysis, By Application Market Attractiveness Analysis, By Application Market Share Analysis, By ApplicationInquire before buying @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 areas of market research, business intelligence and consulting. We have rich experience in research and consulting for various business domains to cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. A few key business areas that we handle with excellence include business process improvement, corporate financing and decision making based on market research, assisting in developing appropriate strategy and providing consultancy based on extensive research.Plot # 127 & 128, 2nd Floor Lake View Plaza,Amar Co-operative Society, Kavuri Hills, Hurricane Harvey Fundraising Efforts - Texas Resident Joseph Ganci, Author Of 'Gideon: The Sound and The Glory,' Makes New Spiritual Book Available For Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts Author Joseph Ganci http://www.gideonsglory.com Hurricane Harvey stuck Texas in August of 2017. It was one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit the US, displacing over 30,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. The storm made landfall as a category 4 near Rockport, Texas, and produced 40-60 inches of rainfall as it moved through the Texas/Louisiana area. The damage was catastrophic, the economic effects are staggering, and the rebuilding and restoration efforts will take many years.In response to the horrific damage, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Judge Ed Emmett established the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. The fund accepts tax-deductible donations for victims affected by the floods. The fund is housed at the Greater Houston Community Foundation, at 501(c)(3) public charity.Houston area resident and author Joseph Ganci has pledged to donate 90% of book proceeds from the sale of 'Gideon: The Sound and the Glory' to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund from mid-October 2017 to Easter, 2018. He hopes that many others will join him by doing the same."While this may seem by some to be a small effort on the surface," Ganci stated, "the power is in the numbers. If everyone selling a product or service was to donate even a tiny percentage of their ongoing profits to this fund, the compound effect of those donations, for basic needs, temporary housing, restoration or emergency assistance, could make a real difference to everyone affected by this tragedy. We will be buying these products and services anyway, so why not make them really count for something more?""During the hurricane, the rain was relentless, and it was reminiscent of the typhoon season during my Vietnam combat experience. The powerful showers exploded in blinding wind-whipped sheets of fury. The rising waters came within eight feet of my ever sinking threshold door. All alone, I knelt and prayed mightily to the Lord for relief from the constant downpour. I placed my fate into His capable hands and retired to my bedchamber. I had half expected to wake up and be entirely engulfed by the rising tide. I awoke to find that my floor remained high and dry and that the flood waters had reversed its course back to the ocean. The view from my front gate was a temporary lakefront property, and that I stood upon the rock of salvation. Praise be The Name of the Lord."Many were not as fortunate; my heart goes out to them. For some will be struggling for years to come - trying desperately to get their life back to normal."From 'Gideon: The Sound and the Glory': Another bolt of lightning darkened the sky. The sun had lost its face. Missiles of rain exploded in the dust, and the heavens dropped, weighed down by the burst of fast-moving clouds. The last of the western sky had blackened, constantly lit by cascades of brilliant-white lightning flashes. The rearmost cohort of the last one hundred chariots had already filled the Kishon Wadi when a sudden blast of wind heralded the uproar from the surge of rushing waters. Siseras fleet of iron chariots, his anxious hosts of infantrymen, and his archers were all caught in the eddy of a rising tide. Horse hooves broke, struggling for traction in a vain attempt to climb the slippery embankment. They were all swept away, abandoned to their grisly fate, washed away in the fast-moving rapids.In 'Gideon,' Ganci pierces the veil with a penetrating vision of long-held Bible mysteries that are far and away daring and unusual. He works within a framework of an engaging and dramatized fiction that, while exceedingly rich in detail, remains faithful to uphold spiritual principals. He bases his work on three primary pillars:The rock-solid cornerstone is biblical history and geography.The creative arch is revelatory in its timing and issues.The research is concrete, firmly rooted in customs, languages, and traditions.The result is that book lovers are transported into the very midst of ancient conflicts and come away with an entirely fresh perspective on mystical teachings found in scripture, now living lessons filled with adventure that inspires wonder yet remain practical answering the challenges of everyday life.'Gideon: The Sound and the Glory' has received rave reviews from readers and reviewers alike. A recent reviewer stated, "Joseph Gancis prose is arresting, peppered with fantastic imagery and succinct descriptions of plot, characters, and setting. The themes are masterfully created, and they are woven into the story in a way that allows the reader to enjoy both the inspiration the story offers and the accompanying action. The book explores powerful spiritual and political themes, capturing the conflicts and the dynamics of life within the community of God's chosen people. Gideon: The Sound and the Glory will appeal to fans of political thrillers, adventure, and conflict-driven stories laced with intense action." Other reviewers have used phrases such as "riveting," "amazing" "deftly crafted" and "highly recommended."Ganci has also announced he will make his book available as a fundraising tool for other associations and charities. Donors can receive an eBook version of 'Gideon' in exchange for a donation to a worthy cause. For more details, contact Joseph via email.Joseph Ganci is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at joseph@gideonsglory.com. 'Gideon: The Sound and the Glory' is available in both print, eBook, and a superb, ethnically correct audio narration. All are available from online retailers. More information is available at Ganci's website.Joseph Ganci is a Levite and a high priest and remains a passionate Italian. He is a Vietnam combat veteran and is the father of five daughters and five grandchildren. He resides in Texas.PO Box 1613Shallotte, NC 28459 10 year follow up of LASIK surgery (Laser Eye Surgery) by Dr. Qasim Aref Qasem 10 year follow up of LASIK surgery by Dr. Qasim Aref Qasem http://dr-qasim.com 10 year follow up of LASIK surgery for low to high levels of myopia Qasim Qasem FRCS, Caitriona Kirwan MRCOpth, Michael OKeefe FRCS. Institutional Affiliations: Mater Private Hospital1, Eccles Street, Dublin University College Dublin2, Ireland1. Introduction:LASIK, lamellar flap creation followed by laser ablation, is largely responsible for the popularising of corneal refractive surgery.Follow up studies are very important for improvement of treatment algorithms, better definition of treatment boundaries, management and outcome of early postoperative complications, monitoring visual acuity results and stability at short and long term.2. Objective:To evaluate the long term safety and stability of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for the treatment of low to high levels of myopia To evaluate the long term safety and stability of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for the treatment of low to high levels of myopia3. Methods:Out of Ninety patients invited for review after ten years from their refractive laser surgery, forty three patients were assessed ( 48 %.).All procedures performed by one surgeon (MOK) by Technolas 117 laser platform (Bausch & Lomb)date of surgery, age at the time of surgery, refractive error treated, optical zone used, flap thickness, ablation depth, early postoperative complications, visual and refractive outcome three months postoperatively and re-treatments recorded.At ten year follow up of patients ( 74 Eyes) had a full ophthalmic assessment, unaided and best corrected visual acuity were recorded, current refractive error, Corneal Topography by (Orbscan, Bausch & Lomb), Aberrometry by (Zywave, Bausch & Lomb), Corneal hysteresis by (Reichert Ocular Response Analyzer), Contrast sensitivity (Pellie Robson), Slit lamp examination & dilated funduscopy.All patients were also questioned regarding any night vision complaints and satisfaction in general.4. Results:The average age at the time of surgery was 32.5 with a range between 20 to 54 years of age.Mean refractive spherical equivalent treated was -5.67 dioptre, with a range of 1.75 dioptre to -12.5 dioptre, target of treatment was emmetropia for all patients.Preoperative central corneal thickness average was 557.5 46.96 (microns), with a range between 442 to 670 microns.Optical zone of treatment average was 5.8 0.4 mm with a range between 5 to 7 mm.Depth of ablation range was 50 to 167 micron, with an average of 114.9 26.4 microns, and average flap thickness was 160.4 micron.There was one intra-operative complication of a free flap which was managed with no loss of best corrected visual acuity.Three eyes out of the seventy four had re- treatment at early period within the first year and another two were re-treated within the first five years.At ten year follow up further 7 eyes required enhancement5. Three Months Ten Years Three Months Ten Years6/6 58.1% 49.2%6/7.5- 6/9 22.97% 28.9%6/12 8.10% 8.6%6/15 6/24 5.40% 8.6%6/36 6/60 5.40% 4.3% Three months post treatment Vs 10 Years unaided visual acuity Three months post treatment Vs 10 Years unaided visual acuity6. Aberration profile: Aberration profile:All patients had an aberration scan at their ten year visit.Out of the 43 patients, only eight patients (18.6 %) described some degree of difficulties with night vision and continued to experience symptoms of glare which was confirmed with aberrometry. Majority of patients were asymptomatic even with a level of high order aberrations above normal level.The average high order aberration at 6 mm is 0.84 0.3 microns, the average 4th order spherical aberration is -0.48 0.2 microns.The total level of aberration is higher than 0.80 microns. (Table 3),19 eyes (27.5%) had HOA at 6mm higher than one, 42 eyes (60.8%) between 0.5 and 1.00 micron and the remaining were below 0.50 microns. (Figure 1)Figure 1- Zywave Aberrometry7. Predictability PredictabilityThe percentage of patients within plus or minus 0.5D and plus minus 1.00D of intended correction. Within 0.5 D At 3/12 At 10 Yrs Within 1.0 D At 3/12 At 10 yrs Within 0.5 D At 3/12 At 10 Yrs Within 1.0 D At 3/12 At 10 yrsAll levels 45.9% 28.37% 79.73% 58.1%Low Myopia 57.1% 42.80% 100% 85.7%Moderate Mope 58.9% 35.9% 94.8% 69.23%High Mope 25.0% 14.28 % 53.7% 35.71 %8. Retreated Patients: Retreated Patients:MRSE Age at Rx Regression Sex-5.625 D 21 -1.5 D F-7.75 D 45 -2.0 D F-7.375 D 41 -3.25 D M-6.00 D 34 -1.75 D F-5.00 D 29 -0.75 D M-6.5o D 34 -1.75 D F-8.75 D 23 -3.35 D F 5.0 D 30 -1.25 D F-6.0 D 21 -1.25 D F-5.6 D 21 -1.00 D F-8.5 D 24 -1.75 D F-6.15 D 24 1.50 D F9. Conclusion- at ten year follow up, Lasik is a safe procedure- however, there was a 15 % regression.- this was mostly in high myopic patients and it seems to be associated with the younger patients. Recommendation- Patients with high myopia should be informed of the potential to become myopic again and require glasses.- Surgeons treating those patients should be aware of this and perhaps build in the option of further surgical re- treatment as part of their initial surgical approach.Read complete article by Dr. Qasim atDr. Qasim Aref QasemFRCS (UK), MRCSI (Ire), CertLRS, FEBOPracticing Consultant Ophthalmologist in Dubai, UAE since 2012Imperial healthcare instituteDubai healthcare cityIbn Sina Building 27Block A First floor Global Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Global Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017 http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/goods-1123921.html http://www.qyresearchglobal.com/ The Global Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Apron Bus industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Apron Bus Industry analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Apron Bus industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.This report studies Apron Bus 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, coveringAEROMOBILESBRADSHAW ELECTRIC VEHICLESCOBUS INDUSTRIESKiitokoriNavyaPOWER FORCE TECHNOLOGIESProterraTAMWEIHAI GUANGTAI AIRPORT EQUIPMENTZhengzhou YuTong BusOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoElectricGeneralBy Application, the market can be split intoPublic TransportGroup TrafficBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTo ask a complete & professional report sample or make an order, please browse our detailded product link:Table of contents:1 Industry Overview of Apron Bus2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Apron Bus3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Apron Bus4 Global Apron Bus Overall Market Overview5 Apron Bus Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Apron Bus Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Apron Bus Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Apron Bus9 Development Trend of Analysis of Apron Bus Market10 Apron Bus Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Apron Bus12 Conclusion of the Global Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017Related Reports:Europe Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017China Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017India Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017Korea Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017USA Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017Japan Apron Bus Market Professional Survey Report 2017List of Tables and Figures:Figure Picture of Apron BusTable Product Specifications of Apron BusTable Classification of Apron BusFigure Global Production Market Share of Apron Bus by Type in 2016Figure Femoral PictureTable Major Manufacturers of FemoralContact Details:Company Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITED | focus on Market Survey and ResearchTina| Sales ManagersEmail: sales@qyresearcheurope.com or tinaning@qyresearch.comWeb:QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business.Room 2901 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Drug Reconstitution at the Point-of-Care Market to increase rapidly by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1612 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1612 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Today, a majority of newly approved drugs are being marketed in lyophilized form for reconstitution at the point of care as molecular complexity of these drugs does not allow their distribution in a liquid form. Earlier, reconstitution and mixing was quite difficult and used to involve multiple steps thats why drugs requiring reconstitution were used to administer in healthcare settings by medical professionals resulting into higher treatment costs. Continued development in healthcare has led to the inception of advanced technologies leading to reconstitution of the drugs by patients themselves requiring treatment for a variety of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, hemophilia and rheumatoid arthritis. A variety of medical devices used for reconstituting drug before administration are dual chamber syringes, dual chamber cartridges, direct connect to vial, vial adapters, vial to vial systems, closed system transfer device and needle less transfer devices.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Some of the commercially available medical devices for drug reconstitution at the point of care are EZMix and Unifill Select marketed by an American company Unilife. Some of the key players operating in this market are Unilife, Sensile medical, Integrity Bio, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson, Alkermes, Bioject Medical technologies, Inc., Baxa Ltd. and Bespak Europe Ltd.The global market for drug reconstitution at the point of care is driven by increasing demand of drugs requiring reconstitution, increasing pharmacological efficacy and advancements in technology leading to easy drug reconstitution such as Dual chambers in a single device has enabled the storage of drug powder and diluents separately without any interaction. SenseLyo, a drug reconstitution system marketed by Sensile Medical enables automated filling of various drug reservoir types and sizes. Growing number of new chemical entities being used as therapeutic agents also increases the demand for drug reconstitution devices rendering them stability at room temperature. Geographically, North America represents the largest market as biologic drugs are in great demand in these regions that requires drug reconstitution prior administration. Emerging countries are expected to show substantial growth in coming future along with the growing demand for biologics and increasing incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.Request TOC of the Report@This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Dialysis Disposable Devices Market : Analysis and Forecast by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1613 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1613 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Dialysis is the process of removal of waste and excess water from blood. The kidneys are put for dialysis if they are not able to detoxify blood naturally. The devices that are utilized for performing dialysis are known as dialysis devices. Heavy machines that are used in the same cannot be replaced after every use. However, few devices like catheters can be replaced. These are known as dialysis disposable devices. The utilization of disposable dialysis devices will increase the safety level for patients, and hence will reduce any severe hazards during the dialysis process.Request Sample Copy of the Report@The various disposable dialysis devices used in the dialysis process include renal dialysis pack, dialysis disposable, dialysis catheter kit, dialysis catheter, indwelling foley catheter, urethral catheter and dialysis fistula needle. Other disposable dialysis devices are dialysis nursing kit, garbage medical dialysis bag, blood line for hemodialyzer, dialysis medical supplies and medical sterilization pouches. Among all these disposable dialysis devices, the dialysis catheters segment is expected to show the highest growth in the near future. This is attributed to the increased utilization of disposable catheters during dialysis. Similarly, dialysis catheter, garbage medical dialysis bag and medical sterilization pouch segments will also show significant growth.Increase in number of hazards due to utilization of non-disposable dialysis devices will augment the growth of this market. In addition, disposable dialysis devices provide safety from infections that are caused due to normal dialysis devices and this will also boost the growth of this market. Moreover, reduced price of dialysis procedures due to utilization of disposable devices and rise in the number of dialysis patients worldwide will also enhance the growth of this market. It has been estimated that in 2010, 6.6% of the total U.S. population underwent dialysis and this number is expected to grow significantly in the near future. The major players operating in dialysis disposable devices market include B. Braun Melsungen AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, CyBio AG, ATL Pharmaceutical and Elcam Medical among other significant players.Request TOC of the Report@This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Central Nervous System (CNS) Biomarkers Market to Record Study Growth by 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1622 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1622 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Biomarkers Market: OverviewBiomarkers are measurable biological indicators that are used to diagnose or predict diseases, examine disease progression, and estimate treatment response. Biomarkers help in understanding the development of chronic diseases, its relationship with environmental chemicals, and identify subjects who are at high risk of developing disease. For several years, biomarkers have played a significant role in drug research and development of new drugs and in diagnostics. Moreover, biomarkers play important role in understanding disease mechanism, developing effective treatments, and improve quality of patient care.Request Sample Copy of the Report@The development in related technologies, such as genomics, proteomics, and imaging system, has reflected on evolution of newer biomarkers. Considering the complexity of central nervous system (CNS), biomarkers are now expected to play a significant role in identification of several neurodegenerative diseases at early stage, provide enhanced diagnosis, and eventually better treatment. Consequently, the global market for central nervous system (CNS) biomarkers is projected for a double digit growth rate during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024. To provide a complete picture of the market, this report divides it into lucrative segments and also profiles some of the key players for their market share, product portfolio, and development strategies.The global CNS biomarkers market can be segmented on the basis of application, type, end user and geography. By application, the market can be divided into diagnostic development, personalized medicine drug discovery and development, and disease risk assessment. All of these segments are in high demand, contributing significantly in the growth of CNS biomarkers market.Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Biomarkers Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe report picks out the development in proteomics, genomics, and imaging system as the primary driver in the market. These developments has led to increased investment from government and private players, which is further fueling market. Moreover, the rise in diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), and other heart related diseases is another favorable factor for the market. Some of the other drivers highlighted by the report are: favorable government policies and regulations, successful clinical trials of several biomarkers, and FDAs approval to CNS biomarker drugs.Conversely, the report highlights two factors which may hinder the growth rate during the forecast period, which are the high cost of CNS biomarker tests and diagnostics and unclear reimbursement policies in many prospect country-wide markets. Untapped market in Asia Pacific is projected as an opportunity for players to invest with long-term prospects.Global Central Nervous System (CNS) Biomarkers Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, this market can be divided into the regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest the world. Currently, North America contributes to the maximum demand, owning to the rise in life-style oriented diseases such as cancer, stroke, and other heart diseases. In 2014, Europe served the second most significant demand but the emerging economies of China, India, Japan, and Korea are expected to turn Asia Pacific into a highly lucrative market during the course of the forecast period. These countries are aggressively investing in improving their healthcare spending, and have skilled labor at affordable cost. This as a result is creating immense opportunities for the players who are willing to take initiative.Request TOC of the Report@Companies mentioned in the research reportThe key players in global central nervous system biomarkers market include Thermo fisher scientific, Enzo biochem inc, Abiant Inc, EKF diagnostics holdings Inc, Abastar MDX Inc, Acumen pharmaceuticals Inc, Adlyfe Inc, Apitope international, Alseres pharmaceuticals Inc, Aposense, Banyan biomarkers, Avid radiopharmaceuticals Inc, Diagenic ASA, Avacta group plc, Applied neurosolutions Inc, Merc & co. Inc, and Exonhit therapeutics. The players strategically invest on research and development for innovative and technological advancements, and focus on partnerships with domestic players to expand their outreach.Major regions analyzed under this research report are:EuropeNorth AmericaAsia PacificRest of the WorldThis report gives you access to decisive data such as:Market growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for the coming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Licorice Extracts Market : Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/licorice-extracts-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=18749 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/18749 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com The rising demand for herbal medicines and various other products related to health and wellness across the world is having a substantial impact in the global licorice extract market. Nowadays, people are more conscious regarding their health and fitness, which has prompted them to shift to various medical supplements, especially natural, herbal, and sugar-free, leading to an increased uptake of natural ingredients in medical supplements. This, as a result, is boosting the demand for licorice extracts, worldwide, reflecting positively on this market.Going forward, the market is likely to gain significantly in the near future from the increasing usage of sugar-free products, fueled by the augmenting concerns over the rising prevalence of diabetes and obesity. However, the dominance of synthetic sweeteners over the years, owing to their cost effectiveness and easy availability may limit the uptake of licorice extracts to some extent in the years to come, notes the research study.Obtain Report Details @The presence of a number of well-established players points towards a high degree of competition in the global licorice extracts market, states the report by Transparency Market Research (TMR). Over the coming years, innovation and product advancements is likely to remain the most preferred strategy among the market players, looking for expansion in their presence.According to TMR, the opportunity in the global market for licorice extracts is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 4.0% during the period from 2017 to 2025, rising from US$1.70 bn in 2016 to US$2.3 bn by the end of the period of the forecast. The powder form of licorice extracts has been reporting a higher demand across the world due to its widespread application in food and beverages and skincare products. Analysts project the scenario to remain same throughout the forecast period, reveals the research study.Make an Enquiry @The Middle East and Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific have been considered as the prime regional markets for licorice extracts in this research report. The study further presents a comprehensive assessment of these regional markets, according to which Asia Pacific, with a share of more than 32%, led the global market for licorice extracts in 2016. Thanks to the high demand for these extracts in China, India, Japan, and the Rest of Asia Pacific, this regional market is expected to continue on the top throughout the forecast period.Europe is likely to follow Asia Pacific closely and occupy the second position in the global market over the years to come, thanks to the rising demand for low calorie foods, boosted by the increasing preference of consumers for a healthier lifestyle. North America, on the other hand, is anticipated to register a significant rise in its market share in the near future.The imminent growth opportunities generated by the augmenting usage of herbal medicines is likely to propel the North America market for licorice extracts over the next few years. The Latin America and the Middle East and Africa markets for licorice extracts are also projected to witness noticeable growth during the forecast period, states the research report.Get ToC@About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.ContactFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: AFP Testing Market share will expand till 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1623 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1623 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ AFP Testing Market: OverviewAlpha-fetoprotein (AFP) screening tests are extensively employed globally as they aid in determining particular types of chromosomal aberrations such as Edwards syndrome and Downs syndrome, some types of cancer, and neural tube defects. AFP screening tests are commercially available owing to their sensitivity in the diagnosis of cancer. AFP is the most commonly found plasma protein in the fetus of human beings. This protein is primarily made up of immature liver cells within the fetus, hence infants have elevated levels of AFP, which later on falls to normal adult level at the end of the first year.Request Sample Copy of the Report@This report on the global AFP testing market identifies the size of the market and also presents the growth opportunities in the market in forthcoming years. The market dynamics, drivers, growth indicators, challenges, and competitive landscape of the market have been encapsulated in this study. The significance of AFP testing and an analysis of the key trends dominant in the market has also been presented through this study. The top technological developments taking place in the AFP testing market have also been included. Analysis tools such as SWOT analysis and Porters five forces analysis are also being utilized in order to present the degree of competition prevalent in this market.The report utilizes tables and distinctive graphics to present the key segments dominant in the global AFP testing market. A pin point evaluation of the transforming dynamics has also been presented through this study. An extensive review on the macro and micro factors useful for the already present players as well as the new entrants has also been encapsulated coupled with a comprehensive value chain analysis. The study helps the emerging players in making informed decisions by incorporating complete market insights and by presenting a detailed evaluation of all the market segments.AFP Testing Market: Drivers and RestraintsAFP screening tests are largely employed and numerous amongst them are available commercially owing to their sensitivity for cancer diagnosis. The normal level of AFP in the blood of human beings is lower than 10 ng/ml but it may become as high as 500ng/ml in people suffering from chronic hepatitis. AFP levels also elevate in patients suffering from renal cancer, brain tumors, Hodgkins disease, and lymphoma.The segment of cancer diagnostic is rising owing to the fact that researchers are on the lookout for discovering specific antigens and new techniques for further improvement of the mode of treatment. Thus, the increasing cases of cancer globally will provide impetus to the growth of the market for AFP testing. Some common cancers include testes cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, and biliary tract cancer, and others including hepatitis and cirrhosis. In addition, the global AFP testing market is also poised to rise due to the increasing aging population because of the fact that aged people are more prone to tumor development and diseases.AFP Testing Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of geography, the global AFP testing market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Of these, the North America AFP testing market presents a significant share, while Europe and Asia Pacific were also dominant regions in the market, after North America.Request TOC of the Report@Key players Mentioned in the Report are:The top players in the global AFP testing market are Biomedical Diagnostics, Abbott Laboratories, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Kreatech Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, and Roche Diagnostics, among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Biotech Flavor Market : An Insight On the Important Factors and Trends Influencing the Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/biotech-flavor-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16178 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/16178 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com According to a research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global biotech flavor market is highly consolidated and competitive in nature, with Naturex occupying the dominant position. The leading companies in this market mostly rely on mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to improve their visibility and the trend is likely to continue over the forthcoming years, increasing the competition between the players, reports the research study.As per the report, the global market for biotech flavors, which stood at US$430.6 mn in 2015, is expected to proliferate at a CAGR of 9.70% during the period from 2016 to 2024, increasing the opportunity in this market to US$991.0 mn by the end of the forecast period. The market is projected to touch 23,980.3 tons in terms of volume over the same period of time.Obtain Report Details @The demand for biotech flavors is higher in beverages compared to other end-use segments. On account of the surging consumption of flavored beverages, globally, analysts predict this segment to continue as the leading end user of biotech flavors over the period of the forecast.The research report further evaluates the worldwide market for biotech flavors on the basis of its regional classification. The Middle East and Africa, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America and is led by North America, thanks to the high awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of biotech flavors. In 2015, the regional market, followed by Europe, acquired a share of more than 32% in the overall market. Researchers anticipate the North America market for biotech flavors to retain its leadership over the forthcoming years.Make an Enquiry @On the other hand, Asia Pacific is anticipated to exhibit a high-paced growth in its market for biotech flavors in the near future, thanks to the strong demand for biotech flavors from emerging economies, such as China and India. The health and wellness trend is also expected to support the growth of the Asia Pacific biotech flavor market and prompt manufacturers to apply innovative strategies across the supply chain to ensure wide availability of biotech flavors for consumers over the years to come.Apart from this, the increasing demand for beverages in this region is expected to create vital opportunities for the players in the global market.The rising health consciousness among consumers has augmented the demand for natural ingredients and biotech-based flavors in food products and beverages, which, resultantly, is boosting the global biotech flavor market. The growing awareness among consumers in developed economies concerning the negative impact of artificially-produced food flavors and the increased knowledge of consumers pertaining to the nutritional advantages of biotech flavors is projected to propel this market in the years to come.Get ToC@About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.ContactFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: High Acuity Information Systems Market size in terms of volume and value -2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1627 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1627 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The need for accurate information systems arises primarily from the increasing number of critical patients, since they can deliver information about the various medical parameters of patients accurately. High acuity information system is engaged in maintaining electronic patient records (EPR) coupled with computerized physician order entry (CPOE). In addition, it also guides surgeons while operating the patients. EPR and CPOE, if done manually, require huge efforts along incurring additional time and prone to errors hampering the data authenticity about the patient. This problem may be overcome by installing high acuity information systems in medical institutes.Request Sample Copy of the Report@High acuity information systems are usually utilized in intensive care units (ICU), operating rooms (OR), emergency departments (ED) and other critical and complex care units. Other high acuity information systems include surgical information systems (SIS), perinatal information systems (PIS) and critical care information systems (CCIS). Operating room and intensive unit information systems are expected to grow at a high rate owing to increase in patient number in ICU and OR. High acuity information systems market is expected to grow at a significant CAGR due to their ability to maintain huge healthcare records precisely. Moreover, technological advancements, and increase in number of hospitals and beds in hospitals worldwide will also support the market growth. However, introduction of mobility, data analytics and decision support systems are certain challenges which may hamper the market growth of high acuity information systems.The high acuity information systems market has been segmented by product, by services, by end-user and by geography. In terms of product, the high acuity information system has been categorized into clinical information system, intensive care unit information system (ICUIS), anesthesia information system (AIMS), patient monitoring information system, surgical information system, emergency department information system (EDIS), perinatal information system, integrated information system and others. Operating rooms (OR) and intensive care units (ICU) are complex and busy environments that are constantly evolving. Hence, high acuity information system in these settings would play a major part in an effective decision making and management of efficient use of staff, materials, drugs and critical resources. Based on services, the market has been segmented into implementation services, IT maintenance and repair services and training and other services. The end-users for the market include hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers and other acuity areas. The high acuity system providers offer specialized programs to the end-users assisting in management of health plans by offering solutions to increasing costs of complexities in various treatments.Geographically, North America was observed to be the largest high acuity information systems market due to extensive technological advancements in the region. Countries such as the U.S. and Canada have been successful in implementing eHealth and mHealth in their healthcare system, which as a result would boost the market growth. Moreover, presence of developed IT and healthcare infrastructure, promising government initiatives in executing high acuity information system in the current healthcare infrastructure and constantly improving reimbursement scenario would further propel the market growth. Europe was observed to be the second largest market in the high acuity information system owing to enhanced digitization of the healthcare processes and implementation of telehealth in the region. The major factor that would drive the market in Asia Pacific include the acceptance and demand for high end medical infrastructure in the region. China, Japan and India are the most developing countries in the region and hence would fuel the market growth for high acuity information system. South American countries such as Brazil and Mexico are the regions that have significant potential for growth due to evolving medical structure, and high disposable income.Request TOC of the Report@The major players operating in this market include All Scripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Picis Clinical Solutions, Inc., Optum, Inc., Computer Sciences Corporation, CompuGroup Medical, Affiliated Computer Services Inc., iSOFT Group Limited, Cerner Corporation and Siemens Healthcare, McKesson Corporation among other significant players worldwide.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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Prostatic Acid Phosphatase Testing Technologies Market trends estimates high demand by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1640 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=1640 www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP) test is a type of blood test to determine health of prostate gland by measuring prostatic acid phosphatase levels. PAP is an enzyme found in men and majorly present in the prostate gland and semen. Significant amounts of PAP are also found in platelets, bone, spleen, kidney and liver. PAP measurement is important in the management of prostatic cancer patients especially in monitoring remission or relapse of prostatic malignancy and in assessing the effectiveness of various treatment regimes.Request Sample Copy of the Report@PAP testing technology market is segmented as follows:Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodiesImmunoassaysRadioimmunoassay (RIA)Enzyme Immunoassays (EIA)Fluorescent ImmunoassaysLuminescenceLatex agglutinationImmunoprecipitationMolecular diagnosticsChromosome analysisChronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)Malignant lymphomasChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)Solid cancersChromosomal translocation and oncogenesArtificial intelligenceFlow cytometryTwo dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE)BiosensorsCompeting/complementing technologiesCTMRINMRPETPhotonics SpectroscopyPersonal testingIt was observed that cancer diagnostics market is on a verge of exponential growth in coming years as the R&D activities of major organizations are intensively developing products in the field of tumor diagnosis and therapy, discovery of new specific antigens and understanding of relation between genetics and disease.North America is the leading market for prostatic acid phosphatase testing technologies, due to factors such as increase in awareness about prostate cancer and anticipated technological breakthroughs in determination of genetic predisposition, detection of specific tumors and monitoring of biological response to cancer therapy. The other regional markets for PAP testing technologies include Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World (RoW).Some of the key players contributing to this market include life sciences companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Beckman Coulter, Inc., Binding Site, bioMerieux SA, Carolina Liquid Chemistries Corp., Dia Sorin, Horiba Group, Inverness Medical Technology, Johnson and Johnson Ltd., Roche, Siemens AG and Others.Request TOC of the Report@This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Processed Food Beverage Preservatives Market : An Insight On the Important Factors and Trends Influencing the Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/processed-food-beverage-preservatives-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=17180 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/17180 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com The vendor landscape of the global processed food and beverage preservatives market features a moderately competitive nature on account of the presence of numerous large and small vendors, observes Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a recent report. Delivery of products consistent with international food safety and quality standards, innovations, and geographical expansion of business operations are some of the strategies adopted by companies in the market to outshine their peers.Over the next few years as well, the market is expected to remain moderately competitive and witness the rise of a number of new vendors. With consistent introduction of new product varieties and strategic collaborations with F&B manufacturers across promising regional markets could help companies make the most of growth opportunities. Some of the leading companies in the global processed food and beverage preservatives market presently are GalacticSA, Celanese Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Koninklijke DSM N.V., and Kerry Group Plc.TMR estimates that the market will exhibit a healthy 4.9% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from a value of US$1.7 bn in 2015 to a business opportunity worth US$2.5 bn by 2024.Obtain Report Details @In terms of product type, the segment of synthetic preservatives is expected to account for a dominant share in the revenue of the global market over the reports forecast period owing to their massive benefits in improving the shelf life and affordability of food items. Although the segment will slightly drop in terms of valuation by the end of the forecast period as compared to the beginning of the forecast period, it will still be the more dominant segment as compared to the segment of natural preservatives.From a geographical perspective, the global processed food and beverage preservative market earns a massive share in its revenue from North America. The market in North America is expected to remain the leading contributor of revenue to the global market over the forecast period as well, surging at a promising 4.8% CAGR from 2016 to 2024.Make an Enquiry @Busy lifestyles of urban dwellers, rapidly rising urban setups, and more likelihood towards the consumption of preserved foods owing to the level of convenience they grant are some of the key factors expected to further the growth opportunities of the global processed food and beverage preservatives market. The rising population of young population with high purchasing power in a number of emerging economies will also fuel the uptake of food and beverages that use preservatives.Moreover, high popularity of age-old food storage and preservation practices have also improved the global consumption of preservatives such as vinegar, salt, and sugar.However, certain factors such as heightened health-related concerns associated with the increased consumption of preserved food products and the rising inclinations to fresh products are expected to hamper the overall growth dynamics of the global processed food and beverage preservatives market.Get ToC@About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.FMIs team of over 200 research analysts provides market intelligence at global, regional, and country level. Our analysts are committed to provide independent insights, relying on our cognitive defusion training module, which conditions them to look at data objectively and unbiasedly.ContactFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email:sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Research Report Explores the 3D Cardiac Mapping System Market for the Forecast Period, 2016-2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11383 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11383 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Cardiac mapping is a technique in which the information from cardiac electrograms is gathered and displayed. Cardiac mapping is used to diagnose the heart rhythms especially in case of arrhythmia. The cardiac mapping procedure is usually done by inserting catheter into the heart chamber percutaneously and recording the electrograms sequentially, this is done in order to correlate the electrograms with cardiac anatomy. The new 3D cardiac mapping systems create the three dimensional model of any chamber of heart and can track exact location of the catheter. This allows movement of the catheters without using X-ray. They are designed to improve the resolution and gain prompt cardiac activation maps.3D Cardiac Mapping System Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe 3D cardiac mapping system market is anticipated to grow with a significant CAGR owing to the increase in number of patients with arrhythmia and other cardiac disorders, rising pressure to reduce diagnosis errors and increasing healthcare expenditure. The major factors driving the growth of 3D cardiac mapping systems is the precision and patient safety enabled by real-time monitoring. The increase in aging population who are more prone to chronic heart disorders will elevate the demand for the 3D cardiac mapping system. The increase in prevalence and diagnosis rate of cardiac illness is the major factors which is creating the demand for 3D cardiac mapping systems. The 3D cardiac mapping also help in reducing the time of diagnosis. The restraining factors for the 3D cardiac mapping system market are high cost of services and limited adoption rate of the systems.Request for Report TOC @3D Cardiac Mapping System Market: OverviewThe awareness of 3D cardiac mapping system is giving rise to the adoption of the systems. The elimination of errors in diagnosis helps the physician in providing better treatment and cure. The adoption rate of 3D cardiac mapping system by the hospitals is high as compared to that of independent clinics and is estimated to be the fastest growing segment. Electroanatomical mapping are used widely as it hold the potential to increase the safety, efficacy and efficiency of catheter. Real-time positional management (Cardiac Pathways) EP system contribute maximum share in the overall 3D cardiac mapping systems during the forecast period.3D Cardiac Mapping System Market: Regional OverviewOn the basis of geography, the global 3D cardiac mapping system market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America contributes maximum share to the 3D cardiac mapping system market. European countries are expected to represent significant growth rates due to the growing healthcare practices. Amongst the Asian countries, India and China are more promising due to large population pool, increased prevalence of cardiac diseases, increasing awareness, rapid improvement in healthcare services with the saturation in the developed markets.Request for Report Sample @3D Cardiac Mapping System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in 3D cardiac mapping system market are Biosense Webster, Inc., St. Jude Medical and Boston Scientific Corporation, Inc. The companies are majorly focusing in the improvement of services provided to customers with the new techniques that provide the physicians in better and quick diagnosis.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.Our client success stories feature a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups. PMRs collaborative environment is committed to building industry-specific solutions by transforming data from multiple streams into a strategic asset.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite: Good Growth Opportunities in Global Thermal Ablation Devices Market till 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11419 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11419 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Thermal ablation is a process of destruction of tissue by heating it with microwave or radiofrequency techniques so that cells cannot survive in a targeted area without damaging to other tissues.Thermal ablation is used in various fields namely fibroids, liver cancer, epilepsy, varicose veins and others. With the help of focused ultrasound transducers along with various size the damaged tissue can be controlled accurately. Most of the devices use radiofrequency technology to heat tumor tissue, thermal ablation device with radiofrequency helps in predictable the volumes of tissue are ablated. Thermal ablation is a minimally invasive procedure consist of catheter with a thin needle electrode introduced in tumor under imaging guidance and energy deposited through electrode by this catheter produces heat of the surrounding tissues which helps in sooner recovery and improved safety of patients.Request for Report TOC @Thermal ablation devices market are witnessing robust growth owing to increasing prevalence of chronic disease along with aging population which lead to increase in volume of minimal invasive surgery having benefit over traditional surgical procedures and cost effective treatment. In addition, less procedure timelines, low risk and damage to tissue with minimally invasive procedure drives the thermal ablation devices market in near future. However, with inadequate imaging, defined size of clotting area reduce the performance of the thermal ablation and negative effect of treatment can hamper the thermal ablation devices market.Based on technology, radiation therapy is the most applicable form of technology used in cancer treatment as compared to other techniques used by most radiologists. It has been observed that due to its extensive usage, various method of applications and acceptance in population, radiation therapy will enjoy majority of share in thermal ablation devices. With increase in the consumer awareness and cardiologists towards usage and positive outcomes of latest thermal ablation technology owing to its advance features and technology as compared to other techniques namely microwave, hydrothermal and hydro mechanical ablation exhibits the growth of thermal ablation devices in near future.Depending on geographic region, thermal ablation devices market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America held the largest revenue share in the thermal ablation devices market followed by Europe and Asia Pacific owing to increase in geriatric population, technological advancements, growing consumer awareness, increasing prevalence of cancer, cardiovascular and orthopedic disorder in these regions. The developing nations in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential for growth in the thermal ablation devices market due to increase in healthcare expenditure, per capita income and accessibility.Request for Report Sample @Some of the key participating global players in thermal ablation devices market are Boston Scientific Corporation, AngioDynamics Inc, Endo Health Solutions, Inc., InSightec LTD/Elbit Imaging LTD, Covidien PLC, Hologic, Inc., ST. JUDE MEDICAL, Johnson & Johnson, Solta Medical, Inc., Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc., Accuray Incorporated and Syneron Medical LTD.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.Our client success stories feature a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups. PMRs collaborative environment is committed to building industry-specific solutions by transforming data from multiple streams into a strategic asset.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Thymus Cancer Market Trends, Regulations And Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11431 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11431 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Thymus cancer or thyomas is a tumor formed on the outer surface of the thymus. Thymus is a small organ located in the upper chest under the breast bone and makes specific type of white blood cells which help the body fight infection. The tumor occurs at the rate of only 1.5 cases in million people each year in the United States thus being a rare type of cancer make up 1% of the total cancers.There are no prominent causes or risk factors for thymus cancer but show the symptoms like prolonged cough, fatigue and drooping of eye lids. About 30% of the people having thyoma also have a condition called myasthenia gravis which is an autoimmune disorder, people having thyoma tend to have some other related syndromes called as paraneoplastic syndromes. Thyoma may not cause aearly signs of symptoms and may be diagnosed during a chest x-ray or CT scan.Request for Report TOC @WHO has developed a classification for thyomas by assigning different letters as Type A, Type AB, Type B1, Type B1, Type B2, Type B3,Type C, Type A being the rarest type. Most of the thyomas are diagnosed, staged and treated during the surgery. The advancements in cancer treatments and therapies can be the driving factors of this market. Being a rare type of cancer there no significant studies available where the risk factors and possible causes of thymus cancer which can be a drawback for the thymus cancer market in terms of diagnosis. The proper approach towards thymus cancer can be the diagnosis and thus the people having syndrome are most likely to develop thymus cancer and thus must be looked after and treated before the tumor spreads beyond the thymus.With increasing base of thyoma patients, the Thymus Cancer market is expected to have sizeable growth opportunity during the forecast period (2016-2026). Companies are focusing on diagnosis treatments and also newer therapies to treat thymus cancer. With technological innovations and advance research there is immense potential in Thymus Cancer market.On the basis of region presence, Thymus Cancer market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Currently, North America dominates the global market for Thymus Cancer due to high prevalence rate of allergy cases owing to angioedema, followed by Europe. The rate of thymus cancer is comparatively low with respect to other regions. However factors such genetic mutation and relative conditions causing thyomas are also responsible for thymus cancer as observed by the researchers.Request for Report Sample @Some of the key market players in the manufacturing of the treatment products (antibiotics) for sinusitis includes Novartis International AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Pfizer Inc., Mylan N.V, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Eli Lilly and Company, and Phyton Biotech LLC.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.Our client success stories feature a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups. PMRs collaborative environment is committed to building industry-specific solutions by transforming data from multiple streams into a strategic asset.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1-646-568-7751Tollfree: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite: Carnauba Wax Market Intelligence Report for Comprehensive Information 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3868 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3868 www.futuremarketinsights.com Natural waxes are obtained through ecological process of biogenesis without any involvement of chemical process. Natural waxes can be derived from plant as well as animal source and represents renewable source of wax. Thereby, gaining traction among wax manufacturers. Carnauba wax is plant-based resin wax, which is obtained from palm leaves of Copernicia prunifera, found exclusively in Brazil. The wax is attained by beating the dried leaves of palm and then refining it. Carnauba wax is considered to be naturally occurring hardest wax. Due to its durability and high melting point, carnauba wax finds extensive use in various sectors such as cosmetics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals among others. Carnauba wax consists various exclusive properties such as it swells when exposed to water, has potential to retain oil and exhibits prominent glossy characteristics differentiating it from other naturally occurring wax. Apart from natural source, carnauba wax can also be obtained organically by filtering the highest quality of untreated carnauba wax.Global Carnauba Wax Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing inclination of consumers towards naturally-derived products is driving the market for carnauba wax. Carnauba wax is hypo allergic in nature and easy to swallow hence finds extensive use in pharmaceutical industry for pills coating. As food & beverage industry is under continuous innovation, product such as carnauba wax that exhibit excellent emulsifying properties and binding capacity for oils, are gaining traction. Moreover, due to its high melting point and glossy characteristics it is becoming a desired natural additive choice among manufacturers of cosmetic industry for manufacturing of lip balms, lipsticks, mascaras among others. Thus, broad spectrum applicability of carnauba wax is propelling the market growth. Moreover, due to its hardness and viscosity modifier properties, it is extensively used as polish wax in automobile industry. Carnauba wax is gaining traction among consumers over the bee wax due to broad base of application hence accelerating the market growth.Request For Report Sample@However, the tropical variety of carnauba wax may cause some side effects such as skin rash, contact dermatitis, inflammation of hair follicle. Thereby, restraining the growth of carnauba wax market. Moreover, owing to less commercialisation, carnauba wax market offers low profitability margins to the manufacturers across the globe.Global Carnauba Wax Market: SegmentationCarnauba wax is used in the manufacturing of chewing gums, coated chocolates, lip balms, lipsticks, and dental floss, owing to its glossy and stabilizing characteristics. Moreover, due to its hardness characteristics it is extensively used as polish wax for car, furniture and surf board.On the basis of end-use, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-Food & BeveragesAutomobilesPersonal CarePharmaceuticalOthersOn the basis of source, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-NaturalOrganicOn the basis of form, carnauba wax market is segmented into:-PowderFlakesPelletGlobal Carnauba Wax Market: Region wise OutlookThe global carnauba wax market is categorised into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Latin America and North America. Brazil accounts for the major share of the market as carnauba wax is exclusively cultivated in the North-eastern Brazil. Asia pacific region is considered to be prominent segment for growth due to opportunistic investment and manufacturing hub for various industries under which carnauba wax finds extensive use. North America exports its major share of carnauba wax from Brazil.Visit For TOC@Global Organic Hair Care Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the global carnauba wax market includes:Strahl & Pitsch, Inc.Poth Hille & Co LtdKoster Keunen, LLC.CalwaxKahl GmbH & CO. KGFrank B. Ross Co., Inc.Akrochem CorporationABOUT 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.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Carbon Steel Market Forecast Research Reports Offers Key Insights 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-307 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-307 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Carbon steel which is also known as plain carbon steel is an alloy which is manufactured using the combination of iron and carbon. Carbon steel is also the term used to refer steel which is not stainless steel. Carbon steel also contains other metals in extremely small quantities. Other alloying metal used in the manufacturing of carbon steel includes manganese, copper and silicon. The proportion of carbon is increased in the steel in order to increase the physical properties of the product. High carbon content in the metal increases the hardness as well as strength of the product. However, increased proportion of carbon reduces the ductility of the product making it extremely difficult to weld. High carbon content usually lowers the steels melting point and also its temperature resistance. The carbon content in the steel varies from 0.1 to 1.5%. However, there are steels that contain above 2% of carbon content but they are rarely used and have extremely specific applications. Carbon steels are mainly classified as low carbon steel, medium carbon steel and high carbon steel depending on the carbon content in the steel alloy. Carbon steel is one of the most widely used steel alloys. Low carbon steel or mild steel is the most common form of carbon steel used owing to its easy availability and cheap price.Medium and high carbon steel is widely used in many common applications. High carbon steel are used to manufacture a wide range of tools and equipments which includes knives, saw blades, chains, brackets, wear parts,pneumatic drill bits, railway wheels, shear blades, wire for structural work and jaws for vices among others. Carbon steel is majorly used in manufacturing a range of cutting tools owing to their great hardness and brittleness. Carbon steel is used in sheeting and in various structural forms owing to its amenability to tooling and wielding. Carbon steel is also used to in the construction industry. Carbon steel is widely used in the construction of bridges. Thus, the growing construction industry is expected to drive the growth of the carbon steel market. Carbon steels also find applications in the automobile industry. Carbon steel is an important material used in the manufacturing of automobiles framework. The automobiles body is usually manufactured using carbon steel. Carbon steel is used in manufacturing ships and rail roads.Thus, the growing automobile industry is expected to boost the overall demand for carbon steel market.Request Report Sample@Asia Pacific is the largest manufacturer of carbon steel. Presence of many carbon steel manufacturers in China is expected to boost the overall demand for carbon steel market. Asia Pacific is also the largest consumer of carbon steel. The increase in urbanization coupled with the growing economies in the region is expected to augment the overall demand for carbon steel in the region. Asia Pacific is followed by Europe in terms of consumption of carbon steel. Presence of many automobile manufacturers in the region is expected to boost the demand for carbon steel in the region. The demand for carbon steel is expected to grow rapidly owing to the high demand for the steel alloy in the railway and ship industry.Visit For TOC@Curtis Steel Co., Inc., Omega Steel Company, Afarak Group, ArcelorMittal SA and Bushwick Metals LLC are some of the participants of the global carbon steel market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Home Theater Audio Systems Market: Industry Insights, Outlook and Forecast upto https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/home-theater-audio-systems-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/home-theater-audio-systems-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16801 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Multi-room audio systems, which enable to play songs through mobile application, are expected to pave huge opportunities for home theatre audio systems manufacturers. Integration of home audio systems with wearable devices have compelled manufacturers in developing smart and networked speakers. Global sales of home theatre audio systems will account for revenues worth US$ 9,954 Mn in 2017, according to a report by Persistence Market Research (PMR). PMRs report projects the global home theatre audio systems market to register 5% CAGR through 2025. Global sales of home theatre audio systems are estimated to reach nearly US$ 15,000 Mn in revenues by 2025-end.Obtain Report Details @Low-range home theatre audio systems will remain sought after, based on price range. Sales of premium home theatre audio systems will register fastest growth in the market. In addition, revenues from sales of mid-range home theatre audio systems will remain comparatively higher than that of premium home theatre audio systems.Un-organized retail stores will remain the most lucrative sales channel for home theatre audio systems, expanding at the highest CAGR through 2025. Sales of home theatre audio systems in organized sales channel will account for revenues worth US$ 5,909.2 Mn by 2025-end.By technology, Bluetooth home theatre audio systems will remain dominant in the market, followed by Wi-Fi. In addition, sales of Wi-Fi and NFC home theatre audio systems are estimated to exhibit parallel expansion at 4.8% CAGR through 2025.More than 40 Mn units of 9.1 channel & above home theatre audio systems are expected to be sold by 2025-end, based on channel type. In terms of volume, sales of 6.1 channel home theatre audio systems will comparatively lower than other channel type segments in the market.North America will continue to be dominant in the global home theatre audio systems market, with sales poised to reach US$ 4,748.8 Mn by 2025-end. Asia-Pacific (APAC) will remain the second largest market for home theatre audio systems, closely followed by Europe. However, sales in Europe will exhibit a comparatively higher CAGR than APAC through 2025.Download Table of Content @Increasing adoption of wireless home theatre audio systems equipped with features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is expected to drive growth of the market in North America. Audio industry in the region has been witnessing a rise in technological advancements, transforming the fashion in which music is played and appreciated. This is further expected to fuel demand for home theatre audio systems in North America. However, increasing risk of subsequent hearing loss, resulting from prolonged exposure to music with noise levels over 85 decibels, is likely to inhibit growth of the market in this region.Governments in Asia Pacific countries are providing necessary support for in-house manufacturing through various schemes, for example Make in India scheme by the Indian government. This has further led towards reduction in manufacturing costs, thereby prices of products. The home theatre audio systems market in APAC is expected to be highly influenced by such initiatives of governments. In addition, increasing population, especially in India and China, is further expected to impact adoption of home theatre audio systems in these regions.However, confined living spaces in APAC countries, owing to ever-growing population, has resulted into disturbance to neighbors caused by high frequency of home theatre audio systems, particularly in urban areas. This has led people living in urban areas to adopt personal hearing devices such as earphones, or, Bluetooth speakers. These factors are expected to restrain growth of the home theatre audio systems market in APAC.Request A Sample Of Report @Key market players identified in PMRs report include Bose Corporation, Harman International Industries, Yamaha Corporation, Sony Corporation, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics, Pioneer Corporation, VOXX International Corp, Sound United LLC, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Bowers & Wilkins, Pioneer Corporation, Bang & Olufsen, Braven LC, Sonos.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: Guar Gum Market: Competitive Intelligence and Tracking Report 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4092 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4092 www.futuremarketinsights.com Guar gum is an agricultural product derived from endosperm of guar beans. Guar gum is a hydrocolloid act as an emulsifier, stabilizer, thickener and coating agent in various applications. It is primarily cultivated in countries such as Pakistan, U.S., Australia and Africa. India is considered to be the leading contributor in terms of guar production across the globe. It has been estimated that Indias guar production contributes to 80% of the worlds total guar production. Guar gum is much economical as compared to other thickening & stabilizing agents such as corn starch, which is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period.Guar Gum Market: SegmentationGuar gum is segmented on the basis of function which includes thickener, emulsifier, stabilizer, gelling agent, fat replacer, and coating material. Among all these segments guar gum as a thickener is expected to account for major market share. The growth of this segment is attributed to the wide application of guar gum as a thickening agent in various food industry and availability at low cost. Moreover, guar gum as an emulsifier is expected to show a substantial growth over the forecast period. In the U.S. guar gum is highly used as an emulsifier in various food application which is expected support the segment growth during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample@The global guar gum market is also segmented on the basis of end-use which includes food, pharmaceutical, textile & paper, explosive, oil industry and others (pet food). Among all these segment explosive segment is expected to account for major market share followed by food segment. Guar gum enables to produce maximum viscosity in slurry explosive which is expected to drive the segment growth in the near future. Food segment is further segmented on the basis of application which includes bakery, confectionery, meat & poultry products, sauces & dressings, beverages, dairy & frozen products and others. Wide application of guar gum in food industry such as it enables to reduce crystal formation in frozen food, helps to maintain texture, uniform viscosity and color in dairy products as well act as a water binder in sauces & salad dressings and others is expected to support food segment growth over the forecast period.Guar Gum Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, guar gum market is segmented on the basis of region which includes North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa and Japan. North America is expected to account for moderate growth in guar gum market in the near future. Due to sharp drop in price of crude oil in North America's oil and drilling sector has reduced off take of the guar gum. It started slowing down from December 2014, but fell drastically between January 2015 and March 2015, thus price of guar gum split and guar gum powder decreased drastically. In Asia Pacific, India is one of the largest producer. The country exports approximately 117, 000 tons of guar and its derivatives each year. Among this 33000 tons includes refined split guar gum, and 84000 tons includes treated and pulverized guar gum. India exports guar gum to countries such as Canada, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Japan, U.K, U.S. and others.Guar Gum Market: DriversIncreasing production of shale gas due rise in price of crude oil is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period. Moreover, consumption of guar gum is enables in lowering blood glucose, as well as lowering insulin levels in human body, which is further expected support the market growth over the forecast period. In addition, guar gum is most economical ingredient which is used in the food industry as an emulsifier, stabilizer, thickener and coating agent, is expected to fuel the market demand in the near future.Visit For TOC@Guar Gum Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players operating in market includes Cargill, Incorporated, Penford Corporation, E I Du Pont De Nemours and Company, Ashland Incorporated, Lucid Group and Forest Day Lawson among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Chlorinated Polyethylene Resins and Elastomers (CPE) Market Intelligence Report Offers Growth Prospects 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-318 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-318 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) resins and elastomersare thermoplastic polymers exhibiting enhanced physical and chemical properties. These are used as thermoplastic elastomer, modifier for various resins such as Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) andPolyethyelene(PE). Chlorinated polyethylene resins offer resistance against chemical, fire, heat, oil, weather, abrasion. Other properties of CPE include excellent mechanical and physical properties, high filler acceptance, tensile strength and low temperature performance. The applications of chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers include geomembranes, as impact modifier andflexible sheeting for automotive, roofing membranes, molded shapes, extruded profiles and cable jacketing and as a base polymer.Growing demand for chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers in impact modification application is expected to drive the market growth. Impact modification is the largest application of CPE in terms of consumption. It is widely used for impact modification of PVC for fence, deck, window profiles, pipes and vinyl siding.CPEs are added into formulations of PVC, PE and PP plastic products to improve impact resistance, low temperature performance, welding strength, and weatherability. In addition, growing demand from flexible sheetingelectrical wires and cables, roofing applications and rubber products for seals and shoe soles.Flexible sheeting industry is experiencing high growth in Asia Pacific region due to growing construction and electrical industries. These two industries are driven by changing lifestyle and rising disposable income.Further, rising demand from automobile hoses and industrial hoses is expected to fuel the chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers market growth. Owing to properties such as ozone resistance, chemical resistance, oil resistance and temperature resistance, CPE has become ideal choice for applications such as oil tubes, power steering tubes, delivery tubes of cooling fluids. It can be also used for vent and vacuum tubes in automotive. Automobile industry is driven by global demand for various types of automotives for variety of applications. Industrial hoses are used for chemical delivery and oil delivery in difference machineries of manufacturing plants.Request Report Sample@However, rising crude oil prices and hence volatility in raw materials prices are expected to hamper the market growth for chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers. Polyethylene is manufactured from crude oil derivatives and is subjected to availability and price variations. In addition, high cost of processing to develop the application specific elastomer or resin is expected to hamper the market growth.Development of new applications in healthcare and pharmaceutical are expected to provide opportunities for the players in the market. Due to non-hazardous nature of chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers, it can be used for manufacturing plants of pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.Asia Pacific was largest market for chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers in terms of consumption. China accounts for largest share in the global market in terms of production and consumption. Most of CPE in China is used for impact modifier and hoses application. Asia Pacific was followed by North America where the U.S. was the largest consumer. Demand from Europe and Rest of the World is expected to grow at moderate pace.Visit For TOC@Global chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers market is highly concentrated with few players dominating the market. Most of the players have their manufacturing plant in China and threat from Chinese players is moderate due to high cost of processing.Key players in Chlorinated polyethylene resins and elastomers market include the Dow Chemical Company, Sundow Polymers Co. Ltd., Lianda Corporation, Du Pont, Novista - Sanyi Chemical, WeifangPolygrandChemical Co.Ltd., Shandong SanyiIndustrial Co. Ltd., Cevo Industry Company Ltd. among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Portable Bluetooth Speakers Market: Trends, outlook and Opportunity Analysis 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/portable-bluetooth-speakers-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/portable-bluetooth-speakers-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16714 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Handiness of speakers is a top buying criteria among consumers from around the world, especially in countries such as Brazil and Mexico. A latest study published by Persistence Market Research cites that high-on-convenience factor is driving the sales of portable Bluetooth speakers in Latin America. Portable Bluetooth speakers are suitable for outdoor use, making them a hit among outdoorsy Latin Americans.Proliferation of wireless technologies, coupled with increasing penetration of smartphones & other smart devices, in Latin America is also expected to drive the demand for portable Bluetooth speakers. Through 2025, sales of portable Bluetooth speakers in Latin America are expected to soar rapidly, recording revenue growth at a speedy CAGR of 10.4%.Obtain Report Details @The report predicts that Latin America will be fastest-growing region in the global market for portable Bluetooth speakers. In 2017, the global portable Bluetooth speakers market is pegged to reach an estimated US$ 4 Bn value. Changing taste of music listeners will play a pivotal role in boosting the sales of portable Bluetooth speakers across the globe. By the end of 2025, the global portable Bluetooth speakers market is anticipated to bring in more than US$ 8.5 Bn in revenues, registering a value CAGR of 9.9%.The report has assessed multiple indicators slated to impact the markets growth in the years to come. Among these, following factors are expected to have greater impact on global sales of portable Bluetooth speakers:Download Table of Content @Vast subscriber base for cloud-hosted music streaming servicesRising presence of wireless broadcast & streaming servicesIncreasing disposable incomes of consumers, particularly among young and urban demographics Compatibility of portable Bluetooth speakers in connecting with multiple smart devices, (in some instances, simultaneously) Advancements in audio technology, and popularity of devices such as wireless headphones, dual-tone microphones, and sound bars In a bid to keep portable Bluetooth speakers in vogue, manufacturing companies are rapidly extending their portfolio.New product launches in the portable Bluetooth speaker segment is also driving the demand as consumers are intrigued by exciting features added to every new offering. The report has also profiled such leading players in the global portable Bluetooth speakers market, and they include Beats Electronics, Bose Corporation, Harman International Industries, Yamaha Corporation, Sony Corporation, JVCKENWOOD Corporation, Logitech International S.A, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics, Panasonic Corporation and Sound United. Other participants in the global portable Bluetooth speakers market are Plantronics Inc., Pioneer Corporation, Altec Lansing, Intex Technologies and Braven LC.Request A Sample Of Report @The report has projected that demand for portable Bluetooth speakers in premium price range is gaining traction, particularly due to product credibility associated with premium speaker brands. In 2017, majority of portable Bluetooth speakers were used for outdoor and indoor purposes, revenues from which accounted for nearly 50% share on global market. High demand for portable Bluetooth speakers among car users is also expected to drive the markets growth in the long run. The report also projects that organized retail stores will be largest sales channel for portable Bluetooth speakers, accounting for more than 40% revenue share. However, steadfast emergence & penetration of e-commerce will render a boost in online sales of portable Bluetooth speakers through 2025.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: Botanical Flavors Market Analysis and Forecast Study for 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4119 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4119 www.futuremarketinsights.com Botanical flavors are extracts from fruits, leaves, flowers, seeds, barks, spices and from many other plant materials. Botanical flavors have wide application in food and beverage industry as it used to enhance the flavor, taste and richness of products including bakery, dairy, savory, confectionery, juices, drinks and alcoholic drinks. Increasing demand of health conscious consumers in the global level market regarding consumption of healthy and nature-based products are expected to drive the market growth of botanical flavors over the forecast period. Currently, the majority of demand for botanical flavors accounts to North American and European market.Botanical Flavors: Growth DriversSome of the key drivers which are influencing the demand for botanical flavors in the global level market are from the side of food and beverage manufacturers as they used these flavors as natural ingredients and functional ingredient in their food recipes. Botanical flavors have wide application in the beverage industry, companies are offering new beverages and using botanical flavors to make improvement in their existing products. Moreover, it has healthy attributes that help the companies to meet consumers demand related to healthy and organic food products. In the global level market, the beverage industry is facing tough competition due to innovation and formulation of nutritional beverages as companies are focusing on offering health benefit and flavored drinks.Request For Report Sample@Usage of botanical flavors in food and beverage offers great taste and natural flavor and enriched the nutritional value of products. On the other side, the demand for botanical flavors is also increasing among the consumers who are seeking for enhanced health benefit and nature based products. Botanical flavors have nutritional value including protein, vitamin, and other minerals. Moreover, consumers are experiencing distinctive natural taste while eating and drinking.Botanical Flavors: Market SegmentationBotanical flavors market segment has been segmented on the basis of different segments. On the basis of extraction, the botanical flavor market is segmented by extraction which includes fruits, leaves, seeds, barks and others (herbs and roots). Among this segment, fruits and leaves segment are expected to show robust growth over the forecast period. Another segment is on the basis of form and it is segmented in form of solid, fluid and powdered form. The further botanical flavor market is also segmented on the basis of application which is segmented in food, beverage and personal care industry. On analyzing the demand for botanical flavor on graph, it shows that majority of the demand for botanical flavor is from food and beverage industry.Further market segment of the food industry is sub-segmented into the bakery, dairy, savory and confectionery products and beverages is sub-segmented into alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as in beverage industry it is used in preparing juices, tea, energy drinks, wines, beer etc. Using of botanical flavors in food and beverages is one of the natural ways to enhance the flavor and taste of food recipes. Further in the personal care industry, botanical flavors have application in cosmetics, hair care, and skin care products. Currently, in cosmetics and personal care product market, the demand for products which includes natural ingredient and flavor has increased due to skin care problems. Adding botanical flavors in personal care products, makes the quality of product better and offer benefits such as healthier hair and softer skin.Botanical Flavors: Regional OutlookOn the basis of regional segment, market of botanical flavors is segmented in five different regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, japan and Middle East and Africa. It is expected that North America and Europe account to highest growth in terms of both volume and value over the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Botanical Flavors: Key PlayersSome of the key players that are operating in the botanical flavor market: Synergy Flavors, Bell Flavors & Fragrances GmbH, Parker Flavors, Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Company, Kanegrade Limited, Carrubba Incorporated and Sapphire Flavors & Fragrances.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.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Agricultural Adjuvant Market Expected To Observer Major Growth By 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-331 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-331 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Agricultural adjuvant are used to enhance the effectiveness of pesticides such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other agents that are used to control or eliminate the unwanted pests. Adjuvant plays a crucial role in improving the efficiency of agrochemical and also for increasing the yield or productivity of the crop. Agricultural adjuvant includes ammonium fertilizers, surfactants and oils.Agricultural adjuvant plays a key role in the global agrochemical market. The market has grown exponentially over the recent few years and this growth is expected to continue over the forecast period. Various factors such as ease of application, innovative product contributions, advanced production practices, increased accessibility and increasing attack of pests and diseases play a vital role in driving the overall agricultural adjuvant market. Adjuvants are slowly making their mark as the best tool for farmers used to improve application, achieve more cost-effective solution, facilitate the dosage, better-targeted and more environmentally acceptable pest control. A significant amount of the demand for agricultural adjuvants market is anticipated from countries such as France, India, Australia, Italy, U.S., Brazil and Germany among others. The global agricultural adjuvant market consists of activator adjuvants and utility adjuvant. Activator adjuvants include ammonium fertilizers, oils and surfactants while utility adjuvants consists of water conditioners, buffering agents, compatibility agents, buffers, anti-foam agents and drift control agents among others. Agricultural surfactant chemicals are the most dominating product which captures the maximum market share of the overall agricultural adjuvant market. North America is expected to be the largest market for agricultural adjuvant.Request Report Sample@The leading players of agricultural adjuvant market includes Akzonoble N.V. (Netherlands),Adjuvant plus Inc. (Canada), Brandt Consolidated (U.S.),Momentive Performance Materials (U.S),Clariant International Ltd. (Switzerland), LambertiSpA (Italy),Solvay SA (Belgium), Croda Chemicals (India), Dow Croning (U.S.),Helena Chemical Company (U.S.) andTanatex Chemicals (Europe) among others. This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. It provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, regions, product types and distribution channels.Visit For TOC@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Apple Cider Vinegar Market Intelligence Study for Comprehensive Insights 2017 - 2027 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4121 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4121 www.futuremarketinsights.com Vinegar can be defined as a condiment made from various sugar and starchy materials processed through alcoholic and subsequent acetic fermentation. Apple cider vinegar is one of the type of vinegar, widely used as an antimicrobial and flavoring component in the cuisines. Apple cider vinegar is rich in acetic acid, magnesium, potassium, probiotics and enzymes. It helps to regulate body pH, lowers the blood sugar and cholesterol level, supports heart health, cure sinus infection, and prevent skin irritation. Apple cider vinegar also supports weight loss and metabolism. Additionally, high anti-fungal abilities of apple cider vinegar enables it to be used for cleaning purpose. It kills harmful bacteria and prevents the formation of fungus. It is used as a flavoring agent in soups and condiments, salad dressing.Apple Cider Vinegar Market SegmentationApple cider vinegar market can be segmented on the basis of applications, distribution channel, and by regions. Based on applications, apple cider vinegar is segmented into food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care, and others. Others include various household and industrial applications. Apple cider vinegar, being a key ingredient in various ethnic and foreign cuisines, is anticipated to witness relatively high share in the food & beverages segment. Pharmaceutical segment is expected to expand at relatively high CAGR owing to the wide use of apple cider vinegar in pharmaceutical segment. It helps in balancing blood sugar and help in improving diabetes. It is also applied to soothe sunburn.Request For Report Sample@Based upon distribution channel, apple cider vinegar market is segmented into supermarkets/hypermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, specialist stores, and others. Others include independent retailers. Supermarket/hypermarket is expected to hold relatively high share in the apple cider vinegar market. Expansion of retail chain format on global level has contributed significantly to the growth of supermarket/hypermarket over the forecast period.Regional Outlook of Apple Cider Vinegar Market:On the basis of geographical market segment, it is segmented into seven different regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific region, Japan and Middle East and Africa. In regional segments, North America is expected to hold relatively high share in terms of market value. Asia Pacific region is expected to witness relatively high growth in the apple cider vinegar market owing to the rising health consciousness and increasing disposable income in the region.Apple Cider Vinegar Market Trends and Market Drivers:Apple cider vinegar market is expected to witness sustained growth over the forecast period. Growth of apple cider vinegar market is driven by its wide applications in the food & beverage industry. It is considered as one of the essential component in salad dressing, sauces and soups, and food preservatives. Other factors attributable to the high growth includes increase in ageing population, rising health consciousness, increasing purchasing power, rise in per capita health expenditure. Presence of natural ingredients in apple cider vinegar coupled with growing awareness regarding its health benefits contributes significantly to its volume growth over the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Apple Cider Vinegar Market Key Players:Some of the key players in the apple cider vinegar market include Barnes Naturals, The Kraft Heinz Company, Carl Kuhne KG, Castelo Alimentos S/A, Old Dutch Mustard Co., Inc., Marukan Vinegar USA Inc., and Aspall among others. Companies in the apple cider vinegar market are heavily investing in research and development activities to enhance the functional profile of apple cider vinegar. Companies also focus upon building efficient supply chain to ensure wide availability of apple cider vinegar in the market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Glutaraldehyde Market Expected to Dominate Worldwide by 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-308 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-308 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Glutaraldehyde is an organic compound widely used as disinfectant and as preservative. It is a colorless and slimy liquid, commonly available in aqueous solution. Glutaraldehyde solutions commonly contain about 1% to 2% glutaraldehyde in it. Glutaraldehyde is usually manufactured industrially by oxidizing cyclopentane or by reacting methyl vinyl ether and acrolein followed by hydrolysis of the compound. The chemical is used in different applications but its primary application is as a disinfectant or cold sterilant for medical dental and surgical equipments.All medically invasive procedures require sterilization of the equipments in order to rule out any chances of infection resulting from contaminated equipments. Glutaraldehyde solution is extensively used in the medical and health care industry to cold sterilize the equipments prior to any surgical procedure. Some of the medical equipment sterilizing products that contain glutaraldehyde as an active ingredient are Hospex, Glutarex, Cidex, Aldesen and Soniacide among many others. Apart from its use in medical device sterilization it is also used as a fixative agent for tissues. Tissue fixation comprise of two steps: killing the normal function of the tissue and stabilizing the structure of the tissue. Glutaraldehyde cross links the protein of the cells and helps to kill the cells quickly. This completes the first step of tissue fixation. Apart from that glutaraldehyde is also employed as a hardening or cross linking agent to reduce the drying cycle in X-Ray film processing. This application is not only wide spread in the medical industry but has found application in some engineering applications as well.Glutaraldehyde is also used as a chemical for the treatment of water in cooling towers, water recirculating systems and air washers in order to control and eliminate microbial growth in the systems as well as prevent corrosion. It also finds significant application in off-shore applications, where it is added to sea-water in order to prevent attack from certain sulfate reducing micro organisms which cause corrosion. Glutaraldehyde is also used as 9industrial cleaning agents particularly in food and beverage industry and tobacco industry. It is also present in the general retail cleaners in small quantities. Owing to its good disinfecting property highly concentrated solution of glutaraldehyde is used in the paper manufacturing industry to inhibit the growth of micro organisms in paper pulps. The disinfectant also finds application in several other industries such as aquaculture, leather tanning, cosmetics, and animal healthcare.Request Report Sample@In spite of the compounds wide spread application its high toxicity and environmentally hazardous nature is a major restraint for growth. The chemical is highly regulated owing to the health risk it poses. Even 1% solution of glutaraldehyde is poisonous for human and animals alike and any product containing more than 0.1% glutaraldehyde solution is labeled hazardous. The common ways of poisoning include contact with skin or inhalation of fumes. High level of precaution needs to be undertaken in order to reduce occupational as well as environmental exposure to glutaraldehyde, which is a costly affair for the market players. Due to these concerns, efforts have been undertaken to reduce dependency on glutaraldehyde and find suitable substitutions.The largest demand for glutaraldehyde is derived from Europe followed by North America and Asia Pacific regions. However the demand is expected to slow down in Europe and pick up in Asia Pacific region lead by China and India.Visit For TOC@Some of the major companies operating in this market are BASF SE, Dow Chemicals, and Union Carbide Corporation among many others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Research Report and Overview on Chloromethane Market, 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-312 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-312 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Chloromethane, which is also known as methyl chloride, is a group of organic compounds. It is a toxic, colorless chemical compound which has a mildly sweet odor and is highly flammable. Chloromethane is naturally produced by the effect of sunlight on biomass and chlorine present in sea foam. Commercially, chloromethane is manufactured by the chemical reaction between hydrogen chloride and methanol. Traditionally, chloromethane was widely used as a refrigerant. However, owing to its high toxicity levels, the use of this chemical has been banned in consumer products. Presently, it is used as a chemical intermediate to manufacture derivative products such as chloroform, methylene chloride and carbon tetrachloride. In addition, it is used in the manufacture of silicone.Growth of the electronics and automotives market is expected to be one of the primary factors driving the silicones market which in turn is expected to augment the demand for chloromethane over the next few years. In addition, rapid industrialization is expected to fuel the demand for derivatives of chloromethane such as chloroform, methylene chloride and carbon tetrachloride. However, the high toxicity levels of this chemical is expected to hamper the growth of the market as there are stringent regulations present regarding the storage, handling, usage and wastage. Rising demand for chloromethane in BRICS is expected to open opportunities for the growth of the market in the near future.Request Report Sample@Asia Pacific was the largest market for chloromethane and the trend is expected to continue into the forecast period owing to rapid industrialization in this region. Growing demand for electronics and automotives are indirectly expected to augment the chloromethane market. In addition, developing economies of South America and Africa are expected to show significant growth in demand for this chemical over the next few years.Visit For TOC@Some of the key participants present in the global chloromethane market include AkzoNobel N.V., Asahi Glass Co. Ltd., Dow Chemical Company, Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd., Ineos, Solvay S.A., Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd., Solvay and Tokuyama Corporation among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Rapid Advancements will boost Bauxite Mining Market Size Further 2015 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3299 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3299 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Bauxite popularly known as aluminum ore is the major source of aluminum. Bauxite is a mixture of minerals such as gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore, iron oxides such as goethite and hematite, clay mineral kaolinite and some amounts of anatase. Bauxite are found majorly in the tropical and sub-tropical regions such as Africa, West Indies, South America, Australia, Asian countries such as India and China and some parts of Europe (in small quantity). Australia is the largest producer and exporter of bauxite globally, with five bauxite mine contributing more than one fourth of the global bauxite production. There are five steps involved in the extraction of bauxite starting with preparation of bauxite area, secondly, bauxite mining, crushing, ore transportation and lastly rehabilitation of land. On an average one square meter of land can extract one metric ton of aluminum.Around 85% of bauxite mined globally is converted to alumina which is further used for the production of aluminum metal. Other major application of bauxite mining is for commercial purpose such as abrasives and refractorys. Automobile industry is the major end-user of aluminum metal owing to associated benefits of aluminum metals such as corrosion-free, high-density and lightweight features.Request For Report Sample@North America has the largest market share for bauxite mining owing to increased aluminum demand in the region. Europe and Asia Pacific region follows North America in bauxite demand. North America is expected to maintain its dominance in the forecasted period. Europe is expected to witness marginal growth. However, Asia Pacific region is expected to witness highest growth in the coming future owing to the increasing domestic demand from the automobile industries in the emerging markets of India, China and Japan.Due to corrosion-free, high-density and lightweight features, aluminum metal is gaining its important in the automobile industries to manufacture lightweight vehicle parts. This is driving the global demand for bauxite mining. Additionally, growth in the transportation sector such as airplanes, trucks, railcars and marine is further expected to increase the global bauxite mining demand.Visit For TOC@Owing to the increasing demand of aluminum by the automobile industry have influence the aluminum manufacturing companies to invest more in bauxite extraction business. Some of the major companies operating in the global clinical nutrition products market are Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, Access Industries, Tata Steel Europe Ltd., Halco Mining, Tajik Aluminium Company, Mitsubishi Aluminum Co., Ltd., Queensland Alumina Limited, Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd., Australian Bauxite Limited, Iranian Aluminium Company and Alumina Limited.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Ourresearch model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and marketresearch methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.Contact USPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Web:Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Research Report and Overview on Anisic Aldehyde Market, 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-479 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-479 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com Scented products are chosen by a large number of inhabitants. Considering daily life, products containing fragrance are preferred, consumed and utilized which in turn has resulted in increase in demand for global anisic aldehyde market. Anisic aldehyde also known as para-methoxybenzaldehyde is a clear colourless pale yellowish liquid with powerful aroma. Being an organic compound, it is used in both natural and synthetic form to provide fragrance and flavour. Anisic Aldehyde, form of speciality chemical is increasingly cited as a trigger to produce more scented and odourless products. It is found in vanilla aroma and in essential oils of fennel and anise. It is produced commercially by methoxytoluene using manganese dioxide. It can also be created by oxidation of anethole (an allied fragrance that is found in alcoholic beverages). Owing to its good persistence, it is widely used in perfumery and pharmaceuticals applications.Anisic Aldehyde Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe demand for anisic aldehyde is constantly rising with growth in fragrance & flavour, pharmaceuticals and personal care industry. An advanced chemical, physical & efficient property of anisic aldehyde drives the demand for global anisic aldehyde market. With progress in the global pharmaceutical market followed by high consumption in cosmetics and personal care, the global anisic aldehyde market is likely to expand at double digit CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2025). However, unexpected fluctuation in raw materials along with government regulations is acting as a restraint in the growth of global anisic aldehyde market.Request Report Sample@Anisic Aldehyde Market: SegmentationOn the basis of end-user, the global anisic aldehyde market has been broadly segmented into:Perfumes & FragrancesPharmaceuticalsPersonal & Home CareOthersOn the basis of regions the global acetophenone market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Japan.Visit For TOC@Anisic Aldehyde Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global anisic aldehyde market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. India and China is the major manufacturing hub for anisic aldehyde. As of 2015, Asia Pacific, and Western Europe dominates the global anisic aldehyde market in terms of market revenue. U.S., Australia and South Africa are few other countries having a large consumer base for speciality chemicals like anisic aldehyde. India, China & Japan are projected to expand at a substantial growth and will continue to contribute to the global anisic aldehyde market value, exhibiting a robust CAGR during the forecast period, 2016?2025.Anisic Aldehyde Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in global bariatric surgery devices market are BASF SE, Atul Ltd, Neshiel Chemical Pvt Ltd, Parchem, AscentFinechem Pvt ltd and Elan Chemical Company and Nandolia Organic Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Global Essence, among many others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Marine Ports and Services Market Forecast and Analysis by Persistence Market Research 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3330 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3330 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Marine ports and services market offers safety and security amenities, infrastructure development and enhance services, such as vessel traffic service, emergency services, and vessel bookings and cancellation services. Marine ports and services also provide reliable and safe movement of cargo and passenger vessels. It provides abrupt responses to safety and environmental concern associated with marine vessel of all class such as liquid cargo, dry bulk cargo and tourism or passenger ships.On the basis of the various services provided by the marine port and services, the market can be broadly categorized under four segments namely port development and consultancy, port and harbor operation, commercial shipping services and tools services.Request For Report Sample@According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2013, 80 per cent of global commodities trade was carried through waterways. The trade competitiveness of all developing and developed countries depends largely on their infrastructure of shipping services and inter-port conectivity.The past few decades the economy and trade capacity are shifted from its traditional centers. Moreover the considerable shifts in global manufacturing locations, development of high volume container vessels and technological advancement in the field of information and communication networking is driving the market of marine port and services market.Developments of new international sea routes such as extension of the panama canal and proposal of arctic routes coupled with formation of BRICS bank (a bank formed by Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa) with the proposal to raise funding to meet the needs of new and advanced logistic infrastructure is providing new market opportunity for the global marine port and services market.Asia Pacific is the largest market of global marine port and services market followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific is also the fasted growing region for marine port and services market attributed to the growing gross domestic production (GDP) in China and India. Moreover growing SouthSouth trade, intra-Asian trade coupled with increasing seaborne trade is driving the market in this region.Visit For TOC@Some of the major companies operating in global marine ports and services market include, DP World Limited, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, Ningbo Port Company Limited, Shanghai International Port, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AGAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Ourresearch model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and marketresearch methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.Contact USPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Web:Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Flat Panel Display Market: Structure and Overview of Key Market Forces Propelling Market https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/flat-panel-displays-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/flat-panel-displays-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12943 Rapidly mushrooming consumer electronics industry will remain the key driving force for soaring demand for flat panel display in the global market. The global flat panel display market, valued at US$ 102 Mn in 2015, is likely to gain a considerable uplift by the end of a five-year forecast period 2015-2020. Over the assessment period, PMR estimates the expansion of the market at a CAGR of 5.8%.The global flat panel display market is primarily driven by rising adoption of FPD in a host of consumer electronics devices, including televisions, mobile devices, laptops, tablets, and desktop monitors. With thriving consumer electronics sector, the market is expected to witness a parallel demand for HMI (human-machine interface) technology. This will, in turn, accelerate the FPD market growth. Moreover, the automotive sector is increasingly raising the demand for flat screen monitors.Obtain Report Details @Rising demand for large-sized displays and a rapid pace of technology adoption will collectively contribute to the market growth. Moreover, manufacturers are increasingly investing in FPD R&D, which is an important factor estimated to boost the market in near future.Rapid price rebound has been an important factor propelling the demand for flat panel display since the past few years. The emergence of innovative FPD models by leading manufacturers is foreseen to be another key factor escalating the demand. The introduction of OLED to the market is identified to present lucrative opportunities, superior to conventional LCD. Consistent industrial flat panel (IFP) display monitor launches will continue to boost the market further.Download Table of Content @The global flat panel display market is anticipated to witness a number of application-based opportunities in verticals other than automotive and electronics. Education, media, and advertising sectors are the most likely to spur the demand for FPD within next few years.In addition, growing usage of flat panel display in high-resolution medical imaging technology is a strong factor expected to impact the market growth positively. The discernible proliferation of mobile computing devices and rapid advancements in semiconductor manufacturing technology are also projected to support the FPD market growth during the forecast period.By technology, liquid crystal display (LCD) is estimated to remain the dominant segment with a market share of over 86% by 2020 end, and revenues of over US$ 116 Mn. The second largest segment plasma display will, however, reach a value of over 11 Mn by 2020 end. Organic light emitting diode display (OLED) segment is likely to see substantial growth through 2015 to 2020.Based on application, consumer electronics will continue to be the leading application segment, followed by the automotive sector.On the basis of the regional analysis, the global FPD market is likely to be the most concentrated in emerging Asian countries, attributed to the major cluster of consumer electronics manufacturers in the Asia. APEJ is predicted to remain dominant with nearly 85% share in terms of revenues, whereas Japan will remain the second largest market with around 10% share of the market by 2020 end. Americas and Europe will represent significantly growing markets over the forecast period.Request A Sample Of Report @A few key market players are Sony Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, LG Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Emerging Display Technologies Corp. Some other notable companies include AU Optronics Corporation, Innolux Corp., Japan Display Inc., and Universal Display Corporation.Long-term Outlook: The global flat panel display market will attain a value worth US$ 135 Mn over the forecast period 2015-2020.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market ResearchU.S. Sales Office:305 Broadway, 7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesUSA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Building Automation Systems Market: An Array of Graphics and Analysis of Major Industry Segments https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/building-automation-systems-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/building-automation-systems-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12823 In reference to a new report published by Persistence Market Research, the global building automation systems market will showcase significant growth between 2016 and 2026. Manufacturers of building automation systems are rapidly adopting new regulations set across the globe and they are also lining up new products to meet rising market demand.The Persistence Market Research report titled, Building Automation Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis & Forecast, 2016-2026, talks in detail about the market psyche and also scrutinizes the market drifts which are expected to impact the future of the global building automation systems market. The global building automation systems market was valued more than US$ 43 Bn in 2015 and is expected to mint better revenue by the end of 2016, reaching approximately US$ 48 Bn. The market will continue its journey towards expansion and the market worth will reach US$ 141.1 Bn towards the end of 2026. The global building automation systems market will record a CAGR of 11.1% during the projected period.Obtain Report Details @Governments around the globe are rolling out different precautionary measures to cut down the wastage of energy. Different new regulatory methods are adopted to reduce the consumption of energy. This is a massive booster for the global building automation systems market. Several big economies around the globe such as Europe, US and Japan have already curated some restrictive methods to revise the previous trends. This opens a new window of opportunity for the global building automation systems market.Download Table of Content @A slew of new technologies that are eroding this market are actively affecting the global canvas of the market. Better and more advanced technologies are enhancing the end-user experience and also increasing market outreach. The introduction of smart web-based, cloud-based control networks backed by the Internet of Things (IOT), mobile technologies, integrated building systems and facility management solutions are expanding the periphery of the global building automation systems market. Last but not the least, the urgent need for consolidated security solutions is also pushing ahead the market growth of the global building automation systems market.These key factors will complement the all-round development of the market within the forecast period but there are also certain key factors that might barricade the normal development of the market within the period of forecast. Building automation systems come with a high price tag and this is expected to impact their widespread adoption. The absence of skilled manpower is another market growth deterrent.Request A Sample Of Report @The rising incidences of security violations across the globe are likely to impact the growth of the security and surveillance segment in the global building automation systems market. The security and surveillance segment will exhibit a robust growth in terms of revenue and will overshadow the market within the forecast period. The commercial segment will contribute notably to the global building automation systems market. Towards the end of the projected period, the commercial segment will touch a market worth of more than US$ 63 Bn and will record a CAGR of 10.9%. Apart from this the government and residential segments will also project promising growth trends by 2026 end. North America will lure maximum investors, as the building automation systems market in this region will exceed a whopping value of US$ 55 Bn by the close of 2026.The global market for building automation systems is crowded with several players. The Rheem Manufacturing Company, United Technologies, General Electric, Lennox International, Philips Lighting Holding B.V., Ingersoll-Rand Plc. Honeywell International Inc., Johnson Controls are some of the major players contributing to the growth of the market. They are establishing smart IT backed platforms to provide advanced building automation systems to their customers.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market ResearchU.S. Sales Office:305 Broadway, 7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesUSA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Imaging Technology for Precision Agriculture Market: Key Players and Production Information analysis with Forecast https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/imaging-technology-for-precision-agriculture-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/imaging-technology-for-precision-agriculture-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12016 In a new report titled Imaging Technology Market for Precision Agriculture: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016 - 2024, Persistence Market Research analyzes the performance of the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture over an eight-year period and provides insights on the key factors and trends likely to influence the market during the forecast period (2016 2024).The global imaging technology market for precision agriculture is anticipated to grow from US$ 567.4 Mn in 2016 to US$ 1,165.9 Mn by 2024, registering a CAGR of 9.0% in terms of revenue during the forecast period (2016-2024). In this report, the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture is tracked in terms of value and is calibrated to obtain market revenue estimates.Obtain Report Details @Increasing adoption of imaging technologies for precision agricultural applications supported with UAVs is a major factor driving the growth of the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture. Demand for imaging technology for precision agriculture is strongly associated with the growth of UAVs commercial applications market, as sensors are mounted on these UAVs in order to capture the data. Moreover, demand for hyperspectral technologies is expected to increase for precision agriculture applications because of the granularity of the information provided by this technology, which can be used to make better crop management decisions.However, lack of awareness about the technology, ambiguity about the returns, substitute technologies available to farmers such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and unclear regulations for UAVs commercial applications across various countries are major challenges expected to be faced by market players operating in the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture during the forecast period.Download Table of Content @The global imaging technology market for precision agriculture is segmented into two main segments namely by technology and by product. The technology segmented is further sub-segmented into multispectral technology and hyperspectral technology. The product segment is further sub-segmented into cameras, sensors, software, and others.In 2015, the multispectral technology segment dominated the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture, followed by the hyperspectral technology segment. The hyperspectral technology segment is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast period in the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture in terms of revenue, followed by the multispectral technology segment.The sensors product segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 10.9% in terms of value during the forecast period in the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture. In terms of market share, the cameras product segment accounted for a major percentage of the revenue share of the overall global imaging technology market for precision agriculture in 2015. The cameras product segment is expected to dominate the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture throughout the forecast years, followed by the sensors and software product segments.Request A Sample Of Report @Region wise, the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and Middle East & Africa. In 2015, the market in North America dominated the overall global imaging technology market for precision agriculture, followed by the market in the Asia Pacific region. The imaging technology market for precision agriculture in Asia Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period, followed by the Europe imaging technology market for precision agriculture.Key players reported in this study on the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture include Bayspec, Tetracam, Micasense, Ximea, Teledyne Dalsa, and Resonon. These companies have significantly increased their footprint in the global imaging technology market for precision agriculture over the years.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market ResearchU.S. Sales Office:305 Broadway, 7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesUSA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Electronic Cylinder Lock Credentials Market: Latest Trends and Forecast Analysis up to 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/electronic-cylinder-lock-credentials-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/electronic-cylinder-lock-credentials-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11389 According to a recent report published by Persistence Market Research (PMR), revenue generated by the global electronic cylinder lock credentials market is estimated to reach US$ 351.0 Mn by 2016 end, witnessing an increase of 10.1% over 2015 revenue. Low frequency RFID is estimated to be the largest technology segment in terms of value contribution by 2016 end, accounting for US$ 297.6, which is up from US$ 271.3 in 2015.Obtain Report Details @Requirement for enhanced security in the residential sector, with enhanced growth in the construction and real estate sectors, are factors expected to fuel construction activities, thereby fuelling demand for electronic cylinder lock credentials. Demand is expected to pick up in the residential sector due to recent trends such as improving living standards, increasing per capita income etc.The market in Europe is estimated to be the largest revenue contributor to the global electronic cylinder lock credentials market by 2016 end, with a revenue share of 35.9%. Owing to a large number of leading players offering home security solutions in Europe, the market in the region is becoming increasingly competitive in nature and is expected to continue growing in terms of revenue contribution. Region-wise, North America is estimated to be the second largest market in the global electronic cylinder lock credentials market, with revenue at US$ 89.8 Mn an estimated increase of 8.4% by 2016 end over 2015.Download Table of Content @Among all product types, RFID key (cards) segment is estimated to account for leading market revenue share by 2016 end, owing to the fact that it is cost-effective, easy to deploy, and users can use any Bluetooth-enabled hand-held gadget to access electronic door lock systems. Demand for electronic key (contact based) is estimated to witness highest growth rate by 2016 end, owing to its increasing utilization in commercial, residential, industrial, and government sectors.Among all technology segment, low frequency RFID is estimated to lead in terms of overall revenue contribution by 2024, high frequency RFID (NFC) segment is estimated to witness highest growth rate by 2016 end. Locks being accessible using NFC technology, smartphones, tablets or Bluetooth-enabled gadgets, is a primary factor for consumers shifting to high frequency RFID (NFC) locks.Request A Sample Of Report @Leading players such as AIT Ltd., CES Group, Salto Systems, S.L, etc. are focusing on reducing operational costs as well as introducing advanced products to consolidate their position in the market. Mergers & acquisitions and joint ventures remain a key strategy in the global electronic cylinder lock credentials market. For example, over the last few years, companies such as SimonsVoss Technologies GmbH, ASSA ABLOY, and Salto Systems, S.L have significantly increased their footprint in the global electronic lock credentials market by entering into strategic partnerships with regional market players.Long-term Outlook: PMR forecasts the global electronic cylinder locks credentials market revenue to increase at a 9.8% CAGR during forecast period 20162024, and reach US$ 740.4 Mn.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market ResearchU.S. Sales Office:305 Broadway, 7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesUSA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Smart Machines Market: Key Players and Production Information analysis with Forecast https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/smart-machines-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/smart-machines-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8872 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Persistence Market Research (PMR) delivers key insights on the global smart machines market in its upcoming report titled, Smart Machines Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024. In terms of value, the global smart machines market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period. This is attributed to various factors, regarding which PMR offers vital insights in detail.On the basis of a component, the global smart machines market has been segmented into hardware, software, and service. Demand for smart machines is enhanced by increasing need to process and analyze big unstructured data among different sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace, and defense. On the basis of machine type, the global smart machines market has been segmented into robots, autonomous cars, drones, wearable electronics and others.Obtain Report Details @On the basis of technology, the global smart machines market has been segmented into cloud computing, big data, internet of everything (IoE), robotics, cognitive technology and effective technology. Affective technology segment is expected to expand with a substantial CAGR over the forecast period. Various enterprises working on cognitive computing are facing glitches and errors in technology. This, in turn, is encouraging adoption of affective computing. Cognitive computing technology enables emotions linking to a robot, assisting the robot in making rational decisions and performing more complex tasks.Smart machines are deployed to enhance networked resources and implement distributed intelligence in manufacturing industries. Integration of devices provides more accessibility. Smart machines can be easily connected to a broader network of connected devices, enabling users to share data on numerous devices. This ensures users to connect/access their devices from anywhere and anytime. This is expected to fuel demand for smart machines in various industries. The market in Australia is expected to witness substantial growth in adoption rates of smart machines over the next five years. Autonomous robots are expected to find applications in agriculture and commercial sectors to overcome the lack of labor in the country. Australia-based companies have also been investing significantly in advanced technologies such as IoT.Download Table of Content @Smart machines are programmed to make intelligent decisions in a time efficient manner. They are built to learn from their interactions and their precision increases over time. Hence, new developments in operational intelligence are encouraging companies to adopt systems that are smarter and efficient. Narrative Science Inc., a company that offers analytical solutions uses its virtual assistant Quill, which is programed using natural language processing to provide relevant solutions.This report covers trends driving each segment and offers analysis and insights of the potential of the smart machines market in specific regions. The markets in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific are expected to register high growth rates between 2016 and 2024. MEA is a small but significant market for smart machines as governments in the Middle East countries are investing in this sector to digitize government services. The market in Europe is expected to gain substantial market share in terms of revenue. This is attributed to increasing demand for smart machines from the automobile and manufacturing industries in countries such as Germany and France. The APAC accounted for the highest market share in 2015 and is expected to gain 232 BPS by an end of 2024.Request A Sample Of Report @Key players in the global smart machines market include Apple Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, BAE Systems, Creative Virtual Ltd., Digital Reasoning Systems, Inc., IBM Corporation, Narrative Science Inc., Rethink Robotics, ABB Limited, Rockwell Automation, Inc., and General Electric Co. others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Architectural Led Products Market: Value Chain Analysis and Forecast 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/architectural-led-products-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/architectural-led-products-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8074 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research, titled Global Market Study on Architectural LED Products: Driven by Price Commoditization and Significant Growth in Enhanced Performance, the architectural LED products market is estimated to be valued at US$ 3,997.5 Mn by the end of 2015 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 17.9% from 2015 to 2021 in terms of value, to account for US$ 10,751.1 Mn by 2021.Architectural LED lights are used mainly for illuminating monuments, museums, building structures, residents and bridges with the artistic integration of light source. Architectural LED lighting can be used for decorative purpose and can be applied for both indoor and outdoor purposes.Obtain Report Details @Currently, the global market for architectural LED products is driven by the factors such as government regulations encouraging construction companies to deploy LED lighting systems. LED lighting systems help in increasing energy efficiency and reduces carbon emission. Due to the longer life span of architectural LED lighting products, the market is witnessing a paradigm shift from the adoption of conventional lighting solution to the more efficient architectural LED products. Increasing consumer inclination towards luxurious lifestyle is projected to boost demand for architectural LED lighting products across the globe in the residential sector in which in turn is expected to be the primary factor contributing to the growth of the architectural LED products market.On the basis of products, the global architectural LED market is segmented as solar and conventional products. In terms of value, the conventional products segment is expected to account for 93.7% share of the global architectural LED products market by the end of 2015 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 17.7%, during the forecast period (20152021). In terms of volume, the solar LED products accounted for 9.3% in 2014.Download Table of Content @The conventional products segment is further classified into strip & linear products and lamps. Strip & linear products accounted for the 68.3% share in terms of the value of the conventional products segment in 2014. In term of value, the lamp segment of the global architectural LED products market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 14.9% during the forecast period and in terms of volume units, the lamp segment of the global architectural LED products market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 34.9% during the forecast period.On the basis of application, the architectural LED products market is segmented as cove lighting, wall washing, in the ground, backlight and others. Among these, wall washing segment dominated the market in 2014 and is expected to account for 38.8% share of the global architectural LED products market by 2015 end in terms of value. Increasing adoption of architectural LEDs luminaries and lamps by government offices and another historic monument as part of smart city initiatives is expected to drive the market growth of wall washing segment during the forecast period.The report provides in-depth information about various trends driving each segment and provides analysis and insights about the potential of the architectural LED products market in specific regions. On the basis of region, the global market for architectural LED products is segmented into five regions; among these, Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the market representing 47.1% share by the end of 2015.in terms of value and is analyzed to remain dominant by 2021.Request A Sample Of Report @Key players in global architectural LED products market include Cooper Industries PLC (Eaton Corporation), Philips Lumileds Lighting Company, Osram Licht AG, Epistar Corporation, Cree, Inc., Verbatim Ltd., GE Lighting Solutions, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation and Galaxia Electronics Co. Ltd.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.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Market Projected to be Resilient During 2016 - 2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10975 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10975 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com IntroductionHydrolyzed vegetable protein is derived from boiling cereals or legumes in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. The acid breaks down, the protein present in vegetables into their component amino acids. The resulting liquid is further known as hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is widely used as a flavor enhancer in many processed foods such as soups, sauces, stews, seasoned snack foods, gravies, hot dogs, dips and dressings. It is also blended with other spices to make seasonings that are used in or on foods.Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Market SegmentationHydrolyzed vegetable protein market has been segmented on the basis of raw-material, application and form. The raw material segment can be divided in view of the kind of raw material i.e. soy, rapeseed, corn, rice, pea and wheat utilized for producing hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Among all these segments hydrolyzed soy protein is relied upon to possess biggest offer regarding revenue contribution.Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is further segmented on the basis of application, includes food industry where in hydrolyzed vegetable is used as flavor enhancer. Furthermore food industry can be sub-segmented into noodles, pastas, prepared soups, sauces, ready meals, dips and dressings, meat, fish, seasoning mixes and others. Application can also segmented based on the beverages where hydrolyzed protein is used to complement the amino acid and enhance the flavor in functional beverages. Wide application and increased usage as a flavor enhancer in food and beverages industry is expected to drive the market demand. Moreover, Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is widely accepted by the various nations regarding its usage in various industry which is further expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein application segment can also be divided into cosmetics where it is used as film-forming agents in face cream and hair care products.A sample of this report is available upon request @Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is further segmented on the basis of form which includes dry powder, paste and liquid. Among both of these segments powder segment is expected to contribute major share in terms of revenue. Easy water solubility coupled with wide applications in various food product is expected to support the segment growth during the forecast period.Geographically Asia Pacific is the largest market in terms of consumption of Hydrolyzed vegetable protein followed by North America and is expected to account for the major market share in the forecast period. Among North American region U.S. is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Canada. In Asia pacific region China and India is expected to account for the substantial growth due to increased demand for nutritional food among the consumers. Moreover in Latin America Brazil is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Mexico.Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Market Drivers & RestraintsFactors such as increase in demand of clean-label and natural ingredients, increasing consumer awareness pertaining to the ill effects related to savory ingredients, and demand for healthy and nutrition products are acting as major restraints for the market. Increasing demand for convenience food, changing lifestyle, and untapped potential in the developing Asia-Pacific countries act as major drivers for the market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @As it is helpful in enhancing flavor of the processed food, so it is also considered as the most sustainable protein ingredients which is favoring its growth in alternate way. However, availability of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) in Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is expected to restrain the market growth over the forecast period.Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Market: Key PlayersSome of the major key players operating in flavonoid market includes Ajinomoto, Kerry Group, Tate & Lyle, Jones-Hamilton Co., DSM, Diana Group, Givaudan, Brolite Products Co. Inc., Kerry Group, Caremoli Group, Astron Chemicals S.A., McRitz International Corporation, Good Food, Inc., Michimoto Foods Products Co., Ltd, Dien Inc., Innova Flavors, Unitechem Co., Ltd. among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsAbhishek BudholiyaPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Extensive Growth Opportunities to be Witnessed by Beet Sugar Market by 2016 - 2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11131 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11131 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Overview:Sugar has been the most widely used sweetener in the world, with its closest substitute being high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Tropical beet sugar is a biennial sugar producing tuber crop developed in temperate countries. It constitutes around 30% of the total world production as well as distributed in more than 45 countries. Sugar beet is efficient converter of solar energy to a form that can be used by animals and men. The top ten sugar beet producing countries include Russia, France, U.S., Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, China, U.K. and Egypt. Beet sugar is an industrial crop utilized in food processing as well as in production of ethanol and biogas. In tropical countries, the sugar beet crop offers precious alternative to sugarcane. The beet sugar market growth in terms of production and consumption has showcased an upliftment over the past few years and is likely to intensify at a rapid pace during the forecast period.Global Beet Sugar: Market SegmentationThe Global Beet Sugar market is segmented on the basis of consumption in industry such as cereal, bakery, ice-cream, confectionery, beverage and dairy industry. Over the next few years, beverage segment is anticipated to grab highest market attractiveness in the global beet sugar market till 2026. The global beet sugar market is also segmented on the basis of function such as regular and medical conditions. The global beet sugar market is also segmented on the basis of organizational structure such as unorganized and organized market. The share of former is anticipated to be more over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Beet Sugar Market: Growth DriversRising population and personal disposable income is anticipated to bolster the growth of global Beet Sugar market. Apart from this, changing lifestyle along with urbanization and increasing health related disorders are expected to drive the global Beet Sugar market during the forecast period as the consumption will rise. The advent of new class of customers as well as the entry of various new global players is expected to intensify the growth of Beet Sugar market all across the globe during the forecast period.Global Beet Sugar Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global Beet Sugar industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America contributed the highest share in the global Beet Sugar market in 2015. The size of America has been doubled over the past few years in production of beet sugar. For growers in Western and Central Europe, it is already a high value crop. But in Eastern Europe, while acreage and volumes are maximum, there is significant scope to increase quality of seed. Over the next few years, Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a higher pace during the forecast period. India is expected to be the worlds fastest growing market, driven by increasing standard of living. Apart from this, gains in developing regions such as Middle-east and Africa will also be strengthened by changing standard of living. Advances in Western Europe is expected to benefit from strong incline in number of new housing units.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Beet Sugar Market: PlayersSome of the key vendors identified across the value chain of the global Beet Sugar market include syngenta, Renuka beet sugar, Spreckals Sugar Company, Michigan Sugar Company, Amalgamated Sugar Company. Various players are anticipated to appear in the industry with the manufacturing of new and innovative products in the industry. The companies are anticipated to invest in research and development in order to expand the business and to maintain the market share in the global beet sugar market.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 UsAbhishek BudholiyaPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: The growth of the market of machine tools Made in China The growth of the market of machine tools ?Made in China? www.makinate.com According to some reports created based on data analysis from surveys carried out by the Chinese Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (CMTBA), in the first half of 2017 the production of machines tools in China increased from 8.6% compared to the end of 2016. This development is linked to the growth of the Chinese market in general, but this growth is above all due to the progress, development and upgrades of the machine-tools manufacturing industry, thanks to the increasingly dominant position of the famous Industry 4.0.According to the China Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (CMTBA), the consumed quantity of tools (including cutting and measuring tools) is US $ 2.5 billion in the first half of 2017, which means an increase of 25% compared to the previous year.In Makinates blog, Makinews, its possible to read the same analysis but based on Japanese market (instead of the Chinese one), especially on Japanese machines tools manufacturers. To read this article, we invite you to visit the blog dedicated to used machines tools, in the Industry Zoom section. If we want to compare both countries, we can note that Japan registered the largest increase of machine tools production. In fact, the small lateness of China compared to Japan is due to the fluctuation and an uncertainty in investments.CMTBA surveys show that the main problems of Chinas business activities derive from different aspects: the competition of similar products (see the increase of the products offered by Japan), low market demand and human resources, excessive operating and human costs, insufficient production capacity and development of the international market and updating of market demand.Makinate is company specialised in trade of used machine tools. In the catalogue you can find a large selection of used machine tools from the biggest (Japanese of course, but also and above all European) brandsMakinateIndustrijska cesta 13, 6310 Izola - Slovenijamarketing@makinate.com036 030 378 760 What Is The Current Options Available In Liposuction? https://www.harleybodyclinic.co.uk/ While performing any kind of body contouring procedures, the surgeon must remember the important rule, which is not to harm any body parts during the surgery. This simple basic aim of every surgeon can only be achieved when they have adequate amount of qualifications and skills to perform the procedure, although fellowship is ideal, but adequate training is required at least which consists seminars, memberships and hands on training.The surgeon must be capable of diagnosing the cardiovascular, surgical, and pharmacological complications and risk and this article will focus on how the Liposuction has been growing due to the surgeons presence if mind and surgical skills and knowledge.It is very necessary for the surgeon to visualize the proposed end result as a predictable outcome since, body contouring procedure is viewed as an art, where the body is remodeled and sculpted to meet the aesthetically desired results. The surgeon should have a definite eye for understanding the human anatomy, eye for beauty and knowledge of the cultural aesthetic goals.Vaser Lipoplasty:This approach uses the ultrasonic energy waves which first emulsify or melted the fat and instantly aspired out. The treatable areas are infused with normal saline mixed anesthesia, drug and a vasoconstrictor. However, this method also has drawbacks since if the heat energy produced can burn the skin and surrounding tissues as well if the cannula is probed into the area for longer period of stipulated time. The back and forth of the cannula should be done smoothly without damaging the surrounding nerve vessels and tissues and skin, or else it might lead to bleeding and bruising. This method is the advanced technique compared to the traditional method since it is done in 3 sequences as the infusion, emulsification and aspiration and also skin contouring results in more smoother and recovery time is faster. The aesthetic results are safe and satisfactory done by the qualified surgeon.Current OptionsThe traditional technique uses the local anesthesia is used to eliminate large volumes of subcutaneous fat and in the current technique which is the UAL or also known as Ultrasonic Assisted Liposuction, approach required a large amount of tumescent fluid and a metal probe, cannula, which emitted ultrasonic energy waves which helps in breaking down of the subcutaneous fat. Although the UAL approach has an increased risk of skin burns and severe scarring, but it achieved enhanced body contour with optimal aesthetic results with effective emulsification of fat and less total energy application. The power assisted Lipo uses the power which is supplied by the electric motor or by compressed air producing either a rapid in out movement. This makes the lipo much easier than that of the manual work done by the surgeon.Harley Body Clinic specializes in all body contouring procedure which uses VASER lipo to remove fat. We have a team of experienced and qualified surgeons and staff. To know more about us, visit our website atHarley Body Clinic(Subsidiary of Harley Cosmetic Group)61 Harley StreetLondon W1G 8QU Wood Millwork Product Market - U.S. Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-soybean-and-other-oilseed-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020?utm_source=opr http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-soybean-and-other-oilseed-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020?utm_source=opr IndexBox has just published a new report "U.S. Soybean And Other Oilseed Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025" ().This report is best suitable for you if you: Are planning to enter a new geographical market and wish to know which one is best for your product Are planning to enter a new product market and want to have a detailed overview of the market before entering Already work in a given market and want to update your knowledge on the topic Are developing/reviewing your company strategy and wish to know the existing trends in the market Want to find the best country to import a product from Are consulting a client in the given industry and wish to get a deep understanding of the situation in the market Are planning to open new production facilities and wish to choose the best location.The report serves the above mentioned purposes by providing a deep survey of the key indicators of the soybean and other oilseed market. It includes a market overview, which consolidates the key conclusions made from the analysis of the market study, giving insights on the most extensive markets based on the comparative analysis. The report also provides a outlook of how the market is expected to change in the coming years, based on historical trends, external and internal factors, and the main drivers changing the market. Each section contains a a comprehensive survey of the data provided. Specifically, the report displays the historical developments and current projections of soybean and other oilseed production volumes, consumption data, as well as producer prices.The trade section provides crucial data, such as historical data on imports/exports, changes in the direction of trade, as well as import/export prices. Analysis of soybean and other oilseed trade shows the opportunities that are opening before producers and suppliers in a changing market.Product coverage: Soybean oil; Crude cottonseed oil; Soybean cake, meal, and other by-products; Wet process corn by-products, made by wet milling; Cotton linters; Cottonseed cake, meal, hulls, and other by-products; Other crude and refined vegetable oils and other vegetable mill products; Soybean and other oilseed processing, nsk, total.Countries coverage: the U.S.Abstract:In 2015, the value of soybean and other oilseed production in the U.S. amounted to $28.8B, descending by -7.2% against the previous year level. Overall, the U.S. soybean and other oilseed output pursued a mild decline from 2007 to 2015. The total output figures decreased at an average annual rate of -0.9%. The trend pattern, however, indicated some noticable fluctuations throughout the analyzed period. The growth pace was the most rapid in 2011, when the output figure increased by +17% from the previous year level. Over the period under review, the total value of soybean and other oilseed shipments in the United States attained its maximum level of $37.7B in 2013. Afterwards, the growth in terms of the soybean and other oilseed production failed to regain its strength through to 2015.Soybean cake, meal, and other by-products was the major product category in the U.S. soybean and other oilseed manufacturing, with a share in total output standing near 63% in 2015. Soybean oil lagged far behing, accounting for only the 27% share. The other related products together comprised approx. 10% of the total output.Data coverage: Soybean and other oilseed market value and size; Major trends in the soybean and other oilseed market; Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term; Exports, imports and trade balance; Import and export prices; Life cycle of the soybean and other oilseed industry; Number of establishments and their locations; Soybean and other oilseed industry productivity. Key market players and their profiles.Methodology:Our methodology consists of obtaining information from various trusted sources (both paid and open), which include, but are not limited to: International official statistical agencies Governmental statistical agencies Official trade statistics Paid trade databases Industrial associations Company reports Industry experts.Companies mentioned:CHS Inc.,Solae,Syngenta Seeds,Renew Life Formulas,Zeeland Farm Services,South Dakota Soybean Processors,Owensboro Grain Company,Planters Cotton Oil Mill,House Foods America Corporation,Pyco Industries,Incobrasa Industries,Delta Oil Mill,Hartsville Oil Mill,Thumb Oilseed Producers Cooperative,American Soy Products,Gold Coast Commodities,Producers Cooperative Oil Mill,Bunge North America Foundation,Yazoo Valley Oil Mill,Agp Corn Processing,Mid Georgia Processing Company,Riverbend Distribution Center,DupontOur research team compare the information gathered, confirm it with sources when required, and analyze the collected data, developing a full clear picture of the market and coming up with the final numbers. It is crucial to understand the trends of the market, for which we do provide study, taking into account events in the market, in adjacent and related markets, raw material markets, and markets, which are the main demand creators for the product under research. As for the forecast, it is conducted using analytical models of data on consumption, production, exports, imports, prices, as well as the industry trends, economic trends, consumption trends, possible political and technological trends.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 Manufactured Home Market - U.S. Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-soybean-and-other-oilseed-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020?utm_source=opr http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-soybean-and-other-oilseed-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020?utm_source=opr IndexBox has just published a new report "U.S. Soybean And Other Oilseed Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025" ().This report is best suitable for you if you: Are planning to enter a new geographical market and wish to know which one is best for your product Are planning to enter a new product market and want to have a detailed overview of the market before entering Already work in a given market and want to update your knowledge on the topic Are developing/reviewing your company strategy and wish to know the existing trends in the market Want to find the best country to import a product from Are consulting a client in the given industry and wish to get a deep understanding of the situation in the market Are planning to open new production facilities and wish to choose the best location.The report serves the above mentioned purposes by providing a deep survey of the key indicators of the soybean and other oilseed market. It includes a market overview, which consolidates the key conclusions made from the analysis of the market study, giving insights on the most extensive markets based on the comparative analysis. The report also provides a outlook of how the market is expected to change in the coming years, based on historical trends, external and internal factors, and the main drivers changing the market. Each section contains a a comprehensive survey of the data provided. Specifically, the report displays the historical developments and current projections of soybean and other oilseed production volumes, consumption data, as well as producer prices.The trade section provides crucial data, such as historical data on imports/exports, changes in the direction of trade, as well as import/export prices. Analysis of soybean and other oilseed trade shows the opportunities that are opening before producers and suppliers in a changing market.Product coverage: Soybean oil; Crude cottonseed oil; Soybean cake, meal, and other by-products; Wet process corn by-products, made by wet milling; Cotton linters; Cottonseed cake, meal, hulls, and other by-products; Other crude and refined vegetable oils and other vegetable mill products; Soybean and other oilseed processing, nsk, total.Countries coverage: the U.S.Abstract:In 2015, the value of soybean and other oilseed production in the U.S. amounted to $28.8B, descending by -7.2% against the previous year level. Overall, the U.S. soybean and other oilseed output pursued a mild decline from 2007 to 2015. The total output figures decreased at an average annual rate of -0.9%. The trend pattern, however, indicated some noticable fluctuations throughout the analyzed period. The growth pace was the most rapid in 2011, when the output figure increased by +17% from the previous year level. Over the period under review, the total value of soybean and other oilseed shipments in the United States attained its maximum level of $37.7B in 2013. Afterwards, the growth in terms of the soybean and other oilseed production failed to regain its strength through to 2015.Soybean cake, meal, and other by-products was the major product category in the U.S. soybean and other oilseed manufacturing, with a share in total output standing near 63% in 2015. Soybean oil lagged far behing, accounting for only the 27% share. The other related products together comprised approx. 10% of the total output.Data coverage: Soybean and other oilseed market value and size; Major trends in the soybean and other oilseed market; Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term; Exports, imports and trade balance; Import and export prices; Life cycle of the soybean and other oilseed industry; Number of establishments and their locations; Soybean and other oilseed industry productivity. Key market players and their profiles.Methodology:Our methodology consists of obtaining information from various trusted sources (both paid and open), which include, but are not limited to: International official statistical agencies Governmental statistical agencies Official trade statistics Paid trade databases Industrial associations Company reports Industry experts.Companies mentioned:CHS Inc.,Solae,Syngenta Seeds,Renew Life Formulas,Zeeland Farm Services,South Dakota Soybean Processors,Owensboro Grain Company,Planters Cotton Oil Mill,House Foods America Corporation,Pyco Industries,Incobrasa Industries,Delta Oil Mill,Hartsville Oil Mill,Thumb Oilseed Producers Cooperative,American Soy Products,Gold Coast Commodities,Producers Cooperative Oil Mill,Bunge North America Foundation,Yazoo Valley Oil Mill,Agp Corn Processing,Mid Georgia Processing Company,Riverbend Distribution Center,DupontOur research team compare the information gathered, confirm it with sources when required, and analyze the collected data, developing a full clear picture of the market and coming up with the final numbers. It is crucial to understand the trends of the market, for which we do provide study, taking into account events in the market, in adjacent and related markets, raw material markets, and markets, which are the main demand creators for the product under research. As for the forecast, it is conducted using analytical models of data on consumption, production, exports, imports, prices, as well as the industry trends, economic trends, consumption trends, possible political and technological trends.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 Cadmium Pigments Market Global Industry Analysis, size, share and Forecast 2013-2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2412 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=2412 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Cadmium Pigments Market: OverviewCadmium pigments refer to a class of pigments that contain cadmium as one of the chemical components. Cadmium is predominantly used in batteries, which is followed by their use in pigments. Apart from these, cadmium pigments are used in glasses, ceramics, plastics, and other products.The booming consumer goods industry, which accounts for large volume consumption of plastics is tremendously contributing to the growth of the cadmium pigments market. The plastics sector accounts for almost 75% of the consumption of cadmium pigments. The pigment has the ability to diffuse in several polymers and provides tinting strength, superior cooling, and high opacity. On top of this, cadmium pigments display excellent quality of color fastness in polymers that often lasts a lifetime.Request Report Brochure @Cadmium pigments are increasingly being used in advanced complex polymers. Complex polymers such as high density polyethylene, silicone resins, nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonates, and other thermoplastic polymers extensively use cadmium pigments as these polymers are processes at very high temperature, which rules out the possibility of use of organic pigments and most of the inorganic pigments.The report presents a pin-point analysis of the growth trends, market dynamics, and competitive structure that will impact the growth of the global cadmium pigments market for the 2013-2019 period.Global Cadmium Pigments Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe major factors driving the cadmium pigments market are due to the properties of cadmium of resistance to high temperature, low melting point, good electrical conductivity, and high corrosion resistance. Cadmium pigments are also extensively used in industrial paints. The chemical inertness and high temperature resistance of cadmium pigments make them suitable for steam pipes and chemical containers. Due to the physical and chemical properties of cadmium pigments, there are no substantial alternatives and are rarely imitated by other inorganic pigments. The unavailability of suitable alternatives acts as a major driver for the cadmium pigments market.However, the growth of the cadmium pigments market is restrained due to several factors. Individuals exposed to cadmium are subject to health problems with kidney and lungs being mostly affected due to prolonged exposure to cadmium pigments. Cadmium pigments are non-essential for human beings and their proper disposal is of prime importance. Cadmium if released in the soil or water bodies enters the food chain from where it is absorbed into the human body.In 2011, the European Union banned the use of cadmium pigments for all plastics. This development is restraining the growth of the Europe cadmium pigments market. Mostly all countries discourage the extensive use of cadmium pigments due to its inherent environmental concerns. Nevertheless, lack of safer alternatives to cadmium pigments will lead to a steady growth of the global cadmium pigments market in the foreseeable future.Global Cadmium Pigments Market: Regional OutlookThe report segments the global cadmium pigments market into the regional segments of North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Amongst these, Asia Pacific displays the highest demand for cadmium pigments and the trend is anticipated to continue. North America displays a steady demand for cadmium pigments resulting in moderate growth of the cadmium pigments market in the region. In Europe, the cadmium pigments market is on the decline due to the ban imposed by the government for the use of cadmium products.Visit For TOC @Major Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of the leading companies involved in the global cadmium pigments market are JMB Ltd., Hunan Jufa Technology Co. Ltd., and Rockwood Pigments NA Inc. among 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 othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Methylal Market Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2013-2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2418 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=2418 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Methylal, also known as dimethoxymethane is a transparent liquid, which is used in a wide range of applications. The compound has favorable physical and chemical properties such as good solubility in water and other solvents, and low boiling point. The compound is often used as a plasticizing agent for resins, and as fast evaporating solvents. It is extensively used in products such as medicines, pesticides, leather brighteners, printing inks, paints, and cosmetics. It is also finds major application as blowing agent in the manufacturing of PU foams.Request Report Brochure @Methylal is manufactured by oxidizing methanol or through reaction of formaldehyde and methanol. The primary drivers of the methylal market are pharmaceuticals and paints and coatings industries. These industries consume the bulk of methylal due to its low toxicity, high solvent power and low viscosity. The demand for methylal has grown steadily in the recent past owing to the strong growth exhibited by the pharmaceutical market. It is also extensively used to manufacture cosmetics. The regulations regarding use of volatile organic compounds in cosmetics have paved the way for methylal. Its non toxicity and anti carcinogenic nature is the desirable attributes which drive the adoption of methylal over traditional organic solvents. The high growth in the plastic foam insulation market is also expected to drive the growth for blowing agents. Methylal being one the key blowing agents is expected to gain a considerable market due to this application. The use of methylal as chemical intermediate for the manufacturing of polyacetal and ion exchange resins has accounted for a substantial demand for methylal.Although methylal is a compound which displays low toxicity, its use is governed by certain environmental regulations. Short term exposure to methylal can cause skin and eye irritation, along with nausea and dizzy headedness. Occupational exposure to methylal can lead to severe health damage and proper precautions such as impervious protective clothing, face masks and respirators must be undertaken to reduce the effects of methylal. End use industries as well as manufacturers need to take precautions, so as to minimize the environmental leakage of methylal. Methylal also faces some challenges on the supply front due to its ever increasing demand.The market opportunity for methylal is the adoption of the compound as a blowing agent in emerging nations such as Brazil, China and India. As per the Montreal Protocol adopted in 2009, the U.S. along with other developed economies has a target of gradually phasing out HCFC by predetermined dates. South American countries and Asia Pacific countries are the regions where huge opportunities exist for application of methylal as blowing agents for PU foams. The potential of methylal as an automotive fuel and diesel modification additive has been noticed and extensive research has been undertaken. Methylal being a derivative product of coal chemicals and natural gas could be a sustainable solution for the depleting petroleum resources.Asia Pacific region is the largest market for methylal, as most of the global manufacturing activities are visible in this region. Asia Pacific is also the largest producer of methylal, with China leading the production. Demand for methylal from North America and Europe have increased sharply in the recent past and the trend is expected to continue, as these regions cut back on VOC emissions. INEOS Paraform recently started manufacturing methylal in their Germany plant, in the anticipation of increased market demand.Visit For TOC @Some of the major players operating in this market are INEOS, LCY Chemical, Chemofarbe, Shandong SNTON and Fuhua Tongda among many 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 othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Concentrated Photovoltaic (PV) and Solar Photovoltaic Market Global Industry Analysis, size, share and Forecast 2013-2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2428 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=2428 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Solar photovoltaic is a technology that converts solar energy into useful energy forms by absorbing solar photon (particles of light that operate as individual units of energy). Photovoltaic cell is also known as solar cell. Solar cell is an electrical device that translates light energy into electric energy or electricity using photovoltaic effect. Solar cell is a type of photoelectric cell which on exposure to light can produce and support an electric current without any external voltage source. However, it requires an external load for power consumption. Solar PV modules can be clustered together as an array of parallel or series connected modules to give any level of power requirements, from mere watts to kilowatt and megawatt size. Different types of solar cells are cadmium telluride solar cell, polycrystalline, hybrid solar cell, buried contact solar cell, dye-sensitized solar cell, plastic solar cell, thin film solar cell, monocrystalline solar cell, plasmonic solar cell, and polymer solar cell among others.Request Report Brochure @CPV (concentrated photovoltaic) technology employs optics such as curved mirrors or lenses to collect large amount of sunlight on a small area of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells in order to generate electricity. CPV systems offer several advantages over non-concentrated photovoltaics. As a smaller area of photovoltaic material is required, CPV can save money on the cost of the solar cells. CPV requires less photovoltaic material to capture the same sunlight as non-concentrating PV. CPV make use of high-efficiency but expensive multi-junction cells cost-effectively viable due to smaller space requirements. However, in order to get sunlight focused on the small photovoltaic area, CPV systems need extra spending on solar trackers, concentrating optics (mirrors or lenses) and cooling systems. Owing to this of these extra costs, CPVs are far less common compared to non-concentrated photovoltaics. Nevertheless, ongoing research and development is trying to improve CPV technology and lower its costs.The most widespread segmentation of CPV modules can be done on the basis of degree of concentration, which can be expressed in number of suns. Different types of CPVs are LCPV (low concentration photovoltaics), medium concentration photovoltaics, HCPV (high concentration photovoltaics) and luminescent solar concentrators.According to Plastics Institute of America, Europe is expected to remain the largest regional market with 16.48 GW of PV demands which accounts around half of the global demand. Asia-Pacific was the second largest market fueled by the remarkable growth of the Chinese market. China is expected to outpace Germany in the coming year in order to become the leading PV consumer. Government renewable targets, financial incentives, technology cost reductions are three major forces who are currently driving the adoption of solar across the globe. Government policies are considerable drivers for solar photovoltaic market. By 2020, solar is predicted to be cost competitive to traditional electricity, independent of government policies and subsidies across most of the world.Visit For TOC @Some of the key players in this market are BP Solar International, Opel International Inc., Emcore Corporation, Prism Solar Technologies, Inc., Bloo Solar, Solar Tec International AG, HelioVolt Corporation, Zytech Solar, Energy Innovations, Solar Systems PTY, Ltd., Concentrix Solar GmbH, 1366 Technologies Inc., Pyron Solar, Whitfield Solar Ltd., Abengoa Solar, Arima Ecoenergy, Konarka Technologies Inc., Amonix Inc., 3G Solar, Pacific Solartech Inc., Greenvolts, JX Crystals, Everphoton Energy Corporation, Soliant Energy Inc., Cool Earth Solar, Nano Solar, SunFlake A/S, 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 othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Dry Storage Casks Market Size, Analysis, and Forecast Report 2016-2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2437 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=2437 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A surge of shutdowns may be observed in the future for most of the ageing nuclear reactors in the world. These reactors which have supplied power to millions of homes in the past have always faced hurdles in terms of public acceptance. With most nuclear plant owners unwilling to dish out extra millions for renovation of their old plants, gradual shutdowns are imminent. With the Fukishima disaster in Japan involving an old boiling water reactor built in the 70s, the public sentiment towards the old nuclear plants is likely to deteriorate. The major issue closely linked with decommissioning these old nuclear power plants is the efficient and safe disposal of nuclear waste. Decommissioning costs of nuclear plants are extremely high, going up to nearly a billion dollars for larger plants. Efficient storage of nuclear waste will occupy a majority portion of these costs. Radioactive half life of wastes ranges up to 16 million years while they remain hazardous for much longer. Storage of such nuclear spent fuel (NSF) will ultimately spark the demand for dry storage casks.Request Report Brochure @Dry storage casks are generally the most viable method of storing high level nuclear waste which has been cooled down to manageable levels. Cooling of spent fuel requires over a year and sometimes nearly 8 years bringing down to manageable temperatures. Concrete or steel are the major materials used for making these casks, which are able to withstand the harshest of temperature and weather conditions without damage. Not only do inert gases surround and insulate the spent fuel rods in these containers, concrete layers are also present to provide additional radiation shielding to waste handling personnel.These NSF dry storage casks should be transportable as well, a feature which is incorporated into them during manufacturing. With a majority of the old nuclear power reactors going for decommissioning, thus approaching their wet pool storage limit for NSF, dry cask demand is likely to increase significantly in the future.The market for these NSF dry cask storages is likely to be driven by certain countries. Japan with its decision to decommission existing nuclear reactors and move towards a renewable oriented generation mix can be a potential market. While other countries have not decided yet to walk on Japans path, long lasting effects of the Fukishima disaster are imminent. Decommissioning of old reactors might be the general public and regulatory sentiment in many countries, to be replaced by newer and more efficient power plants. A major requirement of such dry storage casks may be observed from the North American region, with both the U.S. and Canada deciding to shut down and replace a number of their old reactors.Visit For TOC @In the European market, Germany and Russia are likely to be strong demand drivers for such dry storage casks. Strong R&D is likely to be required by the manufacturers of these casks to ensure leak free storage of such wastes in nuclear storage repositories. As the requirement for newer and safer repositories increase to dispose of the nuclear wastes, quality improvements in the casks will become necessary. Major emerging markets are likely to be observed in the North American and Asia Pacific regions. Some of the market players involved in the business of manufacturing SNF dry storage casks are Skoda JS A.S., NAC International, Holtec International and Areva among 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 othersContact Us:Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Cardboard Packers Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2016 - 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10904 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=10904 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Cardboard packers are a prefabricated boxes usually use for packaging and protecting goods. These boxes are light weighted and easy to handle while transporting from one place to another. These are quite cheap as compared to plastic packaging and are easily available. In present time, cardboard packers are not limited to protecting or packaging, it is used for informational as well as marketing purpose by using designer boxes, it can be used to display the product which help in sales and promotion and it will help in creating brand awareness and optimize use of shelf space by creating shelf ready packaging.Request Report Brochure @Global Cardboard Packers Market DynamicsOne of the factor that is driving the cardboard packers is the growth of online shopping. The online vendors need to deliver the item safely to the consumer which increases the demand for the cardboard packers. Government regulation on plastic use is also driving the market for cardboard packers. The growing demand for point of sale display, retail ready packaging and merchandise unit will create a need for the cardboard packers. Environmental concerns might affect the growth of the cardboard packers as trees are the primary raw material used to make cardboard. Another major issue that cardboard packers face is that they are re-usable for a limited amount of time and after expiry there fibre will get weak and they needed to be dump.Global Cardboard Packers Market SegmentationCardboard packers are available in different shapes with different dimension, types, design, internal padding, flutes and sectors. If the product is fragile in nature or need to be kept separately, internal padding boxes cater that. These boxes are available in different sizes based on the number of segments that user needs. Cardboard packers are further segmented into different types named as Shelf Ready Boxes, Archive Lid & Box, Lid & Box, Die-Cut, Envelope Base, Five Panel Wrap, Full Overlap, Packing Carton, Packing Wallet, Pizza Style, Self-Locking and Self Locking Tray. The sectors that these packers covers are food products, durable goods, non-durable goods, retail sector, wholesale trade and service sector.Global Cardboard Packers Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global Automotive Cyber Security Market can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East & Africa. Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America are the prominent market for cardboard packers. Emerging markets such as India and China grow with a significant CAGR from 2016 to 2026. Overall cardboard packers industry expected to gain as many countries are pushing paper packaging against plastic packaging as it is a threat to environment.Visit For TOC @Global Cardboard Packers Market PlayersThe major players identified across the value chain of global cardboard packers market include Cascades Inc., DS Smith PLC, International Paper, ITC Limited, Mondi Group, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Packaging Corporation of America, and Fencor Packaging Group Limited. The companies are focusing on developing advanced and recycled products in order to cater the growing demand from the end users and rising environmental concerns.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: Bio-Mems Market Technological breakthroughs, Value chain and stakeholder analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=15530 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/bio-mems-market.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/15530 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Transparency Market Research has observed the competitive landscape in the global Bio-MEMS Market to be quite consolidated. The top five players held a whopping share of about 45% in the global market in 2015. Abbott Laboratories, Becton Dickinson, Baxter International Inc., Medtronic, and Boston Scientific have been dominating the global market with their persistent efforts to develop innovative products and continuous research and development to enhance their existing product portfolio. These companies are also expected to strategize important mergers and acquisitions to win larger shares in the global market to remain dominant.According to the research report, the global bio-MEMS market was valued at US$695.0 mn in 2015. However, between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is estimated to surge at a CAGR of 20.9% to reach a valuation of US$3.8 bn by the end of 2024.Sample With Latest Advancements @North America to Lead; Slated to Acquire 37.4% of Global Market by 2024On the basis of application, the global bio-MEMS market is segmented into neural implants, ENT implants, bionics, cardio-MEMS, and others. The cardio-MEMS segment is segment is estimated to show significant growth in the coming years as it is slated to acquire a share of 25.8% by the end of 2024. The high prevalence of heart-related issues is expected to keep the demand for cardio-MEMS to be high in the coming years.In terms of geography, the global bio-MEMS market is fragmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. In terms of revenue, North America is anticipated to lead the global market. This regional market is expected to garner a share of 37.4% by the end of 2024. The growing government grants to improve the healthcare infrastructure are considered to the key element to this growth.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @Uptake of Microfluidics for Diagnostics Improves Adoption of Bio-MEMSThe global bio-MEMS market has been progressing against the backdrop of widening applications of tissue engineering in advanced surgical procedures. Bio-MEMS sensors, which include topical sensors are used to treat terminally ill patients. Collectively, these two factors are the key driving forces of the global bio-MEMS market. The uptake of microfluidics has also played a significant role directing the trajectory of the global market in a positive direction. Today, bio-MEMS are extensively being used for diagnostic purposes with the help of microfluidics. Furthermore, the market is also being driven by the advantage of bio-MEM such as quick detection of pathogens and bacteria. The high utility of bio-MEMS in the biomedical sector has proven to be essential and crucial to the growth of the global market, notes the lead author of this research report.Browse Our Table of Content @Complex Manufacturing Processes Threaten ProgressThe complex process of manufacturing MEMS and their sophisticated fabrication techniques have been the precise restraints for the global bio-MEMS market. Excessive dependency on technologically-advanced medical infrastructure has made adoption of bio-MEMS relatively difficulty. Analysts predict that these factors could hamper the growth of the overall market in the near future. In addition, the market will also be restrained from attaining its utmost potential due to the expensive nature of the technology. Implementation of MEMS is exceptionally expensive and unaffordable to many. This is a key restraint in the global bio-MEMS market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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: Temperature Sensors Market Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=271 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/temperature-sensors-market.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/271 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global Temperature Sensor Market exhibits a highly fragmented landscape, finds a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR). In 2015, the top six players, namely, Texas Instruments Inc., General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., Panasonic Corp., Infineon Technologies AG, and STMicroelectronics N.V., accounted for just about 19% of the overall market.With leading companies offering almost same product categories with limited differentiating attributes, the competition within the market is very high. To sustain in this environment, these enterprises are likely to focus on consolidating the market by acquiring small manufacturers in the near future.Sample With Latest Advancements @As per the TMR, the global market for temperature sensors is likely to expand its opportunity from a value of US$4.6 bn in 2015 to US$6.6 bn by 2024, rising at a CAGR of 4.60% between 2016 and 2024. The shipment volume of temperature sensors is expected to cross 2.93 bn units by the end of the forecast period. Thermistors has been witnessing the most prominent demand among all types of temperature sensors, worldwide. The trend is expected to remain the same over the next few years, states the report.North America to Retain its Leadership, Thanks to Rise in Oil and Gas IndustryAccording to the report, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Europe are the prime regional markets for temperature sensors across the world. In 2015, North America emerged as the leading contributor to the global market for temperature sensors with a share of 40%, in terms of revenue. The growing adoption of temperature sensors, on account of the increasing government initiatives to improve the medical and healthcare industry in this region, is leading to substantial growth of North America market for temperature sensors.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @Over the forthcoming years, this regional market is expected to retain its dominance on account of the swift rise in the oil and gas industry in North America. However, Asia Pacific is expected to present the most promising opportunities for growth in the coming years, owing to the significant rise in the semiconductor and electronics and the manufacturing industries in this region, notes the research study.Robust Growth of Manufacturing and Electronics Industries to Boost DemandWith the robust growth of the manufacturing and the electronics industries across the world, the demand for temperature sensors will witness a tremendous rise, globally, in the coming years, says an analyst at TMR. The advancement in technologies has reflected positively on the demand for electronic goods around the world, which in turn, has increased the application of these sensors considerably.Browse Our Table of Content @Besides, the growing demand for electronic goods in Asian economies, such as Japan, China, and South Korea and the rising deployment of these sensors in wearable devices are expected to drive the growth of this market in the years to come, states the report.Declining Price of Temperature Sensors to Hamper Markets GrowthAlthough the growth prospects of the global market for temperature sensors is bright, the declining prices of these sensors may create hindrance in the otherwise upward-moving market in the near future. The shrinking demand for contact temperature sensors is also expected to impact the market negatively over the next few years, reports the market study.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: Food Contact Paper & Board Market Volume Forecast and Value Chain Analysis 2016-2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10922 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=10922 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Food contact paper and board are being use in the food industry in a wide range of applications such as manufacturing, processing, preparing, treating and packaging. There are few applications where close contact is involved, such as dip tea bags and filter papers, while direct contact packaging finds application in cartons for beverages, bakery goods & butter wrapping, fruits, and takeout food. In addition, it has wide applications in transport and distribution packaging.Request Report Brochure @The paper and board sector has been continuously innovating new, safe and functionally effective food handling and packaging materials, to protect human health and the interests of consumers. Production of paper and board from natural fiber (cellulose) and minerals, and other materials (that are favorable for food contact) prescribed in accordance with the standards set by the government-authorized body, is achieved with the help of additives and chemical processing. This type of packaging protects the food from external elements such as air, dust, grease, and moisture. Food contact paper and board is flexible, easy to handle, hygienic, and easily disposable. By acting as a replacement for plates and other serving utensils, it also results in cost reduction for food vendors.Evolving life style and increasing healthcare awareness among consumers has led to the rise in global demand for safe and hygienic food, in turn driving growth of the market for food contact paper and boards. Owing to its value added applications, right from protection of food products to their safe distribution and transportation, the market for food contact paper and board is expected to witness new investments and growth opportunities, especially in the developing countries. The main drivers for the growth of the market are private consumers, distributors, and private packaging firms, which are focusing more on delivering an intact product.However, sustainability of the market for insulated packaging majorly depends on the price and supply of raw materials. Besides, presence of big and small packaging firms has created a highly competitive environment in the market for food contact paper and board.The global food contact paper and board market is segmented on the basis of type and geography. By type, the global food contact paper and board market is segmented into poly-coated or non poly-coated and bleached or unbleached paper and boards.By geography, the global food contact paper and board market is segmented into seven key regions, including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, the Middle East & Africa, and Japan. The global food contact paper and board market is anticipated to expand at a double digit CAGR over the forecast period. Asia Pacific market is expected to be the most attractive market for insulated packaging due to rise in end use applications of the packaging type in the region. As of 2016, China is the largest food contact paper and board market in Asia Pacific, followed by India, and the market in these countries is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. North America, followed by Western Europe, are the other prominent regions projected to hold a promising future growth potential in the food contact paper and board market by the end of 2023.Visit For TOC @Some of the key players in the global food contact paper and board market are Mondi, International Paper, Smurfit Kappa Group, Nordic Paper Holding, Huhtamaki, Nippon Paper Group Inc., Sonoco Products, Cryopak, and Georgia-Pacific.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: Free Space Optics Market Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3263 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/free-space-optics-market.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3263 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global Free Space Optics (FSO) Market features a highly dynamic landscape wherein numerous technological advancements are taking place at a rapid pace and companies are compelled to focus more on development of innovative and more reliable FSO systems and solutions, observes a report by Transparency Market Research. Key companies in the market, including Trimble Hungary Ltd., Optelix,Mostcom Ltd., AOptix Technologies Inc., LightPointe Communications, Inc., and Harris Corporation are also under constant pressure of competition from existing players in fiber optics and wireless communication technologies.The market holds immense growth potential owing to the vast rise in demand for high-speed, low-cost, and secure communication methodologies across the globe. Transparency Market Research estimates that the market will exhibit a remarkable 39.5% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. Expanding at this pace, the market is expected to rise from an opportunity of US$81.3 mn in 2015 to US$1,306.1 mn by 2024. Of the key application areas of the FSO market, the segment of data transmission presently holds the leading position. North America is the leading regional market, accounting for a share of over 30% in the global market in 2015.Sample With Latest Advancements @Rising Demand for High-speed Communication Channels to Boost Adoption of FSOThe ever increasing demand for data streaming and multimedia services across communication networks and the unprecedented growth and demand for higher bandwidths for high-speed internet has resulted in the congestion of conventional radio frequency spectrum despite rapid advancements in the networking sector. This is a key factor compelling an increasing number of network providers to switch to FSO technology as an alternative to overburdened conventional technologies for outdoor networking. Other advantages of FSO technology, including low operational and start-up costs, rapid deployment, high data transmission security, and high fiber-like bandwidth have also enticed network operators to increase the adoption of FSO technology.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @The market for FSO technology is also driven by the rising usage of this mode of communication across a number of military applications. Some of the most promising areas in the military sector where deployment of FSO technology can prove to be highly effective are ship-to-ship communication, ship-to-shore communication, and communication between military bases where bases are located within the range of 2-4 kilometers. Owing to the usage of modulated light in FSO, it is capable of supporting larger bandwidths than radio frequency spectrum. The collimated laser energy of FSO offers properties such as low probability of detection and interception, which are highly desirable for applications demanding high security. These factors are collectively expected to have a significant impact on the overall development of the market in future years.Signal Quality Constraints Due to Environmental Interference Raise Concerns Regarding FSOs ReliabilityIn most optical wireless technologies, the light being transmitted through free space needs to contend with the interference presented by the complexity of the surrounding space. In case of FSO communication also, the space through which FSO signals propagate presents fundamental limitation to the reliability and robustness of FSO systems. In locations with link ranges over 200 meters, weather conditions such as fog and atmospheric turbulence could lead to temporary link outages and result in the deterioration of communication signals in terms of factors such as quality, speed, and efficiency. These factors could make the consumer weary about FSO systems and act as a key restrain for the development of the market.Browse Our Table of Content @Nevertheless, with increased focus on research and development activities, service providers are introducing FSO systems and solutions with technological advancements that can eliminate the impact of these interferences. Attempts are being made by network operators to eliminate the effect of scintillation on the quality of FSO transmission with the help of spatial diversity, which refers to a multi beam approach that exploits multiple regions of the space.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: Europe Policing Technologies Market Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=13862 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/europe-policing-technologies-market.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/13862 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The highly competitive Policing Technologies Market in Europe has companies such as PredPol, Inc., Aventura Technologies, Inc, Reveal Media Ltd., Zepcam B.V., Basler AG, SmartWater Technology Limited, Computer Sciences Corporation, Brite-Strike Tactical Illumination Products Inc., Aeryon Labs Inc., and Taser International Inc at the forefront. Transparency Market Research predicts that the competition among the major players will intensify during the forecast period with manufacturers competing with each other for contracts of various projects.Competitive rivalry in terms of product upgrade and new product development will work in favor of the policing technologies market, the author of the study comments. Continuous research and development to introduce new features to existing technologies is a key growth strategy identified by TMR. For instance, Aventura Technologies launched a new software in February 2016 that has the ability to evaluate face recognition, access control, video analytics, and license plate recognition on a common operating platform.Sample With Latest Advancements @Europes Law Enforcement Bodies Support Widespread Use of Policing TechnologiesEurope has been a witness to several terrorist attacks over the recent past, a factor that has forced law enforcement departments to become more vigilant and efficient in countering such attacks, the lead author of the report states.In 2014 alone, an estimated 774 individuals were arrested in the European Union for various terrorism-related offences. The number of deaths caused by terrorist attacks in Western Europe has risen significantly since 2004. This has greatly driven the need for effective and advanced policing technologies in the region.The crime rate in Europe has also exhibited an alarming increase, TMR finds. Crimes such as drug trafficking, theft, and assault are rather common and Europes comparatively lenient criminal-sentencing regimes have added to the troubles citizens face. This acts as a driving factor for the policing technologies market.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @Complexities Associated with New Policing Technologies Deter AdoptionThe lack of proper training acts as a major deterrent to the policing technologies market in Europe. The incorporation of new technologies in the police departments requires additional staff training. There is also the need to thoroughly and regularly test, upgrade, and maintain these technologies and the various products and devices they encompass. The complexities associated with the adoption and use of new policing technologies is likely to limit its usage in Europe.Moreover, strict international human rights laws prohibiting the use of various weapons in the region is also a factor threatening to hamper the policing technologies market.Browse Our Table of Content @Aviation Technology to Offer Promising OpportunitiesThe Europe policing technologies market is expected to register a 6.0% CAGR from 2016 to 2024, with the revenue set to increase from US$1.4 bn in 2015 to US$2.4 bn by the end of the forecast period. Accounting for a share of 36% in 2015, detection and surveillance technologies emerged as the leading policing technologies segment by type. This segment is poised to expand at a 6.2% CAGR during the course of the forecast period to cross US$910 mn by 2024. Registering a steady 6.8% CAGR from 2016 to 2024, aviation technology is projected to emerge as the fastest growing segment by revenue.By geography, the U.K. formed the leading market for policing technologies. The country is also forecast to be the most rapidly growing regional segment in the overall market, fueled by the introduction of technologies such as automatic number plate recognition.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 Helicopter Tourism Market-in-Depth Analysis, Forecasts, Applications, Shares & Insights Global Helicopter Tourism Market Analysis https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/748810-global-automated-external-defibrillators-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/748810-global-automated-external-defibrillators-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=748810 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/748810-global-automated-external-defibrillators-market HTF MI recently added a new research study in its database that highlights the in-depth market analysis with future prospects of Helicopter Tourism 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. Some of the key players mentioned in this research are Airbus (France), Bell Helicopter Textron Inc (U.S.), Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (U.S.), AVIC (China), Enstrom Helicopter Corp (U.S.), MD HELICOPTERS (U.S.), Robinson Helicopter Company (U.S.) & Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc (Turkey).Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Helicopter Tourism market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia], by product /end user type [General Tourism & Customized Tourism], by applications [Fractional Ownership, Joint Ownership Agreements & Charter Service] in overall market. The in-depth information by segments of Helicopter Tourism market helps monitor performance & make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Helicopter Tourism Market.The study also contains company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of various international, regional, and local vendors of Global Helicopter Tourism Market, some of them are Airbus (France), Bell Helicopter Textron Inc (U.S.), Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (U.S.), AVIC (China), Enstrom Helicopter Corp (U.S.), MD HELICOPTERS (U.S.), Robinson Helicopter Company (U.S.) & Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc (Turkey). The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. 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.Global Helicopter Tourism (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as General Tourism & Customized TourismMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022General Tourism xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Customized Tourism xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%The research study is segmented by Application such as Fractional Ownership, Joint Ownership Agreements & Charter Service with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Helicopter Tourism (Thousands Units) by Application (2016-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2016 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2016-2022)Fractional Ownership xx xx xx xx% xx%Joint Ownership Agreements xx xx xx xx% xx%Charter Service xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Helicopter Tourism in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segment by Regions 2012 2016 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2016-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%EU xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%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 Helicopter Tourism market? Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the Global Helicopter Tourism market? What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Helicopter Tourism market? What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Helicopter Tourism market? What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Helicopter Tourism market?Buy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the Global Helicopter Tourism market.Chapter 1, to describe Helicopter Tourism Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Helicopter Tourism , with sales, revenue, and price of Helicopter Tourism , 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 Helicopter Tourism , 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, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application [Fractional Ownership, Joint Ownership Agreements & Charter Service], from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Helicopter Tourism market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Helicopter Tourism 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, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218 Emission Monitoring Systems Market: Applications and Global Markets https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=13793 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/emission-monitoring-systems-market.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/13793 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Transparency Market Research (TMR) observes that the degree of competition amongst vendors is quite high. The global Emissions Monitoring Systems (EMS) Market is slated to see entry of several new entrants in the coming years. Companies are focused on catering to the needs of the oil and gas industries along with paper and pulp as their demands are projected to remain steady. Mergers and acquisitions will be a commonly accepted business strategy of vendors in the global market to expand their geographical reach in the coming years along with adding newer products to their portfolio.Oil and Gas Industry to be Key Consumer of EMSAccording to the research report, the global emission monitoring systems market was valued at US$3,737.1 mn at the end of 2016 and is expected to reach US$7, 1187 mn by 2025. During the forecast years of 2017 and 2025, the global EMS market is likely to progress at a CAGR of 7.5%. Of the various end-user industries, the oil and gas industry is expected to be the key consumer of emission monitoring systems in the near future. By the end of 2025, this industry is expected to account for a share of 16.7% in the global market. Asia Pacific is expected to be a lucrative market in for emission monitoring systems. This regional market is expected to progress at a CAGR of 8.4% over the forecast period.Sample With Latest Advancements @The primary aim of emission monitoring systems (EMS) is to measure the level of gases such as nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, total or hexavalent chromium, carbon monoxide, and mercury in the air. These systems are also used for gauging the opacity discharged by industrial plants and power-generating plants. The growing number of government initiatives to curb environmental pollution has augmented the demand for emission monitoring systems. Stringent regulations to keep pollution under control and imposition of hefty fines in case of failure as strengthened the adoption of these systems.Usage of Coal Spikes Demand for EMSThe continued usage of coal as a source of energy, especially in developing countries of India and China, has led a significant demand for installation of emission monitoring systems. The new Environmental Protection Law (EPL) implemented by China in January 2015 states that all coal-fired facilities have to comply with stated measures to monitor and control their emission levels. Such as initiatives are expected to have a positive influence on the revenue of the emission monitoring systems market. Growing awareness about pollution and its hazardous effects on human health and the environment has also prompted organizations to take a serious interest in greener initiatives.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @The global emission monitoring systems market faces some challenges in its pathway. A major restraint for the global market is the high cost of installation and the investments it requires in terms of training employees to operate it. Additionally, the high cost of maintenance of emission monitoring systems is also expected to dissuade market growth. Nonetheless, the unwavering stance of governments across the globe to mitigate the escalating issue of pollution is expected to open up a plethora of opportunities for the global market.Browse Our Table of Content @This review is based on Transparency Market Researchs report, titled Emission Monitoring Systems Market (Technology - Predictive Emission Monitoring Systems, Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems; Industry Verticals - Oil & Gas, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Cement, Pulp & Paper, Energy and Power, Mining, Electronics, Food and Beverage, and Healthcare) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025.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: Fresh Food Packaging Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2016 - 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10934 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=10934 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Food packaging plays an important role in keeping the food quality safe while handling and transportation. Food packaging offers a modern marketing medium to the sellers and helps improve customer satisfaction levels as well as information transmission. It protects the food products from contamination caused by microorganisms, air, and moisture, and helps catalytic activity in fresh food.Request Report Sample @Fresh foods, such as vegetable and fruits, are generally packed in textile bags, corrugated box, or baskets made up of wood or cardboard with a view to maintain proper aeration through packaging. Seafood and meat is generally packed with polyethylene lined or polystyrene in boxes made up of plastic or wood, and the thickness of the packaging depends on the mode of transport and storage period. Fresh beverages, such as milk and juice, are mostly packed in cartons made up of paper or metal. Now-a-days, consumers tend to focus more on using food contact materials approved by the government-authorized bodies, such as FDA. Currently, the most commonly used plastic materials are polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polyethylene terephthalate. Besides, in recent times, there has been a significant rise in the usage of biodegradable materials for food packaging. Researchers and manufacturers, in collaboration, are trying to modify conventional plastic and innovate new materials for ensuring and maintaining safe and hygienic food packaging practices.Evolving life style of consumers, increasing health and environmental awareness, and supportive environmental policies implemented by various governments across the globe are the major factors responsible for the increasing global demand for fresh food packaging, which in turn is boosting their market growth. Owing to its value added applications, right from protection of food products to their safe distribution and transportation, the market for fresh food packaging is expected to create significant growth and investment opportunities for players operating in the market, especially in the developing countries. Besides, the fresh food packaging market is expected to continue to grow steadily in developed nations, wherein the consumer demand for safe and intact fresh food is very high. The main growth drivers for the market are private consumers, retailers, and local packaging firms, which focus more on delivering the product intact in the local market.However, presence of big and small retailers and increasing consumer preference for using cheap local products has created a highly competitive environment for big brands in the fresh food packaging market. Waste disposition is also a major concern for players operating in the global fresh food packaging market.The global fresh food packaging market is segmented in terms of product type, packaging material, and channel. By product type, the global fresh food packaging market is segmented into vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat products, dairy products, and others. By packaging material, the market is segmented into plastic (rigid & flexible), textile, wood, paper and board, metal, and others. By channel, the global fresh food packaging market is segmented into retailers and wholesalers.By geography, the global fresh food packaging market is segmented into seven key regions, including North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa, and Japan. The global fresh food packaging market is anticipated to expand at a double digit CAGR over the forecast period. Asia Pacific market is expected to be the most attractive market for fresh food packaging in view of the increasing export of fruits and vegetables from China and India. As of 2016, China is the largest fresh food packaging market in Asia Pacific, followed by India, and the market in these countries is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. Western Europe, followed by North America, are the other prominent regions projected to hold a promising future growth potential in the fresh food packaging market by the end of 2026.Visit For TOC @Some of the key players in the global fresh food packaging market are Amcor Limited, Bemis Company Inc., Berry Plastics, Packaging Corporation of America, Sonoco Products Company, Graphic Packaging International, Inc., Sealed Air India Pvt. Ltd., Bomarko Inc., and International Paper and Anchor Packaging Inc.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: Mobile Robotics Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and industry Analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=23912 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/mobile-robotics-market-2017-2025.htm https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/23912 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The growing competitions among major players such as Alibaba, Amazon, and JD.com, characterizes the competitive landscape in the global Mobile Robotics Market, finds a new study by Transparency Market Research (TMR). The established participants are investing significantly in research and development as well as marketing resources, owing to which the competition within this market has intensified.With the producers focusing on manufacturing products at competitive prices, which are similar in functionality and performance and the rising number of new entrants, the degree of competition in this market is likely to remain high over the next few years, states the research report.Sample With Latest Advancements @As per TMRs estimations, the global market for mobile robotics, which was worth US$8.58 bn in 2016, is anticipated to rise at a healthy CAGR of 15.60% during the period from 2017 to 2025 and reach US$30.96 bn by the end of the forecast period. Unmanned ground vehicles have emerged as the key products in this market and are expected to retain their position over the next couple of years.Increasing Deployment of Mobile Robots in Manufacturing Sector to Ensure Asia Pacifics DominanceIn this research report, the worldwide market for mobile robotics has been classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America on the basis of geography. Asia Pacific led the global market in 2016 with 32.20% and is projected to maintain its dominance throughout the period of the forecast. The increasing deployment of mobile robots in the manufacturing sector is likely to drive the Asia Pacific mobile robotics market in the near future. Apart from this, the surge in the investment in defense and logistics sectors is also anticipated to increase the uptake of mobile robots in the coming years, reflecting greatly on the growth of this regional market.Browse Our Press Releases For More Information @According to the market study, mobile robots are mostly deployed in industrial and service applications. Among the two, mobile robots find a higher demand in the industrial application segment and the trend is likely to remain so over the next few years, states the reserch report.Increasing Usage of Mobile Robots for E-Commerce Logistics to Boost Markets GrowthThe increasing usage of mobile robots for e-commerce logistics is the key factor behind the substantial growth of the global market for mobile robotics, states the author of this research report. The recent rise in the e-commerce sector has fueled the demand for efficient order fulfillment, resulting into the rising integration of automation with manual labor to make the delivery system more efficient and reduce the online retail fulfillment costs. This, as a result, has impacted this market positively and is expected to have a high influence over the coming years.Browse Our Table of Content @The increasing demand for factory automation and the rising adoption of mobile robots in emerging economies, especially China, are also expected to stimulate this market over the forecast period. However, the high initial investments required for the deployment of mobile robots may hamper the growth of this market in the years to come, states the research study.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: Lumibright New Spacious Office LUMIBRIGHT NEW OFFICE https://goo.gl/maps/uRgih4MjZYE2 Dear Valued Customers,We are glad to update you that October 2017 onwards we shifted our office to a more spacious, green and serene vicinity with ample parking facility . The nearest landmark is Gulf news.Make note of our new addressIHG Corporate Office- 18 street,Dubai Investment Park 2.+971 4 338 3448sales@lumibright.co.ukLOCATION MAP:All through these years, your unwavering loyalty and support has helped us grow. We profusely thank you for the confidence you have invested in us and our productsBringing you distinct & trendy illumination to spectacularly brighten your spaces has always been our motto. With enhanced facilities, we commit to serve you much better and faster. Any queries regarding the new location or about our enriched products/services, do not hesitate to get in touch with us.We affirmatively look forward to meet and greet you at our new location, for new-fangled methods of serving you better in assorted ways.LUMIBRIGHT : A vertically integrated global manufacturer of energy-saving, smart LED Lighting solutions across all elements of lighting: Power, Control, Lamps and Luminaries with over 4000 products covering all aspects of commercial & domestic lighting for indoor/outdoor applications. From a truly diverse choice with cutting edge, minimalistic to elegant classics our lighting designs contribute to a healthier, sustainable environment.LUMIBRIGHTIHG Corporate Office - 18 street,Dubai Investment Park 2+971 4 338 3448sales@lumibright.co.uk The media dedicated much time and energy to covering online abuse, towards women in particular, during the Democratic Primary. The vitriol was, and remains, disturbing. Posting a photo of a female campaign surrogate on Facebook, a man wrote, Every time i see this creature on CNN, I want to reach through the tv screen and choke her (I dont believe in hurting women but im not sure if this is one). Another surrogate, a black woman, has been called everything from a bitch to a slave to a hood rat. One man tweeted, I hope you and your family die, and another person told her to just end her misery. A pill cocktail will do the trick There has even been actual physical violence against women: Two women were hit because of their allegiance to a candidate, one of them, a young woman of color, was struck by an older white man with his hand and cane. Readers may be familiar with the term Bernie Bro, but they might be surprised to learn that every attack cited above was made by Clinton supporters against Sanders supporters. Though the abuse of Sanders supporters has been ignored, the Bernie Bro trope is as strong as ever. The term has been employed by Hillary Clinton in her new book, What Happened, (and in follow up interviews) to explain her loss: Some of his supporters, the so-called Bernie Bros, took to harassing my supporters online. The tale is even serving as evidence of a Russian propaganda effort to inflate Sanders support online, which was discussed in a closed door Senate Intelligence Committee meeting with Twitter representatives earlier this month. A Politico piece framed the bots as part of the toxic online environment attributed to Bernie Bros: Clinton supporters say they sensed early on that Twitter would be surprisingly toxic terrain. And the term is popping up in the current backlash to Bernie Sanders participation in the Womens Convention slated to take place in Detroit at the end of the month. The event is organized by womenmany of whom are of colorwho planned Januarys Womens March, which brought out an estimated 5.25 million people in one of the largest (if not the largest ever) single-day protests in U.S. history. It will be keynoted by Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-D), the most senior of the 12 black women in Congress. The 40-plus speakers announced include black, Latino, queer, Asian-American, Arab-American, Native American, Muslim, and/ or queer women. All but two speakers are women. One of those other two is Bernie Sanderscurrently the most popular politician in the United States. The responses to this news have included a change.org petition to Remove Bernie Sanders from opening the Womens Convention, a #BoycottWomensConvention hashtag, condemnation from several writers, criticism from Emilys List, condemnation from Joy Reid and Neera Tanden, who unfollowed the Womens March account, a Twitter poll from The New York Times, and clarification from organizers. Writer Lauren Duca sarcastically asked, Why not just have the #WomensConvention open with a choir of Bernie Bros harmonizing the word actually? An Elle OpEd, Some Advice for Bernie on Speaking at the Womens Convention, which laments that the conventions headline speaker is Bernie Sanders, who, it so happens, identifies as a cisgender man, invokes the Bernie Bro term twice. (Sanders is not, in fact, the opening speaker.) The term has been revisited in reported pieces, not merely tweets and opeds. Of course, individual Sanders supporters hurled vitriol at Hillary Clinton and her fans. But there is no empirical evidence that it was worse than the abuse in the opposite direction. In fact, independent observers have shown the difference between the two camps to be negligible or, in the case of one study, demonstrated that Clinton backers were actually more aggressive. From the beginning, the Bernie Bro narrative used a striking double standard: the most vocal and abusive Sanders supporter was framed as yet another example of a systemic problem. Abuse from Clinton supporters was either ignored or dismissed as isolated incidents. The actual Bernie Bro term first appeared in a light-hearted piece which was quick to point out that Berniebro is not every Bernie Sanders supporter. Sanderss support skews young, but not particularly male. By early 2016, however, through repetition and a feedback loop of articles which cited each other and repeated random anecdotes, a handful of screenshots, misinformation, and comments by Clinton partisans and surrogates, the Bernie Broto mean a serious sexist assault by Sanders supporters on Hillary Clinton, her campaign, and American politicswas born. A BBC piece titled, Bernie Sanders supporters get a bad reputation online, published on January 28th 2016, opened with a tweet in which New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum described harassment from an account she thought belonged to a Sanders supporter. The harasser, however, was actually a right winger posing as a GOP congressman who doesnt actually exist, and Nussbaum corrected the error. The BBC never did. The piece distorted the considerate response from the Sanders campaigns Mike Casca (If you support @berniesanders, please follow the senators lead and be respectful when people disagree with you) as an admission of guilt, claiming even representatives for the Sanders campaign felt compelled to address what was happening online. This flawed and evidence-free article was immediately parroted by a Mashable piece (headlined The bros who love Bernie Sanders have become a sexist mob ), which corroborated the phenomenon by citing two Clinton supporters and one unnamed chief of staff for an unnamed Clinton-endorsing member of Congress, all of whom agreed Bernie Bros were a problem. The article also entered into evidence two screenshots of Bernie Bro Facebook comments, though one of the alleged bros was actually a woman. The messaging and Bro-misidentifying were immediately repeated in pieces with nearly identical headlines and links to each other: Jezebels Bernie Sanders Campaign Is Concerned About the Berniebro, As They Maybe Should Be, Buzzfeeds The Bernie Bros Are A Problem And The Sanders Campaign Is Trying To Stop It, and The New Republics The Sanders campaign knows the Bernie Bros are a problem. The Bernie Bros are a dangerous and unruly crowd, causing Casca, in Buzzfeeds telling, to issue an urgent statement (Cool it, he begged). Mashables three screenshots became a ton to Buzzfeed. The New Republic piece cited the Buzzfeed piece and claimed Sanders staff is very concerned about the Bros, passionate fans who harass and bully Clintonites Jamil Smith, the writer of the piece, urged Sanders to condemn his supporters trolling, misogyny, and hipster racism, the evidence for which were the inaccurate Jezebel and Mashable pieces and a 2012 article on hipster racism. One reporter claimed that the Clinton campaign had pushed the narrative behind the scenes. When the Washington Post published, The Bernie Bros are out in full force harassing female reporters, in June, Olivia Nuzzi, then at the Daily Beast, tweeted a screenshot of the headline and wrote, Maybe I would buy into bernie bros more if I hadnt been pitched a story about bernie bros by Hillarys camp. Its worth noting that the first round of Bernie Bro pieces came out just before the early primaries (on February 1, 9, 20, 27) and a week after the Clinton campaign responded to Sanders comments about Planned Parenthood being an establishment organization by Pushing [the Twitter hashtag] #ImSoEstablishment behind the scenes, working with people who can help push this behind the scenes without our fingerprints, and with bloggers and columnists to criticize Sanders from a racial justice and reproductive rights perspective, as they described it in leaked emails. But that is conjecture. What is certain is that Clinton, her surrogates and her campaign have employed the trope openly. On February 7, 2016, Bill Clinton said that his wifes defenders, have been subject to vicious trolling and attacks that were too profane, and sexist, to repeat. On Feb. 4, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon told reporters, there is a support base for Mr. Sanders that has been shorthanded as the so-called Bernie Bros Anyone who engages in social media in support of Hillary Clinton has encountered this element. It can be nasty vitriolic. The Bernie Bros were enabled by the Sanders campaign, according to Fallon: the campaign needs to beware of the extent to which they let the crudeness seep into their own words and criticisms that they hurl at Secretary Clinton. After Clinton lost the general, her surrogates blamed the Bros, in part. Hillary for America spokesperson Karen said, even in the primary the Bernie Bros had a real chilling effect on a lot of women, and young women in particular. Perhaps the most stunning example of a double standard comes from coverage of actual physical violenceor a lack thereof. When chaos erupted at the Nevada Democratic State convention in May 2016 over the disqualification of delegates, several outlets, including The New York Times, The AP, Politico,The Washington Post, the LA Times, NBC, NPR, MSNBC as well as then DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, reported that chairs were thrown by Sanders supporters and used the word violent or violence in reference to Sanders supporters. The journalist whose tweets were the basis of the thrown chairs story admitted he hadnt witnessed them. And footage revealed that one unidentified man raised and then put down a chair. While NPR modified its language (replacing Sanders supporters threw chairs, with brandished) none of the other outlets ever updated or clarified their reporting. Contrast that to the coverage of actual violencerecorded on videoat another contentious delegate meeting a month later in New York, after Sanders supporters were ignored during a vote over the delegation chair for the DNC. Live stream video captures a white man, later identified as a Clinton donor, hitting Moumita Ahmed, a younger woman of color and Sanders delegate-at-large, with his hand and cane so hard you can hear a thwack. Not a single outlet which wrote about the thrown chairs covered this story except for Politico, which gave it one throwaway, and fairly victim-blaming, sentence in a story with the headline, Sanders backers revolt, refuse to recognize Cuomo as delegation leader. The double standard is glaring. Harassment against Clinton supporters is neatly packaged in the thought-terminating label of Bernie Bro. Targeting of Sanders backersincluding actual physical violencehas no such propaganda vehicle, and is thus never brought up as a systemic problem, much less weaponized as a campaign attack. Those of us who are insulted and smeared by aggressive Clinton partisans simply dont exist, our testimonies and experiences get erased or minimized. Not only is there still no concrete evidence that Sanders backers were any more toxic than anyone elses, but by continuing to prop up the canard that they were, media outlets exploit the very real, widespread problem of online harassment, and transform it into nothing more than a cheap rhetorical bludgeon. Part Two coming soon Katie Halper is a writer, radio show host, filmmaker, comedian and former history teacher who identifies as a feminist Bernie Bro. You can find her writing and videos at Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice, and catch The Katie Halper Show on on WBAI Wednesdays at 7pm, the podcast on Soundcloud and iTunes and extra bonus content at Patreon, and follow her on Twitter. Harbor Springs frees up funding with public safety millage The Harbor Springs public safety millage will free up some of the funds impacted by the Headlee Amendment, but city officials say it isn't a long-term fix. Almost no-one was surprised when Angela Merkel emerged from Septembers Bundestag elections on course for a fourth term as Chancellor but there was the shock at the scale of support for the hard-right among voters. Across the world, post-election headlines have been dominated by the fact that the nationalist AfD (Alternative fur Deutschland) emerged as the third largest party in the federal parliament, with 13 percent of the seats. Yet as the dust settles, and investors consider how this might impact on the fortunes of the big hitters in the Germany Dax 30, attention is turning to the nature of the next government. Jamaica and the new finance minister Merkels continued leadership presents a level of continuity and therefore reassurance regardless of the arrival of the AfD. Yet, her administration is going to take many weeks to put together, leading to a period of uncertainty for a while yet. Two things are fairly clear, however. Firstly, the new government is likely to be whats known as a Jamaica coalition named after the party colors of Merkels CDU/CSU, the pro-business liberal FDP and the Greens. The Social Democrats, who finished a distant second, have ruled out a grand coalition, opting for a period of opposition to lick their wounds after a post-war record low vote for the party. Secondly, there will be a new finance minister at Merkels side after Wolfgang Schauble moved on to become speaker of the Bundestag. As the likely second biggest party of a Jamaica government, the FDP will get to pick its cabinet post. Having missed the chance to get the finance ministry in 2009, its widely expected that it will grab the opportunity this time around, with Wolfgang Kubicki, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff and Werner Hoyer all rumored to be in the running for this key position. Party priorities hint at next Governments focus Yet, while personalities matter, policies probably matter more. Investors will want a sense of what Merkels next administrations policies will actually be with regards to the economy. While the election campaigns help, many compromises will have to be made. The CSU, the Bavarian sister party of Merkels CDU, is likely to have to row back on its bold bid to expand pensions for stay-at-home mums while the Greens might now be able to come good on its pledge to do away with private health insurance. Yet the German system is used to compromise and there are noticeable foundations on which to build a new consensus. Both the Greens and FDP have campaigned on upgrading the nations digital strategy, combating climate change, boosting education and cutting taxes. The FDP has called for a tax-free period for start-ups, the introduction of a venture capital law, a Swiss-style start-up fund, and strengthening the sharing economy in Germany. All of that looks fairly friendly for business unless your business model is still wedded to fossil fuels and should promote confidence. UK investors can, therefore, look beyond the headlines surrounding the AfD and the current period of coalition building. The election has delivered a sense of stability with Merkel still at the helm and looks set to lead to a coalition that is pro-EU and business-friendly. All of that should make Germany a safe bet for investors and help to continue the strong performance of the Dax 30, which reached record levels shortly after the vote. Similar Posts: PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:08:02 Agility Health Tech becomes Partner of One Nucleus For further information, please contact: Claire Thompson Director, Agility Health Tech +44 (0)7885591187 Claire.thompson@agilityhealthtech.com or Tony Jones CEO, One Nucleus +44 (0)1223 896463 tony@onenucleus.com Agility Health Tech has become the latest Partner to join the One Nucleus Partner Programme. The programme is tailor-made to meet the needs both of the Partner and the interests of One Nucleus members. Dr Claire Thompson, Director of Agility Health Tech commented We have developed an excellent working relationship with One Nucleus over the last three years, regularly supporting its cornerstone Genesis and ON Helix events, as well as its initiatives to enhance R&D and manufacturing in the region. We are very excited to be able to deepen our collaboration via the Partner Programme, where we look forward to supporting One Nucleus and its members with engaging and impactful technical, strategic and business communications. Tony Jones, CEO of One Nucleus, commented The raison detre of One Nucleus is to support our members in maximising their performance through enabling access the best possible technology, people and money. This support is provided across the life cycle of the business, from pre-start-up to revenue and exit, irrespective of the business model. Providing that support requires One Nucleus to partner with those best placed to offer our members high quality insight and advice at the most appropriate time. Agility Health Tech add significant expertise in the area of helping companies articulate their value proposition to both technical and business audiences. About Agility Health Tech Agility Health Tech is a UK-based consultancy and communications firm dedicated to advancing the products and raising the profile of its clients. With over 25 years experience in the healthcare, materials and nanotechnology sectors we support our clients, from spin out to multinationals organisations, to advance and promote their products, business and services. About One Nucleus One Nucleus is an award winning not-for-profit Life Sciences & Healthcare membership organisation centred on the Greater London-Cambridge-East of England corridor. Headquartered in Cambridge, at the heart of Europes largest Life Sciences and Healthcare cluster, we support those businesses and individuals undertaking business in or with the above region. Through providing the local, UK-wide and international connectivity, One Nucleus mission is to enable our members to maximise their performance, helping them achieve, or better still exceed, the goals they have set for themselves. Biomedical and Health Research have always been impactful in driving social and economic growth. In an increasingly outsourced, collaborative and multi-disciplinary sector, bringing the best people together is key to translating great innovation into great products that markedly improve patient outcomes and drive economic development. Attracting and enabling the best people to engage is at the heart of the One Nucleus team and what we strive to deliver. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201710190051 PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 13:00:12 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 396 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for American Manganese Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - American Manganese Inc. (TSX Venture:AMY). has issued a press release with the following headline:American Manganese Inc. Announces $200,000 Private PlacementTo 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 American Manganese 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/American Manganese Inc.Source: American Manganese Inc. (TSX Venture: AMY, OTC Pink: AMYZF, FWB: 2AM, WKN: A0YJSR, ISIN: CA02735A1057)Date: October 19, 2017Time: 7:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of American Manganese 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.) PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 11:01:02 London, Paris, October 19 2017 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces the world's first full-scale Salesforce Einstein CRM implementation in the financial services industry, with Ulster Bank, a subsidiary of NatWest and part of RBS Group with 1.9 million customers across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This is the first full-scale implementation of Salesforce Einstein in that it incorporates both internal CRM data and additional external customer data in one platform. Salesforce Einstein is the first-ever comprehensive CRM Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform. This ambitious contract comprised of a full renovation of the existing Salesforce CRM platform (incorporating Einstein and migrating to Salesforce Lightning), a data quality cleanse of the platform and the build of a new Single Customer View (SCV). Atos designed and implemented the platform to also include a next-best product recommendation engine in order to optimize managers' time to respond to the needs of its customers. The new platform will support Ulster Bank to enhance customer relationships, deliver greater business efficiency and increase sales revenue. Agile delivery at speed This challenging project was achieved in record time. Atos drew expertise from a global development team based across five time zones, which it managed to accelerate delivery from what would traditionally have been years to just six months, working closely to agile software development methods. The combination of Ulster Bank and Atos specialists, working closely with the Salesforce team, together with essential input from the Bank's customer relationship, product, process and customer experience teams delivered the necessary level of expertise and commitment to successfully complete the project in such a short timescale. Smarter selling, transformed customer experiences Features and benefits of the new platform include: Significant insight into customer and consumer data generated, through services from generated, through services from Atos Codex , Atos' offering for advanced business-driven analytics, IoT and cognitive solutions, which can be used to: influence product development and management more effectively respond to customers' specific needs, preferences and expectations Single customer view (SCV) in order to better target and personalize future customer interactions Enhanced optimal product recommendation prediction and targeting - to minimize human effort, maximize sales and improve customer experience More effective resource management releasing cost savings, efficiencies and synergies across the business Predictions and alerts on customer opportunities, and syncing with other apps on multiple devices to support Relationship Managers whether in the office or remote Damien Judge, Head of Business Commercial Excellence, Ulster Bank says "With the new platform, we have changed the system, the culture and the way our people interact with customers. The pace of change was phenomenal and now we have a CRM system with customer 360 degree view, generating insights to develop our business and moving us far ahead in the Irish banking market." Alan Grogan, Head of Data and Analytics, UK & Ireland at Atos says "This sophisticated technology platform means that Ulster Bank can now act in real-time to optimize its customer relationships, drive performance and gain a real competitive edge. The solution is ready to develop, learn and grow to give Ulster Bank a strategic and cost effective platform to meet and exceed future needs." Ulster Bank chose Atos' unique proposition on the basis of the strength of the vision, the fully joined-up approach, the level of innovation and the end-to-end solution that brought AI into the heart of the Bank. Atos' expertise in Business Analytics Services is recognized globally by analyst Gartner as it was positioned as a Visionary in its Magic Quadrant for Business Analytics Services Worldwide , 2017 . Ulster Bank is now investigating other advances using the platform, including better customer journeys, customer communications and knowledge sharing, plus even closer integration of the platform with the Bank's infrastructure and business. *** About Atos Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 72 countries and annual revenue of around 12 billion. The European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, The Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. About Atos Codex Atos Codex is the Atos brand for advanced analytics, Internet of Things and cognitive solutions consisting of methodology, design labs, an open industrial platform factory as well as high-performance data analytics. It provides clients a complete set of solutions and capabilities to design, build and run digital business platforms. Atos Codex is a key pillar of Atos' Digital Transformation Factory covering the complete data value chain and taking a strong business-driven approach rather than focusing just on technology. Press contact: Laura Fau | laura.fau@atos.net | +33 6 73 64 04 18 | @laurajanefau This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: ATOS via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 10:25:26 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 643 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Transparency Market Research recently published a research study based on the global biofuel enzymes market. The publication presents an executive-level blueprint of the market discussing in detail factors triggering the growth of the market together with analyzing the factors likely to inhibit the market. The report is titled Biofuel Enzymes Market - Global Industry Size, Market Share, Trends, Analysis And Forecast, 2012 - 2018. It collates market data obtained from several industrial sources with the help of tools such as Porters five forces analysis. According to the findings of the report, the global biofuel market is likely to grow at a healthy CAGR of 7.6% between 2013 and 2018. After thorough research, the report predicts that the bio-fuels enzymes market, which was worth US$1021.9 million in 2011, will reach US$1,653.1 million by the end of 2018. North America presently dominates the market, however, over the forecast period Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the most lucrative market for biofuel enzymes.Browse Complete Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/biofuel-enzymes-market.html Expansion of the end-use markets has significantly contributed to the increase in the consumption of bio-based ethanol and biodiesel. In addition, high degree of awareness pertaining to sustainability issues and changing economics of fossil fuels have forced governments to intervene in order to curb the unbridled use of hazardous and environmentally harmful fossil fuels. Therefore, according to the report, environmental legislations imposed by governments will remain the primary growth driver of the biofuel enzymes market. On the basis of product types, the report segments the biofuel enzymes market into industrial lipases, amylases, and others. Amylase has emerged as the fastest growing segment of the market owing to its high resistant power, which enables it to withstand a wide range of temperature and pH level (acidity) variations. The publication predicts a compound annual growth rate of 8% for amylases between 2013 and 2018. The market for amylases can be further subdivided into industrial proteases, enzymes, and cellulose. The market for industrial proteases is expected to boast an 8.7% CAGR during the forecast period.Request and Download Sample Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=348 Of the major geographical segments, North America leads the global market for biofuel enzymes with an expected 7.8% CAGR from 2013 to 2018. However, in the foreseeable future, Europe and Asia Pacific are projected to witness robust growth in terms of demand for biofuel enzymes. The European Union has enhanced its efforts to encourage the use of bioenergy for transportation, which is the primary factor driving the demand for biofuel enzymes in the region. Meanwhile, low-cost structure of the biofuel enzyme market in China is expected to boost the biofuels enzyme market in Asia Pacific.In order to present a detailed competitive analysis of the market, the report profiles leading players such as NextCAT Inc, Verenium Corporation, AB Enzymes GmbH, Noor Creations, Logen Corporation, Royal DSM NV, Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Novozymes A/S, Codexis Inc.View and Download TOC of Biofuel Enzymes Market Research Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/348 About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@ transparencymarketresearch.com Website: www.transparencymarketresearch.com PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:26:12 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 415 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Contrast media and agent market have significantly evolved over the past century. Initially, Iodine and Barium-based agents were used by radiologists and practitioners, now gold nanoparticle and radio pharmaceuticals are used. Advanced techniques such as gas micro bubble technology in gas and MRI imaging technology will prove as an essentials drivers in the wide use contrast agents.Global contrast agent and media market is fairly mature at current stage and still have the potential to groom in coming years. Some factors supporting to the growth of this market are diagnostic imaging, image guided surgical procedures, increasing rates of cardiac and cancer disorders and advancements in diagnostic technology. U.S. is currently holding the maximum shares of this market, followed by Japan and Europe.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10750 Increasing demand for image guided procedures and diagnostics, increasing incidence and mortality of cardiac and Cancer diseases, technology advancements in medical imaging market are some of the major driving forces resulting into the growth of the market. With these economies undergoing medical reforms affecting the sales of contrast agents and economic slowdowns are some factors restraining the growth of the market. Growing investments in immature markets and advanced contrast reagents having properties of contrast media and radio pharmaceuticals are some opportunities in contrast agent market.Contrast media and agents market is segmented on the basis of product type, route of administration, medical procedure, indication, application and geography. On the basis of product the market is segmented into Barium-based contrast media, Iodinated contrast media and Gadolinium-based contrast media. On the basis of route of administration the market is segmented into oral, injectable, rectal and ureteral. With this, on the basis of medical procedure the market is segmented into X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and Catheterization laboratory. The indication based market segments are cardiovascular disorders, Respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and nepoherological disorders. On the basis of application the market is segmented into radiology, interventional radiology and interventional cardiology. On the basis of geography the market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC and RoW.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10750 Amag pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bayer healthcare pharmaceuticals, Bracco Imaging Spa, Covidien, Cmc Contrast AB, Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., GE Healthcare, Genovis AB, Guerbet Group,Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., Nanopet Pharma GmbH., Nanoscan Imaging, LLC.,Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG, Spago Imaging AB, Subhra Pharma Private, Ltd. and Taejoon Pharm Co., Ltd., are some of the key players in contrast media and agents market. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:39:17 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 484 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Changing in the life style of population leads to various types of degenerative and chronic disease that affects the biological structure. In support to biological structure, various types of devices are implanted in human body that helps in replacing and enhancing the biological structure. These medical implants are man-made devices that are introduced in human body through surgical procedures and are left in the body after treatment. These devices are mostly implanted in geriatric population suffering from organ degeneration. During Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) procedure some implant devices may fail to provide necessary treatment and compromise on patient safety which can lead to severe harm or death of the patient. To overcome this problem, many companies are trying to develop various type of implantable devices with non-ferromagnetic materials that overcome the harmful effect of MRI on patient.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11083 Global MRI Safe Implantable Device Market: Drivers & RestraintsGlobal MRI safe implantable device market is witnessing high growth owing to shifting lifestyle choices, high incidence of degenerative and chronic disease, rising geriatric population and technology advancement in implantable devices such as high-field MRI, software applications, superconducting magnets and open architecture. However, high cost of MRI safe implantable devices and inadequate reimbursement policies for MRI safe implantable devices may hamper the growth of MRI safe implantable device market over the forecast period.Global MRI Safe Implantable Device Market: OverviewMost of the orthopedic implants are made from non-ferromagnetic materials and helps in an escalating the number of patients for MRI procedure. On the other hand, in some orthopedic implants instances owing to formation of conductive loop there might be some MRI related heating problem. Due to widespread use of vascular access and catheters most of the patients may require MRI procedures which in turn exhibits the growth of global MRI safe implantable device market.Global MRI Safe Implantable Device Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, global MRI safe implantable device market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America held the largest revenue share in the global MRI safe implantable device market followed by Europe and Asia Pacific owing to increase in geriatric population, technological advancements, increasing awareness for safe procedures and increase in the healthcare expenditure per capita. The developing nations in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential for growth in the global MRI safe implantable device market due to increase in chronic degenerative diseases along with healthcare expenditure.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11083 Global MRI safe implantable device Market: Key PlayersSome of the key participating global players in global MRI safe implantable device market are Medtronic plc, Zimmer Holdings Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Cochlear Ltd., Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical Inc, Smiths Medical, AbbVie, Inc., TriVascular2, Inc. Stryker Corporation, Smith And Nephew Plc, and Johnson & Johnson. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:53:44 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 549 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 The National Human Genome Research Institute defines genomic medicine as "an emerging medical discipline that involves using genomic information about an individual as part of their clinical care (e.g., for diagnostic or therapeutic decision-making) and the health outcomes and policy implications of that clinical use." Genomic medicine is a type of precision medicine in which genomics, epigenomics and other related data is used to accurately aid in individual disease diagnosis. Genomic medicine has novel applications in the fields of oncology, pharmacology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and infectious disease. Genomic medicine paves way for personalized medicine into clinics and has immense potential to reach the physicians and patients. Genomic medicine has been used for advanced sequencing in cancer pharmacogenomics, rare disorder diagnosis and for tracking of outbreaks of infectious diseases.Genomic Medicine Market: Drivers & RestraintsBacked by government investments in precision medicine initiatives such as a multimillion dollar investment by President Obama in January 2015 which aims to improve how to treat and prevent a disease by laying emphasis on its genetic makeup is expected to boost the market growth. Clinical validity and utility of genomic medicine tests is a major issue witnessed in the global market. Also, lack of awareness among healthcare professionals, sluggish adoption of genome medicine, fluctuating regulatory landscape are the factors which could hamper growth of the global genomic medicine market.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11323 Genomic Medicine Market: OverviewGenomic medicine is gaining momentum with expanding applications ranging from risk assessment and diagnosis in healthy individuals to genome-based treatment for patients with complicated disorders. Oncology is a major application of genomics medicine during cancer screening process as diagnostics for genetic and genomic markers. Oncology segment is expected to account for a major share in the global genomic medicine market. Genomic medicine is increasingly being used not only for research purpose but also in clinical applications. In clinical applications, genomic medicine will potentially enhance patient care.Genomic Medicine Market: Region wise OverviewGeographically, global Genomic Medicine market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). Owing to the presence of large number of academic as well as research institutions in the U.S. which are working on genomic medicine to discover next-generation genomic medicines, North America region is projected to lead the global genomic market in terms of value during the forecast period. Also, the presence of several universities offering educational programs coupled with opportunities in scientific research of genomic medicine in the North America and Europe is expected to have positive impact on the regional markets. The genomic medicine concept still in its nascent stage is yet to receive an impetus from the emerging market which are anticipated to hold smaller shares in the global market.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11323 Genomic Medicine Market: Key PlayersThe key research institutes in global genomic medicine market are BioMed Central Ltd., Cleveland Clinic, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, The Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Center for Genomic Medicine to name a few. The focus of the top players will be on the identification of effective drug candidates particularly in cancer treatment based on the molecular structure of tumors. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:17:34 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 465 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 The scientific term dental caries is known for the tooth decay or cavities. Tooth decays are generally caused by the specific endogenous bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus. It occurs by the production of acid that later destroys the layer and enamel of the tooth. The bacteria continues to grow to produce acid that gets into the inner layer of the tooth if the decay is not removed on time. In the U.S, approximately 90% of young adults have dental caries, while out of all dentate adults approximately 94% suffer from coronal caries. According to the estimation of WHO, on a global basis, 200,335,280 teeth were either decayed, filled or missing among just that age groupFactors contributing in the growth of Dental Caries Market are increased proportion of sugar based medication and existing life style factors. Additionally the increasing population in the Asia Pacific region is also the major factor to drive the growth of global dental caries market. However, according to WHO, it was observed that the cases with dental caries are declining due to the number of public health measures and improved self-care practices in the developed countries. These are the major restraints for the dental caries market. The increase in caries commonly occurs in the children, lower socio economic group and the new immigrants.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10735 With increasing base of dental caries prevalence, the dental caries market is expected to witness remarkable growth during the forecast period (2016-2024). The antimicrobial peptides are expected to hold maximum share in the overall treatment market for the dental caries owing to its high effectiveness. The chemoprophylactic agents includes antibiotics such as penicillin and vancomycin. New technologies that are evolving in the market such as mineral-binding micellar drug delivery system are developed which binds to the tooth surface and releases the encapsulated drug. The investment of companies in developing such technologies are also expected to contribute maximum share in the dental caries market during the forecast period.On the basis of regional presence, Dental Caries Market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Currently, North America dominates the global market for Dental Caries due to high prevalence rate of dental caries, followed by Europe. According to WHO, 90% people are diagnosed with dental caries in North America. However factors such as lack of knowledge and lack of awareness among people about the prevention will hamper the market growth in regions like Asia-pacific.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10735 Some of the key market players in the manufacturing of the treatment products for dental caries includes Sanofi, Abbott Laboratories, Bayer AG, Eli Lilly And Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co, Inc., AstraZeneca Plc., Reddys Lab, and Novartis AG. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:04:01 New research reveals the ways organizations monitor industrial equipment is providing a blueprint for human health Machines To Get Better Preventative Healthcare Than Humans By 2020 Devonshire Marketing Vanessa Land, +44 7768 693779 vanessa@devonshiremarketing.com A new study from Vanson Bourne, sponsored by ServiceMax, from GE Digital, the leading provider of field service management solutions, has found that 75% of IT and field service leaders makers believe that machines will receive better, preventative healthcare than human beings by 2020. IT and field service leaders surveyed believe advancements in machines having the ability to predict failure, and take preventative measures or self-healing actions are widely viewed as beneficial to a companys bottom line. For example: 46% of respondents say machines requesting help themselves will help their company better manage their equipment assets. 39% of respondents say predictive maintenance would help better manage asset equipment. 44% of respondents say digital twin with predictive maintenance and artificial intelligence would help prevent major failures. 69% of respondents surveyed say they would like their own personal digital twin to help themselves and medical professionals regulate their health in non-invasive ways by taking early action and preventative measures. The new study, After The Fall: Cost, Causes [..], surveyed 450 field service and IT decision makers in the UK, US, France and Germany across the manufacturing, medical, oil and gas, energy and utilities, telecoms, distribution, logistics and transport sectors, among others. According to Gartner, by 2020, 10% of emergency field service work will be both triggered and scheduled by artificial intelligence. The new study highlights the impact of new technology like artificial intelligence, analytics, and use of a digital twin on how we monitor industrial machines to predict when a piece of equipment will fail and what preventative service maintenance is required. In the same way that organizations want zero unplanned downtime with their equipment assets to avoid expensive loss of production or service, we want to mitigate our own human 'outages,' said Mark Homer, Vice President Global Customer Transformation for ServiceMax, from GE Digital. This holistic view of how something is operating whether its a person, an equipment plant or an individual component in a machine has historically been disjointed and only visible when something goes wrong. Today, organizations are now acutely aware of the value of a real-time view on the health and performance of their critical assets, as well as predictive analytics on when preventative maintenance or intervention is required, and access to time series data, service history and optimization demands. The research found that more than half of companies are planning to invest in a digital twin in the next three years. The value of these digital insights in an industrial context is starting to generate interest in preventative maintenance in a human context. A copy of the Vanson Bourne Whitepaper, Executive Summary and Infographics, can be downloaded here. About ServiceMax ServiceMax, from GE Digital, leads the global industry of field service management software an estimated $25 billion market worldwide. The company creates solutions for the 20 million people globally who install, maintain, and repair machines across dozens of industries as the leading provider of complete end-to-end mobile and cloud-based technology for the sector. About Vanson Bourne: Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector. Their reputation for robust and credible research-based analysis is founded upon rigorous research principles and their ability to seek the opinions of senior decision makers across technical and business functions, in all business sectors and all major markets. For more information, visit www.vansonbourne.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201710190051 PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:20:57 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 527 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 The second major cause of death in U.S. is Cancer after cardiovascular diseases and is expected to ascend becoming the leading cause of death in next few years. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), malignant neoplasms accounted for 15% of deaths worldwide in 2012 with 19.3 Mn new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed by 2025. The increasing number is a major challenge to physicians and researchers to fulfill the unmet needs in treatment of malignant neoplasms. Anti-neoplastic agents are used prominently as a first line therapy for cancer treatment as well as in combination with surgery or radiation therapy. Plenty of anti-neoplastic agents are available commercially for the treatment of different types of cancers including Oncotrex, Gleevec, Neosar, Cytarine, Leukeran etc. Several new anti-neoplastic agents are in clinical trials such as Oncofetal Ag (phase 1), Panobinostat (Phase 2), Volasertib (phase 2), Bortezomib (phase 4) etc. which are expected to launch in next 5-10 years.Factors such as growing incidence of cancer across the globe and demand for cost-effective treatment options are believed to play crucial role for the growth of global anti-neoplastic agents market. Rapid innovation in the field of personalized medicine presents a huge opportunity to manufacturers of anti-neoplastic agents. However, heterogeneous nature of cancer and high development cost of neoplastic agents are the factors limiting the growth of global anti-neoplastic agents market.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/10741 Increasing investment by multinational companies in cancer research owing to increasing prevalence of cancer is expected to boost the global market for anti-neoplastic agents during the forecast period. Based on product type, anti-neoplastic agents are classified as chemotherapeutic agents, biological or immunotherapeutic agents and personalized medicine. Chemotherapeutic agents segment is foreseen to lead the market owing to easy availability of drugs and immunotherapeutic agents segment is expected grow rapidly due to increasing acceptance of biological therapy owing to lesser side effects.On the basis of end user, the global chemotherapeutic agents market has been segmented into hospitals, Clinics, cancer rehabilitation center and ambulatory surgical centers. Hospital end user segment is anticipated to contribute the maximum share among end users. As per the statistics given by The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (H-CUP), there were 4.7 Mn hospitalizations related to cancer in U.S. in year 2009 and about 6% of adult inpatient hospital cost was generated by hospitalization of cancer patients.On the basis of regional presence, anti-neoplastic agents market is segmented into five key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America will continue to dominate the global anti-neoplastic agents market for due to high prevalence of malignant neoplasm. Europe is expected to hold second largest market share in global anti-neoplastic agents market. In 2013, as per Cancer Research UK, 605 people per 100,000 general population were diagnosed with cancer.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10741 Some of the major players in global anti-neoplastic agents market include Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Amgen Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Aspen Global Inc., Bayer AG, Teva pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pvt. Ltd., Merc & Co., Inc., Pfize Inc., Accord Healthcare, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Lundbeck LLC, AbbVie Inc. and others. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 10:14:53 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 653 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 According to a new market study released by Transparency Market Research (TMR), a leading U.S.-based market intelligence firm, the global powder coatings market is expected to expand rapidly in the coming years thanks to growing demand for consumer goods from the emerging BRICS economies. These countries have some of the fastest developing economies in the world and goods ranging from appliances to automobiles have a high demand from these countries.Browse Complete Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/powder-coatings-market.html The high population of India and China, collectively accounting for 36% of the global population, also aids the powder coatings market.The report, compiled by experienced analysts using analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis and market attractiveness analysis, is titled Powder Coatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2018 and is available for sale on TMRs website. The report presents historical statistics regarding the growth of the powder coatings market in the last few years and, upon a methodical analysis of the current market trends and their impact on market development, presents refined growth forecasts for the markets expansion from 2012 to 2018.Request and Download Sample Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1134 According to the report, the global powder coatings market was worth US$6.5 billion in 2011 and growing at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2012 to 2018. The market will reach a total value of US$10.5 billion by 2018. Technological advancements to overcome existing market restraints such as the difficulty in applying thin layers of coatings evenly will be crucial in the markets growth.By application, the global powder coatings market is taken up by automotives, appliances, general industry, furniture, architecture, and others.The automotive industry and appliances take up a significant share of global consumption of powder coatings. Cooking and household appliances accounted for 20% of the total powder coatings market, while the application of the same in the automotive industry is expected to grow at a robust CAGR of 7% during the forecast period.The BRICS countries all have rapidly expanding automobile markets and thus contribute significantly to the automotive industry and in turn the powder coatings market. Increasing urbanization in these countries, particularly China, India, and Brazil will also drive up the demand for modern appliances, further aiding the powder coatings market.Asia Pacific, as may be gleaned, is the leading regional segment of the global powder coatings market due to the strong performance of the market in China and India. These two countries, along with other developing Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, are expected to prop up the Asia Pacific powder coatings market in the coming years. Asia Pacific is estimated to have consumed close to 700 kilo tons of powder coating in 2011, more than 40% of the global consumption figure of 1,680 kilo tons. The global consumption of powder coatings is expected to rise to 2667.6 kilo tons by 2018, with Asia Pacific expected to increase its share further.View and Download TOC of Powder Coatings Market Research Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/1134 About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@ transparencymarketresearch.com Website: www.transparencymarketresearch.com PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:40:34 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 414 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 ENT surgical instruments are used to treat simple and complex disorders related to ear, nose and throat and are consist of various medical devices namely Radiofrequency Devices, Hand instruments, ENT powered instruments. With increasing prevalence of chronic sinusitis and airway obstructive disorder, these endoscopic surgery is the treatment of choice as medical therapy fails provide complete relief to the patients. To overcome these problem surgical interventions are required. Powered surgical instruments are tools designed precisely to remove soft tissue, hard tissue and bone and enable better precision, surgical accessibility and positive outcomes for various ENT surgeries.Powered ENT Surgical Instruments Market: Drivers and RestraintsPowered ENT surgical instruments market are witnessing significant growth owing to increase in geriatric population, prevalence of chronic sinusitis, ear, and throat infections and increasing awareness among population. Other factors such as technology advancement, high adoption of minimally invasive ENT procedures and increase in footprints of prominent players in powered ENT surgical instruments market. However, insufficient quality assurance standards, lack of sterilization practices of equipments, defect in instruments and regimes pressure on healthcare providers to reduce overall cost of instruments hamper the growth of powered ENT surgical instruments market.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11101 Powered ENT Surgical Instruments Market: OverviewPowered ENT surgical instruments market witnessed substantial growth owing to adoption of surgical instruments, increase in the volume of surgical procedures, equipment accuracy and techniques used such as minimally invasive to treat ENT related problem. Also, innovation in surgical procedure and technology advancement to reduce the overall treatment cost propel the growth of powered ENT surgical instrument market during the forecast period.Powered ENT Surgical Instruments Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, powered ENT surgical instruments market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific dominates the global powered ENT surgical instruments market followed by Europe, Japan and North America owing to high prevalence of chronic disease, rising geriatric population, adoption of minimally invasive procedure and reimbursement policy in these regions. Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential and shows substantial growth in terms of wide acceptance of new technology owing to awareness among population, increase in the medical tourism and increasing healthcare expenditure.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11101 Powered ENT Surgical Instruments Market: Key PlayersKey players of powered ENT surgical instruments market are Medtronic Plc, Conmed Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Bien-Air, Portescap. PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 18:26:02 Proteintech Europe Ltd Awarded new SUPC Antibodies and Sera Framework Agreement Proteintech Group Kier Wilkinson kier@ptglab.com Proteintech Europe Ltd, a direct manufacturer of antibodies, has been selected as a trusted supplier of research-grade antibodies as part of the new SUPC (Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium) Antibodies and Sera Inter Regional Laboratories Agreement. The UK-wide framework agreement supplies 6 higher education consortia, members of which include over 100 research institutions, with antibodies from a trusted and responsible source. Each awarded supplier was vetted on production processes and service levels, with an emphasis on animal welfare and quality control. The agreement runs from 1 July 2017 until 30 June 2019. Proteintech has always been committed to a meticulous, sustainable approach towards manufacturing and supplying quality antibodies to its customers. The selection of Proteintech as a supplier for the framework shows that these efforts have been recognized commented Kier Wilkinson, Proteintech Europe Ltd Director. The framework agreement will allow us to continue providing the best possible service to UK researchers with free next day delivery on over 10,000 products and bespoke technical support direct to the researcher. Benefits of purchasing from a framework approved supplier: Members can access a broad range of products, including those produced under ISO certification. Confidence purchasing from a trusted supplier. All awarded companies have undergone financial, legal and background vetting. Member suppliers have undergone thorough assessment regarding animal welfare. Tailored customer service and technical support direct from the manufacturer. About Proteintech Group Founded by scientists in 2001, Proteintech understands the importance of antibodies with high specificity and reproducibility. Proteintech manufacture and validate every antibody in-house, including the use of siRNA knockdown to demonstrate specificity. In the catalogue of antibodies against 12,000 targets, Proteintech ensure all validation data is made available to the researcher along with 24-hour expert technical support, putting the confidence back into research. For more information, please visit ptglab.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201710190061 PR-Inside.com: 2017-10-19 09:42:08 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 488 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Spectroscopy is a technique used to study the physical characteristics of a material when there is an interaction between absorption and emission of light within a specified electromagnetic spectrum. Spectroscopy includes interaction of electron, proton and ions absorbed by molecule. Spectroscopy is studied by visible light, ultraviolet and infrared radiations through spectrometer. Since 2010, demand for analytical instrumentation has increased significantly among various end-use industries such as pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Spectroscopy market accounts for significant market share of analytical instrumentation market. Molecular spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and atomic spectroscopy are some of the key technologies that are present in the market. In an analytical and life science industries, spectroscopy plays a significant role owing to increase in demand for bimolecular analysis and drug composition.Spectroscopy & Elemental Analysis Instruments Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe primary factors that exhibits the growth of spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments market are increasing concern in the area of food and environmental safety, increase in the R&D funding, healthcare expenditure along with usage of X-ray fluorescence in clinical research and government support. However, significant dearth of professionals, unlawful trade practices and high cost of spectroscopy devices and elemental analyzers may hampers the growth of spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments market.Request for Report TOC @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11128 Spectroscopy & Elemental Analysis Instruments Market: OverviewBased on the methods for analyzing the spectroscopy, the mass spectroscopy segment is widely used technique so as to identify the chemical contents present in the sample. Increase in the research and technology activities in the field of drug development, bimolecular analysis, industrial chemistry along with defense and astronomical sector is expected to propel the demand for spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments in near future.Spectroscopy & Elemental Analysis Instruments Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Europe followed by North America accounts for largest market share of the global Spectroscopy & elemental analysis Instruments. This is attributed to presence of large number of research & academic centers along with significant presence of major key players in these market. Developing regions such as Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Latin America, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential and a promising market for spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments market owing to increase in the research expenses, food and drug safety along with improvement in macroeconomic conditions in these regions.Request for Report Sample @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11128 Spectroscopy & Elemental Analysis Instruments Market: Key PlayersKey players of spectroscopy & elemental analysis instruments market are Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., PerkinElmer Inc., HORIBA Ltd., Metrohm AG, Shimadzu Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Danaher Corporation, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Agilent Technologies, WATERS, Bruker Corporation, Spectris, Illumina Inc., JEOL Ltd., JASCO, Inc. and Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. Market players need to emphasize on research and development as well as distribution networks to increase their business footprint worldwide. The African Development Bank, AfDB, has said it will invest $24 billion in agriculture over the next 10 years to help unlock its potential and assure food security in Africa. Akinwunmi Adesina, AfDB president, said this at a side event of the ongoing Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, USA on Wednesday. Mr. Adesina said there was the need for supportive public policies and significant investments in infrastructure, especially for roads, irrigation, storage, warehousing and agro-processing. He said that AfDB would provide support to strengthen African agricultural research and development systems to play significant roles in the transformation processes. The former agriculture minister said the support was to ensure that valuable research no longer gathered dust on the shelves of academia. The president said that AfDBs Feed Africa strategy had launched the Transformation of the African Savannah Initiatives (TASI) to help unlock the potential of the Savannas of Africa. He said that the initiative would start by bringing approximately two million hectares of savannah in eight African countries Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique. These countries come under the cultivation of maize, soybean and livestock production in optimum conditions. Success in this endeavour requires that we wake up the savannas of Africa. When we do so, African agriculture will indeed rise up from its slumber. Lets wake up Africas savannas and turn them into the new wealth zones of Africa and unleash Africa as a global powerhouse in food. Together let arise and feed Africa. Valuable research must meet the needs of farmers and agri-businesses in ways that exponentially increase productivity and improve the quality of lives of our rural poor. Africa must learn from the experiences that have worked elsewhere while tailoring the interventions to the specific realities of Africa. We must ensure that small, medium scale and large-scale commercial farmers co-exist in a way that allows opportunities for all. Partnerships in research and development will be crucial, Mr. Adesina said. According to him, the bank has engaged to work with the strongest possible organisations with proven track records in tropical agriculture from South America. He said that this included the Brazilian Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the Agricultural Corporation of Brazil (CAMPO), and others with long experience in conservation agriculture. Mr. Adesina that the research institutions would work closely with the universities and the national agricultural research systems across the savannas of Africa to enhance agriculture. The management of Ontario Oil and Gas limited has denied any fraudulent sale of refined petroleum products as alleged by Union Bank Plc in an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The company spoke on Monday about a commercial transaction between her and the bank which dates back to 2014. A Federal High Court in Lagos had on Monday ordered the interim forfeiture of N1.96 billion allegedly belonging to the company over alleged fraudulent sale of refined petroleum. According to a statement by the company, Ontario speaking through its counsel, Ben Udoh, acknowledged approaching Union Bank Plc for a facility to import and market petroleum products in 2014 but denied allegations of fraudulent diversion of proceeds. Indeed, we approached Union Bank in 2014 for an $11 million facility. A letter of Credit (LC) was issued same year but was amended to $9.9 million in May 2015. The said sum ($9.9) was paid to the supplier, Petrocam Trading Limited. Contrary to impressions created by Union Bank, there was no case of fraudulent diversion and conversion of proceeds as alleged. We would like to confirm on good authority that the products were duly imported and sold in the open market, Mr Udoh said. He added, Total proceeds from the transaction was N1.9 billion, and in line with our offer letter and best practice, same amount was provided for. The management of Union Bank was subsequently advised to bid for appropriate foreign exchange to discharge the LC. Unfortunately, Union Bank, for reasons best known to them, failed to heed several exchanges for the liquidation of the debt which Ontario diligently dealt with within the 60-day expiration of the facility. Mr. Udoh also alleged that Union Bank had unwittingly shot itself on the foot by its failure to register the Form M with Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, nearly 8 months after, which made it difficult for them to successfully bid for forex to tidy up the transaction. Finally, we are surprised that the ex parte order which targeted Ontario Oil and Gas Limited was used to seize the assets of The Renoire Logistics which is an independent entity with no similar directors or ownership. Union Bank failed to transparently manage this transaction and should blame itself for allowing the devaluation of the Naira to hurt its interests, he said. We do not owe Union Bank. All proceeds arising from the transaction has been fully redeemed. Any differential is as a result of devaluation of the Naira. Ontario would do everything legal to vacate the ex parte application. Ontario is however not new to fraud and shady dealings. In January, a judge of the Lagos High Court, Lateefa Okunnu, convicted the company and its promoters, Walter Wagbatsoma and Adaoha Ugo-Nnadi, on an eight-count charge of fuel subsidy fraud. The judge said the prosecution had proved that Mr. Wagbatsoma, Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi, and Ontario Oil and Gas of collected hundreds of millions of naira falsely as subsidy payments. Mr. Wagbatsoma is the chairman of the company while Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi is the managing director. The judge also said the prosecution gave evidence that the convicts discharged a much lesser quantity of petrol in their transaction with the government and presented a forged shore tank certificate. The judge later said she had no doubt that the company forged the shore tank certificate, used for the subsidy payment and subsequently sentenced both Mr. Wagbatsoma and Mrs. Ugo-Nnadi to 10 years in prison. She also ordered restitution for Ontario Oil and Gas, and asked the company to refund N754 million being the amount it defrauded the Nigerian government. Also in March, the NNPC stated that the company was yet to make a formal commitment to settle all its outstanding debts under the crude oil swap contract that existed between 2012 and 2014, adding that the company was broke. The Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, a subsidiary of Italian oil major, Eni, said on Thursday it has commenced the feasibility studies for the construction of a brand new 150,000 barrels -per-day capacity refinery to be located in the Niger Delta region. The Managing Director/Vice-Chairman, NAOC, Massimo Insulla, said during a two-day succession planning workshop for small and medium-scale vendors of NAOC in Yenagoa. The workshop was aimed at training proprietors and managers of small and medium scale enterprises, SMEs with skills and best practices for the continuity and sustainability of their businesses. Mr. Insulla highlighted NAOCs efforts to provide enabling environment for oil and gas businesses to flourish, including the construction of the refinery in the region. We are implementing a number of projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well as energy sector, including our Zabazaba deep offshore project, ongoing feasibility for the construction of a brand-new 150,000 barrel-of-oil-per-day refinery, support for refurbishment of Port Harcourt refinery, efficiency of the national grid, alternative energy mix, etc, he said He also expressed Enis commitment to expand NAOCs operations and grow Nigerian content in-country, for which over $5.4billion was spent in the last six years The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, who gave the opening remarks at the event, acknowledged the growth of SMEs as means to jumpstart economic growth and sustainability in the country. Business men and women were charged by Mr. Dickson to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, to develop and sustain their businesses. He further urged NAOC to make available to the government the statistics of indigenous businesses it had empowered through its business finance scheme as access to capital remained the major constraint in the development and sustainability of business. The governor encouraged the people of Bayelsa State to be actively involved in the oil and gas industry to enable them to take charge of their local economy. He also echoed that the corporate offices of international oil companies be relocated of to the Niger Delta, which is their primary place of operation. He also implored the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB to accelerate work on their 17-storey headquarters building in Yenagoa. Ankara calls on African countries to close down schools affiliated with the so-called Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) and hopes for cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Turkish Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz made the call on Thursday at the Turkey-Africa Education Ministries Conference in Istanbul. There are schools linked to this terrorist organisation in Africa. These schools are providing financial support to the organization. We expect our bother African countries to cooperate more with Turkey to wage a better fight against these organizations, Mr. Yilmaz said, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency. The Turkish authorities accuse FETO, supporters of cleric Fethullah Gulen, of involvement in the 2016 foiled coup, a claim Mr. Gulen has denied. Ankara has established the Maarif Foundation to take control of schools outside Turkey linked to FETO movement. Nineteen African countries have reportedly either transferred the FETO-linked schools to Maarif or shut them down. The minister also reportedly announced Turkeys candidature for a seat on UNESCOs Executive Board in 2017 and 2022. (Sputnik/NAN) Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC, on Thursday announced that it would press on with plans to boost its regional clout and boost Irans missile power, a local media report said. In a statement, the IRGC said that the U.S. President Donald Trumps recent aggressive remarks against Irans defence programme and his plan to impose sanctions on the IRGC were an indication of their anger at the IRGCs effective role in the region. It shows that the U.S. and Israel have failed to carry out their evil schemes to redraw regional borders and undermine Muslim nations. The IRGC will keep trying to enhance its regional influence and boost Irans missile capabilities with more acceleration, the statement added. Recently, Mr. Trump revealed his strategy on Iran, saying that his administration would impose tough sanctions on the IRGC. He also accused Iran of proliferation of missiles and weapons that threaten its neighbours, global trade and freedom of navigation. (Xinhua/NAN) Uganda has confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the health minister said on Thursday. Jane Aceng told reporters the case, which led to a fatality, had been confirmed after a series of tests were carried out. The East African nation last suffered a Marburg outbreak, which has a high mortality rate, in 2014. Marburg is from the same family of viruses as Ebola, which killed thousands in West Africa in 2014. The victim, a 50-year old woman, died on October 11 at a hospital in eastern Uganda after she presented with signs and symptoms suggestive of viral haemorrhagic fevers, the minister said. The woman had nursed her 42-year old brother who died on September 25 with similar signs and symptoms and also participated in cultural preparation of the body for burial, she added. Mr. Aceng said the man was a hunter who carried out his activities where there are caves with heavy presence of bats. The African fruit bat is the reservoir host of the Marburg virus although infected bats do not show obvious signs of the disease. Symptoms and signs of Marburg include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pains and bleeding through various orifices. Transmission of the disease occurs through contact with infected blood or other body fluids and tissue. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier in Geneva told Reuters they were deploying staff to bolster the Ugandan efforts to contain the outbreak. We are coordinating with partners to ensure that they have the necessary support and will deploy additional resources as necessary, he said. Uganda has suffered several outbreaks of Marburg and Ebola in the past, although they have been mostly contained quickly with limited fatalities. The countrys worst occurrence of a haemorrhagic fever was in 2000, when 425 people contracted Ebola and more than half of them died. Marburgs fatality rate, according to WHO, has varied over the years with the highest, 80 per cent, occurring in outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2000 and in Angola in 2005. (Reuters/NAN) The Communist Party of China, CPC, opened the 19th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday in Beijing. President Xi Jinping delivered a report to the congress on behalf of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC. Mr. Jinping said the CPC will lead the country to basically realize socialist modernisation by 2035. He said this is the first stage of a two-stage development plan that the CPC drew up for the period from 2020 to the middle of the 21st century. He called the plan the CPCs strategic vision for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The period between now and 2020 will be decisive in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Mr. Jinping said. Building on this, China will see the basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035 after 15 years of hard work, he told more than 2,300 delegates. Just a few days before, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, published a letter of felicitation from Mr. Buhari through social media, to Mr. Jinping. The Nigerian leader lauded China for becoming an indispensable force in the comity of nations. While expecting the delivery of policy guidelines and framework for Chinas development and foreign relations in the next five years and beyond, and the election of a new CPC Central Committee, we wish the 19th National Congress of the CPC a complete success, Mr. Buhari said. The CPC National Congress occurs once every five years to set the partys national policy goals and elect its top leadership. The 19th CPC National Congress will review the partys work since 2012 and chart a course of action to guide the nations development over the coming years under a new leadership elected by about 2,300 delegates nationwide. The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has proffered the introduction of a Property Verification Number, PVN, as a solution to improved transparency in property ownership in Nigeria This solution was brought to the fore at the just concluded two days conference on tackling corruption through improved transparency in property ownership. The event held in Abuja and ended on Wednesday. Speaking at the conference, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the University of Abuja, Olanrewaju Aladeitan, said the PVN would be a good instrument to aid transparency, as every property owner would have a unique identification number that would reflect on every property the individual owns or purchases. According to him, this would reduce and aid exposure of property acquisition with laundered funds. Another solution tendered was the public registration of beneficial ownership. The Director Legal Services of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Peter Ogbobine, explained the concept and suggested that the government should adopt it into law. Beneficial ownership declaration in Nigeria at present is legal ownership. Legal ownership is where the promoters and incorporators registered with the company are not necessarily the owners of the company. Until we can explore deep into who owns the property and how he acquires it then we have a problem. Beneficial ownership refers to the person who has control over the payment piece from that property. I might put my sons name there, I might put a lawyer there but behind the lawyer, I control the property. How do you now establish beneficial ownership when it is not in law? In Ghana and Tanzania it is a law now but Nigeria has international obligations which requires us to have a register of all beneficial owners in the extractive sector and those that operate, invest or bid for licenses in the extractive sector. We have to create a public register where any Nigerian can go open the book and see who owns what and you see the names there. The civil society can now question where Mr. A got the money to purchase such property. He may have gotten it legitimately but the fact is that you can ask yourself that question and youll find that a lot of civil servants and retired military personnel cannot explain the money and a lot of the time this beneficial ownership will expose all these illegal things, he said. On security after declaring beneficial ownership, Mr. Ogbobine suggested that Nigeria could adopt the Ghana EITI beneficial ownership roadmap to fight corruption by keeping details of their contacts and addresses confidential and only accessible to peculiar agencies for security reasons. Other suggestions made were for establishment of a national data bank, synergy between all anti-corruption agencies, an occupancy audit of the houses in the Federal Capital Territory, F.C.T, direct allocation of land for improved transparency, and for property recovered by the government to be declared. When the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB resumed on Tuesday, the judge, Binta Nyako, was furious over the absence of the controversial secessionist. As far as the judge was concerned, someone had to be held responsible for the absence of the accused. The annoyance showed in her voice and carriage as she engaged both the prosecutors and the defence teams in a verbal war. Reacting harshly to a request by the prosecution, Mrs. Nyako warned that the courtroom, one of many at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, was Justice Binta Nyakos courtroom not Labarans courtroom. Mrs. Nyako did not stop there. The irate judge berated Mr. Kanus lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, as well as other lawyers in the defence team for what she described as attempts by counsel to frustrate the trial, presided over by her. You know that I dont like drama, Mrs. Nyako said, stopping Mr. Ejiofor short when the latter attempted to submit that the prosecutions denial of knowledge about Mr. Kanus whereabouts surprised him (Ejiofor). What the prosecution is simply saying is that your client is not here. And because of that, I should revoke his bail. Now it is my turn to ask you, where is your client? Mrs. Nyako queried. Some members of the defence are making matters difficult for others. If you dont want me to continue with this case, I will recuse myself, she added. Also, when one of Mr. Kanus sureties, Eyinnaya Abaribe, a senator addressed the court, through his counsel, applying to be discharged as the defendants surety, Mrs. Nyako responded swiftly. Mr. Abaribe had subtly linked the invasion of Mr. Kanus home by the military on September 11 as a possible factor in his failure to appear in court. But the judge would have none of that. She told Mr. Abaribes lawyer that none of the submissions contained in his appeal would be considered by the court. Even if you apply from today till tomorrow, you have only three options: produce Nnamdi Kanu, forfeit the bond (N100 million), or request for time to bring him back to court to face his trial. Once you sign to be somebodys surety, that person automatically becomes your responsibility, Mrs. Nyako said. The judges mood was perhaps understandable. It was based on the fact that when her court granted Mr. Kanu bail, on April, 25 it added 12 main conditions, primarily aimed at ensuring that the defendant would be able to effectively attend his trial. Mr. Kanu was expected, as part of those conditions, to avoid a crowd of more than 10 people, avoid granting press interviews and engaging in any form of agitation. Mr. Kanu is believed to have flouted may of the bail conditions, thus leading the Nigerian government to call for the revocation of the bail. The bail initiated a series of developments that culminated in the disappearance of Mr. Kanu. Shortly after the April 25 bail, Mr. Kanu was seen in a large crowd within his fathers compound in Abia State, in what was called a worship gathering by the defendants lawyer. Mr. Kanu was also seen in YouTube videos calling on Nigerians from the South-east region to support a stay-at-home order to press home their demand for Biafra. The stay-at-home order given by the IPOB leader witnessed relative success in parts of the South-east and some states in the South-south, like Rivers State. Mr. Kanu was also seen in other YouTube videos calling on the federal government to set a date for a referendum that would usher in the break-away of the region to form the Republic of Biafra or risk massive protest from IPOB members. He also issued similar threats like the boycott of elections in Anambra scheduled to hold November 18. In what has been regarded as a reaction to the agitation by Mr. Kanu and his IPOB supporters, a Northern group asked South-easterners living in the north to leave the region before October, 1. The situation aggravated an already tense security atmosphere in the country, with leaders from various parts of the country condemning both groups for their actions. While all these were ongoing, the federal government demanded the revocation of Mr. Kanus bail on August 25, accusing the IPOB leader of flouting all the conditions listed in his bail. Although that application was reportedly filed in August, during the annual vacation of federal high court judges, the matter was never listed, even among cases to be treated by vacations judges in the court. THE ARMYS ROLE A few days after the government announced the plan to call for a revocation of Mr. Kanus bail, the Nigerian Army announced it would commence an operation in the South-east. Operation Python Dance was an exercise to check criminality in the region, the army said. However, by the time the exercise commenced in Abia State, Mr. Kanus home state, clashes occurred between IPOB members and soldiers with both sides accusing each other of starting the confrontation. As the clashes continued, the military labelled IPOB a terrorist organisation, a decision later backed by the federal government through a court order; while Mr. Kanus lawyer accused the army of kidnapping his client on September 14. He also asked them to produce him in court at his resumed hearing. Mr. Ejiofors claim appears logical. If a group has been declared a terrorist organisation, and many of its members arrested, wouldnt the leader of such group also be arrested? Or why does it appear the military is not interested in the whereabouts of the leader of a terrorist organisation. However, in a reply to Mr. Ejiofors claim, military spokesperson, John Enenche, dismissed the allegations. I watched the operations live. I also got first-hand information from our men on the ground. For the records, Nnamdi Kanu was never taken away by the military. The military is doing its routine exercise/operation. I saw everything, nobody raided Kanu house. I stand to justify it not from the information I got. I was watching it live. I was monitoring it live. Nobody raided his house, nobody went to carry him that must be very clear. I saw the militancy, nobody told me, Mr. Enenche, a major general, said in an interview with journalists in Abuja. Also speaking later on Mr. Kanus disappearance, a former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, claimed the IPOB leader had fled to London. Nnamdi Kanu is in London as we speak. He was not arrested by anybody. He left on his own, Mr. Kalu said in an interview with Punch newspapers. Reacting, Mr. Ejiofor accused the former governor of playing to the gallery to gain favour from the government. What do you expect from a man, who is enjoying a temporary freedom and struggling to get his head out of grievous corruption charge hanging on his neck? He saw Nnamdi Kanus travail as an opportunity to seek relevance from the prosecuting authority, Mr. Ejiofor said insisting his client was being held by the army. With Mr. Kanus whereabouts not clear, many Nigerians looked forward to the October 17 court case, hoping to see if he would appear (if hes in hiding) or be brought to court (if he is in the custody of security agencies). Neither happened. The IPOB leader was absent. For Mrs. Nyako, irrespective of the militarys actions, the responsibility to produce the separatist leader in court lies with his sureties. She asked the sureties, including the want-away senator, to appear in court on November 20, to explain the disappearance of Mr. Kanu. Speaking of possible options to be taken if (Kanu) does not show up, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ahmed Raji said; the simple thing to do would be to declare him wanted. It is simple. What the court can do is to declare him wanted. I dont think the court can do anything more than what it has mentioned in its conditions to the sureties, he said. While many Nigerians will now look forward to the adjourned date of November 20, the question many will continue to ask is: Where is Nnamdi Kanu? The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abukabar Malami, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all relevant agencies to compile names of all looters with a view to promptly enforcing the judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos ordering the government to release information about the names of high ranking public officials from whom public funds were recovered. The court also ordered the government to tell Nigerians the circumstances under which funds were recovered, as well as the exact amount of funds recovered from each public official. Mr. Malami made the disclosure on Wednesday during a meeting at his office in Abuja with a delegation from Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP. This development was disclosed on Thursday in a statement by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni. Mr. Mumuni said, We had a very productive meeting with Mr Malami, discussing among other critical issues the need for the government to obey the judgment delivered in July by Hon Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/CS/964/2016brought by SERAP. According to Mr. Mumuni, Mr Malami informed us that President Buhari has directed the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC and other relevant agencies involved in the recovery of looted funds to promptly put the documents together with a view to fully and promptly enforcing the judgment by Justice Shagari. We appreciate the opportunity to meet with the Attorney General of the Federation and look forward to working with him as the government strives to enforce this very important judgment. We hope that the implementation of the judgment will now happen sooner rather than later. We believe that effectively implementing the judgment will be a victory for the rule of law, show the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators in the country, as well as demonstrate Buharis oft-repeated commitment to tackling the problem of grand corruption, Mr. Mumuni added. It would be recalled that the SERAP suit followed disclosure last year by the Federal Government of funds recovered from some high-ranking public officials and private individuals. In her judgment delivered on July 5, Justice Shagari agreed with SERAP that the Federal Government has legally binding obligations to tell Nigerians the names of all suspected looters of the public treasury past and present. Joined as defendants in the suit are the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. The same day that the judgment was delivered, Mr. Malami told reporters in Abuja that government was in agreement with the ruling and would carry out the order as long as it does not amount to sub judice. The Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise, Tariffs and Marine Transport has requested for additional eight weeks to carry out its investigations on leakages in the sector adding that it had recovered over N140 billion in the course of assignment. It had earlier identified 32 leakage channels as the major sources of revenue losses in the import and export business. The committee made this request on Wednesday while also disclosing that it had recovered over N140 billion from banks and companies following its probe into the alleged loss of N30 trillion in Nigerias import and export value chain. It, however, said the banks and companies currently under investigation represented less than one per cent of the entire import and export value chain. This was revealed in a report presented by its chairman, Samuel Anyanwu, who explained that some banks had remitted N128 billion to the CBN, while some of the 60 companies investigated made voluntary payments of N12 billion into federal governments coffers. As a result of this exercise, some collection banks have made additional remittances to the Central Bank of Nigeria to the tune of N128 billon and evidence of payment and receipt has been received by the committee. From the selected 60 companies, over N12 billion payment have been made to the government voluntarily by the companies based on their internal self-audit after receiving documented evidence of their culpability from our committee. It is instructive to note that despite all the payments so far made, none of the approved collection banks or the selected companies has fully cleared the established liabilities against them, the committee chair said. The committee further explained that these infractions within the system disproportionately distort the economic profile of the country and place extensive pressure on the nations scarce foreign exchange. It added that the acts also negate all Central Bank of Nigeria initiated foreign exchange management plans because a distorted forex requirement does not essentially reflect the actual forex needs of individuals and businesses in the country. This situation benefits only the purveyors of capital flight from the country and adds absolutely no value to the nation, the chairman added. The probe followed the adoption of a motion titled, Urgent Need to Examine the Operations of the Nigeria Customs Service Revenue Drive on November 15, 2016. The Senate had mandated the committee to carry out a holistic investigation into the activities of the service with a view to identify the leakages and irregularities as well as the causes of the declining revenue profile of the service and come up with recommendations that will reinvigorate the revenue of the Nigeria Customs Service. Meanwhile, the committee said all the recovered funds had been deposited with the CBN. The majority leader, Godswill Akpabio, urged the lawmakers to give the committee more time to carry out the probe, considering the amount of money it claimed to have recovered. President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkeys founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, before meeting President Recep Erdogan at the Presidential Palace. The Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement issued in Abuja, said Mr. Buhari was accompanied by Nigerias Ambassador to Turkey, Iliyasu Paragalda, and other senior government officials. According to Mr. Shehu, President Buhari laid the wreath in red and white colours of the Turkish flag at the tomb of Ataturk and later observed a minute silence. He said the president also signed the official Anitkabir memorial Book of Honour at the Misaki-i Milli Kulesi (National Pact Tower), within the precincts of the mausoleum, and toured the museum. President Buhari wrote: It is an honour and privilege to visit Anitkabir, the mausoleum of a great patriotic, visionary and courageous leader who shaped modern Turkey, during my official working visit to Ankara and the ninth D-8 summit in Istanbul. I pay my profound respect to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey and the first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. I am pleased with the friendly relations between Turkey and Nigeria, which has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. I look forward to a more fruitful cooperation between our governments and people in areas of mutual concern and interests, for the benefit of our people.(NAN) The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has appealed to the state governors within the party and members of the partys National Caretaker Committee, NCC, to be ready to make sacrifices during the forthcoming National Convention of the party. The convention is scheduled for December. The Forum of Peoples Democratic Party State Chairmen made the appeal on Wednesday after their meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The meeting was chaired by the chairman of PDP in Akwa Ibom State, Paul Ekpo, who also signed the communique. The Forum implored all the leaders of the Party, particularly the NCC and the PDP Governors to be very sacrificial and accommodating of all shades of opinions, interests and aspirations in our drive to elect credible officers to run the affairs of the Party in the forthcoming National Convention which would serve as the bulwark and sine qua non for the victory of the Party in the 2019 General Elections, the forum said in a communique at the end of the meeting. The forum, which however passed a vote of confidence on the PDP governors and the NCC members, said that Nigerians were in dire need of an alternative platform to replace the APC. It expressed support for the partys zoning of the position of the president of Nigeria to the north and the party national chairmanship to the south. The forum said it stands by the zoning of other positions as agreed in Port Harcourt. A former Nigerian president and leader of the PDP, Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday, warned that the party would be finished if it makes the mistake of choosing wrong persons for the positions of the national party chairman and the spokesperson. This time around we need a very courageous and vocal person to be the chairman. There are two positions that we must not make mistake on the positions of the national chairman and that of the national publicity secretary, because I have worn the shoes before and I know where it pinches. If we make a mistake as a party and elect wrong chairman and publicity secretary, we are finished, Mr. Jonathan said. The governors within the party are considered as being very influential in deciding the composition of the partys National Working Committee, NWC. A former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, and a media proprietor, Raymond Dokpesi, are among those running for the position of the partys national chairman. President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Ankara said the international media must be commended for their constructive coverage of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. Speaking at a meeting with the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ismail Kahraman, President Buhari hailed the courage of the people of Turkey for defending democracy in the aftermath of the incident of July 15. The international media helped the world in trying to understand what really happened (on July 15) and what the government is doing, he said. Reiterating Nigerias solidarity with Turkey after the failed attempt to oust a democratically-elected government, the president said Turkeys assumption of the Chairmanship of the D-8 from tomorrow, October 20, will afford both countries the opportunity to work together on economic, security and political issues. He told Turkeys parliamentary leader, before flying to Istanbul for the ninth D-summit on Friday, that following the fruitful talks with President Recep Erdogan earlier on Thursday, both countries were optimistic of improved cooperation in strategic areas as soon as talks are finalised between their officials. After the meeting with Kahraman, President Buhari visited a part of Turkeys Parliament building damaged by a bomb during last years coup attempt, and laid a wreath at the site of one of the damaged areas. The president then made an unscheduled appearance at the Turkish Parliament in session and his presence drew a loud applause when the presiding officer acknowledged him. A former Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, on Wednesday used his chairmanship declaration speech to deride the ruling All Progressives Congress as a party that has failed to get national priorities right, while making case for a Peoples Democratic Partys comeback to power It is disquieting that the APC-led government claims to focus on fighting corruption, while facts on the ground suggest that Nigeria has become worse off and sinking low even in graft, Mr. Daniel said while launching his campaign to be PDP chairman at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. Mr. Daniel, who led Ogun State twice from 2003 to 2011, said: Nigeria is yet to have an appreciable 12 months of economic growth under the APC. Thats an F9; failure, he added. The national spokesperson for the APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, said his party wont respond to specific attacks from Mr. Daniel. There are many people running for PDP chairmanship, I dont think I want to start responding to them individually, Mr. Abdullahi said. I will wait until you have published your story and see if I should respond to him or not. When PREMIUM TIMES offered to send him a copy of Mr. Daniels speech, the spokesperson declined, insisting that any unflattering remarks towards his party would only be countered after theyve been published. Mr. Daniel is locked in a fierce contest for his partys chairmanship position with at least four other political heavyweights. They include: Tunde Adeniran, a former Minister of Education; Raymond Dokpesi, a media practitioner and politician; Olabode George, a retired naval chief and politician; and Taoheed Adedoja, a politician from Oyo State. The election is slated for November 18 at Eagle Square, Abuja. In advance of Wednesdays declaration, Mr. Daniel had canvassed for support during a tour that took him from former President Olusegun Obasanjos residence in the south; to former Head of State Ibrahim Babangidas home in the central and a former Jigawa Governor, Sule Lamido. During his speech, Mr. Daniel hailed the economic exploits of the PDP during its 16 years grip on Nigerias political centre, a feat he claimed the APC had failed to match. Under President Olusegun Obasanjos leadership (1999 2007), a government ran by the PDP, the Nigerian economy grew by 91 per cent (as measured by GDP), while during the administration of Alhaji Umar Musa YarAdua/Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2007/2010 2014), the economy grew by 24 per cent, Mr. Daniel said. That has been the fastest growth under civilian rule in the history of our great nation, and it happened under the PDP, he added. The politician, who was prosecuted for allegedly stealing state funds, also brushed off the anti-corruption claims of the APC, saying the party does not have a good grasp of the challenges that poverty poses to Nigerias development. Fighting corruption had an insignificant role in ending poverty, Mr. Daniel said while paraphrasing Ricardo Hausmann, a professor of the Practice of Economic Development at Harvards John F. Kennedy School of Government. If elected chairman, Mr. Daniel, 61, said hell lead the party as a maverick by standing as a unifying figure across the partys ideological divide. I stand as a bridge in between conservatively hostile and restlessly progressive different and diverse generations, Mr. Daniel said. We must harness the abundant energies of our youth and gain from the timeless wisdom of our elders. The PDP needs a Chairman that can lead the party to meet the needs, aspirations and yearnings of young Nigerians, he added. The PDP was voted out of power in the 2015 elections when Mr. Buhari defeated former President Goodluck Jonathan. The party subsequently descended into a vicious internal crisis that lasted nearly 15 months. The Supreme Court later resolved the crisis in favour of the partys establishment, but its still reeling from its aftermath. The former governor said the PDP might have become boring over the years, but expressed confidence in the partys ability to rejuvenate itself and offer Nigeria sustainable leadership in a fast-growing world. In other words, we can retain the old and still live in the present and into the future, Mr. Daniel said. Share this: Twitter Facebook The House of Representatives has set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate and ascertain if due process was followed in the termination of contract between the Nigerian Ports Authorities and Intels. This was unanimously adopted after a motion was raised under matters of urgent public importance by Diri Duoye (Bayelsa-PDP) on Wednesday in plenary. Mr. Duoye while leading the debate urged the federal government to return to status quo to avoid injury to the workers of the company. About 7000 Nigerians work for INTELS and terminating the contract will have negative effects on local content & will lead to unemployment. Also in support of the motion, Ekpo Attah (Akwa-Ibom-PDP) said the motion is important and status quo should be maintained. Intels employs a lot of people. I submit that this motion is very pertinent and Intels should be returned On a contrary view, Rotimi Agunsoye (Lagos-APC) opined that Intels should rather go to court to seek redress. He said he sees no reason why the House should be interceding on behalf of intel. If they have any problem with government they should go to court. The motion should not come here, he said. Rita Orji (Lagos-APC) also concurred with Mr. Agunsoye. She said there is the need to probe the matter to provide a fair review and hear both sides. The Nigerian Ports Authorities had terminated its boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement with Intels Nigeria Limited, a firm largely owned by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar. The NPA insisted that they relied on advice from the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to terminate the contract. Intels has, however, faulted the termination, saying it would challenge it in court. The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris has criticised police personnel for not being vigilant enough which explains why they are being abducted. He described the situation of the recent kidnap of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO in charge of Sarkin Pawa in Niger State as embarrassing and annoying. The IGP made this known in Abuja on Wednesday during a meeting with commissioners of police and other senior officers. Mr. Idris urged policemen to be careful and ensure that protecting themselves is key and paramount. A report in the Nation newspaper said Amos Aliyu, a Superintendent of Police was abducted on Sunday near his home at Turin Fulani by unidentified persons. Mr. Idris, at the meeting, told the senior officers that they would be held accountable if any evil befalls their subordinates. There should be more visibility policing. Policemen should be deployed to flashpoint areas to take care of security because the presence of police in those areas would help in the reduction of crime. We must take the protection of our officers seriously. We have a problem. Two days ago, one of our DPOs was kidnapped. How can you be a DPO, you have all the policemen under your command and then you start driving as if you dont have anybody. You allow the useless kidnappers to pick you and your orderly, it is very embarrassing. We had the same issue in Zamfara state where an ACP going on leave travelled alone. It is embarrassing, Mr. Idris said. Utilise the men you have and you must protect yourself first. You can only protect others when you are protected because you are a target. The information we are receiving is that our ACPs vehicle was abandoned in a bush and he has not been seen, which obviously means that he has been kidnapped. How can we be living in such situation? It is becoming an embarrassment. DPOs and other personnel should be careful of their movement, he said Our officers have to be concerned about their personal safety first because this issue is becoming an embarrassment. CPs would also be vicariously liable for any policeman that is just picked up like a fowl or anything, it is very annoying. We should be careful in our movement. If you notice that an area is not safe, you should deploy men in those areas. We should take their protection very seriously. Our policemen should also be careful with the way they move around, he added. The police chief also said relevant laws enacted by the government aimed at curbing kidnapping were welcome. The governor of Bauchi state, Mohammed Abubakar, has said the All Progressive Congress, APC, will be guided by its constitution to resolve whether President Muhammad Buhari will be given an automatic ticket or not for the 2019 presidential election. He said this while speaking with reporters in Abuja, after the meeting of the partys National Working Committee, NWC, with state governors and National Assembly members, yesterday at the partys National Secretariat Abuja. There have been speculations as to whether the president would run or not in 2019 in recent weeks. A chieftain of the party in the South-west, Bisi Akande, had also ruffled some feathers when he said recently that Mr. Buhari, apart from not indicating interest yet in recontesting, would have to compete with other candidates to secure the partys nod in 2019. Mr. Abubakar, who was in the company of Bolaji Abdullahi, the partys National Publicity Secretary and an APC lawmaker, Ahmed Lawan, said the party had not deliberated on the modalities for the 2019 tussle. This meeting has not deliberated on that but the APC has a constitution and that is one of the items that was discussed the amendment to the constitution of the APC in order to faithfully hold the convention in line with democratic principles, and we will abide by the provisions of our constitution. Article 20 (iii) of the APC Constitution 2014 says nomination of candidates for (f) President shall be through direct or indirect primary election to be conducted at the appropriate level, he said. He dismissed reports that the president indicted governors for failing to meet up with their financial obligations to civil servants and pensioners, despite the billions they received from the federal government. He also claimed he does not owe any of his state workers salaries or pensions. The President is concerned about the plight of the downtrodden and when you sit with him, he always talks about that. He did not direct any accusation at the governors, because the governors have actually utilised the Federal Governments intervention for the payment of the salary. In Bauchi, I do not owe a dime in salary and pension. We are not begging for support but asking that what is due to us should be paid to us. Meanwhile, Mr. Abdullahi said the party supported the presidents charge to the World Bank to site developmental projects in the North as the area needed such support. The president recently came under verbal attack when it was revealed that he had instructed the global bank to help revamp the fortunes of the North through developmental projects. You will recall what was canvassed in the media was that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the World Bank to focus their attention on the North. The issue came up for discussion at the meeting and they (APC) threw its weight behind Mr. President. And we would like to clarify in addition to all that had been said that the import of Mr. Presidents message to the World Bank was in recognition of the particular devastation that Boko Haram has caused in the North. Therefore, when the President asked the World Bank to focus its attention on the North, he had in mind, the necessary reconstruction that needed to happen in that part of the country, especially in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states that have suffered as a result of the Boko Haram activities. It was not, therefore, a statement intended to bifurcate any part of the country and show preference for any part of the country against the other. He also said the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun congratulated the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on his birthday and his feat of bringing some of the significant figures on the African continent to Nigeria. Mr. Okorocha had been severely criticised when he erected a statue of South African president, Jacob Zuma, who had come calling. Apart from the statue, Mr. Zuma also received a traditional title and had a road renamed in his honour. An Abuja High Court on Thursday granted bail to Isah Misau, a senator standing trial in a case of alleged injurious falsehood brought against him by the Federal Government. Mr. Misau, a serving senator, is facing a five-count charge bordering on injurious falsehood against the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro. The judge, Ishaq Bello, who declined to grant bail to Mr. Misau on self-recognizance, set the bail bond at N5 million with two reliable sureties each in like sum. The judge had declined the prayer made by Mr. Misaus counsel, Godwin Obla, asking the court to grant bail to his client on self-recognizance. Mr. Bello said: For a reason I am not considering the request made by the learned Silk. It has now become customary that anytime senior citizens are arraigned in the court and are granted bail on self-recognizance, they suddenly realise that they have the need to engage in some personal trips outside. And sometimes they stay for a long period of time and such cases will be delayed because of their absence. Mr. Bello adjourned the case to November 28 and 29 for hearing. Earlier, Mr. Misau pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him. Hadi Saleh, the prosecuting counsel, told the court that between August 10 and October 5, the defendant made some injurious falsehood statements against Messrs. Idris and Okiro which were widely publicised by the media. The prosecutor said that the offences contravened the provision of Section 393 (1) of the Penal Code. The proprietor of an Ibadan-based computer retail firm, Citadel Oracle Concept Limited, Benjamin Joseph, has filed a one billion naira suit against a director at the Federal Justice Ministry, Stella Anukam, over alleged criminal conspiracy to subvert the trial of top officials of Zinox Computers for multi-million naira fraud. Mrs. Anukam is the director of International and Comparative Law in the ministry. She is being sued along with her brother, Innocent Eremionkhale, an Abuja-based lawyer and proprietor of a private law firm, Integrity Law Firm. Mr. Joseph had accused the director of not only using her official position, but also her link as a partner of the private law firm to prevent the prosecution of the Zinox Computers officials for alleged fraud. The top officials of the company, including its Chairman, Leonard Stanley Ekeh, and wife, Chioma, were accused of complicity in the take-over of a N170.3 million contract awarded to Mr. Josephs Citadel Oracle by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in 2012. Other accused persons include the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Zinox Group and Technology Distribution, TD, Chris Ozims; and a director of TD, Folashade Oyebode; the chief executive of Admas Digital Technologies Limited and Pirovics Engineering Services Limited, Onny Igbokwe; along with one Princess Kama and two Access Bank Plc staff, Obilo Onuoha and Deborah Ijeabu. In the writ of summons in suit No. CV/2678/17 before the Federal High Court, Abuja, Mrs. Anukam and Mr. Eremionkhale were asked to publish a public apology to Mr. Joseph in two online and four national newspapers as well as pay N1 billion as aggravated damages for conspiracy, psychological trauma and pain suffered. The petitioner also want the duo to pay N5 million as cost of action. PETITIONERS CLAIMS Bob James, Deborah Osaghede, Esq., of Bob James & Co., counsel to Mr. Joseph, said in the statement of claims that following the discovery of the alleged fraud by the suspects, his client had petitioned the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, of the police. Although investigations found the accused culpable of the offence since 2014, prosecution stalled as the police refused to release the original case file, despite several requests by the then Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mohammed Diri. Mr. Joseph on May 8, 2015 petitioned the then Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to complain about his frustration to get the suspects prosecuted. Curiously, the IGP in his response on May 14, 2015 advised the petitioners to allow the civil matter before the Lagos High Court run its full course, to prevent a miscarriage of justice. A reminder requesting the IGP to direct the release of the case file was sent on January 11, 2016. PETITIONER TURN ACCUSED However, on June 16, 2016, three days before the former IGP left office, the police charged Mr. Benjamin to court, accusing him of providing false information in his petition against the suspects. On July 2, 2016, Mr. Benjamin was arraigned before the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja. He was charged for false petitioning, to mislead IGP Arase over alleged identity theft, impersonation and criminal conversion of contracts against the accused, who now became prosecution witnesses. A petition by Mr. Joseph against his trial compelled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to direct the DPP, Mohammed Umar, to take over the case on December 7, 2016, to avoid miscarriage of justice. The DPP had ordered the police to hands off the matter and transfer the case file to his office for the prosecution of the accused. However, on February 28, the police presented in court a letter by the DPP, Mr. Umar, upturning the Attorney-Generals order and reinstating the police to continue the trial. Mr. Umar later confirmed he wrote the letter reinstating the police on the instruction of the Attorney-General, whom he said changed his mind following a petition by counsel to the police, Integrity Law Firm, that its client had an ongoing case against Mr. Joseph. The counsel to Mr. Joseph said a background check on Integrity Law Firm had revealed Mrs. Anukam was partner, who has been deploying her influence as director in the ministry to frustrate the quest for justice. On April 11, another petition was sent to the Attorney-General, accusing Mrs. Anukam of working as an insider to truncate the case. Although Mr. Malami had on May 4 confirmed investigation against Mrs. Anukam was ongoing, subsequent attempts to get any update was rebuffed, as the minister refused to answer calls to his telephone or respond to inquiries through text messages. Consequently, counsel to Mr. Joseph said the series of frustration has exposed his client to continued severe psychological trauma, embarrassment and humiliation. President Muhammadu Buhari and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed, after talks, on Thursday in Ankara to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies of both countries to counter terrorism. Speaking at a joint press conference after a tete-a-tete with his host, President Buhari said he was very pleased that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism. We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries. We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are, the President said. Commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, President Buhari said the improved security situation in the North-east was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he came into office in May 2015 We were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS. We know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it. We are very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been strengthening our educational and health institutions, President Buhari said. The President said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded 779 million USD in the first eight months of 2017. There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments and a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria. These will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria is prepared to accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigerias potentialities, the Nigerian leader said. In his remarks, Mr. Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remains a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records. He indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigerias electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships. On the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said: there is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh (ISIS), which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people. All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support. We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year, he said. Former President Goodluck Jonathan held a closed-door meeting with the former military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, on Wednesday. The meeting was held at IBBs uphill residence in Minna, Niger state. The meeting started some minutes after 10.00 a.m. and did not end until about 12.14 p.m. When journalists asked of details of the meeting by journalists, Mr. Jonathan declined, saying it was private and personal. After he was pressed further, he said he was in Minna to empathize with the former military leader on his safe return from a medical trip abroad. I have not seen General Babangida since he returned from medical vacation and I felt it was the right time to do so, the former president said. When asked to speak on the political and economic situation in the country, Mr. Jonathan said he had retired from active politicking. He then told journalists, you people are doing a nice job. Earlier, former Ogun state governor, Gbenga Daniels, had led a delegation on a visit to Mr. Babangidas residence in furtherance to his nationwide consultation to contest for the office of national chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. NAN also reported that Daar Communications boss, Raymond Dokpesi, also vying for the position visited Minna earlier to seek IBBs blessings and that of a former ruler, Abdulsalam Abubakar. Despite being in retirement, IBB is believed to still command a lot of prestige in political circles. Other persons vying for the chairmanship position of the PDP are former education minister, Tunde Adeniran and a former deputy national chairman of the PDP, Olabode George. Share this: Twitter Facebook Some stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Adamawa on Thursday protested over a zoning formula adopted by a group in the party ahead of the PDP congresses on Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that a group that called itself major stakeholders of the party, on Tuesday set out a zoning formula for the party and forwarded it to the state caretaker committee for implementation. The major stakeholders consisted of the former Acting Governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, Wilberforce Juta, Grace Bent, Saad Tahir, Zainab Maina among others. The group had said that the zoning formula for the congresses at ward, local government and state levels was agreed after a meeting with the state caretaker committee of the party. The protesters, however, said the decision was reached without consultation and would not allow it to stand. Umar Ardo, a former governorship aspirant, led the protesters comprising former house of assembly members, council chairmen and councillors. He told the state Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mohammed Imam, that the decision should not be allowed to stand. If they call themselves major stakeholders, we that are protesting today before you are the foot soldiers and mobilisers. They are made up of former governors, ambassadors and senators while on our side we have former house of assembly members, council chairmen and councillors; without us the party is going nowhere. What they did is an act of insubordination to the party. We want the party leadership to discountenance this indiscipline and take serious action on it. Mr. Ardo also criticized the decision by the state caretaker committee to remove all chairmen and secretaries of local government caretaker committees, saying the action was suspicious. He noted that the party must do the right thing and stop promoting the interest of a group if it wants to make impact in Adamawa. Mr. Ardo warned that the aggrieved members of the party have options to take if the state officials failed to address their grievances. We have two clear options and we are keeping it close to our chest and we will do it if they dont do what is right, he told the state PDP caretaker chairman. Reacting to the complaints, the caretaker chairman said: we encourage consensus but where there is no consensus, we will go for election. Mr. Imam explained that the dissolution of the partys local government caretaker chairmen and secretaries was not to favour any group. I assure all party members of justice and fairness. My research has showed me that Adamawa is a PDP state, we need to unite to take over the state back to PDP, Mr. Imam said. Adamawa is one of the seven states where PDP dissolved its executives and appointed caretaker committees to conduct fresh ward, local government and state congresses. (NAN) Public schools in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital were thrown into chaos, Wednesday when rumours filtered in that monkeypox vaccines were being forcefully administered on pupils by unknown persons. The rumour, which had caused confusion in a few other states in recent days has been debunked by the army authorities several times. The federal ministry of health had also on Wednesday issued a rebuttal denying the availability of such a vaccine. The Defence headquarters specifically denied the allegation in a statement signed by its spokesman, John Enenche. But these denials appeared to have been dismissed by residents in Maiduguri as hundreds of school children bolted out of their classes on Wednesday. Some parents equally forced their way into school premises to pick their children and wards. However, none of the children or parents interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES said they saw the people administering the vaccines. Despite this, the rumour quickly spread to many parts of the city. We were told that some pupils slumped and died after they injected them with the vaccine in Gwange area, a 12-year-old schoolgirl, Lam said. At Sanda Kyarimi primary school, parents reportedly engaged in fisticuffs with staff unwilling to release the kids. They (parents) had to break the gate and force the kids out, a member of Civilian-JTF told PREMIUM TIMES. It was really chaotic there as the parents began to break doors and throw stones at the teachers whom they accused of plotting to inject their kids with monkeypox causing vaccines. The executive chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Shettima Kullima, told journalists in an interview that about 37 public schools closed before official closing hours due to the rumour. He said the board is monitoring the situation and would speak later on development. The minister of health, Isaac Adewole said 74 cases have been recorded in 11 states. Meanwhile, commissioner of education in the state, Musa Inuwa Kubo, said no school in the state would be closed down over any kind of false rumour. The commissioner, who said this at a press conference in Maiduguri added that the ministry of education was not aware of any vaccination exercise being carried out. He also appealed for calm. As far as we in the ministry of education is concerned, the ministry of health or any health agency has not contacted us on any inoculation exercise. And nobody came to us to obtain permission to enter these schools for either vaccination or inoculation as the case may be. Our schools will remain open; we cannot close the schools because of some unfounded rumours, he said. He said the rumour was the work of mischief purveyors. At a separate press conference, officials at the states ministry of health also dismissed the rumour. We heard the breaking news and we mobilised the directors in charge of disease control and emergency, who confirmed that such injectable vaccines were not going on in any schools, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mustapha Allau said. We have ongoing vaccinations for polio and cholera which are restricted to mostly IDP camps and outskirts locations, he added. Also, the Executive Director, Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, PHCDA, Sule Mele said all the immunization exercises in Borno state are coordinated at the state level and the ones that are ongoing now are oral vaccination. We have heard the rumour in other parts of the country even before we started the just concluded polio vaccination. And we have mobilised our community leaders and religious clerics who spoke about it in the mosques and churches calling on the public not to panic, he said. The representative of the Shehu of Borno, Zanna Boguma, said the Thursday rumour came at a time the PHCDA was holding a meeting ahead of the forthcoming measles vaccination. It was a baseless and mischievous rumour aimed at destabilising the peace that we have in the state, the representative said. We call on parents to always rely on constituted authority anytime such rumours break out and to report such persons peddling the malicious rumours to appropriate authorities, he added. The Borno State Government on Thursday said it had reopened primary schools it shut following confusion on rumour of immunisation against monkeypox disease because all was now calm. The states Commissioner for Education, Inuwa Kubo, made this known at a news conference in Maiduguri. Pandemonium erupted in schools when stories circulated in Maiduguri, alleging that pupils would be immunised with contaminated monkey pox vaccine. The rumour peddled widely in the metropolis and parents rushed to evacuate their children from schools. In the ensuing scuffle, teachers at Sanda Kyarimi, Gwange I and III primary schools locked their gates behind desperate parents who forced the gate open to free their wards. Hundreds of pupils who found their way out in the affected schools were seen crying; while some parents muzzled as they could not locate their children amid the confusion. The education commission said no responsible government would allow anybody to go into schools to conduct inoculation without its consent. Mr. Kubo, who described the incident as unfortunate, said parents should understand that it was the responsibility of government to protect their children and wards against any danger. He added that even if there was a problem, parents do not have the right to storm schools to withdraw their children. It was very unfortunate that some mischievous individuals were using schools to cause havoc. Schools in Borno were shut for a very long time; we reopened not long ago; it was sad that some individuals were working to reverse our successes. The Executive Director of Borno Primary Health Care Development Agency, Sule Mele, said people should disregard the rumour because there is no iota of truth in it. Mr. Mele, also the Head of Coordination on Immunisation in Borno, said the only vaccination going on was that of oral polio. He said the agency was working with traditional rulers to launch another polio campaign in November. (NAN) A former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Saidu Isa, is dead. Mr. Isas death was confirmed by the Kwara State government in the statement below. The Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has described the death of a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and one time Secretary to the State Government, Saidu Isa, as a big loss to the state and the country as a whole. In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, the governor said the deceased made outstanding contributions and selfless services to humanity and his fatherland. My heart goes out to the families, friends and well-wishers of the former ambassador and Pro Chancellor of Kwara State University, Malete. Indeed, this death is shocking, Mr. Ahmed said. According to the governor, the deceased was a community leader and technocrat par excellence whose wealth of experience would be missed by all. The governor prayed Allah to forgive the shortcomings of the deceased, grant him Aljanatul firdaus and give his families solace and fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Mr. Isa died in the early hours of Thursday at the age of 71. Until his death, Mr. Isa was the Chairman Governing Council, Kwara State University, Malete, and occupied the same position at the Federal College of Education Osi-Ile, Abeokuta in Ogun State. Due to his contributions to the people of Lafiagi, he was conferred with the title of Walin Lafiagi by his Royal Highness, Saadu Haliru. The Chief Judge of Sokoto State, Justice Bello Abbas, on Thursday granted pardon to 43 awaiting trial inmates in the Sokoto Central Prison. Mr. Abbas pardoned the inmates when he paid an official visit to the prison to ascertain the deserving cases for review, especially awaiting trial inmates. The chief judge said that the gesture was aimed at decongesting prisons and ensuring that suspects did not stay much longer than necessary while awaiting trial. Our aim is to see to the welfare of the inmates and ensure that no one will stay longer than necessary, while awaiting trial before the various courts in the state. As such, the assignment we are embarking on is to ensure speedy clearance of all awaiting trials, while those who had over stayed are discharged, he said. The chief judge also promised that all the remaining awaiting trial inmates would soon be tried, after liaising with all the courts and other related agencies. Mr. Abbas further promised to continue such exercise from time to time in order to ensure sanity in the conduct of justice and control the number of inmates in the prison. The Controller of Prison, Halliru Naabba, commended the Chief Judge, the state and federal governments for taking more measures to ensure the wellbeing of the inmates and decongesting the prisons in the country. He called on the pardoned inmates to utilise such opportunity in changing their lifestyle and become a better citizens in the country. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, Abbas has on February 8, granted pardon to 28 awaiting trial inmates. (NAN) The presidential aide on Thursday criticised the violent attack on the Warri 1 MTN Connect Store by N-Power volunteers who attempted to forcibly collect N-Power devices not allocated to them. The incident occurred on Monday and led to the alleged assault on a pregnant staff member of the telecommunications office in Warri, Delta. Afolabi Imoukhuede, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation/Youth Employment, in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria described such action as unacceptable. I received with great displeasure the report that N-Power beneficiaries in Warri bombarded the Warri 1 MTN Connect Store for N-Power devices last Monday. The beneficiaries were unruly and assaulted a pregnant staff member of MTN. There is no excuse tenable for such behaviour; let me be very clear, that such behaviour is unacceptable; there is no reason under the face of the sun for such behaviour, Mr. Imoukhuede stated. According to him, this terrible behaviour will be investigated and appropriate sanctions will be meted out to those found to be behind this ugly incidence. He said the notice should also serve as a warning to other beneficiaries who might wish to temporarily forget the acceptable conduct at the point of device collection. Anyone who is caught will be dismissed immediately from the N-Power programme. At all times, the interest of the beneficiaries is our utmost concern and we will continue to address issues that distress you individually and collectively, the presidential aide added. Mr. Imoukhuede remarked that proper conduct, discipline and work place ethics are the hallmark of the N-Power programme skills and job enhancement creation investment under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). He said under the NSIP, our unemployed youths have an opportunity to improve their skills and competence under a two-year Full Time Paid Volunteer programme in their community schools, health centres or farms. He added that the skills acquisition would thus empower them for gainful employment after their exit from the programme. Mr. Imoukhuede recalled that the federal government entered into an Asset Finance Agreement with the Bank of Industry to provide devices to N-Power beneficiaries at little or no cost. At every point between purchasing, pre-loading and now distribution, we have updated beneficiaries. We had even gone as far as uploading videos of the pre-loading process so beneficiaries could witness first-hand the hard work that goes into packaging each device. We similarly explained the process of shipping from the point of pre-loading to individual states, he added. Consequently, the presidential aide warned volunteers against fomenting trouble as misconducts would not be tolerated. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that no fewer than 200,000 graduates nationwide have been participating in N-Power since 2016 and earning N30,000 each monthly, while another batch of 300,000 would soon be engaged. (NAN) The Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Thursday presented the 2018 budget estimates of the state to the state House of Assembly. The budget total is N298.078 billion. The government plans to spend N150.5 billion on capital expenditure, which represents 50.52 per cent of the budget, while the recurrent expenditure is N147.5 billion (49.48 per cent). The 2018 budget, said to have increased by 1.21 per cent when compared with that of 2017, is to be funded 59.73 per cent from the statutory allocation from the federation account and 23.94 per cent from the states internally generated revenue. The two other funding sources are other capital receipts, 12.72 per cent, and the Value Added Tax (VAT), 3.61per cent. The governor said that the state was planning to spend N64.3 billion (43.36 per cent) on personnel costs out of the N147.5 billion budgeted for the recurrent expenditure, while N46.8 billion (31.56 per cent) is proposed for the overhead costs. The governor proposed N49.3 billion, N18.7 billion, N6.6 billion, and N1.66 billion for the building of roads and drains, capital projects in the education sector, health, and agriculture respectively. The governor proposed N1.2 billion for wealth creation, while Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, is to receive N28 billion in 2018. One of the major achievements of our administration is stabilising the ship of state in the wake of the recession that swept through the country, Mr. Okowa said during the budget presentation. Confronted with dwindling receipts from the Federation Account and Internally Generated Revenue vis-a-vis inherited contractual obligations, the first challenge we faced was the payment of salaries to the huge workforce. To put it in context, the total staff strength of the Federal Civil Service is about 89,000. As at the time we assumed office on May 29, 2015, Delta State had over 60,000 workers on its payroll. However, we were able to meet our obligations to the workers through debt payment re-scheduling, cutting waste, contracts reviews, and prudent management. As part of the on-going biometric exercise to weed out ghost workers, the State has been able to prune the size of the workforce to 55,000, which is still very high compared to that of peer states, he said. The governor said he was determined to build a state anchored on inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. The Senate has mandated its committees on Police Affairs and National Security to investigate clashes between border communities in Nigeria and Cameroon, which has claimed lives and property of Nigerians. The resolution to this effect emanated from a point of order raised by John Enoh (APC-Cross River) during plenary on Thursday. Mr. Enoh said that it was the federal governments duty to protect its citizens from internal and external aggression, lamenting that affected people from his political jurisdiction had been abandoned to attacks from Cameroonian aggressors. He said, I rise to call attention to a dire and serious security situation that is occurring in my senatorial district between the communities in Cross River and communities in Cameroon. This crisis has taken international dimension. The porous nature of our borders, especially at that particular axis, is a great concern. The main reason why government exists is to protect peoples lives and property; I therefore call on Nigerian authorities to increase security presence because there is still rising tension in that part of the country. The lawmaker also urged the security agencies to see how much help they could provide to ensure that people in that area were protected. In his remark, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, stressed that it was the responsibility of government to provide adequate security at the borders and also ensure safety and security of the citizenry in the country. He, therefore, referred the matter to the Committees on Police Affairs and National Security, mandating them to carry out a thorough job on the conflict and report back to the chamber. (NAN) The Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi, on Wednesday said he did not receive money from the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Gani Adams, before pronouncing him the new Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. The monarch in a report by Punch Newspapers said the newly installed Aare Ona Kakanfo was chosen based on his worthy track records. The monarch who confirmed Mr. Adams as the generalissimo of Yorubaland on Sunday said Mr. Adams has always stood in defence of Yoruba ideals. The Alaafin was reacting to criticisms directed at the choice of Mr. Adams as the Aare Ona Kakanfo, almost two decades after the demise of Moshood Abiola, the immediate past holder of the title. Mr. Adeyemi said Mr. Adams was chosen after considering his antecedents as a Yoruba man, adding that wealth was not a requirement for the office. Money or material wealth is not considered before choosing an Are Ona Kakanfo. Abiola promoted everything that had to do with Yoruba race, the monarch was quoted as saying by Punch. He was popular among his people and he was close to traditional rulers. So, Adams may not be as rich as Abiola but I can tell you he has all the qualities an Aare Ona Kakanfo should possess . He leads an organisation that is ever ready to defend the cause of the Yoruba race . Is there any Yorubaman that has such clout as Adams without being a politician today? The Alaafin also described Mr. Adams as a fearless Yoruba man who had exhibited passion for defending the Yoruba people, culture and tradition. The choice of Adams was well thought out before a decision was taken. You may not place him beside Abiola in terms of wealth and other great achievements of the former Are Ona Kakanfos among the Yoruba people and beyond, but Adams has shown enough charisma to deserve the honour. If you have been observing him in the past many years, Adams attends all Yoruba festivals, irrespective of where they are held . He also promotes our culture through so many means including his annual Olokun festival. I picked him because he loves the Yoruba race and all the culture and tradition of our people. He has contributed immensely to upholding them. Whenever he attends these festivals, he goes with a large entourage and financially, he is always responsible for the cost. He does not attend in order to benefit financially. The monarch said Mr. Adams may be young but he is also very bold and courageous, stressing that these are traits synonymous with an Are Ona Kakanfo . He said: Adams is a Yoruba cultural enthusiast. He defends the race anywhere he goes. Among his strengths is that he has strong supporters in every town in Yorubaland through his Oodua Peoples Congress. Earlier, Mr. Adams in his acceptance speech had pledged to work for the development of the Yoruba nation. He also pledged to build bridges across the region. Mr. Adams has since been congratulated on his new title by other Yoruba leaders including ex-Lagos governor Bola Tinubu who many had thought would be chosen for the title. A truck on Thursday crushed a bicycle rider to death at Ogere axis of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The Public Relations Officer of Traffic Compliance and Enlightenment Corps,TRACE, Babatunde Akinbiyi, who made this known to PREMIUM TIMES attributed the tragedy to reckless driving. He said the truck, with registration number ARG 179 XA, crushed the cyclist at Ogere toll gate of the expressway. Mr. Akinbiyi said the body had been handed over to the family. The corps spokesman added that the truck and the crushed bicycle had being taken to Motor Traffic Department, MTD, of Ogere. The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday in Lagos took to teaching, taking Senior Secondary 3 students in some schools in his Surulere 1 Federal Constituency through some subjects. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the lawmaker taught the students topics in Economics at Gbaja Girls High School, New Era Girls Secondary School and Onitolo High School. Mr. Gbajabiamila, a lawyer, told newsmen after the exercise that education is a veritable tool to achieve sustainable development, and no nation achieved greatness without adequate investment in it. He said the development strides of advanced countries and the Asian Tigers were because of their great investment in the sector. The lawmaker said if the country desired to be counted among advanced and prosperous nations, it should increase its spending on education. He said, We need to do a lot more in the education sector. We need to increase our investments in the sector. Education is the bedrock of development. Education is the foundation. And if you have a weak foundation, you are just wasting your time. You see, Nigeria and the four Asian Tigers (Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea) were on the same level 50 years ago, but today, they have gone way past us. It is because they sowed in education, they invested in education, (and) they are reaping bountifully today. It is never too late for us. My advice to all governments is that we should look at our successive budgets from now and give the right attention to education. We should increase our budgetary allocations to the sector to meet the 26per cent UNESCO standard or even go beyond it. Mr. Gbajabiamila urged stakeholders not to see education as government business alone, urging them to lend support to lift the sector. The lawmaker said parents, after making investment in their childrens education, should strive to be their best teachers as they spent more time with them. He said the decision to take students in his constituency classes was not only to impart knowledge to them, but also inspire them. The lawmaker said the decision was also to know the feeling in the classroom, of teachers and students, for the necessary intervention. Mr. Gbajabiamila described his experiences teaching the students as fulfilling and promised to do a repeat. NAN reports that apart from taking the students topics in Economics, he also counselled them on the need to stay away from drugs, how to be focused and how to avoid bad company. The lawmaker received a rousing welcome from teachers and students of the schools he visited. (NAN) 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. Taking place November 1st - 12th, this year's Heroes Homecoming will feature a variety of events, tributes, and performances throughout Cumberland County By: Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Media Contact Melinda Jackson - Rubberneck Media mjackson@rubberneckmedia.com Melinda Jackson - Rubberneck Media End -- The Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (http://www.visitfayettevillenc.com/)(FACVB) and the communities of Cumberland County have announced that the fifth annual Heroes Homecoming (http://www.heroeshomecoming.com/)celebration will be dedicated to acknowledging the sacrifice and service of our country's brave Vietnam Veterans. Over the span of two weeks, events will take place across the community to honor these veterans.As the point of departure and return for thousands of soldiers, the Fayetteville area has always had a unique bond with veterans. Cumberland County has hosted Heroes Homecoming since 2011, helping it to become the largest commemoration and reunion of its kind. "Heroes Homecoming is near and dear to our hearts as it has a lasting effect on people in need of much recognition,"said FACVB President and CEO, John Meroski. "It is a way to welcome home Vietnam Veterans, say thank you, all while getting to know them and their families."Marquee events during this year's celebration include: Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade - Downtown Fayetteville, Nov 4 Vietnam Veterans Meet & Greet - Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex, Nov 7 Military-Themed Movie Screening - Millstone 14 Theatre of Hope Mills, Nov 8 Yellow Ribbon Tribute & Dinner - Spring Lake Recreation & Parks - Nov 9 The Moving Wall Dedication Ceremony - Airborne & Special Operations Museum, Nov 11 Heroes Homecoming Motorcycle Rally - Festival Park, Nov 11In addition to honoring Vietnam Veterans through local events, the FACVB is also challenging businesses and organizations to participate in the Missing Man Table Initiative as a way to inspire and help educate the public on the importance and symbolism of the display. The Missing Man Table, similar to the Fallen Comrade Table, honors the memory of missing or imprisoned military service members. To date, there are 1,606 recorded POW/MIA Vietnam Veterans, 39 of which are North Carolinians. The community's goal is to have the largest display of Missing Man Tables across the county during Heroes Homecoming V as a way to honor POW/MIA veterans. Currently, more than 150 area businesses and organizations have pledged to participate, with the number growing every day.For more information on Heroes Homecoming and a full list of events, visit www.HeroesHomecoming.com. Follow along with the celebration on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or by following the hashtag #KnowSacrifice.The Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, not-for-prot organization responsible for positioning Cumberland County as a destination for conventions, sporting events and leisure travel. For additional information about America's First Military Sanctuary Community, visit www.visitfayettevillenc.com or call 1-888-98-HEROES.The communities of Cumberland County created Heroes Homecoming in 2011 as a way of showing recognition and appreciation to all veterans for their courage, their sacrifice and everything they do to defend this country's freedom now and forever. This year, the Communities of Cumberland County will host veterans and families from across the region to participate in a week-long celebration honoring the brave men and women who served our country in the Vietnam War. SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, Oct. 20, the World of Pinot Noir (WOPN), the wine world's foremost organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating Pinot Noir, will officially release the first wave of tickets for its marquee event taking place March 2-3, 2018 at the seaside Ritz-Carlton Bacara in sunny Santa Barbara. The current wave of tickets which includes 'early bird pricing' through Nov. 5 can be viewed and purchased at WorldofPinotNoir.com. The WOPN Board of Directors are proud to announce Joshua Greene, editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine, will lead a tasting seminar exploring the rich and exciting link between Oregon's Pinot Noir and Burgundy; David Glancy, a Master Sommelier and founder of the San Francisco Wine School, will guide WOPN's popular Burgundy tasting seminar; and Matt Kettmann, contributing editor at Wine Enthusiast magazine, will host a panel tasting of the 92-plus scoring Pinot Noirs from the preeminent cool-climate vineyards in California's exciting Central Coast. On pace to be the largest and most well-attended event in the organization's 18-year history, the 2018 World of Pinot Noir will include two full days of pairing dinners prepared by renown chefs, Pinot Noir parties, two Grand Tastings featuring more than 250 premier Pinot Noir wineries from around the globe, and additional expert-led seminars. There are multiple ways for Pinot Noir fans and aficionados to take part in the events throughout the weekend. This first wave of tickets include all-access Weekend Passes, Day Passes, Grand Tasting tickets, and tickets for marquee seminars and lunches. Tickets for the much-anticipated Pinot Noir pairing dinners and additional events will be made available in November. Currently available tickets include: WEEKEND PASS (Early Bird pricing through Nov. 5) Includes an invitation to the Opening Night Celebration March 1; admission to the Friday and Saturday Tasting Seminars & Luncheons; VIP Admission to the Friday and Saturday Grand Tastings; and Pinot Noir Pairing Dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings. FRIDAY & SATURDAY SINGLE-DAY PASSES Includes admission to the day's Tasting Seminar & Luncheon, VIP Admission to the day's Grand Tasting, and a Pinot Noir Pairing Dinner. FRIDAY SEMINAR & LUNCHEON: Exploring the Oregon-Burgundy Connection Joshua Greene, Editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine, will lead a winemaker panel discussion and tasting that explores Oregon's deep and growing ties to Burgundy, and the how this is influencing the current and future state of this exciting New World region. The seminar includes a three-course Pinot Noir-paired lunch prepared by the Ritz-Carlton Bacara culinary team, with wine service by World of Pinot Noir Sommeliers. SATURDAY BURGUNDY SEMINAR & LUNCHEON: Tasting Through The Best of Burgundy Founder of the San Francisco Wine School and Master Sommelier David Glancy along with a panel of Burgundy experts and winemakers will lead a fun and educational tasting of some of the most notable producers and most acclaimed vintages from France's famed Pinot Noir region, and will discuss the varying classification systems of Burgundy's sub-regions, their history, trends and the changing roles of growers and negociants. The seminar includes a three-course Pinot Noir-paired lunch prepared by the Ritz-Carlton Bacara culinary team, with wine service by World of Pinot Noir Sommeliers. FRIDAY CENTRAL COAST SEMINAR: Discover the Cool Climate Terroirs of the Central Coast Wine Enthusiast magazine's contributing editor, and Central Coast expert, Matt Kettmann, will explore Pinot Noirs from the varied preeminent cool-climate terroirs of the vast Central Coast. Along with a panel of acclaimed winemakers, Kettmann will guide the tasting of award-winning wines he scored 92 points or above. FRIDAY & SATURDAY VIP GRAND TASTINGS (Early Bird pricing through Nov. 5) This exclusive VIP ticket provides you with early entry to the Ritz-Carlton Bacara's Grand Ballroom, where you'll be able to meet winemakers, be the first to bid on silent auction items, and taste through hundreds of Pinot Noir producers from around the world. Several other exclusive VIP experiences will be announced soon. For more information about the World of Pinot Noir, please visit WorldofPinotNoir.com. Members of the media interested in covering the annual event, please contact [email protected]. About The World of Pinot Noir WOPN, a non-profit trade organization, was established in 2001 by a small, dedicated group of winemakers from California's Central Coast. The group's mission is to bring together the world's foremost Pinot Noir producers, and in a gorgeous setting, celebrate the delicious wine grape. Wineries, potential sponsors and wine enthusiasts interested in learning more, please visit WorldofPinotNoir.com, or contact [email protected]. Follow and tag us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. #wopn #wopn2018 Media Contact Solterra Strategies [email protected] SOURCE World of Pinot Noir Related Links http://www.worldofpinotnoir.com ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Science has spoken: Abbott (NYSE: ABT) is, again, among the best science-based companies to work for in the world. For the 14th year, the journal Science today recognized Abbott on its Top Employers list, which is based on an evaluation of 23 characteristics including financial strength, easy adaptation to change, and a research-driven environment. At Abbott, scientists develop life-changing technologies that help people live their best lives through good health. From freeing people with diabetes from routine finger sticks1, to building a cardiac device to save lives, to hunting for new virus mutations, every day Abbott employees are doing work that matters. "Abbott's diverse businesses and product lines open up exciting career opportunities for our scientists across a range of technologies," said John Frels, Ph.D., chair of Abbott's Scientific Governing Board, which oversees the company's senior scientific career track. "We strive to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within our teams and in our work with others to gain fresh perspectives and further inspire our scientists to continue to push the boundaries on scientific advancements. This contributes to a strong, vibrant and fulfilling environment for scientists to develop their careers and supports Abbott's long, successful legacy of scientific achievement and game-changing technology." Our spirit of innovation and relentless focus on pushing the frontiers of science have allowed our company to thrive for more than 125 years. Today, we're working tirelessly to carry on that great legacy and to address some of healthcare's greatest challenges. Some of Abbott's latest breakthroughs include: A unified family of innovative next-generation diagnostics systems across lab disciplines that offer more efficiency, flexibility and confidence to health systems, and better help doctors and nurses get the results they need to improve decision-making and patient care. Our revolutionary diabetes technology that replaces blood glucose monitoring, freeing people with diabetes from the pain and hassles of routine fingersticks. Pioneering neuromodulation technology that can transform quality of life for many people who are otherwise unable to find relief from their chronic pain, while also reducing or stabilizing opioid use among patients battling chronic pain conditions. A first-of-its-kind cardiac device that has transformed the treatment of certain kinds of mitral regurgitation (MR) for people who are too frail for open-heart surgery or those who are not candidates for surgery. Groundbreaking research that has helped bring infant formula closer than ever to breast milk. ABOUT THE 2017 SCIENCE SURVEY The 2017 Science survey sought to identify the companies with the best reputations as employers. The findings are based on 6,950 completed surveys from readers of Science and other survey invitees. Survey respondents came from North America (65%), Europe (25%) and Asia/Pacific Rim (7%); 94% work in biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies. Here's a complete list of the rankings, which also are available in the Oct. 20, 2017 print edition of Science. ABOUT ABBOTT At Abbott, we're committed to helping you live your best possible life through the power of health. For more than 125 years, we've brought new products and technologies to the world in nutrition, diagnostics, medical devices and branded generic pharmaceuticals that create more possibilities for more people at all stages of life. Today, 94,000 of us are working to help people live not just longer, but better, in the more than 150 countries we serve. Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews and @AbbottGlobal. 1 A finger prick test using a blood glucose meter is required during times of rapidly changing glucose levels when interstitial fluid glucose levels may not accurately reflect blood glucose levels or if hypoglycaemia or impending hypoglycaemia is reported by the system or when symptoms do not match the system readings. SOURCE Abbott Related Links http://www.abbott.com STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aircastle Limited (NYSE: AYR) ("Aircastle") announced today that it plans to release its third quarter financial results for the period ended September 30, 2017 on November 2, 2017 before the market opens. In connection with the earnings release, management will host an earnings conference call on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 10:00 A.M. Eastern time. A copy of the earnings release will be posted to the Investor Relations section of the Aircastle Limited website provided below. All interested parties are welcome to participate on the live call. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (800) 239-9838 (from within the U.S. and Canada) or (323) 794-2551 (from outside of the U.S. and Canada) ten minutes prior to the selected start and referencing the passcode "4661189". A webcast of the conference call will be available to the public on a listen only basis at http://www.aircastle.com. Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the site and download the necessary software required to listen to the internet broadcast. In addition to the earnings release, an accompanying presentation will be posted to the Investor Relations section of Aircastle's website. For those who are not available to listen to the live call, a replay will be available until 1:00 P.M. Eastern time on Saturday, December 2, 2017 by dialing (888) 203-1112 (from within the U.S. and Canada) or (719) 457-0820 (from outside of the U.S. and Canada); please reference passcode "1757279". About Aircastle Limited Aircastle Limited acquires, leases and sells commercial jet aircraft to airlines throughout the world. As of June 30, 2017, Aircastle owned and managed on behalf of its joint ventures 203 aircraft leased to 71 customers located in 38 countries. Contacts: Aircastle Advisor LLC The IGB Group Frank Constantinople, SVP Investor Relations Leon Berman Tel: +1-203-504-1063 Tel: +1-212-477-8438 [email protected] [email protected] For more information on Aircastle, please visit www.aircastle.com. SOURCE Aircastle Limited Related Links http://www.aircastle.com "We are always curious about new technologies and offering solutions to our customers," said Wolfgang Probst, CEO and Sales Director of AllTerra Sud, "We were very excited to learn that Trimble partnered with Microdrones and Delair-Tech." AllTerra Sud sought the perfect fit for the market and found exactly that in Microdrones' mdMapper packages. "We are thrilled about the possibilities and the laser options. Everything was so easy and technically developed," explained Probst. With key customer Strabag, AllTerra Sud has an exceptional partner who understands the value of mdMapper solutions. Many stone quarry clients rely on AllTerra Sud for their Microdrones products. The Microdrones mdMapper1000 system helps customers save money, increase volume and deliver accuracy within centimeters. "It's a great working tool," remarked Probst. The Microdrones mdMapper product line-up currently includes: mdMapper200 Compact, complete, and competitively priced mdMapper1000 Extra-long flight times and resistance to harsh conditions mdMapper1000DG The benefits of mdMapper1000 plus the power of direct georeferencing produce time savings with no ground control points. Users can increase the functionality of their systems with optional accessory kits, including inspection, multispectral, thermal and methane gas sensors and soon LiDAR. Probst is excited for forthcoming LiDAR packages, explaining that "laser payloads will enable safety and clearance of quarry walls while delivering detailed insights and accuracy in real time." AllTerra Sud has exceptional experience in drones, surveying, and photogrammetry, offering a full range of solutions, training, and support for geospatial professionals. "We never leave our clients by themselves with their projects. Offering only the product doesn't help them," said Probst, adding that the best compliment is when a client describes them as "their trusted adviser and reliable partner." The team at Microdrones is thrilled to be working with AllTerra Sud. "They have been in the industry for almost 20 years," explained Samuel Flick, Microdrones Sales Manager for Europe. "AllTerra Sud's most unique selling proposition is their relationship with customers. They provide complete solutions including presentations, point clouds, ground control points, software, training, support and consulting. Friendly, comprehensive support makes the difference when explaining new technology." explained Flick. Learn more about AllTerra Sud: http://www.allterra-ds.de/ SOURCE Microdrones Related Links http://www.microdrones.com He will serve as a helmsman and sail trimmer for the team and is the team's fifth under 30-selection, alongside boat captain Nicolai Sehested, 27 (DEN), Martine Grael, 26 (BRA), Brad Farrand, 28 (NZL) and 23 year-old Emily Nagel (GBR/BER) the youngest female sailor in the race. Professional sailing is in Kirby's blood. His father Jerry Kirby had a distinguished career as a professional sailor in the America's Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race, and the pair are believed to be the only father and son to both win the America's Cup. "I'm excited to be joining the team AkzoNobel crew and look forward to setting out on another Volvo Ocean Race," Kirby said. "I was delighted when the phone rang and it was Brad. We know each other pretty well, so there wasn't much discussion to be had and here I am." "Rome ticks all the boxes as far as a Volvo Ocean Race sailor is concerned," said Jackson. "He's young and strong, but also knowledgeable about how tough this race can be. "His helming and trimming skills make him a real asset to the team and despite joining us late in the program, with just two days to the start, I'm confident he will hit the ground running." In Alicante, team AkzoNobel will line up against six other international teams at the start of Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 to Lisbon, Portugal. The course for the 2,494-kilometer leg takes the fleet out of the Mediterranean Sea via the Gibraltar Strait and around the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, 43 kilometers north-east of Madeira and is expected to take up to seven days to complete. Kirby will get the opportunity to visit his hometown of Newport when the Volvo Ocean Race arrives there during the first week of May 2018 for a two-week stopover. He and the rest of the team will have time to recover and will also participate in the festivities planned for the Newport Race Village. 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 LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AML BitCoin, the first Anti-Money Laundering Know Your Customer (AML-KYC) compliant cryptocurrency, announced the appointment of four new members to its executive team. Japheth Dillman, chief strategy officer; Jon Sczder, chief technology officer; Angela Knight CBE, vice president of European Affairs; and Carlos De La Guardia, vice president of Latin America Affairs will report to Marcus Andrade, AML BitCoin's founder and chief executive officer. In their new roles, each of the executives will advance the only AML-KYC-compliant cryptocurrency in international expansion and development. AML BitCoin's Initial Coin Offering (ICO) opened for public sale on Oct. 6 and is now accepting every form of currency, both fiat and crypto. "Our new hires bring diverse expertise and deep technological knowledge to AML BitCoin, a combination that will help foster our growth internationally," Andrade said. "Our ICO is only the beginning of AML BitCoin as we continue to attract international interest. We are on the cusp of unprecedented cryptocurrency partnerships, and each of these new executives will play a crucial rule in AML BitCoin's success." Chief Strategy Officer Dillman is founder and prominent CEO in Silicon Valley. He has founded numerous startups in industries such as virtual reality, gaming, hardware devices, and even the famous YetiZen accelerator, which saw over 40 successful companies flourish under his wing. Dillman is a notorious conference speaker and even hosts annual turnout of over 20,000 developers at his own conferences, workshops, and seminars. Japheth also advises numerous blockchain companies going through their ICO phases in his role as managing partner at Block Bits Capital, his involvement in blockchain technologies dates back to 2009. Dillman recently helped craft a new policy in China that enables funds to transfer Chinese currency to USD and heads up new ICO initiatives in San Francisco. "I'm thrilled with the opportunity to share my knowledge of the blockchain market and aid in the development of a technology I truly believe in," Dillman said. "I am confident that we will see AML BitCoin create a drastic shift in the way investors think about cryptocurrency, and I look forward being a part of this technological advancement." Chief Technology Officer Sczder is an engineer and consultant, having worked with companies ranging from two-man startups to the likes of Samsung, The Clorox Company, and other Fortune 500 companies. Sczder has also worked at Research in Motion, hi5 Networks, Mofactor, and Digital Chocolate. Vice President of European Affairs Knight has a deep experience as a business leader and veteran politician. She is currently chair of asset-management firm Tilman Brewin Dolphin, and she's also a non-executive director of financial firms TPICAP plc and Arbuthnot Latham Ltd and residential developer Taylor Wimpey plc. Additionally, Knight has served as chief executive of the energy industry trade body Energy UK and chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA). She joined the BBA from the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, where she had been the CEO since 1997. Vice President of Latin America Affairs De La Guardia's will leverage his area of expertise in business intelligence and government affairs for his new role. Early in his career, De La Guardia held marketing positions at Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb. In 2002 he was appointed deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Panama in Washington, D.C. He was also minister counsellor to the President in US-Panama affairs, and later became Charge d'Affaires and ambassador responsible for the 2005 transition of the embassy. De La Guardia currently serves as an honorary chair for the International Studies Council of the Corcoran Gallery of Arts in Washington, D.C. The NAC Foundation created AML BitCoin with anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism and anti-theft properties built into the coin's code. For more information about NAC Foundation and AML BitCoin, visit www.amlbitcoin.com. Potential investors and other interested parties can visit www.amltoken.com to learn more. About NAC Foundation: NAC Foundation, headquartered in the U.S. and a member of the American Bank Association, created AML Bitcoin and its predecessor digital currency, the Aten Coin, both of which were built with anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism and theft-resistant properties built into the coin. As a result, they are compliant with numerous laws, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML), PATRIOT Act, Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Fraud and Financial Crimes (AFF). NAC's mission is to strengthen the social sector by advancing knowledge about the use of regulated digital currencies and blockchain technology globally. Media Contact: SHIFT Communications Cassie McAllister (415) 591-8402 [email protected] SOURCE AML BitCoin Related Links http://www.amlbitcoin.com DRESHER, Pa., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascensus, a technology-enabled solutions provider that helps more than 7 million Americans save for the future, has entered into an agreement to acquire Provident Trust Group (Provident). Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval. Provident, a non-discretionary administrator and custodian of IRA assets, will become part of Ascensus' retirement division immediately upon closing of the acquisition. Located in Las Vegas, Provident is one of the top independent providers of trust, custody, administration, and escrow services to the self-directed IRA markets. The firm, which was founded in 2008, has more than $4 billion in assets under custody and nearly 30,000 clients located in all 50 states. Its clients range in size from small family trusts to multi-million dollar accounts and include individuals, multi-generational families, and family offices, as well as retirement accounts. "Welcoming Provident and its dedicated team of associates to the Ascensus family allows our company to participate in the large and growing self-directed IRA markets that are focused on traditional and alternative asset classes," states Shannon Kelly, Ascensus' president of retirement. "In the end, this acquisition is about offering our clients even more ways to save for the future; we're delighted to add additional market and product extensions to our technology-enabled solutions and services." "Provident's stated mission has been to empower customers to self-direct their retirement assets through innovative retirement plan solutions, ease of access, and an extraordinary customer experience," says Theresa Fette, Provident's chief executive officer. "By joining Ascensus, we're reaffirming our commitment to a marketplace that provides clients with greater visibility and access to alternative assets." "Ascensus views Provident as an anchor business with best-of-breed technology platforms that leverage digital, e-signature, workflow, document management, and trust accounting capabilities," adds Raghav Nandagopal, Ascensus' executive vice president of corporate development and mergers & acquisition. "It also holds the potential for additional bolt-on acquisition opportunities to create significant scale, efficiency, and margin expansion." Macquarie Capital served as exclusive financial advisor and Howard & Howard acted as legal counsel to Provident. Drinker Biddle & Reath acted as legal counsel to Ascensus. About Ascensus Ascensus helps more than 7 million Americans save for the futureretirement, college, and healthcare through technology-enabled solutions. With more than 35 years of experience, the firm offers tailored solutions that meet the needs of asset managers, banks, credit unions, state governments, financial professionals, employers, and individuals. Ascensus supports approximately 50,000 retirement plans, more than 4 million 529 college savings accounts, and a growing number of ABLE savings accounts. It also administers more than 1.6 million IRAs and health savings accounts. As of June 30, 2017, Ascensus had over $155 billion in total assets under administration. For more information about Ascensus, visit ascensus.com. View career opportunities at careers.ascensus.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ascensus. For the latest company news, follow @AscensusInc on Twitter. SOURCE Ascensus Related Links https://www.ascensus.com LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carney Shegerian, trial lawyer and founder of the Los Angeles-based employment discrimination firm Shegerian & Associates, released a statement regarding the announcement that Tesla recently fired around 400 employees. The luxury electric automobile maker claimed performance issues motivated the decision, but the employees that were fired disagree. "Employees from all levels within the Tesla organization were suddenly fired, including associates, team leaders, and supervisors," Shegerian says. "The announcement shocked many within the industry since firing hundreds of employees at once is not something that a growing company typically does." "The company claims the decision to fire these employees was based solely on their annual performance reviews," Shegerian continues. "However, a few of the fired employees deny ever receiving a negative review." "It is not uncommon for an employer to use mass firings to mask an illegitimate targeting of select employees," Shegerian added. "What's even more disturbing is Tesla will not confirm the number of employees that have been fired," Shegerian says. "Many have estimated that 400 employees were terminated, but some sources have reported it could be closer to 700." "It is important to note that the employees were terminated shortly after Tesla announced the company had fallen short of its production goal for September," Shegerian says. "It seems as if Tesla may be looking for ways to cut expenses in order to boost the company's bottom lineeven if that means getting rid of hundreds of workers." Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, & New York, Shegerian & Associates is a law firm specializing in protecting the rights of employees who have been wronged by their employers. Carney Shegerian, Trial Lawyer of the Year Award winner for 2013, has won 76 jury trials in his career, including 33 seven figure verdicts. Shegerian & Associates is passionately dedicated to serving the needs of its clients. For more information about the firm, visit www.ShegerianLaw.com. Media Contact: To arrange interviews with Carney Shegerian regarding employment law matters, please contact [email protected] SOURCE Shegerian & Associates, Inc. Related Links https://www.shegerianlaw.com AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, today announced that a growing number of automotive replacement parts distributors are choosing hosted implementation of the Epicor Vision enterprise solution to accelerate sales and margin growth while reducing their investments in hardware and other IT-related resources. The Epicor Vision solution is a powerful, next-generation platform for replacement parts distributors seeking increased operational efficiency, stronger sales and profitability, and exceptional customer satisfaction. Vision software has set multiple records over the past year, but the strongest trend has been the increased popularity of the hosted version of the software. Being able to leverage all of the growth-related benefits of Vision software while reducing your IT footprint and minimizing exposure to business continuity and security risks makes for a very strong business case, said Scott Thompson, Vice President, Automotive, Analytics and Content, Epicor. "Vision software has set multiple records over the past year, but the strongest trend has been the increased popularity of the hosted version of the software," said Scott Thompson, vice president, automotive, analytics and content, Epicor. "Being able to leverage all of the growth-related benefits of Vision software while reducing your IT footprint and minimizing exposure to business continuity and security risks makes for a very strong business case." By having Epicor host the Vision software for them in the cloud, aftermarket businesses can eliminate the need to purchase and maintain servers dedicated to running the software. The solution is hosted on a virtual server in an ultra-modern, secure data center managed by Epicor. Users benefit from automated nightly backups, ongoing software upgrades, around-the-clock monitoring, and extensive protection from viruses, spyware, hackers, and other threats. Businesses also benefit from the increased reliability of the data center's redundant power, HVAC, server and network hardware, Internet feeds, system firewalls, fire protection, and physical security. "One of the first questions we are asked (about cloud computing) is, 'What if my Internet connection goes down?'" Thompson said. "For a multi-location auto parts distributor, the hosting model is often a more robust solution because each location has a separate connection to the Epicor virtual server. With an on-premises solution running in your warehouse or other central location, losing connectivity at that site would affect all of your satellite locations as well." Delcoline, a leading replacement parts distributor serving the Baltimore-Washington area, is migrating to hosted Epicor Vision software to reduce its investment in computer hardware and related resources while improving overall system reliability. "By moving to the cloud, we can focus more attention on serving our customers, which is our absolute priority," said Sam Majidi, IT director, Delcoline. "The hosted model also gives us greater assurance of business continuity during an emergency." To learn more about the Epicor Vision solution, contact your Epicor representative, visit the company's booth #2238 at the 2017 AAPEX Show in Las Vegas on Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2017, or email [email protected]. About Epicor Solutions for the Automotive Aftermarket For nearly 40 years, Epicor aftermarket solutions have helped empower motor vehicle parts and service providers through world-class technologies that drive sales, profits and customer loyalty. Epicor products and services for the aftermarket include parts data and related eCatalog content; industry analytics and category management solutions; enterprise software; B2B and B2C eCommerce solutions; and business optimization tools. Visit the Epicor Automotive Aftermarket solution hub to learn more. About Epicor Software Corporation Epicor Software Corporation drives business growth. We provide flexible, industry-specific software designed around the needs of our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 40 years of experience with our customers' unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solutionin the cloud or on premises. With this deep understanding of your industry, Epicor solutions manage complexity, increase efficiency, and free up resources so you can focus on growth. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com. Epicor, the Epicor logo, and Epicor Vision are trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation. Contact: Lindsay Ortega Drew Shippy Senior Specialist, Public Relations Pinnacle Media Epicor Software Corporation (on behalf of Epicor) +1 952 417 5022 +1 330 688 3500 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Epicor Software Corporation Related Links http://www.epicor.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AvidXchange, a leading fintech provider of accounts payable and payment automation for midsize companies, is pleased to announce a new integrated offering with PaperSave, a product of WhiteOwl. The integration enables Blackbaud Financial Edge and Financial Edge NXT customers a complete paperless AP and payment processes from start to finish. WhiteOwl is a Blackbaud technology partner providing data intelligence, process management, and automation to the nonprofit space. PaperSave has hundreds of Blackbaud Financial Edge and Financial Edge NXT customers using their solutions for document management and invoice approval. The addition of automated payment capabilities via the AvidXchange Pay application completes the purchase-to-pay automation solution for PaperSave customers. "AvidXchange has seen that many nonprofit organizations are looking for solutions to automate their payments, invoice approval workflow, and document management," said Mike Bates, VP of Products. "With this growing need, it was such a natural fit for us to connect with PaperSave, especially because we already have extensive knowledge of the nonprofit sector through our existing relationship with Blackbaud." The solution will enable customers to seamlessly view invoices captured and approved as valid expenses in PaperSave, and then view and approve those invoices for payment in the AvidXchange Pay application. Once approved, PaperSave leverages AvidXchange's AvidPay Network to pay suppliers electronically or by check. Automating payments with AvidXchange creates tighter payment controls and helps to eliminate check fraud and makes audits much easier to manage. "Since our first integration with Financial Edge was released 15 years ago, PaperSave has evolved to be a market leader of integrated document management throughout the nonprofit industry," said Wadih Pazos, Sr. Vice President of Product Development. "With PaperSave's tight integration to AvidPay, our clients can now process payments more efficiently from their desktop, while utilizing PaperSave's powerful transaction automation and workflow solutions." About PaperSave PaperSave, developed by WhiteOwl (www.gowhiteowl.com), simplifies the document capture process through automation, streamlines processes by removing redundancies, and provides sophisticated search and retrieval features. PaperSave enables better Records Management through tight security, audit trails and record retention rules. For more information, please visit www.papersave.com. About WhiteOwl WhiteOwl provides business process consulting services leveraging Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and managed services. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, WhiteOwl is a Microsoft, Intacct, and Blackbaud partner providing a solid foundation of experience to over 1,000 clients nationwide. WhiteOwl is also the developer of PaperSave, a document management, workflow and transaction automation solution. WhiteOwl is the technology affiliate of MBAF, one of the nation's top certified public accounting and consulting firms. For more information, visit www.gowhiteowl.com. About AvidXchange AvidXchange revolutionizes the way organizations pay their bills. Serving more than 5,500 clients throughout North America, AvidXchange is an industry leader in automating invoice and payment processes for midmarket organizations spanning multiple industries including Nonprofit, Real Estate, Financial Services, Energy, and Construction. AvidXchange has been recognized as one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in the Charlotte area for six consecutive years, ranked among Deloitte's Fast 500 this past year, and recently was named of the top 100 technology companies in North America by Red Herring. In the midst of record growth, AvidXchange has remained true to its most valued competitive advantageits people. AvidXchange has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Charlotte for eight consecutive years. For more information, contact us at 800.560.9305 or [email protected]. SOURCE AvidXchange Related Links http://www.avidxchange.com WHIPPANY, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer is proud to announce today the appointment of Jennifer Brendel to Vice President of Communications for the company's Consumer Health Division in the United States. Brendel, who spent the last 15 months leading Bayer's Pharmaceutical Product Communications, will be responsible for developing and executing external and internal communications strategies for some of the most well-known Consumer Health brands in the world, such as Aleve, Coppertone and Aspirin. Bayer is proud to appoint Jennifer Brendel to Vice President, Head of U.S. Consumer Health Communications Brendel will report directly to Raymond F. Kerins, Jr., Senior Vice President and Head of Communications, Government Relations and Policy for Bayer, and will be the newest member of the U.S. Communications, Government Relations and Policy Leadership Team. "I am excited to have Jen take on this new leadership role as we continue to raise Bayer's profile in the United States" Kerins said. "Jen is a tremendous communications professional. Her years of experience managing major Consumer brands plus her knowledge of our company's strategy and values makes her perfectly suited to lead communications for the largest Consumer Health company in the U.S., Bayer's largest and fastest growing market." Prior to coming to Bayer, Brendel spent almost a decade at Pfizer in Marketing and Communications roles in the United States and Europe, most recently serving as the Global Marketing Lead for Celebrex *. Prior to that, she spent three years leading communications for Pfizer's Rx-to-OTC switch portfolio. In this role Jen led activities to raise awareness about the importance of self-care and increase receptivity to first-in-class over-the-counter medicines. Before joining Pfizer, Brendel spent time at several leading communications agencies in New York and Los Angeles and as a pharmaceutical sales representative. "I am honored to begin this new opportunity here at Bayer at such a critical time of growth for the company," Brendel said. "Bayer's Consumer Health brands are some of the most cherished and trusted in the world. I look forward to helping these brands tell their stories, connect with consumers and continue to improve millions of lives here in the United States." Brendel holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Central Florida and is a resident of Hoboken, NJ. * Celebrex is a registered trademark of Pfizer Inc. 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. Social Media Channels - Facebook: facebook.com/BayerUnitedStates - Twitter: twitter.com/BayerUS - Instagram: instagram.com/BayerUS - YouTube: youtube.com/BayerUS Bayer and the Bayer Cross are registered trademarks of Bayer. 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. Media Contact: Carolyn Bender External Communications Bayer US Tel: (862) 404-5955 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Bayer Related Links http://www.bayer.us BRUSSELS, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer will be funding future projects developed by some of the world's brightest young food security advocates during the 2017 Youth Ag-Summit. The three projects will tackle issues related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of Gender Equality, Quality Education, and Responsible Consumption and Production. The first place team, named AGRIKUA (kua is Swahili for grow), celebrates their success at the conclusion of the Youth Ag-Summit. Bayer will support the team with 10,000 Euro to bring their idea to life. Last week, 100 young agricultural enthusiasts, aged 18-25 and from 49 different countries, gathered in Brussels, Belgium, for the third edition of the Youth Ag-Summit. Organized by Bayer, together with the two Belgian young farmers associations Groene Kring and Federation des Jeunes Agriculteurs, the event provided an opportunity for delegates to work on concrete solutions to one of humanity's greatest challenges: how to feed a growing world population in a sustainable manner. At the Youth-Ag Summit, delegates worked across the week in groups of ten to develop their ideas, before pitching to a jury of experts and the audience. The jury and the audience then selected the winners on the basis of criteria such as feasibility, innovativeness and creativity: Third place went to "Imperfect Picks", a group who was assigned to work on SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. These delegates impressed with their cartoon campaign to promote "ugly fruits" to children, and enable a broader cultural shift towards accepting food that appears blemished but is still of good quality. They won 3,000 to further develop and implement their project. Second place went to "Seeds of Change", a group of delegates focusing on SDG 4: Quality Education. They will use their prize of 5,000 to fund a project aimed at promoting agriculture in schools through young agricultural champions, in order to bridge the disconnect between people who consume, and people who produce food. Finally, first place was awarded to the group "AGRIKUA" ("kua" being the Swahili word for "grow"), whose project focuses on promoting Gender Equality (SDG 5) in the agricultural sector. Their plan to create an online professional platform for young Kenyan women seeking opportunities in agriculture impressed the jury and audience alike, and they took home the grand prize of 10,000. On top of this funding, the AGRIKUA delegates will also receive dedicated training and coaching to help make the project a reality. They will also be invited back to Europe to present their project to a relevant industry platform. Speaking about this year's crop of winners, Fleur Wilkins, Head of Strategic Messaging and Executive Communications for Bayer Crop Science and member of the jury, said: "We were blown away by the level of creativity, intelligence, and diligence shown by each of the delegate groups in the final projects they presented. Bayer is thrilled to be funding three of these for future development, but we are convinced that all of this year's Youth Ag-Summit delegates will continue to champion and contribute to a more sustainable food system." As well as working in groups to develop their projects, delegates spent the week hearing from world-renowned speakers and partner organisations, who inspired them to each commit to doing "Three Little Things" in their everyday life to foster greater food security. They also paid a visit to the EU Committee of the Regions, and met with Members of the EU Parliament Tom Vandenkendelaere and Richard Ashworth to discuss agricultural policy. Another highlight of the week was a visit to Hof ten Bosch, a Bayer ForwardFarm nestled in the heart of the Belgian countryside. Visit www.youthagsummit.com to meet the delegates and to learn more about the Summit. Follow the latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (@youthagsummit) and the Live Event page. 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. About the Youth Ag-Summit The Youth Ag-Summit is a global bi-annual conference designed to inspire and connect the next generation of young leaders in agriculture and related disciplines. In 2017, 100 young leaders aged 18 to 25 will meet in Brussels, Belgium, to create an open dialogue on one of the world's most challenging questions: how to feed a growing population in a sustainable manner? Following previous editions hosted in Canada and Australia, this year's Summit is the first to be held in a European city. The Youth Ag-Summit is part of Bayer's Agricultural Education Program which aims to raise global awareness about farming and food supplies. This year's delegates hail from 49 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Find out more about the Program at www.ag-education.bayer.com, https://www.facebook.com/BayerAgEdu/, or on Twitter @BayerAgEdu. About Groene Kring Groene Kring (GK) is an association for young farmers in Flanders, Belgium, which counts around 3,500 members. GK brings young farmers together via regular activities and events, organizes entrepreneurship education, and protects the interests of young farmers on a regional, national and international level. For more information, visit: www.groenekring.be About the Federation des Jeunes Agriculteurs La Federation des Jeunes Agriculteurs (FJA) represents young farmers living and working in Wallonia, Belgium. FJA represents the views of 2,800 members, advocating on their behalf at a national and European level. As an official education provider within the agricultural sector, they also organize training courses. For more information, visit: www.fja.be 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.com. Contact : Bayer Media Hotline, 1-862-404-5118, or Casey Allen Crop Science, a division of Bayer Tel: (919) 441-6039 Email: [email protected] Shani St. John Porter Novelli Tel: (404) 995-4515 Email: [email protected] 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. SOURCE Bayer Related Links http://www.bayer.us Gregg Renfrew, Founder & CEO, Among 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at 2017 Builders + Innovators Summit LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing Beautycounter Founder & CEO, Gregg Renfrew, as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2017 at its Builders + Innovators Summit in Santa Barbara, California. Goldman Sachs selected Gregg as one of 100 entrepreneurs from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. Gregg Renfrew founded Beautycounter in 2011 with a mission to get safer beauty and personal care products into the hands of everyone. She launched the brand as a Certified Benefit Corporation (B corp) in 2013, leading the way to better beauty by putting performance and health first. Since founding the company, Gregg has advocated for stronger federal regulations to ensure the safety of all skincare and cosmetic products. A direct-retail brand (direct-to-consumer through multiple channels), Beautycounter is experiencing explosive growth and is on pace to sell 10 million products by the end of 2017. "I am proud and honored to be selected by Goldman Sachs as one of the top 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2017," said Gregg Renfrew, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Beautycounter. "As the leader in the cleaner and safer beauty space, this recognition is a testament to the incredible work we are doing at Beautycounter to get safer and high performing products into the hands of everyone." "We are pleased to recognize Gregg as one of the most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2017," said David M. Solomon, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at Goldman Sachs. "This is the sixth year that we've hosted the Builders + Innovators Summit where emerging business leaders gather to discuss their common interests in building prosperous organizations." For more than 145 years, Goldman Sachs has been advising and financing entrepreneurs as they launch and grow their businesses. In addition to honoring 100 entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by Goldman Sachs experts, seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars. About Beautycounter Beautycounter is the leader in the safer skin care and cleaner cosmetics category. The Santa Monica, CA-based brand drives a national movement for improved transparency and accountability in the beauty industry, including advocacy to update federal regulations that have stood largely unchanged since 1938. The company's mission is "to get safer products into the hands of everyone." Beautycounter develops and distributes nearly 150 products across skin care, color cosmetics, advanced anti-aging, kids, baby and personal care collections. Beautycounter is a Certified B Corporation. Founded by Gregg Renfrew in 2011, Beautycounter launched in 2013 as a direct-retail brand (direct to consumer through multiple channels) that is now available through 25,000+ consultants across North America, online at Beautycounter.com, and through strategic partnerships including J.Crew, a limited-edition collection with Target, and a pop-up shop on Nantucket Island. For more information, please visit www.beautycounter.com. SOURCE Beautycounter Related Links http://www.beautycounter.com LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153070 Summary Belgium registered a high economic impact of violence and conflict score due to a series of terrorist attacks in 2016. Attacks in neighboring France raised concerns over domestic safety and security, leading to an increase in the business cost of terrorism scores. The country also has small army comprising 21,339 soldiers and ranks low in comparison to its peers in terms of defense expenditure. The aircraft and homeland security categories are the industry's key drivers. MarketLine's premium reports provide a comprehensive overview of each market within a country's defense industry; benchmark key performance indicators against regional and global peers; review industry trends and drivers; evaluate the competitive landscape and innovation potential of singular markets; and conduct data-driven SWOT analysis to ascertain a structured assessment of the performance of each territory represented. Key Highlights A decline in both capital and revenue spending negatively impacted total expenditure: Belgium's revenue expenditure declined at a CAGR of -7.4%, falling from US$2.7 billion in 2012 to US$2.0 billion in 2016; attributed to economic instability. However, it will post a forecast-period CAGR of 6.6% to return to US$2.7 billion in 2021. Capital expenditure declined at a CAGR of -6.7%, falling from US$770.0 million in 2012 to US$582.7 million in 2016. However, it will post a forecast-period CAGR of 7.6% to reach US$792.3 million in 2021, owing to the procurement of multi-role aircraft, frigates and armored vehicles. Total expenditure registered a CAGR of -7.3%, falling from US$3.5 billion in 2012 to US$2.6 billion in 2016, due to the effects of the European debt crisis and efforts to lower the fiscal deficit. Defense expenditure will post a forecast-period CAGR of 6.8% to reach US$3.4 billion in 2021. Aircraft segment leads in terms of capital expenditure: The aircraft category drove capital expenditure and stood at US$582.3 million in 2016. It will post a forecast-period CAGR of 5.1% to reach US$742.9 million in 2021 due to the procurement of fighter, refueling, and military transport aircraft. Belgium has also initiated the replacement of its F-16 fighters with 34 modern air frames. Capital expenditure on C4ISR electronics and IT category to decline: Capital expenditure on Belgium's C4ISR electronics and IT category stood at US$161.6 million in 2016, and will post a forecast-period CAGR of -6.7% to reach US$130.2 million in 2021 due to the allocation of fund to more pressing areas of expenditure. Scope - Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key Defense and Security Industry Statistics including total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure are analysed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Belgium Defense and Security market. - Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Belgium Defense and Security market. - Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Belgium Defense and Security market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure to gauge potential for growth or market entry. - Competitive Landscape - Analyze and compare the performance of the leading players in the Belgium Defense and Security market by business segment on metrics such as arms sales, along with detailed overview and product offerings of the leading Defense and Security players in Belgium. Reasons to buy - How is the market performing in terms of: total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure? - How risky is it to invest in the Belgium Defense and Security industry compared to other European countries? - What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as aircraft and others? - Who are the leading players in the Belgium Defense and Security industry and how does their performance compare? - What trends are being witnessed within the Belgium Defense and Security industry? - What are the Belgium Defense and Security industry's Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face? - How have the financial deals landscape changed in 2015 and 2016? - What are the recent developments and innovations in the Belgium Defense and Security industry? Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153070 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Joel M. Androphy and Janis Gorton of the Berg & Androphy law firm, along with the United States and the State of Texas, have reached a $5 million settlement in False Claims Act litigation against Health Services Management, Inc. (HSM) and Huntsville Health Care Center (HHCC). The case, filed on behalf of the U.S. and state, alleged that HSM and HHCC billed Medicare and Texas Medicaid for services, which were not rendered or were so deficient and substandard that they harmed nursing home patients and were essentially worthless services. The settlement netted the Government and client more than $4.5 million. According to the whistleblower's complaint, HHCC allegedly failed to provide adequate care to the state's neediest and most vulnerable patients, including proper infection prevention and treatment, basic hygiene, and nutritional services. According to the government, the investigation concluded that from Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2015, Huntsville Health Care Center billed for services that were not provided or which were so substandard and deficient that they were considered worthless and potentially harmful to specific Huntsville patients. In addition to the $5 million settlement, the parties' agreement requires HSM to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of the Inspector General. The case is United States and the State of Texas ex rel. Susan Anthony v. Health Services Management, Inc. and Huntsville Health Care Center, No. H-15-2291, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Jill Venezia was the Assistant U.S. Attorney heading the investigation for the government. About Berg & Androphy Berg & Androphy, based in Houston, Texas, with offices in New York, and by appointment only in satellite offices in Washington, D.C., Denver, and Miami, has a nationwide qui tam practice representing whistleblowers in many large fraud cases, including health care, real estate, financial fraud, and defense contractor fraud cases. The trial lawyers at Berg & Androphy are currently litigating numerous qui tam lawsuits without government intervention. Joel Androphy supervises a team of trial lawyers in this practice area. Contact: Joel Androphy and Janis Gorton, Berg & Androphy, (713) 529-5622. SOURCE Berg & Androphy Related Links http://www.bafirm.com MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Biscayne Neurotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing novel agents for the treatment of neurological disorders, today announced results from a Phase 1b trial of its novel antiepileptic compound, BIS-001ER. In the trial, the new extended release version of BIS-001 met or surpassed all pre-defined endpoints, including dosing frequency, serum drug exposure and safety. Biscayne intends to initiate a BIS-001ER proof of concept efficacy study in adults with refractory focal seizures in early 2018. The company will discuss the Phase 1b results at the 8th Annual Sofinnova Japan Biopharma Partnering Conference in Tokyo, Japan on October 24. Stephen Collins, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Biscayne Neurotherapeutics, said, "These results exceeded our expectations and are consistent with the encouraging safety profile seen in numerous studies of BIS-001 in animals, as well as its record of safe use for hundreds of years as a traditional Chinese medicine. This successful Phase 1b study sets the stage for the proof of concept efficacy trial in adults with refractory focal epilepsy we will initiate early next year. Biscayne will also soon be launching a Series C financing that will enable us to pursue an accelerated clinical program for BIS-001ER in Dravet syndrome and other hard-to-treat epilepsies." In the Phase 1b study in healthy volunteers, BIS-001ER achieved its goal of twice-daily dosing, a regimen preferred by many epilepsy physicians and patients. On average, serum drug exposure levels were almost twice as high as the levels researchers think are needed to achieve strong efficacy results (based on dosages in animal models that suppressed 100% of seizures in at least half the subjects.) Adverse events were as expected and were generally mild to moderate, transient and non-dose limiting. BIS-001 is a highly potent form of huperzine A, a synthetic extract of a traditional Chinese medicine with a long history of safe use. Huperzine A is an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor with high brain penetration that offers a unique mechanism of action for the treatment of epilepsy. It has shown promising efficacy in highly predictive preclinical models of refractory epilepsy, providing complete elimination of seizures in the majority of animals. Biscayne's extended release formulation of BIS-001 is designed to enhance tolerability across a range of doses and ensure patient convenience and medication adherence. Biscayne is developing BIS-001ER to treat refractory forms of focal epilepsy, including Focal Impaired Awareness Seizures (previously known as Complex Partial Seizures.) It has been awarded a U.S. FDA Orphan Drug designation for BIS-001 for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, a devastating seizure condition affecting children. Steven Schachter MD, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a Scientific Co-Founder of Biscayne, commented, "These positive findings support proceeding to clinical efficacy assessments of BIS-001ER, which has exhibited excellent anti-seizure activity preclinically. In addition, huperzine A has demonstrated cognition enhancement in people with dementing conditions, so we are hopeful it may be beneficial for epilepsy patients with cognitive dysfunction. At a minimum, we are optimistic BIS-001ER will not have the detrimental effects on cognition seen with many existing antiepileptic drugs. This would be an important advance in these conditions with high unmet need for more effective therapies with fewer adverse effects." Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. Epilepsy affects about three million people in the US and over 50 million people worldwide. In more than half of patients, the cause is unknown. Many patients with epilepsy have more than one type of seizure and may also have other symptoms of neurological problems. Up to one in 3 patients with epilepsy is unable to control their seizures with current therapies whether taken alone or in combination. About Biscayne Neurotherapeutics Biscayne Neurotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel drugs for serious central nervous system disorders such as refractory epilepsy. Biscayne's lead compound BIS-001ER has shown striking efficacy in highly predictive models of difficult-to-treat epileptic conditions, such as focal seizures and Dravet syndrome. Biscayne is headquartered in Miami, FL. For more information, visit biscayneneurotherapeutics.com. Contacts: Biscayne Neurotherapeutics Media: Corporate: BLL Partners Jared Mendel Barbara Lindheim (786) 502-4220 (212) 584-2276 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Biscayne Neurotherapeutics, Inc. Related Links http://biscayneneurotherapeutics.com CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Having a relationship with someone who struggles with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be difficult and draining. Learning about the disorder and its roots in feelings of low self-worth can help provide compassion, but healthy boundaries within the relationship are vital for both the person struggling and their loved one. "Recovery is possible for BPD, we see it every day," said Melissa O'Neill, LCSW, director of program development at Timberline Knolls, a residential treatment center in the Chicago area, for women and adolescent girls struggling with mood disorders such as BPD, trauma, addiction, eating disorders and other co-occurring disorders. "Education about the disorder is helpful so that an individual can recognize their patterns in relationships and struggles to regulate emotions." Recent statistics show that in the United States, 1.6 percent of the population has BPD. This means that more than four million people have BPD in the U.S. alone. With proper treatment, individuals with BPD learn how to better regulate emotions and maintain the structure of healthy relationships. They begin to practice healthy boundaries, manage urges to sabotage relationships, and begin to tolerate healthy intimacy. One of the primary beliefs within BPD is that "I, alone, am not worthy." This belief can spread into many other problematic thoughts and beliefs such as suicide ideations, codependency in relationships and extreme emotional volatility. Most individuals with BPD attempt to find ways to regulate those emotions by using self-destructive behaviors such as self-injury, eating disorder behaviors, frequent and intense relationships and both the sabotage of self and relationship with others. At Timberline Knolls, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are offered to provide a foundation of evidence-based treatment that supports recovery from BPD. In addition, psychoeducation is provided for shame reduction, allowing the individual to reframe their history of behaviors as an attempt to regulate emotions. "If you have a loved one with BPD, encourage him/her to seek professional help and reinforce the message that recovery is possible," adds O'Neill. About Timberline Knolls: Timberline Knolls is a leading private residential treatment center for women and adolescent girls (ages 12 65+) with eating disorders, substance abuse, trauma, mood and co-occurring disorders. Located in suburban Chicago, residents receive excellent clinical care from a highly trained professional staff on a picturesque 43-acre wooded campus. An adult partial hospitalization program is also available on campus for step down as well as in Orland Park, Ill., for women to direct admit. For more information on Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, call us at 877.257.9611. We are also on Facebook Timberline Knolls, LinkedIn Timberline Knolls and Twitter - @TimberlineToday. SOURCE Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center Related Links http://www.timberlineknolls.com BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Figure Math is aiming to increase math test scores by helping students understand algebra and by helping teachers blend technology and learning to bring excitement for math back into classrooms. The interactive math app, launched a Kickstarter campaign on Oct. 11, 2017 that will run until Nov. 10, 2017 9:18 a.m. MST. Figure is seeking $25,000 to help in business development and marketing efforts. The app has been Beta tested, is fully functional and is available for multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Windows and the Web. Figure is intended to help students learn how to solve equations in an environment that simulates and follows the rules of algebra. Figure Math Figure allows the user to input any equation and explore and solve using simple drag and explore gestures that breaks down the equation step-by-step. This method turns the equation into a dynamic puzzle that not only teaches the user how to solve the problem but gives them an opportunity to play with equations without fear of making mistakes. The app is designed to make math an exploration instead of a drill and to cater to students with different learning styles. Located in Boulder, Colorado, Figure began their journey two years ago. Andrew Randono, Ph.D. and Hans Westman, Ph.D. created the idea for the app while doing research in Theoretical Physics. During their research, they worked with long, complicated equations and soon became frustrated with the lack of modern tools to easily explore these equations. They decided a tool was needed that would allow them to easily manipulate and solve math problems. Through this process, they realized students also needed this tool and created Figure. Figure strives to give students great technology and tools that excite them and give a powerful edge when it comes to math, especially algebra. Randono and Westman say, "We are trying to fundamentally transform the way we do mathematics for the better." Figure is partially funded by the National Science Foundation to ensure that the technology being created is improving students' lives across the country. To learn more or get involved with the campaign visit Figure on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/229497416/figure-math-more-than-just-a-solution Media Contact Sterling Engelhard 720.982.9266 [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg image2.png image3.jpg Related Links Website Kickstarter SOURCE Figure Math LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153071 Summary The aircraft category is a key growth driver of the Brazilian defense and security industry and accounted for 34.3% of capital expenditure in 2016. It was followed by the C4ISR electronics and IT category which accounted for 19.2%. Modernization initiatives increased the accountability of these segments and investments in highly fighter aircraft, submarines, and C4ISR will drive capital expenditure. MarketLine's premium reports provide a comprehensive overview of each market within a country's defense industry; benchmark key performance indicators against regional and global peers; review industry trends and drivers; evaluate the competitive landscape and innovation potential of singular markets; and conduct data-driven SWOT analysis to ascertain a structured assessment of the performance of each territory represented. Key Highlights Sporting events to fuel homeland security expenditure: Brazil's desire to host international sporting events boosts the country's spending on homeland security. Significant investment in command and control centers, training, and security equipment such as mobile police stations, boats, cameras, anti-bomb systems, video-walls, radio communications, media intelligence monitoring, video-monitoring and cybersecurity software have all contributed. Homeland security spending stood at US$3.9 billion in 2016 and will post a forecast-period CAGR of 3.9% to reach US$4.8 billion in 2021. Demand for low-cost and quality defense systems to stimulate exports: Brazil's defense exports to less developed neighboring countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia are growing. Exports recorded a CAGR of 28.6%, from US$31.0 million in 2011 to US$109.0 million in 2016, owing to a demand for higher quality but low-cost systems. The government has announced plans to increase loans to defense firms to further promote arms exports. Submarines, frigates and corvettes to drive capital expenditure growth in the naval segment: The naval ships category reported a capital expenditure of US$1.7 billion in 2016 and will post a forecast-period CAGR of 5% to reach US$2.1 billion in 2021. Submarines and submersibles accounted for 42.8% of Brazil's naval ships CAPEX in 2016. Robust investments in corvettes, frigates, and amphibious ships will drive the naval vessels and MRO market in the Latin American region. Scope - Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key defense and security industry statistics including total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure are analysed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Brazilian defense and security market. - Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Brazilian defense and security market. - Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the defense and security market in Brazil is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure to gauge potential for growth or market entry. - Competitive Landscape - Detailed overview and product offerings of the leading defense and security players in Brazil. Reasons to buy - How is the market performing in terms of: total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure? - How risky is it to invest in the Brazilian defense and security industry compared to other South and Central American countries? - What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as aircraft, C4ISR Electronics & IT, naval ships, helicopters, military vehicles, and others? - Who are the leading players in the Brazilian defense and security industry and their overview and product portfolio? - What trends are being witnessed within the Brazilian defense and security industry? - What are the Brazilian defense and security industry's Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face? - What are the recent developments and innovations in the Brazilian defense and security industry? Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153071 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153072 Summary The aircraft category remains one of the key growth drivers of the Canadian defense and security industry accounting for 46.9% of capital expenditure in 2016; followed by the C4ISR category with 8.0%. Overall, Canadian defense and security CAPEX posted a CAGR of 17.3%, rising from US$3.1 billion in 2012 to US$5.9 billion in 2016, owing to modernization plans outlined in the Canada First Defense Strategy (CFDS). CAPEX will increase due to a considerable number of government-planned procurements. MarketLine's premium reports provide a comprehensive overview of each market within a country's defense industry; benchmark key performance indicators against regional and global peers; review industry trends and drivers; evaluate the competitive landscape and innovation potential of singular markets; and conduct data-driven SWOT analysis to ascertain a structured assessment of the performance of each territory represented. Key Highlights Aircraft and C4ISR systems to drive capital expenditure: Aircraft accounted for 46.9% of military CAPEX in Canada in 2016, followed by C4ISR with 8.0%. Modernization initiatives will see Canada procure F-35 fighter jets and replace older CF-18 fighters by 2021. In addition, the government announced plans to replace obsolete jets with the cheaper F/A-18 Super Hornets. The collective share of the aircraft and C4ISR categories with regards to capital expenditure will stand at 67.2% in 2021. Imports from the US increased during the review period: Defense imports increased at a CAGR of 5.9%, rising from US$205 million in 2012 to US$258 million in 2016; sensors and radars to supplement modernization programs were the key growth drivers. The majority of the country's military hardware is imported from US-based defense contractors and it is anticipated that Canada will procure CH-47F Chinook helicopters, C-130J-30 Hercules aircraft, M-113A3 armored personnel vehicles, and AN/APS-143(V) radars over the forecast period. Emphasis on homeland security: Threats emanating from terrorism, illegal immigration, and cyberattacks will drive Canada's homeland security expenditure. Canada's aim to reinforce its land and maritime borders will cause spending to post a forecast-period CAGR of 2.64% to reach US$739.5 million in 2021. According to the government's Economic Action Plan 2015, a public safety broadband network was set up for an investment of US$2.2 million to support the police. Scope - Industry Snapshot and Industry View - Key defense and security industry statistics including total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure are analysed to reveal the key issues and trends driving market performance in the Canadian defense and security market. - Industry SWOT Analysis - Discover the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats impacting market performance and investment in the Canadian defense and security market. - Industry Benchmarking - Benchmark how the Canadian defense and security market is performing compared to regional and global markets in terms of total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure to gauge potential for growth or market entry. - Competitive Landscape - Detailed overview and product offerings of the leading defense and security players in Canada. Reasons to buy - How is the market performing in terms of: total expenditure, revenue expenditure, and capital expenditure? - How risky is it to invest in the Canadian defense and security industry compared to other North American countries? - What is driving the performance of key industry segments such as aircraft, C4ISR Electronics & IT, naval ships, helicopters, military vehicles, and others? - Who are the leading players in the Canadian defense and security industry and their overview and product portfolio? - What trends are being witnessed within the Canadian defense and security industry? - What are the Canadian defense and security industry's Strengths and Weaknesses and what Opportunities and Threats does it face? - What are the recent developments and innovations in the Canadian defense and security industry? Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5153072 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com LOS ANGELES, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group - Following its announcement that the Province of Ontario is planning to add 150 new governments, the Province of New Brunswick has announced a multi-million dollar deal with cannabis producers. Companies affected by the positive news include Canopy Growth Inc. (TSX: WEED) (OTC: TWMJF) Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (OTC: ACBFF), Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX: OGI) (OTC: OGRMF), and Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (CSE: ATT) (OTC: ATTBF). The easterly Province of New Brunswick has announced that it has developed a new Crown corporation for the supervision of cannabis sales for the government's anticipated legalization of recreational cannabis July 2018. As with the announcement from Ontario's government earlier, producers and all cannabis companies see this move as further demand for requirements to produce, test and deliver cannabis products both medicinal and recreational. Positive reaction by investors helped companies whose positions will be impacted by additional, new distribution and support services. Top Licensed Producers (LPs) of cannabis who are feeling the love include Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB.TO) (OTCQX: ACBFF), with year-over-year growth at 387% in 2017, and Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: OGI.V) (OTCQB: OGRMF), the only Licensed Producer in New Brunswick. Both of these will see significant increased demand as early as 2018 thanks to the raft of government announcements. Canada's granddaddy of cannabis production, Canopy Growth Inc. (TSX: WEED.TO) (OTC: TWMJF) continues to soar with its year-over-year growth pegged at 127% and the industry's largest quarterly sales volume. Canopy is expected to add $40 million to its revenue in its first two years of the New Brunswick deal. All the added production and volume is adding to the prospects of Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (CSE: ATT.CN) (OTCQB: ATTBF) who already operates licensed testing, research facilities with added formulation and extraction capabilities. ATT flies under the radar of the big LPs, but trades many times below their big cap share prices because of its new status. Growing by the Week The cannabis market is ratcheting up weekly. New Brunswick's announcement is just one more sign of the tempo of demand. Analysts are having a hard time keeping up with the figures, but the value being generated as a result is heading for CAGR projected as high as 25% through 2025 or more. Deloitte estimates the Canadian market has a base retail value between $4.9 billion-$8.7 billion, based on the latest data. That would easily be as big as or bigger than the Canadian alcohol market valued at $5 billion annually. Arcview Market Research, which tracks the advances carefully, reports that North American marijuana sales grew by an unprecedented 30% in 2016 to $6.7 billion as the legal market expands in the U.S. and Canada. The report shows North American sales are projected to exceed $20.2 billion by 2021 using that compound annual growth rate of 25%. Not coincidentally, ArcView's report includes Canada for the first time based on its moves towards implementing legal adult use marijuana in 2018. Testing a Concern One area that is particularly feeling the surge of demand is testing and research. The global cannabis testing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.5%, culminating towards a $1.42 billion market by 2021. Organigram Holdings Inc. ran up against this in a big way earlier in the year when it believed it had some pesticide contaminant in its crops. Organigram overcame the issue with some effort, but it moved the government to announce that all licensed producers must conduct mandatory testing for the presence of unauthorized pesticides in addition to the required testing for microbial and chemical contaminants such as mold, heavy metals, and bacterial and fungal contamination. Producers also need an accurate reading of drug potency, including the levels of the key medicinal components of cannabis, THC and CBD. So all this new cannabis will to need to be certified resulting in a huge jump in the need for testing capacity. This will include government licensed, specialized third party operations to test product before it goes to market. Here's where third party tester Abattis comes into play. The company has a full spectrum lab staffed ready to validate quality standards required by producers and developers. Research will also become a critically important part of this industry as it seeks new formulations and products to suit specific needs. Abattis is well suited on that front too. ATT in a Prime Space The government entry into the marijuana space adds to the need for more regulation and scrutiny. Essentially, the cannabis business is growing up and maturing. This new level of direct government contracts and the associated regulation puts research and testing companies like ATT on the top of the requirements. Abattis has multiple assets which it plans to use to become Canada's gold standard facility for cannabis testing, R&D, formulation and extraction capabilities. Most of the companies in the cannabis space are there as producers in cultivation or some aspect of production and distribution. Virtually every one of them needs to apply bioscience to the industry for safety, efficacy and the delivery of formulations and products that consumers want. This has created potentially very profitable opening for companies applying bioscience and technology with immediate rapid turnaround and qualified results. Abattis Bioceuticals and its majority-owned subsidiary Northern Vine Labs have merged efforts to create a state-of-the-art testing and research company. It is positioned to be one of the most sophisticated, Health Canada licensed operations in the country with the potential to handle virtually all forms of Cannabis testing, R&D and extraction development. As a smaller company dwarfed by the big producers, ATT may not be top of the crop charts. However, if the cannabis industry in Canada and globally is going to grow at the rate indicated by legislative bodies and consumer demand, Abattis Bioceuticals could become the golden child of the support and services industry. POTENTIAL COMPARABLES Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB.TO) (OTCQX: ACBFF) Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc., Aurora Cannabis is a major LP, operating a 55,200 square foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Mountain View County, Alberta. Aurora made waves when it announced the construction of its 800,000 square foot "Aurora Sky" facility second 800,000 square foot production facility at the Edmonton International Airport. Aurora's also involved in Quebec, with its third 40,000 square foot production facility set to be completed in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, on Montreal's West Island. Aurora also holds a minority stake in leading extraction technology company Radient Technologies Inc., based in Edmonton, and a minority stake in Australian company Cann Group Limited, which was the first in Australia to conduct research on and cultivate medical cannabis. Aurora also owns German wholesale importer, exporter, and EU medical cannabis distributor Pedanios. Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: OGI.V) (OTCQB: OGRMF) Organigram Holdings Inc. is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company who's wholly owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a licensed producer of medical marijuana in Canada. Organigram is focused on producing the highest quality, condition specific medical marijuana for patients in Canada. Organigram's facility is located in Moncton, New Brunswick and the Company is regulated by the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations. In September of 2017, Organigram becomes one of the first licensed producers to sign an MOU with provincial authority responsible for the distribution of cannabis to the adult recreational market. Canopy Growth Inc. (TSX: WEED.TO) (OTC: TWMJF) The granddaddy of the corporate cannabis sector, Canopy Growth is the world's largest diversified cannabis company. Canopy boasts a wide offering of distinct brands and curated cannabis varieties in dried, oil and capsule forms. Most widely recognized is Canopy's subsidiary Tweed which is the world's most recognized marijuana production brand, as well as an industry educator. Accompanying Tweed in Canopy's portfolio is medical-grade cannabis producers Bedrocan Canada. In total, Canopy Growth's numerous state-of-the-art production facilities total over half a million square feet of GMP-certified indoor and greenhouse production capacity. For a more in-depth look into ATT you can view the in-depth report at USA News Group: http://usanewsgroup.com/2017/10/16/the-upside-to-biotech-and-cannabis-3/ Article Source: USA News Group http://usanewsgroup.com [email protected] Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure: This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. 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Media Contact Information: FN Media Group, LLC Media Contact e-mail: [email protected] U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611 SOURCE USA News Group ATLANTA, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) today announced that Candor, a healthcare coverage marketplace specializing in pairing Millennial consumers with top health plans, will create 675 professional jobs over a 5-year period in Floyd County. Through 2023, the company plans to invest $39 million into the local economy as it hires, builds out and trains its technical, sales and customer management teams. "We are always proud when innovative companies like Candor choose Georgia," said GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson. "Candor is leveraging the power of technology to effectively reach consumers, and Rome provides them access to the workforce they need to support its growth." Candor has developed a smartphone app and chatbot to help Millennial consumers find appropriate health care coverage plans. The app and its associated software platform also incorporate tools and support for partner insurance agencies, health insurance carriers, and health care providers. In addition to providing access to health care coverage plans for Millennial consumers, Candor enables secure and instant transactions and provides agents and carriers with the ability to visualize market trends and business performance. "Our community is home to approximately 100,000 people, with a median age of 35, representing a significant group of Millennials," said John Good, COO and co-founder, Candor. "We launched Candor to make health insurance simple to buy and easy to understand for this population. This is essential, because 97% of Americans don't know what their health insurance covers, and 63% of bankruptcies are due to unexpected health expenses," he said. "We're pleased to choose Rome as our headquarters, and excited to bring new professional jobs, and a vibrant company culture, to this welcoming city." The company has created more than 40 jobs to date in Floyd County, and plans to lease several office spaces in Downtown Rome. "We are thrilled Candor has chosen Rome and Floyd County as its home. Access to health insurance is of vital importance to our community. We have an infrastructure and skilled labor force in place, ready to meet the day to day operations of this innovative business model," said City of Rome Mayor Jamie Doss. "This is a tremendous gain for Rome and Floyd County," said Rhonda Wallace, Floyd County Commission Chair. "With the announcement of Candor, quality jobs are added in our community, attracting more bright, young professionals and further solidifying Rome and Floyd County as an Innovation and Technology Hub." "We congratulate Bob Shinn, John Good and the team at Candor, and are grateful for the relationships developed over the years that brought them to Rome and Floyd County," said chair of the Rome Floyd Chamber John Quinlivan. "Candor appreciates our Quality of Life, vibrant downtown, and rivers and hills which are attractive to their current workforce and will, they know, help attract the future workers upon whom we will all depend." GDEcD Regional Project Manager, Stephanie Scearce, represented the Global Commerce division in collaboration with the Rome-Floyd Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Power. About Candor Founded in 2017, and based in Rome, GA, Candor's mission is to be the health companion of every American. Candor has built the only marketplace that enables Americans to make smart decisions when it comes to health care coverage. Candor also provides powerful analytics, tools, and methodologies to benefit agencies, carriers, and health care providers, ultimately lowering the total cost of healthcare. For more information visit https://candor.insurance. SOURCE Candor Related Links https://candor.insurance "Being recognized by CRN for our work in IoT innovation is a real testament to our team and the partners we have assembled to address this next wave of digital transformation," said CB Technologies' Vice President of Solution Development, Pam Paradiso. "Meeting the needs of our customers, in transformative areas like Asset Intelligence, requires a best-of-breed partner ecosystem and a solution-oriented approach. We are excited to be recognized for our efforts, and look forward to growing as a leading solutions provider in this new connected economy." CB Technologies' Asset Intelligence Practice allows organizations to maintain unprecedented levels of visibility into their assets, gaining critical insights to reduce OPEX, labor and compliance costs and get ghost assets off the books. It combines asset integrity management, the consolidation of disparate asset information, the incorporation of the digital replica of physical assets and processes (digital twin) and in-depth consulting services to deliver on the promise of the Industrial Internet of Thingsconnecting assets from the cloud to edge devices. With these IoT-enabled Asset Intelligence tools, enterprises can manage physical assets and leverage insights by automating the monitoring, diagnostics, performance and location information to increase asset integrity, optimization and utilization. "The solution providers and systems integrators on our first-ever CRN IoT Innovators list are confidently leading the channel into the exciting, opportunity-rich new era of IoT," said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. "Each of these ambitious companies has brought to market a complex and cutting-edge integration of platforms, software tools and technologies, managing the entire process from design to deployment. Their remarkable IoT innovations are paving the way for an unprecedented level of global interconnectivity that will transform the way we live and work." The IoT Innovators list were announced at the IoTConnex Virtual Conference (www.iotconnex.com) on October 18th and featured on CRN.com at crn.com/IoTInnovators. Follow CB Technologies: Twitter and LinkedIn Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Tweet This: @TheChannelCo recognizes @cbtechinc as 2017 IoT Innovator @CRN #CRNIoT crn.com/IoTInnovators About CB Technologies: CB Technologies is a premier, woman-owned technology solutions provider with over 15-years' experience designing and deploying enterprise-class solutions for clients across the globe. We consistently deliver excellence thanks to our first-class engineers and strategic partnerships with the world's finest providers of hardware and software solutions. By combining best-of-breed technologies, CBT provides a balance of services and solutions in the areas of Hybrid IT, Asset Intelligence, Analytics and HPC, and IT Supply Chain Optimization to augment your enterprise with the necessary tools to excel in the global marketplace. Copyright 2017. CB Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. CB Technologies Media Contact: Ben Davies CB Technologies, Inc. 888.241.7585 [email protected] About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com Melanie Turpin The Channel Company (508) 416-1195 [email protected] SOURCE CB Technologies, Inc. Related Links http://www.cbtechinc.com NETANYA, Israel, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) announced today that an Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") of Cellcom Israel Ltd. (the "Company") will be held on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. (Israel time), at the offices of the Company, 10 Hagavish Street, Netanya, Israel. The record date for the Meeting is Monday, October 30, 2017. The agenda of the Meeting is as follows: (1-3) re-election of Mauricio Wior, Shlomo Waxe and Ephraim Kunda as directors; (4) amendment of the Company's Compensation Policy; (5) approval of Annual Cash Bonus formula for the Company's CEO; (6) approval of Special Cash Bonus for the Company's CEO; (7) reappointment of Somekh Chaikin, a member of KPMG International as our independent auditors; and (8) consideration of our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016. Quorum Two or more shareholders holding in the aggregate at least one-third of the outstanding voting power in the Company, present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote, will constitute a quorum at the Meeting. Voting Requirements Items 1-3 and 7 require the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power in the Company present, in person or by proxy, and voting on the matter. Items 4-6 require the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power in the Company present, in person or by proxy, and voting on the matter, provided that either (i) at least a majority of the shares of non-controlling shareholders and shareholders who do not have a personal interest in the approval of the proposal voted at the meeting vote in favor of the proposal; or (ii) the total number of shares among the shareholders described in section (i) above voted against the proposal does not exceed 2% of the aggregate voting rights in the Company. Item 8 will not involve a vote. Proxy statements and proxy cards for use by shareholders that cannot attend the meeting in person will be sent by mail, on or about November 2, 2017, to the Company's shareholders that hold shares registered with the American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, including shares held via Depository Trust Company (DTC) members other than the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearinghouse. Shareholders that hold shares via the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearinghouse may access the proxy statement and a form of Hebrew ballot via the following websites: http://www.magna.isa.gov.il and http://maya.tase.co.il. About Cellcom Israel Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the largest Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 2.779 million cellular subscribers (as at June 30, 2017) with a broad range of value added services including cellular telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure. The Company operates an LTE 4 generation network and an HSPA 3.5 Generation network enabling advanced high speed broadband multimedia services, in addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. Cellcom Israel offers Israel's broadest and largest customer service infrastructure including telephone customer service centers, retail stores, and service and sale centers, distributed nationwide. Through its broad customer service network Cellcom Israel offers technical support, account information, direct to the door parcel delivery services, internet and fax services, dedicated centers for hearing impaired, etc. Cellcom Israel further provides OTT TV services (as of December 2014), internet infrastructure (as of February 2015) and connectivity services and international calling services, as well as landline telephone communication services in Israel, in addition to data communication services. Cellcom Israel's shares are traded both on the New York Stock Exchange (CEL) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (CEL). For additional information please visit the Company's website http://investors.cellcom.co.il. Company Contact Shlomi Fruhling Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Tel: +972-52-998-9755 Investor Relations Contact Ehud Helft GK Investor & Public Relations In partnership with LHA [email protected] Tel: +1-617-418-3096 SOURCE Cellcom Israel Ltd. BOSTON, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage, an education and technology company, continues to partner with hundreds of colleges and universities across the U.S. to offer students more value for their course materials. The model, called Cengage Inclusive Access, can save students up to 55% and ensures they have access to digital course materials on the first day of class. For the fall 2017 semester, more than 140,000 students are benefitting from the model. "Immediate engagement with course resources on the first day of the class sets the foundation for a successful semester. This is a more streamlined, student-friendly and cost-effective approach to connecting students with learning material," said Dr. Jenny Billings, Chair of Study Skills, Developmental Reading and English (DRE), and Curriculum English at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. "Since launching the initiative three years ago in the liberal arts division, it has expanded to multiple areas of the college and is used in more than fifty courses." Dr. Billings, a Cengage faculty partner, noted a 17-point increase in retention after implementing the Inclusive Access model, bringing the DRE completion rate up to 84.5% in just two years. Across all campuses of Indiana University, the Inclusive Access model saved nearly 20,000 students a total of more than $1.3 million off print list prices over the 2016-2017 academic year. "Students should never be forced to choose between the results they want and the price they can afford," said Lori Hales, SVP, Institutional Learning Solutions, Cengage. "Immediate engagement in course materials leads to improved outcomes, which builds confident learners. Confidence gives students momentum and motivation to continue their academic journey and realize their education and life goals." The Cengage Inclusive Access model delivers content directly and seamlessly to an institution's Learning Management System (LMS), or other preferred channel. Cengage works closely with an institution's leadership, along with the local channel partner, to develop a model unique to their needs and creates a more streamlined process. Over the past nine months, the number of schools partnering with Cengage has more than doubled to over 275. To learn more about the Cengage Inclusive Access model, visit: http://www.cengage.com/inclusiveaccess, or visit the Cengage booth at EDUCAUSE 2017. 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 SAGUENAY, QC, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB) is pleased to announce the renewal and expansion of its 30+ year partnership with Rio Tinto Aluminium. The companies have renewed their technology and application management outsourcing contracts, while also expanding their strategic partnership to include the delivery of digital services for Rio Tinto's Aluminium Operational Center. The estimated value of the contract renewals and expansion is approximately $30 million. CGI will work to optimize and improve the agility of Rio Tinto Aluminium's operations, enabling the company to better respond to clients' evolving expectations and deliver personalized products. CGI will work with the aluminium group to drive strategic projects designed to deliver the benefits of Industry 4.0. Based on the findings of in-depth interviews with 1,300 business and technology leaders as part of the 2017 CGI Client Global Insights, 92% of manufacturing executives cite digitalization of business processes as their number one technology priority to drive performance and enhance the customer experience. The challenge in today's digital world is to find a partner with the skills, knowledge and capabilities to drive innovation and transformation in critical business areas. "We are pleased to expand this long-term partnership and contribute to the technological development of Rio Tinto Aluminium," said Michael Godin, Senior Vice-President at CGI. "We look forward to developing and implementing a strategy that integrates Industry 4.0 concepts to help the group achieve its business objectives. As a global leader in supply chain optimization, CGI will work closely with the aluminium division to adapt its operational processes through innovative digital technologies." "CGI has a team of more than 600 professionals in Saguenay who work each day to support organizations like Rio Tinto Aluminum, through the delivery of innovative services", said Vice-President Guylaine Tremblay, who leads CGI's operation in Saguenay. "Our local and global network of experts delivers the capabilities and service excellence our clients require." About CGI 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, and 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. Forward-Looking Statements All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. These statements and this information represent CGI's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, of which many are beyond the control of the Company. These factors could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. These factors include but are not restricted to: the timing and size of new contracts; acquisitions and other corporate developments; the ability to attract and retain qualified members; market competition in the rapidly evolving IT industry; general economic and business conditions; foreign exchange and other risks identified in the press release, in CGI's annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A"), in CGI's Annual Report, in CGI's Annual Report on Form 40-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filed on EDGAR at www.sec.gov), and in the Company's Annual Information Form filed with the Canadian securities authorities (filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com), as well as assumptions regarding the foregoing. The words "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "foresee," "plan," and similar expressions and variations thereof, identify certain of such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. In particular, statements relating to future performance are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. CGI disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements or on this forward-looking information. SOURCE CGI Group Inc. Related Links http://www.cgi.com/ BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51Talk", or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform in China with core expertise in English education, today announced that Mr. Michael Farley has joined the Company as Head of North American Operations, effective immediately. Mr. Farley will be in charge of the Company's teacher sourcing, recruiting and training, as well as branding and business development in North America. Mr. Farley has over 30 years' experience in educational management and reform in the United States, during which time he developed innovative educational programs and established new schools in Washington, D.C., Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, and Utah. Through his work, Mr. Farley has engaged with over 500 schools in more than 20 states and several different countries. Student-centered learning and the use of technology in the classroom to enable effective personalized learning have been core areas of his concentration. Mr. Farley has also developed a keen understanding of Chinese culture and educational practices, while helping establish international schools in China. Before joining 51Talk, he served as the Founder and Superintendent of American International School of Utah ("AISU"), where he led the formation of a strategic partnership between 51Talk and AISU in October 2016. Mr. Farley received his master's degree in Educational Administration from Arizona State University in 2008 and his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University in 1989. Mr. Jack Jiajia Huang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are excited to add Michael to our management team as the Head of North American Operations. We believe that his extensive experience in education management in the United States, coupled with his entrepreneurial orientation, will greatly strengthen our North American operations. Additionally, his cross-cultural education experience in both United States and China will be a great asset for our future development in our North American teacher resource expansion, as well as potential business cooperation opportunities in North America." Mr. Michael Farley, added, "I am excited to take on the role of Head of North American Operations for 51Talk. I look forward to collaborating with the 51Talk leadership team and generating synergistic results to enhance 51Talk's core business as well as enable the Company to strengthen its leadership position in the dynamic online education marketplace." About China Online Education Group China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live one-on-one interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students. For more information, please visit http://ir.51talk.com. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "aims", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "likely to" and similar statements. Among other things, 51Talk's business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as 51Talk's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. 51Talk may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about 51Talk's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: 51Talk's goals and strategies; 51Talk's expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and platform; 51Talk's ability to retain and increase its student enrollment; 51Talk's ability to offer new courses; 51Talk's ability to engage, train and retain new teachers; 51Talk's future business development, results of operations and financial condition; 51Talk's ability to maintain and improve infrastructure necessary to operate its education platform; competition in the online education industry in China; the expected growth of, and trends in, the markets for 51Talk's course offerings in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to 51Talk's corporate structure, business and industry; general economic and business condition in China, the Philippines and elsewhere and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in 51Talk's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and 51Talk does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. For investor and media inquiries, please contact: Contacts: China Online Education Group Investor Relations +86 (10) 5692-8909 [email protected] The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente +86 (10) 6535-0148 +1-212-481-2050 [email protected] SOURCE China Online Education Group XINING, China, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 7, 2017, in Krakow, Poland, in the 41st Session of the World Heritage Committee, Hoh Xil became a world's natural heritage. Located in China's Qinghai Province Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Hoh Xil is an important part of the Sanjiangyuan National Park Yangtze River Source area. This is a land full of vitality and spirituality. Tibetan antelopes, wild ass, brown bears and other wild animals inhabit this area. It is known as "the third pole of the world" and "Qinghai-Tibet Plateau wild animal gene library." Located at the south of Qinghai Province, China, the Sanjiangyuan area is the birthplace of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River, and came to be known as "China Water Tower". In recent years, through continuous optimizations and breakthroughs of the existing system, the construction process of this region's ecological protection continues to accelerate, vegetation coverage and water supply amount are increasing year by year, the populations of wild animals recover rapidly. In June 2016, China's first national park system pilot was started in the Sanjiangyuan area. In more than a year, local government established the vertical co-ordination management system, completely solved the problems of the block division in the past, the efficiency of ecological management and protection has substantially increased. According to the latest monitoring data, compared with 2004, the average grassland coverage in the Sanjiangyuan area has increased by 11.6%, the yield of grass has increased by 29.66 kg per mu, the desertification area has decreased by nearly 500 square kilometers, and the wetland has increased nearly by 50%. The Qinghai Province Hoh Xil Natural Heritage Protection Regulations were formally implemented on October 1, 2016. From then on, Hoh Xil is under special legal protection. The regulations clear that Hoh Xil needs to give full play to scientific research, education, display function, and rationally carry out ecological science tourism. Mr. Luo Yanhai, deputy director, Forest Public Security Bureau of the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve Bureau said, "The fact that Hoh Xil is recognized by the World Heritage Committee as a world heritage -- a wealth of human which is rare and unable to replace -- presents a major opportunity for Hoh Xil. The ultimate goal is to protect." SOURCE Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration ELMWOOD PARK, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new tilt-up contractor, Capnovate Construction, is gaining market share in the Northern New Jersey area with the acquisition of a drywall and insulation companyand its leaders still have decades to grow. Capnovate Construction is fueled by the energy and vision of co-founders Gary and Greg Laterovian, who are both still in their 30s. Greg and Gary Laterovian The brothers saw an opportunity when the housing renovation boom started and launched Capnovate Construction in mid-2012. Each of the co-founders has specific expertise: Greg runs the field and manages the shop while Gary handles the finances, purchasing, bidding, project management, and operations. In less than two years, the team has grown its venturewithout a line of creditinto a 3 million dollar business with multiple internal divisions. The company's drywall and insulation division will allow Capnovate to expand into different market segments, creating a diversified business strategy. Capnovate's secrets of success are lean operations and hands-on management. Greg is out supervising our projects every day by 5am, and Gary and his team are usually in the office until 7pm or 8pm. "We're dedicated to maintaining that level of involvement," Gary says. Earlier this year, the company opened a new office in Elmwood Park; after just one month, the Laterovian's maximized the space and moved into an 8,000 square-foot warehouse office location in Hackensack. Capnovate is currently working on an array of upcoming projects for clients in the Bergen County area; the company has been gaining traction in both residential and commercial market space by focusing on value-add projects such as additions, new construction, and land development. "My years of experience in the real estate industrycombined with what I learned while earning my MBA at Rutgers has enabled me to make educated decisions and mitigate risks to support our company's growth, as well as diversify our business through the recent acquisition," Gary said. About Capnovate Construction LLC and Capnovate LLC Capnovate Construction is a fully-licensed and insured general contractor providing professional construction services in New Jersey. Capnovate has earned recognition for undertaking large, complex projects, fostering innovation, and embracing emerging technologies to make a difference for our clients. The company is a certified 203k contractor. Contact: Gary Laterovian [email protected] 917-797-7668 SOURCE Capnovate LLC Rich Davis, CEO of CS Group, discusses why Fontainebleau Hotel chose Cool Attitudes Mixers & Citrus Springs Juices for their historic and trendsetting property; "Fontainebleau Hotel and LIV Nightclub are on the cutting edge of trends in the Hospitality space. Their mixologists wanted a mixer and juice program that allows them to produce high-end, craft cocktails consistently. CS Group's brands are well known in the Southeast and in the Hospitality industry as the quality leaders in mixers & juices. Our brands are always crafted with high quality ingredients. Cool Attitudes Mixers and Citrus Springs Juices are a well-timed enhancement to Fontainebleau's bar and beverage business." CS Group is also excited to rollout a signature cocktail for LIV Nightclub to help celebrate the grand-reopening of the club in October 2017. "LIV Nectar", a proprietary blend of natural citrus, melon and spice notes, will be offered to all club patrons and served with table service in the VIP sections. Rich Davis, a Miami resident himself, commented, "I worked with LIV's mixologists to craft a signature cocktail that is "uniquely-LIV" to offer their patrons. When you're in Miami, on the beach, watching triple-A live music acts, drinking a LIV Nectar with your favorite spirit, you know you're living an experience that is unique to LIV and the Fontainebleau. I think they're very happy with the cocktail we created for their club." About CS Group At CS Group we focus on innovation, quality, and product efficacy to create unique beverage brands that are timely and on trend. Among our brands are "Cool Attitudes Fresh, Natural Mixers," "Citrus Springs Juices," and "Paradise Juice & Mixers." Our brands are sold through an elite network of distributors each selected for their strong reach into their markets. Our brands are featured in over 20,000 restaurants, hotels, casinos, bars, nightclubs, and music & vacation venues around the US. For more information or to connect: http://www.csgroupbev.com www.csgroupbev.com/citrus-springs-juices/ www.csgroupbev.com/cool-attitudes/ Contact: Justin Davis (314) 518-5938 [email protected] SOURCE CS Group Related Links http://www.csgroupbev.com MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 3, Council of the Americas will host the Symposium and 23rd BRAVO Business Awards at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami. The high-level conference and gala will gather over 400 influential business and policy leaders for a substantial and interactive discussion on topics ranging from sustainable growth to trade and investment, as well as regional connectivity and leadership in the digital era. This event will be live webcast. "For this new edition of the Symposium and the BRAVO Business Awards, we have convened an outstanding lineup of public- and private-sector leaders," said Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) President and CEO Susan Segal. "Bringing together in one venue some of the most successful thinkers and doers in the region and recognizing them for their achievements and contributions is central to our mission of fostering productive exchanges in the Americas." This year's Symposium will open with a discussion on the region's sustainable economic and social development featuring Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Alexander Mora, Costa Rica's minister of foreign trade. Andres Gluski, president and CEO of the AES Corporation and AS/COA's chairman, will moderate the conversation. Additional highlights include a keynote address by Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and a conversation between Horst Paulmann, founder and chairman of Cencosud, and AS/COA's Susan Segal. A host of global CEOs and top executives from leading multinational and multilatina companies will engage in conversation on panels to address key business and economic issues. Leaders from prominent Latin American companies will review the impact, challenges, and opportunities of incorporating new technologies into their organizations. Panelists include: Jorge Becerra, The Boston Consulting Group; Fernando Gonzalez, CEMEX; and Damian Scokin, Despegar.com. Cesar Cernuda from Microsoft Latin America will moderate the panel. Corporate leaders will discuss new trends impacting business in the region including foreign direct investment, as well as cross-border trade between emerging and developed economies. Panelists include: Katia Bouazza, HSBC Securities; Andres Conesa, Aeromexico; Fernando Iraola, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and James P. Scriven, Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC). Xavier Serbia, CNN Dinero, will lead the panel. The daytime Symposium will close with afternoon concurrent sessions focused on trending topics in the Americas, including the current strengths and future challenges for the tourism industry in Latin America, the advantages of incorporating sustainable initiatives in companies, and the benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence into business models. For the complete agenda of the Council of the Americas Symposium, visit bravobusiness.com. Follow the conversation via #BRAVObiz. Following the Symposium, seven previously announced leaders who are impacting business and policy in the region will be recognized at the 23rd BRAVO Business Awards. Sponsors of the Council of the Americas Symposium and 23rd BRAVO Business Awards include: HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, LLORENTE & CUENCA, The AES Corporation, CAF Development Bank of Latin America, IBM, The Boston Consulting Group, Bombardier, Chubb, Emerson, Florida International University, Microsoft and SAP. Media partners: CNN and Financial Times. Supporting Organization: Enterprise Florida. Symposium Partner: IDB. Press inquiries: Yndira Marin | [email protected] | 1-646-386-6523. AS/COA Media Relations | [email protected] | 1-212-277-8384 | 1-212-277-8333. Council of the Americas (COA) is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council's membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation. SOURCE Council of the Americas VANCOUVER, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - CRH Medical Corporation (TSX: CRH) (NYSE MKT: CRHM) (the "Company"), plans to release its unaudited results for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 after market close. The Company's executive management will discuss the results during a conference call on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 11:00 am Eastern Time/8:00 am Pacific Time. To participate in the call, please dial 1-800-319-4610, or (604) 638-5340. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call by dialing 1-855-669-9658 or (604) 6748052 and entering access code 1687. The replay will be available for two weeks after the call. About CRH Medical Corporation: CRH Medical Corporation is a North American company focused on providing gastroenterologists throughout the United States with innovative services and products for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The CRH O'Regan System is a single-use, disposable, hemorrhoid banding technology that is safe and highly effective in treating all grades of hemorrhoids. CRH distributes the O'Regan System, treatment protocols, operational and marketing expertise as a complete, turnkey package directly to gastroenterology practices, creating meaningful relationships with the gastroenterologists it serves. CRH's O'Regan System is currently used in all 48 lower US states. In 2014, CRH acquired Gastroenterology Anesthesia Associates, LLC ("GAA"), a full-service gastroenterology anesthesia company that provides anesthesia services for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. Since then, CRH has incorporated 14 additional acquisitions to its anesthesia business. CRH Anesthesia now services 35 ambulatory surgical centers in seven states and performs approximately 235,000 procedures annually. SOURCE CRH Medical Corporation Related Links www.crhmedcorp.com CHONGQING, China, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) ("Daqo New Energy", the "Company" or "we"), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry, today announced that the board of directors has officially approved the Company's Phase 3B expansion plan ("Phase 3B Project") for its polysilicon facilities in Xinjiang. Phase 3B Project is expected to increase the Company's polysilicon annual nameplate capacity from the current 18,000 MT to 25,000 MT. By adopting additional technology improvement and debottlenecking projects, the Company may be able to further increase its capacity to 30,000 MT per annum by the end of 2019. The Company expects to complete project design and initial preparation works for Phase 3B Project by the end of 2017, complete constructions and installations by the end of 2018, start pilot production in the first half of 2019 and reach full capacity by the end of the second quarter of 2019. For the Phase 3B Project, the Company plans to adopt new designs, processes, technologies and equipment that would further improve the quality and purity of its polysilicon products. The polysilicon products of the Phase 3B Project are anticipated to reach electronics grade and will be targeting the mono-crystalline wafer and semiconductor markets, which have more stringent requirements on polysilicon quality and purity, and therefore have higher entry barriers. The Company may potentially enjoy higher profit margin if it could successfully access these markets with its differentiated ultra-high purity electronic-grade polysilicon products. In addition to polysilicon quality upgrading, the Company expects to implement new production processes to improve operational efficiencies, which would further reduce our total production cost. Once Phase 3B Project is ramped up to full production capacity, we anticipate the overall total production cost for our Xinjiang facilities could potentially be decreased to US$7.50 per kilogram, benefiting from better operating leverage, adopting new production processes and equipment with higher efficiencies, and achieving greater economies of scale. About Daqo New Energy Corp. Founded in 2008, Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) is a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry. As one of the world's lowest cost producers of high-purity polysilicon and solar wafers, the Company primarily sells its products to solar cell and solar module manufacturers. The Company has built a manufacturing facility that is technically advanced and highly efficient with a nameplate capacity of 18,000 metric tons in Xinjiang, China. The Company also operates a solar wafer manufacturing facility in Chongqing, China. Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the demand for photovoltaic products and the development of photovoltaic technologies; global supply and demand for polysilicon; alternative technologies in cell manufacturing; our ability to significantly expand our polysilicon production capacity and output; the reduction in or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy applications; and our ability to lower our production costs. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the reports or documents we have filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Daqo New Energy does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Daqo New Energy undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law. For investor inquiries, please contact: Daqo New Energy Corp. Investor Relations Department Phone: +86-187-1658-5553 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Daqo New Energy Corp. A highly-respected and sought-after media personality in the area of cosmetic dermatology, Dr. Day will cover hot topics such as the pros and cons of Botox, skin rejuvenation, wrinkle prevention, and myths and truths surrounding skin lotions. "I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Day at Lenox Hill Hospital for several years, and I respect her experience and expertise in her field immensely," said Dr. Samadi. "Our skin is our body's largest organ, and Dr. Day will equip my viewers with information and knowledge that will ultimately help them look and feel their very best." Dr. Day is affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and is a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the New York University Langone Medical Center where she was presented with the award for Dedication and Excellence in the Teaching of Dermatology. She is the author of three books, and has previously lent her expertise to Good Morning America, The View, Dr. Oz, CNN, 20/20, Instyle, Vogue, and Glamour. "I'm thrilled that Dr. Day agreed to stop by, and I'm sure that I will learn a thing or two myself," added Dr. Samadi. Dr. Samadi's weekly Sunday Housecall LIVESTREAM airs every Sunday at 12 30pm ET. Viewers can tune in at drsamaditv.com. About Dr. David Samadi Dr. David Samadi is the Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is a board certified urologic oncologist trained in open traditional and laparoscopic surgery and is an expert in robotic prostate surgery. He has dedicated his distinguished career to the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer and is considered one of the most prominent surgeons in his field. Dr. David Samadi's life mission is to bring global awareness and attention to a disease that is the second leading cause of death in men. For more information on Dr. David Samadi go to davidsamadibio.com. SOURCE Dr. David Samadi Related Links http://samadimd.com MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EchoPixel, Inc., the pioneer of True 3D, an interactive virtual reality software solution that assists healthcare professionals in detailed interpretation of medical images, both for diagnosis and surgical planning, announced today that it has closed an $8.5 million Series A financing. The financing round was led by new investor Intel Capital and included existing EchoPixel investors Aurus Capital, Runa Capital and Harris & Harris Group. Also participating were new investors LAM Research and Binomial. Proceeds from the Series A financing will be allocated towards expanding EchoPixel's Commercial, R&D and Regulatory organizations. "With its promise to make medical images more accessible to more clinicians and transform the ways doctors work and patients understand their unique anatomy, EchoPixel's True 3D has generated excitement in the medical community," said Sergio Aguirre, founder and Chief Executive Officer of EchoPixel. EchoPixel's True 3D Viewer software enables physicians and surgeons to see and interact with medical images the way they would with real, physical objects. The system leverages existing DICOM image data to create life-size virtual reality objects, allowing physicians to move, turn, dissect, and cut open virtual patient specific anatomy. When supported by EchoPixel's software, clinicians are empowered with a holographic experience with numerous potential benefits across a range of medical applications, including: Enhanced pre-operative planning and better interactive understanding of unique anatomy that can be used as a reference during surgery Improved patient selection for implantable devices enabling clinicians to better tailor personalized patient care Enriched communication and collaboration among members of the surgical team, including surgeons and other OR staff Increased patient engagement that facilitates informed consent and adherence to rehabilitation These benefits have the potential to address day-to-day hospital challenges, such as, faster surgical planning, a better understanding of possible complication areas, reducing OR time and advancing patient engagement and outcomes. True 3D is being used in clinical and research settings around the world, including the University of California, San Francisco, Stanford, the Cleveland Clinic, the Lahey Clinic, and the Hershey Medical Center, among others. "The growth in key centers working on significant solutions using True 3D, and the number of leadership organizations supporting EchoPixel's marketing efforts, have positioned the company for rapid growth moving forward," said Ron Schilling, PhD, Executive Chairman, EchoPixel. "Intel Capital invests in pioneering technologies," said Wendell Brooks, senior vice president of Intel Corp. and president of Intel Capital. "We are excited to invest in EchoPixel and to see their technology transform patient care through the use of augmented reality." About EchoPixel EchoPixel is building a new world of patient care with its groundbreaking medical visualization software. The company's FDA-cleared True 3D Viewer uses existing medical image datasets to create virtual reality environments of patient-specific anatomy, allowing physicians to view and dissect images just as they would real, physical objects. The technology aims to make reading medical images more intuitive, help physicians reach diagnosis, and assist in surgical planning. Leading institutions, including the University of California, San Francisco, the Cleveland Clinic, the Lahey Clinic, and more are using True 3D in clinical and research applications. EchoPixel is a privately held, venture backed company located in Mountain View, CA. About Intel Capital Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting 5G connectivity, the data center, artificial intelligence, merged reality, autonomous driving and a wide range of other disruptive technologies. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US $12.2 billion in 1,500 companies worldwide, and more than 640 portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired. Intel Capital curates thousands of business development introductions each year between its portfolio companies and the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world's most powerful venture capital firms, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital. Media Contact: Chris K Joseph 510.435.4031 [email protected] SOURCE EchoPixel, Inc. ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, Edico Genome and Fabric Genomics announced their collaboration to provide an integrated solution for secondary and tertiary analysis of next-generation sequencing data. Through this partnership, users can seamlessly utilize Edico Genome's DRAGENTM Bio-IT platform with Fabric Genomics' Opal Clinical variant interpretation platform to accurately gain biological insights for both inherited disease and oncology, with the goal of improving patients' clinical care. The partnership is grounded in a successful implementation with Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM), which has utilized DRAGEN and Opal Clinical together for the past year. RCIGM, headed by Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, M.D., D.Sc., President and CEO, relies on the combined solution to deliver life-saving diagnoses for critically ill children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), at a greatly expedited rate with industry leading accuracy. Read about RCIGM's work with rapid whole genome sequencing (rWGS) in the September issue of TIME. "Speed and accuracy are essential to distilling medically actionable information from whole genome sequencing," said Dr. Kingsmore. "At Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, DRAGEN and Opal Clinical are the core technologies that we rely upon for variant identification and interpretation. The results are helping physicians provide targeted treatment for critically ill children in the NICU and PICU." Edico Genome's DRAGEN platform performs ultra-rapid secondary analysis, analyzing a whole human genome at 30x coverage in approximately 20 minutes. Due to its patented design, DRAGEN's speed does not compromise accuracy, and the platform received high scores across all accuracy metrics in the recent PrecisionFDA Hidden Treasures Warm Up Challenge. DRAGEN is available both onsite and in the Amazon Web Services' (AWS) cloud, enabling the delivery of high accuracy and cost savings regardless of throughput. "Whether analyzing thousands of genomes for a national genomics program or individual sequences to provide personalized insight, disjointed workflows reduce efficiency, resulting in time and money lost," said Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., President and CEO at Edico Genome. "Our partnership with Fabric Genomics is one built on mutual dedication to accuracy, speed and data security, resulting in an ultra-rapid, highly accurate turnkey solution." Fabric Genomics uses machine learning to rapidly identify disease-causing variants through its two proprietary algorithms, VAAST and Phevor. Clinical research partnerships with pioneers RCIGM, Genomics England, and the Utah Genome Project have demonstrated that the two algorithms are essential for the successful identification of deleterious variants in critically ill children. "Both Opal Clinical and DRAGEN were designed to forward the adoption of personalized medicine through faster, more accurate downstream analysis," said Martin Reese, Ph.D., President and CEO at Fabric Genomics. "As we continue to strengthen our partnership with Edico Genome, we look forward to delivering enhanced integrated offerings and services in order to help discover disease-causing variants in children and help change treatment for the better." To learn more at ASHG this week, visit Edico Genome's booth #710 and Fabric Genomics' booth #513 in Orlando. About Edico Genome The use of next-generation sequencing is growing at an unprecedented pace, creating a need for easy to implement infrastructure that enables rapid, accurate, and cost-effective processing and storage of this big data. Edico Genome has created a patented end-to-end platform solution for analysis of next-generation sequencing data, DRAGEN, which speeds whole genome data analysis from hours to minutes while delivering the industry's highest accuracy and significantly reducing costs. Top clinicians and researchers are utilizing the platform, both onsite and in the Cloud, to achieve faster diagnoses for critically ill newborns, cancer patients and expecting parents waiting on prenatal tests, and faster results for scientists and drug developers. For more information, visit www.EdicoGenome.com or follow @EdicoGenome. About Fabric Genomics By accelerating access to insights related to the cause of genetic diseases, Fabric Genomics is leading the way in precision healthcare. Fabric Genomics is a global company offering end-to-end genomic data analysis, annotation, curation, classification, and reporting solutions to clinical labs, hospital labs, country sequencing programs, and life science companies. Fabric Genomics' analytic capabilities cover the complete next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflow, between the sequencer and the clinical report. Its software is optimized for the analysis of panels, exomes, and genomes for hereditary diseases and oncology. We offer a comprehensive, secure platform and partner with clinical labs to help them interpret variants faster, integrate with EMRs, and ultimately sign out cases more efficiently. Fabric Genomics was founded by scientists and industry pioneers in bioinformatics, large-scale genomics, and clinical genetics, and is headquartered in Oakland, California. To learn more, visit www.fabricgenomics.com, and follow us on Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. SOURCE Edico Genome Related Links http://www.edicogenome.com LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MEDIA ALERT: Who: Epson will be participating in the upcoming PhotoPlus Expo show in New York City to showcase its latest advancements in imaging technology for the photographic community in booth #707. What: During the show, Epson will host "Epson Print Academy," a series of presentations with professional photographers and printing experts on digital printing workflows, including demonstrations on how to optimize files for exhibition quality printing. In addition, presenters will be printing with the new SureColor P5000 professional 17-inch inkjet printer. Additional information on specific events and participating products follow. Epson Print Academy - Epson will be hosting a series of 30-minute presentations from some of the industry's top photographic printing experts. Presentations will demonstrate the process of optimizing files to create the highest quality prints. Epson SureColor P5000 Demonstration: - Epson will be demonstrating the award-winning SureColor P5000 printer. Attendees are invited to bring high-resolution files to Epson's booth to print on the SureColor P5000 to experience its exceptional output first-hand. Leveraging the advanced Epson PrecisionCore TFP printhead and 10-color Epson UltraChrome HDX pigment ink set with new Orange and Green ink, the SureColor P5000 delivers output with a wider contrast ratio and optically clearer, sharper images. A refined printer design includes improved dust and static control for reduced nozzle maintenance and enhanced performance and reliability. Epson Print Layout Station: - Epson Print Layout is designed to simplify complex print and color management workflows for photographers. This software incorporates an intuitive linear workflow design to provide easy printer selection, layout and color management settings, in addition to providing a live Advanced Black-and-White Mode1 output preview. Compatible with Epson SureColor P-Series printers1, Epson Print Layout is the ideal solution for photography enthusiasts and professional photographers looking to create high-quality photos. Epson will have a dedicated station where attendees can bring personal high-resolution files and use Epson Print Layout to output their photographs on the SureColor P5000. Epson Legacy Papers: - Legacy Platine, Legacy Fibre, Legacy Baryta, Legacy Etching represent the art of papermaking at its finest. Designed in collaboration with many of the world's greatest artists and revered European papermakers and galleries, and developed specifically for those who intend to exhibit and sell their prints, both to art collectors and investors. Producing outstanding black density and color fidelity, along with exceptional archival properties, the Epson Legacy Papers offer the properties required for high-end photographic fine art printing and collectible works of fine art. For additional information about Epson's Legacy Papers, visit www.epson.com/legacypapers When: PhotoPlus Expo runs from Oct. 26-28, 2017 and the exhibit hall is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Following is the list of "Epson Print Academy" sessions that will be held at Epson's booth: "Epson Print Academy" Presentation Schedule Thursday, Oct. 26 Friday, Oct. 27 Saturday, Oct. 28 11-11:30 a.m. Julianne Kost 11-11:30 a.m. Julianne Kost 11-11:30 a.m. Matt Kloskowski Noon-12:30 p.m. Mac Holbert Noon-12:30 p.m. Mac Holbert Noon-12:30 p.m. Vincent Versace 1-1:30 p.m. John Paul Caponigro 1-1:30 p.m. John Paul Caponigro 1-1:30 p.m. Matt Kloskowski 2-2:30 p.m. Mac Holbert 2-2:30 p.m. Matt Kloskowski 2-2:30 p.m. Vincent Versace 3-3:30 p.m. John Paul Caponigro 3-3:30 p.m. Vincent Versace 4-4:30 p.m. Vincent Versace Where: Javits Convention Center, New York City; Epson Booth #707 For additional information about Epson professional imaging solutions visit www.proimaging.epson.com About Epson Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 72,000 employees in 88 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts. Epson America, Inc., based in Long Beach, Calif., is Epson's regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/EpsonAmerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica). 1 SureColor P10000 and P20000 not currently supported Note: EPSON, SureColor, PrecisionCore, TFP, UltraChrome HDX are registered trademarks and EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other product brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2017 Epson America, Inc. CPD-53976 5/17 SOURCE Epson America, Inc. Related Links http://www.epson.com LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldberg Law PC, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited ("Dr. Reddy's" or the "Company") (NYSE: RDY) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors who purchased the Company's shares between June 17, 2015 and August 10, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the firm before October 24, 2017, the lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss during the Class Period, click here to participate. We also encourage you to contact Michael Goldberg or Brian Schall, of Goldberg Law PC, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 800-977-7401 , to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at http://www.goldberglawpc.com/, or by email at [email protected]. The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Dr. Reddy's made false and/or misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose, that the Company lacked an effective corporate quality system; and thus its public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 10, 2017, Dr. Reddy's disclosed that the Regulatory of Germany (Regierung von Oberbayern) did not renew the good manufacturing practices compliance certificate of a formulations manufacturing unit of its German subsidiary Betapharm Arzneimittel, located in Hyderabad, India, following a recent inspection of the plant. When this news was announced, shares of Dr. Reddy's fell in value materially, which caused investors harm. Goldberg Law PC represents investors around the world, and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics. Contact: Goldberg Law PC, Los Angeles Michael Goldberg, Esq., 800-977-7401 Brian Schall, Esq., 800-977-7401 [email protected] www.Goldberglawpc.com SOURCE Goldberg Law PC Related Links http://www.goldberglawpc.com/ BARCELONA, Spain, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spain is the third most visited country in the world (just behind the USA and France in the global tourism ranking) and is the European country where low cost carriers (LCCs) control the largest aviation market share. There are only two countries in Europe where the market share held by LCCs is larger than legacy airlines, namely Spain (55%) and the UK (54%). Italian LCCs are trailing closely at 48%, while in countries like Poland, Germany and Ireland their market share stands between 40% and 42%. This is the conclusion of an interactive study by Europair, a leading Spanish air broker, which analyzes traffic data in 17 European markets based on their relevance in the aviation sector. The data come from Eurocontrol and represent international departures and domestic traffic registered over a one-year period (September 2016 to August 2017). In conclusion, the study highlights that legacy airlines are still holding the upper hand in these 17 countries, with a 59% market share. "The European air transport scene has changed radically since the deregulation that took place between 1993 and 1997. These changes enabled the creation of "real" competitors that challenged the mostly state-owned legacy airlines of the 90s, which were thus stimulated to restructure (most of them were privatized) and face the appearance of multiple new competitors, specialised in different market segments such as air cargo, regional flying, charter and low cost, says Luis Matera, Business Intelligence analyst of Europair. It is evident that LCCs have been very agile and managed to gain considerable relevance while adapting to the ever-changing air transport market. In some countries their contribution has been bigger, especially in markets with a high component of leisure travel (both outgoing and incoming). Low cost traffic and tourism This has been particularly true for Spain in 2017, where the majority of the record-breaking numbers of incoming tourists (more than 10.5m in July, the highest number ever) are travelling by LCCs. The main traffic flows are to/from the UK, Germany, Italy and France, the four big countries that, together with Spain, represent more than 50% of Europe's total air traffic. If we compare the evolution of the number of incoming tourists with the legacy and low cost air traffic, we can see how numbers have been growing relentlessly since 2010. Nevertheless, 2012-2013 represents a turning point in this evolution, as legacy airlines lost their traditional market domination after 10 years of continuous growth by LCCs, who have been able to introduce a new disruptive business model in this sector. However, it is worth mentioning that legacy airlines have then been able to adapt and, while they haven't been able to recover their lost market share, they are now holding their positions and growing in parallel with low cost traffic. About Europair Set up in 1994, Europair is a leading Spain-based air charter broker specialized in the organization of charter flights to any destination in the world. Europair searches the market for the solution best suited to the specific needs of each client, applying strict suppliers' selection criteria. Europair advises its clients in the selection of the aircraft model and takes care of the organization and follow-up of the flight. Europair's multilingual team of experienced aviation specialists is equipped with the latest technology and know-how to take the client through all the steps of flight preparation and personalization. The air charter broker has its offices in Madrid and Palma de Mallorca as well as a representation in Toulouse. www.europair.com SOURCE Europair DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- North Carolina Central University School of Law's (NCCU) Intellectual Property (IP) Law Institute has launched the Post-Grant Pro Bono Project, with the help of Fish & Richardson and Jones Day, to provide minority law students with immersive, hands-on training in prosecuting post-grant matters. This first-of-its-kind program was created to encourage true innovation, support a more diverse bar, and provide minority law students with valuable skills that have broad applicability for today's employers. Experienced post-grant practitioners from Fish, Jones Day, and SAS will share their in-depth experience with NCCU law students and provide direct training in post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) as part of NCCU's "Post-Grant Clinic and Practice" course. "We are very excited to be a part of this program," said Fish principal Tom Rozylowicz. "Fish is the most active firm in post-grant proceedings at the PTAB, so we have a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to share that will help NCCU's IP Law Institute achieve its goal of expanding the pool of minority, STEM-trained IP attorneys." SAS has provided funding to NCCU to support the work of the IP Law Institute, demonstrating its commitment to educational initiatives that prepare students for the 21st century workforce, with a particular focus on efforts in its home state of North Carolina. In addition to SAS, Google, Epic Games, and Netflix are supporting this unique effort. North Carolina Central University School of Law was founded to provide opportunities for African Americans to become lawyers. Embracing our heritage, our mission is to provide a high quality, personalized, practice-oriented, and affordable legal education to historically underrepresented students from diverse backgrounds in order to increase diversity in the legal profession. Fish & Richardson is a global patent prosecution, intellectual property litigation and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S. and Europe. Our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences and perspectives. Fish is the No. 1 U.S. patent litigation firm, handling nearly three times as many cases as its nearest competitor; a powerhouse patent prosecution firm; a top-tier trademark and copyright firm; and the No. 1 firm at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, with more cases than any other firm. Since 1878, Fish attorneys have been winning cases worth billions in controversy often by making new law for the world's most innovative and influential technology leaders. In addition to its expertise in intellectual property law, Fish boasts a robust pro bono program, and encourages all of its legal professionals to take on pro bono matters as part of their professional lives. Fish lawyers average 56 pro bono hours per year representing clients on a range of public interest and social justice issues, leveraging its greatest resource Fish attorneys to address the widening justice gap. For more information, visit https://www.fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson. Contact: Amy Blumenthal or Kelly Largey Blumenthal & Associates Fish & Richardson 617-879-1511 800-818-5070 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Fish & Richardson Related Links https://www.fr.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Future Farm Technologies Inc. (the "Company" or "Future Farm") (CSE: FFT) (OTCQB: FFRMF) is pleased to announce it has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Derek Ross of Cannatech LLC for the acquisition of a 120-acre licensed industrial hemp farm in Amity, ME (the "Farm"). The Farm has just finished harvesting its first crop, which is now being prepared for further processing into high-grade cannabidiol oil, or CBD hemp oil. As part of this acquisition, Future Farm and Cannatech have also entered into a new joint venture agreement to continue operating the Farm. With this acquisition, Future Farm is now strategically positioned in both the fast growing hemp market as well as the cannabis market. Derek Ross of Cannatech will stay on as the operator and grower of high CBD strains and retain a 20% interest in the Farm. The Farm is currently the largest operating hemp farm in Maine. "This strategic acquisition puts Future Farm in the CBD business in a big way and opens the door for growing, researching, developing, and selling premium hemp and CBD oil, which contain a broad range of cannabinoids used to treat a growing population of CBD oil consumers," comments Bill Gildea, CEO of Future Farm. "We are pleased to be working with Derek and his team of experienced growers and we look forward to adding value by installing new state of the art CBD oil extraction equipment on-site to meet the increasing demand of CBD oil." Derek Ross, CEO of Cannatech comments, "I'm excited to grow this business with Future Farm. Partnering with a public company will allow us to scale this business faster, enabling us to process large amounts of hemp flower into highly pure CBD concentrates." Mr. Ross continues, "We are still in the early stages and already have germinated over 6,000 hemp plants and 750 clones for cultivation." Hemp is a fast growing, high margin closely-related business to the cannabis business growing at a 22% CAGR currently valued at over $688 million, and estimated to grow to $1.8 billion by 2020 in the USA. Hemp is a member of the Cannabis Sativa L family, but unlike marijuana it contains only 0.3 percent or lower tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical that causes a euphoric response. Grown for centuries for its seeds and stalks, hemp was once a staple crop and legal to cultivate in the United States until the 1930s. It can be used to produce a multitude of products, including food, paper, textiles, building materials, and body care products. As consideration for the acquisition of the Farm, Future Farm agrees to pay Derek Ross $80,000, payable in equal installments over the course of six months. Mr. Ross is also entitled to receive 250,000 shares of the Company's common stock upon closing of the real estate transaction. There is no finder's fee associated with this transaction. For further information, contact William Gildea, Director, at 617.834.9467. On behalf of the Board, Future Farm Technologies Inc. William Gildea, CEO & Chairman About Future Farm Future Farm Technologies Inc. is a Canadian company with projects throughout North America including California, Florida and Maryland. The Company's business model includes developing and acquiring technologies that will position it as a leader in the evolution of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) for the global production of various types of plants, with a focus on cannabis. Future Farm provides scalable, indoor CEA systems that utilize minimal land, water and energy regardless of climate, location or time of year and are customized to grow an abundance of crops close to consumers, therefore minimizing food miles and its impact to the environment. The Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to use a patented vertical farming technology that, when compared to traditional plant production methods, generate yields up to 10 times greater per square foot of land. The contained system provides many other benefits including 90% less water, fertilizer and land used, less travel costs, seed to sale security, scalability, consistency due to year-round production, cost control, product safety and purity by eliminating environmental variability. The Company also utilizes a leading cannabis oil extraction technology, which enables the Company to process 20lbs/hour of cannabis plant to yield approximately 908 grams/hour of oil. The Company is also in the business of designing and distributing LED lighting solutions utilizing the COB and MCOB technology. The Company is focused on delivering cost efficient lighting to North America via advanced e-commerce sites the Company owns and operates. LEDCanada.com, which caters to B2B customers, is a supplier of the newest and highest demand LED solutions. The Company also owns and operates COBGrowlights.com, which caters to both large and small agriculture green houses and controlled cultivation centers. The Company recently acquired the exclusive right to use a patented, augmented reality (AR) technology in the cannabis industry. The Company will work with its partner to merge AR and ad-tech with the cannabis industry through the CannaCube LiveTM platform. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. For further information, contact William Gildea, Director, at 617.834.9467. SOURCE Future Farm Technologies Inc. ATLANTA, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power introduces Community Solar, the newest way for residential customers to help support the growth and development of renewable energy in Georgia. Through the new program, now open for pre-enrollment at GeorgiaPower.com/CommunitySolar, residential customers can subscribe to receive a bill credit based on actual production at a solar facility. This new program was designed in coordination with and approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission. Launching in January 2018, Community Solar is ideal for residential customers who want to support solar, especially those who are unable to install a photovoltaic (PV) system at their homes, including renters and condominium owners, or homeowners with shaded roof space or restrictive covenants. The program will be supported by 3 megawatts (MW) of new Georgia Power solar facilities including a 2 MW facility currently under construction near Athens, Georgia. "The Community Solar initiative is the latest addition to a wide variety of Georgia Power programs available that make it possible for more customers to support the growth of solar energy," said Wilson Mallard, director of renewable development at Georgia Power. "Georgia is a national solar leader because of efforts like Community Solar that benefit all customers and diversify our fuel mix, while also driving the expansion of renewable energy resources in the state." Participation in the program will cost $24.99 per 1 kilowatt (kW) block per month in exchange for a monthly credit based on a solar facility's production. Customers are limited to their estimated monthly energy usage and a maximum of 10 1-kW blocks, with a total of 3,000 blocks available for subscription. The monthly credit may only be used to offset a portion of the customer's electric consumption from Georgia Power for that month and has no cash value. The solar production of a 1 kW subscription block will vary due to season, number of cloudy days and other factors, but is estimated to be in the range of 130 240 kilowatt-hours per month. Georgia Power's robust renewable development strategy includes innovative customer programs such as Simple Solar, as well as large-scale initiatives such as the Advanced Solar Initiative (ASI) and the Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI). The company continues to have the largest voluntary renewable portfolio in the country and now has approximately 900 MW* of solar capacity in operation, with accelerating growth year over year since 2013. Through continued expansion of solar at Georgia military bases, implementation of the new REDI, as well as other solar projects and programs, the company expects to add up to 1,600 MW* of additional renewable capacity by 2021. For additional information about the new Community Solar program and to pre-enroll, visit the website at www.GeorgiaPower.com/CommunitySolar. Interested and eligible Georgia Power customers who submit a pre-enrollment application will be notified in December 2017 of program acceptance based on a first-come, first served basis, prior to their first Community Solar billing. * REC Disclaimer: Every megawatt hour of electricity produced by an eligible solar generation resource creates a Renewable Energy Credit (REC). Georgia Power purchases only the null energy output from some renewable generating facilities that have contracted to sell that energy to Georgia Power. Ownership of the associated RECs is specified in each respective power purchase agreement. The party that owns the RECs retains the right to use them. About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power). SOURCE Georgia Power Related Links http://www.georgiapower.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students at New Prospect Elementary School in Alpharetta, Georgia, will speak with the NASA astronauts living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 10:50 a.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 23. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. Twenty Georgia elementary school students will be invited to ask Randy Bresnik, Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei questions about living in space aboard the space station, NASA's deep space exploration plans, or any other topic that interests the students. This is the second mission to the International Space Station for Expedition 53 commander Bresnik, who launched to the space station on July 28 and is scheduled to return to Earth in December. Acaba and Vande Hei arrived at the space station Sept. 12. It's the third mission to space for Acaba and the first for Vande Hei. Media interested in covering the event should contact Donna Lowry or Susan Hale at 470-254-6830 or via email [email protected]. New Prospect Elementary School is at 3055 Kimball Bridge Road in Alpharetta. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA's Year of Education on Station which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators. Follow the astronauts on social media: https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts For more information, videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/education/onstation SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov MARBLE FALLS, Texas, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gibraltar, a leading manufacturer of anti-ram vehicle barriers used across the globe, has announced that it has received awards for multiple international projects. Gibraltar anti-vehicle barriers were selected for use on the Tuhama Power Plant, owned by Saudi Electricity Company in Saudi Arabia. Gibraltar's barriers were acquired for 360 degree anti-ram security with approximately 3200 meters of G-FORCE Brace & Beam and G-FORCE Combination Anti-Ram Fences, as well as multiple G-2000 Electric Wedge Barriers. All barriers selected for the project were crash certified by an independent certified testing laboratory to ASTM F2656-07 M50 P1. Gibraltar also provided the electronic power units (EPUs) and control panels for the active barriers. "Getting these products accepted with Saudi Electricity Company and HCIS was a huge success in getting these products introduced to the Saudi Arabian and Middle East markets. We are excited to provide a product that performs well, is aesthetically pleasing, and saves the customer money," says Jim Castello, President for Gibraltar Material Distribution. Gibraltar has also been awarded a contract to supply their G-1350 Standard Mount Bollards for the Jabal Sayid Mine Project in Saudi Arabia. These bollards are also crash certified by an independent certified testing laboratory to ASTM F2656-07 M50 P1. In Singapore, Gibraltar's G-FORCE M30 Post & Beam Anti-Ram Fence is being utilized to secure a vulnerable section of the Singapore Changi Airport and protect the area from purposeful and errant vehicular ramming. Gibraltar has been successful in bidding the perimeter fence portions of these projects due to new technology they utilize in their fence systems versus traditional cable systems. Gibraltar has developed all steel beam-based anti-ram fence systems to help lower installation costs (both material and time) to the installer and ultimately to the end users. There are only a handful of parts between the G-FORCE family of anti-ram fences and many can be utilized and interchanged on each system. The systems are like an erector's set in that you put the barrier together and connect your components with each beam connecting with a single pin and bolt versus the hardware needed with traditional cable barriers. Once the system is erected you pour your concrete and let cure. The installation labor/time needed to install the G-FORCE systems are estimated at 50-60% less than the traditional cable systems in the market. The other option which makes the G-FORCE series of barriers unique is that there are 12" shallow foundation options certified to ASTM F2656-07 M50 P1. This gives end users with existing utilities in place an option for anti-ram fence in areas where you would previously have to relocate your utilities for crash posts and line posts. Gibraltar offers five different crash certified anti-ram fence systems known as their G-FORCE Series. Also offered are crash certified bollards, wedge barriers, crash gates, portable barriers, and surface mount barriers. For more information on Gibraltar's barrier products, please visit www.gibraltarus.com. SOURCE Gibraltar Related Links http://www.gibraltarus.com DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Chris Nelson, President and CEO of Kemin Industries, a global nutritional ingredient company that uses science to touch 3.8 billion people every day with its products and services, was recently featured by The Wall Street Journal on The Business Debate, a news organization based in London, England. "At Kemin, our goal is to see that by the latter half of the century, the nine or ten billion people we have on the planet will have adequate nutrition," said Dr. Nelson. "The United Nations (UN) has cited up to a third of the food we produce is wasted in some manner. There are a variety of things we can do to ensure our food is safe, high quality and appealing from production." Since 1961, Kemin has been dedicated to improving the quality of life for animals, pets and humans by providing scientifically sound ingredients and solutions to a growing population. Kemin is also an established corporate partner with The World Food Programme in providing research and products to support the organization as it feeds 80 million people around the world in times of crisis each year. "When looking at the future of feeding a growing global population, it is essential to provide adequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life. The UN states that children who do not receive such may have a lower IQ and may be stunted in life. We must ensure we are preparing the next generation with the resources and proper nutrition needed to thrive," said Dr. Nelson. The Business Debate is a partner of The Wall Street Journal. The news organization calls upon business leaders across industry sectors to lead conversations on the future of business and community. Watch the full interview here: www.thebusinessdebate.com/how-to-feed-a-growing-population About Kemin Industries Kemin (www.kemin.com) has been dedicated to using applied science to improve the quality of life for over half a century. As a global company touching 3.8 billion people every day with its products, Kemin is committed to improving the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products to feed a growing population and be a resource for others in need. Committed to feed and food safety, Kemin maintains top-of-the-line manufacturing facilities where over 500 specialty ingredients are made for humans and animals in the global feed and food industries, as well as the health, nutrition and beauty markets. The company provides product solutions and options to customers in more than 120 countries. A privately held, family-owned and operated company, Kemin has more than 2,500 global employees and operates in 90 countries including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and the United States. Media Contact: Lauren M.G. Burt, Worldwide Communications Manager, [email protected], (515) 559-5589 SOURCE Kemin Industries Related Links http://www.kemin.com GREEN BAY, Wis., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Introducing OPTIMA Deck, Where Science Meets Beauty! Green Bay Decking is thrilled to announce the newest and most technologically-advanced deck board in the industry: OPTIMADeck. Set to be unveiled at the annual DeckExpo/Remodeling Show in Nashville this month, OPTIMADeck is the smart choice for today's deck contractors and homeowners looking to combine structural integrity, environmental stability, proven science, and unequalled beauty. Extensive development and testing has merged state-of-the-art capping technology with Green Bay Decking's time-proven, patented compound of Virgin HDPE, rice hulls and BioDac. Available in 3 robust, variegated colors, the densest substrate in the industry also boasts the lowest moisture absorption of any composite or PVC decking material, and the highest stability in extreme freeze/thaw cycles. The proprietary dual-embossed finish of OPTIMADeck offers a realistic depth of grain in a beautiful wood-look finish, and has one of the most slip resistant surfaces in the manufactured decking market. Finally, proven composite-material science and natural beauty are brought together in OPTIMADeck by Green Bay Decking. Designed by deck contractors for deck contractors, and backed by a limited lifetime warranty, OPTIMADeck is the first in the OPTIMAOutdoor Living line of deck-related products. Ask your supplier for product availability today. And watch for soon-to-be-released, integrated OPTIMAOutdoor Living products. Manufacturers of I.Dekk Tongue & Groove, and DuxxBak No Drip Through Decking, Green Bay Decking LLC has been manufacturing science-based composite products since 1999. Using all-American ingredients, and produced in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Green Bay Decking products are available at most retail and contractor-level building supply stores and lumber yards. Visit www.GreenBayDecking.com for more information, or call 877-804-0137. Contact: David Elenbaum, VP of Sales & Marketing, Green Bay Decking 410-202-6756 [email protected] 1518South Broadway Green Bay, WI 54304 SOURCE Green Bay Decking LLC Related Links http://www.greenbaydecking.com SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP alerts investors in Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) to the firm's investigation into potential securities fraud related to the SEC's allegations that the Company and certain former senior executives overstated the value of Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique ("RTCM") by billions of dollars. Because the fraud occurred almost five years ago, investors have limited time to file claims for their overpayment for shares, even if they did not actually experience a monetary loss. If you purchased or otherwise acquired securities, including bonds, of RIO between October 2012 and February 15, 2013 contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP. For more information visit: https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/RioTinto or contact Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling 510-725-3000 or emailing [email protected]. The SEC charged on October 17, 2017 that Rio Tinto, its former Chief Executive Officer (Thomas Albanese), and its former Chief Financial Officer (Guy Robert Elliott), were fully aware the RTCM business was essentially worthless but they nevertheless continued to fraudulently tout its value by billions of dollars. According to the SEC, as early as August 2012 an executive in charge of Rio Tinto's Technology & Innovation ("TI") division informed CFO Elliott that RTCM was worth between negative $4.9 billion to $300 million but Elliott did not inform Rio Tinto's board or its investors during meetings with them in October and November 2012. The SEC alleges that the TI executive brought RTCM's enormous overvaluation directly to the attention of Rio Tinto's board of directors and, on January 15, 2013, the board determined that an 80 percent writedown of RTCM's value to $611 million should be recorded. The Company reported this write down in its financial statements filed with the SEC on February 15, 2013. Both CEO Albanese and Elliott departed from their positions shortly after the board's decision. Rio Tinto ultimately sold RTCM for a mere $50 million after recording an additional $470 million RTCM writedown. "We're focused on the matters identified by the SEC, Defendants' apparent knowledge of fraudulent accounting for RTCM, and investors', including bond investors', damages," said Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein. "We hope it's not too late to salvage some of the investor claims." Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Rio Tinto 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 WAYNE, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Friday is only a little more than a month away, but the deals are starting even sooner. Loyal Toys"R"Us shoppers can expect to find copies of this year's highly-anticipated holiday catalog, The Ultimate Guide to Play in homes beginning Thursday, October 19 and in newspapers on Sunday, October 29. With 41 percent of customers starting their shopping in October*, Toys"R"Us is kicking off hot deals beginning Thursday, October 26 running through Saturday, November 18, including on items from the company's Holiday Hot Toy List that are topping kids' wish lists, such as FurReal Roarin' Ivory the Playful Tiger ($15 savings), Doc McStuffins Baby All-in-One Nursery ($20 savings), and Imaginext DC Super Friends Batbot Xtreme ($15 savings)**. Parents have relied on this go-to gift-guide for decades as a source of inspiration and fun and this year, we've added a number of new elements to cement our position as champions of play for kids everywhere. Parents Night Out: Toys"R"Us is giving parents the opportunity to shop sans kids during special Parents Night Out Events on Sunday, November 12 and Thursday, November 30 from 8-10pm local time *** . During these grown-up events, gift-buyers will have access to a designated shopping expert, hot toy demonstrations, games for the big kids at heart (hot chocolate bar, raffles and more), and sweepstakes. Toys"R"Us is giving parents the opportunity to shop sans kids during special Parents Night Out Events on and from local time . During these grown-up events, gift-buyers will have access to a designated shopping expert, hot toy demonstrations, games for the big kids at heart (hot chocolate bar, raffles and more), and sweepstakes. Play Lab: Need a play break? On Sunday, November 1 , 42 Toys"R"Us locations across the country will update their stores to add Play Labs a space where families can test out the hottest toys of the season (while gift-givers shop for them). To find a Play Lab near you, visit https://www.toysrus.com/playlab. Need a play break? On , 42 Toys"R"Us locations across the country will update their stores to add Play Labs a space where families can test out the hottest toys of the season (while gift-givers shop for them). To find a Play Lab near you, visit https://www.toysrus.com/playlab. Play Chaser: The company's new AR app, Play Chaser, is bringing stores virtually to life through an interactive gaming experience, and now it is helping kids quickly and easily assemble an interactive list of their favorite toys from The Ultimate Guide to Play catalog. To download Play Chaser visit, https://www.toysrus.com/playchaser. Toys"R"Us wants holiday shoppers to take advantage of services that are offered throughout the year, including: Price Match : There's no need for shoppers to visit multiple retailers to get the best deal. If customers find a hot toy (or any toy) advertised at a lower price at another store, Toys"R"Us will honor its Price Match Guarantee. New this holiday season, for every customer that takes advantage of our Price Match Promise now through Sunday, December 24 , Toys"R"Us will donate $1 to the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation (up to $1 million ). To learn more about Toys "R"Us' Price Match Promise visit https://www.toysrus.com/pricematch : There's no need for shoppers to visit multiple retailers to get the best deal. If customers find a hot toy (or any toy) advertised at a lower price at another store, Toys"R"Us will honor its Price Match Guarantee. New this holiday season, for every customer that takes advantage of our Price Match Promise now through , Toys"R"Us will donate to the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation (up to ). To learn more about Toys "R"Us' Price Match Promise visit https://www.toysrus.com/pricematch Layaway and Then Some: Toys"R"Us will once again offer free layaway services this holiday season, waiving the usual fee. Plus, beginning Sunday, November 5 , through Saturday, December 9 , Toys"R"Us will pay off one individual's layaway order per day (up to $200 )****. For more information about Toys"R"Us' Layaway, visit https://www.toysrus.com/layaway. For more on this year's Ultimate Guide to Play or holiday services available at Toys"R"Us, visit the company's corporate blog, No Assembly Required. * National Retail Federation, Retailers to Prepare for Post-Election Holiday Shopping ** While supplies last, no rainchecks. *** Toys"R"Us stores in the U.S. will open at 8:00pm local time on Sunday, November 12, except for stores in Paramus, NJ, and Dedham, MA, which may have varying event dates due to local ordinances (Toys"R"Us Express and Toys"R"Us Outlet locations are excluded from this event, apart from Toys"R"Us Times Square). **** Winners will be chosen at the end of every week and will be given a $200 gift card to Toys"R"Us stores. About Toys"R"Us, Inc. Toys"R"Us, Inc. is the world's leading dedicated toy and baby products retailer, offering a differentiated shopping experience through its family of brands. Merchandise is sold in 885 Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, and in more than 810 international stores and over 255 licensed stores in 38 countries and jurisdictions. With its strong portfolio of e-commerce sites including Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com, the company provides shoppers with a broad online selection of distinctive toy and baby products. Toys"R"Us, Inc. is headquartered in Wayne, NJ, and has nearly 65,000 employees worldwide. The company is committed to serving its communities as a caring and reputable neighbor through programs dedicated to keeping kids safe and helping them in times of need. Over the past three decades, the Company has given more than $100 million in product donations to children's charities. Since 1992, the Toys"R"Us Children's Fund, a public charity affiliated with Toys"R"Us, Inc., has also donated more than $130 million in grants. For more information, visit Toysrusinc.com or follow @ToysRUsNews on Twitter. SOURCE Toys"R"Us, Inc. Related Links http://www.toysrus.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, WorldTEK Events announces that Heidi King, Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will deliver a keynote address on November 1, 2017 at Mobility Unmanned: Air, Land, and Sea. The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., November 1-2. NHTSA, in September, unveiled new federal guidance for Automated Driving Systems (ADS): A Vision for Safety 2.0. The Guidance provides a framework for the continued development and deployment of automated driving technology in the United States. Mobility Unmanned coincides with a number of federal, state, and local initiatives to address the rapidly evolving legal and regulatory issues raised by the proliferation of highly-automated and unmanned technology. Through a number of targeted keynotes and panel discussions, Mobility Unmanned aims to facilitate important cross-cutting dialogue between key policymakers and industry stakeholders, including the best and brightest minds in the highly-automated and unmanned vehicle space. A high-powered speaker lineup will feature key administration and agency officials, members of Congress, and notable industry leaders. Joint government-industry keynotes and panels will address issues common to all modes of transportation including: legislative landscape, latest technology, privacy, preemption, liability and insurance, security, public perception and countermeasures. For more information and to register for Mobility Unmanned, please visit www.mobilityunmanned.com. Sponsorship Sales Melissa Larsen Director, Sponsorship & Exhibitions [email protected] + (1) 516.945.5812 Press Inquiries Susan Vollono Director, Digital Marketing [email protected] Photo(s): https://www.prlog.org/12671613 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE WorldTEK Events Born Helen J. Van Wesep on Feb. 24, 1927, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mrs. DeVos graduated from Frankfort High School in Frankfort, Michigan, and earned a degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids. She married Rich DeVos on Feb. 7, 1953. Mrs. DeVos volunteered her time and leadership to a number of causes and with her husband, Rich, donated generously through the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation. They always said they were motivated to give because of their Christian faith and their responsibility as stewards of the financial resources God had given to them. They supported scores of Christian churches and ministries along with health organizations, educational institutions and civic projects. The Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids is named in recognition of her lifelong advocacy for the health and wellness of families. The hospital provides an impressive depth and breadth of children's health care and is one of the nation's premier centers of its kind. Mrs. DeVos had a strong passion in K-12 Christian education in America. She and her husband supported Grand Rapids Christian schools, including the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Arts and Worship at Grand Rapids Christian High School, as well as Rehoboth and Zuni Christian Schools in New Mexico that have been providing opportunities for Native American children for over 100 years. They also were generous supporters to higher education institutions including The King's College, DeVos Communications Center at Calvin College, Grand Valley State University, Northwood University, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Hope College, as well as the Helen DeVos College of Education at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. In addition, Mrs. DeVos was a champion of the arts and known for her support of the Grand Rapids Symphony. She was a board member and officer from 1971 to 1990, when she was appointed as an honorary member. She and her husband also were the founding sponsors of the DeVos Quartet, and they provided the funding to help the Grand Rapids Symphony make its first commercial recording of works commissioned by the symphony. Mrs. DeVos also was the founding sponsor of the Artist-In-Residence program. In 1991 and again in 2007, she was honored with BRAVO! Lifetime Achievement Awards for her many years of support of the Grand Rapids Symphony. Mrs. DeVos also was a board member and life member of St. Cecilia Music Society in Grand Rapids. She and her husband were recipients of the Grand Rapids Arts Council Award. In addition, Mrs. DeVos was a board member of the League of American Orchestras in New York City; vice chairman of its executive board; chairman of the nominating committee; and recipient of a special honor in 2007. Mrs. DeVos was a member of LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, where she served as president of the Service Guild and member of the Youth Education and Children's Worship committees. She was a former member of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Awards and Achievements Mrs. DeVos was presented with many awards, including The Philanthropy Roundtable William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership and the Clare Boothe Luce Award from the Heritage Foundation. Other awards include the League of American Orchestras' Gold Baton Award, Intercollegiate Studies Institute Trustees' Award for Distinguished Service and Charles H. Hoeflich Lifetime Achievement Award, Palm Beach Atlantic University Women of Distinction Award, American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians Award, Salvation Army William Booth Award, Gerald R. Ford Boy Scouts Council Distinguished Citizens Award and Northwood University Distinguished Women's Award. She also holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from The Kings College, an honorary Doctor of Arts from Grand Valley State University and an honorary Doctor in Humanities from Northern Michigan University. Family Mrs. DeVos is survived by her husband, Rich, children and spouses Dick and Betsy, Dan and Pamella, Cheri, and Doug and Maria; grandchildren and their spouses Rick and Melissa, Elissa and Nate, Andrea and Michael, Ryan, Cassandra and Heath, Sydney and Andrew, Cole, Hannah, Katie, Ben, Jessa, Addie, Dalton, Micaela and Jordan, Monreau and Olivia; and great-grandchildren Clara, Sloane, Remington, Richard, Wilhelmina, and Taggart. Memorials In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to Calvin College Van Wesep Scholarship Fund, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church or The King's College. Arrangements are pending and will be posted on www.HelenDeVos.com as soon as they are available. Family Statement Announcing Passing of Helen DeVos We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Helen DeVos, passed away on October 18, 2017 at the age of 90. While we grieve her passing, we rejoice in her new life in heaven and are grateful for the countless ways she blessed our lives. We are comforted in knowing that she was welcomed home into the loving arms of Jesus. We will never forget her unfailing love, strength and devotion that were truly the heart of our family. Rich, Dick, Dan, Cheri, Doug and families SOURCE DeVos Family PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HKA, a global advisory, expert and claims consulting company, announced today that three executives have joined the firm. Vincent Manuele, Esq. has joined the HKA Advisory Group as Principal. Manuele is an engineer and licensed attorney with more than 35 years of experience providing advisory and management consulting services to the engineering and construction industry. He has served as an arbitrator of complex construction disputes, and has project experience in North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Europe. Prior to joining HKA, he was Director, Capital Projects and Infrastructure, with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Manuele earned his J.D. from the College of William and Mary, and his B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University. C. Scott Wilson has joined the HKA Advisory Group as Principal. Scott has 28 years of consulting experience, providing strategy, operations, infrastructure development, asset management, market, policy, and business advisory to energy corporations, utilities, and technology companies. He has been a Principal (Partner) with Exponent, a Partner with ScottMadden, and an executive with WorleyParsons. He earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Military Institute and his MBA from the University of North Carolina. He is an Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) board-certified measurement and verification professional (CMVP) and energy audit professional (CEA). Jason C. Kinslow has joined the HKA Advisory Group as Principal. Kinslow has more than 20 years of experience leading companies in performance improvement and strategic initiatives. He has domestic and international experience working in the United States, Canada, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. He managed over 80 energy projects ranging from small engagements to large, multi-year global assignments. Prior to joining HKA, he led IBM's North American Energy and Utilities AMI Group. He received his B.S. in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "Vince, Scott and Jason bring in-depth experience in their areas of expertise. They will be a tremendous resource to our clients and to our team," said Frank J. Giunta, President of HKA Americas. HKA is a global advisory, claims consulting and expert witness practice with 1,000 professionals operating in 45 worldwide office locations. HKA's Global Advisory Group provides risk management, asset management, infrastructure investment, management, and operations advisory in the energy and technology sectors. For more information visit www.hka.com. John P. Paolin HKA (215) 309-7786 [email protected] SOURCE HKA Global Related Links http://www.hka.com NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The following feature package is a roundup of feature stories dealing with Holiday, Halloween and is appropriate for special sections and for general use. For each story included in this package, you will find the first paragraph of the feature release below, as well as its headline linked to the full text. This is the latest in a series of topical feature packages PRN will carry as part of its regular Feature News Service. Coming up in 2017 are features on: Package Name Slug Distribution Date Pets (II) Pets Oct. 26 Holiday, General Holiday Nov. 2 Health & Wellness (II) Health Nov. 9 Holiday, Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Nov. 14 Volunteerism & Philanthropy (Charity & Giving) Volunteerism Nov. 30 Holiday, Halloween Feature Package 1. Exclusive launch: Black Twine Halloween Parties NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Twine, a party planning platform for the modern host, announced today the launch of Halloween blueprints, a game-changer in how hosts and hostesses will plan Halloween gatherings. 2. The Psychology of The Scare: The Nation's Top Five Scariest Haunted Houses Know How To Get Into Your Head KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- America Haunts, Halloween's leading industry organization, unleashes frightening information: The Five Scariest Houses in the Nation emerge from the darkness. If you would like a copy of the complete schedule, or if you would care to comment, please email [email protected]. We welcome suggestions. Copies of previous packages are available for the media. Feature packages and feature photos are also available on the PR Newswire Web site, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/feature-news-latest-news. Photos that accompany releases are available via the PRN Multimedia Desk, 800-317-7677, or via the PR Newswire Photo Archive. Select photos are available via AP PhotoExpress and AP Images. SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC Related Links http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/feature-news-latest-news/ TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This Friday, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez will meet with Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren in the border post of El Amatillo to discuss adding El Salvador to the customs union between Honduras and Guatemala. "A strong economic relationship between Honduras and El Salvador benefits both our nations," President Hernandez said. "I look forward to a productive discussion with President Sanchez Ceren." Adding El Salvador to the union would make transporting goods easier for all three countries. Honduras and Guatemala agreed to form their customs union in 2015 and formally launched it this past June. The agreement under consideration by Honduras and El Salvador would allow 80 percent of exports and travelers to cross the nations' borders free of charge. It would also build ten cross-border access points. The Honduras-Guatemala customs union is expected to increase GDP growth in the two nations by 1.2 percent, President Hernandez noted. He invited El Salvador and Nicaragua to join the agreement in July. "This meeting is a great opportunity for Honduras to foster greater economic cooperation in Central America," President Hernandez said. "Our ultimate goal is to promote economic development across the region -- and bring prosperity to our citizens." Media Contact: Andrew Grafton [email protected] 202-471-4228 ext. 119 SOURCE Republic of Honduras "HouseCanary's latest HCRI Index results show that the recalibration of home prices to historic norms is continuing to put overall downward pressure on effective gross yields for the single family rental sector," noted Alex Villacorta, PhD., HouseCanary's Executive Vice President of Analytics. "In particular, the accelerated growth in the Western and Northeast regions over the past few years has seen the strongest effect of compressing yields as the cost to acquire continues to increase. "Of the top 50 metros, only 3 metros have shown positive growth in yields over the last quarter, suggesting that nationwide, the growth of rents is slowing relative to that of home prices," Villacorta added. "Though the most abundant double-digit opportunities reside in the Southern region of the country, there are still several localized pockets of high-yield opportunities in most markets throughout the country." There remains a stark difference between the statewide average yields in the Midwest and South, where EGY ranges from 8.3 percent to as high as 12.7 percent, and the West and New England, in which no state surpasses 7.0 percent. There also remains heavy variation within individual states. While the average EGY in the state of New York is a mere 6.7 percent, Rochester, New York, remains the highest-yielding individual city in the nation at 13.9 percent EGY. It is worth noting that while Rochester maintained the top EGY in the nation, it dropped 3.3 percentage points since last quarter, indicating that there may be a softening at the top of the market. EGYs for all 381 U.S. metropolitan areas, as well as for ZIP codes and blocks within the MSAs, can be accessed on HouseCanary's website at https://www.housecanary.com/rental-investment-index. HouseCanary's vast granular dataset of rent and home values enables the company to compute EGY at the national, state, and ZIP code level, and for 3 million census blocks across the country. The HouseCanary Rental Investment Index helps investors avoid the challenges traditionally presented by fractured information in the single-family rental sector. By providing the market with a uniform, centralized index of rental yields, HouseCanary is making it easier than ever for investors to amass large-scale SFR profiles remotely and with confidence. The HCRI Index measures Effective Gross Yield for the industry, computed as the current fair market annualized rent minus estimated property tax, divided by the current fair market home value. Effective Gross Yield is an important profitability metric for single-family rental home lenders and investors, who have historically only been able to calculate gross yields for individual properties or for their own portfolio of properties. Click here to see the full report, along with more granular insights on state and MSA levels. Methodology HouseCanary's data analytics group has indexed, normalized, and analyzed 40 years of U.S. residential property data, spanning over 1 billion transactions and 100s of macroeconomic and local data points, to derive an accurate view of current home values and rental values nationally. The single-family, non-owner-occupied portion of these home and rental values is used to derive the Effective Gross Yield discussed in this document. Effective Gross Yield is defined as the current fair market annualized rent minus estimated property tax, divided by the current fair market home value. Effective Gross Yield can be computed for individual homes, U.S. census blocks, zip codes, states, and the national level. Homeowner association (HOA) fees and insurance costs are not included, as investors are able to add those costs at an individual portfolio level. About HouseCanary: Founded in 2014, HouseCanary's mission is to help people make better real estate decisions. Built on a foundation of great data, powerful models, and predictive analytics, the HouseCanary platform aggregates millions of data elements, including more than four decades of property data and a rapidly expanding arsenal of proprietary calculations and analytics, to accurately define and forecast values and market influences. HouseCanary is financed by notable investors including Hillspire (Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's family office), PSP Growth/PSP Capital (firm founded by entrepreneur and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker), Alpha Edison, ECA Ventures, Raven Ventures and others top Silicon Valley investors. The company is headquartered in San Francisco. Learn more: www.housecanary.com. Contact Please contact us with any questions or comments at [email protected] or 855.218.9597. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/housecanary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/3615103/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HouseCanary SOURCE HouseCanary Related Links http://housecanary.com And, according to Eric Lescourret, the Director of Strategic Marketing at AGCO Corporation, that dearth of rural bandwidth is the bottleneck that's standing between American farmers and the next great breakthrough in agricultural productivity. "That's the dilemma, that our farmers out there are collecting more data for every seed they plant than they can process," Lescourret says. "All of them are located in rural areas, and the broadband infrastructure is not keeping up." Lescourret illustrated the true magnitude of the problem at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers' (AEM) Tomorrow's Topics Today booth during the International Construction & Utility Equipment Exposition (ICUEE) earlier this month. Even with the limited adoption of Smart Farm technology that is already underway, he says that American farmers are capturing one kilobyte of data per year for every seed that is planted. That may not seem like much at first. But when you consider that a typical corn field has about 32,000 plants, that means that every corn field is producing about 32 megabytes of data annuallyor about as much bandwidth as it will take you to stream the first four singles off Taylor Swift's new album. But with 450 million acres of corn in the United States, that means that farmers are already producing 14.4 million gigabytes of data related to their corn crops annuallynearly 10 times as much bandwidth as has been used to stream Taylor Swift's latest single 205 million times this year on Spotify. On, perhaps, a more comprehensible scale, that much bandwidth would allow you to download the entire Library of Congress more than 50 timesjust in the data captured from one year's U.S. corn crop. And Lescourret says those numbers are only going to grow as companies introduce new and more powerful Smart Farm technologies, like a new combine from AGCO that features more than 60 sensors which capture data in every second of operation. "In managing the amount of data we have to get through from our sensors, all the way to a hub, back to an agronomist, and back and forth to our machine, it takes a lot of infrastructure to do that," Lescourret says. Nationwide, cities that feature reliable, high-volume broadband service have proven themselves a draw for corporations seeking sites for new, advanced manufacturing facilities. But even as many farms increasingly resemble manufacturing operations, Lescourret says their decentralized, rural nature and the resulting poor access to broadband jeopardize the productivity gains they stand to reap. According to a 2016 report by the Federal Communications Commission, 39 percent of rural Americans lacked access to high speed broadband internet access (25 Mbps/3 Mbps), compared to just four percent of Americans in urban areas. "There are a lot of areas that are very slow," Lescourret says of AGCO's use of Smart Farm technologies in rural areas. "We still have to rely on USB sticks to transfer data, and the reason is we don't have cellular data coverage. If we don't have it, we can't transfer the data accurately." And in a business like farming where hours and minutes can be the difference between success and failure, Lescourrett says having to hand deliver data from the farm site to agronomy experts could do more than endanger the source of America's food cropsit risks the nation's strategic geopolitical standing with its trade partners and competitors. "The Chinese, right now they need to import from us," Lescourret says. "But it's only a matter of time until they can grow their own crops and they become as productive as we are. So to me, (broadband infrastructure) is no less important than the defense industry, and it's something we need to invest in." "Who's going to invest the money, that's the question. And farmers will tell you they have no money to give right now. They can barely break even, so where are we going to find the funding?" Ultimately, Lescourret sees growing pressure from utility groups, manufacturers and the agriculture community to leverage a federal investment in rural broadband. But until that happens, he says American farmers will be hamstrung in efforts to make productivity gains through the use of new and emerging technologies and meet the demands of a growing society. "Every cent per acre that you can save, that you can reduce in input or increase in yield, you have to do it with this technology," Lescourret says. "But you have to have the broadband infrastructure." SOURCE Association of Equipment Manufacturers Related Links https://www.aem.org/ BERLIN, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HubSpot, a leading CRM, marketing, sales, and customer experience platform, released today findings from a new survey that positions Berlin as the fastest-growing tech city in Europe, with the vast majority of respondents identifying the city as a burgeoning hub for startups and tech companies. HubSpot also celebrated today the launch of its new Berlin office and EU data center, further solidifying its commitment to supporting the booming DACH market. According to a recent report from Ernst & Young GmbH, both the number of funding rounds for startups in Germany and the overall value of those rounds hit record levels in the first six months of 2017. That tracks with what we've found in HubSpot research as well. We recently commissioned a survey of consumers living and/or working in the Berlin metro area, and found that the tech scene there is evolving quickly 95 percent of Berliners see the number of technology jobs in the city growing, and 90 percent say Berlin also offers access to the technology and digital talent needed to grow a tech company. With Berlin offering the highest post-grad monthly salary for the European tech sector (3,112 euros per month, on average), it's no surprise that the city has become a hub for fast-growing tech companies. And as of today, HubSpot is the latest to call the city home. "Opening an office in Berlin is a smart choice from the wealth of local talent to its growing digital infrastructure, the city offers a great opportunities for us to continue HubSpot's growth across Europe," said JD Sherman, President and COO of HubSpot. "We're excited to welcome Berlin to the HubSpot family, and can't wait to see what the team is able to achieve there." HubSpot celebrates the Berlin office opening today with an event that honors the employees, partners, and customers who have contributed to the company's growth in the region. The office is HubSpot's second location in Europe, joining the company's EMEA HQ in Dublin. The company has also committed to creating 75 new jobs over the next three years to meet the rising demand for HubSpot's software solutions in, and the rapid growth of, the DACH market. Christian Rickerts, State Secretary of the Senate Department for Economy, Energy and Businesses in Berlin, also emphasized the importance of the digital economy for the German capital: "The digitalization is increasingly changing our communication, our work environment and our everyday life. We are are therefore very pleased to welcome HubSpot with its solutions for the development and realization of digitalization strategies in Berlin." HubSpot also announced that the company will be opening a Germany-based data center in Q1 2018. The company will rely on a facility in Frankfurt to store customer data according to EU legislation. The new data center will provide redundancy as well as outage and data protection for HubSpot customers. About HubSpot HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS) is a leading CRM, marketing, sales, and customer experience platform. Since 2006, HubSpot has been on a mission to make the world more inbound. Today, over 34,000 customers in more than 90 countries use HubSpot's award-winning software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. The HubSpot Growth Stack, built on a powerful, free CRM and comprised of the Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and soon to be released Customer Hub, gives companies all the tools they need to manage the entire customer experience from awareness to advocacy. HubSpot has been named a top place to work by Glassdoor, Fortune, The Boston Globe, and The Boston Business Journal. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with offices in Dublin, Ireland (EMEA HQ); Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Berlin, Germany; and Portsmouth, NH. SOURCE HubSpot Related Links https://www.hubspot.com SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Huntkey has released a new product called The USB-C Adapter. Below are the main features and characteristics of the product and also a comparison to some of its competitors. USB-C, also known as USB Type-C, is the new standard port for both charging and data transferring on electronic devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets. It enables significantly faster charging and data transferring. Owing to its superior performance to its predecessors, USB-C is slowly replacing previous USB types, including USB-A, USB-B and USB Mini-B ports that have been prevalent over the past several decades. Huntkey USB-C Notebook Adapter Presented at GSE: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Huntkey-USB-C-laptop-adapter.jpg At present, not every device has this powerful port yet, but as many of the world's most recognized manufacturers are supporting this new technology, it is likely that more and more devices will employ it. Consequently, many USB-C accessories will come out in the mean time to meet the charging and data transferring demands, such as USB-C notebook adapters, USB-C chargers and USB-C cables. There are a few notebooks which have employed USB-C ports, including Apple MacBook, Dell XPS 13 and Asus ZenBook 3 Deluxe. According to the USB-C notebook users, it is a much better experience than ever before when using a USB-C adapter for notebook charging. Faster and more stable power delivery make USB-C adapter the best choice for notebooks. Take The Huntkey 60W USB-C adapter for example, which was presented at Global Sources Electronics (GSE). Not only does it deliver SuperSpeed charging, it is universal for charging for multiple devices. Huntkey 60W USB-C Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/USB-Type-C-adapter.jpg SuperSpeed Charging with USB Power Delivery Technology USB Power Delivery, or USB PD, is a charging technology and protocol used in the field of power delivery. The theoretical statistics shows that USB PD can charge devices up to 70% faster than traditional standard 5W charging, and provide more power to charge tablets and laptops quickly. Applied with this powerful charging technology, the USB-C notebook adapter is undoubtedly competitive among all kinds of adapters. USB-C Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-type-c-adapters.jpg Universally Compatible with Different Kinds of Devices USB-C connector is small enough for a smart phone but powerful enough for a laptop, which means it can be used to charge a wide range of electronic devices, such as smart phones, power banks, tablets, laptops, monitors and drones. Thanks to this impressive performance, it gives manufacturers the flexibility in designing devices that are thinner and lighter, while also improving usability by reducing the number of cables connected to multiple devices. USB-C Notebook Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-typec-adapter.jpg Reversible Connector for Convenient Access Different from all the previous USB types, USB-C connector features a new and standardized small reversible-plug that can be plugged in either way for easy access to the electronic devices, meaning the users no longer have to get the plug the right way round. This "reversible" design is the main feature of USB-C connector, which kills off the most irritating problem of connection and hence less inconveniences. USB Type-C Laptop Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-c-adapter.jpg About Huntkey Huntkey Group, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Shenzhen, is a member of The International Power Supply Manufacturer's Association (PSMA) and a member of The China Power Supply Society (CPSS). With branch companies in the USA, Japan and other areas, and cooperating factories in Brazil, Argentina, India and other countries, Huntkey has specialized in the development, design, and manufacturing of PC power supplies, industrial power supplies, surge protectors, adapters and chargers for many years. With its own technologies and manufacturing strength, Huntkey has served Lenovo, Huawei, Haier, DELL, ZTE, Bestbuy and many other large enterprises for years, and has received unanimous recognition and trust from many customers. For more information about Huntkey, please visit http://en.huntkey.com/ Media contact: Homer Phone: +86-755-89606545/ +86-13763373238 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Huntkey Related Links http://http://en.huntkey.com/ LONDON, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Data from LNG Edge, which is part of the ICIS LNG Market Intelligence Solution, shows that global LNG supply increased 10% in the third quarter of 2017 from the previous year. Chinese demand increases helped absorb new supply. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353056LOGO ) New liquefaction projects coming onstream in Australia and the US drove the year-on-year increase in global LNG supplies in the third quarter of 2017, permitting increases in demand in most import regions around the world, according to the new quarterly Trade Flow Report released on Thursday, 19 October, by LNG Edge. The report shows that East Asia's imports for Q3 2017 were up 13% from the third quarter of the previous year, driven in particular by higher consumption in China and South Korea. Imports to the world's single biggest LNG importer, Japan, slipped back slightly on the year. Europe also had an annual increase in deliveries, rising by 19%, particularly to the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Portugal and Italy, where Atlantic basin and Middle Eastern producers may have found a convenient home for spare cargoes. Spot LNG prices trended higher across the quarter, with the ICIS East Asia Index rising from $5.50/MMBtu at the start of the quarter to $8.70/MMBtu by its end. Prices increased sharply, particularly in east Asia, in late September, when disrupted loadings at the US Sabine Pass facility after Hurricane Harvey led producers to buy cargoes to cover short positions in the Pacific. "Spot prices have shown strong gains in the approach to winter," said LNG market analyst Alex Froley. "The market will now be watching to see the impact of new projects due onstream in the next few months in Australia, Russia and the US." Australia's Wheatstone, Russia's Yamal LNG and the US Cove Point project are all due to load their first cargoes this winter. Download the report now https://www.icis.com/contact/q3-lng-supply-rises-10-on-us-australian-projects/ Find out more about LNG Edge, which is part of the ICIS LNG Market Intelligence solution: https://www.icis.com/energy/liquefied-natural-gas/lng-market-intelligence-solution/ About ICIS ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider, with divisions spanning energy and fertilizers. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering valuable information and analytics tools which enable our customers to identify and react to opportunities in markets which are constantly evolving. We have more than 30 years' experience of providing pricing intelligence and news, forecast data, market analytics and independent consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts. With a global staff of more than 600, ICIS has employees based in London, Houston, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Mumbai, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, and Milan. ICIS's team of journalists is engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. About Reed Business Information Reed Business Information provides information, analytics and data to business professionals worldwide. Our strong global products and services hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional customers across industries. http://www.reedbusiness.com About RELX Group RELX Group is a worldleading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 33.7bn|37.7bn|$44.3bn. www.relx.com Media contacts Ed Cox Editor - Global LNG [email protected] +44-207-911-1772 SOURCE ICIS BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As fear and confusion escalate within immigrant communities and among "Dreamers," Eastern Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to helping immigrants succeed. Today, the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation announced it has granted more than $1.5 million to 170 nonprofit organizations supporting immigrants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, including 150 $10,000 grants through its Targeted Grant program. Eastern's Targeted Grants annually focus on an area of great need this year's focus is supporting immigrants in our communities. The Targeted Grant program is just one example of Eastern's longstanding commitment to helping immigrants prosper. In September, Eastern joined The Boston Foundation, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Arbella Insurance to provide financial assistance to local beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This summer, Eastern CEO Bob Rivers joined entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the country to encourage President Trump to preserve the DACA program and called on Congress to pass legislation that provides "Dreamers" the permanent solution they deserve. "At Eastern Bank, we focus on doing good things to help people prosper. This includes supporting the more than 1.2 million foreign-born residents in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island," said Bob Rivers, Eastern Bank Chairman & CEO. "We believe this $1.5 million commitment will help better the lives of New England's thriving immigrant community, and are proud to stand beside them in today's climate of uncertainty." The Targeted Grants program is a tangible manifestation of Eastern's commitment to local communities and serves as a strong and authentic connection with its recently launched brand campaign, Join Us For Good. The campaign includes an immigration-focused ad that depicts local immigrants taking the "Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America" to become U.S. citizens accompanied by the message, "Good Welcomes." This year's selected nonprofit organizations work to address a variety of issues facing immigrants, including: assistance for those seeking asylum, separated families, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), adult basic education and workforce development. Others assist specific subsets of immigrant communities, including LGBTQ, women, and those serving in the U.S. military. Eastern has a deep understanding of the issues facing immigrants as a large number of its employees are immigrants, or children/grandchildren of immigrants. All recipients will be recognized and celebrated at Eastern's annual Celebration of Social Justice on Monday, October 23, 2017 at an evening reception in Boston. Eastern is proud to continue the Celebration of Social Justice event originally created by Wainwright Bank. As part of the celebration, the Wainwright Social Justice Award annually recognizes nonprofits and individuals who have achieved outstanding success in addressing social justice issues. This year, Chau-ming Lee will be recognized posthumously as the 2017 Wainwright Social Justice Award winner for his dedication in serving the immigrant community through his leadership at the Asian American Civic Association. Recipients of this year's Targeted Grants include: Asian-American Civic Association, an organization supporting Asian immigrants and refugees, which will use the Targeted Grant for workforce development programs for Asian immigrants and their families. Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua, a southern New Hampshire organization, which will use the Targeted Grant to expand its successful Hispanic Outreach Program and connect with local immigrant youth. organization, which will use the Targeted Grant to expand its successful Hispanic Outreach Program and connect with local immigrant youth. HarborCOV, a Chelsea -based organization that provides free safety and support services for people affected by violence and abuse. The Targeted Grant will help fund legal advocacy for immigrant survivors of domestic violence. -based organization that provides free safety and support services for people affected by violence and abuse. The Targeted Grant will help fund legal advocacy for immigrant survivors of domestic violence. MIRA, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, will use the Targeted Grant to support immigrant and refugee entrepreneurship and citizenship. Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, an organization that provides free legal services to asylum-seekers and promotes the rights of detained immigrants. Project Citizenship, a nonprofit agency that works collaboratively with community-based partners to help eligible, legal permanent residents overcome barriers to becoming U.S. citizens, including assistance with citizenship applications. In addition to the $10,000 grant, Eastern employees have donated their time to volunteering at the Boston -based organization. In 2017, the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation will donate $7 million to 1,600+ nonprofits throughout eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island as part of Eastern's commitment to donate 10 percent of its net income to charity each year. To learn more about the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation and to see a complete list of 2017 Targeted Grant recipients, click here. About Eastern Bank Founded in 1818 and based in Boston, Eastern Bank is America's oldest and largest mutual bank, with $10 billion in assets and over 120 locations serving communities in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Eastern provides exceptional access to fairly priced banking, investment and insurance products and services for consumers and businesses of all sizes. Eastern Bank, which includes Eastern Wealth Management and Eastern Insurance, is known for its outspoken advocacy and community support that has topped more than $100 million in charitable giving over the past 20 years. An inclusive company, Eastern employs 1,900 deeply committed professionals who value relationships with their customers, colleagues and communities. Join us for good at www.easternbank.com. SOURCE Eastern Bank "We've received overwhelming support for our fundraising efforts, and we cannot extend enough gratitude to the corporate, private and in-kind donors who supported Visiones this year," said Myrna Garcia, Assistant Vice President, Strategic Account Manager and Business Development. "Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we raised funding for INROADS important mission and provided Latino/Hispanic students with college scholarships through Visiones 100," said Garcia. Now in its second installment, Visiones 100, INROADS Latino/Hispanic Leadership Scholarship program, has created a critical component of INROADS Latino/Hispanic Initiatives. The scholarship awarded during National Hispanic Heritage Month was awarded to current INROADS Latino/Hispanic interns who have shown leadership and academic excellence with a 3.0 or higher GPA and 3.5 GPA for high school students. This year, students interested in the scholarship participated in an essay contest and the winners are: Katia Uriostegui-Santos, Alejandra Leynez Chantres, Angelique Gonzalez, Daniel Rodriguez Mera, Jhann Heras, Lucero Delgado, Natalia Vanegas, Raul Paz, Stephanie Osorio and Alberto Aponte. "I am very grateful to INROADS for the countless opportunities I've been provided which includes my internship with Ryder System (located in Alpharetta, GA). The level of impact INROADS has on us students is tremendous, and I'm honored to be apart of this organization," said Pablo DeLaO, Georgia State University, graduates 2020. Visiones hosted its first black-tie celebration on September 15, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. The INROADS Hispanic Heritage Month event was dedicated to celebrating Latino/Hispanic art, culture and music, and Visiones 100 winners were revealed during the event. "INROADS is in the business of creating talented leadership and developing that leadership for Corporate America. Because of who we serve, we are also in the business of diversifying the workforce with 21st century leaders," said Forest Harper, Jr., president and CEO, INROADS, Inc. "The opportunities we provide to diverse and underserved students can only be made possible with the generosity of those who also believe in the importance of corporate diversity and its impact on serving in the workforce and the community," said Harper. "At FedEx, we are proud to work with INROADS to welcome a strong and capable class of interns every year. These students are ready to lead and add true value to our organization," said Larry Jemison, Sales Executive, FedEx Services. The 2017 Visiones sponsors included FedEx, Travelers, Kaiser Permanente, The Home Depot, Georgia Power, BAE Systems, UPS, EMG, Emory Goizueta Business School, Display America, Cruz and Associates, and Macy's. Visit INROADS.org to find out more about INROADS, its programs and how you can become connected to the nonprofit. About INROADS Founded in 1970, INROADS develops and places talented underserved youth in business and industry, preparing them for corporate and community leadership that affects community renewal and social change and elevates economic status and quality of life. INROADS has placed students in over 135,000 paid internships throughout its history, and graduated over 28,000 alumni into fulltime professional and leadership positions with over 1,000 corporate partners. Currently, INROADS serves nearly 1,300 interns and 200 corporate clients. Learn more at INROADS.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn: @INROADSInc. SOURCE INROADS Inc. Related Links http://www.inroads.org CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA): Political opportunists in Springfield continue to exploit the Las Vegas mass murder to justify attacks on the rights of millions of law-abiding Illinois hunters and sportsmen. The most notable campaign of hatred against lawful gun owners is being waged by Rep. Marty Moylan (D-DesPlaines). The state's firearm owners recognize Moylan as the chief sponsor of HB4107 a bill that would require the banning and forfeiture of most of the lawfully-owned firearms in the state. In a statement recently released by Moylan's office, the representative verifies that he is targeting the state's lawful gun owners for punishment in the wake of the Las Vegas mass murder. Moylan's latest berating of the state's firearm owners is consistent with his career-long practice of attacking regular folks who dare to own guns. "Moylan accuses the ISRA of stirring up fear and anger to that we plead guilty," commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. "The state's gun owners should be fearful of legislation that would render their firearm investments worthless and cause them to forfeit their lawfully-acquired property. Likewise, gun owners should be very angry that a politician like Moylan would accuse them of complicity figuratively placing the state's hunters and sportsmen in that Las Vegas hotel room, shoulder to shoulder with the murderer as he committed his heinous crimes. Yes, the ISRA expects the state's gun owners to be very fearful, and very, very angry at Moylan for vilifying them in the public eye." "In his statement, Moylan seems to imply that firearm owners have backed away from engagement on the issue of violent crime," continued Pearson. "Of course, that isn't true but, nevertheless, we'd love to see Rep. Moylan engage gun owners to explain why he plans to register them like sex offenders; require them to forfeit their lawfully acquired property; and apply annual taxes on their constitutional right to own firearms. Yes, it would be interesting indeed to see Moylan 'engage' sportsmen face to face as he explains how he plans to brand them as felons." "Like all good Americans, the state's law-abiding firearm owners abhor violent crime," said Pearson. "After all, our friends and families live here too. We understand that the key to stemming violent crime is deterrence and rehabilitation not imposition of bad public policy that criminalizes a sizeable portion of the citizenry. That is why ISRA and the state's gun owners support proactive law enforcement, meaningful sentencing, and effective rehabilitation." "Moylan does a great disservice to victims of violent crime by interjecting his personal dislike for gun owners into the equation," continued Pearson. "Moylan's legislative proposals are divisive and serve only to punish the innocent while giving violent criminals a pass. The state's gun owners are well aware of what Moylan is trying to do to them and are mobilizing on a scale not seen since the campaign to pass concealed carry. Gun owners are watching this issue very intently and will note well which legislators see gun owners as partners, and which legislators see gun owners as enemies." The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners. WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association Related Links http://www.isra.org HARTFORD, Wis., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Each Halloween more than 41 million American children dress up and trick-or-treat, meaning more people ring doorbells on Oct. 31 than any other day of the year. In celebration of J. Ralph Corbett, inventor of the first NuTone brand melodious door chime, and the day of the year that your doorbell will see the most action, this Oct. 31 is the first annual National Doorbell Day. Celebrate by taking part in neighborhood trick-or-treat festivities and connecting with families down the street. The simple act of ringing a doorbell brings neighbors closer. That's especially true if the doorbell offers homeowners the chance to talk to, see and connect with guests at the front door. This Halloween know exactly which little ghosts and goblins are trick-or-treating at the front door before you even open it. The inventors of the first door chime created the brand new NuTone Knock Video Doorbell, which allows homeowners to see and speak to visitors from anywhere in the world in crystal clear HD resolution on their smartphone or tablet. With integrated motion activation and night vision, homeowners will always know when someone is at the door and have peace of mind that their home is safe and secure, no matter where they are. That means checking in on the house while on vacation, or ensuring witches and vampires aren't taking more than one piece from the doorstep candy bucket while you relax at a neighbor's trick-or-treat cider stop down the street. "We designed NuTone Knock because homeowners asked for a multi-function doorbell system that combines the best intercom technology with security," said Jessica Lindquist, Global Category Director, Home Comfort & Convenience, for NuTone. "We created National Doorbell Day to remind homeowners of the connection they feel with neighbors and friends on the busiest doorbell ringing day of the year." The NuTone Knock Video Doorbell offers multiple advanced features that set it apart from existing video doorbells. NuTone Knock is easy to install, thanks to built-in voltage detection and better Wi-Fi signal strength. The strong Wi-Fi connection allows installation at a greater distance from your router while still maintaining a reliable connection, thereby limiting the need for a Wi-Fi range extender. It's durable enough to withstand dust and water, and is tested from -22F to 122F. Offering a clean and simple design, NuTone Knock is designed to look great on any home, fits most door mullions and is offered in a model that can be flush mounted. "NuTone Knock isn't just another video doorbell," Lindquist said. "It's both reliable and user-friendly and allows you to have the comforts and security of home from anywhere in the world." Additional NuTone Knock features include: Two-way audio and HD video from your door to any smartphone or tablet around the world, or from the comfort of your own home Night vision camera allows you to see who is at your door in crystal clear high definition in any low light condition Motion detection technology will alert you of any movements and record video to the cloud for later playback, meaning you will know who is on your property even if they don't ring the doorbell Quiet hours option silences the door chime during nap time, family time or movie night Easy installation: connects easily to existing doorbell power and offers a built-in voltage detector to assist in the installation process Works with your existing doorbell wiring, so a battery that won't work in extreme heat or cold isn't required Weather resistant rating of IP65 180-degree high definition camera lens Cloud recording gives customers automatic recording of up to 15 seconds of video before a button press or motion event and up to 30 seconds after. Subscriptions are available for $3 /month or $30 /year, with the first month free. To learn more about National Doorbell Day and how you can celebrate, click on the National Day Calendar website: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-doorbell-day-october-31/. NuTone Knock is available this fall on Amazon.com, Build.com or from your local NuTone distributor. Visit http://www.nutone.com to learn more. ABOUT BROAN LLC and NuTone BROAN LLC is North America's leading manufacturer and distributor of residential ventilation products including range hoods, ventilation fans, heater/fan/light combination units, balanced ventilation systems (IAQ), built-in heaters, attic ventilators. NuTone, a registered trademark of BROAN LLC, manufactures and distributes residential built-in convenience products including door chimes, central vacuum systems, ceiling fans, intercom systems, ironing centers and ventilation fans. BROAN LLC is proud to be an ENERGY STAR partner. SOURCE Broan-NuTone LLC Related Links http://www.nutone.com NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Time Inc.'s (NYSE: TIME) FOOD & WINE are pleased to announce the inaugural Venice Food & Wine Festival from May 3-6, 2018, hosted by FOOD & WINE Editor in Chief Hunter Lewis. This exclusive three-day weekend will take place at JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa, located on the private island of Isola delle Rose. A short boat ride from Venice's historic St. Mark's Square, the event will feature immersive epicurean experiences showcasing the finest of Italian cuisine and wine and spirits, with a focus on the local Veneto tradition and the magnetism of the Venetian islands. Venice Food & Wine will bring together known faces of Italian cuisine and enthusiastic epicureans, and will feature cooking demos, tasting experiences, and culinary focused events. Guests will also experience personal access to internationally-celebrated chefs and wine and spirits experts including: Michelin-starred chef Giancarlo Perbellini and chef Federico Belluco of JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa's Michelin-starred Dopolavoro restaurant and chef of JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa's Michelin-starred Dopolavoro restaurant James Beard Award-winning celebrity chef, author, restaurateur and 2004 FOOD & WINE Best New Chef Scott Conant Award-winning celebrity chef, author, restaurateur and 2004 FOOD & WINE Best New Chef 2002 FOOD & WINE Best New Chef and James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur Fabio Trabocchi Award-winning chef and restaurateur James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathan Waxman Award-winning chef James Beard Award-winning chef Melissa Kelly Award-winning chef Co-owner and beverage director of Spirited Award-winning 2017 Best American Cocktail Bar Columbia Room and 2016 FOOD & WINE Best New Mixologist JP Fetherston Wine expert Anthony Giglio FOOD & WINE's Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle "Steeped in rich culinary history and splendor, JW Marriott Venice and the magical city of water is the ideal setting for this exclusive event in partnership with FOOD & WINE," said Mitzi Gaskins, Global Brand Leader, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts and The Luxury Collection. "Venice Food & Wine will highlight internationally-acclaimed chefs and culinary talents who have played a key role in defining modern Italian cuisine." "By bringing the Food & Wine Festival to Venice we are sharing a truly immersive experience with attendees and an opportunity that allows them to learn about Italian cuisine while experiencing one of the country's most storied cities," said Lewis. "With its secluded location and culinary legacy, JW Marriott is the perfect place to bring this event to life." JW Marriott Venice Resort and Spa's on-property Sapori Cooking Academy will also feature enriching experiences throughout the three-day festival, led by notable culinary personalities including FOOD & WINE Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle and wine expert Anthony Giglio, among others. A rich roster of chef talent will also lead interactive and immersive master classes in the food culture of Venice. Tickets to the Venice Food & Wine Festival go on sale to the general public on January 2nd, 2018. More information can be found by visiting www.jwvenicefoodandwine.com. About JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts JW Marriott is part of Marriott International's luxury portfolio and consists of beautiful properties and distinctive resort locations around the world. These elegant hotels cater to sophisticated, self-assured travelers seeking The JW Treatment the brand's philosophy that true luxury is created by people who are passionate about what they do. JW hotels offer crafted experiences that bring to life the brand's commitment to highly choreographed, anticipatory service and modern residential design, allowing guests to pursue their passions and leave even more fulfilled than when they arrived. Today there are more than 80 JW Marriott hotels in nearly 30 countries and territories. JW Marriott is proud to participate in the industry's award-winning loyalty program, Marriott Rewards which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards. Members can now link accounts with Starwood Preferred Guest at members.marriott.com for instant elite status matching and unlimited points transfer. Visit JW Marriott online, and on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. About FOOD & WINE FOOD & WINE is the ultimate authority on the best of what's new in food, drink, travel, design & entertaining. Our insider intelligence can be found in every issue of the magazine, on foodandwine.com, across our social media platforms and at events like the world-famous FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen. No matter what the medium, FOOD & WINE is the go-to-guide for adventurous epicureans, and a leader in our category. SOURCE Marriott International, Inc. Related Links http://www.marriott.com HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Allura today announced that it has signed a national agreement with KB Home to serve as the homebuilder's exclusive supplier of exterior fiber cement siding products. A mainstay in fiber cement building products for more than 75 years, Allura manufactures exterior siding, trim, soffit and shakes from facilities in North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Allura also is part of Elementia, an international company which produces building materials for the construction sector through cement, building systems and metals divisions in 14 countries throughout Latin America and the United States. "The Allura siding product line provides the benefits of fiber cement technology with a deeper, realistic wood grain, resulting in a more attractive appearance for enhanced curb appeal," said Dan Bridleman, KB Home's Senior Vice President, Sustainability, Technology and Strategic Sourcing. "Additionally, Allura's 50-year warranty of its siding products aligns with KB Home's focus on providing long-term value for our homebuyers." Allura's durable and easy to maintain fiber cement products stand up to weather conditions in all climates and are resistant to rot and wood-boring insects. They are also flame retardant and available in a variety of styles and colors. "We are pleased to partner with KB Home, a company with a long history of innovation in homebuilding," said Allura Chief Executive Officer Jessica Navascues. "This agreement is a major step in the growth of Elementia and Allura as market leaders in the U.S. building products market." Sales of Allura's fiber cement building products have grown steadily every year since the company's launch, Navascues added. Allura also was awarded Most Preferred Brand in Siding, according to results from Peninsula Publishing's 2016 Brand Preference Survey. Fiber cement exterior siding products by Allura are expected to appear in KB Home communities beginning in late 2017. About Allura For over 75 years, Allura has manufactured and distributed fiber cement exterior building products including lap siding, panels, soffits, shakes, exterior trim and decking. Specially formulated to withstand any type of climate, fiber cement products by Allura with their realistic wood grain won't crack, warp or splinter and effectively resist fire, water and fungus. To learn more about Allura's fiber cement products, go to www.AlluraUSA.com. Also, follow Allura at www.facebook.com/allurausa and on Twitter @AlluraUSA. About KB Home KB Home is one of the largest and most recognized homebuilders in the United States and an industry leader in sustainability, building innovative and highly energy- and water-efficient new homes. Founded in 1957 and the first homebuilder listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company has built nearly 600,000 homes for families from coast to coast. Distinguished by its personalized homebuilding approach, KB Home lets each buyer choose their lot location, floor plan, decor choices, design features and other special touches that matter most to them. To learn more about KB Home, call 888-KB-HOMES, visit www.kbhome.com or connect on Facebook.com/KBHome or Twitter.com/KBHome. SOURCE Allura Related Links http://www.AlluraUSA.com Before joining Ankura, Ms. Kolar spent nearly 10 years at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, most recently as a PCAOB assistant director in the Division of Enforcement and Investigations. While there, she focused on matters involving potential violations of PCAOB professional standards and various Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. Ms. Kolar also spent a significant amount of time performing inspections of Big Four accounting firms within the Division of Registration and Inspections. In addition, she worked in the Office of the Chief Auditor, assisting the PCAOB with its standard-setting initiatives. Earlier in her career, Ms. Kolar was a senior manager at a Big Four accounting firm. LONDON, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - Kx selected as Scientific Revenue' s real-time analytics platform for online dynamic pricing - Using Machine Learning and Applied Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Revenue's platform analyses the behaviour of millions of users and applies machine learning techniques to increase revenue for its mobile gaming customers - Kx will assist Scientific Revenue's growth as it scales from mobile gaming into additional vertical markets including loyalty programmes and broadcast content (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/519591/Kx_Logo.jpg ) Global technology specialist FD today announces that Scientific Revenue, a provider of revenue optimisation services based in San Francisco, has selected Kx as the analytics platform to power its machine learning-based dynamic pricing application. Kx technology will support Scientific Revenue as it moves beyond its core mobile gaming market into other vertical markets and adds functionality to its patent pending technology. Scientific Revenue is the leader in dynamic pricing in the $100 billion mobile gaming market, with customers including many of the top gaming companies in the world. Scientific Revenue's dynamic pricing engine delivers greater revenue and more insights for its customers. It is currently tracking the behaviour of millions of app users per day, using machine learning algorithms to set the optimal pricing for each transaction. Customers typically achieve a revenue uplift of 20-40% through the use of Scientific Revenue's optimisation services. In addition to the mobile gaming market, Scientific Revenue has entered other markets including desktop gaming, subscription-based broadcast content, OTT video, and loyalty programmes. William Grosso, Chief Executive Officer of Scientific Revenue, commented: "To do dynamic pricing right requires a platform that can handle billions of pricing events per day. Kx technology's real time, ultra-high performance capabilities make it ideal to power our dynamic pricing and revenue optimisation platform. Kx has a long history of handling large data sets at high speed and low cost, which will support our growth ambitions as we address a multi-hundred billion dollar market opportunity with our unique technology." Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of Kx commented: "Scientific Revenue's ability to use machine learning to deliver precision targeted pricing generates significant value for its customers and we are pleased to support its growth plans. This is another demonstration of Kx's market leading analytics capability in an exciting growth market." About Kx Kx is a division of FD, a global technology provider with 20 years of experience working with some of the world's largest finance, technology, retail, pharma, manufacturing and energy institutions. Kx technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, is a leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence. Kx delivers the best possible performance and flexibility for high-volume, data-intensive analytics and applications across multiple industries. The Group operates from 14 offices across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, including its headquarters in Newry, and employs more than 1,800 people worldwide. About Scientific Revenue Founded by a team of data scientists with deep expertise in gaming and economic theory, Scientific Revenue delivers a dynamic pricing engine for game publishers that lets them focus on making great games, knowing they have a pricing solution tuned for maximum profit. Games using our technology have been downloaded more than one hundred million times. Our patent-pending technology uses machine learning, predictive analytics, and temporal pattern matching in order to deliver targeted, per-user pricing that increases conversion and overall in-app purchase revenue. The result: pricing without compromise. For more information about Scientific Revenue please visit http://www.scientificrevenue.com. For more information about Kx please visit http://www.kx.com. SOURCE Kx ELKHART, Ind., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LCI Industries (NYSE: LCII), a supplier of components for the leading OEMs of recreational vehicles and adjacent industries and the aftermarkets of these industries, will release its third-quarter 2017 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, November 2, 2017. LCI Industries will also host a conference call on Thursday, November 2, 2017, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the results and other business matters. The call will conclude with a question-and-answer session with participation limited to institutional investors and analysts. Individual investors, retail brokers and the media are invited to listen to a live webcast of the call on the LCI Industries website at www.lci1.com\investors. Participating in the conference call will be: Jason Lippert, CEO Scott Mereness, President Brian Hall, CFO About LCI Industries From 52 manufacturing and distribution facilities located throughout the United States and in Canada and Italy, LCI Industries, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lippert Components, Inc., supplies, domestically and internationally, a broad array of components for the leading original equipment manufacturers of recreational vehicles; buses; trailers used to haul boats, livestock, equipment and other cargo; trucks; pontoon boats; trains; manufactured homes; and modular housing. The Company also supplies components to the related aftermarkets of these industries primarily by selling to retail dealers, wholesale distributors and service centers. LCI's products include steel chassis and related components; axles and suspension solutions; slide-out mechanisms and solutions; thermoformed bath, kitchen and other products; vinyl, aluminum and frameless windows; manual, electric and hydraulic stabilizer and leveling systems; furniture and mattresses; entry, luggage, patio and ramp doors; electric and manual entry steps; awnings and awning accessories; electronic components; televisions and sound systems; navigation systems; backup cameras; appliances; and other accessories. Additional information about LCI and its products can be found at www.lci1.com. SOURCE LCI Industries Related Links http://www.lci1.com RESTON, Va., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, was awarded a prime contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) to provide sustained engineering and mission support under the Cargo Mission Contract 3 (CMC3) for the International Space Station (ISS). The single-award cost-plus fixed-fee contract has a two-year base period of performance, three option periods of two years, 18 months, and one year, and a maximum potential value of $159 million. Work will be performed in Houston, Texas. The ISS is a microgravity laboratory dedicated to scientific advancement and innovation, enabling human and robotic exploration to destinations from asteroids to Mars. The station supports the growth of a robust commercial market in low Earth orbit, assisting the development of U.S. commercial cargo and crew space transportation capabilities. Under the contract, Leidos will apply multiple technology innovations to improve capabilities for cargo packing, as well as customer-focused enhancements that provide the ISS with cost-effective solutions in a dynamic and challenging environment. Leidos will continue to provide sustained engineering, hardware design, build and certification of flight crew equipment, pressurized cargo packing and transport hardware, non-integrated ancillary system hardware, simple payload facilities, and payload support items for deliveries to and from the ISS. Leidos will also work closely with NASA to determine the most efficient way to pack manifested cargo, ship to multiple domestic and international launch sites, and deliver the cargo back to the providers upon return. "We look forward to continuing the delivery of sustained engineering and pressurized cargo packing solutions that support NASA JSC's missions to and from the International Space Station," said Leidos Group President Angie Heise. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 30, 2016, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SOURCE Leidos Related Links http://www.leidos.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA), consisting of the nation's leading online small business lending platforms, today announced that small business platform Lendio has joined the trade organization as an associate member. Lendio will work with other ILPA members to advance online small business lending education, advocacy, and best practices. Based in Washington, D.C., the ILPA is the leading U.S. trade organization representing a diverse group of online lending and service companies serving small businesses. United by a shared commitment to the health and success of small businesses, the ILPA and its members are dedicated to advancing best practices and standards that support responsible innovation and access to capital for America's small businesses. Lendio operates an online marketplace that makes it easy for small business owners to find lenders and secure loans. After filling out an application form, the platform matches its customers with suitable loan options. It works with a network of over 75 lenders to enable its users to compare and choose from among a range of loans, including working capital, SBA, startup, term loans, line of credit, equipment, commercial real estate, and more. Lendio also offers loan calculators, an informative blog, and small business education resources. "At Lendio, we are committed to providing small business owners with a marketplace of loan options that are both transparent and easy-to-comprehend. Our membership in the ILPA allows us to work together with other key players in the space to educate policy, advance best practices, and promote responsible lending. As we continue to fuel the American dream for small business owners across the nation, we're excited to play a key role in promoting standards that make it easier for a borrower to make an educated and informed decision," said Brock Blake, Lendio's founder and CEO. "The ILPA is delighted to welcome Lendio as the newest member of our organization," said Scott Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Innovative Lending Platform Association. "We are excited to work with Lendio and our membership on crucial initiatives including enhanced disclosure and cost transparency for small business borrowers via the SMART Box tool." The SMART Box is a priority initiative for the ILPA, developed in response to a need for common verbiage and standardization in pricing disclosure in small business finance. The SMART Box presents small businesses with a table of standardized pricing comparison tools and explanations, including the total cost of capital (TCC) and annualized percentage rate (APR). Launched in 2011, Lendio is based in South Jordan, Utah. About the ILPA The Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA) is the leading trade organization representing a diverse group of online lending and service companies serving small businesses. United by a shared commitment to the health and success of small businesses in America, the ILPA is dedicated to advancing best practices and standards that support responsible innovation and access to capital for small businesses. The ILPA, in partnership with the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, launched a model small business pricing disclosure called the SMART (Straightforward Metrics around Rate and Total cost) Box. The SMART Box is a first-of-its-kind model pricing disclosure and comparison tool focused on empowering small businesses to better assess and compare finance options. The SMART Box is available for broader adoption by lending platforms. Additional information about the ILPA and the SMART Box initiative is available at: www.innovativelending.org About Lendio Lendio is a free online service that helps business owners find the right small business loans within minutes. The center of small business lending, our passion is fueling the American Dream by uniting the small business loan industry and bringing all options together in one place, from short-term specialty financing to long-term low-interest traditional loans. Our technology makes small business lending simple, decreasing the amount of time and effort it takes to secure funding. More information about Lendio is available at http://www.lendio.com. SOURCE Innovative Lending Platform Association Related Links http://innovativelending.org PORTLAND, Maine, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Beacon Group welcomes Lieutenant General Dell Dailey, as Senior Advisor for Beacon's Aerospace, Defense & Government practice. LTG Dailey will work alongside Senior Vice President Matt Keegan and Beacon's President and Chairman Cliff Farrah. "LTG Dailey and I have had the pleasure of working together for many years. He is a great American having served his country in many capacities. He has always been sage advisor and with strong insight," says Senior Vice President and ADG practice leader Matt Keegan. "His experience and knowledge comes from years of practical experience with the Army, Special Operations Forces, and the State Department. I look forward to continuing to working alongside him." LTG Dailey held a 36-year-long career in the US Army, reaching the rank of Lieutenant General before continuing to serve his country as the Ambassador at Large for the Department of State's Coordinator for Counterterrorism on June 22, 2007. In 2009 General Dailey opened a consulting firm focused on national security, aerospace and mentoring national leaders. In 2012 LTG Dailey became Chairman of the Board of Directors for Janus Global Operations. "Matt has done a wonderful job developing the breadth of Beacon's Senior Advisory team. General Dailey is a perfect addition to the firm, and I look forward to working with him," said Cliff Farrah, Beacon's President and Chairman. Lieutenant General Dailey received his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Shippensburg University. Media Contact: Natalie Barr, [email protected] SOURCE The Beacon Group Related Links http://www.beacongroupconsulting.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQB: LDSYF) and (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") announces that on October 16, 2017, LDS Scientific took receipt of raw fresh frozen whole plant material for the purpose of extraction and conversion into medicinal cannabis products. The material was tested by an independent third party laboratory in Northern California prior to it being acquired, showing no trace amounts of pesticides, fungicides, mold or infestation. The CSPA Group's extraction team from LDS Scientific has completed the laboratory training of its technicians and lab assistants on October 18, 2017, in preparation for the commencement of operations on October 19, 2017. The City of Adelanto, LDS Scientific and Lifestyle Delivery Systems will be in attendance for the ribbon cutting ceremony at the facility today. In attendance will be Jerry & Debbie Davis of CSPA Group Inc., Brad Eckenweiler, CEO of LDS, the Mayor of Adelanto Richard Kerr, Crystal Elrod of LDS Scientific and team, Gabriel Elliot the City Manager, Jessie Flores Head of Business Development for the City of Adelanto, Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright Sr. and members of the city council and city staff. Brad Eckenweiler, CEO of LDS, stated, "To say that we are excited about the official commencement of operations here in Adelanto would be a gross understatement. Everyone involved in this project has worked tirelessly, given amazing effort and countless hours of overtime and weekends to bring this project to its ultimate conclusion, a state-of-the-art facility. I have said this before and will continue to remind everyone watching this project develop that if not for all the efforts put forth by the City of Adelanto, its Planning Commission and staff, the City Council, Gabriel Elliot, Jessie Flores and the Mayor of Adelanto Richard Kerr this project would not have been possible." The LDS Scientific's team anticipates commencement of finished product production next week. About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to smoking, but also a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the product. In addition, with the entering into its management services agreements with NHMC, Inc. and CSPA Group, Inc., the Company has begun its direct involvement in the growing of medicinal ingredients for, and the manufacturing of, its products. From seed to sale, the Company's products and ingredients will be tested for quality and composition throughout the formulation and production processes, resulting in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective. On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. Brad Eckenweiler, CEO & Director FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: [email protected] 1-866-347-5058 And Skanderbeg Capital Advisors 604-687-7130 [email protected] Cautionary Disclaimer Statement: The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. Related Links http://www.lifestyledeliverysystem.com "The flight was outstanding and the aircraft's performance was flawless," said Wayne Roberts, LM-100J chief test pilot. "After this completely successful first airworthiness flight, this aircraft will join the first LM-100J in conducting the FAA type design update test program already underway. This will accelerate our progress to deliver this unique aircraft's capabilities to civilian operators around the world." The LM-100J is the 17th different mission capability developed for the C-130J Super Hercules and it is an updated version of the L-100 cargo aircraft, which Lockheed Martin produced from 1964-1992. Lockheed Martin officials submitted a Program Notification Letter to the FAA on Jan. 21, 2014, for a type design update to this aircraft, a civil-certified variant of the C-130J Super Hercules to be marketed as the LM-100J. Through select design innovations, the LM-100J will perform as a commercial multi-purpose air freighter capable of rapid and efficient cargo transport. The LM-100J is an ideal airlift solution for delivering bulk and oversize cargo, particularly to austere locations worldwide. Like its military counterpart, the LM-100J will be able to support multiple missions, ranging from firefighting to medevac to VIP transport. The LM-100J incorporates technological developments and improvements over the existing L100s that result from years of C-130J operational experience, including more than 1.6 million fleetwide flight hours. The result of this experience and advancement translates to an aircraft that will deliver reliable service in a multi-role platform for decades to come. More information about the LM-100J is available at www.lockheedmartin.com/lm100j 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 Aeronautics Company Related Links http://www.lockheedmartin.com CHICAGO, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) annual show in Chicago this week, industry leader Mars Wrigley Confectionery U.S. will share insights for retailers from its recently announced "Omnichannel" category approach as well as exciting new products and line extensions. Top new products being featured at the show include: Alert Caffeine Gum, EXTRA Chewy Mints, SKITTLES and STARBURST Sweet Heat, DOVE Chocolate-Covered Dusted Nuts, and SNICKERS Peanut Butter Crisper. "Mars Wrigley Confectionery is more focused than ever on delivering on-trend product innovation, production and packaging that drive sales and grow the total category," said Timothy LeBel, President of Sales for Mars Wrigley Confectionery. "We have our pulse on what motivates consumers to make a purchase, including health and wellness preferences, wanting to moderately indulge, or the desire to try a unique flavor. At NACS, we're excited to give attendees a sneak peek at more than 20 new products and packs delivering on these needs." Mars Wrigley Confectionery will also share information on its evolved holistic category management approach. "Consumers are willing to spend, especially on categories like confectionery, but understanding the way people are shopping in a rapidly changing market is critical to category growth," said Tiffany Menyhart, VP of U.S. Category Leadership at Mars Wrigley Confectionery. "With our combined global research and insights, Mars Wrigley Confectionery has developed a keen understanding of how the consumer shops our category to create a more enjoyable shopping experience that will ultimately increase sales for retail partners." Mars Wrigley Confectionery is also announcing continuations of several successful in-store promotions, including: NASCAR "Celebrate Race Day with M," an in-store promotion featuring M&M'S Brand Candies (and others) on NASCAR-themed displays to build excitement around the season and drive sales Brand Candies (and others) on NASCAR-themed displays to build excitement around the season and drive sales 2017 NFL Promotions with SNICKERS and SKITTLES NFL Fantasy Lineup and a new Super Bowl joint-selling program with instant-win prizes and SKITTLES NFL Fantasy Lineup and a new Super Bowl joint-selling program with instant-win prizes "Chew to a Better You," a gum-focused health and wellness promotion that encourages consumers to incorporate sugar-free gum into their health and wellness routine New items Mars Wrigley Confectionery will display at the NACS Annual Show include: 5 Gum introduces 99-cent 8-stick packs, available exclusively during the 2018 Truth or Dare program: For the 5th straight year, 5 Gum Truth or Dare is back to help bring teens and young adults back to the gum category. For the first time, 5 Gum is bringing a new $0.99 pack available exclusively as part of 2018 Truth or Dare prepacked displays. Available flavors include New Cool Mint, Cool Berry, and Smooth Mint . (September December 2017 , $0.99 ) introduces 8-stick packs, available exclusively during the 2018 Truth or Dare program: For the 5th straight year, 5 Gum Truth or Dare is back to help bring teens and young adults back to the gum category. For the first time, 5 Gum is bringing a new pack available exclusively as part of 2018 Truth or Dare prepacked displays. Available flavors include New Cool Mint, Cool Berry, and Smooth Mint (September , ) Alert Caffeine Gum gives adults an innovative, simple and portable alternative to energy drinks, coffee and soda. One piece of Alert Caffeine Gum provides 40mg of caffeine, about the same amount as half a cup of coffee. Alert is available in Fruit or Mint flavors and can be purchased at retailers nationwide. ( September 2017 , $2.49 ) gives adults an innovative, simple and portable alternative to energy drinks, coffee and soda. One piece of Alert Caffeine Gum provides 40mg of caffeine, about the same amount as half a cup of coffee. Alert is available in Fruit or Mint flavors and can be purchased at retailers nationwide. ( , ) COMBOS Honey Sriracha is a flavor combination that delivers a well-balanced, sweet honey with garlic and chili pepper Sriracha flavor taste buds will love. ( December 2017 , $1.38 ) is a flavor combination that delivers a well-balanced, sweet honey with garlic and chili pepper Sriracha flavor taste buds will love. ( , ) DOVE Chocolate-Covered Dusted Nuts will debut in 2017, featuring three variants within our dusted nut collection, including cashews dipped in milk chocolate dusted with sea salt, almonds dipped in dark chocolate dusted with cinnamon and cashews dipped in dark chocolate dusted with cocoa. ( December 2017 ) will debut in 2017, featuring three variants within our dusted nut collection, including cashews dipped in milk chocolate dusted with sea salt, almonds dipped in dark chocolate dusted with cinnamon and cashews dipped in dark chocolate dusted with cocoa. ( ) EXTRA Chewy Mints is extending into the Mints category with the launch of new EXTRA Chewy Mints in two flavors: Peppermint and Polar Ice. EXTRA Chewy Mints are chewable, sugar mints packed with all the flavor and freshening power of EXTRA. Each mint has a thin crispy outer shell and a chewy freshening core that delivers an instant rush of flavor and freshness. ( December 2017 , 1.5 oz. durable plastic pack $2.19 , and 7.5 oz. pegged stand-up bag $6.99 ) is extending into the Mints category with the launch of new EXTRA Chewy Mints in two flavors: Peppermint and Polar Ice. EXTRA Chewy Mints are chewable, sugar mints packed with all the flavor and freshening power of EXTRA. Each mint has a thin crispy outer shell and a chewy freshening core that delivers an instant rush of flavor and freshness. ( , 1.5 oz. durable plastic pack , and 7.5 oz. pegged stand-up bag ) goodnessKNOWS will be expanding beyond the traditional fruit and nut line adding six new flavors to the line-up in 2018. These savory new flavor combinations are the perfect balance of sweet and salty. The six new flavors include: Peanut Butter Crunch Nut & Sea Salt Maple Cinnamon & Almond Honey Almond Bourbon Vanilla Mocha & Almond Oats Raisins & Almond will be expanding beyond the traditional fruit and nut line adding six new flavors to the line-up in 2018. These savory new flavor combinations are the perfect balance of sweet and salty. The six new flavors include: JUICY FRUIT Collisions is bringing the power of 2-Flavors-in-1 to stick gum in 2018. With 2 flavors colliding in every stick, it will be an exciting taste explosion with every chew! Available in Strawberry Watermelon and Tropical Berry flavor collisions. ( May 2018 , $1.19 in 15-stick single-serve pack, $2.69 in a multipack with three 15-stick single serve packs) is bringing the power of 2-Flavors-in-1 to stick gum in 2018. With 2 flavors colliding in every stick, it will be an exciting taste explosion with every chew! Available in Strawberry Watermelon and Tropical Berry flavor collisions. ( , in 15-stick single-serve pack, in a multipack with three 15-stick single serve packs) JUICY FRUIT Mixies is debuting with four fruity flavors in each bottle containing a mix of Original, Strawberry, Watermelon and Grape flavors. ( December 2017 , 15-piece single serve bottle $1.49 , and a 40-piece bottle $3.49 ) is debuting with four fruity flavors in each bottle containing a mix of Original, Strawberry, Watermelon and Grape flavors. ( , 15-piece single serve bottle , and a 40-piece bottle ) SNICKERS Peanut Butter Crisper is a new offering debuting in December that provides the perfect balance of sweet, salty, creamy and crispy. The satisfaction of real peanut butter with the crunch of crisp, it comes in four portionable squares that fans are sure to love. ( December 2017 ) is a new offering debuting in December that provides the perfect balance of sweet, salty, creamy and crispy. The satisfaction of real peanut butter with the crunch of crisp, it comes in four portionable squares that fans are sure to love. ( ) SNICKERS Hunger Bars will debut three new flavors in 2018 for a limited time as part of the Hunger Bars promotion. When you're hungry, you lose your flavorwhat makes you, you. Get your flavor back by trying a new SNICKERS Espresso, Fiery, or Salty & Sweet. Each flavor has a hunger symptom on the outside of the packaging that relates to the flavor of the bar Espresso: Irritable; Salty & Sweet: Indecisive; Fiery: Wimpy. debut three new flavors in 2018 for a limited time as part of the Hunger Bars promotion. When you're hungry, you lose your flavorwhat makes you, you. Get your flavor back by trying a new SNICKERS Espresso, Fiery, or Salty & Sweet. Each flavor has a hunger symptom on the outside of the packaging that relates to the flavor of the bar Espresso: Irritable; Salty & Sweet: Indecisive; Fiery: Wimpy. SNICKERS Brand 2017 NFL Hunger Bars will hit shelves this NFL season as an extension of the popular "Who Are You When You're Hungry?" campaign. NFL-themed "symptoms" will be on the packaging of singles and share size bars. (June December 2017 ) will hit shelves this NFL season as an extension of the popular "Who Are You When You're Hungry?" campaign. NFL-themed "symptoms" will be on the packaging of singles and share size bars. (June ) SKITTLES Sweet Heat is spicing things up in December 2017 . Each pack features fruity flavors with a spicy kick including: Fiery Watermelon, Blazin' Mango, Flamin' Orange, Sizzlin' Strawberry and Lemon Spark. ( December 2017 , single pack $0.99 , share size pack $1.79 , laydown bag $3.19 , and medium stand up pouch $2.59 ) is spicing things up in . Each pack features fruity flavors with a spicy kick including: Fiery Watermelon, Blazin' Mango, Flamin' Orange, Sizzlin' Strawberry and Lemon Spark. ( , single pack , share size pack , laydown bag , and medium stand up pouch ) SKITTLES Trick Plays. Skittles is adding a fun twist to the popular football strategy with Skittles Trick Plays. NFL fans will be kept guessing when the colors on the outside of the candies don't necessarily match the flavors on the inside. Available for a limited time only, Trick Plays will be in stores just in time for the 2017 NFL season. (MSRP $0.99 ) Skittles is adding a fun twist to the popular football strategy with Skittles Trick Plays. NFL fans will be kept guessing when the colors on the outside of the candies don't necessarily match the flavors on the inside. Available for a limited time only, Trick Plays will be in stores just in time for the 2017 NFL season. (MSRP ) STARBURST Minis Sours is building on the success of Starburst Minis Original. Each pack includes a mouth-puckering mix of flavors including Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Strawberry. ( December 2017 , single pack $0.99 , peg bag $2.09 , and medium stand up pouch $2.59 ) is building on the success of Starburst Minis Original. Each pack includes a mouth-puckering mix of flavors including Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Strawberry. ( , single pack , peg bag , and medium stand up pouch ) STARBURST Sweet Heat is getting a spicy new twist in December 2017 . Each pack includes a mouth-puckering mix of flavors including Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Strawberry. ( December 2017 , single pack $0.99 , share size pack $1.79 , laydown bag $3.19 , and medium stand up pouch $2.59 ) is getting a spicy new twist in . Each pack includes a mouth-puckering mix of flavors including Cherry, Blue Raspberry, Watermelon and Strawberry. ( , single pack , share size pack , laydown bag , and medium stand up pouch ) New Items for Halloween 2017 include: M&M'S Brand White Pumpkin Pie Candies Harvest Blend, M&M'S FUN SIZE Lovers Variety Mix Stand Up Pouch Maltesers FUN SIZE Medium Bag, M&M'S Peanut Chocolate Candies Ghoul's Mix Share Size, DOVE Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Ghosts, M&M'S FUN SIZE Pretzel & Crispy Chocolate Candies Medium Variety Bag, and SKITTLES Cauldron. include: M&M'S Brand White Pumpkin Pie Candies Harvest Blend, M&M'S FUN SIZE Lovers Variety Mix Stand Up Pouch Maltesers FUN SIZE Medium Bag, M&M'S Peanut Chocolate Candies Ghoul's Mix Share Size, DOVE Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Ghosts, M&M'S FUN SIZE Pretzel & Crispy Chocolate Candies Medium Variety Bag, and SKITTLES Cauldron. New Items for Christmas 2017 include: CELEBRATIONS Brand Medium Bottle, M&M'S Brand Caramel Chocolate Candies, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Mint Cookie Gifts, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies 4-Pack Tube for the Holidays, MALTESERS Brand Gift Box , M&M'S Brand Peanut Chocolate Candies Share Size, M&M'S Brand Mint Chocolate Candies Share Size, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies Naughty/Nice Mini Tube for the Holidays, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies 10-Pack Mini Tube Train for the Holidays, TWIX Brand White "Twix-mas" Laydown Bag for the Holidays, DOVE Brand Truffle Tree Tins for the Holidays, and SKITTLES Original Ugly Sweater. include: CELEBRATIONS Brand Medium Bottle, M&M'S Brand Caramel Chocolate Candies, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Mint Cookie Gifts, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies 4-Pack Tube for the Holidays, MALTESERS , M&M'S Brand Peanut Chocolate Candies Share Size, M&M'S Brand Mint Chocolate Candies Share Size, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies Naughty/Nice Mini Tube for the Holidays, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies 10-Pack Mini Tube Train for the Holidays, TWIX Brand White "Twix-mas" Laydown Bag for the Holidays, DOVE Brand Truffle Tree Tins for the Holidays, and SKITTLES Original Ugly Sweater. New Items for Valentine's Day 2018 Line Up include: M&M'S Brand Caramel Chocolate Candies Cupid's Mix, CELEBRATIONS Medium Bottle, DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Assorted Chocolates Premium Extra Large Heart Tin, FUN SIZE Chocolate & Sugar Valentine Exchange, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Swirl Hearts, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Love Birds, M&M'S Brand Triple Chocolate Candies Cupid's Mix, DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Gift Message Bar, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies Mini Tubes, LIFE SAVERS Message Hearts and Rings Game Book, SKITTLES Original Heart, SKITTLES Wild Berry Fun Size Valentine's Exchange Kit, and DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Heart Singles. include: M&M'S Brand Caramel Chocolate Candies Cupid's Mix, CELEBRATIONS Medium Bottle, DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Assorted Chocolates Premium Extra Large Heart Tin, FUN SIZE Chocolate & Sugar Valentine Exchange, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Swirl Hearts, DOVE Brand PROMISES Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Love Birds, M&M'S Brand Triple Chocolate Candies Cupid's Mix, DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Gift Message Bar, M&M'S Brand Minis Milk Chocolate Candies Mini Tubes, LIFE SAVERS Message Hearts and Rings Game Book, SKITTLES Original Heart, SKITTLES Wild Berry Fun Size Valentine's Exchange Kit, and DOVE Brand Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Heart Singles. New Items for Easter 2018 include: M&M'S Carmel Chocolate Candies, DOVE Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs, DOVE Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Truffles Carrot Patch, M&M'S Brand FUN SIZE Milk Chocolate Candies Egg and Peanut Butter Egg Tins, DOVE Brand Solid Milk Chocolate Bunny Ears, and STARBURST Minis & Beans. For details, retailers can contact Mars Wrigley Confectionery representatives and visit www.marspresskit.com. About Mars, Incorporated Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world's best-loved brands: M&M'S, SNICKERS, TWIX, MILKY WAY, DOVE, PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, WHISKAS, EXTRA, ORBIT, 5, SKITTLES, UNCLE BEN'S, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl, VCA and Pet Partners. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five PrinciplesQuality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedominspire its more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day. For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. SOURCE Mars Wrigley Confectionery Related Links http://www.mars.com DULUTH, Georgia, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Innovation Holdings Inc. (OTC Pink: MIHI) today announces its manufacturing agreement with MDI Source, a Georgia-based company serving the technology industry for over 30 years. Per the agreement, MDI will manufacture customized telemedicine equipment to fit the footprint of any doctor's office that signs up to utilize MIHI's telemedicine practice. This arrangement will allow MIHI to offer these offices a variety of telemedicine equipment that supports the shift toward a blend of in-office and virtual visits. Coupling MDI's hardware with MIHI's EMR/PMS software solution provides rural clinics a comprehensive solution unmatched in the marketplace. Additionally, MDI will provide various levels of technical support and services to MIHI clients, ensuring world-class service with world-class products. "When we entered this marketplace, the cost for telemedicine workstations was significantly high," says MIHI CEO Jake Sanchez. "This agreement with MDI is a game changer for MIHI and the marketplace, as we can now offer feature rich and user friendly comprehensive EMP/PMS software solutions at half the price. Our business plan is to subsidize a significant portion of the cost, if not 100%, of the telemedicine stations for our rural primary clinics that sign up and register to utilize our network of specialists. We want to make it as easy as possible for the rural clinics to join up with us." About Medical Innovation Holdings, Inc. Medical Innovation Holdings, Inc. (MIHI) owns and operates strategically aligned health care service companies focused on the delivery of clinical virtual medicine (health) to bring quality medical care to all areas of need, including rural and underdeveloped areas across the country. Through its wholly owned 3Point Care subsidiary, MIHI provides personalized high-tech telemedicine encounters pairing the company's virtual health specialty doctors and traditional primary doctors that utilize next-gen virtual health technologies to connect a patient with a multi-disciplinary specialty clinical health care practice. Through its other companies and partnerships, MIHI offers Affordable Care Organization (ACO) support, wellness and prevention, lab analysis and lab services, and remote diagnostic monitoring. MIHI serves a number of constituents and stakeholders interested in reducing the cost of care, enhancing the quality of care, promoting access to care, and maintaining the continuum of care. For more information, visit http://www.MedicalInnovationHoldings.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements relate to future events, including our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our public filings with the SEC are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Investor Contacts: Medical Innovation Holdings 866-883-3793 Office [email protected] Communications Contact: NetworkNewsWire (NNW) New York, New York http://www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office [email protected] SOURCE Medical Innovation Holdings Inc "The successful FDA and EMA inspections of our Carlsbad manufacturing facility mark an important milestone for MilliporeSigma and our customers who are manufacturing exciting new treatments for cancer and many other diseases," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. "As one of the first CMOs in the industry to complete pre-licensure inspections for this class of therapies, this achievement underscores our commitment to bring our customers one step closer to commercialization of novel therapies." These inspections will enable one of MilliporeSigma's key customers to launch its novel gene therapy in both the U.S. and in Europe, which is currently under review by both the FDA and EMA. The inspections were significant milestones in the approval process to obtain the licenses necessary to manufacture the gene therapy as a commercial product. This key benchmark underscores MilliporeSigma's continued investment in viral and gene therapies from clinical to commercial scale. MilliporeSigma has close to three decades of experience in gene therapy, and its Carlsbad site has been involved in the gene therapy area since 1997, near the time clinical trials for gene therapy began. The Carlsbad facility provides contract development and manufacturing services that can contribute to a more efficient delivery of these lifesaving therapies to market. The business serves many leading developers of viral and gene therapy products globally. The company's Carlsbad facility underwent a major expansion in 2016, and is now nearly double its former production capacity. The upgraded facility grew from 44,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet and now includes 16 modular viral bulk manufacturing cleanroom suites with single-use equipment and two fill/finish suites for gene therapy, viral vaccine and immunotherapy products. MilliporeSigma also offers viral and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Glasgow, Scotland, has cell-banking services in Rockville, Maryland, and offers BioReliance biosafety testing globally for both clinical and commercial stage gene therapy products. Gene therapy involves the delivery of genetic material into patient cells to produce a therapeutic effect such as correction of a mutated gene or retargeting of an immune cell to fight cancer. Diseases such as hemophilia and cancer are being investigated using this technique where a single dose may cure the disease. MilliporeSigma recognizes the potential benefits of conducting properly defined research with genome editing because of the breakthrough therapeutic potential. Therefore, research with genome editing is allowed with careful consideration of ethical and legal standards. MilliporeSigma's parent company has established a Bioethics Advisory Panel to provide guidance for research in which its businesses are involved, including research on or using genome editing. 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 WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the Sentinel-6A mission. Launch is currently targeted for November 2020, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The total cost for NASA to launch Sentinel-6A is approximately $97 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The Sentinel-6A mission, also known as Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS), is a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Space Agency, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). This mission provides operational ocean altimetry to provide continuity of ocean topography measurements and continues the long-term global sea surface height data record begun in 1992 by the Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon and Jason 1, the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 and Jason-3 missions. A secondary objective of the mission is to collect high-resolution vertical profiles of temperature, using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio-Occultation sounding technique, to assess temperature changes in the troposphere and stratosphere and to support numerical weather prediction. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The Sentinel-6 Project office is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. For more information about NASA programs and missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, invites media to the 10th Annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium, Oct. 25-26, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Panel discussions will be held in the Charger Union Theater. This year's symposium theme, "Gateways in Space: Exploration, Security and Commerce," will focus on benefits, challenges and opportunities in advancing space activities, and highlight recent progress in science, engineering and technology. The event, hosted by the American Astronautical Society, will feature speakers and panelists from government, industry and academia. NASA speakers and panelists include: Robert Lightfoot , NASA acting administrator, NASA Headquarters, Washington , NASA acting administrator, NASA Headquarters, William Gerstenmaier , NASA associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters , NASA associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Dennis Andrucyk , NASA deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters , NASA deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Jason Crusan , director, Advanced Exploration Systems Division, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters , director, Advanced Exploration Systems Division, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Todd May , director, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center , director, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Bobby Watkins , director, Marshall Human Exploration Development and Operations Office , director, Marshall Human Exploration Development and Operations Office David Burns , director, Marshall Science & Technology Office , director, Marshall Science & Technology Office John Honeycutt , program manager, Space Launch System Program Office The symposium's panel discussions and presentations, with the exception of the Oct. 25-26 luncheons, will be streamed live online at: http://astronautical.org/live For more information about the symposium and the complete agenda, visit: http://astronautical.org/events/vonbraun SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov LINCOLN, Neb., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nelnet (NYSE: NNI) announced today it has entered into a definitive and binding agreement with Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation to acquire 100% of the stock of their student loan servicing company, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc. (referred to as Great Lakes throughout this press release). "This is a perfect match of two student loan servicing organizations with closely aligned values anchored on delivering unparalleled customer experiences," said Jeff Noordhoek, Nelnet chief executive officer. "Great Lakes has a history of serving students and their families with integrity, high standards, and great service. We could not be more excited for them to join the Nelnet family." "We are bringing together 90 years of industry experience, including providing outstanding service to federal and private student loan borrowers, lenders, and schools. With our combined resources, we will take an approach that features best-in-class technology systems, proven operational capabilities, and customer experience innovations, to create a superior experience that ensures all borrowers find the best repayment options for their individual circumstances," said Noordhoek. "Great Lakes and Nelnet now have the opportunity to transform student loan servicing for millions of borrowers, providing a consistent and unmatched borrower experience and the best technology for student loan servicing." Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Great Lakes and its parent affiliated group have been helping students access higher education since 1967. Today, Great Lakes has 1,800 employees. "Today is a great day for Great Lakes and our employees, and the customers we have the opportunity to serve," said Jeff Crosby, Great Lakes chief executive officer. "Great Lakes and Nelnet have been leaders in student loan servicing for decades by focusing on operational excellence and by believing we can always do more to serve our customers. Our values and teams complement each other and I am confident we will be able to do even more to improve the lives of the borrowers, lenders, and schools we serve as a part of the same team." In 2009, Great Lakes and Nelnet were awarded contracts to service government-owned student loans on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. These contracts are set to expire in June 2019. After the transaction settles, Great Lakes and Nelnet will maintain their distinct brands, servicing operations, and operational teams, with Jeff Crosby leading Great Lakes as its chief executive officer, and each will continue to compete for new student loan volume under its respective existing contract with the Department of Education. Over time, shared services teams will integrate and support both the Great Lakes and Nelnet servicing operations. Nelnet and Great Lakes have also been working together for almost two years to develop a new, world class servicing system for government-owned student loans through a joint venture. The servicing platform under development will utilize modern technology to effectively scale for additional volume, protect customer information, and support enhanced borrower experience initiatives. The efficiencies gained by leveraging a single platform for government-owned loans supporting millions more borrowers will give Great Lakes and Nelnet opportunities to invest in strategies to further enhance borrower experiences. "Moving forward with the development of our state-of-the-art loan servicing platform will enable us to provide the best possible experience for borrowers as our organizations come closer together," said Joe Popevis, president of Nelnet Diversified Solutions (NDS). NDS owns Nelnet Servicing, Nelnet's servicing business, and will also own Great Lakes' servicing business. "This transaction accelerates our technology integration and collaboration, leaving us in the strongest position possible to enhance the development of the new platform." Under the terms of the agreement, Nelnet will pay $150.0 million in cash for all of the outstanding stock of Great Lakes. The transaction will settle on January 1, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions, primarily the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Great Lakes will also continue to provide technology and certain administrative support services to Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation pursuant to a guarantor services agreement. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements Information contained in this press release, other than historical information, may be considered forward-looking in nature and is subject to various risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. The words "expect," "intend," and "will," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties to which such forward-looking statements are subject materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated, or expected. Among the key factors that may have a direct bearing on Nelnet's operating results, performance, or financial condition expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements are risks that the announced acquisition agreement may not be completed within the currently scheduled timeframe or at all, the uncertain nature of the expected benefits from the acquisition and the ability to successfully integrate loan servicing operations and successfully maintain and increase allocated volumes of student loans serviced under existing and any future servicing contracts with the Department, risks to Nelnet and Great Lakes related to the Department's initiative to procure new contracts for federal student loan servicing, including the risk that the company's joint venture with Great Lakes, or the company on a post-acquisition basis, may not be awarded a contract, risks related to the development by Nelnet and Great Lakes of a new student loan servicing platform, including risks as to whether the expected benefits from the new platform will be realized, and other risks, including the risk of increased regulatory costs. All forward-looking statements in this release are as of the date of this release. Although the company may from time to time voluntarily update or revise its forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in the company's expectations, the company disclaims any commitment to do so except as required by securities laws. About Nelnet Nelnet (NYSE: NNI) is a diversified and innovative company focused on offering educational services, technology solutions, telecommunications, and asset management. Nelnet helps students and families plan and pay for their education and makes the administrative processes for schools more efficient with student loan servicing, tuition payment processing, school administration software, and college planning resources. Through its recently acquired subsidiary, ALLO Communications, Nelnet offers fiber optic services directly to homes and businesses for ultra-fast internet and superior telephone and television services. The company also makes investments in real estate developments and new ventures. For more information, visit Nelnet.com. (code #: nnig) SOURCE Nelnet Related Links http://www.nelnet.com TROY, Mich., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- North American Bancard Holdings, LLC. (NAB), a multi-faceted and award-winning payment solutions provider, and Alipay, the world's largest online and mobile payments platform boasting more than 520 million users in China and beyond, announced today that Alipay is now available on NAB's wholly owned Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX) processing platform through a variety of NAB owned products, including gateways, terminals and mobile payment solutions. "Alipay has realized tremendous adoption among Chinese nationals and has quickly become their preferred omni-channel payment method," said Marc Gardner, president and CEO at NAB. "Our goal has always been to ensure that our merchants have every payment tool at their fingertips to attract customers both online and offline. Because of that, we are very pleased that Alipay decided to align with NAB to help enhance opportunities for merchants of all sizes, as millions of overseas customers continue to visit the U.S. every year." Alipay is operated by Ant Financial Services Group, a related company of Alibaba, and has been expanding rapidly inside and beyond China. Over 10 million brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay's in-store payment service is covering more than 30 countries and supports 27 currencies. Now, U.S. merchants of all sizes can benefit by offering Alipay as a payment type in their stores. The number of Chinese consumers visiting North America is predicted to grow to four million this year. In addition, the Chinese middle class is presently the single fastest-growing online consumer market in the world, estimated to grow to 600 million by 2020, and North American merchants will be well-positioned with this customer base if they are able to accept the preferred payment type of this consumer demographic whether in store, or online. "Our priority is to ensure a safe, secure and reliable payment process for the millions of Chinese consumers who travel to North America or shop online from North America merchants," said Souheil Badran, President of Alipay North America. "Through our strong partnership with NAB, over 120,000 of NAB's PayAnywhere merchants are now enabled with Alipay which includes best-in-class support." Alipay is enabled on the EPX processing platform and will be accessible to independent software vendors (ISVs) wanting to integrate with the technology in December 2017. PayAnywhere users are able to use a camera, or barcode scanner, to accept Alipay through both the mobile app and PayAnywhere Storefront. By the end of 2017, Alipay acceptance will be rolled out to all of NAB's semi-integrated MICROS terminals, along with their entire Ingenico terminal merchant base. About North American Bancard Holdings Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, North American Bancard Holdings, LLC. (NAB), is an award-winning leader in credit card processing - administering merchant services for client companies of all sizes. NAB executes solutions for payment processing including credit, debit, EBT, check conversion and guarantee, gift/loyalty cards and mobile purchasing. Founded and accredited as an MSP/ISO in 1992, NAB is committed to setting the benchmark for client service, competitive pricing, and the latest in technology to its client companies. With nearly $50 billion in payments processed, for more than 310,000 businesses, North American Bancard is dedicated to providing superior solutions for American businesses. For more information, please visit www.nabancard.com. About Alipay Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world's largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 520 million active users and over 200 domestic financial institution partners. Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Over 10 million brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay's in-store payment service covers more than 30 countries across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies. Follow us on Twitter @antfinancial and @alipay. SOURCE North American Bancard Related Links http://www.nabancard.com The relaunch has been led by Travis Lewis who was named Rug Doctor Chief Executive Officer in 2015 and has set out to improve and modernize all aspects of the business, which includes an all-new product launch, optimization of operational efficiency at 40,000 retail locations such as Walmart and Kroger, and fresh thinking with new talent hires from across the consumer product industry. "Rug Doctor's heritage is a deeper professional clean at a better value with the best system. That has not changed what is changing is how we better deliver on that promise and communicate it to the customer in ways that fits with their lives today," Lewis said. Largest new product launch since founding of company "We listened to customer feedback and created solutions to their pain points. Our scientists and engineers have used the latest technology to ensure our products provide the versatility and ease consumers are looking for while performing comparably to hiring a professional carpet cleaner," Rich Foster, Rug Doctor Chief Product Officer, said. Rug Doctor's two new rental machines, the Rug Doctor Pro Detailer & Portable Spot Cleaner and the Rug Doctor Pro Deep Upright Carpet Cleaner, are easier to use, lighter, more powerful and versatile than ever, and are significantly less expensive than hiring a service with rentals starting at $19.99. The all-new Pro Deep Upright Carpet Cleaner has even been awarded the Carpet and Rug Institute's Platinum rating, the highest rating awarded, for superior dirt and water removal comparable to cleaning results of a costly professional service. The machines also have a brand new functionality new to the category in addition to soft surfaces they have the ability to clean hard floors and grout. Retail partners who house Rug Doctor's rental displays are excited to see the investments the company is making to grow the category with new products. They are equally enthusiastic about the enhanced technology, which has allowed Rug Doctor Operations to more closely monitor retailer needs, resulting in faster and more effective servicing of machines and cleaning concentrate replenishment. New marketing campaign: Rug Doctor Institute of Clean Jan Valentic, Rug Doctor Chief Marketing Officer, has been leading the branding transformation and new investment in advertising. Staying true to the company's heritage of delivering a professional quality clean, she wanted the brand to be contemporized and made more relevant and memorable to consumers. Valentic hired Dallas-based The LOOMIS Agency to help with the effort and in April launched the new advertising campaign, The Rug Doctor Institute of Clean, which was inspired by Rug Doctor's R&D facility where engineers and chemists put products through tortuous testing to ensure that Rug Doctor machines can clean what life throws at consumers. The campaign even coined a new Urban Dictionary term to describe the feeling people experience after a deep cleaning when they pour out the dirty water tank and see the filth that was extracted from their carpet: disgustifaction, the feeling of utter disgust combined with total satisfaction. Results of the campaign have shown an increased affinity for the brand, and more importantly, driven more people to clean their carpets with Rug Doctor. Clean new office space and attracting top talent in North Texas "We've brought in new talent to infuse external thinking from the consumer product industry and it's had a tremendous impact in fueling innovation," CEO Travis Lewis said. "North Texas is a great place to hire, work and live, so we look forward to continuing to be a magnate for top talent in the area. The new office space in Plano is a prime example of the culture we are working to build to do just that." Since Rug Doctor is a brand used in the home, the company created visual cues in the work environment that invites team members and visitors into the new Rug Doctor home. From the welcoming sculptural dogs standing watch at the Rug Doctor red front door, to the garage with the technology heartbeat of operations the "clean" open floor plan with shared workspaces creates a whole new level of employee collaboration. "We didn't anticipate how much a work space would engender such positive energy and pride in our company for employees and visitors," Amy Howell, Rug Doctor General Counsel, said. "Our people work harder and smarter in a space that makes it fun and rewarding to make a difference for our customers every day." Dallas-Fort Worth media is invited to see Rug Doctor's clean new office space in Plano and experience 'disgustifaction' firsthand by testing the all-new Rug Doctor products on Oct. 25. Find a rental location at www.rugdoctor.com/rent. About Rug Doctor: Rug Doctor is the global market leader in professional-grade, do-it-yourself deep carpet cleaning systems for consumers that provide a quality clean at a better value than professionals. Rug Doctor was created in 1974 in the garage of a professional carpet cleaner who believed it was possible to empower people to achieve professional-quality results themselves. Rug Doctor continues to deliver on that promise with iconic red machines that are available for rent in more than 40,000 retail locations and are for purchase at major retailers like Walmart, Tesco, and Amazon. Learn more at www.rugdoctor.com. Contact: Marissa Stabler (469) 859-3445 [email protected] SOURCE Rug Doctor Related Links http://www.rugdoctor.com Conference participants will share the latest clinical, scientific and industrial developments in particle beam therapy, an advanced form of radiation therapy using beams of protons to destroy cancer cells and diseased tissue. The unique behavior of protons allows tumors to receive more targeted doses, which can be more effective, while reducing damage to healthy tissue. "It is a great honor to host the 4th Annual PTCOG-NA Conference," said William Hartsell, MD, medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center. "The conference is a wonderful opportunity to gain new knowledge, share clinical experiences, network with colleagues, and learn about technological advances." Sessions examining a wide variety of proton therapy topics will be provided by nationally-recognized experts, including discussions on intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), treatment planning and 3-D imaging. The clinical applications will center on the traditionally recognized clinical indications, including breast, lung, head and neck, brain, prostate, gastrointestinal tract and pediatric cancers. John Han-Chih Chang, MD, director of clinical education at the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center, will chair sessions on prostate treatment preparation and pediatric anesthesia. Mark Pankuch, PhD, director of medical physics & dosimetry at the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center, will chair a session on physics. The conference is endorsed by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). The Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center is the first and only proton therapy center in Illinois to bring innovative proton radiation treatment to patients. There are currently 26 proton beam therapy centers in North America. For more information visit chicagoprotoncenter.com. Particle Therapy Cooperative Group - North America (PTCOG-NA) is the North American chapter of the international PTCOG. This non-profit professional society was created in January 2013 to enhance collaboration between its members, create a platform for scientific exchange, and develop treatment guidelines, education, and training initiatives for particle therapy. For more information visit ptcog-na.org. Visit http://www.chicagoprotoncenter.com/utility/physicians-referrals/ptcog-conference-2017/conference-program to see the conference agenda. SOURCE Northwestern Medicine Related Links http://ptcog-na.org NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OnDeck (NYSE:ONDK), the leader in online lending for small business, announced today that it will report financial results for the third quarter of 2017 on Monday, November 6, 2017, at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET. The company will host a conference call to discuss the results at 8:00 a.m. ET that same day. The conference call will be webcast live on the company's Investor Relations website or it can be accessed toll free by dialing (844) 579-6824 for calls within the U.S., or by dialing (763) 488-9145 for international calls. The Conference ID is 6896379. A replay of the conference call will be available via webcast on the company's Investor Relations website for 90 days following the event. About OnDeck OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the leader in online small business lending. Since 2007, the company has powered Main Street's growth through advanced lending technology and a constant dedication to customer service. OnDeck's proprietary credit scoring system - the OnDeck Score - leverages advanced analytics, enabling OnDeck to make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital to small businesses in as little as 24 hours. OnDeck offers business owners a complete financing solution, including the online lending industry's widest range of term loans and lines of credit. To date, the company has deployed over $7 billion to more than 70,000 customers in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada and Australia. OnDeck has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and operates the educational small business financing website BusinessLoans.com. For more information, please visit www.ondeck.com. Investor Contact: Scott Reynolds 646.668.3551 [email protected] Media Contact: Jim Larkin 203.526.7457 [email protected] OnDeck, the OnDeck logo and OnDeck Score are trademarks of On Deck Capital, Inc. SOURCE On Deck Capital, Inc. UPPSALA, Sweden, Oct.19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial overview Q3 2017 Total net revenues SEK 166.2 million (181.9) Zubsolv US net revenue SEK 121.1 million (142.4) EBIT SEK 40.9 million (43.0) EBITDA SEK 46.1 million (50.9) Earnings per share, before and after dilution, SEK 0.82 /0.81 (1.04/1.04) Cash flow from operating activities SEK 92.3 million (31.1) Cash and cash equivalents SEK 370.7 million (276.9) Guidance of full year 2017 positive EBITDA is confirmed Financial overview YTD 2017 Total net revenues SEK 452.6 million (521.2) Zubsolv US net revenue SEK 359.3 million (353.6) EBIT SEK 27.2 million (29.1) EBITDA SEK 42.8 million (48.8) Earnings per share, before and after dilution, SEK -0.10 /-0.10 (0.19/0.19) Cash flow from operating activities SEK 169.6 million (84.8) Other highlights Q3 2017 Zubsolv gained preferred position on CVS Caremark 2018 formulary The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, CHMP, announced a positive opinion for treatment of opioid dependence with Zubsolv in Europe An asset purchase agreement was signed with Gesynta Pharma AB for OX-MPI Pipeline updated Subject to market conditions, Orexo is contemplating issuing a new corporate bond during Q4 2017 at an aggregate amount of SEK 300 350 million. The proceeds of such bond issue would be used towards redeeming the existing outstanding bonds in full. CEO comments Eventful quarter paving the way for the future In Q3 we have met several of the objectives for 2017 and I am in particular proud of the accomplishments that will strengthen the foundation for Orexo in 2018 and beyond. From a financial perspective we continue our track record of positive cash flow from operations and have now surpassed two years of unbroken positive quarterly cash flow. I am also pleased to announce we have reached positive EBITDA (and EBIT) year-to-date, which is one of the targets in our guidance for the full-year. The positive result is driven primarily by the continued positive profit contribution from our US business, strong Abstral performance in Europe and continued firm cost management. Market access is the main driver of market share and growth in the US market for Zubsolv and has gained significant focus and priority in 2017. Looking forward to 2018, we managed to secure the best improvements in market access for Zubsolv since 2014 and overall our market access in 2018 will be the best ever for Zubsolv. In the commercial segment Zubsolv's formulary access beginning January 1 will be the best of any product in the buprenorphine/naloxone market, whether branded or generic. In the fast-growing public segment Zubsolv will have significant improvement in access, both in parity with competitors and some exclusive preferred positions within Medicare Part D. These improvements in market access are the result of our relentless efforts to make Zubsolv the most valuable choice from a medical and financial perspective for patients and payers in the US. These market access gains combined with our improvements in the supply chain will ensure affordable access to this life saving treatment for more patients, while Orexo maintains healthy gross margins. While Zubsolv in the US remains our main focus, we are constantly working to strengthen and broaden our product offering and pipeline with new products and projects. The newest and most important near-term revenue generating project will be the launch of Zubsolv in Europe. With the positive opinion from the European committee, CHMP, in September, Zubsolv is well on track to receive approval later this year by the European Commission and for our partner Mundipharma to start launching Zubsolv during the first half of 2018. Upon launch, Zubsolv will be the first ever, fast-dissolving alternative to Suboxone tablets in Europe. Additionally, we have filed a patent application for our OX382 project in September and we are aiming to bring to market the first ever swallowable oral formulation of buprenorphine. A swallowable tablet is generally preferred by patients and physicians, due to the added convenience and in opioid dependence treatment it allows for improved efficiency in the multitude of clinics using supervised treatment settings. The next step will be a clinical phase I trial scheduled to start in Q1, 2018. One of my overarching objectives has been to make Orexo profitable and with the current trajectory for 2017 we expect to present a positive net profit for the full year and we have reached a positive net cash position, thus eliminating any financing risk of the corporate bond issued in 2014. Both of these factors are testimony to our ability to drive effectiveness and apply strict cost controls while improving the foundations to grow our top line in the years to come. With the positive development in market access in the US, improved supply chain, approval of Zubsolv in Europe and updated pipeline I am confident we have paved the way for profitable growth in 2018 and beyond. Nikolaj Srensen President and CEO For further information, please contact Nikolaj Srensen, President and CEO Tel +46 18 780 88 00 E-mail [email protected] Henrik Juuel, EVP and CFO Tel +46 18 780 88 00 E-mail [email protected] Presentation At 2.00 pm CET, the same day as the announcement of the report, Orexo invites analysts, investors and media to attend an audiocast with a web presentation where Nikolaj Srensen, CEO, and Henrik Juuel, CFO, will present the report. After the presentation a Q&A will be held. Questions can also be sent in advance to [email protected], no later than 11.00 am CET. Please view the instructions below on how to participate. Internet: https://tv.streamfabriken.com/orexo-q3-2017. Telephone: (SE) +46 8 566 426 92, (UK) +44 203 008 98 07 or (US) +1 855 831 5945. The presentation material will be available on Orexos website one hour prior to the audiocast. This information is information that Orexo AB (publ.) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 8.00 am CET on October 19, 2017. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/orexo/r/orexo-interim-report-q3-2017,c2370782 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Orexo SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Union International, Inc., the eighth-largest real estate brokerage in the U.S. by 2016 sales volume, today announced the acquisition of Empire Realty Associates. The highly respected Danville, California-based independent luxury brokerage brings 54 top-performing real estate professionals to Pacific Union. This is the third geographic expansion for Pacific Union in the California market within the last 10 months, following its mergers with Beverly Hills-based Partners Trust in August 2017 and John Aaroe Group in December 2016. Pacific Union International CEO Mark A. McLaughlin today announced the acquisition of Bay Area brokerage, Empire Realty Associates, founded by CEO and Chairperson Judi Keenholtz. Pacific Union forecasts 2017 sales volume of $18 billion through its continued expansion throughout California. The union with Empire Realty Associates underscores Pacific Union's commitment to become the preeminent independent luxury real estate brokerage in California, with 2016 sales volume of $12.61 billion and projected 2017 sales volume in excess of $18 billion. This move expands the brokerage to 47 offices in Northern and Southern California with more than 1,450 real estate professionals. In September, the U.K.-based International Property Awards named Pacific Union International "Best California Real Estate Brokerage" for its innovative global marketing practices. This alliance is a homecoming of sorts for the leadership teams of Empire Realty Associates and Pacific Union. The prestigious East Bay brokerage's CEO and Chairperson Judi Keenholtz established Empire in 2002. Prior to founding that brokerage, Keenholtz was tapped by Pacific Union in 1989 to establish its first division outside of San Francisco in Contra Costa County. "For 15 years Empire Realty Associates has prided itself on providing the best, leading-edge products and services to our agents and our clients," Keenholtz says. "We are attracted to Pacific Union International because of our shared ideology, forward-thinking innovation, and superior technology. Our united teams of top performers share the same core values of delivering unprecedented client service with the highest integrity." Empire will continue to operate under its current name until 2018, when it will be rebranded as Pacific Union International. In the interim, the brokerage's real estate professionals will begin incorporating Pacific Union's innovative marketing and business intelligence assets into its real estate practice. "We are pleased to welcome Empire's team to Pacific Union," Pacific Union CEO Mark A. McLaughlin says. "We share both history in this community and the same core values of integrity and elite performance that define our commitment to our clients. This brings us one step closer to our vision of becoming the real estate firm of the future and the ultimate California real estate company." In addition to a robust array of innovative sales tools, a Chinese Concierge office in Beijing, and business-intelligence analyses from Chief Economist Selma Hepp, Empire Realty Associates will benefit from Pacific Union's global digital marketing campaigns. This advertising outreach aggressively extends Pacific Union's brand awareness and listings to real estate investors in the leading international markets of China, India, Brazil, and the U.K. In its launch in 2016, the campaign delivered more than 187 million global impressions and 621,000 international site visits to www.pacificunion.com. Empire Realty Associates Extraordinary private 7,300 square foot villa with enchanting old world charm situated on 1.5 acres. $6,995,000. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvesicgzvenyq55/Empire%20RA%20Listing.jpg?dl=0 Photo credit: John Hayes http://www.empirerealty.com/real-estate/danville-ca-94526/40797800/45357301 Pacific Union International Presenting Fieldhaven, the Bay Area's Most Exceptional Estate. $39,000,000 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ral904w6qyz5byv/2S3A7095_FR.jpg?dl=0 Photo credit: Open Homes Photography http://www.7countryoaklane.com/ About Pacific Union International Founded in San Francisco in 1975, Pacific Union International, Inc. is the West Coast's premier luxury real estate brand with 2016 sales volume of $12.61 billion. In 2016, real estate industry leaders RISMedia and REAL Trends rank Pacific Union as the eighth-largest brokerage in the U.S. Through its 2015 acquisition of The Mark Company, the nation's leading sales and marketing firm for new urban luxury developments, Pacific Union expanded its brand to development projects from San Diego to Seattle. In 2016 Pacific Union merged with Los Angeles-based brokerage John Aaroe Group, followed in 2017 with a merger with Partners Trust also based in Los Angeles, extending the Pacific Union brand to become the preeminent leader and ultimate California real estate company. The strategic alliance of these four powerhouses and the acquisition of Empire Realty Associates supports more than 1,450 elite real estate professionals in 47 offices throughout the West Coast. Northern California markets include San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa, and Sonoma counties, Silicon Valley, and the Lake Tahoe region. Greater Los Angeles markets include Beverly Hills, Downtown, the Westside, and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys. To extend Pacific Union's international reach, in 2013 the brokerage established an award-winning, Beijing-based China Concierge program that fully supports its Chinese investors on the mainland. Additionally, Pacific Union offers a full range of personal and commercial real estate services, including buying, selling, and relocation in addition to operating joint-venture businesses that provide rental and commercial property management and insurance services. Locally owned, Pacific Union executes with a vision for the future, an entrepreneurial mindset, and an unwavering commitment to deliver exceptional service and expertise. For more information, visit: www.pacificunion.com. About Empire Realty Empire Realty Associates is a local real estate brokerage founded in 2002 and based on the belief that the client is best served by a local brokerage with deep connections to the community. Empire Realty has grown to more than 54 real estate professionals; is headquartered in Danville, California; and is a founding member of the Artisan Group, a network of the top local brokerages in Northern California. As an exclusive member in Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and Luxury Portfolio International, Empire Realty further positions itself as an industry authority on luxury real estate both locally and globally, ranked by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the top 25 residential real estate companies in the East Bay. www.empirerealty.com. SOURCE Pacific Union International, Inc. Related Links http://www.pacificunion.com MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Perkins franchisee CyHawk Hospitality, this month opened their sixth location in Iowa at 4045 Hammond Avenue, Waterloo, Iowa. Come November, they will enter the South Dakota market when they introduce Perkins Restaurant & Bakery to the Yankton community at 2216 Broadway Avenue, bringing the total number of units owned and operated by CyHawk Hospitality to 15 restaurants strategically located in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Colorado. Jim Rahfaldt, President of CyHawk Hospitality, began his career with Perkins as a Corporate Regional Manager in 1994. When he decided to become a Perkins franchisee in 2007, he included his sons Nick and Matt in the family business realizing that they had a unique perspective to offer and years of "on the job" training. Nick Rahfaldt, who together with Matt oversees new store development and operations for CyHawk Hospitality comments, "Throughout our childhood, my brother and I were constantly visiting Perkins Restaurants. We witnessed first-hand the exacting standards to which our dad held his restaurants accountable, and the hard work and sheer determination he had to ensure that all guests had the best possible dining experiences. This approach was ingrained in us early on, and is one that we adhere to today. Owning and operating our own Perkins restaurants is a natural extension of our upbringing and personal experiences with the Perkins brand." In addition to Jim, Nick and Matt, the CyHawk "family" includes Kim Prowant, Vice President of Operations & Training, and Norvell Houston, Director of Food Quality, who combined, bring nearly six decades worth of Perkins experience to the franchisee's successful equation. Staffed by nearly 700 full and part time employees, the Rahfaldts' restaurants offer high quality personalized dining with a bakery point of difference. Featuring Perkins' updated design and decor package, each location showcases warm, welcoming dining environments highlighted by an abundant bakery. Perkins' full menu including its famous buttermilk pancakes, unique 3-egg omelets, scrumptious Belgian waffles, fresh salads and signature burgers and sandwiches, plus a wide array of additional breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings are always available. About Perkins Restaurants & Bakeries: Founded in 1958, the Perkins system consists of 392 restaurants in 32 states and Canada, which includes 124 company-owned and operated restaurants and 268 franchised units. Perkins continues to seek experienced restaurant operators interested in becoming franchise owners in targeted U.S. states and Canadian provinces. With its strong and growing franchise network, Perkins offers services to franchisees including accounting functions, IT support, assistance with new store development/openings and more. Expertise is also delivered one-on-one, through a highly-experienced Perkins franchise consultant who acts as a liaison, bringing together the resources franchisees need before, during and after the restaurant opening. Information about Perkins franchise opportunities can be found at www.perkinsrestaurants.com, or by contacting Perkins at 901.766.6455 or [email protected]. SOURCE Perkins Restaurant & Bakery Related Links http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School hosted a special, 20th anniversary, invitation-only gala on October 19, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, that will be followed by the annual U.S.-Japan symposium in Odawara over the weekend. The first symposium was held in 1998 to address the then severe problems in the Japanese financial system. PIFS also hosts four other annual Symposia between the U.S. and China, Europe, India and Latin America. The U.S.-Japan symposium has involved such recognizable figures in international finance as Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of Bank of Japan, Wilbur Ross, U.S. Commerce Secretary, and Larry Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University. The gala and symposium celebrate the continued cooperation between American and Japanese financial officials, financiers and academics, and their ongoing efforts to address bilateral and global financial issues. The symposium has also served to foster important relationships between the financial leaders of both countries. In recent years, symposia topics have included the future of large global banks as well as the rise of China and its implications for Japan, the U.S. and the global financial markets. At the gala, PIFS announced its forthcoming separation from Harvard Law School as Hal S. Scott, Nomura Professor and Founder and Director of PIFS, transitions to his new role as Emeritus Professor at Harvard in June 2018. The program will move forward as an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) entity, with Harvard Law School becoming a non-financial sponsor of future symposia. Scott will continue to lead PIFS. Discussing the change, Scott said, "My vision for the future of PIFS is to strengthen the role of the symposia as a place for academics, government and industry to meet worldwide and address critical problems. PIFS has also begun to play a critical role in providing executive education programs for financial officials from around the world." Harvard Law School and PIFS will also partner in expanding PIFS' executive education programs, which now includes a program with IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions. For any inquiries regarding the gala, symposium or restructuring of the Program on International Financial Systems, please contact Whitney Vasey ([email protected]). SOURCE Program on International Financial Systems (PIFS) WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. amputees are facing a "tech gap" in which Medicare and private health insurers deny access to new microprocessor-controlled knees (MPKs) that are only slightly more expensive over a lifetime and considerably safer in terms of preventable injuries and deaths than the alternative "1970s-style" artificial lower limbs. Those are among the key findings of a major new report issued today by the RAND Corporation and available online from the American Orthotics & Prosthetics Association (AOPA) at: https://bit.ly/randstudy. Every week in the U.S., more than 3,500 people undergo a transfemoral amputation. Of the 185,000 new amputee patients each year, an estimated 25-30 percent receive a prosthetic leg and knee. However, fewer and fewer U.S. amputees are getting access to the new, safer technology and, instead, find themselves confined to the older and more dangerous 1970s-style tech. The RAND Corporation study notes that Medicare total payments for prosthetics declined 15 percent during the 2010-14 period despite advances in technologies. (Private insurers have historically taken their cues from Medicare as to possible cuts in coverage.) The RAND Corporation study shows that 26 percent of patients who received more advanced prosthetic limbs with MPK will fall per year as opposed to 82 percent of patients with the older non-MPK limbs. There are 14 fall-related deaths per 10,000 patient years for non-MPK amputees, and three fall-related deaths per 10,000 patient years for the MPK amputees, which means up to 11 lives per 10,000 patient years could be saved through wider MPK usage. The data show only 38 falls per 10,000 patient years resulting in injuries suffered by users of the higher-tech MPK versus 182 falls per 10,000 patient years for non-MPK amputees. Dr. Soeren Mattke, managing partner, Health Care Practice, RAND Corporation, Boston, MA, said: "Due to recent advances in technologies, prosthetic knees and feet allow for more dynamic movements and improve user quality of life, but payers have recently started questioning their value for money the microprocessor-controlled knee is associated with sizable improvement in physical function and reductions in incidences of falls and osteoarthritis The results suggest that the incremental cost of MPK is in line with commonly accepted criteria for good value for money and with the incremental cost of other medical devices that are currently covered by U.S. payers." Kenton Kaufman, PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN., said: "Even if an amputee with the older technology avoids death due to a fall, he or she may suffer very serious consequences from a fall-related injury. The average additional cost in the six months following a fall can be substantial. The cost for individuals requiring an emergency department visit is about $18,000. For patients who had to be hospitalized, this extra expense is over $25,000. We know our cost estimate underestimates the true cost of a fall, because we didn't include indirect costs, such as lost wages, caregiving expenses and transportation costs." Dr. Kaufman was summarizing the findings of a new Mayo Clinic research published in July 2017. See: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/prosthetic-knee-type-may-determine-cost-of-care-for-amputees/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm&utm_content=post&utm_campaign=mayoclinic&geo=national&placementsite=enterprise&mc_id=us&cauid=100502&linkId=39637813. Michael Oros, CPO and president, American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association, and CEO, Scheck & Siress, Chicago, Illinois, said: "This is not a case of amputees wanting to have access to new technology just because it is new. To the contrary, new tech versus old tech can be a life-and-death issue for an amputee. The RAND Corporation study we are helping to release today shows that there is a much higher risk of injury or death when Medicare and private payers refuse to permit access to the only slightly more expensive new generation of artificial knee and lower limb. And there is a huge quality of life issue here. Amputees who are stuck with the 1970s-style tech tend to be less mobile in addition to being more vulnerable to risk of injury or death." In the summer of 2015, AOPA led a national campaign to oppose a Medicare rule that would have placed even more restrictions on both access to these very MPK devices and more sharply reduced the quality of current-technology care provided to amputees in the federal program. In that case, the Association opposed a draft proposal that remains in doubt. See: http://www.aopanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/8.25-AOPA-AC-News-Conference-on-LCD-Policy.pdf. ABOUT THE GROUPS The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (www.aopanet.org) is a national trade association committed to providing high quality, unprecedented business services and products to O&P professionals. Since its founding in 1917, AOPA has worked diligently to establish ourselves as the voice for O&P businesses. Through government relations efforts, AOPA works to raise awareness of the profession and impact policies that affect the future of the O&P industry. AOPA membership consists of more than 2,000 O&P patient care facilities and suppliers that manufacture, distribute, design, fabricate, fit, and supervise the use of orthoses (orthopedic braces) and prostheses (artificial limbs). The RAND Corporation is an independent, non-profit and non-partisan research institution respected for decades of key contributions to inform public policy debates. EDITOR'S NOTE: The Facebook Live webcast will be available after the news event at https://www.facebook.com/AmericanOandP/ or @AmericanOandP. SOURCE American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association, Washington, D.C. Related Links http://www.aopanet.org/ The Razer Electra V2 is an essential headset for gaming which is compatible with the widest array of devices. The headset was designed to deliver outstanding sound quality and versatility regardless of the device being used. Its 40mm Neodymium drivers were custom-tuned to provide the best possible audio experience while gaming on PC or consoles, or when listening to music on a phone. A unified audio and mic connector makes it easy to use with any PC, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation4, or phone with a 3.5 mm audio jack. A removable boom microphone complements gamers' mobile lifestyles. "We created the ideal headset for the modern gamer," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. "The Razer Electra V2 was updated with more durable and comfortable materials for extended hours of great-sounding gameplay. Lightweight with great audio fidelity, it fits the bill for anyone at home or on the go." The Electra V2 was designed for hours of continuous use. Comfort and durability features include a lightweight, flexible aluminum frame with a suspended headrest and plush leatherette ear cushions. A detachable boom mic allows for crisp, clear communication during battles or in phone conversations. Removing the mic allows for a streamlined, undistracted audio experience. These high-end options, now standard on the Electra V2, were often limited to more expensive headsets until now. RAZER ELECTRA V2 USB: The Razer Electra V2 USB shares all the features of the Razer Electra V2, but it is optimized for PC-only use via a single USB connection. Users can activate Razer green backlighting on the ear cups, and virtual 7.1 surround sound digital audio quality is delivered via Razer Synapse Razer's cloud-based configurator. PRICE: Electra V2: U.S. $59.99 / EU 59.99 Electra V2 USB U.S. $69.99 / EU 69.99 AVAILABILITY: Razerzone.com: Available Now Worldwide: Q4 2017 PRODUCT FEATURES: Razer Electra V2 Headphones Frequency response: 20 Hz 20 kHz Impedance: 32 15% Sensitivity: 105 3dB Max input power: 50 mW Drivers: 40 mm with Neodymium magnets Cable length: 1.3 m / 4.27 ft. Approximate weight: 278 g / 0.61 lbs. Microphone (Removable boom mic) Frequency response: 100 Hz 10 kHz Signal-to-noise ratio: 50 dB Sensitivity (@1 kHz): -38 3 dB Pick-up pattern: Unidirectional Controls on headset Volume up / down, mic mute Razer Electra V2 USB Headphones Frequency response: 20 Hz 20 kHz Impedance: 32 15% Sensitivity: 115 3 dB Max input power: 50 mW Drivers: 40 mm with Neodymium magnets Cable length: 1.3 m / 4.27 ft. Approximate weight: 294 g / 0.65 lbs. Microphone (Removable boom mic) Frequency response: 100 Hz 10 kHz Signal-to-noise ratio: 50 dB Sensitivity (@1 kHz): -38 3 dB Pick-up pattern: Unidirectional Controls on headset: Volume up / down, mic mute For more information about the Razer Electra V2 gaming headsets, please visit www.razerzone.com/gaming-audio/razer-electra-v2 IMAGES: For digital screens (websites, mobile, social media) Razer Electra V2: https://razer.mediavalet.com/galleries/88ec8ddf-7386-4f75-8d91-7e012d217ed0_01e2549d-af20-482c-b518-d630bf45899b-ExternalUser Razer Electra V2 USB: https://razer.mediavalet.com/galleries/88ec8ddf-7386-4f75-8d91-7e012d217ed0_02c05d3a-1334-481b-a314-ca37c11047b4-ExternalUser ABOUT RAZER: Razer is the world's leading lifestyle brand for gamers. The triple-headed snake trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized logos in the global gaming and esports communities. With a fan base that spans every continent, the company has designed and built the world's largest gamer-focused ecosystem of hardware, software and services. Razer's award-winning hardware ranges from high-performance gaming peripherals (for the PC and console platforms) to the Razer Blade gaming laptops. Razer's software platform, with over 35M users, includes Razer Synapse (an Internet of Things platform), Razer Chroma (a proprietary RGB lighting technology system), and Razer Cortex (a game optimizer and launcher). Razer services include Razer zGold, one of the world's largest virtual credit services for gamers, which allows gamers to purchase virtual goods and items from over 2,500 different games. The company has a global footprint with nine offices worldwide and is recognized as the leading brand for gamers in the USA, Europe and China. Founded in 2005 and dual-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, Razer is backed by institutional investors such as IDG-Accel, Intel Capital and Horizons Ventures. PRESS CONTACTS: Americas Stephen Huynh [email protected] Alain Mazer (Global Director of Public Relations) [email protected] Europe/Africa Jan Horak [email protected] Asia Pacific Nicholas Ferguson [email protected] China Leonard Le [email protected] Razer - For Gamers. By Gamers. SOURCE Razer Related Links http://www.razerzone.com LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Business Software ("ABS") announced today that RCN Capital has chosen The Mortgage Office software to automate its back office servicing operations. Top National Private Lender RCN Capital, ranked by national publications as one of the Country's top Hard Money Lenders, has become Applied Business Software's latest customer in a roster that includes some of the highest volume lenders in the nation. RCN provides short-term loans to real estate investors to fund the purchase of non-owner occupied residential and commercial properties and to finance renovation projects. "We are excited about moving forward with The Mortgage Office as our loan servicing platform. Our complex investment business models require robust software to handle high volume of transactions. We had various systems in place for many years but absolutely love how tailored and specialized The Mortgage Office is to our type of business." Jeffrey Tesch, Managing Director, RCN Capital. "We are thrilled to welcome RCN to the ABS family of prestigious clients. We are humbled by being the preferred choice for private lenders in loan servicing software for almost 40 years," commented Jerry Delgado, CEO, Applied Business Software. About Applied Business Software Applied Business Software is a market leader and global provider of software systems and solutions to the lending industry. ABS offers a complete suite of software products designed from the ground up to specifically address the needs of those who originate and service loans. All our products are consistently rated superior in design, system interface, expandability, and ease of use. ABS is based in Long Beach, California. For additional information about ABS's products and services, visit www.themortgageoffice.com or call (800) 833-3343. About RCN Capital RCN Capital is a national, direct, private lender. Established in 2010, we provide short-term commercial loans ranging from $50k to $2.5M+ for the purchase of non-owner occupied residential and commercial properties, financing of renovation projects and bridge funding. We lend to experienced real estate professionals, investors and contractors throughout the country. We value referrals; brokers are protected. For more information on our company or our loan programs, visit our website at www.RCNCapital.com. Press Contacts For Applied Business Software, Inc.: Elizabeth Morales Director Marketing and Communications (800) 833-3343 [email protected] www.themortgageoffice.com Press Contacts For RCN Capital, LLC Erica LaCentra Marketing Manager (860) 432-5858 [email protected] https://www.rcncapital.com/ SOURCE Applied Business Software SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Keane Law Firm announces that on October 18, 2017, a jury in Amador County Superior Court (located in Jackson, California) awarded $8.4 million to a boy who was paralyzed by child abuse when he was 10 weeks old. This is believed to be the largest reported verdict in Amador County history. The boy, Cree Miller, claimed in the complaint that a doctor, a nurse and two (2) nurse practitioners could have prevented this tragedy but failed to report earlier reasonably suspected child abuse as required by California Law, and that a hospital and emergency medicine corporation failed to comply with California law requiring that they provide employees with a copy of the child abuse reporting law. Also, Cree Miller claimed in the complaint that his biological family abused and/or failed to protect him from abuse. The verdict was returned against Sutter Sacramento Sierra Region, Valley Emergency Physicians Medical Group, Inc., a doctor, a nurse practitioner and four (4) members of the infant's biological family. The complaint alleged that when Cree was a seven (7) week old infant, he was brought to the emergency room of Sutter Amador Hospital by his teenage parents and maternal grandmother with a reported history of a mouthful of blood, damage to his eye and bruising on his face. Cree's mother testified at trial that she told a nurse practitioner that the bruises were caused by the infant hitting himself because the grandmother told her to say that. The complaint alleged that there were clear indications of child abuse and that, under California law, a nurse, two nurse practitioners and a doctor were required to make a report to Child Protective Services. California's Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (California Penal Code Section 11166) requires that a report be made when a mandated reporter has knowledge of or observes a child whom the reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. No report was made, however, and Cree remained in the custody of his teenage parents. The complaint alleged that three weeks later Cree was returned to the emergency department at Sutter Amador Hospital, with a spinal cord injury that has left him permanently paralyzed, and also with a broken clavicle, two broken ribs and extensive bruising over much of his body. A former Calaveras County child protective services worker testified at trial that, if a report had been made to child protective services when the infant was first seen at seven weeks, Cree would have been taken into protective custody. Cree was removed from his teenage parents' custody and placed in foster care after he was paralyzed, and was later adopted by his foster mother. He is now 6 years old. Cree was represented at trial by San Francisco attorney, Chris Keane, who specializes in child abuse cases. His co-counsel were Edward Stark (Los Angeles) and Jennifer Lothert (Sonora). The case name is Cree Miller v Sutter Sacramento Sierra Region, et al. The case was tried in Amador County Superior Court, Case Number 13-cv-8253, before the Hon. James D. Garbolino (Assigned). Mr. Keane states: "Child abuse reporting is critical for the safety of all of California's children. It is easy, fast and confidential. And it saves childrens' lives." www.keanelaw.com Start of trial: September 5, 2017 Date of Verdict: October 18, 2017 Total verdict: $8,400,000.00 Breakdown of verdict: For damages suffered up until January 28, 2011: Past non-economic loss: $400,000 For damages suffered after January 28, 2011: Future economic loss: $4,100,000 Past non-economic loss: $360,000 Future non-economic loss: $3,540,000 All damages suffered before January 28, 2011 ($400,000), were assigned to defendants Andrea Soldano, Anthony Santana, Greg Palmer and Elysee Palmer, only. There were percentages of fault assigned by the jury to the following named defendants for damages suffered after January 28, 2011 ($8,000,000.00): Defendant Doctor (Shawn Brady, M.D.): 10.5% Defendant Nurse Practitioner (Trina Haymond, N.P.): 10.5% Defendant Sutter Sacramento Sierra Region: 20% Defendant Valley Emergency Physicians Medical Group, Inc.: 9% Defendant Andrea Soldano: 12.5% Defendant Anthony Santana: 12.5% Defendant Greg Palmer: 12.5% Defendant Elysee Palmer: 12.5% SOURCE The Keane Law Firm Related Links http://www.keanelaw.com LAMBERTVILLE, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RobustWealth, a digital wealth management platform designed by and for investment advisors, announced today a new partnership with Apex Clearing, an independent, full-service clearing firm and leader in the digital wealth space. The partnership bolsters RobustWealth's platform and enables trading of ETFs, mutual funds and U.S. stocks included in the platform fee, as well as a rapid client onboarding experience, account linking, same-day funding and easy-to-use bank transfers. As part of RobustWealth's BaseCAMP suite, advisors' clients will continue to benefit from the sophisticated rebalancing and trading of their goal-&-risk based portfolios in a completely private-labeled environment. "RobustWealth's relationship with Apex Clearing is indicative of our commitment to continue improving the client-advisor relationship through disruptive technology," said Mike Kerins, CFA, founder of RobustWealth. "Our platform is designed to help advisors differentiate themselves from competitors and add value to the client experience, while minimizing costs and improving efficiency." Apex Clearing is known as a pioneer in digital wealth and has established itself as the custodian of choice for many leading digital advisors. Using Apex's flexible technology, advisors have eliminated paper-centric onboarding processes, and dramatically reduced the time it takes to open and fund new accounts to just a few minutes. "At Apex, we're committed to creating solutions that help advisors transition into the digital era of investing and offer their clients the efficient, cost-effective and transparent services they've come to expect," said William Capuzzi, CEO of Apex Clearing. "Keeping costs low, providing value to advisors and transforming the way people invest are all tenets we found in the team at RobustWealth. We consider our partnerships carefully and could not be more thrilled to partner with them." About RobustWealth: RobustWealth is a digital wealth management platform built by and for investment advisors, and engineered to satisfy their unique needs. It integrates previously modular features into one seamless suite that advisors can leverage to optimize their practice on their clients' behalf. The easy-to-use technology is delivered in a completely private-labeled environment, customized to the advisor's brand. For more information and the latest updates on RobustWealth, please visit us on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/robustwealth About Apex Clearing Corporation: Apex Clearing Corporation is a leading provider of digital wealth solutions that is powering the innovation behind 21st century investing. An independent, full-service clearing firm, Apex partners with financial services firms ranging from disruptive fintechs to Fortune 500 enterprise advisors to succeed in the digital age. Apex's fully-integrated, customized solutions allow registered investment advisors (RIAs), digital advisors, fintech firms, broker dealers and full service firms to operate more efficiently, maximize profitability, give customers more control, and reach new investors. Founded in 2012 and based in Dallas with offices in New York City, Chicago and Portland, Oregon, Apex Clearing Corporation is registered with the SEC, a member of FINRA, and a participant in SIPC. For more information, visit apexclearing.com. Contacts: Lauren Davis, Gregory FCA for RobustWealth [email protected] 610-228-2103 Graham Buck, Finsbury for Apex Clearing [email protected] 646-805-2024 SOURCE RobustWealth Related Links https://www.robustwealth.com January 2, 2018 Payment Date Following December 11, 2017 Record Date Quarterly Dividend of 48 Cents per Share Declared by Board TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Rogers Communications Inc. ("Rogers") announced today that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend totaling 48 cents per share on each of its outstanding Class B Non-Voting shares and Class A Voting shares. The quarterly dividend declared today will be paid on January 2, 2018 to shareholders of record on December 11, 2017. Such quarterly dividends are only payable as and when declared by Rogers' Board and there is no entitlement to any dividend prior thereto. About Rogers: Rogers is a leading diversified Canadian communications and media company that's working to deliver a great experience to our customers every day. We are Canada's largest provider of wireless communications services and one of Canada's leading providers of cable television, high-speed Internet, information technology, and telephony services to consumers and businesses. Through Rogers Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, sports, televised and online shopping, magazines, and digital media. Our shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). SOURCE Rogers Communications Canada Inc. - English Related Links http://www.rogers.com BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Roivant Sciences today announced that it has entered into a development partnership with AstraZeneca for a deprioritized investigational drug in an undisclosed indication. The drug will be developed by Roivant in a new therapeutic area that is outside of AstraZeneca's main therapy areas. Roivant has licensed global rights for its development and commercialization; deal terms include an upfront payment, development milestones, and royalties. This is the first partnership between Roivant and AstraZeneca. "We are delighted to welcome AstraZeneca to our expanding circle of pharmaceutical partners," said Vivek Ramaswamy, Founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences. "I admire AstraZeneca's commitment to ensuring that innovative medicines reach patients, and I hope this is the first of many future collaborations." "This deal is another example of how AstraZeneca collaborates with industry in an open manner to expedite the delivery of novel medicines to patients," said Kumar Srinivasan, Vice President of Scientific Partnering and Alliances with AstraZeneca's Innovative Medicines and Early Development (IMED) Biotech unit. About Roivant Sciences Roivant is dedicated to transformative innovation in healthcare. Roivant focuses on realizing the full potential of promising biomedical research by developing and commercializing novel therapies across diverse therapeutic areas. Roivant partners with innovative biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to ensure that important medicines are rapidly developed and delivered to patients. Roivant advances its drug pipelines through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiary companies, including Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women's health and endocrine diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), and Urovant (urology). Roivant also pursues its mission by incubating and launching innovative healthcare companies operating outside of traditional biopharmaceutical development. Roivant's long-range mission is to reduce the time and cost of developing and delivering new medicines for patients. For more information, please visit www.roivant.com. Related Links www.roivant.com www.astrazeneca.com SOURCE Roivant Sciences SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Roostify, a provider of automated mortgage transaction technology, today announced the upcoming release of Decision Builder, a new tool that will enable lenders to easily provide their prospective applicants with a clear, easily-digestible view of their loan options, based on the lender's actual product and pricing system. The company will be offering live demonstrations of Decision Builder for the first time at the upcoming MBA Annual Convention. "Consumers often approach a home loan with a lot of anxiety, in part because traditionally very little information has been available to them," explained Sandeep Aji, Vice President of Products at Roostify. "It often isn't clear how much the consumer can actually expect to pay each month, or how much money they will need to close, until very late in the process. With Decision Builder, consumers can get an accurate idea of what to expect before they even fill out an application." The Decision Builder tool can be placed on a lender's existing website, and features a handful of dropdown questions, such as the desired loan amount, the expected down payment, and the ZIP code of the house to be purchased. With that information, Decision Builder will generate a series of loan options based on the lender's product and pricing system, showing the consumer what products and rates they would qualify for. Each option is presented in a visual, easy-to-understand interface with clear explanation of the benefit of the loan product for example, a lower monthly payment or low total interest. From there, the consumer can more easily evaluate which loan product is right for them. With accurate, realistic loan information from the lender's website, the consumer can carefully consider their options on their own time, without the pressure of having to decide within the limited window of an appointment with a loan officer. When they've made a decision, the interface includes a convenient option to move forward on their chosen loan with the click of a button. Aji noted that the benefits aren't limited to consumers; Decision Builder offers lenders the opportunity to both convert more leads to applications and bring more applications to closing. "Offering this information to consumers trying to educate themselves allows lenders to establish a trust relationship early on with prospective clients, increasing the likelihood they will apply with that lender. It also increases the overall quality of the applications because consumers start the process seeking a loan product they already know will work for them." Roostify will offer demos of Decision Builder at Booth 411 at the 2017 MBA Annual Convention, taking place 10/22-10/25 in Denver, CO. For more information or to schedule a demo, please contact [email protected]. Decision Builder is scheduled to release to general availability by the end of 2017. About Roostify Founded by consumers looking for a better way to buy a home, Roostify leads the industry in delivering accelerated and transparent online mortgage experiences. From enterprise banks to independent brokerages, dozens of lenders across the United States trust Roostify to speed up closings, reduce unnecessary work and give their customers a smooth, anxiety-free mortgage experience. Since 2014, Roostify has helped close thousands of home loans nationwide. Roostify is privately funded and headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, please visit roostify.com. Press contact: Richard Berman [email protected] 415 359 4906 SOURCE Roostify Related Links http://www.roostify.com A Farewell to Kings , Rush's fifth studio album, was originally released in 1977, and played a major role in establishing Rush as an internationally popular and respected band. A Farewell to Kings also introduced the trio's first successful radio hit "Closer To The Heart," album tracks "A Farewell To Kings," "Madrigal," "Cinderella Man," as well as enduring fan favorites with "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1." A Farewell to Kings40th Anniversary will be available to fans in four distinct configurations including (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) three-CD Deluxe Edition, (3) four-LP Deluxe Edition, and (4) the Deluxe Digital Edition. The Super Deluxe Edition includes three CDs, one Blu-ray Audio disc and four high-quality 180-gram vinyl LPs. The set encompasses the Abbey Road Mastering Studios 2015 remastered edition of the album for the first time on CD; a complete Rush concert recorded in February 1978 at London's Hammersmith Odeon, newly mixed by longtime Rush engineer and original A Farewell to Kings producer Terry Brown from the multi-track live tapes; four newly-recorded cover versions of songs from the original album by Dream Theater, Big Wreck, The Trews and Alain Johannes; and an instrumental studio outtake of the spacey sound effects the band has creatively titled "Cygnus X-2 Eh." The Hammersmith show features, for the first-time ever, over 34 minutes of unreleased performances including a complete "2112" suite, "Lakeside Park," a drum solo and "Closer To The Heart." The Super Deluxe Edition's audio content on its CDs is duplicated on its vinyl discs. Meanwhile, the Blu-ray Audio disc contains a brand new 5.1 surround mix of the album by four-time Grammy nominated surround sound producer Steven Wilson, along with three original 1977 promo videos from a newly found 2-inch quad video master significantly improving the video quality for "Closer To The Heart." The Super Deluxe package also includes an elaborate new 40th anniversary cover treatment by longtime Rush creative director Hugh Syme, who has also created a new piece of artwork for each of the album's six songs, and an extensive 12,000-word liner notes by Grammy-winning rock historian Rob Bowman. The Super Deluxe Edition of A Farewell to Kings40th Anniversary will also include several exclusive items, including a unique King's Ring, with custom velvet pouch and neck chain; two lithographs with original artwork by Hugh Syme; a special 12-inch turntable mat featuring distinctive artwork by Hugh Syme; and a reproduction of Rush's original 1978 A Farewell To Kings tour program. A Farewell to Kings40th Anniversary second configuration will be released in a three-CD Deluxe Edition, with the newly reasserted A Farewell to Kings album, the Hammersmith Odeon show, the four new cover songs, "Cygnus X-2 Eh" outtake, Hugh Syme's song-specific artwork and Rob Bowman's liner notes. The third configuration will be offered as an audiophile 180-gram four-LP Deluxe Edition featuring the same audio content as the three-CD edition with double-gatefold packaging, 32-page vinyl-size booklet, the special 12-inch turntable mat, along with Syme's artwork and Bowman's liner notes. The fourth configuration, the Deluxe Digital Edition, will feature the original album as disc 1, the complete Hammersmith concert unedited as disc 2, and the four covers songs plus the "Cygnus X-2 Eh" outtake as disc 3. Additionally, on November 24, UMe will release a 7" vinyl single for Record Store Day's annual Black Friday event, featuring the beloved A Farewell to Kings hit "Closer to the Heart," with a custom large-hole adapter and new artwork by Hugh Syme. In his liner notes, Bowman describes A Farewell to Kings as "the beginning of Chapter Two" for Rush. "No longer was the majority of the record dominated by the sound of a power trio. A more mature Rush now embraced a wider sound palette using synthesizers, Taurus bass pedals, classical guitar, tubular bells, temple blocks and orchestral bells to create greater contrast and color within their compositions. Yet, when desired, Rush continued to deploy the intensity, ferocity and power that they were justifiably known for." Rushbassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer/lyricist Neil Pearthas won a large and passionate worldwide fan base for its unique, adventurous approach, which combines sterling musicianship, complex compositions and distinctive lyrical flights drawing upon science-fiction motifs and esoteric philosophical concepts. The band has sold more 25 million albums in the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales estimated at 45 million, and has been awarded 24 Gold, 14 Platinum, and three multi-platinum albums. Rush has received seven Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. TRACKLISTING: 3-CD DISC 1 Original Album - Produced by Rush and Terry Brown 1. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 2. XANADU 3. CLOSER TO THE HEART 4. CINDERELLA MAN 5. MADRIGAL 6. CYGNUS X-1 DISC 2 Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. BASTILLE DAY 2. LAKESIDE PARK* 3. BY-TOR & THE SNOWDOG 4. XANADU 5. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING 7. CYGNUS X-1 DISC 3 Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. ANTHEM 2. CLOSER TO THE HEART* 3. 2112* 4. WORKING MAN 5. FLY BY NIGHT 6. IN THE MOOD 7. DRUM SOLO* 8. CINDERELLA MAN 9. XANADU Dream Theater* 10. CLOSER TO THE HEART Big Wreck* 11. CINDERELLA MAN The Trews* 12. MADRIGAL Alain Johannes* 13. CYGNUS X-2 EH* BLU-RAY AUDIO DISC 4 96kHz 24-bit 5.1 Surround Mix by Steven Wilson 96kHz 24-bit Original Stereo Analog 2015 Remaster 1. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 2. XANADU 3. CLOSER TO THE HEART 4. CINDERELLA MAN 5. MADRIGAL 6. CYGNUS X-1 1977 Promo Videos: 1. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 2. XANADU 3. CLOSER TO THE HEART 4-LP VINYL LP 1 SIDE A Original Album - Produced by Rush and Terry Brown 1. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 2. XANADU LP 1 SIDE B 1. CLOSER TO THE HEART 2. CINDERELLA MAN 3. MADRIGAL 4. CYGNUS X-1 LP 2 SIDE C Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. BASTILLE DAY 2. LAKESIDE PARK* 3. BY-TOR & THE SNOWDOG LP 2 SIDE D Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. XANADU 2. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 3. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING LP 3 SIDE E Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. CYGNUS X-1 2. ANTHEM 3. CLOSER TO THE HEART* LP 3 SIDE F Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. 2112* LP 4 SIDE G Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. WORKING MAN 2. FLY BY NIGHT 3. IN THE MOOD 4. DRUM SOLO* 5. CINDERELLA MAN LP 4 SIDE H 1. XANADU Dream Theater* 2. CLOSER TO THE HEART Big Wreck* 3. CINDERELLA MAN The Trews* 4. MADRIGAL Alain Johannes* 5. CYGNUS X-2 EH* DELUXE DIGITAL EDITION DISC 1 Original Album - Produced by Rush and Terry Brown 1. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 2. XANADU 3. CLOSER TO THE HEART 4. CINDERELLA MAN 5. MADRIGAL 6. CYGNUS X-1 DISC 2 Live at Hammersmith Odeon February 20, 1978 1. BASTILLE DAY 2. LAKESIDE PARK* 3. BY-TOR & THE SNOWDOG 4. XANADU 5. A FAREWELL TO KINGS 6. SOMETHING FOR NOTHING 7. CYGNUS X-1 8. ANTHEM 9. CLOSER TO THE HEART* 10. 2112* 11. WORKING MAN 12. FLY BY NIGHT 13. IN THE MOOD 14. DRUM SOLO* 15. CINDERELLA MAN DISC 3 1. XANADU Dream Theater* 2. CLOSER TO THE HEART Big Wreck* 3. CINDERELLA MAN The Trews* 4. MADRIGAL Alain Johannes* 5. CYGNUS X-2 EH* * Previously unreleased www.rush.com/band facebook.com/rushtheband / twitter.com/rushtheband / instagram.com/rush SOURCE UMe Related Links http://www.rush.com ZURICH, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequana Medical AG (Sequana Medical), a commercial stage medical device company and an innovator in the management of liver disease, today announced that it will have a poster presentation at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Annual Meeting (The Liver Meeting), being held October 20-24 in Washington, DC. Dr. Gijs Klarenbeek,MD, Chief Medical Officer for Sequana Medical, commented, "This poster will be presented on Monday October 23 by Prof. Florence Wong, University of Toronto, Toronto General Hospital. It is the first time data are released from the MOSAIC study and primary and secondary safety and efficacy endpoints, including an analysis of the impact on the Quality of Life (QoL) will be presented. Ian Crosbie, Chief Executive Officer of Sequana Medical added, "We are very pleased the results from this first North American trial can be shared with the scientific community and to demonstrate that the alfapump delivers important benefits with this key complication of liver disease. Through our ongoing development work and close collaboration with clinicians, we continue to grow the body of evidence of the impact of the alfapump in this patient population, as shown by the multiple recent peer-reviewed journal publications, and of course the data from the MOSAIC study to be presented during AASLD 2017." Poster # 1790 Title: 'Improvement in Quality of Life and Reduction in Large Volume Paracentesis Requirement from the MOSAIC study: a Multicenter, Open-Label, Prospective 3-month Study of the Alfapump System in Refractory Ascites' Poster Session IV Date: Monday, October 23, 2017 Time: 12:30pm - 2:00PM Presenter: Prof. Florence Wong Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto Contact: Sequana Medical Sabine Landes Marketing & Communications Manager +41/44-403-55-36 [email protected] SOURCE Sequana Medical AG CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In July 2017, tech start-up Tezos conducted what was then the largest Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in history, raising $230 million in just 13 days of crowdfunding to develop its own decentralized blockchain. Just three months later, however, details of behind-the-scenes in-fighting between the principals operating Tezos have raised rampant concerns about the viability of the yet-to-be launched project; and many in the industry believe contributors to the fundraiser will receive nothing for their investments. In the $2.2 billion world of ICOs, some industry experts predict that more than 90 percent of ICOs will fail and provide nothing of value to their investors. Silver Miller (www.SilverMillerLaw.com), a securities fraud and investment loss contingency-fee law firm based in South Florida, is already investigating the Tezos matter on behalf of concerned investors. According to a detailed investigative report published by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/bitcoin-funding-tezos/), Arthur and Kathleen Breitman -- the American couple that founded Tezos and own its source code through a Delaware company -- and Johann Gevers -- the president of Swiss-based Tezos Foundation, which was created to conduct the ICO, hold the investors' funds, and promote Tezos' blockchain technology -- are embroiled in a bitter dispute over control of Tezos' future and the funds obtained from investors. Moreover, the report states that the Breitmans view their fundraising effort not as participants' speculative investment in new technology; rather, the Breitmans have taken the position that the funds raised (now valued at over $400 million) are non-refundable donations to Tezos' efforts. As Kathleen Breitman told Reuters: "[P]articipating in the Tezos fundraiser was like contributing to a public television station and receiving a 'tote bag' in return. That's the same kind of thing here." Many notable investors, however -- including Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper -- expect much more than a metaphorical "tote bag." They view their contributions as investments and expect a valuable return on those investments. As Mr. Draper told Reuters, he views cryptocurrencies as commodities like pork bellies and characterized his participation in the Tezos ICO as a purchase, not a donation. This story will continue to unfold as the principals battle one another for control of Tezos and government regulators in the United States and Switzerland investigate the matter as well. Silver Miller currently represents the victims in class action lawsuits against multiple cryptocurrency exchanges (Cryptsy; Coinbase; Kraken) and is investigating several companies, including Tezos, that conducted ICOs within the past year for potential regulatory violations and misrepresented solicitations. If you have invested in an ICO and are concerned that your investment is in jeopardy or that you have been defrauded, contact Silver Miller for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation to discuss you legal rights. Contact: David C. Silver Silver Miller Managing Partner Telephone: Florida 954-516-6000, Maryland 240-516-6000, and Washington, D.C. 202-852-6000 E-Mail: [email protected] SOURCE Silver Miller Related Links http://www.silvermillerlaw.com ATLANTA, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SKAL International Atlanta hosted over 60 professional travel agents from Metro Atlanta for the first-ever B2B Travel Expo at the Wyndham Galleria Hotel on Thursday, September 28, 2017. Participants registered in advance and over the course of the evening moved from table to table to hear presentations from various travel suppliers from cruise lines, airline and land-based tour companies including: Crystal Cruises, Club Med, Emirates, Mr. and Mrs. Italy, Oceania Cruises, Seabourn, Globus family of brands, Princess Cruises and Cunard. Several of the suppliers were SKAL Atlanta members already and felt strongly about participating in the expo. SKAL Atlanta also featured a table where participants learned about the club, local activities, member benefits and highlights of SKAL International. "The response to this forum from our local agency community was overwhelming. We were delighted to be able to showcase a number of travel products while also highlighting the importance and benefits of SKAL in our city," said Monika Pasquerello, co-chair of the B2B event and Princess Cruises BDM. Afterwards, guests socialized with each other and SKAL members while enjoying hors d'oeuvres and wine. Raffle tickets for a 50/50 drawing were sold and door prizes drawn which were provided by the suppliers. Income from the tickets sold have been donated to SKAL International Florimond Volker Fund which is a unique fund within SKAL International available to SKAL members worldwide offering financial support during difficult times of natural disasters and/or serious health issues that results with loss of business. "This Expo exemplified one of our SKAL principles, which is 'Doing Business Among Friends.' We welcome you to join us again at one of our regular monthly meetings and events and consider becoming a Member of SKAL Atlanta. Our theme for this year is 'Together, Yes We Can', and we hope to grow our Organization and become the trusted voice in Travel and Tourism, especially in the Atlanta, GA area. We look forward to making many new Friends," said SKAL Atlanta President Lorene Sartan. SKAL Atlanta is a chapter of SKAL International USA. SKAL International USA is currently the largest National Committee in SKAL International with 2,200 members and 48 clubs nationwide. For more information on SKAL International and SKAL USA, and to find out more about membership, go to www.Skalatlanta.org or www.Skalusa.org SOURCE SKAL Atlanta KENILWORTH, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The five Sheet Metal Workers Local Unions and the New Jersey Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART Union) today announced their united support for Phil Murphy for Governor of New Jersey. Joe Demark, Jr., the President of the New Jersey SMART Council and President and Business Manager of Local 25 said this was the first time that the five local unions and the transportation union have joined together to endorse a candidate for governor. "The five Sheet Metal locals and the Transportation Division represent a total of 11,500 union members and their families in New Jersey," said Demark. "We are here today to announce our united support for Phil Murphy for Governor of New Jersey because we believe he offers a new path and a new vision for all our state and will be a governor who will make it happen." Demark noted that Phil Murphy's background included growing up poor and working hard to become a graduate of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and an international business leader. "Phil Murphy built on that success to become the US Ambassador to Germany from 2009 until 2013," said Demark. "It was there that he was exposed to the value of trade unions and their apprenticeship training programs as a catalyst to growing the economy and he knows how valuable and integral our programs here are to rebuilding New Jersey's economy." Additionally, Demark pointed out that during the past seven and a half years under Christie and Guadagno construction jobs have been devastated, with his own Local 25 and other building trades unions seeing as much as 50% unemployment due to the job killing policies of the Christie Administration. "It is not a coincidence that we have had building trades unions like ours in the SMART New Jersey State Council seeing upwards of 50% unemployment in the last seven and a half to eight years," said Demark. "It is because we have had poor leadership under Christie and Guadagno!" By contrast, Demark said Murphy understands that SMART union members want to support a Governor who will work to create jobs, support prevailing wage laws and project labor agreements and enforce fair labor standards through the New Jersey Department of Labor. "This is the most consequential election in New Jersey in generations. We in the New Jersey Labor movement know what it means to fight to get ahead and support all workers and so does Phil Murphy," said Demark. "That is why we will pull out all the stops, Take 5 and elect Phil Murphy the next Governor of New Jersey and Sheila Oliver the next Lt. Governor of New Jersey." The SMART Unions represent 11,500 sheet metal and transportation workers in every county of New Jersey. SOURCE SMART Union, New Jersey State Council Michael Backes, the author of Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana, led a course on the medical uses of marijuana and was available for questions afterward. The course explored topics including how cannabis interacts with the body's receptors, administration approaches, and qualifying medical conditions. "With hundreds of new studies published every year, the field of cannabis medicine is evolving at an extraordinary pace. This presentation provides medical professionals with the very latest evidence concerning the informed use of medical marijuana as a therapeutic options, while incorporating the latest harm reduction techniques," said Backes. Guests at the event were able to network, learn and discuss how medical marijuana is an emerging remedy for the seventeen qualifying conditions in PA. Based on a new law called Act 16, signed by Gov. Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016, medical marijuana is protected for registered patients and their physicians. Solevo Wellness will operate three medical marijuana dispensaries in Western Pennsylvania. Their Pittsburgh dispensary is opening January 2018 and will be located at 5600 Forward Avenue, Squirrel Hill, PA 15217. Following dispensaries will be in Butler County, PA and Washington County, PA. Solevo Wellness Solevo Wellness [soh-lee-voh] is a medical marijuana dispensary based in Pittsburgh, PA, dedicated to providing medical marijuana relief solutions for Pennsylvanians certified with serious medical conditions such as intractable pain including arthritis, and other serious medical conditions including glaucoma, cancer, autism, Parkinson's disease, MS, IBS, and HIV/AIDS. Founded by leading physicians, pharmacists, and medical professionals, Solevo offers personal, professional care, and quality medical marijuana products. SOURCE Solevo Wellness SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkPost, the most performant cloud email delivery service available, today announced that its cloud email business has achieved another milestone on its path to T2D3, recognized as critical for SaaS companies' path to success. The T2D3 path is a very specific, high growth trajectory defined by annual recurring revenue (ARR) which triples for two consecutive years, then doubles for the next three consecutive years. In SparkPost's case, the company has more than tripled cloud revenues over each of the past two years, putting the company's cloud business on the same high growth path achieved by cloud leaders such as Salesforce, Workday and Marketo in their early years. The company has also been profitable over the past 15 months. This comes on the heels of SparkPost's successful transformation to a cloud-first company during which the company converted to a fully recurring revenue model in just three years. Along with the launch of its cloud email delivery service in November 2014, SparkPost successfully converted and expanded its extensive on-premises enterprise customer base to a fully recurring revenue model. This remarkable financial success was the result of the company remaining focused on providing the best email infrastructure available to its customers in the way that businesses work today and expanding its support services, including becoming the only email infrastructure provider to offer both uptime and burst rate SLAs. Throughout this period of transition and rapid growth, SparkPost has maintained its position as the world's largest email infrastructure provider, with its technology sending over 3 trillion messages per year and over 25% of the world's non-spam email more than 4x the volume of its nearest competitor, according to eDataSource. The company dominates the enterprise market with customers like Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Groupon, Marketo, Zillow, CareerBuilder, the Financial Times and Comcast, and has recently focused increased investment in offerings targeted to meet the mid-market's needs. "To successfully transition to the cloud in such a short time is unprecedented," said Phillip Merrick, CEO of SparkPost. "We completely re-architected our product on AWS three years ago. This has given us the benefits of a modern cloud architecture, and allows us to focus on adding functionality and value for our customers, versus having to build and operate our own data centers. I am delighted with our company's progress and proud of our team's achievements." About SparkPost SparkPost is the world's #1 email infrastructure provider, offering the most performant cloud email delivery service available. Customers including Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Groupon, Marketo, Zillow, CareerBuilder, the Financial Times and Comcast send over 3 trillion messages a year, more than 25 percent of the world's non-spam email. These companies choose SparkPost to provide the deliverability, speed to launch and data insights they need to drive customer engagement for their business. Follow us on Twitter @SparkPost or go to sparkpost.com. Media Contact: Bethany Weiss Floraday +1 415.786.9583 [email protected] SOURCE SparkPost Related Links https://www.sparkpost.com ST. CLOUD, Minn., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stearns Bank N.A. is donating $250,000 to the American Red Cross to aid local relief efforts in areas of Texas and Florida affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. In addition, Stearns Bank employees, with a matching donation from the Norman C. Skalicky Foundation, has also given $30,000 to support the American Red Cross. "Generous gifts like the one from Stearns Bank enable American Red Cross volunteers to be there when disaster strikes, providing essentials such as safe shelter, hot food, medication and emotional support to families and individuals in their darkest days," said Stephen Birkhauser, Chief Development Officer for the American Red Cross. "We simply could not respond if not for donations made out of compassion for those in need." The $250,000 donation is part of a broader hurricane relief program implemented by Stearns Bank, offering customers in Texas and Florida the chance to repair and rebuild from hurricane damage using zero-percent interest loans with no fees. "In addition to the bank donation and the employee contribution to the American Red Cross, Stearns Bank extended $5 million to help our customers get operational as quickly as possible," said Matt Geist, Chief Financial Officer of Stearns Bank. "By offering interest-free, no-fee loans, we made a commitment to forego profit and focus on our customers' recovery." Since its launch on September 18, more than 200 business customers within the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) designated area have taken part in Stearns Bank's Hurricane Relief Express Loan program. "We had many customers in Texas and Florida who were hit hard by recent hurricanes," added Norm Skalicky, CEO of Stearns Bank. "To be able to help them in their time of need is something we didn't have to think twice about. It's part of our commitment to get the job done. We're happy to help contribute to this relief effort and glad to see so many customers getting back on their feet." Stearns Bank actively supports organizations that directly aid and benefit communities, including local food shelves, housing organizations, education and youth mentorship, and various other charitable groups. About Stearns Bank | We get the job done! Minnesota-based Stearns Bank National Association is a $2 billion, independently-owned financial institution with locations in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona, and over 33,000 small business customers nationwide, in every U.S. state. Recognized as the #1 performing bank in the nation by both American Banker and Independent Banker magazines, Stearns specializes in small business lending and equipment financing. Driven by its mission to deliver outstanding personal service, fast decisions, and customized finance solutions, Stearns gets the job done! For more information, visit StearnsBank.com. Media Inquiries: Robin Studniski Assistant Vice President [email protected] 320-650-2383 SOURCE Stearns Bank N.A. Related Links https://www.stearnsbank.com ASHBURN, Va., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SteelCloud LLC announced today that it has enhanced ConfigOS, its patented STIG remediation software, to support the newly released Ubuntu, SUSE, and Oracle Linux STIGs. These new supported platforms bolster the product's existing Red Hat Linux automated STIG remediation capabilities. The expanded ConfigOS Linux security content will be provided to new and existing customers at no additional charge. "ConfigOS now has automated STIG support for every version of Linux that has a published DISA STIG," said Brian Hajost, SteelCloud President and CEO. "Our customers depend on us to keep them current by supporting the newest STIGs. It is all about choice and we want to make sure that we give our customers the ability to efficiently deploy and support the compliant platforms most appropriate for their missions. ConfigOS is very compelling in that a single instance of the software automates STIG remediation across all versions of Linux and Windows in a single pass." ConfigOS is currently implemented in classified and unclassified environments, tactical programs, disconnected labs, and the AWS commercial cloud. ConfigOS is client-less technology, requiring no software agents. ConfigOS scans endpoint systems and remediates hundreds of STIG controls in under in under 90 seconds. Automated remediation rollback as well as comprehensive compliance reporting and STIG Viewer XCCDF output are provided. ConfigOS was designed to harden every CAT 1/2/3 STIG control around an application baseline in 60 minutes - typically eliminating weeks or months from the RMF accreditation timeline. ConfigOS automates the incorporation of documented policy waivers to ensure flawless automated STIG remediation and compliance reporting. In addition to commercial versions of Linux, ConfigOS also addresses CentOS and Microsoft workstation and server operating systems together with Windows applications such as SQL, IIS, IE, Chrome, and all of the Microsoft Office components including Office 2016. ConfigOS remediates all user profiles in a single pass, providing significant benefits when transitioning to Windows 10. To receive more information on ConfigOS, please contact SteelCloud at [email protected]. Video demonstrations of ConfigOS Windows and Linux STIG remediation are available on the Company's website, www.steelcloud.com, under the "Demos" tab. About SteelCloud SteelCloud develops STIG and CIS compliance software for government customers and those technology providers that support the government. Our products automate policy and security remediation by reducing the complexity, effort, and expense of meeting government security mandates. SteelCloud has delivered security policy-compliant solutions to military components around the world which simplify implementation and ongoing security and mission support. SteelCloud products are easy to license through our GSA Schedule 70 contract. SteelCloud can be reached at (703) 674-5500. Additional information is available at www.steelcloud.com or by email at [email protected]. SOURCE SteelCloud LLC Related Links http://www.steelcloud.com NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stribling & Associates, a leading New York residential brokerage, today releases the third quarter Long Island City Market Report. The report focuses on the Northwest Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Hunters Point, and Sunnyside. A strong showing for new development condos continued to push sale prices in the third quarter, with the area setting a record average price per square foot, at $1,097. "Long Island City was once thought of as a purely industrial zone," acknowledged Garrett Derderian, Director of Data & Reporting at Stribling. "However, development over the past several years has been tremendous, and the area is now the fastest growing neighborhood in the country. In the most recent quarters, price records have almost always been broken, and the third quarter was no exception." The report highlighted that while condos were the driving force behind price increases, where the median sales price jumped 10% to $875,000, the submarket is starting to see a domino effect for all property types. Both co-ops and townhouses/houses saw median and average price gains. The increases are even more prevalent for active inventory, where each property type saw their median and average prices grow by double-digits over last year. Hunters Point continued to be the most expensive neighborhood, in part because of the amount of new development. Here, the median price for active inventory rose 10% to $1,200,000, while the average was up 9% to $1,417,477. Sunnyside saw the highest average asking PPSF increase, up 27% to $688. Derderian also pointed to other developments affecting the market. "The area is one of the only true mixed-use 'cities within a city' in New York City where growth is occurring for residential, commercial, and industrial-use," stated Derderian. "There are over 10,000 units of housing still in the pipeline, on top of what has already come to market. Additionally, Long Island City is in close proximity to the upcoming Cornell Tech campus, and offers less expensive residential and office space compared to Manhattan. Mass transit, both by subway and ferry, is also an attractive element." Highlights from Stribling & Associates 3Q Long Island City Market Report: Median sales price was $795,000 Average sales price was $828,448 Average price per square foot was $1,097 (record) (record) Average days on market was 83 40% of active inventory was listed above $1M Recorded Sales: Condo units saw an average PPSF of $1,177 (record) (record) Townhouses/houses had the highest median price at $1,025,000 Co-ops had a 13% average price increase to $402,857 Hunters Point had the highest average PPSF at $1,171 Sunnyside had the largest properties averaging 958 square feet had the largest properties averaging 958 square feet All three neighborhoods saw YoY average PPSF increases Contracts Signed: Condos made up 79% of all contracts Condos recorded the highest average PPSF at $1,158 Townhouses/houses were the only property type with a median and average price above $1M All submarkets noted yearly price increases Astoria had the highest PPSF increase, up 23% to $981 had the highest PPSF increase, up 23% to Sunnyside had the highest average price increase, up 10% to $533,588 Inventory: Condos made up 67% of active inventory Condo units had the highest average PPSF at $1,162 Co-op units were the most affordable, with an average PPSF of $523 Townhouses/houses saw the highest yearly price increases All submarkets saw median and average price increases Sunnyside recorded the strongest yearly gains across all price metrics About Stribling & Associates Stribling & Associates, Ltd. is a premier residential real estate firm with over 300 agents throughout three locations in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. As one of the most renowned brokerages in New York, Stribling uses its respected expertise in the current market to provide individualized services to both buyer and sellers. Stribling agents specialize in the sale of luxury townhouses and cooperative and condominium apartments. The company's philosophy is based on professional, personalized services coupled with exceptional knowledge of key residential market trends. Stribling Private Brokerage specializes in the discreet marketing of properties over $5 million and commands a prominent market share in that sector of Manhattan residential real estate. Through strategic partnerships with Miami's Cervera and international estate services firm Savills, Stribling's global reach extends to more than 700 offices worldwide. Press Contact: Ashley Murphy, Director of Public Relations [email protected] 646-675-5068 SOURCE Stribling & Associates Related Links http://www.stribling.com "We could never have gotten this far without the many hands pitching in from across campus and the wonderful sponsors who have stepped up to support us in this journey," said engineering student and student project manager W. Paige Andros. Team Maryland took 2nd place with their housing prototype, reACT (Resilient Adaptive Climate Technology), a modular "kit-of-parts" home showcasing an innovative building system designed to adapt and respond to diverse communities and ecosystems. The winner of the competition was based on the team that best blends design excellence and smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency. "On behalf of Sugatsune, we would like to congratulate and thank the hard-working team from the University of Maryland for their dedication and hard work on this impressive housing innovation", says VP of Sales and Marketing for Sugatsune America, Curtis Nakamura. "We are thrilled to be a part of such an inspiring program that showcases brilliant young minds from around the world". About Sugatsune America, Inc. With a heritage dating back to 1930 and established in 1982, Sugatsune America, Inc. is ISO 9001 certified and has a rich tradition of manufacturing and distributing Japanese quality hardware, designed around universal design. Sugatsune America stocks over 6,000 unique parts in the U.S. to provide the highest level of service. LAMP is a registered trademark of Sugatsune Kogyo, Inc. www.sugatsune.com SOURCE Sugatsune America, Inc. Related Links http://www.sugatsune.com ANDOVER, Mass., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Casa Systems, a worldwide leader in next-generation distributed and virtualized architectures in mobile, fixed broadband and cable access networks, today announced that Sun Global Broadband LLC (SGB), a neutral host provider in Hawaii, is using Casa's AxyomWireless Access Gateway (WAG) to provide advanced user policy control and management for SGB's island-wide, long-range Wi-Fi network buildout for Smart City applications. The solution enables SGB partners, such as wireless service providers and tourism companies, to offer differentiated, revenue-generating Wi-Fi services to their customers. Using Casa's Axyom WAG, SGB's network automatically authenticates customers on the network without requiring a special key or login and ensures they remain connected throughout the entire Wi-Fi coverage area. Unlike controller-based solutions, which can be operationally complex, the simplicity and flexibility of Casa's software-based WAG allows SGB to easily isolate different user groups and device types on the network and to set, manage and enforce different sets of policies across and within those groups. "By giving us the unique ability to segment and manage policies at a such granular level, Casa's WAG has been invaluable in helping us deliver on the full potential of our strategic, long-range Wi-Fi network," said Edward Sun, CEO and Chairman of Sun Global Broadband. "Not only are we able to open up new revenue generation possibilities for SGB, we're extending that same advantage to our partners who can now create a full range of robust, on-island Wi-Fi packages tailored to meet the needs and interests of individual groups. This capability to aggregate user communities in real-time allows people to be mobile - alone but not lonely." SGB's long-range Wi-Fi network will provide high-performance and availability for services such as HD video streaming, VoWiFi and Smart City applications. Phase 1 of the island-wide project, which includes outdoor network coverage in the Diamond Head, Waikiki, Ala Moana and Ward Village areas on Oahu, is now complete. SGB also has agreements to aggregate indoor Wi-Fi with major venues and businesses around the island. "As neutral host operators like SGB continue to gain momentum, the ability to offer unique, value-added services is paramount to the success of the entire ecosystem from the neutral host to its partners, like MNOs and enterprises, as well as the customers," said Jerry Guo, CEO at Casa Systems. "The flexibility of our software-based WAG gives neutral hosts an unmatched ability to maximize the revenue potential of their network investment while offering unlimited new Wi-Fi service possibilities for their partners and customers." Casa's Axyom WAG is an access point independent virtualized gateway that provides intelligent data plane management and processing. It combines virtualization and policy shifting key functions away from CPE onto a data center appliance or to the cloud enabling mass customization of the Wi-Fi experience and leading to more monetization opportunities and faster service generation. About Sun Global Broadband LLC Sun Global Broadband and its Asian/US partners designed this network for multi-country, single sign-on capabilities for the international visitor industry and Smart City. With comprehensive studies on Pacific Rim and Hawaiian and Indigenous cultures, this network focuses on travelers' preferences from Asia, Pacific Rim, and the US. Specialized software, supporting multiple languages over a private network, will provide travel and location-based applications for cultural exchange between international travelers, Hawaii businesses, the Hawaiian community, Asia, and North American networks. About Casa Systems, Inc. Casa Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of next-generation ultra broadband distributed and virtualized architectures in mobile, fixed telecom and cable networks. As the original supplier of commercially deployed CCAP systems that deliver voice, video, and data over a single port, Casa continues a tradition that brings leading edge solutions to hundreds of service providers around the world. For more information, please visit us at http://www.casa-systems.com. CONTACT INFORMATION: Alicia Thomas Casa Systems, Inc. 100 Old River Road Andover, Mass. 01810 +1.817.909.8921 [email protected] SOURCE Casa Systems Related Links http://www.casa-systems.com COMPTON, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Synca Wellness launched its first premium branded massage chair The CirC. Synca Wellness is based out of Osaka, Japan and produces premier, high-end, health and wellness products. The Future of Massage Chairs The CIRC, the first in the line of many Synca creations is a premium, small platform, SL-Track massage chair designed for all adults. The Synca CIRC brings to the table an elegant look, feel and high-quality massage for all adults all packaged in a space-saving design. Synca Wellness designed the CIRC from the ground up to give you the most ergonomically comfortable seating angle and position. The design of the 106-degree angle between the seat and backrest creates a posture so comfortable you will not want to leave the chair. Synca is the expression of progressive and elegant design infused with real value. Each and every one of the Synca creations are driven by modern design innovation and the desire to achieve the ultimate in physical and mental relaxation. It is our mission at Synca Wellness to produce high grade, multipurpose products that are simple, yet elegant in design and performance. We will support these outstanding products with unparalleled customer service and support, quick response times and attention to all details. Synca Wellness will always be the most reliable partner our customers will have. Synca Wellness is the future of massage chairs. Media Contacts: Synca Sales Team P: 1-877-217-2862 E: [email protected] Related Files Press Release 101917 Final.pdf Related Images image1.jpg CirC image2.jpg CirC image3.jpg CirC image4.jpg CirC Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6H6ap3Cs5E SOURCE Synca Wellness DALLAS, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association, the world's leading voluntary organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, hosted its inaugural EmPOWERED To Serve Summit in Washington, D.C. on October 17 and 18. As part of the Association's EmPOWERED To Serve movement, which was developed to build a sustainable culture of health in diverse communities across America, leading experts and thought-leaders convened to discuss and address: Community transformation and the root causes that impact social determinants of health. Why and how your zip code may increase your risk of stroke, high blood pressure and other types of heart disease. Engaging unconventional partners to drive creative solutions for collaborative health impact. According to the Association, individual behaviors aren't the only factors that affect health. Community environments play a determining role in health outcomes. People living just five miles apart can have a difference in life expectancy of more than 20 years. That's why the Association will collaborate with a variety of organizations to create solutions to our communities' most complex social issues through collective impact. Additionally, as a part of the summit, 10 finalists in the American Heart Association's EmPOWERED To Serve Urban Business Storytelling Competition, which sought innovative solutions to remove barriers to health and wellbeing, presented innovative, urban business solutions to a judging panel. Three winners were selected to receive financial awards ranging from $10,000 to $30,000: First Place, $30,000 : Nyasha Nyamapfene of Gospel Run ( Chicago ) partners with the faith community to create a culture of health via organized walks and runs. : of Gospel Run ( ) partners with the faith community to create a culture of health via organized walks and runs. Second Place, $20,000 : Maria Rose Belding of MEANS Database ( Philadelphia ) uses technology to move excess food to communities in need. : of MEANS Database ( ) uses technology to move excess food to communities in need. Third Place, $10,000 : Cecil Wilson of GoffersGotIt ( Chicago ), which is an on-demand delivery service that connects people to services and access to products and income opportunities. The competition winners will now have an opportunity to implement their business solution in their selected community, partnering with local American Heart Association offices for assistance. "The EmPOWERED To Serve Summit and Urban Business Storytelling Competition are opportunities for companies, organizations and individuals to help influence and drive community change," said Rhonda Ford Chatmon, American Heart Association vice president of Health Initiatives, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate, which hosted the two-day event. "This event was designed to bring people together to identify solutions. When we focus and each bring our own talents and ideas to the table, we can truly make a difference. We assembled leaders this week to strengthen their alliance with the AHA, transferring what we discussed into meaningful action for the communities we are serving. Putting our thoughts and words into practice will ultimately deliver a sustainable culture of health and wellbeing." For additional information about EmPOWERED To Serve and to learn more about the competition winners, visit empoweredtoserve.org. About the American Heart Association The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. About the American Stroke Association The American Stroke Association is devoted to saving people from stroke the No. 2 cause of death in the world and a leading cause of serious disability. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat stroke. The Dallas-based association officially launched in 1998 as a division of the American Heart Association. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-888-4STROKE or visit StrokeAssociation.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association receives funding mostly from individuals. Foundations and corporations donate as well, and fund specific programs and events. Strict policies are enforced to prevent these relationships from influencing the Association's science content. Financial information for the American Heart Association, including a list of contributions from pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, is available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding. For Media Inquiries: (214) 706-1173 For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721) heart.org and strokeassociation.org SOURCE American Heart Association Related Links http://www.americanheart.org The event is made up of six co-located events that support various industries, including Automation Technology Expo (ATX), Design & Manufacturing, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC), Medical Design and Manufacturing (MD&M), MinnPack and PLASTEC. "We are delighted to have event partners that are helping to support growth and innovation within the industries we serve," said Nina Brown, vice president of events, UBM. "We are continuing a strong relationship with Medical Alley, funding scholarships to develop the future packaging workforce with IoPP, and it's also fantastic to have a spectrum of partners that serve advanced manufacturing." "The Medical Alley Association takes great pride in supporting businesses in Medical Alley, the global epicenter of health innovation and care, making MD&M Minneapolis an ideal partner for our organization," said Shaye Mandle, president and CEO, Medical Alley Association. "For over 22 years, MD&M Minneapolis has been a premiere gathering place for industry professionals, and we have no doubt our shared commitment to the innovation and evolution of healthcare will enhance this year's programming." All four partners will be present in the expo hall, providing the over 5,500 in attendance with the latest information in their respective industries: Medical Alley Association (booth 2403)Acts as the voice of the Medical Alley Community in Minneapolis and delivers information on the medical technology industry as a whole and delivers information on the medical technology industry as a whole The Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) (booth 737)A professional organization that serves the packaging community through networking and relationship building opportunities. The IoPP will also announce the recipients of its packaging scholarship program funded by UBM, which is awarded to select packaging schools in order to help develop local packaging education programs. The scholarship recipients will be announced on November 9, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. at MedTech Association (booth 2647)Represents New York State's medical industry and acts as an advocate for the field Minnesota Precision Manufacturing AssociationRepresents the manufacturing industry within Minnesota (and has a membership base of over 300) Register for MD&M Minneapolis To register for MD&M Minneapolis please visit: minneapolis.am.ubm.com/2017/registrations/MDM To register for a media pass, please visit: minneapolis.am.ubm.com/2017/registrations/media Follow us on social: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, #AdvMfgExpo Future Events: About Advanced Manufacturing Expos & Conferences UBM's Advanced Manufacturing portfolio is the leading B-to-B event producer, publisher, and digital media business for the world's $3 trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing industry. Our print and electronic products deliver trusted information to the advanced manufacturing market and leverage our proprietary 1.3 million name database to connect suppliers with buyers and purchase influencers. We produce more than 50 events and conferences in a dozen countries, connecting manufacturing professionals from around the globe. The Advanced Manufacturing portfolio 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 Advanced Manufacturing Expos & Conferences Leaders in technology, media and the spirits industries gathered to celebrate the launch. Each guest was invited to step into another world to experience unique art installations within the mixed reality gallery using the power of Microsoft HoloLens . The Macallan is one of the first spirits brands to use this cutting edge technology which is the first self-contained holographic computer, enabling guests to engage with digital content and interact with holograms in the world around them. The gallery installation itself features custom-crafted, interactive art pieces that communicate what makes The Macallan 12 Year Old whiskies so distinctive. The journey includes a visit to the American and European oak forests, where The Macallan sources the wood to make the casks where the whiskies are aged, and through The Macallan's legendary process to help attendees gain an understanding of the unique oak types, natural color, and flavor notes of each whisky. It's the perfect combination of Macallan whisky-making craftsmanship and breakthrough technology. "The Macallan is always at the forefront of innovation, tirelessly seeking the best ways to connect with our technologically-savvy audience," noted Raul Gonzalez, VP Marketing and Business Development at The Macallan. "As we have used virtual reality in the past, using AR in Gallery 12 was a natural next step in bringing the two stories of our core 12 Year Old expressions to life. It's an innovative and fun way to have drinkers learn about and enjoy both 12 Year Old whiskies." As an extension of the Gallery 12 augmented reality exhibit, The Macallan created an AR app experience designed specifically for Apple's latest, most advanced ARKit platform on iOS 11. This uniquely interactive experience brings the story of The Macallan two 12 Year Old whiskies to life, from acorn to bottle. The app includes a glimpse through a virtual window at the brand's extensive wood sourcing process, along with an artistic look at both 12 Year Old whiskies' 100% natural colors and distinctive flavors. The brand will be using the app for educational experiences with consumers and trade and is meant to be used both at home and on shelf in bars and liquor stores. To download The Macallan 12 AR Experience, click here. The Macallan Gallery 12 launched in New York City this week, and will be traveling to Miami, Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco throughout the fall. ABOUT THE TWO 12 YEAR OLD WHISKIES: The Macallan Double Cask 12, is a perfect balance of 100% sherry-seasoned American and European oak. Defined by a modern, American oak sherry cask style, with notes of honey, citrus and fresh oak, melded perfectly with classic Macallan hints of dried fruit, this expression is very approachable, sweet and refreshingly smooth. Comparably, The Macallan Sherry Oak 12 is a Macallan classic with dried fruit flavors, spices, toffee and wood smoke, and a deliciously long and smooth finish. The whisky is aged in 100% sherry-seasoned oak casks and is defined by the iconic, rich sherried flavor that made The Macallan famous. Click the following links to learn more about The Macallan Sherry Oak 12 Years Old and Double Cask 12 Years Old whiskies. ABOUT THE MACALLAN: Founded in 1824 in the heart of Speyside, The Macallan was one of the first distilleries in Scotland to be legally licensed. Since then it has built a reputation as one of the world's finest single malt whiskies. The story of The Macallan is built on the Six Pillars, each influencing the whisky in its own distinct way. From the spiritual home of Easter Elchies House; curiously small stills giving richness to the pure spirit; finest cut or the best of the best of the distillation, to exceptional oak casks which account for up to 80% of the final flavor in the whisky; natural color and finally peerless spirit, The Macallan itself. Wood sits at the heart of The Macallan. The vital contributing influences of Spain, North America and Scotland, together with true mastery, set it apart from the rest. For more information on The Macallan, visit www.themacallan.com. The Macallan can also be found on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram 2017 The Macallan Distillers Limited, The Macallan Scotch Whisky, Imported by Edrington Americas, New York, NY. PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY. SOURCE The Macallan MEDIA, Pa., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tolan Group -- A Member of the Sanford Rose Associates Network of Offices - is pleased to announce the successful placement of Cindy Bertrando as the new Chief Financial Officer of Elwyn -- a nationally recognized leader in education and support services for children and adults with intellectual and behavioral challenges. The search was led by Tim Tolan and Kaye Johnson of The Tolan Group. Cindy is a seasoned transformational financial leader with a track record of delivering superior results. Prior to joining Elwyn, Cindy worked for AstraZeneca for eight years in various senior financial roles. This included CFO of the operations in Turkey, based in Istanbul and Chief Audit Executive for the global organization, based in London. Prior to this, Cindy spent twenty years at KPMG and was the partner in charge of the Business Performance Services practice in the Mid-Atlantic region. Her career at KPMG included time in both the audit and consulting practices. "Elwyn provides high quality services in an environment where funding is often threatened and financial discipline is a top priority," said Charles McLister, Elwyn President and CEO. "We are therefore immensely pleased to have Cindy joining our team, as she brings extensive private sector experience in all facets of financial planning and management and will be a valuable asset in our strategic growth plans." "Making the decision to join Elwyn was an easy one for me," said Cindy Bertrando. "I am honored to be part of such a mission driven organization where every Elwyn employee can make a difference in people's lives," she added. "I look forward to working with the leadership team and the Board to continue the great work we do here at Elwyn." Having served the recruiting needs of business and industry since 1959, Sanford Rose Associates is one of the oldest and largest recruiting firms in the United States. For more information please contact Hanna Tidwell, Marketing Coordinator at 904-875-4787, ext. 6013 or by email, [email protected]. The Tolan Group 475 West Town Place | Suite 100 St. Augustine, FL 32092 SOURCE The Tolan Group LEHI, Utah, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TravelPass Group, a hotel marketplace with over a million properties worldwide, today announced a joint venture with Best Day Travel Group, one of the top leisure travel companies in Latin America, to improve the visibility of Latin America and Caribbean offerings for U.S. travelers. Best Day Travel Group's joint venture with TravelPass Group combines an expertise in regional offerings with the leading proprietary technology in the travel industry to access customers who are searching for those offerings. Recognized for its exclusive offers and distinguished services in Cancun, all of Mexico, and the Caribbean, Best Day Travel Group offers highly specialized vacation packages, hotels, flights, transfers and tours throughout the region. Best Day Travel Group will leverage TravelPass Group's robust data systems and sophisticated marketplace that raised the bar on efficient customer acquisition, and understanding traveler discovery and booking preferences in the U.S. The venture will power Cancun.com, Viarta.com and Cabos.com in building the most comprehensive, destination-centric travel sites, strong fulfillment partnerships, and TravelPass Group's propriety technology to offer full service customer care. Currently, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos are some of the premier travel destinations in the world. "Best Day Travel Group is a strong, trusted brand that offers tremendous expertise and value to leisure travelers through its established relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean," said Daniel A. Nelson, executive chairman of TravelPass Group. "We're excited about this opportunity to help more travelers, especially from North America, find and enjoy the Best Day Travel Group experience that makes vacations to the Latin America and Caribbean regions special." "TravelPass Group is extremely knowledgeable and has an impressive platform that will help us improve visibility and create premier travel discovery sites for our customers," said Christian N. Kremers, CEO of Best Day Travel Group. "They have an astonishing track record and have been successful in a U.S. market that is dominated by big players and brand name companies." About TravelPass Group TravelPass Group is a leading technology company in the travel industry. Spun out of the Utah-based company Partner Fusion, TravelPass Group is a marketplace for independent and brand name hotels, wholesalers, and the world's largest travel agencies, providing travelers with the best rates. TravelPass Group has been featured multiple times as one of the fastest growing companies locally and nationally by Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 5000. TravelPass Group books 10,000 room nights per day through its five travel-related websites, including Reservation Counter and Reservation Desk, and a best-in-class customer service center that helps travelers access more than a million properties worldwide. About Best Day Travel Group Best Day Travel Group is the leading online travel agency in Mexico, and one of the leading Latin American travel industry companies with a strong focus in business-to-business distribution. Best Day Travel understands vacation travel trends and customer requests for the most popular Latin American destinations and offers the best hotel inventory content in the region. The Cancun-based company is a vertically integrated business model with an innovative technology infrastructure that leverages the expertise of six subsidiaries. These include BestDay.com, an online travel agency; BD TRAVEL Solution, a white label technology for partners; HotelDO, services for traditional travel agencies and wholesalers; BD Travel, a leading destination management company in Mexico and Punta Cana; Voiash, a travel brand focused on youth and millennials; and Gran Plan, a strategic alliance with Aeromexico working with more than 120 travel agencies in Mexico. Contact Chelsea Robie Method Communications [email protected] SOURCE TravelPass Group Related Links https://www.travelpassgroup.com/ The yearlong project involved moving from 8,200 square feet to a 20,000 square foot office space, upstairs in the same building at 125 Cambridgepark Drive. The TriNetX team has grown from 20 to 75 and the company had outgrown its existing space. "We wanted to stay in Cambridge because of the proximity to our clients and partners, and it allows us to retain our talented group of employees," said Chris Fraser, Vice President, Finance & Administration who headed the relocation project. "It was equally important that the new space reflected our personality and aligned with our corporate values around teamwork, creativity and wellness." The new space features an open office concept, but also includes numerous huddle rooms, phone rooms, conference rooms, and a libraryall fully equipped with the latest in audio/video collaboration tools. Each workstation features a sit-to-stand option desk. The focal point of the new headquarters is a centrally located cafe that provides a convenient area for employees to interact out of the direct workspace. A key feature of the new space is the Network Operations Center (NOC). This is a wall of large screen displays that monitor a variety of activities including the health of the network, real-time visibility to the TriNetX platform, and the operating status of the TriNetX appliances located at healthcare organizations all over the world. "This allows us to keep a close eye on our network and systems," said Fraser. "It also helps us monitor our devices in the field to make sure they are operating properly. We can keep an eye on client activity so we are better prepared to respond to the needs of our clients and partners." TriNetX leveraged a team of vendors to help facilitate the move including Freudenheim Partners Real Estate, STV/DPM for project management, IA Interior Architects to help design the space, J. Calnan & Associates to build out the new offices, and Creative Office Pavilion to supply all the furniture and workstations. About TriNetX TriNetX is the global health research network enabling healthcare organizations, biopharma and contract research organizations (CROs) to collaborate, enhance trial design, accelerate recruitment and bring new therapies to market faster. Each member of our community shares in the consolidated value of our global, federated health research network that connects clinical researchers in real-time to the patient populations which they are attempting to study. For more information, you can follow us at @TriNetX on Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or visit https://www.trinetx.com/. Media Contact: Julia Weber Racepoint Global (617) 624-3234 [email protected] SOURCE TriNetX Related Links http://www.trinetx.com LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This U.S. value-added water industry research report From Beverage Marketing Corporation assesses the current state of the market. It provides an overview of the sub-segments including regular and low-calorie enhanced waters, flavored water, alkaline water and essence water. Principal competitors are identified along with small, growing companies and their brands. It includes analysis of leading brands' advertising expenditures, market drivers that will propel growth and five year market projections. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3435710 The answers you need The Value-Added Water report provides in-depth data and market analysis, shedding light on various aspects of the market through BMC's reliable data and discussions of what the numbers really mean. Questions answered in this market report include: What are the leading brands, and how did they perform in 2016? What product types comprise the category? What percentage of market share does each sub-segment hold? What trends and developments drive the U.S. market for vitamin enhanced and other value added waters? How big is the U.S. value-added bottled water market, as measured in wholesale dollars and gallons? What is the likely market size for flavored, enhanced, alkaline and other value-added waters over the next five years? This U.S. Value Added Water report features The report assesses the historical and current state of the market and provides a look forward at category expectations through 2021. Category performance is analyzed through discussion of trends as well as a look at volume, retail dollar, wholesale dollar and per capita consumption figures. The report provides an in-depth look at the leading companies and brands in the category and the drivers likely to propel consumption growth. This comprehensive industry report includes analysis of distribution channels, packaging, advertising expenditures and demographics as well as category projections. Through in-depth analysis backed by Beverage Marketing's reliable, all-sales-channel-inclusive data, readers of this market research get a thorough understanding of all facets of the market including: An overview and current statistics of the overall bottled water, as well as value-added water markets. A drill-down into the various sub-segments of the market, with statistical data on volume, per capita consumption, retail dollars and wholesale dollars by sub-segment for regular enhanced water, low-calorie enhanced water, flavored water, alkaline water and essence water. Detailed profiles and analysis of the leading companies and brands, discussions of their marketing activities and distribution strategies as well as company and brand sales volume data. Coverage includes Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Sunny Delight Beverages Company, Nestle Waters North America (NWNA), Aquahydrate, Herbal Water Inc., Hint Inc., Bai Brands, Karma Culture, Essentia Water, Avitae USA and Core Nutrition. Data detailing volume of value-added sub-segments by distribution channels. An analysis of volume by container type, including plastic and pouches, also broken down by value-added sub-segments. Advertising expenditures of the leading brands and a look at category spending by 18 media types (including Internet). Consumer demographic profiles comparing consumers of key segments. Five-year projections for the market and its sub-segments through 2021. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3435710 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com ValiMail offers the only guaranteed enforcement email authentication product on the market today. The ValiGov Service will be free for U.S. government agencies to use until they achieve enforcement, which is a DMARC policy that instructs receiving mail servers to delete or quarantine messages that fail authentication. ValiMail began a pilot program of its ValiGov product with Fannie Mae earlier this year, resulting in complete protection from email impersonation of the government-sponsored enterprise's many email domains. Fannie Mae, which is the largest provider of liquidity in the U.S. mortgage market, is now protected from all same-domain impersonations by ValiMail's technology. "The success we've achieved with Fannie Mae inspired us to make this product more broadly available," said Alexander Garcia-Tobar, the CEO and co-founder of ValiMail. "Within a month, Fannie Mae was already seeing benefits of email authentication at enforcement, and within six months we had protected all of their email-sending domains." DMARC, for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance, is a widely used standard for stopping fake, impersonated email by guaranteeing that only authorized senders can use an organization's domain name in their emails. It allows domain owners to specify which senders are authorized, and set a policy for how receiving mail servers handle messages that fail to authenticate. When that policy is set to enforcement, it guarantees that emails using a domain name without authorization will not be delivered. ValiMail's analysis of more than 1,300 .gov domains shows that while 18 percent have published DMARC records, a significant number contain errors. Even more are set to the most nonrestrictive policy, which provides no protection against impersonation. Only 4 percent of .gov domains have valid DMARC records that are set to an enforcement policy, ValiMail has found. The rest are still vulnerable to email impersonation. Furthermore, of 61 domains used by the military (including 51 .mil domains as well as defense.gov, goarmy.com, commissary.com, and other public-facing domains), zero have published DMARC reports. This means all of these military domains can be spoofed via email. "This week's announcement by DHS is particularly timely given that phishing has reached epidemic levels," added Garcia-Tobar. "Phishing rates observed by many analysts are higher than they have ever been in history, and phishing attacks are the primary vector for cyberattacks of all kinds. 91 percent of attacks start with a phish and most of those phish are outright impersonations of a sender's email address." The vast majority of the world's inboxes 76 percent, or 4.8 billion inboxes support DMARC, including 100 percent of the U.S.'s largest email providers, including Google, Oath (Yahoo/AOL/Verizon), Microsoft, and more. When domain owners publish DMARC records and set them to an enforcement policy, that means phishing and email impersonations are stopped outright before they reach the inbox without the uncertainty or risk of anti-phishing approaches based solely on content filtering or end-user training. About ValiMail ValiMail has developed the world's first cloud service that fully automates email authentication. ValiMail enables organizations to stop phishing attacks, control shadow email, and improve the reputation of their email domain. ValiMail's patented, standards-compliant technology provides the only zero-administration solution to enable trusted email for enterprises. Customers include Uber, Fannie Mae, Yelp, Twilio, Time Warner, Square, OpenTable, and City National Bank. Founded in 2016, ValiMail is based in San Francisco and is backed by Shasta Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Bloomberg Beta. For more information visit www.ValiMail.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Dylan Tweney, ValiMail head of communications, [email protected] SOURCE ValiMail Related Links http://www.valimail.com The AutoDrive Challenge is a three-year program that challenges student engineering teams from elite university programs to test autonomous technologies and develop Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Each year of the program, SAE will host a competition among participating student groups, culminating in a final competition that tasks the vehicles with navigating an urban driving course. Velodyne is providing up to two VLP-16 Puck sensors to each student team, along with technical support from engineers. The VLP-16 is an advanced 3D LiDAR sensor with low power consumption and a small form factor that can be easily integrated into autonomous vehicles. LiDAR is acknowledged as an important sensing technology for autonomous vehicles and advanced safety systems, so it will be key in helping student teams field competitive vehicles. "Velodyne is honored to sponsor SAE International's AutoDrive Challenge as a technology provider," said David Hall, Founder and CEO, Velodyne LiDAR. "Autonomous cars are the world's next critical engineering challenge, and it is a unique privilege to work with SAE to ensure students have access to LiDAR sensors, a key technology in addressing this challenge." Earlier this year, SAE formally reviewed proposals from universities and accepted eight teams for participation. Along with a Chevy Bolt EV as the platform vehicle, the university teams will receive components from strategic partners like Velodyne to aid in their technology development. Throughout the AutoDrive Challenge competition cycle, students and faculty are invited to attend workshops to help refine concepts and increase overall technical understanding of autonomous technology. "SAE is very excited to welcome Velodyne to the AutoDrive Challenge as an official equipment supplier," said Chris Ciuca, Director of Pre-Professional Education at SAE International. "Velodyne's partnership provides students with the vital resources necessary to accomplish the demanding goals of the competition." Velodyne invented and patented the world's first 3D real-time LiDAR sensor for autonomous vehicles. Over the last ten years, Velodyne sensors have been installed in thousands of vehicles around the world, traveling millions of real-world miles. Velodyne is the industry standard for localization and environmental perception, providing the core technology for dozens of autonomous vehicle programs in over 10 countries. About Velodyne LiDAR Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Velodyne is a technology company known worldwide for its real-time 3D LiDAR sensors. The company evolved after founder/inventor David Hall developed the HDL-64 Solid-State Hybrid LiDAR sensor in 2005. Since then, Velodyne LiDAR Inc. emerged as the unmatched market leader of real-time 3D vision systems used in a variety of commercial applications including autonomous vehicles, vehicle safety systems, mobile mapping, aerial mapping, and security. Its products range from the high-performance, surround view Ultra-Puck VLP-32, classic HDL-32/64 and cost-effective VLP-16, to the upcoming, hidden Velarray. Velodyne's rich suite of perception software and algorithms are the key enablers of its perception systems. Velodyne supports customers from offices in San Jose, Detroit, Frankfurt, and Beijing. For more information, visit http://www.velodynelidar.com. Velodyne LiDAR Media Contact Andrew Hussey, Communications Director [email protected] (408) 966-5078 SOURCE Velodyne LiDAR Inc. Related Links http://www.velodynelidar.com The world's largest mobile electronics sourcing event, METF featured 6,400 booths showcasing the most popular and innovative electronics products from Greater China region, South Korea and other Asian countries. During the Fair, VOCOlinc launched its new PM2 Wi-Fi power strip and L1 Wi-Fi smart lightbulb, both of which are available for purchase on Amazon. "It's a thrill to be able to unveil our latest innovations at METF," said Felix Liu, CEO of VOCOlinc. "By 2021, more than 220 million devices featuring a virtual assistant will be in operation around the world. We believe that prospects are extremely good for us and we are confident that our cutting-edge products will be able to win a significant share of the intelligent home market." Nominated as an Analyst's Choice at the Fair, the new PM2 Wi-Fi power strip has a simple but classic design that uses environmentally-friendly materials. It works with Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit, allowing users to easily voice-control lights and appliances. It is also equipped with a power meter that allows it to track power consumption for energy monitoring. Another new product, the L1 Wi-Fi smart lightbulb, can be voice-controlled through Homekit and Alexa, or via an app. The smart lightbulb also features a 16 million-color control, allowing for more personal choices for users for different occasions. More exciting new product offerings that utilize voice control are on the way, including smart monitors, smart locks and home security cameras. "These nominations affirm VOCOlinc's position as a leader in outstanding product design, as well as research and development," Liu said. We love what we do for our consumers: making their home a better and smarter place. Every VOCOlinc product is user-friendly, and has stable connectivity with caring design." For more information, please visit www.vocolinc.com. About VOCOlinc VOCOlinc is Foneric's latest independent overseas brand. It is focused on developing voice-activated home automation products that are easy and convenient to use. Its product line covers every part of the home and creates a network where all its smart products can be connected. About Foneric Founded in 2009, Foneric focuses on wireless communication and mobile Hi-Fi audio technology innovation. As a leading solution provider, Foneric develops and manufactures numerous consumer electronics with exceptional quality and user experience for global customers. Its unique product designs have won a number of industry awards in the past. The company has over 200 employees worldwide. Two R&D centers are located in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Contact: Tony Zhang +86-137-6026-8692 [email protected] SOURCE VOCOlinc Related Links http://www.vocolinc.com WHITEFISH, Montana, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Whitefish Energy Holdings, LLC today announced its continued support of the Puerto Rico power restoration mission with the formal approval and ratification by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Board of Governors of the company's $300 million agreement with PREPA. Whitefish Energy has been working for PREPA since Sept. 26, 2017 to repair and reconstruct electrical transmission infrastructure on the island. The company has been providing, and continues to provide, daily updates on its progress. Three hundred Whitefish Energy employees and subcontractors have temporarily relocated to Puerto Rico from all over the United States mainland. Whitefish Energy is mobilizing an additional 700 people to support the critical mission of restoring power to Puerto Rico as quickly as possible. Working side-by-side with the engineering team of PREPA, Whitefish Energy has already repaired several miles of key transmission and distribution lines, bringing the team within days of energizing and restoring power to multiple Puerto Rico towns and communities. Consistent with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello's plan, Whitefish Energy is committed to restoring power to 100 percent of the island, and ensuring Puerto Rico has an improved, resilient electrical grid. For Whitefish Energy daily progress updates please visit facebook.com/WhitefishEnergy or twitter.com/WhitefishEnergy. Media Contacts: Chris Chiames [email protected] SOURCE Whitefish Energy Holdings, LLC DUBAI, UAE, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Xpress Money, one of the world's most dependable money transfer brands is set to showcase Xpress Money 'Flex', 'One' and 'Biz' its customizable remittance solutions at Money2020, the world's largest marketplace for ideas, connections and deals in Payments and Financial Services. Xpress Money's business solutions are designed to give organizations customizable options based on their business needs. Whether a money transfer brand is looking to expand its reach or a retail chain, telco, banking or non-banking business wants to offer remittance services to its existing customer base, Xpress Money has a solution for all. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151023/279887LOGO ) Xpress Money Flex: For businesses that are already in the finance or remittance space looking to offer more convenience or reach to its customers. This is a flexible solution that offers everything a business would need - compliance (KYC, AML, regulatory reporting), agent management, online self-service, money transfer app, and the market leading money transfer software. Xpress Money Flex is compatible with any system, which eliminates any major modification requirements. The technology is for everyone, from startups to global enterprises. One just needs to simply plug into the proprietary API to get started. Xpress Money One: The money transfer business is not restricted to just financial institutions. With Xpress Money One any business that has a customer facing digital presence, can create its own money transfer platform through a white labelled website with its own brand identity. Xpress Money Biz: Specifically designed to cater to retail chains and other offline businesses, Xpress Money Biz empowers brands to process remittance transactions for its customers. Brands can also look to increase footfalls to its stores by attracting a whole new set of customers looking for a convenient money transfer service. Speaking about these business solutions, Xpress Money COO, Sudhesh Giriyan said, "Our customizable solutions are designed to empower any businesses looking to foray into the remittance industry. Whether a brand wants to expand its current payout network or another wanting a complete 360 degree remittance interface, we have the capabilities to customize based on the needs of the business." He further added, "Our larger goal is to make money transfers accessible to the largest possible audience in the most convenient and cost-effective ways. This could only see the light of day if we as an industry collaborate and share our expertise to create real value for this larger cause." Many trusted financial and non-financial institutions, such as Travelex, WorldRemit, ADCB, Seamless etc. have partnered with Xpress Money for its business solutions to offer convenient money transfer services to their customers across the globe. Xpress Money has partnered with NICE Actimize, the global leader in financial crime risk management to ensure that its customers' money is always safe. Its trusted network ensures compliance to regulations and set guidelines of different countries across the world. Xpress Money has been a formidable name in the global money transfer business for nearly two decades. Over the years, the brand has partnered with some of the most trusted financial and non-financial institutions, renowned international money transfer operators (IMTOs), telcos and online remittance players around the world to build a strong and credible network, making it one of the most dependable money transfer brands globally. About 'Xpress Money ' 'Xpress Money' is a global money transfer brand with a thriving presence in more than 165 countries across all continents through 200,000 agent locations. 'Xpress Money' has come to be known as the most dependable international money transfer brand and provides its customers a simple, fast & safe way to transfer money through innovative technology, superior customer service and its extensive worldwide network. For more information, follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/XpressMoney, Twitter: @Xpress_Money or visit http://www.xpressmoney.com SOURCE Xpress Money Services Ltd. Author Katherine Paterson, who has twice won the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award, and who served as the National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature from 20102012, returns with her first new novel since 2011. My Brigadista Year, a historical novel for middle graders, reveals a little-known bit of history through the experiences of 13-year-old Lora, a Cuban girl who volunteers for Fidel Castros 1961 national literacy campaign in a dangerous political climate. Paterson reflected on how her curiosity about this intriguing topic rekindled her desire to write. What drew you to write about Cuba in your latest book? I had been invited to present a talk at the International Board on Books for Young People Reading 2015 International Congress in Havana. Prior to my trip, I was at the state house in Vermont, where I live, when I ran into my friend Mary Leahy [sister of U.S. senator Patrick Leahy]. When I told Mary I was going to Cuba, she said, Im so jealous! She told me how she had modeled her work with adult basic education in central Vermont on the 1961 literacy campaign in Cuba. The Cubans had volunteers who lived with the people, who learned from the students just as the students were learning from them. I had never heard of it and I was intrigued by it. What kind of research did you do for this book and what did you learn about that piece of Cuban history, and about Cuban politics? In my research, I discovered Jonathan Kozols book Children of the Revolution: A Yankee Teacher in the Cuban Schools, and the documentary film Maestra by Catherine Murphy, which were both very rich resources for me. As I read, and watched the film, I learned that in fall 1960, shortly after Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, he announced to the U.N. General Assembly that within a years time, Cuba was going to become a literate nation. More than 250,000 Cubans volunteered for his literacy effort, becoming known as brigadistas, or members of the volunteer teaching brigade. More than half of those brigadistas were female, and about 108,000 of them were between the ages of 12 and 18. These volunteers went into rural areas to teach the campesinos to read and write. As I was about to head to Cuba to address people concerned about literacy, I knew that I wanted to make this campaign the heart of what I was going to say in my speech. By coincidence, I found out that my friend in Cuba, professor Emilia Gallego Alfonso, who was also the organizer of the 2015 IBBY conference, had been a brigadista. Shes the kind of person who always said whatever she thought. For so many of the women I read about, the campaign they had been part of as teenagers has been the pivotal experience of their lives. Theres a favorite quote from one of them that I use in the book: I taught the campesinos how to read and write and they taught me how to be a person. Its not that I think Fidel Castro is a wonderful guy, but I think we need to recognize that he did do some remarkably good things for the ordinary Cuban people. At the end of that year [1961], the U.N. observers declared Cuba the only illiteracy-free country in the western hemisphere. And its still a 99.9% literate nation. This is your first writing project in several years. What made this the one to pursue? The more I learned about the brigadistas and the literacy campaign the more excited I became. I had really not written anything since my husband John died [in 2013]. Id had a good run, and I thought Id retired, but then I got excited about this, so I wrote to [Candlewick president and publisher] Karen Lotz. Shes a family friend and she had published The Flint Heart, which I wrote with my husband. I asked her whether she was interested and whether the book should be fiction or nonfiction. When she voted for fiction, I thought maybe it could be a fictional picture book sort of thing, but it got bigger. Its one of those books I truly loved writing. Some books are sort of agony, but this was a pure delight. Now that youve reignited a creative spark, are you working on anything else? Not just yet. Ive never been one of these writers who had millions of ideas. My family began to laugh at me because after Id finish a book Id say Well, that was a good career while it lasted. Thats the point where I am nowit was a good career while it lasted. But its not dead yet; I really thought I was through writing novels and I was thrilled to be able to write another one. Anything else is a bonus. My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson. Candlewick, $15.99 Oct. 24 ISBN 978-0-7636-9508-8 Earlier this month, Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat embarked on an eight-city tour in honor of his latest picture book, After the Fall, which tells the story of Humpty Dumptys triumph over his fear of heights. In keeping with the books themes, the tour increased in elevation at every stop. The celebration kicked off at sea level at Octavia Books in New Orleans on October 3 and culminated at Second Star to the Right in the mile-high city of Denver on October 11. We present some highlights from the interactive events, which featured arts and crafts, storytimes, cake, and more. The author-illustrator serves up some bookish birthday cake at Octavia Books in New Orleans. Santat strikes a pose with students at Metairie Academy in Metairie, La. Inside the Reading Lodge at Griffin Elementary School in Houston. Santat takes his tour to new heights with astronaut Leland Melvin at the Kinkaid School in Houston. Inspired by After the Fall, students at Menchaca Elementary School in Austin created a Wall of Things to Overcome. Students take part in an interactive storytime at Drummond Elementary School in St. Ann, Mo. Photo: The Novel Neighbor Santat leads an arts and crafts activity at Brazee Street Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo: Blue Manatee Dont break the hand-decorated eggs at Falcon Heights Elementary in Falcon Heights, Minn. The author-illustrator reads from his book at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn. Santat meets one of his youngest fans at Addendum Books in St. Paul. The illustrator demonstrates his drawing skills for a student at Freeman Elementary School in Haysville, Kans., with Watermark Books & Cafe. Santat signs a book for Mario and Wonder Woman at Cheltenham Elementary School in Denver, at an event hosted by Second Star to the Right. At 5,280 feet above sea level, the tour reached its peak. This week, a celebration honors The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; The Snowy Day gets its own Forever stamps; Lauren Tarshis finds a fitting book launch location; Marla Frazee, David Shannon, and Mark Teague are serenaded; Laurie Hernandez meets a stylish fan; and Loren Long says good day and good night. Happy Anniversary Author Sherman Alexie (center) celebrated the 10th anniversary of the publication of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, with Thalia Kids Book Club at Symphony Space in New York City on October 13. Joining Alexie was YA author Laurie Halse Anderson (r.), who spoke in conversation with Alexie about reading, writing, and life. Actor Dylan Carusona (l.) also performed a reading from the novel. The Snowy Day Forever The United States Postal Service has issued new Forever stamps featuring images from Ezra Jack Keatss The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962). The Central Library at the Brooklyn Public Library held a dedication ceremony on October 4. Among those who spoke at the event was Andrea Davis Pinkney, v-p and editor-at-large at Scholastic. She is also the author of A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy Day (Viking, 2016). Living History Lauren Tarshis (back, l.) recently launched her tour for I Survived the American Revolution, 1776, the newest addition to her chapter book series based on historical events. Tarshis held the kick-off at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, which was the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, the largest of the Revolutionary War. Tarshis will make additional stops at historically significant locations in the Massachusetts and New York tri-state areas. Wasnt That a Band? Illustrators Marla Frazee, David Shannon, and Mark Teague were guests at the National Center for Childrens Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Tex., for the centers 20 Years of Art festivities. The illustrators provided gallery artist presentations and took part in a panel discussion called An Introduction to Childrens Picture Book Illustration and Publishing. But it wasnt all work. Seen here, the illustrators enjoy the sounds of musical ensemble The Cowboy Band during a gala celebration: (from l.) Lynda Johnson Robb (former First Lady of Virginia and chairman emeritus, Reading Is Fundamental), Mark Teague, David Shannon, and Marla Frazee. Me Tu-Tu! The fourth annual Morristown Festival of Books was held in Morristown, N.J., on October 14. Authors in attendance at the KidFest portion of the festival included Kate DiCamillo, Cressida Cowell, Lauren Tarshis, Laurie Hernandez, Tad Hills, Donna Jo Napoli, Libba Bray, and Daniel Jose Older, among many others. Here, Olympic gymnast Hernandez greets a fan. A Very Good Day Artist Loren Long is currently on a national tour for Good Day, Good Night, a never-before published picture book by Margaret Wise Brown that Long illustrated. Stops on his tour so far have included schools and bookstores from Chicago to Texas. Here, Long greets a fan of his work at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, where Long first read Browns Goodnight Moon before reading Good Day, Good Night and conducting a drawing demonstration. Steve Fischer, executive director of the New England Independent Booksellers Association, announced his intent to step down after 11 years at the helm of the regional advocacy group. Fischer joined the 300-member association in 2006 after decades of work at bookstores and publishing houses. In a letter to the NEIBA board, Fischer wrote, My work at NEIBA has been the most gratifying of anything Ive done in my 47 year career. I am in awe of the professionalism, smarts and hard work that our independent booksellers do on behalf of their authors and communities. Without them my work here could never have happened. Fischer intends to stay on until a search committee locates a successor. Before taking the helm at NEIBA, Fischer worked at, among other places, the Vermont Book Shop, Harper & Row, and HarperCollins. At NEIBA, he spearheaded the creation of the All About Books program, an author pitch session for forthcoming titles that regularly drew overflow audiences of booksellers. He also expanded the organizations annual show and conference, adding new programming. In a release, board president Laura Cummings of White Birch Books in North Conway, NH, wrote: While we all wholeheartedly wish Steve well in his upcoming retirement, he leaves very large shoes to fill. His knowledge, energy and experience have been invaluable to the organization and will be sorely missed. Bookstores open in New York and Louisiana; San Francisco store seeks funds to buy a building; Powell's celebrated in photos; and more. Bookstore Opens Near Lake Champlain: Bookburgh Books opened earlier this month in Plattsburgh, N.Y. San Francisco Bookstore to Buy Building: Borderlands Books is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a building on Haight St. Louisiana Gets a New Bookstore: SOWELA Technical Community College in Lake Charles unveiled a new bookstore on Tuesday. Bookstore Planned for Rhode Island: Stillwater Books, a used bookstore, will open in Pawtucket sometime next year. Powell's Celebrated in Art Exhibition: Oregon bookstore chain Powells City of Books is the subject of a new photography show in Portland. AMC Networks International Iberia is partnering with VICE to launch Vicelands Emmy award-winning TV content air in Spain and Portugal from November 2017. Under the terms of the agreement signed in Cannes, the content will be available as part of a daily branded block on Spains Odisea Channel and Portugals Odisseia Channel.Available to more than nine million households across the Iberian region, the new block will showcase two hours of Vicelands original programming. Further bolstering Vicelands multi-platform offering, the broadcast series will also be available through video-on-demand (VOD) and catch-up services.James Rosenstock, president of Viceland International and chief corporate development officer, VICE Media , commented: Having launched VICE Spain ten years ago, were delighted to partner with AMC Networks International Iberia. This is the start of what were confident will be an expanding partnership.Eduardo Zulueta, president of AMC Networks International Iberia & Latin America, said: The agreement with Viceland will allow us to grow into a type of content that perfectly fits with Odisea, bringing a new perspective to the world of the documentary genre, hand in hand with one of the most unique brands in television right now."The partnership comes in the midst of significant global expansion for VICE , which continues to grow through the launch of multi-platform partnerships and content collaborations with leading media and mobile providers around the world. After Mexicos legal setback earlier this year, Roku has now announced major expansion plans in Latin America. Following the release of the over-the-top (OTT) devices in Argentina in July , Roku has launched in several Latin American territories, including Panama, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Guatemala.In the coming weeks, the Roku Express+ and the Roku Streaming Stick+, which is capable of streaming HD, 4K and 4K HDR, will be released across these territories.Content publishers who want to use deliver OTT video to consumers though Rokus devices can develop streaming channels for the Roku Channel Store. The company offers content publishers two ways to develop streaming channels for its platform: they can access the Software developer Kit (SDK) or use the Direct Publisher tool that requires no code and simply uses a feed.Streaming is gaining popularity quickly around the world because it allows consumers to watch TV on their terms. To meet the demand, we are launching our affordable and easy to use streaming players, said Chas Smith, general manager of Roku TVs and players.Roku had been operating in Mexico for some time, but earlier this year a Mexico Citys court ruled to ban the devices sales in the country, following a complaint initially made by Televisa Body cameras for the Mooresville Police Department have arrived. Find out when they will be used. The Afghan Defense Ministry says 43 soldiers have been killed and nine wounded in a Taliban attack on an army camp in the southern province of Kandahar. Ministry spokesman Dawlat Wazeri told RFE/RL that six soldiers were unaccounted for after the attack on the Afghan National Army base in the Maiwand district early on October 19. Only two of the soldiers stationed at the base escaped the attack unhurt. Waxeri said 10 militants were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, the third major attack on Afghan security forces this week. The Western-backed government in Kabul is struggling to beat back insurgents in the wake of the exit of most NATO forces in 2014. A local security official told RFE/RL that a suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives near the base, before a number of gunmen launched an assault against the facility. The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants failed to overrun the base as reinforcement arrived at the scene. Some reports said there were two suicide bombings. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, six police officers were killed in an ambush in the northern Balkh Province late on October 18, according to Shir Jan Durani, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. In the western province of Farah, the authorities said that militants attacked a government compound in the Shibkho district, killing at least three police officers. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the two attacks, which came after the extremist group launched two separate suicide and gun assaults on government forces on October 17 that left at least 80 people dead and about 300 others wounded, including soldiers, police officers, and civilians. The attacks targeted a police compound in the southeastern city of Gardez, capital of Paktia Province bordering Pakistan, and a security compound in the neighboring province of Ghazni. U.S. President Donald Trump recently unveiled a strategy to try to defeat the militants, and officials said more than 3,000 additional U.S. troops were being sent to Afghanistan to reinforce the 11,000 already stationed there. No media source currently available The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Ukrainian lawmakers were set to debate reforms as protesters camped outside parliament for a third day demanding the government clamp down on corruption. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) KYIV -- Rights activists are criticizing the arrest in Ukraine of an Azerbaijani opposition journalist on the basis of an Interpol alert that was requested by Azerbaijans government. International media freedom and human rights groups say Fikret Huseynlis case highlights how Interpol is abused by authoritarian regimes to crack down on their political opponents abroad. They describe Huseynlis arrest as the latest in a series of cases outside of Azerbaijan targeting journalists and rights activists who are critical of the government in Baku. Huseynli, a self-exiled reporter who formerly worked for Azerbaijans opposition Azadliq newspaper, fled to the Netherlands after he was stabbed, beaten, and left for dead by unknown assailants in Baku in 2006. Azadliq says the attack was retaliation for reports about alleged government corruption in Baku. Huseynli was granted political asylum by the Dutch government when he arrived there in early 2008 and has since obtained Dutch citizenship. Huseynli now works from outside of Azerbaijan as an international correspondent for Turan TV, a Baku-based news website that is among the last opposition news organizations not to have been shut down by President Ilham Aliyevs government. Red-Notice Detention Huseynli was detained at Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv on October 14 as he was preparing to board a flight for Germany. Ukraines Border Guard Service said it arrested Huseynli because his name appeared on Interpols database of wanted persons. The red-notice alert from Interpol informed Ukrainian police that Baku had issued warrants for Huseynlis arrest on charges of alleged fraud, falsification of official documents, and illegal migration. On October 17, a local court in Boryspil ruled that Huseynli should remain in custody at least until November 4 while judicial officials in Kyiv consider the merits of Bakus extradition request. On October 19, the Prosecutor-Generals Office in Kyiv confirmed that it was examining the Azerbaijani arrest warrants as part of its extradition test. We have up to 60 days to complete this examination, the prosecutor-generals spokeswoman, Larysa Sarhan, told RFE/RL. A date for an extradition hearing has not yet been set, Sarhan said. Huseynlis defense attorney, Dmytro Mazurok, told RFE/RL he will appeal the Boryspil courts arrest order against Huseynli. Mazurok said he also will ask the Ukrainian Prosecutor-Generals Office to use its powers to nullify the ruling on the grounds that circumstances should prevent Huseynlis extradition to Azerbaijan. Interpol System Abused? Washington-based Freedom House says Ukraine should immediately release Huseynli and stop any extradition procedures against him that are based on warrants issued by Azerbaijan. The director of Freedom Houses Eurasia programs, Marc Behrendt, says Interpols alert reflects Azerbaijans harassment of journalists rather than any actual criminal offense by Huseynli. The accusations of Huseynlis wrongdoing cited by Interpol show how Azerbaijan and other authoritarian governments abuse the Interpol system to persecute political opponents, journalists, and human rights activists, Behrendt said. For its part, Interpol says its General Secretariat publishes a red notice only after completing a compliance check into each request. But Behrendt said Interpol needs to go further and more carefully investigate each red-notice request to prevent abuses by authoritarian regimes. Interpol stresses that a red notice is not an international arrest warrant. Rather, it is an alert sent to police around the world notifying them about a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. A red-notice request must be made by one of Interpols 192 member countries, or by an international tribunal, on the basis of a valid national arrest warrant, the international police network says. In 2016, Belarus detained and extradited to Azerbaijan an Israeli-Russian-Ukrainian citizen who had been put on Interpols red-notice list at Baku's request. A Baku court convicted travel blogger Aleksander Lapshin on illegal-border-crossing charges after he visited Azerbaijans breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region without permission from Baku. Sentenced to three years in an Azerbaijani prison, Lapshin was pardoned in September by Aliyev. International media rights groups have dismissed the charges brought by Azerbaijan against both Huseynli and Lapshin, saying they are part of an autocratic governments wider vendetta against a free press and rights activists. They say the cases show that Aliyevs government is trying to suppress critical reporting by intimidating journalists who live and work outside of Azerbaijans borders. The Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety, a nongovernmental organization founded by self-exiled Azerbaijani activist Emin Huseynov, says Kyiv should stop contributing to the repressive steps of authoritarian countries aimed at intimidating their critics living abroad. Huseynovs group is one of 26 human rights organizations that has called for Interpol to prevent the misuse of its alert system against Azerbaijani human rights activists like Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov. Written in Prague by Ron Synovitz, with reporting by RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service correspondents Viktoria Karpyak and Yaroslava Trehubova in Kyiv Canada has passed its version of the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which sanctions Russians for alleged human rights abuses, sparking angry comments from Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin. The Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), which earlier passed both houses of the Canadian Parliament, on October 19 received royal assent, which is required before a bill can come into force. The law will allow for the freezing of assets and visa bans on officials from Russia and other nations considered to be guilty of human rights violations. It will also prevent Canadian firms from dealing with foreign nationals who are "responsible for, or complicit in, extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights." The United States passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012 with similar sanctions for Russians alleged to be involved in human rights violations. The law was inspired by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who helped uncover a massive tax-fraud scheme in Russia but was arrested by authorities and died in a Moscow jail in 2009. His friends and family say he was tortured while incarcerated, and a Council of Europe investigation concluded that the conditions leading up to his death amounted to torture. Russia on October 4 said it would retaliate tit-for-tat should the Canadian bill become law. When asked about the Canadian action during a talk in Sochi on October 19, Putin said that "the issue is simply used for fanning anew anti-Russian hysteria." The Russian Embassy in Ottawa said in a Twitter post that the law was an "irrational act." Based on reporting by the CBS, TASS, and CTV News Five people have been killed after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Kharkiv, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said in a statement that cited traffic-safety violations rather than an extremist plot or terrorist link. The ministry said on Facebook that six others were hurt. Police spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo told the Ukrayinska Pravda news site that two women were in "very serious" condition. The Interior Ministry said the female driver of the SUV that hit the pedestrians was detained and a criminal case involving driving safety violations was launched. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the statement said. In charging the woman with safety violations, the police statement appeared to be ruling out any extremist involvement in the crash. Vans, cars, and trucks have been used as weapons for terror attacks in London, Berlin, Nice, and other European cities. Photographs published on various Ukrainian news sites showed the wreckage of a black SUV scattered across a crosswalk where the crash occurred. Based on reporting by AP and AFP An Iranian teenager sneaks up behind a cleric in the capital, Tehran, and knocks his turban off his head before dashing off. The incident, uploaded on social media, is part of a new tactic employed by anti-government demonstrators in Iran. Nationwide antiestablishment protests have raged across the Islamic republic since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died on September 16 shortly after she was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law on women's dress. As the authorities have waged a deadly crackdown on the rallies, some demonstrators have turned to new tactics to sustain the monthslong protests, including tipping off Islamic clerics' turbans in the streets. Many Iranians associate members of the clergy with Iran's Islamist regime, which many blame for the repression and corruption in the country. While some Iranians have praised the "turban throwing" as an act of resistance, others have expressed concern that low-level clerics who are not affiliated with the state could become the victims of harassment and violence. Lawmaker Mohammad Taghi Naqd Ali on November 10 called the new trend "the devil's conspiracy" and warned that young protesters tossing clerics' turbans were "playing with the lion's tail." State media reported the arrests of two people in recent days who were accused of knocking off clerics' turbans. London-based human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr said the tactic was a "brave and revolutionary act." Sadr, the co-founder of the rights group Justice for Iran, told RFE/RL that protesters were "humiliating" clerics without resorting to violence. "They're [targeting] the clergy's turban as a symbol of the crimes and corruption of the past 43 years as well as the privileges clerics have enjoyed," she said. "There is no violence in it, and it also includes youthful mischief, which highlights the spirit of the revolution," Sadr added, referring to the monthslong protests that have posed the biggest threat to the establishment in years. But Ahmad Zeidabadi, a Tehran-based journalist and former political prisoner, said that some of the clerics targeted in the streets "may be critics or even victims of [state] policies." "This phenomenon...mainly targets clerics who do not hold any government positions," he said on Twitter, adding that senior clerics in powerful positions rarely appear in public and are often protected by security guards if they do. Reformist cleric Hojatoleslam Ahmad Heidari, who was jailed in the past for his support for the opposition Green Movement, warned that the new trend could taint the "beautiful face of [the] protest movement against oppression and injustice." "You're right to be angry at those wearing turbans," Heidari wrote on the news site Esafnews.com. But he added that "those who have a hand in power and are your target" are out of reach. He said many of the clerics targeted were "young and elderly" clerics who are not sitting in "ivory towers." Attacks on clerics, particularly those who attempt to enforce Islamic codes in public, had been on rise in Iran even before the protests erupted, forcing many clerics to appear in public without their robes and turbans. Last week, a cleric was reportedly hospitalized after being wounded in Karaj, near Tehran, amid antiestablishment protests in the city. The hard-line Fars news agency claimed that protesters attacked the cleric with knives. Hassan Fereshtian, a Paris-based Iranian cleric and researcher, said the turban-throwing trend was the result of the "suppressed anger of the past four decades." "If it aims at eliminating the clergy, we could be facing the start of violence," he warned in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "In fact, the clergy should be eliminated from the centers of power. But they shouldn't be eliminated from society." Fereshtian, a student of the late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, expressed hope that Iran will reach a point "where secular people can live peacefully next to the clergy and unveiled women next to those who choose to wear the hijab." In the past year, regime supporters have knocked off the turbans of clerics who had criticized the establishment, including former Interior Minister Abdollah Nuri and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, who has been under house arrest since 2011 for disputing the 2009 reelection of former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. On the eve of the last weekends presidential election, Kyrgyzstan quietly buried an ancient mummy that had resided at the National History Museum in Bishkek for more than 60 years. The preserved remains, which scientists believe are about 2,000 years old, were laid to rest in an unremarkable ceremony in a remote village after the countrys culture minister said they were just a corpse." The mummy was neither a pharaoh nor a queen and there wasnt much point in looking at her, Tugolbai Kazakov was quoted as saying. He also pointed out that Kyrgyzstan didnt have the necessary facilities or expertise to safeguard the mummy. The comments, however, have come back to haunt the minister. A group of Kyrgyz scientists are accusing Kazakov of vandalism and are threatening to sue him if the mummy isn't exhumed and returned to the museum. The mummy was put inside a makeshift wooden box and buried by a group of men in the village of Kara-Bulak in southern Bishkek Province, where it was discovered in 1956. According to the Culture Ministry, there was no traditional Muslim burial ceremony for the mummy because the individual belonged to the pre-Islamic era. The burial took place on October 14, with scientists reportedly warning that the mummy could disintegrate within months if it wasn't taken back to the vacuum chamber at the museum. Kyrgyz archaeologist Oroz Soltobaev called the decision a stab in the back of science. Kadicha Tashbaeva, the head of the archaeology department at the Institute of History and Cultural Heritage, said that scientists were calling on outgoing President Almazbek Atambaev to order the mummys immediate exhumation. Speaking alongside other scientists at a press conference in Bishkek, Tashbaeva said they would take the matter to court and international organizations if the president didn't take appropriate measures. Atambaev had earlier said the mummys burial was a mistake. But he suggested that the mummy should not be dug up again. The culture minister has insisted that he stands by his decision even if they shoot him dead for it. He fired back at Kyrgyz scientists, saying they hadn't conducted any research on the mummy in the past six decades. What do we know about the mummy if we put her back at the museum for display? Everybody knows Lenin. What do we have to say about this girl to museum visitors? Kazakov told Kyrgyz media. The minister claimed that the furor was aimed at removing him from his job. This is not about the mummy. This is a fight for my position, he said, adding, Im tired. Dig up the mummy...if you want. Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by Kyrgyz media and RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service Two Macedonian men accused in a wiretap scandal that helped bring down the previous government in Skopje have been arrested in Greece, police said. Greek authorities on October 19 said the men were arrested the day before at the airport in Thessaloniki, traveling on fake Bulgarian documents and apparently attempting to travel to Hungary. Greek police said the men -- described as aged 35 and 51 -- were being held under an Interpol warrant for "high-technology crimes" committed in Macedonia. In their first court appearance, the two denied the charges, calling them politically motivated, and said they would fight extradition to Macedonia. The wiretap scandal in Macedonia surfaced in 2015 when then-opposition leader Zoran Zaev released tapes purporting to contain phone conversations of about 20,000 people who had been illegally recorded, including politicians and journalists. The scandal ignited a political crisis, which eventually brought down the government of then-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Gruevski has denied his conservative VMRO DPMNE party was responsible for wiretapping and blamed foreign spy agencies. After December 2016 parliamentary elections, Social Democrat (SDSM) leader Zaev eventually was chosen prime minister and was given the mandate to form a new government. The SDSM won a sweeping victory in the first round of local elections on October 15, solidifying Zaev's position and that of his party. Based on reporting by AP and AFP Members of Tajikistans Ulema Council showed up suddenly in Russia on October 18. Officially, the Tajik delegation led by Ulema Council chairman Saydmukarran Abduqodirzoda intended to "take part in religious activities in the Russian Federation," part of which included "meeting with labor migrants of Tajikistan in this country (Russia)." The visit came one day after the chief mufti of Moscow and Central Russia, Albir Krganov, expressed concerns about Tajik migrant laborers. "Unfortunately," he claimed, "we observe the radicalization of our migrants." He referred specifically to migrant laborers from Tajikistan, calling them a "vulnerable group." Krganov explained that "currently on the borders of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, a large new extremist group numbering several thousand people is being created under the name 'Khorosan.'" The Khorasan Province group is an affiliate of the so-called Islamic State extremist group. Krganov noted the Tajik-Afghan border is porous and said that "there is a danger...of links between these extremists and a large part of the Tajiks who are living in the Russian Federation." Krganov pointed to a cooperation agreement Russias Muslim Spiritual Assembly had signed with Uzbekistans Muftiat, noting that "the Uzbek side is taking preventative measures against extremism and terrorism among its nationals." Tajikistan, he added, was "doing the opposite." Krganov said Russia does not want to see the radicalization of migrant laborers, "in the first place, for the security of our country, and [Tajik authorities] should understand this and the national organizations and diplomatic offices we have [in Russia] should work more concretely. So far, we have not seen this." The message was quickly received in Tajikistan, where shortly after Krganov spoke Tajikistans Committee for Religious Affairs said it was looking into sending a group of imam-khatibs to Russia. No further details were released about the Tajik clerics meeting with Tajik nationals in Russia, though Tajikistan's State Migration Service rejected Krganovs claims. So Qishloq Ovozi turned to Edward Lemon, a postdoctorate fellow at Columbia Universitys Harriman Institute who is an authority on the radicalization of Central Asians, including Central Asian migrant laborers in Russia. Lemon pointed out that, in fact, "most Central Asian militants have been recruited while working in Russia," and he noted that recently "[Russian] security services have arrested a number of Tajik citizens. It does seem that Tajiks have been arrested more frequently than citizens of the other Central Asian states in recent months." Lemon said that "although the muftiats of Russia and Tajikistan have enjoyed close cooperation...we cannot rule out that there has been a falling out between leaders there." Lemon noted that while linguistic links to Afghanistan might help Islamic extremist groups in Afghanistan target Tajiks, there is little evidence to suggest a "large part" of Tajik migrant laborers in Russia are joining such groups. "If 1,000 or so of the 1 million or more Tajiks in Russia have been recruited since 2013, this is still only 1/1000. That is not a large part of the migrant community, almost all of whom abhor [Islamic State]," Lemon said. Russian officials have been known to make alarming statements about the security situation in Central Asia going back to the days when the Taliban first appeared in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. These dire warnings have often stoked fears among leaders in Central Asia. But in the past, it was Russian government officials voicing these concerns. Mufti Krganov publicly chiding Tajikistan is a new tactic, but whether his concerns are more legitimate than those voiced previously by secular Russian officials is unclear. As Lemon suggests, "My understanding is that Khorasan [Province group] is based far from the Central Asian border in Nangahar [and] its threat to Central Asia appears limited." Tohir Safarov of RFE/RLs Tajik Service contributed to this report. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. A Pakistani general has hailed a new security fence being built along the border with Afghanistan as a "paradigm change" in the fight against Islamist militants. Afghanistan has condemned the construction. (Reuters) A militant leader blamed for several deadly bombings in Pakistan has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the extremist group has confirmed. Asad Mansoor, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) militant group, on October 19 told the Reuters news agency by telephone that the leader, Omar Khalid Khorasani, died earlier in the day. "Our leaderwas wounded in one of the recent drone strikes in Afghanistan. He was wounded badly, and today he was martyred," the spokesman said. Eight other senior commanders of JuA were also reportedly killed in the drone strike on Khorasani. The Pentagon has not yet officially commented on the report. Khorasani was an alleged organizer of a December 2014 terrorist attack on a Peshawar school that killed 147 people, most of them children. The JuA, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, also claimed responsibility for the 2016 bombing on Easter Sunday that killed 70 people, many of them Christians, in the Pakistani city of Lahore. The JuA split from the Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP) militant group in 2014 and the faction voiced support for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. The split came when Khorasani and his associates in Pakistans Mohmand tribal region publicly accused the TTP leader in Pakistan's Swat Valley, Maulana Fazlulah, of deviating from the TTPs strict Islamic fundamentalist ideology. Based on reporting by Reuters, Samaa TV, Pakistan Today, Dawn, and VOA Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will respond "immediately and symmetrically" if the United States withdraws from a key Cold War arms-control treaty. Putin made the comments October 19 during an appearance at a meeting of Russian and international foreign policy experts known as the Valdai Discussion Club, held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The agreement in question is the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty which has been under severe strain since Washington first accused Moscow of violating it, in 2014. Moscow has denied the charge, and leveled similar accusations in return. U.S. officials have struggled to respond to alleged Russian violations, with some Republicans in Congress even calling on the Pentagon to build a new ground-launched cruise missile. Some officials have even called for the United States to pull out of the treaty altogether. Putin said the 1987 treaty was tilted in the United States' favor, since it banned only ground-launched cruise missiles, not those carried on naval ships and aircraft. President Vladimir Putin threatened a potential new arms race, accusing Washington of wanting out of a key Cold War treaty and warned of new restrictions of U.S. media if American officials pressure Russian media. The Russian leader's comments were part of a list of grievances leveled largely at the West, made during an October 19 appearance of the Valdai Discussion Club, a group of Russian and international foreign policy experts. Putin's presentation -- a nearly 30-minute speech plus another three hours of questions and answers -- left unanswered one of the main questions hanging over his leadership: whether he intends to run for reelection in the March presidential poll. Most observers expect him to. But he reprised many of the themes he's spoken about in his 17 years as Russia's ultimate political authority. He said Moscow will respond "immediately and symmetrically" if the United States withdraws from the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Severe Strain The treaty has been under severe strain since Washington first accused Moscow of violating it, in 2014. Moscow has denied the charge, and leveled similar accusations in return. U.S. officials have struggled to respond to alleged Russian violations, with some Republicans in Congress even calling on the Pentagon to build a new ground-launched cruise missile. Putin criticized the 1987 treaty, saying it favored the U.S., since it banned only ground-launched cruise missiles, not those carried on naval ships and aircraft. "If our U.S. partners wish to pull out of the treaty, then we will give an immediate and symmetrical response. I would like to make that clear right away," he told the gathering in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the subsequent outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine has prompted the United States and NATO to deploy small, heavily armored military units to the Baltic Sea region amid unease there about Moscow's intentions. U.S. forces have also stationed heavy weaponry such as tanks or artillery in some parts of the region. Baltic Deployment Putin downplayed the significance of the alliance's deployment in the Baltics, telling the Valdai gathering that Russia was watching the Western forces. "Every one of their steps are known and clear to us," he said. "It doesn't worry us," he added. "Let them train there. Everything is under control." Putin asserted that the United States was dragging its feet over the destruction of its chemical weapons stocks, something both countries agreed to under an international treaty, as well as destroying part of its plutonium supplies, used in some nuclear weapons. Washington has had difficulty in complying with agreements to dispose of its plutonium, due to cost overruns and a dispute over whether an alternative disposal method was allowable. U.S. Media Operations Putin also raised the question of U.S. media operations in Russia. Officials with Russian state-funded media, including television channel RT and news website Sputnik, say those organizations' American units have been ordered to register under a law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act. RT was formerly known as Russia Today. The law was passed in the 1930s aimed at limiting the spread of Nazi propaganda in the United States. Since a U.S. intelligence report in January accused RT and Sputnik of being part of a Russian campaign to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, a growing chorus of officials in Washington have called on those Russian media to comply with the law. The Justice Department has not confirmed that it issued any order to RT or Sputnik. Responding to a question from RT's editor-in-chief, Putin echoed recent comments by a number of Russian officials, suggesting that some U.S. media in Russia, including CNN, Voice of America, and RFE/RL, could be targeted in retaliation. "We will act in a way that reflects their moves and we will do this quickly. As soon as we see steps being taken that limit the actions of our media there will be a tit-for-tat response," he said. He also praised RT as "doing brilliant work" and said the channel was much smaller than U.S. and British media working internationally, whom he said routinely interfere in the domestic politics of other countries. While RT distributes its programs freely in the United States on cable television, and Sputnik has an FM radio frequency in Washington, RFE/RL and Voice of America have no access to cable TV in Russia. RFE/RL once had about 100 radio channels inside Russia, but nearly all of them were shut down by 2012, either due to licensing restrictions, administrative pressure, or other measures. 'Unprecedented Anti-Russian Campaign' Putin also took aim at new U.S. sanctions passed by Congress this summer and reluctantly signed into law by President Donald Trump. "An unprecedented anti-Russian campaign has been launched in the United States," Putin said. "After losing the election to Trump, they have put all the blame on Russia and engaged in a frenzied anti-Russian hysteria." Putin did not elaborate on whom he referred to by "they." The sanctions cement existing measures imposed on Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and make it harder for the White House to lift them without congressional approval. They also target European companies that have energy-related deals with Russian companies, for example, to participate in the Baltic Sea gas pipeline known as Nord Stream. "Some even make no effort to hide that they are using political grounds and pretexts to advance their own commercial interests. Thus, the recent package of sanctions passed by Congress blatantly is connected to the effort to push Russia out of European energy markets and force Europe to move toward more expensive U.S. liquefied natural gas," he said. The question of the sanctions arose coincidentally at a forum in New York on October 19, where the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations endorsed the new sanctions, noting their support came in large part because of Russia's alleged meddling in the presidential election. "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian and why have we done the sanctions?'" Haley told the gathering. "Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian. We have to be so hard on this and we have to hold them accountable." "When a country can come interfere in another country's elections that is warfare. It really is, because you're making sure that the democracy shifts from what the people want," Haley said. "This is their new weapon of choice and we have to get in front of it." President Vladimir Putin has threatened U.S. media operating in Russia, saying Moscow would retaliate if U.S. officials put restrictions on Russian media in the United States. The comments from Putin came October 19 during an appearance at a meeting of Russian and international foreign policy experts known as the Valdai Discussion Club, held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Officials with Russian state-funded media, including the RT TV channel formerly known as Russia Today and the news website Sputnik, say those organizations' American units have been ordered to register under a decades-old law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law was passed in the 1930s aimed at limiting the spread of Nazi propaganda in the United States. Since a U.S. intelligence report in January accused RT and Sputnik of being part of a Russian campaign to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, a growing chorus of officials in Washington have called on those Russian media to comply with the law. The Justice Department has not confirmed that it issued any order to RT or Sputnik. Russian officials, meanwhile, have suggested they could restrict the work of some U.S. media in Russia, including CNN, Voice of America, and RFE/RL. Putin echoed those remarks in his Valdai comments, though he did not specify what restrictions Moscow would take. "In this case we will do it only in kind and quite quickly, as soon as we see steps [to pressure] our media, there will immediately be an answer," Putin said. While RT distributes its programs freely in the United States on cable television, and Sputnik has an FM frequency in Washington, RFE/RL and Voice of America have no access to cable TV in Russia. RFE/RL once had nearly 100 radio channels inside Russia, but had lost all of them by 2012. There are few doubts that Russias March 2018 presidential election will hand President Vladimir Putin a fourth term, though he has yet to say he will run. But the announcement by Ksenia Sobchak, a liberal journalist and the daughter of Putins political mentor, of her candidacy this week has injected some intrigue into the race -- and accusations that the Kremlin is pulling out old tricks to add a veneer of legitimacy to the ballot. Each of Russias last two presidential elections has featured candidates running on liberal platforms who were widely accused by critics of serving as faux opposition politicians in campaigns carefully stage-managed by the Kremlin to give the appearance of true competition. Political observers and opposition figures reacted to Sobchak's October 18 declaration by suggesting she would play a role similar to the candidacies of billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov in the 2012 election and veteran political operative Andrei Bogdanov in 2008. A rather ignoble end, opposition journalist Roman Dobrokhotov wrote on Twitter. She wont get the protest vote. Shell only get the reputation of a circus poodle like Bogdanov. A prominent Russian Freemason, Bogdanov was one of four registered candidates in the 2008 presidential election won by Putins handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, Russias current prime minister who served a four-year term in the Kremlin with Putin as his premier. Bogdanovs campaign, which called for greater integration with Europe, was widely seen as Kremlin window dressing to show that liberal candidates can run for the presidency in Russia as well. Veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky wrote on Twitter that Sobchak is Prokhorov 2018, a reference to the tycoons candidacy in the 2012 election that Putin won in a landslide. Its clear where this is coming from, Yavlinsky wrote. Prokhorov repeatedly rejected accusations that his candidacy was merely an effort to lend legitimacy to Putins reelection. Opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov said one could see the Kremlins fingerprints on Sobchaks presidential bid a mile away. Sobchaks announcement, in which she portrayed herself as an against-all protest candidate, was preceded by a public spat with opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. After rumors of her possible presidential run surfaced last month, Navalny said Sobchak would be a caricature liberal candidate. Some political analysts say Sobchak will help the Kremlin by serving as a milquetoast stand-in for Navalny, a fierce Kremlin critic seeking to run in the election. Officials have said Navalny is ineligible to run due to his financial-crimes conviction in one of two cases he says authorities fabricated as retribution for his activism. Kirill Rogov, a senior research fellow at the Moscow-based Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, wrote that Sobchak, who took part in large-scale antigovernment protests in 2011 and 2012, would likely back a softened and airbrushed version of Navalnys platform. Her candidacy will ostensibly demonstrate that its possible to engage in opposition activities in Russia, Rogov wrote in an October 19 blog post. This will work to legitimize the presidential race and Putins ultimate victory, he wrote. Putin Is A Thief Or Constructive Opposition? Sobchak did receive some words of welcome from Russias liberal political camp. Opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov wrote that he is in favor of allowing all candidates on the ballot, including her, Navalny, and Yavlinsky, who is seeking to run as the candidate from the liberal Yabloko party. If her audience finds out that Putin is a thief, then even better, Gudkov wrote on Facebook, quoting one of Navalnys key political mantras. The main question is whether Ksenia will want to say that or embody the constructive opposition, he added, a reference to nominal opposition parties that generally side with the Kremlin on key issues. The Kremlin and its loyalists also delivered seemingly positive statements on her potential candidacy. Shortly before her announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian media as saying that she is a very talented person, adding that politics is very different from journalism and show business. Yevgeny Revenko, a federal lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party, wrote in a Facebook post with the headline We Have A Candidate that the richer the election palette, the better. Sobchak told Russias independent TV channel Dozhd that she had recently met with Putin personally and informed him of her decision to run, saying this did not make [Putin] happy. Russian journalist Oleg Kashin, a respected observer of the countrys political landscape, also likened Sobchaks candidacy to Prokhorovs, adding that by 2024 -- when the following Russian presidential election is scheduled -- she could be a respected politician. He added that her candidacy suggests Putin doesnt like victories only over [Gennady] Zyuganov and [Vladimir] Zhirinovsky, referring to the veteran leaders of the Communist and Liberal Democratic parties, respectively. Both parties generally toe the Kremlin line on major issues. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is denying that it played any role in Sobchaks stated presidential bid. Asked whether the presidential administration was involved in her campaign, Peskov was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying on October 19: That is not the case. "Ksenia did not coordinate this decision with Putin or the presidential administration," TASS quoted Peskov as saying. With reporting by RFE/RLs Russian Service IRKUTSK, Russia -- Environmentalists in Russia's Far East have been celebrating a small victory in a long war to protect one of the world's great natural treasures, Lake Baikal. On September 27, the World Bank froze its tender process for a Mongolian project to construct a hydroelectric station on the Selenga River, the main inlet source for the massive lake. The environmentalists have been arguing for years that the project could irreversibly harm Baikal and lead to the extinction of some of the thousands of endemic plant and animal species that live there. "We have achieved something of a success story," Aleksandr Kolotov, head of the local environmental nongovernmental organization Rivers Without Borders, told RFE/RL. "But it is far too early to celebrate victory. Scientists are now undertaking a complex ecological-impact evaluation and that will take about three years." But Mongolia's project is far from dead. The Mongolian government has adopted the strategic goal of attaining energy independence from Russia, from which the country currently imports much of its electricity. In addition, China -- eager to gain access to Mongolian coal -- has pledged $1 billion in loans for the project. In fact, construction of power lines has already begun. Mongolia has proposed several hydroelectric projects that could affect Lake Baikal, across the border in Russia. But the most problematic ones at the moment, activists say, are the proposed Shuren Hydroelectric Plant on the Selenga River and another on the Egiin Gol (Eg River, a tributary of the Selenga) that opponents say is in a zone that is prone to earthquakes. The Selenga system accounts for some 80 percent of the lake's influent and activists worry that water trapped upstream will be diverted to irrigate the Gobi Desert. The danger of the Shuren project is that it could further reduce the water level of Baikal, which has already reached critically low levels in recent years. The low water levels produce higher water temperatures, which threaten endemic species and foster invasive ones. The Russian Natural Resources Ministry has said that over the last three years the lake has averaged 40 centimeters lower than its 2013 level. In 2016, the lake did not reach its "official" minimum level of 456 meters above sea level until the end of June. Low water levels were a particular problem in the winter and spring of 2015, when the government had to truck in water to 13 villages where wells ran dry. "The whole shoreline here was covered with rotting, dead fish," Valentina Vykhina, a resident of the village of Posolsk, told RFE/RL in a 2016 interview. "The birds were just picking the good bits." In all, tens of thousands of fish died that season. Experts said it was a direct result of the low water levels; fish hunting for food along the shoreline were hit by low oxygen levels and elevated water temperatures. The Irkutsk agriculture-monitoring agency concluded they died of cardiac stress. "Baikal is a unique ecosystem that is in a state of stable equilibrium," Kolotov told RFE/RL. "We cannot create a second Baikal in order to conduct experiments and see what will happen if we do one thing or another. We can only forecast how changes in one parameter or another might affect the whole ecosystem. There are preliminary findings by experts of the Academy of Sciences and, according to them, if the Selenga project is built, the hydrological situation will change dramatically. Dams, in order to ensure stable electricity generation, sometimes reduce the flow and sometimes increase it. This is a huge blow to the ecosystem, which has lived for thousands of years under completely different rules." Baikal, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains about 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water, comparable to the entire Amazon basin. It is home to more than 3,000 species of plants and animals, about 80 percent of which are unique to that ecosystem. It is 25 million years old. Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally taken an interest in Baikal. He famously plumbed the lake's 1,700-meter depths in a minisubmarine in a 2009 photo opportunity and, in 2013, he intervened to have a huge, dirty Soviet-built paper mill on the lakeshore shut down. However, the Russian government has been sluggish in responding to the Mongolian project -- something that activists like Kolotov take credit for remedying. "At first, everything was just moving along and Russia didn't interfere with what was happening," he said. "They signed protocols, held ceremonial dinners, and everything was fine. We had to get things moving from a dead start. "The main thing is that we were able to use legal, civilized methods to raise the problem," Kolotov added. "We worked in two directions -- the World Bank and UNESCO. And once two organizations at that level got involved, the national government couldn't stand aside any longer. I would emphasize that this was possible because the project has cross-border, international implications. If some Russian company was doing the project on Mongolian money, it would have been practically impossible to achieve what we have achieved." When Rivers Without Borders began collecting signatures for its petition to the World Bank, it gathered more than 60,000 in the first two days, including many from the Mongolian side of the border. "Selenga is Mongolia's breadbasket," wrote Mongolian activist Tsogt San. "Do you think Mongolians are so stupid as to kill off their own breadbasket? I don't think so. Because our people are much older than all the Slavic nations taken together and because only nations that learn to live together with nature can survive. Baikal is sacred to all Mongolian peoples. Do you think we are going to care less about this lake than you newcomers?" Thanks to appeals from Rivers Without Borders, UNESCO has twice warned Mongolia of its obligations to protect World Heritage Sites. For its part, the Russian government included a discussion of the project on the agenda of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Germany in 2015. However, Russia's own treatment of the lake reduces its effectiveness as an advocate, activists say. For one thing, the lake's ecosystem was already significantly altered in the 1950s when the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station was built in Irkutsk on Baikal's main outflow river, the Angara. That dam's reservoir backs into the lake itself. "From the moment the [Irkutsk dam] went into operation, Baikal stopped being a natural object," Sergei Shapkhayev, head of the Buryat Regional Baikal Association, told RFE/RL. "It now acts as an artificial reservoir and its level and the 'work' of the lake is determined by the electric companies." Irkutskenergo regularly gets government permission to release more water, despite the lake's critical water level. "The construction of the Selenga dam and the others will worsen this situation and cause irreversible changes," Shapkhayev added. "But Mongolia can say with a clear conscience, 'Look at what you yourselves are doing.'" Baikal has also suffered from unregulated tourism, with tourist camps that mainly cater to Chinese visitors sprouting up all along the lakefront. During a visit to the lake in August, Putin complained that "significant areas around Baikal have suffered extremely high pollution" and called on officials to closely monitor the "irrational and often irresponsible economic activity" in the region. He particularly noted the large volume of untreated sewage being dumped into Baikal. The Baikal activists are aware that the September World Bank decision is far from the end of their fight to protect the lake. "In Russia, the energy companies are the masters of the rivers," Kolotov said. "It would be naive to think that it is any different in Mongolia. Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Robert Coalson on the basis of reporting by RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Yulia Starinova President Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of building up military forces in the Baltics, but said that it wasn't something of concern to Moscow. During an appearance at a meeting of Russian and international foreign policy experts known as the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said Russian officials were completely aware of the deployment of U.S. and NATO forces to the Baltic region. In recent years, Washington and its NATO allies have deployed small heavily armored military units to the region, amid concerns voiced by the alliance's Baltic members about Moscow's intentions after its annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and military interference in eastern Ukraine. U.S. forces have also stationed heavy weaponry such as tanks or artillery in some parts of the region. Putin told the gathering that Russia was watching the Western forces. "Every one of their steps is known and clear to us." he said. "It doesn't worry us," he said. "Let them train there. Everything is under control." Several opposition and rights activists have been detained across Kazakhstan as the day of an early presidential election scheduled for November 20 nears. Police in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen on November 15 detained noted opposition activist Estai Qarashaev, who was sentenced to six days in jail several hours later on a charge of violating regulations for holding public gatherings. Qarashaev was among oil workers who protested in 2011 to demand higher wages. Police brutally dispersed the protests, killing at least 16 people. In the country's largest city, Almaty, on November 15, police detained Aset Abishev, a member of the founding committee of the Algha Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) party that has been trying unsuccessfully for eight months to get registered for the election. It is not clear why Abishev was detained. Last week, five other members of the unregistered party were detained for taking part in an unsanctioned rally in August. WATCH: Several activists of a Kazakh opposition movement have been arrested and police were stationed outside the door of another ahead of a snap presidential election scheduled for November 20. Meanwhile, in the village of Bobrovka in the East Kazakhstan region, rights activist Serik Ydyryshev was detained, his wife Gulmira Berikqyzy told RFE/RL on November 15. According to Berikqyzy, her husband's arrest is linked to the upcoming early presidential election. The police department of the East Kazakhstan region was not available for comment. One day earlier, opposition activist Rashid Qamaldanov was sentenced in Almaty to 15 days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned rally earlier this year. In Astana, the capital, jailed activist Sandughash Qantarbaeva stared a hunger strike last weekend, protesting her administrative arrest that she says was handed to her to prevent her from taking part in protests on the day of the presidential election. Many activists complained to RFE/RL that they have been followed and that police have been monitoring their homes. According to the activists, the pressure imposed on them is directly linked to the presidential poll, while the countrys Constitution guarantees them freedom of expression and freedom of public gatherings. An Interior Ministry official denied that measures to prevent the activists from holding rallies on the day of election are under way. President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who has tried to position himself as a reformer, on September 1 called the early presidential election and proposed changing the presidential term to seven years from five years. Under the new system, future presidents will be barred from seeking more than one term. Critics say Toqaev's initiatives have been mainly cosmetic and do not change the nature of the autocratic system in a country that has been plagued for years by rampant corruption and nepotism. Toqaev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who ran the tightly controlled former Soviet republic with an iron fist for almost three decades, chose Toqaev as his successor when he stepped down in 2019. Though he was no longer president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the head of the Security Council. He also enjoyed substantial powers by holding the title of elbasy or leader of the nation. Many citizens, however, remained upset by the oppression during Nazarbaev's reign. Those feelings came to a head in January when unprecedented antigovernment nationwide protests started over a fuel price hike, and then exploded into countrywide deadly unrest over perceived corruption under the Nazarbaev regime and the cronyism that allowed his family and close friends to enrich themselves while ordinary citizens failed to share in the oil-rich Central Asian nation's wealth. Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Security Council role, taking it over himself. Since then, several of Nazarbaevs relatives and allies have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption charges. A Toqaev-initiated referendum in June removed Nazarbaev's name from the constitution and annulled his status as elbasy. msh/mj ON MY MIND Ksenia Sobchak's announcement that she will run for president next year is dominating the conversation among Russia watchers today. On today's Daily Vertical, I give my initial take, arguing that even if Sobchak's candidacy is a Kremlin-sanctioned ploy to create the appearance of a legitimate election, it also carries big risks as well. I also don't rule out that Sobchak is probably playing her own game, even if she did cut a deal with the regime. A few thoughts and data points jump out at me so far. First, by framing her candidacy as a vote "against all" -- an option that was actually on the Russian ballot in the 1990s but was removed during Vladimir Putin's rule -- Sobchak is lowering the threshold for claiming a moral victory. She's, of course, not going to win and she knows it. But Russian elections are about the ritual, the optics, and the story. In her initial campaign video on her website (featured below), Sobchak makes a fairly compelling case for why this matters. Second, by clearly saying that she would drop out of the race if Aleksei Navalny were allowed on the ballot (see video featured below), Sobchak is sending a pretty clear message that she does not want to be used as a foil against the opposition leader and anticorruption activist, who has been barred from running by the Kremlin. Third, the dynamic between Navalny and Sobchak going forward will be fascinating -- and very telling -- to watch. If they act in tandem -- Sobchak on the inside and Navalny on the outside -- they could create a powerful force that could -- while not threatening Putin's reelection, which is a foregone conclusion -- severely damage the Kremlin's narrative and undermine the regime's legitimacy. If they operate at cross purposes, they will play right into the Kremlin's hands. Next year's presidential election was already promising to be like nothing we've seen in the long Putin era. The rising discontent in society, the rise of a generation yearning for new political "products," and Navalny's unauthorized campaign from the sidelines already assured this. Sobchak's entry into the show makes it even more so. Of course, Putin is going to "win" and the result is preordained. But this election is also about setting the stage for Russia beyond 2018. IN THE NEWS Ksenia Sobchak, the Russian socialite, TV personality, opposition activist, and daughter of a former St. Petersburg mayor, says she will run in Russias presidential election in March, a challenge to President Vladimir Putin, who is widely expected to run for reelection. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions insisted he answered truthfully when he earlier said that he had no contacts with "anyone connected to the Russian government" about the 2016 U.S. presidential election, although he acknowledged he had meetings with the Russian ambassador at the time. Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft says it has signed a production-sharing agreement with Iraqs autonomous Kurdistan region worth up to $400 million. Ukraine's parliament is set to consider changes to the immunity of lawmakers and the electoral law amid demands from protesters camped in front of the legislature to clamp down on corruption. Five people were killed after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Kharkiv, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said in a statement that cited traffic-safety violations rather than an extremist plot or terrorist link. WHAT I'M READING Enter Candidate Sobchak Former reality TV star and opposition pundit Ksenia Sobchak announces she will run for president on Dozhd-TV. But adds that she would withdraw her candidacy if Aleksei Navalny were allowed on the ballot. And launches her campaign website, on which she explains that by casting a ballot for her, voters can demonstrate their dissatisfaction with all the other candidates. Meduza looks at the factors influencing Sobchak's decision and who will comprise her campaign team. Opposition journalist Oleg Kashin gives his take on Sobchak in Republic.ru. Newsru.com looks at suspicions that Sobchak cut a deal with the Kremlin. And Mark Galeotti of the Institute of International Relations in Prague weighs in with a video commentary on what Sobchak's candidacy means. Party Lines Aleksei Gorbachev has a piece in Nezavisimaya Gazeta arguing that the Kremlin is in the process of reviving and rejuvenating the party A Just Russia as part of a renewed effort to establish a managed two-party system The Czech Front Coda has a piece on efforts to combat Russian disinformation in the Czech Republic's parliamentary elections. Chatham House Report On Ukraine Chatham House has released a new report: The Struggle For Ukraine. Another Azerbaijani Journalist In Peril -- This Time In Ukraine Eurasianet looks at the plight of opposition Azerbaijani journalist Fikret Huseynli, who is facing extradition from Ukraine. Russia's Lost Economic Chance Sergei Aleksashenko, a former deputy Russian finance minister and deputy Central Bank head, has an op-ed in The Moscow Times on why Russia was unable to transform the Soviet economy. WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan trio of U.S. senators has introduced legislation to regulate paid political ads that appear on Facebook, Google, and other social media in an effort to prevent foreign interference in U.S. elections, with special emphasis placed on alleged actions by Russia. The move by Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar, and Republican John McCain on October 19 comes on the heels of allegations that Russia used anonymous ads on social media platforms to meddle and influence opinions during the last year's U.S. presidential election. The proposed Honest Ads Act would update laws already in place to also classify paid internet and digital ads as election-related communications, "putting it on a par" with existing laws regarding television, radio, and print, Klobuchar told a news conference. "In the wake of Russia's attack on the 2016 election, it is more important than ever to strengthen our defenses against foreign interference in our elections," McCain said in a statement accompanying the proposals. "Unfortunately, U.S. laws requiring transparency in political campaigns have not kept pace with rapid advances in technology," his statement added. Klobuchar said that "we all know that Russian threats to our national security dont always involve traditional weapons of war." She said the legislation would require online platforms with more than 50 million average monthly users to "maintain a public file so people know what is in these ads." She said it would demand that platforms "do a better job of policing their sites" to ensure that laws preventing foreign nations from influencing U.S. elections are not violated. It would also force advertisers spending a cumulative total of $500 or more on political ads to disclose their purchases. The latest fury was ignited after Facebook said that some 10 million people had seen advertisements linked to Russian entities on its platform before and after the 2016 election. Facebook said at least $100,000 in ads were paid for in rubles to accounts traced to Russia. Facebook's disclosure of the Russian-financed ads, which it said appeared to be aimed at fanning divisions among U.S. voters over issues such as homosexuality, race, and immigration, was followed recently by similar disclosures from Google and Twitter. In the past, technology companies have resisted attempts to force them into disclosing information about paid advertisers, although some have said they would cooperate with congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the election. On October 19, Facebook and Twitter said they would send their general counsels to testify on November 1 before two Congressional panels investigating Russian meddling. An executive from Googles parent company, Alphabet, has not yet confirmed reports that it is planning to attend as well. Warner and Klobuchar said that 85 percent of paid online political ads go through Facebook and Google. Warner and Klobuchar said they were not certain about the bills prospects in Congress but that they hoped to get something passed by early next year or to have the provisions attached to another piece of legislation. The action comes on larger backdrop of allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia actively interfered in the U.S. presidential election in support of then-candidate Donald Trump, who went on to win the presidency. At least two congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are conducting probes into the allegations and to investigate whether there was any collusion with members of the Trump campaign team. Trump has assailed the investigations, often labeling them "witch hunts," and denying any collusion by him or his team with Russian entities. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld sanctions imposed by the European Union on former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr. The Luxembourg-based court confirmed on October 19 the freezing of their funds for the period from March 2015 until March 2016, upholding a previous ruling by the General Court. In a statement, the ECJ said that Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych had challenged the EU sanctions that were imposed on the grounds that they were the subject of pretrial investigations in Ukraine for offenses linked to the misappropriation of public funds. But the court said that the Yanukovychs' concerns over the impartiality of the Ukrainian judicial system "are not capable of calling into question the cogency of the charges made against them...or of demonstrating that their particular situation had been affected by the problems in the Ukrainian judicial system." Moscow-friendly Yanukovych was ousted by mass protests in Kyiv in February 2014 and fled to Russia. The European Council decided in March 2014 to freeze the funds and economic resources of people who "were responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds or for abuse of office causing a loss to Ukrainian public funds." The measure was subsequently extended every year. The sanctions target 15 people, including former Prime Ministers Mykola Azarov and Serhiy Arbuzov and the head of Yanukovych's presidential administration, Andriy Klyuyev. Yanukovych has denied misappropriating Ukraine's public funds. KYIV -- Protesters calling for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to enact anticorruption reforms or step down notched a small victory on October 19 as parliament sent a bill on lifting lawmakers' immunity from prosecution to the Constitutional Court for review. Hundreds of demonstrators aligned with opposition parties cheered the news when it was announced in front of the legislature, where they have been camping out in tents since October 17 to ratchet up pressure on Poroshenko to clamp down on what they see as rampant corruption in government. Mustafa Nayyem, a reformist deputy and Poroshenko critic, called it "a small victory" for the opposition that is likely to appease the protesters for the time being. Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada in recent days in a mainly peaceful protest, though minor clashes with police have been reported. In addition to setting up more than half a dozen tents in front of parliament, they have also managed to bring metal shields into the security area, echoing measures taken by activists in the massive Euromaidan protests that pushed Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014. Firebrand politician Mikheil Saakashvili and other opposition leaders are seeking the abolition of parliamentary immunity from prosecution and an overhaul of Ukraine's electoral law, as well as the creation of anticorruption courts and legislation on impeachment of the president. They are also demanding legislation on impeachment procedures that would put pressure on the president and "hold Poroshenko accountable." Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and governor of Ukraine's Odesa region who has been stripped of both his Georgian and Ukrainian citizenship, called for the demonstration last month after he returned to Ukraine in defiance of Poroshenko's government. That call was backed by most of Ukraine's opposition parties, which sent prominent lawmakers, veterans of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and others critical of Poroshenkos pro-Western ruling coalition to the protest. Many of the protesters are supporters of Semyon Semenchenko, a lawmaker and former commander of a volunteer unit in the war between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people since it began in April 2014, after Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and has increased solidarity among many Ukrainians but added to political tensions in Kyiv. Saakashvili was previously an ally of Poroshenko, who appointed him governor of Odesa in 2015. He resigned in November 2016, complaining of rampant corruption and saying reform efforts were being blocked. He has since turned his outspoken rhetoric on Poroshenko and his allies. Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship in July, when he was outside the country. Saakashvili lost his Georgian citizenship in 2015, and authorities in Tbilisi have begun criminal proceedings against him. Saakashvili forced his way back into Ukraine on September 10, defying border guards and vowing to re-enter politics. With reporting by RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service Ukraines parliament is set to consider changes in electoral law and the immunity of lawmakers from prosecution amid demands from protesters camped in front of the legislature to clamp down on corruption. Thousands of demonstrators aligned with opposition parties have gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada in recent days and plan to hold another major rally on October 19 to ratchet up pressure on President Petro Poroshenko to enact anticorruption reforms or step down. Parliament's agenda for October 19 includes a vote on health-care reforms before the question of lawmakers' immunity is considered in the afternoon, followed by changes to the electoral law. Despite calls from both sides for peaceful protests, sporadic clashes have broken out between police and the protesters, who have set up tents outside parliament. At least 10 people were arrested on October 18 as police used tear gas against the crowd, according to Ukrainian media reports. The protest, which began on October 17, was spurred by disappointment in Poroshenko and his pro-Western government, which came to power after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014. Poroshenko is accused by critics of failing to root out high-level corruption. In addition to the abolition of parliamentary immunity from prosecution and an overhaul of Ukraine's electoral law, organizers have called for the creation of anticorruption courts and legislation on impeachment of the president. With reporting by Christopher Miller in Kyiv The United States is pushing for a quick vote by the United Nations Security Council on extending the authority of an inspection team charged with determining who is responsible for chemical-weapons attacks in Syria, putting itself at odds with Russia. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on October 18 that she was circulating a resolution that would extend by another year the work of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), and she called for a vote on the extension before a scheduled October 26 report by the group on who is responsible for an April 4 sarin-gas attack on Khan Sheikhun that killed nearly 90 people. Haley said that "there's overwhelming support" on the council for her proposed extension of the JIM's inspection mandate, which expires in mid-November, but she expects Russia to object to any rushed vote. Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov, who heads the country's delegation to the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee, said last week that Russia wanted to wait to see the report on the Khan Sheikhun attack before deciding whether to extend the inspectors' mandate. "Russia has made it very clear that should the report blame Syria" for the attack, Moscow will vote against renewing the JIM's authority, Haley said. "We can't work like that. We need to look at the attack. We need to prove that it was actually a chemical, and then we need to look at who did it. We can't go and pick and choose who we want to be at fault, who we don't." The United States and its Western allies on the council have maintained that the April attack was launched by a Syrian government aircraft that took off from the Shayrat airfield in Syria. Based on intelligence that came to that conclusion, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered retaliatory missile strikes on the airfield shortly after the attack occurred. But Russia and its ally Syria blame Syrian rebel groups for the attack. Ulyanov last week accused the JIM team of failing to sample for sarin at the Shayrat airfield, a move he said was "scandalous" and likely would result in a "biased" report on the incident. Russia could decide to use its veto power on the Security Council to block renewal of JIM's authority, effectively shutting down dozens of investigations of deadly gas attacks in Syria. "It would be a shame if Russia chose to decide whether to have an investigative mechanism based on who is to blame in Khan Sheikhun," Haley said. A fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported on June 30 that sarin nerve gas was used in the Khan Sheikhun attack, but it is up to the JIM inspection team to determine who is responsible. The UN has said that its inspectors are looking at more than 60 alleged incidents of chemical-weapons use in Syria between December 2015 and the end of March 2016. "Given the multiple chemical attacks that we have seen in Syria, renewing the mandate for the Joint Investigative Mechanism...is critical," Haley said. "We need to ensure accountability for these attacks, which have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including children who were sleeping or trying to go to school," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on October 18 agreed that the JIM's investigative authority should be renewed, calling it a "very important tool" that he "fully supports." The JIM has already determined that Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine-gas attacks on three villages in 2014 and 2015. It also determined that Islamic State extremists used mustard gas in 2015. With reporting by AP and AFP A senior Iranian military commander has warned Persian Gulf countries that they need to choose between "their media" and their security if they interfere in Iran's affairs. Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, special military adviser to Irans supreme leader, issued the warning on November 10 in a speech that appeared to be a thinly veiled threat to Saudi Arabia, in particular, over what Tehran sees as meddling by foreign "enemies" during weeks of unrest following the death of a young woman while in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police for an alleged dress code violation. During the speech, Safavi referred to the "countries on the southern border of the Persian Gulf" as "wretched" and warned that they would pay "compensation" if they interfere in Iran's affairs. The threats came a day after Iran said it had designated the London-based news channel Iran International as a "terrorist" organization and that employees and those "related" to the outlet will be prosecuted. Separately, the broadcaster has said London's Metropolitan Police had informed the broadcaster of an imminent threat against two of its journalists and their families. Iranian authorities consider Iran International TV to be affiliated with Saudi Arabia. However, in a recent statement, the station called itself "an independent Persian-language network based in Britain." British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on November 11 accused Iranian authorities of issuing death threats to U.K.-based journalists. "I have summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires today after journalists working in the U.K. were subject to immediate threats to life from Iran," he wrote in a tweet. We do not tolerate threats and intimidation from foreign nations towards individuals living in the U.K. The Iranian government has unleashed a brutal crackdown on weeks of unrest -- one of the deepest challenges to the Islamic regime since the revolution in 1979 -- that erupted following the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. The alleged rape of a 15-year-old Baluch girl by a local police official in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on September 30 further fueled the animosity as protesters demanded accountability. Reports on November 11 indicate that protests took place in various cities in the southeast Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan, including Zahedan, Saravan, Rask, Khash, Iranshahr, and Chabahar after the end of Friday Prayers. In videos released from Iranshahr, security forces could be seen lobbing tear gas at the protesters while what seem to be gunshots can be heard in the background. Top Iranian Sunni cleric Molavi Abdulhamid on November 11 again emphasized in his Friday Prayer sermon in Zahedan that the majority of Iranians of all religions and ethnicities are protesting the current situation, and that the authorities must listen to their message. Earlier this month, the cleric, regarded as a spiritual leader for Irans Sunni Muslim population, said senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were "responsible" for the killing of protesters in Zahedan and called for an immediate referendum with the presence of international observers to "change policies based on the wishes of the people." Amnesty International has called the police reaction to the deadly clashes part of an "alarming escalation in the use of force and firearms" in dealing with protesters. Since Amini's death, more than 300 people have been killed in the police crackdown, according to rights groups. Several thousand more have been arrested, including many protesters, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others. Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda Advertisment: Claim: Starbucks refused free product to Marines serving in Iraq, saying the company didn't support the war or anyone taking part in it. Rating: About this rating False In these days of heightened patriotism and concern among Americans for their military troops, any rumor about a corporate giant's snubbing those who are putting their lives on the line overseas is bound to make a number of folks hot under the collar, which is what a message originally circulated via e-mail back in 2004 did. That viral missive proclaimed that Starbucks had not only refused a request for free product from some U.S. Marines serving in Iraq, but had retorted that "they don't support the war [in Iraq] and anyone in it": I have indeed confirmed the fact that Starbucks charged rescue workers $130.00 for 3 cases of bottled water on September 11, 2001, so the following info that was passed on to me would not be surprising to me at all!! Dear everyone: Please pass this along to anyone you know, this needs to get out in the open. Recently Marines over in Iraq supporting this country in OIF wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffee and try to score some free coffee grounds. Starbucks wrote back telling the Marines thanks for their support in their business, but that they don't support the War and anyone in it and that they won't send them the Coffee. So as not to offend them we should not support in buying any Starbucks products. As a War vet and writing to you patriots I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this War might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street to street and house to house for what they and I believe is right. If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and I'll never know. Thanks very much for your support to me, and I know you'll all be there again here soon when I deploy once more. Semper Fidelis, Sgt Howard C. Wright 1st Force Recon Co 1st Plt PLT RTO A September 2008 version changed "marines" to "Royal Marines," thereby altering the group of soldiers being slighted from American to British. We first encountered the Starbucks story in late April 2004 when it turned up in our inbox. We got in touch with the e-mail's writer and asked him about the events that led to his penning the note about Starbucks' response to Marines who had come to them looking for a donation of coffee. Sgt. Wright heard the story from a friend, who had gotten it from someone else. He talked things over with the Marine who had supposedly contacted Starbucks, and that, coupled with that night's televised news about the goings on in Iraq, made his blood boil. He pounded out his thoughts into the form of an e-mail, which he mailed to ten of his friends. It is that e-mail which continues to circulate to this day. Sgt. Wright has since learned that what he heard was in error, and he has subsequently tried to set things right by issuing the following retraction: Dear Readers, Almost 5 months ago I sent an email to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong though that needs to be cleared up. I heard from word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn't support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn't do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports the men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many of their Company's policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick wrong letter I sent out to you. Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to. Thank you very much for understanding about this. Howard C. Wright Sgt USMC Sgt. Wright has been unable to produce the reply his buddy supposedly received from Starbucks, and the folks at Starbucks deny engaging in any correspondence on such matter prior to this rumor coming along. Given that no copy of the letter appears to exist, neither one resting in the hands of the Sergeant's comrade, nor one residing in Starbucks' files, the rumor about the java vendor's harsh response to a coffee-hunting Marine should be dismissed. As for what Starbucks has to say about the matter, they have long since refuted the rumor on their website, stating: On behalf of Starbucks' more than 140,000 dedicated partners (employees), we want to set the record straight on an old rumor concerning Starbucks lack of support for the military and our troops. This rumor, dating back to 2004, claims a lack of Starbucks support for the U.S. Marines, and has evolved to include a lack of support for the British Royal Marines. In both instances, the rumor is not, and has never been, true. When Starbucks learned of the original email, we immediately contacted the author, a Marine Sergeant, who subsequently sent an e-mail to his original distribution list correcting the mistake. Unfortunately, rumors have a way of continuing even after the truth has been revealed. At Starbucks, we respect the efforts of the men and women who serve their country in the military, including our fellow partners who serve during this time of war. In fact, Starbucks has partnered with the American Red Cross and the United Service Organizations (USO) to provide coffee to relief efforts during times of conflict, donating more than 141,000 lbs of coffee and over one million 3-packs of Starbucks VIA. Additionally, troops all over the world are enjoying Starbucks VIA Ready Brew in care packages they receive not only from Starbucks, but from their family and friends as well. In 2011, Starbucks provided over 220,000 3-packs of Starbucks VIA to the USO for their care package program. Although Starbucks does not themselves directly donate to military personnel, they do get their coffee into the hands of those serving in the U.S. armed forces through their partnership with the USO. Under the terms of the Starbucks' corporate giving policy, had such a request as presented in the much-circulated e-mail been made, the coffee giant would have had to say no to it. Such a refusal would have been in keeping with the corporation's donations policy, in that Starbucks chooses to direct their charitable resources within the global community through grants from The Starbucks Foundation programs and to communities where its stores are located through local involvement. According to the guidelines in place at the time, a request for coffee from soldiers serving overseas would have been turned down. However, while it is true Starbucks as a corporate entity could not have donated coffee to java-seeking Marines, it would have passed along such a request to any number of its employees looking for military mailing addresses to send product to, as they have already done on many occasions. Starbucks partners receive one pound of free coffee each week as an employee benefit (known as "partner mark-out"). Many of them have elected to send their weekly mark-out to members of the military or military families, and related organizations. The claim that Starbucks would ever have said "they don't support the War and anyone in it" is false, in light of what various news accounts show us about the coffee retailer's attitude towards those who serve in the armed forces. In addition to what Starbucks themselves say of their beneficences to soldiers, we know from different newspaper articles of other instances of glad-hearted support. In July 2004, a Starbucks in Cincinnati was reported to have been practically overflowing with people making yellow ribbons in support of Keith "Matt" Maupin, a soldier whose fate was then uncertain (it has subsequently been reported that his remains have been found and positively identified), along with red, white, and blue ones to show support for American troops in Iraq. In June 2004 in Cleveland, when the mother of one serviceman called her local Starbucks to arrange for the shipping of some java to her son, the employees at that store insisted on paying for 30 pounds of coffee as their gift. As to another of the claims made in the e-mail, while it is true someone working at a New York City Starbucks did indeed charge ambulance workers $130 for three cases of water on September 11, 2001, it would not be quite fair to say Starbucks did this. However, act of a single, misguided employee or not, the corporation alone bears responsibility for afterwards spurning a number of opportunities to offer the rescue workers their money back or apologize to them though the coffee giant finally took both those actions, they did so only after the story attracted online and print media attention. In addition to the "rescue workers charged for water" and the "spurned servicemen" story that is the focus of this piece, Starbucks has been the butt of a number of other unsavory rumors and mistaken beliefs just in the past few years, including: A 2002 poster promoting two new iced drinks prompted some consumers to see in it reminders of the hijacked planes hitting the twin towers. In 2001, a false story spread in e-mail about the wife of the owner of a Thailand Starbucks telling non-white customers the coffee shop was not for Asians. The company's 2003 termination of its business interests in Israel caused some to believe Starbucks had abandoned that nation in favor of being able to continue to do business in Arab countries. In 2002, a prankster who scanned and distributed online a coupon entitling the bearer to a free Creme Frappuccino caused any amount of bad feeling to be directed at the company those duped into believing they were entitled to free product were often angry at the stores who refused to honor the fake coupons rather than with the unnamed person who had deceived them. Starbucks, like any other successful corporation that has a strong public presence, is fated to operate with the Damocles sword of public opinion hanging above its head. No corporation can fund everyone who comes to it looking for assistance, which means some deserving groups will always be refused. In less emotionally-charged times, the logic of such a policy is better understood, but the current climate makes it a dicey public relations proposition at best to say no to anything having to do with soldiers. Variations: An April 2007 version of this rumor changed Starbucks to Oscar Mayer and coffee to hot dogs. In response, Oscar Mayer posted a denial on its web site: South Bend sparks two multi-million-dollar projects with city money Plans for the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, led by South Bend Chocolate Co. owner Mark Tarner, and a 69-unit apartment complex near Notre Dame will both move forward. An Orionid meteor streaks through the sky next to Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero, California. The Orionid meteor shower will peak between Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 and will remain active until early November. Viewing conditions for the Orionids are favorable this year with relatively little moonlight getting in the way of spotting the streaking meteors. Sometimes the Orionid meteor shower produces spectacular displays of up to 80 meteors an hour, but in recent years it has produced more modest displays of about 20 or 30 visible meteors per hour. The Orionid meteor shower is produced when Earth passes through the debris or ice and dust left behind from Comet 1P/Halley, more commonly known as Halley's Comet . Related: Meteor shower guide 2022: Dates and viewing advice Daisy Dobrijevic Reference writer Daisy joined Space.com in Feb. 2022. Before that, she worked as a staff writer for our sister publication All About Space magazine. Daisy has written numerous articles and guides for notable skywatching events including the Perseid meteor shower, the next solar eclipse and the next lunar eclipse. Did you know? The Orionids are the second meteor shower in the year created by Halley's Comet, the Eta Aquarids in May are also created by the famous comet. The meteors that streak across the sky are some of the fastest among meteor showers because Earth is hitting the stream of particles from Halley's Comet almost head-on. Orionids zip through the sky at 41 miles (opens in new tab) (66 kilometers) per second, only 3 miles (5 km) per second slower than the speedy Leonids, according to NASA Science (opens in new tab). Where can you see the Orionid meteor shower? Orion is located on the celestial equator and can be seen throughout the world. (Image credit: Eerik via Getty Images) (opens in new tab) Orion constellation position: Right ascension: 5 hours Declination: 5 degrees Visible between: Latitudes 85 and minus 75 degrees The Orionids are visible to skywatchers in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (weather permitting of course). Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to emanate, known as the radiant. From Earth's perspective, the Orionid meteor shower appears to come approximately from the direction of the Orion constellation . Orion is located on the celestial equator and is visible throughout the world. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is located in the southwestern sky and if you are in the Southern Hemisphere it is visible in the northwestern sky. The three bright stars Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak that form Orion's belt are the easiest to spot. Don't look directly at Orion to find meteors, as the shooting stars will be visible throughout the sky. Make sure to move your gaze around the nearby constellations as meteors closer to the radiant have shorter trains (glowing trails of debris) and are more difficult to spot. If you only look at Orion you might miss the more spectacular Orionids. Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes snapped this amazing photo of an Orionid meteor streaking above a lake in Elverson, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 22, 2011, during the peak of the annual Orionid meteor shower. (Image credit: Jeff Berkes) (opens in new tab) To best see the Orionid meteor shower , go to the darkest possible location, lean back and relax. You don't need equipment like telescopes or binoculars as the secret is to take in as much sky as possible and allow about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. If you want more advice on photographing the Orionids, check out our how-to photograph meteors and meteor showers guide. If you need imaging gear, consider our best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography. A red flashlight, warm clothing, a hot drink and a comfortable chair are useful during a night of meteor-hunting. (Image credit: Future) (opens in new tab) When is the best time to view the Orionid meteor shower? The best time to view the Orionid meteor shower is between midnight and dawn when the shower's radiant, the Orion constellation, is high in the sky. The Orionids are active from Oct. 2 until Nov. 7 according to timeanddate (opens in new tab) and will peak between Oct. 21 and Oct. 22. This year, the new moon on Oct. 25 will provide dark skies that are perfect for meteor hunting. To calculate sunrise and moonrise times in your location check out this custom sunrise-sunset calculator (opens in new tab). What causes the Orionid meteor shower? Close-up image of Halley's Comet. (Image credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology) (opens in new tab) The Orionids are caused by the debris of ice and dust left behind by Halley's Comet when it passes through the solar system . According to the UK Meteor Network (opens in new tab), the meteors we see today come from debris left by Halley's Comet hundreds of years ago as the current orbit of the comet doesn't bring it close enough to Earth to produce meteors. When Earth passes through the comet debris, the "comet crumbs" heat up as they enter Earth's atmosphere producing impressive "shooting stars" that streak across the sky. Halley's Comet takes about 76 years to orbit the sun once and will not enter the solar system again until 2061. The comet is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley who examined reports of comets approaching Earth in 1531, 1607 and 1682. He concluded that these sightings were all of the same comet returning over and over again. Halley predicted the comet would return in 1758. Though he did not live to see the comet's correctly-predicted return, it was later named in his honor. Editor's note: If you snap a great photo of an Orionid meteor or any other night sky sight you'd like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a story or image gallery, send images and comments in to: spacephotos@space.com (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab). Additional information Have you seen a fireball recently? Report the sighting (opens in new tab) to the American Meteor Society to help contribute to fireball research. Explore the historical significance of Halley's Comet and the Battle of Hastings with this NASA feature (opens in new tab). Take a tour of meteors and meteorites through history on this Google Arts & Culture feature (opens in new tab) courtesy of Adler Planetarium. Bibliography Bailey, D. 2022 Orionid Meteor Shower. UK Meteor Network. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/showers/2022-orionids/ (opens in new tab) NASA. Leonids. NASA. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/leonids/in-depth/ (opens in new tab) NASA. Orionids. NASA. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/orionids/in-depth/ (opens in new tab) WASHINGTON A new market for super high-speed weapons is fueling investments in rocket engine technologies as companies seek to gain an edge. The industry foresees a demand for advanced rocket engines, particularly if the U.S. military moves to acquire revolutionary missiles that fly at hypersonic speeds. The Pentagon expects to invest $2 billion over the next five years in high-speed weapons including lasers and hypersonic missiles that travel at five times the speed of sound. The future of missiles and propulsion technology is about going "further and faster," Pat Nolan, vice president of Orbital ATK, told SpaceNews at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. Orbital ATK has a hot production line for rocket motors that power some of the military's most widely used missiles like the Hellfire. This week it is scheduled to deliver the 100,000th rocket motor to Hellfire manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Orbital is now testing a new model that has less sensitive propellant and will comply with military requirements for safer, so-called insensitive munitions. Last year the company opened a large tactical motor manufacturing facility at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West Virginia. Nolan said it's hard to predict defense budgets in the current political climate but the industry does expect an uptick in demand, especially as the United States is challenged by rising military powers and seeks to deter attacks. In the missiles area, "we see the need to add more energy, more distance," he said. Some hypersonic-weapon research and development programs are getting under way, Nolan said. "There is more activity today than there has been in a while." Higher demand for tactical rocket motors helps the company shore up weaknesses in the large rocket motor sector. Large solid propellant rocket motors are critical systems for the United States to be able to launch payloads into space or warheads in intercontinental ballistic missiles. The industry has been singled out by the Pentagon for being at risk following years of government budget cuts. Nolan said Orbital ATK tries to spread investments across different types of tactical and strategic rocket motors. "The underlying chemical supply base is common to all." Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne are the only two U.S. manufacturers of large solid propellant rocket motors. To keep the large rocket motor industry alive in the United States, both firms expect to manufacture engines for the replacement of the Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile, although production decisions have not been made yet. "Orbital ATK seems to have secured a lock on most of the domestic demand for large solid rocket motors," noted industry consultant Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute. Not only does it build solid rocket motors for all three stages of the Navy's submarine-launched ballistic missile and the solid boosters to be used with NASA's next-generation Space Launch System, Thompson noted, but it recently was selected by United Launch Alliance to build all the strap-on solids for the workhorse Atlas 5 space launch vehicle after 2019. Thompson believes the rocket motor sector presents an "industrial policy challenge" for the Trump administration. The solid rocket motor industrial base suffered a major blow when the space shuttle program ended. The shuttle consumed a great amount of the propellant work. "When that went away, there was a trough in the purchase of chemicals. Some companies exited the market," Nolan said. These supply problems could affect the Minuteman III replacement program. "We need to work the underlying supply base." There used to be five manufacturers of rocket motors three decades ago, but the industry consolidated after budgets collapsed. "Industrial base issues go way beyond the manufacturing of rocket motors," said Nolan. Solid propellant comes out of a dozen specialty chemicals made by some companies that have left the market, he said. "There are many single source ingredients within the supply base today." The U.S.-based division of Norwegian defense and aerospace company Nammo makes tactical rocket motors in the United States, and is looking to expand its business as it sees the field of competitors shrinking. The company a year ago signed an agreement to produce rocket motors at the Navy's energetics center in Indian Head, Maryland. Access to materials and specialized chemicals is "always a challenge," said Frank Moller, Nammo executive vice president for aerospace products. "It's a never ending story, trying to find ingredients, new sources," he told SpaceNews at the AUSA conference. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. One of the first photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, installed in May 2009, shows the crowded core of the star cluster Omega Centauri. Dr. Jon A. Morse is the chief executive officer of the nonprofit BoldlyGo Institute, which is dedicated to advancing basic research and discovery from space through privately funded missions and public-private partnerships, and former director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Morse contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Basic research in the space sciences holds essentially limitless potential for tackling profound questions of our existence and opening the doors of exploration, innovation and future economic opportunity. Space science continues to generate extraordinary discoveries, whether groups are exploring Mars, investigating the fundamental physics of the universe or discovering new exoplanets around nearby stars. This drive to explore and exploit space has led to the emergence of new companies and innovations in traditional aerospace companies seeking to reform the way spacecraft are designed, built, launched and operated. There has also been a surge in private resources dedicated to creating new commercial capabilities and initiating the next wave of space exploration though not yet for discovery-driven scientific missions. [NASA Could Reach Mars Faster with Public-Private Partnerships, Companies Tell Congress] It is encouraging to see that NASA is leaning more towards integrating commercial capabilities into how space science missions are implemented, especially for cubesats and small satellites. It is imperative that NASA embrace the many commercial capabilities that are becoming available in the small-sat market, which may reach $20 billion/year globally in the next few years. Such capabilities including optical systems, sensors, spacecraft busses, launch vehicles and other mission elements can be procured much more cheaply now than in recent years. These cheaper capabilities may not be represented in any costing models used during NASA scientific mission proposal reviews, and NASA must actively stay on top of such developments, perhaps even facilitating their use by candidate mission teams through workshops with relevant industry representatives. However, there are additional actions that NASA or other space agencies could take to accomplish high-priority science goals and increase the flight rate within a constrained fiscal environment. First, NASA needs to say in a steady stream of messaging that the agency desires private investment in space science missions. This message has been trumpeted for human spaceflight and space technology development, but for space science is generally an afterthought, sometimes mentioned as part of Q&A responses during advisory committee meetings, or is missing altogether in agency presentations. The NASA budget blueprint released in March 2017 boldly states in the very first sentence that the proposed budget "supports and expands public-private partnerships as the foundation of future U.S. civilian space efforts." That would seem to include space science, but it is difficult to see how the space science portfolio is making such a transition. While it is common for institutions proposing a project to NASA to offer some salary support for mission team members and even make contributions to the payload, significant cost-sharing on space science missions addressing National Academy of Sciences priorities has yet to be demonstrated; instead, cost sharing tends to be accomplished through international partnerships. The main difficulty in executing private space science missions or increasing public-private partnerships is in securing private funding. There is noticeable progress in the number of self-funded university-based cubesat programs, and cubesats can accomplish interesting new science. But many high-priority science goals would need at least tens of millions of dollars of investment to build the appropriate spacecraft. There are several ways to approach fundraising, including through philanthropy, sponsorship and venture capital (in addition to cost sharing among different, perhaps international, organizations). Major philanthropic funding is commonplace in other scientific disciplines, i.e., medical research and ground-based astronomy, with modern project costs now on a par with those of sophisticated satellites, such as are developed in NASA's Explorer, Discovery and New Frontiers programs. The nonprofit BoldlyGo Institute, founded in 2013, seeks to expand the philanthropic model to frontier space-based science missions but the list of individuals or family foundations willing to support space science missions at seven- or eight-figure amounts may be limited. We, therefore, also propose additional mechanisms that NASA could employ to incentivize private investment, reduce mission costs and accelerate the pace of discovery. Besides considering funded Space Act Agreements, which are used in the human spaceflight program, as a procurement mechanism for small- and medium-class space science missions, NASA should also examine employing data buys and science prizes to lower costs and promote private investment and public-private partnerships. Our experience seeking private funding for space science indicates that significant venture capital could be available if there were even a modest return on investment. We do not usually consider scientific data as a commercial commodity, but if NASA were to offer a payout or science prize, analogous to the Google Lunar X Prize, or indicate that the agency would pay for certain data, such capital could be raised as long as the payout or prize were roughly commensurate with the capital costs of the mission. NASA could pool resources with major research foundations and consult with the space science community to identify potential scientific goals that could be attained in this manner. Of course, this would be worthwhile only if significant cost savings could be realized compared to NASA's traditional procurement and mission-development processes, making it possible to accomplish more missions (and more science) within a given budget. The dynamic, successful commercial satellite and launch industries, with entrepreneurial visionaries and nongovernmental sources of capital, now provide such cost-saving opportunities for many scientific applications. Now is the time to unleash this entrepreneurial spirit in the cause of basic scientific research and discovery. Morse is Mission Executive of Project Blue, which is raising funds on IndieGogo for a private space telescope to seek planets around the stars of Alpha Centauri. Morse is also a former senior policy analyst in the Division of Physical Sciences & Engineering at the Office of Science & Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President; former professor of physics, applied physics and astronomy and associate vice president for research for physical sciences and engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York; and current research associate in the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Sciences Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk discussed more technical details about the BFR system designed to take people to Mars and on point-to-point trips on Earth, but didn't discuss financing of the system. WASHINGTON SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk disclosed additional technical details about his proposed BFR launch system Oct. 14, although he offered no additional information about the costs and financing of the vehicle. Musk, in a freewheeling "Ask Me Anything" discussion on Reddit Oct. 14, held on just two hours' notice, answered a variety of questions about the BFR design he unveiled Sept. 29 at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia. That design is a revised, and slightly scaled down, version of the vehicle he announced at the same conference one year earlier in Mexico. Musk, in that discussion, said that spaceship portion of the BFR, which would transport people on point-to-point suborbital flights or on missions to the moon or Mars, will be tested on Earth first in a series of short hops. [The BFR: SpaceX's Mars-Colonization Architecture in Images] "Will be starting with a full-scale Ship doing short hops of a few hundred kilometers altitude and lateral distance," he wrote. "Those are fairly easy on the vehicle, as no heat shield is needed, we can have a large amount of reserve propellant and don't need the high area ratio, deep space Raptor engines." That is similar to what SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at the Oct. 5 meeting of the National Space Council, when asked about development of the BFR system. "That system is being designed also to do Earth hops, and those are some of the first tests that you'll actually see with the Falcon spaceship," she said. The spaceship itself, Musk said, is capable of reaching orbit without the assistance of a booster, but with only a "low payload" that he did not specify. "Earth is the wrong planet for single stage to orbit. No problemo on Mars." Musk also addressed changes in the Raptor engine, the large engine powered by methane and liquid oxygen that will power both the booster and the spaceship elements of the BFR system. The original Raptor design, announced last year, was capable of producing more than 680,000 pounds-force of thrust. The revised design announced at last month's IAC produces only about 380,000 pounds-force of thrust. "The engine thrust dropped roughly in proportion to the vehicle mass reduction from the first IAC talk," Musk wrote when asked about that reduction in thrust. The reduction in thrust also allows for the use of multiple engines, giving the vehicle an engine-out capability for landings. He added that, since the presentation last month, SpaceX has revised the design of the BFR spaceship to add a "medium area ratio" Raptor engine to its original complement of two engines with sea-level nozzles and four with vacuum nozzles. That additional engine helps enable that engine-out capability, he said, and will "allow landings with higher payload mass for the Earth to Earth transport function." Musk was optimistic about scaling up the Raptor engine from its current developmental model to the full-scale one. "Thrust scaling is the easy part. Very simple to scale the dev Raptor to 170 tons," he wrote. "The flight engine design is much lighter and tighter, and is extremely focused on reliability." He added the goal is to achieve "passenger airline levels of safety" with the engine, required if the vehicle is to serve point-to-point transportation markets. The discussion focused primarily on the technical aspects of the BFR system. Musk did not address any financial questions, including the cost of developing the vehicle and how the company will finance it. "I think we've figured out how to pay for it," Musk said in that speech, but didn't discuss specifics beyond retiring the company's existing Falcon and Dragon vehicles so that those resources can be applied to BFR. Musk did reiterate that the company's long-term goal with the BFR system is the settlement of Mars, but that the actual establishment of a base was something that would be handled largely by other companies and organizations. "Our goal is get you there and ensure the basic infrastructure for propellant production and survival is in place," he said, comparing the BFR to the transcontinental railways of the 19th century. "A vast amount of industry will need to be built on Mars by many other companies and millions of people." Asked about an animation from his IAC talk that showed a time-lapse development of a Mars city, Musk cautioned that was not intended to be a specific, detailed design for such a settlement. "Wouldn't read too much into that illustration," he wrote. Throughout the discussion, Musk engaged in lighthearted banter with questioners. Before going into the technical explanation of the reduced thrust of the Raptor engine, he wrote simply, "We chickened out." Later, asked why the BFR spaceship now had four landing legs, versus the three in the design released last year, he responded, "Because 4." He then added, "Improves stability in rough terrain." This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. In "Blade Runner 2049," Officer K (Ryan Gosling) digs deep to find answers about replicants, which are still a long way off in the future for the rest of us. Fans of the 1982 sci-fi-noir thriller "Blade Runner" had to wait more than a quarter-century for the follow-up film "Blade Runner 2049," which opened in U.S. theaters on Oct. 6. But they'll likely have to wait much, much longer to see any semblance of the films' human-mimicking androids dubbed "replicants" in the real world, experts told Live Science. The original film was set in the year 2019, and "Blade Runner 2049" takes place just 30 years later. But although the realms of both films exist in the not-too-distant future, replicants represent astonishingly sophisticated technology compared to what is available today. These androids are practically indistinguishable from people they move, speak and behave as humans do, and they are programmed to be autonomous, self-reliant and even remarkably self-aware. Today's engineers and programmers have made great strides in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) since the first "Blade Runner" movie debuted, yet the prospect of human-like replicants still seems as distant as it was 35 years ago. How close are we to developing robots that can pass for humans? [Recipe for a Replicant: 5 Steps to Building a Blade-Runner-Style Android] For decades, programmers have worked to develop computer systems called neural networks. These systems form connections similarly to the way the human brain does and can be used to train a computer to learn certain tasks. And while computers may not yet be able to mimic a fully functioning human brain, they have shown a growing ability to "learn" to do things that were previously thought to be impossible for machines. Knight takes rook In 1997, an IBM computer named Deep Blue demonstrated for the first time that artificial intelligence could "think" its way to victory against a human chess champion. Capable of exploring up to 200 million possible chess moves per second, Deep Blue defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match played over several days. In beating Kasparov, Deep Blue showed that computers could learn to make complex and strategic choices by referencing a vast database of potential responses, according to IBM's website. Another IBM computer, named Watson, took on an even more complicated task in 2011, competing against human contestants on the television quiz show "Jeopardy!" and besting two previous champions. Watson's "brain" was more sophisticated than Deep Blue's, addressing questions posed in natural language and presenting answers drawn from data input that spanned months prior to the competition, according to IBM. Then, in 2016, AI gameplay got a significant upgrade when an AI system called AlphaGo defeated a human player in a game of Go, thought by many to be the most complicated strategy game ever invented by humans. AlphaGo learned to become a master player by "watching" millions of games and using two types of neural networks: one to evaluate the status of a game, and one to determine its next move, the programmers explained at a news conference that year. Recently, neural networks even enabled computers to explore artistic pursuits, such as composing a holiday song, creating images of dinosaurs made entirely out of flowers and churning out five chapters of a "novel" continuing the "Game of Thrones" saga. Living is harder But sci-fi stories rarely explain what's going on under the hood of an android, and passing for "human" is harder than it looks. For a neural network to coordinate realistic physical activity in a robotic body alongside interactions that correctly use emotional inflection and social nuances, it would require programmers to input massive quantities of data, and would need processing capabilities far beyond those of any AI around today, Janelle Shane, an electrical engineering researcher who trains neural networks, told Live Science. [Machine Dreams: 22 Human-Like Androids from Sci-Fi] "The world is so varied that's one of the difficulties," Shane said. "There are so many things that a neural network can encounter." "You can train a neural network to be reasonably good at simple tasks, but if you try to get them to do a lot of different tasks at once speaking, recognizing an object, moving limbs each of those is a really tough problem. It's hard to anticipate what they can encounter and make them adapt to that," she said. Mackenzie Davis plays Mariette, a replicant sex worker, in "Blade Runner 2049." (Image credit: Courtesy of Alcon Entertainment) Shane has programmed neural networks to do things that sound fairly simple, compared to a replicant's repertoire: generating names for paint colors or guinea pigs, or assembling spells for the role-playing game "Dungeons and Dragons" (D&D). For the spells experiment, Shane incorporated a database of 1,300 examples to teach the neural network what a D&D spell is supposed to sound like. Even so, some results were noticeably odd, she told Live Science. "I had a whole series of spells I'm still not sure why that all revolved around the word 'Dave,' which was not in the original data set," Shane said. The spells, which are listed on her website, include "Chorus of the Dave," "Charm of the Dave," "Storm of the Dave" and "Hail to the Dave." There was also a Dave-less but still perplexingly named spell, "Mordenkainen's lucubrabibiboricic angion." "It was a success in terms of being entertaining, but it was not a success in terms of sounding like the wizards who are inventing D&D spells," Shane said. The body electric In recent decades, there also have been advances in designs of humanoid, bipedal robotic bodies, though they are still a far cry from the human-like replicants. However, recent design innovations offer the possibility of integrating more soft parts into robots to help them move more like people do, said Hod Lipson, a professor of mechanical engineering and data science at Columbia University in New York. "We have been stuck in this corner of what's possible in robotics, simply because we've only had access to stiff, rigid components: hard motors, metal pieces, hard joints," Lipson told Live Science. "But if you look at biology, you see that animals are mostly made of soft materials, and that gives them a lot of capabilities that robots don't have." Lipson and his colleagues recently designed a 3D-printed soft "muscle" for robots a mechanism for movement control known as an "actuator," Lipson said. Made of synthetic materials, the actuator is flexible, electrically activated and about 15 times stronger than a human muscle. An actuator such as this, which can move in response to a stimulus, was "almost a missing link when it comes to physical robotics," Lipson said. (L) The electrically actuated muscle with thin resistive wire in a rest position; (R) The muscle is expanded. (Image credit: Aslan Miriyev/Columbia Engineering) "We've solved a lot of other things, but when it comes to motion, we're still fairly primitive," he said. "It's not that the actuator that we've come up with is necessarily going to solve everything, but it definitely addresses one of the weak points of this new kind of robotics." Over the past decade, strikingly lifelike robots cloaked in artificial skin have appeared briefly at conferences or have been tested in studies, but there's a good reason why we haven't seen any walking the streets let alone performing the spectacular acrobatic feats demonstrated by replicants, Lipson said. "Robots really can't handle unstructured physical environments very well. There's a huge gap there," he said. "In many of these movies, we're somehow skipping the question of how you make these machines in reality," Lipson added. "No one has any clue how to make a machine that's nimble, that can store power inside and walk for days. "If I had to predict the future, I think we'll get to the human-mind level in AI very soon," he said. "But when it comes to the body, it will take another century." Original article on Live Science. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 7 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft on June 7, 2017. While the Cassini spacecraft is dead engineers deliberately plunged it into Saturn's atmosphere on Sept. 15, ending its 13-year mission around the planet analyzing the reams of data from the mission will take decades, NASA said in a statement, as new insights were released this week from the spacecraft's final days. "There are whole careers to be forged in the analysis of data from Cassini," Linda Spilker, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in a statement. "In a sense, the work has only just begun." Cassini's main goal was to learn more about the nature of Saturn and its moons, as the planet moved through its 29-year orbit around the sun. The spacecraft returned data in droves, yielding insights into a mysterious hexagon storm at one of Saturn's poles, water geysers that spurt on the moon Enceladus, and a possible prebiotic chemistry on the moon Titan. With the mission low on fuel, Cassini plunged into Saturn a month ago after making several daring dives between the planet and its famous rings. On Oct. 16 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Science, scientists revealed new insights from those final days. Activity in Saturn's rings resembles how planets form While showing pictures and videos of Saturn's rings, researchers said there are some features in those rings that have similar processes to those that birth exoplanets. For example, ring features called propellers wakes in the rings generated by moonlets are similar to baby planets growing in the gas discs surrounding young stars. The day before Cassini died, said Cassini participating scientist Matt Tiscareno of the SETI Institute, the spacecraft captured images of all six propellers that it tracked during its mission: Bleriot, Earhart, Santos-Dumont, Sikorsky, Post, and Quimby. RELATED: Saturn's Icy Moons Are a Little Less Mysterious Thanks to Cassini's Long Mission Methane is raining down from Saturn's rings Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer captured the first-ever measurements of Saturn's upper atmosphere, which extends almost as far as the planets rings. The team, which included Cassini participating scientist Mark Perry from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, not only discovered water raining down from the rings, but also methane, which was a surprise, since the team expected the gas was too volatile to survive within Saturn's rings or its atmosphere. We may soon know the length of a day on Saturn Since Cassini's final orbits brought it closer to the planet, its magnetic field measurements are much more sensitive. The more detailed data could be a boon for researchers such as Michele Dougherty, leader of Cassini's magnetometer team from Imperial College London, who is trying to figure out the length of a day on Saturn. Scientists expect that by learning the magnetic field's tilt, they'll be able to determine the planet's internal rotation an indication of a days length. Scientists said if the magnetic field tilt is greater than 0.016 degrees, they should be able to "nail down the true length of the planet's day." RELATED: Cassini's Breathtaking New View of Saturn's Enigmatic Hexagon New insights on why Saturn's rings don't just fall apart One of the enduring mysteries of Saturn is what force holds its rings together. Models indicate that something is constraining the rings, otherwise the rings would have spread out a few hundred million years after Saturn's birth, as faster-moving particles closer to the planet crashed into slower-moving ones farther away. A new modeling study, led by Radwan Tajeddine of Cornell University, shows several moons Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus, and Mimas help to hold the rings together. His study was based on observations from Cassini, which examined waves in the rings and obtained the masses of Saturn's moons. This new data helped Tajeddine's team determine how the moons temper the rings' momentum outwards. His research will be published Oct. 18 in Astrophysical Journal. Originally published on Seeker. NASA is using information from Earth-observing satellites to assist in recovery efforts following a series of devastating wildfires in Northern California. The agency released a "damage proxy map" today (Oct. 19) that provides aerial views of the cities of Sacramento and Santa Rosa (just north of San Francisco) taken before and after the fire outbreaks. The maps provide emergency responders on the ground with a better idea of where the fires inflicted the most damage. "The map has been provided to various agencies to aid in the wildfire response," NASA officials wrote in a blog post. The map is best used to show damage in areas populated by homes, rather than wilderness area, according to the blog post. Colored areas show the severity of the damage, a spectrum from yellow to red. The image at top shows damage (red and yellow) in Santa Rosa, California, caused by wildfires. (Image credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech/ESA/Copernicus/Google) The map was produced by scientists with the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Project for Natural Hazards at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, both in Pasadena, California. The scientists built the map using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). The agency provided similar damage proxy maps to emergency responders in Puerto Rico following the devastation created by Hurricane Maria in September. NASA has been using its own fleet of satellites to keep an eye on the fires since they erupted in California's wine country on Oct. 8. Authorities are now reporting that approximately 7,000 homes and structures in California have been destroyed by the fires. Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. The Moroccan authorities have spent decades imprisoning Saharawis who support self-determination in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara. They then send detainees to prisons in Morocco, thus depriving them of their basic rights such as family visits, medical attention and opportunities to study. Last week, some of the many families affected by this situation went to the office of the General Administration of Prisoners and Rehabilitation in the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat to draw attention to this matter with regard their loved ones. They expressed their anger that 19 political prisoners, a group of Saharawi activists known as the Gdeim Izik Group, had been moved to different prisons in Morocco on 16 September. This move happened without any pre-warning, either to the prisoners or to their families. The families took part in protests against this move for an entire week. We have been here in a peaceful sit-in for a whole week and despite having met with those responsible for the administration, the conditions for our family members who are in prison have not improved at all. Today we were shocked that some 200 police and auxiliary forces officers, both uniformed and plain-clothes, were sent by the authorities to attack us and break up our peaceful sit-in, commented one of the participants. On Monday last week, the protesters (including family members and human rights activists) were violently attacked and many were badly injured. Several, who lost consciousness due to blows to the head, were taken to hospital, including the RASD-TV correspondent Salha Boutanguiza. The attacks show a premeditated policy of violent repression of any form of dissent against Moroccan policies directed towards the Saharawi population, including the suffering of political prisoners in Moroccan prisons. The conditions that Saharawi political prisoners are enduring are difficult and inhumane, which has led many prisoners to begin open hunger strike and others who have given 48 hours notice that they will continue with a hunger strike if their rights are not respected, explained the spokesperson for the Committee of the Families of Saharawi Political Prisoners. The Moroccan Prison Authorities must assume full responsibility for the physical and psychological consequences of the suffering the Saharawi political prisoners are enduring from the terrible conditions in which they are living, he also told us. By arbitrarily moving prisoners to prisons in Morocco, the government is forcing families to travel between eight and twenty-one hours to visit their loved ones. This is not only cruel but goes against international law and all the conventions to which an occupying power must adhere. These conventions oblige Morocco to imprison all detainees from Western Sahara in prisons in the Occupied Territories and ensure that living conditions meet international standards. In the last three weeks, Adala UK has documented how the Moroccan security forces have violently attacked all protesters to prevent further peaceful protests in solidarity with the 19 political prisoners from taking place. The facts speak for themselves: this is not just a disproportionate reaction but a premeditated practice to use violence to prevent voices critical of the Moroccan government and its policies against the Saharawi population from being heard. Excessive force is being used by the Moroccan forces throughout different cities in Western Sahara against peaceful protesters. Adala UK has also documented attacks against people who are not protesting in the described demonstrations. These attacks have taken the form of driving directly at people in the streets in their armoured vehicles. This endangers the lives of many others who are in the street at the same time. Security forces hurl stones at peoples doors and windows and try to kick them in. Adala UK activists note that the Moroccan authorities defend the use of force by pointing out how the Saharawis incite hatred and violence, claiming that they are traitors who work for foreign agents. It is imperative that the Moroccan government allows the Saharawi population to exert their rights, above all their right to self-determination, as recognised by the UN and the international community and that they immediately bring an end to their policies of violently repressing hundreds of people in the Occupied Territories, something which is currently a daily occurrence. (SPS) 062/SPS/ Adala UK http://adalauk.com/2017/10/16/morocco-must-take-urgent-action-stop-suffering-saharawi-prisoners-families/ Paris, Oct 17, 2017 (SPS) - Western Sahara decolonization will be on the menu of three meetings in Paris and its suburbs, as of Friday. Discussions will focus on Europes role in this conflict, especially that of France, Morocco's only support, which occupies this non self governing territory since 1975. These meetings took place at a time when new UN envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Koehler, began his first regional tour, in order to relaunch talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the only legitimate representative of the people of Western Sahara and apply the Security Council resolutions that provide for the self-determination of the people of this territory, Africas last colony. Following its first colloquium in June 2016 on Western Sahara unsolved question, Sorbonne University organizes on Friday an international conference on protection of human rights in Western Sahara. Several academics and researchers will give lectures around the current legal debates of the conflict and the new prospects for ending the crisis. (SPS) 062/SPS/APS Wilaya of Auserd, Oct 18, 2017 (SPS) - The messes of the Wilaya of Auserd have received on Wednesday the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Western Sahara, Horst Koehler, who arrived in the camps on the second leg of his first visit to the region, in the framework of his first tour to revival negotiations between the two parties to reach a solution that guarantees the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination. Upon his arrival in Auserd, he was greeted by units of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA), where he was received at the entrance of the Wilaya by the members of the Secretariat, the Government, the National Council, the Bureau of the Advisory Council, the Presidents of the Constitutional Council and the Supreme Judicial Council. For her part, Governor of the Wilaya, Mrs. Mariam Salek Hamada, after welcoming the Personal Envoy and his accompanying delegation, renewed the confidence of the Sahrawi party in the new envoy to move the peace process in Western Sahara. Mariam went on saying that the Saharawi people are looking forward to finding a quick solution to the long-running Western Sahara conflict, applauding Mr. Kohler's experience in the international politics. The UN envoy was received by Emhamed Khaddad, the Sahrawi Coordinator with MINURSO, Mr. Bujari Ahmed, representative of the Frente POLISARIO to the United Nations.SPS 125/090/TRA I f you want to know what is happening in insurance go to Bristol. That is where you will find Tallt Ventures, a business which mixes data intelligence on more than five million start-ups worldwide with industry analytics and consultancy for clients hoping to launch tech services and companies. Given its business model has barely changed over 200 years, insurance is ripe for technological disruption, waiting for (and in many boardrooms, dreading) its Uber moment. Tallt reports that a tidal wave of money some $1.69 billion (1.3 billion) last year poured into the industry to finance technological innovation, looking at how insurance is sold, how it is marketed and how its back offices are run and claims handled and paid. So even without anything as radical as Uber there is quite enough happening to scare the wits out of the more traditional players. Some are being talked about today at a conference in London organised by the Association of British Insurers, others were discussed on Monday at another conference for the Association of Financial Mutuals. The message from both is that although insurance will surely survive, a lot of the sectors companies will not. Some people think the entire approach needs to change, on the basis that the electric light did not stem from continuous improvement of the candle. Dan Ariely an American behavioural economist who has featured in this column before for his suggestion that paying management big bonuses is virtually guaranteed to destroy the business is now part of a new insurance start-up. Explaining at its launch why they were hoping to do things differently he said: If you tried to create a system which brings out the worst in people, you would end up with one that looks like the current insurance industry. His new company Lemonade is in many ways what a mutual insurance company would look like if it was invented today with the benefit of modern technology. It first uses data to identify a group of like-minded people who have in common that they would like to contribute to a good cause the local school, a charity or such like. It then suggests this group self-insure. The premiums that would normally have been paid to a company for their home or motor insurance instead go into a local pool, which is held where no one can touch it in escrow, but still belongs to the group. Any claims are paid out of the pool but what is left at the year-end goes to the charity of their choice. The company, Lemonade, makes its profit from the small slice of each premium it takes for arranging everything. That is a simplified version of the process but the clever thing about this business model is how it encourages better behaviour. Individuals do not inflate their claims because it would mean less is available for their chosen charity; the company does not unjustly resist or seek to whittle down claims because it is not its money. Indeed, at the opposite extreme, Lemonade says it has set the record for the prompt settlement of a claim three seconds! Insurance mutuals in this country struggle to be recognised as a force for good because from the outside they look too much like a conventional public company, and the rewards in pricing and service are not easy to make apparent. Perhaps they need to rethink their offer along Lemonades lines. A second big shift picked up by Tallt is the move from insurance to prevention putting a fence at the top of the cliff rather than providing an ambulance at the bottom or, more prosaically, instead of paying up when something goes wrong, the business stops it going wrong in the first place. This is all to do with the internet of things, the system whereby even the most mundane household device will have a computer chip allowing it to be connected to a network. At present, insurers pay up for waste food after the freezer fails, redecoration after a burst pipe, or the towing charge for a stranded car. In future, by being able to monitor these machines, they will see when they are about to break down and can fix the problem before it happens. Thus, they turn the negative experience of cleaning up after a disaster to the positive experience of preventing the disaster in the first place. The third trend is for insurance on demand: at the moment, insurance companies provide products such as home, motor, travel, health and other cover and then try to sell it to customers whether they want it or not. But thanks to technology, insurers will follow a person and provide cover on demand, when it is needed and the customer is in a mood to buy. If he or she wants to drive a car, a picture of the vehicle is sent and instant cover arranged. The driver doesnt pay when the car is parked. If they want health cover they send a selfie (facial recognition analytics already tell as much about health and lifestyle as a 10-page written questionnaire). In China where personal data is less controlled than in Europe, insurance firms know when someone with a mobile has entered an airport. So, they offer them cover against flight delays. This is all done automatically. In this vision of the not-too-distant future, insurance will be about protection and prevention and companies will make their money from fees or consultancy rather than from what is left after the claims are paid. Insurance will be led by demand, provided to the customer when the customer needs it, but only for as long as its needed. And everything will be digital, demanded, paid for and delivered by mobile. What we do not know, however, is whether any of the existing companies will still be around to provide it. Some face a major challenge because, as Avivas Mark Wilson has been heard to remark, insurance is stuck in the Stone Age while other businesses are circling Mars. T ravis Perkins fixed its leaking share price today amid signs that its plumbing and heating division may be over the worst of its recent troubles. Brexit-driven price rises have helped the Wickes and Toolstation owner as group underlying sales jumped 4.1% in its most recent trading quarter. Investors breathed a sigh of relief after the update, with the shares up 3%, or 42p, to 1514p. Travis Perkins lost its place in the FTSE 100 index this year, having been rocked by post-Brexit jitters and poor trading in the plumbing division, which is home to 300 branches under the City Plumbing brand. Today, the builders merchant said underlying sales in plumbing and heating had improved significantly, with the jump of 5.4% also aided by some recent store closures. Elsewhere on the FTSE 100 index, there were encouraging signs on recent trading from Rentokil Initial after the pest control business posted strongquarterly revenue growth. Third-quarter revenues rose 13.7% to 579.5 million, boosted by a string of takeovers. Despite the recent impact of hurricanes on some of its markets, chief executive Andy Ransom said the company was on track to meet its full-year targets. But, having risen to a record high in recent sessions, the shares were flat, up 0.3p at 312.8p. On the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, when the FTSE 100 lost a fifth of its value over the course of two days, the top flight was down by a more manageable 20.46 points at 7522.41. Japans Nikkei rose for the 13th day in a row, its longest winning run since 1988, but generally Asian markets were subdued after figures showed Chinas GDP slowed slightly to 6.8% year-on-year in the third quarter. Among other developments, investors continued to go crazy for Marshalls, driving shares in the maker of paving products to fresh highs. The rise of 7%, or 31.2p, to 470p came as it splashed out 38.3 million on the acquisition of CPM Group, based in the South West, in a deal that expands the companys product range into below-ground drainage services. Meanwhile, online travel agency On The Beach was under a cloud despite a strong summer of trading. The Manchester-based company boasts a 20% share of the UK online short-haul beach holidays market, having been set up in a terraced house by chief executive Simon Cooper in 2003. It said trading had been particularly strong during the key summer trading period, with sales growth of 26%. However, the failure of Monarch Airlines means there will be one-off costs from helping customers to organise alternative travel arrangements. The shares were 2% lower at 440.5p. O f all the bizarre images of Donald Trump with other world leaders, the one that looks most like a political remake of Neil Simons screen study in male incompatibility, The Odd Couple, is the President alongside Justin Trudeau. From body language to world view, the neighbouring leaders could hardly diverge more. But Trudeau is turning out to be a skilled Trump handler. The photograph from their summit causing glee in Canada is Trump, who is not inclined to give credit to competitors, pointing admiringly at a wry-looking guest, as he declared him a great Prime Minister. For his part, Trudeau has found neat ways of pointing out at home that he has a devil of a job dealing with a overgrown manchild in the White House, while remaining courteous. The President makes decisions that surprise people from time to time, Trudeau said last week. And that is something we are very much aware of and very braced for. While America touts nation-first politics in shock-jock language, Trudeaus defence of (relatively) open borders, and cultural as well as political openness, has secured him a global fan base. In Washington, he berated Mexico for its record on crimes against women and pressed for gender imbalances to be addressed in an updated Nafta agreement. Neither commitment would be high on the Trump to-do list. Cannily, Trudeau advances such progressive arguments under the umbrella of Ivanka Trumps embrace of womens empowerment, thus skirting clashes with the First Dad. On the world stage, the First Canadian has a lot to celebrate as he marks his mid-term in office today. His ascendancy in Ottawa and admiration beyond led one Conservative opponent to deem the suave son of a former Liberal leader a flying unicorn, immune to the slings and arrows of opposition. The Conservatives have only just fixed on a leader after the Liberal rout two years ago following a bout of infighting over the tone and direction of Conservatism (obviously, this could never occur in the British Tory party). Now the harder part of Trudeaus premiership is beginning. A bundle of missteps, some bad luck and the old curse of progressives: not being clear enough about priorities in the long list of ideas he has embraced is causing rumbles. Canadian politics, if you are used to the Westminster or Washington kind, are a heady mixture of rows that sound familiar and local specifics, especially language sensitivity and secessionism, which can devour political capital. One slight that attaches, however unfairly, to a Liberal leader from a moneyed political dynasty is that since the financial crisis, well-heeled politicians must combat the notion that they are distant from the rest of the population. So Trudeau returned from Washington to face the heat on a tax-reform proposal that hits small businesses, at precisely the moment when his finance minister, Bill Morneau, is under fire for failing to use a blind trust to handle his considerable assets. In a lively detail, it turns out that Morneau used a holding company, with potential legal tax advantages, for his ownership of a French chateau. Memories of British politicians being hauled over the coals in the expenses affair or for their own tax arrangements spring to mind. By bad luck the story coincides with the government proposing changes to tax codes that hit small business folk. If Britain has sporadic rows on fracking versus conservation, imagine the scale of that stand-off in a country with the natural resources of Canada. Oil-producing parts of the country are furious after a cancellation of a planned oil pipeline while Greens claim he has not gone far enough. Trudeau can make a sound case that he is balancing interests: but the calls for him to declare his beliefs less ambiguously are growing louder. Really, he has many of the assets and setbacks of early Blairism a credible Centre-Left agenda but uncertainty about what matters most to him and what he wants to achieve. Many of these problems stem from too broad a range of good intentions (a think-tank counted well over 200 pre-office commitments). Implementation has also been patchy. Trudeau has finally broached a dark subject in the countrys story, the large numbers of treatment of indigenous young women and girls who have been mistreated, with blind eyes turned by officialdom. In the same vein as the independent inquiry into child sex abuse in Britain, Canadas commission has run into organisational troubles, leaving its government under fire. Some of the fixes lie in a party that had been out of power for nearly 10 years getting the hang of running the show in detail the task of the next two years. But Trudeau and many beyond Canada who are inspired by him can take comfort from a couple of factors too. One is that although his polling is dented, the likelihood of a second term of Liberal Canada remains stronger than a swift turn back to the Conservatives. The other is that, as the latest demands for a Nafta shake-up exhibit, the free trade cause needs a charismatic champion. Not just to take on the Right: Trudeau needs to deploy Left-Liberal credentials to explode the myth that free trade is disadvantageous to the poor. For all his woes, he fits that bill better than any other figure in power, besides an even less tested Emmanuel Macron. He has shown masterful self-control in his dealings with American negotiators making demands on trade arrangements which would impact heavily on Mexico and Canada, making alliances with American business, who are also getting more fearful of the consequences. True, Trudeau is not the study in perfection that his more breathless European admirers claim. He can be negligent in detail, a bit flippant with sensitivities and he will need a sterner approach to managing his cabinet, to avoid more unnecessary pratfalls. But the lesson he represents for a disrupted, uncertain Europe is that old liberal battles matter and need fresh verve to conduct. That included dealing with Trump more shrewdly than wailing about him. On that score, the man in Ottawa is Canadas best export since maple syrup and polite goodwill. Anne McElvoy is also Senior Editor of The Economist H ave we reached peak Plath yet? It seems not. The author of The Bell Jar and poet who produced such controversial lines as Every woman adores a fascist still holds a grip on the popular imagination. This latest publication is the first of two volumes of Plaths collected letters, a book that has already made news with its fresh material. I think if anything ever happened to you, Sylvia wrote in one of 15 previously unpublished letters to her new husband, Ted Hughes, in 1956, I would really kill myself. Plath, of course, committed suicide in London in 1963 at the age of 30, after a recurrence of the depression that dogged her youth and the discovery that her husband had been unfaithful. In the foreword to this book the couples daughter, Frieda Hughes, outlines how her father championed his wifes work. He was responsible for the publication of the groundbreaking 1965 collection Ariel, the volume that contains the poems Daddy and Lady Lazarus. However, it seems odd for Frieda to add, It has always been my conviction that the reason my mother should be of interest to readers at all is due to my father. After all, Hughes doesnt make his first appearance until page 1,120 of this hefty volume, and only 16 of the 856 letters are addressed to him. As I argued in my 2013 biography Mad Girls Love Song, the poets life and work have been overshadowed and defined by that big, dark, hunky boy whom Sylvia first met in Cambridge in 1956. Famously, Hughes dismissed anything his wife wrote before that year poems, essays, stories, letters as juvenilia, impurities thrown off from the various stages of the inner transformation, by-products of the internal work. The contents of this new book, expertly edited by the Plath scholars and archivists Peter Steinberg and Karen Kukil, once again prove Hughes wrong. These letters are by turns poignant, revelatory, banal, hilarious and self-absorbed, documenting as they do the changing moods, ambitions and intellectual and creative development of one of the 20th-centurys most celebrated poets. For the first time we see the complete and unedited letters that Plath wrote to her mother, Aurelia, who had made the decision to publish the 1975 book, Letters Home. That highly censored volume was inspired by a mothers wish to show the world that her daughter was not the spiteful young woman who could write The Bell Jar, a novel that Aurelia said was full of caricatures of people Sylvia was supposed to have loved and as such represented the basest ingratitude. Despite Plaths near-pathological prolificacy, there are inevitably some gaps in this new volume, particularly a silence around some of Sylvias lovers. If you are looking for Plaths letters to boyfriend Dick Norton, the model for the dreadful Buddy Willard in The Bell Jar, you wont find them here he has never released them. Letters to Richard Sassoon (the man who dumped Sylvia and drove her into the arms of Ted Hughes) are sparse and have been reproduced from extracts that have already appeared. More book reviews 1 /24 More book reviews Recovery by Russell Brand Will Russells brand of self-help prove quite so addictive? By Nicholas Lezard. Read review A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman Paxo refuses to answer all the really good questions, says David Sexton. Read review Politics: Between: The Extremes by Nick Clegg The basis of this book makes it impossible not to warm to Clegg, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review Serious Sweet by A L Kennedy Thank heavens for London in this tale of self-obsessed lovers. Read review The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth by Anna Keay Born a kings b****** and destined for a traitors death. Read review Man Up: Boys, Men and Breaking the Male Rules by Rebecca Asher Getting to the bottom of why boys will be boys. Read review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton A philosophical novel that does run smooth, says Johanna Thomas-Corr. Read review The Tree Climbers Guide: Adventures in the Urban Canopy by Jack Cooke How I gave this book a proper test and ended up with a broken ankle. Read review Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre Brontes classic tale in the imaginations of other writers, says Claire Harman. Read review Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran Caitlin comes clean about politics the world according to our funniest feminist. By Rosamund Urwin. Read review Spark Joy An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo Theres no messing wih Marie, says Katie Law. Read review Cockfosters Stories by Helen Simpson After 50, a womans life gets better not worse. By Katie Law. Read review Stalins Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie Joker in the spying pack. By Richard Bassett. Read review Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin The darkness that lies at the heart of the novel is offset by a lightness of touch, says Mark Sanderson. Read review Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello Elvis proves not quite so lyrical on the page, says Nick Curtis. Read review The Importance of Elsewhere: Philip Larkins Photographs by Richard Bradford His poetry paints better pictures than any camera, says David Sexton. Read review Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Morality wins out over macabre murders, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Calling all Flynnies: the con girl whos like gone girl. Read review And so the public appetite for all things Plath continues. Why the continued fascination? In addition to the blistering poetry, there is the allure of her quixotic identity. Most of us who knew Sylvia knew a different Sylvia, wrote her friend Clarissa Roche. In a curious way she seemed uncompleted. While Plaths personality which Roche compared to fragments of quivering mercury may resist definition, these letters serve as a step towards a greater understanding of one of our most compelling modern poets. Andrew Wilson is the author of Mad Girls Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted M ore than any hotel in London and perhaps even the world Claridges exists as a fantasy land of top hat and tailed, old-world opulence. The wi-fi has improved since it politely held open its doors more than two centuries ago, but otherwise, outwardly, little has changed. It is a place where one imagines you might hear words like delightful uttered on a bi-minutely basis. To check in to Claridges is to expect to be treated like royalty: and royalty from a time when kings and queens could simply click their fingers and have anything they desired within seconds. In 2017, just as in 1817, there is no wish that cannot be granted: and nowhere is this more apparent than in the food service. From 3am caviar to a well-done alligator steak, Claridges will turn itself inside out in the name of customer service. Ask, and it will be done. How the Charles Dickens is this possible? Its a secret but one that I, over the course of 24 consecutive hours spent in the kitchen, am about to be privy to. 6am Brook Street glows the sleek grey of a Savile Row suit, discreetly expensive even in pre-dawn gloom. At the corner of Davies Street, the Claridges entrance beckons like an art deco Christmas tree, festively radiant. I am not radiant. My hair straggles damply, my mouth acrid with sleep. Forget afternoon tea: I need coffee. Inside the hallowed revolving doors, the Foyer restaurant bustles as white-jacketed waiters straighten perfect white tablecloths and adjust perfect white hydrangeas. In strides twinkly eyed executive chef Martyn Nail. He looks radiant. Having worked here since 1986 (then a third commis chef, earning 92 a fortnight), he basically is Claridges. In the vast basement kitchen below, I don chefs whites and drink three cups of coffee. Im ready for my shift. And there are worse places to start than the cool pastry kitchen, surfaces gleaming under mattresses of dough. Francois Grange has been a tourier (someone who creates pastry from leavened dough) for 30 years, has fashioned Claridges pastries for eight years and has been here today since midnight. Right now hes stamping out hundreds of scones, plain and raisin. Each little circle will be baked fresh for afternoon tea or, indeed, at any time of the day or night according to guests whims. 10 of the most romantic hotels in London - in pictures 1 /13 10 of the most romantic hotels in London - in pictures The Corfu suite at Blakes Hotel Blakes Hotel The Grand Suite at Artist Residence Pimlico Artist Residence Pimlico The Loft Suite at the London Edition London Edition The luxury suite at Dean Street Townhouses Dean Street Townhouses The Garden House suite sitting room at Rosewood London Rosewood London The suite at Chiltern Firehouse Chris Mosier, Chiltern Firehouse The Grand Piano Suite at Claridge's Claridge's The exceptional Suite at the Portobello Hotel Amy Murrell Lear's Loft at the Zetter Townhouse Andreas von Einsiedel The Conservatory suite at Hotel 41 Hotel 41 9am Out in the Foyer breakfast is in full, manic swing its Frieze week and art dealers talk loudly over lobster brioche. Downstairs, the main kitchen till gurns as it churns out 300 breakfast orders. Its 32C in here. Theres the odd fishy request a neatly laid Japanese breakfast of miso soup, rice and pan-fried salmon but mostly, the order of the day is eggs, orange-yolked Clarence Courts cracked by the dozens for scrambling. 10am Ten oclock wine tasting? Well, Ive been up for six hours. Its basically lunchtime. In his cookbook-lined office, Nail and head sommelier Thomas Roger discuss the 800 wines in the Claridges cellar. Rogers job is to never say no. When one guest wanted a rare champagne from his birth year, Roger knew exactly where to find it in the cellar; when another couple mentioned an unusual Oregon Pinot Noir they adored on holiday, he instantly produced another from the same region. 12.30pm Besides lunch for the Foyer, the kitchen team has two banqueting lunches 33 in the Drawing Room and 88 in the Ballroom. Plating is a military operation. The pass is covered in plates, chefs line both sides. Everyone, including me, is responsible for one individual element of each dish. Theres a tense pause then were off. Suddenly Im spooning wild mushrooms on to swirls of potatoes piped seconds before at high speed, shrivelled shrooms flying. 121 plates are prepared and whisked away in minutes. Once its over, theres a slight sense of anticlimax. 2pm Still, that adrenaline lull can be filled with thousands of crustless sandwiches, soon to be devoured by the 180 guests booked in to Claridges famous afternoon tea. Step forward Vlad Tokaryk from Poland, who used to work in a sausage factory until it burned down. Hes obsessed with sharp knives and spends seven hours a day making sandwiches: mixing egg mayo at 7.30am, slivering smoked salmon at 12pm and slicing crusts now. Im cautiously allowed to cut the ham sandwiches. Despite cries from Tokaryk as crusts snag, I receive the compliment, Not bad. Ive peaked. Then, a ripple of tension as an order comes in for a very special steak sandwich for a very special man: triple-decker fillet on brioche, with mustard and butter specifically spread the thinness of lettuce. Executive sous chef Adam Peirson has a photo on his phone to remind him of whether this VIP snack should be laid flat or propped upright. Custom orders give the tiniest glimpse into a personality; they also scream of a desire to have things their own way, as if Nail were their personal chef, the Claridges kitchen their own. Creating this sense of home from home is something Claridges obsesses over: an amenities team is dedicated to discovering guest preferences in advance of arrival to ensure an appropriate welcoming present, whether thats champagne for celebrations or the custom-made bed built by the Claridges in-house carpenter for a five-year-old girl who needed somewhere for Grace, her doll, to sleep. Order! Frankie at the pass with executive sous chef, Adam Peirson; below, helping plate up for a banquet 6pm The final afternoon tea cakes disappear to the Foyer and all focus is on next-day prep. Prep is nine tenths of the kitchen law, especially given those huge banqueting feasts. Jude Rosario, drafted in from The Berkeley, preps chicken Chettinadu for a 350-guest Diwali dinner while we clean 14kg of girolles and trim 35kg of venison (wholesale price: 2,135) for 210 at tomorrows dinner. 7pm I quietly down my knife and drift out into the real world of the Foyer. Although obviously, its not really the real world. Princess Beatrice and the Duchess of York sip champagne while Derek Blasberg squeals hello to Marc Jacobs and Lauren Santo Domingo knocks back peanuts under the Dale Chihuly chandelier. A piano tinkles lullaby jazz. I want to stay in my corner eating crab salad for ever 9pm Sadly, room service beckons. Officially, nine pages of food choices are available; in reality, guests rarely confine themselves to these offerings. Roast chickens are ordered for dogs while an extremely nice bottle of 2003 Chateau Latour Pauillac rattles off to a distant room. I learn that Caviar Lady is with us tonight. Of the 24.6kg of caviar Claridges serves each year, several kilograms are consumed by a regular guest who has a predilection for 250g tins of oscietra. 10pm Nail clocks off for the day and Paul Smith (not the designer) the night chef arrives. He is the sole chef in the kitchen until breakfast, cooking cheeseburgers for the Fumoir bar boozers, burritos for night cleaners and anything under the sun for room service. A trolley disappears bearing a single sliced lemon. After a desolate hour, Grange is back in the pastry kitchen. The croissants he folded this morning have risen as my eyelids have fallen. At 1am the front doors to Claridges are locked. A doorbell must be pressed and ID shown before you can enter. A deep, dense quiet descends. 2am Four hours to go, although in the windowless kitchen it could be midday. Its time to pick up room service breakfast orders from the doors of slumbering guests. The seven floors of hotel corridors are surreally quiet. Orders err on the side of angelical; green juices and a handwritten request for two whole lemons. We squeeze ourselves. Back in the room service kitchen, Im on my seventh coffee of the day (night?). There have been few challenging orders, and sadly no requests for alligator, as received several years ago from some guests one of the few wishes the kitchen wasnt able to grant on the spot (by the following evening, however, a ready supply of croc meat was on standby). 4.30am Trolleys of coffee and orange juice clank up to the lobby for early departing guests en route to first class flights. Checking corridors again for last-minute breakfast orders, the quiet roars and the corridors rock. I feel like Im underwater. Maybe I am. As my watch finally flicks round to 6am, it occurs to me that since I last saw daylight, a Second Flood could have occurred. If so, I cant think of many places Id rather ride out the storm than Claridges. Claridges: The Cookbook is out now (30, octopusbooks.co.uk) T here arent too many CEOs who can rock a Gucci hoodie and sequined Halpern flares in the workplace. But then Holli Rogers of famed fashion boutique, Browns, isnt your average exec. And neither is Browns East the 48-year-olds new two-storey, 4,000 sq ft boutique thats heating up Shoreditch your average store. What may look like a highly curated destination store, complete with cafe and concept spaces, is, in fact, the first phase of an augmented retail Store of the Future concept being pioneered by parent company Farfetch (the billon-dollar platform that unites the worlds designer boutiques online). In essence, this means integrating the in-store experience with how Browns customers already shop online. Get ready for a Browns app that allows you to share your purchase history and wish lists with store staff (or, as Rogers puts it, tap in and let us know that you are here), as well as mobile points of sale and smart mirrors (allowing you to request another size with a swipe of the reflective screen). Throw in an edit that includes Calvin Kleins plastic covered check coat and Guccis Coco Capitan bumbag, and Browns West End girl is headed east. Stat. There will also be radio frequency stock tracking (so a sales associate will remain by your side while your request goes direct to the stock team) and, should you like to try on anything from brownsfashion.com that isnt in store, it can be delivered within 60 minutes. Oh, and for those who prefer to be left alone, the app will also feature a do not disturb function. Everybody wants something different, smiles Rogers. Its not technology for technologys sake, she adds of the absence of robotic arms or staff posing as holograms. We can give customers a more personalised experience; find out what you want to wear now, and even in three months time. Imagine being able to alert your supermarket that youre en route, and when you arrive your basket is already filled with your favourite goodies, plus the latest coconut product you didnt know existed, but will definitely buy. Holli Rogers Street Style / REX/Shutterstock Thats already happening within Browns VIP styling pods. When we visit a sales associate is prepping for an incoming client. We need to display the Balenciagas higher so its the first thing she sees, he critiques, repositioning a pair of Jerry Seinfeld-issue, triple sole sneakers. His client has already buzzed in from a side entrance. You need one of these when your client list includes Rihanna and Mick Jagger. The sales associates role is also an inspirer, Rogers adds of her team, kitted out in the latest Off-White and Jacquemus. Even the security guards blend in courtesy of sporty bomber jackets. We had to get rid of that black suit situation, she laughs. It has been two years since Rogers joined Browns, injecting a new vibrancy into the 47-year-old brand via a full reboot: logo, packaging, buying strategy and e-commerce site included. Under her tenure the growth of the business has quadrupled, and the 30 per cent online versus 70 per cent bricks and mortar sales figures have been reversed. This is no doubt thanks to Rogers e-com expertise as a formative member of that small disruptor known as Net-A-Porter. So why the expansion of bricks and mortar, and why now? It turns out Rogers has been looking for a new retail site for Browns since day one in the role. A new store gives us a new identity and east for me has the vibrancy and energy. As well as its forward-thinking features, the boutique will be the first incarnation of the brands Nomad project, so named because it has been designed to undergo a full transformation every two to three weeks. We all have short attention spans, Rogers says matter-of-factly. That is the reality of where life is going, so we have to cater to that. At Browns East, flexibility has been built into the stores foundations, conceived by Brinkworth as a series of moveable modules. Even the cafe and the Immersive Experience Room will be short-term residencies. Fatties Bakery will pop up until the end of the year serving salted caramel brownies, while the Immersive room will host free light and sound therapy sessions. Trust us, youll want Chris Connors BeBox meditation room in your own home. The Gallery, which is currently selling affordable artwork, with drawings by Polly Morgan and neons by Lauren Baker, and the Focus lab, which will showcase the teams latest obsessions, will be an evolving visual feast. I dont want it to just be a store selling clothes, Rogers reinforces. We hope we are able to make people happy. Getty Images What isnt changing is the spaces wooden flooring, reclaimed from the BBCs former sound studios and once trodden by Winston Churchill. Those arent going anywhere! laughs Rogers. And in keeping with Browns legacy of championing innovation former owner/fashion icon Joan Burstein ruled the London fashion scene for some 40 years, dressing everyone from Linda McCartney to Diana Ross at her original South Molton Street store before selling to Farfetch in 2015 the overall offering remains an eclectic mix of megabrands like Saint Laurent and up-and-comers such as the Ukraines Navro and Australias Ex Infinitas. Browns East is also embracing fashions gender fluidity movement. Mens and womenswear will represent a 40 /60 split in store, and will be sprinkled throughout the racks rather than separated into sexes. The MO here is inclusive. After all, Rogers background was centred around democratising designer fashion, because I always found luxury a bit scary, she smiles. Rogers studied for a degree in fashion merchandising from the University of North Texas, before going into the Neiman Marcus buying programme then moving to Chanel USA. In 2003, she joined Natalie Massenet in London, where she now lives in Notting Hill, at her start-up that would ignite the luxury e-com revolution. After years of relentless travel and long hours she scheduled a year-long sabbatical in 2014. I slept and finally got to exercise with some kind of regularity, she laughs. Floor show: the Browns East interior She was approached by Farfetch CEO Jose Neves during her year off. I didnt want to go back into retail because I thought, Can you top that? Then Jose called for lunch. The attraction was two-fold: One, because Browns is an amazing company and it had lost some direction, and secondly, the technology aspect of what Farfetch could bring to the table, she explains. I was like, I could either sink or swim, or fly and I think I am going to fly. Whats it like to be reunited with Massenet, who joined Farfetch as non-executive co-chairman in February after resigning from Net-A-Porter in September 2015? Its great, I adore her, she smiles. She has been brought in to do some higher level things, but just knowing she is around makes me happy. Rogers has just arrived back from the style triathlon that is the succession of London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks, where, despite her title, she still likes to get up close to the product. I never wanted to be a CEO, she reflects. What has been really amazing about being in this role is how the preconceived notions of what a CEO means, particularly as a woman, are very different from the way that I am approaching it. She pauses, adding, Im not going to lie, its difficult at times because I fall back, even in my head, and Im like, Should I be doing this, shouldnt I dress like that? But the reality is that there is no reason why a CEO cant be different to what we have seen previously. It should evolve because everything else is evolving around you. South Molton Street will be the next Browns store to undergo the Nomad transformation (slated for the end of next year), but she adds that the roaming retail concept could pop up anywhere. To that end, 2019 will see Browns set up shop in Sao Paulo within the luxury Cidade Matarazzo development that includes a Rosewood hotel. It is going to be a must-see in South America, she enthuses. But for right now, Rogers focus is making sure that Browns East is just that for Shoreditch. Browns East, 21 Club Row, Shoreditch, E2; www.brownsfashion.com H ollywood actress, UN ambassador, style icon and now Prince Harrys fiancee - its hard to imagine how Meghan Markle fits it all in. Despite their relationship being public knowledge for more than a year, Markle and her beau were only pictured together for the first time this September. While weve been fawning over their recent PDAs - and the news that Harry finally got down on one knee - weve also been pondering the eternal question: just how does she find the time to maintain her enviable physique? Here, weve unearthed seven things that Meghan Markle does to achieve the body she has now. 1. Do yoga Its no surprise that Meghan is a fan of yoga, given that the Eastern practice runs in her family. My mum was a yoga instructor so that practice is in my blood, she told Womens Health. "There are so many benefits that come with the practice, she also divulged to Best, increased flexibility and muscle strength, greater happiness, increased mental focus, a greater ability to relax, decreased anxiety and better sleep. So does Harry's girl prefer a slow flow or a high-tempo class? "I love an intense vinyasa class, she told Womens Health, and even better if it's blasting hip-hop and done in a dark room with candlelight. The best! 2. Dont skip the gym Weve all had those days where the alarm goes off at 6am and you simply cant force yourself to open your eyes, let alone endure a 45-minute cardio class. While those dreadful early morning gym sessions may feel cruel, painful and sadistic as you trudge onto an empty Tube carriage, your body will thank you when you arrive at work with a post-workout buzz. My health, my state of mind, the feeling you have after a workout; all of this things drive me to step onto my mat or go to the gym, Markle told Womens Health. Sometimes the idea of working out sounds absolutely dreadful, but I always remind myself of how good it will feel afterward. Euphoric, almost! 4. Go running Not only does she credit running with keeping her in shape, Markle says going for a jog helps her to de-stress after a long day at work. Running has always been my form of moving meditation, which I relish because it allows me to get out of my head, she told Womens Health. I also work closely with a personal trainer named Craig McNamee when I am filming Suits in Toronto. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in first public appearance together 1 /9 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in first public appearance together The couple could be seen laughing and smiling Getty Images for the Invictus Ga attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games Getty Images They were both at this weekend's opening ceremony of the Paralympics-style event for wounded and injured servicemen and women Reuters It is the couple's first public appearance together Reuters Royal watchers are viewing it as a milestone in their relationship Getty Images for the Invictus Ga Harry and Meghan were both casually dressed AP They could be seen holding hands Getty Images 5. Buddy up Even if she likes to run solo, that doesnt mean theres no room for friends in Meghans workout routine. In fact, she loves to hit the gym with London pal Millie Macintosh when shes in town. I'm eager to come to the UK to do a workout with Russell [Bateman], the founder of SBC, she told Womens Health. My friend Millie Macintosh raves about his workouts, so Ill call her up to do a class together next time Im back in London. 6. Cook at home "I love to cook, so every day I'm cooking something, even if it's just making a pesto that I can put in the fridge for later in the week or any little component that you feel like you can take some pride in I think is really important versus going out to eat, for me," Meghan said. She also likes to eat as clean as possible and avoid foods that make her feel lethargic or sluggish - were guessing chips are off the menu then. 7. Let yourself enjoy naff TV and a glass of wine Who doesnt love watching an episode of Strictly with a glass of vino and no plans but to lie vertically on the sofa for the rest of the evening? Forget mediation, zone-out TV is almost a mindful ritual in its own right - and Meghan is more than on board with the concept. I give myself the luxury of downtime, she told Womens Health. We are all so incredibly busy and juggling so many things but I always take an hour to just decompress, watch mindless TV, snuggle with my dogs and enjoy a glass of wine. That's all part of the investment. It's a balance. T he Diwali festival of lights is one of the most visually stunning celebrations in the world. The biggest and brightest of festivities will happen across the globe today, as the five-day festival gets underway. Celebrated around the world by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains for a variety of different reasons, the religious day is one of the most significant dates in Indian culture, with colourful lights, lamps, music, food and firecrackers playing a huge part in the celebrations. The richness and vibrancy of India and its traditions come to life during the festival period, capturing the jubilant spirit of the celebrations. Large firework displays are held to honour the legend of Rama, who according to local lore, was greeted with lights and celebrations after returning from exile. Those celebrating the festival also light traditional earthen candles called diyas and decorate their houses with colourful rangoli artworks - patterns created on the floor using coloured rice or powder. Families will also share Indian sweets and gifts, as well as giving food, money and goods to those in need. Check out the colourful pictures from this years celebration in the gallery above. T he head of a London grammar school which told struggling pupils they could not continue their A-level studies has been suspended. Aydin Onac was suspended from his role at St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, south London, on Thursday. The school found itself at the centre of a high-profile row this summer after it emerged parents were pursuing legal action over its decision to withdraw places from two sixth-formers who had failed to achieve certain grades, preventing them from carrying on into Year 13. Judicial review proceedings against the governing body of St Olave's were initiated, with the claimants arguing that the school's decision was a form of unlawful exclusion. The pupils had failed to achieve Bs in any of their subjects taken in the first year of sixth form, lawyers said. The high-achieving school reversed its decision before a hearing took place and the legal action was dropped. Dr Paul Wright, chair of St Olave's governing body announced Mr Onac has been suspended. He said: "I have been informed that the London Borough of Bromley will be conducting an investigation of St Olave's Grammar School in respect of concerns that have been raised over recent weeks. "In light of this, and in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, Mr Onac has been suspended from all of his responsibilities as headmaster of the School. "In the meantime, members of the senior leadership team, along with other senior teachers, will be responsible for the day to day running of the School during Mr Onac's absence. "Please remember that this suspension is without prejudice and does not presume any particular outcome. "We are committed to full transparency and will be cooperating fully with the local authority in this matter." A Bromley Council spokeswoman said: "The suspension of the head is a matter for the Board of Governors. "Bromley Council has been working very closely with the new Head of Governors at St Olave's in response to recent events and can confirm that there will be an investigation into concerns raised, though we cannot comment further at this time." After the U-turn last month, St Olave's said its goal has always been to "nurture boys who flourish" and help them fulfil "their full potential academically and in life generally". This year, 96 per cent of the school's A-level entries scored at least a B grade, with 76 per cent achieving an A* or A. The row sparked a debate about whether schools should be allowed to prevent pupils from continuing their studies if they fail to achieve certain grades. W hen his son was rushed to intensive care with meningitis, rugby star Matt Dawson began two weeks of hell. But he says being able to stay with his wife in charity accommodation near Great Ormond Street Hospital and take shifts at Samis bedside made all the difference. When you dont know whether your child is going to survive an hour or a day, you want to be there for every single second, Dawson said. Having a room where you can have a moment to yourself to digest all the information thats being thrown at you... its very much overlooked but its an absolute godsend. Today the ex-England captain, 44, returned to GOSH to open Morgan Stanley House, a free hotel for patients families. Matt Dawson with wife Carolin Dawson and baby Sam / Getty Images for Audi The 3.5 million, eight-bedroom hotel in Sandwich Street was part-funded by an 1.8 million donation from staff at the financial services firm. Sami, now three, fell ill in February last year. Dawson and wife Carolin Hauskeller posted pictures online of the toddler covered in red lesions to campaign for the wider availability of vaccines. Dawson said: We will always be indebted to GOSH, Chelsea and Westminster hospital and the Childrens Acute Transfer Service crew. About 300 families a year are expected to stay at Morgan Stanley House, which adds to parent accommodation already available at GOSH. More than half of the childrens hospitals patients come from outside the capital and priority will be given to their families. S torm Brian is expected to bring gale-force winds and heavy rain to London and the UK just days after Storm Ophelia wreaked havoc. Heavy rain and gusts of 50mph, caused by a weather bomb which is travelling over the Atlantic, are expected to hit the capital early on Saturday morning. The storm has been named by Met Eireann, the Irish Met Office, as it put out an orange weather warning, with Ireland once again expected to get the worst of the conditions from Friday evening. A yellow weather warning for wind, valid from 4am to midnight on Saturday, is in place for London and vast swathes of southern England and Wales. Winds could reach 70mph in exposed areas, which could cause coastal flooding, the Met Office said. Spokesman Grahame Madge said: "Dramatic waves could pose a threat to life and there will be quite hazardous conditions along the seafront." He warned thrill seekers not to risk their safety by posing for "storm selfies" along the coast. Wide parts of the country could see between 15mm and 25mm of rainfall, with deluges of up to 60mm in isolated areas. Hurricane Ophelia - In pictures 1 /45 Hurricane Ophelia - In pictures Waves crash over the lighthouse as storm Ophelia approaches Porthcawl, Wales Rebecca Naden/Reuters The scene in Crosshill, in the south side of Glasgow, after the front of a block of flats, which are due for demolition, was brought down in high winds as Storm Ophelia sweeps across Scotland PA The scene in Crosshill, in the south side of Glasgow, after the front of a block of flats, which are due for demolition, was brought down in high winds as Storm Ophelia sweeps across Scotland PA A car drives through sea foam whipped up by the wind of Hurricane Ophelia at Trearddur Bay Getty Images A 'road closed' sign is seen submerged in floodwater during Storm Ophelia in Galway, Ireland Reuters People run from a wave whipped up by Hurricane Ophelia as it crashes over the seafront in Penzance in Cornwall Getty Images Waves break on the sea wall at Penzanze, Cornwall, as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph PA A plane flies past the Shard in central London, as the sky takes on an unusual orange colour caused by Storm Ophelia Dominic Lipinski/PA Dare devils run out to a diving board Salthill, Galway, Ireland, as Hurricane Ophelia batters the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph PA Winds batter the harbour as storm Ophelia hits Cork, Ireland Kieron O'Connor/Reuters A tree surgeon cuts up a fallen tree in Penzance in Cornwall, England Matt Cardy/Getty Images 10-year-old cocker spaniel Lily (left) and two-year-old Italian Spinone Lottie on their walks in strong winds at Lands End, Cornwall, as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Ben Birchall/PA A woman take a photograph as waves crash up onto Penzance seafront in Cornwall Matt Cardy/Getty Images A woman photographs the sun rise at Penarth Pier as Hurricane Ophelia approaches the west coast of the United Kingdom Matthew Horwood/Getty Images People take selfies in waves and high wind at Lahinch in County Clare on the West Coast of Ireland as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Niall Carson/PA Empty streets in Kilkee, Ireland as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Niall Carson/PA An uprooted tree lies in a road as storm Ophelia hits Cork, Ireland Reuters A man walks the coastal path beside the stormy sea at Whitehead on the Irish Sea coast, north east of Belfast in Northern Ireland, Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images People take sandbags to protect homes from a storage shed on the Dublin Bay coast on the outskirts of Dublin Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Waves break on Longships lighthouse off the coast of Lands End, Cornwall, as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Ben Birchall/PA An overhead road sign on Belfast's M2 motorway warning drivers of, "Strong Winds Forecast Today", as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Liam McBurney/PA A woman walks past waves crashing on the sea wall at Penzanze, Cornwall, as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Ben Birchall/PA Winds batter the coast as storm Ophelia hits the County Clare town of Lahinch, Irelan Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters People walk across a beach as storm Ophelia approaches near Trearddur Bay in Anglesey, Wales Phil Noble/Reuters A woman walks past waves crashing on the sea wall at Penzanze, Cornwall, as Hurricane Ophelia hits the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph Ben Birchall/PA Dare devils run out to a diving board Salthill, Galway, Ireland, as Hurricane Ophelia batters the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph PA Sea foam whipped up by the wind of Hurricane Ophelia covers the promenade at Trearddur Bay Getty Images Huge waves strike the harbour wall and lighthouse at Porthcawl, south Wales AFP/Getty Images Saltcoats on the west coast of Scotland as Storm Ophelia hits Britain's west coas PA Dare devils run out to a diving board Salthill, Galway, Ireland, as Hurricane Ophelia batters the UK and Ireland with gusts of up to 80mph PA The Galway Atlantaquaria National Aquarium of Ireland building is seen submerged in floodwater during Storm Ophelia in Galway, Ireland Reuters A worker clears fallen trees off a road during Storm Ophelia in the County Clare area of the Burren, Ireland Reuters People walk on a seaweed-covered path during Storm Ophelia in Galway, Ireland Reuters A car drives through a flooded road that is covered in seaweed during Storm Ophelia in Galway, Ireland Reuters Met Office forecaster Emma Sharples told the Standard: So we are looking at this deep area of low pressure that is moving through the Atlantic at the moment. Its deepening quite rapidly. Strong winds will start to pick up in the west tomorrow evening. "In the UK the strongest winds will be in the south. Inland we will see gusts of 50 to 60mph. Coastal areas could get as much as 70mph. "Wind and bursts of rain will be coming through in the London area on Saturday morning and as we head through the second part of Saturday winds will ease down." L eaving the European Union with no deal is a "very distant possibility", the Brexit Secretary has said. David Davis stressed a "no-deal" Brexit was improbable after prominent leavers signed a letter organised by the Leave Means Leave campaign urging Theresa May to tell the EU she will walk away from negotiations if they continue to refuse to discuss trade. Former cabinet minister Owen Paterson said Britain should not be "terrified" of leaving with no deal and trading on World Trade Organisation terms. But Mr Davis distanced himself from the idea, although he said the Government was preparing for no deal as an "insurance policy". In an interview with European newspapers, he said: "The first thing to say is that it is a) not our intention, b) I don't think it is a probability, I think it is a very distant possibility. "That being said, we have to prepare for it. I mean, a responsible government prepares for all outcomes, and we are doing that. "It is no part of our negotiating strategy, and no plan of our planning for the future in terms of what we intend, it is just a security thing, like anything else you do on security, you produce your own insurance policy." Earlier, Mr Paterson dismissed suggestions that leaving with no deal would result in customs delays or increased prices. The Tory Brexiteer said it appeared unlikely that a trade deal would be struck with the EU "because they are flatly refusing to talk about it". Instead there was a "complete obsession with money" - the so-called Brexit divorce bill. It was "inevitable at the moment, it is an ineluctable certainty we are going to end up with WTO at the end of this anyway" so it was better to "state that now" and give business time to prepare. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a trade deal with the EU is "the best destination, but what we should not be terrified of is the WTO". Mr Paterson said the UK could unilaterally decide not to impose tariffs if trade moved to WTO terms in an effort to protect consumers: "We could decide that, that would be up to our own elected politicians to make that decision." He rejected concerns that the lack of a trade deal could lead to queues at ports, claiming that only 2% of shipments were checked by customs, with nearly all trade done electronically. As European leaders gathered in Brussels, he said: "We have to face the fact that this summit is not going to discuss any future trade deal. We are ineluctably moving down the road to a WTO arrangement so we had better start preparing for it. "If they come back - and we very much hope they would - to talk about a free trade deal, that would be a bonus." But pro-EU Tory former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said: "It is absolutely not 'inevitable' that the UK ends up on WTO terms with no Brexit deal - it is what the hard Brexiteers want." T he Goldman Sachs boss has issued a taunt over the banking giants future in London after Brexit with a provocative tweet from Frankfurt which read: Ill be spending a lot more time here. In a move which is likely to pile further pressure on Theresa Mays Government, Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter on Thursday to detail a recent trip to the German finance capital, where the US bank is planning to shift a portion of its UK operations after Brexit. He said: "Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there." Goldman Sachs, which employs around 6,500 people in the UK, has previously confirmed that it is looking to at least double its 200-strong employee base in Frankfurt as part of its Brexit contingency plans. Earlier this month it was reported that the group has signed a contract to lease eight floors of a skyscraper in the city, capable of holding 800 staff. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein / Getty Images The bank has said it is also looking at bolstering its footprint in other financial hubs across the EU. A raft of international banks, insurers and asset managers are preparing to shift portions of their UK operations to the continent in preparation for Britain's divorce from the EU in hopes of safeguarding against the loss of passporting rights which currently give UK-based financial services cross-border access to the bloc. Frankfurt has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Brexit so far as London-based financial firms increasingly opt to relocate staff to Germany's financial centre. Standard Chartered has committed to expanding or establishing offices in Germany, Citigroup has notified its bankers of plans to bolster its Frankfurt office, creating 150 jobs, and Morgan Stanley is on track to move as many as 200 staff. Mizuho will join a raft of Japanese banks which have chosen the city as an EU hub, including Daiwa, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nomura. JP Morgan is taking a similar approach to Goldman Sachs by planning to spread staff across a number of European cities, including Frankfurt. T heresa May has addressed EU leaders in Brussels in a bid to push forward with crucial Brexit talks. The Prime Minister used a dinner to push her call for urgency on trade talks and her promise to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the EU. It was the British leader's latest attempt to reinvigorate the divorce talks. But ever since a conciliatory speech by May last month, EU officials have become increasingly impatient about a lack of detailed plans from Britain. Mrs May arrived at the EU summit on Thursday afternoon following a press conference with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker. The live blog has now ended, but you can read back over our coverage as it happened. M EPs will vote down a deal that strips EU citizens of any of their rights, the European Parliament president has told the Evening Standard. In an interview, Antonio Tajani said protections for both EU and UK citizens were more important than money but that Britain would still have to pay up. Without a solution on citizens rights, we will vote against any agreement, he said. His intervention is significant as the European Parliament has the power to veto any final divorce deal. Theresa May was travelling to Brussels to address EU leaders directly over dinner tonight but her bid to improve negotiations hit trouble at home and abroad. EU citizens settled in the UK rejected an open letter from Mrs May offering them a right to stay after Brexit. There was nothing new in this letter and no detail, said Maike Bohn of the3million group. The UK government is once again using us as bargaining chips. An ally of Angela Merkel said Britain should pay up to 90 billion (100 billion) as its divorce settlement, including cash to cover gold-plated pensions of EU officials. German MP Michael Fuchs dismissed Mrs Mays offer, saying 20 billion is definitely not enough. Polish ex-minister Radek Sikorski warned the UK premier that negotiating with the EU as a non-member would be a very humiliating experience. Jeremy Corbyn stole a march on Mrs May by arriving in Brussels for a speech promising full rights to EU citizens and hailing other EU leaders as colleagues, partners, comrades and friends. Mr Tajani said: The citizens rights, for us, is a priority, its the most important point before the money. Its possible to be more flexible on the other points, but on this its impossible to be flexible. In her open letter, Mrs May had said a deal on rights was within touching distance. One report claimed she would extend settled status to anyone arriving before March 2019. MEPs have rejected the Governments bid to register migrants post-Brexit and insisted EU courts have a role in policing a rights deal. They also want future children and relatives to be covered. High street spending growth has slowed to its weakest rate for four years, raising fresh fears that the economy is being hit by Brexit. Retail sales dropped 0.8 per cent last month compared with August, the Office for National Statistics said. That dragged down the year-on-year growth rate to just 1.5 per cent, the slowest since 2013. A dozen everyday heroes who showed exceptional courage, calm and compassion when terror and disaster brought havoc to the capital this year have topped the Standards Progress 1000 list celebrating the talent of London. The 12 men and women were honoured as joint winners of a title normally handed to a single influential public figure, in recognition of their remarkable efforts in extreme adversity. They were chosen not just for their individual actions but also as representatives of all those who ran towards the danger, or made huge life-saving contributions, during and after the attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, and the Grenfell Tower fire. Our panel of editors, critics and experts compiling the annual line-up judged that the group stood out over any one individual in a year in which Londoners came together to ensure its community spirit was not cowed by those who wish to tear our city apart. Evening Standard editor George Osborne said the 12 chosen for the 11th edition of The Progress 1000 stand for many more heroic Londoners. In an introduction, Mr Osborne writes: These are people who have been standard-bearers for our city. These are people who have been standard-bearers for our city... All showed that a society which believes in progress should also believe in what might be seen as an old-fashioned concept too that of civic duty None had high public profiles and most did not expect this year to be one that was so affecting or significant. On the critical days and those that followed, many Londoners went beyond the confines of their jobs and lives for the welfare of their neighbours and fellow citizens. The 12 we have chosen are representatives of a far wider group of people who contributed to each relief effort and they too share the honour. All showed that a society which believes in progress should also believe in what might be seen as an old-fashioned concept too that of civic duty. They are our everyday heroes. The 12 include paramedics who saved lives at Grenfell and the scenes of the terrorist attacks, fire chiefs who led the response to the worst blaze in Londons post-war history, the imam who prevented violent retaliation at Finsbury Park and the MP who went to the aid of Pc Keith Palmer, who was fatally stabbed defending the Houses of Parliament. Richard Angell, director of Labour think tank Progress, is honoured for a simple but defiant act returning to Borough Market to pay his bar bill that symbolised the decency of the overwhelming majority of Londoners in the face of hatred. The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 Another of the 12, Mark Simms, director of The Rugby Portobello Trust, who helped victims of the Grenfell fire, said: I am incredibly humbled to be on this list at all, as I absolutely do not feel that anything I did was in any way remarkable. "But I was part of a remarkable thing, the overall response in the wake of a terrible, terrible tragedy. "What I was thrilled by was the thousands of people from all walks of life and from all around London who turned up and helped. Sadiq Khan said: I am proud that this years list of 1,000 Londoners is topped by police officers, firefighters and frontline NHS staff from paramedics to doctors in recognition of their extraordinary acts of courage this summer. "They truly are heroes. They ran towards danger while directing the rest of us to safety. Their strength and bravery has been a beacon of hope during painful times. As Mayor of London, I want to pay tribute to these diverse Londoners for everything theyve done over the last year. Their stories should give us hope and optimism to look ahead with confidence to a brighter future for our city. Other luminaries on The Progress 1000 list include those recognised for their contributions to diverse fields including the arts, design, architecture, politics, food, fashion and business. Previous winners have included Mr Khan following his election as Londons first Muslim mayor in 2016. Prince Charles was named Londoner of the Decade last year. Tonight, the 1,000 will be honoured at a party hosted by the Standard at Tate Modern at Bankside. Mr Osborne added: Everyone in this list counts towards where we are today. The combined achievements and future potential of our 1,000 give us heart that whatever happens in the world in the coming years, London will remain a destination for talent, a hub for the exchange of ideas and a global capital. Our 12 Everyday Heroes Shehan Hettiaratchy Doctor who performed surgery on victims after Westminster Shehan Hettiaratchy / Matt Writtle Called the magician by one Westminster victim, the Imperial Trust lead surgeon treated patients injured in this and the Grenfell Tower fire. He used his experience as a military surgeon in Afghanistan to remain calm: If you go to pieces and cant deliver to those patients, youve failed as a professional. Tracy Porter Paramedic at all of this years London attacks & Grenfell Tracy Porter / Matt Writtle As a paramedic with the London Air Ambulance service, Porter has been first on the scene at each recent terror attack in London as well as the Grenfell fire. However, Porter still saves her praise for passers-by who stayed to keep victims conscious while she attended those even more seriously injured. Emily Lewis Police Officer who stayed with victim at London Bridge despite him pleading for her to go Emily Lewis / Matt Writtle The British Transport Police officer had just started her shift when called to multiple stabbings at London Bridge. Lewis attended Brett Freeman who had been stabbed four times in the back. As gunshots were heard nearby he urged her to leave. I just held his hand and said, No, Ill stay with you. Pat Goulbourne Firefighter Commander on scene at Grenfell Pat Goulbourne / Matt Writtle Goulbourne is the London Fire Brigade Commander for Tower Hamlets. On June 14, he led his team west in response to the Grenfell Tower fire, joining around 200 firefighters, with 40 fire engines, to tackle the blaze that claimed at least 80 lives. As I was approaching it, I just knew we had probably the job of our lives on the go, he said. Richard Angell The Director of Progress who went back to London Bridge to settle his tab after the attack Richard Angell / Matt Writtle Angell was dining out in Borough Market when the London Bridge attack occurred. He went back next day to pay his bill and tip the staff. If me having a gin and tonic with my friends, flirting with handsome men, hanging out with brilliant women is what offends these people so much, Im going to do it more, not less. Zain Miah Charity worker with the National Zakat Foundation, who aided Grenfell Zain Miah / Matt Writtle One of many charity workers to help after the Grenfell Tower fire, as part of the Grenfell Muslim Response Unit providing services for families. It does not matter what skin colour we have, no matter where we come from, he said. Everyone is here to make sure that those who need the most help have received it. Muaz Mahmoud Businessman brother of Imam who helped after Finsbury Park attack Muaz Mahmoud / Matt Writtle Muaz Mahmoud was having a shower when a van hit worshippers leaving the mosque next to his home. With his brother, and others from the mosque, he held people back from the driver before hailing police officers. Mark Simms Director of The Rugby Portobello Trust who helped at Grenfell Mark Simms / Matt Writtle As director of local youth charity The Rugby Portobello Trust, Mark Simms has been helping victims with aid and housing since the Grenfell fire. By the following afternoon, the trust had 150 volunteers and 20 staff fully mobilised, This was human beings helping human beings: humanity at its finest. Dany Cotton London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton / Matt Writtle The Fire Brigade chief was on duty when first reports of the Grenfell Tower fire came through. Cotton described it as the worst fire she had seen in 29 years of service, and made the difficult call to commit firefighters to the building when it might collapse at any time. We wanted to save as many people as we could. That was the bottom line. Mohammed Mahmoud Imam who helped at Finsbury Park attack Mohammed Mahmoud / Matt Writtle The hero imam was one of the people who stopped retaliatory attacks after a van hit a group of people near Finsbury Park mosque. Twelve people were injured and one man died. Mahmoud kept the crowd from hurting anyone as a police van was flagged down to take a suspect in. Tobias Ellwood MP Among the first people seeking to help the police officer murdered during Westminster attack Tobias Ellwood / Matt Writtle The former soldier was among the first who jumped in to aid PC Keith Palmer, stabbed and killed by Khalid Masood. MPs from both side praised his bravery. There are bad people doing bad things, but there are more good people doing good things, and thats why we stand up to events such as this, he said. Gemma Taylor Paramedic at London Bridge and Grenfell Gemma Taylor / Matt Writtle Taylor attended victims of both the London Bridge terror attack and the Grenfell fire. Her job is to get immediate medical care to patients trapped in hazardous locations. These were incidents I hoped I would never have to face, she says. We do this job because ultimately we want to help patients and their families and Im incredibly proud of what I do. Meghan Markle Actress Markle may have made the legal profession sexy again through her role in Suits, and fulfilled many womens fantasies by dating Prince Harry, but she is also a dedicated philanthropist. Earlier this year she visited India to raise awareness of how the stigma surrounding menstruation is hindering teenage girls. She has travelled to Rwanda with World Vision Canada and has worked as a UN Ambassador. Could she be the next Peoples Princess? Nimco Ali Director, Daughters of Eve A co-founder of Daughters of Eve, a non-profit organisation working to protect girls and women from female genital mutilation, Ali is also on the board of Miriam Gonzalez Durantezs Inspiring Girls network. The Somali-born Londoner stood as a candidate for the Womens Equality Party at the 2017 general election. She stood, she said, so that girls of every race can see themselves in the past, can be themselves in the present and can free themselves in the future. Pamela Anderson Actress The ex-Baywatch actress surprised fans when she popped up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and became firm friends with its most famous resident, Julian Assange. She even wrote a poem offering advice to Donald Trump and Theresa May, based on her own special relationship with the WikiLeaks supremo. A long-time supporter of environmental and animal-protection charities including PETA and Greenpeace, Andersons own foundation stands for our planet and life within it. Quite right. John Bird Founder, Big Issue Long-time campaigner against homelessness Lord Bird slammed decades of ministerial failure in May when he said that poverty is stitched into the system. He claimed that successive ministers were keen to be associated with the Big Issue but none were willing to take the radical measures necessary to get large swathes of the population out of poverty. He called for the establishment of a poverty prevention unit at the heart of government. Gina Miller Upholder of Parliamentary Sovereignty Gina Miller / Adrian Lourie Miller came from the comparatively quiet world of investment to throw herself into a volatile atmosphere following the vote to leave the EU. After successfully taking the Government to court, ensuring Parliament was given the chance to vote on Article 50, she led a campaign to back MPs opposed to a hard Brexit. Despite repeated threats, Miller is continuing her fight and is determined to remain holding the Government to account. Abdirashid Duale CEO, Dahabshiil Duale, once named as one of the 50 most influential Africans, turned around his fathers money-transfer company, Dahabshiil, making it a world-leader and a trail-blazer for social entrepreneurship in the Somali region. This year, he urged governments and corporations to do more to support the thousands of his fellow Somalis who had been hit hard by prolonged drought. He was able to speak from a position of authority Dahabshiil invests 10 per cent of its profits in humanitarian and community regeneration projects. Livia Firth Creative Director, Eco Age Firths commitment to environmental sustainability has been longstanding. She was working as an Oxfam ambassador in 2008, helping to campaign against domestic violence, when a trip to a clothing factory in Bangladesh brought home one of the fashion industrys grimmest truths. She founded Eco-Age Ltd in response, working with clients across a range of sectors to promote an ethical approach to employment practices throughout the supply chain. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez Lawyer The high-profile lawyer and equality champion became embroiled in a row with British Airways in June after she criticised an advert in the carriers in-flight magazine for a childs watch described as the perfect watch for your little princess. She has spoken out about the dangers posed by Brexit and is the founder of the Inspiring Girls network, encouraging girls to be more aspirational. Dont call her Mrs Clegg. Prince Harry Royal Campaigner Prince Harry / PA Now fifth in line to the throne - and due to become sixth when Kate and William's new baby arrives next April - Prince Harry caused a stir this year by suggesting that nobody in the Royal Family really wants to take on the task of being monarch. He remains perhaps the most popular of all the royals, however, and has been impressive in his promotion of mental health charities. By speaking of how he sought to overcome his own demons, Harry has been an inspiration to many. Arminka Helic Refugee Advocate Baroness Helic came to the UK as a refugee at the age of 23, fleeing civil war in Bosnia. She was William Hagues special adviser during his time as Foreign Secretary and was the driving force behind his efforts, alongside Angelina Jolie, to end sexual violence in conflict zones. This year, she spoke out against the Governments closure of the Dubs Amendment scheme under which unaccompanied child migrants were given refuge in Britain. Neville Lawrence Campaigner The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 The father of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993, Neville fought a long campaign to challenge police failings during the investigation of his sons death. With knife crime continuing to blight the lives of many Londoners, Lawrence has added his experienced voice to the debate about how the scourge can best be tackled. In July, it was announced he would lead a new community group, set up by the Met to hold the police to account over knife crime and relations between law enforcers and Londons citizens. Jolyon Maugham Barrister A QC at Devereux Chambers, Maugham is a tax specialist who this year crowd-funded more than 100,000 to help him challenge Uber in the High Court over allegations that the firm had undercharged VAT claims it denies. He came to particular prominence as a vocal opponent of Brexit, first supporting Gina Millers Article 50 case in Britain, then seeking to bring a case in Ireland which would have clarified Article 50s revocability, though proceedings were ultimate discontinued. David Pannick Human Rights Lawyer One of the legal worlds biggest brains, Lord Pannick QC specialises in public law and human rights. A regular in front of the Supreme Court, he hit the headlines when he acted for businesswoman Gina Miller in her case against the Governments plans to initiate Brexit by triggering Article 50 without recourse to Parliament. Miller, with Pannicks help, won the day. He was made a life peer in 2008. Amanda Spielman Chief Ofsted Inspector The former accountant set up the successful Ark academy chain and was chair of exams regulator Ofqual before moving to Ofsted. She went to a convent primary school in Scotland, followed by boarding school in Dorset, and has a law degree from Cambridge University and a postgraduate degree from the Institute of Education in London. She recently warned that too many pupils are having to drop key subjects including history and French to allow them to start GCSE courses a year early. David Benson Headteacher of Kensington Aldridge Academy Head of the school at the foot of Grenfell Tower, Benson was on the scene of the fire and kept the school running after the tragedy. He had to explain the events to pupils, arranged for them to sit their exams elsewhere and organised therapeutic support and counselling. He has praised the resilience shown by his pupils throughout the ordeal, saying he is proud and inspired by them and described them as brilliant, lovely and sparky. Angelina di Passio Teacher Winner of the Jack Petchey Foundation Award for Inspirational Teacher, di Passio teaches history at Ricards Lodge High School in Wimbledon. She was commended for offering students huge amounts of encouragement and support in life outside the classroom. She helped them stage their first-ever model UN conference, and supports students who have identified as LGBT+, setting up a fortnightly group and helping plan assemblies. Simon Elliott Head of Forest Gate Community School Elliotts school won the Evening Standards Outstanding Achievement in Challenging Circumstances award. It was the only secondary in the capital to go from an Ofsted requires improvement to outstanding in the last academic year. Inspectors said the school had been transformed by Elliotts exemplary leadership. It is now in the top 13 per cent of all schools nationally with results significantly above average. Crucially, at a school where two thirds of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, disadvantaged pupils made exceptionally good progress. Sarah Fletcher High Mistress, St Pauls Girls School Fletcher took the helm at one of Britains most famous girls schools last month, following three years as head of all-boys City of London school. After a stint leading Kingston Grammar school as well she is the only person to have been head of all three types of schools co-educational and both types of single-sex schools. She recently spoke out in defence of boys, saying they should not be told to man up when they have problems. She is keen on the connection between wellbeing and academic success. She has two grown-up sons and is softly spoken, sparkly, diplomatic and clever. Cheryl Giovannoni Chief Executive of Girls Day School Trust Born and brought up in South Africa, Giovannoni left her job as CEO of marketing agency Ogilvy & Mather to lead the girls school organisation. She describes herself as a lover of brands and beautiful things, she runs, does yoga and is a believer in being good to others. She is determined to defend single-sex education and mentors many young women. Russell Hobby CEO of Teach First The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 Hobby left his role as general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers to move to Teach First, saying he is looking forward to ending inequality in education. At the NAHT he steered the union as it tried to tackle the funding crisis for schools, early years and childrens services. He is a father of two. Lucy Kellaway Founder of Now Teach After spending 30 years as a journalist on the Financial Times she left the worlds nicest job and is now training to be a maths teacher at an inner city school at the age of 58. She was inspired by her daughter and mother both teachers. She set up Now Teach for people like herself in their fifties who want a second career in the most noble of professions. She graduated from Oxford with a degree in PPE and has worked at JP Morgan and as a non-executive director of Admiral Insurance. Peter Lampl Chair of Sutton Trust Sir Peter is passionate about closing the education gap between rich and poor children through the Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation. A philanthropist, he grew up in Yorkshire and made his money in America at a private equity firm. Brett Wigdortz Founder of Teach First Made his name in the education world by setting up the groundbreaking Teach First charity. He stepped down this year after 15 years at the helm, during which teacher training was revolutionised. But the entrepreneur from New Jersey is set to make more waves in 2018, saying he wants to do something else disruptive in education. One to watch. Professor Dilys Williams Fashion Designer and Teacher Professor Dilys Williams never goes out of style. In 2008, she established the London College of Fashions Centre for Sustainable Fashion, where postgraduates can study for a masters in fashion futures. Her students work at Alexander McQueen and Levis, while others are social entrepreneurs one has set up the east London collective Here Today Here Tomorrow, and another established an eco-village in Brazil. Brenda Hale President, Supreme Court Baroness Hale became the countrys most senior judge this month as President of the Supreme Court. She is the first woman to hold the post. Educated at a state school, she is a prominent advocate of improving social and gender diversity in the law. She attracted controversy last year in a speech before the Supreme Courts Brexit judgment by questioning if the Government might need to replace the 1972 European Communities Act before triggering Article 50 instead of passing a short piece of legislation. She also voted with the majority of Supreme Court justices who backed Gina Millers case that an Act of Parliament was required to trigger Article 50. David Anderson Barrister David Anderson, from Londons Brick Court chambers, stepped down as the Governments independent reviewer of terrorism legislation earlier this year but soon after was appointed by the Government to review whether police and MI5 could have done more to prevent the terror attacks in London and Manchester. His findings could prove important in influencing future changes to the methods used by the security services to assess and monitor suspects. In his previous role as terror watchdog, Anderson provided a blueprint for improving surveillance legislation, with many of his recommendations adopted by ministers. Peter Clarke Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke is in charge of assessing standards behind bars and reporting to the public on the Governments efforts to transform jails and improve rehabilitation. In his previous career as a police officer, he rose to become a Met Assistant Commissioner and headed Scotland Yards counter-terrorism unit. Nigel Dyer Barrister Nigel Dyer QC is one of the countrys leading divorce barristers and specialises in complex cases involving overseas clients and the tracing of assets held abroad. Earlier this year, he helped the east European ex-wife of a Russian billionaire win a 453 million settlement from her former husband in a High Court ruling that is thought to be a record payout. Terence Etherton Master of the Rolls Sir Terence was one of three senior judges who issued the landmark High Court ruling last year requiring the government to seek parliamentary approval for using Article 50 to trigger the Brexit process. He is the first openly gay senior judge and as head of the civil judiciary in England and Wales ranks second in the legal hierarchy below the Lord Chief Justice. Educated at St Pauls School in London, he married Andrew Stone at the West London Synagogue in 2014. Sir Terence was also a member of the British fencing team for sabre at the 1980 Olympics. David Green Director, Serious Fraud Office SFO director since 2012, David Green has responded to Conservative proposals to merge his organisation into the National Crime Agency by launching a high-profile prosecution against Barclays and four of its most senior executives (they deny any wrongdoing). Widely respected in the legal world, he has also gained a 129 million payment from Tesco and 497 million from Rolls-Royce under deferred prosecution agreements backed by the courts. Max Hill Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Max Hill was appointed as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation earlier this year after a career as a successful prosecutor in some of the countrys most serious terrorist cases. Since taking up his new job, he has criticised plans to impose fines on internet companies that fail to prevent extremist material appearing on their sites and suggested that some little-used terrorism laws could be scrapped. Alexis Jay Chair, Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse Professor Alexis Jay is leading the Governments independent inquiry into child sex abuse. She is a former chief social worker to the Scottish government and was praised for her work as head of the earlier inquiry into abuse of children in Rotherham. She was awarded an OBE in 2012 for her services to children and families. Helena Kennedy Barrister Dame Helena Kennedy is one of the countrys most renowned barristers and leading member of the House of Lords. Her achievements in the past year include playing a key role in securing the passage of a new Magnitsky law allowing the assets of those suspected of human rights abuses or corruption overseas to have their assets here frozen. She has also spoken out on Brexit and recently introduced a new parliamentary amendment calling for new powers to exclude human rights abusers to be denied entry to the UK. Mark Lewis Solicitor Lewis earlier this year successfully represented Jack Monroe in the High Court in a dispute with Katie Hopkins over a Twitter libel or twibel as it has come to be known. He first made his name during the phone-hacking scandal, representing numerous clients, most notably Milly Dowlers family. He has also campaigned to close loopholes exploited by libel tourists. Chambers and Partners describes him as having an impressive tally of opponents who regretted taking Mark on. Martin Moore-Bick Chairman, Grenfell Tower Fire Public Inquiry Sir Martin Moore-Bick visiting the scene of the Grenfell Tower inquiry / PA Sir Martin will seek to uncover what led to the blaze and how to prevent future disasters. He retired as a judge last year after a career in which he rose to become vice president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal. He has expertise in contract law, but has been criticised by some for being of the wrong background to understand the plight of the victims. Alan Moses Chairman, Independent Press Standards Organisation Sir Alan Moses is a former Court of Appeal judge who now heads the body set up by newspapers to handle complaints following the Leveson inquiry. During his career on the bench, he won plaudits for his sensitive handling of the Soham murder trial. His personal interests include choir-singing and hill-walking. Alison Saunders Director of Public Prosecutions The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 The DPP has had a quieter year after facing down several detractors earlier in her tenure. Her achievements during the past 12 months include achieving the largest-ever number of convictions for rape and other sexual offences. She has also overseen controversial decisions on cases involving alleged election expense offences by MPs and a large number of counter-terrorism prosecutions. Martha Spurrier Director, Liberty A barrister at Londons Doughty Street chambers, Martha Spurrier is the head of civil rights campaign group Liberty. She has vowed to fight any attempt to reduce citizens rights as Britain leaves the EU and is leading a #KeepBritainKind campaign that seeks to ensure decency, compassion and fairness in politics. She has also voiced her opposition to government plans to make it easier to access social media communications. Her specialities during her previous career at the Bar included childrens and womens rights issues and claims against public authorities, including the police. Geoffrey Vos Chancellor of the High Court Lord Justice Vos is one of the most countrys most senior judges and is leading a judicial taskforce seeking to ensure that London remains as the worlds foremost centre for international dispute resolution after Brexit. He is a former chairman of the Bar Council and became a Court of Appeal judge in 2013. Jeremy Wright Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC is the Governments principal legal adviser, giving the Prime Minister and Cabinet his assessment of the legality of key issues across the political spectrum. He led the Governments unsuccessful Article 50 case but was reappointed after the general election. Before entering Parliament in 2010, he was a barrister specialising in criminal law. Edward Enninful Editor-in-Chief, British Vogue Edward Enninful has been in the spotlight since his appointment as the first male editor-in-chief of British Vogue was announced in April. Scouted as a model in 1990, he joined i-D magazine at the age of 18 as the youngest ever fashion director of an international publication. With Naomi Campbell in his corner and an impressive cabinet of awards, Enninful is set to start a fashion revolution. Jonathan Anderson Designer Northern Irish Jonathan William Anderson splits his time between Dalston and Paris, simultaneously growing his own label J.W.Anderson here in the capital while updating luxury fashion house, Loewe. Revered for his ability to make his own path, Anderson is a passionate art collector and digital pioneer too. The designer has also launched hotly anticipated collaborations with Converse and Uniqlo this year. Anita Barr Group Fashion Buying Director, Harvey Nichols Born and raised in east London, Barr worked on her sisters market stall in Leather Lane. Having honed an interest in retail, she went on to the shop floor at Harrods and then to Selfridges, where she worked her way up to the senior buying team. Now a crucial member of Harvey Nichols staff, Barr is bringing a host of new labels to the rapidly transforming store. Luella Bartley Designer and Head of Global Design, Calvin Klein Jeans British-born Bartley started her career in journalism before starting her own label, Luella. Dubbed the poster child for London cool, Bartley went on to work at Mulberry and Marc by Marc Jacobs, before teaming up with best friend Katie Hillier to launch cult label Hillier Bartley. With an MBE under her belt, fashion insiders are poised to see how she brings the British edge to US brand Calvin Kleins denim line. Victoria Beckham Designer A designer who needs no introduction, the former Spice Girl became a fashion heavyweight through graft and talent in equal measure. Once known for rib-squeezing bodycon dresses, Beckhams brand is now synonymous with slick and directional female-friendly fashion. The mum of four also recently added beauty to her extensive CV through a successful make-up collaboration with Estee Lauder. Sarah Burton Creative Director, Alexander McQueen Lee McQueens protegee Burton is credited with transforming the house of McQueen into a luxury fashion super force, as well as a favourite in the wardrobe of the Duchess of Cambridge who tasked Burton to create her wedding dress. The brand has blossomed under the charge of the mum of three to include a hugely successful menswear line as well as accessories. Samantha Cameron Samantha Cameron / Dave Benett Designer Since her departure from 10 Downing Street last year, Samantha Cameron has received critical acclaim for the debut of her fashion label, Cefinn. Previously holding a creative director role at luxury accessories brand Smythson, Cameron fuses elegance with contemporary pieces aimed at hard-working women. Naming Michelle Obama as an inspiration, her first collection even received the nod of approval from US Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Edie Campbell Model Known for her insouciant androgyny, Campbell is a favourite with Michael Kors, Burberry and Chanel and has twice appeared on the cover of British Vogue. One of the hardest-working models in British fashion, Campbell is a keen horse-rider and polo-player. She also has a first in history of art from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Charlie Casely-Hayford Menswear Designer A leading figure in menswear having launched the Casely-Hayford label aged 22, with his father. Theres rarely a mens most-stylish list without his name on it and hes used his expert taste to dress some of the biggest names in music including Nas and The xx. This year Topman tapped the designer to put together a bespoke suit collection, and the high street is already looking sharper. Ruth and Tom Chapman Co-Founders, Matchesfashion.com Ruth and Tom Chapman began selling fashion from a tiny shop in Wimbledon in the late Eighties. Pioneers when it comes to spotting the next big thing, the Chapmans who stepped down as co-chief executives in 2015 and now operate in the role of joint chairmen were the first to bring hot French label Vetements to British consumers. The business now employs 500 people and, in 2016, Matchesfashion.com moved its 300 European HQ staff to offices in The Shard. Alexa Chung Designer and Model Following years of speculation, Chung rewarded patient fashion fans with the launch of her eponymous clothing line this year. Quickly establishing herself as the new go-to for Londons It-girls, her debut included party-ready dresses and Instagram-friendly daywear. No stranger to the role of fashion collaborator, Chung has previously worked on collections with AG Jeans, Longchamp and M&S. The model also co-founded shopping app, Villoid. Johnny Coca Creative Director, Mulberry Working in the international luxury and fashion industry for over 15 years, Johnny Coca is one of Londons most-celebrated designers. Born in Seville, he studied interior design in Paris while working as a window dresser for Louis Vuitton before joining Celine as accessories design director. Since joining as Mulberrys creative director in 2015, Coca is responsible for breathing new life into the quintessentially British house and giving Londoners many more It-bags to covet. Ronnie Cooke Art Director A fashion industry heavyweight, the New Yorker is widely credited as being the woman responsible for the resurrection of Topshop in the Noughties. These days, the bespectacled art director heads ad and brand agency House + Holme winning campaigns for directional brands such as Commes Des Garcons and Lanvin and, rumour has it, played a huge role in installing BFF Edward Enninful at the helm of British Vogue. Frances Corner Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head, London College of Fashion A champion of sustainability in fashion as well as fresh, raw talent, the professor knows what it takes to get the best out of her students. Before joining London College of Fashion, she taught at the University of Gloucestershire and at London Metropolitan University. Corners alumni include designer of the moment, Jonathan Anderson. Jourdan Dunn Model This west London model is a favourite muse of the new British Vogue editor, Edward Enninful, as well as a host of fashion houses including DKNY and Alexander Wang. Scouted shopping in Primark at the age of 15, Dunn recently turned her hand to design with fashion collaborations for M&S and Missguided. Dunn also became a charity ambassador for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America after her son Riley was diagnosed with the condition. Adwoa Aboah Model Adowa Aboah / Steph Wilson One of fashions most exciting new faces, Aboah has starred in Miu Mius autumn campaign alongside Naomie Harris and Kate Moss and appeared on the cover of American Vogues March issue. The feminist daughter of esteemed photographers agent Camilla Lowther, she is the founder of female digital forum Gurls Talk and has spoken courageously about her struggle with mental illness. Molly Goddard Designer The London-born fashion designer graduated from Central St Martins in 2014 and has gone on to become an exciting figure at London Fashion Week thanks to her contemporary take on knitwear. Goddards collections are stocked all over the world including Dover Street Market, Trading Museum Comme des Garcons and Club 21, and this year some of her archive work was presented in an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Katie Grand Editor-in-Chief, LOVE Birmingham-born Grand launched the bi-annual style bible LOVE with backing from the Conde Nast group in 2009 after making her name at Pop magazine. In addition to her day job, she is well-regarded for her work as a fashion stylist, and is a long-time collaborator with Marc Jacobs, who she has worked with since his time as creative director at Louis Vuitton. Craig Green Designer Green, the star of Londons menswear scene, trained at Central Saint Martins and hit the big time in 2014 with an innovative collection that moved critics to tears. His debut menswear show, which featured head pieces inspired by driftwood, received the ultimate compliment: criticism from the Daily Mail. Anya Hindmarch Handbag Entrepreneur An accessory designer with a sense of humour, Hindmarchs latest catwalk show was staged on a makeshift ski slope. She sold a majority share of her business to Qatari investors but remains chairman and creative director of the company, which has 50 stores worldwide. Britains best-loved bag lady was also honoured with a CBE from Prince Charles this year. Roksanda Ilincic Designer Among the most recognisable fashion personalities in London, Ilincic has built a booming business as one of the capitals respected luxury designers. Originally from Serbia, her multiple-award-winning house has global reach. Renowned for her striking silhouettes and bold approach to colour, Ilincic has become a go-to name among hot young A-listers out to make a statement on the red carpet. Christopher and Tammy Kane Designers Christopher Kane remains London Fashion Weeks star attraction, but his secret weapon is older sister Tammy, with whom he works closely with on every collection. They celebrated 10 years of their business last year. In September, the duo rocked the fashion world by showing their ready-to-wear collection with Crocs on the catwalk, which retailed at more than 250. Nick Knight Photographer London-born Knight is among the worlds most visionary photographers. Feted for his ground-breaking creative collaborations, Knight, founder of fashion website SHOWstudio, has worked with Bjork, Lady Gaga and David Bowie. Last year, Knights 1992 campaign photograph for fashion brand Jil Sander was sold by Phillips auction house for a record-breaking figure. He was also commissioned to shoot the official portraits of the Queen for her 90th-birthday celebrations. Alison Loehnis President In-Season, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group Formerly Dame Natalie Massenets right-hand woman, Loehnis took over the hot seat at Net-a-Porter last year following a merger with Yoox.com and her bosss departure. Raised in New York but now a true Londoner, Loehnis got her big break at Saatchi & Saatchi before becoming a crucial figure in the rise of Net-a-Porter. During her executive tenure at the company, Loehnis has been instrumental in the launch of Net-a-Sporter, MrPorter.com and TheOutnet.com. Penny Martin Editor, The Gentlewoman This hard-working editor heads up the industrys most intellectual and informed womens magazine. Graduating from Glasgow University with a degree in history of art, Penny Martin was later scouted by revolutionary photographer Nick Knight before taking the helm at The Gentlewoman which counts Adele, Sofia Coppola and Beyonce among its cover girls. Russell Marsh Casting Director With a 10-year collaboration with Prada under his belt, insiders say Russell Marsh has a sixth sense for the next big thing in fashion. One of the worlds most powerful casting directors, Marsh has launched the careers of a host of supermodels including Daria Werbowy. He has also collaborated with Celine, Christopher Kane and Victoria Beckham. Stella McCartney Designer This ex-Central Saint Martins student is the brains behind her eponymous and hugely successful womenswear, sportswear, lingerie and childrenswear lines. McCartney, the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney, received an OBE in 2013, and designed the Team GB kits for both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. A champion of ethical fashion, she uses vegan leather and fur-free fur in all of her designs. Alasdair McLellan Photographer McLellan counts the worlds most prestigious magazines as his collaborators. Inspired by Corinne Day and David Sims, his work is firmly rooted in reality. The photographer, who still prefers to use film, regularly shoots advertising campaigns for labels including Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein and has just shot his fifth for Pradas sister label Miu Miu with stylist Katie Grand. Pat McGrath Make-Up Artist Dubbed the most influential make-up artist in the world by Vogue, McGrath MBE has been the industrys go-to make-up artist since the early Nineties. She cut her teeth working alongside the esteemed stylist and new Vogue editor Edward Enninful. Since then she has worked with every designer worth their salt as well as the worlds most prestigious photographers. Her small-batch make-up line continues to be a sell-out success since its launch in 2015. Erdem Moraloglu Designer Canadian designer Moraloglu is a London Fashion Week heavyweight. His eponymous label Erdem, which is stocked in luxury stores across the world, has its flagship store in Mayfair and counts Alexa Chung and Keira Knightley as fans. His hotly anticipated collaboration with high street brand H&M is due to launch in stores across the globe in November. Lila Grace Moss Hack Model Daughter of global megastar Kate Moss and Dazed & Confused founding editor Jefferson Hack, Lila Grace landed her first campaign at just 13 years old. The young teen is a spitting image of her supermodel mum and has been featured in Vogue Italia. Set for global stardom, the sky's the limit for this British beauty. Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou Stylist and Editor, 10 Magazine Londons own super-stylist and the secret weapon of a host of fashion brands, Neophitou-Apostolou has an extensive client list and an action-packed schedule. She is the creative force behind the annual Victorias Secret show and works closely with designers Antonio Berardi, Elie Saab and Roland Mouret. She is also editor-in-chief of cult fashion bible 10 Magazine, president of the British Fashion Councils reputation pillar and chair of the BFC press committee. Phoebe Philo Creative Director, Celine Celine may be one of the hottest shows on the Paris Fashion Week schedule, but low-key designer Philo is happiest away from the limelight. The creative director splits her time between London and the labels HQ in Paris, while her Mount Street flagship store is a mecca for style purists. Her affection for white trainers and Birkenstock sandals sparked something of a style revolution among fashion diehards. Elfie Reigate Model The daughter of Rosemary Ferguson and bridesmaid to Kate Moss, Reigate was the first model to join the supermodels talent agency. A week after her signing, the 17-year-old made her catwalk debut at Alexander McQueens Paris Fashion Week show while juggling her A-levels. This rising star is the definition of one to watch. Simone Rocha Designer Born in Dublin, the Central Saint Martins alumna claimed a well-deserved slot on the London Fashion Week schedule in 2010, alongside her father and industry stalwart, John Rocha. Her ethereal, homeland-inspired collections are now stocked in some of the most prestigious department stores in the world and saw the wunderkind named womenswear designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards 2016. Caroline Rush Chief Executive, British Fashion Council The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 Rush started her PR career in Nineties Manchester and was appointed to her current role in 2009. She has since been credited with turning London Fashion Week into one of the big four, alongside Paris, Milan and New York, and introducing its digital innovations such as live-streaming of shows, as well as transforming the British Fashion Awards into a glittering, internationally renowned event. Emily Sheffield Journalist Sheffield was the deputy editor of British Vogue and the associate digital director of Vogue.co.uk but left after Alexandra Shulman stood down, staying as interim editor until Edward Enninful came in. She is the younger sister of Samantha Cameron and sister-in-law of David Cameron, who planned to join the Labour Party last year after condemning the Tories and Brexit, admitting she only voted for them because of David. Grace Wales Bonner Designer Raised in a large family in Dulwich, rising menswear star Wales Bonner established her talent for storytelling by exploring her own European and African identity. The daughter of a white mother and Jamaican father, 26-year-old Bonner picked up the LVMH young designer prize last year, and brings history and culture to her highly praised collections. Alasdhair Willis Creative Director, Hunter, and Brand Consultant Brand guru Willis has transformed a Scottish welly boot label into a global phenomenon. The husband of Stella McCartney, Willis also consults for Warehouse, an appointment which, along with designer Emma Cook, has turned around the fortunes of the high street brand. He came to the fashion world from publishing, having co-founded Wallpaper* magazine and established brand consultancy Announcement Creative. Jeremy Deller Artist Few artists can match Dellers knack for creating memorable and profound public experiences: his project with Rufus Norris to commemorate the Somme with 1,500 ghost soldiers appearing across the country was deeply moving, as was his catwalk project What is the City but the People? for the Manchester International Festival. His guerrilla poster campaign also chimed with many: Strong and stable my arse was Dellers creation. John Akomfrah Artist A seminal figure in film, Akomfrah was a member of the Black Audio Film Collective, and directed Handsworth Songs (1986), an Eighties classic. But film proved too straitjacketing for his experimental aims and Akomfrah has gained plaudits as a maker of film installations, with no less hard-hitting themes, despite the poetry of the imagery. His new work, Purple, is at the Barbican Art Gallery until January. Akomfrah is also a Tate trustee. Maria Balshaw Director, Tate Maria Balshaw / Daniel Hambury: Stella Pictures All reports suggest Balshaw has already proved a breath of fresh air at the Tate in the first months of this gigantic role. Now all the buildings are done, she has huge ambitions for the Tates audience, seeking to diversify and expand the visitors to the four Tates across Britain. One of her first acts was to put up a memorial to Khadija Saye, a young artist killed in the Grenfell fire, showing that she can think on her feet. Jonathan Barnbrook Graphic Designer and Typographer He is most associated with the artwork for Blackstar, David Bowies final album, and the many other covers he has designed for Bowie. But Barnbrook is about much more than the Thin White Duke, and is perhaps Britains most influential graphic designer, arguing for an ethical approach to the discipline and for designs use for social transformation and political activism. Oliver Barker and Helena Newman Co-Chairs, Sothebys Europe Barker is more contemporary-focused, while Newman looks after Impressionism and Modern Art, and the two have broken records this year. In New York in May, Barker prompted the loudest auction-room gasps of the year so far when he hammered down on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting at $110.5 million, almost doubling the late artists auction record. His co-chair held the gavel for the Impressionist and Modern sale in London in March the highest value sale ever held in London at 213.9 million. Phyllida Barlow Artist A triumph in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale is the latest chapter in the fairy story of Barlows emergence from esteemed teacher and quietly respected artist to a global art star in her seventies. Barlow has taken every new challenge in her stride and seems to be relishing her position, despite having misgivings about representing Britain in the first post-referendum Biennale. Her son Eddie Peake and daughter Florence Peake are both artists with growing reputations. Iwona Blazwick Director, Whitechapel Gallery Blazwick may be director of a particular and much-loved gallery, but her presence can be felt at many of Londons most eye-catching initiatives: advising on the Fourth Plinth, the annual Sculpture in the City show and, earlier this summer, the Art Night event in the East End. An inspiration for young curators, she has long pioneered a greater gender and cultural balance in Londons art scene. Vanessa Carlos Founder, Carlos/Ishikawa gallery Among the most dynamic young gallerists in London, Carlos has an eye for young artists, spotting Oscar Murillo before he exploded internationally, for instance. Her roster of artists is as exciting as any in London, with Brits like Ed Fornieles and in-demand international names like Korakrit Arunanondchai. She was behind Condo, in which burgeoning London galleries hosted top global spaces an idea now replicated in New York. Angela Choon Senior Director, David Zwirner Choon, who has worked with Zwirner for 23 years in New York and for the last five years in London, heads up the European operation of this major international gallery. The Grafton Street space is the sort you leave for last on a trawl of the West End galleries recent shows of Thomas Ruff and Josef Albers are among the most beautiful shows this year. Choon has been instrumental in setting up the soon-to-open Hong Kong branch of Zwirner. Sadie Coles Gallerist, Sadie Coles HQ Coles has an uncanny skill for picking impactful artists, even 20 years on from when the relatively unassuming, spotlight-avoiding gallerist opened up her first West End space. Turner winner Helen Marten and maverick performance artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd are two of her most recent wise recruitments, but she remains loyal to the artists whove been with her all the way, like Sarah Lucas and John Currin. Married to photographer Juergen Teller. Nicholas Cullinan Director, National Portrait Gallery Announcing a new 35.5 million building project, which he hopes to open in 2022, Cullinan stated in June: Understanding our national identity is more relevant now than ever, so we have an urgent job to do. He has certainly started his tenure energetically, as original shows like the one this year dedicated to the contemporary artist, Gillian Wearing, and the Surrealist performer, Claude Cahun, reflect. Meanwhile, a Cezanne portraits show this autumn is a surefire blockbuster. Michael Dean Artist Having quietly built up a reputation over many years, Deans Turner Prize nomination catapulted him to a bigger audience, and he has since shown in Frankfurt, Vienna and Antwerp as well as the prestigious Sculpture Projects Munster in Germany. Solo shows at Baltic in Gateshead and at his London gallery, Herald St, await next year. Stephen Deuchar Director, Art Fund The Art Funds role in helping acquire works for our national collection has long been indispensable, but the affable yet determined Deuchar has overseen its transformation into a truly contemporary organisation, partly through the National Art Pass, getting two-for-one entry to shows and museums around the UK, but also through the Art Funds involvement in events like Londons Art Night, Frieze Sculpture and the Museum of the Year. Tracey Emin Tracey Emin / Dave Benett Artist Two events this year sum up Emins journey: a show of paintings and sculpture at Chateau La Coste, a swanky vineyard, hotel, gallery and sculpture park complex in Provence, and the showing of My Bed, her most famous sculpture, in her hometown, Margate, this month. After a sabbatical year, she seems raring to go. Cecile B. Evans Artist A recent spate of shows by the American-born Londoner have marked her out as a key new artist for the digital age. After she colonised the Serpentine Galleries website with her creepy spambot AGNES, her works last year for the Berlin Biennale and Tate Liverpool, the latter featuring humanoid and dog robots, dealt powerfully with AI and its impact on human lives. She recently set the Art Basel fair abuzz with her mock-Brutalist building and engrossing video on architectural utopias and dystopias. Cerith Wyn Evans Artist Veteran of the New Romantic scene around the Blitz club in the Eighties, and the YBA art scene of the Nineties, Wyn Evans has shown that he has a longevity (and sartorial flamboyancy) that few other British artists can match. His Duveen Galleries commission for Tate Britain this summer, a stunning neon installation, has delighted critics and visitors alike, and he also showed in two of the big global art shows: the Venice Biennale and Sculpture Projects Munster. Alex Farquharson Director, Tate Britain Farquharson arrived at a moment when visitor numbers and morale at Tate Britain were flagging but the gallery is now abuzz again, thanks partly to the Hockney show early this year but also to the Queer British Art show and other initiatives. He drew acclaim for dispensing with the age limit of 50 for the Turner Prize, too. And a busy autumn awaits, with Rachel Whiteread and the Impressionists on the horizon. Gabriele Finaldi Director, National Gallery The quietly spoken Finaldi has made a positive and steady start to his National tenure in his first two years, with both the blockbusters and the small-scale exhibitions, though hes yet to have a defining moment. That may come in the form of an extension at the back of the current building. No plan has yet been announced, but more space is urgently needed to accommodate six million annual visitors 1.5 million more than 25 years ago. Hartwig Fischer Director, British Museum A speech in July spelt out Neil MacGregors successors 10-year plan for the BM: he promises more coherent and compelling stories of the cultures and artefacts we display, with revamped galleries across the museum, expanded geographical reach, and a revival of the Round Reading Room, the Grade I-listed room at the heart of the museum. New China and South Asia galleries open in November and revised Islamic galleries open next year. Gilbert and George Artists Living sculptures and national treasures, G&G, as theyre known in the art world, remain taboo-busting rebels and pillars of the establishment they became Royal Academicians earlier this year, 50 years on from their first collaboration. Still residents of Fournier Street, and still visiting the same Turkish restaurant, Mangal, that they have for years, the pair show their Beard Pictures at White Cube in November. Margot Heller Director, South London Gallery Work is under way on the expansion of the SLG, over the road from its current building, proving that while Heller may not be one of the showiest gallery directors, she gets stuff done. She attracts the best young artists and more senior figures from Britain and abroad, and puts on top group shows, like this summers The Place is Here, about black and Asian art of the 1980s. Damien Hirst Artist and Gallery Owner A dramatic year for Hirst, who relaunched his career after a couple of quieter years with a spectacular and spectacularly costly show across Francois Pinaults two Venice galleries. Hirst remains one of arts big global stars. His Vauxhall space, Newport Street Gallery, where he shows his private collection, is among the most beautiful in London. David Hockney Artist His Tate Britain show confirmed that Hockney is Britains most popular artist the exhibition broke all records at the Millbank gallery. But Hockney does not rest on his laurels, continuing to make works on iPads and video as well as drawing and painting. Though mainly back in Los Angeles these days, he has a Kensington home and visits the capital frequently. Tristram Hunt Director, Victoria and Albert Museum Hunt arrived at the V&A in a period of momentum with a glittering, futuristic new building project by Amanda Levete that opened in June and having won Museum of the Year. Hunts appointment was questioned on the grounds of his lack of curatorial experience, and it remains to be seen how he takes to the quirky demands of our national art institutions. But he has apparently started with enormous enthusiasm. Jay Jopling Owner, White Cube galleries Joplings association with the Young British Artists is growing increasingly thin: Jake and Dinos Chapman this year joined Gary Hume and Marc Quinn in leaving White Cube. Instead, while hes retained some top British stars (and his biggest earners), like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, the gallery is increasingly internationalist. Signing up Ibrahim Mahama, a top Ghanaian artist, epitomises Joplings current strategy. Stefan Kalmar Director, ICA Though the ICA has had a good few years, Kalmar has big plans for the institution, especially in uncertain political and social times: he intends to tap into the original radical spirit of the ICA, which made it a blueprint for counter-cultural organisations throughout the world. Hes less than a year in, so his plans are yet to take full effect, but aided by an excellent deputy director in Katharine Stout, Kalmar should prompt exciting new developments on the Mall. John Kampfner Chief Executive, Creative Industries Federation Only relatively recently formed, the Creative Industries Federation has gained a significant presence following the Brexit vote. Kampfner has fiercely guarded the creative industries open, international outlook and also been a voluble critic of the Government over the EBaccs marginalisation of creative subjects. Anish Kapoor Artist Perhaps Britains most widely exhibited artist: as well as a Lisson Gallery show here in London this year, he created a vast ice sculpture in Winnipeg, showed his beautiful and fearsome whirlpool Descension in Brooklyn and had a big Buenos Aires show. Idris Khan Artist Khan, a London resident since studying at the Royal College of Art, produces distinctive work drawing on cultural sources including literature, history, art, music and religion the Koran is one he repeatedly uses. Working with photography and drawing techniques, he produces densely layered imagery that is both abstract and figurative and which addresses narratives of history, cumulative experience and time. His work has been described as experiments in compressed memories. Sarah Lucas Artist It is nearly a quarter of a century since Lucass blown-up Sunday Sport spreads and her sculpture Two Fried Eggs and a Kebab were the punkiest element of the Young British Artists scene, but she still remains an anarchic and ribald presence: her works looked just as tough and uncompromising recently alongside Auguste Rodin in San Francisco, her first show in a US museum. Tim Marlow Artistic Director, Royal Academy of Arts His energetic documentaries on art remain the best thing Channel 5 has ever done, but now Marlow brings the same dynamism to the galleries of the RA, where he is putting on a first-rate exhibition programme. During this summer and autumn are shows of Matisse, Dali and Duchamp and Jasper Johns all potentially monster hits. His love of art is only challenged by his passion for Chelsea FC, where he is a vocal season-ticket holder. Helen Marten Artist Helen Marten / Anthony Devlin: PA Images Helen Marten has been one of this countrys most exciting new names for years, but her victory at the 2016 Turner Prize guaranteed her place in the art history books. She has exhibited at the Serpentine Sackler and The Hepworth Wakefield, and this year has sent her striking sculptures abroad as part of touring exhibitions in Europe, Australia and Hong Kong. Frances Morris Director, Tate Modern More than a year into her role at the helm of the most popular museum of modern art in the world, the energetic and approachable Morris still appears to be relishing the task. The response to the new Blavatnik Building from critics and public alike has been rapturous, and now Morris has to maintain the gallerys pre-eminence in Sir Nicholas Serotas absence. Shows of Modigliani in November and Picasso next spring should ensure continued massive footfall. Gregor Muir Director of Collections, Tate After a few good years at the ICA, Muir is back where his heart is, working with collecting art. He had a short period at the Tate a decade ago, but comes back with far greater power. And the task is a big one: collections are now Tates main artistic focus, because the buildings are all in place. Muir was a mate of the YBAs in the Nineties, but his artistic passions spread far and wide. Rosalind Nashashibi Artist Nashashibi has been talked about as a potential Turner Prize shortlistee for ages, but has finally been nominated this year, partly through her participation in the worlds most influential art exhibition, the quinquennial Documenta. The Croydon-born artists films are poetic, painterly and deeply human, exploring individuals and communities and occasionally veering into political territory. Hans Ulrich Obrist Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries The famous energy of the art worlds most peripatetic man shows no signs of relenting as he jumps from one major international project to another. But he remains very much at home at the Serpentine, where he continues to promote emerging artists as well as older figures deserving of more attention. His Brutally Early Club, the gathering of cultural figures that meet at 6.30am in various cities around the world, is the stuff of legend. Cornelia Parker Artist Her turn as election artist prompted a witty, often eccentric Instagram feed that will lead to an artwork for the House of Commons. A Tate Britain show is coming up in the next few years but most imminent for Parker is a tapestry, a piece made in silver thread for Trinity College, Cambridge, unveiled this autumn. Eddie Peake Artist An event in July perfectly encapsulated why so many are so excited by Peakes interdisciplinary art: in Naples and on the volcanic island of Stromboli, he took on the annual Volcano Extravaganza, creating a 96-hour dance work (complete with trademark painted nudes), collaborating with electronic producers, DJs and musicians and a poet. Owns a record label, Hymn, and DJs under the name Twin Peakes (he is a twin: brother Lewis is a sci-fi illustrator). Yana Peel CEO, Serpentine Galleries Few people could have grasped the unenviable task of taking over from Julia Peyton-Jones so effectively, but with a background in finance, intellectual content, art philanthropy and high society, Peel was ideal for the job. And the Serpentine has had a stellar year: artistically acclaimed and, especially this summer, with a Grayson Perry show, hugely popular. Expect an even more global, even more ambitious Serpentine in the coming years. Julia Peyton-Jones Senior Global Director, Thaddaeus Ropac gallery She couldnt stay away for long. After talk of returning to her roots as a painter and going travelling following leaving the Serpentine, Peyton-Jones is back and this time in the commercial field. She will lead the creative development of Thaddaeus Ropac perhaps attracting new artists, who adore her, to an already stellar roster. Out of the blue, in January, Peyton-Jones announced she was a new mother, at 64, to a daughter, Pia. Grayson Perry Grayson Perry / Dave Benett Artist and Broadcaster Award-winning for his art and now his television programmes, Perry has crossed the Rubicon between the niche art world and household name recognition. Always seeing his two roles as intertwined, he chose to explore Brexit among other subjects in his Serpentine exhibition, The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! And while some critics were underwhelmed at the show, the public, as he expected, are turning up in droves. Perry, his psychiatrist and TV-presenting wife, Philippa, and the family cat, Kevin, have a lively social media presence. Jussi Pylkkanen President, Christies Europe After a wobbly 2016, Christies has come roaring back in 2017: Pylkkanen presided over two successful sales in New York in May, and recorded a 500 per cent increase in value versus last year for the auction houses Impressionist and Modern sale in June. As the art market negotiated another bump in the road, the upbeat Finn suggested everything was rosy: The sell-through rates are the best I have seen in my entire career, he said. Stefan Ratibor Director, Gagosian Gallery An Austrian prince, Ratibor is one of three Gagosian directors in London alongside Mark Francis and Robin Vousden, who display some of the biggest artists in the world, living and dead (Picasso this year was a huge highlight), in some of the most beautiful gallery spaces in London. Ratibor and his partner, Kadee Robbins, the director of Michael Werner Gallery in Mayfair, are one of the London art worlds power couples. Hannah Rothschild Chair, National Gallery She has satirised the art world in her prize-winning novel The Improbability of Love, but Rothschild seems to have avoided treading on toes, since she has had her tenure as the National Gallerys chair renewed and is a popular art-world presence. The National is plodding along nicely while hardly pulling up trees, but a building project might prompt a new energetic era. Ralph Rugoff Director, Hayward Gallery The wait is almost over: the Hayward will re-open in January, with its original pyramid skylights (which remarkably never worked) replaced, and the galleries beneath resplendently light-filled and newly airy. Rugoffs exhibitions have been missed only an exemplary video show, last years The Infinite Mix, has appeared off-site since the Hayward closed. Excitingly, a show of the sublime German photographer Andreas Gursky opens the new restored gallery. Charles Saatchi Collector and Writer Twenty years on from when his collection of British art caused a furore in the exhibition Sensation at the Royal Academy, Charles Saatchis Chelsea gallery remains hugely popular, whether its for the hired-out shows like the Rolling Stones Exhibitionism, or for its collaboration with Huawei on the Selfie to Self-Expression show, which included a public competition. Charles Saumarez Smith Chief Executive, Royal Academy of Arts A big year ahead for Saumarez Smith, as the 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy looms, and David Chipperfields project to link the front and back of its buildings is unveiled. But despite his packed working life, Saumarez Smith manages to keep a thoughtful and entertaining blog, mostly about architecture, some of which has recently led to a book, East London. Joe Scotland Director, Studio Voltaire Scotland has made this gallery on a quiet Clapham back street a must-visit space for new art, giving emerging artists their first shows and revisiting figures that have not had due attention. And alongside his curatorial excellence is an entrepreneurial streak: the annual House of Voltaire boutique corrals artists to create desirable objects and garments to help raise much needed funds for the gallery. Nicholas Serota Chair, Arts Council England Many thought Sir Nicholas was mad for following the great acclaim he received in 30 years at the Tate with one of the hardest jobs in the arts, but if anyone can help the Arts Council thrive amid a difficult financial climate, he can. His first funding announcement was greeted with broad positivity. While ever diplomatic, he has made it clear that free movement of artists is essential to Londons and Britains cultural wealth. Conrad Shawcross Artist Unlike many artists, Shawcross relishes the practical challenges of making big public sculptures, and has produced another major work this summer: a huge rotating sculpture hanging at St Pancras station, with an underlying anti-Brexit message. Son of writers William Shawcross and Marina Warner, he has carved a unique career, hovering between science and art: another monster project was shown in the Barbicans science fiction show this summer. Victoria Siddall Director, Frieze Art Fairs Friezes growing brand was in full evidence this summer in Regents Park, where the sculpture park that always accompanies the art fair opened a few months earlier to attract the summer crowds. In a crowded, deeply competitive fair market, the seemingly unflappable Siddall has effortlessly taken up the reins from founders Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp in the past two years. Shes also chair of the trustees of Studio Voltaire. William Sieghart Chairman, Somerset House Somerset House is something of a sprawling culture centre but its diverse programme always throws up gems. Its Old Etonian chair is better known as an entrepreneur and more associated with poetry than the visual arts that dominate Somerset Houses programme, having founded National Poetry Day and the Forward poetry prize. But he is overseeing a thriving institution led by the director Jonathan Reekie; with the Courtauld Institute on the same site, it is a formidable cultural hub. Polly Staple Director, Chisenhale Gallery Staple continues to make this much-loved East End venue as essential as it ever has been. A show this summer of the New Zealand-born artist Luke Willis Thompson featured a video portrait of Diamond Reynolds, who had filmed the aftermath of the death of her boyfriend Philando Castile on Facebook Live. This autumn, Staple has commissioned new work from Hannah Black, another artist of growing significance. Wolfgang Tillmans Artist Tillmans Tate Modern show was one of the artistic highlights of 2017 so far, and its diverse young crowd would have delighted new Tate Modern director, Maria Balshaw. The German-born artist is at a real high point: his auction record was smashed in May, when a photograph sold for 605,000. But Tillmans uses his fame powerfully, both in events at his Between Bridges gallery and in his passionate, beautifully designed but ultimately doomed anti-Brexit campaign. Fatos Ustek Curator The woman responsible for Art Night in the East End this year, working with a wealth of top artists on this still-fledgling moment in the art calendar. Her choice of artists was exemplary, from major international figures to less widely celebrated ones, reflecting a flair for eye-catching art programmes shed earlier demonstrated during her Fig 2 programme at the ICA in 2015, where a new project was unveiled each week for a year. Rachel Whiteread Artist The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standards celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000 A big year for Whiteread, almost 25 years on from her best-known work House, the now-demolished concrete cast of an entire Victorian home in the East End. Whitereads huge Tate Britain show opened in September and she has also made a beautiful proposal for the Holocaust Memorial with the architects Caruso St John. Quieter than many of her peers, shes among the best artists to have emerged in London in the Nineties. Iwan Wirth Owner, Hauser & Wirth With his wife Manuela, Wirth is in charge of one of the art-worlds commercial behemoths, with spaces in Zurich, New York, Los Angeles and a charming Somerset bolthole alongside their London galleries. But their artist roster and increasingly museum-quality shows are among the best around, often showing lesser-known works by great figures of the recent past as well as major contemporary figures. Catherine Wood Senior Curator, international art (performance), Tate If you want to know why Tate Moderns most innovative strand is its performance art, look no further than Wood. Regarded as a world-leading figure in performance-art curating, she has brought esteemed figures and new artists alike to The Tanks and other spaces at Tate Modern, as well as curating the BMW Tate Live programme online. An essential contributor to Tate Moderns success. Anita Zabludowicz Founder, Zabludowicz Collection Few collectors are more dedicated to finding young talent than this Geordie lass with her dedicated space in Chalk Farm. Her art diary at zabludowiczcollection.com reveals the life of a jetsetting collector, hobnobbing with the international art worlds great and good. With the brilliant director of the collection, Elizabeth Neilson, she has a knack for identifying top-notch emerging artists before they go on to be stars. A mazon has removed an Oscar Pistorius Halloween costume and a "novelty" face mask from sale following an angry backlash. The online retail giant removed the costume, which featured the words "Blade Gunner" and was promoted as "guaranteed to cause controversy", on Wednesday. Amazon received further criticism for allowing a Pistorius "stag party" face mask of the athlete to remain for sale on the site on Thursday. After being contacted by the Standard, Amazon also removed the mask from its website. Pistorius was jailed in 2014 for fatally shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa. The original 26.10 costume included a "top, shorts, boot covers and knee pads". It did not come with the sunglasses or gun pictured but included boot covers to "create the image you have false legs". The face mask, sold by Depth Charge Design Ltd, is priced at 1.99 and "large bulk orders" are encouraged for those wanting more than one. Online shopper Lisa Thornton wrote: "Seriously? I'm a bit gobsmacked this is even a real thing. It's awful. If someone turned up to my party dressed like that I'd turf them out." Amazon removed the 'stag party masks' of Pistorius' face shortly after / Amazon Another commented: "This is completely tasteless - What does it even have to do with Halloween?" One Twitter user, Vivi Rivi, asked: "Why are you not checking what is sold on your site? How can extreme violence against women ever be a joke or a marketing opportunity? Pistorius - nicknamed the 'Blade Runner' - became famous around the world for his performance at the London 2012 Paralympics, in which he reached the semi-finals of the 200m sprint. A year on, Pistorius faced trial for shooting his girlfriend Steenkamp, dead at his home in Pretoria, South Africa. She had been locked in the bathroom when Pistorius fired a handgun four times through the bathroom door. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming he thought he was shooting an intruder. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and a firearm-related charge. The culpable homicide verdict was later replaced with a murder conviction after prosecutors appealed. He was sentenced to six years in prison but could be released after serving just three years. A spokesman for Amazon said: All Marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don't will be subject to action, including potential removal of their account. The [costume] is no longer available." Amazon later confirmed it had removed the mask from sale. T he Home Office is considering the creation of a new hotline for victims of bank fraud and similar scams. The idea was put forward at a meeting of the Joint Fraud Taskforce in September, attended by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and senior staff from a number of UK banks. Minutes published by the Home Office reveal that Brian Dilley, of Lloyds Banking group, told the meeting about an "early stage idea" of having a single number - such as 555 - for the reporting of scams and fraud. Currently victims of fraud are advised to call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040. The minutes read: "Brian Dilley...commented on the issue of communicating to customers who have been told not to trust unsolicited contacts from their bank. "[He] outlined an early stage idea...for a central reporting telephone number (e.g. 555) that victims of fraud/scams could contact. "At its simplest, the number could be a triaging facility directing victims to the appropriate agency. At its most ambitious it could sit in front of enhanced data sharing/analytics, taking in all reporting and providing standardised reporting - [providing] a collective intelligence picture across fraud and money laundering." James Freedman, fraud ambassador for City of London Police, told the Daily Mail: "The problem is that people may liken the number to 999 and expect an emergency response. In reality, fraud can take time to investigate. "However, it is vital to encourage more people to report scams, even in instances where they have got their money back or not fallen for them at all, as this is the only way the body of information available to the police will grow." D isgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been stripped of his British Film Institute fellowship honour following a string of sexual harassment and assault allegations. The movie mogul was given the prestigious title in 2002 - joining the ranks of celebrated movie figures including Laurence Olivier, Ken Loach and Cate Blanchett - to recognise his outstanding contribution to film and TV culture. But the UK film body announced it has revoked Weinstein's accolade, adding that the allegations against him "are in direct opposition to the BFIs values. Police in the US and UK are investigating rape and sexual assault allegations against Weinstein, which he has unequivocally denied. In a statement, the organisation said on Thursday: "The serious and widespread allegations about Harvey Weinstein's appalling conduct are in direct opposition to the BFI's values. Harvey Weinstein on the BFI London Film Festival red carpet seven years ago. / Getty Images "Sexual harassment, abuse and bullying is unacceptable under any circumstances. "Everyone working in the film industry - in any industry - should be safe and respected in the workplace. "We wholeheartedly support those brave enough to come forward and speak out. The film industry needs more women represented on every level, on and off screen." The BFI Fellowship is awarded to individuals in recognition of their "outstanding contribution" since 1983. Among the celebrated recipients are Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny Boyle, Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, John Hurt and Mike Leigh. Actresses who have spoken out on Weinstein At the weekend, the board behind the Oscars revoked Weinstein's membership from the elite club and the Producers Guild of America also expelled the producer. Weinstein, 65, whose British wife Georgina Chapman left him in the wake of the scandal, has been accused of sexual harassment by a number of women in the film industry, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Cara Delevingne, Rose McGowan, Alice Evans and Sophie Dix. An increasing number of Hollywood stars have condemned his alleged actions. Meanwhile, another woman contacted British police on Sunday, claiming Weinstein sexually assaulted her in Westminster in 1992. The latest claim takes the number of allegations investigated by UK police up to five. Director Quentin Tarantino and Producer Harvey Weinstein attend the Oscars Governors Ball at Hollywood in 2013. / Getty Images Scotland Yard had earlier confirmed three accusations had been made relating to alleged sexual assaults in London in 2010, 2011 and 2015. Another claim, passed to Scotland Yard detectives by Merseyside Police, relatesto an alleged sexual assault in the capital in the late 1980s. The latest allegations came as more British women came forward saying they were raped by Weinstein, one of whom is Hollyoaks actress Lysette Anthony. Lysette Anthony has claimed Harvey Weinstein raped her in her London home / Getty Images She told the Metropolitan Police she was attacked by the movie mogul in her London home in the late 1980s. Another woman, an unnamed former Miramax employee, said Weinstein - who co-founded his film studio in the late 1970s with his brother - raped her in the basement flat of his London offices in around 1992. The fresh allegations follow several made by actresses in the US against Weinstein - four of rape and more than 30 of sexual harassment - and come after his British wife Georgina Chapman said she was leaving him. Through his spokeswoman, Weinstein has "unequivocally denied" any allegations of non-consensual sex after three actresses said he had raped them in an article in The New Yorker. H ate preacher Anjem Choudary has lost a bid to challenge his conviction for drumming up support for Islamic State (IS). Court of Appeal judges in London threw out his application for permission to appeal. Choudary was jailed for five-and-a-half years in September last year following a trial at the Old Bailey. Lady Justice Sharp and two other judges ruled that he did not have an "arguable" ground of appeal, and that his conviction was not "arguably unsafe". His renewed application - which had been previously rejected by a single judge - was dismissed by the three judges on October 12, and they announced their reasons for doing so in a written judgment on Thursday. Father-of-five Choudary, 49, from Ilford, and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, from Whitechapel, east London, were found guilty of inviting support for IS. Rahman was also sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. The three appeal judges also rejected an application by Rahman for permission to appeal against his conviction, ruling in his case that he too did not have an arguable ground, and his conviction was not "arguably unsafe". When sentencing last year, Mr Justice Holroyde said the men had shown "contempt for the values of the democracy in which we live" and failed to denounce the appalling violence of IS. T eenagers who naively travelled from Britain to join Islamic State in Syria should be given space to reintegrate into society on their return rather than be prosecuted, Britains anti-terror watchdog said today. Max Hill QC warned against losing a generation of young men, and some women, by putting them through the courts after having being lured to go to the warzone by IS propaganda. He spoke out a day after EU Security Commissioner Julian King said up to 8,000 foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq may return to Europe after the fall of the IS stronghold of Raqqa. Around half of the estimated 850 Britons believed to have gone to join the extremists are now believed to be back in the UK. Mr Hill, the independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation, told BBC radio: The authorities have looked at them and looked at them hard and have decided that they do not justify prosecution, and really we should be looking towards reintegration and moving away from any notion that we are going to lose a generation due to this travel. Isis recruit: Briton Jihadi John, real name Mohammed Emwazi, who was killed in an air strike in Syria in 2015 / Reuters Its not a decision that MI5 and others will have taken lightly. But they have left space, and I think they are right to do so, for those who travelled out of a sense of naivety, possibly with some brainwashing along the way, possibly in their mid-teens and who return in a state of utter disillusionment and we have to leave space for those individuals to be diverted away from the criminal courts. The stance faced immediate questions given that supporting a terrorist organisation such as Islamic State is a criminal offence in the UK. Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, who sits on the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: The presumption should be that all people who went to join IS should be dealt with by the criminal justice system unless there is a good reason why not. IS is an utterly barbaric organisation still intent on carrying out terror attacks in Britain and everything possible must be done to stop its supporters being involved in such atrocities. Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown added: We should take a tough approach on this. Protecting against any future terror attack must be the primary concern. Mr Hill stressed that he was not saying that all Britons who have joined IS should escape prosecution. He said: Some of those who travelled will have committed the most serious criminal offences and in any case where there is evidence of that, then there is only one place to go and that is to a criminal court in this country to decide on guilt or innocence. Richard Barrett, former counter-terrorism director at MI6, added: Many of them went to join something new, something that looked bright and attractive and satisfied some of the needs in their lives and probably found that did not exist out there and so came back highly disillusioned. But also somebody going off to join the Islamic State is not likely initially to be somebody going off to train to be a domestic terrorist. MI5 chief Andrew Parker warned earlier this week that the terrorist threat facing Britain was now worse than at any time in his 34-year career. He said MI5 has more than 500 live investigations, with 3,000 people suspected of being involved in extremist activities. B ill Clinton was in Downing Street today but had to use a back alley to get in as the main gates were locked. There is a fault in a vehicle-blocking heavy barrier and parts to repair it have yet to arrive from Germany. One source said: Maybe this was a taste of how things will be in Brexit Britain? The former US president was meeting Theresa May to discuss the continuing political deadlock in Northern Ireland. The broken vehicle barrier on Downing Street / Jeremy Selwyn A Downing St spokesman said that after his unusual arrival Mr Clinton entered No 10 in the usual way, through the front door. U K airlines have warned passengers they may not be able to fly after Brexit and that flights could be cancelled without compensation. British airlines are drawing up contingency plans, amid Brexit talks, which could see passengers lose consumer rights held under EU law, including their right to compensation if flights are grounded. Airlines are preparing to notify passengers purchasing advance tickets after March 2019, the scheduled date for the UK to leave the EU, that their bookings cannot be guaranteed. Thomas Cook has already updated its guidelines to say that it will not compensate passengers for cancelled holidays after the Brexit date. It said it urgently needed clarity from the Government. UK airlines have warned passengers that they will not receive compensation after Brexit / EPA If Brexit talks remain in deadlock, the move will be introduced next spring. It would apply to tickets sold to EU destinations and up to 17 other countries, including the United States, where British airlines legal flight rights are overseen by Europe-wide agreements. Airlines say they will refund customers the cost of their tickets, however, they will not pay compensation for other costs they are currently obligated under EU law to do so. Under current laws, EU citizens can claim compensation for situations including if their flight is delayed or cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. However, with Britain scheduled to leave the EU in March 2019, these rights will no longer apply to UK citizens. An aviation deal to replace current rights is yet to be settled. The industry is said to be optimistic that a deal will be reached, but many airlines have responded with plans to allow for changes. There are concerns that negotiations could be delayed if the EU insists the UK continue to follow aviation rulings from the European Court of Justice. Tour operator Thomas Cook has already tightened its terms and conditions, adding a clause that says it will not be liable to pay compensation, and has started selling holidays for its "Winter Sun 2018/2019" programme, which extends to April 2019, the period after Brexit. Thomas Cook has already updated its guidelines to say that it will not compensate passengers for cancelled holidays after Brexit / Shutterstock / jremes84 A spokesman from Thomas Cook said: We are already selling holidays for the post-Brexit world, so we are preparing the business to operate in that environment. We do expect some form of agreement on aviation but we now need urgent clarity from government. To clarify why the tour operator has updated its terms, another spokesman from Thomas Cook said: "Were already selling holidays for the period after brexit for our Winter '19 programme which includes April 2019, so we have to look ahead. "The reason is that there isn't an agreement now and we are already selling holidays for that period." The move comes after Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, clashed with Philip Hammond, the chancellor, over the impact Brexit could have on the aviation industry. Mr Hammond warned that an EU exit could lead to grounded flights, which Mr Grayling told the transport select committee was inconceivable. Virgin Atlantic was more optimistic of a deal, issuing a statement that said: We are working closely with the Government to achieve the best possible outcome for the UK, the aviation industry and our customers. Were confident that a new bilateral deal between the UK and USA to replace existing arrangements will be agreed in good time before the UKs exit from the EU. A Canadian man has filed a lawsuit against a major airline which advertised a champagne service but instead served sparkling wine. Daniel McDuff booked a trip to Cuba with Sunwing Airlines which promised champagne. But Mr McDuff, from Quebec, said he was given a cheaper sparkling wine not the exclusive variety produced specifically in the Champagne region of France. The budget airline said it believes the class action is frivolous and without merit. However, Mr McDuffs lawyer said the lawsuit is about misleading marketing and not the difference in quality of wine. Lawyer Sebastien Paquette said: Its not about the pettiness of champagne versus sparkling wine. Its the consumer message behind it. A Sunwing spokesperson said: "Sunwing has always been proud to invest in experience-enhancing features for our customers. The terms champagne vacations and champagne service were used to denote a level of service in reference to the entire hospitality package from the flight through to the destination experience and are not a reference to beverages served inflight or in-destination. Our inflight service has always included a wide array of industry-leading complimentary features. "Anywhere that weve detailed our inflight services, we have accurately described these as including a complimentary welcome glass of sparkling wine across relevant marketing materials and even announce them on the aircraft. Our inflight service has consistently been well-received by customers and were proud to have been recognized with a Consumer Choice Award for the last three consecutive years. "We consider any legal action relating to the marketing of this service to be frivolous and without merit. Sunwings website now clarifies that passengers will receive sparkling wine. C anadian PM Justin Trudeau broke down as he made an emotional tribute to rock musician Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, who died aged 53. Downie, who became a Canadian national treasure with the successful band, died on Tuesday night after suffering from brain cancer. A red-eyed Mr Trudeau wept as he made a statement to national television, calling Downie the very best of us. Speaking with tears in his eyes, Mr Trudeau told reporters: Gord was my friend, but Gord was everyones friend. Its who we were, our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had. Justin Trudeau made a touching tribute to the well-loved rock musician. / Reuters And not just loved it in a nebulous, oh I love Canada way, he loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life. And he wanted to make it better. Towards the end of his speech, Trudeaus voice falters and he begins crying as he says: We are less as a country without Gord down here. We all knew it was coming, but we hoped it wasnt. Gord Downie in December last year. / AP The politician, 45, adds: I thought I was going to make it through this, but Im not, it hurts. Since The Tragically Hip's first album in 1987, the band has provided a soundtrack for the lives of many Canadians with "Ahead by a Century" and "Bobcaygeon" are among their best known singles. While Canadian musicians Drake, the Weeknd and Justin Bieber have made waves internationally, the Tragically Hip built a huge following of die-hard homegrown fans. Downie was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain cancer, in December 2015. When the band made the news public the following May, expressions of sorrow poured in from across the country. T he number of flying insects has plunged by more than three-quarters in 30 years, a worrying scientific study has shown. Insects are vital for the ecosystem of earth and play an important role in pollinating plants and providing a food source for birds. New data, gathered in German nature protection areas, revealed an entire community of flying insects, including butterflies, bees, and moths, has been "decimated", researchers said. Scientists measured the total biomass of flying insects caught in tent traps in 63 protection areas across Germany over a period of 27 years. National Geographic 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year Launch 1 /20 National Geographic 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year Launch One happy seal model Went to the very north of Denmark, skagen, at sunrise and found this willing model Lars Lykke/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Family Reunion We found them early one morning feasting on a new kill of a springbok. It was an intense sight to watch them feed - our close proximity to them gave us an opportunity to observe their relationship with one another. It was fascinating to watch the brothers intermittently embrace each other and lick the blood off each others faces while the mother kept guard. This photograph captures the harshness of the wild and yet softens us to witness the strong bond between the brothers Sonalini Khetrapal/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Whale Shark in Thailand The young Whale Shark was swimming in the Gulf of Thailand at a popular dive site called Sail Rock near the island of Koh Pha Ngan. The brief encounter was was captured whilst diving the remote reef which the graceful giant was using as cleaning station, a sort of car wash for big fish Dan Charity/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Thousands of Belugas Every summer, a thousands of belugas come back in the shallow whater of Nunavut. They spend summer in estuaries, scratching their skins on the bottom. We can see them really close to the shore,in a turquoise water that make you feel you are not in the arctic. The photo was taken during a wildlife reportage in Nunavut and Greenland during summer 2017 Florian Ledoux/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Lilac Roller Masaai Mara, Kenya Gul Wilson/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Above the Polar Bear Dear future generation, I hope we will still be able to see the Arctic wildlife as we do now. It is threatened as the environment is changing. I was able to witness many scenes of wildlife and I can guarantee you this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Here the polar bear might be interpreted as holding back the sea ice melting. Incredible and unique shot 6 meters above a polar bear in Nunavut, Baffin area during wildlife reportage in Nunavut and Greenland during summer 2017 Florian Ledoux/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Liquid bear Bear from the water Kamchatka, Russia Mike Korostelev/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Sunrise Morning at Koruldi Lakes in Georgia (country) Witold Ziomek/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Great White Shark Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island, Mexico Alejandro Cupi/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Iceflowers This photo was made in my hometown, called Thiersee, a small village in the heart of the alps (tyrol, austria). I had to wait till the lake, which is frozen, began to melt in spring. Just for a few days you can see these natural patterns in the melting ice.but not without a drone. So I told my daughter to make a boat trip with her red kayak. till now nobody in my hometown tell me how the patterns grow. (because nobody know that they exist). Stefan Thaler/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Teardrop of Seals Like most seals the Australian Fur Seals are very inquisitive and playful. I was lucky to spend a couple of hours playing with this small colony of female seals until the bull male got tired of the lack of attention and made it clear I wasn't welcome anymore Richard Wylie/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Lions quarl A male African lion teaches a lesson to a hyeena pack for trying to steal its kill Aaron Baggenstos/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Kalsoy Kalsoy island and Kallur lighthouse in sunset light, Faroe Islands Wojciech Kruczynski//2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest Great Gray Owl Taking Off Great Gray Owl Taking Off in winter Tin Sang Chan/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest A Beautiful Morning in Hallstat The image was taken from Hallstat Village in Austria right after sunrise. I had to walk some distance to reach this village view point. It was worth every step that I took as the scene turned out to be magical with the fog movement. Luckily the fog did not cover up the mountains Shanof K/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest They discovered that it had declined by an average of 76 per cent, and as much as 82 per cent in mid-summer. Lead researcher Dr Caspar Hallmann, said: "Since 1989, in 63 nature reserves in Germany the total biomass of flying insects has decreased by more than 75 per cent. "This decrease has long been suspected but has turned out to be more severe than previously thought." Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline, Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University said. Sir David Attenborough explores Richmond Park, the national nature reserve We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse. The dramatic declines occurred regardless of habitat type and could not be explained by weather changes, altered land use and environmental characteristics, scientists said. Writing in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, they suggest large-scale factors must be involved. More work is needed to investigate the extent of the problem and its potential impact on the ecosystem, they said. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to allow a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant, who was held in custody after entering the country illegally, to undergo an abortion in Texas. On Wednesday, Judge Tanya Chutkan said she was astounded that the Trump administration was trying to block the procedure, and ordered the government to move promptly and without delay to take the teenager to the nearest abortion provider. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the pregnant teen, known in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, hailed the ruling as a major victory for abortion and immigrant rights. But the Justice Department appealed the case late Wednesday, asking the US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit to stay the ruling. The temporary restraining order said the Trump administration must allow the unnamed 17-year-old girl, believed to be about 15-weeks pregnant, to receive the abortion within days. The teen previously received a court order permitting her to have the abortion, however, officials refused to transport her to the clinic. She is in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which deals with unaccompanied minors detained at the US-Mexico border. In March, the office changed its policies to discourage and block minors from getting abortions. Wednesday's hearing consisted of a contentious debate between Judge Chutkan and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Stewart, with the judge saying she was "astounded" by the government's position. Mr Stewart argued that the teenager was free to return to her home country and seek an abortion there, but said "the government is entitled to favour childbirth" and shouldn't be required to facilitate abortions. Pro-choice: Activists rally as the Supreme court hears the controversial 2016 Texas abortion access case, Whole Women's Health v. Cole / EPA She is being held at a facility in Texas by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is responsible for sheltering children who illegally enter the United States unaccompanied by a parent. She's believed to be about 15 weeks pregnant. Texas law bans most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and requires minors to get the consent of a parent or obtain a waiver from a judge. The minor received permission to have an abortion without parental consent and obtained funds to pay for it, however, lawyers say the facility holding her refused to let her go. Instead, she was taken by the facility to a crisis pregnancy centre, which attempt to discourage women from having abortions. HHS called the ruling troubling and said it was considering its "next steps to ensure our country does not become an open sanctuary for taxpayer-supported abortions by minors crossing the border illegally." Brigitte Amiri, one of the lawyers who represented the case expressed concern about the lengths that the federal government is willing to go to prevent Jane Doe from getting her abortion. She said the appeal was a tactic to delay the case until the girl could no longer legally have an abortion. M obs in Malawi have killed two more people accused of being vampires. On Thursday police in the south east African country confirmed a wave of attacks against people feared to be vampires had spread to Blantyre, its second largest city. Six people have already died in the lynch mob attacks, which began last month. Belief in witchcraft in Malawi is common and the president of the country, Peter Mutharika, has visited parts where the vampire scare is rife. According to national police spokesman Ramsy Mushani, a gang torched a 22-year-old epileptic man in Chileka, and another man was stoned to death after being suspected of being a blood sucker. The first incident was witnessed by a reporter for Reuters at a police checkpoint on a road heading to the citys airport. A family member of the victim confirmed the man was epileptic and had been killed while walking home. Several regions in Malawi have been blacklisted as dangerous by the UN and US embassy. S pain's prime minister today announced the first steps towards imposing direct rule on Catalonia. A cabinet meeting will be held on Saturday to trigger the process of taking control from the regional government in Barcelona, Mariano Rajoy said. The move came only minutes after the regions leader threatened to explicitly declare independence if no talks were offered by Madrid. Carles Puigdemonts warning was contained in a letter to Mr Rajoy shortly before the expiry of a 10am deadline set by the central government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession. If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonias parliament will proceed ... with a vote to formally declare independence, Mr Puigdemonts letter said. Carles Puigdemont, President of the Government of Catalonia, delivers an address to the Catalan Parliament / Getty Images Madrids response was swift and unequivocal. A government spokesman said the letter did not meet Madrids demands and Article 155 of Spains 1978 constitution would be triggered, allowing it to take over the running of the region. The Spanish government will continue with the procedures outlined in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore legality in Catalonias self-government, Mr Rajoys statement said. The cabinet meeting would approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards, it added. Article 155 has never been invoked in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francos dictatorship. The Catalan leader declared independence in an address to the regional parliament last week, but then immediately suspended it and challenged Spain to hold negotiations. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy / Getty Images Spanish authorities want to take action after Mr Puigdemont went ahead with a banned referendum that they say violated the countrys constitution. Just over 40 percent of Catalonias 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the October 1 referendum. There were violent scenes as police tried to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Catalan officials said hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities said hundreds of police officers were also hurt. The precise terms of Article 155 are vague and could spur more wrangling with the restive region. Madrids options include sacking the regional administration and installing a new team, taking control of police and finances, or calling a snap election. T he grief-stricken father of a US serviceman killed in Afghanistan has claimed President Trump reneged on a promise to send him a personal cheque for $25,000 after calling to offer his condolences. Four months after the president made the offer in a telephone call to Chris Baldridge, the father of slain US Army corporal Dillon Baldridge, the money had still not materialised. Finally last night, the White House confirmed that the cheque was in the mail to the Baldridge family - sent on the same day the Washington Post disclosed that Mr Trump appeared to have failed to follow through with his pledge. Political analysts speculated today that the only reason the cash was sent was because the media drew attention to the presidents unfulfilled gesture. But White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters immediately went on the offensive. "The cheque has been sent," she insisted. "It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognised as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda." The row blew up just a day after Mr Trump was accused of telling the grieving widow of another US military hero killed while serving his country that her husband "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt." Trump denies telling widow of dead soldier 'he knew what he signed up for' Defending his own delay in reaching out to the families of four soldiers killed in Niger, Mr Trump has also suggested he was the only president to make personal calls to the loved ones of soldiers who have fallen while on duty. Mr Baldridge, a construction worker, told the Post that Mr Trump called him at his home in Zebulon, North Carolina, in June, a few weeks after his 22-year-old son and two other soldiers were gunned down by an Afghan police officer. "He said, Im going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000, and I was just floored," said Mr Baldridge. "I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, No other president has ever done something like this, but he said, Im going to do it." Mr Baldridge claimed the President also said he would direct his staff to launch an online fund-raiser for the family, but that never happened either. All he received was a letter of condolence, said the father. "I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a cheque in there, to be honest," said Mr Baldridge. "I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking. But I was like, Damn, no cheque. Just a letter saying Im sorry." The White House was insistent today that the cheque had been in the pipeline since the presidents conversation and that Mr Trump had "personally followed up several times to ensure that the cheque was being sent." The President himself claimed he had not been "insensitive" to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed earlier this month in Niger, by saying he "knew what he signed up for." The allegation was made by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who overheard the 15-minute call between Mr Trump and six-months-pregnant Myeshia Johnson. But the President said last night: "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't say it at all. She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said." Mr Trump also posted in a tweet that Congresswoman Wilson had "totally fabricated" what happened and that he had "proof." He didnt say what the proof was. M elania Trump has become the centre of a bizarre Twitter storm after people became convinced that a body double was being used to play her during TV appearances. Some people even went as far as to suggest that she had been replaced by a robot. The speculation started when Mrs Trump appeared beside her husband, the President, on the South Lawn of the White House wearing large sunglasses which were covering a lot of her face. She stood next to President Trump as he spoke to reporters and maintained a sombre expression, without saying anything. Melania: The First Lady became the centre of a bizarre theory One Twitter user, Joe Vargas, immediately jumped to the conclusion that the woman in the should could not possibly be the real First Lady. This is not Melania, he wrote. To think they would go this far and try and make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. "Makes me wonder what else is a lie." He then said that he become suspicious when President Trump referred to her as "my wife Melania, she's right here" as if he as "try[ing] to convince the media it was her". Loading.... His post was shared thousands of times and the web erupted with mocking tweets about Mrs Trump and her body double. One person wrote: This story is silly I mean where would they find another woman willing to go places with him. One Twitter user going by the name pumpkinsauce wrote: Melania trump was replaced by a very lifelike robot 14 years ago the only giveaway from this remarkable machine is the cold, dead eyes. And another, just known as Mak, suggested the First Lady had died on election night 2016 and was replaced by a Russian robot. Someone even made a Fake Melania Twitter account. Others, however, did not appear to see the humour in the tweets, with: "Of course liberals who believe in #TrumpRussia conspiracy theories would believe that Melania Trump is actually using a body double. The incident harked back to a 2016 conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton also had a body double. Melania Trump: Best fashion moments - In pictures 1 /66 Melania Trump: Best fashion moments - In pictures September 22, 2017 At the Boys and Girls Club event Getty Images 1990s At an event in New York Diane Freed/Getty Images 1990s With her then-boyfriend Donald Trump Getty Images November 13, 2003 At the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York Getty Images June 7, 2004 At the CFDA Fashion Awards Getty Images December 13, 2004 At a gala to honour leaders in tourism Getty Images February 27, 2005 At the Vanity Fair Oscars Party Getty Images January 22, 2005 On the way to her wedding with Donald Trump Jeffrey Langlois/PB Daily News/Palm Beach Daily News/Rex April 20, 2005 At the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Annual Hot Pink Party Getty Images June 23, 2005 At the premiere of "War Of The Worlds" in New York Getty Images September 18, 2005 At the Emmy Awards Getty Images February 6, 2008 At a reception to benefit UNICEF hosted by Gucci Getty Images May 24, 2010 At the "Sex And The City 2" premiere in New York Getty Images May 2, 2011 At the Met Gala Getty Images May 7, 2012 At the Met Gala Getty Images October 9, 2016 At the second presidential debate at Washington University AFP/Getty Images November 9, 2016 On stage during Donald Trump's election night event Getty Images January 19, 2017 At the Candlelight Dinner one day before her husband Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President EPA January 20, 2017 With Michelle Obama at the White House AP March 17, 2017 At their Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach Getty Images April 27, 2017 At the White House AFP/Getty Images April 5, 2017 The Trump's welcomes King Abdullah II of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania of Jordan Getty Images May 25, 2017 At the arrival of the French President AFP/Getty Images May 26, 2017 At the Chierici Palace City Hall of Catania AFP/Getty Images May 26, 2017 At the ancient Greek Theatre of Taormina AFP/Getty Images June 29, 2017 Awaiting the arrival of the Korean President and his wife AFP/Getty Images June 26, 2017 Bidding farewell to Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi AFP/Getty Images June 24, 2017 At the wedding of US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin Getty Images July 6, 2017 On route to the Hamburg G20 economic summit Getty Images July 7, 2017 At the G20 economic summit Getty Images July 8, 2017 At the second day of the G20 summit Getty Images July 25, 2017 At the Make America Great Again rally AFP/Getty Images July 13, 2017 On a visit to Paris Getty Images September 23, 2017 Ahead of the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation September 20, 2017 At the United States Mission in New York AFP/Getty Images September 14, 2017 At the White House Historical Association Getty Images October 3, 2017 Preparing to board Marine One AFP/Getty Images October 11, 2017 With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau Getty Images October 20, 2017 At the Smithsonian National Museum of American History AFP/Getty Images November 3, 2017 On a trip to Asia Getty Images November 7, 2017 On a visit to Seoul Getty Images November 9, 2017 In the Great Hall of the People AFP/Getty Images November 9, 2017 At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing AFP/Getty Images November 21, 2017 At the pardoning ceremony of the National Thanksgiving Turkey Getty Images December 31, 2017 At Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort New Year's Eve party AFP/Getty Images April 23, 2018 US first lady Melania Trump walks outside the White House AFP/Getty Images April 24, 2018 U.S President Donald Trump, and U.S. first lady Melania Trump arrive at first State Dinner Getty Images April 24, 2018 Melania stands with French first lady Brigitte Macron Getty Images 24 April 2019. US President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington EPA January 13, 2020 Melania Trump and Donald Trump put their hands over their hearts for the anthem Getty Images The theory went viral, with #Hillarysbodydouble trending on Twitter, and a well-known impersonator of the former First Lady was even forced to deny her involvement. The rumours started after Mrs Clinton had been forced to leave an event early due to a bout of pneumonia. Rumours: Twitter became convinced Clinton had a body double / AP She looked unwell at the 9/11 commemorative event, but then appeared later outside her daughters New York apartment looking better. Conspiracy theorists were convinced that the woman seen later, who did not have any security around her, was not the politician but was instead impersonator Theresa Barnwell. Ms Barnwell later Tweeted saying she had been in LA and had played no part in the incident. M ore than 12 US police officers are under investigation for taking part in a nude photo shoot at a courthouse. A group of Sheriff deputies in Oregon are suspected of photographing each other while naked or semi-clothed at the Clackamas County courthouse. The officers used the photos to make a calendar for a retiring colleague, The Oregonian reported. Captain Dave O'Shaughnessy, a 24-year veteran with the force, was reportedly placed on paid administrative leave in the wake of the scandal. The Sheriffs office was alerted to the photo shoot by an anonymous person sent a letter to Sheriff Craig Roberts as well as local newspaper The Oregonian. The letter alleges that officers posed with objects including assault rifles and a cat to hide their genitals. Sheriff Roberts said the allegations were being taken very seriously. "Behaviour like this, if true, is not acceptable and extremely troubling," he added. V ladimir Putin has said Russia is ready to develop new nuclear weapons systems if the US quits an important nuclear treaty. He warned that Russia would respond immediately and symmetrically if the US quits the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. Speaking at a forum with scholars, the Russian President said his country was ready to develop both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons in response to other countries doing the same. Mr Putin said Russia would adhere to a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty for as long as the US sticks to it to. Donald Trump has been warned against quitting the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. / REUTERS At the Valdai forum of international policy experts in Sochi, Mr Putin said Russia has stuck to its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty and will continue to do so. US officials have accused Russia of developing missiles in violation of the treaty, a charge Russia has denied. Putin said the 1987 accord was tilted in the USA's favour, effectively amounting to "unilateral disarmament," as it failed to ban missiles carried by navy ships and aircraft that the US had and the Soviet Union did not. North Korea propaganda video shows missiles blowing up US targets He said Russia has since developed such cruise missiles for its navy and air force. The Russian President also warned against driving North Korea into a corner. While condemning Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, Mr Putin said the stand-off should be settled through dialogue without "cornering North Korea, threatening to use force or going down to outright boorishness and swearing." He criticised the US and its allies for missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War. The Russian leader also noted that the US has been slow to dismantle its chemical weapons arsenals in line with an international treaty, while Russia last month wrapped up the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles. C ate Blanchett says her foray into a Marvel franchise has allowed her to speak the same language as her children. The award-winning actress, known for dramatic stage and screen roles, has proved she is equally at home in action movies as she takes on the role of Hela, goddess of death in Thor: Ragnarok. The star, who will co-host the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in December, has children Dashiell, 15, Roman, 13, Ignatius, nine, and Edith, three, with husband Andrew Upton. She said she relished the chance of the role, working with Chris Hemsworth and director Taika Waititi. Cate Blanchett talks Carol Are you kidding me? My children are huge fans, she said. My desire to be in Thor, even as a supernumerary, was driven by the desire to speak the same language as my children. And to work with Taika and Chris of course. The part required an intensive fitness programme, the 48-year-old told So It Goes magazine. I relish the chance to get fit, she said. The routine, unfortunately, looked exactly the same on a good day as it did on a bad day! Fortunately, Luke [Zocchi, her trainer] is hilarious and could do me in 20 minutes ... said the actress to the bishop! With many British actors in Marvel films including Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Idris Elba as Heimdall in the latest Thor Blanchett said: The comics are written with a tongue-in-cheek old English feel, so perhaps it was inevitable Marvel went to a master of English language storytelling in Ken [Branagh] to direct the first Thor film [in 2011]. So I dont know if its much about the British taking over Marvel franchises lets remember Taikas from New Zealand and Chris and I are from Australia but rather Marvel gravitating towards actors and directors who have both heft and a wicked wit. The film is released next Friday. Read the full interview with Cate Blanchett in So It Goes Blanchett, who lives in East Sussex, claimed acting was still seen as elitist in her homeland, which was perhaps why many in the arts chose to move abroad. We are a nation of intensely curious people who are, for better or worse, outward-looking. Coupled with the fact that in Australia (and globally) participating in artistic pursuits is considered to be elitist, so those who work in the arts feel a constant need to apologise, that means people often seek work elsewhere. The two-time Academy Award winner said of her gongs: The experience of winning one is otherworldly. "When a room full of people you greatly admire stands up for you and not because they need to go to the bathroom its indescribable. "If you think you deserve to be there any more than the other nominees that would be foolhardy. Read the full interview in So It Goes, out today. E d Sheeran got up and cycled home after crashing his bike in London, despite suffering a series of painful injuries. The chart-topping singer said he simply brushed himself off and carried on cycling instead of heading to hospital to get checked out after the accident on Monday. Sheeran suffered a fractured wrist and elbow and cracked his ribs during the incident, which has forced him to cancel a number of his forthcoming gigs. I got up and cycled home then went to bed and woke up in the morning in a lot of pain and then went to hospital, he told The Sun at the Q Awards. 'Painful': Ed Sheeran fractured his wrist and elbow in the crash / Dave Benett I didnt even know anything was broken until the next morning. Sheeran said that he is staying away from alcohol during his recovery process so that he can get back on stage as soon as possible. Apparently if I drink it slows the healing down so Im not drinking but Ive got The Jonathan Ross Show so I cant drink anyway, he said. Sheeran told fans that he had been forced to pull out of a series of gigs following the accident and wouldnt be able to perform for the immediate future. Injured Ed Sheeran 'won't short-change fans' A visit to my doctors confirmed fractures in my right wrist and left elbow, he wrote on Instagram. Sadly, this means that the following shows will not be able to go ahead as planned: Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. "I'm waiting to see how the healing progresses before we have to decide on shows beyond that Please stay tuned for more details." Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Perhaps as an effort to persuade North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program China recently allowed public discussion of the current size of its civilian reserve fleet that would be mobilized quickly for a major amphibious operation. This fleet is huge in large part because since 2000 China has offered subsidies to shipping companies to make a few modifications to ferries and other RO/RO ships and agree to make them available to the military for short periods of amphibious training and extended use during wartime. For decades before 2000 China had used a system where it kept track of hundreds of commercial ferries and barges that could be mobilized by the military and used for amphibious operations against Taiwan or, it is now implied, North Korea. It is believed that there is now sufficient lift for about a dozen divisions plus non-specialized ships (mostly civilian) for moving support units. In the West this practice goes back centuries and came to be known as STUFT (Ships Taken Up From Trade) and the current size of that Chinese fleet of recently built (with modifications for military use) ships could quickly assemble and move over 100,000 troops and 20,000 or more vehicles (combat and support) in one trip. The distance from the north China port (and fleet base) of Dailan and landing areas along the North Korean west coast is about 300 kilometers, not much farther than the 180 kilometers distance from China to Taiwan. In early 2015 China was seen using a 20,000 ton civilian RO/RO (Roll On/Roll Off) ferry for transporting troops and vehicles during an amphibious training exercise. Many more RO/RO ships of that size have been built and entered service to date. About fifteen could be concentrated at Dailan, in addition a dozen ocean going ferries built to carry 1,400 passengers and over 200 vehicles. Meanwhile there is the growing number of amphibious ships serving full time in the navy. Starting in the 21st century China also began building a lot more amphibious ships. This was largely an effort to replace aging Cold War era relics while upgrading the amphibious fleet overall. Currently China has four LPDs (the U.S. has nine), nearly a hundred landing ships (LSMs and LSTs) and nearly 200 landing craft. The LPDs and landing ships can cross oceans while the landing craft can reach Taiwan and are mainly coastal but are often carried by larger ships for long distance voyages. The Chinese LSTs (landing ship, tank) can carry 2,000 tons. The Type 067 LCU can carry 50 tons for up to 800 kilometers and remain at sea for ten days at a time. These seagoing LCUs can operate in rough water while using its own navigation system. These Type 067s have been around for a long time. The first version began building in the 1960s and 130 were put into service. A scaled up version of the Type 067, the Type 271, can carry the latest, heavier (50 ton) Chinese tanks. Most of the smaller amphibious craft actually belong to the army and, until recently you could tell that because the army ships were painted blue, while the navy ones were gray. But now the army is also painting its ships gray so you will have to get a closer look to tell who owns what. That is even more difficult now that the army is building more large ships, like new one the army officially describes as a RO/RO (Roll On/Roll Off) ship but on closer examination it is an LSM that can carry a dozen vehicles and about two hundred troops. In other words a mechanized infantry company. The new LSM was built in an army shipyard, has ramps in front and back and is armed with four 14.5mm machine-guns. Since 2000 more landing craft have been built that can operate far at sea. This shows that the Chinese had their eyes on the South China Sea for some time and built all these long-range amphibious ships in anticipation of going after small islands and reefs far from the coast. But in the meantime this reserve amphibious fleet could just as easily be assembled in the northern port of Dailan for, say, a training exercise. In any event North Korea does not appear concerned about this, or any other, threat by China. A controversial policy of the current government is the preference for taking all the legal gifts (aid, investment, loans) China offers in return for not resisting Chinese claims in the South China Sea. President Duterte pointed out earlier in 2017 that China threatened war if the Philippines went ahead with plans to drill for oil in offshore areas that international law recognizes as Filipino but that China claims actually belongs to them. Duterte openly criticizes other nations for not confronting China and sees no point in the Philippines trying to take on China by itself. All the South China Sea nations facing territorial losses because of Chinese claims have backed down. He points out that even the United States is unwilling to go up against China. Meanwhile the Chinese are openly moving more weapons to bases in the South China Sea as well as their main naval base in southern China (Hainan Island). When pressed a few Chinese officials would admit that in recent talks between Duterte and Chinese leaders it was mentioned that war was a possibility if other nations sought to take possession of Chinese territory. In other words (that non-Chinese can understand); back off or die. In practical terms that means Chinese fishing boats get away with poaching (fishing in waters international law recognizes as Filipino) because China tends to send armed coast guard ships to escort the poachers and force local naval forces to either open fire (and risk a major retaliation by China) or back off. Filipino naval and coast guard boats back off. But if the poachers are not Chinese they will get arrested or even fired on. This is causing some friction with neighbors like Vietnam, which not too long ago considered themselves allies of the Philippines in the effort to get the Chinese out of the South China Sea. Meanwhile China continues expanding its operations in the South China Sea while seeking to buy the favor of Filipino politicians and voters. This is having some success but most Filipinos oppose the Chinese aggression and see the United States as a more positive presence in the region than China. President Dutertes year old war on drugs is still controversial (more so outside the Philippines) but so far most Filipinos back the violent, deadly and unorthodox approach to dealing with illegal drugs, the drug gangs, corrupt politicians and all that. Recent polls show 88 percent of Filipinos support the war on drugs even though 67 percent believe soldiers and police have committed illegal killings. The anti-drug campaign continues, although with fewer corrupt practices (like police undertaking criminal acts while pretending to be going after drug gangs). Dutertes popularity remains high, with an 80 percent approval rate (down from 82 percent before Marawi City). An example of this in action was evident when a recent anti-Duterte demonstration attracted some 5,000 protestors. But at the same time three times as many Duterte supporters took to the streets. Yet the opposition to peace at any price (or peace at the right price) are finding allies in Congress and inside the government. Documents are being leaked detailing the discussions between China and the Philippines and the degree to which China is demanding that the Philippines surrender control, and even access to, much of the waters off the west coast of the Philippines. While the Chinese see this continued resistance by many Filipinos as something that can be fixed by increasing the goodies offered and threats made, most Filipinos see China as yet another conqueror, not much different from the Spanish or the Japanese. The Americans threw the Spanish out in 1898 but soon agreed to get out themselves and did so right after World War II, a year late because of the Japanese occupation. The Filipinos remember that and are certain that the Chinese would behave much like the Japanese (as in brutally and with no intention to leave voluntarily). The Smoldering South In the Moslem south Abu Sayyaf and other ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) affiliated Islamic terror groups have suffered a major defeat in the failed attempt to take over Marawi City (the capital of Lanao del Sur province). The government declared the battle over on the 17th. At that point there were still about 20 ISIL gunmen holding about 20 hostages and surrounded. Police are treating that as another hostage incident and agree that there are few, if any, Islamic terrorists left loose in the city. The information gained from dead or captured Islamic terrorists has provided leads for surviving Islamic terrorists and their hideouts throughout the Philippines, especially in the south. This has apparently done some serious damage to Islamic terror groups in the Philippines. In the last few days the regional ISIL leader was killed and his successor (Mahmud Ahmad) was identified and is being sought. Ahmad is Malaysian and has been active with ISIL since 2014. He was the regional ISIL chief of finance and recruiting and is believed to be somewhere in the Philippines. Before 2014 Ahmad taught at a university in Malaysia but like many other veteran Islamic terrorists ended up in the Philippines because, until recently, it was considered the safest place to hide out. That is no longer the case but there is nowhere else in the region to flee to and international travel has become more and more difficult for Islamic terrorists, especially any that have been around for a while. In response to this the nations in the region with most Islamic terrorism problems are cooperating with the U.S. and Philippines to determine who are, or should be looking for in the Philippines. Thats how foreigners like Ahmad were tracked and identified. To aid in the process American intelligence specialists are working with their Filipino counterparts in Marawi City to identify the many bodies of Islamic terrorists that have been and are still being found. There appear to have been over a hundred foreigners among the Islamic terrorists fighting in Marawi City and perhaps as many still active elsewhere in the Philippines. The large quantity of information collected from the Islamic terrorists in Marawi City has led to dozens of arrests, often of senior Islamic terrorist officials including recruiters and fund raisers that do not carry a gun and stay in the background. Also revealed was the locations of hidden stockpiles of weapons and ammo, which are often unguarded in order to help keep the stuff undetected. All this data revealed how the Marawi City operation was organized, including the names of those who financed the purchase of weapons, ammo and other equipment for the large (over 2,000) local Islamic radicals invited to take control of the city. The plan failed because, as is often the case, the Islamic terrorists overestimated how much popular support they had in the south. Too many people in Marawi City were hostile to Islamic terrorists and willing to inform on them. Once names of these Marawi City attack planners and supporters were available it turned out to be easy to get additional information from those who knew (or knew of) the suspects. The intel also revealed that this support had little depth in the Philippines. In fact many of the most likely replacements for Islamic terrorist leaders and key operatives were not Filipino. Thus the likely new leaders of both ISIL/Abu Sayyaf and the Maute Group will be foreigners, which will not, in the long run, be popular with Filipino Islamic terrorists. In addition the foreigners are easier to track down because, well, they are not Filipino and stand out. For that reason many of these foreigners have stayed in the countryside and generally out of sight. In addition to the heavy losses in the five month battle for Marawi City Abu Sayyaf is not attracting many new recruits and many veterans are quitting or, if wanted by the police, taking advantage of an amnesty. So far this year at least 120 Abu Sayyaf have surrendered. Half of the surrenders took place in Basilan province, the center of Abu Sayyaf power and where most of the remaining kidnap victims are being held for ransom. The surrendering Abu Sayyaf bring information as well as weapons and that info has led to the remaining Abu Sayyaf forces being constantly moving and disrupting plans for more kidnapping or piracy operations. It is believed that Abu Sayyaf will take some risks to carry out a spectacular attack that will revive their sagging popular image. In Marawi City security forces have regained control of the entire city that a thousand Islamic terrorists occupied or threatened since late May. The search is underway for explosive traps the Islamic terrorists may have left behind but there do not appear to be many of these. All five leaders of the Islamic terrorist coalition fighting in Marawi City have been killed. The last two died on the 16th when one of the four Maute brothers and Abu Sayyaf/ISIL leader Isnilon Hapilon were ambushed by soldiers. These two had gathered fifty or so men to make a last stand at a location on the city waterfront. They were unable to reach the waterfront and instead established a final redoubt in a lakeside neighborhood. Several Islamic terrorist leaders had managed to get out of the city since July but Hapilon and his group were detected and intercepted by special operations troops. Another interesting item was that at least 20 of these final fifty were foreigners, the rest are Filipinos from Abu Sayyaf or the Maute group. The military insisted that for this final group escape was not an option, especially because Abu Sayyaf leader Hapilon, who has been much sought for years and is also the leader of all ISIL in Southeast Asia was with the final fifty. It appears that about a thousand people died in Marawi City fighting with most (78 percent) Islamic terrorists. Some 17 percent of those killed were security forces and the remaining five percent civilians. Now a dozen or so Islamic terrorists are holding out, protected for the moment by the civilians they are using for human shields. The largest ISIL faction in Marawi City was from the Maute Group (a radical MILF faction that opposes the peace treaty) who unexpectedly brought in over 300 of their own gunmen who were willing to fight to the death and triggered an existing plan to gather in Marawi City to inspire local Moslems to rise up and drive out Christians. The Maute family is one of the larger and wealthier clans in the south and seven Maute brothers got mixed up with clan politics, MILF and now ISIL. The battle began on May 23rd when a raid to capture or kill Isnilon Hapilon (the head of Abu Sayyaf since 2016) escalated unexpectedly. As the fighting went on there were efforts to end what quickly turned into dead (literally) end for the ISIL fighters. MILF refused to help negotiate a withdrawal of the remaining Islamic terrorists (many of them former MILF members) from the city. Some Islamic clerics visited the city during the battle and urged the Islamic terrorists to stop fighting. That failed. The government demanded that the Islamic terrorists in the city surrender or die. Some surrendered, most died and few escaped. The Marawi City battle killed a lot of the most dedicated Islamic terrorists but it also demonstrated how Islam keeps generating more more Islamic than thou religious fanatics generation after generation. More Islamic majority nations are trying to deal with this militant intolerance problem (that no other major religion has) if only because this attitude has crippled areas where Moslems predominate. Islamic conservatives have successfully suppressed scientific and political progress for over a thousand years and that has become much more obvious during the last few centuries as the West moved ahead in multiple areas. MILF is trying to persuade the Christian majority that Filipino Moslems can deal with this problem but incidents like Marawi City dont help. Nevertheless the current government is trying to persuade Congress to approve the MILF autonomy treaty because it is best that Moslems solve these problems themselves. If MILF fails Congress can cancel the autonomy deal but at a cost in another period of intense violence. Abu Sayyaf took heavy losses in Marawi City and add to that known combat losses elsewhere plus the 130 who have accepted the amnesty and surrendered so far this year it is no surprise that Abu Sayyaf has not been very visible since May (when the battle in Marawi City began). Abu Sayyaf still holds some hostages but cannot keep them in one place for too long and every time they move their captives they are more vulnerable to an encounter with the security forces or a hostile local militia (including MILF). Abu Sayyaf is still dangerous, but it has fewer resources. NPA Divide The leftist (communist) NPA rebels refuse to resume negotiations to work out a peace deal, partly because the leftist organization is divided internally. The government has responded by ordering the security forces to concentrate on NPA and shut them down. As a result more NPA members are surrendering of deserting the organization. In September 52 NPA members surrendered and intel provided by them indicates that losses from desertion were more than twice that. In addition there are medical losses as well as fewer new recruits. Yet the NPA remains divided with many factions willing to fight on. Since the peace talks collapsed on February 4th nearly 600 NPA rebels have surrendered, been captured killed or known to have deserted (and are sometimes being sought to major crimes). In many arears where the NPA has long operated the locals have come to view the NPA as bandits. October 18, 2017: In the south (Basilan) Ben Salina Sapilin, a cousin of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon. Surrendered. Elsewhere in the south some fighting continued in Marawi City with at least four Islamic terrorists killed. October 16, 2017: Down south in Marawi City soldiers cornered Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute (one of the Maute Group leaders) and killed them, along with some of their companions. Others in the group were captured and said they were unhappy with the fact that the two leaders had abandoned many of their followers rather than stay and fight to the death. The U.S. offered $5 million reward for the capture or death of Hapilon. October 12, 2017: The Philippines revealed that Russia had sent military aid that included 5,000 AK-47 type assault rifles and 20 military trucks. October 11, 2017: In the north (Taguig city, east of Manila) police arrested Karen Aizha Hamidon, a local woman who had been recruiting for ISIL worldwide via the Internet. Hamidon was the ex-wife if a Singaporean ISIL member who was arrested there in 2015. October 10, 2017: Down south in Marawi City the military reports that about 20 percent of the remaining (fight-to-the-death) Islamic terrorists in the city were probably foreigners. October 5, 2017: China delivered another 3,000 assault rifles plus three million rounds of ammo and 90 sniper scopes for the sniper rifles donated in June (along with 3,000 CQ-A5 assault rifles, five million rounds of 5.56mm ammo , 80 CS-LR4 7.62mm sniper rifles(and 800,000 rounds of ammo for them). The June donation was valued at $7.3 million while the one today is worth about the same. This shipment of assault rifles is going to the national police. With less fanfare China is selling the Philippines ships, trucks and other equipment that can be used by the military. September 28, 2017: The government revealed that it is negotiating with a Chinese oil company to jointly explore for oil in Filipino waters that China claims. China had recently threatened to attack any Filipino oil exploration efforts in this area and the Philippines backed off. The new offer is about the two countries sharing any oil found in what used to be Filipino waters. September 23, 2017: Coast Guard opened fire on a Vietnamese fishing boat caught poaching in Filipino waters off Luzon. Two of the Vietnamese were killed and Vietnam is demanding an explanation for the use of fatal force. The Philippines has promised a thorough investigation. In cases like this the poachers often fight back or attempt to flee. In the south (Zamboanga city) police detected and prevented an Abu Sayyaf terror attacks planned for the city. Three Abu Sayyaf men were captured along with weapons and bomb components. Apple and General Electric on Wednesday announced a new software development kit for Apples mobile operating system, iOS. The SDK, which will be available for download next week, enables developers to create applications for Predix, an Internet of Things platform made by GE. Together, Apple and GE are fundamentally changing how the industrial world works by combining GEs Predix platform with the power and simplicity of iPhone and iPad, said Apple CEO Tim Cook. Working together, GE and Apple are giving industrial companies access to powerful apps that help them tap into the predictive data and analytics of Predix right on their iPhone or iPad, said GE CEO John Flannery. Closing Information Loop Applications developed with the new SDK could give industrial operators more insight and visibility into the performance of their equipment and operations on an iPhone or iPad. For example, a worker who was notified of a problem by phone would be able to check it out immediately and even collaborate with others on the scene to address the problem. The idea is to close the information loop faster, ultimately increasing cost savings and minimizing unplanned downtime. GE already has some apps in Apples App Store, such as its Asset Performance Management Cases app, and it plans to collaborate with Apple to create more apps, not only for internal use but also for its customers. Apple is known for setting the standard on hardware and simple software interfaces, said Brian Hoff, director of corporate innovation at Exelon, which uses the APM app. When you combine this with the power of Predix and all of the data Exelon is aggregating and analyzing, the possibilities for game-changing solutions are endless. In addition to collaborating with Apple on apps, GE will be standardizing on the iPhone and iPad for its global workforce of 330,000 employees, and promoting Mac computers as a choice for its workers. Meanwhile, Apple will be promoting Predix to its customers and developers as its choice of industrial IoT analytics platform. Resistance to Apple Although both Apple and GE benefit from the partnership, Apple may benefit more. Apple is not always accepted in the enterprise environment and definitely not down into industrial applications, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. I know a couple of companies where IT managers are trying to keep Apple from coming into their shops, he told TechNewsWorld. This is an opportunity for Apple to become more ingrained as an enterprise-wide solution. The partnership is likely to have the greatest impact in regions where consumers prefer Apple over other brands, like the United States, McGregor added. It offers a way for Apple to expand the enterprise presence not only of the iPhone and iPad, but also the Mac platform, with GEs pledge to offer the computers to its global workforce. Apple certainly wants enterprise adoption of its mobile devices, noted Sam Lucero, a senior principal analyst at IHS Markit. However, it is also important to the company that it expand sales of its Macs beyond consumers, creative professionals and educational institutions, he told TechNewsWorld. Apple Developers The partnership could be a boon for Apples army of developers. The partnership will provide for native integration of iOS into GE industrial solutions, said Mario Camilien, an engineer with TDI. It will make it easier for Apple developers to make apps that can interact natively with GEs industrial strength products solutions, he told TechNewsWorld. Before Apple developers enter the industrial app market, though, they need to do their homework. Developers must understand their targeted market, Camilien said. There is a need for developers who a have keen understanding of targeted markets. They also need to realize that any apps developed for the industrial market dont have the bestseller potential found in the consumer market. You have to remember that many of these apps are highly customized by the suppliers or customers, Tirias McGregor cautioned. So, it is difficult to develop an app for the industrial segment with large market appeal. Good Approach The industrial sector which includes manufacturing, logistics and supply chain industries has the hottest demand for commercial and industrial IoT apps, followed by the energy sector, according to Gartner. Theres also demand in the smart cities, transportation and retail sectors. Apple is taking the right approach by going after the biggest market segment, said Gartner research vice president Mark Hung. Theyre offering GE customers enhanced capabilities and a better user experience than they may be used to, he told TechNewsWorld. Meanwhile, GE hopes it can work some Apple magic in the industrial sector. GE is expanding its efforts to leverage third-party innovation for its industrial IoT efforts, similar to what it perceives Apple was able to do originally with the App Store, IHS Markits Lucero explained. It already has an App Showcase featuring both apps it provides, as well as apps from partners, such as Tech Mahindra. The market for industrial IoT apps is still nascent, Lucero noted, with interest in the market exceeding investment in it. Furthermore, while the iPhone and iPad may work well in some industrial environments, other environments will require ruggedized devices, he pointed out, and not be appropriate for Apples consumer-grade devices. Back when Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 in March, it showed off a new feature alongside the handset: DeX. Essentially, this is the Korean company's version of Microsoft's now-defunct Continuum. It allows users to turn their phones into a desktop computer, complete with monitor, keyboard, and mouse, using a special dock. As was the case with Continuum, there's still little incentive for using the dock over a real PC. But Samsung is offering Note 8, Galaxy S8, and S8+ owners a compelling reason to buy a device: Linux on Galaxy, an app that lets users run Linux distributions on a Galaxy handset. As Linux software and apps are designed to be used with a keyboard, mouse, and large display, users will get the most out of Linux on Galaxy by using a DeX dock. The app appears to be aimed primarily at developers who want to carry their work around with them. Samsung says it will let them "code using their mobile on-the-go and seamlessly continue the task on a larger display with Samsung DeX." "Linux on Galaxy gives smartphones the capability to run multiple operating systems, enabling developers to work with their preferred Linux-based distributions on their mobile devices," explained the phone maker. "Whenever they need to use a function that is not available on the smartphone OS, users can simply switch to the app and run any program they need to in a Linux OS environment, utilizing the same Linux kernel that powers the Android OS." No word yet on a release date---Samsung is still working on the app---but anyone interested in Linux for Galaxy can sign up for alerts about availability here. Additionally, Samsung said it has teamed up with major game developers to add DeX support for mobile games, including Vainglory, Survival Arena, Eric Froemling's BombSquad, Lineage 2 Revolution, and Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition. In an ongoing rivalry for browser superiority, Microsoft has publicly condemned Google's handling of a zero day exploit that was found in Chrome. This may be a retaliation against Google for disclosing a Windows privilege escalation vulnerability before Microsoft was able to patch it. Microsoft is calling for Google to change its release process for Chrome because bug fixes often make their way to Github before regular users receive updates. Giving the general public access to source code before regular release channels makes it significantly easier to find vulnerabilities that could be used in between when code is published to Github and the time that the final bug fix is pushed out. It should be noted that Google is not actively revealing vulnerabilities when sharing source code, but closely examining change logs and differences between revisions can make it easy for skilled individuals to find them. Microsoft's own policy is to "ship fixes to customers before making them public knowledge," in order to protect end users as best as possible. Microsoft mentions that even though some components of Edge browser are actually open source, such as Chakra JavaScript engine, changes in code are not released until final builds are distributed. From Google's standpoint, it fully cooperated with Microsoft in patching the vulnerability that was discovered and reported by Microsoft's Offensive Security Research team on September 14. A reward of $7,500 was offered to Microsoft for the remote code execution issue discovered in addition to $7,887 given for other bugs reported. Google also donated $30,000 to the Denise Louie Education Center in Seattle, Washington on behalf of Microsoft. Over 250,000 Haitian descendants do not have legal residence due to a deliberate policy of non-regularization of migration. | Read More AUTO LAB TALK RADIO LIVE FROM NYC SATURDAY MORNING! 7-9 AM October 21, 2017 Auto Lab Talk Radio The Auto Lab Radio Show LIVE every Saturday 7 to 9 AM On New York City's WNYM Radio AM 970 and Streamed Worldwide On The Auto Channel This Weeks Show Broadcast Date: October 21, 2017 Car Question or Concern? Call Toll Free 888-692-7234 Auto Lab is a 28 year old interactive automotive-focused New York area radio call-in show hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok. Each week a cadre of experienced hands-on automotive experts are in-studio with advice for the New York area's 12 million people, providing listeners with honest, practical and street-smart car repair and buying advice. Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format. Listeners can hear the past 18 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on www.theautochannel.com. Listen - Auto Lab Page (Includes Audio-on-Demand Archives, Auto Programs at Community College Database, Guests Pictures This Weeks Show: October 21, 2017 IN STUDIO: Auto Lab's Real World Experts Answer Your Questions; Discuss: Repairs, Second Opinions, Regular Maintenance, How To's, Safety, Used and New Car Buying, Ombudsmen Suggestions Harold Bendell - Major Auto Fred Bordoff - Bronx Community College Automotive Technology Department-CUNY Tim Cacace - Master Mechanix Auto Repairs David Goldsmith - Urban Classics Auto Repairs AAA NY Jerry Pastore-D & J Diagnostic Joanne Porcelli, Esq Michael Porcelli - Auto Mobile Services Nicholas Prague- MTA and Rockland Community College, SUNY Broadcast Date: October 21, 2017 Auto Lab Correspondents Remote Interviews: Featuring Auto Safety News, New Car Reviews, Technology and Latest Auto World Information That Will Effect You! Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent, Suffolk England UK TAKE ON DRIVERLESS VEHICLES John Russell Senior Correspondent ACURA TLX Russ Rader, Vice President Insurance Institute for Highway Safety REDESIGNED VOLVO XC60 EARNS 2017 TOP SAFETY PICK + AWARD Robert Sinclair Jr.- AAA Northeast AAA FINDS SPARE TIRE MISSING IN ONE-THIRD OF ALL NEW CARS The Pentagon. Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images At least ten Army officers who have been tasked with preventing sexual assault have been accused of rape and other crimes, according to a new investigation by the Washington Post. The Pentagon claims it has been making progress in reducing sexual violence in the military, but the Post reports that Army officials confirmed the investigations into sexual-assault allegations against soldiers and civilian employees who have been trained to help prevent sex abuse and assist victims. Documents obtained by the Post show that the recent case involved an Army prosecutor who handled sexual-assault investigations in the Southwest. The officer in question was charged by the military last month for allegedly holding a knife to the throat of a lawyer he had been dating and raping her at least twice. And in May, a soldier in Oklahoma who had been certified as a sexual-assault prevention officer was convicted at a court-martial for five counts of raping a preteen girl. The Post notes that last year, the Department of Defense received a record 6,172 sexual assault reports in its ranks which is nearly twice as many as were reported in 2010. To combat this issue, the Army has 650 people working full-time as sexual assault response coordinators and victim advocates, in addition to 2,200 others working part-time. The military has reportedly spent millions of dollars on sexual assaultawareness programs in recent years, and in 2013, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the armed forces retrain and rescreen thousands of recruiters and sex-assault prevention officers. The leading members of the military have also promised to do more to protect victims and punish offenders. Emma Perrier and Adem Guzel. Photo: Courtesy of Instagram/adamguzel; Courtesy of Instagram/emmaperrier28 The masses cant get enough stories of intrigue and deception, hence the long-running success of MTVs Catfish. But whats more satisfying, and less soul-crushing, than a story about someone who falls in love with someone they met online and then discovers theyre not who they said they were, thus leading to a broken heart and years of trust issues? A story about a woman who fell in love with someone she met online, discovered he wasnt who he said he was, then met and got together with the hot male model from the photographs originally used to scam her. I love love! The Atlantic went long on the story of Emma Perrier, a French woman living in London who initially signed up for the dating app Zoosk after a breakup in 2015. Then 33, she connected with a man she believed was a 34-year-old plumber named Ronaldo Ronnie Scicluna. They talked for months and said they loved each other, but Perrier and her friends and family became increasingly suspicious when he refused to meet up. After running a few reverse image searches, Perrier was able to track down the real Ronnie: a 53-year-old lonely, divorced man named Alan Stanley who admitted that he had deceived multiple women this way. (In defense of his behavior he told The Atlantic, everybody does catfishing, which, uh, my dude. What?) But this story has a triumphant second act! When Perrier ran the reverse image searches, they led her to a 35-year-old male model from Turkey named Adem Guzel. She reached out to him in September 2016 to explain that someone was using his photos to trick women online. Perrier and Guzel started talking, then realized they had a romantic connection, and in April 2017, he flew to London to be with her. Im not clapping, youre clapping. Harvey Weinstein and Anna Wintour at Marchesas spring/summer 2015 show in London. Photo: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for FIJI Water It shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone that Harvey Weinstein loved fashion, but what is surprising is just how much fashion loved Harvey Weinstein back. Shouldnt everything about this leering, groping, heavy-breathing man have set off all the alarms of this female-dominated industry? In the fashion world, self-presentation counts for a lot, but Weinstein was slovenly, he was disheveled, he was a wreck. Its difficult for women to get away with his level of slobbishness in any high-level professional universe, and its extra-difficult in the front row at Dior. That Harvey was excused from the realm of expected behavior was yet another, unspoken comment on the degree to which he was powerful, the degree to which men live by a different set of rules. Women Share Their Experiences With Sexual Assault and Harassment Harveys most powerful years coincide with a very specific time in the fashion industry a time when celebrities were ascendant. In 1999, Linda Wells, then the editor of Allure magazine, told the New York Times that no one wanted to look at models on magazines anymore; in 1999 Miramax won ten Oscars. Vogue saw newsstand increases as high as 40 percent with celebrity covers. Some of the first stars Anna Wintour put on Vogue Renee Zellweger and Gwyneth Paltrow, for example were in the process of becoming Miramax fixtures, via films like Bridget Joness Diary and Shakespeare in Love, films that neatly complemented the Vogue readers taste. It was during that time that Vogue (and many other magazines) began hiring editors whose entire jobs were communicating and negotiating with Hollywood. This was the birth of celebrity fashion-journalism: covers to coincide with big releases, tightly controlled stories where the divulgence of confidences regarding divorces and babies and personal struggles could make news by themselves. A mutually beneficial relationship developed quickly between Weinstein and Vogue, which is not to say any one at Vogue knew about Weinsteins behavior. But the content all worked together nicely, and an actress with cultural cache was a win for the magazine, the promotion for the film was a win for Weinstein, and the advertisers got a convenient proof of concept for how bankable a particular celebrity could be for them. Turns out, the imprimatur of the magazine cover, more than the actual film, made an actress eligible for the lucrative world of contracts and endorsements. Contracts of that scale offer actresses long-term financial security in an industry where your best earning years are famously short. Perhaps that kind of financial security could to lead to a life of rejecting certain roles and, ultimately, rejecting certain producers. A young actress who saw Harvey Weinstein in a front-row huddle with Anna Wintour knew what she risked when she rejected his revolting come-on, and it was way bigger than any single part. There are so few women who achieve that level of stardom and money, and to look at them as a list is to realize that they have all been endorsed by both Harvey Weinstein, and American Vogue, usually at exactly the same time. It wasnt only WintourWeinsteins many relationships with powerful people (right up to the Obamas) functioned that way, adding to a general aura of invincibility. If there were elements of the fashion industry that gave me pause when I went to work at Vogue almost two decades ago, meeting so many no-nonsense, hardworking, intelligent, and admirable women put me at ease. The professionalism, and frankly the kindness, of my colleagues overwhelmed any reservations or doubts. Right before I accepted that job, I saw two of fashion publishings most visible and powerful positions offered to pregnant women, and I saw that no one was shocked. I appreciated that this was a world where women were expected to thrive. Fashion is far from a feminist nirvana, but it has, historically, been an industry with great career opportunities for women. But if you zoom out of the offices, fashion has a whole world of problems. Yes, Wintour herself was firm in her condemnation of her (one presumes former) friend, calling his behavior appalling and unacceptable, and stating that we all have a role to play in creating safe environments where where everyone can be free to work without fear. If the women who work in the upper levels of the fashion industry are frequently shielded from the day-to-day experience of sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse that color industries with fewer women in positions of power, how does it reconcile the drumbeat of harassment reported by the women throughout the business? Why is this industry, which is run by a number of truly extraordinary and, I believe, moral women so frequently dreadful at protecting its own? Its sickening to read the model Cameron Russells Instagram this week, where other models have begun posting their stories under the hashtag #myjobshouldnotincludeabuse. Do the women who work in the highest levels of the fashion industry turn the same kind of blind eyes as our peers in film? What does fashion owe the models who have had to pose for Terry Richardson, and every other lecherous photographer out there (there are a lot), or tolerate abuse from bookers or agents or anyone else or to the celebrities who felt that they had to endure, placate, and keep silent about Harvey Weinstein in order to make it to the cover of Vogue? This post has been updated to include a quote from Anna Wintour on the Weinstein revelations. Photo: Getty Images For two weeks, weve been awash in fetid tales of sexual predation, harassment, assault, and every form of abuse of power we can imagine. We have read stories from actors and directors and writers and gymnasts, and scrolled through endless first-person accounts on social media as women tried to explain that we too know what it is to navigate the threatening terrain of oppressive sexual power dynamics, to be degraded or diminished or insulted. Around us, (some) men have also told their stories. Theyve apologized or reared back or expressed their bewilderment and horror and have promised that now they are listening. And maybe this is it, the moment that the lights go on. But why, then, does this feel like some Gilead-ean Groundhog Day? A dystopian retread of ugly weeks we have slogged through before, the threat that things might not only not improve, but degrade precipitously and unexpectedly, hanging menacingly over our every revelation? The fact is, we just did this like, all of this almost exactly a year ago. The fact is, we just did this like, all of this almost exactly a year ago. It was last October that the release of the Access Hollywood tape in which Donald Trump was recorded bragging about how when youre famous you can do anything to women, including grabbing them by the pussy, sparked a torrent of stories from women describing how they had been harassed or assaulted by the Republican candidate. There were Twitter hashtag campaigns; there were soaring and righteous speeches; there were even tepid denunciations of Trump from his own party. This was not a small or quiet set of revelations; it felt seismic. It rocked and traumatized and electrified women and, I was told at the time, men. I had conversations with guys, including a former senator, who told me of their shock at realizing how many of the women in their lives had been groped or catcalled or threatened or harassed. I remember stories from women who were so angry, so sure that this was the light-bulb moment at which everything was about to change, that they began to challenge and yell back at oglers and creeps on the street: Not anymore, buddy! Just wait till pussy grabs back, we promised. Women Share Their Experiences With Sexual Assault and Harassment And here we are. October is drawing, as every month of this year has, to its grim and dispiriting close. And as it does, women again contribute their searing, humiliating recollections to hashtag campaigns and listen to the men in our lives tell us how shocked, shocked they are to find that gambling is going on in here. And we tell each other that now, now is the moment that it all changes. But what we keep missing, as we talk and reveal and expose, is that this conversation cannot be just about personal revelation or speaking up or being heard or even just about the banal ubiquity of abuse; it must also address the reasons why we replay this scene, over and over again. Part of what we have to come to grips with is that this is not a story simply of individual misconduct but of systemic inequity, a story of nuts-and-bolts infrastructure of gender injustice that has permitted generations centuries of this behavior, and that has worked again and again to beat back any resistance to it. A few days after the stories about Harvey Weinstein broke, former Vice-President Joe Biden gave a blistering speech in which he lit into the film executive, noting correctly that sexual assault is not about sex; its about power and describing, in Bidens words, deeply embedded attitudes in our culture that for a thousand years have shamed the victims and have allowed the perpetrators to escape the consequences of their actions. Biden also praised the courageous women who have spoken about their stories and argued that, Its long past time for the powerful men in Hollywood to speak up Silence is complicity. Biden, the architect of the Violence Against Women Act and recently a strong voice in the movement to address campus sexual assault, was right about a lot of things in this speech. But what he did not reckon with was his own deeply embedded complicity, his own direct and serious role in protecting the powerful, in permitting the shaming of women, in directly silencing those willing to speak about their experiences of harassment. In 1991, then-Senator Joe Biden led the all-white, all-male Judiciary Committee presiding over the confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. When word got out that Anita Hill, a former colleague of Thomas, was willing to speak about how hed sexually harassed her, Biden made no effort to seek her out or speak to her. He also initially resisted the calls of his female colleagues in the House to delay the vote to hear Anita Hills testimony. Once Hill did appear before the Biden-led committee, she was interrogated about her sexual proclivities, called an erotomaniac and depicted as lonely and desperate (then-conservative writer David Brock famously referred to her as a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty). Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, didnt even object to Senator Orrin Hatchs suggestion that Hill had copied one of her stories about Clarence Thomas from The Exorcist. Most crucially, however, Biden declined to call three other women who were willing to testify in support of Hill, including Angela Wright, a woman who had worked with Thomas and had previously complained of his having pressured her to date him and his comments about her breast size. Altogether it was as vivid an example of every dynamic Biden described in his Weinstein excoriation last week: the shaming, the silencing, the ways in which long-embedded attitudes have allowed generations of perpetrators to escape consequences. In the end, Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court, where he has, ever since, diligently worked on the side of the powerful and against those who might want to challenge that power. He voted against reproductive autonomy. He voted to weaken equal-pay protections. He voted to dismantle the protections of the Voting Rights Act. And he voted in favor of weakening the federal ban on sexual harassment in the workplace a decision that would make it infinitely more difficult for anyone to speak up in the manner Biden recommended. Its not that Biden was wrong to give the speech he gave about Weinstein, nor is this about making him pay in perpetuity for his individual past political crimes or ignoring the real ways in which he has evolved since the 1990s. In fact, its not about Biden individually any more than this is about Harvey Weinstein or Clarence Thomas individually at all. The conversation we should be having, alongside the one about individual trespasses, is about mechanisms far larger than any one perpetrator. Its about the kind of power structures that enable powerful individuals and then shield them from resistance or retribution. The conversation we should be having is about mechanisms far larger than any one perpetrator. Biden is right that this is not a story about sex, but about power. What he is failing to acknowledge is how he himself has been not just complicit, but an active participant in the long-term strengthening of exactly the kind of power dynamics, exactly the kind of mechanisms and institutions, that make the act of speaking up difficult, risky, and often futile. We need to keep in mind how these complicated mechanisms work, as we read more upsetting stories, listen to more surprised reactions, ask ourselves again if were crazy or did this not just happen and wasnt it supposedly going to get better and how did it get so, so much worse? It got worse, in no small part, because of these big structural protections, because of the systems the powerful designed to protect the powerful from incursions by the less powerful. Donald Trump won the presidency for a lot of reasons, including white women voting for him and Hillary not going to Wisconsin and racism and Facebook and Russia. But he also won because of the systems put in place by the men whod come before him. On November 8, 2016, 3 million more Americans chose Trumps opponent. Were our voting truly democratic, Hillary Clinton would be president. And, yes, thats not how the rules are written and so pointing to the popular vote doesnt get us anywhere, but thats the point. Those rules were written, the Electoral College created, by powerful white men looking to preserve their own ability to abuse their power, to enrich themselves through slavery, and to overpower those who might object to those abuses. The Electoral College and voter suppression enabled by the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, enabled by Clarence Thomas, enabled by Joe Biden, enabled by the disproportionately white and male makeup of the ruling class worked to elect a man who ran on the promise to create even more oppressive mechanisms: Muslim bans, and walls, the gutting of Title IX provisions, and the birth-control mandate. Those objecting once again have little ability to challenge them. Joe Biden is right; men need to start speaking out, not just about other men, but about themselves, about the power they wield and the role they play in creating the realities that seem still to shock them. Because no two paths to parenthood look the same, the Cuts How I Got This Baby invites parents to share their stories. Want to share yours? Email gotbaby@thecut.com and tell us a bit about how you became a parent. Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStoc/Getty Images Amy thought that freezing her eggs was the best way to ensure shed have biological children of her own. About a year after undergoing the procedure at 38, Amy met the man whos now her husband. Divorced with children from a previous marriage, Amys now-husband told her that he was definitely open to having more children. But after a cervical cancer scare jump-started their plans, the process has proven more complicated than anyone could have guessed. Amy discusses the words you never want to hear a doctor say, failed IVF cycles, donor eggs, moving on to tandem IVF, and how she might have to come to terms with not being a mom. On envisioning a family. I always imagined myself as a mom. It was never a matter of if, it was just a matter of when. In my head, the when was always a pretty traditional idea of marriage, kids. My parents got married young, and when I was in college, I remember thinking that Id get married after college, have kids before 30. I really thought Id get married within a few years of graduated. That didnt exactly happen. At 38, after about two years of looking into egg freezing, I actually did it. In that first retrieval, we got seven eggs, which is an okay number. But my doctor at the time recommended doing another retrieval he said that it could take about ten eggs to get one baby. I waited a month, then did a second retrieval, and got 15 eggs. Combined, I had 22 eggs, and I felt pretty good Id done what I could while I was single. Now I just had to wait for when I met the right person and we were ready to start a family. On moving from theoretically having children to actually trying. About a year after I froze my eggs, I met the man whos my now-husband. It was actually pretty early on when we first talked about kids. Wed been talking for about a month online before we even met face-to-face, and we had a lot of very long conversations, about a lot of different topics. He has two children from a prior marriage, and I remember asking him: Would he be open to having more children? He said he was completely open to the idea, but our transition into actually trying was a little random: I had a cervical cancer scare. Like many women, Id had a couple of irregular pap smears. I had whats called a LEEP procedure to remove precancerous cells, but the precancerous cells came back, so my gynecologist was concerned and sent me to a gyno oncologist. Of course, no one wants to hear the word oncologist. Thats not a doctor you want in your Rolodex. One of the first questions the oncologist asked was whether I had or wanted to have kids. And I said, Well, Im 40, I dont have children and Id like to have a baby. he said, Well, Id really love to give you a hysterectomy and well just call this a day. It was tough. No one wants to hear that. In place of a hysterectomy, the doctor recommended having a surgery that would remove a small piece of my cervix. But then he explained that Id be at a greater risk for late-term miscarriage, meaning a miscarriage at five or six months of pregnancy. He said I would probably have to have a cerclage, where the cervix is stitched shut so for lack of a better way to say it nothing falls out. The doctor even said I could just get a surrogate like it was no big deal. In the span of 15 minutes, I heard the words hysterectomy, late-term miscarriage, and surrogate. Needless to say, I left that appointment in tears and devastated. On receiving a fair grade. We decided to talk to some doctors and gather some information and figure out what would make sense given this potential risk for later-term miscarriage. The general consensus was to have the surgery, then thaw my frozen eggs, fertilize them, and ideally, wed get embryos we could genetically test before transferring. About two years ago, we ended up thawing all 22 eggs, but unfortunately my eggs didnt fertilize very well we ended up with only four Day 3 embryos all graded as fair. Our doctor said he would transfer them, but that he would give us only a 25 percent success rate. This was so defeating, considering I was now told I have a higher risk for miscarriage. All I could think was that Id spent all this money freezing my younger eggs as an insurance policy and now youre telling me theyre shitty eggs? On a plan that initially seemed crazy. A few months after fertilizing our embryos (I had just turned 41) we did our first embryo transfer using the best two of the four. They didnt stick. Afterward, my doctor told me our best shot was to use donor eggs. I really wasnt sure about it. I was frustrated that our doctor wasnt willing to suggest other options he finally relented and suggested IUIs, which we did try, and which did not work. I felt like he had a two-word answer to every question I asked, and those two words were donor eggs. One of my friends put it really perfectly. She said, No one says, When I grow up I want to use donor eggs. We took a few months to sit on the idea, and research the donor process. It was a bit dismaying to find out how expensive and complicated the process is. All told, thats another $18,000 to $20,000 to procure the donor, and then of course an additional IVF cycle and meds for the donor plus the genetic testing It was another mind-numbing amount of information about what it would take for me to get pregnant. A friend of mine whod gone through infertility asked me whether wed ever considered doing a tandem cycle. This is when you have a retrieval at the same time as a donor has a retrieval, then they do genetic testing on both sets of embryos at the same time to save money. I said, No. That sounds crazy; it sounds really expensive. No way. But as I thought more about it, I wondered if it did make sense. I liked that youre working on plan B while youre still attempting plan A. My friend introduced me to a friend whod done a tandem cycle, who was very knowledgeable shed found there are only three doctors in the U.S. who do it. We had a phone consultation with one of them, and he was the first doctor in this process who I felt like really treated me like a patient and a human instead of a statistic or a number. We liked his approach so much we decided to pursue treatment with him. On finding some sense of satisfaction in a difficult process. About a year ago, we did another retrieval (on me). And we actually had much better luck, this time around we had better results with my 41-year-old eggs than the 38-year-old eggs. We had four embryos that made it to whats called day five blastocyst, which means that the embryos are large and mature enough to genetically test. After my original doctor made me feel like using my own eggs was such a worthless endeavor, I did feel some sense of satisfaction in getting further along in the process. But ultimately, when we got our genetic test results back, mine were all considered abnormal. From the donor, we had 13 that reached blastocyst and three came back as genetically normal. That was somewhat surprising to me. I thought that her age 29 would mean we would get more embryos. On encountering one more obstacle. In preparation for the transfer with the embryo from donor eggs, we found out that my uterine lining needed to be thicker. I went off the hormones, I had to wait for my period, and then I had to start again. During the next attempted cycle a physician monitoring me locally (our primary fertility doctor is located elsewhere in our state) asked whether Id ever been diagnosed with adenomyosis. I went for a second opinion with our fertility doctor, and he said, Well, I dont like this, but its true. Adenomyosis is less common but very similar to endometriosis. Its basically an inflammation of the uterine tissue, which prevents the uterine lining from being thick enough to transfer an embryo. Adding estrogen into the body the way you do during fertility treatments just adds fuel to the fire. I felt so frustrated. This whole time I thought old eggs were my issue I didnt think I had other uterine issues that would prevent me from getting pregnant. All I could think was, Great. My doctor told us that the only treatment for this was three months of Lupron Depot injections that basically shut down your reproductive system, the idea being that you start from a clean slate. Finally, after the injections, after waiting a little longer for my lining to be ready, we finally, finally did another transfer this past May. It also did not work. This was incredibly disappointing. Wed done all the things we were supposed to do to improve my lining, we had donor egg embryos that were genetically tested. We truly thought this was our ticket. I remember just crying and crying on the phone the weekend when I knew that the transfer hadnt worked. I felt so hopeless. On encountering yet another obstacle. We decided to take the rest of the summer off in terms of attempting a next transfer. We had a big trip planned and I didnt want to be on hormones for that. I asked my doctor about being tested for immunology issues I knew that women who continued to have difficulty often tested for immune issues next. My doctor said we certainly didnt have to do it, but that it might help and couldnt hurt. Right before our trip, I had immunology tests done 18 vials of blood, plus blood from my husband, so our blood could be compared. A few weeks later, we got the results: There were issues, which I had no previous idea about. Because my body was immuno-compromised, it was rejecting anything foreign like an embryo. There are three ways to treat this kind of issue. The first is called LIT (Lymphocyte Immunization Therapy) and its no longer legal in the U.S. Id heard of it before, and always thought it sounded insane: Women travel to Mexico or Canada to have blood from their partner or husband inserted into them as a kind of allergy shot. Upon hearing our immunology doctor explain the process though, it sounded less crazy basically its like giving me an allergy shot of my husbands blood. Its supposed to help the body build up a tolerance for his DNA, to help my body accept it. Part two is Humira, what many people know as an arthritis/anti-inflammatory drug. The last part is called IVIg which basically involves having immune-boosting substances pumped into you through an intravenous drip, similar to how chemo is administered. On leaving the country for fertilitys sake. A few weeks ago, we flew to Tucson to do this crazy blood treatment. The next morning, we woke up at 5 and drove down to Nogales, Arizona, where we met a driver from our doctors office, along with two other couples who were also pursuing LIT therapy. My husband and I were thinking, This is the craziest thing weve ever done. Its a long story, but basically: After making it all the way to the clinic, we were told some antibodies in my husbands blood meant we couldnt do the therapy. They hadnt read our charts and results close enough before we made the trip so well have to go back and try again. When the doctor said I couldnt have it, I just thought, Are you fucking kidding me. Our doctor is taking responsibility for the error and helping us defray some future costs, and my husband had his blood retested a few days ago. If we cant use his, we can apparently use a friends to desensitize me. This is where we are right now. I wish it werent the case. Based on what I know about this immunology therapy, it seems like it will be several months before we can attempt another transfer. It feels like were on borrowed time, with us both being in our 40s. On what might be next. I feel very aware that I dont know how much more of this I can take. I dont know how anyone does this for ten years some people do. What Im thinking about now is how and when you decide youre okay without having kids. How do I get myself to that point, if I need to? Im sure it wont be overnight. I think it will definitely take some time and Im sure some therapy. Frankly, at this point, my husband and I are worried about feeling old as parents. We could still research and consider adoption, but adoption takes time, more money, and if we do that, it will be at least a year or two before we have a child. I feel like no one prepares you for the possibility of not having a baby, no matter how much you want one. People say, IVF! Donor eggs! Adoption! Surrogacy! But here we are, many thousands of dollars later, and were not much closer to having a baby. Thats what I keep thinking about these days: Knowing and preparing for the fact that motherhood may not happen. Photo: Diego Cervo/Getty Images/iStockphoto Last week, while in Atlanta covering a conference on drug policy reform hosted by the New Yorkbased Drug Policy Alliance, there was one phrase I kept hearing over and over: compassion fatigue. Its a rational response to the overdose crisis, which grows darker and more unmanageable with each passing year; from 2015 to 2016, drug overdose deaths increased by more than 20 percent, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People are tired of seeing rising death rates coming out of suffering communities. As a journalist who once struggled with his own heroin addiction, I count myself among the weary. Though I walked away from the conference feeling a renewed sense of camaraderie, I also left with a deeper understanding of an uncomfortable truth: The epidemic is changing too fast for any of our current policy solutions to stick. In 2016, the majority of overdose deaths were not from prescription painkillers or even heroin. For the first time since the overdose crisis started, fentanyl a potent synthetic opioid typically sold on the street as heroin accounted for nearly all the increases in drug overdose deaths from 2015 to 2016, according to an article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Over the last three years, fentanyl-related deaths have spiked a jaw-dropping 540 percent. Still, the federal response from the CDC is by and large focused on reducing the supply of painkillers prescribed by doctors. The good news is that prescription overdose deaths are finally plateauing. But for every life we save from a prescription overdose, Joel Bomgar, vice-chairman of Medicaid in the Mississippi House of Representatives, said during a town-hall-style meeting at the conference, four more are dying from switching to heroin and fentanyl. Bomgars analysis, based on CDC mortality data, hits a classic supply vs. demand dilemma. If you picture drug supply as a long balloon, tightly squeezing one end winds up inflating the other end. The air or the demand for drugs has to go somewhere. During the town hall, where epidemiologists from the CDC had gathered to answer questions from public-health experts, many attendees focused on that very issue. The CDC has been very resistant to recognize that reducing the supply of prescription opioids has contributed to people transitioning to heroin and fentanyl, Leo Beletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, told the CDC panelists. Its a puzzling stance to a lot of people observing the crisis and I encourage the CDC to reexamine that stance. But if decreases in opioid prescribing were driving illicit drug use, we would expect to see heroin overdose increasing most where opioid prescribing was most reduced, a CDC spokesperson told me in an email. Instead, we see heroin overdoses increasing everywhere in areas where opioid prescribing is decreasing and in areas where opioid prescribing is increasing. One thing everyone at the conference agreed on: Increasing access to addiction treatment is one of the most valuable strategies we have. As policy makers otherwise stay mired in wonky debate, though, efforts on the ground are trying to pick up the slack. The biggest failure in the publi- health aspects of the fentanyl crisis is that were treating it as a drug epidemic and not a poisoning epidemic, said Dan Ciccarone, a physician at the University of California, San Francisco. Ciccarone is also leading a study called Heroin in Transition that looks at, among other things, changes in Americas heroin supply. Imagine if this was a poisoning outbreak in infant formula and the only thing we did was test the dead bodies of the infants and tell the public: 13 dead bodies last week in San Francisco. One thing communities need, Ciccarone told me, is an advance-warning system that tells emergency responders and others in the community whats in the local heroin supply. One study found that people were ten times more likely to reduce their dose, and 25 percent less likely to overdose, after discovering their powder tested positive for fentanyl. Drug users are far more rational than we make them out to be, Ciccarone said. And across the country, other community-based solutions are in the works. From Seattle to Denver to New York, legislation for safe consumption sites places where people administer their own drugs under medical supervision are gaining political steam. The goal of these sites is simple: to keep people alive. There are dozens of underground supervised injection facilities, Ciccarone said. We need to bring them above ground and give them funding. And quickly, he believes, before the epidemic changes yet again, and a solution is even further from reach. Michelle Obama at a high school in Liberia, 2016, by former White House photographer Amanda Lucidon. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press For four years, during Barack Obamas second term, Amanda Lucidon was the only woman of five photographers working in the White House. While chief White House photographer Pete Souza documented the president, she covered Michelle Obama. Lucidon followed the First Lady all over the world, from small hospital rooms in Tennessee to a traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto, Japan. I feel like Im still pinching myself that I actually worked there and got to have those experiences every day, Lucidon says. I feel like its my responsibility now to share with other people what I learned. Her new book Chasing Light, released by Ten Speed Press on October 17, is the culmination of her time with Michelle Obama. Structured like a visual diary, the collection details the stories behind 150 photographs shot in 20 different countries. Many of the images are published for the first time. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., recently named Lucidon a Turnaround artist for her work as a photographer and filmmaker. On her book tour which started yesterday and will be documented on the books Instagram libraries and schools across the country will showcase a selection of her photos; Lucidon plans to speak about the importance of arts education during each visit. She told the Cut she looked to White House photographers who came before her as mentors, including Samantha Appleton and Sonya Hebert (who worked during Obamas first term) and Susan Biddle (who photographed President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush). As for the title Chasing Light, she says, Weve all had lights in our lives. Whether thats the inspiration of Mrs. Obama, or my mother, or other powerful women in my life that [light is] pulling me forward. In an interview, Lucidon discussed riding in the presidential motorcade (Which black car in the motorcade do you get in? They all look the same!), starting her career as a photojournalist, and lessons she learned from Michelle Obama. Amanda Lucidon. Photo: Alan Spearman What was your first day like at the White House? It was probably not as interesting as it sounds, because youre spending all this time figuring out your paperwork and how to get your badge. How do I get in the gate? Which gate do I go in? Wheres my office? And all these hallways are confusing! There are a lot of details, like which black car in the motorcade do you get in? They all look the same! How do you know which one is yours? And how do you make sure youre on time and you dont get left behind? There was a lot of nervous energy at first. It was probably six months before that went away. What is one quality about the Obamas that people might not realize, because they dont see them every day like you did? People are always like, What are they like, when the camera goes off? And theyre the same people. Theyre so grounded and compassionate and thoughtful. Its just amazing, because theyre extraordinary people, and at the same time, they have a way of making everyone feel loved and comforted and special. I learned this from Mrs. Obama: failing is okay. What motivated you on the job? Being around the Obamas every day. Seeing everything that they are doing. She took on so many initiatives, and it was just the constant work, and when I started to feel like I was getting tired, I looked at them and said, Oh, youre still going, I have to keep going, too. I talk a lot in the book about losing my father, and I think, even though it was the hardest time for me, it gave me good perspective. Our heart beats only so many times. What is your heart worth beating for? And thats how you should live every day. I have a beautiful daughter, who is 10 months old. When [there are] days that I take myself too seriously, I look into her eyes and say, Oh, I can be a role model the same way Mrs. Obama, [and] my mother, was a role model, to my daughter. What was the traveling like? The first time I went to China, it was my first trip, and I was going to be the only photographer traveling with Mrs. Obama. I was really nervous about that. I wanted to do a good job. There was trouble with internet. As a photographer, you need to take pictures all day and send them back. Its [important to] constantly stay calm when you encounter a problem and need to troubleshoot. To push through these things, and have a moment where I get to be on the ground of the Great Wall of China with Mrs. Obama in that picture where shes hugging her daughters, and to think that I never thought Id get to travel there and be in this very special place, is just an extraordinary kind of experience. I remember landing in Cambodia and stepping off the plane, and the air smelled like toasted wood. In the motorcade on the way to the hotel I remember looking out the window and thinking, Everythings so interesting, I just want to take pictures of everything the people, the faces, the colors. As a kid, I didnt think Id get to travel to any of these places, so to get to do it with Mrs. Obama and her amazing team, is pretty incredible. Do you have any advice for women who might be aspiring photojournalists, or trying to break into an industry? My advice would be to do the work that youre passionate about. Because thats what provided this opportunity at the White House. I was actually working in D.C. for a lot of projects that were my passion projects that werent necessarily paying the bills, but trying to get myself as much time possible to work on the things I loved and cared about. It was that work that got me the attention that got me into the circles that opened up the doors to even be invited to apply to the White House. I learned this from Mrs. Obama: failing is okay. It means youre actually pushing yourself. And if youre pushing yourself, it means youre going to reach new heights. This for me, stepping out in front of the camera, is very scary. I prefer to be in the background. I never knew that I would be able to write a book. I had never been an author before. I couldve said no to this opportunity and I wouldve missed out on this chance to reach so many young kids who might be wondering how to be artists. For me as a kid, I never even thought it was possible to be a White House photographer. You can really do anything. I think most of the time, were the ones that get in our head, and stop us from reaching our true potential. This interview has been edited and condensed. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press The First Lady boards Bright Star at Orlando International Airport, July 1, 2014. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press First Lady Michelle Obama tours the Mirror Room in the Italian Pavilion with Mrs. Agnese Landini at the Milan Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy, June 18, 2015. Mrs. Obama led the presidential delegation to the expo, Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk from Marine One on the White House South Lawn, September 29, 2015. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a discussion with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Freida Pinto, and students at R. S. Caulfield Senior High School in Unification Town, Liberia, June 27, 2016. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press Mrs. Obama welcomes girls from Morocco and Liberia in the State Dining Room before a screening of We Will Rise: Michelle Obamas Mission to Educate Girls Around the World, October 11, 2016. Photo: Amanda Lucidon/Ten Speed Press Chasing Light: Michelle Obama Through the Lens of a White House Photographer by Amanda Lucidon, published October 17 by Ten Speed Press. Dollar bills are seen at the Financial Museum in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 9-Year-Old Boy Gets Special Gift After Sending His Allowance to President Trump A 9-year-old boy from East Tennessee got a special reward from a strangerafter he sent his allowance to President Donald Trump. Back in January this year, Elisha Davies, wrote to the president after his inauguration. EliSha had heard his parents talking about Trumps campaign promise to only have a $1 salary (he fulfilled that promise) and wanted to make sure the president had enough to pay the White House bills, NBC affiliate WBIR-TV reported. This week EliSha received a letter back from the president. It came with a picture and his three $1 bills returned, with a challenge to use it to help the community. His mom, Melissa, said Elisha had been saving up to buy a mandolin, but she said its been tough for her son because he is always giving his money away to people who he thinks need it more than him. I remember a couple weeks ago or a month ago, I gave, we went to the mission house, my grandpa and me went to the mission house, and I gave $5, EliSha told WBIR-TV. As the story spread widely once it was first aired on WBIR-TV, John Wildeman in Punta Gorda, Florida, saw the story on Wednesday, Oct. 18, and wanted to do something to help Elisha. $3 is a lot of money to a little kid, most kids, Wildeman told WBIR-TV. For him to sacrifice that and send that money to someone who he thought really needed it, that meant an awful lot to me. In fact, Wildeman is the president of the Young Musicians Education Foundation Inc., a charity that tries to help children who want to play an instrument but cant afford the lessons or supplies. But the one rule is that children must keep up their grades in school. After hearing about Elishas generosity, the foundation decided to surprise him with a special blessing. They bought Elisha a mandolin of his very own so he can learn how to play it. Im like a kid at Christmas when I know were giving a child an instrument like this, Wildeman told WBIR-TV. Its just a thrill for me to be able to do it. Elisha said he felt elated when he received the instrument. He had started playing the mandolin at his church, but never had an instrument of his own at home to use. Id like to say that he was really generous to do that for me, Elisha added. Another company, Guitar Center in West Knoxville also continued the generosity and gave Davies picks, strings, a tuner, and a chord chart to complement his mandolin. Hes just getting better and better, and now hell be able to practice at home. Hes very detailed, so he can just pick it up real fast, Davies said about her sons mandolin skills. Elisha said he is now deciding how to use his money to help others. Well I just want to be a blessing to everyone, he told WBIR-TV. From NTD.tv Alabama Girl Falls Into Ice Cream Shops Grease Pit, Dies When Corrie and Tracy Andrews young daughter disappeared, they came upon a terrible scene. Sadie Grace Andrews was playing with two of her siblings when she went missing at Brusters Real Ice Cream in Auburn, Alabama. The coroner said she went missing 5-10 minutes after she was out of their sight, Fox News reported. The 3-year-old girl was found outside an ice cream shop near the picnic table. Next to the table is an in-ground grease trap that was six feet in depth. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told AL.com that the girl fell into the trap, which was not locked properly. She fell inside and got trapped. When first responders got on the scene, they couldnt revive the girl. No foul play is suspected and the death investigation indicates that she drowned in the sludge that was in the six-foot-deep inground container, Harris told Fox News. Her mother said the girl was a bundle of joy. She would light up a room with her smile; she walked with a skip in her step, Tracy Andrews said. She said she was a big sister. That was huge for her to say that. Looking back, its as if she knew she wouldnt need it anymore. Her uncle started a YouCaring page for the family to cover relevant expenses. A mother and dad should never have to bury their child. Make every moment special with your children every one. Let them know how much you love them and how much they mean to you, he told AL.com. Boy Sleeps 11 Days, but Doctors Cant Understand Why A Kentucky boy slept for 11 days straight at the Norton Childrens hospitalwithout waking up. Doctors arent sure why, however, WHAS-11 reported. Wyatt Shaw found himself at the hospital, unable to stay awake. I tried to wake him up and he kept falling back asleep. I kept Wyatt Wyatt Wyatt and then he fell back asleep again, his mother, Amy Thompson, was quoted as saying. Mysterious illness caused boy, 7, to sleep for TWO WEEKS Wyatt Shaw, seven, fell into a deep sleep for 11 https://t.co/K9orYAC17X Healthy News Daily (@eHealthyDaily) October 17, 2017 The hospital monitored his brain activity, finding that the boy, who is in the second grade, slept for 11 days. Thompson added, When he would open his eyes it didnt look like he was there and it was terrifying. Boy sleeps for 11 days, doctors call it a medical mystery https://t.co/m9CCgeyYTg pic.twitter.com/QVqkkLSAO0 KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) October 19, 2017 After doctors did tests on his blood, they couldnt figure it out. Every test they did came back clear, his mother told WDRB-TV. But after about 10 days, they gave him new seizure medication and he woke up the next day. He was just having electric misfires in his brain and it was just causing him to stay in a constant sleep, Thompson said. After he woke the first time, he couldnt move or speak. We just kept praying, Thompson said. Elizabethtown boy sleeps for 11 days, doctors call it a medical mystery https://t.co/8ryjdMIEjI pic.twitter.com/gYndLVCgBE 13News Now (@13NewsNow) October 18, 2017 They said, Well probably never know, but were just going to treat him now with rehab to get him better,' she told local outlets. Kleine-Levin Syndrome is one disorder that causes sufferers to sleep for 12 to 24 hours per day where they only wake to use the bathroom or eat. Its not clear what causes the disorder, known as KLS, or Sleeping Beauty syndrome. Individual episodes can last more than a week, but at times lasting for months, according to the KLS Foundation website. They function daily with the frightful reality that they could become sick again at any moment. KLS episodes may continue to reoccur for a decade or longer with devastating effects on the adolescents life and family. KLS robs children and young adults of big pieces of their lives, one agonizing episode at a time, the website states. Wyatt wasnt diagnosed with KLS, but he showed similar symptoms as those suffering from it, according to MailOnline. Doctors are not sure if he will relapse. Car Crash Leaves 6 Dead in Ukraine, Driver Is a 20-Year-Old Heiress A major car crash in Ukraine killed at least six people after a 20-year-old heiress of a local energy company drove a car into a group of pedestrians. The heiress, Alyona Zaitseva, jumped a red light while she was driving her Lexus in the city of Kharkiv. She hit people waiting on the pavement before the car flipped on its side, the Daily Mail reported. Alyona Zaitseva picture,jumps a red light,kills six people,named as Elena Berchenko,Yury Neudachin,Oksana Nesterenko https://t.co/LVnOETV8dk pic.twitter.com/1vkKHqmcA7 infowe (@infowe) October 19, 2017 Her bodyguards then drove up in two Jeeps after the crash and protected the woman from a crowd who amassed nearby. Those killed included a 15-year-old girl. A woman seven months pregnant was also seriously injured. One passerby said, Its like a war zone, describing the crash scene. Oligarch's daughter Alyona Zaitseva held after pedestrians are mown down in horror car crash in Ukraine city https://t.co/dTvjnCSB04 pic.twitter.com/c6MwXHA8wf MSN Ireland (@msnireland) October 19, 2017 Zaitseva is the daughter of multi-millionaire Vasily Zaitsev, she was not injured. The driver of the other vehicle was identified as Gennady Dronov, 49, and he was driving through the intersection during a green light. Zaitsevas vehicle reportedly crashed into his, according to The Sun newspaper. Elena Berchenko, 25, Yury Neudachin, 24, and Oksana Nesterenko, 36, were named as those who were killed, the Mail reported. Zaitseva could face as many as ten years in prison if shes convicted, The Sun reported. Police believe that she was not drinking. #BREAKING: Car rams into crowd in #Ukraine's eastern city of #Kharkiv. Initial reports say 5 killed, 6 wounded. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/sqojr3yevD Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 18, 2017 A statement from the Ukraine Interior Ministry said that a driver has been detained and is being investigated over traffic safety violations, RFE/RL reported. That suggests that the crash was not terror-related. Vans, cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles have been used in terrorist attacks across Europe. Some local bloggers, according to UK media reports, expressed worry that Zaitseva will be exonerated in the crash due to the influence of her powerful father. Chinese businessman Wang Jing (L) of HKND Group greets locals during the inauguration of the Nicaragua Canal in Tola, Nicaragua on Dec. 22, 2014. The canal project, with US$50 billion invested by the Chinese, is an ambitious rival to the Panama Canal. (Inti Ocon/AFP/Getty Images) Chinas Investments in Latin America Could Turn Into Military Assets Against US, Says Expert WASHINGTONChinas rapidly growing economic influence and frantic purchase of infrastructure in Latin America could be readily turned into critical assets to be used against the United States in the event of a military conflict, according to a researcher studying Chinas involvement in the region. Latin America has increasingly been an important focus of Chinas attempt to build a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, said Evan Ellis, a research professor in Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War Colleges Strategic Studies Institute. Speaking at a Hudson Institute event on Oct. 18, Ellis said that while Chinas stated goals and much of its observable activities in Latin America thus far have been focused on economic items, the sheer scale and extent of Chinas involvement there could be motivated by military considerations. Just as has been observed in Southeast Asia and Africa, China has been frantically purchasing infrastructure and other key strategic assets in Latin America in recent years, many of which were acquired through Chinas state-owned enterprises, funded by the Chinese regime. Using Brazil as an example, Ellis showed that China has acquired 87 large projects valued at $46.8 billion in the country, across all major areas of public and private sectors, including hydroelectric power plants, seaports, airports, agriculture companies, telecommunication companies, hospitals, and banks. Ellis says that Chinas expansion in Latin America should serve as a warning to U.S. national security decisionmakers. Once considered Americas backyard, Latin American countries are now gobbling up Chinese cash and giving away the ownership and control of their critical infrastructure and assets. Everything China has acquired and sought to acquire in Latin America could be used against the United States in the possibility of a conflict with China, Ellis said. If I was a decisionmaker of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), I would start looking at a map [of Latin America] and start asking questions about what we can do. If we cant get the Organization of American States to act on Venezuela given the ridiculous situation thats going on there, how do we expect these companies and countries that are deeply involved with the Chinese to support the United States? asked Ellis. Venezuela remains one of Chinas closest allies, despite the fact that the countrys socialist economy has failed in recent years, causing a humanitarian crisis. Ellis points out that China has defined its relations with many states it intends to courtof which there are seven in Latin Americaas strategic partnerships. This term sounds like a mystery to most Western observers but is actually very significant. Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, and Uruguay are the Latin American countries on this list. In 2016, while the United States was distracted by its own election, China silently upgraded six of these seven countries (all except Brazil) to the even higher category of comprehensive strategic partnerships, signifying that China now sees a much greater degree of strategic importance in its relations with these countries. Ellis says that Chinas strategic-minded purchases could let it get close to ports of importation and points of sustainment in the United States that are remarkably close to Chinese-operated commercial facilities [in Latin America], and that U.S. decisionmakers need to think about the potential implications of such expansions. For instance, just 65 miles off the coast of the United States, Chinese companies have put in $10 billion in container facilities, logistic distribution facilities, air facilities, and even a $4.2 billion hotel in the Bahamas. According to Ellis, Chinas expansion in Africa provides plenty of clues to how it intends to utilize these assets once it establishes a big enough foothold. Using anti-piracy operations as a pretext, China has constructed a massive naval base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, which was formally opened in August. The rate at which China is acquiring and establishing these commercial bases [in Latin America], they can easily turn a nonmilitary base into a usable, military one, Ellis said. A Thai food stall in Jacksonville, Florida, left a humorous note on a mans receipt after he asked for ultra-spicy noodles. Logan Doan told the server that he wants his Pad Thai as spicy as possible. As a white guy, I always ask for Thai hot, but I feel like the server doesnt take this seriously, and they have the kitchen tone down the heat in fear that it will be too hot and Ill send it back, Doan told the Miami Herald. Ill often ask for them to tell the chef its not for a white guy, but I dont think they do this. When he got a receipt for food at the Hawkers Asian Street Fare, the workers wrote watch out and drew pictures of flames on it. But whats more, they placed 17 spicy notes in red and featured a note that said, MAKE HIM REGRET BEING BORN. He posted the receipt on Reddit, but he said that it wasnt that spicy. Some folks in my office thought I was crazy for eating it, but I didnt really get a rush from it. I definitely didnt regret [being born], Doan said. I often push myself to the limit, and this dish wasnt as spicy as some of the stuff Im typically used to. Father Of Paddock Shooting Victim Files Lawsuit On Oct. 1, Gus Castilla lost his 28-year-old daughter to a bullet fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel room where Stephen Paddock carried out his unfathomable crimes. Now the father wants some small measure of justice. Andrea Castilla, was the Huntington Beach woman who was fatally wounded during Paddocks indiscriminate killing spree that claimed 58 people and injured over 500 at the conclusion of the three-day Route 91 Harvest festival. She was there celebrating her 28th birthday with her boyfriend, sister, and her sisters fiance. Copies of the suit filings sent to The Epoch Times by Castillas lawyer outline alleged failings of the Mandalay Bay and its parent company MGM Resorts; Live Nation, the concert promoters; and Slide Fire, the company that manufactures the bump stocks that accelerated Paddocks rate of fire to near automatic speeds. It also names the builders and retailers of similar bump stock devices. The suite also names Paddocks estate, and Contemporary Services Corporation, the company that provided crowd control for the festival. Castilla is seeking more than $50,000 in general damages and more than $50,000 in economic damages as well as an unspecified amount for other expenses, emotional distress, and other relief as the Court may deem just and proper. The lawsuit alleges that after a preliminary investigation the plaintiffs uncovered several deficiencies among the defendants. First of all, its inconceivable to us that the perpetrator was capable of transporting what amounts to an actual armory of weapons into the hotel, especially in an era in which shooting incidents and terrorism are front page news on a daily basis, it begins. It alleges that if the hotel had conducted proper security checks, Paddock could not have remained undetected with a cache of weapons for three to five days while mounting security cameras. It also finds fault with securitys inability to stop Paddock in the six-minute gap between when he shot a hotel security guard and began firing on the festivalgoers. The suit also alleges that Contemporary Services Corporation failed to provide clear exits and public announcements to help the crowd. As a result a trampling exodus and absolute chaos ensued. The victims were left trapped for a prolonged period within a deadly kill zone when the lights reappeared after the shooting began, states the lawsuit. The suit takes aim at those that make and sell bump stocks like those Paddock used. The stocks effectively turn semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic machine guns. The suit alleges the accessory is designed to convert legal weapons into automatic weapons in intentional violation of the law. Within the court filing is a recounting of Andrea Castillas final moments. When the shots first began, Castilla yelled for everyone to duck before her sisters fiance, Shane Armstrong, laid on top of Andrea and her sister Athena to protect them from bullets. When they got up to flee, they saw a bullet had hit Andrea in the head. Athena, her fiance, and Andreas boyfriend tried to get Andrea out of the venue, but could not find an exit so they lifted her over a fence. Andrea died from her wound. Andreas boyfriend, Derek Miller, told the Los Angeles Times he had taken a custom-made moonstone engagement ring with him to propose in Las Vegas. We wanted every single second together. We did more in seven months than most couples get to do in a lifetime, Miller said. The suit alleges her death was foreseeable and thus avoidable and that those who put on such large public events must do a better job safeguarding them. As a result of their failure to do so my client has forever lost his beautiful and intelligent daughter of only 28 years, it reads. The Europe's biggest Ikea store in Kungens Kurva, south-west of Stockholm on March 30, 2016. A toddler has been crushed by an IKEA dresser that was subject to recall. (JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images) Child Crushed by Recalled IKEA Dresser A 2-year-old boy was crushed to death by an unsecured IKEA dresser, the same model that was recalled last May, the furniture giant said on Wednesday, according to reports. Its the first death since the furniture giant announced a recall of 29 million chests and drawers last year, and its the eighth death that is connected to the recalled dressers. The toddler was killed by one of the recalled MALM dressers while he was taking a nap in his bedroom ABC reported. According to the familys lawyer, the parents didnt realize that the dresser had previously been recalled and they plan to file a lawsuit. The familys attorney, Daniel Mann, told The Inquirer that the death of Jozef, the 2-year-old boy, was completely avoidable. Mann has previously represented parents of other children who have been crushed by unsecured IKEA dressers. What makes this death more heartbreaking is the fact that last years so-called recall was poorly publicized by Ikea and ineffective in getting these defective and unstable dressers out of childrens bedrooms across the country, he said. A spokesperson from the do-it-yourself furniture giant said to the news outlet, Our hearts go out to the affected family, and we offer our sincere condolences during this most difficult time. IKEA Customers Continue To Report Issues With Massive Malm Dresser Recall https://t.co/puSQVoyv45 FairWarning (@FairWarningNews) September 30, 2016 The 29 million chests were recalled in 2016 because of a serious tip-over hazard according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The recalled chests and dressers are unstable if they are not properly anchored to the wall, posing a serious tip-over and entrapment hazard that can result in death or injuries to children, it wrote in the recall announcement. A 2-year-old boy from Pennsylvania died in February 2014 after a 6-drawer MALM fatally pinned him against his bed. A few months later, a 23-month-old boy from Washington died after being trapped beneath a 3-drawer MALM chest that tipped over. After these incidents, IKEA announced a repair program that offered a free wall-mounting kit for its customers. The recalled items include the MALM 3-drawer, 4-drawer, 5-drawer, and three 6-drawer models and other childrens and adult chests and dressers. Options available to consumers include having the chest removed free of charge from the consumers home, having the chest anchored to the wall in the home free of charge, receiving a free wall anchor kit for self-installation or returning the product for a refund, a spokesperson for IKEA said in a statement sent to ABC. At the same time as communicating the recall, we are continuing to communicate the global IKEA Secure It! campaign to raise the awareness of the importance of wall attachment. Consumers who want to participate in the recall, can do the following: learn more about how to safely attach units to the wall, order a free replacement wall anchoring kit, visit our website www.ikea-usa.com, or can visit any IKEA store. Political blogger Pamela Geller, American Freedom Defense Initiative's Houston-based founder, speaks during an interview in New York, NY, U.S. on May 28, 2015 (Reuters/Brendan McDermid/File Photo) Guilty Verdict in Boston ISIS Beheading Plot BOSTONA Boston-area man was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiracy to commit acts of international terrorism and supporting ISIS for a 2015 plot to attack police and behead a conservative blogger who organized a Draw Mohammed contest. David Wright, 28, was found guilty of five criminal charges for planning with his uncle and a friend to behead blogger Pamela Geller. The plot fell apart after Wrights uncle said he wanted to kill law enforcement officers instead and was shot dead by police. Wright, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and sweater vest, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read. The most serious charge he was convicted of, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. U.S. District Judge William Young set a Dec. 19 sentencing date. During a 3-1/2-week trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that Wright, who lived in the Boston suburb of Everett, had read and viewed copious amounts of online propaganda from the militant group and vowed to join its cause. They also showed evidence suggesting he had been in touch with members of the ISIS in Syria. Wright, his uncle Usamaah Abdullah Rahim and friend Nicholas Rovinski had focused their attention on Pamela Geller, who organized the Draw Mohammed contest in Garland, Texas. She described the event as an exercise of free speech, though many Muslims consider cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed offensive. Two gunmen attacked that contest and were shot dead, leading Wright and his counterparts to hatch a plan to behead Geller in New York. You heard them talking about beheadings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Siegmann told the jury in her closing arguments Monday. Citing tape-recorded conversations between the men, she said that they decided that she deserved to be beheaded for mocking the Prophet Mohammed. Police also overheard Rahim saying that he had lost patience with that plan and would instead attack police in Massachusetts. When officers attempted to question him in a supermarket parking lot, he pulled a knife and police shot him dead. Rahims family has denied he showed any signs of radicalization. Rovinski pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and testified against Wright. Wright testified that he had been living in a fantasy world and that the plans were no more than role-playing. He said he had never intended to harm Geller and that he was stunned when Rahim attacked police. Reuters Tom Homan, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), at an immigration event at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Oct. 17, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) ICE to Step Up Searches for Illegal Aliens at Workplaces Agency chief wants to more than quadruple workplace inspections WASHINGTONTom Homan, acting director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said he has instructed his agents to increase workplace inspections and find employers who hire illegal aliens. I just gave the instructionI want to increase [it] by four to five times, Homan said at an event at the Heritage Foundation on Oct. 17. Were taking worksite enforcement very hard this year. Weve already increased the number of inspections in worksite operations. Youre going to see that significantly increase this next fiscal year. Homan said the difference with the new approach is that not only will employers be prosecuted, but ICE will detain and remove the illegal alien workers. Arrests of aliens found at a workplace, but who are not authorized to work, plummeted during the Obama erafrom over 1,600 arrests in fiscal year 2009 to 106 in fiscal 2016. In September, a Pennsylvania-based company was fined a record $95 million for hiring and rehiring employees that company executives knew to be ineligible to work in the United States. Asplundh Tree Expert Co., a tree trimming and brush clearance company for power and gas lines, is also one of the largest privately held companies in the country, according to ICE. Company supervisors knowingly accepted illegitimate documents, such as green cards, Social Security cards, and drivers licenses as evidence of authorized status or employment in the United States, according to a statement by the District Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Todays judgment sends a strong, clear message to employers who scheme to hire and retain a workforce of illegal immigrants: We will find you and hold you accountable, Homan said in a statement on Sept. 28. Violators who manipulate hiring laws are a pull factor for illegal immigration, and we will continue to take action to remove this magnet. According to ICE, worksite enforcement investigations often uncover egregious violations of the law by employers, as well as widespread abuses. Such cases often involve additional violations such as alien smuggling, alien harboring, document fraud, money laundering, fraud, or worker exploitation, ICE said on its website. The agency also investigates employers who employ force, threats, or coercion (for example, threatening to have employees deported) in order to keep the unauthorized alien workers from reporting substandard wage or working conditions. ICE said it will obtain the necessary authority to prosecute an employer before it arrests the employees for immigration violations at a worksite. President Donald Trumps immigration priorities laid out on Oct. 8 support mandatory e-verify, which is a system for businesses to check if potential employees are legally allowed to work in the United States. Currently the program is voluntary. Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said introducing mandatory e-verify would help stop illegal immigration. The biggest way to get large numbers of the illegal alien population in the United States to self-deport, is dry up their ability to work, he said on Oct. 17. Arizona introduced mandatory e-verify in 2008, and included a penalty to revoke a business license if an employer knowingly hired an alien who was unauthorized to work in the United States. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued and it went to Supreme Court, von Spakovsky said. And the Supreme Court said its perfectly legitimate for states to make the e-verify system mandatory and to threaten the loss of a business license. Maryland Shooting Suspect Radee Prince Arrested Radee Prince, suspected of murdering 3 people in a shooting spree at a Maryland business park, has been caught, authorities confirmed on Wednesday, Oct. 18. The arrest in Delaware ended a 10-hour large-scale manhunt along the Interstate 95 Northeast corridor. Police arrested Prince at approximately 7 p.m. after a brief chase, during which he cast aside a .38-caliber firearm. Earlier on Wednesday, police had been notified of a shooting at Edgewood, Maryland at approximately 9 a.m., during which 3 people were killed and 2 injured, Prince fled the scenehis workplace for the past four months, where had been scheduled to work that day. Prince was apprehended a short time ago in Delaware by ATF and allied law enforcement agencies. pic.twitter.com/XSo1OGZMZM Harford Sheriff (@Harford_Sheriff) October 18, 2017 Authorities initiated a manhunt, with helicopters and law enforcement trying to track Prince with the assistance of the FBI. Police cruisers were stationed in highway medians, and a description of Princes vehicle and its Delaware license plate displayed on overhead highway signs. Then at 10:46 a.m. police received news of another shooting, this time at a car dealership in Wilmington. The victim was able to link the incident with Prince, identifying his car as he drove off. This is targetedthis individual knew the people he wanted to go shoot, Wilmington police Chief Tracy said, according to CBS. This isnt a random act of violence. A statement posted on the Harford County Sheriffs Facebook page said that the motive of the accused is unclear. According to CBS, ATF released a statement Wednesday evening: ATF Baltimore Field Division and our allied law enforcement partners can confirm that the suspect, Radee L. Prince, has been apprehended in Newark, Delaware, and is in law enforcement custody. The firearm has also been recovered and is in law enforcement custody. Wilmington, Delaware, Police Chief Robert J. Tracy said the suspect was apprehended after a brief foot chase and the suspect discarded a .38-caliber firearm, according to CBS. Were very lucky our agents are safe and so is our perpetrator, Tracy said, answering a question from the media about the danger officials faced with an armed suspect. Prince had been arrested 42 times in Delaware and had 15 felony convictions, said Wilmington police spokeswoman Stephanie Castellani He is a dangerous individual, said Castellani, adding that the motive was not yet known but that Prince was associated with all six victims. We do not know if there is a beef going on between the victims and the suspect. The Harford Sheriffs office confirmed identifies of the deceased as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34 and Enis Mrvoljak, 48. Two other victims were transported to The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where they are in critical condition, said the Sherrifs statement. Reuters contributed to this report Mother and 2 Children Found Unconscious, Naked, and Covered in White Powder; Infant Dies Police discovered a mother and her two children completely naked, unconscious, and covered in a white powdery substance in a parking lot outside a Los Angeles store on Thursday morning, Oct. 19. All three were rushed to a hospital where the 2-month-old infant was declared dead, the Los Angeles Times reported. The 26-year-old mother was in critical condition and her 8-year-old child was in stable condition, the New York Times reported. Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the grotesque scene at the intersection of San Pedro and 23rd Streets just before 2 a.m., ABC7 reported. Woman, girl, infant found naked, unconscious, covered in white powder in South LA. Infant declared dead at scene. https://t.co/YcPCzOUqAs pic.twitter.com/nima7ni23c CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) October 19, 2017 Officer Irma Mota said that police responded to a report of a voice of a woman screaming for help. First responders placed the woman on a stretcher and transported her to a hospital. She is in critical condition. The condition of the surviving 8-year-old girl was unknown. According to ABC7, a firefighter was seen carrying what appeared to be the dead infants body wrapped in a blanket. Check this out! (via ABC7 Los Angeles Android app) Baby found covered in white powder dies in South LAhttps://t.co/5SS0b8czmu Jorg (@jm3107) October 19, 2017 Police say that a hazardous materials team dispatched to the scene to determine the nature of the substance that was on the mom and her children and the ground near them. The team determined the substance to be baby powder. The mom and children are residents of the area, police say. Preliminary witness interviews suggest that the mother may have been screaming for help before police arrived. The owner of the store recalled the woman visiting barefoot earlier in the day and buying three cans of Ajax cleaner. The 8-year-old girl was with her and crying. The owner of a nearby liquor store said that the woman was outside the store on Wednesday night, completely naked, and covered in a white powder. The woman was breastfeeding the baby, the store owner said. Mother and children found naked, unconscious and covered in powder in South LA. @GigiGraciette reports: https://t.co/HrCwEYxfwM FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) October 19, 2017 The three victims did not have any signs of trauma when police discovered them next to a car in the parking lot. Police did not release any information on suspects. Officers handcuffed a man when they were investigating the scene but later released him. Investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and canvassing more witnesses as of Thursday afternoon. From NTD.tv (L-R) Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and Mexico's Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal during a news conference in Washington on Oct. 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) NAFTA: Countries Admit Talks Struggling, Deadline Pushed Into 2018 WASHINGTON The tensions at the NAFTA negotiating table have exploded into public view. The latest round revealed enormous chasms in negotiating positions on everything from dairy, autos, and Buy American rules to even the basic architecture of an agreementand it was reflected in an awkward joint news conference Oct. 17. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the other countries are struggling to accept the reality that the United States wants to rebalance its trade agreements. He said other countries and industries must stop counting on easy export access to the U.S. market. Frankly I am surprised and disappointed by the resistance to change from our negotiating partners, he said, with his Canadian and Mexican colleagues on either side. We have seen no indication that our partners are willing to make any changes that will result in a rebalancing. He urged all sides to consider being more flexible before the talks resume again in Mexico next month. The next round starts Nov. 17, three weeks later than the original anticipated Oct. 27 start date. This means talks will be extended into 2018. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland sounded a marginally more diplomatic note. She said its actually a positive development that the countries have agreed to extend talks through the first quarter of 2018, allowing more time. The countries had initially set an end-of-year target for completing a deal because of fear that any further delay could stall the process, or at the very least delay it into 2019as the political systems of Mexico and the United States will soon be seized by national elections. But she appeared to blame the United States for a lack of progress. Vice-President Mike Pence [said this summer] that he believed a win-win-win outcome would be achieved in these negotiations. Canada believes that too, she said. But that cannot be achieved with a winner-take-all mindset or an approach that seeks to undermine NAFTA rather than modernize it. Weve seen a series of unconventional proposals in critical areas of the negotiations that make our work much more challenging. We have seen proposals that would turn back the clock on 23 years of predictability, openness, and collaboration under NAFTA. In some cases these proposals run counter to WTO rules. This is troubling. The ministers even disagreed onstage about the most basic economic theory. Freeland brushed off the importance of trade deficits, a Trump administration obsession which a number of economistsand Freeland herselfdiscount as a cause of trouble for the U.S. economy. Lighthizer stared at her when he spoke next, and said: For us, they do matter. The Trump administration insists reversing the long-term imbalance of imports-versus-exports matters to U.S. prosperity, and although NAFTA partners represent only a small share of that imbalance, and even though Canada arguably doesnt contribute to it at all, Lighthizer said its a change they must accept. The United States has surprised its neighbours by proposing things like a sunset clause that could end NAFTA in five years unless all three countries agree to extend it, and a near-total gutting of the agreements enforcement mechanisms. This has made it explicitly clear the United States doesnt envision the easy negotiation other countries had hoped for, and which some Americans themselves had hinted at. That includes President Donald Trump, who recently said he only wanted minor tweaking to trade with Canada. That happy-talk completed faded at this last week-long round in Washington. Mexicos Economic Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo acknowledged the bargaining would be difficult. He said obstacles to progress remain and that all sides need to work toward constructive solutions. He urged countries to pursue a win, win, winnot a lose, lose, lose. We must understand that we all have limits, Guajardo said. We must ensure the decisions we make today do not come back to haunt us tomorrow. From The Canadian Press The Hwasong-12 missile in this undated combination photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 16, 2017. A Hwasong-12 flew over Hokkaido, the second largest island of Japan, on a North Korean test launch on Sept 15. (KCNA via Reuters) North Korea Defends Satellite Missile Launches, Warns of Nuclear Retaliation North Korea is lashing out over allegations it is using satellite launches to develop its ballistic missile program as it makes a push at the United Nations to legitimize the launches. North Koreas deputy U.N. ambassador Kim In Ryong said the communist regimes five-year satellite plan is important to the countrys economic development. Speaking to a U.N. General Assembly committee on International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Kim took a line that has now become the North Korean position on any challenge to its space program. Kim called any effort to block the ballistic missiles it uses to launch its satellites an attack on North Koreas economy and accused the United States of going frantic to illegalize our development of outer space. Such efforts violate U.N. sanctions, he claimed. Meanwhile, North Korean and South Korean representatives at the United Nations Fourth Committee exchanged similar remarks over North Koreas satellite launches. North Korea continues to flagrantly violate a great number of UN Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology, said the South Korean representative. She noted that North Korea had mentioned the inevitability of North Korean ballistic missiles visit to the entire U.S. mainland and reminded the committee of North Koreas pledge to tip its ballistic missiles with a hydrogen bomb. The Republic of Korea calls on North Korea to immediately abandon its ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner in accordance with numerous security council resolutions, she said. North Koreas representative rejected the allegation that his nations peaceful activities of outer space is for the ballistic rocket. He also rejected claims that those activities were prohibited by any resolution of the U.N. Security Council. Making an issue of our legitimate peaceful activities of outer space as a ballistic missile launch is an absolute provocation, he said, describing North Koreas space activities as peaceful in every respect. The satellite debate comes on the heels of remarks deputy ambassador Kim made Monday threatening any country that joins the United States in any future military strike against the regime. Kim said countries should avoid participating in any U.S.-led military action to avoid retaliation. As long as one does not take part in the U.S. military actions against the DPRK (North Korea), we have no intention to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any other country, read Kims prepared remarks, Reuters reported. The entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range and if the U.S. dares to invade our sacred territory, even an inch, it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe, the statement read. Kim told the General Assembly that North Korea would never put their nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles on the negotiating table unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the U.S. is thoroughly eradicated. Libardo Garcia, a farmer who was displaced during the terrorist violence and returned to grow coffee with his family, looks out in San Carlos, Colombia July 13, 2017. (REUTERS/Federico Rios) Peace Gives Colombian Coffee an Extra Shot After five decades of civil war SAN CARLOS, ColombiaFarmers who fled war in the Colombian Andes are returning to revive their abandoned land, cultivating coffee trees that are boosting global supplies of the highest-quality beans. Colombias five-decade civil war, the longest in the Americas, displaced millions and disrupted farming for decades in areas that produce coffee for the most exacting consumer. The revival of coffee farming in the former conflict zones could help boost Colombias coffee output by 40 percent, according to government estimates. That would raise global supplies of mild arabica beans by about 13 percent. The additional supply could reduce the cost of the raw material for the worlds top roasters, many of whom are seeking to secure increased supply from Colombia. About 950 coffee-growing families have returned to the San Carlos area, representing about 60 percent of the 1,600 families who left during the war, according to data from the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC). The supply from this region, about 205 miles north-west of the Colombian capital of Bogota, could expand further as farmers plant more of their land and more people return to the region to provide the needed labor. The area now has about 2000 acres of coffee farms, double the low of 1000 acres during the war. Thats still only about half of the 1,500 hectares prior to the conflict, according to FNC data. Among those who returned was Libardo Garcia, who lost two brothers in the conflict one was shot and the other killed by a landmine. He and his family moved back to their 30 acres farm in 2015 after fleeing in 2001. All the coffee trees were dead when we came back, said Garcia, who has since planted 8,000 trees on two hectares of steeply sloped land. Arabica is the highest quality coffee bean, and Colombia is the worlds top producer of mild arabica. To make that variety, beans are separated from the cherry then dried to increase quality. Arabica makes up about 60 percent of global coffee supplies, with lower-quality robusta beans accounting for the rest. While some coffee roasters add robusta to their highly secretive blends, premium brands are typically 100 percent mild arabica. A peace deal between the government and the MarxistLeninist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in late 2016 paved the way for many to return to their homes and farms, including thousands of coffee growers. FARC is a guerrilla organization, long considered a terrorist group by the Columbian government. About 220,000 people died and millions were displaced in decades of fighting between leftist guerrillas, paramilitary groups, criminal organizations and government forces. The conflict impacted large areas of the country, and the government struggled to exert control over highlands and remote jungle areas in the west and south of the country. Some farmers who stayed through the violence have also switched to coffee from growing coca and other illegal crops that they cultivated during the conflict. Coca is used for cocaine production, and the cash from growing it helped finance armed groups during the war. The combination of farmers returning to their abandoned land and others switching to coffee could help boost the countrys total output to a record 20 million 60-kg bags by 2020, the government estimates, up from 14.2 million bags in 2016. Going Home In the Andean region of San Carlos, the revival in coffee production has advanced quickly since conflict in the region abated around 2014, when the peace deal was still being negotiated. The countrys conflict with FARC began in 1964 and peaked in this region around 2000. After fleeing his farm, Garcia spent time in the city of Medellin and then in the town of San Carlos. We came back because we love the land, he said, leaning against the fence outside his home, a brick house adorned with baskets of flowers. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Garcia pointed out a former FARC stronghold in the distance, in tree-covered mountains about an hours walk from his farm. Most of his neighbors have yet to return, he said, either because they are skeptical the peace will last or because they have made lives elsewhere. Before moving his family back, Garcia traveled the 8 miles from nearby San Carlos every weekend for three years to plant new coffee trees and remove the dead ones. Garcia has plenty of land to expand his farm further but cannot yet find the labor because too few people have returned to surrounding communities. New high-yielding trees have helped boost harvests, but the region is still far from reaching its potential because of the labor shortage, said Rosa Velasques, manager of the local cooperative where about 1,000 local farmers sell their beans. A Lot of Work International roasters have jumped at the opportunity to buy more beans from Colombia, the worlds third-largest coffee producer and the source of a third of the worlds mild arabica supplies. Italian roaster illycaffe has expanded its buying to parts of the country that were unreachable during the violence. Now theyve opened up, said illycaffe Chairman Andrea Illy. The firm had increased purchases from the region by double-digit percentages for the last two to three years, Illy said, and it expects growth to continue at similar rates. In 2016, Nestle Nespresso bought its first coffee from a post-conflict region of Colombia and launched it this year as a limited edition. A lot of these regions, nobody had even been in and tasted the coffee until recently, said Katherine Graham, Nestle Nespressos corporate communications manager. There are some areas with strong potential, Graham said. But it needs a lot of development, a lot of work. Starbucks Co expanded its partnership with the United States Agency for International Development to give 1,000 farmers in post-conflict zones agricultural training. It also partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank to support 2,000 farmers in Colombiamainly womenwith a loan initiative. Colombian entrepreneur Gonzalo Navarro launched a roasting company called Piccolo Piacere in Medellin earlier this year, focusing on sourcing from small coffee growers, many in former conflict zones. We have access to farmers who in the past were growing other things, such as coca, he said. Back near San Carlos, farmer Rubiela Cuervo works a remote farm with her family. She fled to Medellin to escape the violence in 2005 but struggled to make a living and returned a year later despite the ongoing violence. She has expanded the farm as peace returned to the area in recent years. We hope that peace will bring us more employment, more income for our work, she said. Im hoping not to be displaced again. A combination of two photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as they arrive for the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo) Putin: Trump Should Be Respected Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday President Donald Trump should be respected because he has a democratic mandate. He has been elected by the American people and at least because of this he should be respected, even if we disagree with his position, Putin said at a forum with scholars. Putin also said that if President Trump is unpredictable, it is because his domestic opponents are stopping him from delivering on many of his election promises. Healthcare or something else As soon as he makes a decision on migrants, a court blocks it straightaway. It happens all the time. So it is wrong to say that his unpredictability depends only on him. No, it depends on the entire American political system. He hoped Moscow could cooperate with Washington in a broader range of fields. We have dialogue at the work level and on the level of the special services, the defense ministries, the foreign ministries. We achieve joint results, Putin said. We have to expand our cooperation to other spheres. Russias President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia October 19, 2017. (REUTERS/Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool) While talking about North Korea, Putin said he doubted that a possible U.S. preventative strike on North Korea would destroy all of Pyongyangs weapons. Talks about the preventative disarming strike and we hear both hints and open threats this is very dangerous and Ive told about it many times already, Putin said. Who knows what and where is hidden in the North Korea? And whether all of it can be destroyed with one strike. I doubt it, I almost sure it is impossible. Meanwhile, Putin warned that Russia will respond immediately and symmetrically if the United States quits the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty. Moscow is ready to develop new weapons systems, both nuclear and non-nuclear, in response to other countries doing the same, Putin said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening session of the 19th Communist Party Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Oct. 18, 2017. The 19th Communist Party Congress will convene from October 18-24. (Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images) Reading the Tea Leaves for Chinas 19th Party Congress Predictions for political and economic changes ahead of Chinas leadership transition The worlds most populous country will witness a leadership transition this week. Observers are watching closely to predict what the political and economic repercussions could be for Chinas future. Once every five years, top officials in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) convene in Beijing to unveil who will become the ruling elite of China. At the top are the 200-plus members of the Central Committee, with its ruling Politburo, a group of 25, within which the Politburo Standing Committee is the major decision-making body and the top leaders of the Party. There are currently seven members on the standing committee, but that number has changed over the years. Current Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to stay on as boss for another five years. The first half of his reign has seen Xi consolidating his power and eliminating enemies in the opposing factionnamely, those loyal to former CCP leader Jiang Zeminvia his anti-corruption campaign. A large number of the top officials at the 19th congress will either be retiring or have already been ousted by Xi. How many allies can Xi place at the very center of power alongside him in the standing committee? We wont know until the congress concludes on Oct. 24. For now, there have been clues as to what Xi sees as his political priorities, provided at the Central Committees preliminary meetings, known as the seventh plenary session, which just finished on Oct. 14. The official communique published after the plenary session describes the Partys guiding ideologies, saying that the Politburo has carried out the spirit conveyed in Xis series of important speeches and his new concepts, ideas, and strategies for managing state affairs. Zhou Xiaohui, a China analyst for The Epoch Times, sees this as a hint that Xi will be adding his own political doctrine to the Partys constitution, which will further reinforce his power within the Party. Each CCP leader has added an ideology to the constitution that defines and enshrines his legacy. Xi not only wants to leave his own mark, but place it in high regard. Unlike the previous few plenary sessions, this years communique mentions Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought, the former paramount Party leaders own brand of ideology, alongside more recent leaders ideologies, suggesting that Xi will be placing his doctrine on the same level as the Partys early masterminds, Zhou said. Xis choice to align himself with the Partys originators is a move toward the left, which is further confirmed in the communique with mentions of the importance of Party building and the Partys control over the country. Xi is hinting at a desire to strengthen the CCPs role within Chinese society, Zhou said. Meanwhile, Hong Kong media have reported rumors that Xi plans to increase the number of vice-chairman positions in the influential Central Military Commission from two to three or four, in an effort to spread out the power of the military. Under former leader Jiangs rule, top military generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou amassed great power in their positions as vice-chairmen. Xi expelled both from the Party and handed them over for prosecution for corruption. But to avoid future rivals in the military, Xi could be taking preventive measures to solidify his commander-in-chief position. The Diplomat reported that two Military Commission members, Fang Fenghui and Zhang Yang, were recently removed from the delegate list for the 19th congress. Economy Most political observers believe the 19th congress will follow the economic line already laid down by Xi. During the past few years, the Chinese regime has emphasized the need to reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs). SOEs dominate important sectors such as transportation, energy resources, and steel manufacturing. For Xi, it is imperative that SOEs be run more efficiently. This year, the partial privatization of China Unicom, a state-owned telecommunications operator, marked the regimes attempt at mixed ownership reform: allowing sales of minority stakes in SOEs to private investors. The new leadership after the 19th congress is likely to continue restructuring SOEs. But as long as the state has control over a company, there cannot be true reform, said Chinese economist Mao Yushi. It will always be about the Partys interests, rather than the companys interests. Therefore, there is no real hope for reforming SOEs, Mao told The Epoch Times in an interview in August. Furthermore, the Party building mentioned above and emphasized by the regime connotes that companies in Chinastate-owned or otherwisewill continue to have a Party structure that coexists with the business management structure. The CCP has also clamped down on capital flowing out of the country. In June, Chinas banking regulator began probing the finances of major firms that have made large overseas acquisitions, including Anbang, an insurance group that owns the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, and Dalian Wanda, which bought the cinema chain AMC Theatres. Investors and firms will likely look to the 19th congress for rhetoric that might suggest the new leaderships regulatory tendencies. File photo: A school district in southwest Michigan is warning parents and students about an unmarked school bus that tried to pick up students on Oct. 19, 2017. (Mike Focus/Shutterstock) Update: School Bus with Painted Over Name Tries to Pick up Children in Southwest Michigan This story was updated at 3:50 p.m. on Oct. 19 with information on the identity of the bus. A school district in southwest Michigan warned parents and students on Thursday, Oct. 19 about an unmarked school bus that tried to pick children up at a bus stop. The Van Buren School District said in an alert that an unmarked school bus was seen stopping in the West Willow neighborhood of Ypsilanti Township around 7:20 a.m. Do Not Allow your students to approach any bus not clearly marked with Van Buren Public Schools on it, Pam Johnson, executive assistant to the superintendent, wrote on the districts website. The Washington County Sheriffs office said in a Nixle alert that the letters on the bus seemed to have been spray painted over, and that when the students did not get on the bus, the driver sped off. A short time ago deputies located the bus and have confirmed that it belongs to a transportation company. It was also confirmed that the route and timing of the bus was consistent with the job they were contracted to do, the sheriffs office said. Peter Kudlak, district superintendent, told MLive that a parent had been with the children and didnt let them get on the bus. The parent told authorities that something didnt seem right when the bus overshot the stop, reported WDIV Local 4. Clearly unmarked school buses are not affiliated with any school district, Kudlak told the MLive. Its marked the same on first day of school as on the 20th day of school. Two other sightings of unmarked buses were reported the same day. Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office told MLive they were notified of a similarly unmarked bus near Michigan Avenue and Prospect Street in the Ypsilanti Township area. Another unmarked bus was reported at the Belleville Manor mobile home community at about 8:30 a.m., Van Buren Township Director of Public Safety Greg Laurain, told MLive. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a briefing on at the Justice Department in Washington on Aug. 4, 2017. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas) Sessions Hints That the DOJ Is Investigating Clinton-Russia Scandal During an Oct. 18 congressional hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pressed about recent news reports that the Obama administration was aware of a Russian bribery operation on a uranium deal tied to Hillary Clinton. The Hill published an exclusive story on Oct. 17 showing that before the Obama administration approved its 2010 deal that gave Russia control of 20 percent of Americas uranium supply, Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering meant to grow Russias nuclear energy business in the United States. The story says that Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the United States designed to benefit former President Bill Clintons charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill. It cited government documents, interviews, and eyewitness accounts. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Sessions during the Oct. 18 hearing, Has the Justice Department fully investigated whether the Russians compromised the Obama administrations decisions to smooth the way for transactions, and if not, why not? Sessions hinted, yet did not confirm, whether the Department of Justice was looking into the case. He said, Mr. Chairman, were working hard to maintain discipline in the department. It wouldnt be appropriate for me to comment on any ongoing investigation. The latest finding adds evidence of known corruption around the deal that caused controversy for the Clinton campaign in the 2016 elections. In the deal, Russian nuclear company Rosatom was able to purchase part of mining company Uranium One, which is headquartered in Canada but has operations in the United States. The Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital, which was involved in the deal, paid the Clinton Foundation $500,000 for a speech given by Bill Clinton. Around the same time the Clinton Foundation was paid by Renaissance Capital, the State Department under Hillary Clinton signed off on the deal. Related Coverage FBI Knew of Russian Bribes Before Obama Admin OKd Nuclear Deals With Moscow Grassley noted that the same month the Clinton Foundation was paid, Russia began the uranium acquisition process. This pattern raises serious concerns about improper political influence on the process by the Clintons during the Obama administration. The New York Times reported on the Clinton scandal in April 2015, noting that as the bids were approved from 2009 to 2013, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation that totaled $2.35 million. It notes, Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Donald Trump Jr. linked to a New York Post story about the case in a Tweet that said, Obama administration knew about Russian bribery plot before uranium deal. Obama administration knew about Russian bribery plot before uranium deal https://t.co/dowU3NBXUd via @nypost Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 18, 2017 The case has only grown deeper. In a follow-up story on Oct. 18, The Hill reported that the Justice Department under the Obama Administration blocked a confidential FBI witness from telling Congress about the Russian nuclear scandal with the Clintons. Information-leaking website WikiLeaks also published diplomatic cables from August 2009 showing that Robert Mueller, special counsel leading the investigations into potential Russian interference in the 2016 elections, also played a role in the deal with Russia when he served as FBI director. The leaked cable states, Embassy Moscow is requested to alert at the highest appropriate level the Russian Federation that FBI Director Mueller plans to deliver the HEU sample once he arrives to Moscow on September 21. Wikileaks noted the cable on Twitter, stating on July 29, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller flew to Moscow and gave the FSB 10 grams of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) in 2009. Special Prosecutor Robert Muelller flew to Moscow and gave the FSB 10 grams of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) in 2009 https://t.co/mNdcTa7boQ pic.twitter.com/nPjFSKPHWQ WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 29, 2017 Grassley also noted during the Oct. 18 hearing that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel, was involved in the Russia uranium scandal as well. Rosenstein supervised the criminal investigation into Russias uranium bribery campaign when he was U.S. Attorney in Maryland. Grassley noted I dont think it would be proper for Rosenstein to supervise an investigation into a case that he was also involved in, and asked Sessions whether he agrees. Sessions replied, If he feels that he has an inability to proceed with any of this investigation, it would be his responsibility to make that determination. Texas Toddler Goes Missing, Police Confiscate Dozens of Items From Home Police have confiscated a long list of items from the house where a toddler went missing earlier this month in Sunningdale, Texas, but answers as to the childs whereabouts remain elusive. Detectives in Richardson, Texas, have filed at least 30 search warrants in the case of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews, who disappeared from her home on Oct. 7, ABC affiliate WFAA reports. Her adopted father, Wesley Mathews, told police that she disappeared after he put her outside at 3:00 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk. He said he came out 15 minutes later but couldnt find her. Police said Mathews reported her missing five hours later, and has not cooperated with their investigation. Wesley Mathews was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment, but released after surrendering his passport and being fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet as a condition for making bond. The mother, Sini, was asleep at the time of the incident, police say, and has not been arrested or charged. A judge approved search warrants for three more items on Wednesday, Oct 18, bringing the total number of confiscated items to 47, WFAA reports. The FBI has been called in to help with the case, and has seized a variety of electronics, including five cell phones, three laptops, a tablet, and a digital camera from the familys home. At the center of the investigation is the disappearance of the familys 2013 maroon Acura MDX SUV, which investigators say was not at the home between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. the day Sherin went missing. Detectives collected a floor mat, DNA swabs, and a USB drive from the vehicle, and took DNA swabs from two other vehicles the family owns. They are asking the public to come forward with any video surveillance taken during the time the SUV left the home within a 30-minute radius of the house. Investigators have used drones, cadaver dogs, helicopters, and foot searches throughout Dallas County to locate the missing toddler. You will probably continue to see us do some very specific searches as our investigation moves forward, Sgt. Kevin Perlich told CBS affiliate KRLD. As we get additional information, we will be searching those areas that we think may hold some type of tip, lead or evidentiary value in this particular case. Were always hopeful that we can find her alive, but time is our enemy. Richardson Police is asking anyone with information about the case to contact them at 972-744-4800. From NTD.tv President Donald J. Trump speaks during the Heritage Foundation's President's Club meeting in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 17. (Martin H. Simon - Pool/Getty Images) Trump Pitches Tax Reform Ahead of Budget Resolution Vote Existing U.S. tax code is a giant self-inflicted economic wound, says Trump President Donald Trump delivered a speech on tax reform at The Heritage Foundations annual Presidents Club Meeting in Washington, DC on Oct. 17. He urged GOP senators to back his tax reform plan, which he called a once in a generation opportunity. He said it would be hard to get Democratic votes because theyre obstructionists. But if we get the Republicans we need, which is virtually every single one of them we will get that largest tax cut in the history of our country. The Senates vote on this years budget resolution is key to the Republican effort to overhaul the tax code. If the Senate passes the budget, it will allow the Senate to pass a tax reform bill with 51 votes under reconciliation, rather than the usual 60 needed for most legislation. In the address, Trump repeated the pillars of his plan, including proposed tax relief for middle-class families. We are nearly doubling the zero bracket and we substantially increase the child tax credit for working families, which so many people want, including my daughter Ivanka, he said. American taxpayers spend over 6 billion hours each year on complying with IRS tax filing rules, according to the IRSs Taxpayer Advocate Service. And this costs the U.S. economy more than $260 billion annually in lost productivity, according to the National Taxpayers Union. Trump pledges to simplify the tax code as part of his tax reform plan. Under our framework, the vast majority of families will be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper, Trump said. The plan proposes to cut the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. And for many small and medium-sized businesses that file taxes as sole-proprietors, S corporations or partnerships, the plan proposes to cap the top tax rate at 25 percent, which Trump called the lowest tax rate for small and medium-sized businesses in more than 80 years. For the next five years, companies will also be allowed to fully write-off or expense the cost of new equipment immediately, which will help maximize job creation, according to Trump. In addition, the plan encourages American corporations to bring their overseas earnings back to the country. He criticized previous administrations for failing to attract trillions in investments because of tax laws. Democrats want it back. Republicans want it back. And they have for a long time, said Trump. Theyve never been able to make a deal. Lack of leadership. Trump claims this change, along with a lower tax rate, would likely result in a $4,000 pay raise for the typical American household. In addition, he said his administration was ending job-killing regulations at a record pace. Our regulatory reductions are going to put more Americans back to work and more lobbyists out of work, he said. Which is why regulatory reform is a crucial part of our drive to drain the swamp. Lifestyle: If You're Not Getting Closer to Achieving Your Goals, Try Using a Different Metric The Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Stethem steam alongside ships from the Republic of Korea Navy in the waters east of the Korean Peninsula on October 18, 2017. Picture taken on October 18, 2017. (Kenneth Abbate/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS) USS Ronald Reagan Deployed in Military Drills Near North Korea North Korea responds with threat of nuclear war The United States launched a large-scale military drill in waters east of the Korean peninsula on Oct. 18 in a show of force amid threats of nuclear war from North Korea. The USS Ronald Reaganthe U.S. Navys largest warship in the region, with a crew of 5,000 sailorslaunched nearly 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck during the war drills with its South Korean ally. The dangerous and aggressive behavior by North Korea concerns everybody in the world, Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the Reagans strike group, told Reuters in the carriers hangar as war planes taxied on the flight deck above. We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend the Republic of Korea, he said, referring to South Korea. In total 40 warships were deployed as part of the joint drills by the two allies. The Navys forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the forward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Stethem steam alongside ships from the Republic of Korea Navy in the waters east of the Korean Peninsula on Oct. 18, 2017. (Kenneth Abbate/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS) The drills come just a week after the United States flew two B1-B bombers, accompanied by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets, over international waters in the Korean Peninsula. President Donald Trump has taken a two-fold approach to North Korea. He has instructed his Secretary of State and other cabinet officials to put diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea in an attempt to get the regime to denuclearize. In addition, Trump has instructed his senior military leaders to draw up detailed military options against North Korea in case its needed, to put pressure on the regime. Trump has criticized previous administrations for not having taken care of the North Korean nuclear threat. The communist regime broke a deal it made with the Clinton administration in 1994, when its nuclear program was still in its infancy. Now, military and intelligence experts believe North Korea is close to completing a small enough nuclear weapon that can be delivered using a ballistic missile. While some technical problems remain for rogue state, they believe its just a matter of time before those are resolved. The Reagans presence in the region comes ahead of President Donald Trumps first official visit to Asia, beginning in Japan on Nov. 5, and then South Korea. The North responded to the military drills by threatening South Korea with nuclear war and imminent catastrophic disaster. The regime also threatened the United States with the most miserable death. Last month the U.N. Security Council approved new sanctions on North Korea. Both China and the United States also imposed additional sanctions targeting financial and other institutions doing business with North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree earlier this week enacting the sanctions. Russian media also reported that Russia is canceling planned joined projects with North Korea. A high level North Korean defector said at the Asia Society earlier this week that he doesnt expect North Korea to last one year under the new sanctions. However, North Korea has vowed not to give up its nuclear program, which dictator Kim Jong Un sees as a key tool for its survival. Victoria's inner harbour and the Empress Hotel. A new study suggests Victoria is the best Canadian city in which to be a woman. (Joan Delaney/The Epoch Times) Victoria Ranked Best Canadian City to Be a Woman; Windsor Ranked Worst OTTAWAA new study suggests Victoria is the best Canadian city in which to be a woman, despite the wage gap between men and women there worsening slightly in recent years. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study looks at differences between mens and womens access to economic and personal security, education, health, and positions of leadership in Canadas 25 biggest cities. The CCPA says Victoria is the only city on the list where more women than men are employed, and women account for nearly half of all senior managers and elected officials. But it says the wage gap in the city is on par with the rest of the country, with women earning 73 percent of what men do, slightly worse than five years ago. In Windsor, Ont., which ranked worst in the study, the wage gap is actually smaller than average, with women making about 75 percent of what men earn. But the study says only 23 percent of elected officials and 34 percent of senior managers in the region are women, and women are more likely to be living below the poverty line than men. The CCPA also says that sexual assault is the only violent crime thats not on the decline in Canada, and every city still struggles with high rates of sexual and domestic violence. Statistics will never be a substitute for the full experience of lives lived, but as signposts they mark the spot where more attention is needed from our political leaders and policy-makers, says study author Kate McInturff, a senior researcher at CCPA. We hope they follow through. From The Canadian Press Border Patrol agents process three unaccompanied minors from Honduras (C) while an adult male (L) from Honduras looks on. A man and his son are partially obscured behind them, in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) White House Wants Unaccompanied Minor Program Loopholes Closed Program has become a recruiting pipeline for violent MS-13 gang, say officials WASHINGTONThe vast majority of MS-13 gang members are in the United States illegally. One study of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests made over a 10-year period puts the number at 92 percent. Many of the gang members are here from El Salvador, Honduras, or Guatemala through the unaccompanied minor program. A disturbing trend shows that unaccompanied minors coming from Central America become the main targets for recruitment into the gang. Almost 70 percent of unaccompanied minors crossing the border are aged between 15 and 17. Peter Fitzhugh, deputy special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York, said MS-13s propensity for ruthlessness and violence is what the gang uses to force membership. Its not surprising to me that parents and children are afraid. What were seeing is that MS, by and large, is using the schools as recruitment centers, Fitzhugh said in a May interview with The Epoch Times. The fear of not joining the gang is so significant that kids feel compelledthey have no other option but to join the gang, he said. Obviously, this is a win-win for MS, because this environment is there and a lot of these kids are vulnerable. Long Island, New York, is one of the areas hardest hit by MS-13 violence and recruitment in schools. It also absorbs the nations third-highest number of unaccompanied minors. More than 4,700 have been resettled in Suffolk County, Long Island, in the last four years. President Donald Trump outlined his immigration priorities on Oct. 8, with a list of sweeping reforms that include constructing a border wall and introducing a merit-based immigration system. The unaccompanied minor program was addressed at lengththe first time the administration has detailed the extent of the loopholes. Rather than being deported, they are instead sheltered by the Department of Health and Human Services at taxpayer expense, and subsequently released to the custody of a parent or family memberwho often lack lawful status in the United States themselves, Trumps immigration priority document states. By definition, an unaccompanied alien child is under 18 and has no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian who is available to provide care and physical custody in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Regardless, Homeland Security found that about 60 percent of children who are initially determined to be unaccompanied alien children are released by ORR to a parent already living illegally in the United States. Trump wants to clarify the unaccompanied minor designation and remove the benefits for minors who are living with a parent here illegally. Those benefits include access to food stamps, medical care, and social services. The counties absorbing the greatest number of unaccompanied minors are Harris County in Texas, Los Angeles County, Suffolk County in New York, and Miami-Dade County in Florida. These four counties have absorbed around 30,000 unaccompanied minors into their communities and schools in the last several years. All four counties are also struggling with the proliferation of MS-13 gang violence. Changes Proposed The administration proposes to terminate the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement and fold its standards of care into the 2008 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). The Flores Agreement is a Clinton-era settlement of a class-action lawsuit that outlined care standards for minors and mandated that minors be moved out of immigration detention quickly. Customs and Border Protection must transfer an unaccompanied minor within 72 hours to the Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR), which is part of Health and Human Services. The TVPRA stipulates that unaccompanied minors encountered at the border who hail from Central America cannot be returned to Mexico, forcing the United States to accept them. Ninety-five percent of unaccompanied minors are from El Salvador, Honduras, or Guatemala. Trump wants to amend the TVPRA so that minors who are not genuine trafficking victims can be returned home or removed to safe third countries. The administration said it also wants to amend the definition of special immigrant, which gives green cards to minors who cannot be reunited with a parent due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. The current legal definition is abused, and provides another avenue for illicit entry, the priority document says. Acting Director for ICE Thomas Homan said although illicit border crossings have decreased, there has been a recent uptick in unaccompanied minors and family units coming in. Homan said enforcement plays a role in deterring more illegal immigrants from making the journey. Regardless of whether youre a family or an [unaccompanied minor], once youve had your due process and a federal judge has ordered you removed, were going to take those orders seriously and take those people into custody and remove them. Thats what we have to do, Homan said at an immigration event at the Heritage Foundation on Oct. 17. He said once people in Central America realize there is no free pass to the United States anymore, hopefully they wont sell everything they own to pay a criminal organization money to get hereonly to be sent back home. Luo Yu, son of revolutionary Chinese Communist Party leader Luo Ruiqing, speaks to Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television on Dec. 12, 2015. (Courtesy of NTD Television) Xi Jinpings Childhood Friend Asks Him to Bring Real Change to China Current Chinese leader Xi Jinping has an unlikely critic in Luo Yu: after all, they were childhood friends. Like Xi, Luo is the son of a former Chinese revolutionary, Luo Ruiqing. Their fathers knew each other well during their years in the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As a princeling, Luo Yu rose up the ranks of the Party, to become a high-level commander in the Peoples Liberation Army. Shortly after the events of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Luo defected from the CCP and now resides in the United States. He has some words of criticism for Xi. To date, he has written and published 22 open letters addressed to Xi, urging him to bring real reform to China. Measures should be taken to allow a free press, end one-party rule, and make the judicial system independent. Officials should be elected to office by public voting, while efforts should be made to achieve nationalization of the military, Luo wrote in a letter published in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily on Aug. 22. He also repeated his plea to bring former CCP leader Jiang Zemin to justice. From endorsing the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy movement on June 4, 1989, to initiating the ongoing persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, Jiang has committed numerous crimes against humanity. Xi Jinping must have Jiang tried in court for his crimes, Luo said. Only be doing so will you be a true leader of the country, he wrote. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient self-improvement practice that involves meditation and living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practices benefits to physical and mental health led to its widespread popularity, with more than 70 million adherents in China by 1999, according to a state survey. Practitioners say their numbers reached more than 100 million. Jiang perceived Falun Gongs presence as a threat to his authoritarian rule and began a campaign to eradicate the practice in July 1999. The official press office for Falun Gong, the Falun Dafa Information Center, estimates that millions of Falun Gong adherents have been arrested and detained since the persecution started, often enduring torture and abuse while imprisoned. Luo also pointed to the mounting evidence of state-sanctioned organ harvesting for the transplant surgery industry, with the majority of victims being Falun Gong practitioners. You have came into power for four years already. However, this criminal system of forced organ harvesting is still operating. History will document this, he wrote in an open letter published in March. Falun Gong practitioners and their relatives in China have begun submitting legal complaints to the CCPs Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate since May 2015. So far, more than 200,000 people have sought to use Chinas courts to bring Jiang to justice, according to statistics released by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that tracks the persecution of Falun Gong in China. With Chinas 19th National Congress having commenced in Beijing on Wednesdaywhen Xi is to preside over the major political conclave that will unveil the Partys next generation of top leadershipLuo has once again urged his friend to lead the country in the right direction. He must lead China on the path to democracy. That is the only way out for China, he told The Epoch Times. Additional translation by Julia Ye Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. What's next for SD Gov. Kristi Noem as she heads into her second term? A tentative agreement has been reached between Brinks Canada Ltd., and Unifor, to avert a strike that was due to begin Thursday. The agreement covers about 800 Brinks workers in Ontario and another 260 in British Columbia. Unifor says details of the tentative deal will be released after ratification votes are cast in the coming days. Union spokesperson Kathleen OKeefe earlier said the key issue at the bargaining table was how many people are in the armoured vehicle. She said in most cases, there are only two people in the truck and the union wants that increased to three. Other issues included wages, overtime pay, pensions and benefits. The union says it is recommending that its members approve the deal. Bargaining teams representing British Columbia, the Ottawa region, and the remainder of Ontario worked very hard together, said Unifor president Jerry Dias in a statement. I congratulate them on obtaining a fair deal that includes a breakthrough in reaching a common expiry date in three bargaining regions for the first time. Read more about: SHARE: For the first time in nearly 50 years Scotland will start exporting haggis to Canada, but traditionalists may be disappointed as a key ingredient must be left out of the iconic dish to meet Canadian regulations: offal. A traditional Scottish haggis is made with a sheeps heart, liver and lungs, along with oatmeal, suet and spices, often encased in the animals stomach. But Canada has an import ban on offal which includes the entrails and internal organs of an animal so Macsween of Edinburgh has developed an offal-less version to export. That doesnt sit well with Steve Allen, owner of Allens Scottish Butchers in Toronto. Read more: In defence of haggis The beauty of behind the counter butcher scraps 7 experiences in Scotland fit for a lord or lady Weve been making haggis over 40 years, said Allen. I dont know how you could get the same sort of thing without the offal in there. Its the lungs in particular that are essential to the proper preparation of a haggis, according to Allen. The lung actually makes the haggis fluffy and it gives it texture, he said. Heart is basically a muscle, and its basically tasteless but its lean. And then theres liver. Im sure youve had liver before but in our haggis only 10 lb. of liver goes into a 200 lb. finished product so you dont taste the liver. For Dave Meli, head butcher for the Toronto-based Healthy Butcher chain, not using offal in haggis simply negates the philosophy behind the classic Scottish dish that ensures that all parts of the animal get used. I buy whole lambs every week and Im one of the few butcher shops that deal with whole animals, said Meli. One of the byproducts of dealing with whole lambs is that bundle of offals, and lets face it, people arent exactly buying up lamb offals left and right. But these things cost me $6 a pound. To throw them out every single week sucks. Meli, an avowed haggis fan who learned his craft from a Scottish butcher, says converting offals that would otherwise go into the trash into something beautiful is a no-brainer. Im pretty confident that Scottish people in Scotland would tell you the same thing. Its a way to make lamb offals awesome, he said. Haggis has an unfortunate name. The best way to look at it is oatmeal pate. Its outstanding, its velvety, its beautiful. But the name suggests you need to be tough as a Scotsman to try it. As far as imported offal-less haggis goes, Meli isnt entirely convinced consumers would really know the difference. With food engineering, you can do about anything these days, he said. Michael Cox, who owns Ottawas two Scottish and Irish Store locations, says haggis alternatives such as vegetarian haggis made with lentils already sell well at his stores, so he expects customers will likely embrace the opportunity to buy a different type of haggis directly from the motherland. It think the taste is more of the thing with haggis, then whether its authentic or not, he said. Basically, its a choice for our customers as to whether they really want the traditional method or not. Getting Scottish products like haggis into Canada is a big priority for the Scottish government. It reports that its food and drink exports to Canada are now worth more than $154 million, with the latest reports from Scottish companies suggesting that food exports have increased by 37 per cent over the last year. We sell huge amounts of Scottish, British and Irish food, said Cox. The fact that well be able to get haggis in from Scotland is great. Its one of those things weve never been able to do. Correction - October 20, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said that Scottish food and drink exports to Canada are worth more than $154.3 billion. In fact, they are worth $154 million. Read more about: SHARE: Molly Schuetz and Jing Cao Bloomberg Shares of Apple Inc. and some of its suppliers fell on signs that demand for the new iPhone 8 models isnt as strong as anticipated while buyers await the release of the higher-end iPhone X. The head of Canadas largest wireless carrier said Thursday the appetite for the Apple iPhone 8 smartphone is anemic even as the company gets set to take orders of the iPhone X next week. Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Joe Natale said on a conference call that the company will begin taking orders of the very expensive iPhone X on Oct. 27 and will begin sales the following week, on Nov. 3. However, he added, device availability is a question mark and the full impact of the new devices might not be felt until the first quarter of 2018, adding to concerns about soft sales for Apple devices. The iPhone X will be Apples most expensive iPhone to date, retailing for approximately $1,300 if purchased without a contract. The iPhone 8 went on sale on Sept. 22 in Canada. The Taipei-based Economic Daily News reported Thursday that Apple cut orders for its latest model, which went on sale last month, by more than 50 per cent. The newspaper didnt identify its source or elaborate on what sort of orders had been pulled, or how it arrived at that number. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. Read more: iPhone 8 features more expensive parts with improved camera, storage, chip, firm says Markets take bite out of Apples Asian suppliers Apples new gadgets get exceptionally grumpy reviews Many analysts already expected that the iPhone 8 would be overshadowed by stronger demand for iPhone X, which is scheduled to be released next month. But investors are sensitive to any potential demand weakness for Apple products. The current iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus had a two per cent share of the U.S. iOS device market nearly a month after their launch, significantly lagging the five per cent share grabbed by the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus at a similar point last year, according to Localytics, a mobile engagement platform that analyzes iPhone adoption rates. It puts more pressure, more focus on the iPhone X, but thats the Super Bowl event, said Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights. I view the iPhone 8 as really just a placeholder. Apple shares slid as much as 2.8 per cent to $155.26 (U.S.), the most intraday since Sept. 20. The stock had risen 38 per cent through Wednesday, and is close to a record high, buoyed largely by anticipation for the iPhone X. Shares in Pegatron Corp., a contract assembler that gets almost 60 per cent of its revenue from Apple, fell as much as 2.7 per cent in Taipei trading. Other suppliers including Catcher Technology Co. and AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. also declined. Whats lurking is a question of is this just people waiting for the X or is there weakness in overall demand? said James Cordwell, an analyst at Atlantic Equities. A demand problem is more of a fundamental issue. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: SHARE: Leatherface Starring Sam Strike, Vanessa Grasse, Lili Taylor, Stephen Dorff, Nicole Andrews, James Bloor, Sam Coleman and Finn Jones. Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Opens Friday at Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas in Toronto and Cineplex Odeon Winston Churchill Cinemas in Oakville and on demand. 90 minutes. 18A This prequel to 1974s slasher classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre carries on the series legacy of terrible violence and terrible writing. The best horror movies leave the most frightening elements to an audiences imagination. Leatherface is not one of those movies. Whether its someones skull being split open or a rotting corpse popping up during a sex scene or someone crawling inside a maggot-ridden cow carcass and then barfing, every awful thing gets screen time in Leatherfaces origin story. His motivations for smirching the good name of power tools arent all that complicated. As a child, a young Jed Sawyer was cheered on by a circle of hillbilly relations to mutilate a thief with a chainsaw to protect the family. But the Sawyers take their murdering of locals one step too far when they get Jed, disguised in the hide of a cows head (leather + face = Leatherface), to lure the daughter of a Texan Ranger to her death. Ten years later, Jed is living under a new name at a psychiatric hospital where the doctors have been conducting experiments on the patients. During a riot, he escapes alongside three other violent patients, tossing a kidnapped nurse in the trunk for good measure. Their ensuing road trip is a series of disgusting horrors interspersed by terrible Texan accents. Clarice (Jessica Madsen) and Ike (James Bloor, seen earlier this year as Irate Soldier in Dunkirk) are the groups evil, horny psychopaths; Bud (Sam Coleman) is a lumbering giant capable of brutal violence; Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse) is the nurse taken against her will, though she remains pretty good-natured about it; and Jackson (Sam Strike) is the handsome, conflicted one who has mixed feelings about both romancing Lilly and abducting her. We dont know for sure which of these deranged escapees is the former Jed/future Leatherface, but if the ambiguity is intended to add an air of mystery to the plot, it fails. But Texas Chainsaws arent sold on their tightly wound plots. The franchises specialty is in its massacres, and Leatherface has all the cheap, nasty, heartless violence you could ever want (if you want more, please seek help). If only Leatherface leaned harder into the franchises Texan setting the way previous installments have. While slasher series such as Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street wring terror from sleepy suburban neighbourhoods, Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies are at their best when they strand city kids in the country and watch them squirm in a horror-heightened version of rural life, where urbanites are not welcome and everyone knows that slaughtering pigs is a transferable skill. But Leatherface doesnt bring any cultural perspective to its Texan setting. This is especially curious considering filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo are from France not exactly the Texas of Europe. Lili Taylor, so wonderful in Six Feet Under, The Conjuring and American Crime, gives a way-too-worthy performance in the thankless role of the Sawyer family matriarch, a wasted actor in a movie where the maggot-ridden cow corpse gets the star treatment. Correction November 9, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to the character Tammy the waitress, as the sex maniac in the film. In fact, the character Clarice is the sex maniac. SHARE: The Snowman Starring Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simmons, Jonas Karlsson, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones and Chloe Sevigny. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. Opens Friday at GTA theatres. 119 minutes. 14A A serious crime cries out for our attention in The Snowman, but its not the marketed one about a slice-and-dice sociopath who leaves runty snow people as his calling card. Rather, its the offence to cinema perpetrated by this alleged thriller, with director Tomas Alfredson being the chief infidel. The only mystery worth pondering is how and why the Swedish helmer took a bestseller by Norwegian pulp author Jo Nesbo and a top-flight cast including Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simmons and, um, Val Kilmer and turned it all into an icy hash. Alfredson also had the guidance of executive producer Martin Scorsese (who had originally planned to direct it) as well as Scorseses go-to editor Thelma Schoonmaker in the cutting room. Such abundant talent, yet what we get on the screen is like a snow cone made with horse urine. The Snowman is billed as the Hollywood franchise debut of ace Oslo crimebuster Harry Hole, a character whom Fassbender plays with as much evident enthusiasm as one would muster for a colonoscopy. Put those franchise plans on ice, pronto. When hes not sleeping off a vodka bender on a park bench or staring pensively in his underwear, chain-smoking Harry is busy trying to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend Rakel (a chipper Gainsbourg) and her teen son Oleg (Michael Yates). Seems Harry was a less-than-great boyfriend and father figure, so Rakel ditched him for a dweeby doc (Jonas Karlsson). Harry can barely rouse himself to investigate a string of gruesome murders in supposedly homicide-free Olso and surrounding towns, even as the killer taunts him with childish handwritten notes and also leaves midget snowmen at each crime scene. The baddie also has terrible taste in music, favouring elevator bilge like Popcorn and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Our hero is finally goaded into action by new cop recruit Katrine Bratt (Ferguson), who has a keen interest in the case and who deduces that the killer has for years been targeting mothers who are killed off-camera but whose dismembered bodies are repeatedly seen and that he strikes during snowfalls. Its winter! Harry sneers, substituting snark in place of any shred of Sherlockian sleuthing we might have expected of him. The frozen landscape is actually the real star of the show here, as cinematographer Dion Beebe (Collateral) and his gliding drones depict Norway as a country where the roads all look like Olympic bobsled runs. At no point are we given reason to think Harry actually cares about cracking the case. He and his feisty sidekick follow a shaggy-dog trail with as much energy and skill as Barney Fife investigating a jaywalker in Mayberry. Their quest, prior to a hilariously silly finale that even Barney would have long sussed out, will take them into the weirdo company of a pervy U.S. industrialist (J.K. Simmons), an agitated chicken butcher (Chloe Sevigny), a smirking fellow cop (Toby Jones) and a pickled and suicidal detective who is reportedly played by Kilmer but whom I suspect was really a wax figure stolen from Madame Tussauds. To get back to the real mystery here, how did Alfredson manage to screw this up so badly? He did stellar work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which similarly had multiple characters and plot twists, and his screenwriters Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini and Soren Sveistrup all have impressive resumes. Some cold cases are never meant to be solved, I suppose, and The Snowman isnt just chilly, its frozen stiff. SHARE: The revolution is sleepy. And fair enough. Five-ish stories above King Street one recent morning, Ai Weiwei wore the many miles and 30-plus cities of the trans-national promotion tour for Human Flow, his new documentary on the endlessly cascading global refugee crisis, like a yoke around his neck. This is much more effort than making the film, he shrugs. But its hard to get people to sit for two hours in a theatre. Thats why I hope you guys can convince people to see the film. Its important to be informed. And just like that, Ai breaks through the film promotion industrys fourth wall, or more to the point, completely ignores it. Press interviews on movie tours, more often than not, are polished niceties, mimicking thoughtful conversion behind the thin veil of product promotion. Ai clearly has neither time nor patience for such facades. Time is running out. Human Flow is as direct a film as Ai is a filmmaker. He seems less comfortable here, in a plush private lounge at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, than he does on screen, moving over a full year between 23 countries where the flood of people cut adrift from their homes was most acute. These are not easy places to be in: Enormous tent cities in Iraq, dusty byways of northeastern Africa, and most famously, the pebbly shores of the Mediterranean where, in Greece, a million refugees, mostly from Syria, landed in a 12-month period. In each case, Ai, who is perhaps the most famous artist in the world today, ceded the spotlight to his subjects, shifting back and forth from drone shots at altitude of teeming thousands, rivers of humanity trickling towards who knows what, to tight, one-on-one interactions. He appears onscreen only a handful of times, and briefly; once, to comfort a woman on the verge of a breakdown. Those familiar with Ais art might find it to be surprisingly self-effacing. He caused a sensation recently with a photo of himself, prone on those same Greek beaches, which deliberately echoed the famous documentary image of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, washed up on the same shore. It did its work, as Ai had hoped, reinvigorating the refugee plight in the news, though he was the subject of intense criticism. Ai, of course has always used his work, and his celebrity, as explosive fuel for his sharp political views. Much of it has been centred on Chinas ruling communist regime, at whose hands hes suffered beatings, imprisonment, torture and constant surveillance. In the wake of his home countrys rebranding following the 2008 Beijing Olympics (Ai, also an architect, was co-designer on the spectacular Birds Nest stadium), he used his newfound international platform to expose the regimes veneer of civility for the sham it was. His art bled into activism, as a recent touring exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario made clear. Following the Szechuan earthquakes of 2008, in which thousands of children were crushed when their schools collapsed, Ai made multiple installations exposing both the substandard construction of the buildings by the government and its reticence to publicly report the extent of the tragedy. His dogged pursuit of the truth landed him in prison, on no charges, where he was tortured for months. On his release in 2011, he got back to work, making a brutally frank project for the 2013 Venice Biennale, the worlds biggest platform for contemporary art, about his experiences inside. Ai, now based in Berlin, knows his celebrity has provided him luxuries not available to most, and certainly not the many millions now adrift in a migrant crisis unrivalled in scale since the Second World War. But in it, Ai sees a more complex foe. This comes after years of so-called globalization, Ai, 60, says wearily. In the recent reshuffle of international politics and economic play, I think the west, generally speaking, the democratic countries, have benefitted from a long period of globalization. But they have also brought a lot of regional instability the concept of democracy, religiously and cultural, has brought a lot of instability to these societies. So the west should have some vision for dealing with this take responsibility, or face the consequences. Hes referring, of course, to the 2011 so-called Arab Spring, where democratic uprisings against Arab dictatorships across North Africa bled into the Middle East and hit a wall in Syria, where an intractable civil war has done more to spur the current refugee crisis than any other single factor. New problems, of course, appear at every turn: The current crisis of Rohingya refugees fleeing genocidal persecution in Myanmar is too fresh to have even made the film. Ai sees in the refugee crises the central hypocrisy of globalization. Go to a vegetable market, and look where all the food comes from, he says. We have endless choice, every combination. We are so stimulated, there is so much energy from mixing and enjoying difference. At the same time, we (in the west) refuse to provide a safe passage to the people who are crashed, and those reasons are hidden. For Ai though, theyre clear enough. The border you see on the map is not a real border, he says. The real border, the economic border, is never there. It would be a very different map. These borders are only there to stop the most victimized human beings seeking their next meal for their children. They would never understand this globalization. People profit from it, and they have to acknowledge the cost of what they enjoy so much. But the truth is, most people have no idea what the refugee crisis is. Still, he never gives up hope. We have a saying in China: That water, if it drips long enough, can penetrate a stone, he says. We must look at things with this perspective. It always comes down to some kind of struggle. It can take ages. But the human spirit our will to be free, to have a chance, to communicate face to face, to shake hands and to share space is much stronger than anything. Human Flow opens this weekend at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Tickets at tiff.net. Correction October 25, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said artist Ai Weiwei was at last months Toronto International Film Festival. In fact, Weiwei was not in Toronto during TIFF. The article should have referenced Weiweis presence in a plush private lounge at the TIFF Bell Lightbox building. Read more about: SHARE: BALE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, ETHIOPIA-At first, its little more than a flash of fur, just a blot on the far side of the road, trotting hard and moving fast. Its auburn coat standing out against the lunarlike landscape, the small animal pauses just for a moment, turns to face us, mouth set in what looks like a toothy grin, and eyes our Land Cruisers sleepy band of travellers. Then, in a moment, it dashes off before we can scramble for our cameras, running at a steady pace up and over a ridge, out of sight. By the time we spill clumsily out of the vehicle and walk with our sleep-stiffened joints across the frozen ground to where it once stood, that lone wolf is long gone. Ive just seen the Abyssinian red wolf the worlds most endangered canine. With a habitat thats now largely limited to the high plateau of Ethiopias Bale Mountains National Park a forbidding, otherworldly place some 4,000 metres above sea level estimates vary on how many of these wolves remain, but everyone agrees its a few hundred, at most. Cousins of both coyotes and jackals, some experts peg their population at fewer than 300, and dropping fast. Im here to spot as many as possible, as well as a wide variety of other strange creatures that thrive in the rarefied air of this remote corner of Ethiopia. With various ecosystems and altitudes packed into one park, the roughly 2,000-square-kilometre Bale Mountains National Park provides opportunities to view some of Africas most unusual animals, including the endemic big-headed mole rat, mongoose, jackal, honey badger, black-maned lion and the mountain-adapted leopard. Arriving here after a long drive, 400 hard km down from the capital, Addis Ababa, with Australian-based Peregrine Adventures, we overnight in the nearby city of Goba. Rising early, we wind up to the Sanetti Plateau in our hardy Land Cruisers, passing the tree line and entering Africas largest uninterrupted high-altitude zone. We skirt frozen ponds and spot one of Ethiopias highest peaks Mount Tullu Dimtu, which rises almost 4,400 metres and quickly enjoy that fleeting glimpse of the wolf. Before descending into more hospitable climes on the other side, where we stop for a pleasant hike through green pastures and forest to a waterfall, we tarry in Rira, a bustling, ramshackle village inside the park, where we buy a few supplies and stop to snap some photos with the residents. Soon were sitting down for lunch at Bale Mountain Lodge, which is set in a valley below a craggy ridge. Unlike more heavily tourist parts of Africa, safari lodges are rare in Ethiopia, but this one, built in 2014, is aiming to place visitors in the heart of the animal action. The only wolf in Africa, the Abyssinian is facing extinction. According to the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, which is headed by an Oxford University zoologist, four consecutive rabies outbreaks the most recent in 2014 have precipitated a sharp drop in numbers, with the total population plummeting as much as 75 per cent since the early 90s. Solutions arent easy; transplanting the village of Rira outside the park would be difficult, and moving the vast herds owned by local, rural pastoralists, harder still. After settling into my comfortable cabin, I re-emerge near nightfall and immediately come face-to-face with a big-headed mole rat. His head is, indeed, quite large, giving him an almost cartoonish look. We stare each other down for just a moment; as I make a slow move for my camera, he darts into the rather large burrow next to the path. I meet two guides, Ziyad Haji Kamal and Miki Wubishet, who take me out in a jeep as the last light of day slips away. Our night drive bears fruit immediately. Just 30 seconds from the lodge, a large cat skulks across the road, and Ziyad confirms that its a mountain-adapted leopard an extremely rare sight. In just a second, hes gone, disappeared into the now-inky-black bush. We search for more, driving a series of unsealed roads around the lodge, hanging out the window and beaming a superpowered flashlight into the black, but see nothing more. Nonetheless thrilled, I make my way through the darkness, along the path to my cabin, a billion stars above. In the silence, I consider the fact I didnt see another wolf only that fleeting glimpse, which now seems like so long ago. As I near my cabin, just before turning left to the warm wood stove and comfortable bed waiting for me there, I notice something down a separate path to my right two eyes, close together, caught for just a second in the beam of my flashlight. A wolf? Perhaps, but unlikely, at this lower altitude. A honey badger? A jackal or a hyena? Maybe, even probably. I make an improbable decision, here in this wild part of Africa instead of retreating hastily to the warmth and safety of my cabin, I turn and walk at a steady clip toward those two tiny, shining beacons. Within a second theyre gone, swallowed up by the black night as the animal moves fast into the bush. So, I pivot back and head for bed, satisfied in all Ive witnessed, and somehow content I will never know what I (almost) saw, in the middle of that dark night. Tim Johnson was a guest of Peregrine Adventures, which didnt review or approve this story. When you go Do this trip: Peregrine Adventures offers a number of itineraries in both southern and northern Ethiopia. Adventures are undertaken in hardy Land Cruisers and guided by those with an intimate knowledge of this remote corner of the world. Trips to the Bale Mountains can be organized through Peregrines private groups team (peregrineadventures.com/en-ca/private-groups ). Get there: Ethiopian Airlines (ethiopianairlines.ca) offers the only direct flight from Canada to Africa, with daily service from Toronto Pearson International Airport in a 787 Dreamliner. The flight takes about 13 hours, west-to-east, and includes the option of a lie-flat bed and excellent food and wine in its Cloud Nine business class. Stay: Bale Mountain Lodge (balemountainlodge.com ) offers one of Ethiopias few true safari experiences. Set in a valley below a stunning series of craggy peaks, all its rooms include a wood-burning stove. The dining room is built in a traditional tukul (cone-shaped) style, with massive windows that afford panoramic views of the wilderness outside. SHARE: OTTAWAThe fate of a Somalian man charged with holding Amanda Lindhout hostage is now in the hands of an Ontario Superior Court judge. Justice Robert Smith reserved judgment Thursday after closing arguments in the 10-day trial of Ali Omar Ader, and is not expected to rule for several months. Lindhout was a freelance journalist from Red Deer, Alta., when she and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan were seized by armed men near Mogadishu in August 2008, the beginning of 15 months in captivity. They were released upon payment of a ransom. Read more: Accused Amanda Lindhout kidnapper testifies he lied to RCMP, did not receive ransom money Mother of ex-hostage Amanda Lindhout speaks out on victim shaming, Joshua Boyle and her disgust with Ottawa Accused Lindhout kidnapper admitted receiving $10K of ransom: RCMP officer But the saga then entered a new phase: a complex, multi-year police investigation involving a scheme to elicit a confession from Ader, the man suspected of making ransom-demand calls. Ader, who speaks some English, developed a business relationship through phone calls and emails with a man who promised to help publish his book about Somalia. They met face-to-face in 2013 on the island of Mauritius, where the business agent actually an undercover Mountie says Ader freely spoke of helping the hostage-takers in return for US$10,000 in ransom money. A purported book-contract signing came two years later in Ottawa with the officer and a supposed publisher, all secretly captured on a police video. Again, Ader told the RCMP he was paid to assist the kidnappers. He was arrested the next day. Ader, 40, pleaded not guilty to a charge of hostage-taking. He told the court, as the lone defence witness, that he, too, had been abducted by the gang and forced to be a negotiator and translator. Ader described being held by the gunmen in an apartment for several months, as well as getting orders from the gang about what to say during calls to Lindhouts mother, Lorinda Stewart. He told of being beaten, escaping and later surrendering when the hostage-takers made serious threats against his family. Ader said that in Mauritius, he tried to tell the man he believed to be his business agent that he was coerced into helping the kidnappers. But the man wasnt interested, so he told him what he wanted to hear. In his closing submissions Thursday, prosecutor Croft Michaelson said Aders testimony was riddled with inconsistencies and should be rejected. Ader told the true story of his role in the kidnapping in Mauritius, not in the courtroom, Michaelson said. The prosecutor suggested it simply wouldnt make sense for Ader to confess to something he did not do. There was nothing to be gained by exaggerating his involvement in the hostage-taking. Michaelson said Ader spun a tissue of lies about being confined by the gang, only to escape one day when his captors were distracted. He questioned the likelihood of a sudden chance to flee, given that Ader testified he was allowed to regularly leave the apartment to have meals at restaurants Michaelson tried to poke holes in other elements of Aders story. He wondered how the accused could make a 2010 call using a phone that Ader said the captors took from him months earlier. Michaelson also pointed out Ader mentioned in one recorded call that he was out of town at a time when he was said to be held captive by the group. Trevor Brown, one of Aders lawyers, said in his closing submissions Wednesday it was important to remember that the Somalia of 2009 was a chaotic country with no sense of order or security, a place where those with weapons wielded power. The gang that kidnapped Lindhout and Brennan were cruel and unpredictable people eminently capable of ordering Ader to help them, Brown said. In the same vein, Brown said, once in its grip, Ader could not break away from the group without facing repercussions. Theres no safe avenue of escape for Mr. Ader. SHARE: OTTAWAIn a stunning about-face that has cost him politically and personally, Finance Minister Bill Morneau says he will sell off all his and his familys shares in Morneau Shepell and place all other assets in a blind trust. In the three hours after Morneaus declaration, the value of the companys stock dropped 41 cents a share, costing him an estimated $410,000 in one afternoon based on his current stated holdings of about a million shares in Morneau Shepell. But in reality, the hit to Morneaus pocket and his political reputation may be even deeper as he moves under political pressure to divest the rest of his and his wife and childrens stock in the sprawling company that employs 4,300 people across Canada. Finally giving in to mounting Opposition pressure after denying for days he was ever in any conflict of interest, Morneau said he would now go above and beyond Parliaments ethics rules to avoid any conflict of interest, though he continued to insist he was never in any real conflict of interest. Standing before reporters and later in the House of Commons, Morneau said he perhaps naively thought if he followed the rules as set out by the federal ethics commissioner who told him he wasnt required to set up a blind trust, that was enough to meet Canadians high expectations. In fact, what weve seen over the last week is that I need to do more. The declaration comes after days of accusations from Conservatives and New Democrats that the finance minister stood to potentially profit from his governments pension reform bill, which could create business for the publicly-traded company he built over 25 years with his father. Morneaus initial failure to put his assets in a blind trust as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did with his personal wealth and as many, including his former colleagues, expected, along with his belated disclosure that he co-owns a French company with his wife, led the opposition to charge he cannot be trusted to do the right thing. The NDP and Conservative parties are pressuring the finance minister over what he disclosed or didn?t disclose to the ethics watchdog about his holdings. NDP MP Nathan Cullen says Bill Morneau is losing the trust of Canadians. (The Canadian Pres For two years, Bill Morneau has owned tens of millions of dollars of shares in a company he regulates. He had the power as Finance Minister to make decisions that would help the very company in which he had invested so many millions of dollars, said Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre. Read more: Is Bill Morneau up to the job?: Editorial Bill Morneau does the right thing two years too late: Tim Harper At least Bill Morneau tried tax reform: Walkom The NDPs Nathan Cullen said the so-called conflict of interest screen Morneau had set up was useless. Morneaus chief of staff was responsible for flagging when Morneau couldnt participate in discussions where he might face a potential conflict. Cullen said that screen said it was OK that he could introduce a bill that would then benefit him personally by millions of dollars. Then clearly we have a problem with the system. In the Commons, Morneau maintained he disclosed all of my assets to ethics watchdog Mary Dawson. Those include an Alberta-based numbered company which held his Morneau Shepell shares, and was partly owned in turn by an Ontario-based numbered company, income in the previous year from AGF Management Limited and joint ownership with siblings of four real estate holding companies. But Morneau told reporters he had no intention of withdrawing Bill C27, a pension reform bill that the NDP says drove a five-per-cent rise in valuation of Morneau Shepell shares last year and gains for Morneaus personal portfolio. Morneau said it will advance the cause of better pensions for Canadians. Morneau called the controversy over his personal finances a distraction and the Opposition charges slander. After his office declined repeatedly to say how many shares Morneau has in that company, the finance minister revealed that he has about a million shares that he will now sell. He told CBCs Power and Politics he had sold some shares before coming into office. As of Thursday afternoon, Morneau Shepell shares sold for $20.63 each on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Read more: Trudeau defends Morneau over failure to put assets in blind trusts Morneau walks himself into a political crisis: Tim Harper Morneau open to changing financial affairs as Conservatives, NDP demand ethics investigation The Morneau Shepell share price has gone up by roughly $5 per share since the 2015 election. That means, with about 1 million shares, the value of Morneaus current assets in the company has jumped by roughly $5 million since he was elected. Morneau released the letter in which Dawsons office advised him originally that because he does not directly hold shares valued now at an estimated $20 million he was not required to either sell them or put them in a blind trust. Dawson said only controlled assets must be sold or put in a blind trust under the Conflict of Interest Act, and recommendations she set out in 2013 to close that loophole to cover both direct and indirect holdings were never adopted. Aaron Wudrick, spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Foundation, said Morneau deserves credit for finally doing the right thing, albeit under pressure, and yet he would have liked to have seen more humility from Morneau and an admission hed been wrong in how he handled the controversy. Democracy Watchs Duff Conacher said he believes Morneau will only be out of his ethical quagmire if he sells all his assets in any company and puts his money in a bank deposit or government bonds. Conacher also pointed out as did several Opposition MPs this week that Morneau appears to be violating Justin Trudeaus directive to his ministers that states their conduct should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Conacher said the conflict law has a giant loophole which allows Morneau to propose a law of general application like Bill C-27 affecting the pension industry even while owning millions of dollars in shares in a particular pension company (in this case Morneau Shepell). This is legal under the federal law. Thats how bad the federal law is, Conacher said, adding Democracy Watch will pursue a court challenge of Dawsons flawed interpretation. The law is a joke, and the ethics commissioner makes it more of a joke, he said. SHARE: An Ontario Superior Court has issued an interim injunction allowing the city of Toronto to close down Canna Clinic pot dispensaries for contravening zoning bylaws. Not only did it grant the order effectively directing that the operations close at those locations, but it also prohibits Canna Clinic and its directors from continuing to operate or sell marijuana in the city of Toronto, said Mark Sraga, director of investigation services for the citys municipal licensing and standards division. The injunction also orders that the property owners are prohibited from allowing the use of their property for any person to sell, store or distribute marijuana. Read more: Owner of Toronto medical marijuana dispensaries challenges law he was arrested under The city and Toronto police have tried to shut down illegal pot shops, including the B.C.-based Canna Clinic chain, in a series of raids across the city over the last 18 months. Shop owners and clerks have faced criminal and bylaw charges. Canna Clinic has had as many as seven storefronts operating in Toronto. Its two remaining sites operating in Toronto have now closed, Sraga said. Our legal department is still reviewing the decision then well determine what next steps need to be taken should they not comply with the order. Canna Clinic opposed Torontos application to shut them down so their dispensaries could continue providing reasonable access for patients needing cannabis for medical purposes. A hearing for a permanent injunction is scheduled for December 2018 almost six months after recreational marijuana is set to be legalized in Canada. Toronto pot lawyer Paul Lewin, representing Canna Clinic, said Thursday he had no instructions to provide comment about the court ruling released Monday. SHARE: Toronto police are asking the public for help in identifying the suspects responsible for injuring a man in a shooting in Lawrence Heights last Friday. Police were called in the area of Flemington Rd. and Allen Rd. around 11:10 p.m. for reports of sounds of gunshots. The 24-year-old man was sitting and talking on his cellphone outside a low-rise apartment when a vehicle drove up to the building. Police said there were three unknown men inside the vehicle. Two of them got out of the vehicle carrying at least one firearm. They proceeded to shoot at least seven times at close range at the man. The suspects then fled the scene in the vehicle. Police said the victim was able to call for help. He was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said the victim has undergone several surgeries and is in stable condition. Investigators have released security camera images of the suspects. The vehicle used by the suspects is described as a four-door, dark-coloured sedan. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). SHARE: She moves. She menstruates. Or she doesnt move, not as a cognitive motion, a message sent from her brain despite dramatic video that shows Taquisha McKitty bending her limbs, stretching her toes, rolling her head. Nearly a month after the Toronto area woman was declared legally dead. Read more: Judge grants two-week injunction that keeps Brampton woman on life support Brampton woman on life support doesnt have capacity to breathe, doctor tells court Shes still alive: Brampton family goes to court to keep daughter on life support And the blood, well that proves nothing. I am aware that there was vaginal bleeding, Dr. Andrew Healey told a hearing in Brampton Superior Court on Wednesday. Nobody knows if that was menstrual. Yet neither do they know, definitively, it wasnt. Cadavers dont bleed, do they? Yet Healey, when pressed on his answer to the menstrual questions, responded with palpable tetchiness. What part of my sentence do you not understand? If a month passes and she bleeds menstruates again would that be convincing? A month might not be granted to McKitty, depending on how a judge decides. But they the doctors aligned against McKittys desperate family would have us believe that their interpretation of whole brain death is correct. How could they possibly be wrong, those physicians, who signed off on a death certificate on Sept. 20? Several injunctions have been granted by the court since then, allowing the family to pursue their case, an interim ruling which has kept McKitty on a ventilator. The ventilator, argued Healey critical care physician and division head at Brampton Civic Hospital is keeping McKitty alive, or the illusion of alive. Her exhalation is a passive response to the air being pumped into her lungs, no different than a balloon flattening when the air is released, an analogy belittled by family lawyer Hugh Scher. Shes breathing now, said Scher. Henley: No, she is not. The ventilator is doing all the work of breathing and the expelling is a passive reaction, Healey insisted under cross-examination. Its a circular argument: Shes dead because we say so, because theres no evidence of brain stem function. Evidence to the contrary is unscientific, but only because that is the definition that has been adopted in most jurisdictions. We are apparently not to believe what we can see with our own eyes the distinct movements McKitty has been making and which have grown more compelling, the family maintains, as time passes, rather than diminishing. They are adamant that McKitty has responded to the stimulus of their voices, that in some way, out of the depths of her darkness, she is voluntarily making her aliveness known. Whole brain death, which equals the finality of death, is a legal definition constituting death in Ontario: The absence of clinical neurological function, irreversible loss of the capacity for consciousness, said Healey. More explicit and absolute than being in a persistent vegetative state, where a patient would still have some capacity for consciousness. Its an anguishing state of disagreement, for the doctors who claim to have science on their side but far more so for the family, who have only their instincts and their emotions and their refusal to give up on a beloved daughter, sister, aunt, niece, mother. The doctors argue that McKittys movements are nothing more than a reflex and shouldnt be mistaken for signs of life. As court has heard, nurses have not documented any of these persistent movements on McKittys medical file, though the phenomenon has been discussed with the family by nurses and other doctors whove been involved in McKittys treatment. Which, frankly, has been scarcely any treatment at all. The drugs which have been administered, her parents say, were intended from the outset to best preserve the womans organs for possible transplant. McKitty had signed an organ donor card. Doctors do not dispute that was the reason for giving McKitty L-thyroxine after she was declared dead. In essence, patients must be kept alive blood and oxygen flowing to the organs, heart continuing to beat on a ventilator for organs to be harvested. The family accuses the doctors of rushing to harvest, focusing on the organs rather than McKitty as a human being. That view was supported by a retired American doctor who was brought in by the family to testify on Tuesday. In most medical circles, Dr. Paul Bryne would be considered a heretic. Its not a simple reflex, its more than that, said Byrne. No, countered Healey. Its automatism actions without conscious thought or intention or spinal cord reflex, which are possible in brain-dead patients. But still, nearly a month later? Healey said he wasnt aware of any good science which shows that spinal reflex cannot happen after a significant period of time. McKitty was brought to hospital on Sept. 14, suffering from a drug overdose. Tests revealed she had a mixture of oxycodone, benzodiazepines, marijuana and cocaine in her system. And that, the family contends, influenced the decisions that were made, although no evidence has been produced to support the allegation. (Some of the social media commentary about the case has been appallingly merciless: Pull the plug on the druggie!) Why not her? McKittys father, Stanley Stewart, demanded outside court, pleading for treatment, for a second chance at life for his daughter. Why not in this case? Whats so special about her that she doesnt deserve treatment, that she doesnt deserve all of the best efforts to give her the opportunity to live? Why, because she came in under a drug situation? Is that why? So her life is less valuable because of the circumstances? A dozen family members were in court yesterday. The legal battle, which could run up to $200,000 in bills, is being supported by a GoFundMe campaign started by McKittys cousin. Its been hard from day one, said Stewart. Its almost gotten a little bit harder to hear some of the evidence. A lot of the things we thought are now being actually exposed. The fact that she didnt receive treatment, any intervention. The fact that some of the stuff they did after (the death certificate was issued) were towards her organs and not towards helping her. We felt that we knew it but now its on the record. Stewart claimed that Healey hasnt even seen his daughter in three weeks. He alleges attending physicians have been told not to document McKittys movements. What are they scared of? They (doctors) know that we know the truth and the truth is that those are not reflex, automated reflexes. Those are actual movements that are stimulated by our voices, by our touch. Shes not brain dead. She has brain injury. Alyson McKitty says there are still too many questions about what happened to her daughter. We feel like we need answers. We feel like this wasnt done the right way. I dont think there were enough tests done to be able to determine that she was already deceased. It was done too quickly. Definitely shes moving her entire body. Shes moving her head, shes moving her arms, shes moving her legs, her feet, everything. The family wants the death certificate revoked and a 72-hour video recording made of the patient, a request which would apparently violate the hospitals patient privacy guidelines and institutional policy. The family comes to the medical establishment with their heart in their hands. The medical establishment responds with bureaucracy. Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. SHARE: Calling it a tool with the potential to save lives, Toronto police are renewing their push for greater deployment of conducted energy weapons, saying more front-line officers should have access to the weapons during tense and possibly deadly interactions. But at a public meeting Wednesday on the possible expansion of Tasers to more front-line officers, critics pushed back against the device, better known as a Taser, raising concerns about increasing weaponization of police and unknown medical impacts on those with mental-health challenges. We dont need Tasers. We need de-escalation, said Peter Rosenthal, a Toronto lawyer who has represented families of people killed by police. Currently, only front-line supervisors and some officers in specialized units carry the weapon. The Toronto police is asking its civilian board to expand deployment to on-duty Primary Response Unit constables and to on-duty constables from designated specialized units. No details about the number of Tasers or total cost have been released. Toronto police deputy chief Barbara McLean said at Wednesdays meeting that a formal request will be sent to the civilian board. Read More: Police need to talk, not use Tasers Should cops carry Tasers? Public to weigh in at Toronto police board meeting Outgoing deputy chief unreservedly endorses Tasers for front-line cops The weapon would never to be used as a substitute for de-escalation and would be part of a suite of tools available to officers, she said. The weapon has the potential to save lives, she said. Board chair Andy Pringle said no decision would be made immediately and that expanding the deployment of the weapon is an active discussion. Dr. Peter Collins, a forensic psychiatrist who has been called in by Torontos Emergency Task Force to help during crisis calls, says despite the emphasis placed by Toronto police on communication and verbal de-escalation, unfortunately not everyone will respond to that type of approach. Some individuals are not going to respond and you have to have other options, Collins said. Tasers, the only brand of CEW approved for use in Ontario, incapacitate a person through the deployment of two darts connected by wires, which deliver an electric current. The weapon causes involuntary muscle spasms and temporary loss of motor control. The weapon has become popular within police services in Ontario as a less lethal option for officers in comparison to a firearm. Since the province of Ontario stopped restricting Taser use to supervisors and select officers in 2013, virtually every police service in the province has expanded use of the weapon except Toronto. Ron Bain, executive director of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), said his organization has long supported Taser deployment to front line officers. The fact that Toronto police officers have restricted access to the weapons means there is now a risk to public and officer safety. The Toronto police board has the power and authority to fix the situation, Bain said. But some members of the public, legal experts and rights organizations are speaking out against greater Taser deployment. High on their list of concerns are the unknown health risks, particularly to people with mental illness. CEWs are not harmless weapons. CEWs are weapons that are intensely painful and can potentially lead to serious, even lethal, injuries, wrote Rob De Luca, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Associations public safety program, in a letter to the police board in advance of Wednesdays meeting. In a written submission to the Toronto police board, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) says the use of CEWs raises serious human rights concerns because people with mental health disabilities tend to have more frequent contact with police, and may be more likely to be Tasered because of behaviours and responses to police instructions that appear unusual or unpredictable. They may also be more likely to die after being Tasered, says the OHRC submission. Ontarios police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), continues to probe the death of Rui Nabico, 31, who was killed after he was Tasered by a Toronto police officer. Earlier this year, the SIU cleared Toronto police in the death of Rodrigo Almonacid Gonzalez, who was Tasered eight times but whose death the coroner concluded was due to acute cocaine toxicity. Following the high-profile death of Sammy Yatim who was shot eight times by Const. James Forcillo, then Tasered by another officer Toronto police tapped retired Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to conduct a review of police use of force on those in mental-health crisis. Among Iacobuccis recommendations was that Toronto launch a pilot project allowing front line officers greater access to Tasers. But the recommendation came with a caveat. Iacobucci expressed concern about the unknown health risks posed by the weapon, particularly to people with mental illness, wondering if the population might be particularly vulnerable to the potentially serious effects of Tasers due to a higher likelihood of pre-existing medical conditions, prescription medications, substance abuse issues and high levels of agitation. The absence of definitive research into the risks of CEWs for populations who are likely to encounter the police in non-criminal contexts is a problem, Iacobucci wrote in his 2014 report. The retired judge recommended Toronto police advocate for an interprovincial study of the medical effects of CEW use on various groups of people (including vulnerable groups such as people in crisis). However, the recommendation was among the few Toronto police did not implement. While the Service recognizes the value of continual research, it remains satisfied that the current medical research has found no persuasive evidence of risk to vulnerable persons, Toronto police said in response. However, critics have questioned the quality of research on CEWs, including that some studies were conducted or funded by the weapon manufacturers. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca SHARE: Facebook Canada is on Thursday announcing a hotly anticipated plan for shielding the 2019 election from cyber hacks and the spread of fake news and misinformation online. The social media networks Canadian Election Integrity Initiative puts much of the responsibility on political players and citizens. It includes a cyber hygiene guide for MPs and political parties that outlines best practices for guarding against malicious hackers and identifies common ways bad actors commandeer Facebook accounts and wreak mischief online. Politicians, their top staffers, parties and eventually election candidates will also get exclusive access to a special crisis email line linked to Facebooks security team, should their page be compromised. This is very much a proactive effort, Kevin Chan, Facebook Canadas head of public policy, said in an interview. The platform has been under scrutiny for enabling Russian-linked groups to place thousands of ads during the 2016 U.S. election in an attempt to spread discord. We are very lucky and fortunate, in a way, that we have the luxury of thinking about this two years in advance, Chan said. As such the lead-up to Canadas federal election will also be spent tackling the scourge of political misinformation, via a digital news literacy campaign helmed by MediaSmarts, a non-profit agency headquartered in Ottawa. MediaSmarts will roll out a series of public-service-announcement video clips in French and English that will teach citizens how to spot fake news, authenticate credible sources, understand the difference between fact and opinion, and identify emotionally-charged or inflammatory posts. There will also be missions or interactive online games to test if people have the skills to recognize a misleading post before sharing it. People would come away feeling they ought to authenticate (a story), said Matthew Johnson, MediaSmarts director of education. He said the public plays just one part in improving digital democracy. We dont think the burden of misinformation should rest entirely on us (citizens), he said, adding Facebooks move is a very encouraging start. Chan said there is potential for further action closer to 2019, such as cracking down on fake accounts that disseminate deceptive content. The company did so in the run up to the recent election in France, targeting 30,000 inauthentic accounts. Facebook has also vowed to make political advertising on its site more transparent and to beef up its ad review process, among other measures. It is not a silver bullet I dont think anything is, Chan said. Thats not to say as a platform we dont take our responsibility seriously and we dont want to do what we can. Johnson and Chan will be in Ottawa for the announcement, which will include a panel discussion on digital civic engagement featuring Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould. Gould lauded Facebooks move, but said its only a first step. There is much more to be done, and social media platforms have a responsibility to take action to ensure the continued protection of our democratic process, she said in a statement to the Star. I encourage all digital platforms to think critically about their current practices and how they can create spaces for informed public dialogue and information we consume. Facebooks initiative responds to a cyber-risk assessment from Canadas electronic spy agency that was done at Goulds behest. In June, the Communications Security Establishment warned hackers would almost certainly attempt to influence democratic process, identifying social media as a key target. Read more about: SHARE: A few toys and childrens books are scattered around the family room. A half-filled coffee pot sits on the kitchen counter. A little girl plays on a tricycle in the backyard as her mom watches. This could be any house on any street in the GTA, and thats exactly the point. Every day, the small house in Mississauga opens its doors and its heart to women in need. And for up to three months a year, 14 women and children from across the GTA, make it their home. Nisa Homes is the GTAs first transitional shelter specifically geared to serving Muslim women. The Mississauga location of Nisa which means women in Arabic opened its doors three years ago. There is also a location in Surrey, B.C., and plans are underway to launch one in Windsor by the end of the year. The home is open to any woman in need, but most of the clientele identify as Muslim. Many are recent immigrants, or refugees. Some are homeless, others are trying to leave behind abusive homes and start afresh. For a lot of the women here, they are not looking for a shelter in a traditional sense, said Yasmine Youssef, program manager for Nisa Homes. Many have recently left their partners, have been staying with friends or family members and are trying to figure out what to do. They are now looking for a place where they can get their lives in order, Youssef said. The project was started by an organization called the National Zakat Foundation, created to help Muslims in Canada distribute charity and alms a requirement of the faith to the needy across Canada. Zubair Qasim, executive director with NZF, said Nisa Homes was born out of conversations with community members about the fact Muslim women were underserved when it came to safe housing or shelter. Qasim said a quick needs assessment in 2012 found that while many mainstream shelters serve a diverse population, there were few centres that had the resources to address the specific cultural and religious needs of Muslim women, including the notion of stigma. Data on current shelters in the Greater Toronto Area reveal a limited amount of resources geared towards assisting Muslim women. Of the total of 21 shelters analyzed, one Muslim shelter was identified in the East Toronto area to have suitable arrangements for religious accommodations, researchers wrote in a feasibility report on the need for a Muslim shelter. Other shelters lack adequate immigration resources, prayer facilities and sometimes even language interpretation. Among the shelters they looked at were Anduhyaun, which serves Indigenous women and children, Jewish Family and Child, and the Muslim Welfare Home for Needy Women and Children in Durham, which serves a broader population and is the only emergency womens shelter in the municipality. Youssef says Nisa Homes is not an emergency shelter but serves as a place for women to figure out how to transition to safety. According to a Statistics Canada snapshot from 2014, of the nearly 8,000 women and children who accessed shelter facilities across the country, half went to transition homes, with 78 per cent fleeing abuse. Most of the women here dont have the immediate needs, said Youssef. A lot of them are looking for more long-term options. They are also looking for resources like mental health support, immigration advice, and legal and housing support, she said. We try to help them put these pieces into place. And they continue to follow-up for three months after the women move out. Many turn to Nisa Homes in hopes of finding cultural and religious sensitive supports. A lot of women are not reaching out for assistance because they are worried about experiencing drugs, alcohol to the point that some women stay in abusive situations for years because they would rather stay than access shelters, said Youssef. She said she has heard stories of women who had gone to other shelters having difficulty getting food during Ramadan, facing Islamophobic comments, or in one case, a woman who talked about her hijab getting pulled off her head, and in another, a woman who was horrified when an abusive client urinated on her prayer mat. Lots of situations where there is no understanding, it makes many women feel like, here I am leaving everything I know, and now I am being marginalized even further, she said. And studies show that using community and cultural supports are the best way to help women overcome trauma. Maryam, who stayed at Nisa Homes in 2015 after fleeing an abusive marriage, says she experienced a familiarity at the shelter she did not expect. I was reluctant to go to a shelter, and scared to be homeless, said Maryam, who asked that her real name not be used. But I was in distress. I didnt have family here, or much of a social circle. But when I arrived at the house, I felt immediately at ease. She said staff at the home checked in with her to make sure she was sleeping and eating, and gave her spiritual guidance when she needed it. Over the three months she was there, she wrote her final university exams, and completed her masters degree. Two years later, shes now living in Montreal, managed to secure an internship with the UN, and has a successful career. She says she cant imagine where she would have ended up without Nisa Homes. I cant even express what Nisa Homes did for me. They helped me look forward, instead of looking back, she said. Since 2014, the organization has helped more than 150 women across the country, said Youssef. But for every woman they help, there are 400 calls that we have gotten so far that we cant help mainly because we are full on any given day. And on any given day, there is a waitlist of at least five families trying to get in. The current home in Mississauga is a rental with six rooms. Some women have roommates. Others come with their families and take up half of the house. There are other limitations: The homes arent accessibility friendly. The organization doesnt yet have resources to support those with severe mental illness, or those who are fleeing dangerous situations. Youssef says telling women there is no space for them is as hard as hearing their stories. She recalls one recent phone call from an elderly woman, who said she was kicked out of her home by her adult children because she had severe depression and anxiety and had nowhere to go. But for every disappointment, there are happy stories too. During the recent influx of refugees from the U.S., the Surrey location was called upon by local agencies to take in families coming across the border. One day, the centre got a call to take in a family of nine including eight kids. They were the sweetest kids, they wouldnt even have lunch unless I sat with them, said Youssef. Months later when she checked in with the family, she was happy to hear they are thriving. The kids are all in school, she said. The eldest son has a job now. That family is doing so well now. Read more about: SHARE: In Parkdales red-hot rental market, four units in a seven-unit residential building at King Street West and Cowan Avenue sit empty. And theyve been vacant for months collateral in a dispute between tenants who dont want to leave and a landlord who wants to renovate. The building is owned by Paval Kanagathurai, who according to property records, purchased it in August 2017 for $2.85 million. Three remaining tenants occupying a two-bedroom and two bachelors have received notice to end their tenancies, so the landlord can begin major renovations. The tenants told the Star they dont intend to leave. Kanagathurai showed the Star the ground level and basement of the building, pointing out things he called unsafe rotting pipes, cables to nowhere, wet walls. Repairmen and pest control were present when the Star visited, and construction and repairs are underway. He declined to speak further, while his tenants have been adamant about their determination to stay. I dont want to leave, said Brandon Kennedy, whos lived in the building for three years. Right now we are organizing together and weve already held one demonstration against the landlord. On Oct. 13, the tenants delivered a letter to their landlords store, stating that they dont plan to vacate by the requested date of Dec. 31. Kennedy occupies a two-bedroom unit, but signed a lease for only one of the rooms. He pays $575 a month in rent. The occupants of two bachelor apartments, Phil Mac Innis and Kelly Goldfeder, pay $700 and $750 each a month, respectively. All utilities, except internet and cable, are included. Goldfeder said her units heat didnt turn on until March, and shes encountered mice and roaches. The tenants live on the upper two stories of the building. The ground floor is commercial, and tenants say a restaurant is being constructed there. Toronto realtor April Williams called monthly rent payments at those rates very low, since a bachelor goes for $1,100 on average. A nearby residential buildings for lease sign on the front lawn advertised a bachelor from $900 and a one bedroom from $1,300. Innis said hes fighting the eviction because the apartment on King St. W. is his home. If I lose this place, Im homeless, he said. Innis is an Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipient, and estimates that if hes forced to move, 85 to 90 per cent of his monthly income will go directly to rent. Cole Webber, a legal worker at Parkdale Community Legal Services, is assisting the tenants. What weve been seeing a lot of in Parkdale is small investors coming in and buying up the smaller buildings and houses, and then pushing out the longtime tenants in order to renovate and raise the rents on units, he said. The N-13 eviction notice issued to the tenants and provided to the Star by Webber, outlines the planned renovations: replace electric panels and cables, replace smoke and fire alarms, replace the roof and windows, separate the hydro meters, construct a laundry facility accessible to tenants and completely renovate all the units, including the bathroom and kitchen. Major repairs or renovations if they require a building permit and cant be done unless the unit is empty are a no-fault reason for ending a tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act. Tenants that are evicted for renovations have the right to move back in once renovations are complete. Steven Love, a volunteer with neighbourhood advocacy group Parkdale Organize, said Parkdale is being rebranded. Were so close to Liberty Village that theyre trying to rebrand it as a Liberty Village West, Love said. There are a lot of landlords that are starting these renovations, theyre starting to jack the rent, theyre trying to get a new clientele a different demographic, Love said. Not the demographic thats here, that exists in Parkdale and has historically existed in Parkdale. Its always been a working class neighbourhood. Love said hes paying $649 for a bachelor in a Parkdale apartment building hes lived in for five years. Today, a renovated bachelor unit in his building is $1,049 a month. Parkdale is just the last stand, he said. Once you take over Parkdale, theres really not another affordable neighbourhood in Toronto. SHARE: A Toronto police task force investigation into missing men Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen has been extended after police received over 150 leads and interviewed over two dozen peoplebut they still cant find a link to the two disappearances. Police said they will continue to keep an open mind to any possibilities of connections to the disappearances and a tip line for the investigation dubbed Project Houston has been set up. Its excruciating to know theres more information I dont know and that theres an explanation for the most confusing and alarming experience of my life, Kinsmans housemate Meaghan Marian told the Star. Im super grateful for the task force and Im more confident that were finally going to get some answers into the disappearances. She said she met with two task force officers Thursday morning and that shes grateful to the officers dedication to the search and the continuation of the extensive community outreach. Kinsman was last seen in June near Winchester and Parliament streets and Esen was last seen in April near Bloor and Yonge streets. A task force was created to investigate any links between the two disappearances after police met with over 200 concerned community members in August. Peter Code, lead inspector on Kinsmans case, told the Star that the communitys concern and outreach initiatives brought a lot of crucial information and tips flooded in to police but theres still nothing that suggests foul play. Marian first noticed Kinsmans disappearance when she woke up to a strangely quiet house one morning back in June. She said she didnt hear Kinsmans loud footsteps, the banging of pots and pans or him talking to himself as he usually does every morning in their house that is shared with 12 other occupants. After he wasnt replying to her texts or showing up for work at the People With AIDS Foundation, Marian called 51 division. Since Kinsmans disappearance, his friends, family and members of his Cabbagetown neighbourhood have scheduled regular searches and have updated the community in a Facebook group of over 500 membersand they dont plan on stopping. My way of coping is to mobilize. I couldnt stop if I wanted to, said Marian. Dwight Ferguson met Kinsman about 20 years ago in Hamilton, Ont. Thats also when Fergusons brother went missing in Texas. I was miles away so I couldnt do anything. I couldnt fly home until my brother had been found, which was a week later. He was dead. He drowned. So when Ferguson got a call that Kinsman was missing, his feelings were all too familiar. Except this time he could take action. I had a big break down early on because I felt like I wasnt doing enough. But doing something helps me deal with my brothers loss a lot more, he said. Marian said the focus now is organizing community outreach initiatives during Halloween when the Cabbagetown and Church and Wellesley areas are busy. Theres only one way that this resolves, and thats finding Andrew, said Marian. Toronto police are asking anyone with information to call 416-808-2021. SHARE: The idea of hiring a private contractor to wipe hard drives in the McGuinty premiers office was stupid and didnt warrant a warning, says the boss of Ontarios civil service during the gas plants documents scandal. Peter Wallace testified Wednesday at the criminal trial of two top Dalton McGuinty aides that the hiring mentioned by one of them former chief of staff David Livingston would be a huge departure from the standard procedure of using government technicians. I took this to be a passing frustration and a stupid comment, said Wallace, now city manager of Toronto. We did not take it seriously. The remarks came under cross-examination from Livingston lawyer Brian Gover, who suggested Wallace could have approached his client with any concerns after hearing about the hiring plan from a subordinate in January 2013. You never asked Mr. Livingston about that yourself, Gover said during an intense exchange with Wallace as the trial of Livingston and his deputy Laura Miller continued at Old City Hall. Millers life partner, Peter Faist, was eventually hired and paid $10,000 for the computer job. There were several days you could have had that conversation, added Gover, who noted Wallace himself told police investigators he knew Livingston was royally pissed off with government IT service. But Wallace said there were limits to how far he could go in interactions with McGuintys most senior political aide at a time when Queens Park was gripped by a political firestorm. The period was marked by opposition accusations the Liberal government was covering up the political reasons for scrapping gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga by saying it had no such documents demanded by a legislative committee in a legal order. The furor prompted McGuintys resignation. I would never, ever approach a member of the premiers office from a supervisory perspective, said Wallace, who agreed to grant Livingston a special password allowing widespread computer access. Wallace said Livingston told him it was to erase personal and non-sensitive information before Wynnes team took over. Livingston and Miller have pleaded not guilty to charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system in the alleged wiping of hard drives. They face up to 10 years in prison. Gover also questioned why Wallace, who engineered a memo to Livingston warning of the responsibility of the premiers office to preserve official records of government decisions, did not mention in the memo the need to use government computer technicians. It never occurred to me, said Wallace, who had a more colourful explanation for the memo in an October 2013 interview with OPP investigators on the subject of hiring an outsider. Thats such a piece of s---. Like, Im not going to write you a memo saying dont do that, because you already know dont do that, according to court documents reported by the Star at the time. Miller lawyer Scott Hutchison asked Wallace in court Wednesday if hed ever heard the acronym CYA popularly known as cover your a--. Wallace replied that his efforts to stress the importance of preserving records of government decisions were part and parcel of trying to ensure a smooth transition (to the Wynne administration) at a difficult timethat is not CYA. Read more about: SHARE: In a rare show of unity, all three major Ontario political parties have denounced Quebecs controversial new law, which targets Muslim women. One day after Quebecs Liberal government passed a law prohibiting anyone from getting or performing a public service with their face covered, MPPs at Queens Park expressed their collective outrage. We have a very close working relationship with Quebec. But on this issue, we fundamentally do not agree, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday. Forcing people to show their faces when they ride the bus, banning women from wearing a niqab when they pick up a book from the library will only divide us, Wynne told the hushed chamber. Sometimes life in a diverse society is uncomfortable and that is exactly when it is even more important that we work to understand each other. Religious freedom is part of our identity, she said. Every one of us should be able to live our lives and go about our days and practice what we believe without discrimination and without fear. This is the kind of actions that drives wedges in communities. Although Wynne is close to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, she said his provinces Bill 62 would disproportionately affect women, who are sometimes already at the margins, and push them into further isolation. They are our neighbours the grandmother who, if she lived in Quebec, would no longer be able to drop off her granddaughter at a city-run daycare or a mother who would not be able to bring her children to a hospital to see the doctor. That is not the kind of society that we stand for in Ontario. Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) said her party stands shoulder to shoulder with Ontarios governing Liberals on this issue. The law brought in by the Liberal government in Quebec has no place in Ontario indeed, it has no place in Canada, MacLeod said. All Canadians have a legal right to their religious beliefs, including in the province of Quebec, she said. MacLeod emphasized that there is no place for two-tiered citizenship in Canada. Whether you wear a cross, a turban, a hijab, a kippah or any other religious symbol, you should never be denied any public service in the province of Ontario or anywhere else in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he respects Quebec?s right to pass a law against people receiving public services with their faces covered, but he says many ?questions are being asked,? now that Bill 62 has passed. (The Canadian Pr NDP MPP Peggy Sattler (London West) called the Quebec law an unprecedented action in Canada. Many academics and legal scholars across the country have raised concerns that Bill 62 is a fundamental violation of human rights that will be found to be unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, she said. Sattler said the law is misogynistic and undermines womens rights to autonomy over their own bodies. There is no circumstance in Ontario in which anyone should ever be able to tell a woman what she can or cannot wear, whether high heels at work or a veil on a bus, she said. Despite the guise of religious neutrality, Quebecs legislation appears to be targeted primarily at Muslim women wearing the niqab or burka. This is a dangerous law that compromises rather than protects public safety. Officially, Bill 62 is the Quebec Liberals bid to underscore that that province is a secular place that does not promote any religion. That ignores the fact that there is a massive Catholic cross hanging in the National Assembly chamber in Quebec City where the legislation was passed. Read more about: SHARE: Ontario will have to raise taxes dramatically or slash spending to meet its long-term financial targets, the provinces fiscal watchdog warns. In a 65-page report to the Legislature released Thursday, the financial accountability office (FAO) warned that Ontarios aging population will put a squeeze on provincial coffers. Over the next three decades, as the baby-boom cohort transitions from working age to retirement and eventually into old age, Ontario will experience significant changes in its population and economy, said J. David Wake, the acting financial accountability officer. Without government action, these demographic changes will slow revenue growth and increase spending, leading to large and rising budget deficits, he said at Queens Park. The baby-boom generation, accounting for over one-quarter of Ontarios population, will be between 55 and 75 years old by 2020 and in the process of gradually transitioning out of the labour force. This transition is expected to lead to slower growth in employment and overall income, Wakes report noted. As the baby-boomers continue to age, they will require more resources from Ontarios health care system, increasing pressure on government spending. Wake said Ontarios current net debt-to-gross domestic product ratio of about 40 per cent will skyrocket to 63 per cent by 2050-51. Thats far in excess of the Liberal governments target of a net debt-to-GDP ratio of 27 per cent. Read more: Ontario economy outpacing G7 nations, finance minister says Canadian incomes jump, Ontario residents hit by manufacturing downturn: Statistics Canada One of Canadas fastest growing economies is in Oshawa The FAO estimated that to meet that target, Queens Park would have to fill an annual hole of about $6.5 billion. This . . . is roughly equivalent to removing funding for about 40 per cent of the provinces hospitals, or raising the harmonized sales tax rate by 2 percentage points or a 25-per-cent increase in federal government transfers to Ontario, the office said. Finance Minister Charles Sousa conceded, The FAO is correct in recognizing that changing demographics will have an impact on the Ontario economy. This is a reality that is faced by many other jurisdictions, including most OECD countries. Thats why we took a leadership role in negotiations with the federal government to enhance the Canada Pension Plan and to increase health care transfers in order to transform our provinces health care system to better respond to the evolving needs of the people of Ontario. But Sousa pointed out that Ontarios GDP grew by 2.7 per cent last year, better than all the G7 countries and almost twice the rate of growth of Canada. Balancing the budget has added stability to Ontarios finances and positions the government to better respond to demographic challenges and unexpected global economic shocks that the province may face in the future, he said. We will continue to manage any global economic challenges that arise along the way. But Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli (Nipissing) said the FAOs report paints a bleak and stark long-term budget outlook for Ontario. The government continues to insist theyre on track even though they use the same data the Financial Accountability Officer used. The FAO clearly stated, without an adjustment to Ontarios fiscal policy, we will see increasing budget deficits and higher levels of debt, said Fedeli. Perhaps worst of all, the FAO says continuing on this course will unfairly shift the fiscal burden from baby boomers to younger Ontarians. Read more about: SHARE: BOSTONA man who authorities say fell under the influence of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was convicted Wednesday of plotting to behead a conservative American blogger for organizing a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest. Jurors found David Wright guilty of all charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. The 28-year-old from Everett, Massachusetts, faces up to life in prison when hes sentenced in December. Federal officials called Wrights conviction a victory for America in its fight against terrorism. We can all sleep better now knowing that David Wright, a person who wanted to kill in the name of (Daesh), will no longer be free to walk the streets of the Commonwealth, said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Peter Kowenhoven. Prosecutors said Wright, his uncle and a third man conspired to kill blogger Pamela Geller because they were upset she organized Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas in 2015. During the contest, two other men opened fire outside and wounded a security guard before they were killed in a shootout with law enforcement assigned to guard the event. Read more: Muhammad cartoon contest shootings bring Pamela Geller back into spotlight Wrights uncle, Ussamah Rahim, told Wright on a recorded phone call later that month that he couldnt wait to attack Geller and decided instead to go after those boys in blue, referring to police. Wright told his uncle that was beautiful and encouraged him to delete all the data from his computer before carrying out his attack. Hours later, Rahim was shot and killed by authorities after he lunged at them with a knife when they approached him in Boston. The attack on Geller, who has spearheaded scores of events across the nation to decry Islamic extremism, was never carried out. She didnt testify at the trial. Geller said she is thrilled with the verdict and deeply grateful to the good people of Boston who were on the jury. Wright cried on the stand when he spoke of his uncle, insisting that he didnt think Rahim was serious about the attack. Wright, who was more than 500 pounds (227 kilograms) and spent much of his time playing video games in 2015, testified that he used Daesh propaganda to get attention but that it was just a fantasy. I didnt want my uncle to get hurt. I didnt want law enforcement to get hurt, Wright said. I lost someone who was very close to me because I was so deluded and self-centred that I couldnt see beyond my own need for attention. Wrights attorney said they are disappointed in the verdict and heartbroken for Wright and his family, but plan to appeal. We are not finished, said Jessica Hedges. Prosecutors said Wright was the leader of the conspiracy and recruited his uncle and others to help him wage war on the U.S. Wrights uncle received directions about the plan to kill Geller from Junaid Hussain, a Daesh member and hacker who was later killed in an airstrike in Syria, prosecutors said. Wright conducted online research for guns, swords and tranquilizers that put people to sleep instantly. He created a Twitter page seeking recruits for their martyrdom operation cell, collected a trove of horrific Daesh documents and videos and created a manifesto warning that Americas days are numbered, prosecutors said. Wrights uncle bought three large knives one for each of them for their attack on Geller, authorities say. These were not just words, as the defence argued, William Weinreb, acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, told reporters after the verdict. This wasnt fantasy. It was real. The third man accused in the plot, Nicholas Rovinski, of Warwick, Rhode Island, testified against Wright after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy charges. Rovinski faces 15 to 22 years in prison. Read more about: SHARE: Its de facto capital is falling. Its territory has shrivelled from the size of Portugal to a handful of outposts. Its surviving leaders are on the run. But rather than declare Daesh, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State, and its virulent ideology conquered, many Western and Arab counterterrorism officials are bracing for a new, lethal incarnation of the jihadi group. The organization has a proven track record as an insurgency able to withstand major military onslaughts while still recruiting adherents around the world ready to kill in its name. Read more: U.S.-backed forces take full control of Syrias Raqqa from Daesh, commander says Iraq secures control of all oilfields held by separatist Kurds Distinctions of terrorism matter: Analysis Daesh leaders signalled more than a year ago that they had drawn up contingency plans to revert to their roots as a guerrilla force after the loss of their territory in Iraq and Syria. Nor does the group need to govern cities to inspire so-called lone wolf terrorist attacks abroad, a strategy it has already adopted to devastating effect in Manchester, England, and Orlando, Fla. Islamic State is not finished, said Aaron Zelin, who studies jihadi movements at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. I.S. has a plan, and that is to wait out their enemies locally in order to gain time to rebuild their networks while at the same time provide inspiration to followers outside to keep fighting their enemies farther away. Even with the news this week that U.S.-backed forces said they had captured Raqqa, the capital of the groups self-declared caliphate, European counterterrorism officials were worrying about sleeper cells that may have been sent out well before the battlefield losses mounted. In Iraq, where the group that became Daesh took root, security officials are bracing for future waves of suicide attacks against civilians. And even if governments are able to head off organized plots like the Paris attacks of 2015, officials around the globe concede that they have almost no way of stopping lone wolf assaults inspired or enabled by Daesh propaganda that lives online. It is clear that we are contending with an intense U.K. terrorist threat from Islamist extremists, Andrew Parker, the director of Britains MI5 intelligence service, said in a speech on Tuesday. That threat is multi-dimensional, evolving rapidly, and operating at a scale and pace weve not seen before. The groups ability to weld religious fervour to the political resentments of disenfranchised Sunni Muslims in Shiite-dominated Iraq already saved it once, when it appeared broken by the U.S. military surge in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. By the time U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011, intelligence officials estimated that the Daeshs predecessor, then called the Islamic State of Iraq, was down to its last 700 fighters. The group was considered such a minor threat that the reward offered by the United States for the capture of its leader plummeted from $5 million (U.S.) to $100,000. It took less than three years for those beaten-down and diminished insurgents to regroup and roar across Iraq and Syria, declaring an Islamic caliphate from the Mediterranean coast of Syria nearly to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. It became both the worlds wealthiest terrorist group, and the most feared. Even with the loss of most of that territory, the organization is far from defeated, and remains far stronger today than it did when U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq. The group currently has from 6,000 to 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, the U.S.-led coalition said on Friday. That is eight to 14 times the number it had in 2011. Thats the relevant comparison, said Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institutions Center for Middle East Policy who tracks jihadi groups. This is a very strong group which has a lot of sympathizers, its ideas are embedded and it has networks. It has a lot to draw on even as it loses its physical territory. The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces battling Daesh in Syria say they have captured the city hospital in Raqqa, which served as a headquarters for Daesh. (The Associated Press) The group has also developed a powerful social media network that with no physical presence allows it to spew propaganda, claim responsibility for terrorist attacks and not just inspire attacks but also help plot and execute them remotely. A large share of its attacks in the West in recent years have been carried out by men who communicated online with Daesh, taking detailed instructions through encrypted messages but never meeting their terrorist mentors. The first major attack in the United States claimed by Daesh, a foiled shooting at a Texas community centre in 2015, was directed this way, according to a recent assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Daesh may also have undercover operatives or sleeper cells outside the Middle East. Senior U.S. officials said last year that the group had sent hundreds of operatives to Europe and hundreds more to Turkey. And the group has continued to sow chaos even as it has lost territory. In 2017 alone, it has claimed responsibility for three terrorist attacks in Britain that killed 37 people, the Istanbul nightclub bombing on New Years Eve that killed 39 people and strikes in more than seven other countries. As the group was losing Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, in August, it sent a van tearing through crowds in the heart of Barcelona, killing 13 people and loudly declaring its continued relevance. It is also premature to assert that the Daesh is running out of territory. While its footprint has shrunk in Iraq and Syria, it still controls close to 10,000 square kilometres along the Euphrates River Valley on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border. U.S. and Iraqi military commanders believe the groups core leaders have gone to ground in the largely barren areas along the border. At the same time, Daesh branches in North Africa and Asia are still launching operations, and its camps in eastern Afghanistan remain largely intact, despite recent U.S. airstrikes. Some areas that were previously declared liberated have seen a return of Daesh fighters. In Libya, where the group was routed from a 160-kilometre stretch of coastline in late 2016, the militants recently posted a video showing their fighters manning a new checkpoint. And far from its roots in the Middle East, the group continues to grow in other corners of the world, including in the Philippines, where a local affiliate held the town of Marawi for months, and in West Africa, where the militants continue to grow their ranks, encroaching on areas formerly under Al Qaedas grasp. If Daesh does decline, other jihadi organizations are poised to fill the vacuum. Al Qaeda, whose appeal to young fighters had been largely been eclipsed by the tech-savvy new caliphate of Daesh, is vying for a comeback. The reason that the I.S. gained a big following quickly was that it appealed to the hotheads, those looking for instant gratification, said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who monitors terrorist groups. That caliphate model is all gone, but Al Qaeda remains. The older group has been urging followers to pivot from Daeshs focus on the battlefields of the Middle East and instead put an emphasis on attacks in the United States and other foreign lands. It has also been promoting a younger, charismatic new leader: Hamza bin Laden, 27, the son of Osama. Read more about: SHARE: A federal judge in Maryland early Wednesday issued a second halt on the latest version of President Donald Trumps travel ban, asserting that the presidents own comments on the campaign trail and on Twitter convinced him that the directive was akin to an unconstitutional Muslim ban. U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang issued a somewhat less complete halt on the ban than his counterpart in Hawaii did a day earlier, blocking the administration from enforcing the directive only on those who lacked a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the U.S., such as family members or some type of professional or other engagement in the United States. But in some ways, Chuangs ruling was more personally cutting to Trump, as he said the presidents own words cast his latest attempt to impose a travel blockade as the inextricable reanimation of the twice-enjoined Muslim ban. Read More: Federal judge blocks third version of Donald Trumps travel ban hours before it was to take effect Trump offered a grieving military father $25,000 in a call, but didnt follow through Trump did disrespect my son: Mother backs report of presidents horrible call to soldiers widow The third iteration of Trumps travel ban had been set to go fully into effect early Wednesday, barring various types of travellers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela. Even before Chuangs ruling, though, a federal judge in Hawaii stopped it at least temporarily for all of the countries except North Korea and Venezuela. That judge, Derrick K. Watson, blocked the administration from enforcing the measure on anyone from the six countries, not just those with a bona fide U.S. tie. But his ruling did not address whether Trumps intent in imposing the directive was to discriminate against Muslims. He said the president had merely exceeded the authority Congress had given him in immigration law. The Justice Department already had vowed to appeal Watsons ruling, which the White House said undercuts the Presidents efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States. Both Watsons temporary restraining order and Chuangs preliminary injunction are also interim measures, meant to maintain the status quo as the parties continue to argue the case. The administration had cast the new measure as one that was necessary for national security, implemented only after officials conducted an extensive review of the information they needed to vet those coming to the U.S. Those countries that were either unwilling or unable to produce such information even after negotiation, officials have said, were included on the banned list. These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation, the White House said after Watsons ruling. We are therefore confident that the Judiciary will ultimately uphold the Presidents lawful and necessary action and swiftly restore its vital protections for the safety of the American people. Like Watsons order, Chuangs 91-page ruling also found Trump had exceeded his authority under immigration law, but only partially. The order which has no specified end date and no requirement of renewal violated a non-discrimination provision in the law in that it blocked immigrants to the U.S. based on their nationality, Chuang wrote. But Chuang said he could not determine, as Watson did, that Trump had violated a different part of federal immigration law requiring him to find entry of certain non-immigrant travellers would be detrimental to U.S. interests before blocking them. Chuang instead based much of his ruling on his assessment that Trump intended to ban Muslims, and thus his order had run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. When he was a presidential candidate in December 2015, Chuang wrote, Trump had promised a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, and all of his comments since then seemed to indicate his various travel bans were meant to fulfil that promise. After his second ban was blocked, Chuang wrote, Trump described the measure as a watered down version of his initial measure, adding, we ought (to) go back to the first one and go all the way, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. The president had then revoked and replaced his first travel ban, which had also been held up in court. In August, with courts still weighing the second version, Chuang noted that Trump endorsed what appears to be an apocryphal story involving General John J. Pershing and a purported massacre of Muslims with bullets dipped in a pigs blood, advising people to (s)tudy what General Pershing . . . did to terrorists when caught. In September, as authorities worked on a new directive, Trump wrote on Twitter the travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific but stupidly, that would not be politically correct! Chuang had pressed challengers at a hearing this week on what the government would have to do to make the new ban legal, and he noted in his ruling that the new directive had changed from the previous iterations. The government, for example, had undertaken a review process before inking the new measure and had added two non-Muslim majority countries to the banned list. But Chuang wrote that he was unmoved that government had simply relied on the results of their review, and instead believed they made certain subjective determinations that resulted in a disproportionate impact on majority-Muslim nations. He wrote that the government offered no evidence, even in the form of classified information submitted to the Court, showing an intelligence-based terrorism threat justifying a ban on entire nationalities, and asserted that even the new measure generally resembles President Trumps earlier description of the Muslim ban. The initial announcement of the Muslim ban, offered repeatedly and explicitly through President Trumps own statements, forcefully and persuasively expressed his purpose in unequivocal terms, Chuang wrote. The suit in federal court in Maryland had been brought by 23 advocacy groups and seven people who said they would be negatively impacted by the new ban. Read more about: SHARE: Theyre handing out Gators not haters T-shirts and taking selfies with them. Theyre creating hashtags and videos and posters. Theyre marching and shouting through bullhorns. And theyre asking for classes to be cancelled Thursday, when a white nationalist is set to speak on campus. Richard Spencer, who led a torchlight march through the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on a weekend that turned increasingly violent as white supremacists clashed with counterprotesters, is scheduled to give a speech at the University of Florida on Thursday. Police are gathering on the Gainesville campus, and students are leading protest efforts on multiple fronts. Some are trying to drown out the message of his National Policy Institute with their words, some are demanding that he not be allowed to speak, some are planning to avoid the campus entirely. On Tuesday night, students filled a student government meeting, with 50 waiting outside, to demand that classes be cancelled Thursday. School officials have given permission for student and employee absences to be excused Thursday, but classes are continuing. The school is giving Spencer the right to speak, said Ardyst Zigler, a senior from Orlando. But I think the safety and well-being of students should come before anything else, she said. Their next mission, Zigler said, is to pass on the message so that other universities at which Spencer plans to speak are aware of the options and other protests, she said, so theres a network of students who have each others backs. No Nazis at UF issued a call to action urging people to gather at noon on Thursday at the performing arts centre. More than 3,500 people had signed an online petition to be delivered to the universitys president, calling the decision to allow Spencer to speak on campus abhorrent and unacceptable. This event is an opportunity for the alt-right, neo-Nazis and active Ku Klux Klan in Florida to rally on campus and intimidate students as well as Gainesville residents, the protesters wrote. This decision is not just about free speech; it is about student safety. On Monday, people shouted Not in our town, not in our state! We wont have your Nazi hate! as they marched to the university administration building, seeking to talk to the president. (And then, as they waited outside, they chanted, Youll talk to Nazis but not to students?) University officials announced that student leaders would host a virtual assembly at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, while Spencers event is taking place. The videos and performances are meant to get people talking about diversity on campus and bring the community together. They will also raise money to help students in need. We want to recognize that individuals can disagree and still maintain the same respect and understanding for one another, said Ianne Itchon, a student leader helping plan the campaign. We are seeking to rally students against hate and all its forms and to provide platforms for community action and education. SHARE: BOSTONA federal appeals court refused Wednesday to revive a defamation lawsuit filed against Bill Cosby by a woman who said he raped her decades ago. A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a lower court ruling dismissing Kathrine McKees lawsuit against Cosby. The former actress said Cosby defamed her in a letter that his lawyer sent to the New York Daily News demanding a retraction of a 2014 story about McKees rape allegations. The judge who dismissed McKees case said the letter was protected by the First Amendment. McKee, who said Cosby raped her in a Detroit hotel room in 1974, was among dozens of women who came forward with allegations against the actor once known as Americas Dad for his TV role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable. Cosby has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Read more: Cosbys wife lashes out after sex-assault case declared mistrial Cosby accuser tells court she was drugged, assaulted by comedian Alan Greenberg, an attorney for Cosby, said in an email that they are pleased with the appeals courts well-reasoned decision confirming that there was no defamation. An attorney for McKee did not immediately respond to an email on Wednesday. McKees lawyer argued earlier this month that McKee does not have to prove actual malice because she is not a public figure. To show actual malice, she would have to prove Cosby knew statements in the letter were false or entertained serious doubts as to whether they might be true. But the appeals court said McKee became a public figure when she went public with the rape allegations in the newspaper. McKee took concerted steps meant to influence the publics perception of whether Cosby was, in fact, a sexual predator, Judge Sandra Lynch wrote for the panel. A separate defamation lawsuit filed by seven other women also is pending in Massachusetts, where Cosby owns a home. The 80-year-old has filed a counter lawsuit accusing those women of defamation. The only criminal case against Cosby ended in a mistrial in Pennsylvania in June. Cosby is expected to be retried in April on charges that he drugged and molested an employee of Temple University, his alma mater. Cosby insists their encounter was consensual. Read more about: SHARE: JERUSALEMU.S. President Donald Trumps Mideast envoy said on Thursday that if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government, it must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel demands the Islamic militant group has always rejected. Jason Greenblatts statement was the first American comment on the advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties including to disarm terrorists and commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements, Greenblatt said in a statement. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah-led forces in 2007, leaving Abbas only in control of autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Past attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed. But after a decade-long blockade by Israel and Egypt, and three wars with Israel, Hamas has said it is ready to compromise. Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week reached a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues, most notably who will control Hamas massive arsenal. The deal has yet to be implemented. Later Thursday, Greenblatt arrived in Cairo for talks on the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, Egyptian and American officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Greenblatt has been shuttling through the region in search of a formula to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which last broke down in 2014. His statement Thursday reiterated longstanding demands of Hamas by the international community. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said this week there would be no talks with the Palestinians unless Hamas agrees to the same conditions. Netanyahu, who welcomed Greenblatts statement, has made some additional demands, including that Hamas disarm and return the remains of two Israeli soldiers and send back two Israeli civilians believed to be in Hamas captivity. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and other Western nations, does not plan to officially be part of the next government. The Palestinians appear to be hopeful that this will be enough to satisfy the international community. However, Hamas has said it will not dismantle its powerful military wing, and it is likely to wield influence behind the scenes. In a statement, Hamas said it rejected the extortion and American bias toward the Israeli positions expressed by Jason Greenblatt. Hamas will go ahead in the reconciliation and will not pay attention to any attempt to sabotage or block this track, it said. Abbas seeks an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel captured the territories in 1967, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. With peace efforts on hold, Israel this week pushed plans ahead for roughly 3,000 new homes in West Bank settlements, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group. The planned units are scattered throughout the West Bank and at various stages of approval. Peace Now estimated that roughly 700 of them can be built immediately. According to Peace Now, Israel has currently advanced plans for over 6,700 homes this year. That is more than double the number of last year and triple the 2015 level. It also is higher than the 6,293 units advanced in 2014. The Palestinians and most of the international community consider settlements to be illegal and obstacles to peace. Israel says their fate should be determined in negotiations. Abbas spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the settlement plans are putting Trumps peace efforts in jeopardy. Netanyahu is defying the world, especially Trumps administration, by insisting on building settlements on the land of the state of Palestine, he said. In a departure from Barack Obamas opposition to all settlement construction, Trump has taken a different approach, urging restraint by Israel but also saying a freeze on building is unnecessary. Anat Ben Nun, a spokeswoman for Peace Now, said that Trumps approach, along with the international communitys focus on other issues, such as the international refugee crisis, has resulted in less pressure on Israel and encouraged construction. This is definitely affecting the freedom of the Netanyahu government to develop settlements more rapidly, she said. West Bank settlers, meanwhile, say Netanyahu is not doing enough. They accuse him of using inflated numbers of preliminary approvals to appease his hard-line base when the actual number of homes that can be built is much smaller. Hundreds of building tenders cannot fill the demand for the thousands that are needed across Judea and Samaria. Limiting Jewish building in Judea will not bring us closer to peace, said Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, which represents the more than 400,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Judea and Samaria are the biblical terms for the West Bank. The White House had no immediate comment on the latest settlement plans. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONIts known as some of the saddest ground in America, a six-hectare plot of Arlington National Cemetery called Section 60 where many U.S. personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are interred. On Memorial Day this year, U.S. President Donald Trump and the man who would be his chief of staff visited Grave 9480, the final resting place of Robert Kelly, a Marine killed Nov. 9, 2010, in Afghanistan. We grieve with you. We honour you. And we pledge to you that we will always remember Robert and what he did for all of us, Trump said, singling out the Kelly family during his remarks to the nation that day. Turning to Roberts father, then the secretary of homeland security, Trump added, Thank you, John. The quiet tribute contrasts with Trumps messy brawl this week with critics of his handling of condolences to Gold Star families who, like Kelly, have lost people to recent warfare. Trump brought up the loss of Kellys son as part of an attack on former president Barack Obama, dragging the familys searing loss into a political fight over who has consoled grieving families better. Kelly has not commented on the controversy, but it was exactly the sort of public attention to a personal tragedy that the reserved, retired Marine general would abhor. White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged Kelly was disgusted that the condolence calls had been politicized, but said she was not certain if the chief of staff knew Trump was going to talk about his son publicly. Trump sparked the controversy during an interview Tuesday with Fox News Radio. Asked whether hed called the families of Americans killed in Niger nearly two weeks before, Trump replied, You could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? On Wednesday, a CNN report citing multiple unnamed White House officials said Kelly was caught off guard by Trumps comment. Kelly had told Trump that Obama did not call, but had never thought the president would raise that information publicly, the report said. Trumps remark set many in the military community seething. Kelly is the most senior U.S. military officer to lose a child in Iraq or Afghanistan. I would be surprised if he comes in and starts allowing people to use his family as a tool, said Charles C. Krulak, a former Marine Corps commandant who has known John Kelly since the mid-1990s. There was a sense among some that Trumps words were not an appropriate part of the national political dialogue. If there is one sacred ground in politics it should be the ultimate sacrifices made by our military, wrote Chuck Hagel, a defence secretary under Obama and before that, a Republican U.S. senator. In an email to The Associated Press, Hagel added: To use General Kelly and his family in this disgusting political way is sickening and beneath every shred of decency of presidential leadership. Trump has had a fraught relationship with grieving Gold Star families since the 2016 campaign, when he feuded with the parents of slain Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Now the commander-in-chief, Trump ranked himself above his predecessors on such matters, insisting this week that hes called every family of someone whos died, while past presidents didnt place such calls. But The Associated Press found relatives of soldiers who died overseas during Trumps presidency who said they never received calls from him, and more who said they did not receive letters. As for whether Obama called Kelly, White House officials said later that Obama did not call Kelly, but White House visitor logs show that Kelly and his wife attended the Obamas lunch with Gold Star families. The public controversy has to have been painful for Kelly, whose son had been awarded the Purple Heart. The White House chief of staff is a military veteran of more than four decades who has rarely discussed his sons death and refused to politicize it. Robert Kelly, 29, was killed when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistans remote Helmand province. His father, aware that Robert Kelly accompanied almost every patrol with his men through mine-filled battlefields, had just days before warned the family of the potential danger, according to a report in the Washington Post. When Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. rang the elder Kellys doorbell at 6:10 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2010, John Kelly knew Robert was dead, according to the report. Four days later, the grieving father with the four-decade military career asked a Marine Corps officer not to mention Roberts death during an event in St. Louis. There, without mentioning Robert, John Kelly delivered an impassioned speech about the disconnect between military personnel and members of American society who do not support their mission. Their struggle is your struggle, Kelly said. We are only one of 5,500 American families who have suffered the loss of a child in this war, Kelly wrote to the Post in an email. The death of my boy simply cannot be made to seem any more tragic than the others. In March 2011, Kelly accompanied his boss, then defence secretary Bob Gates, on a visit to the Sangin district, in Helmand province the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the war and where Robert Kelly had been killed. As Gates senior military assistant, Kelly stood silently among young Marines gathering under a harsh sun as Gates applauded what they had accomplished. Your success, obviously, has come at an extraordinary price, Gates said without mentioning names. Ahead of Trump and Kellys visit to Roberts grave on Memorial Day, Kellys voice caught when he was asked on Fox & Friends to describe his son. Hes the finest man I ever knew, Kelly said. Asked to elaborate, Kelly struggled at first. Just is. Finest guy. Wonderful guy. Wonderful husband, wonderful son, wonderful brother. Brave beyond all get out. His men still correspond with us. They still mourn him as we do. Read more about: SHARE: ISLAMABADNawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan until he was forced from office over corruption allegations in July, was indicted Thursday along with two other family members on corruption charges. The charges stem from revelations contained in the Panama Papers that Sharif family members owned expensive residential properties in London that were not properly reported under Pakistani disclosure rules. Sharifs daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who in recent months had become a senior leadership figure in the familys political party, was also indicted, along with her husband, Muhammad Safdar. Two sons who were mentioned in the Panama Papers were not indicted. The criminal indictment, brought by an anticorruption court that took up the case on orders from the Supreme Court, is the latest blow to a politician who served three terms as prime minister and helped define the Pakistani political mainstream. Sharifs latest stint in office began with a strong election showing in 2013, when he promised to take on the countrys all-powerful military establishment and moved to impose civilian authority in areas long run by the generals, including foreign policy. But long before he was forced out by the Supreme Court, the military had the upper hand yet again. And the judiciarys actions against him and his family were widely seen as being supported by the armys top ranks. Military officials have denied those accusations. Although some Pakistani politicians have hailed the court rulings as bold moves to fight corruption and impunity for the powerful, Sharifs supporters insist that the judiciary was overstepping its role and was carrying out a political vendetta on behalf of the military and Sharifs rivals. The Panama Papers, documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm that catered to the worlds wealthy and powerful, revealed that three of Sharifs children controlled shell companies through which they owned expensive residential properties in London. The revelations set off political turmoil and ultimately led the Supreme Court to disqualify him from office and order a criminal investigation into his behaviour. The Supreme Court had faulted the Sharif family for failing to provide documentation of the money they used to buy their London apartments. Investigators found that they were living beyond their means, and several of the documents they produced were declared fake or insufficient. The Panama Papers project, which involved the collaboration of 100 media outlets, including the Star, won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting last spring. The team of journalists from 80 countries poured over 11.5 million leaked files amassed from Mossack Fonseca the law firm at the pit of the international white-collar crime scandal specializing in the development of offshore agencies. Read more: Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia filed her final blog post criticizing Maltese government officials. Thirty minutes later she was dead Sharif was in London when he was indicted, visiting his wife, who is undergoing medical treatment, his aides said. After the original court ruling disqualifying him from holding a seat in Parliament, Sharif went to Lahore, his hometown. Upon his arrival, his vehicle was swarmed by thousands of supporters, in a show of continuing political support for the Sharif family and their political party, PML-N. Safdar, Sharifs son-in-law, was arrested this month at Islamabads main airport as he and Maryam Sharif were returning to Pakistan. He was released on bail after the couple appeared before an anticorruption court. Speaking to reporters later, Maryam Sharif said she had strongest reservations over the court cases against her family but still decided to appear before the court. We are not the ones to be afraid of arrests, she said. Read more about: SHARE: MILANMaltese authorities faced mounting pressure Thursday to ensure an independent investigation into the slaying of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was known for her fearless reporting on corruption in the small Mediterranean island nation. The 53-year-old journalists three grown sons called on Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to resign, saying he should take political responsibility for failing to uphold our fundamental freedoms by not rooting out corruption. A group of UN human rights experts also demanded that the government of Malta honour its commitment to a prompt, independent investigation into the journalists assassination Monday in a powerful car bomb. Read more: Maltese investigative journalist killed in car bomb after publishing final blog Muscat, in Brussels for a European Union leaders summit, did not respond directly to the familys call for his resignation, but he denied their allegations that Malta is a mafia state. Definitely not. I dont want to be rushed into commenting on the comments and statements of a son who is in mourning, Muscat told reporters. If I had found my mother butchered in a bomb attack, probably I would have said worse. Muscat has denounced the assassination and has proposed a reward to find her killers. He pledged to leave no stone unturned in the investigation, which is being assisted by the FBI, Scotland Yard, Europol and Dutch forensic experts. At a press conference, Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar said collecting evidence from the scene could take weeks. He said FBI and Dutch experts were brought in because we felt we could have difficulties lifting evidence. The situation is very fragile and we cannot reveal details, he said. My main focus is to solve this crime, which he described as macabre. Investigators are still working to determine the type of explosive and how the bomb was triggered. Caruana Galizia was one of Muscats harshest critics, revealing connections by his wife and members of his government to shell companies in Panama. The Muscats have denied the allegations. Caruana Galizia was also strong in her criticism of Maltas opposition politicians. In a Facebook post, her sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia said they werent endorsing Muscats call for a reward, saying we are not interested in justice without change. We are not interested in a criminal conviction, only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mothers murder to turn around and say that justice has been served, they said. Her sons wrote that identifying their mothers assassins was not enough they said corruption on the island nation also needed to be rooted out. The UN experts said that the familys concerns about the independence of the investigation should be taken seriously. We are pleased that the Maltese authorities have initiated an investigation into the murder, they said. We now urge a prompt, thorough and independent public inquiry and investigation, followed by a full judicial process to hold all the perpetrators to account. On Thursday, some 200 journalists rallied in support of the slain journalist. The Institute of Maltese Journalists has filed a court case seeking to ensure source confidentiality on all data that is lifted from Caruana Galizias computers and mobile phones during the homicide investigation. Investigators, meanwhile, were looking at similarities with other car bombings in Malta over the last two years six in all, including Caruana Galizias. None have been solved. Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the Malta Independent it appears that mobile-detonated explosives were used in each of the six bombings since the start of 2016, which caused four deaths and two serious injuries. The previous victims were all known to police, the paper said. Very few people could construct such a bomb. Instructions may be obtained online but building such a device would still require a certain degree of skill, Rizzo said. While the type of explosive remains unknown, experts say military grade explosives like Semtex are not available in Malta and would have had to be brought in from abroad. Muscat defended his governments failure to solve the rash of car bombings. In all, there have been over 30 in the last 15 years on the island. I will continue to defend the institutions, he said. SHARE: WILMINGTON, DEL.A witness to the deadly rampage inside a Maryland granite company said Thursday that the suspect, Radee Prince, had gathered a small group of his co-workers together by saying come with me, I want to say something to everybody. Without another word, he opened fire. The witness, a man who worked at the countertop making company for a year and a half, said when Prince arrived on Wednesday morning he responded to a polite greeting with harsh language describing Advanced Granite Solutions and its workers. Then he tried to talk individually to a few employees. He talked to me first, said the man, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation and worried about his familys immigration status. Then I saw him talk to another friend. Nobody listened to him, because his reaction was to start a fight. Read more: Police arrest suspect after 3 killed in Maryland office park shooting The employee said Prince had approached him a month ago and angrily accused him of gossiping. Since then, the man had been even more worried about Prince. Workers from the Advanced Granite Solutions company where the incident occured console each other after the shooting. Prince had a history of violence with co-workers, especially when he believed people were talking behind his back, according to court documents. Authorities have not released a motive, but the witness said Princes aggressiveness had been escalating recently. Prince is accused of fatally shooting three colleagues and critically wounding two others. Authorities said he then drove to Wilmington, Delaware, and shot an acquaintance at a used car lot. He was captured after a 10-hour manhunt. Prince faces charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and use of a firearm to commit a felony. At his arraignment Thursday in Delaware, he pleaded not guilty. According to an affidavit, officers found a .380-calibre semi-automatic they saw Prince throw away while running from them, and they found the same size shells at the Wilmington shooting scene. Police think its the same gun he used in the Maryland shooting. The granite company employee said he worked on a small fabrication team, and that several of his colleagues had complained before Wednesday to supervisors about Princes behaviour. Just before the shooting, Prince walked out to his SUV and put on a black jacket, the witness said. Then he walked back inside and stood near a machine with an odd look on his face. Prince then called the mans name, and asked him and his colleagues to come toward him. I was nervous, the witness said, adding that he believes he was the one Prince was trying to target. The man said once the group gathered around, Prince shot Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk. Then, Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Arlington, Virginia. He also killed Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, authorities said. Tudevs widow told AP that her husband was so worried about Princes temper that he prayed about him. He was always angry, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren said her husband told her about Prince. Tudev, 53, was a native of Mongolia who came to the U.S. in 2005. He and his wife settled in Arlington, which has a large Mongolian-American community. Prince also shot at the witness as he ran away; he lost a boot while trying to flee, he said. Ron Cherry, an attorney for the company, said he could not answer questions about what happened. But Cristie Kahler, a spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriffs Office, confirmed that video surveillance footage at the company showed Prince seeming to call a meeting before the shooting. She could not provide further details. Kahler also said that investigators were aware that employees had complained about Princes behaviour at Advanced Granite Solutions, as well as at prior workplaces. Prince had 43 arrests in Delaware. He has faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations, and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counselling in recent years. He had at least two other violent run-ins with co-workers. In 2014, he put a colleague in a chokehold because he thought he was talking about Prince, a manager told police. Prince dragged the co-worker outside and slammed him to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness. Prince was charged with offensive touching, but the case was dismissed last year. Its not clear why. Earlier this year, Prince was fired from JPS Marble and Granite after he punched a co-worker and threatened other colleagues, according to court documents. His former boss became so scared of Prince after he was fired that he tried to take out a restraining order on him. A judge didnt grant it. Late Thursday, authorities identified the wounded in Maryland as Enoc Villegas Sosa, 38, and Jose Roberto Flores Gillen, 37. They remain in critical condition. Police in Delaware have not updated the condition of the victim there, but have said he is expected to survive. Prince was accused last year of punching that man and trying to rob him, said Nicole Magnusson, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Department of Justice. He was charged with robbery and offensive touching, but that case was also dismissed. Its not clear why. SHARE: CHARLESTON, S.C.Chris Allens phone started buzzing as word broke that invisible attacks in Cuba had hit a U.S. government worker at Havanas Hotel Capri. Allens friends and family had heard an eerily similar story from him before. The tourist from South Carolina had cut short his trip to Cuba two years earlier after numbness spread through his limbs within minutes of climbing into bed at the same hotel where embassy workers were later targeted. Those werent the only parallels. Convinced the incidents must be related, Allen joined a growing list of private U.S. citizens asking the same alarming but unanswerable question: Were we victims, too? Allens unexplained illness, which lingered for months and bewildered a half-dozen neurologists, may bear no connection to whatever has harmed at least 22 American diplomats, intelligence agents and their spouses over the last year. But for Cuba and the U.S., it matters all the same. Cases like Allens illustrate the essential paradox of Havanas mystery: If you cant say what the attacks are, how can you say what theyre not? Read more: The sound in Havana: What Americans heard in Cuba attacks Illnesses among diplomats in Cuba have no known cause: Analysis U.S. cuts embassy staff, warns against travel to Cuba: sources With no answers about the weapon, culprit or motive, the U.S. and Cuba have been unable to prevent a runaway crisis, as American tourists reconsider trips to the island. U.S.-Cuban relations are now at risk of collapse after years of cautious progress. That delicate rapprochement hadnt even started in April 2014 when Allen felt numbness overtake his body on his first night in the Havana hotel. It was so noticeable and it happened so quickly that it was all I could focus on and it really, really frightened me, said Allen, a 37-year-old who works in finance. The Associated Press reviewed more than 30 pages of Allens medical records, lab results, travel records and contemporaneous emails, some sent from Havana. Tourists and embassy workers alike face the same challenge: No test can definitively say who was attacked with a mysterious, unseen weapon and whose symptoms might be entirely unrelated. So its no surprise that even the U.S. government has struggled to sort through confusing symptoms and incidents that could easily be interpreted as coincidences. The AP has learned that an FBI agent sent to Cuba this year was alarmed enough by an unexplained sound in his hotel that he sought medical testing to see whether he was hit by what some U.S. officials suspect are sonic attacks. Whether the FBI agent was really affected is disputed. But theres no dispute that a U.S. government doctor was hit, half a dozen U.S. officials said. Dispatched to Havana earlier this year to test and treat Americans at the embassy, the physician became the latest victim himself. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the sensitive investigation. The FBI and the State Department wouldnt comment. The U.S. hasnt named a suspected perpetrator. Cubas government vehemently denies involvement or knowledge. When Allen arrived in Havana three years ago, the sicknesses and political drama were all still in the distant future. He checked into room 1414. Within minutes of going to bed, the tingling and numbness started in his toes, like theyd fallen asleep. It spread to his calves, then fingertips. He got up to investigate, and the sensation went away. He got back in bed. The tingling returned, reaching his hands, forearms, ears, cheek and neck. While the State Department says its not aware of tourists being attacked, it has given credence to concerns by urging all Americans against visiting Cuba. An extraordinary travel warming last month said assaults have occurred at hotels, including the Capri, and the U.S. cant guarantee anyones safety. The State Department has said tourists worried they may have been affected should consult a medical professional. Roughly three dozen U.S. citizens have contacted the AP to express that concern, but closer examination gave reason to doubt their situations were connected. Allens case is different. He stayed on the 14th floor of Hotel Capri and described sudden-onset symptoms in one part of the room but not others all circumstances similar to U.S. personnel who described attacks narrowly confined to just parts of rooms. They also spoke of being hit at night, in bed, on an upper floor of the Capri. And medical records show Allen conveyed consistent, detailed accounts to at least six physicians almost two years before the public knew about the attacks. Still, other parts of Allens story dont neatly align. The U.S. has said the attacks started in 2016, two years after Allens visit. His primary complaints of numbness and tingling differ from the government victims, although their symptoms, too, varied widely and included many neurological problems. Allen also didnt recount hearing the blaring, agonizing sound that led investigators to suspect a sonic weapon. Then again, neither did many of the 22 medically confirmed government victims. The symptoms came back the next evening when he got into bed, but stronger and in more parts of his body. This time, they didnt go away. So Allen left Cuba early on the first available flight. But the numbness persisted to varying degrees for six months. He underwent CT scans, MRIs, nerve conduction tests and blood workups. When you have these vague symptoms, sometimes all you can do is prove what its not, said Dr. George Durst, Allens longtime physician. No ones smart enough to figure out what it was. SHARE: WASHINGTONIt began with a guy who sells hemp syrup for a living. Joe Vargas speculated on Twitter that the woman standing next to President Trump as he prepared to travel to a Secret Service training centre in Maryland call her Woman X was not, in fact, Trumps wife, Melania. It was instead some mystery woman, outfitted with big sunglasses and long hair (a wig????) and told to stand next to the president. Mind blowing, Vargas said. Oh, and, in case you think, Hmm. That actually looks like Melania Vargas would like you to know that you are wrong, and he has proof. To wit: And in case youre still thinking, Uhh, those are photos of the same person some other people that were replying to Vargas have even more proof. We rest our case, your honour. We may now move on to wondering, who is Woman X? And more important: Why? Well, having deployed the vast resources of the newsroom (namely, me) to address questions, we can now say with certainty that we know the answers. Woman X is no other than Melania Trump. And why is she standing there? Because she is the presidents wife, and sometimes she travels with him to places. Lets first address Vargass definitive proof, in the form of those side-by-side photos above. The photo on the right, Woman X, seems to bear a strong resemblance to Melania Trump (because she is Melania Trump). But we can go further. As is often the case with the president of the United States there were multiple media outlets present when Trump was speaking, and, therefore, multiple angles of photos and videos. So, from Bloomberg, we have this: A photo of Woman X without the shades and looking an awful lot like Melania Trump. As for the height difference, its less dramatic in that photo, but theres also another explanation: Unlike in the photos from the inauguration, on the day in question Melania was wearing flats. All of which leads us to our conclusion about the identity of the mystery woman. Whats particularly weird about this whole thing, of course, is that theres no reason that Trump would want to have a stand-in for Melania Trump at this event. Why would Trump/the White House go to the trouble of hiring someone to impersonate Melania, dress her up like the first lady and then hope that no one notices? Whats the perceived benefit? Im sure that being first lady is, at times, a drag, but Melania Trump certainly didnt have to make an appearance during a trip to a training facility in Maryland. Theres no reason to create a doppelganger. Part of the embrace of this theory is driven by people having a lark, certainly. How sincere Vargas is, we dont know; that his Twitter username is currently a URL to a business suggests that hes perhaps not entirely sincere. But part of it, too, is the tendency Americans have these days to assume the worst, most nefarious things about their political opponents, no matter how far afield from what seems logical. Or, even, because its so far afield. These days, the more outrageous the idea, it seems, the more likely it is to meet with adherents. I mean: Pizzagate. One accolade is in order: Vargas has succeeded in introducing the least credible rumour about the Trump White House that weve seen yet. Yes, it has slipped past The Secret Service Agent With The Fake Arms. The next step in this process, if youre curious: This article becomes part of the proof that Woman X is indeed not Melania Trump after all, why else would the Mainstream Media spend its energy trying to rebut the theory? Thoroughly exhausted by the past two years, we can only say: good question. Read more about: SHARE: The federal Liberal government has ignored its own Members of Parliament again. Anyone following the furor over proposed changes to small business taxes wont be surprised by this. But it was disappointing nonetheless to see how Liberal cabinet ministers responded this week to a report on local news by the House of Commons committee on Canadian Heritage. MPs on the committee spent 15 months studying what is happening in the rapidly changing news media landscape. They met 44 times and heard from 131 witnesses. Liberals and New Democrats issued a majority report in June that said steps must be taken to help news media navigate this tumultuous period. Their conclusion: Given the medias importance as a reflection of Canadas diversity and a pillar of our democracy, the government of Canada must implement the necessary measures to support the existence of a free and independent media and local news reporting. The government is required to respond to such reports. This week the response came from Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Finance Minister Bill Morneau. With nice words and platitudes, they politely rejected pretty much everything the Heritage committee recommended. They said the federal government is already doing lots to help local news media survive, innovate and transform. This is laughable. The ministers said the government is ensuring a vibrant, local and reliable news media ecosystem is a pillar of democracy with its Canada Periodical Fund. This is a $75 million program that mostly subsidizes printed magazines and provides some money for paid, printed community papers, especially those catering to ethnic and specialty audiences. It is not open to daily newspapers that still provide the base of the news media ecosystem in cities across Canada. The ministers point to the business innovation component of the Periodical Fund as a way to encourage innovation to adapt to changing market conditions. This part of the program spends $1.5 million per year. For the whole country. The ministers have no answer to the Heritage committees concerns that foreign news aggregators like Google and Facebook dont have the same tax obligations as Canadian providers. For example, a business placing an ad with a Canadian newspaper or TV station cannot deduct the expense if the media outlet is foreign-owned. Yet the same business can place ads on foreign-owned digital platforms aimed primarily at the Canadian market and deduct the costs. All the ministers say is that the digital economy poses challenges for tax systems in all jurisdictions and the Finance department is examining the issue. Another Heritage committee recommendation to help news media is to allow the creation of charitable foundations to support journalism. People could get a tax deduction for donating to this cause. There could be PBS-like campaigns to raise money for news outlets. The ministers say it is not clear that amending the Income Tax Act to include not-for-profit media organizations and foundations as charities would be an effective way of supporting the not-for-profit media. This is an incredible statement. It suggests that charitable status is not an effective way of supporting not-for-profit organizations. In fact, it is the only effective way of surviving for many non-profits, which is why there are 86,000 charities in Canada. The ministers also contradict themselves. They say charitable status is for purposes recognized as beneficial to the public. They also say in the letter that the government recognizes the important role media and journalism play in Canadian society and more specifically their role as fundamental pillars of our democratic process. So news media are fundamental to democracy, but not beneficial enough to the public to have charitable status. The ministers go on to say, essentially, that the government has put enough money into the system, into areas such as the CBC, to ensure the health of local news coverage. The whole response amounts to a careful, bureaucratic rejection of any change in what the government is doing which is next to nothing on what the majority of MPs on the Heritage committee determined was a serious and urgent problem. I testified before the Heritage committee, hoping that its work would bring greater attention to the issue and lead to action. I was wrong. Bob Cox is chair of News Media Canada and publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press. SHARE: Bill Morneau may not be the worlds most adept politician. But as federal finance minister, his truncated tax reforms are at least still going barely in the right direction. Lets hope that he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dont back off from them entirely. They did continue their backtracking Thursday. Morneau announced that he wont proceed with plans that would have limited the ability of Canadian controlled private corporations to reduce their taxes by treating income as capital gains. He said he was doing this at the behest of farmers, who had complained that his original scheme would have made it more costly to transfer operations to their children. But the backaway applies to owners of all private corporations, not just farmers. Canadian controlled private corporations are companies whose tightly held shares are not traded publicly. Most, but not all, are small businesses. Many are family-owned. When Morneau took aim at them this summer, his stated goal was to curtail abuse by relatively well-to-do Canadians who were gaming the system just to avoid taxes. But he inadvertently raised the ire of politically important groups, such as small business owners, farmers and physicians. His critics were even able to portray his reforms as anti-women, an unforgivable crime in Trudeaus gender-sensitive government. As a result, Morneau has spent most of what the Liberals call small business week shamelessly backpedaling. On Monday, he announced he would simplify a proposal that would have limited the ability of private corporation owners to reduce their taxes by splitting income among family members whether or not they contribute to the business. On Thursday, he capitulated on the capital gains question. But on Wednesday, he kept an important reform alive. Thats a proposal to close a loophole that allows owners of private corporations to avoid taxes on investment income earned from activities that have nothing to do with their business. In his original plan, Morneau had proposed taxing this so-called passive investment income across the board. But after the usual suspects complained, he came up with a more politically adroit version that would affect only the truly affluent. Under the revised scheme, private corporation owners would be able to shelter up to $50,000 a year in passive investment income from full taxation. But any such income above that threshold would lose this advantage. The government reckons this would affect only 3 per cent of Canadian-controlled private corporations. It also reckons that just 29,000 firms, or just 2 per cent of private corporations, hold passive investment assets worth between $200 and $300 billion. These 29,000 firms earn an estimated $16 billion each year on their passive assets, income that they are able to shelter from the full tax rates that individual Canadians who do not incorporate themselves must pay. Under Morneaus revised scheme, private corporations would still be able to shelter this existing $16 billion. But they wouldnt be able to add to it. Which, for those interested in tax reform, is better than nothing. While politically risky, Morneaus attempt to take on private corporations is eminently reasonable. The original aim of incorporation was to promote investment in risky but worthwhile ventures by limiting an investors liability. If an incorporated company went bankrupt, for instance, stock holders might lose the value of their shares. But they wouldnt lose their homes. Today, however, incorporation is too often just a tax dodge. A doctor or consultant or freelance journalist incorporates not to limit liability but to take advantage of the small business tax rate. The government encourages this perversion of incorporation every time it announces plans to lower the small business tax rate (as Morneau did this week). So it is encouraging to see any finance minister attempt to do anything about this problem. Lets give half a cheer for Bill Morneaus attempt at tax reform. At least he tried. Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. SHARE: The federal finance minister, the architect of the countrys fiscal policy, should not be allowed to maintain control, even indirectly, over tens of millions of dollars in personal investments. This should go without saying. It doesnt take an ethicist to identify the potential conflict of interest, or at the very least the unacceptable appearance of one. Bill Morneau seemed to understand this when he left the business world for politics in the run-up to the 2015 election. He told both Morneau Shepell, the human resources company he was leaving, and CBC News that he would put his holdings in the company (about $44 million worth) in a blind trust, as is established procedure. Ten other members of Justin Trudeaus cabinet, including the prime minister himself, sold off their own personal holdings or placed them in a blind trust. But when, after being elected, Morneau raised the idea with the ethics commissioner, she apparently pointed out that, technically, he could retain ownership of the shares as long as he held them indirectly, that is, in a holding company under his control. So unlike his cabinet colleagues, that is what he did. In recent days, as controversy over Morneaus personal finances has grown, the government has suggested the finance minister merely acted on the ethics commissioners advice. Thats highly disingenuous. Mary Dawson, the watchdog in question, has said for years that this loophole should be closed. Is it plausible that she would have advised him to use it? Moreover, the prime ministers mandate letter to Morneau stated that the arrangement of your private affairs should bear the closest public scrutiny, an obligation not fully discharged by simply acting within the law. Thats particularly true when the law is one the ethics commissioner has said is inadequate. On Thursday, Morneau finally announced he would put his assets in a blind trust and divest himself of shares in Morneau Shepell, as he should have done from the start. But he still seemed not to understand why it was important that he do so. He said he was now going above and beyond the rules, and he characterized the controversy over his holdings and concerns over his failure to disclose one of his private companies the one that owns a French villa as a distraction. In fact, these controversies speak to a deficiency at the heart of this government. Over the last week, Morneau has retreated from the small-business tax-reform fiasco that no doubt ruined his summer. In an effort to quiet the uproar over the initiative, the government will drop or scale-back several of the proposed measures and significantly cut the small-business tax rate. The result is that the push for reform will have had the opposite of its intended effect. The government started out with at least two important aims: reduce incentives for professionals to incorporate as a way to pay less tax on income; and increase government revenue at a time of rising debt. But in the end, Morneau will have, on balance, increased the incentives to incorporate and cost the government significant revenues. This disaster is largely of Morneaus making. He proposed these reforms without properly explaining the principles underlying them. He chose to close loopholes that primarily benefit the relatively wealthy rather than ones that touch the extremely wealthy like him and the prime minister. He unnecessarily vilified those being asked to pay more, accusing them of fancy accounting schemes no fancier than the schemes it now seems he has employed. As the finance minister attempts to justify the ethical morass of his personal finances, he is showing himself again to be tone-deaf and out of touch, the exact frailties that have jeopardized his governments vital push for tax fairness. If Trudeau intends to regroup and try again, to deliver on his much-touted top priority, he might consider whether Morneau is really the right person for the job. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is taking steps to end the controversy regarding his business assets and conflict of interest allegations. He says he plans to sell off his and his family's shares in the human resources firm Morneau Shepell. (The Canadian Press) SHARE: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has clearly never heard of the gentle art of persuasion. If he had, he wouldnt find himself in the self-defeating predicament hes in: fanning, rather than cooling, the flames of separatism in Spains wealthy Catalonia region. Rajoy should consider taking a leaf from Canadas well-thumbed book on how to deal with regional tensions by stepping back from the brink of confrontation and acceding to Catalan leader Carles Puigdemonts repeated pleas to meet and talk. Instead, the prime minister has called an emergency cabinet meeting for Saturday to begin the process of suspending the regions self-governing powers to defend the general interest of Spaniards, among them the citizens of Catalonia. Rajoy could best do that by agreeing to a dialogue. Spain is, after all, a democracy; its dictatorship is four decades in the past. Youd hardly know that from how its government handled Catalonias Oct. 1 referendum on independence. First the Spanish government threatened and intimidated would-be voters. Then it sent police in to forcibly close voting stations, beat pro-independence demonstrators, and fire rubber bullets into crowds. More than 900 people were injured. The president of the Catalonia region Carles Puigdemont said on Oct. 10 that he was proceeding with a declaration of independence but was suspending it for several weeks to facilitate negotiations. (The Associated Press) In the end, 2.26 million Catalans, or 42.3 per cent of the regions voters, cast ballots anyway, with more than 90 per cent of them voting for independence. Now with his threat to suspend the regions limited self-rule, the prime minister risks alienating the majority of those in Catalonia who polls suggest still wish to remain part of Spain, but simply want more autonomy. Its true that Spains constitution, unlike Canadas, does not allow for one region to declare independence. But that doesnt mean there isnt room for a discussion about new measures of autonomy that may satisfy Catalonias separatist-leaning voters and please those who wish to preserve unity, too. Ironically, in 2006 the country did grant more autonomy to Catalonia, but four years later Spains Constitutional Court reversed much of that, sparking the current crisis. On Saturday the Spanish government has a chance to begin afresh with the Catalan leader, who has repeatedly expressed his desire for dialogue, not conflict. If there is anything to be learned from Canadas experience, the way forward for a Spain that wishes to stay united is not through confrontation and police brutality but through recognition and accommodation. It should take that path. Read more about: SHARE: Do I really have to tip 18 per cent at a restaurant?, Cleveland, Oct. 17 A reader asked etiquette columnist Karen Cleveland whether the standard tip has gone up from 15 to 18 per cent in Toronto. An accompanying Star poll online asks readers about tipping practices, but the highest choice available was 18 per cent. I have been tipping 20 per cent for at least 20 years, as have most people I know. I was horrified to see how many readers chose 10 per cent or even nothing! We do not live in Europe, where a service charge is added to our restaurant bill. Canadian and American business owners are fortunate to have customers pick up a large portion of their labour costs. Its a strange system, but not tipping wont change it. If you cannot afford a decent tip, you cant afford to eat at a restaurant. The standard tip has been 20 per cent for a long time. Laura Kaminker, Mississauga SHARE: Rio Tinto Group (RIO) - Get Free Report , its former CEO Tom Albanese and former CFO Guy Elliott have been accused of fraud by U.S. authorities, and the miner hit with a fine by British regulators, relating to alleged attempts to hide billions of dollars of losses on an investment in a Mozambique coal mine. Rio Tinto's shares were down 0.74% on Wednesday at 10:24 am in London, changing hands at 3,624.5 pence. The U.S.'s Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint in a New York Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 17, alleging the company and the executives "sought to hide or delay disclosure of the nature and extent of the adverse developments from Rio Tinto's Board of Directors, Audit Committee, independent auditors, and investors." Rio Tinto denied the claim labeling the case "unwarranted" adding that "when all the facts are considered by the court, or if necessary by a jury, the SEC's claim will be rejected." The credibility of that statement suffered a setback almost as soon as it was made, when, on Wednesday, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority said it had fined Rio Tinto 27.4 million ($36 million) for failing to "recognize an impairment loss on the value" of the investment. The SEC accusation, and the FCA fine, relate to Rio Tinto's disastrous acquisition, in 2011, of coal assets in Mozambique for $3.7 billion and their subsequent sale three years later for just $50 million. The assets, called Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique, were meant to pave the way for a major expansion of Rio's coal production but turned out to be unworkable as the coal was lower in quality and quantity than originally thought, while a plan to ship the coal by barge to an export port was blocked by the Mozambique government. The SEC claimed that problems at the project were almost immediately apparent to Rio Tinto but that the company's executives chose not to relay the bad news to investors. The reason for that, according to the filing, was that Rio Tinto had already had to twice write down the value of another disastrous investment, this time in Alcan and could ill afford further bad news as it sort to raise $5.5 billion of debt from U.S. investors. Alcan was bought for $38.1 billion in 2007, and subsequently suffered about $29 billion of write downs. The mounting losses cost both Albanese and Elliott their jobs in 2013. Elliott went on to join the board of Royal Dutch Shell Plc as a non-executive director but stood down from that position on Wednesday following the filing of the fraud charges in the U.S. "Rio Tinto, Albanese, and Elliott knew that publicly disclosing its second failure and rapidly declining value would call into question their ability to pursue the core of Rio Tinto's business model to identify and develop long-term, low-cost, and highly-profitable mining assets," according to the SEC. "Instead, they concealed the adverse developments, allowing Rio Tinto to release misleading financial statements days before a series of U.S. debt offerings." The allegation is similar in substance, if not detail, to the charges levied by Britian's FCA, which found that Rio Tinto was aware prior to its half-year 2012 results that it couldn't ship coal by barge from the proposed mine. That left it having to look at more expensive shipping options, such as rail or truck. "Rio Tinto began to carry out financial modelling of its mining business which indicated that the value of the Mozambique assets, based on the best information available at that time, was negative," noted the FCA. "Despite the modelling results, Rio Tinto decided that it would not carry out an impairment test, as required by international accounting standards, to assess whether an impairment was required to be recorded in its financial reporting of its 2012 half year interim results." The FCA stopped short of alleging fraud, describing the decision not to write down the Mozambique asset as "a serious lack of judgement." The British regulator imposed a fine of 39 million on Rio Tinto but reduced the penalty by 30% as "Rio Tinto agreed to settle at an early stage in the investigation." Such settlements are not an admission of guilt under U.K. law and, as Rio Tinto pointed out, the FCA "made no finding of fraud, or of any systematic or widespread failure by Rio Tinto." The SEC's case against Rio Tinto will be conducted by Mark Cave, Dean Conway and Gregory Miller. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: American Express Co. (AXP) - Get Free Report CEO Kenneth Chenault, who earned investor Warren Buffett's admiration for steering the lender through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis, is stepping down after 16 years in charge. Chenault, 66, who also serves as board chairman, will be succeeded by Vice Chairman Steve Squeri on Feb. 18, the New York-based firm said in a statement on Wednesday, Oct. 18. Squeri, who oversees operations including technology as head of the global customer services group, has worked at American Express since he took a management position in the traveler's checks business in 1985. Chenault "groomed an outstanding successor," lead independent director Robert Walter said in the statement. "We've had a very thorough succession process under way for five-plus years that involved every member of the board, and we are unanimous in our decision that Steve's the best person to build on the progress under way at American Express." In the past two years, Chenault has ramped up promotional spending and offered higher incentive rewards for cardholders to replace income lost with the Costco (COST) - Get Free Report portfolio; he also jazzed up the signature Platinum Card to compete with the popular new Sapphire Reserve from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) - Get Free Report While the moves pushed up expenses, he countered with simultaneous efforts to cut $1 billion in costs. "Given the progress we're making, I thought this was the right time to begin the leadership transition," Chenault told investors on a conference call. "We considered potential candidates from both inside and outside of the company. It has been a very thorough process." The company's shares dipped less than 1% to $91.90 in New York trading on Thursday. American Express previously rose 24% this year, nearly doubling the gains on the broader S&P 500 and boosting the 17% stake of its largest shareholder, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hatahway Inc. (BRK.A) - Get Free Report to $14 billion. "Ken's been the gold standard for corporate leadership and the benchmark that I measure others against," Buffett said in the statement. "He led the company through 9/11, the financial crisis and the challenges of the last couple of years. American Express always came out stronger." The company's solidity was evidenced Wednesday, when it posted 19% growth in quarterly profit. Net income of $1.4 billion, or $1.50 a share, outpaced the $1.48 average of analysts surveyed by FactSet as cardholder spending climbed. Founded in 1850, American Express was one of the first delivery businesses to take advantage of growing shipping demand as the U.S. expanded westward, according to a history posted on its website. The firm introduced the world's first traveler's check in 1891 and offered its first charge card in 1958. ""I've treasured every day of my 37-year career here," said Chenault, who joined the company in 1981, became president of the consumer card group eight years later and took over as CEO in January 2001. "It's been a journey that spanned profound changes in the world of business, the payments industry and the global economy." Since Chenault's successor is the current vice chairman and the two have worked closely together for more than a decade, "we don't expect much turbulence during the transition," Ben Chittenden, an analyst with Oppenheimer, said in a note to clients. The announcement of Chenault's retirement sends two clear messages, he added: that senior management believes American Express's turnaround is mostly complete and that its strategy will be "an offensive version of what it has been doing in the past." Indeed, Squeri himself said the company is well-positioned for growth, despite a fiercely competitive market that's being reshaped by both advances in digital payments and regulatory pressures. "We'll continue pursuing many of our current strategies that show great growth potential, and we'll look for new avenues of growth," he told investors on the call. "I want to build on what Ken has accomplished without forgetting that the status quo, as he often says, doesn't cut it in a fast-changing and competitive environment." Updated from 4:55 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Did you miss "Mad Money" on CNBC? If so, here are some of Jim Cramer's top takeaways. For an "Executive Decision" segment, Cramer sat down with Martin Schroeter, CFO at IBM (IBM) - Get Free Report , which surprised Wall Street Wednesday with a two-cents-a-share earnings beat on better-than-expected revenues -- the strongest in five years. Shares responded by rising 8.8% by the close. Schroeter said the quarter looked just as they had predicted earlier this year, when IBM said the second half would be stronger. He said many of the company's initiatives have longer arcs but they are slowly coming to fruition. International sales are also being helped along by a weakening U.S. dollar. When asked about those initiatives, Schroeter explained that there's so much data in the world, making cognitive technologies, like IBM's Watson, more necessary than ever. In areas like healthcare, for example, Watson can elevate a doctor's abilities to new levels. Schroeter also touted IBM's new encrypted mainframe systems that keep data secure, all without losing performance. He was also bullish on IBM's blockchain technologies, where his company continues to be a leader. Schroeter said IBM will continue to invest in all of these areas to create a great portfolio of high-value services. Cramer said IBM is telling a better story than its current share price reflects. Over on Real Money, Cramer says Facebook (FB) - Get Free Report just made a little-noticed purchase of a highly successful app. Get his insights with a free trial subscription to Real Money. Cramer and the AAP team say good news is spreading throughout their portfolio. Find out what they're telling their investment club members and get in on the conversation with a free trial subscription to Action Alerts PLUS. You're Invited Cramer will host CNBC's Jon Najarian, TD Ameritrade's JJ Kinahan, famed analytics expert Marc Chaikin and other market experts on Oct. 28 in New York City to share successful strategies for active investors. You can join them as they discuss how smart investors can make the most of options trading, futures contracts, fundamental and quantitative analysis and great ETFs to buy right now. Participants will also get a chance to meet Jim and other panelists. When: Saturday, Oct. 28, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Where: The Harvard Club of New York, 35 West 44th St., New York; Cost: $250 per person. Click here for the full conference agenda or to reserve your seat now. Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener. To read a full recap of this episode of "Mad Money," click here. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a position in FB. Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Free Report CEO Llloyd Blankfein may have upstaged U.K. Prime Minister Theresa's May's Brexit-saving visit to Brussels Thursday with a Tweet that should signal significant concern for the government's post-EU future. Goldman has made no secret about its intent to establish a financial market foothold in Europe, alongside its operations in London, as the government hashes out the nature of it economic and commercial relationship with the European Union. In fact, earlier this month, the bank inked a lease on more than 100,000 square feet at the 38-storey "Marienturm" building in the heart of Frankfurt's financial district. On Thursday, it seems, Blankfein was pleased with the view. The Tweet also comes as Prime Minister May arrives in Brussels for what could prove to be a pivotal meeting with European leader that will either establish a framework for talks on Britain's future trade relationship or keep the current negotiations mired in the quicksand of the size of its financial settlement bill and the fate of EU nationals currently living in the United Kingdom. It should also serve as a warning that the City of London's status as a global financial hub could be threatened if Britain's crashes out of the European Union without a deal to protect its massive financial services industry. U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM) - Get Free Report , Bank of America (BA) - Get Free Report and Citigroup (C) - Get Free Report have all explored secondary options on the Continent, with Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and Lisbon all vying for new tenants with sweetheart deals on taxes and office space. BofA is said to be in talks to lease 100,000 square feet of space near the Arc de Triomphe in tParis, while JPMorgan is reportedly ready to increase its own headcount in the French capital. The London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance and Centre for Cities estimates the British capital could lose as much as 18 billion ($23.7 billion) in annual revenue and as many as 30,000 jobs, a figure that EY suggests could rise to 83,000 in a worst-case "Hard Brexit" scenario. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Target Corp. (TGT) - Get Free Report will open 35 new stores in 2018, the company announced Thursday, Oct. 19, ahead of its store opening event in New York City. The supercenter chain will largely focus on small-format stores, planning to operate more than 130 small-format locations by the end of 2019. This week, Target will open 11 small-format stores in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, as well as a traditional store in Honolulu. It will have opened a total of 32 new stores in 2017. At the opening of its Herald Square location in New York City, Target CEO Brian Cornell, told reporters that "reimagining" Target stores will be a major component of its $7 billion investment plan, first announced in February. Store remodels will reach 1,000 by the end of 2020. The remodeling has resulted in a 2% to 4% lift in sales. Target's plans are now coming to fruition, Cornell noted. "All the things we're planning and testing, they're coming to life across the country," he said. Optimizing the supply chain is another facet of the investment plan, Cornell said. As part of that process, Target is reducing its inventory, improving its accuracy, and investing in staff training for better customer service. The Minneapolis-based retailer is also rolling out same-day delivery services. By Oct. 20, four Targets in New York City will offer same-day delivery. From its pilot program in the TriBeCa store, Target found that the average customer shopping basket is six times bigger. It will expand its next-day day service called Target Restock, which is currently available in 11 markets-including New York and Los Angeles- but will expand in 2018. Target's digital innovations include adding new features to its website, such as a 360-degree images to showcase furniture products. Target is also expanding its partnership with Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Google, to add voice-activated shopping and two-day delivery. The moves come as Target competitors like Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) - Get Free Report also focus on delivery. About 99% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart, which can deliver to 87% of Americans with next-day ground shipping and 99% with two-day shipping. Walmart also rolled out mobile returns earlier this month. Since completing its $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com last year, it's been on an e-commerce spending spree, buying niche online retailers like Bonobos, Moosejaw and Modcloth. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Free Report closed in August on its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market and immediately lowered prices at the organic grocer, prompting Target to also slash prices and boost wages. Even warehouse store chain Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) - Get Free Report is also beefing up its e-commerce operation and unveiling new shipping deals. Rather than compete with Amazon, Kohl's Corp. (KSS) - Get Free Report partnered with them: beginning Wednesday, Amazon shoppers can now return their items in 82 stores in Los Angeles and Chicago. Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) inked a similar deal, selling its appliances on Amazon and adding Amazon's Alexa service to its appliances. Cornell also announced that eight out of 12 of its new private-label brands will be available this holiday season. The new brands include apparel and home products. Cat & Jack, Target's kids' clothing line, is now worth $2.1 billion, he said. This Herald Square opening, Cornell said, "is a symbol of the future of our company. Everything we've been talking about as a company is coming to life right now in New York City." Shares of Target were up 0.2% to $60.16 on Thursday morning. --Laura Berman contributed to this report Originally published at 10:24 a.m. ET and has been updated More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Free Report appears to have yet again run afoul of the Chinese government. The tech giant's latest issue in the region concerns the new Apple Watch Series 3. Owners in China have discovered that the device's cellular connectivity had been cut off abruptly, barring them from making voice calls, sending and receiving text messages and accessing other data, according to the Wall Street Journal. The latest version of the Apple Watch is the first to have its own cellular access, instead of it being tied to an iPhone. Shares of Apple were sliding 2.5% to $155.72 on Thursday morning, primarily on reports that Apple has cut orders of iPhone 8 models by more than 50% due to lackluster demand. The stock has climbed more than 37% so far this year, however, as investors look forward to the possibility of a sales super cycle tied to the 10th anniversary iPhone X. The Apple Watch's built-in cellular connectivity is by far the biggest breakthrough feature on the Series 3 model, but the feature is harder to roll out on a mass scale in regions like China, which has notoriously tough tech regulators. Consumers were able to register their Apple Watch Series 3 exclusively with state-owned phone carrier China Unicom, the Journal reported. China Unicom started offering cellular service subscriptions when the Apple Watch went on sale Sept. 22, but stopped accepting new cellular subscriptions abruptly after Sept. 28. China Unicom hasn't indicated when or whether it will resume offering cellular subscriptions for the Apple Watch Series 3. Representatives from Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It's likely that China is cracking down on the Apple Watch Series 3 because it's harder to track users of the device, creating some government security concerns. That hasn't stopped some analysts from holding onto the belief that the Apple Watch Series 3 will be a blowout success in the U.S. and China. GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives called the latest issue a "small speed bump" in the Apple Watch growth story in China over the next 12 to 18 months. "Overall, regulatory issues in China are par for the course and not unexpected as we believe Apple should be able to smooth over any issues on the cellular Watch over the coming months," Ives wrote via email. "We strongly believe based on our data points that Apple Watch 3 is off to a white hot start in the U.S. and will ultimately see tailwinds in China during 2018 and help make this a 'gate opener' wearables product for [Apple]." Earlier this week, Ives said his channel checks pointed to the Apple Watch Series 3 gaining "significant momentum" among consumers and could rack up a 35% increase in sales vs. the Series 2. Apple does have plenty of experience navigating China's stringent regulatory system. Before its issues with the Apple Watch, the company in July was forced to bow to regulators and remove many major VPN apps from the App Store in China. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued stricter rules to regulate virtual private networks, which allow users to bypass China's "Great Firewall" that restricts access to many internet websites. Apple, which has sought to build better relations with China, said it removed many of the apps because they included content that's illegal in China. Several watchdog groups warned that it could set a "dangerous precedent." In January, Apple was criticized for removing the New York Times' English-language and Chinese-language news apps from its App Store in China. The company said it was complying with requests from Chinese authorities who said the apps were in violation of local regulations, which say apps can't "engage in activities prohibited by laws and regulations such as endangering national security, disrupting social order and violating the legitimate rights and interests of others." One of the biggest blows came in April 2016, when Chinese regulators began barring Apple from selling ebooks and movies in the region. The decision came as part of a wider crackdown on online services owned by foreign companies. Apple is a holding in Jim Cramer'sAction Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL? Learn more now. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: BP plc (BP) - Get Free Report said Thursday that chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who took the helm of the group only months before it was engulfed in the Deepwater Horizion disaster in 2010, will leave the company next year. Svanberg, 68, joined the group in 2009, according to data from BoardEx, a business unit of TheStreet, an was named chairman on Jan. 1 the following year. He continues to serve on the board of Swedish truckmaker Volvo AB, Melker Schorling AB, an investment management firm based in Stockholm. "It has been a tremendous privilege to lead the BP board over the past eight years. I am proud of the achievements of the management and the company in that time," Svanberg said. "The first couple of years were incredibly challenging for us all as we navigated an unusually complex corporate crisis. Through that turbulent period we stayed focused on saving and restoring the company." "Today I can say with confidence that BP is back and ready for the future," he added. "Our Chief Executive, Bob Dudley, is the one who, with his team, deserves credit and I am pleased that whoever is fortunate enough to succeed me as chairman will have the opportunity to work with him and his impressive management group. Until then, I look forward to continuing to serve BP and our shareholders." Svanberg courted controversy during the company's handling on the Deepwater explosion, which killed 11 people and triggered the biggest natural disaster in U.S. history. The Swede referred to those affected by the disaster as "the small people", a phrase for which he would later apologise, but the gaffe was nonetheless indicative of the company's clumsy PR handling of the incident, which included the infamous line from then-CEO Tony Hayward that "there's no one who wants this over more than I do - I would like my life back." BP's senior independent director, Ian Davis, will lead the search for Svanberg's successor, the company said. BP shares were marked 0.83% higher at 492.05 pence each near the close of trading in London, extending their three-month gain to just over 10.3%. A bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a bill to regulate political ads online that's aimed at stemming a repeat of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota as well as Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, would extend political advertising disclosure laws that already govern radio and television to ads placed on platforms such as Facebook (FB) - Get Free Report , Twitter (TWTR) - Get Free Report and Alphabet's (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Google. "We understand that election security is national security," Klobuchar, who is ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, said at a press conference Thursday announcing the bill. The Honest Ads Act seeks to help prevent foreign actors from influencing elections by ensuring that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules and regulations that cover other mediums. Digital advertising reached $1.4 billion in the 2016 election, a more than 750% increase from 2012. Warner said that 85% of political ad spending goes to Google and Facebook. According to Recode, which secured a copy of the bill before its full text was released, the legislation would require any website, web app, search engine, social network or ad network that has 50 million or more unique visitors or annual users to make new data about their ads available for public viewing, including copies of ads, information about who bought them, who they were targeted to and how much they cost. Companies would also have to employ "reasonable efforts" to ensure foreign governments and agents are not purchasing ads on their platforms. The threshold for mandatory disclosure will be $500. "The companies we're talking about here are really iconic American companies," Warner, who is vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, said at Thursday's presser. "I think this is a light touch approach." McCain said in a statement that it is "more important than ever" to strengthen America's defenses and lamented that transparency in campaigns haven't kept pace with technology. Tech companies have come under heavy scrutiny in the wake of revelations Russian agents used them to manipulate the 2016 election. Executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter will travel to Capitol Hill on November 1 to testify before Congress. Warner on Thursday said revelations that $150,000 in Facebook ads bought in Russian rubles are the "tip of the iceberg" of what may have happened. He cited a BuzzFeed News report on Wednesday that it took Twitter 11 months to close a Russian troll account that claimed by speak for the Tennessee Republican Party. Figures on both sides of the aisle have sounded the alarm bells. Former President George W. Bush speaking at an event in New York on Thursday warned that America is "experiencing the sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our country's divisions." And called for securing "our electoral infrastructure and protect our electoral system from subversion." "The 2016 elections exposed glaring holes in our ability to police foreign intervention in US elections, and these bills are an appropriate, bipartisan disclosure remedy," said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and a former Republican Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, in a statement. "Voters have a right to be fully informed about who is trying to influence their vote, particularly foreign powers whose motives are contrary to American interests." The legislation's future in Congress is unclear, though Warner said he believed a number of Republicans would support it as well as Democrats. "We stand with lawmakers in their effort to achieve transparency in political advertising," said Erin Egan, vice president of U.S. public policy at Facebook, in an emailed statement to TheStreet. "We have already announced the steps Facebook will take on our own and we look forward to continuing the conversation with lawmakers as we work toward a legislative solution." "We support efforts to improve transparency, enhance disclosures, and reduce foreign abuse," said a Google spokesman in an emailed statement. "We're evaluating steps we can take on our own platforms and will work closely with lawmakers, the FEC and the industry to explore the best solutions." A Twitter spokesman did not immediately return requests for comment. Watch More with TheStreet: Updated with comment from Google. The U.K.'s top financial regulator in July proposed a series of changes to its premium listing rules, which are being viewed largely as a way of making it easier for oil giant Saudi Aramco to float shares on the London Stock Exchange. The proposal, issued by the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority, hasn't yet been adopted and expectations are that it won't be approved until early next year. Even so, the measures have already come under a lot of criticism from large institutional shareholders and lobby groups representing corporate directors, who charge that they represent a huge slide in corporate governance. Critics contend that concerns around Brexit, the expected withdrawal of the U.K. from the European Union, are weighing in on the FCA as it tries to ensure that London retains its position as an important global financial center. They worry that Saudi Aramco, expected to become the world's largest listed company, may be only the first of many state-controlled enterprises to employ the FCA's soon-to-be-approved rules and list on the LSE. George Dallas, policy director at the ICGN, argues that a key issue with the FCA proposal is that it may allow Saudi Aramco to offer shares representing about 5% of the oil giant without giving outside minority investors much of a voice on shareholder protections or governance issues. "Their [minority shareholder] voice is so small that it would not be counted," Dallas said. "It's only a token amount to have in the public market." The proposal would make significant changes to the FCA's "premium" listing rules, making it easier for Saudi Aramco to list on the London Stock Exchange. The minority float could value the world's biggest oil company at between $1 trillion (based on analyst estimates) and $2 trillion (based on Saudi Arabia's optimistic valuation)-easily making it the world's largest listed company. Dallas notes that the "premium" listing structure currently in place for conventional companies gives each share one vote, a positive approach favored by the institutional and retail investing community. However, he argued that by having only a 5% public float, outside shareholders would be so marginalized that they could not act as effective stewards of their investments. "Investors have responsibility to be engaged and actively do their bit as active shareholders," he said. "But with this FCA proposal, there may be limited or no incentive for investors to be stewards of their investments." An activist hedge fund manager would have almost no recourse to acquire a stake and agitate for changes to Saudi Aramco's board since insiders would control 95% of the equity and vote. "It [an activist fund campaign] wouldn't do anything," Dallas said. "If the maximum is 5% even if every outside investor supported the activist they would have no ability to change the board." Roger Barker, chief of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors in London, suggests that an activist investor could publicize concerns and disclose the amount of minority investors who supported their effort. However, with such a small stake "they wouldn't get very far." Another key concernthe FCA proposal would eliminate a provision set up for U.K. premium rules that currently gives outside shareholders their own separate vote on the appointment of independent directors. A vote opposing directors by minority shareholders at insider-controlled companies now can set up a delayed election, giving the company and minority shareholders 90 days to for discussion before the candidates come up for another vote of the entire shareholder base again. IofD's Barker recommends that the FCA should be even tougher on sovereign state-controlled companies, by granting outside shareholders a veto right over the appointment of independent directors at a premium listed company, such as Saudi Aramco. He argues that the approach would "strengthen" the board so that it can provide a measure of independent oversight over the company. "The FCA decided that it is appropriate for commercially-controlled companies to have a check and balance and investor influence. However, if that controlling shareholder is a government they see fit to waive that, which doesn't make any sense to us," Barker said. "If a government is a controlling shareholder there is an even bigger asymmetry of power than if the person is a private shareholder." Dallas argues that giving outside investors a veto on directors would likely be a "deal-breaker" for Saudi Aramco. He suggests that a potential compromise idea to give minority shareholders a vote on a small subset of directors wouldn't have much of an impact at the company. "It would have some effect but a limited one," he said. Insider controlled publicly-traded companies are acceptable for the ICGN when there are safeguards for minority shareholders. However, he pointed out that the FCA proposal would eliminate a number of these safeguards. For example, it waives a protection limiting related-party transactions. "In this case, a state-controlled company as the controlling owner is in many ways conflicted and may have private interests that it seeks to address at the expense of minority shareholders," Dallas said. "A government-owned company could get a government-controlled contractor or government-backed business to provide a service for the issuer, raising the question of whether the business contract is being provided based on proper commercial terms." Barker argues that the scope for troubling related-party transactions when it comes to a sovereign state-owned enterprise is much greater than one might find at a private insider-controlled business. "The government can use a state owned energy company to subsidize energy prices in a domestic market and charge non-competitive pricing," he said. "The government can use state-owned enterprises to promote a national agenda which has nothing to do with minority shareholder interests." The FCA proposal and U.K. effort to woo Saudi Aramco and other sovereign-controlled companies should be evaluated within the broader context of an ever-shrinking world where exchanges in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere are competing with each other for lucrative listing dollars. "We like to encourage a race to the top in terms of governance standards for listing," Dallas said. "The concern is that this proposal would result in lowering of governance standards, which could lead a key component of the ecosystem, the end investor, worse off." Other market forces are also playing a role. Baker contends that worries around Brexit are a contributing factor. "Clearly one of the concerns post-Brexit is how does the city of London retain its position as a financial center, and I do believe these concerns are playing into the consultation process," Baker said. Another key concern? FCA CEO Andrew Bailey met with Saudi Aramco and its advisers, according to recent disclosures, as the oil giant contemplates whether to list in London or elsewhere. "That is a cause for concern. The listing rule authority is supposed to be separate from the London Stock Exchange. It almost implies that there is this high level negotiating process going on involving regulators to attract Saudi Aramco to list in the UK. An individual transaction is not a good basis for writing rules." Bailey noted to lawmakers Oct. 13 that "as you might expect, in the normal course of the FCA's duties, we hold meetings with potential listing candidates which, given the commercial sensitivities, we do not disclose." He added that "however, given the public discussion of these events, we can confirm that we held conversations with Saudi Aramco and their advisors in light of their interest in a possible UK listing in the early part of this year. We emphasized during those conversations that we were reviewing the listing regime." -- Lisa Botter contributed to this report Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The Deal, our sister publication that offers sophisticated insight and analysis on all types of deals, from inception to integration. Click here for a free trial. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Embattled billionaire activist Bill Ackman escalated a blockbuster campaign he has underway at Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) - Get Free Report on Thursday by suggesting that the payroll processor could win back a lot of accounts by acquiring private equity-backed human resources provider Ceridian for about $4 billion. "They have to think a little outside the box," Ackman said in a video Q&A with Sanford Bernstein & Co. analyst Lisa Ellis. "I think they could win back a lot of customers immediately by acquiring a company like Ceridian." Ackman, who is seeking to install a minority-slate of thee dissident candidates onto ADP's board, suggested that Ceridian is "available for sale effectively because it is owned by private equity at the end of its life in the fund." Buyout shop Thomas H. Lee Partners, which owns Ceridian, declined to comment. In addition to acquiring Ceridian, Ackman offered up a number of changes he would like to see at ADP, as both sides zero in on Ackman's board room battle set for Nov. 7. Together with his two candidates, Ackman also reiterated his concerns about two major ADP divestitures, arguing that both companies that were sold, Solera, formerly ADP Claims Services Group, in 2006 and CDK, in 2014, have done significantly better after they left ADP. He noted that CDK's profits of the business are up more than 60%. "ADP has never done a meaningful acquisition," Ackman said. "In fact the way they approach an acquisition is to buy features of products and then assemble them into a product; not a good way to do so. So this [Ceridian acquisition] is something directors should look at." The insurgent investor noted that based on conversations with shareholders that BlackRock, a large ADP shareholder, switched its payroll processor to Dayforce, which is a Ceridian company. He also noted that Vanguard, a large ADP shareholder, switched to Workday, another rival. "When you have the largest shareholders switching away there is something at the company that needs to be addressed," he said. The comments come as investors, including Omega Advisors' Leon Cooperman, who once held a board seat at ADP, point to ADP's overall record of share-price improvement and don't believe that the company is struggling or needs a significant refocus. Also, Ackman's recent troubles with investments in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) - Get Free Report suggest that investors may be wary of supporting the investor. Ackman may also have difficulty convincing shareholders to back his campaign because the company isn't currently struggling. Ackman's argument, which is unusual in activist insurgencies, is that ADP's serious problems are in the future if changes aren't made immediately. ADP has fought back, pointing out that its total shareholder returns have significantly outperformed the S&P 500 in recent years. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Full coverage of the Delphi murders: Look back at 5 years of stories Please enter the email address for your account. A verification code will be sent to you. Once you have received the verification code, you will be able to choose a new password for your account. Please enter the email address for your account. A verification code will be sent to you. Once you have received the verification code, you will be able to choose a new password for your account. Todays global economy has witnessed changes in the way production and trade occur. As new technologies are developed, globalisation and regionalisation are taking centre-stage, and we are witnessing a gradual integration of economies into regional value chains (RVCs) and global value chains (GVCs). Participation in GVCs exposes firms to new technologies and know-how that might otherwise be unavailable, as well as to new sources of capital. It enables suppliers to meet product standards and technical regulations that permit access to a greater variety of markets. At an economy-wide level, GVC participation tends to lead to job creation even if it depends significantly on imported content in exports. For farmers, participation in GVCs can facilitate the creation of agribusinesses for increased value addition in exported goods. Their participation will enable them to harness the interdependence among the different actors in the value chain, namely the suppliers of inputs the farmers; the businesses providing technical support for the farmers such as agricultural machinery the financiers; the wholesale producers of farm products; the processors; and associated sellers. Consequently, participation in GVCs will facilitate farmers access to inputs, financing, and end-markets at the local, national, regional, and international levels, thereby enabling them to have a greater voice in the value chain and enhancing their economic returns. This Working Paper focuses on the wine industry in South Africa, highlighting the big picture trade profile as well as key strategies that the wine industry is implementing to promote domestic, regional and global value addition. Specifically, it aims to address four issues: i) sector specificity of value chains and their impact on economic development; ii) the promotion of regional value chains as an alternative to global value chains; iii) the role of world cities as conduits for promoting value addition and the corporate services that they provide; and iv) issues of sustainability that value chains can affect (such as environmental and social side-effects). Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the author and do not purport to reflect the views of The China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda is the only place in the world that successfully breeds pandas and releases them into the wild. Here's how they do it. First things first. Have you ever heard the noise a baby giant panda makes? Be warned, brace yourself, prepare for breathtaking "AW"s, it is just really really cute. But that's just the frosting on the cake, because everything about giant pandas is irresistibly cute it's no accident that the species has become the poster child for conservation. The Effort to Save the Giant Panda Thankfully the numbers are slowly increasing for these roly-poly guys and gals, but the giant panda still remains one of the rarest and most endangered bears on the planet. One problem preventing more robust conservation success is that the species is a very touchy one when it comes to breeding and raising in captivity. In the 1960s, only 30 percent of infant pandas born at breeding centers survived. Today 90 percent survive. National Geographic explains the success in China: In the last 20 years, China has successfully tackled three of the biggest problems holding the giant panda back. Through research and experimentation, researchers at China's breeding centers have discovered how to encourage captive pandas to mate, how to make sure the pregnancy is successful, and how to keep the panda cubs alive once they've been born. Notably, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has become the only center in the world to successfully breed, raise, and release giant pandas into the wild. While only three pandas have been successfully released since 2006, sometimes progress comes in (giant) baby steps. An Inside Look at the Conservation Center The video below shows how the center is saving giant pandas it's so heartening. Watch and you can A) hear baby panda noises B) see some NSFW panda antics C) envy the center director as he is engulfed in a mountain of babies D) witness the wonderful strangeness that is workers dressed as giant pandas, and E) see baby pandas sleeping in baskets. And so much more, enjoy! Just a heads up. We returned from beautiful punta cana two weeks ago. During our amazing week we walked down to the colourful huts that are owned by the beautiful Dominican locals to buy some things to bring home. The Mosquitos were aggressive there and not one was Seen at the riu bambu. Anyways, I did get bitten and didn't think anything of it. Exactly one week after our encounter I developed a horrible rash with massive amounts of hives head to toe. A high fever and pain in my joints like the flu x a million. After seeing doctors here and looking into it further we've found out I was bitten by an infected mosquito. It's been 2 weeks since we got home and I've just returned to work. In still having to take antihistamines and Tylenol. To top it off because my immunity was low on the airplane I picked up a nasty respiratory infection from all the sick people in the flight. In all our trips to Dominican and Mexico we've never had a mosquito problem and never brought bug spray. Again... we went off the resort and because the resorts spray there wasn't an issue on the resort. So please save yourself the agony I had and am still having and bring bug spray. This virus has no cure and my joints and hives could go for months. Very upsetting and I've cried a lot. I've lost 10 lbs in a week. Protect yourselves and your loved ones. I would strongly advise you don't leave a 20 hour international flight to a strange country & immediately: Step into an unaccustomed car, with controls on the opposite site to that which you are presumably most familiar Drive on the opposite side of the road to your usual, with differing road rules & conditions ( lots of roundabouts ) For a couple of hours. I'd suggest you take the train to the Blue Mountains & rent a car the next day if you need one there. You can certainly use public transport in the BM, but I like to have a car for convenience. If you rent from one of the major firms, you will be able to drop it off in Sydney, either in Manly or somewhere else. The airport pick up / drop off adds $ to your booking. Does your Airbnb provide free parking? You don't really need a car for Manly & certainly not for the CBD, but if you wanted to take a trip up the Northern Beaches, around Pittwater & Kur-ring-gai Natiinal Park, it would be useful. I agree with the others - from the Blue Mountains - go out to the Central West. Canowindra, Orange, Mudgee - all beautiful areas. And you could then loop through the Golden West ( Coonabarabran & the Warrumbungles) to the Hunter Valley. Edited: 5 years ago Hi, I have been reading through countless forums regarding nut allergies and how they can be difficult to deal with when travelling in SE Asia. In January, my boyfriend and I are travelling around SE Asia and plan to spend 2-4 weeks in Vietnam. He has a severe allergy to peanuts and peanut oil, and is also allergic to all other nuts and most fish and shellfish. I have been trying to find a decent translation card to help put accross the seriousness of his allergies. Could anyone help me by suggesting a good translation website OR if someone could translate the following sentences, I would be so grateful. "I have life-threatening allergies to all nuts, peanuts, peanut oil and fish. Please DO NOT cook or put nuts, peanuts, peanut oil or fish in my food, or any ingrediant containing nuts or fish in my food. If I eat any of these things, I require urgent medical attention as I could die. Please DO NOT use any cooking untensil that has come into conact with nuts, peanuts, peanut oil or fish, unless it has been thoroughly washed. Please DO NOT please nuts near my drink. Thank you for your attention and care regarding my medical condition." Thanks! Edited: 5 years ago what is the best way from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto? what is the best way from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto? hi all we are a couple (30 yrs), 1st visit to Japan, planning to spend around 3 nights in hotel in Kawaguchiko. I've been thinking to rent a car for the whole time, picking it up from Fujisan train station in Fujiyoshida, and dropping off at same location last day. 1) is it a good idea to rent a car for 3-4 days in the region? planning to drive to Hakone too. 2) from what I've read, it is complicated to catch the Shinkansen from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto, I need to take a Bus to Gotemba, and then a train to Mishima, and then a local bus to the Shinkansen station. is there any better planning? Itinerary is Tokyo-Fuji 5 Lakes-Kyoto(Nara+Osaka day trips)-Hiroshima+miyajima-Tokyo thanks a lot!! Is your company in need of the most reliable and efficient best Best Jasmine Tea s in the market? Your good luck led you to the ideal situation, so congratulations! You are in the best possible place. By eliminating the need to read through dozens of Best Jasmine Tea reviews, we are saving you time and stress. Many customers find it difficult to decide which Best Jasmine Tea product to buy. The dilemma is brought about by the many types of Best Jasmine Tea in the market. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a clear understanding of how you may choose the most suitable Best Jasmine Tea available in the market. - NTV anchor Larry Madowo had tough night when an interview with Miguna Miguna turned nasty - The NTV anchor was forced to warn Miguna not step foot at his show after the lawyer made a controversial remark live on air - The heated argument between Madowo and Miguna stirred debate on social media A heated debate ensued on Wednesday night when a live TV interview degenerated into a shouting match between NTV host Larry Madowo and outspoken city politician Miguna Miguna. The debate went south after Madowo cut short Miguna Miguna as the politician was making his final statement and mentioned that revolutions come through blood. He was attributing to brutal police force against protesters in Kisumu but was interjected by Madowo who wanted Miguna to say if he was advocating for violence. READ ALSO: Chebukati to resign from Lagos or New York this week - Mutahi Ngunyi City politician and lawyer Miguna Miguna. Photo: Miguna/Facebook Miguna protested as he refused to justify his claim and told Madowo that he would never come back to the show because he was being intercepted. "I am not going to come back to the show because you are misbehaving...," he said as the stalemate raged. As anger took charge of the two, Madowo told Miguna not to show up on the show in future because of his utterances and conduct. READ ALSO: Chebukati invites Uhuru,Raila for urgent meeting Miguna went ahead and even claimed that Madowo was not a journalist after the host refused to allow him to finish his final statement. Madowo at one time banged the table to draw the attention of the bullish Miguna to no success as the lawyer went on to berate him. NTV's Larry Madowo takes a selfie in studio. Photo: Larry Madowo/Facebook "If you do not want to answer my questions then do not come to my show...we'll leave it there then...," Madowo told Miguna. READ ALSO: I will unleash militia on anyone who tries to stop you from voting- Matiang'i tells Kisii community Being the host of the show, Madowo has the responsibility of moderating how panelists engage as well as probe their statements. In the end, Miguna was subsequently banned from the programme. Other panelists including Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and Mutula Kilonzo Junior and nominated MP Jennifer Shamalla were left making unsuccessful interjections as the journalist and politician exchanged barbs. They were discussing the resignation of IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe, chairman Wafula Chebukati's statement that he was not sure the repeat election would be credible and the general political environment in the country. There will be no election on 26th-Raila Odinga - on TUKO TV Source: TUKO.co.ke - Opposition leader Raila Odinga has promised to face President Uhuru Kenyatta if his conditions are met - Raila indicated he is willing to consider his position if proper consultations are done and proper reforms within the IEBC carried out - He also indicated he is ready to dialogue with Uhuru as long as the president drops his 'nusu mkate' remarks NASA flag bearer Raila Odinga says he is willing to participate in the fresh presidential election set for October 26 as long as his irreducible minimums are met. The Opposition leader has said he will reconsider his position over the poll if there are reforms in the IEBC between now and the election day. During his 40 minutes meeting with the electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati, Raila also asked that the commission postpones the election so that reforms can be instituted. Raila has hinted at participating in the fresh poll.Photo:BBC. READ ALSO: Chebukati to resign from Lagos or New York this week - Mutahi Ngunyi This he said is because of the chairmans assertion on Wednesday, October 18 that he could not guarantee a credible poll. If proper consultations are done and proper reforms are carried out and those fears are addressed we will consider, said Raila on Thursday, October 19. READ ALSO: Uhuru and Raila expected to be in Bungoma county today. One campaigning and the other preaching boycott Speaking to journalists outside the IEBC headquarters, the NASA leader also reiterated he was not interested in any coalition government with President Uhuru Kenyatta so as to end the current political stalemate. The two have been urged to dialogue to avoid driving the country into anarchy but none has shown interest. It was made to appear that I was begging to meet with President Kenyatta because I want 'nusu mkate, Raila said. READ ALSO: The only dialogue I can hold with Raila is on peace and unity - Uhuru The Friday meeting with the IEBC chairman was to be attended by Uhuru and other presidential candidates ahead of the poll which is six days away. But the president did not show up forcing Chebukati to plan for another meeting on Monday,October 23 with Uhuru. Source: TUKO.co.ke It was fun in the sun on Sunday as the Aranguez savannah was the place to crown winners of t Deputy Economic Development Minister Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska says that Ukraines imports of Russian goods in 2017 grew mostly due to the purchase of fuel, fertilizers and spare parts. As to the imports, the largest group is energy imports, including fuel. The second is fertilizers, the third group is spare parts for engineering," Mykolska said on Espreso TV. The deputy minister noted that Ukraines exports to Russia are growing due to energy engineering products, metallurgy and chemical industries. Our exports growth over seven months include: the first group - energy engineering, the second group - metals, the third - chemicals and electric machines," said Mykolska. iy The Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) plans to sell 800 million cubic meters of gas to Ukraine in 2017. Furthermore, the company plans to increase supplies to Ukraine in the near future. Maciej Wozniak, Vice Chairman of the PGNiG Management Board for Trade, said this in an exclusive commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent during the Polish-Ukrainian Gas Forum in Wroclaw. "I hope that this year the volumes of gas sold from Poland to Ukraine will total at least 800 million cubic meters. Taking into account the import requirements of Ukraine about 10 billion cubic meters per year it is about 8%, which is a rather good volume for the first year of our activity in Ukraine," Wozniak said. The Vice Chairman of the PGNiG Management Board for Trade noted that the Polish company was also considering the possibility of supplying its gas to Ukraine through Slovakia. ol Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has dismissed Ihor Razinkov as first deputy head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine. The decree to that effect, No. 329/2017, was posted on the website of the head of state on Wednesday. Earlier, on September 13, Poroshenko appointed Yehor Bozhok as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. He served as head of Ukraine's Mission to NATO since June 2015. The president signed the respective decree on the appointment and introduced the new head to the staff of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Razinkov was appointed first deputy chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine on March 1, 2014, by then acting Ukrainian President and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov. op The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed a strong protest over the decision of the court of the Russian Federation to extend the arrest of Ukrainian citizen Pavlo Hryb. This is reported on the Foreign Ministry's website. "The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expresses its strong protest over the decision made by the Oktiabrskiy District Court in the city of Krasnodar of the Russian Federation on October 18, 2017 to extend the term of detention of the illegally detained Ukrainian citizen, Pavlo Hryb, until January 4, 2018," the report reads. The Foreign Ministry stresses that the detention of Pavlo Hryb in custody in Krasnodar on a fabricated charge is another evidence of the political nature of the case. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demands an immediate release of Pavlo Hryb and calls on the international community and human rights organizations to condemn inhuman treatment by the Russian side with illegally detained Ukrainian Pavlo Hryb and to increase pressure on the Russian Federation in order to release him. As reported, 19-year-old Pavlo Hryb disappeared in Belarus on August 24. Later it turned out that he was in Krasnodar's detention facility No. 5 on charges of "terrorism." Krasnodar's law enforcement agencies arrested the Ukrainian until October 17. On October 18, the Russian court extended the arrest of kidnapped Ukrainian citizen Pavlo Hryb until January 4, 2018. ish Within the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, the Ukrainian side urges to repeal the decree of the Russian president on recognition of the documents of separate regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO). Spokesperson for Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Darka Olifer wrote this on Facebook. "The Ukrainian side continues to demand in the working subgroups and at the TCG level the repeal of the decree of the Russian president on recognition of the documents issued by ORDLO; the abolition of the introduction of the ruble zone in ORDLO and the establishment of a pseudo-border; insists on the refusal of the expropriation of Ukrainian and European enterprises in the territory of ORDLO," Olifer wrote. As Ukrinform reported, on October 18, a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas took place in Minsk. ish A total of 152 hostages are illegally held in separate regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO). Spokesperson for Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Darka Olifer wrote this on Facebook. "152 hostages are illegally held in ORDLO. For their liberation, Ukraine is ready to accept serious compromises. However, representatives of ORDLO still want to release those who are not related to the situation in Donbas. We expect that a visit of OSCE coordinator of the humanitarian subgroup Tony Frisch to ORLO will help release people and that Mr. Frisch will be able to visit all the hostages, check the conditions of their detention, help them contact their relatives, and also make sure that people have not been tortured," Olifer wrote. As Ukrinform reported, on October 18, a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas took place in Minsk. ish Japan supports the idea of introducing a UN peacekeeping mission into the occupied territory of Donbas. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi said this to journalists, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Japan supports the idea of introducing peacekeepers into the occupied territory of Donbas," the ambassador said, adding that this issue still requires discussion. ish Last week, Strasbourg hosted this year's last session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was extremely important to Ukraine as the Ukrainian president visited the PACE, the Ukrainian law on education was considered during a debate, and a resolution was adopted following the discussion. In addition to the Ukrainian aspect, the October session has become the most powerful attempt in recent years to create conditions for the return of the Russian delegation to the PACE. In an exclusive interview with Ukrinform, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba spoke about the results of the session week, the intricacies of a modern diplomatic war, behind-the-scenes life at the PACE, and the achievements of Ukrainian diplomats. Q: Mr. Ambassador, how do you assess the events of the session week? What prospects do they have for Ukraine's future? A: As for the visit of the Ukrainian president, it was made, as they say, in the right place and at the right time. Since 2014, there is a "tradition" in the Council of Europe - at the end of each year Russian "lawyers" are more active and are trying to create conditions for the return of the Russian Federation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. According to PACE rules of procedure, the return is possible only in January. That is, if you powers are not approved in January, then you are absent for the whole year. That is why the October session is always the most dramatic one as everyone is trying to rebuild everything for the Russians, so that they can return in January. This year, the attack of Russian "lawyers" was the most powerful one: supporters and lobbyists of Russia, who had previously been hiding in the sidelines, began to work directly. The whole session was designed so as to create a pro-Russian discourse. That is, we did not have to criticize Russia as usual, but to talk about the need for friendship and love. It was for this purpose that Czech President Milos Zeman was invited to the session, which, in principle, is a non-standard step in diplomatic practice, because the Czech Republic currently holds the presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (the CoE body, which includes foreign ministers of all member states or their permanent diplomatic representatives). The Czech foreign minister, in accordance with the rules of the Council of Europe, at each PACE session speaks on behalf of his country, and here they also bring the president of the country. This was done with one purpose: so that he (Zeman), as a well-known Russophile and Putinophile, called for friendship and dialogue with the Russian Federation. And he brilliantly performed the role given to him: he dedicated all of his speech to Russia, the need for friendship with Putin. It was on October 10. And our president made his visit on October 11. On our part, it was a kind of counterattack, the use of heavy "weapons," which helped to break this pro-Russian pressure and eliminate it. It is very good that the president found time for this visit. Q: What was the reaction to the Ukrainian president's speech at PACE? Were the events you talk about accompanied with behind-the-scenes intrigues from pro-Russian lobbyists? A: The president had a strong speech, answered questions, met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland. All issues were discussed, and the position was clarified. And on Wednesday afternoon, the assembly adopted the so-called report by Nicoletti, through which Ukraine was shocked and hysterical that we lost and that the Russians will return to the PACE. But, in fact, this report was an attempt to create a pro-Russian discourse. It envisaged one important practical step: the creation of a working group consisting of representatives of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and PACE representatives, who, in essence, will begin to seek ways to change the rules of procedure of the Council of Europe in a way that guarantees the return of Russians in January 2018. Imagine that during the preparation of the session the approval of this report was set for Wednesday (October 11), and for Thursday they scheduled a meeting of the Joint Committee of the PACE and the CMCE where the states should start implementing this report. That is, the document has not been approved yet, but they are already convening all of us quickly to engage in its implementation. It was all an exclusively pro-Russian scenario. The report was approved, and a meeting of the joint committee took place on Thursday, during which, amid a visit by President Poroshenko, Ukraine, together with its partners, blocked the creation of a working group. The scenario failed, we won back this situation - there is a report, but the main goal (the creation of a working group) of Russian "lawyers" was not achieved. For us, the session, in terms of countering the Russians, ended positively. Diplomatic battles were the hardest. I do not remember that since 2003, when I started diplomatic work. In October, November, December and January, they (Russians) will still try to use bypass ways to get these changes approved, and such a probability exists, therefore we do not relax and continue to struggle. Q: The question of the new Ukrainian law on education was raised emotionally in the session hall for several days. The position declared by the Ukrainian side is the openness to dialogue and waiting for the conclusions of the Venice Commission. How do you assess the consideration of this law by the PACE? A: I acknowledge that this discussion on Ukraine's law on education became a spoon of tar in a barrel of honey. Our Hungarian and Romanian partners at the PACE really managed to create an atmosphere of non-acceptance of the law. The real situation occurred when PACE members and diplomats also did not know the essence of the law, but, looking at the reaction of Hungarians and Romanians, they decided to support them. The visit by Ukrainian Education and Science Minister Lilia Hrynevych was very important in terms of explanation. During the week preceding the PACE session she met with the secretary general of the Council of Europe and experts. But the uproar created by Hungarians and Romanians darkened the effect of this visit. As for the adopted resolution, there are two things in it. One is essentially important to Ukraine, and the other is fundamentally important to the Hungarians. The resolution says that the state language needs to be spoken. This is unacceptable when the national minorities do not speak the state language. This is a "plus" for Ukraine. And a "plus" for the Hungarians is that they managed to get the provision in which the assembly calls on Ukraine to comply with all recommendations of the Venice Commission that will be issued in December this year. Now everyone moves to the Venice Commission. Personally, I believe that adopting such a resolution is a pressure on the Venice Commission, because the PACE, in fact, demonstrates its position. Although it is difficult to influence the Venice Commission in this way, but it is obvious that experts will take into account the context in which this process takes place. Our position is very simple no one, be it Ukraine, Hungary, the PACE, the EU, or the Russian Federation, should exert pressure on the Venice Commission. This is an authoritative body, so it should be allowed to understand what the Ukrainian law on education envisages. Q: Why did the Hungarian and Romanian delegations take such an irreconcilable position? Should Russia's interest in weakening Ukraine's position at the Council of Europe and the PACE be considered in the criticism of the education law? A: As for the explanation of the law and the presentation of its content at the PACE, criticism was leveled against the Foreign Ministry. In this vein we should realize one thing - Hungary is not satisfied with any state of the learning of the Hungarian language, except the one we have now. No matter how much we increase the study of the Ukrainian language, they will not be satisfied. They want everything to remain as it is. This is their principled position. The aggressive position that they took was aimed precisely at this. Consultations with the Hungarians were held, and the Hungarian ambassador in Kyiv acknowledged it. But here it is not essential to conduct or not conduct consultations, as they will not retreat from their position. As for the Russian influence, I would not now exacerbate some issues of interaction between Russia and Hungary, because the Hungarians have a historically uncompromising position on this issue. Romania and Slovakia also have problems with Hungary due to education, the Hungarian minority in the country. That is, such crises, as we have now, were faced by our neighbors before. This is part of Hungary's domestic policy. Therefore, this level of escalation with Hungary was inevitable in any scenario. As for Romania, there is a fundamental difference. Hungary is ready to act as a "bulldozer" in terms of minorities, regardless of bilateral relations and the EU. At the same time, Romania also protects the interests of its minority, but this is done through dialogue, through the search for mutually acceptable solutions. For our part, we are open to dialogue and look forward to the conclusions of the Venice Commission. Q: What are relations between Ukraine and the Council of Europe in general? What is their attitude to us? A: Regarding the attitude, one could say that everything is fine if there were no situation around the law on education and questions about it. We ratified two key protocols to the Convention on Human Rights No. 15 and No. 16. We have a Council of Europe action plan for Ukraine, within which the Council of Europe is helping us with reforms. The Council of Europe helped us restart the Supreme Court and helps us in general to implement the judicial reform, which, by the way, is being evaluated positively. In general, as long as the Russians did not say this summer that they would not pay to the budget, everything was on a positive track, but then the situation changed. Q: PACE deputies who are "friends of Ukraine" said on the sidelines of the session that Russia had managed to strengthen its influence on the organization, in particular, by sending its people to posts in various bodies of the Council of Europe, in particular, in the Secretariat. How do you see such statements, and how effective can the influence of such "agents" be? A: Diplomacy is a process in which you secure the interests of your country in various ways, and one of these ways is to seat your own people through the secretariats of international organizations. Does Russia have strong agents at the Secretariat of the Council of Europe? Yes, it does. Do they open the doors of offices of important people at the Secretariat of the Council of Europe? Yes, they do. That is, Russia's influence within the CoE at the level of the Secretariat, where documents and processes are being prepared, is rather serious. But the PACE is a political body, and influence at the Secretariat is not enough to push forward the necessary decisions. For example, on Thursday (October 12), an hour or two before a meeting of the Joint Committee, we learned that there were draft final conclusions of the meeting prepared by the Secretariat, with full support for the initiative of the secretary general and the report by Nicoletti, and full support for the creation of the working group. Then we come to the meeting of the Joint Committee, we break this scheme, and at the end the head proposes approving the conclusions: we do not create the working group, we continue the dialogue in existing formats. This time we managed to repulse this attempt, and next time we may succeed or may not succeed. This is a constant live game. Q: You used to work at the OSCE before, so prior to your current appointment you had the experience of working in international structures. Times have changed, geopolitical realities have changed, and Ukraine's international position has changed. How do you work now? A: The Council of Europe, compared with the OSCE, is positive, because here Russia has no right of veto. We can make decisions. In particular, this year we made an unprecedented decision on Crimea for the Council of Europe and for the Committee of Ministers. Such steps are not possible at the OSCE. Why do the Russians want to restart the Council of Europe? Because this is the only organization that they do not fully control. They have the right of veto at the UN Security Council, and they keep their positions at the UN General Assembly at the expense of alliances, although they miss blows from us. In the Council of Europe they do not have full control over the processes. They use an uncivilized way to have this control. They create crises so as to restart the entire organization. In the first six months after my arrival here, my fellow ambassadors criticized me so friendly, saying that I should be softer, diplomatic, but I replied that we have wartime diplomacy. I cannot be a classic diplomat, veiling and playing. Yes, there are questions where I can play half tones, but there are questions where our position should be clear. And what Russia is doing should also be understood clearly, and there should be no regret or sympathy for them. We also beat when we are beaten. We really have diplomacy of wartime, and society must be prepared for this. Why does Russia want to hold a summit in 2019? For them it's a chance to completely restart the entire Council of Europe, so now they want to run it to the ground, so that there was an urgent problem to be solved at the summit. Q: You have already stressed that Russia is creating a complementary crisis to improve its position in the organization. Is it easier for the Kremlin to achieve its goals in "muddy water"? A: They have just created muddy water. The assembly is now feverish - in the literal sense of the word. They really hoped that the bigger the fever, the more chances they would have. But even in this fever and "muddy water," we can still oppose them and we are opposing them. Ukraine has one significant advantage - we understand the Russians, the course of their thoughts. The Council of Europe now started threatening that Russia would leave the Council of Europe if we do not take them back to the PACE. And this influences and frightens those who do not know Russia well. I'm saying that Russia will not quit the Council of Europe, but will attempt to impose its participation in the Council of Europe with such restrictions so as to protect itself completely. For example, they have a law that allows them not to comply with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. So there is no reason to leave the Council of Europe if they can stay and execute the decisions that do not cause any claims, and when they are "frightened" with the decision on Crimea, and this will inevitably happen, then they will make their decision and will not fulfill it. What helps us is we have experience of a three-year war, and we know that there are no red lines for Russians. If they wish to seize hostages, they will seize hostages, if it's necessary to free those hostages, they will free them. Russian diplomacy is now ready to destroy everything in its own interests. If it's necessary to destroy the assembly, they will destroy it, and if it's necessary to discredit the whole Council of Europe, they will discredit it. Q: How is the communication with Russian diplomats now? A: Everything changed in 2014. My predecessor, Mykola Tochytsky, who currently serves as Ukraine's permanent representative to the EU, spoke about this turning point in the following way: prior to that you communicate with your Russian colleagues, meet them at receptions, there are contacts, and then it becomes simply impossible. Over one-and-a-half years of my work, I have not spoken in a group or one on one with the Russian ambassador. I have not shaken hands with him. Our communication takes place exclusively at meetings of the Committee of Ministers when I attack him, and he attacks me. None of the employees of the Ukrainian permanent mission has any contacts with representatives of the Russian permanent mission. We do not invite them to our events, and they do not invite us to theirs. This is a gap and the maximum that we allow ourselves. This is reciprocal diplomatic trolling. Q: The PACE now has a new president. What is the position by Stella Kyriakides regarding the Ukrainian issue (since she had not previously spoken openly and had not voted 'for' or 'against')? Is this time (by the end of January 2018) enough to stay in office in order to express your position and influence the situation? A: Stella Kyriakides has won just because she holds a neutral position. I cannot say that she is pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. This is a person who is demonstratively far from all matters. She stands for love, friendship, cooperation, and the fight against corruption. This is not Agramunt, who worked out a pro-Russian scenario. By the way, nobody believed that he would be dismissed. The only one who believed that and initiated this process is (First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) Iryna Gerashchenko. I remember when she said for the first time that Agramut should resign, but nobody believed. It was difficult, but he himself did everything for his resignation by his trip to Syria as part of a Russian delegation and a meeting with Assad. Agramunt, of course, blames the Ukrainian delegation for his retirement. Yes, this was our principled position, but he himself facilitated the achievement of this goal. It was Agramunt's resignation as PACE president and the resignation of Jordi Xucla, who traveled with Agramunt to Syria, as rapporteur on Ukraine that showed that if you support the Russians, you should be prepared to pay for it. And this is not a matter of Ukraine's intransigence. This is a matter of disrespect for Europe itself and its values. I tell my fellow ambassadors in the Council of Europe that Agramunt lost his post, because he left for Syria, betrayed our goals and ideals, and I ask them who brought him to Syria. He was brought by a Russian delegation headed by Leonid Slutsky. That is, Agramunt was expelled for his visit to Syria, but at the same time they are ready to shake hands with Leonid Slutsky as head of the Russian delegation to the PACE and invite him to the Council of Europe. It turns out that the Council of Europe says that it is irreconcilable in the issue on Crimea issue and will never recognize its annexation, but is ready to greet a person who demonstratively brings foreign politicians to Crimea and tells them that it was, is and will be Russian soil. Is there any logic here? The question remains open. Olha Budnyk, Strasbourg. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported the draft decree of the President of Ukraine on the declaration of the year 2018 as the Year of Cultural Heritage Protection. Such a decision was approved at the Cabinets meeting on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. This will allow budgeting for the next year the funds for the renovation of museums, reserves, palaces and monuments of local importance. ol AMMAN, 18 October 2017 - More than two and a half years of renewed conflict in Yemen have once again put the education of 4.5 million children on the line, adding to the long list of bitter hardships that children have endured. Three quarters of teachers have not received their salaries in nearly a year, and the violence has forced one in ten schools across the country to close. As of July 2017, 1,600 schools have been partially or totally destroyed, and 170 have been used for military purposes or as shelter for displaced families. An estimated 2 million children are out of school. The beginning of the school year was postponed several times from its usual September start and textbooks and other school materials are in severely short supply. The salary crisis has pushed teachers to extreme measures just to survive. Hassan Ghaleb, a teacher for the past 20 years and the sole breadwinner for his family of four, was evicted from his home with his children. He had to sell what was left of his furniture just to feed them and treat his sick sister. How can I reach school if I have no money for transport? How can I teach if I myself am in need? he asks. More than 166,000 teachers from across Yemen ask the very same question, every day. For those children who can attend school, malnutrition and the trauma of displacement and violence have seriously affected their ability to learn. Without the learning and protective environment that school provides, even more boys and girls in Yemen will be vulnerable to recruitment into the fighting or early marriage with irreparable consequences on their young lives. Ongoing humanitarian efforts are only a drop in the ocean of suffering that Yemen has become. It is time that those fighting put the wellbeing of children above all else. UNICEF calls on all parties across Yemen to protect schools, refrain from using schools for military purposes and work together to find an urgent solution to the salary crisis so that children can learn. As UNICEF works closely with partners to keep the education system from collapsing, we urge donors to step up and enable the payment of incentives to education personnel, health workers and other civil servants who deliver vital services for children. The children of Yemen have suffered in ways that no human being should have to bear. Education is their only way to secure a better future and to help put Yemen on the path to peace. ### Notes for editors: UNICEF has supported 1.4 million children across Yemen through the rehabilitation of schools and provision of school materials. Nearly half a million children have benefitted from psycho-social support to cope with the traumas they have been through and provide a sense of routine and normalcy when school is not an option. Multimedia assets available for download here: https://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AM40805FSQX For more information please contact: Rajat Madhok, UNICEF Yemen, rmadhok@unicef.org, +967 712 223 001 Bismarck Swangin, UNICEF Yemen, bswangin@unicef.org, +967 712 223 161 Tamara Kummer, UNICEF MENA Regional Office, tkummer@unicef.org ; +962 797 588 550 Chris Tidey, UNICEF New York, ctidey@unicef.og +1 917 340 3017 Responding to criticism over its crackdown on political opposition ahead of next years election, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday hits back at the United States, attacking its history of intervention in the region. In a meeting with factory workers in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen questioned the U.S. role in overthrowing then-King Norodom Sihanouk in the 1970s and highlighted what he said was the overthrow of President Richard Nixon. I am sending a message to those who criticized the dissolution of the opposition party and [arrest of] its president on treason charges as going against the will of the people, he said. Have you ever thought about the overthrow of King Sihanouk to the point that the constitution of Cambodia vanished? He compared Cambodias situation to that of South Korea and Thailand, saying other countries governments do not consider the peoples will. Kem Sokha, the president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was arrested in early September and charged with treason for allegedly conspiring with a foreign power to overthrow Hun Sen. The CNRP is the subject of an ongoing Supreme Court case that could see it dissolved and its seats in parliament, the Senate and local authority positions handed out to other parties under legal amendments proposed by the ruling party. The State Department issued a statement earlier this month condemning the crackdown and proposed amendments, saying they would disenfranchise millions of Cambodians. David Josar, U.S. Embassy spokesman, declined to respond to Hun Sens comments, noting that Nixon had resigned after a two-year investigation had led to articles of impeachment being filed and was pardoned without serving jail time. Eng Chhai Eang, CNRP vice president, said on Wednesday via his Facebook page that the CPPs proposed amendments to election laws cannot steal the will of the people away. An appeals court has halted a lower court ruling that would have allowed an undocumented teenager, who is in detention in south Texas, to have an abortion. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington stayed Wednesdays ruling in order to hold a hearing Friday on the merits of the case. Jane Doe, as she is known in court to protect her privacy, has been detained in a refugee shelter in Brownsville, Texas, since September 11, when she was apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. Doe, 17, obtained permission from a state judge, in lieu of parental consent, and raised private money to pay for the procedure. But Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has refused to grant her permission to leave the shelter in order to obtain it. HHS has jurisdiction over the welfare of unaccompanied minors who are caught crossing the border. Lower court Judge Tanya Chutkan had ruled that the government must allow Jane Doe to get an abortion by Saturday. Lawyers for the teenager had argued that time is critical. Doe is 15 weeks pregnant. Under Texas state law, it is illegal to obtain an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But within hours of the lower court ruling, Department of Justice lawyers asked that the lower court ruling be put on hold, arguing that Doe still has a number of weeks to end her pregnancy. HHS has a policy against facilitating abortion, the government brief said, adding that Doe could easily get the procedure done by returning to her own Central American country. "There is no constitutional right for a pregnant minor to illegally cross the U.S. border and get an elective abortion while in federal custody," HHS said in an earlier statement. But in court Wednesday, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Brigitte Amiri argued, The government cannot ban abortion for anyone. She cited Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling which makes it illegal to prevent an abortion before the third trimester. Each week of delay will increase risks of the medical procedure, Amiri added. Cost to government Government attorney Scott Stewart said allowing Doe to travel for the abortion imposes a burden on the government, which is not obligated to pay or otherwise assist with the health care of undocumented immigrants. Judge Tanya Chutkan pointed out that Doe was not asking the government to transport her or pay for her abortion, but only to allow her to leave the detention center so she could go to the medical facility where the abortion would be performed. Is it your position that her coming here unlawfully extinguishes her of constitutional rights? Chutkan asked. Stewart argued that leaving the refugee shelter was not a willy-nilly process, but Chutkan pointed out that Doe had obtained judicial authorization to obtain the abortion, which entitled her to medical treatment. Arent residents of this shelter allowed to leave for medical procedures? Chutkan said. Why is this any different? Stewart maintained allowing Doe to leave the shelter was facilitative action, and thus a burden on the government. The government has the obligation to look after the well-being [of Jane Doe], which was undertaken when Doe was transported to a pregnancy crisis center. The ACLU claims this same center attempted to dissuade Doe from getting an abortion. According to documents procured by Politico, Scott Lloyd, who took control of HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement, (part of the Administration for Children and Families) in early March, has forbidden facilities from authorizing abortion procedures and threatened to cut funding if they do. The government certainly had no problem taking her against her will to receive pregnancy counseling, Chutkan said, adding that she was "astounded" that the administration of Donald Trump would try to prevent the procedure. ACLU lawyer Amiri told VOA News that she hoped the ruling would set a precedent and make abortion accessible to other undocumented girls. But she predicted HHS would appeal. The Bangladeshi government has registered thousands of orphans in Rohingya refugee camps as officials and aid groups attempt to figure out a plan to deal with large numbers of unaccompanied minors. Nearly 600,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmar since attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on August 25, sparking a military response that rights groups and the United Nations have described as ethnic cleansing. A majority of those who have fled are children, and many may have lost their parents in Myanmar or along the way. Children in UNICEF's child-friendly centers have drawn gruesome pictures of military raids and violent attacks on villagers, though Myanmar vigorously denies targeting civilians. WATCH: UNHCR Drone Footage of Rohingya Refugees Difficult task Pritam Kumar Chowdhury, the deputy director of the Social Welfare Department in Coxs Bazar district, said there may be more than 15,000 orphans, though he says verifying individual claims is difficult with scant additional information. In Bangladesh, when we identify any orphan, our officials visit their house to confirm it. But here it is not possible to go to Myanmar to verify the claims. So whatever they are saying we are collecting that information, he told VOA, adding that the government is also talking to neighbors and people whom the children may have traveled with from Myanmar. But there is no evidence, rather we are depending on the verbal statement. We are maintaining our strategy to complete the formalities. We are not claiming it is 100 percent correct but it is not all a wrong list. Jean-Jacques Simon, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said in an email that out of the 14,740 children registered as "orphans" with the government, half of the cases have been reviewed and entered into the Ministry of Social Welfare database. There were only 15 known cases of children actually living completely alone in the camps. UNICEF says it is in contact with the government at the local level "to know where these 15 children are right now and to ensure their protection." Chaotic situation The dusty roads of the camps and makeshift settlements in southern Bangladesh are teeming with children, some attended by adults and others not, and the chaotic situation makes them vulnerable to abuse and other risks. We really need to have a space for the children, said Dr. Erum Mariam, the director of the BRAC Institute of Educational Development. BRAC, an NGO based in Bangladesh, has helped organize clothing donations for children, build child-friendly spaces, and provide on-site counselors. We are really working on many different levels now, she said. The government has also floated the idea of building orphanages, and discussed the idea with aid groups this week, Mariam said. If the idea does move forward, its important to have the capacity to make it work, she added. There has to be so much engagement with the children, and understanding, understanding the trauma, she said. Pritam, with the Social Welfare Department, said more concrete options will be considered once officials have a clearer idea of the scope of the problem. Their fate will be decided by the government. But until then, we are concentrating on registration. Whatever the decision will be will come afterwards, he said. Catalonias leader on Thursday threatened to explicitly declare independence if no talks with the central government were offered. Spain then called a special Cabinet session to be held over the weekend to activate measures to take control of Catalonias semi-autonomous powers. Catalan president Carles Puigdemonts warning came in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy with minutes to spare before the expiration of a deadline set by the central government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession. If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonias parliament will proceed ... with a vote to formally declare independence, Puigdemonts letter said. Cabinet session called Spains government quickly responded with a statement saying it was calling a special Cabinet session for Saturday in which it would trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spains Constitution. It allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the countrys 17 regions, including Catalonia. The Cabinet meeting will approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards, the statement said. The measure has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of Gen. Francisco Francos dictatorship. Spains government needs to outline what are the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spains Senate. The ruling Popular Partys majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support. Referendum and violence Catalans would consider the application of the measure an invasion of the regions self-government, while Spains central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Puigdemonts government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the countrys constitution. More than 40 percent of Catalonias 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal Oct. 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead.Opponents boycotted the vote. Catalan officials say that hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents and on the grounds that it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Spains government had said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out. The Catalan governments international affairs director, Raul Romeva, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that Catalonias banned secession referendum gave the regions separatist government a mandate to declare independence from Spain. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Thursday the United States is going to do everything it can to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, but Pakistan must first deny the militants a safe haven on its soil. Pompeo said for talks to move ahead, the Taliban must have no hope of winning on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and that means making it no longer possible to cross the Afghan-Pakistani border and hide inside Pakistan. That strategy was outlined by President Donald Trump this summer as part of his approach to ending the 16-year war, in addition to an incremental increase in U.S. forces there. Pompeo said in a speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, that if history is to be a guide, then very low expectations should be set for Pakistan's willingness to cooperate with the U.S. in fighting "radical Islamic terrorism." He said the U.S. needs to have "a very real conversation with them about what it is they are doing ... and the American expectations for how they will behave." The U.S., he said, "is going to do everything we can, to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, with the Taliban having zero hope that they can win this thing on the battlefield." He added: "To do that you cannot have a safe haven in Pakistan." U.S. officials have long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye or assisting the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. Pakistan routinely denies colluding with the militants. Facebook says its top executives aren't coming to Thailand, two days after the country's military ruler announced CEO Mark Zuckerberg would meet him this month. Facebook said in a one-sentence statement Thursday There are no plans currently for any of our senior leaders to visit Thailand. Thailand and the social media giant have had a strained relationship this year. Facebook has irked the Thai government by being a platform for critics of the country's monarchy. In May, a Thai regulator threatened to block the popular site. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters Tuesday he was scheduled to meet with Zuckerberg on October 30. Please don't link our meeting to any other issues, Prayuth said. To talk and exchange opinions would be better than for us to not meet at all. A deputy government spokesman, Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak, said Thursday that Prayuth announced the meeting with Zuckerberg to reporters after he was briefed by Thailand's Board of Investment. Weerachon said he did not know exactly what was reported to the prime minister. Limits on information exchange Thailand's military, which seized power in a 2014 coup, says safeguarding the monarchy is one of its top priorities. It has tried to stamp out criticism online, including on social media sites such as Facebook, and has aggressively enforced draconian lese majeste and computer crime laws. The junta has been particularly sensitive to anti-monarchist sentiment following the death of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October last year and the succession of his less well-regarded son. A Thai court sentenced a prominent student activist to 2 years in prison on August 8 after he pleaded guilty to the charge of lese majeste for sharing a BBC article about the country's new king on Facebook. Last December, Thai authorities declared it illegal to exchange information on the internet with three prominent government critics who often write about the country's monarchy. An official statement advised all citizens not to follow, contact, share or engage in any other activity that would result in sharing information from the three, who all live outside Thailand. Facebook, which is blocked in a number of authoritarian countries including China, has said it relies on local governments to notify it of information they deem illegal. If, after careful legal review, we find that the content is illegal under local law we restrict it as appropriate and report the restriction in our Government Request Report, Facebook has said in past statements outlining its policy. Supporters of Thailand's lese majeste law argue that the monarchy is a sacred pillar of Thai society and must be protected at all costs but critics say the law is being used to silence dissent. Former U.S. president George W. Bush on Thursday spoke against the country's political divisiveness, saying that "at times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together." Bush, the country's 43rd president, a Republican who served two terms in office from 2001 to 2009, never mentioned President Donald Trump by name in a New York speech, but his message seemed aimed at him for his frequent Twitter taunts against political rivals, his attempts to curb immigration into the U.S., and his abandonment of international trade deals. "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," Bush said. "Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization." "Bigotry seems emboldened," Bush said. "Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. "Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood ..." Bush said. "This means that people from every race, religion, ethnicity can be full and equally American. It means that bigotry and white supremacy, in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed." He added, "Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions, forgetting the image of God we should see in each other. We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, and forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism," Bush said. "We've seen the return of isolationist sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places, where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge." Since leaving office, Bush has only infrequently made public policy statements, largely staying quiet about Washington political debates during the White House tenure of his successor, former president Barack Obama. Bush last year supported the unsuccessful presidential campaign of his brother, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, one of a large field of Republican contenders Trump defeated for the party's presidential nomination before winning the November election against his Democratic challenger, former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Philippine military officials say a top Islamic State militant is believed to have been killed by government forces who liberated the southern city of Marawi earlier this week. Malaysian-born Mahmud Ahmad was among a group of 20 militants killed in a gun battle early Monday. A military spokesman says it is confident Ahmad was killed based on information provided by two hostages rescued after the firefight. His death will not be confirmed until his body is recovered and DNA tests are conducted. Ahmad is a close associate of Isnilon Hapilon, who was Islamic State's leader in Southeast Asia until this week, when he and another key IS figure, Omarkhayam Maute, were both killed in a targeted military operation. Ahmad is believed to have funneled money and fighters to boost the group's siege of Marawi, a city of 200,000 located on the Muslim-dominated southern island of Mindanao. Experts say Ahmad would likely take Hapilon's place as the Islamic State's point man in the region. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Marawi since May 23, when Philippine security forces launched a mission to arrest Hapilon. The raid collapsed after a wave of militants stormed the city and went on a rampage, burning houses, Catholic churches and taking scores of hostages. Much of Marawi has been leveled by airstrikes aimed at bringing an end to the siege. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared Marawi "liberated from the terrorist influence" Tuesday during a visit to the besieged city. Military forces are still engaged in sporadic battles with a remaining, but dwindling group of militants. The southern Philippines, particularly the resource-rich but poverty-wracked Mindanao region, has long been a hotbed of activity by the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf and other fundamentalist groups. The Islamic militants came on motorcycles toting rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing four American service members after shattering the windows of the unarmored U.S. trucks. In this remote corner of Niger where the Americans and their local counterparts had been meeting with community leaders, residents say the men who came to kill that day had never been seen there before. The attackers spoke Arabic and Tamashek, and were light-skinned, Baringay Aghali, told The Associated Press by phone from the remote village of Tongo-Tongo. Who were these men and how did they know the Americans would be there that day? No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly ambush on Oct. 4 and the languages reportedly spoken by the jihadists are used throughout the Sahel including Tamashek, spoken by ethnic Tuaregs. The ambush of U.S. troops in Niger has been the center of controversy in America because President Donald Trump has been criticized in some quarters, including by one grieving family directly, for the way he spoke to the wife of one of the soldiers slain in that operation. The Niger attack appears to be the work of the Islamic State of the Sahel, a splinter group of extremists loyal to the Islamic State group who are based just across the border in Mali, according to interviews with U.S. officials and authorities here in the vast Sahel region bordering the Sahara Desert. It is led by Adnan Abu Walid who built ties with various extremists before forming his own group. Some officials believe Walid's militants are also holding an American, Jeffery Woodke, who was abducted in Niger a year ago. A rebel leader approached by Niger authorities to conduct negotiations for his release confirmed that Walid's group is holding Woodke, who had spent 25 years as an aid worker in Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world. Now Walid's group is suspected of the attack that killed four American soldiers this month. The ambush in Niger highlights how extremist groups have shifted and rebranded since the 2013 French-led military operation ousted them from power in northern Mali. Those extremists lost Mali's northern cities but regrouped in the desert, including the man suspected of ordering the attack on the Americans. Walid, 38, also known in some circles as Adnan al-Sahrawi, descends from the Sahrawi people, who are found across southern Morocco, Mauritania and parts of Algeria. He has long been active with Islamic extremists in Mali, at one time serving as the spokesman of the Mali-based group known as MUJAO that controlled the major northern town of Gao during the jihadist occupation in 2012. That group was loyal to the regional al-Qaida affiliate. But Walid parted ways and in October 2016 a video circulated on the internet in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. In the year since then he has called for attacks on foreign tourists in Morocco and the U.N. mission in Western Sahara, according to audio messages released in his name. It is not clear if Walid is receiving financial help from the Islamic State group or if the links are purely ideological. Walid's following now includes numerous members of the Peul ethnic group in the Mali-Niger border areas, who are active in the area near where the attack on the U.S. soldiers took place. Before the attack on the U.S. troops in Niger, Walid's followers are believed to have staged a series of bloody attacks on military installations in Niger. In February, they were blamed for an assault in Tliwa where a dozen Niger soldiers were slain. Walid's Islamic State in the Sahel does not yet pose a threat as great as the al-Qaida militants in the region though that could shift with time, said Ibrahim Maiga with the Institute for Security Studies in Bamako. Walid clearly appears to have learned from his former colleagues on how to infiltrate and influence locals, he said. He has succeeded ... in creating links with local people despite the fact that he is a stranger to the area, he said. The growing threat posed by Walid's group comes as the international community is already facing an escalation in violence across the Sahel. A report by the U.N chief obtained this week by AP warned that the security situation in the Sahel is in a continuous downward spiral. For several years American and French forces have provided training and support to the militaries of Mali, Niger and other vulnerable countries in this corner of Africa where Islamic extremism has become increasingly entrenched over the past decade. Now the U.N. is urging the international community to finance a 5,000-strong regional force, with the head of the U.N. saying the stability of the entire region, and beyond, is in jeopardy. The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali has become the most dangerous in the world as Islamic militants routinely attack U.N. convoys across the north. And the future of the regional security force known as the G5 Sahel Multinational Force - made up of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - appears to be in jeopardy. France, the former colonizer which has a 5,000-strong military operation to help stabilize the region - has been a major financial backer. Funding, though, has come up short. The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution in June welcoming the deployment, but at U.S. insistence it did not include any possibility of U.N. financing for the force. So far only one-quarter of the needed funds have been raised, throwing into doubt whether the regional forces will begin operations this month as scheduled. Maiga, the Malian security expert, said winning the battle against extremism will not be only a question of firepower. If it were a conventional conflict with two armies respecting roughly the same rules, the G5 would come out stronger. Jihadist groups, though, are infiltrating the population, exploiting the absence of government in some of these remote areas. That is how Walid's group may have learned about the visit of the U.S. troops to local communities. Within the communities where troops are attacked, someone is tipping off the extremists. The outcome of this battle will not depend solely on the size of the troops, he said, but also on the ability of states to regain the confidence of the population. The Los Angeles Police department says it has opened an investigation into movie producer Harvey Weinstein after someone made allegations of sexual assault. The LAPD announced the news via Twitter Thursday. A police spokesman told the Associated Press that the department interviewed a possible sexual assault victim who reported an incident that occurred in 2013. The investigation is ongoing, and he could not answer any questions about when the interview or incident took place. Weinstein has recently been fired from his production company and is under investigation in New York and London because of similar allegations. Weinstein statement Weinstein's attorneys have released a statement saying, "We deny any allegations of nonconsensual sex, though obviously can't respond to anonymous allegations." This was the second statement from Weinstein attorneys saying their client has not participated in nonconsensual sex. Meantime, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o has added her story to those of about 40 other women who say Weinstein sexually harassed them or attempted assault. In a piece published in The New York Times Thursday, Nyong'o says Weinstein met with her on several occasions, pressured her to drink alcohol, and pressured her for sex in exchange for help with her career. Employee statement And a group of anonymous staffers from the Weinstein Co., which fired its co-founder over the allegations earlier this month, published a joint statement Thursday expressing support for the women who have come forward and stating they were unaware of Weinstein's alleged behavior as a "serial sexual predator." Weinstein Co. staffers sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of their contracts. The joint statement notes that even it, the statement, violates the nondisclosure agreement. "We all knew that we were working for a man with an infamous temper," the statement said. "We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator. ... We did not know that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women." The statement goes on to disavow any enabling of Weinstein's behavior and express support for the women who have come forward, "many of whom we count among our own friends and colleagues," it continued. "We see you, we admire you, and we are in this fight alongside you." News about Weinstein broke two weeks ago, when The New York Times and New Yorker magazine both published exposes of the legendary producer, citing allegations that go back as far as the 1980s. In addition to being fired from his company, Weinstein has been thrown out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and stripped of various other honors. The House of Blackheads, a group of two buildings on the right, is a landmark of the Old Town in Riga, Latvia. St. Peter's Church with a high tower and a spire stands at left. The Baltic town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, draws a large number of tourists from around the world. / Courtesy of Sandra Iriste Latvia to hold various events for centennial celebrations in 2018 By Park Yoon-bae RIGA, Latvia The picturesque Latvian capital has such a rich cultural heritage that one can easily discover diverse architectural styles, from Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque cathedrals to art nouveau. In particular, Riga's Old Town, or Old Riga, is full of medieval charm and some of its cultural assets date back to the 13th century. This calm, small and beautiful Baltic town's cobblestoned roads make visitors feel as if they are traveling back through time to the Middle Ages. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Riga served as the European Capital of Culture in 2014. "Riga is more than 800 years old. We are really proud of the city's architectural diversity," said Anna Blaua, PR account executive at the Riga Tourism Development Bureau. She said the city is home to the largest collection of art nouveau buildings in the world. She noted Riga was named one of the world's most "hipster" capitals by the Daily Mail. Riga is one of the greenest capitals in Europe, with 17 big parks, and it is also a flavor city promoting Latvian food, according to her. Riga was officially founded at the mouth of the Daugava River in 1201 by Bishop Albert, following the German Crusades. It became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1282. A tour of the Old Town offers a glimpse of the German influence in medieval times, Christianization and the Reformation, as well as Swedish and Russian rule. The town also shows its tumultuous history of German invasion and Latvia's annexation by the Soviet Union during World War II. Municipal authorities plan to hold festivals, cultural events and food festivities as part of next year's centennial celebration of the country's 1918 proclamation of independence. For a taste of Latvian cuisine, Riga has many restaurants featuring food made from Baltic cod, salmon, herring, pork, mutton and beef. Visitors can also enjoy fresh vegetables, mushrooms, blueberries and cranberries. Bars and pubs offer many different beers. The city is also well known for Riga Black Balsam, an "elixir" liqueur claimed to have the power to cure all diseases, including colds. It is made with herbs mixed in vodka. Its alcoholic content is 45 percent. House of Blackheads A visit to the Old Town can start at the landmark House of Blackheads in front of the Riga Town Hall. The house was built in 1334 as a venue for meetings and banquets for public organizations. The building's present name stemmed from the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in the largest port city in the Baltic region. The Blackheads occupied the house in the 17th century. It was reconstructed several times from 1522 to the late 19th century, adding lion figures above the front doors and St. George's figure in the annex. The building was severely damaged and pillaged during World War II. It was rebuilt in 1999 as an exact copy of the original, with a magnificent Dutch Renaissance facade and amazing ceiling paintings. It is now under renovation. At the portal of the house are reliefs of St. Mary and St. Maurice, the leader of the Roman Legion who was one of the patrons of the Brotherhood of Blackheads. St. Maurice was traditionally depicted as a black soldier in knight's armor. St. Peter's Church St. Peter's Church is an imposing red brick building built initially of timber in 1209, then rebuilt later in stone. It is one of the biggest and most beautiful examples of Gothic architecture in Latvia. The reconstruction work in the late 17th century added a Baroque-style tower to the Lutheran church. The 123-meter tower consists of three open galleries alternating with three cupolas and topped with a spire and a weather vane in the form of a rooster. The church has not changed much despite its neo-Gothic restoration in the 19th century and damage during WWII. A lift inside the tower takes visitors to two platforms that provide a fantastic panoramic view over the Old Town and across the Daugava River. The church was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 as part of Riga's historic center. Dome Cathedral / Korea Times photo by Park Yoon-bae Dome Cathedral Dome Cathedral stands at the edge of Dome Square, the largest square in the heart of Old Riga. It is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral with a weathercock. It was built as Bishop Albert's cathedral in 1211 and has been rebuilt several times since. The bishop came from Bremen, Germany. The cathedral displays a mixture of late Romanesque, early Gothic and Baroque architectural styles. It is famous for its pipe organ that is often used in concerts and recitals. There are many good cafes, bars and restaurants around the square. Swedish Gate / Courtesy of Uldis Vilks Swedish Gate The Swedish Gate was erected in 1698 as a part of Riga's medieval fortification walls while the Swedes ruled the city. It provided access to barracks outside the city wall. It was opened at sunrise and closed at sunset. The gate is the only remaining gate to Old Riga, set in the largest surviving section of the town wall. It is a vestige of the Swedish occupation of the city, which lasted from 1629 to 1711. Powder Tower and War Museum / Courtesy of Tevijas Sargs Powder Tower The Powder Tower is one of the fortification towers in Riga. It was originally called the Sand Tower, and dates back to 1330. Rebuilt several times, it acquired its current name in the 17th century when the city began storing gunpowder there. The tower is 25.6 meters high, with a diameter of 14.3 meters. Its wall thickness is estimated at three meters. It stands alongside the War Museum, which was built in 1919. It features medieval and modern military history. The museum highlights Latvians' involvement in the 1905 Russian Revolution and World War I, as well as the proclamation of independence and establishment of statehood. Three Brothers The charming Three Brothers are the town's three oldest residential stone houses, each from a different century but grouped together. The oldest dates back to the 15th century, while another building is decorated with four big figures showing it was built in 1646. The Three Brothers are near St. James Cathedral. According to legend, the buildings were constructed by men from one family. One building now houses the Latvian Museum of Architecture. These buildings do not look magnificent or extravagant. But they have architectural value as the oldest buildings in Riga. In front of the structure, an old man plays a horn. When this reporter and other Korean journalists arrived there Sept. 25, he played the Korean national anthem and Arirang. Art nouveau An art nouveau building / Courtesy of Latvian Institute Riga is one of the foremost art nouveau destinations in Europe. A third of the city center is built in this attractive style. One of the most distinctive art nouveau quarters is in Riga's Elizabetes and Alberta streets. The exteriors of many buildings are decorated with beautiful sculptures and ornaments. Well-known architect Mikhail Eisenstein, father of famous Russian filmmaker Sergey Eisenstein, designed some of the art nouveau buildings. Anyone who wants to know more about the architectural style can visit the Riga Art Nouveau Museum in Alberta street. Freedom Monument Freedom Monument / Courtesy of Viktors Descenko The Freedom Monument is the symbol of Latvian independence and freedom. It is on the city's main street Brivibas street and can be seen from a great distance. The statue of liberty, Milda, holds three gold stars that represent Latvia's three regions vvv Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale. The motto inscribed on the base reads: "For the Fatherland and Freedom." Construction of the 42.7-meter monument was financed through public donations. It was unveiled on Nov. 18, 1935, on the 17th anniversary of the country's independence from Russia. It also reminds visitors of the Baltic way, in which nearly 2 million people stood hand in hand between Estonia's Tallinn, Latvia's Riga and Lithuania's Vilnius on Aug. 23, 1989, to call for their sovereignty from the USSR. The 600-kilometer human chain attracted one in three inhabitants of the three Baltic states. Museum of Occupation The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia was established in 1993 to commemorate the wrongdoings committed by foreign powers against Latvia and its people from 1940 to 1991. Archive documents and artifacts are on display to raise public awareness of the 51 years of occupation. Latvia, which proclaimed independence and established statehood in November 1918, was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and then by Nazi Germany in 1941. The Soviet Union then occupied the Baltic state again from 1944 to 1991. During the occupations, Latvia and its people suffered atrocities, including the Holocaust and the deportation of more than 40,000 Latvians to Siberia. The museum also features partisan struggles against the foreign occupiers. Any Korean visitor will find that Korea and Latvia have historic similarities. Korea was occupied and ruled by Japan for 35 years from 1910. Central Market / Courtesy of LIAA Central Market The Central Market is one of Europe's largest and oldest open-air markets. It has five food pavilions inside large converted Zeppelin hangars. Around and between them stalls sell everything from fruits and vegetables to flowers and clothes. The market has more than 3,000 stands. On a Friday morning in late September, people crowded the market to find good bargains for groceries and other daily necessities. Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is offering a substantial reward for information on Mondays shocking murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Galizia. We will make sure our investigators have all the resources they need and all the foreign expertise necessary to get to the bottom of this, Muscat told Reuters Wednesday. He said no expense will be spared to find the killers. The FBI and Dutch forensic experts are on Malta to help with the investigation. A bomb tore apart Galizia's car just moments after she left her home. Her son saw the car explode, but there was nothing he could do to save her. Galizia had been investigating allegations of government corruption on Malta, specifically alleged ties between Maltese officials and offshore banks and companies that are often set up to avoid paying taxes. Muscat was among those under suspicion because of information gleaned from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers, which gave details on the tax havens. The prime minister denied any wrongdoing and had sued Galizia. At least four people have been killed across the small West African nation of Togo in clashes between security forces and protesters demanding an end to the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe. Security Minister Colonel Damehame Yark said Wednesday that one person was shot dead in the capital, Lome, while three others were killed in Togo's second-largest city of Sokode, more than 300 kilometers north of Lome. Yark says 60 demonstrators were arrested in Wednesday's clashes. Opposition leaders have planned two days of demonstrations against Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005, succeeding his late father President Gnassingbe Eyadema. Protests have broken out across Togo since August over the current president's proposal to amend the constitution by removing presidential term limits, which could potentially allow him to stay in office until at least 2030. The elder Gnassingbe himself served as president of Togo from 1968 until his death. In military training, the body and mind are often pushed to the limit. In some cases, it could prove to be deadly. "We are killing more Marines and soldiers in training than in combat. Why does that happen? A lot of times it is fatigue," Lt. Col. Warren Cook of the U.S. Marine Corps said. Cook spoke on a panel of military personnel at the University of Southern California's Global Body Computing Conference in Los Angeles. Commanding officers and scientists discussed the benefits of using technologies such as wearable sensors to help recruits be more aware of their body's limits so they can train better and safer. WATCH: Experimental Virtual and Mixed Reality Technologies Can be Applied to Military of the Future "We are still in test-and-evaluation mode, so we have been testing ... most of what we have been testing are commercial products. We do have a suite of sensors that we have integrated into a system for physiological status monitoring to include the Zephyr heart monitor and a variety of other fundamental measures, but we have tested Fitbits," said chief scientist Charlene Mello with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. "How can we, through science and technology, generate lethality for the young Marine and sailor in a more efficient manner," Cook asked. VR, augmented and mixed reality Virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality projects are being developed that can have military applications. One mixed reality project at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (USC ICT) involves drones small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The drones can follow and capture a person's movements so they can be analyzed under a training simulation. "When you combine performance capture that is autonomously driven with a lot of this biodata, it is going to change the way that athletes train. It is going to change the way that the military trains and operates, and it is going to change the way that we interact with the world," said Todd Richmond, director of Advanced Prototype Development at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. Another project at USC ICT is a virtual and augmented reality application called Monticello, where the user can interact with a virtual expert. "If you are in a hostile environment and you have been trained to spot dangerous areas versus safe areas, you could use this augmented reality to perhaps take a picture of a corridor or an area that you are currently occupying, and a virtual expert could mark on the application dangerous areas vs. safe areas where you could place yourself," Adam Reilly, USC ICT's research programmer said. Another USC ICT project is called Bystander, a virtual reality prototype that helps people prevent sexual harassment and assault. "The military is very interested in this area of research because they have programs already to try and mitigate sexual assaults, sexual harassment. It's a big problem in the military," said David Nelson, project manager of USC's Mixed Reality Lab and creative director of the Mixed Reality Studio. Nelson said taking an online course on mitigating sexual harassment and assault is different than a fully immersive experience where the student user can see something happening and try to physically stop it. "We believe that's a really different experience if you immerse somebody in a situation because you can read a story and say, 'Well, this is how I would react or this is how I would act in that circumstance' but until you're actually in it, you really don't know how you would behave. So the goal of this project was to really try and foster more active bystander participation," Nelson said. Commanding officers and scientists at the University of Southern California's Global Body Computing Conference agreed that technology can be useful in keeping servicemen and women mentally and physically healthy, which can translate to better performance in combat. "If you're trained well, you will behave well in combat," Col. Jeffrey Holt of the U.S. Marine Corps said. Former President Barack Obama is returning to the campaign trail to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia as they gear up for next months elections. Thursdays events mark the first time the former president is stepping back into the political spotlight since leaving the White House. Unlike more low-key appearances earlier this year, Obamas foray into two states wont be a one-and-done. He is planning more public appearances as the year closes, and preparation for the 2018 midterm elections begins. Engaged and active Obama seems to be determined to be an engaged and active former president whos playing a role in different issues and is involved in politics, Rutgers University professor David Greenberg said. Obama is hoping to sway voters in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two gubernatorial races this year. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, are term-limited. Those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats strength in the face of President Donald Trumps victory last year. Obama will first drop in on campaign workers in Newark, New Jersey, for a private canvass kickoff for Democratic candidate Phil Murphy, who is running against Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. The former president will then head to Richmond, Virginia, to rally support for Democrat Ralph Northam in his campaign against Republican Ed Gillespie. At the end of the month, Obama will go to Chicago to head up his first Obama Foundation leadership summit Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, bringing in speakers such as Englands Prince Harry, former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and artists such as Gloria Estefan, Chance the Rapper and indie rock band The National. Still popular Obamas popularity is still undeniable. In an August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 51 percent of Americans said they have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 35 percent had a negative opinion. In the same poll, 36 percent said they had a positive opinion of Trump and 52 percent had a negative opinion. In Richmond, thousands of people lined up Tuesday to get tickets to Obamas rally. Retired Richmond social worker Nancy Jackson, 67, said she missed Obama tremendously and wished he could serve a third, fourth and fifth term. She said black voters like her have been despondent since Trump took office. I think Obama will bring some light to the end of the tunnel, she said. Defending policies Obama never completely disappeared from public life, in part because of Trumps constant criticism and efforts to undo much of Obamas legacy after eight years in office. He has publicly defended his policies that Trump and the GOP-led Congress have set out to dismantle: the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to be temporarily shielded from deportation. Obama was forced to return pretty quickly, presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University said. The current president has changed all the conventional assumptions about what to do, Zelizer said. There is a sense of urgency that makes this moment different than others and former President Obama has continued to be directly in Trumps line of fire, both his policies and his legacy. 2 Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather during a celebration at the iconic Al-Naim square in Raqqa, after retaking the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Pakistans military is installing a robust fence along its largely porous 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan and establishing new forts as well as outposts on mountain peaks. Officials hope the fortification plan of hundreds of millions of dollars will effectively prevent militant infiltration and stabilize both sides of what has been traditionally an open border with numerous regular and irregular crossings. Afghanistan opposes the fence project. It has traditionally disputed the colonial-era demarcation drawn up by the British in 1893 and does not recognize it as an international boundary. Kabul maintains the fence plan would add to the problems of divided families and tribes, mainly ethnic Pashtuns, straddling the dividing line. Islamabad dismisses Afghan objections over the status of the boundary and insists it inherited the international frontier when Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. On Wednesday, the Pakistan army flew reporters to the tribal border regions of South Waziristan and adjoining North Waziristan, which together share a more than 300-kilometer border with Afghanistan. The two semi-autonomous tribal districts are part of the volatile Federal Administered Tribal Areas, known as FATA, and were until a few years ago notorious for harboring militants blamed for terrorist attacks on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistani commanders say security operations have neutralized the threat of militancy in almost all of FATA, prompting authorities to launch the construction of a pair of 12-feet high chicken wire fences topped with barbed wire. The fence is a paradigm change and an epoch shift in the border control management, said local army commander, Major-General Nauman Zakaria while briefing reporters at a newly built fort on in Angoor Adda, which overlooks Afghan district of Barmal. I have a border of about 106 kilometers that this [South Waziristan] agency shares with Afghanistan, [which] is going to be completely fenced, and the border forts will be completed. There will not be an inch of international border [here] which shall not remain under our observation by December of 2018, said Zakaria. He noted while Pakistani troops occupy over 150 outposts in the area under his command, Afghan forces maintain only 21 posts on their side due to capacity issues and lack of sufficient forces. We are sitting here to stay now, inshallah [God willing]. So, while we do this for our sakes, we complement our Afghan brothers and we complement their capacity issues, so that they are also very sure that there is no place left unguarded on the Pakistan and Afghanistan border, said the general. High-tech surveillance Modern surveillance systems, including drones, are also being deployed to ensure day-and-night monitoring of the border. The fencing plan, expected to be fully implemented within the next two years, will cost Pakistan an estimated cost of $532 million. Around 180 of the 750 forts the army plans to build along the border have been either completed or are under construction. Military officials say they have thus far fenced off more than 40 kilometers of what is considered as most critical and vulnerable to militant infiltration. Strict border controls have been introduced at the two main border crossings of Torkham and Chaman to document identities of daily crossers. Area military commanders admit the fencing plane will divide villagers around Chaman but say the government plans to relocate Pakistani families by offering them financial compensations. But despite Pakistans border security measures, the country remains under scrutiny amid persistent Afghan and U.S. allegations that Islamabad is covertly helping the Taliban and its ally, the Haqqani terrorist network, to use safe havens on Pakistani soil for plotting attacks against the Afghan government. Pakistan rejects charges Afghan officials allege insurgent leaders are located on the other side of the border and are being protected by the Pakistani spy agency. Islamabad strongly rejects the charges and says sustained security operations have cleared all areas of militants on its side of the border. In turn, Pakistan alleges militants have taken refuge in ungoverned Afghan areas and plot cross-border deadly raids. Speaking in Angoor Adda, General Zakaria vowed that by the time the border management plan is completed we will be very sure of one thing: that nobody can cross this place." He said the fence will address mutual concerns "once forever" and help Pakistan maintain a stable relationship with the neighbors he described as "Afghan brothers." Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) on Wednesday confirmed the death of Umar Mansoor, one of the group's top leaders and who allegedly was responsible for carrying out several deadly attacks in Pakistan. Mansoor was reportedly the mastermind behind the 2014 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar, which claimed the lives of more than 140 people, a majority of them children. "We confirm the death of Khalifa Umar Mansoor, and announce that Khalifa Usman Mansoor Hafizullah will succeed him as TTP's ameer (commander) in Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar," said a TTP statement emailed to Pakistani media. The message didn't reveal any further information on how and under what circumstances the Taliban leader was killed. Pakistani media however reported that Mansoor had been killed in a U.S. drone strike. There has been two drone strikes against militants in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent weeks, which reportedly killed 31 militants, including Mansoor. The Pentagon has not commented on the development. Tallal Chaudhry, Pakistan's minister for interior affairs, confirmed Mansoor's death and treated it as a success against the TTP terror group. "This Taliban commander was involved in many deadly attacks in Pakistan. If we are able to carry on like this, it will definitely help us to win the war against terrorism," Chaudhry told VOA. "It will also help us to develop the much-needed trust between both Afghanistan and Pakistan," he added. Attacks on Afghan soil Pakistani officials allege that Mansoor, also known as Umar Naray and Khalifa Mansoor, was based in Afghanistan and carried out attacks on Pakistan from the Afghan soil. The 39-year-old Pakistani Taliban commander was a hard-line militant who was staunchly apposed to peace talks between TTP and the government. Shortly after the 2014 Army Public School attack, he defended the attack and vowed to carry out more. "If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape. We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents," Mansoor said in an online video posted in the aftermath of the attack. The Army Public School terror attack shook the country and was met with worldwide condemnation. Mansoor also claimed responsibility for carrying out a fatal attack on the University of Charsadda in the county's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2016 that left 20 people dead, including 18 students. The news of Umar Mansoor's death also surfaced in the media last year. It was reported at the time that Mansoor along with another militant leader, Qari Saifullah, were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province in of July 2016. Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Taliban didn't issue any statement on the news at the time. The militant group, however, confirmed the death of Mansoor. The slaying this week of two key Muslim rebel leaders during a prolonged fight with troops in the Philippines will help the country lift martial law over the island of Mindanao unless new violence flares, experts say. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law over the island in May to help troops and police raise efficiency in fighting the Maute Group of Muslim rebels in one island city. The presidents office said Monday troops in Marawi had killed a founding brother of the group along with a leader in Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine kidnapping outfit backed by Islamic State (ISIS). Abu Sayyaf was apparently helping the Maute Group. Martial law could be lifted as scheduled Dec. 31, if not sooner, some analysts say. But the government has not committed to an end date as it fights remaining rebels in the embattled city. If new rebel violence surfaces in Marawi or elsewhere in historically violent Mindanao, home to 21 million people, the order could be extended. Muslim rebel violence in the past 50 years has left 120,000 people dead. Martial law in Mindanao Perhaps the best indication of the level of concern by the Philippine government regarding the resilience of the Abu Sayyaf group in the aftermath of the Marawi standoff will be found in the narrative surrounding the decision to lift martial law in Mindanao, said Carl Baker, director of programs with the think tank Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu. A lifting of martial law would calm skeptics who fear Duterte wants to extend that order throughout the Philippines as a way to fight crime, especially the illegal drug trade. Some worry about a return to 1972, when authoritarian former president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law nationwide to put down civil unrest. Last month thousands gathered in Metro Manila to protest martial law as well as the suspected extrajudicial killings of drug sellers. Duterte has said he would expand martial law nationwide if protesters threaten public order, according to Philippine media outlets. Defense officials will evaluate progress in Marawi in light of the two killings to reconsider martial law, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. In July, lawmakers supported extending martial law in Mindanao through years end. We are going to assess the situation in Mindanao, and then we will make our recommendation to the president in due time, Lorenzana told a news conference in Manila. The Mindanao-based news website Davaotoday.com reported in June that the military had set up about 17,500 checkpoints on the island, set curfews in 129 population centers and positioned more than 9,700 people to patrol public spaces. Military officials have been quoted as saying martial law helped keep battles from spreading outside Marawi. Martial law has had little effect on common people since May besides the annoyances of road checkpoints, said Rhona Canoy, president of an international school and part of a political family in the Mindanao city Cagayan de Oro. End to the fighting The slaying of the two Muslim insurgency leaders augurs a quick end to the fighting, the presidential office website says. Battles since the May 23 outbreak have killed more than 700 people while forcing most inhabitants to flee, often to refugee camps. But locals in Mindanao worry the insurgency will just pick new leaders and resume fighting, Canoy said. Theres lots of things at are grey areas right now, she said. I know the government is claiming this as a victory. For the most part it is, but I keep telling everybody its not time to shoot off the fireworks yet. If troops cannot bring down the remaining rebels in Marawi or if rebuilding the city meets obstacles, Duterte might consider extending martial law again, said Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, a University of the Philippines political science professor. They said there are still several elements whom they are calling on to surrender and then they will move toward the rehab, so maybe they still need that kind of cover, said Coronel-Ferrer, also a peace negotiator under the past Philippine president. Government forces in Mindanao still face another 20 rebel groups, including one that has clashed with police and with a rival insurgency since June in the province of Maguindanao. Most groups advocate more autonomy for Muslims, who settled parts of the island and adjacent Sulu Sea about 500 years ago, but believe the Philippines Catholic majority controls the resources. Islamic State had also supported the slain Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon, analysts believe, and the Middle Eastern terrorist group may now be looking for someone else to spread its influence in the Philippines. About 40 foreign fighters, some from the Middle East, have helped the Maute Group partly in the name of ISIS, said Bibhu Routray, a visiting scholar in Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies at Murdoch University in Australia. With Hapilon dead, ISIS now expects a 39-year-old Malaysian whos still helping the Maute Group in Marawi to lead operations there, unless he has been killed, Routray said. Possibly there will be a vacuum and someone will have to fill it up as this process of rebuilding the organization, he said. North Koreas government has relied for decades on illicit trade to fill its coffers, but a new report notes what appears to be a recent rise in Pyongyangs trafficking of illegal wildlife from African nations. The report, by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, warns that the trade is putting further pressure on Africas endangered rhino and elephant populations. North Korea is finding itself increasingly squeezed by international sanctions imposed to try to stop the nations nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs. It has long found creative ways to bring in cash, often through smuggling under the cover of diplomacy. WATCH: Report: North Korea's Illicit Trade Network Hits Africa's Vulnerable Wildlife But one source of illicit income hits an especially vulnerable group, Africas elephants and rhinos, which are targeted by poachers trying to satisfy the Asian markets demand for ivory and rhino horn products. In 2015, South Africa expelled a North Korean diplomat arrested in Mozambique with 4.5 kilograms of rhino horn and $100,000 in cash. It was not an isolated incident. According to the new report by South African researcher Julian Rademeyer, 18 out of 31 diplomats arrested for smuggling ivory and rhino horn during the past three decades have been North Korean. I find it very hard to believe that they are operating completely alone, that they are not being sanctioned by some way by the regime or at or at least by their superiors. North Korean embassies by their nature are very strictly controlled. People cannot move very easily and freely. Trade ties, good deals At least 11 African nations have trade relations to North Korea, in part because the nation frequently offers good deals in order to prevent economic isolation. Researcher Zachary Donnenfeld of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies says many African nations are reluctant to cut those ties. If a country like North Korea comes along and offers a relatively good deal on refined petroleum, for instance, which is one of their main exports to Africa, it is understandable that African governments may not ask a lot of questions about where that petroleum comes from on the face of all these massive pressures on service delivery. Vienna Convention Rademeyer says laws exist to stop illegal trade by diplomats, but the will is often absent. Governments do not want to become involved in diplomatic incidents. Governments with close ties to North Korea dont particularly want to inflame tensions. But the Vienna Convention does allow for cases where there is evidence, or there is a compelling case to made that illegal items are being smuggled, to search those bags, and take action. VOA contacted the North Korean embassy in Pretoria seeking a response to the allegations in the report, but embassy officials did not respond to multiple inquiries. North Korea's government relied for decades on illicit trade for cash, but a new report finds a recent rise in Pyongyang's trafficking of illegal wildlife from African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Mozambique and South Africa, with four high-profile incidents in the last three years. The report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime warns that the continent's endangered rhinos and elephants are in peril. Anita Powell reports from Pretoria. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called on mayors of three major cities to resign, including the high-profile mayor of the capital, Ankara, the Hurriyet newspaper reported Thursday, in a push to revitalize his ruling party ahead of 2019 elections. The comments mark Erdogan's most explicit demand yet for a shake-up of veteran politicians, some of whom are nationally prominent, after voters in many cities rejected an April referendum granting him sweeping power. While Erdogan narrowly won the referendum to change the constitution and create an executive presidency, voters in 17 of Turkey's 30 largest cities voted against the change. Since then, Erdogan has spoken of the need for renewal in local government and the ruling AK Party, citing signs of "metal fatigue" within administrations. "People do not take these offices as independent candidates but as candidates shown by parties. We cannot regard these posts as chairs, which are kept eternally and never abandoned," the Hurriyet quoted him as telling reporters on his plane back from a trip to Poland this week. A request had been conveyed for the resignation of the mayor of Balikesir in northwest Turkey, the newspaper quoted him as saying. "Likewise, this situation was conveyed to (Ankara Mayor) Melih (Gokcek). The same with Bursa," he was quoted as saying. Bursa is a city in northwest Turkey. The mayor of Istanbul has resigned in the last month, as has the mayor of Duzce city in northwest Turkey. The mayor of Nigde city in central Turkey, resigned Wednesday. But Gokcek, who has been Ankara mayor since 1994 and won five consecutive elections, has so far stayed in place, despite widespread speculation that he would step down. Gokcek has avoided addressing the resignation issue and pointedly steered clear of the subject in public when he made an unexpected visit to the presidential palace this month. "I presented to my president all the project details of the museum to be built opposite the (presidential) palace. I also gave various information about ongoing municipal projects. ... For the public's information," he wrote on Twitter. Gokcek, generally regarded as a staunch Erdogan loyalist, is well known in Turkey for tweets in which he has engaged in spats with journalists and other senior members of the AKP. In February he suggested the U.S.-based cleric blamed for last year's failed coup might be plotting an earthquake, with the help of foreign powers, to damage the economy. Iraqi Kurdistans two main political families and their supporters traded accusations of blame Wednesday for the Iraqi armys easy takeover this week of the city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas in northern Iraq, which the Kurds seized from the Islamic State terror group three years ago. Some Kurdish leaders expressed fears that Kurdistan could split into two, if recriminations worsen, taking the region back to when it was divided during a three-year-long civil war between Iraqi Kurds in the 1990s that left more than 10,000 dead. A senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the minority partner in the Kurdish government, warned of the risk of Kurdish infighting and reigniting of an old feud between the storied Talabani and Barzani families. Mala Bakhtiyar, head of the PUKs politburo, warned in a statement of the high risk of a civil war breaking out, which would invite regional and international interference, as it did in the 1990s with rival sides seeking the support of then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Iran. Family members of the late former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who dominate the leftist PUK, are being accused of having cooperated with the Iraqi army and Shiite militias by ordering Peshmerga units they command to withdraw Monday from defensive lines protecting Kirkuk. Jalal Talabani, who was nicknamed Mam (uncle) and was Iraqs first non-Arab president, died on October 3 after complications from a stroke. The Talabani family was critical of the decision by Kurdistans president, Masoud Barzani, to hold an independence referendum last month, which triggered Baghdad sending in Iraqi forces this week to grab Kirkuk. Since the holding of the September 25 referendum, they have been urging Barzani and his Kurdistan Democratic Party to reach an accommodation with Baghdad short of separation. And they refused to join a new political leadership body set up by Barzani to prepare for independence following Septembers vote to secede. The Talabani family denies they entered into any secret pact with Baghdad to ease the way into Kirkuk for Iraqi forces. There were less than two dozen casualties in isolated skirmishes, say local officials. But the recriminations are becoming more heated and without the presence of Jalal Talabani, a conciliator at heart, they risk worsening, fear analysts. A furor erupted Wednesday among Barzani supporters when one member of the Talabani family said on television that he believes the Iraqi army has every right to be in Kirkuk, an ethnically-divided city that Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Assyrians have all claimed as belonging to them over the centuries. Bakhtiyar said the PUK is also on the brink of a big split with some factions in the party angry with the high-handedness of the Talabani family. He called on the Kurdistan parliament to open an investigation into what exactly happened in Kirkuk and other areas abandoned to the Iraqi forces, a call that has been taken up more widely by KDP members. On Twitter, a hashtag #Talabantraitors has been trending in Kurdistan. Young Kurds who are protesting the Iraqi seizure chanted anti-Talabani slogans overnight Wednesday. In the wake of the protests, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered Shiite militias to withdraw from Kirkuk and only Iraqi army units to remain in the city. President Barzani has been keeping clear of trading recriminations and has urged Kurdish unity. But in a statement he has said the fall of Kirkuk was due to unilateral decisions of some persons within a certain internal political party of Kurdistan, which eventually led to the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces. He avoided directly naming the PUK or the Talabani family, who during the 1990s turned to Tehran for support in the civil war while the KDP secured the help of Saddam Hussein. Kurdistan was reunited after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in a deal engineered by Washington, but the Peshmerga and security services were not integrated. Iraqi Kurdistans oil minister pleaded at an international conference Thursday for international support and for oil companies not to forget the region. As well as occupying Kirkuk, federal Iraqi forces seized several oilfields in disputed territory from the Kurdistan Regional Government, which helped fund its budget. Ashti Hawrami said at an oil conference in Italy that it was paramount for energy companies to continue to develop facilities in Kurdistan, which exported more than 550,000 barrels a day last month. He was speaking a day after Rosneft, Russias state-controlled oil company, announced it had signed production sharing arrangements with the Kurdistan Regional Government to develop five fields in the autonomous state. Although he hasn't seen his home country in more than a decade, modern technology has made it easy for Abdul Jabbar Amanullah to stay in regular contact with his family in Myanmar's remote Rakhine state. Using email and social media to interact with loved ones has made his life as a refugee now living in Chicago a little easier, even if the latest news coming from his village has been growing increasingly unsettling. They are telling me the situation is [becoming even] worse because the military has them surrounded, he told VOA. For all that the technology has given him, however, it also has fueled his greatest fears. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya have been fleeing attacks in Rakhine in recent weeks. The last contact Amanullah had with family in his village is a blurry, 11-second video of towering flames footage he says shows his village burning to the ground after Myanmar military forces came through. We dont know who set fires, Amanullah explained, though he suspects it was the military or groups aligned with them. It's difficult for him to verify whats going on in Myanmar because officials restrict access for journalists and aid workers, but hundreds of thousands of ethnic Muslim Rohingya have already fled for neighboring Bangladesh, pushed out of their homes in what the United Nations calls textbook ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar military. WATCH: Rohingya Refugees Push U.S. Lawmakers to Act Myanmar rejects claims Myanmar officials reject those claims. They blame arsonists for the burning villages, and say the problems are being exaggerated. As the crisis, and blame, continue to unfold, many Rohingya in the United States, particularly in Chicago which is home to the second largest Rohingya community in the nation frantically await word from friends and family still in the conflict zone. They search for any hint of news slowly trickling out of the refugee camps in Bangladesh. The story is very similar from everybody, said Dr. Imran Akbar. The military is coming in, they are torching the villages, they are shooting the men.Theres been countless reports of women being kidnapped, anywhere from 12 years old to older, being kidnapped and carried away and raped. They are not allowed to take anything with them, and the villagers are running for the hills. Akbar recently returned to Chicago after visiting several camps in Bangladesh, and shared his first-hand observations with Amanullah and others who gathered at the Rohingya Cultural Center in Chicago. The lines are miles long waiting for food distribution, he explained to VOA. It rains there every day. With that there is constant mud and sludge and a lot of times impassible conditions for vehicles. Couple that with not having proper sanitation and not having adequate latrines and so forth, it creates the perfect environment for cholera and other infectious diseases. Durbin meets with Rohingya in Chicago Armed with pictures and first-hand video accounts, Akbar is taking their case directly to the U.S. government through Senator Dick Durbin, who listened to Akbars observations, as well as concerns from other Rohingya who gathered to make a direct appeal for U.S. action in their home country. What we know is this, there is an ethnic cleansing taking place in Myanmar today, Durbin told VOA in an exclusive interview after his meeting with Rohingya community members in Chicago. Durbin wants to immediately terminate military-to-military contact between the United States and Myanmar, something Congress, and the president, currently is evaluating. They should allow U.N. observers in immediately to see all of the territory in Myanmar currently occupied by the Rohingya people, said Durbin. There is no excuse for that. Until they allow that to happen, there is no reason the United States should send them aid. Myanmar ambassador meeting Durbin believes finding a way to end the crisis has bipartisan support in Congress, and he says he plans to address the issue himself directly with the Myanmar government. My task is to really reach out directly to the Myanmar ambassador in Washington and demand that he come and meet with a group of senators who share my concerns, both Democrats and Republicans, about the ethnic cleansing taking place in his country, said Durbin. Secondly, to join with Senator (John) McCain and others on both sides of the aisle to say the United States will not be complicit in this ethnic cleansing. We are going to cut off assistance to Myanmar if they refuse to allow U.N. observers, and if they continue to participate in this ethnic cleansing. Need immediate action As Abdul Jabbar Amanullah seeks further news, or videos, from those in his home village, he hopes that whatever action the U.S. government takes isn't too late to help his family. The military is still doing the same thing they did before, setting the fires, killing the Rohingyas, so our first target is to stop this kind of stuff, he said. So that is my hope to Senator Durbin he can raise his voice and tell Congress and our president to take immediate action with the Burmese government. Action he hopes that ultimately will lead to the end of a still unfolding humanitarian crisis, which already has forced more than half a million people from their homes. Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Thursday they may subpoena the senior White House cybersecurity adviser after the administration blocked him from testifying during a hearing. The White House declined to allow Rob Joyce, a member of the National Security Council, to testify at the hearing under the rules of executive privilege, which shields employees of the executive branch from disclosing certain information. While the move by Trumps White House is consistent with precedents set by past administrations, Sen. John McCain, committee chairman and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said the issue of cybersecurity requires us to completely rethink our old ways of doing business. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, suggested the committee should issue a subpoena to force Joyce to testify, and McCain said he would look into that option. I think that has to be considered," McCain said. McCain, who left an open chair at the witness table to underscore the absence of Joyce, said the White House refusal to make Joyce available represented a fundamental misalignment between authority and accountability in our government today when it comes to cyber. Ready but more work to be done While Joyce was conspicuously missing from the hearing Thursday, several top U.S. cyber officials were on hand to testify on defense from cyberattacks, including FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Scott Smith, Pentagon Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Kenneth Rapuano, and acting Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Christopher Krebs. Rapuano said the combined work of the departments has increased authorities' understanding of new cyber threats facing the country, but he acknowledged we continue to face challenges when it comes to cyber-incident response on a large scale. Rapuano went on to say, It is clear we have more work to ensure we are ready for a significant cyber incident. Specifically, we must resolve seeming gap issues among various departments, clarify thresholds for DOD assistance, and identify how to best partner with the private sector to ensure a whole national response if and when needed. Smith, with the FBI, said while the agency has numerous resources aimed specifically at combating cybercrime, it also has several other divisions the FBI can leverage at a cyber incident. These include our operational technology division, the regional computer forensic laboratory programs, and the critical incident response group. The Ohio Senate president says all state senators will be required to receive sexual harassment training after one of their members resigned this week over allegations of inappropriate behavior. Cleveland.com reports Senate President Larry Obhof said Wednesday he strongly suggested to Findlay Republican Cliff Hite that he resign over allegations Hite spoke inappropriately to a female state employee who worked in a nearby state office and asked for hugs. Hite submitted his letter of resignation to Obhof late Monday. Obhof, a Republican from Medina, did not discuss the allegations involving Hite. He said he learned about them from Hite on Oct. 11 and told him that his options were to fight the allegations or resign. Senators and their staffs are required to receive sexual harassment training. Spain's government set plans in motion Thursday to strip Catalonia of its autonomy after the region's leader vowed to continue a vote on independence. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's office said it planned a special Cabinet meeting for Saturday to trigger Article 155 of Spain's constitution, which gives the government the power to take away some or all of Catalonias autonomy. Hours earlier, Catalonia's leader, Carles Puigdemont, said the Catalan parliament will go forward with a vote on independence if the Spanish government does not engage in dialogue and follows through on its threat to strip the region of its autonomy. Rajoy had given Puigdemont a Thursday morning deadline to clarify whether he had in fact already declared independence following a referendum earlier this month. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence in an address last week, but said he was suspending any formal steps in favor of talks with the government in Madrid. He delivered his updated stance in a letter Thursday shortly before the deadline. EU watching closely At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bloc was watching the situation closely. "We hope that there will be solutions that can be found on the basis of the Spanish constitution," she said. French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a discussion of the crisis and a show of solidarity with the Spanish government at the EU summit, but a number of leaders and EU officials oppose adding it to the agenda, saying that the tensions are an internal affair. Voters in Catalonia voted in favor of independence in an October 1 referendum, but fewer than half of those eligible to cast a ballot took part, with opponents boycotting the process. Rajoy's government dismissed the referendum as illegal. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is heading to the Middle East on Friday, attending a landmark meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and exploring ways of improving relations between the two countries. The inaugural Coordination Council meeting comes amid a warming of relations between Riyadh and Baghdad. The gathering is seen as part of U.S. efforts to reduce Irans increasing influence in Iraq by encouraging Baghdad to align more closely with Riyadh. "Iran is always a huge concern of ours, not just in Iraq, but throughout the region," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert during a briefing Thursday. She added that the U.S. welcomes the improvement of relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, citing an example of how the reopening of the border crossing facilitates commerce between the two nations. The meeting will be held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh four months after the two countries signed an agreement to establish a council to improve relations between the neighboring countries in an attempt to counter Iran's broad influence in the region. While in Riyadh, Tillerson will also "meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf dispute, Iran, and a number of other important and regional and bilateral issues," according to the State Department. Tillerson's visit to Riyadh will be one of several to countries in the Persian Gulf region and South Asia from October 20-27. Tillerson will then meet with Qatar leaders and U.S. military officials in the capital of Doha to discuss "joint counterterrorism efforts" and "other regional and bilateral issues," before visiting India, Pakistan and Switzerland. South Asia After the Middle East, Tillerson heads to South Asia, which marks his first visit there as the top U.S. diplomat. Expanding cooperation on counterterrorism and strengthening economic ties are said to be high on the agenda. He will meet Pakistani leaders in Islamabad, and senior Indian officials in New Delhi to discuss continued bilateral cooperation, strategic partnerships and regional security issues. In Pakistan, Tillerson will discuss joint efforts to fight terrorist groups that threaten regional peace and stability and how Pakistan can support the U.S. effort to "reach a peaceful solution in Afghanistan," the State Department's Nauert said. The U.S. said its relations with India do not come at the expense of Pakistan and vice versa. A senior official said Tillerson's trip to the region is to implement and reaffirm the administration's new "comprehensive strategy" toward South Asia. On Wednesday, Tillerson said the U.S. would turn to "partners" in India and Pakistan to ensure greater stability in Afghanistan and throughout the region. "We expect Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders that threaten their own people and the broader region," said Tillerson, adding Pakistan can further stability and peace for itself and its neighbors, and improve Islamabad's international standing by doing so. While the top U.S. diplomat was "intensely involved" in the recent release of American citizen Caitlan Coleman and her family, Tillerson's inaugural trip to Pakistan "is not the consequence of that," a senior State Department official said. Coleman, her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, and their three young children were freed and returned to Canada last week, after being held for five years as captives by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. In Geneva, Tillerson will discuss "a number of the current global humanitarian crises," including the Rohingya crisis, when he meets with officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The State Department did not disclose the specific dates Tillerson will visit the countries that are included in the announcement. A House committee is demanding that 15 federal agencies fully account for senior officials' travel following reports of costly plane travel by Trump Cabinet secretaries. In letters sent this week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee threatened to subpoena the Agriculture and Justice departments by the end of the month if officials fail to provide all the information requested on the use of government-owned aircraft for personal travel or private aircraft for official travel. The panel said 13 other departments and agencies, including the White House, have only partly responded to its requests. The House committee is investigating air travel following reports that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price used pricey charters when cheaper commercial flights were available. Price resigned last month. That September 26 request from the committee sought passenger names, destinations, explanations and cost of the government-owned and private aircraft travel. For all the departments and the White House, the oversight committee also requested additional travel information for the time period of January 1 to January 19. Such detail is needed to help determine whether new policies or regulations need to be enacted or perhaps to even change the nature of appropriations to your department, the letter reads. Travel details were initially due October 10; the panel set a new deadline of October 31. The 13 departments and agencies deemed to have only partially responded to the committee's request are the White House, the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, State, Treasury, Transportation and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Small Business Administration. The 10 agencies deemed to have provided all the previously requested information are the departments of Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Labor and Interior, as well as the General Services Administration, National Science Foundation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Personnel Management and Social Security Administration. U.S. President Donald Trump rejects a Florida lawmaker's account of his phone conversation with the widow of one of four soldiers killed Oct. 4 in Niger. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson says she has overheard Trump's remarks to the wife of Army Sergeant La David Johnson and thought they were insensitive. The controversy adds fuel to the anger sparked by Trump's earlier claim that his predecessors had not called bereaved families as he does. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. During last years U.S. election campaign, then candidate Donald Trump vowed to be a disruptive force in Washington if he won the presidency. Trump has made good on that promise of late, but the country remains split on whether his actions help or harm the public good. During a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, Trump touted his achievements so far, despite public approval ratings below 40 percent in most polls. We are getting tremendous accolades for what we are doing, he said. Some of the presidents recent moves proved to be controversial, including his decision to undo parts of former President Barack Obamas health care law and declining to certify the Iran nuclear agreement to Congress. WATCH: Trump Lives up to Pledge to be a Disrupter, but Country Divided Over Results Disrupter in action Some experts saw that as Trump simply following through on his pledge to be a political disrupter. President Trump was a pretty big rejection of the political establishment and he continues to be, said Republican strategist John Feehery. President Trump is not someone who is playing by the usual rules. Trump remains under pressure to continue that pattern by his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is now trying to rally grassroots conservatives to oppose Senate and congressional candidates supported by the Republican establishment. This is not my war. This is our war, Bannon told the Value Voters Summit last week in Washington. And you all did not start it. The establishment started it. Trump also faces pressure from Republican moderates like Susan Collins of Maine to be more inclusive as he goes about carrying out his political agenda. We must stop allowing partisanship to be a pre-existing condition that prevents meaningful health reform, Collins announced at the same time that she has decided to stay in the Senate, declining interest in running for governor of Maine. Bipartisan pushback Trumps disruptive approach has also drawn plenty of critics, including some Republicans like Ohio Governor John Kasich, a rival of Trumps in last years Republican presidential primaries. Kasich appeared at a forum Tuesday at the University of Delaware with former vice president Joe Biden, who was sharply critical of Trumps political style. We have a president who does not understand governance. Forget his policies for a minute. He doesnt understand how the government functions, Biden said. The presidents habit of attacking critics including fellow Republicans like Senators Bob Corker and John McCain has become a major distraction, said George Washington University political expert Matthew Dallek. He spends a significant portion of his presidency thinking about how he is going to attack his critics, and then attacking them, he said. Back in the fold Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell knows about the presidents penchant for attack firsthand. Trump complained about McConnell on Twitter after Senate Republicans failed to pass a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. But this week the two men said they were on the same page in terms of the presidents congressional agenda after a meeting at the White House. We are together totally on this agenda to move America forward, McConnell said. That agenda includes tax reform, a key test for the president and his Republican allies in Congress who face a midterm election next year. If they can get to yes on tax reform, then they will be in moderately good shape going into the midterm elections, said Brookings Institution analyst Bill Galston. If they dont, I think they will have a very, very uninspiring story to tell their constituents and there are likely to be consequences for that. And yet, as much as tax reform looms as a centerpiece of the upcoming congressional agenda, Republicans have yet to agree on exactly what their tax plan will include and how it will fit into the broad outlines of tax reform recently announced by Trump. U.S. President Donald Trump said recently he reaches out to all families of those who died in military service, but some relatives of the fallen do not support his claim. Forty-three service members have been killed since Trump became president in January, according to the Associated Press. Of those families who agreed to speak, about nine said they had contact with the president while nine others said they had not. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Trump promised Chris Baldridge of Zebulon, North Carolina, $25,000 of his own money when they spoke by phone last summer about the death of his son, Army Sergeant Dillon Baldridge, who was killed in Afghanistan. The check never arrived, but when The Post contacted the White House about the conversation with Baldridge, officials declined to discuss details. The White House, however, issued a statement later saying "the check has been sent." Other family members anticipated calls from Trump that were never made. The family of Army Sergeant Jonathon Hunter, who was killed in an August suicide bombing in Afghanistan, was told to expect a call from Trump. Mark Hunter, the father, said the call never came. "Disappointed that he at least didn't call and thank me for my son and our ultimate sacrifice." Hunter added he wanted to hear "from him, not the vice president." The Hunter family spoke instead with Vice President Mike Pence, who grew up in the same city of Columbus, Indiana, at a ceremony honoring Sergeant Hunter at an air force base in Delaware. Several other families of fallen service members also spoke with Pence at the ceremony. Trumps handling of the deaths of service members was raised at a White House news conference Monday, when he was pressed about why he had not commented on the deaths of Sergeant La David Johnson and three other U.S. Special Forces soldiers killed twelve days earlier near the Niger-Mali border. Trump responded by claiming, "if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls," adding he was told as such by generals serving in his administration. That claim sparked outrage and sharp rebukes from former members of Obamas staff. Recounting phone call Congresswoman Frederica Wilson claimed Tuesday that Trump made insensitive comments to the widow of Sergeant Johnson. Wilson, who represents the Florida district where Johnsons family lives, said she was listening in on the call Trump made to widow Myeshia Johnson. Trump said he has proof Wilson fabricated the story. Wilson said she has proof Trump told the widow her husband knew what he signed up for. La David Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Washington Post she was also in the car, and the president did disrespect my son and my daughter, and also me and my husband." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused Wilson of mischaracterizing the phone call for political purposes. Sanders refused to discuss details of the presidents conversation with Myeshia Johnson, but said several White House staffers, including Chief of Staff John Kelly, listened in on the call. The presidents call as recounted by multiple people in the room believe that the president was completely respectful, very sympathetic and expressed the condolences of himself and the rest of the country, and thanked the family for their service, commended them for having an American hero in their family and I dont know how you could take that any other way, Sanders said. The Turkish Parliament passed legislation Wednesday allowing imams to perform marriages. Women's rights groups, who have strongly condemned the reform, warn it would exacerbate the problem of underage marriages. The new law comes amid wider concerns over the erosion of womens rights under emergency rule. "We won't be silenced," chanted women protesting the new legislation in the heart of Istanbul. Since Turkey is a secular state, only state officials have been allowed to carry out marriages. The new law met stiff opposition in parliament. Senal Sarihan, parliamentary deputy for the main opposition CHP Party, said the new law undermines secularism, which helps to protect womens rights. "This is an attempt by the ruling party to impose [its] political understanding to regulate life according to religion," Sarihan said. "And this is against [the] constitution. And we are not accepting this." There are concerns that the reform will exacerbate the problem of underage marriages. Womens rights groups argue imams already are carrying out marriages involving underage girls in unofficial religious ceremonies. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking to consolidate his religious voting base ahead of presidential elections, has strongly backed the move, dismissing criticism as alarmist. "They are heading to the streets making a fuss," he said. "Whether you want it or not, this legislation will pass in the parliament. The marriages will not go unrecorded, they will be under record. On the contrary, this implementation will abolish unofficial marriages." Erdogan claims the reform will legitimize marriages, particularly in Turkeys conservative rural regions, where unions often are only carried out by imams. Womens rights groups counter that underage marriages remain a major problem in these regions and has grown due to earlier government reform allowing older girls to study at home. A campaign supported by Erdogan a decade ago to increase the number of girls attending school curbed child marriages. But critics claim Erdogans ruling AK party has in recent years moved away from its reformist policies, becoming more authoritarian, a process accelerated by the introduction of emergency rule following last years failed coup. Under emergency rule, many womens rights groups, especially in Turkeys rural Kurdish region, have been shut down. With a presidential election looming, and Erdogan seeking to consolidate his religious and nationalist base, womens rights groups are voicing growing alarm about the direction in which the country is heading. Ugandas ministry of health confirmed Thursday that one person has died of Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a close relative of the Ebola virus. Surveillance teams have deployed to the affected district in the eastern part of the country to contain the outbreak. Ugandas Ministry of Health says one of the two suspected cases of Marburg virus disease has been confirmed via laboratory tests conducted by the Uganda Virus Research Institute. The confirmed case was a 50-year-old female from Chemuron village, Kween District in Eastern Uganda. She presented with signs and symptoms suggestive of a viral hemorrhagic fever," said Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the minister for health. "Preliminary field investigations indicated that prior to her death, the deceased had nursed her 42-year-old brother, who had died on September 25, 2017 with similar signs and symptoms." According to the World Health Organization, Marburg is transmitted via contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or the handling of infected animals. Local media report that the deceased womans brother was a hunter. The Ministry of Health has dispatched a rapid response team to the Kween district. As of this morning, because their surveillance obviously started from the hospitals where the confirmed case passed away, we have ten health workers who have been listed as contacts, and they have already been isolated in their homes for follow up,Aceng said. Uganda is no stranger to viral hemorrhagic fever. The country has battled several outbreaks of Ebola, including an outbreak in 2000 that killed over 200 people. Marburg is named after the town in Germany where it was first identified in 1967, though that outbreak was traced back to infected monkeys brought from Uganda. We have the caves that have the bats that are capable of transferring infection to man in different parts of the country. You can never know when the next outbreak will be. It depends on when man interacts with an infected bat from one of these caves, said Dr. Miriam Nanyunja , the disease prevention and control officer for the WHO in Uganda. A person suffering from Marburg presents with sudden onset of high-level fever and headache. This can be accompanied by vomiting, joint and muscle pain, and unexplained bleeding. There is no cure or vaccine available for Marburg. Patients are given supportive treatment to increase their chance of survival. Britains funding boost to stop people being trafficked from Vietnam and enslaved in brothels, nail bars and cannabis farms must prioritize people most at risk of falling into the hands of traffickers, anti-slavery charities said on Thursday. The government this week pledged 3 million pounds to catch traffickers, help victims and prevent others from being trapped in slavery - as part of a drive to combat the crime in countries that are the source of slaves in Britain, from Nepal to Nigeria. Vietnam consistently ranks as one of the top three source countries for victims of modern slavery in Britain. Most victims are women and children, who are often forced to work in cannabis cultivation and nail bars, and also trapped in prostitution. Prevention is truly the only way to make a difference, Mimi Vu, advocacy director of the U.S.-based Pacific Links Foundation said by phone from Vietnam. Once the money is handed over to the traffickers, it is too late, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Even if you stop a victim in Vietnam at the airport, they are already committed in their mind... They are dreaming of making it abroad, and carrying the hopes of their families. At least 13,000 people are estimated by the government to be victims of forced labor, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude - but police say the figure is the tip of the iceberg. Britain last month vowed to double its aid spending on global projects fighting slavery to 150 million pounds, with 33.5 million pounds for high-risk nations such as Vietnam. The government must take a long-term approach to such initiatives, and work closely with authorities and activists in the targeted countries, said Justine Currell, executive director of anti-slavery charity Unseen. The money needs to be used sustainably, rather than just throwing it at issues in a superficial way that doesnt fit in with the governments of countries such as Vietnam and Nigeria, she said. Britains anti-slavery tzar Kevin Hyland last month urged the government to develop trafficking prevention programs in Vietnam and to tighten regulation of nail bars - known for exploiting trafficking victims, mainly from Vietnam. Britain is regarded as a leader in global efforts to combat slavery, and passed the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to crack down on traffickers, force businesses to check their supply chains for forced labor, and protect people at risk of being enslaved. The number of cases of plague in Madagascar has doubled during the past five days, according to the United Nations. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday as of Wednesday 1,032 cases were reported, 67 percent of which are pneumonic, which is more serious than bubonic plague. So far 89 deaths have been recorded, including 13 on Tuesday. Dujarric said the spread was "highly challenging" to control. Medical teams in the country have stepped up efforts to combat the spread of the plague, but experts have said the situation will worsen if not rapidly funded. Only 26 percent of the $9.5 million requested has been contributed, Dujarric said. Pneumonic plague is a lung infection, transmitted through flea bites or from person to person through droplets in the air when someone coughs or sneezes. A person can die within 48 hours of the disease's onset if not treated with antibiotics. Symptoms of pneumonic plague include coughing, fever, chest pain and difficulty breathing. While plague is a recurring problem in Madagascar, this particular outbreak has triggered a nationwide panic because it has moved from remote rural areas into the cities, including the capital, Antananarivo. VOA's Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out Wednesday at Iran for what she called a laundry list of bad behavior, and she criticized the U.N. Security Council for not holding Tehran accountable. Every six months the Security Council is presented with a laundry list of bad news but only somehow manages to only hear the good news, Haley said, referring to the twice-annual report the U.N. secretary-general sends to the council on implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal. Haley spoke at a monthly council meeting that primarily reviews the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Since arriving at the U.N. in January as President Donald Trumps envoy, she has sought to highlight Iranian behavior and that of its regional proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, during the monthly session. Last week, Trump said he could not certify Irans compliance with the nuclear deal, and he opened the door to Congress re-imposing some or all U.S. unilateral sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the international agreement. Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat, Haley said. Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing and unlawful behavior to do otherwise would be foolish, she said. She called Iran out for its support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and its supply of weapons to Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Ballistic missiles Even more troubling, she said, is Irans ballistic missile activity. In July, Tehran launched a space launch vehicle that the United States, Britain, France and Germany all parties to the nuclear deal said was inconsistent with the U.N. resolution endorsing the agreement. The allies characterized it as a threatening and provocative step in a letter to the U.N. secretary-general. Under the resolution, the international community calls upon Iran not to undertake any ballistic-missile-related activity that could carry nuclear warheads, including launches using such ballistic missile technology. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior, Haley said. And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop. Israel U.N. envoy Danny Danon also devoted his entire remarks to Iran, and he did not mention the situation in his own country and the occupied Palestinian territories. Danon said the nuclear deal did not eliminate the threat of nuclear destruction. At its best, if Iran does not cheat on the agreement, the pact just delays the nuclear program, he told council members. He warned that Israel would take action if it felt threatened. We will defend our citizens, our values and our way of life, with all necessary force and the full power of our convictions, Danon said. If we are attacked by Iran, the regime will face no fiercer enemy than Israel. Israel He did not address Israels announcement this week of plans for more than 2,000 new housing units in the occupied West Bank or the conditional approval of building permits in Hebron. Israeli settlement activity is illegal under international law. Nor did Danon mention the deal last week between feuding Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to reconcile, with Hamas ceding the administrative control it has had of the Gaza Strip for the past decade to President Mahmoud Abbas government. Russias envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, indirectly chided Haley for focusing on the Iran deal and not mentioning the Palestinian issue. The agenda for the meeting today is the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at least this is what the paper in front of me states, Nebenzia said. The absence of even a reference to that is something that cannot infuse us with optimism. Of the handful of council members who did mention Iran, it was to express their continued support for the nuclear deal. Irans U.N. ambassador, Gholamali Khoshrro, said the U.S. actions on the Iran deal have served to isolate it internationally. If we had hegemonic ambitions, the nuclear deal would never have been reached, Khoshrro told the council. The new U.S. administration approach and the recent dangerous strategy toward the deal and Iran run counter to all of these efforts, and intend to add another crisis to the regional issues. A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to allow an undocumented teenager, who is in detention in south Texas, to have an abortion. Jane Doe, as she is known in court to protect her privacy, has been detained in a refugee shelter in Brownsville, Texas, since Sept. 11, when she was apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. While Doe, 17, obtained required permission from a state judge to carry out the abortion, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has refused to grant her permission to leave the shelter for the medical procedure. HHS has jurisdiction over Doe's welfare through its Administration for Children and Families. "There is no constitutional right for a pregnant minor to illegally cross the U.S. border and get an elective abortion while in federal custody," HHS said in an earlier statement. "The government cannot ban abortion for anyone," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Brigitte Amiri countered in a Washington, D.C., courtroom on Wednesday, citing Roe v. Wade, which makes it illegal to prevent an abortion before the third trimester. "If she is unable to have an abortion soon, she will have to travel hundreds of miles to San Antonio. Or, she will be forced to carry to term against her will. "Each week of delay will increase risks of the medical procedure," Amiri added. And time is running out. Doe is 15 weeks pregnant. Under Texas state law, it is illegal to obtain an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Cost to the government Government attorney Scott Stewart said allowing Doe to travel for the abortion imposes a burden on the government, which is not obligated to pay or otherwise assist with the health care of undocumented immigrants. Judge Tanya Chutkan pointed out that Doe was not asking the government to transport her or pay for her abortion, but only to allow her to leave the detention center so she could go to the medical facility where the abortion would be performed. "Is it your position that her coming here unlawfully extinguishes her of constitutional rights?" Chutkan asked. Stewart argued that leaving the refugee shelter was not "a willy-nilly process," but Chutkan pointed out that Doe had obtained judicial authorization to obtain the abortion, which entitled her to medical treatment. "Aren't residents of this shelter allowed to leave for medical procedures?" Chutkan said. "Why is this any different?" Stewart maintained allowing Doe to leave the shelter was facilitative action, and thus a burden on the government. "The government has the obligation to look after the well-being [of Jane Doe]," which was undertaken when Doe was transported to a pregnancy crisis center. The ACLU claims this same center attempted to dissuade Doe from getting an abortion. According to documents procured by Politico, Scott Lloyd, who took control of HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement, (part of the Administration for Children and Families) in early March, has forbidden facilities from authorizing abortion procedures and threatened to cut funding if they do. "The government certainly had no problem taking her against her will to receive pregnancy counseling," Chutkan said, adding that she was "astounded" that the administration of Donald Trump would try to prevent the procedure. ACLU lawyer Amiri told VOA News that she hoped the ruling would set a precedent and make abortion accessible to other undocumented girls. But she said she still expects resistance from HHS, which has indicated it will appeal the ruling. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Thursday the military is investigating the deaths of four American soldiers in Niger earlier this month at the hands of Islamic jihadists. Mattis told reporters "a full investigation is underway" into the incident, as is the case any time a U.S. service member is killed, and the military would release any new information it receives in a timely fashion. "We, in the Department of Defense, like to know what were talking about before we talk," Mattis said. "We do not have all the accurate information yet. We will release it as rapidly as we get it." The Islamic State militants ambushed U.S. and Nigerien forces during an Oct. 4 firefight that also killed four of Niger's security personnel. U.S. Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets, had just completed a meeting with local leaders and were walking back to their vehicles when they were attacked, according to a U.S. official, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The soldiers said the meeting ran late, and some suspected that the villagers were intentionally delaying their departure, the official said. Joint Staff Director Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie on Thursday defended the military against critical questions about why the body of Sergeant La David Johnson, one of the U.S. service members killed in the attack, was recovered nearly 48 hours after the bodies of his fellow Green Berets. "We didn't leave him behind," McKenzie said, answering a reporter's question. "We searched until we found him, and we brought him home." Investigation Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters in that briefing that the two service members injured in the attack were evacuated to the U.S. military medical center in Landstuhl, Germany, and are receiving treatment. White said she could not provide more information on the attack yet. "We will not be rushed, because we have to be right," she said. Yet, she promised that when the investigation into the matter is finished, the United States Africa Command, known as Africom, will "be as transparent as possible" about the details. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have criticized the administration of Donald Trump for not being forthcoming with information related to the attack. Senator John McCain, a frequent Trump critic, even threatened to issue a subpoena to get more information about the attack. "It may require a subpoena, but I did have a good conversation with [National Security Adviser] Gen. [H.R.] McMaster, and they said that they would be briefing us," McCain said. "We have a long friendship, and we'll hopefully get all the details." Mattis, speaking to reporters Thursday, said its important not to "confuse your need for accurate information with our ability to provide it immediately in a situation like this." North Korea is likely just months away from being capable of striking the United States with a nuclear missile, according to two top U.S. officials. CIA Director Mike Pompeo told a forum in Washington on Thursday he is "deeply worried" about the advancing threat from North Korea and the possibility it could spark a nuclear arms race across East Asia. "We ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving that objective," Pompeo said when asked about Pyongyang's pursuit of missile technology that could launch a warhead to targets in the U.S. "They are so far along in that it's now a matter of thinking about how do you stop the final step?" he added. McMaster: We're running out of time U.S. National Security Adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster said later on Thursday that Washington was racing to resolve the situation, short of using military force. "We're not out of time but we're running out of time," McMaster said, speaking at the same event. "Accept and deter is unacceptable." The comments by Pompeo and McMaster come as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have been steadily rising following Pyongyang's latest nuclear test last month, it's sixth overall, and repeated tests of what intelligence officials have assessed to be both intermediate and long range ballistic missiles. But despite warning that North Korea is just months away from being able to target the U.S., the CIA's Pompeo cautioned there are still questions about just how "robust" the North Korea nuclear threat has become, and whether Pyongyang will be able to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to nuclear targets. "There's always a risk. Intelligence is imperfect," Pompeo said, adding there is evidence Pyongyang may be getting help from Iran, citing "deep conventional weapons ties as between the two countries." He also warned that each North Korean test makes an arms race ever more likely. "You watch as North Korea grows ever closer to having its capability perfected, you can imagine others in the region also thinking that they well may need that capability," he said. Putin suggests force won't work against North Korea On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against the use of force to eliminate the North Korean nuclear threat, suggesting it would not work. "Talks about a preventative, disarming strike and we hear both hints and open threats this is very dangerous," Putin said during a speaking engagement in Sochi. "Who knows what and where is hidden in North Korea? And whether all of it can be destroyed with one strike, I doubt it," he said. "I'm almost sure it is impossible." North Korean officials have also repeatedly warned the U.S. against any provocations. Pyongyang's deputy envoy to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, warned Monday that war could break out at any moment. Other North Korean officials have accused the U.S. of making preparations for war, citing the presence of the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, conducting exercises to the east of the Korean Peninsula. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Variable clouds with snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 40%.. Tonight Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 29F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 60%. The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday said congressional probes of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election will continue despite recent calls for investigators to wrap up their work. Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, told VOA's Serbian Service that investigators will not be deterred by President Donald Trump's recent call for a resolution to inquiries into Russian influence on the election and whether his campaign colluded with Moscow. "I don't think we are at the end at all," he told VOA, responding to Trump's Monday comments that "the American people are sick of it." "Every day there is more information that comes out," Cardin added. "It's clear that Russia attempted to interfere in our elections they clearly used cyber, they clearly favored one of our candidates, President Trump. There is now more and more indication that they may have used, knowingly or unknowingly, people in our own country. They were clearly actively engaged on the internet, buying advertisements. All that is coming to the surface." He said Trump's recent comments, which coincide with calls from a growing number of Republicans to conclude the investigations by the end of this year, won't curtail congressional inquiries. "We don't know about the investigation by [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller, that investigation will work its own path," Cardin said. But "as far as the congressional investigation [is concerned], we don't know the time limit there, but we know that won't be the end of congressional interest, investigations. So, no, we are not at the end yet." Last month, Cardin co-authored a letter with Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona urging Trump to robustly enforce a new set of sanctions that, after receiving overwhelming bipartisan support, authorized the president to punish Moscow over the 2016 campaign meddling. In that letter, the senators warned Trump that neglecting to enforce the penalties would trigger a congressional review of any relaxation of the sanctions on Russia. In a recent speech, McCain condemned isolationist politics and "half-baked, spurious nationalism" that, in his opinion, threaten to undercut U.S. global leadership in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and on topics such as climate change. Asked whether he shares McCain's concern about the Trump administration's move away from a conventional global leadership role, Cardin said legislators are working to maintain that role. "Congress is taking steps to prevent that from happening. But, when President Trump talks about America first or America withdrawing, it leaves a void which other players can come in to fill," he told VOA. "We worry about Russia and China trying to fill that void. We also know that the president, at times, has challenged the transatlantic partnership. The transatlantic partnership has stood very well for U.S. global leadership and we want to make sure we reinforce that. "So many of the president's statements have been countered by Congress and have been countered by policies that he has implemented," Cardin added. "So, at the end of the day, we are confident that America will continue its global leadership. It's critically important for America's national security and the advancement of the global goals of good governance, democracy, anti-corruption, fighting for human rights. For all that, I think, the global community depends upon U.S. leadership." An Indonesian Supreme Court ruling has ordered Jakarta to end one of the worlds largest water privatization schemes, and the capital city is now scrambling to take control of its waterworks. Last week the court ruled that two private water companies inadequately served the residents of the worlds second-largest metropolitan area. Jakartas water utility was privatized 20 years ago in the last years of the Suharto military dictatorship, when the former president awarded contracts to two joint ventures, one of which included his sons company. A coalition of activists, trade unions and Jakarta residents filed a class-action lawsuit in 2012 claiming that the companies failed to guarantee peoples right to clean water. The companies both engaged in price differentiation that disproportionately taxed low-income residents and afforded them huge profits. The coalition won its case in the Jakarta District Court in 2015, but it took two more years for the Supreme Court to uphold its constitutionality. The defendants proved that the private companies cooperation agreement has had a real and extraordinary impact on society, the Supreme Court said in its decision. These losses include: 1) Piped water services that can only be accessed by about half the population in Indonesia and 2) Citizens must pay for clean water at very high rates but with poor water quality and quantity. It is consistent with an earlier 2004 Supreme Court ruling on water privatization, which posited that water resources have to be controlled and allocated for the public benefit, thus private companies cannot monopolize rights over water sources. Agenda item for new government Restoring water services to Jakarta residents will be another responsibility of Jakartas newly inaugurated governor, Anies Baswedan. Baswedan and Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno campaigned heavily among some of the poor North Jakarta communities that were most affected by water insecurity, as they also suffered under the evictions scheme of Jakartas previous governor. Ive seen many campaign promises from Anies and Sandi regarding peoples right of access to water, said Martin Lenggu, a lawyer who led the class action lawsuit against the private water companies. But do their plans conform to the U.N.s guidelines on the right to water? We dont know for sure yet. What is certain, at this time, is that the private companies contract will end. Water access threatens to become a major public health issue if it is not addressed promptly. North Jakarta residents described how they received only sporadic water service, mostly limited to evening hours. Others said they were forced to buy expensive drinking water from street vendors and bathe in polluted public wells. Wealthier residents have long dug their own private wells because of the poor quality of water services in the city. The prevalence of such wells is one reason Jakarta is one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world. Failure of privatization When Jakartas water supply became privatized in 1997, there were both local and global factors in play. The immediate catalyst was Suharto. Observers say two multinational utility companies, Thames Water and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, benefited from the crony capitalism that was rampant in Suhartos government to win favorable contracts that were not put up for competition. Thames Water partnered with Suhartos sons company. But when the regime rapidly collapsed in 1998, most of the companies leaders fled the country, leaving no clear chain of command that spiraled into present-day mismanagement. This is a dictator whose children and cronies have allegedly stolen about $15 billion when he stepped down in 1998. Their companies ranged from banks to water, from food to properties. Its been 20 years and we still do not know the exact details of their looting of the country, said Andreas Harsono, a senior Indonesia researcher with Human Rights Watch. But Suharto did not award those contracts in a vacuum. The World Bank had been strongly encouraging the government to privatize its utilities at the time. While water privatization has been hailed as a success in cities of Ecuador, Romania, Colombia, Morocco and Senegal, opponents describe the scheme as a worldwide failure. Many large cities, from Johannesburg to Buenos Aires, have re-municipalized their water supply in recent years, according to a 2014 report from the Transnational Institute, Public Services International Research Unit, and the Multinational Observatory. The report suggests that, since the 1970s, international financial institutions like the World Bank and many national governments promoted private firms and public-private partnerships as a solution to public goods like water. But across the world, cities have kept running into the same problems: price discrimination, insufficient infrastructure investments, and environmental risks. Jakartas experiment with private water began amid a global trend at the time, amid the exceptional circumstances afforded by the catalyst of Suharto-era corruption. Now, the city is once again going with the worldwide flow, this time away from privatization. Two weeks ago Carla Rountree of Washington, D.C., was enjoying an autumn afternoon with friends at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, gaily dressed in a tutu with a goofy unicorn horn tied to her head. While ordering a drink at a beverage stall, a man standing next to her said, "You know, I could grab that horn like you're an ice cream cone, flip you over, and just lick you." She retorted, "I don't think you'd like the results of that." He smirked and replied, "YOU might." "No one within earshot, including the female bartender, said anything about it," Rountree says. "It was just accepted, which infuriated me just as much as the god-awful comment." That incident occurred as women all over the United States are tweeting and posting #MeToo, sharing their experiences with sexual harassment. The movement followed the fall from grace of movie producer Harvey Weinstein, the latest rich, famous and powerful man to be brought down by a series of allegations of sexual harassment dating as far back as 30 years and involving more than 20 women. Weinstein's attorneys say he did not participate in any nonconsensual sex. If the number of women harassed by Weinstein looks dramatic, the number who have spoken up via #MeToo to reveal their own sexual harassment experiences is more startling. On Oct. 15, actress Alyssa Milano called for sexual harassment victims to post or tweet the two-word phrase. By the next day, Time magazine reported, more than 27,000 people had responded. By mid-week, women from around the globe were tweeting their stories. By the numbers Meanwhile, a poll released Tuesday by ABC/The Washington Post, indicated 54 percent of female respondents said they have been the victim of sexual assault. A third of female respondents said they have experienced sexual advances from a male coworker or a man who had influence over their career. Fifty-eight percent of the women who said they had been harassed on the job said they didn't report it. And 94 percent of women who were harassed at work believe men usually don't face consequences for those actions. An all-too-common thread among #MeToo stories: When the behavior was reported, no one did anything. Kellie Dickson Johnson of Chattanooga, Tennessee, says she was frustrated by just such an experience while working at a restaurant. A patron pursued her relentlessly with flowers, poems and invitations to go out. She began to dread going to work. "When I finally told the managers, their response was that it was 'cute' and 'sweet.' They absolutely did not see the problem. The next week, they were down one employee." In other words, she quit. In The Washington Post poll, 64 percent of women who had been harassed said they felt intimidated, 52 percent said they felt humiliated, 31 percent said they felt ashamed. Many of the stories happened when the victims were children. Deirdre Launt says she was 14 and working at a hometown grocery store in Portage, Michigan, when it happened to her. "It was my first job," she says in an email. "There were two guys a bit older than me who worked there, too ... They used to poke me really hard, all over, and laugh and be like, 'What are you gonna do, go tell?"' When she reported the incident, Launt says, "I got something like a 'boys will be boys' brush off and nothing was done. They didn't see the guy's behavior as a problem, they saw me as a problem." Launt quit the job and 29 years later, she rarely enters the store. Many women have wondered if their experience counts as sexual harassment if it wasn't considered too bad, if they didn't feel psychological damage, or if they were drinking or dressed provocatively when it happened. Biggest question But the biggest question is this: What do we do about it? Cheryl Colbert of Arlington, Virginia, recalls an incident in the early 1990s when a man accosted her in the courtyard of her apartment building. She is now raising a teenage son and daughter, and says she feels guilty the rules she sets for her daughter are different than those she sets for her son, such as coming straight home after a practice at school so she won't be walking alone at night. Colbert says she takes heart that men and women are responding to #MeToo with support. "While my story isn't public, those that need to know are aware. But speaking up wasn't easy so please listen, acknowledge & accept.," actor Alex Winter tweeted this week. The hashtag #HowIWillChange has also cropped up, posted by men who detail what they will do differently in future to help protect women. Some of the methods mentioned are teaching children respect, proactively learning about women's issues, and calling out predatory behavior. "Men, keep in mind women don't owe us their stories for us to become advocates for them in public/private spaces," Phillip Lewis wrote. Other men and women are tweeting #WithYou. "I'm raising my son to treat all women with respect and compassion. I am speaking out against misogyny. I am listening," U.S. military veteran Dave Harrell said. Colbert has a pretty straightforward plan, which she describes in an email. "The only thing I feel we can do is each one do the right thing. And say something when it happens. SAY SOMETHING WHEN IT HAPPENS." U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday declined to discuss his conversations with President Donald Trump concerning the Russia probe and defended the president's immigration agenda in often-heated exchanges with lawmakers on Capitol Hill "I will not be able to discuss the content of my conversations with the president," Sessions said in his first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee since becoming America's top law enforcement officer. The attorney general stuck to that response that a president's private conversations are privileged as Democratic senators repeatedly sought answers about what Sessions and Trump might have discussed pertaining to the Russia investigation, as well as the firing of former FBI director James Comey. Sessions did, however, tell senators that he has not been interviewed by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election. Asked whether he has confidence in Mueller's work, the attorney general was noncommittal. "The process has to work its will history will judge," Sessions said. Trump has criticized the special counsel's probe as a "witch hunt" and berated the attorney general for recusing himself from the Russia investigation. On other topics, Sessions spoke far more freely. He vigorously defended President Trump's decision to end a program that has shielded undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation, and he said so-called "sanctuary cities" that refuse to cooperate with federal officials in identifying undocumented people deserve to lose federal funding. In both cases, Sessions said Trump is correcting "an erosion in respect for the rule of law." Senators of both parties pushed back. Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina challenged Sessions on the president's decision to sunset the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, unless Congress enacts a new program into law. "Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated, and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving their country, brought to this country through no fault of their own?" asked Tillis, who has co-authored legislation to benefit DACA recipients. "I say that it cannot be the policy of the United States that one can bring a young person [illegally] in the country, and they can't be deported," Sessions responded, adding that Trump wants DACA recipients to be dealt with "compassionately" as part of a larger package of immigration reforms and measures to boost U.S. border security. Trump often has pledged to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Asked whether he expects a barrier to be constructed spanning the entire 3,000-kilometer U.S.-Mexico border, the attorney general said, "No, the president has made clear he doesn't expect that." Sessions, who represented Alabama in the Senate before becoming attorney general, came under fire from former Democratic colleagues for asserting during his confirmation hearing that he had no contact with Russian officials during last year's campaign. Sessions, who backed Trump and served as a campaign surrogate, later admitted to having met with Russia's ambassador on several occasions. "The ambassador from Russia is Russian," Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota said pointedly. "I conducted no improper discussions with Russians at anytime," Sessions insisted. The attorney general testified hours after Trump posted a series of tweets blasting Comey once again for the FBI's probe of Democrat Hillary Clinton's handling of emails. Clinton, a former secretary of state, was Trump's 2016 election challenger. Earlier this year, Comey testified that, before firing him, Trump repeatedly pressured him to wrap up the Justice Department's Russia investigation, wanting him to "lift the cloud" surrounding the inquiry. "Did the president ever mention to you his concern about lifting the cloud' on the Russia investigation?" asked the committee's top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California. "Senator Feinstein, that calls for [revealing] a communication that I've had with the president, and I believe it remains confidential," Sessions responded. First Lady Grace Mugabe, involved in a bitter US$1,350 million wedding ring wrangle with Lebanese diamond dealer Jamal Joseph Ahmed, is accused of trying to mislead the courts into ruling in her favor after her lawyers allegedly served papers at one of the houses she seized using state agents. Harare lawyer, Wilson Tatenda Manase is representing Mrs. Mugabe in the case. Efforts to get a comment from him were futile as calls to his office and mobile phone were not being answered. But previously he told VOA Studio 7 that he only responds after getting instructions from his client. Ahmeds lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, confirmed to VOA Studio 7 that she had not been served with the court papers filed by the Mrs. Mugabe on Tuesday countersuing Ahmed who had taken her to court for seizing his properties in Harare using state security agents. Said Mtetwa, As the lawyer I was not served with the papers, I do not know what they are suing for and I will be going to the High Court on Thursday to ask for the papers. Mtetwa refused to comment further. But sources privy to the developments say the move not to serve Mtetwa was deliberate as they knew Ahmed was not at the property the papers were served. Ahmed says he will not set foot in Zimbabwe until the government respects the rule of law. But the state controlled media claim that he is a fugitive of justice. Mrs. Mugabe, through her lawyer Wilson Manase, filed her suit at the High Court in Harare on Tuesday claiming the principal debt plus interest calculated from April 1, 2015, to the date of payment in full. The first lady says in April 2015, she ordered a 100-carat special ring worth $1, 350 million for her wedding anniversary from Ahmed and paid in advance through her Harare CBZ Bank account. But after the diamond had been polished by a third party, the first lady then refused to take delivery of the diamond and instead demanded a full refund in Dubai. After Ahmed refused to give her the refund in hard cash in Dubai, citing forex externalization laws, she allegedly instructed her son to invade five upmarket Harare houses belonging to the Lebanese. The case of the seized houses is currently in the courts. Ahmed says he was prepared to pay Mrs. Mugabe in instalments through the banking system. But President Robert Mugabes wife, seized the five upmarket houses in the leafy suburb of Borrowdale and Avondale Harare. In her law suit, Mrs. Mugabe is seeking an order allowing her to attach the five properties. She is also seeking an order declaring executable Ahmeds shareholding in three companies - Thatchfree Investments, Zulaf Investments and Super Earth Properties. Court documents show that Mrs. Mugabe placed an order for a US$1,3 million diamond ring in Dubai through Thatchfree Investments (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Ahmed. Human Flow by internationally acclaimed artist and activist Ai Weiwei, highlights the plight of refugees around the world. The Chinese dissident is not the first to make a documentary about the displaced, but his film captures the massive flow of humanity on our planet from on high, using drones. They raised a flag in Paradise Square, a notorious traffic circle in which the jihadists had staged brutal public executions, including beheadings, leaving severed heads on display for days afterwards. And then the victors doughnut-spun armored vehicles around in mimicry of how Islamic State militants celebrated their takeover of the city three years ago. There was relief and pride in the faces of the Kurd fighters as they savored the crushing blow they delivered IS this week, marking the end of four months of grueling fighting against the militants for control of the city of Raqqa, the jihadists de facto capital. Wrecked buildings now surround the square, renamed during ISs three-year tenure as Hell Square. Like the rest of the city no building has been left unscathed by the battle for Raqqa. But who will rebuild and how fast is unclear. And other questions remain unanswered about Raqqas fate. How many of the citys inhabitants will return and how quickly? Who will govern a city that will struggle to exorcise the ghosts of the medieval-style depravity and cruelty inflicted on it? More wars As in neighboring Iraq, which saw Iraqi forces along with Shi'ite militias and Yazidi fighters wrest control of disputed territory from Iraqi Kurds, other wars are shaping in the wings in Syria, fear locals and analysts. In Raqqa, a civilian council made up of Kurds and Arabs has been set up by the victorious Syrian Democratic Forces, with the support of the United States and other Western backers, to take over the running of the razed city. But resentments could build fast, if local Arabs feel they are being bossed around by the Kurds and are not respected in the governance of the city, Raqqa is historically Arab, not Kurdish. Within hours of the SDF resting control of Raqqa, Arab political activists who oppose IS and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed disdain. We dont consider it a liberation because SDF has committed many human rights violations against civilians, the activist network Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently tweeted Wednesday. The flags only changed, Raqqa from occupation to another, the network added. Another Arab activist group, Eye on the Homeland, warned recently that civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes, up to 2,000 are thought to have been killed in the fight, would allow militants to convince local Sunni Arabs that these military forces do not have their interests at heart, providing opportunities for further radicalization. Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis is worsening. International agencies estimate at least 270,000 people have been displaced from Raqqa, and the camps where they are being hosted have insufficient food, water and medicine. Humanitarian crisis With high levels of destruction reported in and around Raqqa, most families have little or nothing to return home to and will likely be stuck in camps for months or years to come, the international aid group Save the Children warned Tuesday. Tuesday, Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition battling IS, tweeted, We have pre-positioned aid, will help clear IEDs, restore services. But at the same time, officials in Washington have emphasized the U.S. role will be limited. To the south of the city, Syrian government forces linger. At one point earlier this year it looked as if the Syrian army supported by Russia might be poised to beat U.S.-backed forces to Raqqa. How long before Damascus wants control of Raqqa remains unclear and President Bashar al-Assad has said in the past Raqqa is a symbol and that it is his duty to retake all of Syria. He likely wont have to struggle to recover Raqqa. Officials in Washington say at some stage they will hand it over. We will restore basic services, not (do) the nation-building that the U.S. government previously engaged in in other countries, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Tuesday. She said the goal is to get it up and running and then turn it over to other countries and the host country. Comprehensive settlement But anti-Assad activists question the point of rebuilding in Raqqa or in de-escalation zones being set up by foreign powers elsewhere in Syria, if it merely lays the groundwork for future violence and unrest. Rebuilding before there is a comprehensive political settlement of the Syria conflict is putting the cart before the horse, they say. Conversations about Syria are quietly shifting away from an evasive political solution and towards the allure of post-conflict reconstruction, argued Rouba Mhaissen on the website Syria Deeply. In areas where violence has effectively ceased, violations of human rights have not, and rampant arbitrary detention, forced displacement and the constant threat of retaliation continues, she added. Hundreds of thousands of civilians will soon start trickling back into the wasteland that used to be their hometown and, seeing the destruction, they wont necessarily be inclined to trust their new rulers, argues Aron Lund, an analyst with U-S.-based policy research group The Century Foundation In these hints of future conflict and ethnic strife rests the Islamic States hope for a comeback, he adds. SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 27, 2017: A worker cleans the exterior of one of three glass spheres adjacent to the Day 1 building at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington on September 27, 2017. Amazon unveiled several new Echo products and Alexa services at an event held at its Seattle headquarters. (David Ryder for The Washington Post) Amazon.com has driven an economic boom in Seattle, bestowing more than 40,000 jobs upon a city known for Starbucks coffee and Seahawks fandom. Its growth remade a neglected industrial swath north of downtown into a hub of young workers and fixed the region, along with Microsoft before it, as a premier locale for the Internet economy outside Silicon Valley. Seattle is the fastest-growing big city in the United States, a company town with construction cranes busily erecting new apartments for newly arriving tech workers. Google and Facebook have joined Amazon in putting large offices here. When Amazon made a surprise announcement last month that it planned to open a second headquarters with even more jobs, it set off an unprecedented race among cities to lure the tech giant their way. Amazon said it will need 8 million square feet in a second region, making it the biggest economic development target in decades, experts say. But as Seattleites will say, keeping up with the Internet juggernaut has not always been easy, providing a word of caution for officials from other cities willing to pursue the company at great expense. Over the past decade, Amazon and founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, have added new products and business units at a breakneck speed and expected public partners to keep pace. In Seattle, that meant rehabbing an area of more than 350 acres at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars in ongoing transportation and infrastructure upgrades expanding public transit, road networks, parks and utilities. People walk next to the Day 1 building at Amazon headquarters in Seattle. (David Ryder for The Washington Post) It also put new strains on housing. Seattle is one of the most expensive places in the United States to live, forcing lower-income residents to move to far-off suburbs. The city and surrounding King County declared a state of emergency in 2015 over homelessness. Since then, the problem has worsened. Rents in King County have more than doubled in the past 20 years and gone up 65 percent since 2009. Seattle spends more than $60 million annually to address homelessness, up from $39 million four years ago. We started seeing apartment listings that would say, No deposit needed and priority for Amazon, Microsoft and Google employees, said Rachael Myers, executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, a Seattle-based advocacy group. She said the area is in the midst of the greatest affordable-housing and homelessness crisis that our state has ever seen. How much of Seattle's evolution is attributable to Amazon is a matter of debate. In the past decade, millennial workers have poured into other big cities Washington, San Francisco, Boston exacerbating housing costs and homelessness there. But few buildups are so linked to the prospects of one company. Amazon has contributed $30 billion to the local economy and as much as $55 billion more in spinoff benefits. Unemployment in the Seattle area is 3.7 percent, below the national rate of 4.4 percent. Much of that progress is the result of Amazons decision to open its first headquarters downtown a decade ago. John Schoettler, who oversees real estate for the online giant, thought it simplest and least expensive to plan a suburban headquarters campus east of Lake Washington in Bellevue, Wash., near Microsoft. Bezos had a different idea. He wanted to stay in Seattle. Jeff said the type of employees we want to hire and retain will want to live in an urban environment. They are going to want to work, live and play in the urban core, Schoettler said. The decision helped usher in a new era, one in which top employers abandon suburban office parks for lively, urban neighborhoods integrated into the cities around them. Only seven Fortune 500 companies had research or engineering hubs in Seattle in 2010; now 31 do. [As companies relocate to big cities, suburban towns are left scrambling] Their growth has just been so positive to lots of other companies, big and small and medium and in between, said Jon Scholes, president and chief executive of the Downtown Seattle Association, where Schoettler is a board member. It's a boom that has shown little sign of slowing. Seattle added 57 people a day for a year through the summer of 2016, according to census data. How best to accommodate that growth provokes regular debate in Seattle and could well shape whatever city Amazon comes to next. Such details spark little discussion as mayors and governors from coast to coast have embarked upon a sweepstakes fit for a reality show, touting their cities in online videos and dangling taxpayer-funded subsidies of as much as $7 billion, even if their jurisdictions don't have the workforce or transportation network Amazon said it requires. The company set Thursday as the deadline to receive proposals. The view from the 29th floor at Amazon headquarters in Seattle. (David Ryder for The Washington Post) Tucson officials, with an airport one-tenth as busy as Seattle's, mailed the company a 21-foot cactus to get its attention. Stonecrest, Ga., with a population barely larger than Amazon's Seattle workforce, offered to de-annex 345 acres of its land and rename it the "City of Amazon." Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James purchased 1,000 items on Amazon and rated them all five stars. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to light up several landmarks and venues in orange to show support for his citys bid. So will all the mayors go to compete on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kelly Ripa or Anderson Cooper? asked Greg LeRoy, president of the policy group Good Jobs First, which regularly warns that public incentives rarely pay off. Thats the spectrum of the debate right now. Before Amazon, a wasteland Seattle won its economic beauty contest in 1962, when it hosted the Worlds Fair. To serve the crowds, the city built acres of parking and low-slung motels in an area known as South Lake Union. The bet paid few dividends. Three decades later, the area was probably best known for a printing plant, struggling motels and a Hooters restaurant. Only 677 people lived there in 1990. Then Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, launched a real estate firm called Vulcan and bought 60 acres in the area. Vulcan executive Ada Healey recalls the early skeptics. During a 2002 pitch meeting, she said, a representative from a prospective company turned to her and asked: Why would I want to move to South Lake Union? It is a wasteland. Bezos, though, saw promise in the urban locale. He had started Amazon in his garage in nearby Bellevue, then opened an early office in a former military hospital now called Pacific Tower. Before long, he was searching for more space to accommodate his fast-growing company. [For Amazon, D.C. pitches four of its trendiest neighborhoods] Schoettler initially secured about 1.7 million square feet in 10 buildings. It was enough, he thought, to contain the company through 2016, when it was projected to have 9,300 employees. Instead, Amazon grew five times as fast. It now has more than 40,000 employees in 33 Seattle buildings totaling 8.1 million square feet. It occupies 19 percent of the high-end office space in the city, according to an analysis by the Seattle Times, as many square feet as the city's next 40 biggest employers combined. Next year, Amazon will complete its most prominent addition three glass biospheres featuring about 40,000 plants, a unique environment for employees to come and collaborate and innovate, Schoettler said. A drawing of the Space Needle on a window at Amazon headquarters in Seattle. (David Ryder for The Washington Post) Seattle officials have raced to keep up, approving $480.5 million in improvements over more than a decade for South Lake Union. Amazon and Vulcan, in need of approval to take over city alleys for its development, chipped in funding. A $190.5 million road-realignment program included $31.4 million from property owners led by Vulcan. A new, 1.3-mile streetcar line cost $56.4 million and benefited from $5.5 million from Amazon, including the donation of a fourth car. Now the city has embarked on a $201.5 million electrical substation, work that includes burying electrical wires. On weekdays, South Lake Union teems with young workers sporting Amazon name tags and eating bananas that the company offers free to passersby. Many are walking their dogs 4,000 employee-owned pups are registered with headquarters access, helping Seattle earn notoriety recently for having more dogs than children. The campus has produced spillover benefits for the city. Amazon's buildings are home to 34 restaurants, including a culinary job-training program called FareStart. More than 20 percent of employees walk to work, and fewer than half drive. The company's longtime support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights including a $2.5 million donation that Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, made in support of same-sex marriage dovetail with the city's progressive politics. In June, the company flew a rainbow flag above its headquarters for LGBT Pride Month. It has more than 40 "GLAmazon" chapters for LGBT affinity around the world. We could have gone to the suburbs, and we could have built a campus, and we would have had an entry gate where everybody would come and go so you would be very inward-looking and very exclusive, Schoettler said, as opposed to being in a very urban environment where you have to look outward, so youre very inclusive, and everyone is your neighbor and everyone is welcome. The housing struggle Maybe no city could have built housing fast enough to keep prices from spiraling upward during Amazon's growth, but Seattle despite nearly leading the nation in new apartment construction hasn't come close. On the sidewalks, alongside rentable neon bikes, people subsist in tents and sleeping bags in places locals say they did not congregate at 10 years ago a warning sign for cities nationwide trying to capture a version of Seattles glory. We dont have enough housing for low-income people especially, but we also just dont have enough housing, said Myers, a longtime Seattle housing advocate. And Amazon obviously impacts both of those things. Officials at Bellwether Housing, the citys largest nonprofit manager of affordable housing, at 2,000 units, report a vacancy rate of 1 percent. Its very rare that someone moves out, because they have nowhere else to go, said chief executive Susan Boyd. A state analysis of evictions found they were driven not by social problems but by economics. As Amazon's boom has continued, the city approved a rule this year requiring landlords to accept the first viable renter who applies rather than cherry-picking a tech worker. The government also adopted an inclusionary zoning policy requiring developers to set aside some new units at below-market rates or pay into a fund to develop other affordable units. Myers suggested other jurisdictions pay heed: If youre going to get an Amazon thats going to create a ton of high-paying jobs and a ton of pressure on the housing market, what are the things you can do before rents really skyrocket? [Tell us where Amazons second headquarters should go] Ask 10 experts where the company will put its next headquarters, and you may get 10 different answers. The company prides itself on zigging when others zag, making it more difficult to read the tea leaves. Still, many in Seattle say the company probably has a good idea of its options. I suspect they have a shortlist, said Healey, the Vulcan executive. Landing the second headquarters would be a legacy-defining achievement for nearly any governor or mayor, but lessons from Seattles Amazon experience have bidders scrambling to show how they can meet Amazons insistence on speed, low costs, transportation and inclusion particularly if they didnt focus on them ahead of time. East Coast cities such as Boston, New York and Washington may need to answer for their own runaway real estate and housing prices. Governors, including Republicans Chris Christie of New Jersey, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Larry Hogan of Maryland, may have to explain why they canceled major transit projects. Charlotte and Indianapolis are bidding, but Amazon may want to know the effect of state laws there affecting the rights of gay or transgender employees. Amy Liu of the Brookings Institution said the Amazon competition will hopefully serve as a chance for elected leaders to take the temperature of how prepared their neighborhoods and infrastructure are to drive growth, whether from Amazon or elsewhere. These are things every city should be doing anyway, she said. Centroamericano, a new variety of coffee plant, hasn't sparked the buzz of, say, Starbucks's latest novelty latte. But it may be the coolest thing in brewing: a tree that can withstand the effects of climate change. Climate change could spell disaster for coffee, a crop that requires specific temperatures to flourish and that is highly sensitive to a range of pests. So scientists are racing to develop more tenacious strains of one of the worlds most beloved beverages. In addition to Centroamericano, seven other new hybrid varieties are gradually trickling onto the market. And this summer, World Coffee Research an industry-funded nonprofit group kicked off field tests of 46 new varieties that it says will change coffee-growing as the world knows it. Coffee is not ready to adapt to climate change without help, said Doug Welsh, the vice president and roastmaster of Peets Coffee, which has invested in WCRs research. Climate scientists say few coffee-growing regions will be spared the effects of climate change. Most of the worlds crop is cultivated around the equator, with the bulk coming from Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia. Rising temperatures are expected to shrink the available growing land in many of these countries, said Christian Bunn, a postdoctoral fellow at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture who has analyzed the shift in coffee regions. Warmer air essentially chases coffee up to cooler, higher altitudes which are scarce in Brazil and Zimbabwe, among other coffee-growing countries. Temperature is not climate changes only projected impact in coffee-growing regions. Portions of Central America are expected to see greater rainfall and shorter dry seasons, which are needed to harvest and dry beans. In Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, rainfall is projected to decrease, potentially sparking dry periods. These sorts of changes will pose problems for many crops. But coffee is particularly vulnerable, scientists say, because it has an unusually shallow gene pool. Only two species of coffee, arabica and robusta, are currently grown for human consumption. And farmers traditionally haven't selected for diversity when breeding either plant instead, essentially, they've been marrying generations of coffee with its close cousins. As a result, there are precious few varieties of arabica that can grow in warmer or wetter conditions. In addition, diseases and pests that might be exacerbated under climate change could knock out entire fields of plants. A disease of particular concern coffee leaf rust, or la roya in Spanish devastated coffee plantations across Central America in 2011. It effectively halved El Salvadors coffee output and cost the region an estimated 1.7 million jobs. Coffee farmers could see their livelihoods threatened, noted Aaron Davis, a British coffee researcher, because coffee trees are perennials with a 20- to 30-year life span: If a field is damaged by a bad season, farmers aren't necessarily in a position to immediately replant it. And because coffee takes three years to mature, farmers face several years without income after new trees are planted. Under all these scenarios, farmers pay the biggest price, Davis added. While few experts expect these factors to drive coffee to extinction, they could severely reduce the global supply and increase the hardship for coffee farmers. The major concern of the industry is that the quantity, and even the future, of good coffee is threatened by climate change, said Benoit Bertrand, an agronomist with the French agricultural research group CIRAD and one of the worlds most respected coffee breeders. So the question becomes: How can we address this with new technology and new innovations? Despite coffees global popularity, few growers have risen to the challenge. There has historically been no real market for improved coffee plants, Bertrand and Davis said: Unlike such major commodity crops as corn or soybeans, coffee is grown primarily by small farmers with low margins who cant shell out for the latest seed or growing system. As a result, coffee is coming late to the intensive breeding programs that have revolutionized other crops. But in the past 10 years, interest around plant improvement has exploded, driven in part by the growth of the specialty coffee market. Plant breeders have begun cataloguing the hundreds of strains of arabica in existence and cultivating them in different growing areas. Theyve also begun to experiment with robusta, which grows in higher temperatures and fares better against diseases but often tastes bitter. There is some hope that new varieties of robusta, or robusta/arabica crosses, could capture that resilience without the bad flavor. Lately, there has been a particular surge of interest in a type of plant called an F1 hybrid, which crossbreeds two different strains of arabica to produce a unique child plant. They can be made from any of the hundreds of varieties of arabica and bred for qualities such as taste, disease resistance and drought tolerance. Because they are the first generation, F1 hybrids also demonstrate something scientists call hybrid vigor they produce unusually high yields, like a sort of super plant. Since 2010, eight such F1 hybrids have been released to the commercial market. Bertrand is currently testing a class of an additional 60 crosses with the support of World Coffee Research. The researchers say that the top two or three which are expected to become available to farmers as soon as 2022 will offer good taste, high yields and resilience to a range of coffees current and future woes, from higher temperatures to nematodes. These hybrids deliver a combination of traits that were never before possible in coffee, said Hanna Neuschwander, the communications director at World Coffee Research. Its the traits that farmers need with the traits that markets demand. People used to think the two were mutually exclusive. But the hybrids success remains largely untested at scale. Of the eight F1 hybrids on the market at present, only one Centroamericano has been planted in any significant volume, Neuschwander said. The variety is currently growing on an estimated 2,500 acres in Central America; for context, the U.S. Agriculture Department reports that Honduras alone grows coffee on more than 800,000 acres. Farmers who have planted the new trees are seeing success. Starbucks has sold coffee made from F1 hybrids as part of its small-lot premium brand. Last spring, a batch of Centroamericano grown on a Nicaraguan family farm scored 90 out of 100 points in that countrys prestigious tasting competition, which some in the industry heralded as a major victory. But the path to adoption will be steep. Breeders have developed these plants, Neuschwander said, but many areas of the world dont have the seed industries and infrastructure in place to actually distribute them. Thats particularly true in the case of F1 hybrids, which thanks to their particular genetics can only be grown from tissue samples. F1 hybrids are also expensive as much as 2 times the cost of conventional plants. That puts them well outside the range of most smallholder farmers, said Kraig Kraft, an agroecologist and technical adviser with Catholic Relief Services Latin America division. Kraft, who has worked with World Coffee Research to test F1 hybrids in Nicaragua, said that in his region, at least, only midsize and large plantations have switched to them. I think our position is that we need to really understand the requirements for all farmers to be able to use these new technologies, Kraft said. My concern is that small farmers dont have access to the capital to pay for these investments. Even if they did, however, some experts caution that the new coffee varieties are only a piece of a much larger adaptation process. To cope with the effects of climate change, farmers may need to adopt other agricultural practices, such as shade-farming, cover-cropping and terracing, said Bunn, the researcher. In some regions, those practices wont be economical. And in that case, policymakers should focus on helping farmers transition to other crops or other livelihoods altogether, researchers stress. People sell [F1 hybrids] as a silver bullet, Bunn said. To be clear, those plants are indispensable, and I dont question the value of the work . . . but we need more to adapt to climate change. And we need to accept the hard reality that some places will need to move out of coffee production. Has it really been 17 years since the publication of The Amber Spyglass, the final volume of Philip Pullmans magnificent His Dark Materials trilogy? ****HANDOUT IMAGE The Book of Dust, by Philip Pullman, (credit: Knopf) ***NOT FOR RESALE (Knopf ) What might seem an insuperable gap between then and now disappears in a blink as one reads the enthralling, enchanting first installment in The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, a prequel to that earlier series. As millions of readers of all ages know, His Dark Materials skipped between alternate versions of our own world as it recounted the adventures of Lyra Belacqua, a.k.a. Lyra Silvertongue, a girl of mysterious parentage who finds herself caught up in a cosmic war with metaphysical elements drawn from Milton, Blake, quantum physics and Nordic mythology. The Book of Dust maintains a tighter focus, with both characters and chronology. The protagonist, a boy named Malcolm Polstead, lives in Oxford, where his parents own a Thames-side pub called the Trout. Malcolm spends much of his free time messing about in his beloved canoe, La Belle Sauvage. If hed been the sort of boy who acquired a nickname, Pullman writes, he would no doubt have been known as the Professor, but he wasnt that sort of boy. He was liked when noticed, but not noticed much, and that did him no harm, either. [Philip Pullman on what drew him back to the world of His Dark Materials] As with His Dark Materials, Malcolms world is one in which every person is attached to a daemon, an animal counterpart who accompanies its human partner everywhere. Until its human reaches puberty, a daemon can manifest as any creature, mythological or otherwise. These shifting personae reflect a persons psychological and emotional states, and the daemons ultimate, adult appearance signifies ones deepest, underlying self ones soul, perhaps. Intrigued by a conversation with three strange gentlemen who visit the Trout one winter night, Malcolm is drawn into a plot that involves an infant foundling being cared for by nuns at a nearby priory. The mystery deepens when he comes across a message hidden inside a brass acorn and subsequently befriends Hannah Relf, an Oxford scholar. Hannah reveals that she belongs to a clandestine government agency trying to infiltrate and defeat the Magisterium, a fascist religious organization (with obvious parallels to both current political regimes and the Catholic Inquisition). As another spy tells her, This is a deep and uncomfortable paradox, which will not have escaped you: we can only defend democracy by being undemocratic. The sly references to Oxfords historical connection to British espionage enhance the novels resonance with our own world. Indeed, the first half of The Book of Dust reads like a thriller. Author Philip Pullman (Michael Leckie) The story becomes darker, deeper and even more engrossing when a cataclysmic flood overtakes Southern England. Warned of its coming, Malcolm rescues the baby given refuge by the nuns. With Alice, a surly teenager who also works at the Trout, he embarks upon a hair-raising journey across an inundated landscape as the three young people and their respective daemons are pursued by one of the most frightening villains in contemporary literature: a charismatic sexual predator whose vicious daemon may give you nightmares. Much of the childrens escape plays out against a dreamy nighttime world, moonlit and with passages of astonishing beauty and terror. Philip Pullmans lifelong love of The Odyssey also comes into play, as Malcolm proves himself a formidable trickster, as well as the babys fearless and tender guardian. The Book of Dust feels more earthbound in the best way than the earlier trilogy. The cosmic clockwork of His Dark Materials, with its multiverses and metaphysics, becomes grounded in this new novel. Familiar characters and themes recur, with the former attempting to understand the secret of a divinatory device called the alethiometer and its relationship to quantum physics and Dust, the cosmic particles that play a crucial role in His Dark Materials. This is an alternate world where a clever boy reads both Stephen Hawking and Agatha Christie, and the first stirrings of sexual desire are as puzzling to him as the uncertainty principle. But there is plenty of magic here, too, not just daemons and startling prophecies but witches and specters, forays into Faerie, and Malcolms eerie, migraine-like visions of the aurora borealis. Too few things in our own world are worth a 17-year-wait: The Book of Dust is one of them. Elizabeth Hand's most recent book is "Fire: Essays and Short Fiction." As the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, Ed Gillespie has vowed to make health care more affordable and accessible, pledging at a recent debate to incentivize greater competition in the insurance marketplace. But as a private consultant, Gillespie advised Anthem, the nations second-largest insurance company, as it pursued a merger last year with Cigna, the No. 3 insurer. Virginia insurance regulators said the merger would raise costs and reduce competition, and a federal judge cited the same concerns when she later blocked the deal. Anthem is among four companies with extensive interests in Virginia that paid Gillespie between $50,000 and $250,000 last year for consulting services. Anthem, AT&T, Bank of America and Microsoft contract directly with the state government, do millions of dollars of business in Virginia, and lobby to influence state laws and policies. All but Anthem have hired Gillespie on and off for more than a decade, dating to his time as co-founder of one of the most successful lobbying firms in Washington. If he is elected governor, Gillespie would face decisions in which the publics interests may conflict with the interests of companies that have paid his firms millions of dollars collectively for lobbying and consulting services and that could hire him again. Thats an issue for him to overcome, and its a nonpartisan concern for both liberals and conservatives, said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group. The concern is that politicians are more concerned about the payout on K Street that they may get when they leave office as opposed to the publics interest when they are in office. Gillespies opponent in the race, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, also has financial ties to several companies active in the state, through his stock portfolio. Virginias conflict-of-interest laws generally allow lawmakers and state officials to act on bills affecting companies in which they own stock. [Northam owns stocks in Dominion, other companies with extensive interests in Virginia] Gillespie, who declined an interview with The Washington Post, closed his consulting firm, Ed Gillespie Strategies, shortly before launching his campaign in January. The Republican nominee has no current financial interests in the companies, such as stock holdings, and he and his wife would put their personal investments in a blind trust if elected, campaign spokesman David Abrams said. As governor, Ed will be an honest, ethical, principled, hard-working, faithful servant-leader worthy of Virginia, Abrams said, repeating a phrase that Gillespie and his staff have used repeatedly throughout the campaign. Abrams noted that Gillespie voluntarily released the names of the clients he advised last year. Virginias financial disclosure form requires only that candidates list the types of businesses and the range of compensation. Ed went above and beyond, Abrams said. One year after President Trump won election, in part by railing against influence peddlers and vowing to upend the status quo, Gillespie is trying to ride the anti-establishment tide as well as a former Republican National Committee chairman can. His campaign biography omits his lobbying work and tells the up-from-the-bootstraps story of the son of an Irish immigrant grocery store owner who rose to become a top adviser to President George W. Bush. When Gillespie was tapped to serve in the White House in 2007, his lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, represented more than 100 clients, including some of the nations biggest companies and trade groups, according to a financial disclosure form. The firm reported $17.2 million in revenue from federal lobbying in 2016, according to public records. It was paid more than $3.2 million from 2001 to 2007 by three of the companies he consulted for last year AT&T, Bank of America and Microsoft according to public records. Gillespie also consulted for those companies before his 2014 Senate campaign, according to his federal candidate disclosure form. A gubernatorial bid by a former lobbyist is not without precedent. Virginias current governor, Terry McAuliffe (D), was previously the managing partner of a law firm with a lobbying practice, although he did not personally lobby. Haley Barbour, a Republican who founded a major lobbying firm that employed Gillespie early in his lobbying career, served as governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. Gillespie, whose reputation as a Washington insider could be a liability in this election cycle, has proposed an ethics and campaign finance platform that includes provisions opposed by lawmakers in his own party. His plan would ban personal use of campaign funds, slow the revolving door by prohibiting former state employees from lobbying their prior agencies for two years, and require more frequent disclosures of conflicts of interest. Critics, however, pointed to Gillespies own experience with the revolving door he worked for then-Rep. Dick Armey (R-Tex.) from 1985 to 1996 and did three stints in the Bush administration, and advised private clients as a lobbyist or consultant in between those jobs and after leaving the White House. Part of his firms pitch was that he could leverage his relationships with those in power. In 2002, Quinn Gillespie posted notable press clippings on its website, including one that said Gillespie advises the White House, which puts him in a perfect position to help his clients. Also cited was this quote from a Washington Post story: Ed Gillespie has emerged as a one-stop power broker. He advises top White House officials, works for GOP campaigns, lobbies for major corporations and opines on political talk shows. Heres how Virginia gubernatorial candidates make their money. Gillespies private-sector work has fueled frequent Democratic attacks since early 2014, when he first sought to make the leap from political operative to elected official. Gillespie came close to unseating Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) that year. I served eight years in the U.S. Army, I showed up for this country, Northam said at a debate Oct. 10. Youve been a K Street lobbyist in Washington. The only time you show up is when you get paid. Gillespie didnt flinch. I did show up for my clients, and I was effective, he said. In a reprise of a Warner attack ad, Northam dubs Gillespie Enron Ed in a television spot that tries to yoke him to the energy company that went bankrupt in 2001 amid a massive accounting fraud. Gillespie was among four lobbyists registered to represent the company that year, and he cut ties before the bankruptcy filing. He has said he had no knowledge of Enrons accounting tactics. Northam has stock holdings of between $5,001 and $50,000 each in AT&T, Bank of America and Dominion Energy, all of which do business in the state, according to his candidate financial disclosure form. Environmentalists have accused Northam of putting Domions interests ahead of those of his constituents. Northam has denied the claim and has pledged to put his investments in a blind trust if he is elected. Gillespie also has faced criticism from a government watchdog group for declining to elaborate on the consulting work he did in 2016 with two conglomerates, DCI Group and Brunswick Group. Brunswick works in 14 countries and employs experts in every industry, according to its website, while DCI claims to be widely acknowledged as the deepest and most sophisticated political network in the public affairs industry. State law does not require Gillespie to disclose clients unless they do business in Virginia. What Gillespie has disclosed only takes you part of the way, even though it satisfies the law, said Dale Eisman, a senior writer for the government watchdog group Common Cause who lives in Springfield, Va. We still dont know everyone whom he might be beholden to and what their connections are to Virginia. In voluntarily disclosing his clients from last year, Gillespie said he advised Anthem and AT&T on proposed mergers and helped Microsoft and Bank of America with reputation management and communications strategy. All four companies or their top executives have contributed to the Gillespie campaign or to a committee he controls, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), and they have ongoing interests in the state. The governor can directly affect those vast interests when making policy, signing legislation and recruiting businesses to the state. The proposed $54 billion merger last year of Anthem, the states largest insurer, and Cigna would have created the nations largest insurance company. Virginia insurance regulators opposed the merger, citing the potential of harm to policyholders as well as the general public. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the deal in February, saying that it is likely to result in higher prices and that it will have other anticompetitive effects. In August, Anthem announced it would pull out of the Affordable Care Acts exchange in Virginia amid uncertainty over the future of such marketplaces and pronouncements by President Trump that they were about to fail. McAuliffe was involved in an effort to persuade Anthem to stay. When the company reversed its decision, he tweeted: Just got a call from @AnthemInc. They are staying in Virginia! Anthem said its decision to remain in parts of the state preserved insurance for up to 70,000 Virginians. AT&T lobbied on six 2016 bills in Virginia legislation related to cellular use while driving, telecommunications towers, taxes and workplace safety, according to VPAP. In July, Virginia became the first state to announce participation in a nationwide public safety broadband network, created by AT&T with partners, to allow public safety officials to communicate more reliably in a crisis. Last month, McAuliffe attended an event celebrating an underwater data cable built in part by Microsoft that stretches from Virginia to Spain. Microsoft also operates a data center in Mecklenburg County that employs more than 250 people. The data centers latest expansion received a $500,000 grant from a state business incentive program, McAuliffe announced. Microsoft lobbied on Virginia bills related to tax breaks and high school graduation requirements last year, according to VPAP. Bank of America also has a large presence in Virginia, with about 133 branches. It bills in Richmond last year that dealt with mortgage applications and credit unions, records show. Bank of America was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the government bailout that Gillespie helped push when he was in the White House after previously working as a lobbyist for the bank. Given the myriad ways a governor can affect the fortunes of large companies doing business in the state, voters should consider Gillespies ties with his former clients, said Eisman of Common Cause. The candidate knows who helped him get there and helped him make his fortune, he said. Voters need to ask what steps the candidate would take to ensure his decisions in public office are based on the merits and not those past relationships. This is the second of two stories examining how Virginias gubernatorial candidates could face challenges leading the state because of their financial dealings with companies that have extensive interests there. Yesterday: Ralph Northams stock holdings. Andrew Ba Tran and Alice Crites contributed to this report. Read more: Va gubernatorial contenders clash on issues in mostly civil debate Caustic attacks ads lace Virginia gubernatorial race Virginia race for governor looks like a squeaker At the Pentagon, officials are grappling with a resurgence of cases in which troops trained to prevent sexual assault or harassment are being accused of committing it. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press) The Army is grappling with a resurgence of cases in which troops responsible for preventing sexual assault have been accused of rape and related crimes, undercutting the Pentagons claims that it is making progress against sexual violence in the ranks. In the most recent case,an Army prosecutor in charge of sexual assault investigations in the Southwest was charged by the military last month with putting a knife to the throat of a lawyer he had been dating and raping her on two occasions, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Additionally, a sergeant at Fort Sill, Okla., who was certified as a sexual assault prevention officer was convicted at a court-martial in May of five counts of raping a preteen girl. Army officials confirmed to The Post that eight other soldiers and civilians trained to deter sex offenses or help victims have been investigated over the past year in connection with sexual assault. The Army would not provide details, saying that many of the investigations are pending. Other branches of the armed forces have faced their own embarrassments. The deputy director of the Air Forces office of sexual assault prevention at the Pentagon resigned last year after the Air Force inspector general rebuked him for making sexually inappropriate comments and creating an intimidating and offensive working environment, according to a confidential report obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act. Air Force staff members complained that the senior executive, Jay Aanrud, made sexist remarks about tight pants and Hooters models, and said it is womens work to shop and eat bonbons, according to the report. Aanrud, a former pilot whose call sign was Hoser, told investigators that he was joking and that his remarks were misconstrued. Despite the investigation, the Air Force rehired Aanrud last month to work at the Pentagon as a technical specialist on aviation issues. An Air Force spokeswoman said he doesnt supervise anyone in his new job. Aanrud declined to comment. [How the military handles sexual assault cases behind closed doors] For the armed forces, the cases are a painful reminder of similar scandals in 2013. That year, the Air Forces chief sexual assault prevention officer at the Pentagon was accused of groping a woman outside a bar; he was later acquitted by a civilian jury but reprimanded by the military. An Army sergeant in charge of helping sexual assault victims at Fort Hood, Tex., was convicted of pandering for pimping female soldiers. In addition, each of the military services was tainted by reports of young women being assaulted by uniformed recruiters. With angry lawmakers in Congress demanding a crackdown, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the armed forces in May 2013 to retrain and rescreen tens of thousands of military recruiters and sexual assault prevention officers. Despite the measures, incidents kept happening. Five months after Hagels order, a soldier attending a sexual assault prevention conference in Orlando was accused of getting drunk and raping a woman he met at his hotel. The Army investigated but did not file charges because the woman declined to cooperate. Since then, the military has invested millions of additional dollars in sexual assault awareness programs. Training is mandatory for everyone in uniform. Top brass have promised to redouble their efforts to punish offenders and protect victims. Weve been putting extraordinary resources into this area, said Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee for military personnel. Of all the issues we have on my committee, we have spent more time on sexual assault than any other issue. Coffman said military leaders have come a long way in addressing the problem but added that more needs to be done. He said Army leaders have briefed him about the sexual assault prevention officers who have been accused of sexual assault and said they are reviewing how people are selected for those posts. We always need to look at the screening and look where the screening failed, Coffman said in an interview. But in comparison with past scandals, he said, the Army has gotten the message an awful lot quicker. Last year, the Defense Department received 6,172 reports of sexual assault in the ranks a new high and almost twice as many as were reported in 2010. Pentagon officials have called the increase a sign that more victims are willing to come forward and trust the military to help them. To tackle the problem, the Army employs 650 full-time sexual assault response coordinators and victim advocates, plus 2,200 others who work part time. [In the war against sexual assault, the Army keeps shooting itself in the foot] In the past year, eight of them have been accused of sexual assault, triggering criminal investigations by a combination of military and civilian authorities, said William J. Sharp, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Officials from the Navy, the Marines and the Air Force told The Post that none of their personnel involved in sexual assault prevention have been investigated for sex crimes over the past year. Lt. Col. Jennifer R. Johnson, an Army spokeswoman, said the service adopted new standards in 2013 for screening sexual assault prevention personnel, drill instructors, recruiters and others who hold positions of significant trust. She said that the standards are more stringent than the Defense Department requires, but that the Army has decided to review them again to determine if any changes are required. As Army professionals, we expect everyone on our team to live and demonstrate the Army values every day, Johnson said in an email. Every allegation of sexual assault, from an unwanted touch over the clothing to a forcible rape, is investigated. . . . The Army strives to hold all offenders accountable for their actions no matter their position or rank. Few personnel get more screening than the Armys special-victim prosecutors, a team of 23 lawyers who oversee sex crime and domestic violence cases across the country. The job is considered an elite position within the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, and those who hold it are handpicked by the Armys top uniformed lawyer. The program was thrown into turmoil in 2014 when its supervisor was placed under investigation for allegedly groping a female lawyer at a sexual assault prevention conference. The supervisor, Lt. Col. Jay Morse, acknowledged having an intimate encounter with the woman but denied touching her without consent. Army officials ultimately decided that they lacked evidence to press criminal charges, but Morse was reprimanded for misconduct. He retired soon after. The Army has since been rattled by another case involving a special-victim prosecutor. In August 2016, a lawyer who worked for the Army walked into the Comanche County Courthouse in Lawton, Okla., to seek a protective order against a man she had been dating: Capt. Scott Hockenberry, who handled cases at Fort Sill and other posts in the region. The woman alleged in court papers that their relationship had turned violent and that Hockenberry had raped her three times over the previous month. She also alleged that he had placed a knife against her throat during one of the assaults and injured her jaw on another occasion, according to her protective-order application. They started dating, but it got out of control, said Robert Don Gifford, an attorney for the woman. Hockenberry disputed the allegations and has filed a defamation claim against the woman in state court in Oklahoma, documents show. The Army reassigned him to the Military District of Washington and conducted a lengthy criminal investigation. Last month, it charged Hockenberry with sexually assaulting the woman on two occasions, placing a knife against her throat and striking her in the face, according to military charging documents obtained by The Post. A preliminary hearing is scheduled later this month. We categorically deny all of the allegations made by this accuser. Period. Full stop, said Will Helixon, an attorney representing Hockenberry. The Posts policy is not to identify victims of sexual assault or abuse in most cases. It is unclear why the Army waited a year to file charges. Lawyers for both sides say the case has attracted notice at the Pentagon, given the nature of Hockenberrys job. This has received extra scrutiny, Gifford said. Another recent case that has received high-level attention surfaced in August at Fort Benning, Ga., a boot-camp hub for the Army. The Army suspended several drill instructors after female recruits reported being sexually assaulted. A criminal investigation is pending. The Army has released few details, although it has since relieved a Fort Benning battalion commander because of a loss of confidence in his ability to lead. The Living Room, near McPherson Square: People exit on the red carpeted stairs. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) This is what happens when a city gets hit by a deluge of dollars. A dilapidated storefront in the District gets washed away; left in its place is a fancy new restaurant. Economic lightning strikes a vacant lot; when the dust clears, the land is covered in natural woods and polished stones, marked by a sign announcing the opening of a swanky outdoor cafe. It is the reverse of an economic drought, but the impact is no less dramatic. For decades, residents in the District got to see what economic droughts can do to an urban landscape. Now we are seeing what happens when a city gets flooded with cash. These photographs, taken by Washington Post staff, show people in different quadrants of the city going about life as usual. For the most part, they look as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening. But there is absolutely nothing ordinary about anything that is happening around them. The world is shifting under their feet. Even if it doesnt always seem to show on their faces, its almost surely being felt in their bones. Something amazing is happening. Whats here today may be gone tomorrow. And who knows what tomorrow will bring. The only hint of the future can be found on those architectural renderings posted at construction sites. Coming soon: More glass and chrome to look up at, they all seem to say. But whatever comes, you just know the city will never be the same. Exciting, exhilarating. Terrifying. In just one nine-month period a few years back, more than 1,200 condos and apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail were built or under construction in the District. Also during that time, along a mile stretch of 14th Street NW between Thomas Circle and Florida Avenue, 25 bars and restaurants opened or were under construction. That amounted to more than 2,000 new seats for dining. Nature may take millennia to create a mountain range. In Shaw, we got a condo canyon practically overnight. Many residents are giddy at having new places to shop, even if its only window shopping. But lots of money in a city can have drawbacks, too. More homelessness and more people displaced as housing prices skyrocket, for instance. Longtime neighbors and family friends are selling their homes and leaving their apartments, either by choice or because of economic pressure. New residents are moving in. Are you among the fortunate ones whose new neighbors smile and speak to you? Or do your new neighbors want to re-create the neighborhood in their image? Apartment rents in the city are now averaging about $2,100 a month, according to real estate service firm Newmark Knight Frank . Renters of modest means are hanging on by their fingernails. A modestly sized two-bedroom condo downtown can cost more than $900,000. And the prices keep rising. Meanwhile, public housing complexes are being emptied out and marked for mixed-income development. Displaced tenants have been told that they will be brought back to live among the upscale home buyers. But that doesnt always happen. Plans change. Construction gets delayed. Tenants who cant afford to hang on simply drift away. On the upside, there are lots of hot new clubs in town. You can hail Uber to take you and bring you home. However, one popular hairstylist had to leave the spot she was renting in Northeast Washington because the space was sold to a guy who wanted to open a club. Not that there will be a lot of sympathy for anyone having a bad hair day in a city drowning in cash. See the full photo essay. Northwest The Lucky Bar, near Dupont Circle: Pierre Bennett of Reston, Va., spins Joanna Mendez, 26, of Jacksonville, Fla. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Columbia Elks Lodge, LeDroit Park: Ralph White, 50, of Washington on the dance floor. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Georgetown: From left, Judge Paul L. Friedman, wife Elizabeth Friedman and A.R. Esfandiary sip cocktails at a welcome-back-to-Washington soiree in the home of Calvin and Jane Cafritz. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) Northeast Rosedale Community Center: Phyllis Martin, 7, left, and Dakota Jackson, 5, splash in the pool. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Near Union Market: A crane rises above an old building. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Marvin Gaye Park, Deanwood: Karim Clayton, 10, plays with a hula hoop. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Southwest Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: A musician performs on the plaza for Summer Evenings @ Hirshhorn. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Arena Stage: Elise Sipos, an aerialist with the Trapeze School of New York, dangles in the window as people line up for an annual costume sale. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Hains Point: A lone fisherman waits for a bite. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Southeast Outside Nationals Park: Kevin Garnes, 65, collects spare change from people headed to a game. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) We Act Radio, Anacostia: Co-owner Kymone Freeman, left, during a community meeting at the station. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Congress Heights: Mike Larry waits for a bus with son Jayceon, center, and family friend Jeremy. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) Courtland Milloy is a Washington Post columnist. To comment on this story, email wpmagazine@washpost.com or visit washingtonpost.com/magazine. Columnist Today is the newest installment of my Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the plight of the beleaguered customer service representative. S.O.S steel wool pads Me: Do I need to clean off the food scraps from a used S.O.S pad before my dog eats it? Ingrid: Yes, be sure to rinse it well. (Illustration by Eric Shansby) Me: Good. I see it as a good source of fiber. She loves them. Ingrid: Wait, you're talking about rinsing the bowl, right? Me: No, the S.O.S pad. She eats the S.O.S pad. Ingrid: I do apologize! No, the product is not meant for a pet to consume! Don't feed it to the dog. Me: Oh, I don't. Ingrid: Good. Me: The cat does. The dog can't get into the sink, but the cat can. He knocks the pad down onto the floor, where the dog eats it. Ingrid: That's not a good thing. Me: Omigod. Do you think the cat is trying to murder the dog? Ingrid: Me: I wouldn't put it past him. Bushs reduced-sodium garbanzo beans Me: What exactly do reduced-sodium garbanzo beans taste like? My buddy Walter says raw tofu, but I say they're even blander, like congealed tap water, or that little wax bottle from Nik-L-Nips sugar-water candies. My wife says they're like licking the outside of a hard-boiled egg. Kathleen: They don't taste much different than regular garbanzos; the only difference is less salt. Me: Well, that's my point! It's crazy to try to improve garbanzo beans by removing the only thing that has some taste. It would be like trying to improve the Jimi Hendrix Experience by getting rid of Jimi, and leaving just the Experience. What do garbanzo beans taste like to you? Kathleen: Like gritty dirt. Me: Ha-ha! Kathleen: I am not a garbanzo fan. Me: Let's just leave it right here. Stonyfield Organic 100% grass-fed yogurt Me: I love your product, but I have a suggestion for improving your packaging. You know how, in the interest of transparency, your containers have the scientific names of the "live active cultures inside"? Now, I am sure they are very nice, pretty and well-behaved bacteria, but their names do not inspire confidence in the wholesome wonderfulness of your yogurt. Ruth: I know! The scientific names are a little off-putting! Me: "Bifidus" sounds like a dreadful birth disorder. "Bulgaricus" combines "vulgar" and "bulge," which is disgusting. "Rhamnosus" sounds like a fight to the death between two rhinoceroses, and "thermophilus" sounds like an ancient Greek battle famous for bravery, betrayal and the annihilation of 22,000 men from eating bad yogurt. Ruth: Me: Okay, I made up the last part, but you get my point. How about losing those names? Ruth: I believe we're required by law to list them. Me: Fine. Then bribe the scientific community and get them to change the names of your bacteria to Bunnynose, WhoopsieDaisy, Squeaky, the Dancing Ladybug and Toonces the Bacterium. Ruth: I'll certainly pass it along, sir. These interviews have been edited and condensed. Kathleen is a pseudonym we decided to use on account of gritty dirt. For stories, features such as Date Lab, @Work Advice and more, visit WP Magazine. Follow the Magazine on Twitter. Like us on Facebook. Email us at wpmagazine@washpost.com. Two-star chefs Patrick OConnell, left, of The Inn at Little Washington, and Aaron Silverman, of Pineapple and Pearls, along with fellow two-staf chef Jose Andres of Minibar, threw a culinary extravaganza to benefit Andress Puerto Rico relief efforts. Andres helped plan the dinner but was on the hurricane-ravaged island and did not attend. (Essdras M Suarez/for The Washington Post) Dain Oswald and Eileen Cavanagh hovered over their computers last week, hoping to snag two of 57 seats for dinner at Pineapple and Pearls. But not just any dinner: This was a nine-course meal prepared by the three chefs the Michelin Guide has declared the best in Washington. Patrick OConnell of the Inn at Little Washington, Jose Andres of Minibar, and Aaron Silverman of Pineapple and Pearls each awarded two stars in Michelins annual guide to Washingtons best restaurants teamed up Wednesday for a one-night-only culinary extravaganza. The dinner, a benefit for Puerto Rico hurricane relief, sold out in seconds. To their surprise and delight, Oswald and Cavanagh landed one of the coveted $595-per-person reservations. This is what we do for fun, said Oswald. We love to eat out. Thats our thing. Weve been here before, and we love this place, said his wife. And we were worried about the aid that Puerto Rico wasnt getting. So we thought this would be a great way to contribute to that. And the combination of chefs was irresistible, said Oswald: Tonight, this is a six-star restaurant. Which meant foie gras, caviar, bison tartare, lamb carpaccio, Parmesan egg with white truffle, wagyu steak and more. Plus wines, sherry and Dom Perignon champagne. With the kitchen open to the small dining room, guests could see more than a dozen chefs (yes, a real-life too many cooks in the kitchen) working together, doing that complicated waltz of any professional kitchen. Lamb carpaccio was one of the dishes served at the dinner. (Essdras M Suarez/for The Washington Post) Theres a wonderful vibe in the room, said OConnell, a perfectionist who vacillated between excited and nervous most of the night. We should do more of these, but theyre stressful because so much can go wrong even with the best of intentions on all parts. You just never know what youre walking into. Its not improv because you know what youre serving, but you dont know what to expect. The only one missing was Andres, who has spent most of the past month in Puerto Rico feeding the victims of Hurricane Maria. As of this week, his World Central Kitchen has prepared and delivered a million meals, with no end in sight. Most of his planning for this dinner, conceived before the hurricane hit, came during day trips home or via cellphone from the island. [After Maria, Jose Andres served more meals in Puerto Rico than the Red Cross] He started something big in Puerto Rico, so hes got to be there, explained Joshua Hermias, head chef at Andress Minibar. Every time he was here, we went over the menu to make sure were portraying his vision. Taking it all in: Silverman, who opened Pineapple and Pearls just 18 months ago. "I grew up reading about these guys in magazines," he said, referring to O'Connell and Andres. "They're institutions. They literally set the stage decades ago for us to do what we do today." Given the demands of elite restaurants, a night off is rare for any executive chef so the trio of two-star teams working together in a restaurant was a first for Washington. Anyone who happened to book a reservation at Pineapple and Pearls before the dinner was announced could keep it if they were willing to pay the higher fee (about twice the normal prix fixe rate) to benefit Andress charity. Most, like Jennifer Epperson and JB Kelly, jumped at the chance. I think its a worthy cause, Kelly said. And why would we miss this? It was like a gift. The dinner sold out quickly. Diners who had reservations at Pineapple and Pearls before it was announced were able to keep it if they were willing to pay the $595-per-person prix fixe price. (Essdras M Suarez/for The Washington Post) The three restaurants divided the menu roughly into thirds, coordinating to create a seamless menu and ensure tiny plate after plate of perfection. [Komi, Metier join the Michelin star ranks] But Washington is not yet perfect, according to Michelin. Tuesdays announcement, just the second year Michelin has ranked local restaurants, once again gave two stars to Minibar, the Inn at Little Washington and Pineapple and Pearls, and added two restaurants (Komi and Metier) to last years list of one-star picks. That didnt sit well with many food aficionados, who thought the French company had shortchanged and overlooked some of the capitals best offerings. We dont pretend to have truth with a capital T, said Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin Guide. We have a point of view. You can agree with it or not agree with it. The fact that people are passionate about the list means that theres a thriving food culture here. I would be more worried if we launched a guide and no one cared. [Michelin is too buttoned-up to see the stars in D.C.s dining scene] The Michelin tire company started publishing the guide in 1900, and it quickly became the standard for how great European restaurants were judged. But it didnt come to the United States until 2005 and to Washington until last year. OConnell puts the finishing touches on a dish. (Essdras M Suarez/for The Washington Post) As much as chefs obsess about stars, Ellis (an American living in France) says the guide was always designed first and foremost for discerning travelers. Now in 28 countries, Michelins inspectors visit restaurants anonymously, pay like any other customer and have exacting standards. Michelin stars are tough really, really tough to get, Silverman said. Were just a year and a half in. Were excited to work toward three, but right now, to get two stars is mind-blowing for us. A Frenchman was once asked the difference between a two- and three-star restaurant, OConnell said. He said, Very little. At a two-star restaurant, you expect the food to be absolutely sublime but if there was a tiny piece of sand in an oyster, you wouldnt think too much about it. In a three-star restaurant, if there was a piece of sand in your oyster, it would be unthinkable and unforgivable. There was no sand in the oysters Wednesday night. The three-hour meal ended with an almond cake with caviar, followed by pesto ice cream, followed by an itty-bitty ice cream cone. Then waiters delivered a porcelain chicken to each table, from which every guest pulled a golden egg. They cracked the chocolate shell to find a smaller egg, which held a tiny Lego chef. One lucky guest at each of the two seatings found the Lego chef and a small certificate for a free dinner at Minibar. I got the golden ticket literally! said Oswald, who floated happily into the night. Were never going to have a meal like this again. Were never going to have a night like this again. Columnist Yarisa Smith knows she has a good travel agent. Hes made cruises and European trips special, says Smith, a manufacturers representative from Dallas. His itineraries and attention to detail have made every trip flawless. Hes even managed to successfully intervene when acts of God have waylaid my plans. Yet you might not know by looking at Clark Mitchell, who works for Dallas-based Strong Travel, whether hes the real deal. Yes, his agency is cited as a source for its travel expertise by mainstream news outlets. It also prominently lists its membership in Virtuoso, an exclusive travel agency consortium. But until now, theres been no instantly recognized certification that says an agent is legit. That may be about to change. At its annual convention in San Diego this summer, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), a trade organization, introduced a new certification called the Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) program. Agents must successfully complete courses in ethics, law, marketing, sales and negotiation, among others, to display the ASTA VTA check mark logo on their sites or business cards. The Verified Travel Advisor program is our standard for educational excellence, says Zane Kerby, ASTAs president. Earning the VTA certification is another way to increase trust to show the consumer that youve demonstrated your ability and willingness to put your customer first. In a world of confusing and often meaningless agent certifications, will VTA stand apart? Its too soon to know, because the program is brand new. The key will be enforcement, industry observers say. Most of the current certifications are pay-for-play. In other words, an agency can purchase all the badges and memberships it needs. To become the travel equivalent of a Good Housekeeping seal of approval, ASTA will need to hold agents accountable to a high standard, which would mean removing the check mark from a bad agent, if necessary. In the meantime, there are plenty of other signs that your agent is on the up-and-up. A Travel Institute certification: This is the rough equivalent of having a degree in travel. The institute's most common designation, CTA, or Certified Travel Associate, requires at least 12 months of experience and builds sales and planning skills, such as creating travel itineraries, handling customer service requests, building destination knowledge and understanding business ethics. Another Travel Institute designation, Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) focuses on management skills such as conflict management, negotiation and behavior training. Keeping your certification means completing annual continuing education classes, but there's no formal, consumer-facing process for identifying and expelling agents who fail to meet institute standards. In other words, a CTA or CTC designation means agents are trained, but not necessarily competent. An IATA number: The International Air Transport Association, a trade group, accredits travel agents by issuing them a numerical code. The code gives agents access to the group's billing settlement services and also acts as a kind of seal of approval for consumers. But all you have to do to get an IATA number is qualify and pay. The organization doesn't attempt to verify any of your agency skills. Instead, an IATA number is just a sign that you're a serious agent. A consortium or franchise membership: Belonging to a major travel industry consortium, an organization of agencies that have joined to increase their buying power, can also be a sign that your agent means business. For example, Virtuoso bills itself as an "invitation only" consortium with "established criteria for sales minimums." Also, being part of a franchise such as Travel Leaders can be an indication that your agent is for real. These large travel companies have a valuable brand to protect, so they have a vested interest in making sure their employees and members provide quality service. Is there a way to know for sure? No, at least not yet. Consider an agents membership in ASTA. The logo may mean the agent is serious enough to spend $330 a year on membership and that he or she has agreed to abide by the organizations code of ethics. But theres a vast gray area between extraordinary customer service and unethical practices. The ASTA logo doesnt necessarily mean youve found a highly skilled agent, which is one reason the organization has developed the new program. The real seal of approval is yours. The best credential you can have is a referral from a friend, says Elaine Carey, a travel agent affiliated with Travel Experts, which is based in Whispering Pines, N.C. Indeed, a little due diligence can take you a long way. And once youve found someone you like, your word-of-mouth referral is worth more than any certification, seal or endorsement. Thats what Ann Wolfer discovered when she decided to use a travel agent at a large international travel company for her vacation to Cozumel, Mexico. The agent looked good on paper and had all the right credentials, but when it came time to book, the adviser simply ran a Web search for available hotels in Mexico. Talking to the agent changed nothing, says Wolfer, who works for the military in Aberdeen, Md. Looking back, she wishes that she had found an expert on Mexico, perhaps someone recommended by one of her friends. In the long run, no check mark is likely to replace word-of-mouth. The fall colors near their peak along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Save on airfare there. (David Joles/AP) This weeks best travel bargains around the globe. Land Chileno Bay Resort & Residences, an Auberge Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, is offering about $1,200 in savings, including a free night and a resort credit. The Readers' Choice Package costs $1,998 and includes four nights' accommodations, including the free fourth night valued at $663; daily breakfast (worth $300); private airport transfers ($300); a $100 resort credit; and taxes. Book through Dec. 31; travel through May 31. Blackout dates apply. Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards selected the resort as its favorite place in Los Cabos. Info: 844-207-9354, chilenobay.aubergeresorts.com. Hilton Hotels has a 25 percent sale at its three properties in Brazil. The deal applies to the Hilton Barra Rio de Janeiro, Hilton Rio de Janeiro Copacabana and Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi. For example, at the Hilton Barra Rio de Janeiro, a weekend in January starts at $108 a night, with taxes, down from $145. Book by Oct. 31; stay Dec. 15-Feb. 28. Info: 800-HILTONS, www.hilton.com. Warwick Paradise Island-Bahamas, an adults-only, all-inclusive resort, is offering 20 percent savings to seniors 65 and older, as well as all active and retired military personnel. A mid-January stay, for example, starts at $253 per night per couple, a savings of $63. Price includes all meals, snacks and beverages; WiFi; daily activities, including a picnic excursion to Cabbage Beach; gratuities; and taxes. The promo also includes a 10 percent savings at the resort's Amber Spa. Valid ID required at check-in. Info: 888-645-5550, www.warwickhotels.com/paradise-island-bahamas. Sea Oceania Cruises is offering a free pre- or post-cruise land tour on 10 sailings, departing December through April. Prices vary. For example, an oceanview cabin on the 18-night Vibrant Culture cruise, which sails from Bangkok to Mumbai on April 11, starts at $6,299 per person double. For land tours, choose between Essence of Bangkok (valued at $999) or Taj Mahal: the Eternal Masterpiece (worth $1,499). Passengers can also swap the land tour for a $700 shipboard credit or reduced pricing on a deluxe shore-excursion package. Cruisers can combine the promo with the OLife Choice deal, which, on the Vibrant Culture cruise, includes free WiFi (value of $504) and a choice of eight select shore excursions ($930), a beverage package ($720) or an $800 shipboard credit. Cabinmates must choose the same promos. Airfare from Washington Dulles to Bangkok, with return from Mumbai, is also included. Priced separately, airfare costs about $907. Info: 855-623-2642, www.oceaniacruises.com. Hurtigruten is offering a free makeup Norway cruise for passengers who don't witness the Northern Lights during their voyage in the 2017/18 season. The Northern Lights Promise applies to 12-day cruises completed by March 31. If you do not see the light show, you will receive a free six- or seven-day cruise between Oct. 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019. The round-trip cruise departing from Bergen, Norway, starts at $1,089 per person double and includes all meals, tea and coffee; WiFi; and taxes. The redemption cruises are worth $746 and $1,114, respectively. Info: 866-552-0371, www.hurtigruten.us. Air Sun Country Airlines has sale on nonstop fares from Reagan National to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Round-trip air costs $236, including taxes, through Dec. 19. Holiday blackout dates apply. Ten-day advance purchase required. Other airlines are matching on connecting flights. Book by Oct. 26 at www.suncountry.com. Package Keytours Vacations is offering couples a $500 discount on several trips, including the London and Paris Escapade tour. The six-night vacation starts at $2,149 per person double in January and February. Price includes round-trip air from New York to London, with return from Paris; three nights each at the Best Phoenix hotel in London and the Best Western Ronceray Opera in Paris; daily breakfasts; 24-hour hop-on, hop-off bus ticket in each city; Seine River cruise in Paris; first-class rail ticket from London to Paris; airport transfer in London; and taxes. Book by Oct. 31. Info: 800-576-1784, www.keytours.com. Carol Sottili, Andrea Sachs Prices were verified at press time Thursday, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Some restrictions may apply. WASHINGTON, DC -OCT 14: Activists and local politicians march along Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE to protest the lack of grocery stores in Wards 7 and 8. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) The District says it will pump $3 million into housing and retail projects in Wards 7 and 8 to help close the city's long-standing "grocery gap." Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) this week awarded $2.1 million to the Jair Lynch group, which is redeveloping the shopping center at Pennsylvania and Branch avenues SE near the Maryland border, and $880,000 to the South Capitol Affordable Housing project located at Atlantic and South Capitol streets SW. It is the most recent effort by the mayor and D.C. Council Member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), a potential challenger to Bowser in 2018, to bring grocery stores to Wards 7 and 8, which have three supermarkets between them. Everybody wants the same things no matter where they are living in the city, said Brian Kenner, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development. Even as D.C.'s economy has boomed and grocery stores in gentrifying neighborhoods have proliferated, the dearth of grocery stores in its poorest wards has remained consistent. A study found that nearly 70 percent of the city's supermarkets in 2016 were concentrated in its wealthiest, predominantly white neighborhoods. The remainder were in majority black wards with lower incomes. In Wards 7 and 8, there are 50,000 people for every grocery store. [The healthy D.C. economy is leaving behind longtime black residents] Gray, who participated in a two-mile walk over the weekend to highlight the grocery deficit east of the Anacostia, and Bowser have developed strategies to address the issue, although not always in concert. Kenners office specified that the $3 million Bowser awarded as part of the Neighborhood Prosperity Fund was an initiative that originated in the mayors office. Bowser said the fund will provide an opportunity for us to infuse economic support into areas that need it most. Through these grants, we are being strategic about investing in projects that will improve the quality of life for residents in this case, by bringing new jobs, services, and grocery options to the residents of Wards 7 and 8, said Bowser, who created a new cabinet post to focus on development in the citys poorest areas after she took office in 2015. Gray, who served a single term as mayor before Bowser defeated him in the Democratic primary in 2014, introduced legislation in March to provide funds for retail and grocery stores in Wards 7 and 8 and conducted a surprise inspection of the Safeway in the East River Park Shopping Center in Northeast this summer. He declined to comment on Bowser's announcement. Previous attempts by the city to attract supermarkets east of the river over the course of multiple administrations have failed. Efforts to bring two Walmart stores to the area ultimately fizzled, and a local organic grocery market closed its store on Pennsylvania Avenue SE in 2012, unable to make a profit during its two years in the neighborhood despite a $900,000 grant from the District. Kenner said the pilot program is intended to fill a gap in funding that Bowsers office identified in mixed-use development projects in areas where unemployment is 10 percent or higher. [Mayor, D.C. Council schmooze developers and retailers in Vegas] We have devoted a lot of resources to affordable housing, Kenner said. But what we were seeing was there was still a gap on the retail side. We want to begin to fill that gap, and eventually to drive unemployment down. Jair Lynch, who changed the name of the strip on Pennsylvania Avenue SE from the Penn Branch shopping center to the Shops at Penn Hill when he bought it in 2016, acknowledged that attracting a grocer to the space is not easy. But he said the spot has appeal because of the disposable income of both nearby residents and commuters, who pass the site on a busy thoroughfare. To attract commuters without changing the character of the neighborhood, means building convenient parking, which the $2 million grant will go toward, Lynch said. Planet Fitness signed a 15-year lease in the shopping center, which is estimated to create 400 construction jobs and 200 permanent retail jobs, according to Bowser's news release. As residents of Ward 7, we want a quality grocery store, said Ayanna Smith, a business owner who lives in the Penn Branch neighborhood. Smith, a mother of two, said the grant is a step in the right direction. The grant will support the build-out for Good Food Markets in the South Capitol Affordable Housing project, which is under construction and will include 195 units of affordable housing and 5,500 square feet of commercial space. Good Food Market will partner with a community group in Ward 8 to bring fresh food and job opportunities to the Bellevue neighborhood, city officials said. Marcus Goodwin, left, and Jeremiah Lowery are running for the Democratic nomination for the At-Large D.C. Council seat currently held by Anita Bonds (D). (LaVan E. Anderson, left, and Jeremiah At Large 2018) Two millennials promising to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to the D.C. Council are vying to unseat incumbent council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large) in the Democratic primary June 19. Marcus Goodwin, a 28-year-old acquisitions associate at the real estate development company Four Points, and Jeremiah Lowery, a 31-year-old organizer at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said separately that they have the "utmost respect" for Bonds, a 72-year-old activist and veteran D.C. politician who has served on the council since 2012. "I have the utmost respect for Ms. Bonds, but the stakes are too high, and the council needs new ideas, passion and energy that I can best provide," said Goodwin, who grew up in Columbia Heights. Bonds, who has said her low-key philosophy makes her unique on the council, fended off three challengers in the 2014 Democratic primary who claimed they would be more energetic and effective. The current chair of the committee on housing and community development, Bonds said her priorities include advocating for the rights of tenants and providing resources for homeless families and the elderly. I am running for reelection to build upon my record of addressing the housing affordability crisis that D.C. is currently facing, Bonds said in a statement. That is, to preserve as many units as possible, not to lose any more public housing units and to upgrade them, and to increase the stock of affordable units citywide. D.C. Council Member Anita Bonds At-Large) at a housing rally at the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, on March 18, 2017. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) Goodwin, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his masters degree in design studies, real estate and critical conservation from Harvard University, also is focusing on affordability. He would like to see the council create mechanisms to help more District renters to become owners. Goodwin said the owner of his barbershop, Wandas on 7th, has rented her building in Shaw for 50 years. No one should have to do that, said Goodwin, who bought a home in Ward 4 last year. There are ideas that arent being considered, and I want to be thoughtful about how we can manage the change the city is seeing. The fifth of eight children, Goodwin went to D.C. public schools before attending St. Albans, an elite private school in Northwest Washington, in the seventh grade. As an Eagle Scout in high school, Goodwin met the late former council member Jim Graham, who he said inspired him "to understand how positive and influential public service can be." Lowery, who lives in Petworth and graduated from the University of Maryland in 2008, also wants to focus on helping residents stay afloat financially in a city where a booming economy is leaving many long-term residents behind. [The healthy D.C. economy is leaving behind longtime black residents] He said his top priority on the council would be expanding access to high-quality child care in the District, which MarketWatch ranked as the country's most expensive city for child care in 2015. Lowerys mother was in the Districts foster-care system growing up and experienced homelessness, Lowery said, and his father worked as a security guard and was unable to afford child care for Lowery and his two brothers when they were young. Lowery said his experiences informed his understanding about the need for quality child care, and he formed the Universal Childcare Now D.C. Coalition in 2015 to interview parents across the city and push the District to expand funding for child care. He said he wants to see the city, which provides universal free pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, also focus on providing care for infants and toddlers. Everyone knows how much of a problem this is, Lowery said. I go out canvassing about the issue, and parents tell me, I already know. He said that his two brothers sold drugs because of a lack of employment opportunities and that they have been in and out of prison. Im running because there are a lot of residents in the District going through what my family went through, and I want to create the change that can help them, he said. A young undocumented immigrant's legal battle to end her pregnancy will move to a federal appeals court Friday, with lawyers for the Trump administration arguing that the government is not obligated to facilitate an abortion for someone in the country illegally. Government lawyers are seeking to halt a judge's ruling Wednesday that ordered officials to allow the teen, who is being held in Texas after crossing the border illegally, to have the abortion this week "without delay." She is in her 15th week of pregnancy. Texas bans most abortions after 20 weeks. Federal officials say the 17-year-old, who entered this country in September, could solve the problem herself by voluntarily leaving or finding a sponsor in the United States to take custody of her. The Administration stands ready to expedite her return to her home country, the White House said in a statement. But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the teenager, says she is entitled to have an abortion, which she would pay for, under the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade. They say the teen, who is from Central America, was abused by her parents and cannot easily return home. And although she has relatives in the United States, she may not find a sponsor in time to terminate her pregnancy. It is not appropriate to use abortion as a bargaining chip, said Brigitte Amiri, her ACLU lawyer. She shouldnt have to give up that right. It remains unclear whether the teen could legally obtain an abortion in her home country. The ACLU has not released her nationality to preserve her privacy. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to swiftly allow the teenager, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, to meet with a doctor for counseling that the state requires at least 24 hours before an abortion. The meeting would clear the way for the teen to have the procedure Friday or Saturday, the judge ruled. But the Justice Department appealed, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit immediately stayed part of Chutkans order. The panel said the temporary halt was intended to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion. The judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Patricia A. Millett allowed the teenager to undergo the state-mandated counseling Thursday. The ACLU said an abortion provider will be ready to perform the abortion Friday if the appeals court rules in the teens favor. The teenager is being held at a shelter near the Mexican border that is overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for undocumented minors caught crossing the border without family. She learned she was pregnant following a medical examination after she was taken into federal custody, her lawyer said. Federal officials denied her request to terminate the pregnancy on Sept. 27, citing the Trump administrations policy of refusing to facilitate abortions. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the government did not pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the womans life. But officials did not block immigrants in U.S. custody from having abortions at their own expense. The ACLU has asked the lower court judge to extend any protections offered to the 17-year-old to other unaccompanied, undocumented minors who are pregnant and in U.S. custody. If the teenager does not obtain an abortion this week, her lawyers said, she may have to go to another health center hundreds of miles away because of scheduling problems and clinic hours. Texas law requires that the same doctor counsel a patient and perform the abortion. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot impose an undue burden on a womans right to terminate her pregnancy in the early stages. In its court filings, the Justice Department said the U.S. government has a legitimate interest in promoting fetal life and childbirth over abortion. HHS does not impose any undue burden on her ability to get an abortion merely by refusing to facilitate it, the government wrote. Courts have recognized that the government may legitimately refuse to facilitate abortion without violating a womans constitutional rights. Attorneys general from nine states, including Texas, Missouri and Ohio, are backing the federal government, saying in a court filing that there is no "constitutional right to abortion on demand." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote that the high court has never said that abortion rights extend to undocumented immigrants without significant ties to the United States. The district courts order effectively creates a right to abortion for anyone on Earth who entered the United States illegally, no matter how briefly, the attorneys general said. The teens lawyers say the governments position is a clear constitutional violation and that the teen should be allowed to be transported for an abortion just as the government does for federal prison inmates seeking the procedure. By preventing her court-appointed representatives from transporting her to the clinic, the government has effectively barred her from obtaining an abortion, the ACLU said. This they may not do. Protesters march during the No Muslim Ban Ever rally against the governments proposed travel ban as they head toward the Trump International Hotel in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Muslim Americans had planned to gather in the nations capital to protest President Trumps latest travel ban on Wednesday, the day it was scheduled to go into effect. But late Tuesday, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked its implementation, saying that it "plainly discriminates based on nationality." A federal judge in Maryland early Wednesday issued a second halt to portions of the ban. Protesters briefly celebrated and then took to the streets Wednesday afternoon to demonstrate as planned. The ban didnt go into effect, but protesters said the fight is far from over. The majority-Muslim group gathered near the White House before marching to Trump International Hotel and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters, shutting down Pennsylvania Avenue and booing at the hotel along the way. The news of [Tuesday] was obviously exciting. Its a victory, but its not the battle, said Isra Chaker, a campaign adviser at the nonprofit Oxfam America, which was part of a coalition that organized the protest. We need to be able to keep the energy high and voice our disapproval of whatever version of the Muslim ban this administration comes up with. Protesters chant during the "No Muslim Ban Ever" march in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) The White House defended its ban Tuesday and decried the Hawaii judges ruling as dangerously flawed. These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation, the White House said in a statement. Protesters, many from New York and the Washington suburbs, carried American flags and signs that read We Muslims Love America and Build a Wall Around Trump. They chanted No hate, no fear, Muslims are welcome here, and This is what America looks like. One woman donned a hijab with the American flag printed on it. They said the presidents rhetoric and actions are harmful to Muslim Americans and other minority communities. Were citizens so we dont have to worry about us, but we have to worry about our families still in Yemen who want to come here, said Fahini Lutf, a 36-year-old grocery store owner from the Bronx. Were afraid because every time, theres a new [travel ban] law. An organizer said that first- and second-generation immigrants from most of the countries Trump tried to ban from traveling to the United States Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela attended the rally. Abdulwarf Muslah was 17 when he came to the United States from Yemen in 1997. He now owns a bodega in New York and said the ban doesnt represent the ideals he associates with this country. We know this country is for immigrants, this country is for freedom for everyone, he said. My favorite word is God Bless America. The rally included speakers who explained how the travel ban would affect their communities and what the United States means to them. A Jewish speaker said, Any Muslim ban is an insult to me as an American and a Jew. Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American who helped plan the Womens March in January and works with grass-roots Muslim advocacy group MPower Change, said, The biggest threat to a white supremacist agenda is solidarity and unity. Mona Sala arrived in the United States from Jordan four months ago on a temporary visa and said she hopes to live here permanently in the future. She said the presidents ban was unjust and she wanted to support the Muslim American community she has found in the United States. This is a nonsense law, she said. It doesnt make sense to ban a whole country. THE DISTRICT Man fatally stabbed in Northeast D.C. A 44-year-old man was fatally stabbed inside a residence Wednesday night in Northeast Washingtons Edgewood neighborhood, according to D.C. police. The victim was identified as Kevin Cross of Northeast. Police said they were called to the second-floor residence in the 2300 block of Lincoln Road NE about 11:15 p.m. The address is for the Glenwood Apartments. Police said they found Cross suffering from several stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. A police report said the victim was unable to provide a description of the attacker before he was taken to the hospital. Peter Hermann MARYLAND Two die in crash in Potomac area Two people were killed in a crash late Wednesday in the Potomac area of Montgomery County, authorities said. At about 11:40 p.m., officers responded to Democracy Boulevard at Gainsborough Road for the report of a crash, Montgomery County Police said. They found a 2011 Audi S4 that had been eastbound ran off the road and struck a tree, killing the driver and passenger, the statement said. The driver was identified as 30-year-old Kent Matthew Brooks of Potomac, and the passenger was identified as 33-year-old Kathleen Michelle French of Potomac, police said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, and police asked anyone with information about it to contact them at 240-773-6620. Justin Wm. Moyer VIRGINIA Woman is stabbed to death in Alexandria A 55-year-old Alexandria woman was fatally stabbed Wednesday in a home in the city, and investigators arrested a 55-year-old man and charged him with murder, Alexandria police officials said. Officers found June Seay after police were called to check on her welfare at the home in the 200 block of N. Howard Street about 6:40 p.m., officials said in a statement. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene. Police said a 55-year-old man, who they did not identify, was charged in the killing. Investigators said the two knew each other, but police did not release information about their relationship or a motive for the killing. Clarence Williams Driver flees scene of fatal crash in Va. Police were seeking a driver that fled the scene of a fatal crash in Virginia on Thursday. At about 6 a.m., officers responded to Pebble Run Place and Overland Drive in Loudoun County, where the driver of a Jeep Wrangler lost control of his vehicle for unknown reasons, Loudoun police said in a statement. The Jeep rolled several times, and the driver, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, died at the scene, the statement said. The Jeep and another vehicle were seen traveling at high speed just before the crash, according to the statement. The other vehicle was dark in color, and might have been a Honda or a Toyota, police said. The driver of that vehicle fled the scene. Police asked anyone with information about the crash to contact them at 703-777-1021. Justin Wm. Moyer THE DISTRICT Md. man found guilty in murder of witness A D.C. Superior Court jury Wednesday found a Bowie, Md., man guilty of first-degree murder in the 2011 fatal shooting of a man who federal prosecutors say was a witness in another murder case. During the nearly four-week trial, prosecutors argued that on Nov. 14, 2011, Stanley Moghalu, 30, walked up and fatally shot 27-year-old Ronald D. Smith to prevent the latter from cooperating with prosecutors and testifying in the trial of a man charged with murder six months earlier. One of Smiths friends, Charles Harrison, was shot nine times in the incident and lost the use of his right arm. The shooting occurred at the intersection of 21st and M streets in Northeast D.C. During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Glenn Kirschner and Gilead Light argued that Moghalu was a close associate of David Warren, one of the men charged in the May slaying of Ervin L. Griffin. The prosecutors argued that Moghalu wanted to prevent Smith from testifying against Warren. Still, in 2014, a jury found Warren, now 31, guilty in Griffins killing. Moghalu, who was also found guilty of assault with intent to kill, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 26 by Judge Jose M. Lopez. Keith L. Alexander virginia Woman pleads guilty to killing daughter A Virginia woman has pleaded guilty to shooting and killing her 6-year-old daughter. The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday that Darla Elizabeth Hise, 27, struck a plea agreement that sends her to prison for 24 years. She also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her 3-year-old son. Hise made the agreement one week before her trial was set to begin in Bath County. She had lived with her children in Hot Springs, Va. Hise expressed remorse in court on Tuesday, speaking about her addiction to drugs. According to court documents, Hise told police after the shooting in February that she believed her daughter and son were in danger from aliens and she thought she was going to save her daughter by sending her to heaven. Associated Press Prince William County These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-792-5123. This is a player title AUDIO: This is a title for the audio clip. Note: Please upgrade your Flash plug-in to view our enhanced content. SOURCE: This is an optional source line. DUMFRIES AREA ASSAULT Sedgewick Ct., 2500 block, 8:10 p.m. Oct. 7. Two men assaulted and robbed a Triangle man, 44, of his wallet. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Chesapeake Dr., 3100 block, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 6. Cash and clothing were stolen from an apartment. There was no sign of forced entry. MANASSAS AREA DOMESTIC ASSAULT ARREST King George Dr., 9600 block, Oct. 9. A Woodbridge man, 26, turned himself in to police in connection with a stabbing after a verbal altercation escalated at a home Oct. 7 at the above location. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Community Dr., 8000 block, 10:36 a.m. Oct. 8. Two males entered a residence by force through a rear door. When officers arrived, they were still inside. K-9 units were used to locate the two males, who hid in the attic. Two Manassas males, 18 and 17, were arrested. Hillis Ct., Genna Lane, and Talisa Lane, 2:42 a.m. Oct. 8. Property was stolen from multiple unlocked vehicles. A man was seen on video surveillance using garage door openers to enter garages attached to two residences. NOKESVILLE AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Ritter Rd.,14200 block, 12:12 a.m. Oct. 8. A Catlett man, 37, and a Culpeper man, 24, were arrested and charged with burglary while armed, grand larceny and possession of a schedule IV narcotic after a homeowner observed two men stealing property from a garage via video surveillance. WOODBRIDGE AREA ABDUCTION AND MALICIOUS WOUNDING Dale Blvd. and Benita Fitzgerald Dr. area, 1:10 a.m. Oct. 7. A man assaulted a female acquaintance in a vehicle after a verbal altercation escalated. He took the woman's cellphone and grabbed her by the hair when she tried to flee the vehicle. She was dragged a short distance when she tried to leave the moving car, and the assailant fled. ATTEMPTED AGGRAVATED SEXUAL BATTERY Jefferson Davis Hwy., 13900 block, 5:49 p.m. Oct. 8. A man sat down next to an 8-year-old girl in a supermarket, pulled up her shirt and tried to unbutton her pants. The girl screamed and ran over to her parent as the assailant fled. A 32-year-old man, of no fixed address, was arrested the next day and charged with attempted aggravated sexual battery . MALICIOUS WOUNDING Greenhall Dr., 12600 block, 2:48 p.m. Oct. 4. A Woodbridge woman, 23, was charged with malicious wounding and destruction of property after an argument with a man resulted in the man being on the arm with a machete, and his tires being punctured. Jefferson Davis Hwy., 13900 block, 3:10 a.m. Oct. 3. A man, 64, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding after a verbal altercation with a Woodbridge man escalated, and the assailant stabbed the Woodbridge man in the abdomen. The injured man was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries that were not life-threatening. MALICIOUS WOUNDING BY MOB Powell's Landing Cir., 2100 block, 4:27 p.m. Oct. 8. A large group of youths assaulted a 17-year-old female and a 19-year-old man outside a residence. A mother of one of the victims got a bat and tried to break up the fight, but an assailant took the bat and struck the 17-year-old on the head. The mother retrieved a firearm from the home. A struggle ensued, in which one round was discharged. No injuries were reported, and the assailants fled. Charges were pending against several of the alleged assailants. STRANGULATION/DOMESTIC ASSAULT Prince Cole Ct., 7500 block, 5:38 p.m. Oct. 8. A man, 26, was charged with strangulation and domestic assault and battery after a verbal altercation escalated and a cord was wrapped around a woman's neck. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Blackjack Oak Lane, 16700 block, 1:15 a.m. Oct. 8. Jewelry, several Apple devices, a purse and cash were stolen from an apartment entered through an unlocked window. Cotton Mill Dr., 12300 block, 11 p.m. Oct. 9 to 8:40 a.m. Oct. 10. A boathouse and a marina building were entered by force through back doors at Lake Ridge Community Park. Nothing was reported missing. Dillingham Sq.,12400 block, 5 p.m. Oct. 7 to 11:30 a.m. Oct. 8. A coin tray was stolen from a cash register at a business entered by force. Fontana Ct., 14200 block, 9:13 a.m. Oct. 9. A woman entered a residence through a front door, and fled with mail when confronted by the homeowner. Garber Way, 2800 block, 9:03 a.m. Oct. 8. A cash register was stolen from a day spa entered by force through the front door. Old Bridge Rd., 1300 block, 2:25 a.m. Oct. 8. Property was stolen from several storage units entered by force. Police were alerted when a resident called about a suspicious man seen running with a large amount of property. Sentry Falls Way, 2100 block, 5 p.m. Oct. 6. A knife and electronic equipment were reported stolen from an apartment entered between Aug. 6 and Oct. 6. There was no sign of forced entry. Manassas These were among incidents reported by Manassas police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-257-8000. ROBBERY ARREST Byrd Dr., 9200 block, 3:58 p.m. Oct. 2. A Manassas man, 34, was charged with robbery after a man was assaulted and robbed of jewelry. PEDESTRIAN STRUCK Hastings Dr. and Dumfries Rd., 8:10 p.m. Oct. 2. A Manassas man, 19, suffered severe injuries when he was struck by a vehicle as he was walking outside a crosswalk at an intersection. Police said the driver stayed on the scene, had the green light and was traveling at or below the posted 35 mph speed limit. An investigation was continuing. Manassas Park No incidents were received from Manassas Park police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-361-1136. Susan Rattners house on fire in Great Falls, Va., burned down on Nov. 15, 2015. (Courtesy of Fairfax County Fire) Two years ago, Susan Rattners 11,000-square-foot multimillion-dollar mansion in Great Falls, Va. burned down in the middle of the night. Rattners insurance company accused her of either starting the fire or knowing who did. On Wednesday, a jury sided with Chubb National Insurance Co., issuing a ruling that will cost Rattner hundreds of thousands of dollars. She told people she loved her house, Jeffrey OHara, an attorney for Chubb, told jurors. She couldnt stand this house. It was Rattner who initially sued Chubb Insurance for more than $10 million, the total coverage available under her policy. Chubb countersued for $945,000, a figure that included the insurance payment to Rattner as well as the cost of the companys investigation. The jury this week awarded the company that full amount. The fire began just after midnight on Nov. 15, 2015. It took several hours to get it under control, officials from the Fairfax County Fire Department said at the time, and one firefighter was briefly hospitalized with injuries. Investigators ruled the blaze intentional, although it was unclear how it was started. Rattner had tried to sell the house for several years before it burned down, repeatedly lowering the price but keeping it above $3 million. Days after the fire, she was scheduled to sell the property at an unreserved auction, where there is no minimum price and a property goes to the highest bidder. Patricia Murphy, a real estate agent who worked with Rattner, testified that the homeowner said she would rather burn the house down than sell it for only $1 million. After the fire, Rattner asked Murphy to delete an email in which she wrote that the house would sell for $1 million over my dead body, calling it pretty damaging, according to court filings. Rattner moved many of her belongings into storage before the fire. She testified that she was merely decluttering her home for the sale and her planned move to a condo; the insurance company argued that she was protecting her valuables from going up in flames. While Chubb pointed to cellphone records suggesting that Rattner had traveled from her Delaware beach home back to Great Falls the night of the fire, an expert for her legal team testified that such data is unreliable. A sophisticated home security system had a wire removed, according to testimony, that prevented it from working. After the fire, Rattner asked her employees not to tell insurance agents about the storage units filled with items she had removed from the house, according to testimony. Rattner was not in dire financial straits, her attorneys said. A retired obstetrician and gynecologist, she had a net worth of about $4.6 million at the time of the fire and was receiving $468,000 a year in disability payments. Her brother also provided her with money to deal with her multiple sclerosis. She had been in Great Falls for a quarter century, she told fire investigators. Now that her two children were grown, she wanted to move to a smaller place in a more walkable area, but she said she had no need to sell a house she had spent much of her life customizing. Rattners attorney, Mark Wasserman, suggested that Chubb was relying far too much on information, which he said may not have been accurate, from Rattners home security and fire systems. Chubb is just searching for some excuse to avoid paying, he told the jury in closing arguments. There had been repeated gas leaks at the house in the days leading up to the fire. Rattner walked in court shakily, leaning on a cane. Attorneys for Chubb accused her of grossly exaggerating her physical problems, noting that she went on a seven-hour bike ride four days before the trial and traveled to several countries last year. Theres no question she had the physical ability to move through that house, OHara said in his closing argument. He pointed out that at one point during the trial, she dropped her cane and lurched forward to pick it up, implying that she did not truly need it. Rattner shook her head vigorously as OHara spoke and left the courtroom in tears. The vacant land where her house once stood sold for $700,000 in March, according to real estate records. Justin Jouvenal contributed to this report. Kevin Joseph Sutherland is shown in the undated photograph. Sutherland was stabbed and killed July 4, 2015, on a Metro train approaching the NOMA-Gallaudet Metro Station. ( /Courtesy of Matt Grossman) The two men, strangers to each other, were waiting at the Rhode Island Metro station as a train pulled up the afternoon of July 4, 2015. Jasper Spires, then 19, had just dropped out of his first year in college. Kevin Sutherland, 24, an American University graduate on his way to meet friends, brushed past him to step into the trains car. Spires, who carried a knife, followed Sutherland onto the train. With one hand, he grabbed Sutherlands cellphone. With the other, he began stabbing and cutting. Within moments, Sutherland was dying on the floor as other horrified passengers watched. Spires kicked Sutherland before trying to rob another passenger and then running off. A D.C. prosecutor recounted the details of the attack in court Thursday as Spires pleaded guilty to first-degree murder while armed. Sutherlands parents said the plea brought them some relief but no answers for why Spires attacked, inflicting nearly 30 wounds. Jasper Spires is seen in an undated picture released by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. (Metropolitan Police Department /REUTERS) He ended our sons life and ended his own life, too, and we just dont know why. What happened? Sutherlands father Douglas said outside D.C. Superior Court. Sutherland added that Spires seemed like a bright kid. His wife Theresa interjected. But he still has his life, she said. Kevin does not. The Sutherlands agreed that if Spires had gotten to know their son, the two might have found things in common and even become friends. Everyone loved Kevin. He just had that type of personality where everyone just loved him, Douglas Sutherland said. [Horrified passengers witness brutal slaying on Metro car] The plea came after more than two years of court hearings and mental evaluations. It was an emotional hearing as about 40 or so of Sutherlands college friends joined Theresa and Douglas Sutherland in court. They wore Sutherlands photo on buttons on their lapels. Some wiped away tears. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have considered whether robbery was the motive or if drug use or mental illness contributed to the attack, but they never arrived at a clear answer. Spires threw Sutherlands cellphone down after the stabbing and did not take anything else from the dying man. Spires was suspected of being high on synthetic drugs, but there was no evidence of drugs in his blood when he was arrested two days later. Psychiatrists at St. Elizabeths Hospital, who repeatedly examined Spires after his arrest, determined that although Spires did suffer from a mental illness, it was not so severe that it would have led to such a violent attack. As part of the plea agreement, District prosecutors and Spiress public defenders agreed to a prison sentence of between 30 to 35 years. If Spires had gone to trial and been convicted, he would have faced a maximum sentence of life without parole. Spires is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12. Kevin Sutherland, like others on the train, was headed to meet friends for a Fourth of July outing that day. Three months before his death, Sutherland had started working for a Web-based political fundraising group that linked members of Congress with their constituents. The Connecticut native was an only child. Spires, who had been living in and out of his parents Northwest Washington home, had attended Louisburg College, a private two-year Methodist school in North Carolina. He left in 2015, but it was not clear why. [Man arrested in fatal Metro stabbing] Spires was arrested two days after the killing and was charged with first-degree murder. Since then, he has been in custody between D.C. jail and St. Elizabeths, the Districts psychiatric facility. At one of Spiress early court hearings, he smiled, interrupted the judge and seemed confused about why he had been arrested. A judge suggested that a mental evaluation would be appropriate. Spires has undergone numerous psychiatric evaluations by doctors at St. Elizabeths, who determined that he suffered from a mental illness. At one point, Spiress attorney alerted the judge that they planned to argue their client was not guilty by reason of insanity, but they ultimately did not pursue that defense. In May, psychiatrists concluded that Spiress illness was not so severe that it should have prevented him from conforming his behavior. They also determined Spires was competent to assist in his own defense. After the hearing, Spiress attorneys and family declined to comment. At the Thursday hearing, Spires appeared well-spoken, coherent and conversational as Judge Judith Bartnoff questioned him to determine if he understood what he was pleading to and his legal options. How are you, Mr. Spires? Bartnoff asked. Good. How are you? Spires responded. Then Bartnoff asked if he was on any medication and, if so, did the medication help him think more clearly. Spires laughed and said, Yes. Spires, standing next to his attorneys, then explained to the judge that if he had pursued an insanity defense, prosecutors would have had to prove that he killed Sutherland, and then there would be hearings about Spiress mental illness. Bartnoff seemed impressed with his understanding. You really do understand this, she said. Spires smiled. This is a very difficult and unfortunate circumstance, but I appreciate that Mr. Spires knows what he is facing and he is taking responsibility for it and we wont have a trial, Bartnoff said. After the hearing, Spiress attorneys and family declined to comment. Spires will remain at St. Elizabeths until his sentencing. A 36-year-old Kentucky man who authorities said tried to scale a White House fence on Tuesday while dressed as the Pokemon character Pikachu had planned to film his act in an attempt to attain fame, according to an arrest affidavit filed in court. But the man, identified as Curtis Combs, of Somerset, Ky., told arresting officers that the Secret Service closed in too quickly, interrupting his recording of a pre-jump ritual. With police nearing, Combs told police he decided to try getting over the fence anyway, and he made it into a restricted area where he was caught and handcuffed. The affidavit quotes Combs as saying he wanted to become famous and had planned to post his video to YouTube. The court document does not indicate a reason for the Pokemon costume. Combs reportedly told police that he had researched others who had attempted or successfully gotten onto White House grounds and knew the type of criminal sentences they received. He said he knew he would be arrested. A man in 2014 was caught on the White House lawn dressed in a Pikachu hat and carrying a Pokemon doll. A D.C. Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered Combs released pending a hearing Nov. 9. Combs, charged with one count of misdemeanor unlawful entry, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Edward Gain, did not return calls. D.C. court documents say Combs is unemployed and had been discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004. The incident occurred about 9:45 a.m. near the southern fence along E Street in Northwest. Combs told police, according to the affidavit, that he chose the area near the Ellipse because he thought he had spotted a weak point in Secret Service coverage. Authorities said Combs tried to enlist the help of two friends but that they declined. He lives near the Daniel Boone National Forest, about 150 miles from Louisville. In the affidavit, Combs told police that after his court case is finished, He stated he wanted to come back to the White House with his son for a tour. A 44-year-old man was fatally stabbed inside a residence Wednesday night in Northeast Washingtons Edgewood neighborhood, according to D.C. police. The victim was identified as Kevin Cross of Northeast. Police said they were called to the second-floor residence in the 2300 block of Lincoln Road NE about 11:15 p.m. The address is for the Glenwood Apartments. Police said they found Cross suffering from several stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. A police report said the victim was unable to provide a description of the attacker before he was taken to the hospital. The Holmen Rotary Club will donate $2,000 during a backpack packing event to local charity Holmens Hope at the Coulee Life Church at 7 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 25. That is a huge boost to our budget, Holmens Hope Director Bev Rott said. Holmens Hope is responsible for feeding 100 children weekly by sending them home with non-perishable, meals they can prepare themselves in a microwave. These children are identified by their school counselors and given a backpack full of food. When it comes down to it, there are kids whose parents are either unable or unwilling to provide, Rott said. The cost of the program is approximately $200 a year per student. The Rotary Clubs donation will provide for an additional 10 students. During the event, Rotary Club members will be filling backpacks donated by Thrivent Financial. Holmens Hope was founded seven years ago by members of Rotts bible study group and has been a longtime partner of the Rotary Club. Rott, who is also a member of the Rotary Club, said the group started by hosting a community meal available to anyone, no questions asked. That meal became a monthly ritual with the help of the Rotary Club. Rott said that meal now serves more than 200 a month. Holmens Hope also helps needy students through a lunch in the park program during the summer months. Meanwhile, Holmens Hope will hold its annual Chili n Cheese cook-off at the Holmen American Legion on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rott said the cook-off is the organizations biggest fundraiser of the year. Cash awards will be given to the first, second and third place winners in each category as well as for the peoples choice awards. Bucket raffles, a silent auction and other raffles will be available as well as root beer floats. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 7-12. A hit-and-run vehicle struck a Montgomery County police officer Wednesday night in the Silver Spring area, police said, and she was transported to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. On Wednesday at around 10:35 p.m., an officer was conducting a traffic stop of a motorist on southbound New Hampshire Avenue, south of Piney Branch Road, Montgomery County Police said in a statement. Another officer stopped to assist the first officer, parking her vehicle on the road, the statement said. Then, a driver traveling south on New Hampshire Avenue struck one of the officers vehicles, injuring the second officer before driving away, according to the statement. Police identified the injured officer as a 28-year-old woman who has been with the department for about two-and-a-half years, and said she was transported to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Police were searching for the vehicle in the Silver Spring area, but police did not release a description of the vehicle or the driver. Two alleged MS-13 gang members ages 17 and 18 were ordered held without bond Thursday amid allegations they stabbed a man more than 80 times and left him dead in a creek just north of Washington. This is a gangland-style murder, Montgomery County prosecutor Teresa Casafranca said in court. She said the victim Cristopher Alfredo Funes Guerra, 20 was lured to his death last month. The arrests in the case come as Montgomery County and other jurisdictions in the Washington area have faced a spate of homicides linked to MS-13, a notorious gang that began in Los Angeles and operates with deep connections to members in El Salvador. In Montgomery County, a relatively safe jurisdiction of 1 million people, gangs have been responsible for 20 slayings in the past two years and half of those have been at the hands of MS-13, according to States Attorney John McCarthy. The numbers are shocking, he said this week in announcing efforts by his office to work with schools and police to combat violence associated with gangs. [MS-13 gains recruits and power in U.S. as teens surge across border] MS-13 is not a problem countywide, McCarthy said, but is actively recruiting in specific neighborhoods and schools in and around Gaithersburg, Wheaton and Silver Spring. Gang members are using extreme violence to intimidate residents and trying to expand extortion efforts, McCarthy said. In the latest case, David Lagunes-Bolanos, 17, of Silver Spring, and Jesus Ponce Flores, 18, of Takoma Park, were charged Wednesday with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder. Lagunes-Bolanos was charged as an adult. Authorities did not outline a possible motive. In court Thursday, assistant public defender Christopher Duffner questioned the strength of the cases, saying that police affidavits against the defendants were vague and relied on unnamed witnesses. The evidence is weak, he said. There are no real facts alleged at this point. According to the case against the suspects, they appear to be part of a wave of recent immigrants caught up in MS-13 violence. Lagunes-Bolanos self-admitted to detectives in this case that he entered into the country illegally, Casafranca said in court. Records for Flores also indicate he entered the country illegally. He is appealing an order of deportation that is part of an immigration case, Casafranca said. [Behind the rise in seemingly chaotic MS-13 violence: A structured hierarchy.] On Sept. 6, a hiker in Long Branch Stream Valley Park came across a body in a creek. Detectives identified the dead man as Guerra, who had been reported missing by his family three days earlier. Detectives spoke with a relative of the victim, who said that Guerra left his residence at 8 on the night of Sept. 2, saying he was going to meet a friend. He couldnt be reached later on his cellphone. In court papers, police alleged the friend was Lagunes-Bolanos. They questioned him about his recent interactions with Guerra, and Lagunes-Bolanos changed his story multiple times, detectives asserted in court papers. The detectives also spoke with two witnesses who said they had heard Lagunes-Bolanos and Flores bragging about stabbing the victim. In addition, a third person told detectives he believed Flores was responsible for the homicide, according to police accounts. Jose Hidalgo Romero, one of five people who were shot Wednesday in a Maryland workplace attack allegedly carried out by a fellow employee, had complained to his boss about abusive behavior by the co-worker long before the shooting, but no action was taken because the suspect was deemed to be a good worker, according to Romeros brother. He knew something was going to happen, Noel Orellana said of Romero, one of three employees killed in the shooting at Advanced Granite Solutions, a countertop company in Edgewood, Md., about 40 miles northeast of Baltimore. In an interview Thursday, Orellana said that Romero, 34, had been looking for a new job for several weeks because he was afraid of the co-worker, identified by authorities as Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, who was arrested Wednesday after a day-long manhunt. After the Maryland shooting, Prince allegedly drove 50 miles to Wilmington, Del., where he lived, and shot a sixth person, also an acquaintance, in the head and body. That victim survived the attack, which occurred at a used-car dealership. Orellana quoted his brother as saying that Prince would punch people in the back and start fights at Advanced Granite and that employees met with an owner of the company to complain about the problem. According to Orellana, Romero said that the owners response was, Leave him alone hes a good worker. Radee Labeeb Prince was held Thursday in Delaware for attempted murder as part of a set of shootings Wednesday in which police say he killed three co-workers in Maryland. (Courtesy of Maryland State Police) Ron Cherry, a lawyer for Advanced Granite, which employs about 35 people, declined to comment on Orellanas allegations, citing the continuing police investigation into the circumstances that led to the violence. Two wounded employees who survived the shooting remained hospitalized Thursday in critical condition. Words cannot express our shock and sadness, Cherry said. We are a small business, and we know each of these victims intimately. In a Wilmington courtroom Thursday, Prince pleaded not guilty to four charges related to the shooting in that city, including attempted murder. His bail was set at $2.1 million. He has not yet appeared in court in Maryland, where the Harford County sheriff said he has been charged with murder. Meanwhile on Thursday, new details emerged about the terror that unfolded inside Advanced Granite when about 10 employees, gathered in a semicircle around Prince, suddenly came under close-range gunfire, authorities said. In an interview, Harford Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said surveillance video shows Prince shortly before 9 a.m., standing in the companys workshop with about 10 of the 29 people who were working that day. Prince called the employees to gather around him, Gahler said. The suspect does bring the victims together, and as they come close, he pulls out the handgun and begins shooting, the sheriff said. One of the dead was Romero, who has a wife and two children in El Salvador, according to his brother. The family is trying to arrange to ship his body there. He was a very humble guy, Orellana said. Our hearts are broken. Authorities identified the other slain employees as Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Md., and Bayarsaukhan Tudev, 53, whose last known address was in Virginia. Gahler said investigators are aware of complaints about Prince at Advanced Granite, where he had worked for about four months, and at past jobs. There were some concerns about some of his behavior, and at other workplaces some assaults had taken place, the sheriff said. There seems to be a history with this individual of workplace violence. In February, for example, the owner of another countertop company in Harford County filed a court petition, asking a judge to order Prince to stay away from him. I fired him for punching another employee on the face, the owner said in his petition, which was denied for lack of evidence. He wrote that Prince a big guy and very aggressive on me had harassed him several times after being fired. He did not hurt me physically, the owner wrote, but I do not want to wait till he will. More details also surfaced Thursday about the Wilmington attack, with court documents describing a violent encounter between Prince and the victim early last year. Family members identified the victim as Jason Baul, 35, who owns Bauls Auto Sales, where the shooting occurred. In January 2016, Baul reported that Prince had assaulted him in a robbery attempt at the home of an acquaintance, according to a court affidavit filed by a police officer. Radee grabbed him and started punching him, the officer wrote, and kept reaching into his waistband, as if he had a gun. Prince was charged with assault and other crimes, but the case was thrown out, according to court records. Prince later filed a lawsuit against Baul over the incident, and the civil case remains unresolved in a Delaware court. Our family has been friends with their family since I can remember, since we were walking, said Robert Baul, 37, of Atlanta, a brother of Jason Bauls, speaking of Prince. We grew up together. Employees of Advanced Granite, which is temporarily closed, gathered outside the building early Thursday afternoon, hugging one another on the sidewalk. Stefanie Shedy, 30, an accountant who left the company more than a year ago, said she still felt close to her former co-workers. She stopped by to leave flowers at a small memorial site in the parking lot. Theyre like a tightknit family, this company, Shedy said. I cant understand why anyone would want to hurt them. She said the owners are very good to their employees, including helping them with financial and housing issues. She knew four of the victims, all longtime employees, and said they were very fun and carefree, always smiling. She said she did not know Prince. An intensive search for Prince on Wednesday, involving numerous police officers in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as federal agents, ended at 7:05 p.m. in Newark, Del., where Prince was arrested, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said. After a day of media coverage, with photos of Prince appearing on numerous websites and TV stations, tipsters called authorities in the early evening to report seeing the suspect and his vehicle, a 2008 GMC Acadia, in a Newark neighborhood about 20 miles southwest of Wilmington. Two federal agents arrested him there after a foot chase, during which Prince tossed away a .380-caliber handgun, authorities said. The weapon was being tested to determine whether it was used in the shootings. Lynh Bui and Dan Morse contributed to this report. Montgomery County police arrested two teens on first degree murder and conspiracy charges in a September killing in Silver Spring. (Montgomery County police) Montgomery County detectives arrested and charged two teenagers who authorities identified as MS-13 gang members who fatally stabbed a 20-year-old man who was found dead in September in a Silver Spring park. Authorities charged Jesus Ponce Flores, 18, of Takoma Park, and David Lagunes-Bolanos, 17, of Silver Spring with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder, according to a police statement. The teenagers are accused of killing Cristopher Alfredo Funes Guerra, whose body was found with stab wounds by a hiker in Long Branch Stream Valley Park on September 6. [Police identify body found in creek, rule death a homicide] Guerras mother told police he left home to meet a friend about 8 p.m. on Sept. 2. Two hours later, his mother tried to call his cell phone but the device was turned off, police said. He never returned home. Officials said detectives later learned that Guerra went to meet Lagunes-Bolanos. Investigators also said they received information that this homicide was committed by MS-13 criminal street gang members, which police said included Flores and Lagunes-Bolanos, but police did not reveal any motive for the killing. The teens were arrested Tuesday and held without bond, police said. Lagunes-Bolanos was charged as an adult, police said. Police tape do not cross. Shallow depth of field image taken of yellow law enforcement line with police car and lights in the background. (iStock) A 55-year-old Alexandria woman was found stabbed to death Wednesday in a home in the city and investigators arrested a 55-year-old man and charged him with murder, Alexandria police officials said. Officers found June Seay after police were called to check on her welfare at the home in the 200 block of N. Howard Street about 6:40 p.m., officials said in a statement. Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene. Police said a 55-year-old man, whom they did not identify, was charged in the killing. Investigators said they knew each other, but police did not release information about their relationship or a motive for the killing. Social worker Darryl Webster has a conversation with Nickolas Armstrong during a town hall at Houston Elementary School in Washington, DC, in June 2016. Houston Elementary has worked to become a trauma-informed school. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post) In the District, 47 percent of children and teens have experienced a traumatic event, such as the death or incarceration of a parent, witnessing or being a victim of violence, or living with someone who has been suicidal or who has a drug or alcohol problem, according to new federal data. In Maryland and in Virginia, the rate was 41 percent. The findings come from state-by-state survey data released Thursday from the 2016 National Survey of Childrens Health, which aims to take a first-ever real-time look at the rate of children affected by adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Such experiences can have serious long-term impacts on a childs health and well-being, studies show, including increased risk for smoking, alcoholism, depression and heart disease. Public health advocates hope this data, which is expected to be collected annually, will undergird a wide range of policy changes to prevent such adversity and to help children heal. These numbers tell a story about what is happening nationally to children. They have implications for schools and families and communities and health care, said Martha Davis, senior program officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is promoting policies that can counteract childhood adversity, such as paid family leave and home visiting programs that give parents time and resources to support their children. [Sesame Street launches tools to help children who experience trauma, from hurricanes to violence at home] Social worker Darryl Webster, right, leads a guided meditation at Houston Elementary School in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2016. Houston Elementary has worked to become a trauma informed school. (Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post) Nationally, more than 46 percent of youth in the United States have had at least one adverse experience. The survey showed Minnesota had the lowest rate at 38 percent, and Arkansas had the highest rate at 56 percent. The 10 states with the highest rates of childhood adversity were all in the South or Western part of the United States. The federal government first included questions about ACEs in the 2011/2012 survey. Since then, the sample size changed, and the numbers released Wednesday will become a baseline. About 1 in 5 22 percent of children nationwide have had two or more adverse experiences, compared with 15 percent in Maryland, 19 percent in Virginia and 22 percent in the District. Across the country, the prevalence of adversity is higher for children who are African American or Hispanic. Roughly 40 percent of white children have had at least one adverse experience, compared with 51 percent of Hispanic children and nearly 64 percent of black children. The disparity is particularly stark in the District, where just 16 percent of white children had at least one, compared with 55 percent of nonwhite children. ACE science The term adverse childhood experiences or ACEs was popularized following a landmark 1998 study by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed the prevalence of childhood adversity and its overwhelming correlation with poor health outcomes. In the past two decades, major advances in brain science and biology have helped explain the connection: Excessive and prolonged stress changes the hormonal balance in the developing brain and body, causing long-term damage. A parallel body of research now shows the brain is plastic, and certain interventions can buffer stress and help reverse the deleterious affects of heavy doses of stress in childhood. This body of ACE science is already influencing policies and practices in a wide range of professions and government agencies, with a push for more professionals and organizations that work with children and teens to be trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive. In pediatrics, a growing number of doctors are collecting childrens social histories along with their medical histories, and they are seeking to treat root problems, not just symptoms, by offering referrals to social services. [This doctor pioneered a way to treat stress in children, a startling source of future disease] In public education, more teachers are viewing academic or behavioral issues through a trauma lens, to see if there is a root problem that is causing children to withdraw or to act out. Similarly, juvenile courts are also looking at ways to divert more youths from probation and incarceration. In Fairfax County, the juvenile court screens all new children and teens who are placed on probation and has found about 85 percent have at least one ACE, said Chrissy Cunningham, a prevention coordination specialist for the county. The county has also trained more than 1,000 people through a 90-minute trauma Awareness 101 training. It has an active trauma informed community network that includes government and non-government professionals who want to promote trauma-informed care for children. Master training Statewide there are nine such networks, meeting for the first time in Richmond this year. Next month in Maryland, a nonprofit is sponsoring a two-day master training with Robert Anda, the doctor who was the co-principal investigator for the original childhood ACE study. It is inviting leaders from state agencies that work with children and families, and other professionals who work with or advocate for children. In the District, the public schools are increasingly promoting trauma sensitive principles in training and approaches to school discipline, and research about ACEs is informing reforms being developed for the juvenile court system, said Wendy Ellis, project director for a Building Community Resilience initiative at George Washington University who said she has consulted with the attorney generals office. Positive communication [To manage the stress of trauma, schools are teaching students how to relax] In addition to information about ACEs, the new federal survey includes information about protective factors that research shows can help children. Children whose parents report always having positive communication with their childrens health-care provider were more than 1.5 times more likely to have family routines and habits that can protect against ACEs, such as eating family meals together, reading to children, limiting screen time and not using tobacco at home. Christina Bethell, director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at Johns Hopkins University that is analyzing the data, said she hopes the new survey will spark conversations in communities across the country about how to reverse the impacts of childhood stress. Children are incredibly resilient. We can buffer their stress, and we can help them, she said. We are the medicine. Survey questions The complete list of ACE questions that were asked to parents in the survey include: whether it is often/very often hard to get by on income; whether a parent/guardian is divorced or separated; whether a parent/guardian has died; whether a parent/guardian served time in jail; whether the child saw or heard violence in the home; whether the child was a victim of violence or witnessed violence in the neighborhood; whether the child lived with anyone mentally ill, suicidal, or depressed; whether the child lived with anyone with an alcohol or drug problem; and whether the child was often treated or judged unfairly due to race or ethnicity. Calvert County These were among reports received by the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-535-2800 or 301-855-1194, the Crime Solvers line at 410-535-2880 or the state police Prince Frederick Barrack at 410-535-1400. DUNKIRK AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Chaney Rd., 2 p.m. Oct. 5 to 6:20 p.m. Oct. 7. A heavy-duty battery valued at $150 was stolen. McIntosh Dr., 12:30-8:30 a.m. Oct. 3. A wallet, a passport and coins were stolen from the console of a vehicle. LUSBY AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Alamo Trail, 5 p.m. Oct. 2 to 7:30 a.m. Oct. 3. A North Face jacket was stolen from an unlocked vehicle. Gunsmoke Trail, 5 p.m. Oct. 2 to 9 a.m. Oct. 3. An iPod, a diaper bag containing debit cards, and cash were among items stolen from multiple unlocked vehicles. Hickock Trail, Oct. 3. Cash, prescription medicine and a large amount of coins were stolen from a residence entered through a bedroom window. Susan Lane, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2 to 7 a.m. Oct. 3. Cash, debit cards, a calculator and a book bag were stolen from multiple vehicles entered by force. PROPERTY DAMAGED Schooner Dr., 11 p.m. Oct. 5 to 1 p.m. Oct. 6. A vehicle windshield was smashed with a brick. PRINCE FREDERICK AREA THEFTS/BREAK-INS Stamper Ct., Oct. 5. Two males were seen entering a residence after prying off a window screen. They fled empty-handed. PROPERTY DAMAGED Sixes Rd., Oct. 4. An unknown assailant keyed a vehicle. St. Leonard AREA DUI/WEAPONS VIOLATION Hillside Rd. at Long Beach Dr., 12:04 a.m. Oct. 3. Following up on a suspicious -vehicle complaint, officers arrested a drunk St. Leonard man, 40, who was found in the vehicle stopped partially in a road with its radio playing loudly. The man failed a field sobriety test and was arrested and charged with DUI. Additionally, a handgun was found in the vehicle. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Nicole Dr. in St Leonard, and numerous locations on Hance Rd. and Forest Lane, Port Republic, Oct. 6. Residents reported that mailboxes were broken off support posts and that mailboxes, homes, and vehicles were spray-painted. In some cases, vulgar language and racial comments were spray-painted on buildings and stop signs. PROPERTY DAMAGE Forest Lane, Hance Rd., Williams Wharf Rd., Parkers Creek Rd., Planters Wharf Rd., Flag Harbor Blvd., Valley Dr., Nicole Dr., and Eucalyptus Dr., Oct. 6. Multiple residences were spray-painted with profanity and had mailboxes damaged. Charles County These were among reports received by the Charles County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-932-2222 or 301-870-3232. The website ccso.us has crime statistics and information on crime prevention programs. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION Crime Solvers will pay a reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The 24-hour hotline is 866-411-8477. Callers may remain anonymous. WALDORF AREA POSSESION OF ILLEGAL FIRE ARM/ILLEGAL DRUGS ARREST St. Paul's Dr., 1000 block, 9:30 a.m. Oct. 10. A Waldorf man, 21, was arrested after a search warrant was issued and a large amount of packing materials, scales, marijuana, cash and a loaded 9mm handgun were recovered. The man was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and illegal possession of a firearm. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Mattawoman-Beantown Rd., 6 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 10. Property was stolen from two vehicles entered by force at a Park & Ride lot. STOLEN VEHICLE ARREST Technology Pl., 300 block, 12:30 a.m. Oct. 8. A Virginia man, 39, was arrested during a traffic stop after police discovered the registration plates of the U-Haul vehicle he was driving had been stolen. The driver was charged with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and driving with a suspended license. St. Marys County This was among reports received by the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-475-8008. To submit a tip, call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. The Leonardtown Barrack of the state police has an anonymous tip line at 301-475-2936. GREAT MILLS AREA ROBBERY Liberty St., 21000 block, 1:46 a.m. Oct. 1. Two males struggled with and robbed a pizza deliveryman making a delivery. The first candidate to file to run in what could be a large field for the 2018 Alexandria City Council elections is a former chairman of the local Democratic Party and past chair of the Chamber of Commerce. Dak Hardwick, 41, who will announce his candidacy Thursday, said in an interview he plans a business-friendly campaign oriented toward growing the citys revenue beyond local property taxes. All six at-large council seats and the mayors position are up for election next year. As of now, one incumbent council member Timothy Lovain has said he will not seek reelection. Vice Mayor Justin Wilson (D), who is widely expected to challenge Mayor Allison Silberberg in the 2018 Democratic primary, said Wednesday that he will not make any announcement until after this year's November elections. Alexandria is traditionally a Democratic town, which makes the June 12 party primary paramount for many office-seekers. Republicans have won seats on the council as recently as 2009, and the local GOP chairman, Sean Lenehan, said the party plans to field a slate for council and mayor later this year or early next year. Im prepared for a lot [of people] to run, said John Taylor Chapman, a two-term council member who plans to run for reelection. Every election is tough, and were going to have to validate the things weve done. The city government has navigated numerous contentious debates over the last year, raising property taxes and fees and preparing for higher storm water and sewage costs, driven by the state-ordered replacement of the combined sewer system in parts of Old Town. Schools supporters want the city to spend more than the current one-third of the budget on education; recreation advocates are upset about the decision to not expand Chinquapin pool; business owners are frustrated about the Old Town Business Improvement District proposal that was shelved; and myriad other residents are concerned over hot-button issues such as government debt, affordable housing and what some see as overdevelopment. Hardwick, assistant vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association, said his seven years on the citys budget committee prepared him to understand where the revenue challenges are. Weve underinvested in our infrastructure for 20 years, and that bill is coming due, Hardwick said. We have to find additional ways to grow our economy. View Graphic The latest stories and details on the 2017 Virginia general election and race for governor. Hardwick, a resident of the West End of Alexandria, said the council should listen more to the advice of its 80 appointed committees. If elected, he said, he plans to push for longer-term planning at the council and for improving public input before decisions are made. Republican candidate for Virginia Attorney General John Adams, right, and incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring (D), left, greet each other before facing off in a campaign debate. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) The two candidates in Virginia's attorney general race pulled no punches in a robust debate in Leesburg Friday morning, staking out positions that were nearly diametrically opposed to each other in their last meeting before the Nov. 7 election. Incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring (D) defended his record as an aggressive challenger of attacks on health care and warned that challenger John Adams (R) is fixated on conservative social issues and seeks to become the lawyer for the Republican caucus in Richmond. Adams said its Herring who is fixated on social issues, calling Herrings 2014 decision to join a lawsuit seeking to overturn Virginias ban on gay marriage unconscionable... indefensible, and argued that Herring believes in centralized, government-run health care, while he believes in private insurance operating in the free market. Herring told the 150 people at the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event that during his first term in office, under the leadership of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), life was good in the commonwealth: Unemployment dropped from 5.4 to 3.8 percent, 215,000 new jobs were created and $18.5 billion of new capital was invested in Virginia. Those achievements were possible in part, Herring said, because the Democrats made sure the world knew people of all races, religions and gender identities are welcome in the state. Adams accused Herring of inserting politics into the attorney generals office, and distorting his record on birth control. He says I want to roll back womens access to birth control. That is insane, Adams said, arguing that his pro-bono legal work for a religious order, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and a business, Hobby Lobby, that didnt want to be forced to provide contraceptive services under the Affordable Care Act was about really religious liberty. Guess what? We won. It was unconstitutional. Thats what I fought for. I am not running to roll back anybodys rights, he said. [The incumbents a liberal hero. His opponents a conservative stalwart. Voters are just tuning in.] The race, which has attracted far less public attention than Virginia's closely watched gubernatorial contest, is the only attorney general election on the ballot in the country this November. Both parties associations of attorneys general have been pouring money into their candidates campaign funds, including $775,000 that the Republican Attorneys General Association added Thursday to Adamss coffers, bringing its total investment in the race to more than $3.5 million. The Democratic Attorneys General group, Herrings top donor, has given him $1.75 million. Herring, a Democrat from Leesburg, is aggressively challenging Trump administration policies: suing over the constitutionality of the presidents first immigration ban; joining with other attorneys general in a lawsuit over Trumps decision to end federal subsidies to health insurers; and opposing the administrations move to end contraception coverage required by the Affordable Care Act. The incumbent on Friday cited his work to eliminate the states backlog of 3,000 untested rape kits, cracking down on gangs and gun violence, leading a award-winning Medicaid fraud unit and prosecuting child predators. Adams a politically conservative Richmond attorney and former federal prosecutor, clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and associate White House attorney under George W. Bush charges that Herring should stick to the job of advising the General Assembly and defending state laws. Regulatory overreach is one of the biggest problems in this country, he said. Adams said his personal beliefs he is opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage and supports gun rights would not influence his decisions as attorney general. While he would offer legal advice to the General Assembly, he says, he would defend the states positions in court whether he agrees or not. Adams sought to prove Herring has failed in the job, attacking his work on the opioid drug crisis by noting that deaths have risen in the past four years. He faulted Herring for giving pay raises to some lawyers in his office instead of spending the money for other needs. John wants you to think where he stands on issues isnt relevant to the job. Nothing could be further from the truth, Herring said. Issues of choice, health care, gun safety, the fundamental rights of all Virginians will most certainly cross the desk of the next attorney general. It matters immensely where we stand on these issues. St. John's Lutheran Church is again looking for help with the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This year they will be asking for specific times and areas to work. They are asking this so that there is enough help when and where needed as well as not having too much help at any one time. They are also asking that an adult be working side-by-side with all children 10-years-old and younger to ensure safety of children as well as proper handling of food. They continue to work to make this an enjoyable time for both diners and volunteers. They would like to thank everyone that help with this community time of fellowship. To volunteer, call Linda Hardwick at 715-284-4657. IRAN Khamenei: Will shred deal if U.S. quits it Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Wednesday that Tehran would stick to its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers as long as the other signatories respected it but would shredit if Washington pulled out, state TV reported. Khamenei spoke five days after President Trump refused to certify Irans compliance with the deal and said he might ultimately terminate it. I dont want to waste my time on answering the rants and whoppers of the brute [U.S.] president, Khamenei said in a speech in Tehran quoted by state TV. Trumps stupidity should not distract us from Americas deceitfulness. . . . If the U.S. tears up the deal, we will shred it, he said. Trumps move put Washington at odds with other parties to the accord, which say Washington cannot unilaterally cancel an international deal enshrined by a U.N. resolution. Khamenei welcomed the support but said it was not sufficient. European states stressed their backing for the deal and condemned Trump. . . . We welcomed this, but it is not enough to ask Trump not to rip up the agreement. Europe needs to stand against practical measures [taken] by America, he said. Under the deal, reached during the Obama administration, Iran agreed to curb its disputed uranium-enrichment program in return for relief from international sanctions, and U.N. nuclear inspectors have repeatedly certified Tehrans compliance with the terms. Reuters SOMALIA Thousands march as attack details emerge Thousands marched Wednesday in Somalias capital in a show of defiance against the extremist group blamed for a Saturday bombing that killed more than 300, while Somali intelligence officials offered new details of the attack, the deadliest recorded in the country. Two people have been arrested in the attack, which was intended to target Mogadishus heavily fortified international airport, where several countries have their embassies, the officials said. A crowd of mostly young men and women gathered at a Mogadishu stadium Wednesday and shouted slogans against al-Shabab, a militant group that has long targeted the seaside city but has not commented on the attack. At least three people were injured after security forces opened fire while trying to disperse protesters marching toward the attack site, police said. Meanwhile, according to an intelligence official investigating the blast, a tarp-covered truck approached a checkpoint outside Mogadishu early Saturday. The truck aroused the suspicions of soldiers, who ordered the driver to park and get out. The driver ultimately made it through by phoning someone the troops trusted. Once through the checkpoint, the truck began to speed along the road and raced through another checkpoint, where soldiers opened fire and flattened one of its tires. The driver continued before detonating the truck on a busy street. The blast leveled nearly all nearby buildings. Associated Press French lawmakers adopt security law: France's Parliament has adopted a sweeping counterterrorism law that replaces a two-year-old state of emergency and is meant to give police more tools to fight extremism. The legislation, President Emmanuel Macron's first major security measure, enjoyed broad support, although lawmakers made amendments to address criticism that the original version would infringe on individual liberties. Portuguese minister resigns over 106 wildfire deaths: The Portuguese minister in charge of emergency services resigned after 106 people were killed in unprecedented wildfires in recent months in the Iberian nation. Authorities say arsonists are to blame for most of the fires. Interior Minister Constanca Urbano de Sousa had been under severe political pressure to quit and offered her resignation. Investigations into wildfire deaths in June found several lapses in the official response. Saudi carrier launches direct flight to Iraq after long gap: Saudi budget carrier Flynas launched the first direct flight between the kingdom and Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, marking another move by Saudi Arabia to improve ties with its neighbor in an attempt to blunt rival Iran's vast influence there. Saudi Arabia also has plans to open a border crossing with Iraq that has been closed since Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. From news services PAKISTAN Nawaz Sharif indicted on corruption charges Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was indicted Thursday over allegations of corruption, the latest setback for the deposed leader who remains one of the most popular politicians in Pakistan. Sharif, 67, was ousted from power in July by the country's Supreme Court after months of hearings on the corruption charges. He and his family are accused of using offshore holding companies to buy luxury properties in London, charges stemming from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016. Sharif, who was not in court, sent a plea of not guilty. The indictment also names his daughter Maryam and her husband, Muhammad Safdar. "You tell me if this is justice or murder of justice," Sharif said in London, where he is staying with his wife while she is treated for cancer. Sharif is expected to fly back to Pakistan, where the trial is set to open next week. Shaiq Hussain and Antonio Olivo BRUSSELS E.U. to increase aid to Italy in migrant crisis The European Union has agreed to increase funding to help Italy keep migrants from arriving in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, European Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday. Tusk said that members of the 28-member bloc will provide sufficient finances to Italy and that the European Commission will ensure that the money goes to fighting illegal migration. After struggling for years with large numbers of migrants arriving on its shores, Italy managed to reduce the numbers in the past few months by sending naval units to aid Libyas coast guard while making deals with Libyan militias to prevent migrants from leaving the country. Aid workers, however, say a humanitarian catastrophe is brewing in Libya as migrants get trapped there in detention centers where they are mistreated. Associated Press NEW ZEALAND Ardern to take reins in generational shift The 37-year-old daughter of a New Zealand police officer is set to become the latest member of a new generation of leaders to take power in some of the worlds most developed countries. Jacinda Ardern cut a deal to form a government with two smaller coalition members on Thursday, capping a swift rise since taking the reins of her struggling political party. She is set to become the worlds youngest female leader, drawing comparisons to leaders of similar age now in charge of Austria, Ireland, Canada and France. Arderns predecessor resigned Aug. 1 after an opinion poll put their center-left Labour Party at just 24 percent, roughly half of Prime Minister Bill Englishs ruling National Party. Although Arderns party finished second in elections, the National Party failed to secure a majority. Ardern has electrified supporters, stirring up what the media called Jacinda-mania as she pledged to tackle social issues such as child poverty and affordable housing. Bloomberg News France reaffirms support of Iran deal: France has reaffirmed its support for the Iran nuclear deal following a decision by President Trump to no longer back it in its current form. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said after a meeting in Paris with Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that the deal "remains valid" despite Trump's decision. Amano also met with President Emmanuel Macron, who encouraged the IAEA to ensure strict adherence to the deal "in all its aspects." Plague cases soar in Madagascar: The United Nations says that the number of plague cases in Madagascar has almost doubled in the past five days and that medical experts project the situation will worsen, with 1,000 cases expected every month if funds aren't rapidly provided. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said only 26 percent of the $9.5 million needed to combat the outbreak has been received. U.N. officials reported 1,032 cases as of Wednesday. So far, 89 deaths have been counted. Venezuelan jurists arrive as exiles in Chile: A group of opposition-appointed Venezuelan judges arrived in Chile as exiles after more than two months holed up at the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas to avoid arrest in the crisis-hit country. Chile's Foreign Ministry had granted the five magistrates asylum in August. They were threatened with jail by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after the National Assembly appointed them in July to challenge the Supreme Court, which heavily favors Maduro. From news services IN PERHAPS the most important speech of his career, Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday promised "a new era" that "sees China moving closer to center stage" as "a leading global power" with a "world-class" military. Given how else he described the regime he intends to fashion over the next few years, that prediction ought to concern the world's democratic nations. A decade and more ago, the United States and other Western leaders were urging China to become a global stakeholder. But the superpower that Mr. Xi intends to lead doesnt look like the cooperative partner and gradually liberalizing society they imagined. Instead, Chinas 64-year-old ruler, having concentrated power in his own hands, now seeks to reinforce the authority of the Communist Party in all areas of life, at the expense of the rule of law, political dissent, private enterprise and even privacy itself: A new system of social monitoring will minutely record and rate the activities of every citizen, while storing their facial images for easy recognition. While offering token mentions of markets, private enterprise and openness to foreign investment, Mr. Xi promised to help state companies become stronger and bigger. He touted his belt and road initiative, a centrally directed project to pour hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure investments into countries across Eurasia. Most of all, his vision of China as a superpower was infused by a nationalist agenda. In an address that stretched for three hours and 25 minutes, Mr. Xi intoned the phrase "strong power" or "great power" 26 times, according to a New York Times count. Mr. Xi boasted that one of his regime's most internationally controversial actions, the fortification of islets in the South China Sea, was a highlight of his first five years in office, even though an international tribunal found Beijing to be acting contrary to international law. Mr. Xis biggest applause line was a vow to never allow anyone . . . at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China. That would include Hong Kong and Taiwan, along with those disputed rocks. But he said nothing about North Korea or its manic pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, the crisis that most demands Chinas responsible cooperation. The remaining few days of the party congress Mr. Xi kicked off will reveal how much his personal power will be bolstered. Analysts suspect his neo-totalitarian ideology will be written into the partys constitution, putting him on a par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. They will watch to see whether a successor is positioned to replace him after a second five-year term, or whether Mr. Xi will entrench himself in the style of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The question of whether Mr. Xis strategy of party and state dominance can succeed in making China the worlds leading power will take far longer to play out. Theres reason to doubt that the command-and-control policies that failed in the 20th century can be made to work in the digital age. But Chinas ambitious ruler does have one big advantage. Thanks to the disarray of the U.S. political system and the retreat by two successive presidents from Americas global role, an ambitious regime may find a vacuum to fill. BIPARTISAN NEGOTIATORS announced Tuesday that they had struck a deal to temporarily stabilize Obamacare markets. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) agreed to continue paying "cost-sharing reduction" payments that the government promised insurance companies, and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) agreed to relax health-market regulations a bit. Both sides of this deal contain good policy. But House conservatives attacked it, and President Trump, who initially sounded a favorable note, soon flip-flopped. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) face a test: Will they cower in the face of this irrational opposition, preventing their chambers even from voting on a plan that, polls indicate, would be broadly popular? If they favor small government, they ought to like this deal. The Congressional Budget Office calculated that restricting the insurer payments would actually cost taxpayers $194 billion over a decade. Killing the deal, meanwhile, means the Republicans would get no major regulatory reforms unless they repealed Obamacare, which is no longer on the short-term agenda. Contrary to Mr. Trumps rhetoric, the payments are not bailouts, but reimbursements for subsidies that the government ordered insurance companies to offer low-income people. If the payments are not made, premiums would spike unnecessarily. Courts would eventually order the government to pay insurers, because the law requires it, which would force taxpayers to pay out even more in massive legal settlements. The only coherent argument Republicans had against the cost-sharing payments is that Congress did not technically appropriate the money that was being distributed. The Alexander-Murray compromise would properly appropriate the funds. Mr. Alexander points out that his compromise is about preventing chaos in health-care markets over the next couple of years, regardless of what Republicans decide to do to them after that. GOP repeal-and-replace bills contained similar provisions to temporarily stabilize the health-care system before it could be reshaped. Even Mr. Trump acknowledged that such a plan does not necessarily conflict with the long-term goal of reforming the health-care system. Republicans, then, have acknowledged that the government can easily do more to stabilize the existing health-care system. Democrats should not have had to bargain for GOP cooperation. Yet they offered regulatory reforms anyway. Will Republicans really kill a plan that would buttress insurance markets and add more of the regulatory flexibility they have been demanding, without ending their dream of ripping up the Affordable Care Act? Killing this deal would provide more evidence the GOP has become, as former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal (R) once put it, the stupid party, simplistic in its policy views, cowardly in its fear of the base, toddler-like in the tantrums it throws when it does not get its way. It would also be a bad sign about the state of the U.S. political system. A moderate compromise struck by adults such as Mr. Alexander and Ms. Murray is the way Congress should work. Is that still possible? The Oct. 15 front-page article "The drug industry's triumph over the DEA" misrepresented the distributors' role in the pharmaceutical supply chain and ignored the Drug Enforcement Administration's responsibilities in regulating controlled substances. Contrary to the articles premise, distributors have no mechanism to directly affect the demand for opioids in the market. That review and responsibility rest with the DEA, which sets annual production quotas for controlled substances based on legitimate medical need. Notably, during the height of the epidemic, the DEA approved year-over-year increases in the production of controlled substances. Under the watch of the articles DEA whistleblower, the agency approved an increase of more than 200 percent for oxycodone alone from 2004 to 2013. These facts are critical to understanding the many complex factors that contributed to the opioid epidemic in the first place. Distributors must report to the DEA every shipment of an opioid controlled substance and all suspicious orders of controlled substances. Our members have sent tens of thousands of suspicious order reports to the agency. We have invested heavily in technology to help spot and prevent diversion and ensure that every medicine is safely and securely delivered to DEA-licensed providers and pharmacists. We recognize the systemic challenges that exist when it comes to stopping opioid abuse, but we are not willing to be scapegoats. Addressing those challenges requires a collaborative and coordinated response from all players in the supply chain, including regulators as well as industry to end the epidemic for good. John M. Gray, Arlington The writer is president and chief executive of the Healthcare Distribution Alliance. The Post/"60 Minutes" report on the United States' opioid epidemic was excellent, but it didn't dig down far enough. The shares of these manufacturers and distributors are traded on the stock exchanges and are publicly owned. So, the real culprits are the retirement funds, mutual funds and other big investors who increasingly demand larger quarterly growth. Dave Simpson, Frederick Why am I not surprised that from 2014 to 2016, the lobbying expenses of CVS Health in favor of the opioid-friendly Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act and other bills ($32.5 million) were exceeded only by the amount contributed by the drug industry's lobbying arm, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ($40.8 million)? On Sept. 3, 2014, CVS courageously stopped selling tobacco products in its stores. But because we live in a capitalist society where profits transcend courageous health decisions, CVS had to make up its lost revenue. And it ensured that the legislative restrictions on the selling of opioids were minimized. Ted Hochstadt, Falls Church The Oct. 15 front-page article on the DEA was brilliant investigative journalism. The unholy union twixt Big Pharma and Congress has begged for exposure. God bless the real media. Thomas Lowry, Woodbridge How demoralizing it must be to those hard-working Drug Enforcement Administration employees to be shot down by the Congress that should be working for American citizens, not against them. The bottom line is that those members of Congress had one thing on their minds: keeping their jobs. It was terrible to read how many of the DEA employees are leaving. I am sure that this is true with many agencies that Congress has directed to back off or to award a contract to a certain favored company. Congress and many in the private sector believe that federal employees are a bunch of stoops. I am sure that several agencies had the data showing that the bubble was about to burst, but who wants to believe a bunch of incompetent stoops? I am a retired NASA engineer, and I have seen similar meddling by Congress to the detriment of the country. John J. Wolff Jr., Rockville Kudos to The Post for exposing the traitors to humanity who spend their lives supporting evil. Do they count the cost of their labors to include the addicted, the dying, the grieving? There are those among us who are devoutly grateful to the pharmaceutical industry for miraculous weapons against illnesses. But there are also those among us who despise the menace of an industry, its purveyors and its irresponsible doctor enablers who work diligently to market death. And our money-subservient government does little to nothing to protect us. Sheilah Bason, Chevy Chase STAFF SGT. Bryan C. Black, 35, always relished a challenge. As a child, he drove himself to learn chess; as a teen, he excelled as a wrestler; and as an adult, he joined the Army, where he finished Ranger school and joined the Special Forces. Deployed to Niger, he learned the local dialect. Before joining the Army, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah J.W. Wayne Johnson, 39, owned and operated a successful business. In uniform he became a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist. Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, was a good student and talented athlete. When he joined the Army he continued a family military legacy dating to 1812. Sgt. La David T. Johnson, 25, was known to be both determined and playful, as demonstrated by how he commuted to a job at Walmart removing the front wheel of his bike and becoming known as the Wheelie King. These are the four soldiers who were killed Oct. 4 when their unit was ambushed by Islamist extremists in West Africa. Their lives, their brave service and the sacrifice of their grieving families should be discussed and honored. Instead thanks to a president with a compulsive need to be the center of attention their deaths have been trivialized. President Trump reduced condolences to a political competition and treated the grieving families who received them as pawns in a game. Having failed to publicly acknowledge the deaths for 12 days, Mr. Trump on Monday boasted about reaching out to family members of slain military personnel while falsely accusing his predecessors of not doing so. His whining about how hard the calls are on him and the apparent hash he made of a conversation in which he allegedly told one widow her husband "must have known what he signed up for" underscored his cluelessness about being commander in chief. Mr. Trump then worsened his offense by attempting to exploit the combat death of the son of his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, whom he suggested did not receive a condolence call from President Barack Obama. The president ought to have read the eulogy Mr. Kelly delivered for two other Marines four days after his son was killed in Afghanistan. After asking the officer who introduced him, "Please don't mention my son," he talked passionately and sometimes angrily about the sacrifices of the military. He never mentioned his son, later explaining to The Post's Greg Jaffe, "The death of my boy simply cannot be made to seem any more tragic than the others." Such grace and dignity in the face of unimaginable loss is the trademark of Gold Star families. It was on display in the days after the Niger attack when the families of the four men spoke with pride about their loved ones. "I know if you could ask him, he'd be glad that it was him," said Staff Sgt. Wright's brother. "He'd be glad he's the one that went so somebody else's son could come home." Those words, and not Mr. Trump's, ought to be what we remember. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) speak before the start of a hearing in Washington on Oct. 19. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg) Democrats pressed Thursday to advance a bipartisan bill that would preserve subsidies for low-income Americans under the Affordable Care Act amid a new show of cooperation, even as Republican leaders suggested that they would need greater concessions before bringing it up for a vote. President Trump, meanwhile, suggested that he was open to authorizing payments to insurers that help offset out-of-pocket health costs in the short term but had not given up his goal of repealing the ACA. [Another last-ditch effort to tackle Obamacare stalls within hours of its release] Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking Democratic member Patty Murray (Wash.), who wrote the new health-care package, said that there are 12 Republican and 12 Democratic co-sponsors for their measure. It would continue the cost-sharing reduction payments, known as CSRs, in exchange for giving states greater latitude to regulate health coverage. Many conservative Republicans, including congressional leaders, have expressed skepticism about passing legislation that would roll back the ACA in a meaningful way. Although the bill does make it easier for states to obtain federal waivers to change the way their markets operate and allows ACA consumers ages 30 and older to buy catastrophic health plans, it preserves the laws core mandates. Speaking on the floor Wednesday, Alexander said those conservatives were ignoring the chaos that could ensue if the federal government did not provide the cost-sharing reduction payments that Trump cut off this month. Whats conservative about unaffordable premiums? he asked. Even as Alexander and Murray announced their sponsors which included conservatives and liberals, as well as centrists from both parties , a top Republican argued that the plan had to undergo changes and win the clear support of Trump before it could succeed. "It takes the president's support, would be the first thing it would take," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.). "I know they've got bipartisan co-sponsors. Senator Alexander is a very methodical, very thoughtful guy. He understands that there are going to need to be changes to be before [the bill is] going to get a critical mass of support." [Trump appears to back further away from bipartisan health-care push] Trump called Alexander twice Wednesday, the senator said, and each time encouraged him to continue working on a deal. The president told reporters Thursday that although he prefers providing federal health funding in a block grant to states, he is open to a different approach for a finite period. "We will probably like a very short-term solution until we hit the block grants, until that all kicks in," he said. "And if they can do something like that, I'm open to it, but I don't want it to be at the expense of the people. I want to take care of our people; I don't want to take care of our insurance companies." The president has repeatedly decried the idea of paying money to insurers, which is the way cost-sharing payments are distributed. Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), whose own ACA overhaul bill faltered late last month, signed on to the new bill and have been working with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to broker a compromise that would address the concerns of the White House and House Republicans. Johnson was "leading the effort to find a bridge," Graham said. Murray said she was confident that Congress would ultimately pass the measure because Americans are beginning to grasp that the impasse in Washington has translated into higher insurance rates for 2018. "Here's what's really at stake," she said. "Patients and families across the country are looking ahead to next year, and they are realizing they are about to pay the price for the uncertainty and partisanship we've seen especially from the Trump administration on health care over the last nine months." The additional sponsors include Republicans Mike Rounds (S.D.), John McCain (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Richard Burr (N.C.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The Democrats are Angus King (Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Al Franken (Minn.), Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), Thomas R. Carper (Del.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), and Maggie Hassan (N.H.). King is an independent but caucuses with the Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring the proposal to the floor for debate and a vote. "Since every Democrat, I believe, will support it, it has 60 votes," Schumer told reporters. "I'd urge Senator McConnell to put it right on the floor." A broad coalition of health groups, including the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, have endorsed the bill, along with a bipartisan coalition of 10 governors. The fate of the cost-sharing payments may be determined by litigation before Congress acts. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing Monday on a motion by 18 states and the District of Columbia, which are seeking a temporary restraining order to force the Trump administration to continue funding the subsidy. John Wagner contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) returns to his office after votes at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 19, 2017. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) The Senates top Republican on military matters threatened Thursday to subpoena the Trump administration if officials are not more forthcoming about the Niger attack that left four American service members dead just one of the steps lawmakers are taking to insist that Congress be read in on military operations before tragedies occur. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is pushing the Trump administration to brief key members of Congress about the existence of ongoing operations something he said the Obama administration was far better about doing than the Trump team. Theres a mind-set over there that theyre a unicameral government, McCain said on Thursday, accusing the Trump administration of intentionally trying to keep Congress in the dark about the militarys foreign engagements and noting that it was easier under Obama. We are coequal branches of government; we should be informed at all times, he added. Were just not getting the information in the timely fashion that we need. McCain communicated those frustrations to national security adviser H.R. McMaster during a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Armed Services Committee members. While McMaster seemed sympathetic to his demands that Congress be better informed, McCain was unconvinced that that would lead to any policy changes, noting that talk is cheap. Tensions between lawmakers and the Trump administration about how extensively key lawmakers such as McCain are briefed on active operations have flared in recent weeks after four U.S. Special Forces soldiers died in an ambush in Niger. Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, and Sgt. La David Johnson had been in Niger as part of a counterterrorism mission to provide advice and training to local forces and were not expected to come into contact with enemy fighters. [Elite U.S. troops killed and wounded during surprise attack in Niger] Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have yet to be briefed about the particulars of the attack a delay that led McCain to accuse the administration this week of not being upfront with Congress about the particulars of the ambush. On Thursday, McCain added that he was prepared to use everything, everything, everything at his disposal to get complete information about the attack, even if it may require a subpoena. McMaster, he added, promised on Wednesday to brief lawmakers soon. But the lawmakers frustrations run deeper than simply being underinformed about one attack. McCain and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that before the news of the ambush, they had almost no knowledge about what U.S. Special Forces were doing in Niger. Very little, McCain said, when asked whether he knew anything about the militarys mission there. He surmised that there were likely to be other troops deployed in global operations that the committee had not been made aware of, but I dont know who they are. Graham, who also met with McMaster on Wednesday, said that his knowledge of U. S. forces work in Niger was not in any great detail, just in general. Im all for going after terrorists, Graham added, but I want to know before I read about it in the paper where our people are and what theyre doing. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly addressed the confusion surrounding the events in Niger on Thursday, telling reporters that theres an investigation ongoing. An investigation doesnt mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesnt mean peoples heads are going to roll. The fact is they need to find out what happened and why it happened. But he did not promise to expedite getting information out to the public, adding: Ive read the same stories you have. I actually know a lot more than Im letting on, but Im not going to tell you. The FBI is assisting in the investigation, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official declined to describe the particular assistance, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, but characterized it as routine and noted that the bureau has personnel in Africa. The FBI has assisted in past military investigations, including the killing of U.S. soldiers in Jordan. McCain said Thursday that he was ready to be briefed by administration officials in a classified or public setting, depending on the issue. But, he stressed, the Pentagon must be more forthcoming. "It's not wanting [more information]," he said. "It's a requirement that the Senate Armed Services Committee have oversight of the military." The dispute over disclosure of operations is just one of the latest arenas in which McCain has tangled with the Trump administration over its defense policy. He has accused the Trump team of not living up to its promises to better fund the military in its budget request a subject that is gripping Congress as members hash out the particulars of a budget and an annual defense authorization bill. McCain has excoriated the administration as being unprepared for the aftermath of the Islamic State in the Middle East and as too soft on Russia after Moscows attempts to challenge Washington on the world stage and meddle in various government systems and the 2016 U.S. election. McCain has also periodically chastised the administration for complicating his congressional oversight responsibility at first, because the Pentagon was sluggish about filling vacant positions, and more recently, because the Pentagon has not furnished certain government officials for committee interviews. On Thursday, McCain noted with irritation that the Trump administration had refused to let Rob Joyce, the White House's top cybersecurity official, testify at a hearing devoted to examining the country's defenses against cyberattacks. "Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the White House declined to have its cyber coordinator testify," McCain complained. "To me, the empty chair before us represents a fundamental misalignment between authority and accountability in our government today when it comes to cyber." Karen DeYoung, Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost Spare a thought for Japanese voters as they go to the polls in a snap parliamentary election Sunday. The economy is ticking along respectably, the stock market is at a 20-year high, the country enjoys full employment, Japanese companies are making good profits and there are no divisive problems involving race and almost no issues surrounding immigration. It is, as Daniel Sneider of Stanford University puts it, a Seinfeld election. An election about nothing. But this election offers one important thing for voters at home and governments abroad: stability. Shinzo Abes ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for five years, will almost certainly secure control of the House of Representatives for another four-year term. That is noteworthy in a country that went through six prime ministers in six years until Abe returned to power at the end of 2012 and in a world where other advanced nations are dealing with the effects of electoral surprises. Britain is in a negative spiral after making a major mistake with Brexit, and obviously theres the sad story of the U.S., said Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Australia, for its part, is on its fourth prime minister in five years. There has been so much dysfunction in politics and churn in leadership, and there has been a tendency among Western countries to look inward rather than taking an outward-looking, more muscular view, Fullilove said. Japan under Abe is an exception to both those trends. Abe, who is 63, called the snap election 14 months before it was due, ostensibly to seek a new mandate to be tough on North Korea and channel a planned consumption-tax increase into social spending rather than retiring debt. [ Japans prime minister, enjoying a sudden bounce in polls, is set to call a snap election ] But most analysts say he is being opportunistic, trying to exploit a sudden rebound in the polls Kim Jong Uns missile launches over Japan helped boost the hawkish Abes numbers and a vacuum in the opposition after months of lingering scandal. If he retains a two-thirds majority in the powerful lower house, the nationalistic Abe is likely to press ahead with plans to revise the postwar pacifist constitution and strengthen Japans military. After a surprise challenge from Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike quickly fizzled, Abe's ruling coalition is poised to win more than 300 of the 465 seats in the lower house, according to forecasts from the Jiji Press news agency. It must take 310 seats to retain the supermajority needed to amend the constitution. But the anticipated support for the government belies the decidedly tepid feelings about the prime minister himself. A poll by the Asahi Shimbun published Wednesday night found that 51 percent of respondents do not want Abe to remain as prime minister. Japanese voters are rewarding Abe for providing continuity and stability, even if they dont like him, said Sneider, an East Asia specialist currently based in Tokyo. They might not greet him enthusiastically, and they might worry about his nationalism, but theyre not interested in trading that for uncertainty. This is partly because the memories of political upheaval remain so fresh in Japan. When Junichiro Koizumi retired in 2006 after five years as prime minister, as required by LDP rules, Abe succeeded him. But he lasted only one year, quitting suddenly after a huge defeat in an upper house election and two scandals in his cabinet. Then, within the next five years came two conservative prime ministers and three from the Democratic Party of Japan, during a rare but difficult period in government that coincided with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Repeated cabinet reshuffles meant some ministers were changed even more frequently. [ Popular Tokyo governor decides against running in Japanese election, a boon for Abe ] Abe got a second chance when he was returned to the premiership at the end of 2012. The LDP changed its rules earlier this year to allow him to serve a third consecutive three-year term. If he stays until 2021, he will become Japans longest-serving prime minister. But Alison Evans, a Japan specialist at IHS Markit, the consulting firm, says Japans recent stability is more a function of the party than the person. Except for two short periods, the LDP has been in government since 1955. The LDP will continue to dominate, but prime ministers will come and go, Evans said. Japan is a democracy, but culturally and structurally, there has been no move towards pluralism. Abe is taking advantage of this, though. Even his critics concede that he has learned from his first disastrous stint as prime minister and proved himself to be a political survivor. Under his Abenomics stimulus policies, the Japanese economy has grown for six quarters in a row after two decades of recession and stagnation, now ticking along at 2.5 percent annual growth. Even if ordinary Japanese say they dont feel the improvement, at least the numbers are heading in the right direction. [ Japans push to revise its constitution isnt a bid to deny history, Abe ally says ] Allies and other like-minded governments would welcome Abes continuing in office. Just having a prime minister who lasts more than a year has injected some certainty and stability into political and trading relationships with other countries, says one diplomat from the region. It is especially important for the relationship with the United States, Japans main ally. There were multiple moments over recent years when American officials said, Why bother building a relationship when he or she isnt going to be there in a few months, said Brad Glosserman, an American who is a visiting professor at Tama University in Tokyo. Its hard to exaggerate the value of having this relationship. One relationship that is serving Japan well is the bond that Abe has formed with President Trump. On the campaign trail, Trump had repeatedly lashed out at Japan, espousing a 1980s view of their trading relationship and repeatedly saying that Japan should be paying for its own defense. But Abe made determined efforts to get on the right side of Trump, being the first foreign leader to visit him after his election victory and holding a chummy summit with him at Mar-a-Lago just a few weeks after Trumps inauguration. The two regularly talk on the phone about North Korea, and Trump arrives in Japan on Nov. 5 to begin an Asian tour. That Trump has not acted against Japans interests with the exception of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is a testament to Abes influence, analysts say. Read more American gambling companies are lining up to open casinos in Japan Trump and Abe hit the fairways at a Trump golf club in Florida Why Japans first lady was probably not snubbing Trump at the G-20 dinner Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Rohingya Muslim refugees listen for their names before collecting food at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladeshs Ukhia district. (Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images) His people, the Rohingya, are stateless, and the evidence of it is etched into his skin. The Burmese military beat his legs and feet mercilessly and chased him out of his native land in the 1990s. In a refugee camp in Bangladesh, police tortured him for leading a mass refusal of a policy that forced the Rohingya back to Burma. Abdusalam imagined himself the unsung Gandhi, Mandela or King Jr. of his people. And while those champions of freedom inspired him, another was the vessel of his hopes: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's anti- authoritarian icon. He dreamed she would bravely face down the military and welcome the Rohingya back to their homes as citizens. The first part came true. But sitting in a decrepit shack in the refugee camp in Bangladesh where he now expects to live the rest of his days, he had only disappointment for Suu Kyi. Shes made a deal with the devil, he said. Suu Kyi has been Burma's de facto leader since 2016, but she has said nothing to quell intensifying bouts of violence against the Rohingya. Over the past two months, the decades-old cycle of violence between the Muslim Rohingya and Burmas Buddhist majority has reached a bloody apex. More than half a million Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh. Thousands more continue to escape by the day, carrying with them stories of summary executions, gang rapes and murdered children. In Bangladesh, they join hundreds of thousands more like Abdusalam who fled pogroms in the 1990s and 2000s. Many are left to wonder: Were we wrong to ever have hoped? Abdusalam stands outside the entrance to his house in the Kutupalong refugee camp. (Max Bearak/The Washington Post) Abdusalam, now 62, first heard of Suu Kyi in 1988, when he was his villages headman. Word spread of a student uprising against the junta, and that the daughter of Burmas beloved founding father was leading a new political party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD. She was daring the military which assassinated her father in 1947 and took over the government in 1962 to call national elections. She was like a bright light, said Abdusalam, who like many Rohingya uses only one name. He beat a drum. The villagers assembled. He told them they must all vote for the NLD. And when the day finally came, they did. So did most Rohingya and most of Burma, which is also called Myanmar. Suu Kyis party won in a landslide. What came next was disastrous. Suu Kyi spent 15 of the following 21 years under house arrest, unable to see her dying husband in Britain for fear that she never would be allowed back. The military terrorized groups seen as part of the uprising, including the Rohingya. [How Bangladeshis are coping with half a million new Rohingya refugees] Suu Kyis name became synonymous with the struggle for human rights. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Her reputation as a saint grew, even though she seldom spoke out against the militarys mistreatment of minority groups. In retrospect, it is unlikely that Suu Kyi ever had much sympathy for the Rohingya. Francis Wade, the author of "Myanmar's Enemy Within," said Suu Kyi never addressed the Rohingya in her 1988 speeches that had so stirred Abdusalam. Ive never found a historic record of her calling for them to be made citizens, said Wade. Even so, Abdusalam held on to his NLD membership card as a talisman through those dark, scarring years. The soldiers would come into the mosque while we were praying, when we couldnt run away without offending God, and kidnap us. Then they made us carry their supplies as if we were donkeys. They would make us cook their pork. They would pour liquor onto our parents graves. They would come into our village, see a girl they wanted, take her to her home, tell her family to leave and rape her right there in her own house, he said. Everything we had could be taken at a moments notice. [Blood flowed in the streets: Refugees from one Rohingya hamlet recount days of horror] He stood up to reenact a raid on his village. Spittle flew from his mouth as he shouted. He swung his arms wildly as if he were wielding a machete. His voice grew hoarse. He lunged forward, jabbing the phantom blade before collapsing into a chair, overcome with grief. They killed a baby like that in front of me, he said, his face buried in his lap as he wept into his sarong. We were just animals to them. The Rohingya occupy a uniquely marginalized spot in Burmas ethnic hierarchy. They are Muslims in a country that is nearly 90 percent Buddhist. They arent citizens. While some Rohingya claim centuries of history in what is now Burma, many Burmese see them as a post-colonial stain, brought by the British from Bengal in the 19th century to work the fields and left to grow in number through the 20th. Their distinct appearance sets them apart, and their overt religiosity makes them suspect; the military has used a feeble Rohingya insurgency to cast all Rohingya as potential terrorists. Burmas de facto leader, Aung Sang Suu Kyi. (Ahim Rani/Reuters) Suu Kyi hasnt participated in the demonizing of the Rohingya that now has become widespread in Burma, but she has protested the use of the term Rohingya. Spokesmen for her office prefer the term Bengali, which implies that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants despite being born in Burma. In a speech last week addressing the crisis, she referred to the Rohingya obliquely as those who have crossed over to Bangladesh. The orders to act against the Rohingya did not originate with Suu Kyi but with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Burmas top military official. But she has not acknowledged atrocities committed against them, which have been documented in detail by journalists and human rights organizations. She and the military have denied allegations that the expulsion or even extermination of the Rohingya is underway, claiming instead that "cleansing operations" in Rohingya villages are aimed at rooting out an Islamist insurgency. The United Nations has repeatedly described the operations as "ethnic cleansing" and said that the military's intent is not just to drive out the Rohingya but to prevent their return by incinerating hundreds of their villages. [Under siege in their villages, Rohingya still in Burma say theyre trapped] Suu Kyis diluted response to the crisis also may reflect her continued subordination to the military, which retained a central role in the government even while making democratic concessions. A quarter of seats in the parliament are reserved for the military, as are the Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Defense ministries. The military holds a majority of seats on the National Defense and Security Council, which has the power to dissolve the government. That means the military could step in and replace Suu Kyi if it felt she was interfering with its plans. If Suu Kyi expressed public support for the Rohingya, her standing among most Burmese could plummet, making her removal easier. Burmese citizenship for the Rohingya is almost unthinkable in the current political climate. The chances are getting slimmer and slimmer nonexistent now, probably, said Wade. Mohammad Husseins National League for Democracy membership card. (Max Bearak/The Washington Post) The death of that dream is crushing for Mohammad Siddiq, whose father, Mohammad Hussein, was a proud card-carrying, flag-waving NLD member. He recalled that his fathers NLD card even saved their family from forced repatriation in the 1990s. The U.N. stepped in and told the Bangladeshis that anyone who was associated with the NLD was at extra risk of getting killed if they went back, said Siddiq. Baba even told a judge here once, When democracy comes to Burma, then well immediately go back! And he would go find the red NLD flag he brought with him and show it to us. Hussein died in 2014, living long enough to lose hope in the NLD but not to witness the calamity that has befallen the Rohingya in the past two months. Siddiq, now 33, thinks the Rohingya will be stateless forever. Baba would put us to bed at night, and lots of times he would tell us stories about Burma. We have paddies there, hed say. Just like the locals here have their own paddies. It makes me cry just to think about it, he said. Ever since Ive become a man, Ive never tasted a fresh fish like the ones hed tell us about. He died, too, without tasting it again. Correction: A previous version of this story said that Aung San Suu Kyi became Burmas de facto leader in 2012. She attained that status in 2016. The story has been updated. Read more Rohingya refugees crossing into Bangladesh face another threat: Land mines Washington begins to sour on Aung San Suu Kyi amid mounting ethnic violence in Burma My whole world was my village: Rohingya refugees share what they left behind Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Kanwarji Bhagirathmal usually has a rush of customers during Diwali, but this year, people are spending less. (Vidhi Doshi/The Washington Post) The sweets usually fly off the shelves during the Hindu festival of Diwali, but this year, only a handful of people stopped by. Idle employees waited around to take orders while the neatly piled towers of shimmering confections waited for customers. Famed in Delhis Chandni Chowk market, Kanwarji Bhagirathmal is one of many small businesses in Delhi where sales have slowed. This time last year, there was a rush of people standing in front of the shop, said Rachit Gupta, who runs the sweets store. People who were spending 1,000 rupees [$15] last year are spending 600-700 now [$9-$11]. In the past year, Indias economic performance has fallen short of expectations. The shock of major economic changes has caused panic and confusion, leaving some small businesses like Guptas with slower sales than in past years. If food is something people are willing to forgo, then Im not sure whats happening to others, he said. [Hindu Diwali festival without fireworks? The Supreme Court says Delhi needs to breathe.] Rachit Gupta says sales in his sweets shop have slowed for the first time since he took it over seven years ago. (Vidhi Doshi/The Washington Post) The downturn is especially bitter because of the promises Prime Minister Narendra Modi made when he came to power in 2014. Chiding his predecessor Manmohan Singh, an Oxford-educated economist who oversaw the economic liberalization of India in the 1990s, Modi presented himself as a financial genius who presided over the state of Gujarat throughout years of boom. He spoke of his own rise from a streetside tea seller as a personal economic miracle, promising jobs for the young and a new focus on manufacturing to take on neighboring China. But Modi's promises have gone unfulfilled. Growth slumped to a three-year low from April to June, just 5.7 percent. Job creation has stagnated, leaving millions without work. In November 2016, Modi made a surprise announcement declaring 86 percent of India's cash defunct, saying the process of replacing the country's paper money, also known as demonetization, would do away with untaxed stacks of "black money." Just afterward, the lines outside Gupta's shop vanished entirely. "I didn't see people coming for days," he said. In July, a new goods-and-services tax was introduced, but there has been confusion over its implementation. The tax replaced varied state taxes and consolidates Indias economy into a single market for the first time, and it resulted in a price increase for items and services. Gupta, like many traders in Chandni Chowk, still doesnt know how much tax to charge. He said even his accountant didnt know. If the people at the top dont know whats happening, he said, then how will people lower down the ladder know what to do? Everything was fine until Modis economic changes kicked in, said Jayshree Sengupta, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. She said demonetization hurt Indias vast informal sector, which dealt primarily in cash, and was unmonitored and untaxed by the government. Suddenly they lost cash flow, they had to wind up micro-businesses and go back to their villages, she said. They havent come back. For small and medium firms, Sengupta said, the tax overhaul created a huge amount of paperwork. Many people are not computer-literate, they dont know how to do online filing, she said. People are not selling in fear of having to do all this work. Sengupta said that Modis weakness was an unwillingness to take advice from trained economists. He doesnt consult, she said. Modi's government has made efforts to lessen the negative effects of his overhaul on small businesses: A defunct economic advisory council was reconstituted, and the goods-and-services tax was lowered on some items including dried mango and yarn. In a speech in early October, Modi dismissed his critics. Do you think this is the first time that GDP growth rate has hit 5.7 percent? he asked, addressing an audience from the Institute of Company Secretaries. There are some people who enjoy spreading pessimism. It helps them sleep better. [A smartphone war is heating up in the worlds largest untapped market] Surjit Bhalla, a part-time member of Modis economic advisory council, said it is too early to draw conclusions about how small businesses have weathered Modis changes. He said Modi has commissioned a survey that will contain strong indicators about how companies have fared, and he said its likely that the effects on employment and wages in the sector will be evident next year. From Guptas perspective, people are not spending because the economic slump has disturbed them at a spiritual level. There has been no mental peace this past year, he said. People are not calm in their minds. Kanwarjis, named after Guptas great-great-great-grandfather, Lala Kanwar Sain, has stood in the same spot since the mid-19th century. To the residents of Chandni Chowk, the establishment is a landmark in one of the busiest markets in Delhi. Sweets of all shapes and sizes, some covered with a thin silver foil, some studded with almonds and pistachios, surround Guptas staff. Passersby eye the stacks of sausage-shaped gulab jamuns soaked in sugar, Guptas specialty, as suppliers push past them, carrying boxes of ingredients on their heads. But as the festive season of Diwali approaches, Kanwarjis is struggling to cope with the drop in sales. In the seven years since Ive started running this place, Ive never had a year so bad, Gupta said. A few doors down, a man who sells Indian wedding suits says sales have dropped to below half of last years. Across the street, an electric lights market is set up for Diwali, with blinking multicolored wires strung up for show. But no one is buying. Its a very confused market, said Vatsal Narula, 23, who was watching over his fathers lights shop. The new tax regime has increased the cost of their products. Theyre introducing everything too fast. They hadnt even completed one thing properly, and they already started moving on to the next, he said. Sengupta said that Indias economy is likely to survive the shocks of the overhaul but that Modis once-shining career is starting to tarnish. India never collapses. Things will move on and come back to normal in some time, she said. But for the people of Chandni Chowk this year, the economic slump will have a marked impact on a festival that is Indias equivalent of Christmas. People are saying it doesnt feel like Diwali this year, Narula said. Very few are putting up lights. Theyre spending the bare minimum. Read more Modi promises a shining India in victory speech Editorial: Will Modis India be marked by economic boom or derailed by nationalism? India launches its most sweeping economic reforms Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Female fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate Oct. 19, 2017, in Raqqa, Syria, beneath a banner of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been designated a terrorist group by Turkey and the United States. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images) Rapid advances by Russian- and Iranian-backed government forces in eastern Syria are thwarting the U.S. military's hopes of pressing deeper into Islamic State territory after winning the battle for Raqqa. An expansion of territory held by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad is also likely to provide Assad with additional leverage in political negotiations over Syrias future, talks the United Nations hopes to reconvene next month. In a statement this week, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the latest developments in Syria pointed to the urgent need to reinvigorate the political process. The recent government gains have cut off the approach of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to remaining militant strongholds in the southeastern part of the country, including the crucial town of Bukamal near the Syria-Iraq border. Aided by Russian airstrikes, in apparent violation of a deconfliction line along the Euphrates River that U.S. officials said had been tentatively agreed on with Moscow, government forces have encircled and claimed control of another location that had been on the wish list of U.S. military planners the town of Mayadeen, where many senior Islamic State leaders are thought to have been hiding. The militants put up little resistance, and most appear to have escaped. [Graphic: The rise and fall of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] The unexpected militant withdrawal has "thrown for a loop" U.S. military assumptions that it could beat overstretched government forces in a race to the key river strongholds, said Nicholas Heras, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. "Because ISIS has decided not to put up a tough fight against Assad's forces," Heras said, "it has forced a change of assumptions about what the situation will look like on the ground." The advance has also taken government forces, and supporting Russian strikes, east of the river and into Syrias main oil-producing region of Deir al-Zour province, once a key source of Islamic State revenue. "I'm not going to address whether or not an agreement or deconfliction line has been broken," Army Col. Ryan S. Dillon, spokesman for counter-Islamic State military operations, said in a telephone interview from Baghdad. "That's why we maintain an open dialogue" with Russia. In addition to daily contact between the two militaries on a hotline, U.S. and Russian generals have held two face-to-face meetings in recent weeks, at least one of them in Jordan, to discuss the increasing proximity of their air operations in the Euphrates River valley, and that of the separate ground forces they back. Progress against the Islamic State in Syria has been measured since 2016 by towns and cities seized from militant control along the Euphrates by the SDF, a combination of Arab and Syrian Kurdish fighters, aided by U.S. air power and advisers. Manbij, near the Turkish border in the north, was recaptured in 2016, followed by Tabqa and now Raqqa. After Raqqa, the intention was to proceed downriver through Mayadeen to Bukamal, where SDF fighters would link up with Iraqi government forces trying to regain control over the Islamic State-controlled town of Qaim, just across the border inside Iraq. A major goal was to block Iran from securing a land corridor, through Iraq, between Tehran and Damascus. Dillon declined to say whether the U.S. militarys plans had changed. There are always plans, Dillon said. You dont fight the plan, you fight the enemy . . . where they are. The military, he said, was not concerned with greater policy decisions over who fought the militants or who controlled Syria, as long as it was not the Islamic State. Were not in a race, were not in the land-grab business. Were here to defeat ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. Others were less sanguine about the effect of government gains, predicting that Assads ability to remain in power would leave open the door for Islamic State militants, gone to ground in the vast desert that spans the Syria-Iraq border, to regroup. "That's what you get when you make a deal with the Russians," said Jennifer Cafarella of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, which monitors the fighting in Syria. "What we see is a push by the regime and its backers to seize key infrastructure, such as oil and gas fields, and to position to disrupt U.S.-led anti-ISIS operations further down the Euphrates." With the remaining Islamic State strongholds in Syria increasingly likely to fall into Syrian government hands, the Trump administration will have to decide whether the U.S. military remains in Syria to protect areas that have been captured by the SDF which is dominated by Syrian Kurds of the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG. On Thursday, female YPG fighters marked the victory in Raqqa by raising a giant banner of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan over the central square where the Islamic State carried out most of its grisly executions. Ocalan, who heads Turkeys militant Kurdish movement, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is serving a prison sentence in Turkey for terrorism. The public declaration of fealty to Ocalan by the Syrian Kurds who led the Raqqa offensive points to one of the many challenges confronting the Trump administration as it seeks to forge a coherent policy for the post-Islamic State era. Although the Syrian Kurds have admitted many Arabs into their ranks, they have retained overall control of the SDF coalitions command and ideology. Turkey, which shares a long border with the autonomous enclave the Kurds have established in northeastern Syria, is enraged at the U.S. militarys support for the SDF, which it considers an appendage of Ocalans terrorist movement. That leaves the SDF vulnerable to potential military action by Turkey to quell its aspirations for a ministate in Syria. Many Syrian Arabs are also deeply uncomfortable about the prospect of being governed by Kurds. Raqqa is an almost wholly Arab city, and the photographs of the Ocalan banner that circulated on social media triggered widespread condemnation by Arabs on Thursday. For us Raqqans, we do not know whether the SDF taking over the city and expelling ISIS is a liberation or an occupation, Tareq Sham, a former Raqqa resident living in Turkey, wrote on his Facebook page. The vast majority of us consider what happened a switch between two occupiers. Remaining in Syria to protect its Kurdish allies risks embroiling the United States in possible future conflicts between Arabs and Kurds, and between Turkey and the Kurds. The Kurds are also vulnerable to the Syrian governments declared ambition to reclaim all of the territory it lost in the war that began as a political rebellion in 2011. Much of what happens in Raqqa will depend on the speed and success of reconstruction there. U.S. special envoy Brett McGurk is visiting the Raqqa area, accompanied by Saudi Arabian Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan, whose government the Trump administration hopes will put up funds for the effort. Sly reported from Beirut. CIA Director Mike Pompeo appeared at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies national security summit in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19, 2017. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas) CIA Director Mike Pompeo declared Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Russias interference in the 2016 American presidential election did not alter the outcome, a statement that distorted spy agency findings. The intelligence communitys assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election, Pompeo said at a security conference in Washington. His comment suggested falsely that a report released by U.S. intelligence agencies in January had ruled out any impact that could be attributed to a covert Russian interference campaign that involved leaks of tens of thousands of stolen emails, the flooding of social media sites with false claims and the purchase of ads on Facebook. A report compiled by the CIA and other agencies described that Russian operation as unprecedented in its scale and concluded that Moscows goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process and help elect Donald Trump. But the report reached no conclusions about whether that interference had altered the outcome an issue that U.S. intelligence officials made clear was considered beyond the scope of their inquiry. We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election, the report said. U.S. spy agencies are charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors, the report said, but do not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion. [Senate Intelligence Committee leaders: Russia did interfere in 2016 elections] Former U.S. intelligence officials voiced concern over Pompeos statement. This is another example of Pompeo politicizing intelligence, a former senior U.S. intelligence official said. Pompeo is the most political CIA director since Bill Casey during the Reagan administration, the former official said. This significantly undermines the intelligence communitys credibility. The former official and others spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the subjects sensitivity. A CIA spokesman denied that Pompeo intended to mislead the public with his remarks. The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election meddling has not changed, said the spokesman, Ryan Trapani, and the director did not intend to suggest that it had. Pompeos comment came in response to a question about Russian meddling at the end of a lengthy public appearance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank. Pompeo also criticized former U.S. intelligence officials for their television appearances, implying that they violated their oaths and potentially contributed to the leaks of sensitive information. There are an awful lot of former CIA talking heads on TV, Pompeo said, adding that their obligation to remain quiet about their work far extends beyond the day you turn in your badge. [At CIA, a watchful eye on Mike Pompeo, the presidents ardent ally] His comment seemed to be aimed mainly at former senior intelligence officials in the Obama administration, including James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence, who said in a recent interview that Russias interference had cast doubt on Trumps win. "Our intelligence community assessment did, I think, serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his victory," Clapper said in an interview on CNN last month. He added that he worried Trump's perceived focus on the issue "transcends, unfortunately, the real concern here, which is Russian interference in our political process." Clapper could not immediately be reached to comment. Michael Morell, the former CIA deputy director who is employed by CBS News to comment on national security issues, responded to Pompeo with a post on Twitter. Pompeos caution against leaking is wise, Morell said. But, to be clear, critiquing policy is not leaking. Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.), both members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, rebuked Pompeo for his Russia comments. Wyden said in a posting on Twitter that Pompeos views on Moscow had shifted with those of the president. Pompeo's mischaracterization of the intelligence report was the latest in a series of statements from the former Republican congressman that have seemed aimed at minimizing the significance of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The intelligence report released in January noted Russias longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order but said the 2016 effort demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity and scope of effort compared to previous operations. U.S. officials have said they have seen no evidence that Russia tampered with voting systems on Election Day. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) drafted a bill that would enshrine the FBIs right to use emails and other data collected from U.S. tech companies without individualized warrants in cases related to terrorism, espionage and serious crimes. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning on Tuesday to debate in secret a bill that would reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority without imposing any new restraints on the FBIs ability to search and use the communications of Americans gathered under that law in national security and criminal prosecutions. The bill, drafted by Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), would enshrine the FBIs right to use emails and other data collected from U.S. tech companies without individualized warrants in cases related to terrorism, espionage and serious crimes such as murder and kidnapping. The legislation is aimed at revising a law often referred to as Section 702, a portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amended in 2008. It authorizes the government to gather the communications of foreign targets located overseas, a process that may incidentally sweep up the emails, phone calls and texts of Americans. The law is due to expire at the end of the year. Burrs bill would also enable the National Security Agency to restart a controversial form of email collection if a federal surveillance court agrees and Congress does not block the move within 30 days, according to individuals familiar with the draft. Burrs office did not respond to a request for comment. [NSA halts contested form of email collection] The governments power under Section 702 has been called the single most important operational statute the NSA has and the crown jewel of surveillance authorities because of the rich intelligence it yields without the government having to obtain an individualized warrant. But the law has prompted significant concerns from civil liberties advocates. In particular, they object to the fact that the communications of Americans who might be emailing with or talking to a foreign target are being gathered and potentially searched without a warrant, in what they contend is a violation of the Constitution. Burr's version, if it is not amended and some aides caution it could change before next week is likely to draw opposition from lawmakers and privacy advocates who want to see new limits placed on the government's authority to search for and use the data gathered under Section 702. Some lawmakers, such as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), want the FBI to obtain a warrant before querying the 702 database for U.S. persons' communications. They are expected to introduce their bill next week. The leaders of the House Judiciary Committee arrived at a compromise position. Two weeks ago, they introduced a reform bill that would require an agent to get a warrant not to search the database but to review or share any communications turned up in a search for evidence of a crime. But no warrant would be required in cases involving espionage or strict foreign intelligence. [Bipartisan group of lawmakers seeks to impose new curb on U.S. government spy power] Civil liberties groups say they hope the Judiciary Committee will strengthen the privacy protections in the Houses USA Liberty Act before voting on it. Another provision of Burrs draft bill, the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act, is also likely to stir criticism from privacy advocates. It would enable the NSA to revive its about collection, which it halted this year after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court raised privacy concerns. About collection involves gathering emails that are neither to, nor from, a particular foreign target but that contain a reference to that person in the emails body. It could be the persons email address, for instance. Under Burrs draft, if the NSA is able to find a technical way to restart the collection and satisfy the courts concerns, then Congress has 30 days to pass a law to block the move. That is unlikely to occur, analysts say, because President Trump would not sign a law that constrains his intelligence agencies. The USA Liberty Act would codify the ban on about collection for six years. At the end of that time, the ban could be revisited. There are some lawmakers, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who want to renew Section 702 without change and to do so permanently. But such a proposal is not likely to survive in the House, where some conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are in sync on civil liberties concerns with surveillance. Senate aides said it is far from clear that Burrs bill, if it advances without change, can get the votes needed to pass in that chamber. Similarly, the bill is unlikely to gain traction in the House, which has twice voted for a warrant requirement to search Section 702 data. It doesnt do two of the main things we must accomplish in any 702 reauthorization and reform legislation, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in an email to The Washington Post. Any bill, he said, must, at minimum, require a warrant for access to 702 information for any criminal investigation purposes. And it must end about collection, which he called a program that for a decade has swept in purely domestic communications and never complied with the Fourth Amendment. A majority of my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans alike, Nadler said, would refuse to support a reauthorization bill that does not accomplish these two necessary reforms. Iranian security forces prevented former president and opposition figure Mohammad Khatami from leaving his Tehran home late Wednesday, local media reported. It was the latest sign that regime hard-liners were seeking to crack down on the country's reformists, activists said. Two opposition-linked news sites said security forces arrived at Khatami's home in the Iranian capital to block him from meeting with political allies, a move that one outlet referred to as "temporary house arrest." Khatami, a widely popular, pro-reform cleric, served two terms as president, from 1997 to 2005, but was later banned from public appearances after supporting anti-government protests in 2009. An order from a state prosecutor this month tightened those restrictions, according to one of Khatamis lawyers, imposing measures including a three-month ban on receiving political guests. [Trump says total termination of Iran deal is very real possibility] The government did not publicly confirm the restrictions. But the incident Wednesday is being cast as part of a broader conflict between pro-reform figures, who have allied with President Hassan Rouhani, and hard-liners in the security forces and judiciary. Those rivalries are likely to be aggravated as tensions rise between Iran and the Trump administration, which has vowed a more aggressive U.S. policy toward Iran, and as Iranian political factions jockey for power. The Iranian regime never misses a chance to utilize American antagonism to its own advantage, said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Brookings Institution. On one side are the moderates and reformists, who have pushed for gradual change in the system, including greater political freedoms and more dialogue with the West. On the other side are the hard-line security forces and conservative clerics, who have balked at diplomacy and suppressed dissent. President Trumps speech on Iran last week, in which he outlined a new, aggressive strategy, gave Iranian hard-liners the opportunity to crack down against any political force that poses even a notional challenge to the authority and the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic, Maloney said. This month, an Iranian court sentenced seven reformist lawmakers, including Khatamis brother, to a year in prison for propaganda against the state. Rights activists have also reported that relatives of late president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were recently banned from traveling abroad. [Trumps national security team preaches calm over Iran deal but warns U.S. might still leave] But the moves against Khatami the 74-year-old standard-bearer of Irans reform movement are likely to raise the stakes further. Khatami remains highly popular among Irans youth and urban middle class, analysts said. His popularity as a reformer "is deeply unsettling to the intelligence and security apparatus of the Islamic republic," said Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. People "look back on his presidency and his reformist agenda with fond memories," he said. "Arguably, he is the most popular politician in Iran today." Khatami has faced pressures since the nation was hit by mass protests in 2009 after the disputed reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner, amid claims by activists and others that Iranian leaders had manipulated the vote against reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi and another presidential contender in that race, Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since 2011. [A new battle in Iraq gives Iran the upper hand] In 2015, Iranian news media were temporarily blocked from publishing Khatami's name or image. Still, in May, he defied the ban to endorse Rouhani for reelection. Since then, Rouhani has sparred with the judiciary and commanders of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps. And this month, he criticized judicial officials for the new restrictions on Khatami, adding to a string of public rebukes by Rouhani against the clerical establishment. Iran's judiciary is acting like it has "nothing better to do" than summon people for questioning, Rouhani said during a speech at Tehran University on Oct. 7. Iran's judicial chief, Sadegh Larijani, responded harshly. "If there's anyone with nothing better to do, it's you, who for the past four years has been defending the nuclear deal so passionately that it seems there are no problems in the country," Larijani said. Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran's hard-liners are sending a message to those seeking reform. "Khatami's restricted mobility, which essentially places him under house arrest, carries a message from Iranian hard-liners to reformists," he said. "It says, 'Ultimately, you are dispensable.' " Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news People gather to protest a court decision to imprison civil society leaders without bail in Barcelona on Oct. 17, 2017. (Emilio Morenatti/AP) Spain and the secessionist leaders in Catalonia were headed toward an ever-more-serious showdown following the central government's announcement Thursday that it would move quickly to assert control of the autonomous region after its president refused to end his push for independence. Facing a deadline imposed by Spains central government to say whether Catalonia was declaring independence, the regional president replied Thursday that Madrid should stop threatening Catalonia and instead agree to dialogue to end the impasse. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont answered Spains demand for clarity by sending a second letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, stating that Catalonias suspension of its declaration of independence remains in force for the moment. Puigdemont then added a threat of his own: If Madrid does not agree to talks and continues its repression of the region, the Catalan parliament will meet soon to vote on a formal declaration of independence. [Catalonia independence: What you need to know] The Catalan governments decision to effectively decline to respond to Madrids ultimatum brings Spain to the brink of a constitutional crisis. The central government in Madrid responded that it would begin the process of implementing Article 155 of Spains 1978 constitution, which allows it to take over the regional government, including its finances and police. Madrid announced a meeting of ministers for an extraordinary session Saturday where they would define what such a takeover would entail and how to achieve it. Such a move would be unprecedented in Spains four decades since the end of the Francisco Franco dictatorship. People in Catalonia and around Spain braced for what would come next. This is uncharted territory. Nobody knows what Article 155 means, because no one has ever invoked it before, Oriol Junqueras, the vice president of the Catalan regional government, told The Washington Post. Referring to the central government in Madrid, he said, they dont know what they want to do with this. Asked if he could imagine authorities entering his office and arresting him, the vice president answered, The national police and the [paramilitary] Guardia Civil have already been in this building, where they detained 14 public workers and officers. Theyve jailed leaders of civil society organizations. So yes, I can imagine this happening. The head of the Ciudadanos party, Albert Rivera, who favors implementing Article 155, told reporters in Madrid that a European democracy cannot be blackmailed by the Catalan government. Jose Luis Abalos, a leader of the Socialists, who serve as the opposition in the Spanish parliament, told El Pais newspaper that his party wants the enactment of Article 155 to be very, very limited and to last the shortest period of time possible. But he said it was necessary to preserve the rule of law. Pro-independence activists in Catalonia went into rushed meetings Thursday to organize mass demonstrations, distribute instructions for peaceful civil disobedience and plan to surround government buildings. There was widespread anxiety in Barcelona over possible clashes between national police, sent to enforce a takeover, and pro-independence demonstrators. The chief of Catalonias regional police, Josep Lluis Trapero, already has been questioned by prosecutors over his alleged failure to protect federal forces sent into the region. Two other pro-independence activists have been jailed on suspicion of sedition. Puigdemont called them political prisoners. Rajoy has warned that if Catalonia declares independence, he will seek permission from the upper house of the Spanish legislature, where his party has a majority, to enact Article 155. Catalonia, a wealthy state in northeastern Spain that has a population of 7 million and its own language and culture, already enjoys substantial control over its affairs. The regional government holds sway over health care, education, media and local police. If Madrid enacts Article 155, Rajoy could appoint his own deputies to steer the regional governments ministries. It is unclear what would happen to Puigdemont. He could remain in his position as regional president but would be effectively powerless. This month, Catalonia staged a chaotic independence referendum marked by widespread civil disobedience. It was met by a harsh response in which national police and Guardia Civil officers beat voters with rubber batons and dragged away ballot boxes. The central government, backed by the courts, had declared the referendum illegal and unconstitutional. Still, many in Catalonia demanded the right to vote and saw Madrid as callously disregarding the peoples will. Although many polling stations were raided by police, more than 2 million people managed to vote and 90 percent chose independence. Critics charge that the referendum was hopelessly compromised, not only by riot police and legal challenges but by low turnout only 40 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. After the Oct. 1 referendum, Puigdemont signed an independence declaration. But then he immediately suspended it, saying Catalonia wanted to negotiate with the central government, with help from Europe. Leaders in Europe condemned the staging of the referendum and the police tactics, stressing that it was an internal matter for Spain and that they would not recognize Catalonia as an independent nation and a member of the European Union. When Spains prime minister spoke Wednesday at the national parliament in Madrid, he was clearly frustrated. The only thing I am asking Mr. Puigdemont is that he act sensibly, that he act with balance, that he puts first the interests of all citizens, of all Spaniards and all Catalonians, Rajoy said. The central government has given Puigdemont several deadlines to declare whether the Catalan authorities were proclaiming independence. On Monday, the first deadline, Puigdemont wrote a letter to Rajoy, calling instead for two months of dialogue and a halt to what he called Spains repression of Catalan citizens and institutions. Rajoy said in parliament Wednesday: Its simple, and its not that difficult. Its answering one question: Have you or have you not declared the independence of Catalonia? Because you understand if you have declared the independence of Catalonia, the government is obliged, because that is what it says in the constitution, that it must act in a certain way. Some leaders in Madrid said that Catalonia should suspend its declaration of independence and immediately move toward regional elections. It is not clear what such elections would solve. It is possible that pro-independence sentiment has only grown in Catalonia in recent weeks. Raul Gallego Abellan contributed to this report. Read more An independent Catalonia? Leader still refusing to reveal intentions. With threats and taunts, Catalonia and Spain map out their next moves after vote Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news An Afghan soldier directs a vehicle to stop at a checkpoint in Kandahar province on Oct. 19, 2017. (Massoud Hossaini/AP) Taliban forces nearly wiped out an entire Afghan army post late Wednesday, killing 43 soldiers as they stormed a base with suicide bombers in the strife-torn southern province of Kandahar. The group also launched two attacks elsewhere that killed 15 people. In total, 58 security officers died in the bloody string of attacks on military facilities, following suicide bomb attacks this week that killed 74 people in three provinces. The attack in Kandahars Maiwand district took place Wednesday night when two Humvees packed with explosives were driven into an Afghan National Army base where 60 soldiers were stationed. Taliban fighters then assaulted the facility, setting off several hours of fighting that killed nearly every Afghan soldier there and wounded nine. The battle ended with a U.S. airstrike that killed nine Taliban fighters, NATO officials said. Dawlat Waziri, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said just two soldiers remained unharmed on the base, while six were missing. Meanwhile, Taliban fighters killed nine police officers late Wednesday in the western province of Farah during attacks on police posts there and killed six policemen in an ambush in the northern province of Balkh. Taliban attacks on Afghan military and police compounds have increased this week after U.S. officials met in Oman with delegations from Afghanistan, Pakistan and China to discuss the possibility of restarting peace negotiations with the insurgent group. While the most recent attacks were not as deadly as an April assault on a military facility in Balkh that killed at least 140 soldiers and officers, or the May bombing in Kabul that killed 91 people, this week's attacks mark a sharp upturn in the number of casualties. Afghan officials recently thwarted plans for attacks in Kabul that would have targeted military facilities, convoys and crowded areas, arresting three people in vehicles carrying explosives. Taliban fighters have been turning increasingly to Humvees, the hulking U.S.-made vehicles favored by government forces, as a tool for suicide bombs, officials said. The bulky off-road vehicles, taken from Afghan army bases in previous attacks, create more shrapnel when they explode and make it harder for Afghan guards to tell whether an approaching suicide bomber is with the Taliban, government security officials said. Sayed Salahuddin and Sharif Walid contributed to this report. Read more: Taliban attacks in Afghanistan kill more than 70 amid peace talks push Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for troop increase Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt, left, attends the launch of a project to improve wastewater treatment for Palestinian farmers, on Oct. 15 in Jericho. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images) Less than a week after rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a historic reconciliation pact, Israel and the United States said such a union could complicate Israeli-Palestinian peace. In a statement released Thursday, Jason Greenblatt, President Trumps special representative for international negotiations, said that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence and recognize Israel. He said Hamas must disarm if it wants to play any role in a future Palestinian government. Greenblatts words follow a similar tone that the Israeli government took Tuesday in stating that it would not conduct diplomatic negotiations with a Palestinian government that relies on Hamas, a terrorist organization calling for the destruction of Israel. But Palestinian officials, including Hamas in Gaza, said that Israel and the U.S. envoy are meddling in internal Palestinian matters and that the reconciliation process will continue. This is blatant interference in Palestinian affairs because it is the right of our people to choose [the Palestinian] government according to their supreme strategic interests, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told Agence France-Presse. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the reconciliation agreement must be promoted to end Israels occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state, local media reported. For 10 years, the two parts of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, were ruled by mutually antagonistic groups that only recently agreed to bury their differences. Palestinians have long believed that it is in Israels interest to keep the two factions divided, weakening the Palestinians nationally and keeping the status quo in place. The reality is that there are no peace negotiations going on, and even if there were, they would not yield anything positive, said Diana Buttu, who served as a legal adviser for the Palestinian negotiating team. The Israeli government is looking for any excuse not to negotiate, she said. They always say they want to negotiate, but the facts on the ground are exactly opposite. They refuse to remove settlements and are even celebrating 50 years of occupation. [Israel approves plans for thousands of new settlement units in the West Bank] Hillel Frisch, a senior lecturer at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said he was doubtful that Palestinian reconciliation would achieve anything anyway. I dont think Israel has to fret. It will end in a shootout at most, he said. Over the past 10 years, there have been several abortive attempts at reuniting Hamas and Fatah, but even after the two sides agreed to form a unity government three years ago, Hamas continued to run Gaza. This time, though, some Palestinian officials say conditions are more conducive. Gaza is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that has paralyzed daily life for its 2 million inhabitants. Since Hamas took control, Israel has restricted trade and movement, citing security concerns. The enclaves crossing with Egypt has remained closed. In May, Hamas, which has faced increasing isolation internationally, as well as growing hostility from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, introduced a new manifesto moderating its position toward Israel by distinguishing between Zionists and Jews. The group is still designated a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States. Its founding charter declares that its goal is to obliterate Israel. The stranglehold on Gaza worsened this summer when the Palestinian Authority asked Israel to reduce the electricity supply to the strip, demanding that Hamas pay its share of the cost. Gaza inhabitants were left with just a few hours of power a day. Losing support locally, Hamas has said it is ready to hand over administrative control to the Palestinian Authority. The deadline for this process is set for February, and Abbas is expected to visit the Gaza Strip sometime in the near future. Ghassan Khatib, a professor of political science at Birzeit University near the West Bank town of Ramallah, said the two factions still need to discuss certain issues but that for now the reconciliation arrangement serves only to address the problems in Gaza. Mr. Greenblatts statement is completely unnecessary and has negative consequences because the Palestinians are not in the process of forming a government that is not compatible with its previous commitments, he said. Moshe Maoz, an Israeli professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said the United States and Israel are overreacting. They should look at the positive side of this new arrangement. In a sense, it carries some promise, as it could be a good chance for Israel to negotiate with the entire Palestinian people, he said. Read more: Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reach unity plan after 10-year split Palestinian prime minister visits Hamas-ruled Gaza amid reconciliation efforts Cruel and indefensible: Human Rights Watch slams Hamas for holding two mentally ill Israelis Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will host a live-stream of the annual China Town Hall. The event, sponsored annually by the National Committee on U.S. China Relations, will be held 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in Centennial Hall Room 2012. La Crosse will be among more than 80 communities across the U.S. streaming the live webcast with Ambassador Susan Rice. Afterward, local speakers will talk about the sister city relationship between La Crosse and Luoyang, China. They include La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat, Michael Richards of Gundersen Health System, La Crosse Luoyang Friendship Association treasurer Angela Schlicht, Ryan McKelly of UW-L and Ryan Anderson of Viterbo University. The panelists were part of a delegation that visited Luoyang earlier this year as part of the more than 20-year sister city relationship with Chinese metropolis. The event is free and open to the public. BANGOR Jake Teske has known he wants to be a farmer since he started milking cows in the sixth grade and driving tractor the next year. To help prepare him for a successful career in the industry, the second-year agronomy student at Western Technical College was among nearly a dozen farm business and production management program students participating in a field experience near Bangor. The students got a hands-on introduction to latest tractor and harvesting equipment as well as experience taking soil samples and collecting data on field performance such as yield. While his experience farming growing up has been helpful in the program, Teske said gone are the days when someone can just take over the family farm out of high school. The technology has rapidly changed as global positioning devices and other equipment allow farmers to get a detailed look at how individual portions of their fields are doing. Farming has just changed so much over the last two decades, he said. Especially crop farming. Ive learned so much about how these plans grow through my classes. There are about 20 students in the program instructor Brad Sirianni said. Students can focus on either agronomy, the study of crops, or animal science. Classes have similar field experiences on a local animal farm, he said, exposing them what its like to work with the animals. Students also get experience with how budgeting works, such as calculating input costs for crops or animals as well as expected returns. The data the students collect and analyze is used in their classes and each year they come up with recommendations for the farmers on how to improve their operations. The number of students coming from the family farm and hoping to return has dropped in recent years as the industry and its demographics have changed. Many of the students in the program are looking to get jobs for local agribusiness companies working in positions such as agronomist, custom operator or herd manager. During the field experience, students got a demonstration of the equipment by staff from St. Joseph Equipment, which has long partnered with Westerns agribusiness program. They learned about how combines and tractors work, how to maintain and troubleshoot the different parts of the implements as well as taking a turn inside the cab learning how they operate and the technology works. It is a great opportunity to put all the in-class knowledge they have together, instructor Aimee Schomburg said. They can then take that back to the farm and their future careers. Elise Walters grew up working on beef and dairy farms in Houston, Minn. She likes the manual labor of farming and hopes to use her animal-science degree to continue working with other farmers or on her own farm. There is only so much a student can learn in class, she said, and getting outside in the fields helps with experience. Companies are looking for graduates who already have this exposure as this lowers the learning curve of a new hire. It is really useful, she said. In agriculture, you are bound to be working with this kind of technology these days. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Lets start in the usual, if not always welcome, way. With my opinion. It concerns the ongoing Winnipeg city council debate on Portage and Main: should the signature corner that was so callously closed to pedestrian crossings nearly 40 years ago be reopened or remain barricaded and essentially buried? WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Retired deputy police chief Menno Zacharias directed traffic at Portage and Main before it was barricaded and says closing the intersection was a major step for public safety. I dont get a vote most of us dont until the next civic election but Im for leaving it closed. My mind is still open, though. Not so for a Free Press reader small-businessman and taxpayer Bret Dobbin who is appalled at the idea and copied me on a letter he sent to Mayor Brian Bowman after the long-delayed consultants report on the issue was finally made public. Dobbins letter touched on some of the themes I suspect most Winnipeggers agree on: essentially, the cost to taxpayers, drivers and bus schedules doesnt merit whatever benefits the backers see. And then theres public safety, which Dobbin addressed with an invitation for Bowman to join me in attending the funeral of the first pedestrian to lose their life at this intersection. My thoughts precisely. Since Bowman hasnt been able to make a compelling case for the potential reopening of the intersection, I thought maybe a former mayor, who fought for it and lost in the 1990s, might help me cross over to her and Bowmans side. So I emailed Susan Thompson. She answered my request, using categories to make her points, starting with its identity as the citys heart and soul. What are the sayings? Where East meets West. Where, if you stood on that corner, within 10 minutes, you would bump into someone you knew. It is the intersection that new Canadians crossed when going from the CN station to the CPR station to settle our country. It is where people go to in times of celebration or challenges the red Canadian human Maple Leaf for Canadas 150 this year; it is where people gathered to Save the Jets (in 1995). She referred to the internationally recognized intersection as our centre. All cites need a natural centre. Few have it. We, Winnipeg, have one. It is one of the reasons I put up the flag standards at Portage and Main for the (1999) Pan American Games. Cities need markers to help enhance what is going on in their city. These flag standards were meant to fly the flags of the United Way when it is in campaign; of the Canada Summer Games when in Winnipeg, Thompson wrote. Portage and Main is more than just an intersection, she argued, underscoring her first point. It is a beacon to our identity. I have always maintained that we can do a whole marketing/tourism/events planning initiatives just on Portage and Main to brand our city and province. Thompson was appealing to residents emotions our love of, and pride in, Winnipeg. There was more where that came from. She was dismissive of the potential disruption to traffic. Really? I think the traffic studies say maybe by two, four minutes. Good Take a deep breath and lower your blood pressure. She also expressed confidence in Winnipeg Transit to make any needed adjustments and make it work. The former mayor then addressed the concerns Dobbin expressed so pointedly. The current naysayers talk about accidents that will be caused, etc Bunk Put a good traffic cop there (with personality). Traffic will work just fine. Thompson suggested visiting the archives and pulling out a photo of the officer who used to stand in the centre of Portage and Main directing traffic. It was a summertime photo and he was wearing a helmet, white gloves, shirt and shorts, she recalled of the photo taken circa 1918. In the winter time, this person can wear one of the buffalo coats. There are some still around. Take the attitude of making it work. I responded to her email with a thank you and a single word: wow. The former mayor, unlike the current one, had blown me away with her passionate take on the reputed windiest corner in the world. Coincidentally, in the middle of composing this column, another email popped up in the form of a blog called Policing, Politics and Public Safety, written by retired Winnipeg police deputy chief Menno Zacharias. The topic was Portage and Main and whether it should be reopened to pedestrian traffic. Zacharias is expertly qualified to answer the question. He directed traffic at Portage and Main a few years before it was barricaded and has a somewhat less romantic take on that experience than Thompson. He recalled trying to control three lanes of merging traffic cars running ambers and reds because of the congestion and pedestrians doing the same on foot because it was too cold to wait for the walk light in the winter. For Zacharias, it wasnt an internationally known heart-and-soul corner. It was the intersection from hell. The closing of Portage and Main to pedestrians in 1978, he wrote, was a major step forward in terms of public safety and traffic flow in downtown Winnipeg. Yet, Bowman and Winnipeg city council appears poised to reopen Portage and Main anyway. Have at it, Zacharias wrote. Oh, and by the way, he added, how about a few hitching posts they used to have those along Main Street as well. Remember how I said my mind is still open? Consider it closed. The way Portage and Main should stay. gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/10/2017 (1854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dave McPherson keeps the sacred fire burning near the Oodena Circle at the Forks Wednesday for the length of the MMIWG inquiry hearings taking place all week at the Radisson Hotel in Winnipeg. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is just weeks away from filing its first report to Ottawa and the weight of family expectations must be balanced against hard realities, the inquirys lead commissioner cautioned. RUTH / BONNEVILLE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS MMIWG Chief Commissioner Marion Buller as she makes statement about what was learned this week. Id like to be able to fix everything, but thats a pretty tall order, Marion Buller said after her arrival Wednesday in Winnipeg, midway through the week-long hearings at the downtown Radisson hotel. More than 75 families of the missing and murdered are registered to tell their stories this week, and more were being added daily. Some hearings Wednesday afternoon were formatted as a private sharing circles to accommodate a number of families. In testimony this week, relatives have stressed the fate of their loved ones is entangled with deep divisions in Canadian society related to the countrys history of assimilation policies. They have called for systemic changes in policing, media and the justice system, to ease the burden of discrimination they see embedded in the countrys public institutions, The social phenomenon behind the hundreds of Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada is part of the commissions work, but it cant be fixed by a single inquiry, even if it is a national one, Buller said. However, she said she and the three other commissioners are listening and they are taking the expectations into account, including criticisms families have levelled against the commission over the shape of the inquirys process. The best way we can meet families expectations is to do our work in an honest, careful and thoughtful way, Buller said. That were thorough, that we make time for families to tell their stories and that we do our research the way were supposed to. On Wednesday morning, the inquiry heard from a woman about the murder of her parents in a 1993 home invasion in St. Eustache, some 50 kilometres west of Winnipeg. Trapped in the house with her brother, Falon Farinacci was a child of nine the night Andre Ducharme killed her parents before turning the gun on himself. The murders of Sherry and Maurice Paul, a proud Metis family, were among the stalking crimes that paved the way for Canadas anti-stalking laws. It also took a heavy personal toll, leaving Farinacci and her two brothers orphans. I lost a part of me, where to go, who Im supposed to be, she said. Few stories this week have fit the stereotype of addicts or sex workers as victims. What were taking away from the stories is that the violence that Indigenous women and girls experience across Canada is pervasive. It takes more than one form. And its ongoing, unfortunately, Buller said. By weeks end, women such as Sue Caribou, a staunch advocate for justice for the missing and murdered, will have also told her story about losing multiple relatives. Caribou said shell also uncover a new layer, with her own story of domestic abuse, that unfolded at the time she was advocating publicly for police to search for her nieces remains. Tanya Nepinak, 31, vanished in 2011, after leaving her Winnipeg home to walk to a pizza place a few blocks away. She was never found, despite a police search of the Brady Road landfill Caribou and other relatives prevailed on authorities to conduct. By the time the dust settled in her personal life, Caribou said shed lost her home, a cottage property in Lac du Bonnet purchased with her residential schools settlement. The commission will meet its deadline for its interim report, said Buller. It will include initial recommendations, but no family testimony. I think Canadians will be very pleased with the interim report It will be an update of whats weve accomplished to date (and) a review of the research thats already been done, which we are required to do (under) our terms of reference, she said. alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobans are strongly opposed to the idea of paying a health tax, and the resistance cuts across political party lines, according to the results of a new poll commissioned by the Free Press. More than 70 per cent of Manitobans object to the imposition of health-care premiums, which Premier Brian Pallister raised as a trial balloon in mid-September. But its the intensity of the opposition that may give the Progressive Conservative government pause. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister According to the Probe Research survey, 53 per cent of Manitobans say they are strongly opposed to health premiums, while another 18 per cent say they are moderately opposed. Among PC supporters, the level of resistance to a potentially significant new tax is also strong. Forty-three per cent said they were strongly opposed to the idea, while another 20 per cent said they were moderately opposed. Todd MacKay, Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the poll results are pretty emphatic. Manitobans have responded to the possibility of an expensive new tax with a hard no, MacKay said. I think it would be catastrophic (politically) for the government to introduce it. The Probe survey was conducted in late September and early October just weeks after Pallister first raised the idea of a health tax at a Sept. 13 news conference. The premier expressed concern about a lack of revenues given federal plans to reduce annual health grant increases to the provinces to three per cent from six per cent. Overall, 71 per cent of Manitobans surveyed opposed a health premium, while 23 expressed support. Only three per cent of respondents strongly supported a new health tax, while seven per cent said they were unsure. The Probe poll results are sharply at odds with those of an online survey undertaken by the province. Government sources recently shared preliminary results of their online survey with the Free Press. They said their survey showed a clear majority of respondents favoured some level of health premium. Tory sources said 40 per cent of respondents indicated they would gladly pay a small premium to avoid any cuts to health services, while another 14 per cent were willing to pay a large premium to receive enhanced services. Forty per cent said they would rather endure cuts to health services to avoid paying any kind of fee. The government survey noted in some provinces families pay $75 per month in health premiums. Online surveys such as the one the PCs posted on the provinces website are much less accurate than scientific polls that are weighted to ensure representative sampling based on geography, gender, age, education and income level. It is also possible for anyone to fill out the governments online survey over and over again, further skewing the results. Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Mary Agnes Welch, a Probe research associate, said Manitobans obviously feel strongly about the issue, and it will be difficult for the Pallister government now to impose health-care premiums, if that is its intent. The premier has not revealed his intentions beyond his initial statements on the issue last month. This isnt an issue where peoples views are sort of murky or lukewarm, Welch said. More than half say they are strongly opposed to this idea. Sandi Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said shes not surprised by the results. We know that there are Manitobans now that already pay out of pocket for things like prescription drugs, and it looks like some of them will be paying out of pocket for OT (occupational therapy) and physiotherapy as well, she said. This is something else that families just cant afford. Mowat referred to the potential introduction of health fees as one step away from privatizing health-care services. However, a senior economist with the Fraser Institutes Centre for Health Policy Studies disputes that assertion, calling it a complete distraction. Bacchus Barua said with or without the introduction of premiums, Manitoba would continue to operate a universal public health system. What the government is considering is nothing more than a tax, he said. Instead of money coming out of one pocket its coming out of another. Barua said hes concerned the province is essentially looking to spend their way out of a problem by taxing more something governments across the country have done throughout much of the 2000s, with little success. While Canadian health budgets have soared in recent years, wait times for services escalated, more than doubling on average since 1993, he said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The big, second-floor courtroom is beautiful, in the way only stately old things can be: smooth marble columns and stained-glass windows, echoes of an era when golden flourishes denoted the presence of formalized power. This is a place full of echoes. The room has just one flaw, which is the acoustics are terrible echoes of footsteps, of murmurs, of lawyers prim greetings. Echoes of all the words that rise into the vaulted ceiling, and are there lost. It is Wednesday afternoon in Winnipeg, just before 1 p.m. The verdict in Mark Grants retrial for 13-year-old Candace Derksens 1984 killing is about to be read. The echoes are hushed; one observer cups a hand behind her ear, to better hear the proceedings. Judge Karen Simonsen, reading a summary of her 100-page decision, details some of the tests she applied to the evidence, including about what the DNA evidence said. Echoes haunt her voices edge, but it rings clear enough. I am not satisfied the Crown proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, she says. In the front row of the viewing gallery, Candaces parents sit still, and listen. Cliff Derksen looks at his wife, Wilma, for a long moment, and Wilma looks straight ahead. Their shoulders lean against each others, just a bit, as the judge makes it official. Wilma and Cliff Derksen speak to reporters outside the law courts Wednesday after Mark Grant was found not guilty of second-degree murder for the 1984 killing of 13-year-old Candace Derksen.. (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press files) Ten years and one conviction after he was charged with Candaces murder, Mark Grant is a free man. If the judges decision reflects truth that Grant did not commit this crime then justice was served. Yet that is true on the other possibility, too: Simonsens work on the decision, the Derksens later note, was careful and thorough. She made the call she had to make, and I respect that, Cliff said. At the end of the day, the evidence to convict wasnt there, the judge found. The DNA evidence, on which the case hinged, was fatally flawed; there was little else that tied Grant to the crime, not enough on which justice could rely. And it is right that regardless of wishes and personal beliefs a case not sufficiently proven should end with the accused going free. This is the bargain we make with justice, a necessary check on its otherwise incredible power. Still, its okay for the acquittal to be met with a public exhale, a cry of frustration, a wave of disappointment. Wilma Derksen holds a photograph of Candace. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files) Thirty-three years ago, the citys heart broke with the Derksens. We watched their grace through interminable years of unanswered questions. We watched them face the pain again in two separate trials, and the intervening appeal. If nothing else, it seemed, at least the universe might give them a closure. Thats what we always want to believe: there is purpose in this, good people will find answers, no injustice will evade accountability forever. Thats not the way the world goes, though. Out here, truth slips away into echoes we strain to hear. There is a chance the Crown will appeal the verdict, though the Derksens hope it does not. Its been almost 33 years, Wilma pointed out, and the family is ready to embrace a future without reporters and courtrooms and Crowns. Were outta here, she said later, with laughter that rang like bells on the wind. So if this is over, if this is the end of the search for Candaces killer, then let the record show the Derksens did not walk this journey alone. They let the rest of us travel with them and, along the way, showed us something precious. The courts part in all this may (or may not) be over. Candaces place in the story is not. Child Find Manitoba. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Wilmas books and advocacy on healing and justice. The new Candace House, an oasis of comfort and support for victims, will open near the law courts later this year. All of these are Candaces legacy, vibrant and real. All of these are the gift that, through the Derksens, she left us. We just want to say that it has been a real precious learning of so much, that we cherish the journey of 33 years. We can take our lives into our hands, and keep on trying to do justice better. Its in our hands. Wilma Derksen So the work goes on, and the work matters. Blocks away from the law courts, as Simonsen read her decision, a federal inquiry heard more cries of heartbreak from families of missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women. Like the Derksens, many of these families do not have the finality of a conviction. They, too, are walking that other path, the one where resilience must be found in the absence of a verdict. Its an unimaginable journey, to most of us. If there is peace at the end, the Derksens have found it. They lost a daughter; they never lost her, or their, spirit. We just want to say that it has been a real precious learning of so much, that we cherish the journey of 33 years, Wilma said. We can take our lives into our hands, and keep on trying to do justice better. Its in our hands. Echoes of time, echoes of justice. Echoes of the voice of a 13-year-old girl who, nearly 33 years ago, fell silent but was never taken away. Her parents can still hear her, still feel her presence in their lives every moment, every day. Were outta here, Wilma Derksen said, and laughed that she didnt want to do media scrums like this again. Minutes later, trailed by a television camera, she and Cliff stepped onto York Avenue, and walked away. In the big courtroom, echoes of the decision had long faded to silence, and only the wind whispered to the Derksens now. melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca Wilma Derksen holds a photograph of Candace. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files) Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/10/2017 (1854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Prime Ministers Office refused to explain Wednesday how Justin Trudeau managed to visit Winnipegs busiest fire station without the citys fire chief knowing about it. In an arbitration hearing last Thursday, Fire Paramedic Chief John Lane revealed a union leader had organized Trudeaus July 28 visit to the Osborne Street fire station without getting approval from Lane or any other senior manager within the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, informed Lane about the visit through a text message after the fact. The UFFW website shows multiple photos of Trudeau making a salad, as well as photos of Trudeaus daughter posing on a fire truck. UFFW.CA files Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest. Forrest said he had organized the visit and that there were no fire calls during Trudeaus visit. Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr was at the fire hall for the visit, which lasted more than an hour. Carr said Wednesday he wasnt familiar with how it was organized. The visit was not on itineraries sent to the parliamentary press gallery and local media. Trudeaus press secretary wouldnt detail how the visit was arranged and said the prime minister often makes private visits to community groups. The prime minister was honoured to meet and share a meal with firefighters at the Winnipeg fire hall this past July, Eleanore Catenaro wrote. This was an opportunity for the PM to recognize and personally thank these first responders for the brave and important work they do every day. Federal Conservatives and New Democrats declined to comment Wednesday, citing the lack of clarity from the PMO. The RCMP wouldnt specify Wednesday how Trudeaus security detail assesses an event, such as screening attendees beforehand or completing a canine sweep of the venue. All factors such as threat assessments, the nature and location of the event and the current environment are routinely assessed, spokeswoman Stephanie Dumoulin wrote. We adapt our security posture based on the prime ministers visits and travels as required. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA A blizzard hit the town of Churchill on Wednesday, as one of the Hudson Bay Railways (HBR) prospective owners lamented an intensifying storm of accusations between Omnitrax and Ottawa. Last Friday, the federal government gave Denver-based Omnitrax until Nov. 12 to repair the flood-damaged transportation link and resume rail service to the northern Manitoba town, or face an $18.8-million lawsuit over breach of contract. That prompted a tell-all screed by Omnitraxs Canadian head, Merv Tweed, who alleged bureaucratic ineptness on the part of Ottawa. On Wednesday, Arlen Dumas, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said hes worried the legal threat could jeopardize the purchase of the port and rail line by a consortium Ottawa had arranged. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor Arlen Dumas, Grand Chief of the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs. For more than a year, Dumas has tried to get the rail line and port into First Nations hands, and he joined forces with communities along the line this summer. He said he believed those efforts were nearing completion a month ago, until Fridays legal threat. We are extremely frustrated in what is happening, Dumas told reporters in Winnipeg. Our allies, who claimed to be helping us along the way, have, in effect, very recently degraded our efforts. In essence, they have struck a bell that is going to force the communities to have a sense of hopelessness. He panned the provinces $6-million emergency shipment of propane for winter heating and Via Rails decision to ship out its stranded, rusting rail cars, which were loaded Tuesday and should depart today after the blizzard clears. Dumas refused to share any details about the transfer talks, other than to say they have met all the concessions that have been asked of them. Meanwhile, Transport Canada pushed back Wednesday on criticisms it rebuffed a last-minute effort to pay $5 million to $10 million for an interim repair for the line. Omnitrax presented the offer Oct. 6. Some have contrasted that amount with the provinces $6-million propane shipment. But the federal agency said such a comparison is a distraction, and HBR owner Omnitrax should have footed the bill. They do not require the permission, regulatory authority, nor the recommendation of Transport Canada to repair the rail line, wrote spokeswoman Sofie McCoy-Astell, noting the agency would only oversee such operations to make sure they fit safety requirements. But the companys chief commercial officer, Peter Touesnard, scoffed at paying to fix the line. Since acquiring the railway in 1997, weve invested over $100 million with no return. We have no intention of investing any further, he wrote, saying the company said as much in June. We have continued to be very clear and consistent on this position since that time. Neither Omnitrax nor Ottawa would make staff available for interviews Wednesday. Touesnard also pushed back on claims the rail line sat on shoddy railbed, saying such a problem would have been raised in AECOMs engineering reports. Experts have said photos of washed-out track show muddy ground and rocks seemingly placed on top, rather than ballast rock pieces that interlock over permafrost to keep the line stable. We unequivocally reject any implication that work done on the line up until this catastrophe wasnt quality work, Touesnard wrote. That suggestion is not only false, but an insult to our employees who have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure service to the people of northern Manitoba in extremely challenging environmental circumstances. Transport Canada said it had inspected the part of the line that washed out five times between 2012 and 2016 for safety and standards. It said railways are responsible under federal law to inspect their equipment and maintain operations. The agency also said Omnitrax wasnt truthful in saying it invited the feds to inspect the line. Transport Canada received no request from Omnitrax to view the damage of its Hudson Bay Railway line first-hand, McCoy-Astell wrote. Omnitrax doubled down, saying the invite was communicated by its chief operating officer, Sergio Sabatini, at a June 16 meeting in Winnipeg, with the companys vice-president for business development, Trent Weber, on speakerphone. At a Wednesday news conference, Ted Bland, chief of York Factory First Nation, located on the shore of Hudson Bay, said there are growing concerns regarding the welfare of the people from his community, many of whom live in Churchill. Its not getting easier, he said. Im concerned people will go into depression because of the loss of jobs and loss of income and the difficulty supporting their families. Government needs to act. Omnitrax needs to come to the table. We need to see something happen. With files from Martin Cash dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. We will never have a full explanation for the tragic events on Oct. 1 in Las Vegas. But current research suggests the desire for fame plays a significant role in motivating mass murderers. The media can play a role in helping prevent future tragedies by not giving the perpetrators what they want. They can refuse to publish the names or photos of the people who commit these crimes. There is a growing body of research on the role played by the desire for celebrity among mass murderers. Adam Lankford and Eric Madfis, in an article that appeared in September in the journal American Behavioral Science, conclude that, based on a review of available evidence, media coverage of mass shooters rewards them by making them famous, and provides a clear incentive for future offenders to attack. Their views represent the consensus among experts. Lankford and Madfis are among the signatories on an open letter, released last week and signed by 140 scholars and law enforcement professionals who have collectively studied mass murderers, urging the media not to use the names or photos of the perpetrators. John Locher, File / The Associated Press FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 file photo, drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, following a deadly shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. Many of the perpetrators of mass shootings make their desire for fame clear. The man who shot 19 people in Tucson, Ariz., including U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, posted online before the shooting: Ill see you on National T.V.! The 2016 Orlando nightclub shooter called a local news station during his attack, and checked social media to see if he had gone viral. To make matters worse, Lankford and Madfis point to evidence suggesting that fame-driven killers seek to maximize the number of their victims, in order to garner the most attention possible and to outdo their predecessors in what Dr. Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist, calls this hall of fame of mass murderers. And the celebrity gained by these criminals also leads to what scholars call a contagion effect, where future perpetrators look to mass killers as role models. Another scholar who has studied mass murder points out that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter studied the biographies of prior attackers and posted online: Everyone knows that mass murderers are the cool kids. And at least three subsequent mass killers have cited the Sandy Hook shooter as a role model. There are a number of ways the media could improve on their current practices. For instance, they could report the initials and general information about the murderers, but refrain from giving the names. And if it is not feasible to avoid reporting the names, refusing to post the photographs of the killers would likely still be a marked improvement. We live in a highly image-conscious culture where photographs have effects that usually far surpass words. People understandably are hungry for details about the killers that might explain their actions. General biographical details still could be published, along with other details of the incidents. The laudable desire of journalists to find the truth does not need to be impeded. Incidents of mass violence always have many causes, and they will always require multiple solutions, including restrictions on firearm ownership and better mental-health services. We are not suggesting that changing how the media covers these events will make them stop, or that we should avoid implementing other useful measures. Nor do we imagine that the perpetrators names could be kept secret. There are too many sources of information on-line to make this possible. But taking away the celebrity mass killers earn for themselves would likely make a significant difference. Lives could be saved. And it would not cost any money. It would take only a willingness on the part of the media to cover these events in a slightly different way. The 2014 Isla Vista mass killer explained in his manifesto, Infamy is better than total obscurity. This is something we can refuse to give him. Neil McArthur is the director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. Darek Dawda is a Winnipeg-based clinical psychologist. Growing by 35 inmates each month, the state prison system is out of room and will need more beds within three years, the head of the states corrections system said Thursday. To be candid with you, we will need some relief and we will need it sooner than 2020, Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher told lawmakers. About 23,000 offenders reside in Wisconsins prisons and the state either needs to build a new prison or new housing units for existing prisons, Litscher said, among other measures to alleviate crowding in the system. The states prison population has more than tripled in the last 25 years, according to DOC data. In 1990, there were 6,953 inmates in the states prisons. That number jumped to 20,000 by 2000, and spiked at a little more than 23,000 in 2007 before dropping over the following years. Since 2011, the population has been rising, to more than 23,000 at the end of 2016. One of the biggest reasons more inmates are arriving at the states prisons was not unexpected: Last year lawmakers made the fourth time a person is caught driving drunk a felony and increased the penalties for every offense after that. Litscher testified before the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Technology and Consumer Protection. After the hearing, he said one possibility that could come sooner than a new prison is adding buildings to existing prisons. He said a number of prisons were built with expansion in mind. Those could be put up quicker, effectively and efficiently, he told reporters. He said the department would be looking for funding to expand in some way in the next two years. Litschers testimony came as state officials and lawmakers convened a committee to address the short- and long-term needs of the states prison infrastructure. One the most pressing needs is more space for the prisons aging population, he said. A study by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance found the current inmate population is generally older and serving more time than a decade ago. Inmates over the age of 50 nearly doubled since 2006, the study said. Another possibility to alleviate crowding could come through a proposal put forward by Green Bay-area lawmakers to require the state by 2022 to sell the 119-year-old prison in Allouez and have private contractors build a new prison and lease it to the state to operate. If the state would buy a new facility, the state also would be required to pay to the community an amount annually that is equal to the property taxes paid by the previous owner of the facility. An estimate from the Department of Administration said a new 1,300-bed maximum-security prison could cost $309 million to build. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement that county officials there have been working to reduce the number of inmates in the prison system through implementing programs that seek to reduce the number of people expensively cycling through our criminal justice system when they really need mental health or substance abuse treatment. ... We will need some relief (for prison overcrowding in the state) and we will need it sooner than 2020. Jon Litscher, Department of Corrections secretary Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/10/2017 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. One orb to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. Five months ago, during U.S. President Donald Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia, he was invited to open the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. (Im not making that up.) The huge, darkened room they were in looked like a cross between a starship bridge and a television control room. And there was a photo op, as there always is at these events, but this one was different. There was a glowing orb on a pedestal, with the continents in black and the seas in pale grey. Trump, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah El-Sisi all put their hands on it as if they owned it and held the pose for almost two minutes. Saudi Press Agency / The Associated Press Files Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (from left), Saudi King Salman, U.S. first lady Melania Trump and U.S. President Donald Trump visit the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The radiant globe (and the illuminated floor) lit their faces from below. If you want to make somebody look evil, light the scene dramatically from underneath, and they did look evil in a comic-book sort of way. Like the three witches in Macbeth, conservative commentator Bill Kristol suggested. And everybody knew that their curses were aimed at Iran. Now Trump has directed more curses at Iran, declaring he will pull the United States out of the 2015 agreement that prevents Iran from developing nuclear weapons for the next 10 years. Or rather, he has announced that Congress will do that but the Republicans probably dont have enough votes in the Senate to make it happen. Why didnt he do it himself? Maybe he just wanted to share the blame. Every one of Trumps senior officials and advisers has told him not to do it, and so have all of Americas allies. Every other signatory to the treaty Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union also says it will continue to abide by it no matter what the United States does. Trump says Iran is cheating on the deal, but Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran is implementing it faithfully, and all the other signatories agree. Trump doesnt like the fact that Iran tests ballistic missiles or supports dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and says its actions are against the spirit of the treaty, but those things were not part of the deal. If there is one thing Trump understands, its contracts. If the words are in the contract, then its part of the deal. If they arent, then its not part of the deal. There is nothing in the treaty with Iran that says it has to do everything the United States wants, and nothing either that says it must not do things that Washington does not like. Its strictly about Iran not working on nuclear weapons and the other countries dropping their sanctions against Iran. And why does Trump want to kill the treaty, anyway? One reason is that he is pursuing a bizarre vendetta against ex-president Barack Obama, seeking to erase every one of his legislative and diplomatic achievements, regardless of their value. But he has also fallen in with bad company. Trump really is one of the three witches now: he has joined the alliance of conservative Arab states against Iran, although it doesnt serve any imaginable U.S. interest to get involved in a fight between Saudi Arabia and Iran. You can blame that choice on Trumps ignorance, perhaps, but Saudi Arabia and Israel are run by well-informed and intelligent people. Why do they want to cancel the nuclear deal? On the face of it, it makes no sense. If your choice is between Iranian nuclear weapons some time after 2025 (if the treaty isnt renewed or extended before then), or Iranian nuclear weapons in one or two years time (if it is abrogated now), why would you prefer the latter? Yet they do. Their unspoken calculation may be that if the nuclear agreement does get trashed, then there will eventually be a war but the United States will be on their side. There is no doubt that Trump can pull out of the treaty even if Congress will not do it for him. He just has to declare new sanctions against Iran, which is well within his power. And if he does, other Western companies trading in Iran will find themselves banned from the huge American market unless they go along with the ban, so they will probably comply no matter what their governments say now. But even if all that comes to pass, Trump cannot stop Iran from making nuclear weapons once the treaty is gone. The United States probably would suffer no grave damage as a result, as it is a long way from Iran. The Arab states and Israel could suffer greatly, but turkeys vote for Christmas all the time. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries. Last Friday, the California Department of Public Health declared a statewide public emergency over the recent outbreak of Hepatitis A. The declaration will allow the state to purchase more vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers after hitting the limit on a special free vaccine program run by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak has been centered in San Diego, though cases have been reported in Santa Cruz and Los Angeles counties as well as in San Francisco. The death toll from San Diegos ongoing outbreak reached 19 on Tuesday according to health department updates. Cases of the disease have shown a rise from 409 to 507 according to the county Health and Human Services Agency. The citys substantial homeless population has suffered the brunt of the epidemic. The countys public health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten, suggested that the outbreak might be slowing, noting that fewer new cases have been reported this week than the weekly total from a few months ago. She urged caution, however, saying that the long incubation period of the virus may mean the number of new cases could still surge over the course of the next few weeks. We have to be cautious. We know that this virus has an incubation period of 15 to 50 days, and we know that there are cases out there that just havent started to show symptoms yet, Wooten told The San Diego Union-Tribune. So far the county has been relying on mass vaccinations as well as the installation of hand-washing stations and portable toilets around the city in areas where homeless individuals congregate to combat the spread of the disease. Last week, the county reported that 68,500 Hepatitis A vaccinations had been given since March, when the outbreak was first reported. Almost 100 hand-washing stations and portable toilets have been placed around the city, while contractors have power washed the streets with bleach in some areas. The county did not say how much vaccine was on hand, but said there was enough to inoculate the most at-risk groups in the city, including the homeless, drug users, those with existing liver diseases, gay men, and those with weak immune systems. Those who fall outside of these groups are advised to wait, due to the limited amount of vaccine available. We are asking health providers to not vaccinate those individuals right now, said Wooten, advising them to wait until the beginning of next year when more vaccine is expected to be available. It is unclear by how much the nations supply of hepatitis A vaccine has been depleted, given that there are outbreaks in several states. The CDC has not said how much of the supply remains, citing proprietary issues. The CDC said it is in direct communication with the two manufacturers. While the initial official response was to call for everyone to get a vaccination, now the strategy has shifted toward those most at risk, confounding prevention efforts. The county has sent more than 500 foot-team missions to areas where homeless individuals gather to administer shots, as well as shelters and other nonprofits that serve the homeless. Volunteers, in addition to paramedics, will be granted temporary vaccination powers by the state after completing a four-hour training course before November. Wooten told the Union-Tribune it would take about 80 percent of the at-risk population being immunized to create a herd immunity to prevent the disease from spreading. She said there were an estimated 125,000 intravenous drug users in the county and about 9,000 to 25,000 homeless people. Hepatitis A is a disease spread though feces, either though swallowing contaminated food or in the presence of unsanitary conditions. The symptoms, including fever, fatigue, abdominal pain, and vomiting, can last up to two months. The disease can be fatal especially to those with liver conditions and can easily spread before any of the symptoms are apparent. The virus is especially hard to kill and can live for months outside the body on objects and surfaces. The cost of fighting the disease has been substantial. The county reports spending nearly $3 million since the outbreak began in March, mainly for public nurses to visit homeless camps and administer vaccines. The city council also approved up to $2.2 million in payouts to contractors who power wash the streets and stand guard outside newly installed public bathrooms. The county predicts it will continue to have to spend at least $1.5 million a month to stop the spread of the diseases. While city officials have said they have enough funds to cover costs, some have pointed to the citys $32 million budget deficit and are wondering if the county can pay. As for the root causes of the outbreak, widespread homelessness and social decay, the city has brushed the problem out of public view. Last month, the San Diego Police Department cleared hundreds of homeless tents out of the East Village near downtown. The homeless used to be tolerated there from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., but now have been told they can never set up tents again. The city has set up a campground with spaces for 200 tents in a city-owned parking lot near downtown. The facility, which does not even begin to solve the problem of homelessness in San Diego, will only be available for 60 to 90 days. It will close when the city opens three large industrial tents in December, each providing beds for up to 100 people. However, there are more than 9,000 people living in shelters or outdoors according to the latest homeless survey. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) won the state election in Lower Saxony last Sunday. The SPD led the state poll for the first time since 1998, winning 36.9 percent of the vote. However, the partys gain of 4.3 percent could not make up for the losses of its former coalition partner. The Greens lost 5 percent, winning just 8.7 percent of the total. This means that the SPD and Greens lack a majority to form a new administration. The coalition in Lower Saxony was the last red-green alliance at a state level. Now just 2.5 million German citizens are governed by such a combination, in the cities of Hamburg and Bremen. At the beginning of last year this total population under SPD-Green coalition rule stood at 40 million. The end of the red-green coalition, however, failed to diminish the festive mood in the SPDs Berlin headquarters, the Willy Brandt House. After losing four elections since the beginning of the yearin the states of Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein, North-Rhine Westphalia and finally in the federal (Bundestag) electionthe vote in Lower Saxony was frenziedly celebrated. SPD leader Martin Schulz spoke of a grandiose election victory, which had initiated a turnaround in SPD fortunes. In fact, the result in Lower Saxony will only make the forming of an administration at state and federal level even more difficult. The provisional official result on Monday revealed that the Christian Democratic Union won 33.6 percentits worst result since 1959. This, despite the fact that the party had led in the polls for some considerable time. The neo-liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) also lost votes (-2.4 percent) and landed behind the Greens, with 7.5 percent. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will enter the state parliament with 6.2 percent, while the Left Party (4.6 percent) failed to clear the 5 percent hurdle necessary for participation. Voter turnout rose from 59.4 to 63.1 percent, and the SPD was evidently able to win votes from among elderly voters who had abstained in previous elections. In addition, electoral analysis revealed that some Green voters had cast their votes for the SPD in order to prevent an election victory by the CDU. Possible ruling coalitions in the state include a grand coalition of the SPD and CDU, a coalition of the SPD, FDP and Greens, or a so-called Jamaica coalition, of the CDU, FDP and Greens. Following the federal election, chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) declared her preference for such a Jamaica coalition at a federal level. For its part the FDP has already ruled out any coalition with the SPD in Lower Saxony. On the eve of the vote, the Greens left open their attitude to a Jamaica coalition, but signaled a willingness to talk. The head of the SPD in the state, Stephan Weil, declared he was prepared to hold talks with all parties apart from the AfD. The election result has considerable repercussions for federal policy. Negotiations between the parties on the formation of the next federal government were postponed to await the result of the election in Lower Saxony, but in the event, all the parties vying to form a Jamaica coalition lost votes in Lower Saxonya combined total of almost 10 percent. This has weakened the hand of the chancellor in the coalition negotiations, and disputes in the conservative camp are increasing. The influential CDU Economic Council declared that the leadership around Merkel shared the blame for the defeat in Lower Saxony. Secretary General Wolfgang Steiger told the Bild newspaper that the key lies unfortunately in the Berlin electoral evening on September 24, when the devastating loss of more than 8 percent (for the CDU) was talked up into a strategic victory. Christian Social Union General Secretary Andreas Scheuer also regarded the defeat as a new alarm signal for the Union (CDU and CSU). He announced a sharper profile for the CSU in forthcoming talks about a Jamaica alliance at federal level. Faced with these conflicts in the Union, the Greens are desperately trying to prevent a breakdown of coalition negotiations with the conservatives and neo-liberals. The Greens, the former protest party founded in 1980 by leaders of the 1968 student movement, are prepared to go to any lengths to return to the fleshpots of power. The partys twists and turns on its road to the right leave one breathless. It is presently involved in eight different coalitions in 10 different states. Just one week after the Bundestag election a conference of the Greens agreed to participate in coalition negotiations with the CDU/CSU and the FDP. The left wing of the Greens plays an important role in this respect. Jurgen Trittin, ex-Maoist, former Environment Minister and a driving force in the Greens, is a much sought-after guest on television talk shows and for interviews. He justified cooperation with the CDU and the Free Democrats by claiming that the Greens could help contain the right-wing policies of a Jamaica alliance. In fact the Greens agree with the Christian Democrats and the neo-liberals on all central issues of foreign policy, militarism, and the arming of the state. In 1998 the Greens, as part of the first-ever red-green federal government, paved the way for the first foreign military operation of the Bundeswehr, in Yugoslavia. The party then advocated German military participation in both the Libyan war and the Syrian conflict. In 2014, the Greens actively supported the Maidan coup in Ukraine and accused the German government of not being tough enough against Russia. The Greens are in favour of the European Union, the setting up of a European army and the plans proposed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who is implementing his own European vision via a permanent state of emergency and drastic labor market reforms. A degrading spectacle unfolded Tuesday in Washington, as Alexis Tsipras, prime minister of Greece and leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), visited US President Donald Trump. Prostrating himself before America's right-wing president at a joint press conference, the leading representative of Europes middle-class left boasted that Greece was safe for Wall Street and the Pentagon. Under conditions in which the Trump administration is despised by masses of workers in Greece and throughout Europe, the Greek prime minister declared US-Greek relations to be at their best since the end of World War II. Tsipras made clear that after nearly three years of devastating European Union austerity imposed by his government on the working class, there are lots of profits to be made in Greece. Smiling as Trump praised the Syriza governments continued implementation of reform and announced that it will spend $2.4 billion on upgrading US-made F-16 fighter jets, Tsipras hailed the common democratic principles he shares with Trump. Officials in Greece, he said, look forward to attracting US investments. Tsipras made an unambiguous appeal to the US war machine. He and Trump alluded to the fact that Athens and Washington plan to upgrade the US naval base at Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete and open a new US base elsewhere on the island, putting US forces in range of key war theaters such as Syria and Iraq. Claiming that Washington helps Greece with fundamental national concerns in the areas of security and defense, Tsipras asked Trump to help resolve Greco-Turkish conflicts over Cyprus. Tsipras hailed American policy in the Middle East and the Balkans, where US wars have claimed millions of lives and turned tens of millions into refugees. The United States, he said, promotes cooperation with the Middle East and the Balkans, which contribute to the security and the growth of the area. Tsipras dismissed a journalist who recalled that, during the US presidential election last year, Tsipras called the prospect of a Trump victory evil. Tsipras said, The US is a very strong power and its ability to intervene for good is very, very important We have common values. Tsipras statement that he shares common values with Trump is a devastating indictment not only of Syriza, but of all the left parties of the affluent middle class that promoted Syriza and its 2015 election victory. It is the culmination of a strategic experience of the international working class. Petty-bourgeois post-Marxist parties worldwide, such as Spains Podemos, Frances New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA), Germanys Left Party and the International Socialist Organization (ISO) in the United States, hailed the election of Syriza in January 2015. Emerging from the post-1968 student movement and sharing a postmodernist rejection of the revolutionary role of the working class and of Marxism, they all promoted Tsipras lying promises to negotiate an end to EU austerity. They dreamed of following Tsipras path and leading a capitalist government. Podemos General Secretary Pablo Iglesias campaigned with Tsipras in Greece, hailing Tsipras as a lion and shouting, Syriza, Podemos, we will conquer! The NPA declared, The election victory of Syriza is excellent news. It fills everyone with hope who is fighting against austerity in Europe. The ISO, whose Greek affiliates were inside Syriza and went into government with Tsipras, called Syrizas victory a precondition for the final victory of the whole of the left and of our people. The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) alone warned that the anti-Marxist, pro-capitalist and nationalist character of Syrizas program was a trap, advancing instead the perspective of the international revolutionary mobilization of the European working class against austerity, in solidarity with the Greek workers. The ICFIs criticisms of Syriza were vindicated by Tsipras disgusting betrayal of his election promises. Syriza took office after mass protests of Greek workers and youth against austerity, pledging to cancel the EU austerity Memorandum. When Berlin threatened to expel Greece from the euro zone, however, Syriza capitulated almost overnight. It agreed four weeks after coming to power to respect the EU Memorandum, then trampled underfoot the landslide no vote of the Greek people in Syrizas own referendum on EU austerity in July 2015. It imposed billions of euros in new cuts. In the run-up to the 2015 Greek election, as Tsipras toured the major imperialist capitals to reassure the international bourgeoisie of his reliability, the World Socialist Web Site repeatedly warned of the pro-capitalist and pro-European Union program of Syriza. In 2013, the WSWS wrote on Tsipras first trip to the Brookings Institution in Washington, where he auditioned for the Greek prime ministership with the US State Department, the International Monetary Fund and the CIA. Tsipras, the WSWS noted, got top marks: the IMF called him constructive and sincere, and Syriza said Tsipras and the State Department had reached a common assessment. Tsipras told his Brookings Institution audience, I hope Ive convinced you that Im not as dangerous as some people think I am. Syrizas petty bourgeois allies only grew more enthusiastic as they read such reports. The more Tsipras went to Washington, New York and the European capitals over the ensuing months to reassure the banks, the more loudly and insistently these forces promoted him, with one eye fixed on their stock portfolios and the other on their chances of becoming government ministers. Critical strategic lessons must be drawn. After a quarter-century of escalating imperialist war and austerity since the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union, European capitalism has failed. The moribund character of Greek capitalism, with 21 percent unemployment (42 percent among youth) despite boosted competitiveness from wage cuts of 40 percent on average, is only one of the sharpest expressions of a broader crisis. As the ICFI explained in its 2015 statement The Political Lessons of Syrizas Betrayal in Greece, the only genuine alternative lies in a return to the revolutionary traditions of the Bolshevik Party, which led the working class to power in the October Revolution a century ago, and of Trotskyism. As the ICFI stated: The only way forward is through a genuinely revolutionary policy, mobilizing the working class in Greece and internationally in struggle. It requires a direct assault on the capitalist class, the confiscation of their wealth, the seizure of the major banks and productive forces, in order to place them under the democratic control of working people, and the creation of workers states across Europe and the world. Such struggles require the building of Marxist parties to offer political leadership to the working class, in ruthless struggle against parties like Syriza. The Marxist parties that are to be built are sections of the ICFI, the only political tendency that told the workers the truth about the reactionary class character of Syriza. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe In the latest fallout from the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal, Channing Tatum is ditching his film adaptation of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock at the Weinstein Company. The actor and producer announced Wednesday in a statement with producing partner Reid Carolin that they are halting development on the adaptation of Matthew Quicks 2013 novel which focuses on a teenager who plans to kill his best friend and then himself following experiences of sexual abuse. The pic would have marked their co-directorial debut. Tatum also said hes cutting ties with TWC, which has fired Weinstein and kicked him off its board in the wake of the far-reaching controversy. Tatum posted the statement on his social media pages. He credited the women who have stepped forward since the scandal erupted on Oct. 5 following the publication of an explosive New York Times story. The brave women who had the courage to stand up and speak their truth about Harvey Weinstein are true heroes to us, read the statement. They are lifting the heavy bricks to build the equitable world we all deserve to live in. Our lone project in development with TWC Matthew Quicks brilliant book, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is a story about a boy whose life was torn asunder by sexual abuse, he said. While we will no longer develop it or anything else that is property of TWC, we are reminded of its powerful message of healing in the wake of tragedy. This is a giant opportunity for real positive change that we proudly commit ourselves to. The truth is out lets finish what our incredible colleagues started and eliminate abuse from our creative culture once and for all. The brave women who had the courage to stand up & speak their truth about Harvey Weinstein are true heroes to us https://t.co/pdOa4KNhvL Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) October 18, 2017 Related stories Story continues Harvey Weinstein Scandal Not Expected to Impact Political Fundraising Are Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump the Same Person? A TV Executive Sexually Assaulted Me: A Critic's Personal Story Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts! A Delaware woman worried about being deported even though she was in the country legally was charged with murder earlier this week after allegedly drowning her 5-month-old son and his 5-year-old half-brother, police say. Kula Pelima, 30, of Wilmington, was taken into custody and charged Monday night with two counts of first-degree murder, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said at a news conference on Tuesday. The baby, Solomon Epelle, is her biological son, police said. The older boy, Alex Epelle, 5, is her boyfriends son with another woman. Pelima is being held at the Baylor Womens Correctional Institution on a $2 million cash bond, Tracy said. It is unclear Wednesday whether she has retained an attorney. She has not yet entered a plea. Pelima called 911 at 3:45 a.m. Monday saying she was worried about being deported because her boyfriend the boys father had been detained by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tracy said on Tuesday. Pelima immigrated to the United States from Liberia at age 10 and is in the country legally, Tracy said. Nonetheless, She was concerned about her immigration status, he told reporters. 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. Federal officials had picked up Pelimas boyfriend, Victor Epelle, who is from Nigeria, on Oct. 6, Tracy said. He did not have more information about why Epelle was detained. According to the police chief, the officer who responded to Pelimas first 911 call on Monday told her that they were not going to arrest her. Tracy said the officer gave her the number for a help-line to call for further information. The officer saw the 5-year-old boy and did not notice anything that was amiss, he said. Hours later, about 8:30 a.m., Pelima called 911 again. This time, she allegedly confessed she had drowned her son and the older boy, according to Tracy. Story continues Pelima allegedly sounded controlled when she called authorities to say the boys were dead, Tracy said. She did not sound like someone that just murdered two children. When police arrived, she showed them to a tub where officers found the boys bodies. PEOPLEs special edition True Crime Stories: 35 Real Cases That Inspired the Show Law & Order is on sale now. The stoves gas was also on in the home, Tracy said. Calls Wednesday to prosecutors and Wilmington police were not immediately returned. Describing the deaths as tragic, Tracy said Tuesday, We all have the questions: Why would someone go through and do what theyve done? We dont have the answers either. Celebrities are banding together to #RejectTheNRA in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting the deadliest to date on U.S. soil and they have a very specific plan to do so. Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, John Slattery, Sheryl Crow, and Adam Scott are some of the stars featured in a new PSA that targets efforts to roll back safety laws on gun silencers and concealed carry reciprocity legislation. The Creative Council for Everytown for Gun Safety, which Moore started in 2015, announced a plan to send one million phone calls to Congress until the next vote in 2018 to urge representatives to reject the agenda of the National Rifle Association. The PSA offers simple instructions on how to do so by connecting callers with Everytown, the gun advocacy nonprofit, and guidelines on what to say. Other celebrities joining the new PSA include Jack Antonoff, Kathryn Hahn, Samuel Harris, Zazie Beetz, Cynthia Rowley, Natalie Morales, Moby, and Laura Dern. All of them urge Congress to oppose the SHARE Act, which, as they say, would roll back gun silencer safety laws and could make mass shootings even more deadly. They also highlight concealed reciprocity legislation, which would allow gun owners to carry firearms across state lines. I feel really strongly that the time has come to reject the NRAs dangerous agenda and put the safety of all Americans first, Beetz and McCarthy said in the video. We should not make it easy for people with dangerous histories to buy silencers, Moore added. Moore was incited to be a gun control advocate by the Sandy Hook massacre, which left 20 children and six adults fatally shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012. At that moment, it felt ridiculous to me, and irresponsible as a parent and as a citizen, that I was not doing something to prevent gun violence, she explained in an essay. Simply keeping the news away from my child was putting my head in the sand. I wasnt helping her, or anyone else, by doing that. So I decided to learn more. On the set of Morning Joe Thursday, co-host Mika Brzezinski bluntly declared that she agreed with a North Korean officials assessment that President Donald Trump is mentally ill. Theyre saying what a lot of people are thinking, said Brzezinski. The president is mentally ill. I was going to say, Mika, youve got a mind meld with some people in North Korea, joked her co-host and fiance, Joe Scarborough. Also Read: Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough 'Absolutely' Expected Trump to 'Turn On Us' (Video) Brzezinski continued a nasty monologue that also impugned Trumps intelligence. You think about the missions we have in places like Niger and there is no way President Trump has the intellectual capacity to even understand what we are doing, she said. Which I think brings the possibility of war even closer to the forefront. I think were in a very dangerous place. I think the president is a very dangerous man because of his lackings. Also Read: Mika Brzezinski Threatens to Pull Out of Weinstein Books Deal 'Unless Harvey Resigns' Its far from the first time speculation about Trumps mental health has been featured on set. Both hosts have taken heat in the past for spending air time on the subject. In recent months, Scarborough has made a show of shutting down the subject when the conversations veers in that direction. Related stories from TheWrap: Mika Brzezinski Threatens to Pull Out of Weinstein Books Deal 'Unless Harvey Resigns' 'Morning Joe': Mika Thumps Trump's North Korea Tweets: 'You Are a 70-Year-Old Man Stop' (Video) Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough 'Absolutely' Expected Trump to 'Turn On Us' (Video) 'Morning Joe:' Mika Brzezinski Thinks Trump 'Doesn't Really Seem to Be There' In his first television interview since the Las Vegas mass shooting, Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, along with building engineer Stephen Schuck. Campos gave his account of being the first person on site during the shooting that left 58 dead and hundreds injured. Campos was sent to inspect a fire door that had been propped shut by the gunman. He originally thought the sound of the gunshots from the automatic weapons was drilling. Campos then calmly recounted the moment he was shot by the gunman: As I was walking down, I heard rapid fire, and at first, I took cover. I felt a burning sensation; I went to go lift my pant leg up, and I saw the blood. Thats when I called it in on the radio that shots have been fired. Schuck walked down the hall moments later. Campos yelled to Schuck, Take cover! Take cover! Schuck then described bullets immediately flying by his head. Thanks to Campos, Schuck was unharmed. Campos also alerted another guest to take cover in her room. Campos and Schuck both took the time to thank the first responders, medical staff, the Las Vegas community, and people at the concert for helping during the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Ellen DeGeneres said that she wanted to give the two men money for their bravery, but the two humbly declined. Watch: Ellen DeGeneres tells Megyn Kelly why she wont let Trump on her show: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. For obvious reasons, death and what happens after we die is largely a mystery to those of us still alive. However, we just learned something very interestingand very creepy. As if the idea of dying wasnt scary enough, scientists have discovered that your brain may continue to work after death. No, you wont be working on complicated math problems as your body lays lifeless, but according to Dr. Sam Parnia, you may be aware that youve died because your consciousness will continue to work even after your body has stopped showing signs of life. So, technically, you could possibly hear the exact moment paramedics announce your death or maybe final words from loved ones. Dr. Sam Parnia and his team at NYU Langone School of Medicine in New York City have been studying people whove suffered cardiac arrest, were pronounced dead, but then later revived. Many of those who participated in the study reported to have had full awareness of the conversations happening around them and were even able to recall the things they saw after they were pronounced dead. Wait, what? If youre a little skeptical, you might be wondering how can we be sure the participants of the study werent just making things up? Well, the accounts were later verified by the people who were present during the time of their deaths. Dr Sam Parnia said our time of death is based on the moment when the heart stops. Once that happens, blood no longer circulates to the brain, which means brain function halts almost instantaneously. You lose all your brain stem reflexes your gag reflex, your pupil reflex, all that is gone. So, how does the brain continue to function after blood circulation stops? Back in 2013. researchers at the University of Michigan provided evidence that suggests that there is a sudden burst of brain energy as were taking our last breaths. Were not sure how we feel about possibly hearing or seeing the happenings around us after weve been declared dead and were really in no rush to find out. So for now, well just take the word of the professionals. Happy Halloween, we guess? The Hotel of Doom in Pyongyang looms over the city - This content is subject to copyright. It could be yet another false dawn, but it appears that - after 30 years of gathering dust - North Koreas so-called "Hotel of Doom" might be nearing completion. The imposing pyramid structure has loomed over the nations capital, Pyongyang, for three decades, but construction has stalled time and time again, leaving the building merely an expensive shell. However, new satellite images appear to show work has restarted on the 3,000-room, 105-storey establishment officially known as the Ryugyong Hotel, with cranes and building trucks milling around its base. There have also been rumours that officials plan to open parts of the landmark to the public in the near future. German tourist Till Mosler, who visited Pyongyang recently, said his guides in the city boasted that the hotel would soon be finished. The Ryungyong Hotel has been vacant for 30 years Credit: Getty During my stay I realised some work activity around the entrance hall and surroundings. It seems the area around the building will be prepared, he said. Also our Korean guides told us that there might be plans to open some parts of the building for public or offices. But not the whole building so far as they know. Another tourist, Sophie Delaloye, said that her guides showed a mixture of pride and embarrassment when discussing the giant structure. In numbers | The Ryugyong Hotel Last December, Telegraph Travel reported that lights had been spotted inside the hotel for the first time in years, while Egyptian development company Orascom, thought to behind the construction, was in Pyongyang to discuss its future. Work on the building began in 1987, as then leader Kim Il-Sung set his sights on developing the countrys tourism industry. Construction cost a reported 470 million, which at the time was equivalent to two per cent of North Koreas Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the project was abandoned in 1992 as North Korea fell on hard times following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its leading benefactor. things facts you didn't know about north korea Story continues According to the author Marcus Noland, who has written extensively about North Korea, an inspection by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in the Nineties concluded that the hotel was irreparable. Poor quality concrete and crooked elevator shafts were cited as the main issues with the building. Undeterred, the North Korean regime has tried on several occasions to revive the ill-fated project. In 2008, windows were finally added and in the same year an opening date of 2012 was announced, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Eternal President, Kim Il-Sung. Such great heights | The world's tallest hotels (feet) For all its grandiose ambitions, the building does not, at 1,080 feet, rank among the worlds top 50 tallest buildings. However, it would take fourth spot in a list of the world's tallest hotels. Even if it does open its door, few Britons will be spending the night. In August, the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to North Korea in the wake of heightened tension between the communist nation and the West. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] First Lady Melania Trump will soon say goodbye to the custom Herve Pierre gown she wore to the Inaugural Ball on January 20. This week, Trump will follow a 105-year-old tradition that began in 1912 and will donate her dress to the Smithsonians National Museum of American History, specifically to a collection for its First Ladies exhibition. Mrs. Trump had a passion for design starting at very young age, and had a very precise idea of what she wanted to wear for the historic evening, Trumps Communications Director Stephanie Grisham told CNN. She is honored to be able to donate her couture piece to such an iconic exhibit at the Smithsonian. Melania is set to participate in the gown presentation ceremony at D.C.'s National Museum of American History Friday at 10 a.m. According to Lisa Kathleen Graddy, curator of the museum's First Ladies Collection, the act has been a tradition followed by every First Lady since Helen Herron Taft. RELATED: President Trump's First Wife Ivana Says She Wouldn't Trade Places with Melania Since then, its become the custom for the Smithsonian to make the donation request, and for the First Lady to give her gown for the public to view, she told CNN. The Smithsonian reportedly works to put together a mannequin that resembles each First Ladys figure and begins working with the garment after the inauguration. Designer Herve Pierre, formerly creative director at Carolina Herrera, will attend Friday's event as well. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met back in 2016, and their life has been a whirlwind ever since. From their secret courtship to their fairytale wedding, a growing family, and a move across the pond, here is the history of their royal relationship. How they met Harry and Markle first made each other's acquaintance on a blind date in early July, 2016. "We were introduced actually by a mutual friend," Harry revealed during the couple's first sit-down interview with the BBC following their engagement announcement. (E! News claims Harry's friend Violet von Westenholz is the one who introduced them, but others have speculated it was fashion designer Mischa Nonoo.) Despite Prince Harry's global fame, Markle says she didn't have a lot of preconceived notions about who he was before they met. "Because Im from the States, you dont grow up with the same understanding of the royal family," she explained during the BBC interview. "I didnt know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, 'Well is he nice?' Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didnt seem like it would make sense." The two hit it off immediately. "We met for a drink," said Markle, "and then I think very quickly into that we said, 'Well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.'" At the photo call in the Kensington Palace gardens following their engagement announcement, Harry was asked when he knew Markle was the one. He quickly replied, "the very first time we met." Things moved quickly from there. The couple went on a second date and Prince Harry then invited Markle to accompany him on a trip to Africa just three or four weeks later. "I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana and we camped out with each other under the stars," he said, describing the whirlwind romance. "Then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other." Story continues Photo credit: YouTube The news gets out. After four months of quiet dating, the news finally leaked on October 31, 2016 that Prince Harry was dating an American actress. A source told the Sunday Express that Harry is happier than hes been for many years and is "besotted" with the Markle. According to Palace Papers author Tina Brown, "a servant tip from the House of York" led to tabloids discovering Harry and Meghan's relationship. (More on that here.) On the same day, Markle posted a sweet photo on her Instagram of two bananas spooning, possibly hinting at the new love in her life. Of this period, Markle later said: "We had a good five, six months almost with just privacy, which was amazing." Meghan meets the family. In November 2016, the Vancouver Sun published an interview with Markle promoting her collection for retailer Reitmans. In the interview, she discussed her collaboration with Reitmans, her charity work with World Vision, and her plans for the holidays. Though she avoided any mention of Harry, she happily said, So, my cup runneth over and Im the luckiest girl in the world! Around the same time, People reported that Harry had already introduced the actress to his father, Prince Charles. Harry makes a statement in defense of Meghan. Harry confirmed his relationship with Markle in a formal statement November 8, 2016. In the statement, Harry also pleads the press and trolls on social media to stop the wave of abuse and harassment" that had been directed at his girlfriend. Photo credit: Getty Images According to Harry, he has been involved with nightly legal battles to stop the media from publishing defamatory stories about Markle and their relationship. Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markles safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm. He knows commentators will say this is the price she has to pay and that this is all part of the game. He strongly disagrees. This is not a game - it is her life and his. During the BBC interview, Harry revealed that both he and Markle were taken aback by the media scrutiny. "I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction." Many assumed that Markle would be prepared for the onslaught of attention because she had been in the public eye as an actress, but little could have prepared her for what was to come. "There was a misconception that because I have worked in the entertainment industry that this would be something I would be familiar with," she said. "But I've never been part of tabloid culture. I've never been in pop culture to that degree and and lived a relatively quiet life." Photo credit: Getty Images Her answer, she told the BBC, was to tune out the noise. "I think we were just hit so hard at the beginning with a lot of mistruths that I made the choice to not read anything, positive or negative. It just didn't make sense and instead we focused all of our energies just on nurturing our relationship." On November 18, she shared a Mahatma Gandhi quote on her Instagram, which many people interpreted as a response to Harry's statement on their relationship. Even Prince William is forced to weigh in. On November 27, 2016, Prince William released a statement to clear up rumors that he was unhappy with his brother's decision to open up about his relationship. A portion of the statement reads, The Duke of Cambridge absolutely understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him." Harry and Meghan continue to grow closer In early December 2016, Markle is photographed in Toronto wearing a gold necklace featuring the letters M and H. Later that month, she and Harry are spotted together picking out a 6-foot Christmas tree, and in London's West End holding hands on their way to see the Tony award-winning show The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. According to The Sun, the couple walk through the Soho area while admiring the Christmas lights throughout Piccadilly Circus. Photo credit: Getty Images The Queen approves According to Us Weekly, the Queen is fully supportive and another source revealed that the Queen is delighted to see Harry in a loving relationship. Photo credit: Getty Images Markle spoke of meeting the Queen during their BBC interview. "It's incredible to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honor and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother. She's an incredible woman." After spending Christmas with their own families, the couple spends New Year's together in London. Meghan's family makes the news. Meghans half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. discloses to the Daily Mail that their father has been aware of Meghan's relationship since it began. In the interview, Thomas says his father is, pretty happy about Harry and hes extremely proud of her." At their engagement announcement, Markle revealed that her father has spoken with Harry several times, but he "hasn't been able to meet him just yet." As Thomas Markle did not attend the royal wedding, and his relationship with his daughter is somewhat fraught, it's unclear in early 2022 if he has ever met his royal son in law. A romantic trip to Norway After spending New Year's in London, the couple embarks on a romantic trip to Norway. This is the first time that the often incognito couple vacation together and according to Us Weekly, Harry planned the romantic getaway so that the two could to catch the Northern Lights. The couple stay with Harry's close friend, Inge Solheim, at his luxury property in Troms, Norway. A source tells the sun The Sun that Harry "put a lot of thought into it and wanted to make it as romantic and special as possible. Photo credit: Getty Images Meghan meets Kate and Charlotte. According to Us Weekly, in early 2017 Harry introduced his girlfriend to his sister-in-law Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte at apartment 1A at Kensington Palace. According to the magazine, Kate and Markle, "got on fabulously." Photo credit: Getty Images "She's been wonderful," Markle said of Duchess Kate. "Amazing," continued Harry. "As has William as well, you know, fantastic support." Maintaining a long-distance relationship. Though Markle filmed her USA Network series Suits in Toronto, Canada, she and Harry are spotted in early February holding hands while leaving West London's Soho House. According to The Sun, on-lookers at the member's only club say that the couple tried to remain low key by sitting in a cozy corner of the restaurant. A friend close to the couple also reportedly tells The Sun that a spring engagement is imminent: I know that sounds a bit crazily soon, but hes head over heels and they cant bear to be apart. After a two-month break from social media, Markle shared an Instagram post on February 12 that said, "#NoBadEnergy." In March, the couple traveled together to Montego Bay, Jamaica to attend the wedding of Harry's childhood friend Tom Skippy Inskip. Markle is Harry's plus one to the wedding as the prince serves as one of the ceremony's 14 ushers. A source later revealed to People, that the two were incredibly "joyful" during the wedding festivities, and seemed very much in love. In April, Harry flew from England to spend Easter weekend with Markle in Toronto. Photos are released by E! Online and reveal the young prince wearing a baseball cap and toting a large duffle bag while entering Markles building. Meghan's life begins to change. In April, Markle announced that she would shut down her lifestyle website, The Tig, which she had founded three years earlier. In a statement shared on both the Tig website and her Instagram, Markle said: What began as a passion project (my little engine that could) evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity. Youve made my days brighter and filled this experience with so much joy. Keep finding those Tig moments of discovery, keep laughing and taking risks, and keep being the change you wish to see in the world." Though it is rumored that Markle shut down her passion project as a sacrifice to her royal relationship, a source told People that the real reason was her busy schedule, balancing charity work with shooting Suits. The couple steps out. Markle and Harry made their first public appearance as a couple (and shared a kiss) at the annual Audi Polo Challenge in Ascot, England. As Harry participated in the games, Markle, wearing a chic navy dress and white blazer, cheered on her prince from the sidelines. The couple was later snapped engaging in some PDA off-site in the polo parking lot. Photo credit: Getty Images Love is in the Air: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Maybe the Next Royal Wedding pic.twitter.com/YbOc3Eeyh6 Queen Maxima and Royal Ladies (@vaninaswchindt) May 8, 2017 Markle was back in London in May for Pippa Middleton's wedding, arriving days ahead of the festivities. According to E! Online, the actress landed at London's Heathrow Airport and was immediately escorted to Kensington Palace. While Markle did not attend the ceremony, she did reportedly go to the reception. A big birthday trip The couple traveled to Africa in August 2017a year after their first trip to the continentfor a romantic getaway in celebration of Markle's 36th birthday. Over the course of their three-week vacation, they visited Botswana and finished their travels at the stunning Victoria Falls. Meghan opens up Markle spoke openly about her relationship for the first time in the October 2017 issue of Vanity Fair. "Were a couple. Were in love. Im sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time," she says in the cover story. "This is for us. Its part of what makes it so special, thats just ours. But were happy. Personally, I love a great love story." That month, Markle also accompanied Prince Harry to an official royal appearance for the first time at the Invictus Games opening ceremony. Over the course of the games, cameras catch the pair holding hands at the the Wheelchair Tennis semi-final and spending time with Markle's mother, Doria Ragland. The couple even share a sweet smooch at the closing ceremony. At this point, Harry has met Markle's mother several times. "Her mum's amazing," Harry said during the BBC interview. Engaged! After months of speculation, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally announced their engagement on November 27, 2017. The couple is "thrilled and happy" to be engaged, and marked the news with a celebratory photoshoot and a formal interview. Read all about the news here. Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images Their engagement In the months leading up to the wedding, Meghan has been introduced not only to the British public, but also to life as a working royal, as she attends official events alongside her fiance Harry, all the while planning the wedding of the year. The wedding Tens of millions of people from around the world tuned in to see the couple wed at Windsor Castle on May 19. They had high-profile guests like Oprah, David and Victoria Beckham, and of course the royal family, but all eyes were on the bride, who wore a stunning Givenchy gown for the ceremony and a chic halter Stella McCartney dress for the reception at the Frogmore House. In their official portraits, released May 21, two days after the wedding, the couple looked more in love than ever. Photo credit: Alexi Lubomirski/Kensington Palace via AP) Harry and Meghan start a family! On October 15, Kensington Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were expecting their first child. The announcement came as the couple landed in Australia for their first joint royal tour. Photo credit: Newspix - Getty Images On May 6, 2019, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor arrived! The baby boy is now seventh in line for the throne and he is the Queen and Prince Philip's eighth great grandchild. Harry's father, Prince Charles and his stepmother, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall said that they are "delighted" with the royal baby's arrival, as did the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Photo credit: WPA Pool - Getty Images The Sussexes step back from their royal roles. In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first made it clear that they intended to step back from their roles as working royals. After some negotiation, the Windsors agreed to let them pursue their own private business arrangements, provided that the Sussexes cease using the word "royal" in any professional branding. Harry and Meghan officially transitioned to their new lives at the end of March 2020, after returning briefly to the UK to undertake a final round of engagements. Subsequently, the duo settled down with Archie in Santa Barbara, California. They've launched a number of projects in the interim, including inking deals with Netflix and Spotify, and launching their new non-profit, Archewell. A second baby Sussex is on the way! On Valentine's Day of 2021, Harry and Meghan revealed that they were expecting their second child. We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child, a spokesperson for the couple said. The duo also released a sweet portrait to celebrate the news. Photo credit: Photo by Misan Harriman, Copyright owned by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex 2021 The Queen confirms the Sussexes won't return to the fold. Nearly a year after officially transitioning out of the working royal roles, the Sussexes confirmedalong with Queen Elizabeththat the move was permanent. Buckingham Palace and the royal couple released simultaneous statements on February 19, 2021, announcing the news. The palace's statement announced that Harry and Meghan would not be able to hold royal patronages, and that Harry's military appointments would also have to be returned. It concluded, "While all are saddened by their decision, The Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family." For their part, Harry and Meghan noted in their statement that they remain committed to their duty and service" and "have offered their continued support to the organizations they have represented regardless of official role. It added, We can all live a life of service. Service is universal. The Duke and Duchess sit down for a landmark interview with Oprah. According to Nielsen, 17.3 million people watched the highly anticipated conversation live. In the two-hour interview, Meghan and Harry discussed everything from their royal wedding to the sex of their second child (they're expecting a baby girl!) to their reasoning for stepping back as senior members of the royal family. (Learn more about the revelations from the couple's interview here.) Photo credit: Handout - Getty Images Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor is born. On Sunday, June 6, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that their daughter was born at The Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California on Friday, June 4 at 11:40 a.m. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex named their second born after her great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, whose family nickname is Lilibet, and her much beloved late grandmother the Princess of Wales. They head back to the UK. Ahead of the Invictus Games, Harry and Meghan visited the Queen in Windsor, their first joint trip back to the UK since stepping back from their royal roles. This summer, they plan to attend the Platinum Jubilee celebrations alongside the rest of the royal family. As a spokesperson confirmed in early May, Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are excited and honoured to attend The Queens Platinum Jubilee celebrations this June with their children. You Might Also Like Twitter currently has an insane theory about Melania Trump Twitter has one question for the White House: Where is the real Melania? On Friday, the president and First Lady held a press conference in Washington D.C. regarding hurricane relief. But Twitter is now convinced that Melania used a body double, and was not, in fact, standing next to Donald Trump. We know, we know. What?! Wearing huge black sunglasses and having styled her hair in a way that screams, I am hiding, please look away, its no wonder that many citizens feel as though our First Lady has been body-snatched. Heres a video from the press conference that started it all: This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie pic.twitter.com/JhPVmXdGit BuyLegalMeds.com (@JoeVargas) October 18, 2017 Did you notice how President Trump conveniently said, My wife, Melania, who happens to be standing right here? Lets just say Twitter is raising its collective eyebrow. "MY WIFE MELANIA WHO HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT HERE" IS EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE WHOSE WIFE MELANIA HAPPENS TO *NOT* BE RIGHT HERE WOULD SAY https://t.co/vVIz3Q6QQe Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) October 18, 2017 Me: I can't deal with all this fake news, it's harming American democracy Twitter: Melania Trump has a body double Me: pic.twitter.com/QMXROMyRe8 Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) October 18, 2017 Melania body double stands in while the real Melania down for repairs after Houston water damage. pic.twitter.com/YrWvvkROMU Rich (@rpwestcott) October 18, 2017 After initially thinking it was a joke but then spending a few hours in a thread that says Trump has replaced Melania with a double pic.twitter.com/mPOLwLrK3q TechnicallyRaarrrghh (@TechnicallyRon) October 18, 2017 And you know what? The Body Double Mystery would make a great movie now that we think about it. Hollywood, you in? Story continues Twice the Melania. Double the hijinx. pic.twitter.com/zZsxeIP8ea Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) October 18, 2017 Okay, the conspiracy is fun and all, and we hate to burst Twitters bubble, but the Melania in question is the real Melania. Once the glasses came off, the truth was revealed. Image of Melania and Trump Although we of course love a good conspiracy theory, were glad that Melania isnt MIA. But then again, if you told us that she had been abducted by aliens, at this point in 2017, wed probably believe you. October 19, 1987 A day to remember By David Nelson, CFA On the 30th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash it is hard not to reflect on a day that saw the Dow fall a staggering 22.6% in a single session. Many of us werent even trading the market in 87. As for myself, I was still on stage rocking with the Turtles or on an airliner traveling to the next show. Most of us in the music profession yawned. A few fat cats on Wall Street lost some money. Whats the big deal? Maria R. Bastone | AFP | Getty Images. On the anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987, CNBC Pro shows what keeps traders up at night today. Well, of course, price shocks are a big deal and not just because of the capital loss. History has shown that losses turn into gains if we just stay the course. Unfortunately, countless studies show most will capitulate. Even if urged to hang on by their advisors, many will sell, hoping to save whatever they can. How many of you reading this post called your broker the day after Lehman collapsed asking them to put more money into the market. Not a lot of hands out there. Source: Bloomberg Shortly after the 20th anniversary in 2007, we had a different kind of crash. No, it didnt happen in a single session. But over the next year and five months, the financial crisis inflicted a level of pain I hope I dont see again in my career. In behavioral finance, saliency helps explain investor bias. If an event has occurred recently, the prospects of it happening again seem much more profound. If its been perhaps a decade or more, its a remote possibility. When I first started my career as a broker at Merrill Lynch in 1992, I couldnt understand why investors would call me every fall looking to pull money out of the market as the anniversary of the 1987 crash approached. By 1999, when I was running money for Lehman, no one was calling to sell only to buy. Source: Bloomberg It hasnt been quite 10 years, but despite a toxic political climate and every corner of the planet seemingly a geopolitical hotspot, fear indicators like the VIX (^VIX, VXX) say investors have the constitution of Navy Seals. The press, whose motto is if it bleeds it leads, tries to stoke the fear. But investors go into battle every day (at least with their wallets) chanting, By the dip. Story continues Maybe the scariest thing about todays complacency is not that weve forgotten events like the financial crisis or even the 1987 crash. Weve forgotten how we felt and just how paralyzed we were. In our minds eye, we look at it dispassionately, knowing just what we would do if the situation arose again. Ive got my stops and my rules and my trusty TradeStation software to protect me like a .45 automatic in a gun fight. Unfortunately, when the first shots are fired, youre probably going to shoot yourself in the foot. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy Helmuth von Moltke the Elder The above applies to Wall Street too. We have plans, rules and decades of knowledge, but the real skill is defined as the ability to change and adapt. The next financial crisis will likely be caused by something we havent seen yet and is very hard to predict the very definition of a Black Swan. Talking heads, including yours truly, will refer to potential challenges for the market. Among them are the Feds unwind of a $4.5 trillion balance sheet or North Korea, fearing an attack is imminent, launching a strike on South Korea or Guam. Others point to political and fiscal failure in Washington or too much liquidity draining out of the system as central banks around the world follow the Federal Reserve. How about a good old-fashioned flash crash, as everyone heads to the exit while market makers walk away? Chances are its none of these, and well be forced to adapt to a situation we havent seen yet. Knowing that is half the battle. Even more important is never forgetting it could happen tomorrow. - Please contact your Belpointe investment advisor representative if there are any changes in your financial situation or investment objectives. Investment advice is offered through Belpointe Asset Management, LLC. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Insurance products are offered through Belpointe Insurance, LLC and Belpointe Specialty Insurance, LLC. It is important to read our email disclosures available at this link: http://belpointe.com/disclosures. With content peddlers Facebook and Google still struggling to combat fake news, especially during crises like the Las Vegas shooting, the proliferation of such false content might seem like an unstoppable flow. If that's your opinion, you're in the (slight) majority. A Pew survey of over 1,100 "tech experts" and scholars found that 51 percent believed the fake news problem will continue to get worse in the next decade. When asked to explain their reasoning, both groups centered their outlooks on the potential of technology to prevent (or fail to prevent) people from enacting their less-than-noble agendas. In practice, this has meant the string of Russian actors influencing the 2016 election and its aftermath, but their successful efforts have opened the door to other bad actors with nefarious motives. Those who believe technology won't stop their efforts had two major arguments: Human desire pleasing content will inevitably feed the fake news machines, and that technological advance will outpace our ability to comprehend and control it. The 49 percent who believe we'll get a handle on fake news have serious faith in eventual tech fixes, along with our human capability to recognize a collective threat and collectively organize a solution. More extensive responses can be found on the survey's page. In the meantime, tech titans are still scrambling to produce fixes to stem the tide of fake news. Facebook continues to introduce possible solutions, like applying its algorithms to supply a fact-checking feedback loop, but fake news continues to slip through, as we saw yesterday with Google's ads. And then, of course, there's Twitter's late policing. Anthony Scaramucci said at the Oxford Union that Donald Trump was definitely not a Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trumps former communications director, believes the US president is a "political genius" who used Twitter to win the election. Addressing the Oxford Union on Monday night, Mr Scaramucci discussed how Mr Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in November, despite the Democratic nominee's greater financial clout. "I firmly believe that President Trump, without the tool of Twitter, likely would have not won," Mr Scaramucci said. "Trump was outspent by Clinton by 1.7 times, she had 2.4 more personnel than us. Its not clear to me that the money is as important as the ideas. "You have to accept hes a political genius. In 19 months, he went from 0 to POTUS (President of the United States). You cant say there wasnt some level of genius in terms of his judgment." .@Scaramucci: You are never going to find a politician that matches your five finger fingerprint pic.twitter.com/P461Yj2d4N Oxford Union (@OxfordUnion) October 16, 2017 Praising Mr Trump's electoral strategy, he highlighted the Democrat-leaning state of Wisconsin. "How many times did Clinton go to the state of Wisconsin? 0. The president went 16 times," he noted. Mr Trump has caused outrage with his personal attacks on Twitter and for using it to discuss foreign policy. Last month, North Korea said Mr Trump had "declared war" after the president said leader Kim Jong-un "won't be around much longer". "Hes definitely not a sociopath," Mr Scaramucci said. "He is way more contemplative, more thoughtful, more of a person who doesnt want to bring about wars than you would think. "When the president feels hes well defended his tweets are more focused on public policy, when he feels hes not well defended you get things like Mikas facelift," he added, referring to the president's particularly personal attack on television host Mika Brzezinski. Story continues Profile | Anthony Scaramucci Mr Scaramucci, who was fired after just 11 days in the White House, said he thought he would last longer than that - but not much more. "The moment I was declared, the knives got longer and longer," he said. "I didnt think Id last more than 30 to 60 days in the role." The Trump administration, bent on deregulation from the start, has now completed wholesale repeal of the "Mnuchin Rule." It happened in an interview with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Politico published Wednesday. Faced with economic analyses showing the White House plan to cut corporate and personal income taxes provides big gains for wealthy Americans, Mnuchin called that result unavoidable. "The top 20 percent of the people pay 95 percent of the taxes," the Treasury secretary said. "The top 10 percent of the people pay 81 percent of the taxes." "So when you're cutting taxes across the board, it's very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy with tax cuts to the middle class," he concluded. "The math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do. "That represents a dramatic reversal from Mnuchin's initial assertions on the subject. After last November's election, he appeared on CNBC to pledge that wealthy Americans would receive no tax cut whatsoever. "Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class," Mnuchin told CNBC's "SquawkBox" then. "When we work with Congress and go through this, it will be very clear: This is a middle-income tax cut." After the administration took office in 2017, Mnuchin began softening that pledge, which had come to be known as the "Mnuchin Rule." When I interviewed him in May at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's Fiscal Summit, he described avoiding tax cuts for the rich as a goal, not a commitment. "The president's objective is to create a middle-class tax cut," he told me. "I can't pledge what the results will be, since the results are going to be a combined effort of the administration and the House and the Senate." The president's priority has been not cutting taxes for the high end," Mnuchin continued. "His priority is about creating a middle-income tax cut. So we'll see where it comes out." Story continues Where it came out, according to analysts at the Tax Policy Center, was a tax plan that in 2027 would give 80 percent of the benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. That figure involved some educated guesswork based on details in earlier GOP proposals, since the White House-Congress "Big Six" plan has not yet filled in many details. President Donald Trump has insisted the plan he wants Congress to pass by year's end will not benefit rich people like him. "The wealthy are not getting a tax cut under our plan," National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told ABC recently. Under the "Mnuchin Rule," that was once the Treasury secretary's promise, too. Yet his new remarks to Politico not only conceded that the rich will get a tax cut, but cast it as mathematically inevitable. Of course, cutting the payroll taxes that all workers pay to finance Social Security, rather than income taxes, would produce a different mathematical outcome. So would dropping the GOP proposal to eliminate the estate tax which currently applies only to estates valued at more than $5.5 million for an individual or $11 million for a couple. But Mnuchin, who like Trump and many top administration officials is very wealthy, cast abolishing estate taxes as a matter of fairness rather than math. "The estate tax is somewhat of an economic issue, and somewhat of a philosophical issue," he told Politico's Ben White. "People pay taxes once. Why should people have to pay taxes again when they die?" More From CNBC Democratic attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over the departments decision to block Obama-era protections for students attending for-profit colleges. The suit argues that the department violated federal law by freezing the gainful employment rule without sufficient justification or public input. The rule, which was set to take effect this year, cut off funding to for-profit colleges that burdened students with loans while failing to prepare them for gainful employment. What the Department of Education is doing is illegal not enforcing the rule, kicking the can down the road, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who led the lawsuit, told TIME. But more importantly, what theyre doing is favoring these predatory for-profit institutions over students and students who are overall extremely vulnerable. DeVos had criticized the Obama-era rules as a muddled process thats unfair to students and schools and said she plans to enact different regulations. DeVos has faced criticism and legal action from Democrats and students since she froze Obama-era regulations on for-profit colleges including student loan protections and the gainful employment rule earlier this year. Attorneys general in 18 states and the District of Columbia filed a suit in July demanding that DeVos implement student loan protections. The Department of Education on Tuesday criticized the new lawsuit as a legal stunt. This is just the latest in a string of frivolous lawsuits filed by Democratic Attorneys General who are only seeking to score quick political points, spokesperson Liz Hill said in a statement. While this Administration, and Secretary DeVos in particular, continue work to replace this broken rule with one that actually protects students, these legal stunts do nothing more than divert time and resources away from that effort. But Frosh who has also filed lawsuits against the Trump Administration over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, EPA regulations and anti-corruption violations called the departments action a clear violation of the law. Its a cheap shot to say this is frivolous because its brought by Democrats. The problem is theyre violating the law, he said. When they keep violating the law, we will keep suing. Every instance that we have brought a lawsuit, its been because theyre violating the Constitution or theyre violating the law of the United States. Theres never been an administration like this in history. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Google Play / RadioPublic / Stitcher / Acast / RSS A 6-year-old trans student named Emma Smith was forced to urinate on herself at school because she wasnt allowed to use the girls bathroom, thanks to HB2. Her parents, Amy and Kevin, spent a year fighting the school for their daughter to be treated with respect. HuffPost reporter James Michael Nichols traveled to the Smiths home in Asheville, North Carolina and met activists in the area to discuss what its really like to live in a state hell-bent on criminalizing your very existence. Im Still Here is a HuffPost Podcast hosted by Zeba Blay and produced by Nick Offenberg and Jessica Samakow. Send us an email at stillhere@huffpost.com. After Donald Trump criticised Barack Obama for not calling fallen service members loved ones, bereaved military families paint a contrasting picture President Barack Obama hugs gold star mother Michelle DeFord during a meeting with veterans and Gold Star Mothers at the White House on 10 September 2015. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images Stephanie Fisher got the letter about a week later, delivered by an army casualty assistance officer: the president of the United States wished to express his condolences over the death of her son. Staff Sgt Thomas Kent Fogarty, a 30-year-old father of two, was killed in Afghanistan in May 2012 by an improvised explosive device. I was very comforted. I actually felt like I could have picked up the phone and said look, my son died and I need to talk to President Obama. I kind of feel like I might have been able to get a hold of him, Fisher said. I felt like my son got lots of respect. Donald Trump painted a contrasting picture of Barack Obama and his predecessors this week. Asked in a news conference on Monday about his silence regarding the four special forces soldiers killed during an ambush in Niger on 4 October, Trump said: If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didnt make calls. A lot of them didnt make calls. He modified that claim when questioned: President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didnt. I dont know. Thats what I was told. Obamas standard practice appears to have been to write to bereaved relatives of military members and meet with many of them in person, and to make occasional telephone calls that the White House did not publicise. Regardless of the contact method, Trumps implication was clear: that Obama disrespected the families of fallen soldiers by a lack of personal effort. Such a claim surfaced in conservative media during his presidency and was also levelled at George W Bush in 2003, though the Washington Times reported five years later that Bush spent considerable time contacting bereaved families. On Tuesday, Trump told Fox News Radio: I dont know what Bush did. I dont know what Obama did. But he again took a swipe at his predecessor, suggesting it would be worth asking Trumps chief of staff, John Kelly, if he received a call from Obama after Kellys son died in Afghanistan in 2010. Story continues Khizr Khan, father of fallen US army captain Humayun Khan speaks as his wife listens at the 2016 Democratic national convention in Philadelphia. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP As a candidate, Trump was widely condemned for a verbal attack on the parents of Humayun Khan, a soldier who died in Iraq in 2004, after his father, Khizr Khan, gave a speech at last years Democratic national convention. Trump insisted that he writes letters and calls the families of military members killed in action. Several former Obama and Bush aides and supporters reacted angrily to his comments, denouncing them as false, and retired general Martin Dempsey, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Twitter that Obama, Bush and first ladies cared deeply, worked tirelessly for the serving, the fallen, and their families. Not politics. Sacred Trust. Fisher, the bereaved mother, said that Trumps assertion did not ring true to her. Obamas administration seemed to me to be very much engaged with the families, she said. Constantly, everything that he gets criticised for, President Trump, he immediately puts it on previous presidents, especially President Obama. He misses no opportunity to deflect. Michelle DeFords son, Army Sgt David Johnson, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004, aged 37. She met Obama when she went to Washington to lobby for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump appears intent on undermining. I have pictures of Obama giving me a hug when he found out that I was a Gold Star mother, she said, adding that she was touched by a letter from the former first lady, Michelle Obama, inviting her to contribute to a Christmas tree that paid tribute to deceased armed forces members and their families. Michelle DeFord sits alongside President Barack Obama and the then secretary of state John Kerry at a White House meeting in 2015. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters You had a sense of their appreciation and their acknowledgement of your sacrifice, DeFord said. I kind of think of soldiers as being in the employ of the federal government, so I would think it would be just standard procedure when you lose an employee to send a letter of condolence to the family, thats the presidents job in my opinion. Karen Merediths son, 1st Lt Ken Ballard, was killed by small arms fire in Iraq on 30 May 2004 Memorial Day. I can assure you that nobody is sitting around waiting for a letter from the president to move on with their grief. The contact comes among numerous letters of condolence that you get from members of the military, members of Congress, members of your community, she said. Karen Meredith holds a photograph of her son, Army 1st Lt Kenneth Michael Ballard, who died in Iraq in 2004. Photograph: Ben Margot/AP Still, Meredith finds it surprising that the White House seemingly did not promptly send letters to the families of the soldiers killed in Niger. Especially with General Kelly, the chief of staff, whos a Gold Star father who would have known that its part of your job as the commander-in-chief to console grieving families. Im just shocked that nobody on the staff took care of it for him, she said. The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Tuesday evening that Trump had spoken with the families of the four soldiers and offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their families extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten. Meredith recalled that her letter from the White House arrived within a week or so. No fan of Bush, she said that had he tried to call she probably would have declined to speak with him. I almost returned [my letter] without opening it because I didnt want to hear from Bush, she said. When I opened the letter it was very casual and very familiar, as opposed to being a formal letter of condolence. He addressed me as Karen not Ms Meredith and that was not what I expected from the president, I expected it to be more formal it was Dear Karen, Laura and I are real sorry about this. Meredith met Obama and the former vice-president, Joe Biden, at her sons grave in Arlington National Cemetery. He was very sympathetic and empathetic, as was Mrs Obama, and so were the Bidens, she said. Trump doesnt have an empathetic bone in his body and doesnt understand the importance of hearing from the commander in chief. This is ultimately his responsibility. Rising tensions between North Korea and the United States have sparked fresh concerns inside and outside the Pentagon that a potential miscalculation driven by heated rhetoric or technical mistakes could lead to an accidental conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The danger of an inadvertent clash is exacerbated by two impulsive nuclear-armed leaders, who have publicly traded threats, and a volatile mismatch between the United States overwhelming military superiority and an isolated regime in Pyongyang. The recent war of words appears to be shortening the fuse, with U.S. forces in the area put on heightened alert. After a North Korean missile test in mid-September, a U.S. warship patrolling the Sea of Japan received a warning order, or WARNO, to be prepared to fire Tomahawk missiles at North Korean targets, a military source told Foreign Policy. Its not unheard of to do that, a former senior defense official said of the order to prepare the cruise missiles. But I would say it is a fairly significant indicator that the possibility of using Tomahawks is rising. A WARNO is essentially an instruction to forces to be at the ready if ordered to take action. For Tomahawks, that means prepping the weapon and programming a target; surface ships and submarines in the area are armed with dozens of the cruise missiles. Military officials declined to speculate on what scenarios could involve the launching the missiles, which were used this summer against a Syrian airfield that served as a staging ground for chemical weapons attacks. If North Korea launched missiles at Guam, Japan, or South Korea, you would certainly want your Tomahawks ready in a fast-moving scenario like that should the president or secretary of defense make the judgement to respond with an offensive strike, said the former senior official, who is familiar with Pentagon contingency planning. Former military officers said such an order did not mean U.S. military action was imminent, only that commanders were taking precautions to be ready with an array of weapons if a conflict erupted. Before contemplating launching the powerful cruise missiles, the United States likely would first weigh less drastic options, including cyber warfare or a naval blockade, former officers said. Story continues The WARNO is to force staffs to think through the problems, but not to actually do anything other than think, Ted Johnson, a former naval commander and current fellow at New America, told FP. The fact that its for a Tomahawk strike into [North Korea] feels ominous, but my guess its more about having a quick strike response should Rocket Man make an irrational decision and overt provocation. The Defense Department declined to discuss contingency plans or the status of Tomahawks or other weapons systems in Northeast Asia. The U.S. military must always maintain a high state of readiness to counter any threat, to include those from North Korea, a U.S. official told FP. The be-prepared order for U.S. forces came on the heels of a series of provocative missile launches and a nuclear test by the rogue power. On July 3, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting U.S. territory. Two months later, North Korea tested what it described a thermonuclear weapon, a claim that if true would vastly increase the destructive power of Pyongyangs nuclear arsenal. By September, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were trading insults. Trump called Kim Little Rocket Man and was labelled a mentally deranged dotard in return. Arms control experts and retired senior military officers worry that taunts from Washington could prompt North Korea to take more provocative action. The countrys foreign minister last month said Kim is contemplating detonating a nuclear-tipped missile over the Pacific, an aggressive move that could force a military response from Washington. The miscalculation risk is another deeply humiliating remark from President Trump putting Kim Jong Un in an untenable position because his elites will view him as weak if he doesnt respond, a former senior military officer told FP, speaking on condition of anonymity to candidly assess the risk of war. Over-the-top rhetoric could result in a tit-for-tat in which leaders overreact and escalation gets out of control Leaders have stumbled into war before, but its never been between two nuclear-armed powers, he added. Defense Secretary James Mattis has warned that any threat to the United States, including the territory of Guam, or to U.S. allies would be met with a massive military response. And Mattis said last month that that response neednt jeopardize U.S. and Korean civilians in Seoul, but he declined to say what those military options could be. Washington has conducted military drills with South Korean and Japanese allies, sent attack submarines to South Korean ports, and flown strategic bombers over South Korea and off the North Korean coast. Yet Kim and his predecessors have avoided the ultimate showdown despite plenty of low-intensity skirmishes over the years. Thats a sign that the regime has an overarching focus on survival, said Yong Suk Lee, deputy assistant director at the CIAs new Korea Mission Center. The last person who wants conflict is actually Kim Jong Un. He wants to rule peacefully for a long time and die, Lee said. Taking on the United States is not conducive to his longevity. During the Cold War, there were plenty of close calls and near misses that almost led to a conflagration between the United States and the Soviet Union, including an infamous 1983 NATO exercise, Operation Able Archer, that convinced Moscow it was about to come under nuclear attack. But unlike the U.S.-Soviet contest between two equally matched rivals, the Korean crisis pits the worlds most powerful military against an impoverished, isolated, but nuclear-armed regime. In that mismatch, the stronger side could convince itself it can impose its will against a weaker side that has few options but to go nuclear. Trump, for example, last week boasted that U.S. missile defenses are nearly invincible, even though the technology remains unreliable. That could make a preemptive strike look more tempting than it really is, experts said. In the current crisis, senior U.S. officials along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, have stressed that the Trump administration is focused on tackling the crisis with North Korea through diplomacy. But the White House has said that military action has not been ruled out. Lyle Goldstein, an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College, has studied how the prospect of disarming a foe can shape decision-making. In his dissertation, Goldstein looked at the calculus of former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, who both mulled a surprise attack against China to deprive Beijing of its nascent nuclear arsenal. In the end, fearing China would wade into Vietnam in full force, the United States chose not to strike. Goldstein describes the imbalance now playing out between North Korea and the United States as a similar valley of vulnerability. Paul McLeary contributed to this article (WASHINGTON) Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he urged the firing of former FBI Director James Comey because of Comeys handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Sessions says he gave President Donald Trump his opinion on Comey at Trumps request. But, under questioning by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sessions refused to say whether he also discussed with Trump Comeys involvement in the Russia investigation. Sessions, speaking Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he wont disclose his private conversations with Trump, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against the practice. Sessions wouldnt say when he first discussed Comeys conduct with Trump. But Sessions said the errors of Comeys handling of the Clinton email case cant be overstated. He said Comey usurped prosecutors when he announced Clinton would not face criminal charges. Sessions also defended the defended the legality of an executive order that seeks to block the travel to the U.S. of citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some Venezuelan government officials and their families. In his opening statement, Sessions says the order is lawful, necessary, and we are proud to defend it. He says he is confident that the Justice Department will prevail in its effort to defend and enforce the ban. By Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused on Wednesday to answer lawmakers' questions about his discussions with President Donald Trump on Russia and denied lying to Congress about his own contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign. In often testy exchanges with Senate Democrats, Sessions denied having misled them when he said during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year that he had not met with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. "I conducted no improper discussions with Russians at any time regarding the campaign," Sessions told a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing. Sessions was forced to recuse himself from investigations into Russian interference in the election and possible collusion by Trump campaign aides after it was revealed in March that he met with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak at least twice in 2016. The Washington Post reported in July that U.S. intelligence agencies picked up intercepts in which Kislyak told the Kremlin he had held substantive discussions with Sessions about Trump's positions on U.S.-Russia relations. Sessions said on Wednesday he could not recall the specific details of the conversation. "I dont think there was any discussions about the details of the campaign," he said. "It could have been that in that meeting in my office or at the convention ... some comments were made about what Trumps positions were. I think thats possible. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told Sessions that many members of the committee believe Sessions gave "false testimony" when he had previously denied meeting with Russians. Sessions said he believed the context of that question related only to matters specific to the 2016 campaign interference, and told Leahy he had answered it truthfully. "I believe my answer was correct," Sessions said. He also repeatedly said he was barred from discussing the content of confidential conversations with Trump. Those refusals appeared likely to fuel congressional Democrats' frustration with the Trump administration over what they say is its inadequate cooperation with investigations into the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia. Russia has denied interfering in the U.S. election and Trump has said there was no collusion. Sessions also said on Wednesday that he has not been interviewed or received any interview requests by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell) Austin Texas RoschetzkyProductions/Shutterstock Moody's Analytics ranked what it believes to be the top contenders for Amazon's second headquarters. The analysts point to Austin, Texas as the most likely city, based on several of the company's requirements. However, it is nearly impossible to guess exactly which city Amazon will pick. More than 50 North American cities are hoping Amazon will pick them as the site for the company's second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. In perhaps the largest corporate offer to municipalities in modern American history, the e-commerce giant is promising 50,000 jobs and an investment of $5 billion in the campus's construction. But only one city can win. Bids are due this Thursday, and Amazon plans to announce its pick in 2018. To find a list of possible winners for HQ2, the financial-services division of Moody's Analytics examined Amazon's stipulations against 65 cities with at least one million residents. Amazon is looking for at least one million people in its chosen city, along with 8 million square feet of space, access to an airport, a "stable and business-friendly regulations and tax structure," incentives to offset HQ2's construction and ongoing expenses, a labor force, mass transit, a "cultural fit," and a "high quality of life." Moody's looked at five of these factors: business environment (economic growth, the city's history of corporate tax incentives, and the region's credit ratings), a skilled workforce, costs (pertaining to real estate, taxes, energy prices, and labor), quality of life, and transportation. The analysts excluded Seattle, the home of Amazon's first headquarters. Using data from local governments and community surveys, the report points to Austin-Round Rock, Texas as the top contender. "Austin has a much lower cost of living than places such as Silicon Valley. Even though house prices have been rising and are high for Texas or the South, they are well below those in California or the Northeast," the analysts wrote. "Anecdotally, the quality of life is high, and many want to live in the 'Silicon Hills.' Further, being in Texas, Austin resides in a business-friendly state that seeks to attract and keep companies." Story continues Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ranked second and third, respectively. Still, it's nearly impossible right now to guess which city Amazon will choose. Moody's doesn't account for extra economic incentives that have now become valuable parts of some city bids. Newark, New Jersey, for example, is offering Amazon up to $7 billion in tax breaks over the next two decades if the company decides to build there. The report also doesn't consider the amount of available land for HQ2's construction. Amazon has also laid out several requirements for cities, and it's hard to predict which ones the company will weigh more heavily than others. A large international airport like in Atlanta, which makes the top 10 in Moody's report might be especially important for HQ2. Or job growth in engineering and computer science could become the most significant point. Or it might be land. Amazon wants to build an 8 million-square-foot campus, but it's possible the company might want some wiggle room to expand even larger in the future. A "cultural fit" is also subjective on Amazon's part. In The City Observatory, economist Joe Cortwright argues that Amazon could have already made its choice long before the bid deadline. "Amazon who after all, makes its business knowing the decision preferences of tens or hundreds of millions of customers is hardly likely to rely on cities for the information to make its decision," he wrote. "The whole point of this exercise is to improve the companys bargaining position for the location it wants." Related Video: Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. NOW WATCH: I won't trade in my iPhone 6s for an iPhone 8 or iPhone X here's why See Also: SEE ALSO: Google's parent company is creating an entire high-tech neighborhood in Toronto here's what it could look like Sydney (AFP) - Foreign powers are waging an "extensive, unrelenting" campaign of espionage and meddling in Australia, notably targeting ethnic and religious minorities, the country's spy chief warned Thursday. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said it was struggling to cope with the threat, with its resources stretched from fighting terrorism. Spy chief Duncan Lewis said in a forward to ASIO's annual report that over the past year there had been a "steadily worsening overall security and operational environment". He pinpointed heightened terror fears, but also growing foreign interference which was "extensive, unrelenting and increasingly sophisticated". Overseas powers had sought classified information on Australia's alliances and partnerships, its position on diplomatic, economic and military issues, energy and mineral resources, and innovations in science and technology, he said. "Espionage and foreign interference is an insidious threat -- activities that may appear relatively harmless today can have significant future consequences," he warned. Officials last week revealed sensitive data about Australia's F-35 stealth fighter and P-8 surveillance aircraft programmes was stolen when a defence subcontractor was hacked using a tool widely used by Chinese cyber criminals. Without naming any countries, Lewis pointed to "a number of states and other actors". "Our investigations revealed countries undertaking intelligence operations to access sensitive Australian government and industry information," he said. "We identified foreign powers clandestinely seeking to shape the opinions of members of the Australian public, media organisations and government officials in order to advance their country's own political objectives. "Ethnic and religious communities in Australia were also the subject of covert influence operations designed to diminish their criticism of foreign governments," Lewis added. Story continues He said the activities represented "a threat to our sovereignty, the integrity of our national institutions and the exercise of our citizens' rights". The report comes after recent public warnings from Australian officials about the level of Chinese government interference on university campuses. There are mounting concerns about the way Beijing uses nationalist student groups to monitor Chinese students, and challenge academics whose views do not align with Communist Party doctrine, particularly over issues such as Taiwan and border disputes. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop stressed this week international students were welcome but Australia was a democracy and "we don't want to see freedom of speech curbed in any way involving foreign students or foreign academics". According to state broadcaster ABC, Beijing's intrusion into Western universities has sparked a push by Australia's closest allies, including the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, for a more coordinated response to the tactics. While foreign meddling was a major concern for ASIO, so was the heightened terror threat which was placing "considerable pressure" on the domestic spy agency. Its report said three planned attacks in Australia were disrupted over the past 12 months, while highlighting concern about the growing influence of Islamic State in Southeast Asia. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Austria's likely next chancellor said on Thursday that EU membership talks with Turkey must be stopped. Sebastian Kurz, whose conservative OVP party won the most votes in Sunday's parliamentary election, said after a meeting with German Manfred Weber, the head of the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, that Turkey was not meeting the criteria for accession. "So entry negotiations with Turkey must be broken off," Kurz said in a tweet. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop) Vienna (AFP) - Austria's far-right Freedom Party said Wednesday it wants the top job in the interior ministry in exchange for entering a coalition with election winner Sebastian Kurz. Kurz's conservative OeVP party won 31.5 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, near-complete results show, and the populist Freedom Party (FPOe) came in third on 26.0 percent. The Social Democrats (SPOe) of incumbent Chancellor Christian Kern came second with 26.9 percent. "We have several red lines," FPOe chairman Heinz-Christian Strache said in his first press conference since the vote. "The interior ministry is a precondition" for government participation, he added. Strache, 48, said he saw "no reason to rush" the negotiations, which could begin at the end of the week. "We will not enter into a coalition at any price," the far-right leader said. The FPOe, whose rise has mirrored that of other populist parties in Europe, is demanding increased border security, Swiss-style direct democracy and economic reforms. Its leaders have also said Islam "has no place" in Austria. At 31, Kurz is the world's youngest leader-in-waiting. The conservative is expected to be given a mandate to form a government on Friday. Kurz on Tuesday had said he expected Austria to play an "active" role in the European Union -- in contrast with the long-held views of the eurosceptic, anti-immigrant FPOe. Strache did not address Kurz's comments on the EU in his press conference. Two aviation security officers have been fired for their roles in forcibly removing a doctor from an overbooked United Airlines flight. Dr David Dao, 69, was dragged off a flight from Chicago OHare airport to Louisville, Kentucky, to make room for four crew members on the plane. He broke his nose, lost teeth and suffered a concussion in the incident on 9 April, which was captured on video. A third officer resigned after the incident and two other officers involved in Dr Daos removal were temporarily suspended, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The names of the officers involved were not released. A report by Chicago inspector general Joseph Ferguson stated the first officer who was fired violated the Department of Aviations use-of-force policy. The officer escalated a non-threatening situation into a physically violent one by forcefully removing a passenger from the aircraft, Mr Ferguson wrote. The ASOs use of excessive force caused the passenger to hit his face on an armrest, resulting in the passenger sustaining a concussion, a broken nose and the loss of teeth. The second officer, who was also fired, made misleading statements in two reports and the third - who resigned - made material omissions in a report regarding the first officers forceful removal of Dr Dao. Following the incident, United Airlines reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum with Dr Dao, which includes a provision that releases Republic Airways, which was contracted to operate the flight for United, and the Chicago Police from all responsibility in the incident. Video footage of Dr Dao being dragged from the flight caused a public relations disaster for the airline as it was shared across the internet. United has since pledged not to use law enforcement to remove people from flights. The airline also said it would reduce incidents of overbooking and offer passengers up to $10,000 (7,750) to agree to be removed from a flight. SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria should tighten rules on foreign financing for religious communities and restrict visits by foreign clerics to help counter the potential spread of radical Islam, deputy prime minister Krasimir Karakachanov said on Thursday. Karakachanov is a co-leader of the nationalist United Patriots, a junior partner in the coalition government that is known for its tough rhetoric on migration and Bulgaria's Roma. He said proposals to parliament to amend laws on religion and education as well as the criminal code would be submitted by the end of the year. Bulgaria's government banned the wearing of full face veils in public places last year. Bulgaria has one of the biggest Muslim communities in Europe at about 12 percent of its 7.1 million population -- a legacy of almost 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule that ended in the late 19th century. Historic resistance to the Muslim Ottomans is a core element of national identity for the mainly Orthodox Christian majority and some nationalists have cast the recent arrival of Muslim migrants via Turkey as a threat to the nation's security. "It turns out that problems we see in a number of European countries already exist in Bulgaria," Karakachanov said after a meeting to discuss how to prevent the spread of radical Islam in the country. He said "extremely liberal" laws were allowing the spread of non-traditional Islam through the private provision of education and training. "It is mostly the ... financing by private structures of religious communities that attempt to realize political influence in the country," Karakachanov said. Many Islamist organizations in Europe are financed largely with foreign donations. Karakachanov has previously complained that many imams preaching in Bulgaria come from abroad and do not speak Bulgarian, and has spoken of fostering native imams who are more deeply integrated into Bulgarian society. The wave of mainly Muslim refugees and migrants reaching Europe's borders over the past years has contributed to a rise in right-wing nationalism across the continent. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Catherine Evans) Nairobi (AFP) - Violent clashes in Burkina Faso that led to the overthrow of the president are a stark warning to other African leaders pushing constitutional change to hang on to power, analysts say. Chaos in Burkina Faso erupted this week as lawmakers prepared to vote to allow 63-year-old Blaise Compaore -- who took power in a 1987 coup -- to contest elections in November 2015. While Compaore was forced out Friday, Burkina Faso is far from alone in having a president reluctant to relinquish office. "It is a warning both to ageing regimes and for those trying to stay in power beyond constitutional limits," said Thierry Vircoulon of the International Crisis Group (ICG). "During the Arab Spring the question was whether Africa will have its own spring? Perhaps the attempts to change the constitutions will lead to it now." Countries including Benin, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are all reportedly pondering change to allow their leaders a third term. But the impact of events in Ouagadougou, and the storming of its parliament, may give several leaders across the continent "pause for thought", said Paul Melly from Britain's Chatham House. "Burkina Faso has demonstrated that in today's Africa popular acquiescence cannot be taken for granted," Melly said. - 'Wake-up call for presidents' - Burkina Faso is far from the first country where heads of state seeking to extend their rule have been challenged. In Niger, Mamadou Tandja was ousted by the army in 2010 after a third-term bid, while in contrast, Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade lost 2012 elections despite winning constitutional permission to run three times. Some have carried it off. Cameroon's Paul Biya, in power since 1982, successfully changed laws for another term in 2011, but the strongman had ensured the opposition was quashed. Other nations were laws have been tinkered with to the benefit of their leaders include Algeria, Angola, Chad, Djibouti and Uganda. Story continues But events in Ouagadougou may ring alarm bells for others. "The evolving situation in Burkina Faso will hopefully serve as a wake-up call for presidents who are considering tailoring the constitution to suit their own interests, in west Africa and beyond," said David Zounmenou, from the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS). And while the African Union sanctions those who make constitutional changes for the purpose of staying in power, such threats have had little impact, Zounmenou added. Countries vary and not all leaders have been in power for as long as the 27 years Compaore lasted, Vircoulon said, noting that a crucial factor would be "the state of mind" of the people. In tightly controlled Rwanda, allies of strongman President Paul Kagame have called for referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run in 2017. In contrast, the political climate in neighbouring Burundi is far more volatile for President Pierre Nkurunziza, who is expected to defy critics to run for a third term next year. "Authoritarian traditions are still influential in some countries," Melly said. "Few would bet against Kagame or Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou-Nguesso successfully pushing through a rule change to open their way to further terms of office." For others however the risks are greater. Burundi's Nkurunziza and DR Congo's Joseph Kabila might "be "tempted to follow suit - although for them it could be a higher risk exercise, governing countries with vocal civil society and state machines of limited establishment power," Melly added. And while Compaore's fall may provide a lesson to some, many will still be tempted. It is "up to the citizens to take responsibility to counter these political adventurers who undermine democracy and the promotion of lasting peace," Zounmenou added, lamenting Africa's reputation as a place of non-stop crises. "It is time to change that, to make democratic structures outside individual politicians to allow socio-economic development," he said. A former ethics chief in the George W. Bush administration condemned President Donald Trumps mishandling of calls to families of fallen soldiers, and said Trump lacks compassion because he ducked his own military service. Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer, told CNN on Wednesday night that Trumps public references to White House Chief of Staff John Kellys son, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, were atrocious. He has no empathy, no understanding of the human emotions of what people go through because he never did it himself, he stayed home during Vietnam with his sore foot or whatever it was, Painter said. What hes done to Gen. Kelly is atrocious. Trumps medical deferment for bone spurs in his feet in the 1960s allowed him to avoid being drafted for Vietnam service. He couldnt remember which foot was affected when asked about it in 2015. His campaign said it was both. Trump this week invoked the name of Kellys son, Marines 2nd Lt. Robert Kelly, as he claimed former President Barack Obama and other previous presidents didnt call the families of fallen troops. The assertion was immediately debunked, and journalists asked Trump why he made the claim in the first place. When Fox News Brian Kilmeade raised the matter Tuesday on his radio show, Trump responded: You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? Then, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) came forward to recount a conversation she overheard this week between Trump and the pregnant widow of a soldier killed Oct. 4 in Niger. Trump reportedly told the woman that her husband, Army Sgt. La David Johnson, mustve known what he signed up for. Trump claimed Wilson fabricated the story, but Johnsons mother confirmed Wilsons account. President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband, Cowanda Jones-Johnson told The Washington Post. Painter on CNN implored Kelly to not quit his job in Trumps White House. The country needs him, Painter said, in order to keep Muslim haters out of the Trump administration. Story continues Painter has been harshly critical of Trumps administration. He is suing Trump for failing to disengage from his business empire while serving as president. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Suzanne Barlyn and Sangameswaran S (Reuters) - The California Department of Insurance said on Thursday its preliminary estimate for insured wildfire losses was $1.05 billion, based on claims received by the state's eight largest insurers, adding that it expected the numbers to rise. Insurers have received 601 claims for commercial property losses, 4,177 claims for partial residential losses and 3,000 claims for auto losses, said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones during a media call. Since erupting on Oct. 8 and 9, the blazes in parts of Northern California have blackened more than 245,000 acres, (86,200 hectares) and destroyed an estimated 6,900 structures as of Thursday, including homes, wineries and other commercial buildings. More than 15,000 people remain displaced, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said on Thursday. A fire that started Monday in the Santa Cruz Mountains now threatens 300 homes, Jones said. Residents of Northern California's wine country left homeless by the state's deadliest-ever wildfires could be temporarily housed in federal government trailers, officials said on Wednesday, as the death toll from the blazes rose to 42. Moody's Investor Service estimated insured losses at $4.6 billion on Monday, based on an earlier figure of 5,700 destroyed structures, according to a report. Insurer Travelers Cos Inc , which announced its third quarter results on Thursday, also warned investors of large claims likely this quarter from the wildfires. The company paused a share repurchase plan in September to conserve cash as it reviewed claims from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which made landfall in September and October, and it is still evaluating that position in the light of wildfire claims, said Travelers Chief Executive Alan Schnitzer on a conference call with analysts. State Farm is California's largest homeowners insurer and sixth-largest commercial fire insurer, according to a Moody's analysis. The insurer, as of Thursday, received 3,220 homeowners insurance claims and 1,110 auto insurance claims, mostly from damage sustained in Napa and Sonoma Counties, a spokesman said. Other large insurers in California include Farmers Insurance, CSAA Insurance Group, Travelers and Allstate Corp and Chubb Ltd. . (Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru and Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio) By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Millions of Californians were due on Thursday to simultaneously drop to the floor, clamber under tables and cover their heads for a minute or two of imagined seismic turmoil during the latest annual "Great ShakeOut" earthquake drill. The event, first held nine years ago in the Los Angeles area, was organized by scientists and emergency officials as part of a campaign to prepare the region's inhabitants for a catastrophic quake that experts say is inevitable and long overdue. The exercise has since expanded to encompass all of California and most other states, as well as some other countries, including Canada and Japan. In many places, entire school districts, colleges, workplaces and municipalities have registered to take part. In keeping with the drill's quake-survival message, participants are urged to "drop, cover and hold" - meaning get down on hands and knees, cover their heads and necks under a sturdy piece of furniture and hang on until the hypothetical shaking stops. To help participants get into the mood, organizers have even prepared audio recordings of quake-rumbling sounds that can be downloaded, with or without narration, and played during the drill. Such rehearsals are especially important in regions such as Southern California, where "it's not a matter of if but when that catastrophic earthquake will strike," said Ken Kondo, spokesman for Los Angeles County's emergency management office. One of the larger gatherings planned is to be held at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park near downtown Los Angeles. Following the drill, the city fire department, American Red Cross, police and other agencies will stage a full-scale earthquake-response exercise, setting up a medical triage area, emergency shelters and mass-feeding operation, Kondo said. That drill is based on the premise of a magnitude 7.8 quake striking the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, a subterranean chasm between two massive plates of the Earth's crust that extends hundreds of miles across California. Story continues The scenario was devised by geophysicists and engineers who envisioned a calamity that would leave 1,800 people dead, 50,000 injured and 250,000 homeless while severing highways, power lines, pipelines, railroads, communications networks and aqueducts, and toppling some 1,500 buildings. As of late Wednesday, nearly 53 million participants were registered for ShakeOut drills worldwide, including more than 10.2 million in California, organizers said. The exercise is set to begin at 10:19 a.m. local time, corresponding with the date of the event. A rupture of the San Andreas Fault in northern California caused the massive quake that laid waste to San Francisco in 1906. The last "big one" to strike south of the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles was 300 years ago. The average interval between such quakes in that region is just 150 years, experts say. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Leslie Adler) More than three years after Chelsea Handler and Netflix teamed up to "revolutionize the talk show" their quest is coming to an end. Handler tweeted that she has decided not to return after the second season of Chelsea wraps up (later this year), instead focusing on "becoming a more knowledgeable and engaged citizen" ahead of upcoming elections. That doesn't mean she's through with Netflix however, as she says the two will release a documentary where she engages with "people of different ethnicities, religions and political philosophies." Netflix hasn't backed off of plans for original content and plans on spending more money than ever next year. Still, the attempt at diving into late night-style talk with Handler -- who launched Chelsea as a worldwide show after ending her Chelsea Lately show on E! in 2015 -- hasn't generated as much discussion as other high-profile originals like Stranger Things. In its second season, the show switched from posting three new episodes every week to weekly hour-long episodes. (BEIJING) Chinese President Xi Jinping proclaimed his nations prospects as bright but made a rare acknowledgement of severe economic challenges as he opened the ruling Communist Partys twice-a-decade national congress on Wednesday. Other Chinese leaders have regularly warned since the 2008 financial crisis that Chinas economic growth faces downward pressure due to weak global demand that threatens export industries in the worlds second-largest economy. But Xis comments in the massive Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square were unusual in a keynote speech meant to highlight the partys confidence and long-range vision. Among the grave issues Xi said were insufficiently addressed are a widening income gap and problems in employment, education, medical care and other areas. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is no walk in the park or mere drum-beating and gong-clanging. The whole party must be prepared to make ever more difficult and harder efforts, Xi said. To achieve great dreams there must be a great struggle. He added that the party would have to take big risks and overcome major resistance. Xi wields undisputed power and is expected to get a second five-year term as party leader at the gathering. Analysts say to consolidate his power he has sidelined his competitors in other intra-party cliques, including those surrounding his immediate predecessor Hu Jintao and former leader Jiang Zemin. The Communist Party meetings will largely be behind closed doors and are accompanied by extraordinary security measures, such as restrictions on knife sales and greater monitoring of dissidents. But the congress will see powerful players emerge publicly in new roles and is a chance for Xi to publicly lay out his political and economic vision over the next five years. In a speech before hundreds of delegates, mostly men in dark suits who applauded regularly as they read copies of his prepared remarks, Xi hailed Chinas island-building efforts in the disputed South China Sea as well as his signature foreign-policy initiative, the One Belt, One Road infrastructure investment project aimed at improving connections between China, Europe and Africa. Story continues He also praised the partys tightened grip over domestic security, saying that social stability had been maintained and national security strengthened. Xi pledged that the party would have zero tolerance for corruption and said it would continue to purify, improve and reform itself an indication that it would not allow outside checks on graft. But observers will be watching the congress for signs of whether Xi, 64, may be looking to appoint a successor to take over after his traditional second five-year term in office. Xi, in his address, exhorted party members to resist pleasure seeking, inaction, sloth and problem avoidance. He drew a hard line on sovereignty, saying that the party must staunchly oppose all efforts to split China or to undermine ethnic relations. Xi affirmed economic plans that call for developing state-owned companies that dominate industries including finance, energy and telecoms while also giving the market the decisive role in allocating resources. The party declared for the first time in 2013 it would give market forces the decisive role, a step business groups welcomed as a commitment to freer markets. But the same declaration also said the party would play a bigger role in managing state industry, a step that could blunt the impact of competitive forces. Xi announced no new initiatives but emphasized that Beijing must develop the public sector, a goal that reform advocates complain is a waste of public money and a drag on slowing economic growth. To achieve a moderately well-off society by 2021 the 100th anniversary of the partys founding and even greater national power and prosperity by 2049 the centenary of the founding of the communist state China needs continued economic growth and the lifting of millions out of poverty. The country is also rapidly expanding its military and political power, including its growing ability to dominate the Asia-Pacific region. The most tangible results of the congress will be personnel appointments. China is run by the partys Politburo Standing Committee, currently a seven-member body led by Xi, with Premier Li Keqiang his No. 2. While Xi and Li are expected to stay on, the fates of others are determined by loosely defined precedents governing retirement age. Four of the others are expected to step down, although the fate of a fifth, party discipline boss and close Xi ally Wang Qishan, appears to remain in flux. The 2,287 carefully hand-picked delegates to the congress are drawn from 40 constituencies, including the 31 provincial-level administrative districts, the government, the military, state industries and grass-roots organizations representing most of the partys 89 million members. In a secret process, they will select a roughly 200-member central committee, along with more than 150 alternates, from a pool of around 400 candidates. The committee will then pick a 25-member politburo and the elite Politburo Standing Committee, led by the general secretary. The makeup of the top body will only be known at the close of the meeting when its members reveal themselves on stage in front of journalists, according to past practice. ___ AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed to this report. BEIJING (Reuters) - Late U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, would have approved of China's policy to end serfdom in Tibet, a senior Chinese official said on Thursday. China considers devoutly Buddhist Tibet an inherent part of its territory and routinely rejects accusations from exiles and rights groups of repression and human rights abuses. Chinese forces entered Tibet in 1950 in what the government terms a peaceful liberation, and says its rule has brought prosperity and freedom to what was a backward and feudal society, including freeing a million people from serfdom, an event marked in Tibet as Serfs' Emancipation Day. Speaking on the sidelines of China's 19th Communist Party Congress, Supervision Minister Yang Xiaodu, who helps fight corruption, said the United States and Tibet had much in common with their human rights experiences. Yang recounted a tale of meeting a person he described as a former assistant U.S. secretary of state during a visit to the United States. "I said, 'In Chinese people's minds, Lincoln is a hero, as he freed the slaves, and on this issue Chinese and American people's recognition is the same, it's a human rights issue'," Yang said. "In Tibet we freed the serfs, and how are American friends not able to understand this? This is also a human rights issue. If you look at it from Lincoln's point of view, he would have approved of China overturning the serfdom system in Tibet." Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the United States in 1863. China keeps a tight grip on Tibet due to periodic anti-Chinese unrest, and all foreigners require permission to visit, including foreign reporters. Penpa Tashi, Tibet's propaganda chief, told reporters at a separate event that it would like to have more foreign visitors. "But Tibet is a high altitude area," he said. "Our receiving capability is still being improved." (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Nick Macfie) CMT Artists of the Year normally celebrates the biggest names in country music but in light of recent tragedies, the musicians wanted to make sure the victims and survivors were also recognized. After the opening song, the musicians being honored delivered a message. Luke Bryan said "Music moves us. Music brings us together. And tonight we hope music can be part of the healing." Chris Stapleton added, "From Las Vegas to Puerto Rico, from Florida, and Texas to Charlottesville and California, the entire nation is trying to process these devastating events." Throughout the show, CMT promoted cmtonecountry.com. The website is raising funds to help with relief for the victims of the recent fires, hurricanes, shooting, and protest violence. The names of the Las Vegas shooting victims were shown during the in memoriam section of the show. Jason Aldean, who was performing on stage at the time of the "Route 91" concert shooting, was the last musician to be honored. Earlier in the night he had said, "Heartbroken doesn't even begin to explain how some of us feel. But we have proven time and again in this country that we have the power to overcome anything that threatens our way of life or our freedom. We dedicate this night to you and to everyone who has experienced loss or tragedy. Like Keith said, we will get through this together." For his honorary performance, Aldean chose Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." Which both honored a legend, as well as a country that is strong and perseveres. Donald Trumps conversation with the mother of La David Johnson has been condemned (Rex) Donald Trump has been accused of telling the grieving widow of a US soldier that he knew what he signed up for. Democrat representative Frederica Wilson told CNN she had listened to part of the US presidents call with the grieving woman on speaker phone while she was with the family in a car. Mr Trump was offering his condolences to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was one of four soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger on October 4. His body was returned home to Miami, Florida on Tuesday afternoon, and Mr Trump made a call to the soldiers widow shortly before his coffin arrived. Ms Wilson said: Basically he said, Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt. Donald Trump claimed previous presidents didnt reach out to fallen soldiers families (Picture: Rex) She added: That is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldnt say that to a grieving widow. Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive, but you dont remind a grieving widow of that. That is so insensitive. So insensitive. Most popular on Yahoo News UK Man dies after stabbing outside Parsons Green Tube station in London Girl, 8, falls to her death on cruise ship in front of horrified passengers Get off my land! Furious farmer throws punches and drives quad bike into hunt saboteurs in shocking video Parents of man arrested for indecency in Dubai say his life is ruined Trump branded fat f***ing liar by sister of U.S. soldier killed in Iraq A spokesman for the White House told CNN: The presidents conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private. Asked on Monday whether he had spoken to the families of soldiers killed serving their country in, Mr Trump said: I felt very, very badly about that. I always feel badly. It is the toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. He then claimed that previous US presidents had not contacted the families of American troops killed in action. Story continues Mr Trump said he had written letters to the families of the four soldiers and planned to call them, saying of his predecessors: Most of them didnt make calls. Pregnant Myeshia Johnson sobs over the coffin of her husband as after he was brought back to the US Democrat representative Frederica Wilson said she heard part of Mr Trumps call to a grieving widow (Picture: Rex) When pressed, Mr Trump backtracked, saying it was possible Barack Obama did sometimes but other presidents did not call. The suggestion brought anger in Washington. Hes a deranged animal, Alyssa Mastromonaco, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr Obama, tweeted about Mr Trump, calling his statement a lie. He was also branded a fat, f***ing liar by the sister of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. George W Bush wrote all the families of the fallen, said Freddy Ford, the spokesman for the ex-president. Mr Ford said Mr Bush also called or met hundreds, if not thousands of family members of the war dead. Mr Obamas official photographer, Pete Souza, tweeted that he photographed Mr Obama meeting with hundreds of wounded soldiers, and family members of those killed in action. Updated | He knew what he signed up for. Those were, reportedly, the words of consolation offered by President Donald J. Trump to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, a Green Beret who was killed in an ambush in Niger on October 4. American special forces are in the West African country to root out Islamist radicals. Three other American service members were killed in the raid along with Johnson. Johnsons body returned to South Florida in a flag-draped casket on Tuesday, where his pregnant widow, Myeshia Johnson, and his two young children greeted it. Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, Democrat of Florida, described Trumps call to Johnson. She said she was listening on speakerphone. He knew what he signed up for... but when it happens, it hurts anyway," Trump said to Johnson, according to Wilsons description of the call to a South Florida ABC affiliate. It's so insensitive, the congresswoman added. He should have not have said that. He shouldn't have said it." Trump was quicklyand harshlycondemned on social media for his remarks, which the White House would not confirm. However, Trump tweeted that Wilson "totally fabricated" his comments to the widow, and said he had "proof," without specifying exactly what that consisted of. For someone with a lifelong reverence for the military, Trump seems to frequently find himself offending members of the armed services. Thats perhaps because he expresses his reverence in ways that may charitably be called unorthodox. His most notorious insult came at the expense of one of the nations most famous veterans: Sen. John McCain, who endured more than five years of captivity and torture in North Vietnam. Story continues He was a war hero because he was captured," Trump said at a 2015 event early in the presidential primary season. I like people who weren't captured. The cruel remark came in response to McCain's remark that Trump's campaign had "fired up the crazies. Some thought the unseemly remarks would doom the unlikely candidates surprising prominence in the crowded Republican field. That did not prove to be the case. A year later at the Democratic National Convention, Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khanwho lost their son Humayun in Iraqbecame the unlikely stars of the event when Khizr Khan asked Trump from the stage, Have you even read the United States Constitution?" Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America, You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one, Khan said. The charge that Trump had sacrificed nothing hints at the five deferments Trump received from the military draft during the Vietnam War. Trump has called avoiding sexually transmitted disease his personal Vietnam. Trump responded to the Khans by telling George Stephanopoulos of ABC that he had, indeed, made personal sacrifices by creating thousands and thousands of jobs and erecting great structures. He also suggested that Ghazala Khan had been silent while her husband spoke because, as a Muslim woman, she had been forbidden from speaking. There was no evidence to support this claim. Showing little contrition, Trump continued his spat with the Khans on Twitter: Again, many thought that Trumps insults against members of the military would doom his candidacy. But, as in the case of the McCain broadside, this proved incorrect. The day after the above tweet was sent, Trump held a rally in Ashburton, Virginia. There, a veteran who supported his candidacy gave Trump his Purple Heart medal. I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier, Trump said. CNN exit polling showed that about 60 percent of veterans chose Trump over Clinton on Election Day. During the campaign, he vowed more money for the military, a promise fulfilled with the recent $700 billion military budget passed by the Senate. And he has surrounded himself with decorated officers, including Chief of Staff Gen. John F. Kelly, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Gen. James N. Mattis. They are frequently depicted as the most influential and level-headed members of the Trump administration. The remarks to Sgt. Johnsons widow are not Trumps only military-related controversy this week. On Monday, Trump falsely claimed that President Barack Obama did not call the families of men and women killed in the line of duty. The assertion was met with widespread condemnation. As is frequently the case, Trump refused to back down, telling Brian Kilmeade of Fox News the next day that Obama had never called Gen. Kelly after his son, 1st Lt. Robert M. Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. Kelly and his wife were cleared to attend a White House event for Gold Star families in 2011. There is no sacred ground for this president, said Leon E. Panetta, who was Defense Secretary under Obama. This article has been updated to include a tweet from Donald Trump responding to Frederica S. Wilson's comment. Related Articles Former president George W Bush has issued a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump as he criticised the casual cruelty and conspiracy theories in modern politics. The former Republican leader warned that bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone that left young Americans lacking role models. Mr Bush also issued a clear rejection of white supremacists, saying that such views were tantamount to blasphemy against the American creed. The intervention did not mention Mr Trump by name but took on issues that the US president has been criticised over in recent months. Mr Trump has been accused of not condemning white supremacists strongly enough, making incorrect statement about predecessors and attacking colleagues on Twitter. The speech marked a rare appearance for Mr Bush, who has tended to avoid public statements despite expressing unease with Mr Trump when he ran for president. George W Bush, the former US president, gives his speech on Thursday Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry and compromises the moral education of children. George W Bush, former US president "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seem more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication, Mr Bush said in a speech at his institute on Thursday. There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned, especially among the young who never experienced the galvanising moral clarity of the Cold War or never focused on the ruin of entire nations by socialist central planning. Some have called this democratic deconsolidation. Really it seems to be a combination of weariness, frayed tempers and forgetfulness. Weve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. He added: Bigotry and white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed. Donald Trump, the US President, in the White House Credit: EPA/CHRIS KLEPONIS / POOL Image title: USA GOVERNMENT TRUMP "We need a renewed emphasis on civic learning in schools and our young people need positive role models. Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry and compromises the moral education of children. Story continues Mr Bush also appeared to take aim at Mr Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric and protectionist instincts by tearing up free trade deals and threatening tariffs. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Mr Bush said. George W Bush speaks at a forum sponsored by his institute in New York Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism." He added: "We've seen the return of isolationist sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge." The intervention marks the latest senior Republican figure to voice disquiet over Mr Trumps behaviour in recent days as a civil war rumbles in the party. John McCain, the Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee, used a speech this week to criticise half-baked, spurious nationalism. Donald Trump has denied telling the grieving widow of US soldier "he knew what he signed up for" moments before she wept over his coffin, insisting the story is "totally fabricated". The president was responding to Congresswoman Frederica Wilson's claim he had made the "insensitive comments" moments before the funeral of Lance Sergeant David Johnson. He was one of four Green Berets killed when their patrol was ambushed by Islamist militants in Niger. He claimed not only that the Florida congresswoman who reported the phone call was wrong, but that she had intentionally lied. He has "proof" of that fact, he said. "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" he wrote on Twitter. Mr Trump didn't say what proof he had collected. The White House had originally told the press that the phone calls between the president and families would be kept private. Ms Wilson had told CNN that she overheard the phone call, and repeated her claim about Mr Trump's offensive comment. "Basically he said, 'Well I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts, she claimed. "I heard what he said because the phone was on speaker." When asked by Miami station WPLG if she indeed heard Trump say that she answered: "Yeah, he said that. To me, that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldn't say that to a grieving widow." She added: "That's so insensitive." Later, reacting to Mr Trump's tweet, Ms Wilson said that the president was a "sick man". "I don't know what kind of proof he could be talking about I'm not the only person that was in the car, and I have proof too" she said. "This man is a sick man, he's cold-hearted and he feels no pity or sympathy for anyone," she told CNN. The controversy comes as Mr Trump is criticised for the way he has responded to the families of the four soldiers killed in Niger. The president didn't reach out to the family straight away, and claimed when criticised that he'd written letters but they hadn't been sent out yet. Donald Trump has taken credit for Isis "giving up," claiming the group wasn't on the run before because he wasn't President. US-backed militias in Syria declared victory over Isis in its de facto capital Raqqa on Tuesday after a four-month battle. In Washington, the US military said that around 90 per cent of Raqqa had been retaken but it expected the Syrian Democratic Forces to face pockets of resistance. "I totally changed rules of engagement. I totally changed our military. I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job," Mr Trump said on The Chris Plante Show. "Isis is now giving up, they are giving up, they are raising their hands, they are walking off. Nobody has ever seen that before." When he asked why it hadn't happened before, Mr Trump replied: Because you didnt have Trump as your president." He added: "I mean, it was a big difference. I mean, theres a big, big difference if you look at the military now." Defeating Isis was a key component of Mr Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign, during which he argued former President Barack Obama had been too soft on the militant group and his opponent Hillary Clinton would be no better. As President, Mr Trump has transferred power from the White House to the Pentagon, delegating more autonomy to military officials on the ground. However, much of his administration's strategy to combat Isis has remained the same as that of the campaign which began under former President Obama. We all had to stand up, place our hands over our hearts and repeat. As a 5-year-old, I had no idea what my teacher was writing on the board just words in a language I didnt understand. Next to them, she began to write words I did. At that time, it seemed we didnt fear foreign languages in America. Juro lealtad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America y a la republica que representa, una nacion, bajo Dios, indivisible con libertad y justicia para todos. A translation to the words I did not quite understand: I pledge allegiance... Day after day we stood, children of all colors, and swore this oath. Even then, I knew I had immigrated. I had vague memories of a mythical land called Mexico: a place my parents fled to find a better life. Many people speak about legal immigration as if it is easy to attain. Yet they fail to explain how people like my parents, who barely achieved a middle school education, could have navigated a riddled and expensive legal system. How could they have afforded it when theyd resorted to lighting a plate of rubbing alcohol just so the makeshift room theyd created out of aluminum became warm enough to change their infants diaper? People will judge them, but I thank them. They risked it all for a chance to see their child reach higher than anyone in our family dared to dream. Of course, everything comes at a price. For my family and me, the opportunities we received in the United States were paid for with loneliness, because we were told never to talk about our status. I paid with the pit I felt in my stomach whenever a police car drove behind my parents. I, and others like me, paid by constantly being asked by U.S. citizens, Why even try to go to college? Youll never accomplish it. Prior to DACA, as someone without status, it was extremely difficult to attend and navigate college. Id have had to pay three times the tuition my classmates would if I wanted to attend the in-state university; I wouldnt have been able to apply for most scholarships. I would not have qualified for any loans, and I would not be able to work. Story continues I still remember high school graduation day. As student body president, I was one of the first to walk on stage and receive my diploma. And as I held it in my hands, I was overcome with uncertainty. I imagined a future in which I lived a life struggling under the Arizona sun, burning to a crisp and toiling in the heat just to provide for my family living a life much like my father. But the very next morning, I received a letter in the mail. It was notice that Id received a full-ride scholarship! I would became the first in my family to attend a university. I was torn, living in fear of my uncertain legal status but thankful for this opportunity to learn. Then, on June 15, 2012, my world changed. From the Rose Garden, Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting some young people who came to U.S. as children of illegal immigrants With the strike of a pen, I was plucked from the shadows. When President Barack Obama announced his administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, I felt I no longer had to fear deportation to a land I did not know. But DACA was then and still is a controversial act. Nearly 800,000 individuals across the nation have benefited, and we have shown our thanks tenfold. Some have found jobs, others have decided to reach for higher education and others offer our help to community resources. There are, predictably, some who have wasted this opportunity, and they are quick to make headlines. Yet even those who paint DACA recipients negatively must admit that less than 1 percent of DACA recipients have lost it due to criminal activity. Personally, though, the Obama administrations actions changed my life dramatically. It meant I could finally learn to drive! Id held off, because I thought doing so would jeopardize my status in this country. I finally was able to work (and I promise you, there was no one in the nation happier to get a minimum-wage check than I was). My status allowed me to graduate and eventually pursue my dream of going to law school. I fell in love and married the most astonishing woman, also a Dreamer who refused to give up. We have since graduated she with her masters degree, me having just finished law school and passed the bar exam. And yet, despite our personal achievements, the last few months have been filled with speculation regarding the program. And as someone who grew up in Arizona, I recognize the dark cloud that now consumes the country. Latinos here are accustomed to figures who rise in popularity because of their xenophobic rhetoric. People like Joe Arpaio and former Governor Jan Brewer, who struck fear in our communities. At a time when the general public sought answers to the recession, these two made the immigrant a scapegoat. They understood they could freely attack this mute population a population muted because of the fragility of their legal status. And I remember seeing fear in the eyes of people in my community. Parents who were afraid to send their children to school. Who feared venturing to the grocery store. And its this same cloud a familiar cloud that now covers the United States. Demonstrators protest against Arizona's controversial Senate Bill 1070 immigration law outside Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office in Phoenix on July 29, 2010. In my state, the Dreamers have always been the ones whove refused to be silent. We were the immigrants who knew how to navigate the political system, and unlike our parents, we knew the language and knew our rights. Some of us fought back by organizing and protesting in the streets. Others knocked on doors, registering voters; if we could not vote for our cause, we would register five those who could. And finally, others among us defied the odds and sought higher education. We understood that a degree provides a microphone, and a microphone enables us to advocate for people of all communities. This is a lesson that, today, goes beyond political ideology. Senator John McCain recently warned against the use of scapegoats. At the Liberty Medal Award ceremony, he warned America not to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe and not to refuse the obligations of international leadership for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. His words oppose those of people currently in power who have seemingly taken the Arpaio playbook and now claim to Make America Great Again by being the nations toughest. These have brought quick political success, but humanity loses in the long run. And while many hoped DACA would remain, I always understood it was merely a Band-Aid; I always understood that true security can only come through Congress. This justification for rescinding DACA hasnt lessened the sting and the looming cloud that threatens the lives of so many in our communities. With this, we urge those in Congress, those in the White House and those who have not spoken to Dreamers to venture into your communities, because we guarantee you we are there. We encourage our fellow immigrants to use their voices and tell their stories, because often it is merely ignorance that prevents understanding. And personally, I will be doing my part as an immigration attorney; I will be consuming information and fighting for the American Dream, because I am strangely optimistic. Always, I think back to those words I engraved into my soul, I pledge allegiance Im reminded of the individuals who have shaped this country. They were beaten, ridiculed and discredited but they overcame. They pushed forward when times seemed bleakest, and they sewed their story into this beautiful American tapestry. Its this same grit that I see in my fellow Dreamers. I know we will persevere, because we only know one Constitution, we only know one Pledge of Allegiance. We are Americans, and we will also contribute to its story. Ellen DeGeneres took time out of her show on Thursday to voice her support for the Me Too movement that has been growing online. In response to the recent allegations of sexual assault and harassment by powerful men, actress Alyssa Milano asked women to share their stories on social media using #MeToo, and millions of women have come forward, including DeGeneres. If youve been sexually harassed or assaulted write me too as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017 DeGeneres said, I think its brave and important to speak out and not be shamed by anyone. It is not always easy, but we have to do that. Thats why I posted and I will say right now out loud, me too. With so many people coming forward with painful accounts, DeGeneres offered some helpful tips. She said, Its hard to know which is the right response. Is it a crying face emoji because Im sad that that happened to you? Or is it a smiley face to say good for you for speaking out? Im not sure about the etiquette, but I do know that hell hath no fury like a woman with a Twitter account. DeGeneres said that she hopes the online posts lead to conversations in real life, but she jokingly pointed out that there might be an adjustment period. So you have to be careful about what you tweet because if you see a tweet that says, I cant wait to see the new Star Wars movie and you respond, Me too, it means something completely different now. Watch: Wounded Las Vegas security guard Jesus Camposs first public account on Ellen: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or leave your comments below. Sheila and Calvin Murphy (Screengrab via CNN) The parents of a U.S. Army specialist killed in Syria in May said Thursday they hadnt received any acknowledgment from President Trump, despite his claim to have called virtually all families of fallen U.S. soldiers. But theyre not looking for a call. Sheila and Calvin Murphy are the parents of Spc. Etienne Murphy. In an emotional interview on CNNs New Day on Thursday, Sheila Murphy said through her tears its OK that she hasnt heard from Trump, because its not about a call or letter. Another heartbroken Gold Star family says they never received a call from President Trump https://t.co/NoRPJ3Zlm8 New Day (@NewDay) October 19, 2017 I just want people to remember my son and all the other Gold Star moms, Mrs. Johnson all those who are grieving, she said. Trust me, none of us want to be in this position, and the worst thing Ive ever been called is a Gold Star mom. Trumps communication with the families of slain troops has been under scrutiny since Tuesday, when he falsely accused his recent predecessors of not calling such families. The claim was an attempt to defend his own lack of public statements about four soldiers killed in Niger this month. The president sparked more controversy this week by publicly feuding with Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who said Trump told Myeshia Johnson the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson that her husband knew what he signed up for. Sgt. Johnson was one of the soldiers killed in Niger. Murphy, through what she called un-get-throughable pain, said she wrote a letter to the White House in hopes that Trump would not forget Etienne. I have no hard feelings toward anybody, she said. Because its not about me; its about my child and all the other countless fallen heroes, and those still over there now and the families that are here grieving, like I am and my husband is, she added. Thats what its all about. I dont want it to be about me or about a letter; I want it to be about my child and what he stood for, and what they are fighting for over there right now as I speak. Story continues Spc. Etienne J. Murphy, 22, of Loganville, Ga., died May 26 in Al-Hasakah, Syria, of injuries sustained during a vehicle-rollover-related incident. (Photo: DOD) Read more from Yahoo News: Ankara (AFP) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday vowed to ramp up security and and economic cooperation between Ankara and Africa's most populous nation. Speaking after talks at Erdogan's palace, Buhari and the Turkish leader vowed to increase investment and cooperate in the fight against extremist groups including Boko Haram jihadists. "There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investment. Already a lot is being done in the education and the health sectors," said Buhari. "This will be strengthened and Nigeria is prepared to receive Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigeria's potentialities," he added. Erdogan said he believed both sides would push trade volumes above $1.245 billion. "Turkish business people are ready to take on the development of Nigeria," he said. At a time of tense relations with the European Union and the United States, Turkey has been moving to broaden its influence in Africa, opening new diplomatic missions and air links. Erdogan has himself been a frequent visitor to the continent, most recently travelling to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar in January. Erdogan said Turkey saw no difference between Boko Haram and Islamic State (IS) and the group of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen blamed for the 2016 failed coup. "These organisations are the killers who feed off the blood of the innocent," he said. Asked how Turkey could help Nigeria defeat Boko Haram, Erdogan replied that intelligence cooperation was of the utmost importance. Boko Haram's quest to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and threatened regional security. Buhari will on Friday travel to Istanbul to attend a summit of the Developing-8 (D-8), a grouping of growing mainly-Muslim countries first envisaged by Erdogan's late political mentor and former Turkish premier Necmettin Erbakan. It comprises Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. President Trumps Twitter feed is photographed on a mobile phone. (Photo: J. David Ake/AP) WASHINGTON President Trump heads to Asia in early November for his second major foreign trip, an ambitious sprint through Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines for global summits and one-on-one meetings largely defined by the North Korean standoff. China expert Dennis Wilder, who served as President George W. Bushs senior director for East Asian affairs, set the stage for Trumps voyage in an interview with Yahoo News on SiriusXMs POTUS Channel 124. Wilder explained that domestic politics in Beijing will affect the visit and detailed what the president should avoid doing while in the region. Face, to East Asians, is very, very important, Wilder said Wednesday. And so one of the things the president has to be careful of is not canceling meetings, or events, that make it obvious that for some reason he didnt think that event was worth going to. If its on the schedule, he needs to do it. Trump, who has taken some criticism for delegating some foreign policy roles to his daughter Ivanka, has to be careful of doing anything like that while in Asia, Wilder said. He needs to show that hes interested in these things. And that, frankly, can be difficult some of these events arent that exciting. Back when Bush attended some of the same annual summits that Trump will go to next month, we used to send him in ball scores to keep his mind occupied during particularly tedious stretches, Wilder recalled. The other thing the president has to be careful of is what he tweets. You cannot, in East Asia, while youre a guest in these countries, do anything that looks like criticism of those leaders, the expert added. In China, Trump will meet again with President Xi Jinping, who has steadily consolidated power at home over the past few years while Beijings assertive, even belligerent, actions abroad have increasingly worried its neighbors. Its striking how confident [Xi] is sounding about his own position and the position of China, with the void left by the United States by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific trade deal, Wilder said. Xi has emphasized that China is moving closer to center stage in the world, he noted. Story continues This is about Chinas reemergence as a world [power] and great power. And Xi Jinping feels this very personally, Wilder said. He wants the United States to recognize China as more of an equal in the world these days. Itll be interesting to see how President Trump reacts to, sort of, this more confident, more ambitious China. Amid questions about whether Trump will visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, Wilder said that the presidents typically blunt talk might unsettle his hosts. There would have to be concerns in South Korea that sometimes the president, when he makes off-the-cuff remarks, can be a little spicy, Wilder said, pointing to Trump mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as Rocket Man. (On Twitter, Trump has expanded the moniker to Little Rocket Man.) I think there would be concerns on the part of some that, if he were to make those kinds of remarks at the DMZ, it might well provoke the North Korean leader in ways that we havent seen so far, Wilder said. One interesting dynamic that may shape Trumps trip is Washingtons efforts to enlist India as Chinas influence grows, Wilder said. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that the administration hopes to dramatically deepen cooperation with New Delhi. India had been ambivalent about moving too close to democratic U.S. allies in Asia, Wilder said. The Indians obviously have to be a little bit careful about this, because they dont want to look like theyre joining a containment policy against the Chinese, he said. Read more from Yahoo News: Raqa (Syria) (AFP) - US-backed forces who captured Raqa from the Islamic State group prepared to hand the Syrian city over to a civilian authority, with some of their fighters already headed to the next battle. Inside the city, positions that had long been manned by fighters of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were abandoned, though some remained in the central Al-Naim square, dancing and ululating as they celebrated their victory. The SDF battled for more than four months, with US-led coalition support, to capture the city that was once the de facto Syrian capital of IS's self-styled "caliphate". They announced the end of combat on Tuesday, though operations to clear explosives and seek out sleeper cells were ongoing. Raqa's capture leaves the jihadists with little remaining territory in Syria, most of it in neighbouring Deir Ezzor province, where some SDF fighters were already headed to carry on the campaign. "Some of the forces withdrew, others will remain in the city until we finish the minor combing operations, then the city will be handed over to the civil council," said SDF commander Rojda Felat. "After the end of military operations, a large part of the forces have moved out of Raqa to other areas, including Deir Ezzor," added Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF. At least 16 civilians including several children were killed in air strikes in Deir Ezzor Thursday believed to have been carried out by Russian jets, a monitor said. "The civilians were killed as they tried to cross the Euphrates river near the town of Abu Kamal," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Abu Kamal is one of the few remaining urban strongholds of IS in Syria. SDF spokesman Talal Sello said two days of mopping-up operations in Raqa had so far uncovered no additional IS fighters, but that interrogations of those who were captured or surrendered during the battle were ongoing. Story continues "SDF intelligence is investigating them, including a number of foreigners," he told AFP. The city's capture Tuesday came after the SDF seized IS's last two main positions, the municipal stadium and national hospital, in quick succession. Both sites have been heavily mined and remain to be cleared, SDF commanders said. "There are bodies inside the hospital itself that we haven't yet removed because of the mines," said commander Clara Raqa. Responsibility for the city, which lies in ruins and empty of civilians, will be assumed by the Raqa Civil Council, a body of local officials formed six months ago. The official handover is expected to come as early as Friday, but the body has already spent months working on reconstruction plans. They will inherit responsibility for a ghost town that lacks basic services and infrastructure. On the city's streets, blankets that had been hung in front of windows to shield residents from the view of snipers fluttered in the wind, but there was no movement otherwise. A few scrawny cats and dogs picked their way over the rubble that is strewn across the city, up to 80 percent of which was described as uninhabitable by the UN last month. - Raqa 'liberated by free women' - In Al-Naim square, fighters of the Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ), the female branch of the YPG, gathered to hold a press conference celebrating their contribution to the city's capture. Some of the battle's commanders were female, a point of pride for Kurdish forces, particularly given IS's infamous oppression of women. "Raqa was liberated by the will of free women," the YPJ said in a statement. SDF flags now cover Al-Naim, where the jihadists once displayed the severed heads of their enemies. In the centre of the square, a large yellow flag has been raised, featuring a photograph of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan heads the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, where it is considered a "terrorist" group. He is idolised by many in the YPG, which Ankara says is the Syrian branch of the PKK. IS captured mostly Sunni Arab Raqa in 2014, and under its rule the city became infamous for gruesome abuses and as a planning centre for attacks abroad. Its loss deals a major blow to the jihadists' dreams of statehood, and comes after their July defeat in Iraq's second city Mosul, their other major urban stronghold. By Zachary Fagenson GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - Protesters shouted "Go home Nazis" as a white nationalist gave a speech on Thursday at the University of Florida, where hundreds of police set up barricades and separated supporters and demonstrators to guard against violence. Richard Spencer's event at the university in Gainesville, which prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency to prepare for possible conflict, came about two months after rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to a deadly clash with counter-protesters. The violence on Aug. 12 added fuel to a national debate on race, and Republican President Donald Trump came under fire for blaming both sides for the melee. White supremacists have been working to bring Spencer to various public universities, saying he has a constitutional right to free speech. The effort has forced college leaders to allow what they see as hate speech on campus and provide security to prevent violent clashes. On Thursday, several hundred protesters shouting "We don't want your Nazi hate" marched outside a campus performing arts centre where Spencer spoke. Two people were arrested, including a man hired as security for media for illegally carrying a firearm on campus, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said. Another man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas emerged from a crowd of protesters with a bloody lip. "There were a few scuffles, but for the most part it was an extremely peaceful event," said Chris Sims, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. Inside the venue, Spencer and protesters yelled at one another, and he criticized them for trying to suppress his speech. "Im not going home," said Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, a nationalist think tank, and promoted the Charlottesville rally. "We are stronger than you and you all know it!" He appeared to have few supporters in the crowd. About 15 white men, all dressed in white shirts and khaki pants, raised their hands when Spencer asked who identified with the alt-right, a loose grouping characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Story continues Spencer left the campus soon after the event ended, university public safety officials said on Twitter. Police worked to separate those who attended the event as they left the venue from protesters gathered nearby. One Spencer supporter appeared to have been sprayed in the face with an irritant. Police were not immediately available to speak about the incident. Anais Edwards, 26, was inside the venue and supported those trying to disrupt Spencer. "Im really proud of how our community came together. Many of them were willing to stand up and not let him speak," Edwards said. The university said it did not invite Spencer to speak, but was obligated by law to allow the event. The school said it would spend more than $500,000 on security, and the National Policy Institute is paying more than $10,000 to rent the facility and for security within the venue. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. hate groups, said Spencer is "a radical white separatist whose goal is the establishment of a white ethno-state in North America." An outspoken supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity after widely circulated videos showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidate's win. Trump condemned the meeting. The death in Charlottesville, home to the flagship campus of the University of Virginia, occurred as counter-protesters were dispersing. A 20-year-old man who is said by law enforcement to have harboured Nazi sympathies drove his car into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman. (Reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Dan Grebler) By Camille Augustin A Florida womans form of discipline has resulted in the death of a young child. According to USA Today, Veronica Green Posey, 64, decided to reprimand her 9-year-old cousin, Dericka Lindsay, by sitting on her as punishment for misbehavior. Posey weighs 325 pounds. One of Lindsays parents, Grace Joan Smith, phoned Posey to help regulate her daughter. According to the police report, Posey reportedly struck Lindsay with a metal pipe and a ruler. As a response to the physical abuse, Lindsay sought refuge by an armchair where Posey proceeded to sit on the child for nearly 10 minutes. Lindsay pleaded with Posey that she was experiencing shortness of breath and was left unresponsive once the latter stood up. Lindsay was rushed to Baptist Hospital and died shortly after arrival, BET notes. Derickas death is appalling and DCF will continue coordinating with the Escambia County Sheriffs Office to hold anyone responsible for her death accountable a statement via the Pensacola News Journal from Secretary Mike Carroll of the Florida Department of Children and Families, reads. As the family has a prior interaction with the child welfare system, a thorough quality assurance review will be conducted to review all prior interactions this family has had with the child welfare system. Posey faces charges of cruelty toward a child while Lindsays parents, Grace Jones and James Smith, will face child neglect charges. This post Florida Woman Disciplines 9-Year-Old By Sitting On Her, Charged With Homicide first appeared on Vibe. Those with a serious thirst for power no longer need to turn to aftermarket shops since theres a growing trend where dealers are actually offering new vehicles pre-fitted with top-shelf mods, sometimes with warranties intact. Ohios Lebanon Ford kicked off the trend with its Roush-tuned Mustangs and then Georgia dealer Pioneer Ford tried its hand with its own F-150 Lightning. Now Wyatt Johnson Ford of Nashville has revealed the most ambitious yet: a Shelby-tuned F-150 with 750 horsepower. The truck is called the F-150 Outlaw WJ750, and its exclusive to Wyatt Johnson. You can order it in the choice of four colors: Race Red, Shadow Black, Oxford White and Lightning Blue. As mentioned, the upgrades are handled by Shelby American and match the specifications of Shelbys own 2017 F-150 Super Snake street-oriented truck. Under the custom vented hood is a 5.0-liter V-8 with a supercharger attached. Both the supercharger housing and intake manifold have been powder coated the same blue used by the Ford Racing team. Other features of the powertrain include a billet throttle body, high-performance fuel injectors and a Borla exhaust system. So the vehicle handles better, the suspension has been lowered. The vehicle also rides on 22-inch wheels shod with 305/40-size Nitto performance tires. Wyatt Johnson is offering the F-150 Outlaw WJ750 with a 3-year/36,000-mile limited warranty. Should you want one for your garage you'll need $74,995. Critics have accused Mark Zuckerberg of having his 'head in the sand', over Russian interference in the 2016 election Less than a month before Facebook executives appear in front of US intelligence officials to explain the role their platform played in Russian meddling at the 2016 US election, former employees have come forward and expressed regret at having worked at the company. The social network, used by a quarter of all people on the planet, is at the centre of growing outrage at the scale of the Russian disinformation campaign staged on the platform, and is facing claims it has done little to address the issue. Critics have accused Facebook of failing to properly acknowledge and deal with the Russia problem. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that in April, Facebook cut out a reference to Russia in a draft report on election influence, without explaining why. Despite the long public debate over the issue, Facebook only admitted last month that thousands of advertisements had been bought by Russia-linked pages. At least 3,000 politically divisive ads were bought by Russia at the time of the presidential campaigns and elections, the company revealed. Analysis revealed that each of these propaganda efforts could have been viewed millions of times. According to the Associated Press, a Russian sponsored page named Being Patriotic racked up over 4.4 million interactions by the time Donald Trump was inaugurated. The pro-Trump page repeated emotive words and phrases such as illegal alien, Sharia law, border wall, American, Trump win, and welfare state, several times, a content analysis revealed. This was just one of thousands that were targeted at specific users. A CNN report found some Russian-linked ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin two states crucial to Mr Trumps victory. Both states were won by Mr Trump by less than one per cent, with a few thousand votes deciding the outcome. In all, Facebook believes the entire Russian propaganda effort was seen by 10 million people, and cost just $100,000 (76,000). Story continues This week, former Facebook employees told Vanity Fair they are concerned by the companys scale and impact in its current form. They look at the role Facebook now plays in society, and how Russia used it during the election to elect Trump, and they have this sort of Oh my God, what have I done moment, one early ex-Facebook employee said. The same former employee added: I lay awake at night thinking about all the things we built in the early days and what we could have done to avoid the product being used this way. Insiders also believe Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, along with high-level executives at the company, think the extent of Russias influence in the election is overblown. They have their head in the sand like Mark, one person who personally knows Mr Zuckerberg told Vanity Fair. But in a sign the company is taking Russian interference seriously, Facebooks chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said last week the company owed the American people an apology over foreign meddling. Things happened on our platform that shouldnt have happened, she said in an interview with US news website Axios. Its not just that we apologize. Were angry, were upset. But what we really owe the American people is determination to improve prevention, she said. Next month the focus on Facebook and fellow tech giants Twitter and Google will intensify, with executives formally invited to appear before the House intelligence committee. Congressional investigators will ask these firms to account for how their networks became the key battle grounds for foreign influence in the election. The scale of the challenge Facebook faces in dealing with politically-charged content is one the company still seems unsure how to grapple with. At our heart we are a tech company, Ms Sandberg told Axios. We dont hire journalists. In 2016, Pew Research reported 44 per cent of American citizens got their news from Facebook. This figure helps illuminate the extraordinary scale of the platform as a news dissemination service, and also explains why it will remain attractive to subversive actors seeking to influence people. French women have come up with a new campaign against sexual harassers, assaulters and predators: #BalanceTonPorc or, expose your pig. The social media hashtag has elicited a groundswell of responses over the past week, with women around the country flooding Facebook and Twitter with their personal accounts of inappropriate sexual propositions, often from men in powerful positions. You have big breasts. Youre my kind of woman. Ill make you enjoy the night,' French journalist Sandra Muller Tweeted (in French) on Friday. Her sharing of the alleged words of a former boss kicked off the #BalanceTonPorc torrent. #quellavoltache Hollywood big shot director with Napoleon complex gave me GHB and raped me unconscious, I was 26 years old #BalancetonPorc Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) October 15, 2017 Un red chef, grande radio, petit couloir, m'attrapant par la gorge : "un jour, je vais te baiser, que tu le veuilles ou non" #balancetonporc Giulia Fois (@Giulia_Fois_) October 14, 2017 French-speaking women speak out about everyday sexual harrassment on #balancetonporc (rat your pig out) and it's appalling. You go girls ?? MC Paccard (@mcpaccard) October 15, 2017 The campaign echoes the #MeToo hashtag occurring across the Atlantic and started by actor Alyssa Milano, who called on social media users to use the hashtag #MeToo to illustrate just how pervasive lecherous behavior is in the wake of harassment, assault and rape allegations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. The ballooning scandal around Weinsteins alleged treatment of several actresses, including four French stars, has reinvigorated a debate in France about how to end sexualized violence against women, including verbal mistreatment. The nations Secretary of State for Equality between Women and Men, Marlene Schiappa, is working on legislation that would criminalize street harassment, including an on the spot fine of a yet-to-be-determined amount for wolf-whistling. In France, where sexual harassment is already punishable by up to two years in prison and a 30,000 ($35,000) fine, there is currently no enforceable definition of street harassment, or catcalling. A drafting taskforce of MPs, police officials and lawyers are currently working to define it ahead of a planned vote on the new law next year. Schiappa doesnt seem to think that will be too hard to pinpoint. We know very well at what point we start feeling intimidated, unsafe or harassed in the street, she told RTL radio on Monday. She gave examples of men talking too close to a womans face, following a woman down the street or asking for her number 17 times. In addition to cracking down on street predation, the law would toughen punishments on sex with minors and extend by an additional decade the statute of limitations on reporting rape cases that occurred when the victim was a minor. Schiappa said she was moved by the revelations shared in the #BlanceTonPorc campaign, including an account shared by a personal friend, and emphasized the need for the new law. We cannot currently file a complaint for street harassment, the 34-year-old politician told RTL. Several countries have already made catcalling and other forms of verbal sexual abuse a crime. In Portugal, the offense is punishable with a 120 ($142) fine. Belgium made catcalling illegal in 2014 with penalties including a one-year jail sentence and fine of 1,000 ($1,200). And in New Zealand, street harassers can be dinged with a fine of up to $1,000. President Donald Trump says some white supremacist protesters are very fine people. Lauren Poe (D), the mayor of Gainesville, Florida, has another word for them: terrorists. Poe used the term to describe white supremacist leader Richard Spencer in an interview with HuffPost Thursday morning, ahead of a speech Spencer plans to give at the University of Florida later in the day. Theres no question that he is a terrorist leader and that his followers look to commit acts of terror to disrupt our community, Poe said. And we know that because theyve told us that, he elaborated. These are not my impressions of what they might be doing, its clear they look to descend upon communities, harm people and then leave, and those are the acts of terrorists. The university is legally obligated to permit Spencer to give the speech, regardless of how much of a disturbance it causes at both the school and in broader Gainesville. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has taken the unusual move of declaring a state of emergency ahead of the event, and the school itself has been forced to pre-emptively spend $500,000 on security. Poe encouraged Gainesville residents Thursday to go about their business and give Spencer as small a platform as possible. In an interview [Spencer] did with CNN just last night he was proudly comparing himself to the destructive forces of hurricanes and other natural disasters, Poe explained. He absolutely intends to create terror in people and thats his tactic. We need to live our life as normal and not let this disrupt us, because thats what terrorists do, they want you to disrupt your life, they want to get into your psyche and make you afraid to live a normal, free life. And we cant let that happen. Related... The History Of American Nazis The Neo-Nazis Are Back Online Florida Governor Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Richard Spencer Speech The University Of Florida Really Does Have To Let Richard Spencer Speak Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. In a rare public speech on Thursday, former President George W. Bush blasted the state of discourse that has marked President Trumps first nine months in office. Bigotry seems emboldened, Bush said in his opening remarks at the Bush Institutes Spirit of Liberty event in New York City. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. Weve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty, the former president continued. At times, it could seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Bush did not mention Trump by name. But his comments came just three days after the president falsely suggested that neither he nor former President Barack Obama had called to offer their condolences to the families of fallen soldiers. And the 43rd U.S. president who was among those who strongly condemned the violence that erupted during a white supremacist rally in August in Charlottesville, Va. seemingly had Trumps America first doctrine in mind. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, Bush said, warning that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed. He continued: Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them. Former President George W. Bush speaks in New York on Thursday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Though they are both Republicans, Bush and Trump are far apart when it comes to how they speak about racial and religious minorities. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush visited a Islamic center in Washington D.C., to plead for tolerance towards Muslims even as he vowed to seek retribution for the terrorists. Trump once reacted to terrorism abroad by touting a baseless anti-Muslim war-crime tale. Weve seen the return of isolationist sentiments, Bush said, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places, where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking can reemerge. Story continues The former president then unveiled a call to action, outlining five recommendations for restoring Americas identity. Among them: confronting Russias interference in the U.S. election. According to our intelligence services, the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other, Bush said. This effort is broad, systemic and stealthy. Its conducted across a range of social media platforms. Ultimately, this assault wont succeed. But foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated. Bush also said the United States must engage with world leaders on the international stage. We cannot wish globalization away, he said. Finally, Bush said, elected officials must project cultural and moral leadership in order to combat a crisis of confidence. Read more from Yahoo News: The father of a fallen U.S. serviceman said he wants to learn how to use Twitter just so he can call out President Donald Trump. Trump claims that he contacts the families of all soldiers who are killed in action. But Euvince Brooks, father of Sgt. Roshain E. Brooks, told the Washington Post that the White House never called him. I said to my daughter, Can you teach me to tweet, so I can tweet at the president and tell him hes a liar? Brooks told the Post. You know when you hear people lying and you want to fight? Thats the way I feel last night. Hes a damn liar. Sgt. Brooks, 30, of Brooklyn, died in Iraq on August 13. He and Spc. Allen Levi Stigler Jr., 22, of Arlington, Virginia, were killed in action in what was described as a mishap that occurred while engaging with an ISIS mortar site, Army Times reported. They were posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal and Combat Action Badge. Five other soldiers were also injured in the incident. Sgt. Roshain E. Brooks and Spc. Allen L. Stigler Jr. deployed to Iraq in January. Both were due home next month. https://t.co/37mEukOM6h Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) August 15, 2017 Brooks father told the New York Daily News that he and his wife havent been able to sleep since the death of their son. From the day that guy was born, he was a hero to me. He was my first born, my right eye. He was everything to me, Brooks told the newspaper. Hes a hero. We did a lot of things together. Losing him was almost like losing myself. Brooks also called Trump a damn disgrace to the White House. His comments were the latest in a string of rebukes from military families aimed at the president. Chris Baldridges 22-year-old son, Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge, was killed in Afghanistan in June. He said Trump promised him $25,000, but never delivered the money. The White House told the Post that the check had been sent. Story continues In another incident, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said Trump told Myeshia Johnson, the pregnant widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, that her husband mustve known what he signed up for. Trump denied making the comment, but Sgt. Johnsons mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, said she was present for the call and that Trump indeed made the remark. Yes, he did state that comment, she told The New York Times via Facebook. Also on HuffPost U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Chad Boley is reunited with his family at a surprise homecoming prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 10, 2013, in Avondale, Arizona. Lance Cpl. David Sellers, a refrigeration mechanic with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, embraces his wife with a kiss during the Command Elementas homecoming on July 17, 2015, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Members of the U.S. Army's 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, embrace family members following a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on Sept. 1, 2014, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Five-year-old Gavin Shaw flashes a smile as he hugs his father, Master Sgt. Adam Shaw, during a Welcome Home Ceremony for approximately 230 4th Brigade Combat Team soldiers on Nov. 4, 2012, in Fort Carson, Colorado. Husband and wife William and Rebecca Prestridge and boyfriend and girlfriend Craig Cooper and Ashley Zeigler embrace following a homecoming ceremony for members of the U.S. Army's 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division at Campbell Army Airfield on Sept. 1, 2014, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Spc. Marqes Turpin of the 273rd Military Police Company of DC Army National Guard kisses his two-year-old son Josiah Turpin as his sister Nikilae looks on during a homecoming ceremony on Oct. 16, 2012, at the DC National Guard Armory in Washington, DC. Spc. Brian Bennett of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, holds his 2-year-old daughter Sophia following a homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center on Fort Knox on Thursday, February 27, 2014 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Sgt. Obie Dubose gets hugs from his family during a homecoming for Marines from the 13th MEU on April 24, 2014, in Camp Pendleton, California. Bradyn Vest embraces his father, Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Vest of the U.S. Army's 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, following a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on Sept. 1, 2014, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Lt. Col. Sung Kato of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division gives his son an upside-down hug during a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on March 21, 2015, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Maj. Dave Armeson of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division kisses his daughter Adelyn Armeson, 2, during a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on March 21, 2015, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Three-year-old Bella Hanley high fives Sgt. Frank Passmore while sitting atop her dad Spc. Jeffrey Hanley of the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, following a homecoming ceremony in the Natcher Physical Fitness Center on Feb. 27, 2014, in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Warrant Officer Anthony Woodmansee of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division is embraced by his wife Emily Woodmansee during a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on March 21, 2015, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Information Systems Technician 1st Class Milton Hill assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 11 is greeted by family during a homecoming ceremony at Naval Construction Battalion Center. Staff Sgt. Chris Oldham of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division plays with his son Isaac Oldham during a homecoming ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield on March 21, 2015, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Chief Petty Officer Curtis A. Harmon, leading petty officer, regimental aid station, 7th Marine Regiment, hugs his daughters, Jayleme Harmon, 12, and Anya Harmon, 6, during the regiment's homecoming at Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray Field on Oct. 23, 2015. Electronics Technician 2nd Class James Whatley embraces his daughter during a homecoming ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Deployed since March, the crew of more than 300 Sailors steamed a total of 48,550 nautical miles across the U.S. 3rd and 7th Fleet areas of operation. Spc. Sabrina Day, 132nd Military Police Company, South Carolina National Guard, smothers her three-year-old son Blake with hugs and kisses on Aug. 4, 2014, at Eagle Aviation in Columbia, South Carolina, upon returning from deployment to Afghanistan. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper countered President Donald Trumps claim that he has called every family of fallen U.S. military members on Wednesday night by interviewing a Gold Star widow who claims she received no such call. Whitney Hunter, whose husband Jonathon Michael Hunter died in a car bomb attack in Afghanistan in August, told Cooper: I didnt receive a phone call. I was told that I would, but I didnt. I was meeting with my casualty officer at the time. He bolted out and came back in and said, It was the White House [calling]. They were letting him know to tell me the president would be reaching out to share his condolences with me, said Hunter. Of course, I waited but I never got the phone call. Hunter told Cooper that she did not receive a personalized letter from Trump either. The widow said that it would have been an honor to receive a phone call from the president, to have him set aside a few minutes to express his gratitude toward Jonathons sacrifice for our nation. However, she said, it wouldnt have made a difference at the time, either way. Hunter said that she did meet Vice President Mike Pence and hes such an amazing man. He spent 10 to 20 minutes with us. He was a very genuine, nice, courteous...I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet him, Hunter said. Trump is under fire this week for claiming on Monday that he has personally reached out to all the families of military men and women killed while in service. He also insinuated that other presidents, namely President Barack Obama, did not do this. On Tuesday, Trump politicized the death of his White House Chief of Staff General John Kellys son, who died in Afghanistan in 2010, telling a Fox News Radio host: You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? Trump is also embroiled in a battle of he said, she said, with the family of U.S. soldier La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger earlier in October. Story continues Florida congresswoman Frederica Wilson claimed that during a phone call with Johnsons widow Trump said the soldier knew what he signed up for. Trump strenuously denied he used those words on Twitter and again to the White House press on Wednesday. Related Articles WASHINGTON Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) on Wednesday indicated that hes willing to prevent the Senate from confirming a key Trump administration pick until the State Department determines whether Saudi Arabia a longtime U.S. partner especially close to President Donald Trump is violating American law by hindering relief efforts in Yemen. At issue is a major naval blockade preventing the delivery to Yemen of U.S. assistance like cranes for unloading cargo ships of food and aid for millions of starving people caught in a years-long civil war. Seeking clarity on the matter, Young signaled Wednesday that hes prepared to hold up the confirmation of Jennifer Newstead, the Trump administrations pick to be the top lawyer at State. Youngs move is the latest step in an effort to hold the Saudi-led coalition fighting on one side of the Yemeni war accountable for its devastating impact on the country, and its role in what United Nations experts call widespread violations of international humanitarian law. The senator announced his decision during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing for Newstead, a former Justice Department and George W. Bush White House official, on Wednesday afternoon. After noting that the situation in Yemen is the worlds largest humanitarian crisis, Young asked Newstead whether she or the State Department believe the Saudis current policies there particularly the naval blockade constitute a hindrance to U.S. humanitarian assistance. Newstead said she would need more time and information to offer a legal opinion, but agreed with Young that the State Department should provide more information on its assessment. I for one am going to need clear and unambiguous responses to these questions from you and from the department before we vote on your confirmation on the floor, Young said. Senators are allowed to place an official hold on administration appointees over matters of concern. Young has not taken that step yet, but he strongly hinted that he is willing to do so and his public conditions for Newstead moving forward have already complicated what would otherwise have likely been a straightforward process, given her credentials. Story continues In a second round of questioning, Young noted that the State Department took three months to respond to his staffs query about whether the Saudis handling of the U.S.-bought cranes violated international humanitarian law. Once the department finally responded, all it said was that it could not provide an opinion. Do you believe thats an acceptable answer? Young asked Newstead. If confirmed, Newstead said, she would try to provide answers more quickly while respecting State Department guidelines. Youngs move marks the first time an administration nominees future has been endangered by the congressional debate over U.S. support for the campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen. Youngs use of the tactic highlights a paradox within U.S. policy: America is a major source of humanitarian aid for Yemen, but it is also providing weapons, aerial refueling and intelligence that help the Saudi-led coalition continue fighting there. Its also a sign that frustration over this policy, pioneered by President Barack Obama and continued by Trump, remains strong on Capitol Hill across party lines. Three other Republicans voted with Young against a weapons shipment to Saudi Arabia earlier this year, and two Republicans are involved in an ongoing push to force a House vote on ending U.S. assistance for the Saudi-led coalition. That vote is expected in early November. Human rights activists and antiwar groups have praised lawmakers increasingly visible support for their campaign against the war. [Its] past time for a nomination to be put on hold until the State Department answers some basic questions about what tortured legal rationale the US is using to aid and abet the Saudi-led slaughter in Yemen that has plunged millions to the brink of starvation, Kate Gould of the Friends Committee on National Legislation told HuffPost in an email. Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits the United States from providing assistance to a country that is blocking US-funded humanitarian assistance, unless the President provides Congress with a determination that such a provision is essential for US national security interests, Gould continued. From the members and staffers Ive talked to, they have not received any such determination. A Reuters investigation published last week found that the Saudi-led coalition is blocking ships carrying essential supplies from entering Yemen even in cases where those vehicles have been shown to hold no weapons. Its time for the US to follow its own laws, and hold Saudi Arabia accountable, Gould wrote. The Saudi dictatorship is using hunger as a weapon of war, and its time for the US to stop aiding and abetting Saudis deliberate war strategy of reducing millions of Yemeni men, women and children to cholera stricken, emaciated dead bodies. Last month, top Saudi aid official Abdullah al-Rabeeah told reporters during a trip to Washington that hed seen no evidence that aid shipments had been blocked. He argued that the port where the U.S.-purchased cranes are meant to go is not an essential entry point for Yemens supplies, and suggested that attention instead be paid to alternative ports in Saudi-controlled parts of Yemen. Young has repeatedly said he wants to engage with Saudi Arabia on the issue to achieve progress. He has said he agrees with the Saudis on the threat posed by Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen, and that he sees Saudi Arabia as a valuable partner differentiating himself from other opponents of the war, many of whom question the U.S.-Saudi relationship entirely. On Wednesday, he emphasized his position once more. My interest in this situation surrounds the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, Young said. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia, I believe, creates a real opportunity for the United States to alleviate suffering in Yemen and also stabilize the region. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. The Healthcare.gov website is seen on a computer screen Wednesday. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP) WASHINGTON Twelve Republican senators signed on to a bill that would stabilize the Obamacare individual markets despite mixed messages from President Trump about whether he was happy with the legislation or not. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chair of the Senate committee that oversees health care, announced Thursday that 11 of his GOP colleagues had agreed to be co-sponsors to the bipartisan deal he hammered out with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Millions of Americans who do not receive health care from their employers buy insurance in the government-run exchanges of private insurance. The deal would restore billions of dollars of cost sharing reduction payments to insurance companies that Trump abruptly announced he would cut off last week, sparking fears of a 20 percent increase in premiums and some insurers fleeing the markets altogether. It would also give back $106 million in outreach funds to boost enrollment that Trump had slashed. In exchange, Democrats budged on flexibility for states, agreeing to allow catastrophic copper plans to be sold to all age groups and to speed up the process by which states could get waivers to offer different kinds of plans to consumers. Democrats also produced 12 co-sponsors for the legislation, but its likely that many more members of their caucus would vote for the bill if it makes it to the floor. Garnering more Republicans votes is trickier, however, as several GOP lawmakers have said they believe the bill isnt conservative enough, including the leader of the House Republican Study Committee, Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is working on a competing proposal that he says would offer states more flexibility to win over conservative support. Whats conservative about creating chaos so that millions cant buy insurance? Alexander asked on the Senate floor. On Tuesday, the president appeared to signal support for the bipartisan deal, saying it was a short term solution until Obamacare could be repealed entirely. Alexander told reporters that the president liked the bill. Wednesday morning, however, Trump tweeted that he could never support bailing out insurance companies, scrambling things on Capitol Hill. Story continues I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017 As the presidents tone shifted, so did Republican senators. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a member of GOP leadership, said Tuesday that the deal may be the best way to go forward until an Obamacare repeal could be passed. By Wednesday, however, he told reporters the agreement had stalled out. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., at a hearing Thursday. (Photo: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images) On Thursday, Trumps tone changed again. He told reporters in the Oval Office he had great respect for Alexander and Murray and hoped they would come up with a short term solution to the problem. What I did say though is, I dont want the insurance companies making any more money than they have to, Trump added. I like people working on plans at all times, the president said. The Republicans backing the legislation include holdouts to former Obamacare repeal efforts such as Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Also backing the plan are Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., who created their own version of Obamacare repeal and replace that they are trying to pass next year. I talked to him last night, I think hes very open-minded to continuing CSRs if he can get a good deal, Graham said of Trumps support for payments to insurers. Heres what I told him: If Graham-Cassidy were passed tomorrow itd be two or three years before its implemented. In the meantime, youve got to keep the system afloat. Its still unclear if or when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Open enrollment for the Obamacare individual markets begins Nov. 1. Read more from Yahoo News: Author and former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has become a champion and prototype for speaking out against workplace sexual harassment, and now she is determined to take her advocacy to the next level by putting sexual harassment legislation on President Donald Trumps desk. In 2016, her groundbreaking lawsuit against Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes led other high profile women, like Megyn Kelly, to speak out about their own stories within the Fox organization -- which ultimately led to Ailes resignation and apology. Sitting with Carlson before she took the stage at the BUILD Series and MAKERS event on Tuesday, she spoke about the next steps for her platform, which comes in the form of new bipartisan legislation aimed to remove arbitration clauses from employee and consumer contracts. Trump, similar to Ailes, also has a past of accusers and accusations ranging from sexual assault to outright rape, his youngest alleged victim was 13-years-old at the time of her encounter with him. Recently, Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice," filed a subpoena as part of an ongoing defamation lawsuit against the president, saying that she and his other accusers were lying about their allegations. In light of these events, a bill that would purportedly land on the controversial U.S. leaders desk would be a landmark moment for women, especially on the heels of the shocking Harvey Weinstein scandal -- he now has more than 40 accusers reporting claims of sexual assault. His case has even sparked international concern with the U.K. opening two investigations on more claims against the disgraced Hollywood producer. RELATED: Women who have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault Carlson, along with Democratic lawmakers, drafted legislation to make the process of filing sexual harassment complaints more transparent. Specifically, her proposed bill would remove the secrecy around the practice of arbitration in workplace complaints. Story continues That particular bill would eradicate arbitration clauses completely, and while I did speak out in favor of that, I think its imperative that we have a bipartisan effort on this, Carlson said. I dont think were ever going to get the other side to completely get rid of arbitration so my approach is more baby steps... to just take the secrecy element away." "Because that in and of itself would even out the pendulum of power, she added. As Carlson reaches across the aisle for Republican support for the proposed bill, awareness of sexual harassment has begun to further take shape with the help of a trending social media movement called #MeToo, which has seen more than 1,000,000 shares on Twitter. During the past week, as our social media feeds flooded with personal stories of sexual assault survivors, we can see the national dialogue on these once taboo matters begin to explode. RELATED: BUILD series and MAKERS host Gretchen Carlson Things like the MeToo hashtag have kept the story alive and growing and I think this is one way in which social media has been really positive, Carlson said. Today there was a lot of male hashtags as well about how they need to speak up and I think thats really continuing the conversation in a positive way." Be Fierce, Carlsons newly released book, is her way of continuing that conversation, she speaks directly to women helping them to create a plan if they are experiencing unwanted sexual advances in their place of employment, walking them through how to go about creating that plan and even advocating for sharing their stories with colleagues who are both male and female. I want women to know that courage starts young and its a process, she said. I had a mom who told me I could be anything I wanted to be. And if women havent heard that I hope they hear that from me now. The cheque has now been sent, it has been reported: REUTERS The father of a soldier who died in Afghanistan was promised $25,000 (18,940) and fundraising support by Donald Trump, but has recently said that no support has materialised. Chris Baldrige, the father of 22 year old Army Corporal Dillon Baldridge, who was killed on duty in Afghanistan in June, told The Washington Post on Wednesday he had a fifteen minute phone call with the President a few weeks after his sons death. It is customary in the US for the President to call or write to Gold Star families - the name given to relatives of those who have died in military combat. The cheque has now been sent, according to CNN - following media coverage months after the original phone call. During his conversation, Mr Baldridge told President Trump he was concerned that his ex-wife would receive the entirety of the $100,000 gratuity the Pentagon awards to named beneficiaries of deceased soldiers. President Trump said he would write a cheque for $25,000 to the soldiers father from his personal account, according to Mr Baldridge. I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, No other president has ever done something like this, but Im going to do it. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told The Washington Post, The cheque has been sent. Its disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognised as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the medias biased agenda. It is the second embarrassing incident involving a Gold Star family in a matter of days for President Trump. Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017 Frederica Wilson, a Democrat Congresswoman, recently claimed she overheard the President tell a dead soldiers widow that her husband knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway. President Trump has denied Ms Wilsons version of events, claiming the Congresswoman had totally fabricated the incident. Jerusalem (AFP) - Several thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked a major intersection in central Jerusalem on Thursday to protest against efforts to force them to enlist in the Israeli military like their secular compatriots. There were simultaneous disturbances in other parts of the city, including the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighbourhood, where police said the protestors had blocked streets and set fire to garbage bins, using them as flaming barricades. "Police units mobilised in different areas of Jerusalem to respond to illegal demonstrations by right-wing ultra-religious demonstrators," police said in an English-language statement. They later said they had arrested 120 demonstrators who were "involved in disturbances and blocked roads and major junctions". A series of such protests in recent weeks has been spurred by occasional arrests of ultra-Orthodox young men accused of dodging military service. On Thursday, several thousand men and boys wearing traditional black suits and hats took to the streets of Jerusalem and blocked a key intersection. Some sat in the middle of the street while others danced and sang. One sign said: "To military prison for the 'crime' of Torah study." "The state wants to silence all the Jews who want to study Torah," said one man, who looked to be in his 40s and gave his name only as Tzvi. "Lately they have seen the (ultra-Orthodox) population growing, so they want us to serve in the army and be absorbed into the general population." Police appeared to be acting with restraint after accusations of excessive force at a recent protest. Small groups of officers occasionally entered the protest to remove those who appeared to be stirring up the crowd, an AFP journalist reported. Israeli law requires men to serve two years and eight months in the military on reaching the age of 18, while women must serve for two. Ultra-Orthodox men are exempt from military service if they are engaged in religious study. Those who are not must still enlist with the military and can be arrested if they refuse. Story continues In September, a decision by Israel's supreme court struck down the law exempting them. However, the court suspended its ruling for one year to allow for preparations for a new arrangement, also giving the government time to pass a new law. The ruling raises the possibility that the ultra-Orthodox could be forced into service, a highly contentious proposition with political implications. Ultra-Orthodox parties are a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition and have often acted as kingmakers in Israeli politics. The ultra-Orthodox are against serving for a variety of reasons. Some do not recognise Israel, believing a Jewish state is not allowed before the coming of the Messiah. Others argue that seminary study is just as important to Israel as military service, or that ultra-Orthodox soldiers would be confronted with salty language and other irreligious behaviour. Harvey Weinstein is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department for an alleged rape that occurred in 2013, police Captain Billy Hayes confirmed on Thursday. An unidentified Italian model detailed the account for the LAPD on Thursday morning about the rape that she says happened at Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel at the 8th annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February of 2013. SEE ALSO: Magician David Blaine under investigation following London rape allegation The event could pose serious legal trouble for Weinstein, as it falls within California's 10-year statute of limitations that was in place in 2013 -- a first for an accusation launched at Weinstein for an encounter that occurred in Southern California. He's also under investigation for two incidents in New York, as well as for claims made by three women in London. Weinstein's rep told the Los Angeles Times that she "can't respond to some anonymous complaint," when asked for a comment on the new allegations. The unnamed model-actress says that Weinstein "bullied his way into my hotel room" after briefly being introduced at an event and showing up to her hotel lobby unannounced. Women who have accused Harvey Weinstein: "Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked," she recalled to the Los Angeles Times. "He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me." Weinstein "acted like nothing happened" when he left the room after 45 minutes. "I barely knew this man," she explained. "It was the most demeaning thing ever done to me by far. [...] He made me feel like an object, like nothing with all his power." Looking back, the woman says that she regrets opening the hotel door for Weinstein and questions why she didn't call the police sooner, but she eventually came forward at the urging of her three children. Story continues The LA Times reported that she's a well-known figure in Italy who has appeared in various films and on the cover of Italian Vogue. Though she lived in Italy at the time, she now resides in California. Harvey Weinstein with various celebrities: The allegation is just the latest in a two-week span that started when the New York Times initially exposed Weinstein's reported abusive treatment of women. Over 40 women have come forward with stories about the influential and powerful producer sexually harassing, assaulting or raping them over the last few decades. Actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan and Angelina Jolie are among those who have come forward. Since the windfall of stories emerged, Weinstein's wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, has left him while he headed to Arizona to reportedly check into rehab for sex addiction. He has since been fired from his perch atop The Weinstein Company and stepped down from the company's board of directors after pressure from the other members. More from AOL.com: Valerie Bertinelli reveals why she was passed over for 'Footloose' role -- and it's a pretty good reason Meet Ines Rau: Playboy's first transgender playmate 'I, Tonya' trailer: Margot Robbie transforms into disgraced figure skater By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that "cavalier" threats to start war on the Korean peninsula were "dangerous and short-sighted", urging the United States to get all parties to the negotiating table. Clinton also called on China to take a "more outfront role" in enforcing sanctions against North Korea aimed at curbing its missile and nuclear development. "There is no need for us to be bellicose and aggressive (over North Korea)," Clinton told the World Knowledge Forum in the South Korean capital of Seoul, stressing the need for more pressure on North Korea and diplomacy to bring Pyongyang to talks. Tension between Pyongyang and Washington has soared following a series of weapons tests by North Korea and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "Picking fights with Kim Jong Un puts a smile on his face," Clinton said, without mentioning Trump by name. Clinton also indirectly referred to Trump's social media comments on North Korea, saying, "The insults on Twitter have benefited North Korea, I don't think they've benefited the United States". The war of words has seen Trump call the North Korean leader "little rocket man" on a suicide mission, and vow to destroy the country if it threatens the United States or its allies. In turn, the North called Trump "mentally deranged" and a "mad dog". Talks between the adversaries have long been urged by China in particular, but Washington and its ally Japan have been reluctant while Pyongyang continues to pursue a goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile to hit the United States. On Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said the United States did not rule out the eventual possibility of direct talks with North Korea. The situation on the Korean peninsula was now touch-and-go point "and a nuclear war may break out any moment", North Korea's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim In Ryong had told a U.N. General Assembly committee on Monday. In Seoul, the vice foreign minister said on Wednesday South Korea was considering levying its own sanctions on the North, although no decision has been made yet. CHINA PRESSURE Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said Washington's allies have increasingly been expressing concern over the reliability of the United States, advising Washington to avoid becoming distracted with North Korean threats and be "as forcefully patient" as possible. Regarding China's role in reining in North Korea, Clinton said Beijing would be better off trying to "tighten and absolutely enforce sanctions" against North Korea. North Korea's relationship with its main ally and trading partner China have been strained by its rapid pursuit of weapons programs, with many of Pyongyang's recent tests coinciding with major Chinese events. There had been fears that North Korea would conduct another test to coincide with the start of China's five-yearly party congress on Wednesday. Instead, Pyongyang sent Beijing a congratulatory message. The central committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea said China had made "great progress in accomplishing the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics" under the guidance of the Communist Party of China. "We are greatly pleased over this," the party central committee said in the message carried by the official KCNA news agency, adding that it "sincerely wished" the China congress "satisfactory success". Chinese President Xi Jinping did not mention North Korea in his more than three-hour-long address at the opening of a key Communist Party Congress. CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS Clinton said retaliatory actions by China over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, which targeting the latter's firms doing business in China, would be unnecessary had Beijing done a better job reining in the North. China says the powerful radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system could be used to pierce its territory, and has taken aim at South Korea's businesses. South Korea and the United States have repeatedly told China that THAAD aims only to defend against North Korea's missile threats. "The Chinese can't have it both ways," Clinton said. "They can't do less than they could to tighten economic pressures on North Korea and same time discount the real threat South Korea and its citizens face." (Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez) Tokyo (AFP) - Scientists at Japan's space agency have discovered a huge moon cave that could one day house a base that would shelter astronauts from dangerous radiation and wild temperature swings, officials said Thursday. Data taken from Japan's SELENE lunar orbiter has confirmed the existence of the 50 kilometre (31 miles) long and 100 metre wide cavern that is believed to be lava tube created by volcanic activity about 3.5 billion years ago. The major finding was published this week in US science magazine Geophysical Research Letters. "We've known about these locations that were thought to be lava tubes...but their existence has not been confirmed until now," Junichi Haruyama, a researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, told AFP on Thursday. The underground tunnel, located under an area called the Marius Hills, would help protect astronauts from huge swings in temperature and damaging radiation that they would be exposed to on the moon's surface, he added. "We haven't actually seen the inside of the cave itself so there are high hopes that exploring it will offer more details," Haruyama said. The announcement comes after Japan in June revealed ambitious plans to put an astronaut on the Moon around 2030. That was the first time the agency had said it aimed to send an astronaut beyond the International Space Station. The idea is to first join a NASA-led mission in 2025 to build a space station in the moon's orbit, as part of a longer-term effort by NASA to reach Mars. The US also announced the country is committed to send astronauts to the moon. "We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundations we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond," US Vice President Mike Pence said this month. China and India are also developing their space programmes. In November, China's Shenzhou-11 spacecraft returned to Earth, bringing home two astronauts from the rising power's longest-ever orbital mission. Beijing has also unveiled illustrations of a Mars probe and rover it aims to send to the Red Planet at the end of the decade. NASA and other global space agencies are working hard on sending astronauts to Mars by the 2030s. Moments after a wild chimpanzee was born, an adult chimp snatched the infant away from its mother and cannibalized it, according to a new study that is the first to document this macabre behavior. This new finding, along with additional prior work, suggests that female chimpanzees might often go and hide on "maternity leave" before delivery to avoid such infant mortality, researchers said. Scientists made this gruesome discovery while following a party of 21 chimps in the Mahale Mountains on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania. In 2014, the scientists were lucky enough to see a chimp give birth in the wild, a very rare event for researchers. [Animal Moms Have It Tough! 8 Extreme Creature Births] Only seconds after the infant's mother, Devota, gave birth in front of the other chimps, another chimp, named Darwin the second or third highest-ranked male in the group at the time snatched the newborn and ran into the bush during heavy rain. Devota did not even have the chance to touch her child, the scientists noted. The researchers soon saw Darwin cannibalize the infant. Three other chimps later approached Darwin and sampled a few morsels from the corpse as well. Darwin holding Devota's infant. Hitonaru Nishie The scientists followed Darwin the next day. However, the adult chimp had severe diarrhea, and the researchers could not locate any bones or hairs of the victim in Darwin's excrement. Previous research has seen many cases of infanticide by males among primates. One possible explanation is that the practice prompts females to resume mating, increasing the chance that infant-killing males might sire subsequent infants. Until now, scientists had never seen infanticide immediately after delivery among wild chimps. Prior work had suggested that the reason researchers had only very rarely seen chimps deliver in the wild was that expectant mothers went on "maternity leave," wherein they usually hid themselves and gave birth alone. Story continues "'Maternity leave' in wild chimpanzees may work as a counterstrategy against the risk of infanticide soon after birth," study lead author Hitonaru Nishie, a primatologist at Kyoto University in Japan, told Live Science. The 2014 case of infanticide may have been Devota's first delivery; the scientists had not seen Devota give birth before this incident of cannibalism. Her inexperience might explain why she did not go on maternity leave, the researchers said. To see if expecting-mother chimps usually went on maternity leave, the scientists analyzed how often they saw pregnant and non-pregnant female chimps from 1990 to 2010. The researchers found that expecting mothers were usually not seen for about seven to 18 days before they gave birth. The researchers did note that Devota successfully gave birth to a female infant in 2016. In that case, "Devota went on maternity leave for about one month," Nishie said. Future research will investigate how female chimps learn how to go on maternity leave, how they learn when to leave and what they do during their leave, Nishie said. Nishie and colleague Michio Nakamura at Kyoto University detailed their findings online Oct. 6 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations The Daily Beast Fox NewsThe morning after his network called the Arizona governors race for Democrat Katie Hobbs, Fox News correspondent Kevin Corke seemed to cast doubt on the results while reassuring viewers that MAGA candidate Kari Lake still had an outside shot to win.At the same time, he repeatedly mocked the presumptive next governor of Arizona, throwing barbs at Hobbs while delivering a news report on Tuesday morning.Nearly a week after the polls closed, Hobbs was finally declared the winner on Monday e By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Tuesday it would not hold peace negotiations with a Palestinian government dependent on the Islamist Hamas group, responding to a new reconciliation agreement between the two main Palestinian factions. Hamas, dominant in Gaza, and West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction sealed a deal last week in Cairo in which Hamas agreed to cede administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing. Under the Egyptian-brokered accord, the Fatah-backed government headed by Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah will run Gaza and the West Bank and Palestinian officials said there were no plans to add Hamas ministers to the government. The last Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014, partly due to Israel's opposition to an earlier attempt at a Fatah-Hamas unity pact, and to Israeli settlement building on occupied land Palestinians seek for a state, among other factors. In a statement on Tuesday after a meeting of senior Israeli ministers known as the Security Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed longstanding Israeli demands that Hamas abandon militancy. "Pursuant to previous decisions, (Israel) will not conduct diplomatic negotiations with a Palestinian government that relies on Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel, as long as it does not fulfill the following conditions," the statement began. It outlined seven conditions including a demand that Hamas recognize Israel and disarm, sever its ties with Iran, return bodies of Israeli soldiers and civilians Israel believes are alive and held in Gaza, and that Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) assume full security control of the coastal enclave. Under the reconciliation deal, about 3,000 Fatah security officers are to join the Gaza police force but Hamas will remain the most powerful armed Palestinian faction in the territory, with some 25,000 well-equipped militants. Hamas seized Gaza from Fatah forces in a brief Palestinian civil war in 2007 and previous Egyptian mediation efforts to reconcile the rivals fell short. Analysts said the current deal is more likely to stick, given Hamas's growing isolation from erstwhile donor states and realization of how hard it would be to govern and rebuild Gaza. PALESTINIANS UNMOVED Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said the Palestinians would not be swayed by Israel's statement as it "will not change the official Palestinian position to move forward with reconciliation efforts." He said the deal and the PA's return to Gaza had been welcomed by major powers including the United States and this would "achieve the aspirations of our people ... ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state." Netanyahu's call is certain to please the right flank of his coalition and settler supporters with whom he has tried to find favor. On Tuesday, Israel announced more plans to build hundreds of new settler homes in the occupied West Bank. But it could hamper U.S. mediation attempts to resume peace negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have held discussions to achieve what Trump hopes will be the "deal of the century". (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich) At the Family Research Councils recent Values Voter Summit, the religious right effectively declared its conversion to Trumpism. The president was received as a hero. Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka both fired from the White House, in part, for their extremism set the tone and agenda. There is a time and season for everything, said Bannon. And right now, its a season for war against a GOP establishment. A time to live and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to mourn and a time to embrace angry ethnonationalism and racial demagoguery. Yes, a time to mourn. There is no group in America less attached to its own ideals or more eager for its own exploitation than religious conservatives. Forget Augustine and Aquinas, Wilberforce and Shaftesbury. For many years, leaders of the religious right exactly conformed Christian social teaching to the contours of Fox News evening programming. Now, according to Bannon, economic nationalism is the centerpiece of value voters. I had thought the centerpiece was a vision of human dignity rooted in faith. But never mind. Evidently the Christian approach to social justice is miraculously identical to 1930s Republican protectionism, isolationism and nativism. Do religious right leaders have any clue how foolish they appear? Rather than confidently and persistently representing a set of distinctive beliefs, they pant and beg to be a part of someone elses movement. In this case, it is a movement that takes advantage of racial and ethnic divisions and dehumanizes Muslims, migrants and refugees. A movement that has cultivated ties to alt-right leaders and flirted with white identity politics. A movement that will eventually soil and discredit all who are associated with it. The religious right is making itself a pitiful appendage to this squalid agenda. If Christian conservatives are loyal enough, Bannon promises that they can be the folks who saved the Judeo-Christian West. All that is required is to abandon the best of the Judeo-Christian tradition: a belief in the inherent value and dignity of every life. This belief in human dignity leads to a certain moral and political logic. It means that the primary mission of Christians in public life is not to secure their own interests or to defend their own identity. It is to seek a society in which every person can flourish. This is the definition of the common good which is not truly common unless it includes the suffering and powerless. The common good is a neglected topic in our politics. It is not identical to market forces, or to legal rules that maximize individual autonomy. It is the result of prudent public and private choices that strengthen community the seedbed of human flourishing and ensure the weak are valued and protected. The idea of the common good emerged from religious sources, but provides a broad, political common ground. If there is a single reason that Republican health care reform has failed, it is because party leaders could not make a credible case that the common good was being served. Even if individual elements of the various plans were rational, they did not add up to a more just, generous and inclusive society. Who would now identify conservative Christian political engagement with the pursuit of the common good? Rather, the religious right is an interest group seeking preference and advancement from a strongman and rewarding him with loyal acceptance of his priorities. The prophets have become clients. The priests have become acolytes. It is possible for Christian conservatives to support the appointment of conservative judges without becoming a tribe of apologists and sycophants. It is possible to selectively endorse elements of the administrations agenda without becoming Bannons foot soldiers. There is more at stake here than bad politics. When Christians ally their faith with bias and exclusion, they are influencing how the public views Christianity itself. They are associating the teachings of Jesus Christ a globalist when it came to the Great Commission with ethnonationalist ideology. This should be a sobering prospect for any Christian. But few seem sobered. Instead, the faithful give standing ovations to the purveyors of division and prejudice. When anyone or anything takes priority over the faith, there is a good, strong religious word for it: idolatry. And the word is unavoidable, as religious conservatives carry their golden calf into Bannons battles. Chief of staff says he was stunned congresswoman listened to Trumps call Kelly fails to acknowledge president began controversy by attacking Obama John Kelly said he was broken-hearted by the politicization of fallen troops. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images The White House chief of staff, John Kelly, has delivered an extraordinary rebuke to critics of Donald Trumps interactions with the families of fallen US military heroes. Kelly made an unannounced appearance at the White House podium on Thursday afternoon amid an unprecedented feud between Trump and Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman who overheard the president tell the widow of Sgt La David Johnson that her husband knew what he signed up for before he was killed on duty in Niger. Breaking years of silence over the death of his own son in Afghanistan, Kelly said he was broken-hearted by the politicization of troops who died on the battlefield. It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation, absolutely stuns me, said Kelly, while adding he was so incensed by the episode that he walked among the stones at Arlington national cemetery for an hour and a half on Wednesday. I thought at least that was sacred but it [was] eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress. Kelly, however, he failed to acknowledge that this weeks furor began when Trump launched an unprompted attack on his predecessors Barack Obama and George W Bush over their outreach to bereaved military families. Kelly went on to offer a protracted justification for what he said was Trumps attempt to offer his condolences to Johnsons wife, Myeshia. Kelly said there was no perfect way to make that phone call. Also on Thursday, in a sign of a possible fight ahead over the ambush in Niger, which left four US soldiers dead, Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate armed services committee, said he might consider issuing a subpoena because the White House had not been forthcoming with details of what happened. It may require a subpoena, McCain said when asked what steps his committee might need to take to determine what happened to the four troops. Story continues Questioned about what information the committee still needed, he said: Everything. Asked whether the White House had been forthcoming with the information the committee needed, he added: Of course not. Kelly, recounting the day when he was informed of his sons death, recalled his close friend Gen Joseph Dunford arriving at his doorstep. Dunford had told him his son was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed, Kelly recalled. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1% [who serve in uniform], Kelly said, seeking to convey the nuance lacking in Trumps own reaction to the controversy. He knew what the possibilities were, because were at war. Kelly added: Thats what the president tried to say to the four families the other day. Describing Trump as brave for making the calls, Kelly said the president had sought his counsel on how to handle them. Kelly said he told the president that those who were not family, had never worn the uniform, and who did not serve, cant even imagine how to make that call. Wilson was not alone in her interpretation of the call. Johnsons mother also took issue with Trumps tone, telling reporters on Wednesday: President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband. Trump claimed this week that former presidents did not contact the families of fallen troops. In particular, Trump said Obama did not call Kelly after his son Robert was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. White House chief of staff John Kelly in the Oval Office. Photograph: Sipa USA/Rex/Shutterstock Trumps remark prompted former Obama administration officials to reveal that six months after his sons death, Kelly and his wife had been invited to a White House breakfast for bereaved Gold Star military families and sat at Michelle Obamas table. Kelly confirmed on Wednesday that he had not received a call from Obama, but clarified that presidents did not always reach out by phone to grieving families and often chose instead to write letters. That was not a criticism, Kelly said of Obama. Thats not a negative thing. A visibly emotional Kelly focused his initial comments on what happens when a service member dies, explaining in heart-wrenching detail the process of bringing the body home and notifying the next of kin. I appeal to America lets try to keep that sacred, he said. However, he became increasingly angry as he deplored the politicization of military deaths. Although speaking from personal experience, Kelly was undeniably operating simultaneously as the White House chief of staff cleaning up a political mess created by his boss. He proceeded to take questions only from reporters who personally knew Gold Star families, telling the room an investigation into the attack in Niger was under way. The fact is they need to find out what happened and why it happened, Kelly said, before reverting back to his role as a retired four-star marine general by concluding his remarks with a plea to members of the media. Understand theres tens of thousands of Americas kids, mostly, doing the nations bidding, Kelly said, observing that unlike in his day, when there was a draft, those serving today were doing so by choice. They dont have to be in uniform. These young people today, they dont do it for any other reason than their sense of selfless devotion. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend in Paris, October 2017. Grammy winner John Legend is a successful artist, a stylish guy, a husband to model Chrissy Teigen, and a father to daughter, Luna. We all know that. But when he isnt writing songs, belting out ballads, or spending time with his baby girl, the 38-year-old finds time to be a mentor too. As part AXEs Find Your Magic initiative, Legend recently attended the senior orientation program at Centennial High School in Columbus, Ohio, where he performed alongside students and delivered an uplifting, inclusive message. We started with this idea of finding your magic which is about expressing yourself, your individuality and your creativity, Legend exclaimed. Now weve extended the concept of finding your magic and expressing your creativity to kind of challenging the stereotypes of gender roles and encouraging young men, in particular, to be creative and express themselves individually without being constrained by arbitrary definitions of what being a young man is all about. Yahoo Lifestyle caught up with the Ohio native to talk about everything from his high school days to having more kids. Read on to learn about cliques from Legends teenage years and how his marriage has evolved, thanks to fatherhood. What were you like in high school? Who was in your clique? I moved between cliques. I was a black kid in a white school. We kind of stuck together as black kids. We sat together at the same lunch table. That was one clique. Another clique was the AP students the nerds. I had some good friends in that clique too. Another clique was the creative community, which had a lot of overlap with the AP kids as well: kids who were in drama, kids who were in show choir, kids who were in music. My last clique was student government, because I was student body president as a senior. Those were my overlapping cliques in high school. How did they mesh together? I think music and creativity and performing, and putting shows together was cool, because it opened you up to people who werent in your clique. You connected with them creatively. Story continues How would you describe your style in high school vs. your style now? Obviously, I can afford better clothes now. I dont think my style is actually that different. For me, Im still pretty understated with some flashes of rock star. I like a lot of classic things well-tailored, nice pieces and occasional flashes of flamboyance. Does Chrissy ever give you styling tips? She knows who I am, and I know who she is, and we both like each others style a lot. Occasionally, its a specific thing either I wont like something shes wearing or she wont like what Im wearing well say it. But it doesnt happen that often. You guys have been together for a very long time. From dating to being engaged to being married to being parents whats been the biggest change? Being parents is the biggest difference. Going from dating to engaged to married theres some difference. But bringing a new life into the world and parenting together is a whole new challenge. Its a whole new joy as well. It alters your life in a way that is very different than any other milestone. I think its the most strengthening that you can go through, though, because its a challenge and because you have to do it together and help each other, if youre doing it right. It builds a stronger bond that you wouldnt have otherwise. What do you and Chrissy do for date night now? Has that changed since becoming parents? Its similar. We like to go to a nice dinner and have a drink. We stopped partying a long time ago. We occasionally go to parties, but mostly its a nice dinner, drinks, we go to the movies. We still do that. Do you have a favorite restaurant? We live in Los Angeles now. Our favorite date night there is Via Veneto. Its in Santa Monica, on Main St. Would you and Chrissy renew your vows? No plans. Hows baby Luna? What are her latest milestones? Shes at that stage of talking but no one knows what shes saying. Its an ongoing monologue. I guess you could say its a dialogue where we indulge her and talk back, but we have no idea what shes saying yet. Shes right there on the cusp of having a full conversation. Shes running around, dancing very active physically. You can see the beginnings of her verbal skills. Do you think shell take after you or mom career-wise? She loves music, but who knows what her career will be. Were trying to just let her explore and learn. Shes got plenty of time to figure out that. Rumor has it that you and Chrissy are trying again. Yeah, we want to have kids again soon. We want to have several kids, total. But well try to do one at a time. Well have another one soon. How many kids do you think youll have? I would say three to four. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. The Arizona senator the White House had not been forthcoming: AP Senior Republican senator John McCain has claimed the Trump administration has not been up front about what happened during the fatal incident in Niger that left four US soldiers dead and injured two others. Amid a row over whether or not the President was disrespectful to the widow of one of the four Green Berets killed in action when he telephoned her, Senator John McCain said the White House needed to provide more information about the operation two weeks ago when US forces were ambushed by Isis-linked militants. Mr McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was asked whether he thought the White House was being up front about what happened. Mr Trump spoke with Myesha Johnson, the widow of Lance Sergeant David Johnson, as she was on the way to meet his casket (AP) No, he told The Hill. Asked if he wanted to see a congressional investigation into the ambush, he added: Investigations? I want the information that the senate armed services committee deserves and needs to start with. Then you decide whether a quote investigation is needed or not. The Defence Department is conducing a review of the incident in which up to a dozen US soldiers and 40 Nigerien troops were ambushed during a joint patrol. The Pentagon has blamed Isis-linked militants for the attack. I had a better working relationship, as far as information back and forth, with Ash Carter than I do with an old friend of 20 years, Mr McCain added. Mr Carter was the previous defence secretary for the Obama administration, which Mr McCain often attacked. Asked if he was referring to Defence Secretary James Mattis, Mr McCain said yes. I think they had this idea that once Trump won that we are a unicameral government, he added. Democratic Senator Jack Reed has also called for more information about the ambush I think the administration has to be more clear about our role in Niger and our role in other areas in Africa and other parts of the globe, he told CNN They have to connect it to a strategy. They should do that. I think that the inattention to this issue is not acceptable. Story continues In the last two days, the details of the raid have become overshadowed over allegations that Mr Trump was insensitive when he telephoned Myesha Johnson, the widow of Sgt David Johnson, one of the American soldiers who was killed. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who was accompanying the Johnson family, told CNN that during the the five-minute conversation, Mr Trump had showed little tact or diplomacy required for such a situation. Basically he said, Well I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts, said Ms Wilson. I heard what he said because the phone was on speaker. Mr Trump has denied Ms Wilsons claim, saying it is fabricated. WASHINGTON A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to allow an undocumented immigrant teenager in its custody to get an abortion, which officials have obstructed for weeks while instead sending her to a religious crisis pregnancy center to dissuade her from terminating the pregnancy. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that government officials must promptly and without delay allow the 17-year-old girl, referred to in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, to temporarily leave custody to obtain an abortion. The Department of Justice filed an appeal to the judges ruling later on Wednesday. The teenager is in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which handles unaccompanied minors who are apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. In March, the office changed its policies to discourage and block minors from getting abortions, a medical service they were previously allowed to access, although the government paid for it only in cases of rape, incest and if a womans life was at risk. Under the current policy, it is unclear whether ORR is allowing any minors, including rape victims, to obtain abortions. Jane Doe, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, has already jumped through hoops required by the state of Texas in order to receive an abortion. She received permission from a state judge to have the procedure and made plans to pay for it herself and get transport to her appointments. But the government has not allowed her to leave custody to obtain an abortion, and officials argued they were under no legal obligation to do so. They also claimed they were not blocking her from getting an abortion because she could get one elsewhere if she agreed to leave the country. The judge said she was astounded at that position during a hearing on Wednesday, according to Buzzfeed and the Washington Post. Just because shes here illegally doesnt mean she doesnt have constitutional rights, Chutkan said. Story continues In her ruling, Chutkan said the government must allow Jane Doe to go to pre-abortion counseling required by Texas law on Oct. 19 and then undergo the procedure on Oct. 20 and/or Oct. 21, depending on medical requirements and availability. Jane Does lawyers requested swift action because she is 15 weeks pregnant, and Texas law allows elective abortion until up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The judge temporarily blocked the government from forcing the teen to reveal her decision about her abortion to anyone or reveal it themselves, after officials previously told Jane Does mother without her consent. Chutkan also temporarily blocked the government from retaliating against either Jane Doe or any shelter where she resides based on her abortion decision. At last, our client will be able to get the care she needs without federal officials standing in the way, Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. Her courage and perseverance are incredible, but no one should have to go to court to get a safe, legal abortion. And no one should be held hostage to the extreme anti-abortion views of a handful of government officials. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called the courts decision a troubling ruling that exceeds the U.S. Constitution and sets a dangerous precedent by opening our borders to any illegal children seeking taxpayer-supported, elective abortions. We are disheartened the ruling rewards ideologically motivated lawsuits filed in multiple courts by the ACLU and abortion advocates. The statement went on: Though the order overrides the policies and procedures of the Office of Refugee Resettlement designed to protect children and their babies who have illegally crossed the border, we will continue to provide them with excellent health care and protect their well-being in all our facilities. We will consider our next steps to ensure our country does not become an open sanctuary for taxpayer-supported abortions by minors crossing the border illegally. Amiri called the governments decision later Wednesday to appeal and continue to fight to block Jane Does abortion shocking. We should all be horrified that the federal government is doing everything imaginable to stop a young woman from getting an abortion. Even from this administration, it is shocking, she said in a statement on Thursday. We are not backing away from this fight. DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appeal. Abortions for undocumented minors are rarely paid for with taxpayer money and only in the exceptions outlined above in cases of rape, incest or where the health of the mother is involved. The operation for Jane Doe would be privately funded. Asked about the claim of taxpayer-supported abortions, an HHS spokesman said the mother and unborn baby are in a federally-funded government program. The ACLU lawsuit also exposed broader anti-abortion practices at ORR, which is headed by Scott Lloyd, a former attorney at the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus who opposes abortion. Lloyd reportedly has said he would allow pregnant minors to be released only for pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling. He has also made the highly unusual move of visiting minors directly to discourage them from obtaining an abortion. Earlier this month, a U.S. magistrate in California said that ORR policy to obstruct abortions appeared to be illegal. Women in the U.S. have a constitutional right to abortion even if they are undocumented and/or are in government custody, U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler said, although she ultimately did not officially rule on the policy. The government may not want to facilitate abortion, but it cannot block it, Beeler said in court earlier this month, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It is doing that here. The emergency order issued Wednesday by Chutkan applies to Jane Does case specifically, but the ACLU is also seeking to block ORRs broader policies preventing abortion access to minors in custody. At any given time, there are several hundred to 1,000 pregnant minors in ORR custody, according to the ACLU. The Department of Justice, which represents the government in court, declined to comment on the ruling. This story has been updated to include the administrations reaction and to note the Justice Departments appeal of the ruling. Also on HuffPost April 2015 At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: Everythings coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. Its like a big mess. Blah. Its like vomit. June 2015 At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." August 2015 On NBC's "Meet the Press": Were going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." September 2015 On CBS's "60 Minutes": Were rounding em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And theyre going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesnt sound nice. But not everything is nice. November 2015 On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." February 2016 At a GOP primary debate: We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back some will come back, the best, through a process. March 2016 At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we dont. We either have a country or we dont. We have borders or we dont have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not. April 2016 At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": Theyre going to go, and were going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... Theyre going to go, and then come back and come back legally. July 2016 At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied and every politician who has denied them to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced." September 2016 At a rally: Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we dont have a country. September 2016 On "The Dr. Oz Show": Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldnt be in the country. They only come in the country legally. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. WASHINGTON Invoking the death of his son, a Marine, in Afghanistan, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an impassioned defense on Thursday of President Trumps outreach to families of four Americans recently killed in Niger. Kelly also denounced Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., as selfish for criticizing Trump for his message to one soldiers widow. I appeal to America: Lets not let this, maybe, last thing thats held sacred in our society: a young man, young woman going out and giving his or her life for our country. Lets try to somehow keep that sacred, Kelly said in an unusual appearance in the White House briefing room. It eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress. Wilson had said that Trump callously told Myeshia Johnson whose husband Army Sgt. La David Johnson was killed in an Oct. 4 patrol in Niger that her husband knew what he signed up for. The congresswoman, a Johnson family friend, reportedly overheard parts of the conversation while riding in the same car as the widow. Trump flatly denied that account on Twitter Wednesday and said he had proof. The soldiers mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, reportedly said that the president had disrespected her family. But Kelly, a retired Marine general, broadly confirmed Wilsons account while explaining that Trump had drawn inspiration from what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, told him when Robert Kelly was killed after stepping on a landmine while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010. He said Kell, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into, by joining the Marines that 1 percent he knew what the possibilities were, because were at war, Kelly said. When he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends. Thats what the president tried to say to four families the other day, Kelly said. I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife, and, in his way, tried to express that opinion he was a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted there was no reason to enlist, he enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, exactly the people he wanted to be with, when his life was taken. That was the message. Story continues White House Chief of Staff John Kelly addresses a briefing at the White House today. (Photo: Reuters/Yuri Gripas) Kelly also said that then-President Barack Obama had not called him when the younger Kelly was killed. That was not a criticism, that was just to simply say I dont believe President Obama called. Thats not a negative thing, Kelly said, underlining that past presidents, especially those on whose watch casualty numbers have been high, typically have not called. That was a response to the outraged reaction to Trump falsely telling reporters on Tuesday that Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. The president had been responding to questions about why he kept silent for nearly two weeks after the Niger ambush. For much of the unusual briefing, Kelly drew attention to the divide between Americans who serve in the armed forces, as well as their friends and loved ones, and between Americans who have not worn the uniform and dont know anyone who has. He announced he would only take questions from reporters who knew a Gold Star family, scolded those shielded from Americas longest war, and complained that the country had lost what used to be seen as sacred when he was a child. I just thought, the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred, Kelly said. (Earlier, he had suggested that respect for Gold Star families was tarnished by last summers political conventions, which both featured partisan speeches by the parents of men killed in combat.) You know, when I was a kid, every man in my life was a veteran World War II, Korea and there was the draft, the retired general said. These young people today, they dont do it for any other reason than their selfless sense of selfless devotion to this great nation. Read more from Yahoo News: By Duncan Miriri and Katharine Houreld NAIROBI (Reuters) - The head of Kenya's election commission has said it will be "difficult" to guarantee that next week's presidential election will be free and fair, citing divisions in the commission and interference from politicians. Wafula Chebukati issued a stern warning to politicians, saying: "Ironically, the very people, political leaders, who are supposed to build the nations have become the greatest threat to the peace and stability of the nation." The Oct. 26 poll is the re-run of an election that took place in August, where incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta's victory was nullified on procedural grounds. But the run-up to the new poll has been fraught, with Kenyatta's main challenger, opposition leader Raila Odinga, pulling out, alleging a failure to improve the oversight of the election, and one election commissioner fleeing abroad and saying she feared for her life. Kenyatta on Wednesday restated his commitment to the poll, but Odinga called for a mass protest on election day. The head of the election board told a news conference that technical preparations for the new poll were on course, but that his attempts to make "critical changes", notably to staff, had been defeated by a majority of commissioners. He also said he had come under pressure to resign. "Under such conditions, it is difficult to guarantee a free fair and credible election," he said. "COMMISSION UNDER SIEGE" Roselyn Akombe, another of the board's eight members, said in a statement from New York, dated Tuesday, that the "commission has become a party to the current crisis" and was "under siege". The Supreme Court last month nullified the Aug. 8 vote on procedural grounds following a petition by Odinga. In withdrawing his candidacy last week, Odinga said the election board had not carried out reforms including the firing of key officials who he blames for the mistakes of Aug. 8. But Kenyatta has shown no sign of compromise. In a televised speech on Wednesday, he said: "We walk towards the declared date of the 26th of October both as a God-fearing leadership and government." The uncertainty over the vote has affected financial markets: the central bank sold dollars in the foreign exchange market after the Kenyan shilling weakened on news of Akombe's resignation. [nL8N1MT1F5] Kenya is East Africa's richest country and a hub for diplomacy and security in a region struggling with conflict in Somalia and South Sudan. At least 37 people have died in violence since the August vote, including four killed in confrontations between police and protesters in the past week. Young protesters have also broken up meetings by election officials in the opposition stronghold of western Kenya this week. SPECTRE OF 2007 Akombe urged Kenyans to remember the violence that followed a disputed 2007 poll, when more than 1,200 people were killed. She told BBC radio that she had fled to New York after receiving numerous threats that came from both sides. She said commissioners were serving partisan interests, and legal advice was being skewed for political reasons. A week before the August poll, the election commission's head of IT was found tortured and murdered in Nairobi, raising fears of a possible hack of the commission's computer systems. The election board has officially stated that it has conducted some reforms and the vote will go ahead - with Odinga on the ballot. Kenyan law requires that the new election be held within 60 days of the cancellation of the original vote, but Odinga says his withdrawal should trigger a new, 90-day election cycle. The ruling party has used its parliamentary majority to pass amendments to the electoral law curtailing the grounds on which the Supreme Court can nullify an election. Odinga has called near-daily demonstrations this month to protest against the election body and the draft electoral law, which the president has yet to sign. The protests have mostly been small and police have used tear gas to quash them. This week, police raided homes belonging to wealthy opposition financier Jimi Wanjigi and said they had found a cache of weapons. Wanjigi said in an emotional interview that the firearms were licensed and that he was being persecuted. On Tuesday, Deputy President William Ruto said Odinga had pulled out of the race to avoid a "humiliating defeat". Efforts by diplomats, religious leaders and civil society leaders have so far failed to bridge the divide. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fick and John Ndiso; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said Thursday he could "reconsider" his decision to quit the country's troubled election race, provided there was "proper" headway on electoral reform. "If proper consultations are done and if proper reforms are carried out, and those fears that we raised are addressed, that made us pull out of this race, then we will reconsider," Odinga said. "But as it stands right now, our position is (as) we announced it yesterday," he warned. Odinga made the remarks after meeting Wafula Chebukati, head of the Kenyan election board, just a week before presidential elections that have plunged the country into a deep crisis. It will be the second election this year -- the Supreme Court last month overturned the outcome of an initial vote on August 8 that had officially been won by Odinga's fierce long-term rival, President Uhuru Kenyatta. The court, in a historic ruling, declared there had been "irregularities" in the counting process and mismanagement by poll officials. On Wednesday Odinga addressed a rally of thousands of supporters, vowing there would be "no election" and his party would stage massive nationwide rallies on polling day. "Protests will go on, on the 26th (there) will be the biggest demonstrations in the whole country," he said. - Police attack rights activist - Odinga announced last week that he would not take part in the ballot because of problems at Chebukati's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). But he has yet to formally withdraw his name, a move that would officially give the ground to Kenyatta. On Thursday, he said "our fears and concerns" about the IEBC had been confirmed by the turn of events the day before, in statements by Chebukati and by an IEBC board member, Roselyn Akombe, who has quit over alleged turmoil in the panel. Both cast doubt on the prospects of a credible election. Story continues "It is now clear to everybody that (a) conducive environment does not exist for a free and fair electoral process," Odinga said. On Wednesday, Chebukati urged Odinga and Kenyatta to meet with him to ease tension. But Kenyatta has refused any postponement of the election and said any "dialogue" should focus on how to ensure that next Thursday's election proceeds smoothly and peacefully. "That is the only dialogue that is on the table, an election(...)," he said during a live chat with voters on Facebook. "We are ready to dialogue at any time on how we will conduct ourselves during the election." Kenya's IEBC has a controversial history. It presided over a deeply flawed poll in 2007 which triggered violence that killed over 1,100 people. After elections in 2013, the board was accused of bias, mismanagement and corruption, leading to the resignation of commissioners last year under the pressure of violent protests. This year's elections have left 40 people dead -- three in recent days and the others in the wake of the August 8 election -- mostly at the hands of police according to human rights groups. On Thursday well-known Kenyan rights activist Boniface Mwangi was beaten by police and shot in the chest with a teargas canister at a protest against police brutality in Nairobi, an AFP photographer witnessed. By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Tehran would stick to its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers as long as the other signatories respected it, but would "shred" the deal if Washington pulled out, state TV reported. Khamenei spoke five days after U.S. President Donald Trump adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with the deal, reached under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, and saying he might ultimately terminate it. "I don't want to waste my time on answering the rants and whoppers of the brute (U.S.) president," Khamenei said in a speech to students in Tehran quoted by state television. "Trump's stupidity should not distract us from America's deceitfulness ... If the U.S. tears up the deal, we will shred it ... Everyone should know that once again America will receive a slap in its mouth and will be defeated by Iranians." Trump's move put Washington at odds with other parties to the accord - Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union - who say Washington cannot unilaterally cancel an international accord enshrined by a U.N. resolution. Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran's state matters, welcomed European support but said it was not sufficient. "European states stressed their backing for the deal and condemned Trump ... We welcomed this, but it is not enough to ask Trump not to rip up the agreement. Europe needs to stand against practical measures (taken) by America." Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its disputed uranium enrichment program in return for relief from international sanctions that crippled its economy, and U.N. nuclear inspectors have repeatedly certified Tehran's compliance with the terms. Trump accuses Iran of supporting terrorism and says the 2015 deal does not do enough to block its path to acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says it does not seek nuclear arms and in turn blames the growth of militant groups such as Islamic State on the policies of the United States and its regional allies. In decertifying the nuclear deal last week, Trump gave the U.S. Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the pact. "DO NOT INTERFERE" In a major shift in U.S. policy, Trump also said Washington will take a more confrontational approach to Iran over its ballistic missile program and its support for extremist groups in the Middle East. Tehran has repeatedly pledged to continue what it calls a defensive missile capability in defiance of Western criticism. The United States has said Iran's stance violates the 2015 deal in spirit as missiles could be tipped with nuclear weapons. Tehran has said it seeks only civilian nuclear energy from its enrichment of uranium, and that the program has nothing to do with missile development efforts. EU foreign ministers on Monday urged U.S. lawmakers not to reimpose sanctions on Tehran but also discussed Iran's missile program, which they want to see dismantled. "They must avoid interfering in our defense program ... We do not accept that Europe sings along with America's bullying and its unreasonable demands," Khamenei said. "They (Europeans) ask why does Iran have missiles? Why do you have missiles yourselves? Why do you have nuclear weapons?" The Trump administration has imposed new unilateral sanctions targeting Iran's missile activity. It has called on Tehran not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs. Iran says it has no such plans. Iran has one of the biggest ballistic missile programs in the Middle East, viewing it as an essential precautionary defense against the United States and other adversaries, primarily Gulf Arab states and Israel. Americans are angry because the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to thwart their plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other countries in the region," Khamenei said. Supporters of the deal fear Trump's decision to decertify the deal could eventually unravel it, causing more tension in the crisis-hit Middle East, where Shi'ite Iran is involved in a decades long proxy war with U.S. ally Sunni Saudi Arabia. If the deal falls apart, Iran's anti-Western hardliners will gain authority in a backlash against pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani, who engineered the accord to help end Iran's political and economic isolation, analysts and insiders say. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Mark Heinrich) Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand's centre-left opposition leader Jacinda Ardern was poised to become prime minister Thursday in a stunning rise to power, after maverick populist Winston Peters backed the charismatic 37-year-old to form a government. Peters' decision, which came after the September 23 election ended deadlocked, gives her Labour Party the numbers to form a government with his New Zealand First and the Greens. "This is an exciting day," Ardern said in a brief statement. "We aspire to be a government for all New Zealanders and one that will seize the opportunity to build a fairer, better New Zealand." Peters, who has been offered the deputy prime ministership under the deal, told reporters "we had a choice to make for a modified status quo or for change". He added: "That's why in the end we chose a coalition government of New Zealand First with the New Zealand Labour Party." The 72-year-old "kingmaker" was full of praise for Ardern, who revived Labour's fortunes when she became party leader just weeks out from the election. "She exhibited extraordinary talent in the campaign itself from a very hopeless position," he said. While Labour and the Greens have to formally approve the coalition, Ardern will become New Zealand's youngest leader since 1856 and only the third female prime minister of the nation of 4.6 million. Ardern thanked Peters for his support, saying it was "a critical step to forming a Labour-led progressive government". She campaigned on issues such as housing affordability and free tertiary education. Environmental action and improved healthcare were also constant themes at the hustings. The result will be a bitter blow to outgoing conservative Prime Minister Bill English, who ran an unexpectedly strong campaign to win 44.4 percent of the vote, far higher than Labour's 36 percent. It is the first time since New Zealand adopted proportional voting in 1996 that the party which claimed the largest slice of the vote has failed to form government. Story continues Peters had promised to reveal his choice on Thursday afternoon but had already missed several self-imposed deadlines to settle the issue. - Down to the wire - He stretched the announcement out as long as possible, appearing before reporters early in the afternoon to say he still had not made a decision. "It's seriously difficult because there are pros and cons for every part of this decision we've got to make," he said before heading off for lunch. He said the talks went down to the wire, with new information arriving throughout the day, finally addressing a media conference at 7:00pm (0600GMT). Peters has thrashed out policy positions over 12 days of negotiations and said he only made his decision 15 minutes before making it public. He did not inform English or Ardern before going public, saying voters deserved to know first. Peters refused to specify what policy concessions he received from Labour. But the anti-immigration campaigners' demands are expected to centre on issues such as cutting migrant numbers, banning foreign home buyers and boosting regional development. He has also been kingmaker in two previous elections, opting for National in 1996 in return for being made deputy prime minister and backing Labour in 2005 after it agreed to make him foreign minister. But he did not see out either term of office as a minister, leading some observers to say any government that relies on Peters to prop it up is inherently unstable. "I think it's going to be a one-term government whichever way he goes," former National Party minister Paul East told Radio New Zealand ahead of the announcement. "It'll be fractious and it won't last." By Ian Simpson (Reuters) - A hotel security guard wounded by the Las Vegas gunman who killed 58 people told a U.S. television talk show on Wednesday that he heard drilling before the shooter began spraying a hallway with hundreds of rapid-fire rounds. Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos, the first person to confront gunman Stephen Paddock, gave "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" his first public account of how he responded to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Contradictory statements from police and the hotel about what time Campos arrived at Paddock's room have raised questions about the police response. Campos himself came under increased scrutiny last week after he skipped out on scheduled television interviews. The guard told DeGeneres he had been called to check on an open stairwell door near Paddock's suite on the 32nd floor. He found it was blocked by a metal bracket, and he called hotel security to send up a building engineer. "At that time I heard what I assumed was drilling sounds and I believed that they were in the area working somehow," said Campos, who was joined for the interview by the engineer, Stephen Schuck. Campos said he took cover when Paddock began shooting from behind the door. "I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood. That's when I called it in on my radio that shots have been fired," he said. After he was hit, Campos said, he used his cellphone to call the hotel's security desk in order to keep the emergency radio frequencies clear. When Schuck arrived on the 32nd floor, Campos "leaned out and he said, 'Take cover! Take cover!' and yelled at me," Schuck said. "Within milliseconds, if he didn't say that, I would have got hit." Police have said that Paddock, a 64-year-old avid gambler, fatally shot himself before they entered the room. He wounded almost 550 people when he opened fire on an outdoor concert from his window, according to authorities, and strafed the hotel hallway with about 200 bullets. Las Vegas police on Friday presented a third version of the timeline for the shooting that showed they responded immediately to the gunfire, and that Paddock shot Campos at about the same time he opened fire on concertgoers. (Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; editing by Daniel Wallis and G Crosse) Thirty years ago Could it happen again? By Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at Silverbear Capital What a difference a mere 30 years makes. In 1987, about 3,000 traders and support staff on the floor of the NYSE worried, not only about the economy as a whole, but also about whether their careers were about to end. It had been a rough week for stocks and traders with world events and talk of war weighing on markets around the world. On October 15, the market fell 58 points. Then, after Iran shot off two missiles in the next two days, hitting two American owned supertankers, markets started to disintegrate. On Friday, October 16, the Dow (^DJI, DIA) fell 108.35 points, a record up to that point. Traders went home that Friday a little concerned, but most felt that Monday would bring buyers picking up great prices on stocks. Black Monday, as it came to be known, was, and still is, the worst day for stocks on record. By the time traders entered the trading floor on that day at 9:00 a.m. (EST), they knew it was going to be a bad day and any hope of buyers stepping in to support Fridays decline was fast fading. Markets, starting in Hong Kong, then spreading to West Europe before hitting the U.S., all fell apart. By the end of the trading day, the market had fallen an incredible 508 points. But the resiliency of America is never to be doubted. Toward the end of 1987 and all through 1988 growth returned to the U.S. equity markets. Finally, by the end of 1989, markets were back to their pre-crash levels. Could it happen again? Of course, anything is possible. The world is still a volatile place. However, markets are much stronger than in 1987. With the world awash in cash ($129 trillion in liquid assets around the world), it would not take long before savvy investors stepped in to buy again. Jinn, the London-based startup that offers a same-hour shop on your behalf delivery app that operates quite similarly to Postmates in the U.S., has shut down, with the company in the process of going into administration. TechCrunch understands that the remaining fifteen or so people still working in Jinn's London office were let go on Tuesday, while, according to a source, payments to freelance delivery drivers and other staff are outstanding. Founder and CEO of Jinn Mario Navarro confirmed that the startup has entered the deadpool, and issued the following statement: "To our employees, couriers, partners and customers, It is with a heavy heart that I share that Jinn has now stopped operating and wont be taking any new orders. These past few months, we have tried through all means to find solutions to keep Jinn alive. Unfortunately, we have now run out of time and we will be filing for administration. We deeply apologise to everyone who relied on Jinn in any way. To our employees, Id like to thank you for everything that youve done in these past four years. You have helped develop a platform capable of delivering orders from any store or restaurant in around thirty minutes, a first of its kind in the United Kingdom. You have helped make this service known to over a hundred thousand customers, who have received over a million deliveries. You have supported these customers and thousands of couriers and partners across these years. Your achievements have been nothing short of extraordinary and the fact that Jinn is closing does not change that. To our couriers, partners and customers, thank you for being part of a great community and for accelerating innovation in the on-demand delivery space. Together, we have greatly improved the standards of this market, and it is stronger than ever thanks to you. We encourage you to continue working with the different companies providing solutions for on-demand delivery in the UK. Im confident that this market will continue to grow and Im hopeful for the future. Mario" Story continues Meanwhile, Business Insider is reporting that Jinn -- which to varying degrees competes with Deliveroo, UberEATS, and Quiqup -- had met with three rival food delivery businesses earlier this month about a potential acquisition deal, but in the end ran out of time to be able to make a sale possible. However, my understanding is that the company began shopping itself around as early as this Summer, but with administration looking increasingly likely, accelerated efforts to find a buyer in the last week. I also understand that the administrator Moorfields has been appointed and will now be tasked with finding an acquirer for any of Jinn's remaining assets, namely the software platform that powered the ordering and dispatching functionality of the delivery service. A member of Moorfields' team confirmed that couriers working for Jinn are owed money. In a message sent by Jinn to its fleet of drivers (and seen by TechCrunch) they are advised that if they are owed any money, they will be contacted by the administrator in the coming days who will "deal with your situation on a case by case basis". The shuttering of Jinn comes after a turbulent time for the startup over the last year. In May, the company announced that it had raised $10 million in further funding. That, in theory, brought total raised by Jinn to a modest $20 million in comparison to other players in the on-demand delivery space. However, it isn't clear that the full $10 million entered the startup's balance sheet and was likely contingent on milestones and delivered in tranches, a key detail that will hopefully be made public in any postmortem of the company's shuttering. This was followed just two months later with news that Jinn had pulled out of all markets outside London, "pausing" operations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds in the U.K., and Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. We also learned that Jinn co-founder and COO Leon Herrera had departed the startup a few weeks earlier. Those drastic cutbacks appeared to have been enough to save the company, and one month later Jinn claimed that it was profitable at an EBITDA level, with 30 per cent contribution margins, and expecting to close the year with $22 million in sales. This evidently didn't pan out with today's news that Jinn has entered the deadpool. I suspect we will learn a lot more about exactly why in the next coming weeks or months, including, I hope, from the Jinn founder himself. ATHENS (Reuters) - Two Macedonian nationals wanted by Interpol have been arrested in Greece over their alleged involvement in a wiretap scandal that brought down Macedonia's government, a police official said on Thursday. Two years of political turmoil were triggered in 2015 after opposition parties accused then prime minister Nikola Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief of orchestrating the wiretapping of more than 20,000 people. The EU, which Macedonia aspires to join, was forced to broker an agreement in which parties agreed to hold early elections and establish the office of a special prosecutor to investigate the content of the wiretaps. A new government was formed in May. The two Macedonians, aged 51 and 35, are accused of destroying machines used in wiretapping, a police official said on condition of anonymity. They were arrested on Wednesday at the airport in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki carrying fake Bulgarian passports, the official said. Greek police said the men were also accused of setting up a criminal gang to carry out technology-related crimes. They are due to appear before a prosecutor on Thursday. In June, Macedonia's special prosecutor filed charges against 94 people, including former high government officials, over their involvement in alleged crimes revealed in tapes that emerged during the surveillance scandal. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by John Stonestreet and Andrew Heavens) Valletta (AFP) - The shocking assassination of an influential anti-corruption blogger has brought to a head the public frustration at Malta's stagnating institutions, bubbling away for years beneath the Mediterranean holiday island image. Academics, lawyers, friends of Daphne Caruana Galizia and mourners alike tell a common tale of failing confidence in the tiny country's politicians, police, business culture and justice system. Monday's fatal car bomb attack has left the country asking itself: if the most prominent critic of Malta's institutions has been silenced in such a brutal way, who now will speak up? "Who is responsible? Frankly, we all are. The whole country," said Andrew Borg Cardona, a prominent veteran lawyer who is in practice with Caruana Galizia's husband. "We've become not lawless, but the government has given the impression that you can virtually do what you like around here and get away with it," he told AFP. "The big fish do exactly as they please: build the buildings they want to build, launder the money they want to launder." The attack has thrown a spotlight on Malta's recent economic boom, fuelled by online gambling, offshore companies and a passports-for-investment scheme. A 4.6-percent growth rate, near-full employment and a budget in surplus helped comfortably return Labour Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to power in a June snap election -- a vote he called after Caruana Galizia made detailed allegations of corruption against his inner circle, some based on the Panama Papers data leak. - Maltese at crossroads - "To the outside, Malta looks like a holiday island. To people who live here, it's something we've come to live with," Matthew Demarco, 30, a designer, said of the country's practices. He was among mourners who gathered at the growing floral tributes laid to the slain journalist in the heart of the capital Valletta. Professor Andrew Azzopardi, dean of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta, said the killing had brought matters to a head and the country now faced a turning point. Story continues "The moral panic it has created is phenomenal. People are uncomfortable," the academic told AFP. "We are at a crossroads in terms of our political dialogue. It will be an opportunity or we could be messing things up further. "When you are targeting Daphne, it isn't just targeting her; it is much more than that." He described the situation as a terrible wake-up call. "The political class have let down the people by not engaging with the issues at hand. They have allowed this sense of statelessness to creep in. There is a sense that the state is not protecting us," he said. "The institutions are under threat. All of this is creating a sense of internal instability." The expert said the situation was exacerbated by the close-knit nature of Maltese society, a community of 430,000 people. "It could be that our politicians and institutions are too close to the people. We all know each other very well. They might create a sense of familiarity which might be breeding contempt," he said. - Public trust 'gone, completely' - Luke Frendo, 31, a lawyer and a friend of Caruana Galizia's son Matthew, said a situation where it took 24 hours to suspend a police sergeant who, on Twitter, reacted to the death by saying he was "feeling happy" and that everyone gets what they deserve, "spoke volumes". He urged Maltese citizens to take the responsibility upon themselves to fill the void left by Caruana Galizia's murder. "In the past, everyone could rely entirely on her, and that made it very easy for all of us, because everyone knew that Daphne would say and do whatever needed to be said and done," he told AFP. "It made us complacent. Now we need to step up." Borg Cardona said that like many southern European countries, faith in the police and the institutions had never been enormous, but in recent years, "public trust has gone, completely". He added that in years past, "something of this magnitude would shake governments and create a movement in society. I'm not entirely sure that will happen this time." (Giphy) An irate flyer is suing Canadian budget airline Sunwing for serving sparkling wine instead of champagne on a trip to Cuba. Upon departing from Quebec to island resort Cayo Coco, Daniel Macduff was looking forward to a champagne vacation with champagne service based on language in the terms of the hospitality package he purchased. He was dismayed when a he was poured a glass of bubbly inferior to the variety that comes from the Champagne region in France. His suit also alleges he was also only offered it on his outbound flight. Montreal-based lawyer Sebastien Paquette says the point of the suit is not about the quality of wine, but about misleading customers. Its the consumer message behind it, he has said in a statement. The airline replied with a statement saying the terms champagne vacations and champagne service were not used in reference to actual in-flight drinks provided but meant to denote a level of service in reference to the entire hospitality package. Sunwing says it has now dropped the phrase champagne service in marketing campaigns, but will still serve sparkling wine to passengers flying south. The class action lawsuit, which around 1,600 plaintiffs from Quebec have joined according to the National Post, seeks compensation for the price differential between the actual wine served and a glass of champagne. Paquette estimates the difference per glass would be about $2-4. You have to go beyond the pettiness of the [wine cost] per head, Mr. Paquette told the National Post. Some Twitter users agreed: Companies should be accountable. Customer sues Sunwing for advertising champagne and serving sparkling wine https://t.co/AIwaQwbNZd Hari Bapuji (@HariBapuji) October 18, 2017 I feel his pain. BBC News Sunwing flyer sues because he got sparkling wine not champagne https://t.co/mCSEByVBrZ Christopher Muther (@chris_muther) October 19, 2017 Others were less supportive: Story continues PATHETIC, USELESS AND MORONIC Sunwing flyer sues because he got sparkling wine not champagne BBC News https://t.co/7ndFQWZylw Sunny B (@sun_eb) October 19, 2017 Some were surprised: If hes flying Sunwing Im shocked he knows difference btwn sparkling wine and champagne. Must have seen the bottle. Brooke Luxton (@luxasaurusrex) October 18, 2017 Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Marawi (Philippines) (AFP) - At first glance, the endless rows of devastated buildings could be the aftermath of a great earthquake. But the punctured, bullet-riddled walls tell the true story of the Philippines' longest urban war. "No one wanted this to happen," President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday as he declared Marawi city "liberated from the terrorists' influence" after a nearly five-month battle with gunmen loyal to the Islamic State group. A day earlier troops had tracked down and killed the Islamic State "emir" for Southeast Asia -- Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the militants. The battle for the southern city, the Islamic capital of the mainly Catholic Philippines, lasted more than four times longer than the US-led campaign to liberate Manila from Japanese World War II occupation forces. In the process the military literally destroyed Marawi to save it from gunmen it says are intent on carving out territory for a Southeast Asian caliphate. An AFP team saw metal shutters and walls pockmarked with bullet holes, pavements piled high with twisted metal and cannibalised cars, and streets strewn with machine-gun slugs. The scenes evoked pictures of destruction in war-torn Middle Eastern cities like Aleppo and Mosul. - New urban warfare - Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana estimates the government will need $1.1 billion to rebuild the city. On the ground floor of some buildings, soldiers peered warily at the street through holes just big enough for men to crawl through. These gaps are evidence that the militants who seized the city on May 23 -- estimated by military officials to have numbered one thousand -- brought in a new style of urban warfare that initially flummoxed Filipino troops. The militants blasted rat holes through walls to turn hundreds of densely built buildings in the city centre into a maze of improvised tunnels to evade relentless air strikes as well as US and Australian spy planes and drones. Story continues They seized hostages, using some as human shields and others as cooks, medics, or grave diggers for dead gunmen. They also forced captives to loot houses for cash and weapons and even to fight alongside them, the military said. "These terrorists are using combat tactics that we've seen in the Middle East," US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris told a security forum in Singapore on Tuesday. It also marked the first time that IS-inspired forces had banded together to fight on such a scale in the region, he added. - Foreign fighters - Of the more than 1,000 dead, the Philippine military and police lost 164 men, with more than a thousand soldiers wounded in house-to-house combat. Most were hit by improvised explosive devices, snipers and firebombs, as well as shoulder-fired rockets used against armoured vehicles. Forty-seven civilians were killed, while nearly 400,000 others fled their homes, according to official tallies. Following his speech in Marawi, Duterte apologised to the region's displaced residents. "We did not wish this on you... but the circumstances really compelled us to act," he said in the eastern city of Pili. The authorities said they believed the gunmen -- some of them foreign fighters from nearby Malaysia and Indonesia or as far as Chechnya -- stockpiled weapons and food for weeks and possibly months before seizing the city. The militants also turned mosques, off-limits to air strikes and artillery, into sniper's nests, munitions depots and hiding places, authorities said. "At the start we were surprised because we were used to fighting in the mountains and areas away from population centres," Philippine military chief General Eduardo Ano told Radyo Singko radio station in Manila on Wednesday. The troops gradually adapted to the new enemy's tactics while acquiring better-suited equipment, including sniper rifles and armoured vehicles, he added. Some 882 militants were killed, the military said, with fighting continuing Wednesday at a district near the shore of nearby Lanao lake. The military said the gunmen had used the large lake as a supply route for food, fuel, weapons and manpower. It then became an escape route as the security noose tightened on them in recent weeks. Authorities have declined to give a timetable for the return of the displaced residents. Apart from the job of restoring electricity and tap water, there are concerns about potential fresh infiltration of militants, said Zia Alonto Adiong, a spokesman for the Marawi local government. "We don't want another incident that would force us to go on evacuation mode again," he told reporters. The Westby Area School District Board of Education is beginning the process of asking taxpayers to back two possible referendums in 2018. The first would be an operational referendum in April 2018 and the second would be a facilities referendum six months later in November 2018. The district hired School Perceptions to assist them in the process. The Westby Area School District operates within a $12.3 million budget, of which approximately $5 million is covered through local tax levies. The remaining budget is funded through state and federal aid. The Westby Area School District receives 71.2-percent of its funding from the state of Wisconsin. The approved advisory budget vote taken at the annual meeting is expected to be certified by the Board of Education at a special meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 24. If the budget is certified it will be the sixth year in a row that the school district has requested a zero tax levy increase remaining at $4,985,182. The tax levy for 2017 remained steady in part due to a number of vacant positions within the district which have not yet been filled or positions filled by employees not utilizing the districts benefit packages. The budget for 2017-2018 does allow the district to award slight wage increases to the majority of its current staff, but once open positions are filled, the district will be facing a deficit for the 2018-2019 school year. The expected deficit numbers have not been made available, but could be substantial moving forward just maintain its status quo. Working with School Perceptions community focus groups were formed and held its first meeting on Oct. 18. Need assessments are also being projected for the 2018-2019 school year and beyond. Information will be provided to the public as the school district begins testing the ground to see if they have enough public support to request additional levied monies from district taxpayers through the referendum process in 2018. Anyone with additional questions should contact Interim Superintendent John Burnett or Business Manager Jennifer Buros at the district office (608) 634-0101. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain on Tuesday painted a dire picture of his relationship with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. WASHINGTON Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain on Tuesday painted a dire picture of his relationship with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, saying its worse than it was with Obama-era Defense Secretary Ash Carter. I had a better working relationship, back and forth, with Ash Carter than I do with an old friend of 20 years, McCain said, referring to Mattis. He added that he has considered both Mattis and McMaster friends of mine for many years. As McCain has waged a public battle with cancer, his penchant for asserting the Senates powers to check and balance the executive branch has only grown. On Tuesday, McCain implied national security officials have seen his committee as a rubber stamp, and he is using his seats powerful levers to conduct oversight. I think they had this idea, once that Trump won, that we are a unicameral government, said McCain, R-Arizona, and we have to do what we have to do. The Carter comparison says something, as Obama was McCains frequent foil. In Obamas final year in office, McCain jousted with Carter and the administration over the defense budget, his reform efforts and his slow-rolling of DoD nominees. At one point, McCain vented over a frayed relationship between Congress and the Pentagons civilian leadership when Carter denied McCain a courtesy preview of the 2017 Pentagon budget. It has appeared there might be a thaw in the senators relationship with the Pentagon. McCain said he was receiving information from Mattis about his strategy for Afghanistan and the Islamic State fightand that he would not block a handful of Pentagon nominees from Senate floor votes. On the other hand, McCain was in a war of words with the commander in chief. While accepting the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia Monday night, McCain warned the United States against turning toward half-baked, spurious nationalism widely read as a repudiation of Trump. Story continues Trump responded in a radio interview Tuesday, Im being very, very nice. But at some point I fight back, and it wont be pretty. Still, McCain told reporters, Im not interested in confronting the president, Im interested in working with the president. When a reporter asked whether the relationship was so bad that McCain would not support anything Trump approaches him with, McCain took it as a suggestion he would shirk his responsibilities and blew up. Why would you ask something that dumb, eh? McCain said. My job as a United States senator from Arizona which I was just re-elected to you mean that I would somehow behave in a way that I would block everything because of some personal disagreement? Thats a dumb question. Earlier this month, McCain said he would refuse to advance Trumps nominees to the Pentagon until he is satisfied the administration is communicating its plans for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As SASC chairman, he sets the schedule for DoD nomination hearings and as a senator, he may request a hold on any presidential nominee. Its been nearly two months since Trump announced a new strategy, criticized for its vagueness, that involves sending more U.S. troops to advise the Afghan military. The Defense Department has acknowledged that it has 11,000 forces on the ground, more than the 8,500 previously reported, and that it plans to send an additional 3,000-plus. On Tuesday, McCain told reporters he expects to receive soon some answers to questions on strategy and tactics that he has been waiting months to get. But he would not commit to advancing Trumps picks through his committee until he has the information hes been seeking in hand. The Senates 79-19 confirmation Tuesday of David Trachtenberg, Trumps choice for a deputy Pentagon post focused on defense policy, came about seven months after the nomination was announced. McCain said he did not block it because he was partially satisfied with their commitment to provide us with answers to the questions. Of Trachtenberg, who has experience in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, McCain said, I think hes qualified. The SASCs top Democrat, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, said the way looks clear for other DoD nominees awaiting Senate votes, since the Senate is done with health care reform. John Gibson, the deputy chief management officer pick, Navy general counsel nominee Charles Stimson, and Owen West, Trumps choice for assistant defense secretary, have like Trachtenberg been waiting since July. Reed was supportive of McCains delaying actions as the prerogative of the chairman to pursue details about Afghanistan, Iraq and North Korea, saying, I would suggest not only for Sen. McCains benefit, but the publics benefit, that it be made clear. McCains frustration is, in part, rooted in fears the administration is unprepared to deal with the aftermath, should the Islamic State be defeated, highlighted by news Tuesday that U.S.-backed Syrian rebels have claimed to have taken Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS so-called caliphate.. Again, we will not sit by without having a complete understanding of what is going on, McCain said. Raqqa just fell. Whos going to take over? The Iranians are there, the Shiites. The whole situation is in chaos, as we predicted. Still, McCain said the committee is working with the administration on a whole lot of other issues, including the massive 2018 defense authorization bill. The House and Senate, as of Tuesday, are due to go to conference to reconcile their versions of the bill. Brussels (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday led calls for a cut to EU funding linked to Turkey's membership talks, to signal the bloc's unhappiness at Ankara's crackdown in the wake of a failed coup. In the latest round of a bitter spat between Berlin and Ankara, the powerful German leader said it was important the EU acted in unity to defend its values, at a summit in Brussels. Turkey, whose application to join the EU is effectively frozen, has alarmed European leaders with its hardline response to a thwarted bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year. More than 50,000 people have been arrested since the coup bid, including several German citizens, drawing strong criticism from Berlin. "I'm going to work for EU pre-membership funding, which we are giving, to be reduced," Merkel said, adding that for her it was a "central demand" that the bloc acted together on the issue. "The changes to the rule of law in Turkey are going in our opinion in a bad direction and we have some major concerns -- and not just because a lot of Germans have been arrested." Merkel caused a stir during her recent reelection campaign with a pledge to try to get EU leaders to terminate Turkey's membership bid. Other EU nations have trod more carefully, noting Turkey's vital importance to the bloc both in tackling the migrant crisis and in fighting Islamist militancy. But several voiced criticism of Turkey at Thursday's meeting, with Belgian PM Charles Michel saying Ankara's membership bid was "frozen, on the point of death". Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Turkey was "a long way from membership and will remain so", but the two Low Countries leaders called for "reorientating" funds rather than cutting them. Rutte said the aim would be "that the money moves away from the government to go towards areas such as migration and Turkish charities". EU member states are waiting for a European Commission assessment of funding for Turkey -- most of which already goes to NGOs or projects -- in early 2018. Europe plans 4.45 billion euros in pre-accession spending for Turkey in 2014-2020, but only 360 million euros have been allocated so far. The Mississippi flag may be deeply offensive to black Americans, but displaying the Confederate battle emblem as part of the state's official banner is not a violation of their civil rights, the state told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. In a legal brief to the High Court, the state argued the Mississippi flag, which features the Confederate emblem in its corner, does not violate equal protection laws or cause proven injury to minorities, noting that citizens encounter any number of symbols and displays on a daily basis. The lawyers said if the lawsuit is upheld, it creates a slippery slope where anyone "could challenge any government action, display, monument, or speech he or she views as offensive or as unduly favorable to another, by simply alleging what cannot be disprovednamely, that he or she suffers denigration, stigma, or like form of discomfiture." The Supreme Court brief dates back to 2016 when Carlos Moore, an African American judge in Mississippi, sued to stop the state from flying the flag. Moore believes the flag represents state-sanctioned hate speech that violates the equal-protection rights of black citizens by endorsing a beacon for white supremacy. "[The state] does not believe we are equal to the white citizens in Mississippi," Moore told Newsweek. "And I am no ones second-class citizen... A message of white supremacy is completely inappropriate. Moore says he's received several death threats since filing the lawsuit, but in its brief Wednesday, Mississippi claimed that Moore is raising the standard "several notches for what constitutes an injury." The state did acknowledge that Moore's personal and deep offense at the flag is "sincere," adding it did not doubt that others feel the same way, but said Moore has no case unless he can prove "discriminatory treatment" by the state. Mississippi remains the last state in the U.S. to incorporate the Confederate emblem on its state flag. Story continues 1018_Mississippi_Flag Bill Colgin/Getty Images The legal battle over historical racism Moore's case is based on the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection clause, with lawyer Michael Scott arguing that it should be considered like the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment if the state cannot favor one religion, how could it favor one race? The state countered that Scott cannot "pluck standards from the defining context of the Establishment Clause and transport them to a more pliable setting, free of that defining context." In September, Mississippi won the first round, with District Judge Carlton Reeves dismissing Moore's lawsuit for failing to show "identifiable legal injury." Carlton devoted about half of his legal decision to outlining the connection between slavery and the Confederate flag but failed to see the case hinging on Equal Protection. Moore needs to identify that part of the Constitution which guarantees a legal right to be free from anxiety at state displays of historical racism, Reeves wrote. There is none. Moore appealed to the Supreme Court, which did not take the case but asked for both sides to submit arguments, a possible first step towards a full argument. Scott told Newsweek he will file a response to Mississippi's brief in "about 10 days." 'I realized ... it could inspire people to kill' The Confederate battle flag a relic of the movement that sought to maintain slavery remains a powerful symbol in Mississippi. In 2001, 64 percent of residents voted to maintain the controversial flag. But in 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine blacks in a Charleston church. Roof had posed with the Confederate symbol. In the ensuing controversy, South Carolina removed the full Confederate flag from its Capitol. (The flag) was more than an innocuous symbol," Moore told Newsweek. "It could inspire people to kill. But in Mississippi, the rebel flag lives on. After Charleston, some Magnolia State lawmakers tried to change the flag, but failed, with Republican Governor Phil Bryant emphasizing that state legislators should not "supersede the will of the people" in changing the flag. In the 2016 legislative session, bills to change the flag did not get even get out of committee. Bryant took a moment out of Black History Month in February to announce that April would be declared Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi. Related Articles The latest controversy surrounding Donald Trump is ridiculously low, even for him. After Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson described extremely insensitive comments she claimed to have heard Trump made while speaking to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson a soldier who was killed in Niger Trump said the recollection of the incident was "totally fabricated." Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017 Now, despite Trump claiming to have proof he didn't tell Johnson's wife her husband "knew what he signed up for" multiple times, the soldier's mother told The Washington Post she heard the call and Trump did disrespect her family. SEE ALSO: Trump says he has proof congresswoman 'fabricated' his insensitive fallen soldier comments On Wednesday morning Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, reportedly confirmed Trump's insensitive comments to the publication, explaining, "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband." Though she declined to elaborate further, when The Post asked if Wilson's account of the conversation between Trump and Johnson's widow was accurate, she said, "Yes." Earlier this morning after Trump tweeted he had proof that would refute Wilson's initial accusation of his insensitive words, the congresswoman announced she stood by her account and was not alone in her disappointment. I stand my account of the call with @realDonaldTrump and was not the only one who heard and was dismayed by his insensitive remarks. Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 18, 2017 On Wednesday Wilson told MSNBC that Johnson's widow "was crying the whole time" she spoke to Trump on the phone and claims that when she hung up with him she said, "He didnt even remember his name." Story continues Since the congresswoman opened up about the phone call many have shown their disgust and shock at the thought that the President of the United States could say something that possesses such little empathy in the face of this sensitive situation. What kind of a person says this to the wife of a dead soldier? What breeds this kind of heartlessness and cruelty? https://t.co/LqRXocbN1D Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 18, 2017 Utterly heartbreaking. No solider should die needlessly; no widow should be treated disrespectfully; no President should act like Trump. https://t.co/71WmqOqOQq Sen. Bryan Townsend (@BryanTownsendDE) October 18, 2017 As a veteran who has folded countless flags, I cannot adequately express how completely disgusting and cruel this was for Trump to say. https://t.co/XYpv8iybzi Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) October 18, 2017 So if your child/friend/relative dies at war. You get a phone call from Trump saying "they knew what they were signing up for" - #MAGA https://t.co/debFcKzXQl RVACHILLY (@RVACHILLY) October 18, 2017 16. More importantly, it sends this message to troops: If you're looking for support from the White House, you know what you signed up for. Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) October 18, 2017 I don't ever want to hear another trump reporter say one word abt respecting the troops. This is fucking disgusting /thread https://t.co/kcqAao1qfM Drew Rapp (@Filbert33) October 18, 2017 I'd rather get no phone call from Trump than receive that disgusting message you should be ashamed @realDonaldTrump #SgtLaDavidJohnson Ashley Crowley (@Wresltgal) October 18, 2017 Trump is incapable of expressing empathy. Instead of apologizing, he takes this as a personal attack. He's not normal. https://t.co/XbdaGDfx7H sherean (@sherean) October 18, 2017 If he's this cold about the death of an American soldier, how can we expect thoughtful deliberation about say, war with Iran or North Korea? Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) October 18, 2017 Chelsea Clinton simply tweeted an article about Trump's hurtful comments and offered her condolences to Mrs. Johnson and her family. Mrs. Johnson, I cannot begin to imagine your loss. Your family & all who mourn Sgt. Johnson are in my prayers & those of countless Americans https://t.co/c2yjnznn1N Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) October 18, 2017 And of course, former White House photographer Pete Souza was there to not-so-subtly shade Trump. Not long after Trump addressed the phone call on Twitter, Souza shared a timely photograph on Instagram of the Obama family visiting the burial site of troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2011: President and Mrs. Obama in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. Section 60 is the area of the cemetery that holds the remains of troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Oct 18, 2017 at 6:39am PDT Trump also recently came under fire for falsely claiming Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers during his time in office, and after his tweet people were quick to call attention to other past unsupported claims. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump verbally denied he said what Wilson accused him of saying to "the woman" and "the wife." "I'd like her to make the statement again because I did not say what she said," Trump said. Trump denies telling widow of fallen soldier "he knew what he signed up for," calls on Rep. Wilson to make another statement. pic.twitter.com/2sM0LLnq9J David Mack (@davidmackau) October 18, 2017 Wilson later tweeted again to tell Trump she still stands by her account and remind him Johnson's widow's name is Myeshia Johnson, not "the woman" or "the wife." I still stand by my account of the call b/t @realDonaldTrump and Myeshia Johnson. That is her name, Mr. Trump. Not "the woman" or "the wife" Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 18, 2017 "This might wind up to be Mr. Trump's Benghazi." Those are the words of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat who was present during a controversial phone call between President Donald Trump and the widow of one of the four U.S. special forces soldiers killed in Niger on October 4. The soldiers died in an ambush near the Niger-Mali border believed to be perpetrated by an ISIS-linked group. The president's reaction to the deaths is being widely criticized as questions remain about U.S. involvement in Niger and Africa more generally. Republican Senator John McCain, widely regarded as the top authority on military matters in the Senate, said Wednesday the Trump administration is not being upfront about what happened in Niger. This is somewhat reminiscent of rhetoric surrounding what happened in Benghazi under the Obama administration. Indeed, some are suggesting there's more to the Niger story. And Congresswoman Wilson isn't the only one who's begun to draw parallels between this situation and Benghazi. Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, tweeted hyperbolically on Wednesday: "We had about 4000 Benghazi hearings. Why isn't there a single one on the deaths of soldiers in Niger?" Joy Reid, national correspondent for MSNBC, echoed these sentiments: "Where are all the Benghazi obsessives now that we have lost four special forces troops in Niger? Anyone? Hearings? Any interest at all?" What happened in Benghazi? On September 11, 2012, four Americans were killed in an infamous terror attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya at the time, was killed. Story continues The incident prompted an extensive, costly investigation and was a source of controversy for Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State when the attack occurred. It was still around as a thorn in her 2016 presidential campaign. The Obama administration's initial explanation of the attack, which was based on faulty CIA intelligence, led to accusations of a cover-up from Republicans. Some also accused the administration of withholding military assistance to the Benghazi compound. Clinton and the Obama administration were widely criticized, but no evidence of a cover-up was ever found, and House Republicans even released a report that cleared Clinton of any wrongdoing over Benghazi in June 2016. Still, Benghazi remains controversial and a talking point for conservative news outlets, especially Fox News. What happened in Niger? The soldiers killed in Niger were part of a 12-man team of Green Berets, training Nigerian soldiers in a remote part of the country. These soldiers belonged to the Third Special Forces group based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As they were leaving a meeting with local community leaders on October 4, they were ambushed by roughly 50 fighters believed to be linked to ISIS (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is also active in the surrounding region). The soldiers were driving unarmored pickup trucks and immediately returned fire. The firefight reportedly lasted roughly 30 minutes. It was eventually broken up via French air support and the soldiers were evacuated with helicopters. Initially, the government only confirmed three had been killed and two wounded in the incident, along with two. But it was eventually reported a fourth soldier had gone missing during the ambush. His remains were found by Nigerien forces roughly 48 hours after the ambush. The Department of Defense at first withheld information about the missing soldier. The circumstances of how he was separated and the nature of his death are unknown. Many questions about what occurred remain, especially regarding why intelligence apparently didn't indicate the soldiers would meet such heavy resistance. Are there any legitimate parallels between Benghazi and Niger? Beyond the fact four Americans were killed in the respective incidents in Niger and Benghazi, the only parallel is the botched initial responses by both the Obama administration and Trump responses that only led people to ask more questions about what went down. It took Trump 12 days to respond to the deadly incident in Niger and he only did so after questioned by a reporter. In his response, Trump falsely claimed past presidents, including President Obama, didn't call the families of fallen soldiers. He then called the widow and mother of one of the soldiers, Sgt. La David Johnson, only to end up disrespecting the family on Tuesday night. The president allegedly said Johnson "knew what he signed up for" during the call. Trump denied it, but Cowanda Jones-Johnson, the fallen soldier's mother, told The Washington Post, Trump "did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband." Johnson was the soldier who was separated from the 12-man team during the ambush. The circumstances of Johnson's death and the fact he was missing for two days is perhaps the most curious aspect of the incident in Niger. Specific details on why he was left behind have not yet emerged, hence the questions that have followed Trump's controversial treatment of this deadly incident. The other three soldiers killed in the ambush have been identified as Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, 35; Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, 39; and Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright, 29. Why is the U.S. in Niger? Many Americans may not have known the U.S. was present in Niger until this incident, which is another parallel to Benghazi. The truth is the U.S. military has been involved in a broad effort to combat terrorism across Africa for years and Niger is just one of many countries the U.S. is currently present in. This started far before Trump the U.S. military has had a presence in Niger since 2013, when Obama was still president. The U.S. military is also active in Chad, Somalia, Libya and Cameroon, among other countries in Africa. In May, a U.S. Navy Seal was killed in a raid on an Al-Shabab compound in Somalia. This was the first combat death involving a U.S. soldier in Somalia since the well-known "Black Hawk Down" incident in 1993, which resulted in the deaths of 18 American service members. At the moment, there are roughly 800 U.S. troops in Niger, and the U.S. is in the process of building a major drone base in the city of Agadez, located in central Niger. The four U.S. soldiers killed on October 4 were training Nigerien forces in the broader counterterrorism effort. The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it was launching an investigation into the incident in Niger. But is this "Trump's Benghazi"? Only time and maybe a congressional investigation or 4,000 will tell. Related Articles Islamic State militants have lost almost their entire so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, but that doesnt mean the United States will be withdrawing thousands of troops sent to fight the terrorists. Despite conquering the Islamic States de facto capital of Raqqa and kicking it out of nearly all of Iraq, commanders are scarred by what happened after the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, which ultimately led the newly-trained Iraqi army to melt away in front of a few hundred militant fighters just three years later. That is pushing the Pentagon to keep troops in Iraq to train and support Iraqi forces to counter what U.S. commanders still see as a serious, if residual threat. That continued deployment like the recent decision to send several thousand more U.S. troops to Afghanistan runs counter to President Donald Trumps sharp criticism of American nation building and the open-ended deployment of combat troops overseas. The fight against Islamic State from the summer of 2014 provided the rationale for shipping U.S. troops to the area, including 5,000 on the ground in Iraq and about 500 special operations forces in Syria. But now that the terrorist threat has largely receded, the administration has yet to work out a diplomatic and strategic roadmap to guide continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Syria. This has been a tactical campaign masquerading as a strategy from the beginning, said Ben Connable, a retired Marine Corps intelligence officer. In Syria, the fall of Raqqa and the looming demise of Islamic State raises questions about the future of U.S. involvement, including whether to take on Iranian proxy groups rushing to fill the vacuum there. Theres absolutely a debate about it, one former military officer told FP. There really is no diplomatic way ahead yet. The military doesnt want to take on that role without a diplomatic plan. Pentagon officials say that despite steady advances from the counterterror coalition, a hardcore remnant of about 6,500 Islamic State fighters remain in eastern Syria and the border area with Iraq. U.S. commanders want to help local partners in Iraq and Syria hold the line against any Islamic State resurgence by continuing to offer advice, firepower and logistical support. Story continues Officials said the focus has already shifted to chasing Islamic State fighters to the east of Raqqa near the Iraqi border, where key leaders are believed to be hiding. Were planning for the next phase in the Middle Euphrates Valley, but theres no timeline for when that ends, one military officer, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told Foreign Policy. But deeper involvement there carries its own risks, said Connable, given the presence of Iranian and Russian troops, along with Syrian regime forces and their Hezbollah backers. As a result, the area between Raqqa and the Iraqi border is prone to become a no mans land with various groups including the Assad regime fighting it out for influence, said Connable, now a political scientist at the RAND Corp. think tank. Some do see a role for U.S. troops in other parts of Syria, though, since rebuilding in areas recaptured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Force has been slow, with a lack of funding from both the U.S. and international community. Many donors want guarantees that the U.S. will stay on the ground in Syria, and that they wont have to work through Damascus to provide humanitarian aid, said Nicholas Heras, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. In Iraq, commanders want to keep the U.S. training mission alive. Maj. Gen. Robert White, commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Syria, told Pentagon reporters earlier this month the United States planned to offer to the government of Iraq our services to continue to train and advise their security forces, to continue to build their capability and capacity in areas where its still lacking. In the meantime, U.S. forces could help provide enough security to allow stabilization in war-torn parts of Iraq. Military officers say they are working with the State Department and other government agencies on a reconstruction and stabilization effort to be implemented after further advances against Islamic State militants. As in Syria, reliable on-the-ground security is a prerequisite for aid groups to operate effectively. After this weeks showdown between the Iraqi central government and Iraqi Kurds in the disputed city of Kirkuk, theres another justification for continued U.S. military involvement, current and former officials said. It could help offer a counterweight to growing Iranian influence and help mediate rising tensions between Baghdad and Erbil. Irans backing of militia forces that helped Baghdad recapture the disputed city of Kirkuk from Kurdish peshmerga this week was seen as a victory for Tehrans efforts to play a bigger role in Iraq. Ultimately, despite plenty of battlefield successes against Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, military officials dont see any spike-the-ball moments on the horizon. Its not a traditional battle so its not like were done at any precise point, said one military officer. There is no clear line. Dear reader, we're asking for your help to keep local reporting available for all. Your financial support keeps stories like this one free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe Voice Media Group announced plans Wednesday to sell LA Weekly to a mysterious, newly formed company called Semanal Media, LLC. A spokesperson for Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a merger and acquisition firm representing Voice Media Group in the sale, told the L.A. Times that Semanal Media is "a new entity created for the purpose of this transaction." Sara April, the firm's spokesperson, declined to answer questions from the Times about who owns Semanal Media or where the company is based. April did not immediately return LAist's request for comment. The Los Angeles Business Journal refers to Semanal Media as being "downtown-based" in their coverage, citing "sources with knowledge of the deal." Members of the Weekly's local bargaining unit were informed of the news this afternoon, according to a press release from VMG. VMG chief executive officer Scott Tobias said he expects the deal to be finalized within two weeks. There is seemingly no information about Semanal Media, LLC online (the word "Semanal" means "weekly" in Spanish, fwiw) and there is no listing for the company in the California Secretary of State's LLC database. A Secretary of State spokesperson told LAist that the database is updated daily, and that LLC filings typically take four to five days to process. LA Weekly has been an essential part of the city's fabric since it was founded in 1978, but the future direction of the storied alternative paper has been uncertain since January, when VMG announced that they were looking for a buyer. VMG was formed in 2012 when a group of media execs bought out then-parent group Village Voice Media Holdings to acquire ownership of a group of publications that, at the time, also included The Village Voice, Seattle Weekly, and SF Weekly, among others. VMG sold off SF Weekly and Seattle Weekly the following year, and the Village Voice, their flagship title, was sold in 2015. LA Weekly has won more awards than any other paper in the country from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, and in 2007 they became the first newspaper to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for restaurant criticism, thanks to the work of Jonathan Gold. Dirks, Van Essen & Murray's Sara April told LAist back in January that the planned sale was part of VMG's longterm diversification plan. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea warned countries at the United Nations on Monday in a statement: don't join the United States in military action against the Asian state and you will be safe from retaliation. The caution was contained in a copy of North Korean Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim In Ryong's prepared remarks for a discussion on nuclear weapons by a U.N. General Assembly committee. However, Kim did not read that section out loud. "As long as one does not take part in the U.S. military actions against the DPRK (North Korea), we have no intention to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any other country," according to Kim's prepared remarks. "The entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range and if the U.S. dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe," the statement read. Tensions have soared between the United States and North Korea following a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The U.N. Security Council has unanimously ratcheted up sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs since 2006. North Korean Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim did tell the U.N. General Assembly committee on Monday: "Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the U.S. is thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiation table under any circumstance." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish) Chicago (AFP) - The city of Chicago revealed Tuesday that it fired two airport police officers in connection with the controversial removal of a passenger from a United Airlines plane earlier this year. Video of the April incident went viral online, showing airport officers dragging a bloodied David Dao off a full plane to make room for airline crew needing to be repositioned for future flights. Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who heads the midwestern US city's watchdog office, had been pursuing an internal probe of the officers' actions. Ferguson revealed that two of the four had been fired and the other two suspended, but did not specify when the disciplinary actions were taken nor reveal the officers' identities. "Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) employees mishandled a non-threatening situation that resulted in the physically violent forcible removal of a passenger," the inspector general's public report stated. The fired employees were the officer who initially pulled Dao from his seat on the flight to Louisville, Kentucky, and the supervisor who engaged in "the deliberate removal of facts from an employee report," the inspector general said. Two other officers, one who "made misleading statements in two reports" and another who "made material omissions in a report," were handed five-day suspensions. One of the suspended officers chose to resign. The other challenged his suspension, which was reduced to two days. Dao's lawyer Thomas Demetrio said his client was "neither vindictive nor happy about Mr Ferguson's findings." "There is a lesson to be learned here for police officers at all levels. Do not state something that is clearly contrary to video viewed by the world." - Forcible removal - The incident had stemmed from what would normally have been a fairly routine occurrence. In the event of an overfull flight, an airline may entice passengers with compensation to voluntarily give up seats, and, if there are not enough volunteers, may "bump" passengers. Story continues The process usually takes place at the gate before passengers board the plane. But on the Chicago-Louisville flight, passengers had already boarded when Dao was involuntarily bumped and refused to give up his seat. The airline crew called airport police, who forcibly pulled Dao from his seat, causing him to slam his face on an armrest, suffering a broken nose and losing two teeth. Viral video of the bloody encounter caused an international uproar and a firestorm of negative publicity for United. After initially mishandling the aftermath, the airline repeatedly apologized, settled with Dao for an undisclosed sum, and announced a series of operational changes. United was not the only airline to modify its practices, as the incident's aftermath reverberated throughout the industry. Both United and American Airlines ended the practice of asking passengers already seated on planes to give up their seats. Delta Airlines increased to $10,000 the top amount it would pay for volunteers to get off overbooked flights. United followed with a similar policy. Toyota unveiled the first Concept-i car at the CES technology show in January. It runs an artificial-intelligence system that communicates with the driver by stimulating the five senses. It reads moods and engages in two-way conversations, records them with GPS tags, and uploads everything to a data cloud, not unlike what Apple, Google, and Microsoft do with their voice assistants. This is supposedly so that the car can take control when a driver becomes stressed or ill, or perhaps so it can suggest new roads when a driver is eager for a change of scene. For the Tokyo auto show, the Concept-i teams up with two small support vehicles, the Ride and the Walk, both of which share a more altruistic purpose of helping the disabled and elderly stay mobile. The two-seat Concept-i Ride is a polished little pebble thats nearly two feet shorter than Toyotas iQ microcar. At 98.4 inches, its half a foot longer than the Nissan New Mobility Concept, a comically tiny thing in which we zipped around in Manhattan. An EV, the Ride has a projected range of 62 to 93 miles. Its biggest benefit is that hand controls replace the pedals and the steering wheel. The gullwing doors make entering the car easy, and the central front seat slides left or right, depending on which door is opened. Despite its name, the Ride is fully drivable. Automated parking, a self-parking valet feature, and the usual autonomous functions can take over driving tasks entirely, but only when the drivera keyword Toyota uses repeatedlychooses to do so. The Ride has loading space for a folded wheelchair, and theres a fold-out passenger seat on the left side. When the Ride is too large for the final portion of a journey, its time to break out the Toyota Concept-i Walk. Unlike the gyroscopic Segway, which requires riders to lean every which way, Toyota mixes a conventional trike layout with an extendable wheelbase. Standing still, the Walk needs only the walking space of an average adult to make a complete turn. At higher speeds, the Walk spaces its rear wheels further from the front wheel for a more stable ride, varying the overall length from 19.7 to 27.6 inches. The Walk is also designed to be actively driven, although after a warning it will automatically intervene to avoid sidewalk collisions. All three Concept-i vehicles use what Toyota calls AI Agent, an always-listening, all-knowing system that attempts to gauge human emotions. The outcome isnt just to amass big data, as Toyota explicitly states, but to enrich the enjoyment of moving and deliver fresh experiences. By 2020, Toyota will start testing some of these features in Japan. After that, it may only be a few more years until an autonomous Camry picks us up from the grocery store, knowing every item in our bags. More than a car, it will be our best friend. We hope. Palmer Luckey's new defense startup Anduril has aspirations well beyond a high-tech border wall. According to new information on the company's website and its hires, Anduril intends to apply its virtual reality pedigree to "real-time battlefield awareness for soldiers," among other defense-centric specialties. As California records show, the company was incorporated in June of this year and is based out of Irvine, the former headquarters of Oculus prior to its move to Facebook's home in Menlo Park. Following months of controversy, Luckey left the VR company he co-founded in March of this year. It's not yet clear what role Luckey will play at Anduril, but now we know more about the team. LinkedIn lists former Palantir engineer Matt Grimm, former Oculus producer and product lead Joseph Chen and Founders Fund partner and former Palantir engineer Trae Stephens as Anduril's co-founders. Former Oculus engineer Torin Herndon is also listed as an Anduril engineer, joining the company in September. Former Palantir director Brian W. Schimpf was listed as Anduril's chief executive officer in June. Anduril's advantages Stephens in particular is well-positioned to vie for juicy government contracts: after being tapped by Founders Fund managing partner Peter Thiel, he played a role in the Trump administration, overseeing the Department of Defense transition. According to Politico, Stephens apparently ruffled some feathers at the Pentagon with questions about changing the Defense Department's competitive procurement process through which it accepts bids and awards contracts. Beyond Stephens, all of that Palantir talent makes perfect sense. Palantir is a natural model for Anduril's defense aspirations. Potentially worth north of $20 billion, the often secretive company owns a huge array of data and surveillance-focused government contracts with everyone from the three-letter agencies to the NYPD. Story continues Anduril's vision In August, Anduril only had a placeholder website with an info email address listed for inquiries. At the time, Anduril, Luckey and the Founders Fund did not respond to TechCrunch's requests for comment on the company's defense plans and work advising lawmakers on high-tech border wall proposals. Now, the site is fleshed out significantly, with a logo and something resembling a mission statement, if not a raison d'etre. Declaring that defense innovation has lagged since the Cold War, Anduril reveals some of its specific aims: Anduril is privately funding and building products that America and her allies desperately need: real-time battlefield awareness for soldiers on the ground and headquarters alike, technology that keeps our men and women on the front line out of harms way, and a host of other technologies that will ensure we are staying ahead of our adversaries. Anduril's assertion that it is a "product-focused" company combined with the fledgling team's collective experience, split between VR and Palantir's more data and surveillance-oriented products, a picture of what Luckey's new project is really up to emerges. Playing up that remaining interest in AR and VR, an illustration depicts an individual wearing a headset not unlike Oculus's own offerings. As one source who has spoken with the company's founders told TechCrunch, Luckey's vision seems focused on applying augmented reality to defense. Given the sophistication of even the mass-produced consumer-grade virtual reality headsets that Luckey pioneered, it's easy to imagine how affordable AR and VR could be standard issue in a near-future for the U.S. military. Anduril's other areas of focus include computer vision, sensor fusion, distributed computing infrastructure, optics and camera systems, LIDAR and RADAR systems, robotics, automation and aeronautical design, according to a job posting that TechCrunch reported in July. For soldiers in combat, AR could offer vital real-time information or "battlefield awareness" with the kind of heads-up displays that are ubiquitous in military video games to show ammunition, weapon selection and target information. Off the battlefield, affordable, readily available virtual reality devices could allow for everything from lifelike mission simulation to drone targeting. Some of this is well underway, of course. Just this summer, U.S. Navy gunnery sailors tested augmented reality headsets for battle purposes. "The headset is wirelessly connected to a tablet, which the officer uses to direct the gunners attention toward targets, and to start or stop firing," Defense One reported. "Cues and other information infrared imagery, distances to targets appear in a heads-up display projected on the visor." The Office of Naval Research has been digging into consumer VR since 2015 in its Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality (BEMR) lab, depicted above in the header image, and similar projects are in development in other wings of the U.S. military. Near and far future aims The difference between Anduril and existing military projects is that the company is guided by the man who made it his singular mission to bring virtual reality devices to the mainstream, making them both affordable and consumer-friendly. It's hard not to think of Luckey's Oculus efforts when Anduril's site asserts that the company "funds and builds our own technology" and criticizes the "slow and expensive development of bespoke technology" that slows down defense innovation. Brain-computer interfaces could be another big opportunity for Anduril and other private tech defense contractors. Earlier this year in an interview with MoguraVR Luckey shared his own thoughts about devices that could provide a direct link between the human brain and the devices we control: Competition is about to start with this technology. A lot of people will compete to make a BCI [Brain-Computer Interface] that will allow people to move virtual objects with just your brain. BCI devices that currently are available to consumers are not in a usable state. The BCI devices in laboratories are very different. If someone could make a general BCI device they could sell the world would change. When asked about his current projects, Luckey added: "I cant say anything at the moment. The only thing I can say is that I am trying to once more change VR." Update: Luckey reached out to TechCrunch to clarify that his interview with MoguraVR was translated from English to Japanese and back to English, losing parts of his original wording in the process. He noted that the quotes were "close to correct" but not exact. Canadian relatives say Joshua Boyle, freed with his family after five years, suffered torture in captivity and requires intensive medical care Joshua Boyle and his wife Caitlan Coleman were abducted in Afghanistan on a backpacking trip. Their three children were born in captivity. Photograph: AP The family of the Canadian man freed with his wife and three children five years after they were kidnapped in Afghanistan have implored media to consider the trauma suffered by the family, noting that Joshua Boyle the only member of the family to speak in public since their rescue has yet to receive medical or psychological clearance. On Wednesday, the family of the 34-year-old said it was a blessing to have them at home and safe. But they said that the familys ordeal was far from over as the years of captivity had taken a great toll on each of them. We as family see that toll more than anyone, they said in a statement. They are deeply traumatized and Joshua is not of clear thought as he speaks at times. Their statement laid bare the tensions that have played out since Boyle, his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, and their children landed in Canada. The family have been the subject of intense media interest and speculation while still reeling from the physical and emotional impacts of their ordeal; on Tuesday, Boyle said that Coleman had been rushed to hospital the previous day. My wife has been through hell and she has to be my first priority right now, he wrote in an email to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, their extended families have been scrambling to locate resources that can help the family move past their time in captivity and begin to recover a search complicated by the extraordinarily rare nature of the familys ordeal. Boyle, Coleman, and their children all of whom were born in captivity were rescued last week after being abducted by Taliban-linked militants in 2012 while traveling through a mountainous region of Afghanistan. After the family landed in Canada late on Friday night, Boyle briefly spoke to reporters, hinting at the horrors the family had suffered at the hands of the Haqqani network, a group deemed a terrorist organisation by the US. Story continues The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani networks kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorising the murder of my infant daughter, Boyle told reporters, his voice cracking. And the stupidity and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife, not as a lone action, by one guard, but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the commandant. They had travelled to Afghanistan to help the most neglected minority group in the world, said Boyle. Those ordinary villagers who live deep inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help. Following their rescue, his father-in-law expressed frustration with Boyle for taking his daughter to Afghanistan while she was pregnant. Many seized on the remarks, along with the fact that Boyle was once married to the sister of Omar Khadr, the Canadian held for 10 years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured as a teenager at an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan, to speculate that the couple had had other motivations for the trip. Boyle, a former call center worker, dismissed the reports. Im a harmless hippie and I do not kill even mice, he told the Toronto Star. Ive been vegetarian for 17 years. Anybody who knows me would laugh at the notion that I went with designs on becoming a combatant. Joshua Boyle walks through the airport after arriving with his wife and three children in Toronto. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters After the family landed in Canada, media outlets from around the world followed the family to Smiths Falls, the small town near Ottawa where Boyles parents live, hoping for an interview. Some peered into the familys backyard to snap photos of the children as they savoured their first taste of freedom, while Boyle gave tours to others, detailing his childrens adjustment to freedom and describing the conditions that his family had been subjected to while captive. Boyle also responded reporters over email, explaining why he and Coleman had decided to push ahead with having children while in captivity and sounding the alarm after Coleman was rushed to the hospital on Monday. On Wednesday, Boyles family beseeched media to consider the context surrounding his comments. We beg of the media to be ethically aware that statements made are coming from someone who has been tortured, given no ability of free thinking for five years and desperately requires intensive medical care, both physically and emotionally. They worried that the string of interviews was not in his or his familys best interests. We call upon your ethics to recognize that every word can cause potential harm to Josh and his family, whether he understands that or not right now. By Neil Jerome Morales MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - The Philippine military said on Thursday there was a "big possibility" that a top Malaysian militant tipped to become Islamic State's point man in Southeast Asia has been killed in a battle overnight. Twenty rebels among the remaining Islamic State loyalists holed up in the devastated heart of Marawi City were killed in the latest fighting, likely including Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad, said Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of a military task force. "There is a big possibility that Dr Mahmud is among them," Brawner told reporters. "But we will only be definite once we have a match of probably DNA samples, maybe of the dental records." If confirmed, Mahmud's death would be a blow to any effort by Islamic State, which is on the back foot in Syria and Iraq, to establish a presence in Mindanao, an island with a history of rebellion and home to the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's Muslim minority. The Marawi siege has been the Philippines' biggest security crisis in years, but some experts see it as a prelude to a more ambitious bid by militants to exploit Mindanao's poverty and use its jungles and mountains as a base to train, recruit and launch attacks in the region. The armed forces in a statement said 13 militants were killed overnight and seven on Monday morning. Two hostages were rescued and information they provided meant the authorities were "increasingly becoming confident" that Mahmud was dead. PIVOTAL ROLE The 39-year-old former university lecturer is believed to have been pivotal in raising and channeling funds for the alliance and its foreign fighters during an occupation that has lasted 150 days, killing more than 1,000 people, mostly rebels. Central Marawi has been flattened by government air strikes. Some experts say Mahmud could become Islamic State's Southeast Asian "emir" after the death on Monday of Isnilon Hapilon, the head of the alliance that seeks to carve out an Islamic State "Wilaya" in the southern Philippines. Philippine soldiers on Monday killed Hapilon, a target of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also killed Omarkhayam Maute, one of two brothers at the helm of the Maute militant clan. Mahmud was seen in a video alongside Hapilon and the Maute brothers plotting the Marawi siege. Security experts say he studied in Pakistan and learned to make bombs in an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. He left Malaysia in 2014. Brawner said the military was relentless in finishing off the rebels, but was unsure how many were left. Estimates on Monday were 20 to 40 fighters. "The resistance is still there. In fact, we can hear from the background, the battle is ongoing," he said. Security analyst Rommel Banlaoi said the end of Mahmud would not mean the end of the extremists' presence in Mindanao. "There are still high-value terrorist personalities who are still at large in Mindanao, not to mention other foreign fighters coming from Indonesia and elsewhere in the Arab world," he said on television. "They are very, very elusive and because they mixed with the communities and at the same time, they hang out with the armed groups that have the mastery of the terrain in Mindanao. It's very difficult for them to be caught by the military." (Additional reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Writing by Martin Petty) ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Four Moldovan citizens were killed and two others were injured when a cargo plane chartered by the French military crashed into the sea near the airport in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, on Saturday, Ivorian and French officials said. Four French citizens survived the crash but were injured, Ivory Coast's Security Minister Sidiki Diakite told reporters at the scene. Several Ivorian security sources said French soldiers were among the wounded. "What we can say for the time being is that this morning around 8:30 (0830 GMT), an Antonov plane crashed...with 10 on board including the crew members," he said. The crash occurred during a storm with heavy rain and lightning and rescuers were hampered by rough seas. Though Abidjan's airport is located in a heavily populated area, it did not appear that anyone was hurt on the ground. The French military operates a logistics base next to the airport in support of its Barkhane operation, combatting Islamist militants in West Africa's Sahel region. "This was a plane chartered by the French army in the framework of the Barkhane force in order to carry out logistical missions," French army spokesman Colonel Patrick Steiger said. It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash, he said, adding that the four injured French citizens were being treated at the French military base adjacent to the airport. France's ambassador to Ivory Coast along with French gendarmes and soldiers quickly arrived at the crash site. Hundreds of residents of the heavily populated neighbourhood of Port Bouet, which surrounds the airport, crowded around the crash site. Some of them assisted firefighters and rescue divers who freed the bodies of the dead from the wreckage, which had broken into several large pieces. French soldiers and Ivorian security forces later sealed off the area and French and Ivorian military vessels patrolled waters surrounding the crash site. The name of the company operating the aircraft was not immediately known. (Reporting by Ange Aboa; Additoinal reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Clotaire Achi in Paris; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Ros Russell) Prague (AFP) - The Czech populist movement, ANO, led by a billionaire dubbed as the "Czech Trump", is the clear favourite in a general election on Friday and Saturday where the traditional parties are set to take a thrashing. The Czech Republic, which joined the EU in 2004 and has a population of 10.6 million, goes to the polls on October 20 and 21. And Andrej Babis' ANO movement looks positioned to emerge the clear winner. In a recent poll by the Czech Academy of Sciences, the ANO scored 30.9 percent, more than the two traditional heavyweights in Czech politics -- the Social Democrat CSSD and the right-wing ODS -- combined, who scored just 13.1 percent and 9.1 percent respectively. The ANO already held key posts in the current centre-left administration under Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka, including that of finance minister, occupied by Babis himself between January 2014 and May this year. Dubbed by the media as either the "Czech Trump" or the "Czech Berlusconi", the 63-year-old, Slovak-born tycoon -- who ran the sprawling Agrofert conglomerate and was ranked by Forbes as the Czech Republic's second wealthiest citizen -- was riding high on "strong voter aversion to political parties tarnished by corruption scandals," Charles University analyst, Josef Mlejnek, told AFP. "He offers the voters a populist alternative by presenting himself as someone capable of managing the state because he has already successfully managed his conglomerate," Mlejnek said. French political analyst Jacques Rupnik drew parallels to the rise of Donald Trump in the United States. "Entrepreneurial populism is a problem ... we already have an entrepreneur in the White House," he said during a recent debate in Prague. Babis has called for the EU to shut its borders to stop immigration and is opposed to the adoption of the euro -- sweet music to voters' ears in a country where euroscepticism is still strong. Story continues - Fraud charges - So far, Babis' popularity has remained unscathed by various scandals, including recent fraud charges over EU subsidies received by one of his companies. Nevertheless, that affair "might turn out dangerous for him during post-election negotiations," said Mlejnek. "ANO may win the election and end up in a government without Babis," the analyst said. A newcomer to the Czech political scene, ANO finished second in the 2013 election with 18.65 percent, tailing the Social Democrats with 20.45 percent. Anti-system parties vying for seats in the 200-member parliament this time round include the Communists, who scored 11.1 percent in the Academy poll. The Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) of Tokyo-born entrepreneur Tomio Okamura, betting on strong anti-migrant rhetoric and plans to leave the EU, mustered 7.3-percent support. - Dreadlocks - "Even inside the basically pro-European parties like the Social Democrats, there are regional politicians who share some of Okamura's thoughts about immigration," said Mlejnek. "There are almost no migrants here, the country is doing well economically, and still the people are disillusioned or even angry," he said. Heavily dependent on car production and exports to the eurozone, the Czech economy has fared well in recent years. Unemployment stood at just 3.8 percent in September and economic growth is expected to pick up to 3.1 percent this year after 2.6 percent in 2016, according to the finance ministry. Another anti-system party, the Pirates led by dreadlocked IT expert Ivan Bartos, scored 6.4 percent in the poll, beating the Christian Democrats with 6.2 percent. Three months after the general election, Czechs will choose their new president in the second-ever direct presidential election. Outspoken leftwinger Milos Zeman, a 73-year-old pro-Russian, pro-Chinese, anti-immigration Babis supporter, will compete for his second five-year term in that vote. (WASHINGTON) Rep. Tom Marino, President Donald Trumps nominee to be the nations drug czar, is withdrawing from consideration following reports he played a key role in weakening the federal governments authority to stop companies from distributing opioids. Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday that the Republican Pennsylvania congressman has informed me that he is withdrawing his name. He praised Marino as a fine man and a great congressman. Trump had raised the possibility Monday of withdrawing Marinos nomination after reports by The Washington Post and CBS 60 Minutes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said confirming Marino as the nations drug czar would be like putting the wolf in charge of the henhouse. The American people deserve someone totally committed to fighting the opioid crisis, not someone who has labored on behalf of the drug industry, Schumer said. Sen. Joe Manchin, whose home state of West Virginia has been among the hardest-hit by the opioid epidemic, said he was horrified at the accounts of the 2016 law and Marinos role in it. The Post reported Sunday that Marino and other members of Congress, along with the nations major drug distributors, prevailed upon the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department to agree to an industry-friendly law that undermined efforts to restrict the flow of pain pills that have led to tens of thousands of deaths. President Barack Obama signed the law in April 2016. The industry worked behind the scenes with lobbyists and key members of Congress, including Marino, pouring more than a million dollars into their election campaigns, the newspaper reported. Monkeys move about on Cayo Santiago Monkeys move about on Cayo Santiago, known as Monkey Island, in Puerto Rico on Oct. 4, 2017. One of the first places Hurricane Maria hit in the U.S. territory Sept. 20 was Monkey Island, a 40-acre outcropping off the east coast that is one of the worldas most important sites for research into how primates think, socialize and evolve. (Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP) As Hurricane Maria barreled across the Caribbean one month ago, one of the first places to get caught in the eye of the storm was Cayo Santiago, a small island off Puerto Ricos southeastern coast that is populated only by monkeys. These arent just any monkeys, however. The 1,000 free-ranging rhesus macaques that make their homes on Cayo Santiago also known as Monkey Island inhabit the worlds oldest wild primate research center. Since 1938, when their ancestors were shipped there from Asia, scientists from around the globe have flocked to this tiny island in the Caribbean to study primate behavior, physiology and psychology. Researchers at Cayo Santiago recorded the sounds made by female macaques and concluded they employed baby talk with infants, behavior that was thought to be exclusively human. Others observed females over long periods to detect subtle changes in skin color correlated with sexual receptivity. Now an international group of researchers are joining forces to save Monkey Island, and its human caretakers, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, whose 150 mile-per-hour winds whipped across Cayo Santiago and the nearby community of Punta Santiago, home to many of the Caribbean Primate Research Centers employees and researchers. Though all the monkeys have been accounted for, the hurricane ravaged much of their home territory, as well as that of their human neighbors. Many adjectives have been used by colleagues to describe the situation there, including catastrophic, total destruction, devastating and apocalyptic, said Amanda Accamando, who worked at the CPRC from 2004 to 2007. Along with Lauren Brent, a lecturer with the University of Exeter who has conducted research on Cayo Santiago for more than 10 years, Accamando has helped raise almost $29,000 for CPRC employees and their families. Accamando told Yahoo News that she and Brent have been in direct contact with Angelina Ruiz-Lambides, the associate director of Cayo Santiago, to identify employees most pressing needs and how to best direct their donations. The town of Punta Santiago suffered severe destruction as a result of the hurricane. Located approximately 40 miles from San Juan, it is one of the many communities that became almost unreachable in the wake of the storm. Story continues The homes of at least two CPRC employees have been destroyed or deemed unlivable, while three others have experienced extensive flood damage and some roof damage, according to an update posted to Accamando and Brents GoFundMe page Wednesday morning. Amid their own devastation, however, Cayo Santiago staff members still managed to get to Monkey Island to check on the primates and, with the help of colleagues from NYU Primatology, were able to survey the damage to the island from a helicopter. They are still assessing the damage to CPRC, but we expect that the damage will be severe if not total, Accamando told Yahoo News. The research facilities on Cayo Santiago are destroyed. Laurie Santos, a Yale psychologist who has been studying primate psychology on Cayo Santiago since the 1990s, added that while it is amazingly good news that all of the islands precious primates survived the storm, the bad news is that all of the infrastructure on the island was completely destroyed, as well as much of the vegetation. Now that the storm has passed, Accamando explained, the biggest concern for the animals on the island is similar to that of the people of Puerto Rico reliable sources of food and fresh water. Beyond addressing the immediate and pressing needs of Cayo Santiagos human neighbors, the main focus for the Primate Center and similar facilities around the globe will be to rebuild the islands natural water collection systems and food resources to keep the monkeys alive. This fragile population somehow weathered this awful storm, but we need to act quickly to save them and the important scientific possibilities they represent, said Michael Platt, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania whose research on autism has been conducted in part among the primates of Cayo Santiago. Unless we immediately rebuild the infrastructure on the island as well as the lives of the people that support it, this important resource may disappear. (Caitlin Dickson/Yahoo News) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr. Legendary rapper Redman is named the Master of Scare-a-Monies for 10 of the biggest reality stars as they try to endure gruesome challenges and terrifying scares that pay homage to recent horror hits in the new VH1 series, "Scared Famous." Over 2 weeks, these celebrities move into an eerie estate in Savannah, Georgia, one of Americas most haunted cities, and test their limits for a chance to donate $100,000 to his or her favorite charity. They must rely on alliances, strategy and friendships, but supernatural forces beyond their control may be their true undoing. REUTERS - British billionaire Richard Branson on Thursday placed another bet on the future with an investment in Hyperloop One, which is developing super high-speed transportation systems. Hyperloop One said Branson's Virgin Group would take the company global and rebrand itself as Virgin Hyperloop One in the near future. Branson has joined the board of Hyperloop One, which will develop pods that will transport passenger and mixed-use cargo at speeds of 250 miles per hour (402 km per hour). The pod lifts above a track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to low aerodynamic drag. The company did not disclose the size of the investment. Hyperloop One was originally conceptualised by Elon Musk. In July, Musk said he had received verbal approval to start building the systems that would link New York and Washington, cutting travel time to about half an hour. Last month, Hyperloop One raised $85 million in new funding, bringing the total financing raised to $245 million since it was founded in 2014. Hyperloop One's co-founders, executive chairman Shervin Pishevar and president of engineering Josh Giegel, have previously worked at Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is Branson's space company, which in 2016, was granted an operating license to fly its passenger rocketship with the world's first paying space tourists once final safety tests are completed. "Virgin Hyperloop One will be all-electric and the team is working on ensuing it is a responsible and sustainable form of transport," Virgin Group said in a statement. (http://bit.ly/2xB8TcQ) Hyperloop One is also working on projects in the Middle East, Europe, India and Canada, according to the statement. (Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) White nationalist Richard Spencer speaks to select media in his office space: Tasos Katopodis The University of Florida (UF) was on high alert on Thursday, as white supremacist Richard Spencer prepared to take the stage for a speech on campus. Approximately 700 tickets were available for the event, but hundreds more were expected to protest outside. Scores of police also arrived on campus. Classes were cancelled and roads were closed in areas near the event. The Florida Governor declared a state of emergency. Why did one mans speech generate such an outcry? Heres what you need to know. Who is Richard Spencer? White supremacist Richard Spencer talks with reporters during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Mr Spencer is a white supremacist and self-proclaimed white nationalist who runs the National Policy Institute. His think tank aims to to elevate the consciousness of whites, ensure our biological and cultural continuity, and protect our civil rights, according to its mission statement. Mr Spencer claims to have invented the term alt-right, which is now used to describe a group of loosely organised, far-right believers who reject traditional conservatism in favour of more white supremacist, anti-Semitic beliefs. Mr Spencer was also scheduled to speak at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville a white supremacist rally that erupted into violence and left dozens injured and one dead. Why has his appearance in Florida caused controversy? A group of students shows off their signs. The crowd is steadily growing here. Passing out water, offering hugs. #spenceratUF pic.twitter.com/pe6gbkd6jq Kathryn Varn (@kathrynvarn) October 19, 2017 The University of Florida originally rejected Mr Spencers application to speak, citing safety concerns. In a statement, UF President Kent Fuchs called Mr Spencer's rhetoric racist, repugnant, and counter to everything the university and this nation stands for. Story continues But the university later backed down, after the National Policy Institute threatened to file a free speech lawsuit. The President signalled his disappointment with the decision in an email to students and faculty. Students have since taken up the banner of protest, with more than 3,500 signing on to a petition calling the decision abhorrent and unacceptable. This event is an opportunity for the alt-right, neo-Nazis, and active Ku Klux Klan in Florida to rally on campus and intimidate students as well as Gainesville residents, the petition read. This decision is not just about free speech; it is about student safety. How are people reacting to it? Aside from signing petitions, students have also organised physical protests at UF for the day of the speech. More than 3,000 have RSVPed on Facebook to a protest called, No Nazis at UF - Protest Richard Spencer. Participants plan to march to the Phillips Centre, where Mr Spencer will be speaking at 2:30 pm. The organisers say they want a peaceful protest, to show solidarity as a community in the face of those that wish to incite fear and violence against the most marginalized amongst us. Florida Governor Rick Scott has also declared a state of emergency in the surrounding Alachua County. The declaration places the Florida National Guard on standby and allows the Alachua County Sheriff to call on specialised security forces from across the state. The goal, officials say, is to prevent another Charlottesville. What happened in Charlottesville? Hundreds of neo-Nazis, KKK members, and other white supremacists descended on Charlottesville on the weekend of August 11 for the Unite the Right rally. Many marched on the University of Virginia, carrying tiki torches and chanting slogans like, Jews will not replace us. The rally ultimately devolved into violence between attendees and counter-protesters. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency, and Virginia National Guard troops were sent in. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes, and one counter-protester was killed. What has Mr Spencer said in the past? Mr Spencer has been unapologetic about his view that white people should have their own nation, separate from people of colour. He once told a Vice reporter that he dreamed of a new society, an ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans. It would be a new society based on very different ideals than, say, the Declaration of Independence, he added. Mr Spencer has also called Martin Luther King Jr a fraud and a degenerate, and called the word racist a slur. In a speech at Texas A&M University, he claimed that America does belong to white people, culturally, politically, socially, everything. We defined what America is, he said. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rights groups on Wednesday urged the European Union and Japan to consider halting their funding for the election panel in Cambodia, if the ruling party succeeds in a bid to dissolve the main opposition party ahead of next year's general election. The ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP) has launched a crackdown on its critics, including politicians, independent media and non-government bodies. Nearly half the opposition members of parliament have fled abroad since September. In a session boycotted by the opposition, Cambodia's parliament voted on Monday to change party laws to re-distribute seats if a party is dissolved. The measure came after the government filed a lawsuit this month seeking to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). "If the government's position to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party succeeds, next year's election will be a joke," Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at New York-based group Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. "At that point, both the EU and Japan should face reality and terminate their financial and technical assistance to avoid lending credibility to what will be a charade of democracy," he added, speaking after a news conference in Bangkok. Japan and the EU are the two biggest foreign funders of the 2018 vote. China and the United States have also contributed, with the United States providing trucks and technical support, while Japan has given computers. Japan's embassy in Phnom Penh did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the matter. George Edgar, head of the EU delegation to Cambodia, said the EU remains "ready to support a credible electoral process" but added that the polls should only go ahead with the opposition's involvement. He urged Cambodian authorities not to go ahead with the dissolution of the opposition party. "The EU remains ready to support a credible electoral process up to the National Assembly election in 2018. However we do not believe that a process from which the main opposition party was arbitrarily excluded could be seen as legitimate," Edgar told Reuters. Cambodia's election commission was not immediately available for comment. The CPP has used "dirty tricks" to jail opposition leaders and force others into exile, Robertson added. CNRP leader Kem Sokha was arrested on Sept. 3 and charged with treason after the government said he had conspired with foreign advisers to topple it. Cambodia is relying on a partisan judiciary to silence critics and "dismantle democracy", the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a report on Wednesday. "Old laws are being dusted off and new laws are being created," Kingsley Abbot, the group's southeast Asia adviser, told reporters. "And all of these have led to a list of seemingly politicized investigations." In recent months, the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years, has revoked the licenses of about 15 independent radio stations. The Cambodia Daily, an English-language newspaper, was also forced to shut in September following government allegations of non-payment of millions of dollars in taxes. Hun Sen has the backing of Beijing, which says it supports Cambodia's right to maintain its national security. (Additional reporting by Prak Chan Thul in PHNOM PENH; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Robyn Gardner has been missing in Aruba since August 2011. (Photo: Facebook) Scientists soon will be able to compare DNA extracted from a human bone, found during an investigation into the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, to missing Maryland native Robyn Gardner. I am going to submit my DNA in the next few days to see if there is a match, Gardners sister, Danielle Colson-Unglesbee, told HuffPost. The human bone was found during the filming of a TV series on the Oxygen network called The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway. The show followed the missing teens father and private investigator T.J. Ward while they chased leads in Aruba. Earlier this month, DNA testing ruled out the bone being Holloways. It is a single individual [to] whom we believe there is a Caucasian European ethnicity attached, Jason Kolowski, a former forensic laboratory director of the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences, told HuffPost. Gardner is one of at least four Americans who have gone missing on the Caribbean island in recent years. People have long drawn comparisons between the cases of Gardner and Holloway. The American tourists both vanished from the same small town in Aruba. Holloway, 18, from Mountain Brook, Alabama, disappeared on May 30, 2005, while celebrating her high school graduation with classmates in Aruba. She was last seen leaving an Oranjestad nightclub with 17-year-old Dutch honors student Joran van der Sloot. Police have repeatedly questioned him about Holloways disappearance. Gardner, of Bethesda, Maryland, was last seen on Aug. 2, 2011, at an Oranjestad resort and casino. The 35-year-old had been traveling with Gary Giordano, then 50, who shed reportedly met through an online dating website. Giordano, a Maryland businessman, told police they were snorkeling in the typically tranquil waters off Baby Beach when Gardner was swept away by strong currents. A photo of Gary Giordano that was released by the Aruban authorities on Aug. 11, 2011. (Photo: Aruba Police) Neither womans body has been found and no arrests have been made in connection with their disappearances. Van der Sloot, who was named a suspect in the Holloway case, is behind bars in Peru, where he is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the 2010 murder of 21-year-old Peruvian business student Stephany Flores Ramirez. Story continues Giordano, who has always maintained his innocence, was initially held in Aruba on suspicion of involvement in Gardners presumed death. He was later released due to a lack of evidence. The bone found during the filming of The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway was discovered by Gabriel Madrigal, an informant, and John Ludwick, a friend of van der Sloot, according to the TV series. The TV show offered a theory that John Ludwick, left, helped suspect Joran van der Sloot hide the remains of the Alabama teenager. (Photo: Facebook) In the Oxygen series, Ludwick said he helped dig up and dispose of Holloways remains years after her death. It was Ludwick and Madrigal who provided four bone fragments to authorities. Of them, only one was human. The other three were found to be animal bones. Its unclear where the bones originated. During the TV series, Madrigal said Ludwick told him several stories, including one that indicated the remains had been buried in an Aruban pet cemetery. When Holloway was ruled out as a match, Internet sleuths were quick to point out similarities between the pet cemetery story and a report about Gardners death. That report surfaced in an October 2011 article by The National Enquirer, which claimed authorities received an anonymous but credible phone tip that she was buried in a dogs grave. While the similarities in the two stories are undeniable, its just as likely that Ludwick was aware of The National Enquirer story. In the event the bone does belong to Gardner, authorities will be very interested in speaking with Ludwick and Madrigal, according to Ward. If those remains come back and [are] linked to Robyn Gardner and they were in their hands I guarantee the FBI will snatch em up, Ward told HuffPost last week. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Contacted by HuffPost on Thursday, Madrigal said hes not concerned with Ward or the FBI. There is a catch to all this, he said. Nobody knows this because theyre all too fucking stupid to listen. Yes, [Ward] is a private investigator, but he dont know his ass from his face. Does he know where the bones came from? No. Did he bother to ask? No. If he had a fucking clue he would know all this shit. Madrigal now claims Ludwick told him the bones came from a particular spot in van der Sloots yard, before a cement slab was poured in that area sometime in 2005. Madrigal said hes already provided that and other information to the FBI. The FBI knows everything I do every move, Madrigal said. The only thing the FBI has said is, Gabriel, youre fucking crazy. But I believe Im going to find her. [Ludwick] gave me a lot of hints. He gave me 12 clues. I put the clues together and I know. Im going to do this. I wont quit. While the TV series appears to have created more drama than it did actual evidence as to Holloways whereabouts, Gardners sister is hoping it will ultimately lead to answers in her sisters case. I have hope that this may be Robyns remains and that my family can find closure, Colson-Unglesbee told HuffPost. I think about Robyn every day and will continue to think about my memories of her for the rest of my life. Tips? Feedback? Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Twitter. Related... Natalee Holloway's Dad Having Human Remains Tested For DNA Whose Bone Was Found During The Aruba Search For Natalee Holloway? Sex Offender Claims Responsibility For Natalee Holloway TV Series Also on HuffPost Robyn Gardner The prosecutors office in Aruba says Gardner went missing in the Caribbean island after she went snorkeling with travel partner Gary Giordano in 2011 Robyn Gardner This undated handout photo released by the Natalee Holloway Resource Center on Tuesday Aug 9 2011 shows Robyn Gardner 35 of Frederick Maryland Robyn Gardner Robyn Gardner is missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner Robyn Gardner is missing in Aruba Gary Giordano A photo of Gary Giordano that was released by the Aruban authorities on Aug 11 2011 Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner Robyn Gardner is missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner Robyn Colson-Gardner is missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner Robyn Colson-Gardner is missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba Robyn Gardner A photo of Robyn Gardner missing in Aruba This article originally appeared on HuffPost. By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will work with the U.S. Congress to approve grants and loans to help rebuild Puerto Rico after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria a month ago. Already mired in debt after years of recession, the U.S. territory faces storm-related damages that some estimates have pegged as high as $95 billion, and has asked the federal government to make exceptions to rules that typically require states and local governments to shoulder part of the cost of recovery. Trump did not give any specifics about how much money the government may give or loan to the cash-strapped territory, home to 3.4 million U.S. citizens. "I have given my blessing to Congress, and Congress is working with you and your representatives on coming up with a plan and a payment plan and how it's all going to be funded. Because you are talking about some substantial numbers," Trump said to Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello at the beginning of an Oval Office meeting. Trump and some of his top aides suggested last week that there would be limits to how much help Puerto Rico could expect from Washington. But on Thursday, the president's remarks were broadly supportive. The hurricane laid waste to the island's power grid, destroying homes, roads and other vital infrastructure. The bankrupt territory is still struggling to provide basic services like running water. An oversight board charged with resolving Puerto Rico's debt crisis has said the island's government would run out of money by the end of the month without help. Trump emphasized that repayment of federal loans and other storm-related debt owed by Puerto Rico would come before repayment of the island's existing $72 billion in debt. "Any money that's put in by people - whether it's public or private - they're going to want to come in first position," Trump said. "We're going to coming before - far before - any existing debt that's on the island," he said. Trump declined to opine on whether the process would be easier if Puerto Rico were a state rather than a territory - a hot-button political issue on the island. "You'll get me into trouble with that question," he told a reporter. SENATE TO VOTE While in Washington, Rossello also met with Senate leaders. The Senate is expected to vote in coming days on an aid package that includes $18.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been helping Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands recover from three massive hurricanes. Some senators would like to see more funds added to that package, Senator John Thune, a member of the Republican leadership, told reporters. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida who has been deeply involved in discussions over the aid, said earlier on Thursday that he wants to tweak the bill so the island could more quickly access funds. Congress is expected to consider another aid package by the end of December, but that could be too late for the island, which currently has no tax revenue, Rubio said. "I know from experience the further away we get from these hurricanes, the less of a sense of urgency there is," Rubio said. Rossello has asked the federal government for approval to use disaster aid to cover a broad range of costs. He has also asked the White House and Congress for at least $4.6 billion in block grants and other types of funding. "The reality is that we still need to do a lot more for the people of Puerto Rico and that's why we're meeting," Rossello said. "This is not over, not over by a long shot." (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Dan Grebler and Rosalba O'Brien) Artist Maya Caulfield is half Scottish and half Japanese. (Photo: Reddit/Imgur/Mayalcaulfield) What would have happened if Jamie Frasier and his fellow 18th century Scots of Outlander had happened upon a 21st century woman in a tartan kimono wandering the Highlands? Thats just one of the fantasies that comes to mind upon seeing the photos artist Maya Caulfield posted to Reddit and Instagram over the weekend. In the dreamy pics, shes modeling a kimono she sewed by hand, and her work has earned her thousands of instant admirers. I am half Scottish and half Japanese I hand-sewed this kimono from mens dress shirts and boxer shorts, 18-year-old Caulfield wrote in her post, which has 135,000 upvotes and more than 3,000 comments so far. badlands. A post shared by maya lola caulfield (@honey.lemonade) on Oct 15, 2017 at 9:28am PDT I was inspired to make this garment after visiting an exhibit at the Denver Art Museum called Shock Wave, which featured garments by designers like Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe, Caulfield tells Yahoo Style via email. I thought the way they incorporated traditional Japanese fashion into modern designs was inspiring, and I wanted to try it for myself with a twist on my own cultural ancestry. Though her usual medium is painting, Caulfield said, she has sewn her own clothing before, so she gave textile art a shot. She admits that maybe it was a little gross to work with used mens boxers, but she assured us, Dont worry; I washed them thoroughly before cutting them up. The resulting piece is so comfortable, she says, she might transition it from artwork to an outfit she wears around the house. Caulfield did not expect the response she received on Reddit. One of my friends who lives in Japan said that he saw his friends there looking at my picture and was so confused as to how they knew me, she said, adding that the reactions have been gratifying. As the proud dad of two beautiful half-Scottish, half-Japanese daughters, Ill be sharing this photo with them, wrote jubal2000. We often struggle to find good examples of culture crossover, this is easily the best Ive seen, thank you for sharing. Story continues Im not sure why, but this is the most refreshingly original and totally authentic thing Ive seen on reddit in as long as I can remember, chimpomatic5000 commented. Caulfield went to film school and studied production design, but is now doing odd jobs as she travels around for the year. At the moment, she isnt planning on turning her sudden popularity into a fashion venture. I dont do commissions, but making a kimono yourself is very easy, she tells Yahoo. I didnt even draft a pattern; I just looked at pictures online. If you think about it, its basically a long vest with a tube on either side! Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Myeshia Johnson, the widow of U.S. Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, has found herself unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight following a controversial phone call from President Donald Trump. Sgt. Johnson, 25, was one of four soldiers killed in Niger earlier this month. The White House said Tuesday evening that President Trump called the families of those killed in the incident, including Myeshia Johnson. Later Tuesday evening, Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson told a Florida news station that, during his call with Sgt. Johnsons widow, Trump said that Sgt. Johnson knew what he signed up for. To me, that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldnt say that to a grieving widow . . . thats so insensitive, Wilson told WPLG. Wilson said that she overheard the call while driving with Myeshia Johnson on the way to Miami International Airport to receive Sgt. Johnsons remains. President Trump has denied Wilsons claims, calling them totally fabricated. But Rep. Wilson stands by her account, saying that others also overheard the call. The Associated Press released footage showing Johnson, accompanied by her six-her-old daughter, sobbing and draping herself over her husbands coffin when it landed in Miami. The pair had two children together, according to the Miami Herald, and Johnson is pregnant with a third. Less than a full day after cheering a bipartisan deal being worked out in Congress to stabilize the individual insurance marketplace, President Donald Trump suggested he couldnt support it. In a tweet sent Wednesday morning, Trump said that while he stood behind Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who worked with Washington Sen. Patty Murray on the compromise, he could never support bailing out the insurance companies he says have made a fortune with the Affordable Care Act. The proposal from Sens. Alexander and Murray, who serve as the chair and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, does include two years worth of cost-sharing reduction payments, which help lower the costs of premiums for consumers, but the chair pushed back on the notion that the payments equal a bailout. We are having the strongest possible language in the Alexander-Murray agreement to make sure the cost-sharing reduction payments for 2018 and 2019 benefit the low income Americans to help them pay for their insurance and dont benefit the insurance companies, Sen. Alexander told reporters at the HELP committee on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was a bit more frank: The president ought to start understanding whats in the legislation before he tweets, he said. The Murray-Alexander bill specifically prohibited companies from getting CSR payments. There would be no double dipping. Such was the dilemma facing Senators on Wednesday. After working to craft a deal to stabilize the insurance markets, selling it to the Republicans in Congress and the White House who want the Affordable Care Act repealed began presenting its own set of challenges shortly after the two sides announced they had a plan. For his part, Alexander said the plan includes provisions that could be considered victories for Republicans who have been trying to nix Obamacare for the greater part of the past eight years. The two sides agreed to expand access to waivers that allow states to offer plans that dont meet all of the requirements under Obamacare, something Republicans have been pushing for. They also agreed to expand access to catastrophic plansthe low-premium, high-deductible insurance plans that are currently only available to young people on the individual marketplace. The plan would also redirect funding that could be used by the states to help people enroll, outreach that Democrats have blasted Trump for seeking to undercut. Story continues The point of the bill, Alexander said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, is to avoid the chaos of skyrocketing premiums and rising medical debt that are predicted to come if the payments to insurers stop. I dont know a Democrat or a Republican who benefits from chaos, he said. Some of that chaos appears to have been intentionally inflicted by Trump. On Oct. 12, the president signed an executive order that could give Americans access to cheap insurance plans that offer fewer protections. Then, the White House announced the end of cost-sharing reduction payments that are designed to lower insurance costs for poorer Americans. The goal, as Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon said, was to blow up President Obamas signature legislative achievement. But the president has sent mixed messages on whether he actually wants to do that. Hes argued that his executive actions helped bring Democrats to the negotiating table (they were already in talks) and said hed back a short-term fix only to tweet that he doesnt support bailing out insurance companies and bragged that their stocks tanked. Lamar Alexander is working on it very hard, Trump said of the bill on Wednesday. And if something can happen thats fine, but I wont do anything to enrich the insurance companies, because right now the insurance companies are being enriched. For now, members of Congress from both parties are moving ahead. Senators are working to make sure the bill has a solid number of bipartisan co-sponsors when the legislative language is released, which could happen as soon as Thursday. Schumer said that the overwhelming majority of Democrats are on board with the plan, noting that Sen. Murray was met with roaring applause when she announced the deal to her colleagues on Tuesday. The goal is to get at least 10 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle to secure the bills future. Outside of the Senate chambers on Wednesday, several Republican Senators were non-committal. Some said they wanted to hear more from Sen. Alexander, while others were not sure if the bill would pass muster as-is. I think in order to pass the House were going to need more than Alexander-Murray, said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Doesnt sound like it could pass in the House so if it passes in the Senate, what good does do? Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said he supports the continuation of the work so they get to a point where its something that the president would encourage. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, said the bill is kind of an open question. But not every Senator was non-committal. Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he would support the bill in a statement on Wednesday. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have also cheered the bill. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters on Wednesday that he is a proud co-sponsor of the bill. Its a good piece of legislation, he said while moving his arms in a sweeping motion as elevator doors closed. It remains unclear whether or not Trump, in the end, would be willing to keep Obamacare alive. But there is agreement among Republicans that securing his support on the legislation would be crucial. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who is also co-sponsoring the bill, said Wednesday that right now, its kind of like weather in South Dakota. Itll change on a regular basis until were all satisfied. Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray reach deal to help insurance companies cover medical needs of low-income Americans Patty Murray speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP Senators have moved to salvage Obamacare following Donald Trumps decision last week to scrap critical subsidies that underpin the health law. Republican senator Lamar Alexander announced on Tuesday that he had reached a deal with Democrat Patty Murray to fund the federal payments intended to help insurance companies cover the medical needs of low-income Americans in exchange for allowing states more regulatory flexibility under the Affordable Care Act. The president who last week announced he was ending the subsidies to insurance companies while claiming the ACA was imploding said he approved of the plan and that the White House had been involved in the negotiations. It is a short-term solution so that we dont have this very dangerous little period, Trump said, and it will get us over this intermediate hump. Trump has given mixed messages over his motivation for ending the subsidies, which the White House argues were unlawful. Democrats have accused him of scrapping them to sabotage Barack Obamas signature healthcare law following repeated failed attempts by Republicans to repeal it, and the presidents former chief strategist Steve Bannon has praised him because the decision is gonna blow that thing [Obamacare] up. On Monday Trump appeared to back this interpretation, telling reporters: Obamacare is finished. Its dead. Its gone. You shouldnt even mention it. Its gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare any more. And on Saturday, in an unusual move for a president, he celebrated a fall in the value of insurance company stocks following his decision to end the payments. Health Insurance stocks, which have gone through the roof during the ObamaCare years, plunged yesterday after I ended their Dems windfall! he tweeted on Saturday. But Trump has also expressed approval that his actions were prompting Congress to discuss the issue of the subsidies. Republicans are meeting with Democrats because of what I did with the CSR, because I cut off the gravy train, he said on Monday. If I didnt cut the CSRs, they wouldnt be meeting. Theyd be having lunch and enjoying themselves, all right? Story continues This echoed a tweet on Friday suggesting the move had been a bargaining chip. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped, Trump wrote. Dems should call me to fix! But Alexander and Murray had already been engaged in negotiations long before Trump catapulted the insurance market into potential chaos by abruptly pulling the subsidies. A hurdle Alexander, chairman of the Senate health committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill he was encouraged by the consensus of support including from President Trump, but cautioned that reaching a deal was only the first hurdle in what could be a protracted process. The Tennessee Republican said there was more work to be done, but hoped the measure would draw bipartisan support. The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, called the deal a very good step forward which had received broad support among his party, and urged Mitch McConnell, his GOP counterpart, to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Trumps decision to embrace a deal to continue the payments underscores the challenge facing Republicans amid the partys failed efforts to act upon a seven-year pledge to repeal and replace Obamas healthcare law, which extended insurance coverage to about 20 million people. The uncertainty over the Affordable Care Acts future, and specifically over the so-called cost-sharing reduction payments, has been cited by some major insurers as part of the reason why they were compelled to pull out of the marketplace established under the law. Failing to make the payments could result in soaring costs for millions of Americans by forcing insurers to increase premiums, and in some cases lead policyholders to drop coverage altogether. McConnell called the deal a hot news item during a weekly press conference with reporters. He said the leadership team had not had time to think about a way forward yet. It remains unclear whether Republicans will have the votes to pass a bill that conservative hardliners have dubbed an Obamacare bailout. Trump insisted on Tuesday that he remained committed to dismantling the ACA and would urge Republicans in Congress to revisit the issue of healthcare after advancing a tax reform bill. Obamacare is a disaster. Its virtually dead as far as Im concerned, Trump said, while vowing to push ahead with a Republican plan that would transform federal funding provided under the ACA into block grants controlled by the states. The latter proposal, sponsored by the Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, failed to garner sufficient support from the GOP last month before even reaching the Senate floor for a vote. Trump nonetheless claimed on Tuesday that Republicans had the votes to move forward, despite there being no indication of that being the case. Last week, just before removing the subsidies, the president took action to unilaterally weaken the ACA by signing an executive order aimed at expanding access to cheaper and less comprehensive insurance. As Trump hailed his decision as a meaningful step toward undercutting the ACA, critics suggested the move would enable insurers to skirt coverage requirements for basic health benefits such as maternity care and prescription drugs. Negotiations between the senators began last month but progress stalled when Republicans attempted to revive a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That plan failed to gain enough traction, prompting Trump to take executive action to unwind the law. They had initially hoped to reach an agreement ahead of the deadline for insurance companies to finalize their rates for the year. That did not happen, and insurance companies have largely raised premiums for 2018. Meanwhile, Republicans are facing an extremely narrow path to approving a budget resolution, a critical step toward fulfilling their promise to overhaul the tax system. The Senate voted on Tuesday to open debate on the proposal after Trump helped sway Rand Paul, a fiscal hawk from Kentucky, to allow a discussion to move forward. In a call with reporters later in the day, Paul said he would not support the budget unless it shaved $43m in defense spending, a priority for his Senate colleagues John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Graham warned that if the party doesnt make good on its promises on tax, it will lose its majorities come next election. Heres the one thing Ive told every Republican including the president: were going to succeed together or were going to fail together, Graham said. If we dont cut taxes after all these years of promising, then I think the party comes unraveled. By Paul McLeary with Adam Rawnsley The Islamic State is dead, welcome to the new Islamic State. While the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have all but evicted the Islamic State from their one-time capital of Raqqa in Syria, counterterrorism officials across the globe say the group is hardly finished. The NYT lays out a host of places the group continues to project power hundreds of miles of territory in Syria, as well as deep pockets in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and the Philippines. As weve seen with many terrorist groups however, land ownership doesnt necessarily equate to strength. Experts warn that the group still has its eyes on sowing chaos in the West, and should continue to have the ability to do so. From Baghdad. Briefing reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday, spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition in Baghdad, Col. Ryan Dillon said, even after the military defeat of ISIS theres still going to be work to be done. ISIS will be defeated militarily, but we know that there still is going to be the ideology and the continued insurgent activity as they devolve into that. An SDF spokesperson told Reuters theyre quickly refocusing their efforts on ISIS positions in the Euphrates River Valley and Deir Ezzur east of Raqqa, potentially setting up a showdown with Iranian-backed militias, Hezbollah fighters, and Syrian government forces backed by Russian airpower pouring into the valley. al Qaeda is still around. And might be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Islamic States faltering fortunes. SEALs were prepped for Pakistan hostage raid. The American/Canadian couple and their three children freed from Taliban bondage last week in a Pakistani military raid almost got to meet SEAL Team 6. The elite unit was standing by to hit the convoy they were traveling in after a CIA drone spotted the family being bundled into cars and crossing into Pakistan, the New York Times reports. Taliban assaults. At least 46 Afghan police officers, including a senior general, were killed in two separate Taliban attacks on Tuesday in Paktia and Ghazni provinces after insurgents used captured U.S.-supplied Humvees as explosive-packed suicide vehicles. The assaults were part of a deadly day in the country, as at least 71 people were killed in a variety of Taliban attacks on Tuesday. Story continues McCain wants information. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain said Tuesday that he hasnt been getting the information he needs from the Pentagon and White House about U.S. military strategy, so hes halting confirmation of over a dozen civilian Pentagon officials until he gets some answers. He let one through Tuesday, however. Senators voted 70-17 to approve David Trachtenbergs nomination to be Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Trachtenberg is coming from a job as president and CEO of Shortwaver, a national security consultancy, but he previously served in the Pentagon and as a staff member with the House Armed Services Committee. There are 24 other DoD nominations awaiting Senate confirmation, while 15 more positions do not have a nominee. Welcome to SitRep. As always, please send any tips, thoughts or national security events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or via Twitter: @paulmcleary. Fast and furious. Tuesday marked both the third anniversary of the founding of the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition against the Islamic State and the effective end of the terrorist groups rule in its former capital of Raqqa. So what better way for Syrian Democratic Forces to celebrate than to peel out some sick donuts in Al-Naim Square in the city, the same place the Islamic State had celebrated its conquest in 2014. Heist. A North Korean-linked hacking group made off with a $60 million haul after hacking into a Taiwanese bank, according to a report from defense contractor BAE Systems PLC. Hackers from the Lazarus Group, believed to be associated with North Korean intelligence, broke into the Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan and began transferring money to accounts around the world in Sri Lanka, the U.S. and Cambodia. Kunduz. Buzzfeed takes a long look at the disastrous November 2016 special operations raid in Kunduz, Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians and two American Special Forces soldiers Todays number. 3,000 the number of extremists in the U.K., estimated by MI5 Director General Andrew Parker. Election hijinks. Another day, another digital platform investigating whether or not Russian operatives used it to try and influence the 2016 election. The latest entrant into the controversy is the Internet advertising giant Outbrain, which says it is currently conducting a thorough investigation specific to election tampering and continue[s] to monitor our index. Trolling IRL. Employees of the Russian troll farm implicated in ad purchases aimed at interfering in the 2016 election also spent $80,000 to put around 100 activists in the U.S. on their payroll. An investigation Russian newspaper RBC shows that the Internet Research Agency hired Americans to stage protests on divisive political issues like gun rights and race. Cybersecurity. In the wake of reports that Hewlett Packard Enterprise allowed Russian authorities to review the source code for its security monitoring software used by the Pentagon, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) has written a letter to the Defense Department asking it to explain its policy on using software that has been subject to review by foreign governments. Israel. Russian Defense Minister Gen. Sergei Shoigu has reportedly promised to extend a Russian buffer zone between Hezbollah forces in Syria and the Israeli border following warnings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will not accept an Iranian military footprint in Syria in perpetuity. Shoigu is currently on a visit to Israel for talks with the Israeli government. Bribes. A group of U.S. military veterans are suing a handful of American healthcare companies, accusing them of paying bribes to the Mahdi Army militia in order to keep doing business with Iraqs health ministry run by the anti-American militant group. The suit alleges that bribes paid by AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Roche, and General Electric helped enable attacks by the Mahdi Army on American troops. Return of the drones. Suspected strikes by U.S. drones have killed an estimated 31 people on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, shortly after Pakistani authorities freed a Canadian man, his American wife, and their three children last week. Locals say the strike included six missiles fired on Taliban targets on the Afghan side of the border. Balukhali (Bangladesh) (AFP) - The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power -- thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmed's makeshift grocery store. The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four lightbulbs and two small fans. "Now we can have light at night, and when it's really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief," he told AFP as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. - Solar only power source - In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. The refugees AFP spoke to accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya -- 50 percent of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Story continues Solar power was "the only source of electricity in the area," said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabir's sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees don't have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. Southwest Airlines on Wednesday celebrated its first unmanned flight on the companys new fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. The unmanned flight was actually staffed with an all-female crew, including two pilots. The flight staff took a photo of themselves after realizing that the days shift was made up of all women, a Southwest spokeswoman told HuffPost in an email. The 737 was headed to San Francisco from St. Louis. Southwest was unable to immediately identify the women in the photo but confirmed that they were all staff members. The first "unmanned" Southwest flight on a @BoeingAirplanes 737 MAX 8! All-female Crew pic taken before flying STL - SFO. pic.twitter.com/7V8ir6PBZa Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 18, 2017 The sight, especially the one in the cockpit, is a rarity for the aviation industry. Only 6.7 percent of pilots are female, according to the nonprofit Women in Aviation Inc. But Southwest is no stranger to unmanned flights and female firsts. The companys former president, Colleen C. Barrett, was the first female president of a major airline, according to Southwest. The airline has also staffed other flights unintentionally with female-only crews in the past on other types of aircraft. This year, through Women in Aviation, Southwest donated $33,500 to fund scholarships for five female students to pursue careers in aviation. While Southwests photo was tweeted Wednesday to celebrate its female employees, some of its followers tried to disparage the tweet. The airline, however, snapped back with a perfect amount of sass. If this was an all male crew I dont think yall would be celebrating this event. Erik Roman (@ErikRoman15) October 18, 2017 You're right--that's happened quite a few more times. ^BT Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) October 18, 2017 Also on HuffPost 1999 Flight Lieutenant Joanne Mein, flanked by colleagues of the Royal Australian Air Force's elite aerobatics display team, the Roulettes, rolls her plane during a formation flight over Gippsland, Australia on July 27, 1999. 2017 Dawn Cook and Stephanie Johnson pose for their history-making flight. 2016 First Lt. Kayla Bowers, a 74th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot, looks out of the cockpit of her aircraft during the squadronas deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve at Graf Ignatievo, Bulgaria, March 18, 2016. Operation Atlantic Resolve is a demonstration of the United Statesa continued commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to the enduring peace and stability of Europe. 2014 1st Lt. Meaghan Cosand, C-5B Galaxy pilot with the 312th Airlift Squadron, starts engines in preparation for takeoff from Kadena Air Base, Japan, Aug. 15, 2014. She was flying a mobility channel mission, moving high-priority cargo and passengers among air bases in the U.S. Pacific Command area of responsibility. 2010 Betty Wall Strohfus, right, a former pilot with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), sings the national anthem during the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 10, 2010. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress. The WASP program, established during World War II, trained women to fly noncombat military missions. 2007 Phetogo Molawa, a 21-year-old air force lieutenant stands next to the big Oryx Air Force transport helicopter at the third Women's Conference in Defence in Canturion, South Africa. Molawa is South Africa's first black female pilot August 16, 2007. 2006 Emilie Denis, the first woman fighter pilot of the French Navy in Toulon, France on January 18, 2006 in front of her future Rafale. 2000 Brigitte Joubert, one of the only women qualified to pilot rescue helicopters over land and sea in Biarritz, France in August, 2000. 2000 Aysh Gammo, the first Libyan woman airplane pilot gets ready for a flight in March of 2000 in Tripoli, Libya. 1999 Lieutenant Caroline Aigle, 1st Woman Fighter Pilot In Tours, France On May 25, 1999. 1999 Adine Ossebi, 30, sits in the cockpit of an Air Afrique plane at the Abidjan airport Feb. 15, 1999. 1995 The Royal Air Force's first woman strike-attack combat pilot Jo Salter waves from the cockpit of a Tornado GR1B after landing at Lossiemouth, Scotland Feb. 1, 1995. 1993 Barbara Harmer seen through the Concorde window April 16, 1993. 1977 Lt. (J.G.) Mary Louise Jorgensen was the first woman tactical jet pilot to be assigned to Miramar Naval Air Station at San Diego on Feb. 7, 1977. 1976 Ann Bostock, 26, the first woman to pilot scheduled services for a British airline, sits in the cockpit of a BAC 111 jet on July 7, 1976. 1974 Sally D. Murphy, 25, shown here at the controls of the UH-1 'huey' helicopter, is recognized in the U.S. Army as its first woman aviator and also its first military helicopter pilot on August 9, 1974. 1973 In a Pentagon ceremony, Lieutenant Judith Ann Neuffer of Wooster, Ohio was presented with flight training orders by Navy Secretary John Warner, making her the first military aviatrix in American history on Jan. 10, 1973. 1963 Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to have flown in space on June 1, 1963. 1962 Undated picture taken in the 60' s of American female aviator Jacqueline Cochran. Jacqueline Cochran learned to fly at age 22, and it became a lifetime passion circa 1962. 1944 First Officer Maureen Dunlop of the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), in the cockpit of a Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber, September 1944. 1942 Alice Rhonie, one of the first WAFs to arrive at their East Coast Air Base on Sep. 23, 1942. 1942 The new WAFS, dressed in flying suits and helmets, line up in front of the their flight training on Sep. 23, 1942. 1941 Valentina Grizodubova was among the first of thousands of Moscow women who volunteered as soon as Moscow was threatened on Oct. 26, 1941. 1940 Pauline Gower, one of the pool of women pilots who ferrried new aircraft from the factory to the aerodrome on Jan. 10, 1940. 1939 World War II, Russian front, airwomen circa 1939. 1938 Elisabeth Lion, French aviator, in May 1938. 1936 Pilot Beryl Markham, posing for photographer at Abingdon Aerodrome, Berkshire, prior to take off for her solo flight across the Atlantic on Sep. 11, 1936. 1935 Miss Helen Rickey, first woman to be employed as pilot of an airline on Nov. 7, 1935. Circa 1935 American actress and amateur pilot Madge Evans with an aircraft, circa 1935. Circa 1935 Maryse Hilsz, French aviator circa 1935. 1934 Jean Gardner Batten, New Zealand aviator in Kolkata, India In 1934. 1933 Miss Le Manoir, french aviator in France, 1933. 1932 Senora Hermelinda Urvina Briones, 26, of Ambato Ecuador, who claimed to be the first woman of South America to become a pilot, as she appeared at Curtis Airport, Long Island, ready for a practice flight on Dec. 3, 1932. 1930 Florence Lowe 'Pancho' Barnes is tests a new monoplane in which she hopes to establish a new speed record for women on July 2, 1930. 1930 Romanian aviatrix Irina Burnaia, onboard of an airplane, is caressing her little good luck dog before starting her flight circa 1930. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Madrid (AFP) - Spain said Thursday it will start seizing some of the Catalan regional government's powers after the region's leader warned he could declare independence, drastically upping the stakes as Madrid battles to keep the country together. The central government had given Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont a Thursday morning deadline to abandon his bid to declare a breakaway state, or face unprecedented direct rule over the semi-autonomous region. Puigdemont, who sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades on October 1 by holding a banned referendum on splitting from Spain, warned regional lawmakers could declare unilateral independence if Madrid makes any such move. Madrid could potentially suspend Puigdemont's government or take over its police force under Article 155 of Spain's constitution, a never-before-used provision that would take the country into uncharted legal waters and could provoke unrest. "That suspending our autonomy is the only response to all our efforts and our willingness to enter dialogue shows there is no understanding of the problem or willingness to talk," Puigdemont wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Madrid responded by accusing Puigdemont's government of "deliberately and systematically seeking institutional conflict" and vowing to move ahead with Article 155. It called an emergency cabinet meeting for Saturday to specify how it will take control over Catalonia. The measures would then have to be approved through the Senate, a process that may last until the end of the month. - 'Double standards' - As the accusations flew, Rajoy headed to Brussels for a summit with other EU leaders, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron offered him vocal support. "We back the position of the Spanish government," Merkel said as she arrived, while Macron told reporters the summit would be "marked by a message of unity" with Madrid. Story continues EU President Donald Tusk said the bloc would not mediate in a crisis which other EU leaders view as a domestic issue. "We have all of us our own emotions, opinions and assessments but formally speaking there is no space for EU intervention here," Tusk told a news conference at the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said the Catalan crisis was Spain's internal affair but slammed what he called Western "double standards" over separatist movements -- backing some like Kosovo's but not others. The Catalan standoff has rattled a European Union that is already grappling with Brexit, while Rajoy's government fears it will damage Spain's tentative recovery from the financial crisis. Europe's stock markets slid in response to the escalating political crisis, which is already taking a toll on the Catalan economy. More than 900 companies have moved their legal headquarters out of Catalonia, one of Spain's most important regional economies, citing the risk of instability, while Madrid has cut its national growth forecast for next year to 2.3 percent. Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are fiercely attached to their own language and culture but are divided on whether to break away from the rest of Spain. Puigdemont says his regional administration has a mandate to declare independence from what he says was a 90-percent "Yes" vote, marred by a heavy-handed police crackdown on voters. But turnout was given as only 43 percent. Many voters who oppose independence stayed away from a referendum that was declared illegal by Spain's Constitutional Court. Madrid had on Wednesday proposed fresh regional elections, sanctioned by the central government, as a potential way out of the crisis. But Joan Tarda, spokesman from the leftist ERC party which is part of Puigdemont's coalition, told lawmakers in Madrid: "The Catalan government will not call elections." - 'Collective suicide' - Catalonia's La Vanguardia daily -- Spain's second biggest newspaper -- has urged Puigdemont in an editorial to back down and call elections. "There's no dignity in collective suicide, even less so when it's decided by one person and everyone suffers," it said in an editorial. About 100 pro-independence protesters rallied in the rain outside central government offices in Barcelona on Thursday evening. They chanted "Independence" and blocked the road, preventing cars from passing. Separatists complain that Catalonia, which represents about a fifth of Spain's economic output, pours more into the national coffers than it gets back, and say it would prosper if it went its own way. But opponents say the region has more clout as part of Spain and that the instability could be disastrous for its economy. GAINESVILLE, Fla. Thousands of people turned out on Thursday at the University of Florida to protest an afternoon speech by a prominent white supremacist, making their message clear: Richard Spencer, and those like him, are not welcome. Well before Spencers speech at a place that did not invite him, a mass of protesters was on hand to greet him. By the time Spencer took the stage at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, he was met by a small group of supporters and a larger group of activists. A man wearing a shirt with Nazi swastikas on it is punched by an unidentified member of the crowd near where white supremacist Richard Spencer spoke on Thursday at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (Photo: Brian Blanco via Getty Images) Protesters chanted Fuck you Spencer! and Go home Spencer! as the white supremacist spoke. I love you too, he said. Spencer was routinely shouted down as he praised President Donald Trump, expressed concern that the man accused of killing Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, this summer wont get a fair trial, and defended his ideology. But mostly, Spencer complained to the crowd for heckling him and drowning out his remarks. You are yelling at a dissident intellectual! Spencer said. You are not yelling at power! People protest near the Hull Road entrance to University of Florida. (Photo: Chris McGonigal/HuffPost) Taking questions from his audience, his answers were greeted with boos and various chants, including We Dont Care and Black Lives Matter. Spencer ended his appearance after close to 90 minutes with words of admonition to the demonstrators. You think that you shut me down. Well, you didnt, he said. The world is not going to be proud of you. People march down 34th street to the entrance to the University of Florida. (Photo: Chris McGonigal/HuffPost) Before the speech, protesters making their way to the center had chanted, Not in our town, not in our state, we dont want your Nazi hate! Other popular slogans included Alt-right you cant hide, you support genocide! and No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA! At least one man was arrested on a felony charge of carrying a firearm on school property. Sean Jeffrey Brijmohan, 28, told police he was doing private security for an unknown media outlet when they found him on campus wearing a gun on his waist. And an unidentified Nazi was photographed getting punched in the face. Story continues Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Nushrat Nur, a student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, marches down 34th street. (Photo: Chris McGonigal/HuffPost) The Anti-Defamation League warned that Andrew Anglin, a neo-Nazi who runs The Daily Stormer, encouraged his followers to target Jewish and black religious and cultural institutions in the area. The intention is to make locals think that the entire city is taken over by our guys, Anglin said in a post, according to the ADL. Chants of FUCK YOU SPENCER as he takes the stage #SpencerAtUF pic.twitter.com/lcyolc2vhd Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) October 19, 2017 In the two months since Spencer, 39, was a featured speaker at the large white supremacist rally in Charlottesville which was marked by violence, including James Alex Fields Jr. allegedly rammed into counter-protesters with a car, killing 32-year-old Heyer he has been threatening to sue state universities across the country who refuse to provide him a speaking venue. University of Florida officials initially denied his request to speak on campus, citing security concerns, but ultimately relented. For First Amendment reasons, the university said, Spencer had to be allowed to speak, even if no one invited him. He paid $10,000 to rent use of the Phillips Center on campus. Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe (D) was among many speaking out against the white supremacist. We need to live our lives as normal and not let this disrupt us, Poe told HuffPost Thursday morning. Because thats what terrorists do they want to disrupt your life, they want to get into your psyche and make you afraid to live a normal, free life. Misinformation is a common tactic of the alt-right. Be on guard with rumor control. Lauren Poe (@PoeforMayor) October 18, 2017 When asked if he considers Spencer is a terrorist, the mayor said, Absolutely, theres no question. He absolutely intends to create terror in people and thats his tactic, Poe said. Theres no question that he is a terrorist leader and that his followers look to commit acts of terror to disrupt our community. Thursdays speech was Spencers first stop on a planned tour of college campuses across America. During the past few weeks, state, city, and college officials have worked to try to ensure that Gainesville did not become the next Charlottesville. The school spent $500,000 on security roughly equal to the yearly tuition for 78 in-state undergraduate students. A large banner near the designated campus site for people to protest Spencer listed dozens of forbidden items, including backpacks, shields, fireworks, clubs, sticks or flagpoles. Florida State Troopers walk from their hotel to the University of Florida Campus before a speaking event by Richard Spencer on Thursday October 19 2017 in Gainesville (Photo: Chris McGonigal/HuffPost) On Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Spencers appearance, citing the violence in Charlottesville. Thursday morning, Gainesville was teeming with police from across the state. Roads and bus routes were shut down. A university outpatient clinic and surgical center shuttered, postponing medical services to a later date. The school is officially open, but many classes were cancelled. On Wednesday night, Spencer talked to HuffPost at a remote location in the Florida countryside. Standing outside the luxe ranch-style house where he was staying for security reasons, he said he drank Angels Envy bourbon and puffed on a cigar. A dozen or so other white nationalists were with him, among them Identity Evropa leader Eli Mosley, one of the main organizers of the Charlottesville event, and Evan McLaren, executive director of the National Policy Institute, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group. Spencer serves as the NPIs president. Spencer balked when HuffPost asserted he was a Nazi. Im not a Nazi, he said. How am I Nazi? At no point in my life have I ever been a Nazi. This is just a slur word. Spencer has been seen in multiple videos giving Nazi salutes. He and his supporters chanted Nazi slogans in Charlottesville. Hes called for the creation of a white ethno-state and the peaceful ethnic cleansing of the United States. Richard Spencer tries to act cool while smoking a cigar. (Photo: Chris Mcgonigal / HuffPost) Mosley, Spencers friend and ally, has written about the struggle for total Aryan Victory and the Nazification of America. Given all that, Spencers rebranding of organized white supremacism in America as the alt-right would appear nothing more than a superficial rebranding aimed at mass appeal. Spencer was unapologetic about the trouble and costs his Gainesville appearance had caused. The universitys security tab? Thats the fault of the far-left group Antifa and other counter-protesters theyre the violent ones, he said. He will gauge his Thursday event a success, he said, if a packed arena attends his speech, it gets a splash in terms of media and no one gets hurt. During a speech in New York City on Thursday, former President George W. Bush spoke out against people like Spencer. Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, Bush said. Former Pres. George W. Bush: "Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed." https://t.co/n7TqA3VDnW pic.twitter.com/NqOvYcXOHD ABC News (@ABC) October 19, 2017 Mosley said that the rally in Charlottesville and Spencers Gainesville speech and future appearances by him at college campuses are part of an effort to push their movement from an online phenomenon to one with real-life effects on the real world. Weve accomplished that, he said. Its not going back. Its never going to go back. Were here to stay. People need to get used to us they need to get used to our ideas. This story has been updated with Spencer ending his remarks. Emily Watson contributed reporting from Gainesville. Sebastian Murdock contributed reporting from New York. Also on HuffPost Florida State Troopers walk from their hotel to the University of Florida Campus before a speaking event by Richard Spencer on Thursday, October 19, 2017 in Gainesville. A University of Florida Police vehicle sits in front of a banner listing prohibited items on Hall Road near the entrance to University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday October, 19 2017. A list of prohibited items is listed near the University of Florida in Gainesville. A banner listing prohibited items hangs above Hall Road near the entrance to University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday, October 19 2017. Police in riot gear secure a perimeter near the University of Florida. People protest near the Hull Road entrance to University of Florida. Mushrat Nuri, a student at University of Florida in Gainesville, marches down 34th Street. People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida. People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida. People march down 34th street to the entrance of the University of Florida. A man leaving the Richard Spencer event is accosted by people waiting outside. A man leaving the Richard Spencer event is accosted by people waiting outside. People chant at a man who left the Richard Spencer event at the University of Florida. The man argued with protesters before being escorted away by police. Police escorted him off campus in handcuffs. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Donald Trump, the US President - ISP POOL Three in four Republicans believe the media invents stories about Donald Trump, a new poll has revealed in a sign his fake news campaign is working. The figure is even higher for those who strongly approve of how the US President is performing, with 85 per cent of that group saying the same. The findings come after a relentless campaign by Mr Trump against the media in the nine months he has been in office. His criticism dates back to his election campaign, when reporters were heckled and booed by Mr Trumps supporters as he pointed them out at rallies. The US president renewed his attacks on the media on Tuesday during a round of interviews with talk radio shows. "Actually, dishonesty in the media is one of the things that surprised me the most, Mr Trump said, picking out cable networks with whom he has repeatedly clashed. I thought after I won, the media would become much more stable and much more honest. Theyve gone crazy. CNN is a joke. NBC is a total joke. You watch what they report, it bears no relationship to what Im doing. But the media is absolutely dishonest and frankly, Ive never seen anything quite like it. Despite the attacks being condemned by newspaper columnists and Democratic politicians, it appears they have struck a chord with Mr Trumps Republican base. A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 76 per cent of Republican voters believe the news media fabricate stories about Mr Trump. Among all voters, that figure is 46 per cent. Voters, particularly Trump supporters, have become disenchanted with the national media, said Kyle Dropp, chief research officer of Morning Consult, in a Politico article. Even 20 per cent of Democrats think that the national media fabricate stories on President Trump and his administration. That being said, many are still not willing to let the federal government censor the media. Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson played down prospects of a breakthrough in the crisis between US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar Thursday as he prepared to travel to the Gulf over the weekend. "I do not have a lot of expectations for it being resolved anytime soon," he said in an interview with financial news agency Bloomberg. "There seems to be a real unwillingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage." Tillerson's October 20-27 trip will also take him to India and Pakistan. Tillerson, who departs Friday for the Gulf, made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Saudi-Qatar dispute during a trip to the region in July. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic relations with Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. The sides have been at an impasse since then, despite efforts by Kuwait to mediate the crisis. US President Donald Trump, after initially appearing to support the effort to isolate Qatar, has called for mediation and recently predicted a rapid end to the crisis. But Tillerson indicated there has been little movement. "It's up to the leadership of the quartet when they want to engage with Qatar because Qatar has been very clear -- they're ready to engage," he said. "Our role is to try to ensure lines of communication are as open as we can help them be, that messages not be misunderstood," he said. "We're ready to play any role we can to bring them together but at this point it really is now up to the leadership of those countries." Besides the Gulf dispute, Iran, the conflict in Yemen and counter-terrorism also are on the agenda in the Gulf, the State Department said. While in Riyadh, Tillerson will also take part in the first meeting of a Saudi-Iraqi coordination council, a sign of warming relations between the Sunni-ruled kingdom and Baghdad as the Saudis seek to counter Tehran's influence in Iraq. Story continues After Riyadh and Doha, the secretary will go to Islamabad and New Delhi, stops that had been announced previously, and then to Geneva on his way back to Washington. In Islamabad, Tillerson will stress "Pakistan's critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy," the State Department said. Trump has stepped up pressure on the Pakistani authorities and military, which have been accused of being too soft on the Taliban. In New Delhi, he will be looking for ways to strengthen the US "strategic partnership" with India, seen as a counter to China's rise as a world power. The secretary of state will then take up global humanitarian crises during a visit in Geneva with heads of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Brig Gen Issam Zahreddine has been killed in an IED explosion during the ongoing operation against Isil in Saqr Island norheast of Deir Ezzor city A senior Syrian commander and one of President Bashar al-Assads most trusted generals has been killed during an operation against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Brig Gen Issam Zahreddine, a field commander in the elite Republican Guard, died after a convoy he was travelling in hit a landmine on Wednesday morning as they drove through Hawija Saqr near Deir Ezzor province. Zahreddine, who was in his late 50s and instantly recognisable by his full grey beard, had been leading 7,000 troops in the battle to retake the eastern city of Deir Ezzor from the jihadists. He also led government offensives against armed opposition in the central Homs province and near the capital, Damascus, in the earlier days of the conflict. Issam Zahreddine addresses his troops in Deir Ezzor His death will be a major blow to the regime, which has lost huge numbers of high-ranking soldiers and generals over the course of the six-year war. He was a controversial figure who was pictured last year posing next to hanging corpses which appeared to have been tortured before being cut into pieces. In another, he is seen walking beside a line of bodies so long he and some of his troops stopped before they even reached the last one. He is named in a lawsuit filed by the family of the late veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin, who was killed in an artillery attack in Baba Amr district of Homs. Zahreddine had been in charge of an operation to root out rebels in the central city at the time in February 2012. The Colvin family alleges that Zahreddine, after learning of the Sunday Times journalists whereabouts, ordered a targeted artillery attack on the makeshift opposition media centre where she had been staying. The regime has denied the attack on the American was deliberate. And last month the major gave an interview warning Syrian refugees not to return to the country, saying the army would never forgive or forget. "If you know what is good for you, none of you return, he said in a Syrian state TV interview. Story continues The commander later apologised and said his comment was misinterpreted, and he was only referring to Isil and rebel fighters who had killed Syrian troops. He was remembered online on Wednesday by government supporters as a hero who gave his life for his country, but by opposition backers as a war criminal. Several top Syrian, Russian and Iranian commanders have been killed in recent months in fighting around Deir Ezzor. The province is the last remaining stronghold of Islamic State, which has put up a tough fight to retain control of the strategic oil-rich region. With the defeat of Isil in its former capital, Raqqa, this week, the battle against the group will now centre on Deir Ezzor where it has now largely been confined and under attack from both Syrian troops and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish police have detained a businessman who is one of the country's leading civil society figures, reports and his lawyer said Thursday, raising fresh alarm over freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Osman Kavala was detained at Istanbul's Ataturk airport after flying in from the southern city of Gaziantep, the Dogan news agency said. His lawyer Ferat Cagil told AFP that Kavala was apprehended immediately after the flight landed late Wednesday and has been remanded in custody for seven days ahead of a court hearing. Cagil said it was unclear what his client was accused of. "The case is confidential. Whatever is said would be speculative now. We will find out when he testifies," he said. Kavala is chairman of the Anadolu Kultur (Anatolian Culture) NGO which aims to overcome differences within Turkish society especially through culture and the arts. The organisation has also sought to reach out to Armenia. Turkey has no relations with the country partly due to the dispute over the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which Yerevan considers a genocide. Richard Giragosian, director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center (RSC) think tank, described Kavala as "our longtime partner in efforts to 'normalise' relations with Turkey." "He has greatly contributed to the restoration of Armenian churches and monuments in Turkey," Giragosian told AFP. Dogan reported that Kavala had been in Gaziantep to discuss a project with Germany's cultural outreach organisation, the Goethe Institut. It said he was detained as part of an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors, without giving further details. The Hurriyet daily said he was detained on the plane after it landed and police had simultaneously conducted a search of Anadolu Kultur's offices in Istanbul. - 'Latest attack on civil society' - The arrest comes as concern intensifies over the fate of Turkish civil society under the state of emergency imposed after last year's failed coup against Erdogan. Story continues Eleven human rights activists, including the two top figures from Amnesty International's Turkey branch, will go on trial in Istanbul next week on hugely controversial terror charges. The case has raised tensions with Sweden and Germany, whose nationals are among those detained. In telephone talks this week, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland told Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul the activists should be released as "pre-trial detention should be a measure of last resort." Meanwhile, 156 journalists, most detained under the state of emergency, are currently behind bars, according to the P24 activist group. Amnesty's Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner said on Twitter that the arrest of Kavala was the "latest attack on civil society in Turkey". "Osman Kavala has worked tirelessly to build reconciliation, dialogue and support the rule of law in Turkey," added Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch. Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, described the arrest as "very disturbing" and said she would ask EU lawmakers "to launch (an) urgent call for his release". Reports said Kavala was born in Paris but took over the family business when his father died. He is also the co-founder of the Iletisim publishing house. "The arrest of our friend Osman Kavala is a turning point in the oppression of the human rights movement" under Erdogan, said Benjamin Abtan, president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM). By Dan Whitcomb and Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Residents of Northern California's wine country left homeless by the state's deadliest-ever wildfires could be temporarily housed in federal government trailers, officials said on Wednesday, as the death toll from the blazes rose to 42. Since erupting on Oct. 8 and 9, the blazes have blackened more than 245,000 acres, (86,200 hectares) and destroyed an estimated 4,600 homes along with wineries and commercial buildings. Thousands of survivors, forced to flee the flames with little warning, remain displaced. Many are returning to find nothing left, forcing them to seek housing in emergency shelters or with family and friends. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has called trailers a solution of last resort for housing the displaced. But local officials said they had few other options because of a lack of hotels and rental housing, especially around Santa Rosa - the urban hub of the region's wine country - which had nearly 5 percent of its homes destroyed. "We have talked to FEMA about trailers, we're not sure what the availability is, how soon we could get them here, but we are looking at every option," Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey told Reuters by phone. "I don't relish having people living in FEMA trailers, but it's a hell of a lot better than sleeping out under the stars," he said. FEMA deployed trailers to house thousands of people displaced by 2005's Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast, triggering lawsuits by people who contended they were exposed to formaldehyde in the government-issued housing. A judge in 2012 approved a settlement requiring builders of the trailers to pay a settlement of nearly $40 million. FEMA's latest trailers, which it calls manufactured or temporary housing units, have new safety features and are built to high standards, the agency said in a blog post last year. The agency is only at the beginning stage of determining which options to employ, in consultation with local officials, to house people displaced by the fires, FEMA spokesman Victor Inge said by phone. "A temporary housing unit is an absolute last resort, they're expensive and they take a long time to get set up," Inge said. 'PROBABLY GOING TO NEED TRAILERS' Officials with Sonoma County, which includes Santa Rosa, are considering sites with built-in utilities, such as running water and electricity, for mobile-home units, said Margaret Van Vliet, executive director of the Sonoma County Community Development Commission. "We know we're probably going to need FEMA trailers," she said. Firefighters on Wednesday were still battling the blazes, the deadliest in state history, as search-and-rescue teams picked through burned-out neighborhoods. Law enforcement officials said the body of the 42nd confirmed victim was found late on Tuesday in the Fountain Grove section of Santa Rosa. About 60 people remain missing or unaccounted for in Sonoma and Napa counties. Most of the more than 2,000 people listed in missing-persons reports have turned up safe, including evacuees who failed to alert authorities after fleeing their homes. Fire officials said that while 13 major blazes were still burning as of Wednesday, the flames were largely contained and no longer considered a threat to homes or communities. "We have stopped the forward progress and movement of all these fires, we have line around them," Brett Gouvea, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection deputy chief, told reporters at an afternoon news conference. A Santa Rosa couple whose house was destroyed sued Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) on Tuesday, alleging the utility failed to take preventative measures in the face of dangerous drought conditions. Representatives for PG&E said that the utility was focused on supporting firefighting efforts and restoring power About 30 vintners sustained fire damage to wine-making facilities, vineyards, tasting rooms or other assets, according to the Napa Valley Vintners industry group (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jim Christie in San Francisco and Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter Cooney) The murder trial has begun in the case against a man accused of torturing and murdering the 8-year-old boy of his girlfriend whom he believed to be gay. The child, Gabriel Fernandez, was found with a skull fracture, shattered ribs, and severe burns by first responders at his home in a Los Angeles suburb in 2013. He died two days later. After allegedly being gagged and bound in a cabinet inside of the family home, the hospital declared the child brain dead and removed him from life support two days later. Isauro Aguirre allegedly tortured the boy over an 8-month span because he believed him to be gay. This wasnt about drugs. This wasnt about mental health issues, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told a jury on Monday. He abused Fernandez, he said, because he didnt like him he believed Gabriel was gay and to him, that was a bad thing he did it out of hatred of a little boy. The evidence will show that the defendant is nothing more than a bully, he continued, He was a security guard who intentionally tortured and abused a helpless and innocent little boy. The district attorney shared harrowing and gruesome details of what the child endured at the hands of his mother Pearl Fernandezs boyfriend, including starvation, being fed cat feces and his own vomit, and sleeping in closets. Isauro Aguirre The defendants argue that although Aguirre tortured Gabriel, his intention wasnt to murder him. Despite the horrific abuse, Isauro never intended for Gabriel to die, defense attorney John Allan said. Hatami, however, showed the jury text messages between Aguirre and Pearl that suggest conspiracy and intent. Paramedic James Cermak was the first witness to be called to the stand. He revealed that when he retrieved the boys body from his home, it limp, lifeless. He also shed light on the markings found on Fernandez including strangulation marks around his neck bite marks, and bruises head-to-toe. Four social workers who worked on the case are also facing charges for negligence and falsifying records pertaining to Fernandezs case. PEOPLE confirmed arrest warrants were issued March 2016 for Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom, and Gregory Merritt. Story continues Prosecutors alleged Rodriguez and Clement falsified reports that should have documented the alleged abuse that Gabriel was enduring at home. Supervisors Bom and Merritt knew or should have known those reports had been falsified. Social workers play a vital role in society. We entrust them to protect our children from harm, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. When their negligence is so great as to become criminal, young lives are put at risk. Aguirres trial is set to end in eight weeks. Fernandezs mothers case will be tried separately. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump was snarled in fresh controversy Wednesday after he was accused of being disrespectful to a US soldier slain in an ambush in Niger, as well as showing insensitivity to the grieving family. Trump moved quickly to dispute descriptions of his conversation with the pregnant widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, 25, who was one of four US service members killed in a jihadist ambush October 4. But two accounts of his condolence call suggest the president struggled to convey an empathetic tone. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Sergeant La David Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Washington Post. She said she agreed with an earlier account of the call, given by a lawmaker who said she heard part of the conversation and accused Trump of insensitivity for telling Johnson's pregnant widow Myeshia Johnson that the young soldier "knew what he was signing up for." "I didn't hear the whole phone call, but I did hear him say, 'I'm sure he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts,'" Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida, told CNN. Trump denied making the comments, tweeting Wednesday: "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" He later told reporters: "I did not say what she said," and that "I had a very nice conversation." When asked about what proof he could offer, Trump said: "Let her make her statement again then you will find out." Johnson was among four US soldiers killed October 4 in Niger, where Islamic State fighters have established a presence. The military has released few details about what happened, and on Tuesday Senator John McCain, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Trump administration was not being forthcoming with information. Story continues The Miami native's body was returned home Tuesday afternoon. His wife Myeshia, who is expecting the couple's third child, sobbed loudly while cradling his coffin after it was taken off a military plane. After Trump's call, Myeshia "was crying, she broke down. And she said 'he didn't even know his name,'" Wilson said, referring to Trump and the dead soldier. - Finding the right tone - Trump had faced criticism for not contacting the families of the soldiers killed in Niger right away. On Monday, he said he had written them letters and would call soon, while accusing his predecessor Barack Obama of neglecting to call as many grieving families as himself. He also suggested on a call to Fox News radio Tuesday that Obama had not made a condolence call to retired Marine general John Kelly, Trump's White House chief of staff, after his son was killed in action in Afghanistan. The statements sparked outrage from former Obama aides, who said Trump's claims were baseless. Trump has repeatedly struggled to strike the right tone during times of national disaster, moments when America looks to its leader for comforting remarks. He recently told hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico that his willingness to help the US territory was not unlimited, and after a Las Vegas mass shooting that left 58 dead and more than 500 wounded, Trump offered his "warmest condolences." Separately, the Post reported Wednesday that Trump had promised $25,000 to the father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan in June, and to help him establish an online fundraiser -- neither of which happened. The check was also sent Wednesday, the same day as the Post report, according to CNN, which quoted a White House official. The White House sent out a terse statement on the matter. "The check has been sent. It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the president, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda," spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. It took this long to get the check out because several government agencies may be involved when the president interacts with the public, especially in cases involving his personal funds, CNN quoted a White House official as saying. Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump accused James Comey Wednesday of fixing a probe into Hillary Clinton's email last year, pointing to a heavily censored email released by the FBI as evidence. The email, released Monday, was described by the FBI as "drafts" of Comey's July 5, 2016 statement in which he announced that the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state had concluded and no charges would be brought. The documents were censored in their entirety except for the headers in an email Comey sent to top aides May 16, and a follow-up email sent by one of his aides to other FBI officials requesting comments "on this statement so we can roll it into a master doc for discussion with the Director at a future date." "Wow, FBI confirms report that James Comey drafted letter exonerating Crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete," Trump said via Twitter. "Comey stated under oath that he didn't do this -- obviously a fix? Where is Justice Dept?" he said. "As it has turned out, James Comey lied and leaked and totally protected Hillary Clinton. He was the best thing that ever happened to her!" Comey has denied manipulating the results of the Clinton investigation, which figured large in the heated presidential election campaign. Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017 citing Comey's investigation into alleged links between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian interference in the election, as well as Comey's alleged protection of Clinton. In September, amid the first reports of Comey's draft clearance letter on Clinton, legal specialist and Comey friend Benjamin Wittes argued there was nothing wrong with preparing a statement well ahead of time when an investigation's result is apparent. "There is nothing surprising about this news that Comey began drafting what became the declination statement early," he said via Twitter. "By May, after 9 months of investigation, unless HRC (Clinton) lied to the FBI or it found something new, this was headed for a declination." Donald Trump has defended his false assertion that former President Barack Obama did not make phone calls to families of fallen soldiers, a claim derided by a number of Obama officials, by telling reporters to ask his chief of staff General John Kelly about the calls. Mr Trump, speaking on Fox News Radio, said: "To the best of my knowledge, I think I've called every family of somebody that's died, and it's the hardest call to make...As far as other representatives, I don't know, I mean you could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?" He was referring to when Mr Kellys son Robert, a Marine Second Lieutenant, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. Mr Kelly was the highest-ranking military official to lose a child in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. A White House official claimed to NBC News, on background, that Mr Kelly never received a call from Mr Obama after his sons death. "As far as other presidents, I don't know, you could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? You could ask other people. I don't know what Obama's policy was," Mr Trump told Fox. The 71-year-old, addressing his failure to publicly speak about US Green Berets killed in Niger, told a press conference on Monday he had written personal letters to the parents and would at some point call them. Staff Sergeants Bryan Black, Jeremiah Johnson, Dustin Wright and Sergeant La David T Johnson were ambushed when patrolling with Niger troops by militants thought to be affiliated with terror group Isis. Mr Trump said: The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didnt make calls, a lot of them didnt make calls. While Mr Kelly has not responded to the suggestion he did not receive a call, former Obama administration officials have hit out at the suggestion that Mr Obama did not call families as a matter of course. Per normal protocol, Mr Kelly and his wife would not have been the family members to receive the initial call from Mr Obama. It would have been the younger Mr Kelly's wife. Story continues Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor to Mr Obama, said: This is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards. Alyssa Mastromonaco, the former White House deputy chief of staff of operations, took to Twitter to call the claim a f****** lie and brand Mr Trump a deranged animal. Pete Souza, the former White House photographer, took to Instagram and posted pictures of Mr Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama consoling the family of a soldier who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He later posted a picture from one of several dozen visits the former president made to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, to visit wounded soldiers. These visits were not made public until near the end of his time in office. After partially backtracking during Mondays White House press conference by later saying Mr Obama probably did sometimes call soldiers families, he dismissed the discussion over the issue on Tuesday, blaming news channel CNN for stirring the debate. Theres nothing to clarify, he told Fox News Radio. This was, again, fake news CNN. I mean, theyre just a bunch of fakers. General Kellys son died after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan, but the four-star general had tried to keep the death private, according to reports. Below is the full transcript of his comments on other presidents alleged failure to call the families of dead soldiers. Ive written them personal letters. They have been sent, or theyre going out tonight, but they were written during the weekend. I will at some point during the period of time call the parents and the families because I have done that traditionally. I felt very, very badly about that, I always feel badly. The toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens soldiers are killed. Its a very difficult thing. Now it gets to a point where you make four or five of them in one day, its a very very tough day. For me thats by far the toughest. So the traditional way if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didnt make calls, a lot of them didnt make calls. I like to call when its appropriate, when I think Im able to do it. They have made the ultimate sacrifice, so generally I would say that Id like to call. Im going to be calling them, I want a little time to pass, Im going to be calling them. I have, as you know since Ive been President, I have, but in addition I actually wrote letters individually to the soldiers were talking about and theyre going to be going out either today or tomorrow. Later in the press conference Mr Trump clarifies his comments: I was told that he didnt often and a lot of presidents dont, they write letters. I do a combination of both, sometimes its a very difficult thing to do, but I do a combination of both. President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didnt, I dont know thats what I was told. All I can do is ask my generals. Other presidents did not call, theyd write letters and some presidents didnt do anything, but I like the combination of I like when I can, the combination of a call and also a letter. President Donald Trump speaks during the Heritage Foundation's President's Club meeting: Martin H. Simon - Pool/Getty Images The Trump administration drafted a condolence statement after the death of four US soldiers in Niger, a new report has claimed but the President never gave it. Politico reports that National Security Council (NSC) staffers drafted a statement for Donald Trump the day after the soldiers were killed. But Mr Trump remained silent on the issue until 12 days later, when he was asked about it by a reporter. The draft statement describes the President as heartbroken by the news. "The heroic Americans who lost their lives yesterday did so defending our freedom and fighting violent extremism in Niger, the draft reads, according to a copy obtained by Politico. Our administration and our entire nation are deeply grateful for their sacrifice, for their service, and for their patriotism. The statement was distributed to NSC and Defense Department officials, but never released. The NSC employee believed to have written the draft hung up on the Politico reporter who called to ask about it. It is unclear why the statement was never released. But the President offered his own explanation for his silence on Monday, telling reporters that he planned to call and send letters to the soldiers families. At least one family appears to have been displeased by the Presidents eventual call. Representative Frederica S Wilson told MSNBC that she was in the car with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sergeant La David T Johnson, when Mr Trump called her this week. The widow teared up, she said, and told her: He did not even know his name. Ms Wilson added: "Basically he said, 'Well I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts. The President denied this claim, tweeting that the Congresswoman had totally fabricated her version of events. But the soldier's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, confirmed to the Washington Post that Ms Wilsons recollection was accurate. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband, she said. Story continues Still other families cast doubt on the Presidents claim that he had called every family of a fallen soldier. Quinn Butler told the Post that his family had received letters from generals but no calls or letters from Mr Trump after his 27-year-old brother was killed in Afghanistan. Euvince Brooks said he, too, had not heard from the President after his son was killed in Afghanistan. The President, he said, is a damn liar. WASHINGTON President Trump gives himself high marks for his response to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico, even though there is a widespread lack of power and drinking water on the island about a month after the storm struck. After Trump met with Puerto Ricos governor, Ricardo Rossello, in the Oval Office on Thursday, he spoke to reporters and Yahoo News asked, on a scale of one to 10, how hed grade his handling of the hurricane. Id say it was a 10, Trump said. Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. The storm was a Category 5, the top rating on the hurricane scale. Earlier last month, the island was damaged by Hurricane Irma. Currently, about 78 percent of Puerto Rico is without power and 28 percent of the island lacks reliable drinking water. After praising his response to the hurricane damage on Puerto Rico, Trump went on to marvel at the magnitude of the devastation. Id say it was probably the most difficult when you talk about relief, when you talk about search, when you talk about all of the different levels, and even when you talk about lives saved. If you look at the number, I mean this was, I think, it was worse than Katrina. It was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen, said Trump. Earlier this month, Trump said Puerto Rico didnt suffer a real catastrophe on the scale of Hurricane Katrina. Speaking Thursday, Trump reiterated his high grade for the storm response after describing the strength of the hurricanes that hit the island. They got hit by a Category 4, grazed, but grazed about, you know, a big portion of the island. That was bad, but then they got hit dead center, if you look at those maps, by a Category 5, said Trump, adding, Nobodys ever heard of a five hitting land. Usually by that time, its dissipated. It hit right through. It kept to a five. It hit right through the middle of the island, right through the middle of Puerto Rico. Theres never been anything like that. I give ourselves a 10. Story continues Yahoo News also asked Rossello how hed rate the White Houses hurricane response on a scale of one to 10, but the governor declined to offer a numerical grade. The president has answered all of our petitions. This is still ongoing, so we expect that thatll continue, Rossello said, adding, We set some very aggressive milestones to restore energy in Puerto Rico about 30 percent of the energy by the end of the month, by the middle of next month about 50 percent, and so on. Trump speaks during his meeting with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello in the Oval Office, Oct., 19, 2017. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Trump then asked Rossello to gauge the White Houses response. Governor, I just want to maybe ask you a question, Trump said. Did the United States, did our government, when we come in, did we do a great job? Military, first responders, FEMA, did we do a great job? Rossello complimented the Trump administrations handling of the hurricane damage in Puerto Rico. You responded immediately, sir, said Rossello. We recognize that there are some logistical limitations that we have in Puerto Rico. We didnt have the ports open for a couple of days. We didnt have the airports working at full capacity until about a day or two ago. So, that was always a great limiting step. But if you consider that weve gotten, even with those obstacles, weve gotten about 15,000 DOD personnel in Puerto Rico, about 2,000 FEMA personnel, HHS and others. The response is there. Rossello went on to acknowledge that we need to do a lot more. I think everyone over here recognizes theres a lot of work to be done in Puerto Rico. But with your leadership, sir, and with everybody over here, were committed to achieving that in the long run, Rossello said. Puerto Ricos power grid was in bad condition prior to the storms, a fact which was repeatedly cited by both Trump and Rossello on Thursday. When Trump was asked how long it would take to restore full power to the island, he said it was a good question and would likely take a while. We have to build a brand new plant or we have to do essentially a renovation thats so large its going to be like a brand new plant. One or the other, were looking at both right now, Trump said. But theres never been a case where power plants were gone. You cant just fix the poles. Theres never been a place where power plants were gone, so its going to be a period of time before the electric is restored. Read more from Yahoo News: By Roberta Rampton and Nick Brown WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello are due to meet at the White House on Thursday to discuss rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Maria devastated the island a month ago, the White House said. The Trump administration and Congress are considering further assistance for the bankrupt U.S. territory as it seeks to recover from its worst natural disaster in 90 years. The catastrophic storm struck on Sept. 20, causing widespread flooding and damaging homes, roads and other infrastructure. Less than 20 percent of the 3.4 million Americans who live on the island have electricity, after the power grid was wrecked, and 35 percent still lack drinking water. Disaster costs are expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars. The U.S. Congress is currently working on boosting funding for emergency relief as well as a $4.9 billion loan to help Rossello's cash-strapped government, which is poised to run out of money for payroll and essential services at the end of the month. "The meeting is related to the current recovery and response in Puerto Rico, and the long-term recovery process and what its going to take to recover in all aspects," said Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for the territory's government. "We need to think about rebuilding Puerto Rico in a holistic way. All the crops are all dead, agriculture is dead, housing is destroyed," he said, noting more than 50,000 homes were destroyed and more than 660,000 individuals have so far filed claims with the federal government. Rossello asked Trump on Oct. 2 to expand the disaster declaration that provides for federal emergency services to allow federal funds to be spent on fixing damaged schools, buildings, and power plants. The governor has also asked the White House and Congress for at least $4.6 billion in block grants and other types of funding. The White House budget office asked departments and agencies to provide estimates of funding needs by Oct. 24. Trump visited the Caribbean island earlier this month to view the damage and meet with Rossello. But he and White House aides have suggested there would be a limit to how much help Puerto Rico could expect from Washington to solve its long-term issues. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Tom Brown) (WASHINGTON) After her Army son died in an armored vehicle rollover in Syria in May, Sheila Murphy says, she got no call or letter from President Donald Trump, even as she waited months for his condolences, wrote to him to say some days I dont want to live, and still heard nothing. In contrast, Trump called to comfort Eddie and Aldene Lee about 10 days after their Army son was killed in an explosion while on patrol in Iraq in April. Lovely young man, Trump said, according to Aldene. She thought that was a beautiful word to hear about her boy, lovely. Like presidents before him, Trump has made personal contact with some families of the fallen, not all. Whats different is that Trump, alone among them, has picked a political fight over whos done better to honor the war dead and their families. He placed himself at the top of this pantheon, boasting Tuesday that I think Ive called every family of someone whos died while past presidents didnt place such calls. But The Associated Press found relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trumps presidency who said they never received a call or a letter from him, as well as relatives of a third who did not get a call. And proof is plentiful that Barack Obama and George W. Bush saddled with far more combat casualties than the roughly two dozen so far under Trump, took painstaking steps to write, call or meet bereaved military families. The subject arose because nearly two weeks passed before Trump called the families of four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Niger nearly two weeks ago. He made the calls Tuesday. Meanwhile, Rep. Frederica Wilson said late Tuesday that Trump told the widow of a slain soldier that he knew what he signed up for. Early Wednesday, the president called Wilsons version of the conversation a fabrication. The Florida Democrat said she was in the car with Myeshia Johnson on the way to Miami International Airport to meet the body of Johnsons husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, when Trump called. Wilson says she heard part of the conversation on speakerphone. Story continues When asked by Miami station WPLG if she indeed heard Trump say that she answered: Yeah, he said that. To me, that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldnt say that to a grieving widow. She added: Thats so insensitive. Trump took strong issue with that recounting early Wednesday. Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! he said on Twitter. Sgt. Johnson was among four servicemen killed in the Niger ambush. Wilson said that she didnt hear the entire conversation and Myeshia Johnson told her she couldnt remember everything that was said. The White House didnt immediately comment Trumps delay in publicly discussing the men lost at Niger did not appear to be extraordinary, judging from past examples, but his politicization of the matter is. He went so far Tuesday as to cite the death of chief of staff John Kellys son in Afghanistan to question whether Obama had properly honored the war dead. Kelly was a Marine general under Obama when his Marine son Robert died in 2010. You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? Trump said on Fox News radio. Democrats and some former government officials were livid, accusing Trump of inane cruelty and a sick game. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was attacked, said: I just wish that this commander in chief would stop using Gold Star families as pawns in whatever sick game hes trying to play here. For their part, Gold Star families, which have lost members in wartime, told AP of acts of intimate kindness from Obama and Bush when those commanders in chief consoled them. Trump initially claimed that only he among presidents made sure to call families. Obama may have done so on occasion, he said, but other presidents did not call. He equivocated Tuesday as the record made plain that his characterization was false. I dont know, he said of past calls. But he said his own practice was to call all families of the war dead. But that hasnt happened: No White House protocol demands that presidents speak or meet with the families of Americans killed in action an impossible task in a wars bloodiest stages. But they often do. Altogether some 6,900 Americans have been killed in overseas wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the overwhelming majority under Bush and Obama. Despite the much heavier toll on his watch more than 800 dead each year from 2004 through 2007 Bush wrote to all bereaved military families and met or spoke with hundreds if not thousands, said his spokesman, Freddy Ford. Veterans groups said they had no quarrel with how presidents have recognized the fallen or their families. I dont think there is any president I know of who hasnt called families, said Rick Weidman, co-founder and executive director of Vietnam Veterans of America. President Obama called often and President Bush called often. They also made regular visits to Walter Reed and Bethesda Medical Center, going in the evenings and on Saturdays. UPDATE: Oct. 18, 2017, 12:14 p.m. EDT Updated to include recent statements made by both President Trump and Rep. Wilson, along with Johnson's mother's comments to The Washington Post. After Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson said she overheard grossly insensitive comments Donald Trump made while speaking to the widow of a solider killed in Niger, the world awaited a response from the president. After sleeping on it, Trump woke up early to set the record straight for his Twitter followers, claiming he has "proof" that Rep. Wilson "totally fabricated" what he said to the wife of the fallen soldier. Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017 SEE ALSO: Sports teams are deserting Trumps hotels, and its hitting his wallet hard In response to Trump's tweet, Rep. Wilson said she was standing by her account of the call "and was not the only one who heard" what the president said. I stand my account of the call with @realDonaldTrump and was not the only one who heard and was dismayed by his insensitive remarks. Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 18, 2017 Trump has a history of unproven claims from saying Obama's birth certificate is fake to accusing him of wiretapping but the one that immediately comes to mind is his implication that there were tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey. James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017 When asked in a press conference when the Comey tapes would be released, Trump said, "I'm not hinting anything, I'll tell you about it over a very short period of time." It's been about six months and he has yet to reveal any tapes. Story continues Taking Trump's history of crying "proof" but never getting around to showing said proof into account, people were eager to condemn him for further pushing such a sensitive issue and question where exactly this proof is. Can we hear or see the proof. This is the second time there has been a suggestion of some sort of taped conversation involving you sir. https://t.co/dHIJzSezUA AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) October 18, 2017 RT if you can't WAIT for Trump to supply "proof". Are these the same "tapes" he had on Comey?#WednesdayWisdom #SgtLaDavidJohnson pic.twitter.com/4ymDWcs8eA Holly O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) October 18, 2017 When Trump says he has "proof" he didn't insult a military widow https://t.co/esRiM7lMKp Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 18, 2017 This thread. If there's proof, a competent White House provides it to press contacts. POTUS doesn't rant personally around a military widow. https://t.co/0fEVXK5Epm David Simon (@AoDespair) October 18, 2017 OK let's see the proof then. https://t.co/8UGpWKRGQb Bryan Greenberg (@bryangreenberg) October 18, 2017 Rep. Wilson: @POTUS said to wife of fallen soldier her husband knew what he signed up for. POTUS hasnt provided proof to the contrary. https://t.co/YA0V5b2Dtz Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) October 18, 2017 Just like he had tapes of Comey lying, had the biggest inaugural crowds EVER, had proof that Obama wasnt born in America... Oh. Wait. https://t.co/tuJoRFDKKa Shree (@shreec) October 18, 2017 Easy. Show us the proof. You won't, because you don't have any. And the widow herself verified. You are as dishonest as you are soulless. https://t.co/CzqzWl0MrF Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) October 18, 2017 This is ugly of you. You have a history of lying to America. She does not. If you have proof, show it. https://t.co/85LBwm3P0q Anita Creamer (@AnitaCreamer) October 18, 2017 Remember, he had the proof that was going to discredit Comey. That didnt pan out. https://t.co/xgLWKVhtiT Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 18, 2017 I disagree and I will publish proof shortly: @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/CQenjDrJuX Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) October 18, 2017 Since that tweet, reporter Brian Karem has written that Trump reportedly did tell the fallen soldier's widow "he knew what he signed up for," and Johnson's mother confirmed Rep. Wilson's account of the phone call to The Washington Post. At the White House on Wednesday Trump once again denied he said what Rep. Wilson accused him of saying to "the woman" and "the wife," urging her to make her statement again. Trump denies telling widow of fallen soldier "he knew what he signed up for," calls on Rep. Wilson to make another statement. pic.twitter.com/2sM0LLnq9J David Mack (@davidmackau) October 18, 2017 Rep. Wilson stood by her statement and tweeted Johnson's widow's name, Myeshia Johnson, reminding Trump not to simply refer to her as "the woman" or "the wife." I still stand by my account of the call b/t @realDonaldTrump and Myeshia Johnson. That is her name, Mr. Trump. Not "the woman" or "the wife" Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 18, 2017 Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump reignited a long-standing feud with John McCain Tuesday, warning "I fight back, and it won't be pretty" after the respected senator appeared to take aim at him in a speech. The relationship between the pair -- one a veteran lawmaker and war hero, the other a real estate tycoon and political neophyte before he assumed the presidency -- has long been testy. But the acrimony has risen to a new level with Trump's latest threats, which come just over a week after a war-of-words with another senior legislator from his own party, Bob Corker. Speaking on Monday night at an event in Philadelphia to honor his life's achievements, McCain had railed against the "America First" approach espoused by the Trump administration. "To refuse the obligations of international leadership...for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past," said the 81-year-old, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in July. Trump lashed out Tuesday, telling conservative radio host Chris Plante: "People have to be careful because at some point I fight back. "I'm being very nice. I'm being very, very nice. But at some point I fight back, and it won't be pretty." McCain has proved a thorn in Trump's side in recent months, twice helping to scupper Republican attempts to repeal a healthcare law that was a signature accomplishment of former president Barack Obama. Asked by AFP what he made of the president's latest missive, McCain shrugged the matter off. "I do what I have to do and I work with him as much as I can, and I do what I need to do for the people of Arizona," he said. Regarding the president's suggestion he would fight back, he responded simply: "I have faced some pretty tough adversaries in my life." Story continues - 'Lincolnesque' - The Trump-McCain feud has a long history. Trump -- who in addition to being a businessman was also a reality TV star winning the White House -- questioned McCain's military record in July 2015, earning widespread rebuke for saying "I like people who weren't captured" in comments that threatened to derail his presidential ambitions just a month after announcing his bid. Former Navy pilot McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam where he was tortured, while Trump received student and medical deferments that prevented him from being enlisted in the conflict. In August, McCain broke party ranks to call Trump "often poorly informed," adding he "can be impulsive in his speech and conduct." Some political observers wondered whether his votes against Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare -- one of Trump's main campaign promises -- were influenced by the desire for revenge. McCain on Monday received the backing of another long-time Trump critic Mitt Romney, who was also the Republican candidate for president in 2012. "Ran against him, sometimes disagree, but proud to be a friend of @SenJohnMcCain: hero, champion of character and last night, Lincolnesque," said Romney. The latest battle with a senior member of the Republican party comes after Trump engaged in a heated exchange with senior Senator Bob Corker, who accused the president of pushing the country to the brink of World War III. Trump's frequent sparring with congressional leaders is seen as perhaps damaging to his legislative agenda, with a potentially bruising fight for tax-reforms that could divide his party on the horizon. Republicans currently hold only a slim majority in the Senate, with 52 of the chamber's 100 seats. By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan deal from two U.S. senators to stabilise Obamacare by restoring subsidies to health insurers ran into trouble on Wednesday with the White House saying President Donald Trump now opposes it and a senior Senate Republican saying it has stalled. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan also signalled opposition to the deal announced on Tuesday by Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray to shore up Obamacare by reviving billions of dollars of federal subsidies to insurers for two years to help lower-income Americans obtain medical coverage. Alexander said on Wednesday Trump had "completely engineered" the bipartisan proposal but the president backed away from support he had expressed a day earlier. On Tuesday, Trump said the White House was involved in the negotiations and that the agreement was "a very good solution" short-term approach but later on Tuesday and then on Wednesday said he would not support a plan that enriched insurance companies. Trump has cut off subsidies to the companies, saying Congress has not provided money for them and that they enrich insurers. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump does not support the deal in its current form, although she called it "a good step in the right direction." "Look, we've said all along that we want something that doesn't just bail out the insurance companies but actually provides relief for all Americans," she said at a briefing. "And this bill doesn't address that fact." Senator John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said the Alexander-Murray agreement has "stalled out" and that its future was an "open question." Republicans have a 52-48 Senate majority but only a few have publicly embraced the plan. "Lamar Alexander's working on it very hard from our side. And if something can happen, that's fine," Trump told reporters at the White House. "But I won't do anything to enrich the insurance companies. ... They've been enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody's ever seen before." Story continues Insurers say they do not profit from the subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement dubbed Obamacare, but pass them on directly to consumers to reduce deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income people. Ending the subsidies, which are called cost-sharing reduction payments, could create chaos in the 2018 health insurance markets set up under Obamacare. Some leading insurers, including UnitedHealth Group , Aetna Inc and Humana Inc , have largely exited those markets, citing financial losses. Others including Anthem Inc have significantly reduced their presence in the state-based markets. Trump, who campaigned on a promise to get rid of Obamacare but has been frustrated by the failure of Republicans in Congress to pass legislation to do so, also made clear on Tuesday he eventually wanted broader legislation to repeal and replace the law. Ryan gave no indication of willingness to consider the Alexander-Murray agreement. "The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare," Ryan spokesman Doug Andres said. 'HOW HIGH?' While the proposal drew broad Democratic support, it remained unclear whether it will even come to a vote in the Senate and House, both controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer ripped Trump for his shifting stances on the Alexander-Murray deal. "This president cannot govern if, whenever the hard right frightens him and says, 'Jump,' he says, "How high?'" Schumer told reporters. "The president is pointing fingers," Schumer said. "He blames (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell for obstruction. He blames the Democrats for obstruction. He's the obstructionist in chief because he cannot stick to a position." The Alexander-Murray proposal would meet some Democratic objectives, such as reviving subsidies for Obamacare and restoring $106 million in funding for a federal programme that helps people enrol in insurance plans. In exchange, Republicans would get more flexibility for states to offer a wider variety of health insurance plans while maintaining the requirement that sick and healthy people be charged the same rates for coverage. Democratic attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia who have filed a legal challenge to the subsidy cutoff asked a judge in California to quickly direct the administration to continue the payments. Murray, speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, said her agreement with Alexander was still very much alive. "Absolutely," Collins said. "Lamar and I are working to have a good set of co-sponsors," and hope to formally introduce it as a Senate bill on Thursday. "Lamar is building his Republican co-sponsors. He's working it," Murray said. At an event sponsored by the news website Axios, Alexander said that Trump "wanted a bipartisan bill for the short term." Trump said on Tuesday he wanted lawmakers, once they have completed work on his tax-cut proposal, to again take up broader legislation that failed in the Senate last month that would divvy up federal healthcare money as block grants to states. The administration followed through on Trump's plan from last week to end the subsidies, withholding a payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to insurers that had been scheduled for Wednesday. (Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Amanda Becker; Additional reporting by Ricard Cowan, Lawrence Hurley, Jeff Mason, Makini Brice, Susan Heavey and Roberta Rampton; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott) Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday took steps toward meeting one of the main demands of an anti-corruption protest that has resulted in the first tent city going up in Kiev since the 2014 pro-EU revolution. The crisis-torn former Soviet republic has been on edge since nearly 5,000 people rallied outside parliament on Tuesday calling for long-delayed institutional changes -- including for the introduction of an anti-corruption court. The protesters have since set up dozens of khaki-coloured tents around the parliament building and remain locked in a tense standoff with anti-riot police who have cordoned off the area from all city traffic. Some 1,000 activists gathered outside the chamber on Thursday as lawmakers agreed to proceed with two bills stripping members of parliament of their immunity from prosecution. President Petro Poroshenko issued a congratulatory statement complimenting deputies for "taking a responsible political step toward eliminating their own privileges". But his proposal would only go into effect in 2020. Protest leaders argue that deputies should lose their legal protection sooner and back a fast-track process that could see the immunity issue resolved next year. Lawmakers asked the Constitutional Court to also review that option -- a decision that drew cautious praise from one of the most respected protest leaders. "It is small, but it is still a victory," Mustafa Nayem wrote on Facebook. - Timid parliament - The return of a tent city to Kiev underscored a growing sense among many that the promises made during the 2014 "Maidan" uprising have gone unfulfilled by Poroshenko and his Western-backed team. "In the three years since Maidan, parliament timidly avoided the (immunity) issue. But it remembered after the people came out on the streets," Nayem wrote. Other demands made by the protesters have not met the same success. Three vying proposals that proponents argued would make the electoral system more transparent and help independent lawmakers gain seats all failed to get enough votes. Story continues Deputies are also yet to schedule a debate on launching an anti-corruption court that Kiev's lenders at the International Monetary Fund have called a "benchmark" of Ukraine's progress toward Western standards. Critics accuse Poroshenko of trying to delay or water down the anti-corruption court legislation in order to preserve the current political order. But the Ukrainian leader sounded more receptive to the idea when addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the French city of Strasbourg last week. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is traveling to the Central African Republic next week to draw attention to the world's "forgotten crisis" and its heavy toll on aid workers and UN peacekeepers. "The Central African Republic is very far from the attention of the international community," Guterres told AFP and Radio France Internationale in an interview on Wednesday. "The level of suffering of the people but also the trauma suffered by aid workers and peacekeepers are deserving of our solidarity and heightened attention," he said. Guterres will be in Bangui on Tuesday for United Nations Day, which marks the entry into force of the UN charter, and will also travel to Bangassou in the south, where heavy fighting broke out in May. "This is a gesture of solidarity with the peacekeepers working in one of the most dangerous environments," he said. Renewed clashes in the Central African Republic have pitted armed groups who are competing for control of natural resources and areas of influence while claiming to protect communities. The fighting has involved mostly Christian militias and groups linked to the mainly Muslim Seleka coalition. Since the beginning of the year, 12 aid workers and 12 peacekeepers have been killed in CAR, which shows "just how much the situation has deteriorated," said Guterres. While some UN officials have raised alarm over "early warning signs of genocide" in CAR, Guterres said there was "ethnic cleansing" in many parts of the country. To quell the violence, Guterres singled out religious leaders as having an "absolutely indispensable role" to play by drawing Christian and Muslim communities away from the fighting. - Beefing up UN mission - The worsening violence stems from "armed groups who received external support," he said, without elaborating. "Hate speech has surfaced in the statements of many community leaders." Story continues Guterres will also meet with victims of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers as part of his effort to address damaging allegations that have hit the blue helmets in several missions. MINUSCA faces one of the highest number of rape allegations of all UN missions, prompting Guterres earlier this year to agree to the withdrawal of a contingent from Congo Republic which had faced several accusations. Now, faced with the upsurge of violence, the UN chief is asking the Security Council to beef up the mission with 900 extra troops, even though the United States is pushing for cost-cutting measures in peacekeeping. "There is a need to increase the capacity of our troops in Central African Republic to protect civilians," Guterres told reporters. "I am convinced there will be a positive understanding by all the members of the Security Council including the United States in relation to this." The council will decide next month whether to approve the additional troops for MINUSCA, which currently has some 12,000 peacekeepers. The Central African Republic descended into violence after the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize by the Seleka alliance. France intervened militarily to push out the Seleka and the United Nations launched its peacekeeping mission in 2014, but the country remains plagued by violence. The conflict has driven more than 600,00 people from their homes internally while an additional 500,000 have crossed borders to become refugees. Half of the population, or 2.4 million Central Africans, are in need of aid. Iraqi forces launched a major military operation in Kirkuk three weeks into a deepening crisis between Baghdad and the country's Kurds since their independence referendum: SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images An American diplomat has labelled his country's treatment of the Kurds in Iraq a "cataclysmic betrayal" after Iraqi troops pushed Kurdish forces out of the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk. The Pentagon has declined to blame the Iraqi government for the violence and is instead urging the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish authorities to negotiate their differences. Two weeks after fighting together against the Isis, Iraqi forces pushed their Kurdish allies out of the disputed city on Monday, seizing oil fields and other facilities amid soaring tensions over last month's Kurdish vote for independence. Just received this from a longtime American diplomat. pic.twitter.com/jYcwfmelOe Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) October 16, 2017 "I just can't endure this anymore," the unnamed American diplomat told CNN national security analyst Michael Weiss. "I visited countless GI's at Walter Reed and Arlington. I looked into their 18-year-old wives' faces and infant kids' eyes. I buried Iraqis. All so Iran could conquer the region." Iraqi forces were supported - as they always are now in major operations - by the Popular Mobilisation Forces, a predominantly Shia militia coalition the Kurds see as an instrument of Iranian policy. The move by the Iraqi military and its allied militias so soon after neutralising Isis in northern Iraq hinted the country could once again turn on itself after disposing of a common enemy. "Now this cataclysmic betrayal of the Kurds, who are far from perfect, but at least they loved America and never bombed our embassies," the diplomat continued. "I'm done with the Middle East." The US has armed, trained and provided vital air support to both the Kurds and the Iraqi army in their fight against Isis. Story continues In their bid to keep Kirkuk and its oil-rich countryside, Kurdish leaders accused the Baghdad government of being dominated by Tehran. Their fears were further affirmed after Iran came out forcefully against the Kurdish region's nonbinding referendum for independence. The Trump administration also said it did not recognise the independence referendum, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying in a statement that "the vote and the results lack legitimacy." He went on to say the US will "continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq." Peshawar (Pakistan) (AFP) - The chief of an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a US drone strike, a spokesman for the group told AFP Thursday. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for many deadly attacks in the country, including a suicide bombing in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday last year that killed 75 people including many children. "Chief of our Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Umar Khalid Khorasani, who sustained serious injuries in a recent US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday evening," JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "At least nine close associates of Khorasani were also killed in the strike", he added. Two US drone strikes on Monday along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed at least 26 people including fighters from the Haqqani network which is allied to the Afghan Taliban. The US has increased pressure on Pakistan in recent months to crack down on the Haqqanis, who are one of the strongest factions in the Afghan Taliban insurgency and have earned a fearsome reputation for their attacks on NATO troops and Afghan installations over the years. The use of US drones has dwindled dramatically in recent years in Pakistan, where the strikes have proven extremely controversial with the public and rights groups. Monday's strikes came days after Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle and his American wife and three children were freed in Pakistan after five years of captivity at the hands of the Haqqani network. Mansoor, the spokesman, said a high-level meeting of JuA's consultative council will be convened soon to appoint the outfit's new chief. However, an important Taliban commander said on condition of anonymity that one of JuA's senior commanders, Asad Afridi, has already been appointed new JuA chief. JuA pledged allegiance to IS in 2014, but a year later said it had rejoined the Pakistani Taliban -- which in turn is allied to Al-Qaeda, a foe of IS. Story continues However since 2016 JuA and IS have both laid claim to several attacks, notably a suicide bombing at a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta last year that killed 73 people. Pakistan's deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children. The joint claims raised the possibility the outfits were colluding -- or that JuA, which has foot soldiers on the ground, was allowing IS also to take credit to achieve propaganda goals. Analysts said Khorasani's death suggested resumption of intelligence sharing and coordination between Pakistan and the US. "The resumption of drone strikes on anti-Pakistan elements following hard stance on Trump's Afghan policy signals moderation of positions by Islamabad and Washington," leading Pakistan security analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP. He said "it shows America's willingness to redress Pakistan's complaints about presence of militant safe havens on Afghan soil". "Both countries now seem to be back to their business." Washington (AFP) - Police arrested a man suspected of killing three people and wounding two on Wednesday at a Maryland business park before shooting another person in neighboring Delaware. Radee Prince, 37, was caught as he fled on foot in Delaware after a manhunt that saw local Maryland schools in lockdown and the nearby set of Netflix drama House of Cards reportedly sealed off. Police said the latest mass shooting to hit the United States was a "targeted attack". "At 7:05 pm (2305 GMT), a suspect was taken into police custody after a brief foot chase," Wilmington, Delaware Police Chief Robert Tracy told a televised news conference. Prince discarded a .380 caliber firearm during the chase -- the same caliber used in the shootings, though ballistics testing still needs to be done to conclusively determine if it is the same weapon, Tracy said. The police chief had earlier told reporters that Prince was "a dangerous individual. This person shot six people in one day," in attacks that were not random. Prince was sought "in connection with both a multiple shooting incident early this morning in Edgewood, Maryland and another shooting incident at mid-morning today" in Wilmington, a statement from police said. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said three people died in the first incident at a granite business just before 9:00 am (1300 GMT). He confirmed a handgun was used and two other victims were transported to trauma centers in serious condition. Gahler said Prince was associated with the company, Advanced Granite Solutions, where the first shooting occurred, near Baltimore. - Latest mass shooting - "This does appear to be a targeted attack, limited to that business," he said. Police were investigating Prince's connection with the firm, where all five victims of the first shooting were employed, Gahler said. He said other people besides the five victims were on the premises when the shooting took place. Story continues Tracy said the victim in the second shooting identified the gunman. "They're known to each other and they've had some past history," he told a news conference. The suspect fled the first attack in a car registered in Delaware, Gahler said. Variety magazine reported that the set of "House of Cards," which is partly filmed in Maryland, was placed on lockdown while police searched for the shooter. The executive producer of the series, Dana Brunetti, said on Facebook: "Shooting near House of Cards set." Several schools in Maryland were also placed on lockdown while the shooter was still at large, officials said. The incident was the latest mass shooting in a country where such killings have become tragically commonplace. On October 1, a gunman in a 32nd-floor casino hotel room rained fire down on concert-goers in Las Vegas, killing 58 and wounding more than 500. It was the deadliest shooting in recent US history. The Las Vegas shooting sparked efforts to ban "bump stocks," a device that allowed the firing of a semi-automatic rifle close to the rate of a fully automatic weapon. But broader gun control measures remain staunchly opposed by Republicans, with the backing of the powerful National Rifle Association lobby. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday the United States holds Myanmar's military leadership "accountable" for the Rohingya refugee crisis, drawing a distinction with Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Myanmar's recent return to elected rule has given it a hybrid government in which the military still has wide powers in the security domain and in Rakhine state, where the United Nations has reported ethnic cleansing. "We're extraordinarily concerned by what is happening with Rohingya in Burma," Tillerson said. "I've been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi the leader of the civilian part of the government, as you know this is a power sharing government. "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening," he said, warning the world won't stand and "be witness to the atrocities that have been reported." In the last seven weeks, more than half a million Rohingya have fled Rakhine and crossed into Bangladesh. Their stories have shocked the world globe, with accounts of Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist mobs murdering and raping civilians before torching their villages to the ground. The western region descended into chaos when Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar police posts on August 25, triggering the brutal military crackdown. Tillerson said that Washington understands that Myanmar is facing "serious rebel terrorist elements" in Rakhine, but warned the military must be disciplined and "restrained." And he said Myanmar must grant fuller access to aid agencies to aid civilians and to allow the world "a fuller picture of what is going on." "Someone is going to be held to account for that and it's up to the military leadership of Burma to decide what role do they want to play in the future of Burma," he said. "This is a real test for this power sharing government." Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip said Thursday "no one" can force it to disarm or recognise Israel, after Washington demanded it meet those conditions as part of a unity government. "No one in the universe can disarm us. On the contrary, we will continue to have the power to protect our citizens," the Islamist movement's Gaza head Yahya Sinwar said. "No one has the ability to extract from us recognition of the occupation." Sinwar made the remarks during a speech to young people that was provided to AFP by Hamas. Earlier in the day, a top aide to US President Donald Trump said an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, Washington's first detailed response to a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. Trump's special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, who has repeatedly visited the region to seek ways of restarting peace talks, laid out a series of conditions. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties - including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Greenblatt said in a statement. The US conditions were roughly in line with principles previously set out by the Quartet for Middle East peace -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said. - 'Genuine peace' - The statement also echoed a response this week by Israel, which vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. They included recognising Israel and renouncing violence, but also returning the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, among other conditions. Story continues Netanyahu welcomed Greenblatt's comments. "We want a genuine peace, and because of this we will not conduct negotiations with a terrorist organisation in diplomatic disguise," he said. Sinwar said of Hamas: "We are freedom fighters and revolutionaries for the freedom of our people. We fight the occupation according to international and humanitarian law." Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed in recent years. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war in 2007 with Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank, following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. - Gaza humanitarian crisis - Under the Cairo deal, the Palestinian Authority, currently dominated by Fatah, is due to resume control of the Gaza Strip by December 1. Talks are also expected on forming a unity government, with another meeting between the various Palestinian political factions scheduled for next month. Previous attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed, and many analysts are treating the latest bid with caution, waiting to see if it will change anything on the ground. A major sticking point is expected to be Hamas's refusal to disarm its 25,000-strong armed wing. Diplomats say it would be possible to form a unity government they could deal with that does not officially include Hamas. A previous attempt at a unity government in 2014 was made up of technocrats deemed acceptable by the international community, but it fell apart. Hamas has faced increasing isolation and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip in recent months, including a severe electricity shortage. Abbas has imposed a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip to pressure the Islamist movement, including cutting electricity payments, which has worsened the power cuts. Hamas has reached out to Cairo for help, hoping to have the Rafah border with Egypt opened. In return, Cairo has pressed Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah. A US official said Greenblatt "has travelled to Egypt to meet with senior officials about the status of reconciliation." Greenblatt said in his statement that "all parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there." Vladimir Putin burst out laughing at the suggestion Russia export pork to Indonesia (Grab) Vladimir Putin had to cover his face as he burst out laughing uncontrollably at the suggestion that Russia should export pork to Muslim-majority Indonesia. The usually stern-faced Russian President was overcome with a rare fit of the giggles when Russias Minister of Agriculture suggested the move to Putin during a meeting last week as a way to increase overseas trade. While comparing Russias exporting figures to those of Germany, Mr Tkachov said: They (Germany) send half their pork to export. Putin laughs when Minister suggests Russia should export Pork to Muslim-Majority Indonesia pic.twitter.com/8sxU2CZaVW TrumpRussia (@TrumpEra_2017) October 19, 2017 Look at Germanys numbers: five and a half million tonnes of pork produced a year, of that almost three million is exported to all countries, to China, to Indonesia, to Japan, Korea, and so on. Putin chuckled and responded: Indonesia is a Muslim country. They do not eat pork there. Most popular on Yahoo News UK: Brit jailed for 30 days for drinking in Dubai records heartfelt message thanking supporters Heres what you need to know about the Melania Trump body double conspiracy theory Britain to be battered by high winds this weekend as weather warning is issued Mr Tkachov then joked: They will, before the president says: No, they will not. Putin then covered his face as he burst out into a fit of giggles at the exchange. Mr Tkachov later said he meant to suggest South Korea rather than Indonesia. Putin cracked another are smile last week when he was presented with a puppy as a gift for his 65th birthday from Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. Last month, Volkswagen laid out a roadmap for its EV rollout, promising 300 zero-emissions vehicles by 2030. While it's certainly good PR to move the company beyond its lingering diesel scandal, it also follows other automakers that recently committed to electric vehicle fleets. But to really seal the deal, VW has a new stunt in the works: It's creating an all-electric sportscar for next June's Pikes Peak high-altitude race in Colorado. Volkswagen is partnering with Technical Development in Wolfsburg to build the all-wheel-drive prototype. The automaker hopes it will break the record for electric racers on the course, which was set at eight minutes 57.118 seconds in 2016. Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is 12.4 miles long, with a nearly 5,000-foot climb to top out at a maximum elevation of over 14,000 feet above sea level. "The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world's most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore excellently suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies," Volkswagen board member Dr Frank Welsch said in a press release. "Our electric race car will be equipped with innovative battery and drive technology. The extreme stress test on Pikes Peak will give us important findings that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies." By Michael Georgy ERBIL (Reuters) - The Kurdish independence vote championed by their leader Masoud Barzani was a gamble that may have made his quest for a homeland more elusive than ever. The Sept 25 vote won overwhelming backing for secession but has raised the possibility of a new civil war in Iraq that could draw in regional powers. Baghdad says the vote is illegal. Just a few months ago, the Iraqi army, Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, and Iranian-backed Shi'ite paramilitary forces worked together to defeat Islamic State in Mosul. But that cooperation was short-lived and on Monday Iraqi forces seized Kirkuk -- an important oil town for the OPEC producer that is also considered by the Kurds to be the heart of their homeland. Iran and Turkey oppose Kurdish independence and Shi'ite militias funded by Tehran are gaining influence across Iraq. Meanwhile divisions between the two parties in the ruling Kurdish coalition have deepened. "Kurds have been managing these areas since the fall of (Iraqi President) Saddam (Hussein) in 2003 and to change the situation in an instant will make the whole situation as if it is sinking into quicksand," said Baghdad-based analyst Jasim al-Bahadli, an expert on Shiite armed groups. He said the Shiite paramilitary groups' presence in areas that used to be controlled by Kurds will help create tensions that could lead to a long-term conflict. "Sensitivities could develop into hostilities that could spark a civil war, he said. LEADERSHIP CRISIS Barzani and his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have defended the referendum. "It was the right move. No one will stop us from achieving independence," his spokesman Vahal Ali said. But not all of Iraq's Kurds, who fought a bloody civil war amongst themselves in the 1990s, supported the idea, raising doubts over the management of any independent state. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said the KDP, who make up the coalition, were putting Kurds at risk because of strong opposition to the vote, including from key ally the United States. The Peshmerga General Command in the KDP stronghold of Erbil accused Iran, a historical ally of the PUK, of helping Iraqi forces launch the offensive in the Kirkuk area. Unfortunately some of the PUK officials betrayed Kurdistan by being part of the plan by abandoning key fronts and leaving, said the Peshmerga statement. This plot will fail and the will of our people will prevail. Ali Akbar Velayati - a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - was quoted in a report by Tasnim news agency as saying Iran had no role in the Kirkuk operations. A senior Western diplomat also denied that Iran had played a role. This is mythology. Barzani has in the past blamed others for his mistakes including the PUK. But this is mythology designed to get support from the Americans, he said. PUK leader Jalal Talabani died barely a week after the vote, adding more uncertainty for the Kurds. Shuras Sherko Jdy, an official in the main opposition Kurdish Gorran Movement, said the Kurds, who gradually built an autonomous region in the north after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, were facing a leadership crisis. "Civil war could take place over Kirkuk. I hope it does not. If it does it will encourage the intervention of Iran and Turkey," he said. TEHRAN'S AMBITIONS But Iran, like Turkey, worries the vote will encourage their own Kurdish populations to push for homelands and has made no secret of its growing ambitions in Iraq. The most prominent Iranian figure in Iraq is Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of foreign operations for Irans elite Revolutionary Guards, a military corp providing training and weapons to Iraqi paramilitary groups backing the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. Ali said Soleimani appeared in Kirkuk two nights before Iraqi security forces attacked. That account was confirmed by an Iranian source in Iraq who said he appeared for "a couple of hours there to give military guidance." "Tehran's military help is not a secret anymore. You can find General Soleimani's pictures in Iraq everywhere," said an official close to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. "Now, beside political issues, Kirkuk's oil is a very key element for Iran, which is an OPEC member. Control of those oil fields by Iran's enemies, would be disastrous for us. Why should we let them enter the oil market?." Kurds have sought an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East after the collapse of the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire and left Kurdish-populated territory split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They have often accused the West of not helping them during times of trouble. President Donald Trump has said the United States would not take sides in the clash. Some fear the referendum, which gave Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi a chance to assert his authority, has put independence further out of reach. Baghdad has also banned international flights to Kurdish airports and imposed punitive financial measures. "We used to control our own airports. We used to control our own borders. We were running our own autonomous region...Now we have nothing. Barzani is responsible for this," said Jdy. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut; editing by Anna Willard) Paris (AFP) - France's attitude to the killing of its citizens in Syria fighting for the Islamic State group has rarely been as frankly stated as it was in the lead up to the fall of Raqa. "We are committed along with our allies to the destruction of Daesh (Islamic State) and we're doing everything to that end," Defence Minister Florence Parly told reporters at the weekend. "What we want is to go to the end of this combat and of course if jihadists die in the fighting, then I'd say it's for the best," she added. French citizens are among the biggest contingent of overseas fighters who have joined IS, with around 1,000 nationals estimated by counter-terror officials to have travelled to Iraq and Syria. Their return home to a country that has faced the worst of the IS-inspired violence in Europe since 2015 -- which has claimed 241 lives -- has long worried government and intelligence officials in Paris. Aside from the obvious moral issues, a dead jihadist poses far fewer problems for French and European authorities than a captured one. First, there are the legal problems associated with a prisoner taken on the battlefield in Iraq or Syria. Under what jurisdiction should he or she be tried? And for what crimes? In Iraq, for example, they could face the death penalty, which the European Union and member states officially oppose. Should they be extradited for trial in their home countries then -- which requires an extradition treaty? What evidence, collected by whom, would be used in a domestic court? Furthermore, judges and anti-terror prosecutors are already struggling to cope with the ever-increasing caseload related to extremism across Europe and would be swamped by potentially hundreds of new trials. Once convicted, the jihadists become a security risk in jail because of the danger that they will radicalise other inmates -- already a problem in prisons across Europe. "There will be negotiations with the countries concerned," French European lawmaker Arnaud Danjean, the lead author of a recent French strategic military review, told France Inter radio on Wednesday. Story continues "There's not only France that is concerned, there's Belgium, the United States," he added. - 'War brings risks' - A US military official said Tuesday that about 400 Islamic State members including foreign fighters had surrendered in Raqa as US-backed forces closed in on the city notorious for its atrocities under the rule of the Sunni extremists. Resistance around a city hospital and stadium was ultimately less than expected as IS forces either gave up or withdrew to the small strip of territory still under the group's control in neighbouring Deir Ezzor province. In May, the Wall Street Journal published an investigation that claimed that French special forces had provided a hitlist to Iraqi forces of around 30 men who were "identified as high value targets". Asked afterwards to comment, a spokesman for the new government of centrist President Emmanuel Macron did not deny France carried out killings -- a policy that was confirmed by previous president Francois Hollande. "I say to all fighters who join the Islamic State group and then go abroad to wage war: waging war brings risks, and they must accept those risks," Christophe Castaner told reporters. Speaking to journalists for a book published last year, Hollande confirmed that he had personally authorised at least four killings of "high value targets" by special forces in what are known as "homocide" operations in France. Another estimate by the journalist Vincent Nouzille, who wrote a book on the subject, said French forces had killed around 40 nationals during his five-year term. - 'Our aim is to kill them' - As IS jihadists flee Raqa and face imminent defeat elsewhere in their shrinking "caliphate", the question for French and other Western governments will be how to deal with the holdouts. In June, French magazine Paris Match also published a report quoting Iraqi officials around the city of Mosul before it was recaptured by US and French-backed forces. Abdelghani al-Assadi, a top commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service, said the Iraqis had an understanding with France that they would mop up the jihadists to prevent them from returning home. "We will prevent as much as possible any French person leaving Mosul alive," he was quoted as saying. "Our aim is to kill them so that no one from Daesh can flee." Washington (AFP) - The United States vowed Wednesday to work with India in preference to China over the next century to promote a "free and open" Asia-Pacific region led by prosperous democracies. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered his unexpectedly sharp message to Beijing on the same day President Xi Jinping opened the Communist Party congress. His upbeat speech was designed to set the stage for a visit next week to China's main Asian rival India, and to lay out a vision for a 100-year "strategic partnership" between Washington and New Delhi. But President Donald Trump's chief diplomat also took the opportunity to compare the United States and India -- the world's "two greatest democracies" -- with China, which he said was undermining the "rules-based international order." Coming on the day Xi opened a party congress designed to further secure his long-term control of what is already one of the most powerful Chinese presidencies in history, Tillerson's address will be seen as provocative. After the speech, reporters asked a senior State Department official whether it had been intended as a warning or a rebuke to China. "It's a speech that was designed for many audiences," he said, smiling. "The fact that he mentioned China is obviously built into the speech," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But this is a speech, obviously, that we hope all countries in the Indo-Pacific region will take to heart." Washington and Delhi have been building stronger ties for some time, but Tillerson made one of the clearest cases that the "shared values" underpinning the relationship make India and the United States ideal partners. As such, the speech also amounted to a warning to great power rival China that Washington will build regional alliances to counter its ever-growing power, while promoting free trade and open sea lanes. Story continues - 'Provocative actions' - "The United States and India are increasingly global partners with growing strategic convergence," he said. "Indians and Americans don't just share an affinity for democracy. We share a vision of the future," he said, projecting the relationship into the next 100 years. Promising greater prosperity and security in a "free and open Indo-Pacific," Tillerson did push India -- which has its own range of protectionist laws -- to open up its borders to more regional and US trade. But his harshest words were for China, the Asian economic behemoth and the nearest rival to India's huge population or to the United States' still world-leading economy. "China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order," Tillerson chided. "China's provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for." The senior US official, briefing reporters to flesh out the themes of the speech, said the idea of a "New Pacific" is a priority for both Trump and Tillerson. In more concrete terms this would mean a four-way arrangement of Australia, India, Japan and the United States to "anchor" the huge region and set standards for trade and security. Implicitly, this would exclude China. As it has slowly emerged as a powerful, economy India has avoided entangling alliances, preferring to maintain cautious relations with both Washington and Beijing, but Trump has built warm relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. - 'Greatest democracies' - "The secretary of state spends a lot of time dealing with problems. India is an opportunity," the senior official said. Last month, the chief of India's army warned that China had been "testing our limits" in a recent border stand-off and warned that Delhi's forces must be ready for conflict. India and China went to war in 1962 over the state of Arunachal Pradesh and China has maintained better ties with Delhi's foe Pakistan. Tillerson did not directly address August's stand-off on the Doklam plateau in the Himalayas, which is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India. But he vowed that Washington "won't shrink from China's challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries." And he approvingly cited US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' declaration "that the world's two greatest democracies should have the two greatest militaries." Tillerson noted the Indian navy now flies the American P-8 surveillance aircraft alongside US forces, and promised to help India in developing a carrier-born strike force. The secretary was speaking to guests of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He is due in New Delhi next week for talks with Indian leaders. Trump is also due in Asia next month, including a stop in Beijing where he will try to build on an early rapport he has developed with Xi and push for action to contain North Korea's nuclear threat -- a task that may be made harder by the Indian outreach. By Polina Nikolskaya and Andrew Osborn SOCHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin launched one of his most stinging critiques of U.S. foreign policy on Thursday, listing what he called some of the biggest betrayals in U.S.-Russia relations. He declined to say if he would run for a fourth presidential term in an election set for March, though he is expected to stand after dominating Russian politics for 18 years. Instead, he used a high-profile televised discussion with foreign academics in southern Russia to reach back to what he regards as the darkest days of U.S.-Russia relations. Opinion polls suggest that harsh rhetoric towards the West plays well with many Russian voters, who credit Putin for restoring national pride and standing up to what they see as Western encroachment. Asked by a Germany-based academic to identify what mistakes Moscow had made in its relations with the West, Putin told the Valdai discussion forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi: "Our biggest mistake was that we trusted you too much. You interpreted our trust as weakness and you exploited that." Visibly angry at times, Putin cast Russia as the wronged party and its post-Soviet leadership as too naive and trusting. "Unfortunately, our Western partners, having divided the USSR's geopolitical legacy, were certain of their own incontestable righteousness having declared themselves the victors of the 'Cold War,'" said Putin. "They started to openly interfere in the sovereign affairs of countries and to export democracy in the same way as in their time the Soviet leadership tried to export the Socialist revolution to the whole world." Putin said U.S.-Russia relations were in a lamentable state, referencing an "unprecedented" anti-Russian campaign in the United States, the closure of Russian diplomatic facilities there and pressure on Russian media by U.S. authorities. He did not single out U.S. President Donald Trump for personal criticism, but said Trump's behavior was unpredictable as a result of political foes who were preventing him from fulfilling almost all of his policy pledges. LITANY OF U.S. SLIGHTS Putin said the United States was trying to squeeze Russia out of European energy markets with its latest batch of sanctions, which Trump grudgingly signed into law in August after Congress approved them. "The recent sanctions package adopted by the U.S. Congress was openly designed to push Russia out of European energy markets and to force Europe to switch to more expensive liquefied natural gas from the United States, even though the volumes there are not yet sufficient," he said. He criticized Trump's predecessors, describing how he believed the United States had betrayed Russia in the 1990s by not reciprocating what he called the unprecedented access Moscow gave Washington to Russia's secret nuclear facilities. He said the United States had flouted nuclear and chemical weapons treaties, saying Moscow had diligently complied with the same pacts only to be repeatedly let down by the United States. His speech and ripostes in a punchy question and answer session that followed often sounded like a history lesson. The United States had tried to stir up separatism in southern Russia in the 1990s, said Putin, something he said he knew for a fact from his stint leading the FSB spy agency. The 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and NATO's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia were bad, he said. And in comments that could have been drawn straight from the pages of the Cold War, Putin accused the United States of upsetting the strategic nuclear balance by modernizing its arsenal of weapons. Russia would develop new weapons systems, he pledged, if it was forced to, and if the United States withdrew from a landmark arms control treaty -- the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty -- Russia would hit back fast. "From our side, the response will be instant, and I want to warn, symmetrical," said Putin. (This version of the story was refiled to fix a typo in the headline) (Additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Vladimir Soldatkin, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber, Denis Pinchuk, Dmitry Solovyov and Christian Lowe in Moscow; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) A week after Carter Page reportedly told the Senate Intelligence Committee he would not appear before it as part of the Trump-Russia probe, the committee has subpoenaed him for documents and testimony, according to NBC News. The former Trump foreign policy adviser originally offered to testify as part of the panels hearing on social media and its role in Moscows interference in the 2016 presidential election. That hearing will take place on November 1 and will feature representatives from Alphabet, FaceBook, Google and Twitter. All will testify about whether Russian entities purchased ads through them, and how Moscow was apparently able to target key demographics in battleground states. Page, who spent most of his career working in finance and energy, doesnt appear to have any experience in social media, technology or political advertising. But the former Trump adviser says he wants to speak about the severe fake news that private and U.S. state-funded media organizations defamed me with in the months prior to the election... he told Newsweek via text. (Page is suing Yahoo News and the Huffington Post for $75,000 in damages for their coverage of him). Related: Is Trump losing the intelligence battle with Russia? Carter Page REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin The Senate committee appears to have rejected Page's offer. Instead, its interested only in his alleged ties to Moscow. Those ties originate in part from a document compiled by former MI6 intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, which contains unverified allegations of misconduct and collusion between Donald Trumps campaign and Russia. Among them: that Page had discussions with Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russias state oil behemoth, about lifting U.S. sanctions in exchange for a stake in the company (Page has denied these allegations). Not long after those allegations became public in January, the Trump campaign said that Carter Page is an individual the president-elect does not know. Story continues Whether or not thats true remains unclear, but the FBI is familiar with Page. In April, the former Trump adviser confirmed to ABC News that he was the individual identified as "Male-1" in a 2015 court document submitted in a case involving Russian spies. The case stems from an FBI investigation of three Russians identified as working for Moscows foreign intelligence agency, the SVR. One of them, Evgeny Buryakov, an executive at Vnesheconombank Bank, which has been under U.S. and European sanctions since 2014, pled guilty to espionage-related charges. He was subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison, released in March 2017 and deported back to Russia. According to ABC News, the FBI court filings identified "the attempted use of Male-1 as an intelligence source for Russia," and that Page was told that the Russians would try "push contracts" his way. The FBI interviewed him in connection with the case, and he was never convicted of a crime. The Senate committee and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting his own Trump-Russia probe, are interested in any ties between Page and Vnesheconombank Bank. Theyre already investigating connections between other current and former White House officials and the Russian financial firm. Both former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and current senior adviser, attended a December 2016 meeting with then Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Sergey Gorkov, the banks CEO (and a graduate of Russias FSB academy). The meeting was purportedly to set-up so-called back channel communications with Moscow. But the details and the purpose of that back channel remain unclear. The committee reportedly expects Page will invoke the 5th amendment and refuse to answer any questions related to the Steele dossier. Naveed Jamali is the author of How to Catch a Russian Spy, a memoir about working undercover as a double agent for the FBI. He continues to serve as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve and is a senior fellow in the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Related Articles President Trump weighed in on everything from tax reform to the Russia investigation Monday in a wide-ranging press conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The hastily called event was designed to try to put an end to stories about the tensions between the two Republicans but pretty much everyone knows better than to take their forced love-fest as it appeared. The two leaders may need each other more than ever, but there is ample distrust on both sides. Trump once again rejected the Russia investigation, blamed the Senate for the slow pace of his legislative agenda, and declined to vocally endorse the effort by former chief strategist Steve Bannon to primary moderate Republican lawmakers. Trump also falsely accused former President Obama of failing to appropriately console the families of fallen service-members, as he defended his response to the deaths of four American troops in Niger earlier this month. Trump suggest hes open to an Obamacare fix, but the devil is in the details. The EPA takes another axe to an Obama-era practice. And McCain unleashes on Trumps world view. Here are your must reads: Must Reads President Trump May Sign Off on a Short-Term Fix to Obamacare But its tentative [TIME] Trump Falsely Claims Obama Didnt Contact Families of Fallen Troops Obama aides angrily rebuke [New York Times] Trump, McConnell Make a Show of Unity, Despite Tensions An unusual joint press conference [Associated Press] The EPA Is Ending an Obama-Era Practice That Conservatives Say Sped Up New Rules Agency will stop issuing new environmental regulations in response to lawsuits from outside groups [TIME] Politics NewsletterSign up to receive the days top political stories View Sample Sound Off Im not going to blame myself, Ill be honest. They are not getting the job done. Weve had healthcare approved, and then you had the surprise vote by John McCain. Weve had other things happen, and theyre not getting the job done. President Trump to reporters during a Cabinet Meeting on Congress Story continues So, the traditional way if you look at President Obama and other Presidents, most of them didnt make calls, a lot of them didnt make calls. I like to call when its appropriate, when I think Im able to do it. They have made the ultimate sacrifice. Trump makes a false allegation about his predecessors outreach to the families of fallen soldiers Bits and Bites Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trumps Claim He Didnt Call Military Families [TIME] President Trump Just Spoke About Everything From Puerto Rico to Robert Mueller. Read the Transcript [TIME] Rex Tillerson and the Unraveling of the State Department [New York Times] Taylor Impresses Trump for Fed Chairman, Warsh Slips [Bloomberg] Trump to interview Yellen as final decision nears on Fed chair [Politico] Russia Probe: Senate Asks Mike Flynns Son for Documents, Testimony [NBC] Rand Paul opposes Senate GOP budget [Politico] John McCain: Remarks At The 2017 Liberty Medal Ceremony [Medium] McCain condemns half-baked, spurious nationalism in speech [Associated Press] President Trump Says Rep. Tom Marino Is Withdrawing His Name for Drug Czar [Associated Press] By Desire Thompson In ones life, love is bound to take over at any time and any place. Educator and philanthropist Ariana Austin discovered this in the cutest way when she met legal analyst and Ethiopian prince Joel Makonnen at a D.C. nightclub. In a piece for The New York Times, the coupled shared their how they met story, which was better than any Disney fairy tale. The two met at the Pearl nightclub in 2005. At the time, both were in school working on their degrees. Happiest Thanksgiving! A post shared by Ariana Austin Makonnen (@chezariana) on Nov 27, 2015 at 3:28pm PST Makonnen, also known as Prince Yoel, approached Austin with a cheesy pickup line. I said, You guys look like an ad for Bombay Sapphire, or whatever the gin was, he recalled. Not even five minutes later I said, Youre going to be my girlfriend. Official pics are here! All credit to the talented @dotunayodeji. Planning by @favoredbyyodit Dress @lazarobridal #AriJo #royalwedding #moretocome A post shared by Ariana Austin Makonnen (@chezariana) on Oct 16, 2017 at 4:39pm PDT His dream turned to reality a short while later when two began dating. For some time, Makonnen kept his royal roots a secret. The 35-year-old is the great-grandson of Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia. His parents, Prince David Makonnen and Princess Adey Imru Makonnen, gave birth to him in Rome, where they lived in exile. As history tells it, Selassie fought against colonialism while introducing politically progressive practices to the region. Hes also credited for the Organization of African Unity in 1963 and a noted as a messiah among the Rastafari movement. As the two continued the travel for work purposes, their relationship strained. They eventually found their way back to each other and Makonnen proposed. I think I said, Lets take this journey together, Makonnen said. When I proposed she was like, Its about time. Story continues What a beautiful moment! That royal kiss at the exit was priceless!! Today we are shooting the wedding of Prince Joel and his Queen Ariana @chezariana @jdmakonnen_jd Wedding Planner @favoredbyyodit #Arijo #currentsituation #habeshabrides A post shared by DC Based Wedding Photographer (@dotunayodeji) on Sep 9, 2017 at 1:54pm PDT Austin, a Harvard graduate, also carries royal roots: Her maternal grandfather was a lord mayor of Georgetown, Guyana. Their Sept. 9 ceremony was deemed Old World aristocracy meets New World charm. A total of 13 priests and clergymen helped officiate the Ethiopian Orthodox wedding. Its unbeatable heritage and history, Austin said of their family backgrounds. It combines sheer black power and ancient Christian tradition. Insert all the heart-eyed emojis. Read more about the couples big day here. This post Woman Becomes Princess After Marrying African Prince She Met At A Nightclub first appeared on Vibe. An Australian woman is on trial for murder after cops say she fatally stabbed her own grandfather in a killing that was reportedly motivated by a stateside hit TV series. Brittney Jade Dwyer was 19 when prosecutors say she and her alleged accomplice drove across the country to the city of Adelaide and the home of 81-year-old Robert Whitwell. Preacher Convicted of Murdering His Wife "The motivation is obviously robbery of money from Mr. Whitwell but it seems to be, to a certain extent, motivated by a TV program called American Horror Story, her attorney told a judge Wednesday as he outlined his clients troubled history of mental illness and drug use. Dwyer suffers from borderline personality disorder and claimed her daily consumption of cannabis was coupled with a bottle of vodka, topped off with cocaine and ecstasy, according to News.com.au. Investigators say Dwyer and her girlfriend, Bernadette Burns, traveled to Whitwell's home in August. Once there, they say Burns stayed in the car while Dwyer went into her grandfather's home. Inside, the octogenarian showed his granddaughter old family photos and, for a moment, investigators say Dwyer decided she couldn't do it. The accused then sent a text message to Ms. Burns saying she could not go through with the plan, court documents say. Authorities say Burns replied "they had come all this way" in a bid to get her to do as they planned. And in the end, cops say, she committed the grisly crime. Dwyer is accused of taking out a knife and stabbing her grandfather in the neck and chest. It is alleged that she did dishes in the kitchen as her grandfather bled to death. The plan was reportedly to rob Whitwell of about $90,000 USD they believed he had hidden in a shed. However, the women left with only around $1,000 and some coins and electronics, according to cops. Man Who Stabbed Melissa Dohme 32 Times Sentenced To Life Story continues Whitwell's body was discovered three days later and the women were arrested Aug. 26. They have since both pleaded guilty to murder charges. Dwyer and Burns will be sentenced next month. An Ohio woman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges that she killed her 5-year-old daughter and hid the childs body in her familys restaurant. MingMing Chen, 29, was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, gross abuse of a corpse and two counts of endangering children in the death of her daughter, Ashley Zhao, the Stark County Clerk of Courts said. Investigators found the little girls body hidden in their Chinese restaurant a day after her parents reported her missing. Ashleys mother and father contacted police on Jan. 10, saying they believed she wandered out a back door after taking a nap at the back of the family restaurant, Angs Asian Cuisine in North Canton, officials said. But authorities said Ashley was already dead when she was reported missing. Read: Dad's 911 Call Released After Girl, 5, Was Found Dead in Family's Restaurant: 'I Can't Find My Daughter' On Monday, Jan. 9, at about 9:15 a.m., Chen allegedly hit her daughter several times, causing fatal injuries. Chen and Ashleys father, Liang Zhao, then allegedly hid her body in their business, where it was later found by police. Zhao pleaded guilty in September to gross abuse of a corpse, obstructing justice, tampering with evidence and two counts of endangering children. A murder charge against Zhao was dropped in exchange for his testimony against his wife. He will be sentenced to 12 years in prison. Read: Neighbors Hold Vigil to Mourn Girl, 5, Found Dead in Parents' Restaurant Chen entered her plea during a court hearing on Thursday. Her attorney, Richard Drucker, declined to comment on the case, but spoke to InsideEdition.com about his clients well-being. Calling the circumstances very tragic, Drucker said: Its been a very difficult process for my client. She obviously has never been involved in the criminal justice system in China or in the United States; its been a difficult adjustment. Story continues Shes been separated not only did she lose one daughter, shes been separated from her other daughter thats been very difficult for her. And her husband, shes been separated from her family. Chen is due back in court in December, and her trial is expected to begin in January. Watch: Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Abducting Baby From Hospital 18 Years Ago Related Articles: It is perhaps not known to many international trading players, but under Israeli civil law (Law for the Prevention of Damage to the State of Israel Through Boycott 2011, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2015 after a slight interpretive adjustment), boycotting products of Israeli origin, or deliberate avoidance of economic or academic ties, may give rise to a lawsuit for actual damages. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter But before we begin, allow me to make an initial note: This article is not aimed as a political articlewhich is pro or con boycott movements or the Israeli governmentbut rather as a legal informative overview, in light of the actual and financial impact or exposure international business may have in the referred to matter. In light of the international BDS Movement attempting to place pressure upon the State of Israel by means of economic and cultural pressure, Israel has realized such activity, indeed, causes actual harm and damage to Israeli-based business, manufacturers, importers/exporters, etc., as well as to academic students and professors, and in cultural ties of many sortsall because the origin is Israel. BDS protest in London, 2014 (Photo: citizenside.com) This boycott movement affects the people and businesses of Israel, as opposed to Israeli leaders or politicians or Israel as a state, and conveys questionable (to say the least) economic and cultural negative effects upon the people facing unprecedented obstacles in trade in the international arenafor no wrongdoing on their part. Regardless of the political opinion one may have concerning the legitimacyor rather the non-legitimacyof the BDS Movement or concerning the current political policy of the State of Israel, a relatively new law provides actual legal tools to deal with negative economic outcomes (damages, loss of profits, etc.) that businesses or private people encounter or suffer from boycott measures, solely because of their affiliation or relation to the State of Israel. Regardless of any opinion of the legislation itself or its enactment, at the end of the day it exists and may be used by filing civil lawsuits against anyone who called for or participated in a boycott. In that sense, it creates a new civil wrong as part of the Israeli tort laws. Moreover, even a deliberate avoidance of economic, cultural or academic ties can raise liability for the avoider towards the business or ties avoided, as well as liability for anyone who has called for the boycott or publicly expressed support of it. The law goes even further, and also excludes the defense argument of "sufficient justification" and thus provides that anyone who has caused or led to a breach of a contract by calling for a boycott may be liable for damages as well. As for the damages that can be claimed, after the adjustment to the law in a Supreme Court ruling in 2015 (determining that compensation must be awarded in correspondence with the actual damages or loss of profit caused, and cancelled the clause for penal compensation), the entity that may sue for torts is the entity that suffered the damage, and what can be sued for is the actual damage according to the regular Israeli torts law. The law also prohibits a person who calls for a boycott from participating in any public tender, but this is a different focus from the side of the state. It is worth mentioning that the rationale for this legislation was also reviewed by the widely respected Israeli Supreme Court, which has strongly elaborated that such legislation is constitutional and, inter alia, that international entities and individuals such as the BDS Movement (as opposed perhaps to states) should not be able to harm or interfere with international or domestic economic affairs without at least being accountable for the outcome of such, and that freedom of speech cannot be unlimitedly protected when it in fact calls for action (or for refraining from action) that has an actual impact on another and is not simply an expression of an opinion. To date, it seems that the Magistrates and District Courts of Israel have yet to render judgment in actual cases based on the boycott act, indicating that the implementation of the act is still inchoate. However, it seems that instances and measures of boycotting are on the rise and the methods of boycotting are becoming increasingly overt, in a manner that is bound to lead to considerable litigation in the near future. Needless to say, issues of jurisdiction, and other aspects of private international law, or imposing jurisdiction on foreign players, are also yet to be resolved in reference to the emergence of lawsuits under the boycott law, but these will surely find their creative legal solutions with the actual submission of lawsuits concerning real life cases. Iranian military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri said Wednesday the Islamic Republic would not accept Israeli violations in Syria, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate Syria anytime it wants," Baqeri said during a meeting in Damascus with his Syrian counterpart, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub. Earlier this week, the Syrian army launched an SA-5 anti-aircraft missile at Israeli Air Force planes on a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. In retaliation, the IAF bomb the SA-5 battery, destroying its fire control radar. Iran's military chief Baqeri, left, and his Syrian counterpart Ayyoub Baqeri, on a rare visit to Syria, pledged to fight Israel and Sunni insurgents. "We are in Damascus to assert and coordinate and cooperate to confront our common enemies, the Zionists and terrorists," he said. "We drew up the broad lines for this cooperation." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed up the IDF's retaliation strike against Syria on Monday by stating, "Whoever strikes at us, we strike at them. Today they tried to harm our planesunacceptable. "The air force acted precisely and swiftly, destroying what needed to be destroyed. We will continue to act in the space as much as necessary to defend Israel's security." President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy says if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government it must renounce violence and commit to peaceful negotiations with Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Jason Greenblatt's statement Thursday was the first American comment on the advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. All parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine, and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there," Greenblatt wrote. Netanyahu and Greenblatt (Photo: Kobi Gidon/PMO) Greenblatt says Hamas must meet the international demands to recognize Israel and accept previous agreements with it. He says "it must accept these basic requirements" to take part in government. Hamas has always refused similar demands in the past. "The United States reiterates the importance of adherence to the Quartet principles: any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the partiesincluding to disarm terroristsand commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements." Responding to Greenblatt's exhortations, Hamas official Bassem Naim accused the US of interfering in the matter. "This is blatant interference in Palestinian affairs because it is the right of our people to choose its government according to their supreme strategic interests," Naim told the AFP. He further asserted that Greenblatt was bowing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. "This statement comes under pressure from the extreme right-wing Netanyahu government and is in line with the Netanyahu statement from two days ago," Naim said. Hamas's al-Arouri (L) and Fatah's al-Ahmad sign the historic agreemen (Photo: EPA) Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week announced a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues, most notably who will control Hamas' massive weapons arsenal. Talks continue with Fatah. On Wednesday, the Israeli Political-Security Cabinet decided the country will not negotiate with the Palestinians until Hamas is disarmed. The reconciliation agreement did not broach the issue of Hamas disarmament. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close NEW YORK (AP) Haunted houses tell us a lot of stories. But those stories are not just about ghosts. Colin Dickey, the author of "Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places," went around the country visiting haunted houses to see if they "could tell us something about who we are as a country, or as a people, or how we understand the past." In an interview for the AP Travel podcast "Get Outta Here," Dickey said ghost stories help us "talk about things in the past we might not otherwise have confronted." It might be a place with a violent or brutal history like a prison or asylum, or a just an old building with creaky stairs and dark hallways where someone's life took a tragic turn due to the death of a child or an unrequited love. PLACES WITH A DISTURBING PAST Examples of places with a disturbing past that bill themselves as haunted attractions include the LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans, where slaves were treated with extraordinary brutality, or Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, an abandoned prison. Dickey describes Eastern State as "a broken-down castle with stone crenellated towers" where "it's easy to imagine" a history of "atrocities and violence." "Ghost stories in many ways are a way for us to approach our own history," Dickey said, "and our own history is complicated." WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE: MYTH OF THE LONELY WOMAN Dickey also noticed that haunted stories sometimes revolve around women who never married or who were widowed young. Sometimes these women were viewed as having been frozen in time, living out their lives in a decaying house. But he says the facts often tell a different story, suggesting that these individuals may have been viewed as odd or even spooky because their lives as single women didn't fit cultural norms for marriage and childrearing. The Winchester Mystery House, a 161-room mansion in San Jose, California, which Dickey visited often growing up, is a good example. Sarah Winchester's father-in-law developed the Winchester rifle, so she and her husband were wealthy heirs. Their only child died in infancy, and Sarah's husband died soon after. Dickey says stories often paint her as having lived out her life in perpetual grief, haunted by the ghosts of everyone who'd ever been killed by a Winchester rifle, and "building this labyrinth to keep them at bay," Dickey said. But Dickey says the truth differs from the legend. "She got on with her life as a widow, but all things considered, a relatively happy widow," he said. The ghost stories came about, he speculates, because "a woman living alone happily just doesn't fit in our culture." MERCHANT'S HOUSE MUSEUM: USING GHOST STORIES TO ENGAGE Dickey also points out that the haunted house industry has become important as a way to raise money to preserve old buildings. Many historic sites have embraced haunted tours as a fun way to engage visitors who will gladly pay for a ghost tour, but who might not sign up to learn about 19th century customs or antiques. Take for example the Merchant's House Museum on East Fourth Street in Manhattan. The 1830s row house was home to the family of Seabury Tredwell. Five of the eight Tredwell children never married. Seven people died in the house, the last of them Gertrude Tredwell in the 1930s. Regular tours of the Merchant's House carefully stick to the facts, telling visitors only what is known from Census records and other research about who lived in the house and when, or what can be gleaned from physical evidence, like dents left in the floor by furniture routinely laden with heavy plates of food. But the Merchant's House also advertises haunted tours. The theme is especially popular during the Halloween season. Through Oct. 30, the site hosts an exhibition called "Truly We Live in a Dying World: A 19th Century Home in Mourning" with displays of mourning clothes, a coffin covered with lilies and a mannequin of Seabury Tredwell laid out on his deathbed. You can even take a selfie in a coffin. For decades, Merchant's House staff members were warned against repeating ghost stories, according to spokeswoman Emily Hill-Wright. But in the last 10 or 15 years, the museum has embraced the opportunity to use ghost stories as "a wonderful way to bring in new audiences. People will come in because they hear that we're haunted. Once we get them inside, they realize what a special place this is." She said the museum has no qualms about using "the interest in ghosts and morbid things in order to educate the public. It's not just that we're raising money because of ghosts and having fun with that. There is an educational component. We do feel we're fulfilling our mission." ___ Two boys were arrested near North Platte Tuesday after a search by multiple agencies through the South Platte River bottom. According to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, the two boys were wanted in connection with a stolen pickup, taken early Tuesday in Cozad. A black, Chevrolet 1-ton pickup later was spotted by Lincoln County sheriffs deputies west of Loves Travel Shop that matched the description from the Dawson County Sheriffs Office. The pickup fled west on Walker Road, the sheriffs office said. About the same time, the North Platte Police Department had responded to a report of a hit-and-run at Loves Travel Stop, and investigation led police to believe that the same pickup was involved. Sheriffs deputies followed the pickup into a feedlot on Crane View Road, where two people got out and ran into the river bottom. This led to an extensive search that included the Nebraska State Patrols ground and air divisions. Officials located two 17-year-old boys hiding in an elevated, enclosed deer stand. They refused to come down and were eventually pulled out of the stand. The teenagers were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and flight to avoid arrest, which are felonies. The boys are from eastern Nebraska, the sheriffs department said. The investigation is ongoing. When South Sudans Yei region turned violent in the midst of the countrys civil war last year, a handful of U.N. and U.S. officials begged their leaders for help. Government soldiers were burning villages and slaughtering men, women and children, they warned. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. The U.N. did not send peacekeeping troops to stay in Yei, and the U.S. continued to support South Sudans military, possibly in violation of U.S. law, according to an AP investigation based on dozens of internal documents and interviews. Yei became the center of a nationwide campaign of what the U.N. calls ethnic cleansing, which has created the largest exodus of civilians in Africa since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. More than 1 million people have now fled to Uganda, mostly from the Yei region. And tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan have died. Kate Almquist Knopf, director at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the U.S. Defense Department, compared the situation in South Sudan to Rwanda. The reality is that Rwanda happened while the U.N. was there, while the international community was there, and they didnt do anything. The same thing is happening now in South Sudan, said Knopf. Its happening on Africas watch. Its happening on Americas watch. Its happening on the United Nations watch. Its happening on everyones watch. The U.N. says it is still considering sending a permanent peacekeeping force to Yei if it gets more troops. The U.N. now has about 12,000 peacekeepers throughout South Sudan, but U.S. officials say it would take roughly 40,000 to secure the country. Its all about what resources the mission has available, said spokesman Daniel Dickinson. The U.S. budgeted USD30 million in aid to South Sudans military for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years and gave further $2 million in July for a military and security operations center. The assistance appears to violate a U.S. law prohibiting support to any unit that has committed a gross violation of human rights. South Sudanese soldiers are accused of gang-raping women and killing people, including civilians and a journalist. The government has denied ethnic cleansing. A spokesperson for the State Department said military officials who received assistance were vetted and not credibly implicated in the gross violation of human rights. However, the U.S. aid is a red flag, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, who sponsored the law. The South Sudanese security forces, like their rebel counterparts, are notorious for violating human rights without fear of being punished. We do not want the United States to be associated with such misconduct. South Sudan, the worlds youngest country, has received more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid every year from the U.S. and the U.N. In 2013, civil war broke out. A peace deal brokered by the U.S. and the international community collapsed in July 2016. That month, government troops rampaged through the town of Nyori in the Yei region, according to a former local official. Like others, he spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution. He ran into the bush to hide, and returned three days later to carnage. I witnessed with my own eyes, young children, they were slaughtered, he said. Rose Kiden fled when the soldiers swarmed her house. She said she came back to find her sister on the floor, after being raped by eight soldiers. Her husband was killed by government troops when he went to collect food. But even as the violence near Yei spread, Kiden said, U.N. vehicles drove by without stopping. They didnt do anything, she said. They just passed. When U.N. officials visited Yei in September 2016, they were horrified by stories of women gang-raped and a baby hacked with a machete. If the security situation is not rapidly stabilized, the protection crisis in Yei will swiftly become a multi-faceted humanitarian crisis, said a U.N. report from Sept. 15 obtained by AP to the top U.N. leader in South Sudan at the time, Ellen Loj. After nearly two months, the U.N. started sending small, temporary patrols to the Yei region, but the violence merely continued after they left. On Nov. 11, special advisor Adama Dieng warned about the potential for genocide. That month, the U.N. decided not to send a permanent force to Yei. When asked why at her farewell press conference on Nov. 28, Loj said the U.N. did not as yet have enough troops. South Sudan is a big country and we cannot have a soldier behind each and every South Sudanese, she said. During another U.N. visit in February this year, a community leader from the Yei area said he had begged for peacekeepers three times in the past few weeks. We need imminent protection before its too late, he said, according to an internal report. If we get killed because we told you the truth today so be it. Hours later the U.N. left. The U.S. also struggled to respond to the crisis in South Sudan, according to documents and interviews. In July 2016, the South Sudanese military fired dozens of bullets into two U.S. embassy vehicles. Still, the U.S. continued to believe it could fix South Sudans military. In September, President Barack Obama sought a long-term military to military relationship with South Sudan and allowed military training and education, according to a letter to Congress obtained by AP. Once again in South Sudan, we have shown a pattern of having bad analysis, either ignoring the symptoms of the problem entirely, not seeing them, or analyzing them in the wrong way, said Cameron Hudson, the director of African affairs at the National Security Council in the Bush administration. The U.S. also got approval from the U.N. Security Council for 4,000 extra U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan, but failed to get the South Sudan government to accept them. In the fall, a dissent cable drafted within the State Department argued that U.S. support for the peace deal and failure to act was fueling violence. The risks of famine, continued mass atrocities, and genocide are among the highest in the world, the draft cable said. The risks of not changing U.S. policy, it continued, are immediate and unacceptably high. The draft was never finalized because it did not gain enough support, and senior officials said pulling out of the peace deal would have created even more violence. Today, more than 18,000 homes have been destroyed in the Yei region. Hundreds of people have died, and many more have fled. A pastor from the Yei area at a refugee camp in Uganda said he felt abandoned by the U.N. and the world. They could have protected peoples lives, he said. They could have saved us from coming to this camp. Justin Lynch, Yei, AP The Chairman of the Associacao dos Comerciantes e Operarios de Automoveis de Macau, Leng Sai Vai, questioned whether buses should operate on a restricted basis during typhoon signal No.8, according to a report by Macao Daily News. Leong noted that under the typhoon signal No.8, buses and the casino shuttle buses suspend their operations, with only a small part of the taxi fleet still operating. However, some passengers are in need of transportation in such instances, and a large number of tourists still require transport into the city, making it the best time for dishonest taxi drivers to overcharge passengers. Leng hopes the government will assume a clear stance about bus operation during typhoons. Three lawmakers proposed debate motions Lawmakers Ng Kuok Cheong, Ella Lei, and Sulu Sou, each proposed three debate motions to the Legislative Assembly. Ng Kuok Cheongs motion concerns the political accountability of the governments principal officials following the disaster caused by Typhoon Hato. Ella Lei proposed to debate the proposed bus fare increase. She believes that the adjustment of bus fares has an impact on the livelihood and bus priority policies. Sulu Sou expressed strong doubts over the governments decision to revamp the Border Gate bus terminal. He wants the government to cease its remediation project and to redesign the transportation hub in the vicinity of the border gate instead. At the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, President of China, said that the policy of one country, two systems has proved to be the best institutional guarantee for the long- term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau after their return to Chinese sovereignty. The Chinese president said that the governments of both regions will be supported to advance democracy with well- ordered steps, maintain law and order, and fulfill the constitutional responsibility of safeguarding Chinas sovereignty, security, and development interests. We will continue to support Hong Kong and Macau in integrating their own development into the overall development of the country, he said, adding that priority will be given to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, and regional cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta. Policies will be improved to make it more convenient for people from Hong Kong and Macau to pursue career development in the mainland, he also said. Xi stressed that patriots should play the principal role, as Hong Kong people govern Hong Kong and Macau people govern Macau. We will develop and strengthen the ranks of patriots who love both our country and their regions, and foster greater patriotism and a stronger sense of national identity among the people in Hong Kong and Macau, he said. Xi also said that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has the resolve, confidence and ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwanese independence in any form. We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China, he added. Prior to its opening, the National Congress of CPC revealed most of the delegates names and the organizations they represent. Those who represent the working committees of the CPC, Hong Kong, and Macau offices were not revealed through official channels. According to a report by Ming Pao, 18 of these delegates from the above areas are certain, but four (three women and one man) of these 18 delegates identities remain unclear. Also according to the Ming Pao report, in every National Congress of the CPC held in China, there are delegates whose identity is unknown and who represent the working committees of the CPC, Hong Kong, and Macau offices. These people are normally CPCs ground level representatives working in Hong Kong and Macau, and are more often women than men. It is reported that they might not be using their real name when attending the National Congress of the CPC. According to a report by HK01, working committees have always existed in Macau, despite the identities of their members not being disclosed. Both committees rarely engage in open activities. JZ/ Xinhua Problem gambling is not necessarily more prevalent in gaming meccas like Macau and Las Vegas, a professor on responsible gambling said on Tuesday, but it is often worse in jurisdictions that permit wide and frequent access to gambling. Speaking on the sidelines of Sands Chinas annual Responsible Gaming Team Training Program at The Venetian Macao, Professor Bo J. Bernhard, executive director of the UNLV International Gaming Institute, said that convenience gambling is associated with higher social costs than gaming in integrated resorts (IRs). Not all gambling is created equal when it comes to problem gambling, said Bernhard. Integrated resorts that are tourist-focused have shown to bring [relatively] reduced social costs, compared to widespread local convenience gambling, like fruit machines in the UK or pokies in Australia. [] Convenience gambling in every neighborhood [in some parts of the world] creates more problems. Take Japan and its Pachinko parlors for example. Lots of machines, but no tourism and no job creation. In Bernhards opinion, the incidence of problem gambling is connected to exposure to gaming, both in terms of length of time and frequency. The nice thing about these integrated resorts is that they bring in tourism and huge economic benefits. And typically, the people who visit these casinos visit less frequently than people who visit the pub for a fruit machine fix, he said. The argument is opportune for integrated resort operators who stand on the brink of entering the eagerly-anticipated Japanese market. Opponents of Japans integrated resort bill have long argued that large-scale casinos will lead to more gambling addiction in a country where as many as 900,000 people may already be hooked on Pachinko. Frequency of exposure as a determinant of gambling addiction may also partly explain the higher rate of problem gambling seen in frontline gaming workers compared with the rest of the population. The phenomenon is seen the world over, but is particularly noticeable in Macau. There is definitely research that suggests that casino employees have slightly higher rates of problem gambling, admitted Bernhard. But it is worth mentioning that typically for the overall population [the rate] is 0.9 percent and for casino employees it might be 1.5 percent. So it is an elevated risk, but that doesnt mean a crisis. Macau-based gaming scholar Davis Fong concurs that exposure to gaming heightens the risk of developing an addiction. At the graduation ceremony of the responsible gambling program on Tuesday, the newly appointed lawmakerFong said that a major concern for the government was the sheer scale of the number of frontline gaming workers in Macau. He estimated that there are about 100,000 gaming employees in the MSAR, or about one-quarter of the working age population, though official statistics put this number somewhere between 80,000 and 85,000. Even with a 1.5 percent risk, tens of hundreds of workers could be exposed to the socio-economic dangers of a gambling addiction, he warned, adding that, in his opinion, the risk to frontline workers is on the rise. A government proposal to ban all off-duty, frontline casino workers from entering any casino in the territory is about to complete its 30-day public consultation period, before being considered by the Legislative Assembly early next year. The proposal seeks to emulate restrictions already in place for civil servants of the MSAR. Under the terms of the proposed ban, frontline casino staff will only be allowed to gamble for several days around the Chinese Lunar New Year, and those that violate the restriction may be fined up to MOP10,000. Gaming workers associations have shown a mixed response to the proposal. A survey conducted by the Macau Gaming Industry Frontline Workers showed that 77 percent of the 3,044 interviewed casino workers supported the revision. But the deputy director of Macau Forefront Gaming said that the proposal was insane and that it treats [workers] as if they were gaming addicts, gambling groups or even chip thieves. For Bernhard, the proposal is worthy of some commendation as a strategy to reduce exposure to those at most risk of developing a gambling problem. However, the gaming expert admitted that he was not aware of the technical details of the plan or whether its drafters had motives other than solely to prevent problem gambling. Although based in Las Vegas, Bernard is a regular instructor at the Sands China Responsible Gaming Team Training course, which has now completed its fifth consecutive year. The program, is intended to enhance employee knowledge of problem gaming. Frontline gaming workers Pierre Lai and Shadow Lou, who this week graduated from the program, said that it had helped to build their confidence in identifying and confronting problem gamblers. Their mentor, Romeu Julio do Espirito Santo, said that the training course involved role- play exercises to reinforce the course material. There is a role-play [exercise] that accounts for one-quarter of the training. This helps to give the students practical experience and make the training more memorable, he said. After the training, the students will be well-equipped to handle these situations. Lai and Lou, who both hold the position of pit manager, told the Times that they had not personally encountered any colleagues who showed signs of a gambling addiction. However, Professor Bernhard warned that some frontline workers were likely to be affected by problem gambling and it would be more challenging for gaming workers to confront their colleagues than to intervene with a patron of the casino. It is always going to be a more emotionally-charged conversation with colleagues, he said. Senior officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their countries commitment yesterday to finding a diplomatic solution to the threat posed by North Koreas rapidly expanding nuclear program. However, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan stressed that the allies must be prepared for any contingency. After meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul, Sullivan said the U.S. continues to view diplomacy, supported by pressure and sanctions, as the primary means for solving the North Korean nuclear problem. But despite that approach, the Trump administration will continue to keep all options on the table because the regime in Pyongyang is unpredictable and non-transparent, he said. Our objective is, throughout that campaign of pressure, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table without preconditions so that we can achieve our objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, Sullivan said at a news conference after the meeting, where the officials mainly discussed responses to North Koreas nuclear activities. Diplomacy is our primary objective and primary means to addressing the threat posed by North Korea. But we need to be prepared to respond to any eventuality given the unpredictable nature of the regime in Pyongyang, he said. Before flying to Seoul for talks with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, Sullivan and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama met in Tokyo on Tuesday and vowed to find more ways to apply pressure on North Korea. Yesterday, Lim said the allies agree that the situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula should be managed stably. The vice-ministerial discussions were followed by a meeting of the countries top envoys for currently stalled nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea that also involved China and Russia. The six- party talks were last held in late 2008 and North Korea went on to conduct its second nuclear test in May 2009. South Koreas Foreign Ministry said the nuclear envoys agreed their countries must pursue every available avenue, including dialogue and sanctions, to peacefully achieve North Koreas complete denuclearization. The Seoul meetings came as the U.S. and South Korea conduct joint naval drills involving fighter jets, submarines and other naval vessels, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, to train for potential North Korean provocations. The allies regularly conduct joint exercises that North Korea condemns as invasion rehearsals. North Korea in recent months has tested purported thermonuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles and launched two midrange missiles over Japan while also threatening to fire similar weapons toward Guam, a Pacific U.S. territory and military hub. North Koreas deputy U.N. ambassador, Kim In Ryong, said Tuesday at the United Nations that his country plans to conduct more satellite launches, which outside governments see as a cover for banned tests of missile technologies. On Monday, Kim told the U.N. General Assemblys disarmament committee that the situation on the Korean Peninsula had reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment, citing the U.S.-South Korea drills and what he called U.S. plans to remove North Koreas leadership. He said the North has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense. Kim Tong-Hyung, Seoul, AP Over the summer, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) organized the Overseas Study Program, sending students to Melbourne, Australia, where they attended a three- week intensive course at Monash University. The initiative was organized by IPMs Student Affairs Office to encourage students to acquire international commercial expertise. According to a statement issued yesterday by IPM, the course had four key aspects: developing global perspectives, fostering the ability to adapt to diverse cultures, strengthening students global professional skills and appreciating different corporate cultures. The students experienced an interactive mode of learning during their stay in Melbourne which consisted of putting students in the center and the course trainers on the periphery, playing only a supportive role in facilitating the students to brainstorm new ideas and stimulating their creativity with class activities such as small group discussions, presentations and language games. The students also visited the Immigration Museum, where they were exposed to the multicultural characteristics of Australian society. IPM students also visited a city council in addition to other established enterprises, taking the opportunity to converse with the managerial personnel, from whom they were able to learn about Australian corporate culture. During their stay in Melbourne, IPM students lived individually with local homestay families. In their free time, students took part in numerous local expeditions to cultural destinations, including the Queen Victoria Market, the Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, Dandi Beach, the Melbourne Zoo and the National Gallery of Victoria. The crucial parts will be held behind closed doors, but journalists, academics and more than a billion Chinese citizens will be closely watching for any public hints signaling change at this weeks twice-a-decade congress of Chinas ruling Communist Party. Possible outcomes include the emergence of President Xi Jinpings closest allies, signs indicating the direction of an increasingly aggressive foreign policy and clues about the possible next leader of the worlds second-biggest economy. SIGNS OF XIS POWER Observers are watching to see if Xis personal political theory will be entered into the party constitution alongside those of predecessors such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. There were no such clues in Xis wide-ranging, almost 3 1/2-hour address to the congress opening session yesterday. But the honor could still come as the congress plays out. Other previous leaders have also had the distinction, but it was bestowed much later in office. Including it this early would be a clear sign that the already powerful Xi will continue to dominate Chinese politics without opposition. POWERFUL PLAYERS WILL EMERGE Perhaps the most immediate results of the congress will be the distribution of new jobs, rumors about which have swirled for months. The meetings are cloaked in secrecy, but Xi has spent five years sidelining his rivals, so the recipients will be allies. While Xi and his No. 2, Premier Li Keqiang, are expected to stay on the partys Politburo Standing Committee that runs China, four others will likely depart. The status of party discipline boss and close Xi ally Wang Qishan seems unclear. Companies and investors are watching to see what posts go to Xi allies regarded as reformers with the personal authority to push through painful changes over opposition from party factions or state companies that stand to lose influence. XIS SUCCESSOR Xi is 64 and may suggest a potential successor for when his traditional second five-year term as party leader ends. The nations presidency is limited to two five-year terms, but the office of party general secretary is bound by no such restrictions. Xi could step aside for a younger leader while maintaining ultimate control from behind the scenes. STRONGER FOREIGN POLICY Xi has been steadily channeling Chinese nationalism and pride as he boosts the Communist Partys role in Chinese life and his countrys presence in Asia and the world. The muscular approach is likely to get even stronger after the congress. Xi will try to gradually expand Chinas influence by continuing to leverage the nations booming economy and mountain of foreign currency holdings. The goal is to restore China to its traditional role as East Asias leading nation and a global economic and cultural force. Beijing could push to expand its role in international bodies and become more assertive in regional hot spots such as the South and East China Seas and its contested border with India. THE ECONOMY Observers will pore over the text of Xis long address for clues on the direction of the worlds second-largest economy. Xi affirmed plans that call for developing state-owned companies that dominate industries including finance, energy and telecoms while also giving the market the decisive role in allocating resources. He said Beijing must develop the public sector, a goal that reform advocates complain wastes public money and further slows economic growth. And he confirmed official pledges to make the banking industry more market-oriented and to shrink bloated state-owned steel and coal industries. Xi also vowed that the party would have zero tolerance for corruption and exhorted members to resist pleasure seeking, inaction, sloth and problem avoidance. Declassified files have revealed new details of U.S. government knowledge and support of an Indonesian army extermination campaign that killed several hundred thousand civilians during anti-communist hysteria in the mid-1960s. The thousands of files from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta covering 1963-66 were made public yesterday [Macau time] after a declassification review that began under the Obama administration. The Associated Press reviewed key documents in the collection in advance of their release. The files fill out the picture of a devastating reign of terror by the Indonesian army and Muslim groups that has been sketched by historians and in a U.S. State Department volume that was declassified in 2001 despite a last-minute CIA effort to block its distribution. In 1965, Indonesia had the worlds third-largest communist party after China and the Soviet Union, with several million members, and the countrys president, the charismatic Sukarno, was vociferously socialist and anti-American. U.S. officials despaired of Indonesias apparently unstoppable drift into the communist fold and were ecstatic when conservative generals imposed martial law in Jakarta, seized state radio and set out to annihilate the countrys communist party on the pretext that it had tried to overthrow the government. Within months, the army would prevail in its power struggle with Sukarno, shifting Indonesias political orientation to the U.S. and opening its huge market to American companies. The newly released files underline the U.S. Embassys and State Departments early, detailed and ongoing knowledge of the killings and eagerness to avoid doing anything that would hinder the Indonesian army. Historians had already established that the U.S. provided lists of senior communist party officials, radio equipment and money as part of active support for the army. The documents also show that U.S. officials had credible information that contradicted the Indonesian armys lurid story that the kidnapping and killing of seven generals in an abortive coup by junior officers on Sept. 30, 1965, which paved the way for the bloodbath, was ordered by the Indonesian communist party and Beijing. The documents specifically mention mass killings ordered by Suharto, a general who within months would seize total power and rule Indonesia for more than three decades, and the pivotal role in carrying out the massacres by groups that today remain Indonesias biggest mainstream Muslim organizations: Nahdlatul Ulama, its youth wing Ansor and Muhammadiyah. A Dec. 21, 1965, cable from the embassys first secretary, Mary Vance Trent, to the State Department referred to events as a fantastic switch which has occurred over 10 short weeks. It also included an estimate that 100,000 people had been slaughtered. In Bali alone, some 10,000 people had been killed by mid-December, including the parents and distant relatives of the islands pro-communist governor, and the slaughter was continuing, the cable said. Two months later, another embassy cable cited estimates that the killings in Bali had swelled to 80,000. A cable that was part of the 2001 State Department volume showed that by April 1966, the embassy was staggered by the scale of the murders and acknowledged, We frankly do not know whether the real figure is closer to 100,000 or 1,000,000. Even the Indonesian government had only a vague idea of the true number, the cable said. The release of the documents coincides with an upsurge in anti-communist rhetoric in Indonesia, where communism remains a frequently invoked boogeyman for conservatives despite the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly three decades ago and Chinas embrace of global capitalism. Discussion of the 1965-66 period that departs from the Suharto eras partly fictional account of a heroic national uprising against communism is still discouraged. A landmark symposium last year that brought together aging survivors of the bloodbath and government ministers sparked a furious backlash. And last month, an anti-communist mob led by retired generals attacked a building in central Jakarta where activists had planned to discuss the killings. The mass killings of 1965-66 are among the worlds worst crimes against humanity, and our countrys darkest secret, said Veronica Koman, an Indonesian human rights lawyer. The 1965-66 survivors are all very old now, and Im afraid that they will not see justice before they die. Hopefully with these cables coming to light, the truth can emerge and perpetrators can be held accountable. U.S. Senator Tom Udall, who in 2015 introduced a resolution in the Senate urging Indonesias government to create a truth and reconciliation commission, said the U.S. must also confront its role in these terrible acts. Indonesias Muslim mass organizations are among those reluctant to face scrutiny for their role, which in the fevered atmosphere of 1965 was characterized by Islamic leaders as a holy war against atheists. Under the direction of the army, the Muslim organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah were enthusiastic participants in mass murder, carrying out indiscriminate killings as well as organized executions, according to the documents. They also mention the armys recruiting of Catholics to help with its extermination campaign in central Java. A December 1965 cable from the U.S. Consulate in Medan, Indonesia, reported that preachers in Muhammadiyah mosques were telling congregations that all who joined the communist party must be killed, saying they are the lowest order of infidel, the shedding of whose blood is comparable to killing chicken. A detailed four-page report covering mid- to late November 1965 by the U.S. Embassys political affairs officer, Edward E. Masters, discussed the spread of mass executions to several provinces and the role of youth groups in helping to solve the main problem of where to house and what to feed PKI prisoners. PKI is the Indonesian acronym for the countrys communist party. Many provinces appear to be successfully meeting this problem by executing their PKI prisoners, or killing them before they are captured, a task in which Moslem youth groups are providing assistance, the report said. A cable from earlier in the month mentions an estimated 62,000 prisoners in the province of Central Java alone. Ansor, the youth arm of Nahdlatul Ulama, was responsible for brutal attacks on communists, according to a Dec. 10, 1965, cable, but also caused problems by doing the same to non-communists involved in personal feuds with its members. Possibly the earliest mention of systematic bloodshed in cables to Washington is a mid-October 1965 record of conversations between the embassys second secretary and Bujung Nasution, a special assistant to Indonesias attorney general involved with intelligence matters. Like other intermediaries of the Indonesian army and its allies sent to approach the embassy, Nasution was apparently trying to assess whether the U.S. would object to the extermination campaign. According to Nasution, the army had already executed many cadres, but this information, he said, must be closely held because the army needed more time to break the communists. The memo described Nasution as alarmed that reports of atrocities had been leaked to the Malaysian press. It said he warned that it was critical that Sukarno did not learn of the extent of the armys repression, especially from the foreign media. In response, the second secretary, Robert G. Rich, reassured Nasution. The U.S. government was fully aware of the sensitive nature of the current events, said Rich, and was making every effort to avoid stimulating press speculation. Stephen Wright, Jakarta, AP A New Jersey newspaper has scored an easy scoop. A Corvette crashed into the newsroom of the Press of Atlantic City newspaper in Pleasantville. The newspaper reports the cars driver fell asleep yesterday [Macau time] before driving through an intersection, jumping a curb, traveling about 23 meters and then slamming into the newspapers office. No one in the office was hurt. The crash shattered two first-floor windows and knocked over several filing cabinets. The female driver and a male passenger are being questioned by police. Toys R Us Inc., the retailer that filed for bankruptcy in North America, has been exploring options for its growing Asian business, including a potential initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. The U.S. chain and its local joint venture partner, the billionaire Fung brothers, have been speaking with investment banks to study the feasibility of listing the Asian business on the Hong Kong bourse, according to the people. A deal could value the unit at as much as USD2 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Toys R Us and some of its North American subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy last month, though its Asian unit wasnt included in the proceedings. Deliberations are at an early stage, and Toys R Us hasnt decided which path to pursue, the people said. Toys R Us owns about 85 percent of the Asian venture, while Fung Group the private holding company of Hong Kong businessmen Victor and William Fung has the remainder. The ongoing bankruptcy could make a listing more complicated and harder to market to investors. Still, an IPO of the Asian unit would allow Toys R Uss private equity owners to recoup some of their investment by selling shares in a business thats still doing well. Throughout Asia, income levels are rising and the consumer is trading up to more higher-end toys, Thomas Jastrzab, a Hong Kong-based retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said by phone Tuesday. In Asia, you should see faster growth in the toy market compared to Western Europe and North America. Toys R Us dominates the $20.7 billion Asia Pacific market for traditional toys and games, according to research firm Euromonitor International. It had a 20 percent share of last years sales of dolls, action figures, puzzles and other products that lack a video-game component. Its closest competitor in the region had a 1.4 percent share, the Euromonitor data show. Growth in Asia Pacific helped offset weaker sales in the U.S. and Europe in the quarter ended April 29, Toys R Us said in June. Earlier this year, the company combined its Japanese business with a joint venture running stores in greater China and Southeast Asia. The merged business operates more than 400 outlets, according to its website. Toys R Us has about 1,600 stores and e-commerce sites around the world, and the Wayne, New Jersey-based company has vowed to keep them open during bankruptcy proceedings. The toy retailers owners had initially discussed the feasibility of listing the Asian business as early as 2018, but some parties view that timeline as too ambitious because of the complexities related to the bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., the people said. A listing could provide a boost for Hong Kong, where fundraising from first-time share sales this year has fallen 42 percent from the same period in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The citys market for IPOs is heading for its worst year since 2012, as megadeals such as an offering from state-owned China Tower Corp. are pushed to next year. KKR, Bain and Vornado acquired Toys R Us in a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. They stand to have their investment erased as the retailer seeks bankruptcy protection after competition from online rivals and price wars made it difficult for the company to service its debt. KKR and Vornado had previously written their investments in the company down to zero. Toys R Us Asia was set up in 1986. Local partner Fung Group is also the biggest shareholder in Li & Fung Ltd., a supplier to Wal- Mart Stores Inc. and other U.S. retailers. Bloomberg GOODING Voters in Gooding County have a simple choice to make this November election: Do they like the current City Council and mayor, or do they want change? City Council challengers Chuck Cram and Colin Smith and mayoral challenger Jeff Brekke presented a united front against incumbent Council members Mel Magnelli and Diane Houser and Mayor Walt Nelson to a little more than 100 people Wednesday night as they gathered at the Gooding High School during a candidate forum sponsored by the Times-News. Were running essentially as a team, Brekke said. We would like to see all of us elected to city government. We think there are areas that we can improve upon. The incumbents liked how the city government has been doing things and wanted to continue on some of the efforts theyve started. But challengers felt new faces to the Council could bring better transparency and communication to Gooding residents. And while candidates agreed that the city needs to beautify downtown, solve its workforce shortage and manage the budget responsibility, they had different ideas of how those could be approached. Smith, who teaches high school in Shoshone, wants the city to create relationships with businesses to help improve the look of downtown. But Houser, whos been on the Council eight years, warned against offering help to businesses for projects such as painting. This could open a can of worms, she said, because you cant do that for everybody. Smith also wanted sidewalks to be installed from the bowling alley to the hospital, and other candidates noted the poor condition of sidewalks throughout town. Houser said damaged sidewalks are not the citys responsibility. It is actually the responsibility of the property owner, she said, adding that work is being done to establish a grant program to encourage these repairs. And the city cant do anything to improve Main Street itself, Nelson said, because its a state highway. Thats for them to take care of, he said. We cant even fix a pot hole. Magnelli, whos been on the Council almost 12 years, said he believed the city is doing the best it can with what it has and can control. Brekke and Cram thought that making Main Street more presentable to visitors would help encourage new businesses. Brekke manages the Valley Country Store and owns Gooding Fitness Center; Cram is a semi-retired contractor. While largely in favor of bringing small- to medium-sized businesses to town, candidates brought up the hurdles Gooding has with low unemployment, limited housing and needed sewer upgrades. Its going to be tough to get businesses to come into Gooding if there isnt a workforce, Nelson said. But attracting new residents will take more housing, and Nobody is going to come to Gooding to build a spec house. The mayoral candidates, Nelson and Brekee, differed on how they though the citys budget should be managed. Brekke wanted to see the city be more productive and free up money where it could in its budget by more deeply questioning department heads. But Nelson countered that. They know their job better than I do, and better than anyone on the Council, he said. Micromanaging is not the way to run a city. In discussing goals for the upcoming term, Magnelli was in favor of upgrading the sewer system. He and Houser also want to finally make whole the flood wall along the Little Wood River to protect children in a nearby park. Similarly, Smith wanted speed bumps next to the city pool. Brekke said his focus would be having more communication and openness. We want to foster a sense of community with new folks, and get new folks involved, Brekke said. Nelson said there already was a sense of community, but he would like to see people take pride in their town by improving their own lots and sidewalks. Gooding residents will vote Nov. 7 on who will take the mayor and two open council positions. The two City Council candidates with the most votes will win the election. Having challengers with a united front may put more pressure on Magnelli and Houser to retain their seats. We are running as a group, Smith said. And were not ashamed of that. Editors note: This article was first published Dec. 6, 2012, in the Times-News and at Magicvalley.com. Shoshone Falls on the Snake River long has been compared with Niagara Falls. But not until a small boat full of miners went over the falls in 1881 did the spot became a bona fide tourist attraction. Gold was discovered in the Snake River Canyon in 1869. A mining camp called Shoshone City soon cropped up in the canyon above Shoshone Falls. Charles Walgamott opened a tent hotel and restaurant on the north side of the river above the falls in 1876. A couple of years later, Irishman Thomas Bell built a cabin directly across the river. In his book Six Decades Back, Walgamott called Bell a loner who sat in the doorway of his cabin and played his fiddle when he wasnt searching for gold. Bell was a bit of a Johnny-come-lately, for he came to Shoshone Falls during the end of the gold rush to the Snake River, said Philip Homan, an associate professor at Idaho State University. Bell would launch his little boat into the river at his cabin and cross the current to an island above Bridal Veil Falls, near the brink of Shoshone Falls. He would spend his days on his island gathering gold with a pick, shovel and rocker before venturing home each evening. Upstream from Bell Island, as it later became known, 500 Chinese miners worked the river at Shoshone City. In June 1881, Homan reports, several Chinese miners ran into Bell at Stricker Store, a trading post on the Old Oregon Trail south of present-day Hansen. The men asked Bell, known for his boating skills, to ferry them and their goods across the river to their camp on the north bank above the falls. Bell agreed, but his attempt to cross the river in the overloaded boat would be his last. Whether he had become careless from tempting the waves so often, or whether he lost or broke an oar, will never be known, wrote the Salt Lake Tribune in 1883. But one thing is certain that he and all the contents of the boat went over the falls, going down 200 feet and sinking to rise no more. Bells body was retrieved from the river, but the bodies of his passengers never were found. Walgamott gathered Bells mining tools and fragments of his boat and placed them in Bells cabin as a memorial to the 37-year-old miner. While Idahos Niagara of the West was not unknown to tourists before Bells untimely demise, said Homan, the death of Tom Bell gave Shoshone Falls an atmosphere of morbid fascination that made them Idahos first tourist attraction. Im an avid reader and my reading taste is fairly eclectic. Im also a political junky, so current events, history, biographies, political philosophy, etc., are a good fraction of what I read. I read plenty of other non-fiction as well. I say other non-fiction, although since I was old enough to read (and understand) my first political books, Rendezvous With Destiny by Eric Goldman and Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater, Id already developed enough sense of irony to realize many political tomes demand a suspension of disbelief on a par with fiction. Political writings can often also be humorous sometimes intentionally. I also read at least an equal amount of creative fiction highbrow and lowbrow from many genres. Dystopic novels and alternate histories are among my favorites, as well as character-driven novels with anti-heroes or highly flawed, nearly unsympathetic but somehow otherwise compelling protagonists. I find these two fixations enormously compatible with my interest in politics and politicians for sadly obvious reasons. What is so stimulating about such writings is how prophetic and revealing such fictions have proven regarding current political circumstances. Jack Londons 1908 novel The Iron Heel, Sinclair Lewis 1935 novel It Cant Happen Here and Philip Roths 2004 novel The Plot Against America all saw sales spikes before last falls election. Each in its own way portrays how aberrations in Americas culture, core beliefs and collective consciousness could be triggered to propel America down a path of self-destructive authoritarian governance. In every instance the fictional rationales are amazingly plausible. Certainly the historical metamorphosis of Germanys Weimar Republic demonstrated that the unthinkable can indeed happen. And, while some significant event may mark the defining manifestation of the complete transmutation, the path to that advent is often a seemingly infinite series of almost imperceptible (albeit relentless) steps. Without exception in human history the attainment of totally authoritarian rule always arrives via the route of one-party rule. One political party, one religion, one ethnicity, one family lets dont split hairs over the nature of the singularity. Idaho has been inching its way toward a power singularity since the mid-1990s. We could invest a thousand pages discussing how and why, but instead I will simply assert that, for all but Idahos economic and political elite, the consequences for average working Idahoans have been dreadful. Idahos education, wage, health care, social services, infrastructure, government ethics, gender equality, labor and incarceration problems are among the most neglected in America. This trend has steadily worsened as single-party rule has tightened its grip on Idahos government. Along with the direct damage to Idahos economic and key societal needs has been cancerous collateral damage to the very exercise of government, caused by steady right-leaning radicalization of Idahos Republican Party. Its gotten so bad that it isnt just Democrats spotlighting the problem anymore. Last week former state Rep. Kathy Skippen, R-Emmett, finally admitted that only Democrats and Independents can save Idaho from the catastrophic trajectory of Idahos GOP. For once I find myself in full agreement with a prominent Idaho Republican. However, neither I nor the Idaho Democratic Party can abide the way in which she expects us to save our beloved state from the accumulated and anticipated disasters Republicans have wrought for themselves and the people of Idaho. Skippen formed a PAC to entice Democrats and Independents to register as Republicans to vote sanity back into Republican Party primaries. Can I offer an analogy? She wants a group of campers to choose the least ferocious mountain lion in a game preserve to spend the night in their campground instead of freeing their watchdog. Heres the official statement by Bert Marley, the Idaho Democratic Partys state chair. Organized by a former Republican legislator, the Moderates Are Taking Hold PAC is asking Idahos Democrats and moderates to help counter the extremism of the Idaho GOP. We believe Republican leadership has caused this extreme ideology to flourish. They have encouraged the radical wing of their party to exist for power and votes so they can keep their own interests safe. We believe its ridiculous that instead of urging Idahoans to vote for a balanced, two-party system, this misguided PAC is encouraging Idaho voters to stick to the status quo and support the party that put Idaho last in education. Since the Republican Party closed their primary, they have gotten what they wanted a pure ideology. So now, disgruntled Republicans are asking Idaho Democrats to save them from themselves. They want Independents, moderates, progressives, and Democrats to vote for the least radical Republican candidate. Voters know that Idaho Democratic candidates are the true moderates. Our candidates offer a better alternative and will focus on creating opportunities for all Idahoans. The radicalized Idaho GOP cant be and doesnt deserve to be fixed. It isnt the role of Democrats and Independents to be enablers of our own philosophical antithesis, just because Republicans have suddenly become uncomfortable with their image in the mirror. The likes of Heather Scott, Ron Nate, Priscilla Giddings and Bryan Zollinger are an embarrassment to Idaho as a result of the GOPs demand for a closed primary. What Idaho voters are learning (the hard way) because of the GOPs political xenophobia and allergy to compromise, is that Democrats are Idahos true moderates. Democrats are the ones working for the genuinely essential existential day-to-day needs of working class Idahoans. Rather than flaunting Confederate flags and rallying to the aid and succor of violent anarchists attacking federal facilities, Democrats work relentlessly to create opportunities for better futures for all Idahoans: workers, families, businesses and communities alike. So-called moderate Republicans have yet to even openly call out the right wing excesses of their own party, let alone disavow them or work from within to assure a more dispassionate approach to governance. Let me suggest a more logical and achievable strategy to Idahoans desiring a less extremist status quo in Idaho government: Vote for Democrats. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has 32 wildlife management areas. Every region except the Salmon Region has at least two. Over the course of my career as a wildlife biologist for Idaho, I visited the majority of the WMAs in one capacity or another. However, my wife has not been as fortunate, and we decided to make an effort this fall to see and video as many as we could in one trip. We routinely visit all six WMAs in the Upper Snake Region so I counted them as already visited, leaving 26 to go. We cheated a little by first visiting most of the WMAs in the Pocatello or Southeast Region (we missed Sterling WMA near Aberdeen) several days before our trip began in earnest. We knew we would miss the fall colors there if we put it off. We started with the Portneuf WMA, located on the east side of Interstate 15 between Inkom and McCammon. It is best accessed by exiting the interstate at Inkom and following the old highway south. If you want more specific directions to any of the WMAs I will cover in the next few weeks, go to idfg.idaho.gov, click on the Wildlife tab then the Wildlife Management Area tab. The autumn colors at Portneuf were spectacular, especially in the evening as they glowed in the fading sun. We had the potential to see sharp-tailed grouse and mule deer but didnt luck out this time. The next morning, we were up before the sun to arrive at Georgetown Summit WMA east of Soda Springs. During the winter, this place is alive with wintering deer and elk. During the summer it attracts fishermen to the Bear River. The Oregon Trail crosses the summit and parallels the highway for a mile or more. Montpelier WMA was next on the list. Sitting on the foothills above Montpelier, this WMA has very little vehicular access but has a decent trail. On advice from the manager, we took a steep and rough road across Highway 89 to the top of a ridge where we had an overview of the WMA at a distance. Then it was back to Soda Springs and north on Highway 34. About 15 miles from town we turned right up the Blackfoot River Road. In another 15 miles we arrived at the Blackfoot River WMA, which houses the headwaters of the Blackfoot River where Diamond Creek and Lanes Creek join. With an extensive riparian bottom that complements a meandering Blackfoot River, this place is a nirvana for fishermen. Despite the ever-present phosphate mining, it is still a beautiful area and Cathy was quickly making plans to return next summer. From Blackfoot River we took the Blackfoot River/Bone Road home (a two hour trip), beginning our road trip. The first overnight stop was the Big Cottonwood WMA south of Burley. We have seen golden eagles, great horned owls, mule deer and turkeys among other things. This isnt a large WMA, but provides access to thousands of acres of BLM property. Seeing essentially the entire state of Idaho during this wonderful time of year and highlighting areas managed specifically for wildlife and wildlife-based recreation will make this trip memorable. We will keep you posted over the next two weeks as we discover or re-discover awesome things about our state. PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said if the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency fails to eradicate illegal drugs by next year, he will allow the United Nations to intervene in its war on drugs. We will go to the United Nations, [and the] human rights [activists] we will ask them to solve the problem for us Drugs are a problem worldwide. Even the Americans are having a headache, Duterte said in a speech at Camarines Sur Tuesday. Barely a week after he designated the agency to lead the drug war, Duterte noted that PDEA is undermanned with only a little over 1,000 personnela big difference when compared with the Philippine National Polices over 175,000 members. Duterte said he could tolerate policemen involved in smuggling, but not linked to the illegal drug trade. President Rodrigo Duterte He also told the PNP not to interfere with PDEA on drug-related operations, after police came under fire for killing minors in the war on drugs. ADVERTISEMENT Duterte on Wednesday again blasted the European Union, saying it allowed the Philippines to be shamed first before disowning the statements of a seven-member delegation which falsely protrayed itself as an EU mission. The EU never corrected [them], Duterte said, noting that the correction came only after he blew up at them. In a speech before jail wardens at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, the President said the Philippines was being shamed because of their apparent lies about his bloody drug war. The disclaimer comes very late, he said of an EU statement. Too late to correct [the wrong], he said. In the same speech, Duterte reiterated his claims that he shot down supposed offers made by the United Kingdom for new financial assistance, a claim that the Department of Foreign Affairs had already denied. Following the Presidents latest tirade, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano clarified that the Philippines had only stopped accepting aid from the European Union, amid their criticisms of the Presidents brutal anti-criminality campaign. Were no longer accepting new grants from the EU, Cayetano told reporters in a chance interview. This instruction not to accept funds for EU were precisely because we have issues on how we are functioning as a sovereign nation, he said. While we know how to separate politics and trade, there are lots of resistance; these parliamentary groups misinforming and spreading fake news in the EU, he added. Cayetano said the President merely wanted the country to stand on its own; and accepting new grants from the 28-nation bloc should come without any conditions. Duterte had earlier threatened to expel the EU ambassadors within 24 hours, amid criticisms against the administrations campaign of war against drugs. I am prepared to lose all diplomatic relationships with all of European countries now. Do not ever, ever come to the Philippines; youre not allowed to enter here now, Duterte said. The Presidents statements were in apparent response to recent warnings by international rights group Human Rights Watch and the Philippine UPR Watch, calling from the expulsion of the Philippines from the UN Human Rights Council if unabated killings under the bloody drug war continues. Duterte, however, mixed these criticisms with those from a seven-member delegation of European socialists to stop the bloody war on drugs or risk losing trade perks with the 28-member EU. Despite Malacanangs claims that the President was fed with the wrong information, Duterte said in a speech in Dumaguete City that he stood by his threats to expel the European envoys, saying that he was right to do it. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The Dubai-based Emirates airline will on November 3 receive its 100th A380 underlining by far the airlines reputation for the super jumbo. Emirates already operate 98 A380s out of the 140 A380s that have been ordered since 2008 when the airline introduced the aircraft. Over 80 million passengers have flown with A380 on 45 destinations spanning Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas. Emirates in November 2015 was the first to introduce the worlds first 2-class configured A380, capable of carrying more passengers than any other commercial aircraft. The company since 2008 has introduced industrial and technological improvements to its A380 fleet such as onboard lounge and first class shower spa. The onboard lounge inspired by private yacht cabins can accommodate up to 26 guests for business talks or intimate discussions. Saudi Arabia Wednesday resumed air links with neighboring Iraq by directing flights of its low-cost carrier flynas to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, 27 years following last direct flights between the two countries. We worked hard to see that flynas flights to the brotherly nation of Iraq are operational as quickly as possible in order to connect the two brotherly nations economically and socially after a 27-year-long break, flynas CEO Bandar al-Muhanna said in a statement. The tickets on promotion for the first flights were rated $7 bar taxes. Last direct flights between the two countries were suspended in 1990 after then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded neighboring Kuwait. Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal owns 34 per cent of Flynas stakes. The airline is planning to operate flights to other Iraqi cities. Saudi Arabias flagship carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines, will also resume flights to Baghdad as of this Thursday. Saudi-Iraqi relations started warming up following high profile two-way visits in recent months. Saudi top diplomat, Abdel Jubeir visited Baghdad in February, the first by a Saudi senior official since 2003. Riyadh in July welcomed Iraqi and Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who was opposed the Iraqs invasion by the US and believed close to Iran. Riyadhs move to re-establish ties with Baghdad according to analysts is meant to curb Irans vast influence in Iraq and prepare Saudi investments in the country. In July Saudi Arabia opened the border crossing between the two countries to allow Iraqi pilgrims to enter the kingdom to perform the hajj. South African vice-president Ramaphosa is expected in Lesotho for post-elections national dialogue. According to Ramaphosas office, the vice-president will travel to the kingdom to facilitate two-day dialogue to be held under the auspices of the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN). Opposition party representatives, parties in government, heads of churches, the College of Chiefs, civil society organizations, academics, media and the Independent Electoral Commission are expected to participate to the dialogue. The dialogue will facilitate discussion on the complexities of the Lesotho electoral process; issues associated with securing national peace, political stability, reconciliation and transitional justice; pre-conditions for undertaking successful reforms, and key considerations on the process, structures and leadership that should accompany the reform process in the Kingdom. Lesotho has been beset by coups and periodic political violence since gaining independence in 1966. The small southern African kingdom plunged into a political crisis following a failed coup attempt in 2014, prompting regional intervention. Lesothos Prime Minister Tom Thabane last month requested about 1,200 regional troops to protect his government. Regional leaders agreed at a summit of the Southern African Development Community on September 15 to deploy a contingent force by November 1. Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe has reportedly sued a Belgium-based businessman for failing to deliver a $1.35 million ring she ordered for a wedding anniversary. According to the state-run media Herald, the first Lady has paid Lebanese businessman, Jamal Joseph Ahmed $1.35 million for a diamond ring in 2015, but was supplied with an inferior ring worth just $30,000. The first Lady is now battling to be repaid more than a million US dollars she claims to have lost. Ahmed last year claimed that he could not recover all the costs of the ring, and needed to negotiate a plan and refund what cash he could, in instalments. The businessman has only paid back $120,000, Herald reported, citing court documents. Grace, 53, seen as a potential successor to her husband, is nicknamed Gucci Grace for her reputed dedication to shopping, according to Reuters. Reports of extravagant purchases including a Rolls-Royce have made her a deeply unpopular figure in Zimbabwe. Outside her role as Zimbabwes first lady, she has also run several failed mining businesses and built her own dairy farming empire on five previously white-owned farms. As police and protesters prepare today in Gainesville for white nationalist Richard Spencer to speak at the University of Florida, two state legislators, both Democrats, filed bills to remove the vestiges of the confederacy from Florida's statutes and public spaces. Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, filed HB 235 Thursday to remove from public property all monuments erected to memorialize members of the Confederate military or any other organization that espouses white supremacist or white separatist ideology. Who we once were cannot, and should not, continue to define who we are today as a state, Jones said in a statement. It is time that we assess this period in our history with the context it deserves and with the clear-eyed understanding that our ghosts are just that: spirits whose presence cannot continue to haunt us. Under his bill, the Department of Management Services would remove and relocate all monuments on public land to the Museum of Florida History by 2020. Also on Thursday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, filed HB 277 to remove the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis and Confederate Memorial Day from the list of legal holidays in Florida. When I think of who should be honored with legal holidays, the types of people who come to mind are not those that cost millions of lives in the defense of slavery, Moskowitz said in a statement. Im positive that celebrating racism shouldnt be on the calendar each year. Its not erasing history to put it where it belongs; in a history book or a museum hall. Sen. Lauren Book is sponsoring the companion bill, SB 224, in the Senate. For more information on Gainesville's reaction to Spencer's arrival, follow the Miami Herald's live feed here. Photo via Alex Harris, Miami Herald @harrisalexc @alextdaugherty Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello is in Washington on Thursday as the Senate mulls another hurricane relief package after the House passed a $36.5 billion measure last week. Rossello will meet President Donald Trump at the White House later this morning but his first stop of the day was with Sen. Marco Rubio. Rossello also met with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday morning. "Our call is for Congress to take strong action so that we can have the resources appropriate to work with the U.S. citizens in Texas, U.S. citizens in Florida, U.S. citizens in the U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico," Rossello said. "In these emergencies things might have the appearance that they are stabilizing at one point but you always have future problems that can arise like public health emergencies. We need equal treatment." HAMILTON The 400 felony counts against Dr. Chris Christensen were dropped to 22 counts Thursday, on the opening day of his trial in Hamilton. Christensen, 68, still faces two charges of negligent homicide for allegedly prescribing the drugs that caused the overdose deaths of Gregg Griffin and Kara Philbrick-Lenker. But what had been 388 counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs multiple counts for each of the 11 alleged victims in the case was whittled down to 11 counts. The nine counts of felony criminal endangerment remain the same. The change in the indictment came as hundreds of Ravalli County residents gathered at the courthouse Thursday morning for what is expected to be the first of two days of jury selection in the trial that is expected to last about 18 days. Judge Jeffrey Langton and the jurors are expected to hear opening arguments Monday morning. Langton also issued a 16-page order Wednesday on what jurors can and cannot be told regarding Christensens background during this trial, after defense attorney Josh Van de Wetering objected to 14 separate categories of evidence that he believes are irrelevant. Deputy County Attorney Thorin Geist agreed with some of the motions, but opposed others. Langton agreed with Van de Wetering that an Idaho case, which involved allegations that Christensen illegally distributed controlled substances in 2006, wont be allowed. Christensen was tried in Idaho in 2009, but that case resulted in a hung jury. He was retried in 2010, resulting in an acquittal. Van de Wetering wrote that since his client wasnt convicted, legally its not evidence of a prior crime. Defendant argues no facts regarding his Idaho cases have any relation to any fact or issue in this case, Langton wrote, adding that the state agrees, unless Christensen testifies in this case inconsistently with the facts. Then the Idaho case may be allowed to be discussed in front of a jury. Langton made a similar decision involving Christensens license suspension by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners. It only can be brought up if Christensen testifies and speaks inconsistently with the facts. His license was suspended in Montana after a raid on Christensens practice in 2014. But Geist will be able to reference actions taken against Christensen by the Idaho Board of Medicine. Van de Wetering argued that no facts regarding that investigation are related to the current trial and that they would prejudice the jury. Langton didnt agree. In 1997, the Idaho board sanctioned and restricted Christensens practice for prescribing excessive and inappropriate amounts of controlled substances, providing substandard health care and helping a person practice medicine who wasnt authorized to practice, among other issues. Among the allegations against Christensen are that he "continued to prescribe controlled substances in violation of the restrictions in the stipulation that resulted in at least five patient overdose deaths from defendants prescriptions, and at least six patient hospitalizations from overdoses from defendants prescriptions, the state noted. Prosecutors added that this evidence is inextricably linked to, and explanatory of, the negligent homicide and criminal endangerment charges Christensen now faces. Langton agreed that it can be introduced to show that Christensen engaged in prior bad behavior, and the evidence will not unfairly prejudice the jury. Geist also will be allowed to tell the jury about Christensens suspensions and terminations from a California and an Idaho medical facility regarding his untimely and deficient medical records, but Langton wont allow any evidence of Christensens alleged disruptive behavior in hospitals and other conduct that isnt relevant to this case. Other medical professionals will be allowed to testify as expert witnesses about Christensens conduct and prescribing practices, Langton ruled. Van de Wetering had wanted that excluded, saying that testimony was merely hypothetical. Jurors also can be told about Christensens recommendations for medical marijuana cards, but only for those relating to the 11 patients named in court documents, Langton ruled, noting that recommendations for other patients are irrelevant and has the potential for prejudice. Mayoral candidate Lisa Triepke who touts her experience making ends meet during her divorce bought a car and a motor home while on public assistance, as well as two houses, according to public records. Thursday, in a terse phone call, Triepke said she was done commenting on this period of her life. Im just gonna say that I have given you guys a lot of time, willingly and ably, Triepke said. Ive probably done my last talking about these issues. It is what it is. Katherine Leonard, Triepkes media contact at Spiker Communications, told the Missoulian on Wednesday that Triepke was unavailable, but was open to being transparent, about the issue. The Missoulian reported Tuesday that public records showed Triepke bought two houses, one in Missoula and a rental property in Gulf Breeze, Florida, in the two months after her $300,000 divorce settlement was finalized in March 2016. At the time, she was still receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Low Income Energy Assistance Plan (LIEAP) benefits. After that report was published, the Missoulian was given records from the Montana Motor Vehicle Division showing that Triepke, in the wake of the divorce settlement, also titled and registered a 2007 Yamaha T25 motorcycle in late March and a 2010 hybrid Toyota Highlander and 2006 Dutchmen motor home in April. Triepke said the motorcycle was hers as part of the divorce settlement, but said in an interview Thursday with KGVO radio that she bought the car and motor home, both of which were used. All three vehicles are still registered in her name, according to the records provided by an attorney who identified himself as a supporter of Triepkes opponent, incumbent Mayor John Engen. During her campaign for mayor, Triepke has criticized the city of Missoula for wasteful spending and a failure to prioritize, touting her budgeting experience during her divorce proceedings, when she said she learned to save and spend responsibly and make ends meet. Triepke told the Missoulian she bought the houses as stabilizing investments to keep her family comfortable in Missoula, with the rental property providing savings for her children. She said she attempted to end her public assistance payments as soon as her divorce was settled, but she said the state told her to let it run out over the next few months. According to Triepkes recollection, the $150-per-month SNAP benefits stopped coming in August 2016. According to Jon Ebelt, public information officer for the Department of Public Health and Human Services, SNAP is renewed on a monthly basis, while LIEAP benefits automatically run out in June each year. University of Montana staff who work full time and are paid out of the general fund are eligible for voluntary buyouts, including severance worth six months of their pay. Wednesday, UM President Sheila Stearns shared the context of the offer, which comes on the heels of similar offers to faculty earlier in the year. She said some 1,260 people are paid out of the general fund, a number she said has been going down and should continue to drop. "We do need to drive that down. We absolutely have to in order to have a balanced budget," Stearns said. The university's general fund expenditures are $131.9 million in the current 2018 fiscal year, and of that, $117.5 million 89 percent goes to personnel, according to UM. The amount going to personnel should be closer 75 percent, or $99 million, according to a benchmark UM aims to hit. "It's not one of those things that's going to drop to 75 (percent) overnight," Stearns said. But she said UM must progress. She earlier said UM is spending too much on salaries and benefits and consequently not enough on things like the library, technology and other areas of the operation. *** Staff Senate President Maria Mangold said a task force will be looking at how to fill gaps, and a survey will solicit staff's ideas. Although she said morale is low, she said the situation offers an opportunity for innovation. She also said UM will not sacrifice front-line services to students. "The severance is a very individual choice, and we don't want to influence that in any way, and we're thrilled that it's an option, period," Mangold said. "But we want to ensure that the survivors, or those who remain here, are not being overburdened." At meetings Wednesday, Vice President of Finance Rosi Keller outlined the specifics of the offer. She said employees who take the buyout will terminate on Dec. 31, 2017, and they will receive six months of pay and medical and dental coverage through the end of 2018. Staff includes employees such as some department administrative assistants and financial aid officers. To pay for the buyouts, Keller said UM will use money the Montana Legislature reserved for the purpose. She said she hoped the offer is attractive because voluntary reductions are preferable. "That just reduces the amount of individuals we have to involuntarily let go," Keller said. In response to a question, Keller said UM would not be rehiring even if many staff leave a single department, such as IT. Rather, it will "creatively restructure" the way it provides services. "The intent of this is clearly to reduce the number of employees, as the president has indicated," Keller said. "So this isn't intended for you to leave and us to hire right behind you." At this point, she said UM has not set a limit on the number of people who can accept the buyouts. UM doesn't have a target for the number of staff who accept offers, but she said if every employee takes an offer, the campus will set a limit and take them on a first-come, first-served basis. *** In December 2016, Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian asked UM President Royce Engstrom to step down and requested that Stearns, retired commissioner, temporarily lead UM. Stearns agreed. Pending approval by the Montana Board of Regents, General Electric executive Seth Bodnar takes the helm in January 2018. Stearns has said she wants to leave the table set for Bodnar and does not want to postpone budget decisions. Earlier this week, Stearns said most employees will have a sense by mid-January if they may be subject to involuntary reductions before June 30, 2018. "I believe we are building brick by brick, strategy by strategy, the framework to preserve academic excellence with a balanced budget for 2019 and beyond," Stearns said in an email. At the meeting Wednesday, she said UM has been making progress in getting its personnel costs in line with its declining enrollment. She credited predecessor Engstrom with earlier reductions. In the 2014 fiscal year, for instance, UM funded 1,415 people out of its general fund compared to 1,260 this fiscal year. The president also noted the current offer is one of several strategies the campus has employed in an attempt to balance its budget. In addition to a couple of rounds of faculty buyouts, it also wants to boost retention and enrollment and ensure students register for spring semester. UM is in the midst of a process to prioritize its programs, and the outcome should identify where UM will put resources. Stearns said the information will be valuable going forward. "It's like a huge gift to the new president to have that insight into each one of your programs and how they operate and what their challenges are," Stearns said. Steve Bannon, leader of the charge against the Republican party establishment and former adviser to President Donald Trump, has endorsed Matt Rosendale in Montanas 2018 Senate race. Rosendale tweeted out a photo of himself and Bannon on Wednesday morning, saying Met w/ Steve Bannon a few weeks ago. Thrilled to have earned his support! Rosendales campaign released a statement about the endorsement: I was thrilled to have met with Steve Bannon a few weeks ago. Im proud to have earned the support of both Steve and the Pro-Trump group Great America Alliance." The statement also indicated support for Trump. "President Trump's agenda is good for the nation and great for Montana. And right now we have a tremendous opportunity to implement it. But clearly, there aren't the 51 votes needed in the Senate to move the ball forward." Bannon is a former chief strategist to Trump who left that position earlier this year. Since his departure, he returned as chairman of Breitbart News and declared a "season of war" against establishment Republicans, with a goal of defeating sitting members of the Republican Party in Congress by challenging them in primaries. Rosendale is Montana's commissioner of securities and insurance, winning the election for that position last November. He hopes to win Montanas Republican Senate primary to run against U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Big Sandy who has held the seat since 2007. This years race is expected to be another close and expensive contest, something to which Tester is no stranger. The Republican primary is already packed, with Rosendale seen as one of the front-runners. Other candidates include former Billings judge Russ Fagg, Big Sky businessman Troy Downing, state senator and doctor Albert Olszewski, James Dean of Havre and Ron Murray of Belgrade. Rosendale is second to Downing so far in fundraising among Republicans, with $410,000 in contributions, though of Downing's $492,000, $350,000 come from a loan from the candidate. Tester raised $1.2 million over the last three months, bringing his total to $8 million. Downing's campaign manager, Lola Zinke, also recently posted a photo of herself taken with Bannon on Twitter, with a heart emoji and the text "this man! #SteveBannon." Zinke is the wife of U.S. Secretary of the Interior and former congressman from Montana Ryan Zinke. Bannon has been called everything from racist to a white nationalist and anti-Semitic, though he counters that he is simply an economic nationalist. He is also vocal in his disgust with the mainstream media and has used Breitbart to push out anti-immigrant and white nationalists views. He has said in the past his website is a "platform" for the alt-right, though has denied he is a member of that movement. He has endorsed Kelli Ward in Arizona, who is running against Sen. Jeff Flake in the Republican primary there. He also endorsed Roy Moore, a state judge with a history of controversial actions and statements, who defeated Sen. Luther Strange, appointed to the seat when Jeff Sessions became attorney general. Since his departure from the White House, Bannon has traveled the country courting wealthy donors in an attempt to sway their financial support to his chosen candidates. Chris Meagher, spokesman for the Montana Democratic Party, criticized the endorsement Thursday. "It's no surprise that Steve Bannon is backing wealthy real estate developer Matt Rosendale because they are both trying to sabotage Montanans' health care," Meagher said. In a speech last week, Bannon called Trump's move last week to end cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies a move to "blow up" health insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act. Rosendale initially told Montana insurance companies selling on the exchange they could not raise rates to make up for the lost payments, but that was reversed earlier this week. Lee Banville, an associate professor and political analyst at the University of Montana, said Bannons name is a lightning rod for many people, but the endorsement will probably not sway a great number of voters in the primary. I dont think this will shift the conversation dramatically, he said. The endorsement could open up a larger funding network for Rosendale. For people who see the political system as not hearing the message of 2016, this is the kind of endorsement that can get a lot of people fired up and giving money to Rosendale," Banville said. Rosendale has long been identified as an outspoken conservative, Banville said, so its unclear if the Bannon endorsement will scare anyone away. He was probably most famous before this for an ad in which he was shooting at a drone, in what was both a statement about government surveillance but also a pretty subtly veiled shot at his competitor, Ryan Zinke." Whats less clear is how the endorsement would matter if Rosendale wins the primary, Banville said. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, you have been in the press a lot lately; 1. on the need for forest management reform to reduce the risk of wildfire and 2. about the high-tech industry conference you recently held in Missoula. Thank you for promoting a call for action to solve Montanas problems. You make valid points regarding Montanas technology revolution and the good, high-paying jobs it could bring. In contrast, your statements about wildfires and forest mismanagement fall short and oversimplify a complex subject. The mailbox flyer you recently sent us is rife with misleading statements. For example, you assert that eliminating citizens right to challenge the federal government and give the state decision authority over national forests would pave the way for more and cheaper timber sales, lead to more logging jobs and eliminate wildfires. Sounds good in theory, but just like building a high-tech industry, its not that simple. Since how national forests are managed affects all western Montanans, I hope you would listen to everyones views, as well as consult the wealth of scientific data and studies that are readily available before you draft legislation. However, your flyer states: "A healthy forest is a managed forest and were done listening to those who tell us otherwise. This suggests that you are not serious about seeking facts or listening to opposing views. Although you say the recent wildfires are a result of forest mismanagement, you fail to state why. One cannot judge whether our forests are being properly managed without clearly defined objectives. In your (Oct. 12) guest column on bringing high-tech to Montana, you say: You dont have to trade the great Montana way of life, our hiking, fly-fishing and hunting, to have a good-paying job. Technology has removed geography as a constraint to business and Montana is realizing those benefits. Similarly, we should not use up our public land assets that attract such businesses. Polls suggest that industry leaders repeatedly admit the quality of our environment is a bankable commodity. We all know that our quality of life here is largely created by living close to national forests. How we manage our forests influences whether high tech companies choose to locate here. So, Senator Daines, why not sponsor a summit that explores not only what kind of technology infrastructure we need to support a high-tech economy, but what kind of national forest management programs and priorities we need as well? Why not seek expert advice on how we can reduce the fire risk while simultaneously creating healthy forests that protect the environmental qualities that would attract high tech companies to invest in Montana? It should be possible to maintain highly valued recreation opportunities, scenic quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat and reduce the fire risk. We can have high-tech jobs and jobs in the woods to reduce fuels. Yes, I think we can have our cake and eat it too. However, we must be willing to listen to all sides of an issue. How about it, Senator Daines? I am doing my part by hosting a series of lectures on fire and forest management at the North Ravalli County Library in Stevensville this November. How about you host a conference of high-tech industry and natural resource leaders that, instead of looking backwards to the '50s and '60s, look to the future? We need a new paradigm that manages the assets of our national forests to benefit all Americans while attracting new high-tech jobs for Montanans. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte are surely gung-ho STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) guys; champions of technology. Daines helped grow the RightNow Technologies company founded by Gianforte (Oct. 5 guest column). Yet as choking shrouds of wildfire smoke smothered Montana, they blatantly ignored the S part of STEM; blaming environmental extremists for this seasons swarm of wildfires. Theyve seemingly ignored or dismissed data-based input from scientists who actually studied what does and doesnt exacerbate the potential for and spreading of wildfires. Some excellent articles recently graced this newspaper. Refreshingly and rationally, they discuss physical conditions (temperatures, humidity, drought, types and amounts of fuels, terrain) that affect how fires develop and spread. They present data-based recommendations for addressing future fires with a focus on the structure/forest interface. No dog whistles. No political red meat. Thats the blessing and, hopefully, salvation of getting information from scientists rather than politicians or lobbyists. We STEM folk have no axe to grind, no dog in the fight, no political points to score. While skies are blue again, there remains a dark blanket, unrelated to Mother Nature, diminishing light and life. More dangerous than any storm seen on radar, a sad and frightening trend towards denial and dismissal of scientific evidence and a growing distrust of the scientific process has sprung up to cloud rational discourse. When our local politicians and other highly vested interests are denigrating and pushing aside the input of STEM folk, its time we start pushing back. It wasnt all that long ago that scientists and engineers, the people who dispassionately collected and analyzed data, were respected listened to. They would say, Here is what we found. Heres some ways we can possibly deal with it, each with particular costs and benefits. And our policy people (you know, the ones we voted for and the experts they appoint) would establish a plan of action (albeit often well-seasoned with political expediency) to serve the citizenry. But at least facts were accepted as, well, facts. And they were the foundation for a somewhat reasonable course of action. Now two-thirds of our representation in Washington parrot our presidents Ah, I dont think so response when presented with overwhelming evidence on climate change (with greater frequency and intensity of droughts) producing increasingly problematic fire seasons. Theyre not admitting, Oh, I understand and accept your data and conclusions. But Im not willing to support data-driven plans to help save property and lives from future wildfires. Id rather score political points by tossing some hot-button labels around. Instead, they dismiss scientific information, citing a gut feeling; reliable contrary data or analysis is virtually never brought forth. Unlike politicians, STEM people never put forth statements of ultimate truth. Such is the nature and foundation of scientific research and discovery; we can only provide our best data, analysis and conclusions based on current observational tools. We accept that tomorrows improved tools of observation, peer review by fellow scientists or a study with greater statistical significance may require adjusting todays assessments. This feature (not being willing to profess absolute surety) is what allows political and other pundits to assail the validity of any scientific studies they find inconvenient. But please, fellow STEM geeks, this is too important to let slide. We cant just sit back in astonishment and frustration at the foolishness (and greed?) of certain politicians and their lobbyists. When they belch distortions and flat-out untruths they need to be told in no uncertain terms to put up (actual verifiable facts and a rational thought process) or shut up. Montana's crown jewel is in imminent danger from a plan to marginalize the Flathead Basin Commission and force out its excellent executive director, Caryn Miske. John Tubbs, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, recently proposed zeroing out the entire staff budget of the FBC. The official reason is that the budget impasse between Democrats and Republicans is now forcing agencies to cut 10 percent. That doesnt pass the smell test. Within the DNRC, only the FBC is being targeted for a cut exceeding 70 percent even though it constitutes just two-tenths of 1 percent of the departments total budget. In fact, the proposed cut would actually result in Montana losing funding, because every year, the FBCs Miske has raised well over half a million dollars in grant funds to bolster protection of the Flathead from the menace of aquatic invasive species. If approved by the governor, this cut would destroy Montanas best and most accomplished watershed organization in the aquatic invasive species fight. It would also come down at a critical moment, with non-native mussels now confirmed in Tiber Reservoir, less than a three-hour drive from Marias Pass. Established by the Legislature in 1983 as an independent commission, the FBC has earned bipartisan support ever since, effectively and efficiently carrying out its mission as a guardian of the Flathead. In protecting the basin from coal mines, and more recently in preventing the introduction of exotic zebra and quagga mussels, the FBC has proven its unique ability to solve complex, multi-jurisdictional problems. For the past decade, the FBC has been a state leader in protecting against aquatic invasive species. It has pushed successfully for tougher standards and more action, often overcoming surprising resistance and obstruction from key figures in state agencies, who consistently rebuffed FBC critiques and recommendations for policy changes. If what the FBC advocated had been implemented statewide, its possible that we would have avoided the disastrous introduction of non-native mussels into the upper Missouri, confirmed last year. For years leading up to 2016, the state failed to prevent the launching of out-of-state boats without prior inspection, and left our eastern borders almost entirely unguarded (our eastern gates were even unguarded for much of this year). This past April, the Legislature passed House Bill 622, one of the sessions few major aquatic invasive species bills. For the Flathead Basin, the most important part is Section 7, which mandates a Flathead pilot program of no launch without prior inspection, administered by the FBC in coordination with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Section 7 contains specific provisions that would make it by far the strongest regional aquatic invasive species program in the state. The FBC, CSKT and Bullock administration all testified in support of HB 622.The FBC traveled to Helena to meet with FWP and ensure that Section 7 would work smoothly as a complement to the newly expanded but still emerging (and still struggling) statewide efforts. We were assured by both FWP and DNRC that everything would be moved forward as quickly as possible. But now, the DNRCs proposed elimination of FBC staff would abort the Flathead pilot program. If approved by Governor Bullock, it would leave our waters far more vulnerable to permanent destruction by aquatic invasive species. We must raise our voices for a wiser course of action. Please write to the governor (governor@mt.gov), and to Nancy Ballance, chair of the Legislative Finance Committee (nancyballance@aol.com and leadams@mt.gov). Urge full and speedy implementation of all of our aquatic invasive species laws, and a fair and equal distribution of budget cuts with continued funding for Flathead Basin Commission staff. Father Kirby Longo headed to the Boulder River with friends Thursday to celebrate getting most of his personal belongings including his two fishing rods and all of his fishing flies back Thursday morning. Longo said a Butte resident found Longos duffel bag while walking a dog in an alleyway near St. Anns Parish, which Longo joined in July. The resident found Longo at the parish at about 10:30 Thursday and gave him the stolen goods valued at about $3,000. Longo said the thieves had crammed everything they had taken out of the middle console of his Ford Explorer into the duffel bag. Longo said there were CDs and random stuff I didnt know I had. A few things inside the duffel bag were broken. After reading the story of Longos duffel bag containing two fishing rods and flies that had been stolen sometime Tuesday night on The Montana Standards website, former Butte resident Gary Pyfer contacted Longo and promised to send him a new fishing rod. Pyfer lives in Seattle. I called Father Longo and told him the people in Butte are very nice people, you just happened to run into some bad apples, Pyfer told The Montana Standard earlier this week. Ordained June 23, Longo moved to Butte from Billings in July to join Father Tom Haffey at St. Anns Catholic Church on Farragut Avenue. The church rectory has been his home ever since. His SUV was parked near the rectory and ready to go for a planned fishing trip when the vehicle was broken into Tuesday night. Longo said he has received about $150 in donations since the story ran in the Standard. Longo said he plans to contact Pyfer to tell him he doesnt need the fishing rod now that his rod has come back to him. He will donate the $150 to a friend whose jacket was stolen in the theft. The jacket was not recovered. Police say James Wasson, who led police on car chase in April, is the man who closed himself in the apartment Tuesday night as police surrounded the building with high-powered guns and tactical gear. Before locking himself in the apartment on the 600 block of south Montana Street, Wasson once again led police on a car chase, Undersheriff George Skuletich said. The chase and resulting standoff culminated in Wassons peaceful surrender, but not before Wasson allegedly told responding officers that he was armed and had an explosive device a claim that later proved to be false. Skuletich said the chase started around 6 p.m. when officers spotted Wasson driving on Montana Street. Skuletich said several warrants were out for Wassons arrest resulting from an Oct. 14 incident in which the 29-year-old allegedly almost hit a man with his own vehicle as Wasson attempted to steal the car. Knowing of the warrants for Wasson, officers began following Wasson, who evaded police in his vehicle in a chase through Uptown Butte. Skuletich said police followed Wasson for several minutes but called off the chase due to safety concerns. Police later spotted the vehicle parked behind the apartment building on the 600 block of Montana Street, where Wasson was known to have acquaintances. Skuletich said officers attempted to contact Wasson in the apartment, at which time Wasson allegedly told officers that he was armed, that he would shoot police and that he had an explosive device. Although the claim later proved false police didnt find any weapons in the apartment or on Wasson, Skuletich said the statement caused police to call in a tactical team and a negotiator. At around 10 p.m., Skuletich said, Wasson surrendered without incident. No one was hurt other than Wasson, who had a self-inflicted cut on his arm. Wasson was taken St. James Healthcare and later to the Butte jail, where he was booked on two felony charges of criminal endangerment, a felony obstruction charge and a misdemeanor for criminal contempt for the Oct. 14 incident. Skuletich said charges for Tuesday nights standoff are pending from the county attorney. Tuesday nights events come just a week after Wasson pleaded guilty to felony escape. According to court documents, on April 13 Wasson led police on a high-speed chase that ultimately culminated in police shooting the tires out of a car Wasson was driving. While in custody for that incident, Wasson jumped out of a vehicle as he was being transported from Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, where he received a mental-health evaluation. Last week he received a 10-year suspended sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to criminal escape. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped six felony charges and one misdemeanor from the April 13 incident. Police reports Partner-family member assault Police arrested Shawn McKinney, 41, of Butte for a misdemeanor count of partner-family member assault on the 1100 block of California Street at about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday. McKinney allegedly came home inebriated, argued with the female victim, and pushed her to the floor, injuring her hip. Caught during traffic stop Police netted Robert Reich, 31, of Butte, who had three outstanding felony warrants, during a traffic stop at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday on the 600 block of Galena Street. Reich was wanted for aggravated burglary, bail jumping, and revocation of sentence, all felony counts. He was also wanted for a misdemeanor count of partner-family member assault. During the stop, police also arrested McKenna Lewis, 22, of Butte for an outstanding misdemeanor criminal contempt warrant. Drug paraphernalia Police found Zachary Mulcahy, 25, of Butte at the Town Pump Casino, 531 S. Montana St., at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. They placed him under arrest for an outstanding criminal contempt warrant and allegedly found a pipe in his pocket. He was also booked for a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Suspicious vehicle Officers checked on a suspicious vehicle at about midnight Wednesday and allegedly found two people William Jacobson, 44, of Dillon and Denise Robbins, 46, of Butte who both had outstanding criminal contempt warrants. Outstanding probation violation While responding to a report of a male-female disturbance at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the 500 block of Arizona Street, officers allegedly saw Dennis Sullivan, 23, of Butte running on West Platinum Street. Officers stopped Sullivan on Upton Street, east of the alleged disturbance, and found that Sullivan had an outstanding probation violation. Outstanding contempt warrants Police stopped Jessica Tonkin, 40, of Butte at George and Kaw streets at about 3 a.m. Thursday allegedly because they recognized her. Tonkin had three outstanding misdemeanor criminal contempt warrants. A judge sentenced a man to 12 years in the Montana State Prison on Thursday none of them suspended for robbing the M&M in Butte last November. Thomas William Rupert said he was committed to changing his ways, a pledge his public defender called sincere. But District Judge Brad Newman didnt buy it, saying the record before the court suggests otherwise. Rupert, who is only 25, said hed suffered from addiction since he was 11 and had spent half his adult years so far behind bars, including time at the state prison. It wouldnt help him to go there again, he said. Newman said he had no other recourse. Unlike many of the sentences he imposes, none of the years were suspended. Mr. Rupert, Im not sending you to prison Newman said. youve earned it. Rupert was accused of walking into the M&M bar and eatery on North Main Street on Nov. 5, 2016, and asking a female employee where the money was. She wouldnt give him any, but he stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as if he had a weapon, prosecutors said. She told him the money was in a cash box on the counter and even though she wouldnt stop him, there were cameras all over. But Rupert grabbed the box, which had $316 in it, and ran out the back door. Police were called to the Flying J Truck Stop in Rocker at 1:20 a.m. the next day when an employee recognized Rupert and knew he was wanted. Officers went there and arrested Rupert inside the casino there. Rupert pleaded guilty to the robbery charge in April and as of Thursday had been at the Butte-Silver Bow jail for 347 days. He was arrested for allegedly stealing tools from a Butte apartment in October 2016, and when police found him, he had a BB pistol in his waistband, so he was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon. That case is still pending before District Judge Kurt Kruger. Rupert told Newman on Thursday he was committed to positive change. Im sincerely ready to move forward with my life, he said. His attorney, Kaylan Minor, said his family had abandoned him and his mother died recently but he had matured and was a new person. He needed addiction treatment instead of prison, she said, because the latter was all negative. But Newman said Rupert had two prior felony convictions, his burglary charge was pending in another court, and his recent crimes threatened others. Rupert is to get credit for 347 days served in jail, but none of the prison term was suspended, Newman said. A newly ordained Catholic priest who is also new to Butte packed his Ford Explorer with all kinds of fly-fishing gear late Tuesday night so hed be ready for a group trip to the Missouri River at sunup Wednesday. When Father Kirby Longo went outside about 7 a.m., however, all the gear and virtually everything else in his SUV parked next to St. Anns Catholic Church had been stolen. But read on. Within hours, a man who was married at St. Anns in 1969 read about Longos misfortune online in the Montana Standard from Seattle and is sending the priest a new Sage rod and reel to start replenishing his gear. I called Father Longo and told him the people in Butte are very nice people, you just happened to run into some bad apples, Gary Pyfer said by phone from Seattle, where he has a dental practice. Whoever got into Longos SUV took most everything, including items in the glove compartment and middle console. They took fly rods and other gear some of them gifts and more than 50 flies he spent hours tying himself. The gear was worth about $3,000, he figures, but it's hard to put a price on the flies. Its kind of what I had accumulated over the past 10 years of fishing, Longo told the Standard. They even took a bike lock and cleaning supplies. They cleaned it out. Longo was ordained June 23 and moved from Billings to Butte in July so he could join Father Tom Haffey at St. Anns Catholic Church on Farragut Avenue. He has been living in the church rectory and thats where his Explorer was parked. The SUV has a keyless entry-system and Longo figures he must have left the back window ajar when he was done loading around midnight Tuesday. He called police Wednesday morning and an officer came out and took a report. Longo had friends in town from Colorado that he attended the seminary with and they planned to head up to the Missouri near Wolf Creek for a day of fishing. Mike Poole from Missoula was going to join them, but he said he got a call from Longo about the theft and the day-trip was scrapped. Poole called the Standard to say he felt sick about it and the newspaper contacted Longo. The same thing happened to Poole a couple of years ago, he said, and Longo had only been in Butte a few months. I feel violated, too, Poole said. I really do. A lot of that was treasure people had given him. Longo said he planned to check pawn shops for his gear but believes its more likely the thieves will try to sell it on eBay. He said police have a system for checking for stolen goods and hopefully that would yield results. Pyfer said he and his wife, Julene, grew up in Butte and met in the second grade at Whittier Elementary School. They graduated from Butte High School in 1965 and were married at St. Anns four years later. They moved to Seattle more than 40 years ago, he said, but he comes back to Montana often to fly fish and reads the Standard online every day. When he read about the theft, he decided to act. He said he told Longo the fly rod would be in the mail by Friday. Butte is a very nice place, Pyfer said. I dont care what city youre in, youre going to have bad apples. Undersheriff George Skuletich said he had not seen the theft report yet but when it comes to finding stolen property, online resources are the first investigators turn to. Police often visit an online database that lists pawn shop items, classified sites, Facebook, eBay and other sites for buying and selling goods, he said. People with information may call the sheriff's department at 406-497-1120. Less than two months after BioScience Laboratories Inc. closed the last chapter on its Butte location, a new tenant wants to move into the 26,000-square-foot facility on Excelsior and Platinum. Marc Murphy of MarCom LLC will appear Thursday before Buttes zoning board, where hell ask for a variance that will allow the company to establish an analytical lab in the vacant facility. The board meets at 5:30 p.m. in Room 312 of the county courthouse, 155 W. Granite St. Zoning documents say the new facility will employ five people, a figure that Murphy confirmed this week in an interview with The Montana Standard. Murphy said the new employees are those MarCom recently absorbed after the company purchased lab equipment from the MSE Technology Applications complex south of Butte. MarCom announced the acquisition Sept. 29 the day after The Montana Standard reported that most everything at the complex, including cranes, vehicles, equipment, and machinery, was scheduled to be sold at auction on Nov. 2. BioScience, meanwhile, ceased operations at the Excelsior Avenue facility Aug. 31. Murphy said the availability of the building happened to come at just the right time as MarCom adds a new addition to its portfolio of services. The Idaho-based company does work in radiological controls and environmental remediation and last year received a $75,000 allocation from the states Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund to add 10 employees to a new cyber-security division. With the new laboratory, MarCom will now test soil and water samples for clients. Murphy said the laboratory will test mainly for heavy metals, but also for organics. Murphy told The Standard in September that the company hopes to open the new laboratory Nov 1. MarCom will continue to maintain its Granite Street office on the second floor of the Hennessy Building, Murphy said, but may consider consolidating into the Excelsior Avenue location in the future. After the addition of the new employees, Murphy said, MarCom will boast 77 employees nationwide, including 12 in Butte. Central's Thanksgiving dinner Nov. 14 The student body, administration, faculty and staff of Butte Central High School will sponsor the annual Laverne Combo Thanksgiving Dinner for the elderly and home-bound of Butte at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the school gymnasium. Delivery is available for those unable to attend. Call the high school office at 406-782-6761 for reservations to attend or for deliveries. The deadline for delivery reservations is 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10. There is no cost for delivery or to attend the dinner in person. Catholics, Lutherans plan joint service HELENA An ecumenical vesper service will be held at St. Helena Cathedral in Helena at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, to commemorate theological agreements between Lutherans and Catholics and to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Bishop George Leo Thomas of the Catholic Diocese of Helena, Bishop Michael Warfel of the Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings and Bishop Jessica Crist and Bishop Mark Ramseth (retired) of the Montana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will co-lead the service. This will be the first time a female bishop will lead worship at the Cathedral of St. Helena. The jointly authored document, From Conflict to Communion marks the first time that Lutherans and Catholics tell together the history of the Reformation. They express regret over the pain that they inflicted on each other, but also give thanks to the theological insights that both parties contributed and the fruits of the reformation that they have both received. Details: Father Ed Hislop, 406-721-2405. Learn more about Halloween at library Story time at the Butte Public Library, 226 W. Broadway St., starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the children's room. The subject is Halloween, and youngsters will listen to books, sing songs, and do an activity. All ages are welcome. Details: Cathy at 406-723-3361. Dance planned at Butte Elks Sunday A dance runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Elks Lodge, Montana and Galena. Music will be by the John Fox Sound. The cost is $10, and the bar will be open. Details: Frank Snyder, 406-494-6614 or 406-490-3329. Dyeing with native plants planned DILLON People are invited to join the Forest Service and Calypso Chapter of the Native Plant Society in a workshop using native plants to extract natural dyes from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Beaverhead County 4-H Building at the Dillon fairgrounds. Participants are encouraged to bring any plant dyes they have extracted and ready to use, bring dye pots and utensils if they have them, and a hot plate if available. Participants may also bring a small item of silk or wool to dye, however items will be available to purchase at the event. The event is free. However, reservations are required as space is limited to 20 people. Register by contacting Jessie at 406-683-3947. The Town Pump Charitable Foundation hopes to raise over $3 million in its 16th annual fundraising campaign for food banks across Montana, including the Butte Emergency Food Bank and the Butte Rescue Mission, according to a news release from the foundation. About 80 food banks are participating in the statewide Be A Friend in Deed, Help Those in Need campaign this year. The campaign has raised over $26 million for food banks statewide in 15 years, including about $5 million in matching grants from the Town Pump Charitable Foundation. As part of this years campaign, the Town Pump Charitable Foundation will match up to $500,000 in contributions to participating Montana food banks made now through Nov. 30, 2017. Locally, the Foundation will match up to $30,000 on behalf of the Butte Emergency Food Bank and another $30,000 on behalf of the Butte Rescue Mission for a total of $60,000 in Butte. The money is often used to purchase perishable food items such as milk, bread, fruit, and vegetables. Also, the funds are becoming more crucial in helping many food bank organizations simply stay open through payment of rent and utilities and space for storage, refrigeration, and freezing. Through the generosity of Town Pump, we're able to continue providing food to over 2,500 individuals per month, said Kathy Griffith, director of the Butte Emergency Food Bank. "This type of effort would not happen without their support. We are so thankful for all Town Pump does in this community." The Town Pump Charitable Foundation has been assisting the states food banks with its vital service since 2002. Thank you to our food bank partners across the state and to everyone who has made the Be A Friend in Deed, Help Those in Need campaign such a great success over the years, said Maureen Kenneally of the Town Pump Charitable Foundation. The inspiring effort by so many is making a real difference in the lives of our hungry neighbors. Donations for the campaign are being collected at the Butte Town Pumps; the Lucky Lils, Montana Lils, and Magic Diamond casinos; the Comfort Inn; and the Flying J. Donations also can be sent directly to the Butte Emergency Food Bank, 1019 E. Second St. As communities across the nation work to recover from recent natural disasters, many are discovering that while they have plenty of rebuilding to do, they lack the manpower to do it. This circumstance comes as no surprise to the Montana Contractors Association (MCA), which has been considering the nationwide shortage of skilled trade workers with trepidation. A survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America revealed that 70 percent of contractors have a hard time finding qualified workers. In Montana, the situation is no different, with many companies indicating they are unable to fill open jobs with skilled employees. The MCA is trying to make Montanans aware of the opportunity available to young men and women who are interested in pursuing careers in the trades. We have partnered with Montana secondary and postsecondary schools, collaborated with members of the media, and more to spread the word about the rewarding work Montana contractors do. But we still struggle to fill the jobs necessary to build Montanas infrastructure. Why? The societal pressure to pursue a four-year degree has become prevalent in schools and families, to the point of devaluing the trades and construction jobs. Its time to take back the honor associated with jobs that involve men and women working with their hands and brains to build the houses, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and water systems that make Montana our home. The MCA would like to thank Montana Superintendent of Public Schools Elsie Arntzen for recognizing the growing workforce shortage, and having the courage to promote construction as a viable, rewarding career a first choice, not a fallback for students who dont pursue degree programs at four-year schools. In fact, the MCA was pleased to enter into a partnership agreement with Superintendent Arntzen and the Montana Building Industry Association recently to further those efforts. We are gratified that the superintendent is emphasizing the need for schools to provide education and training programs that prepare young people for the thousands of jobs available as welders, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, diesel mechanics and equipment operators. These jobs, which typically pay extremely well and include generous benefit packages, often lead to supervisory/managerial positions for those who show talent and initiative far from the dead-end job stigma with which theyve been labeled. The ability for young people to move into these positions without the pressure of crushing student loan debt often puts them in a much better financial position than some of their peers who pursue other types of degrees. We dont have all the solutions yet, but we do know we need to change attitudes regarding trades education by supporting it, not only in concept, but in practice. We need to nurture our students interest in careers in construction by investing in industrial arts programs in our high schools. Our industrial arts instructors need to be trained in their areas of expertise, and the equipment they use to teach our students needs to be current. Plus, parents, educators and counselors should attach the appropriate credence to careers in the construction and related trades for their students. Four-year degrees are not the only path to success, and students who choose to follow an alternate route deserve equal support and accolades from educators and our communities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction across the country is expected to add 790,400 jobs by 2024, and is in the top five industries projected to grow the most between now and 2024. What does that mean? We dont have time to waste. Lets build Montana! Webster County, KY - UPDATE: A second Webster County middle school teacher has been arrested by Kentucky State Police conducting a drug and child porn investigation, according to The Gleaner. Jason West, 36, of Newburgh, Ind., was arrested Tuesday and charged with complicity to traffic in a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, the newspaper reported. West is a middle school teacher for Webster County, Ky., schools, along with Lucia Jenkins, the Gleaner reported. He is the third person to be arrested in the ongoing investigation. Webster County Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough released a statement Tuesday evening to acknowledge the most recent arrest. The Webster County School District is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all Webster County students, she stated. Based on the most recent charges filed against Jason West, WCMS teacher, and the Kentucky State Police investigation findings, this situation is limited to allegations of adult illegal and unethical conduct. At this point, I have nothing to indicate any involvement with students. Illegal and unethical conduct demonstrated by adults employed by the Webster County Board of Education will not be tolerated. We will continue to fully cooperate with KSP in this investigation. The safety and well-being of all Webster County students is my first priority. As Superintendent of Webster County Schools, I take this responsibility seriously and will respond accordingly with the appropriate personnel actions necessary. Previous story: An assistant police chief has been arrested after state police say he did nothing when a middle school teacher with whom he had a sexual relationship confided to him that she had deviant sexual fantasies about young teenage boys and used drugs. Larry Alan King, 51, assistant chief of the Providence Police Department, was arrested Monday and taken to the Webster County Detention Center on a charge of first-degree official misconduct, according to state police. State police said King, of Madisonville, was having a sexual relationship with a Webster County Middle School teacher who told him that she used illegal narcotics regularly and fantasized about sex with juveniles. King intentionally failed to act on the knowledge of the potential deviant sexual behavior with students and also did not report or further investigate any of the illegal narcotic use to the Webster County School Board or others in position of authority, including his police department chain of command, state police said in a news release. State police arrested Lucia Jenkins, 48, of Providence on Oct. 2, charging her with four counts of possessing or viewing matter portraying a sexual performance of a minor. She was later charged with 11 counts of first-degree conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, first offense, over two grams of methamphetamine. State police said they found several photos that depicted a minor in a sexual performance while executing a search warrant on Jenkins cell phone. Trooper Sean Wint said Jenkins had a 29-year-old boyfriend who was found dead at her house, and state police searched Jenkins cell phone as part of that investigation. We do not suspect foul play in that, Wint said of the death. Him dying is what sparked an entire chain of events, and the wheels are still turning. Webster County Middle Schools website says Jenkins teaches social studies. After Jenkins was arrested, Webster County School Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough issued a statement saying that she had no reason to believe the arrest is associated with a school-related incident, The (Henderson) Gleaner reported. However, we will conduct an internal investigation into this matter and will fully cooperate with the ongoing Kentucky State Police investigation. Every precaution will be taken to protect and ensure the safety of our students. MUSCATINE With the Muscatine city election less than a few weeks away, lawyers for Mayor Diana Broderson are asking a final ruling on her removal from office be made as soon as possible. After a nearly three-month wait to receive the transcripts of closed session meetings that a judge ordered be used as evidence in the case, district court proceedings appear to be reaching a close. Last month, Muscatine County District Court Judge Mark Cleve said Friday was the final day for both parties to file briefs in the case, then a final ruling would be issued. Lawyers for the city council and mayor, however, have been fighting the timeline for court proceedings, and as of Thursday afternoon, had yet to file final briefs. Broderson has claimed tensions arose between herself, the city council and City Administrator Gregg Mandsager almost immediately after she took office in January 2016. Within her first months in office, the council argued the mayor began making "baseless or false accusations" against the city. In the written charges of removal, the city attorney claimed Broderson accused the council of violating the law by unethically signing a health inspection report and discriminating against her because of her gender, among other complaints. Broderson claimed she was passing along citizens' complaints and addressing public concerns. The mayor also attempted to form multiple committees, as well as held coffee meetings with the public, that the council said required their approval. Council members also found issue with the mayor's appointments for boards and commissions, failing to bring several appointments to a vote, and eventually removing her appointment powers. After a series of "accusations" or "violation(s) of city code," the council voted unanimously to remove Broderson from office in May. In order to remove the mayor from office under Iowa law, the council would have to prove she willfully refused to perform her duties of office, willfully performed misconduct in office, performed corruption or extortion, was convicted of a felony, was intoxicated or violated campaign disclosure law. The city hired retired judge John Nahra to act as prosecutor, and held 20-hours worth of removal hearings at City Hall, before the removal vote. Broderson has argued the city council was involved in every step of the removal process, including charging her with violating code and prosecuting the case, then acting as "judge and jury" during the hearings and vote. About one month after Broderson's ousting, a district court judge reinstated her in office, claiming "inherent conflicts of interest" throughout the council's removal of the mayor, and said to ensure a fair trial, "no man is permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome." For the past three months, the main argument in the mayor's appeal in court has been over closed session meetings, held by the council to discuss litigation. The judge ruled the city must provide Broderson with transcripts of seven tapes; the city produced five for the judge, then appealed the decision to the Iowa Supreme Court. Last month, the state Supreme Court denied the city's appeal, and the council finally provided the mayor's lawyers with the tapes. With the case set to move forward in district court, the judge now awaits final briefs from both parties. Lawyers for Broderson, in court documents, said they plan to file a brief "direct(ing) attention to those matters raised in the closed session tapes." Laywers for the council have requested an additional five days to respond to the brief. The judge has yet to set a new timeline for the court filings, but once the record is officially closed, he will issue a ruling determining whether the council's removal of the mayor was constitutional. The council hopes to defend their argument that Broderson "willfully" violated the city code, while the mayor hopes the judge will agree the removal was a violation of her right to due process. The Louisa County Conservation Board is less than $10,000 from completely funding a $446,953 trail development project in the county, the board's Executive Director Katie Hammond told the Louisa County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Its like an eyelash to what we were (originally facing), Hammond said. The proposed project would include development of a two-mile stretch of the Hoover Nature Trail that would run from near the Louisa County Fairgrounds at Columbus Junction along the north boundary of the board's Chinkapin Bluffs Recreation Area. Although the trail would dead-end at its east end, Supervisor Randy Griffin, who also serves on the board, said it could eventually loop into the recreation areas internal trail system and possibly a future connection with Columbus Junctions nearby Chautauqua Park. According to Hammond, funding for the trail has come from a variety of federal, state and local grants and other donations. The latest piece in that puzzle came a few weeks ago when a $250,203 State Recreational Trails grant was awarded to the board by the Iowa Department of Transportation. That grant will provide a match to a $126,000 Transportation Alternatives Program grant that was approved several months ago by federal officials. Other funding will come from Washington County Riverboat Foundation, Wellmark, Columbus Junction United Fund, Community Foundation of Louisa County, Trees Forever and other sources, according to Hammond and Griffin. Griffin said once the funding is finalized and work can begin, the trail will be an important boost to visitors and local residents. Its going to be good for that area, he said. Meanwhile, Hammond presented the LCCBs Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Annual Report to the supervisors. Highlights contained in the report included a summary of the board's environmental education program. The report showed the conservation board conducted 323 environmental education programs in FY17, with a total attendance of 7,369 people. That broke down into 192 school programs that attracted 4,310 and 131 non-school programs with an attendance of 3,059. The report also showed there were nearly 4,000 camper-use days recorded in the board' s three campgrounds at Virginia Grove, Snivelys Access and Flaming Prairie in fiscal year 2017. Campground usage was a key focus for the supervisors. Im hearing more and more people want camping, Supervisor Brad Quigley said, explaining that more campers seek full hookup sites. Hammond acknowledged that demand, but said the current campgrounds lack some of the facilities to provide those services. If we had full hookups we would fill up (our campgrounds), she said. Another key point in the report included information on the Naturally Louisa County Newsletter, a cooperative publicity and marketing effort between the board and Tri-Rivers Conservation Foundation. In addition to news from those two organizations, the newsletter also includes information from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Louisa County Soil and Water Conservation District, Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge and other local, non-governmental conservation organizations. In other action, the supervisors accepted a $975 bid from Kris Lihs, of Wapello, to paint two rooms and a hallway at the Louisa County Complex. The work is part of remodeling that will provide space to relocate the Louisa County Public Health Service to the Complex. The board also approved $291,948 in claims. 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 [] What the KRG's Loss of Kirkuk Means for Iraq Too many takes on Kirkuk have left me cringing. From Kurds, Arabs, Westerners and pretty much everyone else. Observing the mixture of hysteria and celebration was profound and jarring enough to provoke me into this small piece of commentary. This piece won't be focused on the small details concerning logistics and troop movements ongoing throughout the northern territories at the time of publishing, but what I think they represent and how we got here. As part of my MSc thesis 8 years ago or so, I wrote that Kirkuk should be under Federal Government control and eventually given special status in accordance with Iraqi constitutional law, satisfying all segments of its diverse population. No part of that once relatively popular solution included the complete fragmentation and breakdown of Kurdish security forces and a political sundering so vast it might spell the end of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) itself. But that's where we are now. Overreaching There is no doubt that including the "disputed" territories in the unilaterally imposed referendum is proving to be the fatal misstep (in quotes because I've never accepted the "dispute", and don't want to dignify KRG claims on lands belonging to Assyrians and other minorities outside of the KRI). The Barzani family and its allies within the PUK and other, smaller proxies made the calculation that they would have more leverage, more clout, and a tighter grip on the aspirations of the Kurdistan Region if they delivered this particular referendum question to the people, whatever the fallout afterwards. Western actors made no secret of their opposition to it, nevermind regional actors such as Turkey and Iran. Nevertheless, the referendum was confirmed the night before its scheduled execution in all its shambolic glory. Voting patterns betrayed endemic corruption: ballot boxes were either stuffed or shuttled away secretly according to eyewitnesses, in keeping with previous elections and referenda conducted by the KRG. Residents were harassed by Kurdish asayish calling and knocking on their doors, state employees were bused to polling stations and watched over carefully by armed soldiers. What was meant to be an expression of the Kurdish peoples' legitimate will was transformed into a ploy by illegitimate KRG leaders to have more cards to play in their negotiations with Baghdad. The miscalculation on the KRG's part was thinking these negotiations would even take place given the nature of the referendum question put forward, or how much it would provide Baghdad a newfound confidence to reject any meeting using its result as a staging ground for any deal-making. Kirkuk was the only thing the KRG could easily be isolated on, as opposed to lands further north where more complications would have arisen in response to this kind of assertive display of Federal authority. Even with these complications however, it seems Federal Government forces are pushing further north after their political victory in Kirkuk, with reports of peshmerga positions being abandoned in Sinjar and the rest of the Nineveh Plain. The KRG gambled and lost, and that was very much the Barzani family's call. Greed is a horrible thing, and it remains their cardinal sin. KDP vs PUK and the Rhetoric of Treachery A lot of statements, party-focused slander and rumours are circulating among KRG media and Kurdish individuals in the aftermath of Kirkuk. The infighting and self-flagellation really is something to behold. Yet, it truly boggles the mind how this is being interpreted, especially from my vantage point (of being underground and looking up at this mess). Some Kurds are saying that the lack of bloodshed and violence on the part of the peshmerga and its commanders represents a grand betrayal. That they should have defended the city against all comers. Ex Governor Karim desperately asked ordinary citizens to take up arms and resist before he himself fled to Erbil. Peshmerga commanders were interviewed by KRG media and they promised "massacres" if Kirkuk was approached by Federal forces. None of this happened, and there is a weird air of regret and mourning wafting around the commentary on the internet. The relevant point here on Kirkuk remains the same for me: the city should be administered in a fair way which represents the people of the city, and not as a vehicle to fill the coffers of the Barzani family. Individuals aligned with the KDP and PUK have taken to social media and declaring each other traitors. No doubt, images of peshmerga crying after having fled can be categorized as the anguish of terrified soldiers, of stolen hopes and dreams, and worry for family members. But why has it even come to this? Why was it so important for the KRG to assert itself as the sole overseers of a clearly heterogeneous city which they could be cornered on and forced into an embarrassing withdrawal in this way? The KRG, dominated for years by the politically bankrupt KDP, were stubborn enough to go ahead with the referendum in the face of almost universal opposition. The problem was that they went one step further by incorporating post-2014 newly conquered lands into the question. I've said this so many times: acquiring leverage for expansion and not independence had always been the purpose of the referendum. The KDP et al had calculated that they needed ownership of Kirkuk's oil for any prospect of independence, so expansion was the first priority. From the peoples' perspective, there simply is no real independence with a black market economy controlled by autocrats. The referendum was a heist, and Baghdad was gradually emboldened enough to foil it. This is not meant to antagonize the rights, well-being and desire for self-determination of the Kurdish people. All people should have equal rights and be free to live in dignity. What is beyond doubt for me however is how people are expected to do this under the auspices of a kleptocratic mafia? Did Kurds really think it was possible? "Big Picture" Nationalism A phrase I'm sarcastically coining these days: big picture nationalism is a brand of nationalism that whitewashes the historical and present crimes and failures of leaders within a community (for the greater good they are hoping for). So many people have decried the use of Western armour and weapons deployed in the reassertion of Federal authority in Kirkuk displacing the peshmerga, but where was the outrage when Western weapons were used by KDP-controlled Rojava Peshmerga units against local Yazidi fighters in Sinjar? So many people have lamented this historic retreat from Kirkuk, but where were the lamentations for Yazidis and Assyrians when Peshmerga disarmed and abandoned them to ISIS in 2014, only to return years later and declare themselves their liberators and bosses? (Is oil is more important than lives?) So many people have demonstrated against actions targeting the Kurdish people, but why is there so much silence in the face of an illegitimate and divisive president with countless deaths on his head? So many people are calling the PUK traitors when big picture nationalism entails they probably support the whims of a family who collaborated with Saddam against his own people after Anfal to retain power. In the face of genocide, absolutely untold levels of corruption, and a list of betrayals so damning nobody should be allowed back from, Barzani's regime and its policies still enjoy the support (albeit begrudging in many parts) of large segments of the local Kurdish population. It seems to me that there is the vague hope that these lands and therefore Kurdistan's future can and should be secured in any way possible, even if it means backing a tyrant. It is this dream of Kurdistan first and then we can deal with Barzani's dictatorship later, when in reality, the only thing that is real right now is Barzani's dictatorship. Yet a little voice calls out: free yourself from this ghetto and perhaps greater freedoms lie ahead. Unless this is meaningfully addressed by the Kurdish people, dreams will remain dreams, and wounds and divisions will deepen. When Kurds voted "yes" to Barzani's referendum, they weren't voting on independence, they were voting on the legitimacy of the actors who were administering it and their own sordid ambitions. People know that al-Abadi can be voted out if he fails to deliver. That is reassuring and it makes him act accordingly. Barzani has never had such pressure, and that is a large part of why we are where are today. The KRG: One of the Biggest Failures in Governance in Recent Memory? Even with billions of dollars in funding and aid, weapons, mentoring, Western hand-holding and protection, a near enough limitless output of propaganda, media access, long-term concentrated lobbying efforts, and backing from every section of Western society, the KRG has proven to be fundamentally inept at good governance. After all, what has all of this time and energy produced? A redundant parliament, shadowy institutions, fatally divided and bickering security forces built along tribal lines-- all being sucked through a fiscal black hole. That is the sum of everyone's investment and support. Imagine pinning your hopes and dreams regarding the protection of Kirkuk on a fighting force that's dependent on already alienated foreign powers for its salaries. Its no wonder a faction of the PUK reportedly caved to Baghdad's authority, setting off the unfolding domino effect in Kirkuk and the wider region. Its no wonder Federal troops have entered unopposed into Sinjar. Its no wonder Peshmerga are reportedly withdrawing from positions in Bashiqa and other areas in Nineveh. Assyrians and many other people in territories the KRG have expanded into are literally praying for the sight of Baghdad-aligned armour rolling through their neighbourhoods and tearing down newly installed portraits of Barzani. That is the reality of how bad the KRG is perceived, but you wouldn't know it because of all of the media noise and heckling. With Baghdad, minorities are one degree of separation from sovereign power. With the KRG, we are two degrees away, and underneath a layer of corruption and nepotism so thick we can't see any route up and out. Yes, there is relative security in the KRG, but that is because it is a police state. Yes, you will be safe if you swear allegiance, not to a feudal king or a lord one thousand years ago, but a political party in the information age. Yes, you might start resenting the current regime, but you can't criticize it and there is no hope it will ever change. If there was any hope, the KDP would not still be the only dominant party, and its opposition would not be as pathetic and skeletal as they are now. Where is the alternative? Where is the anger manifesting inward and producing change? The Federal Government, for all its innumerable faults, is more democratic. There is more potential to improve, to access things, to change things, and to work towards something than there is with the tribalism and patronage systems defining the KRG. That is backed up by democratic elections and a functioning parliament. What remains dysfunctional today in Baghdad has more scope to be fixed but the same cannot be said of the KRG. Minorities need strong central government, because strong central governments are the only bodies who can afford to decentralize. They are secure enough to do so. Nineveh With emerging reports of Federal forces arriving in Sinjar and Bashiqa and the ensuing peshmerga retreat from those areas (their second mass retreat in three years against two different forces) it still remains to be seen how far these Federal forces will go. If they arrive in Alqosh, the besieged town in the far north of the Nineveh Plain, there will be a joyous celebration by its residents. Alqosh's residents proudly waved Iraqi flags which served to protest the removal of their mayor and imposition of the KDP stooge, Lara Yousif Zaia, as well as make clear their position on the KRG-imposed referendum on their town (which went ahead, returning over 4000 yes votes, despite reality on the ground indicating no more than 400 people voted, and overwhelmingly "no"). Asserting Federal authority back into Nineveh after years of KDP domination represents a loosening of the noose around the necks of resident minority groups. From being sidelined and co-opted and divided politically, having their lands stolen, and their security totally unreliable?--?these groups were on the brink of annihilation. Going forward, this arrangement should now halt, or perhaps even reverse. The security vacuum left by the peshmerga will now be filled by federal forces and aligned groups-- meaning for Yazidis, PMU forces aligned with the Federal Government and for Assyrians, the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU). With the NPU, Assyrians already have in place a trained fighting force (recognized by the US and the coalition) ready to be bolstered, equipped and expanded by the Federal Government in our ancestral lands. Understating how important this is does the NPU's political mission and its ideological foundation a disservice?--?this is a force of Assyrians from Nineveh who had formed as a response to ISIS' onslaught on their towns. They have partaken in the liberation of Assyrian towns and villages alongside the Iraqi Army and coalition forces, but have been cut off from the Northern Nineveh Plain by the expanded peshmerga line which has isolated towns such as Telskuf, Alqosh, Batnaya, and Bashiqa, where many of the NPU's soldiers are from. Recent events are proving that their political positioning within the Iraqi security landscape has been astute and well-informed. Many have doubted their alignment, their purpose and even their refusal to engage in armed conflict with peshmerga forces encircling Assyrian towns, but this patience and pragmatism is seemingly paying off with the reassertion of Federal authority. Every End is a New Beginning I say this with no real exaggeration: Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has played his hand masterfully. Between taking the fight to ISIS, controlling the Hash'd al Shabi, managing relationships with Western powers as well as Turkey and Iran, navigating the crash in oil prices, plus the fractious relationship with the KRG, he has genuinely proven to be a very capable leader. His re-election after four years in office looks almost a certainty now. The KRG in had everything seemingly on its side. Any misstep by the Federal Government would have been magnified as a disaster, but these missteps have not transpired. What has instead come to pass has been a considered and assertive approach by the Federal Government, even in the face of endless provocation by the KRG and regional powers. Where people have tried to escalate matters and call for blood, al-Abadi has called for calm and reconciliation. Consider this for a moment: Federal forces marched into oil-rich Kirkuk (some commentators hilariously started dubbing it "the Kurds' Jerusalem", or "the new Kobane") almost without incident. They made no secret of their intention to do this in the days preceding and it came about as a result of political deal-making headed by al-Abadi in the background. I am not going to speculate on where the KRG goes from here, if it goes anywhere at all. It just seems cruel at this stage given the deluge of rumours abound regarding regional fractures and new alliances. What is clear is that this crisis is one the Kurdish people must address in a room full of mirrors?--?something I'm not optimistic about given an amplification of the ruinous siege mentality cultivated by the old parties. Nevertheless, there is nobody left to blame for this state of affairs but their own, admittedly unelected leaders. What many Kurds deem a betrayal, I cant help but feel relieved that very little blood was shed. Kurdish affairs have long orbited around the bloated and parasitical old parties and their whims. These chronic failings, which I and others who have been attacked, derided, and mocked for repeatedly pointing out, have been endemic and unaddressed for years. Now you can see the fruits of these failings and how they have contributed to Iraq growing in confidence as a sovereign state, a state many were classifying as "failed", in the most volatile region in the world. If the heavily maligned, "failed" Iraqi state managed to completely outmaneuver the KRG politically and militarily, how inept must the latter be, considering the support it has received? As always, I return to the Assyrian perspective. For us, recent events illustrate a resurgent Iraq, and I think (with a healthy degree of caution and hesitation) that may be a good thing for us and our future in the country. No doubt, it's clear that the collapse of KRG positions in the disputed territories has been welcomed by the vast majority of Nineveh's residents and the worldwide diaspora, but much hard work lies ahead in undoing a decade of hurt and neglect by both the KRG and the Federal Government respectively. We should enter this new epoch with open minds, but with the knowledge that things may quickly descend into oppression and tyranny once again. We know the signs now. Call them out ruthlessly and say "never again." Max J. Joseph is an Assyrian artist and writer focusing on minority group issues within the Middle East. His work has included presenting research within the European Parliament detailing the security situation for minorities in the Nineveh Plain, Iraq. He holds a BA Philosophy and an MSc International Public Policy, where his thesis centered on addressing the Assyrian question in Iraq post-2003. Charles Krug Winery will be donating 20 percent of its tasting room sales in November up to $20,000to the Napa Valley Community Foundation. The winery is naming the initiative its Thanks. Giving. effort and asks those who are able to join in with their partners in supporting the rebuilding effort across Northern California. The winery also noted that its infrastructure and team of employees remain safe after the fires. Dear Tom and Alan: Hope you both survived the fire. You must be really busy with all the insurance claims coming in. However, I still have to ask my question: what is the deal with the subsidy being removed by President Trump? Im not on Covered California, but I know people who are (my daughter, for example). She doesnt make much money at her job so shes concerned about having to pay more. Pops Tom: Thank you for your letter and for your concern. Were both OK. We dont do insurance for houses, cars, etc., so were now busy during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) for prescription drug plans and for Medicare Advantage plans, but we dont have any insurance work for fire damage. Al: The whole system around subsidies is pretty complicated, so let me go through the basics for your daughters question. First, anyone can apply for health insurance through Covered California. It is simply an exchange or marketplace where individuals, families, and/or groups can shop for plans offered by different companies. Second, depending on income, individuals and families can get subsidies to help them pay their monthly premium (its not the same for groups). Third, the subsidies apply whether they apply for a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum plan. Tom: Heres the complicated part: In addition to the subsidy available on all the metal tiers, there is a cost-sharing reduction that can accompany the silver, and only the silver, that reduces what the subscriber has to pay for doctor visits, deductibles, and other patient costs. This benefit, but not the original subsidy, is the target of President Trumps plan. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Trump administration argued that paying for the subsidies was illegal because Congress had not appropriated the money for them. Al: Heres another complicated part: health insurance companies in California are adding a surcharge to the rates for silver tier plans because the federal government is no longer funding this particular subsidy. However, Covered California, anticipating this move by the administration, states in their agent briefing email: in most cases consumers will not see a significant change in the net price of their monthly premium since the premium tax credit would also increase. Tom: Since Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net are leaving some parts of California, Covered California says they will assign subscribers to a new and similar plan for 2018 if they dont choose a plan during the open enrollment period this year. It definitely caught my attention that HealthCare.gov lists open enrollment as Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, while Covered California says open enrollment is Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2018. Al: Our apologies to those who are now confused about the difference between Open Enrollment and the Annual Enrollment Period. Hint: the AEP is for those on Medicare. The Napa Valley Museum Yountville reopened to the public on Wednesday. "We are grateful that we did not sustain any damage from the Napa County wildfires, thanks to the heroic intervention of so many within our community, and of the thousands of visiting firefighters and emergency personnel," said Executive Director Laura Rafaty. Scheduled events, including museum tours and Museum-in-the-Classroom visits, will go forward as scheduled to support the reopening of local school districts. Exhibits at the museum include: Through Sunday, Oct. 29 in the Main Gallery: Don Coen's "The Migrant Series." Through Sunday, Nov. 12, in the History Gallery: "The Smithsonian Museum of American History and Sites presents 'Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964. Through Sunday, Nov. 12, in the Spotlight Gallery: "Braceros: The Napa Valley Story, a companion exhibit developed by Napa Valley College, curated by Oscar Aguilar. Upcoming to the Main Gallery on Nov. 11: "France is a Feast, the Photographic Journey of Paul & Julia Child." The Napa Valley Museum is at 55 Presidents Circle in Yountville, and is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 to 4 p.m. For more information, call 707-944-0500, email info@napavalleymuseum.org, or visit the website at www.napavalleymuseum.org. A week after the Veterans Home of California moved many of its aged residents off its Yountville campus and away from the Napa County wildfires, officials have begun bringing the retirees back. The state Department of Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday night it will start returning to Yountville 130 residents of the Holderman building, which houses the Veterans Homes skilled nursing center for those with long-term health issues. By 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, the first six Holderman residents had arrived by ambulance, and most evacuees were expected back in Yountville by Friday night, according to CalVet spokeswoman June Iljana. We are looking forward to having our veterans back home in Yountville very soon, Ursula Stuter, the Yountville homes acting administrator, said in the CalVet statement. Weve been in regular contact with them since the evacuation, including visiting each person and speaking with the care team at their temporary location, so we know that our veterans are very anxious to get back to familiar surroundings. Those who were transferred to facilities closer to Napa County will be returned to the Veterans Home this week, with 47 people expected back by Wednesday night. Another 13 Holderman residents who had temporarily been shifted to the Eisenhower Building during the fire were allowed back into their regular quarters late Tuesday, CalVet said. Dozens of ambulances per day will be traveling to and from the Veterans Home for the rest of this week, and we want to assure the community that this is good news, Stuter said. Some 132 Holderman residents were removed from the Veterans Home grounds on the night of Oct. 10, when the Nuns Fire made its closest approach to Yountville. Ambulances took them to 24 different skilled nursing centers, and six patients were sent to the Redding Veterans Home, which is equipped with its own nursing facility, Iljana reported. (Patients sheltered in Redding are expected back in Yountville next week.) Two of the evacuees died while away from Yountville, according to Iljana, who said one already had been in hospice care before the wildfires and the other was 96 years old. Increasing smoke from the North Bay wildfires and its effect on those with respiratory problems was a major reason for the evacuations, according to CalVet, which said it consulted with the state and county Offices of Emergency Services and the state Department of Public Health before deeming the Holderman center safe to reoccupy. CalVet said it has replaced air filters inside the Holderman, a former hospital, and installed air scrubbers there and in other Veterans Home buildings to cope with smoke pollution. Home staff also continue to provide dust masks to residents, according to Iljana. As nursing patients were cleared from the Holderman building, incident commanders also began a planned evacuation of all the Yountville homes 850-plus residents using Napa VINE buses, but most were returned to campus later that night after the fire risk lessened. Anyone seeking information on a relative living at the Yountville Veterans Home is asked to call its patient information line at 707-944-4700. Fellow firefighters have created an informal memorial for Garrett Paiz, 38, who died on Oakville Grade in the pre-dawn Monday while ferrying water to the front lines of the Nuns Fire. Fellow firefighters created a memorial on Oakville Grade for Paiz, a contract driver who died when his water tender crashed through a guard rail and down a ravine Monday morning. A sign reading In Loving Memory is adorned with a photo of a water tender. Fire crews passing the memorial are stopping and signing it, said Richard Edwords, a water tender driver from San Diego. A bagged lunch and bottles of drink are propped on the concrete railing, symbolizing the nourishment that Paiz may need in the great hereafter, Edwords said. Paiz was a contract worker from Missouri hired by Cal Fire to support the massive firefighting efforts in Northern California. Edwords said he had been working with Paiz Sunday night, hauling water for the front lines. They never exchanged names, he said. When Paiz made his last run down Oakville Grade to fetch more water, The last thing he said was be safe, he said. A gofundme campaign has been established for Paiz at www.gofundme.com/memorial-fund-for-garrett-paiztaco. Paiz is the only person in a firefighting role to lose his life in the Northern California fires, which have claimed more than 40 people. The Napa County death toll is seven, including six east Napa residents. The fires in Napa County are mostly contained, but that doesnt mean residents can put their respirators away just yet. Smoke from wildfires across the Bay Area including Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties are continuing to contaminate the air, making it harmful to even breathe. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a health advisory in addition to a Spare the Air alert for Wednesday and Thursday, and says that the conditions may continue for days to come, according to a press release. In the past two weeks, parts of the Bay Area have experienced air quality levels that are historically bad, said Walter Wallace, air district spokesman. Although levels were at times hazardous, he said, theyre comparable to a normal day in Beijing, China. The Environmental Protection Agency measures air quality with Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers ranging between zero and 500. Air quality conditions are good when the AQI is between zero and 50, moderate between 51 and 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups between 101 and 150, unhealthy between 151 and 200, very unhealthy between 201 and 300, and hazardous between 301 and 500. Air conditions in Napa were unhealthy Wednesday morning when the AQI hit an estimated 179 at 8 a.m. and 163 at 10 a.m. the worst conditions in the Bay Area, according to the air district website. Conditions looked at little better in the afternoon when the AQI decreased to 115, unhealthy for sensitive groups. Air quality, which had reached hazardous levels last week, had improved over the weekend, but took a turn for the worst on Tuesday, when it reached an estimated AQI of 158. Napa Countys highest AQI so far this month was Oct. 10 when it reached estimated 378 a hazardous level. Although air quality is improving in much of the Bay Area, smoky conditions will persist near and downwind of active wildfires, said Jack Broadbent, district chief executive officer. While the wildfires are still burning, the public should monitor air quality conditions and avoid outdoor activities if they smell smoke. Smoke can irritate eyes and airways, and cause symptoms including coughing, a scratchy throat and irritated sinuses, according to the air district. Elevated particulate matter in the air can trigger wheezing in people with asthma, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD. Children, the elderly, and individuals with respiratory illnesses are particularly susceptible to elevated air pollution levels and should take extra precautions to avoid exposure. Residents impacted by heavy smoke should seek buildings with filtered air, like a public library or shopping mall, or move outside of the impacted area until smoke levels subside, says the district. The closest cities for Napa County residents to visit in order to escape the unhealthy air conditions Wednesday were Vallejo, Concord, Oakland and Berkeley, where conditions were moderate. For good air, residents would have to travel into Sebastopol, just southwest of fires raging in Sonoma County. Keep checking conditions, though, because weather patterns and wind patterns can shift drastically and blow smoke into other regions of the Bay Area, says Wallace. The air quality can change dramatically within ... hours, he said. For those who cant get away, the District recommends wearing N95 masks to help minimize breathing in fine particles. The district said Wednesday that it planned on delivering 40,000 N95 masks to fire-impacted counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Marin counties and evacuation shelters. When properly fitted, N95 masks help filter fine particulates in wildfire smoke, but Wallace advises not to rely on them too much. We dont want people to believe theyre completely protected when theyre not, says Wallace. Something as simple as a beard or other facial hair can cause the mask to be improperly fitted, he said. Even if the mask helps filter out the particulates, youre still being exposed. Ideally, when conditions are poor, stay inside, keep windows closed, recirculate the air conditioning and avoid any strenuous activity like working out. Napa Valley Unified, St. Helena Unified, Calistoga Joint Unified, Howell Mountain Elementary and Pope Valley Union Elementary schools will not be open to staff or students when conditions are deemed very unhealthy or hazardous. Continued poor air quality has delayed the planned reopenings of these districts until Monday. Napa Valley College is also closed until then. There is hope for better air quality this week, albeit temporary, says forecaster Steve Anderson at the National Weather Service in Monterey. Increased winds accompanied by some light rain should bring Napa County some relief Thursday and Friday, Anderson said. Southwest winds were blowing smoke right into Napa County Wednesday, causing unhealthy air quality, Anderson said. As winds increase Thursday and Friday, though, the smoke is expected to blow north and out of the area, he said. Theres a 70 percent chance of rain Thursday night through early Friday morning, he said, amounting to about a tenth of an inch. Any rain will, of course, be helpful, he said. That will help clear some of the air quality. Anderson called the two-day period a brief relief as hot, dry weather is expected to return over the weekend. Well be back to where we were when all this started, so were not out of the woods yet, Anderson said. Temperatures should be around 80 degrees over the weekend and 85-90 degrees Monday through Wednesday. High winds arent expected, but humidity will be low early next week, he said. Anderson said Wednesday afternoon that its too early to say whether or not more red flag warnings will be issued next week but it is possible. As crews gain increasing control of Northern Californias massive wildfires, firefighters from around the state are starting to return while some evacuees are just now digging through whats left of their neighborhoods. Most mandatory evacuations throughout the region have been lifted, but about 22,000 people in Sonoma County were still displaced Thursday morning, either because their homes are still at risk or were in a burn zone, said Sonoma County spokesman Scott Alonso. The fires destroyed at least 5,700 structures, including more than 2,800 homes in the city of Santa Rosa alone. Officials called it the deadliest week in California fire history, with at least 42 confirmed fatalities. Better weather this week has helped firefighters continue to control flames and prevent further damage. With cool temperatures and a small dose of rain expected Thursday, the objective in the days to come will be to make sure no spot fires grow out of control and that crews that have been here for nearly two weeks stay vigilant and avoid mishaps, Cal Fire officials said in a morning briefing at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Just give us your best for a few more days, Cal fire incident commander Bret Gouvea told firefighters Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, light rain was to move into the region by the afternoon. Winds started blowing to the northeast before reversing in the evening, and gusts of up to 25 mph could breathe new life into small fires within the larger wildfire perimeters, officials said. At their peak, the states large fires had drawn about 11,000 firefighters into the battle. But with the largest blazes in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties nearing full containment, firefighters have begun to trickle back to their respective states, counties and districts. The Pocket Fire, the smallest but least contained of the active Sonoma County fires, had burned 16,552 acres and was 73 percent contained Thursday morning. The Nuns fire was 82 percent contained after scorching 54,423 acres, including an offshoot near Oakmont that had worried firefighters earlier this week. As of Thursday morning, Nuns Fire activity was minimal with some smoldering, according to a Cal Fire incident report. All activity confined to the inside of the fire perimeter. The Tubbs Fire, which leveled swaths of the city of Santa Rosa and was responsible for least 22 deaths, has burned 36,432 acres and was 92 percent contained Thursday morning. As with the Nuns Fire, smoldering in the Tubbs Fire was contained to inside of the fire perimeter, according to Cal Fire. Sonoma County was holding community meetings Thursday on the process for getting state and federal aid to clean ash and debris, Alonso said. Cleanup of the hazardous materials can be dangerous and expensive, he said. Were really concerned about people touching the debris, trying to remove ash. We will have hazardous materials teams deployed ... to help homeowners with large-scale removal, Alonso said. We dont want folks doing it on their own. In Napa County, the 51,624-acre Atlas Fire, responsible for at least six deaths, was 85 percent contained Thursday morning. While most evacuees in Napa County have been allowed back into their neighborhoods, many roads remained closed Thursday. In Mendocino County, where eight people died, evacuees from the Redwood and Sulphur Fires are returning home as well. The Redwood Fire was 85 percent contained and had burned 36,523 acres as of Thursday morning, and the nearby 2,207-acre Sulphur fire in Lake County was 96 percent contained. The ongoing fires in Northern Californias wine country are tragic beyond comprehension and have resulted in a still unknown but already too high number of people losing their lives, thousands of families losing their homes and hundreds of businesses being burned to the ground or otherwise affected. Countless animals and forests have also been decimated. Those directly affected by these unprecedented events are transitioning from frantic survival mode to grief-stricken cleanup. Emotions remain raw, and a strange amalgam of fear and anxiety have blended with the uncertainty of the future in a manner that seems unbearable at times. It is true that unfathomable challenges exist, but dont believe those who predict Armageddon for the 2017 vintage or wine country. 2017 vintage Up until July the 2017 vintage looked to be the vintage of the decade: A long, slow and warm growing season fed by plenty of groundwater from a wet winter had produced balanced clusters and optimal conditions for flavor and color development. Then one of the biggest heat waves on record hit. The high temperatures lingered in the triple digits for weeks and threatened to sunburn and shrivel the grapes as the vines shut down or slowed their metabolism. Any of those factors can hurt wine quality, but the vintners responded proactively, many protecting their crops with innovative practices such as shading the grape clusters with cloth and keeping the plants hydrated at night. Over the last few years weve really learned how to deal with excessive heat, said Garrett Buckland, president of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association. We came out of this years heat wave even better than I expected. The ultra-high temperatures also caused a reduction in visitors to wine country, with many tourists and locals opting to forgo the squelching heat and either stay indoors or head someplace cooler. Meanwhile, all of the vegetation produced by the wet winter had become dry and brittle. By late September, a cooling trend materialized, and just in time. Harvest is historically the busiest time for the majority of local businesses, with many tasting rooms and restaurants making upward of a quarter of their yearly revenue at that time. There was an audible sigh of relief as most of the grapes were harvested, safely being fermented or aged in wineries, and the wines tasting exceptionally delicious. Restaurants and hotels became full of tourists again, and everything was back to normal. The 2017 fires Those earlier heat waves were nothing compared to the raging fires that began in the area on Sunday night, Oct. 8. Their impact on the wine and food industry is and will remain significant, but speaking with many who lost nearly everything provides some perspective. I got a call telling me about a fire near my home, said Marshall Hayman, who grew up in and works in Calistoga. I lived close to Bennett Lane (near the onset of the Tubbs Fire), and when I went outside there was a strong glow and sparks coming from over the crest of the hill. He went back inside, grabbed his cat and a few items wallet, laptop, phone charger and a backpack and headed to his car. Within only a couple of minutes, the fire had nearly reached his house, the flames racing at nearly 150 miles per hour according to some reports, the flying embers starting new fires, each scorching everything in its path. There were little fires sparking up everywhere, and the main fire was moving so fast and the smoke was so thick that it was crazy, Hayman said. I jumped in my car and started to head down my driveway when two Calistoga PD came flying up and told me to evacuate. The police continued up the road into the inferno while Hayman made it safely out. It all went so fast, said Hayman. When I looked back at my call log it was only about six minutes from that first call to when I was driving out making another call. When they let me back in, I went up there and everything is gone. Im not sure whats going to happen next I am taking things one day at a time and the whole community has been so supportive. Harrowing sagas unfortunately are not uncommon. Twelve of our employees lost their homes, and like so many others that have been affected, its truly devastating, said Corey Beck, executive vice president of the Francis Coppola Winery. Our wineries (in both Napa and Sonoma) made it through the fires, so we were fortunate in that way. Were doing everything we can for our employees and community at this time. One of our team lost her home, said Dick Grace, owner of Grace Family wines. She and her family will be living in our guest house. So many have been affected. Power and smoke taint The number of affected businesses continues to climb, with a limited number of wineries having outright total loss of all structures and many others having varying levels of damage. One impact on all wineries and restaurants was from days without power. This made operations tough in terms of keeping the refrigerator systems active, allowing consistent temperatures for food and for any wine still fermenting. Wineries also worry about the impact of smoke-tainted wines. We were not damaged by the fire directly, but everyone in the valley is dealing with the aftermath, said Kevin Morrisey, winemaker at Ehlers Estate winery. Smoke taint, no power, people losing their homes its having an impact, and well be dealing with this for a long time. Although most of the grapes in Napa and Sonoma were harvested before the fires, there was an estimated 10 to 30 percent of the cabernet sauvignon still out on the vines as of earlier this week. Wines in tank should be fine, said Roger Boulton, professor of enology in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. And for the grapes still on the vines, there are some tools that might be useful in combating smoke taint. Some of these tools include keeping pressed lots separate, employing new filtering techniques, using flash detente, and making sure to treat the color-extraction process as gently and as quickly as possible. Impact on restaurants One of the largest providers of employment in wine country, besides the wine industry, is the food industry. Most restaurants were closed for nearly a week, which has a broad impact. Some restaurants had business-interruption insurance, a few with lost wages provisions that pay employees during disasters, with some plans even paying out estimated tip proceeds for the waitstaff. However, not all businesses have this type of insurance. And because the evacuation orders have been lifted and some plans require property damage, the payouts are often complicated and inadequate. Between Healdsburg Bar and Grill and St. Helenas Two Birds/One Stone (TBOS), chef owner Douglas Keane reports that three employees lost their homes. Three lost homes but no one was injured, Keane said. We got back in three days ago to TBOS and fired up the kitchen and through our partnership with Jackson Family Wines figured out how to get the food to the first responders. It was nice teamwork, and seeing the community come together was impressive. I actually think this might force an affordable-housing discussion for industry workers in both Napa and Sonoma. Obviously we are very shaken up, but we must all move forward and everything has perspective now, thats for sure, said Bettina Rouas, owner of Angele Restaurant & Bar on Napas waterfront. I thank all of my lucky stars and angels. Rouas tried to remain open every day, but it became too hard with staff evacuated and intermittent power. They were able to reopen last Saturday, but business has been slow. None of our staff lost their homes, but many of our customers have, Rouas said. This has been a humbling experience that has changed the way I think and view things now. We have been making food for the shelters and feeding the first responders. This will be a long road, but my staff and I are going to stay strong and be united. Most of our customers feel at home with us. And I am proud to be open for them. Beyond the people, wine and food, thousands of acres of wilderness have been decimated and many animals have also been affected. I live up in Soda Springs (near Atlas Peak in Napa) and I only had time to grab my three cats and a bag of clothes, said Julia Orr, communications manager for Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch (JARR). We are the ones that save animals for other people and here I was, the one that needed saving. Although, as she drove away, it looked like her house was engulfed in flames, she later learned that it had survived the fire and was able to return home. Since the fires started, JARR, along with other animal rescue organizations such as Calistogas Sunrise Horse Rescue, have rescued and relocated pets, livestock, including hundreds of llamas, cows, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs. Whats next It is understandable to feel overwhelmed. And because of the intensity and breadth of trauma and destruction, it will take years to bounce back. To be sure, some businesses will be unable to maintain through this shock and will close, move or sell. There will be individuals who find it impossible to live with even less housing stock available, which tends to send rents and prices higher. It will also be tempting for some landlords to take advantage of these predicaments and raise prices. But there are others who, instead of taking advantage, are providing relief. Many people are already planning to come back to the area to vacation and help support the community. For example, the Napa Valley Film Festival will still be held Nov. 8-12 and is donating 10 percent of all pass sales to the Napa Valley Community Foundations Disaster Relief Fund. The Napa Valley Vintners are active, as are the Grapegrowers, UpValley Family Centers and many others. As many of the ubiquitous signs and banners plastered in shop windows and along roads proclaim, Theres more love in the air than smoke, and apparently this sentiment extends beyond the confines of this region. Thick skins Early Wednesday morning, before sunrise, I found numerous picking crews hard at work bringing in bins of grapes in the cold, still smoky night air. When I asked the crew boss about the quality of the fruit, he smiled. Were a little light this year, but the quality is muy bien, he said. And what about the impact of the fires on the grapes? I asked. He chewed his lip for a moment and then briefly glanced toward a few still-glowing small fires on the western hills. I followed his gaze as he turned and looked toward the crews busily picking grapes, most of them wearing masks over their mouths and noses. When he turned back his expression was full of emotion but his eyes were resolute. Remember Sideways? In 2005, this small film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Motion Picture of 2004. Famously, the main character, Miles, said, I am not drinking any f___ing merlot! This one line in a small film affected the wine world greatly. It was an astounding phenomenon, growers starting ripping out merlot vines and replanting with pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. Suddenly, merlot became uncool; bars and restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco (and even the Napa Valley) replaced merlots on their wine lists with pinots and other varietals. Perhaps that was a good thing. At the time, a lot of cheap, bubble gum, sweet and soft merlots flooded the marketplace. It was the number one red wine sold in the marketplace; wineries were chasing the trend and the results were mixed at best. According to ACNielsen, in January of 2005when Sideways had just been releasedmerlot was the top- selling red wine in the U.S., with 11.6 percent of all table wine sold in the U.S. In 2006, merlot sales peaked at 12 percent but by 2015 it was down to 8 percent and as of 2016 down to 7 percent of wines sold in America. Sideways was a factor but so was mediocre quality. However, excellent, well crafted American merlots like Duckhorns Three Palms were the exception. Overall merlot production has gone from 423,776 tons of California Merlot grapes crushed in 2005 to 268,969 tons in 2016, according to the Wine Institute. So how are merlot wines today? I recently conducted an extensive blind tasting of 60 merlot wines from local producers as well as a few from Oregon, Washington, Chile and Italy. I was trying to ascertain how merlots have progressed since the pre- and post-Sideways days. Napa Valley wines were heavily represented in the sampling. Most of the wines were from 2013 and 2014 with a few newer and a few older vintages. Prices ranged from $12-$90 with the average about $50. Happily, the overall quality of the merlots was quite good. Aaron Miller, winemaker for Plumpjack Estate said, People have forgotten about merlot, they get caught off guard. They dont expect a great wine. They like to be brought back to a great merlot. We cant produce enough. Restaurants, particularly those in the premium category, are seeing an uptick in merlot sales. Amanda McCrossin, Sommelier for PRESS said, There is a greater appreciation of merlot by a younger demographic, and younger generations of somms are also appreciating merlots much more today. And the prices are a factor. Its a much better price point for consumers than Cabernet, said McCrossin. The winners of my tasting were tough to select. I was seeking true merlot fruity/berry characteristics; smooth mouthfeel with ample to robust tannins. Many delivered. My favorite wine in the tasting was the Pride 2012 Vintner Select Merlot Sonoma County ($85). Simply superb this is what the best merlots in the world should strive to emulate. Prides merlot is velvet on the tongue showing off deep berrylicious flavors, with balanced yet firm tannins and a lovely long finish. Pride produces a great wine and a shining example of merlot. Sales of higher quality luxury merlot wines are up. According to Winemetrics Luxury Wine On-Premise report of February, 2017, Luxury Merlot retail sales ($20-plus SRP) have grown 5 percent in the last year while restaurant sales of ($100-plus By the bottle listings) have increased 19 percent. Consumers are paying more for better merlot in restaurants, spending 3 percent more by the glass and spending 4 percent more by the bottle in the past year. I see an amazing future ahead for merlot, with the increase in quality and more premium choices on the market, consumers will be able to try many styles and pick their favorite, said Jenny Wagner, winemaker for Emmolo Wines. Three other exceptional wines made the top of the list. Stags' Leap 2014 Napa Valley ($35). This fabulous wine displays a precious fruity cherry/black cherry flavors plus a tiny hint of chocolate. Sensuous, this feminine merlot will most certainly mature elegantly. Duckhorn 2014 Atlas Peak ($75). This wine from Duckhorn is exceptional; a quintessential merlot offering both power and grace. Slightly spicy, this intense Merlot from Atlas Peak is a true winner. Seven Hills 2014 Walla Walla, Washington ($45). Long a fan of Walla Walla cabernets and syrahs, this merlot surprised me. Exhibiting outstanding fruit, balance and structure, the Seven Hills is darker than most yet the tannins are under control. A genuinely brilliant wine. Neil Bernardi, vice president of Winemaking at Duckhorn Vineyards said, This is an exciting time for merlot, especially for wineries like Duckhorn Vineyards that are really dedicated to the variety. Merlot awareness is increasing, and October is Merlot Month. There is even a hashtag celebrating Merlot wines. (#MerlotMe is a global celebration of the varietal held in October). Hourglass Proprietor Jeff Smith said, Merlot would not have suffered the fate of a punch line in Sideways had the industry respected the varietal. That said, talented winemakers with a terroir-sensitive approach, are making some incredibly distinctive merlots now. Its a great time for the consumer to be exploring the category at about half the price of cabernet! Below are other standout wines from my tasting, listed in alphabetical order. Blue Oak 2014 Merlot Estate Reserve Coombsville ($55). This Coombsville masterpiece effortlessly combines rich fruit flavors with supple elegance. Gundlach Bundschu 2014 Sonoma Valley ($35). Strong, dark and a real crowdpleaser. Oberon 2015 Napa Valley ($23). Supple, appealing brambly fruit profile. Easy to enjoy. Pahlmeyer 2014 Napa Valley ($85). A big boy wine and built to please even the most reticent cab-only lover. Parducci 2014 Small Lot Mendocino County ($13). This first-rate merlot hits all the right notes and is a steal at this price by a long shot. Provenance 2013 Oak Knoll ($50). An earthy, beautifully balanced Merlot; another Oak Knoll gem. Robert Craig 2014 Howell Mountain ($90). This jammy knockout of a merlot came from vineyards at 2300 foot elevation on Howell Mountain. A substantial, luscious wine. Roche 2013 Barrel Reserve Carneros ($45). On the lighter side, this pleasing Merlot offered integrated berry flavors and smooth finish. Rutherford Hill 2013 Rutherford ($30). Very smooth, good mouthfeel with ample tannins. Trefethen 2014 FHB Oak Knoll ($75). A strong, masculine standout Merlot. Delicious to the last drop. Twomey 2013 Napa Valley ($65). Notes of black cherry, blueberry, plum and graphite contribute to a rewarding Merlot experience. There will always be demand for well-made merlot, Bernadi said. It is a remarkable grape that produces complex, exciting and incredibly pleasurable wines. When made right, it makes some of the worlds greatest wines. The Rollettes will perform on Disability Awareness Day at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, in front of the Humanities-Social Sciences Building. Photo courtesy of Joshua Guerrero and Disability Support Services Student Destiny Elias noted that people with disabilities are capable of having and sharing their dreams after watching a wheelchair dance team and musicians with autism perform at last years Cal State Fullerton Disability Awareness Day. Another student, Thy Ho, called the event a step in the right direction. To continue to educate the campus and broader community about people with disabilities, the third annual Disability Awareness Day will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, in front of the Humanities-Social Sciences Building. Disability Awareness Day celebrates diversity awareness and strives to empower persons with differing abilities, said Darlene Serrano of CSUFs Disability Support Services. The event, open to the campus community and public, features a disability resource fair, musical and dance performances, dog therapy, guest speakers, a history of disabilities exhibit, as well as other activities. At CSUF, about 1,700 students are registered with Disability Support Services. In the United States, one in five individuals has a disability, according the U.S. Census Bureau. Other campus event sponsors are CSUFs Student Wellness, Alumni Association, Abled Advocators student club and WorkAbility IV, which assists students with career development. Visitor parking information is available online. For more information, contact Serrano at 657-278-3045. View the 2016 Disability Awareness Day video here. - Taliban attacks Army base in Afghanistan, kills 43 soldiers. - Sends in two suicide bombers followed by numerous gunmen. - 43 out of 60 soldiers at the base were killed, 9 wounded and 6 still missing. The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on an Afghan army base in Kandahar province in Afghanistan, leaving 43 soldiers dead. The terrorist rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement. The attack which took place on Thursday commenced with two suicide car bombings followed by gunmen assault which led to a firefight that lasted hours. At least 9 Taliban insurgents have been confirmed dead from the assault. 2 other Afghan security facilities also experienced similar attacks this week with one resulting in 90 casualties and the other 300. Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP news agency the assailants detonated at least one explosive-packed truck and razed the compound. "We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one," Waziri said. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside. We have sent a delegation to assess the situation. The base is under ANA [Afghan National Army] control," he added. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-18 19:06:11|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Hoang Binh Quan, head of the Commission for External Relations of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, receives interview in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Oct. 17, 2017. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is of great significance as its success will contribute to China's modernization under the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Quan said. (Xinhua/Le Yanna) by Tao Jun, Le Yanna HANOI, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is of great significance as its success will contribute to China's modernization under the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, said a senior member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The congress, China's most significant political event in five years, opened Wednesday in Beijing. It came at the decisive stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and a critical moment as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. Thus it has a historic significance to the CPC and the Chinese people, Hoang Binh Quan, head of the Commission for External Relations of the CPV Central Committee, told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday. Quan spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership of the CPC, saying that he "has led the Chinese people to gain many important achievements in socio-economic development, and has heightened China's role and status in the international area." "We sincerely wish the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China a success," said the CPV dignitary. Led by the CPC, China will make bigger achievements in transforming itself into a modern, wealthy, democratic, civilized and harmonious socialist country, he said. Relations between Vietnam and China will be more vigorous after the congress, he said, noting that ties between the two parties have grown stronger and gained many significant achievements. High-level contacts between the two parties and the two countries have defined the framework of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, Quan said. With the strategic vision and determination of the leaders of the two parties and the two countries, he added, the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and China will continue to develop soundly in the future. He noted that the two parties have established exchange and cooperation mechanisms among their departments, and exchanges at the municipal and provincial levels are also broadening the scope of their cooperation. In addition, the CPV and the CPC have always enjoyed close coordination in international forums regarding political parties, he said. "The ties between the two parties are a unique feature of the Vietnam-China relations due to similarities in the political systems of the two countries," Quan said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-18 19:16:18|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close People mourn over the death of their relatives at a hospital in southwest Pakistan's Quetta on Oct. 18, 2017. At least seven people, including six policemen, were killed and over 22 injured when a suicide blast hit a security forces truck in Quetta city in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday, reported local media. (Xinhua/Asad) ISLAMABAD, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people, including six policemen, were killed and over 22 injured when a suicide blast hit a security forces truck in Quetta city in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday, reported local media. Sarfraz Bhugti, Home Minister of Balochistan, said the attack happened when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the security forces truck in Saryab area of Quetta, killing seven people on the spot and wounding 22 others. Medical Superintendent of the Civil Hospital Quetta, Shah Jahan, said that seven bodies including six policemen, and 24 injured, mostly policemen, have been brought to the hospital. Death toll might further rise as seven of the injured people were in critical condition, said hospital sources. A state of emergency has also been declared in all the hospitals in the city. Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Quetta, said the incident took place on Wednesday morning when a truck of Elite Force of Police was carrying about 30 policemen to duty, adding that there were general threats regarding an incident of terrorism in the city. Rescue teams, police and security forces rushed to the site after the blast was reported. Security forces have cordoned off the area and kicked off a search operation in the surroundings. Bomb Disposal Squad of Police said over 100 kg of explosives were used in the blast. The Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the security forces. Local media said that TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani took credit of the attack in a statement. Chief Minister of Balochistan Sanaullah Khan Zehri condemned the attack and called for the best possible medical treatment to the injured. "The people and government of Balochistan will not be deterred from the fight against terrorism," Zehri said, adding the fight will continue till the last terrorist remains. Both Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the blast and expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the attack. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 01:48:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The recent elections of pro-EU leaders in Austria, France and Germany mean the European Union (EU) has a "window of opportunity" to set a new course, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni told Italian lawmakers on Wednesday. "There is an awareness in several European countries including Italy that we are in a moment of transition with regards to the fate of the Union," Gentiloni told the Lower House in a televised speech. The prime minister urged the EU to grasp the opportunity to avoid the risk of fueling another wave of anti-European sentiment such as the one that led to Brexit. The window of opportunity won't last forever, 16 months at most before the next European Parliament elections to be held in 2019, said Gentiloni ahead of his trip to Brussels for a meeting of the European Council, also known as EU summit, on Oct. 19-20. The agenda at that meeting will focus on migration, defense, digitalization, and external relations, including measures to stem illegal migration, the reform of the Common European Asylum System, and the planned permanent structured cooperation on defense (PESCO), according to a European Council statement. Gentiloni said the situation right now is "contradictory": the Eurozone economy is growing, voters in Austria, France, and Germany have elected pro-EU leaders, and the Brexit is turning out to "not have those magnificent and spectacular consequences" that had been promised by pro-Brexit politicians. But these signs of consensus must be turned into a stable public sentiment, Gentiloni said. "We are decidedly on the side of those who promote increasing levels of integration...for the benefit of our fellow citizens," Gentiloni told lawmakers. "This has always been the position of Italy's governments and we confirm it today without hesitation." The Italian prime minister said EU leaders must not resign themselves to "moving at the speed now being dictated by the last cars on the European train," hinting at Eastern European countries that gladly accept EU funding but "won't share in common commitments, values, and objectives." Gentiloni went on to say that the EU must take steps to promote economic growth, create jobs, and promote the welfare of citizens, including, for example, a proposed EU unemployment insurance scheme. On the migration front, Gentiloni said Italy is "proud" of its results, both because of its record in saving lives at sea and "a significant blow to the absolute domination of human traffickers on the central Mediterranean route." As a result, Italy is now dealing with migration in a "civilized, organized, and manageable way," Gentiloni said. These results "allow us to be very demanding within the EU context," he added. Italy wants all EU members to share the job of taking in migrants and asylum seekers, as well as more European funding and humanitarian presence in Libya, which has agreed to stop migrant traffickers' boats from leaving. "We need resources for local communities (as well as) Libyan authorities and UN organizations, so they can repatriate migrants from Libya to their African countries of origin," Gentiloni said. "The idea of burdening just a few countries with the weight of migration from Africa and the Middle East...is ethically wrong, and also a complete illusion on the political level," Gentiloni argued. The Italian prime minister reiterated the same points in a speech to Senate lawmakers, emphasizing that the EU as a whole must invest in African countries of origin and in Libya to stem mass migration. "No migration policy can be successful if it's carried out by just one country," Gentiloni told the senators. The European Council is made up of member state leaders, and defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 01:53:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JUBA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of youth from South Sudan have defied economic meltdown in their strife-torn country to engage in entrepreneurship and tackle debilitating poverty. The resilient young entrepreneurs have nurtured a business zeal that is unprecedented to enable them to break the yoke of unemployment and poverty. Speaking to Xinhua recently in Juba, the young entrepreneurs said that although many successful foreign businessmen are afraid of investing in the country, due to conflict, they are determined to bet their windfall on business and liberate themselves from poverty. Michael Aheet Kuch, 28 years old and a 2008 diploma graduate in Rural Development from Nile Institute of Management Studies, Arua-Uganda (NIMSA), said he briefly worked under two supervisors where he got inspired into business in 2012. The young businessman was dressed in a casual outfit in his small confined office with an HP laserjet printer, scanner and one computer desk told Xinhua that his zeal for doing business was to be self-reliant as opposed to looking for white collar jobs. He said he wanted to be free so that his entrepreneurial instincts can hunt the business horizon for money-spinning opportunities; he registered his business printing company in 2015 called Interlink Solutions. "My clients are Non-government Organization (NGOs), individuals that need printing materials like IDs, business cards, general logistic handling supply, including corporate and non-corporate items," he said. The ambitious entrepreneur disclosed his desire to explore new possibilities and he is determined to build an empire that will employ approximately 150-200 youths in the next five years. "I need to work hard so that my dream of owning one of the biggest printing companies that will create jobs to youths in South Sudan is achieved," said Kuch. He revealed that his business turnover monthly is 500 U.S. dollars after excluding 30 percent that goes to his personal and business expenditures. "The business is sustaining me, family members and I have saved enough for future investment," said Kuch. Although practicing multiple income generating activities is rare among young South Sudanese youths, Kuch is an exception. Thuch Samuel Ajok is another strong willed entrepreneur with ability to spot opportunities while many do not. "Since 1997, I have been involved in money making activities. I first started with making of local stools out of logs. In 1998, I upgraded to buying and selling of goats and cows to individuals or butchers," Ajok told Xinhua. But the 27-year-old did not just stop there, his quest for better opportunities made him quit and join trading business where he deals in food commodities and beverages as a way to guarantee his economic dividend, but later shifts into dealing in telecommunication products. "I am comfortable with this business because it is a service business where I deliver services to people and ease their communications," said Ajok. While doing business he has been educating himself until his studies were halted in 2015, as a second year university student, studying Business Administration and Accounting from St. Lawrence University-Kampala due to financial constraint. "As a business oriented person, I opened up a business in 2016 that deals in recharge cards that do not demand hard currency before telecommunication companies operating in the country shift into electronic recharge after 2016 conflict," he recounted. He said the business is helping him and his family where he now realizes monthly income of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 dollars, depending on sells he made from the setup. Ajok explained that he has employed six workers to help him monitor his sub-contractors to avoid being cheated, where he pays each nearly 80 dollars monthly. A spot-check by Xinhua revealed that the electronic recharge system introduced by the three telecommunication companies in the country namely, Vivacell, MTN, Zain has become the lucrative business youths who earn a living through the bonus offered by the companies. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 04:49:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DUBAI, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- German Henkel Group said Wednesday the firm will not stop operating in Iran despite of the uncertainty arising from the ongoing spat over Iran's nuclear deal. Henkel Group said "we see huge potential in Iran, it is market with a future" at a media round table held Wednesday at the firm's corporate office in Dubai. The Henkel President GCC Kocak explained "in the years before the P5+1 deal, it became almost impossible to export to Iran." Frankfurt stock-listed Henkel, known for consumer brands like Persil (washing powder) or Fa (beauty care products), also produces adhesive technologies for private consumer and industry clients across the globe. Earlier in the day, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran will cut 2015 international nuclear deal into shreds if the United States chooses to tear it up, Press TV reported. Khamenei welcomed the European governments' opposition to the U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). On Friday, the U.S. president refused to certify Iran's international nuclear deal and accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism, saying that he would deny Iran's "all paths to a nuclear weapon." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 06:00:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CARACAS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly (ANC) on Wednesday swore in the 18 loyalist governors who won their positions in Sunday's regional elections, while five opposition governors refused to take part. In an official ceremony, ANC President Delcy Rodriguez said that the winners were formally "invested as state governors." She added that the governors "are here to ratify their commitment...to peace and the defense of our nation, and carry out the best management always side by side with our people, take care of our men and women, of our children, of our elderly." Referring to the election, Rodriguez said it had been an "election which broke electoral schemes and models and methods. Each campaign had its own identity." Venezuela's opposition, Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) ruled out on Wednesday that its five candidates who won gubernatorial elections at the weekend would swear an oath to the National Constituent Assembly. Through a statement, the MUD said that its governors "will only swear an oath before God and the respective legislative councils, but not before the fraudulent ANC." The ANC, elected this year, has been the target of global controversy by domestic and foreign critics who view it as a rubber-stamp legal body for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, designed to replace the National Assembly which had been controlled by a MUD majority. The opposition group added that asking the new governors to swear an oath in front of the ANC was "blackmail" by the government. The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 18 of Venezuela's 23 regional governorship elections on Sunday, but the opposition party, which obtained five, refused to recognized the results. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 07:45:24|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close BRASILIA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Commission of Constitution and Justice (CCJ) of Brazil's Chmaber of Deputies approved on Wednesday, by 39 votes to 26, a report that recommends the Chamber reject new charges against President Michel Temer for obstruction of justice and criminal association. The recommendation also stated the charges of criminal association against the government's chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, and the secretary-general of the presidency, Moreira Franco, be rejected. The report, favorable to Temer and his ministers, was written by deputy Bonifacio de Andrada, who stated that there was no sufficient evidence to continue the process. Temer has been charged with obstruction of justice by the prosecutor-general after confessions by executives of meatpacking giant, JBS, and Lucio Funaro, a financial operator close to the ruling PMDB party. They stated that JBS executives paid bribes to buy Funaro's silence concerning corruption within the government, with Temer's approval. The president is also accused of leading a criminal association, wherein leaders of the PMDB ran a broad corruption and bribery scheme. Padilha and Franco are accused of being behind this ring which allegedly received millions of dollars in bribes from private companies in exchange for public contracts. However, the charges will only proceed to a trial at the Supreme Court, if it receives the approval of two-thirds of the Chamber of Deputies, or 342 deputies out of 513. Should this majority be met, Temer will step down from the presidency for 180 days, during which time an impeachment trial will be held. The expectation is that the Chamber will hold a vote next week. Temer already survived one vote in the Chamber in August, when deputies rejected a charge for passive corruption against him. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 08:10:27|Editor: Song Lifang Video Player Close YANGON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A huge fire broke out in Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, a famous hotel on the Kandawgyi lakeside in Yangon, almost burning down the whole hotel building early Thursday. The fire, which started at about 03:00 a.m. local time, intensified after gas cylinders exploded, eyewitnesses said. "Fire has been burning down the hotel since two hours ago. At present, the guests are evacuated to the safe places," an official from fire service department told Xinhua. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 10:15:59|Editor: Song Lifang Video Player Close PYONGYANG, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has condemned the United States and South Korea for holding the largest ever joint naval drill in waters near the Korean Peninsula which started Monday. The drill proves that the United States and South Korea are attempting to "ignite a war on the Korean Peninsula at any cost," a spokesman for the Pan-Korean Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills against the DPRK said in a statement Wednesday. The United States and South Korea are watching for an opportunity to make its "preemptive strike" on the DPRK a fait accompli, he said. The spokesman warned that the DPRK would take countermeasures to "make the strike end in smoke at a single stroke." The United States and South Korea started their largest ever naval drill this week by introducing nuclear-powered carrier Ronald Reagan strike group, three nuclear submarines, more than 40 warships including Aegis destroyers and fighter planes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 10:36:05|Editor: Song Lifang Video Player Close by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is pressing forward on tax reform, but key members of his party are squabbling over the details like chickens fighting over grain, begging the question of whether the GOP can govern. Nine months after Trump's inauguration, Republicans are still in disarray, despite controlling both houses of Congress and the White House. Bitter rivalry among party members has caused GOP lawmakers to squander a golden opportunity to push their agenda. Currently, Trump is pushing ahead with a major tax reform bill in a bid to repair a taxation system that many economists say is preventing the economy from fully rebounding from the 2007-2008 economic downturn. But standing in the way are a number of GOP lawmakers. So far, they are unable to agree on the details of a budget, which they need to pass before moving on to tax reform. One GOP lawmaker who has been vocal about his dislike for other senators is Rand Paul. The senator from the state of Kentucky on Tuesday blasted former presidential candidate and key Senator John McCain, saying he and senior Senator Lindsey Graham were both "parading" as conservatives. "People like McCain and Graham, who parade as conservatives but are not really conservative, they need to be called out because they are bankrupting our country," Paul said on Tuesday on U.S. television station C-Span. "The sniping between McCain and Graham and Paul reflects a fundamental schism in the GOP over the definition of conservatism and adherence to party orthodoxy," Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua. "For Paul, the budget reflects a greater danger of unchecked spending and greater deficits, rather than policy goals," Mahaffee said. "I think the GOP will end up reaching a budget agreement, as a starting point, because they know they need to achieve some of their legislative objectives before the 2018 midterms. That said, agreeing to the broad strokes of the budget is far easier than the more complex task of putting together a tax package," Mahaffee said. Brookings Institution senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that "Paul wants to reduce the budget deficit and is frustrated that his fellow Republicans are not joining him on this crusade." "He believes (Trump's) tax cut will explode the deficit unless it is accompanied by major budget cuts that are not part of the package. He has signaled his intention to oppose the tax cut if it increases the deficit," West said. Indeed, Paul has gained much media attention over the years for his concern over the U.S. debt, which surpassed 20 trillion U.S. dollars last month. "Republicans long have been the party fighting budget deficits, but most of the party is turning a blind eye towards that topic now," West said. "They are more interested in cutting taxes than keeping the deficit down. It remains to be seen how they reconcile those competing principles. Unless they can keep all the other deficit hawks on board, they will have a tough time with the tax bill," West said. Meanwhile, Trump is pushing ahead with plans to pass a tax overhaul. In a speech Tuesday night at the conservative Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, the president said that at the heart of his tax reform are "everyday, working Americans." Trump highlighted that he needed the full support of Republicans in Congress, in order to garner enough votes to pass the bill, but added that the legislation would be "the largest tax cut in the history of our country." Under the current taxation system, U.S. corporations are often taxed twice, once in the United States and again in most countries in which they operate. Supporters of a corporate tax cut argue that it would boost U.S. companies' global competitiveness. Corporations also say this will help them hire in the United States. Critics of Trump's tax plan say it is a tax break for the wealthy. Just a few months back, Trump tried to pass a major bill to repeal and replace the nation's controversial healthcare system, known as Obamacare, which was implemented under the previous administration. But Republicans failed to unite behind the bill, with a key GOP lawmaker refusing to support the legislation. Ultimately the bill failed to pass. If this continues, the GOP will lose credibility in the lead-up to the 2018 Congressional elections, experts said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 10:56:11|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close CHANGSHA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A new regular air route opened Wednesday between Zhangjiajie, an acclaimed tourist destination in central China's Hunan Province, and Hong Kong. The twice-a-week service is operated by Hong Kong low-cost carrier HK Express using an A320 aircraft with a total capacity of 180 seats. Between Oct. 18 and 29, the flight will leave Hong Kong at noon and arrive in Zhangjiajie at 2:05 p.m. Beijing time on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It departs Zhangjiajie at 3:05 p.m. and arrives in Hong Kong at 5:05 p.m. Beijing time. From Oct. 29 to late March 2018, it will adopt a winter schedule, with flights departing Hong Kong at 1:55 p.m. and 2:10 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays, and arriving in Zhangjiajie at 4:05 p.m. and 4:20 p.m. respectively. The return flight will leave Zhangjiajie at 5:55 p.m. on Thursdays and 5:20 p.m. on Sundays, and arrive in Hong Kong at 8:15 p.m. and 7:25 p.m. respectively. HK Express, established in 2013, now flies to 29 cities in Asia. The new route is expected to boost economic and tourism development and exchanges between the two cities. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 11:41:18|Editor: ZD Video Player Close LISBON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa apologized to the nation on Wednesday as the death toll from the weekend's forest fires rose to 42. Costa's apology came in parliament during prime minister's question time. Hugo Soares, parliamentary leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), challenged Costa to ask forgiveness of the Portuguese people for the devastating consequences of the forest fires. Costa duly apologized, and said "I take responsibility as prime minister and so when I apologize I do so as a citizen." More than 500 wild fires flared up across the north and center of Portugal on Sunday, claiming 42 lives, the National Civil Protection Authority confirmed. Some 70 people remain injured, more than a dozen seriously. More than 100 people have died in forest fires in Portugal in the last four months. The government has been heavily criticized for its handling of the crisis. Minister of Internal Administration Constanca Urbano de Sousa announced her resignation on Wednesday and the Central Social Democratic-Popular Party has tabled a vote of no confidence in the government for next week. When challenged by Soares to trigger a counter vote of confidence, the prime minister refused to be drawn. "Parliament will decide next week whether it has no confidence in the government or whether it supports the government to continue to perform its duties," Costa said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 12:06:25|Editor: ZD Video Player Close CANBERRA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's leading wine companies has promised to increase its focus on cracking the Chinese market. Michael Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Treasury Wines, told the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday night that the company would seek to widen the gap between Treasury and its competitors in China. Treasury manages the international portfolios of famous Australian winemakers Penfolds, Pepperjack and Wolf Blass. Clarke said that the company was on-track in its "fixing, growing and accelerating" growth strategy. He said that 2018 would be about focusing on key growth markets, particularly China. "In Asia, it's leveraging the strength of our routes to market to really create space between us and our competitors," Clarke told the meeting in Adelaide where much of the Australian wine industry is based. "Particularly in China, where this month our warehouse in Shanghai becomes operational and will result in shorter lead times for existing customers, and provide access to new customers across all our brand portfolios." Treasury Wines posted a 2016-2017 profit of 211 million U.S. dollars, a 55 percent increase on the previous year. Paul Rayner, Chairman of Treasury, also updated shareholders on how fires in the U.S. state of California had impacted the company, saying operations in the state's wine region had escaped damage. Treasury Wines owns more than 3,700 hectares of planted vineyards in northern California, making wine for brands such as Beringer and Stags' Leap. "Treasury Wine is fortunate that all of our people are safe, and our infrastructure in the region remains intact with no significant fire damage," Rayner said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 12:51:32|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen shot dead a policeman in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Thursday. The policeman was killed at his home in Tral of Pulwama district, about 44 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Police suspects the gunmen to be militants. "Last evening a Special Police Officer (SPO) was killed when militants fired upon him at Gutroo village in Tral," a police spokesman said. "The SPO died on spot." In a separate incident, a throat slit body of a private school teacher was found in a Shopian village. So far no militant outfit has claimed responsibility of the killings. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 13:01:36|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has come under fire after he reportedly told a widow of a fallen soldier that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Trump spoke on Tuesday to the families of four slain U.S. soldiers who got ambushed by Islamic State militants in Niger earlier this month, amid questions that why he had not made any comment about the killings. After stirring controversy by invoking White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's son, a Marine Corps lieutenant killed in Afghanistan in late 2010, to defend his delayed response, Trump came under a fresh round of criticism over one of his condolence telephone calls. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson lashed out at Trump Tuesday night for what she described as "insensitive" remarks to the widow of Amy Sergeant La David Johnson, one of the four soldiers killed in Niger. "Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts," Wilson recounted Trump's words during an interview with CNN. "He shouldn't have said it," Wilson told an ABC News affiliate. The Florida lawmaker said she was in a car with Johnson's widow, Myeshia, to meet the body in Miami when the president called her. Wilson told CNN that the widow, which has two young children and is six months pregnant with a third, was "very distraught" after the call. "She has just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral which gives her all kinds of nightmares about what his body must look, what his face must look, and this is what the president of the United States says to her," Wilson said. Trump denied on Twitter on Wednesday that he had made such kind of remarks, saying that Wilson "totally fabricated" what he said and claiming to have proof. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't sai (say) it at all," Trump told reporters at the White House hours later, insisting that he had a "very nice" conversation with the widow. But Johnson's mother backed Wilson's account. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Cowanda Jones-Joshnson told The Washington Post. Wilson said on Twitter that she stood by her account of the call between Trump and Myeshia, suggesting that the president didn't even know the name of the widow. At Wednesday's press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was not recording of the call but several people were present when the president made the call, including Kelly, who, according to her, thought the call was completely appropriate and respectful. Trump asserted that former President Barack Obama didn't call families of fallen service members, a claim that aides of the former administration slammed as "an outrageous and disrespectful lie." He invoked the death of Kelly's son in his defense Tuesday, suggesting that reporters ask the retired four-star general whether Obama reached out to him when his son died serving the country. Sanders said she doesn't know if Trump warned Kelly before bringing that up in an interview, but adding that the White House chief of staff is "disgusted" by the politicization of Trump's phone calls to the families of fallen service's members. The president also said that he has called "every family of somebody that's died," but several Gold Star family members told news outlets that they have never had a call with Trump after their relative was killed in action. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 13:31:40|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out at a shopping mall in India's financial capital Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday, officials said. However, no casualties have been reported in the incident as the inferno started around 2:00 a.m. local time when there was no one in Om Gopal Mall except for a few security guards. "The fire gutted a garment showroom on the first floor of the mall in Dadar area, damaging clothes worth millions of rupees," a senior police official said. Ten fire tenders were pressed into service and it took them over three hours to douse the flames, a fire police official said. "The fire did not spread to other floors as the security guards informed the police and the fire department as soon as they spotted the blaze," he added. A probe has been ordered into the incident, the police official said. Fires are common in residential highrises and shopping malls in India because of lack of regards for fire safety norms. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 13:36:42|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Several Afghan army soldiers were feared killed in an overnight attack by Taliban insurgents in Maywand district of southern province of Kandahar, a local official said Thursday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 13:41:44|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will close its doors by year-end with remarkable legacy, said Judge Carmel Agius, president of the UN tribunal, on Wednesday. "I can confirm to you and to all present that ... after 24 years the ICTY will formally close its doors on Dec. 31, 2017. We will have completed our mandate," Agius told a plenary session of the 72nd General Assembly in presentation of the tribunal's last annual report to the UN body. "As we reflect on the work that the ICTY has accomplished, I recall that the tribunal blazed a trail of truly remarkable firsts: it was the first international criminal tribunal since the post-WWII Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, the first tribunal ever established under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the first to indict a sitting head of state, and the first to have all-female principals," Agius said. "In my view, the principal achievement of the tribunal, and its most important legacy, is its ground-breaking role in the fight against impunity and the successful fulfillment of its mandate to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for the horrific crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia during the conflicts of the 1990s," he added. Agius said the ICTY has issued more indictments than any other international criminal courts, and has successfully brought to justice 161 individuals in respect of serious violations of international humanitarian law. Unlike other courts, the ICTY will close with no outstanding fugitives for core crimes. Numerous jurisprudential firsts have been equally remarkable, he added. The tribunal was the first to comprehensively address conflict-related sexual violence, the first to clarify the applicability of the laws and customs of war in non-international armed conflicts, and the first to affirm that the destruction of cultural heritage may amount to a crime against humanity. The ICTY has developed not only jurisprudence but also tools, procedures, and programs to address specialized areas of international criminal law and practice, such as witness protection, state cooperation, and judicial efficiency, Agius said. The tribunal has now completed its work in all but two substantive cases and the final verdicts for the two cases will be handed down on Nov. 22 for the trial case of Bosnian Serbian military commander Ratko Mladic, and on Nov. 29 for the appeal case of former Bosnian Croat leader Jadranko Prlic and five co-defendants, he added. By Jan. 1, 2018, the tribunal will essentially have been liquidated, with all but a few residual liquidation tasks remaining. By then, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals will have assumed full responsibility for all residual functions of the ICTY, president of the UN tribunal said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 13:56:47|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul on Thursday about the issue involving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile programs. Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi at the foreign ministry building of South Korea in Seoul. The two envoys exchanged in-depth opinions on ways to maintain the stable management of the Korean Peninsula situations and contain the DPRK's provocations through diplomatic efforts including dialogue and sanctions, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement. The bilateral meeting came a day after Lee and Kanasugi had a trilateral meeting also attended by top U.S. nuclear envoy Joseph Yun. On Thursday, a vice ministerial-level meeting was also held in Seoul between the three allies. Lee and Kanasugi agreed to make more efforts to encourage the DPRK to return to a path to denuclearization. They also agreed to more frequently and closely meet to achieve a common goal of the complete dismantlement of the DPRK's nuclear program in a peaceful manner, according to Seoul's foreign ministry. The Seoul meeting between chief negotiators of South Korea and Japan for the currently stalled disarmament talks came amid rising tensions on the peninsula following the DPRK's sixth nuclear test in September and the exchange of strident rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 14:06:52|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefs journalists on his upcoming trip to the Central African Republic, at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 18, 2017. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to the Central African Republic (CAR) next week to visit the peacekeepers there as a gesture to solute the blue helmets around the world. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) by William M. Reilly UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday he was going to visit the violence-wracked Central African Republic (CAR) where 12 blue helmets have been killed this year. "I will travel to the CAR early next week to spend UN Day with a peacekeeping operation in order to pay tribute to peacekeepers across the world," he told reporters at UN Headquarters. Twelve peacekeepers and as many humanitarian workers were killed this year in the CAR, Guterres said while globally 67 peacekeepers have died in the line of duty in 2017. "Peacekeeping operations are among the international community's most effective tools for meeting the challenges of global peace and security. Peacekeepers show tremendous courage in volatile environments, and great dedication in helping countries rise from the depths of armed conflict," he said. Guterres' visit to the CAR carries two seemingly contradictory gestures: to solute the blue helmets for their contributions to peace, and in the meanwhile, "to give impetus to the new United Nations approach to addressing and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (by peacekeepers)." Reports of sexual exploitation and abuse have been rocking UN peacekeeping forces, leading to a newly designed zero-tolerance policy and repatriation of individuals and even units charged with such crimes against civilians, notably in the CAR. "We know that the good work and the tremendous sacrifice of peacekeepers around the world has been tarnished by the appalling acts of some UN personnel who have harmed the people they were meant to serve," the UN chief said. "I am pained that some peacekeepers are alleged to have committed egregious acts of sexual exploitation and abuse against the people of the CAR." Guterres said that Jane Connors, recently appointed rights advocate for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, would accompany him on the trip. "We are determined to ensure that the voices of victims are heard -- I will myself be ready to meet with victims and their families -- in and beyond the Central African Republic," he said. "Victims must be at the center of our response if we want our zero-tolerance policy to be successful." He was referring to a new global compact launched on the sidelines of this year's General Debate of the UN General Assembly with the aim to engage world leaders, nongovernmental organizations and the civil society in tackling the "black mark" on the record of UN peacekeeping. Guterres said Wednesday that the new initiative has gained support. A total of 72 countries have signed up to this compact, 19 are seriously considering to do so, and 57 heads of state have joined a "circle of leadership" on the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse, he said. "It will take time and a lot has to be done. But we are totally committed to this policy (of zero tolerance) and to achieve results." Guterres expressed concern over the situation in the CAR. "The situation remains very troubling," the UN chief said. "My visit also aims to draw attention to a fragile situation that is often far from the media spotlight. Across the country, communal tensions are growing. Violence is spreading. And the humanitarian situation is deteriorating." Since the beginning of this year, the number of internally displaced persons has almost doubled in the CAR, reaching 600,000, and the number of refugees in neighboring countries has surpassed half a million, he noted. About one out of four people in the Central African Republic have been forced from their homes since the beginning of the crisis. Despite rising needs for humanitarian assistance, aid workers are being targeted and access restricted, he said. This year alone, 12 humanitarians have been killed in the Central African Republic, making it one of the world's most dangerous places for aid workers to serve, he said. At the same time, UN appeals for emergency aid are only 30 percent funded, he warned. Guterres said he had asked the Security Council to increase the ceiling of troops in the CAR and to boost their capacity, mobility and ability to address the very dramatic challenges they face. The world organization, under pressure from the United States, its biggest contributor, has been ending some peacekeeping operations and Guterres said he was convinced that there will be a very positive understanding of all the members of the Security Council, including the United States, in relation to the troops surge in the CAR. "My upcoming visit will be an opportunity to engage with the government and others in order to ease suffering, halt the current backsliding, and strengthen international support for peace," Guterres said. During his visit, the UN head will spend the United Nations Day, which falls on Oct. 24, with peacekeepers in the CAR. The CAR has been in civil war since 2012, which is being fought along religious and ethnic lines. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 14:11:55|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- About 43 Afghan army soldiers were killed in an overnight attack by Taliban insurgents in Maywand district of southern province of Kandahar, a local official said Thursday. "Scores of militants attacked an army outpost in Chashmo locality of Maywand district with car bombs and firearms overnight. The fighting lasted till predawn before additional forces arrived at the area," the official told Xinhua anonymously. A total of 43 soldiers have been killed and several others wounded, the source said, adding further details about the incident will be shared with media by army officials later in the day. Taliban suicide bombers used two explosive-laded security forces' hijacked armored vehicles in the attack, the source added. Several militants were also killed and wounded during the fighting, but their number could not be exactly specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the clashes. Meanwhile, a local TV Channel Arina News reported that about 70 soldiers died in Maywand. Zia Durrani, a provincial police spokesman, when reached by Xinhua confirmed the clashes in the district, west of provincial capital Kandahar city, 450 km south of Kabul. The attack occurred days after Taliban launched two massive coordinated attacks in eastern Paktia and neighboring Ghanzi provinces. Over 70 people were killed and more than 170 others wounded in the Tuesday's attack in the eastern provinces. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 14:37:01|Editor: liuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- India will land as many as 20 fighter jets on an expressway in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh as part of trials to use roads for emergency landings. The Indian Air Force planes will participate in a landing and take-off exercise on Agra-Lucknow Expressway, a 302-km high-speed corridor connecting the tourist town of Agra with state capital Lucknow, from October 20 to 24, defense officials said. "Twenty Indian Air Force aircraft will participate in the exercise. These will include French Dassault Mirage 2000, Jaguar, Sukhoi 30 MKI and AN-32 transport," Gargi Malik, public relations officer of the Indian Defense Ministry, told the media Wednesday evening. On a 3.3-km stretch of Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the Indian Air Force had landed eight fighter jets last year. And in 2015, it had for the first time successfully test-landed a fighter jet on Yamuna Expressway, a high-speed road corridor connecting Delhi with Agra. Both Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Yamuna Expressway are connected to each other and are two of India's most modern highways. The Indian Air Force has plans to earmark various sections of India's highways for use as runways for combat aircraft at short notice. Road runways are usually used for emergency landings if airbases come under attack during a war. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 15:12:12|Editor: An Video Player Close Hi, here is what you may want to know about China in the past 24 hours. XINING -- China's homegrown regional jetliner, the ARJ21-700, has successfully completed its trial flight on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, demonstrating its ability to fly safely at high elevations. The regional jetliner travelled along several air routes in Qinghai Province over the course of five days last week, according to Qinghai Airport Co., Ltd. - - - - BEIJING -- Disciplinary authorities have investigated 440 officials at or above provincial or corps level for corruption over the past five years as the Communist Party of China (CPC) pledges sweeping victory over the threat to the Party, an official said Thursday. Among them, 43 members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as nine members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), were investigated, said Yang Xiaodu, deputy secretary of the CCDI, at a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPC National Congress. - - - - BEIJING -- China's gross domestic product expanded 6.9 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2017 to 59.3288 trillion yuan (about 8.9614 trillion U.S. dollars), data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday. The growth rate held steady from a 6.9-percent increase in the first half of this year and is well above the government's target for the year of 6.5 percent, reflecting a continued firming trend in the nation's economy. - - - - NEW YORK -- A comprehensive China-U.S. investment and cooperation database was launched on Wednesday in New York city, aiming at enhancing cooperation between the Chinese and U.S. business communities and promoting Chinese investment in the United States. The database, the first investment information database serving Chinese companies and their partners in the United States, was established by the China General Chamber of Commerce - USA (CGCC), the largest nonprofit organization representing Chinese enterprises in the United States. - - - - NANCHANG -- A French art school has set up a research center in east China's Jiangxi Province, hoping to strengthen exchanges between French ceramic artists and Chinese craftsmen. ENSA Limoges (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Art de Limoges) opened a research and testing center at Kudan, a famous workshop in the city of Jingdezhen, China's "Porcelain Capital." - - - - BEIJING -- Chinese bike-sharing company Mobike announced Wednesday it had entered the market in the Republic of Korea (ROK). The company's dockless bicycles are now on the streets of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, making it the 14th overseas city to have the bike-sharing brand, according to a Mobike press release. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 15:17:14|Editor: An Video Player Close TAIPEI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A leading think tank in Taiwan Thursday raised its forecast for the island's economic growth this year, as the recovering global economy buoys the island's export sector. Taiwan's economy is expected to expand 2.18 percent this year, up 0.04 percentage points from a previous forecast, according to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER). The recovering global economy is helping boost the island's exports despite lackluster investment growth as fixed asset investment is expected to expand about 1.41 percent in 2017, continuing a downward trend for a third straight year. Taiwan's export hit a new high in September due to strong global demand for high-tech devices, marking the 12th consecutive month of year-on-year growth. Export to the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong grew 17.4 percent year on year in the first nine months of 2017, pointing to the fact that the mainland's economic performance has spillover effects on Taiwan, according to Wu Chung-Shu, president of CIER. The Chinese mainland saw its economy expanding steadily at 6.9 percent in the first three quarters of 2017, putting this year's annual GDP growth target of 6.5 percent well within reach, official data showed Thursday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 15:32:16|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Afghan army soldiers stand guard at a security checkpoint after Taliban attack near the Maywand district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Oct.19, 2017. Forty-three Afghan army soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack by Taliban insurgents in Maywand district of southern province of Kandahar, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. (Xinhua/Sanaullah Seaim) KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Forty-three Afghan army soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack by Taliban insurgents in Maywand district of southern province of Kandahar, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. "At round 2:50 a.m. local time (Thursday) a group of assailants attacked the Afghan National Army's Chishmo Camp in Maywand. The clashes caused casualties to two sides," the ministry said in a statement. A total of 43 army soldiers were killed, nine wounded and six soldiers went missing after the fighting, the statement said, adding that 60 soldiers were at the camp before the attack and two soldiers survived and remained unharmed. Ten militants were also killed during the attack, according to the statement. The Taliban suicide bombers used two hijacked security forces' armored vehicles which were laded with explosives in the attack, according to local sources. "The commander of army Corps 205 arrived at the site after the attack and more details would be made public later as investigation is going on," the statement added. Meanwhile, Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, has claimed that the insurgents killed 60 soldiers in Maywand. He twitted that the insurgents' fighters also seized army's weapons and ammunition. The attack occurred days after Taliban launched two massive coordinated attacks in eastern Paktia and neighboring Ghazni provinces. Over 70 people were killed and more than 170 others wounded in Tuesday's attack in the eastern provinces. The Taliban insurgency has been on the rampage since the beginning of 2015 when the Afghan security forces assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 15:52:24|Editor: An Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The ruling parties of Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have sent their congratulations to the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the 19th CPC National Congress. In its congratulatory letter, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) said that on behalf of the CPV and the Vietnamese people, it would like to extend the warmest congratulations to their Chinese counterparts on the important occasion. The letter noted that in recent years, the Chinese people have made tremendous achievements under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core. It added that the CPV Central Committee believes that the 19th CPC National Congress will make important decisions that will firmly lead the Chinese people to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society on the 100th anniversary of the party's founding and turn China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious on the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Recalling the traditional friendship between the two parties and between the countries, the letter said the Vietnamese side stands ready to join hands with the Chinese side to constantly consolidate bilateral relations under the principles of long-term stability, future-orientation, good neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation and in the spirit of good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners. The Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), for its part, noted that since its birth in 1921, the CPC has shown firm leadership, pioneered in innovation, and gone through important turning points in China's history. In particular, during the past five years after the 18th CPC National Congress, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core, the Chinese people have gained huge and comprehensive achievements in defending, constructing and developing their nation, the letter said. Speaking highly of Xi's leadership, the LPRP said it firmly believes that the CPC, the Chinese government and Chinese people will definitely make greater achievements and successfully realize the CPC's grand blueprint and its historical missions. The Lao side, it added, cherishes the traditional friendship with China, and will continue to work with the Chinese side to deepen their partnership and contribute to the welfare of the two peoples as well as global peace, cooperation and development. In its message, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba noted that since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has achieved great development under the leadership of the CPC and emerged as one of the leading countries in the world. It added that the CPC has also enhanced party building, developed science, promoted social harmony, fought against corruption and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Cuban side, it said, is satisfied with the development of bilateral ties after Havana and Beijing established diplomatic relations 57 years ago and is willing to continue developing and enriching this relationship. While extending its congratulations, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the DPRK's ruling party, said that for a long time, under the correct leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have achieved a huge success in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the WPK is glad about it. The WPK Central Committee, added the letter, sincerely wishes the 19th CPC National Congress a great success. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:27:36|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close Yang Xiaodu, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC), speaks at a press conference held by the press center of the 19th CPC National Congress, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Xin) BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Disciplinary authorities have investigated 440 officials at or above provincial or corps level for corruption over the past five years as the Communist Party of China (CPC) pledges sweeping victory over the threat to the Party, an official said Thursday. Among them, 43 members and alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, as well as nine members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), were investigated, said Yang Xiaodu, deputy secretary of the CCDI, at a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPC National Congress. Five years ago, the CPC leadership launched a high-profile anti-corruption campaign, which has led to the downfall of a number of high-level officials, known as "tigers," and lower-level "flies" who serve at the grassroots level. Among the "tigers" felled in the campaign were Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Sun Zhengcai and Ling Jihua. Yang said more than 8,900 city level officials and over 63,000 county level officials were punished during that period. A total of 278,000 grassroots Party members and officials were also punished, he said. China is working with the international community to hunt corruption suspects who had fled overseas, leading to the capture of 3,453 fugitives, Yang said. Among the top 100 fugitives listed on an Interpol red notice, 48 have been arrested, he said. According to the 19th CPC National Congress report, the CPC will secure a "sweeping victory" in its fight against corruption to avoid history's cycle of rise and fall. Calling corruption "the greatest threat" the Party faces, the report said the fight against corruption never ends and currently remains grave and complex. The Party must remain as firm as a rock in the resolve to build on the overwhelming momentum and secure a sweeping victory, according to the report. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:27:37|Editor: An Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A TV drama about late geophysicist Huang Danian started airing on Chinese television last week. The six-episode drama began on China Central Television from Oct. 12 and depicts Huang devoting his life to scientific research in China. Huang was known for his expertise in deep earth exploration technology, and studied and worked in Britain for 18 years before returning to China in 2009. Over the ensuing years, he helped China advance in a number of technical fields, putting China at the forefront of deep earth exploration. Huang died from illness in January, aged 58. "It felt as if Danian had rejoined us when I was watching the drama," said Yang Zhenbin, chief of the Communist Party of China committee of Jilin University, where Huang worked till his death. "I was deeply moved by his dedicated spirit and patriotic sentiment." "We young students should study harder, make use of our knowledge to serve the country and carry on and follow through Huang's career," said Gong Liwei, a Jilin University student majoring in earth exploration. Guan Zuonian, a researcher with Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, said he was impressed and inspired by Huang's spirit, pledging to work all out on pursuing Chinese dream. "Making the show gave me a deeper understanding of Huang's patriotism, which also purified my soul," said Ding Yongdai, the actor who played Huang. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:37:40|Editor: An Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Guo Ying and Zhao Wanwei BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A class tutor at Beijing's Yimei Primary School, Zhao Lin has visited all 36 students' homes at weekends and summer holidays since 2014 to discuss their study with parents. Zhao offers practical advice on how to improve motivation and self-management. The aim is to get parents more involved in educating their children, says school principal Jin Hui. Although social networks and other new media have helped communication between teachers and parents, Jin believes traditional home visits are still necessary. "Parents tend be bewildered about their children's education. Home visits mean teachers give one-on-one guidance in a targeted way. That helps create concerted efforts for educating children," Jin says. In September, the Chinese government issued a guideline on education reform, which called for improvements to "family education and strengthening family education guidance services to help parents establish a rational educational philosophy". China has an ancient tradition of family-led education. Some family rules and traditions pass down from generation to generation. However, this cultural legacy is now being tested. Some working parents have precious little spare time to spend with their children; some don't know how to talk with their kids effectively, especially if their youngsters are strong-willed or rebellious. Indulging children in online games has to some extent revealed weaknesses in family education. As a result, the demand of parents for scientific methods to raise children is growing. Books on child-rearing and education philosophy often appear on best-seller lists. Some parents consult professionals. Chinese authorities have pledged greater support and guidance. According to the Five-Year Outline on the Promotion of Family Education (2016-2020) released in November 2016, "parent schools" will be established in 90 percent of kindergartens, primary and middle schools in cities, and in 80 percent of rural schools by 2020. Public institutions such as museums and cultural centers will be required to hold at least two family education guidance sessions and two practical activities each year. More cities are integrating family education guidance into the public service system and increasing financial support. Beijing Municipal Commission of Education recently launched a program providing guidance to more than 500,000 families of kindergarten, primary and secondary school students. Launched in 2012, the "mobile education lecture hall" has held hundreds of free public lectures for more than 10,000 parents, inviting leading experts, scholars and teachers to answer questions. In Shandong Province, family education research centers and mentor training bases have been set up with the help of universities, research institutions or internet platforms. Some places are fast-tracking local legislation on family education. Since the implementation of the Chongqing Family Education Promotion Ordinance in September 2016, public security agencies have admonished 1,323 parents or guardians for inappropriate family education. Family education is also regarded as crucial for cultivating and promoting socialist core values among China's youth. Qi Zhenjun, principal of the Primary School Affiliated to Beijing Chaoyang Teachers College, believes the essence of traditional Chinese family culture, such as filial piety, should be creatively applied to modern family education. In his school, parents volunteer to be guest speakers at flag-raising ceremonies, sharing their life and work experience with students. The school also encourages students and their families to do volunteer service in the community. "Parents' mindsets and the home environment are thought to influence child development greatly. Parents can set a good example for their children and help instill social responsibility through these activities," Qi says. Some Chinese parents only focus on intellectual education, sending their kids to extracurricular classes to raise test scores. "Moral education and character building should not be neglected," says Qi. "They are the essence of family education, which help prepare children for the future." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:37:40|Editor: An Video Player Close NICOSIA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will further drive China's development and the world is looking to the Asian country for wisdom and leadership, said a Cypriot university rector. "I believe the congress will foster China's model of growth, security and stability," said Costas Gouliamos, rector of the European University Cyprus, in a recent interview with Xinhua. The 19th CPC National Congress, which opened Wednesday in Beijing, will elect a new CPC Central Committee and CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, amend the CPC Constitution, and draw a blueprint for China's development in the next five years and beyond. Speaking highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership, he said Xi's credibility and commitment to people-oriented development have paved "the foundations to evolve confidence within the party and within the people of China." Under the CPC's leadership, China has attained remarkable achievements in counter-corruption, environmental improvement and poverty reduction over the past five years, he noted. The country has also proved its global economic strengthen by introducing an advanced digital strategy to achieve its economic goals, added the rector, who is also an expert on international policies and economics. Meanwhile, he noted that the world is now "in a fragile time which is full of challenges and we need the wisdom to create a sustainable type of cooperation, peace and development." In such circumstances, the world is looking to China in search of wisdom and leadership "because it believes that China is able to make the difference internally and externally," he added. With an eye on the future, he said he believes the new leadership that will come out of the 19th CPC National Congress will continue to foster the strategy of globalization. "I strongly believe that after the end of the National Congress, the Chinese strategy will become more concrete, particularly in the area of globalization, by engaging China's protagonist roles in all fields of the economy and peace and geopolitical issues," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:37:41|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Winston Peters, leader of New Zealand First party, addresses media in Wellington, New Zealand, on Oct. 19, 2017. The New Zealand First party has decided to side with the Labor party to form the coalition government, NZ First party leader Winston Peters announced here Thursday. (Xinhua/Su Liang) WELLINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand First party has decided to side with the Labor party to form the coalition government, NZ First party leader Winston Peters announced here Thursday. The decision is about to see the shift of the government from New Zealand National party, which led a minority government for the past nine years, to Labor party. Labor's policy focuses on cutting immigrants from the current 70,000 to 10,000 and banning the foreign ownership of existing houses. As the ban may conflict with the Free Trade Agreement signed between New Zealand and other countries, Labor leader Jacinda Ardern clarifies that "there is some negotiation going to be required in order to fulfill our policy." The New Zealand dollar felt downward pressure shortly before the announcement by the NZ First party which saw the NZ dollar lose half a cent against U.S. dollar "in the blink of the eye." Peters told a media conference that he made the decision only 15 minutes before the briefing and Labor leader Jacinda Ardern learned the news through media live broadcast. Ardern took the helm of the party in August when it almost hit the bottom of support. Amid a charm campaign and honeymoon period, the 37 female politician brought the party back to a high bench close to the National party. "It's fairly remarkable performance given that just 10 or 12 weeks ago she was deputy leader of a failing opposition," Bill English, the outgoing prime minister and the leader of the National party, told the media after he concedes failure in the elections. According to Ardern, the Labor will convene on Friday before a three-day long weekend to decide ministerial portfolios and hold a swearing-in ceremony next week. The National won 56 seats of 120-seat parliament while the Labor and its ally the Green party secured 54 seats, leaving the NZ First party and its leader the kingmaker. Peters, who was reluctant to work with the Green party in the cabinet, expressed clearly that he preferred to form a coalition government with one party only. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:52:48|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday that it will send a deputy nuclear envoy for the currently stalled six-party talks to a Russia-hosted forum, where a senior Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) diplomat would reportedly participate. Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told a regular press briefing that Lee Sang-hwa, director general for the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue at the foreign Ministry, will visit Russia to attend the Nonproliferation Conference to be held in Moscow on Oct. 20-21. Lee doubles as South Korea's deputy chief negotiator at the six-way talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. The aid-for-disarmament dialogue, which involved the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, was last held in late 2008. According to local media reports, Choe Son-hui, director general for North American affairs at the DPRK's foreign ministry, was already in Moscow for the international forum. Choe would allegedly hold a so-called Track 1.5 semi-official dialogue with retired U.S. government officials including former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Asked about if the diplomats of the two Koreas would meet in Moscow, the Seoul ministry spokesman said it had no plan as of now. Though no official meeting was arranged for the two diplomats, there was still possibility for the two to encounter at the forum. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 16:57:49|Editor: An Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- With China's "fascinating" development in the past five years and providing more public goods to the world, Europe will benefit from a strong Chinese economy, a German expert on China has said. Nele Noesselt, a professor and China expert with the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, spoke highly of China's reform measures, especially those listed in a landmark blueprint in 2013. Issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the document known as "The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms", stipulated the market's leading role in the allocation of resources. "All these efforts will lead to greener and sustainable development and growth," Noesselt told Xinhua. Regarding Chinese foreign policy in the past five years, the Duisburg-based expert said China is no longer regarded as a passive observer or bystander in the international system. The change emerged during the 2008 global financial crisis and has become more obvious since 2013, with the Chinese government putting forward an array of ideas for building a just and fair world order, safeguarding peace and promoting development. While more and more Chinese soldiers are being deployed in UN peacekeeping missions, in a correlated development, China is also becoming increasingly active in global economic governance. "Chinese companies are growing globally, calling for China's participation in world security affairs to ensure (Chinese)interests. At the same time, (the) domestic economy is more and more intertwined with the world economy," Noesselt said. "China's participation in the international system has somehow stabilized the global market." The Belt and Road Initiative, one of the major outcomes of the new trend in China's foreign policy, will bring benefits to European countries, he added. The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to create greater trade, infrastructure and people-to-people links between Asia, Europe and Africa by reviving and expanding the ancient Silk Trade routes. The modern version comprises an overland Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. China is providing infrastructure and securing transport routes, thereby not only benefiting Chinese markets but also providing economic growth and stability to Europe and other regions, Noesselt said. "We have to keep in mind that we are just over the financial crisis. Everyone (was) hoping that Chinese companies (would) jump in, in a bid to stabilize the European market and also to re-stabilize the euro as a currency. And China did contribute," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 17:07:51|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China strongly condemns the attacks in Afghanistan launched by Taliban militants that killed at least 71 people, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday. Media reported that the attacks happened Tuesday in several provinces of Afghanistan, injuring about 170 people. Spokesperson Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that China was shocked at the heavy casualties, extended condolences for those killed, and conveyed sincere sympathy to the injured and families of victims. Lu said that China was concerned about the escalation of violence and called on related parties to participate in the reconciliation process to safeguard the country's peace and development. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 17:27:58|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close LONDON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday sought to reassure the 3 million EU nationals living in Britain that they would be treated fairly and at par with Britons before her trip to a key summit of European leaders in Brussels. In an open letter on her Facebook account, May said the application process for "settled status" -- also called "indefinite leave to remain" in the UK, which can obtained after five years of living there -- would be streamlined, keeping the cost as low as possible. She vowed the criteria "will be simple, transparent and strictly in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement" guiding Britain's exit from the EU. May said EU citizens' representatives will sit on a "user group" which will iron out any problems in the system. At the meeting of the European Council (EC), also known as the EU summit, on Oct. 19-20, the other 27 EU leaders are assessing overall progress in the Brexit talks so far. The agenda includes migration, defense, digitalization and external relations, including measures to stem illegal migration, and the reform of the Common European Asylum System -- granting asylum to people fleeing their own countries on the ground they face persecution or danger there. The planned permanent structured cooperation on defense (PESCO) for EU members to boost their cooperation in military matters will also be discussed, according to a European Council statement. Council President Donald Tusk earlier ruled out any "breakthrough" at the two-day summit, but said progress could be achieved by the next scheduled meeting of EU leaders in December. In her letter, May said she was committed to putting "people first" in the negotiations and expected British nationals living on the continent to be treated in the same way. "I know both sides will consider each other's proposals with an open mind and with flexibility and creativity on both sides. I am confident we can conclude discussions on citizens' rights in the coming weeks," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 17:58:07|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close KABUL, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 102 militants were killed and 44 others wounded when Afghan security forces launched wide-scale operations against militants over the past 24 hours, the country's Defense Ministry said Thursday. "Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have conducted 16 clean up operations and 20 special operations in 15 provinces of Afghanistan's 34 provinces since early Wednesday, killing 102 insurgents and injuring 44 others," the ministry said the statement. The ANDSF also destroyed militants' two vehicles and five motorcycles and defused 12 rounds of landmines over the period, according to the statement. The Afghan forces have beefed up security operations against militants as the war-weary people are facing upsurges in attacks by Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militants across the country. However, the militants responded by armed attacks and bombings. On early Thursday morning, 43 Afghan army soldiers were killed and nine others wounded after Taliban attacked an army camp in southern Kandahar province. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 18:08:10|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close DOHA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Qatar has provided assistance valued 2.4 billion U.S. dollars for Syria since the start of the gulf crisis, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on Thursday. Qatari Foreign Ministry's Secretary General, Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi, revealed the figure while addressing the 11th meeting of top Syria donors held in Doha. He highlighted the countries that have provided appropriate conditions and made fruitful efforts to help the refugees. After the gulf dispute erupted in June, Qatar organized a third coordination meeting to support the Syrian people, which resulted in pledges of 80.5 million dollars, and launched initiatives in the areas of education, al-Hammadi said. The Syria donors group was established following the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in Kuwait in 2014, which aims to establish a platform for major donors to discuss issues related to ensuring disbursement of pledges and strengthen humanitarian dialogue among donors. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 18:23:16|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close CANBERRA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Northern Territory (NT) has flagged radical alcohol reforms to combat abuse of the substance within the region. Michael Gunner, chief minister of the NT, on Thursday confirmed that his government would support the "once in a generation" reforms suggested by NT chief justice Trevor Riley. Riley made 220 recommendations including introducing drinking limits for passengers on boats, introducing a floor price for alcohol and ushering in a moratorium on takeaway liquor licenses while the changes are adopted. The floor price would see a minimum cost of 1.2 U.S. dollars per standard drink established in the territory. Of Riley's findings, a ban on the sale of takeaway alcohol on Sunday is the only recommendation the government rejected. Gunner said that alcohol abuse had been a problem in NT for decades and is costing taxpayers more than 500 million U.S. dollars annually. "We've got to burn it to the ground and start again," Gannon told reporters on Thursday evening. "We do accept a generational change that is essentially deleting and replacing the Liquor Act with a brand new act." Gunner's government will also abandon a controversial policy that would outlaw any liquor shop greater than 400--square--meters in size. The Northern Territory has the highest rate of alcohol consumption than anywhere in the world, Attorney--General (AG) Natasha Fyles said. "It is time that the Northern Territory gets rid of the tag of being an alcohol--fuelled community," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 18:38:20|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least two militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and three armed Taliban were killed in an insider clash in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, a local official said Thursday. "Both IS and Taliban clashed with each other in Khogyani district late on Wednesday, leaving two IS fighters and three Taliban militants, including two of their local commanders, dead and three IS fighters wounded," provincial government spokesman Ataullah Ghogyani told Xinhua. The Taliban insurgents and IS militants frequently fight each others since early 2015 when the IS militant group emerged in the country. Over the weekend, 11 militants were killed and 15 others were wounded after Taliban and IS clashed in northern Jawzjan province. Neither Taliban nor IS has made comment on the report. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 18:53:24|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close MADRID, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Spain's cabinet will meet on Saturday to discuss suspending the Catalonia region's autonomy and imposing central rule in response to Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont's threat of secession unless talks were held on the issue. About 2.26 million people took part in a referendum on Catalan independence on Oct. 1 despite a government ban on it, with 2.02 million casting "yes" votes. Subsequently, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last week gave Puigdemont a Thursday 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) deadline, asking for a clear response on whether he had declared Catalan independence on Oct. 10. Puigdemont's reaction was to write to Rajoy Thursday, proposing dialogue. The letter said, "Despite all of these efforts and our will for dialogue, the fact the only reply is the suspension of our autonomy implies that (the government) is not aware of the problem and does not want to talk." "If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonia's parliament will, f it considers it appropriate, vote on a formal declaration of independence," he said. The wealthy Catalonia region, with a population of 7.5 million, accounts for about a fifth of Spain's economic output. Residents mostly speak Catalan, a language that some believe is a Spanish dialect but some argue to be a totally different language. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:08:28|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Germany is witnessing a dramatic decline in native insect populations which endangers the survival of entire ecosystems, a study published on Thursday warned. According to the study which appeared in the academic journal "Plos one", German insect populations have shrunk by an average of 76 percent since 1989. "In the middle of the summer, when many insects are at their peak", an even larger decline of 82 percent was measured, the study authors wrote. Healthy insect populations are crucial to the functioning of wider ecosystems, ensuring the pollination of flowers amongst others. The researchers based their findings on measurements of the mass of insects caught in traps installed in 63 locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Rhineland-Palatinate over the course of the past 27 years. The longitudinal study was widely-anticipated by environmental scientists as a source of data on a potential trend of declining insect populations in a quality that was previously unattainable. Insect populations naturally experience substantial variation from year to year, making it necessary to conduct studies over larger periods of time to arrive at meaningful findings. "This publication proves that we are really confronted with a wider phenomenon", Josef Settele of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Halle said in the newspaper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ). Johannes Steidle, ecologist at the University of Hohenheim further pointed to the worrying circumstance that all probes in the study were taken in nature reserves. "If the biomass of insects is already declining so dramatically in protected areas, the development in unprotected ecosystems must be at least as serious", Steidle told SZ. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:13:29|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close JAKARTA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore will vie in a boat race in Kepulauan Riau province of Indonesia this week, a senior official said on Thursday. The Festival Dragon Boat Race is scheduled to be held in Carang river of Tanjungpinang town from October 20 to 22, head of provincial cultural and tourism department office Reni Yusneli said. "We invite several teams from foreign nations, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore," she said. A total of 43 teams from domestic and overseas will start the race in a 500m route on Friday until Sunday, Yusneli was quoted by Antara news wire as saying in the province. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:23:34|Editor: An Video Player Close Chinese medical team members perform an eye surgery in Taunggyi, Myanmar, Oct. 19, 2017. A Chinese medical team on Thursday began a free cataract surgery program in Taunggyi, Myanmar's Shan State on Thursday. (Xinhua/U Haymhan Aung) TAUNGGYI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese medical team on Thursday began a free cataract surgery program in Taunggyi, Myanmar's Shan State on Thursday. Jointly organized by the Chinese Lifeline Express and Myanmar's Lay Kyun Thu Foundation, the Chinese medical team of Henan Provincial People's Hospital is conducting a five-day surgical treatment on 300 cataract patients under the very first program in the region. Aimed at promoting China-Myanmar public healthcare cooperation, the program of Brightness Journey-2017 was launched at the Sao San Htun Hospital. Speaking at the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang expressed his belief that the program would bring brightness to Myanmar people who are suffering cataract and strengthen the Paukphaw (fraternal) friendship between the two countries. "I am glad that I get a chance to undergo eye surgery with such modernized devices and I hope this program can build better friendship between the two countries," a cataract patient U Sa Htun Mat told Xinhua. The Chinese Embassy also donated 20 million kyats (14,705 U.S. dollars) to Lay Kyun Shu Foundation as part of the program. After the program, the medical team will continue to conduct surgical treatment to 200 cataract patient in Nay Pyi Taw. Under the Brightness Journey program, the Chinese medical team has conducted free cataract surgical treatment on about 6, 000 patients in two years since 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:28:36|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) following his statement that described the Iraqi forces as "occupation forces." "The Court of Inquiry for Risafa (eastern Baghdad) issued an arrest warrant for Kosrat Rasoul after his latest comments which he considered the army and federal police forces in Kirkuk as occupation forces," Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, said in a statement. "The court considered Rasoul's statements insult and incitement against the armed forces, and the arrest warrant was issued in accordance with Article 226 of the Iraqi Penal Code," Biraqdar said. Rasoul, who is also deputy leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday which denounced those individuals among the PUK who ordered the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk, which eventually led to the city's capture by Iraqi forces without fighting. "What really deepened the wound is some individuals who deviated from the PUK's doctrine without returning to our party's leadership and became the occupiers' (Iraqi forces) assistants to obtain some personal and casual gains," Rasoul said in his statement. On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, ordered government forces to enter the oil-rich Kirkuk province in northern Iraq to regain control of the ethnically-mixed disputed areas. Tensions are escalating between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas. The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by other countries as it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and undermine the fight against IS militants. Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, fear that the Iraqi Kurds' pursuit of independence threatens their territorial integrity, as large Kurdish populations live in those countries. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:28:37|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Governors and interior ministers of Germany's states on Thursday urged the federal government to help them ensure the swift deportation of criminal asylum seekers. Boris Pistorius (SPD), interior minister in Lower Saxony, told newspaper Bild that it was the federal government's responsibility to deal with asylum seekers who had committed crimes. "In such cases, the federal office for migration and refugees must immediately assess whether the legal conditions are met to deny the right to asylum," Pistorius argued. The SPD politician urged Berlin to conduct the assessment "very rapidly and consistently" so that those affected leave Germany "as soon as possible." Pistorius' concerns were echoed by Manuela Schwesig (SPD), governor of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Schwesig said the federal and regional levels of government had to "work together better in order to speed up deportations." Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that Germany needed to "make use of all possibilities" to deport criminal asylum seekers."Leniency is not appropriate in this regard," Scholz added. Markus Ulbig (CDU), interior minister of Saxony, warned that the "success and acceptance" of Germany's asylum policy among citizens could only be guaranteed with the "consistent deportation" of migrants who had failed to secure asylum. Nonetheless, Joachim Stamp (FDP), minister for integration in North Rhine-Westphalia, argued that it was the quality, rather than the quantity, of deportations which needed to be lifted. Migrants who were "well integrated" should be offered means to stay in Germany, while terror suspects and criminals had to be deported "much more consistently," Stamp said. The Christian Social Union (CSU) demanded to triple available spaces at detention centers for individuals who were unlawfully in the country and hence duty bound to leave Germany. CSU's Stephan Mayer said his party wanted to lift the number of deportees "from 400 to at least 1,200" by the end of 2017. "Otherwise we will never be able to deport the roughly 230,000 individuals who are duty bound to leave Germany," Mayer added. Mayer hereby reiterated a demand made earlier by CDU/CSU parliamentary faction leader Volker Kauder (CDU). Kauder pressured Germany's states to create more spaces at detention centers, but also offered assistance from the federal government where it was needed. The CDU politician's comments sparked a heated debate over where the responsibilities of federal and regional authorities should lie in the implementation of asylum policy. Under current German law, states are tasked with conducting deportations. A bullet train drives in Liuzhou City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 15, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Xin) BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- With China's "fascinating" development in the past five years and providing more public goods to the world, Europe will benefit from a strong Chinese economy, a German expert on China has said. Nele Noesselt, a professor and China expert with the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, spoke highly of China's reform measures, especially those listed in a landmark blueprint in 2013. Issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the document known as "The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms", stipulated the market's leading role in the allocation of resources. "All these efforts will lead to greener and sustainable development and growth," Noesselt told Xinhua. Regarding Chinese foreign policy in the past five years, the Duisburg-based expert said China is no longer regarded as a passive observer or bystander in the international system. The change emerged during the 2008 global financial crisis and has become more obvious since 2013, with the Chinese government putting forward an array of ideas for building a just and fair world order, safeguarding peace and promoting development. While more and more Chinese soldiers are being deployed in UN peacekeeping missions, in a correlated development, China is also becoming increasingly active in global economic governance. "Chinese companies are growing globally, calling for China's participation in world security affairs to ensure (Chinese)interests. At the same time, (the) domestic economy is more and more intertwined with the world economy," Noesselt said. "China's participation in the international system has somehow stabilized the global market." The Belt and Road Initiative, one of the major outcomes of the new trend in China's foreign policy, will bring benefits to European countries, she added. The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to create greater trade, infrastructure and people-to-people links between Asia, Europe and Africa by reviving and expanding the ancient Silk Trade routes. The modern version comprises an overland Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. China is providing infrastructure and securing transport routes, thereby not only benefiting Chinese markets but also providing economic growth and stability to Europe and other regions, Noesselt said. "We have to keep in mind that we are just over the financial crisis. Everyone (was) hoping that Chinese companies (would) jump in, in a bid to stabilize the European market and also to re-stabilize the euro as a currency. And China did contribute," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:38:39|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens have drawn a positive conclusion from their first day of coalition negotiations on Wednesday night. The CDU/CSU parliamentary faction held separate talk with the FDP and Greens concerning the formation of Germany's next federal government over the course of Wednesday. "Those were two good conversations from the perspective of the CDU", CDU secretary general Peter Tauber told German press. Tauber added that he looked forward to a second larger round of talks including all potential "Jamaica" coalition partners on Friday with "joyful anticipation". Green party chairman Michael Kellner shared Tauber's positive view of early negotiations. Kellner described his party's meeting with the CDU/CSU as a "good conversation", adding that there was still a long way to go to "Jamaica". In his own assessment, CSU secretary general Andreas Scheuer noted that the election campaigns were now "concluded", the meeting had been "important" and that the atmosphere of talks was "ok". Scheuer further said, that the CSU was "happy" that coalition negotiations had "finally begun". The first talks had been "constructive" and "characterized by mutual respect". The FDP praised the "business-like" and "solution-oriented" atmosphere of talks. FDP secretary general Nicola Beer expressed confidence that the "first steps" towards a "Jamaica" coalition had been made. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:48:42|Editor: An Video Player Close HANGZHOU/NANNING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- When Ian Hamlinton, 47, an architect from South Africa, visited a village in south China in 2009, he was fascinated by centuries-old houses and decided to stay. Hamlinton said when he first saw the old houses in Jiuxian Village, Yangshuo county of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, they were in a dire state, but Hamlinton described the houses as "being amazing". Jiuxian, dating back about 1,400 years, is one of the poorest villages in Yangshuo. Many old houses have been left in a bad state of repair as many owners lack funds or skills, and the buildings are not old enough to be eligible for government-funded protection. Hamlinton rented two rundown houses, built more than 150 years ago, on a 20-year lease for 120,000 yuan (18,000 U.S. dollars) from a local villager. He turned them into a village inn after renovation. The villagers thought Hamlinton was crazy, because nobody would spend so much money renting and renovating a dilapidated house. Hamlinton was not annoyed. The village inn opened to the public after one year of renovation work to preserve the main house structure and many of the original features. Hamlinton's success has attracted other outsiders to rent and renovate houses in Jiuxian. Hamlinton said this shows that more and more people realize the value of these old houses, which can be better preserved after renovation. The renovation wave has resulted in a boom for tourism in Jiuxian. Many visitors come to local homestays to experience authentic culture. The villagers also benefit from the increasing number of visitors. They earn a higher annual income by renting out their houses, offering bicycle or e-bike rental services and working in these inns, said Hamlinton. Hamlinton said the old houses should be preserved well and people should not forget old history and culture, he said. Figures show no historic houses have been demolished in Jiuxian since 2010. Out-of-towners who come to renovate and preserve old houses that are not classed as "cultural relics," but nonetheless have historical value, will bring new life to these old villages, said He Wei, an official with the Architectural Society of China. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 19:53:44|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close THE HAGUE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Europol on Thursday announced that an organized group accused of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants from southern Europe to Finland and onwards to the United States via Iceland and Mexico, was dismantled earlier this month. The group was dismantled on Oct. 10 in a joint action launched by the Finnish Border Guard, the Icelandic Police and U.S. authorities. Four members of the criminal gang were arrested in Finland. Europol's European Migrant Smuggling Centre supported the investigation with information exchange and analysis. Also in October, in another joint action launched by the French and the German police, was dismantled an organized crime group involved in the illegal smuggling of Indian nationals into Europe. Six suspects thought to be the ring leaders were arrested in France, and a further eight in Germany. The organised crime group used a travel agency in the country of origin in order to arrange for the migrants' departure to Europe. The travel agency supplied visas to migrants from the Gujarat region (India) by sending them to consulates using fake supporting documents. The price for such a service varied from 7,000 euro (8,280 U.S. dollars) for one person to 25,000 euro for a family. Once the visas were obtained, the network would arrange for the victims travel to the suburbs of Paris. They were then transported to eastern Germany, where they were forced to work for a very low pay, overstaying the legal duration of their tourism visa. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Rescue operations are carried out on Rhodes island, Greece, April 20, 2015. (Xinhua) THE HAGUE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Europol on Thursday announced that an organized group accused of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants from southern Europe to Finland and onwards to the United States via Iceland and Mexico, was dismantled earlier this month. The group was dismantled on Oct. 10 in a joint action launched by the Finnish Border Guard, the Icelandic Police and U.S. authorities. Four members of the criminal gang were arrested in Finland. Europol's European Migrant Smuggling Centre supported the investigation with information exchange and analysis. Also in October, in another joint action launched by the French and the German police, was dismantled an organized crime group involved in the illegal smuggling of Indian nationals into Europe. Six suspects thought to be the ring leaders were arrested in France, and a further eight in Germany. The organised crime group used a travel agency in the country of origin in order to arrange for the migrants' departure to Europe. The travel agency supplied visas to migrants from the Gujarat region (India) by sending them to consulates using fake supporting documents. The price for such a service varied from 7,000 euro (8,280 U.S. dollars) for one person to 25,000 euro for a family. Once the visas were obtained, the network would arrange for the victims travel to the suburbs of Paris. They were then transported to eastern Germany, where they were forced to work for a very low pay, overstaying the legal duration of their tourism visa. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:23:54|Editor: An Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a landmark event in the history of the ruling party of the world's largest developing country, has attracted keen attention from across the world. The following is a selection of quotes by foreign leaders and observers illustrating their confidence in China and the CPC. Ulises Guilarte, senior member of the Communist Party of Cuba "China is a country that offers confidence, security and, above all, much hope in how to build a better world in the midst of an international economic order characterized by inequality, exclusion and interference by imperial powers." Panos Rigas, secretary of the central committee of the ruling SYRIZA party of Greece: "We believe that this congress will renew the commitment of the CPC to building a future of prosperity and justice for China and the world." Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party: "China today represents hope for the whole of humanity. ... We have to keep that hope alive. Hope for a world free of imperialism, a world of free and independent nations, a multipolar world, a world that is following a path of shared growth." Khairy Tourk, professor with the Stuart School of Business of the Illinois Institute of Technology: "I'm very optimistic about China. ... I think other parties should look at the CPC and learn from its experience of how to deal with both domestic challenges and foreign challenges." Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysian transport minister: "I envision a future that China can continue to play a major role on the world stage, and help achieve a peaceful and progressive world." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:28:56|Editor: An Video Player Close by Jamil Bhatti ISLAMABAD, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has successfully put China on the fast track to rejuvenation by starting a solid process of reforms over the past five years, a Pakistani expert has said. The CPC has lifted millions of people out of poverty through pursuing "sustainable economic progress," Khalid Rahman, director general of the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad, told Xinhua. "The CPC's policies ... especially for those in remote and backward areas, to alleviate poverty are exemplary," Rahman said. "We have also seen significant political reforms in the five years," he added, citing the CPC's moves to maintain discipline and curb corruption. Lauding the CPC for its people-oriented policies and "innovative way of development," Rahman said the Chinese example of successfully conducting reforms in various sectors can help other states achieve similar development. Noting that dozens of countries have joined the Belt and Road Initiative, Rahman said the China-proposed project has "yielded tremendous results" around the world. He was confident of its success because China was not only giving ideas and proposals to the related countries but also supporting them with funds and strong technical expertise. China's investment in the countries along the Belt and Road has spurred common development and brought mutual benefit, he said. The Belt and Road Initiative envisions reviving and upgrading the ancient Silk Trade routes for greater links between Asia, Europe and Africa vis-a-vis infrastructure, trade and people-to-people contacts. It comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:33:58|Editor: Yang Yi Video Player Close Photo taken on Oct. 14, 2017 shows ARJ21-700 jetliner at Shengli Airport in Dongying of east China's Shandong Province. China's first domestic regional jetliner ARJ21-700 was delivered Thursday after its mass production was certified in July. The ARJ21-700 jetliner has 90 economy seats and was bought by China Aerospace Leasing Company, and delivered to Chengdu Airlines. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) obtained a production license to build the airliner from the General Administration of Civil Aviation. (Xinhua/Ding Ting) SHANGHAI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's first domestic regional jetliner ARJ21-700 was delivered Thursday after its mass production was certified in July. The ARJ21-700 jetliner has 90 economy seats and was bought by China Aerospace Leasing Company, and delivered to Chengdu Airlines. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) obtained a production license to build the airliner from the General Administration of Civil Aviation. COMAC has received orders for 433 of the jetliners from 20 clients so far. The company plans to deliver five ARJ21-700 jetliners by the end of the year. China has in recent years sped up efforts to build its commercial aircraft. Besides the ARJ21-700, COMAC has also made the larger C919 jet, a narrow-body jumbo designed to rival the updated Airbus A320 and the new Boeing B737. It has also set up a joint venture with a Russian state company to build wide-body passenger jets. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:38:59|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close HANOI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Business process outsourcing, solar and wind energy, luxury hotels, modern agribusiness and food, and retail banking are five sectors with tremendous room for growth in Vietnam, PricewaterhouseCoopers, multinational professional services network, stated in its latest report. According to its report entitled "Spotlight on Vietnam" released on Wednesday, London-based PricewaterhouseCoopers said Vietnam's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has grown 20 percent to 35 percent annually over the past decade. The country is increasingly touted as the next BPO alternative to India and the Philippines. Some 40,000 new information technology Vietnamese graduates enter the job market each year. Population growth, urbanization, and industrialization are driving an increase in domestic energy consumption. There is a pressing need to secure new sources of energy, especially solar and wind energy to support continued economic growth. The number of new upscale and luxury hotels in Vietnam is still relatively low compared to other major tourist destinations in the region. Its increasing infrastructure connectivity will support the growth in tourism, which bodes well for the hotel industry. Although agriculture accounts for 20 percent of Vietnam's total exports, sector productivity is relatively low. The Vietnamese government is looking to businesses to play a role in raising the sector's technology level and increasing farmers' access to modern technology. Vietnam's middle class is growing fast. This rising affluence will drive demand for more complex banking products, such as bancassurance and wealth management. As a result, banks in the country are shifting focus from corporate banking to retail banking. More than 90 percent of payment transactions in Vietnam are in cash; 27 percent of the population use debit cards, and less than 5 percent use credit cards. Cash may currently be king, but not for long, said the report. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:49:03|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close GAZA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement rejected Thursday the demands of the U.S. Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt to accept the requirements of the International Quartet for Peace in the region. "Hamas movement expresses its rejection to the American blackmail and bias demands that serves the Israeli interests, and has been earlier explained by Greenblatt," Hamas said in an official press statement. Israeli media has earlier reported Greenblatt had stated that in order to recognize any Palestinian unity government, Hamas movement has to recognize Israel and get disarmed. "It is a blatant interference into the internal Palestinian affairs and aims at putting a stick into the wheel of reconciliation," adding "Hamas reiterates that it will carry on with implementing all the steps for reconciliation," Hamas statement said. The International Quartet, which comprises the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, had asked Hamas in 2006 to recognize Israel, condemn violence and recognize the peace treaties signed with Israel. Hamas, which won in the Palestinian parliamentary elections held in 2006, rejected the Quartet's requirements. Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip and the quartet imposed an embargo on Hamas movement. "Hamas movement wouldn't pay any attention to the attempts of sabotaging this track (internal Palestinian reconciliation and end of division) or obstructing it," said Hamas statement. Last week, leaders of Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party signed in Cairo on an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement, where Hamas agreed to hand over ruling of the Gaza Strip to Abbas consensus government. Bassim Na'eem, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, had earlier said that Greenblatt's words are "a barefaced interference into Palestinian affairs." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:49:04|Editor: An Video Player Close ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work with other countries to develop "open and inclusive" civilization, a senior Chinese lawmaker has said. Zhang Ping, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, made the remarks at the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly held in St. Petersburg, Russia on Oct. 14-18. He called for replacing prejudice, confrontation and conflict with inclusiveness, dialogue and cooperation, and also urged other countries to respect cultural pluralism. On the sidelines of the assembly, Zhang met with parliamentary leaders from Belarus, Russia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Brazil respectively and exchanged views with them on improving bilateral ties and legislature cooperation. The 137th IPU assembly was held under the theme "promoting cultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 20:59:08|Editor: An Video Player Close PARIS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is an important event, not only for China but for the whole world, the leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) has said. "We will be extremely attentive to the decisions of this congress," Pierre Laurent told Xinhua. The key conference, which opened in Beijing Wednesday, will elect a new CPC Central Committee and CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, amend the CPC Constitution, and draw a blueprint for China's development in the next five years and beyond. Laurent, PCF's national secretary, hoped the event would "amplify China's reforms" and offer inspiration to the world for opening a new path of development. China has launched a series of measures in the past five years to build a harmonious society, Laurent noted. They include intensifying the fight against corruption, promoting the rule of law, and working to reduce inequalities. The French politician is especially interested in the measures taken by China in the field of social development and the progress achieved as there can't be long-term world peace without addressing social problems, he said. China's advocacy of multilateralism in the diplomatic arena is also impressive with its significant contributions to global peace and stability, Laurent said. Particularly, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative provides new opportunities for international cooperation, he said. The Belt and Road Initiative, which was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, is aimed at promoting trade, financial integration, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people exchanges along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes linking Asia with Europe and Africa. "I hope these opportunities will be seized by the French government to intensify mutually beneficial cooperation," Laurent said. As regards Franco-Chinese cooperation, he said he believes the two countries will maintain close relationship, and the PCF and the CPC will learn from each other. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:04:09|Editor: An Video Player Close by Naim Ul Karim, Liu Chuntao DHAKA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi politicians and scholars have lauded China's achievements in the past five years, as well as contributions to global development, while placing high hopes on the country's future in the coming years. The remarks were made as more than 2,200 delegates gather in Beijing for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which opened Wednesday. "We were deeply pleased to see the development that has taken place in China," said retired Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Faruk Khan, who recently visited China on a nine-day tour at the invitation of the CPC. "We are pleased to see how green development has taken care of the Chinese environment," said Khan, who is also a former commerce minister and a presidium member of the Bangladesh Awami League (AL), the ruling political party in the country. "We are also pleased to see how poverty alleviation measures have worked successfully in a number of rural villages," he added. Barrister Biplab Barua, deputy office secretary of the AL, said that in the past five years, China has emerged as a global leader under the dynamic leadership of Xi Jinping, president of China and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. "As the president of China, Xi is appropriately leading China in the regional and international arenas. Under the dynamic leadership of His Excellency Xi, the positive influence of China has been increased dramatically," he said. He said Bangladesh will also benefit in many ways from China's growth and its development initiatives like the Belt and Road. "I do believe that the CPC led by Xi Jinping is capable enough to build a modernized socialist China with Chinese characteristics," said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon. "We are confident in his leadership dynamism to lead China forward." Commenting on the report Xi delivered Wednesday at the opening session of the 19th CPC National Congress, Menon said Xi's speech reflects what people desire across the world. China's progress is very important to developing countries like Bangladesh, added the minister, who is also chairman of the Workers' Party of Bangladesh. "China's modern socialism will be an example for the whole world," he said. MS Siddiqui, a professor at Dhaka's Daffodil International University, noted that Xi has correctly identified challenges to address, including stagnant global economic growth, widening wealth gaps, hotspot issues and unconventional security threats such as terrorism, major pandemics and climate change. "I appreciate his commitment as China has taken the driver's seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change and become an important participant, contributor and torchbearer in the global endeavor to create a better natural environment over the past five years," the professor said. "We'll be closely watching the results of the congress," said retired Lieutenant General Mahbubur Rahman, a member of the National Standing Committee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and also a former chief of staff of the Bangladesh army. "We believe ... in the days to come China will play a greater role for a peaceful world," said Rahman, describing China as a great country in the world to reckon with. He said he believes Xi will lead China to "new heights in peace, progress and prosperity," and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative will "come as a major blessing for the world." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:04:10|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close Representatives attend the APEC Senior Finance Officials' Meeting in Hoi An city in central Vietnam, Oct. 19, 2017. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Finance Officials' Meeting opened in central Vietnam's Hoi An city on Thursday, centering on drafting a joint ministerial statement and reviewing policy priorities in 2017. (Xinhua/VNA) HANOI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Finance Officials' Meeting opened in central Vietnam's Hoi An city on Thursday, centering on drafting a joint ministerial statement and reviewing policy priorities in 2017. The priorities include long-term investment in infrastructure, tax avoidance through base erosion and profit shifting, disaster risk financing and insurance, and financial inclusion. Regarding long-term investment in infrastructure, the officials from 21 APEC member economies and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reviewed mechanisms to facilitate private sector engaging into long-term infrastructure investment. They also reviewed ways of promoting public-private partnership (PPP) projects in delivery of infrastructure facilities through dealing with risk allocation issues and building instruments to mitigate risks. On Friday, APEC Finance and Central Banks Deputies' Meeting will take place in Hoi An, focusing on drafting the final version of the joint ministerial statement, and touching upon implementation of Cebu Action Plan, and the four priorities. On Saturday, APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting is scheduled to take place in the city with the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The delegates will discuss global and regional economic and financial outlook, priorities of the APEC Finance Ministers' Process (FMP) 2017, implementation of Cebu Action Plan, and adoption of the joint ministerial statement. The joint ministerial statement is expected to mention regional cooperation issues, policy themes and directions for the FMP in the coming time. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:14:14|Editor: An Video Player Close by Xu Haijing, Zhao Bo CANBERRA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The achievements of China's science and technology research have been "absolutely magnificent" in the past five years, said the president of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS). "It's overwhelming to those of us who observe it from outside," Andrew Holmes told Xinhua in an interview here on Thursday. "I believe the Chinese expenditure on research and development is the second highest in value terms now in the world. That investment is being delivered in the result we see," said Holmes. From his work as an associate editor of a chemistry journal, Holmes says he sees an increase in the number of authors from China. "Many of us are looking towards our Chinese colleagues for the next big breakthrough, and we're hoping to be part of the collaboration because of that," he said. Holmes said he and his Australian colleagues are aware that apart from taking the lead in producing an anti-malaria drug, which was awarded the Nobel prize, China is also strong in areas such as advanced materials and synthetic biology, among others. "These are just some recent examples," he said. Holmes said 10 years ago, there was little research coming from China, with most Chinese scientists having carried out their work outside the country. But in recent years, many Chinese researchers have chosen to go back home. "These are very experienced people from the previous appointments outside China, taking back their great strength," he said. "So we've seen independence and creativity coming from works originating from those groups," said Holmes, adding that new hands being trained are equally promising. In 10 to 15 years, the areas in scientific research where China lags behind other countries will become fewer and fewer, he said. "It won't be long before we see a very strong domination," said Holmes. There are areas Chinese researchers identify themselves as at the developmental and not the lead stage, "but if we look at the histories of other nations, which invested in science like China is investing, one can predict that in the long term, we will see Nobel prizes being awarded to Chinese scientists for work done in China," he said. Delivering a report to the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called on all countries to work together for a clean and beautiful world and tackle climate change through cooperation. Holmes said it's a good thing that China and Australia are in full agreement that "we have a challenge as citizens of the world to reduce man-made carbon dioxide emissions and to mitigate the consequence of climate change." "Anything we can do as citizens of the world to improve the chances of our natural beauty and resources being maintained, not being eliminated, through our man-made behavior is very important," Holmes said. "I think we are united in those goals." Photo taken on Oct. 14, 2017 shows the explosion site near Safari hotel in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse) MOGADISHU, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Somali capital of Mogadishu is still coming to terms with the Saturday bomb attack which has claimed over 300 lives as rescue and recovery teams continue moving the rubble to find trapped victims. As the families bury the dead and at least three countries airlift the injured for further treatment, questions still abound, with little answers coming through. Residents have taken to the streets condemning the attack which the government has blamed on the Al-Shabaab while the terror group has strangely not claimed responsibility. The group which has claimed credit for several attacks in the past has not said a word even though all indications point to its involvement. No known group in Somalia could carry out an attack of such magnitude. Pockets of the Islamic State in northern parts of the country have claimed responsibility for targeted killings in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland where an Al-Shabaab break-away faction sprouted from in 2015. Abdirahman Nur, an independent security analyst based in Mogadishu, concurs with the country's president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, widely known as Farmajo, on where the blame should be directed at Al-Shabaab. Nur says no group in Somalia has carried out such major attacks in Somalia apart from Al-Shabaab. "They might have been carried out by Al-Shabaab. But they decided not to claim responsibility because they missed out on their target. It hit the wrong target because the security forces got intelligence about the truck," Nur told Xinhua on Tuesday. "We can deduce from the magnitude of the explosion that Al-Shabaab was targeting important and strategic sites," he added. Nur said the group also failed to claim responsibility because they feel they lost public sympathy since most of the victims were civilians and their motive for the carnage can not be established. The extent and magnitude of the explosion which flattened buildings around the scene and its impact felt more than two kilometers away also raises questions about the capacity of Al-Shabaab to build bombs of such lethal capacity. Nur, who has been studying the vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) trends in Mogadishu, said the group has acquired sophisticated weaponry from the African Union bases which it has attacked on several occasions. "The magnitude of this bombing could be attributed to the weapons Al-Shabaab has acquired from AMISOM bases it has ambushed several times. You can see from this case that it must have increased the quantity of explosives material. It is not the configuration of weapons. It is a mix of locally available materials and what they have acquired," said Nur. It is not yet clear where the truck loaded with explosives was heading to but sources have indicated it could have been destined to the foreign affairs ministry headquarters which is barely 100 meters away from the scene. Sharmarke Muhidin survived by a whisker. "I saw a huge truck running over public transport vehicles and in a flash it went burst. I blacked out and later found myself in hospital," said Sharmake who is nursing injuries on his arms and legs in a city hospital The three-day mourning period declared by President Farmajo came to a close Wednesday, paving way for directions on what the government will take in the wake of what has been described as the worst terrorist attack not just in Somalia but also in the region. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adem, director of the Amin Ambulance Service, told Xinhua the number of dead had risen to 303 by Tuesday. "We have been able to move more bodies recovered from the rubble and the number now stands at 303. This is the most lethal attack ever in Somalia," said Aden. "The government is likely to launch a massive offensive against Al-Shabaab. With the good will of the international community following the attack, Somali government will be asking for international help to ramp up offensive against the group," Omar Farah, a journalist from state-run Somali News Agency (SONNA) told Xinhua. Farah added that it is possible that the government could impose a state of emergency as it seeks to hunt down terror cells especially within the capital Mogadishu. Donors were supposed to meet this month to make commitments to fund the National Security Architecture (NSA) which was approved by international partners during the London Conference. However, the government said last week the meeting will instead take place in December. The NSA is a critical component of the Security Pact agreed in the London Conference which among others charts the course from African Union forces exit as from next year. Somali troops still do not have the capacity to take charge and it will require concerted efforts by the international community to empower the force to take full charge ahead of expected total exit by AMISOM after the 2020 general elections. As rescue efforts continue, grief has engulfed Mogadishu as families try to understand what befell them. Almost everyone knows someone who was affected in this attack. Anfac Abdullahi, the sister of Maryam Abdullahi who had just completed her medicine degree and was anxious to graduate the following day, said the family could not come to terms with the death of their sister. A call shortly after the blast dampened family's hopes of not only attending their daughter's graduation but also not seeing her again. "I had just got back home when the explosion went off. I called my sister since I knew she was around KM5 area but someone else picked her phone and said she had died. We rushed to the scene after the situation calmed and managed to spot her body. Bodies were strewn all over the place," Abdullahi said. "She was to attend her graduation October 15 but we had to attend her funeral," Abdullahi told Xinhua by phone as she sobbed. A team of youth Tuesday joined the rescue and recovery teams in clearing the rubble and cleaning the place. Police said they believe there are no more bodies left. "We cleaned the place and the situation is gradually returning to normal and the last body was taken out from the rubble today," senior police officer Mohamed Dahir told Xinhua at the scene. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:24:18|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Britain seeks progress on its stalled exit negotiations with the European Union (EU) in the next few weeks, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Thursday. The British side will work with its EU partners to set out ambitious plans of Brexit talks for the weeks ahead during the ongoing two-day EU summit, May told reporters at her arrival of the event. "I particularly, for example, want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens' rights," the British prime minister added. Citizens' rights remained one of core topics and obstacles in talks between Brussels and London before the negotiations could be moved to the next phrase including trade relations. May sidestepped a question from journalists on whether Britain is willing to compromise in talks and mentioned a previous UK agenda. "I set out a few weeks ago in Florence a very bold and ambitious agenda and vision for our future partnership between the EU and the UK at the heart of that remains co-operation on the key issues and dealing with the shared challenges that we face," she noted. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the Brexit talks progress was still "not sufficient" but "encouraging." "We will continue the talks with a view to reaching the second phase in December," Merkel told reporters. In the meantime, French President Emmanuel Macron said the upcoming EU summit will extend message of unity on Brexit talks. "This European Council will be marked by a message of unity in the Brexit discussion because we are all united on how things stand, the interests and the ambition behind one negotiator," Macron said at his arrival of the summit. The EU leaders gathered here for a two-day summit with topics including migration, security and digital development on the agenda. On Friday morning, leaders are scheduled to discuss Brexit talks. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:24:20|Editor: An Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China hopes the United States will work with it to maintain stable bilateral ties, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday. Spokesperson Lu Kang was responding to the recent remarks of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. According to media reports, Tillerson, in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. Wednesday, alleged China's "provocative actions" in the South China Sea directly challenge international law and norms, while accusing China of economic activities and financing that saddles developing countries in the region with enormous debt. Lu said China has always been committed to the international system with the United Nations at its core and defending the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. In the development process, China will not sacrifice the interests of other countries, nor give up its own legitimate rights and interests, said the spokesperson. China is committed to a long-term, healthy and stable China-U.S. relationship, Lu said, noting that such relationship is in accordance with the fundamental interests of the two peoples, as well as the interests of countries in the Asian-Pacific region. Lu said China hopes the United States could treat China's development and international role without prejudice, and maintain the stable development momentum of bilateral ties. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:44:25|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close LONDON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- An alarming 68 percent increase in the number of young teenage girls self-harming in Britain was reported Thursday by academics at the University of Manchester. They found that while more girls than boys self-harmed, the number of girls aged 13 to 16 who self-harmed rocketed by 68 percent over a three-year period. Nav Kapur, professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the University of Manchester, said: "We can't really explain this possible rapid increase in self-harm among girls. "It could also be a result of increasing stress and higher levels of psychological problems in young people. There is some evidence indicating that common mental health disorders are becoming more common within this age group." Prof. Kapur said the internet and social media can be really helpful in preventing self-harm, but could have negative effects too and this is a focus of significant research and activity. Kapur said: "It's very important that young people, parents and carers aren't unduly alarmed by these findings. We know that for many young people things get better and they no longer hurt themselves as adults. But of course we must take self-harm seriously; it's important to understand its underlying causes." The study, published Thursday in the British Medical Journal was carried out in over 600 family doctor general practices. It also found that young people living in the most socially deprived areas with often the most complex needs, were the least likely to be referred to specialist services. Self-harm, described in the report as intentional self-poisoning or self-injury is a major public health issue in countries across the world in children and adolescents. Experts acknowledge self-harm as the biggest risk factor for subsequent suicide, with suicide now the second most common cause of death in the under 25s worldwide. Dr Cathy Morgan and a team from Manchester examined self-harm recorded in general practice rather than in hospital, analysing data for 16,912 patients aged between 10-19 years who harmed themselves during 2001 to 2014. For girls, the rate of self-harm was 37.4 per 10,000, much higher than 12.3 per 10,000 in boys. It rose by 68 percent in girls aged 13 to 16 from 45.9 per 10,000 in 2011 to 77.0 per 10,000 in 2014. Prof Kapur added: "These results emphasise the opportunity for earlier intervention in primary care to reduce suicide risk. We know talking treatments can help. There is also a need for more integrated care involving families, schools and health and social care providers and the voluntary sector to enhance safety among these distressed young people." According to the study, children and teenagers who self-harmed were nine times more likely to die unnaturally than unaffected young people, with an especially marked increased risk of suicide and acute alcohol/drug poisoning death. The study was funded by The National Institute for Health Research. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:44:26|Editor: An Video Player Close NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Joseph Musili is only 22 years old, yet his dream of becoming a construction mogul in the near future has confounded his peers who are yet to define which career path to follow in an increasingly competitive society. The bubbly youth joined China Wu Yi (Kenya) Precast Company Limited in September this year to work as a casual laborer in a factory it is putting up on the outskirts of Nairobi to manufacture construction materials. Speaking to Xinhua recently at the factory site, Musili said his month-long stint as a casual laborer in a construction site has been a respite to financial woes that afflicted him after clearing high school. "I feel better now that I can afford my daily bread and spare some cash to send to my relatives in the village. The work environment is conducive enough to facilitate realization of my dreams despite being a casual laborer," said Musili. He is among more than 600 Kenyans recruited by China Wu Yi to work at the Kenya Building Industrialization Research, Development and Production Base and Construction Materials Supermarket the company is setting up at an industrial hub outside Nairobi. China Wu Yi through its Kenyan affiliate has invested 100 million dollars to establish the facility that will act as a one stop shop for building materials. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure James Macharia, who visited the project accompanied by Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa, said it will boost Kenya's quest to bridge housing gap while fostering skills transfer and job creation. "We feel excited by this project and it is transformational in terms of industrial development. It will help us meet the goal of putting up 5 million new housing units in the next five years," Macharia remarked. He lauded Chinese companies that have invested in Kenya for creating new jobs for the youth while facilitating skills and technology transfer. On his part, the Chinese ambassador noted that the industrial plant being established by China Wu Yi will help reduce the cost of building materials in Kenya. This kind of investment will enable Kenyans to have cheaper and reliable housing, said Liu, adding that China is committed to be an integral part of Kenya's industrial transformation. Kenyan youth have benefitted from the setting up of the inaugural construction materials supermarket in the country by China Wu Yi (Kenya) Precast Company Limited. Douglas Juma, a 26-year-old mason said his stint at the factory site has been rewarding in terms of perks and exposure. "The construction of an industrial plant that will manufacture modern construction materials has created jobs that are fulfilling when you look at the wages and growth prospects," Juma remarked. His counterpart, Benson Kimeu,a 38-year-old carpenter said working for China Wu Yi has provided him with a platform to refine his skills while improving his grasp of Chinese work ethic and social mores. "I'm earning higher wages in my current work station and interacting with people from different cultures has made me appreciate the world," said Kimeu. Chinese manufacturing firms that have set base in Kenya have revitalized the country's industrial growth while opening new job opportunities for trained youth. At Twyford Ceramics Limited that is located 72 kilometers south west of Nairobi, hundreds of Kenyan youth with varying degree of expertise have found gainful employment. Wilfred Cheruiyot, a 27-year-old graduate of mechanical design and manufacturing from Ningbo University in China currently works as a translator at Twyford Ceramics Limited which manufactures tiles. He joined the company in August this year and has enjoyed working alongside Kenyan and Chinese supervisors during production of high quality tiles that are on high demand across the region. "I'm happy to have a job in this company and it has provided me with a good platform to realize my potential. There is opportunity for growth here and (I) look forward to rising through the ranks," said Cheruiyot. His sentiments were shared by Joy Njuguna, a 25-year-old casual laborer based at the packaging department who said that working for a Chinese company has improved her revenue base, skills and exposure to the outside world. "The Chinese are good people to work with, they are courteous and the working environment here is good. I look forward to saving enough money to start a business," said Njuguna. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:49:28|Editor: An Video Player Close Kamal-Eddin Ismail, chairman of external relations department of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Khartoum, Sudan, on Oct. 17, 2017. "We are following the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with great interest," Ismail told Xinhua. The wisdom of the CPC leadership has been proven, buoyed by its deep insights into political and economic issues, both regionally and globally, Ismail said, adding: "We support the directions of the CPC and commend its support (for) developing countries." (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) KHARTOUM, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- As far away as in Sudan, the political parties are keenly watching the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), lauding the party for China's extraordinary economic success. "We are following the 19th CPC National Congress with great interest," Kamal-Eddin Ismail, chairman of external relations department of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), told Xinhua. Ismail, a former state minister for foreign affairs, is monitoring the congress, which convened in Beijing Wednesday, for the recommendations and decisions it will come up with, both at the internal and international levels. The wisdom of the CPC leadership has been proven, buoyed by its deep insights into political and economic issues, both regionally and globally, Ismail said, adding: "We support the directions of the CPC and commend its support (for) developing countries." He stressed the importance of strengthening relations between the CPC and the NCP, saying it was natural for both to have "progressive relations," given the deeply-rooted ties between their two countries. Kamal Omer, political secretary of Popular Congress Party (PCP) and a member of the parliament, said the CPC has shown a "distinguished performance" in running the state and maintaining balance between speedy progress and preserving the characteristics of a socialist society. Hailing the CPC's successful plan for the economic leap that has made China the second biggest economy in the world, he said the congress has assumed critical importance as China is a key player in the international arena today. The timing of the conference, he said, was very important since it came at a time when the world is witnessing far-reaching challenges and transformations. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:49:29|Editor: An Video Player Close PLOVDIV, Bulgaria, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Government representatives, business leaders and researchers from China and countries from Central and Eastern Europe held a working meeting in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on Thursday. It was the third working meeting for the China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Association of Provincial Governors under the 16+1 bloc of nations, a platform created in April 2012 by China and 16 CEEC countries. The purpose of the event is to enhance cooperation in the areas of culture and tourism, innovation and economic zones, as well as agriculture. "As the eastern door of Europe, the CEEC have always been a bridge that connects the East and the West, and a bond that combines Asia and Europe," Ye Changqing, deputy director general of the Hebei Foreign Affairs Office, said at the opening ceremony on behalf of all members of the Chinese delegation. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the 16+1 bloc meet the needs for development of China and CEEC, Ye also said. In the past five years, the 16+1 has been more complete, the basis of which more concrete, and the prospect of which more promising, Ye said. "With such a great cooperative situation, we are all looking forward to a complete success for the Fourth Local Leaders' Meeting, which will be held in Bulgaria in 2018," Ye said. Zdravko Dimitrov, regional governor of Plovdiv Region, said the 16+1 is an integral part of the cooperation between China and Europe and contributes to the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the European Union (EU). "Although the China-CEEC Association of Provincial Governors is the youngest format under the 16+1, we can clearly state that our intentions to build a working model of partnership with openness, inclusion and profitable results, are in place," Dimitrov said. He added that regional economic integration is a driving force in promoting liberalization and facilitating trade and investment, as well as in maintaining China-CEEC markets open to each other. Chinese Ambassador to Bulgaria Zhang Haizhou, who also addressed the event, said the 16+1 cooperation has become a strong driving force for the economic and social development of China and CEEC, an important auxiliary power for the Belt and Road Initiative, and an important platform of the development of China-EU relations. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:49:29|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Oil Ministry on Thursday warned the world states and all oil companies against striking deals with the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan without authorizations of the federal government. The endeavor of some officials and foreign oil companies to conclude oil deals inside Iraq without the knowledge of the Iraqi federal Oil Ministry "is a blatant interference in Iraqi internal affairs and a violation of its national sovereignty and a clear violation of international norms," an Oil Ministry statement quoted its minister Jabbar Luaiby as saying. "The federal government and the federal Oil Ministry are the only entities that have the constitutional and legal powers in conclusion of contracts and agreements that relate to the development and investment of oil and gas wealth," the statement said. "Otherwise, these agreements and contracts are illegal and non-binding to the Iraqi state and give the government and the ministry the right to take legal action in domestic and international courts to protect Iraq's national wealth," it added. The statement came a few days after the Iraqi forces retook control of the oil installations, oil fields and pipelines in the oil-rich Kirkuk province and other disputed areas outside the Kurdish region. On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, ordered government forces to enter the oil-rich Kirkuk province in northern Iraq to regain control of the ethnically-mixed disputed areas. Tensions are escalating between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas. The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by most other countries as it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and undermine the fight against IS militants. Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, fear that the Iraqi Kurds' pursuit of independence threatens their territorial integrity, as large Kurdish populations live in those countries. Photo taken on May 4, 2017 shows the meeting of Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. (Xinhua/Ospanov) ASTANA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The seventh round of Russia-led international negotiations to resolve the Syrian conflict will be held on Oct. 30-31 in the Kazakh capital of Astana, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said Thursday. The agenda includes approval for the establishment of a working group on the release of hostages and prisoners, the transfer of bodies and the search for the missing, the ministry said in a statement, as the Syrian army and rebel forces continue to drive the Islamic State terrorists out of the war-torn country. Participants also plan to discuss fighting against international terrorism and adopt a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria, it said. In parallel with the UN-backed Geneva process, six rounds of Astana talks have been held since January, with Russia, Turkey and Iran as the mediators. The most significant outcome was the establishment of four de-escalation zones in Syria. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 21:59:33|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Afghan security personnel in Kandahar. Afghan officials say 43 security personnel were killed and several others injured in the Taliban-claimed pre-dawn attack on a police center. The Pakistani prime minister expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of lives during the attack, the PM office said. "Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism itself. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever it is perpetrated," he said in a statement. The foreign ministry in a separate statement also condemned the terrorist attacks that targeted the Afghan National Army base in Maiwind District in Kandahar province. "We are grieved at the loss of precious lives in the cowardly attack. We express our deepest sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," a ministry's statement said. The statement said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all forms and manifestations and reaffirms its firm commitment for continued efforts and cooperation for eliminating this menace. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:04:34|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- India Thursday condemned the terrorist attack on the Afghan national army base in Kandahar province that killed 43 Afghan soldiers, officials said. "We strongly condemn the barbaric attack today at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province," a statement issued by India's foreign ministry said. "Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people." Reports said two Taliban suicide bombers in Humvee trucks targeted the military base. The Indian foreign ministry said India expresses solidarity with the people and the government of Afghanistan in these difficult times. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:04:36|Editor: An Video Player Close SHANGHAI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of visits from China to Abu Dhabi reached 242,000 from January to August, making China the largest source of tourists in the city, Abu Dhabi's tourism department said Thursday. Saif Saeed Ghobash, director of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, said that in the first eight months the number of visits by Chinese tourists to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, increased by 68 percent year on year. Ghobash revealed the figures in Shanghai at "Abu Dhabi Week in China," the first promotional activity between the city and China. Leisure and business trips from China to Abu Dhabi have soared since visa policies were eased at the beginning of the year. The government of Abu Dhabi said that the city is expected to welcome around 600,000 visits from China in 2021. To attract more Chinese visitors and meet their demands, many tourist attractions in the city have been improving their services, such as providing Chinese-speaking tour guides and promoting China UnionPay, the country's largest bank card payment processor. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:09:38|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Germany has pushed an ongoing European Union (EU) summit to talk about situation in Turkey, aiming to cut funds for Ankara's EU accession bid, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday. "We will be talking about Turkey; I asked that this theme be put on the agenda," Merkel told reporters at her arrival of the summit. She said the EU was very concerned about the situation of the rule of law in Turkey, adding that "I will push for the pre-accession funds to be reduced." "We will hear everyone's view on this because it's important to me that the European Council is united on this," Merkel said. However, the German chancellor praised Ankara's role in dealing with migration. "I will also make clear that Turkey is doing a great job on the refugees and that we have obligations under the EU-Turkey deal," Merkel noted. The EU and Turkey hammered out a deal, in which Brussels promised Ankara 3 billion euros (3.55 billion U.S. dollars) for the coming years to tackle migration. "We need to deliver on this promise," said Merkel, "This money helps the refugees who are living under very difficult conditions. Once again, Turkey is doing a great job here," she added. The EU leaders gathered here for a two-day summit with topics including migration, security and digital development on the agenda. On Friday morning, leaders are scheduled to discuss Brexit talks. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:14:40|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close GAZA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chief of Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yehya Sinwar, on Thursday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit the coastal enclave soon. "I call on (Abbas) Fatah Party's central committee and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee chaired by President Abbas to visit Gaza and hold their next meetings here," said Sinwar. Sinwar made the call earlier Thursday in Gaza city when talking with Palestinian youths about the implementation of the recent reconciliation deal Hamas signed in Cairo with Fatah. Sinwar said that Hamas has made its decision and will not withdraw from it, adding "it won't be one of the two parties of internal Palestinian division." Abbas and the Palestinian (National) Authority haven't been in Gaza since the summer of 2007, when Hamas had forcibly seized control of the Gaza Strip. Last week, Egypt brokered a reconciliation agreement between the two biggest Palestinian rivals. Leaders of the two groups signed the agreement that enables Abbas consensus government to hand over control of and function in Gaza. "The only winner of making reconciliation and ending internal division is our people and we are ready to make more and more concessions for the sake and the interest of our people," said Sinwar. Before signing the agreement, Hamas dissolved a controversial administrative committee of ruling the Gaza Strip to enable the consensus government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to fully function in the Gaza Strip. Hamdallah, his cabinet ministers and security chiefs visited Gaza two weeks ago and held its weekly cabinet meeting. After the cabinet meeting, Hamas announced that the Gaza Strip is under the full mandate of the government. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:14:41|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Africa will enhance the sustainable use of nuclear power to drive a developmental agenda, despite mounting criticism against the project, newly appointed Minister of Energy David Mahlobo said on Thursday. "Being a developing country, our key driver to our policy decision for nuclear power is the economics of the energy source," Mahlobo told delegates attending the 44th Policy Group meeting of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), taking place in Cape Town. The GIF is a cooperative international endeavor to carry out the research and development needed to establish the feasibility and performance capabilities of the next generation nuclear energy systems. Mahlobo was appointed Minister of Energy on Tuesday amid speculations that he would push for the much-criticized 1-trillion-rand (740-billion-U.S.-dollar) nuclear deal with Russia, under which Russia will help South Africa build nuclear reactors. South Africa recognizes the role of nuclear power in ensuring security of energy supply and meeting the challenge of climate change, Mahlobo said. "We promote an energy mix of coal, gas, renewables and nuclear. Each of these options has their role; some of the energy sources are intermittent supply and while others, such as nuclear and coal, are base-load supply," he said. South Africa has made a policy decision to pursue nuclear energy as part of the energy mix and recognize the role of nuclear as a base-load source of energy in ensuring security of supply and climate change mitigation. The country is home to Africa's only nuclear power plant, the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, situated near Cape Town. Currently, nuclear constitutes about 6 percent of the South African energy mix, with 1,800 megawatt electric of electricity supplied to the national grid by the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. The South African government has approved its Integrated Resource Plan of 2010-30, which provides for coal, gas, renewables and 9,600 Megawatt nuclear as part of the energy landscape by 2030. But environmental groups, which question the safety of nuclear plants, have launched a series of campaigns against the plan. Mahlobo said Generation III nuclear power plants remain a good economic choice for South Africa. He said his country looks forward to deploying more advanced Generation IV nuclear power plants which promise improved economics. "Sustainability of our environment is key, and being a committed party to the Paris Convention, South Africa has set ambitious carbon reduction targets, which Generation IV reactors will continue the tradition of nuclear power being the lowest carbon emitter from all energy sources," the minister said. With the advent of reduced waste from these systems, there is no doubt that nuclear power itself will be more sustainable than ever, he explained. Although the Fukushima disaster in Japan had catastrophic consequences, nuclear power continues to be the safest source of electricity, according to Mahlobo. The further improved safety of Generation IV systems will surpass this benchmark, and hopefully cure the myth that nuclear is an unsafe source of energy, he said. "It is our responsibility as this current generation to produce knowledge systems that enhances the sustainable use of nuclear power to drive a developmental agenda and bequeath to the next generation a world they are proud to call home," Mahlobo concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:19:45|Editor: Zhou Xin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) --- Britain's main opposition leader, the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn, on Thursday warned that leaving the European Union with no deal would be catastrophic. Corbyn, his shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer, and shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner, were scheduled to hold talks in the Belgian capital with members of the Party of European Socialists (PES), as well as the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. Corbyn said: "As the government's splits and Brexit bungling become ever more damaging, Labour stands ready to take up responsibility for the Brexit negotiations." "A no-deal Brexit would be a bad deal for Britain, threatening jobs and living standards. It would also harm our European neighbors. That's why it's in all our interests to increase the pressure for real progress in the current talks and move on to negotiations about our future trading relationship," he added. Corbyn was also set to hold bilateral meetings with the Italian, Swedish and Portuguese prime ministers. British Prime Minister Theresa May is in Brussels on Thursday as leaders of the 28 EU states gather for a two-day summit. She will not be present when the remaining 27 leaders meet Friday to decide whether Brexit talks with Britain should move forward. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:34:49|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Xi Jinping delivers a report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on behalf of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2017. The CPC opened the 19th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People Wednesday morning. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's report at a landmark meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has further boosted the confidence of foreign countries and organizations in China's development prospect and global role. In the report delivered Wednesday at the opening session of the 19th CPC National Congress, Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, blueprinted China's future development and reiterated Beijing's aspiration to build a community with a shared future for mankind. The report "outlines China's grand strategy for the next few decades" as it brings greater clarity to the vision for China's full modernization by the middle of the 21th century, said Dali L. Yang, a professor of political science in the University of Chicago. In particular, the expert said he was impressed by the report's emphasis on the environment and efforts to build a greener China. "In fact, the report mentions the environment more than the economy. Modernization is more than economic growth and Xi's report is a clear articulation of the CPC's greater emphasis on balanced development," he told Xinhua via email. B. R. Deepak, a professor at the Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, noted that Xi's report draws a blueprint for China's future direction. "With this blueprint, China will forge ahead to transform into a great modern socialist country by 2050," added the renowned Indian expert on China. He added that China's vision of building a community with a shared future for all humankind, championed by Xi, emphasizes the ongoing trend of multi-polarism, interdependence, tolerance and mutually-beneficial cooperation. Noting that Xi mentioned the Belt and Road Initiative in his report, Deepak said, "In the next five years, we will witness a lot more infrastructure connectivity in Eurasia, and the region is likely to emerge as an important driver of regional and global growth." For Rashed Khan Menon, Bangladesh's civil aviation and tourism minister, China's progress is very important to developing countries like Bangladesh, and Xi's speech reflects what people desire across the world. "I do believe that the CPC led by Xi Jinping is capable enough to build a modernized socialist China with Chinese characteristics," he said. "We are confident in his leadership dynamism to lead China forward." In the eyes of Suresh Acharya, a senior member of Nepal's Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic), Xi's report is "highly important for the entire South Asia and neighboring countries like Nepal." "From his remarks I see very positive signals to materialize the dream of creating this century as the Asian Century," he said. "The pragmatic vision presented by President Xi will help to build a peaceful and harmonious world." "I believe that China will become a global leader as envisioned by President Xi in terms of comprehensive national strength and international influence," he added. "Common prosperity for everyone will be basically achieved." (Xinhua reporters Naim-Ul-Karim in Dhaka, Hu Xiaoming in New Delhi, Yang Shilong and Zhou Xiaozheng in New York, and Zhou Shengping in Kathmandu also contributed to this story.) Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:44:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The rift between Kenyan leaders, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his main rival Raila Odinga, remains as the country heads to Oct. 26 repeat polls. All indications are clear that the elections, which Odinga withdrew from, would be held on Oct. 26 after the government declared the day a holiday on Thursday. Kenyatta has hit the campaign trail for the better part of the last two weeks touring his strongholds and those of Odinga to popularize his candidature. On the other hand, Odinga has vowed that there would be no elections on Oct. 26 and called for countrywide protests on that day. So deep are the divisions between the two leaders and their lieutenants that attempts to make them dialogue over the stalemate have hit a snag, with Kenyatta snubbing a meeting with Odinga called by the electoral commission chair on Thursday. Odinga attended. The widening divisions have led to tension in many parts of the country, with leaders from both Opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) and the ruling Jubilee Party offering starkly different views on the election date. "If we do not hold elections on Oct. 26, then there would be no elections in Kenya. That is our stand and we would not back down," said ruling party Jubilee Senator Kipchumba Murkomen. "The writing is on the wall after the resignation of Roselyn Akombe from the electoral commission. Her statement from New York is loud and clear that we cannot hold credible elections. Postpone the elections now," said NASA Senator Mutula Kilonzo, noting that the opposition would continue with protests on Oct. 26. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:49:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Xi Jinping (C rear) speaks during a panel discussion with delegates from Guizhou Province who attend the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Tao) BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping on Thursday called on members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and people of all ethnic groups in the country to advance socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. Xi made the remarks during a panel discussion with delegates from Guizhou Province who are here to attend the CPC's 19th National Congress. Commending Guizhou's development over the past five years, Xi said socialism with Chinese characteristics has now entered a "new era." He said this is a "major political assessment" as well as a "strategic reflection that affects the whole landscape." "The evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society represents a historic shift that affects the whole landscape," Xi said, echoing a report he made at the opening session of the Party congress when he spoke of "the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." Xi told delegates from Guizhou that efforts must be made to address unbalanced and inadequate development and meet people's ever-growing needs for a better life. He went on to highlight strict Party governance, saying it is the fundamental guarantee for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Party organizations at different levels and all CPC members and officials must uphold the authority of the Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership, he said. Xi also instructed authorities to organize education and training programs on the guiding principles of the 19th CPC National Congress after its conclusion. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 22:59:59|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close By Salah Takieddine BEIRUT, Oct, 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese citizen Assaad Bazzi and his family were standing on the barbed wired fence along the Lebanese-Israeli border at Adaisse, contemplating the numerous patrols of the Israeli army. "Israel's recent threats come within the verbal escalation we got used to hear and it would not pass the barbed wire fence as war is not a game anymore and the Jewish state has to understand the risks it would take," Bazzi told Xinhua with confidence. Along the border line in the Kfarkala town, college student Suha Abou Kanso was jogging like every morning. For her, "the drums of war that are beating hard recently are not echoed in our southern towns and villages." She told Xinhua that "the Israeli threats and the U.S. sanctions against Hezbollah did not change anything in our normal life. Israel is aware that Hezbollah's military strength has grown through its participation in the Syrian war." Abou Kanso posed for some selfies with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soldiers and stressed that "the war that Israel claimed it was preparing for would backfire on it." Israeli officials have threatened recently, Hezbollah in particular, along with Lebanon and its army in general that Lebanon would suffer should a new war start between the two countries. On the Bint jbeil front, farmer Adel Bazzi said that he was cultivating his land adjacent to the border line and that "the situation is stable and calm. Life in the border towns and villages is normal and people do not care about the threats." A UNIFIL officer who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity stressed that "the situation is calm and normal all along the Blue Line and there are at the same time many ongoing construction projects on the Lebanese side." The Blue Line is the border line that the United Nations drew following the 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah to demarcate the international borders between Lebanon and Israel. On the Marjeyoun front, Adel Shoucair, a fuel station owner, told Xinhua that "fear has no place in our hearts as long as Lebanon has the deterrent force represented by its army." He added that "Israel tries to intimidate us with war but we do not care and we are pretty sure that it would not risk its security by launching a new war against Lebanon." Shoucair pointed to the projects worth millions of dollars that "the southerners are investing which reflect their sense of security regardless of the Israeli threats of war." Retired Lebanese army officer Jamal said that "we are witnessing an extensive Israeli military exercise but it is only aimed at assuring the Israelis on the domestic front." During September, Israel held an unprecedented 10-day drill which was claimed to be the largest and the most important the country had carried out in 19 years, for the purpose of preparing for a new war against Hezbollah. Enditem Photo taken on May 3, 2017 shows an aerial view of the coast of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) CAPE TOWN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Africa will enhance the sustainable use of nuclear power to drive a developmental agenda, despite mounting criticism against the project, newly appointed Minister of Energy David Mahlobo said on Thursday. "Being a developing country, our key driver to our policy decision for nuclear power is the economics of the energy source," Mahlobo told delegates attending the 44th Policy Group meeting of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), taking place in Cape Town. The GIF is a cooperative international endeavor to carry out the research and development needed to establish the feasibility and performance capabilities of the next generation nuclear energy systems. Mahlobo was appointed Minister of Energy on Tuesday amid speculations that he would push for the much-criticized 1-trillion-rand (740-billion-U.S.-dollar) nuclear deal with Russia, under which Russia will help South Africa build nuclear reactors. South Africa recognizes the role of nuclear power in ensuring security of energy supply and meeting the challenge of climate change, Mahlobo said. "We promote an energy mix of coal, gas, renewables and nuclear. Each of these options has their role; some of the energy sources are intermittent supply and while others, such as nuclear and coal, are base-load supply," he said. South Africa has made a policy decision to pursue nuclear energy as part of the energy mix and recognize the role of nuclear as a base-load source of energy in ensuring security of supply and climate change mitigation. The country is home to Africa's only nuclear power plant, the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, situated near Cape Town. Currently, nuclear constitutes about 6 percent of the South African energy mix, with 1,800 megawatt electric of electricity supplied to the national grid by the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. The South African government has approved its Integrated Resource Plan of 2010-30, which provides for coal, gas, renewables and 9,600 Megawatt nuclear as part of the energy landscape by 2030. But environmental groups, which question the safety of nuclear plants, have launched a series of campaigns against the plan. Mahlobo said Generation III nuclear power plants remain a good economic choice for South Africa. He said his country looks forward to deploying more advanced Generation IV nuclear power plants which promise improved economics. "Sustainability of our environment is key, and being a committed party to the Paris Convention, South Africa has set ambitious carbon reduction targets, which Generation IV reactors will continue the tradition of nuclear power being the lowest carbon emitter from all energy sources," the minister said. With the advent of reduced waste from these systems, there is no doubt that nuclear power itself will be more sustainable than ever, he explained. Although the Fukushima disaster in Japan had catastrophic consequences, nuclear power continues to be the safest source of electricity, according to Mahlobo. The further improved safety of Generation IV systems will surpass this benchmark, and hopefully cure the myth that nuclear is an unsafe source of energy, he said. "It is our responsibility as this current generation to produce knowledge systems that enhances the sustainable use of nuclear power to drive a developmental agenda and bequeath to the next generation a world they are proud to call home," Mahlobo concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:15:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Finance Guard said Thursday it had busted an international migrant smuggling ring that had brought Syrian, Iraqi and Somali people into Italy illegally. Six Italians have been arrested and a European arrest warrant is being issued for a seventh, a Greek of Iraqi origin, the Finance Guard said in a statement. According to police, the seven suspects are the ringleaders of a 26-member criminal organization made up of veteran cigarette smugglers from the southern region of Puglia, working with accomplices in Albania, Greece and Montenegro. They charged migrants 4,500 euros (5,330 U.S. dollars) each to ferry them across the sea from the Greek coast to Puglia, according to the statement. The seven suspects face charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, aggravated by the profit motive and by exposing their passengers to life-threatening danger. Police said they intercepted six people-smuggling trips involving 150 migrants and asylum seekers between August 2014 and June 2015. Italy's Finance Guard, a military police corps dealing with financial crime including trafficking and contraband, has been tasked since 2016 with fighting illegal immigration by sea. According to Europol's European Migrant Smuggling Center (EMSC), 90 percent of irregular migrants turn to criminal organizations to facilitate their journeys to Europe. Tackling this multi-billion-euro trade is an essential part of the European Union's (EU) response to the migrant crisis, according to the EMSC, which was set up in February 2016 in response to the unprecedented increase in the number of irregular migrants arriving in the EU since 2014. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:15:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday hailed his government's main ally Iran as a major partner in the victories achieved against the terror groups in Syria, according to state news agency SANA. The president made the remarks during his meeting Thursday with the visiting Iranian Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, who arrived in Syria a day earlier and held meetings with top Syrian officials. During the meeting, Bagheri conveyed a message to Assad from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which the Iranian leader congratulated Assad on the recent victories achieved in the battles against the Islamic State (IS) group, according to SANA. Assad stressed that eliminating terrorism in Syria deals a strong blow to the western schemes in the region, "which explains why some countries are still supporting the terrorists in Syria." For his part, Bagheri said the aim of his visit is setting a joint strategy to boost the military cooperation in the coming stage following the victories recently made. The Iranian official renewed pledges that his country will keep supporting Syria, including in the reconstruction process. The Syrian government forces have recently made strides in the battle against IS in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, where the army has controlled over 92 percent of the capital city of Deir al-Zour with the help of Iranian-backed fighters and Russian airstrikes. Yang You perform Kunqu Opera in Kunshan, east China's Jiangsu Province, June 26, 2015. (Xinhua/Yang Lei) ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work with other countries to develop "open and inclusive" civilization, a senior Chinese lawmaker has said. Zhang Ping, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, made the remarks at the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly held in St. Petersburg, Russia on Oct. 14-18. He called for replacing prejudice, confrontation and conflict with inclusiveness, dialogue and cooperation, and also urged other countries to respect cultural pluralism. On the sidelines of the assembly, Zhang met with parliamentary leaders from Belarus, Russia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Brazil respectively and exchanged views with them on improving bilateral ties and legislature cooperation. The 137th IPU assembly was held under the theme "promoting cultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:35:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close PARIS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday appealed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure the strict compliance of Iran nuclear deal. At a meeting with the UN body's director general Yukiya Amano, Macron "urged the IAEA to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the agreement in all its dimensions." The French head of state also hailed the agency's work to monitor Teheran nuclear activities in the framework of 2015 Vienna deal, with which Iran accepted to halt its nuke program in exchange for lifting sanctions. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:35:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RIGA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The so-called solidarity tax charged on high salaries in Latvia is partly unconstitutional, according to a ruling issued by the Latvian Constitutional Court on Thursday. The court ruled that one of the provisions of the solidarity tax law that aligns the solidarity tax rate with the rate of social security contributions was inconsistent with the Latvian Constitution and would be invalidated as of January 2019, the court said in a statement to the media. The court found that aligning the tax rates was discriminatory towards those paying the solidarity tax. According to the Constitutional Court's ruling, such discriminatory treatment of a group of taxpayers lacks a legitimate purpose and violates the principle of equity. It concluded, however, that an immediate abolition of the solidarity tax would not be possible as long as there was no regulation to replace it. Since lawmakers will need reasonable time to work out and adopt a new regulation and integrate it within Latvia's tax system to ensure the stability of the state budget, the unconstitutional provision of the solidarity tax law will lose force only on Jan. 1, 2019. Under the law, effective since last year, solidarity tax is charged on the part of an annual salary that exceeds 52,400 euros (62,060 U.S. dollars). The Latvian Constitutional Court heard a complaint against the solidarity tax filed by several dozens of employers who objected to the new tax. They argued that although the solidarity tax is essentially the equivalent of social security contributions, it is paid into the government's basic budget and therefore has no effect on the high-earners' pensions. The applicants insisted that the social security contributions made by each person should ensure an according amount of social guarantees. (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:45:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TIRANA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Some 4.5 tons of cannabis sativa were seized by Albanian police in a village in Vlora, a coastal city in southern Albania, authorities said Thursday. "The police operation began late Wednesday when about 100 police officers of Tirana special unit, prosecutors of the General Prosecution Office, officers of the Delta Force and Vlora anti-drugs unit went to Babica Vogel village in Vlora," Rebani Jaupi, a senior police officer told reporters. Authorities also informed that they arrested three people as directly involved in drug cultivation and trafficking. Meanwhile, the prosecutor-general's office said in a statement Thursday that the "considerable" haul followed a yearlong investigation and was related to the recent arrest of drug traffickers in Italy. Albanian authorities have this year made a series of seizures of cannabis in remote areas along the coast or on speedboats. Prime Minister Edi Rama has pledged to get Albania off the list of cannabis-producing countries by the end of this year. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:50:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller on Thursday stressed the importance of cyber defense when she addressed industry experts at a conference in Mons, Belgium. According to a press release from NATO, the annual NATO cyber symposium, hosted by the NATO Communications and Information Agency, provides an opportunity for NATO, experts and the industry to discuss the latest advances in cyber technologies, as well as cyber-related threats and challenges. "Cyber-attacks are serious. They have the potential to undermine NATO's missions around the world and to hamper our ability to deliver collective defense. That is why cyber defense is a top priority for NATO and for NATO Allies," Gottemoeller said. "We have to be just as effective in the cyber domain as we are in the physical world," she added. NATO leaders agreed to recognize cyberspace as a new operational domain, in addition to domains of land, sea, and air. Gottemoeller said: "Having cyber as a domain of operations will increase our ability to work together, to develop new and appropriate capabilities and to share information among all Allies." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-19 23:55:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Anti-Illegal Immigration Department in the western city of Sabratha deported 116 Moroccan illegal immigrants, a security source told Xinhua on Thursday. "The Anti-Illegal Immigration Department deported 116 illegal immigrants of Moroccan nationality through neighboring Tunisia, from which they will be repatriated to their home country," Basem Al-Gharabli, head of the Department, told Xinhua. "There are 27 additional Moroccan migrants with no travel documents. The International Organization for Migration, in cooperation with the Moroccan embassy in Tunisia, is finalizing arrangements to grant them temporary travel documents to be deported in the next few days," Al-Gharabli added. The Department revealed that more than 7,000 illegal immigrants have been deported, following a large scale operation for more than a week on illegal shelters of immigrants. The coastal city of Sabratha, some 70 km west of the capital Tripoli, is one of the largest illegal migrants smuggling destinations in Libya and Africa, according to international organizations. Smugglers take advantage of the insecurity and chaos in Libya to send thousands of migrants cross the Mediterranean towards European shores. Migrants who are rescued at sea by Libyan navy are detained in reception centers with poor living conditions. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:05:25|Editor: Hou Qiang Video Player Close Li Keqiang joins a panel discussion with delegates from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region who attend the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) leaders Thursday called for efforts to fully comprehend and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. "The Thought represents the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and is an important component of the system of theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics," said Li Keqiang when joining a panel discussion at the 19th CPC National Congress, which opened Wednesday. Li said that Xi's "new era" thought is a long-term guide to action that the Party must adhere to, which must be fully understood and carried out so as to comprehensively implement the spirit of the congress. When joining another panel discussion, Wang Qishan called for attentive study and grasp of Xi's "new era" thought, and faithful implementation of the strategic goals set at the congress. Xi's "new era" thought must be studied, understood and put into practice in a steadfast manner in order to break new grounds in the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, Zhang Gaoli said while joining a separate panel discussion. Li, Wang and Zhang are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era builds on and further enriches Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, according to a report delivered by Xi to the 19th CPC National Congress on Wednesday. The report listed 14-point fundamental principles of the Thought, ranging from ensuring Party leadership over all work to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:10:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South African Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane on Thursday denied involvement in state capture allegations linked with the controversial Indian Gupta family. Appearing before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources, Zwane said his relationship with the Gupta family is "at a professional level" and that he has "not benefited anything from that relationship." Zwane, who keeps close ties with the family, is accused of collaborating with the Guptas in looting the state coffers such as awarding the family with lucrative contracts with state-owned enterprises in what is also known as state capture. Zwane justified his relationship with the Guptas and disputed reports of any undue influence from the family. "If there is a need to meet them (Guptas) tomorrow, I will meet them anywhere anytime, I continue to meet with people who have insulted me in the media, these people (Guptas) have not insulted me," Zwane told the parliamentary committee. He said he will never favor one businessperson over the other. "I am always objective; my work is to engage with everybody equally," he said. Responding to questions about his travels to India, Switzerland and Dubai, allegedly sponsored by the Guptas, the minister said all the trips were work related. He said details of these trips were a subject of court proceedings and asked the committee to let the legal process unfold. "Some of the matters raised here are a subject of an investigation, it is my humble request that we allow legal process to continue. I will stand up for anybody who is not treated well and that would not mean I am captured by them (Guptas); they are my clients," the minister said. Zwane also defended his intervention in negotiations on the sale of the Glencore coal mine to the Guptas at a 75 percent discount. Zwane said his efforts saved about 3,000 jobs. Committee members felt the minister failed to respond to a number of their questions, and resolved to schedule another meeting to continue the probe with him. "I haven't heard a question that is directly on the executive authority of the incumbent, whether he acted irregularly or not," said Committee Chairperson Sahlulele Luzipo. "Our recommendation is to reschedule to continue with the question and answer session with the minister," Luzipo said, adding that they would get legal guidance on the next step. WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has come under fire after he reportedly told a widow of a fallen soldier that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Trump spoke on Tuesday to the families of four slain U.S. soldiers who got ambushed by Islamic State militants in Niger earlier this month, amid questions that why he had not made any comment about the killings. After stirring controversy by invoking White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's son, a Marine Corps lieutenant killed in Afghanistan in late 2010, to defend his delayed response, Trump came under a fresh round of criticism over one of his condolence telephone calls. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson lashed out at Trump Tuesday night for what she described as "insensitive" remarks to the widow of Amy Sergeant La David Johnson, one of the four soldiers killed in Niger. "Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts," Wilson recounted Trump's words during an interview with CNN. "He shouldn't have said it," Wilson told an ABC News affiliate. The Florida lawmaker said she was in a car with Johnson's widow, Myeshia, to meet the body in Miami when the president called her. Wilson told CNN that the widow, which has two young children and is six months pregnant with a third, was "very distraught" after the call. "She has just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral which gives her all kinds of nightmares about what his body must look, what his face must look, and this is what the president of the United States says to her," Wilson said. Trump denied on Twitter on Wednesday that he had made such kind of remarks, saying that Wilson "totally fabricated" what he said and claiming to have proof. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't sai (say) it at all," Trump told reporters at the White House hours later, insisting that he had a "very nice" conversation with the widow. But Johnson's mother backed Wilson's account. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Cowanda Jones-Joshnson told The Washington Post. Wilson said on Twitter that she stood by her account of the call between Trump and Myeshia, suggesting that the president didn't even know the name of the widow. At Wednesday's press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was not recording of the call but several people were present when the president made the call, including Kelly, who, according to her, thought the call was completely appropriate and respectful. Trump asserted that former President Barack Obama didn't call families of fallen service members, a claim that aides of the former administration slammed as "an outrageous and disrespectful lie." He invoked the death of Kelly's son in his defense Tuesday, suggesting that reporters ask the retired four-star general whether Obama reached out to him when his son died serving the country. Sanders said she doesn't know if Trump warned Kelly before bringing that up in an interview, but adding that the White House chief of staff is "disgusted" by the politicization of Trump's phone calls to the families of fallen service's members. The president also said that he has called "every family of somebody that's died," but several Gold Star family members told news outlets that they have never had a call with Trump after their relative was killed in action. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:20:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DUBAI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on Thursday reshuffled his cabinet and appointed a number of ministers. Omar Bin Sultan Al-Olama, 27 years old, was appointed as state minister for artificial intelligence, while Noura Al-Kaabi, former state minister for Federal National Council (FNC) affairs, was appointed as minister of culture and knowledge development. The 13th government of the 1971-founded UAE also saw the appointment of Sara Al-Amiri, 30, as minister of state for the new portfolio of "Advanced Sciences." Mariam Al-Muhairi has been appointed as minister of state for food security, another first in the government. Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan has been appointed as minister of state for tolerance, replacing Sheikh Lubna Al-Qasimi. The UAE prime minister said the reshuffle followed the launch of the UAE Centennial Plan 2071 which aimed to transform the Gulf state, a major oil supplier, into the "most advanced economy of the world." The new cabinet consists of 29 members including the prime minister. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:30:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ABUJA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian teams are scaling up food and nutrition emergency aid in Nigeria's troubled northeast region through improved coordinated logistics and civil-military coordination efforts, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said here Thursday. In a statement, the UN agency said humanitarian teams can now access some areas that were previously inaccessible in the troubled Nigerian region. "Humanitarians have also noticed encouraging signs that the food and nutrition situation in some areas was stabilizing, especially with the support from donors, food and nutrition emergency aid that significantly scaled up since late 2016," the statement said. According to the UN agency, nearly 2 million people are presently receiving in-kind or cash-based food assistance every month in the country's most volatile region. It noted nutrition partners have reached nearly 500,000 children, pregnant and lactating women this year through supplementary feeding programs. UNOCHA said the strategic focus of humanitarian partners is on integrated and coordinated life-saving assistance, strengthened protection of civilians, enhanced humanitarian access, and durable solutions. Earlier, the UN agency alarmed that Nigeria's humanitarian situation was the most severe in the world. The crises, which emanated from terror group Boko Haram's attacks, particularly in the country's northeast region, had left over 8.5 million people in dire need of assistance in the worst affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. The prolonged humanitarian crisis has had a devastating impact on food security and nutrition in Nigeria's northeast. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:30:35|Editor: Hou Qiang Video Player Close by Eric J. Lyman ROME, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Italy's budding economic recovery is leaving at least one key group behind: young workers. In recent months, the Bank of Italy and multilateral organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have adjusted their estimates for the growth of the Italian economy upward. Not only is the country's export sector growth outpacing Italy's economic growth but also growing faster than worldwide trade, meaning Italian exporters have slowly been gaining a bigger share of all experts. Confidence in Italy's economy is improving, whether gauged by consumer confidence levels started to edge higher starting in early summer, or based on yields for government bonds, which are falling as investors conclude that Italy is less risky than it had been. But even with all this going on, the percentage of workers under the age of 35 without a job has stubbornly remained around 40 percent, and the number of such workers leaving Italy for more vibrant job markets abroad has been on the rise, according to Italian statistics office ISTAT. For the youngest of workers -- those under the age of 24 -- around one in five is neither employed, looking for a job, or engaged in studies. That is nearly double the average for the European Union as a whole. "This is one of the most serious long-term problems Italy's economy faces," Michel Martone, a former vice minister for labor and a labor law professor at Rome's LUISS University, told Xinhua. The trend is not a new one. Martone's research in the magazine LUISS Open showed that youth unemployment grew from less than 25 percent to more than 40 percent between 2008 and 2016. The most serious aspect of the problem, according to Martone, is the flight of young people educated in Italy and who end up working in other countries. Figures from Fondazione Migrantes, an Italian research group focusing on migration issues, nearly 50,000 Italians between the ages of 18 and 34 left the country in 2016, almost a quarter more than that during the previous year. "That means that Italy pays to educate these people, but then every year tens of thousands of them are forced to leave the country because they cannot find work," Martone said. "And keep in mind that the unemployment numbers remain high even though the workers who leave are no longer included in these calculations." Emilio Reyneri, a professor emeritus of sociology of labor for the University of Milan Bicocca, said he saw some reasons for optimism in this area. He said that in terms of absolute numbers, the youth employment situation in Italy is nearing its levels from 2008, before the start of the worldwide economic crisis. But Reyneri said the problem is unlikely to improve dramatically until Italy's educational system was adapted to adequately prepare students to be competitive in a modern work environment. "As things stand now, young people attend university, graduate, and then stay with their parents because they are not prepared to find a job," Reyneri said in an interview. "We need to adapt our education system, and we need to encourage part-time work while in university as is done in other countries." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:35:37|Editor: Hou Qiang Video Player Close BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- American journalist Sarah Wendt was surprised to find a media-friendly environment at the ongoing Party congress in Beijing, as opposed to the perceived "media-averse" atmosphere at her home Washington D.C. Thursday was the second day of the 19th National Congress of Communist Party of China. Wendt and her colleagues arrived early at the Great Hall of the People, which overlooks Tian'anmen Square at the heart of Beijing. For the second day in a row, a group of 20 delegates met with the press at the "delegates' passage" at the hall, answering questions from interested reporters. "There is great access and openness at the Party congress, whereas in the United States, the administration is closed in a way that they don't want media attention or criticism," she said. "The delegates' passage is a good format to have preliminary interviews with the delegates before going into longer discussions," Wendt said. The delegates' passage is a new addition at the 19th CPC National Congress, drawing on experience from the annual parliamentary sessions in the past years, in which ministers meet the press to answer questions. About 2,300 delegates have gathered for the twice-a-decade CPC congress, but the number of journalists covering the supremely important political event is even more, at over 3,000. "The aim is to provide more chances for the delegates to meet with the media," said Zhang Qiang, deputy director of congress press center. A total of 70 delegates are expected to receive interviews at the passage. Their interactions with reporters are broadcast live on state television and various Internet portals. On Thursday, the interviewees included CPC history researcher, aircraft carrier pilot, computer engineer, teacher, cleaner, farmer and anti-corruption official. Topics touched on Party governance, environmental protection, scientific innovation, and personal stories of grassroots delegates. Ling Jiefang, writer and a five-time delegate to the Party congress, warned against slackness in the fight against corruption. "If we look back in the history of China, there has never been a comparable amount of effort to fight corruption like we've seen in recent years. There has never been a CPC-led people's war against corruption like we are having now," said Ling coming from Henan Province. "The congress report said the anti-corruption battle shall never cease. If there were any slackness in the effort, corruption might bounce back and there would be negative consequences," he said. Besides the passage, there are press conferences and open discussions in delegations with the presence of reporters. Starting Thursday, press conferences are held at the press center. "The Party congress has become more open and transparent, which reflects the growing confidence of the ruling party of a large country like China," said Dong Guanpeng, director of the media and public relations institute at the Communication University of China. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:35:38|Editor: ying Video Player Close Rescuers transfer an injured man to a hospital following a hand grenade attack in Mastung, southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province, on Oct. 19, 2017. At least 15 people were injured in a hand grenade attack in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday evening, local Urdu media reported. (Xinhua/Asad) ISLAMABAD, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were injured in a hand grenade attack in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday evening, local Urdu media reported. According to local reports, the incident happened at about 7:30 p.m. local time in the Sultan Shaheed area of Mastung, a district in Balochistan province. Senior local police officer Abdul Quddus said that some unknown assailants riding on a motorbike hurled a hand grenade near a busy mobile market and fled the scene, leaving at least 15 people injured. The attack also led to a stampede as a large number of people were shopping in the market, Dunya News reported. Rescue teams and police rushed to the scene and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital where four of the injured are said to be in a critical condition. Security forces cordoned off the area and kicked off a search operation in the surroundings to hunt down the miscreants. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. The attack came a day after a deadly suicide blast hit a police truck in Quetta city of the same province, leaving at lest seven policemen dead and 24 others injured. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:45:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Photo taken on Sept. 9, 2017 shows the general view of an ancient theater of Thouria on the outskirts of Kalamata City, southern Greece. Greek archaeologists have unearthed a major part of the ancient theater of Thouria on the outskirts of Kalamata, the country's Culture Ministry announced on Thursday. (Xinhua/Greek Culture Ministry) ATHENS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Greek archaeologists have unearthed a major part of the ancient theater of Thouria at the outskirts of Kalamata city in southern Greece, the country's Culture Ministry announced on Thursday. The first remains of the theater of the ancient city, which dates back to the 4th century BC, came to light during excavations in the summer of 2016. During this summer's excavations, archaeologists revealed the perimeter of the theater's orchestra and several rows of stone seats in excellent condition, according to an e-mailed ministry press release. The site, which has come to light so far, is 51.25 meters long and 22.8 meters wide, according to the release. The excavation of ancient Thouria started ten years ago. The site has been identified by epigraphic finds that mention the name of the ancient city, and references made by ancient Greek geographers Pausanias and Strabo. Thouria's theater is oriented to the west, overlooking the vast fertile plain of Messenia, known in the antiquity as "Makaria" (Blessed), and in the distance, to the southwest, the sea of the Messenian Gulf, which in the ancient times was called "Thouriates" (that belonged to Thouria), Greek archaeologists explained. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:50:45|Editor: Hou Qiang Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations said on Thursday it has disbursed 160 million U.S. dollars to the government of Tanzania between January and October this year for funding various development projects. Alvaro Rodriguez, the Resident Coordinator for the UN Systems in Tanzania, said the UN spends an average of 200 million U.S. dollars to support development projects in Tanzania annually. He was addressing a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam ahead of the UN's 72nd anniversary on Oct. 24. Rodriguez said half of the financial support was directed to refugees and the remaining half to various development projects. He said 72 years of UN operations were paramount to Tanzanian development, considering there were a number of challenges, including the influx of the refugees and the impact of climate change, which the east African country could not overcome single-handedly. "Tanzania and the UN have had a good relationship in many years. While this country experiences various changes toward an industrial economy, the UN will extend their support in making sure the goal is achieved," said Rodriguez. He said the UN was committed to supporting Tanzania in its industrial economy agenda by investing in technical support through its agencies. At the same time, Rodriguez said the UN was interested in protection of the environment. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 00:55:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Pakistani Taliban group on Thursday confirmed that its leader Omar Khalid Khorasani has been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike on the Afghan side of the border. Asad Mansoor, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JuA), told the media that Khorasani has died of wounds after he was injured in a drone strike in Paktiya province on Tuesday. JuA is blamed for a large number of deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent years that killed many people. Khorasani, whose real name was Abdul Wali, had parted ways with the main Taliban faction in 2014 over serious differences over the leadership. Reports also suggested that the group's central council has nominated Asad Afridi as its new leader. Some reports also said that Khorasani was killed earlier in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, where the group is believed to have established its bases. The United States has increased air strikes in Afghanistan after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia in August. Pakistan army also confirmed on Tuesday that military operations were conducted in Afghanistan's eastern Khost and Paktiya provinces over the past few days by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) and Afghan Forces, opposite to Pakistan Kurram Agency, with reports of "heavy losses to terrorists." The army did not identify those killed in the operations but said "coordination between the forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan has enhanced" after the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's visit to Afghanistan on Oct. 1. In July The UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee approved the addition of JuA in the list of entities and individuals subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. "Pakistan had proposed this listing," the Foreign Ministry had stated after the UN slapped curbs on the outfit. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:05:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Barrick Gold Corporation, the world's largest gold mining company, said on Thursday it has agreed to pay the government of Tanzania 300 million U.S. dollars to end a dispute that has hit its operations in the east African country. In addition, Barrick Gold Executive Chairman John Thornton, said the mining firm will give Tanzania 16 percent stake in its three gold mines and 50 percent share in revenues from the mines. Thornton revealed these decisions at the end of more than three months of negotiations between the mining firm and the government of Tanzania after the country banned the export of unprocessed minerals and enacted new laws to raise ownership of the nation's mines. However, Thornton said the decisions should have to be approved by the independent shareholders and directors of Acacia Mining, which is majority owned by Barrick Gold. Tanzania is Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, and Barrick's Acacia Mining Plc is its largest miner, with three gold mines at North Mara, Buzwagi and Bulyankulu. President John Magufuli received a report on the outcome of the negotiations and commended members of the negotiating teams from both Barrick Gold and the government of Tanzania for "the job well done." He commended Barrick Gold for reaching a consensus with Tanzania in resolving the long-standing disputes, saying the mining firm has done that with great love and dedication to the country. However, President Magufuli asked Barrick Gold to pay the 300 million U.S. dollars soonest possible to enable the government to fund development projects, including the Stiegler's Gorge hydropower generation. The president ordered that similar negotiation teams should be formed to deal with diamonds and tanzanite. For his part, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Palamagamba Kabudi, said the agreements reached during the negotiations were in keeping with the new mining laws approved by Parliament in July, this year. "Efforts pioneered by President Magufuli have started to bare fruits. This is a great step for our country, a lesson as well for other nations," said Kabudi. "We have agreed to have a 50-percent-share of revenues between the government and Acacia Mining from all its mines," added Kabudi who headed Tanzanian delegation to the negotiations. According to him, the two teams had agreed that the mining firms should shift their headquarters from abroad to Tanzania and all revenues from mining should be deposited in local bank accounts. "To ensure that the mining sector is well supervised to benefit all Tanzanians, some government officials will be included in the mining firms board of directors," he said. In March this year, Magufuli announced a temporary ban on exports of metallic mineral concentrates and immediately formed two committees, which recommended a permanent ban on the same after accusing Acacia of illegally operating in the country and evading tax. The move made Thornton to fly to Tanzania where he met Magufuli in mid-June and they agreed to engage in negotiations to resolve the disputes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:15:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's General Directorate of State Security announced Thursday that it arrested a suspected extremist cell planning terror attacks across the country. The alleged terror cell of four Syrian nationals was busted in the southern district of Hasbaya. The suspects had monitored strategic locations to carry out bombings, State Security said. The head of the cell reportedly acknowledged that he had established groups loyal to Islamic State (IS) on social networking sites and published instructions on how to manufacture explosive vests, jackets and mines. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:20:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Suspected robbers shot dead an Australian woman in Nairobi on Thursday after she defied orders to surrender her mobile phone to suspected thugs in Nairobi's leafy Karen. Karen Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Cunningham Suiyanka said the woman was walking along the road when a gang riding on a motorbike stopped in front of her. "One of the gunmen demanded that she surrenders a mobile phone she had," Suiyanka said, noting that the middle-aged woman resisted the orders prompting the gunmen to shoot her and grabbed the mobile phone. "They will be caught to serve justice," said the police commander, noting that the gangsters grabbed her mobile phone and some valuables before they sped off on their motorbike. The Australia woman was rushed to nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead. Witnesses said the woman had ventured from her home to that of a neighbour when the incident happened at around 11 a.m.. It was not immediately clear what the woman was engaged in Kenya. Suiyanka said police were pursuing good leads on the whereabouts of the gang. The police commander confirmed the woman was an Australian but refused to divulge more details on her. Cases of armed robberies have escalated this year across the country. According to testimonies from traders and security guards, crowded streets in downtown Nairobi are the prime target owing to their volatile nature. The soaring crime wave in the cities and towns has scared investors and experts have warned that if unchecked might reverse economic progress. Hardly a day has passed without an incident of violent robbery being reported in Nairobi and its environs. Letters written by former U.S. President Barack Obama in the 1980s to his college girlfriend are made public by a private research university in the United States. (Photo credit: Emory University) NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Letters written by former U.S. President Barack Obama in the 1980s to his college girlfriend were made public on Thursday by a private research university, revealing a young man grappling with his place in the world. The nine full letters, sent by young Obama to Alexandra McNear, are now part of the collection of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library at Emory University in metropolitan Atlanta, the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia, according to an article titled "Love, Barack" by Laura Douglas-Brown, posted Thursday on the Emory's website. The 30 pages of letters are available to scholars and students by appointment, and there will be an opportunity to view facsimiles of the letters on Friday, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Woodruff Commons of the Rose Library, it said. Beautifully composed, the letters "reveal the search of a young man for meaning and identity," Rosemary Magee, Rose Library director was quoted as saying. "While intimate in a philosophical way, they reflect primarily a college student coming to terms with himself and others." "In fact, they show the same kind of yearnings and issues that our own students face - and that students everywhere encounter," Magee said. "Thus they will serve as sources of both inspiration and reassurance to people of all ages and backgrounds." Spanning 1982 to 1984, the letters were written after Obama, who began his college career at California's Occidental College, transferred to Columbia University in New York City. In page after page of neat script -- written on lined yellow paper, typing paper, pages torn from spiral notebooks and even an index card -- the future president poured out his thoughts and feelings to McNear, a fellow student from Occidental to whom he had grown even closer when she spent the summer of 1982 in New York. The nine letters in Emory's collection pick up on Sept. 26, 1982, when both were back in classes at their respective schools on opposite coasts, and continued through April 14, 1984, when their romance has cooled to friendship and Obama has finished college and was working at Business International, "with everyone slapping my back" but no passion for the job. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:25:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan King Mohammed VI congratulated on Thursday the Moroccan-French Audrey Azoulay on her election as director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In a message of congratulations, the king underlined that the appointment of Azoulay to the position testifies to the high esteem for her among the member states, adding that he is convinced that her competences and diversified experience will be her most precious assets in fulfilling this role. "The Kingdom of Morocco, abiding by international principles and commitments, will spare no effort in supporting the UN body's different initiatives to promote the universal values of solidarity and understanding between peoples and cultures, " the message pointed out. The king extended to Azoulay his heartfelt congratulations and wishes of full success in conducting her mission. The UN cultural body selected former French Culture Minister Azoulay as its new chief on Friday, handing her the keys to revive UNESCO's fortunes after the United States pulled out. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:25:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Federal judges in U.S. states of Maryland and Hawaii have blocked President Donald Trump's latest travel ban before the controversial order was due to take effect on Wednesday, the third time the administration's proposed travel restrictions have been put on hold by courts. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a ruling Tuesday that the administration had "not shown that national security cannot be maintained without an unprecedented eight-country travel ban." Trump signed a presidential order late September that would ban most nationals of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from entering the United States. It would also restrict travel by certain Venezuelan government officials and their families. Chuang said Trump's comments as a presidential candidate on Muslims and his tweets related to the ban helped convince him that the newest travel rules are an unconstitutional example of discrimination against Muslims. He also said the government in court had provided no evidence of a threat "justifying a ban on entire nationalities." Chuang's ruling came on the heels of a similar order from District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu on the ground of what the federal judge said a violation of immigration law by Trump's ban. Watson said the travel ban, which was designed to be permanent, "plainly discriminated based on nationality," accusing it of "suffering from precisely the same maladies" as the previous versions. "The categorical restrictions on entire populations of men, women and children, based upon nationality, are a poor fit for the issues regarding the sharing of 'public-safety and terrorism-related information' that the president identifies," Watson wrote in his 40-page ruling. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the ruling "dangerously flawed" in a statement Tuesday following the Watson's decision. It "undercuts the president's efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States," Sanders added. The Justice Department said it would quickly appeal. "Today's ruling is incorrect, fails to properly respect the separation of powers, and has the potential to cause serious negative consequences for our national security," spokesman Ian D. Prior said in a statement on the Hawaii ruling. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed that the administration would take the case to the Supreme Court to defend what he called "a lawful and necessary order." "We're confident that we will prevail as time goes by in the Supreme Court," he said Wednesday when speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In both Maryland and Hawaii, the judges limited their rulings to travelers from the six Muslim-majority countries on the administration's latest list. Restrictions on travel from the DPRK and Venezuela, both of which are not predominate Muslim, would not be affected. Critics said their inclusion on that list may have been used to avoid discrimination allegations. The latest ban has been the third of its kind Trump has issued since taking office. Several U.S. federal courts overturned all or parts of his first and second travel bans. In January, Trump signed an executive order to suspend the country's refugee program for 120 days and ban travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days. The move triggered protests at international airports both at home and abroad. The president issued a revised executive order in March blocking new visas for 90 days for people from six of the seven originally-listed countries, excluding Iraq. The third travel ban were challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups and immigrant advocates, as well as multiple states. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday in protest at the administration's third travel ban. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:31:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Policy makers and experts, who have gathered in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa as part of the Global Green Growth Week 2017, emphasized the need to unlock Africa's green growth potential. The Global Green Growth Week 2017, underway in Ethiopia's capital under the theme "Unlocking Africa's Green Growth Potential," has brought together over 500 ministers, investors and decision makers, among others to catalyze creative solutions for transformational green growth in the African continent. The four-day event, starting from Tuesday, particularly revolved around achieving nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement and making progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Participants of the event have discussed on various issues that include mobilizing green/climate finance to bankable projects in developing countries; sustainably managing resources to address water and food security challenges; and developing and adopting policies that drive environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive economic growth are agendas of the meeting. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, emphasized Ethiopia's strong and long-standing support and advocacy for the green growth agenda in line with tackling the threats of climate change. Mekonnen, who stressed Ethiopia's strong support and endorsing the issues of Global Green Growth as the mainstream policy, said that poverty is the major factor that entails adverse situations to the integrity and well-being of environment. Mekonnen further called upon the international community to enhance their efforts in realizing green development in the African continent. Abdalla Hamdok, Deputy Executive Secretary for ECA, also asserted that Africa needs transformational leadership inside and good partnership at the international level for the realization of the green economy approach. Hamdok also urged the global community to re-calibrate their policies along the lines of the newly endorsed initiatives for green economy. Gemedo Dalle, Ethiopian Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, also indicated the green growth idea as an avenue to promote economic growth and development while ensuring natural assets serve the wellbeing of mankind. Organized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in partnership with the Global Green Growth Institute, the Global Green Growth Week has proposed over 15 unique sessions and meetings to highlight success stories of global and African green growth interventions, policies and strategies. Ethiopia's ambitious green economy strategy initiative, Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE), which was launched back in 2011 as part of the country's aspiration to realize a climate-resilient low carbon emission middle-income economy by 2025, was said to be an example for the global community. The sessions also include Africa's green energy challenges and off-grid renewable energy solutions, green strategies and success stories in Africa. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:41:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Washington D.C. and meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, a UN spokesman announced. The spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, would not give details of the meeting. "I don't think it will surprise you if I will tell you that issues of mutual concern will be discussed," he told a briefing at UN Headquarters on Thursday. "I have no doubt UN reform will be discussed," he said, adding that he was not sure whether U.S. payments to the United Nations will be touched upon. The meeting has been in the offing for quite some time as the two men agreed to meet formally when Guterres dropped by the Oval Office several months ago. "Scheduling this thing is no easy task," said Dujarric. With Trump's election, relations between the United Nations and the White House has not been easy. The Trump administration has announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a global compact dear to the United Nations, and from the UN cultural body of UNESCO. Washington has also threatened to pull out of the world body's Human Rights Council. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 01:46:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ADEN, Yemen, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least five militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone strike hit their vehicle in the country's central province of al-Bayda on Thursday, a security official told Xinhua. "The pilotless aircraft hit a vehicle belonging to al-Qaida group, destroying it and killing five terrorists in the mountainous area of Sharqan in al-Bayda province," the security source said on condition of anonymity. He said that the U.S. airstrike precisely targeted the al-Qaida militants who were moving into their hideouts located in a tribal region. The strike came just two days after the United States launched a series of airstrikes targeting several hideouts of al-Qaida and the Islamic State (IS) group in al-Bayda province. In recent months, the U.S. military has carried out several airstrikes against al-Qaida militants in different provinces of the war-torn Arab country since U.S. President Donald Trump approved expanded military operations against the extremist group. That included intensified overnight airstrikes and ground military raids against the al-Qaida hideouts in the mountainous areas of al-Bayda and southeastern province of Shabwa. The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in southeastern Yemeni provinces. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 02:36:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KAMPALA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's health ministry on Thursday confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever in the eastern district of Kween. Jane Aceng, minister of health, told reporters that one index case of a female who nursed a brother in September succumbed to the viral disease on Oct. 17 in Chemuron village, Moyok Parish, Keen district. The minister said a response team led by Anthony Mbonye, the acting director of health services has been dispatched to Kween and Kapchorwa districts to contain the outbreak. "Following laboratory tests conducted by Uganda Virus Institute, it was confirmed one person had died of Marburg virus disease. A response team and emergency supplies have been sent to contain the outbreak," said Aceng. "There is no specific treatment or vaccine for Marburg but patients are given supportive treatment and must be sought early to survive," she added. She said the ministry has set up isolation centers to handle all the suspected cases. The last Marburg outbreak in Uganda was reported in central and western parts of the east African country in 2014. Marburg is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization. According to the global health body, the illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with severe headache and malaise. Case fatality rates have varied greatly, from 25 percent in the initial laboratory-associated outbreak in 1967, to more than 80 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998-2000, to even higher in the outbreak that began in Angola in late 2004. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 02:41:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TIRANA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Albania's Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes Thursday officially requested the parliament to lift the immunity of the Socialist Party lawmaker Saimir Tahiri who is under investigation over alleged ties with a group of drug traffickers. Tahiri, the former minister of Interior, who is now an MP, has been mentioned in the recorded conversations of several people involved in the trafficking of narcotics made by Italian authorities. According to prosecution office's press release, Tahiri will be investigated for the penal offence of "trafficking of narcotics", committed in collaboration in criminal group and "passive corruption of top state officials." The office also demanded the Committee on Mandates of the Parliament of Albania to authorize "arrest, restrict freedom and control of person and house" for Tahiri. The issue has sparked strong debates in Albania. The opposition parties have requested Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down, saying that the Albanian government has practically fallen. The Albanian opposition leader Lulzim Basha declared in a press conference Thursday that parliament should act immediately and lift immunity of Tahiri. On the other hand, Rama reacted by saying that he was hoping that the former minister would prove that he had no connections with the accusations addressed against him. People protest against the new travel restrictions near the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Oct. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Federal judges in U.S. states of Maryland and Hawaii have blocked President Donald Trump's latest travel ban before the controversial order was due to take effect on Wednesday, the third time the administration's proposed travel restrictions have been put on hold by courts. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a ruling Tuesday that the administration had "not shown that national security cannot be maintained without an unprecedented eight-country travel ban." Trump signed a presidential order late September that would ban most nationals of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from entering the United States. It would also restrict travel by certain Venezuelan government officials and their families. Chuang said Trump's comments as a presidential candidate on Muslims and his tweets related to the ban helped convince him that the newest travel rules are an unconstitutional example of discrimination against Muslims. He also said the government in court had provided no evidence of a threat "justifying a ban on entire nationalities." Chuang's ruling came on the heels of a similar order from District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu on the ground of what the federal judge said a violation of immigration law by Trump's ban. Watson said the travel ban, which was designed to be permanent, "plainly discriminated based on nationality," accusing it of "suffering from precisely the same maladies" as the previous versions. "The categorical restrictions on entire populations of men, women and children, based upon nationality, are a poor fit for the issues regarding the sharing of 'public-safety and terrorism-related information' that the president identifies," Watson wrote in his 40-page ruling. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the ruling "dangerously flawed" in a statement Tuesday following the Watson's decision. It "undercuts the president's efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States," Sanders added. The Justice Department said it would quickly appeal. "Today's ruling is incorrect, fails to properly respect the separation of powers, and has the potential to cause serious negative consequences for our national security," spokesman Ian D. Prior said in a statement on the Hawaii ruling. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed that the administration would take the case to the Supreme Court to defend what he called "a lawful and necessary order." "We're confident that we will prevail as time goes by in the Supreme Court," he said Wednesday when speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In both Maryland and Hawaii, the judges limited their rulings to travelers from the six Muslim-majority countries on the administration's latest list. Restrictions on travel from the DPRK and Venezuela, both of which are not predominate Muslim, would not be affected. Critics said their inclusion on that list may have been used to avoid discrimination allegations. The latest ban has been the third of its kind Trump has issued since taking office. Several U.S. federal courts overturned all or parts of his first and second travel bans. In January, Trump signed an executive order to suspend the country's refugee program for 120 days and ban travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days. The move triggered protests at international airports both at home and abroad. The president issued a revised executive order in March blocking new visas for 90 days for people from six of the seven originally-listed countries, excluding Iraq. The third travel ban were challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups and immigrant advocates, as well as multiple states. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday in protest at the administration's third travel ban. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 03:26:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAIRO, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned on Thursday the terrorist attack against an army camp in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. In a statement, the ministry of foreign affairs deplored the terrorist attack carried out by the Taliban terrorist group against an army camp in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, killing 43 people and injuring nine others. The Egyptian government and people stand with the government and people of Afghanistan against terrorism which targets security and stability in all societies, according to the statement. Media reports said two Taliban suicide bombers in Humvee trucks targeted the military base on Thursday. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 03:41:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ACCRA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Analysts at policy think tank, IMANI Center for Policy and Education, attributed here on Thursday the growth in Ghana-China trade volumes to the affordability of Chinese products. Anita Nkrumah, a Research Associate at IMANI, told Xinhua after her presentation on "Maximizing Gains from Ghana's Trade Partnerships" that one of the key factors spurring this growth is affordability as majority of Ghanaians fell into the lower income bracket. Although no specific Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) exists between Ghana and China, save the economic cooperation agreements in agriculture, trade, infrastructure and investment trade volumes have increased to 5.9 billion U.S dollars in 2016, from 683 million dollars 2006, observed the analyst. "When it comes to trade, imports are demand driven. Products from China are relatively more affordable than products from EU and other markets. And given the low middle income level of the country, Ghanaians will have more preference for imports from China and that may have accounted for high volumes," she said. Another factor the research associate mentioned was the interest the Chinese government has shown in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), adding that the increased collaboration between the two countries could be one of the key factors for the growth in trade volumes. In terms of future direction of the trade, Nkrumah expressed strong conviction that the momentum would be sustained, especially when it comes to imports since many Ghanaians would still prefer the affordable products from China to those from elsewhere. In her presentation, Nora Dei-Anang, another research associate at Imani Ghana, noted that the exports to China have also been increasing over the past few years, albeit at a slower pace. "Our exports to China have also increased from 71 million dollars 2006 to 1.3 billion dollars in 2016 representing a 1,745 percent increase, topping all our exports in 2016," she observed. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 03:46:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese parliament approved Thursday the 2017 state budget, the first state budget in 12 years, following three days of arduous debate, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. A total of 61 MPs out of the 128-seat parliament voted in favor of the bill, and four lawmakers from the Kataeb Party voted against as eight other lawmakers abstained from voting. Al-Jadeed television said the MPs who abstained from voting were MP Antoine Zahra of the Lebanese Forces, independent MP Butros Harb and six lawmakers from Hezbollah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc. The three-day parliamentary debate had witnessed heated arguments over the issue of approving a state budget without the submission of final accounts for the past 12 years. Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel described the approval of a state budget without a final account for the year 2016 as a "violation of the Constitution, the public auditing law and the parliament's by-laws." Disagreements over final accounts and an acute political rift between the March 8 and March 14 forces were behind the long-running failure to approve a state budget. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 03:51:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, India and Switzerland from Oct. 20-27. In Riyadh, Secretary Tillerson will take part in the inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Secretary will also meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf dispute, Iran, and a number of other important regional and bilateral issues, according to a State Department statement. He will then travel to Doha, where he will meet with Qatari leaders and U.S. military officials to discuss joint counterterrorism efforts, the ongoing Gulf dispute, and other regional and bilateral issues, including Iran and Iraq, the statement said. After his trip to the Middle East, Tillerson will visit Islamabad and New Delhi in his first visit to South Asia as secretary of state. After that, Tillerson will travel to Geneva, where he will meet with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss a number of the current global humanitarian crises. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 03:51:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's gold production has reached 74.6 tons within nine months in 2017, Sudan's Ministry of Minerals announced on Thursday. "The traditional mining companies produced 63.2 tons, doubling the planned production, while the small mining companies produced 0.2 tons and the major mining companies produced 11.2 tons," the ministry said in a report. The ministry reiterated its commitment to following up licenses of the companies together with their production of other minerals. It further urged the concerned security bodies to exert more efforts to prevent the smuggling of gold. The ministry, meanwhile, explained that its objectives for 2018 were to expand minerals exploration, increase the production, monitor the companies, attract investment and introduce modern technologies. The World Bank, in its most recent report, said Sudan ranked third in Africa in terms of gold production after South Africa and Ghana. The Sudanese government is seeking to increase the country's gold production to reach 100 tons, which would make Sudan become the second biggest gold producer in Africa and the ninth worldwide. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 04:32:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIGALI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan Parliament Thursday condemned what it called false report by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which it said is aimed at discrediting the country. The HRW report published on July 13 said Rwandan security forces summarily executed at least 37 suspected petty offenders in Rwanda's Western Province between July 2016 and March 2017. The HRW also said it documented enforced disappearances of suspected petty offenders in Rwanda and the incidents in which authorities encouraged local residents to kill suspected thieves, who were beaten to death. "The Parliament of Rwanda condemns HRW for its ignominious acts and information contained in its report, including rumors of death of people who are still alive, in order to discredit the country, its leadership and security organs, humanity and Rwandan people in general," said a parliament resolution. Rwandan National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) last Friday disproved the report, saying "the entire report is built on fabricated information." NCHR presented findings of its inquiry at a press conference, which indicated that people reported executed in the HRW report are either alive, or died from various accidents or shot by border patrols while using a pathway usually used by a Rwandan Hutu rebel group to infiltrate Rwanda following regular alerts by local authorities for security reasons. "The Parliament of Rwanda is convinced that HRW did not use professionalism, skills, truth and independence, which should be the basis of its work in order to win credibility as an international human rights organization." The parliament requested the Rwandan government to re-examine the memorandum of understanding between the government and HRW so that "ignominious acts tarnishing the image of Rwanda and Rwandan people could not continue." Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 04:32:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's Interior Ministry said on Thursday that the country's security forces had thwarted a planned bomb attack carried by a recently dismantled terror cell. On Sunday, Moroccan security services announced the arrest of 11 people with suspected links to the Islamic State group and the seizure of chemical materials used for making bombs in the northern city of Fez. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the forces had seized in the cell's house and in a car "liquids and chemical powders that are used in the manufacturing of explosives that the cell's members intended to use to carry out terrorist plots in the kingdom." "Some of these chemicals are used to speed up the explosion process and increase its magnitude and that the fire extinguishers seized are filled with explosive chemicals, nails and small pieces of iron in order to cause casualties and damage," the source added. The ministry noted that the forces also seized weapons, a large amount of ammunition, telecommunications devices and two waistcoats intended to be used to make explosive belts. According to Moroccan authorities, security services have busted around 50 terrorist cells, over 40 of which were linked to the IS group, since 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 04:47:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIGALI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda is looking for big investments in renewable energy sources in order to stimulate the country's green economic development, top government officials said Thursday. Rwanda has a lot of untapped investment opportunities in the renewable energy sources, said Claire Akamanzi, chief executive officer of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) at a renewable energy conference held in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. She said Rwanda is looking for investors in various renewable energy options available across the country. Rwanda has set clear targets in renewable energy and other power generation sources, as it is targeting to achieve 100 percent access to electricity countrywide by 2024. Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente in September presented the government's development strategy up to 2024, which said the country sets to increase electricity production both on and off grid to ensure that 100 percent households will have electricity by 2024 from the current 22 percent. Rwanda hosts the international renewable energy event from Oct. 19 to 20 dedicated to advancing renewable energy for rural electrification and agricultural development. The meeting will provide an international business and partnerships platform by highlighting attractive investment opportunities in renewable energy, according to organizers. According to James Musoni, Rwandan minister of infrastructure, the Rwandan government is ready to facilitate investments and cooperation in renewable energy to meet and scale up green and clean energy sources in the country. Musoni said the country aims to increase electricity access through off-grid technologies and facilitate private-sector to participate in renewable off-grid electrification Rwanda's current energy generation is at 210.9 MW on the national grid. Of this, hydro power accounts for 48 percent, thermal 32 percent, Solar 5.7 percent and methane-to-power 14.3 percent, according to Rwanda Energy Group (REG). REG said in a report in August that the country has achieved about 40.5 percent access rate, of which on-grid access represents 29.5 percent with off-grid access standing at 11 percent. Rwanda has set an ambitious target to increase installed electricity generation capacity to 563 MW within the next two years which requires massive investments in the energy sector. In May, Rwanda launched the construction of a 350 million U.S. dollar peat power plant in Akanyaru marshland, Gisagara district, Southern Province that is expected to add 80 MW to the national grid. Last year, the country unveiled power plant projects including a mega methane gas power plant project which is expected to produce 100 MW from Lake Kivu, the world's only methane rich water body, and a 23.7 million dollars solar power plant. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 04:52:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Africa on Thursday urged all member states of the United Nations to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. South Africa continues to make a clarion call to all member states of the UN to sign and ratify the treaty in order to rid the world and humanity of these lethal weapons of mass destruction, Mahlobo told delegates attending the 44th Policy Group meeting of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), taking place in Cape Town. The GIF is a cooperative international endeavor to carry out the research and development needed to establish the feasibility and performance capabilities of the next generation nuclear energy systems. In July 2017, the UN adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty. A majority of states voted in favor of eliminating and banning those weapons because of their devastating effects on human health and the environment. South Africa signed the treaty last month. The government has said signature of the treaty reflects South Africa's continued commitment towards the realization of a world free from the threat posed by nuclear weapons, "We reaffirm, at the same time, the inalienable rights of states to peaceful uses of nuclear energy as reinforced in the Non-Proliferation Treaty," Mahlobo said. South Africa firmly believes that there are no safe hands for weapons of mass destruction, he said. The only viable solution to the problems of nuclear weapons is their total elimination as expressed in the treaty banning nuclear weapons UN recently adopted, said Mahlobo. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination. South Africa, the only country in the world to dismantle nuclear weapons it developed, has already been a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1991. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:22:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Eric J. Lyman ROME, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- After more than a month of debate, the Italian government this week decided to use its "golden power" over the future of Telecom Italia, a move that makes it more likely the company will have to spin off its fixed-line business. Telecom Italia, the former Italian state telephone monopoly, has been in a regulatory spotlight for months amid concerns that a 24-percent stake in the company held by French media giant Vivendi could give it too much control over the Rome-based company. The automatic threshold that would mean a company has control is 25 percent -- barely larger than Vivendi's stake -- but Italian government officials have argued the Vivendi exercises de-facto control over the company given that it appointed two-thirds of the company's board, plus its chief executive and chairman. Because Telecom Italia is considered a "strategic" interest in Italy, the government has a "golden power" that allows it to have a say in major corporate decisions. The decision over whether to use the "golden power" started in early September and went through several deadlines before it was formally exercised this week. It was the first time the "golden power" has ever been used in Italy. "The 'golden power' has always been more of a threat than something the government would actually use," Cesare San Mauro, a regulatory law expert with Rome's La Sapienza University, told Xinhua. "Once it's used, I think it makes it more likely it'll be used again in the future." In practical terms, it means the Italian government will have to be consulted for major strategic decisions related to Telecom Italia, and that makes it more likely the company will have to split its operations by splitting off the fixed-line network side of the company. There will be no economic sanctions against Vivendi as part of the move, and for its part, Vivendi has already indicated it will not appeal the ruling. "I think Vivendi realizes that in the long term, it cannot win fighting against the Italian government," Antonio Majocchi, a professor of international business at the University of Pavia, said in an interview. According to Innocenzo Genna, co-founder of Digit@lians, a think tank, and a frequent commentator on telecommunications issues, even if it is split Telecom Italia remains an important company. "Italy is the largest telecommunications market in Europe where neither (leading French operator) Orange or (Germany's) Deutsche Telecom, the two main European telecommunications companies, has a presence," Genna told Xinhua. "It's hard to imagine they won't be interested in Italy at some point, and Telecom Italia in whatever form is still the dominant player overall." Whatever happens, the latest move does not seem to have had an over-sized impact on Telecom Italia or Vivendi: in stock trading Thursday, the first full trading day since the news was announced, neither stock price moved much, nor was trading interest in the shares particularly high. "Whatever impact this latest news has, it is either seen as not really hurting the companies' bottom line, or the move had been debated so long it was already factored into the stock prices," Majocchi said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:22:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Burak Akinci ANKARA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and U.S. officials had "constructive and positive" talks in Ankara on Wednesday aimed at resolving a diplomatic row that resulted in mutual suspending visa and deteriorating further strained ties between the two NATO allies. "The talks were held in a positive and constructive mood and this is good for the future of this issue," said on Thursday a Turkish diplomatic source to Xinhua on the condition of anonymity. "We will have more talks on the subject in the coming days in order to focus on the end of the suspension of visas," added this source. Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said that positive developments will soon take place regarding this spat. "The meeting was very productive," Gul told Anadolu Agency on Thursday. He noted that it would not yet be possible to give a date for the resolution of this crisis, but insisted that if the U.S. lifts its ban, Turkey would immediately reply by the same. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for his part called for dialogue to end the "unnecessary" spat. Coincidentally, the American embassy in Ankara published on Monday evening new application conditions for visas, slightly softening the restriction regarding medical or humanitarian emergencies, a move seen as a "good will sign" from the American side. Last year, some 313,000 Turks went to the U.S. while 460,000 Americans came to Turkey, mostly for tourism, according to official Turkish data. Strained ties between the two NATO allies deepened last week after Turkish authorities detained a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Metin Topuz, who was arrested on charges of espionage and alleged ties to followers of Fethullah Gulen, allegedly behind the failed coup in July 2016. Previously, another local staff was arrested in an U.S. consular mission in southern Turkey. The United States halted most visa services for Turkish citizens at U.S. missions following the detention of Metin Topuz, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Ankara. Analysts think that the two allies would manage in the coming weeks to solve this particular spat but that other differences will still remain. "This row should end soon. But other differences will remain. The question is, are the two countries ready to advance on those thorny issues?" remarked Deniz Zeyrek, a political commentator at the Hurriyet daily. Ankara and Washington are at odds particularly since the failed coup which has provoked a sharp anti-U.S. sentiment amongst Turks, fueled by suspicions of some government circles in Ankara, blaming U.S. authorities of having supported the infamous plot. Erdogan is very irritated by the refusal of U.S. officials to extradite Gulen who lives in Pennsylvania since 1999. Gulen and his followers are considered to be part of a "terrorist organization." Ankara is also not satisfied with the supports given by Washington to a Syrian Kurdish faction, the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK, which is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union, has been fighting the Turkish state for decades. As another way of expression to show its frustration at the U.S. and European powers, Turkey recently inked a deal with Russia to buy Russian S-400 defense missile systems despite being a NATO ally. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:32:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The interior ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations gathered Thursday on Italy's Ischia island facing the Gulf of Naples ahead of a security and counter-terrorism summit on Friday. The agenda will focus on preventing extremist propaganda and recruitment on the internet and combating foreign fighters, or radicalized Europeans who joined the ranks of so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, Italy's Interior Ministry said in a statement. Foreign fighters are expected to try to return to Europe, where they could pose a threat to their EU home countries, as ISIS has been largely defeated in Syria and Iraq. The foreign fighters are often radicalized and recruited on the internet, which is why executives from leading social media companies have also been invited to Ischia. The summit chaired by Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti includes the interior ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the U.S., plus EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Security Commissioner Julian King, Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock. Also present will be Facebook Counter-terrorism Policy executive Brian Fishman, Google VP for Public Policy Nicklas Lundblad, Microsoft VP for EU Government Affairs John Frank, and Twitter Public Policy exec Nick Pickles. The summit begins early Friday morning and ends in the early afternoon. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:47:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Michael Beary on Thursday hailed China's significant contribution to global peace and security, particularly to the UNIFIL. He made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of a newly refurbished UN hospital which is operated by UNIFIL's Chinese medical team. Beary also said that the UNIFIL was proud to have more than 400 Chinese peacekeepers who have carried out construction, anti-landmine and medical missions. The hospital complex, located inside the UNIFIL's east headquarters in Lebanon, has provided medical services to both the UNIFIL and local Lebanese since 2007. Since 2006, the Chinese contingent in the UNIFIL, comprising 418 officers and soldiers, has contributed effectively in the de-mining operations in south Lebanon and undertook road constructions and schools rehabilitation missions. The Chinese peacekeepers' efforts have been appreciated by both the UNIFIL and the citizens of south Lebanon. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:47:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The UN migration agency is carrying out an emergency support plan to assist migrants in Libya, especially in the west, UN Support Mission in Libya said in a report on Thursday. "In the aftermath of weeks of conflict in the Libyan coastal city of Sabratha, at least 14,000 migrants, previously held in numerous informal detention centres and camps, have been transferred to a hangar in the city's Dahman area, where the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing emergency assistance," the support mission said. IOM has provided food, water and core relief packages, which include mattresses, blankets, pillows and hygiene kits to 2,600 migrants who are the first batch to be kept in the hangar. More food and emergency assistance will be provided in the coming days for all migrants in the hangar. Due to the insecurity and chaos that followed the 2011 uprising, thousands of migrants choose to depart from Libya across the Mediterranean towards European shores. Those who are rescued at sea by Libyan navy are detained in reception centers with poor living conditions. The IOM also said the opportunity will be available for migrants wishing to return to their home countries within the organization's Voluntary Humanitarian Return Assistance Program. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:52:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Thursday announced that it will press on with plans to boost its regional clout and boost Iran's missile power, Tasnim news agency reported. In a statement, the IRGC said that the U.S. President Donald Trump's recent aggressive remarks against Iran's defense program and his plan to impose sanctions on the IRGC were an indication of their anger at the IRGC's effective role in the region. (Iran-IRGC-Missile) - - - - ISTANBUL -- Top envoys from the Developing 8 countries met in Istanbul on Thursday on ways to boost trade relations in a wide range of areas to better address global challenges. "We need to use our wealthy potentials more effectively by creating business partnerships in a broad range of fields," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the opening session. (Turkey-D-8 Meeting) - - - - GAZA -- Islamic Hamas movement rejected Thursday the demands of the U.S. Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt to accept the requirements of the International Quartet for Peace in the region. "Hamas movement expresses its rejection to the American blackmail and bias demands that serves the Israeli interests, and has been earlier explained by Greenblatt," Hamas said in an official press statement. (Gaza-Hamas) - - - - TRIPOLI -- The UN migration agency is carrying out an emergency support plan to assist migrants in Libya, especially in the west, UN Support Mission in Libya said in a report on Thursday. "In the aftermath of weeks of conflict in the Libyan coastal city of Sabratha, at least 14,000 migrants, previously held in numerous informal detention centres and camps, have been transferred to a hangar in the city's Dahman area, where the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing emergency assistance," the support mission said. (UN-Libya) Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 05:57:31|Editor: ying Video Player Close European Council President Donald Tusk addresses a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, on Oct. 19, 2017. In a show of unity, European leaders agreed Thursday in a European summit session to offer more support to Italy in managing migration routes in the central Mediterranean, Tusk told reporters in Brussels in a press conference. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Member states of the European Union (EU) will pump "sufficient" money into a trust fund to stem illegal migration from North Africa, European Council President Donald Tusk said here on Thursday. He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his European Commission counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker, following a first day meeting of the two-day EU summit, which focused on migration, digital Europe, as well as security and defense. He said EU leaders have agreed on the need to help Italy manage the Central Mediterranean route, which links Libya to Italy and was named as the deadliest route to Europe by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a study published in September 2017. "We have a real chance of closing the Central Mediterranean route. That is why we decided that member states will provide sufficient finances for the North Africa window of the Trust Fund for Africa, while the Commission ensures that this money is channeled to stem illegal migration," Tusk said. "We should see concrete results within the next few weeks," he added. As Libya is at the forefront of EU's efforts to stem illegal migration in the central Mediterranean route, EU leaders reiterated "the importance of working with the Libyan authorities and all neighbors of Libya to enhance border management capacity," according to the EU summit. EU leaders also underscored the urgency of supporting the development of the local communities in Libya along the migratory routes." To consolidate the declining trend of migrant inflow, the European Council also called on all member states to fully abide by the deal with Turkey. Since the summer of 2015, an unprecedented refugee crisis has been a tough nut to crack for the EU. Thanks to an "aid for return" deal with Turkey in March 2016, the EU boxed in the inflow of refugees via the eastern Mediterranean route, which saw a 98 percent plunge of arrivals. However, the EU still bears the brunt of migratory pressure, particularly from the central Mediterranean route. The IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, reported Tuesday that 145,355 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea up to Oct. 15 this year, with over 75 percent arriving in Italy and the rest landing in Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Meanwhile, 2,776 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, according to the IOM. A total of 387,895 migrants and refugees reached Europe in 2016, with a record high fatality of 5,143 in the Mediterranean Sea. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 06:02:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Dutch Ambassador to Libya Eric Strating expressed Thursday hope for fast results of the UN-sponsored negotiations between Libyan parties aimed at amending the current political agreement. Ambassador Strating made his remarks during a meeting with the Libyan UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj in the capital Tripoli on Thursday. According to the Prime Minister's media office, the two officials discussed bilateral relations and mutual cooperation. "We are continuing working on providing services and solving the problems facing municipalities in different parts of Libya. We are also working to establish security in the whole country and to address the issue of illegal immigration," Serraj said during the meeting. Serraj also pointed out that he is "following up the implementation of the the road map proposed by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Ghassan Salame," the media office said. Ambassador Strating also met on Thursday with the Head of the Higher Council of State Abdurrahman Swehli and discussed Libya's current political situation. "We fully support the path of UN-sponsored negotiations to amend the political agreement between the House of Representatives and the Higher Council of State, in accordance with the road map announced in New York," Strating said during the meeting with Swehli. "We look forward to fast positive results from these negotiations, in order to restore stability in Libya and improve living conditions," Strating added. Ghassan Salame has proposed an action plan later in September to end Libya's political crisis in late September. Salame's action plan includes amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement, holding a UN-sponsored national conference for all of Libya's political factions, adopting a constitution, and finally election of a president and a parliament. The action plan is aimed at ending the current political crisis of the country. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-20 06:42:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- European Union leaders on Thursday said they'd re-affirm the Iran nuke deal, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to recertify the accord. But if Washington pulls out, Iran said it would shred the deal. That leaves the deal in limbo, experts told Xinhua. According to European press reports on Thursday, EU leaders will re-affirm that they are committed to the international accord of world powers. That sits in sharp contrast to Trump's stance on the international agreement. Earlier this month, Trump failed to certify that Iran was playing by the rules stipulated in the international accord on Iran's nuclear program, and contended that the Islamic republic is in defiance of the agreement. Trump has given Congress 60 days to decide whether to reinstate the sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 accord. Trump's move neither scraps the deal not saves it, and there's a chance the international accord may remain intact. But the deal's future remains uncertain, and some believe it risks falling apart. "The nuclear agreement is in danger of collapsing," Jim Phillips, senior Middle East research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Xinhua "The Obama Administration promised too much and delivered too little," he said of the previous administration, which put together the deal. "Then the Democrats in the Senate blocked debate on the merits of the deal and prevented a resolution of disapproval from being voted on, despite the fact that 58 of the 100 senators were opposed to it," he said. Phillips' outlook for the deal's survival is dim. "Congress is likely to re-impose sanctions, but if it doesn't, President Trump is likely to abrogate the nuclear agreement himself," Phillips said. The deal, clinched in July 2015 between Iran and the six countries of Britain, China, France Russia and the United States, plus Germany, after a decade of negotiations, has seen Iran scale down nuclear projects in exchange for international sanctions easing. Others do not necessarily forecast the death of the deal, but say there is much uncertainty on the horizon. "The Iran deal is suffering a lot of duress right now. It is not clear how Trump will handle it because he has delegated the issue to Congress to handle," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "They could seek to impose new conditions, which would be very problematic for the European Union and Iran. Or legislators may be unable to agree, which could end up preserving the status quo," West said. "For right now, it looks like there will be lots of uncertainty for a few months," West said. Meanwhile, Thursday saw what experts said could become a war of words between the White House and Iran, as the Islamic Republic's Ayatollah in a speech called Trump "foul mouthed" and accused him a "pretending to be an idiot." Experts said this may be the opening salvo of a war of words with Trump, as the U.S. president is known to make impetuous, off-the-cuff remarks, especially via social media platform Twitter. Phillips said: "I think U.S.-Iran tensions are rising regardless of what happens with the nuclear deal." Yuta Iyama has become the first-ever professional player of the board game of go to hold all seven major go titles in Japan for the second time, by winning back the Meijin crown. In the fifth game on Tuesday of the 42th best-of-seven Meijin competition, held in Atami in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka, Iyama, 28, defeated Shinji Takao, 40, with the 197th move, finishing with four victories and one loss. Iyama now became the first player of go or shogi, another traditional board game popular in Japan, to win all of the major titles in the country for the second time. Iyama regained the seven-title status for the first time since November last year, when he was defeated by Takao in the year's Meijin competition and became a six-title holder. Opposition activists have been demonstrating since August against Gnassingbes administration and say a constitutional reform he has proposed would allow him to rule the tiny West African country until 2030. Colonel Damehame Yark, the security and civil protection minister, told a news conference that one person was shot dead and around sixty others arrested in the capital, Lome. Another three died of gunshot wounds in the second-biggest city, Sokode. These are too many deaths. Wed be wise to preserve the peace, he said. The latest bout of protests followed the arrest in Sokode on Monday of a Muslim imam accused of urging his followers to murder soldiers. Clashes erupted after the arrest. A crowd killed two soldiers and one other person died in unspecified circumstances, the government said in a statement. About 20 other people were injured, it added. The deaths reignited a mass protest movement against President Faure Gnassingbe, who succeeded his late father Gnassingbe Eyadema in 2005. The protesters are calling for his resignation. We deplore this toll and we say that backing down is out of the question. Despite what we have suffered, we will maintain our call for protests tomorrow, said Brigitte Adjamagbo, one of the leaders of the opposition movement. She said the coalition was aware of two persons killed, including an 11-year-old child, as well as twenty others who were seriously injured and dozens of arrests. In a bid to curb demonstrations, the government has banned marches and mass protests on weekdays. But young protesters in Be, a working-class neighborhood in eastern Lome, defied the ban on Wednesday. They erected barricades with bricks and burning tyres and threw stones at security forces, who responded with volleys of tear gas. This is our last bastion, shouted one demonstrator, Ayi Koffi. We have no arms, no gas. We do not have cars to pick up people. We have come out barehanded to say, enough! In a statement, the International Organisation of La Francophonie, a group comprised mainly of French-speaking countries including Pariss former colonies, said that nothing justified the violence. Dialogue must be prioritised in all circumstances, it said. The controversial constitutional reform will be decided by popular referendum after the bill failed to win approval from parliament following a boycott by opposition lawmakers last month. Gbenga Daniel According to Daily Sun, during his declaration at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Daniel said the President Muhammadu Buharis All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government had performed abysmally poor in the management of the nations economy and in fighting corruption. The former governor said whereas the PDP, in the 16 years it governed the country, grew the economy and tackled corruption, same cannot be said of the current administration, especially in the past 12 months. According to Daniel, Since 2015 however, Nigeria is yet to have an appreciable 12 months of economic growth under the APC. Thats an F9; failure. It is disquieting that the APC led government claim to focus on fighting corruption, while facts on the ground suggests that Nigeria has become worse off and sinking low even in graft. For instance, latest corruption index in Nigeria (2016) according to Transparency International (the global watchdog for measuring corruption) was 2.8/10. Before 2015, Nigeria had a P8 in corruption but and A3 in economic growth, now we have an F9 in both economic growth and corruption. About two months ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigerias number 1 repository of facts and data, revealed that more than N402 Billion was paid as bribes within the last 12 months. What is N402 Billion? It is more than the Federal Governments capital budget for Defense, Education and Health combined together. He noted that the difference between the PDP and APC is vision and mission, noting that while the opposition party has a vision for the country , the ruling party is on a mission. Daniel said Nigerians are looking up to the opposition party, stating that the party cannot afford to fail the people. Consequently, the former governor stated that what the PDP needs presently is a national chairman that will lead it to meet the hopes and aspirations of Nigerians. His words: The fate of Nigeria seems intertwined with that of PDP, Nigeria needs us, the citizens are looking up to us, and we cannot afford to fail themThe PDP needs a Chairman that can lead the party to meet the needs, aspirations and yearnings of young Nigerians. Daniel promised that as PDP national chairman, he would reposition the party and bring former members of the party , who are now in other political parties, back into the fold. One of my focus as the National Chairman is to bring back many of our party men who have left. My ultimate goal is to work towards the victory of our party in the 2019 general elections and in all other elections in between. To achieve this, I am prepared to work with all leaders of our party, various interest groups and individuals. The new PDP leadership under my watch will keep working towards reducing corruption, but using a different strategy. Rather than fight other arms of Government, we will promote national integration. The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential, Villa, Abuja. According to Adewole, Nigeria is implementing the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Nigeria became a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on Jan. 18, 2006. Yes, we are part of the campaign against Tobacco. We are implementing the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control. As of Monday, we were part of the ECOWAS meeting to look at how do we raise taxes on tobacco, and that meeting would really work to prevent smuggling of tobacco products. We looked at how we can raise taxes on tobacco products. It is known that Nigeria has one of the cheapest tobacco, the price of tobacco in Nigeria is probably the cheapest in the world and that will contribute to the abuse. So, that convention and recommendations coming from there would really contribute to raising taxes on tobacco and also generating resources that would go into health, he said. On the reported harvest of organs, Adewole alerted Nigerians on the dangerous trend, saying that they should always patronise accredited institutions for their medications. He reassured that the federal government would continue to upgrade its health facilities with a view to checking unnecessary foreign medical tourism. We received advice periodically from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, from National Security Adviser about goings on around the world. One of which is the harvest of organs illegally and it is our duty to alert Nigerians that this is ongoing, they should be careful, they should seek advice, they should patronise only accredited institutions. And as we rebuild our health infrastructure there will be less need for anybody to travel out and so we spare Nigerians the agony of falling victims of some of these illegal practices, said the minister. On abuse of substances, Adewole said his ministry in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria had embarked on sensitisation campaign to educate the public on the danger of illicit substances being smuggled into the country. He identified Methadone, Tramadol, Viagra and cough mixture as the most abused substances in the country. For example, we have methadone, Tramadol and even Viagra being smuggled into the country. When you look at the dosage, the Viagra dosage is three times normal and when you look at the Tramadol is also three to four times, and once NAFDAC officials come in contact, they are impounded and destroyed, he added. Morocco is putting forward its pre-emptive approach to avert the radicalization of Muslim youth in Europe mainly through ensuring an adequate training of Imams in accordance with the tolerant values of the Maliki school. In an interview with the Financial Times, Abdelhak Khiame, head of Moroccos counter-terrorism agency, reiterated Moroccos readiness to offer Imam training in Europe according to the Maliki doctrine. Khiame stressed the need for an institutionalized process to vet the discourse and credentials of Imams in Europe, otherwise terrorist organizations will exploit the vacuum. The practice of religion should be institutionalized in all countries and by this I meant there should be institutions which take an interest in monitoring religious discourse in mosques, said Mr Khiame. He shed light on Moroccos pro-active de-radicalization approach, saying that in Morocco there is a religious scholars council tasked with supervising sermons and unifying fatwas [religious rulings]. It is not possible for any imam to preach his sermon without it being reviewed by the council to see if it conforms to tolerant Islamic precepts and is not hard line. Khiame also highlighted the role of the intelligence provided by Moroccos security services in preventing terrorist attacks in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. As part of tireless efforts to fight extremism and terrorist organizations, Morocco, he said, has launched a new strategy to monitor individuals of Moroccan origin living in Europe who have been radicalized. What happened in Spain and in other European countries has made us change our strategy even for those who are of Moroccan origins but were born in the west, he said. Khiame has also showcased the pertinence of Moroccos counter-terrorism strategy with the dismantlement of 42 terrorist cells in the last two years. Analysts say Jihadis have found it hard to operate in Morocco as a result of beefed up security since 2003 when 12 suicide bombers blew themselves up at multiple locations in Casablanca, the economic hub of the kingdom, killing 33 people, underscored the Financial times. The Washington Post security correspondent and author Souad Mekhennet, a German national of Moroccan origin, will receive Daniel Pearl award 2017 in recognition for her courage and integrity in journalism. According to the Chicago Journalists Association, which made the announcement, Souad is the first Muslim reporter to be honored with this prestigious award for venturing behind the lines of Jihad to interview the world most wanted people. The award will be handed over to her during a ceremony to be organized Nov.10. This prize was created by Los Angeles Press Club after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was killed by Islamic terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Now, Daniels eponymous award, bestowed every year since by his parents, Judea and Ruth Pearl, honors reporters who file their revelatory stories under threat, sometimes under fire. The Daniel Pearl Foundation promotes mutual respect and understanding among diverse cultures through journalism, music and dialogue. Besides working for the Washington Post, Souad Mekhennet also featured on the New York Times and Der Spiegel, as well as other publications. She is a graduate of the Harvards Weatherhead Center for International Policy, the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the Geneva Center for Security Policy. Souad Mekhennet, well-known for her coverage of terrorism, published lately a new book I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad, in which she recounts her journey as a reporter going behind the lines of jihad in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. In her book, beginning in the German neighborhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalized and the Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shias were turned against each other, Souad sheds light on the clash between the West and Islam that has been exploited by both extremists and opportunist politicians alike and discusses some of the complex reasons behind the radicalization of young Muslims and invites to a deep, thorough debate on the scourge of terrorism, its nature, causes and implications. Her thorough investigation work allowed to disclose the identity of Jihadi John, the executioner who strutted in front of the cameras and exhibited the barbaric execution of people who were wrong not share his miserable vision of the world. For her whole life, Souad, who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other. Souads background has given her unique access to some of the worlds most wanted men, who generally refuse to speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what to expect! New Hampshire is already preparing to help determine who gets to make a serious run for president in 2020. Photo: Fotosearch/Getty Images Yes, its incredibly early to be taking polls for the 2020 presidential contest. But on the other hand, there are places like Iowa and New Hampshire where presidential politics is pretty much a constant preoccupation. So its worth taking a quick look at the University of New Hampshires Granite State poll, the first to examine the standing of potential candidates in the first-in-the-nation primary. Among Democrats, what jumps off the page is that there does not at the moment appear to be a deep yearning for fresh faces. Bernie Sanders runs first at 31 percent and Joe Biden runs second at 24 percent. In other words, over half of New Hampshire Democrats currently favor a presidential candidate who would seek to become the first to celebrate an 80th birthday in the White House. Even though she represents a state whose media markets extend well into New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren is running a relatively poor third at 13 percent. Perhaps, at 68, shes just a bit too young. Nine other potential Democratic candidates are named, and they register a collective 17 percent of the vote (Cory Booker leads the pack with 6 percent). Among Republicans, no potential challenger to Donald Trump is tested, but interestingly enough, only 47 percent say they plan to vote for the president in the 2020 primary, with 23 percent saying theyd prefer another candidate and 30 percent being unsure. The same survey at the same point in Barack Obamas presidency showed 64 percent of Democrats planning to vote for the incumbent, 5 percent expressing support for a different nominee, and 30 percent unsure. Its important to remember that the cast of characters for the 2020 presidential contest has not been formed. At the same juncture four years ago, neither of the eventual winners of the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic and Republican primaries, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, were even listed in the Granite State poll field. Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton, who was eventually trounced by Sanders in New Hampshire, was favored by 64 percent, with no one else being in double digits. Among Republicans, Rand Paul and Chris Christie led the 2013 Granite State Poll; Paul would drop out before New Hampshire and Christie would finish sixth. Trump led the field by nearly 20 points. Indeed, Trumps 35 percent as an upstart candidate facing a huge group of opponents in 2016 isnt that much less than the 47 percent he currently commands in New Hampshire as the president of the United States. So you never know how presidential campaigns will develop until they are fully under way. But, as always, how New Hampshire voters think about these things is going to matter a lot more than the opinions of thee or me. Mosquitos! Photo: ranplett/Getty Images Flying insects, an annoying but necessary part of life, are disappearing, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. For the study, researchers evaluated 27 years of insect collection data from German nature preserves and found the biomass of flying insects had fallen by a seasonal average of 76 percent, the Washington Post reports. This is very alarming! ecologist Caspar Hallmann, who was a part of the research team, told the Post. As detestable as flying insects are, theyre also a vital part of the ecosystem, providing food for animals and playing a vital role in agriculture. As for why the insects are disappearing, researchers appeared stumped. Climate change, they said, seems an unlikely culprit since the increase in temperatures should have helped, not harmed, the insect population. The study out of Germany is not the first to show a decline in airborne bugs. A 2012 survey by the Zoological Society of London concluded that insect populations around the planet are in decline. In 2014, a study in Science showed a 45 percent global decline in insect life. But you dont have to be a scientist to observe this phenomenon. Just get in a car and start driving. As Hallmann told the Post, going for a drive and then checking the windshield for bug guts is probably one of the best illustrative ways to realize we are dealing with a decline in flying insects. Not Trumps Bush. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP In a speech Thursday, former President George W. Bush denounced bigotry in any form. He condemned bullying and prejudice in our public life. And he warned of the dangers of conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. In short, he tore apart President Trump and everything he represents without ever saying the mans name. This is a unique moment. The great democracies face new and serious threats yet seem to be losing confidence in their own calling and competence, Bush said in New York City. In town for the Bush Institutes Spirit of Liberty event, the 43rd president said, We need to recall and recover our own identity. The speech was filled with veiled references to Trump and his worst qualities. And our young people need positive role models, said Bush, a devoted husband and father and the author of a senseless war that killed more than a million people. Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. Bush: "Our young people need positive role models. Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone." pic.twitter.com/UrLqLT6U4a Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 19, 2017 The criticism wasnt confined to Trumps personality flaws. Bush also went after the isolationism and nationalism that has taken up residence in the West Wing. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism immigration has always brought to America, the fading value of trade, weve seen the return of isolationist sentiments forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs, and drug trafficking tend to emerge, Bush said. In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity. Thursdays remarks are Bushs most extensive and explicit criticisms of his fellow Republican in the White House. They arent much of a surprise though. Bush, along with his father or Bush original as Trump recently called him denounced racial bigotry after Trump defended a Nazi rally in Virginia this summer. He also called Trumps inauguration speech weird shit and reportedly did not vote for him. If theres any surprise here, its not Bushs feelings on Trump, its that he voiced them so publicly after spending the eight years of the Obama administration painting watercolors of terriers. Texan pro-choice advocates demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images On Tuesday, a federal district judge had to order the Office of Refugee Resettlement to let an undocumented 17-year-old in its custody at a Texas detention facility secure an abortion you know, the medical procedure that is allegedly protected by constitutional law up until (and sometimes beyond) the point of fetal viability. ORR had repeatedly tried to keep that from happening, and had even forced the young woman to undergo religiously based counseling in an effort to convince her to carry her pregnancy to term. The administration basically argued in the case that the right to choose is one that it must only observe in the most limited circumstances. Per the Washington Post: In court filings, the government said it has strong and constitutionally legitimate interests in promoting childbirth, in refusing to facilitate abortion, and in not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody. The judge hearing the case, D.C. district court judge Tanya Chutkan, was clearly amazed if not offended by the administrations position, and particularly its contention that the woman in question could self-deport and get an abortion in her country of origin. I am astounded by that position, Chutkan said in a 40-minute hearing that was mostly consumed by a back-and-forth between the judge and Scott Stewart, a deputy assistant attorney general. What makes the case even more egregious is that the woman being held in government custody was struggling to deal with Texass Republican-imposed laws making entirely legal abortions more difficult than ever, including advanced counseling requirements and a post-20-week ban. She is currently 15 weeks into her pregnancy. It is difficult to avoid the impression that the ORR authorities were trying to run out the clock and deny her any choice at all. And ORR continues to act as though fighting the right to an abortion is part of its mission: There is no constitutional right for a pregnant minor to illegally cross the U.S. border and get an elective abortion while in federal custody, the agency said after the hearing. Federal law is very clear on giving the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement the legal responsibility to care for the health and well-being of a minor in the unaccompanied alien children program and, in this case, her unborn baby. We cannot cede our responsibility to care for minors and their babies by releasing them to ideological advocacy groups. Thats how ORR describes letting a woman access medical services that are it cannot be stressed too often not only legal but constitutionally protected. Those who offer these services are ideological advocacy groups. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! And even after Judge Chutkans order, the administration continues to try to run out the clock on an abortion by appealing it to the U.S. Court of Appeals. This strange position begins to make more sense when you learn about the current Trump-appointed director of ORR. His name is E. Scott Lloyd, previously an attorney with the conservative Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus. He has no experience in resettling refugees. But he does have abundant experience opposing legal abortion. The whole case is a good example of what can happen when two of the Trump administrations ideological impulses fighting reproductive rights and incarcerating undocumented immigrants come together. Its enough to astound any judge. What would the Founding Fathers say about the Trump Organization? Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images If theres a theme, a raison detre, that animates the legal resistance to Donald Trump, its the notion that hes a threat to the Constitution and everything it stands for equality and due process, good government, the separation of powers, the rule of law. Put differently, the president is seen as a walking, talking constitutional violation. And absent any corrective action by a complacent, complicit Congress, the only way to rein him in is to take him to court. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, better known as CREW, did exactly that just a few days after Trump took the oath of office. But rather than rest its case on tried and true constitutional provisions, the government watchdog asked a federal judge to bring to life, for the first time in American history, the dead letter of the foreign emoluments clause. The obscure text decrees that no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The Supreme Court has never interpreted what any of that means, let alone declared a sitting president in violation of it. But on Wednesday, a federal judge in Trumps own backyard, Manhattan, began to crack the code, hearing arguments from CREW and the Department of Justice on the meaning of the clause. Does it forbid Trump, in his official capacity as president of the United States, from profiting off of foreign diplomats who choose to stay at, say, the Trump International Hotel in Washington? And what if a foreign dignitary offers Trump a $1 million gift, no strings attached? Does the clause kick in and require remedial action? Brett Shumate, the government lawyer dispatched to defend Trumps business interests and get CREWs lawsuit dismissed (read that sentence over one more time) insisted that such a gift, without an explicit quid pro quo from Trump, would not qualify as an emolument and thus would be perfectly kosher. Receiving anything of value alone is not a reasonable interpretation of the clause, Shumate said. Instead, there must be some connection between the foreign windfall and the office of the presidency. U.S. District Judge George Daniels didnt seem too impressed. To him, emolument seemed to mean any compensation received by a federal official on account of a benevolent foreign entity. Why isnt that the most direct and accurate definition of its use? he asked. That doesnt seem to be a complicated concept. Daniels didnt quite tip his hand either way, but he suggested that he sees the foreign emoluments clause (not to be confused with the domestic emoluments clause, which CREW also thinks Trump is flouting) as an anti-bribery and anti-corruption provision meant to keep government honest and free of foreign influence. The Founding Fathers, he noted, were far too smart to have intended a clause with such big words and no teeth. That may sound like good news to CREW, but the nonprofit has an uphill battle of its own. For one, the group may not even have standing to sue in the first place as a government watchdog, they serve the public and are not competitors of Trump properties. And no matter what resources they spend or how many times they send former Obama ethics czar Norm Eisen to appear on MSNBC, that may not be enough to claim that CREW has been harmed by Trumps emoluments. Just because they want to play police, Daniels complained, doesnt mean that they have a right to sue whoever they want to arrest. Heres @NormEisen talking to a Trump fan about his @CREWcrew lawsuit against the president outside the Manhattan federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/oKbZXxDDc3 Cristian Farias (@cristianafarias) October 18, 2017 Since filing the lawsuit in January, CREW has brought on other plaintiffs to strengthen their case, among them a restaurant association, a D.C. event booker for major hotel chains, and Eric Goode, a hotelier in New York City. Deepak Gupta, one of the superlawyers representing CREW, told Daniels that all of these plaintiffs, which are competitors in the hospitality sector, have been unfairly disadvantaged by Trumps wooing of international patrons at his properties. In legal speak, Gupta added, all of them are in the zone of interests covered by the foreign emoluments clause. But perhaps an even bigger hurdle for Judge Daniels will be to decide what to do in the event that he does determine that CREWs lawsuit should move forward. Can a single federal judge in Manhattan order the president to cure the constitutional violation by asking him to divest? Doesnt the text of the clause itself leave it to Congress to hash it out with the president? If Daniels so concludes, CREWs grievance would be a political question that the courts cannot resolve and its lawsuit would be doomed. After the hearing, I asked Gupta about CREWs end game with this emoluments gambit. After all, the prior administration brought about a raft of creative, conservative litigation accusing President Obama of lawlessness of all stripes. Is this case just more of the same but from the progressive side? No, this is not just an academic exercise, Gupta said. This is a real lawsuit. And the aim of the lawsuit is to win on the merits and to get a ruling that this is real norm. This is an anti-corruption norm in the Constitution and it has to be taken seriously. Daniels said he hopes to rule in CREW v. Trump within the next month or two. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images White House Chief of Staff John Kelly tried to explain on Thursday what President Trump meant when he told the wife of a slain U.S. soldier that her husband knew what he signed up for. Despite Trumps claim that Florida representative Frederica Wilson totally fabricated what I said, Kelly suggested that Wilsons version of the conversation between the president and the wife of Sergeant La David T. Johnson was accurate. But he wanted to focus not on what Trump said, but on what he meant, along with the impropriety of Wilson politicizing the conversation. Before Trump bravely made the calls to the families of the four soldiers killed in Niger earlier this month, Kelly said he asked Kelly what he should say. Theres nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families, Kelly said he told Trump. And then he recalled what he was told by Joint Chiefs chairman Joe Dunford after his son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in Iraq in 2010. He said, Kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed, an emotional Kelly said. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one percent. He knew what the possibilities were, because were at war. When he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. Thats what Trump tried to say to the families of the soldiers killed in Niger, Kelly said. Trump expressed his condolences in the best way he could, Kelly said. The retired Marine general then lit into Representative Wilson for demeaning something he considers sacred. I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing, Kelly said. In his way [Trump] tried to express that opinion that hes a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted, theres no reason to enlist. He enlisted and he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message. President Trump speaks at the Heritage Foundations Presidents Club meeting on October 17, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Martin H. Simon - Pool/Getty Images As the back-and-forth continues over the content and tone of Donald Trumps phone call to the widow a service member slain in Niger, other Gold Star families are coming forward with their interactions (or lack thereof) with the president. But the Washington Post reports on what may be the most peculiar story yet: The father of a deceased soldier says that Trump offered him $25,000, but he never got the money. According to the Post, Trump phoned Chris Baldridge, the father of 22-year-old Army Corporal Dillon Baldridge, who was killed in Afghanistan on June 10 by Afghan police. Baldridge said he and the president spoke for about 15 minutes a few weeks after his sons death. During that time, Baldridge mentioned that his ex-wife would receive all their sons $10,000 military survivor benefits, despite the fact that he could barely rub to nickles together. According to Baldridge: He said, Im going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000, and I was just floored, Baldridge said. I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, No other president has ever done something like this, but he said, Im going to do it. Bainbridge said he later received a formal condolence letter from the White House. Check not included.I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking, he said. But I was like, Damn, no check. Just a letter saying Im sorry. The White House didnt elaborate on the conversation between Trump and Baldridge, but a spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement that the check has been sent. WH now saying the "check has been sent." Wonder what that postmark will show. https://t.co/2sQZjrjIx8 Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) October 18, 2017 Its disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the medias biased agenda, the statement said. Balbridges account comes amid the controversy over Trumps condolence call to the widow of one of the service members slain in Niger. Florida congresswoman Frederica Wilson said Tuesday that Trump told the service members wife that he knew what he signed up for during the conversation. The White House challenged the story, though the deceased service members mother said that the president did disrespect her son. Before the alleged details of that call emerged, Trump had first defended his silence over the death of four U.S. troops in Niger. The president said he had drafted the letter and planned to call the families, too, and then attacked his predecessors for not doing the same. If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didnt make calls, a lot of them didnt make calls, Trump said. I like to call when its appropriate, when I think Im able to do it. About 30 American service members have died in 2017. Some military families told news outlets they had not yet received phone calls or letters from the White House, but others were clear that Trump had reached out, and respectfully praised their deceased relatives. It meant something, the leader of our nation calling us and showing the honor and respect to my brother that I feel my brother earned, William J. Lee, whose brother died in Mosul, told the Post. Protesters, including one holding a sign demanding the release of Catalonian independence leaders Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Spains political crisis sharpened dangerously this week, as the Spanish government prepares for the unprecedented step of triggering Article 155 of its still-young constitution. The move would revoke Catalonias status as an autonomous region, bringing it under direct control of the central government in Madrid. This is probably not going to go over all that well in Catalonia, which just held a contentious referendum for independence and has a long history of agitating for separation from Spain. This is the latest development in a fraught few weeks for Spain. On October 1, Catalonia voted for independence from Madrid by about 90 percent though turnout was a little over 40 percent. The Spanish government maintains the referendum was illegitimate and illegal (its top courts agreed); it also doesnt want to lose its largest regional economy. Voting Day across Catalonia was bloodied by aggressive crackdowns by the Spanish government, which tried to deter people from the going to the polls. Nevertheless, on October 10, Catalonias regional president, Carles Puigdemont, declared independence but with a twist. In a somewhat confusing speech, he vowed Catalonia will become an independent state in the form of a republic, but then asked everyone to wait a couple of months before becoming independent and to hold talks with the central government in Madrid. The Spanish government responded by giving Puidgemont a hard deadline of Monday to confirm, or deny, that Catalonia was breaking away from Spain. Puigdemonts reply: a request for a meeting with Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, indicating they might be able to work this out with international mediators. But he skirted a definite answer on the whole independence thing. Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont. Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images Spain delivered another ultimatum with a deadline set for this Thursday, at 10 a.m. local time to get a definite yes or no on independence. This time the stakes were higher, as many expected the Spanish government to opt for its nuclear option invoking Article 155 for the first time ever if it didnt like Catalonias response. Puigdemont sent another letter, saying its independence was suspended, for now, while also threatening independence if the Spanish government persists in impeding dialogue and continues its repression. Prime Minister Rajoy replied by scheduling an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday where officials will approve measures to be put before the senate to protect the general interest of Spaniards, including the citizens of Catalonia, and to restore constitutional order in the autonomous community. In other words, Article 155. Spain is now in uncharted territory. Article 155 would allow Madrid to take control of Catalonias regional government, finances, and police though its unclear exactly how far the central government would intervene. Madrid could take a more short-term and limited approach, something the opposition Socialist Party, which appears ready to back Rajoy on the measure, has advocated. Of course, Rajoy could take the hard-line tack, says the New York Times: Using constitutional powers, Mr. Rajoy could appoint a caretaker administration in Catalonia. Mr. Puigdemont, on the other hand, could face sedition charges and ultimately a long prison sentence for presenting a unilateral declaration of independence that violates Spains Constitution. Should Rajoy go to that extreme coming down hard on Puigdemont and his government he runs the risk of isolating moderates in Catalan, and escalating tensions with secessionist forces. Theres also fear of civil unrest, or a repeat of the violent clashes on the day of the referendum vote. Two Catalan pro-independence leaders have been jailed over allegations of sedition, which already sparked large protests this week in Barcelona and beyond. Catalonia had been divided on the independence question, but the very wealthy Catalonia, which has its own language, is unlikely to want to sacrifice their autonomy for good. Throughout all of this, the European Union has has stayed largely on the sidelines, encouraging dialogue, but not much else. On Thursday, European Council president Donald Tusk made clear the E.U. wouldnt directly step in. There is no room, no space for any kind of mediation or international initiative or action, he said. However, European leaders, including Germanys Angela Merkel and Frances Emmanuel Macron, have called for Spanish unity, backing Madrid in this escalating crisis. Trump with Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico. Photo: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images Asked on Thursday to rate the federal governments response to the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico last month, President Trump said it was a ten. Id say it was probably the most difficult, when you talk about relief, when you talk about search, when you talk about all of the different levels, Trump said with Governor Ricardo Rossello sitting next to him. And even when you talk about lives saved. You look at the number, I think this was worse than Katrina, in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen. The American people dont agree with Trumps assessment. A recent poll found that 51 percent of Americans think not enough has been done to respond to Maria. The poll did not include residents of Puerto Rico, but its a safe bet they wouldnt agree with Trump either. The vast majority of the island is still without electricity, while a third of its residents do not have access to clean water. A health-care crisis has also emerged on the island as the official death toll, which currently stands at 48, is dwarfed by the unofficial estimates. Trump, however, remains thrilled with the response and seemingly more concerned with the morale of government officials than the people in Puerto Rico. At one point he turned to Rossello and asked for an attaboy for the spirit of these people that worked so hard and so long like Tom [Bossert] and like Brock [Long], referring to his Homeland Security adviser and FEMA administrator, respectively. Did our government, when we came in, did we do a great job? Military? First responders? FEMA? Did we do a great job? You responded immediately, sir, Rossello said, dodging the question because the answer is clearly No. African-American turnout was down in Wisconsin and other states in 2016. Was it caused by lack of enthusiasm, or deliberately created hurdles to voting? Photo: Michael B. Thomas /AFP/Getty Images Close elections almost by definition conjure up countless explanations of what might have changed the result. As the fine voting-rights journalist Ari Berman notes, one of the more shocking and significant developments on November 8, 2016, was Donald Trumps win in Wisconsin, a state that had not gone Republican in a presidential election since the 49-state Reagan landslide of 1984. Explanations were all over the place: Clintons stunning loss in Wisconsin was blamed on her failure to campaign in the state, and the depressed turnout was attributed to a lack of enthusiasm for either candidate. Perhaps the biggest drags on voter turnout in Milwaukee, as in the rest of the country, were the candidates themselves, Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times wrote in a post-election dispatch that typified this line of analysis. To some, it was like having to choose between broccoli and liver. Virtually no one, says Berman, talked about voter suppression, even though Scott Walkers hyperpolarized state had enacted and fought successfully to preserve one of the nations strictest voter ID laws, expected and designed to reduce minority turnout. Yet there is evidence, both anecdotal and academic, that voter suppression efforts had a lot to do with a sharp reduction in minority and student voting in Wisconsin. After the election, registered voters in Milwaukee County and Madisons Dane County were surveyed about why they didnt cast a ballot. Eleven percent cited the voter ID law and said they didnt have an acceptable ID; of those, more than half said the law was the main reason they didnt vote. According to the studys author, University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Kenneth Mayer, that finding implies that between 12,000 and 23,000 registered voters in Madison and Milwaukeeand as many as 45,000 statewidewere deterred from voting by the ID law. We have hard evidence there were tens of thousands of people who were unable to vote because of the voter ID law, he says. Trump carried the state by less than 23,000 votes. Wisconsins voter ID law was designed to create complex hoops prospective voters had to jump through to secure an ID, particularly for those without drivers licenses, and also for college students attending schools that did not issue the kind of IDs the law demanded. Berman found abundant evidence that election personnel in the state went beyond the letter of the law to discourage compliance. And voter ID was just part of the arsenal of voter suppression techniques at the GOPs disposal: The voter ID law was one of 33 election changes passed in Wisconsin after Walker took office [in 2011], and it dovetailed with his signature push to dismantle unions, taking away his opponents most effective organizing tool. Wisconsins Legislature cut early voting from 30 days to 12, reduced early voting hours on nights and weekends, and restricted early voting to one location per county, hampering voters in large urban areas and sprawling rural ones. It also added new residency requirements for voter registration, eliminated staffers who led statewide registration drives, and made it harder to count absentee ballots. It all added up, and for Republicans, it paid off handsomely in 2016. One lesson of the Wisconsin saga is that control of the federal courts matters a great deal in vindicating voting rights and political representation; this is, after all, the state where a GOP gerrymander of the legislature was so overtly partisan that the U.S. Supreme Court may find it unconstitutional. In 2014 a district court judge struck down Wisconsins voter ID law on grounds that it disproportionately affected African-Americans and could not be justified by evidence of widespread voter fraud. But the conservative-dominated Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling just in time for the 2016 elections. Ultimately it will require either a change of heart among Republicans, many of whom used to support voting rights, or a significant shift in partisan control of state governments, to reduce the relentless pressure for voter suppression. A Republican president who seems wedded to the more absurd right-wing theories of voter fraud is not setting a very good example, as his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, headed by infamous vote suppressor Kris Kobach, has illustrated. But such initiatives from the top are meeting an eager demand from the GOP grassroots: Republican-controlled statehouses have already passed more voting restrictions in 2017 than they did in 2016 and 2015 combined. Taken together, theres no doubt that these election changes affected the turnout among young voters, first-time voters, voters of color, and other members of the Obama coalition that overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton, says Marc Elias, general counsel for Clintons campaign, who filed a half-dozen voting rights lawsuits in the months before the 2016 election. If you think of voting rights as a wonky process issue thats less important than health care or the environment or avoiding war with North Korea, think again. Its entirely possible we wouldnt be dealing with a President Trump at all if voting rights were regarded as a fundamental right of citizenship that should be strongly and universally encouraged. The Cuba State Capitol in Havana. Photo: Nigel Pacquette President Donald Trump blamed the Cuban government Monday for possible sonic attacks that have sickened at least 22 American diplomats and their families. Its a very unusual attack, Trump said, but I do believe Cuba is responsible. The administration expelled 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington earlier this month over the suspicions, but notably avoided accusing the government in Havana outright, as questions remained over mysterious symptoms that afflicted the U.S. officials. They included permanent hearing loss, mild traumatic brain injury, brain swelling, and ear ringing. Now, this bizarre case gets even weirder: U.S. tourists may have also been hit by these strange attacks. A South Carolina man told the Associated Press that he was hit with mysterious symptoms while staying in the Hotel Capri in Havana in 2014, where at least some of the American personnel were also sickened. Chris Allen, now a 37-year-old finance professional who has previously worked in GOP politics, said after climbing into bed after his first day in Cuba, he felt a strange numbing sensation: The tingling originated in his toes, like that prickly feeling when your foot falls asleep. It spread into his ankles and calves, then to his fingertips. He got up to investigate, and the sensation went away. He got back in bed. The tingling returned, reaching his hands, forearms, ears, cheek and neck. Allen said he experienced the same symptoms the second night, though with more intensity. He returned home that morning, though the numbing sensation persisted for months, sending him to doctors and specialists for a slew of medical tests, with few answers. Then, years later, when news broke about U.S. personnel affected with unexplained symptoms at the Hotel Capri, it clicked. I wanted to wave a flag and be like, I know this, I know what it is like to stay there and have something weird happen to your body and not be able to explain it, Allen told the Associated Press. The Associated Press said it had received tips from at least three dozen Americans who also claim to have been afflicted with various ailments, though there are serious doubts over whether these had any ties to the attacks allegedly suffered by U.S. personnel. The State Department has also said its received a handful of reports from U.S. citizens, though it added that it could not verify the attacks. Nevertheless, Allens symptoms cropped up in 2014; the State Department officials began reporting these incidents in late 2016 up until August of this year. Allen did not pick up any vibrations or loud sounds in the hotel, which some but not all diplomats reported hearing. The State Department has issued a travel warning to American tourists in the wake of the still-unsolved incidents, saying it cant guarantee their safety. It had also reportedly put some sort of restrictions on U.S. officials staying at two Havana hotels, one of them being the Hotel Capri. From left, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sergeant Bryan Black, Sergeant La David Johnson, and Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright. On Monday, President Trump was asked why he had yet to comment publicly on the deaths of four U.S. service members in Niger. Trumps response set off one of the uglier incidents in an administration where controversy has become the norm. After Trump implied that his predecessors didnt do enough to comfort grieving military families, a congresswoman claimed that the president told a young mother widowed by the Niger attack that her husband knew what he signed up for. Then the father of another deceased soldier said Trump promised to send him a $25,000 personal check weeks ago, but the money never arrived. (The White House says its now in the mail.) The ongoing dispute over Trumps treatment of Gold Star families runs the risk of overshadowing a more significant concern: More than two weeks after the attack, we dont really know what happened in Niger. Several lawmakers have called for a fuller explanation, and when asked on Thursday if the Trump administration is being up-front about the attack, which has been attributed to an ISIS-linked group, Senator John McCain said no. He added that as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he intends to get the information the panel deserves and needs. Then you decide whether a quote investigation is needed or not, he said. Heres a rundown of what we know, and the biggest questions about the attack. Why U.S. Troops Are in Niger Niger, along with neighbors Chad and Mali, is considered crucial to the war on terror. Local Al Qaeda and ISIS groups have established transit routes through the country that aid them in generating revenue and transporting fighters between north and sub-Saharan Africa. Photo: Encyclopaedia Britannica/UIG via Getty Images The U.S. hasnt disclosed much about its mission in Niger. In 2013, President Obama announced that 100 troops would be deployed to the country to provide support for intelligence collection and facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces and other allies in the region. Earlier that year, the French military intervened in Mali, after an Al Qaedalinked group took over part of the country. There are now about 800 U.S. troops in Niger, assisting in the fight against Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and ISIS. Some of those troops operate a surveillance drone mission in the capital of Niamey, but according to ABC News, most are on construction crews working to set up a second drone base in the countrys northern desert. Less than 100 troops are aiding Nigers military as part of Army Green Beret units. The Attack Twelve U.S. soldiers from the Armys 3rd Special Forces Group were accompanying about 30 Nigerien troops on a mission near Tongo Tongo. After meeting with local leaders, they were ambushed by about 50 militants. A firefight ensued, and within roughly 30 minutes French military aircraft were on the scene, but the planes did not fire on the attackers. After the fight broke up, aircraft retrieved the remains of three U.S. soldiers: staff sergeants Bryan Black, Jeremiah Johnson, and Dustin Wright. Somehow Sergeant La David Johnson was separated from the rest of the group, and it took 48 hours to recover his body. Aside from those rough points, theres much confusion about the incident, starting with who was on the mission. As ABC News notes, according to one account, 12 soldiers from a Green Beret unit were accompanying 40 Nigerien soldiers to collect supplies and meet with village elders when they were ambushed. According to another version of events, only 8 to 12 American and Nigerien forces went into the village, and while a Nigerien platoon was nearby they were not involved in the firefight. Some raised questions about the villagers intentions. Per CNN: Some of the soldiers who attended the meeting with local leaders said that they suspected that the villagers were delaying their departure, stalling and keeping them waiting, actions that caused some of them to suspect that the villagers may have been complicit in the ambush, according to the defense official. The Pentagon said similar operations had been carried out 29 times in the past six months and were considered routine. But concerns have been raised about why more precautions were not taken. The U.S. troops were armed with only rifles, and they arrived at the site in unarmored pickup trucks. CNN reports that the militants were wielding small arms, machine guns, and rocked-propelled grenades. One Pentagon official acknowledged that they were well-equipped and trained. Its unclear whether any militants were wounded or killed in the fight. There was no U.S. drone flying overhead to provide reconnaissance, and Reuters reported that French officials are frustrated because they feel the U.S. acted with limited intelligence and insufficient contingency planning. U.S. defense officials said they believe the presence of French Mirage fighter-bombers helped break up the firefight, but different explanations have been offered for why they didnt engage. Reuters suggested the fighting was at close quarters, so they couldnt intervene, but multiple officials told CNN that Niger doesnt allow air strikes on its territory. NBC News reports that U.S. military officials have offered three different accounts of who flew the medevac helicopter: First U.S. military officials said it was French military, then that it was the U.S. military. Now, theyre saying it could have been a U.S. contractor. Who Conducted the Attack? Though there are multiple terror groups operating in the area, the Defense Intelligence Agency believes its highly likely that ISIS in the Greater Sahara was behind the attack, according to ABC News. That group sprang up in 2015 when its leader split from an Al Qaeda group and pledged allegiance to ISIS. It hasnt been formally recognized as a branch of ISIS and one U.S. official called it a wannabe though that doesnt mean the group is unsophisticated. The group has attacked French counterterrorism forces, but this would be its first strike on U.S. troops. We do have information on the group that did it, their nature, their disposition and so on and so forth and appropriate organizations within the United States Military are digging deeper into that and will take appropriate action if required, Army Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, told reporters on Monday. Several officials told CNN that the Trump administration is talking with the Nigerien government about a possible U.S. military strike on the attackers. The Investigation Earlier this week, the Department of Defense announced that it will conduct an internal review of what went wrong during the mission, and now the Pentagons Africa Command (AFRICOM) has sent a team to Niger. We need to collect some very basic raw facts, one defense official told NBC News. The French military is investigating as well. Pentagon officials said theyve already tightened up operations in the region, and operations are on pause pending the reviews findings. In addition to Senator McCain, Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for a fuller explanation from the Trump administration. I think the administration has to be more clear about our role in Niger and our role in other areas in Africa and other parts of the globe, Reed said. They have to connect it to a strategy. They should do that. I think that the inattention to this issue is not acceptable. The Victims SERGEANT LA DAVID JOHNSON Johnson, 25, grew up in South Florida and was raised by relatives after his mother died when he was young. He met his future wife, Myeshia Manual, in elementary school. They have two children a 6-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son and Myeshia is expecting their third baby. Before entering the military, Johnson earned a social-media following as the Wheelie King. He removed the front wheel of his bike and was frequently spotted riding to his job at Walmart on just his back wheel. In 2013 he told a local TV station that he did it because he enjoyed the challenge. He was remembered as a devoted father and husband, and Staff Sergeant Dennis Bohler, a friend and former supervisor, noted that he rose through the ranks quickly, from a private to a sergeant in under three years He caught on quickly. You tell him once, and its complete, any task, Bohler told the Washington Post. He was just that one soldier that always wanted to better himself every day. Every day, he wanted to do better than he did yesterday. STAFF SERGEANT BRYAN BLACK Black, 35, was a Green Beret medic who always had a competitive streak. According to his obituary, in fourth grade he got annoyed when his brother won a trophy at a chess tournament and he didnt, so he spent the entire summer learning chess and tied for second in the nation by sixth grade. He displayed the same determination as an adult. During his previous deployment to Niger he learned the local dialect Hausa because he wanted to be able to communicate directly with the people, his obituary said. He also spoke French and Arabic. Bryan was often in high demand within his team and with locals due to these efforts. He met his wife, Michelle Richmond Black, shortly after college, and they have two sons, Ezekiel and Isaac. STAFF SERGEANT JEREMIAH JOHNSON Johnson, 39, was a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear specialist, according to the Department of Defense. He was from Springboro, Ohio, and is survived by a wife and two daughters. STAFF SERGEANT DUSTIN WRIGHT Wright, who just turned 29, was from Lyons, Georgia. His brother, Will Wright, said he last spoke to him on his birthday, September 24. Talked about how things were going, the ups and downs. Talked about his girlfriend, talked about his plans when he came home, where he was going and some potential moves in his future, Will Wright said. Members of the Wright family have served in the military dating back to 1812. To our records, we had not lost a single member until Dustin. Thats 205 years, thats a good run. So, its been great to hear that history and share that history and if once every 205 years this is a price we pay, then thats what it takes, Will Wright said. Tucker Carlson learns more shocking truths about the liberal media from Glenn Greenwald. Glenn Greenwald has been dismissing reports of Russian interference in the election on behalf of Donald Trump since the story first appeared, and the massive accumulation of evidence has not dissuaded him from his belief that he has been correct about this all along and the liberal news media horribly, hysterically wrong. Last night, in his most recent appearance on Tucker Carlsons show, Greenwald explained why the news media has (according to Greenwald) published a series of wild lies about Trump and Russia. The problem was not, as Carlson suggested, that their sources in the Deep State were manipulating them. It was worse! Theyre willingly and eagerly being manipulated, he said. The problem as it usually is, whenever anybody arrives at a different conclusion than Greenwald is that they have been corrupted. They get applause on social media from their peers, they get zillions of retweets, huge amounts of traffic, they end up on TV. They get applauded across the spectrum because people are so giddy and eager to hear about this Russia and Trump story. It was all so shocking to poor Tucker Carlson that the Fox News host, disabused of his naive faith in the integrity of the news media, exclaimed, Gosh, thats so dishonest! One of the hallmarks of a Greenwald analysis is the conviction that career incentives have warped the view of people who disagree with Greenwald. Greenwald himself is a famous and successful journalist. Every incentive he can ascribe to the mainstream media could be ascribed just as easily to Greenwald himself. To be clear, I dont believe Greenwald has been corrupted at all. His fanaticism is earnest. But consider how easy it is to make a Greenwaldian analysis of Greenwald: There is a large audience on the left and right that is eager to hear him dismiss the Russia scandal. He gets to go on TV. He is applauded across the political spectrum. Indeed, Greenwald made his comments about how the news media has been corrupted by the chance to go on TV and be applauded across the political spectrum while he was appearing on television and being applauded across the political spectrum. Other journalists might be warped by this, but for Greenwald, it is merely in the service of his zeal for Truth. Photo: Mumemories/Getty Images/iStockphoto Years from now, after the singularity, when weve hurtled ourselves beyond the limit of bodily consciousness and merged into the networked world-mind, well look back and ask ourselves: What was the point of no return? When we first got personal computers? The rise of the smartphone? When digital pop-star Hatsune Miku, a computer program, started selling out stadiums in Japan? When self-driving cars took to the streets? Or did the moment come specifically and directly on October 19, 2007 the date, now etched into history, of None Pizza With Left Beef? You might not recognize the name None Pizza With Left Beef, but if youve spent time on the more jokey corners of the internet, youve almost certainly seen it: a depressing circle of flat bread, cut into slices, inside a pizza box. Small chunks of beef crowd the top-most corner, a few other loose crumbles lie around the box and in the bulls-eye center. It is simultaneously the most depressing pizza ever constructed, one of the most famous images on the World Wide Web, and a monument to the relationship between man and machine. None Pizza With Left Beef was first revealed ten years ago today, in a now-infamous blog post called The Great Pizza Orientation Test published on a comedy website called the Sneeze. Its author, the architect of this great monument, is a man named Steve Molaro, who knows a thing or two about acutely of-its-time cultural production: He is the co-creator, with Chuck Lorre, of the new hit sitcom Young Sheldon. In October of 2007, however, Molaro was a hungry comedy writer (literally), ordering pizza in a transitional technological moment the iPhone had only been unveiled nine months earlier, and Seamless had yet to become a verb. Dominos, though, had a rudimentary but nonetheless comprehensive online ordering system. As is the case with any software, once you release it into the wild, users will race to find its worst possible usage. At the time, Dominos online delivery was new. I loved it, but had gotten fixated on the way they made you order toppings, he recalled. Rather than just picking half pepperoni, youd have to choose which half left or right. That seemed so arbitrary and weird to me, that someone at Dominos would be thinking, Oh, wait, he wants his mushrooms on the RIGHT. Noticing that Dominos selection tool allows for a none option, even for supposedly essential pizza ingredients like cheese and sauce, Molaro saw an opening. Just to be a dick, he wrote in his infamous blog post, I also ordered a 6-inch individual NONE pizza with BEEF (on the left). His wife ate the pizza. The blog post and the pizza quickly went viral, spawning a cult of pizza-nality that is practically unmatched. A March 2016 post from BuzzFeed collects 37 People Who Actually Ordered None Pizza Left Beef. One might assume that hundreds of stoners have requested similar circular abominations over the last decade. You can buy a necklace of it on Etsy (I only wear it when I need to dress up, Molaro said). Its become the sort of picture whose anniversary is celebrated just because, a rare feat for internet ephemera. Molaro was, as he puts it, just being an idiot in a blog. But his limp creation either a crime against pizza or not a pizza at all was an early, visceral, and extremely funny aftereffect of the growing presence of automated systems in our day-to-day lives. Imagine ordering such a pizza over the phone. Could you even? The mere discomfort of describing a None Pizza With Left Beef to another human being, the implication that you will put the beef chunks and the naked dough inside your mouth and let them slide down your gullet. In the near-future, there will be no human interaction necessary when purchasing assembly-line food like Dominos. There may not be any humans involved at all. Someday, Molaro writes, the silently judgmental delivery man will be a robot with a bad mustache and my life will be perfect. That reality is closer than you think. At the end of August, Ford announced it was partnering with Dominos to test pizza delivery in self-driving cars, with customers unlocking warming containers in the vehicle using unique codes. The good news is that this automation allows for creative freedom unrestrained by social custom. The bad news is, well, creative freedom unrestrained by social custom. Robots dont judge, or caution, you; they give you the pizza you ask for, even if what you ask for is not, technically, pizza. The man who earlier this year ordered a cheeseburger with no onion, ketchup, mustard, pickles, bun, or beef patty from a McDonalds automated kiosk and received, naturally, a single slice of cheese is a spiritual heir to Molaro, and his cheeseburger is the more refined child of None Pizza With Left Beef. I ordered a cheese. Not sure what I expected. pic.twitter.com/3MxyKHNIw4 Merchant (@coL_Merchant) March 13, 2017 The person who ordered a cheeseburger from McDonalds with no onion, ketchup, mustard, pickles, bun, beef patty, or cheese and ended up spending 99 pence on empty McDonalds bag has followed the logic of None Pizza With Left Beef to its inevitable conclusion. This is the promise of an automated world: Goods and services provided to you with maximal efficiency, even if it means contorting those goods and services so far beyond recognition that they cease to be the thing you asked for. When I ordered a None Pizza With Left Beef this week, I received a call a few minutes later from Dominos, which sought to verify that I wanted no sauce, no cheese, hot beef? I said that I was completely sure, and the employee (according to the pizza tracker, a man named Kutub) did not press the issue further. Still, I appreciated the safeguard. Will artificial intelligence ever get to the point where it phones me out of concern? Our sensors indicate your order is repulsive. Will Alexa ever call me on my bullshit when I order quasi-toxic cuisine? Or will these food bots simply fulfill my every wish, sending me into my doughy, double-wide grave one bite at a time? I do not envy anyone who has to eat a None Pizza With Left Beef, which I and my colleagues dined on this past Tuesday. Its just a very bleak creation bland, with rubbery, hamburgerlike bits that come loose in transit and collect in one corner of the box like pebbles collected from the surface of an eldritch moon. Technology frees us up to give in to our worst impulses, and those impulses have manifested themselves in the guise of a terrible pizza. So None Pizza With Left Beef lives on, a monument to humanitys achievement and hubris. Asked if he considers the pizza to be his legacy, Molaro added, I do have two teenagers Im proud of. But they can be surly and ignore me a lot, so None Pizza With Left Beef may be my legacy. But the None Pizza With Left Beef is also, for now, a perfect troll a Mobius strip of nonsense that affects everyone it touches. Sure, you get to troll the person tasked with constructing your awful pizza, but in the end, you pay for it and eat it. At the very least, you allow it into your home or office, tainting the space in some intangible way. You are using powerful, optimized technology for the dumbest possible reason, at once breaking a system and having it work exactly as intended. Weve spent so long asking ourselves if we could make None Pizza With Left Beef, that we forgot to ask if we should. Its the Colombian equivalent of Essie, and my nails have never felt stronger. Every manicurist says her nail polish wont chip, always. So when Maribel Romero, the aesthetician and manicurist at (new to me) Soho salon Marie-Lou & D, told me Masglo nail polish doesnt chip, the statement didnt really register. Masglo is the Colombian equivalent of Essie, she said, and very popular. I was intrigued by the bright shades and 80s-looking, elongated cap. Im a sucker for anything that looks oddly vintage, so I told her to try it on me. After four days of aggressively nail-chipping activities (swimming, cleaning, and hairstyling), I could see that the polish really was lasting. I went back to the source. Its the base coat that makes the polish last longer, no matter what Masglo color youre using, said Romero, whos a native of Colombia and has been using Masglo polish since she came to the States 25 years ago. I used to have to bring it back with me from trips home to Colombia, but its available online now, she said. The Masglo Base De Ajo Y Limon base coat contains garlic, which has a rep for strengthening nails (Admittedly, I couldnt find any scientific backing for this). Romeros clients live for this base coat. My steady customers say, The base coat you use on my nails it makes them healthier, she said. So theyre ready to try the colors also. They trust me. The colors, even the nudes, dry to shades that are true to what you see in the bottle with a couple coats. Im similarly impressed by the finish. Ive used polishes that resist chipping, but dull over the life of the mani. Masglo polish maintains that new-manicure sheen. To be fair, Romero is a part of the Masglo magic. She cleans the nails with alcohol three times before applying the base coat, a step she says is key to making polish long-lasting. She also meticulously files and smooths the nail bed. But after my first experience with Masglo and chat with Romero, I bought the base coat and one color. After two applications (without Romero), my nails are stronger; theyre particularly dry and prone to breakage immediately after I remove polish. But during a two-day Masglo hiatus, I didnt lose a single nail. get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. My children and I usually watch the 7pm news to catch up with the national happenings and keep up with the latest developments. I am always amazed by the questions and comments some of the news items elicit from the children. Clearly, children are able to distinguish what is good from evil, albeit requiring parental support to process. Children can become socially conscious through either their parents or those they regularly interact with or the events happening around them. They might witness either their parents or others standing tall in times of infringements on the rights of others and will follow that example. Such exposure often stays with them and might spur them to action when someone needs to stand up for a wrong being committed. My friends daughter and son climbed Mt Muhavura to raise funds for Grace Villa, a home for orphans and vulnerable girls in Kabale district. My friends children, Asante and Leo, 10 and 16 years respectively, are clearly socially aware of the inequalities that exist in society and the need to work towards a fairer world. The two are already seasoned activists who have raised money for rebuilding their church, among other charity work, and we have their parents to thank for that. Such occasions are critical to ingrain deep values in our children that shape their worldview. A story is told of the writer and activist, Grace Paley, who had a lot to say about war, race and women, among other things. In her essay, Traveling, she first described her mother and older sister traveling on a bus from New York to Virginia in 1927. It was an express bus, and so it stopped only in Philadelphia and Wilmington before it picked up passengers in Washington, D.C. At that stop, the black people who had boarded in New York or Philadelphia rose from their seats, put their bags and boxes together, and moved to the back of the bus. Paleys mother and sister, confronted for the first time with the practice of enforced racism, remained in their seats, which were near the back of the bus. When the bus driver sighed and told her that whites had to move to the front of the bus, Paleys mother said, quite simply No He asked her again. Again, she said, No. For the third time, he told her she had to get out of her seat, and while Paleys sister trembled, her mother said, calmly and without expression, No. Fifteen years later, 20-year-old Grace Paley was on a bus from New York to Miami beach, where her husband was training to go off to war. Miles and miles, she rode, and somewhere in the South she did not remember exactly where a black woman carrying a sleeping baby boarded the crowded bus. Paley was in the last white row, and offered the mother her seat. She looked to the right and left as well as she could, wrote Paley. Softly, she said, Oh no. I became fully awake. Paley then offered to hold her sleeping son. While formal education and extracurricular instruction matter a great deal, it also matters that we raise children who are socially aware. The best way to do this is to model a life of compassion and engagement. This takes time and effort, but the good news is that everyone, including the parent, benefits. Standing tall for something bigger than ourselves breeds an expectation that we will serve, and girds the spine for whatever life brings us. One person has died and ten others are hospitalised at Rushere community hospital in critical condition after eating suspected contaminated meat. One person has died and ten others are hospitalised at Rushere community hospital in critical condition after eating suspected contaminated meat. The incident occurred on Wednesday in Kyabagyenyi, Rushere in Kirihura district. The identity of the deceased woman and other victims weren't readily available by the time of filing this story. Julius Ayebare, one of the affected residents, says they developed stomach complications after eating the meat. Ayebare says the meat was from a cow that had succumbed to rare illness over the weekend. Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi region police spokesperson, says information owned from the owner of the cow shows that it was ill for two weeks before it died. He says they have dispatched samples from the meat and victims to the government analytical laboratories in Kampala for examination. Kasasira cautions residents to desist from eating meat from dead animals or consuming meat without clearance from veterinary doctors. Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has sued the Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander, Frank Mwesigwa and government for cancelling his music shows. Through his lawyers, M/s Rwakafuuzi & Co. Advocates, Bobi Wine has taken Mwesigwa and the government to the High court (Civil Division) and seeking for Shs 300 million in compensation for the cancelled concerts in Mukono, Kamuli, Kasese and Kampala. He also accuses the police of also restricting his movements within the country. Bobi Wine at his Busabala concert last weekend In a police letter, wrongly dated October 19 but issued on Tuesday October 17, the Kampala police commander cancelled the Bobi Wines show at Colline Hotel in Mukono accusing the MP of uttering words that were inciting the public at last weekend's concert at One Love Beach in Busabala. Mwesigwa said, Bobi Wine had failed to differentiate between Bobi Wine the musician and Robert Kyagulanyi the MP. We want him to know that there is a difference between Bobi Wine and Hon Robert Kyagulanyi, we have noticed that Bobi Wine has been turning into Hon Kyagulanyi to make political statements at Music shows, that is not what we agreed on, Mwesigwa said. Mwesigwa further went on to say that Bobi Wine had turned his Busabala concert, into a political rally when he asked revelers about their views on the age limit bill currently before the committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. The unpopular and controversial Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No.2) 2017 tabled by Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi, seeks, among other things; to lift the presidential age limit from capped between 35 and 75 years. Earlier, police had issued directives barring MPs from consulting voters outside their constituencies. I received instructions yesterday from my client, Hon Bobi Wine complaining that his movements are restricted and his right to liberty of movement is being violated and that his liberty to work and earn a living under Article 40 has been taken away from him, said human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi. The Police throughout Uganda is not allowing him to hold any music shows. As you all know, that is where he earns his living that is how he supports his family and this is not correct, it is unconstitutional, it is illegal and we dont expect it from this current government, which fought for peoples freedoms, he added. MP Robert Kyagulanyi sues Police commander, Frank Mwesigwa, Attorney General for banning his music shows, wants Shs 300m ? @bamulanzeki pic.twitter.com/KF9fNirORI The Observer (@observerug) October 19, 2017 Since securing the Kyadondo East parliamentary seat with more than 80 per cent of the vote, Bobi Wine has held various music concerts in various parts of the country including Gulu, Mbale, Mubende among others. The shows have attracted large youthful crowds that naturally connect with the popular musician. Kyagulanyi accuses the police of witch hunting him for expressing his political views at the music concerts, saying this is done allover the world and has been done in Uganda before when several artists were contracted by the ruling party, NRM to sing and show support at President Yoweri Musevenis campaign rallies. Artists allover the world express themselves through music. My fellow artists here in Uganda also sing about political views. Some of them have different political views different from mine. You have seen my fellow artists singing Tubonga Naawe but they are not stopped. They still work , I wonder why the government and the police in particular is witch hunting me and I seek help from the courts of law, said Kyagulanyi. Bobi Wine says police 'witch hunting' him coz his fellow artists in #Uganda have held political shows in support of govt ? @bamulanzeki pic.twitter.com/VR2MXyvs7C The Observer (@observerug) October 19, 2017 Bobi Wine also asked court for a prohibition order; prohibiting police from further violating his freedom of movement and allow him to stage his shows without any hindrance. According to his lawyer, they expect to court to set a date for the hearing of the case next week, because his client has been stopped from earning a living. The Ministry of Finance has said no specific monies have been allocated to members of parliament to enable them carry out consultations on Constitutional (Amendment) Bill (No.2) 2017. Addressing the media today, ministry of finance permanent secretary Keith Muhakanizi as far as he is concerned, Parliament has so far been given 50 per cent of monies for expenditures as appropriated by law. He said of all the allocated monies, none was budgeted for consultations on the unpopular and controversial 'age limit' bill. MPs were recently sent by Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to their respective constituencies to seek people's views on the bill. The Constitution Amendment Bill tabled by Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi, among others, seeks to lift the presidential age limit from between 35 and 75 years. NRM MPs endorsing the age limit bill Government chief whip, Ruth Nankabirwa had earlier indicated that MPs would be given money to enable them carry out consultations. There have been reports reports that MPs are to receive between Shs 20 and 29 million, with others putting the figure even northwards and as high as Shs 100 million. There have also been incoherent confirmations of the payment from various sources including parliamentary commissioners, some of whom claim the money is coming from ministry of finance. The ruling party caucus resolved last week not to carry out consultations like their opposition counterparts - instead choosing to consult within their party leadership structures. Muhakanizi said no money will be coming from his ministry, insisting that parliament has received all monies it appropriated for itself in the budget for the first half of financial year 2017/18. Finance minister Matia Kasaija also never commented on the said money, preferring instead to blame the acrimonious nature of the debate. Kasaija said in the push for and against removal of presidential age limits no one should, as he put it, gag the other side, adding that this is not the democracy he fought for in the bush. Urging the media to quote him, Kasaija said he condemns the violence in parliament over the age limit, reasoning that Ugandans should agree to disagree instead of fighting, adding that as Ugandans "we shall either build the country or destroy it". Kasaija also defended the police move to block anti-age limit rallies by the opposition arguing that the Public Order Management Act, which was enacted when he was the Interior minister, allows for consultations and not rallies. He said the police only react in accordance with the situation they find themselves in. Kasaija appealed to the media to report responsibly on the political situation cautioning that negative media reports would keep away investors and tourists. Chief of TTP JuA killed in a air strike in Afghanistan 19 October, 2017 Related News Imran Khan distributed loan cheques under Kamyab Jawan Programme PTI govt to face all challenges coming its way: Imran khan More on this View All Tips for Taking Incredible iPhone Travel Photos Top 2021 Accessories We Know You Will Love Types of Casino Payment Methods Best Poker Hands ever played on a Casino Are Slot Developers Important for players? Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD: Omar Khalid Khorasani, chief of the dreaded Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JuA) is believed to have been killed in a recent air strike on the Afghan side of the border, militant sources said late Wednesday. However, JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor did not reply to a query sent to him on the groups official email address. The militarys media wing ISPR also preferred avoiding any comment when question was posted in one of its WhatsApp groups. If confirmed, the death of Khorasani, whose real name was Abdul Wali, would be a serious setback for the group at a time when it faces rift and has lost dozens of fighters in US drone strikes on the Afghan side of the border. Sources close to JuA said Khorasani was thought to be in the area that had been the focus of air strikes by the US military in Afghanistans eastern Khost and Paktiya provinces. Pakistani militants, mostly from South and North Waziristan, have sanctuaries in the two provinces, however, militants from other areas routinely move in parts of Afghanistan, officials believe. Khorasani led almost all TTP militants from Mohmand tribal region when he launched JuA in 2014 over serious differences, as they were unwilling to accept the leadership of Maulvi Fazalullah, who was elected after the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud. Hakimullah was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in November 2013. Fazalullah, who was the first non-Mehsud Taliban chief since its launch in 2007, was also not recognised by many Mehsud Taliban. Khorasani was one of the founding members of the TTP, launched by Baitullah Mehsud in 2007. Baitullah was killed in a US drone strike along with his wife in August 2009. He had been associated with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group and also took part in armed resistance in Indian-held Kashmir, according to militant sources. The US has stepped up drone strikes in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump announced strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia and the strikes in eastern Afghanistan over the past few days could be seen in that context. There could be a possibility of Pakistans intelligence sharing in the latest operations to target TTP militants. The Pakistan Army confirmed late Tuesday that military operations were conducted in Khost and Paktiya provinces over the past few days by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) and Afghan forces, opposite to Kurram Agency, with reports of heavy losses to terrorists. The army did not identify those killed in the operations, but said coordination between the forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan has enhanced after the visit to Kabul by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on October 1. All Pakistani TV channels quoted unnamed sources as saying that Khorasani was injured in the operations on the Afghan side of the border on Tuesday and died on Wednesday. Reports of Khorasanis death came at a time when the group is under pressure and on September 30 JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor confirmed the death of seven of its members, including two known commanders, in an operation by the foreign and Afghan forces. Pakistani security officials insist that JuA has set up bases in Lalpura district of Afghanistans Nangarhar province. Ahrar is blamed for many deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent year that killed many people, including security personnel. In July, the Security Councils Sanctions Committee approved the addition of JuA in the list of entities and individuals subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Pakistan had proposed this listing, the Foreign Ministry had stated after the UN slapped curbs on the outfit. In April, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former spokesman for the JuA, who surrendered to the security forces, had claimed in a video that Khorasani had contacts with the Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies. Ahrar sources had earlier stated that Ehsan was among several JuA commanders who had opposed policies of Khorasani because of his harsh behaviour. Militant sources say JuA could push the group to further crisis and some commanders could join other groups. In June the group expelled four leaders over their activities against Islamic sharia and violating the groups principles, said the JuA spokesman. The TTP Mohmand chapter, under Khorasani, had worked as state within a state during their association with the TTP. When the TTP leadership agreed to start peace dialogue with the PML-N government in early 2014, the Mohmand faction brutally slaughtered 23 FC men in February 2014, who were taken captive earlier from the Shongrai checkpost in June 2010. It was the same faction that attacked the Islamabad courts on March 3, 2014, killing 11 people and injuring over 20 others. A little known Ahrar-ul-Hind had claimed responsibility but it was in fact TTP JuA which was behind the attack. In February, the Islamabad Lal Masjid or Red Mosque described JuA as and anti-Islam and anti-state entity, a day after it claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Lahore, killing 13 people and injuring nearly 70 others. The TTP Ahrar had stated that the attack was part of Ghazi Operations, linking it with Abdul Rashid Ghazi, deputy imam of the Red Mosque, who was killed in the 2007 military raid. The Shuhada Foundation, which represents Lal Masjid and deals with the cases of the students killed in the bloody standoff, strongly condemned Ahrar for naming its activities after Abdul Rashid Ghazi and dubbed the outfit as anti-Islam and anti-state. Nawaz Sharif,Maryam Nawaz,Captain Safdar indicted by accountability court Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar were indicted by an accountability court in Islamabad on Thursday in connection with a reference pertaining to the Avenfield flats filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. Sharif, who is currently in the United Kingdom, and his sons Hassan and Hussain are likely to be indicted in the other two references later today. The court proceeded with the indictment of the trio after rejecting three applications filed by Sharif, Maryam and Safdar requesting suspension of the indictment. The court indicted the Sharif family members in the London properties reference today even though Nawaz Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Maryam Nawaz while talking to reporters outside the accountability court said one day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. "Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together," she said. Maryam said her party is still united despite the differences of opinion. She said the government is an institution which should be respected."Each institution should do its job." After initially reserving its verdict, the court rejected an application filed by Capt Safdar's counsel Amjad Pervez seeking an adjournment of the indictment proceedings. The application submitted today argued that Volume X of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report, filed on the directions of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, has not been provided to the defendant by the apex court. It further argued that the statements given by three witnesses to the JIT had not been made public, hence the indictment of Maryam and Safdar should be postponed. The NAB prosecution argued that Volume X of the JIT report had nothing to do with the indictment and urged the court to indict the accused today. Meanwhile, the second lawyer from Nawaz Sharif's legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application in the accountability court seeking a delay in her client's indictment. The application urged the court to delay the indictment until the Supreme Court decides a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well. A third application filed by Nawaz Sharif's counsel, seeking a merger of the three references filed against him. The court has reserved its decision on the application. Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir was set to indict Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt Safdar on Oct 13. However, after a violent clash between the lawyers and police for not permitting the former into the premises of the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC), the court deferred the indictment until today. On Oct 9, Ahmed, the counsel of Sharif and his daughter, had filed applications seeking an exemption from personal attendance for Sharif and another seeking a 15-day adjournment. He told the court that the former premier was in London to tend to his ailing wife who was undergoing treatment for lymphoma. He said she was in critical condition and had not recovered despite a third surgery. The court had exempted Sharif from appearing on October 9, but fixed Oct 13 for his indictment. The accountability court has also issued directives for Thursdays hearing. The court had asked for limited presence in the court premises to avoid a situation that emerged in the previous hearing where the lawyers associated with the PML-N protested in the courtroom. The court directed the prosecution and defence teams, court reporters and the officials accompanying the suspects to keep the number of people inside the court minimum. PML-N Lawyers Forum has already announced that they would not come to witness the indictment proceeding on Oct 19. NAB references A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months. The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings. The former premier and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been named in all three NAB references, while Maryam and husband Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference. Uganda has confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the health minister said on Thursday. Jane Ruth Aceng told reporters the case, which led to a fatality, had been confirmed after a series of tests were carried out. The East African nation last suffered a Marburg outbreak, which has a high mortality rate, in 2014. Marburg is from the same family of viruses as Ebola, which killed thousands in West Africa in 2014. The victim, a 50-year old woman, died on October 11 at a hospital in eastern Uganda after she presented with signs and symptoms suggestive of viral hemorrhagic fevers, the minister said. The woman had nursed her 42-year old brother who died on September 25 with similar signs and symptoms and also participated in cultural preparation of the body for burial, she added. Aceng said the man was a hunter who carried out his activities where there are caves with heavy presence of bats, Aceng said. Source: Reuters 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 Asokwa District Court today has convicted the 13-member Pro NPP vigilante group 'Delta Force'. The accused persons pleaded guilty to two (2) counts of conspiracy to commit crime and rioting. Their Lawyer, Federick Kankam Boadu pleaded for non custodial sentence for them. However, the court presided over by His Worship Korkor Achaw Owusu fined each 1,800 Ghana cedis and in default 12 months imprisonment.They were also made to a sign a bond to be of good behavior for 12 months. The 13 were arrested after they stormed the office of the newly appointed Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, George Adjei, in March and assaulted him in the process, in protest against his appointment. They were initially charged with conspiracy to assault a public officer, and causing unlawful damage. Those charges were reviewed to only rioting by the Kumasi Circuit Court on October 10. The public was however left stunned when, at their first appearance in court, the 13 escaped from lawful custody, after their compatriots sparked confusion in the court in protest of the Judges ruling that the 13 be remanded and not be granted bail. After the judges decision to remand the suspects, the members said they were not going to allow the ruling to stand, and demanded that the 13 leave the court with them. The 13 later reported themselves to the police, and were fined GHc2,400 each, and also made to sign a bond of good behavior for escaping lawful custody. Eight Delta Force members were accused of aiding the escape and were charged with storming the court to release the 13. But the charges were eventually dropped under controversial circumstances by the State for lack of evidence. The Attorney-Generals Department later said it had not sanctioned the state prosecutor in Kumasi to drop the case involving the eight who raided the court. Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Classicbot Classic Thailand Edition The Classicbot Classic Thailand Edition celebrates the cooperation between playsometoys and JP Toys of Thailand. Inspired by the classic Macintosh and Tron, this version is a limited edition of 200 pieces. The figure is molded in black plastic with sharp cyan electronic tattoos printed on the body. It will be available to purchase beginning on Halloween (October 31st 2017) via Classicbot.com as well as official facebook page of JP Toys. This has to be one of my most anticipated designer vinyl figures out there. Combining old school Macs and Tron? (Tron alone would have satisfied me) Police: Man sent indecent material MOREAU A Fort Edward man was jailed Wednesday for allegedly sending indecent material to a minor, police records show. Matthew P. DeLucca, 30, was charged with second-degree disseminating indecent material to a minor, a felony, after an investigation by State Police from the Wilton station that began earlier this week, police records show. The charge alleges he sent pornographic material to a person who was younger than 17. DeLucca was arraigned and sent to Saratoga County Jail for lack of bail. Man sent to prison in drug case FORT EDWARD A Whitehall man who was put on probation last year in a drug case has been sentenced to state prison for violating probation. Garth A. Martel, 28, was put on probation in August 2016 after he pleaded guilty to felony tampering with physical evidence in connection with an arrest in Whitehall. Washington County sheriffs officers were arresting him on a misdemeanor warrant for criminal possession of a controlled substance on Oct. 31, 2015 when he was found to have heroin that he tried to hide in his mouth as police were taking him into custody. Martel, who has a criminal record of numerous drug-related crimes, was sentenced by Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan to 1 to 3 years in state prison. Man sentenced to prison for felony FORT EDWARD A Hudson Falls man was sentenced to up to 3 years in state prison on Friday for violation an order of protection. Brian A. Clark, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal contempt for an arrest earlier this year. He violated an order of protection that another person has against him, and has a prior felony conviction for criminal contempt in Warren County in 2011. Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan sentenced Clark to 1.5 to 3 years in prison. Man sent to prison for fake money QUEENSBURY A New York City man who was part of a group that used counterfeit money to buy lingerie was sentenced Wednesday to up to 3 years in state prison. Yves Gala, 19, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument in Warren County Court. The charge stemmed from a May 2016 arrest for using fake $100 bills at the Victorias Secret store in Aviation Mall. Gala was one of three charged in the case after police stopped their car when they left the store, seizing $4,000 in fake bills. Warren County Judge John Hall sentenced him to 1 to 3 years in state prison. The two other defendants, Juwan S. Wilson, 19 and Amara J. Camara, 23, both of New York City, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument and were sentenced to probation and a conditional discharge, respectively. Corinth man charged with burglary MILTON A Corinth man was jailed Thursday after allegedly forcing his way into an office building and damaging property, according to police. Donald Koenig III, 46, was arrested following an investigation after stealing $2,000 worth of property and damaging a window at a local business on Oct. 4, according to the Saratoga County Sheriffs Office. Koenig was charged with third-degree burglary and was arraigned and sent to the Saratoga County jail without bail. He is scheduled to answer his charge in the Milton Town Court at a later date. FORT EDWARD A Hudson Falls man was sentenced to up to 3 years in state prison on Friday for violation an order of protection. Brian A. Clark, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal contempt for an arrest earlier this year. He violated an order of protection that another person has against him, and has a prior felony conviction for criminal contempt in Warren County in 2011. QUEENSBURY A New York City man who was part of a group that used counterfeit money to buy lingerie was sentenced Wednesday to up to 3 years in state prison. Yves Gala, 19, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument in Warren County Court. The charge stemmed from a May 2016 arrest for using fake $100 bills at the Victoria's Secret store in Aviation Mall. Gala was one of three charged in the case after police stopped their car when they left the store, seizing $4,000 in fake bills. Warren County Judge John Hall sentenced him to 1 to 3 years in state prison. The two other defendants, Juwan S. Wilson, 19 and Amara J. Camara, 23, both of New York City, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument and were sentenced to probation and a conditional discharge, respectively. FORT EDWARD A Whitehall man who was put on probation last year in a drug case has been sentenced to state prison for violating probation. Garth A. Martel, 28, was put on probation in August 2016 after he pleaded guilty to felony tampering with physical evidence in connection with an arrest in Whitehall. Washington County sheriff's officers were arresting him on a misdemeanor warrant for criminal possession of a controlled substance on Oct. 31, 2015 when he was found to have heroin that he tried to hide in his mouth as police were taking him into custody. Martel, who has a criminal record of numerous drug-related crimes, was sentenced by Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan to 1 to 3 years in state prison. GLENS FALLS A trip to Saga City, Japan is being organized next year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its sister city relationship with Glens Falls. The trip will take place from April 17-23 and includes one overnight stay in Tokyo and one day of sightseeing. The cost is $2,600. There is also an optional three-day tour to Kyoto that will take place April 23-26. That features a three-night hotel stay, three breakfasts and a two-day bus and guided tour. The cost is subject to change. For more information, contact Milly Koh at millykoh@gmail.com or 518-232-6951. FORT EDWARD The Pennsylvania man who stole a $60,000 mobile home from a storage lot in Hampton nearly four years ago will spend up to 90 days in jail and 5 years on probation for the theft. Robert D. Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, a felony, for the September 2013 theft of a 70-foot manufactured home whose owner had been storing it with others in a parking lot near the Big Apple Diner. Brown worked for a company that transported homes, and police said he used a tractor-trailer he was driving for another home delivery to pick up the home and drive it to his hometown in central Pennsylvania. It was owned by a Vermont man. The Washington County Sheriffs Office investigated, and the home was found in a mobile home park in 2014, with a relative of Browns living in it, police said. A former boss of Browns, for whom he worked in the home transportation business, had become suspicious of how he came to have the structure. It was later returned to the Vermont man who owned it. Brown told police he bought it for $500. Brown, 37, of Manchester, Pennsylvania, was also prosecuted in Pennsylvania for possessing the stolen home. Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan imposed the sentence Friday, also directing that Brown make $3,882 restitution. If Brown violates probation, he faces up to 15 years in state prison. Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said the restitution was for loss of the value that the home suffered while it was unaccounted for. Brown had no criminal record before the home theft, and he paid the restitution at sentencing on Friday, Jordan said. He also completed the jail term while awaiting disposition of the case. Browns lawyer, Washington County Public Defender Michael Mercure, said Brown maintained he responded to an online ad for the home and paid for it. It was a disposition Mr. Brown was comfortable with, Mercure said. He may have had a meritorious defense, but he wanted to make the victim whole. Brown will be allowed to serve his term of probation in Pennsylvania, Mercure said. Jordan said the case was a strange one. Who would think that someone would back a truck up to a home and steal it? Jordan said. The parking area was a frequent storage spot for mobile or manufactured homes that were being transported. Owners paid $10 a day to the owner of the adjacent diner. LAKE GEORGE Devin Belonga, a sophomore at Lake George High School, wants to get a parkour obstacle course park built somewhere in the village. Parkour got started in the early 1980s with French teenagers emulating military course races by using features such as park benches and staircases as obstacles to climb, leap over and jump off. Now, he said, thanks to YouTube, the sport has spread all over the world. People are able to see all of the amazing stunts that parkour athletes are able to do, he said. It is a few years away from becoming an Olympic sport, he added. Belonga would like to create a park in Lake George, because business owners do not want people practicing parkour in front of their businesses. They believe it would scare off customers, he said. He said a parkour park would be an asset, because it is something that is not available in any other community. I feel it would attract quite a bit of tourism to the area and locals would use it, he said. Mayor Robert Blais said if the board likes the concept, the village could undertake a partnership to get the park built, as it did with the skate park. The skate park opened in 2015 at Charles R. Wood Park after a nearly decade-long effort from youths, who collected $100,000 through grants and fundraising. Blais said the cost to construct a parkour park varies based upon its complexity. He asked Belonga if the youths would be willing to fund-raise. I believe so, Belonga said. The village has to find a suitable location. There seems to be room up at the recreation center, either at the end where the dog park is or another area up there, because it doesnt look like it takes up an awful lot of room, Blais said. Another option is The Charles R. Wood Festival commons next to the skateboard park, according to Dave Harrington, director of public works. Blais said Wood park might be a better option, since it is closer to the center of the village and closer to emergency medical services in the event of injuries. Many of these parks use recycled rubber tire material as cushioning for falls, according to Blais. He said the next step is to get some quotes on how much it would cost to build a small park. However, the county owns Wood park, so Belonga would have to make his presentation there as well. Trustee Ray Perry said he believes youths would enjoy using a parkour park. I have a 7- and an 11-year-old and they would love it, he said. Editor: After reading a letter to the editor dated Oct. 7, I felt compelled to respond. First, Im tired of citizens from other communities telling Queensbury residents who to vote for in our elections. This Kingsbury resident, a former Warren County supervisor, supported many wasteful spending projects including Co-Gen, the jail expansion, the railroad, the airport expansion, the oversized courthouse and human resources buildings and the sale of Westmount Nursing Home without recouping over $400,000 in Medicaid reimbursements from New York state. These poor decisions cost taxpayers millions of hard earned dollars. With that in mind, its no surprise that hes not supporting the best candidate for Queensbury supervisor. Next, Rachel Seeber won the Conservative Party Primary Election with honesty and hard work. To refer to the voters who came out to vote for Rachel as what a joke is an insult to these Conservative Party voters and the democratic election process. Finally, as this Kingsbury resident erroneously reported, Rachel Seeber did not propose spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to install showers. This is fake news. As chairman of the Personnel Committee, Rachel was simply presenting employee concerns referred to her by the Human Resources Department. In conclusion, Rachel Seeber does not need to gather friends outside of Queensbury to create false narratives. Her campaign is based on the issues that are important to Queensbury residents. Unlike her opponent, Rachel will continue to vote against tax increases while opposing wasteful and environmentally unpopular projects such as the $10.5 million taxpayer funded airport expansion. Unlike her opponent, she will not withhold information like audit reports from the Town Board and the public. Please join me in voting for integrity and fiscal conservative values. Vote Rachel Seeber for Queensbury town supervisor on Nov. 7. Terry McCabe, Queensbury Editor: I totally support the commission form of government I am writing this letter in total support of the current form of Saratoga Springs government. It is unbelievable to me that some people want to radically change what continues to be one of the most successful cities in the state of New York; in fact one of the more accomplished cities in the whole country. They can write all the gobbledygook they want. No way will their proposed charter improve on the incredible success of this wonderful city. The risk they want us to take is way too high. Even though the citizens of our fair city have twice voted overwhelmingly since 2006 against changing our government, they continue to ignore us. You talk about devious. This is the same group who worked to have the vote one day after the three-day Memorial holiday; no doubt why they tried this trick. Give me a break. I have lived here for more than 40 years and my wife was born and raised here. We both would be extremely disappointed if such a successful city faced an uncalled for change. Their proposed charter makes absolutely no freaking sense. Additionally, irony of irony, it often seems to me that some (not all) of the people who so vociferously want to change the form of government moved here recently from somewhere because this is a better city. Finally, I think it would be a tragic and costly mistake to change our wonderfully successful form of government. As Commissioner Michele Madigan rightly pointed out, their financial analysis is way off the rails. While no government is perfect, the current commission form is pretty darn close. Vote no on Saratoga Springs charter change. Michael OBrien, Saratoga Springs Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East If they havent yet, Dion Stover tells every actor he meets, You need to do 'Rocky Horror.' And thats mainly because of the audience that never fails to accompany the show. The Chicago-based actor got his first taste of that audience known for dressing up in costume and yelling out traditional (and untraditional) callbacks during songs or scenes last October in the Circa 21 Speakeasys debut of The Rocky Horror Show. I performed in a 4,000 seat house in St. Louis that was sold out and I thought hearing the applause of those people was something, he said. To feel the energy and excitement the audience brings to you, you would think theyre coming to see Michael Jackson. Thats one reason Stover has returned to play Frank N. Furter in a two-weekend run of the musical an enduring tribute to B-grade horror movies of the 1950s and 60s at the 130-seat venue neighboring the Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse. It opens Friday. Its like being at a big party and at the same time everyone wants to be there and is happy to be there, Stover said. Husband and wife directors Erin and Bret Churchill also signed on again for The Rocky Horror Show, which they say is a change-of-pace for directors and actors alike. Its not like anything youve ever tackled, Erin Churchill, who met her husband at Circa 21, said. We worked really hard last year. There were a lot of little challenges putting a big show on in that small space. Once we did it and it went well, we were reeling from it. We saw this an opportunity to tackle those challenges and make our vision come to life. This year, they spent more of their budget on costumes and props. Plus, they supplied microphones for the 10-person cast. A lot of (the challenge) was sound, Erin Churchill said. We were banking on the projection of the actors voices, but it did create moments where they couldnt hear. Its hard when you have 60 people shouting over one voice, Bret Churchill added. The directors prepare the cast for the audience by yelling out callbacks during rehearsal. The moment you get the audience in there, it changes, Erin Churchill said. They are another character in the show. And there are times that they just lose their minds after hearing a single thump in the music. There are several moments like that throughout the musical, which is based on the 1975 movie that originally flopped in theaters. But, as Churchill said, there was just something about the story that turned it into an on-stage and screen cult favorite full of tunes such as Sweet Transvestite, Hot Patootie and Time Warp." It follows a clean-cut engaged couple who, after getting a flat tire, visit a castle run by Frank N. Furter and his crew, including aliens and a mad scientist. "People really love these characters," Stover said. "They love them so much that they dress up like them." After last year's performances, almost of all which sold out, Stover polled his actor friends who were in "The Rocky Horror Show" in Oregon and St. Louis. "I wanted to know if the audiences were like this everywhere," he said. "I learned there's always a following no matter where you go." Mitchell A. Gayer, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence in connection with a double-fatal DUI crash in 2013, wants a judge to reconsider his sentence or allow him to take back his Alford plea. In a six-page motion filed Oct. 10 in Rock Island County Circuit Court, defense attorney Katherine Drummond said that Gayers plea was made unknowingly and involuntarily and that the sentencing judge misapplied the law by considering improper sentencing factors. A hearing date on the motion had not been set as of Wednesday. The 27-year-old Andalusia man entered an Alford plea in late January to one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, a Class 2 felony. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees the prosecution likely could prove the charge at trial. Judge Richard Zimmer sentenced him to eight years in prison on Sept. 11. He must serve 85 percent of the sentence before he can be considered for parole. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections website, he was in the Shawnee Correctional Center as of Wednesday. According to Rock Island County Sheriff's deputies, Gayer lost control of his 1999 Chevrolet S10 on a curve on 51st Street West near Milan and swerved off the road and into a ditch and hit a tree on Nov. 27, 2013. Gayer sustained serious injuries and was in a coma for two weeks. His passengers died -- Jamie Sedam, 22, of Port Byron, and Clayton Carver, 24, of Taylor Ridge. According to prior court testimony, Gayer had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.146, nearly twice the legal limit to drive. Gayer has maintained that he has no memory of the crash itself or the events leading up to it. In January 2015, he entered an Alford plea to one count of aggravated driving under the influence and was sentenced in May 2015 to 18 years in prison. He later filed a motion to take back the plea and argued that his former attorney, William Schick, was ineffective. On Dec. 30, 2015, Associate Judge Thomas Berglund granted his request to take back his plea and vacated his prison sentence. Illinois law allows for probation in aggravated DUI cases where a death occurs only if the trial judge finds that there are "extraordinary circumstances." In the motion to reconsider his eight-year sentence, Drummond wrote that she provided Zimmer with four transcripts from other sentencing hearings where the judges in those cases found that extraordinary circumstances existed. Zimmer refused to read the transcripts and determined that the transcripts and findings were not binding and therefore not applicable to its determination, according to the motion. The court misapplied the law when it restricted its ability to consider factors in mitigation, consequentially limiting its ability to consider relevant sentencing factors, Drummond wrote in the motion. She argued that the judges failure to consider the other trial court cases materially prejudiced the defendant and his ability to argue and present evidence/persuasive authority for extraordinary circumstances. Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee said Wednesday that he has seen Gayer's motion and that he intends to file a response once a hearing is scheduled. A Georgia man was arrested Wednesday in Rapids City, Illinois, following a shooting at a rest stop in Alpha, Illinois. Khalid R. Hunter, 22 of Savannah, Illinois, faces charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 4 felony unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of ammunition without a valid Firearm Owners Identification card, both misdemeanors, in Henry County Circuit Court. Bond was set Thursday at $25,000. He has a preliminary hearing Monday, according to court records. Illinois State Police and Henry County Sheriffs deputies responded at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday to westbound Krisdala Baka for a report of shots fired. Witnesses said a suspect was seen shooting into the ground and then got into a semi-truck and left the area, according to police. A witness followed the truck until state troopers and sheriffs deputies were able to stop it on Interstate 80 in Rapids City, according to police. Troopers and deputies removed Hunter, the driver, and passenger Luther C. Mellville from the truck and secured a gun, according to police, Police determined that Mellville, 41, of Sumter, South Carolina, was not involved in the incident. The case remains under investigation. A man and woman have been arrested in Wisconsin in connection with a kidnapping that police say began in Davenport and ended in Clinton earlier this month. Clinton Police Chief Kevin Gyrion said Thursday that Tyrese B. Tripplett, 26, and Aubrey N. Davey, 21, both of Madison, face charges of first-degree kidnapping, a Class A felony punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole, and second-degree kidnapping, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The two remain in custody in Wisconsin pending extradition proceedings, Gyrion said. More arrests are expected, he added. Just before 7 p.m. Oct. 5, police responded to an apartment complex in the 400 block of 5th Avenue South after receiving a report of persons being held hostage at gunpoint. Two men said they and two others were robbed at gunpoint by three men in Davenport around 4 p.m. that day. The three men took cellphones, money and IDs, according to an arrest affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint. They were then forced at gunpoint into a vehicle and taken to Clinton, according to police. No one was hurt during the incident. Tripplett and Davey were identified as suspects and police learned that the Wisconsin State Patrol was involved in a high-speed vehicle pursuit with Daveys vehicle, which was driven by Tripplett, around 1:06 a.m. Oct. 6, according to the arrest affidavit. Davey and two others also were in the car. Officers located an ID of one of the men who were robbed in a wallet inside the car. Officers also located a pistol that was thrown out of the car during the pursuit, according to the arrest affidavit. Police say the pistol is similar to the one used in the robbery in Iowa, according to the arrest affidavit. Korean culture will be explored in a gala on Saturday at St. Ambrose University. Korean culture, including symphonic music and art, the story of Korean adoptions and a discussion of the politically changed landscape of Korea is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Allaert Auditorium in the Galvin Fine Arts Center, 518 Locust St., Davenport. The event is free and open to the public. It is headlined by members of the college staff: Marian Lee, who was born in Minneapolis and organized the event; Duk Kim, a political science professor who emigrated from South Korea to St. Louis in 1990; and Renee Meyer Ernst, an artist and associate professor, who was adopted from South Korea when she was 3 months old and grew up in Denver, Iowa. Lee, a pianist who heads up the keyboard program in the music department, said the idea for the gala started when she met the principal clarinetist of the Quad-City Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Won, also from Korea. The event includes a talk by political scientist Duk Kim, music from professional musicians including Lee, Won, Yoo Jung Chang, and Younjung Cha and the artwork of Renee Meyer Ernst and Ken Cunningham, a former Army Ranger who was born in Korea and served in Iraq. It is part of the university's theme this year, "Faces of Globalization." "This is a wonderful way to integrate the music into that theme," Lee said. She notes Korea is in the news nearly every day, and there is heated rhetoric on both sides of the world. Because of this, Kim, the guest speaker, will seek to provide context, discussing the relationship between the U.S. and Korea, 1945-50, when the country was divided in two, and in 2017, on the relationship of North Korea's Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. While that relationship has caused concern in the United States, Kim said the people of South Korea are far less worried. Kim teaches political science and international relations. He emigrated from Seoul in 1990, and is a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Bettendorf. But his mother still lives in South Korea, and he leads St. Ambrose students to his homeland and Japan every other year during a study-abroad trip. With the strong personalities at the top of the leadership in the U.S. and North Korea, Kim said he will try to provide perspective in his talk. The musicians will perform music from Korea, but also from around the world, including the work of Sergei Rachmanioff, Johannes Brahms and George Gershwin. The concert program will end with a sing-along, led by Nathan Windt and Hunhui Oh. The Morrisey Art Gallery in the lobby will contain the work of Ernst and Cunningham. Ernst, will also speak during the service, "Mirror Image: Reflections on Identity." As a Korean American, Ernst was raised in Denver, near Waterloo, Iowa. She earned degrees in graphic arts at the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University, Ames, and has worked at SAU since 2008. Ernst sees her career in graphic arts as reflective of her status as an adoptee in the United States. She has made two trips back to Korea to find her natural mother, or family members but neither one was successful. In fine arts, Ernst makes digital collages that include photographs she took in Korea. Like many others, she worries about the situation with the North Korean leadership, and the people in South Korea. Lee's background in music includes degrees from the Julliard School and a Fulbright grant to study music from a noted pianist in the former Soviet Union. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and at sites around the world. A reception follows the gala with food and wine provided. A study conducted by an infrastructure consulting firm has recommended the city of Davenport explore greater coordination over consolidation of its mass transit operations. Mark Huffer, a project director at HNTB, said the study looked at coordination and consolidation opportunities between CitiBus and Metro, the mass transit operators for Davenport and the Illinois Quad-Cities, respectively. Huffer told the Davenport City Council during a special work session Wednesday that the improvements they were looking at could be done without complete consolidation. "We believe that a more coordinated regional system would garner more public and political support," Huffer said. "You also want to maximize your capital assets and investments. Transit centers, buses and facilities could be more maximized with greater coordination between the systems." Davenport has been exploring consolidation parts of its CitiBus operations with Metro for over a year in order to improve service and has been successful in transferring over customer service operations. The city had also been exploring transferring its maintenance operations over, but that was delayed because of difficulties securing the same automatic vehicle location system. In speaking to better coordination between the transit operators, Huffer said the already implemented consolidated call center and application to access routes were good examples. One area CitiBus has struggled is in its marketing and branding. Huffer recommended looking at a unified brand with Metro, which he said was a very expensive proposition. "It's something that should be held out long-term," Huffer said. "If you want regional transit and want to get away from 'I have to catch this bus and go over there and catch a different bus,' the riding public doesn't care who operates it." Huffer said in interviewing riders, there were concerns about the restructuring of CitiBus in 2016 and that the concerns about loss of service were still valid. Bus riders also voiced concerns with the lack of a regional leader advocating for transit. "We heard Jeff Nelson's name from MetroLINK was there, but there was no one from the business community that anybody could singularly point to," Huffer said. "Our experience around the country is if you want to look at improved transit, there has to be a voice or voices that are highly recognized and that doesn't seem to be the case." While Huffer gave a few recommendations Wednesday, he noted that there was no one correct way to implement them. He did recommend that the city begin to identify the regional priorities. BELLE FOURCHE The Belle Fourche Volunteer Fire Department served over 400 people at the annual pancake feed on Sunday. Aaron Thramen, one of the assistant chiefs, said that this was one of their biggest fund raisers held during the year. The recipe for the pancakes is a secret according to Thramen. Its 100% from scratch, he added. He has been approached by the Spearfish FD, but it stays a secret with the Belle Fourche department. We are always looking for donations and more volunteers, he said. The fire department is made up of 24 volunteer firefighters who are fire and rescue certified. Thramen pointed out that there are four state certified fire instructors on their team. All the firefighters have the basics and are headed toward certification. The department currently has four engines, a rescue unit, five wild land trucks, and a command unit. He said that if anyone is interested in becoming a firefighter they should come to the fire hall any Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. A challenge has gone out from Sally Mason to the community. Last summer her grandchildren raised $130 at their lemonade stand and Mason said that if a community member donates $130 to the BFFD, she will make a Karma Basket for them. She has already made several. Donations are accepted year around by the fire department. NEWELL Middle School teacher, Mr. Wince, advised the Newell School Board that he would be taking middle school students to Ft. Meade to take part in Life as a Soldier program. He had been told that the program was very good and that students came away from the day with a new respect and understanding of what being a soldier is about. He also wanted to remind everyone about the Potato Feed at the Teacher/Parent Conferences on Oct. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. Representatives from GenPro were on hand at the board meeting to discuss new LED lighting for the entire school. Several examples were shown from other schools demonstrating the effects of LED lighting. Ryan Usera, Energy Systems Specialist, explained that GenPro enters into a contract that uses the monies saved by the LED lighting pay back the loan for the lighting. If theres not enough savings, the company makes up the difference, he said. The board needed to make a decision that night as to whether the new lighting should be pursued. They felt that with the potential savings, the idea should be looked into further. Bids will need to be taken in order to move forward. Special Education director Tonya Mullaney cautioned the Board members on the procedure that if authorities come into the school to get a student, the education records must be obtained at that time. If the sheriff or his deputies come the next day, a subpoena must be in hand to obtain any records. Its something that needs to be addressed and followed closely, she said. SPED numbers are continually increasing, Mullaney noted. At the present time there are 63 students in the SPED program. During the superintendents report by Robin Dutt, the board was advised that Confusion Rocks. This is a saying that staff members learned to use to encourage students that confusion means that they know what they know, but are only confused at the moment. She said that it was a new approach to teaching children in a more optimistic way. The school was given a new book from the Library of Congress, Eyes of the Nation, from a couple from the Washington, D.C. area. Richard and Joan Fiedler had come to visit the area and speak with many of the area residents. The leakage issue and possible solutions are coming to a conclusion. The drawings are nearly done for the plan to eliminate the drainage problems at the middle school and elementary buildings. Dutt told the board members that the cost will possibly be $75,000 or more to fix. Superintendent Dutt shared the student population with board members. Newell has a total of 33 homeschool students, 137 elementary students, 81 middle school students, and 94 high school students. Also, noted at the end of the meeting was an invitation to the FFA steak feed on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. A special prosecutor was appointed last week in Sheridan County to review how State Patrol members handled the aftermath of a fatal car wreck involving a patrol vehicle. District Judge Travis OGorman appointed former U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Joe Stecher, who will look into any potential criminal wrongdoing that occurred in Sheridan County by Nebraska State Patrol officials. He will examine how they handled the investigation of a 2016 tactical vehicle intervention of a fleeing car that resulted in the death of the driver. Sheridan County Attorney Jamian Simmons said she had inquiries from Omaha Sen. Burke Harr and media about whether there would be a subsequent investigation regarding how the incident was handled by the patrol, and whether information was improperly presented to a grand jury looking into the fatal crash. The grand jury found no wrongdoing by the trooper involved in the crash. I just felt like it probably would be safest to have it looked at by an outside, independent prosecutor just to cover all the bases and make sure there werent any outstanding issues, Simmons said. Harr sent a letter to Simmons in September asking her to review and investigate the claims of serious misconduct by former patrol Superintendent Brad Rice in connection with the management of the fatal crash and any subsequent internal affairs investigations. Simmons declared a conflict of interest because of the potential she could be called as a witness or otherwise disqualified from the investigation, and requested a special prosecutor. Named on the order appointing the special prosecutor were four patrol employees stationed in the area -- Timothy Flick, Jamey Balthazor, Travis Wallace and Kevin Waugh -- who were suspended during a review of the patrol. The review was requested by Gov. Pete Ricketts and conducted by Jason Jackson, state chief human resources officer. Before it was complete, Ricketts fired Rice, saying the review uncovered interference in internal investigations at the highest level. The Associated Press reported that Stecher, who practices in Harrison, said Wednesday he was not aware of anything that would lead him to believe charges will be filed against any of the four patrol members named in court documents. None have been accused of any specific crime. Ricketts has said he had turned over information from the review to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Harr sent a letter to Special Agent Randall Thysse of the Omaha office of the FBI asking him to confirm any such investigation. Thysse replied the FBI generally does not comment on the status or existence of investigations. Harr said Ricketts knows something the public doesnt know because he fired Rice, and has left six troopers on paid administrative leave for three months. As taxpayers we have a right to know why the governor decided to do what he did, Harr said. There are cases being dismissed in counties because these officers cant come and testify. An Alaska man is suing a famed motorcycle builder and racer, the Buffalo Chip Campground and Indian Motorcycles after he claims a motorcycle flew off a Buffalo Chip stage and struck him during the 2016 rally. Royce Rath of Sitka, Alaska, was at the Buffalo Chip on Aug. 7, 2016, waiting for the Kid Rock concert to start when Roland Sands drove a new Indian FTR750 motorcycle across the stage and into the crowd as part of a motorcycle unveiling event, according to the lawsuit. The suit names Roland Sands, Indian Motorcycle Co. and Buffalo Chip Campground as defendants. The motorcycle had no front brakes and landed directly on Rath, court documents say, causing damages "that exceed $75,000." Rath suffered "sever physical and mental anguish" and "permanent disability." The suit also claims Rath lost wages and "enjoyment of life" from the incident. The day after it happened, Buffalo Chip spokeswoman Nyla Griffith described the incident as a motorcycle "malfunction" and said four people had suffered minor injuries. A video of the incident shows Sands entering the stage and riding slowly across it, never varying his speed until the bike spills into the area below the stage. "He's super experienced and well-known as an experienced bike builder and racer," Griffith said at the time. "It was just a horrible accident." Rath is suing Sands, Indian Motorcycles and the Buffalo Chip for negligence. Buffalo Chip "should have known that allowing an individual to ride on a motorcycle, without front brakes, across the stage surrounded by patrons could endanger those patrons," the documents say. It also says that Sands breached a duty not to injure patrons at the Buffalo Chip when he "negligently rode his motorcycle on stage, lost control, and flew into the patrons viewing from the spectating area." The Journal attempted to contact Sands, but he did not return a phone message. A spokesperson for Indian Motorcycles declined to comment, while Buffalo Chip president Rod Woodruff said he had no comment on the pending litigation. Rath has asked for a jury trial. A man who was denied a permit to operate an adult-themed store in Rapid City has filed a lawsuit not only to be allowed to operate his store, but also for money to compensate him for his financial loss and for emotional distress that he says culminated in a heart attack. David Eliason filed a lawsuit against the city Wednesday in federal court, alleging that his U.S. constitutional rights to free speech, free expression and due process were violated when the Rapid City Council voted 6-4 on Sept. 18 to deny him a conditional use permit, after the citys Planning Commission had earlier approved it. Eliason had sought to operate a business to be called Dick & Janes Naughty Spot or Dick & Janes Super Spot at 1141 Deadwood Ave., Suite 7, in northwestern Rapid City. At the same street address in nearby Suite 4 is Black Hills Taekwondo, which offers classes to people of all ages, including children. The owners of Black Hills Taekwondo, Mike and Robin Buckingham, appealed the Planning Commissions decision to the city council. The Buckinghams contended that their business fits the definition of an educational facility as described in a city ordinance that says sexually oriented businesses may not operate within 1,000 feet of such facilities. The lawsuit describes Eliason as a resident of South Dakota and president of the company 1141 LLC. Among the products Eliason hopes to sell at his proposed Rapid City store, according to the lawsuit, are bachelorette items, lingerie, post-mastectomy items, shoes, lotions, oils, lubricants, adult-themed novelties, sexual aids, and DVDs and magazines with sexual themes. The lawsuit requests several court orders to declare Rapid Citys sexually oriented business ordinance to be unconstitutional, to restrain the city from enforcing the ordinance against Eliason and his company, and to allow him to operate the business at the intended location. The lawsuit also seeks an award of money to compensate Eliason for his lawsuit-related costs and attorney fees, for his investment of tens of thousands of dollars identifying an appropriate location for his intended business, and for extreme emotional distress culminating in a myocardial infarction commonly known as a heart attack on September 22, 2017 and continued pain and suffering. Eliason is represented by several lawyers, including Roger Tellinghuisen, a former South Dakota attorney general. The city was issued a summons Wednesday and has not yet filed a formal response. But the city did issue the following statement to the media Thursday. "The lawsuit does not come as a surprise to the City as Mr. Eliason indicated he would consider filing suit based upon the Council's decision. Since this matter has been filed in federal court, we are processing the suit and will be waiting for a coverage decision from the City's insurer and determining our legal response to the suit moving forward." Eliason filed a similar lawsuit against the city of Sturgis in 2010. That case went to mediation and ended with an out-of-court settlement reached in late 2013. There is a Dick & Jane's Naughty Spot at 1543 Lazelle St. in Sturgis. A Robbinsdale Elementary student was injured this morning after she was hit by an SUV on Indiana Street in front of the school. The girl was taken to a hospital and is expected to be released later today, according to an email from Rapid City Area Schools. The accident occurred around 7:45 a.m. The girl, who had just been dropped off by her father, wasn't at a crosswalk when she attempted to cross Indiana Street, school district spokeswoman Katy Urban said. A Chevy Tahoe traveling eastbound on Indiana Street struck the girl as the driver tried to pass a van that was parked on the side of the road, Rapid City Police spokesman Brendyn Medina said. The girl's father, who was still in the area, saw the accident happen and scooped up his daughter and drove her to the hospital. The girl's name was not released, but Urban said she was 6 or 7 years old. The driver of the SUV wasn't cited. "There was no excessive speed," Medina said. "The driver wasn't at fault." "This accident, while serious, could have been much worse," the email from Rapid City Area Schools read. "Parents, please make sure your students use a designated crosswalk every time they cross the street. And please watch your speeds through school zones and remember to stop at crosswalks." Medina said parents should escort their children across a street if a crosswalk isn't available. State Duma deputy speaker proposes life sentence for sex crimes against children MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) - Deputy Speaker of the parliaments lower house Irina Yarovaya proposed to fix life sentence as the punishment for sex crimes against children under 12 during the workshop panel in the State Duma on Thursday. According to statistics quoted by Yarovaya, in the first half of 2017, investigators opened over 7,000 criminal cases over sexual assault against minors. The number of these crimes increased by 1,000 compared to the same period of 2016. About 2,000 minors out of 5,000 suffered from acts of violence. Moreover, 838 children under 10 fell victims to sexual abuse, including 155 assaulted by parents, she said. A complex bill has been already drafted to protect children against sexual crimes, Yarovaya added. Russian childs rights ombudsman favors abolishing limitation period for pedophile crimes Context State Duma deputy speaker proposes life sentence for sex crimes against children MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) - Anna Kuznetsova, Russia's children's rights commissioner, has backed a proposal to abolish the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors, according to the ombudsmans press office. The initiative was announced on Thursday by the State Duma Deputy Speaker Irina Yarovaya. Many crimes committed years ago are being revealed just now, but it is impossible to punish criminals, Kuznetsova said. The percent of sexual crimes against children has increased, according to Kuznetsova. Currently, over 12,000 crimes are revealed compared to 8,000 in 2012, she noted. The ombudsman also offered to draft measures aimed at restriction of possible communication between child molesters and minors on the Internet. Earlier, Kuznetsova spoke in favor of establishment of the so-called registry of pedophiles. This list is to include information on all citizens responsible for committing crimes against childrens sexual inviolability. The criminals are to be put under administrative supervision for the rest of their lives. The proposal was supported by Russias Interior Ministry. Bulgaria launches investigation into Russian businessmans fraud claims MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) - The prosecutor's office of the city of Silistra conducted a probe into the complaint of Russian businessman Andrey Varganov against his former business partner Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov and passed the materials to the investigative authorities, according to prosecutor Vera Marinova. Russian businessman asked the prosecutor's office of Silistra to transfer his complaint to Kavarna where he resides at the moment. Varganov said that Ivan Parushev, the head of the investigative department of Silistra, is a relative of Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov. The prosecutor's office dismissed the request as it did not find sufficient grounds for the transfer of the claim to Kavarna. The investigation into the fraud claim against Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov will be conducted under the control of Ivan Parushev. Parushev faces criminal charges and six years in prison if he fails to conduct a proper and independent investigation, according to Konstantin Karanikolov, a lawyer of Andrei Varganov. Varganov organized coal suppliers business in Bulgaria together with Bulgarian partners in 2013. The businessman claims that the funds transferred to the account of the company were illegally appropriated. Moreover, Varganov alleges that the company could be used by Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov for money laundering, as hundreds of thousands of euros were transferred using the account in 2015-2016. Varganov filed the claim to the prosecutor's office and turned to the Russian embassy in Bulgaria for support after he and his family began receiving threats. Author and journalist David Quammen has a gift for communication. He thrilled the 350-member audience at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories community outreach series with his talk on Ebola to Zika and Beyond: Scary Viruses in a Globalized World, on Tuesday. He began with an announcement that caught everyones attention. This morning I received an email alerting me to an outbreak of plague in Madagascar, he said. Plague - as in Black Death, as in the disease that probably killed at least 30 percent of Europe in the 14th century. He explained that the email was sent from ProMED (Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases), an organization that monitors disease outbreaks worldwide and reports to around 70,000 subscribers. Quammen shared the details and images of "scary" viruses and their detection, survival, and spread, while educating the audience with vocabulary and history. We need to be concerned with understanding the dynamics, history and economy of all these new diseases that emerge seemingly out of nowhere, he said. We need to understand the larger pattern. Of particular concern is "zoonosis," an infection or disease that is transmissible from animals to humans. It might by a virus like Ebola or SARS or one of the influenzas, he said. It might be a bacteria like the one that causes plague, or it might be some other infection's bug like the little one that causes malaria. But once it gets into humans we cause it a zoonotic disease. Zoonosis is the subject of his book Spillover, with nearly 60 percent of all diseases falling into that category, including bubonic plague and Hantavirus. These remind us of the connectedness between humans and other species, Quammen said. We humans are animals and part of nature not separate from it or somehow above it. Quammen said spillover happens because of opportunity. People come into close contact with wildlife, he said. It might be killing and eating wild animals. We call it bush meat when Africans do it; in Montana we call it game. Other examples were trapping, raising animals near wildlife or sweeping dust with mouse urine in an old shed. If the virus is highly adaptable, then it is more likely to succeed, Quammen said. Natural selection occurs and the fittest variance of the virus is the one that succeeds and is passed along. An animal virus becomes a human virus. Quammen said that before disposable needles, reusing needles was the norm and could have caused the accelerated spread of the AIDS virus. Outbreak is another of the vocabulary words Quammen taught to the audience. In the world of public health, an infectious disease outbreak is a smallish cluster with hundreds of people infected, he said. If luck is bad and the rate of transmission is high, the outbreak becomes an epidemic a problem throughout one country. If luck is worse and it spreads around the world, then we call it a pandemic. Quammen talked about population outbreak which he defined as a huge, sudden increase in an abundance of any one species. He used caterpillars as an example when they occasionally have a year of abundance where every aspect of their environment is perfect and they experience high rates of reproduction. Suddenly there are millions and millions of these caterpillars and they eat almost everything in sight, Quammen said. But population outbreaks end sometimes as suddenly as they began. Quammen said that scientists know that before the caterpillars would starve, a viral infection plague causes the population to crash. Today, humans are the earths overpopulation and population outbreak. There are now seven billion of us, he said. Is a big crash inevitable for humans? Quammen said he posed this question to Greg Dwyer, Ph.D., a mathematical ecologist at the University of Chicago who studies outbreak cycles of forest insects. Dwyer creates elaborate mathematical models to mimic the dynamics of insect outbreaks and crashes. He found outbreaks end suddenly or gradually. Quammen asked Dwyer about the analogy: Are we an outbreak population and if we are, is it inevitable that our outbreak is going to end in a terrible crash? Dwyer responded that the analogy was correct - we are an outbreak population. But after many mathematical equations and calculating in human behavior, Dwyer responded that it is not inevitable that humans end in a terrible sudden crash. We can learn, we can adjust and we can change our ways, Dwyer said. We can understand the threats against us and take steps to protect ourselves. Quammen said that is the expert wisdom for Tuesday nights audience - direct from the world of mathematical forest ecology, he said. We humans arent necessarily doomed to suffer a catastrophic crash because we are smarter than caterpillars. Fees for cabin rentals, campgrounds and group sites could be increased and in a few cases doubled under a proposal by the Bitterroot National Forest. Wednesdays announcement is the first of what will be an effort across Region 1, according to Deb Gale, who oversees recreation in the Bitterroot National Forest. This is a regional effort thats been worked on for a couple years, Gale said. Each forest that never had site or fee increases would put in a proposal to increase or add fees. We are just a little bit further along than some forests. In some cases, the increase is small; the Warm Springs, Martin Creek, Rock Creek Horse and Crazy Creek campgrounds would go from $8 per night to $12. But at other sites, the proposed changes are more substantial. The rental fee for the Magruder Rangers House in the West Fork Ranger District would double from $50 to $100 per night. The Woods Cabin on the north shore of Lake Como would increase from $60 to $100 per night during the peak season. The Three Sisters group site at Lake Como would triple from $25 and $5 per car per night to a flat $75 per night. And the Larry Creek Group Site in the Bass Creek Recreation Area would rise from $30 to $75 per night. A $5 extra vehicle fee also is being proposed for all campgrounds. Altogether, the proposal would increase fees at 14 campgrounds and three rental cabins, and implement new fees at two campgrounds and one rental cabin slated to open to the public next summer. Gale, along with Erica Strayer, the forests recreation manager, and Tod McKay, the public information officer, said that increases havent been sought for at least 15 years. They noted that about 95 percent of all recreational fees collected on the Bitterroot National Forest stay here, and are used to operate, maintain and improve local sites. We have close to $100,000 in deferred maintenance, Gale said. Were bringing in $95,000 annually through fees now, Strayer added. We figure that will increase to $195,000 across the forest. Strayer said they did a cost analysis as part of the fee evaluation, and found their fees were about half as much as those in other agencies and businesses for comparable sites with similar amenities. The proposals were looked at by the regional headquarters and also by the Washington forest service office before being put out for a 30-day public comment period. Comments will be accepted through Nov. 20. The comments will be reviewed by the local, regional and national offices, as well as the Bureau of Land Managements Western Montana Resource Advisory Council. Any fee changes will be implemented next summer. Some developed campgrounds have water, trash service, paved roads, and even electrical hookups at some sites that visitors use and enjoy, Strayer said. In order to continue to operate and maintain amenities and services at all those sites, we need to look at raising those fees. Gale said theyre well aware that raising the fees could put the recreational opportunities beyond the reach of some people. But people need to realize the costs involved to maintain or upgrade the services; for example, installing a new potable water service at Lake Como, one of the busiest campgrounds on the Bitterroot, cost almost $100,000. Without fees, amenities at sites might be reduced or some places closed, Gale said. Strayer added that its important to note that many places on the forest are free for camping without amenities. And while the $100 fee for the Magruder and Woods cabins, which dont always have running water, are similar to the nightly fee for a hotel room in Hamilton, the experience they provide is breathtaking. For example, the Magruder Ranger House is a two-story, five-room log cabin built in the 1930s thats listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sleeps up to 10 people. Its located on the Selway River between the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church Wilderness, and has propane kitchen appliance and lights. The Woods Cabin also is on the National Register, can sleep up to 15 people, and has a large deck and windows that overlook Lake Como and nearby mountain peaks. The two group sites that could have fee increases to $75 have space for up to 75 campers and room for 10 to 20 vehicles. When you start comparing, it comes back that the fees were extremely low in the first place, Strayer said. Along with covering deferred maintenance, Strayer noted that the proposed increase also will allow them to make additional sites open to the public, including the Lost Horse Guard Station. We have had a lot of interest from the public on this one, she said. More details on the proposed fee increase can be found at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/r1recfee. Comments can be posted there, or emailed to r1recfee@fs.fed.us. People also can contact Stayer at 406/821-4252 or they can stop by the local ranger station or supervisors office. As communities across the nation work to recover from recent natural disasters, many are discovering that while they have plenty of rebuilding to do, they lack the manpower to do it. This circumstance comes as no surprise to the Montana Contractors Association (MCA), which has been considering the nationwide shortage of skilled trade workers with trepidation. A survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America revealed that 70 percent of contractors have a hard time finding qualified workers. In Montana, the situation is no different, with many companies indicating they are unable to fill open jobs with skilled employees. The MCA is trying to make Montanans aware of the opportunity available to young men and women who are interested in pursuing careers in the trades. We have partnered with Montana secondary and postsecondary schools, providing outreach to industrial arts classes and supporting scholarships for engineers. We have collaborated with members of the media to spread the word about the rewarding work Montana contractors do, and the benefits the individuals employed in the industry receive for their labor. We worked with our members and schools to promote Construction Week (Oct. 2-6). But we still struggle to fill the jobs necessary to build Montanas infrastructure. Why? The societal pressure to pursue a four-year degree has become prevalent in schools and families, to the point of devaluing the trades and construction jobs. Its time to take back the honor associated with jobs that involve men and women working with their hands and brains to build the houses, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and water systems that make Montana our home. The MCA would like to thank Montana Superintendent of Public Schools Elsie Arntzen for recognizing the growing workforce shortage, and having the courage to promote construction as a viable, rewarding career a first choice, not a fallback for students who dont pursue degree programs at four-year schools. In fact, the MCA was pleased to enter into a partnership agreement with Superintendent Arntzen and the Montana Building Industry Association recently to further those efforts. We are gratified that the superintendent is emphasizing the need for schools to provide education and training programs that prepare young people for the thousands of jobs available as welders, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, diesel mechanics, and equipment operators. These jobs, which typically pay extremely well and include generous benefit packages, often lead to supervisory/managerial positions for those who show talent and initiativefar from the dead-end job stigma with which theyve been labeled. The ability for young people to move into these positions without the pressure of crushing student loan debt often puts them in a much better financial position than some of their peers who pursue other types of degrees. We dont have all the solutions yet, but we do know we need to change attitudes regarding trades education by supporting it, not only in concept, but in practice. We need to nurture our students interest in careers in construction by investing in industrial arts programs in our high schools. Our industrial arts instructors need to be trained in their areas of expertise, and the equipment they use to teach our students needs to be current. Plus, parents, educators, and counselors should attach the appropriate credence to careers in the construction and related trades for their students. Four-year degrees are not the only path to success, and students who choose to follow an alternate route deserve equal support and accolades from educators and our communities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction across the country is expected to add 790,400 jobs by 2024, and is in the top five industries projected to grow the most between now and 2024. What does that mean? We dont have time to waste. Lets build Montana! Jim Berve, president Montana Contractors Association board of directors Blog Archive November 2022 (31) October 2022 (61) September 2022 (60) August 2022 (63) July 2022 (65) June 2022 (68) May 2022 (67) April 2022 (62) March 2022 (68) February 2022 (54) January 2022 (61) December 2021 (70) November 2021 (72) October 2021 (67) September 2021 (59) August 2021 (56) July 2021 (57) June 2021 (66) May 2021 (63) April 2021 (75) March 2021 (73) February 2021 (61) January 2021 (69) December 2020 (62) November 2020 (62) October 2020 (70) September 2020 (51) August 2020 (52) July 2020 (60) June 2020 (57) May 2020 (79) April 2020 (56) March 2020 (52) February 2020 (50) January 2020 (69) December 2019 (58) November 2019 (64) October 2019 (44) September 2019 (49) August 2019 (71) July 2019 (71) June 2019 (71) May 2019 (67) April 2019 (74) March 2019 (85) February 2019 (64) January 2019 (73) December 2018 (66) November 2018 (81) October 2018 (87) September 2018 (66) August 2018 (76) July 2018 (84) June 2018 (86) May 2018 (64) April 2018 (83) March 2018 (78) February 2018 (69) January 2018 (69) December 2017 (82) November 2017 (87) October 2017 (89) September 2017 (77) August 2017 (75) July 2017 (76) June 2017 (90) May 2017 (86) April 2017 (59) March 2017 (61) February 2017 (82) January 2017 (91) December 2016 (90) November 2016 (80) October 2016 (75) September 2016 (95) August 2016 (104) July 2016 (93) June 2016 (96) May 2016 (98) April 2016 (99) March 2016 (113) February 2016 (82) January 2016 (98) December 2015 (113) November 2015 (94) October 2015 (93) September 2015 (98) August 2015 (97) July 2015 (105) June 2015 (103) May 2015 (95) April 2015 (100) March 2015 (102) February 2015 (93) January 2015 (114) December 2014 (110) November 2014 (103) October 2014 (105) September 2014 (96) August 2014 (96) July 2014 (112) June 2014 (119) May 2014 (109) April 2014 (116) March 2014 (117) February 2014 (109) January 2014 (116) December 2013 (117) November 2013 (121) October 2013 (125) September 2013 (93) August 2013 (115) July 2013 (110) June 2013 (102) May 2013 (115) April 2013 (113) March 2013 (119) February 2013 (108) January 2013 (119) December 2012 (132) November 2012 (115) October 2012 (121) September 2012 (115) August 2012 (124) July 2012 (102) June 2012 (121) May 2012 (121) April 2012 (127) March 2012 (130) February 2012 (112) January 2012 (131) December 2011 (129) November 2011 (118) October 2011 (118) September 2011 (110) August 2011 (138) July 2011 (146) June 2011 (139) May 2011 (144) April 2011 (127) March 2011 (140) February 2011 (116) January 2011 (134) December 2010 (133) November 2010 (136) October 2010 (148) September 2010 (128) August 2010 (155) July 2010 (129) June 2010 (138) May 2010 (152) April 2010 (161) March 2010 (119) February 2010 (149) January 2010 (155) December 2009 (177) November 2009 (171) October 2009 (176) September 2009 (159) August 2009 (156) July 2009 (170) June 2009 (157) May 2009 (185) April 2009 (179) March 2009 (183) February 2009 (170) January 2009 (181) December 2008 (189) November 2008 (183) October 2008 (164) September 2008 (164) August 2008 (177) July 2008 (179) June 2008 (170) May 2008 (191) April 2008 (175) March 2008 (195) February 2008 (162) January 2008 (188) December 2007 (187) November 2007 (189) October 2007 (194) September 2007 (156) August 2007 (194) July 2007 (163) June 2007 (176) May 2007 (190) April 2007 (177) March 2007 (192) February 2007 (165) January 2007 (170) December 2006 (182) November 2006 (177) October 2006 (185) September 2006 (180) August 2006 (156) July 2006 (160) June 2006 (177) May 2006 (173) April 2006 (157) March 2006 (158) February 2006 (146) January 2006 (144) December 2005 (135) November 2005 (138) October 2005 (128) September 2005 (141) August 2005 (136) July 2005 (133) June 2005 (119) May 2005 (143) April 2005 (52) KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has committed to hold the upcoming federal and provincial elections on stipulated time. He further said that government was committed to extend all kinds of essential support for the elections. According to Election Commissions spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal, in a meeting with Election Commissions office bearers at PMs official residence, Baluwatar today, PM Deuba committed to reach all kinds of support for elections to the commission. PM Deuba expressed happiness on the preparations going on for the elections and directed the EC officials to work in full speed for remaining preparations as well. Chief election commissioner Dr Ayodhee Prasad Yadav briefed PM Deuba about their preparations for elections. He informed PM Deuba that the political parties submitted their closed lists of candidates for the proportional system under the federal and provincial elections in the stipulated time with enthusiasm. On the occasion, PM and EC officials exchanged Tihar greetings as well. Minister for Finance and election commissioners and secretary among others were present in the meeting.RSS , our free weekday email newsletter. Like The Atlantic? Subscribe to The Atlantic Daily , our free weekday email newsletter. In the past, Southeast Asian nations largely turned to the United States and its Western partners to finance such undertakings; in exchange, several of them would maintain the trappings of a democratic society. But under President Donald Trump, Americas waning regional influence is opening the door for China to expand its footprint in the region, even if that means Beijing must deal with illiberal, repressive autocrats seemingly determined to remain in power forever. I believe I can live at least 30 more years, therefore I can continue as prime minister for 10 more years. It is not difficult for me, the 65-year-old Hun Sen Along a major tributary of the Mekong River in northeastern Cambodia sits the newly opened Lower Sesan II Dam hydropower plant. The 400-megawatt dam will produce badly needed electricity for the country, but at the cost of potential major ecological damage and the eviction of some 5,000 families from the area. Such consequences are unlikely to sink the fortunes of Hun Sen, Cambodias strongman leader who, for 32 years, has relied on the largesse of foreign governments to fund infrastructure projects: For this latest venture, he has China to thank for footing the more than $800-million bill.In the past, Southeast Asian nations largely turned to the United States and its Western partners to finance such undertakings; in exchange, several of them would maintain the trappings of a democratic society. But under President Donald Trump, Americas waning regional influence is opening the door for China to expand its footprint in the region, even if that means Beijing must deal with illiberal, repressive autocrats seemingly determined to remain in power forever. I believe I can live at least 30 more years, therefore I can continue as prime minister for 10 more years. It is not difficult for me, the 65-year-old Hun Sen remarked at the inauguration for the dam last month. Such future dealings abroad are unlikely to come with any pledges toward democratization attached. In Cambodia, for example, China hasnt slowed its investments despite Hun Sens crackdown on democracy and basic freedom. Facing vocal challenges from opposition groups ahead of next years general elections, he has begun actively silencing pro-democracy institutions, shuttering the The Cambodia Daily, To enhance its economic and political clout, China has made substantial inroads across Southeast Asia on the back of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and investment deals like the one in Cambodia. This is how China will engage with the world for the foreseeable future. At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, a political conclave held once every five years to present the leaderships governing agenda, Xi Jinping, arguably Chinas strongest ruler in decades, will solidify his rule and reinforce an expansive foreign economic platform that will shape the region for years to come.Such future dealings abroad are unlikely to come with any pledges toward democratization attached. In Cambodia, for example, China hasnt slowed its investments despite Hun Sens crackdown on democracy and basic freedom. Facing vocal challenges from opposition groups ahead of next years general elections, he has begun actively silencing pro-democracy institutions, expelling the U.S.-funded National Democratic Institute , forcing Radio Free Asia to close its Phnom Penh office jailing opposition party leader Kem Sokha on allegedly phony charges of treason and collusion with the United States, and calling for the withdrawal of Peace Corps volunteers. On Monday the National Assembly moved to redistribute all of the main opposition partys legislative seats. Hun Sens recent moves represent an accelerated attack on fundamental rights and a blow to Cambodias fragile democracy. They are also a piece of a larger transformation across Southeast Asia. Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, RELATED STORIES Is China Becoming the World's Most Likeable Superpower? The Changing of the Global Economic Guard China Pushes Back Against Growing U.S. Influence in East Asia While these shifts towards autocracy began before last November, they have accelerated since the election of Donald Trump, who has largely offered only subdued responses to foreign crises. This is a far cry from the Obama administrations attempted rebalancing strategy in Asia, which addressed rights concerns with vigor, encouraged the democratic transition in Burma, and spearheaded the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Trump withdrew from in January. That withdrawal, along with Trumps distaste for multilateralism, has set back U.S. economic interests in the region for the immediate futurea glaring development in light of the substantive advances in Chinese economic engagement, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute published in an August Chinas aggressive economic approach abroad has been a hallmark of At one time, Hun Sen had to care about what the U.S. and the EU said because he was getting critical aid from them and now he is able to get all of it from China, Murray Hiebert, senior adviser and deputy director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told me. With China intent to take Americas place, it is interesting that there is considerably less focus on democracy and rights issues.Hun Sens recent moves represent an accelerated attack on fundamental rights and a blow to Cambodias fragile democracy. They are also a piece of a larger transformation across Southeast Asia. Najib Razak, the prime minister of Malaysia, continues to crack down on dissent, while Thailands military has maintained firm control of the government since a 2014 coup, repressing opposition figures and activists in the process. As the military government of Burma continues its bloody persecution of the Rohingya in Rakhine State, the countrys much-lauded democratic transition under Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to live up to expectations. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte continues his brutal drug war, which has claimed between 7,000 and 13,000 lives.While these shifts towards autocracy began before last November, they have accelerated since the election of Donald Trump, who has largely offered only subdued responses to foreign crises. This is a far cry from the Obama administrations attempted rebalancing strategy in Asia, which addressed rights concerns with vigor, encouraged the democratic transition in Burma, and spearheaded the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Trump withdrew from in January. That withdrawal, along with Trumps distaste for multilateralism, has set back U.S. economic interests in the region for the immediate futurea glaring development in light of the substantive advances in Chinese economic engagement, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute published in an August report on U.S.-Sino relations in Southeast Asia.Chinas aggressive economic approach abroad has been a hallmark of Chinas Go Out policy , which Xi Jinping has pursued vigorously since he became the leader of China in November 2012. Since the days of Mao Zedong, China has sought to deconstruct what it views as an illegitimate international order led by the West. But it lacked the political stature and resources to do so, until an economic revival starting in 1989 saw an injection of trillions of dollars on near double-digit annual GDP growth . Under Xi, the country pursued a national renaissance and sought to expand its influence abroad through a gradual buildup of soft power. Case in point: Chinas mammoth $1-trillion economic corridor through Eurasia unveiled in 2013. Such deals boost economic conditions throughout the region, and help its leaders solidify their political footing, while buying Beijing influence. They also help smooth over larger conflicts. After visiting China in October 2016, Duterte returned home with $24 billion in funding and investment Even Burma has once again become a base for Chinese private investment, including in a Closer to home, Chinese foreign direct investment in the six largest economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was expected to reach about $16 billion in 2016, according to Swiss bank Credit Suisse. China already accounts for 30 percent of all FDI into Thailand, and 20 percent into Malaysia, and is poised to supplant the United States as the largest investor in the Philippines this year. China has also used the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Banka rival to the U.S.-backed World Bank and International Finance Corporationto extend an additional $1.73 billion in loans in the Asia-Pacific last year alone.Such deals boost economic conditions throughout the region, and help its leaders solidify their political footing, while buying Beijing influence. They also help smooth over larger conflicts. After visiting China in October 2016, Duterte returned home with $24 billion in funding and investment pledges ; afterwards, diplomatic relations were restored, following longstanding territory disputes in the South China Sea. The case for growing Chinese influence in Cambodia is even more clear. Between 1994 and 2014, China accounted for up to 44 percent of the $19.2 billion in FDI Cambodia received , according to official data. Last year, Cambodia blocked ASEAN from unilaterally condemning China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea dispute.Even Burma has once again become a base for Chinese private investment, including in a $7.3-billion deep-water port and a $2.3-billion oil and gas pipeline in crisis-hit Rakhine State. This is a sharp reversal for a country that, since it embarked on democratic reforms in 2010, has exercised caution when engaging with China. Despite the near-universal condemnation of the extrajudicial killings carried out on Dutertes watch, in May, China China has also repeatedly offered similar support to the Burmese government, saying last month at the UN that it understands and supports its efforts to protect its national security in Rakhine State. Meanwhile, harsh criticism from members of the international community could actually be driving Burma back into Chinas arms after the Obama administration worked to cultivate influence there. Such criticism from the West must be music to the ears of Chinese security planners, who are rattled by Burmas recent drift from a close relationship with China toward improved ties with the West, Burma expert Bertil Lintner wrote for YaleGlobal University online The rise of Chinas economic influence in the region, paired with diminished U.S. criticism on human-rights issues, has helped pave the way for a hardline agenda among regional governments, who also now stand to benefit from playing two of the worlds major superpowers off each other. For example: Following brash anti-U.S. rhetoric, Duterte ran a successful campaign to draw financial incentives from Beijing. But he has since dismissed his disdain as water under the bridge , earning him a meeting with President Trump in November.Despite the near-universal condemnation of the extrajudicial killings carried out on Dutertes watch, in May, China praised him for his remarkable achievements in promoting human rights and urged the world to support his governments sovereigntywhich, for Xi, seems to indicate his governments willingness to tolerate such atrocities so long as it can rack up political points.China has also repeatedly offered similar support to the Burmese government, saying last month at the UN that it understands and supports its efforts to protect its national security in Rakhine State. Meanwhile, harsh criticism from members of the international community could actually be driving Burma back into Chinas arms after the Obama administration worked to cultivate influence there. Such criticism from the West must be music to the ears of Chinese security planners, who are rattled by Burmas recent drift from a close relationship with China toward improved ties with the West, Burma expert Bertil Lintner wrote for YaleGlobal University online last month . By contrast, Trump has yet to make any direct public statements on the Rohingya crisis. MARKOVIC AT THE FORUM Montenegro one of the safest Mediterranean countries Montenegro is one of the safest countries in the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said. Today he opened the Global Citizen Forum at Sveti Stefan. In his welcoming speech, Markovic reminded that Montenegro has determined the future in belonging to the most powerful security, economic and democratic communities, such as NATO and the European Union (EU). He also assessed that Montenegro was one of the "safest countries in the Mediterranean". "We are capable to preserve and improve our security as a NATO member," Markovic said. The Prime Minister said that technology and economic globalization brought together the citizens of the world, but also brought the danger of moving the elite away from their compatriots. "I believe that a citizen of the world must bear the responsibilities that we have at the local and national level. In that context, national governments have specific position, being obliged to, having primary obligation to represent, protect and promote national interests. I understand the fear of citizens of the world caused by the possible consequences of each government following only and exclusively its national interest. And it is really not unfounded when it comes to some global, or wider regional themes, such as climate change, fight against global warming, or major migrations, "said Markovic. The Prime Minister added, that he advocates the balance between the vision of cosmopolitanism and the higher goals promoted by the global citizens, on the one hand, and the obligations and duties towards their compatriots, towards their countries, on the other. The Prime minister said that Montenegro was building an open society so that its citizens, who so feel, could be citizens of the world and so that every citizen of the world who comes to Montenegro feels comfortable, whoever he was - just a tourist, a potential investor, or a participant of a high-level forum such as the one he was just speaking at. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Education Reporter Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Individuals planning to sell cannabis or cannabis products starting Jan. 1 must obtain two permits from the state, one of them necessary to pa Texas serial killer gets prosecutors to seek at obtain a last-minute delay of execution | Main | "Womens Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017" The question in the title of this post is prompted by this Reuters article from last week that a helpful reader made sure I did not miss. The article is headlined "Trump administration reduces support for prisoner halfway houses," and here are excerpts: The administration of President Donald Trump has been quietly cutting support for halfway houses for federal prisoners, severing contracts with as many The Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Justin Long confirmed the cuts in response to an email inquiry from Reuters, and said they only affect areas with small populations or underutilized centers. The Bureau remains firmly committed to these practices, but has had to make some modifications to our programs due to our fiscal environment, Long said. Halfway houses have been a part of the justice system since the 1960s, with thousands of people moving through them each year. For-profit prison companies such as Geo Group Inc have moved into the halfway house market, though many houses are run directly by government agencies or non-profit organizations. A Geo spokeswoman declined to comment for this article. The bureau, which falls under the U.S. Department of Justice, last year had about 180 competitive contracts with residential reentry centers run by non-profit and for-profit companies, such as Geo. The International Community Corrections Association says on its website there were about 249 separate halfway houses in communities nationwide that are covered by the 180 contracts. Federal judges who spoke to Reuters said the cuts are having an impact in their districts, particularly in states with fewer facilities or larger geographic areas where the nearest center might be several hundred miles away. Judge Edmund Sargus of the Southern District of Ohio said it was a real stumper when in July the government ended its contract with the Alvis facility serving the Dayton area. Long said that the cuts have not reduced referral rates or placements, and only impact about 1% of the total number of beds under contract.... In 2016, of the 43,000 inmates released from federal prison, 79 percent were released into a halfway house or home confinement, according to the trade association. We need to improve re-entry services ... This move flies in the face of that consensus, said Kevin Ring, whose non-profit Families Against Mandatory Minimums has recently launched a Twitter campaign to raise awareness of the problem.... For Kymjetta Carr, the cuts have had a personal impact. The 30-year-old from Cincinnati said she had expected her fiance Anthony Lamar to get out of prison and go to a halfway house in November, after serving seven years on a drug charge. But she now has to tell their 10-year-old son his father wont be out for Christmas or his birthday because Lamars release to a halfway house will not come until late July. It seems like the rug has been pulled out from under us, she said, in an interview arranged through Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a nonprofit advocacy group. Halfway houses are low-security residences for thousands of convicted prisoners serving alternative sentences or on release from prison into partial freedom programs on the outside. The facilities are meant to help prisoners reenter their communities, find a job and get their lives back on track. A study commissioned last year by the Justice Department found that centers have come under greater strain in recent years, as more people have been released from prison. Blair Campmier, executive director of Reality House in Columbia, Missouri, said he was notified in early June that the centers eight-year-old contract would be terminated. Some of his clients were sent to halfway houses in Kansas City and Springfield, more than two hours away. They were not happy, and their families were not happy, said Campmier. Ricardo Martinez, the Chief U.S. District Judge in the Western District of Washington and Chairman of the Committee on Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the United States, told Reuters he has sent a letter to the Bureau of Prisons new Director Mark Inch requesting discussions. From our perspective, these facilities are not only useful - they are essential, Martinez said. What may be the future of federal halfway houses in the Trump Administration? | Main | AG Jeff Sessions our "crime problem" while expression concern about the "move to even lighter sentences" The title of this post is the title of this great new report authored by Aleks Kajstura and released by the Prison Policy Initiative jointly with the ACLUs Campaign for Smart Justice. In the tradition of other great "whole pie" efforts (see, e.g., here), this latest report details the number of women who are locked up by various correctional systems and why. Here is part of the text of the report: With growing public attention to the problem of mass incarceration, people want to know about womens experience with incarceration. How many women are held in prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities in the United States? And why are they there? While these are important questions, finding those answers requires not only disentangling the countrys decentralized and overlapping criminal justice systems, but also unearthing the frustratingly hard to find and often altogether missing data on gender. This report provides a first-of-its-kind detailed view of the 219,000 women incarcerated in the United States, and how they fit into the even larger picture of correctional control. Since 2014, the Prison Policy Initiative has quantified the number of people incarcerated in the United States, and calculated the breakdown of people held by each correctional system by offense in an annual Whole Pie: Mass Incarceration report. This report, done in collaboration with the ACLUs Campaign for Smart Justice, finally provides similar data on women incarcerated in the Unites States.... In stark contrast to the total incarcerated population, where the state prison systems hold twice as many people as are held in jails, incarcerated women are nearly evenly split between state prisons and local jails. The explanation for exactly what happened, when, and why does not yet exist because the data on women has long been obscured by the larger picture of mens incarceration. The disaggregated numbers presented here are an important first step to ensuring that women are not left behind in the effort to end mass incarceration. A staggering number of women who are incarcerated are not even convicted: more than a quarter of women who are behind bars have not yet had a trial. Moreover, 60% of women in jail have not been convicted of a crime and are awaiting trial. Avoiding pre-trial incarceration is uniquely challenging for women. The number of unconvicted women stuck in jail is surely not because courts are considering women, who are generally the primary caregivers of children, to be a flight risk. The far more likely answer is that incarcerated women, who have lower incomes than incarcerated men, have an even harder time affording cash bail. A previous study found that women who could not make bail had an annual median income of just $11,071. And among those women, Black women had a median annual income of only $9,083 (just 20% that of a white non-incarcerated man). When the typical $10,000 bail amounts to a full years income, its no wonder that women are stuck in jail awaiting trial. Even once convicted, the system funnels women into jails: About a quarter of convicted incarcerated women are held in jails, compared to about 10% of all people incarcerated with a conviction. So what does it mean that large numbers of women are held in jail - for them, and for their families? While stays in jail are generally shorter than in stays in prison, jails make it harder to stay in touch with family than prisons do. Phone calls are more expensive, up to $1.50 per minute, and other forms of communication are more restricted - some jails dont even allow real letters, limiting mail to postcards. This is especially troubling given that 80% of women in jails are mothers, and most of them are primary caretakers of their children. Thus children are particularly susceptible to the domino effect of burdens placed on incarcerated women. Women in jails are also more likely to suffer from mental health problems and experience serious psychological distress than either women in prisons or men in either correctional setting. The numbers revealed by this report enable a national conversation about the policies that impact incarcerated women held in various facilities, and also serve as the foundation for discussions to change the policies that lead to incarcerating women in the first place. All too often, the conversation about criminal justice reform starts and stops with the question of non-violent drug and property offenses. While drug and property offenses make up more than half of the offenses for which women are incarcerated, the chart reveals that all offenses, including violent offenses that account for roughly a quarter of all incarcerated women, must be considered in the effort to reduce the number of incarcerated women in this country. This new data on women underlines the need for reform discussions to focus not just on the easier choices but on choices that can lead to impactful policy changes. The contract firefighter who died after his water tanker truck went off the road in Napa early Monday morning has been identified as 38-year-old Garrett Paiz of Missouri. Paiz had come to fight the fires in California last week as a private contractor, and his was the first death of a fire crew member to occur since the swarm of fires began on October 8. As ABC 7 reports, Paiz was a volunteer firefighter for the Noel Fire Department in the small town of Noel, Missouri, in McDonald County. He was driving the water rig for a company called Tehama Transport, which is based in Red Bluff, California, and prior to being dispatched to California he had been working as a firefighter in Washington State. "We're very sorry for the loss of the gentleman who was fighting the fire and doing the right thing," Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said to reporters Monday, as BuzzFeed reports. "We still dont know what happened and will investigate it." A GoFundMe campaign started by Tehama Transport has so far raised $800 of a $20,000 goal, with all aid going to Paiz's family. "This is a tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with Garrett's family at this time. We will continue working with the local authorities to bring peace and closure to his family," they write. The accident happened around 6:50 a.m. Monday when Paiz's truck went off an embankment while headed downhill, eastward, on the steep and very windy over-mountain road called Oakville Grade. He was bringing water at the time to one of the front lines of the Nuns Fire, which was edging closer to the famed Robert Mondavi vineyard in Napa. As of Wednesday, the combined death toll from the fires stands at 42. Update: The Chronicle has more details about Paiz, who was born in Indio, in the Coachella Valley, and who had spent multiple fire seasons as a contract firefighter in California. According to his sister, he died doing what he loved. He is survived by a wife, Bobbie Paiz of Noel, Missouri, and a daughter, Terri Ann Paiz of Tehachapi, California. All related coverage of the North Bay wildfires on SFist. by Emma Specter MGM Resorts International sparked controversy this week with a new #VegasStrong ad released last Sunday, two weeks after a mass shooting at its Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas claimed the lives of at least 58 people and injured 527 more. Released on October 15, the 30-second TV spot is set to Odetta's "This Little Light Of Mine," superimposing the text "Together we are one, together we rise, together we shine" over blurred lights and aerial shots of the Vegas stripimmediately before cutting to the golden lion of the MGM Resorts logo. MGM's #VegasStrong spot was reportedly quickly edited together to replace a previously scheduled ad titled "Welcome To The Show," which the company posted to YouTube two weeks prior to the shooting and which they wisely deemed too festive to run in the aftermath, as Adweek explains. The revised, more somber ad does not directly reference the shooting spree or gunman Stephen Paddock, who was a frequent gambler whose stay at the MGM-owned Mandalay Bay hotel was comped, according to New York Magazine. Reactions to the MGM video have been mixed, with Business Insider calling the ad "powerful" while the Daily Mail says the company is being "slammed" for the ad's tastelessness. It is not hard to see the ad through the cynical eyes of a Las Vegas resort and casino, clearly trying to commercialize and/or downplay the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. I hate seeing this on tv. It's too soon and disrespectful to the grieving families. Please pull this - it sounds like a marketing campaign! Barbara Alberts (@BarbaraAlberts) October 17, 2017 I see absolutely nothing wrong with the #VegasStrong ad by @MGMGrand . I think it was tastefully done. Wendi Amber Zuccaro (@AmberWendi) October 18, 2017 mgm resorts using the Las Vegas shooting as an Ad....HOLY SHIT the most #disgusting #Distasteful thing I have ever seen Steven David Troy (@SteveTroy_USMC) October 15, 2017 The MGM Resorts #VegasStrong ad seems oddly capitalistic in the wake of a horrific tragedy. Maybe ban guns from your hotels and screen bags. G.E. Anderson (@g_e_anderson) October 15, 2017 America 2017: in a cab in Vegas & radio ad for a shooting range & all your gun needs is followed by a PSA for #VegasStrong. I just cant. Meghan Arnold (@MeghanCArnold) October 16, 2017 "We created this spot to reflect the strength and resilience of Las Vegas, of MGM Resorts, of Mandalay Bay and of all of our employees," MGM Resorts' Chief Experience and Marketing Officer Lili Tomovich said in a statement to LAist on Wednesday, adding, "The response to the message has been overwhelmingly positive. It reinforces our promise to the world that well remain strong and united in the face of adversity. The Las Vegas Tourism Bureau, meanwhile, has created two TV spots of its own that have been done in better taste, perhaps, but still could strike some as "too soon," given their intent to draw visitors in the wake of a tragedy that might scare them off. The first is narrated by Las Vegas hometown hero Andre Agassi. Related: At Least Three Bay Area Women Among Those Shot In Las Vegas, Two Fatally Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris are voicing their concerns about the federal Wireless Emergency Alert system currently in place for disaster warnings. They're criticizing the tool for its shortcomings and for its potential to create mass panic, says the Chron. Senators Feinstein and Harris sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission describing their issues with WEA, writing, "In a crisis like this, receiving a timely emergency alert on your mobile phone can be the difference between life and death ... These emergency services are caught in a bind between notifying individuals in imminent danger and risking mass panic. As a result, these services are compelled to rely on emergency messaging systems with far less reach and far less capacity." In the early hours before wildfires broke out across Northern California, Sonoma County officials were faced with the decision of whether they should warn residents of Sonoma County of the impending fires through the mobile alert system, or if they should resort to other means of disseminating those warnings. Ultimately, county officials would opt for the latter, worried that sending out a large warning blast like that would result in panic and congested roads full of cars that could cause delays for real evacuees or first responders. Since the system is currently unable to target specific areas where such warnings would be most relevant, officials are forced into an "all-or-nothing" stance while deciding whether to utilize it either everybody gets an alert through the system, or nobody does. This forces city and county officials to resort to other methods of warning residents of emergency situations. For example, the city of Berkeley has an opt-in warning system, AC Alert, which they launched this past July. According to the system's website, it serves to "share emergency information and instructions through phone calls, emails, text messages and TTY/TDD messages." The Berkeley Police Department, along with the Oakland PD, also use a service called Nixle, which connects municipal services and "enables real-time, two-way communication through text, email, voice messages, social media, and the Nixle mobile app," per their website. Both of these systems and the many more like them are opt-in only, meaning residents have to sign up for the warnings and such themselves. The FCC has addressed these issues regarding targeted warnings in the past, as the Chron mentions that they passed legislation back in September of last year requiring cell service providers to allow more targeted communications for early warning systems. They have yet to implement any actual changes in that regard, though. While calling for a better system in their letter, KQED mentions that both the Senators also asked for statistics regarding the WEA and its effectiveness in helping first responders during other recent natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Jose. Related: San Franciscans Freak Out Over City's Emergency Alert Overkill During Mild Heatwave A San Francisco police officer was struck and injured by a vehicle on Turk Street between Franklin Street and Van Ness Avenue Wednesday afternoon, and the extent of the officer's injuries are not yet known. ABC 7 was reporting from the scene, and the officer, who was on bike patrol at the time, was transported to the hospital with extremely serious injuries. The Chronicle reports that his condition was critical as of 3 p.m. and he was headed into surgery. The incident happened at 12:21 p.m., according to CBS 5, when a white Lexus SUV reportedly was responsible for the hit-and-run. A large police presence then gathered around Buena Vista Park, and the SFPD put out a notice on Twitter for those in the area to shelter in place as CBS 5 reports, this is due to the fact that the suspect vehicle was found parked near there, and the suspect reportedly then ran off, possibly toward Golden Gate Park. SFPD spokesperson Sgt. Michael Andraychak gave a press conference this afternoon, and as the Chronicle reports he says the Tenderloin Station officer was "investigating a firearms case when the suspect in that case saw him approach and hit him with a tan or gold sport utility vehicle." The photo below, and CBS 5's earlier report, suggest that the vehicle is white, not gold, but this case is still unfolding. An SFPD was hit by a Lexus SUV in Hayes Valley and the car was found in our neighborhood - explains the helicopters https://t.co/VM6xX40nvw pic.twitter.com/Vy5ehzjvas Michael McCarthy (@michaelmccarthy) October 18, 2017 Apparently, the suspect has not yet been apprehended. This story has been updated throughout. After pledging aid on behalf of the federal government to California Governor Jerry Brown, ABC 7 reports that Trump has yet to make any plans to visit any of the areas in Northern California that have been ravaged by wildfire. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that a visit isn't "planned at this time but it certainly hasn't been ruled out either." She reiterates their promise of aid, though, saying that the White House "has been very engaged throughout this process. We're going to continue to be there." Trump's absence is certainly conspicuous, as he's made a number of headlines recently for the botched optics and response to Puerto Rico's recent calls for aid after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Rather than just pledging aid to Puerto Rico and offering words of support -- like any other head of state would do Trump chose to pick a Twitter fight with the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, shaming her requests for aid and the criticisms she had for how the federal government has been handling the disaster. CNN wrote that Trump's lack of empathy for Puerto Rico is "staggering," as he seems to be more interested in tweeting about athletes protesting than he is about calling for aid for Puerto Rico. SFGate decided to do a deep dive into the tweets Trump has post in the ten days since the fires broke out early last week, and what they turned up was all-too-unsurprising for anybody who's spent any time on the internet within the past year. They found that he had tweeted a total of 82 times between October 8th and today, and none of those tweets mentioned anything about the wildfires, which took the lives of at least 42 Americans. For someone who touted his Twitter savviness as a way he would "connect with the people," this silence on his platform-of-choice is deafening. Today, though, Trump did tweet words of support for the fire crews and officials still working around the clock to battle the wildfires. He quote-tweeted a photo from a FEMA official on the ground, which shows first responders and fire crews working in one of the burned out areas. He wrote, "Our hearts are with all affected by the wildfires in California. God bless our brave First Responders and @FEMA team. We support you!" Related: A Majority Of Americans Wish Trump Would Get Off Twitter While the prognosis of a San Francisco police officer who was apparently intentionally struck by an SUV Wednesday remains unclear, a suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident. The collision between the car and the bicycle patrol officer happened around 12:20 p.m. on Turk Street near Franklin, and as we learned yesterday, the suspect is believed to be involved in a firearms case that the officer was investigating. ABC 7 reports from a press conference Wednesday afternoon that multiple officers were on the scene of the incident and witnessed the collision. The Examiner reports that a suspect was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 500 block of Ellis Street, and the suspect has not yet been publicly identified. It remains unclear if this is the same suspect who, after allegedly driving his Lexus SUV into the officer, fled about a mile away and abandoned the vehicle near Buena Vista Park. We learn via the Chronicle that the SUV had a stolen license plate on it, and that the owner of that license plate noticed it missing from their car around noon yesterday, shortly before the hit-and-run occurred. The officer who was struck is in the intensive care unit following emergency surgery on Wednesday, and Assistant Police Chief Toney Chaplin tells the Chronicle, "I think that speaks for itself." The officer's identity has not been released, but the department says he's been on the force for four years, working out of Tenderloin Station. Per ABC 7, Chaplin further said, "This is a tough day for the Police Department. Everyone right now is having a tough time with this, so I ask the public to keep the officer in their prayers. The SFPD had a somewhat chaotic day Wednesday because there was a separate incident in which a patrol officer suffered minor injuries in Japantown. As Hoodline reports, and SFPD squad car in pursuit of another vehicle got into a head-on collision around noon at the intersection of Geary Boulevard and Webster Street. The officer involved in the crash appeared OK, and walked away. Update: The injured officer has been identified as Elia Lewin-Tankel, as ABC 7 reports, and the suspect in the hit-and-run has been identified as 50-year-old Maurice A. Johnson. Previously: SFPD Officer Hit By Car On Turk Street A group of United States senators is looking to lead the charge on creating legislation that would ensure full transparency when it comes to buying political ad space on the internet. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) are calling this legislation the Honest Ads Act, which, according to the official release, "would prevent foreign actors from influencing our elections by ensuring that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite." A Facebook spokesperson commented on the legislation, telling CNet, that they "are open to working with lawmakers and reviewing any reasonable legislative proposals." Twitter also told them that they "look forward to engaging with Congress and the FEC on these issues." With the inclusion of Senator John McCain as a co-sponsor, the legislation becomes bipartisan, which is something Warner touched on to reporters. According to Politico, he said, "This is the first substantive bipartisan piece of legislation thats trying to with a very light touch, because we dont want to slow down innovation, or restrict free speech or peoples access to the internet to deal with the problem that we saw in 2016 in terms of foreign interference in our electoral process." McCain also explained why he backs the bill, saying it's "for the same reason I have been for transparency in campaign finance reform for the last 25 years." Quartz's report on the bill outlines what the Act aims to do exactly. They write: The Honest Ads Act would require social media and internet companies who have more than a set number of users (a figure in the tens of millions) to make public detailed information about any political advertiser who spent just a few thousand dollars on their platforms, according to two people briefed on the bill. It would require these companies to: Make public digital copies of any advertisement these groups purchase, including the dates and times published. Include a description of the audience and political ad target, and the number of times it was viewed. Disclose contact information for the ads purchaser, and how much they paid for the ad. Make reasonable efforts to ensure that any political ads or messaging isnt purchased by a foreign national, directly or indirectly. As the Senate's Intelligence Committee continues its deep dive into Facebook, Twitter, and Google's roles in the 2016 election, the need for some measure of regulation on political ads becomes more and more evident. The Independent estimates that Russia bought space for at least 3,000 ads, bringing in about $100,000 in revenue for the social network. That's a lot of propaganda. To their credit, Facebook has been doing its best to remain compliant with U.S. intelligence officials, outlining the steps they're taking to combat future election influencing, which includes hiring more people to vet submitted ads. The company's top executives are also set to appear before a House intelligence committee next week to talk about how their platform may have served as a means of influence. But, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week, Facebook also "cut references to Russia from a public report in April." That report was on how Facebook could have been manipulated to influence the election exactly what the intelligence committee is trying to find out. It seems like a sketchy move, one that could prove to be costly as they head to Washington. Twitter and Google have also been invited to appear before the intelligence committee, with Twitter announcing that they're sending their top legal counsel to the meeting along with Facebook's representative, per The Hill. Google has yet to respond to the invite. Previously, Twitter earned the ire of Senator Warner, co-author of the Honest Ads Act. Warner called out the company, saying he was "deeply disappointed" with the efforts they had put forth in researching potential Russian links to accounts and ads on Twitter. He said their efforts were derivative of Facebooks, as they acted mainly on reports already created by the other social network. More recently, BuzzFeed News ran a report that said Twitter took its sweet time in suspending @Ten_GOP, a "fake account run by a Russian troll farm" linked to the Kremlin which pulled in at least 136,000 followers before it was "permanently suspended," according to their report. The account, which claimed to be representing the Tennessee GOP, had been reported by the actual, official Tennessee GOP on three separate occasions, but Twitter offered no response. It was only days after the last report from the Tennessee GOP that Twitter moved to suspend it. That delayed reaction has come to define many people's experiences with Twitter's enforcement team, whose actions continue to serve as a big, gaping void of questions as the company gears up to implement some policy changes regarding harassment and abuse of their platform. Those changes seemed to be a response to a letter from a few Congress members, who urged the company to do something about the racism rampant on their platform. Now, Facebook has their own letter from Congress, as CNet reports Congressmen Keith Ellison and John Conyers have called on Facebook to change their tack regarding how they handle hate speech. In their letter, they wrote, in part, "Allowing for the spread of violent and hateful ideologies on Facebook, a network with nearly 2 billion unique users, poses a grave threat to not only our most marginalized and threatened communities, but to our entire civil society." Representative Ellison shared the full letter in a tweet: Facebook has an incredible amount of power--we should know how they wield that power, including clarification on their hate speech policies. pic.twitter.com/tb0nbbHVNC Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) October 18, 2017 Related: Trump Digital Strategy Director Asked For Pro-Trump Facebook Employees To Help Teach Them How To Use Facebook The San Francisco District Attorney has announced that it won't be pressing charges against a police officer involved in a high-profile shooting last year which prompted the resignation of former police Chief Greg Suhr. As CBS 5 recounts, Sergeant Justin Erb shot 29-year-old Jessica Williams in the chest last May as she tried to flee in a car. The police report said that Erb and officer Eric Eastlund were working to recover a stolen vehicle, which they found Williams sitting in on the morning of May 19, 2016, on Helena Street. Erb apparently had his pistol drawn and pointed down at the ground before they knocked on the window. Williams tried to drive away, but crashed into a nearby service vehicle. Then, she backed up to get out of the collision and tried to drive forward once more, driving directly towards Erb, who then allegedly fired one shot at Williams, killing her. This was what the District Attorney's office focused on in their statement announcing the dropped charges, as they conclude that Erb acted in self-defense. The DA's summary reads: "All of the available evidence suggests Sergeant Erb faced a volatile and unpredictable situation looking uphill at an approaching car when he fired his gun at Williams. Here, when the relevant legal and prosecutorial ethical standards are applied, the available evidence does not support the conclusion that Sergeant Erbs use of deadly force was objectively unreasonable." The summary also suggests, via accounts of the two officers as well as a civilian witness, that Williams could have escaped down Helena Street but appeared to deliberately aim the car toward Erb. The witness concurred, as the Chronicle notes, that she thought the driver wanted to run the cop over." An autopsy would later reveal that Williams, who was homeless at the time, had methamphetamine and another amphetamine in her system at the time of her death. Williams' death quickly became part of the rallying cry of protests against SFPD police shootings hers being the third fatal officer-involved shooting involving a minority suspect in the course of six months, beginning with the December 2015 shooting of Mario Woods. As well, her death is said to be what led to Suhr's ousting, as he resigned hours after the incident occurred, at the request of Mayor Ed Lee. Suhr had spent at least a year trying to institute police reforms, but following this third fatal shooting, the pressure for him to leave grew too great. As SF Weekly points out, Erb is just the latest officer who was cleared of charges by the District Attorney's office. They also found that the officers involved in the deaths of Giovany Contreras-Sandoval and Nicholas McWherter were legally justified in their actions. SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi is none too pleased with the District Attorney's decision regarding Erb. In a statement to the Chronicle, he said, "Im flabbergasted that the DA is saying it is okay to shoot at a person who appears to have been fleeing in a car. How can you justify shooting a person when you easily could have stepped out of the way?" He later went on to say that the decision "sends the wrong message to our citizens and the police." While the DA may not be pursuing criminal charges, Williams' family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the SFPD in federal court, citing Erb's use of excessive force. Related: 10 More Police Shootings Await Possible Charges As SF Reacts To Perez-Lopez Decision The Bank of Thailand faces criticism for doing too little to curb gains in the Baht, she said. Thailand is at risk of being accused by the US Department of the Treasury of currency manipulation. The country currently runs a near 20 billion USD bilateral trade surplus with the US.A committee established by US President Donald Trumps administration is investigating the trade deficit with Thailand.The US treasury is expected to release a report on foreign exchange policies of major trading partners in October.Exports of goods and services account for 70 percent of Thailands revenue, with the US being its third largest trade partner.The Thai Baht has risen more than 8 percent over the US dollar in 2017, recording the strongest growth among Asian currencies this year. BY VIETNAMPLUS. SIOUX CITY | Sioux City Police on Thursday said they have a "fair degree of confidence" that a car driven into the Missouri River Monday afternoon could have belonged to a family of three that went missing around the same time that day. Authorities on Thursday continued to explore options to reach the vehicle -- which is located in a portion of the river with dangerously strong currents and low visibility -- and conducted a surface search of the river, seeking evidence that might help authorities more concretely determine the identity of the vehicle and its occupants. Angelica Gonzales and Salomon Medina, and their daughter, 17-year-old Vanessa Medina, were reported missing Tuesday morning by family after the three had left for the Walmart Supercenter on Floyd Boulevard around 3 p.m. Monday and have not been seen since. The family was reportedly driving a maroon 2001 Honda Civic EX with Iowa license plate EUH 225. A car reportedly entered the river around 4:20 p.m. Monday near the site of the former Argosy riverboat casino. Police said the car -- described as small and dark-colored -- went over a curb in a nearby parking lot and through a chain-link fence before going down the bank and into the river. Based upon its direction of travel, police said they believed the vehicle was occupied when it went underwater. At a news conference Thursday, Sioux City Police Capt. Mark Kirkpatrick said that one of the most solid pieces of evidence that has led them to believe the submerged vehicle's occupants may be the family have been cellphone pings from two of the family members' phones at 4:16 and 4:17 p.m. Monday, just minutes before the car is believed to have entered the water. "We received phone pings from those particular phones about the same time the incident occurred, and then there's been no pings since then," Kirkpatrick said. "They were localized enough to say they were in that generalized area." He said police have received a handful of missing person leads since Monday and are continuing to investigate them all. "With the investigative work we did yesterday, we have a fair degree of confidence that this could be in fact that vehicle," Kirkpatrick said. "Certainly we can't say with 100 percent certainty that it's that vehicle, but we do have a certain degree of confidence." Using sonar, a crew located an object authorities believe to be the vehicle Tuesday afternoon, but it is located in the fastest portion of the river current, making it too dangerous too deploy divers the past two days. Local law enforcement and rescue agencies are continuing to consider their options. Kirkpatrick said authorities have been in contact with the Siouxland Dive Team and regional commercial dive teams to determine the best way to safely access the vehicle. Those discussions are ongoing, he said. "The river's just an extremely dangerous place to dive in, so we have to do this in a manner that gives us enough reassurance that we're not putting those folks in harm's way," he said. Kirkpatrick said a dive will be the best way to reach the vehicle, since conversations with salvage and recovery companies led authorities to determine the vehicle would come up in pieces. Lowering cameras into the water would also prove difficult due to the low visibility, he said. "Literally, the visibility down there is such that if you touch the front of your mask with your finger, the only piece that you'll see is your fingerprint," he said. "The visibility is measured in millimeters." Kirkpatrick said police had been examining as much video evidence as they could from surrounding Iowa Department of Transportation cameras but could not find any leads. He said one photo that has provided the most solid visual of the vehicle before it entered the water is not detailed. "It's a grainy photo, so it's hard to tell," he said. Police have not confirmed any events leading up to the crash or explanations as to why the car was in that location, he said. "I think theres some stories out there floating around, but weve been unable to confirm any of those so I dont really want to speculate," he said. Kirkpatrick said he could not guess when dive teams may be able to reach the vehicle. Watch the full press conference here: Editor's Note: Orange City, Iowa, will the site of an event for LGBTQ pride called OC Pride 2017 from Oct. 20-22. Donna Red Wing is the former head of One Iowa, the state's most significant advocacy organization for those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or those questioning their sexuality. I am the president and CEO of The FAMiLY LEADER, a prominent Christian family organization that focuses on inspiring leadership in God's three institutions: the family, the Church and government. Donna and I see the world very differently. We are not natural coffee pals, much less expected to be friends. Yet we are both. It all started when Donna came to one of our annual Leadership Summits and at the lunch break asked if I'd ever entertain joining her for coffee. I said, "Yes." That conversation began a journey where I got to know Donna and she has gotten to know me. While our views surrounding sexuality and marriage have not changed, we have developed a deep friendship. Our unlikely friendship has been headlined by the Washington Post and Des Moines Register and has been the video subject of Mutual of Omaha's "Aha Moment" campaign. In addition, Donna and I have been asked to present at universities, colleges, community leadership seminars, and a host of other forums featuring civil dialogue around deep disagreements. It has been an amazing journey. I was recently asked, "What is the Church to do when 'Gay Pride' comes to town?" Through the lens of my relationship with Donna, I suggest the following: First and foremost, check your heart. The book of Proverbs tells us, "Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life." If your heart is to win while others lose (in reality or figuratively), back away. In a battle to make the other side "lose," nobody wins, and neither does the cause of Christ. If, however, your heart is filled with love, first for God and then for your neighbors including those in the parade adorned in rainbow colors and stickers then engage with a heart of love. This follows Christ's "new command" to love as He loves (John 13:34-35) in the New Testament. Jesus also reminded us the "first and greatest" commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and the second command, like the first, is to love your neighbor as yourself. The people celebrating gay pride in your community are the Church's neighbors. Thus, lead with a heart of love and compassion. Once the Church, as individuals and collectively as the Body of Christ, checks its heart with these two commands then it is the Church's call and responsibility to "speak truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). Again, notice the consistent and clear parameters of love: It's a constant check on the Church's heart. At the same time, it is neither love for God nor for others if we conceal the truth. Donna and I have had many conversations in private and in public regarding truth. It is not a feeling nor an identity; truth is God's Word, and Christ made it clear that He came to "testify to the truth." And speaking truth out of a heart of love is the culmination of loving God and loving your neighbor. Donna may not agree with me, but she does respect me for reaching out to her with truth in love. Neither is it love for God and others to remain silent, to ignore our neighbors when we hold God's Word of life and hope and healing in our hands. Pastors, college and university presidents, and other Christian leaders should enthusiastically seize the opportunity to teach God's Word in love when "Gay Pride" comes to town. God's Word is timeless, and its teachings on marriage and sexuality are clear and as relevant as ever. Thus, encourage your pastor, your college presidents and chaplains, and other noted ministry leaders to open God's Word and to boldly and courageously speak its truth to adequately prepare their congregations, their students and their communities with a firm foundation prior to "Gay Pride" coming to your town. This is an opportunity to celebrate God's design and desire while being a vessel to reach out with the eternal gift of the gospel. And one more thing: Remember we all fall short of the glory of God, and we all need a Savior. Donna needs a Savior. I need a Savior. We all need a Savior. When "Gay Pride" comes, prepare your town for a revival where we all repent of our sins and turn our hearts toward God. What an opportunity for the Church to be the Church. Sheldon, Iowa, native Bob Vander Plaats is president and chief executive officer of The FAMiLY LEADER, a Christian ministry focused on the intersection of church, family and government. Man exposes himself at a church SIOUX CITY | Oh boy. A Sioux City man has been arrested for wandering around inside a church and exposing himself. Denis Merrill, 48, is charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure after police say he pushed his way past a worker at a church on Glenn Avenue Oct. 9 and exposed himself. According to court documents, Merrill knocked on the back door of the church and asked to use the bathroom when the church worker answered the door. After being told the church's bathroom was not open to the public, Merrill pushed past the worker and wandered around the church basement, exposing himself and ignoring orders to leave. Merrill eventually left the church, and the worker locked the doors. As she called police, the worker watched Merrill through a window and observed him exposing himself, court documents said. Police found Merrill hiding in the trees near the church. Court records show that Merrill was previously arrested for indecent exposure in August after he was accused of entering the Walgreens store at 4650 Morningside Ave. and exposing himself to a female clerk and a female customer. Merrill had posted bond in that case and was released from custody. After Oct. 9 his arrest, Associate Judge Timothy Jarman revoked Merrill's bond and set a new bond amount at $6,000. Couple charged in argument STORM LAKE, Iowa | Occupied! A Storm Lake man allegedly locked himself up in a bathroom of a home after he assaulted his girlfriend who called the police. A press release said police were called to 712 College Street Oct. 8 in reference to a domestic disturbance in progress. Upon arrival, police met with Francis Porter, 33, of Storm Lake, who alleged that her boyfriend Jaime Miramontes, 32, of Storm Lake, had physically assaulted her and then locked himself in the bathroom. Police entered the home and ordered Miramontes to open the door, which he refused. It forced police to breach the door and take him into custody. An investigation further alleges that Porter had also assaulted Miramontes during the disturbance. Both were charged with domestic assault and booked into the Buena Vista County Jail. The release said there were several children in the home during the fight but were unharmed. 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. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.Hillary is demanding to know the truth about Trump and Russia. The truth is that every accusation about Russian ties that Hillary and her associates have hurled at President Trump is really true of the Clintons.In 14, Hillary Clinton made headlines by comparing Russias Vladimir Putin to Hitler. But if the Russian strongman really was Hitler, what did that make stooges like Hillary, Bill and Barack Obama Five years earlier, Hillary had been posing with a Reset Button with one of Putins henchmen. But Hillary was bringing a lot more to the meeting than a mislabeled button pilfered from a swimming pool. The Reset had the same pattern as other Clinton scandal: a shadowy foreign financial pal with an agenda, the Clinton Foundation being used to launder money and a government cover-up.Officially, the Reset was pushing Obamas nuclear arms reduction plan and a joint effort to address Irans nuclear program. But the nuclear materials that truly interested Hillary Clinton werent in Russian missiles or in Iranian reactors, but in the ground in Kazakhstan. By the time Hillary showed off the Reset Button, the Clintons had been enjoying a long relationship with Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining mogul. Giustra had moved tens of millions into Clintonworld and Bill built up his profile in Kazakhstan.But by 09, the Clintons had a lot more to trade on than a Senate seat and ex-presidential prestige.When Secretary of State Clinton unveiled the Reset, the unspoken truths outnumbered the spoken platitudes. Some of the unspoken truths were obvious. Hillary Clinton and Obama would break with Bushs criticisms of human rights in Russia. From now on, they would have nothing to say about it.The man who allegedly agreed to that dirty deal was Michael McFaul who is currently bashing President Trump for being soft on Putin.But the bigger unspoken truth was that Giustras company had been bought by Uranium One. And the Russians were sniffing around Kazakhstan. Either the Russians would get Uranium One. Or they would expose the dubious ways that Uranium One had gotten its Kazakhstan mining rights. But if Rosatom, a Russian government corporation, bought into Uranium One, it would need approval from State because such a deal would provide Russia with control over more than 20% of Americas Uranium supply.Good thing, Uranium One and Putin had a friend in Hillary Clinton. And not just Hillary.Uranium One and Rosatom didnt just need the State Department. They also needed the Justice Department to turn a blind eye. And they got that too from Attorney General Eric Holder.The same year that Hillary brought over her Reset Button, the FBI was investigating a top Rosatom figure in America for racketeering, extortion, bribery and money laundering. The investigation was supervised by the controversial current Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe who has his own financial ties to the Clintons. The investigation dragged out for five years. Just enough time for the Rosatom deal to be approved. When the charges were brought in 14, the Russians had gotten it all. And the charges were a whitewash that ignored the most damning accusations. Especially those involving the Clintons.Holders DOJ, like Hillarys State, signed off on the Rosatom-Uranium One deal despite the ongoing investigation. Holder and his associates at the DOJ kept the investigation under their hats. The trails leading to the Clintons were closed off. And the nails were hammered in hard to keep them closed.Victim 1, the FBIs confidential witness in the case, was an American businessman who was making payments to a Rosatom figure. He knew firsthand about the Russian efforts to influence Bill and Hillary, and through them, the Obama administration, but wasnt allowed to talk about it. Instead Obamas DOJ threatened him with criminal charges if he revealed what he knew. And what he knew included comments by FBI agents about political pressure from the DOJ during the Uranium One-Rosatom approval process.Meanwhile, during the approval process, Bill Clinton was getting paid $500,000 by a Russian bank with Russian government ties, even as his wife had the power to block a deal by Rosatom. While Clinton and Obama cronies are scurrying around to tie Trump to Russia, their own bosses were giving a Russian state corporation whose branches included the nuclear weapons complex access to our nuclear materials.And Rosatom is also involved in Irans nuclear program. The same program that Clinton and Obama cronies are desperately fighting to save by preserving Obamas blank check for Irans nukes.Not only did Obama and his people at the DOJ and FBI turn a blind eye to Russian nuclear malfeasance in America, but they covered up evidence tying that malfeasance to the Clintons, and then threatened an informant to protect that cover-up. Democracy really does die in darkness. Just ask the media.The Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding information from ten federal agencies. And, as usual, the Clinton and Obama loyalists embedded there will obstruct and subvert any effort to learn the truth.Fast forward to 14. The Russians had taken complete control of Uranium One a year earlier. By the end of 13, the fiction that Uranium One was anything other than Rosatom had ended. And with the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Russians no longer needed the Clintons. And so the Reset Button was pushed again. And Hillarys old sugar daddy was now Hitler.Charges were finally brought in the Rosatom case. Though these charges carefully avoided the crucial deal period. And Hillary was finally free to denounce Putin now that the money wasnt coming in.What a difference a year makes. What a difference a deal makes.Once Hillary lost the election, her operatives cobbled together the myth that blamed her defeat on a Russian influence operation that had had actually targeted viewpoints across the political spectrum.But Hillary knew better than anyone how easy it was for the Russians to influence Americans.The millions flowing to the Clinton Foundation bought not just silence, but complicity. And by corrupting the Clintons, the Russians had also managed to corrupt multiple levels and figures within the government. Including the Justice Department and senior leadership within the FBI."The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them," Lenin had once allegedly quipped.Its unclear if the capitalists will, but the socialists have certainly proven themselves eager to sell.Having betrayed American national security in the Rosatom deal, the Clintons and their allies are busy accusing President Trump and his associates of their own crimes. They were the ones who took bribes. They were the ones who subverted the Justice Department to protect their Russian ties. They engaged in obstruction of justice to the extent of threatening a witness with criminal charges if he spoke out.And they did it while nuking American national security in order to satisfy their own shameless greed. WASHINGTON (Oct. 18, 2017)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awardedfor modification P00004 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-17-C-0036) for the integration of the original equipment manufacturer ZPY-8A/N radar into the MQ-8C Fire Scout. This modification includes the initial radar A-kit installations into the MQ-8C Fire Scout and additional non-recurring engineering. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (54.28 percent); Ozark, Alabama (36.64 percent); San Diego, California (7.48 percent); Edinburgh, United Kingdom (1.57 percent); and Santa Clarita, California (.03 percent), and is expected to be completed in May 2020. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,345,854 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded anmodification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-17-C-0005) to exercise an option for the conversion of full-rate production of Lot 6 AGM-88B High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles into 25 AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile All-Up-Rounds, to include related supplies and services necessary for their manufacture, sparing, and fleet deployment in support of the government of Italy. Work will be performed at Northridge, California (80 percent); Ridgecrest, California (10 percent); and Istrana, Italy (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2019. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $18,326,708 will be obligated at time of award; all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor cost-plus-fixed-fee undefinitized delivery order 0144 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-14-G-0020). This order provides support for the irst of class flying trials and the release of the military permit to fly for F-35B aircraft to operate from Queen Elizabeth class carriers in support of the government of the United Kingdom. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (68 percent); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (26 percent); Orlando, Florida (3 percent); and Patuxent River, Maryland (3 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2018. International partner funds in the amount of $5,783,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded aindefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering, technical and management services in support of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, St. Inigoes, Maryland. These services shall support the Rapid Capability Engineering Department (AIR-4.11) and the Engineering, Prototyping and Business Operations Division (AD-4.11.5). Work will be performed at St. Inigoes, Maryland (80 percent); California, Maryland (10 percent); and other locations in the U.S. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2022. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Funding will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured as a 100 percent small business set-aside via an electronic request for proposals; four proposals were received. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-18-D-0003). LEONARDTOWN, Md. (October 18, 2017)The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office released the following incident reports.09/27/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: During the overnight hours, unknown suspect(s) entered an unlocked vehicle and stole property in the 21000 block of Forest Run Drive in Lexington Park. Deputy Bare #307 is investigating. CASE# 51393-17.09/28/2017 BURGLARY: During the daytime hours, unknown suspect(s) entered a home and stole property in the 22000 block of Fox Ridge Road in Lexington Park. Deputy McClure # 299 is investigating. CASE# 51519-17.09/28/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) entered two unlocked vehicles in the 21000 block of FDR BLVD in Lexington Park; no property was stolen. Dep. Siciliano #301 is investigating. CASE# 51534-17.09/29/2017 MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT: Unknown suspect(s) stole a motorcycle parked at a residence in the 21000 block of Little Girl's Way in Lexington Park. Dep. J Davis# 269 is investigating. CASE# 51637-17.09/29/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a residence and removed property at the 30000 block of Charlotte Hall Road, in Charlotte Hall. Cpl. Carberry# 167 is investigating. CASE# 51653-17.09/30/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a home in the 45000 block of Nat's Creek Road, in Hollywood; nothing was reported stolen. Dep. Henry# 333 is investigating. CASE# 51774-17.10/01/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) entered a locked vehicle and stole property in the 39000 block of Golden Beach Road, in Mechanicsville. Cpl. D. Snyder# 89 is investigating. CASE# 51894-17.10/01/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a business in the 29000 block of Three Notch Road, in New Market, and stole property. Dep. Ball# 315 is investigating. CASE# 51979-17.10/01/2017 THEFT: Unknown white male suspect removed property from a shopping cart in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. The unknown suspect then fled the area. Dep. J. Davis is investigating. CASE# 52015-17.10/03/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) entered two unlocked vehicles in the 21000 block of Cameron Court, in Lexington Park, and removed property. Dep. M. Beyer# 319 is investigating. CASE# 52299-17.10/03/2017 SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT: A report was made to deputies of the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, of an incident that was suspicious in nature. On 10/01/17, in the early evening, four juveniles were walking in the area of Washington Street, in Leonardtown. One of the juveniles reported there was a white van occupied by a white male, (no further description on the occupant of the van). The individual in the van, asked the juveniles a question pertaining to unattended property in the parking lot. The individual did not exit his vehicle, or ask the juveniles to enter the vehicle. The juveniles continued home without further incident. Deputies canvassed the area and surrounding areas and did not locate the van. The vehicle is described as a white van with a black stripe on the side. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Dep. Roszell #296 at (301)-475-4200 ext *8108. CASE# 52375-17.10/03/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) entered an unsecured vehicle in the 46000 block of Saltmarsh Court, in Lexington Park, and stole property. DFC. Potter# 255 is investigating. CASE# 52309-17.10/03/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence in the 47000 block of Snow Hill Manor Lane, in Lexington Park, and stole property. Dep. Sidorowicz# 328 is investigating. CASE# 52130-17.10/06/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's home and removed property in the 43000 block of Megan Lane, in Leonardtown. Dep. Molitor# 304 is investigating. CASE# 52905-17.10/06/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's residence in the 46000 block of Hilton Dr. in Lexington Park; at this time nothing has been reported stolen. Dep. McClure# 299 is investigating. CASE# 52901-17.10/08/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's residence and removed property in the 47000 block of Janet Lane, in Lexington Park. Cpl. Reppel# 141 is investigating. CASE# 53247-17.10/08/2017 BURGLARY: On Sunday, October 8, 2017, in the 47000 block of Janet Lane, in Lexington Park, unknown suspect(s) made entry into a residence. Property was stolen to include devices containing photographs of the victims' deceased son. The victims in this case have requested this incident be released onto social media with the hopes someone will come forth with information leading to the recovery of their property. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at (301) 475-8008. Anonymous tips can be provided to Crime Solvers at (301) 475-3333 or by texting a tip to TIP239. Below is a link to the story done on October 10, 2017 by FOX5. www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/parents-asking-for-return-of-stolen-memories-of-late-son-after-electronic-devices-taken-in-burglary 10/09/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry to the victim's vehicle in the 45000 block of Miramar Way in California, and removed property. Cpl. Corcoran# 129 is investigating. CASE# 53438-17.10/10/2017 BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's unsecured vehicle in the 16000 block of Three Notch Road in Ridge; nothing reported stolen at this time. The victim did observe three individuals in the wood line during the time the vehicle was entered. The three individuals left the area on foot. DFC. Schultz# 258 is investigating. CASE# 53520-17.10/14/2017 ATTEMPTED BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) attempted to make entry into a residence located in the 22000 block of Valley Estates Drive, in Lexington Park. Cpl. Seyfried# 217 is investigating. CASE# 54289-17.10/14/2017 ASSAULT: Victim reported an assault by unknown suspect(s) in the 45000 block of W. Westbury Boulevard, in Great Mills. Cpl. Corcoran# 129 is investigating. CASE# 54365-17.10/14/2017 ROBBERY: Victims report an unknown black male assaulted them and stole property in the 24000 block of Sotterley Road, in Hollywood. Cpl. Snyder# 89 is investigating. CASE# 54390-17.10/14/2017 THEFT: Unknown suspect(s) stole property to the rear of a residence located in the 31000 block of Pt. Lookout Road, in Mechanicsville. Cpl. J. Davis# 197 is investigating. CASE# 54371-17.10/14/2017 THEFT: Unknown suspect(s) removed the rear registration plate to the victim's vehicle in the 23000 block of Foxglove Way, in California. Dep. Budd# 325 is investigating. CASE# 54368-17.10/14/2017 ROBBERY: One unknown black male suspect removed property of the victim's in the 46000 block of Lexington Village Way, in California. The victim was then assaulted by a second black male suspect who was on scene. DFC. Shultz# 258 is handling the investigation. CASE# 54434-17.10/15/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into the victim's residence in the 27000 block of Queen Tree Road, in Mechanicsville, and removed property. Cpl. Knott# 234 is investigating. CASE# 54470-17.10/15/2017 ATTEMPTED BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) attempted to make entry into a residence located in the 46000 block of Shangri-La Drive, in Lexington Park. Cpl. Worrey# 152 is investigating. CASE# 54499-17.10/15/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a shed, and removed property in the 21000 block of Great Mills Road, in Lexington Park. Cpl. Worrey# 152 is investigating. CASE# 54527-17.10/15/2017 THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) stole the victim's vehicle from a parking lot in the 40000 block of Merchant's Lane, in Leonardtown. DFC. Schultz# 258 is handling the investigation. CASE# 54588-17.10/16/2017 BURGLARY: The victim advised unknown suspect(s) opened the door to the residence, in the 20000 block of Flour Mill Court, in Great Mills. It does not appear anyone entered the residence, and nothing has been reported missing. Dep. Bush# 318 is investigating. CASE# 54641-17.10/16/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's residence in the 47000 block of College Drive, in St. Mary's City, and removed property. Dep. Sidorowicz# 328 is investigating. CASE# 54740-17.10/17/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered the victim's residence in the 43000 block of Wit & Folly Way, in Hollywood, and removed property. Dep. Bush# 318 is investigating. CASE# 54855-17.10/17/2017 BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence under construction in the 37000 block of Mohawk Drive in Charlotte Hall, and removed property. Cpl. Kirkner# 133 is investigating. CASE# 54907-17. Calvert County student results on the SAT for the class of 2017 set a new baseline in both English language arts and math as the national exam underwent its second major revision in 11 years.Dr. Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "We are pleased to see that even with a brand new test, our students continue to exceed the performance of their peers in Maryland and around the country. It is a testament to the rigor of our curriculum and the skill of our teachers."The College Board today released data for the new SAT, which underwent considerable changes since 2016. The organization dropped a required separate writing test, which it added about a decade ago, and changed other facets of the national exam.Among 2017 graduates, 778 students-or 61% of the class-took the new SAT. The mean total score for Calvert County is 1104. The mean score for the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section is 556, compared to 528 in Maryland and 527 nationwide. The mean score for math is 548, with an average of 518 in Maryland and 517 nationwide.Each of the two sections of the SAT is scored on a 200 to 800 point scale.The new SAT was first administered in March 2016. The class of 2017 was the first graduating class in which the majority of test takers-93% of the nationwide cohort-took the new SAT. While these performance results cannot be compared to those of previous years, they serve as the baseline for the new SAT for future year-to-year comparisons.Sunderland Elementary School has been awarded the prestigious title of National Blue Ribbon School. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced the recipients of the 2017 award, which were selected on the basis of rigorous state and national requirements for high achievement.Dr. Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "Sunderland Elementary exemplifies excellence and achievement. The staff, administration, families, community, and former principal Karen Vogel are to be commended for the work they do on behalf of students."Principal Pam Kasulke said, "At Sunderland Elementary, we focus on the development of the whole child to ensure that students are developing socially and emotionally while being challenged with rigorous academics that both remediate and enrich based on students' needs. We strive to be the best in all we do, and we challenge students to be their personal best."In addition to promoting high academic achievement, Sunderland encourages volunteerism and has a Family Student Organization (FSO) that also assists with fundraising efforts. All students become "future ready" by using tablets, document cameras, interactive white boards, and laptop and desktop computers. In grades 4 and 5, a 1:1 device program allows students to utilize technology in daily instruction. The school offers services for students with disabilities, as well as regional programs that include inclusive pre-K, co-taught kindergarten, and HeadStart. The Seahawk Kindness Crew works in partnership with Huntingtown High School's Key Club to foster respect and kindness. Community partnerships with local churches provide support for families in the school though the HeartFelt Backpack Program and the Angel Tree Project.Sunderland was one of six public schools awarded Maryland Blue Ribbon status in December 2016. Those six schools were then invited to apply for the national award.The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students achieve very high learning standards or are making notable improvements in closing the achievement gap. The award affirms the hard work of students, educators, families, and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content.At the September 28, 2017 Board of Education meeting, Prismatic Services, Inc., presented the findings of the Department of Transportation audit that was contracted jointly by Calvert County Public Schools and the Board of County Commissioners.Dr. Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "We contracted with an outside agency for a fresh perspective. We expected recommendations for areas in need of improvement, and we are ready to move forward."In completing the root cause analysis for the project, Prismatic, Inc., identified three underlying themes for improvement: simplification, compliance, and competition.The consultants made twenty-four recommendations regarding these three areas. Recommendations include simplifying the school bus contractor payment formula, using automated routing and GPS software to develop mileage counts for each route, developing a set of optimized routes, and developing a performance appraisal system for school bus contractors.The Department of Transportation was commended for performance in three areas: maintenance of comprehensive bus records, fuel tax reimbursement procedures, and ensuring that bus assistants have the necessary information to support students with special needs.The full report is available on the school district website under Board Meeting Information on the Board of Education tab.Joyce Arter is the recipient of the 2017 Maryland Outstanding Educator Award from the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Currently a teacher at Plum Point Middle School, Ms. Arter was honored for her work last year at Northern Middle School.Dr. Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "Ms. Arter is not just an exemplary teacher; she is an exemplary teacher leader."Ms. Arter was recognized for both the academic growth of her students and her instructional expertise. Joe Sutton, Supervisor of Secondary Mathematics, said, "She has a natural talent for breaking content down into component parts, bringing a global perspective to what needs to be done to reach our students at the discrete level."In addition to her outstanding work with students, Ms. Arter enriches the mathematics community beyond her classroom through her collaboration with colleagues. Jaime Webster, Principal of Northern Middle School, said that Ms. Arter was a key leader who facilitated professional development activities. In addition, he said, "She has been an integral part of highly effective co-taught classes, providing additional supports and individualized instruction to special education students with diagnosed learning difficulties in math."Ms. Arter has continued her tradition of excellence in her new position at Plum Point Middle School. Kelley Adams, Principal, said, "She is amazing and all about helping kids. Her fresh perspective and positive attitude are already valuable assets to our school improvement team." Four Democratic candidates for governor talk to voters after Oct. 14 forum. 1. Alec Ross; 2. Kevin Kamenetz; 3. Rushern Baker; 4. Ben Jealous. (Photo: MarylandReporter.com) COLUMBIA, Md. (Oct. 19, 2017)Six Democrats running for governor used Larry Hogan as a reliable punching bag at a Saturday forum, pounding away at the current Republican governor in front of an auditorium filled with progressive Montgomery County Democrats.This was not surprising at the United for Maryland event since "Moving Hogan out" is the prime focus of the group.But prominently mentioned only once during the two-hour face off at the Germantown campus of Montgomery College was the two-term Democrat whom Hogan replaced and whose policies the candidates largely agreed withMartin O'Malley.Only Ben Jealous, the former NAACP president already endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, acknowledged O'Malley when he brought up his own advocacy for the Dream Act for children brought to the U.S. illegally, the abolition of the death penalty, and the passage of same-sex marriage. All of these laws O'Malley had championed and signed, even if he was not originally strong on same-sex marriage.Otherwise the other Democrats failed to praise O'Malley, at the same time they pummeled Hogan for reversing some of O'Malley policies.Several of the questions the candidate were asked had to do with the environment and education. None of the questions involved taxes or how they would pay for the new programs they proposed, even though it was one of Hogan's main campaign themes, frequently blasting O'Malley for over forty increases in taxes, fees and tolls.Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker even criticized Hogan for not using the gas tax increase O'Malley was finally able to pass for the mass transit that Democrats thought they were voting for. And Johns Hopkins University fellow Alec Ross even mocked Hogan for lowering tolls on the Bay Bridge frequently used by out-of-state drivers, while proposing new toll lanes on traffic-choked Maryland highways.Ross, who once taught in a Baltimore school, also said, "Maryland has never had an education governor," hoping to claim that title for himself.But O'Malley's tax increases and diversion of transportation and environmental funds was a deliberate effort to maintain and increase public school aid in the depths of the Great Recession. O'Malley also plowed more money into the state universities to keep tuition down, while most states cut aid to higher education during the Great Recession and raised tuition.Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz did highlight his county's achievement in education without raising taxes.While O'Malley was largely missing at the forum, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were not, since Ross worked at the State Department under Clinton and Krish Vignarajah was policy director for Michelle Obama.Here is the video of the full two-hour forum: www.facebook.com/unitedformaryland/videos/2193140510912569/ Reporter Doug Tallman of MyMCMedia has a short story and two-minute video emphasizing the candidate's agreement on public campaign financing. COLUMBIA, Md. (Oct. 17, 2017)Maryland has one of the highest household incomes in the U.S., but only 40% of its students met proficiency standards in reading and math on the PARCC assessments in 2017, a Johns Hopkins University researcher told the Kirwin Commission last week. A $1.46 billion plan using one-on-one and small group and tutoring would help close the gap between top performing students and those who struggle to keep up, Robert Slavin, Johns Hopkins University Director of Research and Reform in Education said. "Nobody wants more taxes," Slavin said. "But it's not to the moon. It's not something Maryland can't do. The proposal outlines a statewide approach intended to enable virtually all students in Maryland to reach the proficient level on PARCC." The proficiency standard on the standardized test Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which is used in third-through-eighth grades, is defined as a score of 750, Slavin stated. But Maryland's average score is 740, 10 points below the average. "If you could get the average student in Maryland scoring 740 to a score of 750, Maryland would no longer be number 30 in terms of scores in the country, it would be number one," Slavin said. As part of his presentation, and for purposes of explanation, Slavin said 10 points in a PARCC score is equivalent to one band. Tutoring cornerstone of plan "But what you said was you wanted to get virtually all students in Maryland to the proficient standard," Slavin said. "Getting kids at 740 to 750 could be done. That would be hard to do, but not impossible. Now let's think about kids at 730. Twenty pointstwo bandsis a big lift. Frankly, there's only thing we know about that can reliably increase student performance by two bands and that is tutoring. The only thing we know is tutoring, nothing but tutoring." Slavin broke his plan into a three-tier system. Tier I uses proven classroom programs that reduce the need for tutoring and could be implemented tomorrow statewide, across all grades and subjects, at a relatively inexpensive cost. Slavin said there are approximately 101 of these types of programs, and some of them are already used in some Maryland public schools. "These are programs you can hang your hat on," the results, Slavin said. "They should be the first line of action." Tier II should primarily be one-to-small group instruction and if the budget was available, they could be implemented by January. In the Tier II category, Slavin said groups of one-to-six children for 40 to 45 minutes per day, could result in student scores increasing their PARCC test scores by one-to-two bands, or 10 to 20 points. Tier III would require one-to-one tutoring, which is "more effective than small group, but also more expensive," Slavin said. With this method, if a teacher worked with an individual student 30 minutes per day, every day, a student's test score could increase by as much as five bands, or 50 points. At an individual elementary school of 450 students with a 40% proficiency achievement level, 12 tutors would be required, Slavin said. He factored in an annual salary of $84,000 per teacher, which includes salary and benefits. He also factored in $200 per child for Tier I schools where tutors are not needed. Budget shifts, cost savings could reduce cost of plan The cost of the plan will be greatly reduced through using existing funding and cost savingsonly 4.5% more than current expenditures, Slavin said. When the plan is in full operation, he said an existing $519 million for tutoring could be redirected and savings from reduced need for special education would free up another $379 millionso the true net cost would be about $555 million. The program could also be phased in to spread the cost out over time. "The tutoring models I'm talking about are not experimental," Slavin said. "They do not need another study. They do not need another pilot. They're proven beyond a shadow of a doubt as far as educational research is concerned. What's utterly unprecedented about this is building it around an entire state system or district system." Following Slavin's presentation, Kirwan Commission Chair Brit Kirwan asked how many years a student would need to participate in one of the tiers. "Maybe two-thirds of the kids would need one year of service," Slavin said. "When kids need that year might be different. I will assume that the largest number of kids that receive tutoring would receive it around first grade." But Slavin said based on today's test scores, there are vast numbers of kids in middle school that are way below the standard. If the program is implemented, in the beginning a lot of tutoring may be required in middle school until it is no longer necessary due to rising elementary students who have started at earlier ages. Dramatic score improvements Commissioner Craig Rice, a Montgomery County Councilmember, was concerned about demographic information that he said seemed to be missing from Slavin's report, which left Rice feeling concerned. "There are groups, districts and schools in Maryland where the problems are much greater," Slavin said. "Naturally a lot of these resources would be devoted to those groups because the money would follow the performance of the students. The programs I'm talking about have primarily been used with students who are in poverty, are English language learners and in various kinds of difficulty. The things that unite them are students that need to be performing in school a whole lot better and quickly." Nancy Madden, a Johns Hopkins University education professor, said one of the studies referenced in the presentation was conducted in Baltimore City and targeted to the most needy students. They saw a 20-point improvement over a six month tutoring period in grades one to three, she said. Madden also cited a school in Virginia that was studied over seven years that was performing 30 points below the state average on Virginia's Standards of Learning assessment. "This is a school that is 85% of free and reduced lunch," Madden said. "Students speak a variety of other languages, mostly they are predominantly immigrants, primarily African immigrants. Right now they are performing four points above the state average, in spite of their poverty and the demographics. That's what can be done with the application." The City of Oakland Park banned conversion therapy at Wednesday evenings commission meeting. In a 4-0 vote, commissioners outlawed the practice of changing a minors sexual orientation. As far as Im concerned this ordinance aims to discourage an unethical business practice by licensed professionals in our city of Oakland Park and I think thats well within our purview to do so, said Commissioner Sara Guevrekian. Related: Oakland Park Preparing Conversion Therapy Ban Oakland Park joins Wilton Manors as the two Broward County municipalities banning the practice of conversion therapy. Cities in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties have similar ordinances forbidding conversion therapy on minors. Nine U.S. states have statutes barring conversion therapy. This sends a message that our children are valued and respected for who they are, said Justin Flippen, a Wilton Manors resident. Flippen spoke to Oakland Park commissioners urging the ban. He said he was a survivor of conversion therapy. Being gay is not a choice and not a preference, said Flippen, a lawyer and Wilton Manors commissioner. Several people spoke in favor of the ordinance with one woman dissenting. Karen Gorsch said the ordinance puts parental rights under attack. The Margate woman said the ordinance denies the right to free speech and religious liberty. Row Iliescu, development director for Equality Florida, said the antiquated notion that sexual orientation needs to be fixed is wrong. Iliescu celebrated the ordinances passing in the lobby of city hall with a little over a dozen residents who attended the meeting. The group then moved down the street to the Funky Buddha Brewery to continue their celebration. Last week Boca Raton banned the practice in their city. Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, dismissed the argument that these bans intrude on the rights of parents. Parents rights are not unfettered. We have laws that prevent parents from giving their children certain prescription drugs because they have been proven harmful to children. We have laws that prevent parents from serving alcohol to minors, because alcohol have been shown to be harmful to children, Hoch said. Additionally, there are many other laws that must be adhered to regardless of the views of parents, such as compulsory education. So, there is no merit to the arguments that parents should be allowed to subject their children to harmful conversion therapy. Sometimes, the columns just write themselves. I walk around town, talk to people, read, think, and then I have to sit down and write them out. But the recent events we have all experienced, and about which I have written in the last couple columns, make this piece both inevitable and self propelled. As a Realtor-leader, I have a responsibility to change peoples lives for the better, and do what I can to make the world (or our corner of it, anyway) a better place. Its not all about the quartz counter tops and the size of the master bathroom, after all. Here in South Florida, we are dealing with the after-effects of two major hurricanes. We took a hit from Irma which could have been worse but was plenty bad enough. And many of our family members, friends and fellow citizens remain in dire straits after Maria. Somehow I doubt that if a state like Iowa or Arkansas were decimated, 90 percent without electricity, potable water a rarity that we would be hearing pronouncements from High Places about the Federal Governments loss of patience. And everyone knows this. Humanitarian aid and relief must remain the top priority for some time, contrary to 45s opinions. But like many of You-Know-Whos tweetstorms, there is a kernel of truth. Yes that truth is surrounded and drowned out by copious amounts of baloney, but there is a question hiding in the muck, and it is the question I have been asking in the last couple columns: What can we do to mitigate risk in the future and ideally build a better society in the process? It is not just a question for the Islands. It is salient here on the mainland also. Many have asked, for example rightly, in my opinion just why is it that in a hurricane prone region, the vast majority of the electric lines are not buried? Online petitions are circulating, politicians are opinionating. At least we have a window where peoples attention is focused (until the next season of Real Housewives, anyway). But while interest is piqued, lets look at the bigger picture, here and in the Islands, and apply a bit of common sense and a lot of vision. Everyone knows it would cost a fortune to bury all the power lines in Florida. I have not found an estimate; however, the state of North Carolina (which is about 20 percent smaller than Florida) looked into this and determined that in their state it would cost about $40 billion (with a B) and take decades to accomplish. That this has not happened already, is such a catastrophic failure of leadership and vision that everybody who has been involved in state government over the last 20 years has some Serious Explaining to do. As the climate goes through a period of change, as sea levels rise, our quality of life here (as well as our property values) are placed into jeopardy. And, regardless of whether you are a Realtor, nobody got time for that! Yet amplifying a mistake with another mistake will not be a cure. We have a glorious opportunity here to look beyond the present circumstances and ask ourselves what kind of future we want to have. Instead of spending $50 billion or more to bury existing lines and perpetuate the current structure, why not spend those billions to leapfrog past today into the future with distributed energy generation, vast increases in efficiency, and use of renewable sources like solar, wind and waves? Do you honestly expect the current power structure among the Republicans (and yes, regrettably, even the Democrats) in Tallahassee beholden to every special interest lobby imaginable to be thinking this way? The same principle applies to Puerto Rico and the Islands. No, Mr. Trump, we should not be there forever. But lets consider the opportunity beyond the crisis. I have called for the creation and capitalization of an Islands Corporation. Instead of restoring the status quo ante to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other places, lets turn them into shining cities on a hill, with the best infrastructure and new construction techniques places where people will want to relocate to instead of flee from. Already Elon Musk of Tesla (and other ventures) is discussing this new future with the local government in Puerto Rico. More leaders must join him., It will take vision, optimism, political will, hard work and financial capital. Transformation is never easy, but we have to start somewhere. What leaders on the local, state and national level are willing to take a stand, and say the future is now? Do you really think Donald Trump and Rick Scott will be among them? James Oaksun, Broward's Real Estate Geek(SM), is Broker-Owner of New Realty Concepts in Oakland Park. In addition to having degrees from Dartmouth and Cornell, he is a Graduate of the Realtor Institute (GRI). An event originally designed to help small businesses deal with slumping summer sales has been rescheduled and repurposed to help those same businesses recoup some of the sales they lost because of Hurricane Irma. Shop & Play was originally supposed to be held on Wilton Drive Sept. 13 through 20 and feature discounts provided by participating businesses. But when the storm had passed and cleanup efforts began on Sept. 11, Wilton Drive was still days away from having power restored. The new dates are Wednesday, Oct. 25 to Tuesday, Oct. 30. We understand the stresses were all going through. The concept is to bring people to The Drive. This is out of necessity. Theyve lost two weeks of business, said Peter Clark, publisher of Hotspots, which has partnered with the Wilton Manors Business Association, and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to put on the event. Lets bring some excitement back to The Drive . . . bring The Drive alive. Clark said Wilton Drive is more than just its bars and restaurants. Its doctors offices, retail shops, professional offices, thrift stores, and more. Saturday, Oct. 14 marked the ribbon cutting of the new Wilton Drive office of the South Florida Symphony Orchestra. You name it, we have it, said Clark. He said 20 business owners, at no cost to them, have signed-up and he expects as many as 60 will have done so by the time of the event. The list of participating business will be published by Hotspots the week of the event. In his presentation to commissioners at their Oct. 10 meeting, Clark asked that the city make parking free on Wilton Drive and in the city lots for two hours on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. Commissioners approved his request. Theres a lot of businesses hurting. Its a great idea, said Mayor Gary Resnick. City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson praised Clark and the other organizers for working with the city on the event rather than just asking the city to do something for them. Business owners can sign-up at the website to become a participant. Those who do will receive a decal they can place in their storefront window to let customers know they are participating. Its up to each individual business owner to decide what kind of discount they want to give. Only customers wearing Shop & Play Wilton wristbands will be able to receive discounts, which can be obtained at participating businesses. Visit shopplaywilton.com for more information. Jonathan the tortoise is really celebrating his golden years. The 186-year-old tortoise is a resident of British Overseas Territory St. Helena. Hes the worlds oldest tortoise and possibly the worlds oldest living creature. Jonathan was given to the territory as a gift to the governor and is even honored on the Saint Helena five pence coin. According to Gay Star News, veterinarians recommended the tortoise get a mate in 1991. Named Frederica at the time, they lived the last 26 years together and had mating sessions once a week. But they never produced offspring. Twenty-six years later, doctors finally understand why. When repairing a lesion on Frederica, they finally discovered he was a male all along. The Times reported they renamed him to Frederic. Same-sex marriage is not legal, but there were various anti-discrimination laws implemented in 2009. Same-sex acts in St. Helena were only legalized in 2001. Its clear Jonathan the tortoise broke the law, but its unlikely hell serve prison time. Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. Grand Rapids, Michigan based brewery Founders Brewing Company have a way with coffee beersthe brands Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) is highly sought after in the craft beer community, and Founders new Sumatra Mountain Brown is a worthy addition to that lineage in this, the 20th-anniversary year of the storied brewery. A collaboration between Founders and Ferris Coffee, also of Grand Rapids, the Sumatra Mountain Brown clocks in at 9% ABV. Its a slow-drinking, deeply complex coffee beer, perfect for dessert or in a bottle share setting. Best of all, unlike many of the coffee beers weve featured this year on Sprudge, Sumatra Mountain Brown enjoys wide distribution across the United Statesif youre reading this in America, chances are you can find this near you. To learn more about the Sumatra Mountain Brown we spoke with Sam Mirto, Director of Coffee at Ferris and Jeremy Kosmicki, Brewmaster at Founders. Hey Sam and Jeremy, thanks for talking with us. First question is for Samwhen youre working on a coffee beer like this Sumatra Mountain, how collaborative is the process? Do you hang out with the Founders team and work on blending? Are you going as far as to roast or even source the coffee specifically to fit the beer? Sam Mirto: The process is very collaborative. The first part of the process is conceptualizing the beer, talking about style, variations of style, what the Founders team wants in the final product, and what coffee can add to the beer. We then begin sensory analysis with the team at Founders and cup through several coffee possibilities. As a coffee professional, I personally think its incredibly beneficial to cup coffee with a team that does sensory analysis in another beverage industry. I think it opens your mind to experiencing coffee in ways that might not occur to us in the industry. Also, brewers use different descriptors and adjectives to describe what theyre experiencing in coffee, and that helps me build my sensory lexicon as someone who cups coffee often. In many cases, we do end up tailoring a roast specifically to achieve the desired outcome for the coffee in the beer. How many different coffee beers does Ferris collaborate on right now? SM: We currently work with over 20 breweries, many of which brew multiple coffee beers with our coffee, so its hard to say exactly. With Founders alone over the past year, weve collaborated on Pale Joe, Breakfast Stout, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Sumatra Mountain Brown, and several taproom-only coffee beers. Gotta love the taproom exclusives. Next question is for Jeremyfor the Founders Sumatra Brown, how do you work to implement coffee in the brewing process? Is brewed coffee added to a completed beer, or do you add coffee at a different step of the process? Jeremy Kosmicki: We use coffee in a variety of different ways around heresometimes on the hot side, sometimes post-fermentation, sometimes both! Were going to keep the details of this one to ourselves, though. Proprietary! What can you tell us about how the different styles of malt in this beer pair or contrast with the use of Ferris Sumatra coffee? JK: Were going after nutty, toasted malt flavors with this beer that create a sweet, sturdy backbone and really let the coffee flavors take center stage. With a stout or porter, there are malts used that are quite similar to coffee in flavor, so sometimes theyre hard to distinguish. Going with a brown ale for a base allows you to detect more coffee nuances that might get lost in a stout. Sam, what specific flavor elements do you think that Sumatra coffee imparts in this beer? SM: I think the coffee adds layers of caramel and nut, a creamy mouthfeel, and some depth of flavor with some subtle earthy tones. The roast is on the lighter end of the spectrum which is definitely our style, but the team at Founders also didnt want an overwhelming amount of bitter/ashy character coming from the coffee, which happens all too often with coffee beers. They knocked it out of the park with pulling sweetness out of the coffee through their brewing process, its so great to work with a brewery that understands what specialty coffee has to offer. Jeremy, Founders is a Michigan brewery, and Ferris is a Michigan roasterwhy is this partnership important to you and Founders? JK: Well, obviously, its convenient using a supplier located in your same city, and well always support a Michigan companyprovided the quality and price meet our expectations. With Ferris, in addition to price and quality, its really been the personal relationship Ive developed with Mark [Van Tongeren, of Ferris] and Sam that makes our partnership so important. These guys are passionate and creative and theyre coffee experts, so theyve been invaluable in helping me select the right coffees for the right beers. Forgive me but 9% is not a meek coffee beer, and your KBS is up at like 11%. Does Founders have any other coffee beers in your lineup that are more sessionable? JK: We did a 5.5% ABV golden ale with Ethiopian coffee called Pale Joe a couple years ago as a limited release that was really cool. And a few times a year we do our 4.5% ABV nitro oatmeal stout infused with hazelnut coffee, exclusively in our taproom. Last question for both of you: whats your personal favorite coffee beer of all time? SM: Sumatra Mountain Brown is amazing, there have been times that Ive considered it my favorite coffee beer in the world everHowever, I think Breakfast Stout still holds the title in my book. Part of the allure could be the fact that it comes out when it starts getting colder in Michigan and its such a damn good beer to drink when its snowing, but its also just everything you want in a coffee beer, big coffee nose, layers of chocolate, creamy mouthfeel, roasted malts, all that. Plus, there is a baby on the label, thats just funny. JK: Theyre not necessarily my favorites, but the two that got me into coffee beers were Bells Java Stout and Redhook Double Black Stout. Classics! Thank you. Western New York Horseman Allan McCarty passed away on Monday, October 16 at the age of 67. McCarty was known for his quick wit, amazing sense of humour, generosity, and ability to train Standardbred racehorses. McCartys biggest success on the racetrack came with New York Sire Stakes champion Hitwiththeladies, who earned over $435,000 during his 34-race career. McCarty also developed invitational trotters Prime Interest, an earner of over $659,000, My Attorney Bernie ($258,000) and Manfromnantucket ($152,000), just to name a few. McCarty also bred 13 racehorses. Family and friends are invited to a wake service at the JAMES W. CANNAN FUNERAL HOME INC. (Southtowns Chapel) 3155 Orchard Park Road, Saturday, Oct. 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon where a funeral service will follow at 12 noon. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Allan McCarty. (Batavia Downs) Prayer Prevails in the U.S. House Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- The D.C. District Court recently dismissed the lawsuit brought by Daniel Barker, an atheist and co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), in his attempt to become a guest chaplain for an opening session of the U.S. House of Representatives. Barker, who has publicly proclaimed his atheism but maintains ministerial credentials, applied to the House of Representatives to deliver a secular invocation in lieu of a prayer. His application was rejected, and he sued, claiming that the Supreme Court's decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which had ruled permitting ministers to pray before legislative gatherings, requires his inclusion as a guest chaplain. The D.C. District Court rejected FFRF's claims, stating that Barker's interpretation of the Town of Greece is flawed and does not require what he demanded. The legislative prayer practice of the House of Representatives is consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit, as well as the Rules of the House. Judge Rosemary Collyer stated that Barker could not piggyback on Town of Greece to demand that the House allow a "prayer" to what or whoever he wanted: "[C]ontrary to Mr. Barker's hopeful interpretation, Town of Greece did not reference atheists -- who are, by definition, nontheists who do not believe in God or gods -- but 'any minister or layman who wished to give [a prayer].'" House Speaker Paul Ryan was named a defendant in Barker's suit and praised the ruling: "Since the first session of the Continental Congress, our nation's legislature has opened with a prayer to God. Today, that tradition was upheld and the freedom to exercise religion was vindicated. The court rightfully dismissed the claims of an atheist that he had the right to deliver a secular invocation in place of the opening prayer. I am grateful that the People's House can continue to begin its work each day as we have for centuries: taking a moment to pray to God." "For over 240 years, each session of the House of Representatives has opened in a prayer which seeks God's guidance," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Daniel Barker and the Freedom From Religion Foundation attempted and failed another bullying tactic to try and erase what America is founded upon: prayer to Almighty God. Our nation's legislature has opened with prayer since the very first session as a reflection of the faith of many people across America who also seek the Lord's guidance in their lives," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie... I dont get it. In many cases, I dont get the way that business is done. In our private lives, we are told to pay off debt. We are told to pay off debt, we are told to save for the future, and we are told to diversify risk. But what about companies? Having no debt means you are not subject to anyone, and you need less income to exist. $4,000 in monthly spending and $2,000 in monthly debt payments? In this case, a person, or family, needs $6,000 to get by. Without debt, only $4,000 is needed to live. That is as straightforward as it can be. Saving for the future means that you maybe have a little security. This is why people like Dave Ramsey recommend an emergency fund. Refrigerator break? Need new tires? Find out kids need braces? Lose your job? You can have a different perspective on each of these with $40,000 sitting in a checking account for the just-in-case. Cash is king. And having a giant pile of it is like a breath of fresh air. Finally, diversification. How many times are we told to diversify our investments? One would be crazy to put all their 401K in one company. For what happens if that company goes bankrupt? Few are willing to risk their entire retirement on one company. And why should they? So if income from one investment dries up, it should not be a big deal. That investment should only be 5% or less of your portfolio. And then here is where I get lost: If no debt, savings, and diversification are smart for an individual and family, why is it not also smart and sensible for a business entity? I submit that it is. But in the same way that few individuals stay away from debt, have large cash savings, and diversify their investments, few businesses manage to do the same. I understand finance. I understand the role banks play in leverage. I know how to calculate an internal rate of return and look at good debt vs. bad debt. But more fundamental than all that: Debt weighs you down. It ties a weight around your neck. Debt increases your fixed costs and makes your firm more fragile to a market or industry disruption. In general, businesses should stay away from debt. On an emergency fund, just as a person should a business should be saving during times of plenty. What if your business saved 15% of its profits? What if during the next economic downturn your firm had a few million in cash? During the next economic hick-up, your competitor is going out of business, and you are buying him out for pennies on the dollar. Businesses should also diversify their income streams. I understand core competencies. I understand that businesses are usually bad at things they have never done. But, I also understand risk. For instance, Google is probably not looking to get into the tobacco business anytime soon. But that doesnt mean they cant own a few million shares of Altria or Philip Morris in the name of diversification. In all of this, my rub is, for example, with some company that has been around for a few decades and doing quite well. Say they are in the oil business. Oil prices are high and they are swimming in cash. What is usually done? They hire more people, borrow money, drill for more oil, and maybe pay some dividends. They should be making themselves bullet-proof. 1. Take the extra cash and pay-off all debt. 2. Use extra income to build a cash war-chest. 3. Diversify income streams. Can you imagine some medium-sized oil company looking at low oil prices and shrugging? Some CEO says: Low oil prices are not a large issue to us. We have no debt, we have enough cash to operate without income for quite some time, and 60 percent of our income is outside of oil. 60 percent of your income is outside of oil? Yes. We have $500 million invested in Procter and Gamble, AT&T, Coca-Cola, General Electric, and a few others, generating about $1.7 million per month in income for us. Like I said, in this case, what is good for the individual and family is also good for the firm. Meanwhile, massive die-offs are happening around the world baffling residents and officials. 103 whales have already washed up dead this year in Brazil, thousands of fish found dead in dam reservoir in Uruguay, in lakes in India and in rivers in Paraguay and Portugal, and tons of fish along a beach in Thailand. 103 whales have already washed up dead this year in Brazil The whale season on the Brazilian coast between July and October is coming to an end with a sad record this year: 103 strandings across the country. This is the all-time record. And a disturbing question remains: what is behind this number? Thousands of fish found dead in dam reservoir in Palmar, Uruguay Residents living around the Palmar Dam are reporting the presence of thousands of dead fish along the Rio Negro. Locals say it had already happened 2 years ago. It may be due to water scarcity in the bed of the river. Thousands of fish mysteriously die in lakes in Mahbubnagar, India About 5000 fish, normally living in deeper parts of the fresh water bodies, were found dead in the Mahbubsagar lake. The massive fish kill raises concerns about toxic pollution. Thousands of fish found dead in river near Asuncion, Paraguay Between 5,000 and 10,000 small and medium-sized fish have been found dead in the Confuso River of Paraguay, located about 50 kilometers northwest of Asuncion. Officials believe it is due to illegal dump of waste waters. Scientists have taken water samples to determine the exact cause of the die-off. Thousands of fish found dead in the River Tagus, Portugal The fish die off is most probably linked to pollution, but everything is more than unclear. Tons of fish along a beach in Hua Hin, Thailand Many tonnes of small fish were washed up dead along about 10 kilometres of the Hua Hin beach after heavy rains. According to officials, the freshwater drained off into the sea diminishing the quantity of dissolved oxygen. Approximately all insects disappeared mysteriously in national parks across Germany Meanwhile in Germany, the number of virtually all insects has decrease by 75-82% in all the reserves and national parks in Germany. The reason behind this astronomic number of deaths in unclear. But it is extremely serious and of great concern. Follow us: Facebook and Twitter It's Election season and our editor's mailbox is overflowing. Who do your neighbors support? Read about it here. The final debate on Wednesday night between Longview School Board candidates C.J. Nickerson and Joe Hobson largely focused on sweeping changes to public education, questions about a high school merger and calls for more vocational programs. Hobson, a longtime union member, said hes running for office to raise awareness about the building trades as a career path. Theres a huge number of people getting ready to retire, and we need (students) to replace those people and to rebuild the infrastructure of this country and this area, he said. Nickerson, who holds a doctorate in education, said hes felt re-energized by serving on the board for the last four years and believes theres plenty of important work left to do. Basic education Candidates were asked to define basic education a question that has vexed legislators since the 2012 McCleary decision, when the state Supreme Court ruled the state Legislature wasnt fully funding basic education. In June, the Legislature boosted public education spending by about $1 billion annually over the next four years. Lawmakers also passed a levy swap, which raises state property taxes while lowering and capping local school levies. Rather than attempting to define basic education, Nickerson instead attacked the Legislatures McCleary fix. Well, they passed the act but they didnt appropriate enough money, Nickerson said. The move was intended to provide relief to property-poor school districts that have traditionally relied on levies to fund basic expenses such as teacher salaries. The incumbent said the new $1.50 cap per $1,0000 of assessed property value could present major challenges for the Longview School District going forward, noting that the state has not fully funded special education for decades. This could create problems now that districts are unable to use local levy dollars to meet rising special education costs, he said. The new legislature-approved salary schedule will hurt Longviews ability to attract and retain quality educators, who could earn more in Vancouver, Nickerson said. He argued schools could reduce costs if they were not burdened with state-mandated unnecessary rules and regulations that require tremendous amounts of staff time. For his part, Hobson said that basic education starts with literacy, noting that many local students struggle with basic reading. We need to read to our children and mentor them, he said. Hobson also said that civics and a basic understanding of democracy should be taught at an early age. High school merger? The candidates agreed that voters should decide whether to merge R.A. Long High School with Mark Morris High School and they thought a merger might be unnecessary. Nickerson said he believes the citys two high schools are ideally-sized. Theres a real beauty in the way the system is set up right now, he said, likening the two schools as part of a broader city-wide college campus. But the system which involves a constant shuffle of students who take AP classes at both schools needs some tweaking, Nickerson said. Having the two high schools makes it more complicated to manage, he said. Nickerson said the question needs to be studied more. If a comprehensive study finds that moving to one high school is better for students, the decision should be put to voters, he said. The district can take out more debt after 2023 if it wants to build a new high school. But Hobson said the school has other more pressing costs. Apprenticeships With a record number of students enrolled in Running Start classes at Lower Columbia College, Hobson said the program which allows high school students to earn college credit should be expanded to include pre-apprenticeships. Id like to see added to that a Running Start for the trades, he said. Hobson said the district should partner with LCC and local companies to develop alternatives for students who dont want to attend college. Nickerson said he appreciates Hobsons interest in the trades. But people have to realize you cant just walk up to an apprenticeship and get accepted, he said. Apprenticeships are competitive. Nickerson said the districts job is to prepare students for a variety of careers. That means giving students the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors to be successful, he said. The candidates offered varying responses when asked about the idea of building a vocational training facility similar to Clark Countys skills center. Nickerson said it would be better for students to get hands-on experience in the field rather than in a classroom-like setting. Hobson, who has supported the idea of a skills center in the past, said hes evolved on the issue. Building a skills center could help people nearby but wouldnt benefit people living on the outskirts of the county who would have to drive long distances to get there, he said. Other challenges In his final comments, Nickerson said the district must strive to better serve a growing number of homeless students and English language learners. At the end of the last school year, the district had about 430 homeless or unstably housed kids, he noted, and the district needs to find ways to help stabilize their living situations. An increasing number of English language learners will also require the district to offer more targeted resources to close achievement gaps, he said. Hobson added that more young children are struggling with mental health illnesses. This all comes from a dysfunctional background and we need to address that, he said. Its something we need to put on the front burner and talk about. Throughout the evening, both candidates reiterated their support for the districts $121.6 million bond measure which would rebuild three of Longviews oldest elementary schools and renovate a preschool while also making districtwide safety and security upgrades. Hobson encouraged the room full of seniors to vote for the bond. Well have that legacy to hand off to the next generations after us, Hobson said. With snow beginning to fall in the Cascades, it wont be long before hungry elk start making their way to lower elevations looking for ways to survive whats expected to be another cold, wet winter. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will be ready to feed the states largest herd and in the process protect valuable agriculture and create an incredible sight for onlookers at the Oak Creek Feeding Station west of Naches. Even with the Yakima herd down by about 2,500 from last year to fewer than 8,500, according to February surveys, gathering the resources to provide 8 to 10 pounds of hay per elk per day takes plenty of time and effort. Weve already got quite a bit of hay delivered, Oak Creek Wildlife Area manager Greg Mackey said. Im not sure that we have enough here to get us through the winter, but weve got about 120 tons of hay here. Those bales stacked high outside dont include the hay filling the barn behind Mackeys office, which was left over from last winters extended feeding season. Across the regions seven feeding sites, the department generally tries to gather about 2,500 tons of hay before winter weather makes it more expensive to acquire and transport, said Wenas Wildlife Area manager Cindi Confer-Morris. Distributing the hay each day requires significant manpower, especially at Oak Creek, the only site where onlookers can drive up to see hundreds of elk on a daily basis. Volunteers offer tours on two 2.5-ton trucks and staff the visitors center, while five paid employees do the loading and distribution, repair equipment or fencing and count elk. Mackey and his staff oversee four different elk feeding sites, plus the bighorn sheep feeding site at Cleman Mountain off Old Naches Road where they place hay to keep elk from eating sheep pellets. Later this month, Mackey plans to put out notices for two seasonal positions, which will start on Dec. 1 and Dec. 15. We try to look for somebody that has some familiarity with driving trucks and operating tractors and hand tools, Mackey said. Assistant manager Bruce Berry added the ability to do maintenance is important as well, with all the equipment required to ensure the elk get fed each day. Three 5-ton military trucks put out hay at the headquarters, and they also utilize an F-450 bought with donation money and a 30-year-old Ford flatbed truck. All the sites need tractors as well, since the wildlife department switched from 100-pound hay bales to 1,500-pound bales more than 15 years ago. Along with completing repairs on one of the trucks, crews will need to repair any holes in the elk fence caused by flooding or other normal wear and tear. Fences are checked in the spring and again in the fall when hunting seasons are over, and theyre slowly making a transition from wood to more durable steel posts. About 7 miles on the Wenas proved its worth by surviving the Wenas Lake Fire this summer. A lot of the treatment that they do on the big (wood) posts now is not nearly as effective as when it was much more toxic chemicals that they used and so were seeing even as early as five years some of the posts are starting to rot, Confer Morris said. So the steel is something that should last upwards of 50 years and be able to take fire. Most long range weather forecasts predict this winter will be much like the last, when the regions feeding sites stayed open longer than any other winter since the department started keeping records in 2002. Feeding operations at the sites began the first half of December and continued through almost the entire month of March. Surplus from two light winters Oak Creek didnt feed elk at all in 2014-15 kept costs down a year ago despite the need for extra hay, but that wont be the case this winter. With heavy snow expected once again, Mackey said the department got 300 to 400 tons of donated hay, which still costs $50 per ton to transport, compared to the usual 600 to 800 tons and was also denied state funding for its volunteer program for the first time ever. I kind of was in panic mode, Mackey said. Being my first year here and then all of a sudden after 20 years of this successful volunteer program, they didnt get their grant funding. The effects of that change for public viewing remains to be seen, but Mackey said it wont affect the programs primary goal of keeping elk healthy and out of area crops. Mackey cant answer the frequent questions from people about when the elk will arrive, but whenever it happens, food will be waiting. Anisul for integrated approach to combat terrorism Terming terrorism as a global phenomena, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq called for a integrated approach to combat the scourge. "We should stress the need for pre-emptive action, educating people and engaging community and religious leaders to deplore terrorist activities," he told a meeting of the Commonwealth Law Ministers in Nassau, the Bahamas. Law ministers and attorneys-general from all regions of the Commonwealth met from October 16-19 in Nassau, the Bahamas, for the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM). The theme of this year's meeting, 'Strengthening the rule of law through technology', reflects how new technologies have shaped all facets in the world, including law and access to justice. Commonwealth law ministers are discussing a wide range of issues, including strengthening of legal frameworks for sustainable development, climate change, governance and promoting peace and security. Speaking on the occasion, Anisul Huq also mentioned, "Apart from the anti-terrorism and anti-money Laundering acts, the Bangladesh government is exploring ways on how to bring those responsible for abusing ICT to spread extremist venom." The minister also highlighted the various legislative changes introduced by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the last eight years to ensure democratic rights of the people, strengthen democratic institutions, facilitate development, combat the adverse impacts of climate change and root out extremism and terrorism. He also deliberated on the laws enacted to ensure democracy, human rights and rule of law and in this regard he put forwarded formation of the National Human Rights Council and its independence and function. The minister also elaborated on the establishment and proceedings of the International Crimes Tribunal which, he stated, was to ensure justice to the victims of genocide that took place during Bangladesh's War of Independence. At the sidelines of the ministerial event, the law minister also had a meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland. The minister reiterated Bangladesh's commitment to the Commonwealth values and processes. He also thanked the secretary-general for the message issued praising Bangladesh government for the assistance provided to the forcibly displaced Rohingyas of Myanmar. He updated the Secretary General on the present circumstances and the solution offered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her recent statement at the UN General Assembly. The Secretary General lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, particularly for championing girls' education, women's empowerment and in building a harmonious society and looked forward to her participation and lead role at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in 2018. BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia appeared before the Alia Madrasha Special Court in the city\'s Bakshibazar on Thursday seeking bail on Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust Graft cases. Power outage paralysed civic life Acute load shedding has made the civic life in Chittagong and adjoining rural areas miserable during intolerable hit. The students who are preparing for school examinations cannot continue their study due to seasonal hit and regular load shedding. The people of Chittagong are facing more than 200 MW load shedding every day. Awami League Chittagong City Committee recently sent a letter to the Power Development Board (PDB) in this regard very recently. The leaders of AL city committee held a meeting with the officials of PDB in Chittagong on Monday. The leaders of ruling party expressed deep concern over the acute load shedding in Chittagong and said, "Although the government increased the production of power in the country, the port city Chittagong is facing acute load shedding." They observed that the corruption and irregularities of the officials and staffs of PDB is the prime cause of load shedding in Chittagong. They demanded removal of load shedding and ensuring adequate power to the people of Chittagong. The Chief Engineer of PDB in Chittagong Engineer Probir Kumar Sen said, the PDB will ensure adequate power to the people of Chittagong within very short time. He said the load shedding and crisis of power in the port city will not continue from next month. "We will be able to supply necessary power to the people of Chittagong in next month. The load shedding is likely to be continued at least for 20/25 days." Ctg Mayor declines allegations of 100% increase instead of 4 times Chittagong City Mayor (CCC) A J M Nasir Uddin said corporation will not come out from the law. All should be loyal to the rule and pay the taxes as per prevailing law, he said. Addressing a press conference at Abdus Sattar Hall of CCC Nasir Uddin alleged that some identified persons are engaged with conspiracy against CCC by telling that CCC has increased the holding taxes around 100 times. But, in the new assessment, the total holding taxes is increased around only 4 times, he pointed out on Wednesday. He expressed determination that the CCC will take holding taxes as per new assessment. "There is an options to appeal on assessment. If any wrong holding taxes is imposed on any one in the new assessment, he can appeal in this regard." He pointed out that the expenditure of CCC increased several times than earlier. The salaries of mayor, ward councilors doubled than the previous elected bodies of CCC. "Besides, the salaries of staffs and workers have also increased. So, we need more money to meet the expenditure of CCC." Moreover, he has to ensure the service to the city dwellers. "Without money and taxes how can we ensure the service to people," he asked. As per prevailing law, we may impose 27 percent taxes on the city dwellers. But, now, CCC is taking only 17 percent taxes regarding the holdings, he said. He mentioned that in the last fiscal, the private tax payees contributed only Tk 23.70 crore in last fiscal (2016-17) against the expenditure of Tk 453.83 crore in development and management sector of CCC. The CCC got only Tk 18.63 crore regarding the cleaning of the city while spent Tk 79.10 crore in last fiscal. He said the expenditure of CCC regarding the salaries of staffs, mayor and councilors was Tk 71.47 crore in 2009-10 fiscal while the expenditure wasTk 191.71 crore in last fiscal. Mayor said the expenditure of CCC regarding the management, lighting and power was Tk 178.37 crore in 2009-10 fiscal while the expenditure was Tk 1567.69 crore in last fiscal. The chief revenue office of CCC displayed a power point presentation comparing the present and previous taxes, sources said. Collecting taxes as per city corporation laws : City Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin said he is not above the laws of the land and accountability , as such he is firm to reply to the letters of the former Mayors - ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury and Manzoor Alam in respect of holding taxes. He disclosed it while addressing the press conference arranged at City copraotion auditorium on Wednesdayday morning . City Mayor express determination that the CCC will collect holding tax as per new easement. The press conference so arranged following the protests and hesitations from former Mayors and councilors and dwellers of the city irrespective of caste and creed against the new assessment of holding taxes. He also disclosed that former mayors given letters to City Mayor and hoped the reply of these letters will be given in writing by 3 or days. In the press meet, the city mayor vows rigid in fixing holding taxes as per existing city corporation rules. He further mentioned that CCC proposes to fix holding taxes at the rate of 17% instead of 27%. He further said CCC has decided to exempt 100% surcharges from holding tax and trade license fees considering the sufferings of the city dwellers. Among others, chief executive officer Md. Shamsudoha, Chief Revenue officer Dr. Md. Mustfizur Rahman, Panel Mayor Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hasni, councilor Hasan Murad, Ismail Bali, Shaibal Das and Abida Azad were present in the press meet. CCC Mayor rigid to increase holding taxes: In spite of strong protest against the decision of increasing holding taxes in Chittagong city, the mayor of CCC is still rigid on his stand. The leaders of Chittagong City committee of ruling Awami League postponed the meeting with the Mayor of CCC A J M Nasir Uddin regarding the increased holding taxes. On the other hand, Nasir Uddin is going to hold a press conference today regarding his stand on increased taxes, the Public Relation Officer of CCC Abdur Rahim said. Sources said, people of Chittagong are continuing the processions and programs against Mayor and ward councilors of CCC for increasing the holding taxes several times more than the prevailing taxes. The president of Chittagong City Awami League and former mayor of CCC A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury and another former mayor M Manjur Alam sent letters to incumbent mayor regarding the increased holding taxes in the current month. Moreover, the meeting of 14 Party Alliance led by Awami League held at the residence of Mohiuddin Chowdhury at Chasma Hill in the port city on Tuesday evening. The meeting was chaired by A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury while NAP leader Ali Ahamod Najir, JSD leader Jashim Uddin Babul, Gonotantrik Party leader Islam Ashrafi, NAP leader Mithul Das Gupta and Foyej Ullah Worker's Party leader Sharif Chouhan, alliance leaders Abdul Latif, A T M Jafrul Alam and Samiron Das addressed the meeting. The meeting gave an ultimatum of one month to CCC for withdrawing the decision of increasing taxes. Otherwise, the 14 Party Alliance will declare hard movement against the incumbent mayor and councilors to save the people of Chittagong. It may be mentioned that the former mayor of CCC M Manjur Alam also attended the meeting. In the mean time, Nasir Uddin held another meeting with the councilors on Tuesday evening. He explained his position for increasing holding taxes in the meeting. Addressing the meeting, he said, "Vested quarters are trying to discourage the city dwellers for paying taxes by telling that the city corporation has increased the holding taxes. But, it is fact that CCC is not increasing any taxes, but reassessment of the values of holdings causing the increase of holding taxes." "Although many owners of the holdings are not paying taxes in time, they are criticizing the activities of mayor. So, I have to say, pay the taxes first and take the service from CCC," he added. Pointing to the two former mayors A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury and M Manjur Alam the incumbent mayor also said in the meeting, "I know who are standing behind the movement against increased taxes. What did they do during their tenure? Why they are involving themselves against the activities of CCC?" Nasir Uddin further said that the City Corporation is considering the sufferings of the city dwellers. So decision has been taken to exempt 100 percent surcharge on holding taxes and trade license fees. "We also decided to fix the slab construction fees in the lowest rate." EBEK alleviating poverty of 60,000 rural families in Rangpur BSS, Rangpur : The "Ektee Bari, Ektee Khamar - One House, One Farm (EBEK)" project has been effectively eliminating poverty of over 60 thousand rural families to make them self-reliant in the district. The information was disclosed by Deputy Director of Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) Abdus Sabur while taking part in a video conference held at Gangachara upazila town here yesterdday. The District Information Office organised the programme at the upazila BRDB office to inform the common people about the EBEK project, one of the Prime Minister's 10 special initiatives. Moderated by Senior District Information Officer Humayun Kobir, Abdus Sabur answered the questions asked by common villagers through video conferencing on progress and various aspects of the EBEK project. Gangachara Upazila Women Affairs Officer Mahmuda Begum, Upazila BRDB Officer Abdul Mannan and Chairman of Sadar union Al Suman Abdullah addressed it. The Deputy Director of BRDB explained about procedures of Village Development Samities (VDSs) formation and facilities being provided by the project in building a poverty-free Bangladesh. "More than 60,000 members, one from a family, were brought under the project, most of which became self-reliance through various income generating activities," said Sabur. Up to 60 families or members of a village have been brought under each of over 1,000 VDSs formed so far and they were given support for skill development and capital formation to set up and run family farms, business and other income generating activities. "Each of the 60 members, including 40 females and 20 males of every VDS, deposited Taka 200 per month that generated a fund of Taka 2.88 lakh for the Samity in two-year," Sabur said. He said the government provided another Taka 2.88 lakh as welfare grant and Taka three lakh as revolving loan to each of the VDSs. "The VDS provides revolving loans up to Taka 30,000 to a member for income generation provided that the member paid back their previous loan installments regularly, Sabur added. Myanmar, Thailand cooperate in promoting investment and trade Xinhua, Yangon : Securities Exchange Commissions of Myanmar and Thailand have agreed to cooperate in promoting investment and trade between the two countries, official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday. The two sides will share their experiences under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Yangon recently. In accordance with the MoU, training courses for Myanmar's human resources development will soon be launched to strengthen capacity building in Securities Exchange Commission of Myanmar. Trade between Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand topped Myanmar's ASEAN trade partners with 1.89 billion U.S. dollars as of August in fiscal year 2017-18. In the first five months of this FY 2017-18, trade between Myanmar and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached 4.3 billion U.S. dollars, according to with the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce. Iraqi govt assumes control after Kurds leave disputed areas Federal security forces and local police stand guard in the northern entrance of Kirkuk while people returning back to Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad on Tuesday. AP, Baghdad : Kurdish fighters pulled out of disputed areas across northern and eastern Iraq on Tuesday, one day after giving up the vital oil city of Kirkuk - a dramatic redeployment of forces that opened the way for government troops to move into energy-rich and other strategically important territories. The vastly outnumbered Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, appeared to have bowed to demands from the central government that they hand over areas outside the Kurds' autonomous region, including territory seized from the Islamic State group in recent years. The evacuations exposed a Kurdish leadership in turmoil in the wake of last month's vote for independence as Iraq's central government shores up its hand for negotiations over resource-sharing with the country's self-ruling minority. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi acknowledged the power shift, saying Iraqi forces took over the disputed areas from the Kurds with barely a shot fired. "I call on our citizens to celebrate this day, because we have been united," al-Abadi said, calling the independence vote "a thing of the past" as he offered to begin talks with the Kurdish regional government. The developments followed weeks of political crisis precipitated by the Kurdish leadership's decision to hold the referendum for independence in territories beyond the boundaries of its autonomous region in northeast Iraq. The Iraqi government, as well as Turkey and Iran, which border the land-locked Kurdish region, rejected the vote. The U.S. also opposed the vote, saying it was a distraction on the war against IS. If the mood in Baghdad was triumphant, it was acrimonious in the Kurdish capital of Irbil, reflecting the sense among many Kurds that they had been betrayed - and by their own leaders. "Kirkuk was sold out, everyone ran away," said Amir Aydn, a 28-year-old Kirkuk resident as he returned to the city after fleeing the day before. A hospital in the nearby Kurdish city of Suleimaniyah said it had received the bodies of 25 peshmerga fighters killed in clashes over Kirkuk. The claim could not be independently verified. Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said the evacuation of Kirkuk was forced by "certain people in a certain party," a swipe at his political opponents in the Patriotic Union of Kuridstan, known as the PUK. Barzani heads the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP. The General Command of the peshmerga, nominally in Barzani's hands, went even further, accusing PUK officials of "a great and historic treason against Kurdistan." Their accusations were grounded in reports that peshmerga divisions loyal to the PUK had abandoned their positions as the Iraqi government forces advanced, though the KDP-aligned divisions also withdrew, in Kirkuk and in other parts of the country. The KDP leadership also condemned the PUK for meeting with Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who advises Iraq's predominantly Shiite Popular Mobilization Front militias, in the buildup to this week's territorial withdrawal. The Shiite militias are an integral part of Iraq's military apparatus but are viewed with considerable distrust by the Kurds, who consider them a symbol of Tehran's influence in Iraq. Peshmerga commander Wista Rasoul, who led a PUK-aligned division in Kirkuk, denied fractures in the Kurdish military ranks and said the pullout was a response to the central government's vastly superior firepower. Ala Talabani, a leading PUK official, also defended her meeting with Soleimani on Saturday when he came to pay his respects over the death of her uncle, the late Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. She said Soleimani's counsel was wise and praised Iran's role in Iraq. "Soleimani advised us ... that Kirkuk should return to the law and the constitution, so let us come to an understanding," she told the Arabic language TV station al-Hadath. Barzani insisted he would not give up his campaign for independence, though such hopes seem more distant than ever in the dismal fallout from the referendum. Kirkuk was a vital source of oil revenues for the Kurdish regional government. Vahal Ali, a senior adviser to Barzani, told The Associated Press the peshmerga would have to withdraw to the areas it held in 2014, before it deployed across northern Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State group - territory that accounts for much of the land the central government wants back. The Kurdish leadership has been quick to point out that it secured Kirkuk and its oil bounty against the Islamic State after regular Iraqi forces fled that year. Analysts saw a return to the opportunism that characterized Kurdish party politics before the independence vote allowed them to paper over their differences, if only briefly. The PUK did not want to appear opposed to Kurdish independence even though it expressed misgivings over the referendum called by Barzani. Both parties have an eye on Kurdish regional elections slated for November, said Ahmed Rishdi, an adviser to Iraqi Parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri. "I think the PUK and the KDP distributed roles," he said "The KDP are the dream makers and the PUK are the peacemakers, so now they are going to divide the Parliament between them," and squeeze out other minor parties. But voters may not want to cast their ballots for either party. "Nobody is looking especially good at the moment," said Fanar Haddad, a senior Middle East research fellow at the National University of Singapore. If there is a silver lining for the PUK, it is that it may now be in a position to undermine Barzani for calling the ill-fated referendum, he said. And while its coziness with Baghdad and Iran exposes the party to accusations of treason, which ring strongly in Kurdish national politics, the PUK may find itself in a position to attract Iranian or Iraqi largesse. "If the PUK is able to pay salaries and spread some wealth then their treason just might be put aside" by some, Haddad said. Ardern to be next New Zealand PM, spelling big change for economy New Zealand Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern addresses a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on Thursday. Reuters, Wellington : New Zealand's next prime minister will be Jacinda Ardern, whose Labour party won the support of a small nationalist party to form the government, spelling big changes for a small but open economy, whose currency hit a 4-1/2-month low on the news. Labour indicated it would pursue plans to change the central bank's mandate, seek to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and prioritize an effort to ban foreign ownership of certain types of housing. "It is an absolute honor and a privilege to have the ability to form a government for all New Zealanders," said Ardern, who will be the youngest prime minister in more than 150 years, ending the conservative National Party's decade in power. "These negotiations have been robust, but there has been more that has united the parties than has divided." The New Zealand dollar fell more than one percent on the news that Labour would lead a government with backing from New Zealand First, as markets worried it would usher in more protectionist policies. Ardern, a political ingenue whose victory marks the emergence of another youthful global leader promising to shake up the status quo, said she had offered the position of her deputy to Winston Peters, the leader of New Zealand First, who was considering it. "Far too many New Zealanders have come to view today's capitalism, not as their friend, but as their foe," Peters told a news conference. "We've had to make a choice for a modified status quo, or for change," he said. "We choose a coalition government of New Zealand First with Labour." Peters said new policy announcements would be up to Ardern, but gave a foretaste of what may come by saying he expected fewer immigrants to be allowed into New Zealand. He had agreed with Labour to build tens of thousands of affordable homes, he added. "This shows that Winston Peters wants to make some radical changes in New Zealand," said Bryce Edwards, political analyst at Critical Politics in Wellington. "He has always been an anti-establishment MP and he, in what will be his last time in government, wants to be in sync with that global rebellion against the status quo." New Zealand First holds the balance of power with nine seats, a Labour-Green bloc controls 54 seats, and the National Party has 56 seats. Labour and New Zealand First both favor curbs on trade and migration, which have both been a key source of growth for New Zealand's rapidly growing economy in recent years. Annual net migration of 72,300 is at record levels in New Zealand, a country of just 4.7 million people, ahead of both Britain and the United States on a per capita basis. The new government represents sweeping change for New Zealand with big implications for the currency - the world's 11th most traded - the central bank, immigration and foreign investment. Post-war migration has underpinned New Zealand's economic success, but has also become a lightning rod for nationalists such as Peters, as housing prices soar. Peters has said he plans to obstruct the government's pro-China stance. Under the previous National government, New Zealand became the first developed country to join the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank. Trade between the two countries has grown to more than NZ$20 billion ($14.4 billion) a year and Chinese President Xi Jinping called the relationship "unprecedented" in its depth. After Thursday's announcement, the New Zealand dollar was last quoted 1.68 percent lower at $0.7034. It has fallen more then 4 percent against the U.S. dollar since the Sept. 23 vote. Sharif, daughter indicted on corruption charges Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Pakistan Supreme Court in July for not declaring a source of income. Reuters , Islamabad : A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, pressing charges over accusations that could see the former leader jailed. Nawaz Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. A Reuters witness in court said Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam, as well as her husband Muhammad Safdar, had all been indicted by a court of the anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Muhammad Safdar were present in court, but Nawaz Sharif sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment. Nawaz Sharif's disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London. The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Nawaz Sharif but ordered an investigation into his family's wealth. After the probe, it disqualified him and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial. A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the family's wealth did not match its income, and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats. A lawyer for the 67-year-old Sharif, who is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former prime minister's daughter, Maryam Sharif, and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended Thursday's hearing at the Accountability Court and also pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from a trove of documents, known as the Panama Papers, that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as "baseless" after exiting the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would "face these cases with courage." The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. Sharif's political future has been hanging in balance since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from being prime minister. A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said "we knew justice would not be done." Rana Sanaullah said there were "hidden hands" behind Sharif's dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations, without elaborating. Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties, which say Sharif is continuing to rule through a "puppet" prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. After the indictment, Maryam Nawaz vowed to fight the charges, which she called "a travesty of justice and a mockery of justice." "I refuse to accept the charges," Nawaz told reporters outside the federal courthouse. "We are being denied a fundamental right to justice. I plead not guilty." Sharif did not immediately comment from London. No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full term since the country's founding in 1947. Sharif had served as prime minister twice in the 1990s. Sharif repeatedly denied the charges during the Supreme Court proceedings, but offered varying and sometimes contradictory explanations as to how he and his family had financed various properties, especially a group of luxury apartments in London. 6-day Art Exhibition at DU A six-day 'Annual Art Exhibition' began on Monday at the Zainul Gallery of Fine Art Faculty of Dhaka University (DU). Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the programme as the chief guest and distributed prizes and certificates of a painting competition among the winners, said a DU release here. The winners are Samina Zaman, Horandranath Ray and Hasiba Ehasmin of masters students, Joysshri Goshami Mita of honors first-year, Zahidul Alam Jamil of the honors second-year and Famida Haque Mhahi of the honors final-year students. A total of 51 selected artworks of 28 students have been put on display at the exhibition. DU Oriental Art Department under Fine Art Faculty organised the exhibition while Fine Art Faculty Dean Prof Nisar Hossain presided over the inaugural session. Prof of DU Oriental Art Department Dr Md Abdus Sattar and Art Critics Prof Bulbon Osman addressed it as special guests. The exhibition will remain open for all from 11 am to 8 pm every day till October 21, the release added. 100 million girls unprotected against child marriage Tharanga Yakupitiyage : Over 20,000 girls are married before the age of 18 every day around the world as countries continue to lack legal protections, according to a new study. Concerned over the lack of progress, Save the Children and the World Bank teamed up to research child marriage laws around the world and found a dismal picture. Globally, even in countries that restrict the practice, almost 8 million girls are married illegally under the age of 18 each year, making up 60 percent of child marriages. "It is such a critical issue for young girls around the worldbut also for her future family and health of her children later as well," President and CEO of Save the Children Carolyn Miles told IPS. Marriage often has irreversible impacts on child brides who are at greater risk of poor health outcomes, living in poverty, and dropping out of school. In fact, loss of access to education appears to be both a cause and consequence of child marriage. Around the world, 32 million primary school and 29 million lower-secondary school-aged girls are out of school. Such girls are more likely to be married as children, Miles noted. "For girls, being in school is a protective mechanism really," she said. Girls who marry also often forced to leave school, and many find it difficult to return after marriage due to social pressure, domestic responsibilities, and even government policies. In Tanzania, schools are allowed to expel or exclude students who are married or become pregnant. By undermining their basic rights to education, girls' life opportunities become limited, creating a domino effect that impacts the well-being of societies at large. Some nations have made progress towards ending child marriage, including Mexico, Nepal, and Zimbabwe, all of which either raised the minimum age for marriage or eliminated exceptions to the practice. However, many countries still allow girls to be married before 18 with parental or judicial consent while others still retain a lower legal age for marriage. Bangladesh, for example, recently passed a law to allow girls below 18 to be married in "special cases," setting back progress towards ending child marriage. While stories of child marriage are commonly associated with the Global South, countries like the United States are also guilty of the practice. Across all 50 states, marriage before the age of 18 has remained legal as some lack any minimum marital age while others allow exceptions such as parental and judicial consent. Most recently, New Hampshire rejected a bill to increase the age of marriage from 13 to 18 while New Jersey vetoed a ban on marriage under the age of 18. When considering parental and judicial exceptions, Save the Children and the World Bank found that close to 100 million girls around the world are not legally protected against child marriage. The organizations also found that two-thirds of all child marriages take place even in countries where the practice is banned, indicating a lack of enforcement of marriage laws. Bangladesh, despite having set a minimum age of 18, has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world with 65 percent of girls married before the age of 18. West and Central Africa sees 1.7 million illegal child marriages every year, making it one of the highest proportions globally. Legal reforms alone are therefore not enough to end the harmful practice, Miles said. "It's about trying to change the local customs or belief that it's okay for a girl to be married," she told IPS. "Yes, we need laws and yes, we need laws that aren't going to be circumvented, but we also need to change beliefs and these underlying issues," Miles continued. Among such laws is a legal age of 18 for marriage and the elimination of parental and judicial exceptions. The report also highlighted the need for countries to adopt clear interventions to delay marriage and to increase investment in the poorest and most marginalized girls in areas such as safe, accessible, affordable, and quality education. Efforts are also needed to address discrimination and social norms that prevent girls from attending school and limit their future opportunities. "Investing in such interventions, documenting their impacts, and implementing a broad range of gender transformative policies will all be key to ensuring a better future both for girls and countries as a whole," the report concludes. The globally adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes the harmful practice and includes a target to eliminate child marriage by 2030. The report was launched ahead of an African-led High Level Meeting on Ending Child Marriage where there are high hopes that it could be a turning point to move the continent away from the practice. - IPS Move about replacing garment monitoring agencies BGMEA leaders have decided not to extend agreement with Accord and Alliance - two buyers assigned inspection agencies to monitor remediation of garment factories in Bangladesh beyond their tenure set to expire by June 2018. It appears the leaders of the apex trade body has rightly identified that both the organizations have almost completed the inspection and remediation process of Bangladesh garment factories that led to upgradation of fire safety and improvement in working condition. It is time a new local agency to be set up soon to take up their task. We appreciate the leadership that both the organizations offered to modernize Bangladesh's garment industry and they would now agree that their responsibility might be handed over to a local body to carry out the job. The new organization to be known as 'Shomman' or respect will be registered under an appropriate law to be run under the guidance of an ombudsman chosen by the Prime Minister's Office. BGMEA leaders said it would have a steering committee with representatives from industry owners, the ILO, international brands and local trade unions, in addition to Commerce and Labour Ministries. All decisions would be on consensus basis and neither the government nor the BGMEA would have any veto power. The new organization will replace Accord engaged by European buyers and Alliance looking after the concerns of North American buyers. The new move has apparently come as BGMEA sees the garment sector has achieved significant progress under the inspection and guidance of the two organizations and it is time that local manufacturers should take up the leadership to carry out their own remediation as part of a continuing process. BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman made those disclosures to The New Nation Tuesday explaining the transformation that the garment industry has already achieved to satisfy buyers concerns. Agreements were signed with the two organizations after the devastating fire at Rana Plaza in April 2014 followed by another big fire at Tazren Fashions in November 2013. In the first incident over 1100 garment workers perished while at Tazren Fashions several dozens workers were killed that created outcry in European and American buyers. They came under serious protest from rights groups to stop buying garments from Bangladesh tainted by workers sweat and blood. The two organizations carried out inspection and remediation in several thousand factories and closed a number of them, which failed to fulfil the compliance. BGMEA believe presence of both the inspection organizations will be no more required as local capacity building has made significant progress to replace their functions. It is also expensive and often abusive and their function be otherwise planned by local bodies. Industries are subject to renovation and modernization. This is a constant process and we believe BGMEA will become successful in their new move. Relief activities for victims inadequate: CPD CPDas Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattachariya speaking at the dialogue organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) held at CIRDAP Auditorium in city on Thursday. Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud among others also s Staff Reporter : Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised a discussion meeting on Thursday titled as 'Flood 2017: Assessing Damage and Post-flood Management' at CIRDAP auditorium in the city. Distinguished Fellow of CPD Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya moderated the discussion meeting while Minister of Water Resources Ministry Anisul Isalm Mahmud was the chief guest and Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Dhirendra Debnath Shambhu was present as special guest in the meeting. Climate Change and Hydrology specialist Professor Dr Ainun Nishat, Professorial Fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development (BIDS) Dr M Asaduzzaman, Distinguished Fellow of CPD Mustafizur Rahman, Director General of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Engineer Md. Mahfuzur Rahman, Director of Crop Wing of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Hanif Mohammad, among others, spoke in the meeting. Senior Research Associate of CPD Md Zafar Sadique and Estiaque Bari presented the key-note paper in the meeting. According to the research, recent floods have crossed previous records of floods in the country. Recent floods in the month of April and August 2017 affected 46.7 and 82 lakhs people respectively in the affected districts. The loss of Boro in April flood amounted to Tk 5300 crore which was 8.3 per cent of national Boro production. Vegetables of about 460 hectares of land were damaged. In addition an amount of Tk 4500 crore were needed to rebuild houses, infrastructure and embankments and Aman crop of Tk 1800 crore was damaged. These floods have reduced purchasing power of people of flood affected areas, increased burden of loan repayment, distressed sale and increased cost of agricultural inputs for re-plantation. Zafar Sadique said two fold recent floods in the northern part of the country left million people homeless, ruined crops, livestock, fisheries, embankments, roads, infrastructure and made poor poor with burden of loans. The farmers of haors after losing the only crop in the field are struggling to cope with the situation and many are still living on the embankments as they have nowhere to go to live in. "Though government and aid agencies distributed emergency relief, but inadequate, not coordinated and distributed through weak distribution channels," said Zafar Sadique. Estiaque Bari pointed out that 66.5 thousand MT rice was allocated to distribute through VGF programme among 3.8 lakh families in haor areas for six months is equivalent to 36.8 per cent of total flood affected households. Government support covered 68.4 per cent of the total number of farmers affected by the flash flood. Dr Ainun Nishat said "Flood affected people are still fighting with the post flood situation. Government is keen to help the flood affected people but relief distributed were not adequate to meet the peoples demand and BWDB should be concerned about continuous embankment management and maintenance for which people suffered a lot this time," "Our institutional weaknesses are there, poor agricultural infrastructure, weak embankment, few expertise on haor hydrology and high level of corruption in infrastructural development are increasing sufferings besides natural calamities," Ainun Nishat mentioned. Dr M Asaduzzaman said "Good governance required in the flood prone areas. Roads, embankments and infrastructures are built every year and washed out overnight due to flood and disaster. Our development is investment oriented and not sustainable; it may not help to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030," "We are losing our money and resources due to poor governance where continuous maintenance is a must to be sustainable," he added. Anisul Islam Mahmud said we have lack of human resources and adequate technologies. BWDB is keen to build sustainable embankments but people of flood prone areas puts enormous pressure on the embankments by building houses, raising cattle and cut the embankment for carrying crops through it over time and thus suffer during the flood. "Climate change and trans-boundary river management are the key challenge now to mitigate flood and other natural calamities. Not only our country is suffering, but it is now global issue. We are working to resist such calamities," he added. 8 'robbers' held in city Police arrested eight members of inter-district dacoit\'s gang and recovered a huge quantity of sharp weapons along with cash Tk 1, 75,000 from their possession. Police also seized an engine boat used by the dacoits for committing dacoity. The photo was t Police arrested eight suspected members of a robber gang from the capital and its adjoining areas on Wednesday night in connection with a snatching incident in Badamtoli area. The arrestees are Mosiur Rahman Liton, 45, Md Mizan, 40, Md Ali Sheikh, 38, Monir Hossain, 38, Md Babul, 48, Md Jahangir, 36, Md Ataur Rahman alias Ati, 44, and Md Joinal, 50. Police also recovered one engine boat used for committing robbery, four knives and cash Tk 1.75 lakh from their possessions. Shamsuddin, a fruit trader of Hazi Lat Market in Old Dhaka sent his five employees to deposit Tk 20 lakh to a bank of Islampur on October 8. On their way, a gang of robbers snatched the money in front of river police Jetty of Badamtoli and fled the scene, said Inspector (Investigation) of the police station Md Jan-e Alam. Monwar Hossain Mitho, the manager of the fruits trader, filed a robbery case with Kotwali police station. Later, Police arrested gang leader Bhutto from Kamrangichar area on October 14. Import of 5 mts of petroleum planned The government has set a target to import about 5 million metric tonnes of different petroleum fuels for the year 2018 against the country's demand for 5.752 million mts. The remaining 752,000 mt will be mobilised from state-owned Eastern Refinery and other locally-owned private refineries, officials at the Energy Division said. Half of the total import will be procured from the international market though open tendering method (OTM) while the remaining half from certain countries through state-to-state deals, according to official documents obtained by UNB. The government has already completed negotiations with different countries to directly import some 2.490 million mt petroleum on government-to government (G-to-G) contracts for the year 2018. The import through OTM will be made from time to time considering the requirement, officials said. On the G-to-G contracts, the document shows, the government will import the highest quantity of fuel from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) of Kuwait. The total quantity is 1.220 million mts, including 1.020 million mts diesel and 200,000 mts Jet-A-1 fuel. Three Chinese companies will provide 340,000 mts of petroleum fuel, according to the document. Of that, Petrochina of China will provide 120,000 mts of diesel and 40,000 mts of furnace oil, while UNIPEC 150,000 mts of diesel and Zhenhua 30,000 mts of diesel. Malaysia is going to be the third highest supplier of petroleum fuels as Malaysian PTLCL will supply 290,000 mts of fuel, including 230,000 mts diesel and 60,000 mts furnace oil. Besides, ENOC of United Arab Emirates will provide 120,000 mts of diesel and 40,000 mts of furnace oil. PNOC of the Philippines will provide 150,000 mts of diesel and 15,000 mts of petrol or octane. Vietnamese company Petrolemex will provide 60,000 mts of diesel and 40,000 mts of petrol or octane while Bhumi Siak of Indonesia will supply 60,000 mts of diesel, 15,000 mts of octane or petrol and 40,000 mts of furnace oil. The PTTT of Thailand will provide 30,000 mts of diesel and 40,000 mts of furnace oil while OTI of Oman 30,000 mts of diesel. Of the total import target of 4.980 million metric tonnes of petroleum, the government will import some 2.410 million mts of petroleum in the first six months of 2018, while 2.570 million mts of fuel will be imported in the next six months (July-Dec) to meet the domestic need, the official data shows. Second US judge orders freeze on Trump travel ban Participants at the \'No Muslim Ban\' ever rally and march in Washington, DC. AFP : A second judge ordered a freeze on President Donald Trump's newest travel ban order on Wednesday, saying it was essentially targeted at Muslims in violation of the US Constitution. Maryland federal judge Theodore Chuang said the ban affecting travelers from six majority-Muslim countries and North Korea, as well as many officials from Venezuela, essentially had not changed from the first two versions, which were shot down in lower courts as discriminating against a single religion. He pointed out, as in earlier rulings, that Trump had repeatedly promised a ban on Muslims coming into the country during last year's presidential election. Chuang was the second judge this week to order a block on the open-ended ban, issued in a White House executive order in September and which was to come in effect on Wednesday. Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the White House Wednesday, chanting "no Muslim ban," and "no ban, no wall, freedom for all"-referencing Trump's plans to build a wall on the Mexican border. A march to the Trump International Hotel, a few blocks away, was also planned. Yemeni Fathi al-Huthaifi, 41, told AFP his wife is stranded in Saudi Arabia as a result of the ban. "She's waiting for her visa but the travel ban makes it delayed, delayed," explained Huthaifi, who has five children, all with US citizenship. "When we allow one group to get banned, then we allow other groups to get banned," civil rights activist Linda Sarsour said, adding, "This is part of a standing campaign of this administration, a white supremacist agenda." Isra Chaker, a refugee camp adviser for Oxfam America, branded the ban "an affront to the American tradition." "This decision impacts life of real people... no one (chooses) to become a refugee," she said. On Tuesday, Hawaii federal district judge Derrick Watson also objected to the ban, saying it illegally discriminated against the entire populations of six countries-Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen-and would not, as it claimed, add to US national security. Trump has battled with the courts since the first version of the ban, and in June finally gained Supreme Court approval to implement an amended second version for 90 days, which ended last month. On Tuesday the White House said it would fight the newest ban by Watson, pointing to yet another likely fight in the Supreme Court. Secondary teachers ultimatum for nationalisation Staff Reporter : The teachers of secondary level educational institutions on Thursday issued ultimatum to the government asking to nationalise their institutions by December 31. The teachers warned the government also in case of failure to meet the demand. They announced it from a rally held on the Central Shaheed Minar premises organised by Bangladesh Non-Government Teachers-Employees Forum on Thursday. The Forum President Abdul Khalek presided over the rally while Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Information Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister, Shirin Akhter MP, Advocate Fazilatunnesa Bappy MP, and Professor Afzal Hossain of Dhaka University, Nuh-Alam Lelin and Presidium Member of Bangladesh Awami League addressed the rally. The leaders of the forum said, the education sector especially secondary level is one of the neglected areas in the country. The teachers have been working to build skilled and educated future generation to make the country prosperous and developed. But the teachers are not treated properly. "The teachers showed the example of dedication for the nation in the past. We are also working with highest dedication and responsibility. It will be accelerated if the government nationalises the institutions," Abdul Khalek said. The Forum will hold rally in every district to press home their demand by December 31, protest rally at each upazila across the country on January 11 next year, civil society gathering on January 19 and work abstention for one hour on January 27 and 28 at every secondary educational institution. It will announce the final programme on January 29 if their demand is not met by the deadline. The leaders of the Forum said that it would be a great mistake for the government if there is no initiative to make the institutions nationalised. Overlooking the issue will not be good for the education sector in the country. Hilsa fishing continues defying ban 2100 jailed, Tk 44 lakh fined, 50mt fish seized, 3 lakh fishermen yet to get compensation Md Joynal Abedin Khan : At least 2,100 fishermen were sentenced to different jail terms and others fined worth Tk 44 lakh for catching Hilsa defying the government ban during the last 19 days till Thursday. Many fishermen continued to catch Hilsa defying the ongoing ban (from October 1 to October 22) on netting, selling and transporting of the fish to protect mother Hilsa till spawning. They have netted tonnes of hilsa, particularly during the night, in the Meghna, Kirtankhola, Bishkhali, Kalabadar and Arial Kha rivers in Barisal division, the Padma in Rajshahi, Munshiganj and the Meghna in Narayanganj in last 19 days, our locals correspondent said. Meanwhile, about 50 metric tones of seized Hilsa have been distributed among local religious institutes, including orphans and madrashas, it was learnt. According to them, more than three lakh fishermen have failed to enlist their names for the government compensation. A section of deprived fishermen carried attacks on some officers of Fisheries Deparetment and law enforcers for creating bar to catch Hilsa in the Padma River in Munshiganj and Manikganj districts, according to them. Earlier, at least 20 officials of the department and some cop members were assaulted by the angry fishermen in Bhola, Barisal, Patuakhali, Narayanganj, Manikganj and some other districts, they said. "At least 2,100 fishermen were sent to jail and others were fined Tk 44 lakh for catching Hilsa during the ban period," Md Mahbub Ul Haque, Assistant Director, Fresh Water Prawn Culture Extension Project of Fisheries Department, told The New nation on Wednesday. We have taken a decision to distribute 7,689.24 metric tonnes rice among 3,84,462 fishermen out 5.5 lakh applicants in 112 upazilas in 25 districts, the fisheries official said. Meanwhile, fishermen were yet to get the promised food support in compensation from the government for complying with the ban. Each of the 5.5 lakh fishermen is supposed to get 20kg rice in compensation, he added. Visiting Gora Padma area in Barguna's Patharghata upazila on Wednesday, our correspondent saw a group of fishermen on a trawler netting fish at the mouth of the Bishkhali River. They caught a good quantity of Hilsa there. One of the fishermen said they were catching fish only to run their families. "How can we survive if we can't fish and also don't get any food support from the government?" asked Shahadad Hossain, a fisherman of Chandramobhon village in Barisal Sadar. "I have to pass my days in hardship during the ban period as there is not enough food in my house," said Md Delowar, a fisherman in Nalbunia of Nalchhity, who did not get any kind of help from the government. "Hilsa fishing is the only way of earning my livelihood, so I am bound to do it during the ban period for my survival," said Jakir Hosain, a fisherman of Ilisha area in Bhola Sadar. "I need three kg of rice and other necessities every day, but I will get only 20 kg of rice for the 22 days. If I don't go for fishing, my family members will starve," said a fisherman of the same area, adding that he gets help from the government, but not at the right time. As many as 2,27,943 fishermen are getting government support out of 3,16,044 registered fishermen in the division during the ongoing ban, said Md Bazlur Rashid, Director of the Fisheries Department of Barisal division. Three mobile courts sentenced 30 fishermen to a 10-day imprisonment each for catching hilsa in the Padma River in Faridpur district defying the ongoing government ban, said Executive Magistrate Sajal Chandra Sheel. "Every year, the government helps the fishermen during the ban, but they have not received help as yet this season," said Union Parishad Member Nurul Alam of Nalbunia under Ranapasha union in Nalchhity in Jhalokathi district. "I have got 13 cards for distribution among 13 families, while there are 35 families in my ward," he said. Meanwhile, three fisheries officials were injured following the attack on them by the fishermen at Louhajang upazila in Munshiganj district around 5:00am on Wednesday, said, Sarjit Kumar Ghosh, Sub Inspector of Maua River Police. They injured are Kamrul Hasan, Senior Fisheries Officer (FO), Idris Talukder, Assistant FO, and Rasel Molla, Fisheries Extension Officer. The government has imposed ban on the catching, selling and transportation of Hilsa for 22 days from October 1 to 22, that is known as the peak-breeding season of Hilsa. Round 4.5 lakh tonnes of hilsa were caught last year and the number might exceed 5 lakh tonnes in the current year. `I`m being harassed in the name of trial`: Khaleda Terming the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case totally a 'false, baseless and motivated one', BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday said she has long been subjected to harassment and sufferings in the name of trial of the case filed against her. While giving her self-defence statement in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case before the makeshift court of Special Judge-5 at Bakshibazar, the BNP chief also claimed not a single taka of the trust was neither misused nor embezzled. Khaleda also said, she considers herself as an ordinary person, but she has devoted her limited power, ability, merits and knowledge to the cause of the country its people and their welfare. "All the allegations brought in the case are quite imaginary and totally fabricated ones. These allegations are also filled with self-contradictory statements... My normal life, political and organisational activities are being hampered due to the case," the BNP chief said. Khaleda claimed though she has no involvement in the finance and administration of the trust, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against her beyond its 'legal authority and jurisdiction'. She criticised the government for holding the trial proceedings of the case setting up a makeshift court on the playground of Government Alia Madrasah where erstwhile BDR members, accused of mutiny, rape and killing, were tried. "The main motive of the ruling party behind it is to humiliate and belittle me in public during the trial proceedings." Khaleda further said, "It's also one kind of interference in the trial proceedings. This move has created a serious doubt in public mind about getting justice. Through it, I've been badly harassed and defamed during the trial. To whom should I seek its redress? Where'll I get its remedy? The BNP chief alleged that the ruling party is constantly making its evil efforts while its leaders are making unguarded remarks on the 'sub-judice' matter to influence the trial of the case in many ways. Referring to media reports, Khaleda said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a public meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan on January 10 this year accused her of embezzling orphans' money and said she is not appearing before court regularly as a guilty mind is always suspicious. "What response should I give to the Prime Minister's such defamatory and indecent remarks on an under-trial case? She claimed that the money came from abroad as donation to the Zia Orphanage Trust and it was spent on its welfare while the rest of the money has been deposited with the bank. "Every penny is there in the bank. Not a single taka has neither been misused nor embezzled. There's no question of misappropriating any money of it. Under the circumstances, how did the Prime Minister make the defamatory and offensive comment like embezzling orphans' money? Does she have the jurisdiction to make comment on a sub-judice matter? Isn't it violation of law and interference in the trial process?" Khaleda questioned. She said, the ruling party leaders have long been making reckless comments on the under trial case and even dictating what will be the verdict of it. "Serious doubt and lack of confidence have been created in public mind and also of us over having justice as there's no effort to stop such an unlawful campaign." The BNP chief, however, said she wants to believe the court will function as per the law. Earlier, the special court, which had issued the warrants for Khaleda's arrest, granted her bail upon Tk 1 lakh bond each in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases. A day after returning home from the UK, Khaleda surrendered before the makeshift around 11am today. On July 3, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, and four others for misappropriating over Tk 21.0 million (2.10 crore) that came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans. On August 8, 2011, the commission filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abuse of power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources. its member countries to pave the way for meaningful cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and people-to-people contacts. The Istanbul Summit will also offer the D-8 leaders an opportunity of renewing and strengthening bilateral relations among the member states, said a Foreign Ministry official. Ahead of the Summit, the 17th meeting of D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers took place in Istanbul on Thursday. Chaired by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the meeting was attended by Foreign Ministers and delegations from all the D-8 member states. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam represented Bangladesh in the meeting. D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development cooperation among the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The State Minister who reached Istanbul on Wednesday will attend the Summit. He is leading a six-member delegation, including the Director-General (International Organizations) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Turkey, and Consul General of Bangladesh to Istanbul. Bangladesh is one of the co-founders of this bloc. Its 9th Summit is taking place marking its 20th founding anniversary. 20,000 stranded in no-man`s land, entered BD The influx of Rohingyas to Bangladesh not yet stopped. At least 20,000 fresh Rohingyas, who were earlier stranded at no-man\'s land since Sunday night, have entered Bangladesh through Anjuman Para border crossing point. The photo was taken on Thursday. UNB, Cox's Bazar : Around 50 percent of the 15,000 to 20,000 Rohingyas, who gathered at the no-man's land of Anjumanpara along the border, were taken to the playground of Thainkhali School in Ukhia upazila on Thursday morning. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) authorities said the newly entered Rohingyas, will be sent to Balukhali and Kutupalang camps from the school ground. Authorities concerned started shifting Rohingyas from the no-man's land of Anjumanpara along the border to the school ground. An officer of BGB, wishing anonymity, said the camps which government allotted in Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas for Rohingyas have already been overcrowded and it is not possible to give shelter to the new influx of Rohingyas. Local administration said NGO, like IOM, Red Cross are continuing their efforts to provide food, medical services to Rohingyas who fled persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine State since August 25. So far, over 582,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh. Villa with a view: A tryst with nature at Chikmagalur A beautiful plantation estate in Chikmagalur and mornings that become memories Kalyani Prasher The worst thing one could do is shake me awake before the sun has even made up its mind about rising. Naturally, this is exactly what my friend proceeded to do on the very first day of my holiday. "Wake up! Just look outside!" I didn't want to look outside. I wanted to look inside, into the very nice dream I was having about relaxing. I was in Chikmagalur for my birthday, with the sole agenda of chilling, and I was not going to be bullied into sightseeing while still in bed. Very early into my career as a travel writer, Chikmagalur popped up as an attractive destination. All the photographs we saw sitting in Delhi were simply superb - coffee plantations, misty mountains, birds, peace, quiet - the whole deal. So, I've wanted to go to Chikmagalur for about ten years now. This year, using my birthday as a suitable excuse, I decided to - as a sportswear brand advises frequently - just do it. As I hurtled towards my dream destination from Bangalore airport, I started to become suspicious that the photographs, because of which I was making this long journey, may have been thanks to the talent of the photographers. The drive from Bangalore to Chikmagalur is probably the most boring journey I've been on, the only saving grace being some excellent filter coffee along the way, in an open air cafe, for Rs 10 a cup. Life got interesting towards the end of the five-hour journey, when you could finally see the hills of the Mullayanagiri range, a part of the Western Ghats. What the drive to Chikmagalur lacks, the short drive from town (a charming small town with lots of old buildings) to Primrose Villas, a beautiful small hotel set within the 125-year-old Baganeheddal coffee estate, makes up nicely. The 700-acre plantation is like a forest through which snakes a path, just wide enough for a single car, slowly taking you up to the hotel. As we wound our way up, we saw tiny white flowers covering the Arabica plants: a rare sight, the coffee bloom comes on the ninth day after it rains, so we happened to be at the right place at the right time. Even better than driving through the forest is to view it from the lobby, or the villa, where glass has been used cleverly in its architecture to showcase the best feature of the hotel: its location. The glass walls everywhere offer soothing views of the lush green forests of coffee, and, the mountains beyond, with the highest peak at 6,500 ft, greeting you from every corner of the resort. However, I did not want to partake of this fantastic view at 6 am. So I awoke later, enjoyed a breakfast of mushroom-and-cheese omelette and cold coffee at the villa, and proceeded to dream about lunch. Food was definitely the highlight, after the views, at our villa. The service is another plus: you never hear any complaining voices or grumbles. You can eat what you want, as long as you inform them a day ahead, whenever you want it - wherever you like. On the second day, we decided to visit the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, a two-hour drive away from the resort. The unprofessional people manning the reserve had to be woken up from their slumber during safari hours. They told us we could only do an hour's safari because it was just the two of us. By far the worst safari experience in India, or the world, Bhadra is totally avoidable. It was with some relief that I returned to our haven, Primrose Villas, and proceeded to drown my sorrows in strong spirit, with some peanut masala on the side. We decided to wake up early the next morning - at 6 am, for a plantation walk. I reluctantly agreed. This is when I finally saw the view that my friend was trying to wake me up for. Through the day, the Western Ghats looked pretty from the villa, rising behind a cover of thick verdant green. But now, there was real drama unfolding. Mist covered the entire forest in front of me - it was a sea of white, hanging in the air like clouds. There was complete silence, save for birdsong and the sound of a mild breeze. I was in one of my favourite paintings of all times: I was in the German artist Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. This was the best way to begin my new year. As we left for the plantation walk, we spotted many birds and the landscape was stunning. But that 6 a.m view from my villa, remained the highlight of the trip. Such beauty is best treasured just once. And, then, it's forever in your memory. n Crisis deepens Aid agencies struggle to handle Rohingya influx Kazi Zahidul Hasan : An estimated 582,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State since 25 August 2017. With the new arrivals, the total Rohingya population in Bangladesh now surpasses to 882,000, said International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday. It said an estimated 300,000 Rohingyas were previously displaced by conflict in Myanmar and are living in Bangladesh in makeshift settlements or with host communities. Even the traumatized Rohingyas continue to pour in daily, and aid agencies struggle to handle the influx. "The need for aid is overwhelming in makeshift settlements and camps in Cox's Bazar on the back of growing number of Rohingya refugees. But the humanitarian response is hampering due to funding shortfall and poor road networks," an official of an international aid agency told The New Nation yesterday. Terming the crisis "unprecedented," the official urged the International Community to extend their full support in response to the refugee crisis in Bangladesh. "The humanitarian response has been inadequate, but this crisis is in many ways unprecedented, particularly in the scale of refugee movement in such a short period of time," said Matt Wells, Amnesty International's senior crisis adviser. He said many refugees have gone days without eating while hiding and fleeing from the army's attacks in Myanmar. They need food and medical care urgently. "We're in urgent need to increase staff on the ground to scale up the relief operation. But we're facing problem in getting the approval due to bureaucratic tangle," a UN official said in a statement yesterday. When asked, he said, the biggest need now is definitely water and sanitation and also health care. These are vital to prevent outbreak of diseases like diarrhoea and cholera. "The fear of a cholera outbreak now looms large over the camps, where clean water supplies are scarce and many families are drinking out of muddied holes," he added. The UN official further said they are in $434 million funding need for humanitarian response plans over the next six months. A shortfall of the fund can worsen the crisis. "We're working closely with International Aid Agencies to meet the needs of the Rohingya refugees. As refugees continue to pour into Bangladesh from Myanmar the humanitarian needs is expected to rise further requiring more aid from the International Community," a high official of Disaster Management Ministry told The New Nation yesterday seeking anonymity. He said the current aid flow is not enough to support all the Rohingyas. The humanitarian community must scale up their aid operations to respond to the "fastest growing" refugee crisis in Bangladesh. The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. Lawmakers Push Trump Admin to Bypass U.N. and Help Iraqi Assyrians, Yazidis Directly The Assyrian Church of Mart Shmoni in Erbil. ( Getty Images) Four House members are pressing the top official of the U.S. Agency for International Development to bypass the United Nations and channel funds intended to help Christians and Yazidis in Iraq directly to Catholic charities and others helping them on the ground. The urgent push comes amid dire warnings from lawmakers and human rights activists that Christians and Yazidis, already victims of genocide at the hands of the Islamic State, are on the verge of extinction in Northern Iraq, their home for thousands of years. The lawmakers also point to new evidence of corruption in the United Nations' process for stabilization projects in Iraq. Republican Reps. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, Robert Aderholt of Alabama, and Chris Smith of New Jersey, along with Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo of California, sent a letter to USAID Administrator Mark Green last week arguing that these communities now face "dire conditions where they desperately need assistance if they are to survive." "Returning Christians, Yazidis, and others to their rightful place will reknit the once rich tapestry of pluralism and diversity that existed in the region--an effort that is essential to any hope of durable stability in Iraq and the region," they wrote in a letter dated Oct. 12. Fortenberry, Aderholt, and Smith are longtime human rights champions. Eshoo has a personal interest in the mission. She is a Chaldean Catholic and first-generation American. Her mother is Armenian and her father is an Assyrian Christian from Iraq. The letter is the latest effort by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate, along with human rights activists and Catholic groups, to persuade the State Department and USAID to change the Obama-era policy of directing most of its money to Iraq through the United Nations. The lawmakers argue that Catholic charities most connected to the communities on the ground are the only groups that have a track record of helping persecuted minorities survive for the last several years and are best positioned to help them return and rebuild. The United Nations, they argue, has little to show for its assistance to these communities. The State Department and USAID for years have maintained a "religion-blind" policy when it comes to dispensing aid. They say they distribute the funds based on need and do not give priority to a particular group, even those facing U.S. government-designated ethnic cleansing or genocide. Critics have questioned whether the State Department truly abides by their own "need-based" policies after the United States quickly dispatched $32 million in late September to help the Rohingya, a majority-Muslim group fleeing violence in Burma. A U.S. official told the Washington Free Beacon Wednesday that the State Department and USAID plan to continue their policy of dispensing aid "based on need" and did not address criticism about UN corruption or the funds not appearing to help Christians, Yezidis, and other minority communities on the ground in Iraq. "As the world's humanitarian leader, the United States is committed to providing life-saving assistance to those in need," the U.S. official said. "When providing the assistance, the United States does not discriminate based on race, religion or creed -- we provide the assistance based on need." The official also asserted that the "United States has provided assistance that reaches Christian and other minority communities in Iraq, and pointed to nearly $1.7 billion dating back to fiscal year 2014 that the U.S. government has provided to address all the humanitarian needs of Iraqis "both inside Iraq and in the region, including vulnerable members of minority communities, like the Yezidis and Christians." Lawmakers argue that most of the money the United States has provided is directed through the UN, which has little to show for its assistance to these communities. They argue Catholic charities most connected to the communities on the ground are the only groups that have a track record of helping persecuted minorities survive for the last several years and are best positioned to help them return and rebuild. As the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month, photos of the few United Nations Development Program projects in Ninevah show the work being done is mostly cosmetic in nature. This contradicts claims for the United Nations, which has suggested far more substantial work has been done. Steve Rasche, an attorney for the Catholic archdiocese of Northern Iraq testified before a House hearing that so-called "completed" school-rehabilitation projects in the towns of Teleskov and Batnaya "take the form of one think coat of painting of the exterior surface walls, with freshly stenciled UNICEF logos every 30 feet." Inside, he said, the rooms remain untouched and unusable. U.S. agencies have a responsibility to intervene more directly and effectively, the lawmakers argue, especially after both the Obama and Trump administrations have declared that Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Iraq are the victims of ISIS genocide. "USAID has an immediate opportunity to partner with entities committee to the appropriate reconstruction of damaged homes and public buildings in several key towns in the Ninevah Plan of Iraq," they wrote. "Timely action would address provisions outlined in the genocide declarations and mirror the current administration's desire to help the survivors," they argued. As ISIS is driven from Iraq, it is also critical to U.S. national security that that these indigenous communities are supported to prevent Iran from gaining influence in the region. "Repatriation has a strategic advantage of heading off potential conflict between the KRG and Baghdad while barring an Iranian land bridge to the Mediterranean, which presently threats to fill the vacuum in the Ninevah Plain created by the removal of ISIS," the lawmakers wrote. "This land bridge will be occupied by forces loyal to Tehran if security and rebuilding fails to come from other quarters." Congress has taken a number of steps to try to provide direct assistance to the minority populations in Iraq. Earlier this year, Congress allocated more than $1.4 billion in funds for refugee assistance and included specific language to ensure that part of the money would be used to assist Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in Iraq. The House passed legislation, cosponsored by Smith and Eshoo, that would explicitly authorize the State Department and USAID to direct aid to faith-based entities, such as the Archdiocese of Erbil following congressional delegations to the region. More recently, the House and Senate have held hearings about the need for the Trump administration to act quickly to get the funds where they are needed. "We implore you to review proposals from credible organizations on the ground in the region who are committed to these goals, and if deemed worthy, to move swiftly to empower the through available resources to rebuild the region," they lawmakers wrote. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. The Invincible Czars will never be accused of taking themselves too seriously. The delightfully quirky rock group, which sprung out of Austins Red River scene and performs live accompaniments to silent films, is known for its campy outfits and theatrical pomp. For guitarist Josh Robins, humor does nothing to diminish the sincerity or poignancy of what the band does. A lot of times if youre joking, if youre laughing, if something is tongue-in-cheek (in music) oh, its novelty. Its not serious, Robins said in a recent phone interview. And yeah, a lot of what we do is novelty. Im OK with that. But I think that just because something is novelty doesnt mean its not good. If music can communicate the whole gamut of emotions, why is humor being left out of that? The band will perform original scoring to a silent film double-feature starting at 6 p.m. Saturday at The Varsity Center in Carbondale. The double-feature will begin with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Americas first horror film, followed by 1922s Nosferatu at 8:30 p.m. Tickets for both films are $12; tickets for Nosferatu only are $8. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Wine, beer, select cocktails, sodas and snacks will be for sale at The Gallery Bar. Proceeds benefit WDBX and The Varsity. The Invincible Czars include Robins (guitar, sound effects and drums), Leila Henley (winds, vocals and percussion), Phil Davidson (violin and keys) and John McCane (bass). I think that there is a lot of beauty in limitation. No one is perfect, and no piece of music is perfect. These movies are old, and compared to what we have now, they are far from the perfect movie. But this is what they had 100-ish years ago, Robins said. He said hes fascinated by the films early special effects and how actors of the period communicated without sound. Movies now can take half as much, or less, time as these guys had to take to get their point across, to tell a story. They were working with a lot of limitations that modern-day filmmakers dont, he said. The band began providing accompaniments to silent films in the mid-2000s at The Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin, and now has several silent film scores in its repertoire. There are lots of silent film accompaniment groups out there, and they range from the stodgiest of traditional interpretations, where its like, We play the original scores on musical instruments that only existed at the time that the movie came out and then there are bands that are just straight-up rock bands or DJs or electronica artists or whatever, and they get up and play their kind of music, Robins said. The Invincible Czars fall somewhere in the middle: they try to be tastefully modern to draw contemporary moviegoers in and get them to appreciate the artistry of the films, Robins said. Robins said the bands performances bring people together even in the ridiculous political climate we find ourselves in. Weve had the opportunity to do these movies from coast to coast in the last couple of years, and weve seen a lot of America. Im grateful that weve fallen into this, because its given me an opportunity to entertain and meet people around the country that maybe have some different ideas from me, and share mine with them, hopefully or at least sit in a room and be civil with each other and enjoy something, Robins said. CAIRO For more than two years, The Southern has studied and written about alleged wrongdoing and failures at the local and federal level where it concerns the housing crisis in Cairo. Looking in the rear-view mirror serves the purpose of documenting what went wrong, so that it can be a learning lesson for the future. The newspaper will continue to investigate what led to this housing crisis. And we will continue to hold public officials accountable for what they have promised to do to help Cairo. But it also is important to recognize that what has transpired happened over the course of years, perhaps decades, and that unfortunately there is no way to travel back in time and undo the damage. There have been a few positive developments in recent months, such as Shawnee Enterprises purchasing what was once known as the Stenger building, and there may be a few more in the future. But there is no magic solution to turn around Cairos economy, and therefore its housing market. Pushing for, and celebrating, incremental improvements that build upon one another may be the best and most likely path forward. At the same time, steps can be taken to assist local leaders in endeavors to improve local economies, in Cairo and throughout the seven southernmost counties of Illinois, as well as enhance the accountability and efficiency of regional housing authorities that collectively manage millions of federal housing dollars throughout rural Southern Illinois. In that vein, and based on The Southern's extensive reporting of this issue, below are four action items in need of attention or consideration in the short term as it relates to this housing crisis and the broader economic and social issues it has exposed. 1. Let the residents and Cairo city leaders know whether HUD intends to repair some of the buildings at Elmwood and McBride. It's been more than six months since Housing and Urban Development officials announced that they would help 185 families relocate because the buildings are no longer safe and beyond repair. But residents have received mixed messages since then. When HUD Secretary Ben Carson visited Cairo on Aug. 8, he met with community stakeholders, who suggested that his team review whether some of the row-style buildings were in better condition than others and could be salvaged to allow some families to remain. HUD had already extensively studied the feasibility of repairing Elmwood and McBride in the months prior to Carson's visit and leading up to the April 10 relocation announcement and determined that was not a cost feasible option. Agency officials had another assessment conducted at the request of the stakeholders, under Carson's orders. That review has been completed for several weeks. While the agency has not provided a definitive answer on what it intends to do, they did provide a synopsis of the study, which showed that there are not any significant differences in the buildings. They are all in disrepair. While the insides of units in some buildings may be better than others, at issue across the complexes is the extremely old and outdated electrical, plumbing and heating systems, among numerous other health and safety issues. The price tag for fixing these items is beyond the means of a housing authority that has been described by HUD as nearly bankrupt unless a cash infusion is in the works, and no one at HUD has suggested it is. HUD spokesman Jereon Brown said the agency wants to inform the stakeholders of the agencys decision first, before making its intentions public. It is unclear to the newspaper why the agency has stalled in placing that letter in the mail to the community leaders Carson promised the second look. Barring an unlikely change of heart, the answer will probably be that HUD intends to demolish all of Elmwood and McBride. 2. Address HUD's plans for the Mary Alice Meadows family housing complex in Thebes that is also part of the Alexander County Housing Authority's portfolio. The roughly 30 families living there need to know as soon as possible what is the future of their homes. Like Cairo, Thebes is an economically destitute village where there will be few affordable housing options for people to remain if the building cannot be maintained in the short- or long-term. Federal housing officials made a request to the Alexander County Board to utilize $400,000 sitting in a county fund to partner in renovating 10 uninhabitable units at Mary Alice Meadows, which though not as old as Elmwood and McBride, is also in need of immediate and long-term renovations because of years of neglect. HUD has estimated it would cost $700,000 to renovate all 10 units and make them available for families that want to relocate to the Thebes property from Elmwood and McBride in Cairo. HUD Region V Deputy Regional Administrator Jim Cunningham formally made the request on HUDs behalf at a Sept. 19 county board meeting in Cairo to tap into some of the county's fund. At that meeting, Cunningham said that the ACHA (which HUD is administering in federal receivership) could contribute $250,000 to the project as well. County Board Chairman Chalen Tatum told Cunningham that the money was already earmarked for repair of the Len Small Levee. In late September, the newspaper asked HUDs Brown what is Plan B given that the county has declined to use its money to participate in the needed repairs. He said the ACHA would repair as many units as it could with the $250,000 it has set aside for the project. But at the cost estimates HUD provided for the needed repairs to the units ranging from $45,000 to $106,000 per unit that amount would only allow the housing authority to reopen three to four units. Further, that would not address the numerous structural issues with the building as a whole that need to be addressed to protect the health, safety and welfare of its inhabitants. County Commissioner Joe Griggs asked Cunningham at the meeting if HUD was essentially throwing good money after bad. Cunningham said thats a question that has to be taken into consideration. HUD has not provided any clarity on its plans for the Thebes complex in the weeks since appearing before the county board. 3. Gov. Bruce Rauner or members of the Illinois General Assembly could convene a task force or call for a legislative study and/or hearing to review the enabling statute for the creation of local housing authorities. As part of that, they could study whether some consolidation of small local housing authorities could reduce overhead costs and allow for a pooling of limited capital fund resources by increasing the number of units managed. They also could review the process by which board members are appointed across the state to see if there are ways to insert more accountability at the local level. HUD, in its oversight role, has taken its fair share of blame for whats transpired in Cairo, but it also may be worthwhile to see if there are ways to prevent this type of situation in the future by diversifying appointing powers to local housing authority boards. Though HUD is a federal agency, housing authorities are entities of state and local not federal government. In Southern Illinois, almost all housing authorities are functions of county government. Housing board members are appointed solely by the respective county board chairperson in each county. The housing board members then select an executive director. In Williamson and Jefferson counties, there are both county and city housing authorities, in Marion and Mount Vernon, respectively. The same is true for St. Clair County and East St. Louis in southwest Illinois. In speaking to The Southern's editorial board in late July, Gov. Bruce Rauner called the Cairo housing crisis a frustrating situation but said its largely a federal issue. The newspaper has attempted to reach his office staff for weeks on what he and his administration can bring to the table to help. Through changeovers in numerous spokespeople since July, his office has never responded to these various requests for the administration to outline what it is doing in response to the housing crisis in Cairo. Rauner has made government efficiency and reducing units of local government in Illinois which claims between 6,963 and 8,516, according to counts from the U.S. Census and Illinois Comptroller's Office, more than any other state a hallmark of his administration. Therefore, he could offer his assistance in this area by calling for the task force himself, or working alongside Sen. Dale Fowler, a Republican, and Rep. Natalie Phelps Finnie, a Democrat, both of whom represent Cairo and the broader local region, to craft legislation, if necessary. That Illinois study the way its housing authorities are structured is a suggestion U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin first floated shortly after HUD seized control of the ACHA on Feb. 22, 2016, removing the local board as they cited years of mismanagement and alleged civil rights violations against residents. Looking to other states for ideas may be a one way to begin the study of how to make downstate housing authorities more effective and responsible to the residents they serve, and to taxpayers. 4. State and local leaders could collaborate more closely to address the underlying economic and social crises this housing situation in Cairo has exposed. These issues facing Cairo were brought to a head by HUDs April 10 decision to relocate residents rather than rebuild, but they are not new. History shows the underlying socioeconomic struggles that contributed to this decision have been brewing for years not only in Cairo, but throughout southernmost Southern Illinois. Across the states southern seven counties Massac, Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Johnson, Pope and Hardin there are schools struggling to maintain as student populations shrink. Social services have been stretched thin by the states budget woes and political rancor. Fewer taxpayers and homeowners continue to bear the brunt of providing services to populations that are shrinking in size but growing in need. These counties regularly produce data indicators more in line with the Mississippi Delta than the rest of Illinois. Thats not to say this region suffers alone in Illinois, but what is transpiring across the bottom stretch of the state is shocking and deeply troubling, and few agencies it seems at the state or federal level are paying close attention outside of HUD. There are families who have lived in poverty for generations, and there are families who are being introduced to poverty for the first time. Unemployment rates are high across the region, as are rates of people who have unstable work or who have stopped looking for work altogether. Alongside that economic hopelessness taking root in the "lower seven" comes a rise in drug and alcohol abuse, and trouble in the home in the form of domestic and child abuse and neglect. Law enforcement officials and social workers know this sad story too well. When he visited Cairo, Carson committed to speaking to President Donald Trump and other cabinet level members of a task force on rural America. It is not clear to the newspaper whether he has upheld that promise yet. A few weeks ago, Illinois U.S. Sens. Durbin and Tammy Duckworth co-wrote a letter to Trump asking him to convene a cabinet-level task force on the housing, economic and health crises facing Cairo, citing HUDs culpability in the downfall of the community because the agency should have intervened sooner. Trump has not responded at this point to that request, according to an aide to Duckworth. If the president is willing to convene a federal commission on Cairo, it cant hurt. But again, state and local leaders are the ones who should lead the way, and then invite federal stakeholders to the table as well. CARBONDALE The board for a community neighborhood association has started a crowdfunding benefit to help improve the center. The Board of Directors of the Eurma C. Hayes Center, 441 E. Willow St. in Carbondale, is seeking to raise $10,000 for the rehabilitation of the site, which is expected to house the district office of U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth. As of Wednesday afternoon, the group had raised about $1,155 of that amount, according to the YouCaring crowdfunding website. The Eurma C. Hayes Community Center was built in 1973. The board is now led by Carlton Smith, who is also a member of the Carbondale Board of Education. At an event at a northeast side church this past year, Smith talked about the significance of the Eurma C. Hayes Center on the lives of those in that neighborhood and community, vowing to not let it die on his watch. Smith could not be reached by telephone Wednesday afternoon. The money raised would pay for repairs and/or rehabilitation for flooring, lighting, plumbing, HVAC, phone/internet, door access and painting, according to the YouCaring site. The money donated would all go to pay for the repairs and rehabilitation, according to the website. "That's a pretty big deal," board secretary John Lenzini said of the financial undertaking. He said the money raised and projects to be completed would allow the center to attract and rent space to organizations that would benefit that community and all of Carbondale. "Under new board leadership, the ECHC seeks to operate as a self-sustaining non-profit which rents space to other self-sustaining non-profit community service providers who operate under leases," notes information on the YouCaring site about the center. "Toward this end, the ECHC structure is in need of costly repairs and rehabilitation to bring it up to code and make it operational in the coming weeks. Viable tenants are already on board, including a team of doctors proposing a free Friday clinic and a Southern Illinois hub office for U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth." The Eurma C. Hayes Center also houses the nonprofit I Can Read! literacy program and offices for the Carbondale Branch of the NAACP and The Women's Center rape crisis outreach. The fundraising website is youcaring.com/eurmachayescenterofcarbondaleillinois-981346. CARBONDALE After the most recent armed robbery of a business that involved two suspects wearing Halloween masks, one suspect was arrested, the City of Carbondale Police Department announced Wednesday in a news release. An investigation into the series of armed robberies, which have taken place in Carbondale and Herrin since late July, is continuing, and the incidents are being investigated as related, police said. Officers responded at 12:32 a.m. Friday to the Circle K convenience store at 1901 S. Illinois Ave. They learned that two suspects entered the business and demanded money, and one suspect displayed a firearm. Both suspects were believed to be black males and were wearing Halloween masks. They fled the business on foot with an undisclosed amount of money and merchandise. Detectives with the City of Carbondale Police Department obtained information that led to the identification of one of the suspects. Arthur Eckles Jr., 43, of Calumet City, was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Saturday by the investigative task force. He was incarcerated in Jackson County Jail and bond was set at $500,000. The Carbondale and Herrin police departments are being assisted in the investigation by the Illinois State Police, the Jackson and Williamson County sheriffs and states attorneys offices, the SIU Police Department and the FBI. Earlier this month, the cities of Carbondale and Herrin announced in a news release that they are offering a $3,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information about the robberies is encouraged to contact the Carbondale Police Department at 618-457-3500 or Crime Stoppers at 618-549-2677. The Southern BENTON Ryan Thorpe, the former Zeigler treasurer who has been indicted on federal embezzlement charges after allegedly stealing more than $300,000 from the city, pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday. Randy Patchett, representing Thorpe, told Judge Leona Daly his client would be waiving a formal reading of the indictment, which accuses Thorpe of three counts of wire fraud and two counts of embezzlement from a local government. An audit released last week said that Thorpe allegedly stole a total of $315,890.94 between Jan. 1, 2013, and Aug. 31, 2017. Daly asked Thorpe if he had gone over the indictment with his attorney, however Patchett interjected. No, judge. We just got it, Patchett said, later telling the newspaper he had entered appearance in the case a few days prior to the hearing. Daly asked Thorpe if he understood the charges against him, to which he replied, Somewhat. Patchett said Thorpe primarily had questions about the wire fraud charges, but added that he would explain them to him. Daly then approved the governments bond restriction request. Daly told Thorpe he was to maintain or seek employment, report any contact with law enforcement to the U.S. Probation Office, he was not to possess any firearms and was not to seek a passport. She also told him he was not to seek any new credit without prior permission. She said she was releasing him on recognizance bond with these stipulations. Thorpes trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Dec. 26 with a final pretrial Dec. 12. Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and each count of embezzlement comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. After the hearing, Zeigler Mayor Dennis Mitchell said he was surprised by the not guilty plea. Im actually shocked that Ryan pleaded not guilty, he said, adding that the city will let the process play out. He said the entire situation is still surreal. I cant believe it, but it did happen. As for the financial status of Zeigler, Mitchell said he anticipates receiving Saturday a $100,000 check from Brad Cole, representing insurer of the Illinois Municipal League. $315,000 is our loss, but $100,000 would help us catch up on some of our local vendors, he said. Looking back at just how someone would have been able to steal about $315,000 from the city, Mitchell said the numbers werent always easy to see. He said the ebb and flow of late bills Thorpe allegedly would write his name in the payee line for checks supposed to go to local vendors, falling behind temporarily in their payment made it difficult to catch. Mitchell said to be a few months behind on bills in the city of Zeigler could be $300,000, explaining that because of this, their financial strain during Thorpes alleged theft did not feel out of the ordinary. With pension costs and rising insurance costs, Mitchell said small governments are likely to think their cash problems may be external as opposed to an internal leak. That said, Mitchell explained that the city is in no danger of defaulting. He said it does not have any outstanding loans. BENTON Judge Paul Lamar deemed there was probable cause Wednesday to proceed to trial in the sexual assault case against former Franklin County deputy Christopher Hampton. Hampton was charged earlier this month with criminal sexual assault and custodial misconduct for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in January 2016 who had been arrested and was in his custody. Court documents indicated the alleged victim was legally intoxicated at the time. After being told of the allegations, the Franklin County Sheriff asked the Illinois State Police to handle the investigation. States Attorney Evan Owens also recused himself. During the preliminary hearing, Trooper Special Agent Farrin Melton of the ISP testified to the timeline his teams investigation established. Taking questions from Special Prosecutor Lorinda Lamken from the Appellate Prosecutors Office, Melton told the court that he had learned that Hampton responded to a call at about 1 a.m. Jan. 16, 2016, to a residence just outside of West Frankfort. There they found the alleged victim, her 9-month-old child and friends. Melton said the call had been made to police because the alleged victim had become angry and violent. Melton testified that officers arrested her for child endangerment as well as underage consumption of alcohol he said she was between the ages of 18 and 21 years old and that a preliminary breathalyzer test indicated she had a blood alcohol level of .186 percent. Melton said Hampton was asked by a fellow deputy if he would prefer to transport the alleged victim or another suspect he chose the alleged victim. Melton said there were no others in the car. In his testimony for the prosecution, Melton said the alleged victim filed a report about 4 p.m. Jan. 16 after arriving at the jail, where she said during her ride in Hamptons squad car, the two began talking about sex. She said he pulled the car over on a rural Franklin County road. We will have to make this quick, Melton testified that Hampton told the alleged victim before he allegedly assaulted her. According to an information sheet filed earlier this month with the Franklin County Circuit Clerk, Hampton allegedly "committed the offense of criminal sexual assault, in that said defendant, knowing that (the victim) was unable to give knowing consent due to intoxication, committed an act of sexual penetration on (the victim), in that he placed his penis in the vagina of (the victim)." Melton said during an interview with Hampton, he admitted to having sex with the woman while he was on duty, but not on the day in question he said it was two days prior. Melton said Hampton said that it was consensual testimony explained that Hampton said he saw the woman walking about 3 a.m. Jan. 14 and after speaking with her, took her to a West Frankfort park where they allegedly had sex. Melton said investigators performed another interview with the alleged victim where she explained that she had been with a friend in Mason from Jan. 10 to 15. She denied having sex with Hampton prior to the alleged incident on Jan. 16. Melton said DNA testing done on the clothes the alleged victim wore the night of the alleged incident found semen on her underwear. He said the DNA found there matched that of a sample provided by Hampton. During cross examination by Hamptons defense attorney Aaron Hopkins, Melton said security footage from the jail was collected as evidence as well as surveillance footage from Hampton's squad car. He also said no one interviewed the two other deputies who were with Hampton the night of the alleged sexual assault. After Lamar found probable cause, Hopkins informed the court his client would waive formal arraignment and asked that a plea of not guilty be entered on both counts. Hampton will appear for a pretrial conference at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 20. Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, did a big but little-known favor for states like ours that use coal to generate electricity. His recent decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan lifted a massive regulation from our states economy, sparing our industries and households the effects from a weakened power grid, higher power prices and the loss of good-paying jobs. The Clean Power Plan, or CPP, is a prime example of good intentions gone awry. The idea, hatched in the Obama administration, was to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. But the solution was to force into retirement many of the power plants that supply 31.4 percent of our states electricity and without delivering any significant environment benefits. This is one early retirement plan that would not work for Illinois. Thats because fewer coal plants mean less reliability. Together with the struggles of nuclear power, the result would have made our electricity grid precariously dependent on natural gas-fired plants and intermittent energy sources to provide affordable, round-the-clock electricity. Earlier regulation had already shut down enough power plants to supply power to 40 million homes. The CPP would have shuttered many more. Altogether, about one-fourth of the entire coal fleet would close by 2020, with the great majority of these plants forced off the grid by regulations. That would leave coal-state power grids close to threadbare and more vulnerable to storms and outages. Granted, these are low-probability events, but they are high impact events too. Ships seldom sink and planes rarely crash. But when they do, our concern is with the impact, not the probability. The CPP was based on wishful thinking about the ability of renewable power to fill the gap left by coal plant closings. Despite the growth in wind and solar energy, they still supply only 7 percent of the power Americans use. And even when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, its not always possible to carry renewable power from sunny and windy regions to parts of the country where it is needed. Worse, the CPP would have raised electricity costs. The Supreme Court stayed the regulation, faulting Obamas regulators for ignoring them. Estimates vary, but some economists (Energy Ventures Analysis) concluded that constructing new infrastructure to replace the retired coal plants would cost $64 billion on top of rising wholesale electricity costs that utilities would eventually pass on to households. The decline of coal-based power plants (EIA) would lead to further declines in coal production, contributing to as many as 225,000 lost jobs from the mines and plants to the railroads, barges and ports. The loss of these high-wage jobs would have been especially damaging in coal-dependent states like ours, where more than 33,000 jobs rely on coal. Environmental activists will hammer Administrator Pruitt for rolling back climate change action. But the most surprising fact about the CPP is how trivial its environmental benefit would be: a reduction of 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit. The CPP would have had a much bigger impact on the economy than it ever would have on climate change. The Department of Energy is trying to forestall further weakening of the nations power grid. Energy Secretary Perry has asked federal regulators to assign higher values to coal and nuclear power plants in recognition of their reliability. That should help to reduce further closures of power plants that can quickly and constantly generate power when needed. Activists now claim the recent hurricanes that wracked our shores show the effect of climate change. But these storms also dramatize the vulnerability of our power grids. Improving the environment is a worthy goal, lets do it without making grid reliability worse. "Every single one of you sitting here is unconditional love," cancer survivor Mary Taylor told the more than 300 women attending Tuesday's Regional Medical Center Foundation's 2017 Pink Ribbon Luncheon at The Cinema in Orangeburg. A music educator and performer, Taylor used the power of music, meditation and, most of all, love to convey a message of healing and support. She celebrated how each member of the audience exemplified strength and power in meeting health challenges that arise. Taylor is director and founder of Na Fidleiri, which has been described as one of the most unique ensembles in the country. She founded Na Fidleiri in Charleston in 2000. She said she faced her journey with cancer with a focus on getting well and realizing that unconditional love can be the most powerful stimulant to the immune system. "I only focused on getting well," said Taylor, who wasn't a stranger to life's lows. In 2013 before her cancer diagnosis, her brother died unexpectedly only six months after her mother had passed away. And, she and her husband, Rob, had been taking care of his dying mother at the time. Following the traumatic death of her brother, Taylor began to tap into the power of meditation at the advice of a friend. "There's a million ways to meditate" and tap into the unconditional love that is not found in a person's conditional self, which is marked by life's experiences and uncertainties, she said. "I came to find out through meditation that unconditional love. The journey is to go back and realize where you came from," and realize that everyone has worth just by being in existence, Taylor said. "You don't have to do anything. ... You are loved," she said, noting that it is important to continuously meditate on that fact and the "magnificent realizations" that come as a result. When Taylor went to her OB/GYN for a checkup in 2015, a biopsy was done to check for vaginal cancer. The biopsy results revealed there was cancer along her vaginal wall, and she was told the cancer had originated in her gastrointestinal tract. When an oncologist ran tests, however, the results revealed her vaginal cancer had not come from her GI tract. Taylor said the doctor told her that her colon was "beautiful," but she later visit MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas at the behest of her loving husband. She said she had a litany of tests redone and for her vaginal cancer, underwent six weeks of radiation and four rounds of chemotherapy. "It's not a walk in the park at all, but it's an amazing learning experience," Taylor said, noting that reading, prayer and meditation helped her through her cancer journey. She said she read Dr. Bernie Siegel's "Love, Medicine and Miracles," through which the surgeon explored the lessons learned about self-healing through his experience with exceptional patients. Siegel's book particularly explores the miraculous healing of patients who have the courage to love and work with doctors to participate in and influence their own recovery. Taylor said she also read Dr. Robert Holden's "Loveability: Knowing How to Love and Be Loved," which focuses on the assertion that all the happiness, health and abundance you experience in life comes from your ability to love and be loved. "The real work of this life is love," she said, noting that it should be the epitome of everything that defines who we are, including religion, politics, nationality and philosophy of life. Taylor said while it wasn't easy going through her cancer journey, it was well worth it. "It's all an opportunity. Everything is an opportunity. It's all in our perception of how we look at it," said Taylor, who is now cancer free. "I didn't see why I couldn't be completely healed," she said, and heal quickly is what she did. She said her doctor at the MD Anderson Cancer Center said while most people are left with scar tissue after having gone through what Taylor went through, she had none. "The doctor's words were, 'Yours is gone. It's as if you never had cancer,'" she said. Taylor was presented with a specially made graphic design that was crafted by Sallie Covington, a 2010 graduate of Orangeburg Preparatory School and 2014 graduate of Clemson University, who now serves as the lead designer at Sign Source of Charleston. St. Matthews resident Yvonne Whetstone said she found Taylor's message to be encouraging. Whetstone, a 22-year breast cancer survivor, said she would not have made it through her own cancer journey without the love and support of those around her. Her support network has included the fellow members of Celebrations, a support group for African-American breast cancer survivors founded by Orangeburg resident Carrie Houser James, who also attendance at Tuesday's luncheon, along with other group members. "Without the love of my family and friends, I wouldn't have made it," Whetstone said. The Cinema was transformed into a Celtic rain forest to go along with the Celtic music that Taylor shared. She was accompanied by her husband, who sang. He serves as director of choral activities at the College of Charleston and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Their daughter also performed with them as well as a Celtic harpist and guitarist. Sylvia Trimmier and Denise Fleming were the co-chairpersons of the 2017 Pink Ribbon Committee. Trimmier said the Taylor Music Group's concert at First Presbyterian Church in Orangeburg raised more than $2,000 in support of the Pink Ribbon Committee's efforts. A second concert is planned for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, she said. The RMC Foundation's Pink Ribbon Luncheon, which began in 2005, has raised $473,000 since its inception. All proceeds benefit RMCs Breast Health Center and also help cancer patients during treatment and with their post-operative needs. Hundreds of people are expected to gather in the Martin Luther King Auditorium on the campus of South Carolina State University on Saturday, Oct. 21, as a S.C. State alumnus returns to host an advance screening of his first feature film. Actor Maurice A. Lee who graduated from the university in 1998 will welcome family, friends and local leaders to the screening of his debut movie, OLE B.R.Y.C.E., at 7 p.m. The film will be released nationwide next year. Making South Carolina State University one of the host sites on the promotional tour is twofold, Lee said. The purpose is to communicate the message of the film and the story and to shine a light on the great work happening on and around HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). The film, starring Tom Sizemore, Massi Furlan, Gary Sturgis and Rhonda Morman, along with Cullen Chambers, Garret Davis, Marcus Spencer, Clay Trimble and Lee, focuses on mental illness. It was written, produced and directed by Eric B. Ramsey. According to a press release, the movie is set in 1968 on the heels of the historic Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Two white doctors, Bryce and Feldman, launched a secret experiment to find a cure for mental illness in whites. Tired of using rats as test subjects, they decided to use black men instead. The premise was to see if black men, whose brains were thought to be smaller than those of whites, had the same mental illness trait of whites. In order to find out, the doctors needed to perform lobotomies on their subjects. The story is told from the point of view of Malcolm Wyatt, whose family had firsthand knowledge of what was going on at Ole B.R.Y.C.E, as his brother Martin (played by Lee) was one of the casualties of this shocking human experiment. Its not known if this experiment was ordered by the federal government like the Tuskegee Experiment, or if the doctors took matters into their own hands. Whatever the case, the lives of Malcolm Wyatt and scores of other black men were forever changed. This movie will make you laugh, cry, get angry and appreciate the true essence of families sticking together, Lee said. The actor and model said he also hopes the film will start a deeper conversation about mental illness and social issues. There is power in uniting voices, Lee said. Uniting in one strong voice can diminish the power of anything or anyone that rises up against a person, community or nation. Being the first black male pharmacist from Eutawville is just one of Lees many notable achievements. He is the author of "Life Experiences" and former editor-in-chief of Youth Brotha magazine. Lee has been recognized by the cities of Orangeburg, Charleston and Columbia for his philanthropic efforts. He received a bachelor of science degree in biology from S.C. State in 1998 and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2004. Lee currently has an endowed scholarship at MUSC, which assists aspiring pharmacists. Tickets for the advance screening are $15 and can be purchased by visiting https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ole-bryce-movie-screening-tickets-38484973592. DENMARK A resident complained that Denmark police are focusing too much on writing traffic tickets and not enough on serious crimes during Denmark City Council's October meeting. For the last three years, we have had three murders in Denmark. I want to know why the police are writing speeding tickets instead , citizen Richard Freeman said during the public comments portion of the meeting. Freeman said Denmark police are often on Voorhees Road writing speeding tickets for college students that neither they nor their parents can afford instead of focusing on other crimes in the area. He noted that there is a homeless woman on the streets of the city that he feels the city should be assisting. In previous meetings, the council discussed the homeless woman and solutions to get some assistance for her. Mayor Gerald Wright said the council would not comment on the issues raised by Freeman during the meeting, but would take his concerns under advisement and possibly address them in a future meeting. Police Chief Leroy Grimes declined to comment on Freemans comments following the meeting, but he did note in his monthly report to council that the police department opened 26 new cases last month, including simple assault, kidnapping, burglary, domestic violence, shoplifting, vandalism of property, disorderly conduct, a weapons law violation, a missing person, driving under suspension, a traffic collision and more. Grimes added that Lt. Laquan and Cpl. Woodrow Jones Jr. attended a driver training class at the Bamberg County Airport, along with officers of the Bamberg County Sheriffs Office. In addition, the police chief announced the police department and the city will distribute candy to children at the Jim Harrison Park Gazebo from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, for Halloween. Area children are invited, he said. Grimes said his officers will also be assisting with the Voorhees College Homecoming Parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. City Administrator Heyward Robinson reported Denmark's water and sewer department is assisting the engineers with the Regional Medical Center's new Freestanding Emergency Department for Bamberg and Barnwell Counties to ensure that water and sewer will be available when construction of the facility is completed. He, along with Cedric Hudson and Tim Freeman of the water and sewer department, met with Hussey, Gay and Bell Engineering Inc. pertaining to the city providing the water and sewer services, the administrator said. Robinson said the awarding of the construction bid will be in January 2018, with construction scheduled to begin in February 2018. The facility is scheduled to be completed in August 2018, he said. We plan to have the water and sewer there by about the same time the building will be completed, the administrator said. Both Robinson and Hudson reported Denmark's drinking water is safe and presented copies of the Annual Drinking Water Quality Reports for the past two years indicating the water system had not been cited for any violations by the Environmental Protection Agency during that period. Also, Robinson said bids on the HVAC system for the new Denmark City Hall will be opened at 2 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 19, and construction bids on the new city hall will be opened at 3 p.m. the same day. In other business, the mayor noted, In the very near future, we anticipate excitement in Denmark over the following three things: accepting bids on city hall, the ER facility on Highway 70 and the half a million dollars we have been approved for to expand the streetscape project in downtown. Hopefully, they will be a catalyst for additional things in Denmark, Wright added. Councilwoman Bonnie Love noted that the new Family Health Centers Inc. facility on U.S. 321 in Denmark will be opening soon as well. Wright said the city is fortunate to have those facilities, noting that Denmark is becoming a center for health in the area. Nearly a year has passed since Donald Trump and his 63 million votes sent Hillary Clinton to the political graveyard. Or so we thought. In recent weeks, the failed presidential candidate has made the rounds in the media, making excuses for her loss and taking shots at the White House. Clinton told CNN host Anderson Cooper the presidents rhetoric is a cry from the white nationalist gut. In an interview with NPRs Rachel Martin, she blamed sexism for her defeat, despite the fact married women overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Clinton even found time to scapegoat former FBI Director James Comey for reopening the investigation into her shady email practices as secretary of state. In her words: It just stopped my momentum. I cant understand it. What many Americans cant understand, however, is how Clinton faces no legal repercussions for her email fiasco. Our most powerful law enforcement institutions should be committed to enforcing the law, not protecting well-connected political figures. Clintons media tour is not only a therapy session but also a distraction from a very real issue on the minds of voters: The adequacy and fairness of the FBIs investigation and former Attorney General Loretta Lynchs refusal to prosecute her. There certainly seemed to be cause for prosecution. Not only did Clinton maintain a private, non-secure email server used to transmit classified and other highly sensitive information jeopardizing our national security but she wiped 33,000 emails from the server after questions arose. The email wipe came just weeks after the traditionally pro-Clinton New York Times reported on her use of a private email for government business. As the saying goes: Where theres smoke, theres fire. But Clinton remains a free woman with plenty of time to complain on cable news while the same news outlets now bury the email story altogether. Ask yourself: When was the last time you saw a follow-up story on the email scandal? Since November, the liberal media has almost exclusively transitioned to attacking President Trump personally and undermining his agenda from Charlottesville to Hurricane Harvey and tax reform now. But the American people see Clintons email scandal and the lack of closure as a red flag. According to 2016 polling, millions of Americans are very concerned about her use of a private email server to conduct government business. The majority of them believe the FBI should have sought a criminal indictment against Clinton. Should the powerful get a pass simply because of their power? There is unfinished business here, which is why the Committee to Defend the President has filed a new request under the Freedom of Information Act to assess the FBI investigation and the Justice Departments decision not to prosecute Clinton. The committee is seeking documents from the FBI and Justice concerning the wiping of Clintons email server and her failure to produce documents required by subpoenas, any potential lies Clinton may have told investigators, and the questionable investigative and prosecutorial decision-making writ large. Our FOIA request will finally allow the public to judge for itself the adequacy and fairness of the investigation into Americas most infamous email scandal. The FBI previously refused to release similar documents, claiming there is no public interest in their disclosure. But our research and numerous opinion polls suggest otherwise millions of Americans demand accountability. They want to know that our law enforcement agencies rise above petty politics for the good of the country. Hillary Clinton may be politically irrelevant, but she is not above the law. South Carolina has a drug problem and many elected leaders have begun looking at how best to deal with it. In August, I also took action. My office filed a lawsuit against a company for its role in creating that problem. This lawsuit is not a silver bullet that will end this epidemic and the company being sued is not solely to blame for the crisis. However, when we look at the statistics and we read the stories, we are left with the inescapable conclusion that we must take action now. In 2016, South Carolina ranked ninth in the nation in opioid prescribing rates. Since 2011, more than 3,000 South Carolinians have died from prescription opioid overdoses. In 2015, there were more deaths in South Carolina from taking prescription opioids or heroin than there were homicides. Between 2000 and 2013, the number of babies born addicted to opioids has quadrupled. There have been more opioid prescriptions written between 2012 and 2016 than there are residents in South Carolina. There are some who believe this epidemic only affects druggies or heroin users, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that most heroin users started with prescription opioids. More than three out of four new heroin users report abusing prescription opioids first. Typically, someone gets hurt or has surgery and is given a prescription opioid for pain. Because the drugs are so addictive, they may continue to take the drug even after they should have stopped or at doses that are dangerously high. Once they can no longer get more of the prescription drug, they turn to buying heroin on the street, since heroin is also an opioid. Many of the overdoses happen because the potency of street heroin varies so widely, and sometimes includes fentanyl, a synthetic opioid thats even stronger than heroin. Whether it is prescription opioids, heroin, or fentanyl, the result is too often deadly. Many of our citizens have personally struggled or watched a loved one struggle with this addiction. Many have watched a loved one die from this addiction. As taxpayers, we need to be concerned as well. Since 2007, South Carolina has spent roughly $15.8 million on Purdue opioids through its Medicaid program and more than $28 million through our State Health Plan for public employees. Medicaid spending for OxyContin from 2013 to 2016 was 90 percent more than the closest competitor drug. There has been an additional burden and expense borne by law enforcement, emergency providers and social service agencies, including $6 million dollars in expenses for agencies treating substance abuse disorders alone. The statistics and stories are alarming and they demand action. Thats why my office has filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin and other opioids. Let me be clear that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a credible company lawfully selling an approved drug on the free market to people who desperately need it. However, when, as our complaint alleges, a company knowingly markets an extremely dangerous and addictive drug to doctors and patients in a way that leads them to believe that it is not as dangerous or addictive, or more effective, that is a problem. This lawsuit is one of the ways we can fight the opioid epidemic, however everyone has a role to play. We can all personally fight the epidemic by taking these steps: If you have an injury or surgery and a doctor prescribes an opioid for pain, ask if theres an alternative. f you and your doctor decide an opioid is the best option, get it and take it for the shortest time possible. One problem now is that a doctor may prescribe a 30-day supply when all thats really needed is three or four days. If you do have prescription painkillers, keep them locked up so someone else cannot abuse them. And if you have leftover pills, dispose of them immediately by taking them to a participating pharmacy thats a controlled substance public disposal location. You can also take them to your local police department or sheriffs office that takes part in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The next one will be on Oct. 28. In addition to taking these steps, we all need to become better educated on this threat. The opioid epidemic is real and it is devastating our communities, but we can slow and even reverse it by having open conversations and working together. Monica Tindall Keeping things simple, Cafe 5 is named after its number on the street in Pudu. Surrounded by Chinese shop houses, mechanics and bric-a-brac stores, this corner cafe is a fun find, and THE place to visit in KL for the most delicious waffles in the city. Owner, Trent Ho, fell in love with waffles during chilly winters in Melbourne. Admiring the fantastic aromas tickling the cool July air and the hot steam rising from waffle irons bringing warmth to onlookers, the idea grew to share this passion with fellow Malaysians. Two years of extensive research and trial and error saw him master the traditional waffle recipe, and its the results of this labour of love that is today shared at Cafe 5 in Hos perfected recipe for Belgian Liege waffles. Belgian Liege waffles are made in the traditional slow method with a brioche dough and yeast left to ferment for 20 hours. The result is a more natural texture, flavour and aroma than what is often the case with the more commercial waffles found on the market. Pearl sugar is imported from Belgian gifting the waffle its nicely caramelized outer layer and soft sweetness to the edge. Waffles at Cafe 5 Both sweet and savoury dishes are made upon order, baked fresh and topped seconds before being delivered to the table. Close to a dozen recipes are on offer and we try four of the best sellers. Savoury Waffles The most straightforward item on the menu, Aromatic Butter (RM10), is a great way to begin allowing us to fully appreciate the texture of the waffle. Its simply accompanied by a thick knob of butter mixed with herbs and spices that melts seductively onto the thick warm stack. Superb! When Ho was first dreaming up the concept for this cafe, the very first recipe he created was the Murakami (RM15). Inspired by happy times eating soba and so on in Japanese restaurants in Melbourne he brought the pleasure of all of his favourite condiments to crest the top. Japanese mayonnaise is first criss-crossed on the crown along with a shower of spices. The waffle is then drizzled with takoyaki sauce and flamed with a hand torch. A mountain of bonito flakes sews up the finish with a luxurious touch. This too is absolutely scrumptious. Sweet Waffles PB Bunk (RM15), sees the good old favourite combination of chocolate, peanut butter and banana as topping. The peanut butter is from a local supplier with no sugar or preservatives added. The made-from-scratch ingredients are fully appreciated in the density of texture and this turns out to be a very filling number. Who could resist the Willy Wonka (ideal for sharing between 3-4 pax RM38)? Not me! This wonderful platter is ideal pickings for a group of friends or family. A warm Belgium chocolate fondue for dipping is surrounded by three plain waffles, just toasted marshmallows, strawberries, bananas and three scoops of homemade ice cream of your choice. The ice cream is rich, creamy and fabulous. Amongst the traditional flavours of Chocolate and French Vanilla, there are also a couple of adventurous choices such as Salted Egg Yolk with Curry Leaf and Hojicha with Shredded Dark Chocolate. The former is not near as strong as it sounds. Surprisingly, its quite balanced and we actually finish the enormous scoop. The latter is equally as enticing, but hubby, who is always a sucker for sweet and creamy, thinks you cant beat the original, vanilla. Drinks Locally Roasted Coffee Beans Coffee is the focus of the drinks menu and a pleasant medium-roast blend of Brazil Mountain Mogiana and Guatemala SHB Huehuetenango sides on the chocolaty, nutty end of the scale. It goes well with milk and should please most latte lovers. Our Caffe Latte (RM10) is skillfully frothed, and the Ice Cube Coffee (RM13) is an enticing option for a hot afternoon. A faint sweetness is found in the ice cubes due to the inclusion of a small amount of gula Melaka. Customers can add milk to their liking. Milkshakes Made with their homemade ice-cream, fresh milk, and the flavour component, milkshakes at Cafe 5 contain no artificial flavourings or preservatives. Trent recommends the Mango Milkshake (RM15) as a popular pick, and we can add our vote to its approval ratings: its thick, creamy and fruity. Hos spirit for the cafe warmly permeates the setting, service and food, and this is a big call, but I venture to say, that Cafe 5 is serving up THE best waffles in Kuala Lumpur. I invite you to prove me wrong. Reasons to visit Cafe 5: possibly the best waffles in Kuala Lumpur. Cafe 5 5, Lengkungan Brunei Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Malaysia +60 18-215 9935 www.facebook.com/Cafe5pudu/ By Trend A military parade dedicated to the 25th anniversary of creation of Azerbaijans first national military unit was held in Azerbaijans Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on October 18 the Day of Independence of Azerbaijan. The event was attended by Chairman of Nakhchivans Supreme Assembly Vasif Talibov and Azerbaijans Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, said the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry in a message. Azerbaijan and Latvia have discussed ways of expanding legal cooperation as Justice Minister Fikrat Mammadov met with his Latvian counterpart Dzintars Rasna?s in Baku. Mammadov highlighted measures taken by the Azerbaijani government in recent years to improve the legal and court systems in the country, Azertac reported. He emphasized the necessity of expanding the bilateral cooperation in the legal sphere and carrying out reciprocal visits and experience exchange. Latvian minister Rasna?s`s itinerary includes visits to local justice authorities in Azerbaijani regions as well as ASAN service center where he will familiarize himself with modern court infrastructure and the application of information technologies. By Trend Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of the IDEA Public Union, Leyla Aliyeva met with UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, Ghulam Isaczai, the Foundation said on October 19. During the meeting, the sides discussed new opportunities for cooperation between IDEA and the UN institutions, including the prospects of joint activities to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals and solve environmental problems. They also exchanged views on the project which is being implemented with the UNDP support to improve the management in coastal ecological systems in the specially protected territories of Azerbaijan. The project is aimed at development and effective management of specially protected areas with the purpose of preservation of unique and rare samples of the biological diversity of Azerbaijan. Thanks to the reconstruction and improvement work carried out in the Gizilaghaj State Nature Reserve complex within this project, the first specially protected marine area in the region will be created in Azerbaijan. During the meeting, an agreement was reached to continue and further strengthen cooperation on environmental issues, issues of sustainable development and others. By Trend Turkmenistans Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov met with Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in Ashgabat, said the Turkmen Foreign Ministry in a message on October 18. During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of mutual interest in political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The parties stressed the role of high-level visits, which are a solid foundation for the comprehensive and consistent development of bilateral relations, says the message. The high level of political and diplomatic cooperation was noted and a commitment was expressed to further building relations within international organizations. The two sides also exchanged views on implementation of agreements reached at a high level. Following the talks between the presidents of Turkmenistan and Russia, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Vladimir Putin, a Treaty on Strategic Partnership was signed between the two states in Ashgabat on October 2, 2017. A plan of measures and projects was also agreed for the implementation of the Program of Economic Cooperation between the two countries governments for the period until 2019. By Azernews By Kamila Aliyeva Although Ankara and Washington are taking steps to normalize ties between the two countries, the achievement of practical results may need some time. Declared principles of partnership between the U.S. and Turkey, in fact, do not manifest themselves in the relations between the two countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media outlets reported on October 19. He noted that the U.S. by its actions against Turkey, in fact, goes beyond cooperation. Commenting on the recent aggravation of relations between the two countries, Erdogan said that the lack of progress in resolving this crisis is a serious problem. The U.S. special delegation arrived in Turkey on October 17 in an effort to resolve the crisis between the two countries which erupted following the arrest of an employee of the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul. The U.S. State Department delegation will return to Washington after the talks in Ankara and inform the leadership of the country about Turkey's position. As part of the negotiations aimed at normalizing Ankara-Washington ties, the U.S. delegation put forward a number of conditions. One of the conditions is to present evidence that the previously arrested U.S. consular officer in Turkey had links with Fethullah Gulen movement, as Turkish authorities claim. Moreover, Turkey should provide the U.S. with full information about the progress of the investigation. The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected the conditions of the U.S. delegation. The U.S. and Turkey previously suspended the mutual issuance of non-immigrant visas. Non-immigrant visas are issued to people who travel for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work or study. This decision followed the October 4 arrest of a Turkish national who works at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul for alleged involvement in the July 2016 coup attempt aimed to overthrow the Turkish president. The U.S. embassy stated earlier that it was deeply disturbed over the arrest and rejected the allegations against the employee as wholly without merit. Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in New York, where Trump praised Erdogan as a friend despite tensions in two countries relations over a number of issues. This latest incident aggravated the already tense relationship between Washington and Ankara. The two countries have clashed over the U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria as well as Turkish demands that the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric whom Ankara blames for a military coup attempt of last July. In addition, Ankaras rapprochement with Russia and purchase of S-400 missiles become the subject of criticism by the U.S. By Azernews By Kamila Aliyeva Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat hosted an international conference, titled Peace, stability and international cooperation in the Caspian region, on October 18. The event was attended by the authorized representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia. Delegations outlined the positions of their states on the issues facing the Caspian states, related to their economic and environmental activities, possible ways of solving these problems, the establishment of scientific marine centers and the development of a national marine strategy, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message. Most provisions of the future convention on the status of the Caspian Sea have already been agreed upon, the special envoy of the president on delimitation and demarcation of the border with neighboring CIS member states Igor Bratchikov said, RIA Novosti reported. "It is well known that only an insurance policy gives a full guarantee. But seriously speaking, there are all chances and all conditions for a successful outcome of the negotiation process on the status of the Caspian next year," he said. The issue of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea became relevant after the collapse of the USSR, when the emergence of new subjects of international law - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - raised the issue of delimitation of the Caspian Sea between the five countries. The difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea are linked, in particular, with the recognition of it as a lake or sea, the delineation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law. "All parties are aware that the Convention will be a compromise legal instrument that should provide clear and transparent rules for our interaction in various fields, resolve possible disputes, become a reliable basis for preserving a safe and predictable situation in the region, preserving the Caspian Sea as a sea of friendship and good neighborliness," the diplomat, who heads the Russian delegation at the talks on the Caspian, said. In June 2017, a meeting of the special working group on the development of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian states was held. During the meeting, delegations discussed the remaining provisions of the draft Convention that had not been agreed upon. As a result of the negotiations, a number of provisions of the draft Convention were agreed upon. The delegations positively assessed the outcome of the talks. The Caspian Sea is surrounded by the five coastal countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The Sea has a total surface area of 371,000 square kilometers, holding 78,200 cubic kilometers of water. The legal status of the Caspian Sea has remained unsolved during the past two decades, preventing development and exploitation of its disputable oil and gas fields and creating obstacles to the realization of major projects. Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan hold to the principle of dividing into national sectors based on the median line principles since it is an international boundary lake, and leaving the sea surface for general use, i.e. they are for demarcation of mineral resources and the Caspian Sea shelf, but against dividing up its waters. Iran seeks an equal division of the Caspian into 5 even sectors, mainly because most of the offshore energy resources are located away from the Iranian coastline. Turkmenistan also demands the division of the Sea into equal parts between the pre-Caspian countries so that each country has 20 percent of the sea. The Caspian littoral states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003. Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading national entity for development aid, has extended a $50-million (Dh183.65 million) concessionary loan to the Maldivian government to develop the Velana International Airport in Male. The development project includes the construction of a new 3,400-metre runway with a breakwater and rehabilitation of the old runway. In addition, the funding will help build a new west passenger terminal and a maintenance building, and complete phase-1 works of the south terminal, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency. The loan agreement was formalised in the presence of Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, during the official visit of Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives. Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director-general of ADFD, said, "This new collaboration further solidifies the strong and close bilateral ties shared between the UAE and the Maldives. Over the past four decades, ADFD has financed infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, housing and energy projects in the Maldives valued at more than AED109 million. "Our loan aims to promote socio-economic development in the Maldives through upgrading the airports facilities and expanding its operating capacity to 26 aircraft in order to cope with the steady growth of the tourism sector. As an added benefit, this crucial project will go a long way in creating new jobs and reducing unemployment." Mohamed Saeed, Maldivian Minister of Economic Development, praised the UAEs sustained support for the national development goals of the Maldives. Furthermore, he commended ADFD for its strategic approach to development and for its efforts in tailoring funding mechanisms across key socio-economic sectors to drive lasting growth in developing countries. Moreover, the loan covers expansion of phase-1 of the cargo loading and storage areas spanning approximately 6,000 sq m, relocation of existing infrastructure outside the project area, as well as the construction of private jet facilities, a civil defence station and a mosque. In September 2017, ADFD extended an Abu Dhabi-government grant worth Dh18.4 million ($5 million) to the Maldivian government. The funds seek to support the balance of payments in the island country and improve its overall economic situation. Since its inception in 1971, ADFD has financed development projects to the tune of Dh77 billion in more than 80 countries around the world through concessionary loans and Abu Dhabi-government grants. Xpress Money, a top money transfer brand, is set to showcase Xpress Money 'Flex', 'One' and 'Biz', its customizable remittance solutions at Money2020, a major event for payments and financial services in Las Vegas, USA. Xpress Money's business solutions are designed to give organizations customizable options based on their business needs. Whether a money transfer brand is looking to expand its reach or a retail chain, telco, banking or non-banking business wants to offer remittance services to its existing customer base, Xpress Money has a solution for all, a statement said. Xpress Money Flex: For businesses that are already in the finance or remittance space looking to offer more convenience or reach to its customers. This is a flexible solution that offers everything a business would need - compliance (KYC, AML, regulatory reporting), agent management, online self-service, money transfer app, and the market leading money transfer software. Xpress Money Flex is compatible with any system, which eliminates any major modification requirements. The technology is for everyone, from start-ups to global enterprises. One just needs to simply plug into the proprietary API to get started. Xpress Money One: The money transfer business is not restricted to just financial institutions. With Xpress Money One any business that has a customer facing digital presence, can create its own money transfer platform through a white labelled website with its own brand identity. Xpress Money Biz: Specifically designed to cater to retail chains and other offline businesses, Xpress Money Biz empowers brands to process remittance transactions for its customers. Brands can also look to increase footfalls to its stores by attracting a whole new set of customers looking for a convenient money transfer service. Xpress Money COO Sudhesh Giriyan said: "Our customizable solutions are designed to empower any businesses looking to foray into the remittance industry. Whether a brand wants to expand its current payout network or another wanting a complete 360 degree remittance interface, we have the capabilities to customize based on the needs of the business. "Our larger goal is to make money transfers accessible to the largest possible audience in the most convenient and cost-effective ways. This could only see the light of day if we as an industry collaborate and share our expertise to create real value for this larger cause." Many trusted financial and non-financial institutions, such as Travelex, WorldRemit, ADCB, Seamless etc. have partnered with Xpress Money for its business solutions to offer convenient money transfer services to their customers across the globe. TradeArabia News Service The Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi has awarded a Dh500-million ($136 million) contract to Zublin Construction for the refurbishment and conservation of the Cultural Foundation Building at Qasr Al Hosn, the symbolic birthplace of the capital of the UAE, reported state news agency Wam. The Cultural Foundation Building at the site has come to symbolise Abu Dhabi's accelerated cultural progress in recent years, having been the home to the citys first library, exhibition hall and theatre, it stated. With this contract, the total investment in the ongoing master project plan for the refurbishment of the entire Qasr Al Hosn site has risen to more than Dh700 million ($190 million). The wider project takes in the Qasr Al Hosn Fort, which was the first permanent structure built in Abu Dhabi and housed the ruling Al Nahyan family for generations. As work on the cultural foundation begins, the restoration of the fort nears completion, said the Wam report. It can claim to be the first modern era cultural building in Abu Dhabi and its opening in 1981 was marked a significant step in the creation of the city of today, it stated. Work on the site has already commenced, with shoring, excavation and the installation of working piles for the car-parks already complete. Now, with the award of this new contract, the 23,000-sq-m building will undergo extensive refurbishment and upgrading, said the report. The scope of work includes the reintroduction of a library, creation of exhibition spaces, the opening of a 900-seat theatre as well as learning and workshops facilities, and food and beverage areas, it added. ENBD REIT, a Sharia-compliant real estate investment trust based in the UAE, has announced that it has successfully completed the deployment of the $105 million in cash raised at the listing in March this year. A trust managed by Emirates NBD Asset Management, ENBD REIT said its latest acquisition of The Edge building in Dubai Internet City also utilised its existing Islamic finance facility, meaning that the property portfolio is running at an efficient loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 32 per cent. Recent acquisitions by ENBD REIT have focused on a diverse range of asset types. In May, the REIT acquired Uninest Dubailand, a student accommodation building, from GSA for $33 million. In August, the trust acquired its first development asset South View School in Dubais Remraam community at a transaction value of $15 million, thus taking the total portfolio value to $367 million. ENBD REITs most recent acquisition of The Edge in Dubai Internet City saw a transaction value of $76 million push the total portfolio value up to $447 million, said the statement from the company. Anthony Taylor, the fund manager, Real Estate, at Emirates NBD Asset Management, said: "Were pleased to announce the complete deployment of the cash raised as part of the listing in March." "Investors in REITs are looking to see efficient utilisation of funds in a portfolio of assets that will consistently generate income. Ours is such a product, and we are looking forward to growing both its footprint and value in the coming months and years," noted Taylor. Following the deployment of the listing proceeds, ENBD REIT now holds a total of 10 assets across Dubai. The portfolio has an overall occupancy of 89 per cent, with a weighted average unexpired lease term (wault) of 3.5 years, said the statement. Offices account for 67 per cent of the portfolio, residential buildings account for 22 per cent and alternative assets (including student accommodation and education) make up the remaining 11 per cent, it added. ENBD REIT's last reported net asset valuation (NAV) was $292 million, or $1.15 per share, as at June 30, revealed Taylor. Additionally, we have tapped into our Islamic finance facility and have now achieved a more efficient capital structure, which was one of the main objectives of our listing. We continue to explore potential acquisitions funded through our existing finance facility, to further diversify the portfolio and improve our yield, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Global safety science company UL said it has joined hands with Saudi-based GCC Electrical Testing Laboratory (GCC Labs) to develop a state-of-the-art renewables and smart grid testing facility at its custom-built facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. It will be a first-of-its-kind facility in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, and will serve customers across the region with world-class testing and certification facilities. The announcement was made at the inaugural Saudi Electricity Forum held recently in Riyadh. The GCC Electrical Testing Laboratory is an independent, reliable, capable and efficient start-up laboratory to serve the electrical equipment testing requirements including renewables in the GCC and neighbouring countries The Mena region is poised to make huge strides in the electricity sector over the next decade, remarked Jeff Smidt, the vice-president and general manager of the Energy and Power Technologies Division at UL. Smidt was giving his keynote presentation in the presence of top senior delegates at the key energy industry event. "The JV agreement and establishment of GCC Labs at the first Electric Summit all point towards an extremely positive future for the sector in the region, with Saudi Arabia marching towards the sustainable future outlined in Vision 2030," stated Smidt after signing the deal with Matteo Codazzi, the CEO of technical consulting and engineering company CESI and Saleh Al Amri, CEO of GCC Labs in the presence of Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid A. Al Falih. "There was a very obvious sense of collaboration amongst private firms and government entities, all wanting to work together for the shared purpose of improving the energy sector in the GCC," he added. Hamid Syed, the VP and general manager at UL Middle East, said: "The Saudi Electric Forum was the perfect place to sign such a significant agreement and we look forward to collaborating with our colleagues at GCC Labs to offer renewable and smart grid testing facilities to the public and private sector firms across Mena so that everyone in this region benefit from the safety advancements made in the sector." According to him, the Middle East markets to be served by the joint venture all have ambitious renewable targets with substantial growth expected over the next several years. It is anticipated that the joint venture will be well positioned to support those targets in the years to come. GCC Labs CEO Saleh A. Al Amri said: "The forum showed the trust and high expectation that our strategic stakeholders have for our joint venture to deliver best in class services to contribute fundamentally to the achievement of the Saudi and GCC visions." "We are delighted to work with such a globally renowned industry leader as UL and we look forward to a successful venture," he added.-TradeArabia News Service State-run oil giant Saudi Aramco is showcasing its water preservation and conservation solutions and initiatives at the ongoing Water Arabia Conference and Exhibition in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. As the diamond sponsor, it will be playing a key role at the expo being held under the theme Sustaining water resources through innovative and reliable water and wastewater treatment technologies. At the opening session, Abdullah O. Al Baiz, the vice-president for engineering services, pointed out that Saudi Aramco had vast experience in water preservation and conservation. He then gave insights of the company's role in the creation of new technological methods for water treatment and desalination. "Aramco constantly aims through its water conservation strategy to lead Saudi Arabis efforts in minimizing the use of non-renewable groundwater resources and maximizing its availability to future generations," noted Al Baiz. He also stressed the importance of the industry and government working together to plan and implement water conservation strategies, to meet the growth of the Kingdoms population and economy. Leading expertss discussed several key topics, including water treatment, sustainable wastewater treatment options, and policy and management of water supply in the kingdom at the expo. It brought together researchers, business leaders, investors, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers, and senior decision-makers from around the globe who are interested in the field of water and environment. "The conference is in line with Saudi Aramcos strategies to provide water solutions, and address water challenges facing Saudi Arabia, a nation located in one of the most arid regions on Earth," remarked Al Baiz. "It underlines the urgent need to increase awareness on water scarcity in the region, and engage all members of the community in water conservation at home, at work, and in communities," he added. The conference is being organised by The Saudi Arabian Water Environment Association (Sawea) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the US Water Environment Federation (WEF), International Desalination Association (IDA) and Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University in Dammam. A number of specialized organizations from various governmental and private sectors also participated in the conference which included many technical workshops provided by Saudi Aramco. An exhibition was also held on the sidelines, showcasing the latest technologies in water treatment and conservation.-TradeArabia News Service Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC), one of the Middle Easts leading developers, has signed an agreement with hospitality chain Four Seasons Hotels for a new property in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Part of the Jabal Omar integrated real estate development, the Four Seasons Hotel Makkah will be located adjacent to Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) and with direct access and unobstructed views of the Haram. The hotel will be the companys second location in Saudi Arabia, joining Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh at Kingdom Centre. As Four Seasons continues to expand its portfolio in the Middle East, we are pleased to partner with JODC to create a fully customised Four Seasons experience in Makkah, said J. Allen Smith, president and CEO, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Each Four Seasons is reflective of its destination and the people who stay with us, and this project in particular is designed to accommodate the unique needs of those who visit Makkah. This magnificent new building will set the stage for tailored service in a luxurious environment, enhancing the connection to this important place for all who visit. Four Seasons will be the jewel in the Jabal Omar master development plan, said Yasser Faisal Al-Sharif, CEO of Jabal Omar Development Company. With our design partners and Four Seasons, we will bring to life a vision for the ultimate hospitality experience to enhance Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. Award-winning architectural firm Foster + Partners was chosen following an international design competition for this prestigious project. Impressive in appearance and deeply thoughtful in its concept, the multi-towered building atop a retail podium cascades down toward the Grand Mosque, seamlessly integrating its public spaces into the Haram. An innovative design allows clear views of the Kaaba from every guest room and suite, each of which will feature one or more private prayer rooms. In total, there will be approximately 375 guest rooms and suites, plus approximately 90 Four Seasons Private Residences. Additional features of the hotel include three restaurants and lounges, a ballroom and meeting rooms, and a spa and fitness centre. The hotel will also offer special facilities and programs for families. - TradeArabia News Service Select Property Group, a premium British property developer, retailer and operator, is offering GCC investors the last chance to invest in its award-winning purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) portfolio, Vita Student. A revolutionary brand concept, Vita Student was launched in 2012 to meet the growing demand from local and international students who desired to study in the UK but were deterred by the common range of poor quality property options. Developed in prime city centre locations, its superior quality properties boast the very best facilities, not only creating continued student demand, but also fostering investor confidence which is underpinned by strong rental premiums and significant return on investment (ROI), said a report by Select Property Group. Boasting 99 per cent occupancy rates across its 452 million ($123 million) portfolio, Vita Student has waiting lists of students that want to live in these properties. Because of its consistently high occupancy levels, it can assure attractive yields to investors and has previously sold out fast to its portfolio of retail investors, it stated. Extremely popular with the GCC market, a third of Vita Student properties have been sold to investors across the region to date. Now, with the business evolving to a build to hold strategy, Vita Student Portswood is likely to be the last chance for investors to buy into the famed brand. "Across the UK, the PBSA market continues to be one of the most attractive asset classes in real estate for investors in the GCC and globally, assuring 50 per cent higher yields versus residential property," remarked Adam Price, the managing director of Select Property Group. "Our Vita Student product has been particularly attractive to those looking to invest in a hassle-free, fully managed model, which benefits from increased returns year-on-year," he noted. According to Knight Frank, the UKs student property sector is currently valued at 45.8 billion, with property outside Englands capital having a vast impact on that figure. "Properties in cities with high demand and low supply provide the highest yields and the potential of strong long-term capital growth, yet, when considering real estate investment opportunities in the UK, GCC investors typically overlook cities outside London," explained Price. "As a result, locations such as Southampton are often unnoticed in the first instance, despite the incredibly attractive product and returns on offer," he said. With 3701 beds occupied across the Vita Student portfolio to date, only 60 properties remain available to buy at Select Property Groups Portswood development in Southampton, England, with 374 properties already sold since its launch earlier this year. The group's 700-sq-m community facilities include private study rooms, tiered DJ booth, amphitheater-style cinema room and an integrated restaurant. Prices range from 135,000 - 216,000 and ensure 6.5 per cent net minimum rental return for five years. "As the UK university term starts again, many people living in the GCC will have settled their children in to their accommodation, or be planning to in the coming years. With the student property sector showing no signs of slowing down, investing in a prime university city now could be your most intelligent move yet," he added.-TradeArabia News Service The Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE), a Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) platform, yesterday (October 16) opened the third edition of its biennial two-day Dubai Diamond Conference 2017 in Dubai, UAE. The event which is being held under the theme Shaping the future of an interconnected marketplace, will conclude later today (October 17). The conference, known for identifying the main issues impacting the global industry, is dealing with a rich agenda of subjects critical to the future of the diamond business worldwide and opened to its biggest-ever audience. Abdullah Al Saleh, UAE Ministry of Economy, undersecretary of Foreign Trade and Industry, UAE, and DMCCs executive chairman, Ahmed Bin Sulayem inaugurated the conference, welcoming top-level speakers and panellists from every sector of the diamond pipeline and from across the world, saying they would provide insights based on long experience about the deep-seated changes affecting the business. Al Saleh said: It is really excellent to see that so many world-class experts have travelled from all over the world to attend the conference. Dubai believes in the diamond industrys potential to grow and we are committed to doing everything we can to support the industry. Meanwhile, Bin Sulayem spoke about the critical role the conference has developed in taking stock of developments in the industry and providing pointers for how it should tackle challenges as it moves forward. He added: Diamonds have long played an illustrious role in Dubai's heritage as a gateway for global trade. And, in just 15 short years, Dubai has become the third biggest diamond trading centre in the world. It didnt happen by accident. It happened because we designed an environment that is safe, business friendly, and that conveniently links producing and consuming markets, Bin Sulayem said. Bin Sulayem set the agenda on the importance of connecting with and understanding millennials as recent research found that 37 per cent of millennials claim to distrust big business and brands. He said: Its a different world. And it goes beyond just advertising and marketing. What do we as an industry have to change to better appeal to this demographic? Thats why I find that one of todays panels, How diamonds fit in the new era of Millennials, will be especially important. Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman, Global Compact Foundations keynote speech focussed on the United Nations Global Compact initiative and how the diamond industry can implement its Sustainable Development Goals to build a more just, more equitable and more sustainable future for all. He was followed by Peter Meeus, chairman, Dubai Diamond Exchange; the Hon Mosebenzi Joseph Zwane, Minister of Mineral Resources, Republic of South Africa; Paul Rowley, executive vice-president Global Sightholder Sales; De Beers Group, Robert Owen-Jones; Kimberley Process chair 2017; Ernest Blom, president, World Federation of Diamond Bourses; and Stephane Fischler, acting president, World Diamond Council. The first day of the conference tackled two major industry issues: Uniting the industry to accelerate initiatives driving the sustainable development agenda forward, and How diamonds fit in the new era of millennials, said a statement. The first panel discussion on sustainability featured Sir Mark Moody-Stuart; World Federation of Diamond Bourses president Ernie Blom; Responsible Jewellery Council executive director Andrew Bone; De Beers Group head of Government and Industry Relations Feriel Zerouki; CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation President, president Dr Gaetano Cavalieri; Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council chairman Praveen Shankar Pandya; and Signet Jewelers Ltd. vice-president, corporate affairs, David Bouffard. Blom gave the diamond industry's perspective on responsible mining, manufacturing and sourcing of goods. He said: Sustainability is critical for the protection of our planet, and from a consumer point of view, it has become the 'new normal'. Consumers especially the younger generation are demanding this and we must show that it is a vital part of our agenda. The conference, that is taking place in Dubai's Almas Tower which houses the Dubai Diamond Exchange, is bringing together international leaders of the diamond industry ranging from African Ministers to traders, financiers and world-renowned jewellers including: Dr Obolokile Obakeng, acting permanent secretary, Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Republic of Botswana; Leopold Mboli Fatran, Minister of Mines and Geology, Central African Republic; Keketso Sello, Minister of Mining, Kingdom of Lesotho; Hon Joseph Zwane, Minister of the Department of Mineral Resources, Republic of South Africa; Walter K Chidhakwa, Minister of Mines and Mining Development of the Republic of Zimbabwe; Emmanuel Kamarianakis; consulate general of Canada; Paul Fox, British Consul General to Dubai; Dominique Mineur, Ambassador of Belgium to UAE; Vipul Consul General of India to Dubai and N. Emirates; and Paul Ramsey Malik, US Consul General to Dubai. Panel discussions at Day 2 of the event will include the following topics: Lab-grown diamonds and their disclosure: Is there a problem; Bankability, transparency, innovation; branding; KP Reform: A reality or a never ending story?; The impact of value added tax (VAT) or GST on wholesale diamond trading; and Tenders and auctions: Temporary phenomenon or new business model of the future?, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Watch a video on the event here. Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to enhance the cooperation between the two entities. The MoU provides for holding workshops on the sidelines of the Dubai International Projects Management Forum focusing on humanitarian and development projects. Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA signed the MoU on behalf of RTA, and Frode Mauring, UNDP resident representative to the United Arab Emirates, signed it on behalf of the UNDP. Al Tayer was delighted with the signing of the MoU with the UNDP as it concurs with the announcement of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, declaring 2017 as The Year of Giving in the UAE. It also reflects the noble values of the UAE community, which gives much weight to the social responsibility and the spirit of collaboration with community members. As part of its initiatives marking The Year of Giving, RTA has launched the RTA Foundation with the aim of delivering charitable services and non-profit seeking social initiatives offering transit means to specific individuals or bodies. In coordination between RTA, government bodies and the private sector, the Foundation will seek to enhance charitable projects related to public transport in underdeveloped and disadvantaged countries to bring about a positive impact on the standard of living in those countries, Al Tayer said. Mauring will take part in the discussion panel headlined: Development Project Management on the second day of the Dubai International Projects Management Forum (DIPMF) 2017. Participants in the session include Saeed Al Tayer, CEO and managing director of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), and Mohammed Al Hammadi, CEO of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation. Discussions will cover the role of development projects in leveraging the development and prosperity of countries along with some examples in this regard. TradeArabia News Service National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), a leader in logistics and transportation, is highlighting its presence in the US by participating in the ongoing Breakbulk Americas event in Houston, Texas, US. The event, which kicked off on October 17 will conclude later today (October 19), and will reinforce Bahris position through its three-decade-long presence in the US, marked by excellence and achievements, said a statement. The Bahri booth at Breakbulk Americas was opened by Sultan bin Abdullah Al Angari, consul general of Saudi Arabia in Houston, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the first day of the annual event in the presence of Amal Al Ruwaii, director for Trade and Investment, Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in US; Ricky Kunz, chief commercial officer, Port of Houston Authority; Jeffrey Blair, director for Europe and Middle East, Greater Houston Partnership; Wael Al Sarhan, senior vice president marketing and communication, Bahri; Matthew Luckhurst, vice president liner services, Bahri Logistics; and Stephen Blowers, US country manager, Bahri Logistics. After expanding its footprint in the US market with the opening of its Houston office by the beginning of the year 2017, the Bahri Logistics team has grown the companys presence in the US Gulf and expanded the scope of the company operations to include significant projects in the logistics sector. Wael Al Sarhan, senior vice president marketing and communication, Bahri, said: Houston is home to one of the busiest ports in the world and Bahri is considered one of the most important clients to Port of Houston Authority due to the strong relationship between Bahri and the port that extends back more than three decades. Our participation in one of the worlds largest industry-leading exhibitions reinforces our growing presence in this strategic region and is considered another important milestone after the opening of our Houston office earlier this year, he said. Breakbulk Americas is the ideal platform for Bahri to showcase its capabilities and expertise to its global customers, and highlight its leadership position in project cargo transportation and logistics in the West-Arabian Gulf corridor, he added. As a Saudi organisation, we are extremely proud of what we have achieved so far. Through our active participation in local and international events, we are keen to contribute effectively towards achieving the Saudi Vision 2030 and strengthening its position as a global leader in the transportation and logistics sector and as an important global logistics hub that connects the three continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe together, Al Sarhan concluded. Bahri has reached numerous milestones over the past year, such as enhancing its US liner service through the addition of new port calls; signing of new service agreements with large US corporations; completing its second-ever direct discharge to barge operation in Beaumont, Texas; among many other achievements. Bahri Group, which is the worlds largest VLCC owner and operator with 40 oil tankers, continued with its fleet expansion by recently accepting delivery of Rimthan, a 300,000-dwt carrier built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) in South Korea, with an expected six more VLCCs to be received by 2018. Bahri will also purchase four bulk carriers in a deal valued at $120 million, between Bahri Dry Bulk and Mipo Dockyard, a member of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group. Bahris newest business unit, Bahri Data, is making pioneering moves in the usage of Big Data and advanced analytics in the maritime industry. As a global leader in data-driven efficiencies, Bahri Data is dedicated to leading cross-functional initiatives to unearth the knowledge hidden inside the massive data, and thus create an industry-wide transformative impact, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Kate Livingston The woodshop of the expansive building on north Fourth Street was abuzz with machinery and movement as I walked through. There, production lead Richard Webb was sawing along the grain of a seasoned piece of wood, and the earthy smell of cedar rose through the workshop. Alder, cherry, walnut, African mahogany, red oak, poplarthese are just some of the materials that the craftsmen at Fathers Building Futures use to create small art pieces, boxes, toys, refined cutting boards and caskets for business partners throughout the community as well as individuals who shop directly at the storefront, or happen upon the nonprofit's booth at local growers' markets, the Balloon Fiesta and other happenings. Yet, what Fathers Building Futures delivers in each of their piecesand the many services they provideis something more than a physical object, its a direct buy-in to a better community and a vote in favor of freedom for everyone in itemotionally, financially and socially. We're one of the only places in the Southwest that is run by felons for felons, Joseph Shaw, the operations manager at Fathers Building Futures, said. All of our supervisors and leadsother than a few peoplewe're all convicted felons. And that piece is at the core of the program, which grew out of PB & J Family Services, an organization that works with families in New Mexico to break cycles of abuse. One of the number one reasons for someone going back to prisonand it costs $45,000 a year to incarcerate one personis not securing housing or a job, Emet Maayan, the executive director of the project, which became its own 501(c)3 just this year, explained about the need for this kind of programming in our community. In answer to that cyclewhich is costly in so many waysFathers Building Futures works specifically with fathers coming out of the prison system, merging job training with financial planning, therapeutic work and a steady paycheck, to open more pathways for these individuals and by proxy, their families. Fathers Building Futures runs a woodshop, an auto detailing center, mobile power washing services and offers freight and delivery in the region. Fathers apply for the program and, if accepted, choose the area they would like to work in, along the way picking up numerous other skills and finding vital support systems. Just in the hours that I spent at the building on a Tuesday morning in Septembera site which they have occupied since their beginnings in 2008 a small group was gathering for a therapeutic session, another man was sitting down with a financial advisor to talk about about his IRA and auto detail supervisor Willie Rankin and auto detail lead George Sandoval were working on a Jaguar in the garage. And that was just a sliver of the work happening at Fathers Building Futures. Even on the work side, we still do a lot of therapeutic work, Shaw explained. It helps the water still. When you come out of incarceration, its like dropping a pebble in waterthe ripples start happening. Shaw explained that for some people, they have to start at zero: finding a job, planning a bus route and putting together a schedule. Working at Fathers Buildings Futures makes the process easier, and maybe even accelerated, helping people in the program to find balanceto still the waters. Now we have the structure, Rankin explained, taking a break from his work in the garage to unpack the significance of his work there. We get to do things our way, [it's] the first time in my life when we get to do something our way and run it. Rankin, who is going on five years with Fathers Building Futures, and is the manager of the auto detail side of things, runs the show in the garage along with Sandoval. Back in the woodshop, art is constantly being madebut perhaps more importantly, there is a story that courses through each piece crafted there, and in every moment of service provided in the other divisions. It's a social enterprise, Dara Romero, head of HR and community relations described. It's a nice balancethe dads are coming out and they have issuesmaybe transportation, housing, getting reconnected with their kids, maybe drug addictionthere's a whole onset of barriers that might keep them from getting to a sustainable place. It's about baby stepsasking: What are your needs right now and how can we help you? The efforts of the program have had transformative effect. More than 350 men have successfully completed the program. Graduates of the financial education classes have gone on to start their own businesses; those who have earned CDL certifications have made successful careers for themselves in freight and delivery; woodworkers have continued work with local businesses. These successes sustain the day-to-day. Just watching the struggles and growth of these guysthat's why I come to work everyday. To see them succeed and overcome. It's not about the work, you know? It never has been. It's a part of it, but that's not what motivates me to come in, Shaw said. It's inspiring to see the conviction of everyone involved with Fathers Building Futures at work, and connecting with the program is simple. You can shop for products from the woodshop online, or visit the storefront during business hours. You can also schedule auto detailing in the shop, or find out about opportunities for mentoring. If your business is hiring, you can contact the organization to see if the right candidate is soon to graduate the program. You can also schedule a tour, and on Oct. 23, in conjunction with the Before I Die Festival, you can join a group walk-through and learn specifically about casket making. (More information about that event at agoodgoodbye.com.) There are many moving parts hereand there are ambitious goals of sustainable employment, healthy families and, perhaps most importantly, the erasure of the stigma of having a felony background. Each day there's something new developing here, Maayan said. The small pieces are coming together, we see people getting jobs, and we see the stigma changing. Fathers Building Futures is the only organization of its kind in New Mexicoand it is evident just from being there that their work is having tangible impact. Supporting the art of this social enterprise is simple; and buying that art carries a second meaningof confidence and love for our community. Shop nowor just find out more informationat fathersbuildingfutures. com. UL, a global safety science company and Saudi Arabia-based GCC Labs have launched their joint venture designed to develop a state-of-the-art Renewables and Smart Grid Testing Facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The new laboratory will be the first of its kind in Mena and will serve customers across the region with world-class testing and certification facilities Jeff Smidt, vice president & GM of the Energy and Power Technologies Division at UL, said that the Mena region is poised to make huge strides in the electricity sector over the next decade. According to Smidt, the joint venture agreement, the establishment of GCC Labs and the significance of the events at the first Electric Summit all point towards an extremely positive future for the sector in the region, with Saudi Arabia in particular marching towards the sustainable future outlined in the Saudi Vision 2030. He stated: It was an honour to be involved in and experience the inaugural Saudi Electric Summit event. There was a very obvious sense of collaboration amongst private firms and government entities, all wanting to work together for the shared purpose of improving the energy sector in the GCC. The number of genuinely innovative initiatives underway in KSA will ideally result in a period of rapid improvement that we hope will drive greater efficiencies, performance and sustainability to ultimately benefit the region. Hamid Syed, vice president & GM, UL Middle East, said: The Saudi Electric Forum was the perfect place to sign such a significant agreement and we look forward to collaborating with our colleagues at GCC Labs to offer renewable and Smart Grid testing facilities to the public and private sector firms across MENA so that everyone in this region benefit from the safety advancements made in the sector. The Middle East markets to be served by the joint venture all have ambitious renewable targets with substantial growth expected over the next several years. It is anticipated that the joint venture will be well positioned to support those targets in the years to come. Saleh A Al Amri, chief executive officer of GCC Lab added: The event showed the trust and high expectation that our strategic stakeholders have for our Joint Venture to deliver best in class services to contribute fundamentally to the achievement of the KSA and GCC visions. We are delighted to work with such a globally renowned industry leader as UL and we look forward to a successful venture. TradeArabia News Service Grundfos, a leader in advanced pump solutions, participated in the recently concluded WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, which was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The WorldSkills event witnessed numerous competitions of different skills like plumbing, carpentry, and electronics among others, said a statement. The WorldSkills Abu Dhabi was the 44th edition of this event and comes as part of the WorldSkills International which is the global network of 77 member countries and regions who competed in 51 trade and skills competitions from six skills sectors. In each event the WorldSkills International community competes on the global stage to showcase and raise the standards of their country's skills. Grundfos was one of the skills sponsor for the Abu Dhabi event by providing all the pumps required for the plumbing and heating competition, said a statement. Henning Sandager, Grundfos area managing director, Middle East and Turkey, said: With innovation being an essential part of our DNA at Grundfos; hence our participation as a skills sponsor in the event comes as a natural result of our endeavours to promote creative solutions. This event is widely recognised for its wide range of competition fields; in addition to our category of plumbing and heating. Being part and a skills sponsor of such an event is indeed a source of pride to us, he said. We are extremely excited regarding our participation in the event, and are certain that our solutions were recognised and appreciated for their energy saving capabilities, positive environmental impact and ease of using, he added. Being the first competition to take place in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and the largest competition ever held adds more significance to our participation in the event. It offered the plumbing category competitors a valuable opportunity to demonstrate their skills and capabilities in association with our products, he concluded. Notably, Grundfos has been keen a key participant in WorldSkills events held in different places around the world for many years now, and was keen to ensure its status as a sponsor of numerous WorldSkills events as well. The long-term involvement of Grundfos in this international event reflects the convergence between the objectives of WorldSkills and the values and concepts of innovation and creativity adopted by Grundfos, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Red Blue Blur Ideas (RBBi), the first accredited usability and digital marketing agency in the Middle East, has appointed Ryan Garner as head of paid media, as part of the companys overall growth plans for the region. RBBi is a specialist agency offering UX/UI, SEO, PPC & Analytics. With more than 12 years experience in biddable media including his most recent role as head of paid search at iProspect in Dublin, Garner has an extensive record in partnering with major brands to help drive revenue growth while developing cutting-edge digital media strategies, the company said. In his current role, Garner is responsible for the media offerings at RBBi and will continue to deliver regular improvements for its clients to ensure that RBBi continues to bring global trends and best practices to the region, it said. Furthermore, with his past experience of leading and growing digital media teams, Garner will assist in expanding and evolving the paid media team within RBBi. Caroline Dickin, managing director of performance marketing & analytics at RBBi, said: "At RBBi our mission has always been to do the right thing and to help promote digital excellence in the region. We are really excited to bring Ryan on-board with his wealth of experience and insight. We are confident that he is going to play a pivotal role in helping our current and future client partners drive their media performance. He is also a self-confessed UX addict, which fits perfectly with our user-centric approach to digital." He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Systems from the University of Limerick. - TradeArabia News Service Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed an agreement with DP World UAE Region for assisting in issuing driver permits and offering licensing services. The agreement is part of RTAs efforts to enhance the integration and coordination with public entities in Dubai and realise the vision of the Government in this regard. Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of Licensing Agency signed the agreement at RTA Head Office on behalf of RTA, and signed it on behalf of DP World Mohammed Al Muallem, senior vice president & managing director of DP World- UAE Region. According to the agreement, RTA undertakes to issue driving learning permits, renew driver permits and issue permits for instructors handling jobs of special nature. RTA is committed to granting employees of DP World access to the SDDI system, offer them the training & technical support required to operate the system at the premises of DP World. RTA shall also audit transactions relating to permits of special nature jobs, receive transactions entered online for reviewing, endorsing and printing them before forwarding the information to the service applicant, among others. The agreement obliges the DP World to use driving permits for special jobs (light & heavy machinery), use SDDI system in processing the services provided for therein and complying with the customer service standards set by RTA. The signing of this agreement is part of Dubais endeavours to enhance its transformation into a smart and pioneering city in all respects. It also cements the global competitiveness of our nation, which echoes the vision of our leadership to rank the UAE as the worlds best in all respects by 2021. The agreement depicts the spirit of cooperation between RTA and other government/semi-government entities in serving the supreme interests of Dubai and realising its strategic vision in bolstering the relationships with various entities in the city. The agreement is bound to bring back a host of service benefits to both parties. TradeArabia News Service Participants at the upcoming International Conference on Future Mobility in Dubai, UAE, which will focus on the latest in intelligent connectivity among vehicles, will get an opportunity to try out a self-driving vehicle themselves. Hosted by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA), the UAEs federal standardisation governing body, the third edition of the event runs on November 7 and 8 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Innovation will be the key theme of this years edition of the conference and exhibition. The public will have a chance to meet and interact with international experts, leading manufacturers and developers of intelligent autonomous vehicles, an activity that enhances the transmission of news of the latest technology-driven developments to the widest possible community segment. Abdulla Abdul Qader Al Maeeni, director general of ESMA, said that the Authority has launched a project to draft technical regulations including requirements for self-driving vehicles and their safety requirements in an effort to improve safety and safety standards, which reflects directly on the quality of life In the country in line with the government's directions within the national agenda and enhances the countrys competitiveness globally. Since the launch of the draft regulations, ESMA has decided to present its initial draft at the International Conference on Future Mobility, seeking the scientific and technical opinions of international experts in a way that guarantees a draft that adds significantly to the industry and takes into account the best international experiences and models, which reflects positively on the domestic market, especially in terms of innovation, Al Maeeni said. He also noted the importance of safety standards for this type of vehicle, especially as it is highly technology-based. ESMA has formed a team of strategic partners including the Federal Authority for Land and Maritime Transport, the TRA, Dubai Police, RTA Dubai, transport department as well as other partners from federal and local bodies involved in drafting and discussing the draft. Organised by Messe Frankfurt Middle East and hosted by the ESMA, the 3rd ICFM is held under the patronage of Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ESMA. The two-day conference and exhibition will discuss and analyse the future of transportation in the region and how smart, sustainable and intelligent vehicles will play a key role in both public and private transport in the smart cities of the future. An expert panel of more than 35 speakers will be complemented by a stellar line-up of eco-friendly and autonomous vehicles on show from major manufactures such as Tesla, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Volvo, BMW, Cadillac, Kia, Renault and Mercedes-Benz. More than 350 international and regional delegates are expected to attend, representing manufacturers, government authorities, telecommunications, utilities, distributors, industry analysts, and environment ministries. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE) the 3rd ICFMs Strategic Partner, said: Recognising the importance of sustainable urban development, ESMA has taken a proactive role in shaping the future of our cities. The 3rd International Future Mobility Conference is aligning the realms of transportation and user mobility under a common framework of innovation and sustainability. It became a platform through which technologies can be observed in practice, and where government authorities can share their views about challenges and opportunities in urban transportation. By bringing together committed authorities, regulators, mobility experts, innovators and academia, we are making another confident step towards a smart and sustainable urban future, added Sulayem. Ahmed Pauwels, the CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, said: The UAE has been at the forefront developing alternate modes of mobility with sustainable technologies, prioritising the transformation of current mass transport modes into more efficient and intelligent systems. Ten per cent of newly-purchased cars by government organisations will be electric or hybrid from 2016 to 2020, supporting the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy to cut carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021. A future step is to bring consumers on-board, and to bring together key stakeholders that can make future mobility and intelligent transport systems a reality. The ICFM has made great strides toward that end and continues to provide delegates and government representatives an unmatched opportunity to meet and interact with leading international experts in the field and gain valuable learnings about the latest technological developments that are driving the industry, he added. TradeArabia News Service Emerson has agreed to acquire Paradigm, a leading provider of software solutions for the oil and gas industry, for a purchase price of $510 million, reflecting a multiple of 13 times expected 2017 EBITDA. Paradigm, joined with Emersons existing Roxar software business, creates a best-in-class, end-to-end Exploration & Production (E&P) software portfolio with offerings spanning seismic processing and interpretation to production modeling. Paradigms technology offerings will enable Emerson to better help oil and gas operators increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve return on investment. Expanding Emersons E&P software and solutions enables the company to help operators achieve Top Quartile Performance on investment and operational goals within new and established reservoirs. Interpreting data and generating high-fidelity representations of existing brownfield assets allows oil and gas companies to maximize production and avoid non-productive drilling and exploration spending. In addition, Emersons expanded services now enable oil and gas operators, through machine learning and cloud computing, to make decisions in the field leading to more efficient operations. This acquisition is a significant technology investment that meets our customers growing demand for an independent, global provider of E&P software solutions, said Emerson chairman and chief executive officer David N Farr. Paradigm broadens our leadership in the upstream oil and gas market by adding a range of subsurface software tools that complement our growing Automation Solutions portfolio. Paradigm is headquartered in Houston and has more than 500 employees globally. The company provides an array of tools that enable customers to gain deeper insight into the subsurface, reduce uncertainty and support responsible asset management. When combined with Emersons Roxar Software Solutions portfolio, Paradigm expands the global upstream oil and gas capability of our Plantweb digital ecosystem, creating a more comprehensive digital portfolio for our customers from exploration to production, said Mike Train, executive president of Emerson Automation Solutions. Our offering can now help customers better maximise the value of their existing investments and reach Top Quartile Performance. Top Quartile Performance is defined as achieving operations and capital performance in the top 25 percent of peer companies. The acquisition is expected to close within the next 60 days, subject to various regulatory approvals. - TradeArabia News Service US-based Rowan Companies, a global provider of contract drilling services, has announced that ARO Drilling, a 50/50 joint venture with the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), has commenced operations. Tom Burke, president and chief executive officer, said: "We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of ARO Drilling. This is a groundbreaking joint venture that supports Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, and provides Rowan with an unparalleled long-term growth opportunity throughout the next decade and beyond." As part of the initial start-up of ARO Drilling, Rowan and Saudi Aramco contributed equal amounts of cash into the joint venture. Following these contributions, Rowan sold three of its jack-up drilling rigs to ARO Drilling, including the J.P. Bussell, which was previously idle, and Saudi Aramco sold one of its jack-up drilling rigs to ARO Drilling. Following the purchase of these drilling rigs, ARO Drilling distributed excess cash in the amount of approximately $88 million to each of Rowan and Saudi Aramco maintaining each party's 50 per cent ownership interests in the joint venture. Pursuant to the ARO Drilling shareholders' agreement, Saudi Aramco will sell an additional jack-up rig in 2017 to ARO Drilling and Rowan will sell an additional two jack-up rigs to ARO Drilling once they complete their current contracts in late 2018. ARO Drilling also now manages the operations of Rowan's seven remaining jack-up rigs currently in Saudi Arabia. Rowan and Saudi Aramco have agreed that ARO Drilling will purchase twenty future newbuild rigs that will be constructed by a Saudi Aramco manufacturing joint venture and are expected to be delivered between 2021 and 2030. Each newbuild is expected to have a sixteen year drilling commitment upon delivery to ARO Drilling. - TradeArabia News Service Samsung Electronics is launching the worlds first consumer mobile product to use narrowband network technology, low power consumption and the ability to securely connect to the internet for optimal location services. The Samsung Connect Tag offers smart location notifications based on a NB-IoT or Cat.M1 network, leveraging full internet services to identify location information for increased family security and peace of mind. The Samsung Connect Tag will work with GPS, Wi-Fi-based positioning (WPS) and Cell ID, so it can receive accurate location information both indoors and outdoors for effortless location tracking. It can be attached to a young childs backpack so his or her whereabouts can be tracked, clipped to a dogs collar so it wont go missing, and secured the keys so they are never lost. These tracking and notification abilities will minimize anxiety about the users favourite items or loved ones, offering an exciting way to use technology for increased family security and an enhanced lifestyle. Furthering Samsungs commitment to a seamless IoT experience across devices, the Samsung Connect Tag will be tied to the SmartThings ecosystem, working in conjunction with the users smart home appliances through Works with SmartThings. The geo-fence feature on the Samsung Connect Tag will notify the users chosen smart devices when he or she approaches so if the user wants lights and TV to turn on while getting home from a nightly run, the Samsung Connect Tag can trigger these products as the user enters the pre-define zone, so the user will get a notification when the child enters the schoolyard or a dog jumps the backyard fence. The Samsung Connect Tag also offers several key features to minimize anxiety and increase usability. If the user loses car in a large outdoor parking lot, the on-demand function will allow requesting any Connect Tags location when desired, simply by pressing a button on the smartphone. The Send my location function will send their current location to their guardian, so even a young child can let you know exactly where he or she is and can go pick him/her up safely. Additionally, periodic location notifications will show a trace the loved ones location record. Connect Tag features a compact size, measuring just 4.21 cm wide and 1.19 cm thick, as well as IP68 water and dustproof rating for durability. The battery can last for up to seven days on a single charge, minimizing the need to constantly swap out or plug in the device. Connect Tag comes with an exclusive ring that easily attaches to bags, collars or key rings. Connect Tag will be showcased at the Samsung Developer Conference 2017 on October 18-19 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, United States. It will be available for purchase starting in Korea before expanding to select countries in the coming months. TradeArabia News Service Raffles Dubai, a landmark luxury hotel in the UAE emirate, has announced two senior appointments to the Rooms Division. Sumit Bhardwaj has been named director of rooms and Kevin Haddad has been appointed as front office manager. Overseeing the operation of the Rooms Division, Bhardwaj is an experienced luxury hotelier with over 17 years of experience. He will be responsible for leading the housekeeping, front office, Raffles Butler and concierge teams to deliver the legendary Raffles service for which the hotel brand is renowned. Reporting to Bhardwaj and bringing over six years of experience to the role, Haddad will manage the front office department at Raffles Dubai. Commenting on both appointments, Ayman Gharib, general manager at Raffles Dubai, said: We are very pleased to welcome Sumit and Kevin to Raffles Dubai, they will both fulfil important roles in delivering the exceptional warm and thoughtful service that our guests value. I am confident that their comprehensive experience and leadership skills, garnered at five-star hotels around the globe, will prove to be an invaluable asset for our guests and colleagues alike. Joining Raffles Dubai from Mandarin Oriental Singapore, Bhardwaj previously held the position of rooms division manager. He started his hospitality career at The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur, India, before moving to Taj Hotels as a Management Trainee, and then progressing to Mandarin Oriental Singapore as duty manager. He worked at The Taj West End in Bangalore for two years, before returning to Mandarin Oriental Singapore in 2012 as front office manager, where he was subsequently promoted to his most recent position. Bhardwaj has a Diploma in Hotel Management from the Indian Institute of Hotel Management and Technology in Hyderabad. Haddad joins Raffles Dubai from Grand Hills Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa in Broumana, Lebanon, where he worked as front office manager for the past year. He has previous experience working in Geneva, Switzerland, for Le Richemond, part of the Dorchester Collection, and Hotel President Wilson. Haddad holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, as well as a Master of Science in International Hospitality Management from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. - TradeArabia News Service Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) has launched its Fikra University project for 2017 - a competition which aims to foster entrepreneurship and innovation with students across the UAE. For this second edition of Fikra University, EAG is delighted to be partnering with Abu Dhabi Airports in order to offer a more expansive aviation competition. Fikra University provides entrepreneurial students the opportunity to put forward solutions for a range of challenges set by both EAG and Abu Dhabi Airports related to the travel and tourism industry. Wissam Hachem, Etihad Aviation Group vice president Learning and Development, said: Fikra University is yet another great example of Etihads commitment to empowering youth and fostering a culture of innovation. The initiative has received great praise from our university partners and we are proud to have such an initiative that successfully bridges the gap between academic and commercial environments. The Etihad Fikra Team comprises of six young Emirati employees led by Hamood Al Toqi, who are seeking to make a difference by helping to drive innovation across different entities in EAG. Hamood Al Toqi said: This year the competition is bigger and better, with the support of Abu Dhabi Airports, more universities taking part, and more strategic partners supporting us giving successful students more choice. Mohammed Al Katheeri, senior vice president Strategy and Planning at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: Abu Dhabi Airports is eager to take part in initiatives that will support the development of the national aviation talent, sustaining the growth of our aviation industry. We are excited to partner with EAG in the Fikra University, and look forward to the ambitious and forward thinking strategies and ideas that we will receive from the candidates and to their implementation across our airports facilities. The 2017 edition of Fikra will focus on digital evolution for airlines and airports, free zone development ancillary sales opportunities, improving loyalty, e-commerce, cargo tracking, use of virtual reality and re-design of seats using latest technology. There is also a special category called Out of the Box that allows students to deliver their own take on a game-changing idea in the airline or airport space. Successful applicants who deliver creative and value-adding ideas will be rewarded with internship positions with some of Etihads and Abu Dhabi Airports key strategic suppliers including CAE Inc, Cognizant, IBM, Rockwell Collins SAP, Recaro Aircraft Seating, Stelia Aerospace, Thales Avionics and Zodiac Aerospace. All applicants will also be automatically enrolled in a raffle with a chance to win some fantastic money cant buy experiences. Last year more than 18 UAE universities took part in the competition with 6,500 students registering. This year we are partnering with 27 universities and expect the programme to be bigger and better. The quality of submissions in our first year surpassed expectations. The ideas from last years 10 finalists are all in the process of implementation across EAGs operations. - TradeArabia News Service Emirates airline is now offering a complimentary 96-hour UAE entry visa to economy-class passengers stopping over in Dubai when flying from Dhaka to non-GCC destinations, a report said. The stopover scheme is valid for bookings made between October 8 and October 22, 2017, for outbound travel from October 15 to November 30, 2017, said a report in Khaleej Times. Passengers booking a business- or first-class service will also get a two-night stay at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, along with the complimentary visa facility, the airline announced. Only one stopover in either outbound or inbound direction is permitted, and the stopover needs to be availed by November 30, the report added. Jet Airways, Indias full-service international airline, has announced a special offer to celebrate the Diwali with its guests. Under this offer, the airline will provide attractive discounts of up to 20 per cent on tickets booked during the period. The nine-day fare sale commencing from October 17 to 25 will offer guests discounts of up to 20 per cent on Premiere fares and up to 10 per cent on Economy fares while booking for travel on the airlines domestic as well as international network. While travel validity for domestic bookings will be from November 1 onwards, guests booking tickets for international travel can immediately proceed to enjoy the benefit of these special fares booked during the festive offer. Valid for both one way and return journeys, the special fares offer guests substantial savings on Premiere and Economy travel on direct flights across the airlines network spanning 44 destinations in India and 20 abroad. Jayaraj Shanmugam, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways, said: Diwali is celebrated with great fervor across the entire nation. This offer is Jet Airways special way of spreading and sharing the festive spirit with our guests, ensuring that we heighten their reasons to celebrate the Festival of Lights. We are confident that our guests will avail these lucrative fares that will provide them significant savings on their travel bookings. - TradeArabia News Service Wyomings energy industries appear to be stabilizing after gradual improvement following the downturn of 2016, a trend expected to have a similar impact on the states economy, according to a recent analysis from state officials. For some time, the refrain in Wyoming industries had been, Its better than it was, a reference to any uptick after the unprecedented decline in coal, oil and gas. The downturn wrecked local and state coffers and shrank the states employment by more than 11,000 jobs. And while the various sectors that compose the states economy, from coal mining to retail sales, have made progress over the last six months, economists say the state has leveled off. Most of the boost in the economy was due to mining, the recovery of the mining sector somewhat, said Jim Robinson, a state economist. Its certainly improved from where we bottomed out a year ago. The revenue picture still represents a significant challenge. The states annual economic forecast is due out next week, which will shed light on Wyomings financial landscape before the governor releases his proposed budget at the end of the year. Coal jobs have remained static, with about 5,400 miners working at Wyoming mines in August, the same as the year before. But oil and gas employment has seen monthly gains. Robinson said hes seeing a positive trend in statewide employment. Jobless claims in the mining sector, which includes oil and gas, are down by more than 75 percent, according to the states monthly report. Thats the first thing you notice: Oil and gas jobs come back, Robinson said of the improvements in 2017. Maybe six months later, some of those other industries that are impacted by mining start to show some of that impact as well. Sales and use taxes and severance income are up, Robinson said. But the rate of growth may be slowing a bit, he said. The rig count, a predictor of company investment in drilling that increases the stream of cash to local business and government, has remained stable since spring. Oil and gas spot prices have stayed in a narrow band, with the West Texas Intermediate price hovering around $50 a barrel or lower. Coal production is up by nearly 15 percent for the first nine months of 2017 compared with that period last year, when production fell to 30-year lows. As those three fossil fuel sectors the triumvirate of the states income and tax base level out, so do the economic gains elsewhere. Weve had two quarters of 2017, in terms of personal income, that have indicated that the economy was improving, but with that second-quarter report the improvement was much smaller, Robinson said That tells me that whatever that boost was that the state got from an increase in activity has pretty much had its impact. Wyoming game wardens say somebody shot and left two mule deer to waste. A landowner near Casper recently found the bucks with their heads removed. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department said Wednesday it is seeking the public's help investigating the case. Game wardens say they are looking into whether the poaching is related to the nearby poaching of a buck and doe mule deer earlier this year. They say so far the incidents appear unrelated. Game wardens also are investigating a mule deer buck illegally killed south of Cody. A potential new agreement between Casper and Rocky Mountain Power that would increase the electrical companys franchise fee and as a result bump up rates for consumers sparked debate at Casper City Councils Tuesday night meeting. Like the current contract, which expires Dec. 31, the new agreement will grant Rocky Mountain Power an electric utility franchise in Casper which allows the company to have a general utility easement to locate its electrical facilities in public areas, such as streets and alleys. However, the new agreement will increase the electrical companys franchise fee from 5 to 7 percent of its gross revenues derived from within the corporate limits of the city, according to City Manager Carter Napier. Councilman Shawn Johnson quickly objected to raising the fee, stating that the increase would get passed on to the consumer. Other council members felt that it was one of a series of necessary steps that must be taken to help reduce the approximately $4 million in reserves being used in the citys budget. We are not going to be able to cut ourselves out of this problem, said Councilman Charlie Powell, explaining that its also important for the city to increase its revenue. Mayor Kenyne Humphrey agreed. All of us citizens are going to have to start paying a little more to keep the city running, she explained. The citys economic challenges stem from low sales tax revenue and concerns over the certainty of state funding. City leaders are worried that the money they receive from the Wyoming Legislature is in jeopardy, as the state continues to receive less revenue due to weak energy prices. Napier, who recommended the new agreement, explained that the fee hike would likely increase the average residential customers bill by about $1.50 a month. Pointing out that this is about the cost of a cup of coffee, Councilman Bob Hopkins said he felt that was a reasonable amount. Stating that every resident cannot afford a cup of coffee, Johnson continued to object to the increased fee. The councilman stated that even small increases can eventually add up to significant amounts. Councilman Dallas Laird said he was not opposed to the fee increase, but did not want any of the money the city collected from the franchise fee to be given to the Casper Area Economic Development Alliance. They dont tell us what they do with our money, he said. Laird explained Wednesday that some of the money the city obtains from the franchise fee is earmarked to be given to the Economic Development Joint Powers Board, which then trickles down to the development alliance. The development alliance, which aims to attract new businesses to Casper and help existing businesses improve their profitably, has come under fire from City Council in recent months for failing to report how it spends public dollars. Riata Little, the alliances vice president of business development, declined to comment Wednesday, and explained that the alliances president is out of town. Other council members, including Johnson, also expressed concerns at the meeting about the alliances lack of transparency, but Powell encouraged the Council to give the organization a chance to answer more questions before coming to any conclusions. Napier clarified Wednesday that the agreement does not specify that any of the money the city collects from the franchise fee must be given to the joint powers board. That has no bearing on the language in the franchise agreement, he said. That would be a policy issue that Council would be changing. Council ultimately voted to approve the new agreement, but the vote was not unanimous: Johnson and Councilwoman Amanda Huckabay voted no. Council must vote in favor of approving the agreement two more times before it will be officially authorized. A Casper resident was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. A 12-person jury found Miguel Martinez guilty of first-degree and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Martinez could face up to 70 years in prison. He will be sentenced at a later date. The 10-year-olds mother reported to Casper police in March that her daughter said Martinez sexually assaulted her in the bathroom of a residence. The girl told investigators that Martinez, who is a family friend, sexually assaulted her. Nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center completed a sexual assault exam and found evidence shed been sexually assaulted. During the trial, prosecutors played video of the girl describing the assault to a forensic interviewer for the Childrens Advocacy Project. The girl told the interviewer that Martinez should go to jail. Martinez denied molesting the child to arresting officers and pleaded not guilty to the charges in May at an arraignment in Natrona County District Court. According to court documents, Martinez was drunk on the night of the assault and a breath test showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .218, nearly three times the legal limit to drive. The trial, which took place in Natrona County District Court, began Monday. A former Casper doctor has agreed to plead guilty to a steroids possession charge in exchange for avoiding a prison sentence. Paul Harnetty, who is facing a range of sexual assault charges in a separate case related to his work as a Casper gynecologist, signed the plea agreement on Oct. 6. In April, Harnetty allegedly attempted to buy 3.6 grams of Nandolone, a synthetic steroid that is also listed as a controlled substance, from a business in China, according to court documents. The agreement indicates that Harnetty will plead guilty to attempted unlawful possession, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Both prosecuting and defense attorneys will ask the judge to sentence Harnetty to a suspended prison sentence and ask that he serve probation instead of going to prison, according to documents filed in Natrona County District Court. The suggested length of the suspended sentence and probation are not indicated in the documents. Plea agreements are written up between prosecuting and defense attorneys, and judges do not play a role. It is only when Harnetty pleads guilty that a judge will review the agreement. The judge could throw out the agreement and allow Harnetty to withdraw his plea. The plea agreement does not impact the sexual assault case. In that case, Harnetty is facing eight counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of third-degree sexual assault. Patients of Harnettys have alleged he sexually assaulted them when practicing as an OB/GYN. He remains free on bond. A report commissioned by the Legislature on how Wyomings state government can save money has found as much as $227 million in possible annual savings but lawmakers are a little stumped on how to actually implement the suggestions. The next steps are complicated by the fact that the consultants have estimated that the Legislature would need to allocate about $17 million during the next budget cycle in order to realize the savings, which would come through a variety of measures including consolidating services like human resources across state agencies and helping various departments place equipment orders collectively in order to receive better deals. The Legislatures Government Spending and Efficiency Commission received the consultants report Wednesday morning in Casper and were pleased by the results, if a little worried about what to do with it. We dont want a 133-page report to go back and sit on a shelf, Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper, said at the meeting. Where do we go from here and how do we get to the next step? J.W. Rust, a senior director with the consulting firm that produced the report, Alvarez & Marsal, said that for the recommendations to be evaluated and implemented it was necessary to create a project manager office within the governments executive branch and staff it with five to eight employees. That office would be responsible for maintaining pressure on lawmakers and state agencies to move forward on the various efficiency initiatives, some of which would require technical assistance. Broad report The Alvarez & Marsal report was commissioned last winter as part of the Legislatures effort to cover the several-hundred-million-dollar budget shortfall due to a depressed energy market in the state. But the report was broad in scope and conducted in just eight weeks, intended to be the first step in a lengthier process of evaluating state government operations. The consultants focused on the states largest agencies administration, education, health and revenue while conducting a more cursory overview of the government as a whole. Still, it identified a number of areas for significant savings and better service delivery, including: Decrease the ratio of managers to non-supervisory workers, meaning that more state employees would be engaged in providing services. Improve the technology used by state agencies both to modernize it and unify it across departments to avoid duplication and incompatibility. Create an office to apply for and oversee federal grants, to ensure the state is not leaving money on the table. Bring back state auditor jobs that had been eliminated as a cost-saving measure, since the positions bring in significant revenue and pay for themselves. Improve the use of shared services across agencies such as a single IT employee overseeing technology at several departments. Purchase more employee benefits in bulk for discounted rates. Actively incentivize employees to suggest ways to save money or make their departments more efficient and remove roadblocks to employees doing so. The report estimated that acting on the recommendations could lead to between $12.9 million and $17.7 million in one-time savings and to between $112 million and $227 million in savings over each two-year state budget cycle. About $17 million would need to be spent to realize these savings. The legislative commission, which included several non-lawmakers, were somewhat skeptical about how much could actually be saved. I spend $17 million and make $200 million? asked commission member Don Claunch. Can I put my 401(k) in that? But the consultants were adamant that the report included reasonable estimates of possible savings and that if their recommendations were followed the savings were almost certain to be realized. Were ... trying to be as conservative as we can in providing those estimates, said John W. Cox of Alvarez & Marsal. We have a high degree of confidence in those numbers if youre committed and youve got to be committed. The commission is authorized to prepare its own report based on the Alvarez & Marsal findings and pass along recommendations to the Legislature, which will meet in February. The immediate next step would be to conduct an 18- to 24-month organizational review of state agencies, which would include a more comprehensive evaluation of the recommendations made in the current report as well as examine new areas. Test of commitment But when it comes to implementation, the level of commitment cited by Cox may well be tested. Several recommendations, such as consolidating some administrative functions across smaller school districts within the same geographic region, are likely to be controversial. Rust said that hiring a single chief financial officer to oversee five or six small districts, for example, would allow for the necessary specialization without requiring districts to give up local control of the actual education. But it may be difficult to persuade districts to give up some of the administrative duties voluntarily. Commission member Gail Symons broke out in laughter at the suggestion that districts might agree to these changes without the Legislature compelling them to do so. You will need to require the school districts to do this, Cox acknowledged. While many of the more straightforward suggestions, like encouraging agencies to make bulk equipment orders, are unlikely to encounter much cultural resistance, the consultants identified other sticking points that may require an uphill battle against entrenched attitudes in the Cowboy State. For example, Alvarez & Marsal manager Sheena Gordon said that Wyomings rural nature had been used to account for high costs in various areas of state government, such as health care costs, and that while there was truth to that explanation in many cases, it was also used an excuse. Rust gave the example of Wyomings poor rankings in childhood nutrition standards, which are not only below the national average but also lag behind other rural states like Montana. Perkins was happy with the report but underlined the fact that state government would have to get behind making the necessary changes if any savings or useful changes were to be realized. Its up to the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch to implement these things, Perkins said. This is truly just the beginning. CHEYENNEA top statewide officials lawsuit over the Capitol Square Project is going before the Wyoming Supreme Court on Thursday in Laramie. State Treasurer Mark Gordon filed a complaint in District Court in May 2016 challenging the constitutionality of Wyoming statutes creating the Capitol Building Rehabilitation and Restoration Oversight Group. The group consisting of Gov. Matt Mead, as well as several current and former state lawmakers is tasked with making decisions about the ongoing $300 million project to rehabilitate, renovate and restore the Capitol and adjacent Herschler Building. The lawsuit contended the Oversight Group statutes were unconstitutional because they deprived the state treasurers office of its role in approving contracts. In May 2017, the District Court ruled in favor of the state, finding the statutes did not expressly violate the treasurers authority. An appeal asking for the Supreme Court to reverse the District Court decision and remand the case for further proceedings was filed in July, leading to todays oral arguments. Gordon said hes not looking to obstruct the Capitol Square Project with the lawsuit; its a matter of clarifying his offices role in the matter. Obviously, I think theres a responsibility that is mentioned in the (Wyoming) Constitution, and I wanted to make sure that the treasurer did his duty, Gordon said Wednesday. If that is true what the constitution seems to suggest, then the treasurer should have a role in approving the contracts. And thats really the reason why you bring these things to the court, so they can decide. The treasurers appellant brief argues the offices authority serves as a checks-and-balance provision on the powers of the Legislature. But the state contends the District Court was correct in its ruling that the Oversight Group statutes do not conflict with the constitutional provisions cited by the treasurer. The two parties legal representatives will make arguments today as to whether the Supreme Court should remand the case back to the District Court for further proceedings to address the legislation. Article 3, Section 31 of the Wyoming Constitution says, All contracts shall be subject to the approval of the governor and state treasurer as they pertain to furnishing the halls and rooms used for the meeting of the Legislature and its committees. The Wyoming Capitol is the venue for the Wyoming Senate and House of Representatives. The treasurer argued the legislation subverts that authority, while the state contended it never expressly did so. Gordon said hes not sure what the next step will be after the courts rule. Whatever ruling they come out with will probably have some bearing on how we look at what our responsibilities are and how we meet those, he said. I guess Im going to wait until we have a decision, and then proceed with whatever capacity this office is meant to do. Sheridan-based attorney Anthony Wendtland, representing the treasurers office, said Wednesday hes working on the case pro-bono. No state funds are being used to pay for my work or my expenses, he said. They never have and never will. I think this is an important issue, and I think the treasurer needs representation. I think I can argue this case for him in a way that honors and defends the oath I took to defend the Constitution when I became an attorney, and its a privilege to be able to do that. Its not the first time the Capitol Square Project has been a topic of arguments before a state Supreme Court this fall. Another suit brought against the states top officials alleging they violated the Wyoming Constitution in their management of the project was brought by a former state lawmaker and a Uinta County resident. That lawsuit alleges the state failed to follow constitutional provisions in awarding construction contracts and lease agreements for the Capitol Square Project, and violated separation of power provisions in establishing an oversight group for the project. In January, a Laramie County district judge ruled in favor of the states motion to dismiss the case, writing the plaintiffs failed to meet standards of personal harm incurred as a result of the state officials actions. That case was appealed to the Supreme Court, with oral arguments taking place in Cheyenne on Sept. 20. No decision has yet been issued. A Tucson startup company is working to develop technology that would allow doctors in developing nations to perform ultrasounds with nothing more than a smartphone. Courtney Williams and her company Emagine Solutions Technology developed the idea to make pregnancies safer for women in developing nations. It landed the grand prize of $25,000, in addition to a $1,000 prize for being selected as the audience favorite, at the Get Started Arizona pitch competition. Presented by Cox Business and organized by IdeaFunding, Get Started Arizona gave six local entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of six business professionals. Out of the six presentations, four were products designed for the medical field. We have the environment here to really launch entrepreneurs, said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. Were especially pleased whenever were able to launch and grow a successful business from Tucson with folks who live here in one of our communities. Rothschild also said that as a business community, Tucson is just getting started, and talked about Tucsons development of new districts meant to help businesses grow and attract new businesses to the region. Other finalists who pitched for a chance at the grand prize included: Oat Mama: Makes food products, like oat bars and tea blends, with ingredients like fenugreek to help breastfeeding mothers produce more milk. Currently has a kitchen in downtown Tucson, and projects $1.4 million in sales for 2018. Hivemetric: Software that helps startup businesses model their finances, in addition to helping them collaborate with investors and banks. Provides business recommendations and insights to users. PlasmaGlide: Developed and patented a new fixture table that makes cutting metal easier, safer, and more accurate. Also doesnt require any computer programming, allowing the user to cut metal to their choice. Lum.AI: Software that can locate specific information in documents at less than 10 seconds per page. Makes it easier for medical staff to sift through research documents. This company was selected to work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and has University of Arizona professors among its staff. Saccadous: Developed a virtual reality goggle-type helmet that tracks eye movements to diagnose concussions. Will also make the process of diagnosing concussions cheaper, with a baseline test costing $3-$5 and a postgame test costing $50. Saccadous is currently collecting data using prototypes. Bryce Horner, who helped conduct Hivemetrics presentation, said hes pleased to see Tucsons entrepreneurial community come together in support of one another. For too long, Carmen Baron has stashed her collection of hand-sewn folklorico costumes in closets and corners. Usually, she only pulls the costumes out for dances, the colorful skirts flashing on stage. But not any more. Since the beginning of October, historic Canoa Ranch in Green Valley has exhibited 22 Ballet Folklorico costumes, most of them handmade here in Tucson by Baron, the director of the nonprofit folklorico dance group, Danzacultura Mexicana. They're on display until November 22, and they're really worth checking out. Mostly dresses and skirts, the costumes represent various regions in Mexico. Canoa Ranch, operated by Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation, first connected with Baron several years ago for one of its regular festivals. Baron brought dancers, but the costumes also made an impression, says Valerie Samoy, special staff assistant with Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation. When Danzacultura Mexicana returned for another event, they brought more than their dancers. The ranch set up a tent to display a few costumes. People loved it, Samoy says. "The costumes should be on display, not in bins," she adds. And so the ranch approached Baron about setting up an exhibit in exchange for loaning a handful of costumes, the ranch would split the proceeds from the exhibit with Danzacultura Mexicana. The rest would go toward the ongoing conservation and restoration of Canoa Ranch. "For me, it's quite an honor to be asked to display my stuff," says Baron, adding that because her folklorico group only dances a handful of times each year, people don't get to see the costumes she has devoted her life to sewing. She says she could lend almost 100 costumes for an exhibit without any repeats. "I want people to know that these costumes are done right here in Tucson," she says, although she clarifies that she purchased several of the costumes on display at Canoa Ranch from Mexico. Baron says she learned to sew maybe even before she could walk. "My mom would put me in her lap, and I would look at the way she was sitting at the machine, and later I was able to learn myself..." says Baron, who grew up in Altar, Sonora. "My mom used to give me just little pieces of material, and I had to beg her, because there was no money, and it was hard to find materials in my hometown." Because she lived in a small town without a TV, she wasn't really exposed to folklorico until she moved to the United States. "I started sewing little dresses for my dolls by hand, and then I used to make bigger things for my brother and little dresses for my cousin," she says. "But my mom didn't know anything about folklorico, and I didn't either, not even what the dresses looked like." She remembers the first time she saw a folklorico dance group as a high school student here in Tucson. What she saw enchanted her. "I graduated from Pueblo High School and went to Pima Community College, and saw a big sign that said, 'Mexican folk dancers,' and I said, 'That's it. I'm going to enroll,'" she recalls. "That's when I started taking folklorico classes. And I knew how to sew already, so I was asked by other students to make costumes. And since then, I've been sewing and sewing and sewing." She's currently teaching folklorico to about 25 students through Danzacultura Mexicana. She's also working with about a dozen young children at Montessori Learning School. When her students perform, they wear costumes with brilliant colors and intricate embroidery, hand-sewn by their teacher. Over the years, Baron has received awards for the time she donates to teaching and her craftsmanship from Tucson Parks and Recreation and the Southwest Folklife Alliance, according to Star archives. For Tucson Meet Yourself this year, she was asked to sew costumes for Polish dancers and a University of Arizona folklorico club. It was a busy few weeks. At Canoa Ranch, her costumes get their own stage. "They look beautiful there," Baron says. "Much, much better than being in my closet, where they're in boxes and all squished and no one is enjoying them." So go enjoy. If you go: What: Ballet Folklorico costumes from Carmen Baron's collection on display. When: 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in October and 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. until Nov. 22, with the exception of Nov. 1 and Nov. 11. We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Oct. 19 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages. A federal grand jury has indicted two men accused of offering a customs officer in Naco $10,000 to let them drive a marijuana-packed pickup truck through the port of entry, court documents state. The men, Francisco Bustamante Espinoza, 39, and Abel German German, 44, are said to have ties to a drug-trafficking organization, court documents state. Federal prosecutors said Bustamante offered the deal to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer on June 27, with the money to come from drug traffickers working with Bustamante and German, according to the Oct. 11 indictment in U.S. District Court in Tucson. The pickup truck was supposed to carry 100 pounds of marijuana and the officer would have been paid $10,000 each time he waved through a smuggling vehicle. German said Bustamante would also receive $1,000 each time because Bustamante had approached the CBP officer first, according to court documents. One month after Bustamante originally made the proposal to the officer, German told the officer the pickup truck was sent to an auto shop to be fashioned with a nonfactory compartment to conceal the marijuana. On Aug. 6, the men told the officer they had agreed to offer him $5,000 up-front in hopes that he would see how committed they were to the offer. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Davenport III said no money changed hands. The public defenders for Bustamante and Germans cases could not be reached for comment. Reported cases of bribery of a public official are rare in Arizona. From 2012 to 2016, only nine cases where bribery was the lead charge were prosecuted in Arizona, according to the most recent data available from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group run by Syracuse University. In contrast with the failed bribery attempt in Naco, officials accepted bribes in two recent cases in Southern Arizona. Claudio Estrada, a former motor carrier inspector for the U.S. Department of Transportation, accepted a $1,000 bribe in December 2012 from a man suspected of being a drug trafficker in exchange for helping a smuggling plan at the Naco port of entry. Estrada pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States. He was sentenced to time served. It is not clear in court documents how long Estrada was in custody and neither federal prosecutor Michael Jette nor Estradas defense lawyer could be reached for comment. In addition to a $1,000 fine, Estrada was prohibited from seeking employment with the Department of Transportation or any federal agency dealing with border operations. In another recent case, former Border Patrol Agent Juan Pimentel, 48, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for trying to smuggle cocaine and accepting a $1,500 bribe in Rio Rico in exchange for providing information from a law-enforcement database. A Tucson lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 7 years in prison for his role in two multimillion-dollar real estate fraud schemes in San Diego and Tucson, court records show. Jeffrey Greenberg, 67, will serve 81 months in prison on a wire fraud charge and 40 months on a money laundering conspiracy charge, with both sentences to run at the same time, according to records from U.S. District Court for the District of Southern California. He also was ordered to pay $12.2 million in restitution. Courtland Gettel, 43, of Coronado, California, and a former Tucson resident, was sentenced Tuesday in California to 11 years in prison on a wire fraud charge. A restitution hearing is set for Nov. 21. Gettel also is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2 in federal court in Tucson on two money laundering conspiracy charges, court records show. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to $13 million in restitution, according to the plea agreement. The two pleaded guilty to participating in a sprawling fraud scheme that involved $33.6 million in loans taken out on multimillion dollar homes in La Jolla and Del Mar. The defendants forged documents to make lenders believe the homes were debt-free. They then defaulted on the loans, causing millions of dollars in losses to the lenders. They both also pleaded guilty to their roles in what the Justice Department called an equally massive fraud in Tucson, where Greenberg worked for Gettels real estate investment company, known as both Conix Inc. and Variant Commercial Real Estate. The investment company bought homes from banks or distressed homeowners, according to court documents. The company also bought real estate debt from mortgage lenders and serviced the loans. Through the investment company, they obtained tens of millions of dollars from a real estate financing firm. Instead of using the money to refurbish properties as they agreed to do, they used the money for their own benefit, the justice department said in a news release. In both schemes, Greenberg funneled the money through his attorney-trust bank accounts and into other bank accounts. They then created hundreds of corporations and limited liability companies to shield assets and disguise who was involved in the transactions. Over the weekend, thousands of women took to social media, posting the words me too in solidarity with victims of sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood. Right now, were on the front pages with this issue, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said Wednesday morning, as representatives from public-safety agencies across Pima County gathered to recognize what they called an epidemic of domestic violence. Whats been more important is the response to whats been on the front page, which is so many women coming forward to talk about the harassment and assault theyve experienced, wherever they work and wherever they live, the mayor said. But what struck Rothschild most about the issue was how the narrative focused on the number of people who have been raped or abused, rather than the number of people who have been the perpetrators of rape and abuse. We need to ask the same question of domestic violence: Why do we speak in terms of the number of victims rather than the number of abusers? Rothschild asked. We need, as a society, to speak about the problem a different way. A way that places the responsibility squarely where it belongs: On the perpetrators. On an average day in Pima County, 16 new domestic violence victims seek help from Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, said the agencys CEO, Ed Mercurio-Sakwa. Its the 30th anniversary of domestic violence awareness month, and while thats something to celebrate that for three decades weve been working hard to raise awareness about this issue, it also speaks to the fact that decades and decades later, were still talking about this issue, Mercurio-Sakwa said. While we know that this is a slow process ... if we have many more decades of this celebration, honestly I feel like weve failed. Each year, local law enforcement responds to 15,000 calls related to domestic violence and 6,000 victims and children enter the shelter, Mercurio-Sakwa said. We cannot allow time to continue to click away as this happens, he said. Law enforcements role in serving domestic violence victims is critical, but its not just that they respond to 911 calls, Mercurio-Sakwa said. How you choose to respond is critical. That is what can make the difference as to whether a victim decides that its safe to continue to ask for help, he said. Whether taking that very real, physical risk of asking for help is the smart thing to do at the moment. With representatives from the Pima County Sheriffs Department and the Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley and University of Arizona police department standing by, Mercurio-Sakwa thanked the departments for their work and asked them to continue to respond with the same level of care and concern. Domestic violence touches every gender, every socioeconomic class and it erodes the quality of life in our community for so many, said Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier. Victims of domestic violence need to realize that law enforcement passionately cares about this crime and were committed to eradicating and discouraging domestic violence in our community. To date, the Sheriffs Department has responded to 3,000 domestic violence calls this year, Napier said. Over the past 30 years, the way domestic violence is viewed and handled by law enforcement and the Legislature has changed significantly, said Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall. Law enforcers now understand that in domestic violence, there is always an element of control held by the abuser over the victim, and training has changed as a result. These are things that are progressive that have improved the way we deal with domestic violence, but theres still a long road ahead, LaWall said. This is an issue that were dealing with right now today in this country. The situation has to change, she said. Were working on them, theyre incremental changes, but we need to move ahead faster, she said. We need to give out the message to the community that if you are abusive, if youre guilty of this crime, we will hold you accountable. The Tucson Police Department is on track to have 9,500 cases of domestic violence investigated this year, said Assistant Chief Carla Johnson. Theres something about our society that sends the message that it must be OK on some level to do this, and its not, Johnson said. We need to send a stronger message. In 2017, TPD added a sergeant and three detectives to the domestic violence unit, but its still not enough, Johnson said. Part of the problem is the idea that domestic violence is a private matter, and oftentimes friends and neighbors may not come forward when they suspect abuse, Mercurio-Sakwa said. This issue thrives in silence because people believe its a private matter. That culture has led to many deaths in our community, he said. When youre talking about 15,000 911 calls a year ... that isnt a private matter. Thats a public safety and a public health issue. When the culture shifts so that people understand that everyone has a responsibility to end domestic violence by changing whats viewed as acceptable, people will start speaking out, Mercurio-Sakwa said. As of now, only one in 10 instances of domestic violence gets reported to police, Mercurio-Sakwa said. Theres something about the way we speak about domestic violence that gets people thinking about the victim, and what the victim could have done and should have done differently, and that is totally wrong, Rothschild said. The only legitimate question is what the perpetrator could have or should have done differently, and the answer to that is not to commit the abuse. President Trump and Republicans hope were not paying attention to tax reform as closely as we did to health care. Its easier to pretend things like estate tax and pass-through income tax cuts wont hurt us, and might even help us. But this bill is just like that one: tax cuts for the rich, paid for by service cuts for the rest. Public broadcasting, Medicaid, meals for poor kids all slashed. When 67 percent of Americans think corporations dont pay enough in taxes, 84 percent want higher taxes for the mega-rich, and 82 percent oppose cuts to Medicaid, how is it democratic to try and shove this scam reform through the Senate with just 51 votes? To Sen. John McCain: How about a moratorium on tax cuts until we see Trumps tax returns and learn how the proposed bill benefits him, his family, and the cronies who bought his campaign? Suzanne Schafer Downtown Film Victoria board member Caroline Pitcher has been appointed as its new CEO following the resignation of Jenni Tosi. Currently General Manager, Commercial and Public Engagement at Federation Square, Pitcher was National General Manager, Film & Television Post Production at Deluxe, and previously Director, Marketing & Enterprise Solutions at Omnilab Media and General Manager of the Melbourne Film Office. She has also been a CEO of Ausfilm and board member, President of the Screen Services Association of Victoria and a Film Victoria board member since 2012. Im delighted to be assuming the leadership of Film Victoria at a time when the Victorian screen industry is performing well. An important continuing role for Film Victoria will be to assist our industry to meet the challenges of a changing environment and take more Victorian-produced content to the world, she said. Our industry is fortunate to have a large number of exceptional producers across film, television, Video-On-Demand and digital games; talented craftspeople, directors, writers, visual effects designers, cast and crew with a wonderful track record of success and international acclaim; and a supportive State Government. Im looking forward to working collaboratively with them all. President of the Film Victoria Board Ian Robertson said, Caroline has made a strong contribution to the industry over more than a decade and to the Film Victoria Board over the past five years. She has an intimate knowledge of the organisation and the challenges and opportunities ahead for Victorias screen industry, and we are thrilled to welcome her back as CEO. Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley added, In the context of a fast-changing media, technological and global landscape, Caroline takes the helm of Film Victoria at an interesting time for our screen industry. I have no doubt she will bring great energy, insight and resourcefulness to the opportunities ahead and I look forward to her contribution to Film Victoria, our screen industry and our creative state. Pitcher begins in December. The pay battle surrounding former Today host Lisa Wilkinson has gone global, with coverage by the New York Times. Headlined Australian TV Hosts Departure Raises Questions on Gender Pay Gap the article notes: News of her abrupt departure set off speculation that Ms. Wilkinson, 57, had quit over an equal pay dispute. She had for 10 years been a co-host alongside Karl Stefanovic and at times had fended off questions about a pay gap between the two. It continues: Her departure comes as other news outlets have been facing questions about gender pay disparities. In July, the BBC released pay data showing that women represented only one-third of the on-air talent who were paid at least 150,000 pounds, or about $200,000, by the broadcaster in the past year. It went on to quote talent, politicians and media who had weighed into the debate. Fairfax has also reported the saga has even attracted some chatter at the MIPCOM trade event in Cannes, alongside Harvey Weinstein and CBS / TEN topics. Meanwhile Shameless star William H Macy, husband of Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, told News Corp equal pay was a no-brainer. When you go to a producer to get a raise, its his or her job to get you to sign for as little money as possible. Thats what they are there to do. The whole notion, especially in showbiz, is about figuring out what you are worth, he said. This week Nine went on the record to defend negotiations were ended over Wilkinsons salary demands and digital rights, and were not related to gender. Heads up metal fans. Britains Judas Priest are guest programming rage this weekend. British Steel, Stained Class, Sad Wings of Destiny, Painkiller Judas Priests albums have made them metal royalty. Join them for a night of leather and loud music with tracks from AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metallica and more. Cub Sport are currently scheduled to guest programme a week later. 10am / 11:55pm Saturday on ABC. If you didnt catch Jimmy Barnes on Q&A he will be appearing on Sunday Night this weekend, in an interview with Rahni Sadler as part of his book release, Working Class Man. Sunday Night will also have giveaways for Barnes fans. Booted Out Dustin Martin is now one of the AFL greats. A grand final victory and Brownlow Medal this season, and Dustys only just beginning. But hed gladly give it all away just to have his dad back home with him in Australia. His father was deported to New Zealand last year as part of a blitz against foreign-born criminals and bikies. While Shane Martin has never been jailed for any offence, a convicted killer whos been jailed 16 times has been allowed to stay. Sunday Nights Alex Cullen asks why, as Dusty and his family prepare to take their case all the way to the High Court. Working Class Man Weve always known he was a wild one. As wild as they come. Since the 70s, Jimmy Barnes has been singing his heart out, belting out hit after hit that in some ways told the story of our lives. But only recently has he found the will and the courage to confront his own life his own demons. The drugs. The booze. And the darkest night of his life, when he almost ended it all. Rahni Sadler reports. Sunday at 7.00pm on Seven. Help India! By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net Ashokbhai Gamit is a farmer in Vaghpani village of Vyara Taluka, Tapi District. As a farmer, he carries a lot of tools to his farm, but one thing that he has been considering buying for over a decade now is a helmet. And there are good reasons for this: a stone quarry, one of the five in and around his village, is located right next to his farm and it is not uncommon to see massive pieces of stones fly and land in his farm at any given time. In the larger scheme of things, however, personal injuries are the least of Ashokbhais problems. Falling groundwater level, loss of grazing land, unbearable pollution and loss of deep-water wells for drinking water purposes have made life pretty difficult for the residents of this rather picturesque village. Support TwoCircles In this season, however, it is slightly difficult to fully understand the magnitude of the problem of the residents. In fact, Ashokbhai says that this is the worst season to come to the village if one wants to see the havoc that the stone quarriesall privately owned and within a radius of five km from each otherhave had in the village. Right now, I admit you cant see what this village goes through because of the mines. The monsoon has turned the entire place green and the dust level is considerably down, he tells TwoCircles.net. In fact, to make matters worse as Ashokbhai put it, the night before we visited the village saw a heavy downpour and there had been a power-cut for over 6 hours. The quarries were silent and amidst the peace and quiet in the village, stories of how these quarries, which mine and crush black stone, have wrecked the lives of the locals were narrated to us. And before someone says, but what about the jobs these quarries create, it must be pointed out that almost all the labour in these mines come from outside. They dont prefer to hire locals and we dont want to work there, says Ashokbhai. The village of Vaghpani, located about 10 km from the district headquarters of Tapi district (Vyara) has been seeing stone mining and crushing for over three decades and despite numerous protests, nothing has changed. The residents allege that these mines, owned by private parties from across the nation, break several laws yet are allowed to continue due to the callous nature of the authorities. This district alone has 62 stone quarries, as per a 2015 RTI filed by Romel Sutariya, President, Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha and out of these, at least seven have been set up on common grazing land. Vaghpani is not the exception: it is just another village being laid to waste in the name of development. Isakbhai Gamit, a 25-year old who works in Vyara and is a resident of Vaghpani, reiterates that in the monsoon season, the issue may not seem so grave. Nevertheless, he assures us that the signs are still there once we walk deeper into the village. Andar ke taraf chalo, asar dikhega aapko (Walk towards the interior areas of the village, you will see the impact) he says emphatically. And true to his word, less than 200 metres from the first mine, the effects are there for all to see. He points to a water well that was earlier used for irrigation and even drinking water. These quarries have regular blasts, sometimes 4-5 a day and the chemical from the dynamite they use to drill deep holes found its way into the water. There is still some water in the well but it is of absolutely no use. Even the cattle wont drink that water nowit smells of bomb-like material, he added. Then, there is the dust that engulfs the village for over 9 months a year. Isakbhai shows pictures of the village just before the sowing season on his phone: fields littered with rocks, plants smothered in dust from the quarries, coloured water from wells. He also shows us pictures of how, before every sowing season, the farmers have to spend days clearing all the rubble from the quarry that landed in their farms. Sometimes, the danger can be very real: Rameshbhai, another resident of the village, talks about how sheer luck saved his brothers life last year. Just before the sowing season, he was clearing up the rubble. He had to attend the natures call and so he stepped out of the farm and was relieving himself behind a tree when a massive stone fell right where he had been standing five minutes ago. If he had been there, I dont even want to imagine what would have happened, he said. Another resident, Chimanbhai, says he lost his bike when a flying projectile from one of the quarries damaged his bike beyond repair One of these days someone will diethey say they give us a warning, but how do we protect ourselves when the entire house is shaking? he asks. Residents point out to cracks in the school wall as an example of how dangerous these blasts are. And during our investigation, we found several holes dug up in a cylindrical shape. Issakbhai, who was with us, said, You see these deep holes? They make about two dozen such holes around each of the mine, about 80-100 feet deep. Pipes are inserted first into this hole and they are then filled with dynamite. Every time there is a blast, the whole village shakes. The local primary schools walls have cracked up too. The other, far more damaging issue because of the quarries is that nearly all sources of water around the village have either dried up or become unusable. Because of these walls, underground water sources are either badly damaged or are infected. This village, which used to never face water shortage, now has to depend on water tankers from Vyara town for about 8-9 months a year, says Ashokbhai. Then, there is the problem with the water discharge from the quarries. Everything they dig deeper, the excess water from the quarries is often diverted towards farms. Over the years, Ashokbhai has lost two harvests after the water from the quarry flooded his crops. Now the water is diverted to the forests but still finds its way to farms on the other side, he says pointing to the farms at the bottom of a hill. The forest reserve begins there, a village is here, and in the middle of all this they have been given permission to mine, he says exasperatedly. There are other legal issues too that have been conveniently overlooked to ensure that these quarries continue work unabated. This being a Schedule 5 area, the Tribes Advisory Council must first approve permission for any such activity, which is the foremost authority in Schedule 5 areas. The quarries have no such permission, the Sarpanch of Vaghpani, Savitaben Gamit pointed out. Apart from this, these stone quarries are within a km of the village boundary, which is in complete violation of the verdict given by the Supreme Court in the 2003 judgment of Mohammed Harun Ansari and another Versus District Collector, Rangareddy District, Andhra Pradesh. Then, there are violations of the circular issued by the principal conservator, Forests, Gujarat, which clearly mandate that prior permission must be sought from Gram Sabha. That apart, the circular issued also states: A quarry lease in the Scheduled Area identified pursuant to this sub-rule shall: be granted only to a bidder who belongs to a scheduled tribe and is an inhabitant of the Scheduled Area; and only be transferable to a person who belongs to a scheduled tribes and is an inhabitant of the Scheduled Area. As locals point out, this is not the case in any the mines in this village. Then, there is the issue of mining on common grazing land. This is certainly the issue in Vaghpani, but as our investigation showed, this is an issue across Tapi district. In 2015, Sutariya had filed an RTI asking for information of stone quarries in Tapi district. The RTI showed that of the 62 quarries in the district, seven were on grazing land categorized as Gochar land, while seven more were on government land leased out for mining. However, since the time the RTI was issued, a lot of land has been moved from grazing land to government land without consent from Gram Sabhas. Take the example of a village called Khutaria, where as per the RTI, a quarry is shown under grazing land. However, as per the latest land records available online, the same land is now listed as government land. Then, in another village called Dolwan, the quarry is on land listed as grazing land as per the RTI. However, the 2017 records now show that the same land has a quarry, a farmers market and a shopping centre. These discrepancies, Sutariya says, are not by mistake: it is an attempt on the part of the government to demonstrate how little the Gram Sabhas matter in such issues. Savitaben became a Sarpanch earlier this year, but is more than familiar with the issues that plague her village. But more than the quarries, her anger is directed at the local authorities. In the past decade, we have written several letters to the Collector and the local leaders, both as residents as well as through various Adivasi organisations. But there has been no reactionthey act like there is no problem at all, says Savitaben. In a place where we should be encouraged to claim our rights under FRA, we are being denied what was promised to us ever since Independence: the power to conserve our forests and land. They (quarry owners) are here to make money, but why are the authorities so hell bent on helping them instead of us she asks. Ashokbhai nods in agreement. In October 2015, we tried to do a rally from our village to Vyara town to submit our memorandum to the Collector. But instead of listening to us and allowing us the freedom to protest, we were instead lathicharged upon. A number of us were injured and due to the police assault I broke my arm. So much to protect the owners but nothing for us? asks Ashokbhai. It was only fair then that in February 2017, the locals filed a case against the quarries in the Ahmedabad High Court. The courts are our last hopethe local leaders, authorities have failed us completely and we have no hopes from them, says Rameshbhai. The disappointment with local leaders is also evident when TwoCircles.net asked them if they expected any change due to the upcoming elections, the response bordered from indifference to that of revolt. We are not going to vote this timeif they cared about us, they would have tried to help us. Let alone helping, the leaders from BJP and Congress have never even visited us to even ask us about our issues. We are not going to stop anyone from voting of course, but we want to show our protestswe went to the Court because the administration failed us. Now, all our trust is with the Court, added Rameshbhai. Help India! By Shamsul Islam for TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles One of the greatest wonders of the World and the only one in India, Taj Mahal, has become the newest target of the Hindutva killer/demolition squad. It was ordered to be built by Mughal king Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram known as Shahjahan (1592-1666) in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is interesting to note that it was named as Taj Mahal (Crown of the Palace) despite being a mausoleum which took 20 years to be built. A Hindutva icon from western UP, Sangeet Som after inaugurating a statue of 8th-century Hindu king Anangpal Singh Tomar at Sisauli village near Meerut (October 16, 2017) was once again on in top gear while denigrating Muslims and Islam. However, it was not from his earlier repository of hate like the cow, love jihad, Ghar Wapsi etc. etc. On this occasion, he chose a new theme. It was Taj Mahal being denigrated as part of Hindutva polarizing agenda. According to a leading English daily in this speech Som told the gathering: Many people were pained to see that the Taj Mahal had been removed from the list of historical places, what history, history of which place, which history. The person who made Taj Mahal [Shahjahan] imprisoned his father, he targeted the Hindus of Uttar Pradesh and India. If these people still find a place in history, then it is very unfortunate and I guarantee that history will be changed. Som continuing his sermon said In the past few years, there have been attempts to distort history in India and Uttar Pradesh. Today, the governments of India and UP are working to bring that history on the correct path, from the history of Ram to Krishna, Maharana Pratap to Shivaji Rao, they are trying to incorporate them in the books. And the blots which are in our books, be it of Akbar, Aurangzeb, Babur, the government is working to remove them from history. This sermon on history was hilarious so far as facts were concerned. One could see the clear imprint of RSS boudhik training which produces such intellectuals. Shahjahan becomes Aurangzeb! Shah Jahan, who got Taj Mahal built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, was told to be the one who jailed his father. On the contrary, it was Shahjahan who was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb until formers death. But so far as the aim of communal polarization was concerned there was no confusion and mistake. Som, a beloved of the RSS, is a seasoned religious bigot. He was implicated in his provocative statements in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 that claimed at least 60 lives and displaced 50,000 people. The Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission report on Muzaffarnagar riots named him among the people responsible for inciting the riots. In the last UP assembly elections, he was also charged with instigating communal hatred after his supporters screened a documentary that allegedly polarized voters. This RSS/BJP leader was also accused of stoking communal tensions in Dadris Bisada village after the 2015 mob lynching of Mohammed Ikhlaq. For his such prominent services to the cause of Hindutva politics, he was felicitated with awards like Hindu Hriday Samrat and Mahathakur Sangharsh Veer by Hindu organizations. His prominence in the Hindutva hierarchy can be gauged by the fact that instead of being behind bars, he has been provided Z-category security by the RSS/BJP government. Som in his speech was condemning those historians and activists who had criticized the absence of iconic Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site from the list of historical monuments in the UP Government tourism booklet released a month ago. Taj Mahal was dropped from the list despite the fact that as per a reply of the then Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma in the Lok Sabha (July 19, 2016), it had earned a revenue of Rs 75 crore in three years of which only Rs 11 crores had been spent on its maintenance and other important environmental development of the Taj Mahal during the same period. It is true that a section of the BJP leaders did half-heartedly express difference with Soms opinion taking care of the fact that their response did not hurt the perpetrator of hate. The UP tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi made it clear that the Taj was part of our heritage. But when asked directly about Soms denigration instead of condemning the hate campaign against the Taj Mahal she simply said, Well, every individual is free to make an opinion but as far as the government is concerned Taj is very much on our priority list. There is no doubt that Soms diatribe was neither an exception nor an aberration. He was religiously expressing the RSS/BJP point of view on the monument. Last June chief minister Yogi Adityanath had no hesitation in declaring that He said that the Ramayana and the Gita represent Indian culture and not the Taj Mahal. He went on to emphasise that the ivory-white marble mausoleum didnt represent Indian culture. How the RSS/BJP intends to use the issue of Taj Mahal for its polarizing agenda can be known by the statement of a seasoned RSS/BJP leader, Vinay Katiyar, BJP Rajya Sabha MP which he made two days after Soms venom-spitting against Taj Mahal. According to him, Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan after demolishing a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva called Tejomahal. It was no different with the BJP national spokesperson and a senior RSS cadre, G V L Rao, who though expressed difference with Som. But by treating Taj Mahal as a heritage of a killer and the barbaric Islamic rule as Som had done, had no hesitation in declaring that As a party, we do not have a view on any individual monuments. But, broadly speaking, the period of Islamic rule around 800 years was a period of extreme exploitation, insane barbarism and unprecedented intolerance to the other faith. If anyone tries to gloss over these facts, it will be actually distorting history. It is well documented by historians of world stature that Muslim invasion and its rule represented the most oppressive and regressive world over. Some of the political commentators are of the view that the issue of Taj Mahals barbaric Islamic heritage is being hyped keeping in view the coming assembly elections, especially in Gujarat. The RSS/BJP feel that Hindus of Gujarat not solidly backing it there, this issue will help in consolidating Hindu vote-bank there. It may be partly true but the danger of Hindutva mischief with Taj Mahal cannot be underestimated. We should not forget that that before the murder of Father of the Nation, Gandhiji (January 30, 1948), a strident campaign of hatred was launched against him by the Hindutva gang. This hate propaganda resulted in his assassination was underscored by none other than Sardar Patel led home ministry which went on to record that It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organize for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. It was no different when Babri mosques demolition was planned and executed during 1990-92. It is well-documented how all Muslims became haram-zade or Babar ki aulad (children of Babar) posing a serious danger to Ram-zade (children of Ram). The hatred campaign against Muslims/Islam was carried on for almost two years and became the most pervasive sentiment among Hindus with a trail of a bloodbath of Muslims in different parts of the country. Riding on it the Hindutva juggernaut led by RSS was able to demolish Ayodhya mosque on December 6, 1992, despite the commitment to the Parliament, PM and Supreme Court that mosque would not be harmed. The RSS demolition squad must tell us that why despite the period of Islamic rule around 800 years was a period of extreme exploitation, insane barbarism and unprecedented intolerance to the other faith, the population of Muslims never exceeded 25% of the population and Hindu population never decreased below 75%. Savarkar says that after Humayun no Mughal king of India was from a Muslim mother. 800 years of Muslim rule kept Muslims pauperized whereas wealth, properties remained with the Hindus. Was it due to the fact that high Caste elite of Hindus joined hands with these Muslims rulers? There could be no other reason for the continuation of this insane barbaric, extreme exploitation and unprecedented intolerance Islamic rule for 800 years. There is real danger to the safety and existence of Taj Mahal. The rulers having allegiance to RSS cannot be trusted despite all kinds of assurances. India has not forgotten how Hindutva bandwagon especially RSS cheated and reneged on the Babri mosque. There can be 3 kinds of immediate dangers to Taj Mahal. Mobs are allowed to damage/destroy Taj Mahal for being a symbol of Islamic repressive rule as was done on December 6, 1992, or in 2006-7 in Kandhmal against Churches and seminaries of anti-national Christians. It may be noted that many Hindu historians/intellectuals have been claiming that Taj Mahal was a temple. Taj Mahal is damaged/destroyed by forming a fake Islamist group or conspiring with some Islamo-fascist group claiming that mausoleum-like Taj Mahal is not allowed in Islam. It may be noted here that RSS relies on conspiracies for achieving its objects. Dr Rajendra Prasad who rose to be the first President of the Indian Republic warned even first home minister of India, Sardar Patel on this. In a letter to Sardar Patel (March 14, 1948) he wrote: I am told that RSS people have a plan for creating trouble. They have got a number of men dressed as Muslims and looking like Muslims who are to create trouble for the Hindus by attacking them and thus inciting the Hindus. Similarly, there will be some Hindus among them who will attack Muslims and thus incite Muslims. The result of this kind of trouble amongst the Hindus and Muslims will be to create a conflagration. Even if Taj Mahal is not demolished its beauty and gorgeousness for which the Taj Mahal is known can be damaged permanently by the conspiratorial use of sub-standard and harmful chemicals for cleaning. This can be done through experts/consultants committed to the cleansing of India of Islamic heritage. In order to check and counter any such attempt the highest court of justice in India, the Supreme Court, must take immediate charge of the World Heritage Site as governments both at the Central level as well as UP level are committed to what creatures like Som, GL Rao and Vinay Katiyar have been propagating. The UNO, especially UNESCO must monitor the situation to save Taj Mahal. For some of Shamsul Islams writings in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu & Gujarati, please click here: Even though Theresa May has mostly been making all the right noises about Brexit since she became Prime Minister last year, all the senior posts in the Cabinet are occupied by politicians who campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union. All these MPs that Mrs May promoted possess no talent, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Chancellor, Philip Hammond. This year's budget proved to be an utter disaster Since replacing George Osborne, Mr. Hammond has produced two budgets that make his predecessor's "omnishambles" budget in 2012 look amazing. Last year's autumn statement was over-cautious about the short-term effects of the EU Referendum. There were no radical or dynamic policies that could place the UK in an economically advantageous position prior to its EU exit. For example, there was no commitment to scrap air passenger duty or cut corporation tax to Irish levels. This year's budget proved to be an utter disaster after the Chancellor was forced to u-turn on his plans to increase the threshold for Class 4 self-employed workers. The way he has talked down Brexit has deterred investors from pouring money into the British economy. His upcoming November budget promises to be another disaster. The Chancellor now intends to provide tax relief for millennials at the expense of scrapping it for pensioners. Like with the tax rises for Class 4 self-employed workers, this measure will overshadow the rest of his budget. From pouring scorn on Brexit to creating generational warfare, "Spreadsheet Phil" has nothing positive to offer the Treasury anymore. That is why Andrea Leadsom would make a suitable heir to Mr. Hammond at the Treasury. Many Brexiteers were disappointed she dropped out of the race to become Tory leader after her interview with a Times journalist showed her political innocence, but she still has so much more to offer the Cabinet. She deserves better than the positions of Environment Secretary and Commons Leader. She is the ambassador Britain needs Mrs Leadsom possesses experience in banking and demonstrated her impressive knowledge when she criticised Barclays' part in the 2012 Libor scandal. She is the ambassador Britain needs to promote the economic benefits of Brexit, being a leading campaigner for the Vote Leave group last year. She possesses the vision to create a Singapore-style economy that the UK needs, with low regulations and low taxation, making the UK an attractive place to do business. Mrs May desperately needs a reshuffle and it is time she looked to the talented Brexiteers in her Cabinet. Yesterday The Guardian reported that Brexit uncertainty is causing many businesses to prepare contingency plans in the event that no deal may be reached between the UK and the EU. This is due to the uncertainty caused by the current EU Withdrawal Bill. For example, they reported that airlines have told their suppliers that they may be legally unable to sell annual advance tickets because the lack of a transition deal means they cannot ensure regulatory approval to fly after March 2019, the date Britain is due to leave the trading bloc. Companies are running out of time to prepare for Brexit According to The Guardian, leading businessmen argue that politicians are failing to absorb how quickly commercial deadlines will be upon them. Xavier Rolet, the Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, wrote a plea in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that companies are running out of time to prepare for Brexit. This is evidence of a second Project Fear looming round the corner. It is apparent that no deal with Brussels is becoming increasingly likely and financial organisations must prepare for that reality. The Government confirmed last week that it is preparing for the possibility of no deal. This should provide businesses with hope considering politicians will assist them financially if there is no deal. So why are many leading businessmen still worried? Sir Keir should be fired for this level of incompetence Everyone can agree the EU Withdrawal Bill will provide much clarity and certainty for the economy, but Labour is spreading lies by stating the Department for Exiting the EU is fudging this Bill. Sir Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, is in no position to criticise the Government's Brexit policy. The Labour Party doesn't have one. Sir Keir should be fired for this level of incompetence, but sadly they are led by a man who has kept the inadequate Diane Abbott in her position. By failing to collaborate with the Government on Brexit, Labour is purposefully thwarting this process by taking advantage of the Tories' lack of a majority. There are many Labour MPs who would be happy to reverse the decision made in last year's EU Referendum altogether. This is not the sort of political point-scoring businesses deserve. Sir Keir and Jeremy Corbyn are doing them a huge injustice by delaying the EU Withdrawal Bill, which will clarify which EU laws will translate into British law post-Brexit. They are playing politics with the economy's future. So who is to blame for this negativity surrounding Brexit? Look no further than the Labour Party. Everyone now knows that the Iraq War was wrong. Everyone now knows that we were fortunate not to have deployed ground troops in the Syrian mess. Not so many people mention the anarchy in Libya. It's best not to mention Afghanistan, but the point is the same, everyone knows after the fact that we were wrong to involve ourselves in countries which most of us can just about locate on a map. Iraq was not the first time that we had the chance to learn this lesson, and then promptly ignore it, that came much earlier in a country which is synonymous with American failure: #Vietnam. 'What fools we are...' Whenever the importance of learning history is discussed, someone will invariably quote George Santayana to point out that we will repeat the mistakes of the past if we do not learn our history. They are right, but it does not matter in #Britain and the #United States because our leaders will carry on regardless. You would be forgiven for not noticing the interesting ten-part Documentary on BBC4 called The Vietnam War, I came upon it by chance while changing channels - but if you get the opportunity to watch it you must. It is not a dry historical documentary, but one that really catches the mind on a war that is not regularly taught in British schools, which is to our disadvantage. I wont go into the details, for there are others who can do it much better than I can, but the short story is that it was an unmitigated disaster for the Americans. They poured substantial amounts of resources and young men into that sorry country and were forced out by the determined Communist forces. From that point forward every politician around the world should have learnt Otto Von Bismarcks adage: Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Alas, they haven't. Tony Benn gave a speech to the House of Commons in 1998 regarding arming Saddam Hussein's regime (interestingly this was the same regime that just five years later had to be destroyed), in which he said "What fools we are to live in a generation for which war is a computer game for our children, and just an interesting, little Channel 4 news item". What fools, indeed. War is hell I'm not a pacifist, war has been necessary many times in history and it is imperative that we be able to defend our shores with a strong navy, air force and army. That does not mean, however, that I have a thirst for death. I do not want to see 179 British servicemen dead because Tony Blair was with President Bush "whatever". I can not imagine how many have died and continue to die because David Cameron felt it necessary for Britain to join in the destabilisation of Libya. How lucky we are that public pressure stopped him getting his way in Syria, which we now know that we would have blundered into in support of 'moderates' (your guess is as good as mine) that we've not heard much of since. We have a serious choice to make the next time a polished politician comes to us to sell another war. We can ignore the lessons that we and the Americans have learnt in such a terrible way. Or we can decide that the lives of other people's sons and daughters are not ours to throw away in the pursuit of utopian ideals. Assad, Gadaffi, Hussein and all of the other dictators that rule, or have ruled, so much of the world are not nice people, no one could argue otherwise, but it is none of our business. We are not a superpower anymore, we can not just walk into these petty despotisms and demand the abdication of their monstrous leaders, we must stand back and accept that the world is not a nice place like we do with China, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Watch the documentary, it will probably be one of the best things on television for quite a while, but, most importantly, it will teach you that it does not matter how much money and how many guns and people you throw at it, the world cannot be remade in our image. Ministers have played down anticipation that there will be no parliamentary scrutiny over the Brexit process. Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons and Brexit Under-Secretary Steve Baker informed the Commons Procedure Committee that Parliament will scrutinise the final details of the EU Withdrawal Bill. The news comes after politicians warned of a "power grab" by the Government after the Bill becomes law, which will enable the House of Commons to repeal and replace old EU laws once the UK leaves the trading bloc. Substantial changes will be debated in the Commons Chamber Mrs Leadsom said a lot of this procedure will involve insignificant changes that Parliament would not have to debate. Meanwhile, Mr. Baker added that substantial changes will be debated in the Commons Chamber. The EU Withdrawal Bill is designed to translate EU law into British law as the UK prepares to leave the European Union. It will depend upon Statutory Instruments (SIs), which will allow the Government to speed up the Brexit process by enforcing legislation without an Act of Parliament. The House of Commons will then have the freedom to scrutinise the amendments as power is taken back from Brussels. SIs are a crucial part of parliamentary process, as legislation can be very dynamic and future decisions are required as to how it will work in practice. Many opponents of the Government's Brexit legislation said the dependence on SIs was an intended "power grab." The EU Withdrawal Bill may require approximately 800-1000 SIs, which some politicians have said Parliament should decide instead. There are no unique difficulties The Commons Leader said this is a tried and tested method of scrutiny that is necessary for Brexit legislation. She added that there are no unique difficulties. Mrs Leadsom said the Government is being very cautious about whether there are extra levels of scrutiny required. She said statutory levels are well established and clearly laid out. The Brexit Under-Secretary said the Government had also committed itself to publishing a document explaining significant changes to the law as it translated from EU to UK legislation. He said the memorandum would state what many EU laws did before exit day, what is being done and why to make sure it was appropriate. Chaos at the heart of government Labour's Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said fears that the Withdrawal Bill is being delayed are causing a paralysis. He said there was chaos at the heart of government over their approach to quitting the trading bloc. His arguments come as the Department for Exiting the EU stated no date had been formally agreed for the legislation's next stage, even though the flagship policy was set to be debated in the Commons next week. Sir Keir said he doubts whether the Prime Minister can deliver Brexit. Labour MP Chuka Umuna, who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relations, said the Withdrawal Bill has been badly drafted and badly thought through. He said he is not surprised by the Government's approach to the Bill. He added that the number of amendments has given ministers a lot to think about, which demonstrates Parliament is taking back control and has done an excellent job of scrutinising the bill. A spokeswoman for the Department for Exiting the EU told Express.co.uk that the Withdrawal Bill is a crucial piece of legislation in the national interest. She dismissed claims that the Government intends to delay the Bill as it has yet to be scheduled to enter Committee Stage. The spokeswoman concluded the process is straightforward. Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said the delays to the Bill make Southern Rail look punctual. He said there is no crystal clear majority in the nation for the "hard" Brexit the Government is pursuing and that amending this legislation gives MPs an opportunity to take back control from power-hungry ministers and stop that "extreme" Brexit nobody wants. At least 300 people have been killed and scores more injured after two truck bomb attacks hit Somalia's capital Mogadishu last Saturday in the deadliest attack the country has ever seen. The first truck bomb exploded outside a hotel close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the busy K5 intersection and two hours later the second truck bomb exploded in the Medina district which is also home to the Somali National University. Somalia's government blamed the terrorist group, al-Shabab, although the extremist group have not yet taken responsibility for the attacks. Who are al-Shabab? al-Shabab whose name translates to 'the youth' launched its insurgency in 2007 against Somalia's government. Backed by al-Qaeda, the terror group hopes to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. It has received less attention than other terrorist organisations such as Daesh and has vowed to expel any members linked to them. Their operations have largely been confined to Somalia and its East African neighbours, however, the group has carried out several high-profile attacks in the regions, including the offensive on Kenya's Westgate shopping mall in 2013 that killed 67. Why did they do it? It has recently been said that the individual responsible for the bomb blasts was a former Somalian army soldier whose hometown had been raided by local troops and US special forces a few months ago in a controversial operation which led to the death of 10 civilians, including three children aged between 6 and 10 years old. Following this, local tribal elders are said to have called for revenge against the Somalian government and its allies and not only was this the bomber's own community but further investigations are revealing other links from the town to the bombings. Where is the global outrage? While thousands of Somalis donning red headbands march the streets of the capital city condemning al-Shabab and asking the Somali government for answers regarding the atrocity, others on social media, particularly Twitter, questioned why one of the deadliest attacks the world has ever seen in recent decades wasn't receiving the collective outrage and solidarity that the West has in the past, as most recently seen in the Las Vegas attack, which is often not even referred to as a terrorist event and simply "a shooting". Terrorism has no religion but according to the media, its only relevant when it happens in the west. #Prayforsomalia pic.twitter.com/BJfBQ7Ypsd Aspiring_Nomad (@Asadaay) October 15, 2017 189 people are dead, more than 200 are injured. But still no worldwide solidarity or condolences from world leaders. #PrayForSomalia https://t.co/2Q2ihFAio0 Denizcan James (@MrFilmkritik) October 15, 2017 The deadliest ever bomb attack in Somalia with 231 people dead. How heartbreaking... Where is the worldwide solidarity? #PrayForSomalia tara (@verykurd) October 15, 2017 Its really fucked up how the world only shed tears when blood spills in the West. #PrayForSomalia & the rest of the world. UGLY MAN (@KwabenaOkoffo) October 15, 2017 What is the real problem here? The real problem here is racism. Not direct racism in terms of name-calling but an institutional system of racism whereby we choose how to value people according to their race. The whiter you are, the more you are victimised and the more people are likely to sympathise with you - this is the formula which is perpetuated. However, this formula is racist. How do we overturn this? The only way we can overturn this is by ensuring that we pay as much attention as possible and not turning a blind eye to the barbarity happening out there and ensure that we spread the word, hopefully creating a domino effect and ensuring that the lives of those across the world are valued as much as those in the West. #PrayForSomalia Earlier this month, four Green Berets were killed during an ambush attack in Niger, Africa. After Donald Trump's controversial response to a pregnant widow of one of the fallen soldiers, the president faced backlash, including from one host over on Fox News. Fox News on Trump When Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president, the consensus was that whoever won the Republican primary would eventually go on to the general election against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. After Trump surprised many by being nominated to represent the Republican Party, Clinton also came out the winner after a hard fought, yet controversial, victory over Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. Once the stage was set the general election, the Trump campaign and the right-wing media pushed the tragedy in Benghazi from September 2012 when four Americans were killed by an Islamic terrorist attack in the region. Despite the rhetoric used by Trump's team, it appears the president has his own controversy on his hands. Following the death of four American soldiers in Niger, full details have yet to be released. Trump has since received criticism for the remarks he made to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson who died in the attacks. According to Florida Rep. Fredericka Wilson, Trump told Johnson during a phone call that her husband "knew what he signed up for." These issues and more were discussed during an October 19 broadcast on Fox News. During the Thursday morning edition of " Americas Newsroom" on Fox News, fellow network host Bret Baier appeared on the show and was asked about the situation regarding the fallout of the Niger attack, and how Donald Trump has responded. "There are some people in the town that blame the media for jumping and focusing on it," Baier said. "The president was asked about Niger and the four soldiers and why we havent heard what happened," he continued. JUST IN: Pentagon launches investigation into Niger attack that killed four U.S. soldiers https://t.co/f5YwUiNOF7 pic.twitter.com/QXVkTBaUSU The Hill (@thehill) October 19, 2017 Elaborating further, Bret Baier then noted that Donald Trump appeared more focusing on what other president's did in similar situations, as opposed to handling the business at hand. "(Trump) turned it to previous presidents and whether they called or didnt call or reached out or didnt reach out," Baier explained. Bret Baier Points Out That President Trump 'Opened This Door' of Politicizing Fallen Soldiers https://t.co/vXoYxvy4eY pic.twitter.com/AZuL0BtPNS Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 19, 2017 Not stopping there, Bret Baier then went on to put the blame at the doorstep of Donald Trump for politicizing the deaths of soldiers. "We should focus on the deaths of the soldiers and the people who served and not this process," the Fox News host said, while stating, "The president opened this door we should point out." Next up While Fox News has traditionally been a political safe space for Donald Trump and other conservatives, some hosts on the network have started to speak out against the administration. In addition to Bret Baier, Shepard Smith has increased his criticism of the president, which has resulted in massive backlash from the right-leaning audience. To the untrained eye, every firefighter on the front line looks the same with their face fully covered, protected from the heat and a brightly colored jumpsuit layered with supplies. 30 to 40 percent of these brave men and women are actually prison Inmates. The only visible difference between the inmates and regularly employed firefighters is the orange jumpsuit worn in place of the yellow one normally worn by firefighters. These inmates volunteer to help in the battle against Forest Fires and stay in what is called a conservation camp for a whole year, doing either preventative work or actively battling the flames, according to Nina Gaensler-Debs, KALW. Forest conservation camps manned by inmates The inmate firefighting program was developed after WWII because of the shortage of manpower after the war and is now viewed as a necessity in the battle against California's harrowing fire problem. The average number of fires per year in the state has been steadily increasing since the 1970's. There are not enough firefighters to operate at the level needed to combat the state's yearly fires but with the help of the conservation camp program, the job is made possible, though still not a task for the faint of heart. At $2 per hour, inmates are paid over twice the national average as those working in prison, while also allowing the state to save $80 million a year in related costs. California operates 43 conservation camps where inmates stay year-round, working either to clear hiking trails and brush in the offseason or fighting the blaze on the front lines during fires. Qualifying inmates must have no history of violent crime and be deemed a low to medium security risk. There is a two-week physical test that inmates are run through before moving on to another two weeks of fire training. After this month-long process inmates are sent out to the conservation camps that are run jointly by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation with support from Cal Fire and the Los Angeles Fire Department. Perks to fire camp living Incentives for program volunteers are high. Inmates are given one day off their prison sentence for every day worked on the front lines and another two days off for each day worked in the fire camps. There are no barbed wire fences or cement walls, just wooden fences that serve as a reminder of the camp border. Inmate treatment is reported by CNN as being better than in prison and space per inmate is far more than in the overcrowded prisons. Many of the inmates fighting California's wildfires have been in and out of jail their whole lives with most of them never gaining the teamwork skills, leadership, or discipline needed to enter the civilian workforce, well adjusted. While serving time at the conservation camps, however, they are provided with a structure to learn both personal and team responsibility. Camps offer leadership roles for inmates as well as team leadership positions on the trail. For those inmates who have participated in the fire camp program, prison re-entry rate is down 10 percent compared to inmates released on regular parole. When allegations of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct first started hitting mainstream news last month, there was a public outcry of shock and anger. While people were quick to call for an immediate change in the way Hollywood handles sexual assault, the real issue only became apparent after more producers came forward: Weinstein's actions were commonly known among actors, directors, and producers for a long time, and he was allowed to get away with it. Casting couch scandals are nothing new in Hollywood This isn't the first time there have been large sexual assault scandals surrounding a powerful man in the film industry. The history of inappropriate sexual behavior behind the scenes is as old as Hollywood itself. Just yesterday, Molly Ringwald came forward with news of the constant sexual harassment she's faced for decades. This is not just an issue of people taking advantage of their power over others, nor is it an issue unique to the film industry. This is an issue with ingrained sexism, reinforced power dynamics, and a need for the US to maintain a narrative of perfection. it's a vicious cycle; powerful men take advantage of others, their peers cover it up, and the men are reinforced in the idea that their actions have no consequences. What to do to help The question becomes, why does that keep happening and how can we stop it? Obviously, the sexual assault crisis is not something that can be solved overnight. While public attitude towards sexual assault has shifted towards more understanding over the past decades, there is still a majority of the population that believe women should take catcalls as compliments, or people exaggerate their own sexual assault stories for attention. Even now, there is still a feeling of embarrassment that victims face when openly discussing these issues. We as a society need to de-stigmatize sexual assault and stop victim blaming and create more dialogues around how we can fix this problem. Actresses speaking up about their own experiences helps people to realize the extent that sexual assault prevails throughout our society. While many women (1 in 2) and men (1 in 5) experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, this is still seen as an unimportant or exaggerated issue. The recent #MeToo movement, aimed at letting victims talk about their experiences with sexual assault in a safe space, is a step in the right direction to creating awareness around a serious and prevalent issue. After all, the biggest step we can take is simply to talk. Hurricane Ophelia is expected to batter across the UK on Monday, October 16, almost 30 years after the Great Storm of 1987 that killed 18 people. Ophelia was a category three hurricane on Saturday. As it moved northeast across the Atlantic, maintaining its winds of 105 mph on Sunday, the hurricane was downgraded to category 2. Weather forecast The Met Office of UK has issued amber and yellow warnings as the hurricane approaches. The Amber warning was issued for Northern Ireland. The yellow warning, on the other hand, was issued for Central, Tayside & Fife, Highlands, Eilean Siar, North East and North West England, Northern Ireland, SW Scotland, Lothian Borders, South West England, Strathclyde, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire, and Humber. Under the amber warning, between 3 PM on Monday, October 16 and 10 PM, very windy weather is expected. Power disruption is possible which will affect mobile phone coverage. Everyone is warned about the likelihood of flying debris and large waves around coastal areas. Hurricane Ophelia is forecasted to cross Northern Ireland on the afternoon and evening of Monday with gust winds of up to 55 to 65 mph and consequently a 70 to 80 mph gusts in the far southeast. Temperatures are expected to reach the middle of 20 degrees Celsius on Monday. Meanwhile, National Hurricane Centre said that when Ophelia makes a landfall, large and destructive waves are likely. London and central parts of England may be affected by the tail end of winds accompanying the hurricane, as indicated in the maps issued by the Centre. Cancelled flights, schools closed Airlines have canceled flights to and from Dublin Airport and Ireland West Airport already. Flights to Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow and Southampton from Cork Airport were canceled too. In the like manner, Shannon Airport canceled several flights to and from Wroclaw, Faro and Lanzarote, Birmingham, and London/Heathrow. All affected passengers were advised to check flight information with their respective airlines for further announcement and guidance. Schools and Colleges in the North of UK were ordered by the Department of Education to close. Transport services of Bus Eireann were suspended. The Ministry of defense said that they have deployed three battalions of soldiers who are on standby for possible incidents. Residents of affected areas prepared their emergency kits as well as food and water as the hurricane approaches. China recently gave the green light to a new financing product that is based on rental income from apartments in major cities. The new product is modeled on the lines of quasi-Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) which are allowed to use securitization techniques to monetize assets and access funding. It would also signal yet another step by China to further develop its real estate market. China Young Professional Apartments, a Beijing-based condominium manager backed by Chinese venture fund SAIF Partners, got the necessary approval from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to offer 270 million yuan ($40.77 million) of asset-backed securities to retail investors. Analysts said that the slew of policies supporting the development of the country's residential leasing market would encourage more financing innovations in the sector. The market is also likely to see more asset-backed securitization and commercial mortgage-backed securitization in the future, they said. Developing the country's housing rental market has been one of the long-term strategies envisaged by policy makers for sustainable and steady growth of the real estate market in China. Meanwhile China's central authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure housing market stability and secure supplies of housing through multiple channels to meet residents' demands. "We must not forget that housing is for living and not for speculation", said President Xi Jinping, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, in a report delivered to the 19th CPC National Congress in Beijing on Wednesday. "More supplies of quality rental products in the market will provide residents in China with more options for housing, and are good for the stability and development of the residential real estate market in the long run", said a research note from Cushman &Wakefield China research, a real estate services provider. According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, authorities have been studying policies and regulations for REITs, an important component for financing long-term rental projects that rely on the strong capability for cash flows and yields from stable rental incomes. "REITs, when introduced in the China market, will help institutions which lease properties to distribute rental income to investors in terms," said a research note from Southwest Securities. The REITs, with strong liquidity, would also enable investors to buy and sell their holdings quickly, the note said. China's residential leasing market has been expanding fast. According to a research note from LPlus Research Institute, a real estate information services provider, the total market size is expected to grow from 1.1 trillion yuan in 2016 to 4.6 trillion yuan in 2030. Across China, more than 15 cities have launched policies encouraging supplies of rental projects to meet residents' housing demands. These measures include allocating more land supplies for development of the leasing market and encouraging more market players to participate in the operation and development of leasing properties. Other cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan have been busy setting up an online leasing market information portal to give tenants and property operators easy access to transparent information, such as credit records of tenants, operators and agents. General Secretary Xi Jinping prepares to address the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which began on Wednesday in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi delivered a report on behalf of the CPC's 18th Central Committee. XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY At 19th Party Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping unveils breakthrough theory to guide China's future General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged on Wednesday to usher in a new era in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Speaking at the opening session of the Communist Party of China's 19th National Congress, Xi laid out his vision for an increasingly prosperous China as the country embarks on a journey to build a "great modern socialist country". "This is a new historic juncture in China's development," said Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. It will be an era that sees China moving closer to center stage and making greater contributions to mankind, he added. During the session, Xi unveiled "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", which analysts said is the most important improvement on the original theory raised over three decades ago. The congress, whose opening on Wednesday was attended by 2,338 Party delegates and specially invited delegates, is the country's most important political meeting in five years. The delegates will deliberate on and adopt an amendment to the Party's Constitution, and they will also elect the Party's 19th Central Committee and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. In the report, Xi outlined a two-step approach to build China into a great modern socialist country after the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. China will make sure that socialist modernization is basically realized from 2020 to 2035. From 2035 to the mid-21st century, China will develop into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful, Xi said. By then, China will have become a global leader in terms of composite national strength and international influence. Common prosperity for everyone will be basically achieved, Xi said. Xi pointed out that the two-step approach is an important part of the new Thought, a long-term guide to action the Party must adhere to and develop. In his report, Xi listed a 14-point basic policy that underpins the endeavors to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved to be the one between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life, Xi said. The needs to be met in order for the people to live a better life are increasingly broad, Xi said, and that not only have the people's material and cultural needs grown, their demands are increasing for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security and a better environment. It is the first time that the definition of the principal contradiction set 36 years ago has been changed. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee held in 1981 said that the principal contradiction facing Chinese society was the one between "the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backwardness of social production." The report drew up a road map of developing a modernized economy and socialist democracy, building stronger cultural confidence and improving the people's well-being. "We must regard as our goal the people's aspirations to live a better life," Xi said. Having gained overwhelming momentum in its fight against corruption, the Party is determined to secure a "sweeping victory" over "the greatest threat" to the Party, he said. According to Xi's report, China will set up a central leading group for advancing law-based governance in all areas, which is aimed at exercising unified leadership over the initiative to build the rule of law in China. The CPC will take effective measures to prevent the loss of State assets, and ensure State assets "maintain and increase" their value, Xi said, while calling for furthering reform of State-owned enterprises. Stressing it is imperative that China develop a modernized economy, Xi described supply-side structural reform as the main task, and urged more efforts for better quality, higher efficiency and more robust drivers of economic growth. In his report, Xi reaffirmed China's commitment to building a community with a shared future for mankind. "No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion," he said. Xi pledged that China will significantly ease market access, further open service sectors and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. China's socialist democracy is the broadest, most genuine and most effective democracy to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people, Xi said. Li Zhongjie, former deputy director of the Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, said Xi's report has drawn an overall blueprint for the country's development in the following decades. Zhu Lijia, a professor of public administration at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said Xi's report has set the new orientation for the country's development, which "has historic significance". The "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" is an important improvement on the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which was put forward in the early 1980s, he said, adding that the judgment is based on China's domestic and international situation. Wu Xiaobo, a Chinese doctor, assists with two in-flight medical emergencies while travelling recently to and from the US. [Photo/Screenshot from CCTV] A Chinese doctor on board a United Airlines flight is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a passenger who possibly suffered a stroke mid-flight, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. Wu Xiaobo, a thoracic surgery doctor with the People's Hospital of Wuxi, was flying to Los Angeles on Sept 29, 2017, when a fellow passenger fell unconscious and began vomiting. Responding to an in-flight announcement for a doctor, Wu heeded the call, determining the man in his 50s likely suffered a stroke. "Cerebral infarction patients may suffer another stroke, and possibly die, if they don't receive timely treatment," said Wu. Wu Xiaobo (Right) helps assist a female passenger who passes out on his China Eastern flight on Oct 10, 2017. [Photo/Screenshot from CCTV] He recommended an emergency landing, and two hours later, helped escort the stricken passenger off the flight in San Francisco. And this wasn't the last time the doctor was called upon to help out a fellow air traveler. Heading back to China on the same trip, Wu Xiaobo helped assist a female passenger who passed out on his China Eastern flight on Oct 10. The young lady fainted, but managed to regain consciousness with the help of the doctor. Asked about the incidents, a humble Wu Xiaobo is being quoted by the Beijing Youth Daily as saying simply that it's "what a doctor is supposed to do." Brazil's President Michel Temer speaks during press statement at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, September 28, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] BRASILIA - The Commission of Constitution and Justice (CCJ) of Brazil's Chmaber of Deputies approved on Wednesday, by 39 votes to 26, a report that recommends the Chamber reject new charges against President Michel Temer for obstruction of justice and criminal association. The recommendation also stated the charges of criminal association against the government's chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, and the secretary-general of the presidency, Moreira Franco, be rejected. The report, favorable to Temer and his ministers, was written by deputy Bonifacio de Andrada, who stated that there was no sufficient evidence to continue the process. Temer has been charged with obstruction of justice by the prosecutor-general after confessions by executives of meatpacking giant, JBS, and Lucio Funaro, a financial operator close to the ruling PMDB party. They stated that JBS executives paid bribes to buy Funaro's silence concerning corruption within the government, with Temer's approval. The president is also accused of leading a criminal association, wherein leaders of the PMDB ran a broad corruption and bribery scheme. Padilha and Franco are accused of being behind this ring which allegedly received millions of dollars in bribes from private companies in exchange for public contracts. However, the charges will only proceed to a trial at the Supreme Court, if it receives the approval of two-thirds of the Chamber of Deputies, or 342 deputies out of 513. Should this majority be met, Temer will step down from the presidency for 180 days, during which time an impeachment trial will be held. The expectation is that the Chamber will hold a vote next week. Temer already survived one vote in the Chamber in August, when deputies rejected a charge for passive corruption against him. The Water Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will host two conferences in China next month to highlight how Wisconsin's water technology companies can help China address its water challenges. "One Water, One World: The US-China Conference on Water and Sponge Cities", which will take place on Nov 27 in Nanjing and on Nov 30 in Beijing, will be one of the first conferences between the US and China to focus on the concept of "one water" as a complete water cycle from the removal of water to its sustainable return to nature. China launched its "sponge city" program in 2015 to upgrade urban infrastructure to address urban flood risks and improve its use of rainwater. Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, said the conference is another indication of the international reputation that Wisconsin has achieved in the water technology sector. "Helping China address some of its water challenges not only benefits that country's citizens, but also presents new opportunities to some of the more than 200 Wisconsin-based companies currently in the water technology sector," Hogan said. Katy Sinnott The main goal for the conferences, said Katy Sinnott, vice-president for international business development for the WEDC, is to have open and informative two-way conversations about China's water challenges and how Wisconsin could provide solutions that contribute to the success of the sponge city objectives, and from that point begin taking steps to implement workable solutions with Chinese partners. Sinnott said the Wisconsin participants in the conference look forward to hearing more details about China's sponge cities initiatives and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. During a trade venture to China in March, leaders from WEDC and the Water Council met with key government organizations responsible for the development of "sponge cities". Those meetings gave Wisconsin officials a better understanding of the water ecosystem in China and how "sponge cities" are being developed; they also laid the groundwork for the council and WEDC to jointly develop a strategy to help China address its water challenges. "There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the water challenges facing China's cities, which is why we look forward to speaking with officials in each region to learn more about their specific challenges and how Wisconsin companies can play a role in meeting those challenges," Sinnott said. "The bottom line is that regardless of the size and location or the level of access to clean fresh water it is imperative for every city to wisely manage the water that they do use," she added. The conferences will feature panels of Wisconsin experts discussing storm water management and efficient water use. More than 200 leaders from government, water technology companies and academia in both countries are expected to attend the two conferences, which will also have representatives from the two cities in attendance. Dean Amhaus The Water Council is the only global fresh water consortium that deals with the full cycle of fresh water management, from water quality to flood management and water education. "Through our established ecosystem of academic and research expertise, technological subject-matter experts and support at the regional and state level, we have a special opportunity to assist other countries in their endeavors toward developing 'one-water' cities," said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of the Water Council. Katy Sinnott, vice-president for international business development for the Water Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn The Water Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will host two conferences in China next month to highlight how Wisconsin's water technology companies can help China address its water challenges. "One Water, One World: The US-China Conference on Water and Sponge Cities", which will take place on Nov 27 in Nanjing and on Nov 30 in Beijing, will be one of the first conferences between the US and China to focus on the concept of "one water" as a complete water cycle from the removal of water to its sustainable return to nature. China launched its "sponge city" program in 2015 to upgrade urban infrastructure to address urban flood risks and improve its use of rainwater. Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, said the conference is another indication of the international reputation that Wisconsin has achieved in the water technology sector. "Helping China address some of its water challenges not only benefits that country's citizens, but also presents new opportunities to some of the more than 200 Wisconsin-based companies currently in the water technology sector," Hogan said. The main goal for the conferences, said Katy Sinnott, vice-president for international business development for the WEDC, is to have open and informative two-way conversations about China's water challenges and how Wisconsin could provide solutions that contribute to the success of the sponge city objectives, and from that point begin taking steps to implement workable solutions with Chinese partners. Sinnott said the Wisconsin participants in the conference look forward to hearing more details about China's sponge cities initiatives and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. During a trade venture to China in March, leaders from WEDC and the Water Council met with key government organizations responsible for the development of "sponge cities". Those meetings gave Wisconsin officials a better understanding of the water ecosystem in China and how "sponge cities" are being developed; they also laid the groundwork for the council and WEDC to jointly develop a strategy to help China address its water challenges. "There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the water challenges facing China's cities, which is why we look forward to speaking with officials in each region to learn more about their specific challenges and how Wisconsin companies can play a role in meeting those challenges," Sinnott said. "The bottom line is that regardless of the size and location or the level of access to clean fresh water it is imperative for every city to wisely manage the water that they do use," she added. The conferences will feature panels of Wisconsin experts discussing storm water management and efficient water use. More than 200 leaders from government, water technology companies and academia in both countries are expected to attend the two conferences, which will also have representatives from the two cities in attendance. The Water Council is the only global fresh water consortium that deals with the full cycle of fresh water management, from water quality to flood management and water education. "Through our established ecosystem of academic and research expertise, technological subject-matter experts and support at the regional and state level, we have a special opportunity to assist other countries in their endeavors toward developing 'one-water' cities," said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of the Water Council. Images of Texas for non-Texans usually include icons like Texas longhorn cattle, chili con carne, Texas Hill Country, and the Dallas Cowboys, aka Americas Team. Rarely do visions of mountains come to mind. But, surprisingly, Texas is home to over 40 mountain ranges. The three main mountain ranges are the Franklin Mountains, the Davis Mountains, and the Guadalupe Mountains. Climbers and hikers visiting the Lone Star State will find a satisfying mix of peaks to climb, scramble, and hike. Here are 25 notable mountains in Texas where outdoor enthusiasts can catch some of the most beautiful views Texas has to offer. We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times. 1. Guadalupe Peak Seltiva/stock.adobe.com The Guadalupe Mountains are ancient fossilized coral reefs that rise majestically from the floor of the Chihuahuan Desert in western Texas. Their centerpiece is the conifer-forested Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet. Hikers and scramblers happily summit this popular peak via a well-maintained hiking trail that is 4.2 miles long to the top. The 3,000-foot elevation gain from the trailhead is a near perfect match for the 3,039-foot prominence. At the top, hikers are greeted by an interesting, triangular steel monument dedicated to mail stage line drivers and airmail pilots. Its the view that is priceless, though, especially at sunset with splashy purple, pink, and orange hues over the white Salt Basin Dunes. 2. Amon-Carter Peak Courtesy of romaset - Fotolia.com Amon-Carter Peak is situated in the Chisos Mountains inside Big Bend National Park. Also referred to simply as Carter Peak, it is one of the most popular area hiking destinations, forming the Window with Vernon Bailey Peak. The hike to the summit is excellent, except for the occasional need for bushwhacking. Class three scrambling is necessary in some parts of the ascent to the 5,688-foot peak, so climbers should come prepared. The tree-covered slopes provide relief from the hot desert lowlands. Hikers should be aware of the presence of mountain lions and black bears in the region. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 3. Anthonys Nose Courtesy of ricktravel - Fotolia.com Anthonys Nose is located in the Franklin Mountains, where its name sprung from its resemblance to the human facial feature. Its the mountain ranges second highest peak at 6,927 feet. The terrain is quite brutal, with abundant lechugilla (an agave plant indigenous to the Chihuahuan Desert), ocotillo, prickly pear, and other prickly plants. Even the easiest routes to the summit will require some class three scrambling, and maybe class four climbing. With no established trails to the top, this climbing experience is for the true adventurer who enjoys the challenge and solitude of a mountainous, unspoiled desert terrain. This cross-country day hike is a strenuous one. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 4. Bush Mountain Courtesy of Hunta - Fotolia.com In contrast to the brutal terrain of Anthonys Nose, Bush Mountain offers a kinder, gentler ascent for an exhilarating climb. It is the second highest peak in both the Guadalupe Mountains and the state of Texas, behind neighboring Guadalupe Peak. Hikers can expect a pleasant summit experience with soft grasses, moderate temperatures, and a smattering of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine trees. Epic desert views of the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert and Pine Spring Canyon are the reward at this summit. Hikers can also expect to see Bartlett Peak, Guadalupe Peak, and Shumard Peak. Those hoping to camp in the area have plenty of choices, from front country to back country camping. Next read: TX beaches -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas this Weekend with Friends" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas this Weekend with Friends" Back to Top 5. Capitol Mesa Courtesy of Irina K. - Fotolia.com Palo Duro Canyon, otherwise known as the Grand Canyon of Texas, is a collection of peaks, mesas, smaller canyons, and badlands. Capitol Mesa sits at the southern rim of the canyon where hikers can expect to see red and gold badlands, white caprock boulders, rocky pinnacles, and dramatic hoodoos. Hikers will be rewarded with spectacular views at the top. There is also an opportunity to hike off trail to the Lighthouse, Capitol Mesas most impressive hoodoo. A suggested route is to hop on the Lighthouse Trail, but in 0.5 miles to go south at the fork for the ascent. The cross-country trail along Capital Mesa ridge to the Lighthouse connects with the Lighthouse Trail for the descent. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas this Weekend" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas this Weekend" Back to Top 6. Cerro Castellan Courtesy of fredlyfish4 - Fotolia.com Cerro Castellan peak is located in the southwest corner of Big Bend National Park in the Santa Elena Canyon area. It is a remote butte that dominates the landscape with sheer cliffs all around. The imposing peak looks like an unlikely climb, except to the elite rock-jock. Fortunately, thats not the case. On the peaks east side, a steep scramble to the summit exists, providing adventurous climbers with a fairly straightforward ascent. The round-trip scramble shouldnt take hikers more than a couple hours to complete. Because of its southern Texas location, its inadvisable to make the climb during summer due to excessive heat. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 7. Chinati Peak Courtesy of Anthony - Fotolia.com Travelers who prefer to look at their mountain peaks from the windows of an air conditioned car will feel satisfied with a drive-by of Chinati Peak. The peak is a Presidio County highpoint in the remote area of the high desert Chinati Mountains a few miles from the Mexican border. It is currently closed to visitors. Those wanting to experience the beautiful views of Chinati Peak and the surrounding area should follow Pinto Canyon Road, a solitary, scenic drive that showcases the grasslands of Marfa Plateau, the craggy Chinati Mountains, scenic Pinto Canyon, and the desert of Rio Grande Valley. The 7,728-foot Chinati Peak is a major area landmark. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 8. Mountains in Texas: Eagle Peak Courtesy of olcayduzgun - Fotolia.com A climb to the 7,484-foot Eagle Peak summit is a hit-or-miss endeavor. The Hudspeth County highpoint is located in the Eagle Mountains, also known as the Devil Ridge Mountains. The unfortunate fact is that the peak is on private land. Climbers will need to first endure the possibility of Border Patrol vehicle searches in the area before making their way to Hayter Ranch to secure permission to summit the peak. Alternative plans for other peaks are encouraged in case securing permission to climb Eagle Peak doesnt pan out. Those who do make the hike up the easy dirt road to the top will be rewarded with vistas only a highpointer can provide. 9. Mountains in Texas: El Capitan Courtesy of Teressa L. Jackson - Fotolia.com El Capitan is the eighth highest peak in Texas with a 305-foot prominence. Making it to the summit of this limestone mountain offers climbers a stunning vista. The natural beauty of the vast Texas desert spreads out below this dramatic peak in the Guadalupe Mountains. Sunset only adds to the ethereal quality. The exhilarating ascent is made in a roundabout manner, since there is no trail to the El Capitan summit. Instead, hikers must climb Guadalupe Mountain, then bushwhack to where the two meet, and ascend El Capitan from there. Autumn is the most comfortable time of year to make the climb. -- "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" -- "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas for Locals & Tourists - Restaurants, Hotels" Back to Top 10. Fresno Peak Courtesy of cuttsnaturephoto - Fotolia.com Adventurous climbers who arent afraid of remote locations will be happy to take on the challenge of Fresno Peak, located in Big Bend Ranch State Park in the Chihuahuan Desert. This 5,131-foot peak is over 15 harsh miles of desert from the nearest road. There are also no established trails to the peak, but rather innumerable hiking routes that have been made by past climbers. Even rock-jocks should be cautious of the class two scrambling, since a single mistake can have deadly consequences in a place as remote as this. For those who take on the challenge, there are beautiful views of Fresno Creek, Terlingua, Bofecillos Highlands, and the caldera from the summit. 11. Goat Mountain Vasily Merkushev/stock.adobe.com Nestled in the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, Goat Mountain is geologists dream. The ancient river valley filled with 35-million-year-old lava flows left behind the many unique minerals of Goat Mountain. There are two primary peaks on Goat Mountain, one summit at 4,540 feet and the other one at 4,625 feet. There are no developed trails here, so hikers can bushwhack either peaks sloping backside or opt to hike straight up the gully that separates the two peaks and continue to whichever peak they want to climb. Either way, climbers should plan on multi-hour hikes. The reward is a vista few people will ever see. -- "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top or Romantic Getaways 13. Indian Peak Jacob Lund/stock.adobe.com Indian Peak in the Castner Mountain Range belongs to the U.S. Army. The trailhead is in the northern part of Franklin Mountains State Park at the Tom Mays Unit. The peak, once used as an artillery range, is in a bit of a tug-of-war between the U.S. Army and the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition, which believes it should be gifted to Franklin Mountain State Park for recreational use. Since the peak is outside the park, there is no maintained trail to its summit. Hikers can bushwhack the rocky slope to the 6,544-foot summit. Besides the incredible views, there is a geocache hidden on the summit. 14. Lost Peak hannah jarman EyeEm/stock.adobe.com Lost Peak is the climbing destination for those who require a gentle trek. It can be easily accessed at the northern end of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The benefit to its remote location is that it is shielded from the sometimes brutal winds. Trails are established and well maintained. At the summit, hikers can go off trail for a short walk over rocky terrain to a large cairn that marks the summit. From here the views are expansive and the quiet desert stretches out in all directions. Tread carefully as the summit is host to a variety of cacti. Front and backcountry camping is available. 15. Mescalero Mountain Philipimage/stock.adobe.com Mescalero Mountain is part of the scenic Davis Mountains. It has three main summits Arrowhead at 8,060 feet, Apache Peak at 8,045 feet, and Point at 7,990 feet. The peaks are owned by The Nature Conservancy, which restricts access to a few days and weekends each year in an effort to preserve the wilderness. Mescalero Mountain was named for the Mescalero Apaches, who used the Guadalupe Mountains as a base in its war with the Comanches. Surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert, the mountains form a protected habitat where plants and animals above 5,000 feet are isolated, making them ecological islands. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top or Amazing things to do around me 16. Mitre Peak Daniil/stock.adobe.com Mitre Peak, a conical mass between Alpine, Texas, and Fort Davis, offers panoramic views of three counties from its summit. The maximum elevation is 6,190 feet, and its one of the highest peaks in the area, but is not listed as a highpointer. Climbing Mitre Peak is problematic. It is located on private land, and therefore not open to the public. According to some hikers, access is generally denied. Those who dont mind joining a guided hike may be able to summit the peak via the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center. They occasionally lead all-day climbs up Mitre Peak from the nature center. The hike is challenging and requires excellent fitness. Guided hikes are limited to 15 participants. 17. Mount Bonnell Tricia/stock.adobe.com At less than 1,000 feet, Mount Bonnell is an easy hike with an urban feel. Just outside Austin, Texas, this limestone peak offers hikers views of a dammed section of the Colorado River, also known as Lake Austin, the downtown Austin skyline, and the affluent neighborhoods between downtown and the riverfront. More accurately described as a stroll than a hike, it provides locals with breezy views and respite from the summer humidity, and offers visitors a taste of Texas Hill Country. The gentle climb is suitable for all levels of hikers. Views of the city are to the south and views of hill country are to the north. There is a grand viewing pavilion at the summit. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 18. Mount Livermore radub85/stock.adobe.com The Davis Mountains are the second highest range in Texas, and Mount Livermore is the ranges highest peak. It is an igneous rock intrusion from the ancient Buckhorn Caldera. The northern part of Mount Livermore is under the ownership of The Nature Conservancy, which is only open a few days and weekends each year to protect the integrity of the mountain, so impromptu hiking is out of the question. Their website provides dates for open hiking days and open weekend camping. The southern part of the peak belongs to the Livermore Ranch. They offer information for Mount Livermore access on their ranchs website. 19. Pine Peak Anchasa/stock.adobe.com As the name suggests, Pine Peaks slopes are covered with pine trees, making it a good home for mountain lions and black bears, among other animals. At 7,710 feet, it is the 15th highest point in Texas, and fifth highest in the Davis Mountains. Pine Peak, as part of the Davis Mountains Preserve, is owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. As such, it is only accessible a few times per year as the mission of the conservancy is to keep the area truly wild and protect the indigenous wildlife of sky island. Hikers who make it to the top will find Pine Peak Lake, the highest lake in Texas. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 20. South Franklin Mountain Michael/stock.adobe.com South Franklin Mountain, at 6,971 feet, is the shorter and lesser known sister to North Franklin Mountain, both of which are in Franklin Mountains State Park. The sole route to the summit is the Ron Coleman Trail, with its trailhead at McKelligon Canyon and its end at Trans-Mountain Road. A hike to the summit offers climbers views of El Paso, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Purists may be disappointed that the summit is home to a number of FAA towers, which mar the natural landscape. With 302 days of sunshine each year, any day is a good day for hiking South Franklin Mountain, although summers can be particularly hot during the day. 21. Sugarloaf Mountain Matt/stock.adobe.com Sugarloaf Mountain is part of the Franklin Mountain Range outside El Paso, Texas. It is the last peak of the range and is connected to South Franklin Mountain via a shared ridgeline. Although its part of the mountain range, it isnt part of Franklin Mountains State Park, which has both pros and cons. Since its outside the park, there is complete free public access for climbing; on the flip side, there is no entity to mark trailheads, maintain trails, or regulate use. This minor summit is 5,226 feet in elevation with only a faintly discernible trail to the top. Some scrambling will be necessary, as may some bushwhacking for those who lose sight of the trail. On the descent, it is easier to follow the faint trail. 22. Toll Mountain Mike Fouque/stock.adobe.com Toll Mountain, along with Emory Peak and Casa Grande, form the eastern edge of the Chisos Basin. It stands tall at 7,415 feet, making it the third highest point in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park. There are no maintained trails on Toll Mountain, which means hikers will have to bushwhack their ways to the top. The best route is to take Pinnacles trailhead near the visitor center up to the Toll Mountain campsite near the Emory Peak trailhead. From there, hikers can bushwhack straight north to the summit. Altogether, its about 8 miles from the visitor center to the summit, with an elevation gain of 2,000 feet. -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" -- You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas" Back to Top 23. Bartlett Peak Daniil/stock.adobe.com Bartlett Peak is the fourth highest peak in Texas, and is part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The Guadalupe peaks line up like soldiers from El Capitan, the southernmost peak, to Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, on to Shumard and Bartlett Peaks, and finishing at the northernmost end with Bush Mountain, Texass second highest peak. Because there are no defined trails on Bartlett Peak and its northern sheer wall makes that approach impassable, this peak doesnt see a lot of action. Throw in the scrubby landscape riddled with flesh-tearing cacti and agave, and it makes for a lonely summit. For the determined, the best route is to drop down from Bush Mountain Trail, cross Pine Spring Canyon, and ascend on the northeastern side. 24. Shumard Peak wandeaw/stock.adobe.com Shumard Peak is part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park and is the third highest peak in Texas at 8,615 feet. It has a sheer western face that catches the evening sun, and an easterly side with defined ridges and rocky terrain covered with prickly desert brush like agave and cacti. With no defined trails, the best route is dropping down from Bush Mountain Trail, crossing Pine Spring Canyon, and ascending the eastern side of the mountain. Front country and backcountry camping are available. Fall brings the most pleasant climbing weather of the year. Spring can be dangerously windy for climbers. 25. Mount Pratt smallredgirl/stock.adobe.com Mount Pratt in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is the seventh highest peak in Texas at 8,342 feet. In fact, eight of Texass highest peaks call this mountain range home. The Guadalupes, an ancient fossilized coral reef, has an intricate cave system beneath it. Hikes in the range are often hot, dry, and windy. The high elevation peaks covered with pine trees and provide a quiet home to mountain lions and black bears. One of the best routes is to ascend up Bear Canyon Trail, catch Bowl Trail, and cross to South Pratt Ridge, and then hike on to the summit. Hikers should expect dense, scrubby cacti along the way. 25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas You are reading "25 of the Most Beautiful Mountains in Texas " Back to Top Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. HA NOI After three years of operations in Viet Nam, Uber officially launched its largest support centre, Greenlight Hub, in Ha Noi on Thursday. It will be a place for Uber to conduct its researches to improve the work flow, suggest more supportive functions and enhance the quality of the drivers experience; for example, allowing drivers to make advance appointments to reduce the waiting time. Besides this, drivers are also guided to use the services and experience the application through the tablet at this hub. Tom White, Chief Executive Officer of Uber Viet Nam, said the launch of Greenlight Hub confirmed Ubers long-term commitment to provide the best experiences for drivers and operators in Viet Nam. The hub is located on No. 71 Van Phuc Street, Ba inh District, and it is made up of three floors on a total area of 620sq.m. Via Uber application, a journey of more than 322 million km, equivalent to 99,000 times the length of Viet Nam has been made after three years of operations. VNS HA NOI As many as 200 enterprises will participate in the 2017 Vietfood and Beverage-ProPack international exhibition, which will take place at the Ha Noi International Exhibition Centre in 91 Tran Hung ao, from November 8 to 11. This will be the second time the expo being organised in Ha Noi after being held annually in HCM City for 22 years. It was held in the capital city for the first time last year. There will be more than 200 pavilions of exhibitors from 11 countries and territories, including South Korea, Greece, Singapore and Denmark, as well as Bulgaria, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and India, along with China and Viet Nam. Products displayed at the exhibition include vegetables (fresh, dried, canned, processed), seafood (cooked, frozen), agricultural products (coffee, tea, cashew, pepper) and food ingredients, as well as beverage, confectionery, and packaging and food preservation equipment. Vietnamese firms account for about half of the participants this year, and their key products include tea, coffee, honey and edible nests, as well as rice, spices and packaged confectionery. The four-day event, organised by the Viet Nam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad), is expected to attract some 15,000 visitors, the majority of which are retailers, traders, distributors, importers, exporters and e-commerce partners from other countries and territories, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as the Philippines, Japan, Russia, France and Australia. VNS VRC Real Estate and Investment Joint Stock Company sold 35.5 million shares to 581 investors, increasing the companys charter capital to VN500 billion (US$22 million). Photo baocungcau.net HA NOI VRC Real Estate and Investment Joint Stock Company sold 35.5 million shares to 581 investors, increasing the companys charter capital to VN500 billion (US$22 million). These shares were offered at a 70 per cent discount, with the price at VN11,000 per share, on September 12. The custody and listing of the recently-issued shares is scheduled to be implemented from October 2017. Recently, VRC approved a list of 19 strategic investors to issue 25.34 million shares for sale at a price of VN11,000 per share. The only investor is currently VRC shareholder Nguyen Phuong Vi, who owns 602,810 shares of VRC, equivalent to 4.16 per cent stake. This year, VRC targets to achieve VN394 billion in revenue and VN120.5 billion in after-tax profit, a year-on-year increase of 526 per cent. The company expects to earn revenue of VN430 billion and after-tax profit of VN132 billion by 2018. VNS HA NOI The digital aspect of the global economy is among the leading drivers of growth and development, and the foundation for increased industrial productivity, as well as creating opportunities for businesses, stated Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am at the 2017 Viet Nam Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Investment Forum (VIF) held yesterday in Ha Noi. The Deputy PM said that all necessary measures to promote investment in the information sector in terms of legal framework, infrastructure investment and human resources development will be employed. Ministries and localities have been making efforts to improve the information and communication sectors business environment to attract investment and promote sustainable development. Through efforts from both the public and private sectors in collecting data and creating a common source of information across all economic sectors, the Government hopes to connect foreign investors and enterprises with their Vietnamese counterparts in information technology, especially e-commerce, creative start-ups and the banking system. According to the Deputy PM, for Viet Nam to truly become a destination for foreign information technology investors, just in time for the fourth industrial revolution, reviewing and amending investment attraction policies should become important. am also said that in the digital economy, data is one of the most important resources, though human resources remain a key factor for progress. He confirmed that ministries will make bolder moves in human resources preparation, such as setting up compulsory training programmes on information technology, and requiring such training for civil servants and just about any member of the countrys workforce. I hope that after this conference, there will be more investment projects in all information technology fields, said am. During the meeting, a variety of digital products were presented as a demonstration of Vietnamese enterprises efforts to utilise the digital economy, along with its many opportunities and challenges. One such product, Zalo, a mobile communication app from the VNG Corporation has been incorporated into administrative procedures management in a Nang City and ong Nai Province. In addition, the Ministry of Health, the Government Office and many other ministries and agencies also use Zalo to connect with the public. Other notable products demonstrated by VNG at the event included ZaloPay, specialising in electronic payment through QR code scanning for public services, notably for paying electricity, water and internet service fees. The conference focused on attracting investment in the digital economy, with three main activities including a forum, an ICT exhibition and a business networking event, was attended by more than 500 international delegates and representatives from ministries, organisations and IT companies from Viet Nam, the US, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Europe. Yesterdays event also featured experts in investment policy planning advice for the ICT and digital economy from the State Bank of Vietnam, the World Bank Group, Japan Business Association, and the US Trade Commission, together with those from multinational corporations such as Google, Nielsen, and leading digital infrastructure and e-commerce companies in Viet Nam. This year VIF was organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in collaboration with informatics associations to promote investment in Viet Nams information industry. VNS As renewable energy becomes a stronger global trend, it is still a nascent industry in Viet Nam, with great potential for growth, especially in solar energy. o uc Tuong, Clean Energy Advisor with the USAID Energy Programme, speaks with the Vietnam News Agency about this issue. How would you assess renewable energy development in Viet Nam, especially solar power? The world has developed very strong renewable energy sources, including solar power, but this is still a new field here. Viet Nam has great solar energy potential. As of now, Viet Nam has had only around 200MW of wind power and about 80MW of solar power that is connected to the national electric grid. The Government has issued policies on encouraging investment in renewable energy, solar power and wind power in particular, aiming to create favourable conditions for investors and businesses. For instance, there will be import tax exemption for products and equipment that Viet Nam does not produce. Companies investing in solar power will enjoy corporate income tax exemption for the first four years. They will also enjoy reduced tax in succeeding years. These preferential policies are considered key to opening the door for renewable energy development in Viet Nam. As a result, new projects have been registered to produce a total output of 12,000MW. Thats a good sign. The National Power Development Plan VII for the 2016-2030 period with vision until 2050 has a target of producing about 850MW of solar power by 2020. Is this feasible? In my opinion, the development plan VII is very cautious. Viet Nam sets target at producing 850MW of solar power by 2020 and 12,000MW by 2030, but its solar power potential is huge. It can produce over 20,000MW of solar power. The issue is whether the Government sees 850MW as a ceiling, or it is just a target set to encourage development of solar power. After discussing this with experts and scientists, I know that the 850MW target is not the ceiling rate and that the Government will support all solar power projects even if the registered total output is higher. Despite the priority policies for development of renewable energy the number of investors remains modest. Why? Although Viet Nam has a (reasonable) price mechanism for renewable energy, there are many other related factors, like the infrastructure of transmitting electricity. I know there are areas where a lot of solar power projects are registered, but transformers in those areas cannot absorb electricity from those projects. In addition, the state has preferential policies but implementation of those policies depend on many issues and many procedures, like adding the project to the electricity production plan, the plan for electricity development in localities, land issues and agreement on selling electricity with EVN. All these issues will have an impact on investors in terms of finance and time, not excluding the risks that they have to face in the process of developing the project. Besides, with regard to connecting with the national grid and security of electrical systems, the current system will face more risks when we have more forms of renewable energy in production. We need to have certain technical solutions, such as development of infrastructure, counting systems, intelligent control systems, and smart electrical systems. The development of these can reduce the negative impact of renewable energy on the current electricity system. Therefore, besides the governments incentive policies, the power industry needs to invest more in infrastructure to support the development of renewable energy sources. With the current infrastructure, it will be very difficult to develop renewable energy. There is an opinion that if Viet Nam wants to develop renewable energy, it must reduce the number of thermal power plants that it has planned. Your comment? Previously, coal and gas were preferred the world over because of their stability, while wind power and solar power were seen as supplementary sources. But now, the world is giving priority to developing renewable energy, and coal and gas are no longer considered main sources. Viet Nam has 20,000MWof electricity from hydropower plants. Given the hydropower potential, we are completely confident that Viet Nam can focus more on renewable instead of thermal power. VNS The APEC Finance Ministers Meeting and related meetings (FMM) will begin on Thursday in the ancient city of Hoi An, the central province of Quang Nam, chaired by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance (MoF). Photo vneconomictimes.com HA NOI The APEC Finance Ministers Meeting and related meetings (FMM) will begin on Thursday in the ancient city of Hoi An, the central province of Quang Nam, chaired by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance (MoF). This is the most important event under the APEC Finance Ministers Process and a key event in preparations for the APEC Economic Leaders Week, slated for November 6-11 in a Nang City. Vu Nhu Thang, director of the MoFs International Co-operation Department, said APEC Finance Ministers will discuss global and regional macroeconomic and financial development, review financial co-operation on four priorities through the year while updating on the implementation of the Cebu Action Plan. Prior to the APEC FMM which will take place on October 21, thee APEC Senior Finance Officials meeting and APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting will be held on Thursday and Friday to prepare documents to send to the ministers at the FMM. The ministers will also spend time in a dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Councial (ABAC) and leaders of major enterprises and business groups in the region. On the sidelines of the conference, ministers will have a closed-doors meeting to discuss issues of concern. Four priorities Four co-operation priorities were initiated by Viet Nam and approved at the APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting in Nha Trang City in February. They include long-term investment in infrastructure, disaster risk financing and insurance, tax avoidance through base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), and co-operation in the financial field. These are major challenges in the region which require joint efforts to address, Thang told Vietnam News Agency. Thang said APEC Finance Ministers will discuss policies to encourage the private sector to invest in infrastructure, emphasising risk-sharing solutions. Ministers will also discuss solutions to enhance co-operation in combating tax avoidance and profit shifting in the region; as well as debate financial solutions for disaster risk management and improving access to financial services in agriculture and rural areas. The three-day event is expected to welcome some 300 international and domestic delegates, including finance ministers, financial officials and senior members of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. VNS Its time Viet Nam shift its attention to quality and sustainable development and eye industry 4.0 technologies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), experts said at an online dialogue on FDI promotion strategies organised on Tuesday in Ha Noi. Photo baobinhduong.vn HA NOI Its time Viet Nam shift its attention to quality and sustainable development and eye industry 4.0 technologies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), experts said at an online dialogue on FDI promotion strategies organised on Tuesday in Ha Noi. Three decades since the Law on Foreign Investment was issued in December 1987, FDI has become an important part of the Vietnamese economy, although it has also brought with it problems such as environment pollution, outdated technologies, transfer pricing and below-expectation technology transfer. During the event held by nhadautu.vn, ang Xuan Quang, deputy director of the Viet Nam Foreign Investment Agency, said the country needs to review the policies of attracting FDI towards ensuring economic, social and environmental sustainability. In particular, industry 4.0 should also be taken into account to attract FDI, Quang said. It is incorrect to say developing countries cannot approach industry 4.0. We still can participate in the fourth industrial revolution if we follow the right path and find the right niche, Quang said. Quang said selecting appropriate FDI would help Viet Nam engage deeper in industry 4.0. Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, said industry 4.0 would have significant impact on every rule, every economy and every industry, adding that new technologies would lead to changes in power, cause security concerns and have an impact on the gap between the rich and the poor. Viet Nam should focus on attracting FDI in hi-technology sectors that generate high added value, such as information technology, electronics, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, as well as virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing and big data, along with automation, new materials, education, R&D and healthcare, he said. It is critical to say no to polluting projects, Mai stressed. According to Nguyen Van Phuc, former chairman of the National Assemblys Economic Committee, comprehensive evaluation should be undertaken on FDI attraction. Its time Viet Nam not longer remains lax while attracting FDI, but is selective, to ensure capital flows according to the countrys targets. Phan Huu Thang, former director of the Viet Nam Foreign Investment Agency, said policies should highlight responsibilities of FDI investors towards Viet Nam, especially in technology transfer and promoting Vietnamese firms to become suppliers of foreign firms and engage deeply in the global value chain. Viet Nam also needs to improve its legal framework, especially in competition and ownership, Vo Tri Thanh, former deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said. As of September 20, there were 24,200 existing FDI projects nationwide, with total registered capital of US$310 billion, 54 per cent of which was disbursed, so far. In 2016, FDI sector contributed 50 per cent to Viet Nams industrial production and 18.6 per cent to the State budget collection. - VNS HA NOI Technology group FPT signed an agreement with PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) on research and development for new technologies in oil exploration and exploitation on Tuesday. Under this agreement, FPT will provide support to PVEP to digitalise its operation and enhance the efficiency of its oil exploitation, minimise downtime due to system incidents and promote cost savings, as well as its risk mitigation. The two sides will promote co-operation towards a long-term partnership and create conditions to apply new technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, artificial intelligence and data science. According to Truong Gia Binh, chairman of FPT, for the oil and gas production sector, industry 4.0 would help provide practical forecasts, so as to optimise operation while ensuring safety, as well as cost-cutting. For example, in the transport sector, industry 4.0 will help increase the traffic volume by 35 per cent and reduce accidents by 58 per cent, Binh said, adding that in the oil production sector, the figures would not be as impressive, but modest improvements could bring significant economic benefits. The application of technology-enabled solutions in oil exploration and exploitation became critical when oil companies were facing difficulties owing to low oil prices. Ngo Huu Hai, director-general of PVEP, said that oil exploration always had risks, especially, when oil prices remained at a low level for a long time, forcing PVEP to promote the application of advanced technologies to improve efficiency. Approaching industry 4.0 is a completely new issue, and this is urgent to avoid falling behind, Hai said. The two companies will soon select among the existing projects of PVEP to pilot the application of new technologies, first in wells with simple structure, then to other projects, domestically and internationally. VNS HA NOI A Spanish film festival opened last night in Ha Noi with the world premiere of Thi Mai, the first Spanish movie to be shot in Viet Nam. Entitled Eye on Spain, the festival includes five films - comedies, dramas and thrillers - reflecting Spains cinematographic zest. Spain ranks fourth in Europe and eighth in the world in terms of cinematic productions. Thi Mai is a comedy directed by Patricia Ferreira. It is a classic tale of west-meets-east with a hilarious Spanish-Vietnamese twist and a star-studded cast from Spain and Viet Nam. It tells the story of a woman called Carmen. When Carmen discovers that her late daughter wanted to adopt a Vietnamese child, Carmen does not hesitate to travel to Viet Nam to bring the adopted child back home with her. Her two best friends, are each undergoing a crisis of their own, and when they hear of their friends crazy plan they jump on the plane with her without thinking. Lost in the bustle of Ha Noi, the three women meet a whole new world of possibilities and two men who, unwittingly, will change their lives forever. The movie was screened in Spanish with Vietnamese subtitles at the National Cinema Centre with a presentation by director Ferreira and producer Larry Levene speaking about filming in Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay. Other award-winning movies at the festival include Las Ovejas No Pierden El Tre (Sidetracked), Truman,Vivir Es Facil Con Ojos Cerados (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed) and La Caja 507 (Box 507). The comedy-drama movie Truman has been awarded dozens of national and international prizes since its premiere in Spain in 2015. It will be shown on Friday at 7pm in Spanish with Vietnamese and English subtitles. Living is Easy With Eye Closed was the big winner at the 2013 Goya Awards, taking six top prizes including best film, best director and best leading actor. It will be shown in Spanish with Vietnamese and French subtitles at 5pm on Saturday. The Spanish Film Festival is being held by the Spanish Embassy in Ha Noi to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Spain and Viet Nam. Besides the five screenings, the festival will include a reception at the Embassy, a round table discussion between film-makers from the two countries and other activities to strengthen ties with the Vietnamese industry and explore opportunities for future collaboration. VNS HCM CITY Saigon Players, an English-language theatre group, will present its annual Halloween party at The Hive Saigon Outcast on October 27 and 28. The party will feature an interactive screening of the popular Halloween film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, released in 1975. After the screening, there will be a party featuring shadow actors playing roles in the movie. Participants are encouraged to dress as their favourite characters in the film. The organiser will give special prizes for the Best Rocky Horror-themed costumes. All profits from the event will be donated to the Little Rose Shelter in District 7, a local non-governmental organisation that helps young girls who are survivors of or at risk for abuse and trafficking in Viet Nam. The event begins at 7 pm at 94 Xuan Thuy Street in District 2. The entrance fee of VN250,000 includes a bag of props. VNS Illustrative Image. thehindu By Hong Minh I woke up yesterday morning to some shocking, saddening and, ultimately, heartening news. Several Vietnamese friends had shared their experience of being sexually harassed or abused on Twitter and Facebook, using the hashtag Me Too (#Metoo). This hashtag began trending worldwide last week after people, particularly women, were asked to share their experiences in light of the sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Some 12 million people across the world men and women have responded to the call, which has achieved its purpose, of exposing the magnitude of the problem. It seems that weve been ignoring a herd of elephants in the room. In an interview last week, 79-year-old Hollywood veteran Jane Fonda, speaking about the Weinstein scandal, described sexual abuse as hardly unique in Hollywood. Its very, very common, just as it is in every country of the world, in every aspect in business, in government, she told BBCs HARD TALK. Tracing back the posts and comments that my friends admissions elicited, I saw many more people had hashtagged the same over the last few days. Some told their stories, others did not. But the haunting hashtag was there, a brave declaration: I am (was) a victim of sexual abuse and harassment. I do not use the word brave lightly. In Viet Nam, where talking about sex is still taboo, and patriarchal norms sweep all kinds of sexual harassment and abuse under the carpet, I am glad and proud that Vietnamese women are joining the fight against sexual abuse and harassment. I bet there are more women here who have suffered this depressing and traumatising experience at least once in their lifetime. It is real and happens far more often than we think. But why is it that this has never been exposed and made big headlines? Late last year, in announcing the results of a survey, the Department of Gender Equality under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and ActionAid Viet Nam (AAV) expressed concern that Vietnamese women were suffering physical and sexual abuse in public spaces and workplaces. The survey, which was conducted in five cities and provinces Ha Noi, HCM City, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and Tra Vinh found that 51.3 per cent of women admitted that they had experienced sexual harassment at least once, in all kinds of ways, including being whistled at, teased, having body parts stared at, touched intentionally, and being sent pornographic websites and photos. AAVs head Hoang Phuong Thao said most victims of sexual harassment do not declare their experience because they feel ashamed and even discriminated against if their stories are exposed. Sad, but true. A young woman shared on my Facebook friends hashtagged post her story of being harassed by her boss when she entered his room for reporting. The boss locked the door and hugged her, and asked her to have sex with him. She had to beg to be released, and quit her job several days later. My friend, who only knew the part about quitting the job, asked why hadnt denounced the boss. Her friend said she was afraid that no one would believe her. She was also afraid of being tagged as person whos been harassed, the double whammy that victims of sexual harassment face very often in traditional, conservative societies. First, blame the victim; if not, shame the victim. Looking the other way There is another important, unjustifiable reason for people not speaking out against sexual harassment. It happened to somebody else. Jane Fonda, in her aforementioned interview, revealed she learnt of the allegations against Weinstein a year ago, but chose to keep quiet because it did not happen to her. This can be seen in Viet Nam, too. It seems that people ignore and choose to stay out of the problem until it happens to them or someone close to them. The most sickening response typically comes from men, in general. Somehow, they find reasons to blame the victims. Two years ago, when the Ho Tay Water Park in Ha Noi offered free entrance as a summer-opening promotion, hundreds of thousands of people thronged the place, making it so overcrowded that the gate had to be closed. Hundreds of people left outside tried to climb the fence to get in, and in the ensuing chaos at the entrance and inside the park many young girls were teased and molested. The next day, the media was flooded with photographs of the fence climbing and molested girls crying helplessly as detestable guys laughed. I have a 10-year-old daughter. It is time I tell her my own story of being harassed that obsessed me for many years. Yes. Me too! I was 12 years old and queuing up to get inside the mirror house in a park. And I was groped by several adult men from the back. Being raised in a traditional family, Id internalised the notion that it was bad, very bad to talk about such thinks. So I kept silent and endured the shame and humiliation, wishing the show would end soon and I could escape a horrible situation. For long, every time I sensed a man behind me, I relived those horrible moments. As I grew up, how I wished I had the strength and courage to yell in the faces of those men: Take your filthy hands off! And how I wished people around had supported me. Sometimes, when the memory of that day comes back, I ask myself: Who could I have talked to? Who would have listened to me, believed me and helped me out? We cannot be silent about this any longer, not for traditional reasons or any other reason. Sexual harassment should be a part of our school curriculum. Children should learn early that this is a bad, sick thing to do, and they are not responsible for what is done to them. There is no way that sexual harassment should be normalised and accepted. Tomorrow, many women across Viet Nam will receive flowers and gifts on the occasion of the National Womens Day. This year, lets add this to our wish list for them: safety from all kinds of sexual harassment and courage and support in fighting it. Ive told my daughter what happened to me, and I have told her that she should speak out against any unfair treatment. We will listen to her, and have her back, she knows. We should give all our children courage and confidence to speak out against all forms of sexual harassment and abuse. It can be dismissed as wishful thinking, but no progress can be made without a vision for the future. Mine is this: My daughter, and her peers all over the world, will never have to say: Me too! VNS Deputy Defence Minister Sen Lieut Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia of the US Dr. Joseph Felter witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Viet Nam Defence Strategy Institute and the US-based Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies. VNA/VNS Photo oan Hung WASHINGTON Deputy Defence Minister Sen Lieut Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia of the US Dr. Joseph Felter co-chaired the Viet Nam-US defence policy dialogue 2017 in Washington DC on Tuesday. The two sides detailed security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, and discussed solutions to foster bilateral co-operation within the Viet Nam-US comprehensive partnership. They also discussed world and regional issues of mutual concern. Both sides evaluated their co-operation in 2017 and sketched out plans for next year and beyond in compliance with a memorandum of understanding on strengthening defence co-operation signed in 2011 and a declaration on defence affiliation from 2015. They also sought to realise agreements between the two defence ministries reached during Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lichs visit to the US in August 2017. Addressing the dialogue, Vinh said that Viet Nam has launched its Peacekeeping Centre in Ha Noi and highlighted potential for tires in military medicine, especially with Viet Nam preparing to launch a level-two field hospital as part of its UN peacekeeping mission. He lauded bilateral co-operation in seeking information and remains of Vietnamese and US soldiers who died during wars, saying it is a highlight in the two countries defence ties and affirming Viet Nam has full capacity to search for missing-in-action (MIA) US servicemen. Vinh proposed that the US Defence Department continue supporting the implementation of bilateral agreements in clearing unexploded ordnance, while encouraging international organisations to engage in the work. He said that the dioxin detoxification at a Nang Airport has finished, adding that the Vietnamese side will announce the completion of the project in early November in a Nang City during the APEC Economic Leaders Week with the participation of US President Donald Trump, and other foreign leaders. An international conference will also be held to share Viet Nams experience in the work, he said, calling for continued US support for a similar project in Bien Hoa Airport in ong Nai province. For his part, Dr Felter said that the US agrees with Viet Nams proposals on co-operation in coast guard units, military medicine, peacekeeping, and dioxin detoxification. The US side suggested that Viet Nam continue joining bilateral and multilateral forums to prepare for its role as ASEAN Chair in 2020. Present in at dialogue, Fern Sumpter Winbush, Principal Director for the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency lauded Viet Nams collaboration and support in MIA search efforts. She thanked the Vietnamese side for handing over documents relating to MIA soliders and supporting joint search teams. Following the dialogue, general Vinh and Dr Felter witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Viet Nam Defence Strategy Institute and the US-based Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies. Vinh also handed over to the US side two sets of documents supporting the MIA search. Meanwhile Dr Felter gave Vinh the personal belongings of a Vietnamese soldier who died during the war with hope that he will bring it to the martyrs family. VNS HCM CITY To ensure delivery of HIV treatment services, the health sector in HCM City is accelerating coverage of health insurance for HIV patients as donor funding for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and treatment will end in a few years now that Viet Nam has reached lower middle-income status as classified by the World Bank. The supply of ARV drugs funded by international donors is expected to be used up by the end of next year, said Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy director of the citys Department of Health. Health insurance will have to cover the cost of ARV drugs starting in early 2019, Hung said at a conference held on Wednesday in HCM City. The citys Department of Health has told medical centres in all districts to establish general clinics to provide health examinations and treatment for insured HIV patients. However, medical centres in several districts are ineligible to establish general clinics because of a lack of specialised doctors and medical equipment. Pham Thi Kim Hoa, director of Can Gio Districts Medical Centre, said that its public health consulting and support department had long been responsible for providing free health check-ups and treatment for HIV patients. The public health consulting and support department, however, is not eligible to sign contracts with social insurance agencies to provide health check-ups and treatment for insured HIV patients. Therefore, the centre has to set up a general clinic which has legal rights to sign contracts with social insurance agencies, according to Hoa. The centre said it had sought approval for setting up a general clinic, but it was refused because of it lacked specialised doctors, she said. It plans to transfer treatment of 112 patients to Can Gio Hospital by the second quarter of next year. District 1s Medical Centre is in the same situation as it is struggling to set up a general clinic to provide health care services for HIV patients with insurance cards, said Nguyen Van The, director of the centre. Lack of medical equipment and doctors, among other reasons, have made it impossible for the centre to establish a general clinic, according to The. Around 1,200 HIV patients are being treated at District 1s Medical Centre, he said. Tieu Thi Thu Van, director of the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention Centre, has proposed setting up HIV-treatment clinics at district-level hospitals instead of general clinics at medical centres. Under the proposal, district hospitals would sign contracts with social insurance agencies to provide health care services for HIV patients with health insurance cards. More than 31,000 HIV patients in HCM City receive regular examinations and treatment at medical centres. VNS HCM CITY The results of research on biotech applications such as microbial bio-pesticides have helped foster sustainable agricultural growth in Viet Nam, according to scientists. Bio-pesticides, for example, have been used in coffee and pepper crops, two of the seven main perennial crops of Viet Nam, Dr Pham Nguyen uc Hoang of the Biotechnology Centre of HCM City, said at an international conference on biotech research and application held yesterday at HCM City Open University. Most microbial bio-pesticides are used to control plant pathogenic fungi and nematodes. The main purposes of microbial fertilisers for these crops are for nitrogen fixation, decomposition of organic matter, and nutrient absorption, he said, adding that many microorganisms are used in fertilisers and bio-pesticides help to increase crop yield. The Biotechnology Center was able to create bio-products for these purposes using domestic microorganisms collected in southern Viet Nam, Hoang said. Biochar from coffee husks and other crop waste can be used to enhance the effect of microbial products, he said. The process improves crop quality and yield, decreases the use of chemical farming, and maintains the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystem, he added. Associate Professor Nguyen Anh Dung of Tay Nguyen University said that bio-tech products were needed in the Central Highlands region, where agriculture plays an important role, to maintain sustainable development. Microbiological biotechnology, nanotechnology and enzymatic biotechnology should be the focus of more research, Dung said. The conference, which was held by HCM City Open University, also heard presentations from Japanese and Thai scientists on biotech research and application in agriculture. Professor Akira Suzuki of Tokyo City University said that automated technology used in mushroom cultivation was effective but that its use was still not widespread. Mushroom companies are also eager to apply new technologies to save energy during cultivation. LED lights, for example, are used instead of fluorescent lamps, especially during budding and growth. In a related matter, Dr Takashi Yamanaka of Japans Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, gave a presentation on the cultivation of the Tricholoma matsutake, one of the most economically important edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms in the world. Pharmaceutical biotechnology, a relatively new field, involves the discovery and development of biomedicine. In Viet Nam, many biomedicines, including therapeutic drugs as well as kits for diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases, are now available. VNS HA NOI Have you ever imagined how would you react if all unnoticeable occurrences in our lives suddenly became clear and overwhelmed your senses? Or what information overload would be like? Nguyen Thi Hong Xuan, from Ha Noi, had to remove her headphones and burst into tears after she watched a short 360-degree virtual reality video. The video, using Google Cardboard Virtual Reality, let her experience what its like to suffer sensory overload. The video put Xuan in the shoes of an autistic child. Xuan was joining a project held to help people experience what it is like to be an autistic child, to give them a better understanding of autism. Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterised by impaired social interaction and communication, according to health experts. It is unbelievable that everything is so hard for an autistic child. Those with autism cant block out background noise like the rest of us. At the same time, all surrounding sounds come together and overload their hearing, Xuan told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper. It is really terrifying as they have to struggle with that condition every hour and every day, she said. Many other people had the same feelings after watching the video. They could not imagine how terrible it is to suffer such sensory overload. Some of them had to cover their ears as they could not bear it. When you talk to someone, you can focus on their voice. However, for an autistic person, all surrounding sounds compete for attention at the same time, with the same sound level and speed, from birds singing, car horns, mobile phone ringing, a childs crying to the sound of wind and water, said Nguyen Hanh Duyen, a member of the Act 4 Vietnamese Autism or A4A Group which is carrying out the project. The project, named Try to live like me, is designed to encourage people to learn more about the condition. It has been conducted in central Quang Nam Province and a Nang City from July and is expected to end in November. Research shows that autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder or impairment of the growth and development of the brain or central nervous system. The senses of people with autism will therefore be more sensitive. They can hear and see more clearly than normal people and also feel more pain even when being slightly hit, Duyen said. This results in difficulties and misunderstandings in the communication and behaviour of autistic people, she said. Many people ask what autism is, whether it is a standard disease or a hereditary disease. Some people even misunderstand that autistic people are arrogant and do not want to play with others, Duyen said. The project is expected to help those without autism understand more about autism and have more sympathy for those with autism and encourage people to join works that can support autistic people, she added. The A4A group was established five years ago. Most of its members are young, aged between 15 and 30. The project is part of their activities to support children with autism. They plan to publish an online magazine on autism in the future to share more information about autism. According to the World Health Organisation, for every 160 people in the world, one person has autism. No official statistics on the number of autistic people have been published in Viet Nam; it has been estimated that there are 160,000 people with autism living in the country. VNS HCM CITY HCM City police have detained two people for allegedly selling fake pesticides. They seized hundreds of pesticide bottles with fake labels in the case. The pair are Nguyen Thi Dung, 26, from Binh Tan District, and Huynh Kim Thien, 44, from District 6. On Tuesday, police discovered Dung transporting two boxes containing 76 bottles of fake pesticides with different trademarks. Searching her store on Hau Giang Road, police also seized nearly 290 fake bottles of pesticides and several plastic cans and bottles containing chemicals. Police also inspected her house and found two machines for making bottle caps and many cartons labelled with fake brand names. They also seized similar materials at Huynh Kim Thiens house. At the police station, Dung confessed that the trading ring was headed by Vuong Manh Ton, 39, who lives in Can Tho City. Dung said that she was responsible for producing large quantity of pesticides under the direction of Ton. Police are conducting further inquiries. VNS . . . Kelsey Paschich This Thursdaythat is, Oct. 19sees the kickoff of SHIFT Dance collective's second annual SHIFT Dance Festival, a three-day celebration of dance in all its plurality. The festival features performances of new works by company members Jacqueline Garcia, lisa nevada and Kelsey Paschich, as well as visiting performers S. Paola Lopez R., AGA Collaborative and Erika Pujic, as well as workshops and lectures led by visiting artists. Pujic, a faculty dance instructor at Skidmore College in New York, choreographed a piece of SHIFT members called Transverse Syndrome, and will perform in a piece she choreographed in collaboration with musician Carl Landa and filmmakers John Schneider and Steven Tainsh called Rendezvous. Pujic took the time to illumine her work in anticipation of her visit to New Mexico. Alibi: What is your history with dance? Pujic: I started dancing at the age of six. My parents enrolled me in ballet classes because I was extremely shy. I did not like to talk at all and found it easier to express myself through movement and not words. Dance is still my most powerful way of speaking, but through the years [it] has made me more confident in expressing myself through words. Movement is a universal language and is a good way to build community and bring people from many different backgrounds together. I find peace in the studio. Whether I am taking class, rehearsing, teaching or creating, it is where I feel most alive. What type of dance interests you? Movement interests me. I love watching people in everyday life. The simplest of movements can be the most beautiful and most powerful. I've been very fortunate to have been exposed to many different styles of dance and I often like to incorporate many different influences into my choreography. Modern dance has been the idiom that allows me to express myself most clearly. What are the pieces you are bringing to the festival like? I have created a new work, Transverse Syndrome, for SHIFT Dance co-founders [Garcia, nevada and Paschich]. These three dancers inspired the work. I was excited to get into the studio with them because they are such different movers, but when put together [they] are such a force. I wanted to play with intersecting lines and the physicality of these diverse dancers moving through space to embody both symmetry and imbalance. Carl Landa and I will be performing a duet, Rendezvous, that we premiered at the Bates Dance Festival in 2015. [It] is a marriage of dance, live music and film. You've collaborated with Carl Landa many timeswhat's your connection? I first met Carl while dancing for Robert Battle in Battleworks Dance Company. Mr. Battle had commissioned Carl to write a few scores throughout the years. I really was amazed to watch the collaborative process between choreographer and composer. Fast forward to today, Carl and I are married. We work at Skidmore College together and he composes scores for everything that I choreograph. There is nothing like having him in the studio with me during the creative process to play live to what I am creating and then to shape that into a score for the piece. Carl is such an intuitive musician and he really understands what types of sounds will enhance the movement. What is your greatest hope that audiences will get out of seeing your work? I am hoping that people will connect to the power of art. We are living in a precarious world and I would like for us all, performers and audience members, to come together and experience the magic that an evening of dance, music and film can generate. What do you hope you will take away from the festival? Every opportunity is a learning process and a way of connecting with a new community and new artists. I am hoping to cultivate new collaborations that I can bring back to my community in Saratoga Springs, New York. INDEPENDENCE A hearing has been slated for November to determine if criminal charges against reality TV star Chris Soules can go forward. Soules is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the April crash that killed Kenneth Mosher of Aurora, and Souless attorneys have asked the court to throw out the charges, claiming Iowas hit-and-run statutes are unconstitutional. A hearing on the motion was scheduled for Oct. 10, but it was postponed after the Iowa Attorney Generals Office filed a request to assist with the prosecution. On Thursday, the court scheduled the hearing for Nov. 7 in Buchanan County District Court in Independence. Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown has filed a resistance to the defenses motion. The defense had argued the law violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights against self incrimination and unreasonable search seizure because it requires motorists to return to the scene or report their location to authorities following a crash. Brown countered, arguing Soules was required to remain at the crash scene unless he was seeking help. Soules has no real standing to attack the constitutionality of those provisions his violation was complete when he left the scene for a purpose other than to seek aid or to report the fatal crash to law enforcement, Brown wrote in the 45-page resistance. Authorities said Soules rear-ended Moshers tractor and then called 911 from the scene, identified himself and attempted to render aid. He remained at the scene until medics arrived, but he left before law enforcement pulled up, according to court records. Brown said there was no reason for Soules to leave because help had already been summoned. Even if he later returned to the scene or reported his location to law enforcement, he could still be held accountable under this statute for leaving the scene without a reason that would justify that initial decision to depart, in the legislatures eyes, Brown wrote. WATERLOO A Minnesota man who was shot at by a narcotics agent during a January drug sting in Waterloo has been sentenced to prison. Judge Leonard Strand sentenced Paul Daniel Greseth, 32, of Wanamingo, Minn., to 15 years in prison during a Wednesday hearing in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Greseth, who had ignored officers orders while he was trying to vacuum up nearly a pound of ice meth at a car wash, will have to serve five years of supervised release following his prison time. He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of meth with the intent to distribute. Greseths defense attorney had asked the court for leniency, but prosecutors said the seizure in Waterloo was merely a snapshot of his drug activity, calling him a for-profit dealer with 24 prior convictions that include burglary, domestic assault and drugs. Greseth had been an informant for Minnesota drug investigators, but officials said he was bringing meth from the Twin Cities area to Iowa without authorities knowledge. In January, Iowa officials began investigating Greseth after West Union police intercepted 200 grams of meth. During the investigation, an undercover Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement agent met with Greseth in Howard County to pay another persons drug debt. Later, a meth deal was made for Jan. 22, and Greseth allegedly traveled to Waterloo to make the exchange at the Awesome Car Wash on Logan Avenue. When officers closed in, Greseth allegedly tried to use the car wash vacuum cleaner to suck up the meth, and a DNE officer fired twice when Greseth refused to follow orders. No one was injured in the shooting. Officials said there was a concern over possible weapons during the bust because officers had found a discarded handgun during an earlier chase involving Greseth in Minnesota. WATERLOO A Waterloo man has been arrested after a North Carolina womans money was transferred into his credit union account. The Charlotte, N.C., woman had never been to Waterloo and doesnt know anyone in Iowa, and she went to police in August after money from her bank account was moved a credit union account held by Jaquille ONeal Anderson. A $2,000 transfer went through, and Anderson allegedly withdrew the cash on Aug. 29. Two later transfers for $2,000 were stopped, and Anderson allegedly called the bank to inquire about their status, court records state. Anderson, of 3614 Ravenwood Circle, was arrested Oct. 9 for second-degree fraud. He was released from the Black Hawk County Jail the same day. It wasnt immediately clear how Anderson obtained the information needed to access her bank account, but the woman had earlier reported having a check stolen, and investigators believe this played a role in the crime, police said. CEDAR FALLS Danny Homan, president of AFSCME Council 61, encouraged the Iowa Board of Regents to have a conversation with employees during public comments at the boards regular meeting on the University of Northern Iowa campus Thursday. Homan said the changes to collective bargaining mean the board has no obligation to talk to UNIs American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members, but it should. Im here to tell you there are going to be difficult times and to encourage you to engage in conversations with the folks that work for you, Homan said. There are going to be some hard things that were going to have to deal with. One of those conversations UNIs United Faculty Joe Gorton encouraged the regents have with staff is on health care. Gorton led a meeting last week on campus expressing concerns with proposed rate increases, that combined with a 1.1 percent salary increase, amount to a pay cut. He reiterated those concerns to the board Thursday. The labor market for qualified university professors is tight. Only 2 percent of the United States labor market holds a doctorate degree, and a fraction of those have the skills necessary for university-level teaching and research, Gorton said. With these facts in mind, I am here to ask you to chart a new direction in your approach in setting fiscal priorities for UNI. Gorton encouraged the board to emphasize investment in human capital rather than physical capital, arguing building projects are not going to improve the universitys enrollment. He also made a request of the board to continue to push for additional funding for the University of Northern Iowa. The board, as is typical since instituting public comments, thanked the men for their comments without offering any response. Both union leaders also congratulated the new Iowa Board of Regents executive director, Mark Braun, though he had not yet officially been named to the position. Braun, who currently serves as the regents chief operating officer, was the sole candidate interviewed during a closed session meeting Wednesday. Braun was officially named the executive director, by a unanimous decision, just before Thursdays meeting adjourned. Braun will officially begin his duties Nov. 1 and was appointed for a three-year term. He will have an annual salary of $154,300, the maximum the state allows, plus a recruitment incentive of $185,000 to be paid out over the next 18 months. Iowa regents President Michael Richards said at the meeting the COO position would not be filled and called Braun uniquely qualified for the job of executive director. Gorton called Braun an outstanding choice in his public comments earlier in the day. Separately, during the meeting, the board also heard presentations from UNI faculty and staff on its community engagement efforts and an update on the universitys strategic plan. ELDORA In the wake of a report critical of measures used to restrain unruly boys at the Eldora State Training School, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ron Corbett is calling for more resources for the facility, especially to meet the needs of the juvenile offenders living there. Corbett, a former speaker of the Iowa House who had obtained funding for new facilities at the campus in north central Iowa, said he was impressed by the changes he saw during a visit Wednesday. I wanted to see if the programming had changed over the past 20 years and whether there was still a need for a facility like this, said Corbett, the Cedar Rapids mayor seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2018. Im impressed that the programming has changed and advanced to meet some of the challenges the kids are facing today. Despite rumors the school that serves as many as 130 boys from age 12 to past 19 may be closed, Corbett said theres a great need to keep it open. After seeing what Ive seen today and reinforcing what Ive known in the past, this is not a facility that as governor I would ever advocate closing, Corbett said after the tour and a discussion with students in the schools honor corps. Thats one point of agreement between Corbett and Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. Reynolds spokeswoman, Brenna Smith, called speculation about the closing of the Eldora facility false rumors. Gov. Reynolds is proud of the great work done each and every day at Eldora and is committed to keeping it open, Smith said. A report by Disability Rights Iowa criticized the school for overuse of the seclusion room and the wrap, a bed that involves straps placed over the arms and legs of unruly students. The group did not call for closure of the school, but said youths with mental health needs should not be housed there. Superintendent Mark Day said many of the 94 students at the school Wednesday have mental health issues, including 40 percent who have suicidal histories involving themselves or family members. There have been no suicides at the school in more than 40 years, he said. The school has one full-time psychologist and counseling available for 24 hours a week, Day said, adding that 65 percent of the students are on prescription psychotropic medications. At some point, a decision will have to be made about the depth and breadth of the need for services, Day said. Corbett called it apparent (the school) needs some additional support for programming, including for dealing with mental health issues. The greatest need is for expertise in the mental health issues, he said. Thats probably not exclusive to this facility. Its an issue many Iowans have been talking about and its getting to an acute level. Mental health needs could be addressed either with the development of an on-campus eight- to 12-bed unit to deal with severe cases or by contracting with another facility to provide those services, he said. Corbett said it was good to see progress being made at the Eldora school where his name is on one of the buildings. Corbett-Miller Hall named for him and Attorney General Tom Miller also is known as the hole because it houses the seclusion rooms Disability Rights Iowa criticized. Did you think I was some old, dead dude? Corbett asked a student who expressed surprise to meet him. Yeah, the student said. Thats wild. 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18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Chile's highest court ordered on Friday the immediate release of eight Mapuche leaders who were detained and put under preventive imprisonment since Sept. 23, and accused under a terrorist law inherited from Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. The judges unanimously granted a request of legal protection (habeas corpus) presented by the activists' lawyers. The decision was grounded on the lack of evidence proving their participation in arson, said Judge Milton Juica, spokesperson for the Supreme Court, to reporters. Two weeks ago, the protection measure was rejected by Temuco's Appeal Tribunal. Chile's Attorney General Jorge Abbott denied that the supreme court's ruling represented a blow for the Public Ministry, saying this was not a failure at all, this is merely a formal issue of a judicial resolution. We will move forward with our investigation and will present again, if necessary, a request for preventive prison, he added. The activists to be released are Hector Llaitul, his son Ernesto Llaitul, Claudio Leiva, David Cid, Fidel Tranamil, Martin Curiche, and the brothers Jaime and Rodrigo Huenchullan Cayul. The Mapuche activists are accused of leading various arson attacks in August and burning an evangelical church in the regions of Biobio, La Araucania and Los Rios, where conflicts over their ancestral lands against private companies have been the most intense. They claim they are innocent. Meanwhile, the four Mapuche brothers Trangol are still detained in preventive prison in a Temuco jail over similar accusations burning a church in La Aracaunia, although the government eventually accepted to drop the "terrorist" charges against them so they would stop their 115-day hunger strike. However, Ariel Trangol has refused to feed himself until the Public Ministry would accept removing the measure of preventive prison. After 134 days of his hunger strike, his brother Robinson reported in a Facebook post that Ariel was in a poor health state. Oct 19, 2017 | By Tess Heres your 3D printing news roundup for October 19, 2017. In it youll find news from EBAM inventor Sciaky, India-based Altem Technologies, 3D printed medical implant company NuVasive, and methane conversion researchers from Montana State University. Sciaky receives Presidents E award for exports of its EBAM metal 3D printing technology Metal 3D printing company Sciaky, Inc. has announced that it has been given the Presidents E Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The distinction was awarded to Sciaky for exporting its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) system to countries around the globe. A subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, Sciaky has become known in the additive manufacturing industry for its EBAM system, which is recognized as being the most widely scalable metal 3D printing technology on the market as well as one of the fastest metal deposition technologies. To give an idea, an EBAM printer can produce parts ranging in size from 203 mm (8) to 5.79 m (19) in length. In terms of speed, it can achieve deposition rates of up to 9.07 kg (20 lbs) of metal an hour. The Presidents E Award, which has existed since 1961, was established in order to recognize companies, people, or organizations which bolster and contribute significantly to the United States exports with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and work of broad impact. Sciaky was presented with the award last month at the U.S. Manufacturers to Europe & Beyond Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Bob Phillips, Vice President of Sciaky, Inc., commented on the event, saying: Sciaky is honored to receive this prestigious award from the U.S. Department of Commerce. We are proud to be an American company that exports innovative technology all across the world. Indian 3D printing company Altem Technologies receives Frost & Sullivan Innovation Award In more 3D printing award news, Indian 3D printing company Altem Technologies has received Frost & Sullivans 2017 India 3D Printers Technology Innovation Award. The award is part of Frost & Sullivans worldwide Best Practices Awards. This year, awards were given to a total of 57 companies and organizations in a range of industries, including electronics & appliances, digital media, energy & environment, industrial automation & process control, and more. Altem was reportedly the only 3D printing company to receive an award under the latter category, industrial automation & process control. The Bangalore-based company reportedly ticked the boxes for industry impact, scalability, application diversity, financial performance, and technology licensing. Today, industries are facing [an] enormous challenge to develop lighter components, newer materials, and meet ever-increasing compliances and regulatory norms, said the company. Altem aspires to be at the forefront to address these with [its] wide spectrum of products...ranging from PLM software solutions, which includes Dassault and MSC Software suite of products, Metal and Plastic 3D Printing from SLM Solutions, and Stratasys, besides handheld industrial 3D scanners from Artec3D. Altem Technologies is also one of Indias 3D printing market leaders, according to a report. Medical tech company NuVasive launches new Modulus XLIF titanium 3D printed implant NuVasive, Inc., a medical device developer based in San Diego, CA, has launched a new 3D printed titanium implant. Called Modulus XLIF, the new 3D printed implant is destined for use in the companys flagship XLIF procedure, which itself is aimed at more minimally invasive lateral spine surgery. The new 3D printed implant features a porous structure which was inspired by the natural porosity and architecture of human bones. By mimicking the organic structure of bone, the 3D printed implant takes on similar stiffness and stress resistance. Additionally, the microporous surface of the implant is well suited for promoting natural bone growth once implanted. Weve seen an increase in surgeon preference to use titanium interbody options in spine surgeries, and we were confident we could develop a titanium option that delivers the porous properties surgeons need, commented Matt Link, executive vice president of strategy, technology, and corporate development at NuVasive. Modulus XLIF maximizes the potential of 3D printed spinal implants through the application of unique and advanced software optimization processes, he added. This product launch further represents our continued commitment to advancing surgical materials, and delivering best-in-class implants that provide superior osseointegration and biomechanics. NuVasives XLIF process is currently the only lateral approach spine procedure with over 15 years of clinical research supporting it. The new 3D printed Modulus XLIF implant marks an important addition to the companys XLIF offering. The medical device company will be unveiling its new Modolus XLIF titanium implant at the upcoming North American Spine Society Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. MSU researchers awarded $1.8M to study methane conversion with 3D printing The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.8 million in funding to a team of researchers from Montana State University for the development of plastics and other commercial products made from methane-consuming microbes. The team also hopes that the research will open up possibilities for 3D printed biofilms. The project, which is actually a collaboration between MSU, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and the University of Oklahoma, is called Building Genome-to-Phenome Infrastructure for Regulating Methane in Deep and Extreme Environments or BuG ReMeDEE for short. Methane conversion is becoming significant in scientific research fields, largely because of the threat the gas poses to our environment. Methane, which is generated by agriculture, natural wetlands, landfills, and oil and coal extraction, is the second most significant greenhouse agent after carbon dioxide. The study is specifically targeting methane production and conversion in deep and extreme environments, of which little is currently known. The project was spurred on by the recent discovery of methane-converting microbes called methanotrophs in such regions. One of the researchers in the team thinks that theres a role for 3D printing to play in the project. In simple terms, the researchers are aiming to manipulate tiny liquid drops injected with methane-converting methanotrophs and build them into structures, such as biofilms, using additive manufacturing. By layering the methanotrophs in specific configurations, the researchers hope to create prototypes of engineered biofilms that are capable of converting methane into specific materials, reads a press release. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Oct 19, 2017 | By Benedict Charles Darwin University in Australia has started using its LIGHTSPEE3D metal 3D printer, built by Australian additive manufacturing company SPEE3D. Darwins machine is the first operational LIGHTSPEE3D printer in the world. Steven Camilleri checks up on his creation, the LIGHTSPEE3D 3D printer (Image: ABC Radio Darwin) Back in July, we reported that Charles Darwin University had used a $313,000 government grant to get hold of a LIGHTSPEE3D metal 3D printer, a machine that can purportedly print metal parts 100 to 1,000 times faster than other printers. That speedy metal 3D printer is now up and running, with the Australian university successfully printing its first batch of metal parts, including copper and aluminum pieces. According to SPEE3Ds Steven Camilleri, the LIGHTSPEE3D isnt just a faster SLM machine. Rather, it uses entirely different and strange-sounding principles. Instead of using a laser and heat to melt the metal powder and form the metal parta very expensive and slow processwe use a rocket engine and deposit metal powders at extremely high velocity, Camilleri explained. The rocket engine causes the metal powders to travel at speeds of around a kilometer per second within a 400C environment, before they hit a metal plate attached to a robotic arm, which moves as the part is built up. This 3D printed flywheel took under 12 minutes to fabricate (Image: ABC Radio Darwin) They splat on impactthats actually the industry term, splatand they expand very suddenly and weld on because of the heat generated under those circumstances, Camilleri said. But even Camilleri is a little taken aback to see the 3D printerwhich has a 300 x 300 x 300 mm build areain full swing. After spending many years perfecting the technology, the engineer said he was exhilarated to see it in action at Darwin. Darwin engineers were able to fabricate a copper flywheel using the 3D printer in less than 12 minutes. And with the part costing just $3.60 to make, those involved think the new metal 3D printer could put Darwin at the center of the areas additive manufacturing scene. It'll bring innovation to Darwin and make it a leading partner in advanced manufacturing, commented Rebecca Murray, director of Darwins Advanced Manufacturing Alliance. Prototype of the LIGHTSPEE3D 3D printer In particular, the university is eyeing prospective partners in mining, gas, and marine defense outstations, which often need complex metal parts out in remote locations. By 3D printing their spare and replacement parts, these partners wouldnt need to keep extensive catalogues of components that may or may not be used. It harks back a bit to the days of having the blacksmith, where you had someone specialized in making parts right where you needed the parts," Camilleri said. This is the kind of manufacturing time where you wouldn't even have to keep your parts in stock any more; you can make them when and where you need them. Posted in 3D Printer Maybe you also like: Oct 19, 2017 | By Tess Cosmetics brand Lush will be investing in 3D printing technologies to manufacture molds for its products and perhaps even cosmetics, according to Mark Constantine, co-founder of the UK-based company. The announcement was part of Constantines annual talk at the Jobshop UK directors lunch. In it, he also declared that Lush would be investing 13 million ($17M) in the town of Poole in Dorset for a new innovation facility. According to Constantine, the cosmetics company has already invested 4.6 million ($6M) through the purchase of an industrial facility on the Nuffield Industrial Estate in Poole, and will put the rest of the money towards establishing the facility as a center for exploring new products and manufacturing processes, such as 3D printing. The facility, to be known as Unit 1 (or 1 Lush), will be centered on developing new products and trying out new things. Constantine suggested that the 1 Lush team would be putting its efforts towards the development of new products which could be in production in a short time frame (six to 12 weeks). What were up to in there is putting in all our innovation and new thingsso it gives us the facilities, it adds another one fifth to our space in Poole and gives us the facilities to work on new things," said Constantine. Someone can invent something and we can make it within six to 12 weeks. Spanning 50,000 square feet, the new Lush facility will also be the site of experiments with 3D printing. The technology, said Constantine, will be used there both for the production of molds and products. At the Lush Summit in February 2017, the company showcased one of its 3D printing projects: 3D printed solid perfume. Constantine, who is staunchly opposed to Brexit, recently decided to move some of Lushs business to Germany, along with 80 per cent of its staffthe ones who didnt want to be living [in the UK]. Still, thanks to an increase in domestic sales, the cosmetics company has also been able to grow its presence in the UK. Lush co-founder Mark Constantine Constantine explains: Fortunately for us, weve had a 25 per cent lift in our British business from last year. Were enjoying considerable success and the British public are very, very kind to us, probably kinder than to anyone else on the high street at the moment, I would imagine. Aside from its fragrant soaps and cosmetics, Lush has also gained recognition within the UK for voluntarily offering its workers the Living Wage, which is higher than the governments legal minimum wage. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: 1. Remind yourself that your work has value. Never forget that what you do is worthwhile, in all sorts of ways. According to an AARP Public Policy Institute report, about 40 million family caregivers provided 37 billion hours of care for parents, spouses, partners and other adult loved ones worth an estimated $470 billion in 2013, up from $450 billion in 2009. How much is $470 billion? Its nearly as much as the total sales of the worlds largest companies, including Walmart ($485.9 billion for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2017). 2. Find ways to mass communicate. Of course everyone wants to know how your dads surgery went, but it can be exhausting trying to inform people individually over the phone or by email. Sites such as CaringBridge allow you to send messages to everyone all at once. Other similar sites include PostHope and MyLifeLine.org. 3. Join a support group. The Family Caregiver Alliance has a family care navigator tool to help you locate resources, including support groups near you, and also gives you the ability to join an online caregiver group. You can chat online with other caregivers in the same situation on AARPs website, too. Services and support in your area can also be found through Eldercare Locator, a public service of the U.S. Administration on Aging. In addition, the Alzheimers Association and CancerCare websites offer information on support groups. The Well Spouse Association is another good source if you need help connecting with other caregivers. 4. Get organized. Seek out simple tools like calendars and to-do lists that can help you prioritize your responsibilities. Work with your loved one to create an inventory of where important items are kept. Its essential to know the location of certain documents: Social Security cards, marriage and birth certificates, a will or trust, the deed to the house, and insurance and bank account records. Staying organized will give you peace of mind and leave you better prepared down the road. 5. Nurture the positive relationships in your life. You may be overwhelmed, but take time to talk with friends and family you are closest to. Spend an evening with someone who is a good listener. Limit your interactions with negative people who will drag down your mood and perspective. Surround yourself with those who appreciate you and really care. 6. Give yourself a break. You cant keep going 24/7. Everyone needs a break even caregivers. Ask a friend or relative to take over for a few hours every so often so that you can take a walk, catch a movie or go out to dinner. Eldercare Locator also can help by providing area-specific recommendations for services such as home care, meal plans and transportation options. Find out about adult-day-care centers in your community, which sometimes provide care in a group setting for older people who need supervision. 7. Dont forget to take care of your own health. Set a goal to establish a good sleep routine and to exercise a certain number of hours every week. Be sure to eat healthy and drink plenty of water. And see your doctor for recommended immunizations and screenings. Tell your physician that youre a caregiver, and bring up any concerns you may have. A daily relaxation and meditation practice can be beneficial, as well. Branson disclosed both scams this week on his blog. The more recent came after Hurricane Irma, which destroyed his luxury home in the British Virgin Islands in September. Following the hurricane, Branson said a conman impersonating him made off with $2 million from a friend, whod been misled into believing it was a short-term loan. The unidentified friend, whom Branson described as a very successful businessperson, told him that someone who said they were Bransons assistant emailed saying the mogul was seeking $2 million, which the friend agreed to lend after a telephone call with the conman. When the call happened the conman did an extremely accurate impression of me and spun a big lie about urgently needing a loan, Branson blogged. They claimed I couldnt get hold of my bank in the UK because I didnt have any communications going to Europe, and Id only just managed to make a satellite call to the businessman in America. The business person, incredibly graciously, gave $2 million, which promptly disappeared. Branson knew nothing about the ruse until the businessman emailed him about getting reimbursed. We quickly realized he had been duped out of his money by a criminal pretending to be me, Branson said. Its a heist of enormous scale. This story sounds like it has come straight out of a John le Carre book or a James Bond film, but it is sadly all true, Branson said. Branson believes the scam artist is the same person who tried to defraud him of $5 million earlier this year, when his assistant received a note on what appeared to be official government stationery from British Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon requesting an urgent call. Branson says that he called Fallon on the phone number provided in the note, and that Fallon told him a British diplomat had been kidnapped. The man sought $5 million, purportedly earmarked for a secret ransom fund, and assured Branson the British government would repay him. Branson sensed a scam. Although the Sir Michael I spoke to sounded exactly like Sir Michael, I was understandably cautious, Branson said. He called Fallons office, where a secretary assured him that no one had been kidnapped. It was clearly a scam, Branson wrote, "and we passed the matter over to the police. While scams involving charities, storm relief efforts or relatives in trouble are all too common, most arent nearly on the scale of those targeting the wealthy. But Bransons story is a cautionary tale. For more information on fraud and watchdog alerts, check out AARPs Fraud Watch Network. When the office of the ailing Sen. Thad Cochran, 79, announced Monday that it was the Mississippi Republican's "intention to return to the Senate when his health permits," it underscored the challenges of navigating a chamber that's the second oldest ever. Cochran's absence narrows the GOP's margin for error on a pivotal budget vote this week, and the Appropriations Committee that he chairs hasn't churned out any spending bills for next year since he was last in Washington in mid-September. Other senators have had health issues that have caused them to miss time this year in Washington. In July, the Senate delayed votes for a week on repealing former President Obama's health care law after Sen. John McCain, 81 (R-Ariz.), was diagnosed with brain cancer. And Sen. Johnny Isakson, 72 (R-Ga.), was away for two back surgeries early in 2017. Two 80-somethings one from each party are among 16 senators facing reelection who on Election Day 2018 will be at least 65 an age when many people already have retired. Sen. Orrin Hatch, 83 (R-Utah), hasn't announced whether he'll seek an eighth term. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at 84 the oldest senator has said she will run again. Core Applies for Mineral Lease to Develop Lithium Mine Adelaide, Oct 19, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Core Exploration Limited ( ASX:CXO ) ("Core" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has applied for a Mineral Lease ("ML") over its 100 per cent owned Grants Lithium Deposit, one of Australia's highest grade lithium deposits. HIGHLIGHTS - Core has applied for a Mineral Lease over its 100 per cent owned Grants Lithium Deposit - Grants Lithium Deposit is one of highest grade Resources in Australia - Development of Grants is also supported by one the best logistics chain to China of any Australian Lithium Project in Australia - The Mineral Lease is a key step in Core's aspirations to develop the Grants Lithium Project - Preliminary Mining Study shows strongly positive outcomes for potential development of DSO Spodumene Operations from Grants Resource - Company is negotiating offtake agreement with leading Chinese lithium producer Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co. Ltd Core is focussed on developing the Grants Lithium Deposit which is located close to Darwin's key support and logistics infrastructure. Results from the initial high-grade Resource and preliminary mining study have highlighted the strong positive outcomes for the potential development of Grants, suggesting a strong case for a standalone Direct Ship Ore ("DSO") project. The ML application is for the mining and development of the Grants Lithium Project and is a significant milestone for the Company. The Grants Lithium Project will include an open pit, waste rock dump, ore stockpile and processing infrastructure. The deposit contains an estimated 1.8 million tonnes of high grade spodumene, the standard lithium mineral used by the lithium industry as a feedstock for lithium chemicals to produce a range of end products including contributing to the production of lithium ion batteries. Core intends to ship the lithium product from Darwin Port to customers in China to meet their growing demand for lithium and fuel the renewable energy boom. To support the development of Grants, Core has a Heads of Agreement with Darwin Port to export up to one million tonnes per annum of ore from East Arm Wharf. The Company also recently announced the signing of a framework agreement to negotiate a DSO offtake agreement with leading Chinese lithium producer Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co. Ltd. Core's Managing Director, Stephen Biggins, commented: "We are pleased with this milestone step towards the development of Grants. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries will play a key role in the growing market for renewable and clean energy technologies. "China is the largest producer of lithium batteries in the world and is Core's key market. "Core is well-funded and in an ideal position to meet China's demand with a high-quality resource, excellent logistics and a relatively simple mining proposition with limited environmental impacts. Strong demand is expected to support high lithium prices over the next decade, so we are well-placed to develop the Northern Territory's lithium export opportunities." To view figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/OG4QR7A7 About Core Lithium Ltd Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) is an emerging lithium producer focused on development of its Finniss Project near Darwin in the Northern Territory. Core owns 100% of Finniss, a major developing project that lies close to existing infrastructure such as the Darwin Port, grid power, gas and rail infrastructure. The Finniss Project covers a 500km2 tenement holding and 25 historic pegmatite mines. The project area is about 80km from Darwin Port. Exploration work has generated a near term development timeline, with feasibility studies to be completed over the course of 2018 ahead of receipt of approvals in early 2019 and planned first production during 2019. An aggressive exploration program is under way, which has confirmed the high quality prospectivity across much of the Finniss Project area. Core's stated ambition is to upgrade Finniss' resource base to fast-track commercialisation options. Altech finalises design of 4,500tpa HPA plant Perth, Oct 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Altech Chemicals Limited (Altech/the Company) ( ASX:ATC ) ( A3Y:FRA ) is pleased to advise that it has now finalised the design for the upgrade in capacity of its proposed Malaysian high purity alumina (HPA) plant from 4,000 to 4,500 tonnes per annum. Highlights - Upgraded 4,500tpa capacity HPA plant design now completed - Plant process flow sheet optimised and finalised - Flexible finishing line capable of producing sapphire grade and battery grade HPA Working in conjunction with its appointed German engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor SMS group GmbH (SMS), Altech has now completed optimisation of the plant process flow sheet (see Figure 1 in link below). The majority of the changes compared to the previous flow sheet have impacted the HPA finishing section of the plant. This section now incorporates a flexible finished product line capable of producing HPA for both the synthetic sapphire industry (up to 4,500tpa of high density pellets) and HPA for the lithium-ion battery industry (up to 1,500tpa of powder at sub-micron particle size). Maximum plant output is designed at 4,500tpa HPA, with flexibility to balance the finished product mix. The flexible product finishing line is designed to initially grind all HPA to an average particle size of less than 1 micron by wet milling using bead mills. Upon the milled HPA achieving the designated particle size range it will be dried via a conventional spray drier. The finely ground, dried HPA will then be aggregated in beads for heat treatment in a tunnel kiln; the finished product being HPA beads for use in the synthetic sapphire industry. Alternatively, the finely ground HPA will be fed to a de-agglomeration unit (microniser) to produce fine HPA powder for use in the lithium-ion battery industry. Both products will be bagged via an automated bagging machine. See Figure 1 (in link below) for the final flow diagram. Sapphire Grade HPA Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights; semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industries; and scratch-resistant glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and components for smartphones and other handheld devices. Global HPA demand is approximately 25,315tpa (2016) and is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 16.7%, with the HPA market size worth about USD$1 Billion in 2016 - according to Persistence Market Research. Altech's sapphire grade HPA product will be 4N (99.99%) high purity alumina (Al2O3) in the form of a highdensity HPA bead of around 3-4mm in size. The higher bulk density of HPA beads (versus HPA in powder form) is preferred by synthetic sapphire manufacturers as it maximises the amount of alumina that can be placed into the furnaces and kilns used in the production of synthetic sapphire. The target loose bulk density of Altech's high-density HPA beads will be around 2.2t/m3. Lithium-ion Battery Grade HPA Consumption of HPA in non-tradition applications such as the lithium-ion battery sector is forecast to experience significant grown. Electric vehicle manufacturers are increasingly demanding lithium-ion batteries with cathode and anode electrode separator sheets coated with 99.99% (4N) HPA for fire resistance. The particle size of HPA used as the coating for this application is ultra-fine, less than 1 micron. Lithium-ion batteries using separator sheets coated with HPA consume between 40-120g of HPA per kilowatt-hour (kWh). With a forecast rapid expansion of the lithium-ion battery market driven by the demand from electric vehicles and green energy power storage (solar and wind), HPA consumption in the lithium-ion battery sector alone is forecast by Altech to rise from around 1,000tpa in 2016 to 15,000tpa by 2025. Over the last twelve months Altech has been developing a HPA product to meet the requirements of the lithium-ion battery industry. The finishing line of Altech's proposed HPA plant is designed to produce the ultra-fine HPA used in the lithium-ion battery sector; this product may also be sold in slurry form (drums). To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/5FIJALJ9 About Altech Chemicals Ltd Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC) (FRA:A3Y) is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500tpa high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia. Feedstock for the plant will be sourced from the Company's 100%-owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia and shipped to Malaysia. HPA is a high-value, high margin and highly demanded product as it is the critical ingredient required for the production of synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components. Increasingly HPA is used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers as the coating on the battery's separator, which improves performance, longevity and safety of the battery. With global HPA demand approximately 19,000t (2018), it is estimated that this demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% (2018-2028); by 2028 HPA market demand will be approximately 272,000t, driven by the increasing adoption of LEDs worldwide as well as the demand for HPA by lithium-ion battery manufacturers to serve the surging electric vehicle market. Element Materials Technology's Houston laboratory has been approved by IHI Corporation, Japan's leading maker of jet engines, to conduct non-destructive testing (NDT) for the aerospace prime and its supply chain partners. The approval for radiographic inspection enables the Houston laboratory to support testing for IHIs suppliers in the aerospace sector. The facility was awarded Nadcap accreditation for aerospace NDT services in November 2016 and also holds the equivalent accreditation for its materials testing (MT) activities. Rick Sluiters, EVP Aerospace, Element, commented: We are extremely proud of this achievement. The range of prime approvals in both NDT and MT testing at Element Houston means that we are better able to serve our customers in the Houston area by delivering substantial time and cost reductions for those clients who previously had to send their materials out of town to be tested and inspected. With the acquisition of Exova, the Element Group is now the number one provider of aerospace testing services in the world. Our laboratories are strategically located to be close to our clients research, production and assembly facilities, enabling us to provide a local service on an international basis, improving efficiencies, and delivering cost savings for our clients." Element Houston is a state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary testing laboratory. It specialises in non-destructive and materials testing for metals and polymers, dedicated to servicing the global aerospace and oil & gas sectors. In June 2017, Element Materials Technology acquired the UK's Exova Group Limited to create one global testing services partner. At this year's ACI World & Africa Annual General Assembly (WAGA) hosted by Airports of Mauritius Co, the global airport industry issued an update on the progress it has been making in addressing its CO2 emissions, through the independent and voluntary global certification programme, Airport Carbon Accreditation, with Townsville Airport in Queensland, Australia, becoming the 200th airport to enter the programme, certified at Level 1 Mapping, earlier this week. Above: Airports accredited at this years WAGA. As is customary at this time of year, Airports Council International also released the annual report for Airport Carbon Accreditation (covering the period May 2016 to May 2017), showing how the global airport industry is delivering on its commitment to lower its own CO2 emissions, made in 2007. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World commented This past year has seen continued engagement from airports - with 36 new applications to Airport Carbon Accreditation and more airports reaching a higher level of certification within the programme. As a result, we are able to announce that we now have 201 airports participating in Airport Carbon Accreditation. These airports welcome over 39.6% of global air passenger traffic. To put that into context, that means more than 2.8 billion passengers now travel through airports certified at one of the four levels of the programme. From May 2016 to May 2017, accredited airports succeeded in collectively reducing the CO2 emissions under their direct control by 202,184 tonnes of CO2 - thats equivalent to the CO2 emitted during the lifecycle of over 2.1 million iPhones. Niclas Svenningsen, who heads the Climate Neutral Now initiative at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Bonn, Germany commented: People are aware of the public conversation about Climate Change between governments and the work underway to forge and implement policies that support a sustainable future but effective climate action also relies enormously on an innovative and proactive private sector and Airport Carbon Accreditation is a really good example of that. By providing a clear, yet ambitious framework that accommodates the multi-speed nature of airports efforts across the world, this is actively encouraging and stimulating a collective effort by the Global airport industry one that is also engaging other aviation stakeholders to get involved as well. Something other industries and sectors would do well to try to foster. Participation growth in the African continent has been particularly remarkable going from three airports in the programme a year ago, to now 10 accredited airports. These airports welcome 28% of African air passenger traffic. An additional six US airports also became certified for the first time and US airports were also major contributors to the overall reduction of CO2 emissions achieved last year with Dallas Fort Worth becoming the first airport in the Americas reaching carbon neutral status. These achievements reflect the continued commitment of US airports to addressing climate change, despite the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement. With four different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality), Airport Carbon Accreditation is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed and has the support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Commission (EC). South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday reshuffled his cabinet, adjusting six portfolios including the home affairs, state security, Energy and communications. In a statement, Zuma said that after careful consideration he decided to make the changes to the National Executive. The presidency said it had moved David Mahlobo, former minister of state security to the energy portfolio. South Africas Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande has been axed as Minister of Higher Education and replaced by Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize who was Minister of Home Affairs. Many see the move as punitive after Nzimande criticized the president. Tuesday cabinet reshuffle is the second in seven months. In March, Zuma dismissed five ministers, including then Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas. The move sparked a lot of protests in support of the former finance minister Pravin Gordhan. President Jacob Zuma, has narrowly survived a motion of no confidence against him in parliament two months ago in attempt to unseat him after months of growing anger over allegations of corruption. The 75-year old leader has never been far from scandal since he became president in 2009. The South African government has undertaken some changes at the head of countrys national carrier South Africa Airways (SAA) nose-diving into utter losses. The new changes targeted President Zumas ally Dudu Myeni who was replaced by Johannes Bhekumuzi Magwaza nicked named JB. Myeni was appointed in September last year for one year. Magwaza faces a daunting task of put an end to mounting losses incurred by the airline. SAA in September received state funds to repay debt and still have to settle around $374 million of maturing debt to local lender, reports say. The company is likely to receive another state financial support to balance figures and set a new course. The new appointments brought Nolitha Fakude as deputy chairperson, Ahmed Bassa, Tinyiko Mhlari, Martin Kingston and Geoff Rothschild. The South African Public Investment Corporation (PIC) which manages the countrys pension fund on Wednesday said it could throw some money into the SAA to help the government prop up state-run companies including the national carrier. Finance minister, Malusi Gigaba however in September said the cabinet will not take money from the PIC to save countrys falling firms. Of Magwazas appointment, Gigaba said it will bring in-depth knowledge of business in both the private and public sectors. Credit rating agencies have warned authorities of plans to revamp the airline adding that the cost constitutes a threat to South Africas credit rating. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch have downgraded South Africas credit to junk status, Reuters reports. Irans supreme leader has said his country will not take heed of rants and whoppers of a foul-throated US president, in a speech that also made clear that Tehran will not be the first to violate the nuclear deal. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first reaction since Donald Trump decertified the Iran deal, said on Wednesday that we will not tear up the nuclear deal so long as the other side has not torn it up, but if they do, we will cut it in pieces. The 78-year-old ayatollah told a gathering of students in Tehran that the US was angry because Iran had foiled its plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. I dont want to waste our time to respond to the rants and whoppers of the foul-throated president of the United States, he said, according to the transcript of his speech posted on his official website. The US is the agent of the international Zionism; it was the US that created Daesh [Arabic acronym for Islamic State] and Takfiri movements [Irans terminology for Sunni extremist groups]. Khamenei said the US was infuriated by Irans role in fighting Isis. They are angry because the Islamic Republic has foiled their plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt, he said. Everyone should know that once again America will receive a slap in its mouth and will be defeated by the people of Iran. Khamenei was reacting to Trumps vituperative speech on Friday, during which he announced he was decertifying Tehrans compliance under the nuclear accord, a move that could lead to the end of the agreement. Based on the factual record I have put forward, I am announcing that we cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Irans nuclear breakout, Trump said at the White House. Despite Trumps move, European states involved in two years of negotiations that led to the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action, has remained adamant that the agreement should remain in force. Trump said this week that terminating the deal was a very real possibility and that Iranian leaders had a very modified tone in their reaction to his speech. His decision does not immediately mean that the agreement is in jeopardy. He has asked Congress to add a series of amendments to the deal for a more stringent implementation. A teacher was caught on camera heartlessly slapping and assaulting a student repeatedly in front of his classmates in a video that has emerged from a private college in Telangana. The student tries to ward off the beating but it doesnt stop. Activists have referenced the video to point at instances of student suicides and the classroom humiliation that has often been the cause. The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are both under immense pressure to act after an alarming numbers of suicides in recent weeks in corporate colleges. Earlier also a teacher from Andhra Pradesh was caught beating three young visually challenged children. When that video went viral on social network, he gave explanation that he wanted to discipline the students and their parents had told him that he must put fear in children so that they study and behave well. In a video that became public recently, the children can be seen screaming and begging to be spared as he delivered blow upon blow. The video was so scary and excruciating to see, god knows how those children took so much pain, and for what? Earlier, corporal punishment in school was a common practice, which was considered to be an official punishment for misbehaviour by school students, involves striking the student a given number of times in a generally methodical and premeditated ceremony. The punishment is usually administered either across the buttocks or on the hands, with an implement specially kept for the purpose such as a rattan cane, wooden paddle, slipper, leather strap or wooden yardstick. Less commonly, it could also include spanking or smacking the student in a deliberate manner on a specific part of the body with the open hand, especially at the elementary school level. Most of the old school of thoughts even believe in the concept, the more you cane, more disciplined one can be. In the recent past many students got killed and scratched due to such types of reprimands. In 2015, KV Rao, a teacher, who is also visually challenged, was arrested along with the school principal. He runs the Greenfield Residential School in Kakinada, over 650 km far from the state capital Hyderabad. Exposure of this incident where the teacher filmed the video using a cellphone gave some relief to students who were victims of his cruelty. In the video, the teacher is seen grabbing hold of one of the students and banging his head against the floor. Another adult, not clearly visible in the footage, was helping him assault the children, all younger than 10. The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh government after the shocking footage became public. This school was built on government land with the help of donations from some big corporates. The badly bruised boys have been admitted to Government General Hospital in Kakinada, though the district administration failed to appoint trained staff for the school. Spare the rod, or end up in jail. Thats the latest warning to teachers who resort to corporal punishment. The Ministry of Women and Child Development had issued a new set of guidelines that bans physical punishment of students. First violation of the ban will invite up to one year in jail, or a fine of Rs 50,000 or both. For subsequent violations, imprisonment could be extending to 3 years with an additional fine of Rs 25,000. Heads of schools will be responsible to prevent corporal punishment. Teachers found guilty could be denied promotion, and even increments. A child rights cell was supposed to be set up in all schools where children can lodge a complaint. Apart from this, the then government Congress was also supposed to be working on the final draft of the Prevention of Child Offences Bill where even parents, relatives and neighbours can be punished for hitting children. The draft bill was expected to include not just physical or sexual abuse, but also verbal abuse, molestation and ragging, but so far nothing has been done and that government has changed. Let it be any government, BJP or Congress, these crucial problems are never addressed. The debate was sparked off by the death of Rouvanjit Rawla in 2010, the 12-year-old who committed suicide, days after being humiliated and caned by the principal of his school, the prestigious La Martiniere School for Boys in Kolkata. Many instances of corporal punishment have surfaced since then, involving another prestigious school in Kolkata, St James. In the same year, nine-year-old girl, who had lost vision in one eye allegedly due to corporal punishment at a private school two years ago, died in Jaipur. Pia Chaudhary, a Class 1 student of Tagore Public School in Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan was beaten by her teacher for not completing homework. She had sustained injury in one eye which later became critical and the vision in her second eye also got affected. She was operated several times but the vision in one eye had been completely lost. Now the pressure was on her second eye and she had to be hospitalised for several months in Delhi and Jaipur. She was being treated for the injury and the infection but later she died at a hospital. In the same year in yet another case of corporal punishment, a Class 10 student died in Hyderabad after he was made to do sit-ups as punishment in the school. A case was filed against two teachers of the private school. 15-year-old Mohammed Ismail Hussein was asked to do 100 sit-ups by teachers Mobina Begum and Wahid on September 3, after he was found quarrelling with another student on the school premises of Royal Embassy High School at Madannapet area. After being forced to do sit-ups by the two teachers, the child developed fever and died while undergoing treatment, but both the teachers were granted bail thereafter. No one knows the present scenario of the school and those teachers. There are many children who are victims of corporal punishments, hundreds suffer and few grab attention. Children die due to cruelty of parents, teachers or tuition masters. Beating a child to create deterrence is not accepted. The world is progressing so the studies, children are adopting to the modern life style and high-tech educational methods, then why cause cruelty to them? The big question remain unanswered, when will it stop and who will stop it?, how many students has to lay their lives due to such cruelty? (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones has slammed producer Harvey Weinstein over his sexual-harassment scandal. The actor said she was shocked and disgusted by Weinsteins behaviour and felt profoundly proud of the women who came forward, reported Page Six. That big old dinosaur of people who think a man is able to get away with that behaviour and has been getting away with it for years is extinct, as of now, Zeta-Jones said during a Women in Hollywood lunch in Cannes, France. Weinsteins lawyers had defended him as an old dinosaur learning new ways when the scandal first broke out. Its hard to think that in 2017 we are still talking about this and that its the lead story on international news. Youre never too big to fail. I really believe that if this is not the tipping point, its at least some kind of turning point, she said. The actor, however, said she has personally never experienced harassment during her career. Zeta-Jones won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2003 for the musical Chicago, which was distributed by Harvey and Bob Weinsteins Miramax. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Overcast with rain showers at times. High 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. October 19, 2017 US President Donald Trumps Oct. 13 address unveiling his administrations new strategy toward Iran predictably sparked widespread reactions in Tehran. Unlike when Barack Obama was in office, Iranians were this time around more unified in their reaction to the tone and language of the president of the United States. After weeks of back and forth, Trump in his speech accused the Iranian government of "not living up to the spirit" of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and declared that he would not certify to Congress the Islamic Republics compliance with the accord. The reactions were quick to follow. Even before the presidents speech was over, Iranian users on social networks, and especially Twitter, responded to what they believed was Trumps violation of the nuclear deal, using the hashtag #NeverTrustUSA. This wasnt all. The US president managed to also touch on an issue that is considered a point of dignity by all Iranians, enough to trigger a wave of outrage in cyberspace. During his speech, the US president referred to the body of water separating Iran from its southern neighbors as the Arabian Gulf; an unacceptable mistake as far as virtually all Iranian social and political groups are concerned. As a result, Iranian users started posting historical documents testifying to the accuracy of the Persian Gulf as the proper name for the body of water. These documents ranged from a handwritten text by Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, in which the term Persian Gulf was used, to videos of speeches made by former US presidents Obama, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in which they all referred to the Persian Gulf. President Hassan Rouhani was quick to address this issue in his speech shortly after Trumps address was over, while Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Trump of selling geographical accuracy for political gains in a series of tweets posted on the same day. Former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaie also addressed the US president in a tweet, writing, Mr. Trump, you had no right to call it Arabian Gulf instead of the Persian Gulf. However, the controversy over the use of the term "Arabian Gulf" was a less important part of Trumps speech. Beyond the claims about Tehran's having violated the spirit of the JCPOA, he also questioned Irans ballistic missile program and threatened the IRGC. These threats and accusations notably also triggered unity among Iranian political players. Likely because of Trumps threats against the IRGC, both Rouhani and Zarif for the first time offered their unconditional support for the guard corps. Sadegh Zibakalam, a prominent political analyst and a professor at Tehran University, told Al-Monitor, Trump was trying out an old and worn-out strategy of instigating a split between the people and the [political] establishment, with the hope of rallying people against the state. Not only is this strategy very ineffictive, but he was not even able to conduct this ineffective strategy correctly. By referring to the Arabian Gulf, he agitated the people more than the state. Zibakalam added, At the same time, however, I believe that Trumps radical tone and strategy will pave the way for radicals in Iran to gain more power. Meanwhile, Irans ballistic missile program is likely to surface as another point of contention. On Oct. 13, in a joint statement addressing Trump's decision, Britain, France and Germany, while declaring their support for the nuclear deal, also expressed their concern regarding Irans ballistic missile program and urged Tehran to stop destabilizing actions in the region. This solidarity between Europe and the United States on a key issue, which Iran has repeatedly announced that it is unwilling to discuss, is now increasing suspicions in Tehran about the West wanting it to negotiate over its missile program. As such, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested in an Oct. 15 interview that a second agreement with Iran, presumably on its missile program, among other points of contention, might be underway. It is, however, highly unlikely that Iran would agree to any new accord. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the commanders of the IRGC, Rouhani and Zarif have repeatedly emphasized that Iran's ballistic missile program is defensive in nature and not up for negotiation. Al-Monitor spoke with Tehran-based expert on Iran-US relations Aziz Hatamzadeh, who said, It appears that Trump is trying to put pressure on Iran as well as his own European allies by imposing more sanctions on Iran and making the United States adherence to the nuclear agreement conditional. This way, Iran, as well as Trumps European allies, will be forced to either accept his revision of the nuclear agreement or risk having it canceled. In such a situation, the Islamic Republic should first be careful not to fall into Trumps trap [for it to be the first to withdraw from the accord], and then, it should try to expand its engagement with European countries as well as Russia and China. When it comes to the nuclear deal itself, almost everyone in Tehran believes that Trumps new strategy has isolated the United States, since all except Washington have confirmed Irans compliance with the JCPOA, given the Islamic Republic's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the same time, however, the Islamic Republic is now more watchful of US actions, and if Trump were to implement his threats, the nuclear deal could forever be lost. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Oct. 15, If the JCPOA is abolished, we will be forced to react accordingly and stop implementing the Additional Protocol. While world leaders have emphasized the importance of upholding the nuclear deal, Iran will nonetheless closely monitor the actions of the United States. It could be that Trump is merely attempting to defer the decision of what to do with the accord to Congress and thus save himself the trouble of having to personally do so every three months. However, it should be borne in mind that Iran knows full well that the very same Congress made it difficult for the Obama administration to implement the JCPOA. October 17, 2017 BAGHDAD With its shelves filled with books by Russian and Italian authors alongside contemporary Iraqi writers, Books Town provides a welcome refuge in Baqubeh in Diyala governorate, which is known for sectarian violence and the Islamic State (IS). The bookstore, which is a frequent stop for many intellectuals in Diyala governorate, is owned by Tayseen Ameer, a 31-year-old engineer. A woman who runs a bookstore is a rarity in the area but this has not stopped Ameer, who was dismayed that only a few bookstores cater to customers sitting down and reading. I wanted to spare local readers the effort of traveling all the way to Baghdad to buy books, Ameer told Al-Monitor. She said that she has faced many obstacles since she opened her bookshop in 2016 at the town's commercial center, where most shops and large markets are owned by men. Some of her family members opposed her opening the bookstore, while some people who walked in harassed her, saying she had no business doing a mans job. Ruqaiyya Abd Ali, a lawyer who spends her mornings selling books in the well-known Mutanabbi Street, was the first woman to open a bookstore in Iraq. Since February 2015, Abd Ali has been selling books on the sidewalk, rather than in a bookstore, and her visibility as a bookseller has encouraged other women to follow in her footsteps and sell books on the street. I was surprised with the public and media interest in my business in Mutanabbi Street. I did not even know that I was the first woman to work as a bookseller [in Iraq], Abd Ali told Al-Monitor, adding that she encourages more women to take up the profession. Abd Ali, like many of her female colleagues, considers the presence of women in bookselling a role that has been reserved traditionally for men a defiance of the traditions and norms that have long contributed to the isolation of women and banning them from being active members of society and taking up employment. When a woman runs her own bookshop or holds another job, she proves her presence in society and changes the stereotypes that demand her to be invisible," Abd Ali noted. In Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, Rengin Jamal, 24, realized her dream in August when she opened a cafe where customers can read and buy books. In Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, a group of women opened in May the Book Cafe, which is a coffee shop, bookshop and library, all under one roof. In Babylon, a city located along the banks of the Euphrates River, Atyaf Qays opened Ward (Flowers) bookshop in August. Her bookstore focuses on women as she considers them the seeds for a positive future of Iraqi society. She stocks books that may interest female readers and organizes meetings and conferences for women. Qays faced many challenges in the run-up to launching her business. Some people accepted my idea of selling books while others did not. However, Im trying to win over everyone and those who object will not deter me from my goal, Qays told Al-Monitor, citing instances of harassment and discrimination. It is as important to fight against ignorance as fighting against IS, she said. Female booksellers are hard to find in the southern governorates, despite cities in the south of Iraq organizing festivals, forums and cultural activities. Tamara al-Attiya is a womens rights activist from the southern city of Basra who is in the initial stages of opening a bookstore. The bookshop is not only my business and passion it is also part of a reformist cultural movement, Attiya told Al-Monitor. Attiyas main aim is to introduce the new generation to the joys of reading, as she is concerned that the sectarian and tribal conflicts and crises are distracting from knowledge and learning. The new generation which is my target audience is attracted by modern ideas and lifestyles; yet they are stuck in a conservative culture. At the same time they are inspired by Iraq's glorious history of civilization and modern thoughts and ideas, she said. Many of the bookstores run by women also sell books online, with sometimes hard to find books delivered to the customer's home. Bookstores run by women encouraged me to read and order titles that are considered unsuitable for female readers, Zahraa Saad, 25, who gained an interest in reading two years ago, told Al-Monitor. October 19, 2017 It was hard to miss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's giddiness Oct. 15 at a meeting of coalition party leaders. He was explaining to them why he is promoting the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the involvement of foreign governments in funding Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other organizations that he claims are harmful to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops. Netanyahu told the meeting that just as the US Congress is investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential elections, Israel should investigate whether other countries are involved in its internal politics. His plan, as presented to the meeting, is to create this new committee as early as next week to coincide with the start of the Knesset's winter session, which officially opens Oct. 23. This caused a commotion among the Knesset's Likud members. Most of them would be thrilled to head this kind of parliamentary committee of inquiry. The very thought of summoning the heads of such groups as B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence to testify before them about their activities and sources of funding is enough to send a tingle down the spine of any Likud Knesset member. Every session they chair will receive extensive coverage in the Israeli media and even receive international attention. It is hard to remember or even believe that just over six years ago, during Netanyahu's second term as prime minister (July 2011), he blocked a similar proposal to form a parliamentary committee of inquiry to investigate the sources of funding for left-wing NGOs. That proposal was submitted by Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman, who was then serving as foreign minister. Netanyahu announced that he would vote against it, explaining, "We don't need investigations in the Knesset. We don't need committees of inquiry." But this is Netanyahu, version autumn 2017. He is being deluged by a tidal wave of criminal investigations while the right-wing government he heads has extremists in the form of HaBayit HaYehudi party members occupying positions of power. With the investigations hanging over him, he has decided to embrace his right-wing electorate, fearing that he could well lose it to HaBayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett. In the meantime, the Knesset's legal adviser, Eyal Yinon, said that such a committee, if established, would contradict basic governing principles. Talking to Al-Monitor, Coalition Chair David Bitan Netanyahu's right hand doesn't seem to be upset. Bitan said that Tourism Minister Yariv Levin has been instructed by Netanyahu to work on a new version of the NGO law. It is quite possible, Bitan explains, that this new formulation of the law will be sufficient. Several months ago, Netanyahu announced that the amendment to the NGO law passed in July 2016 and commonly known as the Transparency law is too weak. That is why he instructed Levin to reformulate the NGO law, so that any nonprofit organization that acts against the interest of IDF troops, whether directly or indirectly, or that encourages a boycott of Israel would be shut down and prevented from operating in Israel. If approved, this new version of the law is expected to set off an international furor, especially given the harsh responses in Europe and the United States to the law's earlier iteration as the Transparency law. That law determined that NGOs whose primary sources of funding are foreign governments must report that to Israeli authorities. It is not just the new NGO law that will make this a particularly challenging and turbulent winter session. The Knesset will also be debating the Greater Jerusalem and Nationality laws, two pieces of nationalist legislation that Netanyahu is promoting personally. Here too, Netanyahu has eagerly embraced existing legislative initiatives originally initiated by other Knesset members. The Nationality law was first proposed by Knesset member Avi Dichter, while the Greater Jerusalem law was first proposed by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz. Knesset member Bitan told Al-Monitor that he was instructed by Netanyahu to prioritize these two laws in order to ensure that they are passed in the very near future. The Greater Jerusalem law would impose Jerusalem's municipal authority also over some West Bank settlements that are adjacent to Jerusalem, including the Etzion bloc settlements. Its purpose is to expand the city's municipal boundaries and bolster its Jewish majority. The message is clear. The law is intended to establish Jerusalem's status as indivisible and to stymie the two-state solution proposed by the political center and left. "It is time to restore Jerusalem's standing and strength as the eternal capital of Israel. We have an obligation to advance the steps necessary to strengthen Jerusalem. The capital's municipal boundaries will be extended to encompass other settlements while maintaining their municipal autonomy," Knesset member Yoav Kish (of Likud), who was chosen to submit the new law once the Knesset's winter session opens, told Al-Monitor. The Nationality law is the flagship legislative effort of a series of laws that could well be described as the National Dignity laws. This controversial piece of legislation contains elements that conflict with the principle of equality as laid out in the 1948 Declaration of Independence by infringing on the status of Israel's Arab population. A special committee headed by Likud Knesset member Amir Ohana has been hard at work over the past few weeks drafting a final version of the law, which is described by Meretz and the Joint List of predominately Arab parties as volatile and racist. Apart from all these laws, the Likud is also promoting a piece of legislation proposed by Knesset member David Amsalem that would prevent a prime minister from being investigated by the authorities while he is still in office. Bitan claims that this law has nothing to do with the current criminal investigations into Netanyahu's dealings. According to him, the law is intended to ensure governability and cannot be applied to Netanyahu retroactively. Yet despite this explanation, it is impossible to ignore the law's timing and context. In an attempt to make this bitter pill easier to swallow, Bitan is also promoting new legislation to limit a prime minister to two terms or eight years in office. In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Bitan estimated that the winter session will be especially turbulent and difficult. Nevertheless, despite all that, Bitan said the coalition will get through it "because no one wants elections. If we do get through it, there will be nothing to stop this government from surviving for another two years and completing a full term." Meanwhile, Netanyahu isn't resting on his laurels. Instead, he is preparing for the next election. With the help of Bitan, he is advancing the kind of nationalist legislation that he believes will be a major component of the Likud's election campaign and his personal efforts to win another term. To this effect, he plans to present himself as the kind of strong leader who is concerned about national, Jewish and Israeli dignity all around the world. October 19, 2017 Israel's security Cabinet convened in special session Oct. 17 to discuss the recently signed reconciliation agreement between the two major Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear his view on the deal after it was signed Oct. 12, there did not seem to be any reason for a nonscheduled meeting to adopt decisions that were hardly urgent. Netanyahu told members of his Likud Party Knesset faction Oct. 12 in the settlement town of Maale Adumim, "We expect everyone who talks about a peace process to recognize the State of Israel and, of course, to recognize a Jewish state." Unlike 2014, when Netanyahu threatened to impose sanctions against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the wake of the failed Hamas-Fatah agreement, this time there were no threats. As previously noted here, neither Netanyahu nor his Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman wanted to, or could, vigorously protest the agreement reached with Egyptian mediation and in Egypt's clear-cut interests. The Americans, too, understood that Palestinian reconciliation at this stage could boost the prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace process and enhance the standing of Abbas, in addition to garnering broad Palestinian public support. The series of decisions adopted by Israeli ministers do not affect any fundamental change in Netanyahu's Maale Adumim statements. However, a Cabinet seal of approval, or even a rubber stamp, was needed in order to present the US administration with an Israeli decision that enjoys the backing of ministers tasked with responsibility for Israel's most sensitive diplomatic and security issues. The Prime Minister's Office was quick to announce the decisions, saying Israel would not conduct negotiations with any Palestinian government based on Hamas. The sides have not conducted any negotiations since the April 2014 collapse of talks between Israel and the Palestinians mediated by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry. Netanyahu met with Abbas only once since then, at the September 2016 funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres. There, in front of the cameras, Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu invited the Palestinian leader to dinner at their home, but the dinner never took place. Now, apparently fearing that a peace initiative by the Trump administration was imminent, Netanyahu, backed by his Cabinet, decided to take preventive measures to scuttle any US initiative with a series of preconditions. These conditions include demands that Hamas recognize Israel and desist from terrorism, per the Quartet principles; lay down its arms, sever ties with Iran and hand back the bodies of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza as well as Israeli civilians held there. That was not the end of the unconditional Israeli stipulations. They also included a demand that Abbas' government obtain full security control of the Gaza Strip (still under Hamas rule), including its borders, prevent smuggling into the Palestinian enclave and continue foiling Hamas' terror activity in the West Bank. The Cabinet also authorized Netanyahu to impose sanctions on the Palestinians in the future, such as withholding Palestinian taxes collected by Israel for the Palestinian Authority to offset its debts. In order to understand the urgency of the special Cabinet meeting and its demands (some of them obvious, such as the return of the bodies, and others far less likely, such as Hamas' publicly recognizing Israel), one has to go back to remarks Netanyahu made at a Sept. 24 security Cabinet session. Netanyahu reported that US President Donald Trump was working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and was determined to push it forward. Netanyahu came to this conclusion after meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in mid-September. "I presented our positions to the president. Trump is very determined and wants to reach the ultimate deal," he reportedly told the ministers. Abbas came away with the same impression from a brief meeting with Trump in New York on Sept. 20. The same is true for his associates' meetings with American envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. The two envoys apparently promised Abbas in August that a diplomatic road map was in the works to serve as the basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In fact, Greenblatt visited Ramallah again this week on Oct. 16, when with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and discussed the reconciliation. A senior Palestinian diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu's moves were obvious and that Abbas said as much to his American guests. "[Netanyahu] waited for an opportunity to stifle the American initiative. We saw this a long time ago," the source said. According to the source, even before the reconciliation deal Netanyahu had set forth recognition of Israel as the Jewish state as a precondition for any talks, knowing it was a nonstarter that would preclude any progress. Meanwhile, it seems that the US steps in line with the Israeli Cabinet. Greenblatt declared Oct. 19, "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties including to disarm terrorists and commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements." October 19, 2017 Labor Party Chairman Avi Gabbay made some controversial statements in recent days against settlement evacuation and against composing a coalition with the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties. In reaction, critics of Gabbay have dubbed him everything from a political neophyte to a Trojan horse and a poor mans Likudnik." What would they say if he succeeds in his bid to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Would Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On and her friends in the left-wing party not drink a toast? Would supporters of the Arab Hadash Party in Israels Arab towns and villages not say good riddance? Would the Israeli peace camp not breathe a sigh of relief? To quote an old adage, you dont argue with success. Gabbay's bitterest foes in the center-left camp would turn into his greatest fans, standing in line to reap the fruit of his labors. They would hail his initiative in veering to the right, applaud his opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran and laud his support for Israels withdrawal from UNESCO. When Prime Minister Gabbay saves the peace process from certain death, nongovernmental organization Peace Now will forget his courting of the West Bank settlers and his reflection that hes not sure theres a Palestinian partner for peace. What are the prospects of such a scenario materializing? To cite the words of a popular song "Tomorrow" by one of Israels most lionized lyricists, the late Naomi Shemer, All of this is not a fable and not a dream / It will happen tomorrow and if not tomorrow, the day after. Speaking at an Oct. 14 event in the southern city of Beersheba, Gabbay said, "To be able to compose the next government, we need to reach some 27 seats and for [Yesh Atid leader] Yair Lapid to get 11 mandates. If we reach that and in addition the seats of Meretz and Joint List parties, well get a majority-blocking bloc." And who else would he invite to join his bloc? Anyone we want, he said, naming the centrist Kulanu Party, the ultra-Orthodox parties, even Netanyahus Likud Party. Surely, even Gabbay himself doesnt believe he would be crowned prime minister by the likes of Likud hawks Miri Regev, Zeev Elkin, Yariv Levin, David Bitan, Tzipi Hotovely and David Amsalem. One can only deduce, then, that Gabbay is hinting at his willingness to share power with the Likud, ultra-Orthodox parties and Kulanu. He would not be the first to do so. Some of his predecessors as leaders of the Labor Party partnered with right-wing governments, even sitting alongside nationalists such as Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party. Gabbay has ruled out partnership with only one party the Joint List saying the Zionist Camp (Labor is the major partner within the Zionist Camp) has nothing in common with this alliance that would enable collaboration in the same government. On the other hand, he failed to mention the divide between the Zionist Camp and the right-wing nationalist camp on the most critical issue the conflict with the Palestinians. On the contrary. More so, in a radio interview three days later, on Oct. 17, in which Gabby tried to clarify his positions, his remarks sounded very similar to Netanyahus credo. I believe all of the Land of Israel is ours. After all, God promised Abraham the whole of the Land of Israel. Gabbay does not recognize the historic affinity of the Palestinians to any part of this land and does not hope to reconcile with them. The word "peace" has disappeared from his vocabulary. I believe that because there are 4.5 million Arabs here, we have to compromise in order for us to live in a Jewish-majority state and for them to live in their own state," he said. Gabbay does not recognize the historic affinity of the Palestinians to any part of this land and does not hope to reconcile with them. The word 'peace' has disappeared from his vocabulary. In his landmark 2009 Bar-Ilan University speech, Netanyahu said Israel has the right to rule every piece of ground trod by the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Kings David and Solomon, and Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Netanyahu, too, said he would give up parts of his ancestral land only if there was no other way to get rid of the Palestinians. The truth is that in the area of our homeland, in the heart of our Jewish homeland, now lives a large population of Palestinians. We do not want to rule over them. We do not want to run their lives. We do not want to force our flag and our culture on them, he said. Gabbay might be a political neophyte, but he is no fool. From a conversation with him, Al-Monitor learned that he was not surprised by remarks made by pundits. He had clearly heard before the argument that right-wingers will always prefer the original model Netanyahu, Liberman or Naftali Bennett over a "right-wing" Gabbay. Nor was he surprised by his party members rejecting his proposals. He plainly realizes that many of them, probably most of them, will not follow him into a government that resembles the current one. Gabbays strange behavior could stem from his knowing something about efforts underway to revive the regional peace plan formulated in Aqaba, Jordan, in early 2016. This plan was designed to serve as a springboard for his faction, then headed by Isaac Herzog, into the Netanyahu government. A source privy to the semi-official contacts on this plan including with the Donald Trump administration expressed optimism this week about prospects of success. May he turn out to be right. However, if it turns out that Netanyahu is once again setting up the Zionist left for disappointment, Gabbay will have to confront his own statements. He will have his work cut out for him to gain the trust of Israeli Jews and Arabs who believe in coexistence based on equality, support the Palestinians right to self-determination and view the settlement enterprise as an obstacle to peace. To underscore the differences between the values for which he stands and the nationalist, anti-democratic values espoused by Netanyahu and his partners, as well as to capture the hearts and minds of the "soft" right, Gabbay could enlist the support of the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl. In fact, these days, this phrase from Herzls utopian Altneuland vision of a Jewish state, We make no distinctions between one man and another. We do not ask to what race or religion a man belongs. If he is a man that is enough for us, would not even get him elected to a Likud faction in the periphery. To repair his ties with the Arab citizens of Israel, Gabbay could refer instead to the words of Revisionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky, revered by the political right, in the poem The East of Jordan: From the wealth of our land there shall prosper / The Arab, the Christian and the Jew / For our flag is a pure and just one. To mend his relationship with the left, and perhaps lure voters of the soft right, Gabbay could cite the words written in 1902 by the boss of Netanyahus father Benzion Netanyahu was Jabotinskys secretary at the time in the journal Odesskaya Novosti: Let no nation oppress the national character of another people." The founder of Revisionist Zionism, whose portrait hangs in the prime ministers office, stressed that there is no greater absurdity than the assumption that Jews need a state of their own in order to oppress and suffocate another people. The latest survey by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah found that 53% of Israelis and 52% of Palestinians prefer the two-state option to the continued oppression and strangulation. October 19, 2017 Turkey is moving forward with controversial plans to build a canal to rival Suez and Panama, but it threatens to wreak environmental havoc, destroy budgetary balances and drive sprawl in Europes biggest city. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Oct. 10 that "ground-breaking" would take place within months for the Istanbul Canal, which he dubbed his crazy project when he introduced it in 2011. God willing, we will lay the foundation for a new canal parallel to the Bosporus, what we call the Istanbul Canal my dream most likely at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2018, Erdogan said. There is a Suez, a Panama and there will be an Istanbul Canal. The 43-kilometer (27-mile) canal would slice through forest and farmland to connect the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and render half of Istanbul an island. The project is part of the governments $250 billion infrastructure-building spree by 2023 to power economic growth. Supporters say the Istanbul Canal will transform Turkey into a global trade and energy hub and reduce risks posed by the 53,000 ships, many carrying hazardous materials, that each year transit the Bosporus, which twists through Istanbul and is lined with priceless villas and palaces. The Montreux Convention of 1936 guarantees free passage for civilian ships sailing through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles at the other end of the Sea of Marmara, and it is not clear how Turkey will compel vessels to use the canal for a fee. Environmentalists say the impact will be profound in one of the worlds most earthquake-prone nations. Pollution from Black Sea littoral states would flow to the Mediterranean, and the canal could alter sea currents and temperatures on both sides. Water pouring in from the Black Sea, which has less salinity than the Sea of Marmara, could destroy sea life. Erdogan has already overseen a makeover of the skyline of 8,000-year-old Istanbul, digging rail and car tunnels linking Europe and Asia beneath the Bosporus and topping a hill with a $100 million mosque. The worlds biggest airport is being constructed near the expected mouth of the canal, and a bridge and motorway, for which officials said they razed nearly 400,000 trees, are now open to reach it. The government is like the pharaohs, building pyramids with these megaprojects. But too much infrastructure without enough human capital to use is a waste of money, Atilla Yesilada, an analyst at GlobalSource Partners, told Al-Monitor. Financing and the manner in which we build these through public-private participation is a disaster. The government contracts these out to private companies, which cant finance them, so the Treasury guarantees loans and the state promises them a profit, paid through taxes, he said. Guarantees for infrastructure likely exceed $123.5 billion. Political patronage also plays a part, Yesilada said. Uncompetitive tenders are tailor-made for companies close to the government, which are said in turn to donate money to the ruling party to help finance lavish election campaigns. Details of the Istanbul Canal have been cloaked in secrecy, with the unparalleled feat of engineering possibly costing three times the official estimate of $10 billion. Last month, Transportation Minister Ahmet Arslan said the government had signed a deal for surveying after choosing a route, though he did not specify the location. He also said the project will be integrated with the new airport and the state-run home builder is involved, rousing concerns the scheme is, at heart, a real estate development project. The plan has already sparked speculative land purchases, real estate agents in nearby areas say. Property listings along the expected route boast of early investment opportunities, and a map at one realtors office shows more than a half-dozen future suburbs for hundreds of thousands of people. The motorway, Istanbul Canal, bridge and airport are the transportation projects needed to build a new city. Once you build the roads, people will come, Onur Akgul, a member of the Northern Forests Defense, a group of activists working to save parts of Istanbuls hinterland, told Al-Monitor. For now, the area on the western fringes of Istanbul, a heaving city of more than 15 million people, is spotted with bucolic villages, archaeological heritage and streams frequented by fishermen. Workers late last month were spotted surveying land south of a picturesque Ottoman-era dam. Plainclothes police spent a full day tracking a group of hikers exploring the area. On the banks of the Kucukcekmece Lake is the long-lost Hellenistic settlement of Bathonea dating to the 4th century B.C., which risks being at least partially submerged by the canal. The Yarimburgaz Cave is one of Europes oldest habitation sites, dating back as far as a half-million years. Researchers have unearthed artifacts there that shed light on mans migration from Africa. Environmentally, culturally, historically this area is home to unbelievable riches. It is also the center of an ecological system that includes water catchment basins and the main source of Istanbuls drinking water, said Akgul. Its trees produce the oxygen we breathe. He added, Its either Istanbul or the canal we cant have both. October 19, 2017 Lebanese designer and entrepreneur Elias El Haddad wants to breathe new life into the tarboosh, the traditional red flat-topped hat worn by men during the Ottoman era. In 2016, he launched his new line Boshies and since has been collaborating with fashion designer Diane Ferjane. The two designers now work on a line that would modernize Middle Eastern casual wear. The tarboosh, also called fez, was adopted by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. The reformist sultan, who had seen North African sailors wear the headgear, urged all bureaucrats to wear it instead of the turban, which he considered oriental. The fez was worn in the Middle East and North Africa until the 20th century. Today, the tarboosh is part of the folklore, and bad replications are sold to tourists in search of exoticism. During Beirut Design Week 2016, Haddad showcased a new version of the famous hat modernized and easier to wear in daily life. I wanted the tarboosh to become a unisex fashion accessory, rather than a headgear for men. I also wanted to send a message of innovation and emancipation to the Lebanese and Arab youths, Haddad told Al-Monitor. During the first year of business, I received a lot of positive feedback from the market so I decided to take the idea further." He then met with Ferjane, a designer whose focus is on modernizing traditional Lebanese and Arabic clothes such as harem pants. Ferjane told Al-Monitor how she started to modernize traditional clothes. I took a photography class and our teacher asked for portraits, so I went to a small village and met the oldest man there," she said. "He was 104 years old. I wanted to capture his wrinkles in detail. Before he posed for the photos, the man dressed up in this traditional beige costume composed of harem pants and a buttoned shirt. I completely forgot his face as I had never seen anything like it before. It made me sad realizing these clothes would disappear so I started working on modernizing harem pants, adapting them to women, for instance, in order not to lose this heritage. My work and Elias ideas are complementary. I design and produce and he is in charge of the business, graphics and marketing. Elias and Ferjanes meeting with a seamstress and a hatter in Bologna, Italy, helped them create a business plan for an affordable casual wear line that would go beyond hats. But Boshies' hats and winter caps would be the main focus of the collection. Just in two days, we created a new hat style, Haddad said. With no seam marks, it was easier to wear. We also created a straw-hat prototype. Back in Lebanon, the team started expanding their brand with short- and long-sleeved shirts displaying love and Beirut in Arabic, pullovers, poufs, jogging harem pants and sweatshirts. All of these will gradually go on sale in the coming year. Now all we need to do is to bring back the necessary machinery from Italy to produce the hats in Lebanon, Ferjane said. They launched an online crowdfunding campaign to fund this. But Boshies represents more than fashion to its designers; they consider the brand a modernization and rebranding of an image. In the introduction video for the campaign, the team referred to Western films representing Arabs wearing the tarboosh in a negative way. In films you see many stereotypes of Arabs as thieves, terrorists or rapists. They are portrayed as foolish, misogynistic and cunning, Haddad said. There is a lot of work to be done to rebrand the Middle East. We have to show we can participate in modernity like anyone or any country in the world. So the idea is to transform a cultural item into a daily casual wear piece that could cross borders, instead of waiting for a Western brand to come and do it for us. He concluded, The tarboosh already exists in the collective imagination of people it is time for it to embrace modernity." October 19, 2017 Whenever Ahmad Fathi received threatening messages on his phone warning him to stop condemning Salafi militants in his sermons, he never listened. Extremists couldnt intimidate the young sheikh from Benghazi, Libyas second-largest city, until they phoned him from an unknown number in April 2015. The caller said that militants were waiting for me in my house, Fathi, now 27, told Al-Monitor. I was afraid. When I arrived home, I was told to leave Libya and never come back. I packed my belongings and quickly boarded the next bus to Cairo. Since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafis regime in 2011, militias have assassinated dozens of soldiers and civil servants from the dictators era. Culprits have justified the murders with religious rhetoric, compelling activists like Fathi to take a stand against extremism. Fathi has since settled in Egypt. On Sept. 27, he was one of several Libyan activists invited to a three-day workshop in Cairo to discuss ways to denounce religious edicts that call for the death of apostates. The event is part of a larger campaign to combat extremism in Libya by promoting moderate understandings of Islam. The project was launched in December 2016 by the Libyan Womens Platform for Peace (LWPP) and the World Association for Al-Azhar Graduates, one of the most renowned institutions in Sunni Islam. LWPP co-founder Zahra Langhi insists that creeping religious extremism in Libya has become a major problem. But global human rights groups, she adds, have trouble addressing the issue since most arent familiar with Islamic texts, making Libyan civil society vital to the cause. [The LWPP] does think that forging dialogue between Libyan activists and Al-Azhar sheikhs can produce alternative understandings of Islam, which can help offset the influence of extremism, Langhi told Al-Monitor. This is the first time that Al-Azhar has agreed to a partnership with a womens rights association, so we think this is a major opportunity. Not everybody is convinced that Al-Azhar can have a significant influence in Libya. Blogger Mohammad Khalil, 37, noted that Wahhabism, a fanatic and relatively modern interpretation of Islam originating from Saudi Arabia, is propagated far more than the views of Al-Azhar sheikhs. In the last 50 years, Riyadh has invested at least $86 billion in spreading Wahhabism worldwide, according to a study released in July by the Henry Jackson Society, a British think tank. I think Al-Azhar lost the battle against extremism a long time ago, Khalil told Al-Monitor. We cant communicate outdated ideas to Libyan people. We need to work with Al-Azhar to introduce new ideas that support democracy. Doing so is risky in Libya. Following the revolution, Khalil co-founded a group called Tanweer (Enlightenment), which promoted the pillars of democracy by organizing human rights seminars and cultural events in Tripoli. In December 2014, he was detained by an Islamist group that considered democracy incompatible with Islam. Lucky for him, he was released that same month after promising to leave Libya. After Khalil settled in Tunis, Tanweer gradually disbanded as more members fled or disappeared. His close friend and fellow co-founder, Intesar al-Hasaari, was even shot dead in her car in Tripoli on Feb. 24, 2015. The murder devastated Khalil, yet he isnt hungry for revenge like some of his peers. I have friends who say they believe in democracy but support the execution of extremists on the battlefield. We cant enforce justice by way of the gun. Thats not democracy; its a jungle, said Khalil. Khalil was referring to uncritical supporters of Khalifa Hifter, a defected military commander from Gadhafis era who returned to launch a war against Islamists after 27 years in exile. Hifters self-described Libyan National Army (LNA) is a polarizing force that has been accused of committing war crimes in Libya. Just in August, the LNA executed several captured fighters in Benghazi. Yet activists from the workshop insist that they are against all forms of extremism. So is Al-Azhar, though it risks undermining the mission if it doesnt monitor its own practices. In December 2014, Al-Azhar issued a statement that refused to label the Islamic State as apostates. Then, in July 2016, Imam Ahmad al-Tayeb stated that apostasy is a crime potentially punishable by death. Al-Azhars top clerics failed to denounce the remark from their own sheikh, damaging their reputation as a moderating voice in the region. Langhi says that one of the aims of their partnership with Al-Azhar is to restore the relationship between prominent religious leaders and human rights defenders. Its part of the [LWPPs] regional work to train religious leaders in the domain of human rights, she said. We are grateful to have access to a wider audience in Libya, Al-Azhar Imam Khaled Omran told Al-Monitor. We are available to answer questions from young men who are confused about Islam. Fathi, the young sheikh from Benghazi, is also trying to establish a religious committee in Libya that can team up with Al-Azhar. Hopefully then, he said, Libyan religious leaders will obtain greater legitimacy when denouncing extremists and an end to reprisals. I have full faith in Al-Azhar, repeated Fathi. We must work together to persuade all sides in Libya to stop the war. October 19, 2017 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip The Palestinian street is witnessing an escalating popular and trade union movement with the aim of exerting pressure on both sides of the Palestinian division Fatah and Hamas to speed up the implementation of the agreement reached in Cairo on Oct. 12 in anticipation of its failure. Previous agreements have failed after their implementation stalled and the parties refused to make concessions. The popular and trade union events in which hundreds of Palestinians participated in different areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began with the dialogue sessions that started in Cairo at the end of September. The organizers of these events confirmed in separate statements to Al-Monitor that they will resume their activities in the coming days to press for the speedy implementation of the agreement. On Oct. 10, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) erected a tent in support of Palestinian reconciliation efforts, as participants hoped that the latest round of negotiations in Cairo, which subsequently culminated in an agreement, would be different from previous rounds of failed negotiations. Ahmed Tannani, head of the PFLPs Youth Movement, told Al-Monitor, We took part in this tent and other events to pressure both sides of the Palestinian division into reaching a final and irreversible agreement. [We seek] to prevent scenarios of previous agreements from rolling out and to allow Palestinian factions to devote themselves to confronting the Israeli occupation instead of getting carried away by internal differences. Tannani said the Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are sick and tired of the state of division that has affected their future and deprived them of their basic rights due to the power conflict between Fatah and Hamas. The most important of these rights is the disruption of the student council elections in Gazas universities as well as the lack of job opportunities and development programs. He stressed that they will continue exerting pressure on both Fatah and Hamas through such activities so the two movements quickly and seriously implement the agreement reached in Cairo. He also hoped that the agreement would be fair to all segments of society and would not serve as a means for Hamas and Fatah to share power. In the same context, the October Movement organized a series of events in several governorates of the Gaza Strip. The movement called on the factions participating in the Cairo talks to heed the voice of the street and swiftly implement the Cairo agreement in a bid to put an end to internal division. Muthana al-Najjar, coordinator of the October Movement, told Al-Monitor, As soon as the factions arrived in Cairo, we took several steps to pressure them into reaching an agreement. Now that the agreement has been signed, we will embark on the second stage of our actions, which is to increase the number of grass-roots participants in order to place further pressure on both sides of the divide to implement the agreement without letting any details hinder its implementation. In order to increase the number of participants, the movement plans on launching social media campaigns. Najjar explained that they received several messages from the Egyptian authorities and Palestinian parties for the dialogue table in Cairo. These messages said, Your voice will be heeded, and what was agreed upon is irreversible meaning, reconciliation will be fulfilled. Najjar was referring to phone calls with Egyptian officials that he did not name. He added that the next phase will focus on supporting the government's work in Gaza through voluntary activities and calling for the opening of the Rafah crossing for student and medical patient travels. This crossing was part of the agreement but still needs some arrangements with the Palestinian government and the Egyptian authorities due to the security situation in Sinai. Jamal Zaqout, a member of the secretariat of the Patriots to End the Split rally, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian street activities should help parties end division. He added that the rally will resume its popular activities and communicate with the two parties to the division in a bid to monitor what has been achieved in the recently signed Cairo reconciliation agreement. Zaqout stressed that the conditions previously set by Hamas and Fatah hampered the rapid and safe implementation of previous agreements. He also stressed the need to involve all Palestinian factions, as well as representatives of civil society organizations and trade unions, in resolving the differences threatening the Palestinian cause instead of having those divisive parties share power alone. When asked about the Palestinian street's ability to pressure both sides of the divide, Palestinian political analysts voiced diverging opinions. Hani Habib, political analyst and contributor to the Palestinian al-Ayyam newspaper, told Al-Monitor that the recent escalating Palestinian popular action aims to convey a strong message to the two sides of the division, whereby the people will keep taking to the streets until there is an agreement to end more than 10 years of division, which have affected the Palestinian cause and the lives of citizens. Habib said that the street movement, among other factors, contributed to the agreement in Cairo amid great Egyptian pressure on the Palestinians to turn the page of division. This came at a time when Hamas and Fatah were both convinced that ongoing division would cost them and the Palestinian cause more losses. Habib further said it is unfortunate that the peoples opinion was previously met with neglect on the part of Hamas and Fatah. He pointed out that popular participation had been weak because citizens were busy making a living, but added that such participation is gradually increasing. Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, said that while popular movements are important to pressure both sides of the divide, they have not yet served their purpose in the case of Hamas and Fatah due to the weak participation of the masses who are bored of division. Abu Saada said that Hamas has polling stations that can gauge the Palestinian public mood through social networking sites, and these are taken into consideration to see whether or not a step, such as internal reconciliation, should be taken. Due to the difficult living conditions and the lack of the most basic elements of human life, Palestinian popular movements, albeit limited, are a matter of concern to the two parties to the division, especially in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas. October 19, 2017 CAIRO The Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas signed on Oct. 12 could have major economic repercussions for Cairo. The agreement comes after a 10-year-long dispute against the backdrop of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip following its victory in the 2006 legislative elections with 76 out of 132 seats and infighting with Fatah in 2007. The reconciliation has so far generated positive opinions and forecasts by economic experts anticipating a boost in both Palestine's and Egypts national economies. They argue that stability in the Gaza Strip would promote economic recovery and reconstruction, and in light of the low business costs with the adjacent enclave, Egyptian businessmen and companies are most likely to be one of the main stakeholders. Others downplay the effects of reconciliation on the economy and the flow of goods and people through the Rafah crossing, which remain subject to security controls within the scope of the Egyptian war on terrorism. Abu Bakr al-Deeb, an Egyptian journalist specializing in economic and Arab affairs, told Al-Monitor, The Palestinian reconciliation means a stable government that controls all sectors in Gaza. This implies a broad reconstruction process in which the cost component is key. Given that Egypt is adjacent to the Gaza Strip, it would incur the lowest costs if it takes part in this reconstruction process. This is not to mention Egypts political and security influence as the reconciliation sponsor. He added, Trade activities will significantly surge in the construction, health and food sectors. The proceeds are estimated to hover around $10 billion in five years. But Hamas is stuck between the hammer of the Israeli siege on Gaza and the anvil of the Egyptian lack of cooperation with it, which prevented it from meeting the basic needs of the Gazan citizens. Deeb also expected Hamas not to give in to Iran's and Qatars pressure to refrain from economically cooperating with Egypt. It should be noted that Qatar and Iran, Hamas main supporters and financiers, have strained political ties with Cairo. Meanwhile, Hassan Nafaa, the head of the faculty of economics and political science at Cairo University, downplayed Egypts economic benefits ensuing from the Palestinian reconciliation. Nafaa told Al-Monitor, Economic relations between Egypt and Palestine are closely linked to stability inside Palestine. Any security incident between Palestinians and Israelis could have a snowball effect. The reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is fragile and faces many obstacles. Any incident, no matter how insignificant, may bring the situation back to ground zero. He explained that although Israel and the United States greenlighted the reconciliation to curb Hamas' domination over the Gaza Strip disarming Hamas remains their undeclared objective. Hamas will not take this lying down, and any attempt to disarm it may undermine the reconciliation, putting an end to all prospects of political stability or economic recovery. Nafaa added, Under the reconciliation deal, the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority is expected to take over Hamas-run government offices in the Gaza Strip. Then it will see that Hamas has replaced thousands of its staff with staff members affiliated with it. Hamas will never accept the dismissal of its affiliated employees from ministries and government and security bodies. This would make Fatahs takeover a mere formality, and Gazas ministries will remain controlled by Hamas. This could undermine the reconciliation and renew the dispute. He pointed out that expecting $10 billion of trade activity proceeds between Egypt and Palestine is exaggerated. According to the vision of the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, the trade volume between Egypt and Palestine in 2020 could reach about $4 billion at most, Nafaa said. In turn, Amru al-Gohari, the undersecretary of the parliament's Economic Affairs Committee, told Al-Monitor, Reconciliation and the end of division among the Palestinian factions would help the Palestinian cause. But talking about a renewed trade exchange between the two countries is very difficult amid high alertness by the Egyptian security forces battling terrorism. The entry and exit of goods and people through the crossings undermines security control, especially in light of the lack of modern devices to detect smuggled goods in containers, whether weapons or [something else]. Gohari pointed out that Israel obstructs the Egyptian-Palestinian trade exchange by imposing high customs duties on Egyptian exports to Palestine. Customs duties are as high as 120% on Egyptian juice products and range between 153% to 162% on Egyptian dairy products compared to a 12% customs duty on EU-imported juice products and 50% on EU-imported dairy products, he said. The spokesman for the Fatah movement in Cairo, Ambassador Hazem Abu Shanab, told Al-Monitor, In April 1998, Egypt signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty with Palestine that entered into force in December 1999. However, political developments and the Palestinian division led to a setback in trade relations between the two countries. Abu Shanab stressed that the Palestinian imports exceeded $5 billion from Israel in 2016 compared to about $70 million from Egypt. However, Egypt can top the list of countries exporting to Palestine. The Palestinian consumer trusts Egyptian goods, which offer high quality and competitive prices. This can tilt the balance in Egypts favor, he added. Abu Shanab explained that the Cairo-brokered reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas allows the Palestinian government to have a presence in the Gaza Strip, paving the way for concluding trade agreements and setting the security controls necessary for facilitating the movement of goods and individuals between the two countries. He pointed out that the reconciliation is also expected to lead to the opening of the Rafah border crossing, which will promote trade activities between Egypt and Palestine. This would make Egypt a gate for Palestine toward the Arab region and the world, Abu Shanab said. October 19, 2017 The much-talked-about Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project might be losing its regional components. Two independent sources have told Al-Monitor that this comes as a result of continued Israeli-Jordanian tensions. A source in the lead technical company that is carrying out the Red-Dead study told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the company has been instructed by Jordans Minister of Water and Irrigation Hazim el-Nasser to revise the study and make it a Jordan-only project. Jordan, Palestine and Israel signed on Dec. 9, 2013, a regional cooperation memorandum of understanding at World Bank headquarters. The agreement signed by Palestinian Minister of Water and Irrigation Shaddad Attili and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom along with Nasser supports the management of scarce water resources in the region and the joint development and use of new water resources through seawater desalination. The memorandum was followed up in February 2015 with a $900 million water distribution bilateral agreement between Jordan and Israel, which would benefit Palestinians as well. The agreement calls for Jordan to sell to Israel the desalinated water from the Red Sea and in return Israel would provide Jordan and Palestine with potable water. The Economist magazines intelligence unit predicted in March 2015 that progress on this project will be vulnerable to political sensitivities at times. The agreement is now in the process of implementation. After a shooting incident in Amman on July 24 by an Israeli Embassy security officer that led to the death of two Jordanians, Israels ambassador and staff left Jordan and the Israeli Embassy in Amman has been closed. Jordan has demanded guarantees that the Israeli security officer be tried for his actions against Jordanians and an apology. Israel has stonewalled these demands and as a result, relations with Jordan have been described by analysts as a cold peace. An Oct. 17 press report from a Jordanian website that mentioned the switch to a Jordan-only option regarding the project went without comment from any Jordanian government official. Jordan Valley Authority Secretary-General Saad Abu Hammour, who heads the Jordanian committee responsible for the Red Sea-Dead Sea project, was surprised to hear the news of the change from Al-Monitor. As far as I know, there has been no change to the regional aspect of this project, he said over the phone. I am concerned that if this happens we might lose some of the funding for it. Repeated attempts by Al-Monitor to get comment from Nasser and Water Ministry spokesman Omar Salameh produced no response. The Palestinian Water Authority minister, Mazin Ghnaim, and authority spokeswoman Abeer Awwad, who were also approached for comment by Al-Monitor, didnt return calls. The US Embassy spokesman in Amman, Eric Barbee, also refused to make a comment. The United States has pledged $100 million to support the Red Sea-Dead Sea project. Alexander McPhail, the lead World Bank officer working on the Red Sea-Dead Sea project, told Al-Monitor that the institution has issued a $100 million guarantee instrument. If the Jordanians send us a letter saying that the projects aims and partners are changed, we are willing to entertain such a request, he said. The Jordan-only option was mentioned in a World Bank March 2014 study on alternatives by three academics, John Anthony Allan of Kings College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies, Abdallah I. Husein Malkawi of the Jordan University of Science and Technology and Yacov Tsur of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In that study, the Jordan-only option is explained as follows, and refers to water volumes in million cubic meters (MCM): This alternative would be a Jordan only initiative and would not involve Israel or the Palestinian Authority. It would consist of 5 phases and ultimately would aim to abstract 2,150 MCM/year [1.7 million acre-feet] of seawater from the Gulf of Aqaba, partially desalinate this volume to produce 80 MCM/year of potable water in the Aqaba area, and then convey the remaining seawater and brine by pipeline for desalination at the Dead Sea in order to produce a further 850 MCM/year of potable water. A total of up to 1,220 MCM/year would be discharged to the Dead Sea. Phase I, possibly for completion in 2018, would produce 250 MCM/year of desalinated water and 190 MCM/year of Dead Sea discharge. Sufyan Tell, one of the main Jordanian individual opponents to the Red Sea-Dead Sea project, told Al-Monitor that four different pro-Israeli project ideas have been floating for years. In addition to the water wells in Jordanian territory that Israel continues to gain access to even after the Wadi Araba Agreement," he said, "I have documented in my recent book four water channel project options, all of which give much more benefit to the Israelis than to Jordanians. EcoPeace, a nongovernmental environmental organization with offices in Palestine, Israel and Jordan, has been the leading regional group opposed to the Red Sea-Dead Sea project. The organization issued a press release Dec. 1, 2015, opposing all aspects of the project. As EcoPeace has said before, our governments need to recognize that the Red Dead Canal project, whether it be Phase I, or otherwise, is not environmentally nor economically sound, and any attempt to connect the subject of the Dead Sea are only doing damage to other sensible projects of water exchange. While all parties agree that the dangerous decline of water levels in the Dead Sea must be addressed, the current efforts to use a canal from the Red Sea require a more comprehensive holistic approach that takes into consideration the opinions of all parties involved and ensures that such mega projects dont do more harm than good. October 19, 2017 Last week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev went to North Africa on official visits to Algeria and Morocco two days in each country. In Algeria, Medvedev was privileged to meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, prompting the pan-African weekly news magazine Jeune Afrique to remark acidly that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are still on the waiting list to see Bouteflika. In Morocco, Medvedev was conferred an honorary doctorate from Mohammed V University. Speaking of prospects for the bilateral relationship between Russia and Morocco, Medvedev quoted the movie "Casablanca," saying, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. He added, The friendship between Russia and Morocco began long ago, and there is every reason to believe that it will only grow stronger and develop for the benefit of the peoples of both countries." Should the Medvedev tour be seen as a manifestation of Russias new strategy? Its approach until recently barely extended over to the Arab world's Far West." Is it a symptom of some internal changes within the Russian political apparatus, given that Medvedev has been largely preoccupied with domestic affairs, whereas foreign policy and especially the Middle East were very much in the domain of Russian President Vladimir Putin? Neither of those scenarios appears to be the case. Medvedev's visit didnt come out of the blue. A Russian diplomat with knowledge of the visit's details told Al-Monitor both Algeria and Morocco had been put on the prime ministers travel schedule at least six months ago, with intense preparations across several ministries ever since. He has long been engaged in Algeria. In 2001, Russia and Algeria signed an agreement on a strategic partnership. For the next 16 years, economics and to a larger extent military-technical cooperation have come to dominate the bilateral agenda. By 2016, the annual trade turnover between the two countries, according to Medvedev, amounted to $4 billion the lions share of which came from Russian weaponry. More than 90% of Algerian arms are exported from Russia. Algeria's annual exports to Russia are limited to several hundred million dollars. In an interesting diplomatic twist, this trip marked a reunion of sorts between Medvedev and an old confrere. In 2010, when Medvedev was Russia's president, he met with Ahmed Ouyahia, who was in his third term as Algeria's prime minister. Just two months ago, Ouyahia was unexpectedly tapped to return to the position, enabling him to resume working with Medvedev. Among the dozen documents signed during Medvedev's recent visit, the most notable included those on oil, gas and nuclear power development. Some sources reported the two parties might have discussed Algeria's potential purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems, and Su-32 and Su-34 fighter bombers, as well as the potential for Russian companies to manufacture trucks and bulldozers in Algeria. As is often the case with senior Russian officials tours to the region, Medvedevs trip to Algeria was combined with his visit to Morocco. Not only does the strategy make sense for logistical reasons, it's also designed not to offend either neighbor. As with Algeria, Medvedevs economic dealings with Morocco heavily dominated the agenda. Although the Russian-Moroccan trade turnover of $2.5 billion is much lower than that between Russia and Algeria, it has a different structure and is on a constant rise. With Algeria, the prevalent component is military-technical cooperation, but Russias trade with Morocco centers on agriculture, with a number of small- and medium-sized businesses being important players, which nurtures deeper bilateral ties. Also, trade relations between Russia and Morocco seem much more balanced than those between Russia and Algeria. In Morocco, Medvedev signed a dozen accords, mainly in agriculture, but the parties also reportedly reached key agreements for Russia to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Morocco. Last month, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was also in Morocco, where he said that the construction of an LNG regasification terminal was underway and that the two states discussed gas deliveries by the Russian companies Gazprom and Novatek. What can be called the pedantic parallelism that Moscow pursues in constructing relations with Algeria and Morocco likely indicates Russias unwillingness to dive into complex regional games in the Maghreb, and its aspiration to limit, by and large, its relations to an economic agenda. Another indicator of Russias balancing act in the region is Moscows neutrality on the Western Sahara issue. Delegations of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara's movement for independence from Morocco visit Moscow every spring, hosted by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federation Council (Russias Senate). Russian officials have always been careful not to make any anti-Moroccan statements. Algeria has accommodated Western Sahara refugees in camps for decades. The parallelism, however, should not be misconstrued. Russia is perceived differently in Algeria and Morocco and occupies a different place on each one's list of foreign policy priorities. For Algeria, Moscow has always been an important partner. From 1954-1962, the Soviet Union actively supported the countrys national liberation movement and the National Liberation Front, a socialist political party. Soviet universities educated future leaders of the Algerian military and a large part of the national intelligentsia. And when the Soviet Union began allowing cybernetics into its own academic curriculum, Algerians were among the first lecturers the Soviet leadership invited. Today, the Museum of Modern Art of Algiers hosts a collection of both Soviet and Algerian artists who used to live in Russia. The special relationship between the two countries survived the downturns of the 1980s against the backdrop of the crisis of socialism and the economically rough 1990s. Moreover, the very nature of Algerian statehood makes its leadership refrain from an excessive rapprochement with Europe and keep an emphasis on its independence from its former parent state, France. Its a totally different case with Morocco. Its traditional association and cooperation with the EU, as well as the political familiarity between the Moroccan and Saudi monarchies, are all natural constraints to a more intimate alignment with Russia. This background implies that no matter how skillful Russia is in its parallelism diplomacy, should Moscow have to increase its political involvement in the region it will need to further diversify its contacts with both countries. In Algeria's case, Russia is likely to actively develop humanitarian ties, to boost existing military-political interaction. With Morocco, Russia would have to place more emphasis on promoting economic ties to compensate for the lack of vibrant joint political formats. That, however, is a matter for the future. So far, Medvedev's visits have demonstrated that Moscow is not forging a new Russian strategy in North Africa, but rather is naturally seeking to capitalize on its success in Syria and position itself as a main security supplier to the region. October 18, 2017 Since July, when talks failed for the 11th time to generate an acceptable plan to reunify the island of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been debating how to keep the idea of a bizonal and bicommunal federation alive. Last week, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades announced he would seek his second and final five-year term. His focus, he said, would be to reunite the island. It's a tall order. On Oct. 1, former British Foreign Minister Jack Straw penned a piece in The Independent declaring stillborn all efforts for an island federation. He was blunt, saying the status quo in the Greek south is simply too comfortable to convince that side to make any concessions. Given that so many rounds of talks have failed to coordinate even basic bicommunal cooperation activities such as establishing a unified electric grid for the whole island or setting up a roaming agreement for mobile phones unification has proven a challenge. On Oct. 3, Tahsin Ertugruloglu, foreign minister of the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, made headlines in Turkey with statements he made at a roundtable at the International Republican Institute in Washington. Ertugruloglu concurred with Straw that the idea of a united island with a federal government is dead. But as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus can't just keep waiting, he told the audience two options are being considered. One possibility is establishing an independent state. However, since Turkey invaded and partitioned the island in 1974, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus hasn't been recognized by any country except Turkey though Ertugruloglu says there's been no major effort on the global scene to gain such recognition. To make matters more difficult, in 2004 Cyprus became a member of the EU, but without allowing the Turkish Cypriots to enjoy its benefits. Ertugruloglus second option was to form a strong diplomatic system, like the one shared by Monaco and France, between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey, in which Cypriots would delegate defense and foreign policy matters to Ankara yet govern themselves independently on domestic matters. Although both of these options seem much like the extension of the status quo for Cyprus, Ertugruloglus choice of words was rather alarming given the direness of the situation. How were Ertugruloglus comments from Washington received in Cyprus? Sinan Dirlik, a columnist for the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Yeni Duzen, told Al-Monitor that Ertugruloglus position as foreign minister is symbolic and had little impact on the negotiations. It is Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akinci who leads the process. Dirlik added: Ertugruloglu just reiterates the well-known rhetoric of right-wing politics on the island in preparation for the 2018 elections. Yet his words generated a significant uproar here [in Cyprus]. Akinci had harshly criticized the foreign minister, who replied in kind. Other political parties criticized Ertugruloglu for proposing plans that were never discussed by the parliament of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Dirlik said, Neither Turkey nor the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has any goal of independence or confederation with Turkey as options. To the contrary, all these years of negotiations reinforced the idea of a bizonal, bicommunal federation. When asked about the mood on the island, Dirlik conveyed a rather dim picture in which hopes are fading. Yet there are still voices on both sides arguing that a federation would be best for cultural and financial reasons. Ertugruloglu's controversial statements were mostly ignored by pro-government columnists and social media trolls. At a time when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushes ultra-nationalistic rhetoric, even he must have thought that endorsing Ertugruloglu would be counterproductive. In remarks from different senior bureaucrats in Ankara, Al-Monitor learned that the Cyprus issue, although important, is no longer a priority for the government given the situation in Iraq and Syria. However, foreign companies that are drilling for natural gas and oil at the invitation of Greek Cypriots are a matter of concern for the Turkish side. Inside Turkey, reactions were polarized. In a TV interview from Diyarbakir province, people of Kurdish origin in Turkey highlighted the double standard the Turkish government held for Cyprus and Kurdistan after the Iraqi Kurds' Sept. 25 independence referendum. One said, The Turkish government supports, finances and defends a handful of Cypriots to establish an independent state, but here it opposes the rights of millions [of Kurds] to establish their own state. In the meantime, a handful of ultra-nationalistic Twitter users were posting maps of Cyprus as a part of Turkey. Turkey has 81 provinces and ultra-nationalists are now declaring Kirkuk as No. 82, Cyprus No. 83 and Mosul No. 84. Both Kirkuk and Mosul are in northern Iraq. Yiorgos Kakouris, a journalist for Cypriot daily Politis, elaborated on the differences in political views presented at the July talks and how they were seen on the Greek side, "with Akinci insisting on finding a new way to negotiate peace, whether thats partnership or separation; Ertugruloglu insisting that the federal model is dead; and Turkish government officials saying that the approach of Turkey and the north will be decided after the presidential election in the south" in January 2018. "This, the [Greek Cypriot] government spokesperson has said, is an indication that the Turkish side has no clear objective in mind at this point." He continued: The official government line regarding the options put out by Ertugruloglu is, of course, that they are unacceptable and that the only option is negotiated reunification. No political power, even the most extreme, has dared to speak of an official partition openly and is unlikely to, despite reports that certain political figures, including the president, have behind the scenes considered the scenario of two separate states within the EU. Publicly and privately, of course, everyone denies it. Van Coufoudakis, professor emeritus of political science at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, provided a different angle that is not addressed in Turkish news. The two options [Ertugruloglu] advocates are unacceptable to the Republic of Cyprus and do not provide a viable alternative to the present situation. Over the years, Ankara and its Turkish Cypriot surrogates have sought but failed to get recognition of the so-called TRNC [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]. The UN Security Council, in unanimous resolutions [in 1975 and 1983], has found this 'state' to be illegal and has called on the international community not to recognize it," he said. "European Court decisions consider the Turkish Cypriot 'authorities' to be 'a subordinate administration to the Turkish army.' The international position on the 'TRNC' follows the policy established by the 1932 Stimson Doctrine of not recognizing entities that are the fruit of aggression. This principle has been followed to this day, including the most recent case in Ukraine. Could a different model of existence prove useful for the north? Coufoudakis provided a straightforward analysis. President Erdogan wrongly believes that if some Islamic states recognize the 'TRNC,' the rest of the world will follow, or at least grant the 'TRNC' a status similar to that of Taiwan. Any attempt to seek recognition of the 'TRNC' would mean the end of any hope Turkey may still have for EU accession. The EU will not tolerate secession in one of its country members. Any attempt at recognition will also confirm Turkey's real intentions when it invaded and occupied portions of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974. Coufoudakis explained why consecutive talks keep failing. Any resolution [plan] proposed by UN mediators based on the unprecedented construct of the 'bizonal, bicommunal federation' will have to be approved by separate referenda. The Greek Cypriots, once again, will reject any formula replacing the Republic of Cyprus with a two-state confederation affirming the result of the 1974 invasion. The Greek Cypriots will never agree to any form of a Turkish guarantee or military presence on the soil of an EU member. Citizens of the Republic of Cyprus have ample evidence of how Ankara and its military control every aspect of life in occupied Cyprus, have seen the consequences of the Islamization of occupied Cyprus and the impact of the illegal Turkish settlers on the original cohesive Turkish Cypriot community and its politics. The Turkish governments silence, along with harsh criticism from other factions of Turkish Cypriots toward Ertugruloglus two provocative alternatives, suggest they prefer the status quo to any dramatic action that might be detrimental to the interests of the Turkish side. Reporters got a look at eight possible designs for a border wall along the Mexican border this week, including two by an Alabama construction company. The Arizona Republic got a look at the prototypes in San Diego, a few dozen yards from the border that divides the city from Tijuana, Mexico. Work began last month. Customs and Border Protection may pick several winners, or none of them. Another contractor will evaluate each model. Border Protection awarded eight contracts to six companies to build the prototypes, the Republic reported. They had 30 days to finish. After evaluation, testing will begin on the wall designs. Among them, was Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. of Philadelphia, Miss. Their contracts were to build one wall of concrete and one of other materials. The Republic reported one Caddell design has a wide concrete base that gives way to a thinner frame halfway up the structure. However, a second design by the Alabama company features narrow metal bars for the first half of the prototype, while the top half has what appears to be solid concrete panels. Only one of the completed designs incorporates see-through features that would allow Border Patrol agents to observe activity on the other side. San Francisco-based clothing brand Marine Layer is opening its first Alabama store at The Summit in Birmingham on Saturday. Marine Layer is an eco-friendly apparel company on a mission to create the softest t-shirt on the market, according to The Summit. The brand's signature fabric is MicroModal, which is made from recycled beechwood. Marine Layer has about 30 stores located across the country. Prior to the Birmingham location, the closest store was in Atlanta. Marine Layer is located near The Cheesecake Factory, next to J.Jill and Anthropologie. The store will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. For more information, visit The Summit and Marine Layer websites. PNC Bank has appointed Nick Willis regional president of its Greater Alabama region. Willis, a graduate of the University of Alabama, succeeds Brian Bucher, who will become a regional president of the newly created Port Cities market, along the Jacksonville-Charleston-Savannah coast. Willis was most recently PNC's head of Corporate Banking in Greater Alabama. He began with AmSouth Bank as a corporate relationship manager in Birmingham, Huntsville and Indianapolis, Ind. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Business Council of Alabama, Vestavia Country Club and is treasurer for McWane Science Center. Willis is a member of Leadership Birmingham's 2018 class. "Nick is an accomplished leader and Alabama native who knows this region well because he's lived, worked and gone to school here," said Lou Cestello, head of PNC Regional Markets. The other day, I found myself staring at an email, wondering how to end it: Sincerely? Regards? Best? Bye, y'all? Because it was an email to a professional but not directly related to my work, I was stumped. I needed to find the right balance between "Let's go out for drinks sometime" and "I'm just writing this because I have to." Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com Don't Edit I looked up some advice from the likes of Forbes, Business Insider and Grammarly, which weren't a lot of help because they all disagree. One says never use Sincerely. One says it's not so bad. One writer even says she's OK with "Bests" with an S. Bests? What the heck is a Bests? Short for Besties? Nuh-uh. There is no such thing as "bests." It's imaginary and we shouldn't be closing emails with it. It's kinda like signing, "Bigfoot Truly," or "Chupacabraly yours." Don't Edit I don't even like "Best" in its singular form as a closer. What does it mean? Best what? Best bet? Best in Show? Father Knows Best? And then there's "Take Care." Will Schwalbe, author of "Send: Why People Email So Badly and How To Do It Better," tells Business Insider "take care" makes him "a bit paranoid. Like you know I'm in danger and I don't." To me, it's a little more threatening, like "Take care because you never know when a I might dress up as an evil clown and talk to you from a storm drain." (Insert demented laughter). Don't Edit Here are some options these writers discussed, along with my feelings on them: Regards: All the writers agreed this is safe. I think it's quite confusing. Thesaurus.com says it can mean anything from "Ciao" (which should only be used by Italians) to "Salutations" (which should only be used by characters in "Charlotte's Web") to "high five" (which I really don't mind so much. Like, "Dear Boss: Yes, I will attend the Open Enrollment meeting. Please have donuts. High Five") Don't Edit Looking forward to hearing from you: I'm fine with this one, especially when writing your children. It means, "You better write back, Baby Girl. I'll be waiting." (Insert creepy laughter). Don't Edit Don't Edit As ever: What-the-what?? I don't get this one at all. I turned to Schwalbe for help but he totally let me down. He told Business Insider: "It means, whatever you were, you still are that." Maybe he was trying to be all zen master but, no. Unless you are sitting on a mountain in a monk's robe, don't use it. Don't Edit Yours truly: Remember in fourth grade when we wrote letters from camp? This is how we signed them. I'm going to suggest a few alternatives to this: LYLAS: short for Love Ya Like a Sis. The Universal Girl Code states there is no "bro" version of this closing. Don't Edit 2 Good 2 Be 4gotten: Meaning "You're the best but I couldn't be bothered to write it out." Don't Edit TTFN: Ta-ta for now, or "Catch you later," or "Later, Dude." I'm a big fan of "Later, Dude," as well as "Peace Out," although Baby Girl says those imply I am completely out of touch with today's slang and reality. And now Im at my word limit and stuck with no way to end this column but Ill give it a whirl: TTFN. Take care, Yours Truly. Youre 2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten. High Five and Peace Out, yall. Don't Edit Kelly Kazek's humor columns appear regularly on AL.com and in The Huntsville Times, The Birmingham News and The Press-Register in Mobile. Find her on Facebook or follow her humor columns on Pinterest here. You can also follow her blog here. Don't Edit Rob M. No sooner had my last review gone to print when I came across the New Mexico Health Department's announcement that in September, the number of active patients enrolled in the state's program had risen to an absolutely insane 48,861. According to the numbers, the majority of N.M. patients suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (19,658 patients), followed by those suffering from severe chronic pain (13,652 patients). The highest concentration of patients is in Bernalillo County (14,405 patients), followed by Santa Fe County (4,560 patients). I met a reader last week who says he's thinking about getting a card and asked my advice. I might have come off a little too strong, to be honest, but I think everyone who can get a prescription should. If you're reading this, your application better be on its way to the capitol already. I fully expect to see that number rise to 48,862 (or thereabouts). Retailers Taking On CBD Ban Near the end of September, without fanfare or a fuss, Target.com started selling a few bottles of CBD oil on their website. The company was offering four CW Hemp products, made by a Denver-based parent company, for sale online as herbal supplements. This might not sound very daring or wildsince cannabidiol (CBD) is non-psychoactive and actually undermines the psychoactive effects of THCbut last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency clarified its stance on CBD when it reminded everyone that the cannabinoid was still a part of the cannabis plant and technically illegal. See, online sellers and CBD advocates were confused for years (some still are), and advertised that CBD oil without any THC and derived from hemp plants was exempt from the federal regulations against cannabis because of the 2014 Farm Bill definition of industrial hemp as cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC. The DEA's public announcement clarified that this wasn't the case, and that the Farm Bill did not override the Controlled Substance Act. Hemp is cannabis. Cannabis is illegal. Done and done. Target's decision to sell CBD oil seemed like a slap to the face of the federal governmentproof of a cultural shift we all feel coming. Internet news sites began humming on the morning of Sept. 28, as writers scratched their heads and wondered what angle Target was taking. By the afternoon, the products had been removed and Target had emailed the same statement to multiple news sources: We started carrying Charlottes Web hemp extract items last week on Target.com. After further review, we have decided to remove it from our assortment. It seems likely that Target wasn't aware of the legal status of CBD until they started seeing freaked out CBD advocates talking about it online, but the full story behind the move has yet to materialize. Whether the company committed a felony by offering to sell the contraband or not is unclear. But following the odd debacle, a Colorado-based natural foods chain has announced its (conscious) decision to carry CBD extracts nationwide at all of its 25 locations. Luckys Market apothecary director Sindy Wise told the Cannabist, Were not afraid to be disruptive and pave the path and be pioneers. According to Wise, the company consulted with lawyers for the US Food and Drug Administration to make sure labeling and other standards were being met. Congressman to Congress: Answer to Opioid Epidemic is Cannabis Last week, Oregon's Congressman Earl Blumenauer (and Congressional Cannabis Caucus Co-Chair) testified before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health. The hearingcalled Member Day: Testimony and Proposals on the Opioid Crisiswas organized to discuss the growing issues related to opioid addiction in the US. Blumenauer told them that the simplest solution to the epidemic was legalizing cannabis, and referred to a pamphlet entitled, Physician Guide to Cannabis-Assisted Opioid Reduction. The pamphlet includes a list of citations and claims that cannabis is helpful in reducing opioid overdose mortality, reducing opioid consumption, preventing dose escalation and interrupting the development of an opioid tolerance. You'd probably recognize Blumenauer if you saw him. His iconic glasses and bow tie make him stand out in a crowd of politicians. Blumenauer is a member of the US House of Representatives, a democrat repping Oregons third congressional district. He's well known for his pro-environmental stances. He co-authored the newest revision of the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendmentthe budgetary amendment that bars the Department of Justice from spending any money on prosecuting medical cannabis patients and distributors in states where its legal. In 2015 he called for the removal of then-acting director of the DEA Chuck Rosenburg because the administrator had called medical cannabis a joke. At the end of his testimony, Blumenauer told the subcommittee members that the federal government has a stranglehold on cannabis research that needs to be lifted. In that regard, he called on Congress to pass HR3391, the Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2017a bit of bipartisan legislation sponsored by Blumenauer, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). The rise of the Orthodox Church in Russia appears unstoppable, write filmmakers Glenn Ellis and Viktoryia Kolchyna who went to investigate the close ties between the church and Putin. Five years ago, a notoriously profane protest by a female punk band, Pussy Riot, in Moscows main cathedral sought to satirise the growing rapport between the Russian state and the Orthodox Church, most especially the close regard President Vladimir Putin and the churchs spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill have for each other. At the time, this was a relatively fringe concern; most Russians had other things on their minds such as the countrys economic problems, its deteriorating relationship with the West over Syria and the re-election of Putin to the top job after an interregnum as prime minister. But now its back on the agenda because many of Putins opponents believe the glowing endorsements and mutual back-slaps the Kremlin and the Orthodox Church give each other these days are contributing to ever more tightly defined social and religious conservatism, intolerant nationalism and a growing personality cult around the president. We had heard that the most obvious outward sign of this close relationship was the proliferation of religious zealotry filling the broadcast airwaves. So we set off for the offices of Tsargrad TV, close to Moscows Red Square, to meet Alexander Dugin, editor-in-chief of Russias most ultra-conservative Orthodox channel, which boasts the countrys fastest-growing audience. After the fall of communism, there was a great abyss , a void, because everything began to fall down into the black hole. All the certainties, all the truths, all the things that were taken for granted in one moment disappeared, Dugin says. With Putins help, Dugin explained, the Russian Orthodox Church is filling this void. Indeed, the view as seen through Tsargrad TV eyes is of a Moscow skyline of countless domes and crosses, vying with hammers and sickles a battlefield of symbols and its clear which side is winning. The channels owner, Kremlin-connected investment banker Konstantin Malofeev, was once dubbed Gods oligarch, a title he eschews, Im Gods servant, not Gods oligarch he insists perched behind a large portrait of Nicholas II. We live now in Russia a delightful period, a period of triumph of Christianity. Malofeev is clear as to who is responsible. President Putin is our leader given to us by God. Others insist that by moving the Orthodox Church to centre-stage in Russian affairs Putin is merely ensuring the churchs support for his conservative and nationalist political agenda a smart move given that between a half and two-thirds of all Russians identify themselves as Orthodox Christians. Decriminalising domestic violence Next morning, we are outside the Russian parliament, the Duma. In recent years, a raft of socially regressive legislation has merged from this building, often underpinned with backing from the Russian Orthodox Church. One of the most controversial of these laws (passed by 358 voted to two) effectively decriminalises domestic violence, which seems an odd thing for a Christian body to endorse. According to this law, when you beat somebody, you can just pay a fee like a parking fine - the same sum even. It sounds crazy, but it's true. by Alena Popova, campaigner Nevertheless, in a statement issued after the law was passed, the church insisted that physical punishment is an essential right. Campaigner Alena Popova is waiting for us and wastes no time letting us know what she thinks about this law. According to this law, when you beat somebody, you can just pay a fee like a parking fine the same sum even. It sounds crazy, but its true, Popova says. Last year, she tells us 14,000 women in Russia died from injuries inflicted by a relationship partner equivalent to one woman every 40 minutes. Popova has been lobbying Duma deputies to get the legislation changed but she knows it wont be an easy task given the amount of support the law had on its passage through parliament. Laws targeting other churches and faiths That evening, we go looking for some of those on the receiving end of another recent ruling, known as the Yarovaya Law after one of its sponsors. In essence, a set of 2016 amendments to existing anti-terror and extremist legislation, the law is notable because of the inclusion of new restrictions on evangelism and religious missionary work. According to its provisions, missionary work is defined as: The activity of a religious association, aimed at disseminating information about its beliefs among people who are not participants (members, followers) in that religious association, with the purpose of involving these people as participants (members, followers). It is carried out directly by religious associations or by citizens and/or legal entities authorised by them, publicly, with the help of the media, the internet or other lawful means. The target of these prescriptions, said the laws detractors, are adherents of churches and faiths other than the Orthodox Church. And thats who we are meeting tonight, a group of Jehovahs Witnesses and their spokesman Mikail Panichev. We run risks when we just talk to someone about the Bible let alone about our teachings. Any conversation may raise suspicions - they will go and inform the police. by Mikail Panichev, spokesman, Jehovah's Witnesses We rendezvous with our go-between at an ill-lit car park in a Moscow suburb and he leads us to nearby housing block. In the lift, our guide pretends not to know us when someone else gets in. We are ushered to a flat where a dozen or so people sit around a table reading the Bible. We are warned that at any moment the FSB (state security) could appear. According to the those at the meeting, the Jehovahs Witnesses, a group once persecuted by the Nazis for their strict adherence to pacifism, have now been labelled a threat to society here, too; driven underground last April when the Russian Supreme Court seized all their property, declaring the group extremist. Since then, there have been numerous attacks against their homes and places of worship. Most of this small group have already spent time in detention, including a girl in her teens. According to Panichev, we run risks when we just talk to someone about the Bible let alone about our teachings. Any conversation may raise suspicions they will go and inform the police. Midnight raids As our filming continued over the days that followed, it seemed to us that the rise of Russian Orthodox Church was unstoppable. Since the fall of communism, 25,000 churches have been built or restored in Russia with state backing if not always universal public support. We went in search of one set of opponents who meet every week in a Moscow park. They told us that the land had been set aside for yet another church, which they objected to because it meant taking away a public amenity. But its risky to openly challenge such developments as Yevegeny Lebedev discovered last November. He told us that his home and those of 11 others were stormed by masked police officers in midnight raids, They bust in shouting, Down on the floor! Somebody threw me to the floor. I was like that for 20 minutes, my kids crying. The officers were investigating a possible violation of yet another new law, which has the backing of the Orthodox Church. In this case, making it a criminal offence to insult the feelings of religious believers. The raids were broadcast on national TV and Patriarch Kirill denounced Lebedev and his friends as Pagans. This now routine use of law enforcement muscle to bolster the status and privileges of the Orthodox Church struck us as deeply ironic, given that only a few decades ago the communists used the same brutal measures to suppress organised religion. In those days, this maxim from the founder of the Soviet state, VI Lenin, would have been at the heart of the states view of religion: Religion is the opium of the people All modern religions and churches, all and every kind of religious organisations are always considered by Marxism as the organs of bourgeois reaction, used for the protection of the exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class. Presumably, back when the Soviet Union still existed and Vladimir Putin was still a loyal KGB officer, he would have wholeheartedly endorsed such thinking as a matter of political expediency, if not personal conviction. But now hes president, he clearly takes a different view and the Russian Orthodox Church is the beneficiary. Why was Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six Canadian Muslims in a Quebec Islamic Centre, not charged with terrorism? Evening prayers had just ended when the killing began. One worshipper, Azzeddine Soufiane, a perpetually cheerful 57-year-old father of three and halal grocer, tried, it is said, to stop the carnage unfolding inside the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City shortly before 8pm on January 29, 2017, by lunging at the alleged assassin, Alexandre Bissonnette. Soufiane was murdered. Within minutes, five other loving, loyal, hard-working Muslim Canadian men a butcher, a pharmacists aid, a professor, an accountant and a civil servant forever linked by their faith and history, lay dead, while 19 more were injured, several critically. The killers weapon was, by now, empty. Quebec City today has been hit by terrorism, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said at a press conference that evening. He reassured Muslims that Quebec was their home too. We are with you; this is your home, we are all Quebecers. A day later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined with other parliamentarians to pay solemn tribute to their massacred fellow Canadians in the House of Commons. {articleGUID} This was a group of innocents targeted for practising their faith. Make no mistake this was a terrorist attack, Trudeau told Canadians and the world on January 30. It was an attack on our most intrinsic and cherished values in Canada values of openness, diversity and freedom of religion. No one in Parliament objected. In early February, then Police Commissioner Bob Paulson publicly described Bissonnette as a criminal extremist. Apparently, Canadas prime minister, Quebecs premier, and the nations top police officer were all, in fact, mistaken. Quebecs Crown prosecution service did not see, hear, read or, perhaps most importantly, agree with Trudeau, Couillard and Paulson. So, in late January, it charged Bissonnette with several counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder, not terrorism. Apparently, the assassination of six men, targeted because of who they prayed to and where, was not an act of terrorism; the assassination of six husbands, brothers, and fathers at their holy place of worship was not an attack on Canadas cherished values of openness, diversity and freedom of religion. Apparently, a Quebec City mosque was not the site of a terrorist attack this past January, and the alleged killer of those six Muslim Canadians was not a criminal extremist. Still, any lingering hope or expectation that Bissonnette would ultimately be charged with so much as a count of terrorism was extinguished in early October when prosecutors announced plans to forgo a preliminary hearing and go directly to trial on the murder indictments alone. (Crown prosecutors have repeatedly refused to discuss why Bissonnette was not charged with any terrorism-related offences, saying only the evidence dictates the charges.) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), Canadas largest and most influential Muslim advocacy group, decried that curious decision as deeply concerning since it evinces that not all victims of terror are considered equal under the law. The decision not to lay terrorism charges against Mr Bissonnette, who targeted a mosque to commit a massacre, reinforces to the Canadian public the harmful stereotype that only Muslims are terrorists. This is deeply concerning because it will serve to perpetuate the kind of discrimination and violence we have seen carried out against our communities, Kashif Ahmed, NCCM board chair, said in a press release. NCCM executive director, Ihsaan Gardee, went further, insisting Crown prosecutors were guilty of a glaring and disturbing double standard. {articleGUID} Pursuing terrorism charges against Mr Bissonnette would have sent an important reassurance that Muslims are seen as equal victims of terror. By not doing so, the Crown is perpetuating what appears to be a double standard in the application of the law, he said. Mr Ahmed and Mr Gardee are, of course, right. Muslims, it seems, cannot be treated as victims of terror under Canadian law only perpetrators. Not surprisingly, the NCCMs objections hardly registered with Canadas once deeply sympathetic political elites and establishment media, that not too long ago largely agreed that Bissonnettes lethal actions constituted a prima facie case of terrorism. Trudeau and Couillard have gone mute: Not a peep about terrorism or Muslims being targeted, attacked, or, for that matter, welcomed into the comforting bosom of home. Terrorism: the word invoked so often, by so many, in so many places in the raw residue of January 27, has evaporated today in a blurring haze of stories that, in effect, defend Crown prosecutors for doing the right and proper thing. The amnesia and revisionism are as instructive as they are appalling. Quoting the usual stable of security experts, reporters have penned think pieces to explain away Crown prosecutors thinking to pursue murder, not terrorism charges, against a young man with a reported record of rancid right-wing sympathies. That thinking goes like this: Terrorism charges are hard to prove since the Crown must establish a political, religious or ideological motivation. In any event, the penalties for murder are much stiffer than for terrorism. These sober-sounding rationales raise a theatre marquee-sized question that the security experts either werent asked or failed to address: Why the need then for terrorism charges at all if theyre so onerous to make stick, and the punishment for murder is decidedly harsher? {articleGUID} This cynical, self-serving pantomime reveals that terror laws are essentially a political, not legal construct, designed to assuage the frothing mob inside and outside Canadas predominately right-wing press that demands only Muslim terrorist scalps be delivered up in court. Collecting white, male, Christian mass-murdering terrorist scalps is not as compulsory nor, it appears, particularly inviting. Imagine if a Muslim had walked into a Quebec City church and fired indiscriminately into parishioners taking communion after mass, slaughtering half a dozen. Imagine if the killer was charged with murder, not terrorism. Imagine the cacophony of front-page and top-of-the-newscast outrage that official cowardice and a blinding fealty to political correctness had trumped common sense, decency and the law. Its not hard to imagine, is it? But when the defenceless prey of a terrorist are Muslims, there are no hyperbolic broadsides in Ottawa and beyond denouncing cowardice and political correctness and there are certainly no blaring headlines and seething editorials demanding justice for the dead. Instead, theres only silence and a convenient verdict that six slain Muslim men, the scores of injured and their permanently grieving families are the unfortunate victims of a murderer, not a terrorist. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. This is a difficult year for Spain. First, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, had to appear in court because of corruption charges levelled against his party; then Barcelona suffered a bloody terrorist attack; and now a referendum for the independence of Catalonia has plunged the nation into a political crisis that led to Spanish police beating up voters and Madrid threatening to revoke Catalonias autonomy. Article 155, which enables the central government to do so, is rather vague. We still do not know whether applying it entails the dissolution of the Catalan government, taking control of the public security or calling for regional elections. But the imprisonment of two pro-Catalan independence leaders earlier this week indicates we are heading for serious trouble. What is important to understand now is that there is more than just blind nationalism in the Catalan impasse, despite what Madrid and Brussels want us to believe. The Catalan call for independence should not be discredited; it is the rightful demand of millions of Catalans. But one must wonder why most articles about this crisis focus exclusively on the historical roots of Catalonian statehood, free citizens democratic right to vote, and the inclusive character of Catalonias nationalism, which is open to foreigners. As noble as these historical and democratic arguments are, it is important to emphasise, as Owen Jones rightly pointed out, that Catalonia cannot be understood in isolation. Here is another manifestation of the crisis enveloping the western world. This is a crisis of governance in which citizens no longer trust their governments and governments have turned their backs on the people. Why? {articleGUID} The new geopolitical balances that emerged after 9/11 and the financial meltdown of 2008 have put to an end Francis Fukuyamas happy dream of a global liberal democracy where everything is possible. Instead, this dream turned out to be a nightmare considering the sacrifices (wars, austerity measures, indiscriminate surveillance) that liberal democracies impose on the world. Unfortunately, neither Europe nor the United States has put forward policies to resist the reality this crisis has imposed. There arent even signs of improvement: newly created jobs are almost all precarious, and most policy reforms are designed to cut social benefits. International financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund continue to call for the reduction of bargaining power of workers, cuts in healthcare, social security and state employment. No wonder that in Spain, unemployment (at 18.6 percent) is almost double the eurozone average. As weve seen over the past few years, these liberal reforms to overcome the crisis have triggered very different political responses throughout Europe, from Syrizas new progressive left in Greece to Farages right-wing xenophobic populism in Britain and a surge of civic nationalism in Scotland and Catalonia. The case of Catalonia is interesting not only because it is the richest region of Spain (with 7.5 million people, it draws more than a third of Spains foreign investment, generates a third of its exports, and is responsible for 20 percent of Spains gross domestic product) but also because it is already governed autonomously and is determined to join the EU. Whereas most countries blamed the EU for the social and economic inequalities and government austerity measures, for Catalan politicians these were primarily Madrids fault. Artur Mas, a previous president of the Catalonian Generalitat, explained that the Spanish government forced him to implement austerity cuts that are impossible to meet without seriously affecting some basic elements of the welfare state. Other former presidents of the Catalan government were cautious when blaming Madrid for unfair taxes or other diktats from above, but Mas (a neoliberal) saw an opportunity to promise change, prosperity, and freedom in a new Catalan state independent from Spain and its outdated constitution. This explains why the nationalist alliance Junts pel Si (Together for yes) that he created with other politicians is made up of forces from both the left and the right. {articleGUID} The current Catalan President Carles Puigdemont refused to explicitly clarify whether he declared independence after the referendum of October 1. His goal is to force Rajoys Madrid government to begin a fruitful dialogue in order to reach an agreement on the regions independence. But Madrid, as Pepe Escobar said, in effect subscribes to only two priorities: dutifully obey EU austerity diktats, and crush by all means any regional push for autonomy. This is probably why Rajoys government made it easier for firms to relocate, passing a law that allows companies to shift their legal address more quickly; more than 700 (including banks, multinationals, and publishers) have decided to move so far from Catalonia. The fact that the EU unconditionally supports the Spanish prime ministers policies towards the Catalonia impasse is an indication it cannot afford another Brexit. As President Jean-Claude Juncker said: If we allow Catalonia and it is not our business to separate, others will do the same. Although First Vice President Frans Timmermans condemned Spanish police brutality during the referendum, he also said that it is a duty for any government to uphold the law, and this sometimes does require the proportionate use of force. Those of us who were in Barcelona that day can testify that there was nothing proportionate in the police violence except that its proportions made it imperative to call for Rajoys resignation. As we can see, this crisis was triggered by more than just nationalism; it is also matter of governance in the age of anger. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Thousands of families need urgent assistance, official says, as UN raises concern over reports of Kurds being displaced. Fauziah Hakim Ahmad sits on a thin brown blanket laid out across the dusty floor of an abandoned housing project on the outskirts of Erbil. Where should we go now? the black-clad, 67-year-old asks. They came to our homes and burned things. Ahmad is one of the tens of thousands of people who fled Kirkuk earlier this week fearing persecution since Iraqi armed forces retook the oil-region region following a referendum on Kurdish secession that was rejected by the federal government of Iraq in Baghdad. A lot happened to us we dont own our own house now, we dont even know if we have a house or our things, she told Al Jazeera, recalling a lifetime of hardship. Since I was a child, Ive never seen happiness. Its war after war. In a rapid advance on Monday and Tuesday, central government troops and allied militias swept into Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city of more than one million people and the hub of a major oil-producing area, largely unopposed after Kurdish Peshmerga forces withdrew. The advancing units also removed Peshmerga fighters from formerly Kurdish-held areas of Nineveh and Diyala provinces. Nawzad Hadi, governor of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told reporters on Thursday that around 18,000 families from Kirkuk and the town of Tuz Khurmatu to the southeast had taken refuge in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, inside KRG territory. A Hadi aide told Reuters news agency the total number of displaced people was about 100,000. The figure could not be independently verified, and many Kurdish neighbourhoods in Kirkuk city appeared to be operating normally, Reuters reported. Hemin Hawrami, a senior assistant to KRG President Masoud Barzani, said in a post on Twitter that 57,000 families from Kirkuk were in need of immediate assistance after arriving in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok provinces. He said that people had fled violence, looting and crimes inflicted by the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), paramilitary units largely made up of Iran-trained Shia militias. Due to atrocities Violence, looting, & crimes by PMF Since October 16th, 57,000 families fled from Kirkuk to Erbil ,Slemani & Duhok provencies due to by High number, they are settled in unfinished buildings & in public places. They need immediate assistance. Hemin Hawrami (@heminhawrami) October 19, 2017 A mayor from the town of Khanaqin, Mohammed Mulla Hassan, said a Kurdish man was killed and six wounded by Iraqi security forces while protesting at the armys takeover there. Kurdish troops had left Khanaqin, near the border with Iran, on Tuesday to avoid clashing with advancing Iraqi forces. UN concern Separately, the United Nations voiced concern at reports that civilians, mainly Kurds, were being driven out of parts of northern Iraq retaken by Iraqi forces and their houses and businesses looted and destroyed. UN relief officials said they had received allegations that 150 houses had been burned and 11 blown up in Tuz Khurmatu and offices of Turkmen political parties in Kirkuk assaulted. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement urging the Baghdad government to take every action to halt any violations and ensure all civilians are protected and that the perpetrators of acts of violence, intimidation and forced displacement of civilians be brought to justice. Iraqs Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered all armed groups out of Kirkuk, with only the Iraqi army and federal police remaining. He insisted Kirkuk is safe and called for the protection of civilians. However, many of those who fled Kirkuk said they would not return. People are saying Kirkuk is safe, but it is propaganda, Karwan Rashid Mohammed, who was a policeman in the city until he fled on Tuesday, told Al Jazeera from an abandoned housing project on the outskirts of Erbil. At night, they come out and beat the youth. They have burned houses. Thats why we got scared because of our families, thats why we left, he added. {articleGUID} Hinting at the internal divisions among the two main Kurdish political parties the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of colluding with Iraqi government leaders, Iran and Turkey in orchestrating the takeover of Kirkuk. A political party sold us out. Not all Kurds are refugees, this is all political, said Mohammed. Kurds comprise the largest community in Kirkuk, followed by Turkmen, Arabs and Christians, according to the Iraqi Planning Ministry. In another sign of rising tensions, Iraqs Supreme Justice Council ordered the arrest of KRG Vice President Kosrat Rasul for allegedly saying Iraqi troops were occupying forces in Kirkuk. Iraqi Kurds say open to talks Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of oil-rich Kirkuk after the Iraqi army fled from a major offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in 2014. Since then, there had not been an agreement between the KRG and the federal government in Baghdad about who should control the area and benefit from its vast oil wealth. Neighbouring Iran and Turkey had joined Baghdad in condemning the September 25 referendum, in which Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for secession, worried it could worsen regional instability and conflict by spurring their own Kurdish populations to push for homelands. The United States had also opposed the vote. With the referendum having given al-Abadi a political opening to regain disputed territory and tilt the balance of power in his favour, the KRG cabinet on Thursday welcomed his call for talks to resolve the crisis. Al-Abadi had said on Tuesday he considered the referendum a thing of the past, and asked that the KRG cancel the outcome of the vote as a precondition for negotiations to begin. {articleGUID} In a statement on Thursday, the KRG cabinet said, It will not be possible to resolve the issues through military operations. It added: (We have) asked the international community to help both sides start a dialogue to solve the outstanding issues based on the Iraqi constitution. This weeks military operation also dealt a severe blow to the autonomous regions finances, which had relied heavily on revenues from exports of Kirkuk oil. Baghdad has retaken five oil fields from Kurdish forces in Kirkuk, leaving the Kurds in control of only one in the province. The lost fields accounted for more than 400,000 of the 650,000 barrels per day that the autonomous Kurdish region used to export in defiance of Baghdad. Controversial Adani coal mine project is about to break ground in Australia amid protests over environmental impact. Central Queensland, Australia Farmers and environmentalists in Australia are waging a fierce battle to stop a new mega coal mine planned for the countrys northeast from going ahead. Indian energy giant Adani Group has said it will break ground this month on the project which is expected to become one of the largest coal mines in the world. The company says the Carmichael mine, which has the backing of the Australian government, will bring jobs and deliver royalties that will benefit Australians. But those opposing the project believe it could wreak havoc on the environment. If that Adani mine goes ahead, its going to be devastating, farmer Bruce Currie told Al Jazeeras 101 East. The project was due to be launched on Friday, with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce due to attend, but the ceremony was cancelled due to rain, according to an Adani spokesman. The ground-breaking event has been postponed to a date to be determined, the spokesman told news.com.au. In the drought-prone region of Central Queensland, farmers fear the project could contaminate the groundwater they rely upon for their cattle. Coal mining is one of the most water-intensive methods of generating electricity. About 200 litres of freshwater is used for each tonne of coal produced. Farmers fear the water levels could drop and bores could run dry. Adani has stated it will use 12 billion litres of water annually at the mine. The only certainty we get is whatever groundwater they destroy in their mining operations is lost for perpetuity, said Currie, who has fought a long-running legal battle to stop the mine from going ahead. Worst thing you can do to the Great Barrier Reef There are also concerns about the mines potential to damage Australias Great Barrier Reef. The decision to go ahead with the Adani mine is just about the most unbelievably negligent decision you can possibly imagine, said Charlie Veron, a leading marine biologist. Its the worst thing you can possibly do for the Great Barrier Reef. He believes the carbon emissions from extracting and burning coal from Adanis mine will inflict further damage on Australias already threatened reef. We lost about half the corals in the Great Barrier Reef in the last two years. In 15 years, it is highly probable therell be nothing left. Its that serious, said Veron. Last weeks cancellation of the launch came amid growing criticism and opposition to the project. The mine has been approved by the Australian government, which says it will help boost the countrys export revenues and provide much-needed jobs. The leader of the Australian Greens party, Richard Di Natale, said many, many thousands will physically stop the project if the government does not go back on its decision. Make no mistake, people right across the country are so motivated to stop this thing that if we cant stop it in the parliament, we will stop it by standing in front of those bulldozers, he told Sky News on Sunday. It wont go ahead. I am very confident of that. This is a disaster no matter which way you look at it, and it wont go ahead. Queenslands unemployment rate is at about 6.4 percent. Adani and the Australian government said the project will provide 10,000 jobs. Experts estimate that this figure will be much lower and would come at the expense of mining jobs elsewhere in Australia. Adanis track record in India Australian senator Matt Canavan said it took seven years for the Adani project to be approved because of Australias extremely robust environmental approval system. I challenge anyone to claim that this mine has not been subjected to the most stringent environmental controls, said Canavan. But opponents point to Adanis record in India, where four independent reports commissioned by the government and judiciary in the past decade found the company breached environmental laws by destroying mangroves and blocking creeks to reclaim land. Al Jazeeras 101 East travelled to the town of Mundra in Indias Gujarat state where fishermen accuse the company of dumping sand in local waterways. A local fisherman, Rahimtullah, said fish stocks have plummeted since Adani built a coal power plant and port nearby. They have taken our livelihood away, he said. In a statement to Al Jazeera, the Adani Group denied all claims it had caused environmental damage in India. The company said it is an absolute and religiously law-abiding organisation and respects the law of the land. Click here to read Adanis full statement. The next few weeks will be crucial for the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council as the Gulf crisis persists. The next few weeks are crucial for the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council. What does not happen in the next couple of months could prove to be as important as what does. The annual GCC summit is scheduled to take place in December. Since it was founded in 1981 this summit has never failed to take place, even during its darkest days the Gulf war and occupation of Kuwait; the leaders of the six member countries made a point of convening with the belief that the challenges facing their region can only be overcome through unity and cooperation. Today, however, the GCCs future hangs in the balance. The deep rift caused by the blockade imposed on Qatar and the attempts by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to engineer regime change in Doha, and even invade the gas-rich country, have thrown the region into turmoil. {articleGUID} For almost five months now there has been a concerted effort headed by Kuwait and supported by several regional and international powers to find a solution to the crisis. Qatar declared its readiness to sit down with its neighbours in a bid to find a solution, but according to senior sources in the Kuwaiti government, those sentiments have not be reciprocated by any of the three blockading nations, namely the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Instead, those countries have spent millions of dollars on PR campaigns accusing Doha of sponsoring terrorism, and have given explicit support to a handful of Qatari nationals, framing them as potential alternative leaders as they continue their push to depose the current emir. According to a senior Kuwaiti diplomat, there is a belief that if the GCC summit does not take place as scheduled, this would amount to the collapse of the organisation. The reason such a prospect is so grave is because of the stability both economic and political that the GCC represents in a region fraught with conflicts and divisions. Earlier this week there, Kuwaits emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, flew to Riyadh for a brief but extremely important meeting with Saudi Arabias King Salman. Sources told me that the meeting centred on the former impressing upon the latter just how imperative it is that the meeting of Gulf leaders takes place. {articleGUID} The problem is that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE seem either unwilling or incapable of agreeing to any reconciliation. Incapable because, after months of billing Qatar as a cancerous terror-sponsoring nation whose leaders need to be overthrown, a sudden agreement to sit around a table with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani would make them look insincere at best. And unwilling because the commonly perceived goal of the blockade on Qatar was to force Doha to succumb to the dictates of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, essentially forcing it to forfeit its sovereignty something that the blockade has failed to achieve. A possible plan B, if Kuwaits mediation efforts continue to fail, is the announcement of a US-GCC summit to be held at Camp David. Sources tell me this could be an opportunity for the UAE and Saudi to save face, as they would be attending the meeting at the request of the worlds most powerful superpower and their most strategic ally; rather than at the behest of little old Kuwait. This idea seems to be gaining traction amongst diplomats who believe that it is Washingtons responsibility to clean up the mess created or at least exacerbated by President Donald Trump. The challenge for many governments around the world is finding a way to get both sides of the divide to start talking. The brief glimmer of hope that was the phone call between Qatars emir and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman proved insufficient. In the region, it is felt that it lacked the American support and sustained pressure needed to make it work. A summit in the United States might do the trick. But even if it does work in getting these leaders to sit around the same table, the damage caused by this crisis will take a lot more to repair. The immediate concern may be over the future of the GCC as an organisation, but what is at stake is greater still: namely the future of the region and its people what does tomorrow hold for them? Will this part of the world be a place where pluralism is embraced, freedom and human rights are advanced and free markets are protected? Or will the future of the Gulf be limited to absolute monarchies that dress up their repressive politics and autocratic rule in a facade of liberalism, where the only real choice citizens have is which club to party at or what megamall to shop in? Article 155 is only two short paragraphs of the 1978 Spanish Constitution. Spain has approved direct rule in Catalonia after the Catalan parliament declared independence. The move gives the government of Mariano Rajoy to trigger Article 155 and rule Catalonia directly. Article 155 has often been described as the nuclear option and has been rolled out amid a struggle between Barcelona and Madrid following the Catalan referendum on October 1. But what is Article 155? Article 155 is only two short paragraphs of the 1978 Constitution of Spain. It says that if a regional government doesnt comply with the obligations of the Constitution or other laws it imposes, or acts in a way that seriously undermines the interests of Spain, the national government can ask the Senate to vote on the use of the measure. The Constitution states that an absolute majority must approve the articles use. If this happens, the national government may adopt the necessary methods to force a regional government to comply in order to protect said interests. The only directions given state that the national government may give orders to all authorities of regional governments. Josep Costa, a professor of political science at Barcelonas Universitat Pompeu Fabra, told Al Jazeera: The Spanish government really didnt have a plan to proceed with 155, so theres a lot of uncertainty as to what can be done and what cant. Costa claims he has seen many proposals, such as the creation of an interim government to run Catalonia, that are clearly not possible under 155. Theres no doubt [Article 155] has limits including the Catalan statute of autonomy, which cannot be repealed, Costa said. However, the Spanish government said on Thursday that it was confident triggering the article would help Madrid restore legality and constitutional order. Burundian refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are not getting enough food to eat. Burundian refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are not getting enough food to eat. About 400,000 people have fled Burundi since its political crisis began in 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid to run for a third term. The government is accused of trying to silence its critics over extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture all of which it denies. About 40,000 of the refugees are in the east of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of them told Al Jazeera that there are problems with the food supply. Al Jazeeras Malcolm Webb reports from Lusenda refugee camp. Puigdemont says if Spain follows up on stripping Catalonia of autonomy and blocks dialogue, secession will be declared. Barcelona, Spain If Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy persists in preventing dialogue and follows up on a threat to strip Catalonia of its autonomy, the Catalan parliament will declare independence, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said. Madrid is expected to respond to Puigdemonts latest letter, released on Thursday. On October 10, Puigdemont declared independence for eight seconds before suspending the declaration to encourage talks with Madrid. Rajoy responded with an ultimatum, giving Puigdemont until Monday to clarify his stance. On Monday, Puigdemont offered two months of dialogue with Madrid to foster independence. Madrid then extended the deadline to October 19, but threatened to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which would strip Catalonia of its autonomy. Thursdays developments extend a struggle between Madrid and Barcelona over the status of Catalonia since the disputed October 1 referendum on secession from Spain, which was halted by excessive force from Spanish national police. The Catalan government says voters overwhelmingly supported independence with 90 percent of votes for secession, but turnout was less than 50 percent. Spanish and Catalan-language media reports say that Rajoy has convened a meeting of ministers to enact Article 155, which is described as the nuclear option and has never been used since the constitution was ratified in 1978. Spanish authorities are reported to be unsure of its implementation. The stripping of Catalonias autonomy is sure to increase tensions between Madrid and Barcelona, which are already high. Two pro-independence organisers, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, were imprisoned Monday without bail pending charges of sedition. An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets to demand their release in Barcelona on Tuesday, calling them political prisoners. Chanting No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA, protesters marched on the University of Floridas (UF) Gainesville campus to rally against a speech by white supremacist Richard Spencer. Some 500 police officers also descended on the campus on Thursday. Livestream video of the demonstration showed community members, anti-racists and anti-fascist activists marching and singing Not in my town, not in my state, we dont want your Nazi hate. Some estimated that at least 1,000 people joined the march. Spencer is a leading member of the alt-right, a loosely-knit coalition that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists who advocate the creation of a white ethnostate. Inside the auditorium, the audience booed as Spencer took to the podium, according to the Gainesville Sun, a local daily. Go home, Spencer, many shouted in unison, with fists raised in the air. According to the Gainesville Sun, a flustered Spencer replied: Yall arent tolerant. Yall arent anything! Yall are full of s**t. You all are acting like animals and the communist Antifa [anti-fascist] that you are. By the early afternoon, at least one person was arrested for carrying a firearm on campus, the Alachua County Sheriffs Office said on Twitter. Mitch Emerson, a community organiser who was involved in planning the No Nazis at UF rally, said protesters were voicing their opposition to a group that poses imminent threat of violence. {articleGUID} Ive seen a lot of controversial speakers, he told Al Jazeera. To me, that is an important part of the campus experience. But there is a big difference between someone [holding controversial views] and saying we need to ethnically cleanse the country. On Thursday morning, UF President W Kent Fuchs urged students, faculty and staff not to follow their [white supremacists] game plan. In a video message posted on Twitter, Fuchs said Spencer and his followers hope to create protests against their right to speak on campuses such as ours so that theyre portrayed as on the side of the law and that we then are against the law. State of emergency Because UF allowed Spencers group to control ticket distribution, some racial minorities were turned away from the event, according to the Dream Defenders activist organisation and social media users. Dream Defender turned away from the event: They said people like me aren't welcome. #NoNazisatUF Dream Defenders (@Dreamdefenders) October 19, 2017 Thursdays event is the first high profile appearance by alt-right figures since Augusts Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the countrys largest white supremacist protest in decades. On August 12, white supremacists from across the country descended on Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally, where they protested the citys decision to remove a Confederate statue. As Unite the Right participants clashed with community members, anti-racists and anti-fascists throughout the city, one attendee, James Alex Fields, allegedly ploughed his car into a march of counterdemonstrators. The attack killed 32-year-old Heather Heather and injured 19 others. Spencer had originally applied for a permit to speak at UF on September 12. Citing public safety in the wake of Charlottesville, the university did not grant Spencer a permit for that date. After threats of legal action, UF allowed Spencers National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think-tank, to reschedule the speech for Thursday. In the run-up to the event, Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in Alachua County, where the university is located. I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent, the governor said in an executive order on Monday. The National Policy Institute did not reply to Al Jazeeras request for a comment. {articleGUID} In a statement released earlier this month, UF said that although it denounced Spencers white supremacist rhetoric, the university was required to allow the free expression of all viewpoints. The statement also said the university had spent upwards of $600,000 on security, which involved the participation of the universitys police department, the Alachua County Sheriffs Department, the Gainesville Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. Of that total, Spencers National Policy Institute was asked to pay $10,564 to rent the venue and contribute to security costs. Emerson criticised the decision to spend the large sum of money on security for Spencer and his followers. I understand the need for security. But why are the students tuition dollars and Floridas tax dollars going toward subsidising this? he told Al Jazeera by telephone before Thursdays rally. Instead, Emerson argued that UF should have denied a permit for Spencer and used the funds for legal protection against a potential lawsuit. Flash protests In the run-up to Spencers speech on Thursday, the Daily Stormer, one of the largest neo-Nazi websites in the country, urged its followers to hold impromptu demonstrations outside of Jewish and African American institutions in Gainesville. The sites founder, Andrew Anglin, instructed followers to cover racist or explicitly Nazi tattoos and dress in a manner that does not identify them as white supremacists. Anglin called for brief flash protests outside of Jewish-owned businesses, the Chabad Jewish Center, the Institute of Black Culture and the Gainesville Sun office. He also suggested that the protesters chant Jews will not replace us, a slogan that white supremacists used during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last month. Inside the auditorium, Spencer was joined by well-known white supremacists Mike Enoch, a podcaster who is also known as Mike Penovich, and Eli Mosley, leader of Identity Evropa. {articleGUID} Lecia Brooks, outreach director of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a watchdog that monitors hate groups, explained that Spencers appearance in Gainesville comes after months of white supremacist recruitment campaigns on university campuses. Their hope is to pick up as many disenfranchised whites on college campuses as they can, she told Al Jazeera, alluding to a surge in white supremacist flyer distribution and racist incidents on campuses. Between the November 8 election of President Donald Trump and April, the SPLC documented at least 330 bias incidents at universities. Amid widespread public backlash, a string of universities and cities declined to provide Spencer and other far-right figures with event permits after the deadly violence in Charlottesville. Among the universities that rejected Spencers application for speaking events are Texas A&M and Ohio State University. They have been trying to have Charlottesville 2.0 and 3.0 since [August], said Brooks, and now they are trying to regroup because they received bad media with the death of Heather Heyer. Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank increases pessimism Israel has approved another large set of plans for settler homes in the occupied West Bank. It is part of an Israeli government push to expand illegal settlement building and is increasing pessimism about progress towards a two-state solution. Residents of a town outside of Mexico City worry it will take years to rebuild their lives after 7.1 tremor last month. Jojutla, Mexico It was one month ago that Penelope Benitez Amador felt the floor start to shake at the high school where she worked just outside Jojutla, Mexico. I start work at 1:10, but that day I got there at 1:11, she said. I was still heading to the classroom at 1:14, when the earthquake hit and I had to run out of the building. When the shaking stopped, she immediately headed towards the school her children attended in Jojutla. It was a chaos, the cars, the people running and screaming, terrified about their loved ones, she said. It looked like a warzone. Now, one month after the 7.1 earthquake struck central Mexico, killing 370 people and destroying thousands of buildings, Benitez Amador says towns like Jojutla are struggling to recover. A municipality of 50,000 people about 80km south of the capital Mexico City, Jojutla has become a major commercial centre for the region. The September 19 earthquake killed at least 30 people in the small town and damaged more than 3,000 buildings beyond repair. Weve never experienced anything like this, Benitez Amador told Al Jazeera. {articleGUID} Weve had earthquakes before, but never this bad, the high school English and business teacher added. The majority of Jojutla has been affected. With dozens of businesses destroyed, Jojutlas economy has been severely hit. Many businesses collapsed, and the ones that survived are losing customers and facing higher rents, Amador told Al Jazeera. It affects everything. Ive heard it could be two or three years until our economy recovers. No money to rebuild Amador and her children live in Higueron, a housing development complex in Jojutla, where she is president of the neighbourhood association. She said she was shocked when she arrived in Higueron after the major tremor. The front gate was broken down, there were houses cracked open, people were crying, she said. I was shaking, and the only thing I could do was hug my neighbours and tell them that everything was going to be OK. Fortunately, there were no deaths in Higueron, and thats the important thing. A census by local and federal governments in the weeks after the earthquake clarified the scale of the devastation, finding that the tremor only spared 12 of the 157 houses in housing development from major damage, and left 73 beyond repair. The census-takers marked the buildings with colour-coded spray paint to signify the level of damage: green means no serious damage, yellow means reparable damage and red means a total loss and that the building is unsafe and needs to be demolished. Higueron was built in the 1980s by Infonavit, a federal programme that provides low-interest loans for workers to buy houses in government-funded developments. The development is now 34 years old and nearly all of its residents have already paid off their Infonavit credits, leaving them with full responsibility of the houses. Once you pay off your credit, youre responsible for the house, and you have to buy insurance if you want to protect it, Benitez Amador said. But in Mexico, we dont have a culture of buying insurance, so a lot of us are very worried because we dont have the money to build a new house. The federal government has guaranteed payments to those who have lost their homes through the Natural Disaster Fund (Fonden). People whose homes were marked as total losses in the census will be eligible for payments of 120,000 pesos (around $6,300). {articleGUID} But the sum is quite small compared with the value of most houses in Morelos state, and will only begin to cover the cost of rebuilding. Dozens of residents in Higueron who lost their homes are living in a nearby park in tents that have been donated by the Chinese government. Well probably be living like this for a while because people dont have the money to rent rooms, and rents have gone way up since the earthquake, said Benitez Amador. It used to cost 1,500 pesos ($80) a month to rent a room, now it costs 4,000 ($210). I dont even make 4,000 pesos in a month. Government not trusted Benitez Amador, like many Higueron residents, worries the government wont fulfil its promises of providing relief to those most affected. Across Morelos, rumours about the government obstructing citizen relief efforts have abounded on social media, with some accusing the state government of stealing supplies in order to use them as handouts in upcoming election campaigns. The government has denied such allegations, but general mistrust of the governments commitment to relief remains. On Wednesday, a delegation from the Michoacan section of the National Social Security Workers Union (SNTSS), travelled to Higueron to hand out bottled water, food, medicine and other supplies. Salatiel Oropeza Hernandez, a member SNTSS, told Al Jazeera that the union prefers to send aid directly than to deal with the government. Unfortunately, weve found out that the state government in Morelos is stockpiling supplies in warehouses, instead of giving them out to the people who need them, he said. Im giving them the benefit of the doubt that theyre doing that because they want to ration the supplies and give them out little by little. But we see a real urgent need, so thats why were bringing things directly. Jojutla Mayor Alfonso Jesus Sotelo Martinez told Al Jazeera that he understands this mistrust, and he has taken measures to make the local governments relief efforts as transparent as possible. I understand that there is a great distrust of government on the part of civil society, and were taking steps to address that issue by promoting citizen councils, he said. Were channelling all of the donations through the citizen councils, so that its not the government who receives it, or who gives it out. But the mayor admitted that his government was not really prepared for the challenges brought by the earthquake. [The government] cant do it alone, we need the peoples help, he said. If we had to do it alone, I would just throw in the towel. But luckily, the people are active and ready to help. For Benitez Amador, there is a hard road ahead, but she is confident that the people of Jojutla will be able to rebuild their city and return to normal life. This is where were from, we cant just go somewhere else, she said. Its going to be hard, and its going to take years, but we have fighting spirits, and we know how to make do with what we have. Little by little, Jojutla is going to recover. Journalists in Malta have taken to streets to insist they will stand up to intimidation as the sons of slain investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia called on the island nations prime minister to quit. Hundreds of news industry workers on Thursday gathered outside the parliament in the capital, Valletta, holding up front pages and placards splattered in blood-red paint to protest the murder of Caruana Galizia, a well-known reporter exposing corruption in Malta who was killed in a car bomb attack on Monday. This is one of the most despicable acts ever carried out in this country. Nobody deserves to die for exercising the right to speak, said Herman Grech, online editor at The Times of Malta, reading a common statement on the industrys behalf. We stand here today to give hope to society. This attack on one of us will not stop us from shining a light where others want darkness. The attack on one of us will not muzzle us. The attack on one of us will not stop us from fulfilling our role as a watchdog to the institutions. We will stand up to intimidation. The statement urged the government to promote press freedom and stop tolerating incitement against the free media. We will not stop. We will not be afraid, Grech concluded, to heavy applause. Carrying a red-spattered Maltese flag, the protesting journalists also marched to the Courts of Justice, where an application was filed calling for the investigation into Caruana Galizias murder to ensure her sources are protected. Maltas newspapers, broadcasters and online media, including the countrys many politically partisan outlets, will all carry a common message about press freedom on Sunday. We have agreed on a national campaign under the slogan: the pen conquers fear, Norma Saliba, chair of the Institute of Maltese Journalists, told AFP news agency. Show political responsibility and resign The murder stunned Malta and caused international shock over whether the Mediterranean island is becoming a cesspit of corruption against the backdrop of an economic boom which some see as having allowed both organised crime and a kickbacks culture to flourish. Caruana Galizia, 53, had used her widely read blog, Running Commentary, to highlight numerous cases of suspected corruption, including several scandals implicating the inner circle of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat which had left her facing a string of legal suits. Following the allegations, the Labour leader called, and won, an early election in June. Muscat, who was in Brussels on Thursday, has ruled out quitting and has vowed, with the help of FBI investigators, to bring to justice those responsible for killing a reporter he has described as his greatest adversary. On Wednesday, Muscat told parliament that the government would put up a substantial and unprecedented reward for information leading to a conviction over the assassination. Her sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul said on Thursday that the government was putting up a million euro ($1.2m), but vowed they would not bow to pressure to endorse the idea. We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mothers murder to turn around and say that justice has been served, they said. The prime minister asked for our endorsement. This is how he can get it: show political responsibility and resign. Huge blast Investigators, meanwhile, were looking at similarities with other car bombings in Malta over the last two years six in all including Caruana Galizias. None have been solved. Caruana Galizia had just driven away from her home in Mosta, a town outside Maltas capital of Valletta, when the exploded, sending the vehicles wreckage spiralling over a wall. The force of the blast reduced her car to pieces and catapulted the journalists body into a nearby field, witnesses said. She leaves behind a husband and three sons. Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the Malta Independent that it appears that mobile detonated explosives were used in each of the six bombings since the start of 2016, which caused four deaths and two serious injuries. The previous victims were all known to police, the paper said. Very few people could construct such a bomb. Instructions may be obtained online, but building such a device would still require a certain degree of skill, Rizzo said. Investigators have not publicly identified which explosives were used in the journalists murder, but experts say any military grade explosives, like Semtex, are not available in Malta and would have had to be brought in from abroad. Forty-three US legislators have urged the Trump administration to reimpose US travel bans on Myanmars military leaders. The United States holds Myanmars military leadership responsible for its harsh crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority, the US secretary of state said. Rex Tillerson, however, stopped short of saying on Wednesday whether the US would take any action against Myanmars military leaders over an offensive that has driven more than 500,000 Rohingya out of the country. The world cant just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area, Tillerson told Washingtons Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank. Forty-three US legislators urged the Trump administration to reimpose US travel bans on Myanmars military leaders and prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for the crackdown. The request, in a letter to Tillerson from members of the House of Representatives, said Myanmar authorities appear to be in denial of what has happened, and called for Washington to take meaningful steps against those who have committed human rights abuses. {articleGUID} Rohingya have fled Myanmar in large numbers since late August when Rohingya rebel attacks sparked a ferocious military response, with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape. Tillerson said Washington understood Myanmar had a problem with armed groups, but the military had to be disciplined and restrained in the way it dealt with this and to allow access to the region so that we can get a full accounting of the circumstances. Someone, if these reports are true, is going to be held to account for that, Tillerson said. And its up to the military leadership of Burma to decide what direction they want to play in the future of Burma. Tillerson said Washington saw Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, as an important emerging democracy, but the Rohingya crisis was a test for the power-sharing government. State news agency describes USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier as a prime target as it carries out war games. North Koreas official news agency described a US aircraft carrier patrolling off the Korean Peninsula as a primary target and said Washington should expect an unimaginable attack. The latest threat on Thursday came amid massive joint US-South Korean naval exercises off the peninsula involving the American aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan. North Korea condemned Seoul and Washingtons move to mobilise nuclear strategic assets near the volatile peninsula. Pyongyang has slammed the warship manoeuvres as a rehearsal for war. The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face [an] unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time, said a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. Tensions have skyrocketed because of North Koreas recent nuclear and missile tests and exchanges of heated rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Koreas leadership. The USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, patrolled in waters east of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday in a show of sea and air power. {articleGUID} The US Navys biggest warship in Asia, with a crew of 5,000 sailors, launched almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck, in sight of South Korean islands. It is conducting drills with the South Korean navy involving 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the East Sea. The dangerous and aggressive behaviour by North Korea concerns everybody in the world, Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the USS Reagans strike group, said as warplanes taxied on the flight deck above. We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend the Republic of Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to take the highest-level measures against the United States and Trump threatened to totally destroy North Korea if the US is forced to defend itself and its allies from a missile attack. North Korea fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July and conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test last month. The US military manoeuvres come ahead to Trumps visit to Japan and South Korea starting on November 5. Sharif resigned in July after Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income. Pakistans former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been indicted on corruption charges stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, pressing charges over accusations that could see the former leader jailed. Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. Sharif, his daughter Maryam, as well as her husband Muhammad Safdar, were all indicted by a court of the anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Safdar were present in court, but Sharif sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment. Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as baseless after exiting the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and they would face these cases with courage. {articleGUID} The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. Rana Sanaullah, a senior leader of his party, said we knew justice would not be done. Sanaullah added there were hidden hands behind Sharifs dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations, without elaborating. Sharifs disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London. The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Sharif but ordered an investigation into his familys wealth. After the probe, it disqualified him and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial. A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the familys wealth did not match its income and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats. The NAB has in the past been described as toothless because of its low conviction rates, especially when it comes to powerful politicians, and investigations that last many years. But the Supreme Court has ordered the trial to be concluded within six months. Opening arguments begin on October 26. Palestinian parties say they will stand firm after statement from US official against Hamas role in unity government. Fatah and Hamas have vowed to press ahead with the implementation of a national unity deal, in response to a US official demanding the disarming of Hamas. The two dominant parties in Palestinian politics signed a unity deal in Cairo last week, in an effort to end a decade of divide between them. Jason Greenblatt, the US presidents special representative for international negotiations, on Thursday said Hamas must disarm if it wants any role in a unity government, in the first detailed US response to the deal. Hamas rejected Greenblatts comments as blackmail attempts and American bias in favour of Israeli positions. The movement said in a statement that the US officials remarks represented blatant interference in internal Palestinian affairs and were aimed at sabotaging the Palestinian groups reconciliation process. Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmeh told Al Jazeera that the agreement is an internal Palestinian matter that will help bring peace. The deal that we signed with Hamas talks about building a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders which is in line with international law, Qawasmeh said when asked about Greenblatts comments. Earlier in the day, in a statement echoing Israels position, Greenblatt had said any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties including to disarm terrorists and commit to peaceful negotiations. {articleGUID} If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements, he added, referring to the Middle East Quartets requirements. The quartet, which comprises the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia, was established in 2002 to aid the peace process. While the Palestinian Authority has accepted the key principles outlined by the quartet, Hamas views the demands as conflicting with its position of using armed resistance to end Israeli occupation. I think we should clarify our position to the Americans that the unity deal will help the political process and will help bring peace, Fatahs Qawasmeh said. Israel is trying through its allies to pressure the Palestinian leadership. We declare that our decision is a Palestinian, independent, national decision and we will not go back to division, he added. Hamas has been the de-facto ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007 after the party defeated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas long-dominant Fatah party in parliamentary elections. When Fatah refused to recognise the vote, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in an armed conflict, after which Israel imposed an airtight siege on the territory. The two groups have governed the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively ever since. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would refuse any diplomatic talks with the unity government if Hamas had any role in it. Following previous decisions, the Israeli government will not hold political talks with a Palestinian government that is supported by Hamas, a terror organisation calling for the destruction of Israel, the statement read. A previous statement made on his Facebook on October 12 said: Say yes to peace and no to joining hands with Hamas [] reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas makes peace much harder to achieve. The so-called peace process has been stalled for decades, despite international initiatives to forge an agreement, with issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the fate of more than five million Palestinian refugees, and settlements blocking any progress. US President Donald Trump has said he aims to broker a peace deal but no substantive developments have been made so far. {articleGUID} Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords in 1993. The agreement led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, an interim self-governing body meant to lead to an independent Palestinian State on the territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967. But since then, Israels settlement project in the occupied territories, which started in 1967, has accelerated, blocking any chance of an independent Palestinian state. The number of Israelis that were transferred to live in the occupied West Bank rose from 111,000 to 750,000 since the accords were signed, according to Palestinian statistics. There is intensifying international pressure on Myanmar over the violent repression of Rohingya Muslims. The United Nations and the US government hold the military responsible and are calling for stringent measures to deal with the crisis. There is intensifying international pressure on Myanmar over the violent repression of Rohingya. The United Nations and the US government hold the military responsible and are calling for stringent measures to deal with the crisis. Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees have been arriving in bordering Bangladesh daily after Myanmars atrocious military crackdown led to a major hunger crisis. Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a UN rights chief, told Al Jazeera that the international community must intervene if Myanmars perpetrators are not punished for what has been called crimes against humanity. Al Jazeeras Osama Bin Javaid reports. South Korea is looking to strengthen its defence system to combat the nuclear threat from North Korea and plans to deploy more advanced weapons. South Korea is looking to strengthen its defence system to combat the nuclear threat from North Korea and plans to deploy more advanced weapons. President Moon Jae-in made the announcement as he outlined plans to boost the countrys military exports and global competitiveness. But the presidents first job is to root out corruption, which he says has been limiting growth in the arms sector. Al Jazeeras Craig Leeson reports from Seongnam, South Korea. Army base targeted by two suicide bombers then overrun by gunmen in hours-long firefight. The Taliban launched a major attack on an army base in southern Kandahar province, killing at least 43 Afghan soldiers. The brazen assault on Thursday began with two suicide car bombings, setting off several hours of fighting. Of 60 soldiers manning the base, 43 were killed, nine wounded, and six missing after Taliban fighters stormed the camp in the middle of the night, the defence ministry said in a statement. At least nine Taliban were also reported killed at the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district. It was the third assault on a security installation this week. Eighty people were killed and 300 wounded in attacks on Tuesday in Afghanistans southeast the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursdays attack. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said at least 60 Afghan soldiers were killed and wounded many others, he said. Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP news agency the assailants detonated at least one explosive-packed truck and razed the compound. We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one, Waziri said. Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside. We have sent a delegation to assess the situation. The base is under ANA [Afghan National Army] control, he added. The US launched an air strike in response to the attack, a spokesman at the coalition military command in Kabul said. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. As unrest continues, Al Jazeera speaks to W Africa expert about the root of the crisis and possible scenarios forward. Security forces and police have shut down Lome, the capital of Togo, in a bid to prevent anti-government demonstrations from taking place for a second consecutive day. Protesters have held several rallies since August, demanding an end to Togos 50-year ruling family dynasty. They want to see constitutional reforms introduced, including a two-term limit for presidents. On Thursday, security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators who had put up roadblocks and set tires on fire. Damehame Yark, the countrys security minister, told reporters that at least four people were killed this week as protesters clashed with security forces in the capital and the northern town of Sokode. At least 60 people were arrested across the country. According to Amnesty International, the death toll since August has now risen to eight. Activists say it is at least 13. With the protests showing no signs of slowing down, Al Jazeera spoke to Jeannine Ella Abatan, a West Africa researcher based in Dakar, Senegal, about the protests against President Faure Gnassingbe and how the crisis may be resolved. Al Jazeera: There have been a series of protests against the president. Can you give us a sense of the situation now? Jeannine Ella Abatan: Since August, people have been taking to the streets. The first protest was led by the Pan-African National Party (PNP), which called for constitutional and institutional reform. These demands later evolved to a call for the president to step down. There was another set of protests in several cities in early September after the government introduced a draft bill to reform the constitution. Opposition leaders refused to accept it because it does not retroactively address the issue of the mandate of Gnassingbe, who is actually in his third term of presidency. They also argue that the proposed bill is not in line with the 2006 Global Political Agreement (GPA), neither the 1992 constitution that guarantee, among others, a two-term presidential limit. Al Jazeera: But the calls for institutional and constitutional reforms date back many years. Why has it reached such intensity now? Abatan: Yes, this issue dates back to 2002 when Eyadema Gnassingbe, the former president and father of the current president whose term of office was drawing to an end, revised the 1992 constitution to run for election. Following Faure Gnassingbes victory in the contested 2005 election, during which around 500 people died, the government and opposition parties signed the GPA in 2006 with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). {articleGUID} That eased tensions, precisely because it provided for the implementation of constitutional and institutional reforms in line with the 1992 constitution. Eleven years after the GPA was signed, little progress has been made to implement those reforms despite the numerous follow-up dialogues that were organised. What is new about these protests is their scale, especially the amount of people that took to the streets on September 6, and the fact that the PNP has been able to mobilise people in the north of the country, particularly in the town of Kara, the base of the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party. Al Jazeera: Tikpi Atchadam, leader of the PNP, is said to be behind the protests. What do we know about him? Abatan: The PNP was set up in November 2014. Atchadam is a former member of the Parti Democratique Pour Le Renouveau and served on the Independent National Electoral Commission in the early 2000s on behalf of that party. He led the August 19 protests and managed to mobilise in Lome, but also in his hometown of Sokode. It is not clear who is backing him, but what is known is that he has been able to unite the opposition behind the call to have the 2006 agreement honoured. Al Jazeera: There is a lot of frustration with the lack of reforms. But what is the main driver of these protests? Abatan: Yes, there is a delay in the implementation of the 2006 agreement. This has driven the protests, and people have been frustrated for a long time. The implementation of the long-awaited constitutional and institutional reforms is meant to create the necessary conditions for democracy in the country. Togo is among the lowest-ranking countries in the Human Development Index, according to 2015 United Nations data. The reforms were meant to create institutions and stabilise governance this was seen to be important for economic development. Al Jazeera: How have regional bodies like ECOWAS responded to this crisis? Abatan: During the election stalemate in The Gambia earlier this year, ECOWAS played an important role in solving the crisis. But Gnassingbe is the current chair of ECOWAS, and this has placed the body in a difficult situation when it comes to the organisations response to the situation in Togo. On October 4, ECOWAS, jointly with the African Union (AU) and the UN Office of West Africa and the Sahel, published a communique in which they call on the government to set the date for the referendum and also urged the different stakeholders to continue dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. Al Jazeera: What are the possible scenarios going forward? Are we likely to see these protests expand or will they be resolved through dialogue? Abatan: There certainly needs to be a peaceful way out of the crisis. The need for political dialogue cannot be understated. It is an important step to ease tension and prevent an escalation of violence. Regional and international organisations such as ECOWAS, the AU and the UN, but also neighbouring countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire and Ghana have an important role to play in creating the framework for an inclusive dialogue between the different stakeholders. Government says new law will cut unregistered marriages but opposition calls it a step towards weakening of secularism. The Turkish parliament has passed a law allowing muftis religious civil servants to perform civil marriages in the same capacity as other officials authorised to conduct such ceremonies. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) says the new legislation, which was adopted on Wednesday, will cut the number of unregistered marriages. But critics, including opposition parties and womens rights groups, see the move as a step towards the weakening of Turkeys secularism and say it will increase the number of child marriages. You want it or not This will be passed by the parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week in response to protests organised by rights groups against the controversial bill. [We support] registered marriages, not unregistered marriages. This will reduce unregistered marriages, he added. Religious ceremonies According to the Turkish Civil Code, municipal officials, village chiefs and foreign missions are authorised to perform civil marriages now, muftis have been added to that list. The code says people who want to get married should be at least 18 years old. The age limit can be reduced to 17 when there is parental consent or a court verdict in special cases. The new law does not make any changes to the legal age of marriage. In addition to having a civil wedding, some Muslims in Turkey also carry out a religious ceremony. Such events, performed by imams, are not illegal and can be carried out at will. However, they lack legally binding status. In rural parts of Turkey, it is not uncommon for some people to organise a religious ceremony without carrying out the civil one. This, however, often leaves the couples, and particularly women, in a position of increased vulnerability as they lack access to the legal rights conferred by civil marriage. Speaking before the parliaments vote, government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the law would deal with those cases where people, including minors, would conceal carrying out just a religious ceremony. People hide these marriages. We are trying to prevent that, he said on Tuesday. Bozdag said the new law was not aimed at replacing civil marriages with religious ones, but it only added a new category of official who has the authority to perform civil ceremonies. Child marriages Yet, opposition remains, and the Republican Peoples Party, which voted against the law, has already announced that it plans to demand its annulment in the Constitutional Court. Lawyer Aydeniz Alisbah Tuskan, a representative of the Istanbul Bar Associations Womens Rights Centre, said that the law would increase the number of child marriages in a country where there are many such cases through ceremonies carried out by imams. It will be hard to monitor the civil marriages carried out by muftis, she said. According to United Nations data, 15 percent of marriages carried out in Turkey between 2008 and 2014 were made before one or both of the spouses had turned 18. Tuskan also said that the new law violates the 174th article of the Constitution, which says a marriage should take place before secular official authorities. She told Al Jazeera: Marriage registrars within municipalities or the headmen in the villages are assigned to perform civil marriages. These people work under the Ministry of Interior. Muftis, who work under Directorate of Religious Affairs, are constitutionally not allowed to carry out marriages. They merely deal with religious issues and inquiries. Ergin Cinmen, a human rights lawyer, told Al Jazeera that the governments move targets secularism in Turkey. According to the new law, marriages are civil marriages be they by muftis or other officials, so the validity of marriages is the same. Nevertheless, it is going to be the beginning of certain changes in Turkey towards weakening secularism, argued Cinmen. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has urged European Union leaders to set out a plan for negotiations about Britains exit from the bloc to move forward, but her counterparts called for more tangible details. Mays appeal on Thursday came at a Brussels summit where the 27 other leaders were set to decide that there had been insufficient progress on Brexit talks to open negotiations on a future trade deal until December. Preliminary negotiations have focused on citizens rights, a financial settlement and the Irish border. EU negotiators say they need more progress on those issues before talks on a future relationship can begin. Still, May called for swift progress on the current stage of negotiations, with a view to achieving enough progress so her EU counterparts could approve the start of actual negotiations during a summit in December. I particularly want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens rights, May said on the sidelines of the summit. I set out a few weeks ago in Florence a very bold and ambitious agenda and vision for our future partnership between the EU and the UK I look forward to us being able to progress that in the weeks ahead, added May, referring to a speech she gave in the Italian city last month, where she proposed a two-year transition after Brexit. The British must be clear However, several other EU leaders noted that there had not been sufficient progress and called for more details from the British side. What they [Britain] always say is that they want to continue to have the closest possible relationship with Europe and with Ireland, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. We already have the closest possible relationship: its called the European Union. And I think we need a little bit more detail a lot more detail, in fact on how you can square the idea of the closest possible relationship with the circle of the fact that they are departing from that. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said May hasnt been able to produce any details on a possible financial settlement. I called her [May] and said: Listen, we need more clarity, specifically about the bill, Rutte told reporters. The British must be very clear on the exit bill. French President Emmanuel Macron said that all 27 member states were strongly united in the conclusion that Brexit negotiations to date have not gotten far enough. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the progress while not yet sufficient was encouraging. Al Jazeeras Jonah Hull, reporting from the Brussels summit, said, the EU is not convinced about sufficient progress in the preliminary talks. They are not sold on Britains offer of meeting its outstanding liabilities and commitments to the tune of $20bn-plus over a two-year transition period the figure they have in mind is likely tens of billions of dollars higher than that, he said. After hearing a presentation by May on the state of the Brexit negotiations Thursday evening, the 27 other EU leaders are expected to approve a statement on Friday stating that they could not yet give a mandate to begin talks about a future relationship. However, noting positive momentum in the talks, they will call for the start of internal preparatory talks, to speed up moving on to the next stage, which they are aiming to approve in December pending sufficient progress. "Putting people first". My open letter to EU citizens living in the UK #Brexit https://t.co/Lz3ayAKtOw Theresa May (@theresa_may) October 19, 2017 Ahead of her trip to Brussels, May published an open letter to the three million European citizens living in Britain promising they would not be asked to leave after Brexit in March 2019. She also engaged in a whirlwind of diplomacy before the summit, calling the French and German leaders, among others, and having dinner with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Monday. Insight into the fight to stop an Indian companys plans of opening one of the worlds largest coal mines in Australia. It will be the largest coal mine in Australia and one of the biggest in the world if it goes ahead. The proposed Carmichael mine will span more than 30 kilometres and produce 60 million tonnes of coal annually. Adani, the Indian company behind the mine, says it will create thousands of jobs, and it has the Australian Governments unwavering support. But its facing fierce opposition from critics who say the mine is commercially unviable and will wreak havoc on the environment. 101 East investigates whether the Adani mine will be a bonanza for Australia or a destructive disaster. Click here to read Adanis full statement. Spain says it will take away Catalonias autonomy as regions leader ignores deadline to abandon secession plans. The government of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday to trigger Article 155 of the countrys constitution. It allows leaders in Madrid to take all measures necessary to prevent an autonomous region from breaking the law. Article 155 has never been applied before, so its consequences are not clear. The options include removing the leadership of Catalonia, taking control of the police force and calling a snap regional election. Catalonias President Carles Puigdemont has threatened to declare independence in the regional parliament if government leaders in Madrid do not hold talks. Puigdemont claims widespread support 90 percent in last months referendum voted to secede. But voter turnout was just over 40 percent, with secession opponents boycotting the referendum. So how will Madrid impose its will? Presenter: James Bays Guests: Albert Royo Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia Paul Whiteway Independent Diplomat non-profit advisory group Eduard Roig Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Barcelona. A former slave fights for the rights of girls sold into slavery while pursuing her own dream of becoming a lawyer. Editors note: This film is no longer available to view online. Urmila Chaudhary wants to change Nepal. The 23-year-old woman fights against centuries-old social structures with one goal: to end child slavery in her country. At the age of six, Urmilas family sold her to become a household slave, or kamlari, in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. Every year, her parents received money from her enslavers, for whom Urmila had to work up to 15 hours every day. Urmila was freed at age 17. Now, she is on a quest for justice. Together with her fellow campaigners, she frees girls from captivity, makes demands of the prime minister to end slavery, holds press conferences and travels internationally. Back at home in Ghorahi, she tries to complete the next year at school. She wants to be a lawyer. But she realises that in order to make her own life choices she must break through the control of those around her. FILMMAKERS VIEW By Susan Gluth Eleven years of Urmilas life were spent in captivity, without positive attachment figures, without love and affection and full of physical and mental cruelty. Where did she get her incredible strength from her ability to feel empathy and social responsibility? Why was she able to survive those years in slavery without being broken by them? My aim was not to produce a film that would inform people about slavery and human trafficking in Nepal. It was to tell the story of a young woman who was at rock bottom, but nonetheless managed to get back on her feet again, for herself and for others. Now, Urmila is in the process of finding her own path in life. The demons of the past remain Urmilas constant companions. It is difficult for the former kamlari to speak in detail about what happened to them. Urmilas memories are shown through the scenes of the trauma theatre. In the film, we have assembled scenes showing the everyday lives of former slave girls acted out by themselves in order to show how what happened continues to lurk that the trauma is still there. The demons of the past remain Urmila's constant companions. by Susan Gluth, filmmaker Child labour and exploitation are still relevant topics in Nepal. Following the April 2015 earthquake, human trafficking from Nepal to neighbouring India has spiked. The earthquake has left many parents dead or homeless and desperately poor, making it easy for people smugglers to lure children across the border with tempting promises. And during your next trek in the Himalaya, take a look at who is serving your tea. In many cases, they will not be the children of the hut operator. This film was shot between January 2012 and September 2015. I travelled to Nepal eight times in these years, visiting Urmila more or less every six months. I tried to get as close to Urmila as she would let me. We rescued the little girl from the bus and we cried together on the bed when Urmila failed her School Leaving Certificate exam. I never applied for a shooting permit which foreigners need to shoot a professional film in Nepal. They would have never given it to me because of the sensitivity of the topic. So during my visits to Nepal, I was constantly at risk of ending up in jail. I had a great team behind me, even if I was often shooting alone in Nepal. But many wonderful people in Nepal helped make this film possible. There are many strong women in the country who, step by step, are gaining power. They will change the country for the better so that the future might be brighter for everyone. The Department of Defense awarded two UF cardiovascular researchers nearly a $15 million grant to study heart disease in women. Dr. Carl Pepine, 76, and Eileen Handberg, 58, wrote a grant that answered the Department of Defenses call for heart disease research focused on women. (The Department of Defense) indicates that the growth of women in the active duty military is actually the most rapidly growing segment of their population, Pepine said. Thats part of the reason for their concern. The researchers started working on the grant around September of last year. They received notice of funding on Sept. 15, Pepine said. The researchers will conduct a four-year clinical trial called the Womens IschemiA TReatment Reduces Events In Non-ObstRuctive CAD, or WARRIOR, to explore whether aggressive treatment will reduce stroke, heart attack, heart failure, hospitalization and death in women who have non-obstructive coronary artery disease. Women with non-obstructive CAD do not have clogged arteries but rather, heart symptoms as if there were significant blockages, Handberg said. The money will fund the trials recruitment, screening, enrollment, treatment and observation, Pepine said. A total of 4,422 women with non-obstructive heart disease will be recruited from Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, mainly located in Florida, Handberg said. Recruitment for study subjects will begin in January 2018. A randomized group of half the participants will get intensive medical therapy and the other half, the reference group, will not receive treatment but will remain monitored. Intensive therapy will consist of high doses of cholesterol-lowering medication, blood pressure medication and low doses of aspirin, Handberg said. These medications are used in high-risk patients for heart disease, heart failure, and data shows that they reduce the risk of cardiovascular symptoms, she said. Most of these women would not be treated with this combination of therapy because people don't feel like they have significant disease, Handberg said. For years, non-obstructive CAD was believed to be a benign syndrome, which isnt the case according to new findings, Pepine said. Since these patients werent showing significant blockage of their arteries in screenings, care providers would dismiss them despite their cardiovascular symptoms, he said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Between 60 and 70 percent of women who show signs of disease, like chest pain, and who are referred to further screening, dont end up having obstructive disease, Pepine said. These women have symptoms but not enough to warrant intervention like surgery, Handberg said. The studys findings will be used in the best ways to treat non-obstructive CAD in the future. This trial is so important because we feel like that if they are aggressively treated that we have a good chance of showing reduction in symptoms and events, Handberg said. Jordan Liebman, whose license is about to expire on his upcoming birthday, Nov. 5, will be among the first in Alachua County with a new design on his Florida license. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles began issuing its most secure and technologically advanced driver license and ID card to date this past August, said Alexis Bakofsky, the deputy communications director. This has been a process over the last few years, Bakofsky said. The department has worked in conjunction with law enforcement, tax collectors and supervisors of elections to start looking at the redesign. Circulation of the design, which has not been updated since 2003, is increasing across Florida, and in November, all three Alachua County tax collectors offices will begin issuing the new licenses, which will contain roughly a dozen new features including redundant data, ultraviolet ink and optically variable features. The downtown location, located at 12 SE First St., will start Nov. 7, while the other two locations will begin distributing the new license later that week. By the end of December, the new credential will be available at every tax collectors office and DMV service station in Florida, Bakofsky said. Liebman, a Santa Fe College agriculture senior, said he is really looking forward to receiving the new license and the designations offered on the card. I like the cards new graphic design much more than the old one, it feels more Floridian to me, the 23-year-old said. Plus, its an added bonus that my driver license will now serve as my (Florida Wildlife Conservation) license too. Bakofsky said the department wanted to make sure the cards new design represents what people love about the state while still serving its security purposes. We want to make sure the card is uniquely Florida, she said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now English News Agenda set for 19th CPC National Congress: Spokesperson Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Octobre 2017 Tuo stressed that China's policy of utilizing foreign investment will not change, Chinas protection for the lawful rights and interests of the foreign companies will not change, Chinas commitment to provide better services for the investment and operation from all companies will remain unchanged. Source: People's Daily The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will open at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and conclude on Oct. 24, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Tuo Zhen, spokesperson for the 19th National Congress of CPC, held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People, briefing the media on the upcoming congress. The credentials of 2,280 delegates to the 19th National Congress have been approved, he said. He introduced that the agenda includes: to hear and examine a report submitted by the 18th CPC Central Committee; to examine a work report of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; to deliberate and adopt an amendment to the Party's Constitution; to elect the Party's 19th Central Committee and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The constitution amendment will include new governance concepts, thoughts and strategies proposed by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, he added. Tuo stressed that China's policy of utilizing foreign investment will not change, Chinas protection for the lawful rights and interests of the foreign companies will not change, Chinas commitment to provide better services for the investment and operation from all companies will remain unchanged. Chinas reform and opening up is now at a new starting point, he said, noticing that China will continue to stick to the basic policy of opening up, and open even wider to the outside world. Dans la meme rubrique : < > China sees prosperous development of offshore wind power generation China speeds up efforts to expand, renovate expressways 'First-store economy' leads consumption upgrade Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News Harari: China will play a key role in the next global revolution Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Octobre 2017 I think part of the reason that China is now gaining on Europe the West, is that China is becoming more open while the West and particular the USA is becoming too complacent. Many Americans have become convinced that they know everything better than anybody else in the world, so they can tell everybody how to behave, while they themselves dont need to learn from others. By Lei Cuijie, Han Xiaomeng (People's Daily App) Editor's notes: Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and a tenured professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specializes in world history, medieval history and military history. As the author of bestsellers including "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" and "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow", Harari is a household name in China. In his new book "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow", Harari explores the destinies humans will set for ourselves, and the quests we'll undertake, in the future. What are the major trends of human society in the future? What kind of role will China play in the future world? To seek answers, Peoples Daily App has a special interview with Harari. 1. Peoples Daily App: In your previous interview, you mentioned that China was taking the lead in international economy and politics. Recently some scholars say that the mankind is about to meet the fourth wave of changes in its history, and this time both China and the US will be the heralds. Do you agree with such statements? Yuval Noah Harari : Yes, humankind is on the verge of the greatest revolution ever. The combination of machine learning and biotechnology will give humankind the ability to start engineering new life forms such as cyborgs, super-humans and AI. The main products of the future economy will not be food, textiles and vehicles, but rather bodies, brains and minds. This will be not just the greatest revolution in history, but the greatest revolution in biology since the appearance of life on earth. For four billion years life was governed by the laws of natural selection, and life was confined to the organic realm. During all these eons, whether you were a virus or a dinosaur, you evolved according the principles of natural selection and you were made of organic compounds. In the coming century, however, science is likely to usher the era of inorganic life shaped by intelligent design. The new powers of AI and bioengineering will not be shared equally by all humans. Rather, they will probably be monopolizing by a small number of countries. At present it seems highly likely that the two most important countries that will develop these new powers are the USA and China. 2. Peoples Daily App: If you agree with such statements, what kind of irreplaceable role do you think that China plays in heralding the fourth wave? From your long-term observation of human history, what can China contribute? Yuval Noah Harari : I think China is likely to lead this new revolution because it is extremely aware of the dangers of being left behind. In the nineteenth century China delayed in industrializing, and as a result it was humiliated and exploited for a century by industrial powers such as Britain, Russia and Japan. These bitter memories are still very fresh in the mind of the Chinese, and they are therefore unlikely to repeat the same mistake again. This time they are determined not to be left behind, but rather to lead the new revolution. Yet I think China is likely to play a key role in the next revolution for another reason. During the Industrial Revolution, new technologies created unprecedented social, economic and political problems on a global scale. Instead of cooperating to face these problems together, different countries entered into fierce competition that resulted in terrible wars and inflicted misery on billions of people. In the twenty-first century, bioengineering and AI will again create unprecedented global problems, and this time if we do not act wisely, the result might be the complete destruction of humankind. We must find a way to cooperate more effectively, because no nation can deal with the new problems by itself. As long as it acts alone, no nation can regulate bioengineering, or prevent the development of autonomous weapon systems, or stop climate change. Hence in order to survive and flourish in the twenty-first century, humankind needs to build a global community. China can fulfill a key role in building such a community, not only because it is a leading economic and political power, but especially because China has a much longer experience in uniting diverse people than any other country in the world. Whereas the European Union is barely a few decades old, and the USA is just 250 years old, China has thousands years of history. During that time the Chinese have had a lot of experience in balancing the needs and interests of many groups of people living in different regions and under different conditions. This experience will be vital for the survival and success of humankind in the coming decades. 3. Peoples Daily App: In the previous waves of changes in human history, many countries served as heralds, such as China, Britain and the U.S. in the previous scientific revolutions. What are the criteria to be met before we can say one nation is heralding a historical period or a scientific revolution? And what capabilities and conditions are required if countries are to stay on top of the waves of the history? China used to be the herald of the first wave of changes in human history. What elements and strengths did China acquire to take the lead? If China wants to obtain the leading position once again, what new changes does it need to undertake? Yuval Noah Harari : The leading role in historical revolutions has shifted between different countries and regions. To take a leading role in historical revolutions, and particularly revolutions in science and technology, you must be open to the world, you must be prepared to change, and above all you must be willing to admit ignorance. Many civilizations stagnated because they became convinced that they know everything, and that nobody else can teach them anything of value. The great discovery that launched the Scientific Revolution in Europe was the discovery of ignorance. Modern Europeans realized that they are ignorant about many of the most important questions of life, and that the answers are not in the Bible. Nobody knows the answers we need new observations and new research if we want to get these answers. And for that, we need the freedom to experiment, think and communicate. The willingness to admit ignorance coupled with the freedom to think and communicate turned Europe into the most vibrant and powerful civilization on earth. I think part of the reason that China is now gaining on Europe the West, is that China is becoming more open while the West and particular the USA is becoming too complacent. Many Americans have become convinced that they know everything better than anybody else in the world, so they can tell everybody how to behave, while they themselves dont need to learn from others. This attitude characterized China in the past for example in the age of the Qing dynasty. But from what happened in the 19th and 20th centuries China has learned the danger of such arrogance and self-absorption, and it is now very eager to cooperate with foreigners and learn from them. 4. Peoples Daily App: In a survey of opinions of international students from 20 different countries in China, they chose China's high speed railway, Alipay, online shopping and bicycle-sharing as China's Four New Great Inventions. A commonality of these innovative technology and products is that it took only a few years, for them to significantly improve the living standards of Chinese people and the neighboring countries' people, from their initial commercial application. Compared to previous inventions such as steam engine, electricity, and computers, the time new inventions took to be adopted by the world has been shortened by decades or even centuries. Whats your opinion about that? China has taken steps in scientific innovation and technological improvements, especially in recent years. What changes will Chinas innovation bring about to the world technology and human history? Do you think these changes will ultimately lead to a fundamental revolution around the globe, in other words, initiate the fourth wave of changes in human history? Yuval Noah Harari : The pace of change is certainly speeding up. Not just in China, but all over the world. As I noted in answer to the first question, we are now on the verge of the greatest revolution ever not just in history, but even in biology. The merger of infotech with biotech will make it possible to engineer life itself. Yet as new technologies give us more and more power, it is crucial to use that power wisely. For that, humankind will need to work together. If China alone makes wise decisions about the new technologies, but the USA and Russia make wrong decisions, the results could be catastrophic. So when we think about the future, we should think in global terms rather than in national terms. There is no national answer to the dangers of global warming, global inequality, nuclear war and technological disruption. There are only global answers. Dans la meme rubrique : < > China sees prosperous development of offshore wind power generation China speeds up efforts to expand, renovate expressways 'First-store economy' leads consumption upgrade Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News Subway riders in Boston to embrace 'Made in China' trains Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 19 Octobre 2017 One key stage for the internationalization process of the CRRC is to carry out localization strategies in host countries, said Jia Bo, vice-president of CRRC MA Corp, who added that he believed that Chinese products will definitely have a brighter future. By Lin Rui from Peoples Daily Chinese subway trains tailored for use on a line in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, US are expected to be delivered in December, the sign of a bright future for Made-in-China trains in the picky US market. The cars rolled off the CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd production line on Monday as the first of their kind tailored to US standards. Boston has the US oldest subway system, with a history going back to 1897. This shipment is part of a 284-carriage order signed in 2014, which calls for the manufacturer to provide trains for the citys orange and red lines. It is also the first time that a Chinese train manufacturer entering the US market. With a service life of 30 years, the cars use a stainless steel body and are able to run at a speed of 63 miles per hour. These cars had to meet US standards in vehicle strength, controls, and quality and were built with a top-down design. This is the first time that a Chinese company is exporting its subway trains to the United States with complete Chinese intellectual propertysaid Yu Qingsong, deputy chief engineer of CRRC Changchun. The passenger area can withstand a collision at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour, guaranteeing passenger safety on the two 6-carriage trains , he added. The Chinese firm has implemented more than 120 standards required by different US government branches and civil associations, including the US Environmental Protection Agency, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Public Transportation Safety Act of Massachusetts. Entry into the US rail transit market, a recognized high-end one, requires extremely high levels of technology and localization. The deal is regarded as evidence of the quality and brand name of Chinese products. China light-rail vehicles are gaining greater recognition from clients in both developing areas and developed countries such as the US and Australia. One key stage for the internationalization process of the CRRC is to carry out localization strategies in host countries, said Jia Bo, vice-president of CRRC MA Corp, who added that he believed that Chinese products will definitely have a brighter future. Pic: Subway cars tailored for use on Boston's orange line roll off the production line in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, Oct. 16, 2017. (Photo by Peoples Daily Online) Dans la meme rubrique : < > China sees prosperous development of offshore wind power generation China speeds up efforts to expand, renovate expressways 'First-store economy' leads consumption upgrade Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) Back in July, I called for a criminal investigation into Hillary Clintons collusion with Russia to turn over control of 20 percent of our uranium supplies to Russian interests in return for some $145 million in donation to the Clinton Foundation. Now it turns out that there was one, an FBI investigation dating back to 2009, with current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller up to their eyeballs in covering up evidence of Hillarys collusion, bordering on treason, with Vladimir Putins Russia: Prior to the Obama administration approving the very controversial deal in 2010 giving Russia 20% of Americas Uranium, the FBI had evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were involved in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering in order to benefit Vladimir Putin, says a report by The Hill. John Solomon and Alison Spann of The Hill: Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show. From todays report we find out that the investigation was supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, who is now President Trumps Deputy Attorney General, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who is now the deputy FBI director under Trump. Robert Mueller was head of the FBI from Sept 2001-Sept 2013 until James Comey took over as FBI Director in 2013. They were BOTH involved in this Russian scam being that this case started in 2009 and ended in 2015. If evidence of bribery, kickbacks, extortion, and money laundering in the Uranium One affair are not grounds for a special prosecutor assigned to investigate Hillary Clinton, what is? Rosenstein and Mueller, by their silence on this investigation hidden from Congress and the American people, are unindicted coconspirators in Hillarys crimes and should be terminated immediately. One can understand the Obama Justice Department covering up and slow-waking this investigation, but what about the Trump DOJ and our missing-in-action Attorney General Jeff Sessions? Was this the reason Democrats were hot-to-trot on him recusing himself from all things Russian? How could Rosenstein sit before Congress and not say anything, only to appoint Mueller to investigate Team Trump? Rosenstein and Mueller are poster children for duplicity and corruption. Collusion itself is not a crime but jeopardizing American national security by conspiring to supply the Russian nuclear program with our uranium is a crime of the highest order. No one to date has provided any evidence that any favor was granted as a result of that meeting or that the Trump campaign benefited in any way from the meeting. One cannot say the same thing about Hillary Clinton and her role in the Uranium One deal with Russia. Clinton played a pivotal role in the UraniumOne deal which ended up giving Russian interests control of 20 percent of our uranium supply in exchange for donations of $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a federal crime. As Clinton Cash author Peter Schweitzer has noted: Tuesday on Fox Business Network, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Breitbart editor at large and the author of Clinton Cash, Peter Schweizer said there needs to be a federal investigation into the Russian uranium deal then-Secretary of State Hillary Clintons State Department approved after the Clinton Foundation receiving $145 million from the shareholders of Uranium One Discussing the Clinton Foundation receiving $145 million from the shareholders of Uranium One, he continued, Look, there are couple of things that are extremely troubling about the deal we touched on. number one is the amount of money $145 million. We are not talking about a super PAC giving a million dollars to support a candidate. We are not talking about campaign donations. We are talking about $145 million which by the way is 75 percent or more of the annual budget of the Clinton Foundation itself so its a huge sum of money. Second of all we are talking about a fundamental issue of national security which is uranium -- its not like oil and gas that you can find all sorts of places. They are precious few places you can mine for uranium, in the United States is one of those areas. And number three we are talking about the Russian government. A lot of people dont realize it now, in parts of the Midwest American soil is owned by Vladimir Putins government because this deal went through. And in addition to the $145 million Bill Clinton got half a million dollars, $500,000 for a 20-minute speech from a Russian investment bank tied to the Kremlin, two months before the State Department signed off on this deal. It just stinks to high heaven and I think it requires a major investigation by the federal government. Yet seemingly the only thing warranting a major federal investigation is a wasted 20 minutes of Donald Trump Jrs life that he will never get back. Democrats and the media and, again, apologies for the redundancy, had no problem with Bill Hillary Clinton brokering deals giving Russia and Putin 20 percent of our uranium supply to benefit Clinton Foundation donors, including Canadian billionaire Frank Giustra. Giustra earlier had a cozy relationship with Bill Clinton and participated in and benefitted from his involvement in a scam run by the Clinton Foundation in Colombia. Clinton donor Giustra benefited significantly from his association, even if the people of Columbia didnt: When we met him (Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo) in his wood-paneled office in Colombias Capitol building in May, his desk was stacked high with papers related to Pacific Rubialess labor practices, the result of years of investigative work by his staff. He did not see the Clinton Foundation and its partnership with Giustras Pacific Rubiales as either progressive or positive. The territory where Pacific Rubiales operated, he said, thumbing through pages of alleged human-rights violations, was a type of concentration camp for workers. In September 2005, Giustra and Clinton flew to Kazakhstan together to meet the Central Asian nations president. Shortly thereafter, Giustra secured a lucrative concession to mine Kazakh uranium, despite his companys lack of experience with the radioactive ore. As Bill Clinton opened doors for Giustra, the financier gave generously to Clintons foundation. As the New York Times reported, this mutual back-scratching gave Clinton donor Giustra control of a significant portion of the worlds uranium supply: Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them. Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clintons charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustras more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clintons inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges In February 2007, a company called Uranium One agreed to pay $3.1 billion to acquire UrAsia. Mr. Giustra, a director and major shareholder in UrAsia, would be paid $7.05 per share for a company that just two years earlier was trading at 10 cents per share. Now isnt that special? Both the Clintons and their donor made out handsomely. Uranium One, which was gradually taken over by the Russians, would later be involved in a curious deal involving Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. As the New York Times reported: At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One. Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clintons wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium Ones chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well Soon, Uranium One began to snap up companies with assets in the United States. In April 2007, it announced the purchase of a uranium mill in Utah and more than 38,000 acres of uranium exploration properties in four Western states, followed quickly by the acquisition of the Energy Metals Corporation and its uranium holdings in Wyoming, Texas and Utah. So in exchange for donations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with husband Bill, gave Vladimir Putins Russia, a nuclear power, control of 20 percent of the worlds uranium supply. Is that what Hillary Clinton meant by a Russian reset? Yet neither Congressional Democrats, who accuse Trump and his son of being too cozy with Moscow, nor their wholly owned subsidiary, the mainstream media, are eager to talk about the Clinton uranium deals with Russia. Actually, we no longer need an investigation of Hillary Clinton and Uranium One. This FBI investigation in conjunction to what we already knew is prima facie evidence of criminal corruption and intentionally putting of American national security at risk for personal financial gain. If an indictment of Hilary Clinton is not forthcoming, then Jeff Sessions should also be fired. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. Richard Posner recently retired from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago publicly, stating that he was retiring earlier than he had originally planned because of the mistreatment that the judges on the 7th Circuit were giving the pro se litigants. It was reported that Posners moving up his date of retirement was attributed to difficulty with his colleagues. Posner was quoted as saying 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. Posner has said staff attorneys routinely prepare memos recommending a disposition of the appeal and the recommendation goes to a panel of judges, who often rubber stamp the staff attorneys memo, which is usually to dismiss the appeal. Posner said I gradually began to realize that this wasnt right, what we were doing... The basic thing is that most judges regard these people as kind of trash not worth the time of a federal judge. Chief Judge Diane Wood has publicly responded saying that Posners ...views about that Office are not shared by the other judges on the court, and his assumptions about the attitudes of the other judges toward pro se litigants are nothing more than that -- assumptions. The first important point here is that it is wrong for the judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to be regarding the people who are representing themselves as trash, as Posner contends. Wood says that Posners views in that regard arent shared by the other judges. It is more than obvious that there is something very wrong here. Wood could certainly do more to assure the public that everything is on the up and up, as she is trying to portray, but her response falls woefully short. Merely saying that the judges who are the subject of Posners allegations dont share Posners views about their alleged wrongdoing does nothing to reassure the public that the 7th Circuits attitude toward pro se litigants is as frivolous as Posner has alleged. Since the issues involve a high matter of public importance, there should be a very thorough investigation of the 7th Circuit. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4 explicitly states that an appeal is a matter of a right. The rule doesnt give the judges of the 7th Circuit, or any circuit for that matter, any discretion in diminishing that right when it comes to a pro se appeal. Furthermore, the Standards for Professional Conduct Within the Seventh Federal Judicial Circuit, item 6, explicitly states We will give the issues in controversy deliberate, impartial, and studied analysis and consideration. Item 8 states ...that a litigant has a right to a fair and impartial hearing... A custom of systematically dismissing pro se appeals hardly meets the threshold standard of ...a right to a fair and impartial hearing... It is a major red flag when judges arent even willing to follow the rules of their own court, and that certainly does appear to be the case with the judges in the 7th Circuit. Systematic discrimination by judges against a class of people, pro se litigants in this case, is wrong and against the law. Woods public response is not good enough. A grand jury should be empanelled and the judges and staff attorneys and law clerks should be required to testify under oath so that a factual determination may be made as to whether or not the judges on the 7th Circuit are systematically discriminating against the pro se litigants. At this point, it doesnt look good for the 7th Circuit. Discrimination in our country is illegal on all fronts, and that includes judges who discriminate against a class of people who choose to or are forced to represent themselves in court. Wearing a black robe carries many benefits such as a large lifetime salary, but it doesnt give judges any right to discriminate against a class of people as is apparently taking place in the 7th Circuit. The black robe worn by the judges of the 7th Circuit actually forbids it Brian Vukadinovich is a retired teacher in Indiana. Whats wrong with that statement? Absolutely nothing. It does not detract an iota from the sadness and somberness of the mans death, but it is true. What else would someone believe being in the Special Forces entailed? An intense game of Scrabble? Ferocious flour sack races at dusk? Death is on the menu. The most appalling and troubling spectacle of the American Lefts bag of tricks is their refusal to simply tell the truth. Democratic representative Frederica Wilson , who resembles both a rodeo clown and a pimp from the movie Shaft, said that President Trump has a brain disorder because he told a widow whose husband died in the Special Forces that: he knew what he signed up for but it hurts when it happens anyway. Because of the deranged pearl clutching over someone telling the truth these days, President Trump has been prompted to deny this statement. Another sunk cost of resources and time (the taxpayers pay for all this, remember?) where someone has to slow walk out of a statement because they said what actually is. A schadenfreude that is fun when insomnia strikes is to watch clips of smug Hillary voters on Election Night around 9 P.M. Eastern Time. In an accurate use of the word, they are gobsmacked that Trump delivered a thrashing to big, bad Hillary. How could they not know that Hillary Clinton would lose when she has the trustworthiness of saltwater crocodile circling a basket of pug puppies? Even undecided voters loathed her. But her supporters disbelief and outrage is genuine. Why is that? The American Lefts entire political discourse is built on false language. Lies. Trickery. Fallacies. Where words do not mean what they actually mean. Where one cannot actually state the nature of an issue, in plain and common language, without being called a racist, white supremacist, fascist, homophobic, misogynist knuckle-dragger that deserves to have their head bashed with a threaded lead pipe. Even though they are uncomfortable, facts are what we must have to survive as a country. Being a Special Forces soldier in sub-Saharan Africa is the definition of danger. Ones gender does not change on a random Tuesday when a man feels the inexplicable need to wear a Laura Ashley dress and smear blush over his beard stubble, or woman wants to shave her head, push a tube sock down her pants and call herself Tanner. The people who need to be told Black Lives Matters are other blacks, the gang-bangers who fire off guns with the casualness we would buy a coffee and cheese Danish. Areas where large populations of blacks live are inherently unsafe, and even other blacks flee from these neighborhoods the day they have the necessary funds. (See the Obamas vacationing in Necker Island and Bali, and living in swanky, white parts of D.C and California, as opposed to the Baltimore Sandtown projects or Haiti). That as gloomy as their plight may be, America does not have the resources to shelter immigrants, feed their children, and absorb their medical care as they send billions of untaxed dollars back to their relatives in Oaxaca. That a burkha is a symbol of dreadful oppression. That whites not willing to take responsibility for every act of savagery on the planet and known history are not white supremacists. If you cannot identify a problem with honesty, how do you fix it? What relationship ever flourished because one party had a relentless commitment to an agenda of deceit? Politically correct language is obscene because it is a language whose entire purpose is to swindle. Hurting someones tender feelings has become social leprosy, and anyone who is brave enough to speak truth will find themselves shunned by the elites who shape the narrative and hand out the goodies. Because the only currency the Left values is stridently not calling something exactly as it is, they could not understand how to advise Hillary on how to be the one thing voters want most of all: to be sincere. What if Hillary had taken the stage at the election debate where Trump gathered a group of women who stated they had been victims of Bill Clintons frantic machinations to get laid and said this: I see you up there. I have been married to this old hound dog so long -- it was just easier to stay. Shared histories, entangled finances. He is a pervert. I was a snake to throw the intern Monica under the bus. But, I am old school, and believe marriage is for life. Going forward, I will do everything I can to make sure women have a place at the table. His disgusting behavior will in no way affect my leadership of this country. World-shattering. The stuff of legends. Huma Abedin would have tackled her on stage to inject her in the neck with Xanax. The pundits would have trampled little old ladies in patriotic blue glitter hats to get to their laptops and cameras to rabidly macerate her speech for months. But she might have won. Her tremendous ego and innate pig nature kept her from being honest and humble. Because to be honest is to be humble. To state that President Trump is humble at first blush sounds delusional. But he is humble, and therefore honest; about the difficulties he is having with both sides of Congress and the media. He uses his Twitter account as a VPN line to tunnel through the false narrative to tell us what is really happening as he presides. With a huge set of conjones, he gave the voters what everyone wants: blistering, searing honesty. Sometimes, waiting on a plane to take off or for my elderly dog to do his business in the rain, I imagine what I would do if granted five wishes. One of my wishes would be the super-power to force people to tell the truth. Give it to me naked, raw, and wriggling. We all just want the painful facts. No one wants to be cheated; when someone deliberately withholds facts to your disadvantage and their advantage. We want it from our romantic partners, our families, our employers and the politicians who are paid with our money to make grave decisions that impact our lives. Let us see how the sausage is made in government and in corporate America. We need to hear the pig squeal and watch the blood flow, as unsettling and barbaric as it may be. Let us decide if we want to eat the corn dog, or not. The American Left cannot grasp this certainty: as long as President Trump continues to tell the American public the truth, none of their slanders, concocted spy stories or the daily sneering disrespect shown to millions of voters matter to us. For with every unpolished, uncooked, honest Tweet that President Trump sends out in the early morning hours into the vast American darkness, we are rooting for him with every move he makes. The Obamacare subsidies worked out nicely for the Democrats. On the one hand, they got to bash Wall Street and the insurance companies. On the other hand, they got to tell people that Obamacare would take care of their illnesses. It was great but illegal. The "subsidies" were never part of Obamacare. My guess is that most liberals wanted no part of a vote that gave billions of dollars to the insurance industry. Enter President Obama's pen and another excursion around the U.S. Constitution. And now enter President Trump, and the issue will finally be settled by Congress. It was a victory for the Constitution, as the Las Vegas Review Journal: Recall that the Obama administration originally asked Congress to appropriate the funds as part of the Affordable Care Act. But no legislation ever made it through the House and Senate. In response, President Barack Obama's Department of Health and Human Services unilaterally began disbursing the payouts anyway. You remember that "pen and phone" thing. House Republicans sued, arguing that the executive branch may not dole out money without congressional approval. In 2016, a federal judge issued a 38-page opinion ruling that the Mr. Obama had exceeded his constitutional authority and illegally funded the subsidies. Shocker. "Congress is the only source for such an appropriation and no public money can be spent without one," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer. The case is currently under appeal. To summarize: The Obama administration went around Congress and the Constitution to impose its health care plan; in contrast, President Donald Trump has decided to follow the law. And that's the story. Sadly, the self-described "constitutional professor" must have taught a different constitution from the one he took an oath to defend. After all, where does it say the president can go around the Congress that refuses to authorize the payments? The Constitution doesn't. Someone might tell that to the constitutional professor! PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. The pundit talk is that as Republicans fail to rack up gains in Congress, even as they hold a majority in both houses, the inevitable result will be a switch to Democrats by the next midterm election. Actually, it's much worse than that. Republicans are leaving on their own, with no prompting from voters. The latest, according to the New York Times, is Rep. Pat Tiberi, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and by all accounts a loyal-to-conservativism Republican. According to the Times: In a sign of mounting frustration among Republicans in Washington, Representative Pat Tiberi of Ohio, a senior lawmaker with close ties to his party's leaders, is expected to resign and take up an executive post with a business group in his home state, according to three Republicans briefed on his plans. An abrupt departure by Mr. Tiberi, who is an influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee, would signal a deepening level of discontent among mainstream Republicans in Congress. Despite holding Congress and the White House, Republicans have so far failed to achieve longstanding policy goals like overhauling the tax code and repealing the Affordable Care Act. The Times goes on to add that there's a long list of other Republicans leaving along with Tiberi. The cause for this exodus is no mystery for anyone who's been watching politics and reading the paper: the tiny slice of Republican jerks in the Congress who, out of spite against President Trump, are preventing any legislation whatever from being passed in Congress. It's these people, led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who are responsible for the four-time failure of Obamacare to be repealed in Congress and now the threats to tax reform. As senators such as McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins block this critical legislation, which they ran for office with promises to enact, they give aid and succor to Democrats, who are openly crowing that their electoral minority is no obstacle to enacting their agenda. That agenda amounts to preserving the Obama legacy just as it is. If you were a good Republican legislator, and caught up in the middle of this, unable to make any use of your legislative majority or the popular wave of support you rode in on, why would you want to stay? Why would you want to have to keep explaining to voters that Obamacare is still in place and tax cuts haven't been forthcoming as promised because your own party has enough spoilers to keep it from happening? Why would you want to be the flak-catcher for that and have to defend the indefensible? Steve Bannon has come under some fire from Newt Gingrich and others for his campaign to rid the Republican Party of its disloyal and spiteful RINOs, but the reality is, these RINOs are a bigger threat to the Republican majority than any Democrat. Republicans can beat Democrats if they act on their promises. But when they have members within their own ranks who thwart them, thinking they are just putting a thumb into the eye of President Trump, the reality is, they are acting against their own party's interests. And they need to be hosed out. RINOs may think they are spiting Trump, who will be just fine whether he gets his agenda enacted or not, but the reality is, they are damaging their own party. When are they going to be held up to scorn and shame? The Evergreen State College Bias Response Team banned even mild criticism of Black Lives Matter in 2016 because it would "diminish the disparities experienced by people of color" and are a violation of the school's non-discrimination policy. The policy is in a recently uncovered document by The College Fix and shows the lengths to which the school tried to suppress all criticism of BLM. According to the report, a college employee and a student reported a flyer that "depicted three photographs of African American men with three simplistic and seemingly sarcastic statements of what not to do in order to be shot by the police. Following these images is a clipart image of a white man stating, 'You don't say?'" Additionally, other flyers were found "that depicted photographs of an African American man wearing a military/police uniform and an African American man holding a gun. The heading on the flyer reads, 'Tell me again whose life mattered?'" The report adds that "captions under the images convey biased assumptions about the response and focus of the Black Lives Matter movement by questioning the degree to which the movement valued each person's respective life." Upon finding the flyers, staff removed them from the buildings and began investigating to find the person that had put them up. The report states the bias response team determined they were in violation of the school's non-discrimination policy. "Biased messages are unacceptable and we condemn the biased content on the flyers," the report stated. "We value and want to support all members of our community and the college does not condone such acts of intolerance and intimidation. Messages that are one-dimensional, presented as propaganda, and question the legitimacy of a social movement advocating for social justice for black people in the United States convey bias against people of color." "These flyers display a fundamental misunderstanding of the issues at stake in our community conversations about race, racism, power and privilege," the report states. Actually, the flyers display a good understanding of what Black Lives Matter was spouting. The problem is that the administration accepts BLM charges at face value and rejects any alternative interpretation as "intolerant, biased, and discriminatory." The whole point of free speech is that people are entitled to interpret controversial statements any way they wish. This freedom is denied opponents of BLM despite claims by the school administration that they support "free speech." On one level, this is not "news" in the sense that no one is unaware of the failure of colleges and universities to defend free speech. But that doesn't obviate the need to publicize it. The First Amendment is not capable of defending itself. It needs to be constantly fought for, and those wishing to destroy it exposed as the hypocritical radicals they truly are. There have been massive cover-ups, stonewalling, and malfeasance at the Justice Department for years, and most of the complicit media haven't cared. We have known for years that: On Fast and Furious, the Justice Department and Obama administration were not cooperative with Congress on providing documents. Eric Holder even committed perjury testifying before Congress. The IRS intentionally targeted political opponents of the president, withheld documents, and destroyed computers containing evidence, and the Justice Department did a pretend investigation led by a person who donated to Obama. Hillary and her staffers continually violated the nation's security laws, and no one in the Justice Department or the Obama administration did an actual investigation. President Obama was illegally moving money around and illegally paying subsidies to large insurance companies, declared unconstitutional by a federal judge, with no enforcement or even comment from the DoJ. On immigration, the Justice Department and Obama refused to enforce the laws of the land. The Obama administration illegally spied for years on thousands of Americans, including political opponents. We have recently learned more. Although the FBI had said it could find no documents related to the tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton, it has been hiding them. Now we may see heavily redacted documents. On the pretend Hillary investigation, where they did not even require Hillary to take an oath to tell the truth and where the interview wasn't even recorded, we have learned that James Comey drafted his conclusions months before the supposed investigation ended despite what Comey said to Congress. Comey lied. On the uranium sale to Russia, we have learned that FBI was investigating Russian fraud and kickbacks to the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton himself for years, even before the sale to Russia was approved. The documents were withheld from the public and Congress. The Obama administration, Mueller, and Comey were well aware of the actual Russian collusion and corruption. Somehow little of this seems to be of interest to most of the media. Normally, continuous corruption, perjury, violating of laws, and hiding documents by high-level government officials would be great stories for investigative reporters to cover, but somehow, with the Obama administration, there was little interest. The media were even willing supporters of the clearly corrupt Hillary to be elected and to put a known sexual predator and his wife, a serial destroyer of women, back in the White House for eight years. We always hear from reporters and Democrats that they are for equal justice for all, but somehow the Clintons and high-level officials in the Obama administration have been treated as special. Instead of reporting on the mass corruption by the Clintons, the Justice Department, and the Obama administration, we have continuous investigations of supposed Russian collusion in the election. Much of the investigation was instigated by a false Russian dossier targeting Trump. After months of no collusion findings, the investigations go on. The lead is now being handled by Mueller, who did nothing about actual Russian collusion on the uranium, and a slew of Hillary and Obama supporters. My guess is that the investigation will be as biased against Trump as the supposed investigations were biased for Hillary. Does anyone really think $100,000 of ads on Facebook by the Russians influenced the election? If so, $2.4 billion was wasted. Fifteen months of investigations searching for a crime on Russian collusion versus eight years of either no investigations or pretend investigations on actual criminal activity, kickbacks, and massive cover-ups. It is no wonder that people don't trust the Justice Department, the IRS, and the media to treat them honestly and equally. Maybe reporters would have done some serious investigative reporting on Comey, Obama, Hillary, Holder, Lynch, and Mueller if they had eaten two scoops of ice cream while some of the others eating had only one. A crisis of confidence is building as the story fed to the public about the Las Vegas mass shooting keeps changing. Yesterday's uninformative exclusive interview of wounded security guard Jesus Campos by Ellen DeGeneres only added to the mysteries. Fortunately, Tucker Carlson and Mark Steyn brought some enlightenment to the murkiness, drawing our attention to the tort lawyers as a major influence on what we do and don't learn and the curious absence of surveillance footage of the perp as he partied away for days in one of the most heavily surveiled places on Earth. This is the best six minutes you can invest in understanding what's really going on with the investigation. Rush transcript via Grabien: >> Mark Steyn is an author and columnist and he joins us tonight. Look, I'm not a conspiracy nut at all and I'm desperately hoping the authorities will prevent me from forming my own conspiracies to explain what has become increasingly inexplicable, but it looks like that interview was managed by MGM and that's why they put him on the Ellen show. Does that give you confidence that the public is learning anything meaningful about the story? >> No, and I'm not a conspiracy nut either, but you are entitled to be one on this, Tucker, because whether by intention or design, nothing is proceeding normally in this case. Up to the absurdity where someone says I'm only going to give one interview and I'm going to give it to Ellen DeGeneres. >> I've got nothing against I've got nothing against Ellen. >> Tucker: I don't either! >> This seems very weird choice and as you say she manages to say you are a true hero because by getting shot in the leg you saved so many lives. That's not what happened. That was the old narrative. >> Tucker: Exactly. >> At the old narrative was that he interrupted the gunfire, took a shot in the leg and brought the massacre to a halt. Then the sheriff said, sorry, I got things the wrong way around, actually Mr. Campos got there before the mass shooting started and then apparently the shooter between shooting Mr. Campos in the leg, there was then a six minute delay before he started massacring everybody, during which time he had a nice cup of tea, a call down to room service or whatever he did and then the hotel said that's not what happened, there's a third timeline and then everybody does the obvious and says why don't we ask Mr. Campos what happened and then they say suddenly, he has disappeared, he's gone now. He's off the scene, no one has seen him for a week. Then he comes back and he's on the Ellen DeGeneres show. That's how conspiracy theories start and everybody is entitled to take a flyer on whatever conspiracy theory they want in this case because were, for whatever reason, Mandalay Bay and the Ellen DeGeneres show have muddied the waters to total impenetrable lady now. >> Tucker: I think it so nicely put because it's clear, and by the way, simply because mgm managed this interview, doesn't mean that it's an accurate, I'm not attacking mgm. But I also think it was managed, clearly it was managed. So they are under a ton of legal pressure because the usual ambulance chasers are circling the hotel looking for payouts and so that suggests that he's under a lot of pressure to give a specific story line that may not be that useful in understanding what happened. >> There's other issues here, talker. Las Vegas is one of the most surveilled cities on Earth, because all these big casinos resort owners want to know what people are doing in the building from every conceivable angle. Even before we got the big post-9/11 security, in Vegas they had cameras everywhere linked to some back office where everybody is looking at what you're doing. And what's interesting to me is that there are some's that goes on in London or Paris or Brussels or wherever, the Brussels airport farming is a very good example. They pulled some stunned at the Brussels airport, kill a bunch of people. Within 24 hours you've got the closed-circuit television picture showing the killer moving through the airport concourse. Here, mandalay bay has not released any footage, any shots of the sky, the couple of pictures, event of the hotel room door are actually extremely limited. 200 rounds did indeed come through the store, that must be the best build hotel room door in the history of hotel rooms. >> Tucker: Exactly right. >> So, I might be wrong, there might be an explanation for that that. He might not have been a very good shot so he was actually firing through the cheap sheet rock to the side of the door. I don't know. The fact is that mandalay bay has not done what Brussels airport did in that terrorist attack. >> Tucker: Totally right. >> Nobody knows what this guy was doing. >> Tucker: There's dishonesty in her somewhere. Quickly, just to prove I'm not a conspiracy not, want to ask about the JFK assassination. 54 years ago next month, a long time ago. We are about to get as released by law, the final tranche of papers from the investigation into the murder. The CIA is apparently arguing those papers should be held for another 25 years, which would bring the total up to almost 80 years that they are under wrap from public view. What could be the justification for that? >> Again, you are entitled to be a conspiracy not on this one too, and it makes you wonder when Donald Trump in one of his more inventive moves placed Ted Cruz his father on the grassy knoll that day in the late stages of the presidential primary campaign. Makes you wonder, it seemed a little crazy at the time and I you look at the facts. We all know Ted Cruz was born in Alberta, was his father operating on the instructions of the Canadian government? We have some Canadian deep sleeper operation going on here. >> Tucker: One of my personal favorite moments. We are out of time unfortunately. More conspiracies. That was great. >> Thanks a lot, Tucker. Michael Moore holds sway at the Belasco Theatre with his one-man show, "The Terms of My Surrender." But at the performance we attended, there were plenty of prime seats, four or five on each side of the mezzanine, empty. At the rear, entire rows went begging for backsides. Since there were very, very few Republicans or conservatives who would pay to put themselves under the hate-infested likes of Moore, he was evidently pandering to leftist passions and predilections. For the first hour, during which he took numerous drinks of some sort (he sounded slightly nasal and insisted he has a cold), Moore called the duly elected president "stupid," "an f'ing moron," "dumbest candidate ever, against the smartest candidate ever," and invited the audience to yell up any qualities about President Trump they can offer. They yelled up liar, sexual predator (Moore: "He's the Harvey Weinstein of the Republican Party!"), perv, constant liar, and more. Yet he thinks the DNC is all-loving, all-encompassing. He offered up stories of how he at 18 won a local Michigan election, for which his goal was solely to fire his high school principal and the vice principal. The photo he threw up on the flag background (where all the stripes normally red are uniformly blue, by the way) shows a singularly geeky, unappetizing Moore, with long, Prince Valiant hair and goofball demeanor, which he called "chick-bait." He isn't uninteresting. He isn't even unfunny to people who buy into his murk and distilled committed prog leftism. We two, probably the only persons in the audience not orgasmic about his every dribble of prejudicial contumely, did not laugh at all through the whole two-plus hours. One oddity is that though he imprecates the audience for not doing more, the title of his piece, "The Terms of My Surrender," is 180 degrees opposite what he actually says all through. He has no desire or ability to "surrender," and he wants to ensure ridding the country of this man he cannot abide. Following his repeated hysteria (covering his face with both hands) that he couldn't understand how "this could happen," he expostulated that of the past seven elections, all but one featured the Democrats having a higher popular vote than their opponents. He never spoke of the Electoral College. Similarly, he repeatedly harangued the audience that "the polls show the people agree with us!," but the things he mentions, and seems to think cover all the important bases, are abortion ("choice"); transgenders fighting in the military ("they've been fighting so long that they must be the best military of all"); marriage "equality"; and, naturally, "climate change." Unmentioned and unconsidered: taxes, a healthy economy, jobs, security inside and outside our borders, the threat of insurgent infiltrators and aliens. The bubble incarnate. At one point, developing his theme that Americans are badly educated and getting worse, he staged a mock battle of wits between a Canadian and an American. We knew right before he got the Canadian nurse and the American graphic artist that the questions would be tilted, and sure enough, the American woman lost the contest and got fewer right than the Canadian. He inveighed against homeland security in a mildly funny skit ending in his reading the menu of taboo take-aboards on airplanes, which is more amusing than the rot he spews on how scandalous it is that the Senate has not once brought up the I-word, impeachment. He apologized in the end for running long because he had a cold but ended with a huge and endless exhortation to do something to not let Trump win a second term. He said, to groans from the seated, that Trump will win a second term. During the whole spiel onstage, he referred to Hillary as "her" and blamed her "Brooklyn geographers" for failing to know about a place called Wisconsin. Odd that he never mentioned the scandals unrolling these weeks with Uranium One, Russia, Democrat violence and intolerance. (He said his life has been threatened numerous times, especially when he has spoken out against the country, or the rights of the people, or refugees and Muslims.) He delights in thinking that the president may have a long-run battle against the NFL. He stopped us cold near the end, when he promised that President Trump (he never uses "president," of course), who is insane, will start a war. Why? To distract us from his numerous scandals mounting. Ha. Not a word about the North Korean despot's endless provocations. This one-man show, running 2 hours and 20 minutes without intermission, features the Unshaven One, rotund and shambling, a moving mound of hate against our current president. His physiognomy, for those who are not acquainted with the Michigander and his documentaries and low-jinks, is so unprepossessing that he entered the Belasco from the front, his own show, and no one recognized him. Best part: When we were leaving the theater, a security guard was setting up canvas pens to corral any would-be autograph-seekers. I am trying to get to my vehicle. He asks, "Do you want to get in here?" I come back with a decisive, "No! I don't want anything Michael Moore has to sell." He responds, "Me, too." He pauses: "But I got a job to do." We smile conspiratorially. My colleague and I both laugh. We're well outside the Dem bubble. For almost thirty years I called on military installations all over the United States as a health care marketer. Something I learned in that time is that each of the services has its own culture, with the Army being the most relaxed and receptive to new ideas, the Navy being somewhere in the middle, and the United States Air Force acting as if it had a permanent stick up its derriere. These last were sticklers for operating strictly by the rules and regs and resistant to change, even though such change might benefit their troops. I remember asking an older rep who'd called on them for decades about this and being told, "Who knows, son? It's just the way they've always been." That is precisely why I have been amazed to see how rapidly and thoroughly the Air Force has seemingly succumbed to the leftist groupthink processes of political correctness. I was reminded of this by an article at Townhall by Todd Starnes relating just how thoroughly the zoomies have been infected with all the liberal leftist nonsense about race, gender, and sexual orientation. It seems that a very high-performing officer, Colonel Leland Bohannon, a pilot with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and enough of the right stuff to be a candidate for a general's star, has run afoul of the P.C. rules and now faces disgrace and dishonor. So just what ghastly thing did Col. Bohannon do that merits the total destruction of his honorable and admirable career? As Starnes relates: Last May the colonel declined to sign a certificate of spouse appreciation for a retiring master sergeant's same-sex spouse [sic]. He was unable to do so because it would have caused him to affirm a definition of marriage contrary to his sincerely held religious beliefs. According to the article, Col. Bohannon had already been selected for promotion to brigadier general, but that promotion (and perhaps the colonel's current rank) has been sacrificially burned on the altar of political correctness for what can only be described as a frivolous matter: the signing of a thank-you note at a retirement. Good thing no one asked him to bake a cake the Air Farce might bust him all the way back to airman first class. I wonder what would happen if this politically correct injustice were brought to the attention of Donald Trump and General Mattis. Donald Trump's Twitter account White House phone: (202) 456-1111 or 256-1414 Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ SECDEF phone: (703) 751-3343 DoD Twitter Account Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, purged several longtime officials, most of whom had supported DNC vice chairman Rep. Keith Ellison in his bid for the chairmanship. The officials were replaced by Hillary Clinton supporters, riling the progressive wing of the party and demonstrating that the Democrats are in no position to take advantage at the ballot box of any GOP dissension. NBC News: Complaints began immediately after party officials saw a list of Perez' appointments to DNC committees and his roster of 75 "at-large" members, who are chosen by the chair. The removal and demotion of a handful of veteran operatives stood out, as did what critics charge is the over-representation of Clinton-backed members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which helps set the terms for the party's presidential primary, though other Sanders and Ellison backers remain represented. At least one of those ousted officials, Alice Germond, served on the DNC since the 1980s. Another, James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and a prominent Sanders backer, had served on the party's executive committee since 2001. Perez appears to be solidifying his position at the expense of Ellison, whose vice chairmanship was forced on him by Sanders supporters. The moves exposed a rift in the partnership between Perez and his deputy chair, Ellison, who have publicly broadcast their "bromance" since Perez tapped the lawmaker for the post in a show of unity after their hard-fought race earlier this year for the party's chairmanship. "I'm concerned about the optics, and I'm concerned about the impact," Zogby said of the changes. "I want to heal the wound of 2016." "I understand the chair can do as he pleases, but still, it's all just very disappointing," Buckley said. Germond has been on the DNC since the 1980s. "It is quite unusual for a former party officer who has been serving on the DNC for like forever to just be left out in the cold without even a call from the chairman," said Germond, who was a vocal Ellison backer for DNC chairman. "So I assumed it had something to do with myself support for Keith." "I understand that I fought very hard for Keith Ellison. And I understand that to the winners go the spoils," she added. That may be. But the DNC, in announcing the purge, made all the right noises about improving "diversity": "This year's slate of at-large DNC member nominees reflects the unprecedented diversity of our partys coalition," said DNC spokesperson Michael Tyler. "This slate doubles millennial and Native American at-large representation, provides unprecedented representation for our allies in the labor community, and increases the presence of Puerto Rican at-large members at a time when the Trump administration refuses to take responsibility for the millions of Americans who are still suffering through a major humanitarian crisis." Now that all the races have been carefully tabulated and the spots divvied up, where does that leave the party? It leaves the Sanders-Warren wing of the Democrats out in the cold. The radical left has been somewhat sidelined in favor of the slightly less radical left. The party still needs its energy and activism, but as far as controlling the agenda and governing the party, those roles are still left to the "establishment." The dissension in the ranks of Democrats is, in some ways, even more of a hindrance to the party's electoral chances than the GOP civil war. That it has gone largely unreported means that the media will once again probably be "surprised" on election night when Democrats fail to wrest control of either the House or Senate from Republicans. Remember how Donald Trump attacked lobbyists and the swamp that Washington has become? He will have plenty of targets in the years ahead as Democratic Party leadership plans to name lobbyists and Democratic operatives as "superdelegates." Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg News reports: The Democratic Party this week plans to name 75 people including lobbyists and political operatives to leadership posts that come with superdelegate votes at its next presidential convention, potentially aggravating old intraparty tensions as it struggles to confront President Donald Trump. The new members-at-large of the Democratic National Committee will vote on party rules and in 2020 will be convention delegates free to vote for a primary candidate of their choice. They include lobbyists for Venezuela's national petroleum company and for the parent company of Fox News, according to a list obtained by Bloomberg News. At least three of the people worked for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in 2016 while also casting ballots as superdelegates. The superdelegate system has been a focus of complaints from supporters of Sanders, the Vermont senator who challenged Clinton, and activists on the left, who have said the party's nominating system is rigged in favor of corporate interests. While most superdelegates are elected to a public or party office, the at-large DNC members. Superdelegates not only vote on who the presidential Democratic nominee will be, but also vote on party rules. The party operatives that are planned to be named as superdelegates include holdovers from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The group also includes union leaders and, for good measure, an illegal alien. Clearly, this is an effort to derail and possibly pre-emptively discourage another Bernie Sanders presidential run (or any campaign insurgency that is too far left to have a chance of winning the presidency). Superdelegates were Clinton's "ace in the hole" when she won the nomination last year. This step will probably infuriate left-wing activists in the party and create schisms that will possibly hurt the Democrats in years to come, as left-wing activists feel short-changed. Donald Trump would be smart to take a page from Saul Alinsky (the saint of today's Democratic Party) and "rub raw the resentments of the people of the community." He should repeatedly point out how the entire superdelegate practice is an inherently undemocratic process and that Democrats seem intent on filling the Potomac swamp of Washington with more lobbyists and Democratic Party operatives who answer to, among others, the dictatorship of Venezuela. (ANSA) - Rome, October 19 - Sources at Premier Paolo Gentiloni's office said Thursday that the head of government's decisions would protect the independence of the Bank of Italy. On Tuesday, Gentiloni's Democratic Party (PD) caused a huge furore by presenting a motion in the Lower House that came out against Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco over his handling of Italy's recent banking crisis, saying a "new phase was needed". Many saw the move as an attack on the independence of the central bank. The sources said that the premier's decisions will be "based on the prerogatives attributed to him by the law and inspired exclusively by the criteria of safeguarding the autonomy of the institute". Visco is coming to the end of his first term at the helm of the Bank of Italy and, before the PD motion, had been expected to get the nod for a second. PD leader Matteo Renzi said in an interview published Thursday that Gentiloni knew about a motion and had no objections. "The government was not simply informed: it was in agreement," ex-premier Renzi told Quotidiano Nazionale. "The government was not just aware of the parliamentary motion, those who know parliamentary law, know that this motion featured the government's opinion. "This was there and it was positive". Renzi added that he did not consider the motion an attack on the central bank's independence. "Doesn't parliament have the right to discuss things, while stressing there there is no personal issues with Governor Ignazio Visco?", he said. Lando Sileoni, the leader of bank workers union FABI, on Thursday blasted the motion. "(PD leader Matteo) Renzi is trying to make the Bank of Italy do the twist," Sileoni told an ANSA Forum. "I don't think it deserves this treatment. The election campaign has started". He added that the motion was a "position that seeks to pass the buck". (ANSA) - Florence, October 19 - An Italian missionary priest freed by hostage-takers in Nigeria Wednesday returned to Italy on Thursday. Father Maurizio Pallu, a priest with the Rome diocese, touched down in his native Florence and was greeted with religious chants by friends and supporters. Pallu reiterated that he wanted to return to Nigeria as soon as possible, saying "we will evangelise" the west African country. "I hope I can get back there as soon as possible," said Pallu. A missionary friend of his told reporters: "he called his kidnappers brothers". Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said via Twitter Wednesday that Pallu was at the Italian embassy in Abuja. "His words were of joy, without resentment," Alfano said. Father Pallu' told Vatican Radio Wednesday that "I had moments of fear but I have to say I felt very much the assistance of the saints, of the Virgin Mary, of Carmen Hernandez (founder of the Neocatecumenal Way). "They took three of us hostage, a Nigerian brother, a Nigerian girl student, and me. They let us go at about 10 o'clock last night. "I've been kidnapped twice in a year but I'm convinced that God will destroy the work of the Devil. Another important thing to stress is this: the two kidnappings took place on the feast of the Madonna of Fatima, October 13". Asked if he would be returning to Italy, he replied: "They have told me to come back to Italy. I'd like to stay here because you beat the Devil by being here. "When they let me come back (to Nigeria) I'll come back here very happily and I'll offer my poor person for the evangelisation of Nigeria". Florence Mayor Diego Nardella called Pallu''s release "splendid news" while former Florence mayor, ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi echoed that sentiment, phoning Florence Archbishop Giuseppe Betori to send his best wishes. Father Pallu', 63 yesterday, was kidnapped at Benin City in southern Nigeria last week. He phoned his mother Sunday night to tell her he was well and would be released "in a few days", Vatican Insider reported Monday. Laura Pallu', 92, made the phone call public during a prayer vigil for her son's release in the parish of Santa Lucia La Sala in northern Florence. Rome prosecutors are investigating a suspected terror crime, judicial sources said. While Islamist terrorists Boko Haram were initially suspected, they have since been all but ruled out. Sources said Florence-born Pallu' was stopped with two other people on his way to Benin City. They were stopped by an armed group that stole all their belongings and abducted the priest who has been on a mission to Nigeria for three years. Pallu' graduated in history before setting off as a lay missionary around the world, for 11 years. In 1988, when his father died, he joined a Rome seminary and in 1991 was ordained as a priest. Two years later, spent working as a chaplain, he was sent to the Netherlands. The Rome diocese said it was praying for his liberation. Florence Archbishop Betori said he was following the case with "apprehension" and urged people to pray for Father Pallu'. Pope Francis also said he was praying for Pallu'. (ANSA) - Rome, October 18 - Father Maurizio Pallu, an Italian priest kidnapped in Nigeria last week, has been freed, Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano told Radio capital Wednesday. Sources at the Rome Vicariate also confirmed Father Pallu had been freed. Father Pallu', 63 today, was kidnapped at Benin City in southern Nigeria last week. He phoned his mother Sunday night to tell her he was well and would be released "in a few days", Vatican Insider reported Monday. Laura Pallu', 92, made the phone call public during a prayer vigil for her son's release in the parish of Santa Lucia La Sala in northern Florence. Father Pallu', a priest from the Rome diocese, was kidnapped Thursday in Nigeria, sources said Friday, adding that the foreign ministry's crisis unit had already been alerted and the Rome prosecutor's office anti-terror unit has opened a probe. The foreign ministry said no effort was being spared in the case, in a "dutiful" framework of confidentiality. Rome prosecutors are investigating a suspected terror crime, judicial sources said. While Islamist terrorists Boko Haram were initially suspected, they have since been all but ruled out. Sources said Florence-born Pallu was stopped with four other people on his way to Benin City. They were stopped by an armed group that stole all their belongings and abducted the priest who has been on a mission to Nigeria for three years. Pallu' graduated in history before setting off as a lay missionary around the world, for 11 years. In 1988, when his father died, he joined a Rome seminary and in 1991 was ordained as a priest. Two years later, spent working as a chaplain, he was sent to the Netherlands. The Rome diocese said it was praying for his liberation. Florence Archbishop Cardinal Giuseppe Betori said he was following the case with "apprehension" and urged people to pray for Father Pallu. Libyan Coast Guard rescues 90 migrants, including 23 minors Were on rubber dinghy 50 miles off coast of Sabratha (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, OCTOBER 19 - The Libyan Coast Guard on Wednesday evening "saved 90 migrants, including 11 women and 23 children" off the coast of Sabratha west of Tripoli, according to a message from Libyan Navy Spokesman Admiral Ayob Amr Ghasem. "The migrants, all of African nationality, were aboard a rubber dinghy and had called for help 50 miles off the coast," Ghasem said in the message sent to ANSA. The message said survivors were taken to Tripoli and "will be entrusted to the Organisation for the fight against illegal migration". Just yesterday the Libyan Coast Guard announced it had rescued 119 migrants on a rubber dinghy that was sinking 30 miles off the coast of Gasr Garabulli, east of Tripoli. (ANSAmed). Rome - The sons of slain Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed when her car exploded on Monday, on Thursday called for the resignation of Premier Joseph Muscat for having "failed to guarantee their fundamental freedoms". In a post on Facebook Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia rejected Muscat's proposal for a reward for finding the assassins. Finding the killers is not enough, they said, also calling for corruption in Malta to be eradicated. "We need to reach the bottom of the investigation, we will not leave anything untried" and "we are not ruling out any course of investigation", said the Maltese premier on arriving at the EU summit in Brussels. "It is not only a horrible assassination, but also something that has deeply marked our country", which is not mafioso as claimed by the reporter's son. Now the priority is to "bridge the gap in resources for the investigation", which is why La Valletta has asked for help from other countries. The Netherlands police, Scotland Yard, FBI and Europol have all replied. ANSAmed - Today's events in the Mediterranean (ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 19 - These are some of the main events scheduled for today in the Euro-Mediterranean area: BARCELONA - Real Estate fair 'Barcelona Meeting Point' (to October 22). ATHENS - Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the Greek party New Democracy, visits European institutions in Brussels. ISCHIA - Summit of G7 interior ministers on the fight against terrorism (also on the 20th). BRUSSELS - EU-Algeria inter-parliamentary meeting. TUNIS - Italian film event (until October 20th). BRUSSELS - European Council (also on the 20th).(ANSAmed). BRUSSELS - The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee gave the first approval to a Dublin Regulation modification draft text signed by rapporteur Cecilia Wikstrom. The draft text passed with 43 'yes' votes to 16 'no' votes. The main reform is that of abolishing the requirement that an asylum seeker must file an asylum request in the country of first entry into the European Union. Another change is that of introducing an automatic and permanent relocation system throughout all European Union countries. The European Parliament's position must be negotiated with that of the European Council, which doesn't yet have a common position. Brussels - The obligatory quota system for the redistribution of asylum seekers away from first-entry countries "has no future", Polish news agency PAP quoted European Council President Donald Tusk as saying Thursday. It is however important to mend relations with Poland and the other Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia), which have always been opposed to the 2015 system, Tusk added. Migration is on the agenda at today's EU summit after the European Parliament's civil liberties commission approved a draft proposal for reform of the Dublin system regulating asylum applications in the EU. The proposal aims to go beyond the principle whereby asylum claims are processed by the country of first entry. However, the Visegrad countries and Baltic states are ready to oppose the reform within the European Council. (ANSAmed) TEL AVIV - Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East peace process, on Thursday said any Palestinian government must "unambiguously and explicitly" respect the conditions on the parties as set forth by the Quartet, the four nations and entities involved in mediating Israeli-Palestinian peace. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said in the statement, which represents the US's first response to the recent Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. Greenblatt, cited by the media, recalled the conditions: "refraining from violence, recognizing Israel, and accepting previous agreements, including disarming terrorists and committing to peace". Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Israeli Civil Planning Commission approved, as expected, plans for the construction of another 1,323 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. With this second installment (on Wednesday the green light was also given to 1,292 dwellings) the total, according to the NGO "Peace Now", stands at 2,646 residences, as previously announced by the Israeli government on October 9. The EU has called on Israeli authorities to provide clarification and said it sees the decisions on new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem "detrimental to ongoing efforts towards meaningful peace talks", according to a statement issued by the spokesperson for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. "The EU's position on Israeli settlement construction and related activities is clear and has not changed: all settlement activity is illegal under international law, and it undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for a lasting peace," the statement said. Vucic contentious with EU after failed justice accord Says Kosovo four years behind on Association of Municipalities (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, OCTOBER 19 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic responded contentiously to EU criticism of Belgrade, which it said was responsible for the failure on Wednesday of implementation of the accord on justice in Kosovo. Serbian judges and prosecutors failed to appear at the office of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci for an expected oath ceremony aimed at ratifying the accord on integration of the Serbian community into the judicial and institutional system of Kosovo. Vucic said Serbia is a credible and trustworthy partner that will in any case adhere by Monday to the commitments in the justice accord. He said Pristina is responsible for the fact that the new Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo hasn't yet been created. He said the Association "is four and a half years behind schedule, compared to April 2013" when Belgrade and Pristina signed the Brussels accord.(ANSAmed). Tourism up in Morocco, arrivals from China triple Foreign tourists up 13%, including Japanese and Korean tourists (ANSAmed) - RABAT, OCTOBER 19 - Eight million tourists visited Morocco in the first six months of 2017, for a 10% increase on the same period last year, according to the country's Tourism Observatory, in line with figures from the Moroccan Tourism Ministry. Foreign tourists increased by 13%, with an 8% jump in the return of Moroccans living abroad. German tourists grew by 14%, tourists from the Netherlands by 10%, and from Spain by 10%. New markets also showed signs of growth in the sector, including China with a 315% jump, leading the increase in tourists from the East and showing that concessions introduced for entry visas are producing the desired results. Tourists from Japan rose by 43%, with a 41% growth in tourists from South Korea. American tourists increased by 32% and tourists from Brazil jumped 52%. Hotel stays grew by 18% across all of the kingdom's tourist destinations, particularly in Ouarzazate as a southern gateway to the Sahara Desert, up 34%; as well as in Fes (+36%) and Tangier (+25%). Marrakech and Agadir led the pack as usual, however, representing 60% of all hotel bookings. (ANSAmed). For this second edition of Fikra University, EAG is delighted to be partnering with Abu Dhabi Airports in order to offer a more expansive aviation competition. Fikra University provides entrepreneurial students the opportunity to put forward solutions for a range of challenges set by both EAG and Abu Dhabi Airports related to the travel and tourism industry. Wissam Hachem, Etihad Aviation Group Vice President Learning and Development, said: Fikra University is yet another great example of Etihads commitment to empowering youth and fostering a culture of innovation. The initiative has received great praise from our university partners and we are proud to have such an initiative that successfully bridges the gap between academic and commercial environments. The Etihad Fikra Team comprises of six young Emirati employees led by Hamood Al Toqi, who are seeking to make a difference by helping to drive innovation across different entities in EAG. Hamood AL Toqi said: This year the competition is bigger and better, with the support of Abu Dhabi Airports, more universities taking part, and more strategic partners supporting us giving successful students more choice. Mohammed Al Katheeri, SVP Strategy and Planning at Abu Dhabi Airports, commented: Abu Dhabi Airports is eager to take part in initiatives that will support the development of the national aviation talent, sustaining the growth of our aviation industry. We are excited to partner with EAG in the Fikra University, and look forward to the ambitious and forward thinking strategies and ideas that we will receive from the candidates and to their implementation across our airports facilities. The 2017 edition of Fikra will focus on digital evolution for airlines and airports, free zone development ancillary sales opportunities, improving loyalty, e-commerce, cargo tracking, use of virtual reality and re-design of seats using latest technology. There is also a special category called Out of the Box that allows students to deliver their own take on a game-changing idea in the airline or airport space. Successful applicants who delivered creative and value-adding ideas will be rewarded with internship positions with some of Etihads and Abu Dhabi Airports key strategic suppliers including CAE Inc, Cognizant, IBM, Rockwell Collins SAP, Recaro Aircraft Seating, Stelia Aerospace, Thales Avionics and Zodiac Aerospace. Nancy Arnold shows beautiful buttons and Japanese kimono fabrics. Join the former owner of Santa Fe Fabrics, Nancy Arnold, in her new endeavor, The Button Bird. Come see a LOT of beautiful buttons and Japanese kimono fabrics! Remember Santa Fe Fabrics' wonderful, eclectic, super cool button selection? Nancy and Jack Arnold moved to Minneapolis, but are visiting New Mexico as part of their traveling button tour. Nancy has some fantastic sources for unique and beautiful buttons from around the world and silk pieces from Japan, and now is your chance to shop in person rather than just from photographs on the ButtonBird.com website. (Not that theres anything wrong with that...) Its a pop-up store, its a Button Gypsy Tour, it's a Japanese kimono fabric, button and ribbon-palooza. In Santa Fe Fabrics style, there is a robust selection in so many genres we think you'll swoon. From drop-dead designer gorgeous, to natural, to funny.... Come see a great selection of some of the best buttons ever, in all price ranges. Nancy and Jack and all of us here at Nob Hill Fabrics look forward to your visit. For sneak previews, go to ButtonBird.com My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists. But she was also targeted because she was the only person doing so. This is what happens when the institutions of the state are incapacitated: the last person left standing is often a journalist. Which makes her the first person left dead. I am never going to forget, running around the inferno in the field, trying to figure out a way to open the door, the horn of the car still blaring, screaming at two policemen who turned up with a single fire extinguisher to use it. They stared at me. Im sorry, there is nothing we can do, one of them said. I looked down and there were my mothers body parts all around me. I realized they were right, it was hopeless. Yes, this is where we are: a mafia state where you can now change your gender on your ID card (thank God for that!) but where you will be blown to pieces for exercising your basic freedoms. Only for the people who are supposed to have protected you to instead be celebrating it. How did we get here? A culture of impunity has been allowed to flourish by the government in Malta. It is of little comfort for the Prime Minister of this country to say that he will not rest until the perpetrators are found, when he heads a government that encouraged that same impunity. Assange offers 20K reward for finding killers of Maltas one-woman WikiLeaks WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will pay 20,000 to anyone providing information leading to the conviction of the killers of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who died in a car bomb. Maltese Investigative Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was described as a One-Woman WikiLeaks after she led the Panama Papers investigation, was killed on Monday afternoon in a car bomb near her home.Galizias career was devoted to exposing establishment corruption, and her most recent work revealed that Maltas prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, had connections to offshore companies that linked them to the sale of Maltese passports, and showed that they had received payments from the government of Azerbaijan, according to a report from the Guardian.During a press conference on the attack, Muscat acknowledged Galizias work, and said,However, Galizias son is not convinced, and he referred to Muscat as a who was taking advantage of the situation byjust hours after her death.Matthew Caruana Galizia wrote, claiming his mother was assassinated in a Facebook post that called out a number of elected officials and politicians.Daphne Caruana Galizia will be remembered as a remarkable investigative journalist who risked her life to expose corruption among the elite. One of her most notable endeavors was bringing the massive revelations from the Panama Papers to light, which consisted of 11.5 million leaked documents that detailed financial information from more than 200,000 offshore accounts.As The Free Thought Project reported in April 2016, the Panama Papers had a direct effect on the United States by revealing both elite and criminal donors who helped to finance the careers of Hillary and Bill Clinton through unethical offshore tax shelters.Matthew Caruana Galizia is also an investigative journalist, and he worked alongside his mother on the investigation into the Panama Papers. He wrote that he was nearby when his mothers car exploded with a blast so powerful that it sent the vehicle and its passenger flying into a nearby field.Mr. Galizia said he told the police at the scene,While some may refer to Daphne Caruana Galizias death as , her son said he believes . He argued thatMr. Galizia accused Muscat of filling his office, the police force, and the courts with crooks, imbeciles, and incompetents.*********************************************************************The investigative journalist died after the car she was travelling in exploded near her home in Bidnija, northern Malta, at around 3pm on Monday. Maltese police have opened a murder inquiry. On June 28, CCEA had given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries. Air India unions have held discussions at an individual level with the management on the issue of disinvestment. Mumbai: Air India unions are likely to meet next week in the national capital to discuss their strategy amid the government going ahead with the disinvestment process. Sources say efforts are on to bring all staff unions of Air India including those of the pilots and engineers on one platform and workout a strategy to deal with the situation arising out of the government's decision to offload its stake in the flag carrier. "In the last few months, several Air India unions have held discussions at an individual level with the management on the issue of disinvestment. "But now there is need for all unions to come together and talk to the government in one voice on airline's privatisation," said a leader of one of the largest unions at Air India. Air India, which has over 20,000 employees on its roll, has as many as six recognised unions, representing ground and commercial staff, pilots, cabin crew and engineers, among others, besides, several unrecognised unions. To revive the loss-making state-run carrier, which also has a debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore, the government has decided to go for its strategic disinvestment and the modalities are being worked out by a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "We are going to talk to all the unions and bring them on one platform to prepare a common strategy while we sit with the management on the issue of disinvestment next time. We are planning to call a meeting of all these unions next week," the source said. Significantly, seven Air India unions have already expressed their opposition to the airline's privatisation. On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries. The government has already invited applications for engaging up to two advisers, a legal adviser and asset valuer for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its subsidiaries/ joint venture. The central bank issued the revised guidelines on interest subvention scheme under DAY-NRLM. The RBI on Thursday said banks will provide funds to women SHGs in rural areas at 7 per cent under the DAY-NRLM in the current fiscal. (Photo: PTI/Representational) Mumbai: The RBI on Thursday said banks will provide funds to women SHGs (self help groups) in rural areas at 7 per cent under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in the current fiscal. The central bank issued the revised guidelines on interest subvention scheme under DAY-NRLM, as received from the Ministry of Rural Development for implementation by 21 public sector banks and 19 private banks. "All women SHGs will be eligible for interest subvention on credit upto Rs 3 lakh at 7 per cent per annum... Banks will lend to all the women SHGs in rural areas at the rate of 7 per cent," it said. Banks will be subvented to the extent of difference between the Weighted Average Interest Charged and 7 per cent subject to the maximum limit of 5.5 per cent for the year 2017-18. "This subvention will be available to banks on the condition that they make SHG credit available at 7 per cent per annum," the notification said. The Ministry of Rural Development in consultation with state governments will harmonise state specific interest subvention schemes, if any, in line with the central scheme. The interest subvention scheme on credit to women SHG during 2017-18 is applicable in 250 districts across the country. Aajeevika - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011. Aided in part through investment support by the World Bank, the Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services. India has expressed its deep concern over the growing incidents of terrorist violence against Afghanistan. Hinting at Pakistan, India categorically said that the 'states hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction.' (Photo: AP/File) New Delhi: India condemning the attack on the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province lambasted Pakistan for providing safe havens to the terrorists. Ministry of External Affairs in a statement on Thursday said, "We strongly condemn the barbaric attack at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province. Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people." India has expressed its deep concern over the growing incidents of terrorist violence against Afghanistan. "Despite hopes recently kindled by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. The terror attacks demonstrate that safe havens and support systems continue to be available to the terrorists," the statement further said. Hinting at Pakistan, India categorically said that the "states hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction." India has also expressed solidarity with the people and the Government of Afghanistan in these difficult times. Abhishek Manu Singhvi accuses saffron party of witch-hunt against Sonias son-in-law New Delhi: A day after the BJP asked the Congress to explain links of Robert Vadra with an arms leader, the Congress hit back on Wednesday. Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making 100 tours within India and abroad on private chartered planes as Gujarat chief minister and asked who paid for them. He said, We are raising a question on who spent this `16.5 crore. We want to know why a private party spends for a person in a constitutional position. What is the motive? The BJP on Tuesday fielded defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who demanded answers from the Congress over alleged links that Mr Vadra had with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. A news report had claimed Bhandari booked tickets for Mr Vadras overseas visit in 2012. Responding to this, Dr Singhvi said, These trips are clearly trips by a constitutional functionary, position holder. They are provided for by private persons. And we do not have any account. We must have accountability first. We are talking of constitutional propriety as somebody was trying to teach us lessons on constitutional propriety on Tuesday. It is worse than the pot calling the kettle black. The Congress also accused the BJP of a witch-hunt against Mr Vadra. Dr. Singhvi termed as baseless the charges levelled against Mr Vadra by Ms Sitharaman based on the media report, which Mr Vadras lawyer has already denied. The party also claimed that in the last 41 months, the Central government and the governments of Haryana and Rajasthan have been indulging in a witch-hunt against Mr Vadra. Dr Singhvi said, For the last 41 months, they have kept the pot boiling, but have not found any proof. Dr Singhvi also said that the government is busy in Beta Bachao Andolan in an obvious reference to a report by a news portal about the turnover of a company of Jay Shah. The home minister assured the J&K chief minister of all possible assistance from the Centre in maintaining peace in the state. New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday held detailed discussions with Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday on the security situation in the Valley, particularly in view of the recent increase in violence. During the meeting which lasted for almost 30 minutes, Ms Mufti shared details of the prevailing situation in the state, including incidents of braid-chopping in some parts of the Valley which has even led to violent incidents in some places. She also informed the home minister about various measures being taken to maintain law and order. The home minister assured the J&K chief minister of all possible assistance from the Centre in maintaining peace in the state. The Valley has witnessed violent incidents like attacks on security personnel, killing of a PDP worker followed by an attack on his house and throat slitting of a teacher. On Wednesday, four persons were injured when security forces opened fire at a mob in Pahalgam area following an alleged incident of braid chopping. Among other issues that came up for discussion during the meeting was forming of a study group by the home ministry to look into problems being faced by the people living in border areas in J&K. The committee would submit its recommendations to the Centre and what corrective measures need to be put in place. The home minister had recently said five to six terrorists were being killed by security forces in the Valley everyday. Centre has also directed security forces to launch a massive operation against some of the top militants active in the region. North Delhi Mayor Preety Agarwal said a committee would be constituted soon to look into issues faced by sanitation workers.. A section of sanitation workers are currently on an indefinite strike since October 11, demanding payment of salaries, clearance of arrears and cashless medical card for them. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: A section of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) sanitation workers, who had called a strike on October 16, have agreed to postpone the stir for 20 days, the civic body on Thursday said. North Delhi Mayor Preety Agarwal said a committee would be constituted soon to look into their issues. A section of sanitation workers are currently on an indefinite strike since October 11, demanding payment of salaries, clearance of arrears and cashless medical card for them. On October 16, an umbrella union of sanitation workers had claimed that section of workers from both the NDMC and SDMC had joined their stir from that day. A meeting of a few unions was held on Thursday with the civic authorities, the NDMC said in a statement. "Our efforts have brought results and today all the unions which attended the meeting have agreed to postpone strike by 20 days that was called from October 16," she said. Lot of efforts were made to discuss the issue in detail with the Delhi government, she said. "But it brought no result, as they did not pay attention to the gravity of problem keeping aside the citizens interest and cleanliness of the city, especially on the occasion of festivals like Diwali, the mayor alleged. Union government has agreed to review revised Delhi Metro fares New Delhi: Ending the logjam between the Delhi government and the Centre on the recent Delhi Metro fare hike, the Union government has agreed to review the revised fares. Union urban development minister Hardeep Puri on Wednesday agreed to the suggestion of a review by an Expert Group acceptable to both the governments and invited Mr Kejriwal for talks at his convenience on the Terms of Reference of the study and related matters. Officials said that the minister has clarified that the letter written by the OSD (Urban Transport) in this ministry to the chief secretary of Delhi stated that metro fare hike can not be enquired into by either the Delhi Government or the Central Government as per the provisions of the Metro Act and no unilateral enquiry could be initiated into other matters of DMRC, since both the Governments are equal equity share holders in DMRC. The Union minister said, Contrary to the public perception created, inadvertently or deliberately, regarding an enquiry into the current hike in Delhi Metro fares on the recommendations of the statutory Fourth Fare Fixation Committee and the functioning of DMRC, the above three letters, read in conjunction do suggest, I believe, a certain shared position. I am happy about this. According to sources, the ministry welcomed the suggestion of Mr Kejriwal for a study of DMRC in a manner acceptable to both the Governments in the context of reports of Delhi chief minister bent upon an enquiry by the Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) of the Delhi Government, which amounted to an unilateral initiative and contrary to what has been suggested in the Mr Kejriwals letter of 12.10.2017. While agreeing to the chief ministers suggestion, Mr Puri noted DMRC is one of the acknowledged best run corporate entities of our country for which the credit goes to the companys management. Pakistan adopted its time-tested methods of mixing ire with self-pity, bemoaning its sacrifices in combating terrorism. Americas President Donald Trump announced his new Afghan policy on August 21, after an in-depth review. He changed three elements in his predecessor Barack Obamas doctrine. One was a limited surge of 3,000 additional troops, taking the total to around 11,000. He also took timelines off the table, which common sense and military leaders had anyway demanded as withdrawal dates allow the Taliban to, in sporting terms, run out the clock and avoid negotiations. Finally, Mr Trump loosened the rules of engagement, thus liberating field commanders from constraints on the manner and place of deployment. What caused the real regional churn was his threatening message for Pakistan, seeking more action against terrorists and their sanctuaries while inviting India to increase its development footprint in Afghanistan. This caused sinking morale and ire in Pakistan. In New Delhi, it seemed as if Diwali had come early, and ruling party spokespersons preened on television, using harsh and condemnatory language about Pakistan. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj took the same line as she turned her UN General Assembly address into a Pakistan-bashing session. The global Indian vision had been subsumed in a vitriolic Pakistan policy. Pakistan adopted its time-tested methods of mixing ire with self-pity, bemoaning its sacrifices in combating terrorism. The onus for bringing the Taliban to heel was gradually shifted to Afghans or others, claiming it had diminishing influence on the group. Links to the deadly Haqqani Network were denied, but by a magic trick Pakistan got released from the same group the Canadian-US Boyle family abducted since 2012. Mr Trumps subsequent adulatory tweet saying he looked forward to working with Pakistan caused some discomfort in Delhi. Even Rahul Gandhi hit his target sarcastically, asking whether it was not time for PM Narendra Modi to go hug Mr Trump once again. In the process, the US objective has been largely lost. Senator John McCain, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, asked appropriately that he would freeze confirmation of new defence appointees until he gets a more detailed strategy for war in Afghanistan. Some contours of the new US approach are visible already, though many ambiguities remain. The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) met in Muscat, Oman, on October 16. When a senior US official was asked by me why only China was in that group out of the regional powers, besides the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the answer was that it was one of many groupings to enable finding a regional consensus on stabilising Afghanistan. That is easier said than done as President Trumps refusal to certify that Iran was abiding by the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) the nuclear deal and dubbing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organisation is likely to drive Iran to oppose the US Afghan policy. It is conjectured both Iran and Russia have been lately offering the Taliban aid and sanctuaries. Thus US-Iran dissonance will breed Iranian non-cooperation or even hostility as the US moves to stabilise Afghanistan. Pakistan is partially right that other regional players are guardians of some elements of the Taliban, thus diminishing Pakistani influence. Similarly, the Saudi Arabia-led pillorying of Qatar, which is being opposed by Iran and Turkey, will play out in Afghanistan. The only formal Taliban office overseas is in Doha, Qatar. It is now difficult to travel to Doha from many aviation hubs in the Gulf, making contact with Taliban leaders more difficult. Apparently Saudi Arabia and UAE have opened their own channels to the Taliban leadership to remain in play. Thus the Iran-led Shia alliance rubbing against the Sunni alliance led by Saudi Arabia in Syria, Bahrain and Yemen will get reflected in their roles in Afghanistan. However, a shared concern is the resurfacing of ISIS (Daesh) fighters, ejected from their strongholds in Syria and Iraq, in Afghanistan and even Pakistan. They are without a state sponsor as yet and threaten all regional powers. Hopefully no one will start using them in the Great Game in the region. Can all regional powers sink their differences to counter them? India-Pakistan relations remain bogged in mutual recrimination. The Narendra Modi-Ajit Doval doctrine of no dialogue till support to terror ends is unrealistic. At best, Pakistan should be held accountable for attacks traceable to its state agencies. Otherwise the veto on India-Pakistan relations passes into the hands of any single jihadi who is willing to die. Unfortunately, popularly-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been decapitated by judicial writ. Pakistan is already in electoral mode with parliamentary elections due next year. Mr Modi faces a crucial Gujarat Assembly election soon, and may even be forced to call early Lok Sabha elections if the economy does not rebound or a bad monsoon is anticipated. Thus, bilateral ties in the foreseeable future will be run by hawks on both sides. Afghanistan can be the greatest confidence-builder between the two nations, or the theatre of extreme offshore rivalry. The Trump administration will soon realise that no AfPak policy will work unless all regional powers honestly cooperate. The US Presidents next visit abroad is to China, Japan and Republic of Korea, with its focus likely to be on containing North Korea with its nuclear weapons. Mr Trump needs to rebalance his approach to South and West Asia if his Afghan policy has to work. Otherwise, ironically, the creator of radical Islamist forces to counter the Soviets in Afghanistan will find the roles reversed, with the Russians using the Taliban to undermine the US in Afghanistan. The Indians may act likewise if they see Pakistan gaining control over the new US Afghan doctrine. The moral is that while tweets can entertain or provoke, they cannot really resolve geostrategic riddles. The casting couch has long been accepted as part of Hollywood culture, and all too often served as the butt of inappropriate jokes. One of the more dubious claims associated with the sordid Harvey Weinstein saga is that the exposure and humiliation of one serial offender somehow constitutes a watershed for Hollywood. The idea that every other sexual predator in American showbiz will suddenly be inspired to cease and desist sounds like one of those absurdly happy endings that many Hollywood fantasies are constructed around. The culture of sleaze in which young women have invariably been the victims stretches back to the origins of the nations film industry, and it is hard to believe that one particularly offensive producers downfall will transform the milieu. Which is not to say it will make no difference at all. Those prone to such indiscretions will henceforth try to be more discreet. More promisingly, women exposed to unwanted advances or worse will be less inclined to keep quiet about it. Perhaps the most galling aspect of Weinsteins case is that his pattern of abuse, allegedly ranging from harassment to sexual assault and rape, appears to have been fairly consistent since the 1980s. Young actresses aspiring to Hollywood stardom were his primary victims, presumably in the knowledge that they would be disinclined to harm their prospective careers. Weinsteins lawyers contend that his indulgences were always consensual, but where consent was conceded it seems to always have been based on physical or psychological coercion. The victims silence, however, was not the only factor that enabled the producer to get away with such behaviour for so long. His attitude and actions were apparently common knowledge not only among his aides in Miramax and The Weinstein Company but within the industry in general, as well as among the associated media. His enablers were legion, and in most cases their contrition is far from obvious. The casting couch has long been accepted as part of Hollywood culture, and all too often served as the butt of inappropriate jokes. The New York Times Maureen Dowd recently cited an excerpt from the autobiography of Shirley Temple in which the most famous child star of her era recalls having to cope, at the age of 11, with an associate producer exposing himself to her, while the head of MGM was trying to grope her mother in a nearby office. That was something like 80 years ago. The sexploitation did not cease with the advent of the feminist movement, and it is unrealistic to assume that it can be wished away just because of Weinsteins belated comeuppance, especially in the absence of a criminal prosecution; although investigations are being conducted, it is far from clear whether anything will come of them. Hence the declaration from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in taking the unusual step of expelling the producer from its ranks, that the era of wilful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behaviour and workplace harassment in our industry is over, ought to be taken with a large pinch of salt. But just as the problem is not just Weinstein, it is not just Hollywood either. Nor is it just an American malaise. And it is not restricted to Bollywood, Lollywood, Nollywood or any of the other showbiz jungles that take their cue from the sleaze industry in Los Angeles. The exploitation of women as potential sex objects is rife in every industry from the media to textiles. In far too many societies, not least those that purport to abide by the dictates of Islam, discrimination against women, which manifests itself in any number of ways, is on a different plane altogether, even if it is basically a part of the same pattern. And when the patriarchy that has reigned supreme for centuries remains intact, it has got to be galling for women, not least in the enlightened West, to put up with the notion that post-feminist societies are increasingly the norm. Sadly, thats utter nonsense. Much as the civil rights movement in the US and its corollaries elsewhere, the feminist movement was unquestionably a worthy enterprise but ultimately less than a resounding success. All over the world, the need for feminism to reassert itself will only grow. Harvey Weinstein frequently asked his victims to massage him and/or be massaged by him. Hes only the tip of an extraordinarily ugly iceberg, though, and the #MeToo Twitter hashtag offers only a partial indication of how wide and deep the disease is in the 21st century. A Hollywood scandal that is perceived as a local problem cannot suffice as an antidote, as long as the truth continues to be massaged in every other sphere. Humankind may eventually have cause to be grateful for Weinsteins excoriation, but it could be a long time coming. By arrangement with Dawn Saeeds accomplices may walk out free upon the expiration of their detention. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeeds aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain, may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention. (Photo: File) Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed's house arrest has been extended for another 30 days by a Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province. However, the board refused to allow the same in the detention of his four aides. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeeds aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain, may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention order if they are not detained in any other case. Saeed and his four accomplices were presented before the provincial judicial review board on Thursday amid high security in the Lahore High Court. A good number of his supporters were present at the court's premises who showered rose petals on him and his aides. Police, however, stopped them from chanting slogans in the favour of their leader. The three-member Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising Justice Yawar Ali (head), Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam held the hearing. A court official said, after the hearing that the Home Department of Punjab government had sought three months extension to the detention of Saeed and others under public safety law. Read: Hafiz Saeed close to freedom as Pak drops all terror charges "The judicial board after listening to the arguments of the governments law officer did not entertain his request and only granted 30-day extension to Saeeds house arrest in Lahore," he said. The board also could not be convinced about keeping Saeeds four aides in detention beyond the expiry of September 25 detention order for a month and dismissed the governments plea for further extension to their detention, he said. The government may arrest Saeed's four aides in any other case on expiry of their detention period in last week of this month, the official added. Without electricity and water, the sun stands out as an important source of energy. A Hindu refugee from Rakhine state charges his mobile phone at the Kutupalong Hindu refugee camp in the Bangladeshi district of Ukhia. (Photo: AFP) Balukhali (Bangladesh): The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmeds makeshift grocery store. The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four light bulbs and two small fans. Now we can have light at night, and when its really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief, he said as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmars Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. The refugees accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya 50% of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Solar power was the only source of electricity in the area, said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabirs sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees dont have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. Mufti Qavi managed to flee the court but later in the day was arrested on the highway from Multan to Jhang. Lahore: A prominent Pakistani cleric, who fled from a court in Multan following rejection of his bail plea on Wednesday, was arrested in connection with the murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch. Mufti Abdul Qavi on Wednesday appeared before the sessions court in Multan in Punjab province, some 350-km from Lahore, to seek extension to his bail in the Qandeel murder case. The court, however, did not grant him extension and ordered his arrest. Mufti Abdul Kavi Mufti Qavi managed to flee the court but later in the day was arrested on the highway from Multan to Jhang. We alerted the highway police after Mufti Qavi managed to flee from the court premises with the help of lawyers. At a picket on Jhang Road he was arrested and brought to the Multan police, Investigating Officer Noor Akbar told reporters. We will interrogate him for his alleged role in the murder of Qandeel before submitting a report to the court. Mufti Qavi is accused of inciting Qandeels brothers to kill her after she allegedly humiliated him by posting some objectionable pictures with the cleric on social media platforms. Qandeel, 26, was found strangled to death in her house in Multans Karimabad area, some 350-km from Lahore, on July 16, 2016. Her younger brother, Waseem, confessed to police that he had killed Qandeel for disgracing familys honour. Waseem said that he drugged Qandeel before strangling her. She brought dishonour to the Baloch name due to her risque videos and statements posted on social media, he had said. Qavi was embroiled in the controversy after Qandeel took selfies with him in a meeting in a hotel and made them viral on social media. Ahmeds family fled an earlier wave of violence against the Muslim minority in Myanmars Rakhine state in 1978, when he was still a child. Kutupalong: Nearly four decades ago Fazol Ahmed returned to his native Myanmar with his family under a Rohingya repatriation scheme. Now he is back in the teeming camps of Bangladesh with his wife and children, a refugee once again. Mr Ahmed is among the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have crossed into Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence in neighbouring Myanmar in August that the UN has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. Unlike most, he has been here before. Mr Ahmeds family fled an earlier wave of violence against the Muslim minority in Myanmars Rakhine state in 1978, when he was still a child. We couldnt take it any more, he said, recalling the campaign of violence that forced his family of rice farmers from their village in mainly Buddhist Myanmar in 1978. They were kidnapping young people. They killed some and demanded ransoms for others, he said, accusing the Myanmar army and the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists who also inhabit the state. Mr Ahmed, who gave his age as 41 though his white-flecked beard and testimony suggest he is older, said there were far more people in the camps this time round. His story recounted to AFP on n Kutupalong, the largest of the camps underscores the intractable nature of the unfolding refugee crisis. Impoverished, overcrowded Bangladesh is now home to nearly a million Rohingya refugees, the majority of whom have arrived in less than two months. Merkels conservative CDU/CSU bloc launched exploratory talks with the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats. Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, weakened by poor election results, began talks on Wednesday to forge an unlikely governing coalition from a motley crew of parties that span the political spectrum. Ms Merkels conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which won the September vote without obtaining a clear majority, launched exploratory talks with the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), then planned to meet the left-leaning and environmentalist Greens later on. To avoid a breakdown that would force new elections, all sides will have to agree in the coming weeks on tough compromises on thorny topics ranging from immigration to EU reform to climate policy. The CDUs general secretary, Peter Tauber, told reporters after the first round of talks with the FDP that while there were challenges ahead, it had been a very constructive first exchange. We have a good feeling, he said. The aggression at the Bastar for Christ Movement Church in Jarpara took place during Sunday prayers. Women and children also beaten. Pastor: "The radicals are supported by the Bjp party in power." Raipur (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A crowd of 300 Hindu radicals assaulted a church and faithful gathered for Sunday prayer. International Christian Concern (Icc) reports that the assault on Jarpara's Bastar for Christ Movement Church in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh took place on 15 October. The assailants attacked all the Christians present, including women and children, and nine were injured. Two of them, Raju Sodi and Sangetha Kartami, are in a critical condition in Dantewada government hospital. The Hindu radicals vandalized the place of worship set the furnishings on fire. It is not the first aggression against the followers of the Christian movement in Chhattisgarh. In 2012, extremists stopped a funeral, leaving several people injured on that occasion. Regarding the October 15attack, the local pastor said: "The attack is inhuman and deplorable. These assaults are emerging in the context of the upcoming state elections [to be held in 2018]. The Bjp (Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party), in power in the state, makes it much easier for Hindu radicals to pursue the campaign of hatred against religious minorities for political ends. " International Christian Concern activists denounce that at the beginning the police refused to file a complaint against Hindu nationalists responsible for numerous attacks on Christians in Chhattisgarh. Regional Officer William Stark reports that the aggression against Christians "are repeated almost daily. It seems that the Hindu radicals of the whole country have the approval of local authorities to pursue their campaigns of hatred against Christians and other minorities. " The leader complains: "It is time to finish this incapacity or reluctance to protect and sustain the rights of Christians." Then he recalls that Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of worship for all citizens, but "unfortunately only on paper". Steps taken so far have failed. Ministers from the two countries met today in Seoul to discuss the issue. An aging population weighs heavily on the economy, shrinking the labour force and driving up welfare costs. Economics is the main issue. Seoul (AsiaNews) Japan and South Korea plan to work together to tackle their low birthrates in order to breathe new life in two of Asias largest economies. South Korean Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo and his Japanese counterpart, Masaji Matsuyama, made the announcement in Seoul where they met to discuss the pressing issue. According to Fr Maurizio Giorgianni, an Oblate Missionary of Mary Immaculate in South Korea, economic conditions push couples to have fewer children. Last year, Japan had a record-low of 970,000 newborns, whilst figures for its South Korean neighbour are not much better an all-time low of 406,000 children with the fertility rate reaching 1.17, the lowest in seven years. For experts, a low birthrate will reduce the workforce and drive up welfare costs. This will undermine the growth potential of the economy as a whole. According to Fr Giorgianni, the economic cost of raising children is one of the factors that affect the decision to have a child, especially in relation to education. This is an important issue in South Koreas highly competitive society, where the costs of education are very high and universities are private and expensive. "Given how society is structured, there is a lot of competition, and the issue becomes 'My child must be competitive, I have to send him to a good university,' which means a lot of expenses, said Fr Giorgianni. To study in Seoul or in a distant city is socially relevant. Those who study at a school or university in the city get a better education, and will have more chances to find work, and become integrated in society. However, universities are expensive. One year at Seoul University can cost tens of millions of won (one million won equals US$ 885). Couples have to think hard about this: They can do it for one child, but two?" In addition, married life has changed. "Now, husband and wife are very independent, and lead their own independent life. When one has a child, certain things have to change. Nowadays, people have become very self-centred, concerned about themselves." The South Korean government has recently announced a series of plans, including child subsidies and expanded maternity leave, to encourage people to have more babies, but most of them seem to have fallen short of expectations. by Louis Raphael Sako* In a letter to the President of the Republic, Sako urges "cooperation" between Iraqi leaders. The goal is to create a "modern and strong civilian" nation, capable of initiating economic, social and cultural reforms. The Iraqi army takes a large portion of Nineveh and Diyala from the Kurds. Fears for Teleskof and Alqosh. Baghdad (AsiaNews) A strong appeal for "co-operation" between Iraqi leaders, to create a "common front" against the danger of "new conflicts", pursuing the primary goal of "protecting people before oil wells", is emphasized in a statement written by the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako. The appeal was addressed to the nation yesterday, delivered to the President of the Republic Fuad Masum and sent to AsiaNews. In the letter, the Leader of the Iraqi Church hopes for the creation of a "modern and strong civilian nation under a consolidated political leadership" capable of "initiating reforms in the economic, social and cultural sectors." And it reiterates the call already expressed in the past for a sincere dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil, putting aside "the spirit of revenge, suspicion, reprisals, or speeches". Meanwhile, after the capture of Kirkuk the Iraqi army has conquered other portions of territory until recently in the hands of the Kurds, concentrated in the province of Nineveh and Diyala. A military note confirms that government forces "have taken over control of Khanaqin and Jalawla" and of Makhmur, Bashiqa, Sinjar, and the Mosul Dam. According to some sources, the Iraqi forces are also warning the Peshmerga (the Kurdish fighters) to retreat from the Nineveh plains, especially from the Christian towns of Teleskof and Alqosh. The fear is that new clashes may flare up in the coming hours. In this extremely tenuous situation, Sako has renewed his call for the parties to have a sincere dialogue to find a solution to the crisis. Below, the Chaldean Patriarch's letter-appeal. These days, our country is going through unprecedented circumstances that are the result of all that happened in Iraq from the north to the south for years and until now. Therefore, this critical phase requires a comprehensive and national collaboration to go beyond this crisis and move forward to the solution of the crisis, the creation of a national and real partnership, and the rise of a new Iraq. The incidents that took place during the last period was a part of conflicts that led to permanent tension and the collapse of the stability. In every instance, the innocent civilians were the first innocent casualties. If the unity of Iraq drew the attention of the international community, whether for strategic benefits or for principled stance, this unity is the share of all Iraqi parties, whether in terms of the responsibility of preserving it or in causing it to fail. As the original components in Iraq are concerned in common living, they are calling to bypass this fragile situation by adopting the spirit of citizenship and law, clemency and forgiveness, and not the spirit of revenge, suspicion, reprisal, or loud voices. In this declaration, we in caution and love are calling the Iraqi Leaderships in the Center and the Region, to move forward to rescue what happened in the last years. For Iraq is the responsibility of us all, and it is in an urgent need now for a real, national reconciliation to ease the political process on the right path. A courageous, honest, and civilized dialogue should be initiated to discuss all matters on the basis of the constitution; this is a sincere wish of wise people, confirmed by the wise authority. This national reconciliation can lead to practical and proper ways out of the whole crisis, not the referendum only. The problems occurring in the country are not between strangers from places afar but they are among brethren and citizens living in the same homeland. Therefore, the right solutions cannot be reached without negotiations and reform of thinking. This method shall lead to offering mutual concessions courageously and the cooperation of Iraq's various leaderships as one front against the danger of creating new conflicts; namely, to protect the people first before the oil wells. The goal is the rise of a modern and strong civil country under a consolidated political command to help develop the governmental establishment and to reform the economic, social, and cultural sectors. All this progress shall be supported by building confidence, developing security measures, securing stability, supporting the reconstruction process, and paving the way for the return of the displaced to the homeland, in the Iraq of coexistence and civilizations. * Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad and President of the Iraqi Bishops' Conference The letter, signed by eight countries, is an unprecedented move in relations with Israel. Israel's coercive measures on schools and against international assistance cause suffering to Palestinians. More than one million euros in European funding lost. Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - If Israel does not return the confiscated material, it will have to pay compensation for lost funds. This is the content of a letter signed by eight European countries, which denounces the seizure and abolition of humanitarian goods. The request is the first of its kind and sets a precedent. Prompted by Belgium, the letter concerns the events of this summer, in particular the confiscation of photovoltaic panels donated to Abu Nuwar village school for a value of around 30,000 euros, a sum demanded by the countries. The text also refers to the demolition of an elementary school in the village of Jubbet al-Dhib. Recently, the European Union has published a report stating that more than one million euros of European funds have been lost since 2009. "We still hope that our request for restitution can be met without preconditions as soon as possible, otherwise Israel will have to indemnify it without delay," the signatories write. They also point out that "coercive measures such as the demolition and confiscation of humanitarian assets, including school infrastructure and the obstruction of humanitarian assistance, are contrary to Israel's international commitments and cause suffering for ordinary Palestinians." The eight countries - Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden - are members of a European humanitarian consortium. According to a LeMonde source, it is "one of the few effective humanitarian instruments in area C", which accounts for 60% of the territories of the West Bank, which is under Israel's exclusive control, close to military zones or colonies. by Melani Manel Perera During the "festival of lights", the faithful offer rituals and prayers to worship the gods. Since the temple in Sri Siththi Vinayagar (Trincomalee) is undergoing renovation, votive rituals are celebrated in a temporary hut. Trincomalee (AsiaNews) Hindus also celebrate Diwali In Sri Lanka. Better known as the "festival of lights", the event symbolises the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, and is marked by moments of prayer and puja (ritual offerings to gods). Among Hindu Tamils in Kovilagama, a small village in Chainabay (Trincomalee District), home to about 110 families, people bring gifts and light candles in front of the statue of Ganesh to ask the god to bless their future and give thanks for the achievements of the past year. According to Hindu symbolism, anyone who worships Ganesh, the deity with the face of an elephant, will be rewarded with good luck before starting any activity. For this reason, worshippers at the Sri Siththi Vinayagar Kovil (the Tamil term for Hindu temple in the Dravidian architectural style), bring garlands of flowers and fruits, and sprinkle the gods head with milk to gain his favour. One of them is Singarasa Dinesh, a teacher at a Tamil Hindu religious school who expressed his gratitude at the temple "because last year I came to the festival of Diwali and asked the god Ganesh to help me pass my university exams. This is what happened in my Management course. Thus, I want to thank him and entreat him to bestow further blessings on the people of Sri Lanka so that Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslims can live without barriers." This year Diwali celebrations were held in temporary hut near the temple. The latter, built more than 75 years ago, is currently undergoing renovation. To this effect, S Ruban and N Govinathan, respectively president and secretary of the Kovil Committee, said that they were praying "because we need to finish the work and reopen the temple soon, but we lack the economic means. We entrust to the god Ganesh our intention." Local school children have also flocked to the makeshift temple to "pray for our parents and our education." Francis expressed his desire to continue the path of rapprochement to a delegation of the Methodist World Council on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the start of the Methodist-Catholic theological dialogue. For him, As we look to the future, beyond the past fifty years, one thing is certain: we cannot grow in holiness without growing in communion. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Pope Francis met with leaders of the World Methodist Council on Thursday, marking fifty years of the Catholic-Methodist dialogue and the rapprochement between Catholics and Methodists. During his address, the Holy Father said that Christians cannot grow in holiness without growing in communion, noting that as siblings long separated, they can learn about each other and advance with an open heart. Indeed, after fifty years, we too have been freed from the slavery of estrangement and mutual suspicion. We have come to this realization as the result of dialogue. The Second Vatican Council continues to encourage the growth of knowledge and esteem between Christians of differing confessions by means of a dialogue carried out with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility (Unitatis Redintegratio, 11). True dialogue gives us the courage to encounter one another in humility and sincerity, in an effort to learn from one another, and in a spirit of honesty and integrity. We are brothers and sisters who, following a long separation, are happy once more to see and learn about one another, and to move forward with open hearts. So let us advance together, knowing that our journey is blessed by the Lord. It began from him, and it leads to him. [O]ther members of Gods household can also help us grow closer to the Lord, said the pope, citing the call to holiness of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, and spur us to bear more faithful witness to the Gospel. Faith becomes tangible above all when it takes concrete form in love, particularly in service to the poor and the marginalized. [. . .] When, as Catholics and Methodists, we join in assisting and comforting the weak and the marginalized those who in the midst of our societies feel distant, foreign and alienated we are responding to the Lords summons. As we look to the future, beyond the past fifty years, one thing is certain: we cannot grow in holiness without growing in communion. This is the journey that awaits us in the new phase of the dialogue, devoted to reconciliation. We cannot speak of prayer and charity unless together we pray and work for reconciliation and full communion. May your discussions about reconciliation be a gift, and not only for our communities but for the world. May they be an incentive to Christians everywhere to be ministers of reconciliation. The Spirit of God brings about the miracle of reconciled unity. He does so in his own way, even as he did at Pentecost, awakening a variety of charisms and ordering everything in a unity that is not uniformity but a communion. We need, then, to remain together, like the disciples awaiting the Spirit, and as brothers and sisters on a shared journey. "The doctors of the law are not just of those times, there are so many even today. That is why we need to pray for shepherds. Pray so that we do not lose the key to knowledge and do not close the door to ourselves and the people who want to enter. " Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Do not forget that salvation is free, an expression of God's closeness, because "when you forget the gratuity of salvation you fall, you lose the key to knowledge of the history of salvation". "That is why we need to pray for ourselves as shepherds", said Pope Francis at Mass at Casa Santa Marta this morning. Recalling the passage from Luke's Gospel in which the Scribes and Pharisees considered themselves righteous, and Jesus makes known to them that God alone is just, the Pope explained why law practitioners had "taken knowledge away" with "the consequence of not being able to enter the Kingdom nor let others enter either". "This leads us to understand the revelation of God, to understand God's heart, to understand God's salvation - the key to knowledge - we can say it is very neglected. One forgets the freedom of salvation; forgetting the closeness of God and forgetting God's mercy. And those who forget the gift of salvation, the closeness of God, and the mercy of God, have taken away the key to knowledge. " Therefore, this gift was "forgotten". It is "God's initiative to save us and instead stand on the side of the law": Salvation - said the Pope - "is there for them", thus arriving in "a bunch of prescriptions" which in fact become salvation. So, "they do not receive the power of God's righteousness." The law, however, is always "an answer to God's generous love", which has taken "the initiative" to save us. And, continued Pope Francis, "when you forget the gift of salvation you fall, you lose the key to the intelligence of the history of salvation", losing "the sense of God's closeness": "For them, God is the one who has made the law. But this is not the God of revelation. The God of revelation is a God who has begun to walk with us from Abraham to Jesus Christ, God walking with His people. And when you lose this close relationship with the Lord, you fall into this dull mindset that believes in the self-sufficiency of salvation with the fulfillment of the law. The closeness of God ". When the closeness of God is lacking, when prayer is lacking, the Pope emphasized "doctrine cannot be taught" and not even by "studying theology", much less "moral theology": The Pope reiterated that theology "kneels down, always close to God ". And the closeness of the Lord comes "to the highest point of the crucified Jesus Christ," being "justified" for the blood of Christ, as Saint Paul said. For this reason, the Pontiff explained, the works of mercy "are the stone of the fulfillment of the law," because they touch the flesh of Christ, "touch Christs suffering in a person, both corporally and spiritually." Also, when the key to knowledge is lost, one also becomes "corrupt". The Pope finally noted the "responsibilities" of shepherds, now in the Church commenting that when they lose or take away the "key of intelligence", they close "the door on themselves and on others": In my country, said the Pope, "I have heard several times of parish priests who did not baptize the children of the mothers because they were not born in canonical marriage. They closed the door, why? Because the heart of these parish priests had lost the key to knowledge. Three months ago, in a country, in a city, a mother wanted to baptize her newly born son, but she was married civilly with a divorced man. The priest said, 'Yes, yes. Baptize the baby. But your husband is divorced. So he cannot be present at the ceremony. ' This is happening today. The Pharisees, doctors of the law are not people of the past, even today there are many of them. That is why we need prayers for us shepherds. To pray that we do not lose the key to knowledge and do not close the door to ourselves and the people who want to enter. " Screen shot of Cruise Automation self-driving car courtesy of Cruise Automation/YouTube. General Motors and Cruise Automation are applying to begin testing fully autonomous vehicles in New York State in early 2018, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. The testing is planned for Manhattan, where mapping has begun in a geo-fenced area. An engineer will sit in the drivers seat to monitor and evaluate the vehicles self-driving performance. A second person will be in the passenger seat. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to save time and save lives, and we are proud to be working with GM and Cruise on the future of this exciting new technology, Cuomo said in a released statement. GM acquired Cruise Automation, a Silicon Valley company specializing in autonomous vehicle technology, in 2016. Cruise plans to begin building a team of employees in New York City. New state legislation, included in the 2018 fiscal-year budget, allows for the testing of autonomous vehicle technology in New York through a pilot program. Cruises program represents the first time Level 4 autonomous vehicles will be tested in the state. Testing in New York will accelerate the timeline to deploying self-driving cars at scale, said Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise Automation. New York City is one of the most densely populated places in the world and provides new opportunities to expose our software to unusual situations, which means we can improve our software at a much faster rate. The New York Department of Motor Vehicles and State Police will work with Cruise and GM to ensure all testing meets applicable safety, vehicle and insurance requirements, the governors office said. Photo of Toyota Sienna courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Toyota Motor North America is recalling 310,000 Sienna minivans in the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 model years because theyre at risk for a vehicle rollaway, the automaker said. In these minivans, grease inside the shift lever assembly might transfer to other internal components and lead to malfunction. As a result, the shift lever might move out of the park position without the driver depressing the brake pedal. If this occurs when the parking brake isnt engaged, the vehicle might roll away and pose a crash risk, Toyota explained in a released statement. To fix the problem, Toyota dealers will replace the shift lock solenoid, remove the grease and reapply an appropriate amount of grease. There will be no charge for this service. Vehicle owners can reach Toyota customer service at (800) 331-4331. Upcoming fundraiser Local entertainers will be holding a fundraising concert on Oct. 27 for victims of the Las Vegas shooting. Musicians including DJ Hardy and Johnny Owens and the Buck Fever Band will perform at Speakeasy Bar and Grill at the 1933 Event Center, located at 7900 Downing Ave. The event will open at 6 p.m., with the music running from 7-10:30 p.m. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Las Vegas Victims Fund. Tickets are $25 and available at Speakeasy Bar and Grill. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. The IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati has opened a door for dialogue between the two party leaders. Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta have been called out for dialogue by Chebukati as it will save the country.Chebukati pushed for dialogue and finish the elections as Kenya has used a lot of Money in the Election preparations and should continue on the 26th October 2017.President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto who referred Raila Odinga as Muguruki and Mganga have refuted and denied that they will be in the dialogue."I cannot be in whatever dialogue, People will vote and nothing like locking ourselves in a room for power sharing and half-loaf government." President Uhuru Kenyatta said.As a lawyer, I cannot continue to be pushed by majority commissioners to accept legal opinions that serve partisan interests and are not grounded in the Constitution and the law. At the least, this is intellectual dishonesty for which my professional training demands that I loathe, Chebukati said."It is already painful to be on record as the Chairman of the IEBC that presided over a presidential election that was nullified by the Supreme Court. I ask the staff adversely mentioned to step aside and allow the project team to function without interference, Chebukati said.I would rather bow out with my name intact and my head lifted high than being part of a process where personal interests dwarf the interests of the nation. I realize my actions in this noble office will define me for life. My actions will become my legacy and the reference point not only to my life but that of my family. I am therefore not ready to sacrifice an eternal legacy for short-term gains that will sear my conscience, he stated.Chebukati insisted that the elections be free, fair and credible, political party captains need to come together and talk before the elections."I'm ready to conduct talks between the two people and making sure the country goes on as no one is more human than the other." He stated.Once there is political agreement as a result of dialogue, when there is genuine commitment to let the commission work independently, when all commissioners and staff truly commit to serving the country, rather than partisan political interests; and when we work together to create a conducive environment for Kenyans to express their sovereign will, then I can truly be confident of having presidential elections. Only then can I commit to serve as the National Returning Officer, Chebukati said at the Bomas of Kenya.The lesson ... is that dismissing the withdrawal of candidates with large numbers of votes does not improve the economic, political or social situation. In fact, it leads to deep crisis, Chebukati warned.He urged the IEBC secretariat team that has been alleged to sabotaged the August polls to resign. "The referred people who have been in the consistent talk by the Politicians should follow suit as the resigned commissioner in order to have credible elections." He stated.The President and the Opposition leader have urged their supporters to stand firm on the presidential poll repetition day. Both leaders have stood firm on dialogue that they will not meet as no half-loaf government will be constituted after 26th October 2017. "Due to the prevailing circumstances, the university is hereby closed indefinitely. Students are advised to vacate the premises." Nyabundi said. The IEBC officials Trainings in Nyanza and Western regions have been sabotaged by the NASA supporters and aborted all sessions. Of late, Maseno University stormed the hall where the training was conducted in the school and evicted all the IEBC officials.Musinde Muliro University was also hit with the same troubles after the students forceful evicted the IEBC officials from conducting the poll sessions.Maseno University was on Thursday closed indefinitely after students disrupted a training of officials set to man the October 26 vote.On Wednesday, the students stormed a venue of an IEBC training and flushed out the attendees.Vice Chancellor Julius Nyabundi ordered the unruly students to leave the university compound by 8 am on Thursday. The students later barricaded the Kisumu-Busia highway paralyzing transport for several hours before police quelled the protests.Maseno is the third institution of higher learning to be closed over of unrest due to tensions caused by the forthcoming fresh election.The University of Nairobi and Mt Kenya University's Thika campus were recently closed over student unrest.The IEBC training conducted in Coast region at Technical University of Mombasa and Pwani University proceeded with no interruptions despite residents being uncomfortable.Police from all areas of their Units were sent to NASA strongholds to man the polls trainings. More police officers will also be available to the opposition strongholds forcing people to vote at least in each polling station next week. Raila Odinga has issued a statement following a stern warning from President Uhuru Kenyatta who that the elections will proceed as planned. Raila Odinga said that the elections day will hold a mother of all the demonstrations that have happened in the Jubilee regime.The NASA coalitions already have plans of feeding their demonstrators as water, food, Soda will be given to all demonstrators.He stated that the oppositions No reforms, No election campaign would henceforth change to No election on October 26, adding that they would continue pushing the electoral body to meet NASAs demands.On the resignation of IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe, Odinga said it was an indication that State House had been meddling in operations at the electoral body.He further stated that IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati had already given an indication that the repeat election would not happen, following remarks he (Chebukati) made during a press address on Wednesday, October 18.Addressing the media after Dr. Akombes resignation, Chebukati said he cannot guarantee the credibility of the October 26 repeat presidential election under the current conditions and with a divided commission.I have made several attempts to make crucial changes, but all my emotions have been defeated by a majority of the commissioners. Under such conditions, it is difficult to guarantee free, fair and credible elections, Chebukati said.The Siaya Senator James Orengo will be at the forefront for making sure that Kenya has liberated and the government goons will be dealt with.Raila Odinga and his team will hold a parallel rally with the Mashujaa day celebrations. He said that attending the Central region Mashujaa day will be wasting time rather than having a national day. Writer- director- producer David Fincher is no stranger to serial killers, having helmed such cinematic slayers as Se7en and Zodiac. And television has been cultivating a love of serial killers for some time nowfrom Dexter to Hannibal to The Following to Aquarius to any number of Scandinavian detective shows. So it seems like a marriage made in Heaven (or maybe Hell) to have Fincher adapting John Douglas and Mark Olshakers real-life memoir Mindhunter: Inside the F.B.I.s Elite Serial Crime Unit for Netflix. The show is written by British playwright Joe Penhall and Texas playwright Jennifer Haley, who do a commendable job of translating Douglas and Olshakers wordy procedural work. The show takes us back to 1977, the year David Berkowitz was arrested for the shocking Son of Sam murders in New York. FBI hostage negotiator Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff, Looking) is starting to notice a disturbing trend. The world barely makes any sense, he says of post-Manson, post-Watergate, post-Vietnam America. So it follows that crime doesnt either. Clearly, old-school, rational crime-fighting methods are not appropriate for catching this new generation of psychotic murderers dubbed serial killers. Looking for a better way, Ford digs into the field of sociology and finds behavioral-science specialist Bill Tench (Holt McCallany from CSI: Miami). Together these mismatched partnersFord is the antisocial straight arrow, Tench the intellectual skepticcrisscross the country interviewing baffled cops and creepy convicts. Since it doesnt focus much on active crimesits not Ford and Tenchs job to hunt down these killersMindhunter isnt particularly gory or action-packed. That isnt to say, however, that it lacks grisly thrills. One early encounter with The Co-Ed Killer (a real-life murderer played here by Cameron Britton) is unsettling for the open, matter-of-fact way in which he discusses his horrendous crimes. Academic as it can be, the show has a sly sense of black humoras the well-timed use of the Talking Heads Psycho Killer can attest. Some may find the show a bit too chatty, and it does take getting past the first episode for things to click into place. Once our protagonists start going face-to-face with killers, though, the show has a sneaky, edgy thrill. This isnt about chasing mysterious clues and stopping murderers before they kill againits about understanding what makes them tick. The compelling concept of the show is that the world is going to Hell in a hand basket, and criminals are just keeping up with the times. The chilling and occasionally funny conclusion is that maybe theyre not all that different from the rest of us. A group of Bay area doctors, some with ties to Puerto Rico, have been doing what they can to help get medical aid and supplies to the island, including delivering those supplies themselves. Group calls itself "Doctors for Puerto Rico: A Hope and Health Project" Learn more at their Facebook page To donate to efforts, visit hopeandhealthproject.com When Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, it devastated the countrys infrastructure and cut residents off from the medical care they need. USF Health internal medicine physician Dr. Elimarys Perez-Colon, who grew up in Puerto Rico, got together with other local physicians and decided they needed to help. They traveled to Puerto Rico in early October. "The main goal was get supplies and medications, different medical equipment that the local physicians in Puerto Rico are going to need, Perez-Colon said. "And the other goal was to provide physicians to then assist their physicians in the island. They brought nearly 4,000 pounds of medical supplies to the island and hit the ground running, traveling to patients in mostly rural areas and giving the islands overwhelmed and fatigued doctors some help. "We saw a lot of patients that needed medical attention that could not get to the hospital for multiple reasons, Perez-Colon said. "The main reason was there was very little access to the small roads that were still covered with debris and trees and stuff like that. The group calls itself "Doctors for Puerto Rico: A Hope and Health Project." USF Health teamed up with Tampa General Hospital to collect supplies and donate money. The hospital donated $50,000 to the cause. "Money only goes so far -- the real passion comes when we are able to donate our knowledge and our services and so forth so hopefully as the relief effort continues we are going to be involved in providing our expertise and care both locally in Puerto Rico as well, Dr. Ravi Bukkapatnam, Chief of Staff at Tampa General Hospital, said. Bukkapatnam said this is a long-term initiative. The hospital will continue to send supplies and medication and Dr. Colon-Perez is already planning more trips with even more physicians to Puerto Rico. She said they will bring a psychiatrist with them next time to help with mental health on the island. To learn more about the project, visit their page on Facebook. To make a donation to help their ongoing efforts, visit http://www.hopeandhealthproject.com/pages.asp?pageid=Doctors-for-Puerto-Rico. A Pinellas Park couple was arrested Wednesday night on child abuse/neglect charges. Pinellas Park couple accused of child neglect of injured 6-week-old Rosa Toledo charged with aggravated child neglect/abuse Gabriel Allen-Rosa charged with aggravated child neglect Infant was injured in mother's care; parents did not seek treatment Rosa Elena Toledo, 24, and Gabriel Patrick Allen-Rosa, 26, were charged with aggravated child neglect of their 6-week-old boy. According to the report, the child suffered severe head injuries and other physical injuries consistent with physical abuse. Police determined that the injuries occurred over Labor Day weekend while the child was in his mother's care. Police said after the child was injured, Toledo and Allen-Rosa left for New Jersey during Hurricane Irma and failed to seek medical attention for the 6-week-old infant, despite knowing the child was displaying signs of injury. According to the report, once the couple was back home in Florida, they still failed to seek treatment for the injured child, even though multiple family members expressed their concern for the infant's well-being. Police said the parents eventually took the infant to a hospital for care, but only after family members threatened to call authorities. The parents were charged with aggravated child neglect and Toledo was also charged with aggravated child abuse. Police said the couple also shares a second older child who is currently being cared for by family members. Clearwater police shot and killed an armed man they say was suicidal early Thursday at an apartment complex. No officers were injured. Armed suicidal man shot, killed by police Shooting happened at Clearwater apartment Mitchell Fox, 34, died at area hospital. No officers hurt According to police, the wife of Mitchell Fox, 34, call police just before 12:30 a.m. to report her husband was armed and threatening to kill himself. His wife said Fox got in his truck with a weapon and drove off. He returned to the complex a short time later and put his truck in the middle of the parking lot. Officers responded to the The Sands of Clearwater at 2150 Druid Road a short time later. Upon arrival, officers came into contact with Fox, who was armed with a gun. Fox got out of the truck armed police said. Police said Fox refused their commands to drop the weapon. Fox was shot after threatening an officer, police said. Fox was rushed to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, where he later died. Police said they removed evidence from the truck that appeared to be two long-barreled weapons. The officer involved in the shooting, who has worked with the department for almost one year, will be placed on administrative leave. "The officer ordered him (Fox) several times to drop his gun," said Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter. "The officer was between an occupied apartment building and Mr. Fox. And eventually the gap between them closed to the point where the officer had to use deadly force." Fox lived at the apartment with his wife and their two children. The family had recently moved to Clearwater from Kentucky, according to officials. Police said Fox's wife told them her husband had first threatened to harm himself as recently as Sunday. When he initially left the apartment early Thursday, she said he told her he "was going to hell and not coming back." The shooting is being investigated by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office and reviewed internally. Lakeland Realtor Trent Saunders has written a series of comic books titled "Cocaine Cowboys." The books are based on stories that ranchers from central Florida told him about cocaine smuggling back in the 1980s. The drug smugglers used grass airstrips on ranches to fly in the drugs. Lakeland Realtor writes 'Cocaine Cowboys' comics Comics based on 1980s drug smuggling on Polk ranches Drug runners used ranchers property to smuggle cocaine Theyve got absolutely crazy stories and it might not have been them. It might have been the previous owner or two owners before that. But every property has a story," he said. Saunders' specialty as a Realtor is selling ranches. He says part of the folklore is that some ranchers looked the other way when the drug runners were using their property. People were flying in cocaine and dropping it on the property and rather than confronting them they were just, 'okay just leave something sitting there for me and you guys can take it and leave. Just dont mess with my cattle. Dont cut my fences.' Polk County sheriff Grady Judd was a deputy back then. He was involved in many drug busts involving the "Cocaine Cowboys." We would lay out on grass strips with semi-automatic and fully automatic--at the time--firearms to catch the plane and catch the dope. Sometimes we got the plane and the dope," he said. "Sometimes the plane only circled and kicked the dope onto the strip. Judd has a folder of pictures and newspaper headlines of the drug busts in Polk County. Some of the busts involved more than a hundred million dollars worth of cocaine. Judd confirmed the idea that some ranchers were involved. "Well, because we arrested some of them," he said. The "Cocaine Cowboys" comics is not meant to glamorize the drug running. The cocaine cowboys story ends in death and chaos and I chose to write it that way because the real life story ended and everyone is either dead or in jail," said Saunders. White Nationalist Richard Spencer spoke in Gainesville at the University of Florida Thursday afternoon, or attempted to. White Nationalist Richard Spencer speaking at UF Thursday Event in the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Deputies from Pinellas and Pasco also in Gainesville today UF: Q & A for Spencer event The head of the National Policy Institute took the stage to boos and had difficulty speaking throughout his event. From the beginning, almost all people in the audience started to yell out, some in agreement, but a clear majority against, shouting things like "Get off the stage!" "Say it loud, say it clear, Nazis are not welcome here!" and "Black Lives Matter!" I felt like it was important to show up, and show that, you know, we not afraid, we are here, you have come into our home to spread hate, and we arent going to stand for it, said students Amol Jethwani and Kristen Jackson. I am here because I have supported Richard Spencer for over 5 years now," said former UF student Martin Poirier. "He agrees with me more than he disagrees with me. We are in mutual communion with the alt-right, we disagree on a few minor points, but generally speaking that Richard is an allies, and he is a friend. Those yells built -- until many people in the crowd just stood up, and continued to chant for the remainder of the speech. The event with #RichardSpencer is underway. A lot of people yelling in anger as the first speakers take the stage. @MyNews13 @BN9 pic.twitter.com/Dx3AwkVHYd Erin Murray News 13 (@emurray1) October 19, 2017 Before the talk took place, Spencer told reporters that his college tour had been more difficult than he'd expected. I thought this college tour was going to be easy, that we would call to the masses, and I would come and speak to students," Spencer said. "The fact is it has been difficult, the fact is there have been road blocks at every place along the way. But we did speak to at least one person who came to support Spencer's right to free speech. What I know about him, I dont really agree with anything that he has to say," said Dion Weaver. "But having said that, I am a firm believer in freedom of speech. Orlando man arrested before the event Ahead of the speech, an Orlando man was arrested for allegedly carrying a firearm on the campus, authorities said. The Alachua County Sheriff's Office tweeted, "Arrested Man ID as Sean Brijmohan 28 YOA from Orlando FL. Arrested under FS790.115(2)(c)1 Carrying Firearm on School Property." According to news sources, Brijmohan said he has all the necessary permits and was hired by Fox News for armed security for station WFOX in Jacksonville. He said he works for SAI Investigations. Arrested Man ID as Sean Brijmohan 28 YOA from Orlando FL. Arrested under FS790.115(2)(c)1 Carrying Firearm on School Property. pic.twitter.com/uY5B2EXtCU Alachua Co. Sheriff (@AlachuaSheriff) October 19, 2017 The protest in the streets Hundreds came out for the "No Nazis at UF rally." Some marched carrying signs that read "Gators, Not Haters." Many said the purpose was to show that University of Florida was an inclusive community. "No Nazis at UF" march pic.twitter.com/jUWeGP0eZZ holly gregory (@hollygregory33) October 19, 2017 "It makes me feel good to finally all come together for one common cause," said student Kimberly Brown. "Everyone wants inclusivity. Everyone wants to feel like they are loved and love is universal. They have the same exact cause that I have, to make sure that hate is wiped out in that love is the number one goal." "Personally, I think to not come out at all and not give him the attention would've been the best message," said student Peter Doyle. "But since people are here, I think it's wonderful this many people protesting a message of hate that [Spencer] is trying to bring." Gator Nation against Richard Spencer pic.twitter.com/64sJ5R6ox9 holly gregory (@hollygregory33) October 19, 2017 There were some skirmishes, however, as supporters and protesters confronted each other. A man wearing a white shirt with Swastikas drawn on it was punched and chased out of the area. Some others were surrounded by crowds who chanted and pushed them until they were chased behind police lines. With the tense atmosphere expected, Gov. Rick Scott earlier this week declared a state of emergency to allow for additional law enforcement. Some 500 law enforcement officers kept a close eye out on the ground and on top of buildings. Law enforcement from throughout the state was on hand, including deputies from the sheriff's offices in Pinellas and Pasco counties. Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement sent officers from across the state as well. A Spencer-led rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August turned violent. One woman was killed and 19 people were injured when a man drove a sedan into a group of counter-protesters. UF president: White nationalists have a game plan The university previously denied a request from the National Policy Institute to hold a speaking event on Sept. 12 featuring Spencer. The request was denied in light of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, August 12. UF President W. Kent Fuchs said at the time "the First Amendment does not require a public institution to risk imminent violence to students and others." Spencer, who helped propagate the term "alt-right," is leader of the National Policy Institute, a lobbying organization for white supremacists that says it's dedicated to the "heritage, identity and future of people of European descent." The school was told it had to allow Spencer to speak, even though there was a security risk. Fuchs has spent the last several days talking with students about the best ways to respond to the visit. Fuchs tweeted this Wednesday: Attention & Confrontation are the oxygen on which extremists thrive. W. Kent Fuchs (@PresidentFuchs) October 18, 2017 He also tweeted this video message Thursday morning from campus. In it, Fuchs said these visits are a move against education and the country's public research institutions, and the best thing for students to do is avoid Spencer's visit: Lincoln City's Tour to Die For Again Haunts Oregon Coast Published 10/18/2017 at 5:37 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Lincoln City, Oregon) In comes Lincoln City's darkest hour: A Tour to Die For is paradoxically the liveliest of happenings surrounding the celebration of all things deceased and spooky along the entire Oregon coast during Halloween. A Tour to Die For centers its guided tours around Lincoln Citys hilltop cemetery, returning to its haunting grounds on October 20 - 22 and 27 29. You get to witness history come to life as six new permanent residents tell their tales to brave living souls. Tours depart from the Lincoln City Cultural Center (540 NE Hwy 101) every half hour: at 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 and 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday. Matinee shows are available on October 22 and 29, and depart at 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 and 4:00 pm. Along the way, hot beverages, cookies and snacks will be on hand while participants await this fateful journey. During the bus ride, participants will enjoy listening to local legends, lore and mysterious occurrences from their tour guide. They then arrive at Pioneer Cemetery, where these brave souls will be greeted by Mr. Bones, who donated the land for the graveyard. From there, each tour will be guided by lantern light to the final resting place of six of the cemetery residents, each of whom will tell their stories. The bus ride either takes you to some other spooky stops or talks about them. The central Oregon coast town is rife with these tales, which include: The ghost at the fire station on the northern end of Lincoln City. Numerous sightings there go back decades, and it's thought a firefighter from the '30s still lingers there. Siletz Bay has an apparent ghost ship. Some talk of seeing an old-style schooner appearing and disappearing in the fog. Interestingly, there is a hidden shipwreck in the mud flats beneath the bay. Another stop includes Devil's Lake, where you'll hear native tribal tales of the monster that inhabits it. One of the permanent residents, played by local actress Cassie Ruud, is delighted to share her story with patrons at this years tour. I am excited to be performing as Taimi Hespack, a colorful character who had an equally colorful life, said Ruud. Her story is a fun one, filled with log cabins, fortune telling and lots of dancing. I cannot wait to share her story with patrons. A Tour to Die For is a collaboration between the North Lincoln County Historical Museum, Taft Pioneer Cemetery Association and Theatre West. Stories about the residents of the cemetery are united with actors to literally bring the history of Lincoln City to life. Proceeds from the tours benefit North Lincoln County Historical Museum, Pioneer Cemetery and Theatre West. Ruud, who was an understudy at last years inaugural Tour to Die For, is now one of the featured performers. I loved every minute of it. I look forward to the challenge of bringing Taimi to life at this years Tour to Die For. I hope that patrons will enjoy listening to her story and learn some of the history of our town. The festive tour won a sizable award last year from Travel Oregon: the 2016 Hidden Gem Award. That honor is bestowed upon small but worthy events with fewer than 1,000 attendees that makes an impact on a community and is worth bragging about. To purchase tickets and for more information on A Tour to Die For, see TourToDieFor.com. Staying in Lincoln City for this event. Lodging rates are dropping quite low right now, and numerous enticing speclals will make this event easier on the budget as well. See the Lincoln City lodging page for constant deal alerts. Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour Below: Lincoln City at night: Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted A continued fall in Northern Irelands employment rate and a rise in economic inactivity highlight deeply rooted weaknesses in the economy which could lead to more joblessness in future, it has been claimed. Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga A continued fall in Northern Irelands employment rate and a rise in economic inactivity highlight deeply rooted weaknesses in the economy which could lead to more joblessness in future, it has been claimed. And while unemployment dropped by 5,000 people in the last quarter to a rate of 4.7%, contrasting figures paint a mixed picture for the economy here and are a cause for concern. The latest official figures show a 0.3% drop in the employment rate to 68.4%, while the economic inactivity rate increased by 0.7% t0 28.1%, according to the latest Labour Force Survey. The latter is anyone neither in work, nor looking for employment. Esmond Birnie, economist with the Ulster Universitys Economic Policy Centre, said: While the continued decline in unemployment is welcome there is no room for complacency. Over the last year there was a substantial jump in the rate of economic inactivity and a substantial fall in the employment rate. This illustrates deeply rooted weaknesses in the economy. Mr Birnie added it is possible to have falling unemployment and rising inactivity together. In the long-run, however, I think as rising inactivity indicates an uncompetitive economy and we will probably see unemployment rise too,he said. Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said while indicators suggest the economy remains in fine fettle and the labour market is in fact strengthening ... conversely, another batch of labour market statistics suggests that the economy has taken a turn for the worse. While the UK and NI unemployment rates are converging, their respective employment and economic inactivity rates are diverging. Both of these divergent trends are a cause for concern, he added. Economic inactivity is on the rise. Indeed the latest three-month period witnessed the largest annual increase in economically inactive since the depths of the recession back in June-August 2009. But on a positive note, according to the latest figures, the NI youth unemployment rate has fallen from 13.2% to 10% over the year to June-August 2017. Speaking about the reduction of around 500 people claiming unemployment benefits, Mr Ramsey said it should not be viewed in isolation as the fall has been accompanied by an equally impressive surge in Employment Support Allowance (ESA) claimants. It is noted that over the two years to July 2017, the claimant count has fallen by almost 12,700, he said. Boeing has claimed Bombardier's C Series planes could still be hit with a 300% import tariff in the US despite a deal that will see the passenger jets assembled in Alabama. Airbus is taking a majority stake in the Canadian company's C Series aircraft, which are part-made in Belfast. Thousands of Northern Ireland jobs looked to be at risk after a complaint from rival Boeing resulted in the US administration imposing a provisional tariff on each of the aircraft sold there, potentially scuppering a multi-billion pound deal with Delta Air Lines for up to 125 jets. Airbus now plans to extend its own US factory in an apparent bid to get around the charge. However, Boeing general counsel Michael Luttig said: "Any duties finally levied against the C Series... will have to be paid on any imported C Series airplane or part, or it will not be permitted into the country." Delta Air Lines has confirmed it plans to accept C Series planes built at the Airbus facility in Alabama. According to Martin Craigs, the former marketing man for Short Brothers - which was taken over by Bombardier in 1989 - Airbus's taking of a stake in the C Series is a "masterful move which shifts the tectonic plates in the massive global market for single aisle airliners". Bombardier was slapped with a 300% duty by the US Government after complaints from Boeing that the firm was being subsidised and was selling its C Series planes at a reduced price or below cost. Boeing also claimed it was damaged as a result of Bombardier securing an order for up to 125 of the models. The concern for Bombardier and more than 4,000 workers here is that the tariff could kill the Delta Air Lines deal, as well as any further business in America. An initial 220% tariff was imposed on sales of the C Series by the US Department of Commerce. A later ruling increased the levy to 300%. The US's International Trade Commission is due to give its final ruling on the matter in February. The latest twist came as DUP MEP Diane Dodds met with Airbus managers, including senior vice president Katherine Bennett and EU affairs manager Georgina Browes, in Brussels yesterday. "I was delighted to meet with senior management from Airbus," Mrs Dodds said. "We had a very positive discussion on the new joint venture with Bombardier in the C Series programme. Airbus's intervention is a vote of confidence in the long-term potential of the C Series. "A successful C Series will be good for Airbus, good for Bombardier, and in turn good for the local workforce in Belfast. "Airbus has clearly recognised the C Series as an important addition to its portfolio in a growing sector of the market." She added that while the new venture was "not taken forward specifically because of the dispute with Boeing, we continue to hope that a sensible resolution (to the tariffs row) can be found". First Trust parent company AIB, which is based in Dublin, is preparing to launch the largest non-performing loan sale in its history next month. First Trust parent company AIB, which is based in Dublin, is preparing to launch the largest non-performing loan sale in its history next month. The bank, led by Bernard Byrne, is embarking on the final phase of its post-crisis balance sheet purge amid a fresh crackdown on the sector from the European Central Bank. It is understood soured loans with a face value of close to 2bn (1.8bn) will be marketed for sale at the end of November, in a process dubbed Project Redwood. The smaller Project Pine book contains soured loans linked to assets in the UK, with over half the debts tied to assets in Northern Ireland. Irish lenders remain under pressure to swiftly resolve legacy-era debts as the ECB threatens more punitive measures on those banks still saddled with non-performing exposures (NPEs) which exceed the region's average of close to 5% of the total loan book. Hundreds of staff within AIB's loan work-out unit, known as the Financial Solutions Group (FSG), which manages distressed loans across the group, are understood to be working on Project Redwood, as the bank races to conclude a deal ahead of its annual results in March. Sources said a smaller portfolio of non-performing loans - initially earmarked for separate sale - has now been folded into Project Redwood. The bank remains on course to offload a further 300m (268m) worth of impaired loans by December, underscoring its determination to radically reduce its legacy book - a move that in turn frees up capital and increases the prospect of a special dividend. AIB declined to comment on either of the loan sales. But a spokesman for the bank pointed out that in the first half the lender has cut its impaired loans from roughly 9.1bn (8bn) to 7.8bn (7bn). He said AIB "works through loans on a case by case basis" and added: "We remain focused on reducing impaired loans to a level more in line with normalised European peer levels and will continue to implement sustainable solutions for customers who engage with the bank where feasible." The bank's accelerated resolution of its non-performing exposures comes as Permanent TSB in Ireland also intensifies efforts to cleanse the balance sheet. It's now expected to push forward with a 1.25bn (1bn) portfolio of toxic loans early next year. Yet, as Investec's Owen Callan pointed out, the European Banking Authority's efforts to standardise the classification of asset quality has led to a "less sympathetic" result for Irish banks. A chauffeur has described ferrying around crying aspiring actresses in Cannes for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, saying he felt like he was driving them into the lions mouth. Mickael Chemloul also claimed the Hollywood producer flew into a rage and attacked him when prostitutes failed to meet them near an exclusive bar in the French Riviera. The French driver said much of his work between 2008 and 2013 was driving young actresses and models for Weinstein, who has had a meteoric fall from grace since dozens of women came forward to accuse him of sexual assault and harassment. Expand Close PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp I had the impression of driving poor, innocent people, innocent women, taking them into the lions mouth and couldnt say to them, Watch your step, its dangerous, Mr Chemloul, 56, told French news channel BFM TV. One that left the biggest impression on me was a woman who was a fan of his, who loved him, who had followed him for years. She gave her body, her soul, everything to this man because he promised her castings and to make a film which was never shot. Mr Chemloul, who described comforting the crying women leaving Weinsteins company, separately told newspaper Nice-Matin that in July 2013 the producer turned violent when two prostitutes did not turn up near Saint-Tropezs Club 55. He became crazy and laid into me. From the moment he raised a hand to me, there was no doubt of me ever working for him again, he said. Expand Close Harvey Weinstein (PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Harvey Weinstein (PA) Of the dozens of offences the 65-year-old is accused of, at least one is said to have taken place in the French Riviera. Actress Asia Argento told The New Yorker, in a piece published days after a bombshell investigation by The New York Times, that he forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Hotel du Cap in 1997 after being lured there under false pretences. Weinstein, who has unequivocally denied allegations of non-consensual sex, is also being investigated by British police after women made five allegations against him spanning from the late 1980s to 2015. He stepped down from the board of The Weinstein Company on Tuesday after the studio he co-founded more than a decade ago sacked him from his role as a chairman. Expand Close Bob Weinstein / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bob Weinstein US broadcaster Spike is also investigating claims his younger brother, Bob Weinstein, sexually harassed Amanda Segel, a former executive producer of sci-fi series The Mist. A lawyer for the 62-year-old producer claimed she made false and misleading assertions, adding there is no way in the world his client is guilty of sexual harassment. Our reporter Rachel Dean checks out the style in Victoria Square, Belfast. Ashling McAlinden (34), civil servant, Tandragee Expand Close Ashling McAlinden / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ashling McAlinden Wore what? Dress, 25, H&M; jacket, 40, boots, 25, Dorothy Perkins; bag, 30, River Island. Why? My style could be described as dressy casual. I love autumnal coloured patterns at the moment. Who? Holly Willoughby is so classy. She dresses to complement her shape, which I always do, too. Monthly spend: 50-100 Expand Close Holly Willoughby (Photo by S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock) S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Holly Willoughby (Photo by S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock) Jenny Garrett (22), piano teacher, Belfast Expand Close Jenny Garrett / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jenny Garrett Wore what? Top, 20, jacket, 20, sunglasses, 6, all New Look; jeans, 12, F&F; boots, 10, Primark; bag, 60, Fiorelli. Why? I would say my style is creative. I love bright colours, too. Everything must be matching. I always match my bag to my shoes. Who? Louise Thompson makes really bold fashion choices and I think thats so cool. Monthly spend: 200 Expand Close Louise Thompson (Photo by John Phillips/John Phillips/Getty Images for blu) John Phillips/Getty Images for blu / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Louise Thompson (Photo by John Phillips/John Phillips/Getty Images for blu) Sandra Aitcheson (53), nurse, Templepatrick Expand Close Sandra Aitcheson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sandra Aitcheson Wore what? Jumper, 100, House of Fraser; skirt, 300, Max Mara; jacket, 125, Mango; boots, 100, Topshop; bag, 200, Fiorelli. Why? My style is classical and seasonal. I wear a lot of dark colours with a little pop of colour I think it just ties the whole look together. Who? Emma Willis has great style. She wears a lot of black but she does sometimes wear very bright colours. My style would be quite similar to hers. Monthly spend: 500 Expand Close Emma Willis (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images) Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emma Willis (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images) Katrina Savage (37), stay-at-home mum, Tyrella Expand Close Katrina Savage / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Katrina Savage Wore what? Top, 25, River Island; jeans, 60, Levis; jacket, 35, bag, 25, both New Look; earrings, 9, H&M; boots, 80, boutique in Newcastle. Why? I love prints and patterns. I usually wear darker colours or neutrals and a statement piece to set it all off. Who? Pippa OConnor always has the latest style. I love her look. Monthly spend: 200-300 Expand Close Pippa O'Connor (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures International) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pippa O'Connor (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures International) Michelle Clarke (48), housewife, Portadown Expand Close Michelle Clarke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michelle Clarke Wore what? Top, 30, Topshop; jeans, 42, hat, 30, both River Island; blazer, 50, Next; scarf, 100, Chanel; shoes, 250, LK Bennett; bag, 200, Ivanka Trump. Why? My look is different and eclectic. I like classy looks. Who? I love how Olivia Palermo mixes colours and styles that you wouldnt normally think of mixing. She has a way with fashion. Monthly spend: 200 Expand Close Olivia Palermo (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images) Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Olivia Palermo (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images) Olga Millar (51), day care worker, Belfast Expand Close Olga Millar / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Olga Millar Wore what? Top, 14.99, necklace, 14.99, both NV; jeans, 30, Wallis; jacket, 35, Peacocks; boots, 20, Matalan; bag, 35, River Island. Why? My look is feminine and classy but a little bit quirky, too. Who? Denise Van Outen is modern and stylish. Shes in the Matalan adverts and I love their clothes. Monthly spend: 50-100 Expand Close Denise Van Outen (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images for Professional Sports Group) Getty Images for Professional Sports Group / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Denise Van Outen (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images for Professional Sports Group) Lily Graham (73), retired, Belfast Expand Close Lily Graham / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lily Graham Wore what? Top, 12, shoes, 20, both M&S; skirt, 30, Next; jacket, 60, Julien MacDonald; necklace, 5, Primark; bag, 60, boutique in Barcelona. Why? I would say my style is quite elegant. I like a little bit of bling, like a statement necklace or earrings. Who? I like Lorraine Kellys understated, classy look. Monthly spend: 150 Expand Close Lorraine Kelly (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images) Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lorraine Kelly (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images) Natalie Moore (19), waitress, Lisburn Expand Close Natalie Moore / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Natalie Moore Wore what? Top, 12, coat, 90, bag, 30, all River Island; skirt, 28, Miss Selfridge; boots, 30, New Look. Why? I have a modern, feminine look. I love pairing black with millennial pink. Who? I love Camila Cabellos look because its fun, cute and girly. Monthly spend: 150 plus l-r Ciaran de Burca, Director of Transport Projects, Department for Infrastructure, Cllr Nuala McAllister, Lord Mayor of Belfast and Chris Conway, Group Chief Executive, Translink unveil the new Belfast Rapid Transit Glider vehicle at Bus World in Belgium. The new Belfast Rapid Transit Glider vehicle has been unveiled at the Busworld Europe exhibition in Belgium. The new service will come into operation in September 2018 and Translink have said it is set to transform public transport in Belfast. Glider services will operate every 7-8 minutes throughout the working day, linking East Belfast, West Belfast and Titanic Quarter via the city centre. The 18 metre articulated Glider vehicles will use the latest diesel-electric hybrid engine technology which Translink say will deliver a smoother take off from halts, lower noise, reduced vibration and lower emissions. Each Glider vehicle will carry 105 passengers and will feature real time passenger information, audio next stop and destination announcements, CCTV, free Wi-Fi, USB charging facilities and air conditioning. Ciaran de Burca, Department for Infrastructure Director of Transport Projects said: Today we see a very significant step forward for the 90m flagship Belfast Rapid Transit project, with the launch of the Glider vehicle and brand. The new Glider vehicles, which have been specifically designed for Belfast, will start arriving in Belfast later this year. They will provide a new, modern, improved public transport experience for everyone who lives, works, socialises or visits the city. Here is a glimpse inside the #GliderBelfast pic.twitter.com/mPKHGJLBkR Dept Infrastructure (@deptinfra) October 19, 2017 Ciaran de Burca, added: The new Glider service will help to meet the future transport needs of our modern, fast growing city. Glider will not only improve connectivity and social interaction across the city but will encourage active travel choices, supporting the growth of sustainable transport I congratulate Van Hool on this magnificent new vehicle which I know will be a valuable asset to Belfast for many years to come. The new Glider service will be operated by Translink. Its group Chief Executive Chris Conway said: Glider is the iconic new face of public transport in Belfast, helping to energise the city. Our customers can expect a modern, high-capacity and high-frequency rapid transit service which integrates with our existing bus and rail network. "With additional features such as on-board Wi-Fi, USB charging facilities and a new innovative and easy-to-use, off-vehicle ticketing system, Glider will deliver quicker boarding times and offer excellent value for money fares. Glider is a transformational development for public transport in Belfast. Wed like to thank the Department for Infrastructure for essential funding to deliver this major project and look forward to the arrival of the first vehicles in Northern Ireland later this year. A pledge to publish details of donations to political parties here is not good enough, the head of the Electoral Commission has said. Unlike in the rest of the UK, the names of donors are not made public in Northern Ireland for security reasons. Secretary of State James Brokenshire is due to bring forward legislation that will permit the publication of donations worth more than 7,500. The UK Government said: "The legislation is currently at an advanced stage of drafting and will be brought before Parliament shortly." But Electoral Commission head Ann Watt said that although this would bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK, it was not enough. "I think there is an argument that parties in Northern Ireland are much smaller than certainly the major parties in Great Britain, so there may be a case to be made for lowering that threshold," Ms Watt told The Detail website. In February the DUP confirmed it had received a Brexit campaign donation of around 435,000 from a group of pro-Union business people led by a member of the Conservative Party. At the time party leader Arlene Foster declined to reveal the identity of the donor or donors, but said the money was properly accounted for "under the rules as they currently stand". Former Justice Minister David Ford told the Belfast Telegraph he was disappointed that under the proposed legislation only donations made after July 2017 will be disclosed. "Regardless of the threshold it remains extremely disappointing that once exemptions are finally lifted, only donations from July 1, 2017, will be made public," he said. "We would again urge James Brokenshire to legislate to allow for the publication of all donations since January 1, 2014, finally lifting the shroud of secrecy that surrounds this issue. "No party should have anything to hide in how they are funded, which is why the Alliance Party already voluntarily publishes its donations, in line with GB rules, and have done so for years." The Green Party also voluntarily publishes donations o fmore than 500. In the 2016 list, the biggest donation it received was from leader Steven Agnew (5,552.59). The UK Government said there were no plans to change the 7,500 threshold at present, but added it "would be happy to consider any recommendations from the Electoral Commission and/or political parties on this issue". The Detail also revealed that almost 1m more was spent at the last two Assembly elections -in March 2017 and May 2016 - than was previously reported. The Electoral Commission publishes information on how much political parties spend during election campaigns, but these figures do not include money given by the parties to their individual candidates. At the beginning of the summer it published findings that political parties spent a total of 150,080 as part of their March 2017 Assembly election campaign. However, the new figures compiled by The Detail show that the 90 elected candidates spent a further 407,611 during the same election. Adding these two figures together brings the total expenditure at the March 2017 Assembly election to over 500,000. The combined expenditure for parties and elected candidates at the May 2016 Assembly election came to 909,188. This means that more than 1.4m was spent by political parties and their elected candidates at the last two Stormont elections. Belfast Harbour Police Constable Scott Harkins, who received agallantry medal for rescuing a woman from the freezing waters of Belfast Lough, is now also to be honoured with an award from the Royal Humane Society Two police officers who saved a woman from drowning in the Abercorn Basin at Belfast Harbour have been awarded top national life-saving honours. Constable Scott Harkins of the Harbour Police is to receive a Royal Humane Society Testimonial on Parchment and Constable John Burns of the PSNI has been awarded one of the society's Certificates of Commendation. The rescue happened on the evening of January 8 this year. A local resident raised the alarm calling the emergency services to say that there was a woman in the harbour. Lagan Search and Rescue lifeboat was launched and a Belfast Harbour pilot boat was also sent. Constable Burns then arrived, spotted the woman about 25m from shore and managed to throw a life ring on a rope to her. However, although he managed to pull her some of the way to safety, she lost her grip around 15m from the shore. He discarded his gun belt, climbed over a 3ft high angled steel fence and went into the 12ft deep water. At that stage Constable Harkins arrived, put on a lifejacket, went into the water, swam to the woman and pulled her to safety. In addition to the awards they are to receive, both officers have also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, secretary of the Royal Humane Society. As he announced the awards at the society's London headquarters, he said: "This happened in the middle of the winter when the water would have been at its coldest. But the two officers didn't hesitate about going into the water to try and reach the woman. "Thankfully they were successful. She could easily have drowned, but they reached the harbour very soon after the alarm was raised and with no thoughts for their own safety both went into the water. They richly deserve the awards they are to receive." No date has been fixed for presentation of the awards which follow a recommendation from Lagan Search and Rescue, but it is expected to take place in the near future. The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life. It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation. However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved. The society also awards non-healthcare professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the organisation has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards. The society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations. Occupants of a house in Belfast disturbed an intruder who was burgling their house on Wednesday. Detectives are appealing for information in connection with the burglary in the Piney Road area of of the city. Detective Constable Ritchie said Shortly after 10.30am the occupants of the property returned home from being out and disturbed an intruder who ran out of the garage before making off. "The male is described as mid 20s, 5' 8'', short dark hair, slim build and wearing a grey top and grey bottoms. On inspection it was found that entry had been forced to the property and items including jewellery and electrical devices stolen from it. "Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference 444 of 18/10/2017, or if they wish to remain anonymous Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Michelle O'Neill has denied reports she was overruled on a deal with the DUP by senior members of Sinn Fein. The party's leader in Northern Ireland also described Secretary of State James Brokenshire's announcement of a deadline for the party talks as "unhelpful". Read More "It has been our consistent resolve to get these institutions restored to be delivering for all citizens," she told the Press on Wednesday at Stormont. "As I said last Thursday, considerable challenges remain and one way or another these negotiations will come to an end. We are obviously very hopeful we can get a positive resolution.... that is the Sinn Fein position. "Clearly we are quickly running out of road." She added: "I think James Brokenshire's announcement on the budget is not helpful in that it clearly signifies the end of this phase of negotiation." Michelle O'Neill also denied an Irish Times report she had agreed a deal with the DUP but was overruled by senior party figures. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Addressing DUP members and supporters in Co Tyrone on Monday night, party leader Arlene Foster said she was "determined to try to achieve an agreement that can be supported by unionists and nationalists". "Nowhere is this more important than in the area of how we deal with cultural identity and associated languages", she added. Mrs Foster said "solid progress has been made in some areas", but "differences do remain and hurdles have yet to be overcome". She added: "If Sinn Fein is unable or unwilling to enter an Executive on a sensible basis then it will be imperative on the Secretary of State to bring forward a budget for the wider good governance of Northern Ireland." Northern Ireland needs government and if that cannot be achieved at Stormont then Westminster will be required to provide it. DUP leader Arlene Foster Earlier the SDLP said the logjam between the DUP and Sinn Fein had "brought us to the brink of direct rule". Colum Eastwood said: It appears they have used their big mandates to achieve one thing bringing British Direct Rule to Northern Ireland. While crises engulf our health services and our schools, they have talked for month after month and have only delivered failure. "In particular for the nationalist community, after years of trying to bring power back to Irish soil in order that local people could make local decisions, it should be a source of great anger that all of that power and progress is now being handed back to a Tory/DUP government in London. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Talk of a slow glide path towards more British Government involvement in the north should fool no-one. A British Government delivering a budget in Westminster is direct rule. It cannot be painted or presented in any other way. He added: Both traditions must be represented in the politics of the North - that is the basis of all our political agreements. In the absence of an Executive and Assembly, giving full and proper representation to those traditions falls on both the Irish and British Governments. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Alliance's Stephen Farry said the core issues of the dispute between Sinn Fein and the DUP had not been addressed. "It beggars belief that the DUP and Sinn Fein are put this matter of Irish language and culture on such a pedestal that they have lost a sense of proportion and perspective on the wider need to provide good governance to Northern Ireland, to reform out public services, invest in our economy, and to have a proper Brexit plan," he said. "Any return to direct rule would constitute a massive reversal in our political process. Given the nature of Northern Ireland, we need power-sharing and local accountability in our governance. "If there is still time to avoid this, then the governments urgently need to change the dynamics in the negotiations. This involves moving from a closed DUP-Sinn Fein format towards a more multilateral process, bringing in an external mediator, and making clear that other approaches to the formation of power-sharing government will be considered." We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Workers at venues Belfast Waterfront and the Ulster Hall are to be balloted on strike action. Ballots for staff affiliated with unions Siptu and Unite will open on Friday. In a joint statement, Siptu organiser Niall McNally and Unite's regional industrial officer Michael Keenan said the move was being taken due to what they say are broken commitments by the management company set up by Belfast City Council. Council-owned company the Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall Ltd was established in April 2016, with the responsibility of looking after the day-to-day running of the venues and "meeting commercial and non-commercial targets set by the council". The unions have said in April the company launched a recruitment drive for staff "employed on diminished terms and conditions compared with those standard for existing workers". Speaking about the new conditions being offered, Mr Keenan said: "In April 2016 when the move was made, workers were promised that there would be no diminution of terms and conditions. "Unfortunately the arms-length management appear intent on ripping up those commitments to the workers as they seek to squeeze workers pay and terms and conditions." Siptu's Mr McNally said the move had been taken without consultation with the unions, and would create a "two-tier workforce". "Belfast City Council is the sole-shareholder in this company this is being done on their behalf they cannot wash their hands of this deed. Do councillors really want to be the sole shareholders of a company that is known for breaking agreements and employing staff on minimum standards contracts?," he said. Responding on Thursday evening, a spokesperson for Belfast City Council said: "The council is satisfied that the agreement put in place establishing the company is being complied with by the Waterfront Hall Board. "We approved the establishment of the company to help achieve our aims of increasing the number of visitors to the city and growing the local economy. "The council received significant funding predicated on this arrangement being put in place and this enabled a new multi million conference facility to be developed at no cost to Belfast ratepayers. "The performance of the company and its adherence to the agreement is monitored on a quarterly basis by a shareholders meeting." It's not like we haven't been here before. In autumn 2014 it was reported that Martin McGuinness had reached a deal with Peter Robinson on welfare reform, but this was overturned by others in Sinn Fein. Fast-forward three years and the same storyline is surfacing, but with different players. It was claimed yesterday that Michelle O'Neill was overruled by senior republicans on her attempted compromise with Arlene Foster. Mrs O'Neill has denied the Irish Times report, but senior sources in both governments say it's "bang on the money". Ultimately, if the late Deputy First Minister couldn't deliver something he had agreed, Sinn Fein's new Northern Ireland leader, with her lack of a military CV, is far less likely to be able to. Stormont sources say Mrs O'Neill and her key advisers in the talks have been "100% genuine" in their commitment to reaching a deal with the DUP. Neither is Gerry Adams painted as the bogeyman thwarting an agreement to restore power-sharing. The Sinn Fein president, they claim, has adapted a pragmatic approach, believing that his party's chances of performing well in the next Dail elections would be greatly enhanced by being in government across the border. The talks insiders point to other Sinn Fein figures whom they claim are of a more ideological bent and believe that Stormont has little to offer the party. Whether there is anybody left at a senior level in Sinn Fein with hardcore principles on anything is debatable, but unionist sources certainly believe that's the case. Whatever is going on behind the scenes in the republican movement, several sources relay a similar chain of events at the talks. Senior Sinn Fein figures met late last week and Mrs O'Neill returned to Stormont to remove everything from the table that she had previously placed on it. The Belfast Telegraph understands that Sinn Fein's talks team had made significant compromises in the negotiations. The proposals were withdrawn ahead of Saturday's ard chomhairle meeting in Dublin. Despite the setback, the DUP's reaction has been restrained. In her speech to the party faithful in Tyrone last night, Mrs Foster referred to "parties playing games with proposals put forward one day and withdrawn the next". Given the circumstances, that was a subdued response. The negotiations are continuing and DUP sources still firmly believe a deal will be reached, although they won't put a time frame on it. "Arlene wouldn't be making a four-hour daily commute from Fermanagh and spending so much time in the talks if she wasn't hugely committed," said a party insider. Of course, the stakes are high for Mrs Foster as, without a return to power-sharing, she becomes a far less significant player on the political stage. Sinn Fein's U-turn on the proposals may be down to feedback suggesting it would struggle to sell them to its base. The DUP's success in denying Sinn Fein any victories in 10 years of sharing power has increased republican grassroots hostility to Stormont. The crocodiles could be coming home to roost. James Brokenshire has said the latest date for a deal to return to powersharing would be October 30 Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has urged the region's politicians to reach a powersharing deal, saying he does not wish to see devolution end but his ultimate responsibility is ensuring some form of government. Mr Brokenshire revealed on Wednesday that the absolute latest date for the parties to reach an agreement to return to the powersharing Executive would be October 30. In a written statement, Mr Brokenshire urged the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein to reach an agreement by this date. He said: "I, the UK Government, and the Irish Government, want the parties to reach an agreement and restore devolved government in Northern Ireland. But my ultimate responsibility is to the people of Northern Ireland. "The UK Government will do what is necessary to provide the stability required to ensure communities in Northern Ireland are not disadvantaged by the continued absence of devolved government." He added: "Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. "It behoves us all to do what we can to ensure that that historic date is not marked by an increasingly hands-on UK government, but instead by a functioning Northern Ireland executive. This remains my overriding priority." Powersharing collapsed in January this year, as the late Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness pulled out of the executive in protest, citing concerns at how his counterparts in the DUP handled allegations of mismanaging a renewable energy scheme. The parties have since failed to reach an agreement to return to Stormont, with divisions remaining over culture and the Irish language. Sinn Fein have said they will not return to government unless the DUP agrees to the introduction of a standalone Irish language act. The DUP have rejected this, with DUP leader Arlene Foster instead proposing a "cross-community" bill which would include both the Irish language and Ulster Scots. Mr Brokenshire said some progress had been made in talks. However, they stalled at the end of last week as issues around language and culture remained unresolved. Mr Brokenshire has said if a deal is not reached by October 30, he will be forced to begin greater and greater "UK intervention" including passing a budget for Northern Ireland in Westminster. Campaigners have voiced concerns about the rise in homelessness The Government is under renewed pressure to tackle the country's homelessness crisis following the death of a man who was sleeping rough in Dublin. The homeless man was found in Adair Lane in the Temple Bar area of the city. He has not yet been identified. Gardai said his death was not being treated as suspicious. The Dublin Simon Community has raised concern about the fate of those living on the streets coming into the winter. "(We) deeply hope that another person does not perish in these very tragic and sad circumstances," said Sam McGuinness from Dublin Simon Community, He added: "While we have no further information on the circumstances of the man's death at this moment, we do know that people who are homeless and sleeping on our streets are very vulnerable; particularly as we move into the colder weather and harsher conditions." Mr McGuinness warned that as the homelessness crisis continues to escalate the soup kitchen and rough sleeper teams see first hand the difficulties that people on the streets are faced with. He said: "People are tired, they are undernourished, their medication may not be used and they are open to other exposures like alcohol or drugs. "We are seeing great efforts by the Dublin Simon Community, the local authorities and other housing bodies, to deliver additional emergency beds as the demand increases. "However, the ever rising flow into homelessness means that there is a real challenge to keep up with the demand for beds." The Government recently announced a 1.83bn euro allocation to housing in Budget 2018 in a bid to address the housing and homelessness crisis. Ryanair has reached a legal settlement with Google and a travel website it accused of conning its passengers. The Dublin-based carrier claimed eDreams was misleading customers into mistakenly believing they were booking flights direct with the carrier. The airline said searches for Ryanair on Google could result in a paid advert for eDreams at the top of the page, which it described as a link to a "copycat website". Ryanair began legal proceedings at the High Court in Ireland for alleged breach of consumer protection legislation and trademark infringement in 2015. The three sides announced on Thursday that a resolution has been reached to close the case. Details of the settlement remain confidential between the parties. Ryanair c hief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: "We will continue to offer our customers the lowest fares in Europe and we welcome these measures, which will ensure transparency in relation to the online advertising of air fares to the benefit of our customers. "We are pleased to have resolved this issue and we welcome these commitments to consumer-friendly advertising on Google's AdWords platform." A Google spokesman said: " We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Ryanair and eDreams. We have clear policies on the type of ads we allow on our platforms and we remain committed to enforcing them to best serve consumers." Robert McNamara, h ead of UK and group external affairs at eDreams, said: "We are satisfied with this resolution and committed to helping travellers across Europe get the best priced and most convenient travel options. "Our service is for the benefit of our customers and we hope this agreement will allow all those involved to focus on providing even better value and service to European travellers." Haggis is to be exported to Canada for the first time in almost half a century. Producer Macsween of Edinburgh will start selling the traditional Scottish product there after it developed a new recipe that meets with Canadian regulations. Scotland exports more than 94 million worth of food and drink to Canada, with some reports indicating the market for Scottish food has increased by 37% over the last year. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The country imposed a ban on red meat from Europe in 1996 in the wake of the BSE scare affecting beef cattle. It was only lifted in 2015. James Macsween, managing director at the food firm, said: We are absolutely delighted to be the first Scottish haggis sold in Canada in 46 years. He added: This is a huge milestone for Macsween to be expanding internationally and leading the way in an increasingly competitive market. My grandfather Charlie would be very proud to see how far weve come from his original butchers shop in Bruntsfield, which he opened back in 1953. Attending an event in Toronto to showcase Scotlands food and drink produce to Canadian buyers, Economy Secretary Keith Brown welcomed the news. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference He said: Haggis is known the world over for being a truly iconic symbol of Scotland. After waiting 46 years Im sure there will be many Canadians and ex-pat Scots looking forward to having Scotlands national dish at the centre of their table at the next Burns supper. Mr Brown added: This development is an indication of the increasing interest in, and love of, Scottish food and drink produce in North America. As a Government, we have supported Macsween to grow their business and will continue to support Scottish companies in unlocking the significant opportunities to be found in this fast-growing market. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Susan Beattie, head of food and drink at Scottish Development International, said: Its great to see the industrys investment in market and product development delivering results. Canada is a priority market for Scotland and we are working with Scotland Food and Drink partners to ensure that companies are able to fully exploit the opportunities in retail and food service. Earlier this month we had 21 buyers and distributors from Canada at our Showcasing Scotland event. They were very impressed by the companies they met and are keen to do more business with Scotland. The rising level of political abuse is fuelling an atmosphere of increasing hatred which threatens to poison democratic politics in the UK, First Secretary Damian Green has warned. Mr Green said that in recent years there had been a ridiculous rise in routine comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis as people sought to portray their opponents as not quite human. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Following the murder last year of MP Jo Cox, he said politicians and journalists needed to be mindful of the impact of their words when they went in studs up on an opponent. Speaking at a lunch for political journalists at Westminster, he said: If mainstream politicians and journalists start to behave like Twitter trolls and conspiracy theorists then democracy is in danger. I do think we need to respect each other motives and treat each others views with courtesy. If we dont we risk feeding an atmosphere of increasing hatred which at the most horrible extremes led to an event like the killing of Jo Cox. Expand Close Floral tributes left in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered. PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Floral tributes left in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered. Mr Green, who strongly criticised websites such as the Canary, Skwawkbox and Breitbart, said the level of online abuse aimed at MPs was appalling. He said it did not reflect the reality of life in the House of Commons where MPs frequently worked with political opponents on a cross-party basis. I think everyone before they go in studs up on a political opponent needs to think long and carefully about whom they are talking to, he said. It might play well with your own troops to give an opponent a big kicking on the latest microsite but perhaps it behoves us all to ask whos reading it and what are they going to do next? We have in the past few years witnessed a sad and completely ridiculous rise in routine comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis. It is symptomatic not just of a decline, but of a rapidly increasing viciousness in our discourse which is totally out of kilter with what I see day after day in the House of Commons. Expand Close Damian Green said politicians frequently worked together in the House of Commons (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Damian Green said politicians frequently worked together in the House of Commons (PA) Even when we are in the chamber or on the media giving it what-for, we need to remember that we are all democratic politicians. What is pernicious is the attempt to portray your political opponents as somehow not quite human. It is the trick of extremists on both sides throughout the ages and we shouldnt allow it to take hold in this country. Expand Close Former chancellor George Osborne arriving at the London Evening Standard offices to start his new role as editor. PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former chancellor George Osborne arriving at the London Evening Standard offices to start his new role as editor. In his speech, Mr Green took a lighthearted sideswipe at former chancellor George Osborne, now the editor of the London Evening Standard, who was sacked by Theresa May when she became Prime Minister. He said that from reading the paper he knew Mrs May was personally to blame for Ben Stokes nightlife, Hurricane Ophelia, and that as October goes into November the sun shines for a smaller time every day. The Evening Standard, Russia Today with less George Galloway, he said in a reference to the Kremlin-backed broadcaster, now called RT. He also joked that as the Governments general fixer his job was to make sure that my colleagues stay united and show the public a great unity of purpose, spirit and message, adding: Its all going terribly well. A brewery in Florida is offering patrons free beer if they hand over two tickets to Richard Spencers planned event at Florida University, Gainsville. Alligator Brewing announced last week that those who handed in two tickets (which were free) to the Richard Spencer event, which takes place on Thursday, would be given a free craft beer. Those tickets would be destroyed, leaving empty seats in the auditorium. In a post shared by the company on social media, it said: We unfortunately cant stop him from bringing his hate to Gainesville, but we can empty the room so his disgusting message goes unheard. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Richard Spencer, 39, is a white nationalist who runs the far-right National Policy Institute. He has spoken of a desire to create a white ethno-state in the US, and speeches of his have ended with people making Nazi salutes toward him. The university itself said it could not legally stop the talk going ahead, as Spencer rented the venue for $10,000. He was not invited by a student or society to appear, but the university will be required to pay for security at the venue, which is expected to total $600,000. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference However, the universitys president, W Kent Fuchs, shared a message on youTube asking students and staff to stay away from the event. Students at the University have spread a message of unity ahead of the approaching talk, using the hashtag #TogetherUF. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Fearing a repetition of the events in Charlottesville in August, which resulted in the death of activist Heather Heyer, Floridas governor has declared a state of emergency. Rick Scotts executive order stated: I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent. It seems the brewerys stunt has got the attention of Spencer himself. According to the Miami Herald, his National Policy Institute announced it would give out 800 of the free tickets on a first-come-first served basis at the venue on Thursday itself in a effort to fill seats. Benjamin Netanyahu said this week there would be no talks with the Palestinians unless Hamas agrees to the conditions (AP) Donald Trump's Middle East envoy has said Hamas must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel if it wants to play a role in any Palestinian government. They are demands the Islamic militant group has always rejected. Jason Greenblatt's statement was the first American comment on advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to non-violence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties - including to disarm terrorists - and commit to peaceful negotiations," Mr Greenblatt said in a statement. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements." Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah-led forces in 2007, leaving Mr Abbas only in control of autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Past attempts at reconciliation have failed, but after a decade-long blockade by Israel and Egypt, and three wars with Israel, Hamas has said it is ready to compromise. Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week reached a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues, most notably who will control Hamas's massive arsenal. The deal has yet to be implemented. A White House official said Mr Greenblatt was travelling to Egypt to talk to officials about the Palestinian reconciliation efforts. Mr Greenblatt has been shuttling through the region in search of a formula to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which last broke down in 2014. His statement on Thursday reiterated long-standing demands of Hamas by the international community. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week there would be no talks with the Palestinians unless Hamas agrees to the same conditions. Mr Netanyahu, who welcomed Mr Greenblatt's statement, has added some additional demands, including that Hamas disarm and return the remains of two Israeli soldiers and send back two Israeli civilians believed to be in Hamas captivity. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US and other Western nations, does not plan to officially be part of the next government. The Palestinians appear to be hopeful that this will be enough to satisfy the international community, but Hamas has said it will not dismantle its powerful military wing, and it is likely to wield influence behind the scenes. In a statement, Hamas said it rejected "the extortion and American bias toward the Israeli positions expressed by Jason Greenblatt". "Hamas will go ahead in the reconciliation and will not pay attention to any attempt to sabotage or block this track," it said. Mr Abbas seeks an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel captured the territories in 1967, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. With peace efforts on hold, Israel this week pushed plans ahead for 3,000 new homes in West Bank settlements, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group. The planned units are scattered throughout the West Bank and at various stages of approval. Peace Now estimated that roughly 700 of them can be built immediately. AP White House Chief of Staff John Kelly pauses as he speaks to the media (AP) White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an extraordinary denunciation of a Democratic congresswoman on Thursday, accusing her of politicising what he called a "sacred" presidential effort to console the grieving loved ones of a slain soldier. Mr K elly, in an unexpected and emotional appearance in the White House briefing room, invoked the death of his own son, killed in Afghanistan in 2010, as he lashed out at Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida. Earlier this week Ms Wilson said that President Donald Trump had been disrespectful in his condolence call to the family of a soldier killed during an ambush in Niger. Mr Kelly, speaking slowly and forcefully, said he was "heartbroken" that Ms Wilson overheard the conversation and used it to attack the president. "It stuns me that a member of Congress listened into that conversation," said Mr Kelly. "It stuns me. "And I thought at least that was sacred." Mr Trump has emphatically rejected claims that he was disrespectful. But he ignited a storm of his own this week when he boasted about his commitment to calling service members' next of kin and brought Mr Kelly into the controversy by wondering aloud if President Barack Obama had called the former Marine general after the death of Mr Kelly's son. Mr Kelly confirmed on Thursday that Mr Obama had not called, but he made clear "that's not a criticism". "That's not a negative thing," he said. "I don't believe all presidents call. I believe they all write." He revealed that when Mr Trump took office, he urged the president not to make those calls, saying "I said to him, 'Sir there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.'" But when Mr Trump indicated he wanted to do so, Mr Kelly revealed to him what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when Robert Kelly was killed. Mr Kelly recalled that Mr Dunford said his son "was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. "He knew what he was getting into. "He knew what the possibilities were because we're at war." And Mr Kelly added that Mr Dunford told him that "when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. "That's what the president tried to say to four families the other day." His speech was a direct rebuke to Ms Wilson, who was in the car with Sergeant La David Johnson's family in Miami when Mr Trump called on Tuesday. She said in an interview that Mr Trump had told the widow that "you know that this could happen when you signed up for it ... but it still hurts". He also referred to Sgt Johnson as "your guy", Ms Wilson said, which the congresswoman found insensitive. Robert Kelly, 29, was killed when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan's remote Helmand province. His father, aware that the son accompanied almost patrols through mine-filled battlefields, had just days before warned the family of the potential danger, according to a report in The Washington Post. Mr Kelly on Thursday said that his family got calls from Robert's friends in Afghanistan attesting to his character. Those calls, he said as he fought back tears, were the most important. AP A vigil for Daphne Caruana Galizia outside the office of the prime minister in Malta (AP) The sons of murdered investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have called on the Maltese prime minister to resign. In a Facebook post, they said Joseph Muscat should take political responsibility for "failing to uphold our fundamental freedoms". Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia said they were not endorsing Mr Muscat's call for a reward to lead to their mother's assassins, adding: "We are not interested in justice without change. "We are not interested in a criminal conviction, only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mother's murder to turn around and say that justice has been served." Ms Caruana Galizia, a harsh critic of Mr Muscat who reported extensively on corruption on Malta, was killed by a car bomb on Monday. Her sons wrote that identifying their mother's assassins is not enough. Corruption on the Mediterranean island nation also needs to be rooted out, they said. Mr Muscat has denounced the assassination, and proposed a reward to find her killers. On Thursday, 200 journalists held an event in support of Ms Caruana Galizia. The Institute of Maltese Journalists has filed a court case seeking to ensure source confidentiality on all data lifted from her computers and mobile phones during the investigation. Investigators are looking at similarities with five other car bombings in Malta over the last two years, none of which have been solved. Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the Malta Independent it appears that mobile-detonated explosives were used in each of the six bombings since the start of 2016, which caused four deaths and two serious injuries. The previous victims were all known to police, the paper said. "Very few people could construct such a bomb. Instructions may be obtained online but building such a device would still require a certain degree of skill," Mr Rizzo said. Investigators have not publicly identified which explosives were used in the journalist's murder, but experts say military grade explosives like Semtex are not available in Malta and would have to be brought in from abroad. Mr Muscat defended the failure to solve the rash of car bombings as he left parliament on Wednesday evening. Including the last six, there have been more than 30 in the last 15 years on the island. "I will continue to defend the institutions and I am a firm believer in the institutions," he said. AP Spain's government has set in motion plans to take away Catalonia's local powers after its defiant regional president refused to give up his demands for independence. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont sent a letter to prime minister Mariano Rajoy minutes before a deadline set by the central government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession. Mr Puigdemont did not give in, and threatened to go ahead with a unilateral proclamation of independence if the government refuses to negotiate. "If the state government persists in blocking dialogue and the repression continues, the parliament of Catalonia will proceed, if deemed appropriate, to vote on the formal declaration of independence," Mr Puigdemont's letter said. The Madrid government responded by calling a special cabinet session for Saturday in which it aims to trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spain's 1978 Constitution. That article allows for central authorities to take over all or some of the powers of any of the country's 17 autonomous regions, including Catalonia. The cabinet meeting will "approve the measures that will be sent to the senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards", the statement said. The constitutional law has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Madrid needs to outline the measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in the senate. The ruling Popular Party's majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Mr Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support. The main opposition Socialist party backed his moves but wants the Article 155 measures to be limited in scope and time. Mr Puigdemont addressed the regional parliament on October 10, saying he had the mandate under a banned October 1 referendum to declare independence from Spain, but he immediately suspended the implementation of the secession proclamation and called for talks with Spain and international mediators. Madrid responded by setting two deadlines for Mr Puigdemont - a Monday one for him to say a simple "yes" or "no" to whether he had declared independence, and a second one for Thursday morning for him to fall in line with Spain's laws. Spain's government says Mr Puigdemont has not offered any clarity in his replies. Catalans would consider the application of Article 155 an "invasion" of the region's self-government, while Spain's central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Mr Puigdemont's government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country's constitution. More than 40% of Catalonia's 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal October 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Opponents boycotted the vote. Catalan officials say hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents, who said it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Madrid had said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election, but Catalan officials have ruled that out. AP The first witness at Malaysia human rights commissions public inquiry into the disappearance of four people, including three members of the Christian minority, said an inspector told him that one abduction looked like a police operation. Malaysian police have confirmed that Pastor Raymond Koh Keng Joo was abducted in February, but classified the others as missing people. The other cases dating to November 2016 involve husband-and-wife Christian clerics and a Muslim activist. Koh was abducted on a road in a Kuala Lumpur suburb on Feb. 13. It occurred in broad daylight as a CCTV camera filmed some SUVs and motorcycles surrounding his car, forcing him to stop before he was taken away. His car has not been found. The only witness on Thursday, the first of the 10-day day proceeding, said an officer remarked that the method of abduction he had witnessed was a police operation. Roeshan Celestine Gomez, who claimed he witnessed Kohs abduction, told the inquiry that the statement came from an investigating officer at the Kelana Jaya police station, where he lodged a report. He later identified the officer as Inspector Ali Asra. I had asked the police officer if the scene I described looked more like a kidnapping, but he told us not to worry as it looked very much like the modus operandi of a police operation, said Gomez, a student at the time who has since graduated from law school. Gomez said the officer told him that the incident happened quickly and in broad daylight. The presence of an individual recording the incident also fits in with a police operation. The commissions inquiry into the disappearances of Koh, Pastor Joshua Hilmi and his wife, Ruth Sitepu, and social activist Amri Che Mat is being held under the Human Rights Commission Malaysia Act. The inquiry is led by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) commissioners Mah Weng Kai, Aishah Bidin and Nik Salida Suhaila, while lawyers representing family members of the four are attending as observers. The inquiry began with Weng Kai, the chairman and a former judge in Malaysias second highest court, informing attendees it was not a court trial, but he intends to release a report once finished. The idea is to arrive at truth and justice, he said. The fact-finding panel aims to determine whether these cases were involuntary disappearances in breach of the nations criminal and civil law. It would also identify individuals or agencies responsible for such alleged breaches and find out whether police officials have taken adequate steps to investigate the cases, SUHAKAM said in a statement. CCTV footage corroborates witness CCTV footage from two nearby houses showed at least three black SUVs were involved in the abduction. Gomez told the inquiry he was driving with a friend behind Pastor Kohs car when the abduction occurred. My friend raised her phone to record the incident, but a man came up in front of us and gestured to us not to, he said. Gomez said he left after the man made hand signals for him to back his car away from the SUVs. Three motorcyclists were also circling the area at the time, he said. He confirmed that CCTV footage captured what he had witnessed. Kohs non-governmental organization, Harapan Komuniti (Hope Community), was investigated by Islamic authorities in 2011 over allegations it hosted a party with Muslim attendees at a church, according to reports. The missing pastor was the target of allegations he had tried to convert Muslim youths to Christianity, which is considered a crime in Malaysia. Kohs wife, Susanna Liew, said she was scheduled to speak to the inquiry on Friday. Social activist disappeared Amri, a social activist, co-founder of a local NGO and resident of the state of Perlis, was last seen on Nov. 24, 2016. His disappearance may have been religiously motivated based on allegations he was spreading Shia Muslim teachings, which are frowned upon in the Sunni Muslim-majority country, according to local media reports. Witnesses reported seeing five vehicles block the path of his jeep, which was found empty, its windshield smashed and parked near a local dam. On Nov. 30, 2016, Hilmi and his wife, Ruth, both Christian preachers, were last seen at their home in Selangor state. A missing-person report, however, was not filed until March 6, officials said. Blog postings claim the couple had been Muslims before becoming Christians and converted others to the religion. More than 60 percent of Malaysias 19.5 million citizens are Muslims. At least 15 people, including former police Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar, have been subpoenaed by the inquiry and 35 people, including family members and police, have been interviewed. Philippine Navy commandos aboard a gunboat patrol Lake Lanao in the southern city of Marawi, as pro-Islamic State make a final stand amid a military offensive, Oct. 19, 2017. Updated at 1:32 p.m. ET on 2017-10-19 A Malaysian militant considered the top Islamic State recruiter in Southeast Asia and financier of the Marawi siege has been killed in the southern Philippine city, President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday. Hours earlier, military officials said Mahmud Ahmad was likely among 20 militants killed in overnight fighting, basing the claim on credible testimony from a hostage rescued from Marawi but cautioning that it had not yet been confirmed. "Now, the other that one that they call Doc. There are three of them Hapilon, Omar and Doc He was taken this afternoon, and that completes the story, Duterte said in a speech before the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Manila. Mahmud was nicknamed Doc because of his doctorate from the University of Malaya. Dutertes remarks came three days after soldiers killed Isnilon Hapilon, chief of the Abu Sayyaf group and overall IS head in Southeast Asia, and Omarkhayam Maute, leader of the Maute gang that joined Hapilons forces in the May 23 takeover of the city. Malaysian Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun told BenarNews late Thursday his office had received information about Mahmuds killing. "But we have no confirmation and we are waiting for that from the Philippines authorities, he said. More than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting since militants linked to the Islamic State seized territory in Marawi, officials said. The fatalities include 824 militants, 162 soldiers and at least 47 civilians, the military said. More than 1,000 soldiers also were wounded in house-to-house combat, according to hospital officials. Still ongoing Mahmud took leadership of the dwindling militant force after the deaths on Monday of Hapilon and Maute, military officials said. They said Mahmud was among those who planned the siege along with Hapilon, a terrorist on the FBIs most-wanted list. Armed forces chief Gen. Eduardo Ano said a freed hostage revealed that Mahmud had died in one of the latest clashes that also wounded six soldiers. Two hostages a mother and her daughter, who suffered injuries were rescued Thursday, he said. We will look for the cadaver, he said, adding that the process to confirm the report with finality, however, is still ongoing. Our operations to flush out and deal with terrorist stragglers have been continuing relentlessly since yesterday, he said. One of the hostages revealed that Mahmud was dead and buried last night. Ano said troops were still attempting to recover the remaining hostages, believed to number about 20. In a video released by the army in June, Mahmud and others were seen plotting the attack. Intelligence officials had said he funneled about 30 million pesos (about U.S. $600,000) to Hapilons group, enabling them to purchase weapons and food that allowed them to dig in. The militants seized hostages when they launched their attack on the predominantly Muslim city of more than 200,000 people, burning businesses and homes. 'High-value target' Mahmud, believed to be in his late 30s to early 40s, trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s while studying at Islamabad Islamic University in Pakistan. He is a former lecturer of Islamic studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, one of Malaysias top universities. The head of the local army task force, Col. Romeo Brawner, said earlier Thursday that many of the gunmen were killed by government sniper fire, but retrieving bodies and properly identifying them had proven difficult. He said Mahmud was the last high-value target to fall. Mahmud was among those killed based on the revelation of the hostages, Brawner said, adding the hostages claimed with certainty that Mahmud was among those holding them. Asked whether his remains had been recovered, Brawner said: Not yet. Thats why we could not say definitely that Mahmud was one of them. But while the military said they could not confirm with certainty Mahmuds death, the statements from one of the rescued witnesses were credible. There is still resistance. The fighting is continuing, Brawner said, adding that the militants had organized their resistance. They have established their defensive positions, he said. Hareez Lee in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report. A police officer points to a computer in his office in San Jose, Calif., as he talks about tools used by child predators to store information, July 12, 2005. Child-sex abuse has been spreading at a phenomenal rate as pedophiles now stream their sexually exploitative materials through an overlay of online networks that cannot be easily accessed, a U.N. official told BenarNews. More than 6,000 websites with child-related obscene content have recently been tracked down, but authorities believe there still are a phenomenal amount of inaccessible sites operated by pedophiles who use so-called dark nets, according to Neil Walsh, chief of the global program on cybercrime for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Dark nets are computer networks that can be accessed only with specific software that re-routes connections through layers of servers, allowing users to remain anonymous. Websites on the dark web are not indexed, meaning that online surfers will not see them through a Google search. Pedophiles sit in somewhere in the dark nets and access the Internet to release materials. The more we work harder to remove the contents, the more they make it harder to find it, Walsh said. Still, there is phenomenal amount out there. Walsh spoke to BenarNews while attending a conference in Bangkok titled Effective Responses to Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Asia. During the three-day event that started Tuesday, Walsh said the rising use of the Internet in Thailand had made the country the webcam center for child pornography, stripping the Philippines of that notorious title. The proliferation of smart phones in Thailand allows users easy access to illicit websites even from rural areas that have 4G signals, he said. About 50 percent of Southeast Asia has Internet access, but the figure spikes to 58 percent in the Philippines, a hub for online sex abuse, while the number is growing in Thailand at about 67 percent, according to Reuters news service, which cited a recent study. Thailand clamps down on pedophilia UNODC, in a report released in August, noted the growing demand for livestreaming of child sex abuse in the Mekong region. It also underscored the shift in child-sex webcam centers from the Philippines to Thailand. But a Thai police officer, who analyzes Internet crimes against minors, said online pedophiles could not hide in Thailand. After Thai government passed the law to fight child sexual abuse, we seriously enforced the rule of law, and those pedophiles escaped Thailand, said police Col. Santipatn Prommajul, chief digital intelligence analyst for the Thai Internet Crime Against Children Task Force. We deported many pedophiles from Thailand, he told BenarNews. He blamed advances in technology, among other issues, for the growing cybercrimes. At least 25 suspects have been prosecuted through the nations amended Computer-Related Crime Act, which was adopted by the junta-appointed legislature in December 2016, Santipatn said. He said 18 of the cases involved child pornography. He said Thai police has been working closely with the FBI, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Virginia-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which provides the Thai police with weblinks to possible violations to the computer-crimes law. Concerns on social media misuse In a seven-day check on Bangkok, more than 3,600 individual Internet addresses had been identified sharing child exploitation material, Jon Rouse, a member of Taskforce Argos, an Australian police unit that targets online child sex abuse networks, told Reuters. Rouse was also in Thailand to attend the conference in Bangkok. Walsh told BenarNews that the UNODC had expressed its concerns about the misuse of online technology to sexually exploit children. The whole dynamic of online webcam has changed, where in the past we needed a camera to plug in to do this thing, he said. But now, its just a phone, laptop, tablet and thats how many webcams in your home. Africa must focus on young people, empower women and girls, and be innovative in leveraging resources and financing for development, United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said as the UN kicked off Africa Week. Matthias Ziegler via 123RF The secretary-general said the international community must change the way it looks at the African continent. Guterres says women and youths can help unleash continents potential. Africa Week is to raise awareness and mobilise support. I am convinced that, together, we can meet the challenges, Guterres said in his remarks to the high-level inaugural event at UN Headquarters in New York. Africa is a land of resilience, and above all, it is a land of opportunity, he emphasised, highlighting the continents recent progress in reducing poverty, diversifying its economies, building the middle class and nurturing growth in a variety of sectors. To further unleash such potential, he said, young people must play a central role as Africa has the fastest growing youth population in the world. When it comes to its own development, Africa now has the most powerful voice of all. We can help make the most of this demographic dividend through greater investments in education, especially in science and technology and by ensuring to enable youth participation in economic development. People need skills that match the needs of today and tomorrow, he said. Empowering Africas women and girls is also crucial, as gender inequality is costing sub-Saharan Africa tens of billions of dollars a year, like everywhere else in the world. Africa is a land of resilience and opportunity highlighting the continents recent progress in reducing poverty, diversifying its economies, building the middle class and nurturing growth in a variety of sectors. Another key is to be innovative in leveraging resources and financing for development, including tax reform by African countries themselves and international efforts to fight tax evasion, money laundering and the illicit financial flows that have depleted Africas resource base, he added. Also addressing the inaugural event was UN General Assembly president Miroslav Lajeak, who said that in the past, Africa was expected to listen, and accept the ideas and conditions of others. That era is over When it comes to its own development, Africa now has the most powerful voice of all. We need to listen to it, and learn from it, he said. Among other priorities, he stressed the importance of cooperation between the African Union (AU) and the UN, particularly in the area of sustainable development. The AUs Agenda 2063 and the UNs 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development both outline a sustainable future for the planet and the people. They must be implemented in complementarity, he said, noting that better and more regular engagement between the two entities is necessary at all stages, including planning, implementation, financing and review. The events during Africa Week centre around the theme: Supporting an Integrated, Prosperous, People-Centred and Peaceful Africa: Towards the Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Kenya must lift protest ban and end pattern of police brutality ahead of poll, UN experts warn. The experts denounced fake information being circulated on social media seeking to denigrate human rights organisations, including members of the Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu initiative which works for free and fair elections. Stephen Finn via 123RF Kenya must lift its newly-imposed ban on protests in key cities, end police brutality during demonstrations, and halt attacks on the judiciary and civil society in the tense run-up to presidential elections on 26 October, the group has urged. It is precisely when political tensions are high that governments should do their utmost to let people express their grievances and to protect their rights. Participants in peaceful protests are exercising and defending their legitimate right to voice their demands and express dissent, the experts said. Even before this ban was imposed, we were witnessing a pattern of police brutality and excessive use of force against protesters, as well as consistent harassment of judges and threats to civil society, the experts added. "Any unnecessary, excessive or otherwise arbitrary use of force by law enforcement officials is incompatible with the absolute prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." Protest ban The ban means no protests can be held in parts of Kenyas three largest cities - Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu - until further notice. Kenyas Interior Minister cited imminent danger of breaches of the peace and public order issues, and warned that under existing laws, all other protests elsewhere in the country needed prior police permission, adding that organisers would be held criminally liable for any offence by any participant. The experts noted that some previous protests had been marred by violent incidents, but urged the government to lift the ban without delay as it is under current circumstances neither necessary nor proportional, and when responding to any violence - to ensure that security forces prioritized dialogue and non-violent responses. Kenya is facing a choice. We urge it to choose to uphold its constitution and pursue strengthening of its democracy, to avoid deepening political divisions and exacerbating tensions, the experts said. Once that choice is made, it can say no to violence, repression, and impunity and a resounding yes to building trust in institutions and processes and between citizens. The experts said there was currently an alleged climate of impunity for law enforcement officers despite the launching of several investigations, including one into the violence that followed the 8 August general election, when dozens of people were killed and dozens injured as a result of police action. The apparent gap in accountability is often caused by a lack of cooperation from the Kenya Police Service, the experts noted. They highlighted an incident on 28 September, when 27 students and staff at the University of Nairobi were reportedly injured when police used tear gas, beat them with wooden clubs, robbed them and threatened them with sexual violence. A few days later, on 2 October, police reportedly used tear gas in a nursery in Nyalenda, injuring at least three children, while protests in some other parts of the country were also met with a heavy-handed response by security forces. We call for a prompt, independent and thorough investigation into all allegations of police brutality, the experts said. Impunity fosters a culture of violence and mistrust, the opposite of what Kenya needs as it prepares for a repeat of the presidential elections, the experts added. They commended Kenyan individuals and parties for addressing grievances through relevant judicial mechanisms, but expressed serious concern over repeated attacks against individual judges and the judiciary in general and attempts to limit the courts role in hearing election-related petitions. Rule of law The experts also expressed concern over reports that the government had suspended, or was considering suspending, the activities of the International Development Law Organisation, an intergovernmental body which has been providing vital non-partisan support to the judiciary and other parts of the Government to promote the rule of law. Preserving the independence of the judiciary and constitutionally mandated institutions is of paramount importance as Kenya works towards delivering free, peaceful and fair presidential elections, the experts stressed. Preserving the role of civil society is equally important. Robust checks and balances are the prerogative of every democracy. It is therefore imperative that Kenya implement the 2013 Public Benefits Organizations Act as soon as possible. Fake news The experts denounced fake information being circulated on social media seeking to denigrate human rights organisations, including members of the Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu initiative which works for free and fair elections. "This is unacceptable and must immediately stop, the experts said. Over the years, we have repeatedly raised concerns with the Government of Kenya about shrinking civil society space and attacks on individual human rights defenders. There has been no response from the Kenyan Government to at least 18 communications in the last three years. The Government now seems to have embarked on an effort to constrain even further freedoms of association, expression and opinion." FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - Orange has launched its brand in Sierra Leone, building on its strong presence in sub-Saharan Africa, with 50 million customers in 16 countries. leonardo viti via 123RF Airtel Sierra Leone becomes Orange Sierra Leone. The acquisition of Airtel Sierra Leone was finalised in July 2016 by Orange, together with its Senegal-based partner Sonatel, allowing the Orange Group to reinforce its presence in West Africa. Following the rebranding, Orange Sierra Leone will rank with one of the worlds most powerful brands and stands to benefit from being part of a large international group. As part of Orange, it will gain access to the groups expertise, technical know-how and an extensive product and service portfolio. With its considerable presence on the African continent, a strategic focus for the group, Orange offers strong growth potential for its Sierra Leonean operation. For Orange, every customer is unique. At the heart of Oranges Essentials 2020 strategic plan, is the ambition of listening to every customer to better address their needs by giving an unmatched experience every day. Extensive investment With a population of seven million people, Sierra Leone has significant potential for growth in mobile services. Following the acquisition of the company, Orange has committed itself to improving the quality and availability of its services by venturing into untapped and underserved geographical areas, offering to the people of Sierra Leone the innovation that Orange is delivering elsewhere. Orange Sierra Leone disclosed earlier this year a modernisation and expansion plan to enhance the reliability, coverage and quality of its network, and voice and data services. Since the acquisition, $33 million has been invested for that purpose and as of mid-October, the majority of investments have already been realised with 30 new radio sites on air and over half of the entire mobile network upgraded. Bruno Mettling, deputy chief executive officer of the Orange Group and chairman and CEO of Orange MEA (Middle East and Africa), commented: We are pleased to bring the Orange brand to Sierra Leone, bolstering our already strong presence in West Africa. The launch of the Orange brand confirms our confidence in the countrys on-going economic recovery and our commitment to bring all the benefits of new digital services to Sierra Leoneans in the framework of a fair, transparent and clear partnership that will enable it to be established over time. Strategic priority Sekou Drame, chief executive officer, Orange Sierra Leone, added: The launch of the Orange brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions that will empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet lifes daily challenges. We remain committed to taking our network and services deeper into the country, right up to the doorsteps of each and every Sierra Leonean, with the aim of bridging the digital divide within the country. With the support of Orange and Sonatel we can truly deliver on this. I am confident that over the coming months Orange will win the hearts of customers in Sierra Leone and emerge as one of most admired brands in the country. Orange is present in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where it has more than 127 million customers as of the end June 2017. With 5.2 billion euros in revenues in 2016 (12% of Oranges total revenues), this region is a strategic priority for the group. Orange Money, its flagship offer for money transfers and mobile financial services, is currently available in 17 countries and has more than 34 million customers. The groups strategy in Africa and the Middle East is to position itself as a leader of the digital transformation and to bring its international expertise to support the development of new digital services. Frankly, the current way of working between marketing agencies and clients is in a state of flux and we are not sure what's coming next. We have seen this before, but this time it's different. We know that for marketing agencies, adding value is no longer a price nor capability consideration - those are basics that should always be right. It's now about genuinely understanding the way people are consuming information and adopting a structure that enables this understanding. Agencies who are in that state of mind are the perfect partners, poised to help clients get fluent in tomorrow' and win for the future. Clients need for more value to cushion their businesses through the current economic uncertainty is the reason behind the changing way of working. From the lead agency model to the full service agency and the latest way of working, the best of breed; we are all looking into agency-client relationships with fine-tooth combs. We know that we need a bit of tension to push ourselves to deliver great work. We also know that we dont have much time for egos anymore managing them is time-consuming and draining. So where does that leave us? What is the future? Rather than creating silos or finding a jack of all trades, at Havas we believe the future lies in creating a brains trust. The brains trust brings together different areas of expertise into one core team, with supporting teams that project manage the execution of ideas. It is a creative collective of specialists. From brand and communication strategists, digitally savvy people, content developers, PR specialists to TV smart people. Everyone works together to come up with media-agnostic ideas that help grow brands across the gambit of client needs to meet set business objectives. The problem with the brains trust is that it can be expensive. You have highly paid resources doubling up, and the question is, are clients prepared to pay for this, particularly at a time when budgets are being cut and economic uncertainty looms? In all honesty, some of them are and some are not. But that can be managed. What we do know is that, clients are more willing to pay a premium for good thinking than they are for the people who facilitate processes. Its the thinking that provides value and uplifts their business. That is not to undermine the people that action the thinking, they are critical too, but that is not the point of this discussion. Having great thinking in one room, regularly working on client business may increase pressure to perform, particularly if people come from different businesses. We end up with a mini-pitch in every single brief; and maybe thats not so bad. Perhaps thats the edge needed to push ourselves and our clients to the next level. However, is this sustainable for teams, energy-wise? Its an interesting development for leaders of agencies. The approach to talent management has changed to manage this. We make sure that we dont have the same people working at the same pressure at the same time. Otherwise exhaustion sets in. We essentially periodise people the same way athletes rest and work, to ensure quality of work. Playing only one A-Team will work if you are buying them pizzas every night for a week, but after week three that wears a bit thin. The current uncertainty in the global socio-economic landscape presents us with the opportunity to rethink our way of working. Consumers are at the most dynamic we have ever experienced, budgets are much smaller, yet business KPIs are more demanding and more specific. Our way of working needs to change to one that guarantees a shared value for both the client and the agency business. The brains trust approach will get us closer to that sweet spot. Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Business of Design and the Guild Group, opened day one of Business of Design in Johannesburg this morning, 18 October, reflecting on the past year, which has been an extraordinary year for them with new ventures and a massive amount of hiring in a short space of time. Trevyn McGowan, co-founder of Business of Design and the Guild Group. The Guild Group has grown from a team of six to 36, so theyve had to implement corporate structures, but not just to follow standard practice, but do things differently, remaining true to vision and offering value. McGowan said we have to keep in mind who we are and what were trying to do in this world or articulate to our audience. The gist of her message is that we should be trying to find our own space and nuances, so we dont clutter the world with the same old things. Next up was Gordon Cook, founder of Stir4Change and co-founder of Vega School of Brand Leadership, who spoke about rethinking almost everything about how business should operate, specifically with regard to brand activism. Gordon Cook, founder of Stir4Change; co-founder: Vega School of Brand Leadership. Cook believes the reasons we arent content with the way things are on a micro and macro level have to do with patriarchy and power hierarchy, too narrow a focus or blinkered thinking, self-centredness, denialism and disconnectedness. Theres a disconnect between purpose and metrics (that relate to share value and a dashboard to attract and retain investors). How we measure the purpose begins a huge disconnect, he said. Purpose is put aside and its return to shareholder becomes the real metric, and other dashboard metrics that are all about finance. Theres also a disconnect between people as assets, and who gets paid the most and receives the mega bonuses. A disconnect between products/services adding meaningful value, and smoke and mirror over-promised value claiming (such as the latest Dove ad). A disconnect between state expenditure and the state of society, and between state services and businesses. Creating private healthcare and education, security services and gated communities is not a solution, he said. This is disconnection, self-centredness and denialism or a refusal to be activists. And corruption abounds in both the private and public sector. SOEs are bankrupt, South Africa is growing at less than 1% per annum, unemployment is near 30%, and 94% of public high schools offer no creative subject. Art has become an extra subject for the elite. With that said, JSE-listed companies are hitting week-on-week record training levels, and corporate CEO bonuses are regularly reported at over R20m, meanwhile the constitution, the courts and civil organisations work hard to ensure glimpses of equality. The reality is that society is a complex system of interlinked cogs: public, private and not-for-profit organisations; so businesses need to rejig their metrics, revisit power structures, become learning organisations, create a new dashboard of metrics more aligned to purpose than profit, and CEOs and boards need more conscience-based decision making. Ask yourself, What are we trying to do, what is our ethical standpoint and then how are we going to make money? Businesses must become part of a broader and common vision of an alternative, human-centric society, and in order to do this they have to collaborate much more to have a meaningful impact on the broader society. Some of the questions Cook posed are: Can we make social justice the lodestar that will help revive our humanity? What should the public/private sector partnership look like? How do we generate more mutual respect? What should be the public sectors dashboard of metrics and how do these align with the private sector? He believes the answers to these lie in brands engaging with relevant broader social/economic issues beyond CSI Band-Aid, government making the private sector environment far more enabling, and a responsible alignment towards sustainable human-centric change. "This is our priority before and beyond politics. Collaboration and activism is the road out. Disconnection and self-interest will take us over the cliff. And business, plus brands, plus civil organisations, plus public services equals vehicles working in tandem to achieve social justice. So the question is really, can we and do we want to work together for the greater good of society? Thats just a taste of the current flavour of design-thinking. Click here for our Business of Design coverage, and be sure to follow @busofdesign for the latest updates. With the lowest rainfall since 1904 and a sharp drop in dam levels during the 2015/16, the drought has caused a 21% drop in the production of oranges - South Africa's most precious fruit export. However, more than just the drought is having an impact on this fruit. tarkovskybilly via pixabay Oranges are by far the most precious of the important fruit industry in South Africa. In the 2016/17 season - in a year in which the drought was at its peak - saw the total gross producer value for oranges reach R9.29bn with earnings from exports accounting for 91% of the total production, at R8.47bn. Diseases causing consternation Diseases are the real challenge for the industry. South Africas main export destination, the European Union where the Citrus Black Spot (CBS) is considered a quarantine pest, has caused consternation between the two trading partners. Another disease is Navel splitting, it has affected the Western Cape so much so that exports there have reportedly dropped by about 17% to 20%. This raised demand for navels from other regions of South Africa particularly at the time when the export market was particularly strong in the EU, the Far East, Russia, and the Middle East, says Paul Makube, senior agricultural economist at FNB. The European market is the leading destination for South African oranges, accounting for about 36% of total orange exports, followed by the Middle East with a share of 25% and the South-East Asian market at 12%. It, therefore, goes without saying that a decrease in this sector carries far-reaching consequences. Producers have started to switch to soft citrus, which in the longer term may eventually lower the status of oranges as the leading fruit in terms of production and being the export leader in terms of fruit in South Africa, says Makube. Eeather augurs well for recovery At the moment, the weather has turned positive, during the rainfall season of 2016/17 and the outlook so far indicates that we are likely to have a normal to above normal rainfall during the 2017/18 crop season. This does not suggest that orange production is on its deathbed, it is still a long way as it currently accounts for 63% of the total hectares under citrus. Outside the concerns, the current weather augurs well for the recovery in orange production with a rebound in volumes for the export market. When that is offset by the relatively weaker rand exchange rate, it is most likely to boost export revenue, concludes Paul. Basani Maluleke looks set to become SA's first black woman bank CEO. Basani Maluleke, incoming CEO: African Bank. Photo: Kellogg School of Management The 40-year-old attorney has been earmarked to succeed African Bank CEO Brian Riley, who will step down at the end of March 2018. "I'm pretty excited [but] I hadn't thought about it that way," said Maluleke on Wednesday. She was appointed an executive director in July, having joined the African Bank board as far back as 2015. "I've been part of the creation of the strategy, I like the business, I understand it and want to make a meaningful contribution," she said. African Bank was placed in curatorship in 2014 after it was sunk by an explosion in bad debt and a funding crunch. The "good bank" " which is still known as African Bank - was recapitalised to the tune of R10bn by a consortium of local lenders, although the process of righting it has taken longer than expected, according to Riley, who will stay on as an executive director. "When I started I said I'd come in for a set period and I stayed a bit longer than I anticipated. I tend to get out of the way when the time is right," he said. For former colleagues, Maluleke's rise may have seemed inevitable. She began her legal career at law firm Edward Nathan Friedland and joined RMB in 2005. She was nominated for a National Dealmaker of the Year award after being a member of the team that advised, structured and implemented a R25bn transaction for Sasol. While at RMB, Maluleke was also part of the team involved in the unbundling of Kumba Iron Ore from Exxaro Resources. She then joined FNB in 2011 as the head of private clients. Formal approval for Maluleke's nomination is still required from the South African Reserve Bank, which spearheaded African Bank's rescuein 2014. And while a listing is on the cards, it's not imminent. "There's a lot to be done still," Maluleke said. African Bank recently axed 636 employees, 515 of whom were let go under a voluntary severance plan, which cost the bank R60m. At the time, the bank said that it expected to save about R50m a year. "We would list if we could stand alone and get funding at competitive rates, [but] our rating is lower than investment grade [and] if you take away shareholder support then the costs of funding would be prohibitive," Riley said. The Eastern Cape High Court has set aside the mineral resources minister's 2015 decision to invoke the regulations for petroleum exploration and production (commonly known as the fracking regulations), a vital statutory requirement for the granting of shale gas exploration and production rights in South Africa. The application for the review and setting aside of the fracking regulations was brought by the President of Agri Eastern Cape, Douglas Stern, together with 15 other applicants, including the Graaff-Reinet, Cradock, Jansenville and Buffelshoek Agricultural unions. In reaching his decision, Judge GH Bloem accepted the undisputed major possible impacts of fracking and shale gas development with respect to air, soil and groundwater contamination due to uncontrolled gas or fluid flows arising from blow-outs or spills, interception of naturally occurring fractures and fissures, well failures, corrosion of casings, cementing failure, leaking fracturing fluid and uncontrolled waste water discharge. Advocates for the applicants argued that the minister of mineral resources was not authorised to make the fracking regulations, that it contravened the provisions of the National Environmental Management Act and the National Water Act and that their making was procedurally unfair. The court agreed. It also made an adverse costs order against the minister of mineral resources. The court further took issue with the minister of mineral resources enactment of the fracking regulations which unilaterally amended an agreement with the minister of environmental affairs and minster of water affairs in terms of which the regulation of the environmental impacts of mining have since September 2014 fully been regulated in terms of the National Environmental Management Act. In commenting on the judgement, Douglas Stern commended the efforts of the Eastern Cape agricultural community in persevering with their continued opposition to fracking in that province. The United States is retreating from the global community under a president who rejected the Paris Climate Accords and denigrates NAFTA and NATO. This provides an opportunity for China to play a greater role in global affairs. This provides the backdrop for the 19th Party Congress, as China seeks to balance external influence with domestic economic stability. One area in which China can exert greater influence is infrastructure, an urgent issue for development. According to the OECD, supporting development worldwide requires yearly infrastructure investment of US$6.3 trillion until 2030. With knowledge of development honed through decades of rapid domestic economic growth, China is well placed to shape global development in ways that may define the rest of the 21st century. China has invested in infrastructure projects around the world since the 1970s but a coherent policy for infrastructure investment first appeared in 2013. During a speech in Kazakhstan, Xi unveiled the Silk Road Economic Belt concept. Shortly thereafter he proposed the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Other institutions supporting Chinas global infrastructure initiatives include the US$40 billion Silk Road Fund and the New Development Bank led by China, Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa. The crown jewel, Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, is expected to attract $1tn for trade, transport, and energy initiatives around the world. Build at your own risk Infrastructure is a development necessity, but its expense is a barrier and assistance from China is attractive. More than 60 countries have signed agreements for China to fund infrastructure projects. However, loan recipients should not assume that infrastructure will automatically transform their economy. Projects can drain resources and often provide little benefit to greater society. Attracting a Belt and Road Initiative project may grab headlines but it is no panacea. The economic benefits of infrastructure are often vastly overstated. Currently Sri Lanka is unable to service debts to Chinese lenders for expensive but largely unused ports, airports, and highways. Designed for one million passengers per year, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Southeast Sri Lanka now handles roughly 12 passengers per day. This is less than 1% of original projections, but the airport cost the country $209m. As infrastructure benefits failed to materialise, Sri Lankas external debt ballooned from $10bn in 2006 to $25bn in 2016, much of it owed to China. Anuradha Dullewe Wijeyeratne /Wikimedia Fiscal pressure prompted Sri Lankas government to sell 70% of Hambantota Port, located on the countrys southern coast, to a Chinese state-owned port operator in July 2017. In 2015, Ghana refused a second tranche of loans from the Chinese government for another energy project because of lack of absorptive capacity of the country to manage such high capital inflows. Recipient countries must weigh economic benefits with fiscal sustainability in deciding whether to collaborate with foreign partners on infrastructure. Unsustainable projects Environmental pitfalls are also a concern. President Xi declared in 2017 that the Belt and Road Initiative development would be green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable. Yet, a torrent of Chinese investment is flowing towards environmentally unsustainable projects. A significant amount of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment will support an energy portfolio that includes coal-fired power plants. In Bangladesh, concerns about pollution have led to violent protests against a coal-fired power plant being constructed by Chinese firms. umairadeeb/Flickr, CC BY-SA Chinese cement companies reliant on coal have moved to Tajikistan. China-funded projects for roads, oil and gas pipelines, and hydroelectric dams could threaten ecologically sensitive areas in aid-dependent countries like Myanmar and Mongolia. This trend is likely to accelerate in the absence of local pushback or concern for broader impacts. In a 2011 example, Myanmars government suspended the Myitsone Dam project. Protests had raised concerns about potential environmental and social impacts on the Irrawaddy, the countrys largest and commercially most important river. Green implications China has achieved historic progress in domestic growth, and is now turning to environmental sustainability. By 2020, China plans to spend more than $360bn developing renewable energy while de-commissioning coal-fired power plants. Chinas commitment to clean domestic energy is also demonstrated by its issuance of 40% of the worlds green bonds in 2016. At the outset of the Belt and Road Initiative, China can use its growing experience transitioning from unsustainable to green energy sources. This could shape a new generation of environmentally sensitive infrastructure developments around the world. China and collaborating countries must consider all risks associated with infrastructure projects, not only financial but also environmental and social. Belt and Road Initiative participants should thoroughly evaluate infrastructure in reference to national development goals, rather than using projects solely for political theatre. In 2016, the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, whose loan portfolio may rival that of the World Bank within the next two decades, released a framework that includes environmental, social, and governance standards. These guidelines provide a ready-made template for Chinese institutions involved in global infrastructure lending. They can also be implemented for individual projects in Belt and Road Initiative countries. Ensuring these guidelines are faithfully observed requires a level of transparency that is arguably unprecedented in China. The Belt and Road Initiative represents an opportunity to internationalise the Chinese model of state-led economic growth supported by massive infrastructure rollouts. With prudent strategy and thorough monitoring, the initiative could herald a departure from decades of unsustainable and failed global infrastructure development. If the emerging geopolitical power vacuum leads to Chinas preeminence, the countrys government must heed the immense responsibility of development leadership. Aid-dependent countries are ready for sustainable infrastructure, and they deserve better help than what they have received. Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane told Parliament on Wednesday that beleaguered auditing firm KPMG did not raise any concerns about impropriety related to a dairy project in Vrede, which he initiated during his time as Free State MEC for agriculture. Mining minister, Mosebenzi Zwane Zwane has been placed at the centre of the state capture storm embroiling the government. Among other things, the leaked Gupta e-mails hinted that Zwane's relationship with the Gupta family predated his deployment to the national government and that it was the influence of the Guptas that paved the way for him to become minister. It was also alleged that the Guptas bankrolled a trip to India for Zwane during his time as Free State MEC. Zwane faced tough questions on matters including his travels abroad, the business people he knew, the Vrede dairy farm and the circumstances under which his curriculum vitae was sent to the Guptas before his appointment as minister. Zwane sidestepped some questions thrown at him by committee members. He stated before the meeting started that he could not answer questions on details outlined in his responding papers in court. He denied any knowledge of a web of transactions that channelled money into a wedding planning firm for the Gupta family wedding in Sun City in 2013. "I would not know the web that has R118m and how it was channelled. I was not part of that web, to my knowledge. It is best to talk to the owners of such a web," he said. "If there is something untoward that I am made to deal with, I did not stay in the department of agriculture throughout the time that this was implemented," Zwane said. "I was taken to economic development at some point. I don't remember any situation where I was alerted by KPMG of any impropriety." When asked about his relationship with the Guptas and whether he met them regularly, Zwane said he met various captains of industry on a regular basis but this did not mean he was close or beholden to them. Zwane defended his involvement in the Optimum Coal sale, saying he mediated a process between Glencore and Tegeta in the interest of saving jobs. He said that about 85,000 mine workers would "possibly lose their jobs. That 85,000 had 3,000 who were urgent because the company was put under curators." Dateline: New Mexico The owner of a famous house in Albuquerque has begun installing a six-foot-high wrought iron fence to keep out onlookers. The owner of a residence used in the show Breaking Bad, has reportedly started putting up a fence around her property to keep tourists and sightseers from vandalizing her property. The Northeast Heights home was the filming site of the drug kingpin Walter White's house. A famous scene from the show's third season in which White throws a pizza on the roof of the house has inspired a number of fans to toss their own pizzas onto the roof of the private residence in the four years since the show endedso many that Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan had to publicly chastise the perpetrators and ask fans to stop the practice in 2015. During the first weekend of this year's Balloon Fiesta, KOB4 reported that they counted 10 tourists come by the home within a 15 minute period. Dateline: Michigan A man with at least one warrant issued for his arrest taunted police from his Facebook account earlier this month. The manwhose Facebook user name is Champagne Torinotook to the social media site to tell the Redford Township Police Department, You guys suck! in a comment. In response, the administrator of the page warned him that continued trolling would result in him being blocked. He answered back in a private message, Yeah I'm not worried about it. If your next post gets a thousand shares I'll turn myself in along with a dozen doughnuts. And that's a promise. And I'll pick up every piece of litter around all of your public schools. The administrator took a screenshot of the message and posted it, with commentary asking for the help of the township's citizenry. Donuts!!!! He promised us donuts! You know how much we love Donuts! the post read. The post was quickly shared more than a thousand times, and was followed by a picture of a cartoon police officer dropping a microphone. The man known as Champagne Torino has not turned himself in, according to reports. Dateline: Canada A doctor is warning women that a new vagina cleansing trend can be potentially dangerous. The practiceknown as a vaginal facialinvolves the insertion of a skinned cucumber into the vagina followed by a twisting motion for around 20 minutes. The practice is being promoted by bloggers and YouTube contributors who are telling women that the practice cleanses the area. According to gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter, nothing could be further from the truth, and inserting any object with unknown plant organisms into your body could be harmful. In a blog post, Dr. Gunter points out that it is impossible to balance the pH of the vagina by introducing external elements. The pH in the vagina is controlled by the good bacteria, the same bacteria that attempts at 'cleansing' actually damage, she writes. She also says that by damaging lactobacilli and the mucosa, attempts at vaginal cleaning increase a womans risk of contracting HIV or gonorrhea if she is exposed. Paradoxically it will also cause odor. Dateline: Maryland High school students in Baltimore were evacuated because of a pumpkin spice air freshener. Earlier this month, a strange odor coming from the third floor of the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School reportedly caused some students and staff to cough and have trouble breathing, prompting school officials to order an immediate evacuation. The fire department was called to the scene, and a Hazmat team began conducting tests to detect hazardous materials. Nothing dangerous was found, though, and emergency workers began opening windows to air out the building. It was then that they discovered the source of the smell was an aerosol can of pumpkin spice-scented air freshener. Officials with the fire department say there was no danger. Two children and three adults were taken to the hospital for ailing stomachs during the incident. Classes at the high school resumed the following day. Dateline: Colombia An island resort is promising tourists drugs, alcohol and orgies with sex workers. A recently released video advertising for a resort called Sex Island claims to be offering 30 vacationers a 4-day trip to a private Colombian islandthe location of which has not been disclosedto engage in sex with up to 60 women. The vacation is being offered by a firm called the Good Girls Company and is scheduled to take place between Nov. 24 and 27 and costs $5,000. According to the Sex Island website, the entire island will be open to guests, who will choose two women each day to accompany them and provide unlimited sex. Visitors are encouraged to trade partners during the stay. The island is described as drug-friendly and all meals and alcohol are included in the ticket price. Organizers also promise daily surprise sexual events including live sex shows and partying on a yacht. The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has allegedly deliberately withheld tax refunds so it could reach its revenue target. Judge Bernard Ngoepe "For the past three years, the office has consistently been flagging this problem as an emerging systemic issue," said tax ombud Judge Bernard Ngoepe. His office has undertaken an investigation after an escalation of complaints in 2016-17. "The complaints about the questionable delay in refunds were so many that we had no choice but to investigate them." In March 2017, with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba's approval, Ngoepe began investigating the allegations and found sufficient evidence to suggest that refunds were deliberately being withheld. In the report signed off by Gigaba and given to Sars commissioner Tom Moyane, the ombud concluded: "It is clear that the system allows for Sars to unduly delay the payment of verified refunds to taxpayers in certain circumstances. This has become a systemic issue. The system does not sufficiently protect taxpayers." The findings have been raised in various reports including an annual report to Parliament and in periodical reports to the commissioner. Ngoepe's report noted that some mechanisms used by Sars had justifiably given taxpayers the impression that Sars' intention in some instances was to "avoid parting" with the money it was meant to pay out. Ngoepe also found that in some instances the resulting financial hardship to the tax-payer had been drastic, with the delay in refunds leading to the near collapse of businesses and ensuing job losses. Ngoepe said Sars was responsible for low tax morality. "There's a relationship between the level of tax morality and the complaints people may feel they have against Sars. An aggrieved person is less likely to do what they're expected to do. "We don't like Sars to adopt a 'skop en donner' attitude; we want them to treat people fairly," Ngoepe said. Speaking at the Tax Indaba in September, Moyane noted the findings and apologised for the "glitches". He said the revenue service would continue to improve its systems. Among the main findings, the report showed that complaints received by the ombud's office had grown by 62%, from 2,133 in 2015-16, to 3,454 in 2016-17. Most of the complaints reviewed were related to dispute resolution (39.51%), followed by refunds (24.90%) and debt (8.32%). During the period, a total of 621 complaints were finalised and 86% of these were in favour of complainants. Agricultural investment company Afgri is re-entering the poultry business through its subsidiary Philafrica Foods in a 50-50 joint venture in northern Mozambique. The recently launched Philafrica has earmarked up to R1.5bn for investment in agriculture and food processing in several African countries over the next 18 to 24 months. Its joint venture partner in Mozambique, Novos Horizontes, is an integrated chicken producer focusing on smallholder production. The partnership was the first of many such investments, Philafrica CEO Roland Decorvet said on Tuesday. Afgri divested itself of its poultry interests in 2015 when it sold Afgri Poultry and Kinross Animal Feeds Mill to AfPo Consortium led by Matome Maponya Investments. At the time, Afgri said the sale would allow it to concentrate on its core grain businesses and orientate the company for growth. The domestic poultry sector has been hit by a combination of cheap EU imports and an outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of avian flu, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The EU has denied accusations of dumping unwanted cuts of chicken in SA, while Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has set up an interdepartmental task team to develop a rescue plan for the sector. The task team had not reported any findings a year after it was convened. Company sees immense potential in Mozambique Decorvet said it was "important to note" that the company was re-entering the market in Mozambique and not in SA. "The company sees immense potential to replace imported products with local production in Mozambique and has secured a strong operating partner there with decades of experience in the poultry value chain." About 60% to 70% of the poultry consumed in Mozambique is imported. The South African Poultry Association said in a report that the African market for poultry was expected to grow rapidly. "What's less certain is which countries will grow fastest and, more importantly, whether those countries will be able to develop and enforce trade policies that allow them to grow through their own production, rather than through imports from a range of potential countries," it said. The association's interim CEO, Charlotte Nkuna, declined to comment on Afgri's investment strategies. Andrew Cunningham, the executive chairman of Novos Horizontes, said the partnership would help his company unlock its potential in Mozambique, where it intended becoming the premier poultry producer. It also planned to expand into other value chains where smallholder production could benefit from industrial agro-processing. Decorvet said while there was a potential concern over further outbreaks of avian flu in Southern Africa, there had been no reported cases in Mozambique to date. Source: Business Day Minister for Public Service and Administration Faith Muthambi presented awards to dedicated public service trainers during the public service trainers' forum (PSTF) 19th conference Tuesday night, 17 October 2017. The awards are part of a three-day conference hosted by the National School of Government and the European Union. The conference, which started on Monday, is aimed at enhancing capacity building programmes for the public service. The conference attracted 550 trainers, 80% of whom are from the public sector human resource development branches, while 20% were from the private sector training. They converged for the three-day gathering to share experiences and methods of improving public service training. Delivering the keynote address at the awards ceremony gala dinner, Minister Muthambi praised the National School of Government and the European Union for recognising public service trainers who are working hard to ensure the public service is capacitated with useful skills. There is no doubt that such recognition of success holds the potential to contribute towards individual and institutional performances and the functioning of public service. It is through such excellent sustained efforts that we will ensure a public service that delivers fully, she said. The biggest individual winner of the night was Abbey Kgaile from Free State Office of the Premier, who received the highest individual assessment. He also scooped the Ministers award in the individual category. A delighted Kgaile, who is a respected veteran in the training, learning and development environment, said he was happy that his work in public service training was being recognised. I am just passionate about improving the skills of public servants and ensuring that they serve the people to the best of their abilities, he said. Director for the Justice College, which also scooped institutional awards, Charles Mooka said his team won because they implemented training programmes at various courts in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. We implemented training methodologies that led to an improvement in the level of service delivery by the courts, more especially the maintenance courts where there were challenges, said Mooka. The National School of Governments Dr Sipho Manana, who is the project leader for the PSTF, said they were satisfied that the three-day conference was running smoothly. He said the resolutions of the conference will be tabled on the final day after all the ideas have been consolidated. This event is not a talk shop, and the resolutions will be implemented in order to improve training and skills development in the public sector, said Manana. Minister Muthambi thanked the European Union for partnering with the National School of Government in this public service training and capacity building programme. She told delegates that the National Development Plan (NDP) notes that South Africas global competitiveness can be forged through international partnerships. The NDP also encourages the establishment of international networks for learning and sharing of knowledge and best practices. Minister Muthambi said she was happy that the NSG through this EU programme has already started to forge these kinds of strategic international partnerships. This programme will help NSG to position itself towards the building of capacity to create a public service that is representative, accountable, efficient and responsive to the needs of all citizens under the ideal of a capable developmental state as envisaged by the NDP, said Minister Muthambi. Awards were conferred in six categories, with most categories having individual and institutional awards. Awards The winners were as follows: Excellence in Design and Development of Training Programmes Award: Individual Dr Lebs Mphahlele Institutional Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development Coal-Face Service Delivery Training Programme Award Only institutional winner Justice College, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Excellence in Youth Development Training Awards Individual Colleen de Nysschen Institutional Western Cape Provincial Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport Training Excellence Service Medallion for Life Time Achievement in Training, Learning, and Development Individual Abbey Kgaile NSG Principals Award for Excellence in Training Development for Nsg Programmes Individual Anthony Canham Institutional Justice College, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Ministers Award for Excellent Service to Public Service Training Best departmental or provincial HRD unit or Branch Adult education and training unit in the Provincial Department of Human Settlement, KwaZulu-Natal National or provincial public service training institution Provincial training institute, Office of the Premier, Western Cape Individual winner of the Ministers award Abbey Kgaile NEWSWATCH: After a database of more than 30 million South Africans had been leaked online, including estimated incomes addresses, and cellphone numbers, one of the country's top real estate companies has admitted to being the unwitting source. In addition to the aforementioned, the personal information that was published also reportedly contains names and surnames, identity numbers, employer details, gender, ethnicity, home ownership as well as other contact information which could be used for crimes like identity theft. According to a report on Times Live, the information originated from Jigsaw Holdings which includes Aida ERA and Realty-1. The report states that Aida CEO Braam de Jager said they had absolutely no idea how the information was published on their server before it was removed on Wednesday afternoon. De Jager said the information which was available for download until Wednesday morning was bought from credit bureau Dracore in 2014 to track down potential clients who might want to sell their houses. According to the Times Live report, Dracore CEO Chantelle Fraser said they were not responsible for publishing the information and had no knowledge of how external companies used the information. Potentially biggest breach of PoPI Act ever African leader in Secure IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) services, Xperien, says this could be the biggest breach of Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Act ever. These data security laws mandate that organisations implement adequate safeguards to ensure the protection of company and personal information, especially when it comes to the disposition of redundant IT assets. In an effort to protect personal information, the PoPI Act has been signed by the President and is now law. It sets conditions for how to lawfully process personal information. The Act enforces companies to introduce strict measures and guidelines that will safeguard the processing, usage and handling of sensitive information. It places a strict onus on businesses when it comes to handling personal information about their clients, staff and customers. The Information Regulator has published the regulations for comment and companies will only have one year from the commencement date to comply or face significant consequences. Xperien has warned that companies must act before it's too late. CEO Wale Arewa says that if there is a breach, the financial implications can possibly cripple an organisation. "If found guilty, companies will face potential civil claims, fines and reputational damage." The PoPI Act will have serious consequences in the near future. It wont be long before we start reading about companies that have been fined for non-compliance and this in turn will encourage other companies to adopt policies that will ultimately protect them from reputational loss, he concludes. For more: The Electoral Commission has laid charges of fraud against 15 people following a fraudulent voter registration that took place in Ward 59 in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. We would like to take this opportunity to remind voters that it is a criminal offence to register and vote in a ward in which they are not ordinarily resident, the Electoral Commission (IEC) said. The commission had suspected fraudulent activity when it conducted its Targeted Communication and Registration exercise that normally takes place ahead of a by-election to fill a vacant ward seat. The Electoral Commission had suspected that there were at least 19 fraudulent registrations or misrepresentations of material information to facilitate registration in the voting districts and a ward where the applicants are not ordinarily resident. A preliminary assessment by the IEC of the registrations was undertaken. Assessments revealed that 15 applicants misrepresented their address details. The fake applicants made use of home addresses that did not belong to them. This was verified when homeowners and occupiers of the homes of the implicated addresses did not recognise the applicants. The fraud charges against the 15 people were laid in terms of Section 89(1), read in conjunction with Section 97 and 98(b) of the of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998. This incident comes amid the IECs efforts to record, update and register voters onto the voter registration roll by 30 June 2018. In June 2016, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment that the IEC had to correctly capture the addresses of all registered voters on the voters roll before the 2019 general election. The judgment was brought about following a challenge by independent candidates that had lost by-elections held in the Tlokwe Local Municipality in 2013. The candidates had challenged the freeness and fairness of those elections on the basis that voters addresses were not recorded and many people were registered in the wrong voting districts. Voters have been urged to contact their local Municipal Electoral Officer during office hours if they need clarity or assistance. Contact details for Municipal Electoral Offices are available on the IEC website at www.elections.org.za under 'Contact Us'. A growing trend among top businesses in SA, Atterbury has consolidated its two Gauteng branches into a single regional headquarters at its Pretoria precinct development, The Club. Dome in the reception area The property developer and investor's new head office, Die Klubhuis, houses all its major businesses including Atterbury Asset Management headed by Lucille Louw, Atterbury Property Development headed by James Ehlers and the companys financial services under the management of Adriaan van Rooyen. When we took the decision to reap the benefits of consolidating our Pretoria and Johannesburg operations, neither of our existing office spaces were suitable for our new needs. Atterbury was founded in Pretoria in 1994, and we are incredibly proud of our heritage and connection to the city. So, we selected our newest development, The Club in Hazelwood, for our new consolidated base of business, explains Louis van der Watt, CEO of Atterbury. Impact of technology on the workplace Armond Boshoff, deputy CEO of Atterbury, adds that todays office arrangements are changing as technology alters the way in which people work. Atterbury understands that offices are so much more than a company address. They give form to a companys identity and have the potential to support its success with cost-efficient, flexible and collaborative space that inspires innovation and boosts performance. We wanted our new offices to be a great place where skilled people of the highest calibre can enjoy working. Atterbury's new HQ, Die Klubhuis, at The Club precinct The Club precinct is home to 14,000m2 of retail, restaurants and offices in Club Retail and Club One. The 5,200m2 Die Klubhuis (Club Two) houses a 3,300m2 Planet Fitness Megaclub, as well as A-grade offices, including Atterburys new HQ. The 10,000m2 Club Three will include The Club Advocates Chambers, which will be operational on 1 November 2017, a medical day hospital of around 5,000m2 and 15 residential units. This final aspect of the development will be complete in the first quarter of 2018. Atterbury invested around R180m in infrastructure in The Club precinct, including major road infrastructure upgrades in the surrounding areas as well as creating 1,080 basement parking bays in the precinct. The City of Cape Town and Airbnb has signed a collaboration agreement to promote the benefits of people-to-people tourism for Cape Town residents and their communities as well as promote Cape Town across the world as a unique travel destination. This is the first collaboration agreement that the hospitality platform has signed with a city in Africa. Image: Airbnb Since 2008, hosts on Airbnb have welcomed over 200 million guests in 191 countries. In Cape Town, there are 17,600 active listings on Airbnb and hosts have earned a combined income of R762m over the past 12 months. In the past year, hosts on Airbnb in Cape Town welcomed close to 290,000 visitors, which resulted in an estimated economic boost of R2.4 billion for the city. The typical host in Cape Town earns an additional R43,400 by sharing their home for 32 nights per year. As part of the collaboration agreement, Airbnb and the City of Cape Town will: Join forces to boost the attractiveness of Cape Town and enable Airbnb hosts to become ambassadors of the city. Work together to bring community-led tourism to townships and support greater economic and social empowerment. Celebrate Cape Town as an Ideas Capital by hosting the Africa Travel Summit and bringing together 80 tourism and technology leaders from across the continent. Exchange insights and learnings about travel trends and the sharing economy in order to leverage the technology and the Airbnb platform to boost local communities. Airbnb will especially look to scale its pilot programme from earlier this year - which supported training in hospitality and technology for residents from townships across the Western Cape - to reach more women and youth in underserved communities throughout Cape Town. The City will be invited to advise Airbnb on where to take the programme to ensure alignment with broader municipal priorities including the Citys Organisational Development and Transformation Plan which aims to leverage technology for progress, building integrated communities and enabling greater economic inclusion. Building a city of opportunity Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille and Airbnb Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, Chris Lehane, signed the agreement in Cape Town. Airbnb has also committed to investing $1m (R13 million) in community-led tourism projects in Africa, including Cape Town, over the next three years. Image Supplied De Lille said: The City of Cape Town is building an opportunity city that creates an enabling environment for inclusive economic growth and job creation. The shared economy has the ability to welcome more Capetonians into the tourism sector in line with our efforts of building an inclusive city as we welcome more Airbnb guests. Cape Town is a globally competitive destination and we are creating the space for all entrepreneurs to excel. Lehane said: People-to-people travel using Airbnb is bringing tourism benefits to local families and communities, and generates new revenue streams that stay right here in Cape Town. I'm delighted to be working with Cape Town on this pioneering collaboration to help promote the best of this beautiful city and its people to the world. Airbnb has so far partnered with more than 300 governments across the world and while this is our first city collaboration in Africa, we want to work together with everyone to use technology to help spread more benefits across Africa. Among the range of bags Uzwelo designs and produces, it manufactures school bags that have a built-in poncho installed to protect children and their books from the rain as they make their way to and from school. Together with Save the Children South Africa - a development and rights-based organisation for children, Uzwelo is running a campaign inviting individuals and businesses to donate these Bags of Hope to underprivileged school children by making a pledge. 10% of all the school bag proceeds will also be donated to Save the Children. Tanya Bailey, chief operating officer at Uzwelo, and Rodney Knotts, marketing manager at Save the Children South Africa, shared with us more about the initiative, how the business community in South Africa can help, and the environmental impact the project has had so far. Take us through the journey of the Uzwelo Bags initiative - when and how did it all start? Tanya Bailey, chief operating officer, Uzwelo Tanya Bailey: Uzwelo Bags officially launched in 2016 as an answer to a conscious need to play an active, positive and constructive role in our economy. My family has been involved in the production and printing of textiles for the marketing, advertising and branding industries globally for many years and we know that there is an inherent waste of excess fabric that results through this production process. The opportunity to prevent waste/excess fabric from heading to landfill along with the desire to create a skills development and job creation platform amongst our own communities became reality when Uzwelo was born. We are passionate South Africans and we want to be an active part of solutions to the economic and environmental challenges we face every day as South Africans. Tell us more about the Uzwelo & Save the Children campaign and how South Africa's business community can help? Rodney Knotts: Each year thousands of children enter big school (Grade 1) for the first time. Sadly, almost 50% of these children wont make it to Grade 12. There are many contributing factors for those who make it to high school, including a lack of resources. The reality is that these pupils are walking long distances, carrying their belongings in plastic bags. When their possessions get ruined by rain, it leaves children frustrated and disillusioned, and often prevents them from reaching their full potential. Through the Uzwelo / Save the Children partnership, we hope to ease the burden of children in communities across South Africa. The Bags of Hope campaign is just that - we are delivering hope and a practical solution to a problem that is easily solved. An investment in a childs education is an investment in our countrys future. It is critical that businesses (and individuals) see this and invest in a solution that will benefit hundreds of passionate, determined children. By purchasing Uzwelo school bags from the Save the Children collection, South Africans can help us provide more children in need with a durable backpack that is kitted out with a built-in poncho that covers the bag and protects them in the rain. It sounds so simple, but it is in these small steps that our society can make giant strides. Rodney Knotts, marketing manager, Save the Children South Africa Why the focus on school bags? Knotts: School bags are essential for any school-going child in South Africa. It is a simple solution to a problem facing millions of children. We dont have exact numbers, but we witness children carrying textbooks in plastic packets or torn bags on a daily basis. The damage caused to textbooks cost families and schools financially. A weather-resistant bag is vital to the durability and longevity of textbooks and stationery. Not so long ago, I met a young girl who worked all night on a history essay and on her way to school the next day it started to rain. The torn bag she used to take her books to school could not protect her essay. She said the rain didnt just wash away her essay, it dampened her dreams of becoming an anthropologist one day. Bailey: There is an enormous education challenge faced by school-going children of South Africa. Education is either inaccessible due to locations of schools and the vast distances learners have to cover to get there in all kinds of weather conditions, never mind the limitations of the facilities of the schools once they do get there. Most rural children do not have access to the basic requirements for a successful day at school and we really felt very strongly that we could assist in giving them a tool/bag that would encourage them to attend school and protect them at the same time. We believe that education is key in creating future entrepreneurs and active participation and support of our own economy. How much waste is Expand a Sign now diverting from landfill through the Uzwelo Bags initiative and what sort of environmental impact does that have? Bailey: Expand a Sign produces an estimated 85,000m of fabric every month. Whilst our waste is kept to a minimum of 3-5% of this, that still amounts to approximately 5,000m a month, which we are now diverting from landfill. Our fabric is printed with natural inks which are environmentally friendly, but what really struck us is the opportunity cost of not seeing this waste recycled and made into other products. What are the goals with the Uzwelo & Save the Children campaign? Knotts: Our partnership aims to provide 50,000 children with durable bags that will last them throughout the academic journey - and we won't stop until we reach our goal. We aim to keep children in school and let them know that the country (including businesses in South Africa) are rooting for them. We want to them shine and contribute to our economy. Click here to pledge school bags. For more information on Uzwelo Bags and the Save the Children campaign, go to www.uzwelo.co.za. Coinciding with International Day of the Girl Child, Mastercard recently launched the African leg of its Girls4Tech programme at Sandtonview Primary School in Johannesburg. Girls4Tech aims to drive interest in and awareness of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) studies and careers among primary school girls aged 10, 11 and 12. Girls4Tech launch at Sandtonview Primary School The hands-on, inquiry-based programme connects Mastercard's payment technology business to STEM principles and shows students that it takes all kinds of interests and skills to pursue a STEM career. Since its launch in April 2014 in the United States, Girls4Tech has reached 30,000 girls and engaged 1,700+ employees in 17 countries. Girls4Tech hopes to inspire young girls to build the skills they need in STEM to become problem solvers and the leaders of tomorrow. It also aims to ensure that women have a voice in the development of the products and services of the future, including Mastercards payments solutions. Jobs of the future Global stats show that 80% of jobs created in the next decade will require some combination of STEM skills. Yet only 30% of the science and technology workforce is currently comprises women, says Anton van der Merwe, head of market development, Mastercard South Africa. With this programme, we aim to develop a strong pipeline of talent for the technology jobs of the future and encourage girls to embrace subjects that will prepare them for financially and intellectually satisfying roles in the workforce of tomorrow. With three stations based on algorithms, digital convergence and cryptology, the South African workshop brings to life the real-world applications of classroom maths and science lessons. Mastercard employees serve as mentors and role models, and guide participants through the exercises. Since Sandtonview, the programme has run in Cape Town at John Graham Primary School and Vanguard Primary School. Between the three schools, Mastercard volunteers reached around 270 South African girls. Our curriculum gives concrete examples of how we apply science and maths in a practical way in our business, says van der Merwe. By providing real life and hands-on activities for each concept, the programme shows that being friendly, enthusiastic, mathematical, artistic, scientific, logical and even creative are all skills that connect to a STEM career. Reputations have been ruined on social media. Recently there has been an upsurge in the number of businesses, educational institutions, government officials and private citizens who have discovered, to their cost, that what they or their employees say online can have serious consequences. Banning social media in your workplace will not always help because what people say on their own time or their own smart phones cannot be controlled and can often lead to public outrage, workplace disharmony and brand damage. To help professionals and corporates get to grips with the proper use of social media, senior lawyers Rosalind Davey and Lenja Dahms-Jansen of Bowmans have put together an easily understood legal framework for online behaviour, using the same laws that apply to off-line life. Their new book, Social Media in the Workplace, published by LexisNexis South Africa, offers a much-needed guide to the legal and reputational risks inherent in social media use, giving businesses the tools to manage these risks and protect their organisations and their people. Social Media in the Workplace is not merely a highly recommended addition for every legal library. More importantly it offers an insightful guide for non-legal business people to navigate this demanding age where technology is integrated into every part of our day-to-day lives. Lenja Dahms-Jansen (left) & Rosalind Davey (right) At present, there is no specific law governing the use of social media in South Africa, making it difficult for people to identify the parameters within which they need to operate, says Davey. The book looks at identifying the risks what are the bounds in which we can and should use social media and where should we be careful when using it? It also looks at the interplay between Constitutional rights such as our freedom of expression vs other peoples rights to privacy, equality and dignity. Dahms-Jansen adds: A lot of corporates are grappling with the careful balancing act between needing to protect their business while needing to act against employees, particularly when there is a public outcry. Very often employers dont understand social media. This book is there to help them understand that you can manage it responsibly, while for employees it can help them to understand that what they say on social media should be something theyre happy for their boss to read, she says. Speaking at the books launch recently, media personality Gareth Cliff said he believes the publication is well timed and should be prescribed reading for all companies. Cliff himself is passionate about freedom of expression and using social media to exchange views and engage with each other. In Social Media in the Workplace Davey and Dahms-Jansen write in a style that style is clear and easy to understand. They deliver specialist knowledge on the impact of social media on human rights and business considerations such as ownership of social media, liability and contractual law. They also put to good use their significant experience in providing legal advice on social media issues, and in training companies on the proper use of social media. In addition to examining South African case law, Social Media in the Workplace explores international case law from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, and provides a broad legal perspective on the subject. There is a strong focus on South African constitutional rights, specifically the rights to dignity, privacy, equality and freedom of expression, religion and opinion. Vitally, the book also covers the law of defamation, principles of vicarious liability, and employment laws. Social Media in the Workplace [ISBN/ISSN: 9780409129212] is available to purchase from LexisNexis at +27(0)31 268 3007; +27(0)860 765 432 or az.oc.sixensixel@sredro. It can also be ordered via the LexisNexis online bookstore at: https://store.lexisnexis.co.za/products/social-media-in-the-workplace-skuZASKU9780409129212/details Brand South Africa and its marketing partner, FCB Africa, have achieved finalist status in the 2017 City Nation Place Awards , an international competition benchmarking and celebrating best practice in place branding vision. The competition attracts entries from place marketing boards, mayoral teams, tourism promotion agencies, foreign direct investors (FDIs) and economic development boards, and the communication consultancies who are working with them. Places as diverse as Chile, Eindhoven, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Malapolska, Argyll & the Isles and South Africa have made this years finalist list. Competing in the Best Expression of Place Identity Through Design category, the Brand South Africa/FCB Africa team go up against Interbrand (which entered Courmayeur), Eindhoven 365 (which entered Eindhoven), Visit Jackson (for Jackson) and Binsfled-Vidalegloesener (for Luxembourg). Brand South Africa is the countrys official marketing agency, responsible for building the countrys reputation, proactively marketing the country as investment destination, promoting exports, and improving its global competitiveness. According to its General Manager for Marketing, Sithembile Ntombela, the campaign achieving finalist status was conceptualised and rolled out to deliver one core message: "South Africa is an attractive, viable, world-class investment destination for investors, traders and tourists. And its open for business." The political and economic instability of the past decade had negatively impacted on investment in developing economies, she said. This, coupled with perceived instability in the country, the herd behaviour of investors and low familiarity with South Africa as investment destination, increased the risk that South Africa could lose its competitive edge in Africa. In addition, our Nation Brand as expressed by Brand South Africa could be impacted negatively. Combatting this was the challenge posed to FCB Africas strategic and creative teams. The resultant campaign demonstrated South Africas foreign investment environment, key attractiveness features, and the extent to which the policy environment provides protection for investment. The strategy developed by FCB Africa in partnership with Brand South Africa, was informed by key themes in the countrys National Development Plan 2030 and leveraged its 2000-year history of business, juxtaposing this with that of other developing countries. It also showcased the countrys business and investment Big 5: a developed economy, good governance, a strong industrial base, world-class infrastructure, and innovation all elements that international investors look for when considering foreign investment destinations. We anchored our creative strategy and execution of the campaign in a heritage site: Mapungubwe, an ancient African civilization where evidence is found of trade with India and other countries in pre-colonial history, explained General Manager at FCB Africa with oversight of the Brand South Africa account, Mariaan van Kaam. With this truly African context as its base, the 360 campaign then showcased contemporary South Africa, its economic and socio-cultural diversity, and the fact that the country offers major opportunities for FDI growth, and links to the pan-African market. Key international forums targeted by the campaign included the DAVOS meeting in January 2017, and the World Economic Forum on Africa hosted in Durban, South Africa, in May 2017. The campaign has proven itself to be robust, resilient, inspiring, multi-faceted and able to stand its ground against competitor nation brands. And it has already delivered impressive results, added Van Kaam. For example, the 2017 EY Africa Attractiveness Survey finds that South Africa attracts the bulk of FDI, and is the most attractive investment destination in Africa with 20.6% of FDI to Africa coming to the South African market. Furthermore, Reptrak (Reputation House) found that South Africas Overall Nation Brand Reputation Index in 2017 moved up four places from its 2016 ranking, while the countrys perception among the G8 has improved year-on-year, scoring 55.1 in 2017 compared to 49.2 in 2016. These and other improvements in South Africas standing as an investment, business and tourist destination have made all the work and effort worthwhile. But were also delighted with Brand South Africas finalist status as it affirms the partnerships world-class status, concluded Ntombela. Winners of the City Nation Place Awards will be announced the City Nation Place Global Forum, which will take place in London on 9 November 2017 and is the annual meeting place for senior executives responsible for building, developing and communicating place brands around the world. Cape Town, entered by Cape Town Tourism, is a finalist in the Best Citizen Engagement category. COTONOU, Cameroon - The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Cameroonian authorities to immediately halt the prosecution of three journalists after a judge on October 9 changed the charges against them mid-trial. Maksim Kabakou via 123RF Authorities on October 28, 2014, originally charged the journalists with "non-denunciation" for failing to disclose information and sources to the state that could harm national security under Article 107 of Cameroon's Criminal Code, according to CPJ research. During the October 9 military court hearing, the trial judge charged Felix Cyriaque Ebole Bola, the sub-editor of the daily Mutations; Baba Wame, a journalist and online journalism instructor at the University of Yaounde 2; and Rodrigue Tongue, a journalist with Canal 2 Television, with criminal defamation for their "complicity in attempting to insult" President Paul Biya in place of the 2014 charges, according to one of the journalists who wished not to be named for fear of reprisal and Fojou Pierre, one of the journalists' defense lawyers. "The shift in charges against Bola, Wame, and Tongue shows that Cameroonian authorities had no real case against these journalists in the first place," said CPJ Africa program coordinator, Angela Quintal, from New York. "Their prosecution has been a travesty of justice since the start and the journalists should be finally free to continue their work without fear of reprisal." Cameroon communication minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary did not reply to numerous calls from CPJ. The case is adjourned until October 18 for closing arguments, according to the journalist. If convicted, the journalists face one to five years in prison, and a fine of 20,000 to 20 million Central African francs (US$36 to $35,988), according to Article 153 of Cameroon's criminal code, and the online newspaper Le Bled Parle. Pierre told CPJ that the new charge against the journalists has no standing since the journalists have not published anything that insulted the president. According to media reports quoting Claude Assira, another of the journalists' defense lawyers, a complaint from the accuser is required to proceed with insult charges. However, the defense team has not received such a complaint from President Biya. The 2014 charges relate to an investigation the journalists were conducting into allegations that members of the Cameroonian security forces were colluding with a leader of an armed group from the Central African Republic, according to the news website Camer.be. The journalists never published an article on this subject, according to news website Financial Nigeria. According to CPJ research, the three journalists' 2014 charge was accompanied by a ban on publishing news-related material until January 2015. Motion Icon's escalator step branding offers unlimited creative visual opportunities for brands looking to a new advertising channel that delivers ROI and hyper proximity communication. The Mon State General Administrative Department began investigating the staffer after a clerk reported his behavior on July 4. The staff officer had demanded K300,000 each from five lower divisional clerks to pay homage to the Hluttaw Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and director, according to the report. The money was equivalent to about two-months salary for the clerks. Mon State Complaint and Appeal Letter Review and Assessment Committee investigated the report and found that the allegations were true. After the committee submitted its findings, the General Administrative Department disciplined the staffer on October 12 following the Civil Service Law. According to our investigation, he only demanded the money. He hadnt taken the money yet so he was demoted and transferred to Kayin (Karen) State in accordance with the Civil Service Law. He was transferred on October 16. The demotion affects him greatly, said U Soe Myint, director of the Mon State General Administrative Department. The staff officer is now a deputy. Before his death, Sai Awn (aka Sai Hsi Khur), was a local community leader and anti-coal advocate who worked with local youth groups in Hsipaw townships Nam Ma area, where he opposed coal mining operations and fought for compensation for local residents whose farmland was damaged by mining operations. Sai Hsi has selflessly worked for the interests of his people. He predicted the imminent danger so he persuaded the public and youth to hold protests [against the coal mine]. He showed intolerance for injustice and the attitude of a good leader in order for the new generation of youth to follow in his footsteps, said Sai Hor Hseng, spokesperson for the Shan Human Rights Foundation. Sai Hsi Khur passed away from lung disease at the age of 24 on July 24 this year. At the tiem of his death, He was still active in anti-mining and environmental activism. After Sai Hsu Khurs death, his colleague Sai Aung Pa told the Shan Herald that the activist was an honest and hardworking young man who supported his coworkers and valued the environment. I feel very happy that he received the award. I believe it will give strength to his coworkers in fighting for farmers rights, said Nan Hla Khin, Sai Awns widow. I feel very sad that he is no longer in this world. He would have been delighted if he were still alive, she added. The award is named for author and activist Inge Sargent (aka Mahadevi Sao Nang Thu Sandi), wife of Hsipaw Saopha Sao Kya Seng and author of Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess. The Sargent and a committee of local advisers bestow the award, along with a US$4000 prize, every year to a Shan candidate who demonstrates leadership and a commitment to community service, peace, and democracy. Sai His Khur is the awards tenth honoree. Last year, the honor was given to Sai Su, 28, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) party general secretary for Panglong township. Members of the public were encouraged to attend the ceremony to learn about the different faiths practiced in the multicultural state. Around 3,000 people participated in the first interfaith Taunggyi event. The interfaith prayer was for all citizens of all religions to come together with the aim of peace. The prayer is held to promote unity, mutual respect, peace and stability across the entire country, said U Soe Nyunt Lwin, the spokesperson of the Shan State government and the state's Minister of Planning and Economy. The Shan State Interfaith Friendship Groups secretary U Khin Maung Oo said, By holding interfaith praying ceremonies frequently, we hope to achieve peace and mutual respect between different religions for the different ways of praying. U Soe Nyunt Lwin said interfaith prayers will be held every Tuesday for one month. UK ministers have confirmed in the House of Lords that an investigation is under way into claims that UK banks could be unwittingly linked to a corruption scandal in South Africa. UK Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Hain has raised concerns with the Chancellor that banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered could have acted as "conduits" for laundered money. Treasury spokesman Lord Bates confirmed at question time that Mr Hammond had taken immediate action in referring it to the "relevant authorities" so that "justice is done and seen to be done". At the centre of the corruption allegations are South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and a wealthy business family, the Guptas. Lord Hain, who was brought up in South Africa, thanked the Chancellor for ensuring "the Financial Conduct Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency investigate HSBC, Standard Chartered and Baroda Bank - each of which expert South African whistle-blowers told me must have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money stolen from their taxpayers and laundered through Dubai and Hong Kong. "In my letter of 25 September to the Chancellor, I supplied for investigation 27 names and personal identification numbers, including President Zuma, 11 members of his family, 11 members of his close friends the Gupta family and their five associates, together with 14 entities linked to the Guptas and suspected to have been set up for the purposes of transnationally laundering an estimated 400 million of their illicit proceeds "Will he ensure that those banks, together with European banks, about which I have similarly written to European Commission president Juncker, track down that laundered money, return it to the South African Treasury, and supply evidence to its officials to enable the prosecution of all those connected with such corruption. Lord Bates said the UK was committed to tackling corruption in the UK and overseas with strict rules on money laundering introduced recently which British banks must follow. "We are concerned about the allegations in South Africa and the British High Commissioner is monitoring the issue closely," he told the House. Lord Bates said ministers were grateful to Lord Hain for drawing the issue to the Chancellor's attention and assured peers the UK had some of the toughest anti-money laundering laws in the world. London was a "target that can be used for these purposes and we are determined to root it out," he said. The Chancellor had taken immediate action in referring Lord Hain's letter to the relevant authorities. The directors of a Kerry luxury hotel group sounded warnings over the effects of Brexit, the US election and the troubling state of the EU. The warnings come as the Swiss-owned Killarney Hotels Ltd said it had increased revenues by 13% to 19.2m last year. The company operates three hotels in Co Kerry: the Europe Hotel & Resort, the 102-room Dunloe Castle, and Hotel Ard na Sidhe. Theresa May will discuss the current political situation in Northern Ireland later with former US president Bill Clinton, Downing Street has said. Mr Clinton, who has been visiting the UK and Ireland, will meet with the British Prime Minister in Number 10 this morning. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "He and the PM wanted to take this opportunity to discuss Northern Ireland and also the ongoing partnership between the Government and the Clinton Health Access Initiative's work to lower the cost of HIV/Aids treatment worldwide." As president, Mr Clinton played a key role in helping to secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which led to power-sharing in the North. Currently the devolved institutions at Stormont remain suspended following collapse of the administration in January in the wake of the resignation of the late Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister. During his visit to Northern Ireland, Mr Clinton met privately with the leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, the two biggest parties in the assembly. Mrs May's spokesman however made clear that he had not been used to deliver a message on behalf of the Government, although efforts to restore power-sharing were continuing. "Obviously work is ongoing in trying to reach a solution to get the compromises that are necessary to get the devolved administration up and running again," the spokesman said. By Ann O'Loughlin A doctor in the addiction services is relying on EU law against age discrimination as part of his legal challenge to a HSE requirement that he must retire at 65, the High Court has heard. Under a 2003 EU Framework Directive on equality, Dr Paul Quigley, a GP in the HSE's north Dublin addiction service, has to be provided with objectively justifiable reasons for his compulsory retirement, his counsel Marguerite Bolger argued. She was making arguments in seeking an injunction preventing the HSE forcing him to retire this week on grounds of age discrimination, lack of a retirement age in his contract and because others in the HSE are still working beyond 65. The court heard 75 others, out of 50,000 HSE "officer grade" employees similar to Dr Quigley, are working beyond the age of 65. Ms Bolger said her client has worked in the HSE addiction service since 1998. Last month, he received a letter stating he would reach retirement age on October 18 and would have to retire. He wants an injunction, pending full hearing of his case, preventing the termination of his employment. It is claimed his contract with the addiction service contains no retirement age and that two immediate colleagues of Dr Quigley were kept on beyond 65. The HSE argues the grounds for retirement are that it is statutorily provided for and is also a term of an employee's superannuation scheme. Ms Bolger said Dr Quigley faces a dramatic cut in income if forced to retire because he only entered the superannuation scheme in 2006 and faces a three-quarter cut in salary. He had arranged his financial affairs on the basis that he could continue working at 65 as others within the addiction services had done. Ms Bolger argued the EU Framework Equality Directive prohibits discrimination in employment on age grounds, but recognised that compulsory retirement was permissible where it is objectively justified. This includes issues such as inter-generational fairness which provides forced retirement can be justified where it is done to give opportunities to the younger generation to move up within their employment and therefore avoid stagnation in a particular sector, counsel said. In this case however, there are difficulties finding doctors to take up jobs in the addiction service. Despite knowing for years they would be terminating Dr Quigley's employment at 65, no replacement had yet been found for him, counsel said. The HSE had indicated they would fill his role with an agency worker, she said. Peter Ward SC, for the HSE, said while EU case law had provided for objective justification for a national retirement age, there was requirement for the HSE to have sat down and discussed justification for compulsory retirement individually with Dr Quigley. Dr Quigley is "in the wrong court" if he believes he is a victim of age discrimination because there is a separate statutory system for dealing with such issues and that is the Workplace Relations Commission, counsel said. The High Court should hold an early hearing of the full case because Dr Quigley has not made out a strong case for why he should be treated differently from the 500 other permanent officers retiring this year from the HSE, counsel said. The case continues before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan. Tributes have been paid to Ireland's three Hurricane Ophelia victims as the family of Michael Pyke attended his funeral today. The 31-year-old was remembered by family members as "a quiet man and a gentle soul", according to reports. Mr Pyke had stopped to clear a fallen tree with a chainsaw when he was struck by a second tree. The electrician was remembered by his father, three brothers, seven sisters and partner Nollaig in the south Tipperary village of Ardfinnan. Michael, what can I say, we are heartbroken, his sister Linda said through tears. You were the best son, brother, uncle, friend and boyfriend to Nollaig. He was remembered in the service as a kind, unselfish and devoted man. Two others also died in the storm. Fintan Goss, Clare O'Neill and Michael Pyke. Clare ONeill, aged 58, died after a tree branch fell on her car near the west Waterford village of Aglish. Ms O'Neill, an oncology nurse originally from Co Cork, was due to celebrate her 59th birthday on Tuesday. Father-of-two Fintan Goss, 33, was killed in Ravensdale, Dundalk, when a car he was in was struck by a tree just 10 minutes from home. Louth county councillor John McGahon described Mr Goss, who he said became a father for the second time in recent weeks, and his family as "extremely well-regarded in the community". A court has heard a man who claims he was "groped and fondled" by a doctor received a 70,000 settlement from the hospital. Dr Michael Shine of Wellington Road in Dublin 4 is accused of indecently assaulting six boys while he was working at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The second of the six complainants returned to the witness box this morning for his cross-examination. He claims Dr Michael Shine touched him inappropriately during a check-up in 1972 when he was 17. Hugh Hartnett, representing Dr. Shine, said his client had no memory of seeing him and he suggested nothing untoward happened to him during that check-up, to which the man replied: Ive waited for 46 years for the day and Im telling the truth. That man assaulted me. I am 100% certain of that He also told the jury he reached a 70,000 out-of-court settlement with Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital but he said there was no admission of liability. Dr Shine, whos now 85, is facing eight charges of indecent assault against the six complainants. The offences are alleged to have happened between 1964 and 1991. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the banks could sort out the tracker scandal in months. After suggesting tax hikes or new laws and sanctions could be used to get the lenders to pay back and compensate customers, the Taoiseach said these measures would take too long. "The banks have it in their power to sort this out within a matter of months," he said. "Legislation, new sanctions, would take longer. I really think the banks have prevaricated and dragged their heels for too long now." On his way into the European Council summit in Brussels, Mr Varadkar said: "They really need to get on with it and sort it out." Earlier the Governor of the Central Bank revealed that homeowners and investors had lost more than 100 properties through the mortgage tracker scandal. Philip Lane told the Oireachtas Finance Committee he suspected that number would increase as mortgage lenders continued their analyses of affected customers. He also said that by the end of September, 120m had been paid out in redress and compensation. This was on top of 36.8m paid out by Permanent TSB and 6.2m by Springboard Mortgages Limited pursuant to their Mortgage Redress programme, he said. Mr Lane told the committee that around 13,000 affected accounts were identified by lenders after the Central Bank ordered them to conduct a review of their mortgage loan books. Approximately 60% of these cases arose as a result of customers not receiving a tracker product, Mr Lane said. The remaining 40% related to customers not receiving the correct tracker margin. He claimed that as of the end of September, lenders had rectified the interest rates applied to approximately 7,700 affected accounts. "This represents 98% of customers identified by lenders as requiring rate rectification," he added. Mr Lane was before the committee to answer questions about the mortgage tracker controversy. His appearance comes a day after the Committee's chairman, John McGuinness, accused the Central Bank of not doing enough to "bring banks to heel" over the scandal. John McGuinness. The Central Bank Governor insisted the probe was "the largest, most complex and significant conduct review" undertaken by the bank to date. "We recognise the hurt and damage the actions of lenders have caused for many borrowers," he said. "This is evident in the calls we receive to our helpline and the powerful testimony from the individual borrowers that appeared before this Committee last week. "We are pushing the limits of our powers to ensure affected customers are remedied appropriately," he insisted. But he raised concern that two lenders may have failed to identify populations of impacted customers or failed to recognise that certain groups of their customers had been affected by their failures. "We are of the view that some of these customers have in fact been affected and, accordingly, are entitled to redress and compensation. "We have challenged the two lenders on these issues and they will report back to us by end of October," Mr Lane added. Philip Lane. He accused "certain lenders" of falling "materially short" of the Bank's expectations in relation to the issue of redress and compensation. He said they had failed to offer compensation "for certain impacted cohorts of customers or offered unacceptably low offers of compensation". The Central Bank is liaising with the Garda, Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) as part of the examination of the controversy. Theresa May has held talks with former US president Bill Clinton on the continuing political deadlock in Northern Ireland. The meeting in Downing Street followed private discussions earlier this week between Mr Clinton and the main Northern Ireland party leaders in Belfast. Somewhere buried in the awesome pile of news that includes reports of the real potential for nuclear war against North Korea , the crude dismemberment of the Affordable Health Care Act by Donald Trumps pen and the existential threat posed to hundreds of thousands of young, productive US residents by the abrupt and ill-conceived withdrawal of our government from the DACA program, a small city in the American Southwest is holding a run-off election for the position of mayor. The charter governing elections in this dusty burg by the Rio Grande proclaims that such elective endeavors be nonpartisan; in the general election that led up to the upcoming final round it was easy enough for candidates and voters to believe in that ideal. Some candidates were loathe to subscribe to any party-specific doctrines, some even went out of their way to distance themselves from the very political parties that previously gave them succorand agencyin their previous political careers. But now, as that particular episode of local politics wanes, leaving behind two candidates with deep roots in the two-party system, it is time to stop pretending that partisanship has no place in city politics. Ironically the realpolitik of Burques municipal electoral environment is all about ideology. A look at the recent history of Albuquerque mayoral politics reveals that committed partisan involvementof the Republican varietywas key to the election of Richard Berry. It goes without saying that this same Republican party was responsible for ushering in the age of darkness that has been foisted upon citizens through a combination of incompetence, inaction, cruelty and hypocrisy. These facts of responsibility and failure have become even more evident in recent days as an enfeebled GOP continues to support a mentally unstable, vindictive and ignorant executive branchand the executive himself continues to make dangerous decisions on behalf of a startled, bewildered republic. Local politics isfor better or worsetied to national politics and voters should keep that in mind when they head to the polls to cast their final vote for mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 14. A Vote for Keller is a Vote for Progress Timothy A. Keller, the auditor for the state of New Mexico, is a Democrat whose progressive ideas and plans anchor his platform solidly to a hopeful vision of what our city can become. After graduate school, Keller worked in the field of international economic development, helping improve employment systems in Cambodia. As a state senator representing Albuquerques international district in 2013a place also known in local parlance as the war zoneKeller was instrumental in successfully developing and implementing the International District Public Safety Partnership in coordination with APD, the US Department of Justice and numerous local leaders, businesses and institutions. A look at Kellers history as a legislator and as state auditor demonstrate the candidates attention to and manifestation of progressive causes. These include legislation that gives local businesses preference when bidding for state jobs, a keen, watchdog approach to corruption in government, a frank assessment and a strategy for dealing with untested sexual assault evidence kits and significantly, a solid embrace of public funded election financing. As a mayoral candidate, an environmentally conscious Keller has been attacked by land-hungry developers for his cautious stance regarding further Westside urbanization. A Vote for Lewis is So Very Yesterday City Councilor Dan Lewis is a good man, a family man who advertises himself as a reform candidate; heck his website has the word splashed across it in a way that seems at first revelatory; until one realizes that the concepts of reform and renewal are demonstrably foreign to Republicans in general and to Lewis in particular. Lewis is the executive vice president at a corporation called Desert Fuels. Theyre unrenewable petrochemical fuel dealers. The companys currently in a period of expansion, a boon that is no doubt tied to the current administrations anti-environment, pro-oil and coal policies. In 2013 Lewis strongly implied his support for the failed Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinancewhich would have imposed a citywide ban on late term abortionswhen he wrote a letter to constituents explaining why the election had to take place, despite clear constitutional issuesbasically using legalese to state that the constitutionality of a law, before passage, was mere speculation. Lewis also has the honor of being endorsed by an organization called the National Rifle Association. Theyre one of the reasons there is so much gun violence in this country, that gun-ownership now sometimes comes with quasi-religious fervor. Lewis association with the right has been further demonstrated on at least two occassions. As readers may recall, Lewis made a prominent appearance at Donald Trumps first Albuquerque rally. Lewis campaign was also championed by a pastor of Legacy church, who posted on social media that he wholeheartedly supported Lewis campaign because Lewis could never, in any way, support the homosexual agenda. Talking about Lewis political and legislative legacies at this point is a fruitless exercise when one considers the ideology theyre all built upon. Tone is Everything Finally, check out the two candidate websites, tk4abq.com and lewisabq.comnote the language used. At Lewis site, the descriptions of Albuquerque and its problems are addressed in negative, almost apocalyptic terms. Keller meanwhile speaks with hope and dignity for the future of Albuquerque. With that essential difference in mind, it should be a simple task for progressives, for citizens in general, to get Keller elected; a pro-tip to end this, then: vote for the future, not the past on Tuesday November 14, 2017. Update 10.54am: The family of musician Eamonn Campbell following his recent death in a Dutch hospital. "Former member of The Dubliners, Eamonn Campbell, a renowned guitarist and record producer, passed away Wednesday night (18th Oct.) after a short illness in The Netherlands," their statement reads. "Eamonn was touring with The Dublin Legends in Holland & Belgium when he fell ill late last week and was admitted to hospital. He passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife and family. "Eamonn started his career over 50 years ago in his hometown of Drogheda, Co Louth. He first came to prominence as a guitarist with Dermot O'Brien and His Clubmen in the 60s. "He became the go-to session guitar player in Ireland and played on countless recording sessions for practically every act in Ireland. In the studio he honed his production skills and he was behind some of the biggest hit records ever in Ireland. "Among others he played on and produced 'The Fields of Athenry' by Paddy Reilly, 'A Bunch of Thyme' by Foster and Allen and 'The Irish Rover' by The Dubliners & The Pogues. It was this last record that led him being asked to join The Dubliners as their guitarist on a full-time basis." After The Dubliners stopped touring, following the death of Barney McKenna, Eamonn continued to tour and record with The Dublin Legends. Sean Cannon, singer with The Dublin Legends, said: "I am devastated. We have spent the last 30 years together touring and playing concerts. He was a great player with a great feel for Irish music." Banjo player Gerry O'Connor added: "I have not come to terms with it yet. He was such a lovely guy. Always had a big smile on his face. He just adored playing live. He is a huge loss." Singer Paul Watchorn said: "we always had such a good time in Europe. A little bit of sightseeing and then the concert. That's what he loved most. Playing live. He was a real musicians musician and he always knew what the audience wanted to hear. Devastated" Eamonn is survived by his wife Noreen and children, Paddy, Eamonn Jnr, Emma-Jane, Ciara and Niamh and by his grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced later. I'm so sad to hear of the passing of the great Eamonn Campbell, a brilliant guitar player who played with the Dubliners for many years #Rip pic.twitter.com/L3fShKXUpC Frances Black (@frances_black) October 18, 2017 Earlier: Tributes are being paid today to deceased Dubliners musician Eamonn Campbell. The 70-year-old died in a hospital in the Netherlands surrounded by his family. He had just finished a European tour with the band when he became unwell. Mr Campbell is survived by his wife Noreen, six children and 10 grandchildren. He is today being described as a great character and musician, whose suggestion to team up with the Pogues brought the band worldwide fame. White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an extraordinary denunciation of a Democratic congresswoman today, accusing her of politicising what he called a "sacred" presidential effort to console the grieving loved ones of a slain soldier. Mr Kelly, in an unexpected and emotional appearance in the White House briefing room, invoked the death of his own son, killed in Afghanistan in 2010, as he lashed out at Representative Frederica Wilson of Florida. Earlier this week Ms Wilson said that President Donald Trump had been disrespectful in his condolence call to the family of a soldier killed during an ambush in Niger. Mr Kelly, speaking slowly and forcefully, said he was "heartbroken" that Ms Wilson overheard the conversation and used it to attack the president. "It stuns me that a member of Congress listened into that conversation," said Mr Kelly. "It stuns me. "And I thought at least that was sacred." Mr Trump has emphatically rejected claims that he was disrespectful. But he ignited a storm of his own this week when he boasted about his commitment to calling service members' next of kin and brought Mr Kelly into the controversy by wondering aloud if President Barack Obama had called the former Marine general after the death of Mr Kelly's son. Mr Kelly confirmed on Thursday that Mr Obama had not called, but he made clear "that's not a criticism". "That's not a negative thing," he said. "I don't believe all presidents call. I believe they all write." He revealed that when Mr Trump took office, he urged the president not to make those calls, saying "I said to him, 'Sir there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.'" But when Mr Trump indicated he wanted to do so, Mr Kelly revealed to him what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when Robert Kelly was killed. Mr Kelly recalled that Mr Dunford said his son "was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. "He knew what he was getting into. "He knew what the possibilities were because we're at war." And Mr Kelly added that Mr Dunford told him that "when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. "That's what the president tried to say to four families the other day." His speech was a direct rebuke to Ms Wilson, who was in the car with Sergeant La David Johnson's family in Miami when Mr Trump called on Tuesday. President Donald Trump listens as Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office. She said in an interview that Mr Trump had told the widow that "you know that this could happen when you signed up for it ... but it still hurts". He also referred to Sgt Johnson as "your guy", Ms Wilson said, which the congresswoman found insensitive. Robert Kelly, 29, was killed when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan's remote Helmand province. His father, aware that the son accompanied almost patrols through mine-filled battlefields, had just days before warned the family of the potential danger, according to a report in The Washington Post. Mr Kelly on Thursday said that his family got calls from Robert's friends in Afghanistan attesting to his character. Those calls, he said as he fought back tears, were the most important. AP Former US president George W. Bush has denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics, warning that the rise of "nativism", isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation's true identity. The comments, delivered at a New York City conference today hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, amounted to an indirect critique from a former Republican president who has remained largely silent during President Donald Trump's unlikely rise to power. The 43rd president did not name Mr Trump, but he attacked some of the principles that define the 45th president's political brand. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Mr Bush said. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. "We've seen the return of isolation sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places." "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," he continued. "Bigotry seems emboldened. "Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." "We need to recall and recover our own identity," he continued. "To renew our country, we only need to remember our values." Asked about the speech, Mr Trump said he had not seen it. The comment about identity was one of several that warned of what Mr Bush described as troubling political trends. Mr Bush noted Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and declared that "the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other". "Foreign aggressions, including cyber-attacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated," Mr Bush said. Mr Trump has expressed scepticism of Russia's involvement. A special prosecutor is currently investigating whether Mr Trump and his campaign associates coordinated with Moscow in the effort to sway the election. Mr Bush is the brother of 2016 presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor nicknamed, belittled and ultimately vanquished by Mr Trump during the race for the Republican nomination. He joins a slowly growing list of prominent Republicans who have publicly defied Mr Trump, including Republican Senators John McCain, who delivered a similar speech this week. Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who has announced he is retiring, has denounced what he termed the "adult day care centre" of the Trump White House. But during the Bush event, a current Trump administration official also broke with Mr Trump's dismissive tone on Russian interference. Nikki Haley, Mr Trump's chief envoy to the United Nations, cast Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election as "warfare" and efforts to "sow chaos" in elections across the world. "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian? And why have we done the sanctions?' Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian," Ms Haley said. She added: "When a country can come and interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." Facebook recently provided three congressional committees with more than 3,000 ads they had traced to a Russian internet agency and told investigators of their contents. Twitter also briefed Congress last month and handed over to Senate investigators the profile names of 201 accounts linked to Russians. AP Russian president Vladimir Putin claims a stand-off over Catalonia's independence has been spawned by Western double standards in treating secessionist movements. Speaking on Thursday at a forum for foreign policy experts in Sochi, Mr Putin said the crisis should be solved on the basis of the Spanish law. At the same time, he criticised Washington's European allies for quickly supporting Kosovo's 2008 independence bid from Serbia. He said Kosovo has "provoked similar processes in other regions of Europe". Russia has long pointed at Kosovo to counter Western condemnation of Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Mr Putin added that attempts to divide secessionists into "fighters for freedom and democracy" and "separatists" pose a "serious danger for stable development of Europe". AP Latest News Regional hotspots record sharp falls in value, new data shows Value declines have become more geographically broad-based over the three months to October How many Aussies don't regularly review finances? Money also a big source of stress, NAB survey reveals Fintech lender Prospa has partnered with retail marketplace MyDeal to bring new lending options to small business owners on the platform.More than 1,000 businesses will now be able to access up to $250,000 worth of finance under the newly created MyDeal Marketplace Loans with some able to receive funds within 24 hours.Matt Bauld, Prospas general manager of sales and business development, told Australian Broker that the lender is always seeking new ways to help small business owners access finance.One of the reasons weve grown as quickly as we have is that early on we recognised the value of working with partners.Prospa now has more than 4,000 trusted referrers, including brokers, aggregators such as AFG Connective and Finsure , and industry associations such as the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia ( MFAA ). The lender also works with brands such as Westpac , NMRA Insurance and Xero.The common element to all these relationships is helping more small business owners to access finance quickly and easily whenever they need it, Bauld said.Although MyDeal has traditionally acted to promote greater volumes of sales for its member businesses, the main mission has been to help these retailers succeed online, said CEO of MyDeal.com.au, Sean Senvirtne.We are always looking for new ways to accelerate the growth of our retailers. [By] providing additional support we believe this will enhance the experience for retailers who choose to list with MyDeal Marketplace.Despite the new agreement between Prospa and MyDeal, it will be business as usual for referral partners such as brokers, Bauld said.When they refer their small business clients to Prospa directly well give those customers fast easy access to finance and an amazing customer experience. Our partners will get happy customers, access to our marketing and education platform and the potential for ongoing revenue.This new partnership comes after five years of strong growth for Prospa.For all that time, weve been advocating to brokers that they should consider diversifying to meet the growing demand from small business owners.An increase in the numbers of brokers offering commercial finance has led to more money being invested in small businesses which otherwise would have been without, Bauld said.Prospa has already delivered $450m to small business in Australia and demand is not slowing down. How you can help Give A Christmas to Lower Bucks families in need In season 13 episode 4 of Criminal Minds, titled, Killer App, the BAU travels to California to help investigate a workplace shooting. They soon realize, however, that this is no ordinary shooting. Rather, this crime was not executed physically by an unsub, instead, it was carried out by a drone. The team must rush to find out whos behind the tech before its too late. A Shooting in Silicon Valley The episode begins with a hip tech company in Silicon Valley. All of a sudden, shots ring out and the employees run and duck for cover, but no one can seem to see a shooter. At the BAU, Prentiss asks Luke to her office to talk about what happened with Scratch. She says Luke wasnt specific enough in his report. Luke admits that he didnt try to help pull Scratch up. Prentiss said he did the right thing. Homeland security calls the BAU for help with the workplace shooting at tech company, Ori-Gamey. The team heads to Silicon Valley. On the jet, the team evaluates what they know about the shooting so far. They havent found a shooter, nor has a terrorist organization claimed responsibility. Three victims of three different races were killed and the team theorizes that the shooting might be a hate crime. When the team arrives in California, Prentis works with Homeland Security on the scene. Things arent adding up. The security guard who was killed had served in Afghanistan. He was shot several times but he never fired his weapon. Luke, J.J., Reid, and Simmons interview employees at the scene. A few people say they saw the shooter, but none of the stories add up. Prentiss and Luke play out what happened to the three victims. Abdullah was killed first, then Devlin and the security guard, one after the other. They theorize that there might have been two shooters. Shemar Moore Returning to Criminal Minds for Season 13>>> Garcia calls the team with the name of a possible suspect, Hugh Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was fired, had a grudge, and was in the building earlier. The BAU tracks him down and he tries to outrun them in his car but fails. Hugh reveals that he tried to get away because he keyed his bosss car. He insists, however, that he did not shoot up the office. The team, therefore, theorizes that the shootings are personal and that the three victims were killed for a reason. Flash to another tech company where four employees are working. As they work, bullets start to fly, and all four people are killed. The BAU responds to the second shooting. Based on the four people killed, the team rules out a hate crime and confirms that the killer probably is targeting specific people. Killer Drone Reid notices that no one responded to the shooter and that the trajectory of the bullets is too high to make sense. He realizes that there is no physical gunman. Instead, a drone is being used to attack the offices and the unsub controls it offsite. They deliver the profile. The unsub is a lone wolf using a drone. Hes a young, white male, tech-astute, with a personal vendetta. Hes using a custom built drone and could be military trained. Hes operating off a kill list and targeting specific victims. The team hasnt found the connection between the two companies, but they know its the key to finding out who the unsub is. In reviewing what they know, the team concludes that the security guard was the only one killed who wasnt on the unsubs list. J.J. discovers that the common thread between all the victims is a period of unemployment in 2016. A blonde woman named Tori is talking on the phone in her car. She is afraid because coders on the team are dead. Then her car starts getting shot by the unsub. The BAU finds the shot up car, but the unsub has taken Tori. Tori works for a private military consulting firm called Peakstone. The team theorizes that Peakstones civilian drone operations could be the connection. Prentiss speaks with the Homeland Security agent, who insists that the BAU take over the case. The unsub, whose name is Jake, is holding Tori at gunpoint. He thinks she wont remember him, but she does. The team looks into Tori and find out she was in charge of drone teams consisting of coders and one pilot. They think the unsub is a former drone pilot blaming the coders on his team for making killing people seem like a game. Garcia calls in with helpful information. Toris team ran during the time in 2016 that lines up with the victims unemployment, until their contract was canceled in July 2016. The teams last mission, attacking an insurgent camp, had a lot of casualties, 372 dead. Garcia is trying to find the unsubs name from Peakstone but isnt have much luck. 372 Casualties Meanwhile, Jake has brought Tori back to his house. She tries to convince him that he should be proud of his service, he kept his country safe. Prentiss goes to the Homeland Security agent, trying to get him to help her obtain the unsubs name from Peakstone. The agent says he cant help, but after Prentiss insists, he gives her his contact. Still keeping Tori captive, Jake reveals hes upset about the letter he received after the teams contract ended that broke down every mission, including body count. When Jake puts down his gun, Tori takes the opportunity to grab it, fire, and run out of the house. Prentiss meets with the Peakstone contact to try and get Jakes name. The contact refuses to give up the information. Tori runs out into the street and flags down a car to help her. Prentiss returns to the team, letting them know Peakstone wont give up the information. Simmons announces that Tori is at the hospital. When the team arrives, J.J. and Luke talk to Tori and she admits she shot Jake. When they ask about the casualty counts, however, Tori lies, saying Jake said nothing about casualty counts. Rossi and Simmons go to Jakes house and find him dead. He was shot multiple times, just like his earlier victims. Tori fired once and then dropped the gun on her way out. Rossi and Simmons wonder who could have wanted the unsub dead. Quiz: Which Special Agent TV Hunk Would You Date?>>> Back at the station, Garcia calls the team to let them know what she found out about the mission with the 372 casualty count. It turns out that there is no record of such a mission occurring at an insurgent training camp. Instead, she has finds that there was a bombing at an elementary school that matches the 372 count. Peakstone, the team realizes, covered up the bombing of the elementary school. They also find out that Tori was on the phone with the company when she was kidnapped. Peakstones to Blame Tori, therefore, is unfinished business for Peakstone, because she knows what happened with the elementary school. Not only did Peakstone kill Jake, but they were trying to kill Tori as well. Just as the team makes this discovery, a suspicious cop takes over watching Toris door at the hospital. The cop goes in the room to shoot and kill Tori and the team arrives and arrests him. Tori reveals to J.J. and Luke that Jake blamed everyone on the mission team for turning him into a murderer. She also explains that Peakstone made her file fake reports and cover the mistake up. They place Tori under arrest. Rossi and Prentiss arrest the contact at Peakstone. Back in D.C., Luke tells Prentiss that Tori cut a deal to testify against Peakstone. The government ended all contracts with the company and those responsible are going to jail. As Prentiss is swamped with paperwork, Luke offers Thai food and stays to share it with her. What did you think of this complex episode? Did you feel sympathy for Jake, the unsub? What did you think of the brief conclusion to the Mr. Scratch saga? Let us know in the comments! Criminal Minds season 13 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on CBS. Want more news? Like our Facebook page. (Image courtesy of CBS) latest news October 31, 2022 Buddy TV In November, there are hundreds of new and returning TV showsit can be overwhelming to try and choose what to watch. That's why we've selected some of the best options... Day of events at UB Libraries to celebrate freedom of government information Held during Open Access Week, programs include the rescue of more than 700 federal documents from the Obama presidency BUFFALO, N.Y. The University at Buffalo Libraries will celebrate the freedom of information by hosting Preserving Our Knowledge, an all-day series of free sessions to promote Open Access Week. Open Access Week, held during the last week of October, is a global event now entering its eight year that aims to raise awareness about the importance and benefits of removing restrictions from research findings, government documents and other sources of knowledge. Preserving Our Knowledge will consist of two workshops and a webinar on Monday, Oct. 23. Light refreshments will be provided. The events, which are free and open to the public, include: Keeping America Informed for Future Generations Learn more about the Federal Information Preservation Network, a repository that works to preserve federal government information. The workshop will be led by Cynthia Etkin, senior program analyst at the U.S. Government Publishing Office. The seminar is scheduled from 910:30 a.m. in 310 Silverman Library in Capen Hall on the North Campus. To register, visit http://booking.lib.buffalo.edu/event/3634536. Using the HathiTrust Federal Documents Collection The webinar will explore the use of the HathiTrust U.S. Federal Government Documents Program, a collection of nearly 900,000 federal documents digitized from print. The seminar will be led by Heather Christenson, HathiTrust program officer for federal documents and collections; and Jaime Hays, outreach librarian at the U.S. Government Publishing Office. The program is scheduled from 10:3011:30 a.m. in 310 Silverman Library in Capen Hall on the North Campus. To register, visit http://booking.lib.buffalo.edu/event/3634562. Data Refuge Event: Help Save Access to Federal Government Information Volunteer to help rescue more than 700 federal documents that remain inaccessible from the Obama presidency. Participants will index and assign subject descriptors to government information collected through the End of Term Harvest to make them freely accessible online. The program will be led by UB government information services librarian Susan Dow. The event will be held from 14:30 p.m. in 109 Lockwood Memorial Library on the North Campus. To register, visit http://booking.lib.buffalo.edu/event/3634569. Ready, set, GROW! UB chemists crystal contest gives kids nationwide a chance to shine UB Associate Professor of Chemistry Jason Benedict (left) and UB chemistry PhD candidate Eric Sylvester prepare to ship crystal-growing supplies to participants in this year's contest. Credit: Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo Children have five weeks to grow the biggest, most beautiful crystals, with a chance to win a cash prize UB chemistry PhD candidate Eric Sylvester preps boxes that will be used to ship supplies to contest entrants. Credit: Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo BUFFALO, N.Y. National Chemistry Week starts on Oct. 22 this year, and to celebrate, kids across the country will grab beakers and begin growing crystals from a nontoxic chemical called aluminum potassium sulfate. Its all part of the U.S. Crystal Growing Competition. Now in its fourth year, the event challenges K-12 students and teachers to grow the biggest, highest-quality crystal. Winners receive prizes of up to $200. Its going to be a lot of fun, says contest founder Jason Benedict, PhD, an associate professor of chemistry in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. Were really excited because the contest has basically doubled in size since last year. More than 160 teams have requested materials for 2017 up from about 90 last year and 40 in 2014, the contests inaugural year. The 160 teams this year will include about 4,000 participants, as many teams include entire K-12 classes. Benedict runs the competition with regional coordinators from the University of Central Florida, Georgetown University and Texas A&M University. UB students also help. I like how easy it is for younger students to get in on this. Its a simple way to get them into science, said UB chemistry PhD candidate Eric Sylvester on Oct. 18 as he unfolded a mountain of postal boxes that will be used to ship free crystal-growing materials to participants. Campus News Conference to focus on Buffalo as capital of American arts and crafts movement Among Buffalos great standing examples of the American arts and crafts movement is the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Greycliff in the Town of Evans. Photo: Douglas Levere By BERT GAMBINI This city produced what is perhaps the defining group of arts and crafts artists and they were determinative for the direction of the American arts and crafts movement. Jack Quinan, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus and a noted expert on Frank Lloyd Wright, will deliver the keynote address for a groundbreaking three-day conference that directs long overdue attention to Buffalo as the epicenter of the American arts and crafts movement. Quinans lecture, The Larkin Building and Wrights Oeuvre, takes place at 6 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora. It opens the conference, titled Frank Lloyd Wright and the Buffalo School: An International Arts and Crafts Conference, which will run Oct. 20-22. Buffalos role as the creative center for design, production and innovation in American arts and crafts is widely acknowledged by specialists in the field, but little known across the country including in Buffalo itself, according to UB associate professor Jonathan Katz, the conference organizer and director of the universitys doctoral program in visual studies. While other cities with a fraction of the movements examples stage annual arts and crafts celebrations, Buffalo has tended to be quiet about its place in history, but as the city begins to flower again, Katz sees a renewed awareness and excitement to discuss and applaud Buffalos illustrious past. We want to make clear that there was something called a Buffalo School, says Katz. This city produced what is perhaps the defining group of arts and crafts artists and they were determinative for the direction of the American arts and crafts movement. Buses will leave from the front of Hayes Hall on UBs South Campus every half-hour from 4-5 p.m. to provide roundtrip transportation to and from the Roycroft for guests wanting to attend Fridays lecture. There is an $80 registration fee for the entire conference. Guests can register online. There are no fees for UB faculty, staff and students, but email registration is required at artsandcraftswny@gmail.com. After Quinans keynote and a reception, all subsequent conference sessions on Oct. 21 and 22 will take place at Hayes Hall. A complete schedule of conference presentations and speakers is available online. Katz says the European arts and crafts movement embraced a nostalgic handcraft aesthetic that artists in the U.S. rejected. The American variant of arts and crafts was forward-looking, in creative contrast to Great Britains more sentimental response to the Industrial Revolution. For the Americans, looking forward was not just about the new technology, but also harnessing its power to new ends. Technology drove artists sensibility which, in turn, transformed creativity, commerce and manufacturing into unprecedented designs in residential architecture, furniture and decorative arts. Buffalos great standing examples of the movement include the Darwin Martin House, the Roycroft Campus and Louis Sullivans Guaranty Building. Even demolished buildings loom large: Wrights groundbreaking Larkin Administration Building is the subject of an innovative exhibition now on view in Hayes Hall. In addition to the regions arts and crafts assets, Katz says Buffalo was also home to a number of resident geniuses from the period, like Charles Rohlfs, perhaps the greatest furniture designer America ever produced, yet still not a widely recognized historical figure. His major works generally crest around a quarter of a million dollars on the art market, yet theres nothing to suggest his history here, says Katz. Theres no plaque on what was his Allentown home. We will discuss artists like Rohlfs at this conference, and Adelaide Alsop Robineau, who is acknowledged as Americas greatest potter, and other key figures who defined the aesthetic in the United States. Katz says Buffalo in particular was helpful to these artists and developed as a creative core in part due to its wealth and the fact that the citys patrons were intensely interested in the future and its associated possibilities. There was a progressive attitude in Buffalo, says Katz. The idea here was, Whats the next thing going to be? Buffalo also had a strong industrial base, so designers using industrial processes could easily find skilled workers. The last component is that there were a couple of key personalities in town who were the nuclei around which so much developed, says Katz. Darwin Martin, who got Wright to build the Larkin building and later to design his home. And Elbert Hubbard who was key to the success of the Larkin Company and then key to the development of the Roycroft Campus. They knew how to spot other talent and were charismatic figures who were able to bring like-minded people together, he says. These combined to make Buffalo very powerful. Last month, the commercial team from heating, plumbing and bathroom wholesaler F & P, Primaflow and Connections trekked to the summit of Mount Snowdon to raise money for Alzheimer's Society. The companys Head of Marketing Tim Ramsey, one of the intrepid team who took on inclement weather conditions to reach the summit, said: The drizzle and grey clouds did nothing to dampen our spirits, and we enjoyed taking in the beautiful landscape of Snowdonia as we climbed - though there were moments that we wished our radiator was operational, as the heat would have been most welcome! Were thrilled to have raised over 2,000 for our charity partner Alzheimer's Society, and wed like to thank everyone who has supported us. Managing Director Jed Kenrick said: We are delighted to be able to offer our support to such a worthy cause. Dementia affects over 850,000 people in the UK; this figure is expected to rise to 1 million by 2021, with no cure currently available. "Through their tireless work, the charity aims to make sure being diagnosed doesnt mean life has to end, by providing the best support possible for people living with dementia and carers alike. We hope our fundraising support will go some way to helping further the valuable research into finding a cure, and the care so many rely on can continue. U.S. women's soccer looks to its rising stars for next World Cup Following Hollywood actress Alyssa Milanos viral #MeToo Twitter campaign urging people to speak up against sexual harassment France is considering implementing fines for catcalling With Hollywood reeling over the horrifying scale of sexual harassment Harvey Weinstein perpetrated for years and to an unbelievably large number of women, actress Alyssa Milano launched the #MeToo campaign on Twitter urging people to speak up about sexual harassment. The campaign has gone viral and over in France a similar campaign has been launched which has caught the eye of French lawmakers. The New York Times reports last week journalist Sandra Muller took to Twitter to recount her own experience of sexual harassment at the hands of a French executive. She used the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc which translates to 'expose your pig' and since then, according to the article, "..tens of thousands of French women had heeded that call, posting disturbing accounts of sexual harassment and abuse." The French government has taken notice of this powerful social media campaign and is according to The New York Times considering "proposals... to fine men for aggressive catcalling or lecherous behaviour toward women in public." The article further reports that France's junior minister for gender equality, Marlene Schiappa said, "...the government was considering precisely how to define street harassment and how much to fine." It's about time. An Expression of Interest from investors to revive Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOC) has been invited by the Insolvency Resolution Professional appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). With Kolkata-based Nicco Corporation going through liquidation, other whose cases are being examined by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) have raised concerns over the manner in which the process is evolving. Indian e-commerce firms are turning to established large-format offline retailers for help while trying to increase their reach beyond their 100-odd million customer base and get existing buyers to shop online more often. This September, when India's leading commercial vehicles manufacturer was all set to launch the Nexon, its much-awaited mini special utility vehicle, domestic fund managers were busy liquidating the company's stocks from their portfolios. (Editor's Note: For far too long, Neville Maxwell's narrative on the 1962 war -- which sees India as the aggressor and China as the victim -- has held court. Nearly 50 years after Maxwell's book, Bertil Lintner's "China's India War" argues that China began planning the war as early as 1959 and proposes that it was merely a small move in the larger strategic game that China was playing to become a world player. Following is an exclusive extract from "China's India War") It was entirely unexpected that the Chinese would attack. The Indians had observed a massive build-up across the border and there had been several encounters between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in the days before the main attack, including bombardment of Dhola and Khenzemane on October 19, 1962. But the ferocity and the sheer coordination of the Chinese attacks on October 20, 1962, and the days that followed stunned the Indian security establishment as well as international observers. At day-break on that day, artillery guns and mortars began intense bombardments across the Thagla Ridge. According to Brigadier John Dalvi: At exactly 5 on the morning of 20th October 1962, the Chinese Opposite Bridge III fired two Verey lights. This signal was followed by a cannonade of over 150 guns and heavy mortars, exposed on the forward slopes of Thagla... this was a moment of truth. Thagla Ridge was no longer, at that moment, a piece of ground. It was the crucible to test, weigh and purify India's foreign defence policies. Dalvi called it "The Day of Reckoning -- 20th October 1962". The all-out assault on Indian positions north of Tawang was on. On the western front in Aksai Chin, the fighting was spread out over a swathe of land from north to south, covering a distance of approximately 600 kilometres. But the thrust of the Chinese towards the south was confined to a relatively narrow area, which measured approximately 20 kilometres from west to east. Most of the attacks by the PLA seemed to be confined to dislodging Indian troops from the outposts that had been established as a result of the government's Forward Policy rather than for capturing territory. According to Indian military analysts, "In the Western sector, [the] Chinese had a limited aim. They were already in occupation of most of the Aksai Chin plateau through which they had constructed the Western Highway connecting Tibet and Xinjiang. In this war, their aim was to remove the Indian posts which they perceived were across their 1960 Claim Line." They had no intention to move forward deep into Indian territory, as they did in NEFA (The North-East Frontier Agency). The Aksai Chin plateau was and still is virtually unpopulated; this had made it possible for the Chinese to build their highway there in the mid-1950s without the Indians finding out about it until a year after it had been completed. The name Aksai Chin means "the desert of white stones", and the altitude varies between 4,300 and 6,900 metres above sea level. In the past, some Ladakhi villagers used the area for summer grazing and made it part of the Cashmere wool trade, but otherwise there has been no commercial activity worth mentioning in the area. Whatever ancient trade routes that existed were secondary, and the only valley, if it may be called such, is along the River Chip Chap that flows from Xinjiang to Jammu and Kashmir. During the 1962 War, the Chinese captured several Indian positions in the valley and have since controlled most of the area. During the weeks of fighting in this western sector of the theatre of the 1962 War, it became obvious that the Chinese knew exactly where the Indians were, how many there were at each position, and what kind of weaponry they had. As was the case in the NEFA in the east, pre-war intelligence gathering had been carried out in the Aksai Chin area by small teams of surveyors who could move freely and, presumably, undetected on the barren plateau. A contentious issue on the eastern front was the location of the Indian outpost at Dhola in the River Namka Chu gorge, where the borders of India, Bhutan, and Tibet intersect northwest of Tawang. The post was created on February 24, 1962, and according to the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report, the site "was established north of the McMahon Line as shown on maps prior to the October/November 1962 edition. It is believed that the old edition was given to the Chinese by our External Affairs Ministry to indicate the McMahon Line. It is also learnt that we tried to clarify the error in our maps, but the Chinese did not accept our contention." The Chinese, in any case, would not have paid much attention to Indian maps. Their objective was entirely different: To teach India a lesson. This remark in the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report is any way a far cry from the claim by Neville Maxwell and others that the establishment of the Dhola outpost triggered the 1962 War and that India was the aggressor. Chinese troops had crossed the Namka Chu on September 8, surrounded an Indian outpost in the gorge, and destroyed two bridges on the river. The nearby Dhola Post was reinforced and firing from both sides continued in the area throughout September. Three Indian soldiers were wounded when the Chinese threw hand grenades at their position, but otherwise, there were no casualties. (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.) Eleven months after Mirage and Sukhoi jets had presented an air show during the inauguration of Agra-Lucknow Expressway, the countrys longest access-controlled greenfield expressway will again play host to the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters jets on October 24 to conduct their landing and takeoff exercise. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is celebrating Diwali with the 15 Corps troops in North Kashmir along the Line of Control, he took to Twitter on Thursday to wish everyone on the occassion. President Ram Nath Kovind also sent his greetings and urged fellow countrymen to "promote sensitivity to others and to our environment". In his first major India-policy speech, US Secretary of State on Wednesday said that US is India's "reliable partner" at the world stage in this period of uncertainty and angst, sending a strong signal to side with India amidst China's "provocative actions" in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reached Bandipora district along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate Diwali with the troops posted in the forward area, the Army said. Army chief General Bipin Rawat, Northern Command chief Lt General Devraj Anbu and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu were also in Gurez accompanying the prime minister, an Army official said. The Prime Minister, who is known for celebrating this day in the remotest locations of the country, will be celebrating the occasion with the 15 Corps troops in the Gurez Sector. Last year, he celebrated the occasion with ITBP personnel in Uttarakhand along the Indo-China border. He has also spent time with forces along the Punjab border and on the Siachen Glacier. In 2014, Modi had spent Diwali with the people of Kashmir in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Valley. Earlier today, Modi took to Twitter to extend his Diwali wishes through a picture signed by him. It was captioned in Hindi, which translated reads as, "Warm greetings to the countrymen on the auspicious festival of Diwali". Secretary of State in his first major India-policy speech set the tone of the bilateral relationship between India and the US for 100 years, a State Department official said, observing that the talk had many audiences, including China. File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission after their joint press conference at Hyderabad House in New Delhi (Photo: PTI) India and Russia have had longstanding military and diplomatic ties and to preserve these bonds of cooperation, India and Russia undertake annual military exercise INDRA. This milestone in military cooperation of the two nations epitomizes their strong and resilient relations. INDRA-2017 is the first tri-service bilateral exercise between the two countries. . . On 18 Oct 2017, Indian contingent flew in IL-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Vladivostok comprising of Army and Air Force personnel. The contingent, led by the Task Force Commander, Maj Gen ND Prasad was accorded a warm welcome by Commander of the Fifth Army of Russian Eastern Military District, Maj Gen Kutuzov. . . On 19 Oct 2017, two indigenously built Indian Naval ships INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt arrived at Vladivostok Port and were given a traditional ceremonial welcome. Rear Admiral Anatoliy Zelinsky, Deputy Commander, Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy was present on the occasion. . . Earlier in the day, the delegation led by Maj Gen ND Prasad, Task Force Commander called on Mr Alexey Litvinov, the acting Mayor of Vladivostok. Maj Gen ND Prasad thanked the Mayor for the extremely warm welcome accorded to the Indian contingent and expressed the hope that the exercise would lead to increased mutual cooperation between the two countries. Also, the Naval Component Commander Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta interacted with Admiral Sergei Avakyants, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet in a warm and cordial atmosphere. . . An observer delegation led by Lt Gen JS Negi along with Air Vice Marshal VR Chaudhari and Rear Admiral V Sreenivas visited the 249 Sergeyvsky Training Ranges where a major part of the Army and Air Force component of tri-service exercise INDRA-2017 will be conducted. The delegation was briefed on the overall conduct of the exercise, after which they visited the camp where the contingent was being accommodated. . . INDRA-2017 will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries. The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations. . . China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, warned on Thursday of the risks of a "Minsky moment," citing relatively high corporate debt and saying household lending was rising too quickly. On the sidelines of a key, twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress, Zhou pledged to fend off such risks. But what did he mean? DEFINITION The term, coined after American economist Hyman Minsky, refers to a sudden collapse of asset prices after a long period of growth, sparked by debt or currency pressures. In the "The Financial Instability Hypothesis" (1992), Minsky outlined how risks from debt can build up during periods of growth until they become excessive in an economy that otherwise appears to be stable. "In particular, over a protracted period of good times, capitalist economies tend to move from a financial structure dominated by hedge units to a structure in which there is large weight to units engaged in speculative and Ponzi ." OTHER HIGH-PROFILE MENTIONS The term 'Minsky moment' is credited to US economist Paul McCulley, who initially used it during the Russian financial crisis of 1998, around two years after Minsky died. Minksy's theories were again "rediscovered" during the global financial crisis of 2008. In a 2009 speech, current U.S. Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen, who was then San Francisco Fed president, spoke on the lessons that Minsky offered central bankers, saying "the dramatic events of the past year and a half are a classic case of the kind of systemic breakdown that he - and relatively few others - envisioned." "One of the critical features of Minsky's world view is that borrowers, lenders, and regulators are lulled into complacency as asset prices rise." WHO IS MINSKY Hyman Minksy was born in Chicago in 1919. He earned a bachelor of science in mathematics from the University of Chicago, and master of public administration and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He taught at Carnegie Tech, Brown University and the University of California, Berkley. From 1965 to 1990 he was professor of economics at Washington University in St Louis. He was then a distinguished scholar at Levy Institute from 1990 until his death, aged 77, in 1996. Minsky considered himself to be a Keynesian economist, but differed with mainstream economists on how to interpret the works of English economist John Maynard Keynes. His theories on financial crises did not gain public prominence during his life, but in the aftermath of the global financial crisis they became widely cited. ZHOU'S WARNING "If there are too many pro-cyclical factors in the economy, cyclical fluctuations are magnified and there is excessive optimism during the period, accumulating contradictions that could lead to the so-called Minsky Moment." "We should focus on preventing a dramatic adjustment." HOW MUCH DEBT DOES CHINA HAVE? A lot, but accounting is opaque and relatively little is held by foreign investors who could suddenly flee for the exits. The government says debt levels are generally under control and manageable, and notes the personal savings rate is high. It has embarked on a campaign this year to contain risks from debt, but officials have been careful -- some critics say too careful -- not to tighten the screws too much and hit economic growth. Zhou has said there is no quick fix and it could take years to bring down high debt down to more manageable levels. Corporate debt has climbed rapidly since China unveiled a massive stimulus programme to cushion the economy during the global financial crisis. But much is held by state-run firms. The state also controls much of the banking system and can be heavily influential in financial markets, where the first hints of trouble often arise. The Monetary Fund said in August it expected China's total non-financial sector debt to rise to almost 300 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022, up from 242 percent last year. The IMF also warned this year that China's credit growth was on a "dangerous trajectory" and called for "decisive action", while the Bank for Settlements said in late 2016 that excessive debt growth was signaling a banking crisis in the next three years. Global credit rating agencies S&P and Moody's both downgraded China's sovereign credit rating this year, citing worries about its rapid build-up in debt after years of credit-fueled stimulus used to meet official economic growth targets. S&P said on Tuesday that China has taken only "baby" steps in deleveraging so far and bigger strides are needed. While credit growth is showing signs of slowing, S&P says it is expected to continue outpacing economic growth, leaving China with thinner financial buffers to deal with any crisis. The FBI has opened an investigation into US links to South Africa's Guptas, escalating a scandal over the family's alleged use of a friendship with President Jacob Zuma to control state businesses, the Financial Times said on Thursday. Separately, Britain's banking regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said it was in contact with two UK banks over any possible links to the Gupta family. The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing. Gupta family spokesman Gary Naidoo could not be reached for comment and the US Embassy in Pretoria had no immediate comment. The family, founders of a business empire spanning media, mining and consulting, have been named in a trove of leaked emails alleging graft in dealing with South Africa's state-owned companies, which also named several global firms. The Financial Times, which cited "people familiar with the matter", said US investigators had been looking at individuals, bank accounts and companies in the U.S. for ties to alleged graft involving the family. It gave no further details. Britain's FCA said it was in contact with HSBC and Standard Chartered banks following reports in British newspapers that the finance minister had asked regulators to investigate the lenders' possible ties to the Gupta family and Zuma. "The FCA is already in contact with both banks named and will consider carefully further responses received," the regulator said. Standard Chartered in London said they were not able to comment on details of client transactions but added that "after an internal investigation, accounts were closed by us by early 2014". HSBC said it had no comment on the matter. Britain's parliament is expected to discuss British banks' possible involvement in the Gupta case on Thursday. Zweli Mkhize, one of the several potential candidates to replace Zuma as head of the African National Congress in December, said the United States and Britain were within their rights to investigate. "If there is any information suggesting corruption or irregularities, it needs to be investigated across the borders. It should not be restricted to South Africa," he told reporters. The Guptas and their companies have not been charged with any crime in South Africa, but the scandal is one of many that have dogged the Zuma presidency. Local media have reported extensively on the so-called "Gupta-leaks" - thousands of emails between the Guptas and their lieutenants and state-owned companies, politically connected individuals and private sector firms. Eric Korman fell into the fragrance business by accident. Before he became head of digital marketing and e-commerce for in 2010, the last time he put on cologne was probably to my seventh-grade dance, he says with a laugh. But he began wearing the fashion houses signature scents to the office. North Korea on Thursday strongly condemned naval manoeuvers that the US is presently carrying out with on the peninsula, and threatened to launch an "unimaginable strike" against them. Pyongyang's Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills criticised Washington's mobilisation of nuclear strategic assets in a statement issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reports Efe news. The Pentagon has deployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and two destroyers, among other ships, for the naval manoeuvers, which will last until Oct. 20. "The US is running amuck by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time," the statement read. The North Korean committee also said that Washington has also deployed the nuclear submarine USS Michigan, although this has not been officially confirmed. "This proves that the US and South Korean puppet authorities are attempting to ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost while watching for an opportunity after making its 'pre-emptive attack'," against North Korea, it added. The drills between the naval forces of the US and come amid escalated tensions in the region and shortly after Pyongyang conducted its latest weapons tests including a nuclear test on September 3 and the launch of a missile that flew over Japan on September 15. Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were indicted today by an anti-graft court in a corruption case related to the Avenfield property in London. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against 67- year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court in Islamabad on September 8. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Maryam and Safdar were present in the court during today's hearing. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a court official. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. Sharif and his sons - Hassan and Hussain - are likely to be indicted in the other two references later today. At the start of the hearing by Judge Muhammad Bashir, the defence filed an application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to an illness of his wife. The defence team also argued that head of Sharif's legal team Harris was out of the country due to an emergency and in his absence, Sharif should not be indicted. But the court rejected the application after hearing the argument. The second lawyer from Sharif's legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the apex court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well. Sharif's legal team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case. The court has reserved its decision on the application. During the proceedings, the judge thrice stopped hearing and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications. Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated. Maryam, in an informal chat with reporters, said that it was for the first time that "Sicilian mafia" was appearing in the court. She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by the Supreme Court bench which disqualified him. "It is for the first time that first decision was given (about the disqualification of Sharif) and now the trial is being held," she said. Sharif, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and independent lawyers had objected to the use of the phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will. Maryam said that one day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. "Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together," she told reporters outside the court. She said that her party is still united despite the differences of opinion. Sharif was re-elected as the president of the PML-N on October 3 and immediately demanded that those who disqualified him should respect the people's mandate. Maryam said the government is an institution which should be respected. "Each institution should do its job." Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth. Judge Bashir was set to indict Sharif and his family on October 13. However, after the violent clash between the PML-N lawyers and police, he had postponed the indictment until today. During the hearing on October 9, the court had decided to separate the trial of Sharif's sons - Hussain and Hassan - from Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law. It had also ordered to start the process of declaring Sharif's sons proclaimed offender for failing to appear before the court. The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts and seized properties of Sharif and his family members to put pressure on them to appear before the court. A steel tycoon cum politician, Sharif had served as the Prime Minister for the first time from 1990 to 1993. During his first tenure, Sharif developed serious differences with conservative president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dissolved the National Assembly using his powers in April 1993. In July, Sharif resigned under pressure from the army. His second term as Prime Minister from 1997 ended in 1999 when then powerful Army Chief Pervez Musharraf carried out a bloodless coup. Sharif, who leads the country's most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, successfully managed to swim through all the tsunamis since he assumed power for the third term in June 2013, but the Supreme Court ruling against him in the Panamagate case struck a heavy blow to his career. His political future has been hanging in balance since then. Pakistans ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were indicted on Thursday by an anti-graft court in a corruption case related to the Avenfield property in London. Barely two months after its crown prince was sent to prison on corruption charges, the family that controls Samsungs vast business empire is again facing allegations of white-collar crime. At least 43 soldiers were killed and another nine wounded on Thursday in a coordinated attack by the Taliban on a military base in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. A suicide bomber detonated explosives in a vehicle at the military base in Maiwand district. This was followed by armed clashes with the troops stationed in the camp, Defence Ministry spokesperson Muhammad Radmanish told Efe news. The Ministry said that at the time of the attack, there were 60 soldiers in the base, out of which 43 were killed, nine were wounded and six were missing. It said the Army had regained control of the base. Taliban spokesperson Yusuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack but said 60 Afghan troops had been killed and five armoured vehicles destroyed. This was the third large-scale attack against the Afghan forces this week. The attack occurred days after Taliban launched two massive coordinated attacks in eastern Paktia and neighbouring Ghazni provinces. Over 70 people were killed and more than 170 were wounded. (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.) Trading in got off to a rocky start, with the benchmark indices ending more than half a% lower and gauge for banking stocks dropping 1.25%. The BSE Sensex on Thursday fell 194.4 points, or 0.6% to close at 32,390, the Nifty 50 index fell 64.3, or 0.63% to close at 10,147. At least 41 Afghan soldiers were killed by the Taliban in two suicide car bombings at an army camp in Kandahar. The Dawn quoted Khalid Pashtun, a member of parliament from the province, as saying that at least 41 soldiers were killed in the attack, which began late Wednesday. Afghanistan's Tolo News cited security officials as saying that at least 24 were wounded in the attack. The Afghan Defence Ministry is yet to comment on the number of casualties. Ministry spokesperson, Daulat Waziri, however, confirmed the attack. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack through a media statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar of creating divisiveness in society by declaring that the Taj Mahal had been built over a Hindu Temple. BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria told ANI that even the Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Culture have accepted that the Taj Mahal was built by fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. "This is a well settled issue. However BJP leaders from time to time arouse sentiments and create a sort of divisiveness in Indian society," Bhadoria claimed. Bhadoria urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on this matter which 'concerns the global humanity, society and architecture.' "I think he should come out in his 'Mann ki Baat' and state what his Mann Ki Baat is on this crucial issue," he said. Katiyar on Wednesday said Taj Mahal is built over a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, and therefore should be renamed. He said Taj Mahal was known as Tejo Mahal and had a 'shivling', which was later removed from the premises. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress on Wednesday observed that Bharatiya Janata Party raising the Bofors case is like flogging the dead horse. Congress Rajya Sabha MP K.T.S. Tulsi said the BJP was diverging from its own failure by raking up the Bofors scam. "This is just propoganda. This is an effort by the government to diverge from their own failures and I don't think that you can continue to flog a dead horse for 10 years but it starts stinking," Tulsi told ANI. Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad also hit out at the ruling party, saying the BJP plays games over Bofors. "Until when will the BJP play games over Bofors? The scandal was worth Rs. 64 crore and everything has come to fore. Even the court exonerated late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi." said Ahmad. Earlier in the day, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asserted that they will probe the "facts and circumstances" of the Rs 64 crore Bofors gun pay-off scandal mentioned by private detective Michael Hershmam in television interview. The Bofors scandal, occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated allegedly by the Congress party politicians and implicating the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and several other members of the Indian and Swedish governments. The Bofors 155 field howitzer deal was mired in controversies after members of both Indian and Swedish governments were allegedly found involved in accepting kickbacks for facilitating the deal between the two countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The situation in Central African Republic is far away from the media spotlight, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday. Speaking to the press at United Nations Headquarters, Guterres announced that he will be travelling to the Central African Republic early next week. The trip, Guterres added will also draw attention to fragile situation in the country that is "often far from the media spotlight". Across the Central African Republic (CAR) there has been a recent increase in communal tensions leading to violence and a deterioration in the humanitarian situation. Guterres stressed that more than 600,000 people have been displaced, and the number of refugees in neighbouring countries has surpassed 500,000. Humanitarian workers and UN peacekeepers have also come under attack and this year alone, 12 relief workers and an equal number of peacekeepers lost their lives in hostile acts. The Secretary-General also told reporters that during the visit, he aims to give impetus to the new UN approach to addressing and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse. "We know that the good work and tremendous sacrifice of peacekeepers around the has been tarnished by the appalling acts of some UN personnel who have harmed the people they were meant to serve," he said. The Secretary-General will be spending United Nations Day with the Organization's Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, to pay tribute to the work of peacekeepers around the who show tremendous courage in volatile environments. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior researcher at the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), has warned that cyber espionage groups are not just after personal data anymore, but also attacking financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In an interview given to ANI on the sidelines of the third annual APAC Cyber Security Weekend, which was held on the theme "Cyberespionage in APAC: A Real Threat, recently in Phuket, Thailand, Yury Namestnikov, Head of the lab's research and analysis center in Moscow, Russia, said, cyber criminals operating in the Asia-Pacific region are now targetting banks and other financial institutions for monetary gain. He said active Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have successfully breached financial institutions in Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, China (Hong Kong), Bangladesh, and Vietnam. "This year, we have monitored the tectonic shift in APT actors' behavior. These groups who are initially data-hungry are now going beyond traditional cyber espionage. They added money-stealing on their attack menu as they hunt for vulnerable banks in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region which they can infect mostly through the rising epidemic," said Namestnikov. He said that in 2017, Kaspersky Lab has been able to monitor active APT actors in the region, namely the infamous Lazarus group and the Cobaltgoblinother group that use Carbanak-style attacks. Lazarus is the cyber gang believed to be behind massive breaches including the Sony Pictures hack in 2014 and the multi-million cyber robbery against the Central Bank of Bangladesh last year. They are known for hacking C&C servers of banks and governments as launchpads for their malicious campaigns. Carbanak made headlines in 2014 for the USD one billion bank heists in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and China dubbed as "The Great Bank Robbery". The group infiltrated their victims' networks through spear phishing emails or infected Word documents exploiting known vulnerabilities. With remote and covert access to the system, they gained control of the banks' ATMs or websites and collected a significant amount of money. The degree of sophistication in terms of tools and the skilled manpower of the hackers behind these groups suggest that some of them are state-sponsored actors. "Actors are switching towards using legitimate software instead of deploying unique malicious programs, which can allow them to perform the attack stealthly. Also, they have the ability to penetrate networks through supply chain attacks: in last three months, there were four huge incidents of similar pattern. In terms of monetisation, it could be attacks against ATM infrastructure, SWIFT servers or databases with transactions and debit/credit cards information. They are undoubtedly investing time, money, and effort so they can have good Return on Investment (ROI). So far, we can assume that cyber criminals are earning good ROI when attacking financial institutions in the region," adds Namestnikov. Namestnikov told ANI that the attackers are mainly targetting banks, ATMs and Bitcoins, but added that the exact monetary losses from financial institutions attacks in APAC are unconfirmed as of this time. He said that some of these attackers are sponsored by nation-state groups and actors, who use ransomware as payload. He said Kaspersky Lab researchers have been able to foil breaches before financial firms lose their money. In order to protect enterprises from sophisticated financial threats, the lab has suggested the use of a highly sophisticated solution that enables businesses to detect targeted attacks and other malicious actions through careful monitoring of network activity, web, and email like the Kaspersky Anti-Targeted Attack Platform. Kaspersky Lab also highlights the importance of threat intelligence to keep financial institutions knowledgeable on the latest trends of threats against banks. Kaspersky Lab has a portfolio of "Threat Intelligence" services designed to mitigate massive attacks by providing enterprises with insights on the latest, constantly emerging threats currently targeting businesses around the world. Namestnikov said there is an urgent need to invest more; to educate people; to implement information related to security threats; to update multi-technologies; to secure networks and have separate networks. "All players need to be involved and must avoid bad behavior in social engineering. There is no way you can build a 100 percent secure system. There must be instant responses and you need to log everything, as attackers have a lot of time and also the required budget to carry out their attacks," Namestnikov said. When asked specifically about what steps need to be taken in the future, Namestnikov listed five key points: . Ensure proper registration and upto date standards and guidelines to ensure facing less problems . Ensure consistent auditing and information sharing . Collect information on security talent as it is the need of the hour . Invest money in cyber security to cut down on losses . Go digital as it is good for the economy and good for livelihood He emphasized that there is a challenge out there in the cyber world and reiterated that everything stays forever on the Internet. Kaspersky Lab is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and its deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading end point protection and a number of specialised security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and 270,000 corporate clients are protected. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley on Wednesday said that every threat to peace in Middle East was connected to Iran. Addressing a Wednesday UN meeting, Haley said, "We can't talk about stability in the Middle East without talking about Iran; that's because nearly every threat to peace and security in the Middle East is connected to Iran's outlawed behaviour." The meeting was supposed to discuss the revival Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but Haley used the platform to further United States President Donald Trump's new strategy on Iran. Trump on October 13 declined to certify the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Trump said the agreement with Iran and five other nations wasn't serving U.S. national security interests. He, however, stopped short of quitting the accord entirely. Haley said, "The United States has now embarked on a course that attempts to address all aspects of Iran's destructive conduct, not just one aspect. It's critical that the international community do the same." She further added that it would be foolish not to understand Iran's aggressive, destabilizing, and unlawful behaviour. "As a council, we've adopted a dangerously shortsighted approach. Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing, and unlawful behavior. To do otherwise would be foolish," said Haley. She argued that Iran's "most threatening action" - the testing of ballistic missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead - have rendered it a rogue regime as dangerous as North Korea. "If it is wrong for North Korea to do this, why doesn't that same mentality apply to Iran?" she asked. But, she also noted that the U.N. has acknowledged "a laundry list" of ways that Iran violates key U.N. resolutions pertaining to non-nuclear behavior, such as bans on weapons transfers to terrorists. "The regime continues to play this council. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal, while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior, and we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop," Haley said. The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was struck by Barack Obama in 2015 and agreed to lift sanctions on Iran in return for it not pursuing nuclear weapons. After Trump refused to rectify Iran deal, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a rare joint statement reiterating their belief in the agreement. It said the Iran deal was in their countries' "shared national security interest" and added they were "concerned by the possible implications" of Trump's announcement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fire broke out at a cloth shop at Om Gopal Mall in Dadar area of Mumbai, late last night around 1 Ten fire brigades rushed to the site, and the fire was doused in three hours. No casualties are reported. Cause of the fire is yet to be known. When fire broke out in the first floor of the mall, the watchman immediately called the Mumbai Fire services as well as the police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India condemning the attack on the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province lambasted Pakistan for providing safe havens to the terrorists. Ministry of External Affairs in a statement on Thursday said, "We strongly condemn the barbaric attack at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province. Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people." India has expressed its deep concern over the growing incidents of terrorist violence against Afghanistan. "Despite hopes recently kindled by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. The terror attacks demonstrate that safe havens and support systems continue to be available to the terrorists," the statement further said. Hinting at Pakistan, India categorically said that the "states hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction." India has also expressed solidarity with the people and the Government of Afghanistan in these difficult times. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jawans of the Indian Army lit up border in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate festival of lights, Diwali, on Thursday. Poonch has been witnessing a spike in ceasefire violations, but this did not dampen the spirit of the jawans to celebrate the festival who lit diyas on the Line of Control to mark the auspicious day. "Countrymen should celebrate Diwali with utmost joy. We are deployed here and are ready to reply to the enemy," a soldier said. Diwali, which is celebrated with great fervour and gaiety across India, marks the return Lord Ram, the King of Ayodhya in northern India, after his victory over demon king Ravana in distant Lanka, as well as the culmination of his 14-year-long exile. Lord Ram is widely regarded as the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Diwali is also celebrated to honour the Goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu deity of wealth and prosperity and consort of Lord Vishnu. It is believed that the Goddess Lakshmi blesses those homes that are clean and well lit. On Diwali, people illuminate their houses with coloured lights and earthen lamps. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following the massive fire, which broke out at Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) office building, Deputy Fire Director Sameer Chowdhary on Thursday afternoon assured that the situation is under control. He, however, added that the cause of the fire is yet to be determined. "The fire is now under control completely, and there is no chance of it to increase. Nobody was injured in the incident. However, some office furniture and electronics were damaged. The reason of the fire will be determined only after the forensic team completes its probe," he told reporters here. 10 fire tenders were rushed to the LIC building Jawaharlal Nehru Road this morning, where a massive fire, that reportedly broke out on the 17th floor spread rapidly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government on Thursday released Rs 4,000 crores under the first phase of the farm loan waiver scheme. It is expected to benefit more than eight lakh farmers of the state. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the remaining Rs. 800 crore of the scheme will be in the form of incentives for 3.78 lakh farmers, who are paying back their loans on time. Fadnavis, who was present at an event organised for disbursement of the waivers, said that the release of funds under the scheme, announced in June, will be in continuous process. The Chief Minister added that his government will complete almost 80 percent of the disbursement by November 15. The total cost of the scheme is Rs 34,000 crore. Fadnavis said that the Maharashtra government's work extends beyond relief and rehabilitation, and added that cthe ontinuous investments in the sector for the next 5 years will ensure sustainable development. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, and her husband, retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, are appearing before an accountability court here today. Islamabad [Pakistan], Oct.19 (ANI): Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, and her husband, retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, are appearing before an accountability court here today. A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court had adjourned the hearing of graft cases against the Sharif family after a number of lawyers associated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) forced their way into the court and surrounded the judge's bench on October 13. The hearing is in connection with the corruption reference filed against them by the NAB. The court may indict the Sharif family in the London properties reference today even though Nawaz Sharif and the lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed are both out of the country. While the charges against Maryam and Safdar would be framed in person, the court may indict Sharif through a pleader, who is a junior lawyer in the defence team as the former prime minister and his lead defence counsel are abroad, the Dawn quoted defence lawyer, as saying. Soon after ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar arrived in the court, PML-N lawyers and supporters created a racket, the Dawn reported. Earlier on October 9, after appearing before the court, Maryam had said that she was not afraid of getting arrested. After hearing arguments from the prosecution, the court accepted the bail of both Maryam and her husband. The judge ordered the NAB authorities to release Capt. Safdar after he too submitted surety bonds worth Rs. 5 million. The court had also issued perpetual warrants for the arrest of Nawaz Sharif's two sons, and separated their trial from other members of the family. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday celebrated Diwali at an orphanage located in the RS Pura Sector in Jammu. Mufti interacted with children and exchanged sweets. She also enjoyed the Bhajans sung by the children. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also celebrated the festival in Jammu and Kashmir. He exchanged sweets and pleasantries with army soldiers and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in the Gurez Valley of the Bandipora District. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Strike by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) demading implementation of 7th pay commission entered its third day on Thursday. Eight hour meeting of the MSRTC staff with the state government representatives remained inconclusive yesterday. Pressing for their demand of salary hike, the workers of MSRTC asserted that the strike won't be called off until their demands are met. "Ours, along with other transport unions want 7th pay commission to be implemented in the MSRTC. We were also in conversation with the government but they paid no heed to our problems. Therefore, we have now called an indefinite strike," Dileep, a member of a staff union said earlier. More than 17 thousand buses run throughout the entire state, and about one lakh workers are on strike. Meanwhile, this strike has left the daily commuter troubled. The passengers have appealed to the government to look into the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korea has threatened the United States of an "unimaginable" nuclear strike for conducting military exercises with South Korea in the waters off the Korean peninsula. "The United States is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones," a state-controlled Korean Central News Agency warned, reports the New York Post. "The U.S. should expect that it would face an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time," it added. The regime also blamed the United States for "creating tension on the eve of war" by taking part in civilian evacuation drills in South Korea. Earlier on Monday, the United States and South Korea military forces began five days of military exercises that involve fighter jets, helicopters and about 40 ships and submarines. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Government considers the drills a rehearsal for an invasion of his country. Tensions have increased between Pyongyang and Washington since the regime began testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the U.S. mainland. It also detonated a nuclear device. The United Nations (UN) has imposed strict economic sanctions against the country in retaliation for continuing its weapons development program. United States President Donald Trump has said he would 'totally destroy' North Korea in defense of the U.S. or its allies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A National Accountability Bureau(NAB) team is in London to collect evidence on Avenfield properties reportedly owned by former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family. The NAB team is expected to seek answers from UK authorities and also record statements of some important witnesses before filing legal charges against Sharif and his family. Cases of disproportionate assets have been filed against Sharif, his sons Hassan and Hussain, daughter Maryam and son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar. The family owns Avenfield flats- 16, 16-A, 17, 17-A in Park Lane in London. According to the Dawn, the NAB team includes members who had earlier framed four money laundering and corruption charges against Sharif and his family. Sharif's lawyer Amjad Parvez has told media there is no objection to the NAB's investigation as long as it is done legally. The Pakistan Supreme Court had asked the NAB to file four references against the Sharif family in connection with their Avenfield and other properties on July 28. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The cow is regarded as the mother in Hindu mythology and is being worshipped in Nepal on the third day of the Yamapanchak or the Tihar. Nepalis are worshipping the cow and the Hindu Goddess of Wealth Laxmi on this day. This morning, people in Nepal were searching for cows in and around localities and worshipped them with flower, garlands, vermillion powder and other food items. Today onwards, people light up earthen lamps and candles in their homes for three days in the evening and perform prayers in honour of the Goddess Laxmi. It is believed that Goddess Laxmi will shower blessings on houses that glow with lights through the night. Laxmi Pooja and the worshipping of the cow is performed on the same day because the Goddess Laxmi came out bearing a lotus along with a divine cow when the gods and demons churned the ocean of milk (Ksheera Sagara) which is stated in the Vishnu Purana. Chanda Dhakal, a resident of Kathmandu, told ANI, "As per Hindu tradition, the cow is regarded as Goddess Laxmi. As per it, we worship the cow on the third day of Yamapanchak. We have the tradition of worshiping the cow in the morning and then prepare to welcome Goddess Laxmi in the evening." As per tradition, Nepalis do not leave any nook or corner of the house dark and light lamps, candles and lights appealing to Goddess Laxmi so that she showers blessings on them. Prayers are performed by the ladies of the family in presence of all other members. They recite the "Sri Sukta" hymn after offering coconuts in the belief that it is the item that appeases Goddess Laxmi. On the occasion of Laxmi Pooja, girls come in groups to play "Bhailo", an act of door-to-door singing and dancing in exchange for money, fruits and other offerings from house owners. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "All love marriages should not be termed as 'love-jihad'," observed the Kerala High Court on Thursday while hearing a petition with regard to an inter-religious marriage of Kannur-native Sruthi and Anees Hammed. The court further said that these kind of marriages should be encouraged as there is no boundary for love. The court allowed Sruthi to go with her husband while ruling the marriage as 'valid'. It was alleged that Sruthi was abducted by Anees Hameed, who forcefully converted her to Islam and married her under religious customs. On October 10 while hearing Hadiya's case, the High Court gave the same verdict that 'all inter-religious marriages cannot be termed love jihad'. Earlier on October 7, the Kerala Government told the Supreme Court that an investigation by the Investigation Agency (NIA) was not needed in the case as the state police was efficient enough to carry out the inquiry. In an affidavit, the state government informed the apex court that the state police is competent enough to investigate such crimes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is celebrating Diwali with army and Border Security Force troops in the Gurez Valley here, said the One Rank One Pension Scheme will be rolled out in stages. "It is my desire to implement this scheme which has been pending for long now. Unfortunately, we don't have so much money. The implementation of this will be done in stages. The government is committed to the welfare and the betterment of the armed forces in every way possible," he told the personnel on the occasion of Diwali. Prime Minister Modi, who is known for spending this day with different sections of the armed forces each year, said he considered them his 'family'. "The uniform has immense respect, be it the Army, Navy or Air Force. Like any other person, I too would love to spend my Diwali with near and dear ones. And that's why I'm here, as you are my family" he said. Lauding the troops for their efforts and sacrifice in guarding the nation, Prime Minister Modi highlighted the extreme weather conditions under which the troops operate and said he gets new energy while spending time among the soldiers. Prime Minister Modi also appreciated the troops for regularly practicing yoga, adding that once they choose to retire, they could mould themselves into excellent yoga teachers. Ahead of India's 75th year of Independence in 2022, the Prime Minister encouraged the soldiers to innovate so that their routine tasks and duties become easier and safer. He also mentioned how best innovations are now being recognised and awarded on the occasion of Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day. "If we all take a resolution and work on it, then 125 crore Indians will bring India ahead by 125 crore steps by 2022, the 75th year of Independence," said Prime Minister Modi. Later, he was seen exchanging sweets and greetings with the troops. Accompanying Prime Minister Modi on this visit was Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, and other senior army officers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be celebrating Diwali with Indian Army soldiers in North Kashmir's Bandipora district. The Prime Minister, who is known for celebrating this day in the remotest locations of the country, will be celebrating the occasion with the 15 Corps troops in the Gurez Sector. Last year, he celebrated the occasion with ITBP personnel in Uttarakhand along the Indo-China border. He has also spent time with forces along the Punjab border and on the Siachen Glacier. Earlier today, Modi took to Twitter to extend his Diwali wishes through a picture signed by him. It was captioned in Hindi, which translated reads as, "Warm greetings to the countrymen on the auspicious festival of Diwali". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party (SP) Member of Parliament Naresh Agarwal on Thursday charged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with politicising Lord Rama. "The whole nation is seeing how Lord Rama is being politicised in Ayodhya. If they (UP government) hide their failures in the name of Lord Rama, the public will not accept it," Agarwal told ANI. Agarwal also questioned the right of Adityanath to be chief minister. "You can estimate how much the chief minister is concerned about Uttar Pradesh by the fact that he stayed in Gorakhpur for two out of the seven months into his tenure," Agarwal said. Adityanath arrived in Ayodhya for the 'Deepotsav' at Saryu Ghat on Wednesday, where a record two lakh earthen oil lamps were illuminated on the banks of River Saryu. Chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' echoed as actors essaying the roles of Lord Rama and Sita arrived by chopper to recreate Lord Rama's return from 14 years of exile to Ayodhya on the mythological 'Pushpak Viman'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) General Secretary Roshan Giri has alleged that his house was ransacked by West Bengal Police Wednesday night. The conflict between GJM leaders and West Bengal Police has culminated into violent clashes in the past. On October 13, an exchange of fire between GJM supporters and West Bengal Police in Darjeeling's Takvar resulted in the death of Sub-Inspector Amitavo Mallick, while at least two others were injured. GJM leader Bimal Gurung was implicated in Mullick's death, with Additional Director General (ADG) of Police, West Bengal, Anuj Sharma stating that Gurung had instructed his cadres to attack police parties and personnel. Sharma said that acting on the information that Gurung was hiding in the area, the police had conducted raids, during which the GJM supporters fired and pelted stones. The October 13 violence was the first major incident of violence after the 100-day-long strike was lifted in Darjeeling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Disciplinary authorities have investigated 440 senior officials for corruption over the past five years, an official said on Thursday. Among those investigated were 43 members and alternate members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee as well as nine members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said Yang Xiaodu, Deputy Secretary of the CCDI, on the sidelines of the 19th CPC National Congress. Five years ago, the CPC leadership launched a high-profile anti-corruption campaign which led to the downfall of a number of high-level officials known as "tigers" and lower-level "flies" who served at the grassroots level, Xinhua news agency reported. Among the "tigers" targeted in the campaign were Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Sun Zhengcai and Ling Jihua. Yang said more than 8,900 city level officials and over 63,000 county level officials were punished during that period. A total of 278,000 grassroots Party members and officials were also punished, he said. China is working with the international community to hunt down corruption suspects who had fled overseas, leading to the capture of 3,453 fugitives, Yang said. --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "I am a big zero", proclaims the badge worn by Peter Rathje, Managing Director of Project Zero A/s, that is working on the mission to make this Danish city carbon neutral by 2029. "No, I didn't have any issues wearing the badge for the first time or later," Rathje told this visting IANS correspondent. Project Zero is a public-private partnership in the city of 75,000 souls (It also has 440,000 pigs and 250,000 hens). The ultimate aim is to attract investments, tourists, people to live in the city and also create green jobs. Project Zero is meant to transit Sonderborg from a farming, industry and knowledge economy to a green business economy. The carbon neutrality is to be achieved by efficient use of energy with 722,000 tonnes of emissions in 2007 as the baseline mark. "Project Zero is one of the three lighthouse projects of Sonderborg. The purpose is to make Sonderborg a great place to live and work," Mayor Erik Lauritzen told a group of visiting international journalists. The other two lighthouse projects are converting the city's harbour front into a residential neighbourhood and converting the city into a tourist destination. According to Rathje, energy efficiency was the main aim of the project which is being achieved by limiting energy demand through rationale use, sourcing renewable energy for the remaining demand and using fossil fuel, if necessary, as efficiently and cleanly as possible. "Between 2007 and 2016 the carbon reduction was 35 per cent and now the target is to achieve 50 per cent reduction by 2020. During this period, around 800 jobs were created in construction, energy consulting and green district heating," Rathje explained. Speaking about the roadmap for achieving the 2020 target, Rathje said energy efficiency would be improved through retrofitting of houses, offices and commercial buildings, as also generating solar power and by setting up biogas plant and onshore wind turbines. Rathje said two biogas plants are being set up while the public transport buses now run on biogas. He said several homes have gone for retrofitting at an average investment of 21,000 euros, creating new jobs and also saving energy consumption by 45 per cent per household. In order to sustain the green focus, children are taught waste is valuable and can be recycled or used in a different form. On the other hand, Denmark's capital city Copenhagen is targeting to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 -- four years ahead of Sonderborg. According to Copenhagen Mayor Morten Kabell, the biggest challenge was asking the Danes to do away with their cars and switch over to public transport and cycles. "I sold the official car and come to office on an e-bike," he added. Kabell is one of the seven Mayors of Copenhagen, which has a population of around 600,000. According to Kabell, using a cycle is a faster way to commute and the city administration has reduced the number of car parking slots to discourage the use of cars and to promote public transport and cycles. "For distances of five-seven kilometres people here pedal their cycles. We would want that to go up to 10 km. People can also use e-bikes," Kabell said. A sizable number of Danes in Copenhagen commute to work on cycles. The bicycle lanes are broad and the administration is planning to widen them to avoid gridlocks and also discourage the use of cars. "Cars occupy space and also transport only one person on average. You have to plan a city where cars can be used. There the people can buy cars and drive," he added. "We are a growing city. The city is growing by two per cent per annum. The challenge is building infrastructure, schools and other facilities," Kabell said. Speaking about achieving carbon neutrality by 2025, Kabell said as per the current plans, the city will achieve 92 per cent of the target by that time. "Working out schemes to achieve the balance eight per cent will not be difficult," he said confidently. Copenhagen aims to be the first city in the world to become carbon neutral by 2025. "So far we have achieved 33 per cent of our target. Property owners have been asked to provide for district heating and cooling in their buildings," Kabell said. The city is benchmarking its emissions against 2005 levels. A biomass power plant is also being built and is expected to be operational in 2020 so that 80 per cent of the city's district heating system will be carbon neutral. According to Kabell, separation of waste at the household level is in place with the municipality giving containers to segregate the waste so that the organic waste could be used in the biomass plant. The city's streetlights have been changed to energy efficient LED bulbs and the majority of the garbage trucks run on gas. (Venkatachari Jagannathan was in Denmark at the invitation of Danfoss A/S. He can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in) --IANS vj/vm/ky/tb (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday celebrated Diwali at the Tikonia Vantangiya Dalit colony here in his former parliamentary constituency Gorakhpur, officials said. Mingling with the people of Vantangiya tribe, Adityanath gifted the children dresses, school bags, sparkling lights (firecrackers) and sweets. He wished them a bright future. The Chief Minister also gifted certificates to heads of five villages, declaring their villages as revenue villages. Addressing an event, Adityanath said people from the Scheduled Caste and other backward castes lived in this locality and it was his wish to celebrate Diwali with them. He rued that these people neither have the right to vote nor are provided basic facilities for a decent living. He assured them of better times ahead. Greeting the people of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath said that Diwali not only symbolises Lord Ram's return from exile but also the return of good and just times. --IANS md/pgh/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh authorities on Thursday allowed into the country around 10,000 Rohingyas stranded in an area between Bangladesh and Myanmar for days, owing to a lack of space in camps. The Inter-Sector Coordination Group of the US had warned on Tuesday that between 10,000-15,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority were stranded in no-man's land but Dhaka temporarily refused to allow them to enter, alleging lack of space in the makeshift camps in the area, Efe news reported. "We found there were around 10,000 people on the border. We started relocating them inside since 9.45 a.m. today," said Major Iqbal Ahmed, commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh in Ukhia. "When this group of people came we had requested the officials to find a place where they could be taken. They have now worked out it," he said. Relief and Refugee Repatriate Commissioner of Bangladesh Abul Kalam said the group would be initially taken to a temporary shelter and later moved to a makeshift camp. According to Kalam, many of the 10,000 Rohingyas had to walk for days to reach the border and hence would need to undergo medical check-ups. This week, the UN raised the number of people who arrived in Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar to 582,000. The crisis began on August 25 when an insurgent group of the Rohingya Muslim minority staged a series of attacks on police and Army posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, to which the Myanmar military responded with an ongoing large-scale offensive. China on Thursday told the US to shed its biased views about Beijing which it said is well justified to safeguard its interests and rights. Beijing was reacting to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's remarks about America deepening ties with India to counter China. The Foreign Ministry said it did not mind if ties between India and the US were conducive to development in the region. "We are happy to see the development of relations between these countries as long as they are conducive to the peaceful development of the region and enhancement of relations among the regional countries," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. "The US should abandon its biased views on China and work with it towards the same goal to uphold the momentum for a steady and sound China relations." Tillerson, who will visit India next week, described India as America's partner and said Washington cannot have the same relationship with "non-democratic" Beijing as it has with New Delhi. The Secretary of State also slammed China for violating maritime laws in the South China Sea. Lu countered: "China steadfastly upheld the international order with the UN at the core and based on the purposes and principles of UN charter we will firmly uphold the multilateralism yet we will also firmly safeguard our own interests and rights. "China hopes that Washington can look China's development in an objective way as well as its role in the international community," Lu added. --IANS gsh/soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Brussels, Oct 19 (IANS/AKI) European Council President Donald Tusk has praised Italy for its role in cutting the number of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from Libya. "Thanks to Italy, the number of illegal migrants and deaths at sea are finally falling," Tusk told reporters in Brussels ahead of an EU leaders summit. "As you know, the Italian government under the leadership of premier Paolo Gentiloni has began to reduce the influx of migrants in the central Mediterranean effectively." Tusk also called for more help to Italy. "We cannot just thank Italy, the EU most now increase its efforts to help it," he said. EU member states should be willing to earmark more funds for the Trust Fund for Africa, Tusk went on. "The European Commission, which manages this fund, must ensure the money is channelled to the fight against illegal immigration," he said. The Italian naval mission is now conducting security operations in some 160,000 square kilometres including Libya's coastal waters. --IANS/AKI mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The festive fervour gripped the nation on Thursday as people celebrated Diwali, often referred to as 'the festival of lights by lighting 'diyas (earthen lamps), paying obeisance to Goddess Lakshmi, distributing sweets, and well, bursting crackers. In Delhi, the cracker-bursting was relatively subdued as compared to previous years, thanks to a temporary ban imposed by the Supreme Court on selling and bursting of crackers. However, the revelers in the adjoining townships of Delhi such as Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad paid little heed to the apex court's writ and environmentalists' concerns. At 10 p.m., in Mandir Marg in Delhi, the PM 2.5 concentration was 390 units against the prescribed 60 units, while PM 10 was 480 against the prescribed 100. However, the nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide concentrations at 50.84 and 31.20 respectively were well under the prescribed limits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali with soldiers in Gurez valley of Jammu and Kashmir near the Line of Control (LoC), telling them how he gets energised by spending time with the Armed Forces which he called "my family". He offered sweets and gifts and exchanged greetings with them, appreciating the sacrifices of armed forces in protecting the country. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath celebrated Diwali at the Tikonia Vantangiya Dalit colony in Gorakhpur. He gifted the children dresses, school bags, sparkling lights (firecrackers) and sweets. Greeting the people of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath said that Diwali not only symbolises Lord Ram's return from exile but also the return of good and just times. In Amritsar, fireworks display and the newly-installed LEDs lighting marked the celebrations of Diwali and "Bandi Chhor Diwas" as thousands of devotees flocked to the Golden Temple complex. However, the duration of fireworks display was shortened owing to environmental concerns. The Diwali day coincides with the returning of Guru Hargobind to Amritsar after being released along with 52 princes from imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jahangir from Gwalior prison in 1619. The guru and the princes arrived in Amritsar during Diwali festivities. Since then, the Bandi Chhor Diwas and Diwali celebrations coincide at the Golden Temple complex. Elsewhere in Punjab, markets wore a festive look on the occasion of Diwali but traders said sales were down owing to the GST (Goods and Services Tax) introduced recently and the restrictions imposed on the bursting of crackers. West Bengal plunged into religious fervour with simultaneous Diwali and Kali Puja celebrations. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted people on the twin festivals. People across the state exchanged sweets and savouries with friends, neighbours and relatives. The festival saw the mingling of a sizeable population of non-Bengali communities (Marwari, Gujarati, Bihari) and Bengalis across the state to celebrate Diwali. Ululations (high pitched vocal sounds) and peals of bells resonated across temples and residences observing Kali Puja, adding to the festive spirit. People hit the streets in their best ethnic wears, making way through various marquees and stopping for a bite. In Odisha, heavy rainfall on Thursday dampened Diwali celebrations and the festive spirit, forcing the people to stay indoors. --IANS mak/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal on Thursday plunged into religious fervour with simultaneous Diwali and Kali Puja celebrations. A light spell of rain failed to dampen the spirits as devotees geared up for double celebrations this year, with Diwali and Kali Puja falling on the same day. Durga Puja hangover had barely subsided when preparations for the "twin dhamaka" began. Over the years, Kali Puja celebrations have been scaled up to match the lingering festive atmosphere post Durga Puja, the biggest festival in West Bengal. Fresh marquees (pandals) across the city have sprung up while several community pujas refrained from dismantling the Durga Puja pandals, decking them up again to serve Goddess Kali. People across the state exchanged sweets and savouries with friends, neighbours and relatives. The festival saw the mingling of a sizeable population of non-Bengali communities (Marwari, Gujarati, Bihari) and Bengalis across the state to celebrate Diwali. Thousands visited Kalighat and Dakshineswar Kali temples since morning. Long queues were seen at Tarapith temple near Rampurhat in Birbhum district, where lakhs converged to pray to Goddess. South Indian community's "kolam" (rangoli with interconnecting dots and flowery patterns), "alpana" (traditional patterns) of the Bengalis and the multi-hued powdered "rangoli" designs of the north Indians stole many hearts. Ululations (high pitched vocal sounds) and peals of bells resonated across temples and residences observing Kali Puja, adding to the festive spirit. People hit the streets in their best ethnic wears, making way through various marquees and stopping for a bite. In Howrah district's Kantapukur marquee, organisers showcased women's oppression despite claims of gender equity. They urged women to stand up and triumph over discrimination. An array of crackers -- torches, sparklers, flowerpots, rockets -- spread cheer among revellers as they burst into colourful sparks against the night sky. Authorities have banned sale and use of crackers emitting over 90 decibel of sound to control noise pollution. The state government has also barred bursting of fireworks in the vicinity of Salt Lake stadium during the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which ends on October 28, to prevent deterioration of the quality of air. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted people on Kali Puja and Diwali. --IANS sgh/pgh/nir (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 fireworks display and LED lighting marked the celebrations of 'Bandi Chhor Diwas' and Diwali as thousands of devotees flocked to the Golden Temple complex here on Wednesday. The traditional fireworks display was a spectacular event even though its timing was reduced to just 10 minutes this year owing to pollution concerns. The complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines, the 'Harmandar Sahib' is located, was illuminated with LED lights, giving it a glittering look. There was festive spirit at the shrine complex in this Sikh holy city as thousands of people came here to offer prayers and seek blessings. Acting Jathedar (chief) of the Akal Takht, Harpreet Singh, read out his message to the Sikh community on the occasion. The domes, buildings and floors of the shrine complex were cleaned and lit up for the occasion. The day is celebrated in the Sikh as 'Bandi Chhor Diwas' (prisoner liberation day). On this day, the sixth Sikh guru, Guru Hargobind, returned to Amritsar after being released along with 52 princes from imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jahangir from Gwalior prison in 1619. The guru and the princes arrived in Amritsar during the Diwali festivities. Since then, the Bandi Chhor Diwas and Diwali celebrations coincide at the Golden Temple complex. Elsewhere in Punjab, markets wore a festive look on the occasion of Diwali but traders said that sales were down. People thronged various markets in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and other towns. --IANS js/vm (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.) Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) General Secretary Roshan Giri has alleged that West Bengal Police ransacked his residence around midnight on Wednesday. "Around 12.45 a.m., police broke open the door and vandalised my house. They took away my computer, two printers and a suitcase of documents," Giri said. Meanwhile, a Darjeeling court on Wednesday issued a proclamation order against GJM chief Bimal Gurung and five others, including Roshan Giri, in connection with the June 8 incident in Darjeeling. On June 8, the day Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held her cabinet meeting in Darjeeling, GJM workers went on rampage demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland. They indulged in arson and pelted stones at police, injuring 15 in the violence that erupted near Bhanu Bhawan on the tourist hub Mall Road, that was virtually taken over by the GJM workers. The Gorkhaland agitation was withdrawn after 104 days. In a recent development, Amitava Malik, a Sub Inspector of West Bengal Police, was killed and four policemen were injured in a gun battle between security forces and the Bimal Gurung faction of the GJM in Darjeeling's Lepcha Bustee near the Sikkim border. Through police failed to get hold of GJM chief Gurung, they arrested three persons and seized a large cache of arms and ammunition from the GJM camp. --IANS str-sgh/pgh/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Iranian supreme leader on Wednesday warned that his country would shred its multinational nuclear deal should the US decide to quit and criticized Europe's weak defence of the landmark agreement. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his stark warning just days after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats to end his commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord struck by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the US, Germany and the European Union that limits Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for slackened sanctions. "JCPOA serves their interests; but, we will not tear up the deal before the other party does: if they tear up JCPOA, we shred it," Khamenei told a gathering of academics in a speech relayed on his official website. He accused Trump of taking a nonsensical approach towards the deal, which was struck by the US President's predecessor, Barack Obama, but also called on the JCPOA's European signatories to step up their opposition to Washington's threats. "Europe's emphasis on maintaining the nuclear agreement is simply not enough," he said, adding: "We do not think it is acceptable for the Europeans to join America in its bullying." The US has singled out Tehran's ongoing ballistic missile programme as a cause of strain on the nuclear deal, although Iran has repeatedly insisted that its programme was not in breach of the international agreement and that it only served to bolster the country's self-defence capabilities. In a press conference last week, Trump announced that he had authorized the US Treasury to draw up fresh sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a branch of the armed forces with close links to the theocratic elite. Khamenei, who has held the highest office of Iranian power for almost three decades, suggested that the Trump administration was maddened by the fact that Iran had managed to "foil US plots in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt." Trump has previously branded Iran as a supporter of global terrorism. Iran's Shiite leadership holds considerable influence over a vast array of sectarian paramilitaries in war zones across the Middle East, from the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq to Hezbollah in Lebanon. --IANS ahm/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Newscity APS Board Member Resigns Albuquerque Public Schools board member Analee Maestas resigned last week following allegations of involvement in a case of embezzlement at a charter school she founded. According to reports, Maestas officially announced her resignation in a short email submitted to the Board of Education only four minutes before she was expected at a board policy committee meeting. Last month, State Attorney General Hector Balderas threatened legal action against Maestas if she refused to resign following an investigation into La Promesa Early Learning Centera charter school founded by Maestas in 2008conducted by state Auditor Tim Keller which found that her daughter, La Promesa's assistant business manager, had embezzled around $700,000 dollars in school funds. According to Keller's report, some of the money was stolen during Maestas' tenure as the school's executive director. Maestas, herself, was accused of altering a receipt for home maintenance work to appear that the repairs had been made to the school. Although she continued to deny the allegations, the school placed her on administrative leave. She subsequently left the school in September 2016. The school board will now be required to vote for an interim member to represent District 1 until the February election. The elected board member will serve through 2019, the remainder of Maestas term. If the board does not fill the seat within 45 days, a replacement will be chosen by the state Public Education Department secretary. Education Secretary Responds to Science Standards Criticism A proposed set of changes to the state's science standards for public schools presented by New Mexico's public education secretary has caused a number of educators and science advocates across the nation to voice concerns over the omission of references to global warming and evolution. The proposed changes are based on the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS), but with some major differences. Included in these were substitutions for the words rise in global temperatures with temperature fluctuations, and evolution with biological diversity. The new standards would also omit any mentions of the Earth being an estimated 4.6 billion years old. Earlier this week, hundreds gathered at the state capitol to speak out against the proposed changes outside a public hearing on the draft standards. In a public message, Public Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski said the new standards will give teachers and families flexibility and allow for more local control around science education curriculum. He did not specifically address concerns with regarding omissions and rewording. RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday said will punish the BJP as it has been doing in his name. "It is wrong and unethical to play in the name of Lord Ram," the former Bihar Chief Minister told the media on the occasion of Diwali. Lalu Prasad also attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for allegedly doing "political drama" in the name of Ram. Lalu Prasad said everyone was free to practise his or her religion and offer prayers. "But BJP leaders, particularly Yogi, have been doing political drama. People understand this drama in the name of religion." He said he was sure the BJP would be punished by for misusing his name for political gains. "The BJP-led central government has made life difficult for the poor due to domenetisation. Poor people are struggling for survival... For this would finish off the RSS and the BJP because Lord Ram is in the heart of all the people in the country." Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday celebrated Diwali with soldiers deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Official sources said Modi reached the Dawar Brigade headquarters of the Indian Army in the border town of Gurez. The Prime Minister will also visit the far-flung Tulial area near the LoC and spend time with soldiers there. A day earlier, Army chief General Bipin Rawat also visited the area to review the security situation in the Kashmir Valley. --IANS sq/nir/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Shahid Kapoor, who plays the character of Raja Rawal Ratan Singh in forthcoming magnum opus "Padmavati", says the film celebrates India. Commenting on the continuous opposition by Rajput Karni Sena and others to the film, Shahid said: "All I can say is that that we are ready to release the film on December 1. I really feel it's a film that everybody will be proud of because it celebrates India, our culture and what we stand for. "It shows everybody who is from this country in the most amazing light and that is the endeavour of this film. I feel people will truly see that when they will watch the film," said the actor at the closing ceremony of 19th Jio MAMI Film Festival here on Wednesday. Karni Sena has maintained it will oppose the screening of the film if the facts are "distorted". But the actor says the "right thing to do at this point of time is to allow right authorities to deal with it. "Sanjay Leela Bhansali (the director) and everybody who is at the helm of affairs need us to not really comment on it because we need to contain the situation," he said. "Padmavati" is one of the biggest film of this year in terms of budget, scale and performances. The film is presented by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Bhansali Productions. --IANS iv/nv/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking cognizance of the petition submitted by the Nitish Kumar faction of the JD-U for disqualification of party leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari on grounds of defection, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has issued show cause notice to the two leaders. The notice, issued on Wednesday, has asked the rebel Janata Dal United (JD-U) leaders to appear before the Rajya Sabha Chairman on October 30 in his chamber at Parliament to present their case. "In connection with the petition filed by R.C.P. Singh, member and leader of the JD-U party in Rajya Sabha, seeking your disqualification from the membership of the Rajya Sabha, the Chairman has decided... to afford you an opportunity to represent your case and to hear you in person before taking a decision in the matter," the notice read. While Ansari is set to retire in April next year, Yadav's term will end in 2022, if not disqualified. The two MPs had broken away from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after he severed ties with coalition partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold in July this year. The JD-U then appealed to the Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to disqualify Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities and voluntarily quitting the party. Though such cases are usually first referred to the Privileges Committee for preliminary examination, Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, being the competent authority, has reportedly decided to dispose the case himself. As per the disqualification rules on ground of defection, "the Chairman may either proceed to determine the question or, if he is satisfied, having regard to the nature and circumstances of the case that it is necessary or expedient so to do, refer the petition to the Committee for making a preliminary inquiry and submitting a report to him". --IANS mak/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two head constables of the Punjab Police have been placed under suspension in connection with the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosai in Ludhiana on October 17, police said on Thursday. Both policemen had failed to pursue the complaint of a motorcycle theft, which was used by the two unidentified men in killing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak sangh (RSS) leader. Those suspended are head constables Balraj and Deep Chand. Rohit Pal, a resident of Lohara area and owner of the motorcycle, had filed a complaint at the Miller Ganj Police Post on October 10 regarding theft of the vehicle from Miller Ganj area. The Honda motorcycle was recovered from the forest area of Ladhowal, near Ludhiana, where it was abandoned by the suspected killers. Unidentified assailants shot dead RSS leader Ravinder Gosai on Tuesday in Punjab's Ludhiana city as he was returning from a RSS "shakha". The Punjab Police have not made any arrests so far. Gosai, 58, was near his house when he was attacked. He was the Sangh Pracharak (regional missionary) at the RSS Mohan Shakha in Ludhiana. He was shot from close range by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Kailash Nagar area. later he succumbed to his injuries in a hospital. The Punjab Police have failed to nab those behind the killings of leaders of Hindu organisations in Punjab in recent years. Senior Punjab RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retd) was shot by unidentified motorcycle-borne youths in a busy area of Jalandhar city on August 6, 2016. Gagneja was critically injured and succumbed to his injuries a month later. His assailants continue to be at large. Leaders of Hindu organisations have been attacked and killed in some other incidents in Gurdaspur and Khanna towns earlier. In two separate incidents, unidentified persons fired shots at RSS activists in Ludhiana city in January and February last year. --IANS js/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has outlined a stronger strategic role for India, is visiting New Delhi, the State Department announced on Thursday. Tillerson will meet Indian leaders during the visit next week to discuss "further strengthening our strategic partnership and collaboration on security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region," the State Department said. It will also "advance the ambitious agenda" laid out by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his White House visit in June, it added. Tillerson's weeklong trip will also include a visit to Pakistan, where he will discuss continued "strong bilateral cooperation" and "Pakistan's critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy" and also "build on the positive conversations" between Vice President Mike Pence and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, last month, the statement said. Tillerson, who is on his first visit to South Asia, is the second US cabinet official to visit India in recent weeks after Trump announced his new South Asia strategy in August. Last month, Defence Secretary James Mattis visited New Delhi and met Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Ahead of his trip, Tillerson said on Wednesday the US wanted to "dramatically deepen" ties with India and develop it into one of the democratic anchors of security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China, which "challenges to the rules-based order" and "subverts the sovereignty of neighbouring countries and disadvantages the US and our friends". "India needs a reliable partner on the world stage," he said. "I want to make clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace and prosperity, the US is that partner." Tillerson's other stops include Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two US allies involved in a diplomatic and economic standoff. --IANS al/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Border Security Force (BSF) troopers celebrated Diwali on Thursday along the border out posts of Punjab's international border with Pakistan. Reports of celebrations were reported in border areas of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts. Celebrations at some places took place on Wednesday night. Punjab shares a 553-km long international border with Pakistan which is guarded round-the-clock by BSF troopers. Strict vigil is maintained along the border at all times. --IANS js/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South actor Kamal Haasan, who has made his political ambitions known but has said his political colour is certainly not saffron, has now decided to apologise for hastily supporting demonetisation. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of certain currency notes last year, Haasan had tweeted this has to be lauded transcending party lines. Now, in a column in the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan, the actor said he was duty-bound to openly apologise for his haste. The actor went on: If the Prime Minister admits the mistake... another salaam (salute) from me is waiting for him. He added, Correcting the mistake... and importantly, admitting it, is the hallmark of great leaders. Earlier this week, the labour and employment ministry gave some good news to around five million by proposing legal status to them. The draft, which has been put up for public feedback, plans to formulate a national policy that will ensure minimum wages and equal remuneration to the . According to the notice, a national policy would facilitate recognition of part-time and full-time domestic help as workers, with the right to register with the state labour department. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Wednesday said he fears Taj Mahal would meet the same fate as Babri Masjid, while retorting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar's statement describing Taj Mahal as a "Hindu temple". "If Babri Masjid can be destroyed, then any building in the country can be pulled down. In such a situation, it will be no surprise if Taj Mahal is also destroyed some day. If Babri Masjid was demolished in the name of Ram Mandir, then these people can do anything," Azam Khan told ANI. He further said if Babri Masjid was destroyed as people believed there was a temple, then no place of worship in the country was safe. "During the temple-mosque issue at that time, there was a high court and the Supreme Court stay, but still the mosque was destroyed. I firmly believe that the Taj Mahal is set to meet that same fate. But because there is so much international attention on the issue, the monument is still standing, " Khan said, referring to the 1992 destruction of the 16th century mosque built on Mughal emperor Babur's orders. Katiyar courted controversy on Wednesday when he claimed that the Mughal mausoleum, Taj Mahal, was a Hindu temple and that its name should be changed. He said that the Taj Mahal was known as Tejo Mahal and had a 'Shivlinga', which was later removed from the monument. Katiyar's statement comes a day after, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave a clear snub to BJP MLA Sangeet Som for stirring the Taj Mahal controversy, stating that "it does not matter who built it and for what reason; it was built by blood and sweat of the Indian labourers". Taj Mahal sits on stolen property: Subramanian Swamy Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said he has access to documents that suggest the property where Taj Mahal was built was stolen by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan from kings of Jaipur. "There is evidence on record that Shah Jahan forced the Raja-Maharajas of Jaipur to sell this land on which Taj Mahal presently is standing, and he gave them a compensation of forty villages, which is nothing compared to the value of the property," Swamy told ANI. Swamy added he will release the copies of the evidence to the media soon. "The documents also suggest that there was a temple on the property. But it is still not clear whether Taj Mahal was built after the demolition of a temple," asserted Swamy. He further said that the BJP has no intention of demolishing Taj Mahal, but only want three temples out of thousands demolished under the Muslim rule. "We have decided that of all the temples demolished, during the Islamic period, we want only three, which are Ayodhya's Ram, Krishna's Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi. These three, once they are restored, we won't be concerned about the remaining forty thousand," said Swamy. The iconic monument is caught in a storm since BJP MLA Sangeet Som said it was built by traitors and could not be included in the Indian history. Following Som's statement another BJP leader Vinay Katiyar courted controversy on Wednesday when he claimed that the Taj Mahal was a Hindu temple and that its name should be changed. At least 38 people were injured on Thursday in two separate grenade attacks in Pakistan's restive south-western province of Baluchistan. The twin blasts took place within minutes in the Mastung and Gwadar districts, police said. According to senior police officials, around 12 people were injured, three of them seriously, when two men on a motorcycle wearing helmets threw a hand grenade at a crowd in the Sultan Shaheed area in Mastung town. The injured were shifted to a hospital while three were moved to Quetta as their condition was serious, local police official Gulab Khan said. The second attack took place when two men on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade at Al-Zubair hotel outside a mobile market in Safar Khan area of Gwadar town. "At least 26 people were injured in the blast," local police official Ayaz Baluch said. He said the injured included 15 labourers from Sindh and 11 from Punjab who had gathered after work to have tea. "Three of them have been shifted to Karachi for treatment," he said. The injured have been shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Mastung. Chief Minister of Balochistan Sanaullah Zehri has condemned the incident and asked the authorities to submit a report on the blasts. The attacks have come, a day after a suspected suicide bomber hit a police truck in Quetta, killing seven policemen and a civilian and injuring 22 . The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that all inter-religious weddings cannot be viewed as 'love jihad' as it upheld a marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. A division bench comprising justices V Chitambaresh and Sathish Ninan made the observations in its judgement on a habeas corpus petition filed by the man. A habeas corpus plea is filed to ensure a person under arrest is brought before a court which will determine whether the detention is legal. "We are appalled to notice the recent trend in this state to sensationalise every case of inter-religious marriage as either 'love jihad' or 'ghar wapsi' even if there was platonic love between the spouses before," the court said. The bench also cited the Supreme Court order in the Lata Singh versus state of Uttar Pradesh case of 2004 to emphasise the need for encouraging inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. "We caution that every case of inter-religious marriage shall not be portrayed on a religious canvass and create fissures in the communal harmony otherwise existing in the God's Own Country - Kerala," the bench said and upheld the marriage. It said the present case was projected by the parents of the woman as 'love jihad' whereas the man, who was in love with her and married her later, termed it as 'ghar wapsi' (a bid to coerce her to come back). The woman from Kannur had left her home on May 16 along with the Muslim youth. On a complaint from her parents, police had traced and detained them in Sonepat in Haryana a month later. Initially, a lower court had allowed the woman to go with her parents, who then lodged her in a yoga centre at Tripunithura in Ernakulam district allegedly to make her give up the relationship with the Muslim man. When the woman was produced before the high court on August 18, she had interacted with a single judge and expressed her desire to go back with parents. Subsequently, when the petition came up for hearing four days later, the woman retracted her stand and told the division bench that she made the statement expressing her wish to go with her parents under pressure. She alleged that she was tortured at the yoga centre. It was being run "to coerce the inmates to return to Hindu religion", she had charged. During the litigation and counter-litigation by both sides, the woman and man had got married legally. The division bench applauded the "extra-ordinary courage" shown by the girl to live up to her conviction and "decry the attempt of her parents to deflect the course of justice by misleading litigations". It observed their marriage had now been registered too. The court also observed that any centre for forcible conversion or re-conversion had to be busted by the police whether it was Hindu, Muslim or Christian lest it offends the Constitutional right. Article 25 (1) of the Constitution guaranteed every citizen the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion which cannot be trampled upon by subversive forces or religious outfits, the court observed. The judgement began with a quote from American poet Maya Angelou who famously said: "Love recognises no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope." It may recalled that another division bench of the Kerala High Court had in May annulled the marriage of a 24-year-old woman with a Muslim man after allegedly forced to convert to Islam, terming it as an instance of 'love jihad'. On an appeal by the husband, the Supreme Court had on August 16 ordered a probe by the Investigation Agency into the case as the agency claimed it was not an isolated incident but a "pattern" that was emerging in Kerala. Assam government today rolled an ambitious Tourism policy by declaring the sector an industry with an aim to increase tourist inflow by at least two to three times within next five years. The 'Tourism Policy of Assam 2017', effective from January next year till December 2022, gives special emphasis on making the state a destination of film making by offering a range of incentives to movie producers. "Tourism shall be accorded industry status in Assam and all facilities and incentives applicable to industries shall be available to Tourism industry also," Assam Tourism Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after releasing the policy here. According to the policy, 45,00,000 domestic and 20,000 foreign tourists visited Assam as per the figures of 2014. "This tourism policy paper is aimed at creating a policy framework to move tourism into a major economic sector of Assam increasing the inflow of tourists' by at least two to three fold in the next five years," it added. Sarma said the 'Tourism policy of Assam 2017' was approved by the state Cabinet on October 17 and the key focus of it was to attract the film industry to come and shoot in the state. "Cash grant of 25 per cent or Rs 1 crore, whichever is less, of expenditure in Assam will be offered as reimbursement to Hindi, English and foreign language cinema makers, who have produced a minimum of five feature films. The particular film's 25 per cent shooting must be in Assam and 25 per cent of cast and crew should be from the state," he added. There will be an additional 10 per cent grant if the film's storyline is on Assam's culture, tourism and heritage, while another 10 per cent rebate will be offered if more than 50 per cent of the entire shooting is done in the state, the minister informed. "The producers, who have produced minimum 10 films in Hindi, English or foreign languages, will be provided free accommodation and transport for their important casts during the period of stay for shooting the films in Assam," he added. The policy also offered a host of other subsidies, including 50 per cent reimbursement of net state GST paid for 10 years by a new tourism unit that will start commercial operations by December 2022, subject to maximum of 100 per cent fixed capital investment. "A capital investment subsidy at the rate of 30 per cent of capital investment, subject to a ceiling of Rs 1 crore, shall be available for tourist lodges, hotels, resorts, houseboats and floating restaurants," it added. Besides, a subsidy of 25 per cent of cost payable for connecting power line to the eligible tourism units with a ceiling of Rs 10 lakh will be provided. The Tourism policy also offered a range of financial benefits for constructing approach roads and installing renewable source of energy at the tourist units. "Private sector will be encouraged to pro-actively participate and invest in tourist places in the tourism sector. A special incentive will be offered as additional 10 per cent capital grant up to Rs 25 lakh for investment in remote/potential tourist destination of Assam," the document said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CIA Director said on that the United States is going to do everything it can to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, but Pakistan must first deny the militants a safe haven on its soil. Pompeo said for talks to move ahead, the Taliban must have no hope of winning on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and that means making it no longer possible to cross the Afghan- Pakistani border and hide inside Pakistan. That strategy was outlined by President Donald Trump this summer as part of his approach to ending the 16-year war, in addition to an incremental increase in US forces there. Pompeo said in a speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, that if history is to be a guide, then very low expectations should be set for Pakistan's willingness to cooperate with the US in fighting "radical Islamic terrorism." He said the US needs to have "a very real conversation with them about what it is they are doing ... and the American expectations for how they will behave." The US, he said, "is going to do everything we can, to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, with the Taliban having zero hope that they can win this thing on the battlefield." He added: "To do that you cannot have a safe haven in Pakistan." US officials have long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye or assisting the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. Pakistan routinely denies colluding with the militants. Deepavali, along with Kali Puja, was celebrated in West Bengal today with pomp and religious fervour, despite intermittent rains. Both the festivals coincided this year and were being observed together, making the entire occasion a gala event. On the occasion of Deepavali, the festival of lights, the city wore a brighter look with illumination everywhere, including on all vital installations, attracting people of all ages. Braving the intermittent rains, people came out on the streets in the evening and were seen enjoying fireworks. However, bursting of crackers was much less this time due to restrictions. A large number of devotees visited the Kalighat, Dakshineswar and Adyapith Kali temples in and around the city to offer prayers to the goddess on the auspicious day. At the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district, the devotees had to stand in long queues to offer puja. Among other places, Kali puja was also held at the Thanthania Kali temple in north Kolkata, Lake Kali temple in south Kolkata and Firinghee Kali temple in central Kolkata. Like the previous years, Kali puja was also held at the residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Many important personalities, officials and other dignitaries attended the puja and exchanged greetings with the chief minister. Banerjee greeted the people on the occasion saying, "Heartiest greetings to all on the occasion of Kali Pujo and Deepavali." Many community pujas at Barasat and Naihati in North 24 Parganas district were major attractions for the people. All arrangements were made by the police and Fire Services department to prevent any untoward incident. "So far, the celebrations have been peaceful and without any incident," an official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The security agencies at the Delhi airport had a nervous moment today after they received a hoax call about a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight. A call centre of the airport operator received the call from a mobile phone at about 2 pm. The caller said in Hindi, "Delhi-Bombay flight mein bomb hai" (there is a bomb on a Delhi-Mumbai flight), a senior official engaged in airport security said. A meeting of the designated bomb threat assessment committee was immediately convened at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), he said, adding that at about 3.15 pm, the call was declared to be a hoax. Security measures had been stepped up at the IGIA on account of Diwali and other festivals over the weekend and hence, the call sent the agencies into a tizzy for a while, a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer said, adding that the police were trying to trace the caller. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An immigrant who had been shielded from deportation but was sent back to Mexico has dropped his lawsuit against the Trump administration. A federal judge in San Diego yesterday agreed to dismiss the case filed by Juan Manuel Montes. The suit was taxing for the 23-year-old, who is now living in Mexico, and he asked to drop it. But he stands by the claim that he was wrongly deported, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Centre, which represented Montes. "His decision to voluntarily dismiss his case does not change that," she said. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. Montes' lawyers say he was the first-known participant in the five-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be deported under President Donald Trump. The program, which Trump announced last month he was ending, gave work permits and deportation protection to nearly 800,000 immigrants in the country illegally who were brought here as children. Montes, who came to the United States when he was 9, has a cognitive disability that likely stems from a childhood brain injury, according to his lawyers. Montes claimed that he was wrongly expelled in February from the United States, but the administration said he left the country voluntarily, causing him to lose his protected status under the program. Montes said he finished dinner with a friend and was seeking a ride home in the California border town of Calexico when a Border Patrol agent stopped him. When Montes failed to produce identification, he says agents questioned him and drove him after midnight to the border with orders to walk into neighbouring Mexicali, Mexico. Both sides agree on what happened next: Montes tried to return to the United States the next night by jumping the border fence in Calexico, was caught by Border Patrol agents and deported. The Department of Homeland Security has said it has no record that authorities deported Montes two nights earlier and insists he crossed into Mexico voluntarily, violating a provision of the program that requires advanced permission to leave the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Conference president Farooq Abdullah today asked people from every section of the society to unite and defeat the evil designs of those who spread hatred and vitiate the atmosphere. The country is going through very tough times. The forces inimical to the unity are out on the loose and their only concern is to spread hatred and vitiate the peaceful atmosphere, he said. Therefore, it is upon all of us to defeat the evil designs, the NC leader said during an interaction with students at his Gupkar residence here. He asked students from the Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom, a Higher Secondary School in Poonch, to learn the Holy Quran and imbibe the teachings of Islam in its true spirit. "It is our primary duty to spread Islam as a Muslim. The path is in front of you which is to first learn and then spread the teachings of the Holy book and help others understand it. Therefore, it becomes your duty to spread Islam," Abdullah said. The NC president later distributed shawls and caps among the students, and appreciated the work being done by the school's founder, Moulana Ghulam Qadir Banday, who is a member of the All India Personal Law Board. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Festivity took over the otherwise tense border regions along the Line of Control (LoC) with security forces and civilians celebrating Diwali, undeterred by the spree of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops this month. People living in villages along the border lit 'diyas' and candles outside their homes, while personnel from the armed forces and the BSF illuminated several places along the border with earthen lamps. "The mood was festive all along the border as elsewhere in the region. Luckily, there was no fresh violation of ceasefire and people celebrated Diwali along with the security forces," a senior security official said. In October, Pakistan violated the ceasefire at least six times. Yesterday, eight civilians, including a two-year-old girl, were injured in indiscriminate firing by Pakistani troops in Poonch and Rajouri districts. "Security forces are fully prepared to meet any challenge from across the border and are maintaining a close vigil to ensure its sanctity," the official said. Night patrolling has been intensified and regular exercises are being undertaken to scuttle attempts by terrorists to sneak into the Indian side, he said. The BSF did not exchanging sweets with Pakistan this time on Diwali, the official said, adding that the frequent ceasefire violation by Pakistan failed to dampen the spirit of border residents. Temples across the Jammu region were decorated along with markets for the festival, and firecracker shops witnessed a heavy rush of customers since morning. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five people were killed when a car ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local police said, ruling out a terror link. The Kharkiv police department said six others were hurt, yesterday although the extent of their injuries remained unclear. But local police spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo told the Ukrainska Pravda site that two women's condition was "very serious". The police statement said the female driver of the SUV vehicle had been detained, adding that a criminal case involving driving safety violations had been launched. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, the police statement said. Photographs published on various Ukrainian sites showed the remains of a black SUV vehicle scattered across a crosswalk where the accident occurred. Kharkiv is located less than 300 kilometres northwest of Ukraine's eastern war zone in which more than 10,000 have died in fighting between government soldiers and Russian-backed insurgents. The city itself was briefly the site of pro-Russian protests after Ukraine toppled its Kremlin-backed leadership in a February 2014 revolt. But the city of about 1.4 million people has avoided being dragged into the conflict and remains firmly under the Ukrainian government's control. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today flagged off a helicopter service from Rajkot to the pilgrimage town of Dwarka. The service has been started by T3 AIR, a venture of Rajkot-based Poojara Telecom Pvt Ltd, in association with the Gujarat aviation department and the Airports Authority of India. It will ferry pilgrims from Rajkot to Dwarka, Somnath and Ambaji. The T3 AIR EC 130 helicopter, with a seating capacity of six passengers, will take 30 minutes to reach Somnath from Rajkot, a distance of 185 km by road. It will take 50 minutes to reach Dwarka from here, a distance of 250 km by road. "When Rajkot is getting an international airport, a facility like this will help save tourists' time in visiting Somnath and Dwarka," Rupani said while inaugurating the service at the Rajkot Airport. Managing director of T3 AIR Yogesh Poojara said the service will cover other pilgrim towns in the state in future. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court has dismissed a PIL for a direction to the Election Commission of India and SEC to de-reserve the Arakkonam SC constituency of the Tamil Nadu Assembly to general category for the 2021 polls and for future elections as may be notified. The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sunder, concurred with the submission of Niranjan Rajagopal, counsel for ECI, that Article 329(a) of the Constitution of India is a constitutional bar, owing to which, such a petition should not be entertained by the court. Article 329(a) says the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies, made or purporting to be made under Article 327 or Article 328, shall not be called in question in any court. In the light of the aforesaid position and in the light of the constitutional bar under Article 329(a) of the Constitution of India extracted supra, we are not inclined to entertain this writ petition. The writ petition is dismissed," the bench said. The bench was also informed that the delimitation commission was a onetime statutory body. It was last constituted in 2002 and delimitation exercise was completed in 2006 and a delimitation commission can come into existence only when a statute is next made, it was further submitted. The PIL was filed by one M Sridhar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today strongly condemned the "barbaric" attack on an Afghan army base in Kandahar and asserted that states hosting terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately. "We strongly condemn the barbaric attack today at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. It said India is "gravely" concerned at the escalation of terrorist violence against Afghanistan, despite hopes kindled recently by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. "Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people," the MEA said. It said the terror attacks "demonstrate" that safe havens and support systems continue to be available to terrorists. "States hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction," it said, seen as a clear reference to Pakistan. The MEA said these concerns were also highlighted yesterday by the United Nations Security Council. "The beginning of Afghan-owned and Afghan-led national reconciliation requires an end to violence," the MEA said. It further said, "India expresses solidarity with the people and the Government of Afghanistan in these difficult times." At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a Taliban-claimed assault on a military base in southern Afghanistan which saw the insurgents blast their way into the compound with at least one explosives-laden Humvee, the Afghan defence ministry said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of Britain's senior-most Indian-origin MPs has tabled a parliamentary motion, calling for Prime Minister Theresa May to apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar during the Raj in 1919. Virendra Sharma tabled his Early Day Motion (EDM) titled 'Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919' earlier this week and has attracted five additional signatures from British MPs so far. "This was an important moment in the history of Britain in India. Many suggest it was the beginning of the end, a moment that finally emboldened the Independence Movement. It must be commemorated, and the British government should make clear its repudiation of such a barbaric act," said the Labour Party MP for Ealing Southall. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar over Baisakhi in April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Dyer fired machine guns at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration. It claimed thousands of lives and injured thousands others. The EDM calls on the House of Commons to recognise the importance of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a turning point in the history of the British Empire in India. The EDM notes that as the centenary of the event is approaching, it is appropriate to commemorate it. It also recognises that former British Prime Minister David Cameron referred to the massacre as a "deeply shameful act" during a visit to India. It urges the government to ensure that "British children are taught about this shameful period and that modern British values welcome the right to peaceful protest; and further urges the government formally to apologise in the House and inaugurate a memorial day to commemorate this event". EDMs are formal motions tabled in the House of Commons as a means of drawing attention to a particular issue or cause. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian-origin security guard and his accomplice have been sentenced to over six years in jail by a UK court for their role in a 7-million-pound staged robbery from their own vehicles transporting cash. Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy to steal at Kingston Crown Court in south-west London yesterday. They have been jailed for six-and-a-half years each. The duo, both employees of European cash handling company Loomis, claimed they had been robbed to cover their tracks after they stole 26 bags of cash on March 14 this year. The "audacious" robbery involving cash belonging to Credit Suisse bank, which has never been recovered, took place near a cargo depot at Heathrow Airport and was described in court as being akin to a Hollywood script that could be titled 'The Heathrow Heist'. "You Siddique and Singh played your parts to perfection. You had been involved for a considerable period in the planning," said Judge Stephen John during sentencing. A third man, named Rafaqat Hussain, was jailed for 10 years and three months as the mastermind of the raid which was branded as a "classic inside job". "You were an organiser, trying to keep your involvement at a distance. No doubt there were others in the plot as yet unidentified, but you were the principle, expecting a large slice of the proceeds and above Siddique and Singh in the hierarchy," the judge told Hussain. The court was told that after driving from the depot, Singh and Siddique reported their van missing. Siddique was later found bound by cables on a service road near the M40 highway in Buckinghamshire, with the van abandoned and the cash missing. The two security guards pretended to be victims of a raid, but phone records showed Siddique had been in contact with Hussain and Singh. Secret recordings made by a device planted by police in Hussain's car caught him admitting he had all the cash and boasting that he could buy any car he wanted with it. Both Singh and Siddique had previously denied one count of conspiracy to steal, but the jury found them guilty at the end of a trial. Hussain had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, money launder and commit burglary. He had arranged to buy a house in Buckinghamshirewith the stolen cash, the court was told. The mastermind wept in the dock as his barrister, Bairaj Bhatia, said he had "failed his family" by carrying out a crime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The international community in Nepal has asked former prime minster Prachanda's Maoist party to show firm commitment and sincerity in delivering "transitional justice" to the victims of the civil war. The appeal comes days after Prachanda's CPN (Maoist Center) rolled back its decision to quit the Deuba government. The Kathmandu-based foreign diplomats of nearly a dozen countries, including the US, the UK and the EU, during a meeting urged top leaders of the CPN (Maoist Center) to show some flexibility so that the long cry of the conflict victims for transitional justice is met. The foreign envoys said they were worried about the lack of progress in dispensation of justice to the victims, which include both former Maoist guerrillas and security forces, of the civil war that ended in 2006, a Maoist leader said. "We have had a discussion about the issue with ambassadors of different countries. Although the Constitution drafting and implementation process moved smoothly, there has been no progress on transitional justice issues," said senior Maoist leader and minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara. The envoys asked the Maoists how they would ensure "credible settlement" of matters related to transitional justice. The Maoist leaders apparently have no clarity on the matter, Mahara said. The issue has come up at a time when the 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' and the 'Commission for the Investigation of Enforced Disappearance' have failed to provide the justice to the victims. Their extended terms are expiring within the next 3-4 months. The envoys, however, appreciated Prachanda's role in facilitating the army's integration process and promulgation of a new Constitution despite many differences over its contents. Prachanda's Maoist Centre is a key coalition partner of the ruling Deuba government and it has been facing criticism for staying in the government despite forging an alliance with the main opposition. CPN (Maoist Centre) on October 3 announced an alliance with the country's largest communist bloc CPN-UML, ahead of the general and provincial elections scheduled for November 26 and December 7. The elections are seen as the final step in the Himalayan nation's post-war transition to a federal democracy. The Maoists have dominated Nepal's politics for more than 20 years after waging a decade-long insurgency against government forces that claimed more than 16,000 lives. The civil war ended in Nepal in 2006 and Prachanda became the country's first post-war prime minister. The 240-year-old Hindu monarchy was abolished two years later. General elections next month is being seen as the final step in the country's post-war transition to a federal democracy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A local court today granted bail to former premier Khaleda Zia after she appeared before it on her return to Bangladesh, a week after the court issued an arrest warrant against her in graft and defamation cases. "The bail was granted on conditions that she would inform the court before leaving the country in future," an official of the court told reporters. He said Zia, 72, also the chairperson of main opposition outside parliament Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had to give a bond of Taka 100,000 for obtaining the bail. Surrounded by her party activists, Zia came to the court complex in old Dhaka and surrendered before the judge, a day after she returned home from London after a three-month visit. Court officials and lawyers said she appeared on the dock and sought the bail this morning at the makeshift court set up on Alia Madrasha ground at Bakshibazar in the old city. After granting the bail, the court held a routine hearing wherein she gave an hour long statement claiming her innocence in the graft cases. The judge fixed October 26 date for the next hearing. "She also claimed that cases filed against her are false, motivated and imaginarily made up and aimed at harassing her," a defense lawyer said, adding she was allowed to speak as the court accepted her petition to give a statement. Court officials and lawyers said Dhakas Metropolitan Magistrate issued the first warrant as Zia failed to appear in another court over a case accusing her of undermining the Bangladeshs map and national flag. She is being tried for inducting in her 2001-2006 cabinet the people who were opposed to the country's independence and committed crimes against humanity by siding with the Pakistani troops. She obtained the bail against the second warrant issued by Dhakas Fifth Special Judge's Court as she evaded appearance in a case involving her alleged corruption with funds of an orphanage trust named after her husband and slain president Ziaur Rahman. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government has shifted annual rent agreement renewal procedures within the departments to its digital platform. From November 1, the government owned properties will be rented out through online service -- which will essentially save time of the authorities. A Government Resolution (GR) issued yesterday stated that there are several rent agreements processed by the Public Works Department (PWD) every year, where government owned land or buildings are rented out for public interest. Henceforth, such agreements will be carried out through e-rent service, provided on the website www.mahapwd.com. In Mumbai city alone, there are over 1,200 leased properties by Maharashtra government. The actual number of properties leased by Maharashtra government across the state would be huge and with online processing of lease agreements, it will save a lot of time and money of people from outstation who had to visit to Mumbai for renewal of fresh lease agreement, said a senior officer from PWD department. The executive engineer of PWD department from respective district has been given the responsibility to take final decision in lease agreement procedures, mentions the GR. It has also mandated PWD to publish a division-wise base rate at the beginning of the every financial year for easy calculation of rent. The GR has further given a detailed list for calculating the rent for buildings with various amenities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court in Mizoram's Champhai district has sentenced a man to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for raping his 11-year-old daughter. Additional District and Sessions Judge of Champhai district R Vanlalena yesterday convicted Lalhriattluanga of Vanzau village and also imposed a fine of Rs 9,000 on him. The judge said the evidence against the accused was overwhelming. Lalhriattluanga raped his daughter in 2013 and had repeated the incest act a number of times as the girl was afraid to report the matter to other people, the prosecution said. The maternal grandfather of the girl lodged an FIR at the Champhai police station against Lalhriattluanga following which he was arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May urged EU leaders today to urgently set out plans to move forward with Brexit negotiations, in particular on the rights of European nationals, as they prepared to delay key trade talks until at least December. Arriving for the two-day summit, May accepted that her 27 European Union counterparts were unlikely to agree that there has been enough progress on divorce issues to move on to a second phase, saying the meeting was intended to "take stock". But she urged them to start preparations to discuss trade and a transition deal at the next summit in December, telling reporters they would be "setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead". In a move to sway EU leaders on what is a key topic for them, May published an open letter to the three million EU citizens living in Britain today promising they would not be asked to leave after Brexit in March 2019. She said a deal to secure their rights was "within touching distance" - but also told reporters that she wanted EU leaders to show "an urgency in reaching an agreement". EU President Donald Tusk warned he did "not expect any kind of breakthrough", saying that while there had been "promising progress", London needed to come up with more concrete proposals. EU leaders are increasingly vocal about their frustration at divisions in May's cabinet over Brexit, saying they are still unsure what Britain wants. The talks had to be moved at the last minute from the EU's new 321-million-euro Europa summit building after noxious chemicals in the catering area sickened several people yesterday "Lessons from #EUCO kitchen: fuming over #Brexit must not become toxic," Lithuanian Prime Minister Dalia Grybauskaite said on Twitter. The EU agrees that of the three key separation issues at stake, citizens rights is the most advanced, but sticking points remain. Discussions on the bill Britain must pay to leave meanwhile are deadlocked and discussions on Northern Ireland still have far to go. Over a working dinner with other EU leaders today, May will "encourage them to move the conversation on to consider the future partnership and the implementation period," a senior official said. She will then leave them to discuss Brexit without her tomorrow morning. After five rounds of Brexit negotiations produced few results, fears are growing that Britain may fail to strike a withdrawal agreement before its formal departure on March 29, 2019. May engaged in a whirlwind of diplomacy ahead of the summit, calling the French and German leaders among others and having dinner with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels. In an apparently symbolic move May walked into the summit room flanked by both Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, with the three leaders deep in conversation. Britain's exit bill is the most poisonous issue. In a speech in Florence last month, May promised to maintain Britain's contributions for two years after Brexit to complete the current EU budget period, totalling around 20 billion euros (USD 24 billion). Germany and France insist that there should be no impact on the EU's budget from Britain's departure. But European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani - whose institution will have a final veto on any Brexit deal - told the BBC that "20 billion is peanuts. The problem is 50 or 60 (billion euros). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Russia will kick start tomorrow a 10-day-long mega war game involving their armies, navies and air forces for the first time to further ramp up military ties. The exercise Indra, which is being held in Russia, will primarily focus on achieving coordination between forces of the two countries in a tri-services integrated theatre command scenario. "The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations," the defence ministry said in a statement. It said the exercise will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries. It will be for the first time India will participate in a tri-services exercise with a foreign country with such a large scale participation by the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, a senior army official said. Yesterday, the Indian contingent flew in an IL-76 aircraft to Vladivostok. The contingent, led by the Task Force Commander, Maj Gen ND Prasad was accorded a warm welcome by Commander of the Fifth Army of Russia's Eastern Military District, Maj Gen Kutuzov. Today, two indigenously built Indian Naval ships INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt arrived at Vladivostok Port and were given a traditional ceremonial welcome, the defence ministry said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman in Pakistan's Karachi city was today stabbed by a motor-cycle-borne serial knifer who has been on a stabbing spree and has slashed at least 17 women since last month. Wearing a helmet and riding a motorcycle, the slasher has been attacking lone women on main roads or at bus stops, cutting or stabbing them before driving away. Just as senior police officials had indicated they had arrested two main suspects from a flat in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, where the most attacks had taken place, the slasher struck again today evening in the Malir area. The woman was slashed with a sharp object by the motorcycle rider. The injured woman Jazba Javed, who is in her early 20s, said she was crossing a road when a man on a bike came near her and slashed her hand and immediately fled away. Police have registered a First Information Report in the Saudabad, Malir Police Station and are looking at CCTV footage of the area and other forensic evidence. At least 15 incidents of such attacks on women by the lone slasher were reported from the Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Shah Faisal areas in Karachi from September 25 to October 6. In another incident on Monday night, a motorcycle rider stabbed a teenage girl in the Federal B area. Police have offered a cash reward of one million rupees for anyone helping them in identifying or nabbing the serial knifer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madhya Pradesh government is launching a campaign to encourage women to hone their driving skills and get driving licences. The campaign, 'Aao Bhaiyya Tumhe Sair Karaoon' will be launched on 'Bhaidooj' (a festival that celebrates brother- sister bonding), Minister for Women and Child Development Archana Chitnis said today. "A provision for preparing driving licences (whose colour will be pink) free of cost for women and girls has been made by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. "In order to encourage women and girls to get driving licences, a campaign with a tagline, 'Aao Bhaiyya Tumhe Sair Karaoon', will be launched from Bhaidooj (October 21)," she told PTI. "Increased urbanisation means more mobility for women. So there is a need for special campaigns so that women and girls get driving licenses with ease, Chitnis said. A temporary driving licence is valid for six months. During this period, driving training will be imparted to women through 94 institutes across the state, she said. "This will encourage women to adopt driving as a profession. Another campaign, "Operation Driving Shaurya", will also be conducted in this regard. "This campaign will begin from November 1 and continue till the International Women's Day (March 8)," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The software industry lobby Nasscom is setting up centres of excellence on artificial intelligence (AI) and data sciences for a better understanding on the emerging technologies, a top official has said. With the tech world getting divided between whether or not to regulate AI, the body feels that technologies should be freely allowed to mature first before any regulation comes in, its president R Chandrasekhar has said. "We are setting up a centre of excellence on AI and data sciences in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. They will look at mapping the resources available in the country, promoting startups in that area and also best practices globally, including regulatory aspects," he told PTI recently. He, however, did not offer the investment that will go into these proposed centres nor a timeline as to when the first centre of excellence will be functional. When sought his views on regulation of technologies, he said, "in the new-age technologies, regulation is important but it need not always precede the advent of technology as technology is evolving so quickly that regulation has only to keep pace with that." It can be noted that the tech world has been vertically divided over the aspect of regulation, with Tesla founder Elon Musk pitching for regulation, while Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg opposing it. "Whichever side you are on, the time has not come to make laws which will guide behaviour of robots and create an IPC (Indian Penal Code) for robots," Chandrashekhar quipped. He said we have been too pessimistic because of the advent of new technologies and its impact on the sector, which gets us revenues of upwards of USD 150 billion and creates 4 million direct jobs. In the interview before companies started announcing their Q2 numbers, Chandrasekhar said the industry is on track to achieve the body's revenue growth forecast of up to 8 per cent this fiscal year. "I believe we are on track as far as the revenue growth guidance is concerned," he said. "When we said there is no need to panic, everybody said you are trying to paint a rosy picture where none exists. Now some people are saying actually things are not so bad, they are looking up now and the future looks better," he added. He, however, conceded that new technologies will require fewer people to do the same work and added that domestic software companies are in the process of re-aligning themselves to the changing contours of their business. On protectionism concerns as well, Chandrasekhar said we are being overtly concerned on the impact of such moves on the country. "As far as the India value proposition is concerned, it is as strong as ever. In fact it has become stronger today," he said. "Our opportunity in those countries is not a gift from those countries, it is a need which they have but cannot fulfill, and thus which we are fulfilling," he reasoned. When asked about currency fluctuations, he said the industry would like the volatilities to be at a minimal level but Nasscom has not issued any advisories in the wake of the recent swings in the rupee. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today that on the auspicious occasion of Diwali India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases that are pending, as she responded positively to a number of such requests by Pakistani nationals. To a request for a visa by a Pakistani woman named Amna Shamin, whose father is already in Delhi for treatment and she wants to visit him, Swaraj said, "Please contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this." "On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today," Swaraj tweeted. Yesterday, she had directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue a visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. The child's father, Kashif, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. "The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif," the minister tweeted yesterday. Kashif had said the child's medicines were about to finish and he needed immediate medical consultation in India. In another tweet yesterday, Swaraj said a medical visa has also been approved for a Pakistani woman, who wants to undergo liver surgery in India. The woman's son, Rafique Memon, had requested Swaraj to intervene and grant visa to his mother. Swaraj also responded positively to a request for a visa by Nazir Ahmed, whose eight-year-old child Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting medical visa for a year. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8- year-old child in India," she said. Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was seen with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and uncle Shivpal Yadav in here on the occasion of Diwali. While there has been friction between the members of the SP's dominant clan in recent past, party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav claimed today that there was "no discord". "My entire family is united and there is no discord. This is the reason that we have come to the village (Saifai) to celebrate Diwali," Mulayam Singh Yadav said. -- the native place of the clan -- witnessed Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, MPs Dharmendra Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav interacting with each other for nearly two hours. SP's principal general secretary Ramgopal Yadav, who had met Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday, however, did not participate in today's meeting. After the nearly two-hour-long meeting, all the clan members came out and sat in the lawn. Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav were part of the group even though they were not seen sitting next to each other, as there was a gap of a few chairs between them. Shivpal Yadav said, "Our entire family is one," as he moved ahead. On October 5, Akhilesh Yadav was unanimously re-elected as the Samajwadi Party's president for a five-year term, consolidating his grip over the party even as Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav appeared sidelined. His re-election was announced by senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav at the SP convention in Agra. The party's constitution was amended to extend the tenure of the party chief to five years from the earlier three. Both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav skipped the event just as they had stayed away from the state executive meeting of the party in Lucknow on September 23. Akhilesh Yadav had personally invited his father for the convention. In his address the former UP chief minister had said, "I requested 'netaji' (Mulayam) to attend the convention. Everyone would have liked it (his presence)." "I talked to him...before coming to the convention. I told him that it is a big convention and amendments in the party constitution will also be passed and without your blessings the party cannot progress," he had said. Akhilesh Yadav had claimed that Mulayam Singh Yadav, "has given blessings to all of us" over phone and wished that the party is strengthened in UP and throughout the country. The SP has witnessed a bitter feud between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav and this infighting adversely affected the party during the UP Assembly polls in which it performed poorly earlier this year. The CPI(M) led LDF government in Kerala today decided to promulgate an ordinance under its policy of 'Ease of Doing Business' for getting clearance to start industries from different departments without hurdles and delay. The state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, resolved to recommend to Governor Justice P Sathasivam to promulgate the 'Kerala Investment Promotion and Facilitation Act-2017', an official release said here. The objective was to transform the state into a vibrant investment destination and accelerate its industrial growth, it said. The new act was being formulated after making amendments in seven legislations, including the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, Kerala Groundwater Restriction Act, Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Act and Kerala Loading and Unloading act, the release said. The Cabinet decided to appoint senior IAS officer M G Rajamanikayam as Managing Director of the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd. He was earlier MD of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation. The Government in principle decided to set up a sub centre of South Zone Cultural Centre under the Union Ministry of Culture. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's anti-graft court today indicted ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in a corruption case related to the Avenfield properties in London. The case was one of the three cases registered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on September 8 against 67-year-old Sharif, his children and son-in-law in the Accountability Court in Islamabad. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Sharif was indicted in the presence of his representative Zafir Khan. Sharif was also indicted in Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment corruption but he pleaded not guilty through his representative Zafir Khan. His sons Hasan and Husain are co-accused in both Avenfiled flats and Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment references but their trial would be held separately as they have refused to appear in the court so far. Sharif's daughter has been charged with being the beneficial owner of the Avenfield flats, while her spouse Safdar as an accomplice. He is also accused of not declaring these "assets" at the time of election in 2013. The court adjourned the hearing in the Avenfield flats reference case till October 26, when formal trial would start. Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearing in the Flagship Investments case, the third case filed by NAB against Sharif and his sons, till tomorrow. The court is expected to indict Sharif in this case also, though he is still in London and is sure to miss the hearing. But his legal team and representative will attend the hearing, according to his party officials. Sharif, talking to media in London, once again assailed his disqualification and termed his indictment in absence as "murder of justice". He also announced to come back before hearing of October 26. There were also reports that he would come back on Sunday. Sharif is with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Earlier, at the start of the hearing, the defence filed application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to illness of his wife. The defence team also argued that head of Sharif's legal team Khawaja Harris was out of country due to an emergency and in his absence Sharif should not be indicted. But the court after hearing the argument rejected the application. The accountability court also rejected another application by Sharif to stop trial until a decision by the Supreme Court where Sharif has filed a petition to convert three corruption cases into one case as they all deal with the same issue of income beyond known means. The court, however, rejected the application after arguments by defence and prosecution lawyers. Sharif's team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case. The court also rejected it after hearing arguments. The hearing started at around 9.00 am and went on till after midday. The judge stopped the hearing three times and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications. Maryam in a chat with reporters said that it was for the first time that "Sicilian mafia" was appearing in the court. She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by a Supreme Court bench which later disqualified Sharif and ordered cases against the family. "It is for the first time that first decision was given (about disqualification of Sharif) and now trial is being held," she said. Sharif, his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and independent lawyers had objected to the use of phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will. Sharif once again missed the hearing as he has not returned from London. But his daughter and son-in-law were present in the court, said Minister of State for Information Mariyum Aurangzeb. "He (Sharif) has faced courts and he believes in rule of law. He will soon come back to face the cases," she said. Earlier, the court had announced to indict the accused on October 9 but postponed it till October 13 as Sharif was not present. The court during the hearing on October 9 decided to separate the trial of Husain and Hasan from Sharif and his daughter and son-in-law. It also ordered to start the process of declaring proclaimed offender to Sharif's son Husain and Hasan for failing to appear before the court. Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth. The cases are based on July 28 verdict by the Supreme Court which disqualified Sharif and ordered to launch three corruption cases against him and his family and one case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An anti-corruption court today indicted Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law over corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The accountability court in Islamabad indicted 67-year- old Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country, Dawn reported. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. During the proceedings, the court rejected an application filed by Capt Safdar's counsel Amjad Pervez seeking an adjournment of the indictment proceedings, the paper said. The second lawyer from Sharif's legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the Supreme Court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well, the paper said. A third application has also been filed by Sharif's counsel, seeking merger of the three references filed against him. The court has reserved its decision on the application. The NAB had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. Judge Mohammad Bashir was set to indict Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law on October 13. However, after a violent clash between the PML-N lawyers and police, the court postponed the indictment until today. Sharif's family has alleged that the cases are politically motivated. He may be jailed after the indictment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Vice President Mike Pence, along with several other lawmakers have send their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. "Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family," Pence said in a tweet. "May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness," said the US Vice President. Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. "Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017," Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Tweeting "Happy Diwali" to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. "May the light guide your path," she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. "Generally, fireworks accompany that. I don't need any fireworks; I'm getting too many fireworks around me already. So we'll forgo the fireworks," he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. America's top corporate leadership too joined the festivities. "Happy Diwali! May the festival of lights spread love, peace & prosperity to all!" Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet. "Today, lets light up the world with the glow of our diyas and the warmth in our hearts. From my family to yours, best wishes for Diwali!" tweeted Pepsico Chairwoman Indra Nooyi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed around 23,000 BJP workers in poll-bound Gujarat through a telephone conference call. Modi connected with the party workers on their mobile phones through the "audio bridge" technology and extended Diwali greetings to them, a BJP release said here. He also spoke to around 2,000 party workers in his Parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, using the same technology. Modi told the party workers in Gujarat that the development-oriented policies of the ruling BJP in the last 22 years in the state had made development the main point in today's national politics. He said the people of Gujarat were emotionally attached to the saffron party because they were "progressive and development-oriented". On the other hand, development and betterment of people had no place in the "negative politics of the opposition party", the prime minister added. The people of Gujarat reposed their faith in the BJP because they knew that truth was on its side, Modi said. Addressing the party workers in Varanasi, the prime minister said their contribution was significant in the development of the region. The policies of the Centre had provided new opportunities to those coming from villages, cities, as well as the poor, farmers, Dalits, women and youth, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian shuttler H S Prannoy recorded his second successive win over three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei to storm into the quarterfinals of the USD 750,000 Denmark Open Super Series Premier here today. Just four months back, Prannoy had created a flutter when he dispatched Chong Wei in straight games in the Indonesia Super Series Premier and the unseeded Indian dished out another superb performance today to oust the former World No. 1 Malaysian 21-17 11-21 21-19 in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes here. "I am happy to beat him again today. Even at this age, he is one of the best players, who can play in any conditions. I am not thinking much ahead as I have done this before but couldn't win the title so I will just look at the next match," Prannoy told reporters after the match. The 25-year-old Indian trailed Chong Wei, who turns 35 on Saturday, 1-2 in career meetings. However, buoyed by his recent win over the Malaysian in June, the Indian produced another sensational performance, befitting his new-found stardom of a giant-killer. Prannoy started off well as he dictated terms and built up a 10-7 lead but the former World No. 1 leveled par with a lucky net chord before entering the break with a slender lead when the Indian's return missed the sideline. Chong Wei held on to his lead till 14-13 when Prannoy unleashed a jump smash to draw parity and then went into the lead. But a return going to net meant it was evens-stevens again. The Indian soon jumped to a 18-15 lead before two quick reflex smashes helped him to narrow the gap. However, Prannoy again unleashed two precise smashes on his rival's forehand to grab three game points and sealed it with another deceptive return which Chong Wei failed to ward off. The second game begun with both committing unforced errors. Prannoy won a video referral and held a 4-3 lead when Chong Wei hit wide. The Indian then hit the net a few times to allow the Malaysian lead 8-6. With Prannoy struggling with unforced errors, Chong Wei moved into the break with a 11-8 lead. Chong Wei extended the advantage to 14-8 before Prannoy unleashed two powerful returns to let out a scream. However, the Indian couldn't reign in his errors as Chong Wei eventually managed to take the match to the decider. The third game saw Chong Wei open up a 5-2 lead but he misjudged shuttles at the baseline twice and Prannoy also sent one at the back of the court on the line to make it 6-8. The Indian kept snapping at his rival's heels to draw parity at 10-10. But a quick reflex net return helped Chong Wei lead 11 -10. After the interval, Chong Wei grabbed a few points to lead 13-10 but Prannoy managed to turn the tables with eight straight points, leading 18-13. But the Indian made a service error next and Chong Wei produced a body smash to make it 15- 18. A forehand return from Prannoy going to net further narowed the gap but the Malaysian hit the net next as it was 19-16. Prannoy then went wide thrice on the trot to allow Chong Wei comeback. However, he got his bearings right in time and unleashed a cross court smash to earn the match point and sealed it in the end. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pune district consumer forum has rejected a woman's complaint seeking compensation from the civic body for a failed sterilisation procedure, saying government hospitals are not covered under the Consumer Protection Act and also noted there was no medical negligence. The woman had approached the forum with the complaint that the sterilisation procedure she underwent at a civic hospital was a failure and sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). "It is not established by the complainant that the doctors performing the surgery were not skilled and had no experience. "Moreover, the Kamala Nehru Hospital (where the procedure was carried out) is run by the Pune Municipal Corporation and hence she cannot become a consumer (under the Act)," observed a two-member bench of the forum comprising president V P Utpat and member Onkar Patil, last week. They rejected the woman's claim that there was medical negligence on part of the hospital. According to the complainant, after the sterilisation procedure, she was intimated that if she misses her menstrual cycle, she has to visit the hospital. As per the complaint, doctors told the woman she will start menstruating soon. However, in February 2014, when an ultra-sonography was performed, it transpired that she was pregnant for six weeks. According to her, the doctors assured her that her pregnancy can be medically terminated but they did not take any responsibility about her health and life. Therefore, the woman said, she decided to continue the pregnancy. The sterilisation failure caused her mental agony and physical pain, said the complaint. The woman said she already had three children and the failed procedure "unnecessarily burdened her with a fourth child". Claiming her economical condition was very poor (her husband is a fish-vendor), she sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the civic body. However, the hospital denied all the allegations. It said the failure rate of female sterilisation is reported to be about 1.85 per cent during a period of 10 years. The civic medical facility said even after taking all precautions there may be failure of sterilisation procedure for various reasons. It said such a failure is known to medical science and reported worldwide even in the countries like the USA and the UK. Every surgery carries its "advantages and disadvantages", "pros and cons" and "success and failures", the hospital told the consumer forum. The hospital said standard medical protocol was observed at the time of the procedure and there was no medical negligence by the doctors treating her. The forum held that the complainant herself was responsible for the birth of her fourth child as she left the hospital when she was admitted for medical termination of pregnancy. "It is considered opinion of the forum that the complainant has failed to establish medical negligence, much less deficiency in service, at the instance of the hospital," the bench noted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Catalan crisis was Spain's internal affair but slammed what he called Western double standards over separatist movements. "Russia's position is known here. All that is happening is Spain's internal business and must be resolved within Spanish law and on the basis of democratic traditions," Putin said yesterday at a meeting with international relations experts in the Black Sea city of Sochi. However, he argued the crisis exposed Western inconsistency and hypocrisy in backing some separatists while opposing others -- such as support for Kosovan independence, but opposition to Catalan and Kurdish claims. "What we see is that in our partners' view there are worthy fighters for independence and there are separatists who cannot defend their rights. "Such double standards -- this is a very striking example of double standards -- are fraught with serious danger for the stable development of Europe and other continents," Putin said. The Russian leader said Western powers had long been aware of "the antagonism within Europe", referring to Catalonia. "They knew, didn't they?" he said. "Yet in their day they practically welcomed the breakup of a whole number of European states, without concealing their glee." He cited recognition of independence of majority-Albanian Kosovo from Russia's traditional ally Serbia. "Why did they have to, so thoughtlessly, unquestioningly support Kosovo's breaking away?" Putin asked. He accused European countries of "the wish, frankly, to please Big Brother from Washington" over Kosovo, saying this then provoked "similar processes in Europe and the world". He questioned why Europe went on to oppose Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and independence movements in Spain and Iraq's Kurdistan. "So now we see Catalonia. In another region there is Kurdistan. And that may still be far from an exhaustive list," Putin said. A non-binding independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdistan region in September saw a resounding "yes" vote. The European Union has urged both sides "to seek dialogue in order to preserve Iraq's unity and long-term stability". Moscow says it supports the territorial integrity of Iraq but views Kurdish national aspirations with respect. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that he holds the military leadership in Myanmar responsible for the current refugee crisis affecting the country's Rohingya Muslims. Tillerson said it is up to the military leadership of Myanmar to decide what direction they want to play in the future of the country because the US consider Myanmar as an important emerging democracy. "But this is a real test. It's a real test of this power-sharing government as to how they're going to deal with this very serious issue," he said. The US is extraordinarily concerned by what is happening with the Rohingya's in Myanmar, he added. Tillerson has been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the civilian side of the government. "As you know, this is a power-sharing government that has emerged in Myanmar. We really hold the military leadership accountable for what is happening with the Rohingya area," Tillerson said. "What's most important to us is that the world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area," he said. "What we've encouraged the military to do is, first, we understand you have serious rebel/terrorist elements within that part of your country as well that you have to deal with, but you must be disciplined about how you deal with those, and you must be restrained in how you deal with those," he said. Tillerson said that Myanmar must allow access in this region again so that the US can get a full accounting of the circumstances. He described the situation in Myanmar as heart breaking. "We have been asking for access to the region. We've been able to get a couple of our people from our embassy into the region so we can begin to get our own firsthand account of what is occurring," he said. The US is encouraging access for the aid agenciesso that they can at least address some of the most pressing humanitarian needs, he said. "But more importantly, so we can get a full understanding of what is going on. If these reports are true, someone is going to be held to account for that," Tillerson said referring to reports of human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab government has decided to hand over the probe into the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in Ludhiana to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh issued orders in this regard today while announcing a Rs 5 lakh compensation for the deceased's family and a government job for one of his progeny. Gosain lost his wife to cancer some years ago and is survived by four children. Orders regarding an NIA probe were issued by the chief minister on the request by an RSS delegation that met him at his residence today, an official spokesperson said. The chief minister acceded to their request taking into account the "international ramifications" of the case, he added. Investigations into similar incidents in the past suggest that the handlers of the assailants were operating from foreign soil, said the spokesperson, adding that Singh felt that with the NIA stepping in, there would be better coordination between the central agencies and the state police. Two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants had shot dead RSS leader Gosain in Kailash Nagar in Ludhiana on Tuesday. Sharing the delegation's concern over the brazen killing, the chief minister strongly condemned the act, saying there was no place for such violence in the state. Asserting that his government would not tolerate such lawlessness, Singh said it was taking all measures to prevent such targeted killings. Singh assured the delegation that the state police was working hard to solve all the previous similar cases and that he had issued directions for expediting the investigations. No effort would be spared to catch the culprits and bring them to book in cases of targeted killings, which were clearly aimed at destabilising the state and destroying its peace, said the chief minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala government today decided to convene a special Assembly session next month to table the judicial commission report on the solar scam, days after it ordered a vigilance probe against Former chief minister Oommen Chandy in connection with the scandal. A cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan resolved to recommend to governor Justice P Sathasivam that a special session be convened on November 9, to table the Solar scam probe report, an official release here said. The state government also decided to seek expert legal opinion from former Kerala High Court Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat on further steps to be taken on the report, Vijayan said in a Facebook post. The government's decision comes in the backdrop of the demand made by the Congress-led UDF Opposition to make public the commission report with Chandyseeking a copy of it to know about the "facts and findings" of the commission. The state government, after seeking legal opinion on the report submitted last month by Justice Sivarajan Commission, had on October 11 decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to further probe the multi-crore scam. Announcing the probe, Chief Minister Vijayan had said a criminal case would be registered and an Special Investigation Team would probe allegations of rape levelled by Saritha S Nair, the main accused in the scam, against some politicians in her July 17, 2013 letter. In a related development, Nair today submitted to the chief minister a complaint in which she reiterated her allegations. Sources in the chief minister's office said the complaint has been forwarded to state DGP Loknath Behra for further action. Besides Chandy, the government had also decided to order a probe on October 11 against former ministers Aryadan Mohamed and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan after registering a case against them. The commission was appointed by the previous Chandy government after allegations surfaced about duping of several people of crores of rupees by prime accused Saritha Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, who offered them solar panel solutions. Some Congress state ministers, MPs and MLAs were named by Saritha in the letter written by her when she was behind bars in connection with the solar scam. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A stable and peaceful Afghan would create a better condition for India-Pak relationship, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said even as he described India and Pakistan as an important element of achieving American objectives in the war-torn nation. Once the objective of a "stable, peaceful Afghanistan" is achieved, a big threat is removed from Pakistan's future stability as well, which then creates a better condition for India-Pakistan relationships, Tillerson told an audience here after delivering a major India policy at the CSIS, a top American think-tank. "So we see it as not just one issue, but a means of stabilising the entire region. And we intend to work closely with India and with Pakistan to, we hope, ease tensions along their border as well," he said. "Pakistan has two very troubled borders. We'd like to help them take the tension down on both of those and secure a future stable Pakistan government which we think improves relations in the region as well," Tillerson said. Pakistan is an important element of addressing the Afghan challenge, he said. "India is an important element of how we achieve the ultimate objective, which is a stable Afghanistan which no longer serves as a platform for terrorist organisations," he said. America's policy, quite simply on terrorism is that it will deny terrorists the opportunity, the means, the location, the wherewithal, the financing, the ability to organise and carry out attacks against Americans at home and abroad, anywhere in the world. "Well, clearly the threat to that policy finds its locus in many ways in Afghanistan. To the extent we can remove that as an opportunity for terrorism in Afghanistan, the greatest beneficiaries are going to be Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said. "India's important role is in providing development assistance to Afghanistan as they move forward to create better economic conditions that provide for the needs of a very diverse ethnic group of people in Afghanistan," Tillerson said. "So, it is about a commitment, a message to the Taliban and other elements that we're not going anywhere. And so we'll be here as long as it takes for you to change your mind and decide you want to engage with the Afghan Government in a reconciliation process and develop a form of government that does suit the needs of the culture of Afghanistan," the Secretary of State said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Afghan officials say the Taliban have carried out two suicide car bombings at an army camp in the southern Kandahar province, setting of several hours of fighting. Khalid Pashtun, a member of parliament from the province, says at least 41 soldiers were killed in the attack, which began yesterday. Defence Ministry spokesman Daulat Waziri confirmed the attack but declined to comment on the number of casualties. The Taliban claimed the attack in a media statement. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three minors were killed when their motorcycle collided with a speeding truck on the Jabalpur-Jaipur national highway near Devgarh village today, a police official said. They were on their way to fetch water from Parvati river when the mishap took place, Kurawar police station in-charge, Kapil Gupta said. The deceased have been identified as Sachin Sen (17), Deepak (16) and Abhishek (16), he said, adding, they died on the spot. A case has been registered and further investigations are, said the official. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting Islamabad to implement the South Asia strategy of President Donald Trump, a State Department official has said while he urged Pakistan to take "decisive action" against militant groups based inside the country. "We are breaking from the status quo on US-Pakistan relations and the Secretary by going to Pakistan will be implementing the president's strategy," a State Department official told reporters yesterday after Tillerson delivered a major India-policy speech. Tillerson is scheduled to travel to India next week. He would also visit Pakistan. However, the dates of his Islamabad visit have not been announced. "America's relationship with India do not come at the expense of Pakistan or vice versa. The things that the US can do to help alleviate some of the tensions on Pakistan's borders around Afghanistan and in India," the official said. "When the president gave his remarks about Pakistan, he talked about a lot of the positive aspects of the bilateral relationship. US and Pakistani military have worked together against common enemies," the official added. "We recently had the rescue of the Coleman family," the official said, noting that people of Pakistan have suffered from terrorism and extremism. At the same time, Pakistan has to take decisive action against militant groups based in Pakistan that are a threat to the region," the official said. "I think that we are having much more serious conversations about being a partner for achieving our priorities in the region," the official said responding to a question. "We have many common interests and common enemies in the region when it comes to our bilateral discussions with Pakistan which was with the Secretary (of State) will be talking about (during his Pakistan trip)," the official said. "But we have said that it is time for Pakistan to demonstrate fully that it is willing to assist the United States in its core counter terrorism goals in the region. And the Secretary will be discussing that on his trip," the State Department official said. Tillerson's expected visit to Pakistan is not related to the release of Coleman family. "This trip is not the consequence of that. The Secretary was intensely involved in the liberation of the Coleman family from Pakistan," the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump has given his administration ten-out-of-ten for its response to a hurricane that hammered Puerto Rico exactly one month ago, as 80 per cent of the US island remained without power. Meeting Governor Ricardo Rossello in the Oval Office, Trump acknowledged the massive scale of the rebuilding effort, but defended his administration's response. "We have provided so much, so fast, we were actually there before the storm hit," Trump said. "They got hit dead center." Asked how he would rank the administration's response out of ten, Trump responded "I give ourselves a ten." "We have done a really great job." Rosello said that Trump had met all of his requests, but he said that much more needed to be done to avoid a humanitarian disaster. Trump had previously raised concerns on the island by warning that federal aid for Puerto Rico will not be open- ended. But he indicated Thursday that a mixture of grants and loans could be found to rebuild, in particular, the electricity grid, which was in poor shape before the storm. Trump also rowed back on some comments that appeared to blame Puerto Ricans for their plight. "It's not the people's fault, they lost their house, they were devastated." "A person loses his or her house and then they can't go to work. If you lose your house, you know, it's hard to go and be a policeman, you are trying to have your family live. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were held for allegedly for sexually assaulting a minor girl and pushing her into the flesh trade, the police claimed today. The matter came to light after the victim reached the police through a helpline, they said. "A 16-year-old girl has lodged an FIR at the sector 20 police station stating that five years ago a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, Navin Singh, came to her house in Nepal. The man took her along on the pretext of getting to her meet her elder sister who was married in Madhubani. She has alleged that on the way she was forcibly married to Singh, who then raped her," DSP Abhinandan said. The official said that according to the victim, as time passed by she gave birth to a son and was taken to Mumbai. She alleged that in Mumbai, Singh's younger brother sexually assaulted her, the DSP said. "Two months ago both brothers brought her to Noida. She was living with them in a rented house in sector 27. She alleged they assaulted her and forced her into the flesh trade. On October 1 she had called child helpline number," DSP Abhinandan said. He said the victim was rescued. "She is two months pregnant. The minor has lodged an FIR against the two persons on Wednesday. We have arrested the two accused," the officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US lawmaker has expressed concern over the human rights violation against the Muhajir (migrant) community in Pakistan, saying he will ask the state department to raise the issue with the Pakistani government. The term 'Muhajir' is used to describe the Urdu-speaking immigrants who left India in 1947 and came to Pakistan. A large chunk of them settled in the Sindh province. Expressing concern over human rights violation against the Muhajir community in Karachi, Congressman Rob Wittman said that he will ask Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to ensure that the US questions the Pakistani government over the persecution of Muhajirs. The Muhajir community shared its concerns about human rights abuses in Karachi, with Wittman who is also the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. Among the concerns highlighted by Muhajirs were threats to them by armed paramilitary forces, unexplained disappearance of Muhajir party political workers, extra- judicial killings of Muhajirs by the Pakistani Army and the retaliation against families in Pakistan of Muhajir supporters in the US and overseas who speak out on social media. Wittman made the comments in a townhall with members of the World Muhajir Congress (WMC) held in a Virginia suburb of Washington. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Vice President Mike Pence has thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his government's effort in recovering American and Canadian hostages who were held captive by the Haqqani Taliban Network in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the White House said. During a phone call to the Pakistani leader, Pence noted this effort as an important development in Pakistan's support to the US strategy against terrorism in the region. At the same time he "highlighted that cooperation against militant groups must be continued and sustained," the White House said. "Just as he did during the meeting the two had in New York last month, the Vice President again discussed ways that Pakistan could work with the US and others to bolster stability and security for all in South Asia," the White House said. Pence had met Abbasi in New York last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The 2017 festive season has seen some interesting television and digital films being released by brands. Below are some of the best, launched over the course of the week, that had viewers asking for more. In the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign, voters in swing states including Nevada and North Carolina saw ads appear in their Facebook feeds and on Google websites touting a pair of controversial faux-tourism videos, showing France and Germany overrun by Sharia law. French schoolchildren were being trained to fight for the caliphate, jihadi fighters were celebrated at the Arc de Triomphe, and the Mona Lisa was covered in a burkha. Hartmut Neven believes in parallel universes. On a recent morning outside Googles Los Angeles office, the 53-year-old computer scientist was lecturing me on how quantum mechanicsthe physics of atoms and particlesbacks the theory of a so-called multiverse. Neven points to the tape recorder between us. What were seeing is only one of the devices classical configurations, he says. But somewhere, not perceived by us right now, there are other versions. According to Neven, this is true for not just tape recorders but all physical objects. Even for systems like you and me, he says. There is a different configuration of all of us in a parallel universe. A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, opening a trial that could see the former leader jailed. The Sharifs have called the corruption proceedings against them a conspiracy, hinting at intervention by the powerful military, but opponents have hailed it as a rare example of the rich and powerful being held accountable. Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. A Reuters witness in court said Sharif, his daughter Maryam, as well as her husband Muhammad Safdar, had all been indicted by the court of the anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Safdar were present in court, but Sharif, who was prime minister twice in the 1990s, sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment. Outside the court, Maryam again hinted at military interference in the judicial process by saying the trial was "a repeat of 1999", the year her father was toppled in a military coup led by former army chief Pervez Musharraf. "These courts aren't new for me. It has happened in 1999," Maryam added, without elaborating. It is not clear if she was comparing the trial to the 1999 coup, or subsequent corruption accusations and investigations that Musharraf ordered into Sharif. Sharif's disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London. The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Sharif but ordered an investigation into his family's wealth. A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the family's wealth did not match its income, and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats. After the probe, the top court disqualified Sharif and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial. Sharif denies ever receiving the small source of income that led to his disqualification. The NAB has in the past been described as toothless because of its low conviction rates, especially when it comes to powerful politicians, and investigations that last many years. But the Supreme Court has ordered the trial to be concluded within six months. Opening arguments are due to begin on Oct. 26. International Capacity Cooperation is Chinas policy answer to comparative advantage, a vast state-planning exercise to coordinate Chinas trade and investment strategy in external geographies. It is the practical industrial policy matrix allowing industries, local governments, and policy banking to intersect with partner economies as part of the wider geoeconomic Belt and Road strategy. For Chinas aluminum sector, which is already heavily state subsidized and widely considered to be dumping on international markets, it represents an opportunity to extend the lifespan of the industrial policy and policy bank model. The formation of an aluminum capacity cooperation enterprise alliance should be a warning signal to the non-ferrous metals industries of Chinas trading partners in Central Asia. BACKGROUND: A forthcoming International Capacity Cooperation 13th Five-year Plan will list Kazakhstan as Chinas main axis to Africa, the Middle East and Central Europe, while it designates Indonesia and Malaysia as the gatekeepers to the Malaccan route to Europe. Industries that China is offshoring include steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, chemicals, automotive, agriculture, construction machinery, and aerospace technologies. Key to Chinas industrial capacity transfer strategy in Central Asia is moving aluminum capacity to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia. To this end, on March 31, 2017, representatives of Chinas aluminum industry met in Beijing with officials of the National Development and Reform Commission, the State-Owned Assets administrator (SASAC) and the China National Nonferrous Metals Industry Association to form the China Nonferrous Metals International Capacity Cooperative Enterprise Alliance. China National Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanxun, said that the combination of the policies Going Out, International Capacity Cooperation, and Belt and Road have resulted in increased foreign direct investment in non-ferrous mines, mineral rights and plants in 2016. Kazakhstans Minister for Investment and Development, Zhenis Kasymbek, was recently on a working visit to China where he met with Chinas Ministry of Transport. The delegation met with representatives of China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC), Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) Gezhouba Cement (construction), Cathay Industrial Biotech (biogenetics and biotechnology), Shandong Hi-Speed Group Corporation (transport infrastructure), Norinco (China Northern Industries diversified defense, vehicles, machinery and construction), Sinosure, Export-Import Bank of China, and the Silk Road Fund. In February 2017, Kazakhstans Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China Shahrat Nuryshev met with Xu Weihong, chief economist at AVIC Securities, discussing construction of a mining and chemical-metallurgical complex in the Zhambyl region and the development of a special economic zone in Pavlodar. The projects are worth US$ 2.3 billion with Chinese partners China Metallurgical Group Corporation, China Machinery Engineering Corporation and AVIC Corporation. The investment in the Kazakh industrial cluster will output titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide and vanadium pentoxide to China for use in the production of aircraft and aerospace industries. China has invested in industrial projects in Kazakhstan, including Kazakhstan Aluminum, Kaz Minerals copper mine in Aktogay, and Petrochinas petcoke project in Pavlodar, all of which are at least partly funded by Beijings policy banks China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. On the Kazakh side, most Chinese aluminum investment roads lead back to Alexander Mashkevichs Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), in which the Kazakh government owns 40 percent. The Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation arm owns a third of the mining and metals sector in Kazakhstan including Kazakhstan Aluminum, Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant, TNC Kazchrome, Sokolov Sarbai Mining, and the Eurasian Energy Corporation. IMPLICATIONS: Much of the Kazakh enthusiasm derives from the high-level international capacity cooperation agreement signed with China in 2015. In January-September of 2016, the inflow of direct investments from China already amounted to US$ 623.9 million, a sevenfold year-on-year increase. This is part of the 50 joint Kazakhstan-China industrial capacity cooperation projects agreed in 2015, worth US$ 25-30 billion over five years, and intended to create industrial cluster cooperation zones in transport infrastructure, manufacturing, construction, and agriculture. However, ERG is large enough to want to invest in China, and feels that reciprocal capital investment channels should exist given Chinas investment in Kazakhstan. ERG is unhappy with existing obstacles preventing it from raising capital on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and instead being beholden to policy bank capital. ERG has argued that its domicile in Luxembourg entitles it to list in Hong Kong under English Common Law, and that the Hong Kong-Shanghai Stock Connect means it is then eligible to raise capital in Shanghai, following the model set by Rusal in 2010. China does not agree and has blocked any attempt by ERG to issue securities in China. Outside China, ERG is cooperating with Chinese policy bank funds to develop projects both domestically and internationally. ERG has partnered with China Nonferrous Metals Industry Group, Export-Import Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Export & Credit Insurance Corp to complete an US$ 800 million copper and cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congos Katanga district. The project will come online in 2018 to supply China with 20,000 tons of cobalt, its single biggest supplier, enough to make batteries for 500,000 electric vehicles. Congos Katanga is home to nearly half the worlds proven cobalt reserves, with cobalt and manganese set to be in high demand due to Chinas battery boom. ERG is also seeking Chinese funding to double the capacity of the Kazakhstan Aluminum plant, which currently produces 300,000 tons per year, requiring around US$ 3 billion of Chinese capital. It has also reached a separate agreement with China Development Bank for at least US$ 2 billion in financing for three projects in Kazakhstan in the aluminum, iron ore and power sectors. Kazakhstan is working to make investment in its aluminum production and mining industries friendly to foreign capital. Kazakhstans Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov said that the Ministry is looking to modify mining tax laws in order to attract more foreign direct investment. According to the new tax law, mining companies will need to pay only after-profit tax, removing taxes for exploration and mining. In order to implement the 100 Steps national industrial policy, the Kazakhstan Ministry of Investment and Development is writing a Codex on Minerals and Mineral Resources for submission to the Mazhilis (parliament) in late 2017. The new code will introduce the first come first served principle based on the Australian model, simplify approvals of mineral exploitation rights, and apply CRIRSCO standards (Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards) to mineral reserves assessments. It is clear that Chinas geoindustrial policy can develop infrastructure in the region and transfer industrial capacity in sectors such as non-ferrous metals, which can help close Kazakh industrial complementarity gaps and fill in the industrial base. In Central Asia, many states retain partially functioning or unclosed industrial complementarity loops, a heritage of their position as peripheral nodes the Soviet continent-wide state industrial planning. Present-day water resources, transport networks, energy networks, and a variety of traditional industrial bases remain dysfunctional or isolated due to the economic decoupling from Moscow. However, it is equally clear that there will be no reciprocal opening of Chinese capital markets and that Kazakh firms can cooperate only under Chinas policy bank model. Private, or state, capital generated on the Kazakh side will not be allowed to cross the mountains back into China. CONCLUSIONS: Chinas International capacity cooperation policy will bring investment to Kazakhstans non-ferrous metals industry, offshoring its excess aluminum capacity. However, capacity cooperation, and the wider Belt and Road infrastructure investment policy are strictly beneficial to China due to its perpetuating policy banking model. In effect, China establishes a parallel trade and investment system, intrinsically tied to Chinese state-owned enterprises and the institutions of Chinese state capital. International capacity cooperation is a genuine attempt to bring entire industrial clusters to Chinas external geographies in order to develop the industrial bases of its trading partners, while offshoring is current cyclical overcapacity problem. Moreover, Chinas fixed-capital investment in the regions traditional industrial bases is a gift that the Central Asian republics cannot afford not to ignore. However, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian partners should be aware that this capital has state-strings attached, and that there will be no reciprocal opening of Chinas consumer, production or capital markets. AUTHORS BIO: Tristan Kenderdine is a PhD candidate at Australian National University Crawford School of Public Policy and Research Director at Future Risk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Image source: By kremlin.ru accessed on 10.19. 2017 When Deborah Beck was preparing her book, Speech Presentation in Homeric Epic , her publisher suggested she make the database she had started in 2008 a searchable catalogue of features from every speech in the Homeric poems available to the public as a web application and companion resource Since the application went live in 2013, more than 5,000 researchers have used it to parse the thousands of speeches found in the Iliad and the Odyssey and to explore different connections from those Beck investigated in her book. "I get emails from people around the world expressing their appreciation for the database," said Beck, an associate professor of Classics at The University of Texas at Austin. "I heard in June from a student in Mexico who used the application to write his bachelor's thesis." However, as new web and database capabilities became available, Beck was finding it challenging to update the application, which was developed using the technologies from the 2000s. Perhaps more worryingly, as browsers change and university web-servers retire, there was a chance that in the future the database might be lost to the sands of time. "As a classicist, the very long-term accessibility of texts is a fundamental prerequisite of our entire discipline," Beck explained. "I can pick up a manuscript from 1,000 years ago and if I know how to read the handwriting, that resource is still available to me. However, I don't have the slightest idea what the availability of resources that are currently digital will look like in 100 years." Papers she wrote as an undergraduate are inaccessible because the writing programs and file formats she used are now obsolete. "I don't want that to happen to projects that I'm connected to." She asked for assistance from the University's General Libraries, who suggested she talk to researchers from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) with expertise in digital archiving and preservation. Together, they set about developing a new way to preserve digital humanities databases. "The value of research data not only resides in its content but in how it is made available to users," said Esteva. "Research data is often presented interactively through a web application, the design of which is often the result of years of work by researchers. Therefore, preserving the data and the application's functionalities becomes equally important." The preservation strategy they developed allows scholars to re-launch the database application in a variety of environments from individual computers, to virtual machines, to future web servers without compromising its interactive features. It preserves the data separately from the interactive application, so scholars can reuse it in other technical and functional contexts. The process exploits aspects of emulation and virtualization techniques applied in business and technology but goes beyond these approaches. It dissociates the web code from the data and re-deploys the entire application on different platforms, including virtual machines. The process has four stages: extracting the data and application code; identifying dependencies (where one object relies on a function of another object) and decoupling the application from the data; redeploying the application and validating its results; and distributing the application to end users. Using this method, a researcher can reboot the application at a later date by starting up a virtual machine image that contains the fully functional application. This approach fits well with the evolving nature of digital preservation and with the requirements for data reuse, the researchers say. For Beck, the project provided an avenue to preserve the research she had done over many years. For Yi-Hsuan Hsieh, it presented an opportunity to apply the computer science principles she is learning in her graduate program to a mature project of value to the classics community. Her main task on the project was to test a dependency detection algorithm that identifies the relations between the web code and the libraries required to redeploy and run the application. "It was exciting to gather experts' ideas from different fields," Hsieh said. "Dr. Beck gave us the motivation to preserve humanity digital projects. Dr. Esteva provided the requirements and goals of digital preservation and Dr. Xu gave ideas about automating the process of identifying dependencies from the web code to significantly reduce human efforts in preserving a web application," she said. The team is currently working on further automating the stages of dependency detection to make the strategy generalizable for other projects and hosting environments. "The value of research data not only resides in its content but in how it is made available to users." Maria Esteva, Digital Archivist, Texas Advanced Computing Center As with any digital preservation method, one must still monitor and update the project occasionally. However, the risk of incompatibility is lower because updates to new web technologies or hosting services can be carried out at any point in a project's lifecycle from the application code and the data. "I come at this project from the perspective of long-term preservation, but the main thing that I came to understand over the course of the work is that having an interactive, accessible digital component to your research means that it reaches more people and it reaches them in different ways," Beck said. "That to me is really important and having a preservation strategy in place that makes it achievable over a longer period of time and with a wider variety of users is critical." | BY Ricki Green | After 9 years at the helm of Clemenger BBDO Sydney, Andy Pontin has decided to step down as CEO of Clemenger BBDO Sydney over the next 6 months. However, he will continue with the agency well into 2018 to ensure a seamless transition to his replacement. Says Robert Morgan, executive chairman of the Clemenger Group: Andy and I have been in discussion for some time and he has been clear that he wanted to step back at the end of the year. I would like to thank Andy for his magnificent efforts leading Clemenger BBDO Sydney over this time. We have had great success under his leadership. Fortunately for us, he has agreed to stay with the agency until June 2018. Pontin joined Clemenger in 2005, initially running the groups direct and digital businesses before taking over the reins at Clemenger BBDO Sydney. He has been a director of the Clemenger Group since 2009. Says Morgan: We will take our time to plan his replacement as he has agreed to continue to work at the agency until June 2018. | BY Ricki Green | Spark Foundry has today announced the appointment of Linda Fagerlund (right) to the role of national head of strategy. In the role, Fagerlund will be responsible for leading Spark Foundrys client strategy team nationally. Fagerlund joins Spark Foundry from Leo Burnett Sydney where she led the connections strategy team, aligning digital, social, media and PR thinking more closely with the creative process. Prior to that, Fagerlund was at News Corp Australia, leading strategic partnerships and solutions for its Customer Solutions Studio for major agencies and brands, including IKON and Blue 449 for Vodafone, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Pfizer and IKEA, among other clients. Fagerlund is passionate about sustainability, recently launching a website dedicated to sustainable and ethical products and brands, miljo.com.au. Says Sue Squillace (above centre), CEO, Spark Foundry: We are thrilled that Linda has joined as our national head of strategy. Her strategic experience in media agencies, creative agencies and with media owners sets us up perfectly to accelerate our clients business and our business in our evolving agency model, that is purpose built for our clients. Says Fagerlund: Im excited to join Sue and the national Spark team as we continue to cement the new brand locally and build client partnerships that extend beyond a traditional media agency into connected experiences using analytics, technology, innovation, PR, content, commerce, and more. Fagerlunds appointment is effective immediately. GOP set to elect leadership; Trump plans announcement: live updates Republicans now need just one seat to gain the House majority, and over a dozen races remain uncalled. Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 11:25PM HMD Global, the company behind the new Android-powered, Nokia-branded devices weve started to see on the market, has just filled in a missing piece in its growing line of Nokia devices with the Nokia 7. Previously, the brand has released Nokia 3, 5, 6, and the 8. In terms of specs and price, the Nokia 7 does fit right in the middle of the pack. It comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor, 5.2-inch 1080p IPS LCD screen, 4GB RAM with 64GB of storage or 6GB RAM with 128GB storage, support for expandable storage via microSD, and a 3,000mAh battery. This model brings in the Nokia 8s bothie feature, which is basically the ability of the phones cameras to take front and rear photos simultaneously. In terms of camera specs, we get a 16-megapixel rear camera with 1.12um pixels and an f/1.8 aperture and a 5-megapixel front camera with 1.4um pixels and f/2.0 aperture. The Nokia 7 is coming to China first on October 24th with the two models selling at 2,499 and 2,699 or around $470 and $507, respectively. No word yet when the phone will be launching outside of China. Source: The Verge Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 3:52AM Samsungs newest partnership with Google dispels certain fears that the South Korean company might be taking steps away from Googles mobile platform. The companies have just announced that Samsung will be bringing Googles ARCore framework to its future smartphones. ARCore, for those in the know, was previously called Project Tango, which made use of special sensors to make augmented reality apps work on smartphones (like the ASUS ZenFone AR). The framework, though, is focusing on bringing AR to all devices and not just those with specialized equipment. The platform focuses on motion tracking, light estimation, and environmental understanding. Samsungs newest devices the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, and Note8, all support ARCore. But this agreement means Samsung is looking to inject the platform into more of its future devices. Source: Android Authority Pulvers' facility for languages was developed over many years both at universities and through living in different countries. He studied Russian in the US, lived in Poland in the mid-1960s and studied Polish cinema, moved to Japan in 1967 to avoid being drafted in the Vietnam War and in April 1972 moved to Canberra to take up a job at the ANU teaching Japanese. 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. Subaru just dusted off a nameplate they havent used in a while: the Rex. This time though, its not being attached to a sub-compact mini or... Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. Kia, together with West Coast Customs are presenting a one-off high performance Stinger during this years SEMA Show. The car will feature a lowered front and rear suspension, a gloss black front grille, carbon fiber aero kit, 21 forged wheels, widebody fender flares, a beefy diffuser and squared-off quad exhaust tips those things are as big as the taillights. There will also be a number of changes made to the Stingers cabin, although well have to wait until Kia deems it appropriate to reveal what they are. The so-called SEMA Stinger GT will be unveiled alongside two other customized Kia models on Tuesday, October 31st in Las Vegas where theres going to be a very strong South Korean presence with Hyundai bringing at least four concepts of their own. Until then, all we can do is try to visualize just how wide and aggressive this one-off Stinger really is. Viewed from the rear, it almost seems like the car was lowered onto an existing wider base, rather than having the fender extensions built around it. Honda has dolled up its tiny Japan-only convertible, the S660, with the Komorebi Edition, coming next week to the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Described as a fun to look at, fun to drive, invigorating open-top two seater thats very fashionable, this special edition kei-car comes in three colors, including the Hidamari Ivory Pearl, pictured here, contrasted by the brown soft top. Inside, the S660 Komorebi, whose name translates into sunbeams leaves, features a light tan leather for the seats and part of the dashboard on the passengers side, in addition to a special aluminum plate that decorates the console. Aside from the visual upgrades, the manufacturer kept the 0.66-liter turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine that powers the regular models. The unit makes 64PS (63hp) and comes paired to a CVT transmission, which is the only choice in the case of the Komorebi, while the rest of the lineup can also be had with a six-speed manual gearbox. The Honda S660 Komorebi Edition will be joined by a variety of concepts and production cars made by the Japanese brand, at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, which starts on October 25, for the press, and three days later for the public. PHOTO GALLERY Mitsubishi has unveiled its new Drive for Growth plan which calls on the automaker to launch several new models and increase investments into research and development. The strategic three-year plan aims to increase annual sales and revenues by 30 percent. If the company is successful, Mitsubishi will sell 1.3 million vehicles annually by 2020 and have revenues of 2.5 trillion yen ($22.1 billion). The plan also calls on the company to investment more than 600 billion yen ($5.3 billion) into capital expenditures and research and development. Despite the massive investments, Mitsubishi says it will maintain financial discipline and generate positive free cash flow during the period. Globally, Mitsubishi will launch 11 new or redesigned models including the Eclipse Cross and the XPANDER. Six of these vehicles will be entirely new and the company expects to introduce approximately two vehicles every year. Mitsubishi went on to say the company will launch an electric kei car in 2020 and by the end of the plan, the company expects its five best-selling global models to account for 70% of total sales volume. Besides introducing new vehicles, Mitsubishi will launch an expansion drive in China, Japan, and The United States. In America, the company will improve its dealership network with the aim of increasing sales to 130,000 units in the 2019 fiscal year. In a statement, Mitsubishi Motors CEO Osamu Masuko said We will rebuild trust in our company as our highest priority, successfully launch new vehicles, and achieve a V-shaped financial recovery. These will be the foundations for our future sustainable growth, which will involve increased capital expenditure and product development spending. Photo Gallery The all-new Polestar 1 coupe was originally going to be branded as a Volvo, the Swedish company has confirmed. At the global launch of the car, Polestar boss Thomas Ingenlath revealed to Motor Authority that Volvo planned on launching the car as a two-door variant of the S90, potentially dubbed the C90. However, Volvo chief executive Hakan Samuelsson approached Ingenlath two years ago about bringing the Volvo Concept Coupe to the market as a standalone Polestar model. Despite his reluctance, Polestar began developing the vehicle by overhauling the T8 Twin Engine and through the extensive use of carbon fiber. Upon driving a prototype, Ingenlath said he was convinced the vehicle could wear a Polestar badge. Interestingly, the Polestar 1 will only be available to customers through a 2- or 3-year subscription service. Production is expected to commence in mid-2019 at a production facility in Chengdu, China. PHOTO GALLERY According to Buzzfeed, where the letter first appeared online, the letter has been in the works since at least last week, meaning that it is not specifically related to Cartoon Brews report earlier this week that Nickelodeon had suspended The Loud House creator Chris Savino after a dozen allegations of workplace harassment against women. The signatories are requesting that all studios institute clear and enforceable sexual harassment policies, and that studios further pledge to take reports of workplace harassment seriously. Additionally, the letter asks that male colleagues start speaking up and standing up for us when they see sexist remarks or sexual harassment happening at the studio, and that the union creates new policies to expel those who are found guilty of conduct which is prejudicial to the welfare of the guild. The letter is signed by 217 people comprising a whos who of the animation industry, among them prominent show creators Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Lauren Faust (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic), Shadi Petosky (co-creator, Danger & Eggs), Rikke Asbjoern (co-creator, Pinky Malinky), and Julia Pott (Summer Camp Island); industry execs Audrey Diehl (vp of series, Warner Bros. Animation), Jenna Boyd (director, kids & family creative, Netflix), and Jill Sanford (kids and family creative development, Netflix); and numerous other high-profile creative talents including Adventure Time director Elizabeth Ito, Pearl production designer Tuna Bora, Dreamworks TV Animation supervising producer Aliki Theofilopoulos, Bobs Burgers writer/supervising producer Wendy Molyneux, Frozen and Kung Fu Panda 3 story artist Clio Chiang, and Wreck-It Ralph 2 assistant production designer Mingjue Chen. Below is the full text of the letter: An Open Letter to the Animation Community We, the women and gender non-conforming people of the animation community, would like to address and highlight the pervasive problem of sexism and sexual harassment in our business. We write this letter with the hope that change is possible, and ask that you listen to our stories and then make every effort to bring a real and lasting change to the culture of animation studios. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, many of the women who work in animation have begun discussing more openly issues that we have dealt with quietly throughout our careers. As we came together to share our stories of sexism, sexual harassment and, in some cases, sexual assault, we were struck by the pervasiveness of the problem. Every one of us has a story to share, from tossed-off comments about our body parts that were framed as jokes to women being cornered in dark rooms by male colleagues to criminal assault. Our business has always been male-dominated. Women make up only 23% of union employees, so its no surprise that problems with sexism and sexual harassment exist. Sexual harassment and assault are widespread issues that primarily affect women, with women of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups affected at an even greater rate. As more women have entered the animation workforce, it seems that some men have not embraced this change. They still frequently make crass sexual remarks that make it clear women are not welcome on their crews. Some have pressed colleagues for romantic or sexual relationships, despite our clear disinterest. And some have seen the entrance of more women into the industry as an opportunity to exploit and victimize younger workers on their crews who are looking for mentorship. In addition, when sexual predators are caught at one workplace, they seem to easily find a job at another studio, sometimes even following their victims from job to job. We are tired of relying on whisper networks to know who isnt safe to meet with alone. We want our supervisors to protect us from harassment and assault. This abuse has got to stop. The signatories of this letter demand that you take sexual harassment seriously. We ask that: 1. Every studio puts in place clear and enforceable sexual harassment policies and takes every report seriously. It must be clear to studio leadership, including producers, that, no matter who the abuser is, they must investigate every report or face consequences themselves. 2. The Animation Guild add language in our constitution that states that it can censure, fine, suspend or expel any member of the guild who shall, in the opinion of the Executive Board, be found guilty of any act, omission, or conduct which is prejudicial to the welfare of the guild. To craft and support the new language, we ask that an Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Committee be created to help educate and prevent future occurrences. 3. Our male colleagues start speaking up and standing up for us. When their co-workers make sexist remarks, or when they see sexual harassment happening, we expect them to say something. Stop making excuses for bad behavior in your friends and co-workers, and tell them what they are doing is wrong. It has not been easy for us to share our stories with each other. Many of us were afraid because our victimizers are powerful or well-liked. Others were worried that if they came forward it would affect their careers. Some of us have come forward in the past, only to have our concerns brushed aside, or for our supervisors to tell us hes just from a different era. All of us are saddened and disheartened to hear how widespread the problem of sexual harassment still is in the animation industry, and how many of our friends had been suffering in secret. It is with this in mind that we resolve to do everything we can to prevent anyone else from being victimized. We are united in our mission to wipe out sexual harassment in the animation industry, and we will no longer be silent. Signed, Photo: Contributed Not many people in Kelowna are familiar the history of the city's Chinatown. That's about to change. As part of Canada's sesquicentennial celebrations, a new sign will be unveiled in City Park Saturday, commemorating the city's historic Chinatown. The unveiling is scheduled for 11 a.m., followed by an event at the Rotary Centre for the Arts, featuring a discussion on local Chinese history, traditional Chinese dance, a bazaar and silent auction and Chinese food. Although Chinese labour and businesses were key in Kelowna's development, they were also excluded from the larger community, leading to the establishment, and eventual disappearance, of Chinatown. The Chinese initially emigrated to Canada to join the gold rush in 1858. Others came later to help construct the transcontinental railroad. Later, in Kelowna, they filled the need for agricultural workers. Funding for the historical marker was shared between the Canada 150 Community fund, the City of Kelowna, Central Okanagan Foundation and Okanagan Chinese Canadian Association. Content was a collaboration between the Okanagan Chinese Canadian Association and the Kelowna Heritage Museum. Photo: Contributed As B.C. prepares for the annual "Shakeout" earthquake drill, a new survey suggests only seven per cent of British Columbians are emergency ready." The Ipsos Reid and St. John Ambulance poll revealed 34 per cent of British Columbians rate their households overall level of emergency readiness as excellent or good, despite their lack of preparation. Only seven per cent of respondents have created an emergency plan, purchased an emergency supply kit or trained in first aid and CPR. After receiving the survey results, we realized how few people are truly emergency ready in this province, and we needed to do more to make it easy for people. We created the www.SETforEMERGENCY.com website, which provides four easy steps to become emergency ready," said St. John's Sandy Gerber. The survey found 64 per cent are most concerned about an earthquake or house fire, while 57 per cent fret about an extended power outage. "It is not enough for people to purchase a 72-hour emergency kit. To be really ready for any emergency, one needs to have an emergency plan, a kit of supplies, be trained to administer first aid and continue to maintain their supplies and skills for an emergency, said Karen MacPherson, CEO of St. John Ambulance for B.C. and Yukon. Thursday at 10:19 a.m., B.C. residents will practice how to Drop, Cover and Hold On during the Great BC ShakeOut earthquake drill. Register your participation at at www.shakeoutbc.ca/register. Portugals interior minister has been replaced amid criticism over the governments handling of a series of deadly forest fires that have killed more than 100 people in four months. October 19, 2017, 10:05 Portugal interior minister resigns after deadly wildfire STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS:Constanca Urbano de Sousa handed her resignation to socialist prime minister Antonio Costa Wednesday, bowing to increasing political pressure as the death toll mounted, the Guardian reports. After this summer, nothing can remain as before, said Costa, who initially resisted the demand for Urbano de Sousa to go before backing down while admitting the state service providers had made serious errors in tackling the problem. If you want me to apologise, then I apologise, Costa said speaking in parliament while Urbano de Sousa lamented in a resignation letter not having the political and personal conditions necessary to carry out my functions. She will be replaced by deputy prime minister Eduardo Cabrita, the government announced on Wednesday. On Sunday, a series of deadly wildfires broke out in the centre and north of the country which killed 42 people and injured another 71, the civil protection agency said. Similar huge blazes in June killed 64 people and injured 250 near the central Pedrogao Grande region, in what were the deadliest wildfires in the countrys history. In all, some 280,000 hectares (690,000 acres) of forest in Portugals central Pinhal interior region have been laid waste so far this year in the countrys worst natural disaster in living memory, according to European monitors. The fires have prompted a rural exodus, said professor Rui Amaro Alves, a specialist in land management at the Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute. Those who have stayed behind are mainly the elderly in scores of little villages right in the forest, Alves said. With so many having fled the land lies all but abandoned and recent severe drought afflicting the area has only exacerbated the problem. Most of the area is home to pine and eucalyptus, with the increasingly dominant latter, a mainstay of the paper industry, especially flammable. Photo: Contributed Some back alleys in Kamloops are much more appealing thanks to a work experience program that transformed the area in to safe, usable spaces. The alleys have also become a popular destination for walking, sightseeing and photography. The Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association (KCBIA) received more than $19,000 in government funding for its Back Alley Art Gallery Job Creation Partnership project, where the two participants are learning about large-mural creation and other career-enhancing skills. The participants are gaining work experience in urban design and painting techniques as they work on the murals, scheduled for completion by Oct. 20. The first mural, behind Kelson Place at 301 Victoria St., celebrates the former Leland Hotel built on that spot in 1905. The second mural, behind Subway, 316 Victoria St., is entitled The Mystic and was created to promote peace and love. The third mural, The Jaguar, located behind Mittz Kitchen, 227 Victoria St., depicts an Olmec/Inca temple and draws inspiration from diverse cultures. Our initial instincts that the murals would become a tourist attraction have proven to be true. We have seen an increase in pedestrian traffic in the back alleys with people touring the murals and stopping to take photos with the works. We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the Kamloops arts and culture landscape and will continue to do so, said Ryan S. and Shannon G., project participants in a joint statement. We worked well together as a team in a fast-paced, positive and fun environment. We enjoyed the social engagement with city folk, and its great exercise! We learned many painting techniques and tricks from talented lead artists. Photo: Contributed The 2018 Vancouver police dogs calendar features four-legged members of the VPD Canine Unit posing in Vancouvers historic Chinatown in celebration of the Year of the Dog. The calendar is funded and produced by the Candy Anfield Memorial Foundation, which was created by retired VPD Sgt. Mike Anfield in honour of his wife, a VPD officer who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2004. Calendars are $15, and all of the money raised goes to the BC Cancer Foundation and BC Childrens Hospital Foundation. Last year, the calendar raised $26,000. Photo: Google Street View Arena management at the City of Kelowna will be monitoring the outcome of investigations into the tragic ammonia accident that killed three workers at the Fernie arena Tuesday. Building services manager Martin Johansen says he was as shocked as anyone that the accident resulted in the death of two city workers and one employee of a refrigeration company hired to do maintenance at the arena. Johansen says he believes it was a catastrophic event that occurred which released the ammonia, making it , as he described, difficult for anyone to get away from. "We've been discussing this all day. Hopefully, there are some lessons that can be learned. I can't remember anything like this happening, at least in an arena facility," said Johansen. "We want to know what happened. Maybe there's some new directives and measures put in place to make sure this type of accident can't happen in the future." Johansen says ammonia leaks do happen at arenas in Kelowna from time to time, in fact, Rutland Arena was evacuated about three weeks ago for an ammonia leak. However, he says most of those are minor in nature. "It may be once every couple of years we have a leak we need to deal with. "As far as I can recollect, they've all been minor. A gasket leak you might have on a radiator on your car where there's a bit of water coming out because the gasket dried out." Johansen says the ice plants themselves at both Rutland and Memorial arenas are as old as the buildings, but the compressor are rebuilt annually and other components are replaced at the end of their theoretical life cycle, usually 20 years. Ammonia is highly toxic, and Johansen says it is never circulated in any public areas of the arenas. "It's contained to special machinery room." Photo: Flickr/Vincent Leander A Fraser Valley man faces child porn charges after police seized a large collection of child sex images in Abbotsford. Travis Butler, 38, is charged with two counts of making child pornography available and one count of child pornography possession after police seized numerous computers and storage devices in September. Thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children were found by police when examining the electronics. Butler has been released from custody on a number of court-ordered conditions, including not owning or using any device capable of accessing the internet or communication with anyone known to be involved in sexual exploitation of children. He may not contact anyone who appears to be underage outside of a service industry setting and must stay away from public parks, schools, pools, playgrounds and anywhere you might expect to find children and underage teenagers. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Facebook Ashley Aoki, on a recent volunteering trip to Tanzania. Inspired by the Me To We" youth conference held in Vancouver last year, a local teacher has organized an event in Penticton to build leadership among Grade 5 students. The conference to be held Wednesday at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre will be the first of its kind in School District 67. "I am stepping into a brand new position as a Grade 4/5 teacher and leadership is such huge piece of my practice, so I thought, 'How can I remind them of the significant importance of their role as a Grade 5 leader," said Ashley Aoki, Naramata Elementary School. Aoki travelled to Tanzania this summer with a large group of students, where she became ever more inspired to host the student conference this fall. There will be a variety of known community members who will speak, along with a few middle school students. "I just thought, 'Who are the people that I want to have at this conference and why do I want them there?'," Aoki said. "The soon-to-be students and staff of this conference are really fortunate to have amazing people within our community presenting." Taking on a leadership role starts with a single step and begins with an idea, according to Aoki. "It doesn't need to be revolutionary it can start simply by hosting a lemonade stand and having that money go towards the SPCA," she said. "That feeling of 'wow, I'm really helping a cause greater than myself,' is going to be revolutionary." The all day conference runs from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Oct. 25. Students will be bussed back to their schools following the event. Photo: Facebook David Revell's application to have his deportation order reviewed has been dismissed. A judge has dismissed a former Kelowna Hells Angel associate's application to review his deportation order, after the Canadian permanent resident was ordered out of the country. David Revell, an English-born 53-year-old who has lived in Canada since he was ten years old, was deemed inadmissible to Canada on the grounds of serious criminality and organized criminality. The order stems from two sets of convictions in the Okanagan. The first was a 2008 conviction of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking of cocaine, resulting from a July 2005 bust, which was part of a province-wide crackdown on the Hells Angels. The second convictions came in 2013 after Revell pleaded guilty to an assault with a weapon in Summerland and an assault causing bodily harm in Vernon, stemming from allegations made by his girlfriend at the time. Revell was sentenced to five years of jail in 2008 and was given a suspended sentence with two years of probation for the two assaults in 2013. In July 2016, the Immigration and Refugee Board issued a deportation for Revell, sending him back to England, where he is a citizen. In his application for a judicial review of the decision, Revell argued that the consequences of his deportation, namely being removed from his family, would be a grossly disproportionate punishment. Revell has three children in Canada and three grandchildren. He works in Provost, Alta., but regularly returns to Kelowna to be with his family. He lives in Provost with his girlfriend of two years. Revell has no ties to England, and testified that without his family support, he may not survive the move due to emotional devastation. He also claims he does not pose a risk to society, making the deportation cruel and unusual treatment of him. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association was an intervenor in the case, and argued that deportation would violate Revell's Charter rights. "Regardless of his citizenship, Canada is his home country," the BCCLA submitted. Despite the support from the BCCLA, Justice Catherine Kane dismissed Revell's review application, disagreeing with Revell's idea of cruel and unusual. As a long-term permanent resident, the deportation order may appear harsh, and perhaps slightly disproportionate, if as he claims, he is at a low risk to reoffend and does not present any risk to public safety and given that he has called Canada home since childhood, Justice Kane wrote in her decision. However, this does not rise to the level of being grossly disproportionate or cruel and unusual. Photo: @NVanEmergency UPDATE: 9:20 p.m. Four people were rescued after being stranded in the Capilano River. The rescue mission was difficult and crews had a rough time getting to the four people. Highway 1 has now re-opened. ORIGINAL: 7:05 p.m. Firefighters in North Vancouver are performing a swift water rescue in Capilano river. The darkness will make a swift water and rope rescue more difficult, said District North Vancouver firefighters on Twitter. Crews responded to the area at about 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday. DriveBC said Highway 1 eastbound, the right lane at Capilano Road is blocked for the water rescue. It is not clear at this time how many people are being rescued. Photo: Contributed On Monday, the Liberal government announced it will abandon some of the proposed tax changes that had generated a considerable amount of concern and opposition throughout our region. Although it is unclear what the total scope of changes will be, any time a government listens to overwhelming opposition it deserves recognition. My greater concern is the pattern that has emerged. Over the past year, the Liberals have raised proposals to: tax employer-provided health and dental benefits finally close the stock option tax loophole increase the small business tax tax employee discounts. All of these measures the Liberals have since indicated they plan to abandon, raising the question what will be the next tax increase proposal? As the Liberals continue to run deficits much larger then they promised and have no path to return to a balanced budget until possibly close t2050, a plan will be needed to reconcile this situation. Given that the Liberals continue to increase spending, most recently over $216,000 just to produce the cover of the most recent Budget document, it seems clear they will continue to look for ways to increase taxes. While the Liberals back down on small businesses tax increases has been generally well received, the finance minister remains firmly under fire in Ottawa. At issue was the recent disclosure that Bill Morneau has a corporately registered private villa in France as well as significant personal assets that are not placed into a blind trust. As a result, the NDP has written to the Ethics Commissioner demanding a full investigation. The Conservative Opposition has used an Opposition Day debate to call for the full tabling of the assets held by the finance minister. Ultimately, the question raised is what impact does the finance ministers potential policy decisions have on his own personal finances? This is ultimately why cabinet ministers, provincially and federally, are required to make full disclose of personal assets to ensure they do not unduly benefit from policy decisions they may be involved with. Some believe this disclosure is an invasion of personal privacy and that it is an unfair expectation that elected officials utilize mechanisms such as a blind trust that currently is not mandatory. My question this week: Should it be a mandatory requirement that the personal financial assets of cabinet ministers be placed into a blind trust? This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. With budget deliberations looming, the Mayor of Penticton says they will be taking a look at funding of the city's tiny bylaw department, as more and more gets thrown at its feet. The three-person unit was praised by the neighbour of a notorious house Tuesday, who complained that the department is underfunded and unequipped to deal with nuisance properties in the community. This summer, residents bemoaned the lack of enforcement for non-smoking bylaws on public beaches. Complaints about vagrancy have also been burying city hall. Fire department costs, RCMP costs increase as well, so it's always this balance we have to find, Andrew Jakubeit said on this weeks Mayors Minute. Bylaw in the past, has always sort of been the poor cousin to the RCMP and fire department. Jakubeit said the citys bylaw department is a revenue generator for the city when it comes to parking enforcement and other fines, which could in part help pay for another officer. Thats part of the business case that staff will have to put forth to council. Hopefully that helps to validate or rationalize why adding another position or two makes sense, he said. When it comes to issues like nuisance properties, the Mayor says the city should also be looking at stiffer fines or the ability to recoup costs like they already do for repeat false alarms for emergency responders. He also mulled directing the department to have staff work into the evening. Right now, the three officers work a Monday to Friday, half day Saturday schedule, but violations like vacation rentals and noise complaints usually come after 5 p.m. 2018 budget talks will take place later this year. Photo: Alanna Kelly Sandbags removed after discovery of 20,000 bags left behind. Piles of old sandbags that were left on the foreshore of Okanagan Lake in Kelowna have been cleaned up and removed. The 20,000 sandbags were discovered by a resident walking near Maude Roxby Wetlands Boardwalk Trail and had been left there since flooding in June. Since this was brought up, we thought it would be important for us to make sure it was dealt with as fast as we can, said park services manager Blair Stewart. Cleanup started eight days ago and now the beach is back to normal. BC Wildfire crews spent more than 40,000 man-hours producing and deploying more than two million sandbags across the Okanagan during the flooding crisis. The terrain was in enemy territory and under the control of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. But there was no place for a chopper to land. Defence Force helicopter pilot, Captain Charlie Andrews, was ordered by PNG Defence Force Commander Brigadier General Jerry Singirok to get Captain Belden Norman Namah out of there. DEEP IN THE MOUNTAINS of Paru Paru village not far from Panguna mine - the village of the late secessionist leader and first president of Bougainville, Joseph Kabui a delicate military action was underway. Captain Namah in a daring display of bravery was airlifted from the bush by hanging onto the skid of the chopper. Only a very strong and highly skilled man could do that. Namah was a highly trained Special Forces Unit commando. Did Belden Namah, now Opposition Leader of Papua New Guinea, tell me the story to impress me? No. I heard the story from someone else and asked Namah to confirm if it was true. "Yes it's true, he replied. That was it. There are many more tales of Namahs military exploits and deeds to be told. Some, still classified, will no doubt surface later. His role in rescuing OPM (Operasi Papua Merdeka) hostages the in two separate incidents near the PNG-Indonesia border in 1996 and 1999 still needs to be told. I know Opposition Leader, Hon Belden Namah, very well. He is not scared of anything. He only fears God. He is a fighter and he doesn't go down easily. Namah made Peter O'Neill who he is today and he is the only one who can undo or outdo him. You can bet your last kina that no other politician can do that. Not even old man Somare. If he was prepared to sacrifice his life and help save more than 360,000 lives on Bougainville and later go to jail with two comrades for resisting an intervention by mercenaries in the infamous Sandline Affair, does anyone seriously believe that an arrest warrant will scare him? Why is so much speculation and false information about the Opposition Leader posted in the social media especially Sharp Talk? Do his critics miss him that much? Everybody loves a hero. PNG certainly needs many more heroes. When I wrote, during the political impasse, that retired Colonel Yaura Sasa would go down in the minds of many Papua New Guineans as a hero, I was criticised because Sasa had been charged with mutiny. About one year later the mutiny charge against Sasa was thrown out thanks largely to leading Port Moresby lawyer Tony Waisi, from West Sepik. And the hero who quelled the so-called mutiny was none other than Belden Norman Namah, who should be credited for defusing a potentially deadly clash between factions of the army and the police force. No other politician would have the guts to enter the sanctity of a Supreme Court to order the arrest of a chief justice. Was Belden Namahs action, as acting prime minister at the time, justifiable? Most people - not knowing the full story - would probably say no. People knowing the full story would probably still say no. The story, though, is still incomplete. Some of us are too good at tearing down people and our political leaders based on false information and incomplete stories fed to us by a biased foreign and domestic media. Take Sasas case, for example. Many people made vile and stupid comments and were scared to go near him or to be seen publicly supporting him in case they somehow incurred the wrath of the former ONamah regime. One veteran politician even called my husband, law graduate and former MP Gabriel Ramoi, who the Opposition Leader addresses as his big brother, crazy. My husband was one man who did not hesitate to set his political preferences aside as a matter of principle - to publicly support Sasa by becoming one of his bail guarantors. Many people from all over PNG took the time to find Gabriels mobile number and called him to congratulate him for supporting Sasa, whilst most of the PNG Facebook crowd continued to have fun hurling insults at Sasa as well as at me. Now the boot is on the other foot. You can tear down but you cant tear up! Having been publicly called a Somare propaganda machine, pro-Somare troll, anti-Belden, anti-Namah in the past and just recently a strong Somare supporter and a Namah spin doctor on Facebook, I want to place on record that I supported the actions of both Sasa and Namah, although they were on opposing sides, because they both did what they believed was right according to the circumstances at the time. I admit that I am still pro-ONeill and was among the first to publicly congratulate him, via national radio, on his election to the prime ministers post in August 2011, the day after he was elected. I repeat, nobody can undo or outdo him except Belden Namah! Yes, it is true that I - as well as millions of other people - were influenced negatively by the Star Casino story; but I soon found out that this story was a set up. In fact, I challenged people on Sharp Talk to prove me wrong. One administrator commented on my post: Yesterdays news is good for smoking. And then a biased admin possibly the same admin - deleted my post just as I was about to respond to certain comments made by other people. In a recent Facebook poll asking people to vote yes or no if Peter ONeill should resign, I answered yes and no. Yes if the letter with Peter ONeills signature approving payment to Paul Paraka Lawyers is not a forgery. Napway Kunum, an engineer from Jiwaka Province, working on a fly in fly out basis on an offshore gas plant in Iraq, knows Belden Namah well from their student days at Sogeri National High school. I asked Napway to share his recollection of Namah. Napway, was president of the Judo Club at Sogeri at the time and his room-mate was Gerald Alec from Sandaun Province. Napway recalled that Belden - who was one year behind him and Gerald - would go to their room every Wednesday to join them at judo training. He is one of those that did not speak much but will listen attentively and then go ahead and will get things done,, recalled Napway, on that you can depend on him. He was always in a hurry trying to get something done. He also described Namah as quiet and easy going with determination. If things arent right, hell throw himself at it to get it right. Those are his traits. One thing, hell call a spade a spade. Hell be loyal to you when he knows that what you are doing is good for people and country. If its not hell be in the way. Thats all the way from Sogeri. It appears they spent a great deal of time talking about the OPM freedom movement in West Papua. OPM kept us busy discussing them into the night, said Napway who added, Its not surprising that BN joined the army, and I thought Gerald also did. One thing I found about BN is that he always had respect for me and Gerald, and he would listen attentively. Gerald and he would discuss the suffering of the West Papuans and I would listen in on how unfairly they were treated. Theyll say itll be best to help them out. So there and then I knew that BN would always fight for the underdogs, and thats natural, his inbuilt character. When Napway, who has worked in many places in PNG and overseas as an engineer in the petroleum industry, was in Kutubu he knew three security supervisors who had been in the army and served in Bougainville during the civil war. They said BN is one hell of a person who can move single-handedly forward after he planned out an operation and those were daring ones. They didnt tell me the full story but I could gather from what they were saying that BN was one hell of a warrior. I confided in Napway: In this very volatile world, you and I know that PNG needs BN. Napway replied: PNG needed BN 40 years ago, Sonja, and thats not kidding. Thats not discrediting our fathers who brought us to independence. They did what they could. Between independence and now, we let greed get in the way of developing our nation. And thats where we need him. And thats 40 years back. Certainly nobody can rightfully claim that Belden Namah is greedy, certainly not when he is probably Papua New Guineas first multimillionaire philanthropist politician who gives from the goodness of his heart and not to get publicity. Are there so many gullible people around? If it was true that Belden Namah is a power-hungry would be dictator, then why did he hand power over to Peter ONeill, practically on a golden platter, when he had the numbers and the money to become prime minister himself? One thing is for certain, considering the tremendous support he had at the time, he could have simply snapped his fingers and taken over the country if he had so desired. People who have recently implied that he is not patriotic and unfit to be Opposition Leader because he was absent from the country need their heads read. They may as well call every Papua New Guinean who travels overseas unpatriotic and unfit. I ask those critics two simple questions - do other world leaders not travel overseas? Do other world leaders not do live interviews from whatever location they happen to be in at the time? Belden Namah is a world leader - whether some stupid people like it or not - who at least can afford to pay for his travels around the world using his own private funds. Not long ago he was in Europe. Ask yourself - how many politicians can purchase airfares and stay in five star hotels using their own honest, hard earned money? It seems that not many people know that Belden Namah is a self-made multimillionaire today because he wisely invested the money he made - starting many years ago before he entered parliament - from his share of timber royalties. This was after he lobbied successfully and aggressively for a huge increase in the price paid per cubic meter to landowners by foreign loggers. "There is no arrest warrant. It's media propaganda", the Opposition Leader told me recently after I once again expressed my concern to him at the false reports still being circulated about him on Facebook. I previously advised people recently in response to a false post on Sharp Talk that figuratively speaking 'BN will be back with both guns blazing'. Well, if people do not see any guns blazing that does not mean he is not back. Furthermore, Namah is not the type of politician who talks for the sake of hearing himself talk. Starting from day one, he has made his stance very clear on the asylum seekers and many other issues more than enough times already. Why should he keep on repeating himself like a fool for fools? If people missed what he has said they can always look it up! Namah is a man who is short, sharp and straight to the point. He is a 'silent achiever' who does not go around boasting and bragging about what he has achieved in order to appear more popular by scoring likes on the social media forums. Although he was incredibly popular and his presence widely appreciated in the social media, he deactivated his personal Facebook account about 18 months ago when he was deputy prime minister - because he found being on Facebook too time-consuming. Belden Namah is a leader who believes in sharing duties and responsibilities. He does not have a monumental ego that says, 'me, me, me unlike certain other politicians who enjoy scoring political points by attacking and trashing their opponents. Namah certainly would never shout at anybody merely for asking questions, unlike some more loudmouth leaders. Where other leaders are haughty and hypocritically full of themselves - with their egos maybe somewhere up in the sky - Namah is down to earth, humble and honourable. No, I do not work for him, nor have I ever received money from him. Nor am I a political novice or groupie or spin doctor or propaganda machine. I have met and spoken with many politicians and statesmen governor generals, prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, opposition leaders, speakers, ministers, ordinary MPs, premiers, deputy premiers, presidents, lord mayors at both national and local level from when I was a kid. Politics is in my blood. It is in my family on both sides. I foresee that Belden Namah will become prime minister one day and that he has a long political career ahead of him akin to two political icons and giants from the Sepik: Sir Michael Somare and Sir Pita Lus. The only way his political opponents and enemies can defeat him is to completely destroy his character, then lock him up for life or kill him. Why should he tell the public whether he is in Port Moresby or Bewani or Singapore or Paris for that matter? His security is high stake. We are not talking about the politics of Papua New Guinea 20 years ago. There are too many jealous, ignorant people around these days. Namah did not put his personal welfare first when he agreed to do his ABC interview from Singapore; he put his countrys welfare first by speaking out against the Regional Resettlement Arrangement - signed unilaterally by Peter ONeill and Kevin Rudd. Until recently, I would normally keep confidential what politicians I know and what I know about them. However, I recently advised people on Sharp Talk that I know Belden Namah very well. I was sick of reading defamatory nonsense and crappy comments about him on Facebook and on blogs - posted by people who do not know the real Belden Namah. The critics against the asylum deal should be lobbying their MPs to publicly oppose the Regional Resettlement Arrangement instead of wasting time and energy badmouthing and gossiping about Belden Namah. At a time when the Opposition Leader needs support to defeat the proposed amendments to the Constitution on the floor of parliament and thereby defeat the asylum deal, people have been unrealistically discussing his replacement and unnecessarily creating divisions amongst his supporters. How stupid is that? What the critics should be asking is - are all those MPs who moved across to swell Peter ONeills ranks sucking up to him? And sucking up to him for what? Belden Namah has always come out openly to rebut false allegations made about him because he has nothing to hide. How about ONeill and other politicians? "We are duty bound to give back to our people their sovereignty, freedom, pride and independence, Belden Namah said recently. We are an independent nation. Australians have f'ed us up since they colonised us. They left us with basically nothing when we became independent in 1975. We can't afford to bring them back. We do not need their support either. We have all the wealth in the world God has blessed us with. All we need is a strong, vibrant, prudent and patriotic leadership. We are the only ones who can provide that to protect our people from neo-colonialism and corporate greed. May we be God's instruments of change for our people and our beautiful country. Photo: RCMP Surrey RCMP are on scene of yet another shots-fired incident in Whalley. About 9 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 13300 block of 90th Avenue. Sgt. Steve Pebernat says occupants of a light-coloured sedan fired at a dark-coloured SUV, and both vehicles fled eastbound on 90th Ave. Officers canvassed the neighbourhood, and initial indications are this was likely another targeted incident in an ongoing turf war between street gangs in the city. Anyone with information is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca. Photo: The Canadian Press Canada's chief negotiator for the original NAFTA says it would not be the end of the world if the agreement disappeared, suggesting it might be a better outcome than letting the Trump administration rewrite the rules of international trade. John Weekes told a panel discussion this week that he hopes Canada remains at the negotiating table until the very end and that if talks ultimately break off blame should lie squarely with the Trump administration. He says the new American administration is trying to distort the purpose of the trade agreement with its proposals: a five-year termination clause, a gutting of the oversight mechanisms and extremely aggressive demands on autos, dairy and Buy American. The 1990s negotiator says parts of the talks are proceeding nicely, in areas that deal with new, modern chapters. It's the part involving the renegotiated portions that is off to an extremely poor start, he told a panel organized by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. "They're all very problematic," Weekes said of the proposals. "It's the renegotiation where the negotiations are in real trouble. And I think that the proposals from the United States that I've read about... seem to me to be so extreme that one really has to ask the question whether President Trump wants to have a NAFTA or is looking for an excuse to get out of it. "I think it's very clear from a Canadian point of view that Canadians are going to look at these negotiations from the point of view of, 'Is the outcome better than what we went in with, or worse?' And, you know, the NAFTA's been a very valuable agreement. But it wouldnt be the end of the world if it disappeared." He said ending NAFTA might be temporary maybe a future U.S. administration would re-join. But he suggested that might be better than tailoring a trade deal to Donald Trump's preferences. So waiting out the Trump era might be a better choice. Photo: transmountain.com Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. said Wednesday that it's already facing potentially months of delay on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project because of the timing of permits and regulatory approvals. "If you just took the delays experienced to date, and just flowed that through the schedule, we believe that results in a nine-month delay," said CEO Steve Kean during a conference call following the company's third-quarter earnings release. He said, however, that there are ways to reduce that delay and potentially claw back the project to the scheduled December 2019 in-service date. "There's work to be done on mitigation, there's work to be done on permitting, and there's work to be done with our contractors," he said. Kean said that because of the delays, about $340 million of project spending scheduled for 2017 had already been pushed back. The project has already received hundreds of permits from British Columbia, but will require well over a thousand from the province, said president Ian Anderson during the call. Permits have continued to come in after the B.C. NDP were sworn into power in the province, he said. The new provincial government has vowed to use whatever legal means necessary to stop the $7.4-billion pipeline project. Many in B.C. oppose the project and Kinder Morgan Canada is facing intense scrutiny, including chastisement last month for installing fish-spawning deterrents without proper approvals in place. The company applied for an exemption to allow it to place more deterrents, saying not getting them in place could delay the project by up to a year. It then withdrew the application after finding fish had already started spawning in the areas. Photo: Contributed Export Development Canada says exports are growing significantly as both the U.S. and the global economy continue to improve. The crown corporation said in a report out Thursday that overall exports are expected to grow eight per cent in 2017, led by "massive gains" in the commodity space, and four per cent next year. "Things are definitely improving with respect to the U.S. and global economies, notwithstanding the issues around trade negotiations and political risk," said Todd Evans, principal at EDC Economics in an interview ahead of the report's release. "When it comes to a synchronized global upturn, this is pretty good. In terms of that synchronicity it's pretty much as good as it gets." At $77 billion, EDC says oil and gas exports are forecast to have grown by 31 per cent, after production was hit last year by the Fort McMurray wildfire. The boost from energy exports will make up half of the gains for the year, though EDC says that growth is expected to flatline in 2018 as high levels of global oil supplies come online. Ores and metals are also seeing gains this year, with double-digit growth led especially by increases in iron ore exports, but lower anticipated prices next year for the metal are likely to slow growth in that sector as well. EDC says aerospace should also come out ahead this year after a weak showing last year, while forestry is expected to take a hit both this year and next from the ongoing softwood lumber dispute. Photo: Facebook A tentative agreement has been reached between Brinks Canada Ltd., and Unifor, to avert a strike that was due to begin Thursday. The agreements covers about 800 Brink's workers in Ontario and another 260 in British Columbia. Unifor says details of the tentative deal will be released after ratification votes are cast in the coming days. Union spokeswoman Kathleen O'Keefe earlier said the key issue at the bargaining table was how many people are in the armoured vehicle. She said in most cases, there are only two people in the truck and the union wants that increased to three. Other issues included wages, overtime pay, pensions and benefits. The union says it is recommending that its members approve the deal. "Bargaining teams representing British Columbia, the Ottawa region, and the remainder of Ontario worked very hard together," said Unifor president Jerry Dias in a statement. "I congratulate them on obtaining a fair deal that includes a break-through in reaching a common expiry date in three bargaining regions for the first time." Photo: The Canadian Press Chrissy Brett at the Oak Bay homeless camp in Victoria, Wednesday. A nomadic group of homeless people has chosen one of Canada's wealthiest communities to pitch tents and draw attention to housing shortages for disadvantaged people across British Columbia. The latest location for the wandering group of 15 people is Willows Park, a seaside recreation area in the Victoria suburb of Oak Bay, known for its tea rooms, elderly population and turn-of-century mansions worth millions. Homeless camp spokeswoman Chrissy Brett said the campers arrived Wednesday after taking down their tents at the District of Oak Bay's municipal hall. She said the campers spent seven nights on municipal property. "Every municipality should look at currently having a municipal campground available," she said. "This is more comfortable here than wandering the streets." Brett spoke as a pelting rain with gusting winds threatened to lift her tent from its supports, while large waves crashed upon the nearby beach. "The government needs to recognize Canadian citizens who are homeless," she said. "In Canada, you're a fourth-world person in a first-world country if you are Indigenous or homeless." Brett said the group has camped in various Victoria-area communities for the past seven weeks, moving every seven days. She said the group spent three weeks at different locations in Victoria, two weeks in nearby Saanich and will be in Oak Bay for at least two weeks. Oak Bay's deputy police chief said the community is well aware of the campers and police have been on the watch, but so far it has been peaceful. Ray Bernoties said Oak Bay's bylaws do not permit overnight camping in municipal parks, but since the campers have said they'll move within seven days police will wait and watch the situation. "We're constantly reassessing and we'll continue to do that and in the meantime we're monitoring and liaising on a regular basis as we are with the neighbours," he said. "So far there have been no violent incidents, no property damage. There have been no noise complaints. At this time I'm inclined to wait them out and hope they keep their word." Photo: Colin Dacre UPDATE 2:20 p.m. The City of Penticton says it has repaired the water main break. The area is currently being cleaned up and staff expect the intersection to be open by 4 p.m. The road will likely be closed again sometime next week to restore the asphalt and concrete. ORIGINAL 7:30 a.m. The City of Penticton is dealing with a water main break on Lakeshore Drive. What is being termed a 'major' break, occurred between Martin and Main streets about 1 a.m. Thursday morning. As a result, the city has been forced to shut down the water main. A fire host jumper connection has been installed to restore water service to the Lakeside Hotel and surrounding area. All properties in the area of the break should have water. The intersection at Martin and Lakeshore has "sunken significantly, forcing the city to close Lakeshore Drive has been closed between Main and Winnipeg streets and from Martin Street north to Estabrook Avenue. Traffic has been detoured around the area and transit has been rerouted. City staff are currently working on a plan for repairs. Photo: Facebook The Central Okanagan School District has some big shoes to fill. Larry Paul, the district's chief financial officer/secretary-treasurer, is stepping down before the end of the year. Paul has accepted a position with Rocky View Schools in Airdrie, AB., which is scheduled to begin the middle of January. "The board is sorry to see Mr. Paul retire, but is supportive of his desire to move on to other opportunities," said board chair Moyra Baxter. "Mr. Paul has been an integral member of the senior management team of the school district and has initiated a number of programs that have enhanced student learning, whilst ensuring the district remains fiscally healthy. "Mr. Paul's leadership has resulted in a significant contribution in the construction, expansion or modernization of most every school facility within the district." Paul was first hired by the district in 1996 as director of finance. He moved up to his current position in 2001. In a brief statement in a news release issued late Wednesday, Paul said he both enjoyed, and valued his time with School District 23. Prior to coming to the Central Okanagan, Paul worked in the Coquitlam school district. "The senior management team is excited for Mr. Paul, but regretful that he is leaving the district," said Supt. Kevin Kaardal. "As a member of the senior leadership team, Mr. Paul's contributions over the years have supported the district in becoming one of the highest performing education systems in the province. He has formed many friendships and positive professional relationships in the district and community." No replacement has been named. Photo: Dianne Vandergulik Storm damage in Lake Country. Only a few of homes across the Okanagan are still without power as a result of Tuesday's windstorm. According to BC Hydro's website, about 150 customers in the Central and North Okanagan are without power, mainly due to lines down. The largest group is in the area of Okanagan Centre Road, where 75 customers had their power go out about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. A crew has been assigned to the outage, however, no time frame for a restoration of power has been determined. In the North Okanagan, power has yet to be restored to 35 customers after it went down Wednesday afternoon. Another 20 customers in Spallumcheen lost power just after 6:30 a.m. this morning. That outage has not yet been assigned. More than 27,000 BC Hydro customers across the Okanagan have had their power restored. Environment Canada is forecasting winds gusting at times to 50 km/h and a potential for thunderstorms this afternoon. Photo: BC Wildfire Service File photo of smoke lingering over Kamloops. Wildfire smoke in July and August significantly impacted the health and lifestyles of residents in the Kamloops area, say doctors. They have issued recommendations, including preparing air shelters for those without proper ventilation. A report published by the Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment Society said the air quality during the unprecedented wildfire season had direct physical, psychological, social and economic impacts to citizens. In early August, the smoke was so thick in Kamloops that it reached 18 out of 10 on the Air Quality Health Index with citizens at high risk. An online survey conducted Aug. 7-Sept. 4 found more than half of the 641 respondents (54.5 per cent) categorized their lifestyle as severely affected by the wildfire smoke. The survey also found: 502 people suffered from throat irritation (79 per cent) 502 people suffered from eye irritation (79 per cent) 474 people suffered from headaches (75 per cent) exercise outdoors was severely affected in 346 (54.8 percent) of respondents 58 people (9 per cent) wore a mask to exercise outdoors at all Only one person reported going to hospital with severe symptoms while five used the emergency room, 13 had to go to a community health provider and 147 used more of their usual medications such as inhalers, sinus tablets, or other pills. The majority, 65 per cent, toughed it out. We encourage the health authorities to develop a system of monitoring the health of the population in B.C. for both short term and long term health impacts, the report stated. It also called for alerts with a timescale that could describe short-term fluctuations in the smoke produced by wildfires. During extreme smoke events, the report said the province should: supply facemasks of the proper quality to adequately filter out the fine particles produced by wildfires prepare a disaster response plan should include industrial sized filters installed in strategic public buildings to act as air shelters for those who do not have homes with air-conditioners or furnace fans The group said some respondents to the survey wanted better surveillance, fines and actions taken against those starting fires through careless human activity. Sir Arnold Amet MEDIA RELEASE | Deep Sea Mining Campaign PORT MORESBY - Former Papua New Guinea attorney-general Sir Arnold Amet has joined the growing opposition to Nautilus Minerals Solwara 1 deep sea mining project in the Bismarck Sea off New Ireland. It is understandable that Nautilus shareholders want to protect their own financial interests but new investors should beware, the Solwara 1 project is very high risk, said Sir Arnold. The muddy puddle at the so-called test site at Motukea Island near Port Moresby is not fit for purpose. It will not provide any evidence that these machines wont malfunction at the intended operating depth of 1.6 km. The hulks are already deteriorating in our tropical conditions. Canadian company Nautilus is still seeking funds for its flagship Solwara 1 deep sea mining project. Commercial operation has been delayed year after year since it received its licence to mine the floor of the Bismarck Sea in 2011. Alanna Kelly Nurses at Kelowna General Hospital are frustrated with parking changes, saying it's now costing them more than double to park at work. Interior Health parking manager Andrew Pattison says there hasn't been an increase, but instead the health authority is just enforcing the rules. I think the biggest thing to point out right out of the gate is the metered parking has always been intended for patients and visitors at the hospital, not staff, he said. One nurse said parking is costing her $120 a month now. They used to offer one-month parking slips for $53. Also three-month slips, if you desired, for $154, he said. Now, they offer neither, only hourly, daily or weekly, which ... is now $30 a week. One-year passes are available to staff for $392.64 a year, but there is a three-year waitlist to get one. Nothing has changed for the patients or visitors. It is just we wanted to add some control to ensure the parking is available for the public who are trying to come to KGH, said Pattison. Staff who spoke to Castanet Wednesday were outraged to discover the lot they normally parked in had a bag covering the pay station stating pass holders only. Theres no information about anything. How am I supposed to resolve this issue? said another staff member. The hospital tries to allocate 60 per cent of parking to staff and 40 per cent to visitors and patients. We never wanted staff to park and take up the patient visitor spots to begin with. So, yes, a staff member could perceive this as an increase, but in reality they were never intended to park in those areas, Pattison said. Off-site parking has been made available five blocks away for $1 a day. IH is offering a five-block walk for parking at Cottonwoods in a dirt spot that is already over-filled. For nurses and other staff that are on their feet all day, the thought of a five-block walk, especially at night and in winter, is not only dangerous, but not wanted, said one nurse. Pattison encourages staff to consider carpooling. Photo: Contributed Pentictons 100 Men Who Care donated $7,100 to three South Okanagan charities last week. The group heard from and helped the Osoyoos Desert Society, Penticton Rotary Club and South Okanagan-Similkameen Medical Foundation. They group handed the Rotary Clubs Starfish Pack Student Weekend Meal program $5,680, the Osoyoos Desert Society $710 for work in preserving and promoting the unique environment of the region and the South Okanagan-Similkameen Medical Foundation $710. 100 Men Who Care meet four times a year to hear from local community groups, with each man donating $100. The men then vote and 80 per cent of the pot goes to the charity with the most votes, while the rest is split between the runner-ups. Anyone who is interested can register as a member online. Information on a similar 100 Women Who Care organization can be found here. Colton Davies Officials are taking action to have a clearer idea on the health of salmon populations in Canada on a year-to-year basis, with a focus on the Pacific region. Its why a new plan has been drafted by Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The DFO is hosting open houses all over B.C. and in the Yukon in October and November to consult the public on the plans that they have come up with. On Wednesday night, they were in Penticton showing their plans at the Penticton Lakeside Resort. "It's an opportunity for our partners, community groups that we work with, First Nations and others who have an interest in salmon stocks across the province to work with us," Angela Bate said, DFO area director in the Fraser Valley and Interior. One scientist said the new five-year plan is more attainable than those that have been drafted in the past. He expects this plan, once it is finalized early in 2018, will be evergreen and renewed every five years. "The general aims and objectives are to maintain the rich biodiversity of the five species of pacific salmon that (the DFO) manages in this region," Kim Hyatt said, research scientist with the DFO. Hyatt added that with the new plan, the DFO will hope to continue doing useful work with their partners in maintaining the integrity of salmon habitats. The DFO is meeting with First Nations groups as well after conducting these open houses. They will spend Thursday with the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Hyatt said the ONA has been a key partner in preserving salmon populations in Okanagan waterways. The public can view the implementation plan online and give feedback to the DFO until mid-December. Photo: The Canadian Press Minister of Finance Bill Morneau speaks during a tax reform announcement in Erinsville, Ont., Thursday. Embattled Finance Minister Bill Morneau says he plans to put his substantial personal assets in a blind trust, hoping to tamp down an escalating controversy over conflict of interest allegations that have threatened to undermine the federal Liberal government. Morneau also says the plan is to eventually sell off all of his and his family's shares in Morneau Shepell, the human resources and pension management firm that bears his name. The former businessman who said Thursday he currently owns about a million shares in the company had insisted he made sure to disclose all his assets to the federal ethics watchdog when he came into office, and he that he followed her recommendations very carefully to avoid any conflicts of interest. "I perhaps naively thought that following the rules and respecting the recommendations of the ethics commissioner ... would be what Canadians would expect," Morneau told a news conference. "In fact, what I have seen over the last week is I need to do more." When asked what made him change his mind, Morneau acknowledged that the issue has become a major distraction and was taking away from what he characterized as his important work as Liberal finance minister work he wants to continue doing. "We have a process in place in our country that previous finance ministers have used, that all other MPs have used. It's a process of going to the ethics commissioner and working with her to come up with the best approach in your individual situation," he said. "But at a certain stage, we can't have tin ears. We work for Canadians. I am trying to make sure that we are successfully improving the lives of Canadians across the country, so if we're getting distracted because some people are worried about my personal situation, it's time to move on. And that's what I've decided to do." Today's move aimed at silencing Morneau's increasingly vocal critics could also be considered a tacit acknowledgment that the rules themselves are in need of an update, something the ethics commissioner herself has suggested in the past. Commissioner Mary Dawson said this week she told Morneau a blind trust wouldn't be necessary, since his shares were indirectly held through private companies and were therefore not considered a "controlled asset" under the Conflict of Interest Act. However, Dawson urged the previous Conservative government in 2013 to amend the law to require blind trusts for personal assets owned by public office holders, regardless of whether they were directly or indirectly owned a change that was never made. Photo: SORCO Facebook A massive halloween party with Houdini the great horned owl takes place next weekend in Oliver. "Halloween with Houdini" is open to 200 kids ages 8-12, on Oct. 28 at the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls in Oliver. "We will have four different haunted rooms that will each have spooky games in them and Houdini will be outside available to have pictures taken with him," said SORCO manager Dale Belvedere, adding that 80 kids have already registered. "We thought this would be something fun for the kids to have the opportunity to spend time with a real owl for Halloween." SORCO, a non-profit organization, rescues more than 150 birds a year, "All donations that we receive will go directly to bird care, their medicine, their food etc.," Belvedere said. The party, which also includes trick-or-treating, takes place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets for the event are $5 per child and all kids must be accompanied by an adult. All children must wear a costume and must pre register at [email protected] Photo: CTV Grand Chief Stewart Phillip Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is confident the political strife within the Penticton Indian Band will resolve itself, as the the band pushes forward with byelections for five council seats left vacant by resignations. The path forward is to proceed with the byelection not to dwell on the current situation, he said Thursday. Phillip was clear the comments were being made as a PIB member and former leader, not in his current capacity as President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He said in his 24 years on PIB council 14 as Chief he went through some pretty challenging times. But I never once thought about quitting, Phillip said, adding council members have a responsibility to serve their community by serving out the terms they were elected for. PIB Chief Chad Eneas is currently facing a political insurgency from a segment of the community calling for an entirely new election in the wake of five councillor resignations. Instead, the band has announced a byelection to fill the seats for Nov. 22. At a nomination meeting last week, the divide within the community was on display as opponents of Eneas attempted to declare the meeting illegal. The opponents, including former Chief Jonathan Kruger, were upset the band's longtime elected electoral officer was dismissed in favour of an outside third party. The former officer, Valerie Baptiste, had previously called for a new election. The federal government has said it will not be getting involved in the situation, as the PIB as a custom election code. The two sides are pretty entrenched in their world view, Phillip said, reiterating that the band has to push forward with the byelection plans to put the turmoil behind them. Phillips wife, Joan, is one of the candidates running in the byelection, something the dissident group raised in a letter to media this week that questions the Grand Chiefs impartiality. The full list of the confirmed byelection candiates below: Photo: Contributed The Okanagan Fest of Ale Society donated $60,000 in net proceeds from the 2017 event to charity this week. At a presentation on Oct. 12, event organizers and volunteers gathered to celebrate the success of the 22nd annual event. The $60,000 will be distributed amongst 20 local charities and nonprofits. This is one of the largest disbursements to charity weve had the pleasure of distributing and brings the total donations made by the Society to $637,660 said John Cruickshank, President of the Okanagan Fest of Ale Society. The 23rd edition of the Okanagan Fest of Ale takes place April 13-14 2018 in Penticton. The full list of supported groups below: Photo: Nicholas Johansen Gas prices shot up across much of Okanagan, Thursday. Gas prices have taken a jump across much of the Okanagan. After prices hovered around 115.9 cents per litre for several weeks in Kelowna, gas stations have begun to increase prices to 121.9 cents per litre. Further south, Penticton has risen from 110.9 cents per litre, up to 121.9 as well. Meanwhile, Vernon gas prices appear to remain at 115.9 cents per litre for now, according to GasBuddy.com, a website that monitors gas prices. As prices rise in Kelowna and Penticton, the provincial average is rising as well. While the average across B.C. was 116.3 cents per litre a week ago, it now sits at 124.4 cents per litre. Across Canada, the average price per litre is 110.5 cents. Photo: Regional District Okanagan Similkameen The area of land in the Okanagan Falls town centre plan subject to be revitalized and densified, outlined in blue. A plan three years in the making for revitalizing and densifying the town centre of Okanagan Falls will need some tweaks before its approved. The Regional District Okanagan Similkameens board voted down the third phase of the town centre master plans on Thursday. The vision of the plan is "that Okanagan Falls town centre will become a compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly town centre that is oriented towards Skaha Lake and optimizes public access to the waterfront," according to a report given to the RDOS. That report from Urban Forum Associates, a Vancouver-based company, said there are several factors to indicate there is growth and attraction potential in Okanagan Falls. Those factors include the town's natural setting on Skaha Lake, the amount of travellers that pass through town on Highway 97, and several undeveloped properties north of the highway. But the plan was put on ice after concerns were raised by a prominent local landowner about a north-to-south pedestrian walkway from Highway 97 to 8th Avenue. Robin Agur, the owner of the property where that walkway would be built through, argued against the plan. The 3.5-acre parcel he owns currently houses a RV Park, but the property is largely undeveloped. Agur, a longtime Okanagan realtor, said a walkway would jeopardize future development on that land. "It could be a multi-storey unit that would bring revenue and people to Okanagan Falls," he said. "Theres not a lot of other spots to do this And to carve it up, just doesnt make sense to me. Eleven board members agreed, and voted down the plan. One of those in favour, Area D director Tom Siddon, expressed disappointment in the result, as he felt the master plan had general community support. It will be re-worked and will come the board again in 2017. Sign up for our newsletter AUBURN Janet Reohr wanted to send a message to U.S. Rep. John Katko: She doesn't support the Republicans' plan to reform the federal tax code and she hopes Katko, R-Camillus, won't vote for it in Congress. A group of local residents held a rally outside Katko's Auburn office Wednesday. There were other protests outside the congressman's district office in Syracuse and satellite offices in Oswego and Wayne counties. Reohr, a Union Springs resident, doesn't believe the GOP tax plan will spur economic growth. Proponents of the framework say by lowering the corporate tax rate and other changes, it will help create jobs and increase competitiveness. "I think we want (Katko) to be very thoughtful about what kinds of tax breaks he's going to be supportive of," Reohr said. "He has said he's supportive of the GOP tax plan. It isn't much of a plan yet." After Republican leaders unveiled the tax plan in late September, Katko said he was "encouraged" by the framework. While specific details of the plan haven't been released, it would reduce the number of income tax brackets from seven to three. The new brackets would be 12, 25 and 35 percent. It would double the standard deduction and increases the child tax credit. The Alternative Minimum Tax would be repealed. For businesses, the corporate tax rate would be lowered to 20 percent. For small businesses, the rate would be 25 percent. "Families deserve to take home more of what they earn and our local businesses must be given an opportunity to compete on a level playing field," Katko said. For those protesting the tax plan, one of the main concerns is who would benefit from the proposal. Jonah Minkoff-Zern, an activist with the CNY Solidarity Coalition who helped organize the rallies, labeled the proposal as "tax giveaways" for the wealthy. He cited an analysis conducted by the Tax Policy Center which found 75 percent of the benefit would go to the top 20 percent of earners. "We're not the people who are going to receive the tax benefits, but we are the people who are going to receive the cuts in services," Minkoff-Zern said. Sally Stormon, of Auburn, agrees. She's been involved with Indivisible Cayuga, a local group that formed in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Like Reohr and others who stood outside Katko's Auburn office, Stormon doesn't support the tax plan in its current form. "I think that that is going to not help the middle class or the poor. I think it's going to help the rich," she said. Activists planned the protests to coincide with the House of Representatives' district work week. The House isn't in session this week and most members returned to their districts. However, Katko isn't in central New York. He's leading members of the House Homeland Security Committee on a trip to Europe and the Middle East to examine security at airports and other transit hubs. Despite Katko's absence, Stormon felt it was important to send a message. "There are those of us who don't agree with those policies and that if he's going to represent his entire district, he should not vote along party lines," she said. "He should represent all of the members of his district." Professional dancers have you ever dreamed about New York? Parents have you ever wished for a New York experience for your child? Well Ballet Wichita has brought New York to the Mid-West! Ballet Wichita Executive Director Sandy Wolter and the board of directors are excited to announce two national New York personalities as the new Artistic Leadership for the ballet company! Guest Artistic Director, Ballet legend Karen Brown of Dance Theatre of Harlem fame and 2017 Nutcracker Director and Choreographer Sean McLeod, International Producer & American Choreographer will lead Ballet Wichita into their Fall Season and a brand new Nutcracker being created by McLeod. Have a look at the exciting process that has Wichita a buzz during the recent auditions for the 2017 Nutcracker at Wichita State University! Previous Next Tennessee American Water encourages customers to participate in the fall Drug Take Back day. Residents are encouraged to drop off their unwanted medications at approved collection sites so they can be incinerated, which is the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) recommended approach for pharmaceutical disposal. Both flushing medications down the toilet and throwing them in the trash are discouraged.The fall Drug Take Back will be held on Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.The purpose of this event is to keep drugs out of the environment and off of our streets. This past spring, over 2000 pounds were collected and properly disposed.This event is a great opportunity for residents to securely drop off any unused or expired medications, said Valoria Armstrong, Tennessee American Water president. Its important for us to keep these items out of our landfills and water supplies as well as the hands of those who may misuse or abuse them.Since 2009 Tennessee American Water has partnered with local pharmacies, law enforcement and drug prevention organizations to offer citizens a chance to safely and conveniently dispose of unwanted, unused prescription or over-the-counter drugs (for both pets and people) and avoid misuse or unintentional harm to families, pets and the environment.Properly disposing of medication reduces the chance of teenage experimentation and overdose. We encourage residents to take advantage of the Drug Take Back day by simply driving to one of the locations and dropping off medication with no questions asked, said Camilla Bibbs, executive director of the Hamilton County Coalition (local drug prevention organization).There will be 12 collections sites in Hamilton County and two in Bradley County. Thanks to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Consumer Affairs, sites in green will have document shredders available for personal documents such as tax information or medical records.Locations in Hamilton County:East Ridge - Walgreens at 5301 Ringgold RoadHixson Walgreens at 5478 Highway 153East Brainerd - Walgreens at 2289 Gunbarrel RoadMt. Canaan Church 4801 TN Highway 58Northshore Walgreens at 110 North Market StreetRed Bank - Food City at 3901 Dayton BoulevardSignal Mountain Police Department -1111 Ridgeway AvenueBrainerd - Walgreens at 3605 Brainerd RoadOoltewah - Walgreens at 9307 Lee HighwaySt. Elmo Walgreens at 3550 Broad StreetEast Brainerd Elks Lodge #91 at 1069 Graysville RoadSoddy Daisy Walgreens at 121 Harrison LaneLocations in Bradley County:Cleveland Walgreens at 35 25th StreetSheriffs Office 2290 Blythe Ave., SEAlong with Tennessee American Water, other sponsors for the Drug Take Back are:Count It! Lock It! Drop It!Chattanooga Police DepartmentCity of ChattanoogaDrug Enforcement AdministrationEast Ridge Police DepartmentFront Porch AllianceGRAABHamilton County CoalitionHamilton County Sheriffs OrganizationRed Bank Police DepartmentSignal Mountain Police DepartmentSoddy Daisy Police DepartmentTennessee Department of Commerce & Insurances Division of Consumer AffairsTennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse ServicesTennessee Department of Environment and ConservationTennessee Bureau of InvestigationWalgreens The 78, a 62-acre plot of land south of the Loop and primed for redevelopment, is one option offered to Amazon by the city. It "represents one of the most ambitious and transformative development projects in Chicagos history," the city said, and is the site of a proposed tech incubator from the University of Illinois. (Related Midwest rendering) Two days after submitting a bid for Amazon's 50,000-job second headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Chicago is bracing for a multistep competition against cities throughout North America that is likely to extend into 2018. Emanuel and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Monday that the Chicago area's Amazon proposal had been submitted. They have not revealed any details of the bid, but during a meeting Wednesday with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Emanuel said he was optimistic about the city's chances of landing one of the most competitive headquarters deals in decades. Advertisement Seattle-based Amazon's Sept. 7 announcement that it sought a city for a second headquarters, one that could accommodate up to 50,000 high-paying jobs over the next decade and a half, started a scramble in cities of all sizes. New Jersey has said it is offering $7 billion in state and city incentives to bring HQ2 to Newark. Emanuel declined to elaborate on the local bid Wednesday, other than to say about "eight to 10 sites" were under consideration. Advertisement "They may want to go horizontal, a la Merchandise Mart," Emanuel said. "And they may want to go vertical multiple places, all on a tight footprint. My big point to them is, anything you want, in any shape or form, we can do." Developers of four Chicago sites have confirmed to the Tribune that they plan to court Amazon. Those sites are Lincoln Yards, the planned redevelopment of the former A. Finkl & Sons steel plant and other North Side land along the Chicago River; the former old main post office at the river and Congress Parkway; land owned by Tribune Media along the Chicago River and Halsted Avenue, north of downtown; and the former Michael Reese Hospital site and other land in Bronzeville. "There's a financial incentive package that the state, the city and the county worked together on," said Emanuel, who declined to specify the value of the incentives. "(Amazon's) biggest thing is, can you be ready on day one for us to be ready on day one?" "Which city's better prepared to give you 5,000 new workers on day one? Chicago," Emanuel added. "Which city is better connected with more flights to Seattle, where the other headquarters is? Chicago. Which city has the broadband network of the United States underneath it? Chicago. Which city doesn't have weather problems, hurricanes and earthquakes, and (has) cheaper utility rates of any other city? Chicago. That is a huge advantage." Chicago officials expect "a winnowing process" in which Amazon will narrow the list of prospective cities for HQ2 multiple times before picking a winner, Emanuel said. The mayor expressed optimism that Chicago stacks up well against other cities and differentiates itself from Amazon's headquarters city, Seattle, which Amazon has outgrown. A rising cost of living, skyrocketing housing prices and homelessness have been, in part, attributed to Amazon's rapid expansion in the Pacific Northwest. Amazon also has 8,000 unfilled positions in Seattle, as the company struggles to find room for growth, Emanuel said. "The biggest competitor we have right now is, 'What is inadequate about Seattle?'" Emanuel said. "That's how we're going to first get measured, not just against Dallas, Denver, Boston, Atlanta, (Washington) D.C. We're going to be measured against, why is it that they're even looking for a second headquarters?" Advertisement Chicago's livability, large population, central location, universities, airports, public transportation and availability of land align with Amazon's stated preferences for a second headquarters city, he said. Amazon will accept bids through Thursday. The company has not said when, or if, it plans to announce which cities it is considering after the deadline passes. rori@chicagotribune Twitter @Ryan_Ori RELATED [ Reed: Bidding high is worth the risk to win Amazon's second headquarters ] [ Massive development along Chicago River's North Branch is new option for Amazon HQ2 ] [ Bronzeville's Michael Reese Hospital site is latest offering for Amazon's HQ2 ] Seymour Library in Auburn is inviting the community to be part of its 2019 calendar by posing for a bird's-eye view drone photo at Holland Stadium at 3:45 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20. Community members will stand on the field of the stadium to spell out "READ" for the camera. Participants are asked to wear the library's colors of blue, yellow, orange or red. The event is open to all ages, and participants should meet on the steps of the stadium, 191 Franklin St., Auburn. Angela Ahrendts was working in London as CEO of Burberry in 2014 before Apple CEO Tim Cook lured her to the technology company to help reimagine Apple's online and physical stores. The 57-year-old Indiana native is a mother of three and, as senior vice president of retail, Apple's top female executive. She's in Chicago to open the company's new glass-walled flagship store along the Chicago River on Friday The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Advertisement Q: Why did you choose Chicago as one of the first locations to have the new Town Square concept, with a freestanding pavilion? A: We've had the store on North Michigan Avenue since 2003. It was one of the first flagships that we'd opened. It was very innovative in its time. That was 13 years ago. Apple is a lot bigger. A lot of things have changed. We wanted to really reinvest in Chicago and the Midwest. The team actually went and sat with the mayor's office. The mayor's office said it was really looking for opportunities to turn the riverfront back on again. And so with that, the team set out and found this incredible plaza. We're still on Michigan Avenue. Advertisement Q: What are some of the details in the new store? A: It was designed in partnership with Jony Ive and Foster + Partners the same team that did Apple Park (in Cupertino, Calif.). We totally redid the entire plaza, putting stairs on the inside and outside. We've never done this before. The pavilion is totally glass, all the way around. From Michigan Avenue, you can see all the way through it to the river. The reason for all the stairs is that we wanted it to be so transparent, it looks like the pavilion becomes one with the plaza. We are the live version of Apple Music, we are the live version of that app store. There are tens of thousands of app developers in Chicago, they now have a place to come and show the city what they've done, even help teach the city. A: What other details can you provide? A: As part of the launch, we've created what we call the Chicago Series. It's a set of five programs, each with a different area of focus, that highlights our intersection between technology and liberal arts. It's over the course of four weeks. Every one of the programs is co-created with local nonprofits. And they each focus on a theme or project designed to make a positive impact on the city. We've never done this before. We have a program called "Accelerate Your Startup Idea" with (tech incubator) 1871. It's to inspire any of the participants to develop a startup business concept that will positively impact the city of Chicago. And then we provide them with additional solutions to help turn their idea into a business. We are working with (artist) Theaster Gates, we're working with (photo app) VSCO. Q: What about inside? The current stores are already places where people regularly gather. A: We've always done a lot of the basic courses, they've mostly geared around technology. We said, What are the four or five things that people mostly do on their products? And that the next generation will need as well? We said, How do we evolve our the curriculum so every few months there's a new program to help you to the next level. We're doing that with photography, we're leaning into music, we're leaning into art and design. We're leaning into app development. We announced a new position, called creative pro in the store. One for photography, art and design, music and app development. Apple's head of retail Angela Ahrendts welcomes media to a preview of Chicago's new Apple store, opening Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. Q: We've heard some big names will be attending the new store's opening. Will Tim Cook be one of them? Advertisement A: We're finalizing all the RSVPs now. It was less about the big people. It's for the city of Chicago, that's why we're doing this, so most everyone we've invited are businesses, politicians, up-and-coming young artists, app developers that are in our ecosystem, photographers. It's a wide-ranging group of interesting people. Q: What about critics who look at your sales and say the stores are great, but Apple is going to have to work something else out, namely exciting customers with new products. Are you working on any new products? A: I think we have a lot of products in the pipeline that we can't wait for. Q: What kind of goals have you set for yourself and the company with this new bricks-and-mortar retail experience? A: You know it's funny. We look at it in terms of total retail, we don't break it down. I don't think it's healthy for retailers today to just micro everything by channel. That's not how the customer shops and behaves. So we look at total retail. What drives traffic? What builds loyalty? What inspires consumers to go further with their products? Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 19 People enjoy the warm weather near the Apple Store along the Riverwalk on Feb. 27, 2018. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) The No. 1 role of every company is to build loyalty. No different than our beautiful products. These big (stores), we are being very selective about where we put them. So Chicago is one of the top 10 stores in the world, you would expect Apple to have an incredible presence there. The original purpose for starting retail (at Apple) was the mission to enrich lives. That's in the DNA of what retail is. The job is to enrich lives, you do that and the rest will follow. Advertisement Q: Do you have plans for other Chicago-area stores? A: We have about 100 (stores worldwide) that have the new store design. We are absolutely putting Chicago-type locations in the top cities in the world. And at the same, yes, we are investing in what we call our classic stores and as leases expire, we are looking to replace as many as we possibly can every single year. So as they come up across the state, we're looking case-by-case. We've been doing about 30 a year for the last couple of years. Q: In light of the Harvey Weinstein revelations and the #MeToo movement, what is the expectation you have for your male colleague executives to take the lead in curbing sexual harassment in the workplace? A: Zero tolerance. And I think every one of us has to be strong. On any type of assault or discrimination I think we've come a long way. It's not just women, it's anybody. That is core to Apple's values it's one of the reasons I came here. The onus is on every one of us, to thyself be true. Q: What's your perspective on the work/life balance? How do you manage those pressures? A: To me it's all about the choices that we make. We are all in different life phases. You're young, you're single, you're mobile. I always encourage them to take that time to see the world, go to other Apple stores. But then you're in another life phase where you have children and settle down, etc. So there's tremendous opportunity for you, but you do have priorities. Your spouse is a priority, your children are a priority and of course your work is a priority, but you gotta keep them in that order. They have to keep them in that order, because some day their kids will fly the nest and I would like them to live happily ever after with their partner. Advertisement crshropshire@chicagotribune.com Twitter @corilyns RELATED STORIES [ Chicago's new riverfront Apple store will cost $27 million, not $62 million ] [ Kamin: Apple store likely to go without rooftop logo ] [ Apple flagship store, Mag Mile office building sold for $360 million ] Shoppers at Fairplay Foods, 4640 S. Halsted moments after the beverage tax was officially repealed Wednesday October 11, 2017. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is dropping a lawsuit against the county now that the tax has been repealed. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) In light of the repeal of Cook County's short-lived soda tax, a group of retailers is dropping a lawsuit that delayed the implementation of the penny-per-ounce charge. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association filed the suit against the county in Cook County Circuit Court in June, alleging the tax was unconstitutional and vague. It fueled the conflict between retailers and the county leading up to the tax's original July 1 implementation date, just before the Fourth of July weekend. Advertisement Ultimately, the suit delayed the tax rollout by about a month. After a circuit court judge allowed the tax to take effect, the retailers filed an appeal. "Our first priority was to ensure consumers and retailers would not be saddled with this tax," Rob Karr, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement. He also thanked the county officials who last week voted to repeal the tax. Advertisement The beverage industry spent millions fighting the tax, which applies to both sugar- and artificially sweetened drinks. Many Cook County retailers and restaurants also fought the tax after watching customers leave the county for their pop purchases. As of Dec. 1, the tax will no longer be collected. amarotti@chicagotribune.com Twitter @AllyMarotti The 78, a 62-acre plot of land south of the Loop and primed for redevelopment, is one option offered to Amazon by the city. It "represents one of the most ambitious and transformative development projects in Chicagos history," the city said, and is the site of a proposed tech incubator from the University of Illinois. (Related Midwest rendering) Gov. Bruce Rauner and the University of Illinois unveiled plans Thursday for a proposed Chicago innovation center on part of a sprawling, undeveloped 62-acre South Loop site, but another major tenant may be waiting in the wings. Owned by developer Related Midwest, the long vacant former rail yard, bordered by Roosevelt Road, Clark and 16th streets, and a half-mile stretch of riverfront, is also the fifth site identified as a possible future home for Amazon's second headquarters. Advertisement Chicago submitted its bid to land Seattle-based Amazon's so-called HQ2 on Monday, joining dozens of municipalities vying for a project expected to bring a $5 billion investment and 50,000 new jobs from the online retailing giant. "We haven't seen the bid that Chicago put in, but we believe our site was part of that bid," Related Midwest President Curt Bailey said Thursday. Advertisement The city hasn't revealed the specifics of its bid and a spokesman wouldn't confirm Thursday that the Related site is one of the "eight to 10 sites" Mayor Rahm Emanuel said were under consideration. The Tribune has identified four other sites in the mix for Amazon: the former A. Finkl & Sons steel plant and other land along the Chicago River near Lincoln Park and Bucktown; the vacant old main post office along the river and Congress Parkway; 37 acres owned by Tribune Media along the Chicago River near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street; and the former Michael Reese Hospital site and nearby land in Bronzeville. Rauner, Emanuel and Bailey were at Related's South Loop site Thursday for a presentation on the proposed innovation center, dubbed the Discovery Partners Institute, a public-private academic center for conducting research in everything from computing and agriculture to health and wellness. The center, which includes the U. of I. as a partner, is envisioned as a way to train and retain top talent by encouraging businesses to locate nearby. Rauner said the "pipeline of talent" flowing out of the innovation center would help the city and the state to attract new businesses of all kinds. "We're going to recruit a lot of companies," Rauner said. Related Midwest is donating the land for the innovation center, which it sees as an integral part of its planned residential, retail and commercial development on the site. The developer acquired the property about a year and a half ago, Bailey said. "To have this great bunch of really smart students at all times in this hyperlocal position, we think a lot of companies are going to want to locate on this site now," he said. While the development of the site and the innovation center had been in the works long before Amazon announced the competition for its second headquarters in September, Bailey said it would be a logical choice for the e-commerce giant. Advertisement "I think this would be a great place for Amazon," he said. Bailey couldn't say how much of the land would be donated for the innovation center, but he said there would be plenty of room for Amazon, which needs about 8 million square feet and up to 100 acres for its second headquarters. "We certainly could handle that on the site," Bailey said. "That's a decision we'll have to figure out, if we get to that high-class problem." Rauner declined to comment on whether the Related site was under consideration for Amazon's new headquarters but suggested that the innovation center increased its viability. "They love it," Rauner said. "Amazon, all businesses, love the idea." rchannick@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @RobertChannick CHASING AMAZON [ How big a deal? Amazon's massive HQ2 in Chicago scale ] [ Big question for U.S. cities: Is Amazon's HQ2 worth the price? ] [ As deadline approaches, Chicago's Amazon pursuit only beginning ] Tribune Media shareholders on Thursday "overwhelmingly" approved the company's proposed acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group, even as federal regulators slow down the TV station megamerger to allow for more public input. More than 99 percent of the votes cast by shareholders Thursday morning at a Los Angeles hotel were in favor of the merger, according to Tribune Media. Advertisement "Today's vote is an important milestone in the merger process and confirms that Tribune stockholders strongly support this transaction and the value it delivers," Tribune Media CEO Peter Kern said in a news release. "We look forward to continuing our work with Sinclair toward the closing of this deal." Sinclair agreed to buy Tribune Media in May for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt, creating what would be the largest TV station group in the U.S. with more than 200 stations, reaching about 72 percent of TV households. Advertisement Tribune Media shareholders needed to sign off on the deal, which ultimately requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. The proposed deal has generated pushback from broadcasters, lawmakers, media watchdogs and viewers alike over Sinclair's right-leaning editorial views as well as concerns about media concentration. On Wednesday, the FCC stopped its 180-day transaction clock for 15 days to allow for additional public comments after an Oct. 5 filing by Sinclair. The filing outlines more specific plans for the combined station group, including possible divestitures to get under an FCC ownership cap. "We think the announcement speaks for itself, that the FCC is seeking to compile a complete record and is offering commenters two extra weeks to review and comment," a spokeswoman for Hunt Valley, Md.-based Sinclair said in an email. Chicago-based Tribune Media owns or operates 42 TV stations, including WGN in Chicago, KTLA in Los Angeles and WPIX in New York, as well as WGN-AM 720 and cable channel WGN America. Tribune Media spun off its newspaper holdings, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, in 2014 into the publishing company now known as Tronc. rchannick@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertChannick Advertisement RELATED STORIES [ Under Sinclair, WGN could be 'Chicago's very own' no more ] [ Sinclair to buy WGN owner Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt ] [ Tribune Media sells most of its CareerBuilder stake to investor group for $157M ] Graduate students at the University of Chicago have voted to unionize, despite efforts from the school to delay the vote. After balloting Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board tallied 1,103 votes for the union and 479 against. There were 149 challenged ballots. Advertisement The university has argued that the graduate students are primarily students rather than employees. The school later asked the NLRB to postpone the unionization vote and review its decision to allow an election. The NLRB has not ruled on that request. Advertisement Though they were met with challenges along the way, the graduate students spoke with their votes, said Daniela Palmer, a 27-year-old pursuing her doctorate in evolutionary biology. "The research and teaching that we do is essential to the functioning of the university, much like at all the other research and teaching institutions," she said. "Students obviously recognize that." The university also recognizes the importance of its grad students, spokeswoman Marielle Sainvilus said in a statement, but it has concerns over what impact their unionization would have on its mission. "We respect that reasonable people can come to different conclusions on the issue of graduate student unionization," she said in the statement. "Regardless of the outcome of the legal process, we will continue to support our graduate students and respect their contributions." The university has spent more than $2 billion on graduate students since 2007, including on stipends and health care, according to the statement. And that was without union representation, it noted. "We recognize that there remains room for improvement, and the university is committed to continuous efforts to enhance support for graduate students," Sainvilus said. Graduate Students United, which is affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors, is set to represent the graduate employees. The bargaining unit could comprise 2,500 teaching assistants, instructors, lecturers and others in the School of Divinity, School of Social Services Administration, Division of Social Sciences, Division of Humanities, Division of Biological Sciences and Division of Physical Sciences. Advertisement Unionization efforts have been spreading among students at private universities since the NLRB declared last year that they are workers covered by federal labor law. Loyola University Chicago grad students voted to unionize in February. Then in June, student library employees at the U. of C. voted in favor of a union. amarotti@chicagotribune.com Twitter @AllyMarotti I'm usually not a big fan of peppery cocktails. Chiles are fine in food, but in drinks, well, it's too easy for a chile-laced sip to coat the tongue in capsaicin napalm that obliterates all other flavors on the table. Not so with the Al Pepino, which complements flavors found in many of the entrees at Oak Park's Altiro Latin Fusion. Advertisement "Al Pepino is fresh cucumber and lime," says chef/owner Roberto Avila, "cilantro, organic agave nectar, orange juice and vodka infused with jalapeno." Al Pepino offers a balance between the sweetness of the agave nectar and orange juice and the slight burn of the jalapeno-infused vodka. It's one of those well-composed cocktails that works with food, especially dishes that follow the contours of a similar sweet-spicy flavor profile. Advertisement Lime, cilantro, and chili pepper flavors are also present in many dishes at Altiro Latin Fusion. Avila advises pairing Al Pepino with Altiro, which is tilapia cooked with cucumber and chili pepper. Altiro Latin Fusion, 107 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, 703-434-5077, www.altiroakpark.com (Also locations at 308 Anderson Blvd., Geneva, and 2116 W. Roscoe St., Chicago.) David Hammond is a freelance writer. [ It's still summer at The Growling Rabbit ] [ 16 cocktails for your next happy hour ] The aspiring looters among you no doubt keep some extra bricks lying around the house, just in case. Well, blow the dust off those dusky red window smashers, for today we give them new life as poultry flatteners while we explore chicken under a brick. Why you need to learn this Advertisement Precious few dishes contain prepositions. Sure, there's pheasant under glass, eggs over easy, oysters among us and sheep around the house, but none have quite the panache of chicken under a brick. Plus, you learn a prep technique with a dirty-sounding name that results in great tasting chicken. The steps you take Advertisement Regular readers of my monthly screeds know that I like to start with a discussion of ingredients. Today, we'll skip that because there's really only one main ingredient: a dead chicken. And no, Sen. Smartypants, unless you're currently suffering from a touch of the geophagia, the brick doesn't count. Chicken under a brick (or "chundrick," for short) is commonly associated with Tuscany in Northern Italy. It's simply a butterflied (or spatchcocked more on that delicious word later) chicken that's cooked skin-side down in a hot pan or over a grill. The bricks flatten it somewhat, while at the same time increasing the area that comes in contact with the pan, giving the whole thing a crisp skin and a deep golden-brown color, which when combined with the admittedly unnatural vision of the bifurcated beast, gives the whole thing what the great Italian food writer Giuliano Bugialli called "an arresting appearance." Wrap the bricks first in heavy foil. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune; Lisa Schumacher / food styling) The first thing you want to do is spatchcock (oh, stop snickering; what are we, 12?) the bird. Prop it up on the cutting board on its tail, as if it were reading a book. Use your chef's knife to remove the backbone. This process can rightly be described as grizzly because it involves cutting through the ribs with an unfortunate and possibly disturbing crunching sound. Fear not, though, as the bird, having previously expired, will feel none of this. Any discomfort is yours alone to bear. (Note: Personally, I like to leave those two little nuggets of meat called the oysters attached to the backbone because I love the backbone anyway and the oysters are my reward for taking the piece that nobody else in the house wants to eat.) Once you've summoned some backbone of your own and relieved the bird of its, now you're going to remove the keel bone. Flip the bird onto its breast and push the newly backboneless sides out of the way. The keel bone's that dark, flattish one between the two breast halves. Run the tip of your knife gently, like a lover's finger, down the length of the keel bone to free it from the membrane holding it in. Pick up the chicken with both hands underneath, and bend it backward, the way you used to crack the spine in your library books. This will cause the keel bone to pop out enough that you can grab it and wrest it free of its sheltering cocoon of breast meat. Next, howling bloodthirstily, raise the keel bone high in the air, like the heart of your vanquished foe. OK, that last part's optional. Advertisement Now your chicken is spatchcocked. If you know what I mean. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Before proceeding, you might want to refrigerate the bird, uncovered, for several hours or overnight to dry out the skin. This will facilitate the browning but is not necessary. Place the bricks on the flattened chicken. Their weight will increase the area that comes in contact with the pan, meaning more browning. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune; Lisa Schumacher / food styling) When you're ready to cook, rub the bird liberally with vegetable or olive oil, then season it generously with salt and apply whatever herbs and/or spices you'd like. I'm partial to za'atar, the mix of thyme, sesame seed, sumac and possibly oregano or marjoram. You can get it at any Middle Eastern market or a spice shop. Set a cast iron or heavy-bottom, stainless steel pan over medium high heat until it's very hot. Coat the bottom of the pan with more oil, then lay the bird in skin-side down. Set two foil-wrapped bricks on top. (If you're not that aspiring looter, anything heavy will suffice, like another pan in which you place a couple of soup cans. Or weights from the barbell you never use. Or a canoe; they're very heavy. Just don't try to weight it down with your brother.) After final roasting, the chicken emerges with crispy, nicely browned skin. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune; Lisa Schumacher / food styling) Sear the chicken for 3 to 5 minutes, then place the pan in a 450-degree oven, and roast until the skin is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, remove the bricks and flip the bird over, taking care not to tear the skin. (Note: The pan and bricks will be very heavy. Take care in transferring them in and out of the oven. Also, be sure to let the bricks cool before you return them to your "For Looting" closet.) Return the pan to the oven, and roast until the bird is cooked through, another 20 to 30 minutes. Advertisement As a side note, if you want to skip the whole "under a brick" part, you can just roast the chicken skin-side up in that same 450-degree oven until a thermometer poked into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees, 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the bird. The skin will still get golden brown; it just won't have that same appealing "just-run-over-by-a-truck" look that the bricks provide. James P. DeWan is a culinary instructor at Kendall College in Chicago. Twitter @jimdewan [ Follow along on our month of craving Italian food ] [ Your daily fix of Chicago's best Italian food ] [ What's the Story? Answers to your burning questions about Chicago dining ] At Nico Osteria, chef Bill Montagne is searching for middle ground between the luxury-level and neighborhood-level work he has done in Chicago in the past two years. (Sean Leidigh/WGN TV) So much has changed at Nico Osteria, yet so much remains the same. The Gold Coast restaurant that opened in December 2013 was an instant hit, thanks to the unassailable quality of its seafood and the skillful ministrations of chef Erling Wu-Bower. Advertisement Wu-Bower is gone, busily preparing to open Pacific Standard Time in River North. On board, for about four months now, is Bill Montagne. A former sous-chef at the renowned Le Bernardin, Montagne was opening chef for the short-lived and high-priced C Chicago (which tried to be the seafood equivalent of steakhouse sibling Chicago Cut) and is best known for his small seafood deli, Snaggletooth, which he closed after accepting the Nico post. Montagne thus has done luxury-level and neighborhood-level work in Chicago in the past two years. At Nico Osteria, he's clearly searching for middle ground. Advertisement "As much as people come (to Nico) as a dining destination, I want to open up the menu, so that you can dine, or you can just eat hit the agnolotti and a glass of wine and have a simple dinner," Montagne said. "I think about my two little sisters; they don't want the langoustine-veal duo. They want the ricotta (with figs and mustard greens) and the meatballs, and they don't want it to be too expensive." Those meatballs, served in a two-handled iron pan with a hearty tomato sauce and beautifully crunchy rice cakes, are a menu fixture and a no-risk choice. That dish, and the mussels in a broth flavored with vermouth, almond butter and Calabrian chilies, are the menu's few holdover dishes. The rest are Montagne creations. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 Oil-poached tuna is another fine dish with its clean flavors supported gently by Sungold tomatoes, and a light tomato-conserva vinaigrette. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) So if you haven't been to Nico for a while, you haven't had his octopus carpaccio, a plateful of coins arranged in a single layer and dressed with olive oil, fennel, lemon fluid gel and paprika. The butter-soft octopus, combined with the rich smokiness of the paprika and sharp bite of lemon fluid gel, is a simple-looking dish that hides a lot of behind-the-scenes effort. Oil-poached tuna is another fine dish, its clean flavors supported gently by Sungold tomatoes and a light tomato-conserva vinaigrette. Bruschetta, piled high with king crab and get-'em-while-they-last heirloom tomatoes, is a terrific shareable starter. One of the challenges when dining at Nico is to avoid getting lost in the bread service. Supplied in part by sister property Publican Quality Bread, the rest made in-house, the breads are superb, from the rustic country breads to the remarkable olive-studded focaccia. (It's a treat to see the massive, crispy-crusted focaccia loaves, the size of sea turtles, being carried from the back kitchen to the slicing station.) A mixed basket is the first thing to hit your table, accompanied by sharply peppery olive oil, and the urge to consume every morsel is powerful. After that carbo call, it makes sense to consider the crudo offerings; Montagne dresses his raw fish with a skill and artistry to rival the city's best sushi bars; and a $15 tasting lets you sample four such creations, which might include kanpachi with mignonette, minced shallots and coarse black pepper, or madai with freeze-dried corn, breakfast radish and white-soy vinaigrette. Among pastas, a simple tangle of tagliolini noodles belies its immense richness, courtesy of an indulgent uni butter sauce and just a dash of Aleppo pepper. Lobster spaghetti is the big-ticket pasta ($39), more than justified by the amount of lobster meat and the dish's powerful flavor. Then there's the veal breast and langoustine duet, the one Montagne's sisters probably wouldn't order (because it's $42). Their loss. Fork-tender veal rectangles sit on a bed of langoustine-flavored polenta; on the other side of the plate, langoustine pieces mingle with lobster mushrooms. It's an intriguing protein pairing, tied together by aggressively seared Fuji apples. Advertisement As much as I like the veal-langoustine dish, I like the halibut better. One, because it's an incredible piece of fish; two, because the preparation poached in a liquid containing the components of a white Negroni cocktail is a masterpiece of subtle, clean flavors. If you're indulging, whole branzino, baked in a salt crust (salt-crust-baked turbot was a highlight of Montagne's C Chicago work), served on a nest of crispy carrot strings and topped with baby carrots and carrot-top pesto is superb, supported beautifully by a yellow-tomato hollandaise sauce. Pastry chef Leigh Omilinsky is a treasure, and her desserts at Nico are marvelous. I loved the chocolate torta, topped with pistachio mousse and toasted-buckwheat gelato, as well as her twice-baked almond croissant with pears, ricotta and sweet ginger gelato. And her tiramisu, served as a layer-cake slice with rum-coffee spongecake, white coffee mousse, frozen sabayon and hot fudge, makes this cliched dessert into something new and vital. And one can always choose from a variety of sorbetti and gelati her pristine melon sorbetto was a marvel of utterly faithful flavor. Service is precise and knowing. There's an attractively priced wine list, and the cocktail program is one of the best in the city. The dining room has a relaxed, muted glow, contrasted by the brilliantly lit open kitchen, where cooks in bicycle caps prepare food in full view. For that reason, I consider the kitchen-counter bar stools to be the best seats in the house. Advertisement pvettel@chicagotribune.com Twitter @PhilVettel Nico Osteria 1015 N. Rush St. 312-994-7100 Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > www.nicoosteria.com Advertisement Tribune rating: Three stars Open: Lunch and dinner daily, breakfast Monday to Friday, brunch Saturday and Sunday Prices: Large plates $17-$42 Noise: Conversation-challenged Other: Valet parking Ratings key: 4 stars, outstanding; 3 stars, excellent; 2 stars, very good; 1 star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune. [ Phil's 50: Check out Phil Vettel's 50 favorite Chicago restaurants of the moment ] [ 54 Chicago restaurants land Bib Gourmand awards ] [ Who will win Michelin stars on Friday? ] An Arkansas man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly damaging another individual's vehicle following a road rage incident. State troopers were called to the DeWitt Travel Plaza on Interstate 90 in the town of DeWitt, Onondaga County. An investigation found that two drivers were involved in a possible road rage incident on the Thruway. After the incident, one of the drivers, Matthew J. Hunt, 36, of Herber Springs, Arkansas, allegedly saw the other person's vehicle at the travel plaza and intentionally damaged the vehicle, which was unoccupied at the time. Hunt was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal mischief, a class E felony. He was released on an appearance ticket. He's due to return to Town of DeWitt Court at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24. Wells College junior Mackenzie Porter said she was struck by recent social media posts on sexual assault from her fellow students, friends and family members. She said the posts reference the "Me Too" campaign, in which people have been writing "Me too" to indicate they have been sexually harassed or assaulted at some point. Porter, a student representative with the sexual assault survivor advocacy student/faculty group Campus Climate Committee, said her social media feeds have been stacked with the phrase. She was inspired to create a gathering to support campus violence survivors. The event, being held Thursday night, will feature a march through the residence halls, along with an open-floor discussion allowing students to share stories, poetry and more. Porter wants survivors' voices to be heard so they know they can stand strong knowing they are supported and do not have to suffer in silence. While she said she feels safe on campus now, she didn't always feel as confident about the campus environment. She said a "Title IX incident" took place against her during her first semester at Wells, in fall 2015. She felt the perpetrator received "very lenient" treatment, and that experience spurred her to join the campus committee, she said. Title IX is legislation from 1972 that forbids discrimination including sexual assault and harassment on the basis of sex in any educational program that receives federal funding. Porter said she met in secret with fellow students at first, but representatives have since had monthly meetings with school administrators such as President Jonathan Gibralter, Dean of Students Jennifer Michael, Wells' Title IX coordinators and other faculty and staff members for the last couple semesters. Porter said that administrators have been supportive about creating lasting change on campus. She said the committee which holds educational events and other services on campus was called Students Against Sexual Assault before administrators and staff got involved. For around the last year, the Sexual Assault Victims Advocate Resource service has been working with the campus. The service from Cayuga Counseling Services includes staff privately speaking with students about incidents they have gone through. Porter said she felt having the services on campus has been a huge step in the right direction. Porter said Anthony Pluretti, Wells' director of safety and security, has also been extremely helpful. She said Pluretti is highly knowledgeable about properly detailed sexual violence reporting. Porter believes Pluretti and the advocacy resource service have helped make Wells more comfortable for students. "It started to feel like campus was actually safe for people," Porter said. Megan Flaherty, the college's deputy Title IX coordinator and the director of campus life and student leadership, said other services available include counseling. She's glad the campus could work with students on the gathering. "We're a small campus, so we're able to work with students individually about how to make them feel best supported on campus," Flaherty said. Porter has noticed positive changes at the college already, as she said she heard many students suggest a couple years ago reporting any incidents would be pointless because any victims would ultimately be silenced by the administration or the Wells community. She said she hasn't heard any suggestions like that in a while. Gilbralter, who has been Wells' president for about two years and who previously ran several other colleges, said sexual assault and other issues that create a harmful environment for students have been around as long as he's been in higher education. He said having the advocacy resource service on campus was an outgrowth of the group meetings with administrators. Colleges must do everything in their power to make sure students are well-informed and safe, he said. He added he's proud of the students involved in the gathering. "No means no, enough is enough and nobody ever deserves or could be asking for something that is a violation of their safety and of who they are as a person," Gibralter said. "Nobody could be asking for that." "So much Fake News being put in dying magazines and newspapers. Only place worse may be @NBCNews, @CBSNews, @ABC and @CNN. Fiction writers!" I'm sure it's not hard to figure out the person attached to this quote, or the platform on which he delivered. This Twitter post from President Donald Trump on Tuesday was one of the most recent in a long series of comments he has made accusing the news media of fabricating information about his presidency. A week before, he launched into a series of similar posts and went on to suggest that the government should revoke licenses of network news operations. Even though such a threat is hollow (network news is not subject to FCC oversight), it's troubling nonetheless that a U.S. president sworn in to uphold the Constitution would publicly state something that so clearly disregards the First Amendment. That said, I don't believe Trump actually believes the government can shut down news media. I suspect his main objective behind these attacks is simply to damage what he views as an enemy. And it might be working. A poll emerged Wednesday from POLITCO/Morning Consult that found 46 percent of voters "believe the news media fabricate news stories about President Donald Trump and his administration," POLITICO reported. Those saying the media don't fabricate such stories was 37 percent, with the balance undecided. That's an alarming statistic, and it's one that should jolt the news industry into doing a better job of counter-punching the attacks by the president. No matter who is in the White House, an independent and free media that is trusted by the public is essential. We cannot allow one man's obsession with his news coverage permanently damage the institution of the free press. So how do we do that? Reporting with as much care and transparency as possible is the foundation for maintaining credibility. In today's hyper-competitive media landscape, getting it right must still be the overwhelmingly highest priority. But another important practice is to keep a watchful eye for bad actors in our business, and when they are found out, we need to expose and get rid of them. When it comes to fabrication accusations being lobbed against the entire news industry, I like to defend our industry by bringing up some names that are quite infamous among journalists: Jayson Blair at the New York Times, Christopher Newton at the Associated Press, Stephen Glass at The New Republic, Jack Kelly at USA TODAY, Janet Cooke at the Washington Post, Patricia Smith at the Boston Globe. All of these reporters were caught making up news stories over the years. How does bringing them up help make the case for our industry's credibility? Because they all were publicly shamed and forced out of their jobs for the transgressions they committed. Their names are synonymous with journalistic malfeasance, and their cases are discussed in journalism schools and newsrooms all the time. I wonder, though, if these names are known to a typical reader perhaps some of those poll respondents who believe the media fabricate stories about Trump. I suspect that they do not, and that's the fault of our industry. We must do a better job of showing the public how seriously we take our mission of reporting the truth. Batman puts the constituents first It is hard to write a letter of support for a candidate from one party without offending or alienating individuals or supporters of other parties or opinions. As an independent I get to listen and hopefully appreciate both sides. With that said, I am writing in support of my county legislative representative, Keith Batman. All of my interactions with him (and there have been many) have been met with a thoughtful, reasoned approach. And we dont always agree. I believe Keith puts his constituents first in making his decisions. His ability to listen, comprehend and make good decisions, not for Legislature District 7, but for the whole county, justifies my support. Bud Shattuck Union Springs Shattuck is mayor of the village of Union Springs Choose carefully for future of Auburn Election Day this November marks one year one year since the crazy evening that left us either celebrating or shaking our heads. Repercussions from the 2016 election are still reverberating our nation. Life has changed for all of us since that night. This Election Day, I expect things to be calmer. Most of us wont be staying up till the wee hours of the morning to hear final tallies. Well hear less chatter about the results at our workplaces on Wednesday. But make no mistake, this Nov. 7 is an important election. Auburnians have an opportunity to elect two city councilors. The councils decisions affect our finances, health, business, transportation and recreation. Dont think its true? Let me paint a picture for you of what life could look like should the incumbents win again: You wake up and brush your teeth. But you cant use the tap water, its either unhealthy or costing you hard-earned dollars. You hop in your car and drive through the war zone, er, road ... theyve been doing construction for weeks. You stop in at the YMCA. Theres two-hour free parking in the garage. Oh darn! Youre too late. Time to fork over money to the city. Getting in shape shouldnt cost this much. Next its off to your business. Speaking of business, hopefully you get some. Auburn taxes are hurting more than helping. Youve tried speaking up, but the council simply ignores you. Yikes thats not an Auburn that I relish living in! Thankfully, there are other options on the table veteran John Camardo and newcomer Adam Miller. Heres THEIR version of Auburns future: You wake up and brush your teeth. The tap water is clear and clean. You hop in the car and head down the road and clearly it IS a road because the construction crews have been held accountable. You park in the free municipal parking lot and work out at the Y. Later, you head off to your place of business the beautiful new visitor center thats been built from the unused space downtown. With a good location and lower tax rates, you couldnt be happier. Life in Auburn is great! Fellow Auburnians, while this election wont be getting national hype, it WILL affect all of us. Im voting for the bright future. Im voting for Adam Miller and John Camardo. Which future will you choose? Johannah Miller Auburn All votes in the CO-3 election won't be counted until the end of this week news Shanghai (Gasgoo)-Baidu announced a strategic partnership with Kong Long on Oct. 17. Based on Baidu Apollo's autonomous driving platform, the two parties will jointly develop mass-produced autonomous bus, which will be mass produced in small scale and pilot operation in July, 2018. It's a rare cooperative case which has concrete products after Baidu releasing Apollo's autonomous platform. Lu Qi, Baidu's President and COO who is responsible for promoting Apollo platform, also attended the signing ceremony. In terms of the appearance, the to-be-released autonomous bus looks similar to the low-speed autonomous bus deployed by Uisee at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. It features complete self-driving ability in some specific situations, aiming to provide solutions to the last kilometer problem. If the autonomous bus can be widely used in campus and industry park, it will be more time-saving than riding sharing bicycles. What's worth mentioning, Baidu will not only provide Apollo platform's self-driving solutions, but also will take part in the design for exterior and interior, self-driving system and on-board human-computer interaction. Hence, Baidu's hardware will be also expected to be adopted on the autonomous bus. It is likely that the new bus will come fitted with Baidu's DuerOS voice interaction system. It's not the first time for Baidu to cooperate with King Long. Last month, Baidu had showcased its self-driving technology in King Long midibus, and also opened up its highly precision maps of self-driving cloud service, and simulation testing, feeling and planning ability in software etc. at Apollo 1.5 technology press conference. Apollo platform is releasing more abilities, and expanding more partnership. But in fact, the partnership bears little fruits. Commercial vehicle is believed to be more suitable for applying self-driving technology. On one hand, the cooperation between Baidu and King Long in developing autonomous bus perfectly proves Baidu's strength in self-driving technology. On the other hand, it is a commercialized exploration for the operation of man-carrying autonomous vehicles. Once the cooperation succeed, it will set a good example in Baidu Apollo's eco-system, attracting more and closer partnership for Baidu. Shanghai (Gasgoo)-Ford Auto is continuing to launch new products and research on new technologies in domestic market since its entry. Its learned that Changan Ford held a start-up activity on new project development center in Chongqing on October 18th, announcing to invest a total RMB 800m to expand the center and further strengthen Changan Fords product development capabilities and testing abilities, so as to lift product qualities for domestic vehicles and promote technologies of key parts including engines and gearboxes as well. Established in 2001, Changan Ford Project Development Center always provides technical supports for Changan Ford products. The center will invest in a series of auto testing and trial equipment, in accordance with Ford global project standards. The built facilities will greatly promote Changan Fords testing capabilities in vehicles, engines, gearboxes and parts. The operation of the mostly eye-catching wind tunnel laboratory, which is a globally advanced environmental and aeroacoustics lab, will promote Changan Fords development quality and efficiency greatly. In fact, Changan auto made a five-year plan on domestic market in 2015, planning to invest RMB 11.4b to strengthen its R&D capabilities in the market and launch 20 models by the year 2020. The new plan will focus on self-independent R&D capabilities and promote progress in domestic products, alternative energy area and intelligent vehicles. The expansion on Chongqing Project R&D center is an important step in the new strategy, providing technical storage for the on-coming alternative energy era. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On October 18, Magna signed a joint-venture agreement with Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd., (HASCO,600741.SH), a subsidiary of SAIC Motor. According to HASCOs statement, it will form a joint venture with Magna Internationals wholly owned subsidiary in Taichang. The joint ventures name is Huayu Magna for the moment and is subject to the approval of the Administration for Industry and Commerce. The new joint venture has a registered capital of RMB 200 million and HASCO has an investment proportion of 50.1% while Magna has the rest. At the initial stage, the joint venture will supply electric-drive powertrain system for a German carmaker. Both companies will give full support for the joint venture to develop core competencies in China in such fields as market development, R&D, advanced manufacturing and key parts supply. According to HASCO, they have formed a project team for the joint venture during the preparation phase. And the new company has received letters of intent from SAIC-VW and FAW-VW and will supply products for MEB platform to VW's two joint ventures in China. It is said that the products will be put into production in 2020. Magna said the establishment of the joint venture is to expand its electrified powertrain offerings in China and support Magnas first e-drive business in China. "China is the number-one growth market in the world, and they have been clear about their intended leadership in bringing hybrid and electric vehicles to market," said Don Walker, Magna CEO. "Combining strengths with HASCO helps position Magna and the joint venture for future growth and success." HASCO stated that its efforts to deepen the joint-venture cooperation on electrified powertrain system will help the company to follow the electrification trend of auto industry and seize the market development opportunities. The joint venture will quicken HASCOs pace on localized integrated development on NEV e-powertrain system and thus offer products and service for automakers at home and abroad. "The new-energy vehicle (NEV) market will continue to grow at a rapid speed in China. With this trend, SAIC Motor is developing the New Four Modernization strategy focusing on car electrification, connectivity, intelligence, and sharing economy," Mr. Chen Zhixin, President of SAIC Motor and Vice Chairman of HASCO, said. "The establishment of the JV, a strong combination of HASCO and Magna's strength to initiate cooperation in NEV electrified powertrain systems, has been a milestone for HASCO to develop its core competencies in the field of key new-energy-related components, as well as a critical measure to strengthen the New Four Modernization strategy for SAIC." You are here: Home New Zealand model and actor Vivian Dawson (L) and mainland actress Zhang Li (R) perform a scene together at a promotional event in Beijing on October 16, 2017 for their upcoming film "Butterfly Cemetery." [Photo: China Plus] A movie adaptation of Cai Jun's novel "Butterfly Cemetery" will hit theatres on Friday. New Zealand model and actor Vivian Dawson and mainland actress Zhang Li co-star in this fantasy-romance film. Zhang Li admits their collaboration has been a learning experience for her. "My acting needed to be particularly intense for one scene where I'm drunk and gradually grow butterfly wings. Then Vivian Dawson came to me and described how he learned from working on the anime 'Dragon Ball.' This gave me the inspiration to figure out the right way to approach the scene." "Butterfly Cemetery" has been shot in Hungary. Producer Manfred Wong has described the film as being meshed in a European-style mysterious fog. Others in the film include Hong Kong actress Carman Lee. It's the veteran actress' return to the big screen since she was last in TVB's 2014 drama "Never Dance Alone." You are here: Home Workers on a production line of chip and main board products at a FiberHome Technologies Group factory in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province. [Photo provided to China Daily] A nanosecond is a long time in the semiconductor sector while three years is an eternity. Back in 2013, Chinese smartphone chipmakers had a mountain to climb against global rivals such as Qualcomm Inc in the United States. They barely even had a presence in the low-end segment of the market. But all that changed after the government rolled out new policies and domestic players broke through technological barriers. "Three years ago, we relied chiefly on a price war to crack the market," said Li Liyou, CEO of Spreadtrum Communications Inc, one of the largest chipmakers on the Chinese mainland. "But as more resources were poured into research and development, we saw a fundamental change," Li added. Plans to upgrade the homegrown chip industry are in line with the central leadership's call to turn China into a manufacturer of quality. "We will move Chinese industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain, and foster a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters," Party General Secretary Xi Jinping said at the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Wednesday. Data from research agency IC Insights revealed that 11 Chinese companies were on the global top 50 list for integrated circuit designers in 2016. Only one domestic business was on it in 2009. Spreadtrum Communications Inc is a classic example of what is happening inside the industry. It produced more than 600 million smartphone chips last year, accounting for over 25 percent of the world's total shipments. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer, is also making inroads with its in-house Kirin chips. In 2014, China's largest telecom equipment maker was struggling to upgrade its semiconductor division, despite putting together a program a decade earlier. But now most of its smartphones, including high-end models, are powered by Kirin chips. Last month, the Shenzhen-based business unveiled its first artificial intelligence chip, Kirin 970, with superfast computing and strong image-recognition capabilities. It powers Huawei's new Mate 10 smartphone, which was launched on Monday to compete with Apple Inc's 10th-anniversary iPhone. "AI can enable real-time language translation, heed voice commands, or take advantage of augmented reality, which overlays text, sounds, graphics and video on real-world images," said Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group. Figures released from the China Semiconductor Industry Association showed that the domestic chip sector reported sales of 434 billion yuan (US$65 billion) last year, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2015. Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and CEO of industry website Cctime, pointed out that Chinese companies are now benefiting from the government's policy to cultivate a domestic chip industry. The program was put in place amid concerns that a heavy reliance on foreign technology would affect national security. There were also other reasons, such as the fact that China was spending more on overseas chips than crude oil imports. In 2014, Beijing set up China's Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund to support the sector and spur private financing. One of the biggest beneficiaries was Tsinghua Unigroup, the parent company of Spreadtrum. Earlier this year, it signed financing deals worth 150 billion yuan to carry on R&D into new homegrown chips. This will give the State-owned technology group enough cash to fulfill its grand ambitions in the semiconductor sector, and join the ranks of global giants, such as Intel Corp, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics Co. Among the investors are China Development Bank and China's Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. "The next several years are key ... there is an enormous market out there," said Zhao Weiguo, chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup. To illustrate that, Tsinghua Unigroup is now working on a US$30 billion domestic memorychip production complex in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. It will become China's largest plant when completed. Private companies, such as Xiaomi, are also making major strides. The smartphone manufacturer unveiled its first in-house chipset in March. Named Surge S1, the chip combines four powerful and efficient cores, which can help strike a balance between performance and power efficiency. "Chip technology is the crown in the smartphone sector, but it is highly cash intensive," said Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi. "If we want to challenge the world's top three players, we need to devote our long-term efforts into the research and development of chips," Lei added. A total of 775 million Chinese college and vocational school students received financial help in the past 10 years, according to the Ministry of Education. The number of students who were subsidized rose from 51.6 million in 2007 to 91.3 million in 2016, representing an average annual increase of 6.55 percent, the ministry published the figures on its website early this week. The total volume of financial aid reached 1 trillion yuan (about 159 billion U.S. dollars) during the past decade, with the number at 41.6 billion for 2007 and 168.9 billion for 2016, an average growth of 16.84 percent year on year, the ministry said. It also said that government funding always played a leading role in aid. The figure topped 726 billion yuan over the years, accounting for 68.87 percent of the total. In May 2007, the State Council issued a document establishing a system of financial aid to college and vocational school students from poor families. It was the first comprehensive and systematic plan on student financial aid. The aid comes in forms such as tuition fee exemptions, living allowances, scholarships and student loans. In the past decade, China has created 40 policies and documents on financial help for students, with 29 aid programs, the ministry said. Currently, financial help is available to students from pre-school kindergartens to post-graduate studies, from public to private schools, and for all families in poverty, the ministry said. Flash China on Wednesday asked for more efforts to tackle the Palestine issue, saying the international community should have a sense of urgency to push for a political settlement. The Palestine issue is the crux of the Middle East crisis and a root cause of many problems in the region, Wu Haitao, the charge d'affaires of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, told an open debate of the Security Council. Palestine and Israel are neighbors that share a fate. Accelerating the political settlement of the Palestine issue through dialogue and consultation is in the fundamental interests of both Palestinians and Israelis and conducive to durable peace and stability in the region, he said. He warned that the Palestine-Israel situation is fragile, the conflicts centering on settlements are acute and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is grave. At the same time, the Palestinian people's demand and aspirations for correcting the historical wrongs and resuming the exercise of their unalienable national rights are strong. He asked for efforts to push for political settlement on the basis of the two-states solution, which he said best fits the realities in the region, has won broadest international recognition, and is demanded by UN General Assembly resolutions. Parties concerned should push for the resumption of peace talks on the basis of relevant Security Council resolutions, the "land-for-peace" principle and the Arab Peace Initiative in a bid for a comprehensive, fair and durable solution, he said. Wu asked to remove negative factors that would impede such an endeavor and called for sincerity for peace and the building of mutual trust. It is imperative to stop all settlement activities in occupied territories, to cease the closure of Gaza, to enhance measures that would improve the livelihood of the Palestinian people and to prevent violence against civilians, he said. He asked the international community to coordinate efforts and boost synergy for peace. Recently, the international community has increased attention to the Palestine issue and made various efforts to push for the resumption of peace talks. China supports all efforts toward peace between Palestine and Israel, he said. The recent progress in intra-Palestine reconciliation is conducive to unity within Palestine, to the resumption of peace talks with Israel and to the attainment of Palestinian statehood and peaceful co-existence with Israel, said Wu. China commends Egypt's diplomatic efforts to broker the deal between Fatah and Hamas, he said, adding that the international community should build on the progress and promote peace. China is a staunch supporter of Palestinians' legitimate course and an active mediator for peace between Palestine and Israel, he said. China firmly supports the two-states solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with full sovereignty and independence on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said. China will follow as general guide President Xi Jinping's four-point proposal on the settlement of the Palestine issue and will work with various parties toward a political settlement, he added. On the Iran nuclear issue, Wu said the 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers helped defuse a crisis and consolidate the international non-proliferation regime. The agreement was an important achievement in terms of international security governance and multilateralism and also a good example for addressing hot spot issues through political and diplomatic means, he stressed. China hopes the parties concerned will cherish and safeguard the agreement as a historic achievement, honor their respective obligations and ensure the comprehensive implementation of the agreement and properly settle their differences through dialogue and consultation in a concerted effort to peace and stability in the Middle East, said the Chinese envoy. Shanghai (Gasgoo)-Qiantu Motor K50 electric supercars, along with key technologies including battery packs, lightweight manufacturing procedures and other key technologies, made debut on 2017 Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Exhibition on October 18th. Lu Qun, Board Director of Qiantu Motor, revealed on the exhibition that, the trial production of K50 would begin in December this year, with mass production starting in June next year. More models will be displayed on Beijing Auto Show held in April next year and Qiantu Motor would release all-series product plan. K50 electric supercar has an accelerating time of 4.6s for hundred kilometers with the highest speed exceeding 200KM/H. Its introduced that the batteries for mass-production model will be upgraded to 80KWH from 63KWH, with cruise mileage increasing to 400KM from 300KM. The mass-produced vehicles will provide top configurations with customized exterior appearances, interior decoration and software. The 80% body framework is made by high-impact pressing aluminum alloy materials and model body is covered by carbon fiber panels. Besides, the innovative modular battery box designing idea makes it able to switch between power charging and exchange patterns. Qiantu Motor will enter into high-end market with electric supercars, and the latter products will be launched into a mass market. The second product is a young and fashionable entry-level model, which is expected to make debut in Beijing Auto Show next year and be officially launched in the year 2019. Lu Qun said that the subsequent products will continue to pursue for pleasures in driving. Qiantu Motor has made layouts in intelligent driving but with no radical applications. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent condolences to his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, over the devastating forest fires in Portual, which has claimed more than 40 lives since Sunday. In the message of condolences, Xi said he is shocked to learn massive forest fires have raged in many parts of Portugal and caused heavy casualties and property losses. On behalf of the Chinese government and people as well as in his own name, Xi extended deep condolences to the victims and heartfelt sympathy to the injured and the bereaved families. The Chinese president expressed his belief that under the leadership of Rebelo de Sousa, the people in the fire-stricken areas could overcome the disaster and restore their homes as soon as possible. Some 500 wild fires flared up across the north and center of the Mediterranean country on Sunday, killing over 42 people, according to Portuguese authorities. More than 100 people have died in forest fires in Portugal in the last four months. Flash U.S. President Donald Trump has come under fire after he reportedly told a widow of a fallen soldier that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Trump spoke on Tuesday to the families of four slain U.S. soldiers who got ambushed by Islamic State militants in Niger earlier this month, amid questions that why he had not made any comment about the killings. Trump denies on Twitter on Wednesday that he had made such kind of remarks. After stirring controversy by invoking White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's son, a Marine Corps lieutenant killed in Afghanistan in late 2010, to defend his delayed response, Trump came under a fresh round of criticism over one of his condolence telephone calls. Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson lashed out at Trump Tuesday night for what she described as "insensitive" remarks to the widow of Amy Sergeant La David Johnson, one of the four soldiers killed in Niger. "Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts," Wilson recounted Trump's words during an interview with CNN. "He shouldn't have said it," Wilson told an ABC News affiliate. The Florida lawmaker said she was in a car with Johnson's widow, Myeshia, to meet the body in Miami when the president called her. Wilson told CNN that the widow, which has two young children and is six months pregnant with a third, was "very distraught" after the call. "She has just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral which gives her all kinds of nightmares about what his body must look, what his face must look, and this is what the president of the United States says to her," Wilson said. Trump denied on Twitter on Wednesday that he had made such kind of remarks, saying that Wilson "totally fabricated" what he said and claiming to have proof. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't sai (say) it at all," Trump told reporters at the White House hours later, insisting that he had a "very nice" conversation with the widow. But Johnson's mother backed Wilson's account. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Cowanda Jones-Joshnson told The Washington Post. Wilson said on Twitter that she stood by her account of the call between Trump and Myeshia, suggesting that the president didn't even know the name of the widow. At Wednesday's press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was not recording of the call but several people were present when the president made the call, including Kelly, who, according to her, thought the call was completely appropriate and respectful. Trump asserted that former President Barack Obama didn't call families of fallen service members, a claim that aides of the former administration slammed as "an outrageous and disrespectful lie." He invoked the death of Kelly's son in his defense Tuesday, suggesting that reporters ask the retired four-star general whether Obama reached out to him when his son died serving the country. Sanders said she doesn't know if Trump warned Kelly before bringing that up in an interview, but adding that the White House chief of staff is "disgusted" by the politicization of Trump's phone calls to the families of fallen service's members. The president also said that he has called "every family of somebody that's died," but several Gold Star family members told news outlets that they have never had a call with Trump after their relative was killed in action. WASHINGTON It was what one scientist described as a giant explosive train wreck that makes gold in the cosmos, and a University of Arizona astronomer was one of the first to get a look even though the actual event was more than 130 million years old. David Sand, an assistant professor in astronomy at the University of Arizona, joined other scientists in Washington Monday to talk about the first evidence of a confirmed kilanova, the collision between two neutron stars. According to the National Science Foundation, a neutron star crushes half a million times Earths mass into a sphere about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) across. The fiery collision between two dead stars creates massive amounts of gold and platinum, and sent out waves of gravity and light that traveled 130 million light years to make it to Earth. Astronomers said the discovery is further proof of Einsteins Theory of Relativity and is an important step forward for the young fields of multimessenger and gravitational-wave astronomy, which uses gravitational waves in addition to light waves to observe space. Arizona State University astronomer Nathaniel Butler said Tuesday that the discovery is huge because it opens this whole new window into the universe. Butler said the discovery proves the connection between gamma rays and gravitational waves. The explosion was first detected on the morning of Aug. 17 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), a facility split between Louisiana and Washington state, and its European counterpart Virgo. In the hours and days following, a select group of astronomers from around the world scoured the sky to find an electromagnetic counterpart, light, to the ripple of gravity. The search for the kilanovas waves was a collaborative effort that ultimately involved more than 3,000 participating scientists. Scientists in the field made headlines last year when they provided the first proof of gravitational waves, a concept theorized by Einstein 100 years ago. Last years discovery earned scientists this years Nobel Prize in Physics. The endeavor is one of the most expensive projects funded by the National Science Foundation, which invested about $1.1 billion in construction and upgrades in LIGO since 1990, according to a LIGO Factsheet. National Science Foundation Director France Cordova said the discovery was already transforming our understanding of the universe with a fresh narrative of the physics of stars in their death throes. The investment in LIGO found the explosion, but Sand said the ensuing search was possible even with relatively small telescopes like his, a 16-inch souped-up amateur telescope based in Chile but remotely controlled from Tucson. Even with our small telescope we could tell that this event was unique in nature, Sand said. Another scientist who was among the first to see the discovery was Andy Howell, a staff scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory, who described it as the astronomical equivalent of stopping traffic while we all stopped to go and get a look. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two neutron stars merged together, Howell said at Mondays National Press Club event to talk about the finding. But we only found out on earth on Aug. 17, right before the solar eclipse. Sand said that, based on the first episode, the collaboration has a bright future. We could detect this kilanova event even if it was twice as far away, with no adjustments to our program small telescopes can still play a large role in the coming era of multimessenger astronomy, he said. Sand said that following this discovery, if LIGO and VIRGO wave readings are made public in the future advanced amateur astronomers could participate in this great adventure. ChinaAid President Bob Fu (far left) listens to a panel consisting of (on stage, left to right) Madeleine K. Albright, Nikki Haley, Condoleezza Rice, and moderator Amanda Schnetzer. (Photo: ChinaAid) ChinaAid Updated at 10:51 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2017 (New YorkOct. 19, 2017) Prominent leaders and pro-democracy voices gathered for The Spirit of Liberty in the World conference, hosted by the George W. Bush Institute today in New York City, in order to discuss the unique challenges freedom and democracy face in the U.S. and worldwide. ChinaAid President Bob Fu attended the invite-only event as a guest of President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, who personally headed the conference. The other participants, who were divided into two panels, included the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Case Foundation CEO and National Geographic Chairman Jean Case, Robin Hood Foundation CEO Wes Moore, National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen, and Mel Martinez, former U.S. Senator, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and current chairman of the Southeast U.S. and Latin America for JPMorgan Chase & Co. The panels were respectively moderated by the Institutes Global Initiatives Director, Amanda Schnetzer, and its Executive Director and Senior Vice President, Holly Kuzmich. During the conference, President Bush issued a clear warning against underestimating the damage done by Chinese Communists and Russia to the United States but reassured the audience that freedom would gain the victory. Rice added that weakening advocacy for democracy and freedom undermines Americas greatest interests. Fu held a private meeting with Secretary of State Albright, who partnered with President Clinton 20 years ago to rescue his family, who sought refuge in Britain-governed Hong Kong after his wife became pregnant in violation of the then-in-place one-child policy. You may read more about Fus story in his autobiography, available for purchase here. LUANDA - China remained the top destination of Angolan goods and services in the second quarter of 2017, accounting for 52.6 percent of Angolan exports, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said here Tuesday. That other major destinations for Angola's exports was India (8.8 percent), followed by Canada (5.9 percent). In the same period, vis-a-vis Angola's imports, China was in second place with 15.7 percent, after Portugal (17.3 percent), followed by the United States (8.0 percent) and South Africa (5.9 percent). Within Africa, Angola's exports mostly went to South Africa (62.2 percent), followed by Togo (21.1 percent) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.3 percent). The INE said Angola's exports increased by 8.6 percent year-on-year, while imports fell by 3.4 percent. Angola's balance of trade was 817.706 billion kwanzas ($4.92 billion), resulting from the behavior of oil prices. Oil is Angola's main export product. BERLIN - When Wang Xiongshi, a Chinese doctorate student, returned to China after two years, he found changes and development so astonishing that he risked falling behind. "It surprised me that sharing bikes and mobile payment are readily available," said Wang, who studied automobile engineering in the Technology University of Berlin. He said a tour visit to start-up parks and incubators in several cities, organized by the Chinese Communist Youth League for Chinese overseas students, also impressed him with its enabling environment for entrepreneurship. Wang is not alone in such a "homecoming shock." It's a consensus among Chinese students in Germany that gaps between China and developed countries are narrowing. China's rapid catching-up has brought them confidence, and above all, more opportunities both academically and professionally. Chen Cheng, a doctorate student in ecological economics with Berlin-based Humboldt University, said: "Nowadays what you can find here also exists in China's big cities. Therefore, the shock sustained by Chinese overseas students, resulting from differences in cultural and recreational activities or lifestyle, is no longer pronounced as it was years ago." On the other hand, it is in Germany that Chen felt changes come a bit too slow. "The use of PayPal is still not very convenient here, and I think Chinese respond faster to new things," Chen said. "China turns different each time I go back home, but here seldom anything changes during my four-year stay. China is catching up at an enormous speed," said the student, adding "We feel more confident than never before." Apart from confidence, China's rapid development and rising international standing have brought tangible benefits for overseas students in Germany. "Since the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement and China became a leading player in the battle against climate change, many countries are eager to cooperate with China," Chen said, explaining how his research in the climate field is benefiting from such a development. Increasing cooperation between Chinese and German researchers affords Chinese students greater opportunities. Chen cited a project jointly led by China's National Natural Science Foundation and German Research Foundation, which is open to scientists from both countries, as an example. The project attaches great importance to climate and environment researches, and Chinese doctorate and post-doctorate students in Germany take it as a good opportunity to pursue their academic goals, Chen said. Moreover, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises are going global, some taking over foreign companies. Chinese home appliance giant Midea Group's purchase of German robotics firm Kuka, for example, brought employment opportunities to Chinese students in Germany as they are valued for their local know-how and language competencies. Lu Xiaozheng, head of Chinese student association in Technology University of Berlin, noticed a marked increase in the number of job fairs jointly organized by her association and Chinese enterprises engaged in bilateral trade and businesses in recent years. Besides, German companies and other Germany-based foreign companies are more likely to hire Chinese students to expand their China businesses, Lu said. Economic growth also means better job opportunities back home. Wang Xiongshi said as many Chinese enterprises excel in new-energy vehicles, there are a great deal of employers he can choose from if he returns home. For Chen, he said "there's never been a greater time than today for overseas students to return to the homeland", explaining that the country offers various programs such as the "1,000-Talent Program" to attract overseas researchers back home. Besides, various localities are jostling for talent. "As long as you are truly competent, there will be a stage for you to shine in China," Chen said. Employees work at an Oi SA store in Brasilia, Brazil. [Photo/Agencies] China Telecommunications Corp, the country's third largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, said on Wednesday that Brazilian telecom company Oi SA was among the several potential targets it had considered for investment, Bloomberg reported. The news came after its two rivalsChina Mobile Communications Corp and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltdset up subsidiaries in Brazil earlier this year to pursue business opportunities in the large South American country. "We have been actively looking for overseas expansion and have looked at many different projects, including Oi," said Yang Jie, chairman of China Telecom, in an interview at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Yang's words represent the most explicit public remarks about China Telecom's interest in the debt-laden Brazilian firm. Oi, which provides phone services in hundreds of Brazilian cities, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Also known as the largest filing of this kind in the country's history, the carrier has been struggling with a debt of $19 billion. "Compared with other economies in South America, Brazil has an array of advantages as it is not only one of the major powers with the fastest economic growth but also has a stable political environment and hence an ideal market for telecom firms," said Xiang Ligang, a smartphone expert and CEO of telecom industry website Cctime. China Telecom disclosed earlier this year that the carrier will invest more than $1 billion over the next three to five years to expand its presence in economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative. Its rivals China Mobile and China Unicom set up branches in Brazil respectively in September and October. "An investment in Oi is very valuable for China Telecom, for a local partner will make its expansion plan far easier. With an increasing number of Chinese traveling abroad in recent years, having an overseas presence has become very important for Chinese telecom firms," he added. By the end of 2016, China Telecom had more than 4,700 overseas employees, with branches and offices in 30 countries and regions, most of which are involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. The State-owned company said it would also step up resources to complete four cross-border telecom infrastructure initiatives, including the China-Pakistan information corridor, the China-Laos-Thailand and the China-Bangladesh-Myanmar-India projects. China's holdings of US treasuries rose for a third consecutive month in August to the highest in a year on the back of rising foreign exchange reserves and expectations that the greenback may appreciate further. The country's total holdings of US bonds, notes and bills rose by $34.5 billion on a monthly basis in August to $1.2 trillion, according to data from the US Treasury Department on Tuesday. Japan, which overtook China as the largest holder of US treasuries last October, cut its holdings by $11.4 billion to $1.1 trillion in August. "China has continued to increase its holdings of US treasuries as it had a trade surplus and forex reserves were increasing," said Deng Haiqing, chief economist of JZ Securities, adding that other factors like a weaker euro had also prompted the purchases. China's foreign exchange reserves rose to their highest level so far this year in September to $3.11 trillion, marking a growth for the eighth straight month. Cross-border capital flows and the foreign exchange market's supply-demand situation were generally balanced, while the rise in asset prices in global financial markets has pushed the growth in foreign exchange reserves, a statement from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in September. In January, China's forex reserves plunged below $3 trillion, but with economy moving on to a firmer footing and the yuan stabilizing, the stockpile has increased steadily since February. Ding Shuang, an economist with Standard Chartered, said higher holdings of US treasuries can be profitable for China as the US currency is expected to rebound by the end of this year. By the end of August, overall foreign holdings of US Treasury securities rose to $6.27 trillion from July's $6.25 trillion. Data also showed that foreigners bought US Treasuries to the tune of $11.49 billion in August, after selling $490 million in July. Yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes at the beginning of August were 2.25 percent and ended the month at 2.12 percent. NetsUnion Clearing Corp, China's newly established clearing house for online payments supervised by the People's Bank of China, will clear half of the transactions that are expected to be made during the upcoming Nov 11 Singles Day shopping festival. The move comes as a blow to Alibaba-owned Alipay, which had hitherto cleared most of the transactions during the shopping extravaganza. China's central bank had decided to set up the nationwide clearing house for online payment services to protect consumers and the financial system from the mushrooming internet-enabled model of finance that currently accounts for over 3 percent of the country's non-cash payments. NetsUnion Clearing Corp is expected to directly channel 50 percent of the transactions on Nov 11 between third-party companies and banks, thereby slashing access to third-party payment giants such as Alipay. The volume of transactions that would be cleared on Nov 11 is expected to be the highest that the clearing house would process on a single day since it started operations in March this year. "NetsUnion will only process 50 percent of transactions on Nov 11, because establishing the infrastructure for clearing services takes time," said a manager in charge of the technology department of the NetsUnion, who did not want to be named. "The company will take over all the clearing service from Alipay in the future, and also from other third-party payment providers, as required by the central bank." The same standards and rules will apply to all payment providers, said another manager with the company. All payment transactions handled by third-party providers, if related to bank transactions, would be routed through the new clearinghouse by the end of June 30 next year, according to a document issued by the central bank. Eighteen large Chinese banks are connected with the clearing house, while nine of the 115 licensed third party payment providers in the country have started to channel transactions through the new platform, according to the people familiar with the matter. By the end of this year, at least 200 banks and 40 companies are expected to connect with the clearing house, the people said. The amount of transactions channeled through the clearing house has been increasing, but the company did not disclose any figures for now. China's third-party online payment market had 160 billion transactions valued at 100 trillion yuan ($15.15 trillion) last year, up 100 percent year-on-year, according to data from the central bank. The large amount of offsheet online transactions that were conducted last year had alarmed the government, because unlike transactions backed by banks, untraceable transactions through third-party payment providers may include potential money laundering and other illegal practices. An all-in platform will help to curb risks by making the transaction data transparent, according to the sources. At an opportune time, the clearing house also plans to come out with standards that would seek to unify the entire third-party payment industry in China. The company will also ramp up its market presence by promoting its own quick response code scanning system to process mobile payments. The objective of the whole exercise is to ensure that the mobile payment industry progresses on the right track with adequate government support and controls, said an unnamed official from the central bank. [Photo/China Daily by Song Chen] Development is creating opportunities for young people Editor's Note: The Communist Party of China is holding its 19th National Congress in Beijing. China Daily asked two prominent experts for their views on developments in China and the country's global leadership. Having stayed in close contact with China and its people for four decades, John Holden, associate dean of Peking University's Yenching Academy, is amazed by how Chinese people have changed during the past 40 years. Now responsible for recruitment of international students and university partnerships at the academyestablished in 2014 to offer fellowships in China studies to elite international and Chinese master's studentsHolden said later generations could not imagine what China was like when he first came in 1974. John Holden, associate dean of Peking University's Yenching Academy. [Photo provided to China Daily] It was during the later stages of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) when Holden paid his first visit to the Chinese mainland. He was an undergraduate studying Chinese language and literature at the University of Minnesota in the United States at the time. He said it was a tough and terrible time for China, and people were not happy. "They were afraid to talk to their families about things they cared about," he said. Things had changed greatly by the time he returned in 1980, not long after the reform and opening-up policy was implemented. By then, Holden had finished all his PhD requirements at Stanford University except for his dissertation. "There was a fresh wind of openness and people were reaching out," he recalled of his return to China. "People were talking to each other, talking to foreigners, striking up friendships and finding opportunities." As the country opened up, so too did the minds of the Chinese people. Everything was developing, young people had so many opportunities, and people were having fun and smiling, he said. What now impresses Holden, who also serves as a professor of management practice at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, is the high level of confidence about the next five years. In his eyes, China has experienced a transition periodboth politically and economicallysince the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2012. In the past five years, the Chinese economy has maintained strong growth, as planned, and has been moving to a different growth model. The CPC has been working to combat corruption through an anti-graft campaign. "So people are expecting that the next five years will be successful and that, for example, the economic reforms will progress quickly," he said. Having experience of doing business with China and as a former president of the National Committee on US-China Relations, a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating understanding and cooperation between the two countries, Holden sees China as being woven deeply into the fabric of almost every issue across the globe. "There is nowhere China is not present, and that's good because China has a lot to offer, whether it's peacekeeping, education, trade and investment, disease control or climate change," he said. He said there are so many ways that China can make a contribution to global progress and that the world wants China to play a bigger and more important role. For the next five years, Holden anticipates there will be continued evolution in China's economy and that the country will continue its efforts to clean up the environment. He also said he believes China will gain more experience internationally and in dealing with corporations overseas, such as in Africa, where China has a big role. "Some of the investments there have not been sufficiently sensitive to local conditions, but people are aware of that and they are trying to improve things and to get feedback," he said, adding that the country is learning how to run companies abroad, how to go into other countries and make intelligent investments. "So I expect the (overseas Chinarun) companies will continue to get better and learn to hire local people and work with them as team members," he said. Holden admitted that it had been a sharp learning curve. "When I first started doing business here, how many people knew what a letter of credit was? What an international trade contract was or force majeure? Nobody knew these things. So I think there is much more capacity in China," he said. Q&A What have been the major developments in China in the past five years? We've seen continued investment and improvement in science and technology, business innovation and the internationalization of education, which I know a little bit about because I'm here at Peking University's the Yenching Academy, a new program that is part of this broader policy. This is important for China's opening up and integration in the world. What has been your personal experience with this development? I joined the Yenching Academy three and a half years ago. When I was first introduced to this project, I thought it sounded amazing. After coming here and working with the Peking University administration and with my colleagues at the academy, I've been so impressed by how open and flexible they are in designing a program that makes sense for people from around the world and for Chinese students to integrate, to get to know each other, to develop long-lasting friendships and to learn about this fascinating country and civilization. What's the biggest challenge China faces, and how can it overcome it? China is a big country and has created a comfortable standard of living for people in big cities. But there are still many people in the country who are not doing so well and don't have the educational opportunities that others have. So it's a big challenge for China to continue to develop the rural areas and build up its second- and third-tier cities, so that people there can have the same quality of life as those in Beijing, Shanghai and other big cities. Do you believe that some of China's experiences or practices could be used to solve pressing global problems? Yes and no. China is following its own path, and while some things make sense for China, every country is different. However, it has been so successful in so many areas that any developing country would want to look at China's experiences. There are also things about China that the US is studying, too. What is your impression of President Xi Jinping? I've never met Xi, but I hear from friends and diplomats who have met him that he's an impressive man. So I hope to get the opportunity to meet him some day. A few tickets are still available for An Evening With George Takei, tonight at 8 p.m. at NAU's Prochnow Auditorium. The actor, social justice activist and social media heavy hitter will share the story of his family's forced internment as Japanese Americans during World War II. He will also discuss his rise to celebrity as a sci-fi icon as Sulu, an original Star Trek cast member, his journey as a prominent force in social media, and his fight for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality in America. From the age of 4 to 8, Takei and his family, together with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, were imprisoned behind the barbed-wire enclosures of United States internment camps. Takei spent most of his childhood at Camp Rohwer in the swamps of Arkansas. He has vivid memories of the camp, where he'd recite the pledge of allegiance, ending with "with liberty and justice for all" while staring out his classroom window at armed guards and barbed wire fences. "Democracy can be as great as the people can be, but it's also as fallible as people are," he said. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the NAU Central Ticket Office, http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/cto-p/ or by calling 523-5661. Sunday event tackles free speech vs. hate speech The local activist organization Together We Will Northern Arizona is beginning Free Speech Week by bringing together internationally-known artist and activist Karen Fiorito, the ACLU of Arizona, NAU professors, and a group of local actors/artists for a public event. The all ages "Free Speech vs Hate Speech" event will be held Sunday, Oct. 22, from 2-5 p.m., at The Hive, 2 S. Beaver St. Tickets are $15. Fiorito is an artist and activist from Santa Monica best known locally for her Phoenix billboard Trumpocalypse and Unity. The two-sided billboard features a picture of President Trump surrounded by dollar signs resembling swastikas on one side. The swasti- dollar symbol is meant to represent how greed and corruption rule our society through multi- million dollar corporations and paid politicians, Fiorito said. The other side of the billboard features the word "unity" in both English and American Sign Language. Fiorito will speak about this piece and other activist art pieces shes created beginning at 4 pm. Music begins at 2 p.m., followed by American Civil Liberties Union staff speaking about their work in the courts, the legislature and communities statewide. Four NAU professors will then discuss the differences between free speech and hate speech and discuss recent events involving the alt right and protestors. Then local actors will perform several short pieces including Sherman Alexiess new poem Hymn. Vegan appetizers will be provided and beer, wine and drinks will be for sale. Proceeds from this event benefit the ACLU of Arizona. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at: Brownpapertickets.com/event/3069618. CHANGSHA - A Chinese company on Wednesday signed a framework agreement with German wind turbine maker Senvion to supply 100 wind driven generators. According to the agreement, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Co Ltd, based in Zhuzhou city, central China's Hunan province, agreed to produce at least 100 3.7MW-144 wind turbines for Senvion in the next three years. These generators will be delivered to markets in Europe, North America and Australia. Zhou Junjun, chairman with the CRRC Zhuzhou Electric, said noise control technology higher than the world industrial standard was a key factor that helped the company win the deal. Headquartered in Hamburg, Senvion is one of the world's leading manufacturers of onshore and offshore wind turbines with more than 7,000 installations across the world. Neil Ge, CEO of DBS Bank (China). [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Neil Ge, CEO of DBS Bank (China), a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based DBS Bank, applauded China's achievements in the last five years and is looking forward to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to usher in even greater times ahead. At the opening ceremony of the 19th CPC National Congress on Wednesday, President Xi Jinping said "historic shifts" have been made in the cause of the Communist Party of China and the country in the past five years. During this period, China's GDP rose from 54 trillion yuan ($8 trillion) to 80 trillion yuan. Ge regarded the past five years as "extraordinary times for China, when the whole world marveled at its achievements, from domestic development and growth to increasingly significant international impact." He said China has successfully upgraded its economy and transformed into a world leader in innovations and technology applications. From the launch of free trade zones to the unveiling of the Xiongan New Area, China's economy has grown in vitality and resilience. "The 19th CPC National Congress is to reaffirm the directions taken and ensure that there are even greater times ahead. It is with deep respect that we are awed when President Xi said that it ushers in a new epoch," he said, noting that great inspirations can be drawn from the blueprints that were laid out. Domestically, growth and wealth will be more equitably benefitting the entire population; internationally, the Belt and Road Initiative will have further positive consequences for the livelihood of large numbers of people living in the less developed world that are longing for development opportunities. It augurs well for the future an interconnected world, when globalization is suffering from backlashes elsewhere, he added. "Bankers like us saw great sparks ahead that we will want to dedicate ourselves to this wonderful cause and contribute to the peace of the world and the betterment of the society by participating in and supporting these initiatives," he said. CANBERRA - One of Australia's leading wine companies has promised to increase its focus on cracking the Chinese market. Michael Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Treasury Wines, told the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday night that the company would seek to widen the gap between Treasury and its competitors in China. Treasury manages the international portfolios of famous Australian winemakers Penfolds, Pepperjack and Wolf Blass. Clarke said that the company was on-track in its "fixing, growing and accelerating" growth strategy. He said that 2018 would be about focusing on key growth markets, particularly China. "In Asia, it's leveraging the strength of our routes to market to really create space between us and our competitors," Clarke told the meeting in Adelaide where much of the Australian wine industry is based. "Particularly in China, where this month our warehouse in Shanghai becomes operational and will result in shorter lead times for existing customers, and provide access to new customers across all our brand portfolios." Treasury Wines posted a 2016-2017 profit of $211 million, a 55 percent increase on the previous year. Paul Rayner, Chairman of Treasury, also updated shareholders on how fires in the US state of California had impacted the company, saying operations in the state's wine region had escaped damage. Treasury Wines owns more than 3,700 hectares of planted vineyards in northern California, making wine for brands such as Beringer and Stags' Leap. "Treasury Wine is fortunate that all of our people are safe, and our infrastructure in the region remains intact with no significant fire damage," Rayner said. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 China will outpace the world in making servers to power artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data applications as these cutting-edge technologies are widely seen as the next frontier of innovation, according to a renowned server expert. "After years of development, China has leapt from a follower into one of the leaders of innovation in server-related technologies," Wang Endong, the chief scientist at Inspur Group, one of China's largest server makers, told reporters on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Wang Endong, chief scientist at Inspur Group. [Photo provided to China Daily] Servers are the "engines" to drive the flow of data in various industries. They run core business systems of finance, telecom, electricity, energy transmission and other industries that are directly related to people's livelihood. According to Wang, three of the top five global server makers are from China. The country is also playing an important part in setting worldwide industry standards. "We have outpaced many countries in server patent applications, which will offer a strong momentum to growth," said Wang, who is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. For a long time, China heavily relied on imports to meet the domestic demand for high-end fault-tolerant servers, which allow systems to continue running when part of the system fails, thereby avoiding loss of data. At the time, the market was dominated by IBM, HP, Fujitsu and other foreign technology providers. The situation persisted until 2013, when Wang and his more than 400 colleagues successfully developed China's first proprietary 32-way high-end fault-tolerant serverthe Tiansuo K1. Wang compared the development of Inspur Tiansuo K1 with climbing the world's second highest peak, Mount K2. "When we started to develop the high-end fault-tolerant server, we named it K2 to remind every researcher of the extreme difficulties we could encounter," Wang said, adding the name was changed to K1 only after the team succeeded. Earlier this year, Inspur launched a tailor-made server platform for AI, which demands huge amounts of data computing and processing. This is the latest product of Wang and his team. In the second quarter of 2017, Inspur shipped 158,000 units of servers globally, making it the world's fourth largest server maker, data from the market research company Gartner Inc show. Fu Liang, an independent IT expert, said the technology gap between Chinese server makers and their western counterparts has been narrowed rapidly, with local players even leading the world in some respects. A researcher works on a semiconductor product at Tsinghua Unigroup research center in Beijing. [Photo/Agencies] Mobile chip market is no longer dominated by foreign brands as local manufacturers fight back to grab a slice of the market A nanosecond is a long time in the semiconductor sector while three years is an eternity. Back in 2013, Chinese smartphone chipmakers had a mountain to climb against global rivals such as Qualcomm Inc in the United States. They barely even had a presence in the low-end segment of the market. But all that changed after the government rolled out new policies and domestic players broke through technological barriers. "Three years ago, we relied chiefly on a price war to crack the market," said Li Liyou, CEO of Spreadtrum Communications Inc, one of the largest chipmakers on the Chinese mainland. "But as more resources were poured into research and development, we saw a fundamental change," Li added. Plans to upgrade the homegrown chip industry are in line with the central leadership's call to turn China into a manufacturer of quality. "We will move Chinese industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain, and foster a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters," Party General Secretary Xi Jinping said at the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Wednesday. Data from research agency IC Insights revealed that 11 Chinese companies were on the global top 50 list for integrated circuit designers in 2016. Only one domestic business was on it in 2009. Spreadtrum Communications Inc is a classic example of what is happening inside the industry. It produced more than 600 million smartphone chips last year, accounting for over 25 percent of the world's total shipments. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer, is also making inroads with its in-house Kirin chips. In 2014, China's largest telecom equipment maker was struggling to upgrade its semiconductor division, despite putting together a program a decade earlier. But now most of its smartphones, including high-end models, are powered by Kirin chips. Last month, the Shenzhen-based business unveiled its first artificial intelligence chip, Kirin 970, with superfast computing and strong image-recognition capabilities. It powers Huawei's new Mate 10 smartphone, which was launched on Monday to compete with Apple Inc's 10th-anniversary iPhone. "AI can enable real-time language translation, heed voice commands, or take advantage of augmented reality, which overlays text, sounds, graphics and video on real-world images," said Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group. Figures released from the China Semiconductor Industry Association showed that the domestic chip sector reported sales of 434 billion yuan ($65 billion) last year, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2015. Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and CEO of industry website Cctime, pointed out that Chinese companies are now benefiting from the government's policy to cultivate a domestic chip industry. The program was put in place amid concerns that a heavy reliance on foreign technology would affect national security. There were also other reasons, such as the fact that China was spending more on overseas chips than crude oil imports. In 2014, Beijing set up China's Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund to support the sector and spur private financing. One of the biggest beneficiaries was Tsinghua Unigroup, the parent company of Spreadtrum. Earlier this year, it signed financing deals worth 150 billion yuan to carry on R&D into new homegrown chips. This will give the State-owned technology group enough cash to fulfill its grand ambitions in the semiconductor sector, and join the ranks of global giants, such as Intel Corp, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics Co. Among the investors are China Development Bank and China's Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund. "The next several years are key ... there is an enormous market out there," said Zhao Weiguo, chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup. To illustrate that, Tsinghua Unigroup is now working on a $30 billion domestic memorychip production complex in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. It will become China's largest plant when completed. Private companies, such as Xiaomi, are also making major strides. The smartphone manufacturer unveiled its first in-house chipset in March. Named Surge S1, the chip combines four powerful and efficient cores, which can help strike a balance between performance and power efficiency. "Chip technology is the crown in the smartphone sector, but it is highly cash intensive," said Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi. "If we want to challenge the world's top three players, we need to devote our long-term efforts into the research and development of chips," Lei added. Chinese chip startup Cambricon Technologies has raised $100 million from investors, making it the first "unicorn" in the country's AI semiconductor sector to be worth more than $1 billion. Backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Beijing-based company is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or CAS, and has focused on advanced chips to power deep learning computation. Chen Tianshi, co-founder and CEO of Cambricon Technologies. [Photo provided to China Daily] This popular artificial intelligence algorithm is part of a broader push by the country's high-tech industries in the race for AI applicationsthe next frontier of innovation. Last year, Cambricon unveiled its first chip, Cambricon-1A, which the company branded as the "first commercial deep learning application". It can be used in the fields of robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and consumer electronics. "Most AI applications are powered by general purpose processors, which are not enough to push forward the limits of cutting-edge technologies," said Chen Tianshi, CEO and co-founder of the startup. Cambricon-1A, he stressed, was far better than traditional chips in delivering image and speech recognition. It also has higher integration density, making it ideal for mobile devices. "There are differences between tailor-made AI chips and general ones. To some extent, it is like comparing kitchen knives to Swiss Army knives," said Chen Yunji, co-founder of Cambricon. "Swiss Army knives are multifunctional, but they are not as good as kitchen knives when chopping meat," he added. Cambricon was founded last year by the two Chens, both researchers at the Institute of Computing Technology, which is part of the CAS. In 2016, the company also received 100 million yuan ($15 million) in licensing fees for its Cambricon-1A chip from smartphone manufacturers and wearable device makers, DigiTimes, a daily newspaper for the semiconductor and electronics sectors, reported. During August, the startup announced it had raised $100 million in series A funding. This was led by SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, a subsidiary of China's State Development & Investment Corp. Other prominent investors included e-commerce giant Alibaba, computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd, robotics firm Zhongke Tuling Century Beijing Technology and the investment arm of the CAS. Four months earlier, Cambricon had received $1.4 million from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The cash will be used to accelerate the company's AI chip technology program in high performance cloud computing platforms, as well as in smartphones and wearables, Chen Tianshi pointed out. "We will focus on both in-device AI and cloud AI," he said, adding that the firm's clients already include iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese voice recognition business, and State-owned Sugon Information Industry Co Ltd. Indeed, the future looks bright for Cambricon, even in a global marketplace which is highly competitive. Demand for AI chips is growing, according to Roger Sheng, a senior analyst at research company Gartner Inc. "There is rigid demand for AI chips in security, military, video AI algorithms and other sectors in China," he said. "There is no need for Cambricon to worry about orders, as long as its technologies are strong enough." In July, China unveiled a national development plan to build a 1 trillion yuan AI core industry by 2030. This is supposed to stimulate as much as 10 trillion yuan in related businesses. The applications of group-buying and dining information platform Meituan and Dianping are displayed on a smartphone. China Internet Plus Holding Ltd was formed by the merger of Meituan and Dianping on October 8, 2015. [Photo/VCG] China's leading group-buying and dining information platform Meituan Dianping announced it received a new round of financing valued at $4 billion on Thursday, according to a report by ce.cn. The company, ranked world's 9th most valuable unicorn (private companies valued at $1 billion and above) this year by consulting firm CB Insights, now has a valuation of $30 billion after the latest round. Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd led this round of financing and the Priceline Group, an online travel giant, was introduced as a strategic investor. Other major investors include Sequoia Capital, GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Trustbridge Partners, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management and China-UAE Investment Cooperation Fund. Wang Xing, CEO of the company, said the company will enter into a new stage after this financing. "Meituan Dianping will shoulder more social responsibilities and contribute to employment growth," Wang said. The company's food delivery business has created more than 500,000 jobs in its delivery side. According to the company, it will increase input in the research and development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence to promote the upgrade of service industry. Meituan Dianping was formed by the merger of Meituan and Dianping in 2015. It is now named China Internet Plus Holding Ltd. The average altitude of China's highest township, Pumaqangtang, stands at 5,373 meters, with only 40 percent of the oxygen that people at sea level have. Tibetans watch live broadcast of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday in Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Sichuan Province. [Photo/VCG] The hot atmosphere in the township square, however, stood in contrast with the thin air as people gathered to watch the live broadcast of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday. As the sun rose in the township in the Tibet autonomous region, 34 Party members, including officials, nomads and officers from border police stations, and some other residents had gathered. They held a flag-raising ceremony and danced "Guozhuang", a Tibetan bonfire dance, to celebrate the coming congress. Galsang Choilag, Party chief of the township, which has a population of more than 1,000, said he is excited to see the congress open successfully and was inspired by the achievements mentioned by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. "He put great emphasis on people's well-being. As a grassroots cadre in border regions, I will follow the spirit of Xi's report with my colleagues and make every effort to improve people's livelihoods and safeguard the harmony and stability of the areas inhabited by ethnic groups," he said. Great changes have happened in Pumaqangtang in the past five years. In 2015, the township in Nakarze county was connected with a paved road to the county's downtown area, and the whole township is now covered by communication and internet services, the 36-year-old said. By the end of last year, per capita disposable income in the township reached 9,490 yuan ($1,434). People from two of the six villages in the township are expected to move into newly built settlements this year, and people from another three villages will have new houses next year thanks to a 150 million yuan village construction project, he said. He said he firmly believes the country will be stronger with the Party's leadership under Xi. "I have been through the largest changes of my life in the past five years," said Sodnam Tsering from Satsam, a village near the township. "Previously, we relied on our yaks to carry pasture products to nearby Lhodrag county to exchange for food and other daily necessities. It took us five days. Now with the paved road, it is only four hours away by car," said the 43-year-old. He said he bought a tractor in 2013 to facilitate farm work and a van to work in the transportation business in 2015. Now his family takes in more than 100,000 yuan a year, including more than 40,000 yuan in subsidies from the government. "In the past decades, there have been great changes in my family and my hometown. Our lives have become better and better. All these happened thanks to the Party's leadership. The Party Central Committee has made every effort to work for the people's happiness," he said. "General Secretary Xi said in his report that people's interests should be put above all else. This impressed me the most. "I think this means there will be more and bigger changes to our life as the country becomes stronger. "My villagers and I are all extremely happy to hear that. I want to say tashi delek (good fortune) to the CPC Central Committee," he added. ISTANBUL The economic success and growing influence China has achieved under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) show that the Asian country represents hope for mankind, said a Turkish political party leader. In a recent written interview with Xinhua, Dogu Perincek, chairman of the Patriotic Party, highlighted China's achievements in building socialism and its solidarity with the developing countries. That has turned China and the CPC "into a source of hope for the whole humanity," he said ahead of the 19th CPC National Congress, which opened Wednesday in Beijing. "China today represents hope for the whole humanity," said Perincek. "We have to keep that hope alive. Hope for a world free of imperialism, a world of free and independent nations, a multipolar world, a world that is following the path of shared growth." In Perincek's view, the greatest success of the CPC lies in that it has given the Chinese people "confidence," which he believes has contributed to China's economic growth and its strength in defending free trade. "Every time I visited China, I encountered a new China," said Perincek, who has visited China nine times. "I always returned to Turkey with the feelings of both surprise and admiration." The "Chinese model" will gain followers in the coming years, he added. Noting that China has promoted sustainable development and actively participated in efforts to combat climate change, he said China is playing a vital role in building a "new world order" and a "multipolar world." Beyond that, he added, China is advancing common development and prosperity through cooperative platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative. Perincek said the Belt and Road Initiative is of great importance in building a multipolar world and promoting the Eurasian continent as a space for shared growth. "This initiative starts the Asian Age, and builds the backbone of Eurasia and the path humanity will follow," he said. Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng announced Wednesday afternoon that a new community liaison and a new diversity officer will be coming to the university soon. Cheng made the announcement at a town hall meeting she holds at least once every semester. NAUs first diversity officer, Carmen Phelps, resigned in March after being on the job for about seven months. The office was part of a list of 22 demands made by NAU students in December 2015 to increase the schools diversity awareness and to make students of diverse backgrounds and races or from the LGBTQ community feel more welcome. Phelps position was part of Chengs cabinet and was supposed to bring student concerns directly to Cheng. At Wednesdays meeting, Cheng said that many improvements have been made in services for diverse students in the universitys Office of Inclusion and Multicultural Student Services. Students now not only have access to study space and mentoring/counseling programs in the IMSS office but a new organization, NAU Cares. The organization is supposed to be a team of facility, staff and students that can mentor and counsel students and collaborate on making NAU a more diversity-friendly campus, she said. Cheng added that university officials plan to meet in a special session with the Flagstaff City Council in January on problems and concerns between the city and the university. They will also discuss plans for a new city/university liaison the university and city hope to have hired before the end of the school year. The city and university have been negotiating possible changes to the job description for the liaison position since the first person hired for the position, Karissa Morgan, resigned in May. Morgan was hired to fill the position in August 2016. The position was created and funded jointly by the city of Flagstaff and NAU last year as a go-between for students living off-campus and their Flagstaff neighbors. It came in the wake of complaints of rowdy parties in Southside and at The Grove, leading the council to pass a tougher party ordinance. One party in the fall of 2015 on Franklin Avenue spawned a fight that involved the shooting of four NAU students, one fatally. In May, city spokesperson Meg Roederer said that the vacancy was to be filled by an internal search involving only city of Flagstaff and NAU employees. Cheng also answered a handful of questions from the public and students online and in person. One student asked about protections for students who were part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as Dreamers. Its a big deal, Cheng acknowledged. She said she has signed on to a letter from more than 400 other universities and colleges in the U.S. asking President Donald Trump and Congress to reinstate the program. She also said that she has signed on to a letter from the Arizona Board of Regents and other Arizona Universities to Arizonas congressional delegation asking them to support the program. In the meantime, ABOR and the state universities are planning to fight a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Attorney General that challenges the universities right to charge in-state tuition for DACA students, Cheng said. While preparing for that fight, NAU is seeking outside help to gather funds that would cover the difference in tuition for DACA students should the universities lose the lawsuit. A Flagstaff resident who didnt identify herself asked if the university planned more student housing projects for the south side of campus. Cheng said the university recently opened one new dormitory, Sky View Hall, this year and that the new honors college dorm should be open in fall 2018. The university doesnt currently have plans to build more student housing. Were letting the dust settle on our current construction so we can make sure that we dont overbuild, Cheng said. She also pointed out that the south side of campus doesnt have the necessary infrastructure for water, sewer and other utilities yet. Cheng said NAU couldnt force all of its students to live on campus even if it wished. Students need to make their own decision. She added the university currently has more than 9,000 beds on campus, and with new projects like The Hub and Fremont Station adding thousands more beds off-campus, there should be more than enough supply. Another student asked about the increase in minimum wage for student workers on campus and if students at all wage levels could expect an increase. Cheng announced a change in the lowest paid student and temporary employee minimum wage levels from $8.05 to $8.50 an hour last month. The university also increased the wages of at least 100 regular full-time employees from $10.50 to $12 an hour. Cheng said most student jobs pay more than the minimum wage already and pointed out that Social Security benefits are not deducted from most student jobs on campus. Jane Kuhn, the universitys vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said her office was working on a review of student employment positions across all of the universitys departments. The review found a number of discrepancies in wages, titles and skills called for in similar student jobs in different departments. The Student Affairs Office is working on a plan that would make sure that similar positions in different departments, such as office assistants, require the same skill sets and are paid the same wage. A third student asked about traffic control on campus. Staff said that the university was working on a multi-modal study of traffic on campus to determine how to improve streets and traffic flow. The eight-point code to cut bureaucracy and maintain close ties with the people has changed China greatly and the Communist Party of China has made impressive achievements in its anti-graft campaign over the past five years, delegates to the Party Congress said on Thursday. (L-R) Ling Jiefang, Wang Liping, Xu Chuan and Huang Yibing, delegates to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), receive interview at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing October 19, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] "The 600-word code (introduced in 2012) has influenced the Party, its 89 million members and the whole of society in a profound way..." Huang Yibing, a researcher at the Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, told reporters on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the CPC. "With the implementation of the eight-point code, we all feel that the working methods and attitude of Party and governmental organs have improved over the past five years, and helped staff members of these organs stay closer to the people," he said, adding that the code has also allowed these organs to cut expenditure. According to Huang, the budget of central government departments for receptions, vehicles and overseas trips, also known as "the three public expenditures", kept decreasing from 2012 to 2016. Meanwhile, with the implementation of the code, discipline inspection and supervision departments, at all levels, have cracked down on corruption and have made people aware of the Party's resolution to strengthen self-discipline, he added. Wang Liping, deputy secretary of Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, told reporters that lasting applause broke out when General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned the Party's fight against corruption in his report to the congress on Wednesday morning. "The applause signals not only the recognition of the anti-graft efforts of the past five years, but also the strong hope and support for the efforts in the next five years," he said. Wang said both provincial and city-level research centers on corruption cases have been set up in Jiangsu province. "The targets of these centers are to analyze the cause of the cases, find out any loophole with the anti-graft system and then prevent similar cases from occurring by restoring the system and introducing more effective measures," he said. Ling Jiefang, a popular historical fiction author known for his pen name Eryuehe, said that the Party has done a great job in its anti-graft campaign, compared to any previous era in either Chinese history or the history of any country. "General Secretary Xi Jinping called on all Party members to continue anti-graft efforts without relaxation in his report on Wednesday and I think further steps should include making the anti-graft system better to adapt to the development of the Chinese society," he said. Xi Jinping delivers a report to the 19th CPC National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 18, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING -- Xi Jinping on Thursday called on members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and people of all ethnic groups in the country to advance socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. Xi made the remarks during a panel discussion with delegates from Guizhou province who are here to attend the CPC's 19th National Congress. Commending Guizhou's development over the past five years, Xi said socialism with Chinese characteristics has now entered a "new era." He said this is a "major political assessment" as well as a "strategic reflection that affects the whole landscape." "The evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society represents a historic shift that affects the whole landscape," Xi said, echoing a report he made at the opening session of the Party congress when he spoke of "the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." Xi told delegates from Guizhou that efforts must be made to address unbalanced and inadequate development and meet people's ever-growing needs for a better life. General Secretary Xi Jinping is given a panoramic photograph of the village of Huamao in Zunyi by the village's Party chief. Xi received it during a panel discussion with delegates from Guizhou province on Thursday at the ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.LAN HONGGUANG / XINHUA Party, nation told to study and spread new judgment, requirements General Secretary Xi Jinping called on the whole Party and country on Thursday to make joint efforts to achieve progress in Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xi made the remark during a panel discussion with delegates from Guizhou province at the ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In April, Xi was elected to be a delegate to the 19th National Congress from Guizhou. Mountainous Guizhou is typical of places that have implemented Xi's thoughts on poverty reduction. The report of the 19th National Congress is a political manifesto and also action guideline for the CPC to lead people across the country to adhere to and develop Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi said. Xi urged the whole Party to study the new judgment of socialism with Chinese characteristics in this new time, the new definition of the country's principal contradiction, the new two-stage plan to make China a "great modern socialist country", and the new requirements of strictly building the Party. According to the report delivered by Xi at the opening session on Wednesday, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The report also said that the country's principal contradiction has evolved to be the one between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. In the report, Xi said that the CPC will basically realize socialist modernization in the first stage from 2020 to 2035 before developing China into a "great modern socialist country" that is "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful" after another 15 years. The whole Party should launch a massive campaign to study the spirit of the 19th National Congress and publicize the relevant thoughts at government departments, rural places, schools, communities and the military, Xi said. Xi spoke highly of Guizhou's achievements in areas like poverty reduction, ecological protection, infrastructure construction and anti-corruption in the past five years. During the discussion, Xi spoke at length with nine delegates and paid attention to issues like the new rule on farmland contracts, development of rural tourism and medical insurance in rural villages. "If the base is not stable, the earth will move and the mountain will rock," he said while highlighting the importance of building Party organizations at grassroots level. Noting that poverty reduction is the "battlefield" in current circumstances, Xi pledged to promote officials who have dedicated themselves to poverty reduction and contributed to betterment of conditions for the poor. Yang Bo, a village official in Liupanshui, said that after talking with Xi, he has become more confident about leading villagers to get out of poverty. Sun Zhigang, secretary of the CPC Guizhou provincial committee, said that Xi's report has rolled out a visionary blueprint for the Party and country's development and improvement in the next decades. "We are deeply inspired by General Secretary Xi's report," he said, adding that the report could give the people "the strength of belief". Shen Yiqin, Guizhou province governor, said "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" is the biggest highlight of the 19th National Congress and a historic contribution to the Party's development. "General Secretary Xi has assumed the great responsibility of fighting corruption with admirable courage, and such efforts have saved the Party, the military as well as the country," she said. US-based China watchers spoke favorably of the speech by General Secretary Xi Jinping at Wednesday's opening ceremony of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, said his key takeaway from the report is the redefinition of the new era and new challenge. Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee as well as the nation's president, spoke about the principal contradiction facing Chinese society as being between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. Previously, the contradiction had been described as being "between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and backward social production". "China is no longer backward in the mode of production. China, even in innovation, is catching up, in some areas even ahead of the rest of the world," said Li, adding that it's a brilliant way to describe China's position and challenge today. Li said he thinks the redefinition is not only appropriate but also very wise because it uses the terms "unbalanced and inadequate", terms that could refer to many things. Li, an expert on Chinese leadership, called Xi's speech "very comprehensive, very thoughtful and very balanced". Li said foreign observers, especially foreign companies, will note that market access, financial liberalization, fairness and openness in the service sector, trade and investment are all in the report. Jon Taylor, professor of political science at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas, said Xi's speech took in China's society and economy and its place in the world. "It had positive energy, emphasizing the role of the Party in fostering China's future development, while also touching on themes of culture, ideology and patriotism," he said. "Xi's speech marked what I would term a new era in Chinese politics. The speech clearly distinguished Xi's leadership and influence on the CPC. More importantly, Xi made it very clear that the Party will maintain a central role in China's development over coming decades." Taylor, an expert on Chinese politics, said Xi's speech sent a signal that "China will continue to pursue a deepening reform agenda and realistically address its problems" and "China has taken the driver's seat in leading the debate on climate change." Political parties, organizations and politicians from other countries have sent congratulatory messages to the Communist Party of China on the convening of its 19th National Congress in Beijing on Wednesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang confirmed such messages at a daily news conference in Beijing on Wednesday. "This shows the great attention paid by the international community toward the 19th CPC National Congress. We would like to express appreciation for this," Lu said. The Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee extended "the warmest congratulations" in a message, and said the Chinese people have made tremendous achievements under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as its core, Xinhua News Agency reported. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee said in a message that the Chinese government and people will surely make greater achievements on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics. The Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee extended "brotherly, amicable greetings" in a congratulatory message to CPC leaders and all party members, saying that under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people achieved great economic and social development, giving China outstanding status on the world stage. The Central Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Workers' Party of Korea sent a congratulatory message on Wednesday, sincerely wishing the congress a great success. Leaders having sent congratulatory messages included Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn An undated photo shows a owl flying past the Boya Tower on the campus of Peking University in Beijing. [Photo/ynet.com] Peking University in Beijing is reviewing a proposal to set up a mini nature reserve on the campus to protect the ecosystem, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. The proposal, brought forward by students and teachers, first appeared on an official WeChat account, sparking heated debate at the university. The proposed 42.5 hectare mini nature reserve would be designed to protect the animals and plants that currently inhabit the campus. The proposal would ban the use of herbicides in the preserve, and also allow for dead foliage to be composted, rather than being removed. If approved, the mini reserve at Peking University would be the first of its kind in China. An undated photo shows a newborn owl on the campus of Peking University in Beijing. [Photo/ynet.com] Different from traditional nature reserves which would limit access, the Peking University proposal would emphasize the idea of a harmonious co-existence between humans and nature. Research at the university for the past 15 years has determined there are 300 different species of animals and 470 different varieties of plants living on the campus grounds. A number of endangered animals, including Golden Eagles, Ninox Scutulata and Otus Sunia have been found on the campus. BEIJING - A class tutor at Beijing's Yimei Primary School, Zhao Lin has visited all 36 students' homes at weekends and summer holidays since 2014 to discuss their study with parents. Zhao offers practical advice on how to improve motivation and self-management. The aim is to get parents more involved in educating their children, says school principal Jin Hui. Although social networks and other new media have helped communication between teachers and parents, Jin believes traditional home visits are still necessary. "Parents tend be bewildered about their children's education. Home visits mean teachers give one-on-one guidance in a targeted way. That helps create concerted efforts for educating children," Jin says. In September, the Chinese government issued a guideline on education reform, which called for improvements to "family education and strengthening family education guidance services to help parents establish a rational educational philosophy". China has an ancient tradition of family-led education. Some family rules and traditions pass down from generation to generation. However, this cultural legacy is now being tested. Some working parents have precious little spare time to spend with their children; some don't know how to talk with their kids effectively, especially if their youngsters are strong-willed or rebellious. Indulging children in online games has to some extent revealed weaknesses in family education. As a result, the demand of parents for scientific methods to raise children is growing. Books on child-rearing and education philosophy often appear on best-seller lists. Some parents consult professionals. Chinese authorities have pledged greater support and guidance. According to the Five-Year Outline on the Promotion of Family Education (2016-2020) released in November 2016, "parent schools" will be established in 90 percent of kindergartens, primary and middle schools in cities, and in 80 percent of rural schools by 2020. Public institutions such as museums and cultural centers will be required to hold at least two family education guidance sessions and two practical activities each year. More cities are integrating family education guidance into the public service system and increasing financial support. Beijing Municipal Commission of Education recently launched a program providing guidance to more than 500,000 families of kindergarten, primary and secondary school students. Launched in 2012, the "mobile education lecture hall" has held hundreds of free public lectures for more than 10,000 parents, inviting leading experts, scholars and teachers to answer questions. In Shandong province, family education research centers and mentor training bases have been set up with the help of universities, research institutions or internet platforms. Some places are fast-tracking local legislation on family education. Since the implementation of the Chongqing Family Education Promotion Ordinance in September 2016, public security agencies have admonished 1,323 parents or guardians for inappropriate family education. Family education is also regarded as crucial for cultivating and promoting socialist core values among China's youth. Qi Zhenjun, principal of the Primary School Affiliated to Beijing Chaoyang Teachers College, believes the essence of traditional Chinese family culture, such as filial piety, should be creatively applied to modern family education. In his school, parents volunteer to be guest speakers at flag-raising ceremonies, sharing their life and work experience with students. The school also encourages students and their families to do volunteer service in the community. "Parents' mindsets and the home environment are thought to influence child development greatly. Parents can set a good example for their children and help instill social responsibility through these activities," Qi says. Some Chinese parents only focus on intellectual education, sending their kids to extracurricular classes to raise test scores. The nation's top anti-graft watchdog is determined to stamp out illegal activities among officials, as Zhang Yan reports. For the past five years, the battle against corruption has been a top priority, with disciplinary watchdogs at all levels investigating and apprehending rogue Party officials. Since the campaign was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2012, more than 280 officials at the ministerial and provincial levels, or higher, have been investigated over allegations of "serious violations of Party discipline", a common euphemism for corruption. They include several powerful "tigers", such as former national security chief Zhou Yongkang and Su Rong, former vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "No matter what their levels, officials involved in corruption will stand trial and receive judgment according to the law," said Yang Xiaodu, minister of supervision and deputy director of the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top anti-graft watchdog. Tighter supervision The CCDI said it has developed effective procedures to tighten supervision within the CPC to ensure that members follow the rules, eliminate graft "at the roots" and tackle an issue that has a bearing on the future of both the Party and the nation. During Xi's first term in office, the commission carried out 12 rounds of inspection into 277 Party organizations and bodies, achieving a full inspection of all Party organs. "The inspections acted as a sharp sword for supervision within the Party, leading to more than 60 percent of the valuable clues we received about potential corruption," said Li Wanjun, a bureau-level inspector with the CCDI's central inspection team. Official data shows that from late 2012 to the end of August more than 240,000 officials nationwide were accused of breaching the Party's frugality code. The commission has released a list of 167 typical offenses on its website. One example occurred between 2014 and 2016, when Kong Lingbin, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, violated Party rules and accepted gifts and cash from subordinates valued at 50,000 yuan, ($7,630) as well as a refueling card for his car worth 5,000 yuan. Kong was given a serious warning by the CPC and his illicit gains were confiscated. Meanwhile, in February last year, Ai Geqing, a senior official at the public security bureau in Baoshan, Yunnan province, broke Party rules by accepting gifts and cash worth 29,530 yuan from 56 people. She received the same punishment as Kong. "Our clampdown has gained crushing momentum and halted the spread of corruption," Yang said, adding that the task of supervising Party members and building a loyal, clean and responsible government will be arduous. "We will never let up against graft, and we must especially stay alert to any election fraud during the Party's key meeting," he said, referring to the 19th National Congress of the CPC. Learning from scandals When he addressed a CCDI meeting earlier this year, President Xi said Party organizations at all levels must strengthen their management and strictly adhere to the rules to ensure healthy elections. "Members who show excellent morality and ability should be chosen and promoted," he said. The congress will see the election of the new leadership group and herald a major reshuffle at various levels of the CPC and government. In a recent editorial, People's Daily, the Party's official newspaper, called for zero tolerance toward corruption during the elections. "Any malpractice, such as bribery and soliciting or buying votes, should be investigated and, if proved, severely punished," it said, adding that CPC members should draw lessons from recent political scandals that harmed the public interest and posed serious threats to social stability. One example occurred in Liaoning province in 2013, when 523 of the 616 deputies who took part in elections for the provincial people's congress were suspected of offering bribes. They all resigned or were disqualified from taking their seats. Overall, more than 950 officials were punished for being involved, according to a CCDI statement. Most received administrative punishments, while a number of senior provincial officials were charged with destroying the credibility of the election, abuse of power and bribery. They are awaiting sentencing. Sichuan province in southwestern China is on the right track to becoming an international transport hub and trade center, relying on its advanced global land and air network. Chengdu-Europe Express Railway, a direct freight train launched in 2013 connecting western China and Europe, is playing a vital role in boosting bilateral trade between the region and countries involved in the nation's Belt and Road Initiative. The train starts of from Chengdu with wood, furniture and special local products, and returns from Europe with cars, French wine and Polish beef. It is the most stable, fast and competitive China-EU train. Also, it is the first one that promises no shutdowns during winter. By the end of September, the train had shuttled 600 times between destinations with total turnover of import and exports exceeding $2.8 billion. On Sept 30, the Chengdu-Europe Express Rail expanded to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. In addition, its range and transportation capacity has been further improved. The Chengdu-Prague line is the seventh international freight train that starts from Chengdu. It passes through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland, the whole journey almost 10,000 kilometers long. The full trip takes an estimated 13 days to complete. Sun Lin, deputy general manager of Chengdu International Railway Service, said its development was far from over and the train would extend to Southeast Asia in the future. A new train running through Vietnam and connecting Southeast Asia is expected to open by the end of the current year. When that happens, Chengdu will be an international transportation junction, connecting Southeast Asia and Europe, Sun added. Chengdu was a vital point along the ancient Silk Road, which started from the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an, now Xi'an, and ran through Middle Asia and West Asia and before ending in Rome. What is less well-known is that most goods traded through the Silk Road were from Sichuan province, such as brocade and silk. In addition to land transport, Chengdu has opened 182 domestic air routes and 102 international air routes, of which 50 routes are scheduled and non-stop. Chengdu will launch more international flights to the United States, Australia, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to the city's latest development plan. The city aims to have a total of 120 international air routes operating by the end of 2022. One of the city's top international products are the iPads manufactured in Chengdu, which account for 70 percent of the global market. All these products are transported from the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport all over the world in 24 hours through Sichuan's global network of air routes. The new Chengdu Tianfu International Airport is expected to go into into use in 2020. By then, Chengdu will be the third city to have two airports, after Beijing and Shanghai. More and more goods now are transported from Sichuan to the world quickly and conveniently. Data shows that in the year to end-August, total volumes of imports and exports of Chengdu and Luzhou - where the China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone is located - had surged to 185.5 billion yuan. That represented year-on-year growth of 69.7 percent and was 13 percentage points higher than the provincial average. "Sichuan has benefited hugely from the building of the free trade zone," said Han Jian, deputy director of the National Port Administration Office. Chengdu, Luzhou and Yibin ports have had good results from simplifying declaration procedures, improved information flows, promoting office automation and shortening customs clearance times, Han added. "Sichuan can take full advantage of the experience accumulated by preceding free trade zones and could innovate at the same time," said Huo Weidong, vice-dean of a research institute under the China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which is attached to Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. Some government departments should also further strengthen their awareness of the service, Huo added. (China Daily 10/19/2017 page17) Province is home to many leaders in manufacturing sector, as well as industrial research institutes A new high-speed bullet train that started service in late September - linking Beijing and Shanghai and running at a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour - was a watershed moment for the country, as well as a province at the heart of a host of change. CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, a participant in the project, is also taking its own growth into the fast track, by sharpening its technological prowess. China used to rely heavily on the imports of key parts and control systems for high-speed train production, but the situation has now turned around completely. That's with a wealth of proprietary intellectual property coming from China, said Luo Zhaoqiang, a senior engineer at an electric-multiple-unit manufacturing center of the company, headquartered in Changchun, Jilin. Within five years, Luo's team has made more than 200 research and development achievements, for which 11 patents have been granted. Their R&D efforts contributed to China's rising status globally in the production of high-speed trains. Of 254 industry standards developed worldwide, those from China account for some 84 percent. To date, the number of passengers traveling by Chinese high-speed rail has surpassed 6 billion. As a calling card for China's manufacturing industry, high-speed trains have been exported to a growing number of countries. At the same time, Chinese builders are advancing a batch of high-speed rail projects in foreign countries including Laos, Thailand and Hungary. China-made high-speed rail projects now cover Asia, Europe, America and Africa. CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles is the epitome of Jilin's upgraded manufacturing industry. As a traditional industrial center in China, the province is home to many leaders in the manufacturing sector, as well as industrial research institutes. China's first locally-made, high-resolution commercial satellite, the Jilin 1, which was launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in October 2015, was named after the province, because its R&D was conducted there. The satellite, developed by Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co, has more than 90 applications in a variety of sectors, including agriculture and irrigation projects. It can also help environmental monitoring, smart city construction, land resource surveys and mapping, and in the supervision of key projects. Zhong Xing, chief designer of Jilin 1, said the company's remote sensing big data research center studied how satellites can benefit the public. "Our team is made of the post-1980 and 1990s generations - it was hard to imagine that five years ago people tended to think of Beijing or Shanghai when it came to satellite research," he said. "Now Jilin is their choice to realize their dream." The company aims to launch 60 satellites into orbit by 2020. In addition to upgraded manufacturing, Jilin is also reaping a harvest with its modern agriculture. With its abundant agricultural resources, Jilin is working to create an international food trade chain. Meihekou, in southeastern Jilin, is reportedly the world's largest pine nut distribution hub in the world. Fall is Meihekou's busiest season, when almost all major pine nut producers in China - as well as from other countries including Russia, Mongolia and Pakistan - ship their yields to the city for processing and then export the final products to more than 40 countries and regions. The city carries a great deal of weight in pricing in the world pine nut trade, industrial insiders said. In the east of Jilin, the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture has become a global processing center for the walleye pollack, a fish species of the cod family, creating an annual output value of 700 million yuan ($105.90 million). Taonan in western Jilin has established a reputation as a chilli production hub, with exports to countries such as Germany, Malaysia and South Korea. About 80 percent of chillies imported to South Korea is from the city. In close proximity to the province's advanced agriculture is its well-preserved environment. Changbai Mountain in the province is the source of the Yalu, Songhua and Tumen rivers. The mountain is home to various forest species of flora, from those in the temperate zone to polar plants. The mountain's forest coverage is estimated at 87 percent and the density of negative oxygen ions in the air - thought to provide health benefits - is 500 times higher than in ordinary cities. More efficient industries and an improved ecosystem have created a better residential environment for the local people. Li Jiaxin, 69, a local resident, said her hobby is paragliding. "I am longing for something exciting in my retirement," she said, adding that she had set a goal to acquire paragliding skills within a year. "I felt like a bird when I could finally fl y the glider," Li said. "It's such a great era for people to go for their dreams, no matter how old you are. I so appreciate taking up this challenge." Chen Meiling and Liang Kaiyan contributed to this story. (China Daily 10/19/2017 page10) Louis XIV, Napoleon diamond on sale China Daily | Updated: 2017-10-19 07:40 GENEVA - A large, pink diamond once set in the crowns of numerous French kings and emperors will go under the hammer in Geneva next month, the Christie's auction house said on Wednesday. "Le Grand Mazarin", a 19.07-carat light pink diamond, was a gift to Louis XIV in 1661 and was set in the crowns of almost all of the monarchs and emperors of France who followed, Christie's said. The diamond is "a timeless symbol of beauty, a French royal treasure adorning no fewer than seven kings and queens beginning with the Sun King Louis XIV," Christie's chairman for Europe and Asia Francois Curiel said in a statement. "Above all, it is a witness to 350 years of European history. This stone belongs to a class of its own," he said. The gem was named after Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian cardinal and diplomat, as well as a great art collector, who served as chief minister under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and who bequeathed it and other diamonds to the Sun King in his will. The pink stone, originally dug out of the ancient mines of Golconda in south-central India, sparkled on the crowns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, who was guillotined during the French Revolution. It graced the crown of Napoleon I, Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, among others. It has since passed through the hands of famous French jeweler Frederic Boucheron and later the Baron von Derwies. Christie's said it was currently part of a private collection, but did not reveal the name of the owner. The auction house said it hoped to rake in $6 million to $9 million for the diamond. When it appears at the Christi's Magnificent Jewels Auction in Geneva on November 14, it will mark the first time it goes under the hammer in 130 years. It has been auctioned off once before: It was among the French Crown Jewels sold off in 1887 - 17 years after France's Second Empire collapsed and Napoleon III and his wife Emperess Eugenie sought exile in England, leaving their jewels behind. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone said on Tuesday it will auction one of the world's largest diamonds. The 709-carat gem, named the "peace diamond", was found in the eastern Kono region in March. A first auction for the egg-sized stone fell flat in May when Sierra Leone rejected the highest bid of $7.8 million. It hopes to earn more at a new auction in New York on Dec 4. Afp - Reuters (China Daily 10/19/2017 page11) An artisan makes an unburned earthenware at a workshop at Jingdezhen, East China's Jiangxi province, June 26, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] A French art school has set up a research center in East China's Jiangxi province, hoping to strengthen exchanges between French ceramic artists and Chinese craftsmen. ENSA Limoges (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Art de Limoges) opened a research and testing center at Kudan, a famous workshop in the city of Jingdezhen, China's "Porcelain Capital". Five ceramic artists -- three holding master's degrees and two researchers -- will study pottery and exchange ideas with Chinese craftsmen. Jeanne Gailhoustet, director of the school, said it will be a great experience for young French artists to communicate with Chinese companies. They are expected to create new ideas and products at Kudan, she added. Duan Zhenmin, who runs a shop at Kudan said Jingdezhen's ceramics don't sell well in European markets because the designs are completely different from western styles. The center will serve as a platform where local craftsmen can learn European designs and marketing methods, Duan said. "Chinese ceramics businesses must also look to the international market, not just the domestic market," he added. The French city of Limoges, where the school is based, is widely known for its porcelain. It is said to produce more than 50 percent of all porcelain made in France. Six renowned illustrators from across China gathered on the Metro Line 7 in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province on Tuesday night, and transformed the plain carriage into a space of color and fun. The activity was a warm-up for the 50 Years Bologna Illustration Master Exhibition, which is to open in the city on Nov 3, 2017. In line with the exhibition's theme of "guarding the dreams of children," the activity was organized in an attempt to bring more public attention to the wild dreams of today's children. [Photo/zjol.com.cn] China has become the most attractive wine exporting destination in the world. [Photo/IC] China has become the most attractive wine exporting destination in the world, major wine exporters and professionals claimed at a seminar concluded in east China's Shandong province Tuesday. Jorge Heine, Chile's ambassador to China, said Chile's wine exports to China had risen considerably in the last few years. "China surpassed the United States to become Chile's largest export market in 2014, and more than 200 wineries are now exporting products to China." Wine exports from South Africa to China have also registered a sharp jump since 2013, according to Shao Wenjing, vice chairman of the South African Premium Wineries Association. Reports say China is already the fourth-largest importer of wine in the world and growing. The number of Chinese drinkers purchasing imported wine rose from 19 million to 48 million in the period between 2011 and 2017. In the first eight months of this year, China imported 474 million liters of wine, up 15.76 percent from a year ago. The total value of imports rose 8.78 percent to over 1.7 billion US dollars during the same period. The International Organization of Vine and Wine said Chinese consumers drank 1.72 billion liters of wine in 2016 a yearly increase of 6.9 percent, the highest in the world. China is now the world's fifth largest consumer of the liquor and is expected to move up the ranks to No. 2 by 2020. There are an estimated 38 million wine drinkers in the country. Ma Yong, secretary general of China National Food Industry Association said China had become a driving force in global wine consumption and the figure was expected to grow further with the improvement of Chinese living standards. Sponsored by the China National Food Industry Association and China Alcoholic Drinks Association, the two-day seminar attracted nearly 200 professionals and representatives from major wine exporting markets, including France, Italy, the United States, Chile, South Africa and Australia. A grand heaven worship ceremony is held on Oct 15 at the majestic Mount Tai in Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] With blue skies and fresh air, Sunday morning was a perfect time to experience an ancient royal heaven worship ceremony at Mount Tai. More than 1,500 worshippers from Taiwan and the mainland took part in a grandiose ceremony on Oct 15 at the majestic mountain in East China's Shandong province. Under an early autumn sunshine, the Heaven and Earth Square of Mount Tai was decorated with red and yellow banners and flags with blessing written in Chinese characters. Robed worshippers perform rituals in front of crowds at Mount Tai on Oct 15. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] It is the second time such a ceremony has been held on Mount Tai, which is considered the mountain of the mountains and the most sacred mountain between heaven and earth, representing peace and unification. After the ceremony a seminar was held to discuss the inheritance and development of traditional culture as well as the construction of cultural tourism towns. An exhibition featuring Shandong's intangible culture heritages also took place along with the event to showcase the province's rich cultural legacy. According to the organizing committee, the event will help to promote traditional Chinese culture and values among modern society. Despite having no authority to regulate the transportation of hazardous materials and scientific consensus that the public health risks are low, the Flagstaff City Council is moving forward with a resolution against the hauling of uranium through the city. The action came in response to a citizen petition with close to 150 signatures that asked the council to consider a resolution opposing the transport of uranium ore from Canyon Mine south of Tusayan to White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah, and to explore the creation of an ordinance opposing the transport of uranium ore on Flagstaff roadways. Canyon Mine owner Energy Fuels Resources has not yet begun to mine or haul uranium ore, but it was given approval by the Forest Service in 1986 to haul the ore to the processing mill via two route options, one of which would include Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 89 through Flagstaff. During a work session Oct. 10, the council heard nearly an hour and a half of public comment that expressed overwhelming opposition to the hauling of uranium ore through the city. However, the Flagstaff City Council is preempted from regulating the transport of the uranium ore, even on city streets, Assistant to the City Manager Caleb Blaschke said at the meeting. It is the United States Department of Transportation that oversees and regulates all transportation of hazardous materials, Blaschke said. Blaschke did say that other cities have been able to request that hazardous materials be hauled at certain times of the day, which could mean requiring materials to be transported at night. Two locations within the city of Phoenix have required the rerouting of hazmat trucks, but the new routes remain within a few miles of the preferred route, Blaschke said. City Attorney Sterling Solomon said other municipalities have opted to pass resolutions against uranium hauling in the city, but the resolutions do not have legal authority to stop the hauling. Solomon said if the city were to try to pass a legally binding ordinance to stop the hauling, issues would arise with the federal government. Solomon said the implications of such an action would have to be discussed in a confidential session with the council instead of in front of the public. Councilwoman Celia Barotz suggested the city add the issue to its list of legislative priorities, which would allow the city to ask its lobbyists to lobby for local control of uranium transport. At meetings end, Barotz, along with Mayor Coral Evans, Vice Mayor Jamie Whelan and councilmembers Eva Putzova and Jim McCarthy requested city staff work to draft a resolution against hauling of uranium ore through the city. The majority of the council also asked the city attorneys office to look into options that would be stronger than a resolution, such as a legally binding ordinance to consider at a later date. US President Donald Trump speaks next to first lady Melania Trump after meeting with police at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 4, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] The itinerary for US President Donald Trump's visit to China next month may already be ironed out, but David Lampton, a senior China expert in the United States, would like it to go beyond focusing on policy issues between the two countries. For the president and any other political leader in the US or other countries who do not have much knowledge of China, it is important to get to know the whole picture of the country, said Lampton, who has traveled numerous times to China since the 1970s and is director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "This should be an opportunity to expose him to the complexity and diversity of China," he said. The White House, in a statement released on Monday, said Trump will arrive in Beijing on Nov 8"for a series of bilateral, commercial, and cultural events", including meetings with President Xi Jinping. It did not say if Trump, a former New York businessman, will be travelling outside Beijing to get to know more about China and its people, or if he would, like his predecessor Barack Obama did in 2009, have a town hall meeting at a campus. Early last month, the US Department of State said the US first lady, Melania Trump, will travel with Trump. "I know Chinese like to invite people and show them good things, modern things, all this kind of things," said Lampton. He said this is all to the good, but they should show him the diversity of China, "show what it is to govern China, how big it ismost provinces in China are bigger than European countrieshow heterogeneous it is," he said. Lampton, who has written several books on China, said visitors to the country are fully acquainted with the modern China, like Pudong in coastal Shanghai. But China is a very diverse country, and it still has a lot of people that are at a modest level of economic development, the former president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations said. "I'm a teacher, and I believe to know more is a good thing," Lampton said. "The more you know when you make a decision, the better off you are." If US leaders make policy assuming all of China is like Pudong then of course they're going to treat the country as a very powerful country with no problems, he said. US leaders need to understand that, like themselves, Chinese leaders have a lot of things on their minds, Lampton said. The country has its own problems to solve, and "Chinese leaders aren't spending all their time thinking about how to make life more difficult for Americans". "They're trying to think how to improve life for Chinese people" he said. "So I would say a very important objective of the visit should be to give Trump a balanced understanding of what China is, not only what China is today, but what China wants to become," Lampton said. From 1972 when the two countries established formal diplomatic relations to 2009, US presidents from Richard Nixon to Obama have visited cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Guilin (in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, South China) and Hong Kong. Xi had the first face-to-face informal summit with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April. The author is deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily USA. huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com Xi Jinping delivers a report to the 19th CPC National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 18, 2017. [Photo by Xu Jingxing/chinadaily.com.cn] In his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that China will always try to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a guardian of the international order. He also said that while China will never give up the interest and benefit it deserves to get, it will never pursue its own development at the expense of other countries. He admonished that no country or individual should expect China to swallow anything that undermines its own interests. He also said that China's defense policy is defensive in nature, and it will never pose a threat to any country, and China will never seek hegemony or follow an expansionist policy no matter how strong the country becomes. These remarks are not only the guidelines on which China's diplomacy will be based, but also serve to explicitly tell the world what role China has been playing and what role it intends to play. His remarks are by no means only rhetoric. Look at the aid in various forms China has offered to countries in need. Look at the diplomatic efforts China has made in helping to settle conflicts and disputes worldwide. Look at the Belt and Road Initiative that is realizing common development with the countries along the ancient Silk Road routes spanning Asia, Africa and Europe. By getting an increasing number of countries involved in the initiative, China has not only given substance to Xi's words, it has also innovated a development model of cooperation for mutual benefits. That explains why China has called for countries to build a community of shared destiny for all mankind, which instead of being a zero-sum game in which the gains of one are offset by the losses of others, is a one-sum game in which everyone contributes what they can for the benefits of all. As Xi said in his report, the Chinese people's dream of a better life is of the same nature as that of people around the world. And since realizing that global dream requires a peaceful and stable environment worldwide, China remains committed to its independent foreign policy of peace, steadfastedly upholds fairness and justice in international affairs, and opposes any country imposing its will on other countries or interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, gainsaying the practice of the strong bullying the weak. By so saying and so doing, China not only respects the right of the people of all countries to choose their own path of development, it is also using its growing influence and power in a responsible way and demonstrating its resolve to uphold the equality of all countries in international relations. China is still a developing country, but it will continue to contribute what it can to the building of a better world and offer new ideas and concepts in pursuit of this goal. This is because the Chinese leadership well knows that China's peace and prosperity will not be sustainable unless the world is also peaceful and stable. This explains why China advocates inclusiveness and mutual learning and promotes dialogue among different countries and cultures, and why China will continue to strive to guide countries to make concerted efforts to build a community of shared destiny. As Xi's speech showed, the world is entering a new era. It is one in which China has the resolve, confidence and capability to be a banner bearer for a new type of relations. This has ruffled some feathers, and will no doubt continue to ruffle them, but the fact that some still cling desperately to an outdated mindset will not stop the hands of the clock from turning. Times have changed and in the face of the common non-traditional threats such as climate change and terrorism, the pursuit of a community of shared destiny for all mankind conforms to the trends of the times. By adhering to the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, China will strive to work with others to realize the common aspiration of the people of all countries for peace, development, cooperation and progress. This handout image obtained from the European Southern Observatory on October 16, 2017 is an artists impression showing two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. [Photo/VCG] ON MONDAY EVENING, scientists hailed the detection of gravitational waves from the merging of two neutron stars. Chinese observational technology played key roles in this. An article published by Beijing News comments: Albert Einstein first forecast the existence of gravitational waves, or the ripples in space and time, in 1916. Now they have been detected five times. Unlike the past four times when the gravitational waves came from the merging of two black holes, this is the first time that the waves have been produced by the merging of two neutron stars. What makes the news more significant for China is that some of its astronomical observation technologies, including its first X-ray detection satellite HXMT and South Pole automatic telescope AST3-2, have played key roles in detecting the gravitational waves this time. The Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences even released the news together with NASA. Actually, Chinese astronomers have been participating in and leading many gravitational wave projects. Their participation in the detection of gravitational waves this time shows Chinese technology is being sharpened, and it will definitely make more progress in the future. More important, by sharing the news and knowledge with the public, the importance of scientific research can be better understood by people, which in turn results in more favorable policy support for scientific research and encourages more talented young people to embark on careers in science. The scientists and their institutions that participated in the detection of gravitational waves this time have done very well by releasing the information on time and publishing the news via social media. In the future, Chinese scientists could do more by further sharing their knowledge with the public, so that the latter knows more about them and offers them more support. A prototype of a Hello Kitty branded toilet seat is on display at Sanrio's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan on February 2, 2015. The toilet seat, with heating and warm water shower functions, was one of the most popular items among Chinese customers in Japan during the Spring Festival holiday, 2015. [Photo/CFP] LONG KNOWN as a byword for industrial quality and fine craftsmanship, Made in Japan and Made in Germany are now undergoing troubled times with data-tampering scandals eroding their credibility. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Wednesday: Kobe Steel is just the latest in a string of corporate scandals involving data fabrication to hit Japanese manufacturers. Nissan Motor Co had to recall every new car it sold in Japan over the past three years amid concerns over falsified safety checks, while Suzuki Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp have also faced scandals regarding their fuel economy data for their cars. Likewise, German automaker Volkswagen, the world's largest automaker by sales, admitted in 2015 that it used unauthorized software to cheat the United States' diesel emission tests, which might have affected more than 10 million vehicles it sold worldwide. The credibility crisis facing time-honored manufacturers like Nissan and Volkswagen seems to have gone beyond shrinking domestic markets and increased global competition. The dominant role of local manufacturers in the German and Japanese economies may be responsible for their compromised industrial standards. Big players contribute to the bulk of the two countries' social welfare and employment, and are often granted wider access to social resources, even immunity for misconduct in some cases. Their resourceful lobbyists also play a key role in sweeping scandals under the carpet. For some industrial giants, seeking and securing monopolies is more cost-effective and profitable than painstakingly pursuing innovations. That might explain why some German and Japanese automakers were tempted to tamper with the modern compliance standards for bigger gains. In the US, automaker General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, which is another example of the lesson to be learned by such industrial giants. Dubbed "Government Motors", the Detroit-based auto giant had too many plants, too many workers and too many dealerships to be comfortable with a dramatic decline in sales when a global financial crisis hit the US economy. The scandal-mired German and Japanese carmakers must also make a move to become leaner and more efficient. The time has come for a change in the industrial systems of manufacturing pioneers, whose once-vaulted global dominance is facing a moment of truth. A man touches a TV screen on display at the Tmall Eco-Summit held in Hangzhou, April 11. [Photo/IC] THE THINNEST TV in the world, just 3.65 millimeters thick, has been unveiled by a Chinese enterprise in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Hung on the wall, it looks like a painting, not a household appliance. Yanzhao Metropolis Daily comments: Chinese authorities always stress that China remains a developing country, although it is expected to become the world's largest economy in the foreseeable future if it can maintain the current growth momentum. It is not only an objective judgment based on the practical national conditions, but also a reminder to the nation, especially its decision-makers, that they should remain somber-minded. But that does not mean China is content with the status quo. Instead, China has never wavered in its efforts to become a developed country, paying special attention to catching up with the industrial economies in science and technology. In 1987, China overtook Japan as the world's largest manufacturer of TVs. Since then China has pioneered many technologies related to television, so it is not surprising that China has now manufactured the world's thinnest TV. In fact, China has also made the first TV with voice recognition. President Xi Jinping proposed "three transformations" to the manufacturing industries of China: transform "made in China" to "created by China", transform quantity to quality, and transform Chinese products to Chinese brands. Governments at various levels are taking concrete actions to realize Xi's proposed transformations by implementing favorable policies and nurturing supporting environments to foster innovation. Last year, China produced 65 percent of the world's refrigerators, 58 percent of its TV sets and 44 percent of its washing machines. These household appliances made in China are cheaper than their counterparts produced by the developed countries, but their quality is by no means inferior to, and some even better than, their competitors. The rise of China in manufacturing, and science and technology benefits not only the Chinese people, but also the whole world. Xi Jinping delivers a report to the 19th CPC National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 18, 2017. [Photo by Xu Jingxing/chinadaily.com.cn] Foreign experts share their views on the report delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Oct 18. The following are some of the comments on Xi's report. Alfred Schipke, Chief Representative, IMF China, Member of International Committee of International Monetary Institute, Renmin University of China China's focus on structural reforms, addressing over capacity and deleveraging, and allowing the market to play a decisive role are very welcome. This will not only reduce vulnerabilities but also improve the allocation of resources. Herbert Poenisch, Member of International Committee of International Monetary Institute, Renmin University of China, former Senior Economist of Bank for International Settlements Remembering Chairman Xi's leadership in Davos, with a stable and prosperous China committed to globalization, clean environment, and world peace we are heartened to read in Chairman Xi's address of China's continuing commitment to its open-door policy, starting with the One Belt One Road. Mathias Lund Larsen, Director of International Cooperation and Research Fellow, International Institute of Green Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics From an environmental and green finance perspective it is encouraging to see green being incorporated into both the concept of development and Chinas long-term planning, based on the push toward realizing an ecological civilization. It is a particularly strong market signal that President Xi highlighted during his speech that there is no dilemma between green development and economic growth, and that rather they are mutually supportive. Internationally, as President Xi stresses Chinas commitment to fighting global climate change, we are enthusiastically expecting Chinas commitments to increase further in the future. Mark Greeven, associate professor at the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy Department of Zhejiang University's School of Management In the last decades China has been building the foundations to become a modern and prosperous society. However, as suggested by President Xi in the 19th Congress, the rise of China depends on continued efforts in reducing income inequality and job creation. In my opinion it is good news that President Xi also addressed the importance of a world-class talent development system to support China's future. As an educator I look forward to continuous efforts in reforming and improving education for all in China. Harvey Dzodin, Research Fellow, Center on China and Globalization Once upon a time not very long ago the only people outside China who watched a CPC Party Congress, let alone a speech by the general secretary, were almost exclusively, policy wonks and members of intelligence agencies. How times have changed now that China has resumed the role of one of the worlds premier leaders that it held for more than a millennium. Xis speech exemplified the return of the self-confidence that China lost during almost two centuries of humiliation beginning in 1839 with the Opium Wars. The speech showed just how far China has come, especially since the 18th Party Congress under Xis enlightened leadership. And more than this, it laid out a firm two-phased plan to not only realize the Chinese Dream of a moderately prosperous society overall by the centennial of the CPC in 2021 but a plan that will propel China into being the strongest country in the world by the countrys centennial in 2049. Given Chinas unimaginable transformation since I first visited here in 1988, after hearing Xis speech I have every confidence that China will reach the goals he forcefully outlined in his remarks. John Ross, former policy director of Economic and Business Policy of London, senior fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China Xi Jinping's showed the CPC has kept its promise to the Chinese people and how it will continue to do so. In 1949 Mao Zedong uttered the famous words 'China has stood up'. As Xi Jinping said in his speech 'the Chinese nation now stands tall and firm in the east' - the CPC kept that promise it made in 1949. Now the CPC will aim to basically achieve socialist modernization by 2035 - the speech outlined how the CPC will keep this promise to the Chinese people also. Jaya Josie, Head of BRICS Research Center, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, Member of International Committee of International Monetary Institute, Renmin University of China The key point that President Xi highlighted is how socialism with Chinese characteristics can continue to modernize and rejuvenate China, and contribute toward development for humanity in general and developing nations in particular. For many developing nations in general and Africa in particular China has been a great partner. Using the principles of the Forum for China Africa Cooperation China and many African countries have advanced international solidarity between nations. Today China is Africas biggest trading partner and an important investment destination. However, there are areas where China can improve its level of cooperation with Africa. First, China has made important advances in the internationalization of the RMB and this currency should become the medium of exchange in trade and investment in Africa. This would remove the dependence on the use of foreign currencies such as the US dollar and the Euro for trade and investment. Second, China has made great advances in internet banking and finance technology that will provide Africa with the foundation for promoting small and medium enterprise economic development across the rural populations in Africa. Swaran Singh, professor of International Relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi The last five years of China's diplomacy have managed to steer the country clear of a much-hyped Thucydides trap, where China's unprecedented rise was expected to push it into competition with existing major powers. Xi's speech privileging China's soft power, especially culture, should assuage skeptics about the presidents future vision. Xi is today recognized as the world's most influential leader, in command of one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing economies. This should bring greater support to the Belt and Road Initiative, which has increased China's focus on engaging its immediate and extended neighborhood, defining its strategic location in world affairs. Xis Davos speech saw the president taking up the mantle of defending globalization. Keeping that promise, his speech at the congress promised to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors...to be treated equally" with local entrepreneurs. As Xi urged all party members to work hard in making China a "moderately prosperous society" by 2021, he has combined this goal with "uniting Chinese people of all ethnic groups", which will lay stronger foundations for the emergence of China as a "strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country" by 2049. Xi's use of an ancient proverb, the "last leg of a journey marks the halfway point," alludes to Xi's experience, as his determination has resonated with millions of Chinese, and with most China watchers. President Xi Jinping has great ability to deliver effective leadership, according to the special adviser to a London-based think tank. "His delivery style is very confident, and he speaks very effectively with conviction. You actually find yourself listening to what he has to say," said Nigel Inkster, special adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In terms of personality, Inkster said he thinks Xi "comes across as an extrovert, a big, confident, outgoing kind of person, very much a leader in terms of his personal demeanor". He conceded that he has very little insight into the day-to-day mechanics of how Xi works, but has seen Xi exercise effective strategic leadership. One such example is the 2015 agreement with the US on combating industrial cyber espionage, an agreement which Inkster said to a large degree has been adhered to. Inkster also is a former director of operations and intelligence for the British Secret Intelligence Service. Glass bridge in Zhangjiajie,Central China's Hunan province.[Photo/Xinhua] A new regular air route opened Wednesday between Zhangjiajie, an acclaimed tourist destination in Central China's Hunan province, and Hong Kong. The twice-a-week service is operated by Hong Kong low-cost carrier HK Express using an A320 aircraft with a total capacity of 180 seats. Between Oct 18 and 29, the flight will leave Hong Kong at noon and arrive in Zhangjiajie at 2:05 pm Beijing time on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It departs Zhangjiajie at 3:05 pm and arrives in Hong Kong at 5:05 pm Beijing time. From Oct 29 to late March 2018, it will adopt a winter schedule, with flights departing Hong Kong at 1:55 pm and 2:10 pm on Thursdays and Sundays, and arriving in Zhangjiajie at 4:05 pm and 4:20 pm respectively. The return flight will leave Zhangjiajie at 5:55 pm on Thursdays and 5:20 pm on Sundays, and arrive in Hong Kong at 8:15 pm and 7:25 pm respectively. HK Express, established in 2013, now flies to 29 cities in Asia. The new route is expected to boost economic and tourism development and exchanges between the two cities. An airplane drops fire retardant while battling the Wilson Fire near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles, California, US, October 17, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] SAN FRANCISCO - The deadliest California wildfires have rendered 22,000 people homeless since they broke out 10 days ago, despite major progress in bringing the statewide blazes under full control, fire authorities said on Wednesday. The wildfires have, by Tuesday, burned a combined number of 210,000 acres of land across the state, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said in a press release. The wildfires killed 42 people, including a firefighter who died in a vehicle rollover in combating the fires, the first death toll from the rank of firefighters in more than a week of fight against the wildland fires, it said. Nearly 10,000 firefighters continued battling 13 large wildfires burning in the state, and cooler temperatures and increased humidity overnight have aided firefighters in their efforts, CAL FIRE said. Light rain forecast for northern California, the major impact areas of the most devastating wildfires in the state, will help in the containment progress, it added. More than 90 percent of the fires in Sonoma County, the worst hit area in the ongoing disaster in California, where 19 of the 42 deaths were recorded, has been brought under controlled, according to CAL FIRE estimates. Full containment, which means the fires will no longer be able to spread, is expected Friday for Sonoma County. Evacuation orders have been lifted in many counties of northern California, including Napa County, another hardest-hit area, and residents were gradually allowed to go back home for their rebuilding efforts. California, with a summer warm temperature and low humidity, is vulnerable to forest fires. From 2006 to the end of 2016, an average of 8,317 wildfires took place in the state and burn more than 2,300 acres every year, statistics show. WASHINGTON U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to boost its efforts targeting businesses by four to five times and will prosecute employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, the acting director of the agency said Tuesday. Thomas Homan said the goal of the new policy is to cut off the supply of jobs that will keep people coming here illegally as long as they come and get a job. An Arizona Chamber of Commerce spokesman said business leaders are willing to comply with the enforcement program, but cautioned against the administration taking a hostile approach with business owners. Arizona employers are already required to use E-Verify to check a job applicants citizenship status, a policy the Homan said he would like to see extended nationwide. Homans comments came during a speech Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation, where he criticized sanctuary cities and defended ICEs practices of deporting immigrants who are suspected gang members, and arresting them near schools, hospitals, courthouses and other areas that have been off-limits in the past. Homan stressed that except for immigrants who currently enjoy DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, protection, nobody is off the table. He said he hopes to send a message to those breaking the law that were no longer going to turn our heads, were going to enforce the laws on the books. ICE was one of the federal immigration enforcement agencies that collaborated on an immigration policy priority wish-list released last week by the White House. Among the more than 70 items on the list is a call for employers nationwide to be required to use E-Verify. Use of E-Verify, a federal database that helps employers determine the citizenship status of job applicants, was one of the immigration pledges made by President Donald Trump during his campaign. The administration included a request for $131.5 million in the budget for upgrades to E-Verify, with an eye toward pushing it nationwide in three year. Arizona has long required employers to use E-Verify when making a hire. Despite doubts early on, Arizona Chamber of Commerce spokesman Garrick Taylor said deployment of the program to state workplaces went smoothly, but he is not sure a nationwide implementation would be as easy. Taylor said that if there are employers knowingly hiring folks without work authorization, they ought to be punished. But if federal law does require businesses to use the program, he said he hopes the rollout would be done in partnership with employers. We would hope that theres a desire from the administration to work with employers so that employers know exactly what the rules of the road are, how you use E-Verify, and what all that entails, Taylor said. But immigration advocates said authorities should think twice before making E-Verify mandatory nationwide. Immigrants are needed to fill manual labor jobs that Americans may not be willing to take, said Petra Falcon, executive director of the Latino voter outreach organization Promise Arizona. Rather than deporting them outright, Falcon said the government should work with employers to find a solution to keep them here. We need to solve that problem, Falcon said. We know that theyre here, were inviting them to come and work in the fields, in construction, in this economy and yet theyre not invited to receive the benefits of doing that in this country. Falcon said she is disappointed but not surprised by the agencys decision to ramp up workplace enforcement and said it is in step with the Trump administrations rhetoric of targeting the most vulnerable in our communities. But Homan said he is tired of immigration officials being vilified by politicians and the press for doing their jobs enforcing federal immigration laws set by Congress. He chafes at words like raid and sweeps, preferring targeted enforcement operations instead. Im a law enforcement officer and ICE is a law enforcement agency we enforce the laws that Congress enacts, Homan said Tuesday. Right now, deferred action means just that, do not take action on the rest of DACA recipients unless they violate the terms of that condition. PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has condemned the United States and the Republic of Korea for holding the largest ever joint naval drill in waters near the Korean Peninsula which started Monday. The drill proves that the United States and the ROK are attempting to "ignite a war on the Korean Peninsula at any cost", a spokesman for the Pan-Korean Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills against the DPRK said in a statement Wednesday. The United States and the ROK are watching for an opportunity to make its "preemptive strike" on the DPRK a fait accompli, he said. The spokesman warned that the DPRK would take countermeasures to "make the strike end in smoke at a single stroke". The United States and the ROK started their largest ever naval drill this week by introducing nuclear-powered carrier Ronald Reagan strike group, three nuclear submarines, more than 40 warships including Aegis destroyers and fighter planes. Flames emerge from flare stacks at the oil fields in Kirkuk, Iraq October 18, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council on Wednesday expressed concern over reports of violence in and around the city of Kirkuk after a dramatic retreat of Kurdish forces that allowed the takeover of the city by Iraqi government forces. "Council members called on all sides to refrain from destabilizing action, including the threat and use of violence, and to engage in constructive dialogue based on the Iraqi Constitution as a pathway to de-escalation," said the council in a press statement. In a dramatic move, Kurdish forces have pulled out of disputed areas across northern and eastern Iraq, including the oil city of Kirkuk, in the wake of last month's referendum for the independence of Kurdistan. The vote triggered an international outcry as it was also held on Iraqi territories held by Kurdish forces, including Kirkuk. SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating inched down this week as some of conservative voters were affected by the extended detention of impeached President Park Geun-hye, a weekly poll showed Thursday. According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon was 67.9 percent this week, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous week. The result was based on a poll of 1,547 voters conducted from Monday to Wednesday. It had 2.5 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level. A Seoul court decided last Friday to issue another arrest warrant for former President Park, who has been in custody and stood trial over corruption charges including bribery. With the warrant, Park could be detained as long as next April. The pollster said a part of conservative voters withdrew from their support for President Moon due to the extended detention. Park denounced the extension as a political retaliation. Moon's ruling Democratic Party kept a top post with 49.1 percent in support scores. It was followed by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party with 18.3 percent, which was down 0.6 percentage points from a week earlier. The centrist People's Party won 6.3 percent of support, while the minor conservative Righteous Party and the minor progressive Justice Party garnering 6.2 percent and 4.6 percent respectively. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, October 18 2017. [Photo/Agencies] BRUSSELS - British Prime Minister Theresa May, seeking to unblock stalled talks on Brexit, promised on Thursday to make it as easy as possible for European Union citizens living in Britain to stay after it leaves the bloc. Weakened by losing her Conservative Party's majority in a June election and failing to rally support at an ill-fated party conference, May had initially hoped she would regain her footing by persuading EU leaders at a two-day summit starting on Thursday to let Brexit talks move beyond matters of the divorce. But EU leaders have ruled that out, saying London must agree to pay more as part of an exit settlement than May has said is acceptable. So, changing the focus, she will offer greater concessions for those EU citizens anxious about their rights in Britain post-Brexit. This is unlikely to alter the outcome of the Brussels summit. Continental leaders have assumed for weeks that a deal can be struck on this issue. But it indicates British officials are pursuing a new course - adopting a softer approach to try to win over the bloc's negotiators, if not all its governments. May will say: "We are in touching distance of agreement" of securing the rights of the around 3 million people from other EU countries in Britain. "I couldn't be clearer: EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay," she wrote on her Facebook page, adding she would set up a group of those affected and experts to make sure the process is smooth. "I know both sides will consider each other's proposals for finalising the agreement with an open mind. And with flexibility and creativity on both sides, I am confident that we can conclude discussions on citizens' rights in the coming weeks." Offering concessions, May will say that EU citizens settling in Britain will no longer need to have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, as they currently require under EU rules. A senior government official said the aim was to get clear commitments to "swift progress on both sides for an ambitious plan to be set out for what should be achieved in the weeks ahead and particularly a shared urgency in ... reaching an agreement on citizens rights." EU negotiators have, however, so far been wary of British offers that London refuses to back up by giving people a right to turn to the EU court to enforce if British courts do not. Change of tack The offer is a change of tack by the British leader, who is under increasing pressure from Conservative Brexit campaigners to pull out of the talks which hit deadlock last week. EU leaders are expected to say at the summit the talks have not yet made sufficient progress for them to open the post-Brexit trade negotiations that May wants. In an open letter to May on Thursday, pro-Brexit politicians and business people said that unless the EU agreed to trade talks, Britain should signal it was ready to be subject to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules from March 30, 2019, when Brexit takes effect. Meanwhile, the leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, arrived in Brussels on Thursday to meet EU lawmakers to try to break "the Brexit logjam" created by what he called government "bungling". The EU leaders are expected to make a "gesture" and to recognise concessions May offered in a speech in Italy last month by telling EU staff to prepare for talks on a transition period needed to ease uncertainty for business. "We have to work really hard between October and December to finalise this so-called first phase and to start negotiating on our future relationship with the UK," Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders, said on Wednesday. Some EU officials said Britain could unlock the talks by putting a higher figure for the divorce bill on the desk of chief negotiator Michel Barnier, something May says she cannot do until she has an understanding of the shape of future ties. If May offers more than the around 20 billion euros she outlined in her Florence speech, she risks angering some in her party, which, according to two sources, is getting ready to line up a successor. A senior British government official said she would not change position on the financial settlement and instead would focus on the deal on EU citizen rights - an issue that the EU says must be resolved before the talks can move on. The official said the change of focus was not to try to save face at the summit, at which she will present her case over a dinner on Thursday. She will then be excluded from the other 27 EU members discussions on Friday about Britains planned departure from the wealthy bloc. Artisanne was set up by two Bedford Park sisters Participate Sign up for our weekly Chiswick newsletter Comment on this story on the Bedford Park sisters Elizabeth de Vise-Craig and Emma de Vise-Lewis have won Gold in the Smallish Design awards for African baskets. Their company, Artisanne, imports baskets from Senegal which are sale in Coco and Cassius on Turnham Green Terrace. The sisters, who grew up on South Parade, took the award in the Interior Design category for their stackable toy baskets. 'We are very excited to have won Gold for our Toy Baskets. We worked hard to perfect the ideal designs and sizes and they were torture tested by our 5 children before the baskets were launched. It is wonderful to receive this recognition. Elizabeth said. Elizabeth and Emma in Senegal Artisanne handwoven toy baskets are produced by highly skilled women weavers in remote villages near Thies in Senegal. Artisanne goes directly to the 70 weavers they work with. The idea came about when Emma was living in Senegal and broached it with Elizabeth ,who went to visit. "At first, we visited local markets in the capital, Dakar, to buy baskets for our own homes, where we used them to store laundry, childrens toys and household knick-knacks. Stylish and unique, they also made great presents for friends and family." The sisters decided to import the baskets back to the UK but had to do some hard work finding the weavers.This meant Emma travelling through the villages in the Thies region down remote dirt tracks to spend time looking at collections of baskets and sharing bowls of curdled milk (a local speciality!) with villagers as she explained the project. "We soon identified groups of artisans interested in working with us. The hours spent talking in the shade of a Nime tree involved much laughter and helped establish strong relationships and an understanding of the intricacies of their craft. A large Ali Baba basket, for example, takes several days to produce." The baskets are woven from a local grass, ndiorokh, and long strips of plastic that are typically used for making bazin mats, similar to prayer mats. Weaving the plastic tightly and closely together ensures that the baskets are sturdy and long-lasting. They first sold the baskets at Green Days in 2015 and they were so well received that it encouraged them to approach the shops. Zecca on Turnham Green Terrace was the first retailer to stock the baskets. Elizabeth now lives on Newton Grove and her daughter is at school at Orchard House. Emma owns a flat on Dale Street which she is currently renting as she has recently moved to Kenya. October 19, 2017 Aggravated Assault A man said he was hit over the head with a knife or a rock at the 3600 block of Route 66 on Friday. He said a Native American male hit him over the head causing him to lose a considerable amount of blood, according to the police report. The man was taken to Flagstaff Medical Center for Treatment. -Police responded to a stabbing near the intersection of Herold Ranch Road and East Butler Avenue on Friday. A transient man was stabbed in the arm and back by a Native American male while he was sleeping in his tent. The wound was a deep-stab wound, according to the police report. The man who was stabbed was sent to Flagstaff Medical Center. The victim told police that he had gotten into previous altercations with his attacker before this incident but did not know his name. DUI Daniel Pugh was arrested for a DUI on Friday after getting into a collision at the intersection of Railroad Spring Boulevard and Route 66. He had a BAC of 0.119 and 0.115 percent. Karissa Drescher was arrested for an extreme DUI on Sunday after falling asleep at the McDonald's drive-thru on Milton Road. She had a BAC of 0.211 and 0.204 percent. Drug Paraphernalia A man was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia on Friday after being pulled over on his bike for a broken light on the 2600 block of East Route 66. The man allowed police to search his backpack where they found two needles with methamphetamine residue, according to the police report. The man was identified as Trey Bryant. The state of Virginia is in the midst of a close gubernatorial race. The two main candidates are Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam. According to LIfeNews.com, the contest is a very close one, with Gillespie currently up by only one percentage point, as reported by a Monmouth University poll. The eyes of the nation will be on Virginia during this race since it is the only state holding a gubernatorial election this year. Additionally, much is at stake in this gubernatorial race as the two main contenders each hold very different political views, particularly on the issue of life. Dave Andrusko of LifeNews reports that Northam is making his pro-abortion stance a main point of his campaign. Gillespie, on the other hand, opposes abortion. The National Right to Life organization has even endorsed Gillespie: National Right to Life has endorsed Republican Ed Gillespie, a 100% pro-life candidate who will sign pro-life laws and support live-saving policies in Virginia to succeed pro-abortion Gov. Terry McAuliffe, wrote NRL Political Director Karen Cross. On the other hand, wrote Cross, The Virginia affiliate of Planned Parenthood, the nations largest abortion provider, has endorsed Northam. They have pledged to spend $3 million in the race supporting Northam, whose record as a member of the state Assembly was solidly pro-abortion. Northams position is so extreme that he supports abortion on demand that is, abortion for any reason anytime during the pregnancy, she continued. This means he supports deliberately taking the life of an unborn babys life for any reason at all even late in pregnancy when the baby can feel excruciating pain during abortion. This issue, as well as a host of others, is sure to make this gubernatorial election a memorable one. Remember to get out to the polls on Nov. 7, 2017 and vote. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: October 19,2017 Editors note: This podcast makes reference to sexual assault. One of Hollywoods biggest open secrets is now out in the world: heralded producer Harvey Weinsteins notoriously long track record of sexual harassment against women. These revelations have sparked a national conversation about the relationship between men and women in the workplace, and the prevalence of sexual assault, harassment, and unwanted attention. Regardless of a workplaces affiliation to faith, speaking out about colleagues bad behavior is challenging for most people, says Halee Gray Scott, the director of Denver Seminarys Kaleo Project, who is currently writing a book exploring how men and women can work well collectively in ministry. The obstacles just manifest themselves in different ways. Ive worked in Christian organizations for 20 years and there is a tendency to think that everyones doing everything right, said Gray Scott. [Everyone believes that] everyones trying to do the godly thing. You end up having that discretion moment where you ask, Is something going wrong? Im not sure that it is. It cant possibly be. On the other hand, there may be a broader acceptance of questionable behavior at a non-religious company, she says. In secular organizations, there is a tendency to accept a certain level of sexual impropriety as flirting or goofing off or someone having a good time, said Gray Scott. Gray Scott joined assistant editor Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss the difference between enabling and showing discretion, why culture cares more about sexual harassment than in decades past, and how the Billy Graham rule fits into this discussion. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Subscribe to Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Facebook and Twitter Follow our host on Twitter: Morgan Lee Follow our guest on Twitter: Halee Grey Scott Subscribe to Marks newsletter: The Galli Report Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee, Richard Clark, and Cray Allred 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. When Haitham Jazrawi started working at Kirkuk Presbyterian Church in Iraq in 1991, there were 72 families. Today, there are still 72 familiesbut only two of the originals remain. During his 26-year tenure as caretaker and then pastor, Jazrawi has seen a turnover of more than 300 families due to emigration. Such an outward flow has been the norm in churches across the Middle East. In Iraq and Syria, countries ravaged by years of war and the terror of the Islamic State, roughly two-thirds of Christians have fled. Among Jazrawis congregants, 50 percent are internally displaced from elsewhere in Iraq. They come as refugees from inside our country, said the Kirkuk pastor, from the Nineveh Valley, from Nineveh, from other villages and cities. Soon, they may also come from outside of Iraq. With the Trump administration threatening to deport more than 1,400 Iraqis, hundreds of whom are Christians, a rare irony may present itself: the forced movement of Christians into the Middle East. This summer, hundreds of Iraqis were behind bars in holding centers around the United States, slated for deportation to Iraq. The majority were Christians, and most were rounded up in Detroit in a massive June raid executed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Not only would they be breaking up families that have been here for decades, said Nathan Kalasho, a local advocate for the detainees, but they would be sending an already targeted minority to a country that no longer welcomes them. Pressured by politics, violence, and discrimination, the movement of Christians out of the Middle East is nothing new. But now a global surge in anti-immigrant sentiment puts Arab churches in a peculiar position. How will they receive believers who didnt want to return home? It will be beneficial for their own faith, strengthen the church, and counter the depopulation of Christians from the area, said Ashty Bahro, a pastor in Dohuk, Iraq, and former chairman of the Evangelical Alliance in Kurdistan. But churches will have trouble offering sufficient help with housing, employment, and living expenses. Even if deportees can return to the few churches remaining in their home areas in Iraq, those with criminal backgrounds may face a split reception. Whatever shame they suffer would affect their general reputation, Bahro said, noting new neighbors might reject them. But only for a time. Certainly they will not be neglected, and the churches will seek to help them to repentance and a virtuous life. Atef Barnaba, a pastor at Kasr el-Dobara Evangelical Church in Cairo, said true Christians would not live in violation of the laws of their adopted countries. He also weighs the shame of their deportation more heavily than Bahro, though he agrees that Arab churches have no option but to help. It is not an honorable thing to admit they came back because of a crime, so [a deportee] will make up a story, he said. Otherwise, he will lose his reputation. The deportation of Christians from the West isnt likely to change the dynamic of displacement in the Arab world. Even if hundreds are forcibly returned to the Middle East, those leaving the region are measured in the hundreds of thousands. Still, any influx of now-Westernized Christians brings new challenges. One is whose voice to heed. One prominent Christian leader in Egypt, who asked not to be named, suggested that people living in their home nations are the best judges of the situation, and the diaspora can become jaded toward their homeland and overplay issues of persecution. His middle- to upper-class congregation in an upscale district of Cairo suffers no persecution, yet he knows of members who have sought asylum to find a better life abroad. Some Christians must leave their country because of persecution, he said. But those who abuse the system jeopardize those who definitely need it and jaundice immigration officers toward the legitimate cases. It is unclear if this factored into the Trump administrations decision to round up the Iraqi Christians. Back in Detroit, many Chaldeans suspect it was no accident that ICE conducted its largest round-up on a Sunday, when many would be on their way to church. If deported, their whereabouts in Iraq wont be too difficult to surmise either. Theyll claim seats in the emptying churches of the Middle East. Jazrawi, the pastor in Kirkuk, already plays host to newcomers of all stripes. His church helps to pay rent, buy furniture, and provide for basic needs of the displaced until they get settled, he said. We are in a time when many chairs in the church are being taken by people we never evangelized. The number of international adoptions hit a historic low last year, despite growing attention toward orphan care among US evangelicals. Americans adopted 5,372 children in the year ending September 2016, down from a 35-year low the 12 months before. The number of foreign adoptions annually has fallen to less than a quarter of the totals during peak years over a decade ago, with 22,884 adoptions recorded in 2004. Last year, just over half of internationally adopted children were boys (52%), making it the first time that more males than females were adopted into America, Pew Research Center reported this week. From 1999 to 2016, girls made up 61 percent of adoptees. The shift can largely be traced to China; in 1999, 98 percent of the children adopted from China were girls. In 2016, it had flipped to 49 percent, partially due to China easing its one-child policy at the end of 2015. Meanwhile, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) reported eye-opening numbers on how Christian investment in orphan care and adoption continues to climb dramatically: Overall, charitable giving by Americans grew by a strong 4.1 percent in 2015, according to Giving USA. In that same period, support for Christian orphan care grew at more than three times that rate, rising 12.4 percent. Christian giving to support adoption grew significantly as well, rising 8.4 percent over the prior year. Other investments in serving vulnerable children, including child sponsorships and childrens homes, also saw strong growth, with 7 percent and 9.8 percent increases respectively. ECFA calculates that giving to Christian orphan ministries increased by more than 87 percent since 2010, while giving to Christian adoption ministries increased by more than 73 percent. Christians arent only talking about how the Bible calls us to care for orphans, stated ECFA President Dan Busby. They are truly putting their money where their mouths are. According to State Department data, the top five countries Americans now adopt from are: China (2,231 children in FY2016) Democratic Republic of the Congo (359) Ukraine (303) South Korea (260) Bulgaria (201) The drop in international adoptions is not from lack of desire, judging from the orphan care push by evangelicals. Next month marks Adoption Awareness Month, when thousands of churches will recognize the cause during Orphan Sunday. Among Americans, changing cultural norms have made overseas adoptions a more acceptable option. The growing prevalence of birth control and, later, single parenthood, meant fewer infants put up for domestic adoption. With more mixed-race or adoptive families in churches, Christian couples have felt more comfortable adopting children of different nationalities. But while American couples are willing, foreign countries are holding back. For example, Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children in 2012. Guatemala, which has some of the worst child welfare practices on the planet, suspended all foreign adoptions in 2004 in an attempt to curtail child trafficking. Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo both made it harder to adopt children out of the country for the same reason. And in some countries, like Ukraine, a growing culture of domestic adoption means there are fewer children available for prospective parents overseas. The government said it is making greater efforts to promote international adoption as a viable option for children in need of permanency around the world. State Department staff traveled to 30 countries to keep lines of communication open and relationships healthy. They hosted delegates from 26 countries to assure them of child welfare practices. They ultimately identified three areas where American adoption practices could be improved. The first is post-adoption reporting, in which adoptive parents fill out forms letting the childs country of origin know how he or she is doing. Nearly every country requires these reports, though the length of timeduring the first three years after the adoption or all the way until the child reaches 18 years oldvaries. American parents arent good at thiscompliance frequently remains incomplete. When parents fail to fulfill the obligation they agreed to, it reflects badly on US adoptions and may impact the countrys willingness to engage and partner with the United States, the report said. In fact, officials from several countries have said they wont allow any more children to be adopted into the US until they see those tardy post-adoption reports. A second area of concern is unregulated custody transfer, when adoptive parents unofficially or illegally send a child to live permanently with someone else. The State Department listed a host of initiatives to stop this, including research grants to help counselors know how to deal with adoption, requirements that prospective parents disclose any past failed adoptions, and proposed regulations for better training for adoptive parents. The third problem area is the adoption service providers (ASP) themselves. It only takes one person acting in an unethical manner to imperil the continuation of intercountry adoptions for all children for an extended period of time, the report said. Indeed, a bad experience with a US ASP in one country can cause a ripple effect around the world, further weakening confidence in all US ASPs. Bad service providers are tricky to rout out, as evidenced by the fact that in eight years, no one has tattled on one. Those most likely to have information on misconduct often express hesitancy about filing complaints, the report said. Adoptive families cite the fear of being unable to complete their adoptions, or losing their newly adopted child, if they complain. And fellow adoption agencies are afraid of being ostracized or retaliated against, which could include using contacts in foreign governments to get the complaining agency banned from the country. The department proposed regulations that will let adoptive parents and others complain of agency misconduct directly to the government, without first having to file it with the agency itself. The State Department said it also took steps in the last year to make international adoptions more nimble, designing an accrediting system that lets the department develop country-specific criteria that correspond to identified problems in a particular country. De-standardizing criteria means that if a problem isnt widespread, or the solution wouldnt work for every country, only service providers working in that specific country would be affected by any changes in regulations. On the topic of orphan care, CT has recently covered the decline of the traditional orphanage, efforts to curb domestic adoption costs, and legal protections for Christian adoption agencies. Its that time of year again. Ghosts and goblins are starting to appear on neighborhood lawns. Soon giggling children will don disguises and go door-to-door searching for candy. For most, Halloween is a fun, light-hearted affair. But sometimes Christians feel conflicted about how to handle this holiday. Does participating in Halloween mean that we are celebrating Halloween? No matter how we feel about the controversial holiday, it presents a rare opportunity. Halloween is one of the few days on which our neighbors will actually come to us. But what should we do with such a gift? Wayne Cordova, pastor of ministry at Crosspoint Church, in Spring Hill, Florida, has experimented with the concept of servant evangelism for the past decade. Cordova notes that both Jesus and his earliest followers ministered to people by healing and meeting physical needs first. By doing this, they earned the right to share the gospel message. Cordova states that we too need to earn the right to be heard by serving our community before we expect them to come to us. Cordova speaks of two kinds of Halloween outreach events. Sometimes churches invite people to the church building by offering an activity. These Come and See events function as trick-or-treat alternatives. Traditional trunk-or-treat and fall festival events fit into this category. My local church hosts a popular Come and See event in the form of a family worship night, with a trunk-or-treatwhich brings traditional trick-or-treating to a parking lot where kids go from car to car for candyimmediately following. This event is always wildly popular. Events like this, however, often require months of planning and work. In contrast Go and Be events, as Cordova calls them, focus on sending the church into the community to serve. Cordova explains that Come and See events often eat up extensive staff manpower and church dollars, while Go and Be events can be pulled together last minute. When a small group of people or a few families take not seized, it is a wasted opportunity to ownership of the event, the resources needed to pull off the event are generously donated by the group. They must work and problem-solve together to discover how best to serve their community. While both types of activities have their merits, event planners should determine in advance the purpose of their Halloween event and choose accordingly. Depending on your goals and event timeframes, here are five options to consider. 1. Mad Doctor Medical Festival For this event, the church partners with local shelters, hospitals, doctors, nurses, or dentists to host a fall-themed, free medical clinic. This new twist on the conventional free clinic offers general medical exams, dental cleanings, fillings and extractions, eye exams and health screenings, free glasses, skin exams, and health and wellness classes for the underprivileged in the area. These events can include a meal, a bonfire, and goody bags containing basic necessities such as socks and common hygiene and sanitary products. 2. Dry Bones 5K Focus your study during the month of October on the book of Ezekiel. By concentrating on this haunting story in the Old Testament, the church can examine Gods expectation of his people to serve the social justice issues in the local community. This 5K event attracts running enthusiasts and those interested in social justice issues. You can use it to raise awareness about local causes such as poverty, racism, or human trafficking. Remind participants that, like the people in Ezekiel, all of us periodically experience deadness in our faith and require Gods breath to resurrect faith. 3. Creature Cause Crawl Host a Halloween-themed expo where local non-profits and ministries are invited to share their visions and give out treats. This modern and fun take on the business exposition encourages attendees to travel from station to station, exposing themselves to many different service opportunities. If you procrastinated on your planning (no judgment here!) consider these simple service activities that, depending on the scope of your imagination and enthusiasm, can be executed in just a few days or hours. 4. Reverse Trick-or-Treat Instead of handing out candy on Halloween night, this activity involves small groups or families collecting bags of candy a few days before the holiday. Then, loaded down with bags of treats, they engage in a reverse trick-or-treat by knocking on the neighbors doors and giving them bags of candy for Halloween night. This simple act is punctuated with a note that reads, We want to help you out with the treats so you dont get tricked! For churches new to servant evangelism, this activity provides an effective first step because it is simple and relatively inexpensive. 5. Halloweenie Roast For those churches with established regional small groups, this event can be extremely effective in connecting churches with communities. Small groups host lawn parties on Halloween night. As the parents meander around the neighborhood with their costumed children, the small group members distribute candy to the children and free hot dogs and water to the adults. In addition, you can hand out treat bags containing candy, community giveaways, and information about the church. Inevitability, someone will ask this question: Why are you doing this? The small group members can respond, Our purpose is merely to show you Gods love in a practical wayno strings attached. By showing that God loves people unconditionally, we begin earning the right to talk with our neighbors about spiritual issues. Cordova says that churches that examine the question, How can we go one step further to serve our neighbors? will always find innovative ways to show that God loves people unconditionally. In addition, these creative approaches can change the way people experience Halloween. Cordova has seen this in action: Kids witness the act of generosity, and they begin imitating. They no longer come to church bragging about their Halloween costumes. They come eager to share about their Halloweenie Roast costume and the fun giveaways they have planned for the event. Christians shouldnt be afraid of using Halloween to engage their community. According to Cordova, Halloween is a gift. If it is not seized, it is a wasted opportunity to show others Gods love with no string attached. Sabrena Klausman has served more than 16 years as a pastors wife, church planter, and curriculum writer. She and her husband co-founded a nonprofit organization, Faceless Productions, Inc., which specializes in church curriculum and leadership training. She is the author of Zombie Christian (Tate, 2014). I was somewhere in the North Carolina mountains, driving down a long stretch of highway on a cold December night, when my predicament hit me. It was past midnight and I was alone, over a hundred miles from home. And of course, my cell phone was nearly dead. My mind began racing: What if my car breaks down? What if no one stops to help me? Or worse, what if the person who stops isnt a good person? Suddenly I was face to face with my own vulnerability. Female vulnerability is not something women like to talk about much. In recent decades, weve preferred themes of empowerment and success. From female pioneers at NASA to Wonder Woman, women have been proving their worth in society and showing themselves just as brave and intelligent as men. But even as we affirm female agency and strength, we can miss an equally important, albeit unsettling, reality: Women are vulnerable in the world in ways that men, as a rule, arent. This has never been made clearer than through the recent spate of revelations about Harvey Weinstein and Hollywood sexual harassment and abuse. As powerful, successful women came forward with their own histories of assault, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, If youve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write me too as a reply. Her tweet, which popularized the #metoo campaign that activist Tarana Burke began over ten years ago, prompted more than 12 million Facebook reactions in 24 hours and a million tweets of the hashtag in 48 hours. Both support and criticism flooded in, but perhaps the most telling reaction was the simple question: What woman hasnt? Some communities use female vulnerability as an excuse to repress and control women. From purity codes to sheltering us at home, our womanhood has been used as a justification for abuse and marginalization. Instead of confronting evil men who take advantage of womens God-given physicality, its been easier to just sequester us. Despite the potential for misuse, we still must recognize and name the specific vulnerabilities that women carry in our bodies. As personhood goes, women are as strong and as gifted as men. But if we gloss over our physical differences, well also gloss over the dangers we face. All the gumption and intelligence in the world mean little when a man is intent on harming a woman. Furthermore, if we neglect to recognize the broader implications of these physical differences, we fail to understand how abuse of power happens, why 83 percent of sexual harassment charges are filed by women, or how we can prevent it in the first place. Worse, overlooking power differentials can lead us to judge women as complicit in their own harassment. Questions like Why didnt you leave? or Why did you let it happen? presume a level of physical and social power that often doesnt exist. Of course, not every male body or female body neatly aligns with normative growth curves. Some women are larger and stronger than some men. But the fitness of an individual woman (or the weakness of a predatory male) does not necessarily compensate for how biological norms shape the sociological and psychological dynamics of assault. Plenty of strong, fit women equipped with self-defense moves still get targeted, manipulated, or violated by predatory men, not because they dont have the ability to fight back but because the larger context sets them up as prey in the first place. For men who may not naturally understand the burden of female vulnerability, #metoo reveals how womens experiences of the world differ from theirswhether its in the boardroom or on a lonely stretch of highway. The solution isnt to lock women away but rather to actively guard us while we navigate the world. Good men will use their strength to stand between us and those who would harm usto reject or repent of locker room talk, to make sure were heard when we speak up, and to help stop those who prey upon us. For women, #metoo is an uncomfortable but necessary reminder of our physical weakness and mutual dependence on mensomething Id rather forget if Im totally honest. Id rather focus on the ways that we are brave and strong and gutsy. But Id be foolish to believe these strengths could compensate for physical weakness when I encounter an evil man. And Id be negligent if I didnt teach my daughter this, as well. For me, this is where #metoo hits home: As a mother, I have a responsibility to prepare my children for the world by telling them the truth about it. I must teach my boys that the women around them are brave and strong but also vulnerable in ways they never will be, which means they must use their strength to care for them. I must teach my daughter that she faces a unique set of dangers. I want to warn her about these dangers not only in an attempt to keep her safe, but also so that when she encounters harassment (or God forbid, assault), shell never once think it was her fault. Shell know that the problem is with the worldand not with her womanhood. Article continues below Christians believe that the world is profoundly broken, but we also believe that God is actively redeeming it and that we are part of that process. Living in this tension means having a clear-eyed view of the world as it is while simultaneously envisioning what it could be. Insofar as #metoo helps us better understand the dangers women face as we try to navigate careers, dating relationships, or even riding the subway, it is powerful. But this knowledge must also move us toward redemption. If we commit to anything, let it be that none of usman or womanshould have to carry the weight of brokenness alone. Hannah Anderson lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She is the author of Made for More and the newly released Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul (Moody). You can find more of her writing at sometimesalight.com, hear her on the weekly podcast Persuasion, or follow her on Twitter @sometimesalight. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houston offshore driller Rowan Cos. said Thursday it finally launched its delayed joint venture with Saudi Arabia, called ARO Drilling. The new JV, which was delayed from the spring until October, will lead much of Saudi Arabia's shallow water drilling efforts at least through 2030 as part of the 50-50 partnership. "This is a groundbreaking joint venture that supports Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, and provides Rowan with an unparalleled long-term growth opportunity throughout the next decade and beyond," said Rowan President and CEO Tom Burke. RELATED: Rowan teams with Saudi Aramco for new joint venture To get ARO started, Rowan contributed three of its existing shallow-water jack-up rigs, and Saudi Aramco chipped in one more rig. Aramco is expected to add one more rig by the end of the year, and Rowan will sell two more to ARO by late 2018. ARO Drilling also will manage the operation of Rowan's seven other existing rigs in Saudi Arabia. The deal calls for ARO to buy 20 new rigs built by a joint venture Saudi manufacturing facility through 2030. However, much closer to Houston, Rowan and much of the offshore sector continue to see a stagnant environment in the Gulf of Mexico. Rowan said three of its four deepwater rigs in the Gulf are currently idle, and its only working Gulf deepwater rig is about to start working at a reduced pay rate with The Woodlands-based Anadarko Petroleum. Out of its three shallow, jack-up rigs in the Gulf, one is mothballed and the two others will see their contracts expire in December. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It may be months before fire investigators are able to determine what caused the devastating and deadly Wine Country fires. But that didn't stop multiple fake news sites from spreading conspiracy theories about causes, even as firefighters are still working to contain the fires. Fact-checking website Snopes has already debunked one popular rumor: that the fires were "started by Mexican drug cartels in order to gain a strategic advantage over the legal marijuana industry." The GotNews.com article purporting that theory only cites "law enforcement authorities," "senior Department of Homeland Security officials" and "key people within the legal marijuana business." The story doesn't contain a single quote or named source. The site also claims the fires' timing was "suspicious," because most wildfires in California "usually occur in December and January, not October." But as Snopes points out, that's simply not true. More fires have burned in October than December or January almost every year of the past decade, as shown by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection data. Snopes calls GotNews.com "a disreputable web site run by the infamous internet troll Chuck C. Johnson" with a history of publishing "often-xenophobic conspiracy theories." VIDEO FROM THE WINE COUNTRY FIRES Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle Breitbart and InfoWars, two far-right websites with much larger followings, helped spread another unfounded story about the cause of the fires, incorrectly blaming them on a 29-year-old Latino man who was arrested Sunday. "The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) issued a detainer request on the Sonoma County Jail for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of arson in Wine Country fires that have killed at least 40 residents," the Breitbart story reads. InfoWars reprinted Breitbart's story word for word. Gonzalez was in fact arrested on suspicion of arson, as reported by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, but not in connection with any of the large wildfires burning in the North Bay. In fact, the fire Gonzalez is accused of starting at a Sonoma park was so small that a sheriff's deputy was able to put it out before firefighters even arrived on scene. The Press Democrat reports that Gonzalez lives under a nearby bridge and told authorities he started the fire because he was cold. Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano tried to put an end to the story once and for all Tuesday in a press conference, according to the Sacramento Bee. "There's no indication [Gonzalez is] related to these fires at all," Giordano said. "I wanted to kill that speculation right now, so we didn't have things running too far out of control." Investigators are still working to determine the cause or causes of the Wine Country fires. As part of that investigation, Cal Fire said it is looking into reports of downed Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines, the Chronicle reported. "We are investigating a number of potential causes, including whether reports of power lines falling down and electrical transformers exploding Sunday night may have caused some of the wildfires in the region," said Cal Fire deputy director Janet Upton. "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," PG&E spokeswoman Ari Vanrenen told the Chronicle in an e-mail. There's at least one thing the conspiracy sites got right. GotNews.com boasted that its exclusive "report" linking drug lords to the Wine Country wildfires wouldn't be found anywhere in the "mainstream media." Thankfully, that part is true. Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Elaborate homecoming "proposals" have been answered at many high schools around the Houston area, and this year's kings and queens have been crowned. These royals will reign until it is time to pass the torch on next year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Reliving the fear and emotion of not being able to reach a single family member in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Maria plowed through the Island was difficult. Rosa Santana Carrero, Carolina Garcia and Marimar de la Cruze Bonilla each recounted the engulfing emotion they felt of trying to reach their family just hours after Hurricane Maria made landfall. The students are all part of a joint program with the University of Puerto Rico. They attend medical school at UPR and complete their first three years before going to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences for their doctorate degrees. "They told me that we might not have communication for a few days, I thought ok, one or two days is understandable," Carrero said. Seven days went by and Carrero was not able to contact any one from her family. "I would send a text, I wrote on social media so many messages thinking that maybe someone got a little bit of signal that they could just tell me they are ok," Carrero said. Carrero was beginning to lose hope in reaching someone, which led her thoughts down a path of despair thinking the worst happened to her family. On day seven of no contact, Carrero said she decided to try calling her family landline once more. "My niece answered the phone, and I started crying," Carrero said. Carrero said when she finally heard they were alright she instantly jumped into help mode asking what she could do from her end to alleviate their struggles. While trying to help her family, Carrero was going through her own recovery phase since losing everything she had after the Hurricane Harvey flooding. Carrero lived at the Brompton Court apartments near the bayou and received nearly 3 feet of water in her first floor apartment. Carrero moved into a different apartment and slowly rebuilt her life while balancing school, planning the fundraiser and keeping up with her family in Puerto Rico. Bonilla considers herself one of the lucky few, she spent a couple of days trying to reach her family only to have her mother call her from a satellite issued phone for working with the Veterans Affairs in Puerto Rico. "It was like, 'Hi I'm alive bye,' after that it was days before I could hear back from her normally," Bonilla said. She added, "We are part of the lucky few that can say our families are safe but that is not the norm." Garcia arrived to Houston from Puerto Rico only a few months before Hurricane Harvey hit Houston for her first year at the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School. Garcia described her time as bittersweet, being able to follow her career path but also sitting in anxiousness as her family suffered the impact of Hurricane Maria. "When Harvey hit my mom was calling me every hour asking how's the water, because it was coming up in my apartment," Garcia said. Garcia rose from Hurricane Harvey unscathed, so when she realized that her family was gearing up for a hurricane headed their way, she set alarms on her phone to wake her at night to check on her family. "Everything that was coming out of Puerto Rico was terrible, what you see from the Metro area where there was a little bit of news and live videos, it was terrifying," Garcia said. Garcia lost contact with her family the following morning after the hurricane hit. "I was literally going through my contact list thinking who else can I call," Garcia said. After a couple days, Garcia was able to reach her family and ensure their safety. Ryan Baumert, also a student at the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School, said that what happened in Puerto Rico was a disaster that needs continuous support. The students decided to take initiative and plan a small bake sale in hopes of collecting monetary funds to send to UPR. The bake sale grew into a larger scale international food festival after receiving positive feedback and people lining up to help. The Association of Minority Biomedical Research spear headed the fundraiser calling upon students, faculty, staff and community members from all around the Texas Medical Center to help raise money toward the recover process in Puerto Rico. Food representing Pakistan, Morroco, Spain, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Venezuela, Italy, Lebanon, Colombia, Puerto Rico, India, Nigeria, China and many more were all present at the food festival that took place on Monday, Oct. 16 in the Onstead Forum of the Mitchell Building. Over 500 people gathered on the third floor of the Mitchell Building for flavors from around the world whilst donating to help students and families impacted by the hurricane. The funds will go directly to UPR and then distributed to students and families in dire need of assistance. Ayesha Khan, student at MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School, said the students were able to raise $6,400 in funding to donate and will continue to accept donations through a You Caring site set up under, youcaring.com/TMCforPuertoRico. "Even though the help is not getting to the island as fast as we want, we and the people in Puerto Rico believe it will get there," said Carrero. The Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center (JCC) is a force in the community, offering many programs and activities. One of these programs is Meals on Wheels, which provides a daily hot meal to individuals who are 60 years or older, who are often nutritionally at-risk and may be disabled According to Kate Daniel, the JCC Meals on Wheels program coordinator, the program initially started as a grassroots effort in the 70s and operated out of the Seven Acres - Jewish Senior Care Services. Today, the program at the JCC is one out of nine Meals on Wheels programs in the Houston area, but is the only one that provides a Kosher option. Last month, JCC Meals on Wheels served 430 clients, some of which are daily and some weekly. The hot meal is served once a day at lunch time. "We partner with home and health care agencies and some hospitals in the Medical Center. We have social workers call us to have them placed on our routes. We have people see our cars drive by and then they call us. We are always looking for more ways to put ourselves out there, because not everyone is aware that these meals are available," Daniel said. The meal consists of an entree item, two sides, which is usually a vegetable and bread, and a piece of fruit. "The meal is one third of recommended daily allowances, all the nutrients a senior citizen would need," Daniel said. Laykie's Gourmet Cafe at the J, in the JCC facilities, makes all of the meals for the Kosher clients fresh each day. "Laykie Donin's operation is amazing. A huge staff helps her out. It is quite impressive what she is able to do daily Monday through Friday," Daniel said. The JCC serves everyone in need with a standard meal option, provided to the JCC by Valley Services in Houston, in addition to the Kosher option, so as to not limit to serving just the Jewish community. The JCC building is not open currently due to being flooded from Hurricane Harvey. The staff has temporarily set up at St. Phillips United Methodist church in their fellowship hall. "We did have quite a few volunteers drivers' homes that flooded and we had to utilize more staffers for Meals on Wheels. It has been nice in some ways but also a challenge, because we want to make sure those volunteers are taken care of but that they can also get back to their clients as soon as possible," Daniel said. According to Daniel, the Meals on Wheels program is currently looking for volunteer drivers. Once someone applies, they will attend an orientation, and learn their driving route, as well as anything specific they might need to know about their clients. "They know their clients, and they know what to expect. That is a thing that really works about our program," Daniel said. "They have more time to be invested and talk to the clients and make sure they are okay. Those volunteers can be delivering to anywhere from 8 clients to 14 a day. They are used to that person and foster a relationship. The senior citizens know that it is safe to open the door." Daniel continued, "I think people come in expecting it to be more difficult than it is, but it is a really fun experience." Kelly Hoover is one of the program's drivers, and she said that, through her job, she has many friendships with her meal clients. "I have known every single person for a long time. I could tell you anything about anybody. They all look forward to seeing the volunteers. They get involved with everyone that delivers because they are lonely, unfortunately. Most of their only contact they see is us," Hoover said. Daniel added, "It might not be that they are looking forward to the meal, it is that they are looking forward to saying hi to someone." Meals are delivered between the Southwest Freeway and Highway 288, and between the South 610 Loop and the Fort Bend County Line. Zip codes serviced include 77031, 77035, 77045, 77051, 77053, 77071, 77074, 77081, 77085, 77096 and Bellaire outside of the Loop. For more information about the JCC's Meals on Wheels program, visit www.erjcchouston.org/seniors/meals-on-wheels/ or call 713-729-3200 ext. 3279. About a dozen advocates called on Environmental Protection Agency Chief Scott Pruitt to take a "Toxic Tour" of contaminated areas in Houston during his visit Thursday for a planned speech at an oil and gas meeting in The Woodlands. The protest over Pruitt's planned speech to the Texas Oil and Gas Association's annual meeting was held about 40 miles away, on Brady's Landing, to prove a point: Pruitt should be there, where all the pollution is, instead of speaking to an industry event, advocates said. "This is where the administrator of the EPA should be coming, especially in light of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey," said Rosanne Barone, program director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment. More than 4 million pounds of toxic airborne emissions, as well as contaminated floodwater from Harvey poured into the Houston area -- a region that's already fraught with problems. The communities near Brady's Landing, for example, are constantly inundated with toxic chemicals released into the air by oil refineries, said Juan Parras, with the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. "It's an invisible flood" of carcinogens, Parras said. He said he believes the EPA is pro-industry and that officials don't appear to be working to reduce the level of emissions. Though the group is not protesting outside of Pruitt's speech in The Woodlands Thursday night, they said they hope he hears their message and will take a tour of their neighborhoods. And that tour, lucky for him, would be free, said Rev. James Caldwell with the Coalition of Community Organizations. Pruitt has been scheduled to speak Thursday night at the TOGA Lone Star Energy Forum in The Woodlands. The speech initially was closed to the media. As of Thursday morning, however, Pruitt's name had been removed from the list of speakers during the Distinguished Service Awards dinner. The association and the EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alex Stuckey covers science and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. According to real estate website Estatelys routine exploration of Google search data by region, they were able to find out what things each state in the union were asking Google how to do. Of course, Texas has some very interesting queries because, as amazing as we all are, some of us still would like to know how to be Jedis and read minds. An elementary school in Mississippi is shedding the name of the Confederacy's only president in exchange for the nation's first black president. Jackson's Davis International Baccalaureate Elementary School will change its name to Barack Obama starting in the 2018-2019 school year, Mississippi's WJTV reported. The board of trustees voted Oct. 5 to make the decision official. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The University of Houston's board of regents next month might evaluate the feasibility of creating a medical school, a long-discussed project that university officials say could expand primary care in thesoutheast Houston neighborhoods around the school. Regents hope to discuss the results of a feasibility study requested by state lawmakers at their November meeting, UH President and Chancellor Renu Khator said at an annual fall address Wednesday. The university would begin the formal application process if regents accept the study and decide to move forward, she said, speaking to regents, faculty and some students at the campus' Moores Opera House. "This initiative will not only fill a void in Texas by serving currently underserved communities, but it will also strengthen teaching and research throughout the university, particularly in health-related fields," she said. The medical school, she said, is one element of UH's "bigger and bolder" path ahead in Khator's tenure. Since she arrived nearly a decade ago, UH has seen enrollment growth and higher graduation rates. Khator used Wednesday's address to outline the university's progress under her leadership and describe future goals. A $1 billion capital campaign launched in January has raised $780 million from 161,272 donors, she said. Enrollment has grown to 45,364 students this semester, up from 34,663 students in 2007. UH grants thousands more degrees each year. The university has more heavily invested in facilities over the last decade, too. From 1997 through 2006, Khator said, UH spent $266 million on facilities. Over the last decade, that figure has grown to $1.2 billion, she said. Projects under construction include a 1,200-bed housing complex. "Rarely a day goes by when someone does not express his or her astonishment at the magnitude of this transformation," she said. "And if he or she has not been on campus in a few years, the words typically are, 'I can't believe my eyes.'" Khator said she was proud of UH's response to Hurricane Harvey this fall, including raising $880,000 so that the university could help more than 220 students continue their studies. The university halted classes temporarily during the storm, but resumed after Labor Day. "We realized that we had won the war against Harvey," she said. "Our enrollment remained intact. Our students were back. Our hurricane heroes succeeded." She then recounted an email exchange between a professor and a student as the latter's house flooded during Harvey's deluge: "Put a white sheet in your window or white towel go on roof, not in the attic," economics professor Polly Hardee wrote to her student. "We called the Coast Guard and got rescued by boat. We are safe now," the student, Amana Waheed, responded. "Don't be concerned about your graded assignments. They have all been postponed. Of the utmost importance is that you are out of harm's way," Hardee wrote. She asked the two to stand, prompting cheers from the audience. "This is the spirit and character of the University of Houston," she said. Khator's presence at UH has been constant amid leadership changes at the system's three other standalone universities. Her 10 years in office so far is longer than the national average of seven years, according to the American Council on Education. Nearby, the University of Houston-Downtown has seen four presidents over Khator's tenure, including one interim president. The University of Houston-Victoria has seen four presidents in that time and launched a search for its next leader this week. The University of Houston-Clear Lake welcomed Ira Kincade Blake as a new president earlier this year. One man was fatally shot after three armed men stormed his home and held him, his wife and their friend at gunpoint, according to Houston police. The shooting occurred around 1:45 a.m. in the 200 block of Casa Grande Drive in the Greenspoint area in north Houston. Silvano Cortez, 55, died at the scene. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Dallas lawmaker is receiving backlash for suggesting that sexual assault prevention is "as much the woman's responsibility" as the man's. While speaking to NBC 5, U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Dallas) gave her thoughts on the ongoing conversation about sexual harassment and assault, spurred by the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood film producer and long-time Democratic donor. "I grew up in a time when it was as much the woman's responsibility as it was a man's how you were dressed, what your behavior was," said Johnson. "I'm from the old school that you can have behaviors that appear to be inviting. It can be interpreted as such. That's the responsibility, I think, of the female. I think that males have a responsibility to be professional themselves." Now Playing: Harvey Weinstein Is One of the Richest Men in Hollywood. Here's What We Know About His Money Video: Time Celebrities, people flooded social media with #MeToo to create awareness about sexual assault this week. OPINION: In Weinstein's wake, can Hollywood change? On Twitter, users fired back at Johnson, a 23-year-veteran of the U.S. House. On Thursday, Johnson released a statement clarifying the comments she made with NBC 5. "Sexual assault and harassment has no place in our society. This is something I believe deeply. And at each turn of my professional life, I have made it my mission to fight for women's rights," said Johnson. "I do not blame the victims of sexual assault for the actions of their assailants. I do acknowledge that my comments regarding behavior and attire come from an old school perspective that has shaped how some of us understand the issue, but that does not detract from the fact that criminals need to be held accountable for their actions WEINSTEIN: What's shocking is that it's not shocking "I will never condone those who feel they can abuse the power of their positions to sexually assault and harass women, and I will always encourage victims to come forward so that we can hold these criminals accountable," she said. Since the Oct. 5 New York Times expose on Weinstein, more than 40 accusations of sexual harassment or assault against the Hollywood producer have been unearthed. See the list of women who said they've been sexually harassed or assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. The Food and Drug Administration approved a second version of a groundbreaking treatment Wednesday that genetically alters patients' cells to attack cancer - this time, to fight aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The treatment is for adults with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma who have not responded to or who have relapsed after at least two other kinds of treatment, such as chemotherapy and bone-marrow transplants. The group numbers about 7,500 patients a year in the United States. The one-time infusion, known as CAR T-cell therapy, is made by Kite Pharma, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., and recently was bought by Gilead Sciences for $11.9 billion. Kite announced Wednesday that the treatment's brand name will be Yescarta and its price will be $373,000. In late August, the FDA cleared the first CAR T-cell therapy, which is designed for children and young adults whose leukemia doesn't respond to standard treatments. About 600 patients in the United States fall into that category every year. Kymriah, which costs $475,000, is manufactured by Novartis. Biotech analysts had expected the Kite price to be lower than Kymriah's, in part because the number of eligible patients is larger and the response rates are lower. Even so, Yescarta's cost is likely to stoke the ongoing debate about high drug prices. The FDA approval is the latest step forward for the fast-moving field of immunotherapy, which aims to bolster the immune system to attack malignancies. CAR T-cell therapies are among several approaches, along with treatments called checkpoint inhibitors and cancer vaccines, but they have recently grabbed much of the attention. Dozens of other companies also are working on them. "Today, marks another milestone in the development of a whole new scientific paradigm for the treatment of serious diseases," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement, adding that the approval demonstrates "the continued momentum of this promising new area of medicine." A CAR T-cell therapy involves a complicated and customized procedure in which T cells - sometimes called the foot soldiers of the immune system - are removed from the patient. They are sent to a special lab and genetically modified to target a protein on the surface of the patient's cancer cells. Once the modified cells are returned to the patient, their numbers expand exponentially as they become an army of cancer fighters. The FDA said the safety and efficacy of Yescarta were established in a multi-center trial of more than 100 adults with large B-cell lymphoma. "This is not just an incremental benefit," said David Chang, Kite's chief medical officer. "It raises the potential that a cure can be possible." Some of the first patients who underwent treatment now have been in remission for three to five years, he said, although he cautioned that it's still too early to know whether those patients are cured. WASHINGTON - This is the story of how an office supply glitch became a major irritant between the United States and one of its close security partners. When President Donald Trump added the African nation of Chad last month to his most recent installment of travel restrictions, everyone from the Pentagon to Chad's leaders to the French government was perplexed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - The authors of a bipartisan plan to calm health insurance markets said Wednesday they'll push the proposal forward, even as President Donald Trump's stance ricocheted from supportive to disdainful to arm's-length and the plan's fate teetered. "If something can happen, that's fine," Trump told reporters at the White House. "But I won't do anything to enrich the insurance companies because right now the insurance companies are being enriched. They've been enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody has ever seen before." The agreement by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., on a two-year extension of the federal subsidies to insurers that Trump has blocked gained an important new foe on Wednesday. The anti-abortion National Right to Life said it opposed the measure because it lacked language barring people from using their federally subsidized coverage to buy policies covering abortion, said Jennifer Popik, the group's top lobbyist. No support frm Ryan In another blow, Doug Andres, spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Ryan "does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare." With hard-right conservatives wielding considerable influence among House Republicans, it was unclear if Ryan would be willing to even bring the measure to his chamber's floor. Alexander and Murray shook hands on their agreement this week after months of intermittent talks. Failure to restore the federal payments to insurers could result in higher premiums for millions buying their own individual policies and drive carriers from unprofitable markets. Many in Congress would love to avoid blame for two such tumultuous events. The compromise has won warm endorsements from Democrats and some Republicans. It includes steps won by Republicans to make it easier for insurers to avoid some coverage requirements under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. 'It's stalled out' But Trump has lambasted the subsidies as insurance company bailouts. Other GOP lawmakers are loathe to prop up Obama's statute, a law they've long vowed to repeal. "I think right now it's stalled out," No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters. The money reimburses carriers for lowering co-payments and deductibles for about 6 million lower-income customers, which the companies must do under Obama's statute. Without those funds, insurers would likely boost premiums by an average 20 percent, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected. This would especially hit many buying their own health insurance who earn too much to qualify for tax credits that help lower earners reduce their premiums. Confusingly, Trump praised the bipartisan agreement early Tuesday as a "very good solution," only to berate it in an evening speech. Some said his objections Wednesday to enriching insurers could be addressed by strengthening language in the compromise to ensure the money directly benefits customers, not companies. "The president has had six positions on our bill," Murray told reporters. Asked if the measure was still alive, she said "of course it is." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been non-committal about the plan. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Mark Wilson/Staff Show More Show Less 2 of 3 LM Otero/STF Show More Show Less 3 of 3 WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the Houston-area Republican once mulling a 2018 primary challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz, picked up the endorsement Wednesday of Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick , solidifying his credentials with the conservative wing of his party as he runs to retain his seat in Congress. McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, was recently passed over for a cabinet position leading the Homeland Security Department. President Donald Trump instead picked Kirstjen Nielsen, a former DHS staffer under President George W. Bush. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Hurricane Harvey flood victims will have one more month to apply for federal assistance after FEMA officials on Thursday extended the deadline to Nov. 24. The previous deadline to apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was Oct. 24. The extension comes as residents in 41 counties in south and southeast Texas still struggle with Harvey's destruction. FEMA has given out more than $1.2 billion in aid to flood victims, according to FEMA spokesman Marcel Bright. As of Thursday, more than 877,000 people had registered for aid, up more than 900 from the day before. Out of the total funding pot, more than $970 million has been directed to help Harvey victims with housing as occupancy rates tighten across Houston. Now Playing: A POLITICO/Morning Consult Poll surveyed almost 2000 people and 43% say they approve of Trump's response. Video: Buzz 60 Some flood victims may have their homes bought out by Harris County. Aid also is available for temporary housing, medications, funeral expenses and transportation, among other needs. To qualify for assistance, Harvey victims need to register with FEMA at DisasterAssistance.gov, call 800-621-3362, or visit one of several disaster recovery centers -- there are 17 in Harris County Even if people initially were sent notices that they do not qualify for aid, they should appeal, officials said. In many cases, denials may have been based on incomplete information in the application, which can be fixed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN -- In a signal that Texas' 2018 political season has begun, Texas politicians on Thursday began rolling out their endorsements for their upcoming campaigns. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced endorsements from Abbott and U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and state Sen. Van Taylor announced the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson. For Patrick, the endorsements from Abbott, Cornyn and Cruz came as no surprise. All are Texas Republican incumbents and Patrick had supported Cruz when the junior Texas senator ran for president last year. Patrick also announced support from a majority of the State Republican Executive Committee and top Republican Party county chairs, as well as a slew of conservative groups such as the Texas Alliance for Life, Texas Eagle Forum, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Right to Life, Texas State Rifle Association, Texas Values and the Conservative Republicans of Texas. Patrick has no Republican opposition in his bid for reelection, and only a single Democratic Party opponent, Mike Collier. Abbott is a staunch conservative Republican like Taylor, a Collin County Republican who has served in the state Senate since 2015 and was in the Texas House four years before that. "I ... know him to be a thoughtful and effective conservative leader," Abbott said in a statement released by Taylor. "Van Taylor has always been a servant leader putting the people first while using the Constitution as his compass. Van is exactly the type of courageous leader we need in Washington." Last week Taylor reported that he has raised more than $500,000 in just five weeks for his campaign, and has more than $900,000 cash on hand. Taylor is running to replace retiring U.S. Rep.Johnson, who has served in the U.S. House representing Texas' 3rd Congressional District since 1991. Like Johnson, a decorated Air Force colonel who was a Vietnam War veteran and served as a prisoner of war for seven years, Taylor was a decorated Marine captain who served in the Iraq war. 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. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. AKRON, Ohio - A bright, red ribbon was cut on Tuesday welcoming FI Community Housing to its new Akron location. FI Community Housing provides drug-free transitional housing and recovery services for men in Summit County. Last spring, the group had been in danger of losing its facility when the building it rented was placed on the auction block. But several local entities stepped up to assist FI in relocating, including County Executive Ilene Shapiro's office. The Summit County Land Bank purchased 1445 Frederick Blvd. in Akron from the Summit County Developmental Disabilities Board. Then, through the efforts of Shapiro's office and the Land Bank, the building was rehabilitated, while donations of furniture and goods came from the University of Akron and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Now, the house is a facility in which 16 men at a time will receive services to help them transition back into a drug-free, productive life. "We must change the narrative on the opiate epidemic and remind people that treatment does work and people do get better," said Shapiro in a news release. "This collaboration is the best of our community and this facility will be a beacon of hope." FI Community Housing founders Denny and Kara Wilson helped cut the ribbon for the building before tours of the new facility took place. "We are so grateful to our community and to the leaders who stepped up, worked together, and helped us find a new home. This new facility will save lives," said Denny Wilson in the release. The Summit County Land Bank will serve as the landlord for the building. "This project illustrates what can be done when visionary leadership and lots of hard work come together," said Executive Director Patrick Bravo in the release. "The Land Bank is incredibly proud to be a part of collaborative recovery in Summit County." Several elected officials from Akron and Summit County also were in attendance, including Summit County Councilman David Hamilton, who represents the neighborhood where the facility is located. "I am proud to be here today on behalf of the community I represent. We support FICH and their mission and I want to say, 'Welcome home,'" he stated in the release. FI Community Housing will officially open its doors to clients on Nov. 1. For more information visit the FI Community Housing website. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Operating a vehicle under the influence-disorderly conduct, Prospect Street: Two Berea men, 49 and 47, and a 44-year-old Berea woman were arrested at about 3 a.m. Oct. 14 outside Sportsman's Tavern, 483 Prospect. Someone called police about a drunk man inside a parked but running vehicle in the bar parking lot. An officer found the 49-year-old Berea man lying across the car's center console. The car's lights were on. As the officer walked toward the car, the 44-year-old Berea woman ran in front of him. She opened the drunk man's car door and yelled, "Get up. The cops are here." She switched off the car's engine and snatched the keys from the ignition. The officer told the woman to step away. She didn't comply until her boyfriend, the 47-year-old Berea man, talked her into it. The drunk man in the car admitted that he was "hammered" but said he was going to call an Uber driver to take him, along with the woman and her boyfriend, home. During the conversation, the woman and her boyfriend cursed at the officer, telling him he had no jurisdiction in a parking lot. The woman yelled in the officer's face as he tried to help the drunk man out of his car. The drunk man refused to perform field sobriety tests. He was able to stand only by holding onto the side of his car. The officer handcuffed the man and placed him in his cruiser. The woman tried to stop the arrest by grabbing the officer's arm and screaming in his face. The boyfriend pulled the woman away, but both continued to yell at him. Another officer arrived and arrested the woman. She resisted, pulling her hand away and arguing with police. The boyfriend became enraged, calling the officers names and using profanities. Police asked the man to walk over to them, but he refused. When told he was under arrest, the boyfriend tried to enter the Uber car, which by then had arrived. Police grabbed the boyfriend's hands. He yelled profanities and pushed the officers away. Police wrestled the boyfriend to the ground and handcuffed him. Animal incident, Prospect Street: A Berea woman, 79, was taken to Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights at about 8:50 p.m. Oct. 10 after a man, trying to keep his two dogs away from her, accidentally knocked her to the ground. The woman was walking her small dog in front of True North Shell, 20 Prospect, when two larger dogs - described as "husky-shepherd mixes" - ran toward her. They had jumped over a yard fence on nearby Westbridge Drive. The 44-year-old owner of the two dogs ran after them. He later told police the dogs aren't vicious but become "overly excited" when they see other dogs. The two dogs jumped on the woman and scratched her. As the man tried to separate his dogs from the woman, he stumbled into her, causing her to fall and cut her face. A witness applied pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Henry Street: A Berea woman, 31, was arrested at about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 15 after police saw her Jeep Cherokee swerve left of center, and almost hit a police cruiser head-on, while traveling northbound on Prospect Street. Police stopped the Jeep on Henry near West Center Street. The vehicle's interior smelled like alcohol. The woman denied drinking, saying she swerved because she was texting, having just broken up with her boyfriend. She failed field sobriety tests. Criminal mischief, East Bagley Road: An East Amherst, New York man, 19, was cited at about 12:15 a.m. Oct. 15 after he was seen carrying a "two-hour parking" street sign. A Baldwin Wallace University officer called Berea police after seeing the man, with a group of other males, walking with the sign on Liberty Street. As police drove to the scene, the group turned onto Beech Street, where the man dropped the sign. By the time police arrived, the males were on East Bagley. The Baldwin Wallace officer identified the man who had been carrying the sign. The man said he did not remove the sign from the pole but picked it up from the ground. He apologized. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Emerson Drive: A Cleveland man, 36, was arrested at about 11:10 p.m. Oct. 15 after police caught him driving while drunk. Another driver called police after seeing the man's Ford Escape swerving. Police spotted the Escape stopped on Emerson. The man appeared intoxicated. When police asked him why he was in Berea, the man said, "We're not in Berea." He thought he was in Cuyahoga Falls. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Depot Street: A Columbia Station man, 38, was arrested at about 11:30 p.m. Oct. 14 after police saw him ride his Harley-Davidson 40 mph on West Bagley Road near Baker Street, a 25-mph zone. The man turned left onto North Rocky River Drive without signaling, and his motorcycle nearly hit a curb. He made a wide turn onto Depot. The man smelled like alcohol but denied drinking. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Prospect Street: A Berea man, 24, was arrested at about 2 a.m. Oct. 14 after police saw his Dodge Dakota swerving on Prospect near South Quarry Lane. He smelled like alcohol. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - Cleveland Heights detectives are trying to identify a man who pistol-whipped a Pizza Hut employee during a robbery. No arrests have been made in the Tuesday robbery at the pizza shop on South Taylor Road near Blanche Avenue, police said. Detectives on Thursday released images of a man they believe is the armed robber. The images were pulled from Pizza Hut surveillance video. The man wore a black bandanna over his face when he entered the restaurant just after 7:30 p.m. and pointed a gun at an employee. He demanded money and threatened to shoot the employee, according to a police report. The employee fell to the floor and told the man that he couldn't open the cash register. The man yelled and pistol-whipped the employee in the back of the head, the report says. The man took the entire cash drawer from the register before he ran out of the restaurant. Pizza Hut employees later determined the man stole $350, the report says. A Pizza Hut delivery driver said he was sitting in his car when he saw the man run outside. The man got into the back seat of a white Toyota Camry, which drove away southbound on South Taylor Road, the report says. Cleveland Heights Fire Department paramedics treated the employee at the scene for a cut on his head. Detectives pulled fingerprints from the front door and the counter. They also obtained surveillance video from the store. The robbery remains under investigation. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Democrats have a steep uphill battle to win the congressional seat being vacated by nine-term Central Ohio Republican Pat Tiberi. His district is an example of the precise gerrymandering done six years ago by the Republican-led legislature, which drew 12 predominately Republican congressional districts, leaving four for the Democrats in Ohio. None of the 16 seats have changed party hands since the first election with the new maps in 2012, and nearly all the races have been won by landslides. This includes three easy wins by Tiberi in the 12th congressional district, which extends from Zanesville west to a portion of Columbus and then north to Mansfield. Tiberi's closest race with the current maps was in 2012, when he defeated Democratic challenger James Reese by 27 points - 63.5 percent to 36.5 percent. He won re-election last year by 37 points. Yet if there is a glimmer of hope for the Democrats, it is that the vote between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was closer in the district than most GOP-held districts in Ohio, with Trump winning by 53 percent to 42 percent, according to cleveland.com estimates. Among the 12 Republican congressional districts in Ohio, Trump won by wider margins in all but three others. Tiberi announced Thursday that he will resign by the end of January to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable, an advocacy group for business leaders. The 12th congressional district is wealthier, more highly educated and less diverse than Ohio as a whole. Here are the most recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau: Median family income, $67,415 in the district vs. $52,334 for all of Ohio. Median home value, $204,900 vs. $140,100 for all of Ohio. Adults (age 25 and over) with a bachelor's degree or above: 41 percent vs. 27.5 percent for all of Ohio Minority population: 14.7 percent vs. 20.6 percent for all of Ohio. Median age: 40,0 vs. 40.7 for all of Ohio. The districts were designed to result in the 12-4 split in favor of Republicans by packing Democrats into a few heavily Democratic districts, and spreading out Republican majorities among other districts. The seven "tightest" races in the last election were won by Republicans, but none were close. The closest congressional race in Ohio last year was decided by nearly 19 points. Learn more about gerrymandering, its impact on elections and potential solutions with cleveland.com's series: Out of Line: Impact 2017 and Beyond, in search of a way to eliminate gerrymandering in Ohio. Previously: Gerrymandering: why you should care History: What has created today's mess State legislature forms panel to explore a fix Final member named to state panel Gov. John Kasich critical of gerrymandering What Ohio can learn from Iowa What Ohio can learn from California What Ohio can learn from Arizona How gerrymandered Ohio congressional districts limit the influence of Ohio voters Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- Lakewood police released stills from surveillance video that they believe shows the person who painted sexist words on The Mission Boutique earlier this week. The camera captured what police say is a woman about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, the same day the graffiti was discovered painted on windows and doors of the popular used clothing store, according to a Lakewood police report. The vandal wore a mask and carried either a black purse or a small black bag over the shoulder, the report says. A police officer noticed the words just before 8 a.m. Tuesday. Owner Martin Lansky did not know his business was tagged until a cleveland.com reporter contacted him later that morning. Derogatory words like "repent whores" and "sluts" were written with white spray paint. This is the second time in recent months the boutique has been targeted with the hate, Lansky previously said. A single white line also ran the entire length of the front of the building, according to a Lakewood police report. Lansky does not have a theory why someone would target his business. A community service crew from Lakewood Municipal Court cleaned the windows and left the scene shortly before 11 a.m. The tagging of Mission Boutique comes after anti-Semitic vandalism in August. A vandal painted swastikas in the driveway of a home on Belle Avenue hear Clifton Boulevard. Police do not know if the incidents are related and no one has been arrested in either crime, Lakewood police Capt. Ed Hassing said. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND -- Bill Gates wants to see schools connect. The Microsoft founder said in a keynote speech Thursday in Cleveland that a majority of the millions of dollars the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend over the next five years will go to networks of public schools, created to share achievements and failures in teacher development and curricula. "Our role is to be a catalyst of good ideas," he said. The speech was part of the 61st Conference of the Great City Schools. More than 1,000 people came to Cleveland for the people from urban schools across the country. Here's where Gates said his foundation would be investing more than $1.7 billion in K-12 education over the next five years. School networks (about 60 percent) Gates said the foundation is looking to develop 20 to 30 school networks that can share different ideas, pilot programs and other data to help the group as a whole. "We need to put the vast amount of money into these networks of public schools ... though we love charter schools," he said, to a round of applause. These networks could consist of districts or other configurations of schools with similar interests. Gates cited the LIFT Education network in Tennessee, which brings together 12 districts that work on solutions on common problems. Gates wants to focus on helping schools develop high-quality curricula, which he feels is an underinvested area. He said the foundation aims for teachers at every level of secondary school to have curricula aligned with professional development. Research and development (about 25 percent) Gates said there's room to grow in education research and development. "Broadband access is not the barrier it once was," he said, adding that screen access has also become more widespread. Less than 1 percent of government spending on education goes to research and development, Gates said, which leaves it open for philanthropists to fund and explore. He said schools can use complex technology, like artificial intelligence, to bring students into learning more intimidating subjects such as math. Charter schools (about 15 percent) A chunk of money will also expand of quality charter school options and improve quality at these schools, which he said is already happening in Washington state, where Microsoft is headquartered. He said attention will be paid particularly to charter schools that address special needs education. Deep Blue Cable, which is the developer, owner and operator of a subsea fibre-optic system that will provide connectivity across the Caribbean islands and the Americas, announed plans for an extension to Colombia and Panama, as well as expand to additional landing points throughout the region. The extension to Colombia and Panama will necessitate an adjustment to the project timeline. Deep Blue said route survey activities will commence in Q1 2018, with manufacturing and installation continuing through 2018 and into 2019. Deep Blue is also considering the design of the network in view of the recent extreme weather events in the region, seeking ways to mitigate any future environmental and connectivity concerns. The projected Ready for Service date of the Deep Blue subsea cable system is Q2 2020. The new Deep Blue subsea cable design spans nearly 12,000 km with initial landing points in 14 markets throughout the region, including the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Colombia, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos Islands, with dual diverse landings in the U.S., which will include the first landing of a cable on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Plans call for up to 8 fibre pairs with an initial capacity of 6 Tbps, and ultimate capacity of approximately 20 Tbps per fibre pair. With the planned extension of our subsea fibre-optic cable system to Colombia and Panama, Deep Blue underscores its commitment to the long-term solution of providing advanced subsea connectivity across the Caribbean islands and to the Americas, commented Stephen Scott, CEO of Deep Blue Cable. The Deep Blue subsea cable network will have a profound impact not only on the communications ecosystem of the Caribbean, but also on the economic growth potential of an underserved region. Now more than ever, the Caribbean needs resilient communications infrastructure. CORNWALL, Ontario The Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) were one of many participants in Operation Northern Spotlight, a human trafficking outreach program that involved police services from across Ontario and across the world including the RCMP and the FBI. In Ontario, the operation helped six people who had been working in the sex trade and were in exploitive situations, including two under the age of 16. There were also 12 people were charged with 21 offences as part of Operation Northern Spotlight. The Cornwall Community Police Service Criminal Investigations Division, Street Crime Unit & Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit participated in Operation Northern Spotlight. During Operation Northern Spotlight, police met with individuals suspected of being in exploited situations, the CCPS said in a statement. They were provided contact information for community-based support agencies and offered both immediate and future police assistance to leave the exploitation. It should be noted that the initiative is not intended to engage those who are not being exploited. International police organizations that took part in Operation Northern Spotlight include police services in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and the United Kingdom. We are and always will be an active partner in any provincial operation that may better our community, end human trafficking and assisting the victims of crime, said Detective Sergeant Maxwell of the CCPS Criminal Investigations Division. CORNWALL, Ontario The Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) has put down a moose that was wandering the City on Thursday, Oct. 19. The moose was sighted early in the morning near Marks Work Wearhouse and was being tracked by police during the morning. In an interview with Seaway News, Cst. Dan Cloutier of the CCPS said that the police did make an attempt to convince the moose to enter the woods near the Benson Centre. The police made the decision to put down the moose as it consistently headed towards Hwy. 401. The police put down the moose out of fears that it would pose a danger to the public if it attempted to cross the highway. The moose was put down at around 1:40 p.m. Cloutier said that the moose was a young male. He went on to say that a young male moose like this one seems to enter the city every couple of years. There is heartache but also joy at the core of Sacrifice Cliff Theatres staging of The Whale. It opens at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26, in the Black Box Theatre at NOVA Center for the Performing Arts and runs through Nov. 4. For reservations, call 672-9291. In an effort to make theater available to everyone, admission is pay what you will. Director Patrick Scott-Wilson said he has been mulling over the idea of producing The Whale since he produced Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf last year. He came across Samuel Hunters script for The Whale, and was moved by the idea of finding beauty in the toughest of places. Wilson cast his husband, Shad Scott-Wilson, in the leading role of Charlie, a sensitive and witty writing professor who is killing himself with food. He weighs 600 pounds and his health is failing, yet Charlie refuses to go the hospital because he doesnt have health insurance. Fearing that the end is near, Charlie reconnects with his estranged daughter, Ellie, played by Central Catholic High School senior Makay Loran. Ellie is tough, wicked smart and failing her classes, including English. Im playing someone my own age, but thats where the similarities end. She is the problem child, Loran said. Wilson had several months to cast the show, looking for just the right actor to fill each role. As he ran rehearsal Monday night, Wilson nodded toward Kate Restad, who is playing Liz, a feisty nurse who is a friend of Charlies. Kate is Liz, he said. Liz is snarky, but very protective of Charlie. When a young Mormon missionary comes to the door, she lays into him, blaming religion for killing Charlies boyfriend, which sent Charlie on his downward spiral. Cruz Martinez plays the missionary who keeps coming back, even though he gets rebuked every time. The Whale is big-hearted, and while it dramatizes a sad situation there is humor in the snark. Scotts compassionate and honest portrayal of Charlie is the heart of this production. We know what you're thinking. Since there were 5,000 gallons of sulfuric acid involved, maybe the poor kid got dissolved into nothingness? That's what investigators initially thought, but experts determined that this scenario was impossible. At the very least, some bones would have been left behind. So what happened to Juan Pedro? Also, what would compel his father to drive down a steep mountain pass at such a high speed? Hint: It rhymes with "brugs." El Caso Note that there are other photos of the kid the paper could have used. Hasn't he been through enough? Continue Reading Below Advertisement You see, one year after the accident, a package of heroin was discovered inside a hidden compartment of the truck, leading to speculation that Juan Pedro was kidnapped in order to force his father to participate in drug smuggling. The truck's tachometer showed that it had come to a stop a total of 12 times while driving up the mountain, each time for no more than 30 seconds. Was Juan Pedro's father chasing the abductors? Was he desperately looking for his kid? Was he delivering heroin to mountain-dwelling junkies? Who the hell knows. To further complicate matters, eyewitnesses claimed that they saw a white van driving behind the truck before the accident. After the crash, a "Nordic-looking" couple supposedly came out of the van, approached the truck, and were seen carrying a bundle when they returned to their vehicle. Was Juan Pedro in that bundle? If the couple was involved in drug smuggling, why would they grab the boy after the crash? And if they weren't drug traffickers, what would their motive be for taking him? And if Juan Pedro was in the truck when it crashed, could he even survive that to begin with? He would be in his 40s now, if he's still out there. One way or the other, he isn't talking. Channel programs News CRN Exclusive: ISG Technology Driving Workplace, Consulting Practices Forward Under New CTO Jackson Alec Shirkey Share this Seasoned IT executive Ryan Jackson is hoping to help ISG Technology reinvent itself as the company's new senior vice president of technology operations and CTO. Jackson joins ISG, No. 275 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, after spending 16 years at Washington, D.C.-area IT services firm CSC, which merged with HPE Enterprise Services earlier this year to form powerhouse DXC Technology. Jackson held several different roles with CSC, most recently serving as director of the company's global account delivery, big data, analytics and business intelligence practices, and wants to see ISG expand the scope of its solutions expertise to include some of those areas. "There's much more value we can (create) for our customers with technology," Jackson told CRN. "It was if we had a startup mentality. They were really reinventing themselves and had been working in that direction for a while." [Related: New Signature Founder Hertz Returns To The Channel As CMO Of DivvyCloud] Jackson will oversee a team of about 150 at the 200-person company, which hired a vice president of consulting earlier this month and manage the delivery of its solutions. Clients can expect consulting and other professional services to be a key area of investment for ISG under Jackson, who believes a consultative approach is a vital component of a solution provider's value proposition in the digital transformation era. IT experts need to understand client business needs and target specific outcomes, he said. "By putting consulting in place with customers, we're able to tailor-fit technology to their needs and help them define the processes that will enable that technology to be successful," Jackson said. "And even tailor those application sets. Being able to install and deploy, but also customize them to their specific business needs. I think that's critical. It's not just trying to move out of this mentality of selling gear and applications, but selling solutions, and using consulting to tie multiple technologies together." Along with consulting, Jackson said ISG's revamped "family" of solutions offerings includes business process services; analytics; workplace and mobility; industry-focused software; application services; enterprise and cloud applications; and an improved, layered security practice. ISG will be pushing those offerings, as well as the solution provider's bread-and-butter cloud and networking services. The workplace and mobility umbrella of offerings will feature an intelligent workplace solution that Jackson said has use cases across all of the verticals ISG serves. The solution, which is still being fine-tuned, allows end-users to self-provision their Wi-Fi, navigate expansive office environments using Bluetooth technology and use workflows to enable conference room meetings to power up at a predetermined time. "Solutions [built] around enabling the workplace to come alive with sensors, data and information, to proactively enable the business," Jackson said. "Every meeting everyone attends typically takes five to 10 minutes for everyone to get started. We want to shave that off." The solution will also leverage sensors installed throughout company buildings that track both meeting room schedules and whether rooms are actually occupied in real-time. ISG has had its engineers and the gear certified, Jackson said, and plans to spend the rest of the month getting the solution market-ready. "We think we're onto something pretty good there," he said. Jackson credited ISG parent Twin Valley, which acquired the solution provider six years ago, with establishing a culture of innovation at the company as the legacy value-added reseller pivots toward expanding its array of services from its newly-opened headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. "When we look at what the value we want to add to our clients, it's not selling them products but selling them strategic solutions. Becoming a partner to help them along in their digital transformation," Jackson said. "If it means moving to next-gen infrastructure, hybrid cloud or whatever the application set needs to be, that's where we want to position ourselves as a partner." Channel programs News Lenovo Cuts 2% Of Workforce Amid Broad PC, Data Center Market Challenges Matt Brown Share this PC market giant Lenovo said it has laid off about 2 percent of its workforce, including an undisclosed number in its Americas headquarters in Morrisville, N.C. The cuts come as the company contends with diminished standing in the global PC market, partner uproar over recent rebate and pricing changes, as well as the challenges of launching a new data center strategy. Worldwide, Lenovo has about 52,000 employees in 160 countries. In a statement, a Lenovo spokesperson said the $43 billion company is "on the right path to profitable growth," and is "taking this step now to ensure that we are as competitive and cost-efficient as we can be." The spokesperson said the company "will continue to invest in our growth engines, including our mobile and data center businesses, and non-hardware businesses such as artificial intelligence and big data." [Related: Lenovo Falls To No. 4 In U.S. PC Market Behind Apple] Lenovo's enterprise business is run from its U.S. headquarters. The spokesman said Lenovo, which has about 2,700 employees based in its U.S. headquarters, expects to make further cost adjustments. The company, the spokesman said, "will continue to make adjustments in all areas of the business as part of our continued effort to manage costs, drive efficiency and support ongoing improvement in our overall financial performance." Lenovo began notifying employees of the layoffs in late September. All those affected have now been notified, and are being given the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the company, the spokesperson said. In August, Lenovo posted a $72 million loss for the first quarter of its fiscal year compared to a $173 million profit in the same period the prior year. It was the first quarterly loss for the company in nearly two years. Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., solution provider that works with several vendors including Lenovo, said that while the cuts, as well as the churn that has roiled the company's executive ranks in recent years, is concerning, it isn't problematic unless it impacts LAN Infotech's relationship with the company. "It's concerning as a business owner, but I don't think any of my clients would say, 'Hey, did you see those layoffs, maybe we should look at Dell,'" Goldstein said. "For us, it's about trying to get the best product out there for our customers, and we haven't seen [the layoffs] affect support. As long as it doesn't affect my support, or how we get in touch with somebody, and I get my monthly updates we're fine." "I'm lucky enough to be in a region that has a local Lenovo rep," Goldstein said. "Hopefully it all settles down." Lenovo acknowledged recently that increased memory and component costs had prompted it to adjust PC distribution pricing and cut back-end rebates in an attempt to keep prices stable for commercial customers and drive partners to sell more profitable, higher-end PCs. Partners told CRN the changes would shave margins on Lenovo PC deals to razor-thin levels and push them toward competing vendors like HP Inc. and Dell. Lenovo U.S. PC shipments fell more than 25 percent in the third quarter, the steepest year-over-year decline since its 2005 acquisition of IBM's PC business, according to Gartner. The company's weakness in the U.S. came alongside declines in the global PC market, where it registered its eighth decline in the last 10 quarters and narrowly trailed HP Inc. for the worldwide market lead for the second consecutive quarter, Gartner said. Lenovo had dominated the global PC market since 2013, but ceded the lead to HP earlier this year. In June, the company rebranded its data center products as ThinkSystem, and its plug-and-play, software-defined product line as ThinkAgile. In early August, North America President Emilio Ghilardi resigned. At the time, partner said the company hadn't done enough to solidify its presence in the data center market since acquiring IBM's x86 server business about three years ago. In the second quarter, Lenovo's worldwide server shipments fell more than 38 percent year-over-year, according to Gartner. Data center News HPE Reduces Internal Comp Plans From 400 To 25 As Part Of Sweeping 'Next' Overhaul Steven Burke Share this Hewlett Packard Enterprise is dramatically revamping its internal compensation, reducing the number of sales plans from 400 to 25 as part of its Next restructuring initiative. The sales compensation change also reduces the number of HPE internal sales reps that can be compensated on a deal from as many as 30 on a single deal to a maximum of three reps comped on a deal. HPE President Antonio Neri, who is leading the Next restructuring initiative, announced the changes which include reducing management layers from as many as seven to four at HPE's securities analysts meeting Wednesday. "We have redesigned our [profit and loss] accountability structure and reduced a significant amount of overhead," said Neri. "By doing this, we are empowering our front-line coverage with accountability and [moving] decision making closer to our customers." [Related: HPE's Meg Whitman On Upcoming Changes To Field Compensation, The Impact Of Dell On HPE's VMware Relationship And Why Hardware Still Matters In The Software-Defined Era] HPE CEO Meg Whitman alluded to the changes last week at The Channel Company's Best of Breed (BoB) Conference, where she foreshadowed the new strategy. "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," she said at BoB. The sales compensation change unveiled Wednesday was one of a number of strategy shifts HPE executives introduced during the securtiy analysts meeting, including a retreat from selling commodity custom servers to Tier One service providers, the launch of a channel-only sales strategy in a number of global markets, the elimination of 40,000 active product configurations in HPE's volume and value business and a revamping of internal IT systems. The CEO for one of HPE's top enterprise partners, who did not want to be identified, said the sales compensation plan simplification will be a boost for both partners and customers. "Taking the sales layers out between [Whitman] and [Neri] and the sales teams is the greatest thing that HPE could have done," said the solution provider CEO. "Meg and Antonio are buffered from a lot of problems that get lost in the 'he said, she said.' The fewer layers, the better it is for the channel." The solution provider CEO said that the number of HPE internal reps paid on deals was out of control. "There were some HPE sales people paid on deals that never did a thing," the CEO said."This is going to save a ton of margin. The fewer people paid on a deal, the better. This had to be done. I applaud HPE for making this move. This is a problem for many other vendors." The HPE Next initiative, announced earlier this year, is aimed at re-architecting and simplifying the structure of the company, with plans to reduce costs by as much as $200 million to $300 million in the current fiscal year. HPE is aiming for $1.5 billion in cost savings over a three-year period. HPE also said it will cease selling volume, custom-designed, commodity servers to the Tier One service providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure and instead focus on driving higher-margin compute products. "The reality is this [volume market] is a challenging, declining market," said Whitman during the analysts meeting. "We are competing with public cloud, white box and [Software-as-a-Service] providers, so we have to think differently about how we design, build and sell those products." The Tier One commodity custom server retreat will be accompanied by "low-touch" volume server approaches like e-commerce and inside sales teams so "customers can buy on their own terms and our sales teams our direct sales teams and the teams that manage the channel can spend more of their time on higher margin opportunities," said Whitman. The sales compensation change is one of a wide range of Next restructuring sales initiatives aimed at driving higher margins and sales growth. "We have implemented a new operating model for a new Hewlett Packard Enterprise that reduces the number of layers between the CEO and our country sales manager from six to seven layers down to three to four layers, while protecting our front-line sales coverage," said Neri. As part of the Next restructuring, HPE is reducing the number of markets it is directly serving through internal sales reps from 160 countries to 76 countries. Those 76 countries produce 99.5 percent of HPE's sales and 100 percent of profits, said Neri. The countries HPE is pulling its own employees out of will be served by a "channel-only" model, said Neri. "This will allow us to be even more focused and to shift our resources toward the areas where we see the most significant returns for our company and shareholders without the distraction of markets that dont move the needle," he said. HPE is also dramatically simplifying the number of configurations in its volume and value server business from 50,000 active configurations to 10,000, said Neri. That change in active configurations will be accompanied by a reduction in the number of volume server platforms from 26 to 10 and the number of value compute platforms from 27 to 7, said Neri. "These upstream changes in our offerings will dramatically streamline and simplify our operations, while reducing the cost to serve our customers and partners," he said. HPE is also shifting the number of manufacturing locations from 17 to seven, said Neri. "This will greatly simplify where we build our products, consolidate our volumes, streamline our logistic network and improve cycle times," he said. "This will translate into lower cost and an improved customer and partner experience." HPE is also reducing the number of workforce locations from over 100 decentralized locations into eight central hubs, said Neri. "By consolidating our support resources into these hubs we expect to improve our efficiency, while improving top quality service to our customers," he said. Finally, HPE is dramatically revamping its internal IT systems and business processes, moving from 1,000 business processes supported by 10 ERP systems and more than 950 applications to just 100 business processes with a single global ERP system with 350 applications, said Neri. "This business and IT transformation will position us much better for the future, make us much more customer-centric and will increase speed and agility as well as improve our cost structure," said Neri. All of the changes strike at the heart of the complaints of partners and customers that say doing business with HPE is too complex, said Neri. "Their feedback has been consistent," he said. "We have too many organizational layers, no clear accountability and our customer-facing employees don't have the empowerment and tools needed to meet their needs. Our execution is simply uneven in a market that is shifting quickly." Whitman, for her part, said HPE is "doubling down" on the channel and partner ecosystem. "That means doing more with system integrators like Accenture and Wipro that we didn't do much business with when we owned [HPE] Enterprise Services [which was sold to CSC to create DXC]," she said. "They saw Enterprise Services as competitive to them. We have an opportunity to do a tremendous amount more business with those [system integrators.]" Data center News Neri To Channel: Now Is The Time To 'Double Down' On HPE; It's 'All The Way' With Partners Steven Burke Share this Hewlett Packard Enterprise President Antonio Neri Wednesday told CRN that the dramatic sales changes prompted by the Next restructuring initiative make it the perfect time for partners to "double down" on the $28 billion company. "This is a great time for partners to double down on HPE," said Neri in an interview with CRN after he detailed the Next plan, along with a stepped up charge into Intelligent Edge and hybrid IT markets, during a meeting with securities analysts. "We are a much more focused company. We have been and continue to be a channel-led company. We are extending the ability for partners to increase their coverage because of a geographic coverage focus [shift that moves HPE's direct sales reps out of 84 countries in favor of a channel-led model].' [Related: HPE Reduces Internal Comp Plans From 400 To 25 As Part Of Sweeping 'Next' Overhaul] Neri's comments came after HPE announced that it was dramatically revamping its internal compensation by reducing the number of sales plans from 400 to 25; launching a channel-only sales strategy in a number of global markets, and eliminating 40,000 product configurations in its volume and value server businesses. "We are making investments to improve the ease of doing business with us," said Neri. "Obviously we already have phenomenal innovation and are more excited about the future than ever before. We are going where the market is going and to where the customer needs us. Ultimately, we wanted to really simplify the way we do work and improve our execution. All of that will translate into a better return for partners, and we will be there with our partners all the way, all the way for the journey." Specifically, Neri said the big opportunity for partners is to focus aggressively on the fast-growing Aruba Intelligent Edge portfolio and drive to a services-led model with a business outcome focus for customers with the rest of the software-defined HPE portfolio. "The opportunity going forward is how we harness the power of that Intelligent Edge with analytics and making secure connections and ultimately manage that data at the edge with the right tools, like computer storage and connectivity," he said. "For me when I think about the future, the edge is a very important opportunity. I keep talking to partners about that. They should invest with us there." At the same time, Neri said partners and HPE will drive better returns with faster quote-to-configuration and order turnaround time on the volume server transactional business. "If you are an inside sales rep for a partner, you have a few minutes to make a decision," he said. "They can't wait for pricing for hours or maybe even days. HPE Next is all about simplifying the way we do work with customers and partners, streamlining, accountability and improving the [sales] metrics, whether it is quoting time, shipping turnaround time and the ability to configure solutions that are relevant to the specific business outcome the customer wants. That will translate absolutely into a better experience for partners and ultimately for them to make more money-- growing revenue and making more margins with us." HPE CFO Tim Stonesifer told analysts to expect the Next program to drive gross cost savings of $1.5 billion over the next three years. He said HPE plans to reinvest $700 million of that into the company in the form of R&D and operational investments in growth areas. The net cost savings from HPE Next will be approximately $800 million on a run rate basis at the end of Fiscal year 2020. To achieve those savings, HPE expects $1.1 billion in cash funding payments with two-thirds of that funding to "optimize the workforce." HPE did not detail how many positions will be eliminated or added under the restructuring initiative. HPE has said the restructuring eliminates management layers from as many as seven down to four. "We are investing in specialized sales while at the same time we are removing layers that make it difficult to do work," said Neri. For Fiscal 2018, which begins Nov. 1, HPE expects non-GAAP diluted earnings-per-share of $1.15 to $1.25 with "modest" revenue growth when adjusted for sales to Tier One service providers like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. That compares with Fiscal Year 2017 non-GAAP diluted earnings-per-share of $1 per share on sales growth of five percent when adjusted for divestitures, currency and sales to Tier One service providers. Stonesifer said HPE expects continued pressure in Fiscal 2018 in the volume server market with as a result of intense competition from cloud and white-box solutions. Furthermore, he said DRAM pricing pressure recently hit a peak level, with current DRAM prices 20 percent higher than the average year-to-date in Fiscal Year 2017. At current levels, Stonesifer said, every 10 percent increase in average DRAM prices equates to $225 million to $275 million of annualized cost increases. "Although we tried to pass through some of these elevated costs through price increases, the competitive environment has effectively mitigated most of our pricing actions," he said. The CEO for a solution provider, who did not want to be identified, said the HPE Next sales restructuring was inevitable given the dramatic changes in compensation with the shift to the cloud. "HPE is finally saying they have to go with fewer people going forward," said the CEO. "What choice do they have? The problem is if you cut the steak too thin, you don't taste it." Long term, HPE expects revenue growth of zero to 1 percent with operating profit growth of four to five percent and earnings-per-share growth of 7 to 9 percent. HPE shares remained unchanged in after-hours trading after closing up nine cents per share to $14.70. Internet of things News Millennials In Manufacturing: Why The Next-Generation Workforce Is Ushering In New IoT Opportunities For The Industrial Channel Lindsey O'Donnell Share this The industrial market is facing a massive transition as its more traditional workers retire and new digital-driven millennials enter the workforce, and the change is driving conversations with solution providers around retooling technology. Manufacturers are under pressure to attract this next generation of workers, and solution providers play a vital role in helping these industrial companies revamp their operations with the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and augmented reality to enable, connect and empower young workers. "Companies need to think about that aspect of the new worker in terms of getting quality people when hiring in the future," said Darren Kline, vice president at Wonderware North, a Horsham, Pa.-based solution provider. "People who are just leaving school now, they dont want to go to some old clunky place we've talked to customers who are cognizant of that and are retooling their tech centers to look super shiny and sexy, because they cant recruit kids to come work for them." [Related: IoTConnex Virtual Conference 2017] Manufacturers also are under a time crunch as the current generation of workers is retiring at a rapid pace, as an estimated 3.5 million jobs will need to be fulfilled by 2025, according to a report by Deloitte. However, the new generation of workers is vastly different than that of only a decade ago, said Kline. Their expectation of how life works is basically this vision of what were painting they expect things to just work that way, he said. The new modern-day worker, for instance, will be used to being connected through mobile devices and will be accustomed to app-based workloads. Many industrial companies that want to attract these workers are still reworking their strategies to better incorporate digital processes, and some are even still at the stage where they are walking around with clipboards and papers collecting data manually, solution providers said. "The expectations of the new generation when they enter the work environment will be totally different," said Luigi De Bernardini, CEO of Autoware, an Austin, Texas-based Schneider Electric partner. "They are used to apps, theyre used to different ways of communicating, and this is in some way something we need to manage. Companies such as Schneider Electric and GE Digital are working with partners to design and implement tools that will help industrial companies beging to digitize their factory floors. While many manufacturers see the new emerging workforce as a challenge, solution providers said this is a key incentive for them to begin talking about how they can digitize their operations and better incorporate new technologies like IoT, virtual reality and blockchain into their manufacturing floors. Michael Grasley, vice president of technology and marketing at Callisto Integration, an Oakville, Ontario-based systems integrator, said the channel can help companies build up that digital backbone to help entice new workers or, for those who have plans around digital transformation, to repackage that information to serve certain functions in a fashion thats suitable to the people fulfilling that." We look at the app-centric world that [the next generation has] ... kids are used to having six apps open on their phone at once, dancing between them and doing different things. That model can work in manufacturing if you have a digital backbone. ... Its not fundamentally doing anything different, its almost a re-skinning exercise. Networking News Verizon Catches And Keeps Wireless Subscribers In Q3 As Verizon Business Markets Revenue Climbs Gina Narcisi Share this Verizon took to its third-quarter 2017 earnings call to highlight its ability to add and retain wireless customers in the ultra-competitive wireless market. In addition to the success that the Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier had on the cellular side during its third quarter, Verizon drove home its focus on fiber-based products. "You should expect us to continue to be deploying fiber around the country to service both wireless and customers across the rest of our business as we get into IoT applications," said Matt Ellis, Verizon executive vice president and CFO, during the carrier's third-quarter earnings call Thursday. [Related: Sources: Verizon Tightens Channel Management Team Following XO Integration ] Verizon added 274,000 phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill on a net basis during the thrid quarter. Churn, or the rate of customer defections for all customers paying a monthly bill, was 0.97 percent. Overall in the wireless space, Verizon had 603,000 retail postpaid net additions for the quarter, which includes 486,000 postpaid smartphone net adds. Despite customer wins, wireless revenue dipped 2.4 percent to $21.58 billion during the third quarter from $22.10 billion in third-quarter 2016. Verizon in February launched its unlimited data plans in response to competing plans from wireless rivals T-Mobile and Sprint. According to Verizon, its unlimited plans have since increased network usage of 4G LTE, which now occupies more than 50 percent of its available low- and mid-band spectrum. Ellis briefly addressed speculation around the potential merging of Sprint and T-Mobile during the call by assuring analysts and investors that Verizon has "the right set of assets," regardless of the choices that competing carriers may make. Verizon's wireline division, which includes its Enterprise Solutions, Partner Solutions, Business Markets segment and XO Communications operations, climbed a modest 1.1 percent to $7.66 billion during third-quarter 2017, up from $7.58 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue for Verizon Business Markets climbed 8.3 percent during the quarter, reaching $903 million in revenue, up from $834 million in third-quarter 2016. Partner Solutions revenue, meanwhile, increased 2.1 percent during the third quarter to $1.24 billion, up from $1.22 billion in third-quarter 2016. Enterprise Solutions revenue, however, experienced a 0.5 decline, falling slightly to $2.26 billion compared with $2.27 billion in the same year-ago period. Verizon's Telematics revenue continued to climb during the third quarter and its revenue was up 13 percent year over year to more than $220 million, according to the company. Verizon also said that its new media business called Oath, the combination of its AOL and newly acquired Yahoo assets, generated $2 billion in revenue for the third quarter. The carrier reported adjusted earnings per share of 98 cents on $31.72 billion in revenue, a 2.5 percent bump up from adjusted earnings per share of $1.01 and $30.94 billion during third-quarter 2016. For the quarter ended on Sept. 30, net income declined by 0.3 percent to $3.74 billion compared with $3.75 billion during the year-ago period. The carrier beat Wall Street's expectations of $31.45 billion in revenue for the quarter. Verizon also added more phone customers -- 486,000 smartphones -- than Wall Street's forecast increase of 438,000 retail postpaid connections. Verizon said that its latest earnings were negatively impacted by 1 cent per share as a result of the hurricanes in Florida and Texas in September. Verizon has been able to maintain its services within the areas that are still being impacted by fires in Northern California, according to the carrier. Verizon also said that it provided assistance to government officials and local carriers in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria at the end of September. On a recent sunny Thursday afternoon along Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich, cars and trucks sat idling, stuck in a line of traffic backed up beyond the Metro-North bridge in one direction and inching around the roundabout outside Old Greenwich School in the other. Also navigating the narrow road were several commuters opting for a different sort of transit for their afternoon errands and pickups from school. Among them was the businessman behind Old Greenwichs growing gang of box-bikers. The blonde-haired biker, Friso van Reesema, hollered greetings at some of his fellow cyclists whod stopped to chat. The founder of Going Dutch bikes which have become popular alternatives to SUVs in Old Greenwich and Riverside then bypassed a long row of stopped cars, waved at a driver who paused to let him hang a quick left and rode over to a friend exiting CVS. Box Bikes are all about the experience, the Dutchman and longtime Greenwich resident said. They get people psyched about biking and being outdoors, and its great to see how theyve brought new residents into the community fold. ... The Nordic countries have it figured out. In 2012 van Reesema, whos lived in Greenwich off and on for much of his life, moved with his family to the village. The same year, he organized the shipment of a box bike from his native country for his family to use around town. His bike boasts a pale wooden box attached to the front that includes seatbelts and space for several passengers. It didnt take long to attract attention from neighbors and friends, van Reesema said, and he received orders for a handful of bikes to be shipped from the Netherlands within months. Today, box bikes are commonly seen cruising the roads in Old Greenwich and Riverside. Van Reesema estimates hes sold around 50 bikes in the U.S. with about 35 wheeling around in Greenwich plus rentals, which he began offering due to demand, he said. The price tag for the sleekly shaped bikes ranges from just under $3,000 to almost $4,000 for a Babboe eCurve, which van Reesema calls the Tesla model due to its electric motor boost. To rent, the bikes cost $200 for a day and $350 for the weekend. Theyre an expensive investment, he and several customers said, but its well worth the money for how much families use them, they added. I resisted for a long time because of the cost, said Old Greenwich resident Gia Burton, but I wanted one and finally got it about a year ago. It has literally been my best purchase in the last decade. Its so joyful, and my whole family loves it. I never anticipated being so happy with a purchase and using it so much. I use it five days a week in every season as long as theres not snow or ice. The box-biking craze in her neighborhood has spread like wildfire, Burton said, and has become a common purchase for new families to the area. In some ways, (box bikes) embody why we chose Old Greenwich, because we wanted a small village to raise our children and these bring together the community and help new families get to know their neighbors. Old Greenwich resident Emily Hasen said her family uses their box bike so much that they rarely use their car during the week. We take ours to the beach, school drop off and pick up, grocery shopping, picking up coffee its a second car, Hasen said. Three years ago, Hasen and her husband saw their first box bike days after theyd moved to the neighborhood when van Reesema rode by on his. My husband and I looked at each other and said we had to get one, she said. We bought one the next week, and it was such a great way to meet new people. At the beginning of van Reesemas Going Dutch operations, he organizing the shipment of bike parts, put them together himself and met with each buyer to train them on how to safely maneuver their new bike. Hes since enlisted the help of a Stamford-based bike mechanic to help build and repair the bikes, he said, but training and safety remain priorities that he discusses with every buyer. Van Reesema said he hopes his native countrys innovation can help alleviate congestion while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Van Reesemas full-time job at a health care solutions company contributes to his passion for cultivating the health-centered culture that has long existed in town, he said. I love seeing how families connect around their box bikes and children high-fiving as they ride past, van Reesema said. Its been uplifting to the soul of the community. BRIDGEPORT -- His victim's family sobbing in the back of the courtroom, Wilson "Junne" Cash swore Friday he is no longer the man who bashed his girlfriend's head in with a 10-pound dumbbell because she wouldn't let him commit robberies so he could buy crack cocaine. "I have changed my way of thinking, I'm now another person," the 42-year-old Cash maintained, facing his girlfriend's daughter and sisters. "I'm sorry." But his plea failed to sway state Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin, who imposed the plea bargain sentence of 35 years in prison on the charge of murder. "You didn't let this young woman live the life that God intended, and when that life is cut short, it is absolutely terrible," the judge told Cash. "This sentence is completely deserved." State's Attorney John Smriga had urged the judge to impose the plea agreement, pointing out that Cash had a history of escalating violence leading up to the murder. The victim's sister, Debbie Graham, then got up and read a poem written for the occasion, bursting into sobs after barely making it through the line: "You took away a joy that cannot be replaced." On Sept. 27, 2011, 46-year-old Christine Jeffreys was found lying face down on the floor of her bedroom in her Madison Avenue apartment. Police said there was blood splatter on the walls and ceiling and a bloody dumbbell was near the body. A witness later told detectives he had run into Cash, who was looking for some bleach to wash some blood off his hands that day. The witness said Cash told him he had just done something, "bad," police said. Another witness told them Cash and Jeffreys had been arguing all day because Cash wanted to commit robberies so he could buy crack. The witness said Cash later exclaimed: "I'm going to kill that (expletive)! I'm going to bash her (expletive) head in," the arrest warrant affidavit states. Following the crime, Cash fled the area and was later arrested at a homeless shelter in Port Chester, N.Y. dtepfer@ctpost.com; 203-330-6308; http://twitter.com/dantepfer This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DERBY An outcry from angry neighbors along with a lawsuit could kill or at least delay plans to turn a vacant convalescent home into a dormitory for students from China. If I were the purchaser, I wouldnt want to buy it with an appeal pending in court, said Richard Volo, who sued the planning and zoning board in state Superior Court in Milford on behalf of two residents living near the old Marshall Lane Manor convalescent home. Why would I want to stick my neck into this bees nest? But Dominick Thomas, the Valley land-use lawyer, said hes confident Volos court challenge is no impediment to my client proceeding with the special exception application or purchase of the property. Thomas further invited Volo, his client and Marshall Lane residents to the Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m. meeting at the facility. He said he and representatives from Apex International Educational Partners in Watertown will answer all their questions. More News Former nursing home eyed for foreign students Meanwhile, several angry residents, including Tom Lionetti, Lorrie Capuano-Alberta, Stefano Ponzillo and Richard Augustyn, accused the commission Tuesday night of turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the publics concerns. For the past several months, there have been over 100 or more people speaking out against this project, yet you voted unanimously to pass the text change, he said, referring to a zoning regulation change that would permit a dormitory for 110 teen students from China. The street is filled with one-family homes. The students are attending private high schools here. Angrier was Capuano-Alberta, who asked what measures would be taken to control the students when they are not in school. This isnt funny, Capuano-Alberta said to a commission member she believed to be smiling and another she saw rolling her eyes. It seems like your minds are made up. ... You dont care about the residents. I live in one of the better parts of the city, she said. We put a lot of money into our house and I love it. I dont want to move, but they seem to be forcing me. ... They are going to approve this. They are like dictators. Augustyn said, Our government is supposed to be by the people for the people. This is for special interests. Theodore Estwan, the commission chairman, tried to calm everyone by explaining Tuesdays meeting involved only accepting Apexs application to transform the facility into a dormitory. That allows the commission to read the application and conduct a public hearing on Nov. 21. No vote would be taken until after then, he said. Richard Dziekan, the Republican mayoral candidate who lives not far from the facility and is associated with the lawsuit, said neighbors in that area are concerned and complaining. This effects hundreds if not a thousand people, he said. Youre putting 110 kids on a 3-acre lot they may be well-educated and come from great families, but they are teenagers. What are they going to do on long weekends or on school vacations? This isnt a prison. They cant be locked up. ... There are just too many unknowns. Mayor Anita Dugatto said she has confidence in the commission and their lawyer, Marjorie Shansky. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD College students from Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands displaced by Hurricane Maria can get the in-state tuition price to enroll in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities. The Board of Regents that oversees the 17-campus system unanimously approved the plan Thursday. It also agreed to extend a program to offer in-state tuition to New York residents wanting to attend Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. This fall there was a pilot program that covered seven New York counties attracting 243 students this fall It now will extend to all of New York and New Jersey. The tuition break for students attending the University of Puerto Rico and University of the Virgin Islands extends until those schools are rebuilt and repaired. Officials are uncertain just how many students will take advantage of the offer but expect there will be several given the high number of Connecticut residents from those islands, particularly Puerto Rico. The plan was applauded Thursday by Ingrid Alvarez, Connecticut director of the Hispanic Federation. Puerto Rico specifically finds itself in dire straits, she said. Between the hurricane, the islands debts and a massive cut in services, Alvarez said she expects a mass exodus from the island. She said the tuition plan will enable students to continue their education, achieve their goals and help the economy. We need these students as much as they need us right now, she said. Calixto Torres, director of the Puerto Rican forum at the Center for Latino Progress called it a win, win. These are excellent students, he said. BRIDGEPORT - A retired city police officer has been charged with sexually assaulting an employee in the Trumbull mall. Garfield Burns, 62, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree breach of peace. During his arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge William Holden ordered Burns to stay out of the Westfield Mall. Senior Assistant States Attorney Tatiana Messina told the judge that this is the second time Burns, a police officer for 20 years until he retired in 2005, has been accused of sexually assaulting female store employees. Burns lawyer, Noah Kores, urged the judge to set his client free because of his service as a police officer. All incidents of sexual misconduct are disturbing, Holden said. He then ordered Burns held in lieu of $10,000 bond. Trumbull police said on Sept. 12, Burns approached a female employee in the Brookstone store at the mall and identified himself as a former police officer. During a subsequent conversation with the 26-year-old woman, police said Burns told her, You have such large breasts, and then suddenly leaned over and kissed the employees chest. When the woman became upset, police said Burns, who is married, then got down on one knee and offered to give her a ring. Police said the stores surveillance video confirmed the womans account. In November, 2011, Burns was arrested after police said he sexually assaulted a female Walmart employee in Stratford. Another store employee told police that Burns had told him at some point he wanted to drink the female employee's bathwater. Burns was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a pretrial probation program, for the Walmart incident. There's an undeniable lack of female employees in the tech industry. Even though many companies have started diversity programs and set goals to hire more women, the situation isn't improving. Related: Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In 2.0 and Corporate Gender Bias But perhaps the problem is that that lack of women tech stars is being approached incorrectly. The aim shouldn't be to hire more women; it should be to find and hire the right female talent. This is how SAP, an international HR tech company, increased its percentage of female managers from 18 percent to 25 percent. "The Diversity and Inclusion team took a hard look at the data, leadership pipeline and entire HR lifecycle of women at SAP to learn about the blind spots," Anka Wittenberg, the company's chief diversity and inclusion officer, who's based in Walldorf, Germany, told me in an email. "We worked closely with the business to increase the talent pool, develop amazing talent and focus on retention," Wittenberg explained. By doing that -- creating the right work environment for women to thrive -- SAP didn't have to fight for great female talent. It was able to attract and hire them in more of an organic way. And SAP is not the only tech company that's improved its gender diversity. Here are three secrets to attracting female talent other companies have discovered: Spread the word. True change in an organization has to come from the top down. Leaders first must prioritize creating a better work environment for women, then educate employees about the upcoming changes and explain how they will improve the organization. For example, at Bazaarvoice in Austin, a board member examined all levels of the organization and gave a presentation on the importance of gender diversity. Related: These Female Entrepreneurs Created a Fake Male Co-Founder to Work Around Sexism. How Well It Worked Is Incredibly Eye Opening "This increase in awareness and executive-level support resulted in our leaders and HR team identifying areas of the business where we can improve gender balance," Ryan Robinson, chief people officer, said via email. "We've made conscious decisions to put more women in leadership positions, on our board, and in other areas of the business where they are underrepresented." This kind of solution helps get employees at all levels on board with the new culture and values. As they see the positive changes, they'll act as brand ambassadors to help attract more great female talent. "Ultimately, diversity is not just an HR initiative. It must be adopted by leadership and [operate] cross-functionally for it to make a lasting impact," Robinson went on to say. Walk the walk. Saying a company is diverse is one thing. But actually being able to prove it to female talent is something else. "Women consider a company's leadership as a barometer for growth potential at a company," Sheryl Simmons, chief human resources officer of Chicago-based Maestro Health, told me. "Show that you value equality by having women in positions of leadership, rather than just telling prospective employees your mission statement." Putting women into leadership positions will ensure that positive changes last. Potential employees will see that women can move up the ladder and succeed at the organization. Then, once those new employees become leaders, themselves, they can go on to hire the next generation of female talent. "In a traditionally male-dominated industry, we find here at Maestro Health that women bring great value. They are leaders, innovators and bold thinkers," Simmons added. Ask for feedback. There's always room for improvement. To tap in to the power of a diverse team, ask for input. Afterall, no one strives to create a gender-biased work environment. However, if leaders aren't receiving regular feedback, it's possible to regress. "We regularly review not just our hiring practices, but how we operate internally to ensure we are an attractive company to a diverse population," Josh Feast, CEO of Cogito in Boston, said in an email. "We discovered early on that the creative success requires a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds who can closely collaborate, feel valued and share ideas." This led the company to create a cross-functional diversity and inclusion team that regularly makes recommendations directly to the CEO and senior management team. The team has prompted positive improvements, like a more generous maternity leave. "Because our company believes that inclusion and diversity are highly correlated to our long-term success, we have also joined The National Center for Women & Information Technology -- which provides great resources and ultimately helps expand our pool of candidates," Feast said. Related: 4 Mistakes We All Make to Perpetuate Gender Bias Maternity leaves and other benefits which have come from employee feedback have helped Cogito attract and retain female talent. But, as CEO Feast pointed out, the first step for any company is to admit it's not perfect. Once leaders acknowledge that they may have made gender-biased mistakes in the past, they can focus on how to quickly change course. Related: Simply Hiring More Women Isn't Enough to Fix Tech's Gender Issue 6 Leadership Tips for First-Time Female CEOs 3 Flaws in the Google Engineer's 'Manifesto' Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com Bobby Rush is on the phone and hes laughing and talking so fast, its hard to take it all in. Rush is a bluesman who got his start on Chicagos Bourbon Street alongside Howlin Wolf, B.B. King and Muddy Waters. Hes outlived them all, and at 83 he continues to tour with fellow legends Charlie Musselwhite and William Bell. All three are Grammy Award winners, and on this tour they are bringing the award-winning film and record, Take Me to the River to the stage. They perform at the Alberta Bair Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 25. Back in the 1940s in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a young Rush was encouraged by his preacher father, Emmett Ellis, to sing. Some of his fathers parishioners called blues the devils music, but Rush said his father only praised him. My dad taught me my first song when I was 7 or 8 years old. We sang Glory Halleluiah, but there was another one about me and my gal going to town. I kept telling him, sing it again. When he was 17 years old, Rush began playing shows, forced to perform behind a curtain because he is black. They didnt want to see my face and I was too dumb to understand the situation. I knew the intention wasnt good, but it gave me the opportunity for life. It made me a better man. In the early 1950s, Rush and his family moved to Chicago where he started playing shows on Bourbon Street in downtown Chicago. I remember getting a job paying $12 a month, a dollar a night. Then I got a raise to $5.50 a night and I was making more money than Muddy Waters. Then he laughed, a rumbling musical blast. Rush's first album, Rush Hour, featured the song, I Wanna Do the Do, which charted in the 1970s. Then came Chicken Heads, his first certified gold record in 1971. It was reintroduced to the world via the 2006 feature film Black Snake Moan, and again charted on Billboard, three decades after it was recorded. Rush calls himself the godfather of this tour, the stage elder making sure everybody has a good time, from the audience to the performers. Ive known William since 1961 and Charlie Musselwhite since 1965. Its three guys on stage trying to make other people feel good. Rush is a road warrior in the truest sense. He spent 30 years playing 200 to 300 shows a year, gigging five nights a week. Nominated four times for a Grammy Award, Rush didn't win one until earlier this year when he was honored in the category for Best Traditional Blues Album for "Purcupine Meat." Among the other winners was Chance the Rapper, who won Best New Artist. Rush said he was surprised that the young rappers even knew his name. "I never thought, I never dreamed that I would have a Grammy after I turned 80 years old. I didn't know the younger guys, the rappers, even knew me. They said they looked up to me, that their moms and their grandmothers introduced them to the blues, the only thing in the house playing on a Saturday night." The following is a list of the major changes for 2018 we will see in our area. There will be three Medicare Advantage companies to choose from, with seven different plans available. There will be 23 prescription drug plans to choose from. One new plan has been added and two plans are available again. The Extra Help low-income subsidy will continue to provide financial assistance to folks who meet the income and asset criteria. The Big Sky Rx Program, a state-funded prescription drug plan premium assistance program, is currently under discussions regarding the Department of Health and Human Services budget cuts. If the cuts go forward, this entire program will be cut and will no longer provide the $34 premium assistance to those who have qualified for the program. It is VERY important that you verify that your medications are appropriately covered by your coverage in 2018. Changes to Medicare D New Plan: Express Scripts Medicare-Saver. Plans available again in 2018: Cigna-HealthSpring Rx Secure; Cigna-HealthSpring Rx Secure Extra. Changes to Medicare Advantage plans Blue Cross Choice Plus and Choice Premier Medicare Advantages plans will no longer be available in Montana in 2018. Blue Cross will be notifying their clients of their options by mail. It is important to keep your notification letter. Blue Cross will have two new plans for 2018 but you will NOT be enrolled in them because you have a current Blue Cross Medicare Advantage plan. If you are in a current Blue Cross Medicare Advantage plan and do nothing, then starting Jan. 1, 2018, you will return to original Medicare and will no longer have prescription drug coverage. You are able to enroll in any of the 2018 Medicare Advantage plans before Dec. 31, 2017. Since you are losing this insurance through no fault of your own, you also will have a second option to enroll in a Medicare Supplement for 2018 without any medical questions increasing your premium costs. If you choose a Medicare Supplement you will need a separate Medicare D plan for your medications. After Jan. 1, 2018, you will have until Feb. 28, 2018, to get enrolled in a Medicare Advantage or a Medicare Supplement. It is important to check your medications availability and your medical co-pay costs with your existing Medicare Advantage plan before you commit to your coverage for 2018. Please see an insurance agent to see if this is the right choice for you. In Yellowstone County, Humana will have one local PPO plan, one local HMO plan and one local HMO Special Needs Plan. Blue Cross Medicare Advantage Choice will have two local PPO plans. PacificSource will have one local HMO plan and one local HMO Special Needs Plan. Thomas Jefferson squirmed a bit Wednesday morning. Eighth-grade students at Lewis and Clark Middle School were in the midst of a colonial-era debate, donning the monikers of revolutionary and British government figures, along with some poorly fitting wigs. They played out a fictional debate in which fighting had started in the revolutionary war, but there was still time to patch things up. One group of students played the role of revolutionary colonists like Samuel Adams and Ben Franklin, another played loyalists to the British Crown, and another served as neutral judges. Jefferson, played by eighth-grader Sydney Garza, was pinned down by an awkward question for a slave owner would you free them if the colonies were given independence? "Um," Garza said, exchanging quick looks with a classmate, "I would." The judges were less than convinced, and early voting on the debate showed a near-even split between loyalists and revolutionaries. The founding fathers ended up prevailing, but larger lessons for students centered on supporting their arguments with convincing evidence no matter whether students were true believers. "I didn't like slavery," said Garza, who played Jefferson, "so it was kind of hard for me to argue why I had slaves." The debate is a regular exercise for teachers Casey Visser and Nels Jensen, who trotted out full colonial costumes and chipped in with extra context like a reminder that colonists were smuggling in cheap Dutch tea amid an argument over the Boston Tea Party. For Duncan Honea, the paper Burger King crown he wore rested heavily on his head. "It was kind of awkward being King George," he said. As George III, his role was to argue for positions he didn't personally support. But he also recognized that the king was in a tough spot, primarily catering to the positions of England while managing a sprawling British empire it was hard to please both the interests of colonists and those at home. The debate depended less on knowledge of colonial factoids, though competition was fierce during a round of questions where those who answered correctly were awarded colonial-era wigs (not to be confused with Whigs). Convincing arguments about the Quartering Act, which required colonists to house British soldiers, didn't center on the exact specifications of the act, but more emotional pleas about invasion of privacy and lost room space and food. From the British side, appeals didn't center on the legal authority of the crown, but arguments about safety with references to the then-recent French and Indian War. "It's not really about the tiny details," said Isabella Garcia. Classmate Zack Friedt chimed in. "It's more about the evidence and the claim." A federal court jury in Billings took less than an hour to convict a Circle man of child pornography charges on Wednesday. The panel deliberated 40 minutes before finding Matthew Stoney Olson, 39, guilty of receipt and possession of child porn from April to June 2015 as charged in an indictment. The trial began on Monday. Olson faces a mandatory minimum five years to 20 years in prison on the receipt count. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters set sentencing for Feb. 15 and continued Olsons release. It was not me, Olson testified in his defense Tuesday. Olson said he believed someone else downloaded child porn images and videos onto his computer and suggested it was done by a person who was involved in a custody battle over his children. Olson also said his laptop had broken down about a month before it was seized by federal agents. Olsons testimony, along with defense witness testimony from his mother, two teenage children and a former girlfriend, often conflicted with the prosecutions witnesses. Two special agents with the Department of Homeland Security and an agent with the Montana Department of Justice testified for the government. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colin Rubich and Tom Godfrey said the case began when DHS Special Agent Al Kinsey, who investigates child porn, identified through a child protection software system an internet provider address that was downloading suspected child porn files using a peer to peer program. Such a program allows computer users to share files with each other. The internet provider address was registered to Olson. Investigators downloaded some of the suspected files from Olsons internet address and determined they contained child porn. Law enforcement agents served a search warrant on Olsons home, just outside of Circle, on June 15, 2015, and seized computers. Only one of the computers, an HP silver laptop that was found in Olsons bedroom, contained child porn, prosecutors said. A forensic search of Olsons laptop found it contained 22 videos totaling eight hours of child porn and 289 images. The videos and images showed mostly prepubescent girls, from about age four to 12, engaged in sexually explicit activity. The prosecution showed the jury 15 still images and two 30-second video clips that represented a sampling the activity in the 22 videos. Prosecution witnesses testified that the peer-to-peer file-sharing program had been downloaded to Olsons computer in 2011 and that he routinely downloaded child porn, viewed it, deleted it and downloaded more. Assistant Federal Defenders Mark Werner and Steve Babcock did not dispute the presence of child porn on Olsons computer. Rather, they maintained the evidence did not show that Olson was the one who received and possessed it. Other people used Olsons laptop, its password was common knowledge and there was no effort to hide or further secure the child porn images within the computer, the defense said. Two main areas of disputed testimony involved who used the computers in Olsons residence and what happened on June 14, 2015, the night before agents served the search warrant. Kinsey testified that Olsons mother, Debra Olson, came to the house after the search had begun and identified the users of three laptops that were seized. Debra Olson, he said, told him that the silver laptop belonged to her son and that he was the only one who used it. Debra Olson testified she did not tell the agent that only her son used his computer. She said she told the agent she put her sons laptop in his bedroom the night before the search because she was cleaning. She also said she did not set it up and that it had broken down about a month earlier. In addition, Debra Olson said she had no idea why agents were searching the home. The prosecution recalled Kinsey, who further testified that he was very certain that Debra Olson had told him no one else but Matthew Olson used his computer. At the time of the search, Kinsey said, he didnt know which of laptops contained the suspected child porn. Matthew Olson told the jury no one would have ever said that he was the only one who used his computer. The defendant also testified his laptop quit working after he spilled soup on it about a month before the search. He denied using his laptop to view child porn the night before the search on June 15, although forensic evidence showed that child porn had been accessed on his computer. Police need to do some more investigating. I did not do it, he said. Under questioning by prosecutor Rubich, Matthew Olson said he used his bedroom for sleeping, he didnt see his computer in his bedroom on June 14 and was pretty sure he went to bed alone. When Rubich asked Olson who set up his computer, which was open on a desk and plugged in when found in the search, Olson said he didnt know. Olson said he didnt see the computer in his room because he got up on the other side of the bed. When re-questioned by defender Werner, Olson said he may have slept that night in his orange chair in the living room. He also said he doesnt smoke or drink or do anything bad. I know my life. This is not me, he said. Prosecutors re-called DHS Special Agent Brent Johnsrud, who examined Olsons computer, and questioned him about whether Olsons laptop was broken when seized in the search. Olsons laptop powered up and was in good working order, Johnsrud replied. Johnsrud further testified his examination of the laptop showed that someone logged onto it at 11:15 p.m. on June 14, 2015, viewed child porn files and logged out at 11:50 p.m. He also said the laptop had been used almost daily in June 2015 and regularly as far back as October 2014. He was the Las Vegas shooter's first victim, but Jesus Campos is only telling his story on Ellen. DailyMail.com has exclusively learned that Mandalay Bay owner worried if Jesus is grilled by journalists they will poke holes in the shooting timeline, leaving the resort open to massive lawsuits by victims' families and the hundreds injured. Get the details. Las Vegas shooting hero Jesus Campos was only interviewed on Ellen. Serena Williams announced her engagement last December, but fans have had to wait for any juicy details about the big day. In this DailyMailTV exclusive, get Serena's secret wedding plans as she is spotted with her wedding planner. Three years after Joan Rivers death, her daughter Melissa Rivers is opening up about her famous mom. The Doctors Dr. Travis Stork spoke exclusively with Melissa and is giving DailyMailTV a preview. It's everyone's worst nightmare, something going wrong at 30,000 feet. DailyMailTV turns to aviation expert John Nance for what airlines won't tell you about terror in the air. Looking ahead to the weekend, lifestyle expert Evette Rios is sharing kitchen hacks that will change your tailgate party and save the day if you're missing a crucial kitchen tool, plus get you reheating pizza like a pro. Get all of her tips. With their envy-inducing designer wardrobes and jet-set lifestyles, North West, Harper Beckham and Penelope Disick are giving their famous parents a run for their money in the fame and style stakes. But a new breed of super-cool Instagram influencers, celebrity offspring, models and Youtube stars are quietly carving a name for themselves and theyre set to dominate the fashion world and your social media feeds this year. The new squad of trend-setting, fun-loving kids who are all under 11 are confident, stylish and seriously adorable. Its time to get to know the River Island Kids Squad; a diverse group of child influencers who celebrate identity and individuality and are a serious force to be reckoned with in the fashion world. North West and cousin Penelope Disick, left, and style star Harper Beckham, right, might have made a name for themselves as the coolest kids on the scene but they're facing some serious competition from a new crew of trendy and inspirational youngsters called the River Island Kids Squad The River Island Kids Squad is a diverse group of child influencers who celebrate identity and individuality and are a serious force to be reckoned with in the fashion world (just LOOK at their clothes!) The cute new crew, who are aged 3-11, are already putting their star power to good use in a short film that sees them dressed up in River Islands new Kids & Mini party wear collection and their outfits will even give adults some serious sartorial envy. From Lou Teasdales daughter Lux to Instagram star Liam, let us introduce you to the coolest kids on the scene. Did someone say squad goals? THE CATWALK KINGS Move over Romeo Beckham! David and Victorias son, who has lent his good looks to Burberry campaigns, has some serious catwalk competition in the form of Joseph and Matteo. Joseph Hale, who is the oldest of the squad at 11, and Matteo Falco, 5, are set to be the kings of future fashion week catwalks and will soon be adorning the biggest billboards around the world. The trendy youngsters showcase their model good looks in the new film and share insights into what its like being a cool kid. Romeo Beckham might have starred in Burberry campaigns but he better watch his back because RI Kids Squad members Joseph and Matteo are a serious force to be reckoned with Joseph, left, shows off his dancing skills (and shiny disco shoes) in the new campaign. Matteo, right, is without a doubt the cheekiest of the squad and works the camera Joseph, who has already been snapped up by Zebedee Management, a specialist model agency, conveys his fun personality and love of his shiny disco dancing shoes. When hes not modelling the latest fashion ranges or feasting on Jaffa cakes (his favourite treat, natch!), youll find him kicking back and chilling at his grandparents house - no doubt telling them all about his latest photo shoots. Matteo, who is without a doubt the cheekiest of the squad, loves going on trains and planes and explains that he loves Kings Cross station because there are 115 different platforms (there are actually only 12). Proving that kids do say the funniest things, hilarious Matteo tells us that hed wear his jazzy outfit to a party and likes his jacket because its really hairy. THE SOCIAL STAR If you havent already spotted little Liam Hoyle, 8, on your daily Instagram peruses then get to know his face because youll be seeing a lot more of it on your screen. The social media star, who knows how to rack up the likes online, showcases a seasonable staple the roll neck jumper in the new video and loves it because its super soft inside. Liam Hoyle, 8, will be dominating your daily Instagram peruses as the new king of social media King of the hashtags, Liam describes himself as kind and fashionable and youre sure to agree after watching him in the new film. A self-confessed pepperoni pizza aficionado, Liams talents arent limited to social media; the bilingual squad member is also fluent in English and Polish. THE YOUTUBE EXTRAORDINAIRE Set to follow in the footsteps of Zoella, Pointless Blog and Jim Chapman, YouTube super star Lorenzo Greer, 8, is certainly a little entertainer. The squad member, who keeps his fans up-to-date with his latest antics in his hilarious vlogs, dubs himself a superhero and who can blame him?! The chatty chap loves to gorge on birthday cake at parties and is crazy about Christmas because of all the presents he finds under the tree on December 25. Obvs! YouTube super star Lorenzo Greer, 8, is certainly a little entertainer and shows off his cool sense of style in the new shoot for River Island THE TRENDSETTER Super cool, super chic and super trendy, Noemie Meikle will give you some serious style envy. The six-and-half-year-old will give you a run for your money on the dance floor; she loves to dance to Touch by Little Mix in her favourite River Island sparkly jacket and ankle boots. If she had a magical power, Noemie would transform everything she touched into food and, unsurprisingly, rated eating and sleeping as two of her favourite hobbies. Noemie Meikle will give you some serious style envy with her favourite River Island sparkly jacket and ankle boots THE FASHIONABLE FRIENDS North West and Penelope Disick better watch their backs because theres a new designer duo on the block. Meet best friends Silver Ozmen, 5, Lux Atkin, 6, who are cute, cool and super talented. The little ladies love art and are talented painters. Silver is happiest when she has a paintbrush in her hand and youre sure to see her floral sketches in an art gallery one day. Lux has talent in her blood; her mother is uber cool hair and makeup artist, Lou Teasdale. Best friends and mini fashionistas North West and Penelope Disick better watch their backs because theres a new designer duo on the block Best friends Silver Ozmen, 5, left, and Lux Atkin, 6, right, are best friends and are cute, cool and super talented Lou, who has her own beauty book, got her big break on X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, where she worked for five years. She then travelled the world with the One Direction boys and has amassed millions of social media followers thanks to her candid beauty tips and fun photo feed (where youll spy Harry Styles and Lux posing for the camera). Set to follow in her mothers starry footsteps, Lux along with Silver has her very own YouTube and Instagram channel. Little Lux is happiest when shes eating cake at a party with her pals and if she had a super power, she would be able to freeze things. Lux, whose mother Lou Teasdale was One Direction's hair stylist for years, already has a tonne of famous friends including Harry Styles THE NEXT BIG THING She might only be three years old but Ivy Coco, the youngest of the squad, is already set to be a superstar. The adorable little lady, who will have the nation cooing, dons a cute rock chic look in the campaign video and pulls off her pink dress, leopard ankle boots and pom-pom hat with aplomb. Ivy Coco cites Cinderella as her favourite superhero and loves to eat sausages and cake at parties. Ivy Coco, the youngest of the squad, is already set to be a superstar, and pulls off her pink dress, leopard ankle boots and pom-pom hat from River Island with aplomb Halloween is right around the corner, and the Foster sisters have the perfect costumes: feuding first ladies. Sara, 36, and Erin, 35, channeled Melania Trump and Ivana Trump while enjoying SVEDKA Vodka's Trump-inspired cocktails at Beauty and Essex in Los Angeles on Tuesday and their costumes made for a perfect photo shoot. While Sara took on the role of 47-year-old Melania in a knockoff of the blue Ralph Lauren frock she wore to her husband's inauguration, Erin transformed into 68-year-old Ivana with the help of blonde beehive wig. Feuding first ladies! Erin (left) and Sara Foster (right) dressed up as Ivana Trump and Melania Trump as part of a brilliant Halloween photo shoot Getting into character: The two sisters enjoyed SVEDKA Vodka's Trump-inspired cocktails at Beauty and Essex in Los Angeles on Tuesday during the shoot Keeping current: The Trump costumes were inspired by Melania and Ivana's feud over who is the real 'first lady' The two sisters couldn't even agree on a cocktail while in character. 'Melania' was seen sipping 'The Combover,' while 'Ivana' chose the 'Desperate Cheeto' both of which were inspired by the president's physical traits. Sara and Erin utilized plenty of props during the photo shoot, including Ivanka's new memoir, Raising Trump. In one photo, Sara looks appalled while flipping through the book, and Erin throws a nasty glance in her direction. Looking the part: Sara wore a knockoff of the blue Ralph Lauren frock Melania wore to the inauguration and a brunette wig First Wives Club: Erin sported a blonde beehive wig and a flashy red dress to channel Ivana Real life: Ivana recently made headlines when she called herself 'first lady' during an interview prompting a spokesperson for Melania to call the statement 'self-serving noise' 'Honestly Ivana aka @erinfoster, you can have him honey. I'll just be in the corner drinking my vodka,' Sara wrote while posting a few image from the shoot on her Instagram page. One of the most comical images sees Erin trying to kick Sara down the stairs while sipping on her cocktail. When sharing the photo on her Instagram, Erin wrote: 'All those miserable years I spent with that idiot, and I never even got to live in the White House.' After Ivana called herself 'first lady' last week the sisters knew they had found the perfect costumes for Halloween. Doubling down: After Melania' released a statement, Ivana told Wendy Williams that she is 'technically first lady Trump' because she was his first wife Friends or foes? 'This was like the feud of the moment,' Erin said of their costumes choices Perfect props: The two took plenty of photos of themselves flipping through the pages of Ivana's new memoir, Raising Trump 'We wanted to do something like current events and we wanted to do a feud so it would make sense to have both of us in it and this was like the feud of the moment,' Erin told E! News of their costume choices. Erin noted that everyone should be distancing themselves as far away from the president, so she finds interesting that anyone is 'bragging about being married to Donald Trump at this point.' And while Sara dressed up as Melania, it seems like she may be on Team Ivana. 'Listen I think Ivanna was there for a lot of crap, she gave him all those kids and she did not reap the benefits. She's like why am I not in that White House? I mean listen she is a little angry,' she explained. Take that: One of the most comical images sees Erin trying to kick Sara down the stairs while sipping on her cocktail Ice cold: Sara gave Erin plenty of chilly glances while they were in character Cocktails of choice: 'Ivana' was seen sipping on 'Desperate Cheeto' while 'Melania' opted for 'The Combover' both of which were inspired by the president's physical traits The real-life Ivana found herself embroiled in some family drama last week, after a seemingly off-the-cuff remark prompted a public response from the first lady. While promoting her book, she told ABC's Good Morning America that while she has a 'direct number to the White House', she doesn't usually use it. 'I don't really want to call him there because Melania is there, and I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that,' she said while laughing. 'Because I'm basically first Trump wife, okay? I'm first lady, okay?' Though the laughter seems to indicate that she meant the 'first lady' comment as a joke, Melania felt compelled to respond and shut it down. Her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, released a statement that Ivana's claim had 'no substance.' Just a thought: Erin thinks it's 'interesting that anyone is 'bragging about being married to Donald Trump at this point' Breaking: The sisters can be seen getting make-up touch-ups during their photo shoot Day jobs: Erin, 35, and Sara, 35, are the daughters of music producer David Foster and the stars of the faux reality series Barely Famous 'Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, D.C. 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,' she said. 'There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise.' However, Ivana seemed more than willing to continue the feud when she doubled down on her claims that she is the 'real first lady' during her interview with Wendy Williams. 'Well I tell you I am technically first lady Trump. I was first wife,' she said, adding: 'I dont know what Melanias problem is. 'She just has to get over it. She is first lady of America, but I am first lady Trump.' Ivana also admitted she was surprised by Melania's official statement on the matter, saying: 'I have no idea why she did it. Because I never said I am first lady of America. Better her than me, frankly.' Modern dating etiquette can now mean meeting a potential partner is a simple as swiping right on a person's profile. Dating app, Tinder, used by an estimated 50 million people worldwide, has revolutionised how couples connect, but despite advances, men and women are still making choices largely based on biology, according to a study. New research has revealed men who use the smartphone app are likely to rate attractiveness as most important, with women ranking intelligence and stability. Australian relationship expert Debbie White of Dare2Date told FEMAIL she believes that while technology has helped, in many ways it's made dating worse. Australian relationship expert Debbie White of Dare2Date agrees with the study that online dating has made it easier to default to our genetic programming Ms White explained that from her observations men will always be drawn to the most attractive woman in a room, while women will seek out a man who is the most intelligent and confident - a response she credits to biology. 'I agree with the study that online dating has made it easier to default to our genetic programming in choosing the most attractive for men and intelligent for women,' she said. Online dating can give people the sense that they may have so many more choices available than what they do in reality (stock picture) 'The worst thing about online dating is people thinking they have some much more choice than they have in reality,' she continued. 'There's research that shows the more choice you have, the worse choices you tend to make.' Scientists at the University of Aberdeen say they're not at all surprised Tinder users reverted to basic mating behaviour University of Aberdeen scientists who surveyed a sample group of males and females aged 20 26 say they're not at all surprised Tinder users revert to basic mating behaviour evolved to help survival, the Evening Express reports. 'Our research demonstrates that we haven't really changed in all those millennia of evolution,' said Dr Mirjam Brady-Van den Bos from the University's School of Psychology. 'Tinder is seen as a sophisticated by artificial way of meeting prospective partners. 'Tinder is seen as a sophisticated by artificial way of meeting prospective partners,' said Dr Mirjam Brady-Van den Bos 'What we've shown though is the way people search for potential dates is in line with what evolutionary theories on human mating choices would predict.' The study goes on to suggest Tinder promotes a 'McDonaldisation' of dating in that those using the app tend to expend little time and effort, much like visiting a fast food restaurant. This could encourage people to tap into their ancient mating instincts. 'Accepting that this 'McDonaldisation' of romantic partners mirrors real life is hard but it does,' said Dr Brady-Van den Bos. 'People are reverting to human nature much more than they realise.' Every year Australia's collective taste-buds tingle in anticipation for the annual Good Food Guide awards. The illustrious accolades crown the best restaurants, bars and head chefs who contributed the most to this country's proud gourmet landscape. Around 500 eateries were judged by anonymous food critics and sommeliers for the 2018 awards, and one stunning - albeit expensive - Victoria establishment was christened Restaurant of the Year. Lavish Victoria restaurant Attica won Restaurant of the Year (Pictured is an old menu item of a $20 potato grown in its own earth) The expensive Victoria eatery also earned three chef hats for its delicious dishes (Pictured is Marron with Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Seeds, Holy Flax and Society Garlic Flowers) Attica, located in Ripponlea, Victoria, is the lavish eatery which topped the Good Food Guide list as the best in Australia for this year and earned the prestigious three chef hats. The swanky restaurant offers a limited range of costly tasting dishes including Whipped Emu Egg with Quandong and Kangaroo, Wattles and Waxflower. It also used to offer what it describes as a 'simple dish of potato cooked in the earth it was grown' which is sometimes brought out for exclusive tastings. A popular dish on Attica's menu is known as All Parts of the Pumpkin, which is pumpkin cooked for 12 hours served with a pumpkin distillation, seeds and cream. And in another notch on Attica's belt, The Young Chef of the Year award went to former Masterchef contestant Kylie Millar, who cooks in the pastry and sauce section of the Victoria eatery. A popular dish on Attica's menu is known as All Parts of the Pumpkin, which is pumpkin cooked for 12 hours served with a pumpkin distillation, seeds and cream (Pictured) And in another notch on Attica's belt, The Young Chef of the Year award went to former Masterchef contestant Kylie Millar, who cooks in the pastry and sauce section of the Victoria eatery (Pictured is sweet potato noodles and mussels) Seafood eatery Saint Peter in Paddington, Sydney (pictured) won most exciting new restaurant of the year Lovers of gastronomy can experience Attica for $275 per person with an extra $185 per person for wine matches, and it has a private dining area which can seat between nine and 12 guests and has a minimum spent of $6000. Paddington seafood establishment Saint Peter was recognised as New Restaurant of the Year, the eatery quickly gaining notability for its 'gill-to-tail' menu. The oceanic menu changes daily depending on the best quality fish available each morning and the restaurant has a custom designed cool room that allows them to offer fish that has been dry aged. Some of Saint Peter's sumptuous dishes include smoked ocean trout rillettes with roast almond, tarragon, witlof and radish, hand picked Ballina spanner crab meat and coral sauce and sweet and sour Nelson Bay blue mackerel on toast. Pictured is the smoked ocean trout rillettes with roast almond, tarragon, witlof and radish at Saint Peter Pictured left is their batter fried Bermagui pink ling, chips and condiments and right is their sweet and sour Nelson Bay blue mackerel on toast Pictured is Saint Peter's hand picked Ballina spanner crab meat and coral sauce 'This isn't just next-level fish cookery. It's next-level cookery full stop,' Good Food Guide said of Saint Peter. This year the Service Excellence award was scooped up by Nikki Friedli of South African barbeque style restaurant, Africola, in Adelaide, South Australia. The bold South African flavours on offer at Africola put the wacky establishment on the map, and patrons keep coming back for its distinguished menu items such as the chickpea meringue, sorrel and mint granita and mango fusion. It also boasts a 665 day-aged sirloin dish on its Instagram made from red meat sourced from SA meat connoisseur Richard Gunner. This year the Service Excellence award was scooped up by Nikki Friedli of South African barbeque style restaurant, Africola, in Adelaide, South Australia It also boasts a 665 day-aged sirloin dish on its Instagram made from red meat sourced from SA meat connoisseur Richard Gunner (Pictured) The bold South African flavours on offer at Africola put the wacky establishment on the map, and patrons keep coming back for its distinguished menu items such as the chickpea meringue, sorrel and mint granita and mango fusion (Pictured) And Brisbane establishment Aria Restaurant, owned by chef Matt Moran and partner Bruce Solomon, won the accolade of Wine List of the Year. Aria's 100-strong wine list has a glass to match every morsel of food offered on the menu and the labels range from Montefalco to McLaren Vale. 'Sommelier Ian Trinkle has designed it so fluidly, so elegantly, that even the most casual wine drinker will likely drill down to something they want to drink within seconds,' Good Food Guide wrote. Other eateries across Australia earning places on the prestigious list include Quay and Sepia in Sydney with with three chef hats, Urbane in Brisbane, and Melbourne Japanese restaurant Minamishima. And Brisbane establishment Aria Restaurant, owned by chef Matt Moran and partner Bruce Solomon, won the accolade of Wine List of the Year (Pictured is a 2014 L'Anglore wines) A young mother has told how her 'Jekyll and Hyde' childhood sweetheart used her as a 'human punchbag' in front of her terrified children. Sam Barnett, 26, from Woking, Surrey, was reeled in by 'artful manipulator' Danny Barnett when she was juts 17 and told how he quickly resorted to violence after they tied the knot, shattering her self-esteem and leaving her blaming herself. Sam said: 'Danny made me feel like it was all my fault, like if I was a better wife he wouldn't do this. Eventually, I hated myself more than I hated him. 'The threat of violence was sometimes so paralysing that it was worse than the beatings in some ways. It kept me quiet and under his control longer.' Sam (pictured) was reeled in by 'artful manipulator' Danny Barnett when she was juts 17 and told how he quickly resorted to violence after they tied the knot, shattering her self-esteem For years, Sam remained petrified of the man she thought she loved, feeling too isolated to ask for help. But after Danny, now 31, punched her so hard in the ribs and left her hospitalised, she finally realised he would never change and found the courage to report him to the police. Initially the bully tried to cover his tracks, faking emails to himself and changing the date on a card Sam had sent him to make it look like the pair were still together and happy. Eventually, however, he admitted three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and one of perverting the course of justice, leading to him being jailed for 18 months in March 2017. Sam, who is now happily engaged to new partner Nick, 36, the father of her baby son, is speaking out to urge others trapped in abusive relationships to seek help. 'No matter what your abusers say, it's never just the once. Violence will escalate and escalate,' she insisted. Sam and Danny on their wedding day when she was just 18. For years, Sam remained petrified of the man she thought she loved, feeling too isolated to ask for help The pair on their wedding day (left) and Danny (right) who has been jailed. Danny punched her so hard in the ribs and left her hospitalised, she finally realised he would never change 'I want to help show others out there that this isn't their fault, and that they do have that inner strength. 'It's important to get out of violent relationships safely, and find someone you trust to help you to do that. We deserve better than threats, violence and isolation, and somebody that loves you should never want to hurt you.' Sam and Danny first met in January 2009, when they worked in the same Chinese restaurant. Just a teenager and six years his junior, she was initially cautious, fearing he was 'a bit of a player.' But, after spending some time together as friends, she developed feelings for him and agreed to go on a date that June. 'We had slap up steak dinner and a cinema trip to see The Hangover. By the end of the evening, I'd totally fallen for him,' she recalled. From there, the relationship progressed quickly. Sam and Danny when she was pregnant with their daughter. Eventually, he admitted three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and one of perverting the course of justice, leading to him being jailed for 18 months in March 2017 The couple in happier times. Sam said of her ordeal: 'I want to help show others out there that this isn't their fault, and that they do have that inner strength' Within two months, Sam had moved in with Danny and, in February 2011, they tied the knot at Weybridge Register Office. Sadly, soon after, cracks started to show: 'Danny would get really angry if anyone ever criticised me, and told me my friends were bad influences,' Sam said. 'At first, I thought he was just being protective. I'd always been independent, so perhaps I was looking for someone to look after me. 'But other people wised up to him quite quickly. It drove a wedge between my friends and I, and I wouldn't go to them as much to talk about him.' By August 2011, the pair had welcomed their daughter into the world but, when she was just two months old, Sam said Danny was violent for the first time. The couple (pictured on their honeymoon in Tenerife, 2011) met when they were just teenagers. Within two months, Sam had moved in with Danny and they tied the knot in February 2011 She continued: 'We were arguing in the car about something petty and it was getting quite heated. 'Suddenly, he grabbed the back of my hair and slammed my head against the window. When we got home, I ran inside and locked myself in the bathroom. 'When I finally came out, he told me he'd done it to calm me down. Looking back, I wish I'd left there and then, but I was too far under his spell, and wanted to believe it was a one-off.' After that, Sam said the beatings escalated, recalling how Danny would punch her, or yank her thumb back so hard that, on one occasion, she damaged the tendons in her hand. She added: 'He'd never say he was sorry. He told me that I pushed his buttons. It was always my fault. Moving on: Sam while pregnant with her new partner Nicky's son. While with her former husband, Sam said the beatings escalated, recalling how Danny would often punch her 'Eventually, I was in such a low place that I developed agoraphobia, and was too terrified to go out. 'I lived on a knife edge, never knowing what he'd do next. Sometimes, the glimpses of the Danny I'd fallen in love with would reappear, but then he'd switch again. 'I was completely cut off from everyone, but I was so in love with him that I was blind to what he was doing.' In 2013, Sam discovered she was pregnant once again this time, with a boy. Though she knew Danny would never harm either of their children, she said the idea of them witnessing him beating her was too much to bear, and gave her the determination to leave. At six months pregnant, she moved out to a council house with their daughter. Sam with new partner Nick, who proposed to her on the London Eye. Before the pair met, Sam said the idea of her children witnessing him beating her was too much to bear She added: 'When I told Danny I was leaving, I braced myself for an explosion. But he just said, 'fine.' Not wanting the children to grow up without their dad in their lives, Sam allowed Danny to have a key to her new place so he could see them regularly. But, she believes that this along with the fact they were still technically married made him think of her as his 'property.' 'Things were okay for a while, then the violence started again. He was very jealous, and made it difficult to move on. After years of having my confidence chipped away at, I didn't think I deserved to,' she said. In April 2015, Sam thought she'd finally been given a way out when Danny told her he wanted a divorce. As they had not been together in two years, she agreed but he reacted with fury, thinking she was not upset enough about the breakdown of their relationship. Sam (pictured with new partner Nick) said: 'I've been through an awful journey, but I've come out the other side safer and stronger' Punching her to the ground, he threatened to burn her hair, before storming off and leaving her with an agonising pain in her side. Worried she had internal bleeding, Sam phoned 999, where the operator instructed her not to move until paramedics could reach her. But when they arrived, she said Danny refused to answer the door for her. 'With every ounce of strength I had left, I hauled myself up and staggered to the door,' she said. 'The ambulance raced me to St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey and I left Danny back at mine, minding the kids as they slept. I knew he wouldn't hurt them. He reserved his violent temper for me.' At hospital, medics told Sam she had internal bruising, suddenly bringing her a moment of clarity. With Danny jailed for 18 months, Sam is now looking ahead to her future with Nick (pictured), who she is set to marry after he proposed up the London Eye She said: 'In that moment, I realised that no matter how many punches I took, Danny would never stop. What if he killed me next time and left the kids without a mum? 'I owed it to them and myself to report him. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever had to do, I told a nurse everything and she contacted the police.' Following Sam's report, Danny was arrested, but initially denied everything. In a bid to cover up his crimes, he accessed her email account and falsified two messages pretending to be her, making it seem like the tales of the abuse she had suffered were false. But, as soon as she saw them in her sent box, Sam alerted police, hoping this would prove she had nothing to hide. In the run-up to the trial at Guildford Crown Court, she was petrified she would have to testify. Looking back on her ordeal, Sam said: 'I owed it to [my children] and myself to report him. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever had to do, I told a nurse everything and she contacted the police' Fortunately, at the last minute, Danny changed his plea to guilty. With him caged for 18 months, she is now looking ahead to her future with Nick, who she is set to marry after he proposed up the London Eye. She also hopes to use her harrowing experience to help others. 'Danny tried to twist and turn who I was, but he doesn't have control anymore,' she said. 'Nick has shown me that I deserve better, and after being silent for so long, I feel empowered talking about things. 'I've been through an awful journey, but I've come out the other side safer and stronger.' A gun war is raging in an American city that locals describe as a 'Mecca for violence' due to its daily homicides. Louis Theroux meets the residents of north Milwaukee, Wisconsin in his new film to shed some light on why the city has one of the highest violent crime rates in the whole of the US. Murder in Milwaukee sees the BBC filmmaker meet a murderess turned community activist who sleeps - and even bathes - with her shotgun. Shootings took place in streets just metres away from where the crew filmed scenes for the documentary, including that of a young man called Antonio, who lay dying in the street while his family sobbed and pledged to leave the town. Theroux and his team decamped to Milwaukee to learn more about the city, which has high levels of unemployment, poorly performing schools, and a high incarceration rate compared to the rest of the US. Scroll down for video Shawnda Payne, a reformed community activist, sleeps and bathes with a huge shotgun 'He never bothered nobody' The Murder in Milwaukee cameras captured the shock and grief of shooting victim Antonio's devastated family as they gathered around him on the pavement. He had served time in prison for dealing cocaine and heroin, but had been determined to turn his life around had secured himself a job working with his step father Donald. Donald said: 'He never bothered nobody, he never started nothing with nobody. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd. It really hasn't kicked in yet.' In an eerily similar incident Sylville Smith, 23, was gunned down in Milwaukee in August 2016, by a police officer. Louis Theroux's new documentary Murder in Milwaukee meets residents of the town, which has one of the highest violent crime rates in the US The Mecca of violence: Milwaukee's crime stats A person is five times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in Milwaukee than in the rest of the state of Wisconsin. Residents are more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in Milwaukee than in 96% of the country. Property crime rates in Milwaukee are more than double the rest of Wisconsin. The city's murder rate is at a 23-year high. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Advertisement 'The police don't like me' The police said Sylville refused to drop his gun, but the coroner's report claimed he'd been shot in the armpit with his hands up in surrender. Sylville's brother Sedan appears in the film, and said he would carry on fighting for justice, despite police arriving at a roadside vigil he was holding. He said: 'Being in situations where you hear what the police do to black men in the community and carrying a gun and having one, the way he felt was fear. If I'm fearing something my first thing is to get away from that. 'Now the police out here as y'all can see they don't like me. This is how they come when we come. They profile us like that and intimidate us. When they see me out here especially they want me to stop doing this. That's my brother. I'm never gonna stop.' Sylville Smith, 23, was shot and killed by the police in Milwaukee in August 2016. The police said he had pulled a gun on them, but the coroner's report revealed that he'd had his hands in the air in surrender when he was killed Sylville's brother Sedan said the police don't like him fighting for justice about his Sylville's death 'My gun is the one I trust' Louis also met Shawnda Payne, a local community activist who has reformed her life after being part of a gang as a teenager. Shawnda had a baby at 13 and murdered someone at 15, but now campaigns to lower the gun crime in the local area, where she has fostered and raised more than 20 children. She showed Louis around her home and revealed that she keeps a huge 12 gauge Mossberg gun beside her bed, a hand gun in her bra at all times and a huge rifle by the tub while she bathes. Shawnda said: 'Because we live where we live I kind of sleep always ready. She's [the gun] always right here next to my bed. Shes the one I trust in anything because this is what the police use.' Shawnda does everything she can to stop her teenage son Kyrie from getting into gun crime, including punishing him with a knife She keeps her gun by the bath and covered up with a towel so her children don't see it. Her weapons are always fully loaded because unloaded gun is 'how you die' Her guns have safety locks but are always fully loaded so she's never not ready to defend herself, because 'that's how you die'. Shawnda is so worried about her children's safety that she uses extreme forms of punishment to keep her 16-year-old son Kyrie away from guns by hitting him with knives. While she was interviewed there was a shooting just metres away from her house and they had to go inside. 'This zip code is like Mecca for shooting and violence,' she said. Murder in Milwaukee airs on Sunday at 9pm on BBC Two. Antonio (far left) served time in prison for dealing cocaine and heroin but was trying to turn his life around when he was shot and killed in the street A heartbroken mother has revealed how her daughter was born stillborn after she was poisoned in the womb by a rare liver condition. Gabriella Morley, 24, from Bramley, Leeds, was 39 weeks pregnant when she noticed her baby was not moving. Doctors told the mother-to-be and her boyfriend Matthew Dalton, 25, that their baby had died arrest after being poisoned by high acidity levels in her mother's body caused by the rare pregnancy-related condition, intrahepatic cholestasis (ICP). The grieving mother gave birth to daughter Poppy on May 9 and the couple spent three days with their little girl in a hospital cold room before laying her to rest. Now Gabriella and Matthew have shared photographs of Poppy in a bid to raise awareness about ICP. Proud: Gabriella Morley, 24, pictured while six months pregnant with daughter Poppy Heartache: Gabriella and Matthew Dalton, 25, with their daughter Poppy shortly after birth Tribute: Family and friends laid bright flowers to remember Poppy at her funeral 'It is a rare condition but I think more mums need to know about it,' Gabriella said. 'I don't want anyone to ever have to go through what we did. 'Losing Poppy has been the most devastating thing ever. No mother should have to experience what it is like to go through nine months of pregnancy and leave hospital with no baby. But it does happen and people need to talk about it more.' Gabriella and Matthew, who discovered they were expecting shortly after they started dating last year, were picking up the final bits and pieces ahead of the baby's arrival when Gabriella realised she hadn't felt the baby move that day. She said: 'When we got home I had a bath and I felt some movement. I thought it was the baby and it put my mind at rest but we know now it was probably my placenta. Celebration: Matthew and Gabriella at a party to mark the happy news of their pregnancy Expecting: Gabriella's 12-week scan. She felt Poppy stop moving at 39 weeks Delighted: The parents-to-be announced the pregnancy with this sweet photograph Planning: Gabriella, pictured choosing baby clothes, wanted the gender to be a surprise 'The next morning I couldn't feel the baby again so we went to the hospital and they took me in for a scan. 'After having so many, you know yourself where the heart should be and it just wasn't moving. I turned my head away and the midwife rushed for tissues. That's when I knew.' 'The doctor turned to us and said 'I'm sorry, I can't see your baby's heartbeat'. Recalling the heart-wrenching moment, Gabriella said: 'I remember letting out this scream but then I fell silent and just stared out the window. Matty was stood next to me squeezing my hand with his head down crying. It didn't feel real. 'When I walked out of the room I could hear all these other babies' heartbeats from the other rooms and I fell apart. You never think this could happen to you. Precious moments: After Poppy was born, Gabriella spent three days with her in hospital Fatherly duties: Matthew and Poppy were given time to dress, change and hold Poppy Gabriella said she has 'blocked out' the birth because it was such a 'terrifying' experience. 'When my waters broke I was so frightened,' she continued. 'I had always imagined it would be a happy time but knowing our baby wasn't alive anymore made it awful. 'Giving birth was the saddest thing I have ever gone through. She was born to the song Pachelbel's Canon in D which is just the most beautiful and emotional piece of music. 'I remember Matty looking up and saying "it's a girl" and the sound I made was just awful, I have never heard anything like it. It was the most horrible surprise ever. We had always wanted a girl. 'They laid her on me but I couldn't even look at her. I just couldn't understand how the baby I had grown inside me for nine months was here but she wasn't moving or crying. There was just silence.' Meeting the family: Poppy with auntie Annie Dalton and grandmother Cheryl Dalton, left, and with great-grandparents Pauline and Patrick Morley, right Throughout her pregnancy Gabriella experienced an itchiness on her baby bump that she put down to a typical side-effect of stretched skin. But the itchiness was actually a symptom of ICP which hinders the flow of bile acids, which are toxic to foetuses, from the liver to the gut. Poppy was kept in a 'cold room' at the hospital after she was born so over the next three days, Gabriella and Matthew could take their daughter out for an hour at a time to bathe her, dress her, cuddle her and introduce her to their family. Before the baby's body was taken for a post-mortem, the parents had her blessed by her grandfather with holy water and sat down for a final meal with their daughter. Gabriella said going home without Poppy was one of the hardest parts of the tragic ordeal and father Matthew found it incredibly difficult to let go, promising his baby he would 'see her again' before her funeral. Gabriella and Matthew had one last meal with Poppy before laying her to rest Poppy was buried in a little white coffin which her mum and dad carried into the chapel to the song their daughter was born to, Pachelbel's Canon in D. The parents keep photos of Poppy around the house in frames and Gabriella said she loves it when people ask about her little girl instead of trying to pretend the birth never happened. Gabriella is now sharing her story to raise awareness of the illness that killed Poppy and to encourage more mums to speak about the tragic loss of their babies. Gabriella said: 'I find so much comfort in talking about Poppy, I even enjoy crying about her. It feels so good to let it out and sit by her grave and have a cry. 'People ask if having her photos around the house make me more upset but it doesn't. She is my beautiful little girl and I want to remember her and for people to see her. 'It shouldn't be such a taboo for mums who have lost their babies to talk about them. Even though our babies are in heaven, we are still mums and we're proud of our children.' A 32-year-old woman, with just months to live, has bravely recalled how the devastating stillbirth of her baby at 24 weeks led to the discovery that she had terminal bowel cancer. Amy Mattingly's baby boy, Leo, was born without a heartbeat, following a natural delivery, at Bristol's Southmead Hospital on New Year's day, after she had suffered with diarrhoea and vomiting. The web designer from Bradford-Upon-Avon, Wiltshire, whose husband, Chris, 34, is also a web designer, said: 'It was devastating. Amy Mattingly has revealed how the devastating still birth of her son lead to the discovery that she is terminally ill with bowel cancer 'I've been through so much since then, but losing Leo was absolutely the worst part of this. I've never been told the reason for the stillbirth, but I do think it was because of the cancer and what was happening to my body.' When her diarrhoea and vomiting persisted, doctors first mistook her condition for a physical symptom of her grief although further investigations revealed that she was riddled with cancer. Amy continued: 'Last year, Chris and I were looking to the future. Amy (pictured while pregnant) had suffered with diarrhoea and vomiting throughout her pregnancy but had believed it to be the result of morning sickness Her baby boy, Leo, was born without a heartbeat, following a natural delivery, at Bristol's Southmead Hospital on New Year's day 'We'd got married in at the Roman Baths in Bath in February 2014 and we couldn't wait to become a family. 'We'd broken the news of my pregnancy to my family in Canada and had started renovating our dream home. We had our whole lives ahead of us. 'But, since we lost Leo, I've become increasingly ill and although I've refused to give in without a fight, I have just been told I possibly only have weeks to live.' Amy, who had suffered with diarrhoea since her teens, said it became worse after she fell pregnant in August 2016, when she also experienced sickness. 'I thought that was just how my body reacted to pregnancy,' she continued. Initially Amy's persistent diarrhoea and vomiting was put down to grief by doctors Amy's (pictured with Chris) condition continued to deteriorate as her hospital appointments continued to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances 'I had anaemia and a lot of abdominal pains - I thought that was normal. I had what I thought was morning sickness. I was doubled over in pain when I had a bowel movement, which was followed by vomiting. I lost a lot of weight - almost three stone during my pregnancy.' At her 20-week scan, Amy and Chris, who she met in through work in 2006, were delighted to be told they were having a boy, who they planned to call Leo. Then, at 22 weeks, a scan showed that the baby was smaller than expected and doctors feared something was wrong. Specialists began to investigate and monitored Amy, who, at 24 weeks, started suffering from severe vomiting. Amy explained: 'I told the doctors that I was having diarrhoea and, as soon as I had a bowel movement, I would start to vomit. By the time Amy finally made it to her hospital the only things she was managing to keep down were mashed potatoes and McDonalds milkshakes A biopsy and CT scan then revealed that Amy had bowel cancer, which had spread to her liver. Pictured: Amy receiving treatment 'They said it was probably flu and not to come to hospital if I was infectious.' When she then felt intense pain and her waters broke, Amy realised she was in early labour and went to Royal United Hospitals, Bath. She recalled: 'I was lying in bed and the pains were getting worse and then I realised I was in early labour when my waters broke. Amy (pictured left with Chris before becoming ill) suffered significant weight loss due to her illness (right) 'I was taken to hospital and they did a scan and my baby was still alive. Then I was transferred to Southmead Hospital as there was a more specialist premature baby unit there. There they did another ultrasound and they had to tell me that his heart had stopped beating. 'It was absolutely devastating, having to give birth to a baby without a heartbeat. 'We held him for a little while and then we left him in hospital, where he was cremated.' Following Leo's loss, in January, the couple tried to come to terms with what had happened. In May 2017, she had a five hour operation at Southmead hospital, Bristol to remove her bowel and give her a permanent ileostomy bag She was also given four rounds of chemotherapy and lost most of her hair, but, about three weeks ago, she was told the treatment had failed. Pictured: Amy during treatment Meanwhile, Amy's diarrhoea and vomiting continued, with a vengeance, prompting her to speak to the doctor who, mistakenly, thought it was caused by her grief. 'I felt like I was coping ok and it wasn't because of that,' she said. When her condition rapidly deteriorated, soon after, she was referred to a specialist. She said: 'I went to see my GP a few weeks later in January and said that something was wrong. By this stage, there was a lot of blood in my stools, I was going to the bathroom a lot and I was in a lot of pain every time. 'The doctor told me it was probably irritable bowel syndrome, but said she would refer me to the hospital.' Amy was given an appointment for mid-February 2017 going to the US before that, to spend some time with her parents, who lived there. But her appointment had to be cancelled, after a tree fell across the track in front of her train, on the way to Circle Bath hospital. Her replacement appointment in March was also cancelled because of a funeral. So, with her health becoming worse by the day, and after a trip to A&E where she was given nausea medication but no further tests, she decided to go privately, rather than wait any longer. BOWEL CANCER: THE SIGNS Bowel cancer is very treatable but the earlier it is diagnosed, the easier it is. People whose cancer is diagnosed at an early stage have a much higher chance of successful treatment than those whose cancer has become more widespread. Symptoms include: Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo A change in bowel habit lasting three weeks or more Unexplained weight loss Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason A pain or lump in your tummy Source: Bowel Cancer UK Advertisement She said: 'I was so dehydrated, malnourished and weak. By that stage, the only thing I was keeping down was McDonalds milkshakes and mashed potatoes.' In mid-April, the month when her baby had been due, Amy had a private appointment at the Spire hospital in Bristol and was referred for an urgent sigmoidoscopy, back on the NHS, at Southmead hospital a routine test, using a camera to examine the lining of the bowel. She was horrified when she saw the inside of her bowel on the screen. Amy recalled: 'It was like a field of mushrooms. I had googled what a healthy colon looked like and this wasn't healthy. It was completely filled with polyps. 'The doctor said there were so many, my bowel needed to come out. I had this wave of relief that they had an answer, but then I was frightened, because I knew what was ahead.' A biopsy and CT scan then revealed that Amy had bowel cancer, which had spread to her liver. In May 2017, she had a five hour operation at Southmead hospital, Bristol to remove her bowel and give her a permanent ileostomy bag, where stools are collected in a pouch outside the body. She was also given four rounds of chemotherapy and lost most of her hair. But, about three weeks ago, she was told the treatment had failed. She said: 'My chemo failed miserably and my liver tumours have increased from between five to seven, to around 30. They have all also grown in size. 'I was told my cancer was inoperable and all I could have was bi-weekly, palliative chemotherapy, in a bid to keep me stable. 'My doctor said I probably only have several months left, and I'm keen to get into a clinical trial, to have more treatment.' Doctors have given Amy just a few months to live following her diagnosis Looking back, Amy feels that if she had realised when she was younger that her diarrhoea might indicate she had bowel cancer, she might have been able to do something about it. Now, determined to raise awareness for people with similar symptoms, as well as trying to remove the stigma surrounding bowel cancer, she has kept a poignant blog about her journey. On October 14, she also completed a nine mile walk from her home to Bath, to raise money for Cancer UK, wearing a gold cape that has become a mark of her fight against the disease. She said: 'Throughout my illness, I've been determined to be body confident and did a photoshoot in my underwear, showing my bag. Then I mentioned that I had this gold cape. I started wearing it to chemo and then I thought it would be perfect for my walk. It shows my personality and how I'm determined to just make the most of each day. 'I'm just so pleased that I did it. I only organised it on the Tuesday before, setting the target of 600 on my JustGiving page, but I've raised over 5,000. I never imagined it would be so incredible. 'Exercise and healthy eating is important so I've decided to do it every Saturday for as long as I am able to.' Meanwhile, Amy hopes her blog will remain an inspiration to fellow cancer sufferers and their families, for years to come. She continued:: 'It's difficult to talk about, but I want to show that you're never too young to get bowel cancer and for people to know what the symptoms are. 'I think most people see it as an old person's disease, but I'm a young woman who was excited for the future 'Now I want to stop the future from being snatched away from anyone else.' Amy is speaking out for Bowel Cancer UK's Never Too Young campaign. The campaign is leading change for younger bowel cancer patients. Every year 2,500 younger people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK. Research has shown that younger bowel cancer patients have a very different experience of diagnosis, treatment and care. For more information, visit bowelcanceruk.org.uk To donate to Amy's fund, click here. A new company have launched a novel webcam teaching service where men are taught by models - who strip when students get answers right. CamSoda have launched racy language lessons where X-rated models teach students in 'private chat rooms' in an attempt to keep them interested. Lessons see tutors dressed in scantily clad stereotypical clothing to their native country have casual conversations through video and voice with their students. Models sit on a school desk and hold up pictures of body parts and sex positions before showing off their own bodies in front of a blackboard. Would you use this website? During the lessons, which come in a host of languages including French, Japanese and Spanish, students improve their speaking, reading comprehension and pronunciation skills As participants' overall proficiency improves, the expert linguist cam-girls bare bums, breasts and more to encourage students to improve their skills. Students, who communicate through both video, voice and text, are able to choose from a selection of tutors, whose rates vary depending on the duration of the lesson. Darren Press, vice president of CamSoda, who began 'language lessons' in 2014, said: 'We understand that learning a new language can be quite cumbersome and programs like Rosetta Stone are far too cookie cutter and expensive. 'With Language Lessons, users can interact with an intelligent model who is equally beautiful as she is a cunning linguist.' The lessons see tutors dressed in scantily clad stereotypical clothing to their native country have casual conversations through video and voice with their students Stripping off: As participants' overall proficiency improves, the expert linguist cam-girls bare bums, breasts and more to encourage students to improve their skills One of the models on offer. Students, who communicate through both video, voice and text, are able to choose from a selection of tutors, whose rates vary depending on the duration of the lesson The company's vice president said: 'With Language Lessons, users can interact with an intelligent model who is equally beautiful as she is a cunning linguist' During the lessons, which come in a host of languages including French, Japanese and Spanish, students improve their speaking, reading comprehension and pronunciation skills. Tutors also teach valuable cultural knowledge including mannerisms, etiquette and body language. There are also English teachers for those who need to brush up on their mother tongue. Mr Press added: 'Whether it be sensual conversation or quick vocabulary quiz, our private tutors are flexible and amenable to teaching users in a manner that works best for them - breasts, butts and vaginas included.' A federal judge in Billings on Wednesday ordered a Montana man to spend about five years in prison for his role in a large, Fishtail-based meth conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters sentenced Gene Andrew Tufton, 43, of Reserve, in northeastern Montana, to 63 months for his guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute meth, court records said. Other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal. Watters also ruled Tufton was a minor participant in the overall conspiracy, records said. Prosecutors said the convicted leader of the trafficking ring, Merrill Clark Gardner of Fishtail, identified Tufton as someone to whom he had supplied meth. Gardiner is serving more than 15 years in prison for trafficking at least 178 pounds of meth. In November 2015, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Tuftons motorcycle and seized about a half pound of meth, prosecutors said. Tufton is among about eight people charged or convicted in the Fishtail conspiracy, which ran from about January 2012 until June 2015, and brought meth to Montana from Arizona. A teenager who started a multi-million pound estate agency while still in school has been hailed as an 'inspiration' by This Morning viewers. Entrepreneur Akshay Ruparelia - nicknamed Alan Sugar by his friends set up an online estate agency while still at sixth form and his business has been valued at 12 million in just over a year, making him Britain's youngest self-made millionaire. But Akshay, now 19, has not let the success go to his head and revealed on This Morning today that he still lives at home in London so that he can care for his parents, Renuka and Kaushik, who are both deaf. His 'humble' lifestyle won over viewers who praised the teenager for being 'determined' and 'committed'. Scroll down for videos 'Inspirational': Teenage entrepreneur Akshay Ruparelia - nicknamed Alan Sugar by his friends was praised by viewers when he appeared on This Morning with his mother, Renuka Entrepreneur: Akshay Ruparelia, pictured, set up an estate agency while in sixth form Praised: Impressed This Morning viewers took to Twitter to praise Akshay this morning One viewer, named Kerry, tweeted: 'What a charming & clever young man! His vision & drive is incredible & he seems very humble too Good luck to him.' A second added: '#Thismorning What an inspiring young man. How proud his family must be.. bought a tear to my eye.' In the early days of doorsteps.co.uk Akshay hired a call centre service to answer his company switchboard while he was in class and rang clients back after the school bell rang. At the same time he was also studying for exams at Queen Elizabeth High School in Barnet, London, and still managed to get five ALevels, three at A* and two A grades in maths, economics, politics, history and financial studies. 'Charming and clever': Viewers gushed over Akshay's impressive career so far Meanwhile at home Akshay was responsible for caring for his parents. Speaking on This Morning, he said taking on the responsibility at a young age had helped him improve his time management and other skills essential to growing a business. Akshay has had to put plans of studying economics and management at Oxford University on hold because the firm he set up at school is expanding so rapidly. The confident teenager is now on a mission to put traditional High Street estate agents out of business because they charge thousands of pounds in commission to sell a house and he can do it for just 99. Big dreams: Akshay revealed how he wanted to make his estate agent's the UK's biggest Support: Mother Renuka, whose words were translated through sign language, said she was happy to loan her son money when he first started the business 18 months ago His idea is proving so popular that this week Akshays company became the 18th biggest estate agency in the UK - just 16 months after his website went live. The firm, which he started after persuading family members to loan him 7,000, already employs 12 people and is growing rapidly. Appearing alongside her son on This Morning, Renuka explained that she was very supportive of her son's idea from the beginning and was happy to loan him money. Her words were translated through sign language by Akshay. The young entrepreneur says his website has already sold 100million worth of homes and its success has meant him delaying his university career He recently raised 400,000 from investors on a crowd funding enterprise website in exchange for 3.25 per cent of his business. With the teenager and an uncle owning the remaining shares he is theoretically already worth millions. The company pride themselves on low fees and good customer service. It is recruiting an ever expanding network of mothers across the UK, who work on a self-employed basis showing clients around properties he has been asked to sell. They are already operating from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands. The Queen didn't let a little shower dampen her spirits as she rode with her head through the sunroof on Thursday. The 91-year-old monarch, who looked resplendent in pink, joined officers as they stood with their heads through the roof of her Range Rover to arrive at Hyde Park in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the King's Troop Royal. The Queen, who looked vibrant in a bold pink suit and matching hat, is Captain General of the King's Troop and received a royal salute before she inspected the unit in a parade. Standing in a state review Land Rover, the Queen was driven passed the massed ranks of the King's Troop Royal Artillery - formed in October 1947 at the request of the King who wanted a troop of horse artillery to take part in the great ceremonies of state. The Queen rode with her head through the sunroof as she braved the showers to mark the 70th anniversary of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery The Troop are famed for firing gun salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions, and for providing a gun carriage and a team of black horses for state and military funerals. Equipped with 13-pounder field guns dating from the First World War, the soldiers are superb equestrians who, when not performing ceremonial duties, can be deployed around the world on operations. After inspecting the ceremonial unit, the Queen took her place on a dias in Hyde Park to receive the royal salute of the servicemen and women as their guns and horses thundered past The King had requested the Troop be formed in the post-war period as the last batteries of horse drawn artillery were being mechanised and in October 1947 he inspected the new unit. When signing the visitors' book after the ceremony George famously crossed out the unit's old name of Riding and inserted above it King's, so it read King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. The Queen, who looked vibrant in a bold pink suit and matching hat, is Captain General of the King's Troop Queen Elizabeth pets her horse called Knock the Brown One as she reviews the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery The Queen, who has long had a love for horses, smiled as she inspected troops in Hyde Park The 70th anniversary of the creation of the King's Troop saw the unit's extended military family attend the celebrations in Hyde Park. Former officers and their men were dressed in suits and wore their medals and bowler hats - what is known as Walking Out Order - and because it was a royal occasion some wore morning suits and top hats, usually seen at Trooping the Colour. The wives, girlfriends and partners of those taking part wore summer dresses, under raincoats, with hats or fascinators. Rain threatened to wash out the occasion but after a brief shower the light downpour passed and the guests avoided having to find shelter. George VI had inspected the Troop at its former barracks at St John's Wood and one serviceman who was part of the parade that day - October 24 1947 - met the Queen. The Troop are famed for firing gun salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions, and for providing a gun carriage and a team of black horses for state and military funerals The Queen, who is an avid equestrian fan, looked delighted as she received a royal salute It was formed in October 1947 at the request of the King who wanted a troop of horse artillery to take part in the great ceremonies of state The Queen received a posy from Tilly Beau Wildish during a reception following the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery The Queen poses for a photograph with officers from The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery after the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery The Queen meets veteran Percy Austen at a reception following The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery The Queen looked as glamorous as ever as she stepped out of the car at the event The Queen was in high spirits as she spoke to soldiers following The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery 70th parade in London Queen Elizabeth speaks to veteran Percy Austen during a reception following the 70th anniversary The Queen looks delighted as she meets her race horse Knock Castle as she attends the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery Percy Austen, 89, was an 18-year-old doing his National Service when the King visited, and he reminisced with the Queen about that day. He said afterwards: 'It was an honour to meet the Queen, absolutely marvellous - I've actually met her before, I received Maundy money from her a few years ago at Oxford.' The pensioner, from Barkham in Berkshire, added: 'I said what keeps me fit is I've got two ponies and a horse which I muck out and clean every day - so I'm working all the time.' The Queen, who is a life-long horse owner and breeder, was reunited with her former racehorse Knock Castle which was gifted to the Troop in August. Warrant Officer 2nd Class Martin Dennis was holding the reins of the animal as the Queen gently stroked its nose. She joked to a member of her entourage, saying about her granddaughter Zara Phillips: 'Zara found him a bit big.' Mr Dennis said later: 'I was telling the Queen how surprisingly honest he is and easy to train, she was saying how well he looks and how well he's managed to have stood here.' The Queen reviews the first review document after attending the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery Standing in a state review Land Rover, the Queen was driven passed the massed ranks of the King's Troop Royal Artillery Queen Elizabeth reviewed the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery during their 70th anniversary parade at Hyde Park It was reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined the Queen for tea last week The Queen's appearance comes after reports that the Queen met Prince Harry's girlfriend, Meghan Markle, last Thursday. The Queen had only returned from her long summer break at Balmoral Castle two days earlier. Prince Philip, who has been spending recent times at Sandringham, was not there. According to an insider the couple arrived in time for tea at around 5pm. It is the Queen's favourite part of the day and she loves it when her grandchildren are able to join her. The KTRHA was formed by King George VI in October 1947 and they regularly fire salutes The Gunners took their positions ahead of the Queen's review on a misty Thursday morning The Troop have First World War 13-pounder field guns, which they use on special occasions She normally sits for half an hour eating from a selection of sandwiches, fruit or plain scones and cake. It is served with her own blend of Darjeeling and Assam tea, known as Queen Mary's blend. As Richard Kay reported, the Queen spent almost an hour with her grandson and the Los Angeles-born Meghan, who stars in the US legal drama Suits. Insiders say that Harry, 33, had spoken to his grandmother during the summer at Balmoral asking to introduce Meghan, who is three years his senior. She has been a regular visitor to the Prince's Kensington Palace home during the past year. With his toned torso and daringly short kilt, it is little wonder this topless Scotsman set pulses racing when he appeared on This Morning today. Finlay Wilson showed off his kilted yoga skills via video link from Dundee, taking viewers through some of his more advanced poses. But the yoga teacher's final position - a handstand splits - left Holly Willloughby and Phillip Schofield in hysterics - and viewers at home feeling rather hot under the collar. One female fan wrote: 'I was transfixed to my tv... damn those pants.' Another admitted: 'Drooling & nearly burnt the ironing thanks @thismorning #kiltedYoga #FitScotsman #mustCloseJaw.' Toned: Topless Finlay Wilson, from Dundee, did yoga while wearing a kilt on This Morning Causing a stir: This Morning viewers were overwhelmed by the racy kilted yoga segment However others claimed the fitness fan of not being a 'true Scotsman' because he was wearing a pair of white pants under his kilt. Finlay, who has gone from hating yoga to teaching it, first started 10 years ago following surgery on his legs. He was told yoga could be the perfect rehabilitation, and he took it up, but it took five years for him to enjoy it. Finlay made kilted yoga an online sensation when he filmed himself performing a routine in the Scottish wilderness and uploaded it to YouTube. The clip has since been viewed more than 50million times. Tickled: Holly and Phil were left in fits of laughter at the yoga teacher's final pose, pictured Delighted: The topless fitness session left some viewers feeling rather flustered Now Finlay is releasing a book entitled Kilted Yoga: Yoga Laid Bare, which will demonstrate various yoga sequences at incredible Scottish locations. He appeared on This Morning via video link from Scotland to tell Holly and Phillip about the fitness craze. The segment ended with a live demonstration, culminating with a rather racy handstand in which Finlay flashed a pair of tight This Morning branded pants. Live class: Yoga teacher Finlay demonstrated some advance poses via video link from Dundee Transfixed: Holly and Phil could not look away as Finlay started to raise himself up Big reveal: Finlay was accused of not being a 'true Scot' when he flashed This Morning pants The move left Holly in fits of giggles and prompted delighted viewers to take to Twitter. One wrote: 'Loved the kilted yoga on @thismorning. The reactions from @Schofe & @hollywills were priceless!' Another agreed: 'wowwwww he has amazing core strength and yes a amazing body more of him pls.' An esteemed film critic and corporate governance expert has praised Friends star David Schwimmer for proving that not all men in Hollywood lack integrity in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations. The accusations against the shamed movie mogul reminded Washington-based Nell Minow, of an occasion when she met Schwimmer to interview him about the 2010 film Trust which he'd produced and directed. When the actor suggested they go to his hotel room, he quickly added that he could make sure there was a third person in the room. Minow told Poynter: 'This wasn't just about his being a good guy who would not have tried anything. He understood what it is like to have to be constantly on the alert and he wanted to make sure I understood I was safe.' She said she'd recalled the incident in the light of the Weinstein stories and it reminded her of 'Schwimmer's integrity and sensitivity'. David Schwimmer has been praised by a female film reviewer who recalled how he offered her a chaperone when she interviewed him in his hotel room in 2010 Film critic Nell Minow said she didn't feel in any way threatened by Schwimmer but appreciated his understanding of how women constantly feel the need to be on the alert Minow had met Scwimmer to discuss his film about a 14-year-old girl who is raped after being groomed by an older man she met online. She was scheduled to speak to Schwimmer in the hotel restaurant but it was too crowded and noisy, so the actor suggested going to his room instead. Being twice his age Minow did not feel worried in any way but appreciated his sensitivity. Her recollections about Schwimmer arose in the wake of allegations that producer Harvey Weinstein committed acts of sexual harassment, assault and rape against more than 30 women. The actor, producer and director showed 'integrity and sensitivity', according to Minow Stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, and Cara Delevingne - have released detailed statements, describing his alleged advances. Earlier this week, a British woman who worked for Weinstein broke a 25-year silence to accuse the film mogul of raping her in the basement of his London offices. Four women in the US have already accused 65-year-old Weinstein of rape, along with more than 30 who allege sexual harassment or assault by the producer. Last week, Merseyside Police announced they were investigating a separate claim of sexual assault against Weinstein dating back to the 1980s. Savannah Guthrie and her high school best friend used to proudly rock the same hairdo, as she proudly showed today with a fun Throwback Thursday photo. The Today host, 45, took to Instagram to share a snap of herself and her 'bestie' as teens, posing together and beaming at the camera. In the photo, Savannah and her friend both have long, curly hair with bangs, though Savannah's hair was dark while her bestie donned a sunny blonde. Owning it: Savannah Guthrie and her high school best friend used to proudly rock the same hairdo, as she proudly showed today with this fun Throwback Thursday photo The Today host (pictured in a recent snap), 45, took to Instagram to share a snap of herself and her 'bestie' as teens, posing together and beaming at the camera 'Throwback Thursday to the last time I had hair this longhigh school! Me and my bestie riding with the same 'do too.' Savannah doesn't often participate in Throwback Thursday on her Instagram account, on which she has 423,000 followers, though she has done so on the Today show on occasion. Her vintage snap was a success with her followers, though, and many took to the comments section to tell the host she looked great even in her high school years, with some of them saying they had once rocked the same hairdo. The Australia-born host attended Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Arizona, before getting a degree in journalism at the University of Arizona and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Not made of money: Earlier this week, Savannah took to Instagram to share a snapshot of one of her residual checks for 'zero dollars' Cameo: One fan asked if the check for zero dollars was from her appearance on the 2015 made-for-TV movie Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (pictured) Earlier this week, the anchor took to Instagram to poke a bit of fun at herself, by sharing a snapshot of one of her residual checks for 'zero dollars'. 'Ooh. residual checks getting larger,' Savannah cheekily captioned the image of the check, which was sent from Los Angeles. Television personalities like Savannah typically receive residuals as payment for reruns of shows or movies they have appeared in. Although they can be a significant amount of money for some, that is clearly not the case for Savannah, who is reportedly worth $2 million. Some commenters pointed out that the check cost more to send than it was worth, with one woman asking: 'Why would they bother?' 'Cost them more to make the check!' a woman named Trish wrote, while someone named Gage asked: 'Don't they lose money by printing and mailing that?' Education: Savannah (pictured with her husband and two children) attended Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Arizona, before getting a journalism degree at the University of Arizona Knowledge: The host (pictured with her daughter Vale, three, and her son Charles, 10 months old) also received a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center Loving it: Savannah (pictured in a recent selfie) had success with her throwback photo, and received comments telling her she looked great even in her high school years Although most people focused on how ridiculous it was that she received a check for zero dollars, one person wanted to know what Savannah is receiving residuals from. 'Is this from Sharknado?' Angela Limburg wrote. Savannah and her Today show co-stars Matt Lauer, Al Roker, and Natalie Morales appeared in the film starring Tara Reid and Ian Ziering four years ago. During their appearance in the film, the Today show stars are covering the unfolding events of the deadly weather events when four sharks fall through the roof and lunge at the startled anchors. Although that is certainly one of Savannah's most memorable cameos, she has also played herself on The Michael J. Fox show, 30 Rock, and 1600 Penn, all in 2013. Gabrielle Union has been incredibly candid about her experience of getting raped at gunpoint as a teenager, and her latest harrowing account of the horrific assault is no different. The 44-year-old actress has spoke openly about the traumatic event since she first rose to fame in the early 2000s, but the shocking, detailed account she gives in her book We're Going to Need More Wine truly drives home the star's commitment to being an advocate for victims. In the distressing passage of her memoir, which hit stores this week, she shares the particular horror of being attacked at work at age 19, as well as the heartbreaking aftermath. Scroll down for video Activist: Gabrielle Union has been a vocal advocate for sexual assault victims her entire career, stemming from the experience of her own rape at age 19 Horrible: The actress, now 44, was attacked by a stranger with a gun while working at a Payless store Honest: She goes into great detail about the assault in her new book of essays Glamour published the full excerpt from her book on Wednesday. In it, Gabrielle recalled working at a local Payless shoe store when she was 19. During her time there, a former employee of the chain was robbing local stores but while corporate knew about it, and knew the man's name, the current employees did not. One night, that man walked into Gabrielle's store. She immediately sensed something off about him but was polite and professional. About fifteen minutes before closing, she heard her co-worker scream from the register. The man was there, pointing a gun at her, demanding the money in the register. After expressing disappointment over how much cash was there, he ordered the two young women into the storeroom, pushing the gun into Gabrielle's back. He told them to take off their clothes. The man then singled out Gabrielle, ordering her to come with him. 'He threw me to the ground and was suddenly on me, spreading my legs as he kept the gun on my head,' she wrote. 'As he raped me, I began to hover over myself. I could see the whole room. I looked at that poor crying girl and thought, Things like this happen to bad people. Things like this don't happen to people like me. Flashback: Gabrielle is pictured in 1993, about a year after her attack 'He turned me over to go for it doggy style. He put the gun down, placing it right next to me. "Can you hand me the gun?" He said it casually as he ripped into me, like he was asking for the salt.' Gabrielle saw her opportunity, and grabbed the gun and shot at him. 'I grabbed the gun and I did my best to try and kill him because I really felt I was about to die,' she said in a recent interview on Nightline. 'So it was either going to be him or me, and it wasn't going to be me, not on that day.; She missed, and the man tried to rip it from her hand. In her book, she wrote: 'He bashed my face as he turned the gun toward me with his other hand,' she wrote. 'My finger was wedged between the trigger and the base it felt like he was going to rip my finger off but I wouldn't let go. 'Finally, he ripped the gun out of my hand. He pointed the barrel at my head and stood over me. "Now I'm gonna have to kill you, bitch,"' she wrote. She tried to bargain, offering him her jewelry. Though he didn't take it, the distraction seemed to help, and he asked her where the exit was. He left. Ongoing struggles: She said seeing the look on her dad's face when he learned what happened was a 'nightmare' Better: Though she is now happily married to Dwyane Wade, she said that even 24 years later she is still affected by her attack She and her co-worker called the police, and Gabrielle was 'grateful' that it had happened in an 'affluent neighborhood with an underworked police department and an underutilized rape crisis center'. The police were 'wonderful' to her. 'The fact that one can be grateful for such things is goddamn ridiculous,' she wrote. But though the rape itself was over, the horror of dealing with it was not. Seeing her dad's face when he learned what happen was 'a nightmare', and she felt 'damaged'. Her boyfriend, too, was 'destroyed'. Not long after, the rapist struck again and was eventually arrested. Gabrielle had to go to court. It was written about in the paper, so everyone she knew knew what happened to her. I got raped at work and people still want to know what role I played in what happened to me She ended up deferring admission to UCLA and eventually went to group therapy. She also sued Payless for not providing a safe work environment. As she is vocal about her rape, Gabrielle often fields questions about it. The first is whether she wishes she'd had better aim (she doesn't; she would have felt guilty to have killed someone). The second is 'What were you wearing?' 'I got raped at work and people still want to know what role I played in what happened to me,' she wrote. Though therapy helped her, she is still affected by the assault. 'Twenty-four years later, fear still influences everything I do,' she wrote. 'I saw the devil up close, remember. You can figure out how to move through the world, but the idea of peace? In your soul? 'It doesn't exist. I'm selective about who I allow into my life. I can spot people who make me feel anxious or fearful, and they are not welcome.' Gabrielle spoke more about the assault on her book tour this week during a stop at Good Morning America, also giving her thoughts on the current focus on sexual assault following the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Getting it out there: She also spoke about the assault during her book tour on GMA this week Them too: She said it has been 'weird' to see the #MeToo hashtag trending 'I've been talking about being a sexual assault survivor for over two decades now,' she said. 'For 20 years, I've been trying to tell my story as honestly as possible, with the goal of never having to hear "me too" ever again.' 'When I realized that hundreds of men and women were talking about being part of this unfortunate club, it just rips your heart out.' The #MeToo hashtag swept social media this week, with stars like Alyssa Milano, Debra Messing, Rosario Dawson, America Ferrera, and Lady Gaga joining non-famous women in admitting that they, too, had been victims of sexual harrassment or assault. 'It was so wild the other night to see "me too" trending, and when I first saw it, my arm went numb, 'Gabrielle added. 'I will continue to try to keep educating. 'You see so much now with victim blaming and victim shaming and really trying to put the onus on the victim and trying to say that there's some right way to deal with trauma. And I just have to keep speaking out to dispel as many misconceptions as possible about sexual violence.' She also shared her thoughts on Twitter on Sunday, telling followers of the Weinstein scandal: 'We all need this reminder when we talk abt our personal evolution. We must be accountable 4 ALL our s*** past & present. Speaking out: Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Gabrielle took to Twitter to share her thoughts Brave: She said the the story served as a reminder to people that sexual assault is common, and that people have real reasons for staying silent Not right: The star also took on the unfair attitudes toward victims Tough: Though she has been open about her assault since early in her career, she struggled with the decision to open up Gabrielle also said this week that she first decided to talk about her rape after feeling uncomfortable with the plot of a TV show she was working on 'Sexual violence & harassment can happen to anyone at anytime anywhere,' she went on. 'Ppl remain silent 4 many different very personal reasons. Judgment, victim shaming/blaming, loss of job/$, fear of violence, retaliation. 'Folks are also very open and obvious about what kind of victim should be prioritized & believed. To think otherwise is to be willfully dim. In Hollywood meetings in homes, hotel lobbies/restaurants/suites, private isolated office space is the norm. NO ONE "ASKED FOR IT!!" 'Sexual or physical violence, harassment, demeaning language is NOT the price one should pay for seeking or maintaining employment. Period,' she concluded. Speaking to the Washington Post, Gabrielle also shared what inspired her to tell her story in the first place, so many years ago. 'It was sort of decided for me when I was on a show that had a story line about a serial rapist preying on the people who worked at a hospital,' she said. 'Over the course of several weeks, I would look at the script and I would just be locked in terror, wondering if they were going to write my character to be raped next. 'And yet I worked with such kind, compassionate people, I realized that if they knew what had happened to me, they just wouldnt do that to me. '[Telling co-workers is] what started it. Then once I shared, others shared: You know that happened to me; you know that happened to my child, my mother. In attempting to protect myself, I realized I was offering a bridge, a hand, to other people who wanted to share, or who just needed to know, "Hey, Im not alone."' Lara Trump and her husband Eric are sleep-deprived new parents, but they are still making time for a little romance while doting on their baby boy. The 35-year-old mom took to Instagram on Wednesday evening to share a snapshot of Eric, 33, giving her a sweet kiss on the head at the White House before posting a video of their one-month-old son Luke in his play seat. 'My other favorite part of today,' Lara captioned the selfie, which was taken on a balcony overlooking the Washington Monument. Scroll down for video Pucker up: Lara Trump took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a photo of her husband Eric giving her a kiss on the head at the White House Too cute: The next day, Lara posted a video of her one-month-old son Luke sitting in his baby chair wearing a onesie featuring the words 'Talk to me, Goose' Lara is smiling for the camera in the snapshot, while Eric has his lips puckered and pressed to her temple. The new mom was sporting a tan blazer over a patterned dress, and she looked surprisingly well-rested despite having a newborn at home. The animal activist was in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to host an unprecedented meeting with presidential aides and two cabinet secretaries about a 'pets for vets' campaign that would pair war veterans with homeless pets living shelters. 'I was honored to participate in a White House round table today discussing ways to help veterans and homeless dogs simultaneously. My favorite moment was meeting a veteran named Justin and his service dog Thor (who likely "sits" better for Justin) More to come stay tuned!' she captioned an image of herself petting the veteran's service dog. The next day, Lara returned to Instagram to share a video of baby Luke cuddled inside his baby seat. The little boy is seen wearing a black onesie featuring a pair of aviator sunglasses and the words, 'Talk to me, Goose' one of Tom Cruise's famous lines from the 1986 film Top Gun. All in a day's work: President Trump's daughter-in-law traveled to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for a roundtable discussion about pairing war veterans with homeless pets Ready for his close-up: Lara starts the video with a full shot of Luke in his Top Gun-inspired onesie before zooming on the baby's chubby cheeks and deep blue eyes Bonding time: Lara recently stated that breastfeeding her son has been 'amazing' Lara starts the video with a full shot of Luke in his Top Gun-inspired onesie before zooming on the baby's chubby cheeks and deep blue eyes. The mom recently opened up about breastfeeding her son during her and her husband's appearance on the Fox New program Justice with Judge Jeanine, saying 'it's amazing.' 'It's sort of incredible that the human body not only provides you with the immense love that you naturally and immediately have for another human you just met, but that you can provide everything that they need,' she gushed. The new mom has already gone back to work several days a week, but she admitted that she thinks about Luke the entire she is there. However, when she gets home, all she thinks about is being at work. Lara, who is working on her father-in-law's 2020 re-election campaign, admitted that 'it is a definite balancing act when you are a mom that also works.' And while Lara said Eric is 'ready for number two,' she is clearly enjoying every moment with her first born. Rub a dub dub! Lara shared an adorable video of herself giving her son Luke a bath last Thursday Happy couple: Her husband Eric, 33, took to Instagram last Thursday to wish her a happy 35th birthday while sharing a photo of them together Loving mom: Eric also posted a sweet snapshot of Lara feeding their son Lara kicked off the workweek by sharing a precious black and white image of herself sitting on the couch with Luke resting on her legs. She is dressed casually in ripped jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, while the baby is bundled up in a cozy onesie, hat, and little mittens to keep himself from scratching his face. While Lara is lovingly gazing at her little boy, one of her dogs is sound asleep next to her with his head nuzzled against her thigh. Lara celebrated her birthday and her baby boy Luke's first month in the world on October 12 by giving her only child a morning bath. The wife of Eric Trump took last Thursday for her 35th birthday to share an adorable video of herself holding her little boy in a baby bath tub as he splashes around. 'After this morning's bath, I'm not sure how my birthday (& Luke's 1 month birthday!) could get any better!' she captioned the clip, which sees her baby boy resting his head on her arm. Look of love: Lara recently revealed that Eric is 'ready' to have baby number two 'Back in the saddle': Lara shared a photo of herself horseback riding last week Animal lover: Earlier this month, Lara took Luke to the stables to introduce him to a horse named Lissa While Lara was enjoying bathtime with their son, Eric, 33, paid tribute to his wife on Instagram. The proud husband shared a photo of himself posed with Lara along with an image of his wife feeding their baby boy. 'Happy birthday to my beautiful wife @LaraLeaTrump. Thank you for #LittleLuke & for 10 amazing years! I love you very much! #TheBig35,' he captioned the two images. The day after her birthday, Lara happily shared a photo of herself wearing a riding helmet and boots while sitting on top of a horse, writing: 'Thrilled to be #BackInTheSaddle.' In a previous Instagram post, the animal love and equestrian admitted that she couldn't wait until she would be able to ride again. Lara even took Luke to visit the stables earlier this month, introducing her baby boy to a horse named Lissa. Summer may be a distant memory, but Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden gave a masterclass in transitional dressing as she rocked a floral dress at an event in Stockholm. The mother-of-two showed her sartorial stripes in a winter floral number from Scandi brand Gestuz. The royal, 40, matched the the dress with smart black heels and carried an electric blue clutch as she met the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives H.E. Mr David Carter at an audience at Stockholm's royal palace. Sticking with her classic look, Victoria wore her hair swept back in her signature smart bun. Crown Princess Victoria looked chic in a winter floral dress as she attended an audience with the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives H.E. Mr David Carter The Crown Princess looked in cheerful form as she greeted her guests The Princess has had a busy week and was on duty again tonight to welcome the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives at Stockholm's royal palace And she let her natural beauty shine through, keeping her make-up fresh and natural. It's been a busy week for Sweden's future Queen who joined her parents on Monday night for a science symposium to mark the 70th birthday of H&M founder Stefan Persson. Yesterday she attended a seminar and reception to help Finland celebrate 100 years as an independent state. The mother-of-two juggles royal duties with raising her two children with Crown Prince Daniel Estelle, five, and 19-month-old Oscar. Victoria let her natural beauty shine through by keeping her make-up to a minimum The future Queen of Sweden is certainly a pro at working a line up Six hours into a difficult labour with our first child, my husband of 14 months said he was popping across the road for a couple of pints while I got on with it. I begged him to stay, but he was unmoved. Itll take at least another two hours, he said. Ill be back before it gets exciting. And with that, he was gone. I shouldnt have been surprised. My husband, Brent Sadler, now 67, a war reporter for CNN, was used to swooping in at the last moment for the headline event. His second marriage in 1985, to Debby, now 54 and a former air hostess, was different. Pictured: Tess and Debby More importantly, hed seen it all before. It was my first child, but he already had two daughters and two ex-wives. Like the U.S. First Lady Melania Trump who sparked headlines earlier this month in a spat with her husband Donalds ex, Ivana I knew when I married a recycled husband that I wasnt going to get many firsts. But I wasnt aware quite how greatly the shadow of the previous Mrs Sadlers the second, in particular would loom over my life, rendering me nervous, defensive and paranoid. Indeed, I felt for Melania, who has previously insisted she has a thick skin. Yet it was all too apparent that she was terribly stung when Ivana Trump announced she was basically first Trump wife, OK? Im First Lady. While technically, of course, Ivana was the first Mrs Trump and Melania is the mere third, this was too wounding to go unremarked. Melania hit back, saying via a White House spokesman: There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. This is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise. [Melania] is honoured by her role as First Lady of the United States. When I became Mrs Sadler in 1993, aged 23, the title of Mrs Sadler was already well-worn. But I didnt expect how much it would bother me that Brent, then 42, had already experienced so much with other women. Hed set up home as a newlywed twice. Hed travelled all over the world with his previous wives. Romantic weekend in Paris? Done that. Pyramids in Egypt? Done that, too. I couldnt help but feel our life was somehow tarnished by the feeling he had played it all out before. But Brent assured me those marriages had been disasters. My husband, Brent Sadler,(pictured in 1982) now 67, a war reporter for CNN, was used to swooping in at the last moment for the headline event His first, to Janis, now 67, a petite brunette, had been a youthful mistake, and their marriage in 1972 lasted only a few years. She lived in their old home in Bristol with their daughter, Nicola, then 17. On the few occasions we met, we got on. His second marriage in 1985, to Debby, now 54 and a former air hostess, was different. It had been fiery from the start, provoked in part by Brent travelling all the time reporting for ITN. Debby had no choice but to build a life that didnt include him. I took careful note when he said he needed lots of attention, and determined to prove that Mrs Sadlers One and Two had been mere warm-up acts for the real thing. Brent and I had met in the summer of 1991, when he gatecrashed my birthday party at a bar in London. He and Debby had unofficially separated a few months beforehand, after six years of marriage, and she was abroad with their daughter, Brooke, then three. He said she didnt care about him, insisting they led separate lives on different continents. My heart ached for the lonely man who literally wept on my shoulder. I was sure I would be the one to make him happy. He asked me to marry him just four days after we met. I quit my job as a TV producer on News at Ten three months later, and moved with him to Cyprus, where he was CNNs Middle East bureau chief. Not long after we reached that milestone in early 1997, Brent began an affair with his Serbian translator, Jelena, then aged 25. Pictured: Tess and Jelena But there was one imperfection in an otherwise seemingly flawless picture: Debby, wife number two. She had done me no harm Id never even met her and yet I hated her simply for existing. I couldnt bear the idea hed ever loved her. And so we flaunted our relationship on the cover of glossy magazines and even gave syrupy joint interviews under headlines like: Why Brents new wife will be his last. When Debby branded Brent a love-rat in the newspapers, I cruelly dismissed her as an irrelevance, just one more bill on our list. Naturally enough, she retaliated in kind, saying I had a bad reputation and a laugh like a hyena, which stung. Then, in 1994, six months after our marriage, I became pregnant with our first baby, Henry, now 23. I was elated, but my thrill was even greater because I was having a boy. Neither of his previous wives had given Brent a son. Still, though, my obsession with Debby deepened. I drove a newer version of her Mercedes. I made friends with her estranged best friend, which infuriated Debby and meant an extra frisson of pleasure for me. Brent and I went to the same places theyd once gone to on holiday only I insisted we stay at more chic hotels. At my request, he even bought me half-a-dozen of the same gold bangles that she had. I was afraid if Brent could stop loving her, he might stop loving me, too. When I asked him for reassurance, he was dismissive, saying it was Debbys fault and that hed never leave a good wife. When he threw out all his photos and videos of Debby, determined to erase her from his life, I secretly saved them, poring over them and studying how happy he looked with her compared with me. I couldnt see what shed done wrong which made me worry that Id make the same mistakes and never know it. I even worked out exactly how many years theyd been married before we met five years and eight months and marked it off on my calendar when wed been together longer, as if Id finally laid her ghost to rest. Pride comes before a fall. Not long after we reached that milestone in early 1997, Brent began an affair with his Serbian translator, Jelena, then aged 25. I was pregnant with our second son, Matt, now 20, at the time. I found out about the affair when a journalist called me to ask whether Id like to comment on the story. Brent denied it, and I believed him, but started watching his behaviour more closely. I scrutinised phone bills and discovered hed made calls to a certain number every day for the past year. Of course, I called it and found out the hard way. I didnt tell Brent I knew, and waited for the affair to burn itself out. It didnt and after 12 agonising months, I asked him to leave. I felt for Melania, who has previously insisted she has a thick skin. Yet it was all too apparent that she was terribly stung when Ivana Trump announced she was basically first Trump wife, OK? Im First Lady' It was the harshest of lessons. I realised when a man has an affair, its not his wifes fault, no matter how lonely he is. However, I was determined to do divorce better than Debby had. Whereas she had raged at Brent over the phone, and publicly excoriated him, I went out of my way to be accommodating even though I despised his mistress. I made friends with Jelena, in part to throw Brent off balance. It worked: he was utterly confused. She shouted furiously at him and I looked like a saint. We initially agreed a financial arrangement without even resorting to lawyers. I let him see our sons whenever he wanted. But, all the while, Jelena was the one having to deal with a previous Mrs Sadler, and she guarded her territory as ruthlessly as I had. Her jealousy wasnt unfounded. In 2001, two years after our split, Brent secretly flew me to the U.S. to renegotiate his contract with CNN without telling Jelena something I agreed to in part to annoy her. When Jelena found out, she insisted all communication between us had to go through her, and our relationship descended into precisely the kind of bitter feud Brent had with Debby. Oh, the karma of it all. Now I understood how Debby had felt. Even though I hadnt caused their split, I deeply regretted my ungracious behaviour afterwards. After all, she had played a part in Brent becoming the man I fell in love with. I know now its hard to watch a man you once devoted your life to with another woman. Because like it or not, you have shaped him. All that effort and now Jelena is the one reaping the rewards, enjoying the family life I created. Im ashamed to admit that, even now, I hate seeing photographs of Jelena smiling with my two sons. She is welcome to my ex, but she will never come close to being a mother to my children. Amid all this emotion, I came to realise something: I owed Debby an apology, but didnt ever imagine shed want to hear from me. Then three years ago, I found the box containing all those old photos of Debby and her daughter that Brent had wanted to get rid of. I was about to throw them out, when something stopped me. Nervously, I contacted Debby on Facebook and to my astonishment she sent me a warm reply. For several months, we messaged each other, before arranging to meet up. With wry humour, Debby suggested Langans in Mayfair, where theyd celebrated their wedding reception and where shed later hosted her divorce party. We met for lunch and rolled out of Langans five hours and four bottles of champagne later. We talked about Brent, of course, but we had much more in common than a mere ex-husband. Men tend to have a type Debby, Jelena and I are all tall, blonde, confident and outgoing so perhaps its unsurprising that Debby and I felt like wed known each other for years. She had resented me when Brent and I got together of course she had but her main concern was always for her daughter. The fact Id saved those photographs meant the world to her. Since then, weve met up several times and are in regular contact. Debby is hugely entertaining and runs an extremely successful PR company she built up herself. All those years I wasted being terrified and jealous of her when we could have been friends. The irony is that my short marriage to Brent matters now only because it gave me my boys. For the past 16 years, Ive been happily married to my second husband, Erik Oliver, 46, with whom I have a daughter, Lily, 15. And Ive learned an important lesson. Forget waging war on the wives who went before you. Showing your ex how happy you are is by far the best revenge of all. A new survey has revealed the best and worst lovers in the world - and Australia did not underperform. But sorry Kiwis, the same can't be said for New Zealand. Australian men ranked among the hottest lovers, topping the male list along with the United States and South Africa. All three countries received an eight out of 10 in the survey conducted by online dating site Saucy Dates, meaning they were considered 'very good' in bed. A new survey has revealed the best and worst lovers in the world, with Australian men and American women among the top spots Australian men ranked among the hottest lovers, topping the list (pictured) along with South African and American men, as well as women from the US, Canada, Italy, and France Aussie women didn't fare quite as well in the ranking, missing the top spot by scoring a six in the survey - which still means they are considered 'quite good' in bed. It was women from the United States, Canada, France, and Italy who were voted the best female lovers, with all nabbing the 'very good' eight score. While Italian and Spanish men have long been hailed as the most romantic of lovers, they fell below Australian men with a 'good' score of seven. They were joined by men from France and Canada, as well as women from South Africa and the United Kingdom. Aussie women did not fare as well in the ranking, missing the top spot after getting a six in the survey - which still means they are considered 'quite good' in bed Both men and women from Germany and India also scored a seven on the scale. Men from the United Kingdom did not perform as well as their female counterparts, scoring only a 'quite good' six in the ranking. Along with Australian women, they were joined in the third-best spot by women from New Zealand and Spain. But all fared far better than the poor men of New Zealand, who only received a four on the scale - worse than average and translating to mean they were 'bad' in bed. Saucy Dates revealed it questioned 22,753 of its members from all over the world for the survey. Members were first asked to rank the last person they slept with from 0 (worst ever) to 10 (best ever), and then reveal which country their lover had hailed from. All fared far better than the poor men of New Zealand, who only received a four on the scale - worse than average and translating to mean they are considered 'bad' in bed The site only surveyed straight men and women 'so men would be rating women and vice versa', it stated. It concluded that American men and women made the best lovers and were the most compatible with each other, thanks to their 'earth moving' score of eight. The same could not be said for Australian men, which the survey said were 'unfortunate to live far away from females who rate equally'. But have no fear, Saucy Dates points out that at the end of the day these are all just averages and that you 'could still get lucky when you get lucky'. The site adds that their stats may be used to help you choose between lovers if you ever find yourself getting truly lucky on a night out. 'If you ever find yourself in the fortunate position of having two offers and not knowing which to take then maybe use our stats to help you pick!' Artisan doughnut shops are getting more and more experimental with their treats these days, mixing things like bacon, everything bagel seasoning, and even fried chicken into their recipes. But all those doughnuts are still, ultimately, meant to be dessert. Not so for Forbidden Donuts, a pop-up shop in Manhattan. There, Chef Richard Farnabe serves up strictly savory doughnuts, with out-there flavors like lobster roll and caviar that are clearly more 'appetizer' than dessert. If the concept seems like a prank, that's because it actually started as a joke but the buzzy doughnuts have become a popular snack for New York City foodies and regularly sell out. That's new! Forbidden Donuts in New York City sells savory, not sweet, doughnuts Something fishy here... The idea came about when Chef Richard Farnabe was joking about putting caviar in a doughnut but he really did it (pictured) Limited: The doughnuts sell for $5 to $18 and are only available on the weekends at the Bowery Kitchen Supplies counter in Chelsea Market Got a kick: Other offerings have included the kimchi doughnut (left) and the Bloody Mary (right) Quick! The doughnuts regularly sell out and have caught the attention of city foodies 'Everything came out of a joke, but we just turned that joke into reality,' Chef Farnabe told Delish. 'We were making sweet donuts in the kitchen and someone said, "Why won't you put caviar on those?" The French chef, whose resume includes the famed New York restaurants Daniel, Petrossian, and Jean Georges, found that the unexpected combination worked better than expected and soon began selling them to customers at the Bowery Kitchen Supplies counter in Chelsea Market every weekend. The menu is certainly not for traditionalists or the cash-strapped, as prices range from $5 to $18. Options are mostly meat (with a focus on seafood) and vegetable-based. There's the flagship caviar doughnut, which is filled with an oscetra caviar cream filling filling and topped with ream fraiche glaze and vodka jelly. Nope, that's not citrus! This doughnut has a smoked salmon mousse filling, a cream fraiche glaze, and salmon roe on top An acquired taste: Other items have included the Sweet Pea and mango with green peppercorns and crab salad Mixing it up: The foie gras doughnut (right) has a chocolate glaze Past menu items have included smoked tomato and mozzarella (right) and green olive tapenade (left) Also from the sea is the the lobster roll doughnut made with lobster meat and a lobster bisque glaze as well as a pastry made with a smoked salmon mousse filling, a cream fraiche glaze, and salmon roe on top. The foie gras doughnut has the most familiar ingredient: In addition to the foie gras mousse filling, it has a chocolate glaze. Vegetable fans have the sweet pea doughnut (made with sweet peas, ramps, and a mint glaze), the cauliflower doughnut (stuffed with peanut, ginger, and roasted cauliflower), the artichoke doughnut (artichokes and Matcha green tea glaze), and the kimchi doughnut (filled with Korean fermented cabbage dish kimchi and glazed with sriracha). 'You can start with something sweet and finish very spicy and there's protein and vegetables,' the chef added. Get your veggies: Other past menu items have included doughnuts with broccoli and garlic 'You can start with something sweet and finish very spicy and there's protein and vegetables,' the chef said Interesting... The doughnuts are definitely Instagrammable (Yuzu sake gele and uni pictured right) Impressed: A customer who ordered the kimchi wrote on Instagram: 'This donut was savory and has bit of kick it, different but delicious Since it first opened back in April, there has also been flavors liked garlic, Bloody Mary, broccoli, smoked tomato and mozzarella, green olive tapenade, Yuzu sake gele and uni, Thai coconut with carrots and ginger, and mango with green peppercorns and crab salad. Fans who snap up the doughnuts each week admit they're unique but seem to like them. One who ordered the kimchi wrote on Instagram: 'This donut was savory and has bit of kick it, different but delicious.' 'Amaaaaazzzziinnnnggggg,' wrote another. One in five young women who use sunbeds are addicted to the high dose of ultraviolet radiation that leaves them bronzed, warns new research. The 'troubling' findings suggests that 'indoor tanning dependency' is worryingly common in young women, especially in those with depression, experts said. The survey of young women who have used indoor tanning at least once in the past year showed that more than one in five of them have signs of being addicted to the high dose of UV radiation. And women with symptoms of depression were three times more likely to meet the criteria for having a tanning dependence. Experts warn the findings should be a red flag to doctors who may prescribe sunbed tanning to people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), rather than offering them a light box free of cancer risk. Experts warn doctors need to do more to teach people about the dangers of tanning - particularly young women and people with depression who appear to be most susceptible to tanning addiction THE SCANDAL OF PRESCRIBING SUNBED TANNING TO PEOPLE WITH S.A.D For years, doctors have been prescribing sunbed tanning to people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The disorder affects people in the winter, when the temperature drops and the days become darker. Changes in light, body temperature and vitamin D levels lead to seasonal depression. A common treatment is a dose of light and warmth, which can be found in the form of a light box. However, there are scores of doctors who report improvements in their patients after visiting sunbeds. But experts warn the prescription is irresponsible given the high risk of melanoma. This new study by Georgetown also highlights the propensity for women and people with depression to become hooked on the dangerous activity. Advertisement The findings from Georgetown University Medical Center, published online by the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, suggest that for some young women, education about cancer risks from tanning may not be enough to make them stop. Research leader Dr Darren Mays, assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown, said: 'It's troubling. We know that tanning, especially early in life, increases the risk of skin cancers, and is associated with early-onset cancers.' One indoor tanning exposure increases the risk of melanoma by around 20 percent, and increases the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer by 29 to 67 percent. With each additional indoor tanning exposure, the lifetime cancer risk increases by about one or two percent. Indoor tanning currently accounts for about 10 percent of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers in the US. Dr Mays said indoor tanning is more harmful than tanning outdoors because tanning beds can deliver higher levels of UVA and UVB light. While figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that indoor tanning has been declining overall, about 15 percent of young adult non-Hispanic white women in the US reported tanning in the past year. For women ages 17 to 18, the rates are higher: 20 percent to 25 percent of that group reported tanning. Dr Mays said: 'It's promising that the rates have declined, but there are subgroups where it remains a pervasive behavior.' His team surveyed 400 non-Hispanic white women between the ages of 18 and 30 and had been tanning in the last 12 months. Those who met the criteria for indoor tanning dependence were more likely to weigh the perceived benefits, such as an improved appearance, over the perceived risks, including developing cancer. But the strongest association the researchers observed was between indoor tanning dependence and depression. Previous studies have shown frequent tanners show a preference to UV light even when blinded, and experience a dopamine response in their brains similar to other addictions. Other research in mice has also found that UV light stimulates an opioid response in their brains. Dr Mays said: 'The opioid activation pathway is a really interesting area that we want to learn more about.' He says it has implications for reducing indoor tanning, particularly among young women. Dr Mays added: 'We tested interventions that were about risk communication, but for this population with tanning dependence, the thing that stands out to us was not only the association between attitudes and beliefs, but their depressive symptoms. 'The intervention model needs to go above and beyond informing about risks to include treating those symptoms.' He said further research may find a combination of counseling and medications may be best for treating tanning dependence, similar to other addiction treatments. Relying on traditional Chinese medicines could put you at risk of deadly liver cancer, new research suggests. Singaporean scientists have uncovered evidence of a clear link between one herbal remedy and the deadly strain of cancer. They warned the danger stems from toxic chemicals called aristolochic acids (AA), derived from the woody vines of Aristolochia plants. In regions that heavily rely on the plants as medicines, experts discovered up to 78 per cent of liver tumours 'were likely due to contact with the chemicals'. It backs up a host of research in recent decades that has shown AA to be harmful to humans, causing it to be banned in both the UK and US. Singaporean scientists have uncovered evidence of a clear link between one herbal remedy, called aristolochic acids, and the deadly strain of cancer The acids can be found in some traditional Chinese medicines that are given during childbirth, to prevent parasites, promote healing and treat insomnia. The report, published in Science Translational Medicine, looked at samples of liver cancer in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. A 'well-defined mutational signature' was found in patients who succumbed to the complications of consuming the plant. Some 78 per cent of the 98 samples studied in Taiwan contained mutation patterns that indicated the cancers were likely due to contact with the chemicals. The Chinese branch of the trial showed 47 per cent of 89 liver cancer cases studied showed a link to this traditional medicine component. In Vietnam, five out of 26 tumors studied were a match (19 per cent), along with five out of nine from other countries in Southeast Asia (56 per cent). Banned across the world The link was nowhere near as significant in both North America or Europe, where the dangerous substance is illegal to possess. The Government banned the import, sale or supply of aristolochia in the UK in 2001 amid mounting concerns over the plant's safety. In the 1990s, a group of 100 Belgian women reported sudden late stage kidney failure after taking a weight loss drug that contained AA. THE BENEFITS OF CHINESE HERBS Traditional Chinese medicines could help prevent heart disease and the progression of pre-diabetes, according to research released in June. Some herbal treatments proved as effective in lowering blood pressure as Western drugs and improved heart health by lowering cholesterol, scientists found. Certain alternative medicines could lower blood sugar and insulin levels, too. Chinese medicines could be used alongside conventional treatments, said researchers from from Shandong University Qilu Hospital in China. Or they can be beneficial as an alternative for patients intolerant of Western drugs, they said in their review of medical studies over a ten-year period. Advertisement The ingredient has also been banned in the US for the same amount of time, however it is difficult to control as it is available via the internet. What about in Taiwan and China? Taiwan followed suit two years later and banned some herbal preparations using the plants. However, there is no outright ban in China or Taiwan, and 'only specific plants, rather than any plant and product containing AA or its derivatives, are regulated'. Researchers found that the prevalence of AA-associated mutations in liver cancers in Taiwan did not drop after the ban was implemented. This could be because it would take more time for a drop in cancers to be noticeable in the data, they said. Aristolochia: The facts Links between the consumption of aristolochia, also known as birthwort, and other forms of cancer have been noted in recent years. It is estimated that millions of people across the world use Chinese herbs, which are often frowned upon by the medical community who believe the best form of care is drugs and conventional treatment. The Chinese have used herbs for treating diseases for thousands of years, and its popularity has spread to other regions of Asia. The alternative practice has become increasingly popular in Europe and North America, mainly as complement to Western medicine. A woman has won the go-ahead for a High Court claim over life-changing injuries she suffered after having a controversial vaginal mesh implant fitted that eroded her insides. She alleges that her surgeon, who has since died, failed to adequately explain the operation or inform her of alternative treatments. More than 800 women are suing the NHS and the implants' manufacturers after complaining of crippling pain in a scandal that has been compared to thalidomide. The NHS has even been accused of sweeping complications, such as an inability to walk or have sex, under the carpet in an effort to dodge media attention. After previously denying their implants were causing women's discomfort, 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. Pressure is mounting for a UK ban of the 'gold-standard' treatment for urinary stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. MPs discussed the impact of mesh implants in a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday. Woman has won the go-ahead for a High Court claim over injuries she suffered from mesh WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women. Usually made from synthetic polypropylene, a type of plastic, the implants are intended to repair damaged or weakened tissue in the vagina wall. Other fabrics include polyester, human tissue and absorbable synthetic materials. Some women report severe and constant abdominal and vaginal pain after the surgery. In some, the pain is so severe they are unable to have sex. Infections, bleeding and even organ erosion has also been reported. Advertisement Surgeon failed to explain the procedure In January 2007, the woman was fitted with an implant at Benenden Hospital in Kent to treat her urinary stress incontinence. Although her symptoms initially improved, her incontinence reappeared six months later, alongside excruciating pain as the mesh eroded her insides, it is claimed. She had corrective surgery in September 2011, followed by a hysterectomy in January 2013. She issued a product liability claim against Johnson and Johnson, as well as a claim against her surgeon Mohammed Mossa. She claims Mr Mossa failed to adequately explain the operation or inform her of alternative treatments. Mr Mossa, who was terminally ill, died without being aware of the case, however, his estate argued the claim could not proceed as it was brought outside the legal time limit. Yet, in May this year a judge allowed the claim to continue. Today, the High Court dismissed the estate's appeal against this ruling. A Johnson and Johnson spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Pelvic mesh has helped improve the quality of life for millions of women with serious, debilitating conditions. 'Surgeons, medical societies and regulatory organisations around the world that have conducted independent research on the available data agree that pelvic mesh is an important treatment option for doctors to consider for their patients. 'We empathise with those patients who have had complications following their procedures, but we continue to believe it is important to recognise that their experiences do not speak for the vast majority of women whose lives have been improved through treatment with pelvic mesh devices.' 'THE DAY BEFORE MESH SURGERY I RAN 5K, NOW I WET MYSELF' A mother-of-five who had a vaginal mesh implant fitted for mild stress incontinence now has to rush to the toilet and has even wet herself as a result of the procedure. Julie Gilsennan, 41, from Liverpool, had an implant fitted on February 1 as she would experience leaking if she coughed, sneezed or lifted something heavy, which was impractical given her job as a paramedic. Although she can now sneeze without leaking, Ms Gilsennan has been left with an overactive bladder that makes her desperate for the toilet within 20 minutes of drinking. Previously highly active, Ms Gilsennan even ran 5km the day before having the implant fitted, yet she now struggles to move as she battles unbearable pain. The agony has even forced her to quit her highly-challenging career in order to work from home alone. Ms 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 her job as a paramedic and instead works from home processing complaints to the ambulance service. She said: 'I loved my job, I did it for 12 years. I miss being out on the road with colleagues and talking to people. Now I'm trapped inside my house. 'I'm in immense pain permanently. It's like a cheese wire, glass pain in my groin. 'I also have constant pain across my hips as if I have arthritis. I can't return to work as a paramedic.' Previously highly active, Ms Gilsennan even ran 5km the day before having the implant fitted, yet she now struggles to move as she battles unbearable pain every day Advertisement NHS DODGING MEDIA ATTENTION The NHS tried to dodge media attention over the vaginal mesh implants that left hundreds of women in agony, it was revealed in April. The procedure cut into women's vaginas and left many in discomfort so severe they have been left unable to work, walk or have sex. It emerged the NHS actively sought to avoid courting headlines over the matter after minutes from an NHS meeting in October were leaked. The minutes showed an agreement to 'take the press element out of' a campaign for women experiencing complications from the devices. Seen by the Press Association, the minutes outlined the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) yellow card campaign, which targets under-reporting of mesh complications. Officials said they should 'look into taking the press element out of the mesh yellow card campaign' and 'investigate whether there can be a general yellow card campaign, of which mesh is one element, to avoid media attention on mesh'. Advertisement 'A public health scandal' It was announced on Tuesday Labour is backing a public inquiry into the implants and has called for the procedure to be immediately stopped in England while the inquiry is underway. Sharon Hodgson MP, Labour's Shadow Public Health Minister, said: 'Mesh implants have left women in permanent pain, unable to walk, and unable to work. This is an ongoing public health scandal and the Government need to do much more to support those affected. 'Ministers have said NICE will publish updated guidance for these products but not until January 2018. Mesh implants should be taken off the market now until we know more about the threat they pose to women's safety. 'The Government have failed to answer big questions about the extent of this public health scandal, including how many women have been affected and why a product with such terrible risks was allowed into the market in the first place. 'Labour is calling for a full inquiry to uncover the extent of the harm done by mesh implants so we can be sure that this never happens again.' Today's debate was called by Emma Hardy, MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle. Government rejects a ban Last month the Government released its three-year investigation into the mesh scandal and rejected calls for a widespread ban on the implants, which can shrink, twist and curl at the edges, leading to 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 side effects. Some studies, published in an array of scientific journals, have shown that pain, erosion and perforation from the surgery can affect 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. Moving closer to secluded forests is good for the brain. German researchers have uncovered the first physical proof that living on the edge of a forest boosts brain power. Living near an abundance of trees makes adults less stressed by strengthening an area of the brain that controls emotional processing, they found. The amygdala, an area of grey matter vital for processing anxiety, was more robust in the people involved in the study. The same correlation did not exist when they looked at living close to open green areas, wasteland or rivers in urban areas. Scientists have long suggested living near forests is good for you, but the findings are the first to provide physical evidence. German researchers have uncovered the first physical proof that living on the edge of bustling cities is good for your brain City dwellers are at greater risk of psychiatric illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia than those who reside in the country. Noise, pollution and the high number of people in the small space of a city can also contribute to chronic stress. With almost 70 percent of the world's population expected to be living in cities by 2050, the findings have implications for urban planning. What did the researchers say? Lead author Dr Simone Kuhn, of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, said: 'Research on brain plasticity supports the assumption the environment can shape brain structure and function. NATURE'S HEALTH BENEFITS The findings add to a growing body of evidence that spending time outdoors is linked to an improved mood. Researchers in March found living closer to open fields reduces the risk of being obese or depressed. After reviewing hundreds of studies, Institute for European environmental policy scientists claimed it can even slash the chance of an early death by 16 per cent. While another study in the same month discovered how watching nature documentaries could be a good way to overcome stress. University of California, Berkeley, researchers found watching small clips of shows such as Planet Earth II boosts people's emotions of awe, joy and amusement. Advertisement 'That is why we are interested in the environmental conditions that may have positive effects on brain development. 'Studies of people in the countryside have already shown living close to nature is good for their mental health and wellbeing. We therefore decided to examine city dwellers.' Co-author Ulman Lindenberger, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, said: 'Our study investigates the connection between urban planning features and brain health for the first time.' How was the study carried out? In the study, 341 adults aged between 61 to 82 were asked to complete memory and reasoning tests and undergo brain scans. These were conducted to assess the structure of stress-processing regions in the brain, especially the amygdala. The data was then combined with information about where the participants lived, and what kind of environment it was. City dwellers who lived close to a forest were more likely to have a physiologically healthy amygdala structure, suggesting they were better able to cope with stress. This held true even after the team took into account other influencing factors such as education and income levels. He added the findings published in Scientific Reports now need to be confirmed with further studies, and in other cities - hopefully, in the near future. A healthy woman's heart literally broke after the death of her beloved Yorkshire terrier. Joanie Simpson, a 62-year-old mother from Texas, experienced chest pains after her nine-year-old dog, Meha, died in May 2016. When she was airlifted to the hospital, doctors told her that the devastation she experienced following Meha's death had nearly killed her. Simpson was diagnosed with potentially-fatal Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or 'broken-heart syndrome'. Her story, published today as a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine, exemplifies the physical damage that overwhelming sadness can do to one's body in the wake of a loss. Pictured are scans of Joanie Simpson's heart upon the onset of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. When she first arrived at the hospital, doctors thought she was experiencing a heart attack. But after Simpson, 62, was catheterizehed they discovered her arteries were not blocked and diagnosed her with 'broken-heart syndrome' Meha died after suffering from congestive heart failure. Her death devastated Simpson, who told the Washington Post the dog was like a daughter to her. One day soon after the death Simpson woke up with a back ache and chest pains, and she went to a local emergency room. Simpson was then airlifted to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, and the staff there were told they would be receiving a patient experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack. She was taken to the cardiac catheterization lab at Memorial Hermann, and physicians inserted a tube into her heart via her groin. They expected to see blocked arteries, but x-rays showed them something different, Dr Abhishek Maiti, who treated Simpson, told the Post. 'The artery was crystal clear. It was pristine,' Dr Maiti said. They checked another artery, and found the same result. Simpson was then diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The condition imitates a heart attack and happens when an overwhelming amount of hormones stress the heart. The sensation creates spasms, and 'broken heart syndrome' can be fatal. 'Broken-heart syndrome' typically follows a traumatic event, and it can lead to a host of medical complications including heart failure. Pictured is the type of dog that Simpson lost, which triggered her Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (file photo) WHAT IS TAKOTSUBO CARDIOMYOPATHY? The disease that caused Simpson to endure heart-attack like symptoms mimics acute coronary syndrome. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was first discovered in Japan in 1990. It causes the left ventricle of a person's heart to expand, and it can be fatal. Other names for the condition include 'broken-heart syndrome' and 'stress cardiomyopathy'. While patients diagnosed with the disease generally have good odds when they receive medical help, it can cause serious complications. Among these are: hypotension ventricular rupture heart failure Advertisement Simpson was treated with an angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a beta-blocker. Once she was stable again doctors explained her condition to her and what had happened. She said it 'made complete sense.' Simpson explained the sadness she felt after Meha's death, saying: 'I was nearly inconsolable. I took it really, really hard.' 'The kids were grown and out of the house so she was our little girl,' she said. Additionally, Simpson said that she takes things 'more to heart than a lot of other people'. Simpson had to stay in the hospital for two days following her diagnosis, and she now has to take two heart medications. But she is otherwise healthy. Even though Meha's death could have killed her, Simpson said she plans to get another dog in the future. 'It is heartbreaking. It is traumatic. It is all of the above. But you know what? They give so much love and companionship that I'll do it again. I will continue to have pets. That's not going to stop me.' Simpson's case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the article said that Takotsubo cardiomyopathy typically affects postmenopausal women. The analysis said that patients who suffer from the illness have usually recently endured 'a stressful or emotional event', and it added that Simpson had no symptoms of the illness one year after her hospital visit. Rogue brain proteins that trigger Alzheimer's disease could be destroyed using cheap light therapy, according to new research. An optic probe has been developed by scientists that glows over 100 times more brightly when it identifies the fine fibers, or fibrils, of amyloid beta that kill neurons. The light then oxidizes the fibers to prevent them from clumping together in patients' brains, which inhibits memory and makes them confused. An estimated five-and-a-half million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer's, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Experts say this technique could be an inexpensive way for doctors to halt the disease before it impacts the brain's memory and cognitive function. Researchers developed a probe to detect clumping in the brain that leads to dementia and Alzheimer's disease. This probe uses light therapy to target the clumps in the brain Professor Angel Marti, an associate professor of chemistry at Rice University in the Houston, Texas, and his team developed the probe because light 'is a cheap resource.' He said light activation allows his team to have 'exquisite control' of oxidation. Professor Marti said: 'We imagine it might be possible someday to prevent symptoms of Alzheimer's by targeting amyloid beta in the same way we treat cholesterol in people now to prevent cardiovascular disease.' ALZHEIMER'S: FAST FACTS WHAT IS IT? Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. A build-up of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die. This disrupts the transmitters that carry messages, and causes the brain to shrink. WHAT HAPPENS? As brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost. That includes memory, orientation and the ability to think and reason. The progress of the disease is slow and gradual. On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live for ten to 15 years. EARLY SYMPTOMS: Loss of short-term memory Disorientation Behavioral changes Mood swings Difficulties dealing with money Difficulties making a phone call Difficulties following a TV show LATER SYMPTOMS: Severe memory loss, forgetting close family members, familiar objects or places Becoming anxious and frustrated over inability to make sense of the world... ...This can lead to aggressive behavior Eventually lose ability to walk May have problems eating and drinking The majority will eventually need 24-hour care HOW ALZHEIMER'S DIFFERS FROM NORMAL MEMORY LOSS: With ordinary age-related forgetfulness, you will still remember details associated with the thing they've forgotten. For example, you may forget your neighbor's name in conversation, but you still know that person is your neighbor. Alzheimer's sufferers forget the entire context. Advertisement The clumping together of the amyloid beta is one of the main causes of dementia and Alzheimer's, but drugs that target it have so far failed. Build-up of the protein is one of the earliest changes seen in patients' brains, forming sticky plaques and leading to nerve cell death and memory loss. The probe pinpoints a specific binding site on the protein that could facilitate better drugs to treat the disease. The device, described in the journal Chem, targets the fibrils using a rare metal called rhenium - and glows when hit with ultraviolet light. But when it binds to the toxic protein it becomes more than 100 times brighter - causing it to oxidize. 'While we cannot see the rhenium complex we can find the oxidation, or footprint, it produces on the amyloid peptide,' Professor Marti said. 'That oxidation only happens right next to the place where it binds. The real importance of this research is that it allows us to see with a high degree of certainty where molecules can interact with amyloid beta fibrils.' Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disease that affects more than five million people living in the United States. The symptoms can progress slow or gradual depending on the type of disease. As the brain cells die in the brain, it causes memory loss and disorientation. Previous research has studied the use of medication to target the fibrils in the brain that clump because of the disease. But these medications have had difficulty targeting areas where the clumps occur. Professor Marti said this device could help solve that problem. 'There's an interest in finding medications that will quench the deleterious effects of amyloid beta aggregates,' Professor Marti said. 'But to create drugs for these, we first need to know how drugs or molecules in general can bind and interact with these fibrils, and this was not well known. 'Now we have a better idea of what the molecule needs to interact with these fibrils.' He said the findings are important for the design of new drugs targeting amyloid beta. If the resulting oxidation keeps the fibrils from aggregating further into the sticky substance found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, it offers hope of an effective treatment. 'If we can modify complexes so they absorb red light, which is transparent to tissue, we might be able to perform these photochemical modifications in living animals, and maybe someday in humans,' Professor Marti said. Men who have performed oral sex on five or more partners have the highest risk of HPV-related head and neck cancer, a new study shows. While the current rate of diagnoses is low - affecting just 0.7 percent of the male population - researchers at Johns Hopkins warned men may not be aware that they have a far higher risk than women, especially if they smoke. The study, released today, is the latest piece of evidence to show that boys do need the HPV vaccine as much as girls - and in some cases it is more pressing for males. When the vaccine was first rolled out, it was only provided to teenage girls to protect them from HPV-related cervical cancer. But data suggest the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer will overtake cervical cancer in the US by 2020 - and sexually active men have a high risk. The risk of contracting HPV-related oral cancer is highest among sexually-active men, while sexually-active women do not have a very elevated risk, new research shows (file image) There are over 100 different kinds of HPV but only a few are known to cause cancer. HPV strains 16 and 18 are already known to trigger most cervical cancer, and HPV16 also causes most oropharyngeal cancer. But the new paper, published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology, says we now need to go a step further: we could better curb the rate of HPV-related cancers if we identify who is most at-risk and why. 'For these reasons, it would be useful to be able to identify healthy people who are most at risk of developing oropharyngeal cancer in order to inform potential screening strategies, if effective screening tests could be developed,' said lead author Dr Amber D'Souza, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Oral infection with cancer-causing HPV was rare among women regardless of how many oral sex partners they had 'Most people perform oral sex in their lives, and we found that oral infection with cancer-causing HPV was rare among women regardless of how many oral sex partners they had. 'Among men who did not smoke, cancer-causing oral HPV was rare among everyone who had less than five oral sex partners, although the chances of having oral HPV infection did increase with number of oral sexual partners, and with smoking.' The researchers analyzed data on 13,089 people between the ages of 20 and 69 who were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and had been tested for oral HPV. They then compared those data with federal figures on oropharyngeal cancer diagnoses and deaths to predict the risk of cancer from oral HPV. They also specifically investigated the numbers of new cases of oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OSCC) - the commonest type of oropharyngeal cancer. The researchers found that women had a low risk of oral HPV infection from oral sex in general - regardless of their number of sexual partners. Those who'd had one or no oral sex partners had the lowest rate of cancer-causing oral HPV - affecting 1.8 percent of smokers and 0.5 percent of non-smokers. If women had had two or more oral sex partners in their lifetime, the rate of infection increased slightly to 1.5 percent. 1 IN 9 MEN HAVE ORAL HPV, RECENT U.S. DATA REVEALED The new study by Johns Hopkins comes just days after figures showed one in nine American men have oral HPV. Oral HPV differs from the genital strain because it is contracted in the mouth and throat through oral sex, rather than penetrative sex. Health researchers from the University of Florida studied data of people who contracted HPV in the United States and found an estimated 11.5 million men and 3.2 million women have the oral infection. Oral HPV can cause throat cancer. Indeed, in 2013, Michael Douglas said (then retracted) that he contracted cancer from giving oral sex to his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. As of 2016, US health officials recommend that all children - not just females - between the ages of 11 and 12 receive the jab to lower their risk of infection. Advertisement Among men, the lowest risk group were non-smokers who had never had oral sex, with a rate of 1.5 percent. Prevalence rose to 4 percent among male non-smokers with two to four oral sex partners. For men who smoked and had two to four oral sex partners, the rate was 7.1 percent. It was even higher among non-smoking men who had five or more oral sex partners (7.4 percent). The prevalence of infection was highest (15 percent) among men who smoked and had five or more oral sex partners. Dr Carole Fakhry, associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - head and neck surgery - who co-authored the study, said: 'Currently there are no tests that could be used for screening people for oropharyngeal cancer. 'It is a rare cancer and for most healthy people the harms of screening for it would outweigh the benefits because of the problem of false positive test results and consequent anxiety. 'Our research shows that identifying those who have oral HPV infection does not predict their future risk of cancer well, and so screening based on detecting cancer-causing oral HPV infection would be challenging. 'However, we are carrying out further research of oral HPV infection in young healthy men to explore this further. 'Other research is being done on different biological markers and it is possible some of them could be used for oropharyngeal cancer screening in the future in some people. 'For example, they might be useful in men but not in women given their lower cancer risk. 'Some studies suggest people who have antibodies against cancer-causing types of HPV have an increased risk of HPV-related cancer, but these antibodies are very rare. 'Therefore, it is not yet clear whether they will be useful for screening. Presently, these tests are not commercially available, and are still in research labs only.' Dyslexic people may uniquely not have a dominant eye, a trait that may cause the mirror effect that disrupts their ability to read, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Rennes in France conducted a study of 60 people, half of whom were dyslexic and half of whom were not. When they examined their eyes, they found that non-dyslexic people had spots that indicated that one eye was dominant over the other. Dyslexics had the same types of spots in each eye, which the researchers say indicate that neither eye is dominant. Not having a dominant eye could confuse the brain by creating mirror images, but the researchers claim to have found a way to cancel the duplicated image. Dyslexic people often make 'mirror errors' that make it difficult to read and spell. A new study suggests that this could be because they do not have a dominant eye About 700 million people worldwide struggle with dyslexia, which can make learning to read and, subsequently, learning itself very difficult. Many people with dyslexia often make mirror errors when they read, and struggle to distinguish between things like the letters b and d. Previous research suggests that dyslexia may be genetically inherited, or may develop after birth. Dyslexic people have a difficult time making the correct connections between letters they read, and the sounds and words that should result. Some research has theorized that dyslexia is a linguistic problem, and related to the use of the right hemisphere of the brain to read and spell, instead of the left, which is better suited for these functions. Though its not the first to suggest that dyslexia is at least in part a visual problem, this new study suggests differences in eye anatomy could be the underlying cause for the faulty way that the brains of dyslexic people process information. Dr Guy Ropars and Dr Albert le Floch found that there were differences in the eye anatomies of those with and without dyslexia. Our eyes contain two kinds of cells for processing visual information. Rods help us see in low light, while cones process spatial and color information. We have red, green and blue cones. The study found that the dominant eyes of non-dyslexic people had a round spot in the cornea where there were no blue cones, while the other eye had an irregularly-shaped spot. The dyslexic participants eyes were identical. Both the right and the left eyes had the same round spot, with the same blue-cone hole, meaning neither eye was dominant over the other. The lack of asymmetry might be the biological and anatomical basis of reading and spelling disabilities, the study authors said. They hypothesize that the lack of a dominant eye creates the mirror-image effect experienced by dyslexic people. So, the researchers experimented with a way to cancel the double image. They used imperceptibly high-speed flashes from an LED lamp to block the mirrored images while the dyslexic participants read. The authors report that their subjects called the light the magic lamp, but admit that the experiment was very preliminary. Linda Siegel, editor-in-chief of the International Dyslexia Associations journal, Perspectives on Languages and Literacy is dubious, however. She says that their controls and tests are insufficient, and that the research itself is flawed. Lets say there were differences between dyslexics and non-dyslexics, she says, that doesnt mean the difference is what caused the dyslexia. She added that other research has found differences in the visual perceptions of dyslexic and non-dyslexic people, but compared to the differences in language and sound awareness skills, the differences are small. Most people with normal vision have one dominant eye, which has a greater concentration of neural connections to the brain. THE COUNTRY SET by Fiona Walker (Head of Zeus 20) THE COUNTRY SET by Fiona Walker (Head of Zeus 20) Nothing in this genre is quite as satisfying as a Jilly Cooper original, but fans of the sex-and-horses rural romp will feel right at home with this pleasing doorstep of a novel. It tells the story of glamorous, infamous Ronnie Ledwell, who returns to the Gloucestershire stud farm she used to call home after the death of her champion horse-breeding father, The Captain. Ronnie, known as the bolter, hasnt been back since she abandoned her husband and children to run off with a lover 25 years ago. Whatever reasons The Captain had for leaving the farm to the daughter no one expected to see again, time has not healed wounds between the remaining family members. Walker is an engaging writer with a sharp ear for dialogue and I raced through this beautifully plotted narrative. INVISIBLE WOMEN by Sarah Long (Zaffre 7.99) INVISIBLE WOMEN by Sarah Long (Zaffre 7.99) This emotionally intelligent read examines three women as they hit 50 who, after years of looking after others, begin to ask: What about me? Housewives Tessa, Sandra and Harriet have been best friends since school and all now find themselves unhappy. Tessa and husband Matt have just celebrated their silver wedding anniversary but she feels redundant, now their youngest daughter is at university. Sandra is trying to show compassion towards her depressed, deeply annoying husband Nigel, but she is also having a secret fling with her Polish builder. Harriet misses her high-flying legal career and resents her husband Sam travelling the world for work while she looks after her ill mother-in-law. When Tessas first love sends her an out-of-the-blue Facebook message, she replies and soon finds herself waiting at Heathrow for the man who broke her heart many years ago. I was hooked from the start. THE BIG LITTLE FESTIVAL by Kellie Hailes, (HQ 7.99) THE BIG LITTLE FESTIVAL by Kellie Hailes, (HQ 7.99) Single mother Jody feels she needs to make amends to the quintessential Devon village she calls home, so jumps at the opportunity to head up the local festival committee. However, it quickly becomes apparent that righting her perceived wrongs by taking on this role is not going to be easy. Jody employs event planner Christian, but he is dogmatic and seems intent on taking over. Jody swore off men years ago, determined to focus on her young sons, but Christian is distractingly handsome and she cannot ignore the frisson between them. There are no big surprises here but there are worse ways to spend a few hours. Montana, a state with a population of just over 1 million, played host to a record 12.4 million nonresident visitors last year, who spent $3.04 billion while they were here. According to figures released Tuesday by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, that visitor spending supported nearly $2.5 billion in economic activity and nearly 34,700 statewide jobs. Most of Montanas visitors, 46 percent, come July through September, and two-thirds of all tourist dollars were spent either in the areas in and around Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Visitation in 2017 appears to be on the upswing as July in Glacier produced the highest visitation for any month on record, and Yellowstone, while slightly lower than last year, was still experiencing near-record visitation, said ITTR director Norma Nickerson. Montanas two national parks continue to be a draw for out-of-state visitors. While most of Yellowstone is located in Wyoming, many tourists visit Montana either before or after entering the park. Glacier Country in northwest Montana was the recipient of more than $1 billion in spending by tourists, which accounted for 32 percent of all spending in the state. In Yellowstone Country in south-central Montana, travel spending by nonresidents exceeded $930 million, which is 29 percent of statewide spending. In Missoula County, tourists spent roughly $271.5 million, which supported 2,900 jobs. Of that money, more than $66 million was spent on fuel, $59 million was spent on restaurants and bars, $38 million was spent on hotels and motels and $33 million was spent on retail sales. Kara Grau, assistant director of economic analysis at ITRR, said the institute pays people to conduct surveys of travelers and collect data all over the state. We take what people spend on an average day and how long they stay and use economic impact modeling software and that gets us to our big number, she explained, referring to how the ITRR comes up with the economic impact of visitor spending. Grau said visitation was up 5 percent in 2016, although the average spending by visitors in Montana has been slightly lower as a total for the past few years. We are seeing a little bit of a decrease over the past couple years in average spending, she said. Also, the number of people per group has increased, but the total number of groups has gone down. The full report, including estimates of the economic contribution of nonresident travelers in the other four Montana travel regions, along with county-level estimates, is available on the ITRR website at scholarworks.umt.edu/itrr_pubs/360/. A LIFE IN PARTS by Bryan Cranston (Seven Dials 8.99) A LIFE IN PARTS by Bryan Cranston (Seven Dials 8.99) My PARENTS met like most people do: in an acting class in Hollywood, writes Bryan Cranston. So acting was in his blood, but celebrity came quite late, with the role of Walter White, the chemistry teacher-turned-crystal meth mastermind in Breaking Bad. Bryan grew up in Hollywood, but when his parents marriage failed he and his brother went to live on their grandparents Californian chicken farm. His early CV included stints as a security guard, ordained minister in the Universal Life Church and docker. But the urge to act was irresistible. He had roles in Seinfeld, The X-Files and Malcolm In The Middle before he was offered Breaking Bad. Cranston emerges from this candid and richly entertaining memoir as an actor equally devoted to his work and his family and a thoroughly decent bloke: he even thanks his old school teachers in the acknowledgments. WHAT A FISH KNOWS by Jonathan Balcombe (Oneworld 9.99) WHAT A FISH KNOWS by Jonathan Balcombe (Oneworld 9.99) When you bite into a battered cod, you probably dont pause to consider the feelings of the creature that gave up its life to become your dinner. But Jonathan Balcombe has been thinking about the inner lives of the finny tribe since he made his first fishing trip, aged eight, and worried whether his catch felt pain from the hook that pierced their mouths. Years later, studying for a biology degree, he became fascinated by how fish feel and experience the world. There are accounts of remarkable piscine behaviour, from the tool-using orange-dotted tuskfish to the incredible sense of smell that enables salmon to return to their home stream years after they have left it. Balcombes book makes a persuasive argument that fish are not merely a commodity, but individuals whose lives have intrinsic value. FAR AND AWAY by Andrew Solomon (Vintage 12.99) FAR AND AWAY by Andrew Solomon (Vintage 12.99) According to Andrew Solomon there are 196 recognised countries in the world (the UN gives the figure as 195). Whichever it is, Solomon has been to 83 of them. In the introduction to his collected travel writing, he traces his love of journeys to a Kleenex box his mother bought when he was a child, decorated with people from around the world in native costume. Inspired by the pictures, and by his childhood reading of Indian fairy tales and Russian folk stories, Solomon wanted to visit every country in the world. As he began to make trips to destinations as various as Cambodia, Mongolia, Rwanda, Indonesia and Antarctica, he found that travel is an exercise partly in broadening yourself and partly in defining your own limits. The leader of a Pakistani militant group whose suicide bombings killed more than 250 people has died after sustaining injuries from a US drone strike in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the militants said. Omar Khalid Khorasani's death comes ahead of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit and is likely to help ease tensions between the often-wary allies. Islamabad has been asking Washington to help target militants who attack inside Pakistan and hide over the border in Afghanistan. Khorasani's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) - a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban - is one of dozens of armed Islamist factions - including al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban - operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Omar Khalid Khorasani was the leader of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban Pakistani rescuers and officials gather at a bomb blast site in Lahore US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: Islamabad has been asking Washington to target militants who attack inside Pakistan and hide over the border in Afghanistan The JuA has been particularly deadly in Pakistan, claiming responsibility for eight major attacks in two years. Among them was last year's Easter Sunday bombing in a park that killed at least 70 people, including 29 children, in the eastern city of Lahore. The group also said it carried out a suicide attack at a hospital that killed at least 74 people in the southwestern city of Quetta, a bombing also claimed by Islamic State, with which JuA also has been affiliated. Rumours had circulated for two days that Khorasani had been wounded in US drone strikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and on Thursday his group confirmed he had died. 'Our leader, Omar Khalid Khorasani, was wounded in one of the recent drone strikes in Afghanistan. He was wounded badly, and today he was martyred,' JuA spokesman Asad Mansur said by telephone. Rumours had circulated for two days that Khorasani had been wounded in US drone strikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border The announcement came a week after Pakistan's army rescued a kidnapped American couple and their three children from the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban faction that Washington has long accused Islamabad of failing to target. The killing of Khorasani is likely to add to the recently improved mood between Washington and Islamabad, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and prominent political analyst. 'He was a very powerful leader and he had done great harm to Pakistan,' Masood said of Khorasani. 'I think Pakistan has been looking forward to this, and I think the Americans targeting him has been very helpful in that sense.' Pakistani Christians mourn during the funeral of the March 27 suicide bombing victims 56 people were killed and more than 200 injured when an apparent suicide bomb ripped through the parking lot of a crowded park in the Pakistani city of Lahore where Christians were celebrating Easter Sunday Christians celebrating Easter Sunday were injured, many of them children Khorasani had a background that reads like a history of Pakistani militancy. Born Abdul Wali in a village called Lakaro in the northwestern Mohmand tribal region, Khorasani started out as an anti-India jihadist fighting in Kashmir, according to a long-time friend who spoke last year to Reuters on condition of anonymity. He later joined the Pakistani Taliban in 2007 to fight the government to establish strict sharia Islamic law. In 2014, Khorasani left the Pakistani Taliban after a leadership quarrel to form Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. JuA gained attention in September 2014 when it announced it was supporting Islamic State and rejecting the main Pakistani Taliban leadership. By March 2015, however, the group was again swearing loyalty to the main Pakistani Taliban umbrella leadership. Still, JuA never specifically disavowed Islamic State either, and several attacks inside Pakistan have been claimed by both groups. The United States last year designated JuA as a terrorist group. Khorasani had previously been seriously wounded in a NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan in 2015 but later recovered. Advertisement Diwali, or Deepavali, the Hindu festival of light went off with a bang last night in Delhi despite the best efforts of India's top court. As the major Hindu festival for more than a billion people in India and many more around the world, oil lamps and candles are lit to symbolize the victory of knowledge over ignorance, light over darkness and good over evil. The festival marks the return of deities Rama and Sita in the epic Ramayana to the northern Indian town of Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. But the festivities had been threatened by a ban on fireworks just a few days before the celebrations were set to kick off. Residential buildings are decorated with colorful lights, as a firecracker lights up, during Diwali festival in New Delhi, India An Indian girl wears a mask while playing with firecrackers to celebrate Diwali in Hyderabad, India Vendors sell marigold flower garlands, commonly used to decorate homes and perform rituals, during Diwali festival in Allahabad, India For most, Diwali is a community event and people visit friends' homes and exchange gifts. For others it is a change to make some noise and one of the oldest traditions is fireworks. Fireworks or 'firecrackers' are a big industry across the country, and many people enjoy the evening sky being lit up by the festivities. But this year India's apex court banned the sale of fireworks in New Delhi and nearby towns 10 days before, in a move to curb the capital's deadly air pollution. Although impossible to ban completely, the use of firecrackers is being discouraged by both the government and environmentalists as air pollution levels across New Delhi and other major cities reach up to eight times what India deems acceptable, and 20 times the World Health Organisation's guidelines. Worried by the impact on the health of children, the Supreme Court this year banned the sale of firecrackers in the capital and neighboring areas to prevent a toxic haze after the Diwali nights that has residents hiding indoors. Children are more vulnerable to developing lung ailments including asthma and bronchitis, as well as damage to their nervous systems. Yogi Adityanath (left), Chief Minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, worships artists dressed as Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Laxman during Diwali 1.71 lakh lamps were lit up at the banks of river Sarayu in Ayodhya Supreme Court Ban In a move to curb the capital's deadly air pollution, the Supreme Court's ban was effective immediately from mid October and will lasts until Nov. 1. The ban has been received a mixed response with many commentators claiming that industry, garbage and traffic are to blame for the low-hanging smog in urban areas and not Diwali fireworks. The court said it will assess whether a fireworks ban makes a difference to New Delhi's air, among the dirtiest in the world. The court said people who have already bought fireworks can use them, but that new ones cannot be sold. 'What the court's order means is that all licenses to sell firecrackers stand canceled till Oct. 31,' said Haripriya Padmanabhan, a lawyer for the petitioners - three children aged between 18 and 26 months. Activists, however, fear people will smuggle fireworks in from neighboring states. Last year, the Supreme Court stopped the sale of fireworks in and around New Delhi after a slew of petitions flagged the alarming rise in pollution levels after Diwali. Love, light and happiness to everyone this #Diwali... pic.twitter.com/euIGrcOSJu Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) October 19, 2017 Indian children play with firecrackers to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi Indians light a sky lantern to celebrate Diwali festival in New Delhi A candle burns outside a home during Diwali festival in New Delhi, India Every year, in the days following the festival, city hospitals report a spike in respiratory and asthma cases and many people find it difficult to breathe. After Diwali last year, schools were ordered closed for three days and people were advised to stay home. All construction and demolition work was banned for five days in the city due to the choking smog. Last week, levels of lung-clogging particulate matter known as PM2.5 hovered above 170 micrograms per cubic meter in New Delhi - 20 times higher than what the World Health Organisation deems safe, and more than four times higher than India's own standard. Diwali around the world Everyone from Ivanka Trump to the characters of Sesame Street wished Hindu, Jain and Sikh community a happy Diwali. British Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn used Twitter to speak of Diwali as an example of a victory of light over darkness; good versus evil, adding that he hoped this message would, 'reach every community'. President Trump's daughter Ivanka shared a picture from inside the Oval Office and wished the world a 'joyful Diwali', adding that she's looking forward to visiting India later this year for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent the day with India's military for the fourth year in a row. In what has become something of a tradition, Modi visited Gurez in the tinderbox of Jammu and Kashmir, where the troops of the 15 Corps are stationed. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during Diwali celebrations with military personnel stationed near the Line of Control in the Gurez Valley Modi gives out sweets to troops on the border with Pakistan Prime Minister didn't miss the chance to celebrate his nation's forces and claimed that, like everyone else, he would be spending Diwali with his 'family'. As part of a huge morale boost to the troops serving on the de facto border with Pakistan, Modi spent time with the troops and offered sweets, adding that he feels renewed when spending time among the jawans. According to NDTV, Modi used the visitors' book to write, 'Protecting the Motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nation's borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication... The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians.' Indians play with firecrackers during Diwali festival in New Delhi Indians decorate their home with lamps during Diwali festival in New Delhi Indian Sikh devotees gather during Diwali Festival at the illuminated Golden Temple in Amritsar An Indian woman Rishitha places earthen lamps or 'diyas' at her home on the eve of Diwali Festival in Hyderabad An Indian child lights candles at the Madan Mohan Malviya stadium during Diwali Festival in Allahabad Indian Sikh devotees gather during Diwali Festival at the illuminated Golden Temple in Amritsar An Indian child watches fireworks at the Madan Mohan Malviya stadium during Diwali Festival in Allahabad Indians shop for decorative items on the eve of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Jammu Sri Lankan Hindu devotees offer prayers during Diwali Festival at a temple in Colombo A young Indian boy shops for firecrackers at a shop on the eve of Diwali festival in Amritsar A vendor waits for customers at his shop of lanterns at a market on the eve of the Hindu festival of Diwali in New Delhi, A man puts lights in an alley the eve of the Hindu festival of Diwali in a slum in Mumbai If you are about to buy a big ticket purchase for your home, perhaps some white goods, a new sofa or a television, then you may be deliberating on how best to pay for it. One option could be to buy it on what has been described as Britain's most 'ludicrously generous' reward credit card by an award-winning expert, who has picked it out as being the best reward deal available. As long as you play by the rules, you could enjoy a stay at almost any Hilton-branded hotel worldwide. Path to paradise? Award-winning card perks expert Rob Burgess says the Hilton reward credit card is 'ludicrously generous'. Pictured, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island The Hilton Honors Platinum Visa (offered by Barclaycard) has no annual fee and to bag its sign-up bonus, you need to spend 750 in the first three months, which then gets you a voucher for a free weekend night at a hotel in the Hilton portfolio. If you are a couple and were about to make some big purchases, maybe for a new home, and both opened one, this could turn into a free weekend stay if you use the free nights back-to-back, for either a Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday. You can also use the card for normal everyday spending - for example, a bi-weekly food shop of 125 for three months would trigger the bonus. But the key is to pay it off as you go along - fail to do this and the credit card company wins. This Hilton offer - which has run for years - is so ludicrously generous you would expect people to be all over it, but they're not Rob Burgess, Head for Points Rob Burgess, editor of popular frequent flyer and card perks website Head for Points, told This is Money: 'The card is free and, once you've spent just 750, you get a voucher for a free weekend night value at any hotel in the Hilton portfolio. 'This includes the Waldorf-Astoria and Conrad luxury chains - even the Conrad Maldives resort. There is rarely a problem redeeming. 'This Hilton offer - which has run for years - is so ludicrously generous you would expect people to be all over it, but they're not.' With a 750 spend in the first three months, you will get a voucher for a one night stay at almost any Hilton branded property The golden rule to follow is this: you must pay off the card within a month, or get stung with 18.9 per cent APR. This means it is only ideal for those who were going to make a high ticket purchase or make it part of a regular spend anyway and have the means of paying it off straight away. On a 750 spend, paying back the card immediately and getting the voucher could mean a free stay at a hotel which can cost hundreds and if two open it and spend 1,500, this would double the reward to a two-night stay. It takes six to eight weeks to get the free night reward certificate while cardholders also get HHonors Silver Elite status. This is a perk that means fast-track check-in, the potential for early and late check-outs and complimentary access to Hilton-owned and operated health clubs or fitness centres. Burgess adds: 'If you go into John Lewis they will try to get you excited by the prospect of a 10 voucher if you sign up for their credit card. 'However, you can actually get free travel by signing up for most valuable reward credit cards. WORD OF WARNING The level of personal debt in Britain has grown substantially since the financial crisis. This is Money editor Simon Lambert recently warned about the dangers: Should we worry about Britain's 200bn personal debt mountain. This article aims to highlight the best reward cards for those who have the means to pay them off immediately. The Hilton offer, for example, is fantastic, if used in the right way: it is used to pay for something you were going to buy anyway for either around 750 (or 1,500 as a couple); you pay it off ASAP and you pick an expensive Hilton property to stay at. Play by the rules and reap the rewards. If you don't, you will be stung with high interest. The BA card, for example, comes with an eye-watering APR of 76 per cent. See here for best balance transfer cards, and here for 0% purchases. 'While little known, this card has the most generous sign-up bonus of any free UK credit card. 'Being able to get a free weekend night at any of the 5,000 hotels globally run by Hilton just for spending 750 is incredible value. 'For example, The Conrad London or all-suite Conrad New York typically sell for 250-plus per night.' The alternative best reward cards As well as the Hilton card above, Burgess whose website recently won three Business Travel Journalism Awards, beating many print big boys has picked out five other reward credit cards that are worth considering, but only if you play by the rules. Here they are - ranked in order, according to him, of how good the sign-up bonuses are: 1) The American Express Nectar Card, available until 1 November, gets you 30,000 Nectar points, worth 150. It is free but you need to spend 2,000 within 90 days. He says: 'This limited time offer on the Nectar website is an excellent deal for anyone looking for a big bonus on a free credit card. 'The ongoing earning rate is also attractive, earning two Nectar points per 1 spent. 'You may want to reconsider after the first year, however, as there is an annual fee of 25 for year two onwards.' 2) The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold gives 20,000 membership rewards points - worth 200 if turned into 20,000 Avios or other airline miles, assuming 1p per airline mile achieved. It comes with no fee for the first year but you may want to cancel before year two, where there is a fee of 140. It also requires a 2,000 spend in three months to grab the bonus. 3) The HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard gives 40,000 Avios or other airline miles - 400 assuming 1p per Avios achieved - for spending 12,000 in your first year. This comes with a non-refundable 195 fee and has strict eligibility criteria. Burgess adds: 'If you are a HSBC Premier customer and a frequent flyer, this a hidden gem. 'Other perks include unlimited airport lounge access and full travel insurance. There is a 195 annual fee but, for the first year, the airmiles make this a good deal. You should reconsider after the first year, however.' British Airways: Its American Express Premium Plus gives 25,000 Avios bonus points - with a 3,000 spend in three months 4) The British Airways American Express Premium Plus gives 25,000 Avios points - 250 assuming 1p per Avios achieved. This comes with a 195 fee but a 150 refund if cancelled after four months so net cost of 45. Burgess says: 'This means you get 25,000 Avios - which I'd value at 250 or more - for just 45.' A spend of 3,000 in three months is required to unlock the bonus. 5) American Express Platinum comes with 30,000 membership rewards points - worth 300 as gets you 30,000 airline miles, assuming 1p per airline mile achieved. This comes with a 450 fee but 300 refund if cancelled after four months, so net cost of 150. Most importantly, according to Burgess, you will retain your Starwood Preferred Guest Gold, Club Carlson Gold, Melia Rewards Gold, Shangri-La Jade and Hilton Honors Gold cards for a year, even if you cancel, which adds substantial extra value. You need to spend 3,000 in the first 90 days. Burgess adds: 'Many may think that these cards are only aimed at business travellers, but they are open to anyone - and anyone can pick up the generous bonuses.' However, it is important to pay off the above cards promptly as they come with a raft of high interest and the providers will hoping you will fall into the trap, hence why the rewards can be so generous. Read our previous story about how Avios works and how Burgess has flown business class to Abu Dhabi, Boston, Calgary, Cape Town, Las Vegas, Moscow, New York and Singapore with his family in the last six years. How bad is the UK's pothole pandemic? If each one was amalgamated into one giant crater it would be four times deeper than the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, research has found. A new study by one of the nation's major comparison sites said a whopping 1,031,787 potholes were reported to local councils last year. And with the average depth being 40mm, all the troughs in the UK's tarmac combined would measure in at 25.6 miles deep. So what if one of these potholes damages your car? Destroyed suspension, shattered alloy wheels and exploded tyres can result in hefty repair bills - here's how to make a claim if you suffer any of these. Created by Confused.com (view the full interactive) To put the sheer size of the problem into perspective, Confused.com created the above scrolling animation showing the total depth of the UK's road ruts against comparable landmarks, including the English Channel (174 metres), the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean (6.8 miles) and the Earth's upper mantle (18.6 miles). The insurance comparison site calculated the monumental figure after asking local councils for figures relating to the number of potholes reported by motorists in 2016. A Freedom of Information request to 412 local authorities, and the Highways Agency, Transport Scotland and Welsh Government resulted in 197 local authority responses as well as information on potholes provided by Highways England. The responding parties confirmed that six-figure total that were logged last year and estimated that the average depth of each one was 40mm. Any pothole of this depth can cause considerable harm to vehicles and pose serious risks to road users in the eyes of the courts. That means any damages can be compensated. Here's our guide to making a successful claim: How to make a successful claim for car damage caused by potholes Who do I raise my complaint with? If your car is damaged by a pothole you should complain to the local authority responsible for the road with the pothole or the Highways Agency if the incident occurred on a motorway or A road. What evidence do I need to collect? Make a note of where and when the incident took place. You can also return to the scene and measure the depth and diameter of the crater. Potholes of at least 40mm deep are generally considered to pose a danger to vehicles. If possible, take photos of the pothole and its surroundings to support your written complaint and get your mechanic to provide a comment about the damage to your vehicle and an itemised bill for their work if they have made a repair. Do I need to report the pothole? Irrespective of your claim, notify the relevant authority about the pothole so that it goes onto their register. What are my rights? Follow the relevant authority's instructions to make your claim. They will either reject it or pay out. Your right to claim is covered by the Highways Act 1980: section 41 of the act requires authorities to maintain roads and allows damages to be paid if they fail to do so. However, Section 58 of the act gives them a some loopholes. This says that you should be entitled to recompense if the council was aware of the pothole that caused damage to your vehicle or, crucially, if it is reasonable to expect the council to have been aware of the hole. In short, if the authority can prove it had taken reasonable steps to maintain the stretch of road in question, following national guidelines they might nit have to pay out. The local authority won't pay out. What else can I do? Dealing with highway or local authorities can sometimes be frustrating, and there is a chance that authorities will try to deny your claim - less than a quarter of claims are successful, but that doesn't mean you should give up. The Section 58 defence (detailed above) is the most commonly used by council to reject claims. If that's the reason behind the refusal to compensate there are still some avenues you can take. One is to send a Freedom of Information Act 2000 request asking for evidence that the authority has taken the necessary steps to attempt to repair the pothole that caused the damage. They have to respond to your FOI within 20 working days. If they do provide evidence, compare it to the guidelines set out for councils by the UK Roads Liaison Group. If you think the authority has failed to follow these guidance then you may want to consider taking your claim further. But if they've followed it to the letter you may struggle to get any further. If you still think your case is strong, you can present your evidence to a small claims court. Can I claim on my motor insurance policy? If the authority refuses to compensate, you may be able to turn to your insurer, providing you have comprehensive cover. Insurance claims are an option, but you should take time to consider the ramifications of pursuing a claim, if the repair costs are especially high (for suspension damage, for instance). According to Confused.com's study, Scotland registered the most potholes. Drivers in the country informed local authorities about 154,310 potholes in total last year. Once added together, that works out at 3,634 metres in depth - or 4 miles. South East and South West England had the next highest number of reported craters, with 138,672 and 125,797 respectively. This UK maps shows which regions have the deepest pothole problems (measurement in metres) Where in the UK has the deepest pothole problem? 1. Scotland - 154,310 potholes measuring in at 6,364m (4.0 miles) 2. South West England - 138,672 potholes measuring in at 5,495m (3.4 miles) 3. South East England - 125,797 potholes measuring in at 5,199m (3.2 miles) 4. North West England - 120,748 potholes measuring in at 4,842m (3.0 miles) 5. Yorkshire & Humber - 92,894 potholes measuring in at 3,901m (2.4 miles) 6. North East England - 77,960 potholes measuring in at 3,118m (1.9 miles) 7. East of England - 62,027 potholes measuring in at 2,957m (1.8 miles) 8. West Midlands - 72,462 potholes measuring in at 2,806m (1.7 miles) 9. East Midlands - 42,549 potholes measuring in at 1,762m (1.1 miles) 10. Northern Ireland - 78,147 potholes measuring in at 1,563m (1.0 miles) 11. London - 42,738 potholes measuring in at 1,522m (0.9 miles) 12. Wales - 18,679 potholes measuring in at 733m (0.5 miles) Source: Confused.com The staggeringly high volume of potholes is in spite of government attempts to quell the increasing problem with a 250 million Pothole Action Fund that was confirmed last year. But despite this fresh injection of cash a survey of 2,000 motorists found that a third (33 per cent) have suffered damage to their vehicle after failing to avoid one of the one million potholes scattered across UK tarmac. The nationwide issue is now causing a significant financial headache for the country's drivers as well as rattled bones - and a big dent for councils paying-out for vehicle-repair claims. Damage was mainly caused to tyres (64 per cent) and suspension (42 per cent), which might explain why local authorities had to fork out 3.1 million to compensate victims of pothole damage last year. It means the average repair bill to rectify battered vehicles is 245 per pothole, and 69 per cent of drivers think councils should be doing more to tackle the issue. The research also showed that the number of potholes in each region is not directly correlated to the claims authorities have to pay out for. For instance, Wiltshere forked out 507,546 in compensation last year, though 6,803 potholes had been reported in the area. In contrast, there were 31,104 reported craters on roads in Surrey, though the total cost in vehicle-damage compensation for the council was 343,685. Confused.com calculated that the average pothole is 40mm deep. This can be particularly dangerous for motorcyclists and cyclists who are more vulnerable to imperfections in the road Biggest compensation pay-outs to victims of pothole damage in 2016 1. Wiltshire - 507,546 in compensation (6,803 potholes) 2. Surrey - 343,685 in compensation (31,104 potholes) 3. Cardiff - 288,025 in compensation payouts (2,928 potholes) 4. Hampshire - 152,630 in compensation payouts (12,072 potholes) 5. Staffordshire - 117,239 in compensation payouts (11,256 potholes) Source: Confused.com And it wasn't just the amount in compensation payouts that were inconsistent - the cost to repair potholes also fluctuated in different parts of the country. For example, Westminster City Council paid an eye-watering average of 2,400 per pothole it repaired in 2016 - almost 400 more than the next highest-paying council (Leicester). Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: 'If drivers experience a bump in the road, they should report it to their local council as soon as possible before the problem gets any worse. 'The cost of motoring alone is getting more and more expensive and damage repairs is a big contributor to this, as car parts increase in price as well.' The Government launched a Pothole Action Fund amounting to 250 million in 2016. It said the pot of cash would be used to fill 4 million pothole between last year and 2021 Which areas pay the most to repair a pothole? 1. Westminster - 250 potholes repaired at an average cost of 2,400 each 2. Leicester - 886 potholes repaired at an average cost of 2,063 each 3. Argyll and Bute- 1,230 potholes repaired at an average cost of 1,802 each 4. City of London - 123 potholes repaired at an average cost of 1,422 each 5. Gwynedd - 554 potholes repaired at an average cost of 1,302 each Source: Confused.com The government's Pothole Action Fund, which aims to provide 50 million to councils each year until 2021, appears to have encouraged local authorities to trim back their own road maintenance budgets in the last year. An investigation by AA Tyres found that highway repair budgets had been cut by 220 million between 2014 and 2016. How average road maintenance budgets in the UK have shrunk Average road maintenance budgets for authorities in England (excluding London) 2014/15: 23.4 million 2016/17: 21.8 million Average road maintenance budgets for authorities in London 2014/15: 7.5 million 2016/17: 7.5 million Average road maintenance budgets for authorities in Wales 2014/15: 7 million 2016/17: 6.9 million Source: AA Tyres That's despite annual road traffic levels increasing by 11.4 billion miles across England and Wales in the same period, which the motoring group said is 'burdening an ageing and consistently underfunded road network'. The AA's report said: 'With significantly smaller maintenance budgets, local authorities have been forced to slash annual expenditure on pothole repairs by 42 million since 2014, resulting in 35 per cent fewer repairs last year than in 2014.' Simon Benson, director of motoring services at AA Tyres, commented: 'With the government allocating significantly smaller budgets for highway maintenance, the countrys roads are suffering and weve seen a sharp decline in the number of potholes repaired each year since 2014. 'A distinct lack of funding means that the countrys roads are deteriorating, putting drivers at risk and making pothole-related damage to cars increasingly likely.' Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser is set to spend billions on takeovers as it separates its health and hygiene home divisions. The Durex and Cillit Bang owner said it has not ruled out acquisitions, fuelling speculation it wants to pile on debt to buy Pfizers non-prescription drugs business. The revelation came as it unveiled a major shake-up in its business structure, which will be split into two units, RB Health and RB Hygiene. Headache: The Durex, Nurofen and Cillit Bang owner said it has not ruled out acquisitions The health division, which includes brands like Nurofen and Gaviscon, will be headed by chief executive Rakesh Kapoor while the hygiene home division, which includes brands like Cillit Bang and Veet, will run by Rob de Groot, who heads Reckitts European and Russian businesses. Kapoor will maintain control of the whole business, with de Groot reporting to him. It came as Reckitt cut forecasts for the second time this year, warning sales would stay flat. Like-for-like sales fell 1 per cent year over year in the third quarter to 3.2bn, a small improvement on its 2 per cent second-quarter decline. Including a boost from currency exchange rates and its June acquisition of baby formula firm Mead Johnson, sales rose 30 per cent. Despite the small improvement Reckitt, which had already cut its growth target from 3 per cent to 2 per cent, said it now expected underlying revenues for the year to come in flat its worst result since 1999. Reckitt said that the fallout from a cyber-attack, a failed product launch and a boycott over a safety scandal in South Korea had affected its business. The firm was among a number of consumer good companies to be hit by the global cyber-attack in June, which started in Ukraine and crippled software systems. It was further hit by its flop Scholl Wet and Dry foot product and a boycott of its products in South Korea after its steriliser product Oxy Sacsac, which was put inside humidifiers, was linked to a spate of fatal lung problems between 2001 and 2011. Like consumer goods rivals Unilever and Procter & Gamble, Reckitt has been seeking to boost performance across its divisions. It completed the sale of its Frenchs mustard food business to US group McCormick in August, which had long been viewed as a non-core part of the companys business. Kapoor added that the firm wanted to be a global leader in consumer health and it had not really realised [its] full opportunity there. The comments have fuelled speculation in the City that the restructuring is a prelude to a full spin-off of the home hygiene division, which could finance a takeover of Pfizers consumer health business. Last week, Pfizer said that it was looking to sell its consumer healthcare business, which includes drugs like painkiller Ibuprofen and Centrum multivitamins, in a move that could fetch up to 11bn. The business has long been seen as a target for Reckitt. The firm, however, is already saddled with debt following its 13.2bn takeover of American formula maker Mead Johnson, which makes Enfamil products. Sales at Mead Johnson rose 1 per cent in the third quarter, boosted by growth in China but rival Danone reported a 50 per centjump in Chinese baby food sales in the quarter on Tuesday. Bernstein analyst Andrew Wood said he expects Reckitts net debt to be roughly 3.1 times its full years earnings. He estimated this would increase to almost six times if it bought the Pfizer unit. But Adrian Hennah, chief financial officer, has not ruled out acquisitions and is prepared to see its credit rating fall a notch to triple-B if something spectacular came along. Families were mugged by Lloyds directors in a disastrous takeover of HBOS which cost them their life savings, the high court was told. Almost 6,000 shareholders including many families and pensioners are suing the lender for up to 700m over the disastrous deal at the height of the financial crisis. They claim bosses failed to consider the dangers of the takeover, then misled investors by falsely telling them it would be good for the bank. Soon after the deal, Lloyds had to beg taxpayers for a 20.5bn bailout. Sign of the times: Almost 6,000 shareholders including many families and pensioners are suing the lender for up to 700m As a 14-week civil lawsuit began yesterday, lawyers for the shareholders accused Lloyds and five former directors of paying way over the odds to buy HBOS for 12bn when it was on the brink of collapse. They said that the group, including former chief executive Eric Daniels and ex-chairman Sir Victor Blank, massaged away problems in meetings with non-executive directors who raised concerns. At the court in London, barrister Richard Hill QC accused Daniels of carrying out a sales job on his own board to persuade them the takeover was a good idea. In reality, he said, HBOS was toxic enough to bring both banks down. He added that Lloyds own reviews had revealed huge problems with HBOSs loan book but the bosses were so eager to make their names with a big deal that concerns were ignored. Hill said: We are saying shareholders were mugged in this acquisition and should never have been kept in the dark. HBOS was facing a funding crisis which the Lloyds directors were aware of but which had been kept from the public, Hill told the court. He added: HBOS was bust and would have had to close its doors unless it could access an emergency bailout. Lloyds will defend the claims as the case continues. The FTSE 250 hit a record high last night in a boost for millions of savers who have money tied up in the stock market. Britains mid-cap index gained 0.64 per cent, or 128.82 points, to close at 20,259.77, on a bumper day for investors. It is seen as a better barometer for the UK economy than the FTSE 100 because many of its companies are British rather than global. It has added 12 per cent this year, and 35 per cent since the low reached in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Colin McLean, managing director at SVM Asset Management, said: Investors are starting to feel safer with mid-caps, and more worried about a series of warnings on big FTSE companies, he said. If a mid-cap business does one thing and does it well, people feel more comfortable about its capacity to take business away from other global businesses. The FTSE 100 was also on the rise, up 26.70 points to 7542.87, leaving it just shy of last weeks record close of 7556.24. There were warnings, however, that markets could be headed for a crash. Today is the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, when the FTSE 100 fell 11 per cent, prompting Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf to warn that history could be about to repeat itself. He said: The Chinese credit bubble is front and centre of concern, along with increasing global protectionism, and the disturbing prospect of World War Three being started on Twitter. Shares in Hilton Food Group surged after bosses reeled in fish firm Seachill for 81m. The FTSE 250 company said it was buying UK-based company from its parent, Icelandic Group, as part of a dive into the fish supply market. It sent shares up 6.5 per cent, or 51p, to 840p, making it one of the best performers. Seachills biggest customer is Tesco and it employs about 700 people at a factory in Grimsby. It owns The Saucy Fish Co brand, known for its marinated fish fillets and sauces. Hilton said it would seek to raise about 60m through a share placement to partly fund the deal, which is expected to complete on November 7. It was also a good day for British Airways parent International Airlines Group (IAG). As a profit warning sent shares in rival Flybe into a nosedive, investors scrambled to IAG. Its shares have been trading at all-time highs and the rally continued, with the company rising 2.7 per cent, or 17p, to 652.5p, following a favourable broker note from Credit Suisse. On the FTSE 250 it was Nostrum Oil & Gas that led losses, after equipment delays pushed back its plans for a big increase in production. The Kazakhstan-focused explorer said this meant testing, which is done using water, could not take place before freezing winter temperatures set in. Shares in the firm dropped 3.3 per cent, or 13.2p, to 391.8p. Meanwhile, shares in science investment firm Touchstone Innovations were up 2.2 per cent, or 6.62p, to 307p, after its board dropped formal opposition to a hostile takeover by rival IP Group, ending a bitter struggle for control of the British company, whose shareholders include Neil Woodford. It came after the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the deal. Shares in IP Group edged up 0.6 per cent, or 0.9p, to 140.9p on the news. Premier Veterinary Group also enjoyed a successful showing, following a trading update that revealed a surge in insurance plans in the 12 months to September 2017. The companys shares rose 8.6 per cent, or 3.25p, to 41p. Shoppers spent 2.1bn at Harrods during its last financial year as the pounds fall triggered a stampede of foreign buyers seeking luxury goods. Total transactions for the 12 months to January 28 were up 23.3 per cent on the previous period. Sterlings drop after the Brexit vote was a giant price cut for the rich foreigners drawn to London. The city racked up 19.1m visits from overseas last year and the Harrods department store, founded in 1849, is a top attraction. It made a profit of 233.2m, up 38.8 per cent. Bagging a bargain: Sterlings drop after the Brexit vote was a giant price cut for the rich foreigners drawn to London Harrods, which is owned by Qatars sovereign wealth fund, paid out 110m in dividends and handed 3.6m to its directors. It paid 6.9m of UK corporation tax, down from 19.2m a year earlier. The firm said performance was particularly boosted by tourists from China. Finance chief John Edgar said: Every year seems to be a record year for us at the moment and long may it last. The firm said: While the business witnessed a robust start to the year, there was a substantial positive impact seen in demand from its overseas customers after the weakening of the British currency. Xavier Rolet will step down as chief executive of the London Stock Exchange in December next year after nearly a decade at the helm. Rolet, who joined the LSE in 2009 from the failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, was set to step down after the merger with German rival Deutsche Borse, which however was blocked by the European Commission in March. The LSE said it was launching the search for his successor and will 'work closely' with Mr Rolet to ensure a 'smooth transition'. Departing: Xavier Rolet, and now the LSE is looking for a replacement Donald Brydon, chairman of London Stock Exchange Group, said: 'There will be many opportunities ahead to celebrate Xavier's remarkable achievements.' He added: 'I am delighted that Xavier will remain as CEO and continue to lead the company until his successor is appointed.' Under Rolet's tenure, the LSE underwent a string of acquisitions and its stock market value soared from 800million to nearly 14billion. Mr Rolet said he was 'extremely proud of all we have done together in just under a decade to turn LSE Group into a truly global financial market infrastructure group'. He added he would focus on ensuring an 'orderly transition' to his successor. Details of his planned departure came as the LSE reported third-quarter figures showing revenues up 18 per cent at 443million - with total year-to-date turnover up 18 per cent at 1.3billion. The announcement also followed a warning issued by Rolet yesterday that if the EU tries to punish the UK for Brexit by harming the City of London it could trigger a financial crisis. Marc Faber, the veteran Swiss investor and Wall Street analyst known as 'Dr Doom, 'sparked outrage this week for writing in his latest newsletter that the United States had only prospered because it was colonized by white people, 'and not the blacks.' The famously pessimistic economist who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the Great Recession was ejected from the board of Canadian fund manager Sprott Inc after his racially charged remarks. Business television networks such as CNBC and Fox Business said they would remove Faber from booking lists for their shows. In the October edition of his popular newsletter, 'The Gloom, Boom and Doom Report,' in a section discussing capitalism versus socialism, the 71-year-old Faber took a stand against the removal of Confederate monuments, writing: 'Thank God white people populated America, not the blacks. Otherwise, the US would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white majority.' Marc Faber, the veteran Swiss investor and Wall Street analyst known as 'Dr Doom, 'sparked outrage this week for writing in his latest newsletter: 'Thank God white people populated America, not the blacks' The Swiss-born, Thailand-based commentator and analyst continued, 'I am not a racist but the reality - no matter how politically incorrect - needs to be spelled out as well.' The newsletter was released on October 3, but Faber's comments on race went viral on Twitter this week after subscribers scanned and posted the text. CNBC, Fox Business Network and Bloomberg TV, the business news television channels where Faber has been an occasional guest commentator for years, said Tuesday that Faber was now off their booking lists for their shows. A CNBC spokesperson said, 'We do not intend to book him in the future' and a Fox spokesperson said, 'Faber has not appeared on the network often, and will not be on in the future.' In response to CNBC's decision, Faber told Reuters in an email: 'What else would you expect? If stating some historical facts makes me a racist, then I suppose that I am a racist. 'Maybe I am wrong and the US would be far more prosperous if the blacks had populated it but then please explain to me why you would think so.' In comments to other media outlets, Faber, who has a PhD in economics from the University of Zurich, lamented that his freedom of speech was being suppressed. 'If you have to live in a society where you cannot express your views and your views are immediately condemned without further analysis and analysis of the context in which [they're written] - if you can't live with that, then it is a sad state of where freedom of the press and freedom of expression have come,' he told MarketWatch. Faber, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the Great Recession, was ejected from the boards of three companies as of Wednesday afternoon and taken off booking lists for business TV shows Sprott, a Toronto-based alternative asset manager where Faber had served as a director since 2010, demanded his resignation and he complied, effective immediately. 'The recent comments by Dr. Faber are deeply disappointing and are completely contradictory with the views of Sprott and its employees,' Sprott Chief Executive Peter Grosskopf said in a statement. 'We pride ourselves on being a diverse organization and comments of this sort will not be tolerated.' Faber was also a director of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, which released a statement Tuesday saying it requested and accepted his resignation from the company's board, CNN Money reported. 'There is zero tolerance for racism,' Ivanhoe's press release read. 'Ivanhoe Mines disagrees with, and deplores, the personally-held views about race that Marc Faber has published in his current investment newsletter.' NovaGold Resources Inc, another company where Faber serves as director, also announced that he had stepped down Tuesday night. In an email to DailyMail.com, Faber struck a defiant note, saying he does no regret 'stating historic facts,' even though his remarks had cost him positions on five company boards as of Wednesday afternoon. 'If saying what I said leads to these consequences I prefer not to be on these boards,' he wrote. He also quipped that in light of the loss of income, 'I shall go back to being a waiter.' Faber railed against the hypocrisy of Western society, predicting that 'their so called moral superiority will take them down,' and took a shot at 'biased media' that do not tolerate people espousing 'a different view.' Faber, known for his 'contrarian' investment approach and bearish view of the stock market, made his objectionable remarks after a lengthy critique of socialist policies and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, which were prefaced by a reference to this summer's violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which one woman was killed. Faber described monuments commemorating the Civil War-era Confederate leaders, which were at issue in the protests, as 'statues of honorable people whose only crime was to defend what all societies had done for more than 5,000 years: keep a part of the population enslaved.' Advertisement At least a dozen terror cells linked to Islamic State have been uncovered across the globe in the past month alone, research has found. As ISIS is defeated in its 'caliphate' in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist organisation is looking for new territory. In the past four weeks, ISIS cells have sprung up in as far flung places as Russia, Ireland and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's spreading: A dozen ISIS terror cells have been uncovered across the world in the past four weeks alone This map, compiled with the help of the Clarion Project, shows that ISIS is establishing more cells in North Africa and in the Gulf States and conquering new ground in Europe and central Africa. News of its most recent 'addition' came on Wednesday when a video showing jihadists claiming to have established the 'Islamic State in Central Africa' began circulating on pro-ISIS websites and social media accounts. The video shows a man addressing the camera in Arabic, calling for ISIS-supporters to join them in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ISIS fighters fleeing its now-destroyed 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria are believed to be heading for Libya, where the terrorist group has an established presence. Allegiances: ISIS has several factions, known as 'provinces' who have sworn loyalty to leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was thought to have been killed earlier this year It is thought that they will use this as a stepping stone to win territory in countries further down the continent. Four cells have been exposed in Libya's neighbouring countries Tunisia and Egypt since the end of September. 'While it is hard to say where ISIS will appear next, we can assume that after the group is driven out of Syria and Iraq, it will go to where it feels (relatively) more safe - namely, Libya - and from there move on to other countries in north Africa,' says Clarion Project's Arabic specialist Ran Meir. 'In the east, although ISIS is being driven out of the Philippines, it will still continue to maintain a small presence there and also in the neighboring country of Malaysia. 'In addition, we know the group maintains sleeper cells in European countries, as well as in the more stable Middle Eastern countries of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.' ISIS has been active in Russia since at least June 2015, when The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Caucasus Province was established, but earlier this month, two terror cells were busted in Moscow, leading to fears that they are spreading from the North Caucasus region across the country. The ISIS cell being investigated by Irish Gardai is reportedly run by two men originally from the Russian federal republic of Chechnya. Authorities believe that the two men are heading up a cell in west Ireland that has been shipping computer parts to factions in Chechnya, Iraq and Syria. Defeat: Iraqi government forces, holds up an Islamic State flag after capturing territory northwest of Mosul, where the terrorist group is now defeated Although ISIS has had its base in Iraq and Syria, now all-but obliterated by government and US-backed forces, they have factions in several nations around the world, often referred to as 'provinces'. The Maute group in the Philippines, also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015, launched an attack on the city of Marawi in May, as an attempt to establish a Filipino 'ISIS caliphate'. As ISIS have lost ground in the Middle East, an increasing number of Islamist terrorists are thought to be looking to join Maute, including ISIS fighters who have left Iraq and Syria. In Egypt, ISIS-affiliate Wilyat Sinai has been leading an Islamist militant insurgency in northern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel, for several years. Wilyat Sinai, meaning the Sinai Province, pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 and has carried out several terror attacks under the black Islamic State flag since. Islamic State in Somalia, officially established in October 2015, have been taking part in the Jihadist insurgency in the country and carried out several terror attacks. However, the group of a few hundred fighters, has been perceived as a threat to fellow Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabaab - loyal to Al-Qaeda - and they are now also fighting each other. West African terrorist group Boko Haram have been referred to as Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, after swapping allegiance from Al-Qaeda to ISIS in March 2015. ISIS also have provinces in Yemen, Algeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The companion of late legendary photographer Bert Stern has filed a suit againstGoogle after she received threats from a woman pretending to be the artist's daughter using a Gmail account. In court papers obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Lisa Lavender states she has experienced severe online harassment, including violent threats, by an 'online impostor identifying herself as "Stacey Legate,"' Lavender and her twin sister Lynette had been Stern's long-term companions in 2013, and received numerous prints of his photographs which they now sell to make a living. Lisa Lavender (right) and her twin sister Lynette (left) had been famed photographer Bert Stern's long-term companions in 2013, and received numerous prints of his photographs which they now sell to make a living Stern took the last photos of Marilyn Monroe for Vogue in 1962, shortly before the iconic actress's death. The famous prints became known as 'The Last Sitting' Some of those prints include the final set of photos that Stern took of Marilyn Monroe for Vogue in 1962, shortly before the iconic actress's death. The famous pictures became known as the 'Last Sitting.' By using several Gmail accounts containing the words 'Bert Stern' and 'daughter' in the domain, 'Stacey' began contacting Lavender in 2015 claiming to be the photographer's secret 'love child.' The scammer also contacted prospective buyers as well as online gallery Artnet in July and alleged Lavender was providing them with counterfeit prints of Last Sitting images, court papers state. The email was addressed to 'all dealers that are still selling Lisa Lavender's fakes.' 'Stacey's' emails turned violent a few months later, when she threatened to 'yank [Lavender] by [her] hair out of the apartment' if she did not respond to her messages. A scammer, claiming to be Stern's secret love child, began contacting Lavender in 2013 and accused her of selling counterfeit photographs and contacted prospective buyers to slander her business (Pictured above is Stern's photo of Marilyn Monroe) According to court papers, Lavender became 'frightened and feared imminent violence.' Lavender demands Google expose the true identity of the person behind the emails, so she can carry out legal action against the impersonator. Lavender's petition comes four months after the twins sued Stern's widow Shannah Laumeister for a share of their late partner's estate, the New York Post reported. Stern secretly married Laumeister in 2009 and his wife barred the twins from seeing him in his final days, according to the sisters. They also alleged that Laurmeister excluded them from the $50,000 Stern had allegedly bequeathed to them and taking a jeweled photo they made that is worth $350k. According to the most recent lawsuit, Stern's son Bret described Lisa Lavender as his father's 'best friend, business partner, and adviser.' When David Walliams received an OBE for services to charity and the arts this week, he wasnt short of funny friends to share his joy. In this snap from his celebratory lunch at Scotts in Mayfair, the comedian and writer beams alongside chums Jimmy Carr, Jack Whitehall and John Bishop. But there was a conspicuous absentee from the party. His former Little Britain co-creator and star Matt Lucas was nowhere to be seen. In this snap from his celebratory lunch at Scotts in Mayfair, the comedian and writer beams alongside chums Jimmy Carr, Jack Whitehall and John Bishop Quick to dispel rumours they had fallen out, Matt, who was launching his autobiography in Liverpool that day, congratulated his ex-comedy partner on Twitter Quick to dispel rumours they had fallen out, Matt, who was launching his autobiography in Liverpool that day, congratulated his ex-comedy partner on Twitter. Fancy one of the most plum jobs going in public relations? Princes William, Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge are advertising for a senior communications officer, for an undisclosed salary. The successful candidate will help manage the daily news flow to the media, communicating with audiences via traditional, digital and social media. But dont bother to apply if you are a blabbermouth! The advertisement, on the royal website warns that the PR post involves the ability to handle sensitive information with tact and discretion at all times. Should hope so too. Brosnan brushes up on his art skills for wife's birthday Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, 64, proves once again he is the man with golden paintbrush after presenting his wife of 16 years, Keely Shaye Smith, with a painting to mark her 54th birthday. Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, 64, proves once again he is the man with golden paintbrush after presenting his wife of 16 years, Keely Shaye Smith, with a painting to mark her 54th birthday The picture is of a vase of lilies portraying an expectant woman. Brosnan is a self-taught artist who cites his influences as Picasso and Matisse. Leaving school at 16, he pursued a career as an illustrator before switching to acting. He returned to painting when first wife Cassandra was battling cancer in the late Eighties. Brosnan and Keely met on a beach in Mexico and have two sons, Burberry model Dylan, 20, and Paris, 16. Conspiracy theorists are suggesting that Melania Trump has a body double who appears alongside the President in public wearing a fake nose and giant sunglasses. The claims sent social media into overdrive on Wednesday with 'Melania' quickly becoming a trending topic on Twitter. Critics zeroed in on footage of Trump from Friday as he addressed the media about hurricane relief for Puerto Rico that showed the First Lady, wearing her large black sunglasses, standing behind her husband nodding. Conspiracy theorists are suggesting that Melania Trump has a body double who appears alongside the President in public wearing a fake nose and giant sunglasses The Fake Melania theory was set off with a post on Facebook by Andrea Wagner Barton, which was shared more than 100,000 times During the press conference, Trump pointed out the presence of his wife even though she was standing in clear view of the cameras. 'My wife, Melania, who happens to be right here,' he said. Conspirators have based their theory of a Melania body double on the fact that Trump pointed out the First Lady was there to cover for the fact she was actually somewhere else. They also claim that the Melania doesn't appear to look like herself in the footage, specifically questioning the shape of her nose. The theory was set off with a post on Facebook by Andrea Wagner Barton, which was shared more than 100,000 times. Critics zeroed in on footage of Melania from Friday and questioned the shape of her nose Critics zeroed in on footage of Trump from Friday as he addressed the media about hurricane relief for Puerto Rico that showed the First Lady standing behind him Some appeared to believe the conspiracy theory of Melania having a body double Twitter user @JoeVargas, also known as BuyLegalMeds, then latched on with a series of tweets Tuesday night. 'Who's awake right now? I need to show you guys something that blows my mind and is really creepy. Seriously,' he tweeted. 'This is not Melania. To think they would go this far & try & make us think its her on TV is mind blowing. Makes me wonder what else is a lie. 'I initially didn't notice, but thought it was strange when he said 'my wife Melania, she's right here' to try & convince media it was her.' As quickly as the theory spread, so too did the hilarious fake-Melania memes. The search terms 'Melania Trump double' and 'Fake Melania' also spiked on Google since the theory started circulating. A Mississippi school with a 97 per cent Black student population is changing its name from one in reference to Confederate president Jefferson Davis to that of former United States president Barack Obama. At a school board meeting held on Tuesday for the Jackson School Board, PTA President Janelle Jefferson announced that school stakeholders voted for the change on October 5. The name will go from Davis Magnet IB to Barack Obama Magnet IB. A Mississippi school with a 97 per cent Black student population is changing its name from (Jefferson) Davis Magnet IB to Barack Obama Magnet IB 'Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,' she said to the board, according to the Clarion Ledger. Jefferson added that the 44th President reflected a person who 'fully represents ideals and public stances consistent with what we want our children to believe about themselves.' 'I wholeheartedly agree with the name,' said Board President Camille Simms. 'Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,' said PTA President Janelle Jefferson. Jefferson added that the 44th President reflected a person who 'fully represents ideals and public stances consistent with what we want our children to believe about themselves' On Tuesday, it was also confirmed that the changes to the name would take place in the 2018-2019 school year. The Tuesday board meeting was crucial as it may have also been the last of the district for a long period of time. Mississippi's Board of Education wanted to declare a state of emergency for the school, asking Governor Phil Bryant to act on the issue. This help set the wheels in motion for the name change as board members gave the naming rights to the PTA board of three schools - Davis Magnet, George Elementary and Lee Elementary - at the September 19 meeting. And while kinks are still being worked out with the name change, Jefferson did add that corporate sponsors would have to be worked with to help understand the full cost of the change. It appears to be the first school to be named after Barack Obama in Mississippi. Supermodel Christy Turlington has said she may have unwittingly aided predatory men Supermodel Christy Turlington has said she may have unwittingly aided predatory men in the fashion industry as they preyed on young models. Turlington says she may have played a 'honey pot' role - similar to that described by victims of Harvey Weinstein - by which her presence lulled younger women into a false sense of security. The 48-year-old American, one of the world's most successful models in the late 1980s and early 1990s, says the fashion world is 'surrounded by predators'. She told fashion industry magazine Women's Wear Daily that she was 'lucky' because her mother accompanied her in her early career. When she became successful, she was 'handled with extra care'. Although she never experienced anything 'traumatic', she insisted that was 'not the norm'. Young models - many still of school age - had to trust the people assigned by their model agency to look after them as they flew around the world on assignments. 'There were many times I could not believe who I was left under the care of on early trips to Milan, Paris or London,' said Turlington. 'I would get off of a flight and find some creepy playboy type there to meet me.' She added: 'In hindsight, I fear I may have played the 'honeypot' that has been described in the stories about these predators who make other women feel protected. Unknowingly, but still an accomplice of sorts. I might have been the assurance that made other young women feel safer.' Turlington, a mother of two and married since 2003 to actor Edward Burns, said: 'If I'd known how these men thought and behaved, I might have done more to stay clear of them.' She didn't provide specific examples or predators, adding: 'I don't know if those old guys are still on the scene or not.' As with Hollywood, where Weinstein's serial sexual harassment of young women was an open secret, the abuse of young models has 'always been widely known and tolerated in the industry', she said. 'The industry is surrounded by predators who thrive on the constant rejection and loneliness so many of us have experienced at some point in our careers.' Turlington said modelling is one of the few industries with no strong union to protect models. 'There were no chaperones on sets to monitor the hours worked or appropriateness of the themes of shoots and behaviour of the crews, no tutors required or penalties if standards were broken,' she said. 'The best way to protect young models is to keep them in school and off sets until they are adults.' Calls for MPs to be allowed to employ a stand-in after having a baby won ministerial backing yesterday. Margot James, who has the small business portfolio, said it was vital for new parents to have time off. Under a plan backed by Commons Speaker John Bercow, both male and female MPs will be entitled to six months paid parental leave during which they will be able to appoint a proxy to take part in Commons votes. A parliamentary committee is expected to recommend the proposal this week. It was put forward by former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman. MPs will be able to appoint a proxy to vote in the House of Commons and will be entitled to six months paid parental leave under new plans Miss James said in a letter to the Times: In the first few months of a babys life, parents especially mothers need time out of the workplace to bond with their newborn and recover from any complications in childbirth. Harriet Harman is right to argue that outdated Commons rules need to be overhauled. MPs who are parents do not deserve greater maternity and paternity entitlements than their constituents but neither should they be placed at a disadvantage. Childcare is not a womans issue but women still assume a greater share of these responsibilities. Hence provision for parental leave is more important to women who aspire to become an MP than it is to men of a similar age. We must remove all barriers to women entering parliament if we are to build a more inclusive culture We must remove all barriers to women entering parliament if we are to build a more inclusive culture. The Commons reference group on representation and inclusion is looking to adopt the plan as part of new cross-party arrangements for maternity, paternity, parental, adoption and caring leave. MPs are not considered employees and are therefore not given formal parental leave, and cannot vote if they choose to stay at home. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which oversees MPs pay, has said it is supportive in principle of the proposal for six months of paid leave. Last year a report into women in Parliament by Professor Sarah Childs suggested MPs with new babies should be able to vote from home, or nominate a proxy voter who could also table questions and amendments in Parliament. A parliamentary committee is expected to recommend the proposal this week. It was put forward by former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman The Commons has already adopted measures to become more family friendly in recent years, including limiting late night sittings and introducing an on-site nursery. In 2014, Duncan Hames became the first MP to carry a baby through the voting lobby of the House of Commons after a rule change. The Liberal Democrat, wmarried to former minister Jo Swinson, was looking after their six-month-old son Andrew when the division bell rang. Mr Hames took his son into the chamber to vote on the timetable motion for the small business bill. Since the June election, the absence of a Conservative majority has led to MPs being called into Westminster from maternity leave or their hospital beds for knife-edge votes. Since 2010, 17 babies have been born to 12 female MPs. MPs already face questions about how much time they spend away from Westminster. The Commons sat for just 142 days in the 2016-17 session. Traditionally, paternity leave has been a cause for concern among small businesses, which have fewer employees to cover extended absences. The Federation of Small Businesses has warned small firms find it difficult to replace skilled workers and struggle with statutory paternity pay. A man who brutally bashed his mother in a shocking road rage attack before himself being found dead, had promised to turn his life around just weeks before the attack. James Uhr stole a black Ford ute from a petrol station at Wollongong on Wednesday, before ramming a number of cars on the way to his mother Cheryl Santauro's house. After arriving the 27-year-old threatened his 55-year-old mother, forcing her to jump in a car and flee her own house, before being chased down and attacked by her son. But in the weeks before the horrifying incident Uhr took to Facebook to promise his friends and family he was turning his life around, admitting he'd done 'bad things'. Scroll down for video James Uhr (pictured) stole a black Ford ute from a petrol station at Wollongong on Wednesday before ramming a number of cars on the way to the home of his mother Cheryl Santauro In the weeks before the incident Uhr took to Facebook to promise his friends and family he was turning his life around, admitting he'd done 'bad things' (pictured) His mother Cheryl Santauro (pictured) was rushed to hospital with severe facial injuries, with witnesses saying they saw the man bash her after jumping out of his vehicle Uhr, who is understood to be estranged from his two children, recently posted of his desperation to be a better role model for his young daughters. 'I have done good and bad things but from today I'll show you all the better things to me in my life,' he wrote to his followers. Less than two weeks later he followed up: 'Enjoy this day being Friday 13th I wonder how many crazys [sic] make the news tomorrow.' In the hours since the shocking attack and his subsequent death Uhr's social media accounts have been littered with abuse from online trolls. The father-of-two was supposed to appear in court on Thursday over AVO charges in relation to Wednesday's attack against his mother. His body was later found in the backyard of a home in nearby Coalcliff. Police are not treating his death as suspicious. Uhr (pictured), who is understood to be estranged from his two children, recently posted of his desperation to be a better role model for his young daughters In the hours since the shocking attack and his subsequent death Uhr's social media accounts have been littered with abuse from online trolls Uhr's death is not being treated as suspicious. 'A vehicle stolen earlier in the day was located a short distance away and has been seized for forensic examination,' a police spokesperson said. Ms Santauro was rushed to hospital with serious facial injuries and was in a serious but stable condition at Wollongong Hospital on Wednesday. The incident occurred at around 8am in Balgownie when a stolen Ford ute smashed into the woman's Toyota hatchback. Police identified James Uhr (pictured) as a person of interest on Wednesday and said he may have used a stolen vehicle in the incident before taking off in another Uhr rammed the woman's car off the road in front of terrified witnesses in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on Wednesday morning After he punched her several times, Uhr took off in a preschool teacher's 2003 Hyundai Elantra. Several witnesses watched the road rage attack and were assisting police with their investigation. The road was closed off as the two damaged vehicles were removed. The Palestinian Authority's representative to Australia demanded an apology from NSW Police after a fake terrorist apparently wore a symbolic Palestinian headscarf in a training exercise. Cops simulated a major attack involving two masked 'gunmen' dressed in headscarfs at Sydney's Central Station on Tuesday night - sparking a furious diplomatic row. Representative Izzat Saslah Abdulhadi slammed police because one of the headscarfs resembled the black and white symbol of Palestine's resistance, thekeffiyeh. Mr Abdulhadi claimed it was an 'egregious... display of prejudice' by police. 'The keffiyeh is a symbol of the struggle of the Palestinian people for their right to self-determination and freedom,' he fumed. But a police spokesman insisted: 'In no way were we trying to stereotype members of the community, and any offence caused is unintended'. One fake gunman (left, right) was dressed in a black-and-white scarf and several prominent Palestinians said it resembled a keffiyah - a 'symbol of struggle' for the Palestinian people During the police simulation, the two 'terrorists' attacked 'train passengers' with weapons Not happy: Palestinian representative Izzat Saslah Abdulhadi slammed the headscarf as an 'egregious.... display of prejudice' Police bought the clothes from an Army disposal store as 'jungle and desert coloured camouflage' years ago. The spokesman said there was 'significant operational need' for officers to conceal their identities during the operation. The police response followed an angry written statement from representative Abdulhadi on Thursday morning and a prominent Palestinian-Australian branding it as 'offensive, racist and disgusting'. The keffiyeh headdress is a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. It is often associated with the iconic political leader Yassar Arafat. Mr Abdulhadi claimed the use of the clothing was 'all the more egregious in a country where 73% of the public support the self-determination of the Palestinian people in their own state'. 'Displays of prejudice such as this serve to reinforce harmful stereotypes about the Palestinian people and Arabs more broadly. 'Terrorism does not have an ethnocultural identity. We are seeking a public apology from the NSW Police Force for this display of prejudice. The simulation held at Sydney's Central Station was aimed at educating authorities on how to respond to a terror attack or armed offender in public spaces. More than 160 police, firefighters, paramedics and transport officers participated in the scenario. Palestinian activist Yasser Arafat in his trademark keffiyeh The exercise held at Central Station was aimed at educating authorities on how to respond to a terror attack or armed offender in public spaces More than 160 police (pictured), firefighters, paramedics and transport officers participated in the scenario, which was recorded 'As first responders, we have to be able to deal with situations with strength and surety,' police said Outspoken psychologist Hanan Dover also slammed the headscarf inclusion on Facebook. 'We wear it culturally but it's also evolved into a symbolic form of resistance,' she wrote, alongside a picture at a pro-Palestine rally. 'So for law enforcement to have used our cultural heritage symbol for a terrorism drill is offensive, racist, and disgusting.' Islamic Friendship Association spokesman Keysar Trad said he was sure police did not intend to offend Palestinians but urged them to avoid stereotypes. 'I hope the drill will help commuters to feel safer and remind us all to be vigilant,' Mr Trad said. ''It's such an iconic Palestinian headdress, but I'm sure it wasn't intended.'' A police spokesman said the exercises was conducted to enhance its officers' skills and help the community and commuters feel safe. A Casper resident was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. A 12-person jury found Miguel Martinez guilty of first-degree and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Martinez could face up to 70 years in prison. The 10-year-olds mother reported to Casper police in March that her daughter said Martinez sexually assaulted her in a bathroom. The girl told investigators that Martinez, who is a family friend, sexually assaulted her. Nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center completed a sexual assault exam and found redness and abrasions on the girls genitalia. Martinez denied molesting the child to arresting officers and pleaded not guilty to the charges in May at an arraignment in Natrona County District Court. The trial began Monday. The green and yellow costume, which proudly promises to 'cause controversy' consists of bootcovers to represent Oscar Pistorius' blades Amazon has sparked outrage after selling an Oscar Pistorius Halloween outfit online. The costume, which proudly promises to 'cause controversy' consists of a green sleeveless shirt, shorts and bootcovers to represent his blades. It also features the words 'Blade Gunner' on the front in a tasteless nod to the killer's nickname, Blade Runner. The website states: 'This Paralympic runner costume is sure to cause some controversy at your next event. 'Includes top, shorts, boot covers and knee pads.' The 26.10 costume does not come with the sunglasses or gun, but the boot covers help 'create the image you have false legs'. Pistorius earned worldwide fame after reaching the semi-finals of the 200m sprint in the 2012 Paralympics. The following year, on Valentine's Day, the double amputee shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa. Miss Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, was locked inside a toilet when Pistorius fired four shots from a handgun through the bathroom door. During his trial, the athlete maintained that he thought he was shooting an intruder and denied being jealous or aggressive during his relationship with the 29-year-old. He was found guilty of murder and is serving a six-year sentence. Pistorius (left) earned worldwide fame after reaching the semi-finals of the 200m sprint in the 2012 Paralympics. The double amputee shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (right) at his home in Pretoria, South Africa The model wearing the offensive outfit appears on the Amazon site equipped with sunglasses and a toy gun. Alongside the online giant, a joke shop in Bedfordshire, is also selling the outfit. The Jokers' Masquerade shop in Luton gives a warning to anyone buying the costume, with their website stating: 'If you are easily offended our Bad Taste Costumes may not be for you. 'In a world where political correctness has gone mad, we decided to be a little rebellious by compiling this collection of wonderfully inappropriate costumes specifically for those who like to push the boundaries.' Earlier this week an Anne Frank Halloween costume was removed from several online sites after Holocaust survivors complained it was in poor taste. A backpacking couple captured the terrifying moment they came face-to-face with a huge wolf spider - carrying THOUSANDS of babies on its back. Dutch travellers Pauline Keuzekamp, 28, and her boyfriend Valentijn Meeuwis, 30, were nearing the end of an epic 20,000km four-month road trip around Australia when they set up camp in the remote town of Merbein in regional Victoria. But as the couple were popping the cork on a bottle of champagne to celebrate their journey, Pauline glimpsed a 'huge, unidentifiable creature' approaching them. Backpackers Pauline Keuzekamp, 28, and her boyfriend Valentijn Meeuwis, 30, captured the terrifying moment they came face-to-face with a huge wolf spider while traveling around Australia The Dutch couple were nearing the end of an epic 20,000km four-month road trip around Australia when they set up camp in the remote town of Merbein in regional Victoria. But as the couple were popping the cork on a bottle of champagne to celebrate their journey, Pauline glimpsed a 'huge, unidentifiable creature' approaching them She snapped photos of the gigantic arachnid whose bite is poisonous but not lethal to humans - and the 'army' of thousands of babies it was carrying on its back. Pauline said: 'We thought it might be a spider, but it was huge and its body seemed too round and really fluffy. 'I sprinted to the car to get a torch and I nearly died when I shined my light onto the thing. 'There were thousands of reflective little eyes staring back at me and suddenly its whole body starting to move. 'I realized it was a huge wolf spider with an army of baby spiders on its back and I absolutely freaked out. 'The gigantic spider quickly came towards me and I jumped back as I was unsure how aggressive or dangerous it was. 'I was scared but at the same time I was curious, so I took some great photographs of this rare sight.' She snapped photos of the gigantic arachnid whose bite is poisonous but not lethal to humans - and the 'army' of thousands of babies it was carrying on its back 'There were thousands of reflective little eyes staring back at me and suddenly its whole body starting to move,' Pauline (pictured with Valentijn) said Marketer Pauline and her anaesthetist boyfriend Valentijn said that of all their travels across Europe and Asia, Australia had the most incredible wildlife While a wolf spider's venom is not lethal to humans, their bite is very poisonous and medical attention is required. While not typically aggressive, the spider will bite is provoked and should be considered dangerous. Marketer Pauline and her anaesthetist boyfriend Valentijn said that of all their travels across Europe and Asia, Australia had the most incredible wildlife. And their run-in with the gigantic wolf spider wasn't their first encounter with Australia's creatures great and small. 'We had seen lots of spiders, heaps of scary snakes and even some crocodiles,' Pauline said of the couple's trip around Australia 'We've even been chased by a curious emu and were surprised to find enormous frogs hiding in the toilet one time,' Pauline (pictured) said But while the couple were confronted with weird and wacky animals galore during their travels, they said they are yet to come across their favourite Aussie legend the Tasmanian tiger. Pauline said: 'We were never alone throughout our Australian road trip and were always greeted by some unexpected guests. 'We had seen lots of spiders, heaps of scary snakes and even some crocodiles. 'We've even been chased by a curious emu and were surprised to find enormous frogs hiding in the toilet one time. 'At first we would get really scared and were anxious all the time about what we might find but after a while you do sort of get used to it and then we were more fascinated than anything. This country is amazing.' Nicholas Brendon, who is best known for his portrayal of Xander Harris in Buffy The Vampire Slayer was arrested last week for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. The 46-year-old was at the bar at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs with his girlfriend on October 12 when she got up to go back to her room,' a source told TMZ. When she got up to leave he allegedly grabbed her by the arm and yanked so that she would sit back down. She got back up to leave - but this time Brendon pulled her violently down by the hair, law enforcement officials claim. Scroll down for video Nicholas Brendon, who is best known for his portrayal of Xander Harris in Buffy The Vampire Slayer was arrested last week for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. He is pictured left in his mugshot, and on the far right with other Buffy cast members A hotel employee allegedly called the police, who arrested Brendon on the spot and charged him with felony domestic violence. He was also charged with violating a protective order. Sgt William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs Police Department told the Desert Sun that the woman, who hasn't been named, has active protective orders against the actor in New York and Florida. According to the orders, he is allowed to be near the woman, but can't threaten, harass, injure or assault her in any way. Brendon has been arrested at least three previous times for malicious injury to property, and has spoken candidly about his struggles with depression and alcoholism. He is pictured in 2015 Brendon was previously arrested in Boise, Idaho in October 2014 when witnesses called the cops to report a disturbance between the actor and hotel employees. In the incident, police told the Sun that Brendon has broken a decorative dish and was charged with 'malicious injury to property.' He was then arrested four months later in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for causing extensive damage to a hotel room where he was staying. A month later he was arrested in Tallahassee Florida on nearly identical charges. Brendon told the Talahassee Democrat the incident happened when he blacked out after taking nine sleeping pills. Later in 2015 he spoke with Dr Phil about his struggle with depression and alcoholism. He said drinking: 'initially quells the anxiety definitely, but then it just adds to the anger.' Brendon played Xander Harris in all 145 episodes of Buffy from 1996 to 2003. He was also in Kitchen Confidential in 2006. He is scheduled to appear at a hearing on November 28. The military families argument has taken a bizarre turn after the White House said Donald Trump's check to a slain US solider's family 'has been sent' after the man's father spoke out saying the $25,000 offer never materialized. Chris Baldridge told the Washington Post that he received a phone call from Trump back in June shortly after his 22-year-old son Dillon was one of three soldiers killed in Afghanistan by a police officer. During the 15-minute phone call, Baldridge said Trump had offered his grieving family $25,000 and promised to set up an online fundraising page but the money never arrived. Baldridge said all he received from Trump was a condolence letter. Scroll down for video Chris Baldridge said he received a call from Donald Trump in June shortly after his 22-year-old son Dillon was one of three soldiers killed by an Afghan police officer 'I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a check in there, to be honest,' he said. 'I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking. But I was like, 'Damn, no check.' Just a letter saying 'I'm sorry.'' After Baldridge spoke out, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters revealed on Wednesday afternoon that the check had been sent. The White House did not give a time-frame for when the check was sent. Dillon was one of three soldiers gunned down in Afghanistan in June by an Afghan police officer 'The check has been sent,' Walters said in a statement. 'It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda.' Late on Wednesday, Trump tweeted out a figure he attributed to Fox News saying '46% of Americans think the media is inventing stories about Trump & his administration'. Trump followed up saying: 'It is actually much worse than thing!' Trump's interactions with the bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in action made headlines this week after he claimed to have called every family. It further escalated when the mother of an Army sergeant killed in Niger two weeks ago said on Wednesday that Trump, in a call offering condolences, showed 'disrespect' to the soldier's loved ones as they drove to the airport to meet his body. Sgt. La David Johnson was one of four American military personnel killed nearly two weeks ago whose families had not heard from Trump until Tuesday. Rep. Frederica Wilson was sitting beside Johnson's widow Myeshia when Trump called and told her that her husband 'knew what he signed up for' by enlisting. 'It was the wrong thing to say, but that's not the worst part,' Wilson told the ABC. 'He did not even know La David Johnson's name. He kept referring to him as your guy. He never called his name. So that was even more painful.' Trump's interactions with the bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in action made headlines this week after he claimed to have called every family Late on Wednesday, Trump tweeted out a figure he attributed to Fox News saying '46% of Americans think the media is inventing stories about Trump & his administration' After Baldridge spoke out, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters revealed on Wednesday afternoon that the check had been sent Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that Wilson had 'totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof).' But Johnson's grieving mother Cowanda Jones-Johnson said: 'President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter, and also me and my husband.' Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, was among the four US troops who were killed in Niger nearly two weeks ago during an ambush When asked what evidence the White House had to back up Trump's dissent, press secretary Sarah Sanders said there were no recordings of the call 'but there were several people in the room from the administration who were on the call, including Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly.' Wilson spoke to CNN early on Wednesday, citing several people in the car who were aware of Trump's remarks and saying: 'This gentleman has a brain disorder, and he needs to be checked out. ... We should be praising his family, not insulting them.' Heartbreaking footage later showed Johnson's widow, who is expecting the couple's third baby in January, sobbing as she leaned over her husband's flag-draped coffin at Miami airport on Tuesday. The couple's six-year-old daughter stood by the coffin with her mother, while their two-year-old son waited in the arms of a relative standing nearby. Trump on Tuesday called the families of the four US troops who were killed in Niger nearly two weeks ago. President Trump phoned Myeshia Johnson on Tuesday afternoon to give his condolences over the death of her husband Sgt. La David Johnson Johnson, who is expecting the couple's third baby in January, later sobbed as she leaned over her husband's coffin The late Army Sgt. La David Johnson is pictured with his mother Cowanda Jones-Johnson, who is backing up Rep. Frederica Wilson's account of a condolence call in which Donald Trump told her the slain solider 'knew what he signed up for' Trump denied making the insensitive remark to Johnson's widow, tweeting on Wednesday that the congresswoman 'totally fabricated' it It came a day after he said he would call them at the 'appropriate time' when questioned about his public silence. Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright and Sgt. La David Johnson were all killed when militants thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State group ambushed them while they were patrolling in unarmored trucks with Niger troops. During a White House press conference on Monday, Trump indicated that he had held off on calling out of respect for the grieving families then unloaded on former presidents with an inaccurate claim that his predecessors didn't call families of the fallen. 'So the traditional way if you look at president Obama and other presidents most of them didn't' make calls,' Trump said. Sergeant Bryan C. Black, 35, Sergeant Jeremiah W Johnson, 39, and Sergeant Dustin M Wright, 29, were the other three killed in Niger Trump is said to have told Mrs Johnson that her 25-year-old husband 'knew what he signed up for... but when it happens it hurts anyway' 'A lot of them didn't make calls. I like to call when it's appropriate, when I think I'm able to do it. They have made the ultimate sacrifice, so generally I would say that I like to call.' When asked during the press conference to back up his claims about Obama, Trump appeared to try and backpedal. 'I don't know if he did. I was told that he didn't often. A lot of presidents don't, they write letters. I do a combination of both. Sometimes it's a very difficult thing to do but I do a combination of both,' he said. 'President Obama I think probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn't. I don't know that's what I was told,' Trump added. Trump was heavily criticized for the comments by both Gold Star families and ex-staffers of former presidents. Alyssa Mastromonaco, who served as a deputy chief of staff under Obama, was among those to immediately lash out at Trump. 'That's a f***ing lie,' she tweeted. 'To say President Obama (or past presidents) didn't call the family members of soldiers KIA - he's a deranged animal.' Ben Rhodes, Obama's foreign policy advisor, said: 'This is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards. Universities that allow students to ban controversial speakers could be fined for not preserving free speech, the Government will announce today. Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said protests over speakers such as Germaine Greer were preposterous and the prominent feminist has every right to speak. He will say that the newly-created Office for Students will have the power to fine, suspend or even blacklist institutions for failing to protect free speech. Freedom of speech is a fundamentally British value which is undermined by a reluctance of institutions to embrace healthy vigorous debate, he will say. Our universities must open minds not close them. Our young people and students need to accept the legitimacy of healthy vigorous debate in which people can disagree with one another. Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said protests over speakers such as Germaine Greer (pictured) were preposterous and the prominent feminist has every right to speak Thats how ideas get tested, prejudices exposed and society advances. Universities mustnt be places in which free speech is stifled. Mr Johnsons comments to the Times were echoed by the chairman of the Office for Students, Sir Michael Barber, who said it would promote it vigorously. The regulator, which will scrutinise student experience at university and employability after graduation, will gain full legal powers in April. Sir Michael added: Ensuring freedom of speech and learning how to disagree with diverse opinions and differing views of the world is a fundamental aspect of learning at university. Mr Johnson wrote a letter to universities in March saying there was a legal duty to ensure freedom of speech is exercised. It followed research that showed 94 per cent of universities in the UK now have some form of restriction on freedom of expression, up from 80 per cent in 2015. In recent years a number of high-profile figures have been banned from speaking at universities because of their opinions. Last year, Mr Johnsons brother Boris had an invitation to speak at Kings College London cancelled after he wrote a column in The Sun about then US president Barack Obama. Feminist Julie Bindel was banned from speaking at a debate about censorship at Manchester Universitys student union because of her dangerous views on transgender people. In 2015, students started a petition against feminist Germaine Greer giving a lecture at Cardiff University following comments she made about the transgender community. Earlier that year at Cambridge University she told the Cambridge Union debating society: Women are 51 per cent of the worlds population and [Ive been told] Ive got to worry about transphobia. I didnt know there was such a thing [as transphobia]. Arachnophobia, yes. Transphobia, no. A young father has cried in court as he was jailed for at least five years for killing a 22-year-old man with one punch outside a Melbourne bar. Richard Vincec, 26, was on Thursday sentenced to eight years in prison, with a minimum of five years, over the death of Jaiden Walker in May. In the Victorian Supreme Court Vincec pleaded guilty to manslaughter over Mr Walker's death. Scroll down for video Jaiden Walker died a week after Vincec punched him outside Cherry Bar Melbourne's iconic ACDC lane on May 6 In the Victorian Supreme Court Vincec (pictured centre) pleaded guilty to manslaughter over Mr Walker's death New South Wales and Victoria introduced mandatory sentencing three years ago for causing deaths with a single-punch. In Victoria, those convicted of manslaughter are required to be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison if the victim was not expecting to be struck. The victim died a week after Vincec punched him outside Cherry Bar Melbourne's iconic ACDC lane on May 6. Vincec hit Mr Walker after one of his friends tried to hold Vincec back in a bear hug when he became angry with the younger man. "You moved towards Jaiden, insisting that he shake your hand and you escalated the situation by saying 'shake me hand c***'," Justice Peter Riordan said. One of Mr Walker's friends, a woman who had been kissing Vincec earlier that night, stood between them but Vincec still managed to strike Mr Walker. The punch caused him to fall to the ground, fracturing his skull. Two passing doctors did their best to help Mr Walker as they waited for an ambulance. The punch caused Mr Walker to fall to the ground, fracturing his skull One of Mr Walker's friends, a woman who had been kissing Vincec earlier that night, stood between them but Vincec still managed to strike Mr Walker He never regained consciousness and died in hospital on May 12. Vincec ran away after the assault and denied what happened when arrested by police, but later made full admissions. He contacted Mr Walker's friend on social media and said: "Sorry about your friend all I wanted is a hand shake, I've been charged and I explained everything so apologise for me sorry [sic]." The woman replied "I can't apologise, because he's fighting for his life in intensive care". Vincec ran away after the assault on Mr Walker and denied what happened when arrested by police, but later made full admissions Justice Riordan said Vincec rang police and the hospital every day to check on Mr Walker's condition until his death. The judge said Vincec showed genuine remorse for his actions. "You have written a letter to the deceased's family in which you accept full responsibility for what you have done, saying that you wish you could ask for forgiveness but that you will never forgive yourself," he said. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is watering down his proposed citizenship changes but not his political attacks after suffering a bruising defeat in the Senate. He wants to extend the waiting time for permanent residents to apply for citizenship, to create tougher English language tests and to give himself additional powers. The measures were tossed out of the Australian Senate on Wednesday night after the government failed to meet a deadline to bring legislation on for debate. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) is watering down his proposed citizenship changes but not his political attacks after suffering a bruising defeat in the Senate Mr Dutton signalled on Thursday he was willing to cede some ground in negotiations with the cross bench. The government initially wanted to lift English requirements from 'basic' to 'competent'. The 'competent' level would require aspiring citizens to understand fairly complex language and have an effective grasp of English. Mr Dutton has agreed to accept a 'modest' level, meaning would-be Australians must be able to handle basic communication. Labor frontbencher Tony Burke (pictured) said the bill was 'an appalling policy, the likes of which we haven't seen since the White Australia policy' That level would require only a partial command of the language, while making many mistakes. Poll Do you think English tests for citizenship should be tougher? Yes No Do you think English tests for citizenship should be tougher? Yes 409 votes No 66 votes Now share your opinion The government also wanted to impose its crackdown retrospectively to include anyone who applied for citizenship since its policy was announced on April 20. It is now willing to hold fire on the changes until July 1 next year. Mr Dutton is not impressed with being forced to negotiate with independent senators and is laying blame at the feet of his Labor foes. 'Our discussions with the independent senators will continue because we will not be distracted by a political stunt in the Senate between the Labor party and the Greens,' he told reporters in Canberra. He wants to extend the waiting time for permanent residents to apply for citizenship, create tougher English language tests and give himself additional powers (pictured is a stock image) '[Labor] have been caught out dancing again intimately with the Greens and if they are putting their own political interests ahead of the national interest, then they should be condemned for that.' The government still faces an uphill battle to get its citizenship changes over the line, with Nick Xenophon's bloc of three senators not immediately won over by the last-ditch attempt to lower English standards. Labor frontbencher Tony Burke said the bill was 'an appalling policy, the likes of which we haven't seen since the White Australia policy'. Greens senator Nick McKim was similarly scathing, saying the bill's defeat was a great win for multicultural Australia and the thousands of people who have been in limbo since the policy was announced. The heartbroken fiancee of a fisherman feared dead in Queensland's trawler tragedy is clinging to hope she will still marry her missing sweetheart. Sea cucumber diver Eli Tonks, 39, travelled the world with his Canadian partner Ana James before they were engaged in a romantic proposal in December last year. The couple's social media accounts document the strong bond they share, posting smitten photos from exotic destinations including Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Thailand. 'Favourite place, favourite person,' Ms James wrote alongside a snap of the pair in El Nido in the Philippines. Mr Tonks' own Facebook page unveils an adventurous man, much in love with his long-term girlfriend. The heartbroken fiance of a fisherman feared dead in treacherous waters is clinging to hope he will be found alive to fulfil her lifelong dream and marry her sweetheart 'Favourite place, favourite person,' Ms James wrote alongside this snap of the pair in El Nido in the Philippines The couple's social media accounts document the incredibly strong bond they share Mr Tonks travelled the world with his Canadian partner Ana James (pictured) before they were engaged in a romantic proposal in December last year Among his adventures, he is pictured skydiving, rock climbing, riding an elephant and swimming with whale sharks. 'We travelled half way round the world to see these guys,' Mr Tonks wrote online, speaking of the sharks. 'And would do it again too. They are awesome. Biggest fish in the ocean. Gentle giants.' Tragically, Mr Tonks and five of his closest friends remain missing nearly three days after their trawler capsized near the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy. Mr Tonks' Facebook page unveils an adventurous man, much in love with his long-term girlfriend The pair have posted smitten photos from exotic destinations including Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Thailand Mr Tonks and five of his closest friends remain missing nearly three days after their trawler capsized near the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy 'We travelled half way round the world to see these guys,' Mr Tonks captioned this photo on social media Mr Tonks' mother Jenny took to Facebook on Wednesday morning as the desperate search entered its second day. 'Thank you to everyone for your love and support, we still have no news. Search continues,' Ms Tonks wrote. Earlier, she posted: 'My son and his co workers... I have no words, we are just waiting.' The families of Mr Tonks, Ben Leahy, Adam Hoffman, Adam Bidner, Zach Feeney and Chris Sammut, were told to expect the worst on Wednesday night. The engaged couple are seen at one of the many picturesque destinations they have visited in recent times The 39-year-old is pictured skydiving in his hometown of Cairns in North Queensland The mother of Mr Tonks (pictured with his fiance) took to Facebook on Wednesday morning as the desperate search entered its second day The missing cucumber diver is pictured rock climbing at an unknown location last year Wetsuits, diving equipment and personal items have been found washed ashore as authorities scour the debris for a sign of survival. Search and Rescue coordinator Jeff Barnett said on Wednesday afternoon time was running out to find the young fishermen alive. He said as light faded on Wednesday, the operation would soon transition from a search and rescue to a search and recovery. 'The best case scenario is we find six people in a life raft. That's what we're aiming for at the moment. But it's not looking real promising,' he said. 'On advice from our medical team, they tell us towards the end of the afternoon the chances of survival unsupported is negligible.' The search continues. Six fishermen (including crewman Eli Tonks, pictured with his fiance) were in a trawler that sunk off the coast of Queensland on Monday night Eli Tonks (pictured) became engaged last year. The 39-year-old is now missing at sea The families of Mr Tonks (pictured), Ben Leahy, Adam Hoffman, Adam Bidner, Zach Feeney and Chris Sammut, were told to expect the worst on Wednesday night Search and Rescue coordinator Jeff Barnett said on Wednesday afternoon time was running out to find the young fishermen alive. Pictured, the missing trawler An infant child suffering a rare brain tumor was rejected coverage after his insurance company deemed the treatment process to be 'experimental' and 'not medically necessary' in nature. The agency, HIP Health Plan of New York, addressed a letter to nine-month-old baby Connor, who was diagnosed with a teratoid rhabdoid - a tumor that affects the central nervous system and holds a low survival rate in children. After receiving the letter, baby Connor's heart-stricken father, Wayne Richardson, shared details on the concerning matter while speaking with The Daily Beast. The letter went into detail explaining reasons why the insurance company would be withholding the baby's health coverage. Baby Connor was rejected coverage for treatment of a rare brain tumor after his insurance company deemed the treatment process to be 'not medically necessary' Connor was diagnosed with a teratoid rhabdoid - a tumor that affects the central nervous system and holds a low survival rate in children Baby Connor initially underwent intensive surgery to remove the tumor entirely at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York The child was denied further coverage when doctors at St. Jude found the brain tumor had come back The explanation read: 'Dear Connor Richardson, As HIP Health Plan of New York, we try hard to provide you with access to quality health care services that meet your needs. When we decide to deny coverage for treatment or service, we want to make sure you know why. 'We look over the clinical and medical information given to us and check the criteria, guidelines and the rules of your health coverage policy to make our decision,' the letter said. 'When we reviewed the information given to us about this request, we have decided to deny coverage of the following medical service(s) or item(s) that you or your provider asked for: Inpatient Hospitalization to St. Jude Hospital from 10/4/2017-10/10/2017. We have determined that the service(s) are not medically necessary.' The letter went on to add that specific medications administered to the ill infant did not meet the general care standard used to treat the form of tumor in past instances. Connor's father, Wayne Richardson condemned the insurance company: 'You're taking away from (St. Jude) and their researchbecause the insurance doesn't want to pay' 'The principal investigator has requested medications including methotrexate, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine in combination with an investigational medication, alisertib,' the mail read. 'This combination is considered experimental and investigational at this time, as evidence-based guidelines do not exist to confirm its effectiveness for his brain tumor. 'Therefore, this request for clinical trial treatment at St. Jude's hospital is not medically necessary and is denied.' Baby Connor initially underwent intensive surgery to remove the tumor entirely at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York. When speaking of baby Connor's life, Wayne said: 'You don't care what it costs' Medical officials sadly had to inform the family that Connor's tumor had returned when he went in for a follow-up appointment at St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The cancer was found in the infant's spine during his second round of treatments, which left doctors no choice but to try more aggressive forms of medication for precautionary purposes. According to the Daily Beast, Connor's chemotherapy was luckily still covered at no cost thanks to St. Jude's guidelines. However, the father wasn't able to get past the insurance company's bizarre letter addressed to his infant baby - while explaining further that the money would have ultimately benefited the important cause of childhood cancer research. 'You're taking away from them and their researchbecause the insurance doesn't want to pay,' said Wayne. But HIP determined the clinical trial would not be a guaranteed safeguard for the infant's life, and decided the coverage was much too costly. Wayne, a police officer for NYPD, told the newspaper he has been insured under the company for several years and has never been hospitalized. When speaking of baby Connor's life, Wayne added: 'You don't care what it costs.' President Donald Trump's latest squabble is over a piece of work he believes he legitimately owns, while the Art Institute of Chicago claims they have the real one and that his is fake. French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Two Sisters (On The Terrace) has supposedly hung in the Art Institute of Chicago since 1933 but Trump asserts his is the real deal. His version hangs in his Trump Tower apartment in New York and has been featured on two recent interviews: the president-elect interview with 60 Minutes and during a Fox News interview with First Lady Melania Trump. If sold for the same rate it sold in 1933, the piece would go for $1,898,607.69. French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Two Sisters (On The Terrace) has hung in the Art Institute of Chicago since 1933 but Trump asserts his is real The deal of the art: Trump's version hangs in the New York Trump Tower and has been featured on two recent interviews Tim O'Brien, the biographer for Trump, was familiar with the painting having grown up in the Windy City. During a segment on Vanity Fair's Inside the Hive podcast, he shared that he had questioned the painting's authenticity when the painting hung in Trump's Jet. During a segment on Vanity Fair's Inside the Hive podcast, Tim O'Brien shared that he had questioned the painting's authenticity when the painting hung in Trump's Jet 'You know, that's an original Renoir,' O'Brien said Trump claimed when the writer asserted that the real one was in Chicago. He added during the podcast: 'I'm sure he's still telling people who come into the apartment, "It's an original, it's an original." 'He believes his own lies in a way that lasts for decades.' 'He'll tell the same stories time and time again, regardless of whether or not facts are right in front of his face.' Amanda Hicks, spokeswoman for the Art Institute, is unphased by Trump's claim that he has the real piece. She added that The Renoir was given to the Art Institute in 1933 by Annie Swan Corburn. She had bought it from Paul Durand-Ruel for $100,000. He got the piece from the master creator in 1881. Just three decades after photography was invented, William Henry Jacksons camera documented the waterfalls through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone during the U.S. geological and geographical study in 1871. His work also revealed hot spring pools and terraces, lake shores and other sights that people today travel from around the world to see. A year later, his photographs helped Congress decide to establish the Yellowstone area as the first national park. As the expedition crew led by Ferdinand Hayden embarked, they stayed up late in camp as some members who claimed to have already been to the area described the sights ahead of them. Their leader, Ferdinand Hayden, said nothing, according to Jacksons writing recalling his travels. He was satisfied to let Wonderland tell its own story to himself as well as to the rest of us, for most of it had not yet been seen by the eyes of white men, Jackson wrote in his autobiography. A display of Jacksons images made shortly after the expedition are on display through November at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, the first time this particular collection of his photos has been displayed in Wyoming. Let Wonderland Tell its Story: William Henry Jacksons 1871 Albertypes features a rare collection of 61 Albertype prints. Visitors can see half of the set this month and the other half next month. The show also includes a few prints from one of Jacksons later journeys through the park as well as one silver albumen print likely created by the photographer himself. Youre looking at some important history, the collections owner Lee Silliman said. These were the images and the process that convinced Congress to enact the Yellowstone founding bill. Making history Only a few sets printed using the Albertype process were made from Jacksons 1871 images, Silliman said. This is the first full exhibition in Wyoming of Sillimans set, which has been displayed in Montana, Utah and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. Sillman created the frames out of Brazilian cherry wood at his frame shop, he said. The Montana photographer and art collector has spent years studying the parks history. For 17 years, he made his own treks into the backcountry with a large-format camera. Thats how he became interested in Jacksons work, he said. The equipment Silliman carried with help from a few friends and mules was light packing compared with Jacksons load. The pioneer photographer hauled 300 pounds of equipment through the terrain as he created the first widely-distributed photographs of Yellowstone National Park, Silliman said. The exhibit includes Jacksons descriptions of the wet, collodion glass plate process long before film replaced it. Hed trek to compose and focus his shot and return to his dark box to prepare the plate. Then hed go take the photo, and finally return to immediately develop the glass negative. He could create, at most, 15 to 20 photographs a day, Jackson wrote. He also detailed his experiences with the landscape. Theyd wake before sunrise to find the best views of the waterfalls of Yellowstone River, for instance. The iconic lower falls gave ...a most entrancing thought that we were in the presence of one of the grandest views in the world, and one that had never before been photographed, Jackson wrote. A rare display Jackson likely created many images from the survey as silver albumen prints by exposing light-sensitive silver suspended in an egg white emulsion coated on paper. But a new printing method, invented in 1868 by German photographer Joseph Albert, promised a more affordable way to mass produce images. Since the goal was to spark excitement for a future Yellowstone National Park, Hayden sent Jacksons plates to the studio of the American patent-holder for the process, Edward Bierstadt. The project never happened, however. Its believed a fire that broke out at the plant at the time halted the effort, perhaps out of alarm for the safety of the one-of-a-kind glass negatives, Silliman said. Just few sets of Albertypes were created from the printers proofs, including the incomplete set Silliman bought, according to a press release for the show. The images Jackson and painter Thomas Moran created through the expedition played a significant role in establishing Yellowstone National Park, Silliman said. Id say they could share 50 percent of the credit for convincing people of the essence and the beauty and the truth of Yellowstone, he said. Moran captured the colors, while Jacksons photos blended art with documentation. Silliman agrees with nineteenth-century historian Hiram Martin Chittendens quote he included in the exhibition. Description might exaggerate, Chitterden wrote, but the camera told the truth; and in this case the truth was more remarkable than exaggeration. When a woman walked into the Mercedes car dealership where Chan Il Choi worked, he allegedly told people he was going to make her his girlfriend. But the woman was that day shopping at the Sydney dealership with another man, and after she repeatedly rejected Choi's advances he turned violent, a jury has been told. Choi, 31, is on trial in the NSW District Court accused of kidnapping the woman and threatening to damage her face so badly she couldn't be recognised. Before the incident Choi, 31, worked in the Mercedes Benz Sydney dealership (stock image) He has pleaded not guilty to six offences including intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical harm, destroying property and taking a person for advantage. The crown prosecutor in her opening address on Wednesday said Choi met the woman in 2015 when she and her boyfriend visited the dealership in Sydney's west. Choi later asked her out three times, and on each occasion she said no. The prosecutor said she expected the jury would hear evidence that when the woman's boyfriend in 2016 heard a rumour she was dating Choi - a rumour she denied - he initiated a meeting with the pair. Choi threatened the boyfriend with a knife and took the woman to his car, telling her he could slice her neck in a second, the prosecutor alleged. Days later the woman spoke with police, who made an application for an apprehended violence order. Choi has pleaded not guilty to six offences at Downing Centre District Court (stock image) She returned home from the police station to find Choi waiting for her in an underground car park, the prosecutor said. He allegedly dragged her to his car and drove her towards a national park, while threatening to drown her and damage her face so she could not be recognised. The prosecutor said they later returned to his home, and it was there the woman saw her opportunity to flee and call triple-zero. Defence barrister Mario Licha in his opening address said there were only two people who could really give evidence in relation to four of the charges - Choi and his alleged victim. The Mercedes Benz Sydney dealership confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that Chan Il Choi had been suspended from work. The trial continues. An elderly man has been charged with the alleged sexual assault of a woman on a Melbourne train. The 85-year-old Hughesdale man allegedly assaulted the woman, aged in her 50s, on a city-bound Cranbourne train on the morning of October 11. He was charged with sexual assault on Thursday and has been bailed to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on December 8. An elderly man (pictured) has been charged with the alleged sexual assault of a woman in her 50s on a Melbourne train The alleged attack occurred sometime between 9.05am and 9.25am as the train travelled between Carnegie and Caulfield stations. It is believed the man boarded the train at Oakleigh station and after the alleged incident, got off at Richmond and caught another city loop train. Police have smashed what they allege is a major cocaine syndicate in Sydney Police have smashed what they allege is a major cocaine syndicate and seized drugs, luxury vehicles and cash in dramatic raids across Sydney. Two men, aged 21 and 34, have been arrested following an investigation into large-scale supply of the drug in the city's south. Detectives on Thursday seized a BMW E90 series, a 2016 Lamborghini, a 2015 McLaren, cocaine, drug paraphernalia, bank cards and more than $70,000 cash. The 34-year-old was arrested during a traffic stop at Arncliffe on Wednesday afternoon. He has been charged with charged with large commercial drug supply, knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime, and participate in criminal group. Drugs, luxury vehicles - including this 2016 Lamborghini - and cash were seized in dramatic raids across Sydney Detectives arrested the 21-year-old man, who is facing the same charges, at a commercial premises at Double Bay. Both men were refused bail to appear at Sutherland and Waverley Local Courts on Thursday. Shortly after the arrests, police executed three search warrants at homes at Arncliffe, Lewisham and Rockdale. Investigations are continuing and further arrests are expected. Two men, aged 21 and 34, have been arrested following an extensive investigation into large-scale supply of the drug in the city's south. Pictured, a tow truck driver loads a 2015 McLaren Veteran New York City anchorwoman Michele Marsh has died after losing her seven-year battle to breast cancer. Marsh, 63, who worked under nightly news programs like CBS and NBC throughout her blooming career, passed away at her residence in South Kent, Connecticut on Tuesday. Loved ones confirmed in a statement to the New York Daily News the Detroit-born newscaster began suffering worsening complications from the disease in weeks leading up to her death. Her 25-year-old son, John Paschall, told the newspaper his mother 'fought an incredible fight, and she beat all the odds against her.' Scroll down for video Beloved anchorwoman Michele Marsh died Tuesday after losing her seven-year battle to breast cancer Marsh ignited her career in television shortly after graduating with a degree in broadcast production from Northwestern University Her first gig in New York City began at WCBS-TV in 1979 - where she became a notable name in nightly news Paschall said his ill mother's doctors initially said Marsh likely wouldn't live to see him graduate college or get married, adding that she was able to see him accomplish both. Marsh ignited her career in television shortly after graduating with a degree in broadcast production from Northwestern University. Her first gig in New York city began at WCBS-TV in 1979 - where she became a notable name in nightly news. She continued working at the station for at least 17 years, the New York Times reported. Marsh 'spent alternating between stints as an anchor with Rolland Smith, Ernie Anastos, Jim Jensen and John Johnson and as a correspondent, depending on fluctuations in ratings,' the report said. She continued working at WCBS for at least 17 years, the New York Times reported The mother-of-one went on to win five Emmy awards for her work in the local news channels Following her time at CBS, Marsh worked for NBC4 prior to taking time off to tend to her family. The mother-of-one went on to win five Emmy awards for her work in the local news channels. 'She loved the power of the story, and she passed that on to me,' Paschall, who works for NBC Sports, said. Colleagues and friends described Marsh as 'well-liked' and 'gifted' in her work 'What she always prided herself on was just really going beyond the basic facts of the story and taking pride in storytelling in general.' Colleagues and admirers of the beloved news anchor expressed their condolences on social media Wednesday. 'My heart sank today to hear we lost a colleague at @WCBSTV in the 80s. One of biggest stars in golden era of NYC TV news,' wrote CBS news anchor Anthony Mason. WNBC anchor Darlene Rodriguez reflected on her time with Marsh, saying that she brought her 'down to the studio and sat me on the set and proceeded to give me tips and show me how she does it.' She added: 'So sad to hear this. I looked up to her so much and when I got to WNBC, she was so kind and welcoming.' And longtime journalist Ray Hennessy said: 'Sad to hear of the passing of #MicheleMarsh, who was a gifted anchor. Her work with the late Jim Jensen marked my first interest in TV news.' The Commonwealth Bank is warning its customers to beware of a scam message that asks them to log into their accounts via a link. The messages, sent in order to hack personal details, were delivered to hundreds of customers through phishing emails and texts across Australia, news.com.au reports. Those who received the messages which contained spelling errors - were told to log into their accounts using the link provided. Customers with protected computers will be directed to a page that flags the phishing emails A CommBank spokesman responded to the scam in a statement, urging customers to forward the messages to the company's Security team. 'Yes, this is a phishing text, where the sender is trying to get information on your banking, the statement said. 'So long as you have not entered your information then your accounts will be safe.' It comes after ANZ customers were sent a convincing phishing email which told them their 'last payment was unsuccessful' and prompted then to enter their account login details. A Commonwealth Bank spokeswoman said customer security was the organisation's 'top priority'. 'We invest in state of the art fraud prevention and detection technology and have a dedicated team who actively monitor unusual or suspicious activity,' she said. Unfortunately, scams including SMS scams and illegal activity may still occur from time to time. When were made aware of a particular scam targeting Commonwealth Bank customers, we may post a fraud alert on Facebook to help them stay vigilant. The spokeswoman also said the Commonwealth offered customers a '100% guarantee against online fraud' where they are not at fault. An amateur photographer charged with indecently and sexually assaulting three women during modelling sessions has been refused bail in a Newcastle court. Allan Cameron, who now runs an IT business, is facing 17 charges including assault with act of indecency, rape and procuring a person for prostitution. A 20-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by the 54-year-old during a photography session at Gateshead, two hours north of Sydney, in June 2017. As a result, police officers seized a computer, which allegedly contained more than 300,000 images, a number of which were sexually explicit. Amateur photographer Allan Cameron, 58, is facing 17 charges including rape and procuring a person for prostitution after allegedly sexually assaulting three women during modelling sessions Cameron's wife (pictured) was present during the hearing but made no comment outside of court when he was refused bail Detectives then spoke with two other women, both aged 25, who reported they, too, were assaulted during modelling sessions in 2012 and 2017. Cameron described himself as 'Old Fart' on a website advertising his photography business Primeval Edge. 'Every single model I've ever worked with has my utmost respect and thanks, without you all I couldn't have produced the work I've created to date,' he wrote. 'Being strictly a part time photographer, I've got to balance Family, Business and Photography more than some others.' 'I am not looking to work with Diva's. If your (sic) not about hard work while having fun and more about being as difficult as possible to get along with, look somewhere else.' Cameron appeared at Newcastle Local Court on Thursday where his lawyer Mark Evans unsuccessfully applied for bail arguing his client had shut down his part-time amateur photography business. But in refusing bail magistrate Ian Cheetham said there was a strong prosecution case and if convicted for the 'very serious allegations' a custodial sentence was 'inevitable'. His wife was present during the bail hearing but made no comment outside of court. Cameron is next due to face court via video link on December 13. This the powerful moment a popular radio host breaks down in tears on air as she details the horrific sexual abuse she has experienced throughout her life. Jodie Oddy, who hosts a breakfast radio show in Adelaide, was reflecting on the viral hashtag 'MeToo' on Thursday when she decided to share her own empowering story. The campaign calls on women to speak up about surviving sexual assault by using the hashtag, following the abuse claims levelled against Harvey Weinstein. Oddy, a mother-of-three, said she was reluctant to share her #MeToo experience, despite being subjected to various forms of sexual abuse since she was a child. Adelaide breakfast host Jodie Oddy (pictured) broke down in tears as she spoke up about surviving sexual assault live on radio 'I think the major problem with it all, I thought somehow this is my fault, like I did something or I brought it on myself,' Oddy began. 'Even now as a 41-year-old grown ass woman, I always think I asked for it.' When co-host Mark Soderstrom asked Oddy why she felt that way, she took a deep breath and responded. 'To the family friend who tried it on when I was a little girl and betrayed everyone's trust around me, then #MeToo,' she said. 'To the teenage boyfriend who was verbally abusive and dragged me out of his car and pinned me up against a wall and had his fist up to punch me in the face, then #MeToo too. 'To the media guy who systematically bullied female employees, he was known for it, and I particularly enjoyed the day he called me a 'whore' in front of all the staff, then #MeToo. That one's for you buddy. 'To the organisations who did absolutely nothing when there were crude sexist and degrading comments made about me in the course of me doing my job, there's a big #MeToo. 'And finally, and this is the one I'm probably most ashamed of, to the media man about town who scared the life out of me when he pinned me down and tried to kiss me against my will, then #MeToo.' Oddy (right, with co-host Mark Soderstrom) described being betrayed as a seven-year-old girl and abused as a teenager by her boyfriend Her voice faltered as she spoke about a media colleague who tried to force himself on her As Oddy broke down in tears, she explained to Soderstrom and the listeners why she'd decided to speak out. 'I thought about my daughters and I thought, I'm in a position where I have a voice to say I never, ever in my life want them to have to sit in front of a computer screen and write #MeToo.' Listeners were quick to call in to thank Oddy for her bravery and raw honesty. 'You totally just took my breath away,' a woman named Laura told Oddy on air. 'I just wanted to thank you on behalf of women everywhere who probably don't have the courage to write #MeToo. You have no idea how empowering your words are to others.' Other listeners took to social media to applaud Oddy for the moving segment. A white former Oklahoma police officer has been convicted of first-degree manslaughter in his fourth trial for the 2014 fatal shooting of his daughter's black boyfriend. Ex-Tulsa police officer Shannon Kepler was sentenced to 15 years in prison after jurors deliberated for more than six hours and reached a verdict for a lesser charge late Wednesday in his first-degree murder trial. Kepler was an off-duty 24-year-police veteran at the time when he shot 19-year-old Jeremey Lake who was walking with his daughter Lisa Kepler on August 5, 2014. His attorneys have previously said he was trying to protect his daughter, while Kepler claimed he fired in self-defense because Lake was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. Police didn't find a weapon on Lake or at the scene. Scroll down for video Shannon Kepler (above left), a white former Oklahoma police officer, has been convicted of first-degree manslaughter in his fourth trial for the 2014 fatal shooting of his daughter's black boyfriend Kepler (left in mugshot) shot Jeremey Lake (right), 19, dead in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on August 5, 2014. Lake was with Kepler's daughter Lisa at the time of the fatal shooting Lisa Kepler (left) said she met Lake (right) while he was volunteering at a homeless shelter where she was staying Lisa Kepler was 18 years old when she met Lake while he was volunteering at a homeless shelter where she was staying. She told the court her parents dropped her off at the shelter in July 2014 after she had been sneaking out at night and acting out. After a few weeks, Lake offered her a place to stay at the home he shared with his aunt, she testified. She said on the day of the shooting, she and Lake were passing out water bottles to the homeless before walking back to his aunt's home. She testified that she noticed her father's SUV parked out front and that he started asking her questions. Lake (left) offered Lisa (above right after his death) a place to stay at the home he shared with his aunt (left of right) The young couple were walking back to the home when her father (above) confronted them and killed Lake. The ex-cop later tried to claim that Lake had a weapon on him, but investigators did not find one at the scene or on Lake's body During the latest trial, the ex-cop said he was going to call 911 about the shooting but called his wife, Gina Kepler, instead because 'he realized he was in a pickle.' Kepler turned himself in the next morning along with his wife, who was also a Tulsa police officer She said her father asked what she was doing in the neighborhood, but she couldn't remember how she responded, she testified. Gina Kepler was arrested on a complaint of being an accessory but was never charged Kepler said he was trying to protect his daughter, because she was living in a crime-ridden neighborhood. Lake's aunt said her nephew was reaching out to shake Kepler's hand to introduce himself when Kepler fired his weapon. The former Tulsa police officer then fled in his vehicle, court records show. During the latest trial, the ex-cop said he was going to call 911 but called his wife, Gina Kepler, instead because 'he realized he was in a pickle.' Kepler turned himself in the next morning along with his wife, who was also a Tulsa police officer. She was arrested with her husband on a complaint of being an accessory after the fact of murder, but was not charged because prosecutors said there wasn't evidence to support it. Pictured above is their Facebook relationship status the day Lake was killed Jurors in Kepler's previous three trials deadlocked 11-1, 10-2 and 6-6, forcing the judge to declare mistrials. Although they couldn't decide on the murder charge, jurors in the first trial convicted Kepler of recklessly using his firearm. During this last trial, both the defense and prosecution focused their closing arguments on Lake's younger brother's testimony. At the time of the incident, he was aged 13 and witnessed what happened from the porch. The prosecution argued during this case that the teen knew specific details about the color of the gun used to kill Lake. He also knew what Kepler wore when he shot Lake and which direction the SUV drove towards after the incident. But the defense argued that the details the teen provided could not be depended on due to his age and the extensive media coverage the case had received. Kepler's lawyers also argued that it was not likely he would murder someone after serving over two decades on the police force. The lone survivor of a fishing tragedy has had an emotional reunion with his wife after getting off a rescue helicopter. Ruben McDornan stepped out of the chopper to find his wife Sammy waiting for him on the tarmac at Gladstone Airport. The fisherman, who was rescued by a passing yacht after 12 hours in rough seas off the Queensland coast, ran into the arms of his wife and mother at noon on Thursday. Scroll down for video The lone survivor of a fishing tragedy has had an emotional reunion with his wife after getting off a rescue helicopter (pictured) Ruben McDornan stepped out of the chopper to find his wife Sammy (pictured) waiting for him on the tarmac at Gladstone Airport The fisherman (pictured), who was rescued by a passing yacht after 12 hours in rough seas off the Queensland coast, ran into the arms of his wife and mother at noon on Thursday McDornan, who is suffering from minor injuries, had been helping with efforts to find his six missing crewmates, The Courier Mail reported. The seven fisherman had been aboard the trawler Dianne which capsized and sank near Middle Island on Monday night. Families of the missing men - Ben Leahy, 45, Adam Hoffman, 30, Eli Tonks, 39, Adam Bidner, 33, Zach Feeney, 28, and Chris Sammut, 34 - are still hoping for a miracle. Queensland Police Inspector Darren Somerville said the search could soon become a recovery operation, with efforts hampered by stormy weather. McDornan (pictured), who is suffering from minor injuries, had been helping with efforts to find his six missing crewmates The seven fisherman had been aboard the trawler Dianne which capsized and sank near Middle Island on Monday night (pictured are Mr McDornan, his wife, right, and mother) 'We're still hopeful that there would be some sort of miracle. But it would be that now. It would be a miracle if we were to find someone alive,' he said. Mr McDornan's wife and mother were overjoyed be reunited with Ruben, who told police he was inside the vessel when it overturned. 'He's distraught. He's very upset about the whole incident. Obviously he's lost six of his best mates. He doesn't know where they are,' the police spokesman said. Families of Mr McDornan's (pictured) six missing crewmates are still hoping for a miracle Mr McDornan's wife and mother were overjoyed be reunited with Ruben, who told police he was inside the vessel when it overturned (pictured is missing crewman Eli Tonks) 'We're still hopeful that there would be some sort of miracle. But it would be that now. It would be a miracle if we were to find someone alive,' said police (pictured is missing man Adam Hoffman) Rescuers were hoping weather conditions would improve over the next two days, after rough seas earlier in the week (pictured is missing man Chris Sammut) 'As far as physically, he has some scratches and bruises which were caused by him trying to get out of the vessel. But physically he's fine.' Rescuers were hoping weather conditions would improve over the next two days, after rough seas earlier in the week. Wetsuits, spear gun holders, hoses and oxygen cylinders from the capsized boat had been located, mostly washed up on shore at Bustard Bay Debris from the Dianne, including wetsuits, spear gun holders, hoses and oxygen cylinders, was found 40 nautical miles from where the boat capsized (pictured is missing man Ben Leahy) Most of the recovered items were from the outside of the vessel, leading rescuers to believe the trawler may still be intact (pictured is missing man Zach Feeney) Family and loved ones of the missing crewmates have gathered in Gladstone and are waiting anxiously for news (pictured is missing man Adam Bidner) Debris from the Dianne, including wetsuits, spear gun holders, hoses and oxygen cylinders, was found 40 nautical miles from where the boat capsized. Most of the recovered items were from the outside of the vessel, leading rescuers to believe the trawler may still be intact. Family and loved ones of the missing crewmates have gathered in Gladstone and are waiting anxiously for news. Mr McDornan and the six missing men are understood to have years of experience working together gathering sea cucumbers. Richard Cooke (pictured) used a metaphor about the view on the train to Auschwitz to describe his displeasure at a report claiming the initial meeting between Captain Arthur Phillip and Australian Indigenous people was amicable An Australian journalist has been slammed by a Jewish leader for posting a 'vulgar' joke about the Holocaust on Twitter. Richard Cooke, a contributing editor at The Monthly magazine, was tweeting about a report on the teaching of the history of Western civilisation when he made the 'insensitive' remark. 'Sure Auschwitz was bad, but the train ride there took in some lovely scenery,' he tweeted. Mr Cooke was immediately slammed on social media, with some calling for him to delete the tweet and others arguing he should be sacked from his job. Jewish community leader Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, told Daily Mail Australia in a statement that the tweet was 'deeply insensitive, offensive and tasteless'. He went on to say Mr Cooke's poor choice of example was 'an insult to the memory of the 1.5million people who were tortured and murdered in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. 'If Mr Cooke thought this vulgar remark was funny or appropriate in this context, he was wrong on all counts, and its hard to believe he actually posted it,' he said. 'People are of course entitled to criticise reports about universities, identity and race. 'But there is nothing funny about the horrific and unfathomable crimes of the Holocaust, and the suffering of the victims should never be twisted so as to generate a punchline or to score a point.' The tweet was met with furious responses from his Twitter followers, who labelled it 'disgusting' Pictured: The gates to the Auschwitz complex, where more than 1.1million Jewish people were killed Dr Abramovich went on to refer to Mr Cooke's remark as a 'slap in the face' to those who were sent to the gas chambers during the Second World War, and called on the journalist to apologise. 'The history of the Holocaust deserves greater respect than to be degraded, he said. 'Many of the Jews who were transported on sealed freight cars to the killing centres were given no food or water, and enduring terrible conditions, died before the trains reached their destination. 'They did not enjoy the "lovely scenery". 'This crude statement is a slap in the face to all those who perished in the gas chambers, and to those who survived, and we call on Mr Cooke to take our concerns to heart, apologise for his outrageous statement, and acknowledge that his use of Holocaust imagery went too far.' Mr Cooke's tweet came in response to a report on history subjects taught in Australia. The report concluded there was a bias in favour of subjects which focus on class, race and gender, and that history facilities are failing to teach the history of Western civilisation as relevant to Australia. It also claimed the initial meeting between Captain Arthur Phillip and the Eora people was 'amicable'. Mr Cooke is the contributing editor for The Monthly, which 'offers a mix of investigative reportage, critical essays and thoughtful reviews' according to its website. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Cooke for comment. During the Holocaust, many Jewish people were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp via train. Jewish community leader Dr Dvir Abramovich said a great deal of these people 'were given no food or water, and enduring terrible conditions, died before the trains reached their destination' Dr Abramovich said those on the trains to the camps 'did not enjoy the "lovely scenery"' and that Mr Cooke's comments were 'a slap in the face' Jo Johnson, the UK Government's universities minister A minister has ordered universities to guarantee free speech and to end 'no platform' policies, or they could face losing their licences. Jo Johnson, the UK Government's universities minister, said that any higher education institutes that fail to protect freedom of could be fined, suspended or ultimately deregistered by the new Office for Students (OfS). Under new plans, which will be announced today, universities will be required by law to protect free speech across their campuses included inside the student union. Speakers including Boris Johnson, Julie Bindle, Germaine Greer and Peter Tatchell have been targeted by student protests in the past. In an interview with The Times, Mr Johnson said: 'No-platforming and safe spaces shouldn't be used to shut down legitimate free speech. 'Our young people and students need to accept the legitimacy of healthy vigorous debate in which people can disagree with one another. That's how ideas get tested, prejudices exposed and society advances. Universities mustn't be places in which free speech is stifled.' Sir Michael Barber, chairman of the OfS, which gets its legal powers in April next year, said: 'It's really important that universities are a place where diverse opinions can be expressed, and that must include unpopular ones, otherwise it's not really diverse.' In March, Mr Johnson wrote to the chief executive of Universities UK to say there is a 'legal duty' for universities to ensure freedom of speech is being exercised. His letter came just months after findings showed 94 per cent of universities in the UK now have some form of restriction on freedom of expression, up from 80 per cent in 2015. The worrying craze has seen everything from public speakers blocked to fancy dress outfits banned from appearing on campus. In recent years a number of high-profile people have been banned from speaking at universities in recent years including Mr Johnson's brother Boris, whose invitation to King's College London was revoked for a column about Barack Obama. Speakers including Boris Johnson (left), Julie Bindle (right), Germaine Greer and Peter Tatchell have been targeted by student protests in the past Germaine Greer was nearly stopped from speaking at a lecture at Cardiff University after students started a petition against her visiting, following comments she made about the transgender community. Radical feminist Julie Bindel was ironically banned from speaking at a debate about censorship at Manchester University's student union for her 'dangerous' views on transgender people. This upward trend of censorship has also seen campuses banning everything from newspapers to fancy dress outfits, such as Pocahontas and cowboys and Indians. And in some universities such as Cardiff Metropolitan, students are trying to ban terms such as 'gentleman's agreement' and 'mankind' in case they cause offence. New Zealand finally has a new prime minister, a month after the country's election. Labour's Jacinda Ardern was confirmed as the country's new leader after striking up a coalition with Winston Peters' New Zealand First party. The election took place on September 23 and Ardern was named the winner this afternoon. Ardern, 37, succeeds Bill English, who took office last year when his predecessor John Key stood down as prime minister Ardern, 37, succeeds Bill English, who took office last year when his predecessor John Key stood down as prime minister. Ardern will be New Zealand's youngest ever prime minister - tied with former prime minister Edward Stafford who was also 37 when he took office 161 years ago. Ardern will become New Zealand's third female prime minister, following in the footsteps of Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark. Ardern was only the leader of the Labour party for 80 days before she was voted in. The new prime minister is due to hold her first press conference at 8pm New Zealand time. Labour's Jacinda Ardern has been confirmed as the country's new leader after striking up a coalition with Winston Peters' New Zealand First party Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford during the 2017 Constellation Cup match Ardern's shock elevation to New Zealand's prime ministership might cause some heartburn for Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. NZ First leader Peters announced on Thursday he was forming a coalition government with Ardern's Labour party, ending nine years of National rule. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was quick to congratulate Ms Ardern, 37, on Twitter. But so far the Turnbull government is yet to respond to the news. NZ First leader Winston Peters announced on Thursday he was forming a coalition government with Ms Ardern's (right) Labour party, ending nine years of National rule Jacinda Ardern's shock elevation to New Zealand's prime ministership might cause some heartburn for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop There might be some initial awkwardness in Australian-New Zealand relations with Ms Ardern's rise to power. In August, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop accused New Zealand's opposition Labour Party of conspiring to undermine her government. She said Australia's opposition Labor party had used its New Zealand counterpart to raise questions about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's Kiwi citizenship in the New Zealand parliament. 'This is highly unethical at least but more importantly it puts at risk the relationship between the Australian government and the New Zealand government,' Ms Bishop said at the time. Ms Ardern responded at the time the claims were false and 'highly regrettable' 'New Zealand is facing an election,' Ms Bishop said. 'Should there be a change of government, I would find it very hard to build trust with those involved in allegations designed to undermine the government of Australia.' Ms Ardern responded at the time the claims were false and 'highly regrettable'. She said she had contacted the Australian High Commission to register her disappointment and would be meeting the commissioner in person. Comment has been sought from Ms Bishop. Lidia Dragescu, 23, from Romford, Essex, fell 100ft in front of shocked tourists The mother of a medical student who plunged to her death from St Paul's Cathedral has told how her daughter 'needed to fly into God's arms'. Lidia Dragescu, 23, from Romford, Essex, fell 100ft in front of shocked tourists, after climbing over safety barriers at the Whispering Gallery in London last Wednesday. She had two notes written in her native Romanian in her hands while she fell after saying goodbye to her mother Isabela just an hour-and-a-half before. And yesterday, her Mrs Dragescu, 44, told The Sun that two days earlier her daughter had a dream where angels gave her a poppy and took her to heaven. She said: 'She wanted to see how it was on the other side. She thought everything about this world was messy. She picked the cathedral because she needed to fly into God's arms.' Mrs Dragescu added that her daughter had often been struck by the architecture of St Paul's and had previously said how much she liked the marble columns. Lidia Dragescu, 23, died after falling from the viewing balcony of St Paul's Cathedral in London Miss Dragescu (pictured, with her mother Isabela and brothers) was just weeks into a degree Miss Dragescu is thought to have jumped over the barriers at the Whispering Gallery (pictured) Her mother added: 'Lidia was fascinated by beauty and told me every day that this world is ugly. We stay in our four walls. She said you couldn't find beauty in this world any more not real beauty.' Earlier this week, Mrs Dragescu revealed how she was only given the notes by her daughter when police arrived at the family home on the day of her death. She said: 'The police came to the door and she showed me their badges and they told me it is about your daughter. They said 'your daughter is dead'. 'I was not at all aware that something like this would happen. When she left at 9am she told me 'bye mum' and I said 'God bless you' as always. Miss Dragescu was described as an 'outstanding student' and a 'talented figure skater' Miss Dragescu, who was a talented medical student, is pictured with her brother, Vlad Miss Dragescu (pictured, with a brother) was called the 'most beautiful person in the world' A poem by Miss Dragescu, written under the name of Lydia Black, posted to her website Miss Dragescu (pictured, with her brother, Vlad) died at the scene of her fall in St Paul's Heart-wrenching letter addressed to mother In her first letter addressed to her mother, tragic Lidia wrote: 'Mum I am really sorry for upsetting you in this way. 'It would be natural to be upset but do not be for me, I am better now, in a better place. 'I am doing this for me, to escape. 'All of the past and the present it makes my head heavy. 'It will be very difficult without me for a time but after this you will be okay. 'Think about me that I am good now. 'I told you how much I love you. 'I am sorry I care but I need to escape and I cannot wait to see what is on the other side. 'I love you all remain well and I will see you when you are old. Take care of you. Thank you for everything.' Advertisement 'She took the 25 bus to St Paul's. I had texted her to ask her what is wrong, I am concerned and that was at around 11am. 'She never usually missed a call or a message from me. I sent her a message and she did not reply.' Mrs Dragescu added: 'She was holding these two letters and the police gave them to me when they arrived, they said she fell backwards. 'She loved God, when she came into a room all eyes were on her, but she did not have any friends. If only someone could tell me why, but I still feel her, she is still with us, she can't leave us.' Also earlier this week, her loved ones paid tribute to the 'outstanding student' and 'talented figure skater' and said the world was a 'bad place' for her to live in. Bright and ambitious, Miss Dragescu, a Romanian native, had achieved a 2.1 degree in business at the London campus of Ulster University. She then used her expertise to set up a recruitment company, KOD services, with her mother. Miss Drasgescu's loved ones said the world had been 'bad place to live in' for her The height of the Whispering Gallery in St Paul's is equivalent to seven London buses 'I am sorry for showing you this ugly sight' In a note to those who saw her fall Lidia wrote: 'To all who saw me like this I am sorry, people should not come to see a dead body when coming here. 'I am sorry for showing you this ugly sight, please go and be happy about your lives.' Advertisement Miss Dragescu also had a passion for literature and ran her own website, Knowledge Is Our Duty, to encourage people to enjoy reading, poetry, science and the arts. She posted poems that she had written, under the name Lydia Black, including one titled 'Claudia' which spoke of a 'kind soul above all others'. She had been weeks into a biomedical degree at the University of East London when she lost her life. The Whispering Gallery has a height equivalent to seven London buses. The cathedral (pictured) was evacuated after the shocking incident last Wednesday Tourists were said to have gasped in horror when they saw Miss Dragescu's leap Speaking at the time of Miss Dragescu's fall, a St Paul's spokesman said: 'The woman fell from the Whispering Gallery to the cathedral floor. 'The incident is being treated as non-suspicious by police. First aid trained staff were immediately at the scene and police and paramedics arrived within minutes. 'Although robust procedures for emergency situations are in place at St Paul's and the response bore that out, it does not lessen the shock we feel as a close community, especially for those of us who witnessed and responded to this incident. 'We hold also in our thoughts those visitors within the cathedral at the time. We think and pray especially at this time for the woman who died, and for all those who were close to her and who loved and cared for her.' To contact the Samaritans, call 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org The Spanish government will revoke Catalonia's autonomy and take control of the region after its separatist leader refused to withdraw a bid to secede. President Carles Puigdemont had until this morning to abandon his 'suspended' declaration of independence, but chose instead to threaten the government with a regional parliamentary vote on a formal declaration. In response, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called a special cabinet meeting on Saturday when his government will trigger Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, his office said on Thursday. Scroll down for video Taking over: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday where he will trigger Article 155 of the constitution, which suspends Catalan autonomy In a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy this morning, Puigdemont said that he is standing by his 'suspended' declaration of independence. He said that Catalonia had never officially declared itself independent, but warned that they would do so if Spain suspended their autonomy. He added that if Spain still refuses a dialogue with Catalonia, he would call a parliamentary vote on independence by local lawmakers. 'If the central government persists in preventing dialogue and continuing repression, Catalonia's parliament could proceed, if it considers it timely, to vote for a formal declaration of independence that it didn't vote for on October 10,' Carles Puigdemont wrote, after highlighting Madrid's threat to suspend its regional autonomy. He argued that the people of Catalonia had voted for independence with a clear majority, a 'a higher percentage than that which allowed the United Kingdom to initiate Brexit'. Demanding freedom: People hold a giant Estelada (pro-independence Catalan flag) reading "Freedom" during candle-lit demonstration in Barcelona on Wednesday Catalonia's separatist leader Carles Puigdemont had until this morning to withdraw a bid to secede from Spain, abut chose instead to threaten the government with a regional parliamentary vote on a formal declaration Strong opinions: Anti-independence protesters demonstrated in Barcelona this week, as the political crisis worsened in a divided Catalonia Making his move: Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont is seen arriving at the Generalitat Palace in Barcelona on Thursday morning Last Wednesday, Catalan's regional government signed a declaration of independence, which Puigdemont suspended seconds later, saying he wanted talks with the Spanish government. The Spanish government made it clear earlier this week that if Catalonia stands by its declaration of independence, they will suspend the region's autonomy. The measure falls under Article 155 of Spain's 1978 Constitution, but has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Article 155 is described as an 'exceptional and extreme measure' which allows the government in Madrid to suspend the rule of regional government. It declares that if an autonomous region breaks Constitutional law, the government 'may adopt the measures necessary to oblige that [region] to forcibly comply', and has never been invoked before. Triggering it could represent a drastic escalation of Spain's worst political crisis in decades which was sparked when Catalonia held a banned independence referendum on October 1. It resulted in a 90 percent 'yes' vote, though turnout was only 43 percent as many supporters of Spanish unity stayed away in a region that is deeply divided on the issue. Campaign: The referendum on October 1 saw just 43 per cent of the electorate vote, but a 'yes' on independence was supported by 90 per cent of those who did Spain considers the referendum to be illegal and unconstitutional, and says its results are invalid. Spain's government has said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if Puigdemont calls a snap regional election, but Catalan officials have ruled that out. Howver, the lengthy process to apply Article 155 could provide some respite. After Saturday's meeting, the government needs to outline what are the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spain's Senate. The ruling Popular Party's majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support. A central government official said that implementation wouldn't be until late October, giving Puigdemont further time to backtrack. The government hopes a regional snap election can be called in the interim, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model who recorded Harvey Weinstein admitting to groping her breast during a meeting in 2015, has been spotted in New York City. It comes after she was vindicated in dramatic fashion by the dozens of women who have spoken out about their experiences with Weinstein in recent weeks. She was just 22 when she accused Weinstein of trying to put his hand up her skirt and feeling her breast. In a chilling recording from a wire she wore during a police sting after she made her claims, the mogul can be heard confessing to groping her as he tries to convince her to 'get in' his hotel room. Scroll down for video Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, the Italian model who recorded Harvey Weinstein admitting to groping her breast during a meeting, has been spotted in New York City But when she first made the claims in 2015, she had few supporters - and was even attacked for speaking out. Talking to La Repubblica newspaper, she said she didn't work for months after the encounter with Weinstein. She added: 'Even restaurants in Soho, where the fashion world hang out, closed their doors to me. I was unwelcome.' But since then, over 40 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault, including the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Ashley Judd. Model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez (left and right) was just 22 when she accused Harvey Weinstein of groping her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt A chilling transcript from a wire Gutierrez wore during a police sting after she made her claims sees the mogul confess to groping her as he tries to convince her to 'get in' his hotel room Gutierrez met the movie mogul at a dance show in 2015. Weinstein repeatedly told the Miss Italy finalist that she looked like actress Mila Kunis and arranged a meeting with her through his assistant. But at the meeting, she alleges Weinstein stared at her breasts and then groped them, and tried to put a hand up her skirt while she protested. The Filipino-Italian model said he arranged for her to see his new musical, Finding Neverland, with him that evening, but instead of meeting him at the theatre, she reported the assault to the New York Police Department. When the annoyed film executive called Gutierrez to ask why she did not meet him, the model arranged to see him the next day at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan and formed a plan with police. In an exchange recorded by a police wire, and obtained and reported by the New Yorker magazine, Weinstein tried to get the model to come into a hotel room with him 'for five minutes' while he took a shower. When Gutierrez refused and confronted him about touching her breasts, Weinstein said he was 'used to that'. The movie mogul swore on his children that he would not touch her again. He accused her of embarrassing him and making a scene in the hotel where he stayed 'all the time', adding: 'I'm a famous guy.' Gutierrez met Harvey Weinstein (left) at a dance show in 2015. Weinstein repeatedly told the Miss Italy finalist that she looked like actress Mila Kunis and arranged a meeting with her through his assistant But at the meeting, she alleges Weinstein stared at her breasts and then groped them, and tried to put a hand up her skirt while she protested But after a two-week investigation, the Manhattan district attorney decided not to file charges, The New Yorker reported. 'We had the evidence,' a police source told the magazine. 'It's a case that made me angrier than I thought possible, and I have been on the force a long time.' The DA's office said at the time: 'This case was taken seriously... After analysing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported.' After the story was published, reports about Gutierrez's past began to emerge, including that she attended one of Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' parties. She eventually became a witness in a bribery case against Berlusconi, which is ongoing. Gossip outlets also reported that Gutierrez, as a teenager, had made an allegation of sexual assault against an older Italian businessman but later declined to co-operate with prosecutors. Gutierrez, who declined to comment to the New Yorker, signed a non-disclosure agreement and an affidavit stating the events in the recording did not happen. A Ukrainian heiress who killed five people when she crashed into pedestrians at high speed after it was claimed she jumped a red light had three previous speeding convictions, it has emerged. The horrifying moment the 20-year-old heiress mowed down the victims was caught on camera. There was carnage on the streets of Kharkiv, in Ukraine, after her Lexus mounted the pavement before flipping on its side. Alyona Zaitseva's armed bodyguards drove up in two jeeps immediately after the crash and protected her from a furious crowd who witnessed the crash. The dead included a 15-year-old schoolgirl. A glamorous 20-year-old heiress has been detained after she 'jumped a red light and rammed into a crowd killing six', say police The car was seen speeding towards the group of people waiting at a pedestrian crossing The car plowed straight into the crowd killing six and injuring dozens more The female driver was arrested by police who said she had not been drinking There was carnage on the streets of Kharkiv, in Ukraine , after her Lexus mowed down people waiting on the pavement at a pedestrian crossing before flipping on its side It has since emerged Ms Zaitseva was fined on three sepatare occasions for speeding offences, according to 112. 'It's like a war zone,' said one onlooker who was trying to care for the injured. Ms Zaitseva, the daughter of local energy company multi-millionaire Vasily Zaitsev, was uninjured. A shocking video of the aftermath of the crash showed bodies strewn on the pavement. Among the seriously wounded is a woman who is seven months pregnant, described as being in a grave condition in hospital. Shocking images showed bodies lying on the ground after the deadly crash (pictured) A shocking video of the aftermath of the crash showed bodies strewn on the pavement Alyona Zaitseva's armed bodyguards drove up in two jeeps immediately after the crash and protected her from a furious crowd who witnessed the crash Three of the dead were named as Elena Berchenko, 25, Yury Neudachin, 24, Oksana Nesterenko, 36 Distressing video showed the wounded crying out for help after the deadly crash Three of the dead were named as Elena Berchenko, 25, Yury Neudachin, 24, Oksana Nesterenko, 36. Student Ms Zaitseva was detained initially for three days. Police said she was found not to have been drinking before the crash. If convicted, she faces up to ten years in jail. Local bloggers expressed fears that because of her powerful father she will be exonerated despite claims that she sped through the red light. Ms Zaitseva, the daughter of local energy company multi-millionaire Vasily Zaitsev (right), was uninjured A high-school math teacher who was suspended for asking two students to reverse their 'Make America Great Again' t-shirts has resigned, fearing for her life. Lyn Orletsky of River Ridge High School in Georgia submitted her resignation to the board after receiving death threats while suspended. Mrs Orletsky asked the two students to turn their tops inside out after taking exception to the slogan used by neo-Nazis during a violent Charlottesville rally. High-school math teacher Lyn Orletsky,who was suspended from her Georgia high-school for asking two students to reverse their 'Make America Great Again' t-shirts has resigned She was put on administrative leave in September having told students that wearing the slogan made popular by President Donald Trump was like wearing a swastika. Mrs Orletsky released a statement on Wednesday describing her ordeal while on administrative leave. 'After attacks on my character and threats on my life, I have made the decision to resign from my teaching position at River Ridge High School,' Orletsky said. 'While in hindsight I would have handled the situation differently, the outcry over this incident has been disproportionate to the event itself.' The school district were quick to apologize and said while disciplinary action against Orletsky wouldn't be disclosed, the students were not in trouble. The math teacher's resignation submission is due for discussion October 19. A spokesperson for Cherokee County Schools, Barbara Jacoby, confirmed Orletsky's last day would be November 1 if the board decides to accept her resignation. Mrs Orletsky asked the two students to turn their tops inside out after taking exception to the slogan used by neo-Nazis during a violent Charlottesville rally. Previously Ms Jacoby condemned the teachers actions calling her dismissal of the slogan wrong. She said: 'Her actions were wrong, as the "Make America Great Again" shirts worn by the students are not a violation of our School District dress code, 'Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower is deeply sorry that this incident happened in one of our schools,' Adding: 'It does not reflect his expectation that all students be treated equally and respectfully by our employees.' Jacinda Ardern's shock elevation to New Zealand's prime ministership might cause some heartburn for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. NZ First leader Winston Peters announced on Thursday he was forming a coalition government with Ms Ardern's Labour party, ending nine years of National rule. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was quick to congratulate Ms Ardern, 37, on Twitter. But so far the Turnbull government is yet to respond to the news. Scroll down for video Jacinda Ardern's shock elevation to New Zealand's prime ministership might cause some heartburn for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop There might be some initial awkwardness in Australian-New Zealand relations with Ms Ardern's rise to power. In August, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop accused New Zealand's opposition Labour Party of conspiring to undermine her government. She said Australia's opposition Labor party had used its New Zealand counterpart to raise questions about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's Kiwi citizenship in the New Zealand parliament. 'This is highly unethical at least but more importantly it puts at risk the relationship between the Australian government and the New Zealand government,' Ms Bishop said at the time. 'New Zealand is facing an election,' Ms Bishop said. 'Should there be a change of government, I would find it very hard to build trust with those involved in allegations designed to undermine the government of Australia.' Bishop said Australia's opposition Labor party had used its New Zealand counterpart to raise questions about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's Kiwi citizenship in the New Zealand parliament NZ First leader Winston Peters announced on Thursday he was forming a coalition government with Ms Ardern's Labour party, ending nine years of National rule Ms Ardern responded at the time the claims were false and 'highly regrettable'. She said she had contacted the Australian High Commission to register her disappointment and would be meeting the commissioner in person. Comment has been sought from Ms Bishop. Advertisement Theresa May shared an awkward joke with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron today as she jetted into Brussels to demand an end to the deadlock in negotiations. The talks have been locked in an acrimonious stalemate over EU demands for Britain to pay an exit bill some in Europe still believe should be 100billion - five times higher than the 20bn the UK has offered. After a dinner of pumpkin gnocchi and pheasant tonight, the Prime Minister is due to appeal directly to leaders of member states to move on to post-Brexit trade talks. There was some good news for Mrs May as she touched down in the Belgian capital after the German chancellor hinted at Brexit trade talks beginning by Christmas. EU leaders gathered in Brussels today for a summit that was supposed to green light a second phase of negotiations about future relations between the UK and EU. Britain has effectively accepted this will now not happen but Mrs May called for an end to the bitter wrangling as she arrived today, calling for new talks within weeks. In a significant act of symbolism Theresa May walked into the summit room flanked by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron this afternoon Mrs May has told EU leaders she wants work to begin on her 'bold and ambitious' vision for future relations. Mrs Merkel has hinted at trade talks by Christmas The three leaders had a chat at the EU summit in Brussels today ahead of Theresa May's address to her fellow European leaders later tonight. The PM wants to move on to trade talks - but Germany and France are said to be the biggest stumbling blocks to her plan Theresa May has a chat with Dutch Pm Mark Rutte - one of Britain's closest allies - and the Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni. But even Mr Rutte has urged the British Prime Minister to be clearer about what she wants out of the EU negotiations In a dispute on another front, Britain is said to be fighting calls to pay 11billion euros towards pensions for EU officials, saying the true figure should be more like 3.5billion. GNOCCHI AND PHEASANT ON MENU FOR SUMMIT This is the menu at dinner tonight: Pumpkin gnocchi and smoked haddock with a parmesan emulsion Pheasant supreme with pan fried cep mushrooms and half a pear with a cranberry filling Fresh pineapple dessert Coffee Advertisement Despite the impasse, Mrs May chatted with Mrs Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron as she walked into the summit this afternoon. As Mrs May got down to work at the EU headquarters today, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was also in Brussels holding his own talks over Brexit. Speaking to reporters as she arrived in Brussels this afternoon, Mrs May said set our her hopes for a breakthrough. She said: 'I set out a few weeks ago in Florence a very bold and ambitious agenda and vision for our future partnership between the EU and UK. 'At the heart of that remains cooperation on the key issues and dealing with the shared challenges that we face. 'That speech ... set out that ambitious vision and Iook forward to us being able to progress that in the weeks ahead.' German Chancellor Angela Merkel held out the prospect of a breakthrough at the next Council summit shortly before Christmas. Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron chatted together at the start of the summit, but the French President has made no secret of his bid to use Brexit to try to lure businesses out of the City of London and to Paris Theresa May is hoping that her appeal will help unblock Brexit talks and encourage leaders to talk about our future relationship with the bloc. But hopes that she will succeed are dwindling as the talks are embroiled in a fresh row over how much Britain should cough up to meet Brussels' massive pensions bill The Prime Minister was quizzed by reporters on her approach to the summit when she reached the venue today Mrs May (pictured speaking to reporters this morning) hopes the message delivered in her Florence speech will unlock the talks today As she arrived at the summit today, the Chancellor told reporters there had been insufficient progress in negotiations so far to move on to trade talks, but enough to encourage her to think it will be possible to 'take the work forward and then reach the start of the second phase in December'. Mrs Merkel said she wanted there to be 'a good relationship between the UK and EU in the future'. MINISTERS ADMIT THEY HAVE PAUSED FLAGSHIP BREXIT LAW Commons leader Andrea Leadsom failed to schedule the so-called Repeal Bill for the second week in a row A senior minister admitted flagship Brexit laws had been 'paused' today after hundreds of wrecking amendments were tabled by Remain MPs. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom failed to schedule the so-called Repeal Bill for the second week in a row, insisting ministers were preparing 'well considered' responses to the amendments. The legislation, which copies all EU law onto the UK statute book to ensure a smooth Brexit, is due to undergo eight full days of line by line scrutiny by MPs but none have yet been scheduled. Delay means it is almost impossible for the draft laws to clear the Commons by Christmas. Ms Leadsom insisted to MPs today there is 'nothing odd at all' about a 'pause' between the second reading and committee stage of any Bill. She said: 'It should be reassuring to the House to know that Government is looking very carefully at those amendments and new clauses, to ensure ... the responses will be well thought through.' Advertisement French President Emmanuel Macron said there had been attempts to create divisions within the EU, but that the 27 would show 'very strong unity in the discussions on Brexit', with shared goals and support for Michel Barnier as the EU's sole chief negotiator. Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister and one of Britain's closest allies, revealed that he urged Mrs May to be more franks about what Britain wants form the negotiations. He told the BBC: 'I said, Theresa, please, make clear what you mean with that, at least when and how you will propose to tackle this debate,' the Dutch PM told the BBC. 'And, if you do that, we might have some more forward-leaning language.' Mr Rutte said answering the plea would encourage more support among the EU-27 for the Brexit talks to move on to trade. He said they were already leaning that way. 'I mean that already is helpful language, I think, for the UK. 'But, she might get more, if, we would get more on the exit bill,' Mr Rutte said. The pensions dispute could be brought up at a dinner for the bloc's leaders tonight, where Mrs May is expected to make an intervention on Brexit. The EU is desperate to avoid reopening carefully set budget plans, with countries like Germany refusing to pay more and net recipients saying they will not accept less. But Downing Street is adamant the PM will not make any further concessions on the divorce bill at this stage, after she offered to contribute 20billion euros during a two-year transition and said the UK would honour 'commitments' potentially totalling tens of billions more. The pensions row is not over the principle of the UK helping meet the costs, but about how the liabilities are calculated. There are some 1,730 Britons among around the 22,000 retired EU officials, and more pensions will start being paid over the coming years. The most recent EU accounts showed the total liabilities for pensions rose 5 percent last year to 67.2 billion euros. Brussels wants to use what is regarded as an artificially low 'discount rate' - an estimated rate of return on capital - that would put the UK share at 11billion euros. But British negotiators are said to believe the bill should be around 3.5billion euros. Theresa May and Angela Merkel walked into the Brussels summit together, but behind the scenes the pair are locked in a row over the Brexit divorce bill. The impasse has prompted calls by Brexiteers for Mrs may to walk away form negotiations if she does not make progress tonight As she arrived at the summit (pictured) German Chancellor Angela Merkel held out the prospect of a breakthrough at the next Council summit shortly before Christmas A draft paper by the German foreign ministry suggests Berlin (Chancellor Angela Merkel pictured) is privately anxious to secure a 'comprehensive' trade deal with one of its largest trading partners 'Paying pensions for well-heeled Eurocrats is one thing but doing it at a rip-off rate is toxic and could be too nasty a medicine for the British public to swallow,' a source close to the talks told The Times. 'Is it really worth jeopardising everything for this?' Mrs May is being urged by some Tory Brexiteers to take a tough line with Brussels. Former Cabinet minister Lord Lawson, Peter Lilley, John Redwood and Owen Paterson have gone further and suggested she should simply walk away from the table. EMBRACING CHANGE? JUNCKER SHARES KISS WITH NEW AUSTRIAN ANTI-EU LEADER Jean-Claude Juncker greeted the leader of the right-leaning Austrian People's Party, and eurosceptic, Sebastian Kurz Jean-Claude Juncker puckered up today as he awkwardly greeted the leader of the right-leaning Austrian People's Party, and eurosceptic, Sebastian Kurz. 'Boy wonder' Kurz, 31, also looked uncomfortable as he embraced the President of the European Commission in Brussels ahead of an EU summit. Leading EU figures have tentatively welcomed the election of Kurz but warned him about forming a coalition with the far-right. But Kurz has signalled a move to overhaul the country's politics by embracing the far-right's anti-Islam policies - saying there was 'no place for political Islam' in Austria. Advertisement Mr Paterson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a trade deal with the EU was 'the best destination' but said there was no need to be 'terrified' of reverting to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms. Germany is playing hardball in public, insisting it is not interested in a trade deal unless the UK offers written guarantees it will make a 'divorce payment'. Michael Fuchs, vice-chair of Angela Merkel's CDU party, said today that he believed the figure should be between 60billion and 100billion euros. 'I cannot give you the real figure, the final figure, but there is a figure between 100billion and maybe 60billion, something in between these two numbers should be the right point,' he told ITV's Good Morning Britain. 'This is what the negotiators have to do at the moment, and I hope that David Davis is coming up with a decent proposal, because 20 billion is definitely not enough.' But a draft paper by the German foreign ministry suggests Berlin is privately anxious to secure a 'comprehensive' trade deal with one of its largest trading partners. The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, ramped up the rhetoric this week by accusing Mrs May of being 'unrealistic' and said Britain should be forced to pump around 60billion euros into the bloc's coffers. Money has emerged as the key issue in the first phase, with the EU refusing to discuss trade until the outline of the financial settlement is agreed. Brussels' chief negotiator Michel Barnier has sought to up the pressure by repeatedly pointing out that the 'clock is ticking' before the formal Brexit date in March 2019. But Brexit Secretary David Davis has said the two sides have little left to discuss in the first phase, with a deal within 'touching distance' on citizens' rights and the Northern Ireland border intractable until the shape of a future trade relationship is clearer. The expected failure to agree 'sufficient progress' has been made to start trade talks means the issue will not be revisited until the next EU summit in December. However, ministers are still confident of achieving movement by Christmas. European Parliament president Antonio Tajani addressed the EU leaders as the summit began. Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured leaving Downing Street today) arrived this afternoon at a crucial EU summit in Brussels The PM last night tweeted a picture of her preparing with officials for the EU summit The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, has accused Theresa May of being 'unrealistic' and said the divorce bill should be around 60billion euros He later told reporters that he had said the Parliament 'appreciated' Mrs May's Florence speech but added 'we are still awaiting implementation of what was said in that speech'. Mr Tajani said: 'Progress so far has not been satisfactory. We heard the tone of the speech by Mrs May, but I am still waiting to see the tone of that speech - the more flexible approach - transformed into practical deeds.' He said that, even after Mrs May's letter to expats, it was 'not yet clear exactly what the UK wants to do' with respect to citizens' rights. He warned: 'The top priority for the European Parliament remains the protection of those people, including the protection of British nationals living in Europe. If we can't get agreement on that point, the European Parliament will vote against any possible agreement.' HOW THE EU HAS PUMPED UP THE BREXIT DIVORCE BILL EU states have been piling on demands as they realise the scale of the hole about to be left in the bloc's finances by the departure of its second biggest contributor. The key elements of the divorce demand from Brussels include: The UK should keep paying into EU coffers until 2021 - after we formally leave - because that is when budgets have been set until. Farm subsidy payments and EU administration fees for 2019 and 2020. Britain should fund agreed loans that have already been agreed to poorer EU states. Paying for relocation of EU agencies to other states after Brexit. UK to be denied a share of the bloc's assets, such as buildings, which could have brought the sum down. Accepting liabilities of around 11billion euros for generous pensions for Eurocrats. There are some 1,730 Britons among around the 22,000 retired EU officials, and more pensions will start being paid over the coming years. Advertisement Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted negotiations on the UK's split from Europe are not on a cliff edge to a hard Brexit. On arrival at the European summit in Brussels, the Taoiseach urged the UK to bring forward more detail on solutions to the Irish border questions and customs relations. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying there encouraging signs that talks on future UK/EU trade relations could begin as early as December, Mr Varadkar also said he was optimistic of more common ground in the Brexit talks by next month. Mr Varadkar also said progress has been made on the Irish border, 'just not enough'. He had a similar message on the question of customs, adding that suggestions of a customs partnership between the UK and the EU, rather than a customs union, needs to be teased out. 'I find it difficult to square the circle of having a customs partnership which is very like the customs union we have now but at the same time Britain engaging in trade deals with third parties,' he said. 'A customs union is a little like a marriage - once you are committed to it, you are committed to it.' The Taoiseach said Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier's assessment of the talks should focus minds in the run up to December and amid mounting pressure for movement on the trade issue. But he distanced himself from remarks by Ireland's EU Commissioner Phil Hogan who said the negotiations on the UK's split from Europe are on a cliff edge to a hard Brexit. 'I think we have a way to go yet,' he said. 'Brexit does not happen until April 2019. We are quite far back from the cliff edge at this stage. 'But it's incumbent on the EU prime ministers and presidents to ensure that we don't sleepwalk towards that cliff and that substantially more progress is made in the next couple of months. 'We are well away from the cliff.' Mr Varadkar also called for a lot more detail from the UK on how the Irish border will remain open after April 2019. 'Language isn't enough,' he said. 'If the UK is leaving the European Union it is on them to put forward detailed proposals to ensure that things remain much the same. That is at the core of the conflict with the position that the UK is taking.' Michael Fuchs, vice-chair of Angela Merkel's CDU party, said today that he believed the figure should be between 60billion and 100billion euros 'No deal would be catastrophic': Corbyn insists his rival Brexit talks in Brussels will HELP defend jobs in Britain as he slams May's negotiations Jeremy Corbyn today claimed a no deal Brexit would be catastrophic as he defended flying into Brussels for rival talks. The Labour leader said he wanted to make sure Theresa May's negotiations were 'on track' and insisted he would not 'countenance' a no deal scenario. Mr Corbyn said it was up to the Prime Minister to get her talks 'back on track' condemned her for presiding over 'chaos'. He refused to say he would definitely implement what Mrs May negotiates if he enters No 10 before March 2019. Mrs May will arrive in Brussels later for a crucial summit that will define the next stage of the Brexit talks. Amid fears the Labour intervention would confuse the British position, No 10 played down the visit and said 'Jeremy Corbyn's diary is a matter for Jeremy Corbyn and his team'. The PM has been engaged in a high-stakes diplomatic push this week aimed at tomorrow's decision by EU leaders whether trade talks can begin. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today in Brussels) claimed a no deal Brexit would be catastrophic as he defended flying into Brussels for rival talks Mr Corbyn is meeting EU negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. He will also sit down with the leaders of Italy, Sweden and Portugal. The Labour leader told Sky News: 'We are here to make sure that the negotiations are on track so that we defend jobs in Britain and make sure there is trade access to Europe in future. 'We are here to support the interests of the people of Britain in the negotiations with Europe. 'The Prime Minister has managed to upset everybody and has a warring Cabinet. 'We cannot countenance the idea we should rush headlong into no deal with Europe.' Top Eurocrat says Brexit talks are 'damage limitation' for UK Brexit negotiations are nothing more than 'damage limitation' and the only question is how much Britain will pay, a top Eurocrat said today. Pascal Lamy, a former minister in France and EU commissioner, insisted the UK had to recognise the 'truth' that it had no leverage. The dismissive comments risk inflaming tensions at a crucial stage in talks over Brexit, with the two sides in deadlock over money. Mr Lamy, who also served as head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), painted a bleak picture of Britain's prospects. Pascal Lamy, a former minister in France and EU commissioner, insisted the UK had to recognise the 'truth' that it had no leverage 'The fundamental difference between the UK vision of what this is about and the Franco-German view is that the British still think this is a negotiation.' he told the Financial Times. 'It is not a negotiation. It is a process to be managed to minimise harm. It involves adjusting.' He added: 'They still seem to believe they can buy something with the money they have to pay 'The truth is there is nothing to discuss... The only question is how much do you owe.' Meanwhile, Mrs May's former director of communications Katie Perrior has admitted that the government weakened its position by invoking Article 50 too early. She suggested that meant Britain had to accept the EU's schedule for the talks, with the divorce bill coming before trade. 'We probably should have taken much more time at the beginning to trigger Article 50,' Ms Perrior told ITV. Advertisement THERESA MAY'S DEPUTY SLAPS DOWN BREXITEERS CALLING FOR MAY TO WALK AWAY FROM EU TALKS Damian Green today slapped down Brexiteers calling for the PM to walk away from Brexit talks if the EU do not move on to trade discussions. The Prime Minister's deputy there are no plans for Theresa May to leave the negotiating table, despite the curent impasse. The Cabinet minister said it is in Britain and the EU's best interests to get a deal and he is confident one will be struck. Mrs May has travelled to Brussels to address a crunch summit where she will appeal directly to the heads of member states to move on to trade talks. In an open letter published today Brexiteers including Tory former chancellor Lord Lawson urged Mrs May to abandon the negotiations if there is no progress towards a deal. First Secretary of State Damian Green, pictured earlier this week with Brexit Secretary David Davis, said Theresa May does not plan to walk away from talks in the EU and said he is confident a good deal will be struck But asked if there is a chance the PM will 'walk away', Mr Green said: 'No.' He added: 'David Davis said in the House yesterday that he intends to continue with the talks. 'I think the Florence speech has led to an improvement in the atmosphere of the talks. 'They are gong to be tough they are going to be long - it's a European negotiation you would expect both of those things. 'But we would expect to have a successful conclusion at the end.' Mr Green, who campaigned to stay in the EU during the referendum campaign, said he would not change his mind if the contest was rerun. Speaking to reporters at the press gallery lunch in the Commons, he said: 'I've said that I havent changed my views about anything said during the referendum campaign. But there are two main points one is that there is not going to be another referendum, and second that it's my duty to try to help get the best deal for Britain.' A Royal Navy 'Top Gun', who took on the Taliban while flying upside down, is still waiting to bring his American wife back to Britain. Commander Simon Rawlins, 39, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, faces an anxious wait as the Home Office decides whether his wife, Marianne, 34, can join him in the UK after he was posted home. The couple met when he was sent to the US to support its navy and have been living together for two years. But now, due to visa complications and delays, Mrs Rawlins, from Irvine in California, has been left homeless. Commander Simon Rawlins, 39, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, faces an anxious wait as the Home Office decides whether his wife, Marianne, 34, can join him in the UK after he was posted home. The couple met when he was sent to the US to support its navy and have been living together for two years Mrs Rawlins (pictured on their wedding day), from Irvine in California, has applied for a visa but is still waiting for it to be processed after being told her application was 'not straightforward' - despite being given no explanation for the delay Mrs Rawlins has applied for a visa but is still waiting for it to be processed after being told her application was 'not straightforward' - despite being given no explanation for the delay. Most of her possessions were sent to the UK as she expected to join her husband. Commander Rawlins told The Telegraph: 'I've paid $100 (76) for multiple calls and emails and all they (UK Visas and Immigration) do is keep you on the phone for as much time as possible and tell you nothing. 'To clarify, I've joined an online forum where I watch as people from all over the world including Pakistan and Tunisia are processed within mere weeks as I wait months. 'There's no accountability, they just won't tell you. I think they're numb to the idea that this actually affects lives and families, they don't seem to know or care.' Mrs Rawlins, a risk management consultant, said the situation had caused her considerable financial damage and her business had been jeopardised. A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are looking into the application made by Marianne Rawlins urgently to seek to resolve the situation as it contained insufficient information to be processed.' Royal Navy 'Top Gun' Simon Rawlins, who took on the Taliban while flying upside down, is still waiting to bring his American wife, Marianne, back to Britain (pictured together) Mr Rawlins hit the headlines in 2009 when he flew upside-down up a mountain at 500mph to frighten the life out of Taliban fighters, who were tracking British soldiers' movement. The mission required the fighter pilot to fly just 100ft above ground, the minimum safe distance, leaving him vulnerable to rocket attack and rifle fire. But he successfully scared the Islamist fighters away using the manoeuvre, known as the 'ridge-crossing technique'. Ward 5 Councilman Shaun Brown is seeking a second four-year term to represent the fastest-growing area of Billings. Dennis Ulvestad is making his sixth run for a Ward 5 City Council seat. He unsuccessfully challenged Brown four years ago. Ulvestad is a member of the City Zoning Commission and previously chaired the West End Task Force. We appreciate his service, but we cant recommend him for the leadership and decision making job on City Council. Ullvestad simply doesnt think things through. For example, he met with editorial board members recently and said the Police Department needs to get rid of School Resource Officers and the newly approved city park ranger to shift those officers to traffic enforcement. The officers in schools are doing important work on public safety, preventing and investigating problems involving our youth. Also, the schools pay a portion of the officers salaries, thus stretching limited resources for the benefit of the entire community. Furthermore, citizens deserve to be safe in our parks as well as our streets. Ulvestad is a regular attendee and commenter at City Council meetings. With that investment of time, we would expect him to have helpful knowledge of city government; he doesnt. Ulvestad waved copies of pie charts that he said showed the city was spending too much because its budget showed more annual expenditure than revenue. Asked if he considered the new wastewater treatment plant now under construction with millions in reserves saved for that purpose, Ullevstad was confused. This growing city of 110,000 needs leaders who can understand the budget and ask critical questions to ensure that they are getting the best value for citizens money. Brown has proven to be a critical thinker. He supports school resource officers and the park ranger position. He wants to work on getting more money to strategically strengthen police service. Brown impressed board members with a passionate plea for Billings to step up its business recruitment efforts. Boeing went to Helena, a large processing plant went to Great Falls, Brown said. Weve got to figure out how to attract employers offering careers, not just jobs, or were going to be a retirement city. We need to work a lot harder with the Chamber, with BSEDA and tourism, Brown said. We need to understand why we are not getting those opportunities. Brown said the city needs to look at incentives, using tax increment financing and work with the county government. Brown moved to Billings 37 years ago after dropping out of school. He earned a bachelor's degree and is working on a masters degree in information technology and now is president of the IT systems consulting division of a Montana company. His management skills have helped him along the steep learning curve every new council member faces. People who have worked with Brown describe him as professional, logical and cool working through problems. We sometimes disagreed with Browns council votes, but he has demonstrated the analytic abilities needed to make sound decisions. We recommend that Ward 5 voters keep Brown on the council for a second term. A woman claims she was rescued from being gang-raped by 25 men in Florence after an immigrant flower seller drove them away. Gaia Guarnotta, 25, was walking alone at 11.30pm in the city, in Italy's northern Tuscany region, when she was approached by the group near Piazza della Repubblica. She said the men were drunk, called her a 'whore', spat at her and then tried to take her away to an unknown location. Gaia Guarnotta (left), 25, says she was rescued by Bangladeshi flower Hossein Alamgir (right), 58, after she was almost gang-raped by 25 drunk Italian men in Florence Ms Guarnotta, a photographer originally from Livorno, said the Italian men at first tried to convince her to have sex with all of them. She tried to run away but they called her a 'slut' and a 'whore', Ms Guarnotta claims. On her Facebook page, she wrote: 'I was walking alone on the street at 23.30. I like to walk, I love Florence and I love the night. 'Then the nightmare begins. They start to say phrases like, "Come on with us, let's have fun, 25 against one, you will have a good night". '(They said), "Let's have a gang bang, you will enjoy it, so many all together, you have never seen this many. You are the one who is refusing us and our kind offer.''' She alleged they dragged her by the arm and even took off her glasses. Rose seller Hossein Alamgir noticed the commotion and came to her aid, chasing the men away. Ms Guarnotta, a photographer originally from Livorno, was walking alone at 11.30pm in the city in northern Tuscany (above) when she was approached by the group near Piazza della Repubblica Mr Alamgir, 58, originally from Bangladesh, has lived in Italy since 2005, according to Direttanews. After rescuing Ms Guarnotta, he took her to a safe place and fed her. He also provided her with towels so that she could wash, and gave her a rose as a present. Ms Guarnotta said: 'Thank you to this world for there are people like Hossein, who help without wanting anything in return. This is a face I will never forget.' She added that she wanted to share her story to show that there is still a need for feminism in the world. It is not known whether Ms Guarnotta has contacted the police. Jeremy Corbyn today claimed a no deal Brexit would be catastrophic as he defended flying into Brussels for rival talks. The Labour leader said he wanted to make sure Theresa May's negotiations were 'on track' and insisted he would not 'countenance' a no deal scenario. Mr Corbyn said it was up to the Prime Minister to get her talks 'back on track' condemned her for presiding over 'chaos'. He refused to say he would definitely implement what Mrs May negotiates if he enters No 10 before March 2019. Mrs May will arrive in Brussels later for a crucial summit that will define the next stage of the Brexit talks. Amid fears the Labour intervention would confuse the British position, No 10 played down the visit and said 'Jeremy Corbyn's diary is a matter for Jeremy Corbyn and his team'. Jeremy Corbyn, pictured posing for a selfie with Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon today at a meeting of socialist politicians in Brussels, risked imperiling Theresa May's address to the EU tonight by holding his own rival talks in the Belgian capital The Labour leader addressed a meeting of the Party of European Socialists in Brussels today. He warned that not striking a deal with the bloc would be catastrophic for Britain The PM has been engaged in a high-stakes diplomatic push this week aimed at tomorrow's decision by EU leaders whether trade talks can begin. Mr Corbyn is meeting EU negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. He will also sit down with the leaders of Italy, Sweden and Portugal. The Labour leader told Sky News: 'We are here to make sure that the negotiations are on track so that we defend jobs in Britain and make sure there is trade access to Europe in future. 'We are here to support the interests of the people of Britain in the negotiations with Europe. 'The Prime Minister has managed to upset everybody and has a warring Cabinet. 'We cannot countenance the idea we should rush headlong into no deal with Europe.' Mr Corbyn said leaving the EU without a deal would mean World Trade Organisation tariffs being imposed in March 2019 - something he branded 'catastrophic' for manufacturing. He said: 'We would have problems throughout the economy.' Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today in Brussels) claimed a no deal Brexit would be catastrophic as he defended flying into Brussels for rival talks The Labour leader is scheduled to hold talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured last week at the EU Commission) and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani Mr Corbyn said: 'As the Government's splits and Brexit bungling become ever more damaging, Labour stands ready to take up responsibility for the Brexit negotiations. 'A no-deal Brexit would be a bad deal for Britain, threatening jobs and living standards. It would also harm our European neighbours. 'That's why it's in all our interests to increase the pressure for real progress in the current talks and move on to negotiations about our future trading relationship. 'Far from viewing the European Union as 'the enemy', Labour would conduct negotiations in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect with the aim of achieving a strong settlement for Britain and a new relationship with Europe.' Mr Corbyn said he would negotiate a 'jobs first Brexit' that would secure 'tariff free access to the single market'. He said: 'The UK is leaving the European Union, but how we do so will be crucial to our countrys future for decades to come. 'The Government is lurching towards a no-deal Brexit, egged on by a powerful faction which wants to use Brexit to turn Britain into a deregulated tax haven.' Theresa May (pictured today arriving in Brussles) has been engaged in a high-stakes diplomatic push this week aimed at tomorrow's decision by EU leaders whether trade talks can begin Tory MP Philip Davies mocked the Labour leader's trip today - but warned he could undermine Britain negotiations. He told Sky News: 'I don't think Jeremy Corbyn's presence there is going to be very helpful if he's going to say that whatever the EU asks for, he's going to agree with. 'I'm sure that behind closed doors they will be laughing their socks off at Jeremy Corbyn, saying he's a soft touch.' Sir Keir today urged the Government to stop digging its heels in over the Brexit bill - a crucial issue set to provoke EU leaders into blocking trade talks tomorrow. The shadow Brexit secretary said Labour wanted the bill to be as low as possible but has accepted the possibility of long term payments for access to the single market. He told the Today programme: 'What we want is both sides, both sides to be flexible and both sides to come together. 'Everybody wants a deal. A deal is needed for the UK, a deal is needed for the EU. 'I have spoken to hundreds of businesses across the UK and they are all of one mind: we need a deal.' Pictured: Steven Mitchell tragically died in December 2015 after becoming trapped in the cab of a fuel tanker A lorry driver who turned into a human fireball after crashing his lorry when he was temporarily distracted screamed, 'I am burning! Get me out.' His chilling cries and final moments were revealed during an fatal accident inquiry at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday. Steven Mitchell, 48, died in a crash on the A835 near Ullapool, Wester Ross in Scotland in December 2015. Passersby tried to save him from the burning cab as he screamed for help. Fellow lorry driver John Bellshaw told the inquiry he scrambled over the tanker in a bid to save Mr Mitchells life. He said: I saw the driver through the window. He spoke to me a few words. He said, I am burning, get me out. I said, I am trying. I couldnt see what was trapping him. He couldnt get out and I couldnt get in. Within seconds of me trying to operate the extinguisher, the fire started to escalate. It was getting to the stage there could have been an explosion. Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood ruled the accident was likely caused by Mr Mitchell becoming temporarily distracted. The inquiry heard two fire extinguishers on the tanker which Mr Mitchell, from Inverness, and witnesses tried to use did not work. John Bellshaw who risked his own life to try and save tanker driver Steven Mitchell However, the sheriff rejected claims from the victims family that Mr Mitchells employer, Highland Fuels, was at fault and said the extinguishers would not have saved him because of the ferocity of the fire. He said: The vehicle was mechanically sound. There was no evidence to suggest his driving fell below the standard expected of a normally competent driver. The police report comes to the conclusion that the most plausible explanation, I am afraid, is an error on Mr Mitchells part, probably caused by his becoming distracted. Beyond that I am of the view that any conclusion would be speculation. I saw the driver through the window. He spoke to me a few words. He said, I am burning, get me out He added: There was clear evidence the fire extinguishers kept on the vehicle were inoperative. The fire grew and spread quickly. By the time the fire service attended, about ten minutes after the alarm was raised, the blaze was out of control and the evidence was anyone in the cab could not be alive. Taking all these factors into account I am unable to come to the conclusion that Mr Mitchell was likely to have survived had rescuers had a working fire extinguisher. The sheriff ruled the fire started due to damage caused by the vehicles electrical wiring after it hit a rock face. In his determination, Sheriff Fleetwood praised Mr Bellshaw and fellow witnesses Robin Forrest and Alan Douglas for their bravery. Brexit negotiations are nothing more than 'damage limitation' and the only question is how much Britain will pay, a top Eurocrat said today. Pascal Lamy, a former minister in France and EU commissioner, insisted the UK had to recognise the 'truth' that it had no leverage. The dismissive comments risk inflaming tensions at a crucial stage in talks over Brexit, with the two sides in deadlock over money. The Prime Minister is attending an EU summit where she will urge fellow leaders to help revive the negotiations. Pascal Lamy, a former minister in France and EU commissioner, insisted the UK had to recognise the 'truth' that it had no leverage But the UK accepts there is no chance of getting authorisation for trade talks to start - with haggling over the divorce bill at the heart of the standoff. Mr Lamy, who also served as head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), painted a bleak picture of Britain's prospects. 'The fundamental difference between the UK vision of what this is about and the Franco-German view is that the British still think this is a negotiation.' he told the Financial Times. 'It is not a negotiation. It is a process to be managed to minimise harm. It involves adjusting.' He added: 'They still seem to believe they can buy something with the money they have to pay 'The truth is there is nothing to discuss... The only question is how much do you owe.' Meanwhile, Mrs May's former director of communications Katie Perrior has admitted that the government weakened its position by invoking Article 50 too early. She suggested that meant Britain had to accept the EU's schedule for the talks, with the divorce bill coming before trade. 'We probably should have taken much more time at the beginning to trigger Article 50,' Ms Perrior told ITV. Germany is playing hardball in public, insisting it is not interested in a deal unless the UK offers written guarantees it will make a 'divorce payment'. Michael Fuchs, vice-chair of Angela Merkel's CDU party, said today that he believed the figure should be between 60billion and 100billion euros. But a draft paper by the German foreign ministry suggests Berlin is privately anxious to secure a 'comprehensive' trade deal with one of its largest trading partners. Britain is said to be fighting calls to pay 11billion euros towards pensions for EU officials, saying the true figure should be more like 3.5billion. Theresa May, pictured at PMQs in the Commons yesterday, is attending a crucial EU summit in Brussels today A draft paper by the German foreign ministry suggests Berlin (Chancellor Angela Merkel pictured) is privately anxious to secure a 'comprehensive' trade deal with one of its largest trading partners The dispute could be brought up at a dinner for the bloc's leaders tonight, where Mrs May is expected to make an intervention on Brexit. The EU is desperate to avoid reopening carefully set budget plans, with countries like Germany refusing to pay more and net recipients saying they will not accept less. But Downing Street is adamant the PM will not make any further concessions on the divorce bill at this stage, after she offered to contribute 20billion euros during a two-year transition and said the UK would honour 'commitments' potentially totalling tens of billions more. The pensions row is not over the principle of the UK helping meet the costs, but about how the liabilities are calculated. North Korea has warned that the US faces an 'unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time' in a new threat likely to further destabilise peace in the region. A statement from North Korea's Pan-Korean Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills said: 'The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. 'The US should expect that it will face an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time.' Scroll down for video North Korea has warned that the US faces an 'unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time' in a new threat likely to further destabilise peace in the region A statement from North Korea's Pan-Korean Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills said: 'The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones.' Pictured, a North Korea intercontinental ballistic missile test from July On Monday, the United States and South Korea launched a joint naval exercise in a fresh show of force against North Korea over its growing missile and nuclear threats. Tensions over the North's weapons programmes have soared in recent months, with Pyongyang carrying out a series of missile launches and its sixth nuclear test, its most powerful yet, in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions. The United States has since ramped up military drills with South Korea and Japan, its two closest allies in the region. 'The latest exercise is aimed at maintaining readiness against North Korea's naval provocation and improving capabilities to carry out joint operations,' a South Korean navy spokesman told reporters. On Monday, the United States and South Korea launched a joint naval exercise in a fresh show of force against North Korea over its growing missile and nuclear threats The United States has since ramped up military drills with South Korea and Japan, its two closest allies in the region. Pictured, a U.S. Lancer takes-off to fly a bilateral mission with Japanese and South Korea Air Force jets in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan, from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam The 10-day drills are taking place on the southern side of the de facto maritime border known as the Northern Limit Line, the spokesman added. The US navy said earlier that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and two US destroyers would take part. Pyongyang habitually condemns such joint exercises and the state-run KCNA news agency on Saturday called the Ronald Reagan's participation a 'reckless act of war maniacs as it only drives the tense situation on the peninsula into the point of explosion'. The exercises are the latest instance of US military hardware movements around the Korean peninsula. The provocative statement also comes as South Korea says the top nuclear envoys from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo agreed that the allies must pursue every available avenue including dialogue and sanctions to peacefully achieve a 'complete' denuclearization of North Korea. The US navy said earlier that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier (pictured) and two US destroyers would take part A Seoul meeting on Wednesday between the countries' chief negotiators for the currently stalled nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea took place shortly after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (left) met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts A Seoul meeting on Wednesday between the countries' chief negotiators for the currently stalled nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea took place shortly after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts across town to discuss responses to North Korea's nuclear activities. U.S. envoy for North Korea policy Joseph Yun said ahead of his meeting with the South Korean and Japanese envoys that North Korea's nuclear ambitions have created a 'very serious situation' that called for high-level engagement between the allies. The so-called six-party talks that also involved China and Russia were last held in late 2008 and North Korea went on to conduct its second nuclear test in May 2009. Earlier this week, North Korea warned that nuclear war 'may break out any moment' amid claims it is developing a missile that can reach the East coast of the US. Pyongyang said the 'entire US mainland is within our firing range' and threatened 'severe punishment' for America if it 'dares to invade out sacred territory'. A allegedly drunk California driver has been charged this week after killing a mother who was on her way home from visiting her premature twins in hospital. Twenty-one-year-old Alexis Cina was almost three times over the legal limit when she lost control of her car, crossed the central median and slammed into mom-of-six Katie Evans, 37, in a horrific crash in Santa Clarita on October 6. Evans had recently given birth to twin girls Sarah and Hannah - who were twelve weeks premature and weighed just one pound when they were born - and was on her way home from visiting the eight-week-old babies in hospital when she was killed. She leaves behind her husband Jacob who works at an aerospace firm and four other boys: 12-year-old Spencer, 11-year-old Travis, nine-year-old Nathaniel and two-year-old Gideon. Arrested: Alexis Cina, 21, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter after killing a mom of six in a horrific crash Tragedy: Mother of six Katie Evans was on her way home from hospital after visiting her premature twin daughters Sarah and Hannah (pictured) before the horrific crash Evans' body was thrown from her car and she was declared dead by first responders at the scene of the crash . Cina was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving at the scene of the crash and had a blood alcohol content of .21, far above the legal limit of .08, according to the Sheriff's department. But it was only on October 18 that Cina was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence, causing injury after being released on $200,000 bail. Evans' husband Jacob has been left devastated by the crash, and he has spoken about the heartbreaking night he lost his wife. He told People: The last time I spoke to Katie was 11 o clock that night. She called me to let me know that she was going to be coming home the hours between 2:30 [a.m.] and 5:30 [a.m.] were the longest of my life. 'I called the hospital and she hadnt been admitted so I was pretty sure that she hadnt made it.' Ms Evans of Saugus in Santa Clarita Valley in California is survived by her husband Jacob, the twins, not pictured, and her sons Spencer, 12, Travis, 11, Nathaniel, 9 and Gideon, 2 Husband Jacob snuggling of the twins inside the California NICU Evans' twins were born twelve weeks premature by emergency C-section and weighed just one pound each. She had previously had three miscarriages but she and her husband wanted to have another child similar to the age of their youngest son. When she learned she was pregnant with two girls, she was delighted. Her husband said: 'She waited 15 years for these girls. They were incredibly precious to her.' Her death has left her family devastated and her friends have set up a You Caring fundraiser to raise money for her family. Natalie Mortensen who set up the fundraiser wrote: 'Katie couldn't go a day without visiting her brand-new twin girls in the hospital. 'She was a devoted mother, sister and wife and will be immensely missed. Jacob is left to care for 6 kids by himself. There will be many childcare costs as well as unforeseen expenses. A fundraiser for the family set up after Natalie's tragic death has raised over $300,000 'We know many would like to help but don't know how to, or are too far away to help in person. If you would like to donate towards childcare and other expenses, you could make Jacob's life a little easier.' Initially, the target was set at $100,000 but this has been bumped to $500,000. Ms Mortensen added: 'Initially, Jacob thought he would have to uproot his kids and move them close to family but due to your generosity, he's now beginning to explore how he can keep the family in Southern California with their friends and neighbors. 'We do not know how large expenses will be, but are very grateful for your generosity to my brother and his family.' Manslaughter charges: Cina was arrested at the scene of the crash and has now been charged with manslaughter after being released on bail Crime in England and Wales has soared by 13 per cent in a year with an even bigger rise in violent offences including knife crime and sexual offences. Forces registered 5.2 million crimes in the year to the end of June, which was up by 13% on the previous 12 months. The number of violent crimes rose from 1,033,719 cases the previous year to 1,229,260 cases this year. There was an 19% increase in the number of sexual offences recorded in England and Wales, up to 129,700 on the previous year. There has been a rise in crimes of many kinds as the number of offences reported to police rose past 5million over the last year. Sexual offences and violence are up 19%, burglary 6% The number of overall crimes reported to police was up by 13 per cent, returning to levels seen before 2007. Public order offences, knife crimes and robbery rose by the highest rate Office for National Statistics (ONS) data reveals the rise in violence was driven by increases in the violence without injury (21%) and stalking and harassment (36%) sub-categories. There was also a 10% rise in the violence with injury bracket, which was mainly down to a jump in recorded assaults. The ONS report said: 'Most of this volume increase was thought to result from improved recording practices but it is likely that rises in the most serious categories reflect genuine rises in violent crime. 'These lower volume but serious offences are thought to be generally well-recorded by the police.' Police recorded an 11% rise in the number of thefts, with the crime continuing to rise over last two years. Forces logged 664 homicides in the 12 months from July 2016, which was a 2% fall compared with the previous year. The number of sexual offences reported to police has risen dramatically since 2012 However, the ONS said recent trends have been affected by recording of incidents where there were multiple victims, such as 96 cases of manslaughter from the Hillsborough disaster and the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. If cases related to Hillsborough and the terror attacks are excluded, the homicide tally went up by 46, following a 'general upward trend' seen in recent years. The stats: Which crimes rose by the most? Public order offences - up 43% to 33,082 Knife crimes - up 26% to 36,998 Robbery - up 25% to 64,499 Violence against the person - up 19% to 1,229,260 Sexual offences - up 19% to 129,000 Vehicle theft - up 17% to 427,561 Theft from the person - up 11% to 92,435 Burglary - up 6% to 423,137 Homicide - Down 2% to 664 Advertisement There was a 'substantial increase', of 59%, in the number of attempted murder offences registered, which was largely due to terror-related cases. According to the separate crime survey, there was no significant change in the estimated number of incidents of violence experienced by adults aged 16 or over. The statistics also revealed that in the year to June police recorded 36,998 involving a knife or sharp instrument. This was the highest number since comparable data records started seven years ago, with 38 out of 44 forces seeing a rise. The Metropolitan Police had the sharpest jump, accounting for nearly half of the rise across England and Wales. Police-recorded offences are one of two official sources used to analyse trends in crime. Violence of all kinds has also risen, with the total number of violent offences now at 1.2million The other is the Crime Survey for England and Wales, which gave an estimated total of 10.8 million incidents of crime in the year to the end of June. This figure includes experimental data on fraud and computer misuse offences, and annual comparisons will not be available until January. John Flatley, crime specialist for the ONS, said: 'Today's figures suggest that the police are dealing with a growing volume of crime. While improvements made by police forces in recording crime are still a factor in the increase, we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime particularly in some of the low incidence but more harmful categories.' 'Police figures cannot provide a good measure of all crime in society, since we know that a large volume of it never comes to their attention. 'The recent increases in recorded crime need to be seen in the context of the overall decline in crime indicated by the Crime Survey for England and Wales.' 'The survey remains our best guide to long-term trends for crime as experienced by the population in general.' Yvette Cooper, Labour chairman of the Commons' Home Affairs Select Committee, said: 'For knife crime to soar by 26 per cent in the space of just one year is truly appalling. These are awful crimes that devastate families and blight communities. 'We need comprehensive action, including enough police and neighbourhood policing, and broad prevention work right across communities. Too much of the effective community prevention work tackling gangs and youth crime has been lost. The number of knife crimes recorded in England and Wales last year was the highest since 2011 'There are also new challenges from the promotion of gang culture and glamorisation of knife crime online that need to be addressed by social media companies.' The rise in knife crime comes against a 57 per cent fall in use of stop and search checks. A record low of 387,448 checks were made in 2015-16 compared to 904,089 in 2013-14. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has said that stop and search could be stepped up in problem areas of London after the huge rise in knife crime. David Green, of think-tank Civitas, said: 'Police are wary of conducting so many stop and searches despite the prevalence of knife crime because they do not want to be accused of racial discrimination. 'But if someone carrying a knife knows that if they are stopped there is a chance that they will get a serious punishment, they will think twice about it.' Last week Home Secretary Amber Rudd launched proposals to crackdown on knife crime by stopping online knife sales to under-18s and banning blades at universities. The Malaysian government has chosen US-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370. The company earlier offered to take up the $200 million search for free, amid claims experts have pinpointed the crash site. Family members of the 239 passengers who disappeared along with the plane were contacted by the Malaysian government, who said they were negotiating the terms and conditions of the search, ABC reported. Scroll down for video New analysis of satellite images taken two weeks after MH370 disappeared has identified three new locations where the wreckage of the jet could be located The images were initially discounted as outside the plane's likely path over the Indian Ocean, but brought back into the frame after a review of data The news comes just a fortnight after the official search was called off by investigators. Analysis of satellite images taken in the weeks after MH370 vanished could provide a vital clue in locating the airliner and its passengers. Researchers at Geoscience Australia have finished examining images of 'possible man-made objects' floating in the ocean that were taken by the French Air Force two weeks after the Malaysia Airlines plane went missing in 2014. Pictured is an overview map of where the four images were taken, just outside of the initial search areas, which are shown shaded in Analysts confirmed at least a dozen of the objects are man-made, before using drift patterns to pinpoint three possible points of origin in the ocean far off the coast of south west Australia. The images, which were taken just outside the original search zone, were initially discarded based on data available at the time about the plane's flight path. However, they were passed to Geoscience Australia for analysis as part of a 'systematic process of review' after initial searches failed to find the jet. It is hoped the data will provide a crucial starting point for a sweep of a 9,700 mile stretch of water identified last November as the likely resting place of MH370 and the 239 passengers and crew. Malaysia, China and Australia agreed to suspend the deep-sea sonar search in January after 46,000 square miles (120,000 sq km) of seabed were combed without finding any trace of the doomed flight. Oceanographer David Griffin said that while the new analysis is helpful, it is far from definitive proof of where the jet might be. He said: '[The data] is a way of potentially narrowing down the search area with the very important caveat that, of course, we can't be totally sure that those objects seen in the images are actual pieces of plane. 'This might be a really good clue. It might be a red herring. But if you are going to search, then you'd be silly to ignore this potential clue.' Debris from the jet has washed up on remote islands close to Africa, allowing scientists to track their likely drift path and identify new potential search areas The new analysis is based on French military satellite images gathered on March 23 2014 - two weeks after Flight 370 mysteriously veered far off course during a flight by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau took over the search for MH370 from Malaysia a week later. Satellite experts at Geoscience Australia were not asked to analyse the images until March this year. After confirming some of the objects were man-made, the CSIRO then investigated where the objects might have originated before drifting for two weeks. It identified three potential crash sites - 35.6 degrees S, 92.8 degrees E; 34.7 degrees S, 92.6 degrees E; and 35.3 degrees S, 91.8 degrees E. A teenager who went for a bath after a fishing trip had a fit and then drowned, an inquest has heard. Joshua Mileham, 14, was found passed out in the bath by his grandparents at their home in Edenbridge, Kent, on May 31 this year. A post-mortem conducted on June 15 revealed the cause of death to be drowning following an epileptic fit. Joshua Mileham, 14, died after suffering an epileptic fit in the bath. He had only been diagnosed weeks before his tragic death DI Ian Wadey of Kent Police said at an inquest yesterday that Josh had a bath after going fishing Joshua, who lived with his grandparents after his parents died, had only been diagnosed with epilepsy just weeks before. During an inquest held at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone yesterday, detective inspector Ian Wadey of Kent Police said: 'Police were called to an address in Edenbridge at 11.13pm on Wednesday, May 31. 'Josh had a bath following an outdoor fishing trip, he lived with his grandmother and grandfather. 'Josh left home that day at around 5.45 hours. He returned home after being dropped off by a friend's dad and had bought a kebab and chips with him. 'After 40 minutes his grandparents went to the bathroom and found the door had been locked from the inside.' DI Wadey went on to describe how the teenager's grandfather had performed CPR while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Joshua was pronounced dead at 1.37am on June 1. Senior coroner Roger Hatch proposed a conclusion of death by misadventure Two Bridges School in Southborough issued a tribute on their website to a 'cheeky, fun-loving young man' Upon their arrival police also attempted to perform CPR and he was subsequently taken to the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill. Joshua was pronounced dead at 1.37am on June 1. Senior coroner Roger Hatch proposed a conclusion of death by misadventure. He said: 'I propose to record the death of Joshua Mileham was due to death by misadventure. I express my sympathy to Mr and Mrs Mileham.' Two Bridges School in Southborough issued a tribute on their website to a 'cheeky, fun-loving young man'. They said: 'Today we shared out love for Josh Mileham. Sadly this cheeky, fun-loving young man was taken from us way too soon. 'Our love for Josh and his zest for life, especially fishing, will live on in all of us.' Shocking footage has been released showing the dreadful conditions inside a Russian fur farm dubbed 'Auschwitz for animals' where starving minks and foxes have resorted to cannibalism to survive. Around 2,500 minks have died due to 'starvation and malnutrition' at the Pryazhinskoye farm in Karelia in northern Russia, a region favoured by Vladimir Putin for summer vacations, according to the ten or so remaining staff working there. The minks and foxes were bred for slaughter to provide fur for winter hats and coats, but a cash crisis means the animals are being given only a fraction of the food they need for survival. Shocking footage has been released showing the dreadful conditions inside a Russian fur farm dubbed 'Auschwitz for animals' where starving minks and foxes have resorted to cannibalism to survive The minks and foxes were bred for slaughter to provide fur for winter hats and coats, but a cash crisis means the animals are being given only a fraction of the food they need for survival Some 2,500 minks have perished since 1 October. Some reports say 1,500 died in three days with cases of the survivors eating those that expired. The remaining 10,000 minks and 2,700 foxes are scheduled to be slain in November, but now their condition is considered too poor to produce good quality pelts and it is unclear what will happen at the farm. A female farm worker said: 'Minks live here in pairs. If one of them dies, then the other eats it. Foxes are also eating each other.' Around 100 employees have quit because their wages have not been paid. Local prosecutors have ordered veterinary checks at the farm which is reported to be owned mainly by Estonian businessman Aivo Hallist (pictured) Around 2,500 minks have died due to 'starvation and malnutrition' at the Pryazhinskoye farm in Karelia in northern Russia, a region favoured by Vladimir Putin for summer vacations, according to the ten or so remaining staff working here Shocking footage shows emaciated minks as well as piles of corpses, leading to the label 'Auschwitz for animals' on social media Shocking footage shows emaciated minks as well as piles of corpses, leading to the label 'Auschwitz for animals' on social media. Deranged foxes suffering from acute foot shortages jump manically around their tiny cages. Local prosecutors have ordered veterinary checks at the farm which is reported to be owned mainly by Estonian businessman Aivo Hallist. According to Russian media, Hallist said he had only learned about the growing crisis the previous week. Earlier, on September 28, it was reported he had assured employees at a meeting that money for their salaries would be found 'in the next two weeks'. Staff say the money has not come through and many have quit since then. The regional agriculture minister Vladimir Labinov arrived at the scene after shocking stories swept the Russian media. Feeding reports shown to him made clear that in four out of 12 days the animals had not been fed at all. On other days they received starvation rations. The regional agriculture minister Vladimir Labinov arrived at the scene after shocking stories swept the Russian media Labinov admitted the animals 'are not getting enough food' but then bizarrely claimed 'they are in a satisfactory condition' Samples of the dead animals have been sent to be tested for serious animal diseases including botulism and Aleutian disease which affect minks While foxes being bred for fur should be fed 500 grams a day by Russian standards, here they were given 56 grams per meal. Labinov admitted the animals 'are not getting enough food' but then bizarrely claimed 'they are in a satisfactory condition'. He denied personally seeing any cases of cannibalism. He claimed many deaths were also due to a lack of any vaccinations at the farm since May. Samples of the dead animals have been sent to be tested for serious animal diseases including botulism and Aleutian disease which affect minks. 'We have not been paid since May 2017,' said a worker. 'We are forced to quit. I feel sorry for the animals. Who will be looking after them?' In the Sept. 29 issue of the Gazette, three Rosebud County Commissioners, comparing carbon dioxide emissions from the 2017 fires in Montana to those from Colstrip coal-fired generating plants, asserted that it would take 150 years for Colstrip to match the CO2 from this years fires. The implication is that there is no need to worry about emissions of CO2 (a major driver of global warming) from the Colstrip plants, because those emissions would be dwarfed by emissions from forest fires. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although the 2017 fires in Montana were widespread and intense, measuring emissions from these fires is very difficult. For instance, a study by Oregon State University scientists estimated that for the years 1992 to 2001, emissions from wildfires averaged only 3 percent of industrial and fossil fuel emissions in that state (much lower than some past estimates that had been based on faulty assumptions). In 2002, an extreme fire year in Oregon, fires contributed about 22 percent of total emissions. These data would suggest that emissions from the recent Montana wildfires would be very unlikely to exceed those of plants the size of Colstrip 4, and certainly much less than suggested by the county commissioners. This turns the tables completely. Rather than suggesting that Colstrip emissions are insignificant compared to wildfires, we must remain concerned primarily on the effects of carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. Otherwise, global warming resulting from fossil fuel emissions will result in longer and more intense fire seasons, such as the one we experienced in Montana this year. Bill DeGroot Red Lodge The man accused of breaking into a family home and trying to abduct a six-year-old girl has been revealed as 19-year-old Jackson Dodi-Musson. Dodi-Musson allegedly dragged the girl from her bed at a house on Pinelands Street in Loganlea, south of Brisbane at 5am on Monday. Dodi-Musson allegedly broke into the home and dragged the six-year-old out of bed before carrying her downstairs to the family living room while covering her mouth with his hand. Dodi-Musson allegedly dragged the girl from her bed in Loganlea, south of Brisbane at 5am on Monday The girl managed to scream for help, alerting her parents to what was happening. Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Ralston said the man 'cowardly assaulted' the girl before hitting her in the face and fleeing the home. The young girl was not left seriously injured, the Courier Mail reported. Police alleged the man broke into the home by scaling a fence and reaching through a dog door in order to unlock the back door. A man was captured on CCTV footage riding a bike towards the house before the break-in, but Dodi-Musson denied it was him in the video. He also denies any involvement in the assault. Police successfully requested for samples from underneath Dodi-Musson's fingernails be taken. Police alleged the man (pictured) broke into the home by scaling a fence and reaching through a dog door in order to unlock the back door A 19-year-old man was arrested on Thursday morning after the young girl was taken from her bed after a break-in at her home on Pinelands Steet, Logan A police investigation turned to Dodi-Musson after he allegedly broke into another house the following day. He allegedly stole a backpack from the second home before using stolen credit cards to buy items at a nearby service station. CCTV footage from the service station lead the police to Dodi-Musson. The 19-year-old Queensland man has previously been charged with an unsolved robbery in Morningside, in Brisbane's east, in 2016. When he appeared in court on Thursday he did not apply for bail and the matter was adjourned until November 8. Dodi-Musson' mother cried as he appeared in the courtroom. Bill Clinton said he had a 'wonderful talk' with Theresa May as he left No10 this morning after discussing how to break the powersharing deadlock in Northern Ireland. The former US president has already held private meetings with the leaders of the DUP and Sinn Fein as he tries to wield his influence to break the impasse. He is the UK while his wife Hillary promotes her book about losing the presidential election. Stormont has been suspended for nearly a year after Northern Ireland's squabbling politicians refused to work together - plunging the future powersharing into uncertainty. Theresa May and Bill Clinton, pictured today, hold talks in No10 about breaking the powersharing deadlock in Northern Ireland The two politicians also discussed HIV prevention schemes around the world as they held a 45-minute long meeting Mr Clinton played a key role in helping to broker the peace process while he was in the White House and he will hope his visit will help nudge the warring parties towards compromise. Asked by reporters about the prospects for Brexit, Mr Clinton said: 'We didn't talk much about that. I don't have much of a portfolio here.' They also discussed HIV treatment around the world during the meeting, which lasted around 45 minutes. The visit comes after Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire yesterday warned the the region is on a 'glide path' to direct rule. He met with DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill earlier in the week. Mr Brokenshire yesterday warned the DUP and the republicans he would be forced to impose a budget within days. He told MPs he would bring forward emergency legislation as soon as next week to keep the province 'ticking over'. Mr Brokenshire said the setting of a budget - which he said must be in place by November 6 - did not itself 'denote' direct rule. But after a new breakdown in talks between the unionist DUP and republican Sinn Fein, he said Northern Ireland was on a 'glide path' to direct rule for the first time in a decade. Bill Clinton emerged from No10 to say he had a 'wonderful talk' with the PM after the pair met this morning to discuss how to restore powersharing to Northern ireland Former US president Bill Clinton, pictured today, arrives at No10 to hold talks with Theresa May in a bid to break the powersharing deadlock The devolved executive collapsed in January after Sinn Fein withdrew from the power-sharing agreement over an energy scandal. And the two parties have so far refused to go back into government together in a row over the Irish language act. Speaking to a parliamentary committee yesterday, Mr Brokenshire said: 'If I had given evidence to this committee last week I might have indicated some momentum, more progress. 'That progress stalled at the end of last week. 'Unless there is a renewed spirit of compromise then the outlook for imminent resolution is not positive. Time is running out.' A girlfriend posted a gushing Facebook tribute to her boyfriend just hours after she and her teenage neighbour tortured him. In a failed ruse to cover up her sickening crime, Zoe Warren took to Facebook to express her fake grief and heartache, pretending she had just learned her partner was dead. In a badly-written post on Mark's page, in which almost every word is misspelt, Warren claimed to be heartbroken and shocked. Pictured: Sick Zoe Warren (left), 20, bit, bludgeoned and stabbed Mark Shaw (right) to death But the reality was Warren and accomplice Keiran Adey, 19, had just killed Mark in a humiliating, degrading and brutal attack. Warren and Adey were jailed for life yesterday after both being found guilty of the murder, which happened in a house in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, last December. The pair were ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years. Now it has emerged Warren attempted to cover her tracks by posting a twisted status to Facebook in the hours after Shaw's death. The post says: 'Love u. Ya wur my BESTFRIEND and soul partner in 1. A can't stop me heart from breaking a keep waiting 2 wake up from this nightmare.' Twisted: Zoe Warren wrote on Mr Shaw's Facebook page describing how she was 'privellaged' to have him in her life Newcastle Crown Court heard how Warren and Mark's friend, Adey, subjected the 29-year-old to a sustained and brutal attack. He was gagged, tied up, beaten, bitten, hit with a pool cue and finally stabbed at his home on Pine Street in Grange Villa. Giving evidence, Warren blamed Adey for all of the violence while he admitted punching and biting Mark but insisted it was Warren who dealt the fatal blow with a knife. But jurors also heard how Warren confessed to a new boyfriend about her involvement and joked about getting away with murder, and that Adey is said to have confessed to neighbours. Warren, of Chipchase, Washington, and Adey, 19, of Queen Street, Grange Villa, were both found guilty of murder. Warren was also convicted of witness intimidation. Pictured: Keiran Adey helped gag Mark Shaw and tie him up before beating him with a pool cue In her rambling Facebook post Warren also says how she wished she could have spent the rest of her life with Mark: 'U wur ther 4 me wen no one wos. U looked afta is wen a need that xtra support.' Warren, who had only been in a relationship with Mark for a matter of days before moving in with him then killing him, ends her post by writing: 'Al foreva cherish every single second we had 2geva....i love u mark.' The pair were both jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years. Mark had been beaten so badly he was left looking like the 'elephant man', with 86 injuries to virtually every area of his body and when he was found, his jeans and boxer shorts had been pulled down in one apparent final act of humiliation. Sneering killers Warren and Adey had sought to blame each other for the murder in 'cut-throat defence' cases but prosecutors said they were in it together. Adey was in a rage over 5 Mark owed him and because he had told the police about him smashing his windows days earlier, while Warren was furious he had spent her last 10 on drugs. So they both inflicted gruesome violence which shocked the village of Grange Villa, in County Durham, in the week before Christmas last year. Warren was also convicted of witness intimidation in relation to a letter sent from prison to a boyfriend who had told police she had confessed to taking part in the murder and joked about getting away with it. As the pair were jailed, Mark's mum, Valerie Watson, 56, took to the witness box to read a victim impact statement. She said: 'Mark loved all of us dearly just as much as we loved him in return. Devastated: The family of murder victim Mark Shaw, 29, whose body was discovered in Grange Villa, County Durham last December, leading police to launch a murder investigation 'Every single minute since has been like a living nightmare. 'I kept asking 'why, why, why'. Mark would never hurt a fly so why?' She added: 'I can't put into words what this has done to us. We are not and never will be the same again. All we have left is memories, photographs and Mark's ashes. 'We miss Mark so much and feel he should still be here. I have never hated anyone in my life but I feel so much hatred towards Keiran Adey and Zoe Warren for what they did and the suffering we will continue to suffer for the rest of our lives.' During the trial, it was revealed how Mark was 'beaten mercilessly' and subjected to 'unimaginable violence' in a 'brutal and sustained attack.' Sentencing Warren, who had 38 previous convictions and Adey, who had 58 previous convictions, Mr Justice Goss told them: 'It was a cruel, merciless and sustained episode of brutality, punctuated by a trip out of the house, leaving him helpless, in order to get more drink. 'He offered no resistance, having only a short time earlier been resuscitated by the emergency services following a heroin overdose. 'He undoubtedly suffered greatly in the time before his death and after you killed him he was left bound on the bed and you continued your night out, drinking and drug taking. 'Neither of you have shown any genuine remorse.' The judge, who said he couldn't be sure which of them inflicted the fatal blow with the knife, added: 'The impact of his death has been movingly described in the statement read to this court by his mother. 'His family, not surprisingly, remain deeply traumatised, not only by his death but by its manner. 'They will have to live with their loss for the rest of their lives and nothing this court can do will undo what you have done.' The court heard Mark, known as Sharkey, was said to have had a fall-out with Adey about claims of an unpaid debt. Adey had been threatening him on Facebook since October over the money. There had been an incident on December 12, days before the alleged murder, when Adey had been at Mark's home on Pine Street with Warren, Mark and a friend of Mark's. The friend, who thought Adey treated the house as his own, said Adey was demanding money from Mark. The friend intervened but trouble broke out later that night over something else, culminating in Adey trying to kick the door in and smashing the front window with a hammer, 'threatening murder in the event the matter was reported to the police.' On December 16, Mark took an overdose of heroin and Warren called an ambulance, with paramedics reviving him. But as he recovered, Adey turned up and started being abusive to Mark before launching his attack despite his victim being in no state to fightback. Exactly what happened next only Adey and Warren know but Adey admitted punching and biting Mark and insisted it was Warren who hit him with a pool cue and stabbed him. A boyfriend of Warren's said she later told him she was involved in stamping on Mark and stabbed him. At around 6.15pm the following day, the police forced entry to Mark's home following reports of concern for him. Mark was found dead on his bed, tied at the ankles and bearing obvious injuries. A post-mortem conducted the following day revealed he had suffered a sustained assault with over 80 injuries spread across his head, torso and limbs. Advertisement Coloured photographs of army tanks during the Second World War show just how the arms race to develop the ultimate tank progressed for all sides during this most devastating of conflicts. Among the spectacular pictures are infantrymen with a tank of the 11th Armoured Division, 3rd US Army advancing through a smoke-filled street in the German town of Kronach in April, 1945. One shows German artillerymen shooting Soviet tanks on a desolate plain while another shows American troops sitting on a Tiger II tank captured from the Nazis. An M4A3 Sherman tank of the 11th Armoured Division, 3rd US Army is seen advancing into the centre of the German town of Kronach on April 12, 1945 This German 'Tiger II' was captured by American troops and restored to a running condition. It forms part of a new set of colourised photographs which show army tanks during the Second World War German tanks in the southern Soviet Union in 1941 during the early days of Operation Barbarossa A German Panzer III tank and troops in winter camouflage gear in the 'Demyansk Pocket' - the name given to the Nazis surrounded by the Red Army south of Leningrad in 1942 The photos show just how the arms race to develop the ultimate tank progressed for all sides during this most devastating of conflicts. Above, a German Tiger II, Konigstiger - 'King Tiger'. Part of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, it is pictured in Budapest, 1944 Canadian Sherman tanks from the Canadian Governor General's Horse Guards Armoured Regiment in the city of Arnhem during its liberation in 1945 US Captain Willard V. Horne, Communications Officer hands the receiver of a mobile radio to Lt. Stanley James. The crew, from 'B' company, have covered their M4A3 Sherman tank in sandbags while at rest in Alsace, 1945 A motorcyclist from the Wehrmacht African Corps and a Panzer tank cross the Oued Maarouf River in Tunisia in 1943 The incredible pictures were brought to life by colouriser Royston Leonard, 55, an electrician from Wales. 'The pictures show the long journey to victory after D-Day and the hard life of the tank crews,' he said. 'They are meant to show life of the tanks and crews in war working with the army in battle.' Mr Leonard said it has taken him more than 60 hours of work spread over weeks of evenings to complete the set. James Gordon and Private Rainwater inspect a deserted Panther tank formerly of the Panzer Division Das Reich near Grandmenil, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, at the end of 1944 Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade carrying paratroopers of the 17th US Airborne Division in Germany, March 1945 The incredible pictures were brought to life by colouriser Royston Leonard, 55, an electrician from Wales. Above, a Panzer division Troops of the 25th Cavalry Recon Squadron (Mechanized), US 4th Armored Division, turning into Rue de la Croix Quillard in Coutances in 1944 A group of soldiers stand between a 3rd Reich Panzer VI and a Zundapp motorcycle Mr Leonard said it has taken him more than 60 hours of work spread over weeks of evenings to complete the set. Above, the 9th SS Hohenstaufen in Normandy His aim is to show the younger generation that war was real and not just black and white art like the way some see it. 'Life is hard and can be short for a tank crew - there at the front of a battle. And as with all armies, any equipment left by the enemy forces gets re-used whenever possible as shown in the pictures,' he said. The Panzer III tank was created to fight other tanks. However, during Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 - it was found that the Soviet T-34 tank beat the Panzer III and IV; its ramp shape could survive most German weapons and its 76.2 mm gun could infiltrate the armour of all German tanks. This motivated Germans to update their models as the arms race for the ultimate WWII tanks continued to the end of the war in 1945. Infantrymen and a tank of the 11th Armored Division, 3rd US, Army, advance through a smoke-filled street in Wernberg, Germany, in April 1945 German artillerymen shoot at Soviet tanks on a desolate plain in the summer of 1941 M4 Sherman tanks line up in a snow-covered field in St Vith, Belgium as the town is liberated during the Battle of the Bulge The woman who appeared in a sex tape with comedian Kevin Hart has said she finds it 'very distasteful' that he joked about the affair in a promo for an upcoming tour. In a new commercial for his 'Irresponsible' shows, Hart - being interviewed by himself - lists the times he has been reckless, including a reference to the tape. He asks: 'What about Las Vegas?', before replying to himself: 'F*** you, man.' In a new commercial for his 'Irresponsible' shows, Hart (left) - being interviewed by himself - lists the times he has been irresponsible, including a reference to the tape with Sabbag (right) But Montia Sabbag, who said she slept with the married Hollywood star three times during a three day blow-out in Las Vegas in August, is not amused, according to TMZ. Her attorney, Lisa Bloom, said: 'This stuff takes a toll mentally and physically, and now with this tour it's like this whole thing was a joke.' She also said it is especially unpleasant because Montia has been a victim of social media hacks and death threats. Montia claims she first started speaking to Hart at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas hotel. She said: 'We were drinking, having fun, listening to the music, dancing. I was more focused on my friends, I didn't go there for Kevin. 'But Kevin did pay me a lot of attention, he was into me, I could tell.' Later that night Hart and his entourage invited Sabbag and her friends up to the star's luxury hotel suite. Large suites at the The Cosmopolitan - which is on the famous Las Vegas strip - cost around $3,000 a night and boast their own bars, hot tub and plenty of room. The scandal first unfolded on September 16 when Hart made a public apology to his pregnant wife Eniko Parrish and his two children from a previous relationship, saying, 'I made a bad error in judgment' It was there that the actor who has an estimated net worth of $120 million - began to charm the young make-up artist. 'We talked about life, you know, what are your dreams your aspirations,' she said. 'He was charming, he was funny.' Sabbag said the pair instantly felt a 'connection' and had 'chemistry'. She said the sex 'happened naturally', with the two peeling themselves away from the group and going into Hart's bedroom off the main suite. But unbeknownst to Sabbag, she claims, one of the partygoers in Hart's suite had been secretly filming her interaction with Hart the whole time. Sabbag denies any involvement in the camerawork and claims she doesn't recall seeing anyone filming them. When asked if she knows who did, she responded: 'I have my suspicions', adding: 'But I can't really discuss that because of an ongoing investigation.' The scandal first unfolded on September 16 when Hart made a public apology to his pregnant wife Eniko Parrish and his two children from a previous relationship, saying, 'I made a bad error in judgment.' French acting legend Danielle Darrieux, whose movie and theater career spanned eight decades, has died aged 100. Hailed as the Grand Dame of French Cinema, she appeared in more than 100 films during her long career, which started with a small role in a movie aged 14. She was also infamously accused of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II after she performed for German troops in the hope of freeing her then-husband from an internment camp. Her lover, Dominican playboy diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa, was locked up accused of being a spy. Legend: Danielle Darrieux, hailed by many as the Grand Dame of French Cinema, whose movie and theater career spanned eight decades, has died in her home in Bois-le-Roi aged 100 Darrieux was born on May 1, 1917, in the southwestern city of Bordeaux. Her father, an ophthalmologist, died when she was seven, and her mother supported the family by giving singing lessons. Darrieux was just 14 when she made her screen debut, with a supporting role in 1931's 'Le Bal.' With her expressive face, liquid eyes and original, slightly nasal voice, Darrieux quickly became a favorite of French directors, appearing in films by heavyweights Claude Chabrol, Jacques Demy and Andre Techine. She starred in legendary Austrian-born director Billy Wilder's first film, 'Mauvaise graine,' a 1934 gangster flick in French. Darrieux played the leading lady in more than a half-dozen movies by Frenchman Henri Decoin. They married in 1935 and divorced six years later. Screen siren: Darrieux quickly became a favorite of French directors in the 1930s - a love story that continued into the 2000s Stand by your man: When her then-husband Porfirio Rubirosa was detained by Nazis in the 1940s, she agreed to sing for German troops in exchange for his freedom Betrayal: Porfirio Rubirosa repaid her kindness by leaving her for American journalist Doris Duke - the heir to the American Tobacco fortune, pictured together The cause of the divorce was Dominican playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, who she met in Paris in 1940 and married in 1942. When Rubirosa was interned by the Nazis, after the Dominican Republic sided with the Allies, Danielle performed a concert for German troops in return for his freedom. As a result, she was seen as a collaborationist, and in 1944, two years after they had married, they were shot at in an ambush, probably by the French Resistance. Rubirosa was hit in the kidney but survived. At the end of the war they decamped to Rome, where Danielle was making a film, and when American journalist, Doris Duke, came to interview them in their hotel suite, Rubirosa's eyes wandered. Doris Duke was the heir to the American Tobacco fortune and worth a staggering $100 million - enough for Rubirosa to leave Darrieux. Darrieux sits next to American actor Mel Ferrer as they portray the roles of man and wife in a scene from the French film 'L'homme a Femmes,' in Paris in 1960 Danielle Darrieux holds up a prop gold record at the Paris Saint-Maurice studios in 1959 Over the ocean: The actress poses outside the Irving Thalberg Building in Hollywood, California in 1960 However, she found love again with screenwriter Georges Mitsinkides, and they stayed together for more than 40 years. Darrieux made a brief trans-Atlantic escapade, appearing in 1938 Hollywood flop 'The Rage of Paris' before returning to France. A later American engagement - in which she replaced Katharine Hepburn in 'Coco,' a Broadway show about Coco Chanel - also met with little success. As reserved in real life as she was fiery on-screen, Darrieux shunned the spotlight, spending much of her time in a village in the French countryside. She described battling her natural shyness throughout her career and often appeared visibly shaken during interviews. Success: She is pictured on stage with Howard Keel performing in 1971 No retirement: Darrieux performing on stage in at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees in 2003 'I am very simple, perhaps too simple for all this,' she told ORTF television in 1972. 'This whole thing, the interviews, it's too much for me.' Darrieux insisted she couldn't bear to see herself on-screen and that the only one of her movies she enjoyed watching was Max Ophuls' critically acclaimed 1953 'Madame de...,' in which she played the eponymous heroine - a dazzling, adulterous countess. As she grew older, Darrieux was increasingly cast not as leading lady but as the star's mother and, later, grandmother. In one of her late roles, Darrieux reaffirmed her status as one of French cinema's all-time greats. In the 2002 whodunit musical extravaganza 'Eight Women,' she played a matriarch, reigning over a nearly-all female cast that included legendary actresses Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant. She continued to act into her 90s and died in her home in Bois-le-Roi, France on Tuesday. The sons of a female journalist killed in a Malta car bomb have refused to endorse the government's million euro reward for information about her death and instead called for the Prime Minister to resign. Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta's best-known investigative journalist, was killed on Monday when a powerful bomb blew up her car. Galizia, 53, ran a hugely popular blog in which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged corruption, often involving politicians from the Mediterranean island of Malta. Daphne Caruana Galizia (left), Malta's best-known investigative journalist, was killed on Monday when a powerful bomb blew up her car. Her son Matthew (right) has called on the Prime Minister to resign Galizia, 53, ran a hugely popular blog in which she relentlessly highlighted cases of alleged corruption, often involving politicians from the Mediterranean island of Malta. Police said she was killed as she was driving near the village of Bidnija in northern Malta Police said she was killed as she was driving near the village of Bidnija in northern Malta. A Facebook post from Matthew Galizia, also signed by his brothers Andrew and Paul, said: 'After a day of unrelenting pressure from the President and Prime Minister of Malta for what's left of our family to endorse a million-euro reward for evidence leading to the conviction of our mother's assassins, this is what we are compelled to say. 'We are not interested in justice without change. We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mother's murder to turn around and say that justice has been served. 'Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society replaces the desperate situation we are in.' A Facebook post from Matthew Galizia, also signed by his brothers Andrew and Paul, said: 'We are not interested in justice without change' European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans take part in a candlelight vigil in memory of Malta's journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday Muscat defended the failure to solve the rash of car bombings as he left parliament Wednesday evening He added: 'The government is interested in only one thing: its reputation and the need to hide the gaping hole where our institutions once were. This interest is not ours. Neither was it our mother's. 'A government and a police force that failed our mother in life will also fail her in death. The people who for as long as we can remember sought to silence our mother cannot now be the ones to deliver justice. 'The Prime Minister asked for our endorsement. This is how he can get it: show political responsibility and resign. 'Resign for failing to uphold our fundamental freedoms. Resign for watching over the birth of a society dominated by fear, mistrust, crime and corruption. Resign for working to cripple our mother financially and dehumanise her so brutally and effectively that she no longer felt safe walking down the street. 'And before resigning he can make his last act in government the replacement of the Police Commissioner and Attorney General with public servants who won't be afraid to act on evidence against him and those he protects. Matthew Caruana Galizia (centre) and Peter Caruana Galizia (second left), son and husband of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, walk past the wreckage of the car bomb Investigators, meanwhile, are looking at similarities with other car bombings in Malta over the last two years - six in all including Caruana Galizia's 'Then we won't need a million-euro reward and our mother wouldn't have died in vain.' Investigators, meanwhile, are looking at similarities with other car bombings in Malta over the last two years - six in all including Caruana Galizia's. None have been solved. Police commissioner John Rizzo told the Malta Independent that it appears that mobile detonated explosives were used in each of the six bombings since the start of 2016, which caused four deaths and two serious injuries. The previous victims were all known to police, the paper said. 'Very few people could construct such a bomb. Instructions may be obtained online but building such a device would still require a certain degree of skill,' Rizzo said. Investigators haven't publicly identified which explosives were used in the journalist's murder, but experts say any military grade explosives, like Semtex, are not available in Malta and would have had to be brought in from abroad. Malta has a population of 400,000 and is the European Union's smallest state. Pictured, a resident's graffiti in tribute to the fearless journalist Recently, Caruana Galizia's outspoken blog had turned its fire on opposition politicians Muscat defended the failure to solve the rash of car bombings as he left parliament Wednesday evening. 'I will continue to defend the institutions and I am a firm believer in the institutions,' he said. Malta has a population of 400,000 and is the European Union's smallest state. Recently, Caruana Galizia's outspoken blog had turned its fire on opposition politicians. 'There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate,' she wrote in the last blog published on her site on Monday morning. In another entry last year, she wrote: 'Malta's public life is afflicted with dangerously unstable men with no principles or scruples.' This is the terrifying moment a 16ft-long crocodile chases villagers after they caught it in a paddy field. The ferocious reptile was carried by strong currents onto farmland after a river flooded on Tuesday morning. Villagers found the creature splashing around and began poking it with long bamboo sticks. But the beast leapt from the muddy water and sparked screams of panic as it began chasing them across the ground in Klirong, Indonesia. Nobody was injured but the deadly reptile is now on the loose spreading fears that - estranged from its natural environment - it could become hungry and eat the villagers. Local resident Turyono, who was among the group tormenting the creature, said they had no idea it was so big. He said: 'We all ran away once it got to the ground with its mouth wide open. It came after us fast. It was ferocious.' Turyono, a farmer, said that people in the Kedungwinangun village were now 'haunted' by the thought of the crocodile returning. Police chief Willy Budiyant said they believed that the crocodile had been carried away from its natural home after heavy rainfall on Monday caused the Lukulo River to flood. The crocodile, which he estimated to be around five metres long, finished up in the paddy field before the waters subsided later on Tuesday morning. The ferocious reptile was carried by strong currents onto farmland after a river flooded. Villagers said they had no idea how large the creature was when they lured it from the water They drew back and screamed when they saw how large the giant crocodile was as it emerged from the water in the paddy field in Indonesia The huge reptile moved with remarkable speed and agility as it chased villagers through the field. Nobody was injured but the deadly reptile is now on the loose He said: 'From the report the crocodile was known first on Tuesday morning. 'Police visited the location along with BKSDA conservation group to check the truth of the information. 'From the location was found an estuary crocodile stranded in rice fields. Residents are urged not to try to catch the crocodile because they can cause danger. 'The crocodile also should not be killed because the classified animals are protected. It must be handled professionally so that it can be returned to the river.' Tragic: Madaline Cole, 25, had qualified as a diving instructor just days before she was struck while snorkelling The daughter of an SAS hero was killed by motorboat propellers while snorkelling outside of a 'safe zone', an inquest heard. Madaline Cole, 25, had qualified as a diving instructor just days before she was struck while swimming in the South China Sea in Malaysia. The boat's driver pulled her out of the water following the collision and took her to a local hospital ten minutes away - but when she arrived, no doctors were present. Her friend, Australian national Simon Rogers, suffered minor injuries in the crash off Pulau Perhentian on May 27, 2013. Coroner Mark Bricknell recorded the death as an accident at Herefordshire Coroner's Court on Wednesday. However, speaking after the inquest, Maddy's mother Jill, 63, said she was disappointed at the verdict. She said: 'I feel justice hasn't been done and I don't accept it was an accident. 'Two other people have been killed in that bay in a similar way.' An investigation carried out in Malaysia found that newly qualified diving instructor Madaline, known as 'Maddy', had been snorkelling outside the safe area marked by buoys. An investigation carried out in Malaysia found that newly qualified diving instructor Madaline, known as 'Maddy', had been snorkelling outside the safe area marked by buoys. Pictured above, Madaline with partner Ross When Maddy's father flew out the day after the tragedy, he was told by her boyfriend Ross Makulec (together, right) that a marker had been wrongly placed where officials placed the point of the collision Police found Maddy, from Bodenham, Herefordshire, did not have a 'safety sausage' - a floating piece of equipment to indicate that she was under the water. Chief of police Kamsani Bin Hassan, conducting the Malaysian investigation, also concluded that there was no criminal element and that it was an accident. Maddy's father Bob Cole, 63, had served in the Royal Engineers and the SAS and saw action in the Gulf. Following the second Gulf War he provided security and protection for companies sent out to rebuild Iraq. When he flew out the day after the tragedy, he was told by Maddy's boyfriend Ross Makulec that a marker had been wrongly placed where officials placed the point of the collision. Maddy had expressed her delight on Facebook when she qualified as a scuba instructor in February 2013. Mr Cole told the inquest: 'We could see a marker which was clearly quite a way out from the buoy line. It's a third world country and they're not used to health and safety and their regard for human life is not what we're used to. 'Maddy wasn't the first person to be hit by a boat there. I watched that area for hours and noticed that boat drivers have a lot of bravado and like to skim along the beach close to the buoy line. 'There is no need for them to go up to the coast.' The Malaysian investigation confirmed that Mohd Azwan Bin Mohd was the man driving the boat. He had dropped passengers off at a nearby resort and was travelling back from the jetty when he hit Maddy, before pulling her out of the water. She had arrived in Malaysia on April 4 and had been staying at Senja Bay Resort on Pulau Perhentian Besar. The Perhentians are popular with tourists because of their beautiful waters and coral reefs. Friends told the inquest Maddy had just qualified as a professional diving instructor when she was killed. On her diving blog, Maddy, who was pictured swimming with sharks and stroking elephants, was described as having an 'insane amount of love for animals Pictured: Madaline Cole alongside her boyfriend Ross before the tragedy in 2013 Maddy had expressed her delight on Facebook when she qualified as a scuba instructor in February 2013. She said: 'After the most stressful 3 days ever - FINALLY we are Open Water Scuba Instructors!! 'Big thanks to our Instructor Chong! Well done everyone for your achievement and thank you all so so much for all your amazing support!' On her diving blog, Maddy, who was pictured swimming with sharks, was described as having an 'insane amount of love for animals.' Writing on The Seychelles Whale Sharks blog, a friend said: 'Maddy Cole - Where do we start? 'This outdoorsy girl has done it all; kayaking, rock climbing, scuba diving, mountain biking, hiking and more. 'Another person to traipse through the GVI Seychelles dive master halls with a marine background and an insane amount of love for animals. 'Maddy returned to Seychelles to join the MCSS team in its entire whale shark splendor.' A pensioner and his Thai wife have been charged with a string of sex offences after they were prevented from boarding a Thailand-bound flight at Manchester Airport. Derek Jessop, 74, and his wife Marlee Kadram, 39, were remanded in custody by Blackpool magistrates this week. Jessop is charged with rape, attempted rape and multiple counts of indecent assault. Kadram is charged with three counts of indecent assault. The pair were arrested at Manchester Airport as they tried to get on a flight to Thailand Some of the charges relate to children under the age of 14, with some allegations relating to events more than 50 years ago, the court heard. The investigation began when a teenager contacted police in Blackpool to report an alleged sex attack. It is understood the couple are still being investigated and more charges may be considered in the future. Prosecutor Tracey Yates told magistrates: 'The police say this is the tip of an iceberg. Their investigation is snowballing.' Former One show presenter Ortis Deley was left horrified after a park cafe served pitta break covered in mould for his 18-month-old girl. The host of Channel 5's The Gadget Show took to social media to share his disgust after the snack was presented to his wife during a weekend outing in Surrey. Alongside a grizzly picture, the radio host, 44, said on Instagram: 'Totally disgusted by this serving from @pistachiosinthepark. Not sure when mouldy bread became a thing for toddlers.' Ortis, known for presenting The One Show and children's TV favourites Live & Kicking and ShortChange, shared the post with his 4,400 followers. The host of Channel 5's The Gadget Show took to social media to share his disgust after the snack was presented to his wife during a weekend outing in Surrey He also shared the picture with his 66,000 Twitter followers with the caption: 'So @PistachiosITP Reigate thought it was ok to serve my wife this to give to my 18 month old. wtaf disgusted.' And he wasn't the only one proclaiming his horror - Ortis' wife, Rachel, 36, put a warning on Facebook about the incident, which happened on Sunday at Pistachios in the Park in Reigate Surrey. The family had ordered the pitta bread to accompany humous, carrot and cucumber sticks as a snack for their daughter. But Mrs Deley was left sickened when the pitta bread arrived covered in mould. Posting a 'WARNING!!!' on the local Redhill and Reigate Parent network Facebook page she accompanied a shocking image of the dish with the caption, 'This is what I was served in Pistachios in Priory Park Reigate. Disgusting!! 'I will be reporting them to the food standards agency!!!' Dozens of horrified mums and dads posted comments on the photo, dismayed that even the humous had been served in a roughly torn paper coffee cup. One wrote: 'I am so shocked that someone can serve this to a customer and in a place visited by so many families!' Another commented: 'I just showed my four-year-old daughter the picture and she said, 'Eugh. That food is mouldy!' 'If the chef/server couldn't see that then he/she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a professional kitchen. Do you think it could have been done deliberately? Maybe someone with a personal vendetta?' Former One Show host Ortis and his wife Rachel Speaking after the incident, Mrs Deley said she would boycott the cafe from now on. She added: 'I'm horrified that this was served to give to my 18 month old child - let alone in the kitchen in the first place, contaminating everything in its path. 'I will never eat in there again. The kitchen should have been shut down immediately.' Pistachios in the Park is a chain of cafes situated in parks throughout London and Surrey. When approached about the incident, manager Gabrielle Adolphy said she 'shocked' and 'upset'. She revealed she had been on a day off on Sunday when the food was served but the chef responsible for the kitchen had only begun employment on Friday. Following an investigation, the member of staff was sacked. Ms Adolphy said: 'I am in shock. I wasn't here on Sunday but I wish they had called me. We don't have storage here and have deliveries everyday; we don't keep things long enough to go off. 'I can't prove it was planted or if it was from here. The man in question no longer works here.' Pistachios in the Park is a chain of cafes situated in parks throughout London and Surrey A post on the cafe's Facebook page added: 'Pistachios in the Park - Priory Park, Reigate are aware of a food hygiene incident that begun circulating on social media today. 'We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the post. We have spoken to the employee responsible who joined our team on Friday and have terminated his position with immediate effect. 'As our regular customers will know, high food hygiene is integral to our business and the Pistachios in the Park brand. As recently as May 2017, the Food Standards Agency awarded the cafe a 5-star rating. 'We are in the process of extending our apologies to the customer concerned and would like to reassure our customers that this is an isolated incident. 'We can ensure that this will not occur again with the staff member involved now removed. We cannot comment further at this moment in time.' A Muslim janitor fired from a Georgia public school claims she was discriminated against by the principal after asking for time off to pray. Penny Deams, who has been a practicing Muslim for more than 15 years, claims she was fired by Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia after she refused to work until 10pm because it interfered with her need to pray at sundown. Ms Deams, who was a janitor at Ferguson Elementary School in Duluth, Georgia between June 2015 and September 2015. Muslim Penny Deams was employed as a janitor at Ferguson Elementary School in Duluth, Georgia for several months during 2015 when she claims she was fired over her religion Ms Deams is suing Gwinnet County Public Schools for breaching her federally protected rights Earlier this week, Ms Deams' legal team lodged papers at the United District Court for the Northern District of Georgia demanding a jury trial to hear her discrimination claim. According to court papers, Ms Deams, who is from Snellville, Co Georgia, began working at the school between 2pm and 9pm. The papers show that 'on or around September 18, 2015, Ferguson Elementary school's principal Angelique Mitchell called Ms Deams into a meeting where she was told she must work until 10pm each evening. Ms Deams objected to her direct supervisor Mr Kenny. She complained her local temple closed before 10pm and she would be unable to attend after sun down to complete her prayer requirements. She requested 'an accommodation to allow for this daily sundown prayer'. However, the principal, according to court documents, ordered Ms Deams back into her office and asked about her religious activities. According to the affidavit, Ms Deams was asked how often a day she prayed and on which days. In response, Ms Deams went to the human resources office 'on or around September 21, 'to inquire about her rights'. Ms Deams claims the HR department contacted the principal where she began to notice 'significant, retaliatory changes in the way she was treated by the Defendant's management team'. The court papers claim that on or around September 22, Mr Kenny asked Ms Deams whether she 'had gone to the county about her religious rights'. Mr Kenny told Ms Deams that 'Principal Mitchell was mad' because she spoke to the HR department. Ms Deams returned to the HR Department on or around September 22 or 23 and spoke to a Ms Spraggs who questioned her about her prayer activity. 'Ms Spraggs also requested a letter from Plaintiff's temple, on letter head, explaining what times Plaintiff needed to pray'. The court documents show Ms Deams 'did not reject this request, but mentioned that she would speak to an attorney regarding her rights'. It is claimed Ms Spraggs 'became agitated' and pulled her personnel file and inspected her initial job application. She discovered one of her references was no longer employed at Ms Deams' former place of work in Dekalb County. Ms Spraggs accused Ms Deams of 'falsifying her job application' and placed her on suspension. Ms Deams denied the allegation and said 'just because the reference no longer worked there did not mean she falsified the job application'. The Director of Human Resources Staffing Monica Baptiste said she needed Ms Deams to provide evidence from Dekalb County about her previous job. According to the documents, Ms Baptiste set a two-day deadline to return the evidence 'knowing full well the process for obtaining the requested form takes at least four to five days'. The affidavit said Ms Deams spoke immediately with Mr Karr Davis at Dekalb County who said 'it would take several days to receive back the completed job verification form'. Ms Deams returned to work at the school on September 24 'but after working a short time, was told she should not be there, that she should immediately hand her keys over to Principal Mitchell, that she should leave the building, and that she should return to the Human Resources department' the following day. Upon arrival at the HR department, Ms Deams claims she was sacked by Dr Baptiste for the 'allegedly false job application' and because she turned up at work the following day. Ms Deams' legal team claims she was 'engaged in the protected conduct of seeking a religious accommodation and / or opposing religious discrimination during her employment'. The court documents claim the school 'knew that federal law prohibits discrimination, and willfully and / or recklessly disregarded' Ms Deams' federally protected rights. Ms Deams is claiming for 'punitive and compensatory damages, back pay, prejudgment interest, reinstatement or front pay, attorney's fees, costs, and further relief in an amount to be determined at trial'. The Australian paediatrician who fled to Syria to recruit terrorists for ISIS has a dim future if he is found alive. Tareq Kamleh, an Adelaide trained doctor, could be dead after the Islamic caliphate's 'capital' Raqqa was reclaimed by US-backed forces this week. Dubbed 'Dr Jihad', the recruiter appeared in many propaganda videos encouraging Muslims to perform terrorist attacks in Australia. The Australian paediatrician who fled to Syria to recruit terrorists for ISIS (pictured) has a dim future if he is found alive Tareq Kamleh (pictured), an Adelaide trained doctor, could be dead after the Islamic caliphate's 'capital' Raqqa was reclaimed by US-backed forces If the Perth-born terrorist recruiter (pictured) is captured alive, his future could be behind Australian bars for up to 25 years in a high security prison If Kamleh is captured alive, his future could be behind Australian bars for up to 25 years in a high security prison, according to The Advertiser. Authorities believe there are about 100 terrorists hiding in the fallen city. About 80 Australians who have joined ISIS terrorist groups are dead however intelligence agencies believe about 110 could still be alive. The terrorist recruiter graduated from the University of Adelaide seven years ago and worked in the Women's and Children's Hospitals in South Australia and north Queensland where he was reported to be a womaniser who didn't shy away from alcohol. Kamleh's former colleagues in Adelaide and Queensland accused him of being lazy and leading a lavish playboy lifestyle. After leaving Australia in 2015 to pursue a life as a terrorist recruiter, the Perth born doctor appeared in several videos as he treated children urging Muslims to join the caliphate. Authorities believe there are about 100 terrorists hiding in the fallen city which was reclaimed by US-backed forces Kamleh's former colleagues in Adelaide and Queensland accused him of being lazy and leading a lavish playboy lifestyle Royal Australian Air Force fighter jets supported Syrian forces that reclaimed Raqqa where more than 6000 ISIS fighters were killed The terrorist recruiter appeared in one video dressed in scrubs with a long beard appearing to treat a child, who he claimed later died. Another video saw Kamleh dressed in combat gear with a rifle in one hand as he sat in a narrow tunnel calling for Muslims to join the terror organisation. Royal Australian Air Force fighter jets supported Syrian forces that reclaimed Raqqa where more than 6000 ISIS fighters were killed. An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck off southern Japan on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck 424 miles off Japan's island of Kyushu at a depth of 6.2 miles, the agency said. There are no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Shaken: The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck 424 miles off Japan's island of Kyushu This comes two weeks after a similar earthquake, at 6.3 on the Richter scale, hit 180 miles east of Iwaki, south of Fukushima, Japan. It occurred 50 miles deep on the Japan trench, which is part of the area of seismic activity known as the Pacific Ring Of Fire. There are no immediate reports of damage or casualties after the earthquake struck 424 miles off the coast of the Japanese island of Kyushu A similar earthquake back in 2011 killed 15,894 people and injured 10 more when a tsunami, landslides and fires broke out as a result. But experts are predicting today's quake should pass by without causing any harm. It comes just two weeks after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck six miles deep off the same coast at 2.37am. The Pacific Ring Of Fire has been particularly active in recent weeks with volcanoes in Vanuatu and Bali looking ready to erupt. Mitchell Fox, 34, died in the hospital after being shot by police officers when he ignored orders to put down his handgun A police officer in Florida shot dead an armed, suicidal man during a confrontation at an apartment complex on Thursday. At around 12.30am a woman called Clearwater police because her husband, Mitchell Fox, 34, was armed and threatening to kill himself. Fox reportedly told family members at the home at Sands of Clearwater apartment complex where the couple lived with two children that he 'was going to hell and not coming back'. He drove away and then came back shortly after as officers were taking statements from family members. Scroll down for video The father of two suffered from depression and intended to commit suicide, police say He parked his pickup truck in the middle of the parking lot and started to approach the officers. The officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon and stop approaching, but he refused and then threatened the officers, so one of them shot him several times. Officers performed CPR but Fox later died at the hospital. A police officer in Florida fatally shot an armed, suicidal man during a confrontation at an apartment complex, shown above, on Thursday Fox reportedly told family members that he 'was going to hell and not coming back.' He drove away in the pickup truck above and then came back as officers were taking statements The shooter was officer Christopher Fowler, who has been on the force since November of last year. He said he was in fear for his life. Fowler has been placed on administrative leave. 'There were several witnesses that clearly told him, that clearly heard him, that he was told to drop the handgun, drop the handgun, and he didn't,' Chief Dan Slaughter said after the shooting. '[He] clearly has been upset or depressed for the last several days,' Slaughter said. 'It just reaffirms that he had the intentions to potentially end his life and unfortunately forced the officer to do it.' His wife said Fox suffered from depression, and the previous weekend he put an unloaded gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Footage from WFLA shows the scene of the incident. Chief Dan Slaughter said after the shooting: '[He] clearly has been upset or depressed for the last several days. 'It just reaffirms that he had the intentions to potentially end his life' A court in Germany has sentenced a Ghanaian refugee to nearly 12 years in jail for the campsite rape of a young woman in front of her boyfriend. Eric X, 31, - branded highly dangerous by a psychiatric expert - was handed the 11 year and six month jail term at Bonn State Court. He denied to the end being responsible despite the testimony from an expert saying the chance of someone else's DNA being on the victim was a 30 billion to one chance. And X insulted his victim by saying: 'If the court says the DNA fits, then I have to call the girl a prostitute. Anyone who supports this girl who claims to have been raped is the dirtiest person on earth.' A failed asylum seeker - identified only as Eric X (pictured in court) - raped a woman camping in a nature reserve while threatening her with a machete. He was jailed for 11 and a half years The 31-year-old from Ghana denied to the end being responsible despite the testimony from an expert saying the chance of someone else's sperm being on the victim was a 30billion to one chance X struck in April this year at a campsite near the city on the Rhine, dragging the 23-year-old woman from the tent she was sharing with her boyfriend. A major scandal ensued when it emerged police refused to take seriously a 999 call from her partner saying his girlfriend was being raped yards from him. 'You are not f***ing with me I hope?' said the officer who took the call. The terrified young man had been threatened with a machete when the Ghanaian refugee entered the tent and told him to remain where he was. The attacker dragged the girl a few yards into a meadow at the Siegaue Nature Reserve and raped her. But the boyfriend had a hard time getting police to take him seriously. 'Hmm,' was the first reaction from the female police officer on the line. 'Where exactly is this rape happening?' she added. The attack took place the Siegaue Nature Reserve (pictured) on April 2, shortly after midnight. The woman and her boyfriend were asleep when Eric X cut through the tarpaulin, threatened them with a tree saw and ordered them to hand over their valuables - six euros (5.35) and a music box The boyfriend was forced to watch as the attacker violated his lover - and the police never arrived. The boyfriend, 26, eventually gathered her up and began walking with her along a main road looking for help. He called police a second time - and again they were disbelieving. Finally, nearly 30 minutes later, officers arrived and the victim was taken to hospital. A photofit picture of the attacker led to his arrest and DNA testing confirmed his guilt. A CD player he stole from the tent was found at his refugee centre. He tried to flee when police moved in to arrest him, flinging a rucksack at one officer. It turned out that the backpack was stolen from a barbecue party shortly before the rape occurred. After robbing the couple, Eric X dragged the 23-year-old woman outside, where he raped her and forced her boyfriend, 26, to watch. The Ghanaian migrant was arrested soon after in nearby Siegburg when a man recognised him from a composite picture (left) of the sex attacker. (Right, the nature reserve) The rape was one of the most high-profile sex attacks laid at the door of refugees since the migrant crisis began, prompting hundreds of tips from the public. Just days before the attack, X had been told he was set to be deported to Italy, where he had originally entered the Schengen zone. He arrived in Italy in January and his asylum application was immediately rejected but by then he had made the journey to Kassel in Germany. The suspect lived for a time in asylum seeker housing accommodation in the town of Sankt Augustin, near Bonn. But local media have questioned why he was not immediately deported. Anjem Choudary has been denied an appeal against his convictions after a judge rejected claims his trial was unfair Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been denied permission to appeal against his conviction for being a recruiting for ISIS. The 50-year-old cleric and his disciple Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 34, were each jailed for five-and-a-half years after signing an oath of allegiance to the terror group. The pair, whose followers had attempted and carried out numerous terror attacks, spread their militant brand of Islam through lectures on YouTube. Choudary managed to evade justice for 20 years before he and Rahman were convicted of inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation at the Old Bailey and jailed in September last year. The pair applied for permission to appeal their convictions, arguing that the trial judge, Mr Justice Timothy Holroyde, had misdirected the jury during his summing up. They claimed that jurors wrongly thought they could convict them for inviting support for ISIS during speeches which weren't on the indictment. Rabble-rouser Choudary and his lieutenant Mizanur Rahman (right) were jailed for inviting support for ISIS after a long police campaign to get them off the streets Today, a panel of judges led by Lady Justice Victoria Sharp denied them an appeal, saying the summing up at their trial had 'contained correct directions of the law' and was 'a fair and accurate summary of the case'. Lady Justice Sharp pointed out that neither defendant nor any member of the 'highly experienced' legal teams raised the point during the trial. Lady Sharp ruled that neither Choudary or Rahman 'has an arguable ground of appeal' and ruled that their convictions 'are not arguably unsafe'. Many of Choudary's followers, who included Lee Rigby's killer Michael Adebolajo and suspected ISIS executioner Siddhartha Dhar, are in either in jail or fighting for jihadist groups abroad. Police do not know exactly how many of the 850 Britons who have gone to Syria were directly influenced by the firebrand cleric but detectives said he was a 'key' figure in Isis's radicalisation and recruitment drive. But he could be back on Britain's streets as soon as next year, as he will be entitled to automatic release after serving just half of his five and a half year jail term. Choudary took great joy in provoking the British public with a series of stunts, including one in which his followers burned remembrance poppies and disrupted Armistice Day events. He also called for Buckingham Palace to be turned into a mosque and paraded a picture of his vision which was made by a man who later fought for ISIS. Choudary spent years organising radical sermons and holding provocative stunts. He is pictured with a poster of Buckingham Palace made into a mosque His now-banned group, Al-Muhajiroun, became a breeding ground for terrorists, most notably Michael Adebolajo, the radical convert who hacked to death soldier Lee Rigby in 2013. After a trial which was shrouded in secrecy, Choudary and his deputy Rahman were found guilty of 'inviting support for a proscribed organisation' under the Terrorism Act 2000. Anti-terror police investigated 20 years worth of material, with over 333 electronic devices containing 12 terabytes of storage data analysed. Their trial heard Choudary swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an East London pub after the so-called 'caliphate' was declared in the Middle East. He and his deputy then pressed upon Muslims their supposed obligation to 'make hijrah', meaning to travel to ISIS-occupied lands, the court heard. Jenson Button said he was shocked by the public reaction over revelations Richard Branson touched his ex-girlfriend's face and made her feel uncomfortable. Speaking today, the Formula 1 ace said he felt for Sir Richard after his comments stirred up a media storm. He said: 'It was a long time ago, Richard apologised afterwards and actually said he didn't drink for six months after.' Appearing on This Morning today to promote his new book, the race champion said he 'didn't expect' the story or his comments about Branson to become front page of the Daily Mirror. Host Philip Schofield joked: 'It's great for book sales!' Button replied: 'Yeah, I do feel for him a little bit.' Scroll down for video Jenson Button said he was shocked at the public reaction over revelations Richard Branson touched his girlfriend's face and made her feel uncomfortable Button claimed an intoxicated Branson put his hands on model Jessica Michibata's face, making her 'uncomfortable' after he approached them at celebrity haunt Nobu in 2009. In his autobiography Life to the Limit, Mr Button, 37, writes the inebriated Branson came over to their table and sat down uninvited. He alleges that the Virgin CEO then started flirting with his then-girlfriend, Japanese model Jessica Michibata, by accusing her of staring at him. 'Although Jessica was a model she was quite shy, so this was making her feel uncomfortable,' an extract published in The Telegraph reported. 'Especially when Sir Richard followed up his blatant flirting by putting his hand on her face.' Mr Button writes that he was in the bathroom when this took place, and said he returned to find Sir Richard with his hands on Ms Michibata's face. Revelations: Jenson Button claims that an intoxicated Richard Branson interrupted a dinner in 2009, and flirted with his then-girlfriend Jessica Michibata Hitting back: Mr Button says he returned to the dinner table to find Sir Richard with his hands on Ms Michibata's face, and told him to back off '"Hold on," I said, "that's enough. That's well out of order." But he was so hammered that he simply didn't understand what the problem was.' Mr Button adds that Sir Richard later apologised to the then-couple, and that he 'gave up drinking for months afterwards.' Sir Richard addresses the incident himself in his own autobiography Finding My Virginity, admitting that the incident led to him giving up alcohol for six month. He writes: 'Jenson and his girlfriend were sitting at the next table, enjoying a far quieter evening as he had to race the next morning. 'By contrast, through a mixture of tiredness, jetlag and drink, I soon found myself very, very inebriated. This wasn't like me; I can't remember ever getting that drunk before or since.' Pleasantries: Richard Branson pictured kissing model Jessica Michibata on the cheek in the F1 paddock during the Australian Grand Prix in 2010 The incident is believed to have taken place at Nobu's Melbourne restaurant (pictured) He admits to walking over to the couple's table and telling Ms Michabata 'how gorgeous she was'. 'Jenson understandable took offence and I decided to retreat quickly from the table (thankfully, we smoothed it out).' Mr Button and Ms Michibata, 32, first met in 2008 in a hotel bar in Tokyo and began dating eight months later. They split for a short time in 2011 before the McLaren reserve driver proposed on Valentine's Day 2014, with a ring worth 250,000. They tied the knot in a lavish Hawaiian ceremony in December 2014 called time on their relationship just one year later but say they remain on good terms. Mr Button his now dating former playboy model Brittny Ward, 25, and Ms Michibata is due to give birth to her first child next month. A man in China yesterday roasted a live puppy over a fire so he could enjoy the dog's meat, animal lovers have told MailOnline. The man's sickening behaviour was filmed by one of his colleagues who later shared the clip to their friends on social media as a show-off, a Jiujiang-based animal lover claimed. The animal lover added that the man later showed her the dog's remains, which had been decapitated by him. A horrifying video circulating on China's social media platforms show a man roasting a puppy live as he held the screaming animal by a string around its neck over a fire in a factory complex The animal lover has agreed to be identified only by her surname Jin, due to safety concerns. Ms Jin is the leader of an online animal group in Jiujiang, which is a city of around 44 million residents in Jiangxi Province. Ms Jin said she was sent the video by a friend at around 2:20pm on October 18 through WeChat, a popular chatting app in China. She was told that the video had been widely shared on WeChat. In the video, the factory worker held the puppy over a fire by a string around its neck. The puppy was struggling and screaming at the beginning, but remained motionless in the end. The video was supplied to MailOnline by PETA Asia, an animal welfare organisation. MailOnline has decided not to show the footage due to its graphic nature. After watching the video, animal lovers managed to find the man and challenged his behaviour. Footage provided by Ms Jin, an animal lover, shows them talking to the man Ms Jin said after she saw the video, she decided to find the man and tell him what he had done was wrong. The animal lover, who owns a Labrador, went out with 10 other dog owners in hope of finding the man. As the post claimed the man was a worker at the Jiujiang Power Supply Station, Ms Jin showed the video to people around the station to ask if they had seen him. Ms Jin said she eventually found the man in the power station at around 4:10pm. After Ms Jin and the other animal lovers challenged the man and his colleagues, the man admitted that he had burnt the puppy because he liked eating dog meat, according to Ms Jin. Ms Jin also said this was the second time the man had killed a dog in this way, as he told the animal lovers. Then he showed the animal lovers the remains of the animal in a bucket, which was said to have been decapitated. It's said that the man had apologised for his behaviour to the animal lovers orally, and promised not to do it again. He said he would issue them a promise letter to show them his determination. The incident is said to take place in Jiujiang (pictured), a city of 44 million residents in China During the conversation, physical clashes were said to have occurred between the animal lovers and the man's colleague. Police from the Changhong Police station reportedly arrived at the scene and brought the two parties back to the station for questioning. Both parties were released by the police in the evening, said Ms Jin. The man who killed the puppy remained at large, as it's understood. PETA Asia told MailOnline that because there is a lack of animal protection law in China, people who are suspected of abusing them would not be arrested and could not be subjected to the legal punishment. The group said at the moment China only has law for protecting wild animals, but no law for protecting livestock and small animals, such as dogs and cats. Jason Baker, PETA Asia Vice President, said: 'We hope that someone at the 19th National Congress of Commuist Party might see this and call for a law to be passed today.' The uncle of a six-year-old boy whose body was found in a dumpster in his Lynnwood, Washington apartment complex on Tuesday has confessed to his murder. Police say Andrew Henckel, 19, admitted to drowning his nephew in a bath while babysitting him at his sister's apartment on Monday, before dumping the body in a dumpster just a few feet from the home. Both Henckel and Dayvid have autism, but Henckel's father Randy says his son's condition is closer to Asperger's and he has a hard time vocalizing his thoughts. Asperger's is similar to autism, but people with Asperger's typically have normal to superior IQ levels. Randy has expressed skepticism that his 'gentle giant' son could have committed murder, and thinks he confessed to the crime to make cops happy - not understanding the full weight of his admission. But the deputy Snohomish County prosecutor says they found evidence corroborating Henckel's story, including details of how Dayvid was dressed and how he was found. Scroll down for video Andrew Henckel, 19 (left), has reportedly confessed to murdering his six-year-old nephew Dayvid Pakko (right) Pakko's body was found dumped in a dumpster at his Lynnwood, Washington apartment complex early Tuesday morning, after going missing on Monday while being babysat by his uncle Henckel is from Texas, where he lives with his parents, but had flown out to visit his sister on October 9. On Monday, Dayvid was feeling sick so his mother allowed him to stay home from school for the day, leaving him in the care of her boyfriend and Henckel while she went to work. In the afternoon, the boyfriend left to run errands for an hour at 2pm, leaving Henckel alone with Dayvid. By the time he returned, Dayvid was gone. Initially, Henckel said that he fell asleep while they were playing with Lego and only knew he was missing when the boyfriend woke him up and asked where Dayvid was. Police took Henckel in for questioning early Tuesday morning, after they found Dayvid's body in a dumpster on the property. Both Henckel and his nephew are autistic. Henckel's father says he's closer to Asperger's Henckel is from Texas and had flown out to visit his sister, her boyfriend and her son Henckel initially said that he fell asleep while playing with Dayvid and woke up to find the boy gone It was then that he allegedly confessed to the crime. According to the arrest report, Henckel admitted to filling a bathtub with water, calling Dayvid into the bathroom and then drowning him face down in the water. Henckel told police that Dayvid 'struggled for approximately 30 seconds before becoming still.' He continued to hold Dayvid under water for six minutes before pulling him out. He then changed his clothes, wrapped Dayvid's body in a blanket, placed the body in a cardboard box, and disposed of the box in 'the nearest garbage dumpster'. He did not provide a motive for his actions. Henckel appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday, accompanied by a female attorney who gave him an encouraging pat on the back before addressing the judge and speaking about his autism. Henckel allegedly told police that he drew a bath for Dayvid and then drowned him Henckel's father Randy has spoken out to several news outlets since his son's arrest, saying he doesn't believe that he's the murderer. He says his son's attorney told him that the first thing he told her during their first meeting Wednesday morning was 'Please help me. I did not do this,' the Express News reports. 'He hasn't had any interactions with the law whatsoever,' Randy told KIRO. 'So, this process of bringing him in and interrogating him with his autism, makes me question the validity of anything he said without legal counsel present or a family member present.' Randy says people with his son's disorder are often eager to please and are deferential to authority figures - something that was probably compounded for his son since he grew up in a military family. Henckel's father Randy has expressed skepticism that his 'gentle giant' is capable of murder 'Under any kind of duress, he just shuts down,' said Randy Henckel told My San Antonio. Randy says that his son has never showed signs of violence. 'He's extremely mild. He's introverted aside from the Asperger's, he's been a perfect child,' said Randy Henckel. This month's trip to Washington was the first time that Henckel had met his young nephew, but he says the two were hitting it off. 'They're both autistic,' Randy told News4SA, 'and my daughter told me they both connected very naturally. That's what I was told. I've been talking with them every day since, during the week that he's been there, and there were zero problems.' He says that his son shouldn't have been left alone with Dayvid because he's probably not ready for that kind of responsibility yet. But he blames that mistake on his daughter's boyfriend, who didn't tell her that he was leaving the two alone. Henckel is being held on $1million bond. The stories Lizzie Jensen has heard from depressed and suicidal North Dakota students often in response to or exacerbated by bullying have stuck with her. They are engraved in her mind and in the small book that the newly crowned Miss North Dakota carries bearing the names of the students who have shared their struggles with her. Since being named Miss North Dakota, Jensen, 23, of Fargo, has made it her mission to spread awareness of bullying and mental health. She's traveled across the state in recent weeks, with stops this week at Bismarck elementary schools. So far, she's reached nearly 10,000 students and plans to hear from more. My goal is to get to as many student as possible, but especially the high school students, because I talk about my eating disorder, I talk about me being bullied, and I also talk about my depression, my anxiety and my suicidal ideations, she said. I let them know its OK to have those struggles." On Wednesday, she spoke to more than 600 children sitting cross-legged on the gymnasium floor at Sunrise Elementary School in Bismarck. The goal is to talk with them when they're young, she said. Jensen told the group how she was bullied for 10 years starting in second grade. She asked the young children to stand up if they've been affected by bullying, and nearly all the students rose. "So, this is why it's important for us to talk about it, because every single one of you has been affected by this in one way or another," she said. Jensen has also made a handful of stops at high schools, where some students have stayed behind after her presentation to share their experiences. She remembers a senior at a small high school, who disclosed to her that he had attempted suicide several times. While talking with him, she said she could see the cuts going up from his wrist to his shoulder. There was also a young high school girl who told Jensen she was depressed and suicidal. The girl thanked Jensen for showing that it was OK to open up, because she hadn't shared her experiences with anyone. "When I told the principal afterwards, he had no idea," Jensen said. "These students are just telling me everything, and I wish these students would tell more about their struggles to people who can actually do something." Using her platform, #IAmMore, which focuses on anti-bullying and self-worth, Jensen, is also advocating for legislative change. While a local title holder, Miss West Fargo, Jensen said she researched district policies on bullying in the state, and she found that they varied. "Students are treated differently when it comes to bullying in the state of North Dakota," she said, adding that she is planning to attend a conference in Bismarck for school officials in order to get their input on policies. Jensen said she'd like to see a universal bullying policy throughout the state. She would also like to see more help for not just students who are bullied, but bullies themselves. Jensen said she's planning to use her crown to help students who are struggling by connecting them to mental health resources and steps students who are bullied can take. As Miss North Dakota, if I can leave a permanent impact that is going to positively impact these students, that would be my ultimate goal," she said. Jake Tapper has fired back at Bill O'Reilly after the disgraced Fox News star called out the CNN host's low ratings. 'Sean Hannity kicking serious butt in the ratings. Tapper on CNN as low as you can go,' wrote O'Reilly on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after viewership numbers came in for the previous day. Those numbers did, as O'Reilly stated, show that Hannity was well ahead of the competition in total viewers and the key demo of adults aged 25 to 54. The numbers also showed that at 4pm, Tapper was trailing well behind Neil Cavuto on Fox News and Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC. Unable to dispute O'Reilly's statement, Tapper decided to try a different approach and responded to O'Reilly by tweeting: '"Low" would be sexually harassing staffers and then getting fired for it -- humiliated in front of the world. Now THAT would be low.' Scroll down for video Battle of the (not quite) network stars: Bill O'Reilly (left in 2016) pointed out that Jake Tapper (right in May) had the lowest ratings between 4pm and midnight on Tuesday among any host on the three big cable news networks Zing: 'Sean Hannity kicking serious butt in the ratings. Tapper on CNN as low as you can go,' wrote O'Reilly (above) Retort: '"Low" would be sexually harassing staffers and then getting fired for it -- humiliated in front of the world. Now THAT would be low,' replied Tapper (above) O'Reilly has been off the air ever since 'The New York Times' posted a story detailing multiple payouts he had made over the years to female employees who had accused him of sexual harassment. He was however allowed to return during Hannity's first week at 9pm during the last week of September, where he sat down with his former co-worker and lamented the fact that he did not try to fight back when advertisers began to boycott his show. 'You fought back when they came after you last spring,' O'Reilly said to Hannity at one point, referencing that host's advertiser boycott. 'I didn't, and I should have.' The two men then blamed the mainstream media, who Hannity accused of trying to drag down any person who voted for President Trump. O'Reilly also called out Media Matters, saying: 'Did you know they threatened you and me if we did this segment tonight? These totalitarians want to wipe out any speech with which they disagree.' On Twitter, users quickly awarded the battle to Tapper, with one writing: 'O'Reilly went for the gut, Tapper went for the jugular.' Another woman wrote: 'You deliver the sickest burns, Jake.' And a GIF of Leonardo DiCaprio raising a champagne glass from 'The Great Gatsby' posted in response to Tapper's tweet was liked over 2,000 times by early Monday morning. The two men have become pop culture fixtures in the wake of the election, despite Tapper's low numbers and O'Reilly not having a network. They are also frequently skewered on 'Saturday Night Live,' with Alec Baldwin playing O'Reilly and Beck Bennett playing Tapper, who is always seen with Kellyanne Conway (played by Kate McKinnon). On the ratings front, Hannity once again bested Rachel Maddow on MSNBC at the 9pm hour to carry Fox News to both key demo and total viewers wins in primetime and total day on Tuesday. CNN finished second in the key demo in primetime but third to MSNBC in total day. MSNBC also had more total viewers than CNN both in total day and primetime by a sizable margin. Beginning of the end: O'Reilly has been off the air ever since a story detailing the payouts he had made over the years to female employees led to an advertiser boycott of his show (protesters outside Fox News headquarters in NYC this April) Back in action: He was ousted by the network in April, but returned to Fox News last month in Sean Hannity's first week at the 9pm hour (above) O'Reilly walked away with $25 million when he was let go back in April, a quarter of the $100million he had been guaranteed in the four-year contract he signed just a few months prior in the wake of Megyn Kelly's exit from the network. Fox News previously paid disgraced CEO Roger Ailes $42 million when he exited last July. Dozens of advertisers ditched 'The O'Reilly Factor' after the report detailing the over $13 million in payouts made to five women over O'Reilly's alleged harassment. O'Reilly staunchly denied the accusations and released a statement at the time saying: 'It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims.' 'Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history, which has consistently informed and entertained millions of Americans and significantly contributed to building Fox into the dominant news network in television,' O'Reilly said in the beginning of his statement. 'It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. 'I will always look back at my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. 'I wish only the best for Fox News channel.' IT teacher Werner Nel was found to have been wrongfully and unfairly dismissed by Marlston School in Berkshire A private prep school teacher, who was fired for letting girls as young as six Google for pictures of 'naked boys' in class, has won a 33,000 payout for unfair dismissal. IT teacher Werner Nel was found to have been wrongfully and unfairly dismissed by Marlston School in Berkshire, which claimed that he had lied about the severity of the images the girls saw and had tried to alter the Google search history. Bosses at the 10,000-a-year fee-paying school didn't tell the 37-year-old they had hired two separate IT experts to investigate after Mr Nel appealed his dismissal. The tribunal in Reading found that the school was also in breach of the ACAS code of practice after it used the same member of staff, headmaster David Fleming, to both investigate the matter and carry out the disciplinary hearing. The hearing ordered the school to pay Mr Nel more than 33,000 in compensation. Mr Fleming originally told Mr Nel: 'If I were to dismiss you it would likely be the end of your career - it would possibly not be possible to get another job in education. 'Anyone can make a cock-up but I have to ask if I can trust you given the serious nature of the safeguarding breach. In most schools I believe you would be out of the door. 'I think I understand the rationale of how your mind worked but you have been crassly stupid. However, I take into account that you have worked hard for the school doing good things and it is for that reason that I [am] minded to give you a final written warning. 'This would remain on the file for the prescribed period set out in your contract - I would need to check this. You would of course have the right to appeal.' However, after the re-arrangement of a further disciplinary hearing, Mr Nel, from Hungerford, was fired without notice from his job. The dispute came after some little girls in a class of 11 pupils made Google searches for terms such as 'The queen underwear', 'naked boys' and 'fat people'. The written judgement released by the tribunal, which sat in Reading, today told how the teacher saw the girls giggling and looking at the images before grabbing the mouse to close the search window. After a conversation with the head of IT, Mr Nel logged the incident via email. He was also instructed to print off the search history from the computer. Bosses at the 10,000-a-year fee-paying school didn't tell the 37-year-old they had hired two separate IT experts to investigate after Mr Nel appealed his dismissal Before he did this, Stuart Raeburn-Ward, Pastoral and Designated Safeguarding Lead, looked at the browsing history of the computers used and saw the images. However later that day when they were presented with the print-outs of the search results, the searches had changed to terms including'dogs' and 'queen birthday'. Mr Nel was accused of trying to alter the search results and conceal the severity of the issue. However at appeal, two separate IT experts hired by the school were able to provide completely innocent reasons as to why the search results might have changed. Mr Nel was not informed of this and his appeal at his dismissal, heard by non-executive director Gioncarlo Calderini, was unsuccessful. Headmaster Mr Fleming did not believe that Mr Nel had not realised the severity of the pictures when he closed the tab. The report read: 'Mr Fleming heard the claimant's account and then 'expressed incredulity' about the claimant's account that he had taken the mouse to click off the site and yet had not seen the images clearly. 'After bringing up the images on the screen Mr Fleming expressed disbelief by saying 'are you seriously trying to tell me that you did not see what was in front of you?' 'Mr Fleming stated that he 'simply did not believe him'. Mr Fleming decided to begin the disciplinary process against the claimant. Mr Fleming states that he considered the claimant was lying to him and that his lying was a safeguarding issue.' The hearing ordered the school to pay Mr Nel more than 33,000 in compensation The tribunal judgement read: 'The tribunal does not consider that the respondent could have had an honestly held view of the claimant's culpability in respect of altering the search history at the point that the claimant's appeal was concluded. '[The IT] report provided an innocent explanation for what appeared to be the claimant's deceitful act of altering the search history. 'The tribunal was unable to understand how Mr Calderini could justify his conclusions that the claimant 'altered the terminal history evidence', in the light of the information that was available to him from the expert which had been obtained for the purposes of his appeal. 'The respondent did not have a genuine belief in the claimant's guilt at the appeal stage. The claimant's guilt was substantially based on the conclusion that that the claimant had altered the search history and then lied about it. The tribunal in Reading found that the school was also in breach of the ACAS code of practice after it used the same member of staff, headmaster David Fleming (pictured), to both investigate the matter and carry out the disciplinary hearing 'The report received before the appeal outcome showed that there was another explanation. An innocent explanation which undermined the basis of the respondent's conclusions against the claimant. 'The view that Mr Fleming expressed at the meeting on May 16, 2016 was initially that he was minded to give the claimant a final written warning. 'This was in the light of having concluded that: that claimant was not frank and honest; that the claimant had deliberately under-reported the incident; the claimant tampered with the search histories and then lied about it; that it was a case of gross misconduct. 'We do not consider that a reasonable employer would have dismissed in circumstances where they have stated that they will not dismiss and there are no relevant changes in the situation. 'The respondent's approach was to look for evidence of guilt and there was a deliberate suppression of information that pointed to the claimant's innocence. Having obtained the expert report, following the claimant's suggestion, to fail to disclose it to the claimant is inexplicable. 'When set against the fact that the respondent sought a further expert report for reasons not clearly explained, we consider it possible the reason was because the respondent did not like the content of the report which gave an innocent explanation for the altered history.' The tribunal found that Mr Nel was wrongfully and unfairly dismissed and ordered the school to pay him 33,856.91 pounds compensation. Mr Nel however lost his claims that he had been fired for whistleblowing or making a 'protected disclosure', and, the report added: 'The claimant's complaint of unfair dismissal pursuant to section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 is not well founded and is dismissed.' An investigation is under way into claims that UK banks could be unwittingly linked to a corruption scandal in South Africa. Ministers confirmed that the Chancellor has asked the 'relevant authorities' to look at whether banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered acted as 'conduits' for laundered money. South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and a wealthy business family, the Guptas, are thought to be at the centre of the claims, raised by former cabinet minister Lord Hain. Both deny any wrongdoing. Speaking in the House of Lords today, Lord Hain, who was brought up in South Africa, thanked Philip Hammond for ensuring 'the Financial Conduct Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency investigate HSBC, Standard Chartered and Baroda Bank'. South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is thought to be among those at the centre of the claims, raised by former cabinet minister Lord Hain in the House of Lords Ministers confirmed that the Chancellor has asked the 'relevant authorities' to look at whether banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered acted as 'conduits' for laundered money He claimed 'expert South African whistle-blowers' had told him the bank 'must have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money stolen from their taxpayers and laundered through Dubai and Hong Kong'. 'In my letter of September 25 to the Chancellor, I supplied for investigation 27 names and personal identification numbers, including President Zuma, 11 members of his family, 11 members of his close friends the Gupta family and their five associates, together with 14 entities linked to the Guptas and suspected to have been set up for the purposes of transnationally laundering an estimated 400 million of their illicit proceeds. 'Will he ensure that those banks, together with European banks, about which I have similarly written to European Commission president Juncker, track down that laundered money, return it to the South African Treasury, and supply evidence to its officials to enable the prosecution of all those connected with such corruption.' Treasury minister Lord Bates said the UK was committed to tackling corruption in the UK and overseas with strict rules on money laundering introduced recently which British banks must follow. 'We are concerned about the allegations in South Africa and the British High Commissioner is monitoring the issue closely,' he told the House. Lord Bates said ministers were grateful to Lord Hain for drawing the issue to the Chancellor's attention and assured peers the UK had some of the toughest anti-money laundering laws in the world. London was a 'target that can be used for these purposes and we are determined to root it out,' he said. Treasury minister Lord Bates confirmed at question time that Mr Hammond had taken immediate action in referring it to the 'relevant authorities' so that 'justice is done and seen to be done'. A Treasury spokesman said earlier: 'We take allegations of financial misconduct very seriously, and have passed Lord Hain's letter on to the Financial Conduct Authority and relevant UK law enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office, to agree the right action.' A spokeswoman for the Financial Conduct Authority said: 'The FCA is already in contact with both banks named and will consider carefully further responses received.' A toddler who lost all four limbs after catching the deadly Meningitis B can now feed herself after being fitted with prosthetic arms. Harmonie-Rose Allen, of Bath, contracted the illness when she was just ten months old. The damage to her limbs was so extreme it caused the tissue to die and resulted in the amputation of both her legs and arms. Harmonie-Rose Allen, of Bath, contracted Meningitis B when she was 10 months old. She has now been fitted with prosthetic limbs to aid her growth Doctors told her parents Freya Hall and Ross Allen that their daughter had a 10 per cent chance of survival, but she miraculously survived In Harmonie's case, she developed a meningococcal septicaemia, which is effectively blood poisoning caused by this germ. She is pictured left prior to contracting the illness and right during treatment Doctors told her parents Freya Hall and Ross Allen that their daughter had a 10 per cent chance of survival, and that the little girl's case was one of the worst they had ever seen. But now she is becoming more independent after learning how to feed herself yoghurt and playing with her toys. Wearing her set of prosthetic legs for an hour a day at home, Harmonie has begun her first walking lessons at the Bristol City of Enablement and is making progress. Ms Hall said: 'She can paint, she can draw, she can do puzzles, she can feed herself, she can do everything really. Everything I thought she wouldn't, she's done, she can climb up the stairs now. 'I never expected her to do half the things she can do now, so I am sure she will keep carrying on amazing us.' Footage shows her bouncing on the floor happily and moving her toys around as Mr Allen watches on proudly. But now she is becoming more independent after learning how to feed herself yoghurt and playing with her toys Wearing her set of prosthetic legs for an hour a day at home, Harmonie has begun her first walking lessons at the Bristol City of Enablement Ms Hall said: 'She can paint, she can draw, she can do puzzles, she can feed herself, she can do everything really' Speaking on Body Bizarre, which airs this week, Ms Hall said: 'Harmonie was really happy as a baby. She was really bubbly. 'One day we noticed she had this massive blue mark on her nose. As soon as I saw that blue mark I knew it was Meningitis.' In Harmonie's case, she developed a meningococcal septicaemia, which is effectively blood poisoning caused by this germ. Ms Hall said: 'At that point we were saying bye to Harmonie and there was nothing else we could do.' Doctors made the decision to move Harmonie from hospital in Bath to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. There, paediatric surgeon Dr Fergall Monsell operated on baby Harmonie. He said: 'It was very obvious that the tissue below her knees and elbow was dead so the amputations were performed at the level of the knee on both sides and the elbow in both arms.' One of the activities that Harmonie in particular loves is swimming, according to her parents The hope is that eventually Harmonie will have the same freedom of movement on her prosthetic legs as she enjoys in the swimming pool Ms Hall said: 'When we got home, it was quite surreal, because all of her toys I'd started buying for her first birthday were ride ones and toys like that. Obviously it was heart-breaking, but I was just so grateful that she was here.' One of the activities that Harmonie in particular loves is swimming. She said: 'I think swimming is so beneficial to Harmonie because obviously [with] the movement in the water she feels so free.' Prosthetist Hannah Pentin says: 'I always know it's going to be such a positive appointment, she always impresses me at what she's learnt from the last time.' Ms Hall said: 'She's brilliant, Harmonie is amazing now. She just gets on with everything, she's got such a character, she's feisty, cheeky, she's just amazing. She doesn't give up, she doesn't get frustrated.' Body Bizarre is on Thursdays at 10pm on TLC UK Britain's former top spy today urged ministers to invest more in spies, the military and diplomacy to ensure the UK wields global power post Brexit. Sir John Sawer, the ex head of the MI6, said Britain's military and intelligence might will take on a bigger importance after we quit the bloc. He warned the UK's risks seeing its global influence diminish after Brexit if the country does not ensure our foreign policy offering is up to scratch. And he said Britain's influence and say over wars and international relations will directly correlate to our ability to what the UK can commit to a campaign. He made the warning as he gave evidence to a House of Lords select committee on the impact of Brexit on Britain's international sanctions. Sir John Sawyer (pictured today giving evidence to the House of Lords) today urged ministers to invest more in spies, the military and diplomacy to ensure the UK wields global power post Brexit Sir John said: 'You also need to have the commitment and investment in diplomacy, intelligence, the Armed forces and development in order to make an impact. 'Now, you have the former chief of defence staff on your committee who knows only too well that your influence in a campaign involving Armed Forces is directly relevant to what you can commit to that. 'And that is also true of diplomatic campaigns - how effective is your diplomacy, how effective is your intelligence? 'So I think after Brexit it will be vital that we sustain, and in many ways enhance, our investments in diplomacy, defence, intelligence - we have very high investment in aid already - if we want to have an influence in the world of the sort we have had over the last 30 to 40 years.' His comments can be interpreted as a plea to ministers to beef up Britain's military ad intelligence services if it wants to continue to be at the forefront of world affairs. Sir John said that quitting the EU 'will have an effect' on Britain's ability to shape international policy and draw up sanctions against countries like Russia. He warned that there is a risk Britain will be expected to simply 'go along with' sanctions drawn up by the bloc - even though we will be 'outside the room' when they are decided. Sir John, the ex head of the MI6, said Britain's military and intelligence might will take on a bigger importance after we quit the bloc. And he suggested that Britain may want to press for a new system whereby the heads of the main European countries come together and devise policy which would then be taken to and agreed by the bloc. The former top spy looked back on Margaret Thatcher's premiership as a time when Britain was economically powerful and had 'dynamic leadership' abroad. His evidence to the EU External Affairs Lords committee comes as Theresa May heads to Brussels to urge EU leaders to move on to trade talks in the Brexit negotiations. Britain's formidable intelligence services is seen as one of our trump cards in Brexit talks. And the government has stressed the role our spies and intelligence service plays in tackling terrorism and keeping the EU safe. A disgraced businessman and his wife have been found unconscious in their car after he failed to turn up to court to be sentenced for $68 million tax fraud. Gold Coast man Michael John Issakidis, 73, was due to be sentenced on Thursday after he was found guilty of a multi-million-dollar tax evasion racket in June. When he did not appear in court, police went to his mansion in Sovereign Islands, an affluent gated community on the Gold Coast, where they found Issakidis and his wife Donrecka unconscious inside one of their luxury cars in the garage. Police found Issakidis and his wife Donrecka (pictured together) unconscious inside one of their luxury cars in the garage They were reportedly found in a serious, but stable condition, The Courier Mail reported. An ambulance was called to the address about 5.15pm on Thursday and the pair were rushed to the Gold Coast University Hospital. Issakidis was found guilty on June 13 of conspiring to cause loss to the Commonwealth and to dealing with property believing it to be the proceeds of crime. Police arrived at the home when an arrest warrant was issued after Issakidis failed to show at court. The arrest warrant was issued when the Australian Federal Police, Issakidis' legal team, and his brother failed to reach him or his wife. More than $40 million in luxury assets linked to Issakidis were seized in a 2012 Federal Police raid When he did not appear in court, police went to his mansion in Sovereign Islands, an affluent gated community on the Gold Coast Federal Police raids show Issakidis being lead out of his home by detectives Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison said he held grave concerns for the fraudster after he failed to show. 'I can't help but have some concerns about this and I don't mean legal concerns,' Justice Harrison said. Issakidis' lawyer Paul McGirr also feared for his client's well-being. 'My concerns are unfortunately much more grave as he was always contactable and I have not spoken with him since yesterday. Time will tell,' Mr McGirr told The Courier Mail. The Gold Coast man's business partner Anthony James Dickson was sentenced to at least nine years behind bars for his involvement in the fraud racket. More than $40 million in luxury assets linked to Issakidis were seized in a 2012 Federal Police raid. More than $40 million in luxury assets linked to Issakidis (pictured) were seized in a 2012 Federal Police raid The men funneled $68 million through the scheme, which they splashed on luxury homes, cars and boats (pictured) The pair's company NeuMedix reportedly operated sham medical patents. The scheme involved a company called Athena, which was controlled by Issakidis' business partner Dickson. Through the company Athena, the men would sell the patents to NeuMedix for hundreds of millions of dollars, as claimed in fraudulent documents. In actual fact, the men paid a low amount for the rights of emerging medical technologies, and lied in tax returns. The Federal Police seized $40 million in assets reportedly the proceeds of crime The scheme showed up on tax returns between 2007 and 2010. The men funneled $68 million through the racket, which they splashed on luxury homes, cars and boats. If you are experiencing mental health difficulties, or know someone who is, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. Police in Florida have arrested 277 people as part of an undercover sex sting. Officers from four different departments in central Florida were involved in the effort which they proudly dubbed 'Operation No Tricks No Treats'. Between October 11 and October 15, they posed as prostitutes online to lure 209 men looking for illegal sex. The men were arrested after driving to an undisclosed location where officers were waiting for them. Fifty-one prostitutes were also arrested as part of the investigation. Scroll down for video The suspects include 51 prostitutes including five unidentified victims of human trafficking. Police responded to their ads online. Another 17 people were arrested for various other crimes (bottom) 209 men were arrested for soliciting another for prostitution. Some of their mugshots are shown above They were picked up at a separate location where officers, pretending to be customers, had asked them to travel to. The youngest of those arrested was 16 and the oldest was 74. Five people who are feared to be victims of human trafficking were also taken into custody. It is not clear whether or not they face any charges. On Thursday, Polk County Sheriff's Office shared details of the operation online. The majority of the suspects are Florida residents though a portion were visiting from 14 other states. Polk County Sheriff's Office hold a banner with the mugshots of 277 suspects after making the arrests last week Sheriff Grady Judd shared details of the operation on Twitter on Thursday The 277 suspects now face a 334 charges combined. They include prostitution, soliciting a prostitute, traveling to meet a minor, human trafficking and drug possession with intent to sell. In a statement, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said: 'We are committed to fighting human trafficking, by arresting those who engage in prostitution and trying to identify human trafficking victims. OPERATION 'NO TRICKS NO TREATS' 209 MEN ARRESTED FOR FOR SOLICITING A PROSTITUTE 51 PROSTITUTES ARRESTED INCLUDING 5 VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING 14 OTHERS ARRESTED FOR SEPARATE CRIMES 334 CHARGES TOTAL SUSPECTS ARE RESIDENTS OF 15 DIFFERENT STATES Advertisement 'It's no secret...you need to stay out of Polk County if you're going to commit crime.' Sheriff Judd is known for his creative investigations and arrest announcements. Earlier this month, he made headlines at a press conference where he told of a 'dirty dozen' collection of pedophiles who had been arrested for child sex or child pornography offences. The men included a former Walt Disney World employee who was arrested for making sex dolls out of swimming noodles. Judd referred to them in disgust as the man's 'sex babies'. A homeless man sheltering from Storm Ophelia has been reunited with his family after three years - thanks to a kind stranger. Pierce Dimond was seeking refuge in Richmond Shopping Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland, when he was approached by Brad Clutton, who owns a canvas printing business. The pair got chatting and Mr Dimond explained that he had been homeless for three years and was originally from Harrogate in Yorkshire. Pierce Dimond (left) was seeking refuge in Richmond Shopping Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland, when he was approached by Brad Clutton (right), who owns a canvas printing business Mr Clutton took him out to breakfast where Mr Dimond explained that his passport and ID had been stolen while he was in Dublin and he hadn't been able to get enough money to travel home. 'I couldn't believe it, so I thought if we could get him an ID we could get somewhere but he didn't know his national insurance number so we couldn't do that,' Mr Clutton said. 'So I thought, "Right, we need to get hold of his parents" so he managed to write down his mum's name, Gillian Dimond, for me so I looked her up online and put Harrogate in as well.' After some searching, he discovered a profile of a woman who looked like Mr Dimond's mother. Mr Clutton was eventually able to get a message to Gillian (pictured) through Mr Dimond's brother and organised for them to chat on FaceTime the next day Mr Clutton took him out to breakfast where Mr Dimond (pictured) explained that his passport and ID had been stolen while he was in Dublin and he hadn't been able to get enough money to travel home Mr Clutton was eventually able to get a message to Gillian and arranged for them to chat on FaceTime the next day. With Gillian's permission, Mr Clutton booked him a seat on a ferry from Belfast to Liverpool the next day and a hotel room for the night. 'He wasn't a drug addict, he wasn't a drinker, he was just a genuine fella who had it rough for a few years,' he said.' So I drove him to Belfast, made sure he got on the boat, gave him 20 to get some food and off he went. He said he couldn't wait to get home.' A third-grader brought a loaded gun to his Ohio elementary school on Monday because he had been bullied by other students. Middletown police said the gun was found after a teacher noticed a bulge in the nine-year-old's pocket inside a classroom at Rosa Parks Elementary School around 10.40am. When the teacher reached for the gun, the boy grabbed at the teacher's arm. The child reportedly told police he brought the 9mm to school because he was being bullied by his peers. Middletown police said the gun was found after a teacher noticed a bulge in the nine-year-old's pocket inside a classroom at Rosa Parks Elementary School (pictured) around 10.40am Authorities said the child also had extra ammunition in his pocket. The boy was taken to Butler County Juvenile Justice Center by police. He has been charged with felonious assault, illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. According to WLWT, the boy appeared in juvenile court Tuesday and was ordered to remain in the juvenile detention center, at least through next week when he appears in court again. He will undergo a competency and psychological evaluation and risk assessment. Middletown Police Lt David Birk said the boy's mother's boyfriend, Jerron Dean, 29, was also arrested on suspicion of child endangering. Police said Dean left the gun in a place inside their home where the child had access to it. Rosa Parks Elementary School held a gun safety assembly Tuesday. Parents said they learned of the incident through a robo-call that the district put out. Nancy Duke told WLWT that her sons, who attend Rosa Parks, also told her about what happened. The boy was taken to Butler County Juvenile Justice Center by police. He has been charged with felonious assault, illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed weapon (file image) 'My boys come and tell me that they were right there with the boy with the gun,' Duke said. 'That's scary. My kids were right there, could have handled this gun. It could have easily went wrong.' Marlon Styles, the Middletown superintendent, said the 'situation was addressed very appropriately by those who were involved'. 'Students were safe at all times once the weapon was confiscated, and right now it's in the hands of our law enforcement,' Styles added. Kathryn Lundy, a supporter of a new program, Bully Proof told the station that students need more resources in schools. 'What has not been happening? Or what has been happening that has led this poor innocent boy to actually think that that was OK to do,' Lundy said. President Donald Trump hammered the media Thursday for paying more attention to Russian collusion claims than a shady uranium deal with a Russian company approved of by Hillary Clinton, while she was serving as secretary of state. 'I think that's your Russia story. That's your real Russia story. Not a story where they talk about collusion, which there was none. It was hoax' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as he gathered with Puerto Rico's Gov. Ricardo Rossello. The Senate is now sniffing around the Uranium One deal, which gave 20 percent of the country's uranium to Russia, as parties associated with the deal were giving money to the Clinton Foundation and the company itself was being investigated in an FBI probe. Trump told reporters that it was the story of 'the decade' and slammed the mainstream media for not reporting it. 'And frankly it's a disgrace,' Trump said. 'It's a disgrace and it's a disgrace that the fake news won't cover it. It's so sad.' A number of outlets reported Wednesday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley stated in letters to agencies that he is looking into potential 'conflicts of interest' that Hillary Clinton may have had when she sat on the committee that approved the Uranium One transaction. Scroll down for video President Trump spoke about the questionable Uranium One deal in the Oval Office Thursday, calling it 'your real Russia story,' as it hits political rival Hillary Clinton The deal that took place while Clinton was secretary of state has attracted the attention of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Wednesday that he is looking into potential 'conflicts of interest' that Hillary Clinton may have had when she sat on the committee that approved the Uranium One transaction Grassley also said Wednesday that his investigation will center on aRussian uranium deal that was approved by the Obama administration despite an ongoing FBI investigation of the company concerned. 'It turns out during the transaction, the Justice Department had an ongoing criminal investigation for bribery, extortion and money laundering into officials for the Russian company making that purchase,' Grassley said during a Capitol Hill hearing. 'While all of this was going on, the Clinton Foundation reportedly received millions of dollars from interested parties in the transaction.' The Hill newspaper also reported that a key FBI informant, an American businessman with knowledge of the Russian nuclear industry's efforts to woo the Clintons and the Obama administration, was blocked by President Obama's Justice Department last year from telling Congress what he knew. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is trying to get to the bottom of the Russian uranium deal. He finds it suspicious that involved parties had donated to the Clinton Foundation Trump picked up on the story this morning, tagging Fox & Friends in one of the messages - an indication that he'd been watching author Peter Schweizer's appearance on the program Peter Schweizer is the author of the book Clinton Cash. He hopped on Fox this morning to comment on Sen. Chuck Grassley's announcement In 2010, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved a deal that allowed Russia's Rosatom nuclear company to buy Canadian mining company Uranium One, which controlled about 20 percent of the U.S.'s uranium deposits, which was why the multi-agency committee was involved. Sitting on that committee were former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Secretary of State Clinton, whose husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, had collected speaking fees and Clinton Foundation donations by parties associated with the deal. Details about the donations were previously revealed in author Peter Schweizer's book, Clinton Cash. Schweizer appeared Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, with President Trump tweeting 'Russia sent millions to Clinton Foundation' and tagging the morning show, indicating that he had tuned in. Trump also tweeted, 'Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!' However, the New York Times had investigated the deal as Schweizer's book was coming out and agreed with many of the authors findings: that interested parties had indeed flowed money to the Clinton Foundation as Secretary of State Clinton made her determination. 'Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown,' the Times report said. 'But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundations donors,' it continued. Now there's a new layer to the story, as the Hill newspaper reported this week that the FBI had uncovered a Russian bribery plot in 2009 and 2010, before the committee green-lit the deal. The Justice Department also waited until 2014 to bring any charges. Grassley wants to find out why. He told his Senate committee Wednesday, in front of witness Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that he had sent 10 letters out last week asking questions about who in the government knew about the FBI probe and when. 'In my letter, I asked the agencies involved in approving the transaction if they were aware of the criminal probe and the intelligence operation examining Russian activity,' Grassley explained. Former President Bill Clinton was given Clinton Foundation dollars and speaking fees by parties associated with the Russian uranium deal - while his wife, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had to approve of it for it to go through The Iowa Republican also asserted that 'Russians involved in the conspiracy were reportedly coordinating with high-level officials, close to Vladimir Putin. Turning his attention to Sessions, Grassley asked, 'What are you doing to find out how a Russian takeover of American uranium was allowed to occur despite criminal conduct by a Russian company that the Obama administration approved to make the purchase?' Sessions said he heard Grassley's concerns and promised they would be reviewed. 'It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment on any ongoing investigation,' Sessions also said. If Sessions' Justice Department did probe the deal it would be a marked difference from how the Obama administration's Justice Department handled it, according to the lawyer representing the FBI's informant, according to the Hill. Lawyer Victoria Toensing, who worked in the Reagan Justice Department and was the former chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the paper Tuesday she is working with lawmakers to push the Trump Justice Department or the FBI in freeing up her client to speak with members of Congress. She told the Hill that her client possesses details on how Russian executives facilitated the 2010 Uranium One deal, sending millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to an entity that was then supporting the Clinton Foundation. But last year, during the presidential election, he was not allowed to speak out, having signed a non-disclosure agreement at the behest of the FBI. 'There was corruption going on and it was never brought forward. And in fact, the sale of the uranium went on despite the government knowing about all of this corruption. So he's coming forward,' Toensing told the paper. 'He wants the right thing to be done, but he cannot do it unless he is released from the NDA.' Schweizer took credit for the FBI's investigation and Grassley's inquiry in his Thursday appearance on Fox. He further urged the FBI to lift its gag order on the secret, Uranium One witness. 'There is absolutely no reason, I think, any justification, for this guy to be under a gag order anymore,' Schweizer said. 'Let him testify before Congress. Let him go to the media and tell his story and then people can decide what they think about what he has to say.' The Department of Justice did not respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on the gag order and whether it would remove it. One year after her arrest, the first journalist to go to trial in connection to last year's pipeline protests has been acquitted. Sara Lafleur-Vetter was filming for The Guardian, a London-based news outlet, when she was arrested on Oct. 22, 2016, with 140 other people near the Dakota Access Pipeline easement by State Highway 1806. After a daylong misdemeanor court trial with four co-defendants, Surrogate Judge Thomas Merrick dismissed the misdemeanor charges of physical obstruction of a government function, disobedience of safety orders during a riot and disorderly conduct. Defense attorney Amanda Harris had motioned for a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal after the court heard testimony from several law enforcement officers throughout the day. "There's no evidence against her. All it shows is she was working," said Merrick, referencing still images of Lafleur-Vetter with cameras and equipment. "She was out there working." Lafleur-Vetter, the only defendant from Wednesday's court action to have all charges dropped, said Merrick's decision shocked her. She also said media in the courtroom and her journalist credentials may have helped, but left her with survivor's guilt. "As a journalist, I have a lot of resources and people who vouch for me, while my co-defendants do not," she said. Lafleur-Vetter identified herself as a journalist upon arrest, Harris said. At least 10 journalists were arrested in connection to the pipeline protests. "A journalist is publishing work with a publication that is respected and used as a resource for information in their community," Lafleur-Vetter said. She had previously been charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, later dismissed, but recharged with lesser offenses. Harris said that kind of legal wrangling demonstrates a "financial warfare" against defendants. "This is the fourth time she's been to North Dakota to have her day in court," said Harris, adding that LaFleur-Vetter was missing covering the California wildfires for The Weather Channel due to her trial. Lafleur-Vetter said she hopes to get back to covering the fires now that she's been acquitted. She added she plans to file for a return of property for the eight SD cards seized in her arrest a year ago. Attorney Andrea Carter, of the Water Protector Legal Collective, said journalists present a unique case in mass arrest events. "Obviously, there's concerns whenever journalists are arrested because they're not necessarily participating in a demonstration or a certain action," she said, adding that, in Lafleur-Vetter's case, "everybody was just herded and treated as a group." North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind and Bismarck Police Lt. Jason Stugelmeyer each testified they did not distinguish journalists from others during arrests. Lafleur-Vetter will be the only co-defendant to not return to trial when it reconvenes 9:15 a.m. Thursday at the Morton County Courthouse. Merrick dismissed one or two charges each against the other four defendants, who are Edward Bad Hand, Mary Redway, Alexander Simon and Tyrale Spotted Bear. About 830 criminal cases sprang from the pipeline protests. Over half have now closed, with most charges dismissed. Cops in the San Fernando Valley California have released surveillance footage of a burglar believed to be behind 43 thefts in the area. The burglar, who has been dubbed 'The Ghost' by police because of his long hideouts and how carefully he avoids passing car lights, has been targeting businesses along Ventura Boulevard and Topanga Boulevard since July. One of his latest break-ins happened October 4 in Woodland Hills at Franklin Hardware store, in which he smashed the door in causing almost over $600 in damage, according to Daily News. Scroll down for video A burglar in San Fernando Valley California (pictured above). has been dubbed The Ghost and has been on the loose since July Michael Kurzeka, co-owner of the California-based hardware store said: 'It's violating. 'Imagine if your home had been broken into. It's my family's business and we've had it for 65 years.' He emphasized it wasn't about the money either: 'Its not the $600 or whatever,' he added. 'I dont care. Its the principal.' Investigators now believe the burglar is an Asian man in his 20's (pictured above) The burglar (pictured here) has robbed 43 businesses since mid July mainly along Ventura Boulevard and Topanga Boulevard 'Id like to punch his lights out if I could,' Kurzeka said, according to CBS. LAPD Lt. Paul Weber along with his colleagues have admitted they are stumped at who the suspect could be, as all they can get from surveillance videos and tapes is a man who is 'hooded an gloved.' The Ghost is seen here smashing in the door of this business in the California area 'Until this week, we had no idea what the Ghost looked like, other than he was hooded and gloved,' Weber said reported KTLA. However, investigators have made some progress as they now believe the burglar is an Asian man in his 20's. Officials have asked people to call Detective Amber Kim of Topanga Detective Division at 818-756-5844 if they have any information regarding The Ghost. The Ghost is pictured here smashing in a door to one of the businesses in San Fernando Valley President Donald Trump blasted two officials of a Democrat-aligned opposition research firm on Thursday for refusing to testify before the House Intelligence Committee about a 'dirty dossier' targeting him last year. The sensationalized but unsubstantiated report is the subject of a congressional probe as Republicans scramble to find out who paid Fusion GPS to produce it. 'Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th,' Trump complained on Twitter. 'Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?' The New York Times reported in April that FBI agents met with former British spy Christopher Steele, who produced the document, and offered him $50,000 if he could corroborate the information he collected. The payment was never made. Donald Trump blasted a pair of opposition research executives for refusing to testify before Congress about a dossier which included unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials had videos of President Donald Trump cavorting with prostitutes Trump floated the highly unorthodox idea that the FBI might have been involved in funding the 'dirty dossier' Fusion GPS co-founder Peter Fritsch (left) and partner Thomas Catan (right) took the Fifth on Wednesday rather than talking to Congress Firm co-founder Peter Fritsch and partner Thomas Catan on Wednesday invoked the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which protects Americans against self-incrimination. Fox News reported that the two men were subpoenaed to appear in a closed-door session but refused to speak at every turn. The dossier contends that the Russian government amassed compromising information about Trump but had also been engaged in a years-long effort to support and assist him. Compiled by British spy Christopher Steele, it circulated among Washington journalists last year until Buzzfeed first published it. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators who are probing whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election have spoken with Steele already. At a White House news conference on Monday, Trump said that though he would like for the Russia investigation to come to an end, he had no plans to fire Mueller. Fusion GPS lawyer Joshua Levy warned on Monday that his clients would not cooperate with California Rep. Devin Nunes and other Republicans in charge of hearings. House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes is trying to determine who paid Fusion GPS for the opposition research against Trump 'Based on this Committee's bad faith interactions with the undersigned counsel and its pattern of unprofessional conduct exhibited during different points throughout this investigation, you have left us with no choice but to advise our clients to assert their privileges in the face of these subpoenas,' Levy wrote. He said in a statement Wednesday that 'no American should have to experience today's indignity. No American should be required to appear before Congress simply to invoke his constitutional privileges.' A congressional official shot back in a statement to Fox that 'Democrats and Fusion GPS have tried to obstruct every effort to get the facts about the compilation of the Steele dossier and who paid for it, so it's no surprise that Fusion GPS is saying theyll continue to obstruct these efforts.' Nunes' committee has been trying to determine who paid Fusion GPS for the opposition research that formed the basis of the dossier. Trump has branded the entire document 'fake news.' Among its claims are that Russian officials have videos of the president cavorting with prostitutes, filmed during Trump's 2013 visit to a luxury Moscow hotel for the Miss Universe contest It also contains a highly unusual report, also never substantiated, that the call girls performed a 'golden shower' routine that involved them urinated on a hotel bed as a sign of disgust for then-president Barack Obama. Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran returned to the Capitol this week where GOP leaders need his vote to push through large tax cuts but the 79-year old lawmaker appeared frail appeared to have confusion when voting. Cochran delayed his return beyond a congressional recess as he recovers from a urinary infection. His vote is considered vital if the GOP is to pass a budget resolution allowing to jam through 'massive' tax cuts on a a simple-majority vote. Back in the Capitol Wednesday in advance of a major budget vote, he was unable to answer a question by Politico about whether he would remain chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee. 'As chairman of the Appropriations Committee?' Cochran responded. He also didn't respond to a question about whether he would retire. 'Don't believe everything you hear,' he said. Senator Thad Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, pictured in July, returned to the Capitol this week but appeared disoriented at times When amendment came up for a vote, Cochran voted for it even after an aide instructed him to vote 'no,' according to the publication. Cochran kept signaling with a 'thumbs up' before he realized he was voting contrary to leadership and changed his vote to 'no.' He also didn't respond directly to a question of whether leadership had brought him back for the budget vote, saying only it was 'a beautiful day outside.' At one point he wandered around a corner on the first floor of the Senate and had to be guided by an aide to the Second floor where the Senate chamber is, according to the publication. Senate Republicans got a big boost Tuesday when Arizona Sen. John McCain who has been blasting misplaced 'nationalism' and who brought down an Obamacare repeal said he would vote for the 2018 budget resolution. Donald Trump signaled Thursday that he's not sure whether Senate Republicans will be able to pass the resolution when the upper chamber of Congress convenes for a freewheeling 'vote-a-rama' session. Cochran did not respond directly when asked whether the leadership urged him back to vote for the budget 'Republicans are going for the big Budget approval today, first step toward massive tax cuts. I think we have the votes, but who knows?' the president tweeted. Thursday's unusually unrestrained legislative exercise is a periodic bit of organized chaos in which more amendments will be allowed than usual and the GOP needs to prevail in order to move forward on tax reform. With a budget approved, Senate leaders would be able to use an arcane procedure called 'reconciliation' to force a tax bill through on a simple majority vote. Without it, any tax package would need an impossible 60 votes to proceed. Republicans are also buoyed by the return of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran from a long illness 'I'm not hospitalized,' Sen. Thad Cochran wrote on Twitter after Trump repeatedly said a senator was in the hospital Even 50 has been a tough number for Senate Republicans to crack: They were unable to unify this year on a proposal to repeal and replace the Obamacare law. This week they hope the return of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran from a long illness and Tuesday's surprising thumbs-up from Arizona Sen. John McCain will help grease the skids. Trump referenced Cochran's health last month when he referenced him and blamed the situation for the inability to bring up an Obamacare repeal. 'We have the votes for health care. We have one senator who's in the hospital. He can't vote because he's in the hospital,' Trump said. 'I can't take him out of the hospital.' Republican Arizona Senator John McCain said Tuesday that he will back a Republican budget push In fact, Cochran's office said he was not in the hospital, but was at home recovering from an illness. Cochran was forced to respond on Twitter. 'Thanks for the well-wishes. I'm not hospitalized, but am recuperating at home in Mississippi and look forward to returning to work soon.' Cochran barely survived a primary challenge from state Sen. Chris McDaniel, and got a boost from the national party. Intensely creepy footage showing the inside of an abandoned swingers' mansion has been recorded by an urban explorer. The Tiki Palace - in Chattanooga, Tennessee - was built by strip club tycoon Billy Hull in 1972. The 5,600 square foot home played host to hundreds of seedy parties and was known for its Playboy bunny-shaped pool featuring ear-shaped swimming tunnels that lead to the bedrooms. The 5,600 square foot home played host to hundreds of seedy parties and was known for its Playboy bunny-shaped pool featuring ear-shaped swimming tunnels that lead to the bedrooms The Tiki Palace - in Chattanooga, Tennessee - was built by strip club tycoon Billy Hull in 1972 But the place was left to rot 12 months later after Hull was charged with hiring a hitman to murder his wife Gloria's lover and pleaded guilty to income tax evasion Hull was jailed for 20 years for hiring an assassin to kill Roland Hargis, as he emerged from the Tradewinds nightclub in Chattanooga, Tennessee But the place was left to rot 12 months later when Hull was charged with hiring a hitman to murder his wife Gloria's lover and pleaded guilty to income tax evasion. Hull was jailed for 20 years for hiring an assassin to kill Roland Hargis, as he emerged from the Tradewinds nightclub in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The building has since been earmarked for demolition after becoming a magnet for vandals who have smashed the building and covered it in graffiti - including 'Trump 2016' in red spray paint. Hull's grandmother Katie Holcomb had run a bootleg whiskey operation, and he was convicted of tax evasion in relation to her estate when she died in 1969. Before: The entrance to the mansion in 1972, with the distinctive Polynesian-style figures, known as Tikis, on either side of the front door After: The entrance in disrepair after the mansion was abandoned due to the owner's arrest and imprisonment This photograph, published in 1972 in a trade magazine, is believed to show Billy Hull and his wife Gloria in their new home. Barely a year later Hull (left) was jailed for hiring a man to kill his wife's lover, Roland Hargis Eerie footage taken in February - shortly before the bulldozers were due to move in - shows chandeliers still hanging from the ceiling and gym equipment in bedrooms. But the iconic Playboy bunny-shaped swimming pool is now full of debris and covered in graffiti. Smashed glass covers the floor - and even bullet holes can be seen in some of the walls. Alex Bobulinski, who captured the footage with his urban exploration group Spectral Wolfpack, said: 'Inside I found the Playboy bunny pool filled with trash and debris, yet the room itself was beautiful to me. 'I crept through the Tiki Palace carefully, staying observant the whole time. The building has since been earmarked for demolition after becoming a magnet for vandals who have smashed the building and covered it in graffiti - including 'Trump 2016' in red spray paint But the iconic Playboy bunny-shaped swimming pool is now full of debris and covered in graffiti. Smashed glass covers the floor - and even bullet holes can be seen in some of the walls The man who captured the footage - Alex Bobulinski - said: 'I could tell that this place had seen some wild parties in its day. You could just feel it. There was probably endless alcohol, drugs and women' 'I could tell that this place had seen some wild parties in its day. You could just feel it. There was probably endless alcohol, drugs and women. 'Now it was filled with endless debris and vandalism. It was one of my favorite houses I've explored, and I'm definitely sad that it has been demolished.' It is not clear if Hull died in Deberry Correctional Institute near Nashville, Tennessee, or was released, and nobody knows what happened to Gloria Hull. Foul crime: Tennessee State University Tierni Williams, 20, has been charged with felony adulteration of food, liquid with bodily injury for allegedly contaminating her roommate's water with toilet water A student at Tennessee State University has been accused of contaminating her roommate's beverage with toilet water as part of a cruel prank that was caught on video. Tierni Williams, 20, was arrested on Tuesday on a single count of adulteration of food, liquid with bodily injury in connection to the incident that allegedly left her residence hall roommate at TSU feeling sick to her stomach. According to an arrest warrant, on October 5, the victim complained of unexplained weight loss, appetite suppression and digestive problems. She then learned through Snapchat that Williams had allegedly poured water from the toilet into her water bottles, which were on Williams' side of the room. The warrant states that Williams was captured on video drawing water from the bathroom in a Styrofoam cup and adding it to bottled water belonging to her roommate. The victim, a student at TSU, complained of unexplained weight loss, appetite suppression and digestive problems earlier this month The Smoking Gun reported that in the video recording, Williams could be heard saying of the victim, 'this b**** is gonna get sick from this, and this is some nasty s***.' A prosecutor wrote in court documents that the 20-year-old prankster was laughing as she poured the foul water into the bottles. Williams has been released on $7,500 bond. If convicted of the felony adulteration charge, she could be looking at up to a year in prison. Australia's Miss World contender first attracted national attention when it was revealed she is a Muslim. Now the brunette beauty has voiced her support for same-sex marriage. Esma Voloder may be preparing to compete against more than 130 other women in the prestigious Miss World beauty pageant in China, but that hasn't stopped her from supporting 'equal rights'. Australia's Muslim Miss World contender has voiced her support for same-sex marriage Esma Voloder (pictured) may be preparing to compete against more than 130 other women in the prestigious pageant in China, but that hasn't stopped her from supporting 'equal rights' Ms Voloder first attracted criticism for being Muslim after winning Miss World Australia in July The 25-year-old brunette beauty told News Corp she believed being Australian meant respecting and accepting everyone. 'I think it is Australian culture to have acceptance and these are the things we should continue to focus on and continue to take about with respect,' Ms Voloder said. 'I believe that everyone has equal rights.' Born in a refugee camp after her family fled Bosnian war in the 1990s, her family made the move to Australia where Ms Voloder worked as a criminal profiler before being crowned Miss World Australia in July. Earlier this year, Ms Voloder said she wanted to break down the barriers by being herself and called for more understanding towards her religion. The brunette told the publication she wasn't a 'representative or a teacher of Islam' and wanted to 'remain positive'. The 25-year-old said she believed being Australian meant respecting and accepting everyone The brunette beauty born in a refugee camp said she believed that 'everyone has equal rights' Ms Voloder said earlier this year she wanted to break down the barriers by being herself and called for more understanding towards her religion 'My faith ... it teaches me why I am here and to focus on the ultimate goal, which is to do charity, do good ... and to do the best you can with the time you have to be the best person that you can,' Ms Voloder said. Thousands of other high-profile Australians have also shared their support in legalising same-sex marriage through social media including Megan Gale, Erin Molan, Hugh Jackman and Liam Hemsworth. There is a week left for Australians to return their same-sex marriage postal votes, with Australian Bureau of Statistics recommending votes are returned by Friday October 27. However, the final cut off for postal votes is Tuesday November 7. A clueless Oxford University student asked a freshers' WhatsApp group who Malala Yousafzai is - then admitted he'd had to Google the Nobel Prize winner. The howler came from a pupil, known only as 'James', who took to the group and asked: texted 'Who is @malalayousafzai?' Despite becoming a global advocate for women's education and rubbing shoulders with world leaders, the student apparently had no idea who she was. A few minutes later he checked in again and wrote: 'Oh nodon't worry I've googled it.' Malala who...? A clueless Oxford University student asked a freshers' WhatsApp group (pictured) who Malala Yousafzai is - then admitted he'd had to Google the Nobel Prize winner Clueless: The howler came from a pupil, known only as 'James', who took to the group and asked: texted 'Who is @malalayousafzai?' Nobel prize winner Malala (pictured) has just started studying at Oxford University Malala herself seemed to see the funny side and posted a 'smiley face' emoji a short time later. The amusing exchange was revealed on twitter after it was sent to American writer Caitlin E Jones who is based in Louisiana who published a screen image of the freshers' group chat. One of the three initial Twitter posters said their brother, studying with Malala, had revealed the message. Ms Jones posted the image which drew praise for the 20-year-old activist from a supporter titled 'Pakistanning' who said: 'I cannot believe we are living in a time where we can witness a real-life nobel peace prize nominee, a young woman who has been face-to-face with a terrorist and not only survived but went on to spend every day of the rest of her life confronting the world's most powerful head-on and saving the world, a living legend, a real-life superhero, using smiley face emojis in a facebook messenger groupchat with her classmates.' Malala had stayed silent after facing a backlash from critics and trolls for wearing western style clothing instead of the south Asian shalwar kameez which she is know to favour. MailOnline first revealed the internet hate which followed after she strolled through Oxford city centre wearing skinny jeans, ankle boots and a bomber jacket. She was photographed strolling past an empty Austin Reed clothing store and opposite and an AMT coffee outlet at breakfast time. The image was first published on a Pakistani news website and in other media outlets in her native country, which she one day hopes to lead as Prime Minister. Malala has seen her first weeks at Oxford greeted with an internet barrage of hate because of her choice of donning western clothing. The student, who almost paid with her life at the hands of a Taliban gunman for speaking out in favour of women's educational rights, had her hopes to slip into student life at Oxford with the anonymity granted to her fellow under graduates, lost on critics in her native Pakistan. She became the target of abuse over the picture despite keeping her 'duppata' on her head as she has done since she arrived in Britain five years ago. Abuse: But Malala (pictured) has seen her first weeks at Oxford greeted with an internet barrage of hate for her apparent choice of western clothing donning skinny jeans, boots and a bomber jacket Inspiration: The Nobel laureate, who almost paid with her life at the hands of a Taliban gunman for speaking out in favour of women's educational rights, has is proud to be studying at Oxford One vitriolic message posted on Twitter and re-published in the Pakistani media said: 'That was the reason the bullet directly targeted her head long time ago.' Another hateful message said: 'Look at hypocrite Malala wearing pants! Is she even a Muslim?' A third said: 'Want a nobel prize and getting admission into Oxford University? Step 1: get shot so much for women rights advocacy lol.' The bitterness towards the young woman who has declared that one day she would like to lead her country as Prime Minister, caused outrage among supporters. Her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, who leads her campaign for womens' education rights, last night followed two Muslims on Twitter who said they would wear jeans in support of Malala's choice of western dress. Najwa Zebian, 27, who wears a hijab, tweeted a picture of herself in skinny jeans and Malala's father showed his appreciation by shortly after following her on Twitter. She Tweeted: 'Wearing jeans in solidarity with #Malala Because what you choose to wear is your choice alone.' Najwa,a Canadian-based writer told MailOnline: 'Malala has come such a long way from surviving a horrendous system of oppression and showed every person around the world the importance of will power an having your own voice, especially as a girl. 'It's quite sad that of all the amazing things she's done, the focus is on her jeans. As women, we are already under so much pressure to fit a certain norm, wherever we are in the world. If we cover up, we are criticized and told that we are oppressed. If we cover up in a way that some deem inappropriate, we are criticized for not covering up 'the right way'. If we don't cover up, we are criticized by some for not covering up at all, and by others for not dressing 'feminine' enough. And the list goes on and on. 'The truth is, as women, we always fail to fit the norm of everyone, and when we don't, we are shamed for it. we could go to the moon, but someone will still comment on our dress. This is what happened with Malala. This is what often happens to me as well. 'So of course I will stand with her. Of course I will stand in solidarity with her and live the truth that she and I are both fighting for; for women to be independent of inherent systems of oppression carried by generations of pretending not to know any better and wanting to oppress and control women by shaming them. Studying at Oxford: If she had hoped to slip into student life at Oxford with the anonymity granted to her fellow under graduates, her wish has been lost on critics in her native Pakistan Astonishingly one social media user even doctored the image of Malala to 'solve the problem' The bitterness towards the young woman who has declared that one day she would like to lead her country as Prime Minister caused outrage among supporters. The picture of Malala wearing jeans was reported across Pakistan 'I often get shamed in disgusting ways for wearing form-fitting jeans. That is also another form of overlooking me as a human being and condensing me to what I wearbecause telling a woman what to wear is the same as telling her what not to wear. Both are oppressive, not just one.' Preacher Imam Tawhidi, an outspoken critic of extremism who was last week revealed by MailOnline Australia to have been targeted in a hate attack at Adelaide, said; 'These Muslims where were they when Malala was shot in the face? I never saw such an outrage when she was laying in hospital.' The preacher, who was also followed on Twitter today following his support of Malala on Twitter, added that he would be wearing his Dolce & Gabbana jeans. He added: 'As a Muslim Imam and faith leader, I stand in solidarity with Malala and against Islamic extremism. Malala has been a victim of Islamic extremism and she does not deserve the verbal attacks being directed at her. ' BBC broadcaster Anita Anand, who presents Radio 4's Any Answers? said: 'Malala can wear whatever she likes as far as I'm concerned. 'The baying criticism is coming from the most regressive quarters, and I doubt she could do anything to please them. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in traditional dress at the Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya in July 2016, where she voiced concern that Kenya's plans to close it could create 'a generation lost' Malala Yousafzai has seen her first weeks at Oxford greeted with an internet barrage of hate because of her choice of donning western clothing Twitter users criticised the focus on Malala's decision to wear western-style clothing even though she kept her head covered Malala faced criticism over her choice of dress today. She gained her A-levels in Birmingham after moving there following an attempt on her life October 9th 2012 by a Taliban gunman who shot her in the head 'I sincerely hope she never tries. All of my Pakistani friends agree with that sentiment. 'She is a heroine and a role model. Her insistence on an education has taken her to one of the finest learning establishments in the world. She refused to be deterred even though extremists tried to shoot her into line.' Another fan Arsalan Ahmed Jaraal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Pakistan border with Afghanistan, said on Twitter: 'What Malala wore in UK, is pretty common in Pakistan as well. Stop creating a fuss about it. Let others live their life, at least for once.' Saad Kaiser Khan tweeted: 'A nation that doesn't have enough electricity, food or water resources but it debates about what a woman should and shouldn't wear.' Malala announced her arrival at Oxford University on Twitter with the message: '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.' She is studying a BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford which was also attended by former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was murdered by terrorists during an election rally in Rawalpindi in 2007.. Malala Yousefzai, left, with fellow students Bethany Lucas, centre, and Beatrice Kessedjian after collecting her 'A' level exam results at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham this summer Malala acquired her A-levels in Birmingham after moving there following an attempt on her life October 9th 2012 by a Taliban gunman who shot her in the head. The terrorists had been angered by her radio broadcasts and BBC blogs from Pakistan as a schoolgirl advocating education for all women in Pakistan, which was forbidden by the extremists. She was transferred to the UK to continue her recovery and education after an international outpouring of support and weeks after her murder attempt, a group of fifty leading Muslim clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against those who tried to kill her. She has consistently appeared in public and before heads of state in her national dress of shalwar kameez and with her head covered, but her new chosen style of dress has sparked an unwarranted backlash. Head-to-toe camouflage proved an inadequate disguise for two pig hunters attempting to cross a crocodile infested creek in Australia's Northern Territory. Alarming helmet camera footage shows the armed duo trudging through shallow water before a monster croc comes charging towards them from just metres away. As the giant animal bounds closer to the men, one can be heard yelling 'croc, croc, croc' while the other makes a swift dash away from the water. The hunter filming the event then unleashes fire on the huge reptile, aiming his shots directly towards the crocodile's head. After firing five bullets and watching as the creature's body fades into the water, he turns away from the creek to continue behind his comrade. 'Watch the pigs for me,' he says, adding, 'lets go for the pigs.' A pig hunter unleased fire on a crocodile (pictured) after it set on him and his comrade as they crossed a creek in the Northern Territory Breaking into a sprint, the startled men fled the area at speed. The shocking footage was uploaded to video sharing platform LiveLeak.com on Thursday, racking up over 1300 views in less than two hours. Crocodiles are protected species under NT laws and have cultural and social significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A man left commuters shocked as he launched into an astonishing racist rant after he hurled abuse at passengers on the Victoria line. The man, described as middle-aged and black, was recorded shouting: 'White people are devils, I hate you lot.' The incident happened last night during rush hour and was recorded on camera by a concerned traveller who feared he may be dangerous. In the video footage, the man can be seen sandwiched between two uncomfortable commuters as he shouts: 'White people are all alcoholics. All you care about is the pub. Nothing has happened to you ever in your life.' He then starts asking people opposite whether they want to 'fight' him and at one stage, sits up out of his seat as if to lurch forward. A woman who wished to remain anonymous told MailOnline: 'I was commuting home on the tube yesterday evening when an older man started a verbal dispute against passengers. 'The man was first seen targeting a young suited man before continuing onto monologue his racist opinions to the tube. A man left commuters shocked as he launched into an astonishing racist rant on the tube last night by hurling abuse at passengers She said: 'He exclaimed that white people are the devil and all alcoholics.' She said she watched him confront a female commuter after she offered to swap seats with the first victim he targeted. She said: I work in North London so I get on this line most days. I had my headphones in listening to music when I heard shouting from down the carriage. I thought I would record it just in case something happened. To begin with he was shouting at a young man, I cant remember what he was saying but it was intimidating. I think everyone was just a bit uncomfortable and worried about what he was going to do next. Was he going to punch someone or did he have a knife? Everyone else was reassuring each other though by making eye contact. I asked the first victim if he was okay.' The onlooker said she was considering reporting the incident to the British Transport Police. Vietnam Veteran and former police detective Bill Nutter (pictured) died last year at a VA hospital in Massachusetts A distinguished war veteran and former detective died after a nurse's aide failed to check up on him because she was playing video games. Bill Nutter suffered cardiac arrest while being treated for complications stemming from acute health problems at Bedford VA Medical Center last year. Initially, medical staff told Carol Nutter, Bill's wife, that her husband's heart suddenly stopped beating in the middle of the night and there was little they could do. That is until Mrs Nutter was informed by a doctor that hospital staff fell short in their duty in caring for her husband. Carroll Nutter told the Boston Globe that she learned the night her husband died, a nurse's aide responsible for monitoring his condition failed to check in on him. It turns out, Patricia Waible instead was playing video games on her computer, according to the Globe citing a source with first-hand knowledge of the case. 'And when a nurse discovered Nutter dead the next morning, the hospital's internal report shows she announced it to her boss with a crude gesture signifying a slit throat,' the Globe added. Medical staff had initially informed Nutter's wife that his heart stopped beating, but a doctor later revealed that negligence may have contributed (Pictured: Bedford VA Medical Center) Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin's office says it will investigate the case in order to identify shortcomings in the system (Pictured: Dr. Shulkin August 3, 2017) The incident is now being reviewed by the federal government, with the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general launching an investigation in conjunction with the U.S. attorney's office to determine how the system may have failed Bill Nutter. During the Vietnam War, Nutter, 69, was exposed to the chemical Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide used to kill plant life, while serving as a door gunner. The defoliant, according to Nutter's doctors, led to a battery of health problems including diabetes and a condition that could cause the former police detective's heart to stop at any moment. Doctors had already removed both of Nutter's legs due to his diabetes, and he was being treated at the VA hospital due to other health complications when he died. Shortly after Nutter's death, Waible was transferred to the cafeteria and placed on probation as the hospital conducted their investigation. The Globe reported Wiable has since been fired, after it was discovered she inaccurately stated on her signed paperwork that she had checked on Nutter at the appropriate time. She eventually admitted the truth when video evidence surfaced showing she had never left her computer during the night Nutter died. Politicians in Massachusetts like Senator Elizabeth Warren called Nutter's death a 'disgrace' and vowed to hold an inquiry on the issue The events leading up to Nutter's death were only revealed after the Boston Globe began its investigation, with Carroll Nutter considering legal action in the wake of the report. Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin's office said in a statement that it 'will hold employees accountable when the facts demonstrate that they have failed to live up to the high standards taxpayers expect from us.' In response to the case, politicians in Massachusetts have expressed outrage to Bill Nutter's treatment. 'This is a disgrace,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) tweeted following the publication of the Globes report, vowing to hold the VA department accountable for the incident. 'This is unbelievable,' Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) told the Globe. 'And yet not entirely so unbelievable given some of the things I've seen myself at the VA.' Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass) told The Boston Herald in a statement that lawmakers 'must use every available resource to not only get to the bottom of what happened at the Bedford VA, but also to make sure it never happens again. A drain tile system intended to bring flood relief to homeowners' basements in the Hay Creek Pines subdivision, located 6 miles northeast of Bismarck, has downstream landowners protesting the diversion of possibly contaminated groundwater to their property. Alton Nitschke, and his wife, Arlene, who are concerned about the quality and quantity of water that will be discharged onto their land, are appealing a permit that the Burleigh County Water Resource District granted to itself for a drainage project meant to remove excessive groundwater from the subdivision. The Nitschkes, who own about 40 acres of land and have lived south of Hay Creek Pines for 24 years, say the groundwater has been polluted by coliform and other contaminants. The presence of coliform bacteria is an indicator of water contamination by feces and sewage, according to the National Ground Water Association. Youre going to ruin our land, but nobody cares," Arlene Nitschke said, in tears, at last weeks BCWRD meeting. We know there are some toxic bacteria in this water. You can tell just by looking at it it doesnt look right. At this point, I dont think its something that should be put above ground," said Alton Nitschke, who expressed concern his land will turn to alkali due to the contaminated groundwater. Alkali soils have high levels of salt, injuring plants by disrupting the uptake of water into the roots and interfering with the uptake of competitive nutrients, according to the North Dakota State University Extension Service. Also, high levels of sodium restrict the soil's capacity to hold water. Ultimately, the soil turns white. "We have some of the best soil in Burleigh County, Im told, and this would destroy that," Alton Nitschke said. The BCWRD tested water samples from four wells and one sump pump, but the Nitschkes allege the tests did not include all essential attributes. The five basic items to be tested, per the United States Department of Agriculture, are nitrates, sulfates, phosphates, E. coli and coliform. The latter two of which were not tested by the county. The sampling was done by Braun Intertec in conjunction with Houston Engineering, with testing done by Pace Analytical Laboratories in Billings, Mont. One of the tested wells had a sulfate reading of 5,680. A safe level for consumption by livestock is from 500 to 1,000, according to the NDSU Extension Service. The Nitschkes no longer own livestock, but say they're concerned that groundwater that could kill sheep, cows and horses will be discharged onto their land. For irrigation and outside watering purposes, the couple uses water from a well. They pay for rural water for personal consumption. "Based on the projected quantity of discharges, the sulfate levels are not a concern," said Michael Gunsch, project manager of Houston Engineering. "There are flows on Hay Creek in other locations, without such projects, that have elevated sulfate levels. Sulfates are naturally occurring in the soils." In addition, three of the five samples registered at a total dissolved solids level of 9,000 or more. A level of 3,000 is considered "satisfactory" for most livestock, according to the NDSU Extension Service. Using one of the same test wells, the Nitschkes tested for coliform and E. coli in the groundwater, sending their sample to Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories Inc. Results show coliform was present, though E. coli was not found. "As for coliform and E. coli, they exist naturally within the creek," Gunsch said. The Nitschkes allege that the BCWRD refused to test murky groundwater collected from one of the test wells. They did not test anything that was going to be bad rapport for them, Arlene Nitschke said. Another concern for the Nitschkes is the quantity of water that will be "dumped" on their property. "Its going to be ponding in two locations on our land, year round," Alton Nitschke said. "We have a huge number of trees we are concerned about if this causes water tables to rise near our house." The Hay Creek Pines Groundwater Removal Project is intended to lower groundwater levels in the subdivision by providing an avenue for the water to more readily leave. The project's aim is to improve the stability of the road bed in and around Hay Creek Pines, reduce sump pump operations in homes, protect structures and reduce the drowning of trees. "When the subdivision was being developed, the developer told homeowners, 'Don't put in a basement,'" Arlene Nitschke said. "They did anyway, and now they're out there watering their lawns and wondering why there's water in their basements." As far as the project status is concerned, BCWRD is proceeding to acquire the necessary easements at this time. The project was approved May 2, with 97 percent of the Hay Creek Pines voters favoring it. An assessment district has been established and $555,100 worth of specials will be spread out evenly among the 35 landowners. We have looked long and hard at what the Century Code says about drain tile permitting what we can and cant do. We are very limited, said BCWRD Board Chairman Greg Larson. They made it very clear that, if there is someone downstream who is being harmed by this project, their only recourse is the courts and thats the way the Century Code is written. Our hands are tied, he said. Im very sorry this has happened the way it has. The Nitschkes said they are unsure, at this point, whether or not they will take legal action. A Frenchman and a Tunisian woman were convicted Wednesday on appeal in Tunis for 'public indecency' after an altercation with police who arrested the couple while they were hugging in a car. The couple, who maintain that they were not kissing, were given a lighter sentence than the original term handed out at their October 4 trial, after widespread outrage on social media and in the press over the incident. The man was handed four months in prison for 'public indecency' and 'refusing to obey the police', with the woman given a two month sentence on the first charge only. A Frenchman and a Tunisian woman were convicted Wednesday on appeal in Tunis (pictured) for 'public indecency' after an altercation with police who arrested the couple while they were hugging in a car 'It's an independent decision,' said Sofiene Sliti, a spokesman for the public prosecutors office. 'What has been reported nationally and internationally is wrong - they weren't arrested for a kiss, the couple was naked,' he added. At the hearing Wednesday, the woman collapsed into tears when the court president read a police description saying a sexual act was in process when the couple were stopped on October 1 in a suburb of Tunis. The woman said that her friend had simply taken her into his arms when the plainclothes police stopped them and made them get out of the car. The Frenchman confirmed to the judge that he had tried to film the police to make a complaint about their behaviour. This case highlights key problems with the judicial system and the police A dozen defence lawyers had been arguing for an acquittal for the couple. The majority of the lawyers were working for free on the case, which has triggered an uproar in Tunisia over morality campaigns and police behaviour. The defence pointed to numerous flaws in the case, including hearings in Arabic which the Frenchman, who is of Algerian origin, did not understand. 'It is normal that he reacts badly when his fundamental rights were being violated,' said lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, whose client is accused of intimidating police. He pointed to what he said was 'bad faith' on the part of the police, who he said were looking for revenge after being implicated over their handling of the case. 'This case highlights key problems with the judicial system and the police. Abuse of powers... lack of respect for citizens and their rights, attacks on individual liberty,' said Nadia Chaabane, a member of a group to support the couple. 'The problem is that we have judges now who accept all these breaches and procedural problems,' she said before the judgement. The pilots of an Air Berlin flight that performed a fly-past during the insolvent carrier's last long-haul flight to its hub in Duesseldorf have been suspended, the airline said on Wednesday. When coming into land from Miami on Monday morning, the A330 jet flew low across the runway, then pulled up and banked sharply to the left before landing on its second approach. Pilots are trained in such 'go-around' procedures for aborted landings, but the manoeuvre was unusual and the German aviation authorities are investigating. Flight AB7001 from Miami to Dusseldorf landed on Monday morning after the company officially declared long-haul flights to be over But the pilot of the Airbus A330 - which was carrying 200 passengers - was allowed by traffic control to do a flyover as it was the last flight operated from the US to Germany A video shows the plane appearing to attempt to land before regaining speed and altitude and turning quickly to the left An Air Berlin spokesman said: 'In aviation, safety always comes first. We are taking the incident very seriously.' The pilot had requested permission from the tower to make a left turn should a go-around be necessary. 'We wanted to make a mark, a dignified and emotional goodbye,' the Air Berlin pilot was quoted as saying by German broadcaster ZDF. His identity was not given. Another pilot for a different carrier told Reuters that a go-around should be performed only for operational or safety reasons. 'Electing to do one if it is known not to be required adds an unnecessary risk,' he said. The incident is now being looked at by the Federal Aviation Office (LBA) An airport employee who watched the dramatic scenes unfold thought at first the aeroplane would crash right into the terminal Several videos of the incident can be viewed online. In one, control tower staff can be heard exclaiming as the plane flies past, with one person saying: 'We are all in awe.' The Air Berlin spokesman said the videos raised questions that had to be answered as part of the investigation. Air Berlin filed for insolvency on August 15 and Lufthansa has signed a deal to buy large parts of its operations. The airline will fly its final short-haul flights under the Air Berlin brand at the end of this month. People in the tower are heard clapping when the aeroplane arrives, as the voice of the captain is heard saying in German that Air Berlin will 'cease it long-distance flights tomorrow'. He is then heard thanking the traffic controllers for the many years they worked together. Before the plane's departure in Miami, the airport fire brigade gave a water cannon salute as a last goodbye. In the video shot from the control tower of Dusseldorf Airport, however, it can be clearly seen that it was a perfectly orchestrated move and that at no point anyone at the airport was in danger The Republican establishment is kicking back at the cast of candidates former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is recruiting to take on many GOP incumbents in 2018. Writing a sharp-tongued editorial for the Wall Street Journal, President George W. Bush's top strategist Karl Rove went after a number of Bannon-approved candidates, including Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who's mulling a Senate bid in Wyoming, and Kelli Ward, who's challenging GOP Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona. Calling it a 'jihad,' Rove pointed out the weaknesses of Bannon's candidates, including that Prince is from Michigan and lives in the Middle East. 'He is scouting Wyoming real estate and trying to score a local driver's license, but no one from Abu Dhabi has ever been elected in Wyoming,' Rove pointed out. As for Ward, Rove pointed to the fact that as a state senator in 2014, Ward hosted a town hall 'to explore the claim that jet contrails are really chemicals sprayed by the government for weather, mind or population control.' Scroll down for video President Trump's former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is earning the ire of establishment Republicans, including former Bush adviser Karl Rove Karl Rove called out two potential Bannon-backed candidates: Erik Prince (left), the Blackwater founder who's from Michigan and lives in the Middle East, but is exploring a Senate run in Wyoming, and Kelli Ward (right) who hosted a town hall about the 'chemtrails' conspiracy theory as a state lawmaker The so-called 'Bush's brain' added that Ward 'expressed no regrets' for holding the meeting, quoting her saying that she was supposed to 'listen to the people' and 'get them the information that they need to feel confident that they live in a safe environment.' 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 Earlier this month, Bannon now back at Breitbart News announced he planned to take on nearly every Republican incumbent up for re-election in the Senate next year, except Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. In Nevada, Bannon has picked Danny Tarkanian over incumbent Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. Rove pointed out that Tarkanian's already lost five races for four different federal and state offices. 'Mr. Tarkanian's sixth time is unlikely to be the charm,' Rove said. Bannon has said he plans to field approved candidates to take on Republican Senate incumbents in Mississippi, Nebraska and Utah as well. The ex-White House aide also decided to back the candidacy of Michael Grimm, an ex-congressman who was jailed for felony tax fraud and was remembered in Washington for threatening to throw a reporter over a balcony. Grimm was the first House candidate 'blessed' by Bannon, as Rove put it, snarking that the ex-convict likely 'won't campaign in his orange prison jumpsuit,' as he tries to win back his old seat now occupied by Rep. Dan Donovan. For Colorado governor, Bannon is looking at former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who was among the Republicans running for president in 2008. Rove said that was a bad call because Tancredo was a 'nativist who once said President Obama was "a more serious threat to America than al Qaeda," who routinely attacks immigrants for turning America into a "Third World country," and who earlier this year accepted a speaking invitation from a white-nationalist group' which could be problematic in the purple state of Colorado. Despite calling Bannon a 'failed presidential adviser and alt-right sympathizer' he did point to a number of candidates that the Washington establishment approved of that the former Trump staffer is also backing. Taking on Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who was recruited by Rove and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Rove said both he and Bannon supported Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, running for the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, as well. Rove pointed out that there didn't seem to be any ideological purity when it came to Bannon's roster as the six incumbents the Breitbart head is fielding challengers against voted with the president more than 90 percent. And speaking of that, McConnell who Bannon as branded as head of the GOP establishment has voted for Trump's policies too, 96 percent of the time. And Barrasso, who Bannon wants Prince to run against, he's been with Trump 96 percent too. But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., the only safe Republican from the Bannon onslaught, he's only voted with Trump 94 percent of the time. Melania Trump sent a note to the mother of the only servicewoman who died fighting for her country since the President took office - when he failed to do so. The First Lady sent the letter of condolence to Stephanie Gleason, the mother of Air Force Staff Sgt. Alexandria M. Morrow. But Gleason received nothing from Donald Trump even though most families of men who died got either a phone call or a letter from him. Gleason said she was disappointed because her daughter 'died on his watch'. DailyMail.com can also reveal that the President was about to finish a conversation with the father of another dead soldier when he said that he voted for him, and Trump decided to carry on for another 10 minutes. Trump also gave him a private number to reach him on if he had any problems in the future. Mixed response: DailyMail.com reveals how the president has not contacted some bereaved families- and in one case Melania Trump wrote to a Gold Star mother, but he did not reach out. But others told DailyMail.com that the president's contact had been 'above and beyond' Trump this week thrust himself into the center of a row about how Presidents should offer their respects to service personnel who die serving their country. He was accused of insensitively telling the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who died on October 4th in an ambush in Niger, that he 'knew what he signed up for'. The President later denied he had said this. Since Trump took office on January 20 some 26 servicemen and women have died fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries such as Yemen. Four of them died in the Niger ambush and Trump took nearly two weeks to call them. DailyMail.com attempted to get in touch with the remaining 22 Gold Star families and was able to speak to five of them. The results disprove the President's claim that he 'called every family of someone who's died' as he told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News Radio. The different approaches he took risk leaving some families feeling like they are getting worse treatment to others. But some who got just a letter said that was enough for them - and that it was an important part of their healing process. The most striking response from the White House was for Gleason, whose daughter Sgt Morrow died on March 22 in Jordan while loading bombs onto a plane. Sgt Morrow, 25, who grew up in Dansville, upstate New York, sustained fatal injuries when something broke and a bomb slipped free, hitting her in the head. The married mother of two died of her injuries. Loss: Air Force Staff Sgt Alexandria Morrow, 25, who grew up in Dansville, upstate New York, sustained fatal injuries when something broke and a bomb slipped free, hitting her in the head Family: Sgt Morrow left behind her husband Brandon who is now bringing up their two daughters, Elysa Mae, four and Abigail Shae, two, without their mom. Gleason said of Trump: 'I got a letter from his wife and that was it. I didn't get anything from him. The letter gave me her condolences.' Gleason said that not being able to speak to Trump was a let down. She described her daughter's husband Brandon as being in a 'dark place' and said he was still struggling to cope with his loss. He is now bringing up their two daughters, Elysa Mae, four and Abigail Shae, two, without their mom. She said: 'She (Sgt Morrow) died on his (Trump's) watch. 'It was disappointing but at the same time my family was going through so much it was at the back of my mind.' Gleason said that officials in Dansville, New York, had been 'amazing' and that the military had been very supportive. Gleason said that officials from Dansville and high ranking military officers were there when her daughter's body arrived in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. 'HE WAS WONDERFUL, HE PROVIDED HIS PRIVATE NUMBER': PRAISE FROM FALLEN RANGER'S FATHER Praise: Sgt Cameron Thomas's father Andre and mother Heather were bereaved on April 27. The president's 'unscripted' call was praised by Andre Thomas who said he went 'above and beyond' Sgt Cameron Thomas, 23, died on April 27 in Afghanistan during a raid when he was shot by what could have been friendly fire. The deaths of Sgt Thomas - who was brought up in Kettering, Ohio - and another Ranger, Sgt Joshua Rodgers, 22, from Bloomington, Illinois, are still being investigated to see if they were accidentally shot by either Afghan or U.S. fire. His father Andre said that the President did call him but he was not sure if he had sent a letter too. Andre said that the President wanted to be at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware when his son's coffin was brought back into the country but he was unable to do so due to scheduling commitments, so he sent Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen instead. He said: 'He spoke to my three children directly and said he has a son in the Marines. He was personable and down to earth. 'I truly felt he was sincere and that it was an honor for him to do.' Trump called Andre later and he described the conversation as 'unscripted' and that Trump went 'above and beyond' what he had expected. Saluted at Dover: Vice president Mike Pence and his wife Karen were at the Delaware Air Force base for the repatriation of the coffins of Rangers Sgt Cameron Thomas and Sgt Joshua Rodgers He said: 'He was wonderful. We spoke for 10-15 minutes about Cameron. As we were getting ready to hang up I happened to tell him I voted for you. We had another 10 minutes more. 'He provided his private number and said if you need anything or run into any problems to give me a call. 'To have the President call you when your child is killed in action means a lot. 'If there were lots of people being killed every day then it would be hard for the President to call everyone, but to get a call from him would help a family very much in the grieving process'. Andre said that the President told him he was particularly struck with how much of an impression his son had made on his comrades. He said: 'He said when he read the letters and the paperwork from Cameron that he stood out. 'Most of the paperwork says that the soldier was very well respected but Cameron's said he was well respected and loved by his peers. He told me he was impressed with that'. Andre, who supports the President, said that doing what Trump had done was 'the right thing to do'. He said: 'Would President Obama have done it? I don't think so, his priority wasn't the military.' AN OVAL OFFICE INVITATION FROM THE PRESIDENT WHO 'REALLY LISTENED' TO BEREAVED MOM - BUT HER EX-HUSBAND IS AT CENTER OF $25,000 PLEDGE Killed in action: An Afghan National Army member opened fire on his U.S. allies on June 10 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, killing Cpl Dillon Baldridge. His mom Tina Palmer praised the president's response The mother of Corporal Dillon Baldridge received a phone call, a letter and a personal invitation to the Oval Office from the President. Cpl Baldridge, 22, of Youngsville, North Carolina, was killed along with two comrades when a member of the Afghan police opened fire on them in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on June 10. His mother Tina Palmer said she was impressed with the President's response. She said: 'He called me, it was fantastic. He was very personable. He was very real, very genuine. I really appreciated it. 'He spent about 10-15 minutes on the phone with me. It meant a lot to me'. Palmer said that the President said he 'appreciated my son and his service' and 'asked me my opinion about certain things', which she gave him. Palmer said that she 'felt like he listened', something she also appreciated. Palmer said that the President had to reschedule the call because something important had come up, but he made it happen in the end. She said: 'I work with someone who had the same experience as me. His son was killed several years ago and he said that President Obama called him but it lasted about one and a half minutes. He could tell he was reading off a piece of paper the whole time. He said he was impressed by how different the conversation was (with Trump)'. Cpl. Baker's father Chris Baldridge told the Washington Post that Trump offered him a check for $25,000 when he said that his ex-wife would get his son's $100,000 death gratuity. Baldridge said that he was 'just floored' at the offer but when the letter of condolence eventually arrived from the White House there was no check inside. The White House said in a statement that the check had been sent on Wednesday. 'I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH THE LETTER' SAYS FATHER OF CASUALTY IN IRAQ 'He has a lot on his plate': Duane Odiorne said that the letter he got from the president was gratefully received. Pfc Brian Odiorne was 21 when he died in Anbar, leaving his father and mom Sharon The father of Pfc Brian Odiorne, 21, said that he got a letter from the President and that was enough for him. Pfc Odiorne, 21, of Ware, Massachusetts, died on February 20 in Anbar province, Iraq. Duane Odiorne said: 'I was very happy with the letter. He is a very busy man and there's more than one person who died over there. 'The letter thanked me for having a son that served his country. I felt: 'Wow' that he was even talking to me. I have not received a phone call or anything like that but it's OK. I know he's got a lot on his plate'. Duane said that Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker was 'awesome' and came to 'every event' to do with the death of his son. He said: 'He called me on his personal phone and took a lot of time to reach out'. Pfc Odiorne's grandmother Jeannie said that the only thing she got was a plaque from the White House about his death. She also praised governor Baker and said that he attended the funeral and the wake of her son. She said: 'He was very kind and very sincere. He's a wonderful man. I couldn't fault him.' NO CALL, BUT GRATEFUL WIDOW GOT LETTER FROM OVAL OFFICE Fallen: Staff Sgt Austin Nieren died of suspected natural causes while on deployment in Syria on March 28. His widow Rachel was grateful for a letter from the president, a family member said The widow of Staff Sgt Austin Bieren, 25, did not get a phone call from the President but she did get a letter from him. Sgt Bieren, from Umatilla, Oregon, died of suspected natural causes while on deployment in Syria on March 28. A close family member said that Rachel Bieren was 'grateful' that the President reached out at all. The family member said: 'Rachel feels that you should appreciate the phone call, email, letter whatever, and take it for what it is. 'They reached out to you - no one really knows the right thing to say'. Ms Bieren declined to comment. 'KIND GENUINE AND SINCERE': 101ST AIRBORNE HERO'S WIDOW PRAISES HIS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF Sgt William Bays, 29, of Barstow, California, was one of three 101st Airborne soldiers killed on June 10 by an Afghan national police officer who fired on them in Peka Valley, Nangarhar Province. The widow of Sgt William Bays praised Trump for calling her personally and sending her a letter Sgt Bays, 29, of Barstow, California, was one of three 101st Airborne soldiers killed on June 10 by an Afghan national police officer who fired on them in Peka Valley, Nangarhar Province. Two other members of the 101st died in the attack. Sgt Eric Houck, 25, of Baltimore, Maryland and Cpl. Dillon Baldridge, 22, whose story is featured above. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Sgt bays' widow Jasmin, the mother of their three young daughters, said in a statement: 'I have been asked for comment by several media organizations about my private phone conversation I had with the President after my husband made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. 'The President's words to me were kind, genuine and sincere. His words helped me heal during my time of grief. 'I am honored that he took the time out of his busy schedule to reach out to me, and I know my husband is looking down smiling knowing his ultimate sacrifice did not go unnoticed by the Commander-in-Chief. 'The phone conversation, and condolence letters sent to me are private.' Ana James (right) said she was holding on to hope her fiance Eli Tonks (left) has escaped his sunken fishing trawler and was 'on one of the islands with a coconut in hand' The fiancee of a fisherman now feared dead after a trawler sank off the coast of Queensland on Monday night says she has not given up hope. In an emotional tribute to her missing love Eli Tonks, a father-of-two, Canadian woman Ana James said she was holding onto the idea the 39-year-old had found safety. 'Eli is so full of love, compassion and emotion and is one of the strongest, most kind-hearted people,' Ms James told the ABC on Thursday. 'He's a machine. Friends and family know he would not give up without a fight. 'Most of us continue to hold on to hope that he's kicked back on one of the islands with a coconut in hand because that's the kind of guy he is, fearless and capable of anything.' The sea cucumber diver travelled the world with Ms James before they were engaged in a romantic proposal in December last year. The couple's social media accounts document the strong bond they share, posting smitten photos from exotic destinations including Peru, Brazil, Bolivia and Thailand. Ms James described Mr Tonks, a 39-year-old father of two, as 'one of the strongest, most kind-hearted people' Mr Tonks is one of six men missing after a fishing trawler capsized and sank near the Town of 1770 off the coast of Queensland on Monday night Mr Tonks travelled the world with his Canadian partner Ana James (pictured) before they were engaged in a romantic proposal in December last year Tragically, Mr Tonks and five of his closest friends remain missing more than three days after their trawler capsized into rough seas near the Queensland Town of 1770 on Monday night. As of Thursday night, the trawler and the men are still missing, with the search and rescue mission turning into a search and recovery mission - meaning authorities were no longer expecting to find the men alive. Inspector Darren Somerville on Thursday said there was still a small glimmer of hope, but that it would be a 'miracle' to discover the men had survived their ordeal. 'We're still hopeful that there would be some sort of miracle,' he said. More than three days after their trawler sank, the six men and the vessel remain missing, with poor weather conditions hampering the search Ms James told reporters on Thursday she was hoping Mr Tonks had overcome the odds and made it out alive, describing her sweetheart as 'fearless and capable of anything' 'But it would be that now it would be a miracle if we were to find someone alive. 'At this stage we're progressing towards a recovery operation.' Police have called in for sonar detectors to help locate the vessel, and specialist divers were believed to be en route from New South Wales on Wednesday. Strong winds and high seas have so far severely hampered any search efforts, with helicopters being pulled back and visibility too low to effectively find the group. On Friday, the weather is expected to clear enough to deploy the hi-tech sonar equipment expected to finally locate the missing trawler. The families of Mr Tonks, Ben Leahy, Adam Hoffman, Adam Bidner, Zach Feeney and Chris Sammut, have been briefed to expect the worst. The six missing men were believed to be below deck when the trawler, Dianne (pictured), capsized about 7.30pm on Monday night, before finally sinking about midnight The families of Mr Tonks (top right), Ben Leahy (bottom centre), Adam Hoffman (top left), Adam Bidner (bottom right), Zach Feeney (top centre) and Chris Sammut (bottom left), were told to expect the worst on Wednesday night Only one man has emerged out of the ordeal so far. Ruben McDornan, 32, was above deck, and clutched to the hull of the sinking boat until midnight, when the trawler finally sank, covered by waves reaching up to three metres. He tread water in rough seas through the night, until a passing yacht picked him up about 7am on Tuesday. Mr McDornan reportedly told his rescuers he had heard kicking and screaming from inside the boat as his friends, believed to be below deck, struggled to escape. Only Ruben McDornan (pictured) has so far emerged from the ordeal alive. He was picked up by a passing yacht about 7am on Tuesday morning His wife Sammy has expressed her relief at Mr McDornan's miraculous survival, but held back tears as she explained the close relationship her husband shares with the men still believed to be trapped on board. Wetsuits, diving equipment and personal items have so far been found washed ashore throughout the search, as authorities scour the debris for a sign of survival. Search and Rescue coordinator Jeff Barnett said on Wednesday afternoon time was running out to find the young fishermen alive. 'The best case scenario is we find six people in a life raft. That's what we're aiming for at the moment. But it's not looking real promising,' he said. 'On advice from our medical team, they tell us towards the end of Wednesday afternoon the chances of survival unsupported is negligible.' The search continues. Strong winds and heavy seas have so far hampered search and rescue efforts with helicopters (pictured) having to return to land multiple times during the operation A gas station clerk has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting an innocent customer in the back of the head after wrongly accusing him of stealing a $1 bag of candy. Taleb Rebhi Ali Jawher, 39, was arrested this week over the September 26 shooting of 34-year-old Christopher Simmons. Simmons died after being shot in the head as he walked back to his car at around 9pm outside the Philly 66 gas station in St Louis, Missouri, where Jawher was working. Police say the pair argued inside after Jawher accused him of stealing the $1.10 bag of candy, an accusation the man denied and which police say was not true. Taleb Rebhi Ali Jawher (left) has been accused of murdering Christopher Simmons (right in an old photograph) on September 26 by shooting him in the head as he tried to walk back to his car Prosecutors say that during the argument, Jawher pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at Simmons. When he fled to walk back to his car, the clerk allegedly followed him and shot him in the back of the head. It is not clear why it has taken police almost three weeks to file charges. No surveillance footage of the shooting has been released. Jawher is being held on a $1million bond in county jail on a single count of murder and a second charge of armed criminal action. Little is known about the man but he has no previous criminal record. Colleagues said they were shocked by Simmons death and said it was not something they thought Jawher capable of. One told local station KMOV that he was a quiet employee whose life revolved around being at work and at home. Police say Simmons had not stolen the candy and that the pair argued inside the gas station which is 15 miles from Simmons' home. When he tried to walk away, they say Jawher followed him and shot him in the back of the head A GoFundMe page for Simmons was created to pay for his funeral but has since been removed. Relatives have not said what he was doing at the gas station on the night in question Similarly, little is known of Simmons. His mother Dorothy said she was relieved charges had been brought against the store clerk but she has not shared any details about his life. Police have not shared information about why he was at the gas store in the first place. Records suggest he lived with his mother in her home in the quiet neighborhood of Shaw. A GoFundMe page was set up to pay for his funeral expenses but it has since been removed. A Chicago woman has been hospitalized in critical condition after having a 'caustic substance' thrown in her face after an argument in the street, Chicago PD have said. A 59-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly attacking the woman, also 59, but as he has not yet been charged, police are not ready to reveal his name. They also declined to say what the substance was, but according to the Chicago Tribune, it was nail polish remover, which caused breathing problems. Police were called to the Thresholds Lawson YMCA (pictured) on Wednesday afternoon after a man allegedly threw nail polish remover in a woman's face, leading to her being hospitalized Police were dispatched to the Thresholds Lawson YMCA just after 8pm on Wednesday, inside sources told the Chicago Tribune. There, they arrested the man, who lived in the same Near North Side building as the woman on the first block of West Chicago Avenue. The woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with 'severe respiratory distress' after inhaling the remover's fumes, the paper said. It also noted that the toxic solvent acetone is a key ingredient of the substance. According to Healthline, acetone poisoning can occur if large amounts are inhaled or ingested in a short time. Symptoms of acute acetone poisoning include low blood pressure, stupors and even comas. Acetone poisoning can also lead to ketoacidosis in people with diabetes, which can cause vomiting, stomach cramps, confusion and fatigue. An awe-inspiring video has emerged online of a tanker battling brutal, raging seas when storm Ophelia hit Ireland on Monday. The shocking footage was filmed from an Italian tanker in the sea outside Cork harbour in the south of Ireland. The video, captured by Cataldo Gianluca, shows the enormous tanker dwarfed by towering mountains of surging water. The powerful wave grows larger but the tanker ploughs on, riding so high on the steep wave that the nose of the ship points upwards at an alarmingly acute angle. The video, shared on Twitter, then cuts out at but the tanker survived the plunge back down the wave and managed to weather the storm. Ophelia battered Ireland this week, leaving three people dead and tens of thousands living without power for days as homes and infrastructure were damaged. Although the Twitter post stated that the video was taken in Cork Harbour, a representative from the Port of Cork confirmed that the video was not taken in the Harbour itself but probably a significant distance offshore. He said that despite the harsh weather, Cork harbour and the port escaped with only minor damage. People reacted with shock and awe to the incredible video on Twitter. Hughes wrote: 'Been in a storm like this ...incredibly scary.' Rachael Porter wrote: 'Just watching that has made me feel seasick!' Diarmuid Kelleher wrote: 'According to vessels tracker. She was Cork bound but headed back out to sea before the storm. These ships are better off at sea in weather.' The video shows the enormous tanker dwarfed by towering mountains of surging water. The powerful wave grows larger but the tanker ploughs on through the storm Hold tight! The wave was so steep that the anchor pointed up at an acute angle before it plunged down the wave again in angry seas when storm Ophelia hit Ireland Wif Stenger wrote: 'Love that the captain just says 'bring me some more espresso.' Al Manny wrote: 'Inside the harbour!' If that's inside thE harbour it must have been armaf*****geddon outside it.' Patrick Kenealy wrote: 'That ship spent yesterday nearly 10 miles out to sea riding out the storm and was no where near Cork Harbour!' While other people focused on the ship window wipers, which flash across the screen as they wick moisture from the cabin window. Darragh Dunne wrote: 'A tanker worth god knows how many hundreds of millions and the windscreen wiper is like something off a 1975 ford 5000 tractor me granda had.' The largest wave ever recorded off Ireland was registered near Waterford during the recent storm. It grew as tall as a high rise building, reaching a dizzying 17.81m or 58.4 feet, the Irish Independent reports. A British couple were stranded in Mallorca for four days after their Ryanair flight was cancelled and they were put on an alternative flight that went via Madrid and Lanzarote to get home. Samantha Breen, 30, and partner Alexander Rutherford, 43, from Thornaby-on-Tees, had travelled to Mallorca for a five day vacation to celebrate Ms Breen's birthday. The couple were due to fly home on October 10 but were told their flight was cancelled after a six-hour wait at the airport. They were then informed the next available flight was on October 13 and it was going from Palma to Madrid, to Lanzarote and finally back to Newcastle. The disgusted couple said they even had to sleep overnight on a wooden bench outside Lanzarote airport while they waited for their flight to Newcastle the following morning. Speaking to MailOnline Miss Breen said: 'We were totally fobbed off by Ryanair. I will never fly with them again.' Samantha Breen, 30, and partner Alexander Rutherford, 43, from Thornaby-on-Tees, had travelled to Mallorca for a five day vacation to celebrate Ms Breen's birthday. But it took them five days to return to Newcastle This map shows the extraordinary journey the couple had to make to return to Newcastle The couple had enjoyed a dream holiday before their travel disaster. Miss Breen told MailOnline: 'We'd had a lovely time and didn't want to come home. 'We found out our 7.45am flight was cancelled when we got to the airport on October 10. We had to wait in the queue from 5am in the morning till around 11.30am. They were trying to get people out on other flights and they were coming down with leaflets with information about our rights to compensation. 'We waited in the queue for so long. We finally got to the front of the queue and were told we could come back every morning at 4am to try and get on another flight, if someone hadn't made it, but we hardly had any money whatsoever. So they put us up in a hotel for three days as the next flight was on October 13. 'That flight was going to Madrid, with the flight arriving there at 2.10pm, and then to Lanzarote, where it was getting in just before midnight. We then had to fly to Newcastle the following morning.' The couple had to wait for six hours at Palma airport (pictured) before being told they had been put in a replacement hotel for three days They were told they would be entitled to breakfast at the replacement hotel but when they got there, breakfast had already been cleared away. She said: 'We were totally stuck with no money and no help from Ryanair.' Miss Breen described the replacement hotel they were put in as being like 'Fawlty Towers'. She said: 'There was rust all round the hotel and the balcony had cracks in it...it looked like the sort of place that was only used by people who had had their flights cancelled. We were stuck and had only about 11 Euros between us. My partner had to go and buy us some Pot Noodles just to keep us going. 'We had no one to contact from Ryanair. I eventually managed to get through to a private chat online where we were told they wouldn't offer vouchers. My family had to help us out and sent us 100 Euros. 'We have claimed 124 Euros back on expenses but we haven't got that back yet and Ryanair have said we are not entitled to compensation as the cancellation was caused by an air traffic control strike.' The couple had to sleep outside Lanzarote airport (pictured) as they waited for their flight back to Newcastle the following day Miss Breen, a former care assistant, said the couple's two children, aged three and five, were missing them and asking when they were coming home. She said: 'We spoke to them on Facetime and they were crying as they were so upset.' After four days in Mallorca, the couple flew to Madrid on October 13 and then onto Lanzarote where they landed just before midnight. 'There was no one in Lanzarote airport when we got there', she explained. 'We were supposed to be put up overnight but there was no one on the Ryanair desk and so we had to sleep on a hard wooden bench outside the airport. It was such a long night.' They had to wait until 7.45am the next day to finally board their return flight to Newcastle. She told MailOnline: 'All we want is some feedback from Ryanair. We were dumped in a hotel and then forgotten about. I am never flying with Ryanair ever again and I just want to make people aware about them.' The couple were told by Ryanair they were not offering vouchers after finally getting hold of someone from the company on the online chat service A Ryanair spokesperson said: 'This flight from Palma to Newcastle (October 10) was cancelled (due to a French ATC strike) over 16 hours before the scheduled departure of 07:45 local time and these customers were sent text messages and emails at 15:12 (on Oct 110) - again over 16 hours before departure - advising them of this ATC cancellation and of their options of a full refund, or free rebooking on to the next available flight or free transfer onto an alternative flight. 'The customers were provided with accommodation in Palma and were rerouted back to Newcastle (via Madrid and Lanzarote). 'The customers were advised to keep and submit vouched receipted expenses and a cheque of 124.17 has been authorised. 'We apologise sincerely for this flight cancellation which was caused by a French ATC strike.' A Korean tradesman who refused to come down from the roof of his apartment for 12 hours after his girlfriend plunged to her death from a balcony is reportedly expected to be charged with her murder. June Oh Seo, 37, sparked a 12-hour siege with police when they arrived to find finance worker Hee Kyung Choi, 34, laying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the Chatswood apartment about 6.30am on October 9. Seo is due to face Hornsby Local Court on Friday on a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm. However police are expected to charge him with murder on Friday, The Daily Telegraph reported. Officers arrived to find finance worker Hee Kyung Choi, 34, (pictured) laying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the Chatswood apartment about 6.30am on October 9 Sobering photos show Seo (pictured) sitting on the awning of the 26th floor of the apartment building, from where Ms Choi plunged to her death The murder charge will reportedly come after detectives interviewed 90 people including the 37-year-old tradesman's former girlfriends. In their investigation, officers also scoured hours of CCTV footage in an effort to find out what happened in the lead up to the woman's death. Sobering photos show Seo sitting on the awning of the 26th floor of the apartment building, from where Ms Choi plunged to her death. He 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. Seo and Ms Choi (pictured) were dating, but reportedly split two months before she died Seo (pictured) was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital before being escorted to the Chatswood police station, where he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm He remained on the roof for 12 hours before police successfully coaxed him down. Seo was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital before being escorted to the Chatswood police station, where he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Seo and Ms Choi were dating, but reportedly split two months before she died. Ms Choi reportedly discovered Seo was married with a son. Friends of the 34-year-old woman left flowers at the Chatswood building after she died Seo (pictured) remained on the roof for 12 hours before police successfully coaxed him down FARGO A man convicted of sexually assaulting a Mapleton convenience store clerk was sentenced in Cass County District Court on Wednesday to 26 years in prison followed by lifetime supervision. Speaking through an interpreter, 37-year-old Abdulrahman Ali told Judge Tom Olson that he was mentally ill at the time of the crime. This is not justification of what happened, I request mercy from the court, a tearful Ali said. Olson said no sentence could restore the mental well-being of the victims connected to the incident, which included another store employee and a customer who witnessed some of the assault. The judge said he wished the very best for the victims of this crime. Prosecutor Ryan Younggren had asked Judge Olson to give Ali life in prison with the possibility of parole, which would have meant Ali would have had to serve at least 30 years before he was eligible for parole. Alis attorney, Stormy Vickers, had asked for 20 years followed by lifetime supervision. This is a horrendous crime that deserves substantial punishment, Olson said in handing down the 26-year sentence, under which Ali could be released after serving 85 percent of that time, or roughly 22 years. Ali was given credit for having already served nearly two years. The maximum possible sentence Ali faced was life in prison without parole for his conviction on a charge of gross sexual imposition. He was also convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault and two counts of terrorizing. Earlier this summer, Ali agreed to the facts in the case and Olson found him criminally responsible for the convenience store attack that happened in December 2015. According to court documents and an investigators court testimony: Ali entered Gordy's Travel Plaza in Mapleton shortly after it opened on Dec. 2, 2015, and moments later pulled the clerk into the women's bathroom. He then forced the clerk to remove her clothes, and he took off his own clothes before trying to have sex with her. Younggren said Wednesday that the victim suffered numerous physical injuries including broken ribs and black eyes. He said the womans physical wounds healed, but the attack shook the foundations of how she approaches life. Both Younggren and Vickers said Ali suffers from mental illness, but Younggren added, Is he (Ali) brutally dangerous? Yes. Arguing for a 20-year sentence, Vickers told the court Alis illness was treatable. This is something we have control over, he added. Attorney Steven Mottinger also spoke to the court, saying that Alis family had hired him to speak on the familys behalf. They are embarrassed. The Somali community is embarrassed, Mottinger said. He said Alis family was requesting a sentence of 10 years in prison, which would give the defendant some chance at a life. Advertisement An adorable K9 who landed a position with the CIA was given the pink slip after just a few weeks on the job. Lulu was training to become a bomb-sniffing dog, but according to the government agency the pup turned out to be a bit of a pacifist and showed no real interest in the work. 'Lulu wasnt interested in searching for explosives. Even when motivated with food and play, she was clearly no longer enjoying herself,' explained the CIA on social media. The tearful tale of Lulu's brief career with the intelligence agency was shared on the CIA Twitter account Wednesday night, from her promising start to her early retirement. Scroll down for video Lovely Lulu: 'Sometimes, even after testing, our pups make it clear being an explosive detection K9 isnt for them,' explained the CIA on Wednesday Over it: Were sad to announce that a few weeks into training, Lulu began to show signs that she wasnt interested in detecting explosive odors,' wrote the agency on Twitter Tough work: 'All dogs, like humans, have good & bad days when learning something new. Same for our pups, though it usually lasts just a day or two,' explained one tweet Skipping bombs: 'There are a million reasons why a dog has a bad day & our trainers must become doggy psychologists to figure out what will help pups,' read one tweet 'Sometimes, even after testing, our pups make it clear being an explosive detection K9 isnt for them,' read the first post in the CIA's Twitter thread on Wednesday. 'Were sad to announce that a few weeks into training, Lulu began to show signs that she wasnt interested in detecting explosive odors.' The agency then explained: 'All dogs, like humans, have good & bad days when learning something new. Same for our pups, though it usually lasts just a day or two.' Lulu's lack of interest was soon examined by 'doggy psychologists,' who were tasked with finding out what was wrong with the new trainee. 'Sometimes a pup is bored & needs extra playtime, sometimes they need a little break, or its a minor medical condition like a food allergy,' read one tweet. 'For some dogs, after weeks of working w them, its clear the issue isnt temporary & instead, this just isnt the job they are meant for.' Lulu's issues ultimately proved to be more than a temporary problem, and the CIA was forced to make what they felt was the best decision for the agency and their new recruit. 'Our trainers top concern is physical & mental well-being of K9s. They made a difficult decision & did whats best for Lulu: stop her training,' said the CIA. Sense of smell: 'Sometimes a pup is bored & needs extra playtime, sometimes they need a little break, or its a minor medical condition like a food allergy' Poor career planning: 'For some dogs, after weeks of working with them, its clear the issue isnt temporary & instead, this just isnt the job they are meant for' On strike: 'Lulu wasnt interested in searching for explosives. Even when motivated with food & play, she was clearly no longer enjoying herself' Bone to pick: 'Our trainers top concern is physical & mental well-being of K9s. They made difficult decision & did whats best for Lulu: stop her training' That difficult talk was followed by one of Lulu's handler, who was offered the chance to take his departing sidekick home. 'When a pup is removed or retires from our K9 program, the handler & their family is given the chance to adopt them & many do,' revealed the agency. 'Lulu was adopted by her handler & now enjoys her days playing w his kids & a new friend, & sniffing out rabbits & squirrels in the backyard.' This move also left Lulu's handler in need of a new partner, and on Thursday afternoon the agency will reveal the lucky member who will join the 2017 puppy class. Moving on: 'When a pup is removed or retires from our K9 program, the handler & their family is given the chance to adopt them & many do' Lady of leisure: 'Lulu was adopted by her handler & now enjoys her days playing w his kids & a new friend, & sniffing out rabbits & squirrels in the backyard' Gone but not forgotten: 'Well miss Lulu, but it was right decision for her & we wish her all the best in her new life!' In the end, all parties seem to be much happier with this new arrangement. 'Well miss Lulu, but it was right decision for her & we wish her all the best in her new life!' said the CIA. Lulu was the smallest member of the all-female class that started training earlier this month. 'Shes hyper and silly when she plays, but has an easygoing sweetness and is extremely sensitive to her surroundings and what is being asked of her,' read her CIA bio. It is not all bad news for Lulu though, as the photogenic black labrador was adopted by her handler and is now a lady of leisure. She also has a new friend to spend her days with as her handler already owns another black Labrador Henry. The boss of Goldman Sachs today hailed Frankfurt's 'great weather' as he warned Theresa May he could move 6,000 banking jobs 500 miles away after Brexit. Lloyd Blankfein went public with what will be seen as a threat to move major business out of London over Brexit. In a tweet he said he head 'really enjoyed' his visit to the German financial centre. Downing Street said London would remain a 'world leading financial centre' after Brexit. Brexit critics fear the vote to leave the EU could badly damage or even end London's role as a global trading power. Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein went public with what will be seen as a threat to move major business out of London over Brexit In a tweet Mr Blankfein said he head 'really enjoyed' his visit to the German financial centre Mr Blankfein tweeted: 'Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. 'Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit' Theresa May's official spokesman said Downing Street would not comment on each remark. But he said: 'London is and will remain the world's leading financial centre. We have the breadth of talent, legal system and pool of capital unrivalled by other cities in Europe. 'We are confident of an ambitious economic partnership with the EU that will include financial services.' Goldman Sachs, which employs around 6,500 people in the UK, has previously confirmed that it is looking to at least double its 200-strong employee base in Frankfurt as part of its Brexit contingency plans. Earlier this month it was reported that the group has signed a contract to lease eight floors of a skyscraper in the city, capable of holding 800 staff. The bank has said it is also looking at bolstering its footprint in other financial hubs across the EU. A raft of international banks, insurers and asset managers are preparing to shift portions of their UK operations to the continent in preparation for Britain's divorce from the EU in hopes of safeguarding against the loss of passporting rights which currently give UK-based financial services cross-border access to the bloc. Brexit critics fear the vote to leave the EU could badly damage or even end the City of London's role as a global trading power Frankfurt has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Brexit so far as London-based financial firms increasingly opt to relocate staff to Germany's financial centre. Standard Chartered has committed to expanding or establishing offices in Germany, Citigroup has notified its bankers of plans to bolster its Frankfurt office, creating 150 jobs, and Morgan Stanley is on track to move as many as 200 staff. Mizuho will join a raft of Japanese banks which have chosen the city as an EU hub, including Daiwa, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nomura. JP Morgan is taking a similar approach to Goldman Sachs by planning to spread staff across a number of European cities, including Frankfurt. Veteran newsreader Tracey Spicer claims there are about 40 Australian 'household names' guilty of sexual assault. Well-known for speaking out against industry sexism, Ms Spicer announced two days ago she vowed to name and shame the senior media figures for sexual harassment. Now the mother-of-two is working with police to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable for their actions, and says women have been hit by a tsunami of sexual assault''. Tracey Spicer (pictured) claims there are about 40 alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment The veteran newsreader (pictured) has vowed to name and shame senior media figures for sexual harassment 'It is an absolute tsunami of sexual assault, intimidation and abuse,' Ms Spicer said Thursday 'There are 30 to 40 alleged offenders so far and I would say the vast majority of them would have more than one case against them,' Ms Spicer told The Daily Telegraph. 'It is an absolute tsunami of sexual assault, intimidation and abuse. It is absolutely horrific.' Ms Spicer claims the alleged perpetrators are well-known people in the media whether they are on television or an executive. 'Many of them are still offending to this day. There have been perpetrators in pretty much every one of the past four decades,' Ms Spicer said. The 50-year-old discussed the harassment she experienced earlier this year in her book, Good Girl Stripped Bare. 'We're talking about p***y-grabbing stuff in the workplace - and in front of witnesses. It's just ridiculous,' Ms Spicer told The Australian. The accused men are currently still in senior media positions, prompting Ms Spicer to involve police in the allegations. Ms Spicer said she had never seen anything like the conversations she has been having the week, dubbing it 'just the tip of the iceberg'. Ms Spicer claims the alleged perpetrators are well-known people in the media whether they are on television or an executive The freelance journalist encouraged people to share their own sexual harassment stories with her on Twitter as she investigates 'two long-term offenders' in the media industry 'These women have been silenced for so long, but all of a sudden they feel like they have a right to be heard and are finally speaking out,' she told The Australian. One of the men Ms Spicer wrote about in her novel was late John Sorell, former Nine Network news director and Walkley Award-winning journalist. Mr Sorell reportedly told Ms Spicer he wanted 'two inches off your hair and two inches off your a***!'. Earlier this year Ms Spicer claimed 'sickening' sexual assault occurred while she was one of Australia's most recognised television journalists. The 50-year-old told Woman's Weekly in April one of her bosses put his hand on her right buttock, asking her if she had 'lost a bit of weight'. 'I actually turned around to slap him, but realised it was one of my bosses. So I just lowered my arm. I said, "Yeah, after my mother died, I didn't feel like eating".' One of the men Ms Spicer wrote about in her novel (pictured) was late John Sorell, former Nine Network news director and Walkley Award-winning journalist 'These women have been silenced for so long, but all of a sudden they feel like they have a right to be heard and are finally speaking out,' she said The veteran journalist famously sued Network Ten after 14 years for unfair dismissal in 2006 after her contract was terminated when she returned from maternity leave. Ms Spicer encouraged people to share their own sexual harassment stories with her on Twitter as she investigates 'two long-term offenders' in the media industry. The hashtag 'MeToo' has since taken over social media as victims of sexual assault speak up to highlight the size of the issue following the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Popular breakfast radio host in Adelaide, Jodie Oddy, broke down live on air after sharing the horrific details of her own sexual abuse experience. 'I think the major problem with it all, I thought somehow this is my fault, like I did something or I brought it on myself,' Oddy began. Popular breakfast radio host in Adelaide, Jodie Oddy (pictured), broke down live on air after sharing the horrific details of her own sexual abuse experience '... to the media man about town who scared the life out of me when he pinned me down and tried to kiss me against my will, then #MeToo,' Ms Oddy said 'To the organisations who did absolutely nothing when there were crude sexist and degrading comments made about me in the course of me doing my job, there's a big #MeToo,' she said 'To the family friend who tried it on when I was a little girl and betrayed everyone's trust around me, then #MeToo. 'To the teenage boyfriend who was verbally abusive and dragged me out of his car and pinned me up against a wall and had his fist up to punch me in the face, then #MeToo too. 'To the media guy who systematically bullied female employees, he was known for it, and I particularly enjoyed the day he called me a 'whore' in front of all the staff, then #MeToo. That one's for you buddy. 'To the organisations who did absolutely nothing when there were crude sexist and degrading comments made about me in the course of me doing my job, there's a big #MeToo. 'And finally, and this is the one I'm probably most ashamed of, to the media man about town who scared the life out of me when he pinned me down and tried to kiss me against my will, then #MeToo.' Ms Spicer now wants to drag the handful of men accused of sexual assault before the courts in a bid to 'name and shame' them. Pictured: Suzannah Jane Brown, 28 Search teams have found the body of a missing public relations worker whose car was abandoned at a notorious suicide spot. Suzannah Brown, aged 28, was found deceased this morning after her car was discovered last night. A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: 'A body recovered from the water at Beachy Head, Eastbourne, earlier today has been identified as that of Suzannah Brown, 28, from London. 'She had been reported missing on Wednesday night. 'Her family have been informed and the coroner's officer is dealing with the incident. 'The death is not being treated as suspicious.' Miss brown, from Chiswick was reported missing by Hounslow Police and her car was found tonight at Beachy Head in East Sussex. At the start of the year she started a new job as Senior Account Manager looking after Consumer Brands at Grayling, whose clients include Hilton hotels. Miss Brown studied at the University of Sussex in Brighton, which is just 20 miles west of where Sussex Police officers discovered her car. According to the talented PR manager's social media accounts, she is a keen netballer who studied at Esher College and Grey Court School in South West London. At the start of the year Miss Brown had started a new job as Senior Account Manager looking after Consumer Brands at Grayling, whose clients include Hilton hotels Miss Brown studied at the University of Sussex in Brighton, which is just 20 miles west of where Sussex Police officers discovered her car (pictured) Police in New York City say two young girls from Queens who went missing Wednesday while on their way to Central Park returned home safely Thursday morning. Sofia Cadena, 10, and Clare Kim, 11, were last seen in the Bayside neighborhood in Queens at around 3.30pm on Wednesday. After spending nearly 20 hours on the run, the pair were reunited with their families shortly after 11am. The girls were unharmed. Found: NYPD says Sofia Cadena, 10 (left), and her friend Clare Kim, 11 (right) who went missing from Queens Wednesday afternoon, returned home safely Thursday morning Cadena, pictured above with her mother, claimed she and Kim were going to take the family dog for a walk It is unclear at this point what the two friends had been doing during their time on the run, or where they had spent the night Kim and Cadena, who attend the same school and are neighbors, on Wednesday told their parents they were going to take one of the girls' dog for a walk. Instead, they left a note behind saying there were running away together. Their parents believe the girls' destination was Central Park in Manhattan, according to police. Cadena lives with her parents in a penthouse apartment on 225th Street. She is described as 5 feet tall, weighing 80lbs, with a thin build, black eyes and long brown hair. Her friend Kim resides around the corner from her, on 59th Avenue. The 11-year-old missing girl is described at 5-foot-5, 170lbs with a large build and black hair. A heartbroken bride has revealed how her husband drowned 'while swimming and looking at dolphins' during their honeymoon in the Maldives. Groom Andrew Roddy, 30, from Dublin, was relaxing in the tropical island paradise on Tuesday with his new wife Gill Campion when the nightmare struck. The pair, who got married just over two weeks ago, were swimming close to each other when Andrew suddenly disappeared, according to his mother who has spoken to her daughter-in-law about the disaster. Groom Andrew Roddy (pictured left on his wedding day), 30, was relaxing in the tropical island paradise on Tuesday with his new wife Gill Campion (also pictured) when the nightmare struck The pair, who got married just over two weeks ago, were swimming in the Maldives (file photo) close to each other when Andrew suddenly disappeared Marion Roddy, who got the terrible news yesterday morning, told the Irish Independent: 'I was talking to Gill. She said they were out swimming and looking at dolphins or something. '"I turned around and Andrew was gone," she said, and she didn't know how it happened because they were near each other at the time. 'He met Gill through work, and they were great together.' Family members have rushed to be with the heartbroken bride as she waits for her late husband's body to be returned. Andrew was a graduate of Dublin City University where he studied business. Family members have rushed to be with the heartbroken bride as she waits for her late husband's body to be returned He worked with his wife in the financial services industry at New Ireland Assurance. There is no Irish embassy in the Maldives but diplomatic staff are providing assistance from their office in New Delhi. The Maldives is a series of islands in the Indian Ocean popular with tourists for its warm weather and stunning beaches. A Long Beach, California restaurant has come under fire after a customer discovered the fried chicken on the menu comes from fast-food chain Popeye's. Earlier this month, a diner named Tyler H. made the revelation in a one-star review of Sweet Dixie Kitchen on Yelp. 'THE CHICKEN THEY USE IS FROM POPEYES! Before my friends and I got seated we saw them quickly bring in two large boxes of Popeyes to the kitchen. I wanted to believe that this was just a snack for the workers, but alas it was not,' Tyler wrote. Tyler said he ordered the Chicken and Waffles 'to see whether or not they were serving Popeyes' and his suspicions were confirmed when the tenders that arrived at his table were 'stale' and 'tasted suspiciously like Popeyes'. 'I kindly asked our waiter how they cooked their fried chicken. After checking he admitted that they do in fact use Popeyes. The waffles were also hard as rocks. The manager compensated us for the entire meal,' Tyler wrote. The owner of the restaurant, Kimberly Sanchez, responded to the negative review the next day, saying they 'PROUDLY SERVE Popeyes spicy tenders - the best fried chicken anywhere'. Scroll down for video Sweet Dixie Kitchen in Long Beach, California has come under fire after a customer revealed that their fried chicken is from fast-food chain Popeye's Above, one of the two dishes on the restaurant's menu using Popeye's fried chicken. Single chicken strips usually sell for less than $2 at Popeye's, and at least one of Sweet Dixie's fried chicken dishes sells for $13 The restaurant gets fried chicken delivered twice a day from this Popeye's in Long Beach, because they can't fry in their kitchen She explained that the tenders are delivered twice a day because their kitchen isn't set up to fry food. While she says they try to source from 'small batch local producers,' Popeye's is the exception because she loves it so much and 'ate a ton of it in [Atlanta].' Sanchez went on to liken buying fried chicken from Popeye's to buying vegetables from farmers. 'We also don't grow our own veggies - we purchase those- and if we run out of our own slow cooked pork, in order to keep our menu intact, I will order a batch of carnitas from the best place in Long Beach. 'We don't mill our own flour as we don't own a mill or wheat farm and our coconut cake is made by our prep cook who makes cakes for private clients. Just FYI,' She wrote. The revelation was made by this customer, Tyler H, who dined at the restaurant earlier this month Business owner Kimberly Sanchez responded to the negative review, saying they 'PROUDLY SERVE Popeyes' When another customer complained on Facebook, the restaurant replied 'get over yourself' She then punctuated the response with a mean-spirited remark: 'So whatever to you and your little review like it was some great exposure - and whatever to you dude.' Despite her passionate defense, the negative reviews continued to roll in after the true source of the restaurant's fried chicken was revealed. One Facebook user, McKenzie Elizabeth, said her real issue was the fact that it wasn't publicized on the menu that the chicken wasn't made on the premises. 'Look if you use chicken from Popeye's cool but at least be up front about it,' she wrote. The restaurant replied to her post by writing 'get over yourself'. Sanchez has since spoken out to a few outlets to defend her decision to use Popeye's. She says she decided to add fried chicken dishes to her menu about two months ago. Because she can't have a fryer in the kitchen, Sanchez said she tried a few different fried chicken options from places like Costco and Restaurant Depot, but didn't like them. Owner Kimberly Sanchez plans to continue serving Popeye's at her restaurant It was after picking up Popeye's for dinner one day that she decided to add it to her menu. 'Im like "oh my god, why dont I use Popeyes, this is the best chicken Ive ever had",' she told the Long Beach Post. 'And so we do.' She told Fox that she's always been upfront about where the chicken comes from, but doesn't put 'Popeye's' on the menu because of trademark issues 'I walk in through the front door carrying the bag of chicken. The customers know where its from. Popeyes knows,' she said. 'We wrote it on our board in the restaurant, "Imported from Louisiana this week, thank you Popeyes." It wasnt a secret. We use the chicken as an ingredient in a menu item we made, we dont use their sauces or anything else,' Sanchez added. Sanchez says she sees Popeye's fried chicken as an ingredient in her dishes, and doesn't see why she should have to publicize the fact on her menu. 'For example, we make our quiches, but I dont make the pie shell,' Sanchez said. 'I buy an already-made pie shell. Now sometimes, Ill take a piece of puff pastry and Ill make my own pie shell, and sometimes we run out of time and we dont, but I still call the quiche homemade. Its made from scratch. Its a fine line, but where do you cross the line? I think as long as Im using an item as an ingredient in a larger thing, then you dont really need to call that out every time. And maybe Im wrong about that, but then if I say Popeyes, do I say its a Marie Callender's pie crust?' Another issue that customers have been complaining about is the mark-up Sanchez has been charging. While single chicken tenders sell for below $2 at the fast-food chain, the Chicken and Biscuit Sandwich - one of two dishes which use Popeye's chicken at Sweet Dixie - sells for $12.95. Before the restaurant's Facebook page was taken down, the 'About Me' said that 'everything is made here'. Sanchez later said that she didn't write that Sanchez says the other elements of the fried chicken dishes make them worth the price. 'Once you add the biscuit and the homemade coleslaw and the labor it took to make both of those things and all the other stuff. People make it sound like Im taking just a chicken from Popeyes which you can buy for $7which actually Im having for lunch right nowand then mark it up to $14 and thats not the case,' she said. Others think it's disingenuous that a restaurant that prides itself on homemade food would sell fast-food items to their customers without telling them. Before it was taken down, the restaurant's 'About Me' page stated that 'everything is made here - right down to our bacon jam and siracha [sic] sour cream sauce.' Sanchez claims she didn't write it, and she had that deleted from the page - though she does say that 95 per cent of the food is made from scratch. Nelson Kerr, environmental health bureau manager, says that Sachez isn't required to declare where the chicken comes from on the menu. 'They could claim and say 'proudly serving Popeyes Chicken' and if they said that and they end up serving another generic chicken then you would have a truth in menu issue but if they don't say anything then that's just another approved source where they are getting their food from,' Kerr said. Sanchez says she's reached out to the Popeye's she buys from to set up an official partnership but has not heard back. She told KABC that she recently received a call from a man threatening to sue her. In the meantime, she continues to sell the chicken on the menu as she has before. A strongly worded open letter from North Korea has warned Australia it should abandon ties with the United States or it could face serious consequences. The letter urged that Australia, among other parliaments, realise its desire for 'international justice and peace' and steer away from the 'heinous and reckless' moves of Donald Trump's camp. Written by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly and sent via North Korea's embassy in Jakarta to Australia's Indonesian embassy on September 28, it landed in the hands of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop a week later. Julie Bishop (pictured) acquired a strongly worded open letter from North Korea has warned Australia it should abandon ties with the United States or it could face serious consequences The letter (pictured) urged that Australia realise its desire for 'international justice and peace' and steer away from the 'heinous and reckless' moves of Donald Trump's camp The letter read: 'If Trump thinks he would bring the DPRK, a nuclear power, to its knees through nuclear war threat, it will be a big miscalculation. 'The DPRK has emerged as a fully fledged nuclear power,' it continued. Ms Bishop said it was the first letter to have ever been sent by North Korea to an Australian foreign minister, calling it a 'very unusual' move. 'I read this as showing that the collective strategy of allies and partners to impose maximum pressure and diplomatic and economic sanctions on North Korea is working,' she told Sydney Morning Herald. The foreign minister believed the way the letter tried 'to demonise the US' and 'divide the international community' was a clear sign North Korea was feeling desperate and isolated. Ms Bishop said it was the first letter to have ever been sent by North Korea to an Australian foreign minister, calling it a 'very unusual' move North Korea could be trying to 'pick off' allies with the letter, according to Lowy Institute director of International Security Euan Graham. 'This is effectively an invitation to have high level access, to send an [Australian] delegation from Seoul,' Dr Graham said. 'Now would be a good time for Australia to exercise its-still existing, even if on-off, diplomatic relations with the North.' The letter rebutted explosive threats made by Donald Trump (pictured) at the UN in September where he warned the US could 'totally destroy' North Korea The house where Rosa Parks lived after sparking the Montgomery bus boycott will be returned to the U.S. from Germany within the coming months. In the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and similar demonstrations at Confederate monuments around the country, the hope is that moving the house back will serve as a reminder of the importance of the Civil Rights movement and the efforts of figures like Parks. The house was set to be demolished in Detroit last year before Parks' niece bought it for $500 and donated it to artist Ryan Mendoza, 45. Mendoza took it apart and shipped it to his home in Berlin, then reassembled it in his yard. Once back in on American soil it will be displayed in Rhode Island for three months in a project organized by Mendoza and Brown University. The house where Rosa Parks lived after sparking the Montgomery bus boycott will be returned to the U.S. from Berlin, Germany, within the coming months Parks moved to Detroit in 1957, two years after the Montgomery bus boycotts in Alabama, because she and her husband couldn't find work. She is pictured above in 1998 A vintage photo from an unknown year shows the modest home when it was in Detroit The home was donated to American artist Ryan Mendoza, pictured, who took it apart and reassembled it in Berlin, Germany In Providence, the house will be reassembled inside an arts center. It's expected to be displayed from March to May. Mendoza is working to find a permanent place for the house elsewhere in the U.S. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press in August, Mendoza said that he thought it was important to bring the home back because of racial tensions in the U.S. 'If you look at the current situation in America, you have all of these monuments to the Confederacy which are monuments to slavery,' Mendoza said.'There are very, very few monuments to the civil rights movement, which is antithetical to that.' Parks' niece Rhea McCauley, pictured, purchased the home last year to save it from demolition Mendoza is now sending the house back to America, where it will be displayed by Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island Five weeks after her courageous bus stand in December 1955 sparked a community-wide boycott of Montgomery's buses, Rosa Parks lost her job as an assistant tailor at the Montgomery Fair department store. Her husband, Raymond, was forced out of his job a few weeks later. They never found steady work in Montgomery ever again. Even after the yearlong boycott's successful end in December 1956, the Parkses still couldn't find work. And still facing death threats, in August 1957 they were forced to leave Montgomery and then relocated to Detroit where they had family. Parks described Detroit as the 'Northern promised land that wasn't.' Parks is known for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, during a time when black people were supposed to sit in the back Parks was arrested and charged with violating a segregation law. Her mug shot is shown above She is pictured getting fingerprints taken following the arrest in December 1955 Two years after the bus boycott she relocated to Detroit where her brother lived Public signs of segregation may have been gone, but she didn't find 'too much difference' between Montgomery and Detroit in the systems of housing and school segregation, job discrimination and police brutality. There was also a long-standing black freedom movement that she was part of for four decades. The three-bedroom, wood-frame house was home to her brother, McCauley, his wife, Daisy, and their 13 children. Parks died in Detroit in 2005 at the age of 92. She is known as the 'First Lady of Civil Rights' and 'Mother of the Freedom Movement'. Parks died in Detroit in 2005 at the age of 92. She is known as the 'First Lady of Civil Rights' and 'Mother of the Freedom Movement'. She is pictured above with Hilary Clinton In August, a rally was held by a group called Unite the Right that protested the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Charlottesville's Emancipation Park. The planned removal was a focal point for a number of white supremacist protests since the council voted to remove the structure in April. Counter-protesters showed up in droves to demonstrate against white supremacy and Nazism. A 32-year-old women was killed when a 20-year-old man who harbored Nazi sympathies smashed his car into a group of counterprotesters. President Trump admonished the day's tragic events and claimed that 'many sides' were to blame for what had occurred. He said in a press conference: 'We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, violence, on many sides... The hate and division must stop, and must stop right now.' His initial refusal to condemn white supremacists attracted widespread criticism. Across the country other Confederate statues have been vandalized and/or removed. Aggressive polar bears are holding locals in a Russian village hostage after being drawn to a nearby walrus rookery, leaving residents unable to venture outdoors. The one tonne predators are thought to have forced hundreds of frightened walruses to jump off 125ft cliffs to their deaths before feasting on the carcasses. Around 20 of the fearsome bears have surrounded the coastal area of Ryrkaypiy, population of 601, with one cub even trying to enter a house through the window. Aggressive polar bears are holding locals from the Russian village of Ryrkaypiy hostage after forcing hundreds of frightened local walruses to jump off 125ft cliffs to their deaths The polar bears were attracted by a walrus rookery in a special protection zone in the Russian far eastern region of Chukotka. A local wildlife official called the situation 'alarming'. 'Many of the frightened flippered marine mammals fell off cliffs at Kozhevnikova Cape as they sought to flee the invaders,' said one report. The one tonne mammals are thought to have forced hundreds of frightened walruses to jump off 125ft cliffs to their deaths before feasting on the carcasses Around 20 of the fearsome bears have surrounded Ryrkaypiy, with a population of 601, with one cub even trying to enter a house through the window 'Several hundred fell to their deaths, and the polar bears then ate the carcasses,' reported the Siberian Times. Now the other walruses have migrated away and the polar bears are encircling the village. 'Around 20 polar bears remain practically next to the village,' said the head of WWF project Polar Bear Patrol, Viktor Nikiforov. The polar bears were attracted by a walrus rookery in a special protection zone in the Russian far eastern region of Chukotka Now the other walruses have migrated away and the polar bears are encircling the village 'There is enough food for them (from the many fallen walruses), but several young bears approach to the houses out of curiosity.' 'Three days ago, a bear squeezed in a window and tried to get inside. It's clear that people are frightened.' Locals are patrolling and scaring the polar bears away from homes when they approach, he said. 'Around 20 polar bears remain practically next to the village,' said the head of WWF project Polar Bear Patrol, Viktor Nikiforov 'We are trying to save the lives of both people and Red Book polar bears ...' Explaining the walruses falling, he said: 'Up to 5,000 walruses were on the rookery, but there were a lot of dead animals - several hundred... 'Many crashed, falling from a height. Their rookery had attracted polar bears. 'The walruses were obviously frightened by the predators, panicked and fell from the top to their deaths.' DICKINSON Animal shelters and animal rescues in Dickinson and Bismarck are nearly completely filled up with cats. Michele Thompson, supervisor of the Dickinson animal shelter, said the shelter has been completely full for about a week now. There are multiple reasons why they are seeing so many cats right now, including lack of knowledge of cat leash laws, increased trapping and abandonment, among other reasons, she said. I think that (not spaying and neutering) is a big component of it, said Thompson, who has been the shelter supervisor since May. A lot of people dont realize that dogs and cats are sexually mature at six months of age, so when little Fluffy or little Max starts spraying or caterwauling at six months they dont know what to do, so they just kick the cat outside. Currently the shelter has two cats with litters of kittens and about 10 other cats that are waiting to be claimed or adopted. The rescues in town are full of cats, as well. Dana Becker said the shelter will do everything they can to not euthanize the animals. If people have been thinking about making a cat a part of their life, please consider adopting, she said. Becker said volunteers play a major role at the shelter by helping to clean the cages as well as walk and play with the animals. If people want to become a volunteer, Becker said they can come into the shelter on Energy Drive and fill out an application. If people are interested in adopting an animal from the shelter, they can pick up an application at the shelter or contact the shelter on Facebook. Julie Schirado with Furry Friends Rockin' Rescue in Bismarck-Mandan estimated that the three rescues in Bismarck, Kitty City, Central Dakota Humane Society and Furry Friends, each have close to 100 cats in either foster homes or shelters right now. Furry Friends started in 2015, and Schirado said theyve been maxed out every year around kitten season. I dont know whether its because rescues and shelters have become more prominent or because technology and Facebook allows us to move animals around so much faster and around so much more and people are more aware of the problem, she said. I wish I knew what it was. I think its a little bit of everything. Sue Buchholz has been with the Central Dakota Humane Society in Bismarck-Mandan since 1994 and said they have almost always been full with cats. The CDHS is a no-kill shelter and while they are constantly adopting cats out of the shelter, Buchholz said its hard to keep up with the intake. We cant seem to adopt our way out of the pet overpopulation problem, she said. I think people have just got to spay and neuter their animals and stop there being so many. The Humane Society houses between 60 and 75 at any time; they also have about 35-40 animals that are in foster homes. It seems like everybodys swamped, Buchholz said. Everybodys busy. Unfortunately, I think we could be a kill facility and still always be full. Schirado, Buchholz and Thompson said one of the most important things people can do to help the problem is to spay and neuter their animals. They acknowledged that spaying, neutering and vaccinating animals can be expensive, but it also helps prevent problems down the road. Two cats, a male and a female, can turn into thousands before you and I even turn another two years older, Schirado said. Two turns into four, which turns into eight, which turns into 16, which turns into 32. The most important things people can do is to fix your kittens. Please fix your cats so the rest of us dont have to work so hard. The upcoming issue of 'Playboy' will feature a transgender model as the Playmate of the month - the first time this has ever occurred inside the pages of the men's magazine. It was revealed this week that Ines Rau had landed a spot in the magazine's much-coveted centerfold, with the beauty of French-North African descent earning the title of November 2017 Playmate of the Month. She is seen in the iconic bunny ears and a white angora sweater in one image and wearing nothing but a G-string as she poses with a string of lights wrapped around her bare breasts in another photo. The 8-page spread, plus pullout centerfold, features a total of seven pictures of Rau. And for the centerfold, Rau is photographed completely naked except for a pair of red velvet heels as she lies on the ground, thus covering up everything except for her rear. Rau also makes it clear that she has no time for her transphobic critics, stating: 'If I want to get a sex change it's between myself and my body. I could hide it, but I don't, because I respect people.' Beauty: Ines Rau is the Playmate of the month for November 2017, making the French model the first transgender woman to appear in the magazine's centerfold (Rau above in the magazine) Dare to bare: Rau, 26, bares her breasts in the 8-page spread and for the centerfold is completely naked except for a pair of red velvet heels as she lies on the ground Journey: She began transitioning when she was 16 and had gender reassignment surgery soon after Rau has previously walked the runway for the likes of Balmain and Hood by Air and recently shot a video for 'Vogue' This is not her first time in 'Playboy' however, with Rau previously appearing nude in a 2014 spread shot by Ryan McGinley that led to her pursuing a modeling career. The 26-year-old has since walked the runway for the likes of Balmain and Hood by Air and recently shot a video for 'Vogue.' She began transitioning with hormonal treatments when she was 16 and had reassignment surgery shortly after that time. Stripping down was not an issue for Rau, who said: 'Nudity shouldnt be taboo.' She went on to state: 'Nudity means a lot to me, since I went through a transition to get where I want to be. 'Nudity is a celebration of the human being without all the excess. Its not about sexuality but the beauty of the human body, whether male or female. You cant lie.' Rau also spoke about coming out as transgender after people assumed she was cisgender. 'I lived a long time without saying I was transgender,' Rau said in the pages of the magazine. 'I dated a lot and almost forgot. I was scared of never finding a boyfriend and being seen as weird. Then I was like, you know, you should just be who you are.' She continued: 'It's a salvation to speak the truth about yourself, whether it's your gender, sexuality, whatever. The people who reject you aren't worth it.' Rau then poignantly noted: 'It's not about being loved by others: it's about loving yourself.' US PLAYBOY MAY 2014 BY RYAN MAC GINLEY FOREVER GRATEFUL. #HUGHHEFNER #LEGEND #AVANDGARDE #PLAYBOY A post shared by INES RAU (@supa_ines) on Sep 28, 2017 at 8:38am PDT Happy couple: Rau posted this image of herself and her boyfriend in August with the caption 'Love' (above) Dare to bare: ''Nudity means a lot to me, since I went through a transition to get where I want to be,' said Rau Rau also talked about her journey of self-discovery in the magazine as well, which features late founder Hugh Hefner on the cover this month. 'When I was doing this shoot, I was thinking of all those hard days in my childhood,' said the model. Late founder Hugh Hefner covers the November / December issue (above) 'And now everything happening gives me so much joy and happiness. I thought, Am I really going to be a Playmateme? 'Its the most beautiful compliment Ive ever received. Its like getting a giant bouquet of roses.' She went on to discuss the idea of femininity as it applies to women. 'Being a woman doesnt mean being extremely feminine all the time,' said Rau at one point in the interview. 'Being a woman is just being a woman.' She later added: 'I always knew from within, when I was a little kid in my room in the ghetto, that a beautiful destiny was waiting for me. 'I dont know how to explain it. A little voice was telling me, "Youll see. Patience."' She is now juggling a hectic career that has her travelling from Paris to Los Angeles with her modelling career taking off in recent years. Rau also revealed her big plans for the future, having just finished shooting her first film and recently signing a book deal. 'I love to be sexy, but sexy is an attitude. I dont know if Im allowed to say it, but I really feel sexy all the time!' explained Rau. Legs for days: Rau walking the run way for Nicole Miller in 2016 (left) and attending the Zuhair Murad Haute Couture show in January (above) Adjustment: 'I lived a long time without saying I was transgender,' Rau said in the pages of the magazine (above in 2015) On top of the world: Rau stars alongside Kate Upton and Lily Aldridge in a video for 'Vogue' (above) Rau also talked about the causes she champions, which go beyond the ones that many might expect of a transgender woman. 'I will always fight for LGBTQ rights and womens rights, but above everything else, my cause is the environment,' said the model. 'Nothing touches me more than fighting against global warming. I was made to fight for the planetthe forest, the animals, the air. If I get famous, thats my first battle.' The November/December 2017 issue is now available for download at Playboy.com and on newsstands nationwide on October 31. Rau was the first transgender woman to ever appear in 'Playboy' back when she landed that first spread in 2014. She is part of a growing list of transgender models working in the industry, including Gucci muse Hari Nef and Australian stunner Andreja Pejic. Rau and Pejic are close friends. Teddy Quinlivan also revealed that she was transgender during New York Fashion Week last month. It was a surprising admission from the 23-year-old model, who had publicly presented herself as cisgender until that point. 'I remember living my whole life as male, but feeling like I was playing a part,' said Teddy in a video posted on her social media accounts. 'I always knew I was female like just in my soul, in my heart in my brain. I kind of knew I had to pretend to be male to appease like everybody else.' She then added: 'At one point, I just stopped giving a f***.' Theresa May's deputy today hit out at the 'completely ridiculous' trend of comparing political opponents to Hitler - warning it risks fuelling political abuse and violence. Damian Green, first secretary of state, said political debate has become 'markedly worse' and urged MPs to think twice before going 'studs up' on their opponents. He warned the increasingly common tactic of getting personal about your political rivals or comparing them to Hitler risks fuelling hatred. And he said that at its 'most horrible extreme' this hatred had led to the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox just days before the EU referendum. His remarks come after many MPs spoke out about the unprecedented level of abuse and violence hurled at them during the election. MPs told how they had their posters defaced, antisemitic and racist abuse hurled at them and their aides, and hounded online during the campaign. Damian Green, pictured at a Government meeting on Brexit with Brexit Secretary David Davis this week, urged MPs to be more careful about the language they use Labour politician Ken Livingstone has been suspended from the party after he said Hitler was a Zionist (file pics) A string of politicians, including former Labour MP Ken Livingstone, have been criticised for making ill-judged comparisons with Hitler. Speaking at a press gallery lunch in the House of Commons, Mr Green said: 'I think everyone before they go in studs up on a political opponent needs to think long and carefully about who they are talking to. 'It might play well with their own troops to give an opponent a big kicking but perhaps it beholden us all to ask who is reading it and what are they going to do next? Jo Cox, pictured outside Parliament, was murdered by Thomas Mair just days before the EU referendum vote 'I think, for example we have in the past few years witnessed a sad and completely ridiculous rise in routine comparisons with Hitler and the Nazis. 'It is symptomatic not just of a decline but of a rapidly increasing viciousness in our discourse totally out of kilter with what I see day after day in the House of Commons where party friendships are much more common than social media would suggest.' He warned that politicians who use increasingly viscous language risk fuelling online hatred and Twitter trolls. Mr Green said MPs should be proud of the cross-party work and friendships which take place inside Parliament. He said MPs need to always remember they are 'democratic politicians' adding: 'What is pernicious is the attempt to portray your political opponents as somehow not quite human. 'It's the trick of extremists o both sides throughout the ages and we shouldn't allow it to take hold in this country. 'The point is our political discourse needs to be better than it currently is.' And he warned that if MP 'start o behave like Twitter trolls then democracy is in danger.'. PM's deputy slaps down Brexiteers telling them May will not walk away from talks Damian Green today slapped down Brexiteers calling for the PM to walk away from Brexit talks if the EU do not move on to trade discussions. The PM's deputy there are no plans for Theresa May to leave the negotiating table. The Cabinet minister said it is in Britain and the EU's best interests to get a deal and he is confident one will be struck. The PM is to appeal directly to the heads of state of member states to move on to trade talks in Brussels today. In an open letter published today Brexiteers including Tory former chancellor Lord Lawson urged Mrs May to abandon the negotiations if there is no progress towards a deal. But asked if there is a chance the PM will 'walk away' her deputy said: 'No.' He added: 'David Davis said in the House yesterday that he intends to continue with the talks. 'I think the Florence speech has led to an improvement in the atmosphere of the talks. 'They are gong to be tough they are going to be long - it's a European negotiation you would expect both of those things. 'But we would expect to have a successful conclusion at the end.' Advertisement Calling for a change in tone, he said that if it none happens then 'we risk feeding an atmosphere of increasing hatred which at the most horrible extremes resulted in horrible killing of Jo Cox'. And he said MPs to should 'persuade rather than insult' and 'accept the verdict of the people, even or especially when they are wrong.' In a wide-ranging Q&A session, he also slapped down Brexiteers calling for the PM to walk away from Brexit talks if the EU do not move on to trade discussions - insisting there are no plans to leave the negotiating table. The Cabinet minister said it is in Britain and the EU's best interests to get a deal and he is confident one will be struck. She is to appeal directly to the heads of state of member states to move on to trade talks. In an open letter published today Brexiteers including Tory former chancellor Lord Lawson urged Mrs May to abandon the negotiations if there is no progress towards a deal. But asked if there is a chance the PM will 'walk away' her deputy said: 'No.' He added: 'David Davis said in the House yesterday that he intends to continue with the talks. 'I think the Florence speech has led to an improvement in the atmosphere of the talks. 'They are gong to be tough they are going to be long - it's a European negotiation you would expect both of those things. 'But we would expect to have a successful conclusion at the end.' The Cabinet minister, who campaigned to stay in the EU during the referendum, said he stuck by his views and would not change his mind if the contest was rerun. But he said another referendum is not going to be run and the government is committed to getting the best deal, And he dismissed the likelihood of Britain quitting the bloc without a deal , telling reporters: 'I think its hugely desirable that we get a deal. 'I think it would be good for Britain, I think it would be good for the other EU countries as well. 'And because of that fact I think it is likely we will get a deal.' Mr Green, who is good friends with the PM whom he has known since they were students together at Oxford University - also took a dig at his boss's nemesis Mr Osborne. Theresa May, pictured with her aides in Brussels today, is appealing to the heads to EU states directly to move o to trade talks The ex chancellor has launched a series of brutal attacks on the PM in the London paper and reportedly told colleagues he will not rest until 'she is 'chopped up in bags in my freezer'. In a dig at his old Tory colleague, Mr Green joked that he gets all his news from the Evening Standard 'so I know that the government, indeed the Prime Minister, is personally to blame for Ben Stokes' night life (and) hurricane Ophelia'. He added: 'The Evening Standard Russia Today with less George Galloway.' Mr Green also mocked the deep divisions within the Cabinet, joking that his job is to 'make sure my Cabinet colleagues stay united and show the public a great unity of purpose spirit and message its all going terribly well.' And he hinted that there could be a change to the Government's controversial Universal Credit scheme - which merges six benefits into one but has been beset by delays. Critics say the six-week lag between claiming the benefit and it being paid is pushing people into debt. Asked about it, Mr Green said there is 'always (room) for improvement'. And he revealed hat unlike his Tory colleague Tim Loughton, he does not relax with a soak in the bath - but prefers a shower. He said: 'I prefer a shower, maybe I'm busier than him.' A French television channel pulled a hit talent show Thursday on which Canadian producer Gilbert Rozon is a judge after he was accused of sexual assault and harassment. Rozon stepped down as boss of the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal Wednesday after a comedian publicly accused him of being an 'aggressor' following allegations from a number of women. Montreal police have opened an investigation into an alleged sexual aggression involving Rozon that took place in Paris in 1994, Radio Canada reported. Gilbert Rozon was due to appear in France's Got Talent until he became embroiled in the growing celebrity sexual harassment controversy following the Harvey Weinstein revelations Rozon was the founder of the Montreal Just of Laughs comedy festival Rozon has been forced to step down from his role with the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival after being accused of abusing his position in a similar manner to Harvey Weinstein The M6 channel said it was suspending 'France's Got Talent' - which was due to air next week - 'without judging the truth' of the accusations against Rozon, who acts as the Simon Cowell figure on the show's panel of judges. The 62-year-old impresario is the latest powerful male figure to be caught in the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, with the Hollywood mogul accused of decades of sexual abuse and harassment. 'Shaken by the allegations against me, I want to dedicate all my time to review the matter,' Rozon wrote on Facebook. 'To all those who I may have offended in my life, I'm sincerely sorry.' An M6 spokesman told AFP that the show had not been scrapped. 'Its broadcast has been suspended but it will return later,' he said. Troubled Shia LaBeouf appeared in court on Thursday to face charges for his July 8 arrest for public drunkenness - taking a plea deal that saved him from jail time. The 31-year-old actor was arrested in Savannah, Georgia this past summer, when he refused to heed an officer's orders to leave a local market. Officers said they asked LaBeouf to leave after he went into a rage when he was denied a cigarette around 4am. Several videos then caught the actor going on race-fueled rants as he was taken to the jail and booked. At one point, he called a white officer 'racist' because he was 'arresting a fellow white man,' according to the arrest report. Scroll down for video Shia LaBeouf, right, stands before a judge at Chatham County, Georgia court on Thursday to faces charges for his July arrest LaBeouf's Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers were a little out of place in his otherwise professional outfit. LaBeouf waited in the back of the court until it was time to go before the judge The actor, right, did not make a comment to reporters as he arrived at the courthouse Thursday morning In court on Thursday, LaBeouf took a plea deal that saved him from having to serve any jail time. He pleaded guilty to obstruction and nolo contendere to disorderly conduct. The public drunkenness charge against him, which carried a maximum sentence of a year in prison, was dropped. The judge sentenced LaBeouf to one year of probation and ordered him to take anger management classes. He will also have to undergo an alcohol evaluation and pay a fine of $2,680. LaBeouf took a plea deal, and was sentence to a year of probation and ordered to take anger management classes. The 31-year-old actor is pictured above in his July mugshot LaBeouf refused to make a comment as he arrived at Chatham County court on Thursday, but he gave reporters a thumbs up. As he was being arrested in July, LaBeouf was caught on body cam ranting at officers. LaBeouf launched into a tirade at the officers by first declaring: 'I have rights! I'm an American!' He continued on to demand to know why he was being taken into custody at his hotel, before he is seen in the video being handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser, all the while heaping verbal abuse on the officers. An officer then attempted to have a conversation with LaBeouf, but he refused, shouting about his handcuffs: 'You gonna put these s***s off my arms or you'll be f***ing f***ed.' LaBeouf then turned political in his rant, telling the black officer: 'You got a president that don't give a s*** about you, and you're stuck in a police force that don't give a f*** about you, so you wanna arrest white people who give a f***, who ask for cigarettes?' The incensed actor is then seen in the clip ramping up the vitriol, declaring: 'I came up to you trying to be nice, you stupid b****, I came up to you asking for a cigarette, you dumb f***. Why would I ask for a cigarette if I was racist, you stupid b****?' He then boasted: 'I got more millionaire lawyers than you know what to do with, you stupid b****.' LaBeouf was arrested after refusing officers' orders to leave a market in Savannah in the early hours of July 8 The footage, which appears to have been edited down, concludes with LaBeouf standing against a wall and lamenting that his handcuffs are too tight. 'Why am I in custody? Why am I in custody?' he shouted in the video. A second video obtained by DailyMail.com showed the actor continuing to hurl abuse at the officers and rant about race as he was being taken to jail. 'You're a pirate, b****!' LaBeouf howled from the back of the squad car in the clip, adding: 'And you put your own kind in the pen for nothing.' He continued: 'You put a white man in the pen, for what, you f***ing b****?' for asking a black man for a cigarette?' The Hollywood star then once again brought up his high-priced attorney, yelling: 'I pay my taxes, you dumb b****. You're about to meet my lawyer... and you'll feel like a stupid, slimy w****. Enjoy your life, that's your legacy, you f***ing coward.' The video then ended with the actor seen being stood up against the wall, with his hands still restrained. Further videos showed LaBeouf's behavior after arriving at the jail, where he continued to use foul language towards officers and jail staff. LaBeouf went on a bizarre rant, in which he called one officer 'racist' for arresting a fellow white man In a video obtained by TMZ, the Hollywood star can be seen ranting and raving at police while he was being held inside the station prior to his release. 'F*** you b****, f*** you b****,' he is heard telling the white police officer at the start of the first clip. 'Hey, when you go home to your wife, what do you tell her at night? You know she watches porn, she probably watches the x-f***ing big boys and s***, like looking at black d***. 'Don't you feel f***ed up being white about that? Don't you feel like "f*** man, I ain't got all the goods". Don't you feel like a white joke?' The video then ends as he is led away by two other officers. However, he continues the racist tirade this time at a black police officer in another video showing him being booked into the system. The 31-year-old actor was sat at a desk while a white police officer was entering some information on a computer, but LaBeouf took offense with a black cop also sat at the table. 'You're going to hell, straight to hell, bro,' he said, seemingly to the white cop, before switching his attack to the black officer. 'You especially that's sad as f***, because he's a black man.' The white cop is then heard replying, 'that don't mean he's going to hell', to which the actor responded: 'It means a whole lot, bro.' LaBeouf then complained that he was arrested because the police were 'racist', saying: 'You got me in here on a f***ing hold from a black man who arrested me for being white. 'I'm sitting around asking three black people to have a cigarette, you motherf***ers want to call me a racist. 'It happened just like that, it's super simple. You call me whatever you want you have me sitting here for this dumb a** s*** for no reason it's your word against my word.' After the incident in July, LaBeouf released a statement saying he is 'deeply ashamed' of his behavior and pledging to get sober. 'My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst. It is a new low. A low I hope is a bottom. I have been struggling with addiction publicly for far too long, and I am actively taking steps toward securing my sobriety and hope I can be forgiven for my mistakes,' LaBeouf's statement read, in part. At the time of his arrest, LaBeouf was in town filming the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon. This is the dramatic moment a straight A student who wanted to carry out a terror attack in the UK is arrested in a police raid just days before he planned to travel to Syria to join ISIS. Mubashir Jamil, 22, from Luton, told an undercover police officer he wanted to wear a suicide vest and 'press the button', the Old Bailey heard at his trial. He filled out an ISIS application form and offered to blow himself up to bring the 'taste of immense pain' to innocent people on British soil following the terror attacks in Paris and Belgium. Dramatic police headcam footage shows the moment officers charged into his house shouting 'stay where you are' and put him in handcuffs just days before he was due to fly to Turkey with Hawaiian shirts and 2,000 cash. Mubashir Jamil, 22, from Luton, offered to wear a suicide vest and 'press the button', the Old Bailey heard. The once gifted schoolboy denied preparing acts of terror, saying he was hearing voices and wanted to go to Syria to be exorcised of the 'jinns' [spirits] that were plaguing him. After being found guilty today, he was told he would be sentenced next month. The court heard how the avid computer gamer became obsessed with 'martyrdom' after surfing the web for ISIS propaganda. He was snared in encrypted chat with an undercover officer, known as 'Abu Hasan', and counter-terrorist officers swooped to arrest him days before his Easyjet flight. Jamil, who suffered from periods of mental illness, made contact with the man he thought was an ISIS agent through the Telegram app, the court heard. He told him: 'If you or some brother you know can put an explosive belt on me and tell me how to press, as soon as possible for security reasons, I can do something in the UK even tomorrow after I find a good target.' He boasted how he was 'not afraid of violent fighting, getting hurt and tortured and hurting others.' The defendant, who set up an Argos punch bag at his home to get fit for jihad, went on to say he would 'prefer hijrah (migration)'. He also said: 'I want them to feel another attack while they're still in mourning for Belgium.' Jamil, who had never travelled alone before, bought a return flight from Luton to Turkey and stocked up on travel kit, including toiletries from Boots. He also packed a Hawaiian shirt to make it look as though he was going on holiday The court heard how Jamil shaved off his beard following guidance on an e-publication about how to be a 'secret agent' in a non-Muslim country. In early April last year, Jamil, who had never travelled alone before, bought a return flight from Luton to Turkey and stocked up on travel kit, including toiletries from Boots. He also packed a Hawaiian shirt and other clothing to make it look as though he was going on holiday. Barnaby Jameson, prosecuting, told the jury: 'This was not so much sea and sun, as jihad and martyrdom, by EasyJet.' On April 14 Jamil allegedly asked Abu Hasan: 'Will I have to buy my own guns in Sham?' The officer told him not to worry. The 22-year-old former A-grade student set up an Argos punch bag at his home (right) so he could get fit for jihad The officer persuaded Jamil to send him a copy of his passport, photographs of himself and even a copy of the boarding pass for his flight to Turkey. Just days before he was due to leave on April 30, counter-terrorist police burst into Jamil's home on April 27. At the time, he was on his laptop sending the undercover officer the message 'police alert'. He told police: 'I want to go to and join Islamic State', adding: 'It's easy to arrest me, a lone person. There are other people here who are dangerous and have access to weapons.' He also said: 'What will you do when Islamic State reach these shores, they won't be so easy to stop then. And they will come. The Islamic State...you have tried to stop their rise and you have failed.' Dramatic police head cam footage shows the moment officers charged into his house shouting 'stay where you are' This is the moment police arrested Jamil after finding him on his laptop in his room The court heard how the former Challney High School for Boys pupil got A grades in his GCSEs and did work experience at an accountancy firm. He worked in a local Amazon warehouse to save up nearly 2,000 to travel to Turkey and listed his interests as reading fiction, surfing the internet and physical training. He spent most of his free time at the home he shared with his mother, younger brother and younger sister, playing computer games or surfing the web. His interest in ISIS began in around April 2014 as he searched for jihadi chants online, but his research deepened from November 2015 as he trawled the web for propaganda videos produced by the terror group. Prosecutor Mr Jameson said: 'It was through the internet that the defendant was drawn into a world poles apart from that of the once gifted schoolboy with A* in both the arts and sciences. Jamil worked in a local Amazon warehouse to save up nearly 2,000 to travel to Turkey 'He became a would-be ISIS recruit willing to sacrifice his life for ISIS 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 ISIS. 'His preference, however, was to go to Syria and join ISIS as a jihadist fighter.' The court heard how Jamil scoured Twitter for pro-ISIS feeds, including one which praised last year's Belgian bombings. Jurors were shown extracts of 'upsetting and disturbing' images and documents taken from Jamil's computer. Among them was a profile dedicated to a 23-year-old British fighter of Pakistani origin who was shot in the eye and 'martyred'. Jamil denied preparing acts of terror but an Old Bailey jury deliberated for a day to find him guilty following a retrial. A white former Oklahoma reserve deputy who fatally shot an unarmed black man when he mistook his firearm for a stun gun has been released from prison after serving less than half of his four-year sentence. Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Elliott says 76-year-old Robert Bates was freed on Thursday morning from the North Fork Correctional Center in western Oklahoma. Bates was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter in the April 2015 fatal shooting of 44-year-old Eric Harris during a traffic stop. Scroll down for video Early release: Former Oklahoma reserve deputy Robert Bates, 76 (pictured left in April 2015), was released from prison Thursday, after serving less than half of his four-year sentence for the shooting death of Eric Harris, 44 (right) Bates, a former insurance executive, was convicted in May 2016 (pictured) of second-degree manslaughter The former Tulsa County sheriff's volunteer deputy was released after serving just over 16 months behind bars because he got credit for good behavior. Bates will be on probation for nine more months. The Harris shooting drew thousands of county residents to petition for a grand jury to investigate allegations that Bates, a millionaire retired insurance executive, was unqualified to serve as a deputy but was kept on the force because of his close ties to indicted ex-Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Attorneys for Harris' family put out a statement saying that the ex-deputy is being released early, 'in time to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family,' even as his victim's loved ones continue to mourn his death. 'Now that Mr. Bates is out of prison, it is our expectation that the civil rights suit filed against him and Former Sheriff Glanz will finally begin to intensify,' the statement concluded, according to NewsOn6. On April 2, 2015, Bates, then aged 73, was taking part in an undercover gun sale sting operation when he confronted Harris. Harris was shot during a gun sale sting operation in Tulsa, which was caught on camera Video of the encounter showed Bates chasing the unarmed black suspect (pictured) In an attempt to subdue him, Bates went to grab his Taser, but later claimed he was unaware he had actually pulled out his gun instead (pictured on the ground) Final moments: The fatally-wounded Harris can be heard saying: 'Oh my god, he shot me! He shot me!' Video of the encounter showed Bates chasing the unarmed suspect. In an attempt to subdue him, Bates went to grab his Taser, but later claimed he was unaware he had actually pulled out his gun instead. In the video, which was released by the sheriff's office, Bates can be heard shouting 'Taser! Taser!' When the gun goes off, he says: 'I shot him! I'm sorry.' The fatally-wounded man can be heard saying: 'Oh my god, he shot me! He shot me! He shot me, man' before adding: 'Oh, my god. I'm losing my breath!' Bates resigned his position in the sheriff's department in the days following the shooting. He was found guilty of manslaughter in May 2016 and began serving his four-year sentence the following month. Bates, pictured above on May 31, 2016, was trained to be a Tulsa Police Department patrolman in 1964 but left in 1965 At 6.45am on Thursday, Bates walked out of the North Fork Correctional Center in Sayre a free man, having accumulated time for good behavior and other credits. Bates, who sold his insurance business for $6million in 1999, was trained to be a Tulsa Police Department patrolman in 1964 but left in 1965. He was out of law enforcement for 35 years, returning for volunteer work in Florida in 2000 before joining the Tulsa County force in 2008 and making a number of donations to the agency. Supporters of the bill say the law enshrines respect for public discourse and communication Critics also say that Bill 62 targets a small minority for nothing more than political gain Montreal's Mayor Denis Coderre denounced the bill, saying his city will be affected the most by the new legislation The legislation passed 66 to 51 with the majority Liberal party pushing the law The bill bans anyone from covering their face while giving or receiving public services such as medical care, public transport or using the library Quebec will become North America's first province to ban its citizens from wearing face coverings Quebec will become North America's first province to ban its citizens from wearing face coverings in what civil rights experts call an attack on the Muslim community. The Quebec National Assembly moved to adopt the legislation on Wednesday, which compels residents to show their face while giving or receiving public services, according to The Globe and Mail. The law, named Bill 62, is the result of a decade-long dispute concerning the religious community as it relates to the public sphere. Quebec will become North America's first province to ban its citizens from wearing face coverings (Pictured: Women in traditional Muslim garb protesting in Quebec in September 2013) The Quebec National Assembly moved to adopt Bill 62 on Wednesday, passing the legislation 66 to 51 (Pictured: Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee) Implementation of the law has yet to be worked out, but critics fear the new legislation will disproportionately affect Muslim women who choose to wear traditional garments such as the burqa or niqab. Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee said the law will affect anyone who uses state services, such as bus transportation, medical care or checking out a book at the library. 'To take public transit, you have to have your face uncovered. All through the ride,' Vallee said on Wednesday. Bill 62 was adopted by the National Assembly on Wednesday, with The Liberals using their majority to push the legislation through voting 66 to 51. Some factions in the Assembly who voted down the law, such as Parti Quebecois and Coalition Avenir Quebec, said the bill did not go far enough. Montreal's Mayor Denis Coderre denounced the bill, saying his city will be affected the most by the new legislation (Pictured: Denis Coderre Sept. 2017) Along with Muslim organizations and civil-rights groups, Montreal's Mayor Denis Coderre denounced the legislation, saying his city, which houses the majority of immigrants, would bear the brunt of the law's provisions, the Mail reported. Legal experts say they expect the law to face a litany of legal challenges. 'I have never seen a more flagrantly unconstitutional law,' Montreal human-rights lawyer Julius Grey told The Mail during an interview. 'The law scandalizes me. The possibility that somebody could be refused service at a hospital or be thrown off a bus [because of a face veil] is scandalous.' Critics also say that Bill 62, which was first presented in 2015, takes aim at Quebec's most vulnerable citizens, targeting a minority community for political purposes. Supporters of the bill like Quebec's Premier Philippe Couillard (pictured) say the law enshrines respect for public discourse and communication 'It allows voices to marginalize and vilify the Muslim community even further,' Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told The Mail. 'It's not the business of the state to be in the wardrobes of the nation,' he added. Bill 62 does not specifically single out the burqa or the niqab in its language, but it requires citizens to have their faced uncovered while interacting with state institutions. Vallee said that the law could be extended to included bandannas and certain sunglasses as well. Quebec's Premier, Philippe Couillard, has been under intense pressure to support the legislation, fearing to look soft on issues such as identity as an election looms just one year away. 'A covered face isn't only about religion,' Couillard said. 'You speak to me, I speak to you, I see your face, you see mine. It's part of communications. It's a question in my mind that is not solely religious, it's human,' he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Moscow has 'caught up with US missile capabilities' and will respond if America quits a landmark Cold War nuclear treaty. Speaking to international policy experts at the Valdai forum in Sochi, Putin said Russia will respond immediately and symmetrically if the United States quits the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. U.S. officials have accused Russia of developing missiles in violation of the treaty, a charge Russia has denied. The 1987 agreement, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was designed to see the mutual elimination of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers between the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Moscow has 'caught up with US missile capabilities' and will respond if America quits an important nuclear treaty Putin said the accord was tilted in the US's favor, effectively amounting to 'unilateral disarmament,' as it failed to ban missiles carried by navy ships and aircraft that the US had and the Soviet Union didn't. He said Russia has since developed such cruise missiles for its navy and air force. Moscow is also ready to develop new weapons systems, both nuclear and non-nuclear, in response to other countries doing the same, Putin said at the forum with scholars. The Russian leader condemned North Korea's nuclear tests but insisted the crisis around the Korean peninsula should be resolved through dialogue. 'We condemn the nuclear tests carried out by North Korea,' Putin said. 'But it is absolutely necessary to resolve this problem through dialogue and not drive North Korea into a corner, threatening it with the use of force, and not to fall into outright insolence.' Putin criticized the US and its allies for 'missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War' Putin criticized the US and its allies for 'missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War'. The Russian leader also said the US has been slow to dismantle its chemical weapons arsenals in line with an international treaty, while Russia last month wrapped up the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles. This comes at a time of heightened hostility between Russia and the US. The relationship soured recently following a series of expulsions of diplomats and closures of diplomatic missions. The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the US to cut its embassy and consulate staff in Russia by 755 people, or by two-thirds. Putin criticized the US and its allies for 'missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War' In response, the US suspended issuing non-immigrant visas in Moscow for a week in August and stopped issuing visas at its consulates elsewhere in Russia. Relations between Russia and the United States cooled following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has left 10,000 people dead. Reports of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election put a further damper on hopes for better ties that the Kremlin had pinned on Trump's presidency. In August, the US adopted a new package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia, aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the US election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. A wave of lynch mob attacks in Malawi against people accused of being vampires has resulted in two more deaths. Six people had already been killed in the attacks but as the mania spread into the country's second-biggest city of Blantyre, two more suspected blood-suckers were killed. One man, a 22-year-old, was torched and another was stoned to death because they were believed to be vampires. Six people had already been killed in the attacks but as the mania spread into the country's second-biggest city of Blantyre (pictured), two more suspected blood-suckers were killed The lynch mob attacks began in mid-September in a country that is one of the world's poorest and where belief in witchcraft is widespread. In Blantyre on Thursday, mobs 'torched a 22-year-old epileptic man in Chileka, and another man was stoned to death after being suspected of being a blood sucker,' said Ramsy Mushani, a national police spokesman. The 22-year-old was set alight at a police checkpoint on a road leading to the city's airport. A family member confirmed the man was epileptic and that he was killed while walking home from a nearby hospital. A wave of lynch mob attacks in Malawi against people accused of being vampires has resulted in two more deaths Malawian President Peter Mutharika has been visiting parts of the country affected by the vampire scare, trying to prevent the deaths of innocent people. The United Nations and US embassy have blacklisted several districts in Malawi as dangerous zones for staffers and nationals. Earlier this month the UN pulled staff out of two districts in southern Malawi. The husband of a woman accused of shooting dead his first wife in a 27-year-old murder known as the killer clown case protested her innocence on Thursday. Michael Warren, 65, maintains that neither he nor his current wife Sheila, 54, were involved in the May 1990 killing of his first wife Marlene. Marlene, 40, was shot in the face after answering the door of her Palm Beach home to a person who was dressed up as a clown. The clown handed her balloons and flowers then coldly fired a single shot before driving off in a white sedan. Michael, who a car salesman, was not at home at the time. He and Sheila knew each other through work and were suspected of having an affair but it was never proven. Until this year, there was no hint of who may have killed her until a local newspaper reporter reviewing the case for its 27th anniversary in May discovered that in the years since, Michael and Sheila - who were acquaintances at the time - had quietly married and moved out of Florida. They were found living in Abingdon, Virginia, in a $500,000 lake-front home where neighbors knew them as Debbie and Mike and where none had ever heard of Marlene and her death. Police who had never closed the investigation used new DNA technology to test existing evidence which they had gathered from the scene and they linked it to Sheila who was extradited from Virginia to Florida to face charges. She now remains in custody on a murder charge and is facing the death penalty if convicted. In an interview with ABC's 20/20 which will air on Friday, Michael spoke publicly for the first time since Sheila's arrest and revealed his belief that she is innocent. The network teased a sliver of what he said in an article on Thursday in which he is quoted saying: 'This is very serious and very unfair.' Scroll down for video Michael Warren (pictured above for the first time with his wife Sheila) says she is innocent of killing his first wife Marlene in 1990 Police say Sheila (left in her September mugshot) dressed up as a clown to murder Marlene Warren (right) on her doorstep in Palm Beach in 1990 Palm Beach sheriffs previously said that they had suspected Michael and Sheila of having an affair in the 1990s but that they could not link either of them to the murder. No charges have been filed against Michael since his wife's arrest last month. On Thursday, the State's Attorney refused to tell DailyMail.com whether he is being investigated on the suspicion that he may have been involved in a plot to kill Marlene. One question surrounding the case remains which is did Sheila act alone to carry out the murder and win Michael over once he was widowed, or did she and Michael plot the murder together so that they could be together. In ABC'S 20/20 episode, Marlene's parents also take part and say they suspected he knows more about their daughter's killing than he lets on but that they do not believe he himself carried it out. Authorities have so far given no indication that they believe he was involved. Marlene's son Joe Ahrens appears satisfied with Sheila's arrest. He celebrated the news on social media last month saying police had 'finally' caught his mother's murderer. In May 1990, a person dressed up as a clown rang the doorbell of Marlene and Michael's home in Palm Beach Florida. Marlene answered and received a delivery of a bouquet of carnations and some balloons. She was then shot in the face and the clown fled. Marlene (seen above being taken to hospital after being shot) died two days later Pictured are the two balloons and flowers which the clown gave to Marlene. One of the balloons said 'You're the greatest' and the other had a photograph of Snow White on it The white sedan the clown used to drive up to Marlene's home then away again was later found abandoned (above) in a parking lot Crime scene investigators are pictured at the Warren home after Marlene was shot. The small bouquet of flowers that the clown gave her is pictured Michael was jailed in 1992 for racketeering (above left in court) and then dropped off the map after spending three years in jail in Florida. When his wife was killed, police suspected he was having an affair with Sheila (right in her driver's license) but they denied it Michael and Sheila married in Las Vegas in 2002 then quietly moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, and later on to Abingdon, Virginia where they are pictured recently. Neighbors described them to DailyMail.com as a sweet couple who were friendly. They said they never brought up Marlene or Michael's first marriage Michael is not Joe's biological father. Joe was in the home with his friends when Marlene was killed on the doorstep. Some suspected that Marlene and Sheila had been having an affair when Marlene died and police say they questioned the pair about it but found no proof. Her parents said in 2000 that Marlene confided in them that she and Michael had been having marital problems and said she believed he had a mistress. Neither has ever given any explanation or version of events about how they came to get married. In 1994, Michael was jailed in a separate case on racketeering charges related to his car rental agency. He was released in 1997 then slipped out of public view for 20 years. The Purple Cow restaurant in Kingsport, Tennessee, which Michael and Sheila owned until last year Sheila (above during a court appearance in Florida this month after being extradited) now faces the death penalty Michael (left), now 65, says his 54-year-old wife (right in a mugshot taken since September) is being treated unfairly and that she is innocent. Sheila remains in jail without bond and is awaiting her next court date In May this year, Palm Beach Post reporter Barbara Marshall was reviewing Marlene's murder for a feature to commemorate its 27th anniversary. She discovered during her research that Michael and Sheila had gotten married in Las Vegas in 2002 and that they were now living in Abingdon, Virginia. They had recently sold The Purple Cow, a restaurant they owned in Tennessee and were living in a $500,000 lake-front home in a gated community when Sheila was arrested. Neighbors told DailyMail.com on Thursday. they were shocked by Sheila's arrest. 'There has to have been some mistake along the way. She was my sweet, sweet friend,' Brooke Blevins, who lives near them, said. Neither of them ever mentioned Marlene's death or the fact that Michael had been married before, she added. It is not clear whether if Marshall reported her findings to police but they revived their investigation and in August, Florida police contacted their Virginia counterparts to try to find Sheila. She was arrested on September 27 and was extradited back to Florida shortly afterwards. In her mugshot, she appeared smiling. Her lawyer Richard Lubin maintains that she is innocent. Earlier this month, Florida's State Attorney David Aronberg said he was pursuing the death penalty. Sheila remains behind bars without bond and is awaiting her next court date. North Dakota newspaper officials are worried about a general tightening of government meetings and records this year, a pattern highlighted by reporters being kept out of recent summits on the Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion project. It just seems like theres a general trend in government that used to be very much in favor of transparency now isnt, said Jack McDonald, attorney for the North Dakota Newspaper Association. A reporter for the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead was escorted out of a meeting last week on the $2.2 billion diversion at the Fargo Public Library, which was attended by a number of public officials, including Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. John Hoeven and Moorhead (Minn.) Mayor Del Rae Williams. Another Forum reporter was asked to leave a diversion meeting in Moorhead the week before. Burgum said Wednesday hes committed to transparency. He said upcoming meetings of a diversion task force between North Dakota and Minnesota will be public. But the concerns shared by newspaper representatives extend beyond the massive public works project. In late September, a powerful legislative committee met with attorneys behind closed doors for about an hour before voting to sue over some of Burgums vetoes. It was the first time in modern history that North Dakota legislators convened an executive session, the committees chairman said. Almost two months earlier, two Grand Forks Herald reporters were ejected from University of North Dakota property when they tried to report on Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitts visit. Hoeven later said the meetings should have been open, and UND apologized. McDonald pointed to a new state law that shields the names of applicants for public jobs until finalists are named. Opposed by the NDNA on the grounds that it would diminish taxpayers ability to know about the functions of their government but supported by Burgum as a means to attract talent, the bill sailed through the Legislature in bipartisan fashion this year. And McDonald noted the State Board of Higher Education is considering meeting in person less frequently. Its chairman said that could be a better use of peoples time, given the distances board members have to travel. Instances like those represent a worrying trend for a state that often prides itself on its accessibility to public officials, NDNA Executive Director Steve Andrist said. To me, you start from the perspective that this is the business of the public, and therefore the public has an inherent right to be involved, he said. Forum Communications Co., which owns The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks Herald and Forum News Service, is a member of the NDNA. Burgums spokesman Mike Nowatzki wasnt aware that any public body had a quorum of its members during last weeks diversion meeting. He said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers organized the meeting, and a spokesman for the federal agency said it was meant to serve as an introduction for Maj. Gen. Richard Kaiser, the new head of its Mississippi Valley Division. There wasnt anything in the meeting that, in retrospect, couldnt have been public, Burgum said in an interview. But I suppose the Corps was just following their standard practice. Hoeven, in a letter to the editor this week, said the meeting could have been open and I did not, nor did my staff, escort the reporter out of the meeting. He noted there was a media availability afterward. McDonald said Burgum is used to making decisions in private, given his background as a successful businessman who campaigned as an outsider to state government. But Burgum disputed any assertion that he isnt accustomed to transparency, pointing to his involvement with public companies. He didnt cite any other laws on open records or meetings that hed like to see changed, and he defended a private meeting he held in May with oil and gas industry officials on preventing spills. Our goal here is to have best outcomes for taxpayers, thats what were trying to do, Burgum said. And transparency can play a role in that, but in some cases having the appropriate amount of transparency also helps improve outcomes. Republican Sen. Ray Holmberg, chairman of the Legislative Management, the committee that voted to sue over Burgums vetoes, said they convened a legal strategy session because their case could have been harmed had details been made public. The committee cited the attorney consultation exemption to the states open meeting law. Holmberg said a recording of the meeting will be released once the lawsuit has concluded. Overall, I think the culture of government in North Dakota is pretty open, with some exceptions that crop up, he said. McDonald agreed that North Dakotas open records laws are some of the best in the country, and Andrist noted people can request an opinion from the attorney generals office if they feel a public body has been illegally opaque. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued 92 opinions on open records and meetings since 2013, although only seven have come so far this year. But McDonald said public pushback may be the only consequence in iffy cases like the diversion meeting. Technically, it probably did not have to be an open meeting, he said. But it should have been. An Ohio woman got a big shock when she opened her bill from DirecTV to see that she owed $184,530.57 to the cable-service company. Angela Mixon-Smith, 62, said she nearly had a heart attack when she saw the bill on Monday in her Ashtabula County home. In April, Mixon-Smith signed up for a promotional offer to bundle her existing DirecTV service with a new AT&T phone plan. Since then, the Army veteran said she's had service problems and received confusing bills, but the $184,000 charge was the last straw. Scroll down for video Angela Mixon-Smith, 62, said she nearly had a heart attack when she saw the bill on Monday in her Ashtabula County home The Army veteran said she signed up for a bundle deal in April and since then has had service problems and received confusing bills She added that her chest got heavy, 'I had to get some water. I don't drink. I was ready to drink.' 'I know I don't have that kind of money,' the retired postal worker said. 'And, since April? There's no way.' DirecTV merged with AT&T in 2015. AT&T spokesperson Holly Hollingsworth provided a statement to WJW: 'We apologize for the billing error that occurred. We've reached out to the customer to resolve the issue.' Though the spokesperson could not provide an explanation for the billing mix-up, by Wednesday afternoon Mixon-Smith's account had been credited. 'I just want them to straighten out my service,' Mixon-Smith said. 'AT&T, they just don't have it together.' Former headteacher Louisa Jones A former headteacher at an award-winning school has taken her own young children out of formal education for a year to travel the world on a family holiday. Louisa Jones, ex-head of Reading's brand new Civitas Academy school, says her experience led her to believe that nobody would 'care' about her decision. Her decision comes at a time when parents can be fined 60 per child for 'unauthorised' holiday absences. The mother-of-two wrote on her blog: 'By the way, I am always asked- were they ok with you taking your children out of school? Well nobody cares. 'What I mean is, as long as you are taken off roll and not causing the school a poor attendance then the school doesn't mind. In fact they support some real life schooling. 'The authorities have not been in contact with me and have not been round to my home to find out if I am actually 'schooling' my children or if I have an appropriate home in which to teach them. They don't know I am a teacher or that we are soon to be gone on a year to find some answers.' The young mum plans on home-schooling her children, throughout the duration of the trip which started recently in a rented villa on sun-soaked The Palm, Dubai. Mrs Jones wrote: 'I know only too well what goes on in school. What ofsted (sic) look out for, what makes a good teacher and school. Sometimes I question it all. Asking myself 'is this just all too much?' 'The roles of what should be done in school and at home are so blurred and is always debated. Parents thinking - can't they do that at school and teachers thinking - surely it's up to their parents... 'People have asked me - are you actually teaching them, or just saying you are? Now, to me, home schooling isn't just day trips and horse riding lessons. Although this is a big part of it.' The current penalty for taking children out of school for a holiday is a 60 fine per child, per trip, however there is no such legal requirement for home-schooled children. Louisa Jones with her husband and children. The family are embarking on a round-the-world trip Mrs Jones took this picture in Dubai yesterday as the family start their adventure A spokesman for Reading Borough Council said today: 'Council education officers are aware of this family and are satisfied they have acted within the law. We can confirm there is no investigation regarding their children's schooling.' The Government website states: 'You have to get permission from the headteacher if you want to take your child out of school during term time. Mrs Jones pictured with her husband 'You can only do this if you make an application to the headteacher in advance (as a parent the child normally lives with) and there are exceptional circumstances. It's up to the headteacher how many days your child can be away from school if leave is granted.' The council spokesman added that for home schooling, parents must make sure their children receive a full-time education from the age of five and they can choose to teach their children at home. The family of four plans to stay in Dubai with friends and family before heading off to Bahrain, followed by a rented villa in Sri Lanka, Singapore, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Argentina, Costa Rica, and finishing up with four months to explore the United States and Canada. Mrs Jones wrote in her blog, entitled 'The Bits in Between': 'After some quality time with our friends we went to stay at one of Dubai's lovely hotels on the palm. We managed to find a hotel with apartments so we had our own kitchen. 'My daughter learned how to swim without arm bands here which has been a huge boost in her confidence. Just a few consecutive days in the pool had improved the children's swimming so much. I'm pleased about this as this is one of the things on my list of 'what do we want to achieve from this trip'.' Civitas Academy in Reading where Mrs Jones was headteacher A spokesman for the local council said they were satisfied with the Jones' plans The family sold or donated all of their things, including their house, and moved out of their rented home in Grosvenor Road, Caversham, Reading at the beginning of this month. Civitas Academy, where Mrs Jones worked as a headteacher until the end of summer term, opened in September 2016 and has already won a Community Benefit award for excellent achievement in providing a facility which directly benefits the local community and illustrates its success through local community feedback. The school's website reads: 'Our aim is to provide an excellent education for all of our children, helping them develop the confidence, skills, curiosity and understanding to grow and progress academically, socially and emotionally. Rules on taking your children out of school during term time The Government's website states: 'You have to get permission from the head teacher if you want to take your child out of school during term time. 'You can only do this if: you make an application to the head teacher in advance (as a parent the child normally lives with) there are exceptional circumstances 'Its up to the head teacher how many days your child can be away from school if leave is granted.' Advertisement 'We believe in educating the 'whole child', and our personalised approach to learning means that children are supported, challenged, stretched and inspired in a wide range of exciting learning opportunities through our broad, balanced and engaging curriculum.' At the end of the summer term, the school tweeted: 'We are saying our farewells to Miss Siv and Mrs Jones in a special @R2Civitas assembly today! #GoodLuck Send postcards!' Considering coming home and the aftermath of the mammoth trip, Mrs Jones wrote: 'That feeling when you meet 'the one' or you find the right wedding dress 'you just know' or when you walk into a house and 'you get that feeling' and want to buy it- well I'm counting on one of those. 'I'm imagining I'm going to walk into a Buddhist shrine and think 'I know' or ride a horse through some foothills of the mountains and feel 'this is home' or 'I miss home'. 'Maybe we will kayak on a lonesome river and realise that I'm yearning for some family time. I don't know what it is going to be or how it will turn out. In the words of Kungfu Panda I'm waiting for a sign from the universe to tell me. 'For once we plan to have no plan.' A male nurse has been arrested after being caught having sex with a patient who had just died from lung problems by her astonished husband. The pervert received a beating from the grief-stricken partner before being handed over to police in the Bolivian capital La Paz. He was named locally last night as Grover Macuchapi, 27, and is now facing prosecution on charges of profaning a corpse and obscene acts. The accused pervert (pictured, left) was named locally last night as Grover Macuchapi, 27, is facing charges Grover Macuchapi, a male nurse, has been arrested after being caught having sex with a patient who had just died from lung problems by her astonished husband Police chief Douglas Uzquiano said the unsavoury incident happened on Monday night around an hour after the female patient died at Hospital de Clinicas in La Paz and was transferred to a hospital morgue. He said: 'Relatives of the dead woman had gone to the hospital to cancel a debt they had for the medical treatment she received. 'The husband went to the morgue and saw a male nurse having sex with his late wife.' The unnamed husband told a local newspaper: 'I saw what he was doing and hit him. He was moving and he had his trousers down.' The pervert hospital worker blamed his actions on a trance. He was quoted as saying: 'Something happened. It was like a dream. The next thing I remember was feeling a blow from behind when the woman's husband hit me.' The unnamed female patient, a 28-year-old, had only died around an hour before she was targeted. Prosecutors said Macuchapi could not be charged with necrophilia because the offence didn't exist under Peruvian law. Prosecutors said Macuchapi could not be charged with necrophilia because the offence didn't exist under Peruvian law Last May police in Argentina arrested a man who broke into a hospital morgue to have sex with a dead woman. The 22-year-old drifter told cops he acted out of an 'insatiable desire to have sex in the hospital'. Staff dialled 999 after seeing the pervert had taken a body out of one of the freezers and was standing over his victim with his pants round his ankles. He was still acting out his sick fantasy when the police arrived and made no attempt to resist arrest. The bizarre incident happened at San Vicente de Paul Hospital in Oran, north west Argentina. The woman he targeted was a 41-year-old from a village 70 miles away whose sudden death was due to be investigated in an autopsy later that morning. He slipped into the hospital after getting past a security guard who was answering the call of nature. Local reports said police found cash in a rucksack he was carrying which patients and their families leave the hospital when they are discharged. Max Hill QC - seen outside the Old Bailey in June 2015 - said hundreds of Britons coming home after serving under the brutal terror group in Iraq and Syria have not been charged to avoid 'losing a generation' of young men 'Naive' teenagers who return to Britain after fighting for ISIS should be allowed to reintegrate rather than face prosecution, according to the anti-terror watchdog. Max Hill QC said hundreds of Britons coming home after serving under the brutal terror group in Iraq and Syria have not been charged to avoid 'losing a generation' of young men. Around half of the estimated 850 UK citizens who joined ISIS in the Middle East have since returned, according to official figures. Mr Hill, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told BBC radio: 'The authorities have looked at them and looked at them hard and have decided that they do not justify prosecution, and really we should be looking towards reintegration and moving away from any notion that we are going to lose a generation due to this travel. 'It's not a decision that MI5 and others will have taken lightly. 'But they have left space, and I think they are right to do so, for those who travelled out of a sense of naivety, possibly with some brainwashing along the way, possibly in their mid-teens and who return in a state of utter disillusionment and we have to leave space for those individuals to be diverted away from the criminal courts.' The comments came a day after EU Security Commissioner Julian King revealed that up to 8,000 foreign fighters may come back to Europe after the fall of Raqqa. Experts say those who stayed are now likely to head for Turkey in the hope of travelling on to Europe to seek revenge for the destruction of the caliphate. Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown criticised Mr Hill's stance, saying: 'We should take a tough approach on this. Around half of the estimated 850 UK citizens who joined ISIS in the Middle East have since returned, according to official figures. Pictured: British teenagers Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum walking with luggage at Gatwick Airport to join ISIS 'Protecting against any future terror attack must be the primary concern.' Supporting a terrorist group such as Islamic State is a criminal offence in the UK. Earlier this week the head of MI5 warned Britain is facing the biggest terror threat of his 34-year career. Andrew Parker said extremists are mounting deadly terror attacks with just a few days of planning as the UK sees a 'dramatic' jump in the scale and pace of the threat. In his annual 'state of the union' assessment of the threat facing the UK, he said extremists are exploiting 'safe spaces' online, hindering intelligence efforts to root them out. And he issued a fresh challenge to technology firms, saying they have an 'ethical responsibility' to help governments confront the threat. His stark warning comes after Britain was hit by five terror attacks this year - killing dozens and injuring hundreds more. The comments came a day after EU Security Commissioner Julian King revealed that up to 8,000 foreign fighters may come back to Europe after the fall of Raqqa(pictured after falling to Syrian forces on October 19) Tom Wilson, of security think-tank The Henry Jackson Society, said: Clearly these returning Islamic State fighters pose an unimaginably serious threat. These are individuals who have not only chosen to join a terrorist organisation, but who in many cases will have been responsible for perpetrating atrocities There is a very clear moral duty to bring such people to justice. To pretend they can simply be reintegrated into British society not only shows a terribly naive misunderstanding of the jihadist ideology but also a reckless disregard for the wellbeing of everyone else in British society. Security expert Professor Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, branded Mr Hills comments deeply disturbing. He said: Every person who has gone to fight for Islamic State is potentially a jihadist with a cause. To believe otherwise is totally naive, not a good place to be for a reviewer of counter-terrorist legislation. Most decent Brits believe those who went off to fight for IS [and] swore allegiance to it forfeited any right to return. President Donald Trump went back to signaling support for a bipartisan plant to send two years of subsidies to insurance companies after praising it, withdrawing support, then praising it again. 'I respect very much the two senators youre talking about,' Trump said, when asked in the Oval Office about an effort by GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. 'I love that they're working on it. I want them to be careful with respect to the insurance companies. Insurance companies are extremely good at making money, extremely talented at making money. And I want them to be careful with that,' the president warned. The president's 'love' for the effort came just a day after he undermined it with a tweet, where he wrote: 'I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care.' 'I love that they're working on it,' President Donald Trump said of two senators working on a bill to provide subsidies to insurance companies That tweet came after a public indication of support, and a confirmation that the White House had been aware of and supportive of the negotiating effort. In his latest posture, Trump on Thursday described the two-year plan as a bridge to a failed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. He spoke only in the most general terms about the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. 'The block grant, the concept of blocking it out, block grants to the states, that's what people want. And that's what the states want,' Trump said, though the latest GOP effort failed to get a majority in the Senate and drew low approval ratings. 'And that's especially what the well-run states want. Because they will have healthcare that's so good, far better than anybody's ever even thought,' the president said. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on October 19, 2017 in Washington, D.C. He talked up a bipartisan health bill during a question period A Washington Post average of polls around the time the first repeal effort collapsed in July found on average just 22 per cent of Americans supported it while a 55 per cent majority was opposed. Trump cast the bipartisan effort as a 'solution.' It restores on a two-year basis payments to insurance firms meant to compensate them for covering low-income people under Obamacare. Trump announced last week he was ending such payments. 'We will probably like a very short-term solution until we hit the block grants, until that all kicks in. In other words, it doesn't just kick in the following day. There's a transition period. And if they can do something like that, I'm open to it,' he said. 'But I don't want it to be at the expense of the people. I want to take care of our people. I don't want to take care of our insurance companies. They've been very well taken care of over the last number of years, believe me,' Trump said. Asked about the bipartisan effort, Trump said: 'No, I like people working on plans at all time[s]. I think ultimately block grants is the way to go, where we block out the money to the states. You'll get better health care. You'll get it for less money. It'll be more specific,' he said. BLOCKING AND TACKLING: 'The block grant, the concept of blocking it out, block grants to the states, that's what people want,' Trump said 'Various states really wanted that block grant money. And for the most part, I think we have the vote for that,' the president argued. 'There will be a transition period. So anything they're working on will be short term. It'll be absolutely short term. Because ultimately, we will be it's going to be repeal and replace.' The effort puts the president between conservative who don't want to back anything that smacks of boosting Obamacare, and insurance firms demanding payments that were included in the law to subsidize the costs of providing care to low-income people. The president tried to negotiate the terrain by praising the senators personally. 'So I have great respect, as you know, for both of the senators you mentioned. And if they can come up with a short-term solution. What i did say, though, is I don't want the insurance companies making any more money because than they have to, because you look at the stock prices of the insurance prices from the time of the creation of Obamacare, with 300 per cent and 400 per cent and even more than that, increases in their stock.' U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 19, 2017 'They made a fortune off Obamacare,' he complained. 'The people that need Obamacare are decimated. Premiums are up 40, 50, 60, in some cases over 100 per cent.' 'So anything that they're working on is a very short term. Meaning one year to two years max. Because I think we have the votes, or we're certainly within one vote,' he said. Less than a day after Trump threw his weight behind a bipartisan stopgap measure aimed at stabilizing medical insurance markets, he pulled the rug out from under the pair of U.S. senators who unveiled the plan. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said Wednesday morning during an Axios event that 'Trump completely engineered the plan that we announced yesterday' by repeatedly phoning him and asking Democratic Sen. Patty Murray to sign on. 'He wanted a bipartisan bill for the short term.' But minutes later Trump tweeted what amounted to a statement that he was backing out of supporting what emerged from the legislative sausage-making process. 'I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care,' the president wrote. Donald Trump s no longer backing a bipartisan short-ternm Obamacare fix, less than a day after he said it was a good idea Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander proposed a short-term Obamacare fix which would have undone Trump's decision from last Thursday to cut off subsidies to insurance companies FLIP-FLOP: Trump backed the proposal on Tuesday but quickly changed course, tweeting about his lack of support on Wednesday Trump seemed to agree with the proposal on Tuesday. He suggested that he was willing to let Congress undo a decision he had been boasting about since last Thursday. The president bragged at the White House that he had ended 'hundreds of millions of dollars a month' in Obamacare-related subsidies to medical insurance companies. The proposal from Alexander and Murray, which Trump himself apparently arbitrated, would have restored the payments. By Wednesday morning Trump was backtracking, saying at a meeting at the White House with the Senate Finance Committee that he's not looking to 'enrich the insurance companies.' 'If something can happen, that's fine,' Trump said, 'but I won't do anything to enrich the insurance the insurance companies, cause right now the insurance companies are being enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody's ever seen before.' White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed during her daily press briefing that Trump was changing his position. She told a reporter asking if Trump was saying today that he cannot support the legislation the way it is written that the interpretation was apt. 'Correct. I think he stated that pretty clearly today,' she said Wednesday. Huckabee Sanders said Trump wants a bill that addresses premiums, provides greater flexibility, increases competition, and provides funding through block grants to the states. 'We've said all along that we want something that doesn't just bail out the insurance companies, that actually provides relief for all Americans,' she said. 'This bill doesn't address that fact. So we want to make sure that that's taken care of.' The bill is 'a good step in the right direction' and the president is supportive of a bipartisan plan. 'But it's not a full approach, and we need something to go a little bit further than that,' she said during her daily news conference. Trump showed his first sign of flip-flopping on Tuesday night, saying at a Heritage Foundation dinner that he commended the bipartisan effort but continues 'to believe that Congress must find a solution to the Obamacare mess instead of providing bailouts to insurance companies.' Hours earlier he had said that while he favors a long term Obamacare repeal-and-replace solution, the nation would need the Alexander-Murray bill to 'get us over this intermediate hump' and prevent insurance markets from collapsing. The legislation would only be in effect for only two years, but would restore the payments that Trump ended just days ago. It would also states some added flexibility in which kinds of insurance policies are Obamacare-compliant. 'It is a short term solution so that we don't have this very dangerous little period,' he said Tuesday, 'including a dangerous period for insurance companies' the same corporate titans that he blasted in the press conference's opening minutes. NOT MY FAULT: Trump tweeted Tuesday evening that insurance premium spikes were the 'fault of the Democrats' The Senate deal that Trump turned against on Wednesday would have bridged the gap between Obamacare and a new system of state block-grants 'If you look at insurance companies and take a good strong look at the numbers, you will see since the formation of Obamacare, they are up 400 per cent, 450 per cent, 250 per cent, 300 per cent. They've made a fortune,' Trump said 'Obamacare is everything but dead. The people aren't gonna take it,' he added. And the Alexander-Murray bill would 'not only save money but give people much better health care with a very, very much smaller premium spike.' In signaling support, Trump said his administration had been involved in talks as the plan was hammered out. Alexander presented the proposal to colleagues at a Republican conference meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday. Even if Trump had formally backed the final product, it would still have had to make it over a series of hurdles in Congress. It would be subject to a filibuster in a Senate chamber where many Republicans are strongly opposed to Obamacare and have tried and failed repeatedly to repeal it something Trump also supports. In the House, a deal that appeared to be saving Obamacare could draw strong conservative opposition, in a chamber where more than 60 Republicans voted against a recent hurricane relief bill. The insurance industry, a major player in Washington, can be expected to back it. On Tuesday Trump pronounced the Obamacare system 'virtually dead,' 'a disgrace to our nation' and on its 'last legs.' 'We are solving the problem,' he added. He had boasted Monday of ending the payments, saying during a cabinet meeting that 'I cut off the gravy train.' Trump told members of Heritage's president's club Tuesday evening that he would eventually get rid of the 'disaster known as Obamacare' altogether. Claiming once more that he expected Republican lawmakers to send a repeal and replace bill to his desk on Jan. 20, his first day in office, Trump said it was 'not as easy as we thought.' 'But we're gonna get it done, you watch,' he asserted. An eastern Pennsylvania school district is dealing with a second race-related incident in just over a week, investigating a Facebook photo showing current and former students posing with pumpkins carved with racist symbols. The Coatesville Area School District says it appears the photo was taken off school grounds and after school hours. Superintendent Cathy Taschner says the district will 'exercise its full authority' to send a message that the picture and carvings are not acceptable. Students standing in front of pumpkins with carved swastika and KKK emerge on Wednesday 'We will not tolerate it in our schools,' said Taschner. 'We will work to educate children and we will work to continue to educate staff. And we've been doing a lot of that.' Superintendent Cathy Taschner (pictured) says the district will 'exercise its full authority' in the matter The pumpkins included one with a swastika, and another with the letters KKK. Rahmeer Frazier, a senior at Coatesville Area High School, told ABC affiliate WPVI during a demonstration protesting the racist images that people should come together and reject bigotry as a community. 'We're trying to make a point... We're not out here causing chaos, we're not out here causing a ruckus, we're trying to make a point because this is something we care about and we're standing on it,' Frazier said. The photo shows four young people posing behind the pumpkins. Cain Township police are also investigating. It remains unclear if the students were reprimanded by the school district or their local high school. Students at Coatesville Area High School held a protest on school property in the wake of the incident Less than two weeks ago, a black baby doll was found hanging in a Coatesville High School locker with a tie around its neck. Taschner says it was a 'foolish prank,' not a hate crime. The school district later released a statement, saying that such acts of discrimination were unacceptable and would not be tolerated. 'The Coatesville Area School District is a caring school community that will not be defined by acts of hatred,' the statement said. 'We simply cannot accept this, and will do all we can to ensure that our community realizes that there is simply no place for hate in our school district,' it added. Student Council President Naomi Lee said students has a right to be over the recent incidents, but called for calm as the situation moves forward. 'We have to be calm about this. You can't act out or make the situation any worse than it is already,' said Lee. 'It is pretty hard and it is a lot that is happening right now.' Police say that there is little legal recourse that can applied to the matter, but added that the individuals involved in both cases with be subject to sensitivity training. A black baby doll was also found hanging in a Coatesville High School locker with a tie around its neck earlier this month Thirty-six pit bulls have been saved from what appeared to be dog kennels, but were actually a breeding and training grounds for a giant dog fighting ring. Three men were arrested for running the 'kennels' out of their Long Island homes. Richard Davis, 34, Martin Newkirk, 49, and Taikeem Wheeler, 26, all of Wyandanch, New York, will face felony charges of animal fighting and animal cruelty which carries up to a four-year prison sentence. The pit bulls range from one week to seven years old with half of the dogs being puppies. Nearly all of them were found chained without food and water. They were visibly injured from fights with bite wounds that left scars. The dogs had fleas, dirty coats and long claws. One had an untreated broken front leg while another was severely malnourished, authorities said. 'This was truly a chamber of horrors for these dogs,' said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The two Long Island homes (pictured) were run as kennels but were found to be breeding and training grounds for dog fighting The investigation called 'Operation Bloodline' began in March and led authorities to these homes Thirty-six pit bulls were found starving and with visible injuries from fights Martin Newkirk, 49, was arrested after 20 pit bulls were found in his home Richard Davis, 34, (left) was found with 14 pit bulls in his home. Taikeem Wheeler, 26, had two pups in his home 'Dog fighting is an obscenely vicious and cruel form of animal abuse that tortures animals and endangers the safety of the public,' said Schneiderman. 'It's barbaric, despicable and illegal.' The arrests came as part of a seven-month investigation called 'Operation Bloodline' which began in March. The investigation led investigators to issued search warrants for the homes which were known as the Roll Right Kennel and Rise 'n' Shine Kennel. Fourteen pit bulls were rescued from Davis' home, 20 from Newkirk's home and two from Wheeler's home. All three kennels 'actually served as staging grounds for the dog fighting ring,' Schneiderman said in a statement. Two of the dogs had to be euthanized because they'd been severely attacked by their mother, authorities said. A third dog named Sophie had been so abused and tortured that the ASPCA determined that she had become a threat to humans and also had to be euthanized. Dog fighters often make their money by selling dogs from strong 'bloodlines,' descended from other successful fighters. Puppies of fighter bloodlines sell for more than $1,600 per pup. Half of the dogs found were puppies and three had to be euthanized because they were severely injured or a danger to humans The dogs were found with fleas, dirty coats and long claws One dog had an untreated broken front leg while another was severely malnourished Wheeler allegedly touted Sophie as a champion dog fighter because of her bloodline as the daughter of another one of his pit bulls who had won many fights. Police recovered dog fighting paraphernalia which indicated the sophistication of the breeding and training grounds. Police found bloody breaking sticks to separate the strong jaws of the pit bulls, heavy chains, double-thick collars, weighted dog vests, treadmills and performance-enhancing pills to build strength and endurance. The paraphernalia is often used to build strength in a pit bull's neck and shoulders, to control its weight, and to increase its endurance and stamina, as a dogfight to the death can last longer than an hour. Dog fighting is a crime in all 50 states. In New York, dog fighting and the breeding and training of dogs carry a maximum penalty of four years in jail and a fine of $25,000. The dogs are currently being sheltered by the ASPCA in order to allow them to heal and hopefully be retrained and adopted. A grieving widow may be facing jail time because she was unable to afford her husband's cremation. Betty Starnes lost her veteran husband Kenneth Starnes on October 6. Shortly after he died, she asked Southern Cremations and Funerals at Cheatham Hill in Marietta, Georgia, to pick up his body. Her husband's body has been store at the funeral home ever since, awaiting cremation. Grieving widow, Betty Starnes (pictured), lost her veteran husband Kenneth Starnes on October 6. Shortly after he died, she asked Southern Cremations and Funerals at Cheatham Hill in Marietta, Georgia, to pick up his body Kenneth Starnes' (pictured in 2010) body has been stored at the funeral home ever since, awaiting cremation. But this week the owner of the funeral home allegedly threatened to press charges for abandonment of a body if Starnes doesn't pay the $1,000 bill by Friday Starnes told WSB TV that she made it clear when her husband's body was brought to the funeral home, that she couldn't pay for it up front. But this week the owner of the funeral home allegedly threatened to press charges for abandonment of a body if Starnes doesn't pay the $1,000 bill by Friday. 'It's just unconscionable when you've lost somebody you love,' Starnes told the station. 'He said this is a felony offense. I said, "I'm not a felon. I want my husband's body, but you won't let me have it. You won't work with me,"' Starnes said. Starnes said she 'went to pieces' when she found out about the alleged charges. 'I said I'm not going to jail and I'm not a crook.' But the funeral home owner said the story Starnes is telling is not quite right. The owner told WSB TV that they received a call to pick up the man's body around 2.13pm on October 6. 'We brought him into our care later that day. Mrs. Starnes visited our funeral home on October 7 and was apprised of all the costs associated with the services she requested, and signed a contract for those services at that time,' the statement read. The funeral home said they have been 'actively working' with Starnes for several days to address the situation. Kenneth Starnes is pictured with the family's dog in 2010 A few days after Starnes' story made headlines, Southern Cremations (pictured) offered to perform their services for free. But Starnes said she is going to use SouthCare Cremation and Funeral Society after the owner there offered to cremate her husband's body for free According to the owner, Starnes understood the payment would be required to cremation and 'indicated that payment would be rendered by October 9'. The funeral home said they have been 'actively working' with Starnes for several days to address the situation. 'Mrs Starnes has been notified of all her options, including alternative resources that she could contact if she needed assistance in paying for the services selected. But Starnes told WSB-TV that she was confused when she signed the contract and would be willing to set up a payment plan. However, the funeral home's owner reportedly said he wants the payment in full before cremation. 'I said we don't have cash up front. You people knew that coming in,' Starnes said. A few days after Starnes' story made headlines, Southern Cremations offered to perform their services for free. But Starnes said she is going to use SouthCare Cremation and Funeral Society after the owner there offered to cremate her husband's body for free. The controversial founder of the defunct Kids Company charity yesterday blamed everyone but herself for its demise. Camila Batmanghelidjh said civil servants and politicians were behind the collapse of the charity, which was hit by a string of allegations relating to financial impropriety two years ago. But at no point during a heated TV interview did she accept any responsibility for its closure. Camila Batmanghelidjh said civil servants and politicians were behind the collapse of the charity Appearing on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2, Miss Batmanghelidjh was asked if she accepted some responsibility Kids Company, based in south London, received more than 42million of taxpayers money over 15 years. Appearing on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2, Miss Batmanghelidjh was asked if she accepted some responsibility for the suffering caused by the implosion of the childrens charity. She said: We were not responsible for the closure of this company. Not at all?, asked presenter Miss Derbyshire. No, and Im being absolutely clear about that, Miss Batmanghelidjh replied. Asked if she would apologise to donors and taxpayers over the charitys spending, Miss Batmanghelidjh said: I dont think we wasted money. Why are you assuming that we wasted money? Miss Derbyshire put to her instances of a client spending 305 on a pair of shoes, someones PhD studies being funded, and a stay at Champneys spa Miss Derbyshire put to her instances of a client spending 305 on a pair of shoes, someones PhD studies being funded, and a stay at Champneys spa for a man with mental health problems who booked a chocolate massage treatment. Miss Batmanghelidjh said these were minor details, adding: Youre not asking me the questions that really matter, which is: why was Kids Company left with 17,000 children who were statutory responsibility with no-one willing to pay for it? Why were we getting that type of child through our doors? Miss Batmanghelidjh and the charitys ex-chairman, former BBC creative director Alan Yentob, face being disqualified from running companies She continued: There was a politically motivated dismantling of Kids Company through a systematically driven malicious campaign by some civil servants and politicians. The former charity head became increasingly frustrated with the line of questioning, accusing Miss Derbyshire of interrogating her in an immensely biased and highly manipulative way. The Government backed a Cabinet Office decision to award the organisation 3million days before it closed for good. In a sign of official concerns at that decision, a senior Whitehall official took the rare step of requiring a written, order from ministers before agreeing to the lifeline. In July it emerged that Miss Batmanghelidjh and the charitys ex-chairman, former BBC creative director Alan Yentob, face being disqualified from running companies under proceedings brought by the Government. GEN. JOHN KELLY: 'Most Americans don't know what happens when we lose one of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines or coast guardsman in combat. So let me tell you what happens. Their buddies wrap them up in whatever passes as a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as a routine, and sends them home. 'Their first stop along the way is when they're packed in ice, typically at the airhead and then they're flown to usually Europe where they're then packed in ice again and flown to Dover Air Force Base. Where Dover takes care of the remains, embalms them, meticulously dresses them in their uniform with the medals that they've earned, the emblems of their service and then puts them on another airplane linked up with the casualty officer escort that takes them home. 'A very, very good movie to watch is "Taking Chance" if you haven't seen it, where this is done in a movie, HBO setting. Chance Phelps was killed under my command, right next to me. It's worth seeing that if you have never seen it. So that's the process. 'While that's happening, a casualty officer typically goes to the home very early in the morning and waits for the first lights to come on. And then he knocks on the door. Typically the mom and dad will answer. Wife. If there is a wife this is happening in two different places. If the parents are divorced, three different places. And the casualty officer proceeds to break the heart of a family member. And stays with that family until, well, for a long, long time, even after the interment. So that's what happens. 'Who are these young men and women? They are the best 1 per cent this country produces. Most of you as Americans don't know them. Many of you don't know anyone who knows any one of them. But they are the very best that this country produces. And they volunteer to protect our country when there's nothing in our country anymore that seems to suggest that selfless service to the nation is not only appropriate but required. But that's all right. 'Who writes letters to the families? Typically the company commander in my case as a Marine, the company commander the battalion commander, regimental commander, division commander, secretary of defense, typically the service chief, the commandant of the Marine Corps, and the president, typically writes a letter. 'Typically the only phone calls a family receives are the most important phone calls they can imagine, and that is from their buddies. In my case, hours after my son was killed, his friends were calling us from Afghanistan, telling us what a great guy he was. Those are the only phone calls that really matter. And yeah, the letters count to a degree, but there's not much that really can take the edge off what a family member is going through. 'So some presidents have elected to call. All presidents, I believe, have elected to send letters. If you elect to call a family like this, it is about the most difficult thing you could imagine. There's no perfect way to make that phone call. When I took this job and talked to President Trump about how to do it, my first recommendation was, he not do it. Because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. It's a "nice to do" in my opinion, in any event. 'He asked me about previous presidents. And I said I can tell you that President Obama, who was my commander-in-chief when I was on active duty, did not call my family. That was not a criticism. That was just to simply say I don't believe President Obama called. That's not a negative thing. I don't believe President Bush called in all cases. I don't believe any president, particularly when the casualty rates are very, very high, that presidents call. I believe they all write. 'So when I gave that explanation to our president three days ago, he elected to make phone calls in the case of the four young men who we lost in Niger at the earlier part of this month. But then he said, you know, "How do you make these calls?" If you're not in the family, if you've never worn the uniform, if you've never been in combat, you can't even imagine how to make that phone call. But he very bravely does make those calls. 'The call in question that he made yesterday, a day before yesterday now, were to four family members. The four fallen. And remember, there's a next of kin, designated by the individual. If he's married, that's typically the spouse. If he's not married, that's typically the parents, unless the parents are divorced and then he selects one of them. If he didn't get along with his parents, he'll select a sibling. But the point is the phone call is made to the next of kin only if the next of kin agrees to take the phone call. Sometimes they don't. So a pre-call is made: "The President of the United States or the commandant of the Marine Corps, or someone would like to call. Will you accept the call?" And typically they accept the call. 'So he called four people yesterday and expressed his condolences the best way he could. He said to me, "What do I say?" I said to him, "Sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families." 'Let me tell you what I tell them. Let me tell you what my best friend Joe Dunford told me, as he was my casualty officer. He said, "Kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 percent. He knew what the possibilities were because we're at war." And when he died, in the four cases we're talking about, in Niger, and my son's case in Afghanistan, when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the president tried to say to the four families the other day. 'I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and broken-hearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President of the United States to a young wife. And in his way he tried to express that opinion, that he's a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted. There was no reason to enlist. He enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message. That was the message that was transmitted. 'It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred. 'You know, when I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor. That's obviously not the case anything as we see from recent cases. Life, the dignity of life is sacred. That's gone. Religion, that seems to be gone as well. Gold star families I think that left in the convention over the summer. I just thought that selfless devotion that brings a man or women to die in the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred. 'When I listen to this woman and what she was saying, what she was doing on TV, the only thing I could do to collect my thoughts is to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth. You can always find them. They're in Arlington National Cemetery. I went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there, because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed. 'I'll end with this: In October, April of 2015, I was still on active duty. I went to the dedication of the new FBI field office in Miami. And it was dedicated to two men that were killed in a firefight in Miami with, against drug traffickers in 1986. A guy by the name of Grogan, and Duke [sic]. Grogan almost retired, 53 years old. Duke, I think less than a year on the job. Anyways, they got in a gun fight and they were killed. Three other FBI agents were there, wounded. Now retired. 'So we go down, Jim Comey did an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men, and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well. There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were only 3 or 4 years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives. 'And a congresswoman stood up and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money. And she just called up president Obama and on that phone call he gave the money, the $20 million to build the building. She sat down. We were stunned, stunned that she'd done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. But you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, "Okay, fine." 'So I still hope as you write your stories, and I appeal to America, that let's not let this maybe last thing that's held sacred in our society, a young man, a young woman going out and giving his or her life for our country, let's try to somehow keep that sacred. But it eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress. So I'm willing to take a question or two on this topic. 'Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Is anyone here a Gold Star parent or sibling? Does anyone here know a Gold Star parent or sibling? Okay. You get the question.' REPORTER: 'Thank you, General Kelly. First of all, you have a great deal of respect. "Semper Fi" for everything you've ever done. But if we could take this a bit further. Why were they in Niger? We were told they weren't in armored vehicles and there was no air cover. So what were the specifics about this particular incident, and why we were there? Why are we there?' GEN. KELLY: 'Well, I'll start by saying there is an investigation. Now, let me back up and say, the fact of the matter is, young men and women that wear our uniform are deployed around the world and there are tens of thousands near the DMZ in North Korea, in Okinawa waiting to go in South Korea, in Okinawa ready to go, All over the United States, training, ready to go. They're all over Latin America. Down there they do mostly drug interdiction working with our partners, our great partners the Colombians, the Central Americans, the Mexicans. You know, there's thousands. 'My own son right now, back in the fight for his fifth tour in against ISIS. There's thousands of them in Europe acting as a deterrent. And then throughout Africa. And they're doing the nation's work there. And not making a lot of money, by the way, doing it. They love what they do. So why were they there? They're there working with partners, local Africans, all across Africa in this case, Niger, working with partners, teaching them how to be better soldiers, teaching them how to respect human rights. Teaching them how to fight ISIS so that we don't have to send our soldiers and Marines there in their thousands. That's what they were doing there. 'Now there's an investigation. There's always unless it's a very conventional death in a conventional war, there's always an investigation. Of course, that operation is conducted by AFRICOM that of course works directly for the Secretary of Defense. There is a, I talked to Jim Mattis this morning, I think he made statements this afternoon. There's an investigation ongoing. 'An investigation doesn't mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesn't mean people's heads are going to roll. The fact is, they need to find out what happened and why it happened. But at the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, you have to understand that these young people, sometimes old guys, put on the uniform, go to where we send them to protect our country. 'Sometimes they go in large numbers to invade Iraq, invade Afghanistan. Sometimes they're working in small units, working with our partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, helping them be better. But at the end of the day, they're helping those partners be better at fighting ISIS and north Africa to protect our country so that we don't have to send large numbers of troops. 'Any other someone who knows a Gold Star fallen person. John?' REPORTER: 'General, thank you for being here today. Thank you for your service and for your family's sacrifice. There's been some talk about the timetable of the release of the statement about the I think at that point it was three soldiers who were killed in Niger. Can you walk us through the timetable of the release of that information, and what part did the fact that a beacon was pinging during that time have to do with the relase of the statement? And were you concerned that divulging the information early might jeopardize a soldier's safety?' GEN. KELLY: 'First of all, we're at the highest level of the U.S. government. The people that will answer those questions are the people at the other end of the military pyramid. I'm sure the Special Forces group is conducting I know they're conducting an investigation. That investigation, of course, under the auspices of AFRICOM. Ultimately it will go to the Pentagon.' 'I've read the same stories you have, I actually know a lot more than I'm letting on, but I'm not going to tell you. There's an investigation being done. But as I say, the men and women of our country that are serving all around the world I mean, you know, what the hell is my son doing back in the fight? He's back in the fight because, working with Iraqi soldiers who are infinitely better than they were a few years ago to take on ISIS directly so hat we don't have to do it. Small numbers of Marines where he is, working alongside those guys. That's why they're out there. 'Whether it's Niger, Iraq or whatever. We don't want to send tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines in particular to go fight. 'I'll take one more. But it's got to be from someone who knows all right.' REPORTER: 'General, when you talk about Niger, sir, what does your intelligence tell you about the Russian connection with them and what the stories coming out now?' GEN. KELLY: 'I'm not in a position to know that. That's a question for NORTHCOM or for not NORTHCOM, for AFRICOM or D.O.D. So thanks very much. 'As I walk off the stage, understand there's tens of thousands of American kids, mostly, doing the nation's bidding all around the world. They don't have to be in uniform. You know, when I was a kid, every man in my life who was a veteran World War II, Korea, and there was the draft. These young people today, they don't do it for any other reason than their selfless, sense of selfless devotion to this great nation. 'We don't look down upon those of you that haven't served. In fact, in a way we're a little bit sorry, because you'll never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kind of things our servicemen and women do. Not for any other reason than they love this country. 'So just think of that. And I appreciate your time. thank you.' A Massachusetts school district has apologized after a photograph of a visit by a Pilgrim reenactor to one of its elementary schools was mistaken for a slavery recreation. The photo, taken at Mitchell Elementary School in Bridgewater, shows a young black girl on her knees in front of a pair of white children, who hold strings connected to the dress on her back. A white Pilgrim actress stands behind them. Thousands shared the photo after it was posted on Facebook on Thursday morning, alongside a demand that the 'Pilgrim' educator be fired. That afternoon, Derek J Swenson, superintendent of schools for the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, said that the black girl had volunteered to pretend to be a toddler, not a slave, and apologized. But that didn't satisfy many who saw the image. This photograph, taken Friday at Mitchell Elementary School in Massachusetts, caused anger online after it was mistaken for a slavery recreation. It was actually supposed to represent a Pilgrim family; the black girl, who is laughing, volunteered to play a toddler As this detail from a 1658 painting shows, children would often have 'leading strings' on their clothes when learning to walk. In the photo they were mistaken for a slave's leash The photo was shared online by gun control advocate Monica Cannon-Grant, who told followers to demand that the woman be fired In his statement, Swenson said that Friday's lesson featured a visit from local 'living history museum' Plimoth Plantation. The educator, dressed as a Pilgrim, demonstrated clothing worn by people in the 17th century - particularly the tethering straps or leading strings worn by toddlers. Those were cloth leads connected to the back of toddlers' clothes, used to keep them upright while they were learning to walk, he said. The black girl had been roleplaying the part of a toddler, not a slave. 'We realize without this context added to the photo that was shared by the classroom teacher it could be perceived differently,' he said. 'Please note it was never the intent of the lesson to demean or degrade any one person or group. 'The Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District sincerely apologizes to the students, staff and community at large for this unfortunate incident.' Many of Cannon-Grant's followers were furious at the sight. Few questioned what was being portrayed in the photo. On Wednesday evening, district superintendent apologized He said the 'Pilgrim' was from a 'living history center' called Plimoth Plantation. Its website has this photo of a white girl in similar straps. The superintendent apologized for offense caused That statement came hours after Monica Cannon-Grant, a Boston-based gun control advocate, posted the photograph online. She also posted the contact details of Mitchell Elementary School and its principal, Heidi Letendre, saying 'Ask her why this is okay?? Demand that this Teacher is fired!' The public post quickly accrued thousands of comments from furious Facebook users, and more than 10,000 shares as people commented on what they believed to be a recreation of slavery. Almarie Carter commented: 'She needs to take her stupid a** to work at a ZOO. She should NEVER be trusted to EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN. FIRE HER A**.' Alexis Thompson wrote: 'STOP ASKING FOR CLARIFICATION AND MORE OF A DESCRIPTION!! You can't f**king explain away this ignorance and insensitivity. So just stop asking for more info.' However, some users familiar with the plantation posted screenshots of a 2014 story from the Boothbay Register, showing the same woman with other children - this time with a white girl playing the toddler. A 2014 photo shows a Plimoth reenactor - possibly the same woman - demonstrating a similar dress on a white girl at a different school That story identifies the woman as Vicki Oman, a 'Living History presenter' from the Plimoth Plantation. A spokesman from Plimoth Plantation confirmed that Oman was the educator in both photos. A link on the plantation's site titled 'Invite a Pilgrim to Your Classroom' also shows a woman in Pilgrim dress holding leading strings attached to a white child. Cannon-Grant has been contacted for comment. In a statement to DailyMail.com, Rob Kluin, director of marketing and communications at the Plimoth Plantation said: 'As shown in the image, the infant is wearing a gown which is commonly known as leading strings. 'In 17th-century Europe this was a common clothing item, which was used to help keep toddlers safe while they were learning to walk. 'This educational content is something that is presented in many of Plimoth Plantation's classroom visits. We apologize for any misperceptions that this may have caused. It was never this Museum's intent to treat any one person or group with disrespect.' Three hours after her initial post, Monica Cannon-Grant posted a screengrab purporting to be from the mother whose daughter was playing the toddler in the photo. 'My daughter said they asked for someone to volunteer as a baby and she did. 'And it was the Pilgrim lady's idea for her to kneel on the floor and the others to hold the leash. Cannon-Grant did not modify her original post calling for the 'teacher' to be fired until three hours later. It was either deleted or put on restricted access after she was contacted for comment by DailyMail.com Many of Cannon-Grant's commenters were not mollified. Even after Cannon-Grant posted an explanation, her commenters said it was no excuse. Cannon-Grant deleted her initial post six hours after it was first put up on Facebook Bella Gutierrez said: 'This is not justifiable in no way shape or form. People are becoming outraged and others are not understanding why but you dont need to understand why just to know that it was wrong.' Detroit Green Bunch posted: 'This is still WRONG! You don't put a leash around any child, let alone a black child in a predominantly white class! 'This white ignorance is getting old. That poor child has no one to protect her from this willful ignorance.' One user, Rebeca Hidalgo, complained after Cannon-Grant deleted the remarks, saying: 'I know that you'll probably block me for exposing the truth, but I am tired of FB drama. 'If there had been no background to the picture I would've supported you fully, because I truly was outraged when I first saw the picture. 'But after taking my time to investigate and find out THE TRUTH I saw that it was not how you told it and I had to see the picture with a different mindset now that I had all the information behind it.' Cannon-Grant replied: 'Who told you this was your space? You mean white truth because the truth is the little girl has f****** leashes around her arm I don't give a f*** about what part of History you want to attach it to that's not our f****** history get the f*** off my page.' Hidalgo's comments were then deleted. One web-user complained on Cannon-Grant's Facebook past that she was 'outraged' when she saw the picture, but that the truth was different. Cannon-Grant was not pleased by the remark Health Minister Jill Hennessy dropped the c-bomb in a fiery text message sent to a Labor colleague, as tensions flared during an overnight debate on euthanasia laws. Ms Hennessy called Deputy Premier James Merlino a 'c***' in a text message sent to him by mistake on Wednesday night, numerous parliamentary sources confirmed. Mr Merlino, a fierce opponent to the Government's bid to legalise a strictly monitored euthanasia scheme, had proposed an amendment which would have killed off the bill, long championed as a flagship policy by Labor. Health Minister Jill Hennessy called Deputy Premier James Merlino a 'c***' in a text message sent to him by mistake on Wednesday night The text message came as as tensions flared during an overnight debate on euthanasia laws. Mr Merlino (pictured) is a fierce opponent to the Government's bid to legalise a strictly monitored euthanasia scheme The amendment was narrowly defeated and it is understood Mr Merlino is angry about the text message from his colleague. His office declined to comment on the matter. A spokeswoman for Ms Hennessy wasn't giving anything away. 'The minister doesn't comment on private conversations,' she told AAP. The text message came as Victoria's lower house continued to debate the Labor Government's controversial assisted dying bill on Friday morning. After an all-night session in parliament spent discussing several amendments, MPs adjourned for a short time before debate resumed at 6am. The proposed laws state that terminally ill people with less than 12 months to live and who are suffering unbearable pain would be able to request lethal medication. There are hundreds of disputed amendments to the Bill, which has been backed by Premier Daniel Andrews. Victoria's lower house continued to debate the Labor government's controversial assisted dying bill on Friday morning (stock image) Meanwhile, former Labor prime minister Paul Keating has weighed into the euthanasia debate, saying the Victorian bill is 'unacceptable'. 'Under Victorian law there will be people whose lives we honour and those we believe are better off dead,' he wrote in an opinion pieced in Fairfax Media. 'No matter what justifications are offered for the Bill, it constitutes an unacceptable departure in our approach to human existence and the irrevocable sanctity that should govern our understanding of what it means to be human.' Tensions within Victoria's Labor government over the assisted dying bill have been running hot. Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, whose arrest in January led U.S. authorities to discover $20million hidden under a mattress, is shown during his interrogation A Brazilian man whose arrest resulted in the discovery of $20million in cash hidden inside a box spring in Massachusetts has pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. Prosecutors say Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong. The money was from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme. Rocha was arrested in January after agents followed him to an apartment in and found about $20million in cash hidden in a box spring. The U.S. attorney's office for Massachusetts says Rocha pleaded guilty in Boston's federal courthouse Thursday. Rocha is set to be sentenced in December. Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong. Authorities found nearly $20million in his box spring in January Rocha's attorney has declined to comment. TelexFree had few customers and made most of its revenue from people buying into the company with a promise of payouts for posting online ads for it, prosecutors have said. They were paid with money from new recruits, often friends and family of earlier investors. The money was from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme Although initially aimed at Brazilian immigrants to Massachusetts, authorities allege almost one million people worldwide were swindled out of nearly $1.8billion. TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in 2014, its assets frozen, and its two principals were indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. One of them, former chief executive James Merrill, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison in March. The other, Carlos Wanzeler, fled to his native Brazil where he remains, U.S. prosecutors said. According to court documents, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler's nephew, flew from Brazil to New York City a few days ago. Rocha then met with a cooperating witness at a restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, and gave him a suitcase containing $2.2million. After the meeting, agents followed Rocha to the Westborough apartment and later arrested him. He could spend up to 20 years in prison and be fined twice the gross gain or loss. A 91-year-old woman gained the friendship of two kind officers after having her wallet stolen while grocery shopping in Boynton Beach, Florida. Video captured Marie Morgan's entire ordeal from the time her wallet was stolen while shopping at a Publix supermarket to the moment she broke down when Boynton Beach officers surprised her with a $60 Publix gift card at her home. 'These are the two nicest police I've ever met in my life and I'm not young,' said Morgan. Marie Morgan, 91, was surprised by two officers who delivered a $60 Publix gift card to replace what was stolen Officer Janelle Jumelles (left) and Officer Evan Esteves moved Morgan to tears with their kindness Security footage showed Morgan grocery shopping with her back turned to her cart. That was the moment a man came up and took her wallet from the 91-year-old's purse. Body cam footage recorded immediately after the robbery, shows Morgan in a holding room as Officer Janelle Jumelles investigates the theft. Security footage shows the moment a man stole Morgan's wallet while she was shopping at a Publix in Boynton Beach, Florida Jumelles is heard speaking to a Publix manager privately telling him she will pay for the woman's groceries. When Jumelles returned to the 91-year-old, she tells her that the cost of her groceries has been taken care of by Publix and she wants her to go home and rest. Morgan is overcome with emotions and hugs Jumelles as she breaks down in tears. The officer then helped Morgan cancel her credit cards. This is the moment Officer Jumelles told Morgan her groceries were paid for 'I'm awfully lucky I met so many kind people all at one time. They helped me out,' said Morgan. But the moment Officers Jumelles and Evan Esteves truly went beyond the call of duty, was when they went to Morgan's home to surprise her with a $60 Publix gift card since all of her food stamps had been stolen. The officers appears at her doorstep to deliver their generous gift to replace the money that was stolen. They don't leave before reminding Morgan to make sure she always locks her doors and to be careful while driving in the rain. 'I just really wanted to make her day better,' said Jumelles. 'She was so happy just the look on her face was enough.' Laurence Peterson, 59,(pictured outside Bradford Crown Court) blocked doors and held victims down as Rev John Wilson, 70, performed 'grotesque' exorcisms on member of the congregation An assistant pastor who helped a church minister sexually assault female parishioners has been jailed for more than eight years. Laurence Peterson, 59, blocked doors and held victims down as Rev John Wilson, 70, performed 'grotesque' exorcisms on member of the congregation. A jury heard Peterson may have also laced the women's tea with drugs to make them more compliant. The offences took place at the Liberty Pentecostal Church, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, over three decades and has left the victims mentally scared. Peterson was found guilty of counts of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and two charges of aiding and abetting Wilson to commit sex acts by a jury at Bradford Crown Court. Rev Wilson was jailed for 21 years earlier for a string of sex offences against six women. Mary Wilson, his wife, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting her husband was handed a 22 month suspended sentence. Mary, 79, sat in the public gallery today alongside Peterson's supporters from the church for the sentencing. Rev Wilson(pictured outside Bradford Crown Court) was jailed for 21 years earlier for a string of sex offences against six women Judge David Hatton QC told Peterson he was satisfied Wilson had been the principal offender. But Peterson had frequently blocked the victims' escape and barricaded one newly-wed bride inside a prayer room as Wilson sexually assaulted her as her husband tried to enter the room. Judge Hatton said Peterson encouraged Wilson to carry out the bizarre 'internal ministries' to rid the women of demons and evil spirits. 'You encouraged the pretence, for pretence it was, on the jury's finding, that the violation that was occurring to them was necessary in their spiritual interests and well-being,' said Judge Hatton. Judge David Hatton QC told Peterson he was satisfied Wilson had been the principal offender. Pictured: Liberty Pentecostal Church in Keighley Peterson was jailed for eight years and two months. He is on the sex offenders register and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely. He is also banned from holding senior positions in religious bodies or perform ministries. His barrister Caroline Goodwin QC described him as a 'naive and simplistic individual'. Prosecutor David McGonigal said Peterson's victims had been left feeling 'disgusting and unclean', with severe psychological problems. Some sneer about Andrea Leadsom Yet she performed tidily enough yesterday when taking weekly questions Some sneer about Andrea Leadsom. They say she is too minor a figure to be Leader of the House of Commons. 'Lacks gravitas, can't do the statesmanship required, provincial, etc, etc,' say the received-wisdom brigade. Yet she performed tidily enough yesterday when taking the weekly questions about future business of the House. She is by no means the worst Leader of the House I have seen. Anyway, what's wrong with being provincial? Not everyone worships London. Mrs Leadsom, a keen Brexiteer, was last candidate standing against Theresa May for the Conservative party leadership in summer 2016. The political Establishment with the assistance of The Times torpedoed her chances. What would have happened had she been allowed to see things through to a vote of the Tory membership? I suspected then, no less now, that she might have won on the strength of her optimism and newness. If that had happened, maybe the Conservatives would have looked fresher and Jeremy Corbyn might not have seemed so alluring to the voters a year later. Before June's election it was put about that Mrs Leadsom was for the chop. After the election she retained her Cabinet place and was moved from Environment to the Leadership of the House. The latter is one of the historic offices of our politics and its holder is supposed to represent Parliament in the Cabinet. Yesterday she was subjected to organised complaints about a procedural matter. Labour MPs and one Tory (the incorrigible Sir Edward Leigh from Gainsborough) protested about Conservative MPs boycotting a Labour-organised vote on Wednesday on universal credits. With only Opposition MPs voting in that benefit payments debate, its result became meaningless. Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom leaves 10 Downing Street On Wednesday night the Speaker, John Bercow, teetered close to political activism when he harrumphed about the Government not taking the universal credits debate seriously. Mr Bercow is full of agitations at present. Ants in his pants. He is on a mission to increase his own power. Mrs Leadsom's Labour opposite number, Valerie Vaz, came over all indignant that the Conservatives were being 'disresepctful' to the House in not promising to make legislative changes after 'losing' Wednesday's debate. Miss Vaz (sister of would-be washing-machine salesman Keith) is a friend of Mr Bercow. She came to his rescue in the last parliament when Tories tried to pass a vote that would have made it easier for MPs to vote against him in private. Sir Edward claimed that this example of the executive ignoring a parliamentary vote was 'the road to tyranny'. Sir Edward may know something about tyranny, being a fan of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Miss Leadsom, when she replied, was shouted at hard by Labour MPs. Mr Bercow made little effort to protect her. She kept her cool and stuck to a line about how the Government was 'littening'. She managed to do this without sounding angry. The first Leader of the House I saw in action was croaky Sir Geoffrey Howe in 1990. He was succeeded by John MacGregor, punctiliously polite, and Tony Newton, a conciliator. Ann Taylor, Blair's first Commons Leader, was the opposite. The Blair regime was repeatedly disdainful of Parliament. Margaret Beckett made a well-briefed if Kremlinesque Leader. Robin Cook was more fun. John Reid, in his brief spell, managed not to hit anyone rather a surprise. Peter Hain and Geoff Hoon were stodgy. Jack Straw was masterly. Harriet Harman brought more gaiety to the role than some expected but her tenure was not over-freighted intellectually. Labour lost office in 2010 and Sir George Young, Bt., became Commons Leader. Never has anyone said 'get lost' with greater charm. Andrew Lansley's mirthless tenure yielded to the more substantial Hague year, since when we have had Chris Grayling (no comment) and the blinky David Lidington. Mrs Leadsom is thus my 17th Commons Leader. At present I would bat her around 11, but she has only been in the post four months and is likely to improve. Advertisement Emmanuel Macron threw cold water on hopes of a Brexit breakthrough today - warning that the UK's divorce bill offer was not even 'halfway' to what the EU wanted. The French president delivered a grim assessment of the standoff, saying Theresa May would have to make more significant concessions for trade negotiations to be able to start in December. The hard line came after a summit of EU leaders took just 90 seconds to rebuff a plea from the Prime Minister for faster progress. But the tone contrasted sharply with efforts by other premiers including Angela Merkel to take a more conciliatory approach. EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he 'hated' the idea of no-deal Brexit, as Brussels tried to tempt Mrs May into compromising with hints at a breakthrough. European council president Donald Tusk claimed the extent of deadlock in negotiations was 'exaggerated', pointing out that the 27 states were now starting to discuss the shape of future relations between themselves. At her own press conference wrapping up the summit, Mrs May admitted Brexit talks have 'some way to go'. And despite warning counterparts over dinner last night not to push her too far, she risked the wrath of Brexiteers by suggesting she is willing to increase her previous 20billion offer to Brussels in return for a two-year transition. The French president delivered a grim assessment of the standoff today, saying Theresa May would have to make more significant concessions for trade negotiations to be able to start in December At one point before her bilateral meeting with Mr Tusk this morning the PM was left sitting all by herself - summing up her status at the summit despite attempts by other leaders to show warmth EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker insisted he was committed to reaching a 'fair' compromise, as Brussels tried to tempt Mrs May into fresh concessions on the divorce bill with hints at a breakthrough in December The Prime Minister tried to put a positive gloss on the EU's refusal to start trade talks, saying the tone of the talks is 'constructive' and she was 'optimistic' about a good outcome The PM put a friendly hand on the back of EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker during the talks this morning She made clear that was not the 'last word' on the money issue - and dodged questions from journalists about whether the final bill could be in the order of 60billion euros. Mrs May is believed to have privately fleshed out to other premiers what the UK might by willing to offer, but they want to secure more concrete commitments. European Council president Donald Tusk confirmed this morning that the EU had agreed there had not been 'sufficient progress' to move on to the second phase of negotiations, which will cover trade. THE STICKING POINTS Money: Wrangling over cash is the stickiest problem and have held up trade talks. The EU is demanding 60 billion euros the equivalent of 54billion. Theresa May agreed to pay 20 billion euros (18billion) for the current EU budget in return for a transition deal. The PM said Britain is prepared to meet its 'obligations' but what precisely these are is a matter of dispute. EU Citizens rights: Theresa May has tried to settle the issue to provide certainty to the 3.2 million EU nationals living in the UK and the 1.2million Brits living on the bloc, but the EU has refused. The British think the EU are stalling on an agreement to squeeze more money. This week the PM wrote an open letter to EU nationals reassuring them that a deal is 'within touching distance'. Northern Ireland: The EU and UK do not want to see a return to a hard Irish border fearing it would endanger the peace process. But the UK says the practicalities on how to maintain a soft border when the UK leaves the customs union means the issue can only be settled if they move on to trade talks. Transition deal: The PM wants a two-year transition deal and conceded EU judges will have power over the UK during this time. But Europe wants more clarity on whether she will accept all parts of EU law and regulation. Advertisement But in a concession designed to bolster Mrs May, Mr Tusk said the EU would start laying the ground for those discussions. 'Leaders green-light internal EU27 preparations for 2nd phase,' Mr Tusk wrote. German chancellor Angela Merkel also tried to strike a positive tone earlier. She said: 'If we are all clear in our minds, I have absolutely no doubt that we can reach a good result.' Mrs May told journalists as the summit wrapped up: 'I am ambitious and positive for Britain's future and for these negotiations. 'But I know we still have some way to go. Both sides have approached these talks with professionalism and a constructive spirit and we should recognise what has been achieved to date.' The PM also reiterated her warning that she has to be able to sell the divorce bill to the UK public - saying all EU leaders must be able to 'stand by' an agreement. 'I believe it's in the interests of the UK that the EU 27 continue to take a united approach,' she said. 'But if we are going to take a step forward together it must be on the basis of joint endeavour we must get to an outcome that we can stand behind and works for all our people.' Pressed on whether the divorce bill could end up being 60billion euros, the figure that has been circulating in Brussels, Mrs May stressed nothing would be finalised until the end of talks. She said: 'I have been very clear where we are in relation to the financial settlement. 'I've set out how in relation to the current Budget plan and we'll go through that line by line in relation to the commitments we have in our membership. 'If there are particular groups or programmes that we continue to want to be member of we will continue to pay.' In an apparent olive branch at a joint press conference with Mr Juncker, Mr Tusk said: 'My impression is that reports of the deadlock between the European Union and the UK have been exaggerated, and while progress has not been sufficient, it does not mean there is no progress at all. Mr Juncker added: 'Our working assumption is not the no deal scenario, I hate the no deal scenario. 'I want to have a fair deal with Britain.' Earlier Mrs Merkel made clear that 'both sides have to move.' In a reference to a recent spat between the UK and the EU commission, she said: 'I do not only see the ball with Great Britain. I do see it with Great Britain, but at the same time I also see the ball with us.' Mrs May was pictured patting EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on the back at a breakfast meeting today as she continued her charm offensive. UK officials have said they want EU leaders had to understand the 'difficult political backdrop' the PM faces at home. Mrs Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron tried to shore up Mrs May's position earlier yesterday, greeting her on arrival at the Brussels summit where they chatted animatedly with her for the cameras. The EU leaders gathered for a breakfast discussion, before Mrs May left the session and the Brexit process was considered Mr Macron struck a significantly harder tone on Brexit than his fellow leaders, who appeared optimistic about a deal Mr Macron told a press conference wrapping up the summit today that the divorce bill offer was not even 'halfway' towards being enough Mr Macron and Mrs Merkel appear to have developed a close working rapport since he became president Theresa May was seen deep in conversation with Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at a breakfast session on the second day of the EU summit Mrs Merkel, whose government has started drawing up secret plans for a trade deal with the UK, struck an upbeat note, saying there were 'encouraging' signs that the negotiations would be ready to move on to trade by December. WHAT HAPPENS NOW? Theresa May has been engaged in a frantic diplomatic offensive, and it is unlikely to stop now as she will want to build on momentum from the summit. The next formal round of Brexit talks between David Davis and Michel Barnier is not due to begin until early November. But in the interim the UK will be considering how much further to go in making concrete commitments to a divorce bill. There will also be finishing touches to put to the outline agreement on citizens' rights, which is thought to be within touching distance of completion. Meanwhile, the EU is starting to draw up its positions on the basis that trade talks will start at some point. The moment of truth for the Brexit process is likely to come at the next EU summit in December, when leaders will again be asked whether they want to begin talking about trade to the UK. If they refuse a second time the alarm bells will start ringing and preparations for a no-deal departure will start in earnest. Advertisement In another positive sign for Mrs May, it emerged that Sweden is drawing up plans for a future trade relationship with the UK. But other EU leaders continued to press the PM for more 'detail' on how much the UK is willing to hand over in a divorce settlement. Some in the EU are calling for the UK to pay as much as 90 billion and none are satisfied with the current 20billion offer. Mrs May has said Britain will meet 'commitments' made during its period of membership and privately indicated that she is willing to increase the offer on the table. But, with public opinion resistant to handing over a large cheque, she is reluctant to name a significantly higher sum or agree to their demand to set it out in writing. Mr Macron said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier had told the EU27 that the UK 'still had to make a substantial financial effort'. Mr Macron said: 'We are far from where we should be in this respect. 'If, as Prime Minister May said in Florence, we want to make sure that no-one will have to pay more or receive less, and if we want to make sure the UK will comply with all its commitments made as a member of the EU ... I would say we are far from having reached the necessary financial commitments before we can open phase two. 'We are not halfway there.' The French premier also branded calls from some in the UK for a no deal Brexit 'bluffing'. Earlier, Mrs May urged leaders to seize the offer she made last month in her Florence speech to honour Britain's financial commitments to the EU as part of a two-year transitional deal. She said she had made the offer after recognising that the Brexit talks had stalled in the summer. Donald Tusk and Mrs Merkel both went out of their way to be optimistic about the direction of the Brexit discussions Mr Juncker talks with Mrs Merkel in Brussels today. In the background is the commission president's powerful chief of staff, Martin Selmayr Mrs Merkel arrives for the second day of the summit in Brussels, when EU leaders are expected formally to declare there has not been enough progress to start Brexit trade talks Theresa May held bilateral talks with European Council president Donald Tusk today as she battles to find a way through the Brexit impasse UK officials have said they want EU leaders had to understand the 'difficult political backdrop' the PM faces at home Mrs May told them she had 'recognised the difficulty the process was in,' adding: 'I took stock, listened to what people in the UK were saying and what my friends and partners in Europe were saying and I made a step forward.' EU could lose 1.2million jobs in a no-deal Brexit The EU could lose 1.2 million jobs if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal, Belgium's economy minister said. Kris Peeters said a 'no deal' scenario would be 'catastrophic' for his country. Figures in the London Stock Exchange and Donald Trump White House warned the EU risks sparking financial turmoil if it uses Brexit to force financial services out of London. Mr Peeters said: 'The potential impact for our country could well be catastrophic. 'Britain would no longer be part of a customs union'. 'According to our calculations, the customs fees for imports from the United Kingdom and exports to the UK would reach a total of 2.22 billion euros ($2.62 billion).' 'Under this scenario, Belgium would lose 42,000 jobs, Britain 526,000 and the EU as a whole not less than 1,200,000.' In Belgium, a no-deal Brexit would have 'grave consequences' for the Port of Zeebrugge, on the North Sea. Advertisement She insisted the speech had kick-started talks, but added: 'We must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people.' The PM urged fellow leaders to be 'optimistic and ambitious about what we can achieve, because we share the same set of beliefs'. And she confirmed that the UK remained 'unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe's security'. Brexit Secretary David Davis said this afternoon that he was encouraged by the outcome of the summit. 'We don't want a no deal but if one comes we will be ready for it,' he told reporters in London. EU leaders have spent the past two days stressing the need for Britain to pay more. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, seen as one of the UK's closest allies, said: 'Theresa May has to come up with more clarity on what she meant by 'other commitments' in her Florence speech. 'I phoned her last week and tried to encourage her to do that but so far she hasn't.' The demand was echoed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who said that putting an end to the stalemate will 'require more concessions from the UK government'. He added: 'We're quite far back far from the cliff edge at this stage but it is incumbent on all European leaders that we don't sleepwalk towards it. Theresa May last night reiterated a pledge to pay around 18billion into the EU budget over the next two years as part of an eventual Brexit bill. But EU officials and leaders are adamant that the UK must further spell out how much of the bloc's debts she is willing to pay off. Mrs May was accompanied by the UK's representative to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow (left) as she roamed the summit today Mrs May, pictured flanked by chief aide Gavin Barwell (left) and ambassador to the EU Sir Tim Barrow, is attending the second day of the summit in Brussels Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni was seen chatting to Mrs Merkel at the summit today. Mrs May appeared to be suffering an unfortunate recurrence of her cough during her press conference Britain is said to be fighting calls to pay 11billion euros towards pensions for EU officials, saying the true figure should be more like 3.5billion. The Prime Minister is understood to have outlined in more detail the eventual shape of the bill in private conversations with EU leaders such as President Macron and Mrs Merkel. BELGIAN MEP SAYS BORIS IS A 'LOONY' BLACKMAILING MAY Philippe Lamberts MEP branded Boris Johnson a 'loony' who is blackmailing Theresa May A Belgian MEP today branded Boris Johnson is a 'loony' who is blackmailing Theresa May over Brexit. Philippe Lamberts risked sparking outrage by mocking the Foreign Secretary's chances of ever making tit to No10. And he warned the PM it is not the job of Brussels to save her political 'skin' as he demanded more cash for the divorce bill. Appearing on Sky News All Out Politics, the MEP - who sits on the Brexit steering committee - said: 'Frankly speaking, I would not bet much money on Boris Johnson ever becoming British Prime Minister. That's my view. 'I hope that you have enough responsible people in British politics, including in the Tory Party, to get to a sensible attitude. 'That's a problem. How does she accept to be blackmailed by, excuse me, loonies who are part of the Tory Party.' Challenged over why the bloc is not giving Mrs May more support, he added: 'It's not the job of the EU 27 to save the skin of any British politician, and vice versa.' Advertisement But figures close to negotiations said talks on trade will only be opened once the UK puts an offer 'on Barnier's table', a reference to the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. Outgoing Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern described the lack of breakthroughs as a 'big disappointment' yesterday. 'We have to speed up of course because this is definitely detrimental to the European economy. There are so many open issues and we have to come to solutions.' Juha Sipila, the Finnish Prime Minister, said: 'We are a little bit frustrated about the progress but hopefully we can be in that position in December. Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite also took aim at the Prime Minister, adding: 'Mrs May needs to be persuade herself to be more realistic' - is she? 'Not yet.' She also made reference to the how the venue for yesterday's meeting was changed due to the presence of toxic kitchen fumes. Writing on Twitter, she said: 'Lessons from European Council kitchen: fuming over Brexit must not become toxic.' The slow progress has fuelled fears that May's government could collapse, or worse that Britain may fail to strike a withdrawal agreement before its formal departure on March 29, 2019, which could cause economic and transport chaos of both sides of the Channel. The former head of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency, John Sawers, warned yesterday that Britain could be left 'poorer and weaker' by Brexit and needing to spend more to maintain influence abroad. Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein meanwhile took to Twitter to say he would be 'spending a lot more time' in Frankfurt, just stopping short of naming the German city as a post-Brexit headquarters. May is under pressure from senior Brexiteers at home, and a group urged her in a letter on Thursday to walk out of the talks if the EU does not agree to move on to trade. As Mrs May got down to work at the EU headquarters yesterday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was also in Brussels holding his own talks over Brexit. Germany is playing hardball in public, insisting it is not interested in a trade deal unless the UK offers written guarantees it will make a 'divorce payment'. Michael Fuchs, vice-chair of Angela Merkel's CDU party, said yesterday that he believed the figure should be between 60billion and 100billion euros. 'I cannot give you the real figure, the final figure, but there is a figure between 100billion and maybe 60billion, something in between these two numbers should be the right point,' he told ITV's Good Morning Britain. 'This is what the negotiators have to do at the moment, and I hope that David Davis is coming up with a decent proposal, because 20 billion is definitely not enough.' In the early hours of this morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled the EU is ready to compromise after the PM used a summit dinner to warn she must be able to 'defend' a divorce bill to the British public Theresa May seemed upbeat as she left the EU Summit in Brussels last night after delivering her plea over dinner The three leaders had a chat at the EU summit in Brussels yesterday ahead of Theresa May's address to her fellow European leaders But a draft paper by the German foreign ministry suggests Berlin is privately anxious to secure a 'comprehensive' trade deal with one of its largest trading partners. The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, ramped up the rhetoric this week by accusing Mrs May of being 'unrealistic' and said Britain should be forced to pump around 60billion euros into the bloc's coffers. Money has emerged as the key issue in the first phase, with the EU refusing to discuss trade until the outline of the financial settlement is agreed. Brussels' chief negotiator Michel Barnier has sought to up the pressure by repeatedly pointing out that the 'clock is ticking' before the formal Brexit date in March 2019. But Brexit Secretary David Davis has said the two sides have little left to discuss in the first phase, with a deal within 'touching distance' on citizens' rights and the Northern Ireland border intractable until the shape of a future trade relationship is clearer. The failure to agree 'sufficient progress' means the issue will not be revisited until the next EU summit in December. However, ministers are still confident of achieving movement by Christmas. David Davis is preparing to present an 'upbeat' assessment of a No Deal Brexit to the Cabinet David Davis is preparing to present an 'upbeat' assessment of a No Deal Brexit to the Cabinet, it was reported. In a change in negotiating tactics, the Brexit Secretary was last night said to have ordered his officials to plan for a failure to get a trade deal. He is said to be planning to present this scenario to his colleagues on Halloween. The move is expected to alarm his pro-Remain colleagues, according to The Times. David Davis is preparing to present an 'upbeat' assessment of a No Deal Brexit to the Cabinet, it was reported last night Mr Davis also said that EU citizens would be allowed to bring non-EU spouses into the UK, even if they do not meet the income requirements that British citizens have to. So far Theresa May has failed to talk up how Britain would fare without a deal. Preferring the option of a trade agreement, it is the first time Mrs May has allowed David Davis to make such a presentation. Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister, said a no-deal situation was 'inevitable at the moment', but stressed that the UK should not be 'terrified' of this outcome. Referring to trading on World Trade Organisation terms, he said: 'It is an ineluctable certainty we are going to end up with WTO at the end of this anyway.' Advertisement Advertisement THERESA MAY'S DEPUTY SLAPS DOWN BREXITEERS CALLING FOR MAY TO WALK AWAY FROM EU TALKS Damian Green today slapped down Brexiteers calling for the PM to walk away from Brexit talks if the EU do not move on to trade discussions. The Prime Minister's deputy there are no plans for Theresa May to leave the negotiating table, despite the curent impasse. The Cabinet minister said it is in Britain and the EU's best interests to get a deal and he is confident one will be struck. Mrs May has travelled to Brussels to address a crunch summit where she will appeal directly to the heads of member states to move on to trade talks. In an open letter published today Brexiteers including Tory former chancellor Lord Lawson urged Mrs May to abandon the negotiations if there is no progress towards a deal. First Secretary of State Damian Green, pictured earlier this week with Brexit Secretary David Davis, said Theresa May does not plan to walk away from talks in the EU and said he is confident a good deal will be struck But asked if there is a chance the PM will 'walk away', Mr Green said: 'No.' He added: 'David Davis said in the House yesterday that he intends to continue with the talks. 'I think the Florence speech has led to an improvement in the atmosphere of the talks. 'They are gong to be tough they are going to be long - it's a European negotiation you would expect both of those things. 'But we would expect to have a successful conclusion at the end.' Mr Green, who campaigned to stay in the EU during the referendum campaign, said he would not change his mind if the contest was rerun. Speaking to reporters at the press gallery lunch in the Commons, he said: 'I've said that I haven't changed my views about anything said during the referendum campaign. 'But there are two main points one is that there is not going to be another referendum, and second that it's my duty to try to help get the best deal for Britain.' The siblings of an eight-year-old boy who was tortured to death by his mother and her boyfriend have told a court how the pair singled him out and subjected him to sickening abuse because they thought he was gay. Gabriel Fernandez died in 2013 after allegedly suffering eight months of abuse at the hands of his mother Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre at their Los Angeles home. Prosecutors say the pair put cigarettes out on his skin, beat him with a bat and shot at him with a BB gun. On Wednesday, his teenage brother and sister wept as they testified against the pair in court. While they admit torturing the boy, Aguirre denies murder because he claims his death was unintentional. Fernandez's trial will begin after her boyfriend's concludes. These were the extent of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez's facial injuries when he was taken to hospital in May 2013 after suffering eight months of abuse. He was brain dead when he arrived and had been placed on life support in this photograph Gabriel Fernandez, eight, died in May 2013 at the hands of his abusive mother and stepfather On Wednesday, Gabriel's siblings told how their mother's boyfriend singled him out for beatings and made him sleep in a cabinet they referred to as a 'box', according to NBC which attended the trial in California. Whenever social services visited, they would lock the eight-year-old away and handcuff him so they would not see his injuries, they said. The family had been reported to authorities several times by concerned acquaintances who were worried for Gabriel's welfare but the case was overlooked. It wasn't until May 2013, when Aguirre delivered a fatal blow which made Gabriel brain dead, that they realized how severe the case was. Ezequiel C, Gabriel's 16-year-old brother, told how Aguirre put a sock over his brother's mouth on occasion and sometimes used a bandana to silence him. He also said Aguirre kicked Gabriel in the face, stomach and groin and that he used a wooden hanger to beat him sometimes. Pearl Fernandez (left in court previously) and Isuaro Aguirre (right during his trial this week) are both accused of murdering the boy Gabriel's siblings said he was picked on by the pair because they thought he was gay. They would taunt him by forcing him to wear girl's clothes to school, they said Gabriel was made to sleep in this cubby where he was handcuffed. Whenever social workers visited the home after receiving reports he had been beaten, he was stuffed in the cabinet and told to hide, according to his siblings When his injuries were visible, he says the pair told him to lie and say Gabriel suffered them when they were playing. The couple also used to taunt Gabriel by calling him gay and would force him to wear girl's clothes to school, he said. Prosecutors earlier said that this was Aguirre's motivation for bullying the child. Gabriel's brother said he used to take a change of clothes in his backpack and change at school. Once, when his mother found out, she punched him in the face, he said. In addition to beatings, they tortured the boy by forcing him to eat spoiled food. His brother described how they once made him eat rotten spinach and even made him eat his own vomit when he threw up onto the table afterwards. Aguirre used a bat to hit the eight-year-old in the groin and other parts of the body Gabriel's siblings say their stepfather also used to shoot him with a BB gun Gabriel (above before the abuse) was beaten for eight months before his death in May 2013 They also forced him to eat cat litter and cat feces. The boy's teenage sister, named only as Virginia, also testified on Wednesday. She fought back tears as she told how they only ever picked on Gabriel and left her and her brother alone. On May 22, 2013, the night of Gabriel's death, she said she watched as Aguirre punched him repeatedly in the head. When he fell to the ground after the fatal blow, Aguirre and the boy's mother panicked, she said. Paramedics found the boy unresponsive in their Los Angeles home in 2013 (above) Aguirre and the boy's mother have shown no emotion during court hearings at which others have been reduced to tears They placed him in the shower and slapped him continuously to try to revive him but were unsuccessful and eventually called 911. When paramedics arrived, they claimed he had been playing with his brother in the cabinet where they made him sleep and that he hit his head. Paramedics who responded to the 911 call said the abuse Gabriel suffered was unspeakable. Nurses and doctors at the hospital said it was some of the worst they had ever seen. Gabriel was placed on life support after being declared brain dead at the hospital. His life support was turned off after several days. Aguirre does not deny torturing the boy or being responsible for his death. He has however pleaded not guilty to murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder involving the infliction of torture because he says he did not mean for Gabriel to die. Gabriel's death shocked the nation in 2013 and triggered a string of internal investigations within Child Protective Services. Nine different sheriff's deputies investigated the case but none made any arrests before his death. Four different case workers who missed the signs that he was being so egregiously abused are also facing charges. A young man has died after becoming trapped in a house fire despite the desperate attempts of his housemates to save him. Emergency services arrived at the Camberwell home in Melbourne's eastern suburbs just after 12.30am on Friday, after multiple calls from neighbours. Dean Holzer said he woke to terrified screams and rushed to wake his children and inspect his property before realising it was the one next door that was on fire. Scroll down for video A young man has died after becoming trapped in a house fire despite the desperate attempts of his housemates to save him 'I saw one male (resident). They were terrified and screaming,' he told the Herald Sun. 'It's really sad.' Firefighters entered with breathing apparatus after a caller suggested there could be someone trapped inside. 'Unfortunately during their search of the premise, firefighters have located one deceased male,' the Metropolitan Fire Brigade said. Two others who were in the house a man and a woman had tried to save the man, but the flames forced them back. Emergency services arrived at the Camberwell property just after 12.30am on Friday The 25-year-old man died in his bedroom, where the blaze broke out. His name has not been released. Police have not deemed the fire suspicious but a cause is yet to be identified. It took 20 firefighters nearly 40 minutes to control the fire, which caused an estimated $200,000 of damage, according to the Herald Sun. Garry Evans (pictured), 72, was arrested on Wednesday on at least a dozen child molestation charges A pastor in Indiana has been arrested on child molestation charges following an investigation into sexual assault allegations. Officers with the Rushville Police Department say that 72-year-old Garry Evans was placed under arrest on Thursday and accused of at least a dozen felonies. He was charged with three counts of child molestation, four counts of sexual battery, and five counts of child solicitation, according to local affiliate FOX 59. Police first began investigating Evans on September 3, when the mother of a three-year-old girl informed authorities that her daughter was sexually solicited by the pastor. According to an affidavit, the girl told her mother that Evans lead her to his private office with the promise of candy. Evans was charged with three counts of child molestation, four counts of sexual battery, and five counts of child solicitation (Pictured: Rushville Baptist Temple) It was there that the pastor removed his pants and made her touch his penis, telling the three-year-old girl afterwards not to discuss the incident with anyone. On September 22, police executed a warrant for Evans' arrest at the Rushville Baptist Temple Church in the 1300 block of North Spencer Street, FOX 59 reported. 'There's not been a day gone by that we haven't done something associated with this case,' said Rushville Police Chief Craig Tucker. Police chief Craig Tucker (pictured) is encouraging anyone with information to come forward and speak As news of Evans' arrest spread through the church, parents began asking their children if the pastor had ever done anything to them. According to FOX 59 citing court documents, authorities have interviewed four more girls under the age of 10 who said Evans molested them. One girl even claimed that she was solicited 'nearly every time she went to church.' Each incident was initiated after Evans offered the girls candy in his private office. Tucker believes there are more victims who have yet to come forward, and is encouraging anyone with information to share their knowledge with police. 'If you have a child who has exhibited unusual behavior after being in the vicinity of the church or this pastor and you believe there has been something that has happened to this child that might indicate something inappropriate happened, we definitely want them to give us a call,' Chief Tucker said. Evans, who had been a pastor at Rushville Baptist Temple for last 30 years, is being held without bond at the Rush County Jail. A search committee reviewing applications for commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands has selected eight candidates to interview next week. The committee of the Board of University and School Lands narrowed the selection from a total of 32 applicants while meeting in a closed-door executive session Thursday. Names of candidates will not be made public until finalists are named under a new state law that took effect Aug. 1. Jodi Uecker, chairwoman of the search committee and chief operating officer for Gov. Doug Burgum, said the applicants come from diverse backgrounds, including private industry, public service and the nonprofit sector. Were really very thrilled with the quality of the candidate pool, Uecker said. The committee plans to conduct in-person interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 8:30 a.m. in the governors conference room of the Capitol. The interviews will be conducted in an executive session. The Land Board voted in May to open a search for land commissioner. Burgum, who is chairman of the board, also required members of his Cabinet to reapply for their positions after he took office. Commissioner Lance Gaebes appointment was set to expire at the end of June, but commissioners extended it through Dec. 31 or until a new commissioner would be appointed. Gaebe has said he applied for the position. It was unknown if he is among the eight selected to be interviewed. The committee aims to make a recommendation to the Land Board by the end of the month. The Department of Trust Lands manages the permanent educational trust funds and assets under the Land Boards control. The department also manages sovereign mineral acres, operates the Unclaimed Property Division and the Energy Infrastructure and Impact Office. Each Land Board member appointed a representative to the search committee. The other members are Rick D. Larson, former deputy land commissioner, appointed by Secretary of State Al Jaeger; Tom Trenbeath, former deputy attorney general, appointed by Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem; Linda Svihovec, former McKenzie County auditor, appointed by State Treasurer Kelly Schmidt; and Bob Christman, chief of staff for the Department of Public Instruction, appointed by Superintendent Kirsten Baesler. Public meeting notices for the next meetings were promptly posted following Thursdays meeting. The Bismarck Tribune reported Thursday that the search committee did not post timely notices for its first two meetings. GEN. JOHN KELLY: 'Most Americans don't know what happens when we lose one of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines or coast guardsman in combat. So let me tell you what happens. Their buddies wrap them up in whatever passes as a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as a routine, and sends them home. 'Their first stop along the way is when they're packed in ice, typically at the airhead and then they're flown to usually Europe where they're then packed in ice again and flown to Dover Air Force Base. Where Dover takes care of the remains, embalms them, meticulously dresses them in their uniform with the medals that they've earned, the emblems of their service and then puts them on another airplane linked up with the casualty officer escort that takes them home. 'A very, very good movie to watch is 'Taking Chance' if you haven't seen it, where this is done in a movie, HBO setting. Chance Phelps was killed under my command, right next to me. It's worth seeing that if you have never seen it. So that's the process. 'While that's happening, a casualty officer typically goes to the home very early in the morning and waits for the first lights to come on. And then he knocks on the door. Typically the mom and dad will answer. Wife. If there is a wife this is happening in two different places. If the parents are divorced, three different places. And the casualty officer proceeds to break the heart of a family member. And stays with that family until, well, for a long, long time, even after the interment. So that's what happens. 'Who are these young men and women? They are the best 1 per cent this country produces. Most of you as Americans don't know them. Many of you don't know anyone who knows any one of them. But they are the very best that this country produces. And they volunteer to protect our country when there's nothing in our country anymore that seems to suggest that selfless service to the nation is not only appropriate but required. But that's all right. 'Who writes letters to the families? Typically the company commander in my case as a Marine, the company commander the battalion commander, regimental commander, division commander, secretary of defense, typically the service chief, the commandant of the Marine Corps, and the president, typically writes a letter. 'Typically the only phone calls a family receives are the most important phone calls they can imagine, and that is from their buddies. In my case, hours after my son was killed, his friends were calling us from Afghanistan, telling us what a great guy he was. Those are the only phone calls that really matter. And yeah, the letters count to a degree, but there's not much that really can take the edge off what a family member is going through. 'So some presidents have elected to call. All presidents, I believe, have elected to send letters. If you elect to call a family like this, it is about the most difficult thing you could imagine. There's no perfect way to make that phone call. When I took this job and talked to President Trump about how to do it, my first recommendation was, he not do it. Because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. It's a 'nice to do' in my opinion, in any event. 'He asked me about previous presidents. And I said I can tell you that President Obama, who was my commander-in-chief when I was on active duty, did not call my family. That was not a criticism. That was just to simply say I don't believe President Obama called. That's not a negative thing. I don't believe President Bush called in all cases. I don't believe any president, particularly when the casualty rates are very, very high, that presidents call. I believe they all write. 'So when I gave that explanation to our president three days ago, he elected to make phone calls in the case of the four young men who we lost in Niger at the earlier part of this month. But then he said, you know, 'How do you make these calls?' If you're not in the family, if you've never worn the uniform, if you've never been in combat, you can't even imagine how to make that phone call. But he very bravely does make those calls. 'The call in question that he made yesterday, a day before yesterday now, were to four family members. The four fallen. And remember, there's a next of kin, designated by the individual. If he's married, that's typically the spouse. If he's not married, that's typically the parents, unless the parents are divorced and then he selects one of them. If he didn't get along with his parents, he'll select a sibling. But the point is the phone call is made to the next of kin only if the next of kin agrees to take the phone call. Sometimes they don't. So a pre-call is made: 'The President of the United States or the commandant of the Marine Corps, or someone would like to call. Will you accept the call?' And typically they accept the call. 'So he called four people yesterday and expressed his condolences the best way he could. He said to me, 'What do I say?' I said to him, 'Sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.' 'Let me tell you what I tell them. Let me tell you what my best friend Joe Dunford told me, as he was my casualty officer. He said, 'Kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 percent. He knew what the possibilities were because we're at war.' And when he died, in the four cases we're talking about, in Niger, and my son's case in Afghanistan, when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the president tried to say to the four families the other day. 'I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and broken-hearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President of the United States to a young wife. And in his way he tried to express that opinion, that he's a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted. There was no reason to enlist. He enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message. That was the message that was transmitted. 'It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred. 'You know, when I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor. That's obviously not the case anything as we see from recent cases. Life, the dignity of life is sacred. That's gone. Religion, that seems to be gone as well. Gold star families I think that left in the convention over the summer. I just thought that selfless devotion that brings a man or women to die in the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred. 'When I listen to this woman and what she was saying, what she was doing on TV, the only thing I could do to collect my thoughts is to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth. You can always find them. They're in Arlington National Cemetery. I went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there, because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed. 'I'll end with this: In October, April of 2015, I was still on active duty. I went to the dedication of the new FBI field office in Miami. And it was dedicated to two men that were killed in a firefight in Miami with, against drug traffickers in 1986. A guy by the name of Grogan, and Duke [sic]. Grogan almost retired, 53 years old. Duke, I think less than a year on the job. Anyways, they got in a gun fight and they were killed. Three other FBI agents were there, wounded. Now retired. 'So we go down, Jim Comey did an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men, and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well. There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were only 3 or 4 years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives. 'And a congresswoman stood up and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money. And she just called up president Obama and on that phone call he gave the money, the $20 million to build the building. She sat down. We were stunned, stunned that she'd done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. But you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, 'Okay, fine.' 'So I still hope as you write your stories, and I appeal to America, that let's not let this maybe last thing that's held sacred in our society, a young man, a young woman going out and giving his or her life for our country, let's try to somehow keep that sacred. But it eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress. So I'm willing to take a question or two on this topic. 'Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Is anyone here a Gold Star parent or sibling? Does anyone here know a Gold Star parent or sibling? Okay. You get the question.' REPORTER: 'Thank you, General Kelly. First of all, you have a great deal of respect. 'Semper Fi' for everything you've ever done. But if we could take this a bit further. Why were they in Niger? We were told they weren't in armored vehicles and there was no air cover. So what were the specifics about this particular incident, and why we were there? Why are we there?' GEN. KELLY: 'Well, I'll start by saying there is an investigation. Now, let me back up and say, the fact of the matter is, young men and women that wear our uniform are deployed around the world and there are tens of thousands near the DMZ in North Korea, in Okinawa waiting to go in South Korea, in Okinawa ready to go, All over the United States, training, ready to go. They're all over Latin America. Down there they do mostly drug interdiction working with our partners, our great partners the Colombians, the Central Americans, the Mexicans. You know, there's thousands. 'My own son right now, back in the fight for his fifth tour in against ISIS. There's thousands of them in Europe acting as a deterrent. And then throughout Africa. And they're doing the nation's work there. And not making a lot of money, by the way, doing it. They love what they do. So why were they there? They're there working with partners, local Africans, all across Africa in this case, Niger, working with partners, teaching them how to be better soldiers, teaching them how to respect human rights. Teaching them how to fight ISIS so that we don't have to send our soldiers and Marines there in their thousands. That's what they were doing there. 'Now there's an investigation. There's always unless it's a very conventional death in a conventional war, there's always an investigation. Of course, that operation is conducted by AFRICOM that of course works directly for the Secretary of Defense. There is a, I talked to Jim Mattis this morning, I think he made statements this afternoon. There's an investigation ongoing. 'An investigation doesn't mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesn't mean people's heads are going to roll. The fact is, they need to find out what happened and why it happened. But at the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, you have to understand that these young people, sometimes old guys, put on the uniform, go to where we send them to protect our country. 'Sometimes they go in large numbers to invade Iraq, invade Afghanistan. Sometimes they're working in small units, working with our partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, helping them be better. But at the end of the day, they're helping those partners be better at fighting ISIS and north Africa to protect our country so that we don't have to send large numbers of troops. 'Any other someone who knows a Gold Star fallen person. John?' REPORTER: 'General, thank you for being here today. Thank you for your service and for your family's sacrifice. There's been some talk about the timetable of the release of the statement about the I think at that point it was three soldiers who were killed in Niger. Can you walk us through the timetable of the release of that information, and what part did the fact that a beacon was pinging during that time have to do with the relase of the statement? And were you concerned that divulging the information early might jeopardize a soldier's safety?' GEN. KELLY: 'First of all, we're at the highest level of the U.S. government. The people that will answer those questions are the people at the other end of the military pyramid. I'm sure the Special Forces group is conducting I know they're conducting an investigation. That investigation, of course, under the auspices of AFRICOM. Ultimately it will go to the Pentagon.' 'I've read the same stories you have, I actually know a lot more than I'm letting on, but I'm not going to tell you. There's an investigation being done. But as I say, the men and women of our country that are serving all around the world I mean, you know, what the hell is my son doing back in the fight? He's back in the fight because, working with Iraqi soldiers who are infinitely better than they were a few years ago to take on ISIS directly so hat we don't have to do it. Small numbers of Marines where he is, working alongside those guys. That's why they're out there. 'Whether it's Niger, Iraq or whatever. We don't want to send tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines in particular to go fight. 'I'll take one more. But it's got to be from someone who knows all right.' REPORTER: 'General, when you talk about Niger, sir, what does your intelligence tell you about the Russian connection with them and what the stories coming out now?' GEN. KELLY: 'I'm not in a position to know that. That's a question for NORTHCOM or for not NORTHCOM, for AFRICOM or D.O.D. So thanks very much. 'As I walk off the stage, understand there's tens of thousands of American kids, mostly, doing the nation's bidding all around the world. They don't have to be in uniform. You know, when I was a kid, every man in my life who was a veteran World War II, Korea, and there was the draft. These young people today, they don't do it for any other reason than their selfless, sense of selfless devotion to this great nation. 'We don't look down upon those of you that haven't served. In fact, in a way we're a little bit sorry, because you'll never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kind of things our servicemen and women do. Not for any other reason than they love this country. 'So just think of that. And I appreciate your time. thank you.' A 24-year-old foster father from Oklahoma has been charged with murder for allegedly shaking a two-month-old baby boy to death, less than a day after taking the infant into his home. According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, officers responded to Children's Hospital at Oklahoma University Medical Center at around 3pm on October 8 after getting a report about baby Jacob Thomas, who was brought there earlier that day. The child was found not breathing in the home of his new foster father, Austin Davis, on Northwest 89th Street at around 9am, according to an arrest affidavit. Scroll down for video Foster dad: Foster father Austin Davis, 24 (left), has been charged with first-degree murder in the shaking death of two-month-old Jacob Thomas (right), who was in his care Jacob's birth parents, Matt Grimes and Sandra Thompson, said the state had taken Jacob and their other children away from them because they had 'problems' Hospital staff told officers the infant had what appeared to be injuries consistent with possible signs of child abuse, specifically, 'shaken baby syndrome.' A doctor reportedly told a detective that Jacob's injuries were so severe that 'he will never recover.' When police interviewed the mortally injured babys foster dad, Davis reportedly confessed to shaking him while telling him 'just stop' because the two-month-old was crying, reported NewsOK. Police said the 24-year-old suspect also re-enacted for them how he shook the boy. The incident took place less than 24 hours after Davis took Thomas into his care. Davis, who was apparently linked to the Indian Child Welfare program for the Choctaw Nation, was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail last Thursday on a single count of child abuse. The following day, baby Jacob succumbed to his injuries, leading to Davis' abuse charge being upgraded to first-degree murder. He is being held without bond. This week, Jacob's biological parents, Matt Grimes and Sandra Thompson, spoke to News9 about their son's death, lamenting that Choctaw Nation had removed him from his first foster home, where he was 'healthy and happy,' and had given him to Davis. Davis reportedly confessed to shaking Jacob because he would not stop crying, less than 24 hours after Choctaw Nation had placed him in his care Boy's birth parents say the infant suffered a broken neck and bleeding in his brain 'They took our baby to protect him from us and then failed miserably in protecting him themselves,' Grimes said. Jacob was born prematurely and spent the first two weeks with his birth mother in the NICU. He was then immediately placed in the first foster home, which was under the auspices of the Department of Human Services. DHS told KFOR that under the Indian Child Welfare Act, if a child has any tribal blood, he or she must be given to that tribes welfare program. Grimes and Thompson conceded that they had 'problems,' but denied that Jacob or their older children were ever in any danger. The biological parents were summoned to the hospital on October 8, to find their son clinging to life, having suffered a broken neck and bleeding in the brain, according to the couple. 'The brain injuries he sustained were so severe he was pretty much gone at that point,' Grimes said. 'We got to say goodbye to his physical body but as far as our baby laying there at that point, not really.' DailyMail.com has obtained a drone's view of the fully completed border wall prototypes that are vying to be part of Trump's new Mexican border wall. The companies that have totally completed their imposing structures so far are: Maryland's ETLA North America Inc, two completed from Caddell Construction Co, LLC, of Alabama, a wall by Texas Sterling Construction Co. of Houston and a wall completed by Arizona's Fisher Sand & Gravel which was among the first to complete construction of it's prototype. Next to Fisher Sand & Gravel's structure is the outline of a wall to be built by KWR Construction of Sierra Vista of Arizona. All eight wall prototypes are nearly completed on the US border of Mexico Maryland's ETLA North America Inc is an Israeli defense company. This wall by ETLA uses a concrete at the base with the top two-thirds featuring blue metal panels Caddell Construction Co, LLC, of Montgomery, Alabama created two walls, this one features metal bars for the first half, narrowly spaced and resembling the bollard-style fencing which allows CBP to see to the otherside, the top half has solid concrete panels Caddell Construction Co, LLC, of Montgomery, Alabama was awarded a contract for this concrete structure with a slope on the US side and a flat surface towards the Mexican border Arizona's Fisher Sand & Gravel structure was among the first to be completed with concrete blending with the desert it sits in Texas Sterling Construction Co. of Houston built this prototype of concrete with fencing at the top pointing towards Mexico As of now the two prototypes that sit furthest west by W. G. Yates & Sons Construction Company Mississippi are still under construction- one partially finished while the other is now a base foundation. Of the eight contracts doled out in the CBP search they awarded four to be made of concrete and four to be made of material other than concrete. The walls all have striking features ranging from slats that allow CBP to see through to the other side, another has a slope on the US side and a completely straight wall facing Mexico, while another has a fence jutting over its Mexican side, and yet another has blue metal on its top portion. The wall prototypes are all expected to be fully erected by the end of the month and are being constructed in the California desert, near San Diego abutting the run down neighborhood of Tijuana, Mexico. The requirements to adhere to Trump's vision call for 'a fence that is impenetrable, it's unscalable,' said Roy Villareal, acting chief patrol agent of the San Diego border sector. 'They can't dig under it. They can't cut through it. Customs and Border Protection may pick several winners, or none. Villarreal said another contractor will evaluate each model, which will be up to 30 feet high and 30 feet long. Mekanie Avilar Rodriguez, 7, plays with her doll on the existing border wall as border wall prototypes being built in San Diego This is a full shot of how the eight walls are starting to stack up with an empty spot second from right and two at the farthest end in the middle of construction This graphic shows how President Donald Trump (pictured centre right) is planning the U.S.A./Mexico wall. Prototypes are being built in the California desert 'It may not result in a singular winner. It may be a combination of designs being implemented,' Villarreal told reporters next to existing border fencing. Construction began at the end of September, after being stalled three months when firms that didn't win contracts protested. Announcing the start of construction in September Vitiello, said in a statement: 'We are committed to securing our border and that includes constructing border walls.' 'Our multi-pronged strategy to ensure the safety and security of the American people includes barriers, infrastructure, technology and people.' The cost of eight contracts ranges from $320,000 to $480,000. CBP has already appropriated the funds to pay for them. Funding to extend the current wall beyond its distance of 654 miles, however is in doubt. A man peeks through a hole in the existing border wall from the Mexican side at several border wall prototypes being built in San Diego Democrats have balked at Trump's $1.6 billion request to replace 14 miles in San Diego and build 60 miles in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Most of the prototypes seemed to be concrete-based, contradicting President Trump's original comments that the wall would be see through. CBP said construction must be completed within 30 days. The agency will then take a few weeks to test them, determining how quickly and easily the prototype can be breached, and analyzing how effectively the companies incorporated anti-climbing mechanisms, see-through capabilities and other security features. Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico has been a hard and fast campaign pledge. Building the eight prototypes has hit a milestone toward that pledge. Trump still maintains that Mexicans will pay for the wall eventually, but says American taxpayers will front the cost until they do. The prototype building process will last about three more weeks, CBP said. After that, the agency may pick several winners, or none. A 14-year-old boy stabbed and killed one of two burglars after they broke into his family's Philadelphia home on Tuesday night. Police say Quadir Boyer stabbed the man in the back after he and another intruder followed his mother's boyfriend to the home on 65th street from a bar and forced their way in to rob him. The eighth-grader told Fox29 that when he saw the two men he first tried getting his sister out of the house, before going back in to help his mom, Candace Johnson. Scroll down for video Quadir Boyer, 14, stabbed and killed one of two burglars after they broke into his family's Philadelphia home on Tuesday night The eighth-grader said he saw the two men fighting his mother Candace Johnson's boyfriend and said he felt 'he had to stab' one of them to protect his family (pictured with Johnson) He then saw the two men fighting Johnson's boyfriend and said he felt that 'he had to stab' one of them. As he approached them, he told the local news outlet, he heard one of the burglars yelling 'he's going to kill you'. After he stabbed the burglar, who has been identified as seasoned criminal 42-year-old Craig Jones, he ran from the home with the kitchen knife still in his back and died a half block away on the front steps of another home, police say. 'It took guts. I mean, I couldn't do it. I couldn't have done it,' Johnson, who injured her foot in the ordeal, told Fox29. When asked by Fox29 what he was thinking before stabbing Jones, Boyer said: 'That I had to protect my family.' No charges are expected to be filed against Boyer, and they have yet to find the second burglar, according to authorities. Boyer stabbed Craig Jones, 42, in the back with a kitchen knife. He then fled the home with the other intruder and died half a block away (pictured is Boyers' home) 'It took guts. I mean, I couldn't do it. I couldn't have done it,' Boyer's mom told Fox29 In 1948, when the first locally-built Holden rolled off the production line, Prime Minister Ben Chifley declared 'she's a beauty'. Fifty years later, in 1998, then prime minister John Howard echoed those words and described Holden as a remarkable company which had touched the lives of so many Australians. But sadly, she's a beauty no more. Holden on Friday brings an end to local car assembly, closing the final chapter on the nation's auto manufacturing industry with a one last red Commodore sedan. The closure of the iconic Elizabeth plant marks the end of an era for the company and for Australia's manufacturing industry. Pictured is the last-ever locally built car in Australia - a red Holden Commodore sedan Pictured is an undated photograph of Holden's being test-driven at the Lang Lang proving ground Holden on Friday brings an end to local car assembly, closing the final chapter on the nation's auto manufacturing industry with a one last red Commodore sedan (pictured are historic Holdens cruising during a parade through the streets of Elizabeth, Adelaide) The final car rolling off the production line at the Holden assembly plant in Elizabeth, South Australia Holden's assembly plant in Adelaide's north will close on Friday with its remaining 955 workers downing tools for the final time. It draws the curtain on more than 50 years of car building at the factory and on the company's 70 years of vehicle manufacturing in Australia. The Elizabeth plant produced its first full car in 1965, a Holden HD and its first Commodore, a VC, in 1980. Altogether the company has built more than 7.5 million cars since the first Australian-manufactured FX was launched in Melbourne in 1948. At its 50th anniversary celebrations in 1998, then Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said Holden had played a major role in the aspirations and dreams of all Australians. Holden workers say while the final day will be sad, they are proud of the vehicles they've produced. A bouquet of flowers saying 'RIP HOLDENS' is seen outside the Holden plant in Elizabeth It draws the curtain on more than 50 years of car building at the factory and on the company's 70 years of vehicle manufacturing in Australia (pictured are historic Holdens on parade) The closure of the iconic Elizabeth plant marks the end of an era for the company and for Australia's manufacturing industry (pictured are historic Holdens cruising during a parade through the streets of Elizabeth, Adelaide) Holden's assembly plant in Adelaide's north will close on Friday with its remaining 955 workers downing tools for the final time (pictured are Holden HR Director Jamie Getwood and Holden Director of Communications Sean Poppitt speaking to media at the Holden plant) But unions, the federal opposition and the South Australian government remain adamant that the company and Australia's car manufacturing industry did not need to close. 'It closed because of the lazy, negligent, disinterest of the right-wing economic rationalists of the Turnbull and Abbott governments,' Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said. 'They goaded the industry into going. As a result, Australia is poorer.' The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union estimates 2500 jobs could be lost across Holden and its supplier network when the plant shuts, but exact numbers are hard to gauge. Unions, the federal opposition and the South Australian government remain adamant that the company and Australia's car manufacturing industry did not need to close (pictured is a tribute sign at the Elizabeth plant) Holden fans Shaun Underwood, Dylan Underwood and Zoe Large are seen as the sun rises over the Holden plant in Elizabeth on Friday Holden cars are seen lined up outside the Holden plant in Elizabeth, Adelaide on Friday The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union estimates 2500 jobs could be lost across Holden and its supplier network when the plant shuts, but exact numbers are hard to gauge (pictured is the Elizabeth plant) Union state secretary John Camillo said some of those would find other fulltime work, some part-time or casual positions, and others would be forced to retire. 'And that's the tragedy about what's happening today,' he said. 'When those doors close at Holden, the car industry will close forever. 'History will remember this as the greatest betrayal of blue-collar workers.' Holden fans Mark Turner and his HG Premier outside the Holden plant in Elizabeth, Adelaide, Friday, October 20 Father and son Lewis Jackson and Martin Jackson with their 1980 VC Commodore are seen outside the Holden plant in Elizabeth The last Holden cars (pictured) will roll off the production line on Friday October 20, 2017 In 1948, when the first locally-built Holden rolled off the production line, Prime Minister Ben Chifley (pictured) declared 'she's a beauty' Holden communications director Sean Poppitt said everyone who finished up on Friday would leave with their heads held high. 'We are focused on celebrating with Australia, not commiserating,' he said. Ford closed its manufacturing operations in Victoria last year and Toyota followed suit earlier this month. Nissan and Mitsubishi suffered the same fate a number of years ago. But none are likely to have the same impact on the nation's psyche as Holden, so long the dominant force in Australia's automotive landscape. One of the country's largest abortion providers has been accused of paying bonuses to staff who encourage women to have the prodecures. The allegations centre on Marie Stopes International and have come to light in a damning report by the official watchdog, the Care Quality Commission. According to the report, staff felt 'encouraged' to ensure women went through with abortions because it was 'linked to their performance bonus'. Inspectors found evidence of a policy in place across all 70 Marie Stopes clinics in the country whereby staff were told to call women who had decided not to have an abortion, and offer them a new appointment. According to the report, staff felt 'encouraged' to ensure women went through with abortions because it was 'linked to their performance bonus' They also uncovered a document referring to a 'company-wide focus' on women who weren't going ahead with abortions, who were referred to as 'Did Not Proceed' patients. Critics last night blasted the 'conveyor-belt culture pervading the industry'. Conservative MP Fiona Bruce said: 'It is shocking to hear that, at what is often such a difficult and stressful moment, abortion clinics are taking advantage of pregnant women by seeking to do as many abortions as they can, rather than seeking to give genuine, non-directional counselling and advice. 'This completely undermines the legitimacy of these publicly funded organisations, and must be investigated.' The watchdog's accusations are made in a report into the Marie Stopes centre in Maidstone, Kent. Staff told CQC inspectors the clinic was like a 'cattle market' and described a 'very target-driven culture'. Parents, partners or friends of women thinking about having an abortion were 'seen as an inconvenience' and 'their presence strongly discouraged', the report said. Inspectors were also worried that girls below the age of 16 were agreeing to have abortions without being made fully aware of the risks and consequences. Marie Stopes is the UK's second largest abortion provider and sees 70,000 patients a year for abortions and other sexual health services. The company said it was 'categorically untrue' that staff bonuses were linked to the number of women who went ahead with abortions. But last year the CQC uncovered major safety flaws across its clinics and ordered the provider to temporarily suspend some terminations. Doctors were found to be signing up to 60 consent forms at once with no knowledge of the women involved. An investigation by the Mail later exposed how doctors were signing off abortions with a single phone call again for women they had never met. Under the 1967 Abortion Act, doctors must be able to show they have formed their opinion 'in good faith' that the legal grounds for termination have been met. The CQC inspected the Maidstone centre in May 2016, but didn't publish its findings until this month. The CQC said an earlier draft report had been published in error and it needed to ensure this latest version was fair and accurate. The watchdog's accusations are made in a report into the Marie Stopes centre in Maidstone, Kent (pictured) The report is more damning than any previous inspection. It states: 'Staff were concerned that 'Did Not Proceed', the term used when women decided not to proceed with treatment, was measured as a KPI (key performance indicator) and linked to their performance bonus. They felt that this encouraged staff to ensure that patients underwent procedures.' Inspectors also uncovered minutes of a meeting in July 2015 which referred to a 'company-wide focus on DNPs' Did Not Proceed women who hadn't gone ahead with abortions. The report said women who had decided not to have an abortion and were less than five and a half weeks pregnant 'were being called and offered a later appointment'. The CQC later confirmed that it believed this to be a 'generic policy' across all Marie Stopes clinics. Clara Campbell, from the charity Life, said: 'This exposes the true income-seeking nature of the abortion industry. 'A conveyer-belt culture has pervaded the industry for many years and Marie Stopes International is a good example of this. 'The abortion industry likes to parrot a narrative of looking after the interests of women but when it ends up placing their health and safety at risk in the pursuit of money, it becomes incumbent on the Government to act to protect women.' The watchdog said it had visited the Maidstone clinic since that inspection and found some improvements, but it could not confirm whether the bonus scheme was in existence. Marie Stopes said: 'The number of our clients who choose not to go ahead with treatment is not a KPI (key performance indicator) for our staff, and never has been. It is categorically untrue that any member of our staff receives a performance-related bonus for the number of clients they treat. 'We follow a stringent consent process for all of our clients, and we will not proceed with a procedure if we have any doubt at all that a woman is unsure of her decision. We do not contact clients who have chosen not to proceed with treatment. 'Friends and family are absolutely welcome to accompany clients at their appointment for additional support.' One of the three men shot dead by a disgruntled colleague in a mass shooting at a Baltimore-area granite company was a devoted dad and immigrant who was living the American dream, his family have said. Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, was shot and killed by colleague Radee Labeeb Prince, 38, at their workplace, Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, on Wednesday morning. 'He was the best dad and the best husband - the most humble person,' Suvd Bayarsaikhan, Tudev's daughter, told News4. Weeping, she continued: 'He was a very friendly, soft-hearted, very easygoing guy. I'm sure everybody loved him.' Scroll down for video Bayarsaikhan Tudev (second from right), 53, was shot dead on Wednesday. His daughter (center) and wife (second from left) remembered him as a 'kind, humble and soft-hearted' man Radee Labeeb Prince (pictured left and right), 38, was arrested in Delaware on Wednesday night, accused of shooting Tudev and four of their colleagues, as well as a sixth victim The first five people were shot Advanced Granite Solutions (AGS; pictured) in Maryland; the sixth was shot in Delaware. Tudev loved his job at AGS, and had dreamed of living in the USA Tudev, 53, moved from Mongolia to the US with his wife in 2005, and quickly settled into the sizeable Mongolian-American community in Arlington, Virginia, his family said. He found work at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, outside Baltimore, and enjoyed his work so much that he didn't mind the more-than-two-hour commute. Tudev immigrated to the US in 2005 with his wife, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren (pictured). The pair lived in Arlington, Virginia, but the over-two-hour commute to work didn't bother him He felt he was living the American dream, his widow, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren, told the Associated Press; Bayarsaikhan said that moving to the country 'had always been his dream'. But Prince, who had a history of workplace violence, was considerably less happy Dolgorsuren said, and Tudev told his family multiple that he worried about the man. 'He would come home and mention that he had a rough day at work with this person,' Bayarsaikhan agreed. 'I think the guy didn't really get along with the other workers.' But despite losing her father to Prince, who also shot four other men, killing two, before driving to Delaware and non-fatally wounding a sixth victim, Bayarsaikhan said she wouldn't hold a grudge. 'That man who shot my dad, he's forgiven. My family, we forgive him. But not with our own strength, only through Jesus' love,' she said. 'We can only forgive this man through Jesus.' Tudev was shot dead alongside co-workers Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland, on Wednesday. Two other Advanced Granite Solutions employees were wounded in the shooting, which cops say ended when Prince got in his car and drove to Delaware. There, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said, he approached a former acquaintence with whom he had 'beefs' over 'some past history on some criminal cases' and shot him twice. Despite being hit in the head and torso, that man - who, like the other two survivors - has not yet been identified - was able to identify Prince to state police. Suvd Bayarsaikhan (pictured), Tudev's daughter, said her family had forgiven Prince with the help of 'Jesus's love' They then joined with Maryland, the FBI, the ATF and the US Marshals Service to organize a mass manhunt for the Delaware resident. That hunt ended after 10 hours in Newark, Delaware, when Prince was spotted by police. No motive has yet been identified in the spree, but police note that Prince knew all of his alleged victims. As of Thursday, the two Maryland survivors were still in critical condition at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. Officials have refused to detail their injuries. Prince was arraigned in Delaware on $2.1 million cash bail just after 8am Thursday. He has been charged in the state with attempted murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and other weapons charges. Enis Mrvoljak (left), 48, of Dundalk, Maryland and Jose Hidalgo Romero (right), 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland, were also killed in the shooting. Two other AGS workers were injured Prince, 38, was arrested in Delaware (pictured) on Wednesday night after a massive manhunt that also spanned Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania Maryland police are expected to seek his return to that state to face charges in the workplace shooting. Two of Prince's co-workers remain in critical condition. Ron Cherry, a lawyer representing Advanced Granite Solutions, read a statement Thursday from the owners outside the business where the shooting took place Wednesday. He said the owners are grieving and 'trying to make sense of a senseless act.' The company is now collecting donations for the victims of the tragedy and their families. American actress Bette Davis with her daughter Barbara Davis Sherry, later known as BD or Bede Hyman, circa 1965 Bette Davis would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago. She gives the curious feeling of being charged with power which can find no ordinary outlet. So wrote the influential British film critic E. Arnot Robertson in 1935 after the fledgling star, then 26, gave the first of the famously intense performances that would become her hallmark, in a film called Dangerous. And Davis enthusiastically embraced the idea that there was something of the night about her. She would tell interviewers that not only was she born near Salem in Massachusetts site of the notorious witch trials in the 17th century but that she was actually descended from one of the women, Mary Bradbury, who was convicted of Certaine Detestable arts, including taking animal form and casting evil spells on ships. She, herself, came into the world like a witch, Davis told a biographer, claiming: A bolt of lightning hit a tree in front of the house the moment I was born. It was, everyone assumed, Hollywood hokum aimed at bolstering the stars image as a fierce and unconventional screen icon who refused to conform. Few took it seriously, least of all, one imagined, Bette Davis herself. But that assumption is misplaced, according to astonishing new allegations from the stars only natural child, Barbara Hyman. As Mrs Hyman known as B.D or Bede told me this week, her manipulative and hard-drinking mother Bette did indeed believe she was a witch, and would cast spells on her enemies from her bed. Not only that, she claims she once saw her mother transform into an evil, demonic presence. Bede, now 70, is speaking out following publication of a book written by Daviss former personal assistant in her later years that aims to rescue the stars reputation a reputation that has been repeatedly tarnished over the years by her estranged daughter. Bette Davis and her sixteen-year-old daughter Barbara Sherry, who later became known as Bede Actress Bette Davis and her husband William Grant Sherry interlock arms as they drink champagne at their wedding reception in 1945 In Miss D And Me: Life With The Invincible Bette Davis, Kathryn Sermak portrays the star of classics such as All About Eve, Now, Voyager and What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, as eccentric and strong-willed but possessed of a heart of gold. The affectionate portrait by Sermak who became, in effect, the actresss surrogate daughter and was left much of her fortune, is at odds with Bedes devastating claim, which first emerged nearly 30 years ago, that her mother was a violent alcoholic who staged fake suicides to scare her children and encouraged her underage daughter to pursue a sex life. Three decades after her mothers death, Bede is still engaged in what must surely be the most prolonged mother-daughter feud in Hollywood history. Now running her own Christian mission from her Virginia home, Bede claims she and her family were among many victims of Daviss black magic. She says her mother was so possessive that she couldnt tolerate her marriage aged just 16 in 1963 to British film executive, Jeremy Hyman, 13 years her senior. Bette Davis in a promotional shot for the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Unable to persuade her daughter to leave Hyman, the actress apparently placed a demonic curse on their family that led to their older son developing bipolar disorder and Bede being diagnosed with terminal cancer, which she miraculously survived. It happened for many years, Bede said. Mother operated heavily in the occult. Her own mother said she was evil from day one. 'She loved evil and hated everything nice and kind and gentle. She did a great many people a great deal of harm. Bede insists a succession of Daviss staff knew about her interest in black magic but, if not actively involved in assisting her, chose to keep quiet. Interestingly, there is nothing about witchcraft in Bedes 1985 memoir, My Mothers Keeper. She says now she has a Christian ministry, she wants to warn her flock about the occult. It all sounds ridiculous unless you understand these things from a Christian standpoint, she said. Indeed. In one of many video testimonies she has released on YouTube for fellow Christians, Bede recounts how her mother would sit on her bed and cast spells. She had this big metal waste basket and she would have her secretary get a piece of clothing from someone who had vexed her, crossed her in her view, she claims. She would take this piece of clothing and she would mumble incoherently and she would then set it on fire and hold it over this metal waste basket, and laugh as it burned and she dropped it into this container. She also recounted how her mother would buy fish whole so she could gut them, ripping their innards out as she mumbled the names of people she wished to do the same to. Although peoples lives were destroyed and all sorts of horrible things happened to them, Bede says she didnt understand it all until she became a Christian at 36. Bette Davis and third husband William Grant Sherry (artist, wrestler and boxer) (Now divorced) with their daughter Barbara Sherry (left) and mother and daughter at the Savoy in London in 1947 Even more dramatically, she also relates how one night, at Daviss Beverly Hills mansion in 1984, she watched her mother go through occult rituals in a last-ditch attempt to make Bede run back to her. Lying in bed, she says she suddenly felt tremendously scared. As she locked the French doors to the terrace, Davis appeared on the balcony and rattled the doors. She began demonic cackling and I watched her transform into a Satanic figure a Satanic face, long claws on the ends of her hands as she scraped at the glass, Bede said. So far, so incredible. Many will reject her jaw-dropping claims as self-delusion, borne of her born-again Christianity, or continued desperate attempts to ensure her mothers reputation remains blackened. Davis certainly paid a heavy price for falling out with her daughter, the product of her short-lived third marriage to artist William Sherry. Hollywood was transfixed by the extent to which a woman widely hailed as one of the greatest screen actresses could be so humiliated by a daughter prepared to plunge the knife while the star was still alive. Their bitter relationship is, says Bede, rooted in a traumatic childhood and a neglectful, foul-mouthed, pugnacious and egomaniacal mother who was habitually drunk by 10 am. The mean-spirited and neurotic Davis was, she claims, emotionally cruel, and staged suicides to punish her children she adopted two others, a son and a disabled daughter for perceived slights. When Bede was eight, she claims Davis pretended to take an overdose, locking herself in her bedroom. Bette Davis in a picture taken in 1933 Distraught, the little girl slept outside her door, waking the next morning to find her mother staring down on her looking triumphant. She told her: I hope that taught you a good lesson. Bede claims her mother had been a 24-year-old virgin when she married first husband, Harmon Nelson, in 1932. Despite three subsequent marriages, Bede says Davis regretted her lack of sexual experience in her early 20s, and had lived vicariously through Bedes sex life, quizzing her incessantly for lurid details. Once, after a 15-year-old Bede came home from a date with the actor George Hamilton, her mother asked her: Well? Did he lay you? When her daughter refused to answer, the actress supposedly snapped back: Well, he better had. Bede also claimed her stepfather, Daviss fourth husband, the actor Gary Merrill, was violent towards mother and daughter. At the time she wrote her memoir, Bede claimed somewhat unconvincingly that she did it because I love my mother and I want to reach her in a way she couldnt ignore. Davis implied it was all fiction but that wasnt entirely true. Merrill, who had walked out on Davis when their daughter was an infant, corroborated her allegations about Daviss drinking downing a bottle of whisky in a night and her maternal coldness. I never saw her hug or rock B.D, he said. Shed visit with her for a while then call over the governess. He also admitted they used to drink heavily together and fight. In sharp contrast, Kathryn Sermaks new book paints a rosy portrait of Davis, skating over her personal failings, and theres not a hint of black magic. Yet there are substantial clues as to why a headstrong daughter might have fallen out so catastrophically with her mother the actress was the ultimate control-freak, a possessive perfectionist who sought to mould those around her. Sermak, a 22-year-old psychology graduate, went to work for Davis in 1979. The 71-year-old actress gave her the job after asking her star sign and ensuring she knew how to make her breakfast, an egg boiled for exactly three minutes. Then she began reinventing her, hiring a celebrity stylist to give Sermak a new hairstyle, and a butler to teach her etiquette after she committed the faux-pas of cutting up her salad. Davis personally gave her voice lessons to improve her diction, and made her change the spelling of her name from Catherine to Kathryn. People will remember that spelling, she assured her. Davis could also be very generous, Sermak says, buying her an expensive wardrobe. She never yelled, she never screamed at least not around me, she says. She would curse. If she was really, really, upset, you got the silent treatment. Bette Davis (1908-1989), US actress, wearing a white shoulderless dress and a pearl necklace with a large pendant in a studio portrait, circa 1940 She insists Davis was devoted to her children, and closest to Bede, but notes there was little physical contact. Sermak blames Bedes husband, Jeremy Hyman, for the deterioration in the relationship. Davis told Sermak she couldnt respect any man that allowed his mother-in-law to bankroll his family. She claims he would taunt her into revealing her dislike for him and her heavy consumption of vodka, whisky and painkillers only increased their clashes. Davis may also have been disappointed that Bede opted for domesticity so young having her first child at 22. She once said of her daughter: Great face, great body, and smart too. If I had a fraction of what shes got, Id be married to a millionaire and be miles away from this f***ing town. And so the stage was set for trouble. In 1978, the daughter of Daviss great screen rival Joan Crawford earned millions from a tell-all book about her late mother, Mommie Dearest, which was made into a 1981 film starring Faye Dunaway. Bede decided she would write a similar book and secured a $100,000 advance. According to Sermak, Daviss lawyer pleaded with her to wait until Davis was stronger. The actress had recently undergone a mastectomy, suffered a stroke and broken her hip. Davis (pictured with Joan Crawford) disinherited Bede and, after she died of breast cancer aged 81 in 1989, with Sermak at her side, her fortune was shared by her adopted son, Michael, and Sermak Bede allegedly insisted there was nothing in her memoir Davis would find objectionable, and she wanted to surprise her with it on Mothers Day. Just before publication, Bede visited her mother at a New York hotel carrying a bible. She and her husband had been converted by a travelling salesman at their Pennsylvania farm. Sermak watched Bede call on her astonished mother to repent her evil the divorces, the drinking and the smoking and denounce the lures of Satan. The book betrayal broke Daviss heart, says Sermak. She accused Bede of a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given. Davis disinherited Bede and, after she died of breast cancer aged 81 in 1989, with Sermak at her side, her fortune was shared by her adopted son, Michael, and Sermak. Bede insists she bears no ill will towards Sermak, saying this week: She was totally dominated and manipulated by my mother, but then almost everybody was. Harvey Weinstein is now being investigated for rape in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the news on Twitter Thursday evening, stating: 'Robbery Homicide Div has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein in 2013. Investigation ongoing.' The Los Angeles Times reports that the victim is a 38-year-old Italian-model actress, who claims that the incident allegedly occurred inside her hotel room. 'He ... bullied his way into my hotel room, saying, "Im not going to [have sex with] you, I just want to talk,"' the alleged victim told the Times. 'Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked.' The actress then stated: 'He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me.' But according to TMZ, the LAPD is concerned that the woman is courting media attention because she went to the Times immediately after speaking to cops. She is keeping her identity private at this time for the sake of her three children, and reveals that she showed Weinstein photos of them at one point during the alleged assault in hopes that it would convince him to stop. Troubles: The victim, a 38-year-old Italian model-actress, said that she saw Weinstein at the 8th annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February 2013 (Weinstein above at the event) Scene: He showed no sign of recognizing her despite the pair having met before, then later showed up at her hotel (Mr. C in Beverly Hills above) after the event she told the Los Angeles Times Investigation: The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the news on Twitter Thursday afternoon (above) Horror: 'He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me,' claims the woman (Bathroom at hotel above) The model-actress met with detectives for two hours on Thursday according to the Times, and after interviewing the alleged victim officials decided to launch an investigation. California had a 10 year statute of limitations for rape cases when the incident occurred, meaning that the district attorney will likely be within their rights to prosecute should detectives deliver enough evidence in the case. It was after the the 8th annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February 2013 that the alleged incident occurred at the Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel. This women is now the sixth to accuse Weinstein of rape, joining actresses Rose McGowan, Asia Argento and Lysette Anthony, then-college student Lucia Evans and an unnamed woman who detailed her alleged assault in The New Yorker. The woman accusing Weinstein said they had met once before in Rome through a mutual acquaintance, and that he invited her to his hotel room at that time. Weinstein did not show any signs to suggest that he remembered the woman, show she was shocked she said when he turned up inside the lobby of her hotel later that night. She told him she would meet him downstairs, but soon he was knocking at the door. The alleged assault lasted 45 minutes according to the victim, who said that when it was over Weinstein acted nonchalant about the incident. 'When he left, he acted like nothing happened.,' said the woman. 'I barely knew this man. It was the most demeaning thing ever done to me by far. It sickens me still.' She later stated: 'He made me feel like an object, like nothing with all his power.' The woman went on to say she regretted not calling police and came forward after getting encouragement from her son. 'You just need to be strong, Mom,' said the young boy according to his mother, who was 4 at the time of the assault. Compalint: Lucia Evans was in college when she was allegedly raped by Weinstein Weinstein is also being investigated in the state of New York, where two criminal probes have been launched following allegations of sexual assault that date back over 10 years. A law enforcement source told DailyMail.com that one of these complaints was filed by Lucia Evans, who told The New Yorker that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at his office. The identity of the other individual is not known at this time. There is no statute of limitations on rape, criminal sexual act or aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree in the state of New York. The state legislature signed a bill eliminating a statute of limitations for first-degree sexual offenses back in 2006, having previously had a five-year statute for all rape and sexual assault cases. Weinstein's legal problems are not just stateside either, with Scotland Yard currently investigating five allegations of sexual assault which have been made by three women across the Atlantic. The earliest of these alleged assaults dates back to the eighties. Victims: Six women have now accused Weinstein of rape in the press (Rose McGowan on left and Asia Argento on right, who have both accused Harvey of rape) On the scene: There is no statute of limitations on rape, criminal sexual act or aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree in the state of New York (LAPD officers outside the home of Weinstein's daughter last week) Evans (nee Stoller) was preparing for her senior year at Middlebury in 2004 when she met Weinstein at Cipriani in New York City. She wanted to be an actress and gave the executive her phone number, eventually agreeing to come in and read for a female casting director at Weinstein's offices in Tribeca. When she arrived however she was taken to meet Weinstein in a room with empty takeout boxes and exercise equipment. The two spoke for a bit and then, according to Evans, Weinstein pulled out his penis and forced her to perform oral sex on him inside the office. 'I said, over and over, "I dont want to do this, stop, dont,"' said Evans. 'I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him.' Another woman who claimed Weinstein raped her revealed that she feared going to the police and even stayed in contact with the man because of the power he wielded in the industry. 'I was in a vulnerable position and I needed my job,' said the woman. 'It just increases the shame and the guilt.' Evans has gone quiet on social media for the past few days after turning down requests for comment. 'Friends -your support means the world. Keep it coming. Media -I will not be doing interviews at this time. Pls respect my family's privacy,' wrote Evans on Twitter Thursday. When she was pressed by one follower, she reiterated: 'No comment.' There is still no timeline for how long it might take to gather all the necessary evidence to possibly charge Weinstein with a crime. 'The NYPD is conducting a review to determine if there are any additional complaints relating to the Harvey Weinstein matter,' a spokesperson said in a statement to DailyMail.com. That individual then added however that 'no filed complaints have been identified as of this time.' So long: Details of Harvey Weinstein's last day in office have been shared by an assistant who said the mogul was happy his 'Times' expose was released on a Thursday (Weinstein leaving his office just hours after the expose was released) Keeping calm: Weinstein seemed confident that the story would have no lasting damage as he waved goodbye to attorney Lisa Bloom that Thursday afternoon (above) Charges were never filed against Weinstein the last time he was investigated for assault in 2015 by the NYPD, despite police sources saying they thought there was enough evidence to indict the mogul after passing off the case to the district attorney's office. Three days after meeting with Battilana at their office, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney 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.' The New York Times revealed on Sunday that Weinstein surrounded himself with a very connected team of litigators before learning that charges would not be pursued in the case. He retained Elkan Abramowitz, a former law partner of Vance, and Daniel S. Connolly, who was also a former prosecutor. Linda Fairstein came on as a consultant and introduced Weinstein's lawyer Abramowitz to Martha Bashford, the head of the district attorneys sex crimes bureau. 'Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein,' said his spokesperson Sallie Hofmeister in a statement. 'Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.' She went on to state: '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.' There is still no confirmation that Weinstein has entered rehab or sought counseling. On Thursday, employees at the Weinstein Company have broke their silence for the first time since their boss and company founder had been accused of sexual harassment and assault by over 50 women. 'We all knew that we were working for a man with an infamous temper. We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator,' read an open letter sent to The New Yorker by 'Select Members of the Weinstein Company Staff.' 'We knew that our boss could be manipulative. We did not know that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women.' The select staffers then stated: 'We had an idea that he was a womanizer who had extra-marital affairs. We did not know he was a violent aggressor and alleged rapist.' The letter was included in a story detailing Harvey's final day in the office, with the group acknowledging it was written despite the fact that it is an open violation of the NDA in their contracts. Drivers on Southern Rail have been offered a basic salary of more than 63,000 for a four-day week in a desperate attempt to prevent further strikes. Rail bosses said they are prepared to hand a bumper pay rise worth 28.5 per cent over five years to settle a bitter dispute that has caused misery for hundreds of thousands of commuters. Last night an MP described the deal as extraordinary and accused trade unions of holding the public to ransom. Ballot papers will be sent to members of the union Aslef next Tuesday and the result will be announced on November 8. Drivers on Southern Rail have been offered a basic salary of more than 63,000 for a four-day week Two previous attempts by Aslef leaders to reach an agreement were rejected in ballots. But general secretary Mick Whelan said the new proposal offered a complete resolution to the 18 month-long dispute. If members accept the deal their pay rise will be backdated to October last year. Their basic salary will rise from 49,000 to just over 63,000 in 2021. Including overtime, it is understood some drivers will be able to earn up to 75,000 a year almost three times the average salary in the UK of around 27,000. The huge pay rise will be viewed with some envy by millions of workers who have had to put up with pay freezes. Across the UK average earnings are rising at little over 2 per cent a year. The bitter dispute between Southern Rail and unions has caused misery for hundreds of thousands of commuters. The latest offer is an improvement on the 23.8 per cent increase over five years that bosses at Southerns parent company, Govia Thameslink Railway, had put forward previously. Tory MP Chris Philp, who has called for tougher anti-strike laws, said: This is another extraordinarily generous offer. It shows how pointless the strike action over the last year and a half has been. We cant have trade unions holding the public to ransom. Thats why we need new laws to make sure strikes on critical infrastructure can only go ahead if a basic level of service can be maintained and when strikes are proportionate and reasonable. The latest peace talks revolved around three issues driver-only trains, terms and conditions and pay. Unions have claimed that the introduction of driver-only trains jeopardises passenger safety because the driver, rather than a guard, has responsibility for opening and closing the doors. Tory MP Chris Philp, who has called for tougher anti-strike laws, said: This is another extraordinarily generous offer This has been dismissed by independent safety watchdogs, with critics pointing out that these trains have been operating on Britains railways for decades. Aslef leaders are recommending their members accept the deal, saying it guarantees a second safety-trained person on every train except in very exceptional circumstances. Southern operates commuter services between London and the Home Counties, but the dispute has spread and Mr Whelan stressed that the deal was specific to Southern. Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT union which represents guards and has also held strikes, complained about being excluded from the talks and said his union would continue to fight for a safe railway. He added: Our dispute remains on. A train company is preparing to offer passengers a financial incentive after years of price rises in the form of a new 26-30 railcard. The card is likely to give a third off fares to those too old for a 16-25 young persons railcard. It is to be tested by Greater Anglia from early December, with 10,000 railcards initially available. The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies, has not said if it plans to extend the card more widely. Sean Penn has reportedly tried to block or edit a Netflix documentary that suggests he told authorities that he was meeting drug kingpin El Chapo prior to his capture. The documentary, which is set to be released on Friday, apparently includes interviews with some people who suggest the Hollywood actor ratted out El Chapo to the US Department of Justice, TMZ reports. They claim Penn told the DOJ that he was traveling to a secret location in Mexico to interview El Chapo for his now infamous Rolling Stone article. The interviews feature in the documentary - The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story - which includes details of the meeting and background on what led to Penn's article. Sean Penn has reportedly tried to block or edit a Netflix documentary that suggests he told authorities that he was meeting drug kingpin El Chapo prior to his capture. They are pictured together in October 2015 Several of Penn's lawyers have reportedly been in contact with Netflix multiple times to pressure them to edit out any reference that he contacted the DOJ prior to the meeting. TMZ obtained an email from the executive producer of the film, David Broome, in which he seemingly details his concerns about pressure from Penn. 'My concern is that we are taking an immense amount of pressure from all directions related to Sean Penn and currently Netflix has done a great job of hanging tough... but their nerves are on edge,' he wrote. 'I'm worried that there's a chance Netflix hits the brakes for a while.' Actress Kate del Castillo, Penn and two producers met with the drug kingpin back in October 2015 at a secret location organized by El Chapo. Three months later after the meeting, El Chapo was captured during a shootout that killed five of his associates. El Chapo was extradited to the US in January Actress Kate del Castillo features in the documentary titled The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story. She had arranged for Penn to meet with El Chapo for a film she had been planning Actress Kate del Castillo, Penn and two producers met with the drug kingpin back in October 2015 at a secret location organized by El Chapo. Above is a scene from the documentary scheduled to be released on Friday Mexican authorities raided the site soon after they met by El Chapo had already fled. Three months later after the meeting, El Chapo was captured during a shootout that killed five of his associates. Penn's infamous interview was published a day later in Rolling Stone. The actor is trying to edit the documentary because he is concerned he will be targeted by El Chapo's people if they think he aided his capture. 'It is reprehensible that, in their ongoing, relentless efforts to gain additional attention and publicity, Ms del Castillo and her team (who have zero firsthand knowledge) have sought to create this profoundly false, foolish, and reckless narrative,' Penn's spokesman Mark Fabiani said. The drug kingpin had agreed to be interviewed by Penn in a meeting that was set up by del Castillo. The actress, who had been secretly conversing with El Chapo for months, had got Penn involved because she was making a film about the infamous drug lord 'The notion that Mr Penn or anyone on his behalf alerted DOJ to the trip is a complete fabrication and bald-faced lie. It never happened, nor would there have been any reason for it to have happened.' El Chapo was extradited to the US in January. The drug kingpin had agreed to be interviewed by Penn in a meeting that was set up by del Castillo. del Castillo, who had been secretly conversing with El Chapo for months, had got Penn involved because she was making a film about the infamous drug lord. It was the first and only interview the Sinaloa cartel leader granted after escaping from a maximum security prison through a tunnel just months earlier. If you happen to see Pippa Middleton hanging from straps attached to the ceiling any time soon, don't be too alarmed. The Duchess of Cambridge's sister is simply taking part in her latest fitness regime, known as the TRX System, or total resistance exercise, which was developed by a former U.S. Navy SEAL. 'It builds strength and sculpts the body,' explains Pippa, 34, who is best known for her pert posterior. 'You can burn up to 400 calories in a TRX class. It's really a basic form of exercise using two straps to create an infinite number of moves.' Pippa, who lives in a 17 million Chelsea townhouse with her hedge fund-manager husband James Matthews, adds: 'The adjustable hanging straps aren't as daunting as you might think. They're simple to use, adaptable and easy to transport you can even mount them on the garage ceiling.' Make sure she's safely strapped in, James! Pippa (pictured) takes part in her latest fitness regime, known as the TRX System, at her 17 million Chelsea townhouse He was responsible for introducing Britain's cooks to bean sprouts and bamboo shoots, but Ken Hom, the champion of Chinese cuisine, admits he likes nothing more than a large helping of our national dish. 'Every time I come here, I go all over the country eating fish and chips,' the 68-year-old American chef says. Pass the vinegar, Ken. A New Zealand breakfast television host has hit out at negative Australian media coverage of the rise to power of new Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Ms Ardern, 37, will become New Zealands youngest woman Prime Minister after entering into a coalition agreement with New Zealand First despite her Labour party receiving less votes than the incumbent National party. Kiwi morning show Breakfast compared international news coverage of Arderns appointment, before host Hilary Barry delivered some scathing words in response to the front page of The Australian. After showing the NZ shock: losers take power headline on Friday, Barry fired back with a sledge typical of the trans-Tasman rivalry. Scroll down for video Breakfast television host Hilary Barry (left) delivered some scathing words in response to coverage of Jacinda Ardern's (right) rise to power Thank you Australia, clearly you dont understand how MMP works, Barry said. How about you just concentrate on marriage equality first, aye? The show compared the Australian take on the development with those of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and the BBC, CNN and the New York Times. Hilary Barry (left) criticised Australian coverage of the New Zealand election (pictured with fellow host Daniel Faitaua) New Zealand First leader Winston Peters delivered his partys decision to team up with Labour on Thursday. The announcement followed a long-winded negotiation process which finished nearly a month after the countrys election on September 23. Mr Peters has been offered the position of Deputy Prime Minister as part of the agreement, while his party is set to have four ministerial posts in cabinet. Jacinda Ardern's announcement as Prime Minister caps a remarkable revival for Labour since she replaced Andrew Little as leader Ms Ardern will become New Zealands third woman Prime Minister. The result caps a remarkable revival for Labour since she replaced Andrew Little as leader just 80 days before Thursday's announcement. Nine out of ten home burglaries are never solved by police, figures revealed yesterday Nine out of ten home burglaries are never solved by police, figures revealed yesterday. Nearly 40,000 house break-in investigations were closed without a suspect ever being established. Probes can be shut down within minutes if there are no clues. In some instances, victims can expect little or no investigation, or a visit from an officer, unless they can supply evidence or name a suspect meaning thousands of criminals are getting off scot-free. Home Office figures show that of the 44,363 residential burglaries reported in England and Wales between April and June this year, 89.7 per cent ended without the villain being identified. If the same rate was applied to the 235,335 domestic burglaries recorded in the year to June, it would mean around 211,000 were never solved because there was no suspect established. Critics said the statistics were a national outrage and would send the message that crime does pay. The revelation will further harm public faith in the police at a time when officers are under fire for failing to attend the scene of many crimes. It follows claims that police responses are being determined by a tick-box culture denying some of the population a full investigation. But police chiefs have warned forces are struggling to cope following deep cuts to funding. Yesterday Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said: Cuts to policing have meant fewer resources to investigate burglaries and more criminals being let off the hook. We cannot allow so many criminals to act with impunity in this way. More burglary victims will be let down unless our overstretched police are given the extra funding and resources they need. The figures emerged after the Home Office published the outcomes of criminal investigations carried out by all 43 of England and Waless forces and the British Transport Police. It is the first time forces have published their residential burglary crimes. The new definition replaces the previous category for this offence burglary in a dwelling which did not include outer buildings like sheds or garages. The figures lay bare just how unlikely it is the police will catch a burglar who steals from someones home The figures lay bare just how unlikely it is the police will catch a burglar who steals from someones home. It came as the Office for National Statistics revealed all burglary had jumped 6 per cent to more than 423,000. It rose 21 per cent for domestic properties, but fell 8 per cent for non-domestic buildings, to 187,802, reflecting the definition change. Police in Hertfordshire were least likely to catch home burglars, with 96.2 per cent of suspects never identified, followed by Hampshire (94.9 per cent), Bedfordshire (93.8 per cent), Leicestershire and Surrey (both 93.6 per cent). In the year to June, almost half of all recorded crimes were never solved as police could not identify a culprit meaning up to 2.2million offenders escaped scot-free. For some offences, such as theft, as many as seven out of ten investigations were shut without a suspect being established. In many other cases there were issues with evidence or the case was settled out of court. Only one in eight of all crimes probed by police ended in a charge or summons. Some 4.5million crimes were assigned an outcome. Of these, 49.3 per cent were written off as no suspect identified. This was the case for 54 per cent of robberies, one in seven violent offences and 13.5 per cent of sexual attacks. Earlier this week it was revealed that every police force in Britain was abandoning inquiries into thousands of low-level offences. Call handlers are crossing off offences including vandalism, theft, burglary and anti-social behaviour in minutes if there are no clues or the victims cannot provide any evidence or name a suspect. The worrying trend was revealed after the Metropolitan Police brought in guidelines meaning it will no longer probe many offences. Officers have been told they do not have to investigate minor incidents of grievous bodily harm or car crime unless the victim identifies a culprit. Crimes with a loss of less than 50 are also unlikely to be looked into, as are burglaries unless violence or fraud was used to gain entry. The changes are part of a 400million cost-cutting drive that will see around 150,000 fewer crimes probed every year. The Home Office stressed the figures could change if investigations are reopened to assess new evidence. A spokesman said: We are clear that all crimes reported to the police should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences. Decisions on individual investigations are an operational matter for chief constables. Edward Enninful was announced as British Vogue's new editor in April When Edward Enninful was announced as British Vogue's new editor in April, succeeding Alexandra Shulman, it is said he told friends that his priority was to 'get rid of the posh girls'. His arrival at the magazine prompted a mass exodus of staff, including baronet's daughter and deputy editor Emily Sheffield, who is Samantha Cameron's sister. Now, aftershocks are being felt at Vogue's sister publication, Tatler, the oldest magazine in the world (founded in 1709), which has just laid off around a third of its staff. 'It's a bloodbath, ten people are going,' says an insider, who adds: 'Many think they're having to save money because of Edward Enninful's salary. They believe he gets a figure of about 1 million a year.' This figure is denied by Vogue's publisher Conde Nast, but it declines to specify exactly what it is. Among those getting the chop from Tatler, best known for its coverage of society parties, is social editor Tibbs Jenkins and features director Sophia Money-Coutts, granddaughter of former Telegraph editor Bill Deedes. Tibbs Jenkins is the daughter of David Jenkins Alexandra Shulman's boyfriend. 'Instagram is killing advertising revenue for glossy magazines,' says the source. 'It's cheaper to give someone like Cara Delevingne a handbag and reach millions of targeted followers than to buy a double-page spread.' Edited by self-styled 'honking great Sloane' Kate Reardon, Tatler was the subject of a BBC documentary series, Posh People, in 2014. However, it seems the arrival of Enninful, 45, has ushered in a revolutionary 'post-posh' era at Conde Nast. Before he joined Vogue, Ghanaian-born Enninful had a lucrative sideline business as a commercial fashion stylist, with two of his companies amassing shareholder funds totalling nearly 2 million at the latest count. Tatler, the oldest magazine in the world (founded in 1709), has just laid off around a third of its staff With his sister, Akua, he owns Maxim Fashion Agents, which they set up in 2005 to style shoots for top labels such as Gucci and Dior, and which aims to 'nurture the next generation of creative artists in the industry'. On taking up his Vogue post, Enninful had agreed to 'stop all his freelance stylist activity' to avoid a potential conflict of interest. It is thought his Vogue salary was enhanced to compensate for his potential loss of income from outside businesses. A spokesman for Conde Nast says: 'I can confirm there are redundancies ongoing as part of wider efficiencies. A consultation period is now under way.' Playing a chain-smoking military wife in BBC Sunday night drama The Last Post left Jessica Raine in a fug. Assistant director Isabel Martens said of the 35-year-old actress: 'Jessica has to smoke up to 50 a day, so we gave her rosemary cigarettes because it wasn't appropriate for actors to smoke tobacco. 'These herbal ciggies are very good and can make you feel pretty good, too light-headed and a bit dizzy.' North Korea has sent a 'desperate' open letter to Australia demanding we abandon our alliance with the United States and its 'heinous and reckless' president. The letter, published by Fairfax, urged Australia and other nations to turn against Donald Trump and his desire to 'drive the world into a horrible nuclear disaster.' 'If Trump thinks he would bring the DPRK, a nuclear power, to its knees through nuclear war threat, it will be a big miscalculation,' the letter read. 'The DPRK has emerged as a fully fledged nuclear power,' it continued. Julie Bishop (pictured) acquired a strongly worded open letter from North Korea has warned Australia it should abandon ties with the United States or it could face serious consequences The letter (pictured) urged that Australia realise its desire for 'international justice and peace' and steer away from the 'heinous and reckless' moves of Donald Trump's camp Written by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly and sent via North Korea's embassy to Australia's Indonesian embassy on September 28, the letter landed in the hands of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop a week later. '(North Korea) bitterly condemns the reckless remarks of Trump as an intolerable insult to the Korean people, a declaration of war against the DPRK and a grave threat to the global peace,' the letter read. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the letter was nothing more than a 'rant' consistent with North Korea's previous complaints against President Trump. 'The fact of the matter is that North Korea is the one that is in breach of UN Security Council resolutions. It is North Korea that is threatening to fire nuclear missiles at Japan and South Korea and the United States,' he told Neil Mitchell on 3AW Radio. 'It is North Korea that is threatening the stability of the world. 'That is the regime that has to return to its senses and stop this reckless conduct.' Ms Bishop said it was the first letter to have ever been sent by North Korea to an Australian foreign minister, calling it a 'very unusual' move Ms Bishop said it was the first letter to have ever been sent by North Korea to an Australian foreign minister, calling it a 'very unusual' move. 'I read this as showing that the collective strategy of allies and partners to impose maximum pressure and diplomatic and economic sanctions on North Korea is working,' she told Sydney Morning Herald. The foreign minister believed the way the letter tried 'to demonise the US' and 'divide the international community' was a clear sign North Korea was feeling desperate and isolated. North Korea could be trying to 'pick off' allies with the letter, according to Lowy Institute director of International Security Euan Graham. 'This is effectively an invitation to have high level access, to send an [Australian] delegation from Seoul,' Dr Graham said. 'Now would be a good time for Australia to exercise its-still existing, even if on-off, diplomatic relations with the North.' The letter rebutted explosive threats made by Donald Trump (pictured) at the UN in September where he warned the US could 'totally destroy' North Korea The 'green-eyed monster' brings on strong feelings that can include fear, insecurity and anger, and in extreme cases lead to violence. Scientists have now pinpointed jealousy in the monogamous mind giving them new insight into the emotion that keeps couples together - and also tears them apart. They found two key areas of the brain are stimulated by jealous feelings - the cingulate cortex and lateral septum - which are geared toward maintaining a bond in the face of external challenge. The team found feeling jealous could actually be an evolutionary advantage, and we may have inherited it from our ancestors because it helps us protect resources such as our homes and children. Scroll down for video Scientists have pinpointed jealousy in the monogamous mind giving them new insight into the emotion that keeps couples together - and also tears them apart (stock image) WHAT DID THEY DO? Scientists studied bonded titi monkeys which form an attachment with their partner, show mate-guarding behaviour and become distressed when separated - similar to a romantic relationship in people. The researchers induced a 'jealousy condition' in male monkeys by placing them in view of their female partner with a stranger male. After 30 minutes of viewing - during which the behaviour of the males was filmed - brain scans were performed to see which areas were activated by each condition. They also measured the levels of various hormones thought to be involved in pair bond formation, mating-related aggression, and social challenge. In the jealousy condition, the monkeys' brains showed heightened activity in an area associated with social pain in humans, the cingulate cortex. Advertisement Little is known about the biology of jealousy and its role in the evolution of long-term pair bonding. Although it can be an unpleasant emotions it can also play a positive role in social bonding by signalling a relationship may need attention and can be important for keeping a couple together. 'Feeling jealous could be an advantage evolutionarily because our adult romantic relationships often involve resources that could be threatened by an outsider', Dr. Karen Bales from the University of California told MailOnline. Researchers studied coppery titi monkeys, a monogamous primate where adults form a strong pair bond. 'For a titi monkey, these resources include a shared territory, joint care of infants, etc. (not that different from the resources in a human relationship, actually)'. The neurobiology of pair bonding is critical for understanding how monogamy evolved and how it is maintained as a social system. 'Jealousy is especially interesting given its role in romantic relationships - and also in domestic violence', said Dr Bales , who authored the paper with Dr Nicole Maninger. Titi monkeys form an attachment with their partner, show mate-guarding behaviour and become distressed when separated - similar to a romantic relationship in people. The researchers induced a 'jealousy condition' in male monkeys by placing them in view of their female partner with a stranger male. Scientists studied bonded titi monkeys which show mate-guarding behaviour and become distressed when separated - similar to a romantic relationship in people (stock image) THE JEALOUS MIND In the jealous condition, the monkeys' brains showed heightened activity in an area associated with social pain in humans, the cingulate cortex. They also saw heightened activity in the lateral septum. The jealous males showed hormonal changes as well, with elevated levels of testosterone and cortisol. Researchers found pair bond formation involves areas of the brain involved in social memory and reward. Maintenance of the bond appears to be based on negative reinforcement, that is, avoiding the pain of separation. The rise in testosterone was expected due to its association with mating-related aggression and competition. Advertisement After 30 minutes of viewing - during which the behaviour of the males was filmed - brain scans were performed to see which areas were activated by each condition. Researchers also measured the levels of various hormones thought to be involved in pair bond formation, mating-related aggression, and social challenge. There are two areas of the brain that are activated by feelings of jealously. The first is the cingulate cortex which is an area of the brain that is often activated by social pain - for example, being excluded from a social activity. 'Jealousy is an emotional reaction to a form of social rejection where our relationship is being threatened by an outsider (and as adults, our pair bonds are often the strongest relationships we have)', Dr Bales said. 'Feeling jealous could be an advantage evolutionarily because our adult romantic relationships often involve resources that could be threatened by an outsider', she said. 'So, it makes sense that the cingulate would also be involved in jealousy'. The second part of the brain that is activated is the lateral septum, a brain area that across many species, is involved in social recognition as well as in some types of aggression. 'In our studies of titi monkeys, we have seen that it is involved in other aspects of pair bonding including the formation of the pair bond and reactions to short separations from the pair-mate', said Dr Bales. 'Jealousy is an emotion that is geared towards preserving the pair bond, so it makes sense that the lateral septum is also involved here'. The jealous males showed hormonal changes as well, with elevated levels of testosterone and cortisol. Those who spent the longest time looking at their pair mate next to a stranger male showed the highest level of cortisol, an indicator of social stress. The rise in testosterone was expected due to its association with mating-related aggression and competition. The question remains as to whether jealousy is the same in female titi monkeys as in males. 'A limitation of our study is that we only looked at males,' said Dr Bales. 'Sex differences in the neurobiology of social behavior may ultimately explain questions like why more boys than girls have autism, and why men and women act differently in romantic relationships.' From The Wolf of Wall Street to The Big Short, many films about the financial sector feature people with the 'dark triad' of personality traits - psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism. But a new study suggests that people with these traits may not necessarily make the best investment decisions compared with 'nice guys'. This is because they are often overconfident and reckless - causing them to stick with bad investment decisions longer than they should. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that Dark Triad personality traits are not desirable in leaders. Scroll down for video From The Wolf of Wall Street (scene pictured) to The Big Short, many films about the financial sector feature people with the 'dark triad' of personality traits - psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism THE STUDY In the study, the researchers measured personality traits of 101 hedge fund managers, then compared the personality types with their investments and financial returns from 2005 2015. Their analysis revealed that managers with psychopathic traits made less profitable investments than peers, by just under one per cent per year, but this can add up over the course of years on large investments. Managers with narcissistic traits also took more investment risks to earn the same amount of money as less narcissistic peers. Advertisement Previous studies have suggested that people with the 'dark triad' of personality traits make the best managers. But in a new study, researchers from the University of Denver suggest that this isn't the case. Dr Leanne ten Brinke, lead author of the study, said: 'We should re-think our assumptions that might favour ruthlessness or callousness in an investment manager. 'Not only do these personality traits not improve performance, our data suggest that they many hinder it.' In the study, the researchers measured personality traits of 101 hedge fund managers, then compared the personality types with their investments and financial returns from 2005 2015. The study revealed that managers with psychopathic traits made less profitable investments than peers, by just under one per cent per year, but this can add up over the course of years on large investments (stock image) Their analysis revealed that managers with psychopathic traits made less profitable investments than peers, by just under one per cent per year, but this can add up over the course of years on large investments. Managers with narcissistic traits also took more investment risks to earn the same amount of money as less narcissistic peers. The findings build on a previous study by the researchers that looked at evidence of Dark Triad traits in US Senators. HOW TO SPOT A PSYCHOPATH Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder. Common signs include superficial charm, a grandiose notion of self-worth, the need for stimulation and impulsiveness, pathological lying, the ability to manipulate others and a lack of remorse and empathy. But despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers. Experts claim people usually find psychopaths intriguing, but can't put their finger on why. This is down to incongruous behaviour because psychopaths tend to do a lot of acting to deceive, or mimic normal reactions, sometimes changing their views and reactions quickly. For example, Self-professed psychopath Jacob Wells said that upon meeting someone, he tries to become 'the most interesting person they know' and presumably adopts suitable interests and responses to do this. His response also gives away another common trait - a grandiose notion of self-worth - in that he can be the most interesting person in the room. Psychopaths occasionally tend to exhibit unconvincing emotional responses, with slip-ups including tone of voice or body language. This may be because they are unable to understand emotions such as fear and love, but can mimic them. Psychopaths display different traits depending on their disorder, but common signs include superficial charm and the ability to manipulate others. Despite the popular association, not all psychopaths become killers (stock image) Generally psychopaths' 'emotions' are shallow and short-lived and there is a manipulative ulterior motive to showing them. For example, Mr Wells said he offers to do favours and tells false secrets to people to gain their complete trust. He also displays insincere charm - another trait associated with psychopaths. He says: 'I keep secrets, and tell them fake secrets to further gain their trust, and once they trust me enough, I ask for favours, reminding them of the favours I did them. I can get literally anything from them, which is incredibly useful.' Psychopaths typically display an incredible ability to manipulate others and sometimes take pleasure in doing so. Psychopaths often have an air of superiority about them, perhaps shown by Mr Wells' belief he can spot other psychopaths Even expert Dr Hare, who came up with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) used as a diagnostic tool to determine where someone lies on the psychopathy spectrum, warns that anyone can be duped during a short interaction with a psychopath. Advertisement The researchers found that 'those who displayed behaviours associated with psychopathy were actually less likely to gain co-sponsors on their bills,' said Dr ten Brinke. That study also showed those who displayed behaviours associated with courage, humanity, and justice, 'were the most effective political leaders.' The results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that Dark Triad personality traits are not desirable in leaders in a variety of contexts. Dr ten Brinke added: 'When choosing our leaders in organizations and in politics, we should keep in mind that psychopathic traits - like ruthlessness and callousness -don't produce the successful outcomes that we might expect them to.' Scientists are warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after discovering the number of flying insects has fallen by three-quarters over the past 27 years. Researchers in Germany have documented a steep decline at dozens of nature reserves. Their findings have sparked fears the foodchain will collapse because insects are important pollinators and serve as meals for birds and other small creatures. Scroll down for video Scientists are warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after discovering the number of flying insects has fallen by three-quarters over the past 27 years. Pictured is a hoverfly, one of the insects whose numbers have declined dramatically WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES? Around 80 per cent of all of the world's plant life is of the flowering variety. This means to reproduce, they must have pollen physically transferred from a male anther to the female stigma. Insects are important pollinators and without them these plants would disappear. This would be devastating to the rest of the world, as animals and humans rely on these plants for food. Between 50 and 90 percent of the human diet comes directly from flowering plants. They also bury animal dung and prey on pests. Because they serve as major decomposers of organic material, without insects the world would be full of corpses. Advertisement It is thought the decline may be caused by agricultural pesticides used to stop insects eating crops. It comes after drivers across the UK have been reporting noticing fewer flies, gnats, wasps and moths than usual on their vehicles. The trend has also been spotted elsewhere. 'For those of us who look, I think all of us are disturbed and all of us are seeing fewer insects,' Scott Black, executive director of the Portland-based Xerces Society, a nonprofit environmental group told the Washington Post. 'On warm summer nights you used to see them around streetlights.' For the study published in Plos One, researchers used sticky traps to collect insects at 63 nature reserves, then measured the biomass, documenting changes over time. Over the past 27 years, they found an average decline of 76 percent, with the effects appearing worst in summer (82 percent). 'The fact that flying insects are decreasing at such a high rate in such a large area is a very alarming discovery,' said lead researcher Hans de Kroon of Radboud University. Shown here is the average weight of trapped insects per day against the years 1989 until 2016. After 27 years, the total average weight has been declined by more than 75 per cent Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University told The Guardian: 'Insects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline. WHY ARE INSECTS DISAPPEARING? While the study did not pinpoint a reason for the drop, researchers said many nature reserves are encircled by farm fields, and that pesticides could be to blame. The use of chemical pesticides can, in addition to killing pests, also kill 'good bugs' that help keep pests in balance. Lead researcher Hans de Kroon of Radboud University said: 'The only thing we can do right now is to maintain the utmost caution. 'We need to do less of the things that we know have a negative impact, such as the use of pesticides and prevent the disappearance of farmland borders full of flowers. 'But we also have to work hard at extending our nature reserves and decreasing the ratio of reserves that border agricultural areas.' Advertisement 'We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. 'If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.' Around 80 per cent of all of the world's plant life is of the flowering variety. This means to reproduce, they must have pollen physically transferred from a male anther to the female stigma. Insects are important pollinators and without them these plants would disappear. This would be devastating to the rest of the world, as animals and humans rely on these plants for food. Between 50 and 90 percent of the human diet comes directly from flowering plants. They also bury animal dung and prey on pests. Because they serve as major decomposers of organic material, without insects the world would be full of corpses. While the study did not pinpoint a reason for the drop, researchers said many nature reserves are encircled by farm fields, and that pesticides could be to blame. 'As entire ecosystems are dependent on insects for food and as pollinators, it places the decline of insect eating birds and mammals in a new context,' said de Kroon. Researchers used sticky traps to collect insects at 63 nature reserves, then measured the biomass, documenting changes over time. Shown here is a one of the traps (the white 'tent') in one of the research nature reserves, bordered by farmland 'We need to do less of the things that we know have a negative impact, such as the use of pesticides,' he added. 'We also have to work hard at extending our nature reserves and decreasing the ratio of reserves that border agricultural areas.' This is not the first study to point out that insect levels have fallen sharply in recent years. In 2013, The Krefeld Entomological Society - a German amateur group of entomologists that monitored more than 100 nature reserves in western Europe since the Eighties - returned to one of its trapping sites from 1989 and found the number of insects had dropped by nearly 80 per cent, Science Mag reported. Analysis of further samples confirmed the phenomenon. According to Dave Goulson, an ecologist at the University of Sussex who is working with Krefeld Entomological Society, other species are at risk, too. HOW BEES ARE AFFECTED BY PESTICIDES Queen bees emerge from hibernation in spring to fly off to continue the bees' life cycle in a new colony. An agricultural dose of thiamethoxam reduces their ability to do this, and boosts the risk of population collapse. When a queen is going to set up a colony, she will secrete wax and form it into containers for nectar and pollen. She will then begin to lay her eggs and sit on them like a bird - these spring queens represent the next generation of bumblebee colonies. But exactly how thiamethoxam blocks the queens' reproductive cycle is not yet known. Advertisement Drivers have been reporting fewer flies, gnats, wasps and moths than usual on their vehicles 'If you're an insect-eating bird living in that area, four-fifths of your food is gone in the last quarter-century, which is staggering,' he told the magazine earlier this year. 'One almost hopes that it's not representative - that it's some strange artifact.' The so-called 'windscreen phenomenon' has been blamed by experts on the increasing use of pesticides over the past 50 years. And it's not just the kind of insect you find on your windscreen that is affected. Since 2006, bee colonies have declined by about a third due to the chemicals, as well as the loss of flower-rich grassland. This was backed up by Matt Shadlow, chief executive of the insect charity Buglife, who told the paper: 'Yes, indeed this is a well-recognised phenomenon. 'Just today we had a member of the public phone up and say, unprompted, that 'the front of my car is now devoid of insects, and there are virtually no moths in the headlights.' A huge moon cave that could one day shelter astronauts from dangerous radiation and wild temperature swings has been discovered. Data taken from Japan's Selene lunar orbiter has confirmed the existence of the 31 mile (50 km) long and 330 foot (100 metre) wide cavern. Experts from the country's space agency believe it is a lava tube created by volcanic activity about 3.5 billion years ago. Scroll down for video A huge moon cave (pictured) that could one day shelter astronauts has been discovered. Data taken from Japan's Selene lunar orbiter has confirmed the existence of the 31 mile (50 km) long and 330 foot (100 metre) wide cavern HOW DO LAVA TUBES FORM? Lava tubes can form in two ways. 'Overcrusted' tubes form when thinner lava flows fairly close to the surface, developing a hard crust that thickens to create a roof above the moving lava stream. When the eruptions end, the channel created by the lava is drained leaving a tunnel a few metres beneath the surface. 'Inflated' tubes are complex and deep structures that form when lava is injected into existing fissures between layers of rock or cavities from previous flows. The lava expands and leaves a huge network of connected galleries as it forces its way to the surface. This second type of tube would provide the best conditions for any future lunar or Martian colonies. Advertisement Scientists at Japan's space agency Jaxa, along with US colleagues, discovered the underground tunnel located under an area called the Marius Hills. A base built in such a space would help protect astronauts from the conditions they would be exposed to on the moon's surface. Previous research identified the potential for the underground networks of tubes, which can stretch up to 40 miles (65 km), as habitats for future space dwellers. The full findings of the Japanese team were published this week in the magazine Geophysical Research Letters. Speaking to AFP Junichi Haruyama, a researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, said: 'We've known about these locations that were thought to be lava tubes. 'But their existence has not been confirmed until now. 'We haven't actually seen the inside of the cave itself so there are high hopes that exploring it will offer more details.' Lava tubes are found in many volcanic areas on Earth, including Lanzarote, Hawaii, Iceland, North Queensland in Australia, Sicily and the Galapagos islands. Researchers from the European Space Agency have been exploring these formations to compare lava tube locations here on Earth with those on the moon and Mars. They hope this will allow astronauts to prepare for the conditions they will find when they return to the moon. The Jaxa announcement comes after Japan in June revealed ambitious plans to put an astronaut on the Moon around 2030. That was the first time the agency had said it aimed to send an astronaut beyond the International Space Station. The idea is to first join a Nasa-led mission in 2025 to build a space station in the moon's orbit, as part of a longer-term effort by Nasa to reach Mars. The US also announced the country is committed to send astronauts to the moon. Experts from Jaxa, the country's space agency, believe the cavern is a lava tube created by volcanic activity about 3.5 billion years ago. Previous research identified the potential for the underground networks of tubes, which can stretch up to 40 miles (65 km), as habitats for future space dwellers. This image shows Philadelphia inside an approximation of a lunar lava tube Researchers from the European Space Agency have been exploring these formations to compare lava tube locations here on Earth with those on the moon and Mars. They hope this will allow astronauts to prepare for the conditions they will find when they return to the moon 'We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundations we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond,' US Vice President Mike Pence said this month. China and India are also developing their space programmes. In November, China's Shenzhou-11 spacecraft returned to Earth, bringing home two astronauts from the rising power's longest-ever orbital mission. Beijing has also unveiled illustrations of a Mars probe and rover it aims to send to the Red Planet at the end of the decade. Nasa and other global space agencies are working hard on sending astronauts to Mars by the 2030s. The University of Jamestown will appeal a $210,000 fine levied by the U.S. Department of Education last month for violating federal laws that require colleges and universities report crime on campus and enact a drug and alcohol abuse prevention program. "We just feel it warrants discussion because of our compliance efforts," said Tena Lawrence, the university's vice president for marketing and communications. In response to its failure to meet requirements under the federal campus crime law known as the Clery Act, as well as the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, the university has hired a full-time director of campus safety and formed an oversight committee in addition to instituting new policies and reporting procedures. The Clery Act, signed into law in 1990, is named after Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered in 1986 in her residence hall at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. The Clery Act requires colleges report on-campus crime statistics and safety policies. A letter to University of Jamestown President Robert Badal from Susan D. Crimm, director of the administrative actions and appeals service group of the Department of Education's federal student aid and enforcement unit, described the violations as "very serious and numerous." The Department of Education announced an off-site review of the University of Jamestown on Oct. 24, 2014, after receiving a complaint of alleged multiple Clery Act violations. The University of Jamestown is one of 10 colleges and universities fined this year for such transgressions. "The complaint alleged serious violations primarily centered on Jamestowns persistent failure to develop and implement required campus safety and crime prevention policies, procedures and programmatic disclosures," the Department of Education said in a footnote of a December 2016 final program review determination letter. The initial examination period was for records from 2010 to 2013, but was expanded to include 2015 "upon discovery of severe deficiencies within Jamestowns campus safety operation and compliance programs." The Department of Education found 55 violations in the universitys crime and fire logs during 2013 to 2015, according to the letter. The review also found the university omitted information about sexual assault prevention and reporting. There also were reportedly discrepancies in the university's crime statistics that were submitted to the Department of Education and the campus community. The letter said the university attempted to provide evidence to back up crime statistics, but "the university legal counsel firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP stated in an electronic mail message dated Jan. 2, 2015, that the computer used to maintain the crime statistics was infected with a virus and that 'all security information from 2011 and prior was lost ...'" The university also apparently failed to distribute information on its drug and alcohol abuse prevention plan. The University of Jamestown is a private, nonprofit college with campuses in Jamestown and Fargo. There were 1,136 students enrolled at the university this fall, according to a news release. The case will be referred to the Department of Education's Office of Hearings and Appeals. Scientists have long debated whether or not a mysterious ninth planet lurks at the edge of our solar system. Some astronomers think the existence of the alleged planet - which they claim is 10 times the size of Earth - explains the bizarre way some distant objects in space move. Now scientists have found new evidence that 'Planet Nine' exists by building simulations of the solar system with different sizes of the celestial body. They found that the unusual orbits of distant rocks in our system can be explained by the presence of a ninth planet with the dimensions scientists have proposed. Last week, Nasa highlighted five lines of evidence pointing to the existence of the elusive world, and said that imagining Planet Nine does not exist generates more problems than it solves. Scroll down for video Scientists have found that the orbits of distant rocks in the solar system can be explained by the presence of a ninth planet. The research follows claims from Nasa last week that imagining Planet Nine (artist's impression) does not exist generates more problems than it solves WHAT IS PLANET 9? Astronomers believe that the orbits of a number of bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the pull of an as yet unidentified planet. First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorised to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies. In order to fit in with the data they have, this alien world - popularly called Planet Nine - would need to be roughly four time the size of Earth and ten times the mass. Researchers say a body of this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of a number of icy minor planets beyond Neptune. Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun. The theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, with astronomers confident it will be found in the coming years. Those hoping for theoretical Earth-sized planets proposed by astrologers or science fiction writers - which are 'hiding behind the sun' and linked with Doomsday scenarios - may have to keep searching. Advertisement Planet Nine was first theorised by experts from Caltech in 2014 when they spotted that some objects in space, called 'Trans-Neptunian Objects', or TNOs, behave strangely. These TNOs are rocky objects smaller than Pluto that orbit the sun further out than Neptune. But the orbits of the most distant of these TNOs - those with 250 times further from the sun than Earth - all point in the same direction. Astronomers claim that this is explained by the gravitational pull of a ninth planet in our solar system that orbits 20 times farther from our sun than Neptune. But some researchers say that for Planet Nine to have aligned the TNOs in this way, the small objects would have to be at least a billion years old. In this time they should have smashed into other planets or been knocked out of their orbits, some astronomers claim, meaning Planet Nine's gravity can't explain their synchronised orbits. Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at simulations of the solar system both with and without the existence of Planet Nine to see how this might change the movement of TNOs. In each simulation, the researchers tested different sizes of Planet Nine to see whether that version of the planet, with its gravitational forces, led to the same version of the solar system we see today. 'From that set of simulations, we found out that there are preferred versions of Planet Nine that make the TNO stay stable for longer, so it basically increases the probability that our solar system exists the way it does,' study lead author Ms Juliette Becker said. 'Through these computer simulations, we were able to determine which realisation of Planet Nine creates our solar system - the whole caveat here being, if Planet Nine is real.' Planet Nine (artist's impression) was first theorised in 2014 when experts spotted that some objects in space, called 'Trans-Neptunian Objects,' or TNOs, behave strangely. These TNOs are rocky objects smaller than Pluto that orbit the sun further out than Neptune NASA'S PLANET NINE CLAIMS Last week, Nasa announced that there are five different lines of observational evidence pointing to the mysterious planet's existence. In 2016, Caltech astronomers published a study that examined the orbits of six objects in the Kuiper Belt - a distant region of icy bodies stretching from Neptune outward toward interstellar space. The findings revealed that the objects all had elliptical orbits that point in the same direction and are tilted 30 degrees 'downward' compared to the plane in which the eight planets circle the sun. To investigate this further, the researchers used computer simulations of the solar system with Planet Nine included, and showed that there should be more objects tilted at 90 degrees to the plane of the eight planets. The team realised that five objects already known to astronomers fit the bill. Following this study, two more clues emerged about Planet Nine. A second article by the Caltech team showed that Planet Nine could have tilted the planets of our solar system during the last 4.5 billion years. Finally, the team demonstrated how Planet Nine's presence could explain why Kuiper Belt objects orbit in the opposite direction from everything else in the solar system. Researchers are now using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii in the hopes of finding Planet Nine, and hope that its detection will also shed light on its origin. Advertisement The team also examined the orbital resonance of the TNOs - when objects exert gravitational forces on each other that cause them to line up in a pattern. They found that occasionally, Neptune will bump a TNO out of its orbital resonance, but instead of sending that object skittering out of the solar system, something catches and confines it to a different resonance. 'The ultimate goal would be to directly see Planet Nine - to take a telescope, point it at the sky, and see reflected light from the sun bouncing off of Planet Nine,' Ms Becker said. 'Since we haven't yet been able to find it, despite many people looking, we're stuck with these kinds of indirect methods.' The team found that occasionally, Neptune will bump a TNO out of its orbital resonance, but instead of sending that object skittering out of the solar system, something catches and confines it to a different resonance. This hidden object could be Planet Nine The Michigan team are part of a large cohort of international scientists working to detect Planet Nine, including astronomers at Nasa. Last week, Nasa announced that there are five different lines of observational evidence pointing to the mysterious planet's existence. In 2016, Caltech astronomers published a study that examined the orbits of six objects in the Kuiper Belt - a distant region of icy bodies stretching from Neptune outward toward interstellar space. The findings revealed that the objects all had elliptical orbits that point in the same direction and are tilted 30 degrees 'downward' compared to the plane in which the eight planets circle the sun. To investigate this further, the researchers used computer simulations of the solar system with Planet Nine included, and showed that there should be more objects tilted at 90 degrees to the plane of the eight planets. In 2016, experts studied the orbits of six Kuiper Belt objects - a distant region of icy bodies. The objects all had elliptical orbits that point in the same direction and are tilted 30 degrees 'downward' compared to the plane in which the eight planets circle the sun The team realised that five objects already known to astronomers fit the bill. Following this study, two more clues emerged about Planet Nine. A second article by the Caltech team showed that Planet Nine could have tilted the planets of our solar system during the last 4.5 billion years. Finally, the team demonstrated how Planet Nine's presence could explain why Kuiper Belt objects orbit in the opposite direction from everything else in the solar system. The researchers now hope to find Planet Nine itself using the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, which they describe as the 'best tool' for the job. Storm Ophelia has unearthed what appears to be ancient human skeleton with some of its skin still intact after the ex-hurricane battered an Irish coastal walkway with huge waves. The remains could be up to a thousand years old and were discovered by a walker after ferocious seas eroded the coastal soil. Ophelia's 75mph (120 kph) winds lashed at the walkway for hours on Tuesday, eventually revealing what appears to be an ancient burial site. Scroll down for video Storm Ophelia has unearthed an ancient human skeleton with some of its skin still intact after an Irish coastal walkway was battered by huge waves STORM OPHELIA Storm Ophelia has swept across Britain and Ireland this week, bringing wind gusts of more than 75mph (120 kph). Three people died in Ireland Tuesday as it was hit by hurricane-force winds and 330,000 people were left without power overnight. Roofs were ripped off buildings and flights were forced to turn around. Scotland has faced 77mph (124kph) gusts and parts of its west coast are under flood warnings, while in England several trees were blocking the train line between Halifax and Bradford Interchange in West Yorkshire. Advertisement State Pathologist Marie Cassidy arrived at the scene yesterday and carried out an initial examination, suggesting the remains could be from the Iron Age, which began around 1,000 years ago. The body has now been taken to Dublin for a forensic investigation into how the person died and how old the remains are. The bones will be donated to Ireland's National Museum in Dublin once the investigation concludes. Archaeologist Maeve Sikora, an expert at the National Museum who helped to excavate the remains, told MailOnline: 'From where it was found, we can tell it clearly wasn't a recent burial. 'The body was probably laid to rest in a stone-lined grave that was destroyed by erosion over the years. 'It would have been a formal burial, with the arms placed by the side, which we can tell from the position the body was found in. 'It could be up to a thousand years old but it is difficult to tell. We can't say with any certainty how old it is until we get a radiocarbon date.' The skeleton, which reportedly still has some skin attached, was found at Kilmore Quay in Wexford, Ireland, on Tuesday afternoon. The remains could be up to a thousand years old and were discovered by a walker after ferocious waves eroded the coastal soil County councillor Jim Moore said: 'People out walking discovered the remains on Tuesday afternoon. The area has been sealed off since then. 'It appears to be a grave, so in other words it is not a body that washed ashore.' The spot where the skeleton was found is named Forlorn Point. Mr Moore said: 'It is the closest point to the sea. It is very remote and it now throws up the question whether there are more burial grounds in the area.' The force of the storm sped up the rate of coastal erosion, revealing the body for the first time in what could be centuries. Ophelia lashed at the walkway for hours on Tuesday, eventually revealing what appears to be a historic burial site. Pictured are archaeologists excavating the site Mr Moore added: 'It is a very tidal area. Erosion is the reason this was found. It left the site exposed and that's how it was spotted.' A police spokesperson confirmed: 'At approximately 4.45pm on Tuesday people out walking at Forlorn Point, Kilmore Quay discovered skeletal remains. 'Gardai were called and the services of the State Pathologists Office and a Forensic anthropologist were sought. 'It was established that the remains were historical maybe from the Iron Age. The National Museum will take custody of the remains.' The remains, which reportedly still have some skin attached, were found at Kilmore Quay in Wexford, Ireland, on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after Ophelia hit the region with hurricane-force winds and big waves. Pictured are Irish police at the scene Storm Ophelia (satellite image pictured) has swept across Britain and Ireland this week, bringing wind gusts of more than 75mph (120 kph) Storm Ophelia has swept across Britain and Ireland this week, bringing wind gusts of more than 75mph (120 kph). Three people died in Ireland Tuesday as it was hit by hurricane-force winds and 330,000 people were left without power overnight. Roofs were ripped off buildings and flights were forced to turn around. Scotland has faced 77mph (124kph) gusts and parts of its west coast are under flood warnings, while in England several trees were blocking the train line between Halifax and Bradford Interchange in West Yorkshire. The Iron Age remains were found at Kilmore Quay in Wexford, Ireland, on Tuesday Speculation that there are mysterious pyramids at the bottom of the Atlantic is circulating online. Conspiracy theorists have been debating whether a video posted to YouTube shows two ancient structures off the coast of The Bahamas. Believers argue that they are proof of inhabitance of the region by an ancient race of people, similar to the Aztec culture of South America. Scroll down for video Speculation that there are mysterious pyramids at the bottom of the Atlantic is circulating online. Conspiracy theorists have been debating whether a video posted to YouTube shows two strange shapes that believers say are ancient structures SECURETEAM 10 CONTROVERSY SectureTeam10 is one of the most viewed YouTube channels, with over 785,000 people subscribing to its conspiracy videos. But the channel has come under fire, as Lions Ground, a rival channel, claims that it has been intentionally fooling its viewers. According to Lions Ground, SecureTeam10 has been raking in an estimated 600 ($745) a day by posting fake videos that 'outsmart UFO believers.' Advertisement The video was posted by SecureTeam10's YouTube account, which has become a household name in UFO and paranormal circles. Scott Waring, who created the UFO Sightings Daily website, is a regular contributor to the channel. He was using Google Earth to scour the ocean floor for anomalies, when he came across the strange shapes. Speaking in the SecureTeam10 video, Mr Waring said: 'I found these two pyramids on the ocean floor near New Providence island, it is not far from Florida. 'The lines on the pyramids are easy to make out and are proof that the nearby island was once inhabited by an ancient man or Aztec-like people.' Narrator Tyler Glockner agrees with Mr Waring's assessment, adding: 'I have to say these do look like pyramids, obviously ancient pyramids that would have some weathering over the years. 'One thing about the ocean is that it actually preserves things much better, because you're not out there in the open air where things can rust and deteriorate. 'If these are pyramids, they could be much much older than, say, the ruins found on Earth that are barely still there and have nearly crumbled to dust.' The pair point out that the two pyramids are not the same, with one appearing to be a perfect three sided structure, like the Great Pyramid of Giza. The video was posted by SecureTeam10's YouTube account by UFO enthusiast Scott Waring, who was using Google Earth to scour the ocean floor for anomalies, when he came across the strange shapes The other has a step-like design, which they compare this the famous Mayan temples, like Chichen Itza. The reaction from viewers of the video on YouTube has been mixed, with some buying into the elaborate explanation on offer. Referencing a theory about an ancient alien race, Bartofilms said: 'Do these underwater pyramids intersect one of the lay lines? 'There are these lines that intersect the the great pyramids in Giza, as well as the Inca and Maya pyramids. 'Some think the Pyramids may have been navigation waypoints for the Annunaki' Others took a more cynical view. They are located at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, just off the coast of The Bahamas, at coordinates 2456'26.50'N 7719'39.35'W The video points out that the two pyramids are not the same, with one appearing to be a perfect three sided structure, like the Great Pyramid of Giza (left), while the other has a step-like design similar to famous Mayan temples, like Chichen Itza (right) BERMUDA TRIANGLE The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. Dozens of ships and aeroplanes have disappeared in the region. Unexplained circumstances surround some of these accidents. A range of strange theories have been proposed regarding the Bermuda Triangle. None of them prove that mysterious disappearances occur more frequently there than in other well-travelled sections of the ocean. Many people navigate the area every day without incident. Advertisement Lo Value said: 'IF they were pyramids that WOULD be proof. 'Someone get down there and prove it then.' Wolfscross added: 'It's a rock formation.' This is not the first time that pyramid-like structures have been claimed to be seen in the region, which is part of the mythical Bermuda Triangle. Reports circulating online in 2012 suggested that a scientist, called Dr Meyer Verlag, discovered a crystal pyramid, which was 'three times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza,' 6,500 feet (2,000 metres) below the sea. Conspiracy theorists believe that the crystal pyramid is to blame for the disappearance of several planes and ships in the area. The theory re-emerged in October 2016, when reports on the Before It's News website claimed that Dr Verlag presented her findings at a press conference held in the Bahamas, where she revealed the exact coordinates of the pyramids. Despite these claims, there is no evidence that Dr Verlag exists, and no record of the coordinates she is claimed to have announced. On the other side of the continent, deep below the Pacific Ocean lies what one Martian researcher has deemed 'a perfect pyramid'. In 2012, a strange conspiracy theory emerged, suggesting that a huge crystal pyramid lies 2,000 metres below the Bermuda Triangle. It re-emerged in October 2016, due to a report on the Before It's News website Conspiracy theorists believe that the crystal pyramid is to blame for the disappearance of several planes and ships in the mythical area Using Google Earth, the massive structure appears to be 8.5 miles (13.7 km) across and some say it could be a UFO parked underwater or an enormous alien base. Marcelo Igazusta, a researcher in Argentina, was the first to lay eyes on the mysterious underwater structure, which was discovered in May 2016. Using the coordinates 12 8'1.49 'N 119 35'26.39' W, Mr Igazusta claims to have spotted a beam of light shining from the darkness of the Pacific Ocean just west of Mexico, leading him to this 'monumental discovery'. Scott Waring, of UFO Sightings Daily, claimed at the time that the structure is a parked UFO or massive alien base. Mr Waring said that this 'perfect pyramid' is adjacent to the ancient Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico. Although the ancient pyramids were constructed by humans, Mr Waring says 'Only aliens could accomplish makings such a massive structure'. On the other side of the continent, deep below the Pacific Ocean lies what one Martian researcher has deemed 'a perfect pyramid' Elon Musk has announced that his Boring Company's second tunnel-digging machine is 'nearly ready'. Musk tweeted today that the new contraption will be named 'Line-Storm' after the 1915 poem by famed American writer Robert Frost. The SpaceX and Tesla founder came up with the idea for the tunnelling firm while frustrated at being stuck in heavy Los Angeles traffic. He plans to build a series of tunnels underneath the city that could ferry cars in pods at speeds of around 125mph (200kph). Earlier this year, the Boring Company's first tunnel-digging machine, called 'Godot', began digging test tunnels under LA. Scroll down for video Second boring machine almost ready. Will be called Line-Storm, after the poem by Frost. "And be my love in the rain." pic.twitter.com/xlWPYdPu3P Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2017 Elon Musk has announced that his Boring Company's second tunnel-digging machine is 'nearly ready' MUSK'S BORING PLAN Elon Musk has outlined how his Boring Company will work, claiming: Tunnelling costs must be reduced by a factor of more than 10 Key to this is smaller tunnels that can be dug more quickly Will work to increase the speed of the Tunnel Boring Machine Envisions a new breed of smaller, more powerful boring machines, with triple the power of current devices, that can tunnel continuously Advertisement Now Musk has announced the firm's second machine is on its way. 'Second boring machine almost ready. 'Will be called Line-Storm, after the poem by Frost' he tweeted. The billionaire also brought attention to the Frost's line 'and be my love in the rain' in his post. This has left some to speculate that his latest machine will be designed for all-weather operation. The firm's 'Godot' machine was named after Samuel Beckett's famous play 'Waiting for Godot.' News of the Boring Company's second device comes just two months after the firm first got permission to dig outside of its own property. In August, it was reported that Elon Musk's Boring Company will build a two-mile-long test tunnel in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans. The extension will run 13.5 metres (44 feet) under public roads around the SpaceX headquarters, and is the first time the Boring Company has been allowed to dig outside it's property line. This dry run will make sure plans actually work - if it doesn't, the city can request the tunnel is filled with concrete or soil. Musk tweeted today that the new boring contraption will be named 'Line-Storm' after the 1915 poem by American writer Robert Lee Frost. Pictured is an image of the Boring Company's tunnelling machine, called 'Godot' 'They won't even know we're there', Brett Horton, senior director of facilities and construction at SpaceX assured members of the council. 'This is groundbreaking, this is establishing a precedent, and I think we all agree that we want to make sure that this goes off without a hitch,' Hawthorne's Mayor Alex Vargas said. The company assured citizens that if the soil moves by as little as half an inch, work will stop immediately. When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was simply venting his frustrations about being stuck in traffic. 'Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging...', he tweeted in December last year. When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was joking He ended his rant on the social media site with: 'I am actually going to do this'. The billionaire first tweeted a picture of his firm's boring machine back in February with the caption 'Minecraft' - a reference to the popular video game in which players dig large tunnel networks for resources. Many have speculated that Musk will use his Boring Company to build tunnels for Hyperloop transportation systems - either for other firms or his own venture. When he first revealed the plan in a white paper developed with his team at SpaceX, in 2012, he said he would let others build the system. 'I don't have any plan to execute because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla,' he said in a conference call at the time. But in August it appeared Musk would build his own hyperloop tunnel system in a bid to speed up adoption of the radical travel technology he invented. Elon Musk says he has 'verbal government approval' to build an underground tunnel to transport passengers between New York and Washington DC in just 29 minutes. His firm the Boring Company could dig these tunnels In August, it was reported that Elon Musk's Boring Company will build a two-mile-long test tunnel (proposed route shown as dotted line) in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans WHAT IS HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. As several firms vie to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musk's vision of a radical transport system that could ferry passengers above land at 760 miles per hour continues to inch closer to reality Advertisement According to reports from a 'person close to Musk,' it appears the billionaire will build the whole system himself. Musk also hinted at it, replying to a tweet about the issues facing the various Hyperloop plans by saying 'I guess a proof of concept is needed.' Many had thought Musk would simply create the tunnels for Hyperloop systems using his recently revealed Boring Company. Images released earlier this year show the design of the Boring Company's underground electric buses that it plans to use in its tunnels 'While we're encouraged that others are making some progress, we would like to accelerate the development of this technology as fast as possible,' Musk's Boring Co., a venture created to build roads that run through underground tunnels, said in a statement. 'We encourage and support all companies that wish to build Hyperloops and we don't intend to stop them from using the Hyperloop name as long as they are truthful.' Musk has an uphill battle ahead if he's serious about tunnelling under LA. THE CHALLENGES MUSK'S 'BORING' PLAN WILL FACE Musk has an uphill battle ahead if he's serious about tunnelling under LA. Digging under cities takes a lot of time because the densely packed earth and rock underground is poorly mapped. 'Our recent experience with tunnels in the US is that neighbours worry, you run up against various environmental laws, and you just never know what's underneath the Earth,' Michael Manville, who studies urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired. The hole is legal because it has been dug on private property. But extending the tunnel further than SpaceX's headquarters would require more discussion, paperwork, and LA City council approval. 'We're just going to figure out what it takes to improve tunnelling speed by, I think, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 percent,' he said during a recent Hyperloop design competition at SpaceX. 'We have no idea what we're doing - I want to be clear about that.' Advertisement Digging under cities takes a lot of time because the densely packed earth and rock underground is poorly mapped. 'Our recent experience with tunnels in the US is that neighbours worry, you run up against various environmental laws, and you just never know what's underneath the Earth,' Michael Manville, who studies urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired. The hole is legal because it has been dug on private property. Musk posted a picture on Instagram in February, writing 'Cutterhead in operation at standard industry speed. Planning to jack this up by a factor of ten or more' But extending the tunnel further than SpaceX's headquarters would require more discussion, paperwork, and LA City council approval. 'We're just going to figure out what it takes to improve tunnelling speed by, I think, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 percent,' he said during a recent Hyperloop design competition at SpaceX. 'We have no idea what we're doing - I want to be clear about that.' WAITING FOR GODOT 'Waiting for Godot' is a two act play by Samuel Beckett that was published in 1949. It was originally written in French, with the title 'En attendant Godot'. There are two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait for the arrival of Godot. Both are old men whose lives have taken a turn for the worst they are both homeless and often suicidal. They sit on mounds of earth near a country road waiting for Godot and talk about a range of topics, from food to memories and their lives. The two men are left waiting. The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. Advertisement You may have heard of lucid dreaming the ability to become aware in the midst of a dream, and control what happens but have you ever actually achieved it? While there are countless techniques touted to induce the state, scientists have largely found low success rates among those who put them to the test. But, a new study has now identified three tricks that can increase your chances of having lucid dreams. By combining the techniques, the study found participants were more likely to have success in controlling their dreams and, doing so had no negative effects on the quality of their sleep. While there are countless techniques touted to induce the state, scientists have largely found low success rates among those who put them to the test. But, a new study has now identified three tricks that can increase your chances of having lucid dreams. Stock image THE THREE TRICKS A new study has now identified three tricks that can increase your chances of having lucid dreams: 1. Reality testing - Check your environment several times a day to see whether or not you're dreaming 2. 'Wake back to bed' - Wake up after five hours, stay awake for a short period, then go back to sleep in order to enter a REM sleep period, in which dreams are more likely to occur 3. MILD (mnemonic induction of lucid dreams) - Wake up after five hours of sleep and then develop the intention to remember that you are dreaming before returning to sleep, by repeating the phrase: 'The next time I'm dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming.' At the same time, imagine yourself in a lucid dream Advertisement The research, led by Dr Denholm Aspy of the University of Adelaide, involved 47 participants who tested out three lucid dream induction techniques. These include reality testing, in which the dreamer checks their environment several times a day, an intermittent sleep pattern known as 'wake back to bed,' and mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD), which involves waking up after five hours of sleep and reminding yourself that you are dreaming before returning back to sleep. In the study, participants were told to imagine themselves in a lucid dream as part of the MILD trick, and repeat the phrase: 'The next time I'm dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming.' The subjects tried out the techniques over the course of a week, coupled with a baseline week in which they did not practice any of the tricks. And, this revealed that using a combination of the three tricks led to higher success rates in lucid dreaming. The participants overall achieved a 17 percent success rate which the researcher notes is significantly higher than the baseline week. For those who were able to fall asleep within the first five minutes of using the MILD technique, the study found the success rate was even higher. This group achieved lucid dreaming in nearly 46 percent of attempts. 'The MILD technique works on what we call 'prospective memory' that is, your ability to remember to do things in the future,' says Dr Aspy, Visiting Research Fellow in the University's School of Psychology. In the study, participants were told to imagine themselves in a lucid dream as part of the MILD trick, and repeat the phrase: 'The next time I'm dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming.' Stock image 'Importantly, those who reported success using the MILD technique were significantly less sleep deprived the next day, indicating that lucid dreaming did not have any negative effect on sleep quality. Not only could the research help those curious about the world of lucid dreaming, but it also has implications for an array of therapeutic approaches. The study is ongoing, and currently seeking new participants from all over the world, at Lucid Dreaming Australia. 'These results take us one step closer to developing highly effective lucid dream induction techniques that will allow us to study the many potential benefits of lucid dreaming,' Dr Aspy says, 'such as treatment for nightmares and improvement of physical skills and abilities through rehearsal in the lucid dream environment.' Advertisement Scientists have created an Atlas of the Underworld, compiling the remnants of 94 ancient tectonic plates that now lie deep beneath Earths surface. The atlas spans roughly 300 million years of Earths history, revealing how different geological processes changed the face of our planet. Some of these slabs have sunk more than a thousand miles into the mantle, according to the researchers, giving rise to some of Earths most extraordinary features, from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ring of Fire. Scientists have created an Atlas of the Underworld, compiling 94 slabs of ancient tectonic plates that now lie deep beneath Earths surface. The atlas spans roughly 300 million years of Earths history. The image above show the Cocos The incredible catalogue of the underworld is 17 years in the making, according to Ars Technica. Dutch scientists Douwe van der Meer, Douwe van Hinsbergen, and Wim Spakman of Utrecht University published their work in the journal Tectonophysics this month, interpreting 94 distinct slabs. Some of these slabs have sunk more than a thousand miles into the mantle, according to the researchers, giving rise to some of Earths most extraordinary features, from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ring of Fire. The graphic above shows some of theses slabs, ranked by depth And, theyve already identified two more. The slabs represent ancient tectonic plates that have sunk below the surface. With recent seismic tomography techniques, researchers are now able to create 3D images of the hidden processes at work deep underground, revealing slabs as far as 2,900 kilometers (1801 miles) deep. At subduction zone plate boundaries, one plate disappears below another and sinks into the mantle, the authors explain on the website dedicated to their work. These sinking plates, called slabs, are colder than their surroundings, and remain colder for a very long period of time about 250 million years. As a result, the speed at which seismic waves travel through these bodies of sinking lithosphere is a little higher than from the surrounding hot mantle. Once these plates have descended to the mantle, they can remain there millions of years. But, they do not stop moving. WHAT ARE TECTONIC PLATES? Tectonic plates are composed of Earth's crust and the uppermost portion of the mantle. Below is the asthenosphere: the warm, viscous conveyor belt of rock on which tectonic plates ride. The Earth has fifteen tectonic plates (pictured) that together have molded the shape of the landscape we see around us today Earthquakes typically occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates, where one plate dips below another, thrusts another upward, or where plate edges scrape alongside each other. Earthquakes rarely occur in the middle of plates, but they can happen when ancient faults or rifts far below the surface reactivate. These areas are relatively weak compared to the surrounding plate, and can easily slip and cause an earthquake. Advertisement While these plates may slow down, the researchers note that they eventually make their way from the upper mantle to the core-mantle boundary. In creating the Atlas, the researchers have interpreted when and where the many slabs in Earths upper and lower mantle were subducting. The work not only sheds light on the activity beneath the surface, but could also improve our understanding of ancient climates and the activity of mantle hot spots. The incredible catalogue of the underworld is 17 years in the making. Dutch scientists Douwe van der Meer, Douwe van Hinsbergen, and Wim Spakman of Utrecht University published their work in the journal Tectonophysics this month As Earths geological activity is under constant study, the researchers expect there will be many improvements to their interpretations. Already, theyve identified more slabs than detailed in the paper. We have found two more in the eastern Mediterranean region, van Hinsbergen told Ars Technica. In Southeastern Australasia, in the deeper lower mantle, we do see more slabs; however, there isnt sufficient geological literature available to date these. With an agreement over future air traffic rules still to be decided, budget airline Wizz Air has become the latest European carrier to move to shore up its post-Brexit flying rights by applying for a licence in Britain ahead of the country's departure from the European Union. The move would see the creation of Wizz Air UK, which would begin operating as a subsidiary of Hungary-based Wizz Air in March 2018 if its application to the Civil Aviation Authority for an air operator's certificate (AOC) and operating licence is successful, it said. Wizz is listed in London, but the majority of its operations are focused on Europe. Wizz said the move would see 100 new jobs added to its base in Luton by the end of 2018. With an agreement over future air traffic rules still to be decided, budget airline Wizz Air has become the latest European carrier to move to shore up its post-Brexit flying rights by applying for a licence in Britain ahead of the country's departure from the European Union 'It is a natural, next-step in the development of our UK business,' CEO Jozsef Varadi said in a statement. 'This move is also part of our broader strategy to ensure that our UK operations are Brexit-ready.' Flying rights are currently governed by EU-wide deals and because it is not part of the World Trade Organization, the aviation sector has no natural fallback arrangement to protect flights if there is no deal between Britain and the EU. Luton-based airline easyJet has chosen Vienna, Austria, for an AOC, to protect its ability to fly between EU destinations once Britain leaves the bloc. An AOC in Britain could allow Wizz to fly in between UK-only destinations, however it currently operates no such flights and did not indicate that its strategy was now to do so. Still, even with various AOCs, airlines still need governments to agree new traffic agreements, with some in the industry having voiced the view that flights from Britain to remaining EU countries could be grounded unless progress is made soon. Flying rights are currently governed by EU-wide deals and because it is not part of the World Trade Organization, the aviation sector has no natural fallback arrangement to protect flights if there is no deal between Britain and the EU 'Airlines sell tickets 300 days out, so they are about six to eight months away from needing some certainty,' Michael Whitaker, principal of Whitaker Airspace and former deputy administrator at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, told the CAPA Global Summit in London. Earlier this week Philip Hammond was slapped down by a Cabinet colleague for claiming flights could be grounded if Britain left the EU without a deal. Chris Grayling said the Chancellor was wrong to suggest there might be 'no air traffic' between Britain and the EU following Brexit in March 2019. The Transport Secretary said that travellers could 'go ahead with confidence and book' flights and holidays. Just like Australia in the early 2000s, The Bachelorette reject James Trethewie is experiencing a historic drought. Speaking to the Kyle and Jackie O show on Thursday, the financial advisor revealed he hadn't sex in 'about' five months. Kyle Sandilands, was appalled with the news, but James insisted he was simply 'busy with work and surfing.' Best laid plans! Speaking to the Kyle and Jackie O show on Thursday, Bachelorette reject James Trethewie revealed he hadn't sex in 'about' five months 'What have you been doing then? Just j*****g off at home?' Kyle asked with a genuine curiosity. 'If you're busy with work and surfing and you're kind of just in this routine,' James replied. It's believed the contestant means surfing waves, as opposed to surfing the internet. 'What have you been doing then? Just j*****g off?' Kyle Sandilands, was appalled with the news, but James insisted he was simply 'busy with work and surfing' Kyle added: 'If i was told I can't I would be obsessed, I'd be getting prozzies [prostitutes] around... If i'm told I can't [then] I have to.' Jackie O Henderson tried to put it in perspective for her clearly confused KIIS FM co-host. Surfing the web? It's believed the contestant means surfing waves, as opposed to surfing the internet 'It's like if you're a smoker and you If you're on a plane, you know you can't smoke, so you just deal with it,' she attempted. 'No,' Kyle replied, 'You go to the toilet, put a towel over your head, and you put your whole face over the bowl.' Sophie Monk sent home James on Wednesday night, much to the dismay of fans. While Australia's drought was luckily broken by an La Nina rain pattern in 2010, James is still firmly entrenched in his dry spell. Last week it was leaked that Georgia May Foote's Coronation Street character Katy Armstrong was to be killed off in a road accident abroad, off-screen. And on Wednesday evening's instalment of the ITV soap, it happened - with her sister Izzy receiving a phone call breaking the news to her, leaving her sobbing in the street. So uncontrollable were her cries that the news was somewhat disjointed, leaving viewers unsure of who was actually dead. Not coming back: Georgia May Foote's character has been killed off in an off-screen crash 'No, she can't be, no!' cried Izzy as she got the call. 'Katy's dead, in a car crash, she was killed instantly!' She recounted the news to Fizz, Tyrone and Sinead who, shocked, comforted her. Katy was said to have died in a crash in Portugal - where she had gone to live with her mother in 2015, when she last appeared on the show. She took her and Chesney's son Joseph with her, who was also in the crash; but he survived it. Unclear: So uncontrollable were her cries that the news was somewhat disjointed, leaving viewers unsure of who was actually dead This led to Chesney finding out whilst recovering from a seizure in the hospital, seeing him swiftly discharge himself so that he could go to Portugal to be with Joseph. All of this was initially lost on several viewers, who took to Twitter to desperately try and find out who had allegedly died. 'Who's dead? I didn't catch a word of that,' one person demanded to know. A second posted: 'Who's dead? Didn't understand a word she said!' Shock: 'No, she can't be, no!' cried Izzy as she got the call. 'Katy's dead, in a car crash, she was killed instantly' Bad news: She recounted the news to Fizz, Tyrone and Sinead who, shocked, comforted her A third echoed: 'Who is dead? Couldn't understand a word any of them was saying.' A fourth wrote: 'Who's dead? I couldn't tell a word she was saying bless her?' This was followed with more of the same, with some typing 'Sorry, who's dead?' and others writing 'I missed it over Izzies stupid voice. Who is dead?' Tragic: Katy was said to have died in a crash in Portugal - where she had gone to live with her mother in 2015, when she last appeared on the show No closure: She took her and Chesney's son Joseph with her, who was also in the crash; but he survived it Georgia left the soap in 2015 after five years and was promised that the door was always open. However, it was revealed earlier this week that she wouldn't be returning now that her character is deceased. A TV source told The Sun newspaper: 'As Katy, Georgia was really popular with Corrie fans and had some big storylines. But bosses have clearly decided that she has no future in the soap, and have ruled out a return by killing her off. 'Who?' Many flocked to Twitter to demand Izzy repeat herself No return: Georgia was with Chesney (Sam Aston) in the soap, but also enjoyed a brief dalliance with Callum (Sean Ward) Off-screen: The brunette, who shares son Joseph with Chesney on screen, died in Portugal 'You might have thought they would show such a well-known character being written out on screen but that wasn't to be.' A decision was made to write Georgia out of the soap in April 2014, with show boss Stuart Blackburn saying in a statement: 'The decision to write out the character of Katy Armstrong is based on storyline discussions and will be one of the consequences of the current drama involving the Windass/Armstrong clan.' 'Katy will not be killed off and the door will be left open for a possible return. We wish Georgia every success with her future career.' On moving on from the show, Georgia said at the time: 'I have had an amazing four years on Coronation Street; I have had some fantastic storylines and worked with some wonderful actors. Saying goodbye: The brunette was thought to have had a door left open when she exited in 2015 'I am very excited about what the future holds. While I will be sorry to say goodbye to Weatherfield I am looking forward to the challenge of new roles' She added: 'Having worked on other dramas such as Grange Hill and This Is England before I joined the cast I always knew that I would want to try other roles again in the future. 'I am hugely grateful for the opportunities Coronation Street has given me and I am very excited about my exit storyline.' During her break from the soap, Georgia starred on Strictly Come Dancing and found romance with her dance partner Giovanni Pernice. Moving on: During her break from the soap, Georgia starred in Strictly Come Dancing Catapulted by her runner-up success, she went on to begin a stage career, starring in the UK tour of Breakfast At Tiffany's. Her soap storylines revolved around her relationship with Chesney and becoming a teen mother at 17. Speaking about her exit in 2015, Georgia said: 'She should never have broken Chesney's heart. She's made so many mistakes.' 'She realises she just can't do that to Ches,' Georgia explained. 'She sees what a good person he is. She can't take Joseph away from him. 'I don't think that's ever crossed her mind. To Katy, the choice has always been to go to Portugal with Joseph or not to go at all. She wants a better life for both of them.' Hugh Jackman was a dead ringer for Gary Hart when he was photographed playing him on Wednesday in Atlanta. The 49-year-old actor and sex symbol is portraying the politician - infamous for a 1987 Democrat primary run that crashed and burned amid adultery allegations - in an upcoming biopic called The Front Runner. A day prior, Hugh's wife Deborra-lee Furness was glimpsed heading to Locanda Verde in New York City to attend the Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program luncheon. Scroll down for video Separate and apart: While Hugh Jackman was seen filming The Front Runner in Atlanta on Wednesday For his Gary Hart costume, Hugh wore a midnight blue suit with a slightly rumpled white dress shirt, a GWH belt and black dress shoes. His tie was streaked with navy and crimson stripes, and the red sections were dotted with yellow and black patterns vaguely resembling flowers. Folder in hand, he was seen stepping onto a crosswalk. History: The 49-year-old actor and sex symbol is portraying Gary Hart - infamous for a 1987 Democrat primary run that foundered amid claims of adultery with one Donna Rice Out in New York City, Deborra wore a massive pair of black and white platforms with a chic black coat that clashed against its own white lapels. A black top matched her trousers and cat-eye shades, not to mention the large black bag she was seen lugging about. She and Hugh have been married since 1996, and they've got two children - 12-year-old daughter Ava and 17-year-old son Oscar. The look: For his Gary Hart costume, Hugh wore a midnight blue suit with a slightly rumpled white dress shirt, a GWH belt and black dress shoes Gary ran in the Democrat presidential primary in 1984, but lost to Walter Mondale - who himself went on to lose to a reelected Ronald Reagan in the second biggest electoral landslide in U.S. history. By 1987, the primary campaigns for the 1988 election were percolating, and Gary looked to many like the front-runner, hence the biopic title. Yet claims emerged that he had been cheating on his wife with one Donna Rice, and the scandal intensified enough to incinerate his bid for the nomination. Chic: Hugh's wife Deborra was glimpsed Tuesday heading to Locanda Verde in New York City to attend the Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program luncheon Michael Dukakis went on to become the Democratic candidate for the presidency, losing to Reagan's vice president George H.W. Bush. Neither Donna nor Gary has ever copped to the affair, and Gary's wife Lee Ludwig - who married him back in 1958 - is still with him. This despite the fact that soon after Gary withdrew from the 1988 race, a now iconic photo went public of Donna perched on his lap at a harbor. Seen on the stump: Gary first ran in the Democrat presidential primary in 1984, but lost to Walter Mondale, who himself lost to incumbent Ronald Reagan in an historic landslide It was the National Enquirer that first exposed the snapshot - in which Gary's in a T-shirt bearing the name of a yacht called Monkey Business - running it on their June 2, 1987 cover with the kicker: 'GARY HART ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM.' Based on the nonfiction Matt Bai book All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, The Front Runner is being directed by Jason Reitman of Juno fame. Matt himself has co-written the script with Jason and with Jay Carson, per IMDb. Vera Farmiga is playing Lee and Sara Paxton will feature as Donna. Earlier this year two evangelical groups, the Lausanne Movement and BAM Global, met in Thailand to discuss various aspects of wealth creation, including justice, poverty, Biblical foundation, wealth creators, stewardship of creation and the role of the church. During the meeting 30 people from 20 nations, primarily from the business world, and also from church, missions and academia, put together the Wealth Creation Manifesto: Affirmations 1. Wealth creation is rooted in God the Creator, who created a world that flourishes with abundance and diversity. 2. We are created in Gods image, to co-create with Him and for Him, to create products and services for the common good. 3. Wealth creation is a holy calling, and a God-given gift, which is commended in the Bible. 4. Wealth creators should be affirmed by the Church, and equipped and deployed to serve in the marketplace among all peoples and nations. 5. Wealth hoarding is wrong, and wealth sharing should be encouraged, but there is no wealth to be shared unless it has been created. 6. There is a universal call to generosity, and contentment is a virtue, but material simplicity is a personal choice, and involuntary poverty should be alleviated. 7. The purpose of wealth creation through business goes beyond giving generously, although that is to be commended; good business has intrinsic value as a means of material provision and can be an agent of positive transformation in society. 8. Business has a special capacity to create financial wealth, but also has the potential to create different kinds of wealth for many stakeholders, including social, intellectual, physical and spiritual wealth. 9. Wealth creation through business has proven power to lift people and nations out of poverty. 10. Wealth creation must always be pursued with justice and a concern for the poor, and should be sensitive to each unique cultural context. 11. Creation care is not optional. Stewardship of creation and business solutions to environmental challenges should be an integral part of wealth creation through business. Appeal We present these affirmations to the Church worldwide, and especially to leaders in business, church, government, and academia. We call the church to embrace wealth creation as central to our mission of holistic transformation of peoples and societies. We call for fresh, ongoing efforts to equip and launch wealth creators to that very end. We call wealth creators to perseverance, diligently using their God given gifts to serve God and people. Since the meeting the group has also issued several papers related to wealth creation (Wealth Creation and the Poor, Role of the Church in Wealth Creation, Wealth Creation within Global Cultural Perspectives, Wealth Creation: Biblical Views & Perspectives) which well consider in more detail in future posts. He was embraced as one of Britain's most beloved entertainers in a career that spanned decades up until his passing in August. And now Lady Wilnelia, 60, was spotted for the first time since the death of her husband Sir Bruce Forsyth - who she was happily married to for 34 years - on Wednesday in London. The former Miss World was pictured chatting on her phone as she indulged in a spot of shopping at Peter Jones in Chelsea with a female friend. Scroll down for video First time: Lady Wilnelia, 60, was spotted for the first time since the death of her husband Sir Bruce Forsyth on Wednesday in London Keeping to her usual glamorous fashion, the grieving mother-of-one donned a leather Chanel jacket for the outing as she wrapped up in a black and camel-coloured oversized blanket scarf. She teamed her all black ensemble with pair of wide leg trousers, pointed boots and a Chanel handbag. Her downcast appearance comes as she mourns the loss of her long-term love - who passed away on August 18 aged 89. It was reported that he had left all of his 17million estate to his wife to avoid it being gobbled up by the taxman, according to a friend. Love: The couple were happily married to for 34 years after meeting at Miss World (Pictured in 2012) No inheritance tax is due when a fortune is passed to a spouse or civil partner instead of children. Once the fortune is transferred, Sir Bruce's third wife former Miss World Wilnelia can then give up to 650,000 to each of his relatives tax free. A source told the Daily Star Sunday 's Ed Gleave: 'Bruce hated the idea of his estate getting devalued by inheritance tax and spoke about that publicly before his death. 'But leaving everything to Wilnelia means he avoids inheritance tax. He is likely to have done that as he trusted her to distribute the wealth among their relatives. 'And because she can give a significant amount away tax-free to their family, it means they end up with more.' Walk on by: The former Miss World was pictured chatting on her phone as she indulged in a spot of shopping at Peter Jones in Chelsea with a female friend Sir Bruce, who died aged 89 on Friday leaving six children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, has described inheritance tax as 'a bit over the top'. The entertainer, who had a keen interest in politics and once revealed he taped Prime Minister's Questions each week, told the Radio Times: 'I think your inheritance should go to your children more than back to the country that you've lived in. 'I'm not saying you don't owe the country something, of course you owe your country a lot for living there all those years. But I think it can be a bit over the top.' Sir Bruce's company, Bruce Forsyth Enterprises, is worth 5.7million and his home is worth an estimated 4million. In the past: It was reported that he had left all of his 17million estate to his wife to avoid it being gobbled up by the taxman, according to a friend Following his death, his family said in a statement Sir Bruce died peacefully surrounded by his wife and children. The statement read: 'It is with great sadness that the Forsyth family announce that Sir Bruce passed away this afternoon, peacefully at his home surrounded by his wife Wilnelia and all his children. 'A couple of weeks ago, a friend visited him and asked him what he had been doing these last eighteen months. 'With a twinkle in his eye, he responded 'I've been very, very busy... being ill!' Unfortunately, not long after this, his health deteriorated and he contracted bronchial pneumonia. 'The family would like to express their thanks to the many people who have sent cards and letters to Bruce wishing him well over his long illness and know that they will share in part, the great, great loss they feel.' Looked after: A source told the Daily Star Sunday 's Ed Gleave: 'Bruce hated the idea of his estate getting devalued by inheritance tax and spoke about that publicly before his death' (Pictured together in 2013) Passing: Sir Bruce, who died aged 89 on Friday leaving six children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, has described inheritance tax as 'a bit over the top' The legendary broadcaster and entertainer was considered a national treasure by fans, former colleagues and stars of screen and stage alike. Revealing they had been moved to discover how much of an impact Bruce had on so many people, they continued:'It's been humbling and comforting to us to realise just how much Bruce was loved and how many lives he touched.' Bruce is survived by his wife Lady Wilnelia Forsyth and his six children - daughters Debbie, Julie and Laura from his first marriage with Penny Calvert, Charlotte and Louisa with his second spouse Anthea Redfern and a son with Wilnelia - as well as nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Sir Bruce is loved around the country for his 75-year TV career presenting shows including The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and Strictly Come Dancing. Lisa Wilkinson shocked the nation on Monday night when she announced on Twitter she was quitting the Today show. And in the wake of the 57-year-old's departure from the Channel Nine breakfast show after 10 years, fans have had their say on her credentials. Pitted against her former co-host Karl Stefanovic in a poll posted to the Daily Mail Australia Facebook page on Wednesday, fans were asked which of the two they thought was the better journalist. Battling it out! On Wednesday, fans voted in a Facebook poll posted by Daily Mail Australia, asking them who they thought was a better journalist: Lisa Wilkinson (left) or her former Today co-host Karl Stefanovic (right) 'In the wake of comments made by reporter Mike Munro... Who do you think is a better journalist?' the post read before an image prompted Facebook users to vote. Fans were asked to answer the question 'Is Lisa Wilkinson a better journalist than Karl Stefanovic?' by hitting the 'like' button to vote 'yes' or the 'angry reaction' to vote 'no'. The results were overwhelming in Lisa's favour, with 520 users on her side. In contrast, only 110 people thought Karl was a better journalist than his former breakfast show counterpart. Odds are in her favour! Lisa won the vote with an overwhelming 520 voters on her side Winning woman: Lisa came out on top, with Karl only attracting 110 in the poll's vote On Wednesday veteran journalist Mike Munro, 64, said he thought Lisa should be paid 'the same, if not more' than Karl. Frankly speaking to 97.3FM's Bianca, Terry & Bob, Mike said: 'I think she has every right to be standing up for herself.' He even appeared to criticise her former co-host, adding: '...and I think as a journalist, I'll be honest, I think she's a better journalist than Karl is!' 'Whether she's male or female, I don't care, I think she's a superb person and a wonderful journalist,' he said. 'She deserves everything that she gets and Channel Ten are lucky to have her,' he continued to praise Lisa. Speaking out: On Wednesday veteran journalist Mike Munro, 64, said he thought Lisa should be paid 'the same, if not more' than Karl Lisa left her role at the network after salary negotiations between her and Channel Nine broke down when she reportedly demanded pay parity. She announced the news of her resignation on Twitter and within an hour shared that she had taken up a new gig at The Project. The new role is a coup for the embattled Network Ten and will allegedly see Lisa pocketing in excess of $2 million - which would make her the highest paid woman in television. He's been dubbed a 'stage five clinger' by fans of The Bachelorette. And contestant Jarrod Woodgate, 31, was left red-faced this week after he was caught peeping up ta mannequin's skirt. The vineyard manager took to Instagram to share a shot of himself in a very compromising position as he dressed a mannequin as part of a challenge on Wednesday's show. Scroll down for video 'Of course they capture this!' The Bachelorette's 'stage five clinger' Jarrod Woodgate is left red-faced after being caught peeping up a mannequin's skirt 'Um...#ofcoursetheywouldcapturethis #BacheloretteAU,' Jarrod captioned the snap. 'This is gold!' one fan commented. While another added: 'Too good.' Awkward! On Wednesday's show, the contestants had to dress mannequins in clothing appropriate for their ideal first date On Wednesday's show, the contestants had to dress mannequins in clothing appropriate for their ideal first date. One mannequin was dressed in ski clothing, while another was dressed in a summer dress for a day at the beach in Byron Bay. At the end of the episode, Sophie sent contestant James packing at the rose ceremony, with the hunk admitting he was 'gutted' about leaving. Gone: During the episode, Sophie sent contestant James packing at the rose ceremony, with the hunk admitting he was 'gutted' about leaving Does he win? Jarrod meanwhile admitted this week to OK! magazine that he confidentially envisions a future with Sophie This week Jarrod admitted to OK! magazine that he has imagined what a future with Sophie would be like. He said he and her have discussed what it would be like to have children together and also revealed that he has planned how he will propose to the star. He told the publication: ''It'll involve Sophie and a helicopter ride to a hidden location.' 'We've decided we want a boy and a girl... but no names, we haven't come down to that yet,' Jarrod divulged. Siggy Flicker broke down in a diner while arguing with Margaret Josephs during Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey. The tears started flowing during the episode titled The Apology as the fallout from Cake Gate continued. Siggy, 50, remained angry at Margaret, 50, for siding with Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga after they threw birthday cake at each other in Boca Raton, Florida. Diner drama: Siggy Flicker burst into tears during a diner argument with Margaret Josephs on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey Margaret invited Siggy to a launch party for her new summer collection of cosmetic bags, but the invitation was politely declined. 'Too much stuff happened at Boca that I'm very upset about,' Siggy said over the phone. Margaret asked if they could just move past it, but Siggy flatly said no. Siggy then met up with Teresa to settle their differences. Pigtails power: Margaret scolded the relationship expert for calling her names Invitation declined: Siggy declined Margaret's invitation to her launch party for a new purse line Teresa, 45, admitted she let loose a little bit with the cake and Siggy acknowledged she said some mean things while angry and drinking. Siggy then criticized Margaret for not supporting her and calling her 'Soggy Flicker' after she started crying. 'I want to pull on those pigtails until they come out of her head,' Siggy said while illustrating with her own hair. Making up: Teresa and Siggy met up in a restaurant and settled their differences from Florida Siggy said she had no interest in going to Margaret's party. 'I can't stand the b****,' Siggy declared. Teresa urged Siggy to go to the party and feel Margaret out but Siggy shot that down. Pigtails pulling: Siggy said she wanted to pull Margaret's pigtails out of her head Taken aback: Teresa said that Siggy was getting 'unhinged' about Margaret 'I hate the f***ing bitch. I can't stand her,' Siggy said. Siggy instead of going to the launch party invited Dolores Catania over for a slumber party. Margaret reached out to Siggy via text during her launch party but Dolores dismissed it as being 'perfunctory'. Slumber party: Siggy invited Dolores Catania over for a slumber party instead of going to Margaret's launch bash Facial masks: Dolores and Catania wore facial masks during their sleepover Showing support: Siggy found a staunch supporter in Dolores who defended her behavior over Cake Gate Siggy texted back that she wanted to get together the next day to put it in the past. Raindrops were falling as they met at a diner and Margaret said Siggy was missed at the launch party. Siggy relayed how she felt betrayed and insulted by Margaret in Florida. Rainy reunion: Siggy and Margaret met at a diner in inclement weather Margaret scolded her from calling her names when Siggy claims to be a relationship expert who empowers women. Siggy didn't back down after mocking Margaret's pigtails and calling her a 'b****'. 'When I'm angry I'm not trying to empower you. I'm trying to destroy you,' Siggy said. Up here: A napkin was used by Siggy as she tried to cut down Margaret Margaret accused her of hypocrisy and also called Dolores her 'yes' person. Siggy held up admirably for a bit, but she soon started crying. 'Don't cry. I don't want to make a girl cry,' Margaret told her. Getting emotional: Siggy held up admirably for a bit but then broke down and started crying 'You don't realize how sensitive I am,' Siggy said. Margaret said she was sorry and Siggy accepted her apology. In other developments, Teresa and her lawyer James met with her book publishers and she revealed the title of her latest book Standing Strong. Book deal: Teresa and her lawyer James met with her book publisher The title: The reality star shared her title of Standing Strong with the team Joe Gorga also surprised Melissa, 38, by purchasing an Italian restaurant. He argued that it would help his father Giacinto Gorga cope with the death of his wife and family matriarch Antonia in March. Melissa admitted that she was 'blindsided' by the business move that Joe made without consulting her. Surprise purchase: Joe Gorga surprised Melissa by purchasing an Italian restaurant Name change: The bistro was bought by Joe to help his father Giacinto Gorga cope with the death of his wife and family matriarch Antonia in March Dolores also got her ex-husband Frank to agree to tone it down while parenting their 18-year-old son Frankie Jr. Frank and Dolores both urged their son to break-up with his girlfriend before going off to college. RHONJ returns next week on Bravo with an episode titled The Public Shaming of Melissa. Roxy Jacenko's two children six-year-old Pixie and three-year-old Hunter have almost become stars in their own right thanks to their ubiquitous social media presence. And on Thursday, the media maven's son was looking impossibly cute in an Instagram snap shared by his mother. Hunter was dressed in a pint-sized blue wetsuit and goggles as he was photographed about to go swimming at Sydney's Bondi Beach. 'It's a thumbs up from me!': In an image posted to his Instagram account on Thursday, Roxy Jacenko's three-year-old son Hunter Curtis (pictured) looked adorable in a blue wetsuit and goggles at Bondi Beach Looking adorable, Hunter seemingly couldn't wait to go for a dip, with the youngster brightly beaming as he had his photo taken. 'Road testing the @speedoaustralia kids wetsuit today on #bondibeach - it's a thumbs up from me!' the image was captioned. Roxy, 37, who shares the two kids with her businessman husband Oliver Curtis, regularly posts images of her offspring on her own Instagram account. Both Hunter and Pixie also have their own separate Instagram pages, which are run by the Sweaty Betty founder. Kidding around: Roxy looks after the social media accounts of her two children, six-year-old Pixie (left) and three-year-old Hunter (right) Selfie obsessed! The Sweaty Betty founder regularly shares images of her family online On Wednesday, the glamorous publicist proved her lavish lifestyle even extended to her school runs. In a selfie posted to social media, Roxy could be seen donning more than $20,000 worth of design wares as she took Pixie to school. The blonde stunner wore a $2500 Balmain blazer over a Dior dress, which retail from $5000, and teamed the ensemble with a pair of oversized Ray Ban aviators and a $12,000 orange Birkin bag from Hermes. Mother duties turn lavish: In a selfie posted to social media, Roxy could be seen donning more than $20,000 worth of design wares as she took Pixie to school Tying the knot...again! Oliver Curtis (left) and Roxy are planning to renew their vows during a second wedding, which Roxy said would be a lavish affair Since her husband Oliver's release from prison in June after being convicted of insider trading, Roxy has also been preparing for the couple's second wedding. Speaking to Fairfax Media on Sunday, Roxy admitted the occasion will be a lavish affair. 'It'll be over the top. We are not known for subtle. Less is never more,' she told the publication. She rose to fame on The Bachelorette and used to work as a newsreader for WIN News, in Tasmania. And on Thursday, Georgia Love weighed in on gender-neutral birth certificates during an appearance on the Today show. The 29-year-old spoke against the idea, arguing that babies are born a certain gender and that should be reflected on all birth certificates. Scroll down for video 'It's going way too far!' The Bachelorette's Georgia Love SLAMS gender-neutral birth certificates on the Today show 'I have absolutely no issue with people who become transgender or don't associate with a particular gender as they grow up and become the human adult that they are,' Georgia said. 'But I think on a birth certificate, this is going way too far. She added: 'You are born with genitalia of a female or a male, that's how you're born.' Debating: When Karl Stefanovic (pictured) considered whether there should be a different word, as some children don't 'feel' like the gender that's listed, Georgia rejected the idea When Today host Karl Stefanovic considered whether there should perhaps be another option for children who don't 'feel' like the gender that's listed, Georgia rejected the idea. She argued that babies don't 'feel' a certain gender, and claimed it's a different case if a baby is born a hermaphrodite. The conversation was in response to the US state of California becoming the first to allow a non-binary gender marker on birth certificates. Regular: Georgia often appears on the Today show, after rising to national fame on The Bachelorette last year. However, Georgia claimed on Facebook this year that she is 'embarrassed' to have been part of the franchise Georgia often appears on the Today show, after rising to national stardom on The Bachelorette last year. However, Georgia claimed on Facebook this year that she is 'embarrassed' to have been part of the franchise. When watching this year's series of The Bachelor with Matty J, she wrote on Facebook: 'Did I actually just watch a girl mocking a guy jacking off on national TV at 8pm?' She added: 'WHAT IS HAPPENING' and followed the comment with a series of embarrassed face emojis. She then said she was 'officially tapping out,' just half an hour into the episode. She found love: Georgia met plumber Lee Elliott on the show, with the pair recently enjoying a trip to Europe together A friend then asked Georgia to clarify she was discussing The Bachelor. She replied: 'Yes! I'm so embarrassed to be linked to this show'. Georgia met plumber Lee Elliott on the show, with the pair recently enjoying a trip to Europe together. The pair sparked engagement rumours, with fans hoping Lee would get down on one knee and propose to Georgia while overseas. While in Italy, the pair attended a friend's wedding together, doing little to discourage fans. Chloe Moretz stars in the new movie from Louis C.K. in which the writer and comedian plays a father trying to dissuade his teen daughter from falling for a lecherous Hollywood producer. The trailer for the comedy-drama dropped Wednesday ahead of the film's release next month. The black and white feature also stars John Malkovich as the older man with Helen Hunt and Rose Byrne among the supporting cast. Scroll down for video Timing: Chloe Moretz stars in I Love You, Daddy. A trailer for the film dropped Wednesday giving a teaser of the feature about a teen girl pursued by a Hollywood movie mogul Louis C.K. also stars in the film that he wrote and directed as the father of Moretz's character. The action starts when his daughter China decides to move in with him. The movie debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month and has garnered lukewarm reviews. His project: Louis C.K., who wrote and directed the film, plays Glen Topher, a bumbling TV writer whose teen daughter played by Moretz decides to move back in with him Casting couch: Rose Byrne also stars in the film as an actress named Grace Cullen, who later becomes involved with the TV writer who then casts her in his projects Giving a subtle nod to the absurdity of Hollywood, an actress named Grace Cullen, played by Rose Byrne, attends a meeting with Glen in his office, where she spies a framed photo of China. 'Is that your girlfriend?' she asks the aging filmmaker without a hint of cynicism. The precocious teenager then accompanies her dad to an industry house party, where they spot mega producer Leslie Goodwin, played by John Malkovich. Networking: The precocious teenager accompanies her dad to an industry house party where they spot mega producer Leslie Goodwin, played by John Malkovich Womanizer: Malkovich is intrigued by the young blonde 'I've wanted to meet him my whole life,' a starstruck Glen tells his daughter. 'He's probably the best filmmaker of the last 30 years or more.' But it's an open secret in Hollywood circles the acclaimed producer has a penchant for young women. Pulling out the stops: While Leslie helps advance Glen's career, he also takes advantage of his daughter 'Okay. Well, he also dates really young women and he's what, like 80 years old,' China tells her awestruck father. Later meeting China at the party, it quickly becomes clear Leslie is immediately enamored with the teen. And while Leslie helps advance Glen's career, he also takes advantage of his daughter. Open secret: One of Glen's colleagues, Ralph, played by Charlie Day, comments that the producer 'likes young girls' Taking advantage: The Allen-esque writer is horrified by his daughter's reaction. 'Yes, he does!' she responds flirtatiously When one of Glen's colleagues, Ralph, played by Charlie Day, comments that the producer 'likes young girls', the Allen-esque writer is horrified by his daughter's reaction. 'Yes, he does!' she responds flirtatiously. Things continue to escalate when Leslie whisks China away with him to Paris. Disturbed: 'She is a child! She knows nothing. She's like a Disney princess on estrogen,' an exasperated Glen tells Grace of his daughter Pulling out all the stops: Things continue to escalate when Leslie whisks China away with him to Paris 'She is a child! She knows nothing. She's like a Disney princess on estrogen,' an exasperated Glen tells Grace of his daughter. Eventually, Glen builds up the courage to confront his hero. 'China is a minor,' he tells Leslie matter-of-factly. 'A minor in what?' comes the movie mogul's confused reply. Stepping in: Eventually, Glen builds up the courage to confront his hero. 'China is a minor,' he tells Leslie matter-of-factly Unable to see the error in his ways... 'A minor in what?' comes the movie mogul's confused reply in the dramatic comedy She's the Hollywood actress whose new boyfriend who was recently revealed to be New Zealand rugby player Ben Volavola, 26. And Shailene Woodley, 25, was looking more loved-up than ever with her new man in Auckland on Saturday. The pair couldn't keep their hands off another, with Ben firmly resting his hands on his girlfriend's derriere while passionately giving her a smooch. Getting hands on! On Saturday, Big Little Lies star Shailene Woodley (pictured) and New Zealand rugby player Ben Volavola (pictured) were spotted putting on an extremely loved-up display in Auckland Pucker up! The couple appeared smitten as they passionately kissed in public Donning a backwards cap and a tight black T-shirt that flaunted his bulging biceps, the Australian-born Fijian sportstar appeared smitten with Shailene as he gazed into her eyes. Ben had the look of love as he got up close and personal with the Divergent star. He kept her close, encompassing her in a warm embrace with his muscular arms. Blonde beauty Shailene, who was dressed in a red sleeveless shirt, jeans and scarf, seemed just as enamoured with Ben. The Big Little Lies actress cuddled her handsome partner as he nuzzled his face into her chest and in several photos, Shailene could be seen peering deeply into Ben's eyes as they enjoyed quality time together. Hugging it out: Ben firmly rested his hands on his girlfriend's derriere and warmly embraced her with his muscular arms Too cute! The handsome Australian-born Fijian sportstar appeared smitten with Shailene as he gazed into her eyes Blossoming romance: The identity of Shailene's new boyfriend was revealed to be Ben earlier this week The identity of Shailene's new boyfriend was revealed earlier this week when Woman's Day printed pictures of the duo getting cosy on the sidelines of a recent sporting match. Shailene reportedly met Ben in Fiji, where she is currently based as she films the upcoming project Adrift. The couple continued their romance in September when Shailene travelled to Ben's Auckland base to film more scenes for Adrift. Affectionate: The Big Little Lies actress cuddled her handsome partner as he nuzzled his face into her chest The eyes have it! The smitten pair gazed into one another's eyes as they enjoyed quality time together Planting a kiss! The loved-up duo were seen affectionately sharing a smooch Cute! Ben had the look of love as he gazed at his famous girlfriend Ben is quite the world traveller, having been born in Sydney before relocating to Fiji as a child. Aged nine he returned to Australia and has since gone on to forge a career in rugby union, playing professionally in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. Shailene has been alluding to the relationship for weeks, posting coy photos to her Instagram account which have kept Ben's identity a secret. Most recently, she shared photos of the couple enjoying a picnic on a picturesque clifftop alongside the simple caption: 'trust'. Fate brought them together: Shailene reportedly met Ben in Fiji, where she is currently based as she films the upcoming project Adrift Next step: The couple reportedly continued their romance in September when Shailene travelled to Ben's Auckland base to film more scenes for Adrift World traveller: Ben has forged a successful career in Rugby Union, playing professionally in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand It's down to the final stages of The Bachelorette, with each of the remaining four contestants pulling out all the stops to impress Sophie Monk. For some of the suitors revealing their real estate could work in their favour, with a waterfront Sydney penthouse and lush country vineyard among Sophie's future living options. However for others it might be better to let details about living situations go unsaid, with 29-year-old Blake Colman still living with his parents in the suburbs of Perth. Meanwhile, Sophie boasts her own impressive real estate, residing in a $1.1million Gold Coast five bedroom mansion she purchased in 2016. Daily Mail Australia looks at the final fours' property portfolios ahead of this week's hometown visits. Got her own impressive real estate: Sophie boasts her own impressive real estate, residing in a $1.1million Gold Coast five bedroom mansion she purchased in 2016 Lap of luxury: Stu has called a multi-million dollar penthouse in Kirribilli home - the sixth most expensive suburb in Australia Stu Laundy Heir to a $500million Sydney pub empire, 44-year-old Stu Laundy boasts the most impressive real estate of the remaining four contestants. Growing up in the inner west Sydney suburb of Strathfield, Stu has upped his real estate game in line with his family's rising fortunes. Since splitting from his wife in 2013, Stu has called a multi-million dollar penthouse in Kirribilli home - the sixth most expensive suburb in Australia. Prime real estate: Stu lives at one of the most prestigious addresses in Australia Lavish: The flash pad includes an indoor pool among its amenities His penthouse boasts uninterrupted views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with a private gym and pool included. Stu told the Wentworth Courier earlier this year his flash pad had been home to many lavish soirees. However the publican has since put an end to his famous 'party balcony' being 'party central'. Working out: Stu has had the opportunity to shred for Sophie in his apartment block's private gym The party balcony's view: Stu told the Wentworth Courier earlier this year his flash pad had been home to many lavish soirees Handing out on his parent's porch: Blake still lives with his parents at their Perth home Blake Colman The 29-year-old 'investor/entrepreneur' still lives with his parents in a modest Perth home. Blake's living situation is likely to be less than appealing to 37-year-old Sophie, who makes no secret of wanting to start her own family soon. But it's possible Blake's living situation could change in the future, with an insider revealing last month he 'wants to move to Sydney but can't afford it'. No room for kids: Blake's living situation is likely to be less than appealing to 37-year-old Sophie, who makes no secret of wanting to start her own family soon Getting her hands dirty! Jarrod's family vineyard is likely to appeal to Sophie Jarrod Woodgate Declaring she is a 'country girl' on Wednesday's night's Bachelorette episode, Jarrod's family vineyard is likely to appeal to Sophie. The lush country property is located two and a half hours south east of Melbourne in Willung South, Central Gippsland. Toms Cap Vineyard boasts an array of amenities certain to please wine-loving Sophie, with cosy cottages, a restaurant, and lush landscape all included on the property. What a view! The lush country property is located two and a half hours south east of Melbourne in Willung South, Central Gippsland International life: Magician Apollo, 24, real name Jake Spence, lives in Las Vegas for work but returns to his home town of the Gold Coast when back in Australia Apollo Jackson Magician Apollo, 24, real name Jake Spence, lives in Las Vegas for work but returns to his home town of the Gold Coast when back in Australia. Sophie left the United States after living there for more than a decade, declaring she had found the showbusiness world over there shallow. She's unlikely to be lured by the lights of the Las Vegas strip into returning, however, if Apollo was willing to put his career on hold and return to the Gold Coast things could work. Didn't like the States: Sophie is unlikely to be lured by the lights of the Las Vegas strip into returning They welcomed the first Bachelor baby into the world just over one week ago. And Snezana Markoski and Sam Wood are basking in the joys of parenthood, with the couple sharing a slew of doting snaps on social media since her arrival. In the latest photo, newborn bub Willow Wendy Wood is pictured gazing up at the camera. Cuteness overload! Snezana Markoski and Sam Wood's newborn daughter Willow is pictured in a tender snap shared by the bub's doting sister Eve Proud big sister Eve shared the snap with fans and many noticed a slight resemblance between the pair. 'Cuteeee #cute #willow #babygirl #happybaby #bigsister #littlesister,' she captioned. Fans flooded the comments section with congratulatory messages, with many noting the resemblance between Willow and Eve, who is from Snezana's previous relationship. 'Willow looks just like you,' one wrote. Striking resemblance: Fans have noticed similarities between baby Willow and big sister Eve (pictured), who is from Snezana's previous relationship 'I'm sure your going to be an awesome big sister,' another message read. 'She is amazing so beautiful.' It comes after fitness trainer Sam shared a snap of his sister meeting the bub for the first time. 'Mum, I know you're up there smiling': It comes after fitness trainer Sam shared a snap of his sister meeting the bub for the first time 'This is my little sister Han meeting her niece Willow Wendy (named after our beautiful Mum) Wood for the first time,' Sam wrote, having named his little girl in tribute of his late mother. He added: 'Mum I know you're up there smiling.' In the snap, his sister holds Willow Wendy, who is wrapped in a grey and colourful blanket and wears a pink beanie. Happy: Sam shares his little girl with fiancee Snezana Markoski, (seen), who he met on The Bachelor 'You make our hearts explode': Sam shared a sweet shot of himself holding his little girl a few days ago One fan commented underneath: 'So beautiful and I'm loving the middle name and the meaning behind it.' Another wrote: 'I'm sure your mother would be looking down with such pride and such a wonderful honour naming your precious girl after her.'. Sam shares his little girl with fiancee Snezana, who he met on The Bachelor, and who has a daughter, Eve. The family welcomed Willow Wendy into the world earlier this month. Family: The couple are pictured with Snezana's daughter, Eve, from a previous relationship Paraphernalia, photo by Cindi (Flickr, Creative Commons) Over the course of the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature (EABL) project, contributing organizations have shipped material to Internet Archive scanning centers around the country. A few have scanned their own material, and a few more have used third-party commercial services. One EABL contributor did things a little differently. Betsy Kruthoffer, Librarian and Rare Books Cataloger at the Lloyd Library and Museum, selected a number of important titles from the librarys collection that were not in BHL. After weighing various scanning options, she got in touch with the digital lab at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH), which had done good work for a Lloyd patron the previous year (and, conveniently, is located right down the street). PLCH agreed to do the scanning, with the understanding that the digitized books would also be made available in a PLCH online collection. Once the scanning was complete, Betsy considered loading all of the images onto an external hard drive and mailing it to Mariah Lewis, the EABL Metadata Specialist, in order to contribute the scans to BHL. After learning about Macaw (BHLs metadata and upload software), however, she decided to take a stab at the uploading herselfwith great success. BHLs collection is richer thanks to her thorough work. History of the Lloyd Library and Museum The Lloyd Library began with three brothers: John Uri, Nelson Ashley, and Curtis Gates Lloyd. According to tradition, the first books in the library were Edward Parrishs A Treatise on Pharmacy (1864 edition) and George Fownes A Manual of Elementary Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical (1864 edition). These books accompanied John Uri Lloyd, the oldest of the three, when he went to Cincinnati to become a pharmacist in 1864. His brothers soon followed after. Eventually, the brothers joined together to form Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc. John Uris small library grew with the company; in 1901, it got its own building (it would move several times in following years), and in 1919, a trust was established to ensure that the library would continue and be open to the public. A new structure was erected in 1970 adjacent to the one that had housed the library for 75 years. This is where the library remains today. The Lloyd brothers. http://www.lloydlibrary.org/history/lloyd%20pharmacy.html. The Lloyd Library has one of the preeminent North American collections related to pharmacology and natural products, but it covers many related subjects as well: botany, pharmacognosy, herbal and alternative medicine, horticulture, eclectic medicine (an herbal medicine school), and sectarian medicine (predecessor to homeopathy), among others. Curtis Gates Lloyd, an avid mycologist, amassed a considerable herbarium, nicknamed the mushroom museum. After his death in 1926, the botanical specimens were given to the University of Cincinnati, and the mushrooms went to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A small collection of medicine bottles and pharmacy implements remains; these comprise the Lloyd Museum, which features permanent and rotating exhibits. For more detailed accounts of the Lloyd brothers, their company, and the history of the Lloyd Library and Museum, visit the Lloyds website. Rare Books from the Lloyd Library Of the titles digitized by PLCH, Betsy Kruthoffer considers one the most important: John Sibthorps Flora Graeca, published in 10 volumes from 1806 to 1840. This monumental work contains nearly a thousand color plates of the flora of Greece as surveyed in the late 18th century by Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer, who illustrated them. Sibthorp himself never lived to see the printed Florahe died in 1797 of an illness contracted on one of his tripsbut he provided for its publication in his will. Sibthorp, John. Flora Graeca. v. 1 (1806). Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54016367. Betsy has recorded the fascinating story of how the Lloyd Library came to possess a first edition of the Flora Graeca, one of only 25 printed. Another important title is Johann Kniphofs Botanica in originali, published in 12 volumes (1758-1764). The work uses a technique called nature printing, which involves creating plates or engravings from direct impressions of actual plant specimens and using those plates to print images. Kniphof, Johannes. Botanica in originali. v. 1 (1758). Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53840216. A third title, noteworthy for its illustrations (and its very long subtitle), is Timothy Sheldrakes Botanicum medicinale : an herbal of medicinal plants on the College of Physicians list : describing their places of growth, roots, bark, leaves, buds, time of flowering, blossoms, flowers, stiles, chives, embrios, fruits, farina, colours, seeds, kernels, seed-vessels, parts used in medicine, preparations in the shops, medicinal virtues, names in nine languages : most beautifully engraved on 118 large folio copper-plates from the exquisite drawings of the late ingenious T. Sheldrake ; To which is now added, his tables for finding the heat and cold in all climates that exotic plants may be raised in summer and preserved in winter (c. 1868). Less an academic tome and more a physicians quick-reference herbal, the Botanicum medicinale is organized into single-page summaries of each plant, with engraved text around a colored illustration. Sheldrake, Timothy. Botanicum medicinale. c. 1868. Contributed by the Lloyd Library and Museum. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53779797. The complete list of titles submitted by the Lloyd Library to BHL: Thank you to Betsy Kruthoffer, the Lloyd Library, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for working with EABL to make these historic works available to everyone. New creations from the forthcoming Erdem x H&M collection were well in evidence as Kate Bosworth joined forces with Kirsten Dunst on Wednesday evening. Both actresses led the glamour as the Turkish-Canadian brand, known for its vibrant floral prints and luxurious choice of fabrics, launched their latest collection with the hugely popular high-street chain in Los Angeles. Perfectly illustrating Erdems signature style, Kate, 34, caught the eye in a bold plunging dress embellished with a distinctive flowery print. Scroll down for video Looking good: New creations from the forthcoming Erdem x H&M collection were well in evidence as Kate Bosworth (L) joined forces with Kirsten Dunst (R) on Wednesday evening Strappy heels completed the look, while subtle make-up and conventionally styled hair ensured her striking outfit was not overshadowed. Meanwhile two-time Golden Globe winner Kirsten, 35, opted for comfort over style in a pair of gender-neutral brown floral pajamas. Kirsten - whose wardrobe is selected with the assistance of stylist Ashley Furnival - paired her PJs with a black purse, pumps, and her vintage engagement ring. Blooming lovely: Perfectly illustrating Erdems signature style, Kate, 34, caught the eye in a bold plunging dress embellished with a distinctive floral print Finishing touches: Strappy heels completed the look, while subtle make-up and conventionally styled hair ensured her striking outfit was not overshadowed Kirsten flashed her famous dimpled smile with minimal make-up and wore her ombre blonde locks in curls down. Aside from their upcoming nuptials, Kirsten and fiance Jesse Plemons are also in pre-production on her feature directorial debut, The Bell Jar. 'I read it a long time ago and it's such a beloved book that it's tricky to try and find the movie in that book,' the 29-year-old Texan told Page Six on October 9. 'I was so inspired by her when we worked together on Fargo. We have the same taste and sensibility. She's really smart and good at what she does...I would work with Kirsten anytime.' Blooming lovely: Meanwhile two-time Golden Globe winner Kirsten, 35, opted for comfort over style in a pair of gender-neutral brown floral pajamas Cozy: The two-time Golden Globe nominee - who relies on stylist Ashley Furnival - paired her PJs with a black purse, pumps, and her vintage engagement ring Interview with a Vampire alum: Kirsten flashed her famous dimpled smile with minimal make- up and wore her ombre blonde locks in curls down The Emmy nominee will portray Lenny Shepherd opposite Dakota Fanning's Esther Greenwood in Kiki's big-screen adaptation, which also features Oscar winner Patricia Arquette. Meanwhile, 45-year-old Selma Blair wore the Erdem x H&M black lace cocktail dress featuring a Victorian neckline and long sleeves. The Grammy nominee accessorized her LBD with strappy ballet flats and a maroon reptilian clutch. Selma actress finished off her evening look for the the runway show and party with a red lip and pearl bowed earrings. Hey girl! Kate excitedly caught up with Selma Blair at the event on Wednesday evening In stores November 2! Kirsten nd Selma Blair both donned looks from the forthcoming Erdem x H&M collection while celebrating the launch in Los Angeles Wednesday Earlier that same day, Blair (born Beitner) shared an affectionate b&w snap of her six-year-old son Arthur with ex-partner, fashion designer Jason Bleick. 'I don't take this for granted,' Selma - who boasts 551K followers - captioned her Instagram. 'Today, I will take stock. Really go into every moment feeling the most I can. Even the not so good feelings. It is this life. We have a few years given. And you are not alone. Love. Love.' This week, the American Crime Story stunner's company Sainted Productions purchased the rights to Sarah Beth Durst's 2013 novel The Lost - according to Variety. Fierce after 40! Meanwhile, 45-year-old Selma wore the Erdem x H&M black lace cocktail dress featuring a Victorian neckline and long sleeves Class act: The Grammy nominee accessorized her LBD with strappy ballet flats and a maroon reptilian clutch Cruel Intentions alum: The Mom and Dad actress finished off her evening look for the the runway show and party with a red lip and pearl bowed earrings Designer: The University of Michigan grad - who's romancing Daytime Emmy-nominated producer Ron Carlson - posed with the man of the hour, Erdem Moraloglu (R) Missing from the University of Michigan grad's side was her silver fox beau, Daytime Emmy-nominated producer Ron Carlson. Inside the Ebell Club, Selma excitedly caught up with The Art of More's Kate Bosworth. The 34-year-old actress looked elegant as ever in the same strappy flats Selma wore along with Erdem x H&M's plunging floral frock. Kate (born Catherine) later took a front row seat beside Dunst and Megan Leavey's Kate Mara to get a better look at the catwalk. 'We have the same taste and sensibility': Aside from their upcoming nuptials, Kirsten and fiance Jesse Plemons are also in pre-production on her feature directorial debut, The Bell Jar (pictured May 24) 'She's really smart and good at what she does': The 29-year-old Texan will portray Lenny Shepherd opposite Dakota Fanning's (R) Esther Greenwood in Kiki's big-screen adaptation 'I don't take this for granted': Earlier that same day, Blair (born Beitner) shared an affectionate b&w snap of her six-year-old son Arthur (R) with ex-partner, fashion designer Jason Bleick 'Love this book!' This week, the American Crime Story stunner's company Sainted Productions purchased the rights to Sarah Beth Durst's 2013 novel The Lost - according to Variety The 34-year-old Emmy nominee accessorized her strappy sandals and floral ruffle mini-dress with a Tyler Ellis chain purse. Spider-Man: Homecoming's Zendaya looked chic as ever in a black floral skirt with a fuzzy blue-knit sweater and white pumps (after Labor Day). The 21-year-old hair chameleon rocked the same earrings as Kirsten and opted for a sixties retro bouffant coiffed by Jennifer Yepez. And it wasn't just ladies as Only the Brave heartthrob Taylor Kitsch sported grey trousers alongside Albino model Shaun Ross rocking a floral pantsuit. Three's company: Kate and Kirsten posed for a photo with fellow actress Kate Mara at the event Leggy: Kate accessorized her strappy sandals and floral ruffle mini-dress with a Tyler Ellis chain purse Baby Driver's Eiza Gonzalez flaunted her cleavage and tiny waist in a slinky off-white silk gown and matching clutch. The Get Down director Baz Luhrmann suited up and escorted his longtime wife and costume designer Catherine Martin to the fashionable function. Neo Yokio's Alexa Chung dressed her worryingly waifish, 5ft8in frame in a black floral dress and stilettos. Nice phew! (L-R) Kate Bosworth, Kirsten Dunst and Kate Mara occupied front row seats at tye event on Wednesday evening Fashionista: Spider-Man: Homecoming's Zendaya looked chic as ever in a black floral skirt with a fuzzy blue-knit sweater and white pumps (after Labor Day) Hairpiece: The 21-year-old hair chameleon rocked the same earrings as Kirsten and opted for a sixties retro bouffant coiffed by Jennifer Yepez Gentlemen: And it wasn't just ladies as Only the Brave heartthrob Taylor Kitsch (L) sported grey trousers alongside Albino model Shaun Ross (R) rocking a floral pantsuit Lovely: Baby Driver's Eiza Gonzalez flaunted her cleavage and tiny waist in a slinky off-white silk gown and matching clutch The British 33-year-old was joined by her gal pal, Nice as F*** drummer Tennessee Thomas wearing a pink-striped double-breasted pantsuit. Angie Tribeca's Rashida Jones wore a short-sleeved floral frock and a pretty partial updo as she watched the runway presentation from the front row. Marshall's Ahna O'Reilly donned a lacy Victorian top while Twilight alum Mackenzie Foy coordinated her sleeveless dress with her boots. 20 years strong! The Get Down director Baz Luhrmann suited up and escorted his longtime wife and costume designer Catherine Martin to the fashionable function Skinny Minnie: Neo Yokio's Alexa Chung dressed her worryingly waifish, 5ft8in frame in a black floral dress and stilettos BFFs: The British 33-year-old was joined by her gal pal, Nice as F*** drummer Tennessee Thomas wearing a pink-striped double-breasted pantsuit Sitting pretty: Angie Tribeca's Rashida Jones wore a short-sleeved floral frock and a pretty partial updo as she watched the runway presentation from the front row The Mistletoe Promise's Jaime King opted for a belted floral coat over matching trousers and those strappy ballet flats for the soiree. IMG Model Barbara Palvin bared her back and toned legs in a floral mini-dress and silver stilettos. Also dazzling the bash were Love Advent director Liz Goldwyn, Vogue contributor Erica Pelosini Leeman, and German actress Meryem Uzerli. Girl squad: (L-R) Kate Bosworth, Rashida Jones, Kirsten Dunst and Selma Blair posed for a glamorous snap at the event All grown up! Marshall's Ahna O'Reilly (L) donned a lacy Victorian top while Twilight alum Mackenzie Foy (R) coordinated her sleeveless dress with her boots Big smile: The Mistletoe Promise's Jaime King opted for a belted floral coat over matching trousers and those strappy ballet flats for the soiree SI Swimsuit stunner: IMG Model Barbara Palvin bared her back and toned legs in a floral mini-dress and silver stilettos Ladies night: Also dazzling the bash were (from L-R) Love Advent director Liz Goldwyn, Vogue contributor Erica Pelosini Leeman, and German actress Meryem Uzerli Jennifer Garner attended a charity gala in New York on Wednesday night in a strapless black dress. And despite being one of Hollywood's top actresses, she seemed a little starstruck when she found herself sharing the spotlight with former Vice President Joe Biden. The 45-year-old beamed as she joined the 74-year-old politician and his wife Dr. Jill Biden at the 5th Annual Save The Children Illumination gala at The American Museum of Natural History. VIPs: Jennifer Garner seemed a little starstruck when she found herself sharing the spotlight with former Vice President Joe Biden at a charity gala in NYC Garner looked stunning in her choice of gown that featured a shimmery bodice and then black tassels that fell to her ankles over the shimmery black skirt. The ex-wife of Ben Affleck wore her long brown hair loose with a center parting and sleekly styled and added black sandal heels. Biden was dapper in a dark two-piece suit with shirt and gray tie while his wife was lovely in a dark green satin dress. Things to say: She chatted away to Biden as she spent time with him and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden who looked lovely in a dark green gown Good cause: Garner posed for photos with the Bidens and Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin at the Save The Children Illumination gala at The American Museum of Natural History Natural beauty: The ex-wife of Ben Affleck wore her long brown hair loose with a center parting and sleekly styled and was made up with smoky eye shadow and dark pink lip color Red carpet ready: Garner looked stunning in her choice of gown that featured a shimmery bodice and then black tassels that fell to her ankles over the shimmery black skirt Earlier, Garner was seen leaving her hotel wearing a black cape over her dress. She wore a glam make-up look with a nude pout, while keeping her silky brown locks poker straight. The mother-of-three kept her accessories to a minimum with only a silver bracelet and a ring. Edgy: Garner was spotted earlier in the evening leaving her hotel in the Big Apple wearing a vlack cape over her dress Leggy: Jen stepped out in black sandal heels that revealed her matching black pedicure Despite Jennifer's cheery front, the actress has recently been caught in the middle of sexual harassment claims regarding her ex-husband Ben Affleck. A source told E! News on last week that the 45-year-old actress 'is very annoyed because it just means more attention on her and the kids as a result of Ben's actions'. 'She tries to shield them from any and all publicity and scrutiny. She's taking her kids to school and to all of their activities. As far as they know nothing has changed and all is well. That is always her goal but she's been pretty frustrated with him.' Burton, a former TRL host and One Tree Hill star, shared the allegations, just hours after Affleck made a statement condemning Harvey Weinstein's alleged abusive actions in his sexual assault and harassment scandal. Upbeat: She seemed in great spirits as she headed to the charity event Chic: The mother-of-three kept her accessories to a minimum with only a silver bracelet and a ring In it Affleck said he was 'saddened and angry' over the 'sickening' claims. Affleck's statement was quickly slammed by a number of people - including Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan who called Affleck a liar. Although the actress is annoyed at her ex-beau, she continues to put on a united front for her kids. Last week the former husband and wife were seen taking their kids to get ice cream together. Casual cool: Jennifer was later seen leaving the bash in trainers instead of her towering heels Comfortable: Jennifer, known for her casual sense of style, appeared comfortable in her sporty flyknit shoes as she returned to her hotel Feeling good: She had clearly enjoyed her night at the event, as she returned home with a beaming smile The 13 Going On 30 star and Ben split in 2015 after 10 years of marriage. They officially filed for divorce this year. Jennifer and the Batman actor co-parent Violet, 11, Seraphina, eight, and Samuel, five. Earlier in the day, Jennifer was seen grabbing a cup of coffee in New York City's SoHo. Jen slipped into a pair of jeans and a black rocker-chic graphic pull-over sweater. The mother-of-three teamed her ensemble with black leather loafers, as she was seen smiling and chatting with onlookers. Rock on: Earlier in the day, Jennifer was seen grabbing a cup of coffee in New York City's SoHo Karl Stefanovic has been making headlines amid the controversial departure of his ex-colleague Lisa Wilkinson. And on Thursday, his much younger girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough, 33, stood by her man as the couple stepped out to charity Youngcare's Long Lunch, hosted by the National Ambassador Sylvia Jeffreys. Beaming alongside her beau on the red carpet, the shoe designer wore a pretty polka dot shirt with pussy bow tie which she teamed with a pair of elegant black pants. Standing by her man! Jasmine Yarbrough joins her beau Karl Stefanovic at charity lunch on Thursday as the Today star continues to weather the storm of Lisa Wilkinson's controvesial departure The former model accessorised with a black clutch from her design range Mara & Mine along with a few bracelets. She wore her hair in a centre parting and kept her makeup natural with a soft smokey eye and pink lip. She stood close by her 43-year-old boyfriend who opted for a simple navy suit and matching tie. Good spirits: The couple appeared in good spirits despite the controversies swirling around Karl's rumoured lack of support over his former colleague's pay disparity. The couple appeared in good spirits despite the controversies swirling around Karl's rumoured lack of support over his former colleague's pay disparity. Meanwhile, Richard Wilkins stepped out with his new partner Virginia Burmeister at the event. The 63-year-old looked in fine form, dressed in a dark blue suit teamed with a chocolate brown tie. His 50-year-old lover opted for a white jumpsuit with plunging neckline and flared ankle to highlight her ample cleavage and slender pins. New love! Richard Wilkins stepped out with his new partner Virginia Burmeister to the lavish event Slick: The 63-year-old looked in fine form in a dark blue suit teamed with a chocolate brown tie She wore her blonde locks out and kept her makeup bold with a smokey eye and dark red lip. The charity's Ambassador Sylvia Jeffreys attended with her husband Peter Stefanovic. The Today host wore a form fitting red frock with a plunging neckline and split at the thigh to show a hint of leg. She wore her flaxen hair in soft waves and kept her makeup understated with a brown smokey eye and pink lip. Ambassador: The charity's Ambassador Sylvia Jeffreys attended with her husband Peter Stefanovic Flawless:She wore her flaxen hair in soft waves and kept her makeup flawless with a brown smokey eye and pink lip Lady in red! The Today host wore a form fitting red frock with a plunging neckline and split at the thigh to show a hint of leg Sylvia also took to the media wall to pose alongside Today weather reporter Natalia Cooper, who also wore a red lacy sheer frock with long sleeves. Natalia teamed her look with a pink clutch and gold sandals. She wore her dark blonde hair in soft beachy waves and opted for a bronzed eye and matching lip. Girls in red: Sylvia also took to the media wall to pose alongside Today weather reporter Natalia Cooper, who also wore a red lacy sheer frock with long sleeves. Sylvia also posed alongside NSW Premiere Hon. Gladys Berejiklian who wore a bold blue jacket and black skirt with matching ballet pumps. Fellow Today presenter Tim Gilbert also joined her for the photo opportunity sporting a dark navy suit teamed with a pink and white striped tie. VIP guests in attendance: Sylvia also posed alongside NSW Premiere Hon. Gladys Berjikan who wore a bold blue jacket and black skirt with matching ballet pumps Photo opportunity: Tim Gilbert also joined her for the photo opportunity sporting a dark navy suit teamed with a pink and white striped tie Today Extra host Sonia Kruger opted for a pretty pink fuschia number with a plunging neckline. The age defying star wore her blonde locks out and kept her makeup flawless with a bold smokey eye and soft pink lip. The 52-year-old added a pop of colour with a burgundy polish on the fingernails and toes. Pretty in pink: Today Extra host Sonia Kruger opted for a pretty pink fuschia number with a plunging neckline Age defying: The age defying star wore her blonde locks out and kept her makeup flawless with a bold smokey eye and soft pink lip Journalist Deborah Knight opted for a monochrome polka dot dress teamed with a slimline belt. Fashion designer Rebecca Vallance opted for a white dress with gold button detailing and off the shoulder detailing. Going dotty! Journalist Deborah Knight opted for a monochrome polka dot dress teamed with a slimline belt White hot! Rebecca Valance opted for a white dress with gold button detailing and off the shoulder detailing The Today team later got together for a group photo but former colleague Lisa Wilkinson was clearly missing from the picture. On Monday night Lisa announced via Twitter that after ten years of tenure she would be leaving the Today show and heading to host The Project, effective immediately. Youngcare charity helps young Australians with high special needs care. They're treading the well-worn path of leaving their Australian behind to try their luck in Hollywood. And on Wednesday night, a number of homegrown actors attended the 6th Annual Australians in Film Award & Benefit Dinner in Los Angeles. The event, held at NeueHouse Hollywood, attracted the likes of stars such as Abbie Cornish, Ashleigh Brewer and Katherine Langford. Pretty in pink! Australian actors such as Abbie Cornish (pictured) led the charge on the red carpetas they attended the 6th Annual Australians in Film Award & Benefit Dinner in Los Angeles on Wednesday night Leading the charge on the red carpet was Abbie, 35, who brought a pop of colour with her flirty attire. She stunned in a frock that featured a multi-coloured striped top and silk pink skirt that was broken up by a metallic gold belt. The Bold and the Beautiful star Ashleigh Brewer, 26, went for a slightly darker ensemble, covering her slender frame with a black robe-like jumpsuit with floral detailing. Katherine Langford, who shot to fame as the main character in Netflix hit 13 Reasons Why, was also a beauty in black for the event. The 21-year-old actress cut a racy figure wearing a sheer strapless dress with a mesh bodice and kept her modesty in tact by casually slinging a blazer over her shoulders. Shining bright: Abbie brought a pop of colour in a frock that featured a multi-coloured striped top and silk pink skirt that was broken up by a metallic gold belt Beauty in black: The Bold and the Beautiful star Ashleigh Brewer (pictured) went for a slightly darker ensemble, opting for a black jumpsuit with floral detailing Sheer delight! Katherine Langford (pictured) cut a racy figure wearing a sheer strapless dress with a mesh bodice Wolf Creek star Lucy Fry, 25, looked ravishing in red in a bright crimson number that featured frills and a high neckline. Meanwhile, former Packed to the Rafters star Jessica McNamee, 31, took the plunge in a satin emerald green dress that showed off a hint of cleavage with its extremely low-cut neckline. Daring to bare, director/actress Alethea Jones flaunted some skin in a strapless floor-length gown. Also dressed for the occasion was Ashleigh Cummings, 24, who opted for patterned red pants teamed with a flirty and frilly top in a similar hue. Lady in red: Wolf Creek star Lucy Fry (pictured) looked ravishing in a bright crimson number that featured frills and a high neckline Taking the plunge: Jessica McNamee (pictured) went for a satin emerald green dress that showed off a hint of cleavage Stunners: Alethea Jones (left) flaunted some skin in a strapless floor-length gown while Ashleigh Cummings (right) opted for patterned pants and a red top Gorgeous! Turning heads was Britney Ever After star Natasha Bassett (pictured) who dazzled in a rose gold gown Turning heads was Britney Ever After star Natasha Bassett, 23, who dazzled in a rose gold gown. Elsewhere, former Lost star Emilie de Ravin, 35, provided a cheeky glimpse of her enviable figure in a cut-out black dress with a hemline that dropped to the floor. Also not afraid to flash some skin were Agents of SHIELD's Mallory Jansen, 28, and Big Brother's Jade Albany who both opted for a maroon hue. Mallory flaunted her trim pins with a provocative thigh split while Jade went for a racy cut-out option. Not to be upstaged by the women, Anchorman 2 actor Josh Lawson, 36, was also in attendance and looked dapper in a well-fitted suit and bowtie. Flirty! Emilie de Ravin (pictured) provided a cheeky glimpse of her enviable figure in a cut-out black dress Daring to bare: Mallory Jansen (left) flashed some skin with a thigh split while Jade Albany (right) went for a racy cut-out option Lisa Wilkinson sensationally quit her role as co-host on the Today Show this week, leading many to wonder who will be her replacement. And on Thursday, Georgia Love said how thrilled she was to be appearing as a guest on the show, saying she 'wakes up with Today.' The newsreader and former Bachelorette star took to Instagram to share a selfie from her live cross, flashing the peace sign and smiling. Scroll down for video Gunning for Lisa's job? The Bachelorette's Georgia Love 'wakes up with Today' as she appears as a guest on the show...after Wilkinson sensationally quit In the snap, Georgia has her short brunette locks out and over her shoulders and her makeup perfectly applied. She sits in a blush and white striped top, captioning the image: 'I wake up with the Today show.' That day, Georgia appeared on the program to discuss with host Karl Stefanovic and fellow guest Merrick Watts, gender-neutral birth certificates. Having her say: That day, Georgia appeared on the program to discuss with host Karl Stefanovic and fellow guest Merrick Watts, gender-neutral birth certificates Former WIN News newsreader Georgia is a regular on Today, after rising to fame on The Bachelorette, last year. However, Georgia claimed on Facebook this year that she is 'embarrassed' to have been part of the franchise. Lisa quit the Today show on Monday, and within an hour shared that she had taken up a new gig at The Project. Moving on: Lisa quit the Today show on Monday, and within an hour shared that she had taken up a new gig at The Project Success: The new role is a coup for the embattled Network Ten and will allegedly see Lisa pocketing in excess of $2 million Lisa left her role at the Nine Network after salary negotiations between her and Nine broke down, when she reportedly demanded pay parity. The new role is a coup for the embattled Network Ten and will allegedly see Lisa pocketing in excess of $2 million. If the reports are true, it would make her the highest paid woman in television. Courtney Love was a scene-stealer on the black carpet at The Sayer's Club in Los Angeles when she swung by there Wednesday night. The 53-year-old Hole frontwoman wore a gleaming midnight blue cocktail dress for the Justin Tranter And GLAAD Present 'Believer' Spirit Day Concert. Last week, as allegations of Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct continued to flood in, video reemerged of Courtney on a 2005 red carpet advising women new to show business to beware of the mogul. Scroll down for video On the town: Courtney Love was a scene-stealer on the black carpet at The Sayer's Club in Los Angeles when she swung by there Wednesday night TMZ have posted the video, in which Natasha Leggero interviews Courtney for Comedy Central and requests 'advice for a young girl moving to Hollywood?' Courtney replies: 'Um...I'll get libeled if I say it....If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in The Four Seasons, don't go.' Tweeting a link to TMZ's post, Courtney wrote: 'Although I wasn't one of his victims, I was eternally banned by CAA for speaking out against #HarveyWeinstein #rape'. The occasion: The 53-year-old Hole frontwoman wore a gleaming midnight blue cocktail dress for the Justin Tranter And GLAAD Present 'Believer' Spirit Day Concert Smiles all round: She got in a bit of posing at the bash alongside Justin Tranter himself, the pair of them holding a pink sign with '#SPIRITDAY' on it in massive white text At Wednesday night's event, Courtney's ensemble featured an asymmetric hem and shoulder straps adorned with frills, and sported black fingernails. Several bracelets and a chic necklace added a splash of glitz to the outfit, which included a black pair of high-heeled shoes. She got in a bit of posing at the bash alongside Justin Tranter himself, the pair of them holding a pink sign with '#SPIRITDAY' on it in massive white text. Duo: Justin stood for cameras with an arm about Glee star Chris Colfer, whose light denim jacket clashed stylishly against his much darker jeans Justin had garnished his charcoal suit with a pink corsage, having buttoned on a smock-like pewter grey top and slid into faded black footwear. He stood for cameras with an arm about Glee star Chris Colfer, whose light denim jacket clashed stylishly against his much darker jeans. Chris, 27, had neatly folded up the cuffs of his jacket, which he had flung on over a print top designed in black and teal. Warm: Whilst on the carpet, Justin also posed while wrapping Sofia Carson in an embrace Hand in the pocket: Sofia had bundled herself up in a black fur wrap - whether it was real or faux was unclear - that went well with her fossil grey trousers and black stilettos Whilst on the carpet, Justin also posed while wrapping Sofia Carson in an embrace. Sofia had bundled herself up in a black fur wrap - whether it was real or faux was unclear - that went well with her fossil grey trousers and black stilettos. Adam Lambert had swung by the fete in a black leather jacket and a cozy-looking sweater that was streaked with black and grey horizontal stripes. Popping by in purple: Adam Lambert had swung by the fete in a black leather jacket and a cozy-looking sweater that was streaked with black and grey horizontal stripes Gal in green: Carly Rae Jepson wore an asymmetric frilly green cocktail dress with a low v-neckline, accenting the look with black ankle strap stilettos The top half of his outfit clashed dramatically against the bright purple trousers he'd got in, which in turn contrasted against his pristine black dress shoes. Carly Rae Jepson wore an asymmetric frilly green cocktail dress with a low v-neckline, accenting the look with black ankle strap stilettos. Her blonde hair cropped above the shoulders, she also posed with a '#SPIRITDAY' sign identical to the one Courtney and Justin had been seen grasping. Darren Criss wore an artfully faded-to-white denim jacket over a Sex Pistols T-shirt and a pair of black trousers, posing with his hands behind his back. He's a fan: Darren Criss wore an artfully faded-to-white denim jacket over a Sex Pistols T-shirt and a pair of black trousers, posing with his hands behind his back Matched up: Laura Marano wore an intricately patterned orange and pink mini-dress that was perfectly coordinated with her pink ankle-strap stilettos Laura Marano wore an intricately patterned orange and pink mini-dress that was perfectly coordinated with her pink ankle-strap stilettos. Gigi Gorgeous was in a tiny robe-like jumpsuit with hems cut off at her upper thigh, allowing her to show off her knockout legs at the swank affair. The Oxford blue number played up her cleavage, and she'd pulled on an open-toed pair of powder blue boots, slinging on a dull gold-colored purse. She beamed for the camera beside unsmiling fashion designer August Getty, who'd got on a black hat, black T-shirt, black trousers and a dark green jacket. Posing up a storm: Gigi Gorgeous was in a tiny robe-like jumpsuit with hems cut off at her upper thigh, allowing her to show off her knockout legs at the swank affair She is currently enjoying a girls road trip with friends to the Gold Coast. And on Thursday, Laura Byrne has poked fun at herself joking that she would audition for talent show, The Voice. The 31-year-old, who was without boyfriend Matty J, took to Instagram to post a snap of herself with an acqua coloured ukulele. Scroll down for video 'Next stop... The Voice!' The Bachelor's Laura Byrne has poked fun at herself joking that she would audition for talent show, The Voice She caption the post: 'Next stop... The Voice. Jokes Im tone deaf. #konaroadtrip,' as well as tagged the sponsors Halcyon House and Hyundai. Fans of the brunette beauty loved her little joke, including one who wrote: 'Anyone can sing. And playing ukulele is easy! If I can do it you can.' While another commented: 'I'd still vote yes!' From The Bachelor to The Voice? The 31-year-old, who was without boyfriend Matty J on her girls road trip, took to Instagram to post a snap of herself with an acqua coloured ukulele 'Jokes Im tone deaf!' Fans of the brunette beauty loved her little joke, including one who wrote: 'Anyone can sing. And playing ukulele is easy! If I can do it you can' Meanwhile other followers complimented her on her beautiful floral, wrap dress by Auguste The Label with a thigh high split. A fan complimented her ensemble, saying: 'Love your dress n aqua guitar.' While another added: 'You are so gorgeous!!!!' Fashionista: Meanwhile other followers complimented her on her beautiful floral, wrap dress by Auguste The Label with a thigh high split This comes after Laura recently revealed that she opened up about real life after the reality show. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she said: 'I was worried if things would be too public or too crazy. But it has been wonderful.' 'He doesn't fight and I hate fighting too. Surprisingly, it is so normal, which has been great, because for a while there I questioned what things would be like,' she added. She's the popular television presenter who rocked the nation when she quit her Today show hosting role on Monday. And news of Lisa Wilkinson's departure from the popular Channel Nine breakfast television show has made global news with actor William H Macy weighing in on the 'pay parity' debate saying that equal pay was 'the right thing to do'. The New York Times reported the story this week under the headline: Australian TV Host's Departure Raises Questions on Gender Pay Gap'. Scroll down for video Trending: News of Lisa Wilkinson's departure from the popular Channel Nine breakfast television show has made global news with actor William H Macy weighing in on the 'pay parity' debate saying that equal pay was 'the right thing to do' The publication stated that Lisa's departure had 'set off speculation'that she had quit over an equal pay dispute. Speaking to News Corp, Emmy Award winning actor William H Macy weighed in on Lisa's departure, having read the New York Times article. The Shameless actor, who went to bat for co-star Emmy Rossum's bid for equal pay, praised Lisa for her stance. Support: Discussing an article about Lisa published in the New York Times William told News Corp: 'It's the right thing to do [to support pay equity] ''It's the right thing to do [support pay equity],'he told the publication. 'It's complicated but I've got my eyes open about this thing. When you go to a producer to get a raise, it's his or her job to get you to sign for as little money as possible. 'That's what they are there to do. The whole notion, especially in showbiz, is about figuring out what you are worth.' Lisa, who commenced a co-hosting role on the Today show in 2007, announced her shock resignation via Twitter on Monday night. Tough: 'It's complicated but I've got my eyes open about this thing. When you go to a producer to get a raise, it's his or her job to get you to sign for as little money as possible,' William added An hour after her initial Tweet, the mother-of-three released an official statement from Ten, that revealed she's set to commence a senior editing and hosting role on The Project, as of January 2018. The news followed an explosive report that claimed Lisa's contract negotiations with Nine had been 'stalled.' The Sunday Telegraph alleged that Lisa was holding out on re-signing until she was granted 'pay parity' with co-host Karl Stefanovic, 43. Revelation: Lisa, who commenced a co-hosting role on the Today show in 2007, announced her shock resignation via Twitter on Monday night It was suggested the reason she wanted the same money as Karl, was because he was 'rumoured to be on twice as much.' The Australian reported that Karl earns at least $2 million a year, in a three-year contract with a potential bonus that could take his salary to $3 million if ratings are hit. Lisa was also was said by The Daily Telegraph to have been on a $1.1 million a year contract, with Nine only willing to increase the amount to $1.8 million. She's one of the top actresses on the small screen, once earning $275,000 per episode for hit vampire drama Tue Blood. But Anna Paquin isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, as she was spotted washing her own clothes at a Santa Monica launderette on Wednesday. The 35-year-old star was seen folding her delicates on a day running errands in a cute and casual all-black ensemble. Scroll down for video Fresh: True Blood's Anna Paquin, 35, was seen folding her washing at a Santa Monica launderette on Wednesday - despite being one of the small screen's big stars The mother-of-two sported a fitted black T-shirt, teamed with a floaty floral miniskirt, embracing the Californian sunshine. Anna kept her brunette locks tied back in a relaxed updo, and seemed to be sporting very little makeup with the look. After finishing her washing and loading it into her car, Anna was spotted heading out later on to run more errands. Squeaky clean: Anna kept it cute and casual in a simple black fitted t-shirt and floral miniskirt, with her brunette locks tied into a relaxed updo Working Mum: Anna was seen taking her clean load home, before heading out on other errands Playing Sookie on the vampire drama, which ended in 2014, Anna was earning $275,000 at its peak, according to TV Guide. Her hefty paycheck was on par with her co-star and husband Stephen Moyer, who she married in 2010. The couple have two children, fraternal twins Charlie and Poppy, born in 2012. Big payday: Anna was one of the highest paid actresses on TV during True Blood's heyday, earning $275,000 per episode Small screen starlet: Anna, who played Sookie in the racy vampire drama, appeared on the show throughout its run from 2008 to 2014. Anna's next big picture will be with directing legend Martin Scorsese, in a Netflix gangster drama set for release in 2019. Anna will play Peggy Sheeran the daughter of labour union official Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran, who had reported links to the Bufalino crime family. The film will reunite crime drama mainstays Robert de Niro and Al Pacino, after last appearing together in Righteous Kill in 2008. It's the Channel Nine cooking show that is set to pit Australian families against one another in a quest for culinary glory. And ahead of Australian Food Fight's premiere on Monday October 30th, competitor Houda Shahrouk has revealed that she and her three sisters will only be cooking halal food adding that she show was a great opportunity to showcase Muslims in a positive light. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Houda, 43, said she and sisters Rouba, Halla and Leann would be staying true to their culinary roots on the show. Scroll down for video Multicultural: Ahead of Australian Food Fight's premiere on Monday, competitor Houda Shahrouk (second left) has revealed that she and her three sisters will only be cooking halal food adding that she show was a great opportunity to showcase Muslims in a positive light 'We only cook and eat halal, so yes,' Houda said when asked if the Shahrouk's would be preparing halal dishes. With the Muslim community often receiving negative coverage in the media, Houda said that she was looking forward to dispelling some myths about the religion. Sister act: Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Houda, 43, said she and sisters Rouba, Halla and Leann would be staying true to their culinary roots on the show 'We're thrilled to be able to just be ourselves and show Australia who we are, to show how much more there is than just our physical appearance,' she said. Houda added: 'We cook, we cry, we laugh, we have goals and dreams and visions. We're our true selves in the kitchen and we can't wait to show that there's so much more beyond just what you see on the outside.' Houda said that while the familial foursome may not have any professional kitchen experience, preparing meals for their large family should stand them in good stead. Behind the myths: 'We're thrilled to be able to just be ourselves and show Australia who we are, to show how much more there is than just our physical appearance,' she said 'We're used to cooking under pressure,' Houda said. 'From our weekly family gatherings of over 50 people, we now what's popular amongst both the old and the young. 'When we cook, we're always in the zone. You forget all your problems and worries in the kitchen and you're just focused on getting great food out.' Kitchen whizzes: Houda added that while the familial foursome may not have any professional kitchen experience, preparing meals for their large family should stand them in good stead Houda added that the sisters were charged with preparing a feast for over 1000 people after their grandfather died. 'Sadly our grandfather passed away three days before we entered the Family Food Fight kitchen and we helped cater for the traditional feast on the third day of his death,'she said. 'He was a very well known and respected member of the community, having first settled in Australia from Lebanon in the early 60s, so there were many, many mourners around 1300 1400 people who attended across the day. She added: Of course there were more than just the four of us sisters catering, but it gives you an idea of scale. We left for the competition on the same day feeling so much support.' Family Food Fight premieres Monday, October 30 at 7.30pm on Nine. She found fame in 2013 after appearing on the now-defunct reality show Big Brother Australia. And Jade Albany looked worlds away from her former beach-bunny self as she stepped onto the red carpet at the Australians in Film awards in Hollywood on Wednesday night. Sporting a much darker hair-colour, formerly bleach-blonde Jade looked almost unrecognisable in her sophisticated maroon gown with midriff cut-outs. Scroll down for video From Big Brother to Hollywood! Jade Albany looked worlds away from her former beach-bunny self as she stepped onto the red carpet at the Australians in Film awards in Hollywood on Wednesday night Pulling her hair back into a sleek pony-tail the statuesque fitness model sported a sun-kissed complexion and an understated makeup look. She also painted her nails with chic French tips while opting not to wear any jewelry. Since moving to Los Angeles in search of Hollywood stardom earlier this year, Jade has nabbed a role in Amazon Original series, the American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story. Sizzling siren! Sporting a much darker hair-colour, formerly bleach-blonde Jade looked almost unrecognisable in her sophisticated maroon gown with midriff cut-outs Also starring in the series is Matt Whelan, Shara Connolly and Alexandra Johnston. Jade has previously made no secret of the struggles she has weathered in Hollywood since making the move from from Australia. Taking to social media days after making the move to Los Angeles, Jade wrote: 'Its been a very up and down first few days and very overwhelming (sic).' Bikini babe: Jade looks worlds away from her blonde beach-bunny self My how you've changed! Jade found fame in 2013 after appearing on the now-defunct reality show Big Brother Australia Jade was a contestant on series three of Italia's Next Top Model, but left the show early after deciding she didn't want to be a model. She then found fame in Australia after placing second after Tim Dormer on Big Brother Australia. Aside from working as an actress, Jade dabbles in personal training and promoting products on Instagram. Bleary-eyed Shane Richie looked in good spirits after attending the Q Awards at London's Roundhouse on Wednesday night. The EastEnders star, 53 - who is married to actress Christie Goddard - was seen looking a tad worse-for-wear as he chatted with his publicist. Shane - who is preparing to release a new album - shared a friendly embrace with his pal after a night of fun-filled festivities at the star-studded music awards bash. Scroll down for video Chirpy: Bleary-eyed Shane Richie looked in good spirits after attending the Q Awards at London 's Roundhouse on Wednesday night Shane's publicist cut a stylish figure in a tailored black coat that showed off her lean legs, whilst she boosted her frame in peep toe heels. Sartorially in sync, Shane also opted for all-black, teaming a leather jacket with an unbuttoned shirt and silver necklace. Shane had been partying with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Paloma Faith at the bash. Good night? The EastEnders star, 53 - who is married to actress Christie Goddard - was seen looking worse-for-wear as he chatted with his publicist Lost in music! Leaning in for a hug, the duo seemed chirpy after a night of fun-filled festivities at the star-studded music awards bash Loving life: Earlier in the night, Shane was out partying at the Q Awards Earlier this month, Shane admitted that he wants to have a sixth child, and plans to adopt with wife, Christie. Speaking to The Sun he revealed: 'Were talking about adopting. We may go down the foster route, which means we can get any age. 'Because my children are six, nine and 11 we might get a baby. You dunno. 'Although we could have more children I think its cos we can have children that we think "why dont we?"' Cute couple: Shane is married to actress Christie Goddard. Earlier this month they revealed their plans to adopt, which would make Shane a father of six Second wife: Shane, who famously played Alfie Moon in EastEnders, tied the knot with Christie - who he met after starring in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk - in July 2007 Shane - who famously played Alfie Moon in EastEnders shares three children with Christie: daughters Lolita, 9, and Romani, 6, and son Mackenzie, 11. The star also shares two sons Shane Roche Jr, 28, and Jake Roche, 25, with his ex-wife Coleen Nolan. Shane and Coleen divorced in 1999 after nine years of marriage. He tied the knot with Christie - who he met after starring in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk - in July 2007. Former flames: The star also shares two sons Shane Roche Jr, 28, and Jake Roche, 25, with his ex-wife Coleen Nolan Thursday night's episode of The Bachelorette saw Sophie Monk visiting the families of the last remaining suitors. And upon meeting Jarrod Woodgate's loved ones, it was his mother Ann that made her thoughts clear, saying 'I need to be a little harsh.' However the encounter appeared to go well, with the vineyard manager later declaring that he's 'fallen in love' with her. Scroll down for video 'I need to be harsh': Jarrod Woodgate's mother Ann interrogated The Bachelorette's Sophie Monk on Thursday night's episode, before the vineyard manager declared he's 'fallen in love' Taking Sophie aside to the wine cellar for a heart-to-heart, Ann told Sophie: 'Now, I need to be a little harsh. 'So, we're down to four guys. My thoughts have to come back to Jarrod. I just, you know, don't want him to get hurt. 'So where do you see it heading?' Ann went on to ask. Line of questioning: Taking Sophie aside to the wine cellar for a heart-to-heart, Ann told Sophie: 'Now, I need to be a little harsh. So, we're down to four guys. My thoughts have to come back to Jarrod. I just, you know, don't want him to get hurt. So where do you see it heading?' Her son's best interests at heart: When Sophie was unable to give Jarrod's mother the exact answer she was looking for, she said: 'So, we just have to go through the anxious...weeks, whatever, and wait, don't we?' And when Sophie was unable to give Jarrod's mother the exact answer she was looking for, she said: 'So, we just have to go through the anxious...weeks, whatever, and wait, don't we?' Sophie then decided to be honest with Ann and said: 'The one thing I love about him is he has always been honest with me. He's just always been there for me. 'Made me feel safe and comfortable and competed for me. Like, really heavily competed for me. I can tell you brought him up very strong. And he's lovely.' Following the family encounter, Jarrod let Sophie know of his feelings for her, and declared that he's 'fallen in love.' Tender moment: Sophie then decided to be honest with Ann and said: 'The one thing I love about him is he has always been honest with me. He's just always been there for me' She continued: 'Made me feel safe and comfortable and competed for me. Like, really heavily competed for me. I can tell you brought him up very strong. And he's lovely' 'This is a hard thing to say and it's hard to put my emotions forward and on the line and at the situations we're in. 'But the feelings that I have for you and that have grown for you as who you are....have come to a conclusionwhere I've actually.....fallen in love with you. 'Hopefully at some point you can find this in your heart and see us as a future or, you know, have a future at least,' he continued. The pair then locked lips for a steamy kiss. Declaration: Following the family encounter, Jarrod let Sophie know of his feelings for her and declared that he's 'fallen in love' She is best known for her character Alice Cullen in the Twilight saga. But looking worlds away from her onscreen role as she stepped out in West Hollywood on Wednesday, Ashley Greene was spotted flaunting her slender figure in her form-fitting gym gear following a workout. The 30-year-old actress was seen casually strolling into a near-by tailors looking fabulously fresh-faced, as she appeared to forgo her make-up for the low-key outing. Scroll down for video Gym bod! Ashley Greene was spotted flaunting her slender figure in her form-fitting gym gear following a workout as she stepped out in West Hollywood on Wednesday Favouring a laid-back look, Ashley teamed together a casual black vest top, that spelled out 'originals' across the front, with a pair of patterned grey and black workout leggings by KiraGrace. They appeared to elongate her lithe frame, with the starlet adding a pair of black trainers to her feet and toting her essentials in a leather bag she carried in one hand. Donning a huge pair of chic leopard print sunglasses, the Burying the Ex star shielded her eyes from the beaming sunshine and covered her make-up free face underneath. Ditching her make-up for the outing, Ashley chose to instead flaunt her natural beauty and looked nothing but radiant as she boasted a flawless complexion. Natural beauty! Ditching her make-up for the outing, the actress, 30, chose to instead flaunt her natural beauty and looked nothing but radiant as she boasted a flawless complexion She was later seen playing with her blonde tresses while out and about and swept her locks back from her face, clipping her mane into a neat bun that sat high on her head. All eyes, however, were on the beauty's diamond encrusted engagement ring resting on her left hand. Ashley made sure to flaunt her ring finger and the glittering rock that was sitting pretty on it as she headed out to run errands. Ashley and Paul have been dating since 2013 and announced their engagement three years after getting together, in December last year. Legs for days! Looking leggy she sported a pair of patterned grey and black workout leggings by KiraGrace, elongating her slender frame Flashing a smile: The Twilight star was seen flaunting her engagement ring on her left hand as she stepped out in the sunshine She is set to wed her fiance Paul Khoury - her 42-year-old beau who is an actor and TV host in his native Australia. Paul had popped the question while the couple had taken a trip to the aptly-named Bridal Veil Falls in New Zealand. And capturing the moment he got down on one knee on camera, Ashley shared the heart-warming video to her Instagram, along with the caption: 'This is the most beautiful moment I could have ever hoped for. You've successfully made me the happiest, luckiest woman alive. I can't wait to show you my unfaltering immeasurable love for the rest of our lives. #engaged #loveofmylife #futurehusband (sic).' Loved-up: She is set to wed her fiance Paul Khoury - her 42-year-old beau who is an actor and TV host in his native Australia Paul had shared the same clip, penning alongside it: ''I promise to put a smile on your face for the rest of our lives. You complete me in ways I didnt even know was possible. I love you more than anything and excited to take this next step in life with you! #foreverlove #myfutrewife #ShesGonnaBeAKhoury (sic).' Making sure to give fans a good look at her ring too, Ashley shared a series of snaps of her sparkler to the photo-sharing site and insisted she was 'SO lucky and SO excited' to be marrying her 'best friend'. Ashley's appearance in West Hollywood comes after she completed set appearances for three of her newest films - including an animated film Max and Me in which she voices the character Rachel. She recently finished filming Accident Man, in which she plays the character Charlie Adams, co-starring along Scott Adkins who plays Mike Fallon. She has spent weeks whittling down her pack of love hopefuls on The Bachelorette. And on Thursday it was time for Sophie Monk to endure a home-town grilling from the families of her top four contestants. The highly-anticipated episode began with Sophie jetting off to Victoria to visit Jarrod on his family vineyard. Scroll down for video Let the grilling begin! On Thursday it was time for Sophie Monk to endure a home-town grilling from the families of her top four contestants After meeting Sophie on the grounds of the sprawling property, Jarrod swept Sophie away for an intimate picnic. 'I didn't think at the very beginning of this that I'd be in the top four for Sophie's heart, and this opportunity to be able to show Sophie my world is amazing,' Jarrod told the cameras. 'Today could be a massive game-changer with Sophie and I. I've fallen for Sophie and if all goes well with the family, I'm going to tell Sophie how I feel about her.' Meet the Woodgate clan! The highly-anticipated episode began with Sophie jetting off to Victoria to visit Jarrod on his family vineyard Not a walk in the vineyard! Before introducing Sophie to his family, Jarrod made sure to warn Sophie about how difficult it would be to impress them Before introducing Sophie to his family, Jarrod made sure to warn Sophie about how difficult it would be to impress them. 'She's very protective of me and basically who I'm with or who I want to be with. Her opinion counts lot,' he told her. Sophie was visibly nervous, telling the cameras: 'I'm sh*tting myself. I don't think I quite understood how important Jarrod's mum's approval is.' 'I'm not exactly getting warm and fuzzies from her': Indeed, tensions began to rise as soon as Sophie met Jarrod's family after his mother gave her a frosty reception 'I thought this was just a meet and greet. It's feeling more like an audition!' Indeed, tensions began to rise as soon as Sophie met Jarrod's family after his mother gave her a frosty reception. 'I'm not exactly getting warm and fuzzies from her. So much for first impressions,' Sophie sighed after his mother whisked him away for a private chat. Mother knows best! Meanwhile, Jarrod's mother was busy grilling him about his feelings toward the blonde bombshell Meanwhile, Jarrod's mother was busy grilling him about his feelings toward the blonde bombshell. 'Are you in love with Sophie?' she asked him bluntly. When Jarrod admitted he had fallen for her, she couldn't help questioning whether he had fallen for her too quickly. 'Jarrod has had a few relationships that haven't worked. He's not been necessarily good at making the right choice,' his mother grimaced in an interview to camera. During the family dinner, Jarrod's mother pulled Sophie aside for a grilling. Sophie was caught off-guard with she was quizzed about whether Jarrod would win the competition. Getting down to business: During the family dinner, Jarrod's mother pulled Sophie aside for a grilling Parting is such sweet sorrow! The date came to a close when Jarrod professed his love for Sophie under the moonlight She managed to convince Jarrod's mother that she was looking for a genuine relationship, prompting her to give Sophie and Jarrod her blessing. The date came to a close when Jarrod professed his love for Sophie under the moonlight. Next in the episode, Sophie travelled to Queensland to visit Apollo's family. Next stop! Next in the episode, Sophie travelled to Queensland to visit Apollo's family Apollo kicked off the date by inviting Sophie to meet his horses and learn about the art of horse whispering. 'It's so hot, watching Apollo deal with the horses. Oh, you're pretty good at it. He's good with everything. It's just making me like him more and more,' Sophie reflected. However, the leisurely outing became far more tense when Sophie was introduced to Apollo's family. Horse play: Apollo kicked off the date by inviting Sophie to meet his horses and learn about the art of horse whispering 'I'm really nervous about meeting Apollo's family, because I'm scared they'll think I'm a weirdo for dating someone so much younger than me,' Sophie told the cameras. Indeed, Apollo's friend Scott made sure to ask Sophie whether the age difference between her and Apollo was worrying. Apollo's grandmother also hurled several curly questions at Sophie. Another tough encounter: However, the leisurely outing became far more tense when Sophie was introduced to Apollo's family However, Sophie managed to leave a good impression on Apollo's family and received their blessing. 'I could definitely see myself being a part of Apollo's family. They're absolute legends,' Sophie beamed to the cameras. The date ended with Apollo leading Sophie outside for a lingering farewell kiss. The million dollar question! Indeed, Apollo's friend Scott made sure to ask Sophie whether the age difference between her and Apollo was worrying Winning them over: However, Sophie managed to leave a good impression on Apollo's family and received their blessing Next in the episode, Sophie travelled to Sydney to meet rumoured winner Stu and his family. Stu invited Sophie to enjoy a trip on his yacht- a year after she rejected his initial invitation to join him on the water. 'It's so pretty. It's really exciting 'cause I can see something forming with me and Stu. Stu seems to be ticking every single box. He's perfect,' she cooed to the cameras. The million dollar man! Next in the episode, Sophie travelled to Sydney to meet rumoured winner Stu and his family Fancy pants: Stu invited Sophie to enjoy a trip on his yacht- a year after she rejected his initial invitation to join him on the water However, nothing could have prepared Sophie to learn that Stu may not be able to start a family with her. 'I'm really feeling the nerves right now. I need to open up. It's time. But it's hard. I've had a vasectomy,' he told her. Visibly shocked, Sophie was left gobsmacked by Stu's bombshell admission. 'I've had a vasectomy': However, nothing could have prepared Sophie to learn that Stu may not be able to start a family with her 'Hang on a minute. He knows I want to have children,' she told the cameras. And the revelations kept coming, with Stu revealing that he was still legally married to his ex-partner and that he didn't want Sophie to meet his children on the show. 'Stu's being so honest but this is a lot of information for me to digest. And now I've got to meet his family. I'm more nervous than ever,' Sophie said. 'Hang on a minute. He knows I want to have children': Visibly shocked, Sophie was left gobsmacked by Stu's bombshell admission Next, Stu whisked Sophie away to meet his sisters and father for yet another grilling. While the conversation with Stu's sisters became combative at times, Sophie managed to win them over with her wit and charm. 'My family's opinion all in all is a massive thumbs up for Soph, particularly Dad. Massive thumbs up. He loves honesty, he loves life stories, he loves battlers, he loves workers.' Dinner with the Laundys! Next, Stu whisked Sophie away to meet his sisters and father for yet another grilling Puckering up: Stu and Sophie shared a kiss under the moonlight at the end of their date 'She's worked her butt off and people who do that always impress my dad,' Stu told the cameras' he added. Finally, Sophie travelled to Perth to meet Blake and his family. The refrigerator and air conditioning mechanic began the date by inviting Sophie to an indoor ice skating session. Last stop! Finally, Sophie travelled to Perth to meet Blake and his family Then, he took her home to meet his parents and sister, who shrieked with joy upon meeting the blonde actress. 'But I'm not sure if they're excited to meet Blake's girlfriend or Sophie Monk. I kind of feel like I'm on display,' she told the cameras. Sophie was then inundated with prying questions from Blake's family, who seemed less-than-convinced that Sophie was on the show for the right reason. Skating into Sophie's heart: The refrigerator and air conditioning mechanic began the date by inviting Sophie to an indoor ice skating session Woohoo! Then, he took her home to meet his parents and sister, who shrieked with joy upon meeting the blonde actress Blake decided to leave Sophie to defend herself, prompting Sophie to question whether he indeed had her back as he had promised. 'Blake said he'd have my back but I didn't see it,' she told the cameras. The episode ended with a nail-biting rose ceremony, which saw Jarrod, Stu and Apollo walk away with a rose. Sophie invited Blake outside to bid him farewell privately. Blake couldn't hold in his anger, and stormed away from Sophie with a simple 'ciao'. Final hurdle: The episode ended with a nail-biting rose ceremony, which saw Jarrod, Stu and Apollo walk away with a rose Farewell: Sophie invited Blake outside to bid him farewell privately Her iconic character Carrie Bradshaw was famous for her luxurious fashion sense, embracing a designer list as long as Fifth Avenue. And Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker seemed to be taking notes from Carrie as she attended the Intimissimi boutique launch in New York on Wednesday. The 52-year-old actress rocked a revealing cream lace top which exposed her black bra, along with a prom-style black lace skirt. Scroll down for video Racy: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, 52, flashed her bra in a revealing lace top as she attended the opening of the Initimissimi lingerie boutique in New York on Wednesday Sarah went full glamour princess in the ensemble, topping off the look with sparkly pointed-toe slingback pumps. The screen starlet kept her honey locks loose and wavy as she posed for the cameras, commanding all attention at the lingerie event. Sarah teamed her look with a simple pink chain strap clutch bag, something Carrie Bradshaw would be proud of. Princess gone bad: Sarah went full glamour in a full prom-style black lace skirt and sparkled sling-back pumps Fabulous: In a look Carrie Bradshaw would be proud of, Sarah teamed her ensemble with a pink chain strap clutch bag Diva: Sarah recently made headlines after comedian Michelle Collins appeared to mock the star in her stand-up show The performer recently made headlines after comedian Michelle Collins appeared to mock the star's diva demands in a stand up show. Michelle reportedly read aloud from emails which documented the rules put in place by Sarah for her household staff, according to Page Six. Sarah allegedly instructs her household staff to refill a tiny 1.75-ounce container of Vaseline with a small spoon or knife for her children's use, and said cutlery must then be washed by hand with a paper towel and then put through the dishwasher. Particular: The comedian reportedly read out emails detailing the star's demands for her household staff Tight ship: Sarah reportedly requests that a 1.75oz tub of Vaseline be refilled by hand with a small knife or spoon for her children's use Strict: Sarah also insisted that products should be bought in multiples and must be checked daily, only being replenished when they have completely run out Sarah, who has been married to actor Matthew Broderick for 20 years, also requested a bottle of face wash and body wash be regularly replenished for the use of her 14-year-old son, James Wilkie. But she insists the staff must check the levels of each product daily - only replacing once the product has completely run out. A representative for Sarah told Page Six that they 'have no idea who Michelle Collins is'. The inevitable furore generated by her latest social media post was brushed to one side as Lady Victoria Hervey stepped out in Beverly Hills on Wednesday evening. The British socialite, 41, made a glamorous appearance at the Gagosian Gallery, shortly after claiming one of Harvey Wensteins accusers was just looking for attention about the shamed Hollywood producer raping her. Dressed in a glittering mint green evening dress with a distinctive ruffled detail, Victoria caught the eye while attending a womens health awareness discussion at the North Camden Drive venue. Scroll down for video Here she comes: The inevitable furore generated by her latest social media post was brushed to one side as Lady Victoria Hervey stepped out in Beverly Hills on Wednesday evening Gold stiletto heels added an extra touch of elegance, while a matching gold clutch proved to be her only visible accessory while posing for photos. Hours earlier, Lady Victoria, who lives in Los Angeles, wrote a 391-word tirade in which she compared Weinstein to Hitler, saying he 'ruled like the "Fuhrer". She also wrote that 'others' who had spoken out against the troubled producer claimed he had ruined their careers because it 'makes it easier to deal with.' Looking mint! Dressed in a glittering mint green evening dress with a distinctive ruffled detail, Victoria caught the eye while visiting the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills While there is nothing to suggest Lady Victoria has met or spoken to the alleged victim she refers to in the post, her shocking rant starts with the model saying it had been 'hard' for her 'not to voice her opinion' on the 'recent controversies in Hollywood'. She suggested that she had been aware of rumours surrounding Weinstein, writing: 'As a brit living in LA and attending many a HW [Harvey Weinstein] party during award season I've seen it all.' Describing Weinstein's tyrannical behaviour, the socialite continued: 'HW ruled like the "Fuhrer" marching down corridors at the Du Cap [Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc] whilst assistants shuddered behind him clutching their mobile phones. It was expected.' In good company: Lady Victoria was joined by Tony Schiena at the event on Wednesday evening Controversy: Hours earlier, Lady Victoria, who lives in Los Angeles, wrote a 391-word tirade in which she compared Weinstein to Hitler, saying he 'ruled like the "Fuhrer" She then turned on the more than 50 women who have spoken out against Weinstein, launching a targeted attack on one accuser in particular. The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of the first to speak out against the producer, claiming in an interview with the New Yorker that she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel room while promoting a film. She also revealed how she later wrote and directed a film scene based on the 'nightmare'. The accuser's story mirrors the testimonies of the scores of women who have spoken out again Weinstein. Lady Victoria wrote on the woman: 'Which leaves me at this question. Was it rape. I don't think so because it carried on. For me, she sounds desperate for attention [sic].' She continued: 'For the others you can believe he ruined your careers because that will just make it easier to deal with.' MailOnline has approached representatives for Lady Victoria and the alleged victim involved for comment. She has carved a hugely successful career as a Bollywood actress in recent years. But Amy Jackson returned to her modelling roots on Thursday, as she took centre stage in a sizzling campaign for Lipsy's first ever lingerie line. The actress, 25, showcased her impressively toned stomach and slender figure in an array of saucy bras and bodysuits, as she posed seductively for cameras in the new collection. Scroll down for video Bra-vo! Amy Jackson returned to her modelling roots on Thursday, as she took centre stage in a sizzling campaign for Lipsy's first ever lingerie line Racy in lace: The actress, 25, showcased her impressively toned stomach and slender figure in an array of underwear as she posed seductively for cameras Amy certainly set pulses racing in the campaign - first posing in nothing but a plunging floral bra and matching briefs. The balconette numbers of purple and navy fell to a daring depth at her chest, to give a glimpse of her eye-popping assets and ample cleavage to all. Paired with only matching briefs, lined with lace, Amy's impressively petite waist and toned stomach were then left on full display, as she smouldered for the camera. Stunning: Amy posed in a number of floral balconette bras, which plunged to a daring depth at her chest, to give a glimpse of her eye-popping assets Skimpy: Paired with matching briefs, Amy's impressively petite waist and toned stomach were left on full display, as she smouldered for the camera Amy was later seen in a brighter turquoise two-piece, which drew attention to her slender frame with high-rise briefs, before she layered a soft kimono on top to keep the look demure. Proving her natural sex appeal, the beauty then slipped into a number of tight-fitting bodysuits, which clung to her svelte physique all the way down. She teased at her chest once again in a plunging burgundy one-piece, before she slipped into a slinky black number - which extended into full sleeves, but cut off daringly high at her hip, to leave most of her long legs on show. All in one: Proving her natural sex appeal, the beauty then slipped into a number of tight-fitting bodysuits, which clung to her svelte physique all the way down Velvet dream: She teased at her ample assets once again in a plunging burgundy one-piece of crushed velvet Pins on parade: She later slipped into a slinky black number - which extended into full sleeves, but cut off daringly high at her hip, to leave most of her long legs on show Maintaining the sexy feel, the Liverpool native left her hair in tousled waves and opted for natural make-up during the whole shoot, to showcase her striking natural beauty to all. Amy is mostly unknown in the UK, but is a huge star in India - where, thanks to an 11-film Bollywood acting career, she now has three homes. The beauty first shot to fame as a model however, when some of her photos were spotted by a film director shortly after she finished her GCSEs. He later offered her the lead role in his 2010 movie Madrasapattinam, which led to a string of film offers, and her subsequent fame. Stunning: Maintaining the sexy feel, the Liverpool native left her hair in tousled waves and opted for natural make-up to showcase her striking natural beauty to all Back to the start: Amy rose to fame as a model when she was 16, but was offered the lead role in a Bollywood film in 2010, and has gone on to find super-stardom in India Many strings to her bow: Aside from modelling and Bollywood, Amy is currently trying to break into mainstream movies, having signed up to a British independent film Amy recently admitted to The Times that she found it hard to settle into her new life in Asia, as she really missed both the social scene and the food of the UK. She said: 'I'd be getting texts from my mates saying they'd just got into a club in Liverpool with a fake ID and what was I doing? I'd have just finished a 20-hour day and be sitting in a hotel room, starving.' However, after finding huge success in Bollywood, Amy is now conversational in Hindi and has earned enough money to warrant five staff, including two bodyguards and a stylist. She is currently trying to break into mainstream movies, having signed up to a British independent film and having castings in Los Angeles. He no longer has contact with his ex Stephanie Davis after being convicted of assaulting her during one of their violent rows. But Jeremy McConnell appeared unfazed that he was partying with a brunette who bore a striking resemblance to the mother of his child as he hit the town hard in Cardiff on Wednesday night. The Irish model, 27 - who is currently completing 200 hours of community service near his Welsh home - headed out with dancer Chloe-Leigh Adams and a group of pals, despite reports he is dating dating single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson, 21. Scroll down for video Hitting the town: Jeremy McConnell appeared unfazed that he was partying with a brunette who bore a striking resemblance to the mother of his child as he hit the town hard in Cardiff on Wednesday night Dad-of-one Jeremy, who unveiled three new tattoos etched onto his face recently, was then seen partying in a hotel room on a friend's Snapchat account, surrounded by bottles of wine and in the company of a half-naked woman. The former Celebrity Big Brother star stepped out sporting tight-fitting skinny jeans, a plain white tee and leather jacket for his night out in Cardiff. He was seen arriving at a venue in the city with Chloe-Leigh in tow, before the pair later headed into the same taxi. She rocked a look strikingly similar to Jeremy's ex-girlfriend Stephanie, sporting her brunette locks up into a high top-knot and clad in a lace-up black top, jeans and suede knee-high boots. The brunette and Jeremy appeared to be in close company throughout the night as they enjoyed a chat outside a club. New pal? The Irish model, 27 - who is currently completing 200 hours of community service near his Welsh home - headed out with dancer Chloe-Leigh Adams (above) New love? Jeremy's outing comes amid reports he is dating single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson, 21, after they met during community service Close: The duo appeared to stay close by each other's side throughout the night Engrossed: Jeremy and the brunette were seen deep in conversation with their pals Punishment: Their night out comes as Jeremy has embarked on his 200 hours of community service in the city after being handed a suspended sentence after being convicted of assaulting ex Stephanie New romance? Jeremy's appearance with the brunette beauty comes as he is rumoured to be dating 21-year-old single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson Wild child Jeremy reportedly met his new flame Demi while carrying out his community service after relocating from Ireland to Wales. Friends of Demi seemed to confirm the romance to The Sun, claiming: 'Jeremys really charming and Demi-Leigh is really keen. 'She knows his history, but he's won her over. Everyone's warned that her that he's a player... in her eyes, Jeremy's just a hot Irish celebrity and there's nothing else too it.' A source, meanwhile, claimed to the paper that Jeremy's ex Stephanie is 'furious' to see he has moved on while he is supposed to be serving out his punishment for assaulting her. Keen: Friends of Demi seemed to confirm the romance to The Sun , claiming: 'Jeremys really charming and Demi-Leigh is really keen... she knows his history but he's won her over' Velvet rope: The pair passed the bouncers as they made their way into a venue Heading home? They were later seen heading into the same taxi together with their friends as they exited the bar Casually clad: The former Celebrity Big Brother star stepped out sporting tight-fitting skinny jeans, a plain white tee and leather jacket It comes as photos were later shared to Snapchat, as seen on The Mirror, where Jeremy is pictured continuing his night out in a hotel room, where they appeared to order numerous bottles of wine via room service. Another shot depicted a woman, who appeared to be wearing just a skimpy thong on her bottom half, laying face down on a bed with her head covered by pillows. When contacted by MailOnline a representative for Jeremy declined to comment. Ahead of his night out in Cardiff, Jeremy had unveiled three new tattoos he has had etched onto his face. The reality star shared photos of his new inkings to his Instagram story, revealing a tiny black cross that had been tattooed on his cheek, just underneath his eye, and two new letters by either ear. Look familiar? The girl was strikingly similar to former Hollyoaks star Stephanie and appeared to adopt her sense of style - stepping out in a lace up top, jeans and knee-high boots Continuing the night: Jeremy was later seen continuing to party with his pals in a hotel room, with pictures surfacing of the star on Snapchat and as seen on The Mirror Scandalous: They appeared to order numerous bottles of wine via room service. Another shot depicted a woman, who appeared to be wearing just a skimpy thong on her bottom half Head turner: Chloe (above) is a dancer who splits her time between Cardiff and Majorca The initials appear to be a tribute to his dead parents, with an 'E' on one side in honour of his father, Eugene Cooke, and a 'V' on the other side for his mother, Valerie. Valerie had passed away while Jeremy was 15-years-old. His dad Eugene, meanwhile, died in March, earlier this year, following a short battle with cancer. Jeremy shared a heart emoji alongside the snaps of his poignant tattoos. They are the latest in a slew of tattoos for Jeremy, with his most recent being a nun snorting a suspicious white powder, with prayer beads inked beneath her face. Fans were stunning by graphic image Jeremy posted on his social media on Monday, accompanying the image with the caption 'Sister White.' Father-of-one Jeremy displayed the large black and white artwork on his thigh on social media. The huge tattoo appeared to take up most of his thigh alongside a colourful skull on the centre of his leg. New couple? Jeremy is said to be 'really keen' on Demi, despite his ex being 'furious' over the romance Loved-up: Demi's friends said of the reported romance 'She knows his history, but he's won her over. Everyone's warned that her that he's a player... in her eyes, Jeremy's just a hot celebrity' Shocking: Jeremy stunned fans with a new inking on Wednesday, this time a small cross on his left cheek, in a post on his Instagram stories E-asy inking: Jeremy also revealed a letter E he had tattooed on his ear, as a companion to the V by his other ear Graphic: The Celebrity Big Brother alum shared his new graphic inking on Monday which appears to depict a nun snorting a snorting a suspicious white powder, with prayer beads inked beneath her face Jeremy has a history of drug abuse and had embarked on a stay in rehab, earlier this year, to get his life back on track. He is currently undergoing unpaid work in Cardiff to make up his 200 hours of community service as part of his suspended sentence. In August, Jeremy was convicted of assaulting his ex and former Hollyoaks Stephanie in her home and was handed a 12-week suspended sentence. He was slapped with a restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex for three years, meaning he will have to make special arrangements to see the couple's son Caben Albi. A judge said McConnell had shown no remorse for the attack or the impact it must have had on 10-month-old Caben. However, she refused to impose an immediate jail term after hearing Jeremy had no previous convictions. Concentrating: Jeremy also shared a boomerang of the process, the video catching glimpses of the tattooist hard at work Troubles: Jeremy was convicted of assaulting his ex and former Hollyoaks Stephanie in her home and was handed a 12-week suspended sentence Having now embarked on his community service, friends had said Jeremy is taking it 'seriously' and is using it as a 'turning point' in his life. During the trial, McConnell had told the judge he was battling drug addiction but promised to go to rehab in an effort to become clean. In a letter read out to the court it was claimed he'd been having treatment at a clinic in his native Ireland, for those struggling with heavy drug use. He completed 21 days for 'chemical dependency' in April and is now 'clean from cocaine use', his lawyers claimed. Stephanie and Jeremy met on CBB in 2016, before starting a tumultuous on-off relationship, that later saw Stephanie fall pregnant and Jeremy initially contest her paternity claims. Following Caben's birth the duo briefly reunited, before splitting following a series of violent rows. Drama: He was slapped with a restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex for three years, meaning he will have to make special arrangements to see the couple's son Caben Albi Meanwhile, it was reported that Stephanie is now dating TOWIE's Ricky Rayment, as sources appeared to confirm the romance after a month of speculation. Insiders tell The Sun that the 24-year-old actress has been seeing the former reality star in a 'very flirty' romance. They claimed: 'They have been seeing each other and things are going well. They speak a lot and are openly very flirty; its the start of something new for them and theyre both seeing how it goes.' The news surfaced just hours after her ex Jeremy McConnell posted a loved-up snap with a mystery woman and while she appears to be his reported new girlfriend Demi, contrasting reports claim Jeremy had fabricated the image. Happy days? Stephanie is reportedly dating TOWIE's Ricky Rayment, as sources appeared to confirm the romance after a month of speculation Together? Stephanie was first rumoured to be dating Ricky last month and now the reports have surfaced once again claiming to confirm the romance Not as it seems: Jeremy McConnell posted a loved-up snap with a mystery woman to his Instagram, but it appears her identity is causing some confusion Despite the girl now being pinned as Jeremy's new flame, others have suggested he had faked the image to rile his ex and she is just a fan that had posed with Jeremy. A friend of the photo's subject is believed to have told OK! Magazine: 'I am friends with the girl in the picture and can confirm 100% she is not his girlfriend. She sat with him for a drink. 'I cannot understand why he would insinuate that they are together, I can only assume he is doing it to try and make his ex girlfriend jealous after the articles of her seeing that bloke off TOWIE.' MailOnline had contacted representatives for Jeremy, Stephanie and Ricky for comment at the time. Confusion: While it's been suggested she is Jeremy's new flame, others are suggesting they are not romantically linked and he had fabricated the snap to rile ex Stephanie Furious: Following claims Jeremy has move on, sources have claimed Stephanie Stephanie is 'furious' to see he has met someone while supposed to be serving out his punishment for assaulting her Before news of her romance with Ricky surfaced, it was claimed Stephanie is said to be struggling emotionally with the revelation that Jeremy has moved on. Irish model Jeremy said he was 'so happy' on Instagram on Tuesday when he shared a picture with the pretty brunette as he begins to rebuilds his life - yet it is now clear not all is what it seems. Friends, however, had shared their concern over how Stephanie would react to the photo, with it surfacing just months after Jeremy was convicted of assaulting her. A source told The Mirror: 'Stephanie was just about holding it together until this photo confirmed he's moving on. It was all fun and games when she was toying with the fact she might be seeing someone when she isn't. So for Jez to have moved on first is absolutely killing her.' Complicated: Stephanie and Jeremy's whirlwind relationship and later toxic split was endlessly tumultuous, having all began when they met in the CBB house in January 2016 Stephanie and Jeremy's whirlwind relationship and later toxic split was endlessly tumultuous, having all began when they met in the CBB house in January 2016 despite the stunning star already dating model Sam Reece on the outside. Upon departing the house, they became embroiled in a toxic romance complete during which they split their time between reported violent altercations and loved-up photoshoots, before Stephanie announced her pregnancy in May 2016. The duo reunited later on and while they enjoyed a brief romance once more they soon split before their horrific argument in March, when Jeremy suspected her of a lesbian affair and a fling with a fireman as he attacked her at a Merseyside property. In July, Stephanie was then arrested herself for GBH and criminal damage as they became locked in a furious row in an Enfield hotel - although the charges were later dropped and she revealed she was pregnant. Drama: Upon departing the house, they became embroiled in a toxic romance complete during which they split their time between reported violent altercations and loved-up photoshoots, before Stephanie announced her pregnancy in May 2016 Convoluted love story: The duo reunited later on and while they enjoyed a brief romance once more they soon split before their explosive argument in March, where Jeremy was said to have assaulted her Appearing in court in August regarding his March arrest, Jeremy was handed a 20-week sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was ordered to pay 1,000 in court costs, 1,000 in compensation to Miss Davis and a victims surcharge of 115. He was also told he must carry out a Building Better Relationships course with the Probation Service, as well as 15 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirements and 200 hours unpaid work near his new home in Wales. Following the stress of the court case, she suffered a miscarriage with their second child. She has gone through a tough year, suffering a very public split from boxer Amir Khan, 30, before revealing she was pregnant with his second child. And Faryal Makhdoom, 26, appeared to be feeling the pressure as she took to Instagram this week. Sharing an insight into her heartbreak, the American cosmetics line founder posted an emotional quote by Instagram writer R. M. Drake. Scroll down for video Heartbroken: Faryal Makhdoom, 26, appeared to be feeling the pressure as she took to Instagram this week following her public split from estranged husband, boxer Amir Khan 'Break me again, she said softly because she knew she was addicted to broken things', the telling line read. Just a week ago pregnant Faryal, who shares 3-year-old daughter Lamaisah with the former unified light-welterweight world champion, posted another emotional quote. 'To be a good mother while my heart was breaking was one of the hardest roles I've ever had to play,' she admitted in the candid post. Seen during better tiomes in 2016: Sharing an insight into her heartbreak, the American cosmetics line founder posted an emotional quote by Instagram writer R. M. Drake 'Break me again, she said softly because she knew she was addicted to broken things', the telling line on the American model's Instagram read Last month Faryal deleted her pleading apology after the boxer appeared to snub her attempted reconciliation. Faryal posted a lengthy message on Twitter saying it is time for her and Khan to put their 'differences behind us'. The businesswoman also apologised for all the 'infighting' between her and Khan's parents, which she revealed has had a 'terrible effect' on her marriage. But soon afterwards Khan took to Twitter, confirming to fans their divorce would go ahead and wishing her well. Tough: Just a week ago pregnant Faryal, who shares 3-year-old daughter Lamaisah with the former unified light-welterweight world champion, posted another emotional quote Olive branch: Last month Faryal deleted her pleading apology after the boxer appeared to snub her attempted reconciliation Faryal had tweeted the statement of apology to her 180,000 followers just hours after announcing the launch of her own lipstick brand. She wrote: 'The past three months have been really tough on me and my marriage. 'Matters haven't been helped by the fact that my husband has been out of the ring for quite some time... it's been very stressful for us as a couple, and a family. 'I now recognise that all this infighting between me and my in-laws has had a terrible effect on my husband and I... and for that I would like to sincerely apologise. Headstrong: The boxer announced he was going ahead with a divorce from his wife in a tweet last month One last attempt: In her Twitter post, Faryal hinted at a reconciliation with the boxer after claiming her daughter and unborn child do not deserve 'a broken home' 'My mother and father-in-law are the elders of our family and as such deserve love and respect just as much as my own parents do. 'I've said things in the past out of anger... I didn't really mean and regret now.' She added: 'My daughter and unborn child do not deserve a broken home. 'That is why I have decided that it is time to put our differences behind us, and start afresh. 'All families go through hard times. It is unfortunate for us that our difficulties were played out so publicly. I also apologise for my part in that.' Split: Khan and Faryal pictured with their daughter Lamaisah. The couple are expecting another child in the new year The couple, who married in 2013, had a very public falling out on Twitter earlier this year, with each side accusing the other of cheating. Khan even accused his American wife of having an affair with heavyweight rival Anthony Joshua. Khan hit out at his wife, writing: 'Left my family and friends for this Faryal. I'm not hurt but another fighter. I'm making it public. You getting the divorce #Golddigger.' But Faryal hit back minutes later, claiming her husband left his family because they had 'robbed' him and telling him to 'stop making false things up'. Untrue: Khan even accused his American wife of having an affair with heavyweight rival Anthony Joshua (pictured together) before later apologising Branding him a '30-year-old baby', she went on to accuse him of sleeping with prostitutes and being a bad role model. Joshua laughed off Khan's claims, posting the music video from pop star Shaggy's It Wasn't Me online, and saying he had never met Faryal. Khan later apologised to Joshua and said there was 'no truth' to his claims. Problems began last year when Khan's family said his wife, an American model, dressed improperly for a Muslim woman. She accused them of verbal and physical abuse, but in a TV interview Khan's parents called his wife an 'evil woman', while his sister claimed Faryal had prevented the family from seeing Lamaisah. The couple were then hit by further drama when a sex tape of Khan performing a sex act on a webcam while chatting with a model was leaked to a US porn site. Better days: Amir Khan and Faryal sensationally announced their marriage is over in an explosive ongoing row on Twitter in the summer (pictured in 2013 before her transformation) After months of very public problems, including a family spat, rumours of a sex tape and cheating allegations Amir Khan and his wife Faryal sensationally split earlier this year. The boxer, from Bolton, who is worth 23million, announced their split in a tweet reading 'So me and the wife Faryal have agreed to split. I'm currently in Dubai. Wish her all the best'. The heated argument that proceeded is worlds away from the humble couple who gushed about one another at their engagement back in 2012, having met seven years ago in her home city of New York. Things started to crumble when Faryal claimed that she was bullied by members of the Khan family previously stating that she was considered a 'bad Muslim' if she bared any skin and claims she was even cropped out of family photographs. The model, who has undegone a dramatic transformation in recent years, also claims she came under fire from the family for having plastic surgery. Spat: Problems began last year when Khan's family said his wife, an American model (shown left), dressed improperly for a Muslim woman In an interview last year she said: 'I was in Pakistan with Amir's family when his brother tweeted: 'Michael Jackson isn't dead. He lives with us.' He was trying to say I'd had plastic surgery.' Amir's family then slammed her style of dress, claiming she refused to let them see Amir's daughter. While Amir initially stood by his wife's side, he soon began pleading for the public feuding to stop before things crumbled early this year. Soon after announcing their split, the British boxer shared an influx of Snapchats as he enjoyed a night out with a mystery woman in Dubai. HATTIESBURG, Mississippi -- A Mississippi Gulf Coast physician is the latest person indicted on health care fraud charges as part of a series of schemes that federal officials allege cost taxpayers hundreds of millions. Dr. Albert Diaz, an Ocean Springs resident practicing in Biloxi, was indicted Wednesday in federal court, U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst said. The 16-count indictment accuses Diaz of defrauding Tricare, a federal military health insurance program, by prescribing $2.3 million in unneeded medications handmade by a compounding pharmacy, Hurst said. Pharmacist Jason May and health care marketer Gerald Schaar have already pleaded guilty to related charges. Schaar was accused of taking kickbacks from a pharmacy to persuade someone to prescribe $2.3 million in drugs paid for by Tricare. Schaar and the prescriber are accused of later falsifying patient records to make it appear the physician had long been seeing the patients. It wasn't immediately clear if Diaz is that prescriber. It's unclear if Diaz has a lawyer to comment on the charges. If convicted, he faces up to 305 years in prison and fines of up to $7.5 million. Federal authorities are already pursuing civil lawsuits against others in Mississippi, alleging they engaged in a variety of schemes designed to defraud federal and private insurers. Parts of the investigation have been visible since agents raided nine Mississippi pharmacies in January 2016. In a case where prosecutors are trying to seize millions in cash, vehicles and real estate, court papers filed in February alleged that three Mississippi pharmacies alone had bilked $400 million from insurers. She has been caught up in the media controversy of her shock departure from Today earlier this week. But Lisa Wilkinson turned her focus to her family as she paid a visit to a sick relative hospital this Thursday morning. The much-loved journalist was spotted walking with her husband Peter FitzSimons after driving to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital. Family first: A low-key Lisa Wilkinson paid a visit to a sick relative hospital this Thursday morning Hand-in-hand: The much-loved journalist was spotted walking with her husband Peter FitzSimons after driving to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital The couple cut a low key figure for the outing with Lisa donning an all-black ensemble with white runners. She shielded her eyes with sunnies and appeared to go makeup free for the occasion. Peter wore his signature red bandana and a black T-short paired with green shorts. Low key: The couple cut a low key figure for the outing with Lisa donning an all-black ensemble with white runners Prior to attending the hospital the duo appeared to cut a breakfast date short as they left the cafe promptly after receiving a phone call. Lisa did not seem too perturbed by the incident however as she was spotted smiling as she chatted on the phone. In good spirits: Lisa did not seem too perturbed by the incident however as she was spotted smiling as she chatted on the phone Grab and go! Prior to attending the hospital the duo appeared to cut a breakfast date short as they left the cafe promptly after receiving a phone call Headlines: Lisa has hit the headlines this week when she made the announcement she quit the Today show Lisa has hit the headlines this week when she made the announcement she quit the Today show via Twitter on Monday night, revealing her decade of service on the program had come to an abrupt end. She will join the likes of hosts Carrie, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar on the popular current affairs show in January 2018. It has been rumoured that the Channel Nine were unable to match her salary to that of co-star Karl Stefanovic, who is believed to be earning close to $3 million a year. Karl addressed his former co-host's sudden departure with a rather odd tribute, crediting the veteran journalist with her ability to perform housework before coming to work. Her new project: She will join the likes of hosts Carrie, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar on the popular current affairs show in January 2018 Pay parity dispute: It has been rumoured that the Channel Nine were unable to match her salary to that of co-star Karl Stefanovic, who is believed to be earning close to $3 million a year She had been partying until the early hours, celebrating a new rooftop bar in London on Wednesday evening. But Jessica Wright looking lively the next morning, as she rose early for a workout in Essex, following the launch party in Trafalgar Square. The 32 year-old seemed ready to seize the day, showing of her fantastic toned physique in a cropped grey jumper and figure-hugging gym leggings. Scroll down for video In shape: Jessica Wright, 32, showed of her fantastic physique in a cropped grey jumper and figure-hugging gym leggings pre-workout The former reality star seemed cheerful, in her eccentric pair of patterned blue, white and black leggings that extenuated her lovely figure. Hiding her eyes behind a pair of aviators, she walked through the car park in a pair of pink trainers, while clutching a brown Louis Vuitton handbag on her left arm. Looking in shape, the TOWIE star wore a cropped, light grey jumper, which concealed her perfectly sculpted abs underneath with a tight black singlet. Glamorous! Earlier in the night the star looked breathtaking as she sizzled in a smoldering green jumpsuit, which elongated her perfect slender frame Ready to roll: Hiding her eyes behind a pair of aviators, she sashayed through the car park in a pair of pink and white Nike trainers, holding a set of keys and her phone in her hands. Gorgeous! Looking leggy, the TOWIE star wore an eccentric pair of patterned blue, white and black leggings, while clutching a brown Louis Vuitton handbag on her left arm. Her sleek brown hair moved in the breeze from one side to another, as it was clutched into a messy high ponytail. The reality star wore barely there make up - wearing light foundation and a shimmer of light rose lipstick on her lips. It was quite a contrast to the glamorous look she'd sported the night before. Low-key look: Opting for a low-resolution radiance, the reality star wore barely there make up - wearing light foundation and a shimmer of light rose lipstick on her lips. Small distraction: Looking worlds away she played with the accessories in her hand, a she slowly strolled to the Essex gym The star smouldered in a green jumpsuit, which elongated her perfect slender frame for an appearance at Trafalgar St. James hotel. Cinching in her waist, the subtly pleated jumpsuit fell beautifully to her feet, embellished with a set of dainty silver buttons pinning in the end of the arms in. Revealing a pinch of skin the outfit featured a cut-out design at the back, with small string tied up at the top to hold everything in place. Elegant: She rocked a pair if elegant emerald encrusted gems, as her hair was back-combed into a quirky sophisticated silky bun -a streak of her fringe falling to her collar bone She rocked a pair of elegant emerald encrusted gems and her hair was back-combed into a quirky sophisticated silky bun. Accessorizing her sophisticated ensemble, Jessica wore an array of golden rings and a gold watch to match. The entrepreneur possessed a golden glow with her beautifully contoured make up, which shone on her cheekbones. Skin on show: Revealing a pinch of skin the outfit featured a cut-out design at the back, with small string tied up at the top to hold everything in place. Ready for bed: Jessica was spotted leaving the launch in a silver car with a pal as she set off to snooze away for her gym workout the next day They were spotted enjoying a dinner date together on Tuesday, as they prepare to welcome their first child in November. And exes Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey appeared to be getting on famously ahead of the due date, as they stepped out together on Wednesday. The pregnant Love Island star, who displayed her baby bump in a plunging navy jumpsuit, beamed as she arrived at The Brickyard restaurant in Essex with her ex-boyfriend. Scroll down for video Parents to be: Exes Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey appeared to be getting on famously ahead of the due date, as they stepped out together on Wednesday Cara, 26, proved she had nailed maternity dressing in her navy culotte one-piece, which effortlessly skimmed her blossiming bump. Adding height to her petite frame, the dancer rocked a pair of chic nude leather stiletto pumps. Styling her glossy dark hair in a chic braid, the reality star framed her features with smokey eyeshadow and nude lipstick. Nathan, meanwhile, cut a dapper figure in a nude V-neck sweater over a white shirt, which he teamed with blue jeans. Looking good: The pregnant Love Island star displayed her baby bump in a plunging navy jumpsuit as she arrived at The Brickyard restaurant in Essex Chic: Cara, 26, proved she had nailed maternity dressing in her navy culotte one-piece, which effortlessly skimmed her blossiming bump Killer footwear: Adding height to her petite frame, the dancer rocked a pair of chic nude leather stiletto pumps Their dinner date came shortly after the couple appeared on TOWIE on Wenesday and dished the dirt on their 'flirty relationship to pals at their baby shower'. Nathan told Tommy Mallett: 'It was a bit of a rocky start but me and Cara are getting on. We're friends at the moment. 'We don't want to push anything or rush anything and we're getting on better as friends, out of each other's pockets, taking it slow.' Cara, told Amber Dowding and Georgia that the pair would be co-parenting 'like Scott [Disick] and Kourtney [Kardashian]'. Scrubbed up well: Nathan, meanwhile, cut a dapper figure in a nude V-neck sweater over a white shirt, which he teamed with blue jeans mane attraction: Styling her glossy dark hair in a chic braid, the reality star framed her features with smokey eyeshadow and nude lipstick She explained: 'We're not together but we're friends, a little flirt every now and then. He said I look nice pregnant, really womanly.' Speaking about the due date, Cara added: 'I want a water birth and I'm gonna get him some Speedos so he can jump in the bath with me.' Meanwhile Nathan joked that he wants their child to grow up tall, saying: 'I just hope he has his mum's height because if he has mine, he's f***ed!' Nathan shared a photo of the former couple at the baby shower on Instagram and insisted they were still 'best friends' despite splitting up. Loving life: Cara was joined by her TOWIE co-star Georgia Kousoulou, who excitedly touched her pregnant belly Dishing the dirt: Cara told Georgia on TOWIE that she and Nathan would be co-parenting 'like Scott [Disick] and Kourtney [Kardashian]' Candid: She added: 'We're not together but we're friends, a little flirt every now and then. He said I look nice pregnant, really womanly' 'Even though we may not be together, we are remaining best of friends just like old times for our baby boy, and honestly it's the happiest we've been!' he wrote. Meanwhile, Cara confessed to OK! magazine that she was going to be in charge of choosing the name of their little one. She said: 'We're in talks there's the thing where I like this one, he likes this one, but he has told me I will have the last decision, seeing as I've done all the work.' Monochrome maven: Georgia showcased her lithe frame in a pair of ripped grey skinny jeans teamed with a slogan T-shirt Cute couple: The 26-year-old was joined by her boyfriend Tommy Mallett, who was recently forced to shoot down rumours he was leaving TOWIE Despite their close relationship frequently sparking hopes of a reconciliation, Cara has poured cold water on the claims. The expectant star confessed: 'We're not dating we see each other obviously a lot, because we're towards the end of the pregnancy now. 'He's always there at the appointments, and we have quite a few little scans as the baby is just very small!' She's the daughter of two glittering Hollywood actors, and grew up around a third acclaimed moviestar, stepfather Kurt Russell. And Kate Hudson was far too busy trying to impress her A-list parents to party and rebel, she tells Net-a-Porter's digital magazine, The EDIT this month. The 38-year-old actress, who sizzles in a glamorous Old Hollywood shoot, describes her 'boy-crazy' teenage years, which she admits were not her 'coolest'. Scroll down for video 'Never the coolest': Actress Kate Hudson, 38, revealed all about her 'boy-crazy' teenage years in a stunning shoot for EDIT magazine that oozed Old Hollywood 'I was a very focused little girl,' she said. 'I didn't rebel from my parents because I wanted validation from them. 'I never came home with a piercing or a tattoo; I was always the designated driver. I got a bit boy-crazy in high school, but I didn't party, so I was never the coolest person in class. 'At the weekends, I wasn't chilling with friends; I had s*** to do! I still do I can't not be busy.' Glamorous: The mother-of-two stunned in a classic gold gown with 1920s styled waves Screen starlet: Kate looked incredible in the shoot for EDIT, where she also revealed why she doesn't listen to the negative reception towards her romcoms The bombshell was the second child of Goldie's marriage to actor Bill, 68, whose surname she still carries despite spending the last 34 years with The Hateful Eight actor Kurt. While she grew up with fellow actor brother Olivier, 41, and mother Goldie, Kate previously admitted that her father was largely absent, once saying: 'He was around when we were young [but] it sort of teetered out.' Moviestar Goldie was at the height of fame in the late 1960s and early 70s and, in a jaw-dropping accompanying shoot for The Edit, Kate celebrates the progression of movie styles. She poses in a stunning gold gown, styling her blonde locks into loose waves that oozed Old Hollywood and was also styled in a revealing pink lace slip and robe, with matching fluffed slingback heels. Famous roots: Kate also revealed she strived to carve a career of her own rather than rely on the spotlight of her mother Goldie Hawn (pictured here in 2016) The star admits that at first, she strived to carve out her individual career away from mother Goldie, saying: '[I needed to] individuate from my mom. She never fought it her expectations of me were never about her.' Despite her mother's famous roots, Kate revealed she is not the typical grandma to her own two sons Ryder, 13, and Bingham, six, revealing: 'She's not the kind of grandma you can call, like, "Hey, Mom, can you watch the kids?" 'Are you kidding? She's in India with her foundation or New York on a speaking engagement. She's always working.' Kate has son Bingham from her former fiance Matt Bellamy, while her elder son Ryder's father is The Black Crowes star Chris Robinson. Childhood: Kate (right) grew up with brother Oliver (left) but previously said their actor father Bill Hudson was only around when they were younger Happy families: Kate's mum Goldie has spent the last 34 years with fellow actor Kurt Russell (far left, here with the mother and daughter duo in May) Kate's film career has been lead by romantic comedy roles, most notably How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and Bride Wars. Though the light-hearted 'chick flicks' have not come without its criticism, and the genre is something that the Almost Famous star believes: 'People underestimate.' 'With drama, you can draw it out, make it more emotional,' she explained. 'But with comedy, you have to have perfect chemistry and timing or it won't be funny. And not everyone can do that.' More recently, the actress has gone full throttle for her role in 2018 film Sister, for which she shaved off all of her hair. To see The Edit's full interview with Kate Hudson, visit Net-a-Porter, or download the free EDIT app at the App Store and Google Play. He split from on/off girlfriend Megan McKenna this month, with the emotional break-up airing during Wednesday's episode of TOWIE. But rather than stay in and watch the sad scenes, Pete Wicks was enjoying a night on the town with surfer Laura Crane, stepping out in London as the show aired. As Pete, 28, attempted to move on from his romance woes, Megan, 25, was hitting back at claims she had been dating her ex-boyfriend Harry Eden behind Pete's back. Scroll down for video Out on the town: He split from on/off girlfriend Megan McKenna this month. But Pete Wicks seemed in good spirits as he enjoyed a night out in London with Laura Crane on Wednesday A representative for the TOWIE starlet insisted this wasn't the case whilst referencing Pete's famous sexting scandal last year - when he was caught sending explicit messages to his ex. Her rep told MailOnline: 'Megan NEVER cheated on Pete or sexted with anybody whilst they were in a relationship, unlike Pete. 'Megan has not been meeting up with Harry for months the first time they met up was last week when Megan was single. They had no contact at all whilst Megan was in a relationship with Pete.' Meanwhile, Pete's representatives revealed that the star is not ready to move on following his split, and revealed surfer Laura is just a friend. His rep told MailOnline: 'Pete is very recently single and not interested in meeting anyone else at all at this stage. He was simply at a work event with his management team.' Lashing out: As Pete attempted to move on from his romance woes, Megan McKenna was hitting back at claims she had been dating her ex-boyfriend Harry Eden behind Pete's back Out and about: As Pete and Megan's break-up scenes aired during Wednesday's episode of TOWIE, the star opted not to stay in and watch but go out with surfer Laura Surfs up! Laura Crane is both an accomplished surfer and model The comments came after it was claimed Megan had reunited with Harry, before splitting with Pete. Prior to the former lovers being linked back in April, Harry dated the brunette beauty for two years until 2014, and now runs Maisons Bar in Chelmsford, Essex. Insiders told MailOnline: 'Megan has been meeting her ex in secret for months and now he feels like a mug for standing by her. 'Pals warned Pete months ago that Megan was still seeing her ex, but he refused to believe them because he loved her.' The other man? Megan had been accused of dating her ex-boyfriend Harry Eden (pictured) behind Pete's back for months before they eventually split earlier this month The source continued: 'It came out on the show that she had been at after parties with her ex and pals, including some of the Towie cast, knew then that it was more than that, but Pete chose to trust her and believe she was being honest with him. 'It seems he was wrong and he feels like a total mug. At first it was like Harry was a rebound for Pete but it's obvious to everyone that it was the other way round. She's not popular with his friends, she's shown her true colours and they are just hopeful now that Pete can now finally move on and stop beating himself up about his own mistakes.' She boasts a staggering 8.4million Instagram followers, after rising to prominence on Disney show Austin & Ally, before branching out into music. And Sofia Carson, 24, proved she could turn her hand at fashion too, as she posed on the cover for Wonderland's UK issue, due out later this year. The Colombian-American actress, who has been touted as the next Selena Gomez, slipped into an array of nineties-inspired ensembles. Scroll down for video She's a natural! Sofia Carson, 24, proved she could turn her hand at fashion too, as she posed on the cover for Wonderland's UK issue, due out later this year The brunette beauty's first outfit consisted of a striped monochrome shift dress featuring a statement high neckline. Coordinating the vibrant frock, she teamed it with a pair of matching ankle boots, injecting a splash of colour with bright yellow block heels. For her next look the actress and songstress slipped into a more casual grey poloneck sweater and high-waist jeans, wearing her chestnut-coloured tresses in a high side-ponytail. Hot stuff! The Colombian-American actress, who has been touted as the next Selena Gomez , slipped into an array of nineties-inspired ensembles And completing her shoot with a close-up shot, she rocked a pink baker boy cap and blue diamond earrings, showing of her natural beauty under minimal make-up. The Latina beauty has been tipped to be the new Selena, and of the prediction she said: 'I have crossed paths with Selena and Zendaya a few times, I admire them both immensely... Zendaya and Selena have been trailblazers. 'They changed the perception of the Disney Star. But, most importantly they have used their platforms and voices to communicate and share important messages to their fans and beyond. I hope to do the same with my career!' The Descendants star recently released single Ins and Outs, in which she sings about a girl asking a boy to let his guard down and love her unequivocally. Speaking to ABC about her new release recently, she admitted: 'There's definitely a lot of personal things involved in your music. 'It's like sharing a piece of your heart with the world.' Carson recently visited Japan to promote her last movie Descendants 2, as well as being involved in a charity project to help raise money for pediatric cancer. 'I've always wanted the projects that I'm involved with to be in line with my values and my morals and to be able to say something that matters--especially to young girls,' she added of her busy life. Sofia Carson will feature on the cover of Wonderland Magazine's next issue, released in November; this is a special preview ahead of the UK premiere of Descendants 2, airing on Disney Channel on Friday 20th October at 5.30pm. Numerous female actresses in Hollywood have spoken out, accusing producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein of unwanted advances. And in The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on Friday, Jessica Gomes shared her thoughts on the brave women taking a stand against sexual harrassment. 'We've been given a platform to have a voice,' the 33-year-old told the publication. 'We've been given a platform to have a voice': Jessica Gomes, 33, praised Hollywood actresses for taking a stand against sexual harrassment, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, in Friday's The Daily Telegraph During an appearance at the launch of JET swimwear's new collection, Jessica said: 'I think we're being really empowered and taking a stand for certain things, and I think it's really amazing. 'I think it's a really great time to be in Hollywood for women because we've been given a platform to have a voice,' the budding actress continued. Numerous celebrities including Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Kate Winslet have slammed film producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein. The budding actress continued: 'I think it's a really great time to be in Hollywood for women because we've been given a platform to have a voice' Headlines: Film producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein, 65, was fired earlier this month from his own film studio, three days after a bombshell New York Times report alleged that he had preyed on young women hoping to break into the film industry Harvey, 65, was fired earlier this month from his own film studio, three days after a bombshell New York Times report alleged that he had preyed on young women hoping to break into the film industry. Weinstein's accusers - who include celebrities such as Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd - say the tycoon had promised to help advance their careers in exchange for sexual favours. Italian star Asia Argento also accused Weinstein of raping her in 1997 at a party hosted by Miramax at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in an article published by the New Yorker. Claims: Weinstein's accusers - who include celebrities such as Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd - say the tycoon had promised to help advance their careers in exchange for sexual favours 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. More actresses have come out with their stories of sexual harassment at Weinstein's hands, including Hollywood icons Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow. He was hard at work on the set of his new Netflix series, Maniac. But Gabriel Byrne almost burned himself as he tripped and almost fell while shooting in New York City on Thursday. The actor, 67, was carrying a cup of hot coffee when he stumbled, but deftly managed to avoid scalding himself. Take care! Gabriel Byrne almost burned himself as he tripped and almost fell while shooting in New York City on Thursday The Irish star was dressed sharply in a dark navy suit, lavender shirt and tie and long navy coat. He carried a tote full of paperwork as well as his hot beverage, and wore heavy black boots which may have been the culprit. A flanking assistant looked concerned, but also impressed he didn't spill a drop on himself. The dark comedy boasts an impressive cast besides, including Sally Field, Justin Theroux and Sting's wife Trudie Styler, while Jonah Hill and Emma Stone will play the two leads Oops! The actor, 67, was carrying a cup of hot coffee when he stumbled, but deftly managed to avoid scalding himself Dapper dude: The Irish star was dressed sharply in a dark navy suit, lavender shirt and tie and long navy coat Based on the 2014 Norwegian series of the same name, it follows a hero (Hill) who is swept up in dozens of fantastical adventures, which are all imagined from the confines of his psychiatric ward. Stone plays a fellow patient who has similar fantasies, while Justin Theroux will play the recurring role of James Mantleray. Byrne and Field's roles are as yet unknown. Hard at work: He carried a tote full of paperwork as well as his hot beverage, and wore heavy black boots which may have been the culprit Steady as you go: A flanking assistant looked concerned, but also impressed he didn't spill a drop on himself True Detective's Cary Fukunaga is set to direct all ten episodes. Byrne's illustrious career started on the small screen, on Irish soap opera The Riordans back in 1978. His biggest role was Dr Paul Weston in HBO's In Treatment, for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for two Emmys. She is always impeccably dressed for every occasion. And Audrey Tautou looked elegant as ever when she attended the Longchamp La Maison Omotesando luxury clothes store opening in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday. The 41-year old actress looked impossibly youthful as she flaunted her petite figure in a black jumpsuit. Scroll down for video. Beautiful: Audrey Tautou looked elegant as she attended the Longchamp La Maison Omotesando store opening in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday She exuded sophistication in her cropped jumpsuit, keeping covered up thanks to the modest neckline. Her small waist was cinched in by a slim belt with a metal bow buckle. The Amelie actress prioritised comfort, donning a pair of shiny black and gold low heeled shoes. Classy: She exuded sophistication in her cropped jumpsuit, keeping covered up thanks to the modest neckline Elegant: Her small waist was cinched in by a slim belt with a metal bow buckle Carrying on the black colour coordination, she carried a leather bag with hints of gold embellishment along the bottom. The French actress wore her black curls down loose and set off her smile with a slick of red lipstick. She opted for a dainty gem ring along with a thick solid gold band on each hand. Its time! Audrey prepared to cut banner at the new store opening of the Longchamp La Maison store opening Posing: Michiko Tanaka joined the French actress for a picture at the luxury clothes brand store opening The star has often spoken out in the past about her issues with fame, as well as her determination to lead a 'normal life'. Speaking to the Telegraph, she explained that she has never had any desire to relocate to America and take her success to a whole new level. 'I think people find it a mystery that I dont have these Hollywood fantasies,' she admitted. 'But I dont want to have a career there. I dont want to live in Los Angeles.' Gorgeous! The Odyssey actress donned a pair of shiny black and gold heels She made waves in Hollywood earlier in the year with her role as an aspiring rapper Patti Cake$. And Australian actress Danielle Macdonald has talked about her steady rise in Hollywood and credited not giving up to her success. The 25-year-old told Confidential: 'There are lot of things that play a part in it but the main is not giving up. Because I think eventually, if you don't give up and you work just as hard, things will find a way and everything will line up,' she said. 'Things will find a way and everything will line up': Australian actress Danielle Macdonald has talked about how she managed to strike gold in Hollywood She was awarded with the Screen Australia Breakthrough Award at Thursday's Australian in Film event in Los Angeles. Danielle, who has been dubbed as the new Rebel Wilson, moved to Los Angeles from her home in Naremburn, near Sydney, seven years ago. 'It's kind of amazing to see that progress happens over time. It's really cool. I haven't really wrapped my head around it,' she said about the award. Rising star: The 25-year-old said, 'There are lot of things that play a part in it but the main is not giving up. Because I think eventually, if you don't give up and you work just as hard, things will find a way and everything will line up' 'It's kind of amazing to see that progress happens over time: After living in Los Angeles for the past seven years, away from her native Sydney, Danielle was recently awarded with the Screen Australia Breakthrough Award in Film event in Los Angeles The incredible year doesn't stop there for the Sydney-born actress after working alongside Jennifer Aniston on the movie Dumplin. She also landed the role in the film White Girl Problems, based on the novel by Babe Walker. 'I read and I loved it a lot and it's such an amazing group of actors that get to bring it to life with an incredible director on board and I'm so excited to get on board,' she added. Set to be produced by actress Elizabeth Banks and Max Handleman, the film follows a woman who is constantly striving for material perfection and finds herself in shopping rehab. Plum role: Set to be produced by actress Elizabeth Banks and Max Handleman, the film follows a woman who is constantly striving for material perfection and finds herself in shopping rehab She told the publication back in June, that she had never acted in her home country - something that she would dearly love to change. 'I wanted to act, wherever that was I was happy. It just happened to be in America for me,' she said. 'I've never actually played and Australian or worked in Australia. I really want to change that. I really want to work here - that would be great.' It seems the gamble has paid off, with the actress already nabbing roles in such fare as American Horror Story, 2 Broke Girls and the breakout indie comedy Patty Cake$. OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Ocean Springs has the coast's top-rated school district and high school, according to the new statewide school accountability reports released by the Mississippi Department of Education. The Ocean Springs School District is rated an "A" district and the fifth-best statewide, trailing only Petal, Booneville, Oxford, and Enterprise. Biloxi and Long Beach were the only other coast school districts to earn an A rating and rank as the state's ninth and 14th best, respectively. The Jackson County and Pascagoula-Gautier school districts both earned B ratings and ranked 22nd and 49th, respectively. The annual accountability grades are based on point totals earned through state assessments in reading, math, history and science, along with college readiness, availability of and participation in advanced courses, and graduation rate. "These results reflect the progress and achievements students have made on state assessments, the ACT, advanced courses and the state's rising graduation rate," said state superintendent Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. "Teachers, principals and district leaders have been diligent in their work to help students meet higher academic standards and achieve better outcomes." The 2016-17 accountability grades are based, in part, on how well students perform and progress from year to year on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) tests for English language arts (ELA) and Mathematics. These tests are aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards and are administered annually to students in grades 3-8 and in high school. Read the full 2017 accountability report Ocean Springs fell one spot in the state rankings, despite earning 690 points -- one point more than a year ago. Ocean Springs ranked in the top 10 (out of 143 districts) statewide in every single category. "We're happy. We're an A district again and have been an A district for the past five years," said Ocean Springs superintendent Bonita Coleman. "Again, it's all about great teachers. We have some of the most phenomenal teachers in our buildings who are working with our children at all levels every single day. I see how hard those individuals work and prepare." Ocean Springs also had Jackson County's highest rated high school, with Ocean Springs High School tied with Oak Grove High school for sixth statewide. OSHS was joined as an A-rated high school by all three Jackson County schools -- East Central, Vancleave and St. Martin -- which improved from a B last year -- and both Pascagoula and Gautier high schools. "We're very excited about being a B-rated district and having two A-rated high schools," Pascagoula-Gautier superintendent Wayne Rodolfich said. "We focus on where kids finish. We have a lot of different children from different backgrounds. "We try and do the best we can to bring them along through elementary school, through middle school and then high school. We're real pleased that our graduation rate (86.7) is above the state and national average." Rodolfich did acknowledge four elementary schools in his district were D-rated, but indicated all is not as it appears with those school's ratings. "Two of those schools came up from where they were last year," he said. "Arlington Heights was rated an F last year, now they're a D. College Park and Cherokee are typically high performers for us. They just had a down year last year. They worked just as hard as they always work, it's just that the scores didn't work out for them as they normally do. "It's not a concern for us, because we know they'll rebound and they'll do well." Despite having three A-rated high schools, Jackson County's overall accountability grade dropped from an A in 2016 to a B this year. "Vancleave and East Central (high schools) had been A schools, but St. Martin joined their ranks this year, so we're real pleased with that," said Jackson County superintendent Barry Amacker. "But overall we did slip to a B. Looking statewide, though, we came in 22nd, so we're in the upper level. "But we always want to be striving to get better. It gives us something to work on." Meanwhile, there is cause for rejoicing in Moss Point. Despite once again being rated a D district, there were clear signs of growth and improvement in this year's accountability reports. Two of the three lower level schools rose a grade letter, while Moss Point High School rose two full letter grades, from a D in 2016 to a B this year. "To say it was an enormous jump is an understatement," said Moss Point superintendent Shannon Vincent. "We are so extremely excited about the growth -- especially that three out of four schools move up one letter grade -- and it's tremendous that our high school moved up two letter grades. We have been in celebration mode." Vincent, noting her district is only 31 points shy of reaching a C rating, said improving proficiency scores is the key. Moss Point's scores in proficiency were 21.4 for reading, 18.2 for math, 43.8 for history, and 45.3 for science. For comparison, Pascagoula-Gautier's proficiency scores were 38.9, 41.7, 60.9, and 62.9. "If we can grow our proficiency rate, that automatically gets us a higher point value at the district level," she said. "There are four categories for growth and I think we did a great job with growth because we are at 60 points or higher in each of those categories. "If we can impact proficiency at a higher rate, that is where we're going to see more growth at the district level than we have in the past. That's our focus." Here are the MDE accountability ratings and graduation rate for each district and school in Jackson County. Changes in rating are in parentheses: Ocean Springs District: A High school: A Middle school: B Upper elementary: B Pecan Park: B Oak Park: B Magnolia Park: B (+1) Graduation rate: 88.6 percent Jackson County District: B (-1) Vancleave High School: A East Central High School: A St. Martin High School: A (+1) East Central Middle School: A Vancleave Middle School: B (-1) Vancleave Upper Elementary: B St. Martin East Elementary: B (-1) East Central Upper Elementary: B Vancleave Lower Elementary: B (-1) St. Martin Upper Elementary: B St. Martin Middle School: B East Central Lower Elementary: B St. Martin North Elementary: C (-2) Graduation rate: 88.1 Pascagoula-Gautier District: B Pascagoula High School: A Gautier High School: A (+1) Eastlawn Elementary: B Beach Elementary: B (+1) Jackson Elementary: B Gautier Middle School: B Singing River Academy: B (+2) Lake Elementary: B Martin Bluff Elementary: C (-1) Colmer Middle School: C Gautier Elementary: C (-1) Trent Lott Academy: C College Park Elementary: D (-1) Arlington Heights: D (+1) Central Elementary: D Cherokee Elementary: D (-1) Graduation rate: 86.7 Moss Point District: D High school: B (+2) Kreole Primary School: C (+1) Escatawpa Upper Elementary: D (+1) Magnolia Middle School: F (-1) Graduation rate: 74.7 Statewide, 31.4 percent of Mississippi's 143 school districts are performing at a D or F level, an improvement over last year's 37.8 percent. Nine of those are rated F districts. Among high schools, only four schools earned F ratings, two of those in the Jackson Public School District. On Tuesday documents surfaced showing that Blac Chyna is suing the entire Kardashian family including ex fiancee Rob Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. Chyna's lawyer Lisa Bloom told US Weekly that the Kardashians 'decided to start a war by trashing her online repeatedly, so it's on.' She claims that the cancellation of season two of her reality show Rob & Chyna can be blamed on the reality family, which led to the ex stripper losing out on income, endorsement deals. appearance fees and promotion of her products, according to the website. On Tuesday documents surfaced showing that Blac Chyna is suing the entire Kardashian family including ex fiance Rob Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner; seen on October 7 in Miami The lawyer said that is 'how reality shows can be lucrative,' and noted that the Kardashian clan are aware of that 'because they have exploited the economic benefits of reality TV better than anyone...and God bless them for it.' Bloom announced 'We are going to vigorously fight for Chyna in this case,' hinting to Us Weekly they want to get 'millions of dollars' in damages, although not giving a number. She alleges that the E! network still had interest in doing a second season of the show even though Chyna, born Angela White, and Rob were no longer together. Bloom alleges that the Kardashians knew 'what they were depriving Chyna of' and believes the network was still interest in doing a second season. Going against an empire: People has seen a lawsuit filed by Blac against ALL of the Kardashians as she claims they torpedoed a second season of her show Happier times: She claims that the cancellation of season two of her reality show Rob & Chyna can be blamed on the reality family, which led to the ex stripper losing out on income, endorsement deals. appearance fees and promotion of her products, according to the website; seen in May 2016 with Rob Kardashians She acknowledges that while Chyna left Rob toward the end of 2016, the two of them co-parenting their daughter Dream Kardashian, 11 months, and living separate lives is 'classic reality show material, but the show was killed.' Bloom says that the mother of two's rep 'was told it was because the Kardashian family would not allow it to go forward.' Chyna claims that the 'power and influence' of the famous family got season two of her reality show axed. 'Rob Kardashian and his powerful, vindictive family have done enough damage to Ms. Whites career and professional reputation, which she singlehandedly built from scratchwithout the help of a famous last name. This lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable,' the lawsuit against the Kardashian family states. In writing: Blac Chyna's lawyer Lisa Bloom told US Weekly that the Kardashians 'decided to start a war by trashing her online repeatedly, so it's on;' pictured together on July 10 in LA Drama: Bloom says that the mother of two's rep 'was told it was because the Kardashian family would not allow it to go forward' Chyna claims that the network and production team, as well as herself and Rob, were all on board and ready to shoot a second season. But E! sources are refuting the claims, telling TMZ that they have emails to prove that the production team were questioning the future of the show from the beginning. Sources at the network say that because Chyna and Rob broke up briefly at the start of the first season, a second installment was always up in the air. Insiders also say there is documentation to prove that there was no plausible way they could shoot the show mainly because Chyna made it impossible by refusing to be in the same room as her then-fiancee. Adding to that, ratings were also lukewarm, TMZ reports. On Wednesday People reported that the family knew a lawsuit was coming but did not expect the entire family to be named. 'They knew it was coming. They didnt know that everyone in the family would be named in the suit, but its still not shocking news. This is how they know Chyna she is dramatic and will do everything to still be attached to the Kardashian name.' Some of the family members felt a year ago that she was capable of this. 'This is why they warned Rob to get involved with Chyna in the first place. They warned him that she is nonstop drama, and they were right. 'They are sad for Dream that her mom behaves like this. They dont think Rob is perfect in any way, but they think Chyna is beyond bad. They just want the drama to stop. They all love Dream and are very protective of her.' The lawsuit which People obtained states: 'Rob Kardashian is an abuser intent on destroying Angela White, the mother of his baby, who left him in 2016' In addition to claiming they sabotaging her reality show with Rob, Chyna is accusing the family of damaging her brand; she has also accused Rob of physical and emotional abuse. She alleges the nude photo scandal in July, when Rob went on a social media rampage against her, caused her 'significant damages' and also details the alleged verbal and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of Rob. The lawsuit which People has obtained states: 'Rob Kardashian is an abuser intent on destroying Angela White, the mother of his baby, who left him in 2016. 'In revenge, the Kardashian-Jenner family became media predators, slut-shaming her on social media and killing her hit television show, which had already begun filming a second season.' Reports have now emerged, claiming that Blac Chyna was in fact the aggressor in a fight which allegedly turned physical in April. A source close to the Kardashian empire told TMZ that the 29-year-old, who shares 11-month-old Dream with Rob, 30, allegedly attacked him in a 'cocaine-fulled rage' after a visit to a strip club. The night in question, which occurred in April, saw Blac Chyna accuse Rob of knocking her to the ground and 'hitting her in a rage'. However, a source now claims that Chyna had been 'using cocaine and drinking alcohol' throughout the day in the run-up to the night in question, before she allegedly visited a strip club with Rob. Moving forward: In the legal documents Chyna - who also shares son King with ex Tyga - names Rob, his mother Kris Jenner (pictured with Kim) as well as all his sisters; seen in NYC on September 9 The report claims the duo then took a stripper back to their home, and Blac Chyna continued partying into the night with her, while Rob looked after King Cairo, her son with former flame Tyga, and their daughter Dream. According to the source Rob confronted Blac Chyna the following day, and she allegedly 'went ballistic before attacking him'- Rob claims he only ever defended himself, but denies striking her. The Kardashian lawyer, Shawn Holley, told the site: 'We have witness statements and other evidence which will demonstrate conclusively that it is Chyna, not Rob, who is the violent and aggressive abuser.' Lisa Bloom, did not comment on the allegations against her client, but said: 'There's no excuse for domestic violence.' MailOnline has contacted Blac Chyna's representative for comment. In July Rob went on an Instagram rampage against Chyna, posting naked photos, accusing her of cheating on him multiple times, drug and alcohol abuse as well as accusing her of using him for revenge against her ex Tyga. In the new lawsuit Chyna accuses Rob of physical abuse in an April incident where he 'grabbed her phone from her hand and violently knocked her to the ground where she landed on her hands and knees,'. She accuses Rob of losing all control and 'tearing the hinges off of Ms. Whites bedroom door,' The suit states 'Ms. White then retreated to the bathroom, hid in the bathroom closet, and locked the door.' After Rob's social media attack Chyna hired celebrity attorney Lisa Bloom, accusing the reality star of violating California's revenge porn laws. Throwback: Insiders told TMZ that there are emails to prove that Chyna refused to be in the same room as Rob and so production was impossible; seen in May 2016 At the former video girl claimed Rob hit her and threatened to kill himself multiple times and she was granted a set of restraining orders against him. Amid the legal battles, Chyna and Rob came to a custody agreement over their 11-month-old daughter Dream in September. Last month Rob and Kylie sued Chyna claiming she attempted to choke him with an iPhone cord during an intense fight in December. The alleged altercation took place at Kylie's home and the siblings are suing Chyna for battery, assault and vandalism. They claim they 'endured several months of injuries' after Chynas 'deliberate attempt to extort the Kardashian family for her own monetary gains.' The complaint also claims that Chyna's relationship and decision to have a baby with Rob was 'nothing short of an outright fraud to shake down the Kardashian family,' according to The Blast. They also branded her a stripper that has 'created a reputation as a money-hungry, shameless pseudo-celebrity', in the complaint. Lincoln Townley will unveil a series of customised portraits celebrating all six 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Award honorees when the event gets underway in Los Angeles. The contemporary artist husband of actress and TV presenter Denise Welch has developed a series of paintings on behalf of celebrated actors Matt Damon, Claire Foy, Aziz Ansari, Kenneth Branagh, Dick Van Dyke and Ava DuVernay, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) report that each portrait will be sold directly after the awards ceremony at Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 27. Scroll down for video Special: Lincoln Townley will unveil a series of customised portraits celebrating all six 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Award honorees when the event gets underway in Los Angeles All proceeds will be donated to charity primarily the BAFTA Los Angeles Access for All campaign and their educational and community outreach program. Serving as their in-house artist, the work will be Townley's third collaboration with the organisation, having previously been commissioned for customised fundraising BAFTA art in 2015 and 2016. 'How lucky we are to have such an esteemed and internationally acclaimed artist like Lincoln returning to the Britannia Awards for another year,' BAFTA Los Angeles CEO Chantal Rickards announced. Honoured: The contemporary artist husband of actress and TV presenter Denise Welch (pictured) has developed his third consecutive series of paintings on behalf of BAFTA Los Angeles Immortalised: Matt Damon (L) and Claire Foy (R) are amongst those to be honoured by Townley at the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards 'We are incredibly grateful that he has once again created these beautiful portraits, and offered to donate his proceeds to support the philanthropic and education programs that lie at the heart of BAFTAs work.' Townley has previously been commissioned to create paintings on behalf of London Fashion Week for some of the industry's best known supermodels, including Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Cara Delevingne. His work has also encompassed individual portraits for Hollywood luminaries Charlie Sheen, Al Pacino, Sir Michael Caine - who praised the artist after receiving his customised art, telling Sloane magazine: 'Theres no doubt in my opinion that Lincoln is the next Andy Warhol.' Popular: Serving as their in-house artist, the work will be Townley's third collaboration with the organisation, having previously been commissioned for customised fundraising BAFTA art in 2015 and 2016 Townley made headlines in November 2016 after an unprecedented overseas demand prompted by the Brexit vote and its initial impact on the pound helped him sell a portrait of boxer Muhammad Ali for 510,000. He told The Sun: 'There always was a big demand for the image of Ali because of his iconic status. The art collectors in London and New York were both trying to buy the painting but after the referendum vote and the fall of the pound the Americans had the advantage. 'Since Brexit and the aftermath of the financial consequences my agents have experienced a massive increase in demand for my paintings overseas because of the stronger dollar, this trend has been reflected around the world.' He is well known for his dashing red carpet looks. Yet Benedict Cumberbatch changed up his style on Thursday while doing his bit for a good cause as he helped raise money for the The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity during the 6th annual Bloomberg Tradebook Charity Day. As he dialled in for the charity day, Benedict opted for an entirely different look to his trademark style as he rocked an anorak which could easily have belonged to Britpop icon Liam Gallagher in his Nineties heyday. Scroll down for video For a good cause: Benedict Cumberbatch helped raise money for the 6th annual Bloomberg Tradebook Charity Day on Thursday Benedict joined the global event, which took place in four destinations - London, Sao Paul, New York and Hong Kong, where he debuted his funky style. The 41-year-old actor and a host of other celebrities joined Bloomberg employees and clients on the trading floor to help raise money and awareness for worthy charities. While he was surrounded by suited and booted traders, Benedict himself was borrowing from Nineties icon Liam Gallagher in an oversized anorak. The Doctor Strange star was joined by a family friend, actress Siobhan Hewlett, whose soap star mother, Therese McMurray was diagnosed with a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma back in 2010 and is receiving treatment at The Royal Marsden. Rock star? As he dialled in for the charity day, Benedict opted for an entirely different look to his trademark style as he rocked an anorak which could easily have belonged to Britpop icon Liam Gallagher in his Nineties heyday Picture time: Siobhan and Cumberbatch posed for a picture as they participated in raising money for the cause Siobhan said: 'Without The Royal Marsden my mum wouldnt be here. Im permanently amazed and overwhelmed by the impeccable level of care and love from everyone at the hospital.' Benedict spent time at the hospital supporting Therese while she received chemotherapy treatment. Therese stated that Royal Marsden provides compassionate care and she was treated impeccable well saying 'youre treated as a person and not a number'. She explained: 'The expertise of the medical team have both saved and extended my life, which allows me to work, live and enjoy quality time with my family and friends. I know that however uncertain my future is, I am in the very best place. Hard at work: The 41-year-old actor and a range of other celebrities joined Bloomberg employees in trading activities to raise money and awareness for worthy causes The Royal Marsden Charity raises money to ensure that excellent care is provided to cancer patients by raising money solely to support the hospital. It also makes sure that nurses, doctors and research are at an exceptional standard - providing and developing life saving treatments, used across the UK and globally. Siobhan added: 'Sadly cancer is becoming more and more common so its vital that more research is carried out into this disease. 'The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity funds research that is revolutionising cancer treatment. Quirky! People dressed up in fancy dress as they participated in the event - with one employee dressing up as the famous Sherlock Holmes himself 'The hospitals researchers are recognised worldwide for their work which is improving the lives of patients with cancer, both at The Royal Marsden and across the world.' The charity never rests as they are always finding new, innovative ways to fund state-of-the art equipment and ground-breaking research to create the best patient environments for cancer patients. Benedict also praised the charity remarking that the standards of the charity are acknowledged and 'respected' all over the world. 'Whenever I have visited friends or relatives Ive experienced the exemplary teams of highly skilled staff that treat their patients as people not statistics. 'That has a positive impact on the patient but also on their families, friends and loved ones. Its an honour to be helping them raise funds to continue their brilliant work. ' They seem to have one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood. But Dax Shepard admitted he thought 'something fishy' was going on when wife Kristen Bell tiptoed around how gorgeous his A Bad Mom's Christmas co-star Justin Hartley was after asking if they had a prenuptial agreement in place. The actor, 42, joined The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday and gushed over the handsome This Is Us star, who he described as 'a revelation.' Scroll down for video Suspicious: Dax Shepard admitted he thought 'something fishy' was going on when Kristen Bell tiptoed around how gorgeous his A Bad Mom's Christmas co-star Justin Hartley was 'First of all, couldn't look better [in the] face; the body... look at that body!' he fawned at a shirtless pic. 'It is an intimidatingly good chassis. And he's outstanding in the movie, he's so good he steals the whole movie.' He revealed that when he expressed his opinion on Hartley to his wife of four years, she replied: '"He's so nice! He's so nice and fun to be around. He's really funny! he has a great personality..." 'And she started saying all these things, and then she goes "Oh and he's so in love with his girlfriend". 'And I just started thinking "She's never had a friend who was like, a three, and said he loves his girlfriend. Something fishy was going on".' Intimidatingly good chassis: The actor, 42, joined The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday and gushed over the handsome This Is Us star, who he described as 'a revelation.' But when Ellen pointed out Hartley had been on the show with his fiancee, Shepard animatedly shot back: 'You drank the same Kool Aid. You're telling me his fiancee was in the audience, what does that have to do with my marriage?' He insisted: 'I wasn't threatened... I just thought it was really funny that she had so many things outside of how gorgeous he was to say about him.' The Chips star described another worrying conversation he had with his wife when she asked if the had a prenuptial agreement. Strong: The couple have been together for a ten years, but only married for four, having delayed their wedding until California legalized same-sex marriage (pictured in March) 'She texted me - completely out of the blue, she was at work, and I get a text - "Do we have a prenup?"' 'And I'm like "That's a very disconcerting text to receive. Why would someone be wondering if you have a prenup?" 'They're either going to kill you or leave you. It's not like "I'm going to buy him flowers - do we have a prenup?" 'First of all, couldn't look better [in the] face; the body... look at that body!' he fawned at a shirtless pic. 'It is an intimidatingly good chassis.' Elephant in the room: He insisted 'I wasn't threatened... I just thought it was really funny that she had so many things outside of how gorgeous he was to say about him.' 'As it turns out, which is funny, she doesn't know that we don't have one,' he said. The actor revealed that when they first met, he had a lot more money than her, 'and I'm crazy about money'. 'And as we we're leading up to get married she said "Honey, would you want to get a prenup? Would that make you feel better?" 'And in my head I was like "Yes! Please!" And then I said "No I do not want a prenup." Wheels: Dax made an entrance on a tiny motorbike in the hopes of netting some money for breast cancer research Not bad: Any 'magnificent entrance' garners a donation from Ulta Beauty, with Dax winning $30,000 for his He grinned as he admitted Bell - who was the voice of Anna in Disney's Frozen - has gone on to make 'way more money' than him 'I am a genius. I got in at the basement floor,' he boasted. 'I like, signed LeBron James on the playground in elementary school.' He also admitted the lack of prenup was the reason he was promoting A Bad Mom's Christmas. 'I got to get this movie to perform,' a conceded. Ouch: The father-of-two bruised his ego pretty badly after crashing on stage in front of Ellen Shepard and Bell have been together for a ten years, but only married for four, having delayed their wedding until California legalized same-sex marriage. They have two duaghters; Lincoln, four and Delta, two. Dax also shared an impressive clip of Lincoln riding her own mini motorbike, admitting his wife wasn't too happy when she discovered the 'toy' is for 13 year olds and up. She no longer has contact with her ex-boyfriend Jeremy McConnell after he was convicted of assaulting her during one of their violent rows. And now Stephanie Davis, 24, has let rip on her 27-year-old former flame, calling him a 'f***ing evil b*****d' in a furious rant to a shocked fan, who she never met. The former Hollyoaks actress kicked-off about her ex-beau in a stream of expletive-filled messages on Instagram - which were obtained by The Sun - on Thursday after she found out about the Irish model's romance with Demi-Leigh Wilson. Scroll down for video Letting rip: Stephanie Davis, 24, has let rip on her 27-year-old former flame, calling him a 'f***ing evil b*****d' in a furious rant to a shocked fan, who she never met In one message, Stephanie wrote: '[As] far as Im concerned Jezz is dead. This is some f****ing evil b*****d who I dont know. Let him crack on. Im done with caring. 'All hes done with women is beyond forgivable now. Makes me sick, Id never love him again. [Hes a] disgusting person. However, Stephanie hadn't finished her furious rant as she commented on his reported new relationship with mother-of-one Demi-Leigh, 21, and even discussed her own new budding romance. She seethed: 'Ive met someone now who actually cares about me and Caben. Was seeing if Jeremy sorted himself out but he hasnt so Ive left him behind now and moving on with my new chapter. Whats more disgusting is if she has a child! Being around him' MailOnline have contacted Stephanie Davis and Jeremy McConnell's reps for comment. Party: The early-morning rant comes after CBB alum Jeremy threw a raucous party in his Cardiff hotel room in the midst of his community service in the Welsh city New love: The former Hollyoaks actress, 24, kicked-off about her ex-beau in a stream of expletive-filled messages - which referenced him drug use - on Instagram on Thursday after she found out about the Irish model's romance with Demi-Leigh Wilson The early-morning rant comes after CBB alum Jeremy threw a raucous party in his Cardiff hotel room in the midst of his community service in the Welsh city. The reality - who is currently completing the 200 hours of unpaid work for assaulting ex-girlfriend Stephanie - enjoyed a booze-fuelled night and even documented the evening on his Snapchat. In one clip, the Dublin native sang along to music in a pub, while one of Jeremy's three pals - one man and two women - shared footage of their party once back in the room. The foursome - including his rumoured new squeeze Demi-Leigh - were filmed ordering a number of bottles of wine from the hotel's room service. Stepping out: The reality - who is currently completing the 200 hours of unpaid work for assaulting ex-girlfriend Stephanie - enjoyed a booze-fuelled night and even documented the evening on his Snapchat Wine not: The foursome were filmed ordering a number of bottles of wine from the hotel's room service New squeeze: Jeremy's rumoured new squeeze Demi-Leigh was also captured in the clip Drinks: In one clip, Jeremy's three pals - one man and two women - shared footage of their party once back in the room Earlier in the night, Jeremy appeared unfazed that he was partying with a brunette who bore a striking resemblance to the mother of his child as he hit the town hard in Cardiff on Wednesday night. The Irish model, 27 - who is currently completing 200 hours of community service near his Welsh home - headed out with dancer Chloe-Leigh Adams and a group of pals, despite reports he is dating dating single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson, 21. Dad-of-one Jeremy, who unveiled three new tattoos etched onto his face recently, was then seen partying in a hotel room on a friend's Snapchat account, surrounded by bottles of wine and in the company of a half-naked woman. Hitting the town: Jeremy McConnell appeared unfazed that he was partying with a brunette who bore a striking resemblance to the mother of his child as he hit the town hard in Cardiff on Wednesday night The former Celebrity Big Brother star stepped out sporting tight-fitting skinny jeans, a plain white tee and leather jacket for his night out in Cardiff. He was seen arriving at a venue in the city with Chloe-Leigh in tow, before the pair later headed into the same taxi. She rocked a look strikingly similar to Jeremy's ex-girlfriend Stephanie, sporting her brunette locks up into a high top-knot and clad in a lace-up black top, jeans and suede knee-high boots. The brunette and Jeremy appeared to be in close company throughout the night as they enjoyed a chat outside a club. New pal? The Irish model, 27 - who is currently completing 200 hours of community service near his Welsh home - headed out with dancer Chloe-Leigh Adams (above) New love? Jeremy's outing comes amid reports he is dating single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson, 21, after they met during community service Close: The duo appeared to stay close by each other's side throughout the night Engrossed: Jeremy and the brunette were seen deep in conversation with their pals Punishment: Their night out comes as Jeremy has embarked on his 200 hours of community service in the city after being handed a suspended sentence after being convicted of assaulting ex Stephanie New romance? Jeremy's appearance with the brunette beauty comes as he is rumoured to be dating 21-year-old single mum Demi-Leigh Wilson Wild child Jeremy reportedly met his new flame Demi while carrying out his community service after relocating from Ireland to Wales. Friends of Demi seemed to confirm the romance to The Sun, claiming: 'Jeremys really charming and Demi-Leigh is really keen. 'She knows his history, but he's won her over. Everyone's warned that her that he's a player... in her eyes, Jeremy's just a hot Irish celebrity and there's nothing else too it.' A source, meanwhile, claimed to the paper that Jeremy's ex Stephanie is 'furious' to see he has moved on while he is supposed to be serving out his punishment for assaulting her. Keen: Friends of Demi seemed to confirm the romance to The Sun , claiming: 'Jeremys really charming and Demi-Leigh is really keen... she knows his history but he's won her over' Velvet rope: The pair passed the bouncers as they made their way into a venue Heading home? They were later seen heading into the same taxi together with their friends as they exited the bar Casually clad: The former Celebrity Big Brother star stepped out sporting tight-fitting skinny jeans, a plain white tee and leather jacket It comes as photos were later shared to Snapchat, as seen on The Mirror, where Jeremy is pictured continuing his night out in a hotel room, where they appeared to order numerous bottles of wine via room service. Another shot depicted a woman, who appeared to be wearing just a skimpy thong on her bottom half, laying face down on a bed with her head covered by pillows. When contacted by MailOnline a representative for Jeremy declined to comment. Ahead of his night out in Cardiff, Jeremy had unveiled three new tattoos he has had etched onto his face. The reality star shared photos of his new inkings to his Instagram story, revealing a tiny black cross that had been tattooed on his cheek, just underneath his eye, and two new letters by either ear. Look familiar? The girl was strikingly similar to former Hollyoaks star Stephanie and appeared to adopt her sense of style - stepping out in a lace up top, jeans and knee-high boots Continuing the night: Jeremy was later seen continuing to party with his pals in a hotel room, with pictures surfacing of the star on Snapchat and as seen on The Mirror Scandalous: They appeared to order numerous bottles of wine via room service. Another shot depicted a woman, who appeared to be wearing just a skimpy thong on her bottom half Head turner: Chloe (above) is a dancer who splits her time between Cardiff and Majorca The initials appear to be a tribute to his dead parents, with an 'E' on one side in honour of his father, Eugene Cooke, and a 'V' on the other side for his mother, Valerie. Valerie had passed away while Jeremy was 15-years-old. His dad Eugene, meanwhile, died in March, earlier this year, following a short battle with cancer. Jeremy shared a heart emoji alongside the snaps of his poignant tattoos. They are the latest in a slew of tattoos for Jeremy, with his most recent being a nun snorting a suspicious white powder, with prayer beads inked beneath her face. Fans were stunning by graphic image Jeremy posted on his social media on Monday, accompanying the image with the caption 'Sister White.' Father-of-one Jeremy displayed the large black and white artwork on his thigh on social media. The huge tattoo appeared to take up most of his thigh alongside a colourful skull on the centre of his leg. New couple? Jeremy is said to be 'really keen' on Demi, despite his ex being 'furious' over the romance Loved-up: Demi's friends said of the reported romance 'She knows his history, but he's won her over. Everyone's warned that her that he's a player... in her eyes, Jeremy's just a hot celebrity' Shocking: Jeremy stunned fans with a new inking on Wednesday, this time a small cross on his left cheek, in a post on his Instagram stories E-asy inking: Jeremy also revealed a letter E he had tattooed on his ear, as a companion to the V by his other ear Graphic: The Celebrity Big Brother alum shared his new graphic inking on Monday which appears to depict a nun snorting a snorting a suspicious white powder, with prayer beads inked beneath her face Jeremy has a history of drug abuse and had embarked on a stay in rehab, earlier this year, to get his life back on track. He is currently undergoing unpaid work in Cardiff to make up his 200 hours of community service as part of his suspended sentence. In August, Jeremy was convicted of assaulting his ex and former Hollyoaks Stephanie in her home and was handed a 12-week suspended sentence. He was slapped with a restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex for three years, meaning he will have to make special arrangements to see the couple's son Caben Albi. A judge said McConnell had shown no remorse for the attack or the impact it must have had on 10-month-old Caben. However, she refused to impose an immediate jail term after hearing Jeremy had no previous convictions. Concentrating: Jeremy also shared a boomerang of the process, the video catching glimpses of the tattooist hard at work Troubles: Jeremy was convicted of assaulting his ex and former Hollyoaks Stephanie in her home and was handed a 12-week suspended sentence Having now embarked on his community service, friends had said Jeremy is taking it 'seriously' and is using it as a 'turning point' in his life. During the trial, McConnell had told the judge he was battling drug addiction but promised to go to rehab in an effort to become clean. In a letter read out to the court it was claimed he'd been having treatment at a clinic in his native Ireland, for those struggling with heavy drug use. He completed 21 days for 'chemical dependency' in April and is now 'clean from cocaine use', his lawyers claimed. Stephanie and Jeremy met on CBB in 2016, before starting a tumultuous on-off relationship, that later saw Stephanie fall pregnant and Jeremy initially contest her paternity claims. Following Caben's birth the duo briefly reunited, before splitting following a series of violent rows. Drama: He was slapped with a restraining order preventing him from contacting his ex for three years, meaning he will have to make special arrangements to see the couple's son Caben Albi Meanwhile, it was reported that Stephanie is now dating TOWIE's Ricky Rayment, as sources appeared to confirm the romance after a month of speculation. Insiders tell The Sun that the 24-year-old actress has been seeing the former reality star in a 'very flirty' romance. They claimed: 'They have been seeing each other and things are going well. They speak a lot and are openly very flirty; its the start of something new for them and theyre both seeing how it goes.' The news surfaced just hours after her ex Jeremy McConnell posted a loved-up snap with a mystery woman and while she appears to be his reported new girlfriend Demi, contrasting reports claim Jeremy had fabricated the image. Happy days? Stephanie is reportedly dating TOWIE's Ricky Rayment, as sources appeared to confirm the romance after a month of speculation Together? Stephanie was first rumoured to be dating Ricky last month and now the reports have surfaced once again claiming to confirm the romance Not as it seems: Jeremy McConnell posted a loved-up snap with a mystery woman to his Instagram, but it appears her identity is causing some confusion Despite the girl now being pinned as Jeremy's new flame, others have suggested he had faked the image to rile his ex and she is just a fan that had posed with Jeremy. A friend of the photo's subject is believed to have told OK! Magazine: 'I am friends with the girl in the picture and can confirm 100% she is not his girlfriend. She sat with him for a drink. 'I cannot understand why he would insinuate that they are together, I can only assume he is doing it to try and make his ex girlfriend jealous after the articles of her seeing that bloke off TOWIE.' MailOnline had contacted representatives for Jeremy, Stephanie and Ricky for comment at the time. Confusion: While it's been suggested she is Jeremy's new flame, others are suggesting they are not romantically linked and he had fabricated the snap to rile ex Stephanie Furious: Following claims Jeremy has move on, sources have claimed Stephanie Stephanie is 'furious' to see he has met someone while supposed to be serving out his punishment for assaulting her Before news of her romance with Ricky surfaced, it was claimed Stephanie is said to be struggling emotionally with the revelation that Jeremy has moved on. Irish model Jeremy said he was 'so happy' on Instagram on Tuesday when he shared a picture with the pretty brunette as he begins to rebuilds his life - yet it is now clear not all is what it seems. Friends, however, had shared their concern over how Stephanie would react to the photo, with it surfacing just months after Jeremy was convicted of assaulting her. A source told The Mirror: 'Stephanie was just about holding it together until this photo confirmed he's moving on. It was all fun and games when she was toying with the fact she might be seeing someone when she isn't. So for Jez to have moved on first is absolutely killing her.' Complicated: Stephanie and Jeremy's whirlwind relationship and later toxic split was endlessly tumultuous, having all began when they met in the CBB house in January 2016 Stephanie and Jeremy's whirlwind relationship and later toxic split was endlessly tumultuous, having all began when they met in the CBB house in January 2016 despite the stunning star already dating model Sam Reece on the outside. Upon departing the house, they became embroiled in a toxic romance complete during which they split their time between reported violent altercations and loved-up photoshoots, before Stephanie announced her pregnancy in May 2016. The duo reunited later on and while they enjoyed a brief romance once more they soon split before their horrific argument in March, when Jeremy suspected her of a lesbian affair and a fling with a fireman as he attacked her at a Merseyside property. In July, Stephanie was then arrested herself for GBH and criminal damage as they became locked in a furious row in an Enfield hotel - although the charges were later dropped and she revealed she was pregnant. Drama: Upon departing the house, they became embroiled in a toxic romance complete during which they split their time between reported violent altercations and loved-up photoshoots, before Stephanie announced her pregnancy in May 2016 Convoluted love story: The duo reunited later on and while they enjoyed a brief romance once more they soon split before their explosive argument in March, where Jeremy was said to have assaulted her Appearing in court in August regarding his March arrest, Jeremy was handed a 20-week sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was ordered to pay 1,000 in court costs, 1,000 in compensation to Miss Davis and a victims surcharge of 115. He was also told he must carry out a Building Better Relationships course with the Probation Service, as well as 15 days of Rehabilitation Activity Requirements and 200 hours unpaid work near his new home in Wales. Following the stress of the court case, she suffered a miscarriage with their second child. She's currently being bogged down by rumours her romance with actor Ryan Thomas has had its day. And if the rumblings are true, Lucy Mecklenburgh is certainly showing her boyfriend what he's missing by posing in new photos for a campaign by ellesse sportswear. In the newly-released snaps, the 26-year-old stuns as she poses in a deep blue one-piece, the front tantalizingly unbuttoned almost to the waist, teasing her chest and her abs beneath. Scroll down for video Formula Stun! Lucy Mecklenburgh slips into an all-in-one motor racing suit (but forgets to do it up) in a sizzling shoot for ellesse With a light dusting of make-up, the former TOWIE star wears her chocolate locks flicked playfully as she shoots a sultry glare down the lens. The design resembles a retro style that was originally seen in the 70s with the iconic blue of the Beechdean Aston Martin Racing as the palette of the design. Reigning European Le Mans Series champions Beechdean Aston Martin Racing team has teamed up with the sportswear brand to form a unique and limited edition pit lane and race uniform exclusively for their race team. Elsewhere, Lucy's are they/aren't they situation was muddied further when Ryan took to Instagram to share a series of posts in a nod to Lucy, which she later reciprocated - illustrating no ill feelings between the loved-up duo. Racy: In the newly-released snaps, the 26-year-old stuns as she poses in a deep blue one-piece, the front tantalizingly unbuttoned almost to the waist, teasing her chest and her abs beneath Va va va voom: With a light dusting of make-up, the former TOWIE star wears her chocolate locks flicked playfully as she shoots a sultry glare down the lens Lucy had just launched 'With Self Love', a programme to help tackle anxiety, and in support of the stunner, Down Under-dwelling Ryan shared the slogan for the campaign while gushing about his pride. Last week, Lucy seemingly hinted at trouble in paradise with her boyfriend Ryan after he confirmed that he is going to be making a move to Australia, after landing a job on the soap Neighbours. Appearing to take a swipe at him after the news broke, Lucy shared a photograph of a toad on Instagram with the caption: 'I seem to attract frogs', while Ryan appeared to be teasing a reunion as he penned: 'I'll give you one more chance.' Lucy launched the new campaign in conjunction with her Results With Lucy fitness empire and while she has been storming the campaign trail, a number of stars have thrown their support behind her - most notably Ryan. Feeling tyred? The design resembles a retro style that was originally seen in the 70s with the iconic blue of the Beechdean Aston Martin Racing as the palette of the design All good! Lucy Mecklenburgh and Ryan Thomas' romance has been riddled with rumours of strife since he relocated to Australia for a role on hit soap Neighbours Sharing an image of the campaign slogan, he penned: 'This is a confidence course I truly believe in and something I feel I had to share. Well done @lucymeck1 @resultswithcecilia very proud of what you guys are trying to achieve.' Clearly pleased with his support, the stunning star re-posted his message with a note of gratitude, while he also posted an image of a delicious looking meal on which he tagged her Instagram handle. Away from her cryptic love life, she was living her own tropical dream as she shared a picture from the Juice Hideaway in Marbella earlier in the day. Posing up a storm at the poolside, the fitness guru drew attention to her ample cleavage in a keyhole bikini, as she showed her actor beau what he could be missing. Supportive: Yet all appeared to be well in the Thomas-Mecklenburgh camp on Wednesday as Ryan took to Instagram to share a series of posts in a nod to Lucy, which she later reciprocated - illustrating no ill feelings between the loved-up duo Grateful: Clearly pleased with his support, the stunning star re-posted his message with a note of gratitude Grateful: He also posted an image of a delicious looking meal on which he tagged her Instagram handle While staying at a fitness retreat, former The Only Way Is Essex star Lucy looked gym-honed her matching black two-piece. Thanks to her stay in the sun-drenched retreat, the reality star flaunted a gorgeous, glowing tan. The Essex born beauty looked healthy and happy as she shared with her fans that she was feeling 'refreshed and full of energy'. She captioned the shot: 'Feeling refreshed, full of energy and educated after my raw food retreat! Excited for new ventures.' Ryan, who? Though staying at a fitness retreat, former The Only Way Is Essex star Lucy looked gym-honed her matching black two-piece Gym bunny: Lucy is channeling her heartache into what she knows best - fitness MailOnline has previously approached Lucy Mecklenburgh and Ryan Thomas' representatives for comment. Sparks flew when they met on Bear Grylls' Celebrity Island where they were in the midst of water shortages, extreme hunger and tropical storms. After developing a strong bond on the survival show, the pair continued their romance on home turf. Intense work out: The Essex born beauty looked healthy and happy as she shared with her fans that she was feeling 'refreshed and full of energy' Love is survival: Sparks flew when she met Ryan on Bear Grylls' Celebrity Island where they were in the midst of water shortages, extreme hunger and tropical storms It had appeared to be going strong, with Lucy even being introduced to Ryan's eight-year-old daughter Scarlet whom he shares with former flame Tina O'Brien. The actor found success with Coronation Street's Jason Grimshaw for 16 years before leaving the show to seek other opportunities. Ryan said: 'I grew up watching Neighbours so to get the chance to join the cast is amazing. I was on holiday with my daughter when I got the phone call.' He's certainly no stranger to playing the tough guy in movie roles. And Dwayne Johnson was seen wrenching himself away from cops who tried to detain him as he shot scenes for his upcoming movie Skyscraper in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday. The actor, 45, initially appeared to submit to the police, letting one of them pull his arm behind his back - but in a flash he broke free and made a run for it. Scroll down for video Drama: Dwayne Johnson was seen wrenching himself away from cops who tried to detain him as he shot scenes for his upcoming movie Skyscraper in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday Dwayne's chiseled physique was visible through a powder blue shirt spattered with fake blood, with a red-stained tear at the right sleeve. The former wrestler had his cuffs folded up to reveal his toned forearms, as well as the fact that his left one is bandaged up. The movie star was photographed standing with his hands up in surrender as two cops advanced on him, one of them training a gun on him. Latest role: The actor, 45, initially appeared to submit to the police, letting one of them pull his arm behind his back - but in a flash he broke free and made a run for it Surrender: The movie star was standing with his hands up as two cops advance on him, one of them training a gun on him Feint: Dwayne turned around and the officer without the gun appeared to be starting to arrest him, yet with a bit of quick thinking, the leading man made an escape Dwayne turned around and the officer without the gun appeared to be starting to arrest him, yet with a bit of quick thinking, the leading man made an escape. He pushed the arresting officer into the gun-toting one, and then he dashed off, pushing aside a pair of startled-looking men in his way. Dwayne was seen filming Skyscraper in Vancouver last Friday, his face covered in grime during a scene where he stood near a helicopter. Breaking free: He pushed the arresting officer into the gun-toting one Away he goes: Then he dashed off, pushing aside a pair of startled-looking men in his way A little girl named Georgia - played by McKenna Roberts - was seen standing beside Dwayne, with both of them are bundled up in thick anoraks. At one point in the scene, he helped her off the helicopter onto a stone tiled floor. In the film, the aircraft belonged to police, judging by text across the side of its tail. Silver fox: Dwayne's chiseled physique was evident through a powder blue shirt spattered with fake blood, with a red-stained tear at the right sleeve Injured: The former wrestler had his cuffs folded up to reveal his toned forearms - as well as the fact that his left one was bandaged up Incoming: Written and helmed by Rawson Marshall Thurber - director of We're The Millers - Skyscraper comes out July 13 next year in both Britain and America Just outside the helicopter, Dwayne was seen surrounded by a group of men, including two wearing what appeared to be the uniforms of Hong Kong paramedics. Written and helmed by Rawson Marshall Thurber - director of We're The Millers - Skyscraper comes out July 13 next year in both Britain and America. Its cast includes Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber, Chin Han, Paul McGillion, Elfina Luk, Byron Mann, Hannah Quinlivan, Kayden Magnuson and Roland Mller. Tense: Dwayne was seen filming Skyscraper in Vancouver last Friday, his face covered in grime during a scene where he stood near a helicopter Keeping warm: A little girl named Georgia - played by McKenna Roberts - was seen standing beside Dwayne, both of them bundled up in thick anoraks Rawson, who previously directed Dwayne in Central Intelligence, dished to the Indian broadsheet Daily News And Analysis over the summer about the film. Of moving from his prior work in comedy to an action movie like Skyscraper, he conceded: 'I don't know if it's organic. I think it's pretty uncommon to do it. 'I just always loved action movies since I was a little kid. In fact, the movie I am prepping for right now (Skyscraper) is a straight up action movie.' Clues: Just outside the helicopter, Dwayne was cseen surrounded by a group of men, including two wearing what appear to be the uniforms of Hong Kong paramedics He said: 'I always wanted to make action movies. I really love Central Intelligence so I would never call it a stepping stone, but it's definitely a bridge to straight up action.' 'Dwayne is the best. He is not only the hardest working guy you'll ever meet, (I know people say that a lot, but he actually is!) but he is also incredibly gracious and kind.' The director explained that Dwayne, often nicknamed The Rock, 'takes the work seriously but doesn't take himself seriously, which I really appreciate. 'Boy, when I made Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, it was the best experience I ever had, so I am very excited to do it again on Skyscraper.' He has been battling an ongoing addiction with alcohol for much of his adult life. And Ben Affleck looked cheery as he arrived for another session of rehabilitation at the Rehab Recovery Center in Los Angeles on Thursday. The actor, 45, was all-smiles as he made his way inside once again while continuing to battle his demons. Onwards and upwards: Ben Affleck looked cheery as he arrived for another session of rehabilitation at the Rehab Recovery Center in Los Angeles on Thursday Ben sported jeans, a black T-shirt, and a red leather jacket. The Oscar-winning movie star finished off his casual ensemble with navy blue laced-up sneakers. His salt-and-pepper hair was kept un-groomed, while sporting his scruffy facial fuzz. Ben kept a positive attitude while heading to treatment, as he stepped out of his black SUV with a big smile on his face. Positive outlook: The actor, 45, was all-smiles as he made his way inside once again while continuing to battle his demons Casual: The Oscar-winning actor sported jeans, a black T-shirt, and a red leather jacket, finishing off his casual ensemble with navy blue laced-up sneakers Ben has been focusing on his sobriety after a rehab stint in February; the actor went public with his alcohol addiction in March. He wrote on Facebook at the time: '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,' He ended. Affleck has been frequently visiting the center over the past few weeks. On Wednesday, the Batman actor was seen arriving at the Rehab Recovery Center with his girlfriend, Emmy-winning SNL producer Lindsay Shookus, 37. The two were also accompanied by Ben's new dog he adopted from a rescue center. Determined: Ben has been focusing on his sobriety after a rehab stint in February; the actor went public with his alcohol addiction in March The actor has been in hot water in recent days after former One Tree Hill star and MTV correspondent Hilarie Burton claimed the actor groped her during a TRL appearance in 2003. Hilarie made her allegations just hours after Ben took to Twitter to condemn disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for his alleged sexual assault and harassment scandal. Former Weinstein protegee Ben said he was 'saddened and angry' over the 'sickening' claims. His statement was slammed by a number of people - including Weinstein accuser actress Rose McGowan, who called Ben a liar. Ben was quick to reply, tweeting: 'I acted inappropriately toward Ms. Burton and I sincerely apologize.' The same day make-up artist Annamarie Tendler took to Twitter to claim that Ben 'grabbed her a**' at a Golden Globes party in 2014 and demanded an apology. Fessing up: The actor has been in hot water for groping allegations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal over the past week The news of the groping scandal has reportedly caused some tension between Ben and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Over the weekend, the couple were seen taking their children out for ice cream, as the two parents seemed to be in a very intense conversation. The former couple - who split in 2015 after almost 10 years together - raise daughters Violet, 11, and Seraphina, eight, and son Samuel, five. A source told E! News on Thursday that Jennifer 'is very annoyed' with Ben because of the unwanted attention it has brought to their three children. The source continued: 'She tries to shield them from any and all publicity and scrutiny. She's taking her kids to school and to all of their activities. 'As far as they know nothing has changed and all is well. That is always her goal but she's been pretty frustrated with him.' She's been a regular face on the red carpet at the Mipcom event in the South of France this week. And Catherine Zeta-Jones, 48, was taking time out from her busy schedule to lounge around in her Cannes hotel room in silk pyjamas on Thursday, sharing a stunning fresh-faced selfie from her bed. The Hollywood star showcased her radiant complexion in the candid shot, going make-up free with just a touch of last night's mascara smudged around her eyes. Scroll down for video Natural beauty: Catherine Zeta-Jones, 48, was taking time out from her busy schedule to lounge around in her Cannes hotel room in silk pyjamas on Thursday, sharing a stunning fresh-faced selfie from her bed Catherine looked impossibly youthful in her latest selfie, with her dark hair fanning out behind her on the pillow. She captioned her snapshot: 'Oh, and by the way, I have been living in my new, soon to be yours too, @casazetajones pajamas in my free time here in Cannes. Jadore!!!!! #CasaZetaJones'. The Welsh actress was met with a flurry of compliments from her followers, who cooed about how 'beautiful' and 'natural' she was. Catherine's post comes after she revealed that she bulked up to play ruthless Colombia drug lord Griselda Blanco in the Lifetime original movie, Cocaine Godmother. Committed: Catherine is still every inch a Hollywood sex symbol thanks to her dancer's figure. But the wife of Michael Douglas put her curves on the line as she bulked up to play ruthless Colombia drug lord Griselda Blanco The woman she is depticting: The star is playing Blanco in the Lifetime original movie, Cocaine Godmother 'I gained weight, I was hunched over. If I had balls, Id have grabbed them from time to time. I wanted to let it all hang out,' the mother of two told Deadline. The Oscar winner added: 'She thought she was beautiful. She was the movie star starring in her own movie. She didnt give a s***.' And the Chicago actress said she was happy to play someone who was so tough. 'As women we get knocked down for being ambitious. I often wish we could take a little bit of that true ambition and be proud of it,' said the Zorro star. With the weight on: Here the Hollywood icon is seen with some extra pounds on her tiny frame as she filmed her Griselda movie in June in Canada Booked: If the name Griselda sounds familiar that's because she was a part of the popular HBO docu-series Cocaine Cowboys that documented the rise of the drug in Florida in the 1970s 'I wouldnt be talking to you today if I didnt have an inherent ambition. You make your own luck. Yes, there are people who help along the way, but weird enough, the harder I work, the luckier I get Take credit for yourself. 'The humble crap is good, but it gets boring.' If the name Griselda sounds familiar that's because she was a part of the popular HBO docu-series Cocaine Cowboys that documented the rise of the drug in Florida in the 1970s. An incredible body: Catherine has been looking drop-dead gorgeous all week while in Cannes Ravishing: She is seen here on Monday at the MipCom cocktail event Blanco was depicted as a violent, vain drug lord who killed anyone who stood in her way. It is believed she ordered the murders of 200 people in her lifetime. Blanco first dipped her toe into drug dealing when she was living in Queens, New York. She then moved to where the action really was, Miami, and staffed up. Her family: Catherine with Michael Douglas, Dylan and Carys in 2015 in Jerusalem When her second husband died she was given the nickname The Black Widow. She amassed an incredible amount of wealth but when her enemies closed in, she moved to California. When she was deported to Colombia in 2012 she was quickly killed. Catherine did not want to 'homogenize her or find a sympathetic quality' for the criminal. 'I dont think she had one. I applaud Lifetime and A+E. It would have been easy to rose-tint this story,' said Zeta-Jones. The next generation: Zeta-Jones has said her daughter Carys wants to get into acting; here she is seen in September at a fashion show in NYC But the cover girl found there to be 'something fantastic about how she was the boss in a dangerous mans world,' said the star. 'You gotta give it to her. I remember saying as bad as she is, Im going to make people kind of like her,' said the Welsh star. This is not Catherine's first step back into acting. Earlier this year she played Olivia de Havilland in FXs Feud about the decades long tension between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. 'I'm happy, lucky and blessed to be back,' she said. 'I definitely would love to do more.' She then added: 'Years ago, there was a stigma. I was stuck in the showgirl theater box. Eventually I made it into television in Britain and then made it to film. If you got to do film, you dont go to TV. That has changed. 'Actors are able to do human stories, they dont have to be robots for a $200M movie. This is why we do it, to have those international human stories that any culture can understand.' Cocaine Godmother premieres in 2018 on Lifetime. Zeta-Jones stunned on Monday night in Cannes with a black lace dress, looking better than most actresses half her age. The New York resident also has a home line called Casa Zeta Jones that sells on QVC. She was one of the most sought-after supermodels of the 1990s. And Eva Herzigova looked typically sensational when she slipped into a demure all-black ensemble for the Veuve Clicquot Widow Series in London on Thursday evening. The Czech model and actress, 44, attended the bash to celebrate the entrepreneurship of Madame Clicquot - who single-handedly took over her late husband's champagne business in the 1800s. Scroll down for video Chic: Eva Herzigova looked typically sensational when she slipped into a demure all-black ensemble for the Veuve Clicquot Widow Series in London on Thursday evening Eva's lacy black dress featured intricate floral detailing as well as sheer panels which exposed her bare and flawless decolletage. The revealing number was cinched at the midriff to reveal her enviably tiny waist, with the pretty pleated skirt delicately grazing her shins. The starlet added to her sophisticated look with strapped black heels which featured sheer sections to match her dress. Girl power: The Czech model and actress's lacy black dress featured intricate floral detailing as well as sheer panels which exposed her bare and flawless decolletage while Sai Bennett wowed in a silken Karen Millen suit with a plunging neckline (right) Elegant: The rising star set hearts racing by going bare beneath a loose, plunging blazer which showed off her flawless decolletage Racy: Eva's revealing number (left) was cinched at the midriff to reveal her enviably tiny waist, with the pretty pleated skirt delicately grazing her shins Sheer bliss: She showcased her taut stomach in her semi-sheer number Nailed it! She donned a pair of matching shoe boots which teased at her red pedicure Perfect pair: Carine Roitfeld (L) and Eva cosied up together at the star-studded event Work it: Her midi look teased at her slender pins underneath Having fun: (L to R) Halima Aden, Carine and Eva couldn't contain their laughter as arms popped out of a wall as they leaned against it Hugging it out: The pair couldn't contain their smiles together She injected a splash of colour into her look with a slick of crimson nail varnish and glitzy silver earrings. Eva was joined by a bevy of celebrities including Yasmin Le Bon and Sai Bennett. Yasmin, like her fellow supermodel, opted for a stylish all-black look in an eye-catching dress with a frilled neckline and patterned cut out panels. Meanwhile model and acupuncturist Olivia Inge rocked a floral chiffon mini dress, accessorising with a glittering clutch bag and matching shoes. Also in attendance was Sai Bennett, who is known for her role as a shop assistant dressed head to toe in Edwardian garb in the costume drama, Mr Selfridge. Glam: Yasmin Le Bon (pictured), like her fellow supermodel Eva, opted for a stylish all-black look in an eye-catching dress with a frilled neckline and patterned cut out panels Striking: The beauty looked incredible in the striking look Working it: Model and acupuncturist Olivia Inge rocked a floral chiffon mini dress Feeling flirty: Her flirty floral look featured billowing sleeves which countered the plunging neckline All in the details: She accessorised her look with a glittering clutch bag and matching shoes Radiant: The flame-haired beauty displayed her blossoming bump upon arrival Turning heads: British fashion designer and model Leomie Anderson posed up a storm on arrival to the event Camera ready: Leomie (L) and Neelam caught up at the exclusive bash Clicqu-oh yes! Burberry model Neelam Gill sizzled in a denim jumpsuit and black beret Picture perfect: (Pictured L to R) Halima Aden, Leomie Anderson and Neelam Gill posing for a snap Jump to it: French art director Julia Restoin Roitfeld stunned in her black jumpsuit In the pink: Betty Bachz highlighted her slender pins in her dusty pink mini dress Luxe life: Billie JD Porter slipped into a plunging silk gown for the luxury festivities Risque: Scotty Sussman (left) and Harry Charlesworth certainly caught the eye in their outfit choices, complete with fishnet tights, sexy suspenders and bold splashes of crimson lipstick The actress turned heads just as much as her flirtatious on screen character when she stepped out in a breath-takingly elegant ensemble. The rising star set hearts racing by going bare beneath a loose, plunging blazer which showed off her flawless decolletage. She flaunted her sensationally svelte frame in the two-piece burgundy Karen Millen suit, adding inches to her already willowy figure with chunky black wedge heels. The stunning 27-year-old, who was romantically linked to Game of Thrones star Alfie Allen at the beginning of last year, followed her role in the 2013 ITV drama with The Face of An Angel and various television appearances. Gothic: Doina Ciobanu channelled Hallowe'en vibes as she opted for an elegant floor-length cape over her sweeping gown Pin-credible: Roxie Nafousi stunned in a glittering sequin mini dress which highlighted her slender pins Having fun: Personal stylist Nikita Andrianova larked around with a morph-suit model at the star-studded event in the capital They reunited in July after a period of estrangement. And Roxy Jacenko's relationship with husband Oliver Curtis keeps going from strength to strength, the couple jetting off on an overseas holiday together on Thursday. Travelling in style, the high profile couple headed overseas on Singapore Airline's first class suites - a trip which costs an eye-watering $8000 for just an eight hour flight. Their second honeymoon? Roxy Jacenko gets her face done by makeup artist for first class flight out of Sydney with husband Oliver Curtis Taking to Instagram, Roxy shared a photo of her and Oliver nursing glasses of champagne as they sat back and enjoyed their flight. 'See you later Sydney,' the PR queen captioned the photo to her 199,000 Instagram followers. The pair were flying overseas in Singapore Airlines first class suites, which features beds, chef-prepared meals inside a private room complete with sliding doors. Dressing up! Prior to flying overseas Roxy made sure to jet out of Sydney in style and had her makeup applied by a stylist An eye for detail: Roxy had false eyelashes and eye makeup applied prior to the long haul flight Prior to flying overseas Roxy made sure to jet out of Sydney in style and had her makeup applied by a stylist. Taking to Instagram, the svelte blonde shared a video of her makeup and false eyelashes being applied, captioning it 'pre flight face'. Oliver and Roxy's trip overseas comes as the pair reunited earlier this year after a period of estrangement. Happy family: Oliver and Roxy's trip overseas comes as the pair reunited earlier this year after a period of estrangement Period apart: The couple were estranged while Oliver served a 12 month jail sentence for insider trading After serving a 12 month jail sentence for insider trading, Oliver proposed to Roxy for the second time in July. Since the proposal and their reuniting, Roxy has dropped several hints that the couple may renew their vows. She sent fans into meltdown when the spin queen shared a photo of her trying on a wedding dress earlier this month. The Sydney socialite told Fairfax Media last week their nuptials will be nothing short of extravagant. Her wedding dress? She sent fans into meltdown when the spin queen shared a photo of her trying on a wedding dress earlier this month 'It'll be over the top. We are not known for subtle. Less is never more': Roxy said the couple's wedding will be extravagant 'It'll be over the top. We are not known for subtle. Less is never more,' Roxy told the publication. But she confirmed that the couple had made no plans as of yet for the second wedding. 'We have been together now for seven years, maybe we'll do it for our 10-year anniversary,' Roxy said. Woody Allen was forced to clarify comments in which he appeared to express sympathy for shamed movie producer Harvey Weinstein. But it was back to business for the stars of his new film Elle Fanning and Jude Law as they resumed filming for the untitled new comedy in New York City on Thursday. Elle and Jude were spotted sharing a giggle as they sheltered under an umbrella on set, caught in a faux downpour. Scroll down for video On set: Elle Fanning and Jude Law were spotted filming for the untitled new Woody Allen comedy in New York City on Thursday The blonde beauty rocked a preppy look in a teal jumper and plaid skirt combo, which she has been spotted wearing several times over the past few days. Jude looked like the quintessential English gentleman in a beige trench coat and khaki trousers. The pair raced across the street, giggling as they filmed for the as yet untitled project. Happy: The beauty appeared in jovial spirits as she rested inbetween takes with wet hair Showers: Elle and Jude were spotted sharing a giggle as they sheltered under an umbrella on set, caught in a faux downpour Preppy: The blonde beauty rocked a preppy look in a teal jumper and plaid skirt combo, which she has been spotted wearing several times over the past few days Smart: Jude looked like the quintessential English gentleman in a beige trench coat and khaki trousers Woody pushed ahead with his own film projects, brushing off the backlash as he returned to the set of his new film in Manhattan. Seen giving direction to Elle and Jude, the 81-year-old dissociated himself from the scandal in Hollywood, in which The Weinstein Co's one-time boss Harvey has been implicated in multiple sexual assault accusations. Allen's yet-to-be-titled 2018 film also includes an all-star cast, including Selena Gomez, Timothee Chalamet, Diego Luna, Liev Schreiber and Kelly Rohrbach. Action: The pair raced across the street, giggling as they filmed for the as yet untitled project Cheeky: The Hollywood starlet accentuated her alabaster skin with a dusting of rose blush across her cheeks Back on set: Director Woody Allen, 81 (left) was seen giving direction to Elle and Jude the previous day, after backtracking on comments her made about Harvey Weinstein As the film-maker is notoriously secretive about his work, little is known about the director's latest project apart from the stars. Caught in conversation, Woody seemed focused, while Elle smiled in amusement at her co-star Jude. As they reunited on set this week, 19-year-old Elle was in full costume, looking preppy in a sweater and miniskirt, while Jude looked sophisticated in specs. The director: Woody was spotted on the set Greenwich Village, following his decision to clarify comments that appeared to show sympathy for the shamed movie producer Clarity: Woody said his comments on the Harvey Weinstein scandal (pictured right, together in 2008) have been misinterpreted. 'When I said I felt sad for Harvey Weinstein I thought it was clear the meaning was because he is a sad, sick man,' a new statement from the director read The duo shared many scenes together, even getting caught in a heavy downpour alongside actress Rebecca Hall. Acclaimed director Allen came under fire on Saturday when he seemed to express sympathy for the sex pest movie producer. He told the BBC that he felt 'sad' about Weinstein and cautioned against a 'witch hunt' against the movie mogul. But on Sunday, claiming he had been misinterpreted, he clarified his statement to Variety, saying that he meant to call Weinstien a 'sad, sick man'. Day on set: Actress Elle is just one of the stars to appear in Woody's new 2018 film Talking and walking:Jude and Elle were pictured rehearsing their lines together on set A veteran: Law, who has been in over two dozen movies, looked smart in a raincoat over a beige sweater and green slacks 'When I said I felt sad for Harvey Weinstein I thought it was clear the meaning was because he is a sad, sick man,' Allen's statement reads. 'I was surprised it was treated differently. Lest there be any ambiguity, this statement clarifies my intention and feelings.' Allen's original statement read: 'The whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved. 'Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that is life is so messed up. There's no winners in that, it's just very, very sad and tragic for those poor women that had to go through that.' Wet but not wild: In another scene they were caught in a heavy downpour Cold: The Maleficent actress got completely soaked as she did not have a coat with her. Law smartly had on a beige raincoat Rain scene: Rebecca Hall filmed a scene in the rain with Elle and Jude He hoped the victims can find 'some amelioration' now the allegations have come to light, but added: 'You also don't want it to lead to a witch hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself. That's not right either.' Over 30 actresses have now come forward accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment, four of which include rape. Those recalling his inappropriate behaviour include Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne, Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale, as well as a string of other young actresses and models. Weinstein, 65, has given a statement to The New York Times apologising for his behaviour but insisted that he had never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity. Tender moment: Elle signed an autograph for a girl on the set In the car: Elle was also seen with her seat belt on in the front seat of a sedan Allen and Weinstein collaborated several times over the years, including on the Oscar-winning film Mighty Aphrodite. Filming for Woody Allen's latest project began last month. The new movie will be the four-time Oscar winner's 50th feature film. In a recent interview, actress Elle spoke about what its like to work on a Woody Allen film. She told Vanity Fair: 'For [Woody Allen] films, its such a whole new experience. His crew picks up the cast in these giant vans that come up to your apartment in New York. 'Sometimes youre the only person getting in the van. The first time Timothee was in the van, we spent the first 25 minutes talking to each other.' Talking to a crew person: Here Elle was seen with wet locks as she chatted up a young lady Keeping dry: Rebecca kept dry under a yellow raincoat She's animated: Elle used her hands while filming a scene with Rebecca On set: Rebecca and Elle beamed while on the set together Colorful scene: A red umbrella helped Rebecca stick out in the crowd Reunited: Jude Law and Elle Fanning were then seen on location for Woody Allen's untitled movie in Tribeca on Thursday Looking good: Elle cut a stylish figure a grey co-ord as she joined Jude on the outing Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have appeared on screen together for the first time. The new trailer for 12 Strong debuted on Thursday, with the actor, 34, playing U.S. Special Forces Captain Mitch Nelson, and his real-life wife, 41, playing his spouse. The war drama tells the story of the dozen men sent into Afghanistan immediately after the 9/11 attacks on New York. 'We're fighting with horsemen against tanks': Chris Hemsworth takes on Al Qaeda post 9/11 in the first trailer for 12 Strong released on Thursday The trailer opens with Hemsworth sharing a kiss his on and off screen wife, and chatting with their young daughter about picking her up from school, when the TV behind them delivers the awful news on September 11, 2001. '19 men attacked our country,' William Fitchner's officer tells the gathered team. 'The 12 of you will be the first ones to fight back.' 'I don't care how long your gone, as long as you come back,' Pataky whispers to Hemsworth. The team are then seen flying into Afghanistan, where they broker an uneasy alliance with local militia. The 34-year-old plays U.S. Special Forces Captain Mitch Nelson, with real-life wife Elsa Pataky playing his spouse, the first time the married couple have appeared on screen together 9/11: The trailer opens with Hemsworth sharing a kiss his on and off screen wife, and chatting with their young daughter about picking her up from school, when the TV behind them delivers the awful news on September 11, 2001. Married: 'I don't care how long your gone, as long as you come back,' Pataky whispers to Hemsworth 'Every step we take is gonna be a mine field from a hundred different wars, Hemsworth warns his men. 'Odds are we're not all going to make it out of this.' As they monitor an enemy stronghold, one of the officers played by Michael Shannon declares: 'If we don't take that city, the World Trade Center is just the beginning.' To engage the enemy in the mountainous terrain, the squad must travel by horseback, something not even their elite forces training has prepared them for. Dangerous: 'Every step we take is gonna be a mine field from a hundred different wars, Hemsworth warns his men. 'Odds are we're not all going to make it out of this.' Allies: The team are then seen flying into Afghanistan, where they broker an uneasy alliance with local militia Warzone: 'Every step we take is gonna be a mine field from a hundred different wars, Hemsworth warns his men. 'Odds are we're not all going to make it out of this.' 'Alright who's ridden before?' Hemsworth asks. 'Anyone?' 'Summer camp, when I was nine,' one offers. 'Spring Break, but I was pretty hammered,' adds another. 'We're outnumbered... 50,000 Taliban and Al Queda fighters. We're on our own,' Hemsworth says. 'I can't order anyone to do this.' In one tense scene, the team are seen being surrounded by men who appear to be surrendering, before revealing themselves as suicide bombers. Ride on: To engage the enemy in the mountainous terrain, the squad must travel by horseback, something not even their elite forces training has prepared them for Detonated: In one tense scene, the team are seen being surrounded by men who appear to be surrendering, before revealing themselves as suicide bombers Battle: 'There's no playbook here, we're going to have to write it ourselves,' Hemsworth adds. 'I ain't losing one man on this team.' 'There's no playbook here, we're going to have to write it ourselves,' he adds. 'I ain't losing one man on this team.' To an acoustic cover of the late Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, the squad are seen exchanging fire with a heavily militarized enemy while on horseback. 'I made her a promise I'm coming home,' Hemsworth tells a comrade at the close. 12 Strong hits theaters on January 19. Won't back down: To an acoustic cover of the late Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, the squad are seen exchanging fire with a heavily militarized enemy while on horseback Her mentor Lisa Wilkinson unexpectedly quit Today this week after failing to achieve pay parity with Karl Stefanovic. And the past few tumultuous days appear to have taken their toll on Sylvia Jeffreys, the Today newsreader appearing exhausted at Gold Coast airport on Thursday night. The 31-year-old looked downcast as she made her way through the Queensland airport. Big week taken its toll? Sylvia Jeffreys looks exhausted and downcast as she jets to the Gold Coast after Lisa Wilkinson's dramatic exit from Today Sylvia cut a casual figure at the airport, wearing an oversized pink shirt and black skinny jeans. The Channel Nine personality paired the look with strappy black sandals, wheeling a suitcase along beside her. A Channel Nine spokesperson confirmed Sylvia was in Queensland as part of her duties for the network, the blonde absent from Today on Friday. Keeping it simple: Sylvia cut a casual figure at the airport, wearing an oversized pink shirt and black skinny jeans Staying up to date: Sylvia checked her phone as she made her way through the airport terminal Sylvia's trip to the Gold Coast comes after Lisa sensationally quit her job as Today host on Monday. Lisa left her decade-long position after failing to achieve equal pay with co-host Karl - who is Sylvia's brother-in-law. After Lisa's sudden departure, Sylvia paid tribute to her mentor on air, saying the veteran journalist had been an inspiration. Controversial exit: Sylvia's trip to the Gold Coast comes after Lisa sensationally quit her job as Today host on Monday Her mentor: Sylvia paid tribute to her mentor on air, saying the veteran journalist had been an inspiration 'Seeing is believing for young girls and for young women,' Sylvia said on Tuesday. 'And what they see in Lisa is a strong, influential, fun and compassionate woman at the very, very top of her game. And that is a very powerful thing.' Sylvia, who married 60 Minutes reporter Peter Stefanovic earlier this year, is now being touted as a possible replacement for Lisa. News Corp reports the popular Nine journalist is due to come off her contract at the end of the year, with betting agencies labelling Sylvia a hot favourite for the hosting gig. They're the Australian stars who've found immense success in the cut-throat world of Hollywood, But it looks like Ruby Rose and Rebel Wilson haven't forgotten their roots. According to Friday's The Daily Telegraph, the actresses are set to head to Sydney for the Australian premiere of their latest film, Pitch Perfect 3, on November 29. Homeward bound! According to Friday's Daily Telegraph, Ruby Rose (left) and Rebel Wilson (right) will head to Sydney for the Australian premiere of Pitch Perfect 3 on November 29 The homegrown superstars will be joined by one of their American co-stars, Brittany Snow, on the red carpet. Rumours are also circulating that other members of the star-studded cast which includes Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld and Elizabeth Banks could also make the trip Down Under for the premiere. It comes after Ruby openly gushed about her co-star Rebel in an interview with Sunrise last month. 'She is just the funniest, most humble, down-to-earth person and I love her madly, I would have Rebel on toast,' the Orange Is The New Black star said. Hollywood hit! The latest installment of the Pitch Perfect franchise will open in Australian cinemas on New Year's Day Her response came after Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr asked: 'Working with Rebel Wilson, she's been in the media a lot this year, what's she like to work with?' 'She's the best honestly,' Ruby gushed, the question drawing an immediate smile, before the actress lavished a string of compliments. She continued: 'I would have Rebel on toast, Rebel in a smoothie, Rebel for dessert... Rebel as like my Christmas decorations.' 'I love her madly, I would have Rebel on toast': Ruby previously gushed about her co-star during an interview on Sunrise last month The third installment of the Pitch Perfect franchise is set to open in cinemas across Australia on New Year's Day. It will follow The Bellas as they perform for the troops during a United Services Organisation concert in Spain. Reuniting for 'one last show together', they soon find themselves intimidated by the tour's other two bands. Hours after I revealed that Sir Mick Jagger was to be joined by his Brazilian ex-lover, model and TV presenter Luciana Gimenez, 47, and their 18-year-old child, Lucas, on tour this week in Paris, his ballerina girlfriend pulled out all the stops to ensure she was not forgotten. Melanie Hamrick, the 30-year-old American brunette who gave birth to septuagenarian Sir Mick's eighth child, a son named Deveraux, in December, put herself back in the social media spotlight by posting this striking picture of herself online. Showing off her slender figure in a glittering, strapless, black dress while perching on a seat in the empty auditorium of the David H. Koch Theatre in New York ahead of the Fall Gala, Melanie captioned it: 'Red carpet ready for American Ballet Theatre's opening night!' Melanie Hamrick put herself back in the social media spotlight by posting this striking picture of herself online It was revealed Mick Jagger was to be joined by his Brazilian ex-lover, model and TV presenter Luciana Gimenez, 47 (pictured) this week Culture Secretary Karen Bradley reveals how she dodges criticism by letting businesswoman Baroness Brady take the flak. 'People confuse me with Karren Brady on Twitter. I saw her on Monday and I had to apologise, because after my Question Time appearance she got a load of abuse,' Bradley tells me at the Man Booker Prize awards. 'We laughed about it. I used to get congratulated when she did good business things, and now she gets abuse when I do anything wrong on TV. I reckon I've got the better end of the deal.' Lottie's in a three-party strip teaser Kate Moss's half-sister Lottie is challenging the supermodel's party-girl reputation. Out in London on Wednesday night, the 19-year-old attended three parties, shedding clothes along the way. Kicking off the night in a pink trouser-suit, the Calvin Klein model, who recently split from Made In Chelsea star Alex Mytton, was not short of male attention. Later, at a nightclub in Chelsea, she ditched her jacket to reveal nothing but a light blue bra as she posed with a fellow reveller (left). Afterwards, she was spotted climbing into a black cab with another male friend, who held her close in the back seat (right). Five other women have accused disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape or sexual assault Los Angeles police are investigating Harvey Weinstein in relation to a suspected sexual assault four years ago, a spokesman told AFP on Thursday. "The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery homicide division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein which allegedly occurred in 2013," officer Drake Madison said. "The case is under investigation." The woman at the center of the case was not identified by the police, but several media outlets reported that she was an Italian model and actress. The Los Angeles Times said police interviewed the woman, who has not been identified, for more than two hours on Thursday regarding the alleged assault that took place at a hotel. Five other women have accused the disgraced movie mogul of rape or sexual assault. Authorities in New York and Britain have already launched probes into those claims. Private carrier flynas, in which Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal holds a 34-percent stake, plans to expand its routes from Saudi airports to major cities across Iraq Saudi budget carrier flynas on Wednesday made the first commercial flight from Riyadh to Baghdad since 1990, as ties with neighbouring Iraq show signs of improvement. "Our first flight took off today from Riyadh to Baghdad," the company wrote on Twitter, posting pictures of the cabin crew and passengers. Tickets for the maiden flight were advertised for as low as $7 (six euros) excluding taxes as flynas CEO Bandar al-Muhanna said the move to reopen the route would help "link the two sisterly countries". Flights between Iraq and Saudi Arabia were suspended some 27 years ago in August 1990 after former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered his troops into neighbouring Kuwait. After years of tense relations, ties between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iraq have begun looking up in recent months. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir headed to Baghdad in February for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on the first visit of its kind since 2003. Abadi then visited Riyadh in June, followed the next month by influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who led a militia that fought against the US occupation of Iraq. Private carrier flynas, in which Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal holds a 34-percent stake, plans to expand its routes from Saudi airports to major cities across Iraq. National flag carrier Saudia, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, is also scheduled to operate a flight to Baghdad from Thursday. A man walks past a new piece of graffiti depicting US President Donald Trump on the controversial Israeli separation barrier separating the West Bank town of Bethlehem from Jerusalem on October 15, 2017 Newly daubed graffiti on the Israeli wall cutting off the occupied West Bank lambasts US President Donald Trump and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The work has appeared in recent days after secretive Australian artist Lushsux crowdsourced ideas for what to paint on the controversial separation wall, which in many areas cuts through the Palestinian territory. But residents and visitors warned the art, much of which is not explicitly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, risks undermining the purpose of painting on the wall. One painting depicts Trump penning a letter to the rapper Eminem, alongside a caption from his 2000 hit song "Stan" in which Eminem is stalked by a superfan. The rapper attacked Trump in a widely publicised rap last week. Another shows failed US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton asking "what happened?" which without the question mark is the title of her new autobiography. Next to her Trump says "I happened." A third has Zuckerberg with red eyes and the caption "the more of your data I gather, the more I understand what it means to be human." Some of the ideas were crowdsourced, with the artist asking fans on Twitter for suggestions for captions. He is currently asking fans which famous figure he should paint next, ranging from another of Zuckerberg to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Asked via Twitter why he chose to crowdsource his ideas, Lushsux told AFP he was "just trying to be social on social media." In a previous interview, the Australian, whose identity is protected, has said he aims to be the "anti-Banksy" -- the British street artist whose artworks have been major hits all over the world. Lushsux, whose work often includes nudity, told Australia's ABC he wanted to "paint things that don't please everyone." Israel began erecting the up to eight-metre wall during the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s citing security concerns, but Palestinians call it the "apartheid" wall. It has long been a site for artists to highlight the Israeli occupation, with Banksy painting on it multiple times. In March he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, with all rooms looking out onto the wall. Visitors said Wednesday they were concerned Lushsux's art didn't highlight Israeli policies. "The wall risks becoming a street art gallery rather than actually politicising what it is about," Paul Saxton, a 30-year-old Briton visiting the site, told AFP. "While it is great to look at -- these are fantastic works of street art -- maybe they could fit in any city rather than being in this place where there is a very deliberate issue." Two men walk past a new piece of graffiti depicting Chief Executive Officer and founder of Facebook Inc Mark Zuckerberg on the controversial Israeli separation barrier separating the West Bank town of Bethlehem from Jerusalem on October 15, 2017 Bethlehem resident Khader Jacaman said there was "no relationship" between the art depicting Clinton and Trump and the Palestinian cause. "The Palestinian people don't want them to come, paint and go. Their (social media) followers don't do anything." In 2004 an International Court of Justice advisory opinion called the wall illegal, but Israel rejects this and argues it is necessary to protect its citizens. Around 400,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. The government of Dar es Salaam has vowed to deport foreigners campaigning for gay rights Tanzanian police said Wednesday they had arrested 12 men, including two South Africans and a Ugandan, for presumed homosexuality as part of an ongoing crackdown against gays. "We arrested the criminals at (the hotel) Peacock -- they were promoting homosexuality. Two are South Africans, one Ugandan and nine Tanzanians," Dar es Salaam police head Lazaro Mambosasa said at a weekly press conference. He said the 12 were being questioned ahead of being sent before a court and did not say when they had been arrested. "Tanzanian law forbids this act between people of the same sex, it is a violation of our country's laws," said Mambosasa. He added the hotel manager was among those arrested for "providing a room" for the others. Mambosasa urged citizens to notify authorities if they caught wind of such activities "so we can act in time". Police made 20 arrests -- eight men and 12 women -- on similar grounds on Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago Zanzibar last month. According to police, those arrests took place in a hotel where the group were undergoing training with an officially-registered international NGO, the Bridge Initiative, which works in AIDS awareness. In February, Tanzania earned criticism notably from the United States after announcing the closure of several health centres specialising in AIDS prevention, alleging they were fronts for promoting homosexuality. The Dar es Salaam government also vowed to deport foreigners campaigning for gay rights. Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law. There is no such ban on lesbian relations. According to Amnesty International, homosexuality is illegal in 38 of 54 African states and is punishable by death in Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan. Uganda in 2014 tried to impose the death penalty on those found guilty of being homosexual, however the controversial law was later repealed. Australia's spy chief says overseas powers have sought classified information on the country's alliances and partnerships, its position on diplomatic, economic and military issues and innovations in science and technology Foreign powers are waging an "extensive, unrelenting" campaign of espionage and meddling in Australia, notably targeting ethnic and religious minorities, the country's spy chief warned Thursday. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said it was struggling to cope with the threat, with its resources stretched from fighting terrorism. Spy chief Duncan Lewis said in a forward to ASIO's annual report that over the past year there had been a "steadily worsening overall security and operational environment". He pinpointed heightened terror fears, but also growing foreign interference which was "extensive, unrelenting and increasingly sophisticated". Overseas powers had sought classified information on Australia's alliances and partnerships, its position on diplomatic, economic and military issues, energy and mineral resources, and innovations in science and technology, he said. "Espionage and foreign interference is an insidious threat -- activities that may appear relatively harmless today can have significant future consequences," he warned. Officials last week revealed sensitive data about Australia's F-35 stealth fighter and P-8 surveillance aircraft programmes was stolen when a defence subcontractor was hacked using a tool widely used by Chinese cyber criminals. Without naming any countries, Lewis pointed to "a number of states and other actors". "Our investigations revealed countries undertaking intelligence operations to access sensitive Australian government and industry information," he said. "We identified foreign powers clandestinely seeking to shape the opinions of members of the Australian public, media organisations and government officials in order to advance their country's own political objectives. "Ethnic and religious communities in Australia were also the subject of covert influence operations designed to diminish their criticism of foreign governments," Lewis added. He said the activities represented "a threat to our sovereignty, the integrity of our national institutions and the exercise of our citizens' rights". The report comes after recent public warnings from Australian officials about the level of Chinese government interference on university campuses. There are mounting concerns about the way Beijing uses nationalist student groups to monitor Chinese students, and challenge academics whose views do not align with Communist Party doctrine, particularly over issues such as Taiwan and border disputes. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop stressed this week international students were welcome but Australia was a democracy and "we don't want to see freedom of speech curbed in any way involving foreign students or foreign academics". According to state broadcaster ABC, Beijing's intrusion into Western universities has sparked a push by Australia's closest allies, including the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, for a more coordinated response to the tactics. While foreign meddling was a major concern for ASIO, so was the heightened terror threat which was placing "considerable pressure" on the domestic spy agency. Its report said three planned attacks in Australia were disrupted over the past 12 months, while highlighting concern about the growing influence of Islamic State in Southeast Asia. A view of the Bourgiba avenue in the Tunisian capital Tunis A Frenchman and a Tunisian woman were convicted on Wednesday on appeal in Tunis for "public indecency" after an altercation with police who arrested the couple while they were hugging in a car. The couple, who maintain that they were not kissing, were given a lighter sentence than the original term handed out at their October 4 trial, after widespread outrage on social media and in the press over the incident. The man was handed four months in prison for "public indecency" and "refusing to obey the police", with the woman given a two month sentence on the first charge only. "It's an independent decision," a spokesman for the public prosecutors office, Sofiene Sliti told AFP. "What has been reported nationally and internationally is wrong -- they weren't arrested for a kiss, the couple was naked," he added. At the hearing Wednesday, the woman collapsed into tears when the court president read a police description saying a sexual act was in process when the couple were stopped on October 1 in a suburb of Tunis. The woman said that her friend had simply taken her into his arms when the plainclothes police stopped them and made them get out of the car. The Frenchman confirmed to the judge that he had tried to film the police to make a complaint about their behaviour. A dozen defence lawyers had been arguing for an acquittal for the couple. The majority of the lawyers were working for free on the case, which has triggered an uproar in Tunisia over morality campaigns and police behaviour. The defence pointed to numerous flaws in the case, including hearings in Arabic which the Frenchman, who is of Algerian origin, did not understand. "It is normal that he reacts badly when his fundamental rights were being violated," said lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, whose client is accused of intimidating police. He pointed to what he said was "bad faith" on the part of the police, who he said were looking for revenge after being implicated over their handling of the case. "This case highlights key problems with the judicial system and the police. Abuse of powers... lack of respect for citizens and their rights, attacks on individual liberty," said former deputy Nadia Chaabane, who is a member of a group to support the couple. "The problem is that we have judges now who accept all these breaches and procedural problems," she said before the judgement. A goldsmith works in the creation of silver filigree jewellery, in Mompox, Colombia With strong yet delicate hands, Daniel Alfonso Garrido masterfully manipulates fragile threads of gold to craft fine jewelry, perpetuating an ancient Arabic art handed down by generations of Colombian goldsmiths. Lacy spindles of silver and gold have been used to make jewelry in the isolated northern Colombian town of Mompox since the time of the Spanish conquest. Built on an island on the wide Magdalena river, the town's colonial beauty inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian magic-realist partly setting his "General in his Labyrinth" there. However, tourists make their way here -- four hours upriver by boat, an hour's droning by small aircraft -- for the magic realism of handcrafted jewels. "It's an Arab tradition, and the Arabs taught it to the Spaniards who, when they conquered us, brought this art to America, and especially to Mompox," the gray-haired Garrido told AFP. Here, at a counter in his workshop, the 53-year-old goldsmith creates jewels mostly inspired by nature, weaving filigree animals and flowers from precious metals as his father and grandfather did before him. - 'Art in our blood' - The skill has been handed down here through the generations, as is the case with several families across Mompox, and the town boasts 170 goldsmiths working in 13 jewelries, according to the Institute of Culture and Tourism of the Department of Bolivar (Iculture). "We have goldsmithing in our blood," said Garrido, the best known goldsmith here, with a hint of pride. The art of filigree, a typical technique of Colombian jewellery, was brought to the country by the Spaniards who in turn learnt it from the Arabs in Andalucia The filigree graces the windows of the 23 jewelers of Mompox, a city founded in 1540 and listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995 for its traditions and colonial style. Its relatively isolated location far from the densely populated Caribbean coast, 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, has helped Mompox preserve its culture over the years and become a jewel of Colombian architecture. "I love the drawing of their filigree pieces," said Viviana Devia, 42, a visitor from the capital Bogota. "When we go to the workshop, we realize the work that this represents and it has a real value." The "Tito" workshop is classically styled with a patio blending wooden beams and wrought iron, reminiscent of an era when the conquistador's gold was first hauled into the town. The share to be shipped back to the Spanish crown was then calculated in the river port of Mompox. Although its goldsmiths are world famous, Mompox is not located in a gold mining area. The locals got their skills with precious metals from its importance as a coin-minting center. - Tradition and patience - "Our added value is the tradition, the time, the fragility in our hands, the patience we have to put in," said Garrido. "Because if a silversmith is not patient, it does not work." Lacy spindles of silver and gold have been used to make jewelry in the isolated northern Colombian town of Mompox since the time of the Spanish conquest A piece of filigree jewelry can sell here at anything up to several hundred dollars, and Mompox "yields a total of close to 2.5 million pesos (around 867,000 dollars) a year to the 23 jeweler workshops here," Iculture director Lucy Espinosa Diaz told AFP. The creation of a filigree piece takes anywhere between half a day and two weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the design, says Jaime Florez, 27. After first defining the style of the bracelet he wanted to create, and then calculating its weight, he melted a chunk of silver and started at dawn to craft a bracelet that he hoped to finish before sunset. In Mompox, aloof from the tourist hordes, the blows of a hammer mingle with the noise of the silversmith's welding, while the great wide waters of the Magdalena murmur in the distance. Xi Jingping, China's most powerful leader in a generation, says he will continue to show 'no tolerance for corruption' In the past five years, Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign has steamrolled over 1.5 million crooked Communist Party officials. And it may just be getting started. Addressing the twice-a-decade gathering of the Communist Party's leadership Wednesday, China's most powerful leader in a generation pledged he would continue to show "no tolerance for corruption". Xi, who is set to secure a second five-year term as party chief during the congress, said the country must intensify its efforts to combat the "symptoms and root causes" of graft. "Corruption is the greatest threat our party faces," he told an audience of more than 2,300 delegates in Beijing, adding that the party must have "strength and tenacity to persevere in the never-ending fight". The speech followed an announcement last Saturday that the 205-person Central Committee had expelled 12 senior members, including former justice minister Wu Aiying. The campaign to clean up the country's ubiquitous corruption has been Xi's most visible and arguably most popular initiative, pressuring the party's 89 million members to toe the line. Over the past five years it has brought down officials at all levels of government, from low-level "flies" to high-ranking "tigers", and even extended overseas to bring back "foxes" that have fled abroad. - Fallen rivals - While it has been a long-needed corrective to a system rife with graft, the campaign has also served as a weapon for Xi to eliminate his adversaries and consolidate his political power. The ranks of the fallen include some of the president's most formidable political rivals, such as the former minister of state security Zhou Yongkang. A more recent target was Sun Zhengcai -- the ex-party secretary of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing -- who was once tipped as a contender for the party's highest office in 2022 but was expelled from its ranks last month. China's corruption campaign has only punished around 1.5 percent of the party's total membership so far, leaving plenty of room to target the country's endemic lower-level corruption. All told, Xi has knocked out around 11 percent of the Central Committee which comprises the "most powerful people in China", according to Trey McArver, founder of Beijing-based research firm Trivium China. Still, the campaign has only punished around 1.7 percent of the party's total membership so far, leaving plenty of room to target the country's endemic lower-level corruption. "The campaign is going to be further institutionalised" during Xi's second term, McArver said. "Now, you're seeing a lot more enforcement of less egregious violations," he said, adding that "we're still seeing increased investigations." The campaign has been very successful at prosecuting past acts of corruption, but it now needs to focus on preventing them, said Chen Daoyin, a Shanghai-based expert on Chinese politics. "It has only reached the stage where officials don't dare to be corrupt, it hasn't yet made it impossible for them," he said. - Right-hand man - One major step in that direction is the expected establishment of a new anti-graft agency, the National Supervisory Commission, that will coordinate investigations at all levels of government and expand their remit to include non-party members. While the reorganisation could expand anti-corruption efforts, it may also make them less brutally efficient: the current crusade has heavily relied on the party's shadowy, extralegal internal justice system known as "shuanggui". This tool will be phased out under the new system, Xi said in his speech Wednesday, to be replaced with a new legal mechanism. Xi's right-hand man, Wang Qishan, has received the bulk of the credit for managing the country's systematic and ruthless drive against crooked politicians and bureaucrats. One outstanding question is who will head up the new system. Xi's right-hand man, Wang Qishan, has received the bulk of the credit for managing the country's systematic and ruthless drive against crooked politicians and bureaucrats. But now the 69-year-old ex-mayor of Beijing may be forced to step down under an unofficial party rule setting the retirement age at 68. Wang has "made it very clear that he wants to institutionalise the campaign," McArver said, adding that he is likely "setting things up to make it easy for his successor to succeed". But Chen believes that Xi's enforcer will likely head the new anti-corruption organisation to ensure that the effort gets "direct guidance from the highest leaders". - Divisive campaign - Despite its success, the campaign has also been "very divisive," said Willy Lam, a China expert at University of Hong Kong, making Xi a "tremendous number of enemies within the party and the PLA (People's Liberation Army)". Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi has made a 'tremendous number of enemies within the Party and the PLA' through his anti-graft crackdowns, one analyst warned It has also paralysed decision making at many levels of government, because officials "err on the side of caution", he said. "If Xi were to go further, this might boomerang on him." While it is true Xi's crusade may have made many enemies, it has also created new allies, Trivium's McArver said. "For every official that gets taken down, another official gets promoted." Solar panels were among the few precious possessions Rohingya refugees grabbed as they fled their villages in Myanmar The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power -- thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmed's makeshift grocery store. The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four lightbulbs and two small fans. "Now we can have light at night, and when it's really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief," he told AFP as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. - Solar only power source - In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. The refugees AFP spoke to accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya -- 50 percent of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Solar power was "the only source of electricity in the area," said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabir's sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees don't have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. China's economy is looking to transition away from investment heavy growth to consumer-led expansion China's economy slowed marginally in the third quarter but is well on course to beat the government's annual target, cementing President Xi Jinping's standing as he prepares to be handed a second term in power at a Communist Party conclave. The world's number two economy expanded 6.8 percent in July-September, but while the figures released on Thursday were slightly down from the 6.9 percent of the previous two quarters they indicated stability after a years-long slowdown in growth. "The national economy has maintained the momentum of stable and sound development in the first three quarters, with favourable factors accumulating for the economy to maintain medium-high rate of growth," said National Statistics Bureau spokesman Xing Zhihong. "However, we must be aware that international conditions remain complicated and volatile and the national economy is still at a crucial stage of restructuring with the foundation for sound development yet to be consolidated." While well off the breakneck rates of a decade ago, the reading was in line with a survey of analysts by AFP and put the economy well on course to eclipse the official target of about 6.5 percent for the whole year. The economy grew 6.7 percent last year, which was its slowest pace for more than a quarter of a century. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it clear market forces will not be used to constrain state-owned companies' ambitions or decisions - Key reforms - The readings come as Xi was set to secure another five-year term as the party's general secretary at the highly choreographed week-long congress, which he is expected to use to surround himself with loyalists in leadership posts. Analysts say he now has a chance to push through key reforms. "Relatively strong economic performance this year offers a good opportunity for the government to address several long-term economic issues," Raymond Yeung, chief Greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Hong Kong, wrote in a recent report. "Xi also needs to shift China's economy from a credit-intensive, property-led growth model to one that supports sustainable growth," he said, according to Bloomberg News. Beijing has for years been trying to transition the economy from one reliant on exports and state investment to domestic consumption. China economy Thursday's figures suggest their work is paying off. Brisk consumer spending and strong factory output fuelled economic growth in July-September, while retail sales rose 10.4 percent on-year during the first three quarters. "Consumption is the stabilising factor of the economy, and industrial output actually quickened in September," Grace Ng, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong, said. The services industry contributed the majority of China's economic growth, according to the Statistics Bureau, and in line with sentiment expressed on Wednesday by Xi. "China's economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development," Xi told an audience of 2,300 party leaders when he opened the congress on Wednesday. - Debt worries - He emphasised this point by leaving out new growth targets from his speech. His predecessor Hu Jintao made doubling the country's GDP by 2020 a key point of his opening remarks at party gathering in 2012 and in 2007 pledged to double per-capita income. Less pressure for high growth could roll back the policy stimulus that has caused China's debt to spiral to levels that have led to two sovereign rating downgrades and warnings of a financial crisis. The soaring debt is most concentrated in China's state-owned enterprises, which have continued overbuilding and overproducing for example with a glut of steel. The latest figures showed some progress on that front, with the debt to asset ratio, one measure of leverage, at China's largest industrial enterprises ticking downwards slightly from last year. The NSB's Xing said China had continued "the work of cutting overcapacity, reducing excess inventory, deleveraging". Analysts believe China has made some progress but say rising commodity prices and the resulting rise in revenue has made some data points appear more rosy than reality. "The growth in leverage is still climbing at a significant pace," said Christopher Balding, economics professor at Peking University in the southern city of Shenzhen. "But it's slower than a couple of years ago." Xi made it clear market forces would not be used to constrain state-owned companies' ambitions or decisions. "We will support state assets in becoming stronger, doing better, and growing bigger," he said in his speech, a nod that China's massive state-owned enterprises will continue to hold sway in the economy for years to come. Advertisement One person died when a fire tore through a luxury teak wood hotel in Myanmar's main city Yangon on Thursday, destroying the iconic resort, which is popular with foreign visitors. Hundreds of firefighters tried to quell the blaze, which broke out at around 3am local time, but were unable to stop the flames from consuming the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel. An AFP reporter at the scene saw a white plastic sheet covering a body retrieved from the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of further casualties. One person died when a fire tore through a luxury teak wood hotel in Myanmar's main city Yangon on Thursday Hundreds of firefighters tried to quell the blaze, which broke out at around 3am local time, but were unable to stop the flames from consuming the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel 'We are trying to identify the body,' Htay Lwin, from the Htoo Group, which owns the hotel, said. 'It's hard to say why the fire broke out, the cause is under investigation,' he said, adding around 140 guests were at the hotel when the inferno started. The colonial-era structure is owned by a Myanmar businessman notorious for making his fortune under the former junta. Tay Za - a controversial tycoon who spun millions of dollars through his close military links - founded the Htoo Group, which spans construction, timber, resorts and an airline. Locals lamented the loss of one of Yangon's iconic buildings, which was perched on a hill by a large picturesque lake in the centre of the city. The oldest parts of the Kandawgyi hotel date to the 1930s when British army officers used the site as rowing club The colonial-era structure is owned by a Myanmar businessman notorious for making his fortune under the former junta Firefighters try to extinguish the fire. 'We're sad that such a historic and beautiful place was completely destroyed,' a witness called Kyi Kyi said 'We're sad that such a historic and beautiful place was completely destroyed,' a witness called Kyi Kyi told AFP, standing near the still smouldering ruins of the building. Guests at the hotel had been moved to other hotels in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, which has made its mark on Southeast Asia's tourist trail since the country emerged from full junta rule. The oldest parts of the Kandawgyi hotel date to the 1930s when British army officers used the site as rowing club. Myanmar's reputation as one of the region's hottest new destinations has been battered by global censure over an army crackdown on its Rohingya population. Guests at the hotel had been moved to other hotels in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, which has made its mark on Southeast Asia's tourist trail since the country emerged from full junta rule Barack Obama is returning to the political arena for the first time in months after keeping a low profile and avoiding direct confrontation with his White House successor. The 56-year-old former president is scheduled to attend campaign rallies in New Jersey and Virginia on Thursday to support Democratic party candidates for governor. Voters in both states will decide the gubernatorial contests on November 7, one year after Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton and stormed into the White House on a wave of anti-establishment fury. Former president Barack Obama is making a return to the political arena with planned appearances at campaign rallies for two Democratic gubernatorial candidates Barack Obama will campaign for Phillip Murphy (right) in New Jersey and Ralph Northam (left) in Virginia The races are a potential indicator of voter sentiment ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, which will be a major test for Trump and his Republican party. 'There are only two big elections this year, for governor in NJ and VA,' political science professor Larry Sabato told AFP. 'What's at stake is bragging rights headed into the 2018 midterm elections,' Sabato said. It is unclear what Obama's message will be. The former US leader has remained largely detached from the political debate since leaving office on January 20, in keeping with presidential tradition. Trump has meanwhile used his first nine months in the White House to methodically demolish key Obama administration policies. After three months of vacation Obama began writing his memoirs. He has said little in public and granted almost no interviews. CAMPAIGN HISTORY: A young-looking Barack Obama campaigned for president in 2008 SECOND GO-ROUND: Then-President Obama stumped for his re-election in 2012 GRAY-HAIR: An older-looking Obama hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but couldn't help her get across the finish line The few times Obama broke his silence was to comment on issues of national importance, such as immigration, health care and climate change. But the 44th president may be tempted on Thursday to take aim at Trump, who has frequently and publicly excoriated his predecessor. In New Jersey, the post of governor will almost certainly go to Democrat Philip Murphy, who would succeed Chris Christie, a Trump ally whose popularity has plummeted to record lows. New Jersey 'is a runaway win for the Democrats, so Virginia is the only competitive contest. Obama is needed much more in Richmond than Trenton,' said Sabato, referring to the capitals of the two states. Virginia is a pivotal state and the only southern US state that Clinton won in 2016. Its importance is amplified by its proximity to the US capital. 'If the GOP loses in Virginia, Trump will be widely blamed since he is so unpopular in a state carried by Hillary Clinton,' Sabato said. 'Should the Republicans win Virginias governorship, then Trump will not be viewed as such a liability for the GOP in 2018.' In Richmond, Obama will back Ralph Northam, a former military doctor who was credited Wednesday with a slight lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in a Quinnipiac poll. Obama's impending arrival in the city of over 220,000 people sparked long lines of people seeking tickets to the campaign event. Well aware of the importance of the vote, Trump has backed Gillespie and accused Northam of 'fighting for the violent MS-13,' a Hispanic gang, as well as 'sanctuary cities' that offer shelter to illegal immigrants. Gillespie, a former advisor to president George W. Bush who has become a millionaire lobbyist, has so far kept a cautious distance from the mercurial Trump, whose backing recently failed to ensure the election of his pick in a Republican Senate race in Alabama. Fighters of the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas march in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on July 20, 2017 A top aide to US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, following a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties -- including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, said in a statement. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," he added in the first detailed US response to last week's Palestinian unity deal. The statement from Greenblatt was similar to the Israeli government's response this week in which it vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. The demands included recognising Israel and renouncing violence. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed in recent years. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war with Fatah in 2007 following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. Firework use hits a peak across India during the Hindu festival but New Delhi authorities have tried to restrict sales to tackle mounting pollution An explosion at an illegal firecracker factory in eastern India killed seven workers and injured nine others in the hours before Thursday's Diwali festival, officials said. Firework use hits a peak across India during the Hindu festival but New Delhi authorities have tried to restrict sales to tackle mounting pollution. The explosion late Wednesday completely destroyed the makeshift structure after fire touched off the gunpowder and chemical stocks used to make the fireworks in Balasore district of Odisha state, said district magistrate Pramod Kumar Das. He told AFP several of the injured workers are in a critical condition after the "huge" explosion. Diwali, the festival of lights, is traditionally celebrated by lighting lamps but has metamorphosed into a grand show of fireworks, sparking pollution and controversy. Explosions often occur in the thousands of illegal backyard and underground workshops that spring up during the festive season. Last month, nine people were killed in neighbouring Jharkhand state after their workshop was gutted by fire. India's firecracker industry, worth nearly one billion dollars a year, is the second largest in the world after China. The country's Supreme Court this month temporarily banned the sale of firecrackers in New Delhi because of the air pollution threat. The ruling came after the capital last year suffered its worst air pollution in nearly two decades, which experts blamed on Diwali fireworks and stubble-burning in farming regions around the city. Police have arrested more than two dozen people in New Delhi over the illegal sale of firecrackers since the October 9 court order and have seized more than one tonne of firecrackers. Afghanistan At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban-claimed suicide attack on a military base in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said, the third assault on a security installation this week. Just two soldiers are known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar province, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that nine soldiers were wounded and six unaccounted for. Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP the attackers detonated at least one explosive-packed Humvee vehicle and razed the compound in the early morning assault. "We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one," Waziri said. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside." The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists which said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Ten insurgents died, the ministry said. "We have sent a delegation to assess the situation. The base is under ANA (Afghan National Army) control," Waziri added. It was the third suicide and gun attack on a security installation this week and takes the total death toll to more than 120, including soldiers, police and civilians. In each assault the Taliban used a Humvee vehicle as a bomb to blast their way into their targets. On Tuesday two attacks in southeast Afghanistan killed 80 people and wounded nearly 300 in the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months. The deadliest of Tuesday's assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez in Paktia province where Taliban militants disguised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles -- including a truck and a Humvee -- that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter. At least 60 people, including Paktia police chief Toryalai Abdyani and civilians waiting to collect documents, were killed in the blasts and ensuing battle that lasted around five hours, health officials said, with more than 230 wounded. In the second attack in the neighbouring province of Ghazni, some 100 kilometres west of Gardez, 20 people, including 15 members of the security forces and five civilians died and 46 were wounded, officials said. Gazans wave the flags of Egypt and Palestine as they celebrate a unity agreement reached in Cairo between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on October 12, 2017 Islamist movement Hamas accused the United States of "blatant interference" in Palestinian affairs Thursday after US President Donald Trump's envoy demanded they disarm and recognise Israel in any unity government. "This is blatant interference in Palestinian affairs because it is the right of our people to choose its government according to their supreme strategic interests," senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP. He accused Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, of bowing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. "This statement comes under pressure from the extreme right-wing Netanyahu government and is in line with the Netanyahu statement from two days ago," Naim said. Hamas and rival party Fatah have agreed a deal that should see the Islamists hand over control of Gaza to the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority by December 1, with talks also expected on forming a unity government. Earlier Thursday, Greenblatt said in his first detailed response to the reconciliation agreement that any such government must commit to non-violence and "disarm terrorists," an apparent reference to Hamas. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008. Fighters of the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas march in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on July 20, 2017 Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip said Thursday "no one" can force it to disarm or recognise Israel, after Washington demanded it meet those conditions as part of a unity government. "No one in the universe can disarm us. On the contrary, we will continue to have the power to protect our citizens," the Islamist movement's Gaza head Yahya Sinwar said. "No one has the ability to extract from us recognition of the occupation." Sinwar made the remarks during a speech to young people that was provided to AFP by Hamas. Earlier in the day, a top aide to US President Donald Trump said an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, Washington's first detailed response to a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. Trump's special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, who has repeatedly visited the region to seek ways of restarting peace talks, laid out a series of conditions. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties -- including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Greenblatt said in a statement. Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar (C) arrives for a meeting with Palestinian prime minister and other officials in Gaza City on October 2, 2017 The US conditions were roughly in line with principles previously set out by the Quartet for Middle East peace -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said. - 'Genuine peace' - The statement also echoed a response this week by Israel, which vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. They included recognising Israel and renouncing violence, but also returning the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, among other conditions. Netanyahu welcomed Greenblatt's comments. "We want a genuine peace, and because of this we will not conduct negotiations with a terrorist organisation in diplomatic disguise," he said. Sinwar said of Hamas: "We are freedom fighters and revolutionaries for the freedom of our people. We fight the occupation according to international and humanitarian law." Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. Gazans wave the flags of Egypt and Palestine as they celebrate a unity agreement reached in Cairo between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on October 12, 2017 The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed in recent years. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war in 2007 with Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank, following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. - Gaza humanitarian crisis - Under the Cairo deal, the Palestinian Authority, currently dominated by Fatah, is due to resume control of the Gaza Strip by December 1. Talks are also expected on forming a unity government, with another meeting between the various Palestinian political factions scheduled for next month. Previous attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed, and many analysts are treating the latest bid with caution, waiting to see if it will change anything on the ground. A major sticking point is expected to be Hamas's refusal to disarm its 25,000-strong armed wing. Diplomats say it would be possible to form a unity government they could deal with that does not officially include Hamas. A previous attempt at a unity government in 2014 was made up of technocrats deemed acceptable by the international community, but it fell apart. Hamas has faced increasing isolation and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip in recent months, including a severe electricity shortage. Children do their homework by candlelight during one of the many power cuts that have hit Gaza since the Palestinian Authority reduced payments Abbas has imposed a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip to pressure the Islamist movement, including cutting electricity payments, which has worsened the power cuts. Hamas has reached out to Cairo for help, hoping to have the Rafah border with Egypt opened. In return, Cairo has pressed Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah. A US official said Greenblatt "has travelled to Egypt to meet with senior officials about the status of reconciliation." Greenblatt said in his statement that "all parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there." The deadliest of Tuesday's assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez in Paktia province where Taliban militants disguised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter Militants launched two separate attacks on Afghan security installations killing dozens of soldiers Thursday, the latest in a series of devastating assaults this week that have left more than 120 people dead and underscored spiralling insecurity. At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a Taliban-claimed assault on a military base in southern Afghanistan which saw the insurgents blast their way into the compound with at least one explosives-laden Humvee -- a tactic used in three separate attacks this week -- the defence ministry said. A security source in Kandahar put the toll at 50 dead and 20 wounded. But the real figure is likely to be higher because Afghan officials habitually understate the actual number of casualties. The militants razed the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar province to the ground, according to the ministry. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. Just two soldiers were known to have survived unscathed, with six unaccounted for, the ministry said, underscoring the shocking casualties that Afghan security forces have faced in their struggle to beat back the insurgents. More than 10 militants were killed, it added. US aircraft carried out an airstrike during a counter-terror operation in Maiwand on Thursday, a spokesman for US Forces in Kabul said, though he did not specify whether the target was insurgents at the base. Provincial officials said two Humvees were used in the attack which was condemned by President Ashraf Ghani. They said the assault may have been carried out with the help of insiders. The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists that said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Suicide attack on Afghan military base Separately Thursday, militants besieged a police headquarters in the southeastern province of Ghazni, attacking it for the second time this week. Airstrikes were called in to support embattled police in the ongoing assault, which has killed two security forces so far, Ghazni provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman told AFP. The strikes were not immediately confirmed by US Forces. Officials said the earlier assault on the headquarters, which took place on Tuesday, left 20 people dead and 46 wounded. Thursday's attacks take the number of major assaults on security installations this week to four, with the total death toll climbing past 120, including soldiers, police and civilians. The Taliban used a Humvee as a bomb to blast their way into their targets in three out of the four assaults this week. The insurgents have been able to steal dozens of Humvees from security forces after taking over districts and raiding military bases across the country. - Security forces under siege - US President Donald Trump vowed earlier this year to stay the course in Afghanistan, America's longest war. But the Taliban said the recent assaults were a "clear message to the Americans and the Kabul government, that they cannot scare us with their new so-called strategy". "We are fighting back and winning on every front, Inshallah (God willing)," spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told AFP. Beleaguered Afghan security forces have faced soaring casualties in their attempts to hold back the insurgents since NATO combat forces pulled out of the country at the end of 2014. Casualties leapt by 35 percent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police killed, according to US watchdog SIGAR. The insurgents have carried out more complex attacks against security forces in 2017, with SIGAR describing troop casualties in the early part of the year as "shockingly high". The attacks included assaults on a military hospital in Kabul in March which may have killed up to 100 people, and on a base in Mazar-i-Sharif in April which left 144 people dead. - Eroded morale - The assaults, along with high rates of desertion and corruption, have eroded morale. This week's attacks come near the end of the summer fighting season, when militants traditionally intensify their offensives across the country. They began hours after US drone strikes in the tribal region along the border with Pakistan killed more than two dozen militants, according to sources and local officials. Tuesday's attacks alone killed 80 people in total and wounded nearly 300 in the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months. The deadliest of Tuesday's assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez in Paktia province where Taliban militants disguised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles -- including a truck and a Humvee -- that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter. At least 60 people were killed in the blasts and ensuing battle that lasted around five hours, health officials said, with more than 230 wounded. Afghan forces now control 59.7 percent of the country, up from 57.2 percent the previous quarter, according to SIGAR's assessment earlier this year. But the Taliban and other insurgent groups have also seen their areas of control or influence increase slightly from about 10 percent to 11.1 percent. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after diverting from its flight path Malaysia is negotiating with a US firm to resume the hunt for missing flight MH370, a minister said Thursday, in news welcomed by the widow of one of those who had been on board. The American company, Ocean Infinity as well as Dutch outfit Fugro, which had been involved in the original search, and an unidentified Malaysian company had put forward proposals to relaunch the hunt. Ocean Infinity was reported to be favoured after making a "no find, no fee" offer to search for the Malaysia Airlines plane. The jet disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after diverting from its flight path. No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) zone selected by satellite analysis of the jet's likely trajectory. The Australian-led hunt -- the largest in history -- was suspended in January, sparking criticism from families of those on board and some experts, who said it was called off too soon. On Thursday, family members of passengers were sent a message by the MH370 Response Team in Malaysia saying they were in talks with Ocean Infinity on the terms of an agreement. "The MH370 Response Team has received several proposals from interested parties to search for MH370," said the emailed message, a copy of which was seen by AFP. "These offers have been thoroughly assessed by the team and the governments of Australia and China... The government of Malaysia has given the permission for the response team to proceed negotiating the terms and conditions with Ocean Infinity." Fragments of MH370 Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi confirmed talks were under way. "The ministry is still negotiating to finalise the terms... We favour Ocean Infinity," he told AFP. Danica Weeks, an Australian whose husband Paul was on the flight, told AFP she was "ecstatic that the Malaysian government is doing what they need to do to continue to find MH370". Ocean Infinity, which said in a statement that "good progress has been made" in negotiating the contract, claims it has the world's largest and most advanced commercial fleet of underwater vehicles for conducting searches. "We remain optimistic that we will be able to try and help provide some answers to those who have been affected by this tragedy," a spokesman said in a statement to AFP. Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon. A fighter of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces watches over Raqa's Al-Naim square, where the Islamic State group once displayed the severed heads of its enemies, on October 18, 2017, the day after the city's capture US-backed forces who captured Raqa from the Islamic State group prepared to hand the Syrian city over to a civilian authority, with some of their fighters already headed to the next battle. Inside the city, positions that had long been manned by fighters of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were abandoned, though some remained in the central Al-Naim square, dancing and ululating as they celebrated their victory. The SDF battled for more than four months, with US-led coalition support, to capture the city that was once the de facto Syrian capital of IS's self-styled "caliphate". They announced the end of combat on Tuesday, though operations to clear explosives and seek out sleeper cells were ongoing. Raqa's capture leaves the jihadists with little remaining territory in Syria, most of it in neighbouring Deir Ezzor province, where some SDF fighters were already headed to carry on the campaign. "Some of the forces withdrew, others will remain in the city until we finish the minor combing operations, then the city will be handed over to the civil council," said SDF commander Rojda Felat. A fighter of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces walks down a heavily damaged a street in Raqa on October 18, 2017 "After the end of military operations, a large part of the forces have moved out of Raqa to other areas, including Deir Ezzor," added Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF. At least 16 civilians including several children were killed in air strikes in Deir Ezzor Thursday believed to have been carried out by Russian jets, a monitor said. "The civilians were killed as they tried to cross the Euphrates river near the town of Abu Kamal," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Abu Kamal is one of the few remaining urban strongholds of IS in Syria. SDF spokesman Talal Sello said two days of mopping-up operations in Raqa had so far uncovered no additional IS fighters, but that interrogations of those who were captured or surrendered during the battle were ongoing. "SDF intelligence is investigating them, including a number of foreigners," he told AFP. The city's capture Tuesday came after the SDF seized IS's last two main positions, the municipal stadium and national hospital, in quick succession. Both sites have been heavily mined and remain to be cleared, SDF commanders said. "There are bodies inside the hospital itself that we haven't yet removed because of the mines," said commander Clara Raqa. Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather during a celebration at Al-Naim square in Raqa, before a flag with the photograph of Turkey's jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, after retaking the city from the Islamic State group Responsibility for the city, which lies in ruins and empty of civilians, will be assumed by the Raqa Civil Council, a body of local officials formed six months ago. The official handover is expected to come as early as Friday, but the body has already spent months working on reconstruction plans. They will inherit responsibility for a ghost town that lacks basic services and infrastructure. On the city's streets, blankets that had been hung in front of windows to shield residents from the view of snipers fluttered in the wind, but there was no movement otherwise. A few scrawny cats and dogs picked their way over the rubble that is strewn across the city, up to 80 percent of which was described as uninhabitable by the UN last month. - Raqa 'liberated by free women' - In Al-Naim square, fighters of the Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ), the female branch of the YPG, gathered to hold a press conference celebrating their contribution to the city's capture. Some of the battle's commanders were female, a point of pride for Kurdish forces, particularly given IS's infamous oppression of women. "Raqa was liberated by the will of free women," the YPJ said in a statement. SDF flags now cover Al-Naim, where the jihadists once displayed the severed heads of their enemies. In the centre of the square, a large yellow flag has been raised, featuring a photograph of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan heads the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, where it is considered a "terrorist" group. He is idolised by many in the YPG, which Ankara says is the Syrian branch of the PKK. IS captured mostly Sunni Arab Raqa in 2014, and under its rule the city became infamous for gruesome abuses and as a planning centre for attacks abroad. Its loss deals a major blow to the jihadists' dreams of statehood, and comes after their July defeat in Iraq's second city Mosul, their other major urban stronghold. North Korea has fired two missiles over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido "Cover your head". That's the advice offered in a manga comic published by local authorities in Japan describing what to do in the event of a North Korean missile strike. Officials on the northern island of Hokkaido, which has already had two missiles from North Korea fired over it, published the manga survival guide titled "In case a missile flies over" earlier this month. The four-page comic, created by local manga artist Manabu Yamamoto, details what the island's 5.5 million residents should do when they hear sirens, loudspeaker messages and emergency phone alerts about North Korean missile launches. In the colourful comic, characters are seen protecting themselves by wrapping their arms or cushions over their head. The comic shows students taking cover under their desks at school, farmers crouching down in a trench in their fields or fishermen in the ocean hiding behind a ship's wheelhouse. "We decided to release the manga after hearing from our residents that the current manual is hard to understand," said Kiyomi Tanabe, a Hokkaido official. The Hokkaido government has sent electronic copies of the comic to schools, fisheries associations and other public bodies on the island so they can print them out, the official said. Tensions over the North's weapons programmes have soared in recent months, with Pyongyang carrying out a series of missile launches and its sixth nuclear test, its most powerful yet, in defiance of multiple sets of UN sanctions. Some experts have warned that North Korea is preparing to launch another ballistic missile during a joint naval drill between the United States and South Korea, which started on Monday. An Iraqi waves the Turkmen flag in Kirkuk to celebrate after Iraqi government forces retook the ethnically mixed city from Kurdish peshmerga fighters With the return of Kirkuk to Iraqi control, the balance of power appears to have shifted between the ethnic communities in the Kurdish-majority city, to the delight of its Turkmen residents. "Before we couldn't proudly declare that we are Turkmen, now our flag is flying over Kirkuk's citadel again," said Omar Najat, 23. Three weeks before, the disputed city's Kurds were gleefully taking part in a Kurdish independence referendum in open defiance of Baghdad. Today, the election posters have been torn down, as well as those of the September 25 referendum's chief advocate, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani. Huge Iraqi flags have been strung from palm trees and across buildings, although Kurdish flags have been left flying from lampposts. In the Kurdish neighbourhood of Rahimawa, business has been slow for the few shops that have reopened such as tyre salesman Abu Sima, 36, as he awaits a return to normality. His nephews and nieces had to wait for schools to reopen in the wake of the upheaval on Sunday as Iraqi forces entered the city. In three days and with barely any resistance from Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Iraqi forces took control of the whole of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, whose ownership has long been disputed between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. For fear of violence on Sunday, Abu Sima and his wife joined thousands of other families, mostly Kurds, in fleeing the city. But like most others, they have returned. - 'We had to come back' - "We had to come back because we, the Kurds, are the majority, we were the original residents of Kirkuk," he said. In his fabrics store at the heart of the market in the shadow of the Ottoman-era citadel, Omar Najat couldn't agree less with that historical assessment. "That there (the citadel) is Ottoman, Turkish, and Kirkuk is Iraqi Turkmen," he insisted. "Now that Baghdad is in charge, we have security, not like before when we had another power in place," said the young man in skinny jeans and slim-fitting shirt. He was referring to Kirkuk's governor Najm Eddine Karim who was fired by Baghdad for bringing the referendum to the province but refused to step down, until Iraqi security forces seized control of his office on Monday. He had previously gone on television to urge Kurdish residents to take up arms to resist the entry of Iraqi forces into the city. Near a central square where a giant blue Turkmen flag stamped with a crescent and star has been hoisted, Turkmen merchant Abu Hussein is a firm believer in the coexistence of Kirkuk's 800,000 residents. The Kurds make up two-thirds of its population, 25 percent are Turkmen and the rest Arab Muslims and Christians. Kirkuk is not one of the three provinces that have been part of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. It is in an area disputed between Baghdad and the Kurds who claim it is theirs historically, since Saddam's forces chased them out and replaced them with Arabs. "We know how to live alongside each ether," said Abu Hussein, seated next to a Kurdish friend in traditional shalwar baggy trousers. Iraqi children wave their national flag as they celebrate in the city of Kirkuk after government forces retook almost all the territory disputed between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region The Kurdish shopkeeper next door has an all-Arab workforce. "It's not just the past year or two, we've all been living together for decades," said Abu Hussein, a 47-year spice seller. "As for the politicians, that's something else," he said before slipping back inside his store. For Mohammed Hamdani, a 55-year-old Sunni Arab, any blame lies on politicians in Baghdad and Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. "They can't agree between themselves and it's us, ordinary people, who pay the price," said the Arab, wearing a yellow jalabiya robe and colourful prayer cap. Hamdani's request is straightforward: "Whoever our leaders are, all we ask of them is one thing: that they give us security and the means to feed ourselves." sbh/sk/hc/kir Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, seen at an August rally in Sanaa, says he has has undergone surgery in the capital by Russian doctors after a rare suspension of a Saudi-led coalition air blockade Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh said he has undergone surgery in Sanaa by Russian doctors after a rare suspension of a Saudi-led coalition air blockade. A spokesman for the Arab coalition did not respond to requests Thursday for comment on the lifting of the blockade for the Russian medical team. Saleh, 75, said the coalition had authorised the entry of the Russian team for cataract surgery, for which he had waited "more than a year", in an interview broadcast on Yemen Today television. He said the operation was "a success" and that a medical examination had confirmed he was "in very good health". The coalition enforced the closure of Sanaa airport after its intervention in Yemen's war on the government side against a rebel alliance of Shiite Huthis and forces loyal to Saleh. Only select UN flights are authorised to land by the coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace as well as a string of ports on the country's coastline. A high-ranking source in the government told AFP that the United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, had facilitated the entry of the Russian medical team because it wanted Saleh to be "in good health". Washington sees Saleh as key to dealing with the Huthis, who have rejected UN mediation in the conflict, according to the source. The Yemen war has killed more than 8,600 people since the coalition intervened in 2015, and it has pushed the country to the brink of famine, according to the World Health Organization. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates another 2,100 people have died of cholera this year. Togo has seen a wave of angry street protests since August with demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family has ruled this west African nation for five decades Five people were shot and injured on Thursday as gangs of youths and the security forces clashed sporadically in Togo's capital Lome, ahead of a planned opposition protest that the government has ruled illegal. Eric Dupuy, spokesman for the main opposition National Alliance for Change (ANC) party, said the five were shot in the Be area of the city and two of them were in a "critical" condition. Shots were fired around the home of ANC leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, he added. Amnesty International's country director in Togo, Aime Adi, confirmed that five people had been shot and wounded, adding they were taken to hospital in Lome for treatment. The streets were largely deserted ahead of the rally, which the opposition coalition has refused to cancel despite a government ban on weekday marches on security grounds. Demonstrators plan to march to the offices of the West African bloc ECOWAS to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe. Gnassingbe has been president since 2005 and is the scion of Africa's longest-ruling dynasty that has been in power in Togo since 1968. At least four people were killed on Wednesday in Lome and the country's second city Sokode as protesters clashed with police and soldiers, the government said. In Lome, most shops were still shut by midday (1200 GMT) and the streets were virtually empty apart from the occasional motorbike-taxi, an AFP correspondent said. "Activity is at a standstill after days of disruption by the marches," said one mobile phone vendor in Deckon, the city's commercial hub. "What's happening is weighing heavily on us. The politicians need to talk to find a solution to this crisis." - Game of cat and mouse - In Be, an opposition stronghold in the southeastern part of the capital, groups of youths attempted to set up barricades and burn tyres. But the security forces, who were deployed in large numbers, sporadically fired teargas in a lengthy game of cat and mouse. In other areas such as Amoutive, efforts were under way to remove barricades and the remains of burned-out cars that had been torched on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets since August to call for Gnassingbe's resignation and limit the presidential mandate to two, five-year terms. Twelve people, most of them teenagers, have been killed since August. In Paris, the foreign ministry said it was following events in its former colony "with concern". "We strongly condemn the recent violence that has left several people dead or injured (and) call for calm on both sides and dialogue," it said in a statement. A source at the Togo presidency said Benin's head of state, Patrice Talon, made a low-key visit to Lome on Wednesday night to discuss the situation with Gnassingbe. The UN has expressed concern about the latest wave of some 10,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees, including many elderly and children Thousands of Rohingya Muslims stranded near Bangladesh's border this week after fleeing violence in Myanmar have finally been permitted to enter refugee camps after "strict screening", officials said Thursday. The UN had expressed deep concern about the new wave of around 10,000 refugees, including children and elderly people who, dehydrated and hungry from the long journey, had been stopped from crossing the border into Bangladesh and left to squat in paddy fields. It was not immediately clear why the new arrivals were being held in an area of no man's land, but the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) had said it was calling on the Bangladesh authorities "to urgently admit" the group. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) spokesman Major Iqbal Ahmed told AFP on Thursday that the newcomers, who were blocked at Anjumanpara near the border town of Ukhiya, had been screened "very carefully" to stop "unwanted visitors". "After strict checking, they are being taken to the extended Kutupalong camp where they will receive some basic goods and later will be shifted to another camp," said Ahmed. Excluding the latest wave, the UN says some 582,000 Rohingya refugees had fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since late August, when militant attacks on Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine state sparked a major army crackdown. But Bangladesh, which has been overwhelmed by the influx of people fleeing the violence, is wary of radical Islamists getting into its refugee camps where there are now more than 800,000 Rohingya in all. Many of the new arrivals were from Rakhine's Buthidaung district, which lies relatively far from the border with Bangladesh. Some told an AFP correspondent they had trekked for days to reach the border as their villages remain under military surveillance and they had nothing to eat. "We ran out of food," said Shamser Alam, 21, from Yin Ma Kyaung Taung village near Buthidaung town. "There is no village market. There are too many restrictions. We don't have freedom. Not more than five people can pray together." Sufia Khatun, a mother of four, said one of her sons was killed in a stampede after Buddhist militants attacked her village. "We ran for our lives and I lost Jalal. Later I found he was killed in the stampede," she told AFP. Sanjida Khatun, from Phone Nyo Lake village who tried to escape with her husband Mohammad Amin, three sons and a 15-day-old baby, said she was attacked by armed men while going to the border. "They indiscriminately hacked my husband to death. I narrowly escaped with my sons," she said. Myanmar has subjected the 1.1 million Rohingya community to decades of hostility and refused them citizenship even though many have lived there for generations. Myanmar refused its Rohingya community citizenship even though many have lived there for generations and some 800,000 have fled to an overwhelmed Bangladesh, which is wary of radical Islamists entering camps Bangladesh has announced plans to build a refugee camp that could accommodate around 800,000 Rohingya in Kutupalong. The camp would be the largest in the world and has raised concerns about the risks of heavily concentrating such a large number of vulnerable people, such as the spread of disease. Israeli security forces disperse Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrators during a protest against Israeli army conscription in the centre of Jerusalem on October 19, 2017 Several thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked a major intersection in central Jerusalem on Thursday to protest against efforts to force them to enlist in the Israeli military like their secular compatriots. There were simultaneous disturbances in other parts of the city, including the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighbourhood, where police said the protestors had blocked streets and set fire to garbage bins, using them as flaming barricades. "Police units mobilised in different areas of Jerusalem to respond to illegal demonstrations by right-wing ultra-religious demonstrators," police said in an English-language statement. They later said they had arrested 120 demonstrators who were "involved in disturbances and blocked roads and major junctions". A series of such protests in recent weeks has been spurred by occasional arrests of ultra-Orthodox young men accused of dodging military service. On Thursday, several thousand men and boys wearing traditional black suits and hats took to the streets of Jerusalem and blocked a key intersection. Some sat in the middle of the street while others danced and sang. One sign said: "To military prison for the 'crime' of Torah study." Israeli security forces carry away an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrator during a protest against Israeli army conscription in Jerusalem on October 19, 2017 "The state wants to silence all the Jews who want to study Torah," said one man, who looked to be in his 40s and gave his name only as Tzvi. "Lately they have seen the (ultra-Orthodox) population growing, so they want us to serve in the army and be absorbed into the general population." Police appeared to be acting with restraint after accusations of excessive force at a recent protest. Small groups of officers occasionally entered the protest to remove those who appeared to be stirring up the crowd, an AFP journalist reported. Israeli law requires men to serve two years and eight months in the military on reaching the age of 18, while women must serve for two. Ultra-Orthodox men are exempt from military service if they are engaged in religious study. Those who are not must still enlist with the military and can be arrested if they refuse. In September, a decision by Israel's supreme court struck down the law exempting them. However, the court suspended its ruling for one year to allow for preparations for a new arrangement, also giving the government time to pass a new law. The ruling raises the possibility that the ultra-Orthodox could be forced into service, a highly contentious proposition with political implications. An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrator carries a sign during a protest against Israeli army conscription in Jerusalem on October 19, 2017 Ultra-Orthodox parties are a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition and have often acted as kingmakers in Israeli politics. The ultra-Orthodox are against serving for a variety of reasons. Some do not recognise Israel, believing a Jewish state is not allowed before the coming of the Messiah. Others argue that seminary study is just as important to Israel as military service, or that ultra-Orthodox soldiers would be confronted with salty language and other irreligious behaviour. A school in Mississippi is to drop the name of the Confederate leader and be named after former president Barack Obama A public school in Mississippi is to drop the name of the Civil War leader of the pro-slavery South and be named after the first black US president, Barack Obama, the local newspaper reported. The move in Jackson, Mississippi, comes amid a national debate over a campaign to remove statues and other monuments to generals and leaders of the 1861-1865 Confederacy. The Clarion-Ledger said Davis International Baccalaureate Elementary School, whose enrollment is 98 percent black, will be renamed Barack Obama Magnet International Baccalaureate Elementary School next year. Janelle Jefferson, head of the parent-teacher association, informed the Jackson school board of the plan to rename the school at a meeting on Tuesday evening, the newspaper said. "Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him," Jefferson told the board. She said the school community had voted to rename the school "to reflect a person who fully represents ideals and public stances consistent with what we want our children to believe about themselves." According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy group, more than 100 public schools in the United States -- primarily in the South -- are named for Confederate icons. A protest against the removal of a Confederate statue turned deadly in August when an avowed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a woman. White nationalists and neo-Nazis had staged a rally in the city to oppose the planned removal from a public park of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, the Civil War commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein says he "really enjoyed" a visit to Frankfurt, causing buzz about the German city's chances of being picked as the investment bank's post-Brexit EU headquarters Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter Thursday to tout Frankfurt's "great" weather among other attributes, but stopped short of naming the German city as a post-Brexit headquarters. "Just left Frankfurt," Blankfein said on Twitter. "Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit" Goldman, unlike some other players in big finance, had not previously announced its plans for its headquarters to cover the European Union once Britain exits the bloc, expected in about two years. Goldman still has not made a final decision on the matter, said a person familiar with the investment bank's thinking. Blankfein's tweet should not be given too much significance, this person added. Goldman, which has 6,000 employees in Britain, said in March that it planned to shift some workers to the continent and create hundreds of jobs in EU countries. Frankfurt has already claimed some major financial players as a post-Brexit headquarters, including US investment bank Morgan Stanley and Japanese giants Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Daiwa Securities and Nomura. British bank Standard Chartered has also picked the German city, which is home to the European Central Bank. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have picked Dublin as their new headquarters, while transferring some other posts to Paris. Pakistani Christians attend the funeral for those killed in a suicide bombing on Easter Sunday last year, one of many deadly attacks claimed by the JuA The chief of an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a US drone strike, a spokesman for the group told AFP Thursday. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for many deadly attacks in the country, including a suicide bombing in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday last year that killed 75 people including many children. "Chief of our Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Umar Khalid Khorasani, who sustained serious injuries in a recent US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday evening," JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "At least nine close associates of Khorasani were also killed in the strike", he added. Two US drone strikes on Monday along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed at least 26 people including fighters from the Haqqani network which is allied to the Afghan Taliban. The US has increased pressure on Pakistan in recent months to crack down on the Haqqanis, who are one of the strongest factions in the Afghan Taliban insurgency and have earned a fearsome reputation for their attacks on NATO troops and Afghan installations over the years. The use of US drones has dwindled dramatically in recent years in Pakistan, where the strikes have proven extremely controversial with the public and rights groups. Monday's strikes came days after Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle and his American wife and three children were freed in Pakistan after five years of captivity at the hands of the Haqqani network. Mansoor, the spokesman, said a high-level meeting of JuA's consultative council will be convened soon to appoint the outfit's new chief. However, an important Taliban commander said on condition of anonymity that one of JuA's senior commanders, Asad Afridi, has already been appointed new JuA chief. JuA pledged allegiance to IS in 2014, but a year later said it had rejoined the Pakistani Taliban -- which in turn is allied to Al-Qaeda, a foe of IS. However since 2016 JuA and IS have both laid claim to several attacks, notably a suicide bombing at a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta last year that killed 73 people. Pakistan's deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children. The joint claims raised the possibility the outfits were colluding -- or that JuA, which has foot soldiers on the ground, was allowing IS also to take credit to achieve propaganda goals. Analysts said Khorasani's death suggested resumption of intelligence sharing and coordination between Pakistan and the US. "The resumption of drone strikes on anti-Pakistan elements following hard stance on Trump's Afghan policy signals moderation of positions by Islamabad and Washington," leading Pakistan security analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP. He said "it shows America's willingness to redress Pakistan's complaints about presence of militant safe havens on Afghan soil". "Both countries now seem to be back to their business." Lebanon's police has seized what it said was "probably an original" painting by surrealist master Salvador Dali, here shown in a picture released in the 1960s sitting on a sofa of his creation The Lebanese police has seized what it said was "probably an original" painting by surrealist master Salvador Dali and arrested four people suspected of attempting to sell it. The 1954 painting, named "Portrait de Mrs Reeves", dates from his classical period and is not considered one of his most important works. The police said in a statement late Wednesday that it could fetch millions of dollars if confirmed to be an original, but records from the global auction house Christie's show it was sold for a more modest 89,500 British pounds 20 years ago. The painting is a full-length portrait of a high-society woman from the time during which the extravagant Spanish artist lived in the United States and painted many commissioned works of limited value. The police said the painting had been stolen "from a country neighbouring Lebanon" and added it had detained three Syrians and a Lebanese national. Nigerian police believe militants who have attacked oil and gas pipelines in the oil-rich Niger delta region are behind the kidnapping Four people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of four British nationals in southern Nigeria, police said on Thursday. The Britons, including a husband and wife from a Christian medical charity, were seized last Friday in Delta state, where they had been providing free health treatment. Delta state police spokesman Andrew Animaka said there was still no update as to their whereabouts. But he added: "We are following up on a lead with the arrest of four persons in connection with the incident. "The suspects are currently in the custody of the state police command, in (the state capital) Asaba, and are rendering useful information. "I can assure that we are on the heels of the abductors." Kidnapping for ransom is rife in southern Nigeria, where high-profile individuals and their families are a frequent targeted for criminal gangs. Victims are usually released after a few days once payment is made. Last Thursday, an Italian priest based in Nigeria for the last three years was kidnapped by armed gunmen near Benin City, the capital of Edo state. He was released on Tuesday evening. Father Maurizio Pallu told Vatican Radio from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Wednesday that it was the second time in a year that he had been kidnapped. British diplomats in Nigeria have refused to comment about the latest abduction. Police believe militants who have attacked oil and gas pipelines in the oil-rich Niger delta region are behind the kidnapping. Nigerian intelligence sources said the Britons are thought to have been taken to militant camps in the creeks and swamps of the delta. US ridesharing giant Lyft announced Thursday it has received a $1 billion investment led by the venture arm of Google parent Alphabet, to help ramp up its challenge to market leader Uber. Lyft said the new funding gives it a valuation of $11 billion as it steps up competition against Uber, reeling from a series of missteps and scandals which have forced out its founder and chief executive. A Lyft blog post said the new funding round was led by CapitalG, formerly known as Google Capital, which invests in emerging tech firms. Lyft's latest capital injection of $1 billion led by Google parent Alphabet boosts the valuation of the ridesharing firm to $11 billion LYFT AND GOOGLE Lyft and Alphabet already have a relationship through a partnership Lyft struck with Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car unit, in May. The two companies are collaborating on bringing autonomous vehicle technology to market, but have not provided many details. Spokespeople for Lyft and Alphabet have said the latest investment will not have any bearing on the Waymo partnership. Alphabet also has ties to Uber through its second investment arm, GV. GV invested in Uber in 2013, but then Uber began to develop autonomous cars and compete directly with Alphabet. Advertisement Lyft has been expanding in the US market as Uber's image has taken a hit in recent months. It has also been expanding its partnerships including with General Motors and the former Google Car unit now called Waymo. '2017 has been an important year for the Lyft community. Earlier this month, we completed our 500 millionth ride and our service is now available to 95 percent of the US population - up from 54 percent at the beginning of the year,' the statement said. 'While we've made progress towards our vision, were most excited about what lies ahead. 'The fact remains that less than 0.5 percent of miles traveled in the US happen on rideshare networks. 'This creates a huge opportunity to best serve our cities' economic, environmental, and social futures.' The new investment creates a potential conflict for Alphabet, which was one of the early investors in Uber. Uber, which has a valuation of nearly $70 billion, is widely expected to seal a deal for a major investment from Japan's Softbank, which could allow some stakeholders to cash out. Uber board member Ariana Huffington said this week she expects a Softbank announcement soon. US Vice President Mike Pence (L) watches as Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rossello (C) and US President Donald Trump shake hands before a meeting in the Oval Office President Donald Trump on Thursday gave his administration ten-out-of-ten for its response a hurricane that hammered Puerto Rico exactly one month ago, as 80 percent of the US island remained without power. Meeting Puerto Rico's governor Ricardo Rossello in the Oval Office, Trump acknowledged the massive scale of the rebuilding effort, but defended his administration's response. "We have provided so much, so fast, we were actually there before the storm hit," Trump said. "They got hit dead center." As well as ravaging the electricity grid, the storm knocked out bridges, closed roads and made clean water for drinking, cooking and bathing scarce. Asked how he would rank the administration's response out of ten, Trump responded "I give ourselves a ten." "We have done a really great job." When Trump asked Rosello "did we do a great job?" the governor said that Trump had met all of his requests. But he added that much more needed to be done to avoid a humanitarian disaster. He said the authorities aim to have about 30% of the island back with power by the end of the month, and 50% by the middle of next month. But he warned that without hope, Puerto Ricans -- who have the right to live in the continental United States -- would flee the island in large numbers, feeding an economic crisis. "What's going to keep the people there and keep this going is knowing that we have the backing of the White House and knowing that we're going to have the backing of Congress," he said. They need to know, he said, "that we can have the resources appropriate" to deal with the storm. "US citizens of Puerto Rico can come out of this catastrophe stronger than ever before." - 'Not their fault' - No caption Trump had previously raised concerns on the island by warning that federal aid for Puerto Rico will not be open-ended. But he indicated Thursday that a mixture of grants and loans could be found to rebuild, in particular, the electricity grid, which was in poor shape before the storm. The federal government would have to be paid back before private bondholders, he added. "We're helping a lot," Trump said. "We're doing that because we have an obligation to Puerto Rico, to humanity, to ourselves." Trump also rowed back on some comments that appeared to blame Puerto Ricans for their plight. "It's not the people's fault, they lost their house, they were devastated," he said. "A person loses his or her house and then they can't go to work. If you lose your house, you know, it's hard to go and be a policeman, you are trying to have your family live." A number of seasoned administrators have recently joined Pacific University's administrative leadership team. Pacific welcomed back alumna Jennifer Yruegas '96, JD as the new director of Human Resources and Legal Affairs last month. Yruegas successfully managed human resources and legal affairs across multiple sectors in Oregon for the past 18 years, most recently as a vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel at Viewpoint, Inc., in Portland. Michelle Larkins, PhD Dr. Michelle Larkins began as the new director of the university's Center for a Sustainable Society in August. Larkins spent the past three years as a consultant and researcher for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Higher Education Solutions Network, while also successfully earning a doctorate in community sustainability from Michigan State University. While with USAID, she performed research within the Global Center for Food Systems Innovation, working on sustainability initiatives and ethical market development in Malawi, Africa. Larkins possesses a master's degree in fisheries and wildlife and has taught college courses in environmental science, gender and the environment. Paul DuongTran, PhD Dr. Paul DuongTran was selected to lead Pacific's Master of Social Work program from the university's Eugene Campus. DuongTran previously chaired the social work department at Indiana State University since 2014 and succeeds interim director Dr. Don Schweitzer, who returned to his faculty position on the Forest Grove Campus. DuongTran's appointment marked a return to the Pacific Northwest, where he earned his undergraduate at Willamette University, master's at Portland State and doctorate at the University of Washington. Jim Goodrich, PhD Earlier this summer, Dr. Jim Goodrich began his tenure as dean of the College of Business. He came to Pacific from California State University, Los Angeles, where he led the College of Business and Economics. Goodrich is no stranger to the Northwest, having served as as dean of Willamette University's Adkinson Graduate School of Management from 2003-07. Unknown Object Unknown Object Narce Rodriguez Narcedalia Rodriguez assumed the role of chief equity diversity inclusion officer (CEDIO) for the university, serving as Pacific's executive director for the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Rodriguez brings more than 25 years of higher education experience, with a substantial background in diversity and inclusion, most recently as dean of student development at Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus. Sarah Phillips, PhD Longtime Arts & Sciences associate dean Dr. Sarah Phillips is serving as the interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences for the 2017-2018 academic year. A professor of sociology, Dr. Phillips led the School of Social Sciences within the college before serving as interim associate dean of the College of Business during the 2016-2017 academic year. Lisa Carstens, PhD Phillips succeeds former College of Arts & Sciences dean, Dr. Lisa Carstens, who has transitioned to vice provost for academic affairs. Israeli authorities say Wissam Zbedat, and Arab Israeli, fought with the Islamic State group in Iraq's second city Mosul, shown here on July 9, 2017 An Israeli court sentenced an Israeli Arab man to more than five years in jail on Thursday for joining the Islamic State jihadist group, a statement said. The district court in the northern Israeli city of Haifa said in a statement that it sentenced Wissam Zbedat to 70 months in prison and a 14,000 shekel ($4,000) fine for travelling to Syria to fight for IS. The prosecution accused him and his wife Sabreen of leaving the country in 2015 with their three children then aged three, six and eight for Syria to join IS. Police said Sabreen had convinced her husband to join the group. The couple, who come from Sakhnin in northern Israel, received religious instruction and military training. Wissam later became a fighter for the group, including in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where he was injured in the leg. Following the injury and a bombing campaign by the international coalition fighting IS, the family decided to leave, but were arrested in Turkey and returned to Israel in September 2016. The children have been put into the care of relatives. In March, Sabreen was sentenced to 50 months in prison. It was the first known case of an entire Israeli Arab family joining up with the jihadist organisation, the Shin Bet domestic security agency said. Shin Bet has said it estimates that around 50 Israeli Arabs have travelled to Iraq or Syria to fight with IS. By the end of 2016, 83 people -- most of them Arab Israelis -- were behind bars in Israel as suspected IS sympathisers, up from just 12 a year earlier, according to Haaretz newspaper. The Shin Bet has said IS sympathisers among the Jewish state's Arab minority pose a "serious security threat" for Israel. Arab Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land following the creation of Israel in 1948. They account for some 17.5 percent of the population of eight million. Hafiz Saeed, head of of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organisation, has been under house arrest since January following a Pakistan government crackdown on the outfit Pakistan on Thursday extended the detention of the chief suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks for a month, government officials said. Firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) group and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, has been under house arrest since January following a government crackdown on the outfit. "Hafiz Saeed's detention has been extended for a period of one-month," a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said the detention was extended by a three-member review board of Lahore High Court headed by Judge Yawar Ali. JuD, listed as a terror outfit by the United Nations, is considered by the US and India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for the attack on India's financial capital which killed more than 160 people. India has long seethed at Pakistan's failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning the Mumbai attacks, while Pakistan has alleged that India failed to give it crucial evidence. New Delhi is sceptical that any action will be taken against Saeed despite his arrest, and has long said there is evidence that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the Mumbai attack. Islamabad denies the charges. Despite the bounty against him Saeed led a high-profile public life in Pakistan until his arrest, regularly delivering fiery anti-India speeches. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, seen here speaking before the UN Security Council September 28, says South Sudan apologized for an incident in which the commander of a UN peacekeeping convoy was stopped and beaten by government security forces South Sudanese forces stopped a UN peacekeeping convoy at gunpoint and beat the unit's commander in the latest clash with peacekeepers in the war-wracked African country, a report obtained by AFP on Thursday said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that South Sudan's defence minister had apologized for the September 21 incident in Juba, the capital. About 100 officers from South Sudan's national security service "surrounded the convoy and pointed weapons at the vehicles," said the confidential report sent to the council on Monday. "At one point the contingent commander accompanying the convoy was physically assaulted before diverting to UN House," in Juba, it added. Guterres listed 17 incidents during the month of September when convoys were blocked, peacekeepers harassed and in some cases detained by South Sudan's forces. US Ambassador Nikki Haley is scheduled to visit South Sudan next week as a new regional push to end the war appears to be struggling to get off the ground. UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the council on Tuesday that the government had given a "lukewarm response" to the new peace initiative by the regional IGAD group. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions uprooted from South Sudan since 2013 during a conflict characterized by rape, ethnic massacres and attacks on civilians. In his report, Guterres said he was reviewing the 14,000-strong UNMISS operation in South Sudan and would present his recommendations to the council before it decides on extending the mission in December. The United States is South Sudan's biggest aid provider and a key supporter of its 2011 independence from Sudan. South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused rebel leader Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup. Machar is living in exile in South Africa after he escaped heavy fighting in Juba last year, but the fighting rages on. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson travels to the Gulf over the weekend to discuss a row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson played down prospects of a breakthrough in the crisis between US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar Thursday as he prepared to travel to the Gulf over the weekend. "I do not have a lot of expectations for it being resolved anytime soon," he said in an interview with financial news agency Bloomberg. "There seems to be a real unwillingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage." Tillerson's October 20-27 trip will also take him to India and Pakistan. Tillerson, who departs Friday for the Gulf, made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the Saudi-Qatar dispute during a trip to the region in July. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic relations with Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. The sides have been at an impasse since then, despite efforts by Kuwait to mediate the crisis. US President Donald Trump, after initially appearing to support the effort to isolate Qatar, has called for mediation and recently predicted a rapid end to the crisis. But Tillerson indicated there has been little movement. "It's up to the leadership of the quartet when they want to engage with Qatar because Qatar has been very clear -- they're ready to engage," he said. "Our role is to try to ensure lines of communication are as open as we can help them be, that messages not be misunderstood," he said. "We're ready to play any role we can to bring them together but at this point it really is now up to the leadership of those countries." Besides the Gulf dispute, Iran, the conflict in Yemen and counter-terrorism also are on the agenda in the Gulf, the State Department said. While in Riyadh, Tillerson will also take part in the first meeting of a Saudi-Iraqi coordination council, a sign of warming relations between the Sunni-ruled kingdom and Baghdad as the Saudis seek to counter Tehran's influence in Iraq. After Riyadh and Doha, the secretary will go to Islamabad and New Delhi, stops that had been announced previously, and then to Geneva on his way back to Washington. In Islamabad, Tillerson will stress "Pakistan's critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy," the State Department said. Trump has stepped up pressure on the Pakistani authorities and military, which have been accused of being too soft on the Taliban. In New Delhi, he will be looking for ways to strengthen the US "strategic partnership" with India, seen as a counter to China's rise as a world power. The secretary of state will then take up global humanitarian crises during a visit in Geneva with heads of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Israeli soldier Elor Azaria (C), who shot dead a wounded Palestinian assailant in March 2016, stands with his parents during a hearing at a military court in Tel Aviv on July 30, 2017 An Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a prone Palestinian assailant has asked the country's president to pardon him, the presidency said Thursday. "A request for pardon in the case of Elor Azaria was submitted today, Thursday, October 19, to President Reuven Rivlin," Rivlin's office wrote in English. "The request will be considered by the relevant authorities and, as is customary in the case of pardon requests by soldiers, will be passed to the ministry of defence and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for consultation," it said. A number of Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have called for Azaria to be pardoned. The March 2016 shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was caught on video by a human rights group and spread widely online. It showed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, lying wounded on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army. Some 11 minutes after the initial shooting, Azaria, a sergeant and military medic at the time of the incident, shot him in the head without any apparent provocation. He said he had feared Sharif was wearing an explosive belt and could blow himself up -- a claim judges rejected. On July 30, a military court turned down Azaria's appeal against his conviction for manslaughter and upheld an 18-month prison sentence, which he began serving on August 9. Last month Israel's military Chief of Staff General Gadi Eisenkot reduced the term by four months. In a letter to Azaria, Eisenkot wrote that "it must be said from the outset clearly and unequivocally that from the point of view of the chief of staff, your conduct was inappropriate and contrary to army orders and to the army's values." The army said however that Eisenkot had decided to show compassion on account of Azaria's prior military service record in a combat zone. Amnesty International has said Azaria's sentence does "not reflect the gravity of the offence". The UN human rights office said it was an "unacceptable" punishment for "an apparent extra-judicial killing". Azaria completed his mandatory three-year military service on July 20. Israeli tanks take part in a military exercise in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on September 13, 2017 Israel responded with tank fire into Syria on Thursday after a Syrian mortar shell landed in the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights, the army said. "In response to the projectile that hit Israel earlier today, the Israel Defence Forces targeted the sources of fire in the Syrian Golan Heights," it said in an English-language statement. It did not identify the sources of the Syrian fire nor say whether it considered it to be a deliberate attack or unintentional spillover from the Syrian civil war, as in several previous incidents. It said the mortar shell fell on open ground and caused no injuries. Speaking shortly afterwards in the Jordan Valley, part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implied that the Syrian shell was a stray but said it was nevertheless unacceptable. "We do not accept spillovers and if they hit us we return fire -- and it doesn't take much time," his office quoted him as saying in Hebrew. On Monday, Israel carried out an air strike on an anti-aircraft battery in Syria after the battery fired on its planes during surveillance flights over neighbouring Lebanon. Israel has sought to avoid becoming directly involved in the six-year civil war in Syria, though it acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes to stop what it calls advanced arms deliveries to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. The group, against which Israel fought a devastating 2006 war, is militarily backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the conflict. Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it, a move never recognised by the international community. Former US president George W. Bush has criticized the policies and world view of current President Donald Trump, without naming him George W. Bush issued a sharp denunciation of bigotry, white supremacy and falsehoods on Thursday, in what was seen as a clear rebuke of politics in the age of President Donald Trump. In a New York speech, the two-term former president warned that the coarsening of the national tone and divisive themes are threats to American democracy. "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication," Bush said. Though he did not mention Trump by name, Bush offered an implicit rebuke of the current administration and the controversial politics that emboldened millions of voters who swept Trump to victory last November. "Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed," Bush stated, two months after Trump said "both sides" were to blame when a neo-Nazi rally in Virginia turned violent. He spoke the same day as white supremacist figure Richard Spencer tried to give a speech at a Florida university, but was shouted down. Argument "turns too easily into animosity," Bush added. "Disagreement escalates into dehumanization." Unlike his Democratic successor Barack Obama, the Republican Bush has said very little publicly about Trump or the state of US politics this year. He declined to endorse Trump's candidacy, and largely stayed above the political fray. Thursday's speech -- at the Bush Institute's Spirit of Liberty event -- marked a departure from that silence, an expression of concern by a former leader in a unique moment in the nation's history. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism and forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," the 71-year-old Bush said, after months of Trump's efforts to rein in immigration and slow the flow of refugees into the United States. "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together." The 43rd president, observing America's "fading confidence" in free markets and international trade, lamented the "return of isolationist sentiments" in the country. - 'Bullying and prejudice' - He also chastised Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US election and its effort to turn "Americans against each other" and "exploit our country's divisions." "America must harden its own defenses" in the face of external attacks, he said. But Bush spent significant time targeting the current US political environment, and the harsh divisions that have been laid bare since Trump announced his candidacy in 2015. "Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone," Bush said. "The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them." He also outlined steps to improve the state of American democracy. "We need to recall and recover our own identity," he said. "Americans have great advantage. To renew our country we only need to remember our values." Bush's comments reverberated through political Washington. "Thank you George W. Bush for speaking the truth about @realDonaldTrump and those who enable him," tweeted Ted Lieu, a House Democrat and fierce Trump critic. "Important speech by my friend," said Senator John McCain, who challenged Bush for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. Bush's remarks came three days after McCain delivered his own speech appearing to rebuke Trump's ideas and politics. McCain, a US war hero and frequent Trump critic, slammed what he called "half-baked, spurious nationalism" in his speech, a remark widely taken as a rebuke of Trumpism. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner introduced the "Honest Ads Act" to require online firms to disclose sources of political ads, aimed at curbing foreign interference in US elections US lawmakers Thursday unveiled legislation to require disclosure of the source of many online political ads, a move aimed at preventing a recurrence of Russian social media manipulation in the 2016 election. "First and foremost this is an issue of national security -- Russia attacked us and will continue to use different tactics to undermine our democracy and divide our country, including by purchasing disruptive online political ads," said Senator Amy Klobuchar, who introduced the bill with fellow Democrat Mark Warner and Republican John McCain. The legislation follows news that Russian-backed entities used online platforms to spread disinformation during the 2016 campaign, aiming to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton. "In the wake of Russia's attack on the 2016 election, it is more important than ever to strengthen our defenses against foreign interference in our elections," McCain said in a statement. "Unfortunately, US laws requiring transparency in political campaigns have not kept pace with rapid advances in technology, allowing our adversaries to take advantage of these loopholes to influence millions of American voters with impunity." The Honest Ads Act would require online platforms with at least 50 million users to maintain and disclose information on spending of at least $500 for ads for candidates or legislative issues, applying rules that are similar to those for television and radio. A similar measure is being introduced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan backing. - Industry qualms - Republican Senator John McCain endorsed the proposal to require online firms to disclose the source of political ads The lawmakers acknowledged some resistance from major tech firms, but said talks were ongoing. "It's our hope the social media companies, the platform companies will work with us," Warner said. "The companies that we're talking about are really iconic American companies... but these companies in many ways rely upon the trust of all of us who use these platforms." The New York Times reported that some major tech companies opposed the bill because it would add a new level of regulation and may not apply to divisive messages that do not mention specific candidates or issues. Facebook vice president and chief privacy officer Erin Egan said in a statement, "We stand with lawmakers in their effort to achieve transparency in political advertising. We have already announced the steps Facebook will take on our own and we look forward to continuing the conversation with lawmakers as we work toward a legislative solution." Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said the group which represents major online firms was "reviewing the legislation and look forward to further engagement with the sponsors." Berin Szoka of the lobby group TechFreedom called the measure well-intentioned but said it would be complicated to implement. Szoka said US election law already bans foreign nationals from spending on campaigns. "It's fair to expect online ad platforms to do more to identify ads funded by foreign sources, but imposing vague standards for intermediary liability is always a bad idea," he said "We also don't want ad platforms to be so unsure of their potential liability that they make it harder for American citizens, especially those of foreign origin or living overseas, to exercise their free speech rights online." Lawmakers are investigating how foreign entities used Facebook, Google and other online platforms to sway sentiment in 2016. The social network handed to Congress about 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to turn people against one another ahead of last year's US election. Many of these were so-called "dark ads" targeted at specific groups and which could not be viewed by the public. Facebook announced Thursday initiatives to help struggling news organizations gain paid subscribers, following a similar move unveiled earlier this month by Google. The social network giant said it will test 'premium news models' for organizations that deliver their content on Facebook, to enable the publishers to have more control over pricing, subscriber relationships and revenue. 'Earlier this year, many publishers identified subscriptions as a top priority, so we worked with a diverse group of partners to design, refine, and develop a test suited for a variety of premium news model,' said a blog post by Facebook executives Campbell Brown, Alex Hardiman and Sameera Salari. Facebook is testing a new system to help publishers get more subscriptions and more revenue from readers linking from the social network's Instant Articles Facebook said it would soon roll out the test to support new subscription models in Instant Articles in partnership with a news organizations in the US and Europe, starting with the Android application. The leading social network said it would allow for 'paywalls' in its Instant Articles feature, aiming to encourage users to sign up and pay news organizations whose content is linked through Facebook. If a person subscribes after prompting, the publisher will handle the payment directly and keep 100 percent of the revenue, Facebook said. Facebook said it would allow for various paywalls including a 'metered' system with a fixed number of articles as well as a 'freemium model' where certain content is locked at the discretion of the publisher. Included in the test will be Germany's Bild and Spiegel, France's Le Parisien, Italy's La Republicca, the Telegraph and the Economist of Britain and the US-based Boston Globe, Washington Post, and news groups Hearst and Tronc, which includes the Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, and San Diego Union-Tribune. Facebook said the changes are part of its Journalism Project created this year aimed at fostering 'a healthy news ecosystem' and curbing the spread of fake news. The moves by Facebook and Google come with many news organizations blaming the internet giants for encouraging free content, while getting most of the ad revenues from news articles appearing on their platforms. Earlier this month, Google announced similar actions, ending a 'first click free' policy that required news organizations to provide at least three free articles to be indexed in a Google search. This will be replaced by a 'flexible sampling' model that will allow publishers to require a subscription at any time they choose, according to Google. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, pictured in 2016, called the budget vote "historic" Lebanon's parliament on Thursday approved a government budget for the first time since 2005, the country's ANI news agency reported. For 12 years, political crises and wars have forced Lebanon's state institutions to operate without a budget, an economic aberration that has angered many Lebanese. But after three days of debate, lawmakers on Thursday passed the budget -- for the current financial year, not for 2018. Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who called the vote "historic", said the 2018 budget could be discussed as early as next week. ANI did not provide total figures for income or expenditure. Some lawmakers criticised the approval of amounts already spent, describing the debate prior to the vote as a "masquerade" and an attempt to hide financial wrongdoing in a country where corruption is commonplace. The 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri, widely blamed on the Syrian regime, plunged Lebanon into turmoil, dividing the country between supporters and enemies of Damascus. Repeated crises, notably a 2006 war between Israel and Shiite militant movement Hezbollah, followed by the 2011 outbreak of civil war in neighbouring Syria, further deepened divides and paralysed the government. Civil society groups have described Lebanon's parliament itself as illegitimate, as it has extended its own mandate twice since the last legislative elections held in 2009. Since its devastating 1975-1990 civil war, Lebanon has been weighed down with endemic corruption and a national debt estimated at 140 percent of GDP. President Donald J. Trumps administration may support a school choice measure for children from miltiary families . Thats according to Crooked , a news and opinion website run by several high-profile former staffers from President Barack Obamas administration, among others. On Thursday, the site posted what it characterized as a Trump White House wish list for several policy areas. Included on that list, which isnt dated, is 1 billion dollars to create an education savings account for military families living on bases. Theres also an item for a state opt-in funding stream that allows states to enhance and supplement existing school choice programs, or create a new program. A White House spokesman didnt provide any immediate comment about the document on Thursday. The second item isnt really newit bears at least a rough similarity to the Trump administrations proposal to expand school choice in its fiscal 2018 budget request. (Those proposals have been almost entirely ignored by Congress so far.) But the first item, creating ESAs for those in the military, would be a new ask for the Trump White House. The Heritage Foundation, which Trump spoke to on Tuesday , released a similar ESA plan for the military over the summer. Education savings accounts dont involve picking a particular charter or private school. Instead, they generally allow families to spend money on various materials and services related to their childrens schooling, from tuition and tutoring to textbooks. The $1 billion request for military ESAs would be roughly four times the size of the Trump administrations proposed $250 million program to expand private school choice in Trumps fiscal 2018 budget blueprint. Heres one thing to keep in mind: The Heritage plan would be paid for using money that now goes to Impact Aid, which helps school districts make up for tax revenue lost because of a federal presence, such as a military base or Native American reservation. However, Impact Aid is popular in Congress, complicating the proposals legislative prospects. Its not clear if the White House would also support using Impact Aid to pay for its program. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced a bill earlier this year that would grant scholarships for private-school tuition to military families . Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . CIA Director Mike Pompeo, shown here in June 2017, said President Donald Trump is determined to prevent North Korea from getting a nuclear missle that could hit the continental US The United States should assume Kim Jong-Un's regime is "on the cusp" of getting a nuclear missile capable of striking US targets and work to prevent this, the head of the CIA said Thursday. CIA director Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump is determined to prevent North Korea from making the breakthrough "whether it happens on Tuesday or a month from Tuesday." Both Pompeo and US National Security Adviser HR McMaster said Trump would still prefer to use sanctions and diplomacy to force Kim to come to the table to discuss disarmament. But, speaking to a Washington policy forum, both also warned that the use of US military force remains an option to prevent Pyongyang from acquiring a long-range nuclear missile. "They are close enough now in their capabilities that from a US policy perspective we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving that objective," Pompeo said. Pompeo said US intelligence had kept close tabs on the North Korean program in the past, but that its missile expertise is now growing too quickly to be sure when it will succeed. "But when you're now talking about months our capacity to understand that at a detailed level is in some sense irrelevant," he said. "The president's made it very clear," he added. "He's prepared to ensure that Kim Jong-Un doesn't have the capacity to hold America at risk. By military force if necessary." This week, North Korea's deputy UN ambassador declared that Pyongyang would not put its nuclear arsenal nor ballistic missile program on the table unless Washington drops its "hostile" stance. And Kim's regime has made no secret of its efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting US mainland cities or bases in the Pacific, conducting regular tests. McMaster told the conference, organized by the Federation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), that the regime would not be allowed to develop arms that would threaten the United States. "We are not out of time but we are running out of time," Trump's top security adviser said. "The president has been very clear. He's not going to accept this regime threatening the United States with nuclear weapons," he warned. "There are those that say, 'accept and deter'. Well, 'accept and deter' is unacceptable." White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said he had advised President Donald Trump not to call the families of four servicemen killed in Niger personally, but was disgusted by how the issue had become politicized White House chief of staff John Kelly -- a former general whose son died in Afghanistan -- made an emotive defense of Donald Trump Thursday, amid a scandal over the president's phone call with a military widow. Kelly, who spent nearly four decades in the Marine Corps, said he had advised Trump not to call the families of four servicemen killed in Niger personally, but was disgusted by how the issue had become politicized. He blamed the Democratic lawmaker who made public the contents of a call between Trump and widow Myeshia Johnson. "I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing," he said. "A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife," he said. "Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred." "The only thing I could do to collect my thoughts was to go and walk among the finest men and women on this Earth. And you can always find them. Because they're in Arlington National Cemetery." Kelly said he "went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed." - 'It still hurts' - Trump kicked off the furor early this week by falsely claiming that Barack Obama and other former US leaders did not call the families of fallen soldiers. He returned to the subject in an interview with Fox News radio and brought up his chief of staff Kelly, whose son, a Marine Corps lieutenant, was killed by a landmine in Afghanistan in 2010. "You could ask General Kelly 'Did he get a call from Obama?'" Trump said. It was then alleged that during a call Trump had offended the pregnant widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, 25, who was one of four US servicemembers killed in a jihadist ambush October 4. The details of the call were released by Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida. "I didn't hear the whole phone call, but I did hear him say, 'I'm sure he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts,'" she recalled, sparking another round of controversy. The soldier's mother also suggested that the president struggled to convey an empathetic tone. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Sergeant Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Washington Post. Kelly said he had advised Trump not to make the calls: "My first recommendation was he not do it. Because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to." But, after taking advice, Kelly said Trump "called four people the other day and expressed his condolences in the best way he could." "And in his way tried to express that opinion that he's a brave man, a fallen hero, he knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted... and was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message." Kelly also noted that a president does not always call -- particularly during high-casualty wars -- but they do write letters to the family. "Typically the only phone calls the family receives are the most important phone calls they could imagine, and that is from their buddies." A message issued on October 19, 2017, by the US embassy warned citizens of a "credible threat" of a terror attack in Senegal's capital of Dakar The US embassy has warned its citizens in Senegal of a "credible threat" of a terror attack in the capital Dakar, advising them to take special care when visiting places and areas popular with Westerners. The embassy also told its own staff members to stay away from seaside hotels in Dakar. A message, issued on Wednesday to US citizens in the country, warned them "to be vigilant when visiting establishments and staying at hotels frequented by Westerners due to a credible threat related to potential terrorist activity in Dakar". It went on to advise US nationals to "review your personal security plans, remain aware of your surroundings," while banning embassy personnel from staying at the seaside hotels until the first week of December. The Canadian government on Thursday issued a similar warning to its nationals in the west African nation. Unlike many of its neighbours Senegal is not known to have suffered from terror attacks. Dakar is set to host several international events in coming weeks, including the International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa on November 13-14. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis's comments came as questions mount in the US media about the events on October 4 US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis revealed new details of a Niger ambush that left four US servicemen dead, including that the body of one slain soldier was not immediately evacuated. Mattis's comments come as questions mount in the US media about what happened on October 4, and criticism over President Donald Trump's handling of the aftermath. The Pentagon boss said the body of Sergeant La David Johnson was "found later" by non-US forces following the ambush, which is thought to have been conducted by jihadists in an area where an Islamic State group affiliate operates. US officials earlier had told CNN that Johnson's body was not recovered for nearly 48 hours. "The US military does not leave its troops behind, and I would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once," Mattis said. As is routine in incidents where troops are killed, the Pentagon has opened an inquiry into the soldiers' deaths. Because the military was not expecting hostile action, it fell to French forces conducting anti-jihadist operations in the region to provide air support after the ambush. This included fighter aircraft, helicopter gunships and a medivac helicopter that air-lifted the wounded. Mattis said a contract aircraft had evacuated the bodies of those killed in action. The Americans had been on a joint patrol with Nigerien counterparts they were training when they were ambushed by motorcycle-riding and car-driving gunmen in the Tillaberi region in the Niger's southwest. At least four Nigerien troops also died. Trump has faced criticism for not immediately publicly addressing the attack, then falsely claiming that Barack Obama and other former US leaders did not call the families of fallen soldiers. He then was accused of disrespecting Johnson's family in a condolence call. During a Pentagon briefing, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said the US troops had conducted 29 previous patrols in the region and had no reason to expect an ambush. Separately, National Security Adviser HR McMaster cautioned against jumping to any premature conclusions about the incident. "In the military, the first report is always wrong," he said. A man is seen walking by the US embassy in Ankara The United States and Turkey made "substantial progress" during talks to resolve an ongoing visa row, but Washington continues to protest over the arrests of Turkish employees from its diplomatic missions, the State Department said Thursday. An American delegation that traveled to Turkey and was led by senior State Department official Jonathan Cohen "made substantial progress," spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington. Nauert added the United States "will remain engaged" in order to "address the relevant issues with a view to restore a normal visa procedures swiftly." Already-strained relations between the NATO allies deteriorated further early this month after a court formally charged an Istanbul mission staffer with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish government. In reaction to the employee's arrest, the US ambassador October 8 announced the suspension of all visa services in Turkey, except immigrant visas. Ankara responded with similar measures. According to Washington, two of its Turkish diplomatic mission staff were arrested this year, while a third was summoned by prosecutors. "The government of Turkey has still not provided us the evidence," Nauert said Tuesday, referring to the accusations of "terrorist-tied activity" against the employees. "If they have evidence, by all means do provide it," she added. SONOMA, Calif. (AP) - Outside one of the first shops to reopen for business on an empty central square in California wine country, clerk Rhiannon Lorenzini swept the sidewalks as the sky cleared of ash more than a week after the state's deadliest group of wildfires ignited. In a wine region that normally draws more annual visitors than Disney World, Lorenzini waved to some of the few passers-by: firefighters in firetrucks rolling through Sonoma's normally thronged 19th-century plaza. The blazes have left many business owners and employees without work or pay for nine days. "I'm really grateful to be back at work, safe. And praying to have business here," Lorenzini said, as authorities began to lift evacuation orders this week and a utility restored power to more of the area, where fires have killed at least 41 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 photo, workers begin repairs to a damaged irrigation pipe at the wildfire-damaged Signorello Estate winery in Napa, Calif. Residents in California wine country are increasingly worried about the ability to pay their bills as wildfires drag on. The state's deadliest group of fires has left many business owners and employees without work or pay for nine days. Business communities are just returning to assess the effect on revenue and jobs. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) "I do have bills coming up that I have to pay," said Lorenzini, who works at a home-goods store targeting visitors flocking to the more than 1,000 wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties. "You start to wonder how you're going to take care of yourself." The fires up-ended business across wine country, forcing evacuations at some of the biggest employers, ranging from a sprawling state center for the disabled to department stores, hotels and wineries, shops and factories. Business communities were just returning Tuesday to assess the effect on revenue and jobs. Wine tourism companies said customers were canceling almost all scheduled visits. Some businesses launched fundraisers for employees facing the prospect of long-term unemployment, including those who lost homes to the fires. "It is hard to imagine that any significant level of tourism will resume anytime soon, despite that this is a magnificent time of year to be here," tour operator Don Rickard said. California produces 85 percent of the country's wine, and Sonoma and Napa valleys make the highest-value bottles, according to the state's Wine Institute trade group. The valleys, linked by ridges now riddled with wildfires, provide the bulk of the state's 325,000 wine industry jobs and $58 billion in business for California alone, the group said. Normally, the vineyards and wineries draw tens of millions of visitors each year and help support fast-growing communities on the edge of the San Francisco Bay Area. For many teachers, store clerks and vineyard workers, however, costs are always high in the region with some of the most expensive housing in the country. The research group CoreLogic said median sale prices of a single-family home were $562,000 in Napa County and $577,000 in Sonoma County in August. Francisco Macias, a landscaper in the city of Santa Rosa whose clients included a now-burned Hilton hotel, fled the fires last week. In the following days, Macias and his wife made the hard decision not to pay their mortgage when it came due. "We figured we better have some money because we don't know what's going to happen," Macias said. "We didn't know how long it would be before we could work." Unlike earthquakes that unleash destruction in seconds, the wildfires are dragging on, compounding worries for residents. In conversation, people talk first of their flight from their homes but increasingly turn to nagging thoughts of unpaid bills. Adam Plasse, 18, of Santa Rosa, took day after day off from the garage where he works as an auto mechanic, forfeiting pay to try to defend his century-old house from the flames. "I feel like I'm living in a matchbox, just waiting for it to ignite," said Plasse, who gave up the fight Saturday and fled with his girlfriend to a campsite on the coast. With money dwindling, Plasse vowed to head back to work this week and drum up customers for the auto shop, even if his home burned to the ground in the meantime. "I'm worried," Plasse said. "I can't miss too many paychecks." Outside Sonoma, vintner Steve Larson pleaded with officials Monday to open one road so his workers could harvest, even as helicopters dropped water on the countryside nearby. "I've got 100 tons of Cabernet grapes" ready for picking, Larson said. "That amounts to a lot of money for the company and for the 115 workers we have." The fires were going to produce a painful "chain reaction" for people in the wine region, Larson predicted. "We've been short housing as it is," he said. With thousands of homes burned, "where are these people going to stay, when there is no place to stay? "They have bills to pay, they need gas for their cars, food on the table," Larson said. By the fires' second week, winds that were lighter than feared and round-the-clock efforts by thousands of firefighters allowed authorities to start lifting closures that had kept out 100,000 residents and countless visitors. Macias, the landscaper, got the call he had been waiting for. His bosses told him to show up for work Tuesday. "That is the best news," he said. "Because we need the money." ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that the Wine Institute says there are 325,000 wine-related jobs in California, not 325 million jobs. In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 photo, people visit the Pine Ridge Vineyards tasting room after it reopened following the wildfires in Napa, Calif. Residents in California wine country are increasingly worried about the ability to pay their bills as wildfires drag on. The state's deadliest group of fires has left many business owners and employees without work or pay for nine days. Business communities are just returning Tuesday to assess the effect on revenue and jobs. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - The Latest on deadliest attack in Somalia's history (all times local): 6:45 p.m. Thousands of protesters have gathered at a stadium in Somalia's capital in a show of defiance after the country's deadliest attack killed more than 300. Angry protesters march near the scene of Saturday's massive truck bomb attack in which over 300 people were killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Thousands of people took to the streets of Somalia's capital Wednesday in a show of defiance after the country's deadliest attack, as two people were arrested in connection with Saturday's massive truck bombing that killed more than 300. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) The protesters chanted slogans against the extremist group al-Shabab, which Somalia's government blames for the attack. Mogadishu's mayor urged the crowd to "liberate our country from al-Shabab, so that such tragedies won't happen again." Nearly 400 people were wounded. Scores remain missing. ___ 2:45 p.m. Officials in Somalia say two people have been arrested in connection with Saturday's massive truck bombing that killed more than 300. A Somali intelligence official investigating the attack tells The Associated Press that a well-known man who vouched for the truck and persuaded soldiers to allow it into Mogadishu is now in jail. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The official says the truck bomber had an accomplice driving a minivan packed with explosives that took another route but was stopped at a checkpoint near Mogadishu's airport. A senior Somali police officer, Capt. Mohamed Hussein, says that driver is now being held in a local prison. - Abdi Guled in Mogadishu. ___ 2:15 p.m. A senior Somali police official says at least three people, including a pregnant woman, are injured after security forces opened fire while trying to disperse protesters marching toward the site of Saturday's huge truck bombing in Mogadishu. Capt. Mohammed Hussein says both Somali police and African Union soldiers were at the scene and opened fire. Thousands of people are marching through Mogadishu in a show of unity and defiance after the bombing killed more than 300 people and wounded nearly 400. Scores remain missing. ___ 1 p.m. Pope Francis has deplored the Somalia bombing that killed more than 300 people and wounded nearly 400 others. At the end of his Wednesday public audience in St. Peter's Square, Francis said "this terrorist act merits the strongest laments" especially since it struck an already suffering population. He prayed for the dead and wounded in Saturday's truck bombing in Mogadishu. Francis also appealed for the "conversion of the violent ones" and encouraged work for peace. ___ 12:45 p.m. Somali police say African Union soldiers have fired at angry protesters marching toward the site of the country's deadliest attack. Officer Ahmed Ali says the troops were responding after some protesters threw stones at them. Thousands of people are marching through Mogadishu in a show of unity and defiance after Saturday's truck bombing killed more than 300 people and wounded nearly 400. Scores remain missing. Somalia's government has blamed the attack on the al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets Mogadishu but has not commented. ___ 12:30 p.m. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Somalia's capital in a show of defiance after the country's deadliest attack. Wearing red headbands, the crowd of mostly young men and women is marching through Mogadishu amid tight security. "May Allah punish those who massacred our people," said university student Mohamed Salad. The crowd marched toward the site of Saturday's truck bombing, which killed more than 300 people and wounded nearly 400. Scores remain missing. "You can kill us, but not our spirit and desire for peace," said high school teacher Zainab Muse. Somalia's government has blamed the attack on the al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets Mogadishu but has not commented. Mayor Thabit Abdi called for Wednesday's march, saying "we must liberate this city which is awash with graves." A Somali man looking for news of his missing brother looks at grave boards at a cemetery in Mogadishu, Somalia Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. Anguished families gathered across Somalia's capital on Tuesday as funerals continued for the more than 300 people killed in one of the world's deadliest attacks in years, while others waited anxiously for any word of the scores of people still said to be missing. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) Pope Francis attends his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The pontiff deplored the Somalia bombing that killed more than 300 people. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned Wednesday reported atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He said those responsible - perhaps the country's military - will be held accountable. Tillerson said accounts of the suffering of the Rohingya are heartbreaking - and that if those reports are true, then "someone is going to be held to account for that." Tillerson, who is set to visit South Asia next week, is urging the Myanmar government to improve humanitarian access to the population in western Rakhine state. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Amnesty International has accused Myanmar's security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel the Rohingya. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since late August. "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening," Tillerson said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "What's most important to us is that the world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area." The deepening persecution of the Rohingya, a minority group denied citizenship in the majority Buddhist nation, has cast a long shadow over the U.S.-backed shift from decades of military rule toward democracy in the country also known as Burma. Tillerson said it is a test of the "power-sharing government" between civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. He said the U.S. has urged restraint by the military which launched its crackdown in response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents. The government and military have denied allegations, voiced by senior U.N. officials, of ethnic cleansing. Tillerson demanded access to the strife-hit region to allow a "full accounting" of the circumstances of what has happened in Rakhine. He said a couple of U.S. diplomats have been able to visit. "We're encouraging access for the aid agencies, the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, the U.N. agencies so we can at least address some of the most pressing humanitarian needs, but more important is so we can get a full understanding of what is going on," Tillerson said. The top U.S. diplomat did not elaborate on how perpetrators may be held to account, but said the U.S. would be engaged with the United Nations. Some U.S. lawmakers have called for the U.S. to apply targeted financial sanctions of its own on military officials complicit in abuses. Amnesty said fleeing Rohingya had identified attackers as wearing uniforms of the Myanmar military's Western Command, the 33rd Light Infantry Division and border police. The rights group called for an arms embargo on the country and criminal prosecution of the perpetrators. ____ Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report. WASHINGTON (AP) - Contrary to widespread perceptions, the IRS still appears to be enforcing the unpopular Obama-era requirement that most people carry health insurance or risk a fine. The agency says on its website that it will automatically reject electronic returns for tax year 2017 that don't specify if the taxpayer had health insurance. That insurance requirement, known as the individual mandate, is the top target of so-far fruitless efforts by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Under the ACA, taxpayers are supposed to specify if they had coverage, or they were eligible for an exemption, or if they will pay the fine. But several million skip over that question and file "silent" returns. This year the IRS continued to process such returns. However, taxpayers who skipped the health care question took a chance that they might later get a letter from the tax agency demanding answers. Last week, the IRS released a new policy saying the health insurance question must be answered up front on tax returns. "Taxpayers remain obligated to follow the law and pay what they may owe at the point of filing," the agency said on its website. With paper returns, processing may be suspended and refunds delayed. The shift got little attention amid major "Obamacare" announcements from the White House. President Donald Trump ended a key health insurance subsidy. Tuesday a bipartisan deal was announced in the Senate that may yet preserve the subsidies, and Trump initially indicated he would support it. But later he appeared to backtrack. The IRS has gone back and forth on how to treat silent returns. As former President Barack Obama left office, the tax agency had planned to start rejecting such returns with the 2017 tax filing season - similar to what it will do next year. But as one of his first acts, Trump ordered government agencies to provide relief from "Obamacare." So the IRS decided to keep processing returns that failed to answer the health care question, and follow up later with taxpayers. Some supporters of the health care law took that as a sign that the IRS would no longer enforce the insurance requirement. Failure to carry coverage can bring a fine of $695, or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. Critics have accused the administration of ignoring the law in an attempt to "sabotage" the ACA. That assessment may shift now. "I would say that the IRS has and continues to enforce the individual mandate," said Gordon Mermin of the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "The (earlier) announcement was interpreted by some as weakening of the mandate but really it just said they weren't going to step up enforcement," added Mermin. "Now it appears they are going to increase compliance." The reason for the IRS policy shift appears to have nothing to do with the contentious politics of the health care law. There's evidence that resolving the health insurance question up front when a return is filed makes the whole process simpler for most people. WASHINGTON (AP) - As congressional investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections wear on in the Capitol, some lawmakers are starting to wonder when - and how - the probes will end. After months of clandestine interviews and a few public, partisan committee clashes, some Republicans on the House intelligence panel have privately been pushing for their probe to wrap up by the end of the year. And Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is signaling he wants his more bipartisan investigation to finish in the next several months, before the 2018 elections get into full swing and the Russians have a chance to again interfere. It's still unclear whether the congressional committees looking into the interference will come to firm conclusions about whether President Donald Trump's campaign was involved, or if they have found any direct evidence of any collaboration with Russia. Those involved say it's too early to know if they will be able to issue bipartisan reports, and whether those reports will have firm conclusions or just be a series of findings. FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2017, file photo, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., left, and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., update reporters on the status of their inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, at the Capitol in Washington. As congressional investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections wear on in the Capitol, some lawmakers are starting to wonder when _ and how _ the probes will end. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) With no ability to do criminal investigations and difficulty in getting some witnesses to appear, the panels could leave some of the more controversial assessments to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating the meddling and the question of whether Trump's campaign was involved. Mueller has the ability to prosecute, and Congress must refer any criminal findings to him. "I think there are lots of Republicans who just want this to go away, and I think the White House very much wants it to go away," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said Tuesday. "So I don't think it's necessarily the easiest call in the world for our Republican colleagues." Trump made his views clear, again, at a Monday news conference, saying "the whole Russian thing" is an excuse for Democrats who lost the presidential election. "So there has been absolutely no collusion," Trump said. "It's been stated that they have no collusion. They ought to get to the end of it, because I think the American public is sick of it." In the Senate, Burr has worked closely with the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner. Burr said Tuesday that the committee "needs to have some conclusion in time to get ready for the 2018 elections ... that gives you a window of somewhere between the end of the year and maybe February." Burr said the panel's timeline is unrelated to Mueller's probe. "They're on a criminal investigation and we're looking at Russian influence in the election," Burr said, adding that he hopes his investigation will be done before Mueller's. At a news conference with Warner on Oct. 4, Burr said the issue of collusion is "still open." He has said repeatedly that the committee has continued to find new threads, and that a firm timeline isn't possible. He said the committee has 25 interviews this month, including two public hearings related to the investigation. The panel has still yet to talk to Donald Trump Jr. and other witnesses who attended a June 2016 campaign meeting with Russians. "We've still got a fairly long list of people to see, and it's more of a mathematical equation now," Burr said. The head of the House intelligence probe, Republican Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, has similarly said the committee is continuing to follow leads and he has declined to set out a timeline. He took over the investigation after the GOP chairman of the intelligence committee, California Rep. Devin Nunes, stepped back amid criticism that he was too close to Trump's White House. Some other Republicans on the House panel have questioned how long it should go on. "It's getting old," said Republican Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, a member of the intelligence panel. He said the committee should not "prolong the investigation for the sake of prolonging it. Those days are going to come to an end here soon." Rooney said the panel should stick to witnesses that are directly related to the meddling and to the intelligence community, which is the committee's jurisdiction. He said once the committee has interviewed enough pertinent witnesses he'd recommend to Conaway and House Speaker Ryan that the panel write a final report and conclude the probe. Democrats on the House intelligence committee are trying to head off calls to end the investigations. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, said in a Washington Post op-ed over the weekend that some witnesses have been "rushed" before the committee amid White House calls to end the probe. Schiff said that the panel has much more work to do, and, unlike with Mueller's probe, the point of the congressional investigations is to "tell the American people what happened or prescribe remedies." Schiff notes that Congress also could serve as a conduit for some of Mueller's findings, if he declines to issue his own report. But it's unclear whether the Justice Department will share that information with Capitol Hill. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, believes that it's too soon to wrap up. The Judiciary panel is also doing an investigation, but its probe has moved slowly amid negotiations over witnesses. "I feel the pressure to move forward at a better pace, but not necessarily to finish," Blumenthal said, adding: "The Russians are going to do it again ... unless they pay a price they will heighten their interference in our elections." Who wants to become a teacher? Around the world, students who want to go into teaching tend to have poorer math and reading skills than students who plan to work as professionals outside of teaching. This is according to a new analysis of 2006 Program for Internatonal Student Assessment survey data of 15 year olds. On average, around 44 percent of students in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries said they expect to work in professions that require a university degreebut only 5 percent of students expected to work as teachers. The United States is below the OECD average52 percent of students expected to work in professions that require a university degree, but about 4 percent of students expected to work as teachers. (Click on graph to expand.) The paper focused on mathematics ability because of policy concerns about the need to attract people who are skilled at math into teacher training programs. (Also, reading performance data from the United States was excluded from the analyses due to a 2006 printing error that invalidated the U.S. results.) Researchers chose the 2006 data set to analyze because the 2009 and 2012 PISA surveys did not ask students about their expected occupation, but its worth noting that the past nine years have brought policy changes that might affect these results today. (However, more recent surveys and data show similar trend lines.) According to the analysis, only in a few countries do high-achieving students want to be teachers. In a majority of OECD countries, students who are strong in math are more likely to prefer a non-teaching profession. In the United States, there is no difference in PISA math scores between a student who wants to be a teacher and a student who wants to be a professional, but not a teacher. However, the average PISA math score among students who expect to work as teachers in the United States is lower than the OECD average PISA math score for aspiring teachers. These results are in line with a 2016 ACT survey of U.S. high school graduates who took its college-entrance exam, which found that only 4 percent of the class of 2015 said they planned to become teachers, counselors, or administrators. The students who took the ACT and said they aspired to be educators were particularly weak in math and science. What can change high-achieving students minds? Seong Won Han, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University at Buffalo and one of the authors of the report, said increasing teacher pay would be an important motivatorbut mostly for low- or middle-achieving students. The key thing is that teacher salary might not be enough incentive to recruit high-achieving students to the teaching profession, she said. Probably, low-achieving students tend to have a smaller set of occupational options, and teaching is more of a fall-back option. For high-achieving students, they know they can be successful in STEM and high-status professional jobs. ... Salary might not be a driving force. Instead, she said, those top performers might better respond to increased societal value of the profession. Think about high-achieving students, they have a lot of job options they can choose, she said. If they choose teaching, they believe childrens development is more important than anything else. In the United States, teacher salaries are lower than in other countries , and teachers here work more hours . These are important factors, to be sure, but Han said policy initiatives shouldnt rest on those two areas. The change to external work environment might not be enough incentive for students who are strong in math to become a teacher in the future, Han said. In this country, teaching is not highly valued. This sentimentthat teaching in the United States is a second-choice profession"is not new. My colleague Stephen Sawchuk wrote in 2012 about efforts to boost the prestige of the teaching profession in the United States , and how it stacks up to perceptions in countries like Finland, where teaching is a similar career to a lawyer or a medical doctor, as one teacher prep director put it. See also: Dont Become a Teacher': A History Only 34 percent of teachers in the United States think that the teaching profession is valued in society, according to OECD data. That is lower than other countries, Han saidlike Singapore, where 68 percent of teachers said their profession was valued. A recent report by education researcher Linda Darling-Hammond found that high-performing countries, including Singapore and Finland, have a high social regard for teaching and, in turn, are able to recruit, develop, and support high-quality teachers. According to the PISA data analysis, 31 percent of Finnish youth expect to be college-educated professionals, and about 3 percent expect to be teachers. But those Finnish students who expect to be teachers have higher reading scores than Finnish students who want to work in another profession, and there is no difference between the two groups math scores. We should think about how were going to change the view of the teaching profession in general, Han said about the United States. Part of it is raising salary and reducing work hoursthats going to be part of it. But thats not enough to change students teaching career expectations. Some states and districts have looked to high schoolers as a potential solution for teacher shortages . Interested students take classes that seek to guide them into the teacher pipeline through generating enthusiasm, encouraging innovation, and providing support. Still, Han cautioned that it will take a long time to change societal perceptions of teaching. We cannot change it overnight, she said. Image: Courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action Graph: Courtesy of the PISA in Focus policy brief GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - Officials are investigating why a U.S. Coast Guard ship briefly caught fire before dawn while docked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Two Coast Guard members discovered that the deck of the cutter Brant was on fire around 5 a.m. Wednesday while the ship was docked at Gulfport's Small Craft Harbor. In a statement, the Coast Guard says the pair began trying to put the fire out with an on-board extinguisher. The Gulfport Fire Department arrived minutes later and quickly doused the blaze. Coast Guard Cmdr. Zachary Ford said no one was injured, and thanked firefighters for the quick response. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Is a Facebook friendship a reason to disqualify a judge? A Florida law firm is asking the state Supreme Court if a judge should be disqualified from hearing a case because he's Facebook friends with an attorney appearing before him. The firm Herssein Law Group from North Miami asked the court Wednesday to review an appeals court decision that said being Facebook friends isn't a reason to disqualify the judge. In a lawsuit against a former client, Herssein asked for the trial judge to be removed from the breach of contract case because he was Facebook friends with a former judge hired as a lawyer by a defense witness. An appeals court ruled that a friend on social media isn't necessarily a friend in the traditional sense of the word. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The Australian government said Thursday it was prepared to relax its proposed English language test for new citizens as a compromise to get other tough new restrictions on attaining citizenship through Parliament. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said his conservative government was prepared to reduce its proposed English-language skill threshold from "competent" to "modest:" a level of basic communication with many mistakes. The change would be from level six to five on the nine-level International English Language Testing System scale. Language skills are not currently tested in the Australian citizenship process although some English is required. "We believe very strongly that the proposal that we've put forward is moderate, it's sensible," Dutton told reporters, adding that the new rules would enable the government to cancel the visas of convicted criminals who could otherwise become citizens under the current rules. The Senate had set a deadline of Wednesday for the legislation to be debated. The government let that deadline pass because there was no chance of the legislation being endorsed by the upper house. The government has only 29 senators in the 76-seat chamber and wants to strike a deal with the center-left opposition Labor Party to get the support of its 26 senators. Labor has condemned the language test as a "bizarre act of snobbery" that "guarantees we will have a new permanent underclass." Activist group GetUp accused the government of adopting the policies of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigration minor political party One Nation through the new test. The new rules would also increase the minimum period of Australian residency for prospective citizens from 12 months to four years and require evidence of integration, such as a job. Dutton would also have the power to override bureaucrats' decisions on who was eligible. Opposition leader Bill Shorten suggested the government abandon the changes. "If it's bad for the interests of ordinary people, we won't vote for it," Shorten told reporters. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump and honoring the nation's fallen (all times EDT): 9:45 p.m. President Donald Trump is emphatically rejecting claims he was disrespectful to the grieving family of a slain soldier, as the firestorm he ignited over his assertions of empathy for American service members spread into a third contentious day. 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. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) The controversy has generated new turmoil in the White House. After one slain soldier's father accused the president of going back on a promise to send a check for $25,000, the White House said the money had been sent. The aunt of an Army sergeant killed in Niger says Trump showed "disrespect" to the soldier's loved ones as he telephoned them to extend condolences. Sgt. La David Johnson was one of four American soldiers killed nearly two weeks ago; Trump called the families Tuesday. __ 5:55 p.m. The White House says President Donald Trump has sent a $25,000 check he promised to the father of an Army sergeant killed in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Trump offered the money during a telephone conversation with the father of Dillon Baldrige a few weeks after the 22-year-old was killed in Afghanistan on June 10. The Post reported that White House officials declined to discuss the matter when contacted Wednesday morning. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said later Wednesday that the check has been sent. She did not say when. Walters also criticized the news media and accused reporters of using a "generous and sincere" gesture made privately by Trump to advance what she describes as a "biased agenda." Walters called it "disgusting." ___ 3:30 p.m. A White House spokeswoman says Chief of Staff John Kelly is "disgusted" that dealing with military deaths has become "politicized." Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that Kelly is frustrated that "the focus has become on the process and not that American lives were lost." Sanders did not directly address whether Kelly knew that Trump would cite the death of his son in Afghanistan to question whether President Barack Obama had properly honored the war dead. She says Trump had spoken with Kelly "multiple times," but adds: "I'm not sure if he knew of that specific comment, but they have certainly spoken about it. And they have spoken several times." Asked if Trump politicized Kelly's son's death, Sanders says, "He was responding to a question and stating a fact." ___ 3:09 p.m. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says President Donald Trump has made as much contact as possible with families of slain military service members. Sanders said Wednesday that there is a protocol created by the White House Military Office for the president to contact the families. First, the Department of Defense notifies the next of kin. Then, the Pentagon sends information to the White House, which has to then be re-confirmed. Once done, the president reaches out to the family. Sanders said Trump has reached out to every family that has been authorized by the military office. The Associated Press found relatives of four soldiers who died overseas during Trump's presidency who said they never received calls from him. Relatives of two soldiers also confirmed they did not get letters. __ 2:34 p.m. Relatives of at least a half dozen people who died in military service since Donald Trump became president say they never got a call from him about their loss. This, despite Trump's boast that he calls all or nearly all military families when they lose a loved one. The Associated Press is speaking with military families across the country to see if they got a call from Trump. Some have not, and feel let down about it. After Army Sgt. Jonathon M. Hunter died in a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan in August, his family was told to expect a call from Trump. None came. Hunter was 23 and from Columbus, Indiana. His father Mark says the family wanted nothing more from Trump than an acknowledgment that Jonathon Hunter had made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. The family spoke with Vice President Mike Pence at a ceremony honoring the return of the soldier's remains. ____ 12:05 p.m. President Donald Trump is continuing to reject a Florida congresswoman's account that he told the widow of a soldier killed in an ambush in Niger that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Trump says Wednesday before a meeting at the White House that he "didn't say it at all." He adds: "I had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said." Sgt. La David Johnson was among four servicemen killed in the African nation of Niger earlier this month. Rep. Frederica Wilson said she was with Myeshia Johnson Tuesday when Trump called the widow. She said she overheard Trump's words. The serviceman's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the congresswoman's account was correct. She said "not only did he disrespect my son," but also the family. Trump, asked by reporters about an earlier tweet saying he had "proof"of what he said, the president said: "let her (Wilson) make her statement again and you'll find out." __ 10:36 a.m. The mother of a soldier killed in an ambush in Niger is confirming a report that President Donald Trump told his widow he "knew what he signed up for." Cowanda Jones-Johnson spoke to the Associated Press via Facebook message Wednesday. A Florida congresswoman said previously that Trump made the statement to Myeshia Johnson on Tuesday during a telephone call as she was on the way to Miami International Airport to meet the body of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson. Jones-Johnson says she was in the car and "the statement is true." She added that "not only did he disrespect my son" but Trump was disrespectful to her son's widow. Jones-Johnson said she did not record the conversation. Trump said on Twitter that Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson "fabricated" the account. ____ 3:58 a.m. Like other presidents, Donald Trump has made personal contact with some families of the fallen and not all. What's different is that Trump has picked a political fight over the matter. He boasts: "I think I've called every family of someone who's died." But AP finds that Trump has not in fact spoken with the families of all the war dead on his watch. At least two never got a call or letter, and another family received no call. And there's ample evidence presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush pulled their weight in offering condolences, contrary to Trump's assertions. President Donald Trump applauds members of the audience before speaking at the Heritage Foundation's annual President's Club meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) BEIJING (AP) - China's economic growth stayed relatively stable in the latest quarter, buoyed by strength in retail spending and exports, giving the ruling Communist Party a boost as it prepares to appoint President Xi Jinping to a new term as leader. Growth edged down to a still-robust 6.8 percent compared with a year earlier in the three months ending in September, down marginally from the previous quarter's 6.9 percent, government data showed Thursday. Growth has been unexpectedly strong this year, but forecasters expect activity to weaken as Beijing tightens controls on bank lending to cool a rise in debt cited by analysts as the biggest threat to China's economic stability. FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2017 file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping talks with former Chinese President Hu Jintao during the opening session of China's 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China's economic growth stayed relatively stable in the latest quarter, buoyed by strength in retail spending and exports, giving the ruling Communist Party a political boost as it prepares to appoint President Xi Jinping to a new term as leader. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Communist leaders are trying to steer China to slower, more sustainable growth based on consumer spending instead of exports and investment. Beijing has used repeated infusions of credit to prevent activity from slowing too abruptly, but that has pushed up debt and delayed the economic rebalancing. In a speech Wednesday at a ruling party congress, Xi said China's "prospects are bright but the challenges are grim." He said the party would have to take big risks and overcome "major resistance." No major policy changes are expected at the meeting, but companies and investors are watching for signs of where the party will go on economic reform and how fast. In his speech Wednesday, Xi repeated promises to give market forces the "decisive role" in allocating resources but also affirmed the party's intention to build up state industry. Reform advocates say that might waste money and drag on economic growth. Thursday's data showed retail sales rose 10.3 percent in September over a year earlier, down slightly from the 10.4 percent rate of the first three quarters, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That was helped by a 34.2 percent rise in e-commerce spending over a year earlier, an 8.1 percent improvement over the same period of 2016. The party's decision to go ahead with announcing the data during its politically sensitive congress had prompted expectations they would be positive. Trade data reported earlier showed export growth accelerated in September to 8.1 percent from August's 5.5 percent, at least temporarily averting concern about politically dangerous job losses in export industries that employ millions of workers. Investment in factories, office buildings and other fixed assets rose 7.5 percent in the first three quarters, down from the first half's 8.6 percent rate. Factory output rose 6.7 percent in the first three quarters, up from 6 percent at the same time last year. The International Monetary Fund has forecast China's full-year growth will hold steady at last year's level of 6.7 percent. The IMF raised its outlook twice this year, citing strong government spending. The government's growth target is 6.5 percent "or higher if possible." Regulators have cited reducing risk in China's financial system as a priority this year. Banks have been told to look closely at borrowers, especially those trying to make acquisitions abroad, to ensure they can manage their debts. The ruling party's plans call for doubling incomes from 2010 levels and achieving a "relatively prosperous society" by 2020. In a report, UBS economists said that should require growth of just 6.3 percent for the rest of the decade. Xi's speech Wednesday included no growth target but he said "development is the foundation and the key to addressing all problems." ___ National Bureau of Statistics (in Chinese): www.stats.gov.cn NEW DELHI (AP) - An explosion at an unlicensed firecracker factory killed eight workers and injured 20 other people in eastern India as Hindus celebrated their most popular Diwali festival, police said Thursday. A police officer said rescuers cleared debris of the collapsed building in a town in Balasore district in Orissa state on Thursday morning. Seven injured people have been hospitalized while the others were treated and sent home. The area is nearly 195 kilometers (130 miles) south of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital. Injured people lie at the site of an explosion at an unlicensed firecracker factory in Bahabalpur, in Orissa state's Balasore district, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. An explosion at the factory killed several workers and injured more than a dozen others in eastern India as Hindus celebrated their most popular Diwali festival, police said Thursday. Accidental explosions are common at Indian firework factories as owners often ignore safety standards. (AP Photo) Balasore district administrator Pramod Kumar Das said a huge explosion took place on Wednesday as firecrackers were being made in a house used as a factory without a legal license, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast. Accidental explosions are common at Indian firework factories as owners often ignore safety standards. Setting off firecrackers is part of celebrations during festivals and weddings in India. In June, another explosion at a fireworks factory killed 23 workers and injured seven others in a village in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The explosion triggered a blaze that engulfed the factory before firefighters put it out. TOKYO (AP) - Japan's trade surplus leaped nearly 38 percent in September from a year earlier, on strong shipments of cars, car parts and machinery to China and the U.S., according to customs data released Thursday. Exports rose 14 percent year-on-year in value to 6.8 trillion yen ($60.3 billion) while imports climbed 12 percent to 6.1 trillion yen ($54.3 billion). Exports to China surged 29 percent in value, while exports to the U.S. were up 11 percent. In this March 24, 2017, photo, men walk by a freight vessel at the pier of a container terminal in Tokyo. Japan reports its trade surplus leaped nearly 38 percent in September from a year earlier, on strong shipments of cars, car parts and machinery to China and the U.S. Customs data released Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, showed exports rose 14 percent year-on-year to 6.8 trillion yen ($60.3 billion) while imports climbed 12 percent to 6.1 trillion yen ($54.3 billion). (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Japan's trade surplus with the U.S. climbed 5 percent from a year earlier to 616.6 billion yen ($5.5 billion). The perennial surplus is a sore point with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is due to visit Japan early next month ahead of annual regional summits in Asia. The 670.2 billion yen ($5.9 billion) overall surplus compared with a 486.6 billion yen surplus in September 2016. The surplus was dented, however, by rising costs for imports of coal, natural gas and petroleum. The recovery in overseas demand has been a key factor supporting growth in the world's third largest economy. The volume of exports in August was the highest since before the 2008 global financial crisis, and surveys of manufacturers suggest that net trade is driving growth, Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a commentary. "However, we are forecasting a slowdown in overseas GDP growth next year so exports should grow less rapidly," Thieliant said. "We expect export growth to slow from 6 percent this year to 3.5 percent next year." China's economy has performed better than anticipated this year, helping support demand for imports from across the region. But regulators are trying to cool growth to stem a worrisome buildup in debt, and growth is likely to slip from the 6.8 percent annual pace in the July-September quarter. BRUSSELS (AP) - European Union leaders told British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to match her goodwill pledges to boost Brexit negotiations with concrete proposals if she really wants to start discussing a future trade deal by December. May used a dinner at a Brussels summit of the 28-nation bloc to push her call for urgency on trade talks and get a deal she can sell at home in the British leader's latest attempt to reinvigorate the divorce talks. "We must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people," May told the leaders, who left less than fully convinced. British Prime Minister Theresa May, center, speaks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to a European Union summit Thursday with a pledge to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the bloc. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he understood May's desire to move things along. "I get that. I also want deals I can sell at home." "We still have 1 years but we have to make haste," he added. But since a conciliatory speech by May last month, EU officials have become increasingly impatient about a lack of detailed plans from Britain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said May is making more of an effort with EU partners toward a Brexit deal, but it was "not enough." Rutte agreed. "We will need more meat on the bone," he said. Rutte was talking about the money that Britain will owe the EU for previous commitments it made once it leaves in March 2019. Estimates vary from 20 billion euros to 60 billion euros ($24 billion to $71 billion) or even more to settle commitments like long-term development projects or EU pensions. "I'd prefer a sum, so we can negotiate about it. But if this is asking too much, then at least have a proposal of how to get to a sum. But even that she hasn't been able to produce," Rutte said. Still, Rutte said providing a proper method to tally what Britain owes the EU might be good enough to allow leaders to call it "sufficient progress" so that talks could move to a second stage in December. "It is about trust, whether the negotiator has enough trust. If there are no concrete figures on the table, that there is a method which can lead to a result," Rutte said. At EU headquarters in Brussels, May faced 27 EU counterparts united in blocking her goal of quickly wrapping up the first phase of Brexit talks. With less than 18 months to go until Britain leaves the bloc, the negotiations are still stuck on the terms of its departure. May had hoped that post-divorce issues like trade could be on the table starting next week. She came with an olive branch in the form of a pledge to protect the EU citizens now in Britain after the nation leaves. The future status of the 3 million EU citizens living in Britain and the 1 million Britons living elsewhere in the bloc has been a main sticking point in negotiations. But apart from such issues like citizens' rights and the bill, EU officials say the future status of the border between Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland is a key issue that needs to be cleared up before the negotiations can move on to issues like trade. "It's not enough to say that you don't want certain outcomes, you need to explain them," said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland. The lack of progress in negotiations has emboldened British euroskeptics, who want a clean break with the EU and no divorce deal. Several urged May on Thursday to walk away from divorce talks unless the bloc starts discussing trade. Some British lawmakers and peers, including former Treasury chief Nigel Lawson and ex-Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, said if there is no breakthrough this week in the Brexit talks, May should declare unilaterally that Britain will leave the bloc without a deal in March 2019 and will revert to World Trade Organization trade rules. That would mean tariffs on goods going both ways between Britain and the EU - something many British businesses fear it would have a devastating effect. While the June 2016 referendum in which British voters chose to pull their nation out of the EU has created political chaos in London, the other EU nations have recovered from the initial shock and stood side by side throughout the negotiations. EU officials say the negotiations need to conclude by November 2018 at the latest to finish the complicated process of approvals by national parliaments by March 29, 2019, when Britain is due to leave. ___ Associated Press writer Raf Casert reported this story in Brussels and AP writer Jill Lawless reported from London. AP writers Vanessa Gera and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report. German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. EU leaders told British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to match her goodwill pledges to boost Brexit negotiations with concrete proposals if she really wants to start discussing a future trade deal with the EU by December. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. European Union leaders are gathering for a two day summit to discuss migration, digital economy and Brexit. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, walks to a meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to a European Union summit Thursday with a pledge to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the bloc. (Francois Lenoir, Pool Photo via AP) Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, center, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to a European Union summit Thursday with a pledge to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the bloc. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to a European Union summit Thursday with a pledge to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the bloc. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron participate in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to a European Union summit Thursday with a pledge to treat EU residents well once Britain leaves the bloc. (Francois Lenoir, Pool Photo via AP) Former President Barack Obama called on fellow Democrats to reject politics of 'division' and 'fear' while rallying on Thursday with party's candidates for governors in Virginia and New Jersey. 'Why are we deliberately trying to misunderstand each other, and be cruel to each other and put each other down? That's not who we are,' Obama said at the Virginia rally in front of several thousand supporters. Stepping back into the political spotlight for the first time since leaving the White House in January, Obama did not mention President Donald Trump in his speeches at Richmond's convention center or at a Newark hotel. Obama made two campaign stops on Thursday, one in Newark, New Jersey to back Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy The ex-president's second stop was a rally with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, in Richmond But he did tell crowds at both events that they could send a message to the rest of the country in the upcoming elections. 'Our democracy's at stake and it's at stake right here in Virginia,' Obama said. Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states electing new governors this year and those November 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of Trump's victory last year. New Jersey Democrat Phil Murphy, Obama's former ambassador to Germany, is facing Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, is running against Republican Ed Gillespie. Obama's remarks came on the same day as former President George W. Bush denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics, warning that the rise of 'nativism,' isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation's true identity. Obama bemoaned the rise of racial politics. 'Some of the politics we see now we thought we put that to bed,' Obama said. 'That's folks looking 50 years back. It's the 21st century, not the 19th century.' The first black president offered himself as proof that the country could move forward, telling the crowd in Richmond, the former Capitol of the Confederacy, that he is a distant relative to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on his mother's side. 'Think about that,' Obama said. 'I'll bet he's spinning in his grave.' Back in action: Trump's name was never mentioned as Obama spoke up for Phil Murphy, left, n Newark but it was clear what his message was Virginia battleground: Obama told the crowd in Richmond, the former Capitol of the Confederacy, that he is a distant relative to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on his mother's side. 'Think about that,' Obama said. 'I'll bet he's spinning in his grave.' Former U.S. President George W. Bush spoke at a forum sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute in New York, dropping thinly veiled barbs in President Donald Trump's direction Obama praised Northam, a pediatric neurologist, as a candidate who would well represent Virginia and accused Gillespie of running a fear-based campaign. A Gillespie said Obama's comments were not a 'surprise' coming at a rally for Northam. Guadagno's spokesman, Ricky Diaz, suggested it's Murphy and not Republicans who are divisive. 'Phil Murphy is the one who will divide New Jersey by raising taxes so high that only the uber rich like him will be able to afford to live here,' he said. Obama's popularity is still undeniable. In an August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 51 percent of Americans said they have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 35 percent had a negative opinion. In the same poll, 36 percent said they had a positive opinion of Trump and 52 percent had a negative opinion. Obama never completely disappeared from public life, in part because of Trump's constant criticism and efforts to undo much of Obama's legacy after eight years in office. He has publicly defended his policies that Trump and the GOP-led Congress have set out to dismantle: the Affordable Care Act and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which allowed immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to be temporarily shielded from deportation. Back in action: Obama had not campaigned for Democratic causes since he left office but took to the stump in Virginia and New Jersey This guy: Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor Phil Murphy gets a pat on the back from Obama. He is hoping to take the governor's mansion blue Richmonder Les Kenney said Obama's speech was inspiring. 'It was great to see him again, he's an energizer,' he said. The crowd in Newark, New Jersey, had a similar view (above) Obama was forced to return 'pretty quickly,' presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University said. 'The current president has changed all the conventional assumptions about what to do,' Zelizer said. 'There is a sense of urgency that makes this moment different than others and former President Obama has continued to be directly in Trump's line of fire - both his policies and his legacy.' Richmonder Les Kenney said Obama's speech was inspiring. 'It was great to see him again, he's an energizer,' he said. Bush hinted earlier on Thursday at his dissatisfaction with Donald Trump, complaining in a New York City speech that 'bullying and prejudice' has become a caustic norm in American public life. At an event hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, the 43rd U.S. president rattled off a thinly veiled litany of complaints about the current commander-in-chief, focusing on both his tone and his isolationist policy choices. 'Our young people need positive role models,' he said. 'Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children.' 'Bigotry seems emboldened' in today's America, Bush added. 'Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.' Bush also slapped in Trump's direction with a reference to Trump's controversial statements following an August race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia that left an anti-racist protester dead in the wake of a white supremacist march. At the time, Trump claimed that there had been violence on 'both sides,' drawing howls of protest that he was legitimizing the Ku Klux Klan. Bush never mentioned Trump's name or the Charlottesville scandal, but drew his only mid-speech applause by saying that 'people of every race, religion and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. 'It means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed.' MARAWI, Philippines (AP) - Smoke wafted from the smoldering carcasses of buildings and houses, with the dome of a mosque blasted out with holes, as Philippine troops battled Thursday to defeat a final stand by the last dozens of pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city. The desolate war scene, witnessed by Associated Press journalists on board a navy patrol gunboat in Lake Lanao, could herald what the government hopes will be the end of a nearly five-month siege by the militants in Marawi city. Filipino troops killed 13 more suspected militants Wednesday night, including one believed to be a top Malaysian terror suspect although his body hasn't been recovered yet, military officials said. A mosque with its dome blasted out with holes is seen at the battle-scarred Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) "Our troops are continuing their assault," army Col. Romeo Brawner said after his news conference in Marawi was disrupted by loud explosions reverberating from the final area of battle, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. About 20 to 30 militants continue to fight back, he said. While troops pressed their assault with artillery and gunfire, officers used loudspeakers to ask the militants, many of them positioned in a bullet-pocked two-story building, to surrender. The building stands on a pier by the lake near a huge gunfire-scarred welcome sign that says "I (love) Marawi." Sporadic fighting continued even after President Rodrigo Duterte visited the Islamic city on Tuesday and announced its liberation, sparking hopes that hundreds of thousands of residents could begin returning home. The speed of their return, however, will depend on how quickly the city is declared safe of militants and rebuilt. Volunteers and displaced residents have begun a government-led cleanup in neighborhoods that were declared safe. Power has been restored in more than half of the lakeside city, along with water supply, officials said. On Monday, the defense secretary and military chief of staff announced that two of the last leaders of the siege - Isnilon Hapilon, who is one of the FBI's most-wanted terror suspects, and Omarkhayam Maute - were killed in a gunbattle. Their deaths were the turning point that partly convinced the president he could declare Marawi liberated from the gunmen, Brawner told the AP. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Malaysian Mahmud bin Ahmad was believed among 13 militants killed overnight and another seven in the morning. Six soldiers were slightly wounded in the fighting. Two civilian hostages - a mother and her teenage daughter - were also rescued, Padilla said. The information about Mahmud was based on what the rescued mother and daughter told the military, Padilla said. Mahmud, who uses nom de guerre Abu Handzalah, is a close associate of Hapilon. Military officials said he had linked up Hapilon with the Islamic State group and provided funding to bankroll the siege of Marawi. Padilla said troops discovered that there may be more militant fighters remaining in a small battle area than earlier estimated. Marawi, a mosque-studded center of Islamic faith in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, has been devastated by the siege by the militants who waved IS-style black flags and hung them on buildings they had occupied in Marawi's business district and outlying areas, according to the military. The insurrection prompted the military to launch a ground offensive and airstrikes, with the United States and Australia later backing the troops by deploying surveillance aircraft. Duterte declared martial law across the south, the homeland of minority Muslims and the scene of a decades-old separatist rebellion, to deal with the uprising and prevent other insurgents from waging attacks elsewhere and reinforcing the fighters in Marawi. The surprise occupation of the city and the involvement of foreign fighters set off alarms in Southeast Asia. Analysts said parts of the southern Philippines were at risk of becoming a new base for IS as it lost territory to international forces in Iraq and Syria. Some of the residents who returned to Marawi for the cleanup Thursday became emotional after seeing their devastated city and homes. Esnairah Macabunar saw weeds growing around her two-story house but became more stunned when she went inside and realized her home had been ransacked. "Everything was stolen in my house," she said. "I am still shaken because I cannot accept what happened, my whole life savings are gone." ___ Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila contributed to this report. Smoke rises from the area where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive with government troops in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of a dozen more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Armored Personnel Carriers are positioned near the bullet-riddled "I Love Marawi" landmark sign, center, at the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Armored Personnel Carriers are positioned near the bullet-riddled "I Love Marawi" landmark sign, center, at the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of 13 more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine Navy commandos aboard a gunboat patrol Lake Lanao as smoke rises from the area where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of 13 more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) A Philippine Navy commando aboard a gunboat keeps watch of the "Main Battle Area" as they patrol the periphery of Lake Lanao where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of 13 more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine Navy commandos aboard a gunboat patrol the periphery of Lake Lanao as smoke rises from the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of 13 more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine Navy commandos aboard a gunboat patrol the periphery of Lake Lanao as smoke rises from the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of 13 more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine troops on board their Armored Personnel Carrier head to the "Main Battle Area" in a continuing operation where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Smoke rises from the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive with government troops in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Smoke rises from the "Main Battle Area" where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive with government troops in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) A mannequin, dressed up like a sniper, is placed beside a sign of the Muslim militant Maute Group near the military checkpoint at an abandoned neighborhood of Mapandi during an ongoing clean-up of Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Volunteers take part in a massive clean-up of battle-scarred village of Mapandi after being cleared of Islamic State group-linked militants in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Volunteers pray in the middle of an abandoned street as they take part in a massive clean-up after being cleared of Islamic State group-linked militants in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of a dozen more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine troops head back to the devastated village of Mapandi which has been cleared of Islamic State group-linked militants in Marawi city in southern Philippines Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi city, the military announced the killing of more suspected militants in the continuing military offensive. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) What's the Punishment for Military Desertion? Two and a half years after he was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty to those charges this week. According to reports, there was no pre-trial agreement between Bergdahl and Army prosecutors prior to the guilty plea, meaning he could face the maximum penalty for both counts. So what are the penalties for military desertion? And could Bergdahl be looking at more time in confinement for the misbehavior charge? Desertion Bergdahl admittedly left his post from a base in Afghanistan in 2009, allegedly to report "a critical problem in my chain of command." Therefore, his attorney claims leaving the post without intent to remain away permanently disqualifies him from desertion charges. But there are three types of desertion listed in the Manual for Courts-Martial, including "desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty or important service," where the accused left his or her place of duty without authority, intended to remain away from his or her place of duty, and was apprehended. Bergdahl was captured by Taliban forces and held for five years. While desertion generally carries a maximum punishment of dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay, and confinement of five years, desertion during a time of war may carry the death penalty. Misbehavior Before the Enemy Article 99 of the Armed Forces Code also carries the death penalty, applicable to any member of the armed forces who, in the presence of the enemy, "runs away; shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend; [or] through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property." Military prosecutors say two soldiers and a Navy SEAL were wounded while searching for Bergdahl. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 23, 2017. Related Resources: SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's central bank said Thursday Asia's fourth-largest economy is likely to grow at a 3.0 percent annual pace this year, helped by strong exports. Bank of Korea said South Korea's economic growth this year will be stronger than its earlier forecast of 2.8 percent growth in July. It was the bank's third upward revision this year. It said that in 2018, South Korea's economy will expand at a slightly slower pace of 2.9 percent. Barring unforeseen setbacks, that would be South Korea strongest growth in three years. The central bank attributed the upgrade to continued improvement in exports and increased capital expenditure. It said private consumption has recovered moderately and will likely pick up pace as the government implements more economic stimulus to boost spending. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - LG Electronics said Thursday that it will work with Qualcomm to jointly research and develop autonomous driving technologies. The South Korean company said in a statement that the U.S. chipmaker and the company have opened a joint research center in Seoul and will open another one in Seoul by the end of 2018. Their joint research will focus on developing the fifth-generation wireless technology known as 5G, which could deliver data at a much faster speed than the current wireless technology and is seen as crucial for autonomous vehicles. They will also research other wireless technologies needed for the safety of connected cars, LG said in a statement. LG Electronics, a major TV and home appliance manufacturer with a struggling mobile business, has been trying to diversify by supplying components for connected car makers. Some had just celebrated marriages of half a century or longer. They spent their time volunteering and playing with grandchildren. A few had lived through both world wars. The vast majority of the 42 people found dead so far in the wildfires that have ravaged Northern California were senior citizens, most older than 70. Several were couples who died together, including childhood sweethearts who had grown old together. A 95-year-old man and his 75-year-old wife spent their final moments huddled in the wine cellar of their home where they had lived for 45 years. FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2017 file photo, wildfire evacuees Beatrice Thomas, 85, right, chats with her husband, Al, 85, at First United Methodist Church that doubles as an evacuation shelter in Santa Rosa, Calif. The vast majority of those who died in the Northern California wildfires were in their 70s and 80s including several couples who died together. Many could not move fast enough to escape the speeding flames. Some likely never heard the frantic calls of friends or honking of neighbors' cars, possibly their only warnings of danger. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) The oldest victim - 100-year-old World War II veteran Charles Rippey, who used a walker - is believed to have been trying to make it to his 98-year-old wife, Sara, who had limited mobility after a stroke. Their caretaker barely escaped alive before the roof collapsed and the blaze engulfed the house. An 80-year-old man never made it past his driveway after getting his 80-year-old wife into the car to escape. The two were born four days apart and died together. Some simply clung to each other until the end. Armando Berriz, 76, held his wife of 55 years, Carmen Caldentey Berriz, afloat in a swimming pool as walls of fire burned around them. He let go only after Carmen stopped breathing and the flames had burned out, laying her on the steps of the pool with her arms crossed over her chest. He then walked 2 miles to find help. "This situation has been so tragic on so many levels," said Caroline Cicero, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California's Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. "Couples who have been living together for 30, 40, 50 years, especially in their 80s and 90s, definitely might have just realized this is the end. 'There is nothing we can do, so we'll go out together,' which is a beautiful thing. But it's tragic for those left behind." If a spouse survived, it will be an extremely painful road to recovery, especially for older people who may never heal, said Cicero, who has worked as a geriatric social worker. Authorities identified more victims Thursday. Jane Gardiner, 83, was with her caregiver, 64-year-old Elizabeth Charlene Foster, when she called her stepson early Oct. 9 to tell him her home in Mendocino County was surrounded by fire and they were waiting to be evacuated by the fire department. Both were found in the charred remains of the residence, authorities said. Another 86-year-old woman, Margaret Stephenson, appeared to be trying to get out through her garage but was overtaken by the flames. The heavy toll on older people has raised questions about whether more could have been done to alert the most vulnerable in time to escape. Among the victims were those who had survived strokes, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. They could not move fast enough to escape the speeding flames. Others likely never heard the frantic calls of friends or honking of neighbors' cars - possibly the only warning that they were in danger. It's only been since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that cities began drawing up emergency preparedness plans that specifically take the elderly into account, Cicero said. Some cities, such as Culver City in suburban Los Angeles, now allow people to put their names on a list that notifies officials they need priority because they are hearing impaired or have other issues that may limit their ability to evacuate quickly. But Cicero said she is not sure what could have been done in places like Santa Rosa, where a wildfire sprung up quickly and overtook homes in suburban neighborhoods and remote woods at night, giving people only minutes or, in some cases, seconds to escape. George Powell, 74, said he does not know what woke him early Monday. He looked out the window to flames and immediately woke his 72-year-old wife, Lynne Anderson Powell. She grabbed a laptop, her border collie and was driving down their mountain road within minutes. He went for his three border collies and fled 15 minutes behind her in his own vehicle. There was a huge wall of fire along the road. Powell said he realized later that he had driven past his wife's Prius, which had gone off the road and plunged into a ravine in the thick smoke. Lynne's burned body was found steps from her car; the dog was found burned to death inside. The couple had been married 33 years and lived in the woods in the Santa Rosa area. She had recently overcome cancer. "If I had known, I would have gone down there with her, even if it meant I would have died with her," Powell said. "I don't know how I'm going to cope. She was my life. "She was my life," he repeated. FILE - This undated file photo provided by their son Michael Rippey shows Charles and Sara Rippey. Charles, 100, and Sara, 98, were unable to leave their Napa, Calif., home, and died when a wildfire swept through. Their bodies were found Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. The vast majority of those who died in the Northern California wildfires were in their 70s and 80s including several couples who died together. (Courtesy of Michael Rippey via AP, File) FILE - In this 2012 file photo provided by George Powell, his wife Lynne Powell picks up her border collie Jemma from the breeder in Grants Pass, Ore. Lynne's car that had gone off the road and into a ravine in the heavy smoke from a wildfire in California. After searching for her all night and the next day, a detective called to tell George that Lynne's body was found near her car. (George Powell via AP, File) This undated photo provided by their son, Tim Halbur, shows Leroy Halbur, 80, and his wife, Donna Halbur, 80. The couple were unable to leave their Santa Rosa, Calif., home when a wildfire destroyed it early Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Donna Halbur's body was found in a car in their garage, and Leyor Halbur was found in the driveway, their son said. (Courtesy Tim Halbur via AP) FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2017 file photo, wildfire evacuees Jim Merriman, right, and his wife Lu have a meal while spending the evening at a Red Cross disaster relief center in Santa Rosa, Calif. The vast majority of those who died in the Northern California wildfires were in their 70s and 80s including several couples who died together. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) JERUSALEM (AP) - President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy said on Thursday that if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government, it must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel - demands the Islamic militant group has always rejected. Jason Greenblatt's statement was the first American comment on the advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties - including to disarm terrorists - and commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said in a statement. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah-led forces in 2007, leaving Abbas only in control of autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Past attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed. But after a decade-long blockade by Israel and Egypt, and three wars with Israel, Hamas has said it is ready to compromise. Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week reached a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues, most notably who will control Hamas' massive arsenal. The deal has yet to be implemented. Later Thursday, Greenblatt arrived in Cairo for talks on the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, Egyptian and American officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Greenblatt has been shuttling through the region in search of a formula to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which last broke down in 2014. His statement Thursday reiterated longstanding demands of Hamas by the international community. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said this week there would be no talks with the Palestinians unless Hamas agrees to the same conditions. Netanyahu, who welcomed Greenblatt's statement, has made some additional demands, including that Hamas disarm and return the remains of two Israeli soldiers and send back two Israeli civilians believed to be in Hamas captivity. Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and other Western nations, does not plan to officially be part of the next government. The Palestinians appear to be hopeful that this will be enough to satisfy the international community. However, Hamas has said it will not dismantle its powerful military wing, and it is likely to wield influence behind the scenes. In a statement, Hamas said it rejected "the extortion and American bias toward the Israeli positions expressed by Jason Greenblatt." "Hamas will go ahead in the reconciliation and will not pay attention to any attempt to sabotage or block this track," it said. Abbas seeks an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel captured the territories in 1967, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. With peace efforts on hold, Israel this week pushed plans ahead for roughly 3,000 new homes in West Bank settlements, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group. The planned units are scattered throughout the West Bank and at various stages of approval. Peace Now estimated that roughly 700 of them can be built immediately. According to Peace Now, Israel has currently advanced plans for over 6,700 homes this year. That is more than double the number of last year and triple the 2015 level. It also is higher than the 6,293 units advanced in 2014. The Palestinians and most of the international community consider settlements to be illegal and obstacles to peace. Israel says their fate should be determined in negotiations. Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the settlement plans are putting Trump's peace efforts in jeopardy. "Netanyahu is defying the world, especially Trump's administration, by insisting on building settlements on the land of the state of Palestine," he said. In a departure from Barack Obama's opposition to all settlement construction, Trump has taken a different approach, urging restraint by Israel but also saying a freeze on building is unnecessary. Anat Ben Nun, a spokeswoman for Peace Now, said that Trump's approach, along with the international community's focus on other issues, such as the international refugee crisis, has resulted in less pressure on Israel and encouraged construction. "This is definitely affecting the freedom of the Netanyahu government to develop settlements more rapidly," she said. West Bank settlers, meanwhile, say Netanyahu is not doing enough. They accuse him of using inflated numbers of preliminary approvals to appease his hard-line base when the actual number of homes that can be built is much smaller. "Hundreds of building tenders cannot fill the demand for the thousands that are needed across Judea and Samaria. Limiting Jewish building in Judea will not bring us closer to peace," said Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, which represents the more than 400,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Judea and Samaria are the biblical terms for the West Bank. The White House had no immediate comment on the latest settlement plans. ___ Associated Press writers Menna Zaki in Cairo, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Fares Akram in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report. ABERDEEN, Md. (AP) - A witness to the deadly rampage inside a Maryland granite company said Thursday that the suspect, Radee Prince, had gathered a small group of his co-workers together by saying "come with me, I want to say something to everybody." Without another word, he opened fire. The witness, a man who worked at the countertop making company for a year and a half, said when Prince arrived on Wednesday morning he responded to a polite greeting with harsh language describing Advanced Granite Solutions and its workers. Then he tried to talk individually to a few employees. "He talked to me first," said the man, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation and worried about his family's immigration status. "Then I saw him talk to another friend. Nobody listened to him, because his reaction was to start a fight." This photo provided by the Maryland State Police shows Radee Labeeb Prince. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, authorities say a man showed up for work at a countertop company in Maryland and shot several of his co-workers and then drove to Wilmington, Del., and shot a man he knew at an auto sales and service business. Prince, the suspect in the shootings in Maryland and Delaware is in custody, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. (Maryland State Police via AP) The employee said Prince had approached him a month ago and angrily accused him of gossiping. Since then, the man had been even more worried about Prince. Prince had a history of violence with co-workers, especially when he believed people were talking behind his back, according to court documents. Authorities have not released a motive, but the witness said Prince's aggressiveness had been escalating recently. Prince is accused of fatally shooting three colleagues and critically wounding two others. Authorities said he then drove to Wilmington, Delaware, and shot an acquaintance at a used car lot. He was captured after a 10-hour manhunt. Prince faces charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and use of a firearm to commit a felony. At his arraignment Thursday in Delaware, he pleaded not guilty. According to an affidavit, officers found a .380-caliber semi-automatic they saw Prince throw away while running from them, and they found the same size shells at the Wilmington shooting scene. Police think it's the same gun he used in the Maryland shooting. The granite company employee said he worked on a small fabrication team, and that several of his colleagues had complained before Wednesday to supervisors about Prince's behavior. Just before the shooting, Prince walked out to his SUV and put on a black jacket, the witness said. Then he walked back inside and stood near a machine with an odd look on his face. Prince then called the man's name, and asked him and his colleagues to come toward him. "I was nervous," the witness said, adding that he believes he was the one Prince was trying to target. The man said once the group gathered around, Prince shot Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk. Then, Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Arlington, Virginia. He also killed Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, authorities said. Tudev's widow told AP that her husband was so worried about Prince's temper that he prayed about him. "He was always angry," Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren said her husband told her about Prince. Tudev, 53, was a native of Mongolia who came to the U.S. in 2005. He and his wife settled in Arlington, which has a large Mongolian-American community. Prince also shot at the witness as he ran away; he lost a boot while trying to flee, he said. Ron Cherry, an attorney for the company, said he could not answer questions about what happened. But Cristie Kahler, a spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office, confirmed that video surveillance footage at the company showed Prince seeming to call a meeting before the shooting. She could not provide further details. Kahler also said that investigators were aware that employees had complained about Prince's behavior at Advanced Granite Solutions, as well as at prior workplaces. Prince had 43 arrests in Delaware. He has faced charges of being a felon in possession of a gun, was habitually late paying his rent, was repeatedly cited for traffic violations, and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counseling in recent years. He had at least two other violent run-ins with co-workers. In 2014, he put a colleague in a chokehold because he thought he was talking about Prince, a manager told police. Prince dragged the co-worker outside and slammed him to the ground, causing him to lose consciousness. Prince was charged with offensive touching, but the case was dismissed last year. It's not clear why. Earlier this year, Prince was fired from JPS Marble and Granite after he punched a co-worker and threatened other colleagues, according to court documents. His former boss became so scared of Prince after he was fired that he tried to take out a restraining order on him. A judge didn't grant it. Late Thursday, authorities identified the wounded in Maryland as Enoc Villegas Sosa, 38, and Jose Roberto Flores Gillen, 37. They remain in critical condition. Police in Delaware have not updated the condition of the victim there, but have said he is expected to survive. Prince was accused last year of punching that man and trying to rob him, said Nicole Magnusson, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Department of Justice. He was charged with robbery and offensive touching, but that case was also dismissed. It's not clear why. ___ Associated Press writer Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, and Matthew Barakat in Arlington, Virginia, contributed to this report. This frame grab provided by NBC10 TV shows the suspect in the shooting of six people in Maryland and Delaware, being taken into custody Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, in Wilmington, Del. (NBC10 TV via AP) Workers from the Advanced Granite Solutions company console each other as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman opened fire at the office park killing several co-workers and wounded others, authorities said. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler speaks at a news conference following a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The gunman killed multiple co-workers and wounded others before fleeing the scene, Gahler said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Unidentified bystanders embrace as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2017. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Radee Labeeb Prince, wanted in the shooting of several people at his workplace in Maryland is now suspected in a later shooting in Delaware. The Wilmington Police Department said in a news release Wednesday that officers are searching for Prince. Police say he's wanted in both the multiple shooting early Wednesday in Edgewood, Md., and another shooting at midmorning in Wilmington. (Kyle Grantham/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP) Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Radee Labeeb Prince, wanted in the shooting of several people at his workplace in Maryland is now suspected in a later shooting in Delaware. The Wilmington Police Department said in a news release Wednesday that officers are searching for Prince. Police say he's wanted in both the multiple shooting early Wednesday in Edgewood, Md., and another shooting at midmorning in Wilmington. (Kyle Grantham/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP) Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler shows a picture of suspect Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, after news conference near the scene of a workplace shooting on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 in Edgewood, Md. Prince killed several co-workers and wounded others before fleeing the scene, Gahler said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A police officer puts up crime scene tape at the scene of shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman opened fire at the office park killing several co-workers and wounded others, authorities said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Officials stand outside the scene of a fatal shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The victims and the suspect worked for Advanced Granite Solutions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Police respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's president says the country could close its border with Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region "at any moment" as a further reprisal for it holding a non-binding referendum on independence last month. Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments were reported in Hurriyet newspaper on Thursday, and come days after Ankara closed its airspace to flights to and from the Iraqi Kurdish region. Turkish airline companies have also suspended flights to Iraqi Kurdish cities. Erdogan said: "We have not closed our border gates yet, but this can happen at any moment." Popular Mobilization Forces take control of a former Kurdish security forces checkpoint outside Bashiqa, Iraq, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Kurdish forces pulled out of disputed areas across northern and eastern Iraq a day after handing Kirkuk to federal forces amid a tense standoff following last month's vote for independence. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Turkey had close ties to the Iraqi Kurdish leadership, but had urged them not to hold the vote. Iraq's central government and neighboring Iran were also deeply opposed to the referendum, in which more than 90 percent voted for independence. WASHINGTON (AP) - He started by describing the reverent handling of America's war dead, bodies packed in ice and shipped home in the dark to Dover Air Force Base. From that opening, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered a raw and searing monologue Thursday about the reality and pain of war sacrifice, praising those who serve and summoning the 2010 death of his own son to defend President Donald Trump against accusations of insensitive outreach to a grieving military family. In an unannounced appearance at the White House, Kelly, a retired three-star general whose son was killed while serving in Afghanistan, dressed down the Democratic congresswoman who had criticized Trump for comments she said he had made in a condolence call to the pregnant widow of a Green Beret killed in Niger. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly pauses as he speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Kelly called Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida an "empty barrel" who "makes noise," but he did not deny the lawmaker's account of the phone call, as the president had this week. Throughout his remarks, Kelly lamented what he said was lost respect for military service, women, authority and more. "I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing," Kelly said. "Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred." The remarkable scene underscored Kelly's singular role as an authoritative adviser and now spokesman for a president who is prone to false claims, exaggerations and misstatements. Kelly, who joined the White House to restore internal order, has increasingly become a public figure himself, employed to project calm and reassurance in times of crisis. The uproar over Trump and how presidents should or shouldn't try to console families of the fallen has rattled the White House and overshadowed the rest of Trump's agenda in recent days. Trump himself attacked Wilson again on Twitter late Thursday, calling her "wacky" and saying she "was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!" Kelly personally absolved Trump of blame in his call to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, a conversation that prompted Wilson to declare that the president had been disrespectful to the grieving family and couldn't remember Johnson's name. "If you're not in the family, if you've never worn the uniform, if you've never been in combat, you can't even imagine how to make that call," Kelly said. "I think he very bravely does make those calls." Trump - who has frequently struggled with showing empathy - has emphatically rejected claims that he was disrespectful. But he started the latest controversy this week when he boasted about his commitment to calling service members' next of kin and brought Kelly into the issue by wondering aloud if President Barack Obama had called the former Marine general after the death of Kelly's son. Kelly confirmed Thursday that Obama had not called him, but he made clear "that was not a criticism." "That's not a negative thing," he said. "I don't believe all presidents call. I believe they all write." In fact, the chief of staff said that when Trump took office, he advised him against making those calls: "I said to him, 'Sir there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.'" But Trump wanted to make the calls, and asked Kelly for advice on what to say. In response, Kelly told him what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when Robert Kelly was killed. Kelly recalled that Dunford told him his son "was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what the possibilities were because we're at war." And Kelly added that Dunford told him that "when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the president tried to say to four families the other day." Kelly said the Defense Department is investigating the details of the Oct. 4 ambush that killed four American soldiers, including Johnson, in Niger. Islamic militants on motorcycles brought rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing the four and wounding others after shattering the windows of unarmored U.S. trucks. The attack happened in a remote corner of Niger where Americans and local counterparts had been meeting with community leaders. Kelly said Thursday that small groups of U.S. military personnel are being sent overseas, including to Niger, to help train local people to fight the IS group "so that we don't have to send large numbers of troops." His speech was a rebuke to Wilson, who was in the car with the family of Johnson when Trump called on Tuesday. She said in an interview that Trump had told Johnson's widow that "you know that this could happen when you signed up for it ... but it still hurts." Johnson's aunt, who raised the soldier from a young age, said the family took that remark to be disrespectful. The call came in as they drove to Miami's airport to receive the body. At the airport, widow Myeshia Johnson leaned in grief across the flag-draped coffin after a military guard received it. A spokeswoman said Thursday that Wilson stood by her earlier comments. The congresswoman herself, asked by WSVN-TV in Florida about Kelly's remarks, replied only indirectly. "Let me tell you what my mother told me when I was little," Wilson said. "She said, 'The dog can bark at the moon all night long, but it doesn't become an issue until the moon barks back.'" Kelly also accused Wilson of grandstanding at the dedication of a Miami FBI office in 2015. The White House chief of staff said he was so upset by her criticism of Trump's call that he went to walk "among the finest men and women on earth" in a 90-minute visit to nearby Arlington National Cemetery, among the graves of service members, including some who died under his command. Kelly began his remarks by recounting in painstaking detail what happens after a soldier is killed in overseas combat. The dead soldier's body is wrapped in a makeshift shroud by his colleagues, Kelly said, and then flown by helicopter to a nearby air base, where it is packed in ice. It is then flown to a second base, often in Europe, and put in more ice before it is transported to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The body is then embalmed and dressed in military uniform, complete with medals before heading home. Kelly said the next of kin are notified by a casualty officer, who "proceeds to break the heart of a family member." Robert Kelly, 29, was killed when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan's remote Helmand province. Kelly said his family got calls from Robert's friends in Afghanistan attesting to his character. Those calls, he said as he fought back tears, were the most important. After his dramatic opening statement, Kelly then took questions from reporters, asking first if any of them were Gold Star parents or siblings, meaning relatives of slain service members. When no one raised a hand, Kelly then said he would take questions only from those who knew a Gold Star family. Kelly, whose frustration with the distractions created by Trump on other subjects led him to deny last week that he was considering quitting, also bemoaned how the nation no longer held things sacred, from life to religion to women. He said the respect given to Gold Star families "left in the convention over the summer," an apparent reference to the bitter election exchanges between the Trump campaign and a family whose military son had been killed. ___ Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Washington and David Fischer in Miami contributed reporting. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., talks to reporters, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Wilson is standing by her statement that President Donald Trump told Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson killed in an ambush in Niger, that her husband "knew what he signed up for." In a Wednesday morning tweet, Trump said Wilson's description of the call was "fabricated." (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) In this image provided by the U.S. Army, a carry team of soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), carry the transfer case during a casualty return for Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, of Lyons, Ga., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Oct. 5, 2017. U.S. and Niger forces were leaving a meeting with tribal leaders when they were ambushed on Oct. 4 and Wright and three other soldiers were killed. There were about a dozen U.S. troops and a company of Niger forces, for a total of about 40 service members in the joint mission. (Pfc. Lane Hiser/U.S. Army via AP) White House Chief of Staff John Kelly speaks to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Defense Secretary Jim Mattis pauses before answering a reporter's question about the ambush of U.S. troops in Niger before a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman at the Pentagon, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Pakistani court on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as his daughter and son-in-law on corruption charges stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm. A lawyer for the 67-year-old Sharif, who is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former premier's daughter, Maryam Sharif, and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended the hearing at the Accountability Court and also pleaded not guilty. Sharif later on Thursday told reporters in London that he will go back to Pakistan to attend the next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 26. In his televised comments, he said he was removed from office by judges on a trivial charge. Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, right front passenger in vehicle, arrives at an accountability court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Sharif and his family members have been indicted on corruption charges stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) The charges stem from a trove of documents - known as the Panama Papers - that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. After leaving the courtroom, Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as "baseless." She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would "face these cases with courage." The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. Sharif's political future has been in doubt since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from office over corruption charges. Rana Sanaullah, a senior leader of Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said there were "hidden hands" behind his dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations, without elaborating. Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties, which say Sharif is continuing to rule through a "puppet" prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Maryam Sharif, daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, right front passenger in vehicle, arrives at an accountability court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Sharif and his family members have been indicted on corruption charges stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - The crisis over Catalonia's quest for independence escalated Thursday, as Spain's central government prepared the unprecedented step of stripping the wealthy region of some of its self-governing powers after its leader refused to abandon secession. In his latest display of brinkmanship, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont sent a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy just minutes before a deadline set by Madrid for him to backtrack on his calls to secede. Puigdemont didn't back down, however, and threatened to go ahead with a unilateral proclamation of independence if the government refuses to negotiate. People walk past a Catalan flag reflected on the wet ground in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) "If the State Government persists in blocking dialogue and the repression continues, the Parliament of Catalonia will proceed, if deemed appropriate, to vote on the formal declaration of independence," Puigdemont's letter said in an English translation provided by the Catalan regional government. Spain's government responded by calling a special Cabinet session for Saturday when it will set in motion Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. That article allows for central authorities to take over all or some of the powers of any of the country's 17 autonomous regions. Regarded as the "nuclear option," such a punitive measure takes the standoff to another level. It probably will trigger outrage in Catalonia and could backfire by fostering sympathy for the independence movement, which polls suggest is supported only by about half of Catalans. With a mood of defiance hardening in the Catalan capital of Barcelona and the Madrid-based government adamant that the constitution doesn't allow for the breakup of Spain, there seems to be no end in sight for one of Europe's long-simmering disputes. The standoff has intensified since Oct. 1, when Catalan authorities held an independence referendum that Spain's Constitutional Court declared illegal. The national government sent thousands of police to enforce a court order disallowing the balloting, bringing violent clashes that further soured relations. The dispute is increasingly encroaching on the European Union's political agenda. Catalonia wasn't officially to be discussed at an EU summit starting Thursday in Brussels, but leaders offered their views. French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his recent support for Rajoy, saying that the summit would be "marked by a message of unity around member states amid the crises they could face, unity around Spain." European Council President Donald Tusk ruled out any EU role in the dispute, telling reporters on the sidelines of the summit that "there is no room, no space for any kind of mediation, or international initiatives or action." While polls indicate that Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are roughly divided over independence, an overwhelming majority wants to settle the issue in a binding legal referendum. Many Catalans have long stressed the region's differences from the rest of Spain. The latest surge for independence began in 2010, when the Constitutional Court struck down key parts of a groundbreaking charter that would have granted greater autonomy for Catalonia and recognized it as a nation within Spain. Article 155 has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored after the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco. The article leaves it up to the national government to decide what specific measures to take. Officials say Madrid will almost certainly seize control of Catalonia's regional police to ensure law and order is maintained, along with tightening its grip on the region's finances. Other measures being mulled are removing Puigdemont's presidential powers, rescinding regional control over education and schools, calling fresh elections that would dissolve the regional parliament, and taking control of public media that are seen as mouthpieces for Catalonia's pro-independence ruling coalition. Puigdemont claims the referendum gave him a mandate to declare independence. His government says more than 40 percent of 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots, with most favoring independence. So far, however, Puigdemont has only called for negotiations with Spain and international mediators. Andrew Dowling, an expert in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales, said any declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament would be merely symbolic without border and institutional controls. Such a unilateral declaration "will see (a) fracture between hard-liners and the pragmatic people in Catalonia, who are already seeing economic fallout," Dowling said. Spain's Association of Commercial Registers said Thursday that 971 companies, including Catalan banks, multinationals and midsized businesses, have moved their registered addresses out of the troubled region because of concerns about its future. ___ Giles reported from Madrid. Associated Press writers Frank Griffiths in London, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed. Two women walk under Spanish flags fixed on balconies in Madrid, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) A Catalan flag is seen reflected on drops of water from rain in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Catalan President Carles Puigdemont arrives for a meeting at the Palau Generalitat in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. Spain's confrontation with its independence-seeking region of Catalonia intensified Monday when a judge ordered the leaders of two pro-independence groups jailed while they are investigated on possible sedition charges for organizing demonstrations before the region's disputed secession vote. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Demonstrators protest against Catalan government's push for secession from the rest of Spain in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The pro-independence regional Catalan government's foreign affairs chief rules out the possibility of the region holding fresh elections as a possible way out of the impasse with Spain. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios) Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy listens to lawmakers during a parliamentary session at the parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. About 50 Spanish and Catalan party lawmakers held up posters in the parliament demanding the release of two pro-Catalonia independence movement leaders, describing them as political prisoners. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. TOURISTS NOW QUESTIONING INVISIBLE ATTACKS IN CUBA Chris Allen, visiting Havana from South Carolina, tells the AP exclusively he had similar neurological symptoms as a U.S. government worker when Allen stayed at the same hotel two years earlier. President Donald Trump, right, sitting next to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., left, speaks during a meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee and members of the President's economic team in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) 2. TRUMP'S REMARKS ON KELLY'S SON CONTRAST WITH MESSY BRAWL THIS WEEK The president's political firefight over his role as consoler-in-chief is a remarkable contrast with his solemn Memorial Day tribute to U.S. personnel lost to war. 3. AS CATALAN DEADLINE PASSES, MADRID TAKES ACTION Spain will hold a special Cabinet meeting on Saturday to trigger the process to take some or full control of Catalonia's semi-autonomous powers. 4. WHY TRUMP IS AN ERRATIC TRADING PARTNER The president often kicks thorny policy issues to Congress and then sends conflicting signals about what he really wants. 5. SWEEPING MULTISTATE MANHUNT ENDS Police say they chased down on foot Radee Prince, 37, accused of shooting five co-workers at a granite company in Maryland, killing three. 6. UNCERTAINTY AS MIDDLE EAST DEFEATS MILITANTS IN RAQQA The downfall of the Islamic State group could open up cracks in temporary alliances created to fight the extremists, and rivalries for influence are now likely to take center stage. 7. JIHADIST AMBUSH ON US FORCES SHOWS NEW DANGER IN SAHEL Authorities believe the attack in Niger was carried out by a group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. 8. WHAT PHILIPPINE CITY IS IN RUINS FROM MILITANT SIEGE A five-monthlong assault of Marawi reveals a devastated southern city with smoke smoldering from damaged houses. 9. DODGERS HAVE TO PUT BROOMS AWAY Javier Baez snaps a long batting slump with two home runs and the Chicago Cubs avoid a sweep, holding off Los Angeles 3-2 in Game 4 of the NLCS. 10. COUNTRY STARS SHAKE UP AWARDS SHOW Jason Aldean and other musicians honor the victims of a mass shooting in Las Vegas instead of accepting trophies at the CMT Artists of the Year show. Workers from the Advanced Granite Solutions company console each other as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman opened fire at the office park killing several co-workers and wounded others, authorities said. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) CA Now Requires Pet Stores to Sell Rescue Animals When most of us buy a pet, we like to think we're saving it from a horrible life in a pen, or worse. And animal shelters rely on the good intentions of pet owners to place animals in good homes. But in California, those good intentions have become law. Governor Jerry Brown this week announced the signing of Assembly Bill No. 485, requiring pet stores to sell only rescue animals. The law is aimed at ending the practice of so-called "puppy mills," and makes the Golden State the first to enact such a law. So what does the new law actually prohibit, and what are the penalties? Pet Store Prohibitions Beginning in 2019, pet store operators would be prohibited from selling a live dog, cat, or rabbit unless the animal was "obtained from a public animal control agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, humane society shelter, or rescue group." Additionally, the new law would require all dogs and cats sold at pet stores to be spayed or neutered. Individual pet stores would be required to maintain records documenting the source of each and every dog, cat, or rabbit the pet store houses or sells for at least one year, periodically provide access to those records to public animal control agencies or shelters. Stores would also need to post signs listing the name of the entity from which each dog, cat, or rabbit was obtained on the cage or enclosure of each animal. Pet Store Penalties Non-compliant pet store operators are looking at $500 in fines for each animal offered for sale in violation of the law. We'll have to wait and see what impact the law will have on rescue animals and puppy mills. Related Resources: BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers demonstrated Thursday, demanding that the government eliminate a plan to make them pay more social security taxes. Protesters from all over Romania gathered in a central square in the capital city of Bucharest, blowing whistles and vuvuzelas, marching to the government's main offices. Trade union leaders later held talks with Prime Minister Mihai Tudose about their grievances. Under the new plan, social welfare taxes currently paid by employers would be paid in the future by employees. Romanian public health workers shout anti-government slogans during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers are demonstrating in the capital, demanding the government scrape its plan to make workers pay more social security taxes. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) "Our wages will be cut," said Erzsebet Dobro, a nurse from the central city of Sfantu Gheorghu. "It won't be worth working in the health sector anymore." "We have among the lowest wages," said Bucharest nurse Dorina Mantu, 51, who earns 1,700 lei ($440) a month. "Why should I pay more taxes to the state?" Dumitru Constantin, head of the National Trade Union Bloc, told broadcaster Europa FM that the government was planning to raise taxes next year to cover salary hikes for public sector workers in 2018. A Romanian public health worker blows a whistle during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers are demonstrating in the capital, demanding the government scrape its plan to make workers pay more social security taxes. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) A Romanian public health worker wearing devil horns reacts during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers are demonstrating in the capital, demanding the government scrape its plan to make workers pay more social security taxes. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Romanian gendarmes escort public health workers during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers are demonstrating in the capital, demanding the government scrape its plan to make workers pay more social security taxes. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) A woman covers her ears as she walks near public health workers shouting anti-government slogans, during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers are demonstrating in the capital, demanding the government scrape its plan to make workers pay more social security taxes. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - A Baghdad court issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region on Thursday for saying that Iraqi forces had "occupied" the disputed province of Kirkuk this week. However, the warrant against Kosrat Rasul is unlikely to be executed as the central government in Baghdad has no enforceable authority in the Kurdish-administered north. The court accused Rasul of "insulting" Iraq's armed forces, which is forbidden by Iraqi law. Kurdish security forces stand guard in Alton Kupri, on the outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Kurdish media said Thursday that Iraqi Kurdish officials have postponed elections for parliament and president of the autonomous region originally slated for November 1, in the wake of the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from disputed regions across northern and eastern Iraq. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) On Monday, Iraq's federal forces, supported by Iranian-sponsored militias, rolled into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, forcing Kurdish militias, known as the peshmerga, to withdraw after brief clashes. The Kurds took over the city in 2014 when Iraq's army melted away ahead of the Islamic State's blitz across northern and western Iraq. IS has since seen its hold on Iraq and north Syria crumble in the face of relentless airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and an array of forces battling it on the ground. At its peak it held a third of both countries. In Kirkuk, residents were coming to terms on Thursday with the handover of the city back to Baghdad authorities. Many felt the two leading Iraqi Kurdish parties had betrayed their people and had ordered the peshmerga to pull back with hardly a fight. Jumaa Khalaf said she felt "humiliated" by the two parties over the withdrawal. "They trampled on the dignity of the peshmerga," she said. Many Kurds are wary of the Shiite-led militias that helped Iraqi forces retake the city. The Popular Mobilization Forces, as they are known, are predominantly Shiite and backed by Iran, and seen by Kurds as agents of Arab- and Shiite-first policy. PMF commanders held a press conference from the center of Kirkuk on Wednesday, despite orders from Baghdad not to enter the city, further provoking fears of ethnic strife. On Thursday, Associated Press reporters saw only a handful of PMF vehicles among a dominantly federal police and security presence inside Kirkuk. The city felt calm, apart from sporadic reports of looting. The U.N. said more than 60,000 people fled the city on Monday, fearing clashes and leaving homes empty and unguarded. Later, thousands returned. Another Kurdish resident, Hassan Anwar, said he was disturbed to see photos of Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani burned in the city. "I feel like it's my father's photo that's been burnt," he said. The Kurds make up a portion of the multi-ethnic Kirkuk's 1.2 million residents, living among Arabs and Turkmen. Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, spokesman for Iraq's armed forces, said the military would redeploy to all areas it controlled before the rise of IS. The Kurds have already withdrawn from most areas in northern and eastern Iraq that they took during the war against the jihadis. In the battle against IS, the Kurdish forces fought on the same side as the Iraqi military and the PMF. Both the Kurds and Iraq's central government are military allies of the United States. On Thursday, tensions ran high along the main road between the Kurdish regional capital, Irbil, and Kirkuk. Peshmerga fighters on Wednesday took up positions about 5 kilometers (3 miles) beyond their initial lines, regrouping to defend the town of Altun Kupri. Iraqi forces established their own positions about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) away. Brig. Gen. Raad Baddai said the town would be "the last area" his forces will retake north of Kirkuk. He told the AP that his forces were awaiting orders to enter the town "in the coming hours," raising the possibility of clashes with the Kurdish forces still inside Altun Kupri. The town falls just outside the boundary of the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous zone. Kurdish forces moved into it in 2014. This week's pullout from Kirkuk and several other towns and villages the peshmerga held is likely to deprive the Kurdish regional government of a substantial revenue stream. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the United Nations has received allegations that armed groups burned some 150 houses in Tuz Khurmatu on Oct. 16-17, and that houses belonging to Kurdish families and officials of Kurdish political parties were destroyed by explosives. He said the U.N. notes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's acknowledgment of incidents by what he called "extremist elements from both sides" and his decision to send the army to restore order in Tuz Khurumatu. "The U.N. urges the government of Iraq to take every action to halt any violations and ensure that all civilians are protected and that the perpetrators of acts of violence, intimidation and forced displacement of civilians be brought to justice," Dujarric said. The Kirkuk oil field surrounding the city was estimated in 2007 to hold almost 9 billion barrels of oil. Iraq's Oil Ministry said it has asked British Petroleum to develop plans to expand production at the field "as quickly as possible." Rasool, the Iraqi military spokesman, said Thursday the military had no plans to capture the nearby Khurmala oil field, which is located inside the Kurdish region. Its reserves are estimated at 2.8 billion barrels. ___ Issa reported from Baghdad. A burned poster of Massoud Barzani, the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, is displayed in front of the abandoned building of Kurdish security forces in Kirkuk, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. A Baghdad court has issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq's Kurdish region for saying Iraqi forces were "occupying" the disputed Kirkuk province. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) A picture of Massoud Barzani, the President of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, and a Kurdish flag are displayed as Kurdish security forces stand guard in Alton Kupri, on the outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Kurdish media said Thursday that Iraqi Kurdish officials have postponed elections for parliament and president of the autonomous region originally slated for November 1, in the wake of the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from disputed regions across northern and eastern Iraq. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Kurdish security forces stand guard in their defensive position in Alton Kupri, outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday Oct. 19. 2017. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Kurdish security forces stand guard in their defensive position in Alton Kupri, outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday Oct. 19. 2017. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Kurdish security forces stand guard in their defensive position in Alton Kupri, on the outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday Oct. 19. 2017. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Kurdish security forces stand guard in their defensive position in Alton Kupri, on the outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, Thursday Oct. 19. 2017. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local): 3 p.m. A state-linked Saudi news site says a high-level Saudi official is in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which was recently retaken from the Islamic State group, to discuss his country's role in reconstruction efforts. A member of U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carries explosives at a stadium that that was the site of Islamic State fighters' last stand in the city of Raqqa, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. SDF were removing land mines and clearing roads in the northern city a day after commanders said they had driven the Islamic State group from its de facto capital. (AP Photo/Asmaa Waguih) Okaz quoted unnamed Saudi sources on Thursday as saying that Thamer al-Sabhan is in Raqqa to meet with members of the city's civil council to discuss Saudi Arabia's "prominent role in reconstruction." Okaz says the United Arab Emirates will also play a role in rebuilding. The report included an image of al-Sabhan apparently in Raqqa with Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy for the coalition battling the IS group, of which the kingdom is a member. Al-Sabhan is minister of state for Arab Affairs. He was previously the ambassador to Iraq, but left amid threats from Iranian-backed militias. ___ 1 p.m. A Kurdish female militia that took part in freeing the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State group says it will continue the fight to liberate women living under the extremist group's brutal rule. Nisreen Abdullah of the Women's Protection Units, or YPJ, read a statement Thursday in Raqqa's Paradise Square, where IS fighters once carried out their public killings. She says the all-women force lost 30 members in the four-month battle. Under Islamic State rule, women were forced to wear all-encompassing veils and could be stoned to death for adultery. Hundreds of women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi minority were captured and forced into sexual slavery. Abdullah says the YPJ helped liberate dozens of Yazidi women. A member of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces SDF throws a bomb to check for more explosives as they clear the syadium that was the site of Islamic State fighters' last stand in the city of Raqqa, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. SDF were removing land mines and clearing roads in the northern city a day after commanders said they had driven the Islamic State group from its de facto capital. (AP Photo/Asmaa Waguih) States are seeing more stability in their Medicaid programs after experiencing a surge in enrollment and costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, suggesting that one of the major pillars of former President Barack Obama's health overhaul may be nearing its peak. At the same time, they are experiencing a high level of uncertainty as Republicans in Congress continue to advocate for a major overhaul of a program that provides health insurance to tens of millions of lower-income and disabled Americans. Thursday's report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found Medicaid enrollments in the states slowed considerably to an increase of just 2.7 percent in fiscal year 2017. By comparison, states reported a 13.9 percent increase in enrollment during fiscal year 2015 following implementation of former President Barack Obama's health care law. The Affordable Care Act allowed states to expand their Medicaid programs to include more lower-income adults without children. Regular Medicaid roles also increased because of the heightened publicity associated with the law, commonly referred to as Obamacare. State spending on Medicaid, the second largest budget item behind education for most states, grew a modest 3.9 percent in the most recent period. That compares to the 10.5 percent increase in spending states saw in fiscal year 2015. Rising costs for prescription drugs and long-term care services, along with increases in payment rates to providers, account for most of the spending growth, the researchers said. Thirty-one states plus the District of Columbia opted for the Medicaid expansion, with the federal government paying most of the cost for the new enrollees. In 2015, an Associated Press survey found more than a dozen states that opted to expand Medicaid had seen enrollments and costs surge beyond their expectations. In a report to Congress last year, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the cost of expansion was $6,366 per person in 2015, about 49 percent higher than anticipated. The federal government currently is picking up 95 percent of the costs for the Medicaid expansion population, something Republicans in Congress say is unsustainable. Recent GOP proposals would have ended the expansion and significantly reduced federal funding for the overall program. The Kaiser Family Foundation report is based on a survey of state Medicaid directors that is conducted annually. The report's authors said nearly all the Medicaid directors expressed concern about the Republican proposals, which so far have been unsuccessful. "States really need stability to know the funds that they count on from the federal government are not going to disappear overnight," said Diane Rowland, executive vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "It takes a long time to plan and implement systems." The federal government pays an agreed-upon percentage of each state's Medicaid costs, no matter how much they rise in any given year. The Republican proposals would have transformed that into a fixed amount per recipient. ___ Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Christina . WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at an office park in northeastern Maryland (all times local): 8:45 p.m. A witness to the deadly rampage inside a Maryland granite company says the suspect had gathered a small group of co-workers together and opened fire. This frame grab provided by NBC10 TV shows the suspect in the shooting of six people in Maryland and Delaware, being taken into custody Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, in Wilmington, Del. (NBC10 TV via AP) The witness is a man who worked at the countertop making company. He said Wednesday had started off unusually. In response to polite greetings, Radee Prince used harsh language to describe Advanced Granite Solutions and its workers. The witness says nobody listened to him because his reaction was to start a fight. The witness spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation and worried about his family's immigration status. Prince faces charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and use of a firearm to commit a felony. At his arraignment Thursday in Delaware, he pleaded not guilty. ___ 2:25 p.m. The owners of a granite business in Maryland where an employee shot and killed three of his co-workers say they are heartbroken at the loss of their employees. Ron Cherry, a lawyer representing Advanced Granite Solutions, read a statement Thursday from the owners outside the business where the shooting took place Wednesday. He said the owners are grieving and "trying to make sense of a senseless act." Police say Radee Prince shot five of his co-workers, killing three and critically wounding two others. Radee was captured late Wednesday after a multi-state manhunt. The company has set up a gofundme.com page to raise donations for the victims and their families. ___ 9:40 a.m. The widow of a man killed in a workplace shooting in Maryland says her husband was so concerned about the gunman's temperament that he brought it up in church prayer sessions. Fifty-three-year-old Bayarsaikhan Tudev (BYE'-er-sock-un TOO'-doov) is one of three people shot and killed Wednesday at a granite manufacturer in Harford County, Maryland. Police said 37-year-old Radee Prince shot five co-workers Wednesday at Advanced Granite Solutions. He was captured after a 10-hour manhunt during which he also wounded an acquaintance in Wilmington, Delaware. Tudev's widow, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren, (geh-RIJJ'-meh (DULL-ger-sor-en) told The Associated Press on Thursday that her husband described multiple times how Prince was always angry. Tudev was a native of Mongolia who came to the U.S. in 2005. He and his wife settled in Arlington, Virginia, which has a large Mongolian-American community. Dolgorsuren said her husband liked his job so much that he endured a regular commute of more than two hours. She said her husband always felt that he was living the American dream. ___ 9:15 a.m. A man accused of killing three of his co-workers at a Maryland granite company and wounding three other people has been arraigned in a Delaware court. Radee Prince was arraigned just after 8 a.m. Thursday. He is being held on $2.1 million cash bail. Prince is charged in Delaware with attempted murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and other weapons charges. Those charges relate to the shooting of an acquaintance Prince is accused of wounding at a used car lot in Wilmington after he allegedly shot five people at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland. Maryland police are expected to seek his return to that state to face charges in the workplace shooting. Two of Prince's co-workers remain in critical condition. ___ 7:20 a.m. Two people who survived an office shooting in Maryland are still in critical condition. A spokeswoman says the two victims were still listed as critical Thursday morning at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. She declined to release additional details on their injuries. The wounded victims were among five employees of a kitchen countertop company who authorities say were shot Wednesday by a co-worker. Three people died. Authorities conducted a massive manhunt for the suspect, Radee Prince, a 37-year-old machine operator at Advanced Granite Solutions. Police said Prince drove to Wilmington, Delaware, after the shooting and shot and wounded a man he had a "beef" with at a used car lot. Delaware police and federal agents arrested Prince late Wednesday. ___ 3:25 a.m. A multistate manhunt that kept the Mid-Atlantic region on alert for more than 10 hours ended when law enforcement officers on foot chased down a man they say shot six people, killing three, in two separate shootings. Police in Maryland and Delaware say 37-year-old Radee Prince shot five co-workers Wednesday at a granite company in Maryland, then drove to Wilmington, Delaware, and shot an acquaintance in the head. Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy says police and federal agents arrested Prince in Wilmington. Police say Prince killed three colleagues at the start of the workday at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland, and seriously wounded two others. Authorities say Prince then drove to a used car lot about 55 miles (90 kilometers) away in Wilmington and opened fire on a man. The man survived and identified Prince to police. This photo provided by the Maryland State Police shows Radee Labeeb Prince. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, authorities say a man showed up for work at a countertop company in Maryland and shot several of his co-workers and then drove to Wilmington, Del., and shot a man he knew at an auto sales and service business. Prince, the suspect in the shootings in Maryland and Delaware is in custody, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. (Maryland State Police via AP) Workers from the Advanced Granite Solutions company console each other as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman opened fire at the office park killing several co-workers and wounded others, authorities said. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler speaks at a news conference following a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The gunman killed multiple co-workers and wounded others before fleeing the scene, Gahler said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Unidentified bystanders embrace as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2017. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Radee Labeeb Prince, wanted in the shooting of several people at his workplace in Maryland is now suspected in a later shooting in Delaware. The Wilmington Police Department said in a news release Wednesday that officers are searching for Prince. Police say he's wanted in both the multiple shooting early Wednesday in Edgewood, Md., and another shooting at midmorning in Wilmington. (Kyle Grantham/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP) Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Radee Labeeb Prince, wanted in the shooting of several people at his workplace in Maryland is now suspected in a later shooting in Delaware. The Wilmington Police Department said in a news release Wednesday that officers are searching for Prince. Police say he's wanted in both the multiple shooting early Wednesday in Edgewood, Md., and another shooting at midmorning in Wilmington. (Kyle Grantham/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP) Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler shows a picture of suspect Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, after news conference near the scene of a workplace shooting on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 in Edgewood, Md. Prince killed several co-workers and wounded others before fleeing the scene, Gahler said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A police officer puts up crime scene tape at the scene of shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman opened fire at the office park killing several co-workers and wounded others, authorities said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) Officials stand outside the scene of a fatal shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The victims and the suspect worked for Advanced Granite Solutions. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Police respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP) It was an odd day for one Alaska animal control officer who took a call about an alligator outgrowing its bathtub. A Wasilla resident called 911 this week after realizing that the more than 4-foot-long alligator named Allie couldn't live in a tub anymore, KTTU-TV reports. Rescue group Valley Aquatics took Allie in. Valley Aquatics owner Sheridan Perkins says Allie is a three-year-old American alligator. Scroll down for video Allie's owners called 911 after they realized the alligator was too large to live in a bathtub The police department has said they usually handle loose dogs and cats, with the 'occasional rogue chicken thrown in.' Allie's owners originally believed that the alligator was a female, but the rescue group has confirmed that he is a male. Perkins says she has thought about re-homing Allie in Florida. 'There is not much that I can divulge because it was owner's release, and I don't want any bad publicity on the owner,' said Perkins. 'That's why we're in business. We're here to help in situations where it's not the best for the animal or the owner.' The four-foot gator was transported to Valley Aquatics in a dog kennel The rescue group moved Allie to his new home using a dog carrier. The alligator is Wasilla's second run in this year with a large reptile. In May, a 17-foot python named Sam went missing for several days before reappearing in his home's living room. He returned through the door his owner left open for him. Perkins said that Allie is 'absolutely gorgeous.' She added: 'I opened the kennel and introduced myself. [Allie] was kind of nervous not knowing what was going on in the dog kennel.' Perkins has created a GoFundMe to aid in her reptile rescue mission. NEW YORK (AP) - Former President George W. Bush on Thursday denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics, warning that the rise of "nativism," isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation's true identity. The comments, delivered at a New York City conference hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, amounted to an indirect critique from a former Republican president who has remained largely silent during President Donald Trump's unlikely rise to power. The 43rd president did not name Trump on Thursday, but he attacked some of the principles that define the 45th president's political brand. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Bush said. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. We've seen the return of isolation sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places." Former U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at a forum sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," he continued. "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." "We need to recall and recover our own identity," he continued. "To renew our country, we only need to remember our values." Asked about the speech, Trump said he hadn't seen it. The comment about identity was one of several that warned of what Bush described as troubling political trends. Bush noted Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and declared that "the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other." "Foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated," Bush said. Trump has expressed skepticism of Russia's involvement. A special prosecutor is currently investigating whether Trump and his campaign associates coordinated with Moscow in the effort to sway the election. Bush is the brother of 2016 presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor nicknamed, belittled and ultimately vanquished by Trump during the race for the Republican nomination. He joins a slowly growing list of prominent Republicans who have publicly defied Trump, including Republican Sens. John McCain, who delivered a similar speech this week. Sen. Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who has announced he's retiring, has denounced what he termed the "adult day care center" of the Trump White House. But during the Bush event, a current Trump administration official also broke with Trump's dismissive tone on Russian interference. Nikki Haley, Trump's chief envoy to the United Nations, cast Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election as "warfare" and efforts to "sow chaos" in elections across the world. "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian? And why have we done the sanctions?' Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian," Haley said. She added, "When a country can come and interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." Facebook recently provided three congressional committees with more than 3,000 ads they had traced to a Russian internet agency and told investigators of their contents. Twitter also briefed Congress last month and handed over to Senate investigators the profile names of 201 accounts linked to Russians. ___ Laurie Kellman contributed from Washington. ___ Follow Peoples and Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sppeoples and http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman Former U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands with audience members after speaking at a forum sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Former U.S. President George W. Bush greets former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, and Madeleine Albright, right, after they participated in a panel discussion at a forum sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Former U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at a forum sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri officials are proposing an innovation corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis for a new Amazon location instead of a single headquarters in one of the metropolitan areas. Missouri is submitting the application on Thursday. Missouri Chief Operating Officer Drew Erdmann says an innovation corridor could also include Columbia, the home of the University of Missouri. Erdmann says the cities could be connected if a high-speed Hyperloop track is built in the state. Amazon in September opened the search for a second headquarters and promised to spend more than $5 billion on the site. The Seattle-based company says it would bring up to 50,000 jobs. Kansas City, St. Louis and many other North American cities have submitted individual applications to become Amazon's second home. What to Do If You Experience Sexual Harassment at Work While claims of harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein are grabbing all the headlines, the explosion of #MeToo on Twitter and social media proves that sexual harassment exists across all employment and gender boundaries. Sexual harassment by anyone, at any job or even outside of work, is unacceptable, but many of us struggle with identifying sexual harassment when it happens and how to respond. So here are some clues on spotting sexual harassment at work, and how to deal with it. Perpetrators of harassment will often claim that the comments or behavior were just jokes, guys being guys, or should be expected in certain workplace environments. Or, like Weinstein, argue that such behavior was acceptable in the past. This can often make it seem like the definition of sexual harassment is a fuzzy one, open to the parties' interpretation, and constantly evolving over time. In fact, federal civil rights law and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have fairly strict definitions of workplace sexual harassment, including: [U]nwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. And just because past behavior went unpunished doesn't make it permissible now. So if that conduct occurs in the office, it constitutes sexual harassment. Any workplace should have clearly defined policies and procedures for reporting, investigating, and, if need be, punishing sexual harassment. Those policies should be EEOC-compliant, and give employees a safe haven for harassment reports, free from further harassment or retaliation. If internal channels fail, employees can file a charge with the EEOC. Beyond that, employees can file civil lawsuits against the harassing party or the employer for failing to adhere to its own internal policies or abide by EEOC requirements. And if, god forbid, the behavior goes beyond harassment and constitutes assault or rape, you can report criminal conduct to the police. If you're unsure if workplace conduct constitutes sexual harassment or unsure of how to respond, contact an experienced employment attorney in your area. Related Resources: JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Roughly 1,200 federal prisoners from Puerto Rico are being moved to Mississippi amid Hurricane Maria recovery. U.S. Court Clerk Arthur Johnston told The Clarion-Ledger that Mississippi has agreed to house the inmates at the federal correctional facility in Yazoo City. Johnston says other jurisdictions helped during Hurricane Katrina recovery and Mississippi is "delighted to return the favor." U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asked federal judges to be available to help with the prisoners' cases, but the cases will remain under Puerto Rico judges' jurisdiction. Johnston said he believed the prisoners were already in Mississippi, but Gov. Phil Bryant's spokesman Clay Chandler said Wednesday that he couldn't confirm if the prisoners were in or on their way to the state. In a statement, Bryant said he wouldn't support accepting dangerous prisoners. ___ Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com MILAN (AP) - A 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed Thursday by falling masonry in one of Florence's most famous churches, the Basilica of Santa Croce. The church, a top tourist attraction, is where Italian luminaries Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. The fatal accident raised questions about the state of Italy's considerable cultural heritage, which includes numerous aging and fragile monuments. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, speaking from New York, said prosecutors would conduct an investigation to determine the cause and if faulty maintenance was to blame. A view of the Santa Croce Basilica where a 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed by falling masonry, in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2017. The tourist, who was visiting the church with his wife, was struck in the head by a decorative element that dropped from a height of some 20 meters in one of the aisles of the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions. (Maurizio Degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP) The victim was struck by a decorative stone fragment that fell from a height of 20 meters (66 feet) as he visited the church with his wife. According to Italian media reports, the fragment was about 15 centimeters by 15 centimeters (six inches by six inches) and supported a beam. The 15th-century basilica, which has a famed neo-Gothic facade, has been undergoing a multi-year maintenance program in collaboration with Italy's civil protection agency, the head of the organization that manages the church, Irene Sanesi, told the Italian news agency ANSA. "For that reason, all of the work has been done in a constant manner over the years. We are really astonished at what has happened, and we ask ourselves how it could happen," she said. Authorities were checking the stability of the church, which is expected to remain closed to visitors indefinitely. Other deadly incidents involving Italian monuments included the 1989 collapse of a 14th-century bell tower in the northern city of Pavia into a pile of brick, marble and dust that killed four people. The cause of the accident has never been determined. A toddler and a disabled 30-year-old were gravely injured in July when plaster fell from the ceiling of the Acireale Cathedral in Sicily during a wedding. In October 2012, a cornice fell from the wall of the Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, causing part of the roof to cave in just a few feet from tourists. No one was injured. A police officer stands by a gate of the Santa Croce Basilica after a 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed by falling masonry, in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2017. The tourist, who was visiting the church with his wife, was struck in the head by a decorative element that dropped from a height of some 20 meters in one of the aisles of the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions, where such Italian luminaries as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. (Maurizio Degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP) Medical personnel walks out of the Santa Croce Basilica after a 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed by falling masonry, in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2017. The tourist, who was visiting the church with his wife, was struck in the head by a decorative element that dropped from a height of some 20 meters in one of the aisles of the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions. (Maurizio Degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP) A Carabinieri police officer walks inside the Santa Croce Basilica after a 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed by falling masonry, in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2017. The tourist, who was visiting the church with his wife, was struck in the head by a decorative element that dropped from a height of some 20 meters in one of the aisles of the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions, where such Italian luminaries as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. (Maurizio Degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP) JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (all times local): 7:05 p.m. Egyptian airport officials say a White House envoy has arrived in Cairo to discuss the latest developments in Palestinian reconciliation efforts mediated by Egypt. Fishermen ride a boat while sail into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Israel expanded the fishing zone for Gaza's fishermen from six nautical miles to nine miles for the two-month season. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) The officials say that Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt arrived on Thursday. His visit comes after Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas reached a preliminary agreement under Egyptian auspices that could put President Mahmoud Abbas back in charge of the Gaza strip. Greenblatt is expected to meet senior Cairo officials. The airport officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The Palestinian reconciliation deal could ease the decade-old Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the densely populated coastal strip and facilitate peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians. Negotiations to end the split between Fatah and Hamas have faltered in the past. -Menna Zaki in Cairo; ___ 5:15 p.m. A White House official says that Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt has left for Egypt to meet with senior officials there to discuss the status of Palestinian reconciliation efforts. Egypt has been mediating talks between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Last week, the sides announced a preliminary agreement to put the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority back in charge of Gaza. But many key issues remain unresolved, most importantly Hamas' massive arsenal. Earlier Thursday, Greenblatt said the next Palestinian government must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel - conditions that Hamas has always rejected. The White House official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The official did not say whether Greenblatt had yet arrived in Cairo. -Josef Federman in Jerusalem; ___ 2:45 p.m. Germany is criticizing Israel's plans to build some 3,000 new housing units in West Bank settlements, saying they undermine the possibility of a two-state solution to the long conflict with the Palestinians. The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now says that Israel this week advanced plans for the new units. The German Foreign Ministry called Thursday for Israel to refrain from going ahead with the plans. The ministry says new "settlements are not the only obstacle to a two-state solution, but each new housing unit consolidates a one-state reality in which the Palestinians are denied the ability to fully exercise their political rights." Germany is an important Israel ally and also enjoys good relations with the Palestinians. It has long supported the two-state solution and spoken out against new settlements. ___ 2:30 p.m. An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group says Israel has advanced plans this week to build nearly 3,000 new homes in the West Bank - eclipsing the number of homes that were approved during all of last year. Peace Now says in a report that the homes are at various stages of approval and that some are in isolated settlements deep inside the West Bank. In all, it says 6,742 settlement homes have been advanced this year, compared with 2,629 last year and 1,982 the year before. The Palestinians and most of the international community consider settlements illegal obstacles to peace. Israel and the Obama administration frequently feuded over settlement construction. President Donald Trump has taken a different position, urging some restraint but not a complete halt to construction. ___ 10:30 a.m. President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy says if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government it must renounce violence and commit to peaceful negotiations with Israel. Jason Greenblatt's statement Thursday was the first American comment on the advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. Greenblatt says Hamas must meet the international demands to recognize Israel and accept previous agreements with it. He says "it must accept these basic requirements" to take part in government. Hamas has always refused similar demands in the past. Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week announced a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues, most notably who will control Hamas' massive weapons arsenal. Talks continue with Fatah. Your golden years are supposed to be the time when you live off your retirement savings, see more of your family and dive fully into leisurely pursuits. Unfortunately, they're also the years when you'll be a prime target of financial scams. Seniors tend to have savings, steady income from Social Security, money in retirement accounts and other assets, like a home that they own. As they age, the elderly can also become more vulnerable to being fleeced, especially if they live alone, are struggling with illness or begin to show signs of cognitive decline. "It's why bank robbers go to the bank," said Amy Nofziger, director of regional operations with the AARP Foundation. "Scammers and criminals will go to older adults because that's where the money is, so they're certainly targeted more often than not." The illegal or improper use of a senior's funds, property or assets is the most common form of elder abuse in the U.S., according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Annual financial fraud losses for older Americans can reach as high as $36.5 billion, according to a 2015 study cited by the CFPB. Only a small portion of incidents are reported. One study out of New York State shows that for every case of financial exploitation that gets reported to law enforcement, adult protective services or a similar agency, 43 cases go unreported, said Naomi Karp, senior policy analyst at the CFPB's Office of Older Americans. And the threat isn't just from anonymous online scammers reaching out over a chat box on your computer and offering to vanquish a computer virus, or others posing as IRS agents to demand you pay Uncle Sam taxes with an iTunes gift card. They can be family members and others you know who have easy access to your checkbook or Social Security number. "Of the crimes that are perpetrated, unfortunately, a lot of them are those known, interested people who have a lot of access," Karp said. "There are just so many ways to get at the money." Here are some steps seniors should consider to protect themselves from financial fraud: SAFEGUARD IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS Keep your ID, checkbook, bank statements, utility bills and other documents with details that could be mined to open unauthorized credit in your name locked or out of view from relatives and caregivers. Some studies suggest that fraud and theft perpetrated by family members and others known to the victim makes up the majority of the cases of elderly financial fraud, Karp said. MONITOR YOUR ACCOUNTS Keeping tabs on your bank and credit cards is key to spotting unauthorized cash withdrawals or charges. Do this by regularly going over your monthly statements. You can also enlist a trusted family member to do it. Or have them use an app like Mint, which allows users to view bank and card transactions, but not make any withdrawals or charges. Also check your credit report regularly. You're entitled to a free report annually. Get it here: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action FREEZE YOUR CREDIT REPORT Consider freezing your credit report, which guards against having unauthorized accounts opened. Contact the three major credit reporting agencies - Equifax, TransUnion and Experian - and ask them to freeze your credit report. Each agency will charge between $5 and $10. This doesn't prevent you from using the credit cards you already have, though you'll have to ask to pause the freeze if you want to sign up for a new credit account. Note that the freeze won't stop unauthorized charges on your existing cards. SCREEN CALLS Among fraud complaints called into the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network (CSN) last year, some 77 percent of them listed the phone as the way that scammers made contact. By comparison, email was cited in 8 percent of complaints, websites in 8 percent, and mail in just 3 percent. Other methods accounted for 6 percent. The takeaway here? You may reduce the chances of being the victim of financial fraud if you screen your calls. "Stop picking up your phone," said Nofziger. By not answering the phone, you deny a potential scammer "an opportunity to convince you about whatever they're pitching." Never divulge any personal or financial information to anyone who calls you unexpectedly. Companies and government agencies won't ask for such details over the phone. KNOW THE SCAMS Get wise to the scammers' ways. They share some characteristics, even though they're always changing. They usually pressure you to take action quickly and keep the transaction a secret. And they want you to pay upfront for a promised prize or service, often with a prepaid gift card. The National Council on Aging, an advocacy group for seniors, has links to common financial scams that are targeting seniors. Check out the list here: https://www.ncoa.org/economic-security/money-management/scams-security/top-10-scams-targeting-seniors/ DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Health officials in North Carolina are monitoring more than 260 students and faculty members for tuberculosis at a high school after a student was diagnosed last week. Durham Public Schools spokesman William Sudderth told local media the students and staff at Northern High School are being watched because of the confirmed case. Durham County Health Department medical director Arlena Sena says the respiratory disease is very contagious but also very treatable. Duke University tuberculosis expert Tony Moody said the disease can up to a month for symptoms to emerge. Moody says anyone with a persistent cough for more than two weeks who suffers from fevers and weight loss should seek medical attention. A student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was also diagnosed with the disease last week. SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemeni tribal leaders say a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed three alleged al-Qaida fighters in the country's southeastern Bayda province. They say the men were traveling on Thursday in the Soum area when a missile hit their car, engulfing it in flames. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Yemen fell into chaos following its 2011 Arab Spring uprising that deposed longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, now allied with Shiite rebels from the north who have occupied much of the country and are fighting his successor. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the rebels and Saleh's forces since March 2015. Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the security breakdown to seize territory and expand operations in impoverished Yemen, which sits along strategic oil shipping routes. MADRID (AP) - Spain is enduring its most acute political crisis since the return of democracy in the late 1970s, with Catalonia, its most prosperous region, positioning itself to declare its independence. Spain is moving to curtail Catalonia's self-governing powers should the region's leaders finally make that independence call. No compromise is in sight. Here is the status of the standoff and a look at what may happen over the coming days. ___ NO CLARIFICATION CAME FILE - In this Tuesday Oct. 3, 2017 file photo Irene Guszman, 15, wearing a Spanish flag on her shoulders and Mariona Esteve, 14, with an 'estelada' or independence flag, walk along the street to take part on a demonstration in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) Catalan regional leader Carles Puigdemont faced two central government deadlines this week - on Monday, to make clear whether he has already declared independence for the region, and on Thursday to fall in line with Spanish law. Both times, Puigdemont was ambiguous in his response. On Thursday, Puigdemont sent a letter minutes before the Madrid-imposed deadline expired but once again he did not answer Spain's question. Instead, he warned that his parliament could declare independence unless Spain agreed to talks. Spain immediately rejected this - it has consistently said discussions are not possible so long as independence is on the table. The Spanish cabinet will meet in a special session on Saturday to activate unprecedented measures to take control of the Catalan region's semi-autonomous powers. ___ ARTICLE 155 Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed that Spain will not be divided and says he will use all lawful measures to stop the separatists. For the moment, he plans to use Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows the central government to take partial, or full control, of the governance of a region if it does not comply with its legal obligations. The article, which has never been triggered, doesn't specify exactly what areas of public administration the Spanish government will take over, but officials say Madrid will almost certainly take control of Catalonia's regional police to ensure law and order is maintained, and tighten its grip on the region's finances. Other measures being mulled are removing Puigdemont's presidential powers, rescinding regional control over education and schools, calling fresh elections, and taking control of public regional media that are seen as nothing more than a mouthpiece for the current pro-independence coalition. Rajoy wants maximum consensus with the main opposition parties and so far he has two of three backing him. To make sure that he doesn't lose their backing, Rajoy is not expected to go further than taking control of the police and finances. ____ THE TIMETABLE There is no precise timetable but Article 155 could be implemented in 10 days. Saturday's Cabinet meeting should announce the measures and the government must then get them approved in the Senate, where Rajoy's conservative Popular Party has an absolute majority. Officials say the Senate could pass it Oct. 27. The Catalan president, meanwhile, may see the Cabinet meeting as confirmation that no talks are in the offing. He may then convoke the regional parliament, where his pro-independence camp has a slim majority, and push for a vote to formally secede. This, at first glance, would represent a political earthquake for both Spain and the European Union. In reality though, it might be more symbolic than anything as Puigdemont, without control over defense, borders or foreign affairs, can do little to put it into practice. No foreign government or international body has expressed any appetite for a new Catalan republic. The European Union has already said Catalonia would be expelled from the bloc and its shared currency, the euro, and would have to re-apply to get back in - a lengthy and uncertain process. ___ STREET REACTION Massive peaceful demonstrations for and against independence have been commonplace in recent weeks. Pro-independence marches are set to intensify in the coming days. Catalonia's 7.5 million inhabitants are evenly divided over independence but most are likely to consider Article 155 an "invasion" of the region's self-government despite Spain's insistence that it would be nothing more than an undesired necessity to restore legality. The next major protest is on Saturday evening. It was initially called to demand the release of two leaders of the Catalan grassroots organizations jailed this week by Spain's National Court in Madrid in a sedition investigation. The two groups have been the driving forces of the independence movement and the arrests have enraged supporters. The groups, ANC and Omnium, are rolling out new actions later this week that could include a widespread call to boycott Spanish companies. ___ HOW DID WE GET HERE? Many Catalans have long highlighted the region's distinctness but the independence surge began in 2010, when Spain's top court struck down key parts of a charter that granted Catalonia greater autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain. After that, calls for an independence referendum grew louder and louder. Puigdemont's government ignored a ban and staged the referendum Oct. 1. His government said over 40 percent of the 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots and most favored independence. But opponents protested it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Many pro-Spain voters are also thought to have stayed at home in protest at the referendum and in accordance with the court's ruling. Spain's financial crisis over the past decade or so and the harsh austerity measures that followed have also generated support for secession. One of Catalonia's chief complaints is that it contributes more in taxes to the Spanish treasury than it gets back. ___ THE VOICE OF BUSINESS More than 900 companies, including Catalan banks, multinationals and mid-size businesses, have moved their registered addresses out of the troubled region because of concerns over the region's legal status, according to Spain's Association of Commercial Registers. While it doesn't affect jobs, the firms could delay investments if the standoff continues. It also sends a no-confidence message to the Catalan government. A Catalan flag is seen reflected on drops of water from rain in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) People walk past a Catalan flag reflected on the ground in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) NEW YORK (AP) - Target sees its new smaller stores in mainly urban areas as a symbol of its future, hoping that shoppers will step away from online buying for trips to stores tailored to the neighborhood. The two-level store in Manhattan's Herald Square, not far from the Macy's flagship, is about one-third the size of Target's average store. It'll offer same-day delivery, more self-serve checkouts than usual, and a small grocery area near an entrance so shoppers can quickly grab an item or two. It'll also be the first to sell Target-branded merchandise like mugs and T-shirts emblazoned with the Bullseye mascot. Target is spending $7 billion over three years to remodel old stores, open small ones in cities and college towns and offer faster delivery for online orders. The Herald Square store is among 12 mostly small-format stores opening this week in urban markets like Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. That will bring the number to more than 50 small-format stores, with plans to operate more than 130 by the end of 2019. While all retailers need to worry about online growth and the expansion of Amazon, Target CEO Brian Cornell said Thursday that with the new urban stores, Target is seeing it can attract new customers. "Our stores are the drivers" of digital growth, he said. Cornell says sales per square foot at small-format stores in urban markets and college towns are twice that of regular stores. So that would make it about $500 to $600 per square feet. He added that the remodeled stores have been well-received, and the company is accelerating plans to remodel 1,000 of its 1,800 stores by 2020. It had originally planned to remodel 600 by 2019. Target had started testing same-day delivery at a store in Manhattan this past summer, letting shoppers have purchases made in the store delivered to their homes for a fee. Cornell says shoppers are spending six times more than the average shopping basket at that store when they use the same-day service. It plans to start same-day delivery service at two other stores in Brooklyn on Friday, and Cornell says he envisions Target expanding same-day service to other urban markets. As it works to freshen up its stores, Target is also adding more clothing and furniture brands, and said that its children's line Cat & Jack brought in $2 billion in sales since its launch a year ago. The company has raised its minimum hourly wage for its workers to $11 and will increase it to $15 by the end of 2020, which it says will help it recruit better workers and make shopping at Target a better experience. Target is also testing store-curb pickup for online grocery customers at 50 stores in the Minneapolis area. In comparison, Walmart has 1,000 stores that offer curbside pickup for online grocery shoppers and plans to double that figure next year. Cornell said the company's next-day delivery of essentials like detergent will be expanded nationwide by the end of next year. It had been testing the service in Dallas, Texas, Minneapolis, and Denver, then started expanding it to Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C./Baltimore areas. The service, a rival to Amazon Pantry, allows online shoppers to fill a box that weighs no more than 45 pounds with essentials like toilet paper and peanut butter for a rate of $4.99. Cornell told reporters the goal is to fulfill orders within 48 hours however the shopper chooses to buy. ___ The version corrects in the third paragraph that Target plans to operate, not open, 130 small-format stores by the end of 2019. FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting about a mile from Colorado State University (all times local): 1:35 p.m. Police say three people are dead and one other person is wounded after a shooting in an apartment building near Colorado State University. An investigator marks evidence while working the scene of an early morning homicide Thursday,, Oct. 19, 2017, in Fort Collins, Colo. The fatal shooting took place outside a housing complex about a mile west of Colorado State University. (Timothy Hurst /The Coloradoan via AP) One of those who died in Thursday's shooting was a student at the university but police say the three other people who were shot had no connection with the school in Fort Collins. Police say one of the four shot is believed to be the suspect. The Coloradoan reports that person is among those who are dead. Police say the suspected shooter was known to at least one of the victims. _____ 11:05 a.m. Fort Collins police say four people were shot - and at least one of them was killed - outside an apartment building about a mile from Colorado State University, but that they're not looking for any suspects. Sgt. Matt Johnson says the victims of the shooting early Thursday include "both deceased and injured." He did not elaborate. The victims' names weren't immediately released. University spokeswoman Dell Rae Ciaravola says it isn't known if any students or employees at the school were involved. The shooting occurred west of campus. University police sent text and email alerts to students and employees at 2:35 a.m. alerting them to the incident. By 4:35 a.m., police said there was no ongoing threat. Ciaravola says CSU has offered counseling for anyone affected by the incident. ___ 10:20 a.m. Police in Fort Collins are investigating a fatal shooting at a housing complex about a mile from Colorado State University. Police spokesman Matt Johnson that four people were involved in Thursday's shooting, including some who died and some who were wounded. It is unclear if students were involved. Police are not looking for any suspects and say there's no threat to the community. Campus police alerted students about the shooting and warned them to stay inside. JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military says it has struck Syria in response to a mortar fired from the territory. The military says it "targeted the source of the fire" on Thursday but declined to say what it hit. Earlier in the day, the military said a mortar fell in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, what that it was believed to be errant fire from the civil war. No injuries were reported on either side. Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines of Syria's civil war. It has responded to unintentional fire and has targeted what it says have been weapons convoys bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. In one rare incident, Israel this week struck an anti-aircraft battery deep in Syria after it had opened fire on Israeli jets flying over Lebanon. Following notification of aid termination to the Shan refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) along the Thai-Burma border from The Border Consortium (TBC), an umbrella group that coordinates international aid deliveries, angst for future and unsettling situation are rife as the aid termination for the end this month draws nearer each day. The appeal As it is, more than 6,000 Shan refugees, currently living in six camps along the Thai-Burmese border, are about to suddenly face with the prospect of surviving without support from the international community, according to Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) report. The six camps affected are: Kong Moong Murng Camp, opposite Mok Cham Pae, Mae Hong Son province; Loi Tai Laeng IDP camp, opposite Bang Ma Pha, Mae Hong Son province; Loi Lam IDP camp, opposite Wiang Haeng, Chiang Mai province; Koung Jor refugee camp, Wiang Haeng, Chiang Mai province; Loi Sam Sip IDP camp, opposite Fang, Chiang Mai province; and Loi Kaw Wan IDP camp, opposite Mae Fah Luang, Chiang Rai province. Four of those makeshift villages are recognized as IDP camps, meaning they shelter internally displaced persons, or IDPs, because the camps reside on the Burmese side of the border, according to the recent report in Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN). On August 30, 2017, Shan State Refugee Committee (Thai Border) and SHRF issued a statement outlining the impossible dire situation that the Shan refugees would face if they return and pleaded for the continuing aid delivery. Part of the statement wrote: We appeal to international donors not to cut off this aid while the peace process is still so uncertain. We cannot yet return to our homes, because our villages are now derelict, or have been occupied by the Burma Army, their militia or the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Despite the peace process, the Burma Army has expanded its troops, and is continuing to carry out military operations and attacks around our villages. Villagers continue to be arrested, tortured and killed. We appeal for our rights as refugees to be respected the right to receive adequate humanitarian aid, and to be given protection until we can return in safety and dignity to our homes once there is a political settlement and genuine peace in Shan State. Shan displacement SHRF report said that refugees have been fleeing from Shan State to Thailand for decades to escape the civil war and Burma Army persecution, but did not flee in large numbers until the 1990s. The dramatically increased number of refugees from Shan State was due to two key factors, one is the massive scorched earth campaign by the Burma Army in central Shan State beginning in 1996, and the other, the forced resettlement of Wa villagers from northern to southern Shan State beginning in 1999. Forced relocation The Burma Armys 1996-1998 scorched earth campaign in central Shan State was the first reason of the Shan displacement. After the surrender of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) at the end of 1995, MTA remnants, led by Lt. Gen Yawd Serk, formed a new Shan resistance group, the Shan State Army South (later called the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army RCSS/SSA). In March 1996, in an attempt to cut off support for this new group, the Burma Army began a massive scorched-earth operation in central Shan State, driving the rural population at gunpoint off their lands into guarded resettlement camps near towns and main roads. The results of this operation were devastating. During 1996-1998, over 300,000 people from 1,400 villages were forced from their homes. Those resisting or caught sneaking back to their fields were shot on sight or tortured by Burma Army troops. SHRF documented the killing of over 600 civilians during this time, including the well-known massacre of 56 villagers, including women, in Kunhing, on June 16, 1997. These villagers had been given permission to travel by ox-cart to collect rice from their old villages, but were arrested and shot dead by Burma Army troops on the way. There was also widespread use of rape as a weapon of war. The 2002 report by SHRF and Shan Women Action Network (SWAN), Licence to Rape, documented rape and other forms of sexual violence against 625 women and girls by troops from 52 different Burma Army battalions, mostly in the areas of forced relocation in Shan State. 61% of the women were gang-raped. 25% were killed, some horribly mutilated. Terrorized by these atrocities, and unable to survive in the relocation sites, many of the relocated villagers fled to Thailand. Entire families, including elderly grandparents and young children, fled together, using any means trekking through the jungle, rafting along the Salween River and renting cars to reach the border. By May 1996, tens of thousands of villagers had fled into northern Thailand, mainly dispersing into farms and orchards to find work as labourers or wait for the chance to move to construction sites in towns such as Chiang Mai. As illegal migrants, the refugees were vulnerable at all times to arrest and deportation, as well as exploitation by unscrupulous brokers and employers. Too afraid to venture from their work-sites, some refugees died of treatable illnesses. Children had no access to schooling and faced health and safety threats from living in crowded, unsanitary work sites, often exposed to harmful chemical pesticides. Wa resettlement The second reason for the massive Shans displacement was because of the forced Wa resettlement to southern Shan State in (1999-2001). In late 1999, the Burmese military regime authorized the UWSA, which had signed a ceasefire agreement since 1989, to begin mass forced resettlement of Wa villagers from the Chinese border down to southern Shan State. The pretext for the resettlement was drug eradication: to move Wa villagers from the mountainous poppy-growing regions in the north down to more fertile farmlands along the Thai border, where they could grow alternative crops. The real reason was political: using ongoing divide and rule tactics, the regime wanted to pit the UWSA against the RCSS/SSA, and weaken Shan resistance in southern Shan State. Between 1999 and 2001, over 126,000 villagers about a quarter of the total Wa population in Burma were forcibly relocated from the six northern Wa townships down to the townships of Tachileik, Mong Hsat and Mong Ton along the Thai border. The move inflicted huge suffering on the Wa villagers, who were forced to abandon their homes and possessions in the north. Diseases were rife in the resettlement sites and thousands died, according to the Lahu National Development Organization (LNDO) report of 2002. The large influx of new settlers caused severe disruption for existing villages mainly Shan, Lahu and Akha in southern Shan State. Houses, land, crops and livestock were seized without compensation, and in some areas UWSA started taxing and conscripting local villagers. Thousands of local villagers could not bear this oppression and fled to other areas of Shan State or to Thailand. Over 16,000 Wa were resettled in the Mong Karn area along the Nam Sai river in eastern Mong Hsat, where there were originally six villages, with about 1,200 inhabitants, who were mostly Shan. When heavy fighting broke out between the RCSS/SSA and Burma Army near this area in early 2001, the Burma Army and UWSA began persecuting Shan villagers suspected of supporting the Shan troops. Hundreds of Shan villagers from Mong Karn fled to the Thai border, where they set up the Loi Kaw Wan IDP camp. The original homes and lands of the Mong Karn inhabitants have now all been seized by the UWSA. Current situation in Shan State According to Deciphering Myanmars Peace Process 2016, published by Burma News International (BNI), RCSS clashed 13 times and Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) 34 times with the Burma Army in 2015. In 2016, RCSS clashed 6 times and SSPP 9 times with the Burma Army. However, this is just a conservative estimate and both the RCSS and SSPP said the real encounter is much more than has been reported. Despite the peace process, it is still impossible for the displaced villagers in camps along the Thai-Shan border to return home. The Burma Army has not adhered to its ceasefire agreements with the RCSS/SSA, and has continued its military expansion and operations throughout southern Shan State. Civilians continue to face systematic abuse. Any premature forced relocation of the refugees back to Shan State would be unthinkable, as human rights violations are still ongoing. Widespread arrests, torture, disappearance of civilians under high-level Burma Army operation in Ho Pong after fighting with Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatory RCSS/SSA are stark reminder of the futile situation not conducive for the return of the refugees. During July 16-30, 2017, hundreds of Burma Army troops from at least eight battalions patrolled through three village tracts in Ho Pong township, southern Shan State, arresting and torturing civilians, in what appears to be collective punishment for an armed clash with the RCSS/SSA in the area on July 14, 2017. Hundreds of the original villages of the refugees have either now fallen derelict, or are occupied by the Burma Army, government militia or UWSA. For example, the township of Mong Nai one of eleven townships where forced relocation took place used to have a total of 224 villages before 1996. Today, according to official township immigration lists, only 83 villages remain (of which 27 are new villages). 141 villages have been completely erased. Apart from that, for IDPs who fled from areas of Wa resettlement in eastern Mong Hsat, their original homes are now occupied by Wa settlers. The former Shan villages in the Mong Karn valley have now all been completely taken over by the UWSA. The threat of permanent loss of lands by planned mega-projects implementation is also very real and worrying. Refugees from areas where the Burmese government has planned large hydro-power dams or mining projects will lose their homes forever if these projects go ahead. For example, the giant Mong Ton dam on the Salween River, a joint venture with Thai and Chinese companies for export of power to Thailand, will submerge vast tracts of land along the Pang tributary in Kunhing township. Nearly 50,000 people were forcibly relocated from this area in 1996-1998. If the dam goes ahead, many will never be able to return home. Similarly the large lignite mine and coal fired power plant project planned by the Burmese military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation and Italian-Thai Power Company in Mong Kok, Mong Hsat township, will make the entire tract, with over 1,000 Shan, Lahu and Akha residents, uninhabitable. IDPs in Loi Kaw Wan camp who fled Burma Army persecution in Mong Kok, will be unable to return home if this project goes ahead. The project has been stalled for about six years as a result of protests from the Thai side of the border (due to potential pollution of the Kok River, one of northern Thailands main waterways.) However, since August 2017, the project has resumed, and villagers have been ordered out of the mining area. Adding to all these bleak situation and hopelessness to return home anytime soon, the condition for self-sustenance is not at all possible for the refugees due to lack of arable land near the camp sites. Besides, 70% of the camps population are children, old people and women. Perspective On top of all these negative aspects, the political and military atmosphere are also not at all favourable for the Shan refugees to return. The ongoing on and off armed confrontation between the Burma Army and the Northern Alliance Burma (NA-B), in which the Kokang or Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Arakan Army (AA) are involved is directly and indirectly influencing the political situation of achieving peace and reconciliation within Shan State and beyond. The members of NA-B are also part of the seven-party political alliance Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) led by the UWSA. But although it is said to be formed to conduct political negotiation with the government, it is not clear if this political alliance would become a military one also, if one of its member is militarily attacked by the Burma Army. Meanwhile, the AA ambushed the Burma Army in Arakan State on August 31 as the latter was said to intrude into its area of operation. In the incidence six of the Burma Armys soldiers were killed, with a sizeable loss of war weaponry. The following day Burma Army made an announcement vowing to crush the AA. Of course nobody knows if the FPNCC would come to AAs rescue if massively attacked by the Burma Army in Arakan State by opening new war fronts in Shan State as an alliance, to take away the heat. However, one thing that shouldnt be forgotten is that the Burma Army and the FPNCC are on war-footing which havent even started the peace negotiation process, despite Chinas pressure on both conflict parties. The clashes between the Burma Army and the two Shan armies, the RCSS signatory of the NCA and the SSPP member of the FPNCC, have been going on and off for the last couple of years without any sign that effective ceasefire could be achieved. Besides, on political front, the Burma Army has been blocking the Shan National Conference to take place, which according to the NCA is allowed and a necessary step to sound out the Shan populations political aspirations to be presented in the 21st Century Panglong Conference (21CPC). To sum up the whole situation with the given facts available, it is fair to say that forcing the Shan refugees indirectly to return by cutting the aid would be a disaster and also counter-productive. And the international community should continue to uphold and respect the rights of refugees, by continuing the support with adequate humanitarian aid and protection until they could return home safely once political settlement and genuine peace prevail in the Shan State. JERUSALEM (AP) - The office of Israel's president says it has received a plea for pardon from a soldier convicted of fatally shooting an already wounded Palestinian attacker last year. Elor Azaria began serving his 18-month sentence in August after he was convicted of manslaughter in a case that sharply divided the country. President Reuven Rivlin's office said on Thursday the plea would be considered by "relevant authorities," in consultation with the Defense Ministry and the military. Israel's military chief last month reduced Azaria's sentence by four months but rejected a pardon request. Azaria was caught on video shooting a Palestinian attacker as he lay wounded on the ground. Israel's military pushed for his prosecution, saying he violated its code of ethics. But many Israelis, particularly on the nationalist right, defended his actions. President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia remains open to cooperation with Washington even though President Donald Trump's political foes in the US have tried to prevent him from fulfilling his campaign promises. Asked at a forum of foreign policy experts if Russia is annoyed with Trump's unpredictability, Putin said that it's linked to a 'strong resistance inside the country.' Russia rejoiced at Trump's victory in the 2016 US election, but its hopes for repairing ties with his administration have been shattered by congressional and FBI investigations into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. Speaking at the Valdai forum in Sochi, Putin said Trump's political adversaries 'haven't allowed him to fulfill any of his election platforms and plans.' He emphasized that Trump won an honest victory thanks to his talents, adding that the lack of respect for Trump and his voters shown by his foes is a 'deplorable element of the US political system.' At the same time, he added that Russia will remain open to cooperate with the United States. President Vladimir Putin (seen above in Sochi on Saturday) said Thursday that Russia remains open to cooperation with Washington even though President Donald Trump's political foes in the US have tried to prevent him from fulfilling his campaign promises US intelligence agencies say that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. Russia denies the charge. 'An unprecedented anti-Russian campaign has been unleashed in the United States,' Putin said. 'After losing the election to Trump, they have put all the blame on Russia and engaged in a frenzied anti-Russian hysteria.' He warned that Russia will 'momentarily respond quid pro quo' if Washington imposes restrictions on the Russian state-funded RT television network and Sputnik news agency. RT has said it faces a US demand to register as a foreign agent and provide detailed personal data for its staff. It says the request amounts to an attempt to push it out of the US media market. Russia rejoiced at Trump's victory in the 2016 US election, but its hopes for repairing ties with his administration have been shattered by congressional and FBI investigations into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. Trump is seen above at the White House on Thursday Putin also criticized the US and its allies for missing a chance to build a safer and more stable world after the Cold War and engaging in what he described a 'policy based on arrogance, egoism and claims of exclusivity.' He pointed at Russia's 'unprecedented openness' in allowing the US to inspect and monitor its nuclear weapons facilities after the 1991 Soviet breakup, adding that Moscow has received little in return. 'We made a mistake in trusting you too much,' he said answering a question about what he thinks was Moscow's mistake in relations with the West after the end of Cold War. 'And you have mistaken that trust for weakness, and abused our trust.' The Russian leader noted that the US has been slow to dismantle its chemical weapons arsenals in line with an international treaty, while Russia last month wrapped up the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles. He said Russia will stick to its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty and will continue to do so. US officials have accused Russia of developing missiles in violation of the treaty, a charge Russia has denied. Putin said the 1987 accord was tilted in the US's favor, effectively amounting to 'unilateral disarmament,' as it failed to ban missiles carried by navy ships and aircraft that the US had and the Soviet Union didn't. He said Russia has since developed such cruise missiles for its navy and air force. Asked if he views a global ban on nuclear weapons as a realistic possibility, Putin answered affirmatively. He said Russia would 'want it and will be striving to achieve that.' Both Russia and the Trump campaign deny colluding in an effort to defeat Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential election The Russian president noted that new precision weapons now under development could be just as devastating as nuclear weapons. He said Russia is also working on such weapons. The comments contrast with earlier statements by Putin and other Russian leaders, who have said that a global ban on nuclear weapons is unrealistic. While condemning Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, Putin said the standoff should be settled through dialogue, without 'cornering North Korea, threatening to use force or going down to outright boorishness and swearing.' He added any US hopes to quickly knock down all of North Korea's nuclear weapons sites are unrealistic, saying the US 'will never find out all their caches.' LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' capital city pre-emptively broke up with Amazon Thursday rather than submit a long-shot bid for the e-commerce giant's second headquarters, telling the company in a full-page newspaper ad: "It's not you, it's us." The Seattle-based tech giant set off a nationwide race for its business last month with a call for bids, and Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola had said his city would pursue the project. But on Thursday, the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post - which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos - explaining why it wasn't pursuing the project after all. The ad said the city didn't meet Amazon's requirement for on-site mass transit, but said residents can easily get to work "on foot, on a bike or just by a quick drive." Little Rock also couldn't meet other requirements cited by the company, including that the location be within 45 minutes of an international airport. "Amazon, you've got so much going for you, and you'll find what you're looking for," the chamber said in its ad. "But it's just not us." Cities across the U.S. and Canada are clamoring at the prospect of landing Amazon's second headquarters - and with it, investments topping $5 billion. Amazon says the project could create as many as 50,000 new full-time jobs. Thursday was the deadline for proposals to be submitted. Aside from incentives, cities touted factors such as the number of sunny days they have, while trying other approaches such as Birmingham, Alabama's use of giant replicas of Amazon's Dash Buttons to send one of more than 600 pre-generated tweets to the company. "We saw cities hocking their arms and all their economic development money in this," Stodola told reporters. The Little Rock chamber did not say how much it paid for the ad or another gimmick - flying a banner over Amazon's Seattle headquarters. The city and the chamber launched a promotional campaign tied to the decision to not seek Amazon, dubbed "Love, Little Rock," that touts the city's amenities. Little Rock isn't the only city to openly forgo a chance at Amazon's headquarters. San Antonio, Texas, told Bezos in an open letter earlier this month that "blindly giving away the farm isn't our style." ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo The Latest on how most of the at least 42 people who died in Northern California wildfires were senior citizens, (all times local): 12:15 p.m. The vast majority of the 42 people confirmed dead in the Northern California wildfires were senior citizens, including 27 identified so far who were older than 70. This undated photo provided by their son, Tim Halbur, shows Leroy Halbur, 80, and his wife, Donna Halbur, 80. The couple were unable to leave their Santa Rosa, Calif., home when a wildfire destroyed it early Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Donna Halbur's body was found in a car in their garage, and Leyor Halbur was found in the driveway, their son said. (Courtesy Tim Halbur via AP) Among the victims were several elderly couples who died together. By Thursday, the identities of 38 of the 42 people had been released either by officials in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties or by their families. Many could not move fast enough to escape the speeding flames. Some likely never heard the frantic calls of friends or honking of neighbors' cars, possibly their only warnings of danger. _____ 1:15 a.m. The vast majority of those who died in the Northern California wildfires were in their 70s and 80s - including several couples who died together. Many could not move fast enough to escape the speeding flames. Some likely never heard the frantic calls of friends or honking of neighbors' cars, possibly their only warnings of danger. One couple died huddled together in the wine cellar of their home where they had lived for 45 years. An 80-year-old man never made it past his driveway after getting his 80-year-old wife into the car to escape. Others survived but had a spouse die. Caroline Cicero, a USC assistant professor who has worked as a geriatric social worker, says losing a spouse will be a painful road to recovery, especially for older people who may never heal. BOSTON (AP) - A national women's rights group and three Massachusetts women filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the U.S. Education Department's new guidance on investigating campus sexual assaults. The Los Angeles-based Equal Means Equal and the three women, who have separately accused their colleges of mishandling complaints of sexual assault, say the new guidance is discriminatory and violates state and federal civil rights laws. They're asking the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to suspend the rules and prevent schools across the country from adopting them. An Education Department spokeswoman did not immediately provide comment. On Sept. 22, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos scrapped federal rules that were created under President Barack Obama and replaced them with interim guidance while the Education Department crafts new ones. Among other changes, her guidance allows schools to use a higher standard of evidence for reviewing complaints than the previous rules allowed. The lawsuit says the change allows schools to apply a tougher standard of evidence for abuses based on sex than they can for other civil rights violations, such as those based on race or nationality. It alleges the disparity violates Title IX, a federal law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education. The suit adds that DeVos' rules violate federal law by telling schools to use narrower criminal definitions of sexual wrongdoing than those found in the Title IX law. It's among nine allegations of violations included in the complaint. "Ironically we have the secretary of education issuing discriminatory rules that apply only to violence against women and subject only victims of sex-based harm to second-class treatment on college campuses," Wendy Murphy, a Boston lawyer who filed the suit, told reporters outside the city's federal courthouse Thursday. "That is unconscionable, that is unacceptable, and it is unconstitutional." The three women, who aren't named in the lawsuit, say the new rules under President Donald Trump's administration jeopardize cases they filed against their colleges alleging Title IX violations. Two say they have ongoing cases being handled by the Education Department against Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois. The other woman is suing Boston University in civil court. Both women with federal cases say they were unable to find out from the department whether the new rules would apply to their cases. Their lawsuit seeks expedited processing, saying it's urgent because the rules could discourage other students from reporting sexual assaults on their campuses. Advocates for sexual assault victims say it's believed to be the nation's first lawsuit over the department's new sexual assault rules, but it follows a string of other suits against DeVos, a Republican, and the department in recent months. Democratic attorneys general from more than a dozen states have filed two lawsuits against DeVos since July over her decision to halt Obama-era rules meant to protect students from fraudulent for-profit colleges. The National Women's Law Center sued the department in June, saying it failed to provide records about sexual harassment. Kamala Lopez, executive director of Equal Means Equal, said her group is planning to file other lawsuits across the country similar to the Boston complaint. "We intend to pursue these types of cases in every jurisdiction in this country as part of our declared commitment to secure full equality for all American women and girls," she said. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A jury has been selected for the murder trial of a Mexican man whose case set off a national debate over U.S. sanctuary cities and immigration during last year's presidential campaign after he was accused of shooting and killing a woman on a popular San Francisco pier. Six women and six men were selected Wednesday for the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate after jury candidates answered a 14-page questionnaire that probed their views about Latinos, immigration and guns. Zarate, 54, is charged with murder in the shooting death of office worker Kate Steinle, 32, in July 2015. Opening arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday. FILE - This undated file booking photo provided by the San Francisco Police Department shows Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, which is what his attorney says is the birth name of the man who has been known by a number of aliases, including Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. A jury has been selected for the murder trial of Zarate, whose case set off a national debate over sanctuary cities and immigration during last year's presidential campaign after he was accused of shooting and killing a woman on a popular San Francisco pier. Opening arguments are set for Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. (San Francisco Police Department via AP, File) Steinle was on a summer evening's stroll with her father on the pier crowded with pedestrians when she was shot. She collapsed into her father's arm, whimpering "help me, Dad." The bullet struck her heart and she died in her father's arms. Zarate had been deported five times and was homeless in San Francisco when he said he found a gun wrapped in a t-shirt underneath the bench he was sitting on. He said the gun fired when he picked it up. A ballistic expert testified that the bullet ricocheted off the concrete pavement before fatally striking Steinle in the back. The shooting touched off a political furor during the presidential campaign, with President Donald Trump referring to Steinle's death in his campaign as a reason to toughen U.S. immigration policies. The judge has prohibited the politics of gun control and immigration from Zarate's trial. Zarate acknowledged shooting Steinle but said the gun he was playing with on the pier accidentally discharged. The gun had been stolen from the car of a Bureau of Land Management ranger several days before the July 1, 2015 shooting. Trump since being elected president has threatened to withhold federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities such as San Francisco, several of which have filed lawsuits to prevent the move. The jurors who were selected said they did not have negative experiences or views of Latinos or people who have entered the country illegally that would prevent them from keeping an open mind. "If you learned that a person had illegally entered the country, would you believe he was entitled to the same due process rights as a U.S. citizen?" asked one of the 62 questions posed to the jurors. Responses to the questionnaire were not made public. Five jury alternates were also seated after being asked their opinion of San Francisco's sanctuary city policy, which prohibits city officials from cooperating with federal immigration officials. The jurors were also quizzed about their gun ownership and political views of firearms. "We are very pleased with the jury," said Matt Gonzalez, Zarate's attorney. "We have such great diversity built in in San Francisco and I think we have a jury that understands a lot of the concerns about the defendant receiving a fair trial." San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Diana Garcia declined comment. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A New York graduate student interested in preserving the legacy of astronaut John Glenn and his wife, Annie, says he's working to raise enough private donations to purchase Annie Glenn's childhood home. Twenty-five-year-old Adam Sackowitz, of Long Island, envisions maintaining the New Concord, Ohio, home as a museum. Online property records show the 1,342-square-foot (125 square meter) structure went into foreclosure and was offered for sale by a bank for $60,000. Records say the house "has a lot of character" but needs "extensive repair." An offer approaching $99,000 is pending. Sackowitz says he's concerned the deal won't preserve the home to honor Annie Glenn, who was widowed last year. A message was left with the listing agent. An image of the house from the 1940s appears in Ohio State University's John Glenn Archives. Three people, including a Colorado State University student, were killed and one person was wounded Thursday in a pre-dawn shooting outside an apartment complex about a mile west of the campus, police said. The shooting suspect was among those killed. A motive for the 2am shooting in Fort Collins wasn't known. University police ordered students and faculty via text and email to stay inside after shots were heard. The Larimer County coroner's office says Savannah McNealy, 22, of Fort Collins, was among the three found dead. She had been shot multiple times, and her death has been ruled a homicide. Scroll down for video Savannah McNealy was one of three people who died in an early morning shooting near the Colorado State University campus on Thursday The other two victims have not been identified. The shooter is among the dead Pictures from the crime scene show a shotgun on the ground outside the apartment where the shooting happened Bullets holes were also noted on this car in the apartment complex parking lot McNealy was studying liberal arts, art and art history. She also was a designer for CSU Life, a monthly campus publication. The other three involved, whose names have not been released, were not affiliated with CSU, a public university with more than 33,000 students about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Denver. City police Sgt. Dean Cunningham said it appeared that the shooter was known by one of the victims. The two other victims will be identified on Friday, the coroner's office said. The injured victim was taken to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. A apartment resident who spoke to KOLO said that the injured victim was female. McNealy was an art student who planned to graduate in December. She was from Highlands Ranch, Colorado The cause of the shooting is still under investigation. Residents in the apartment complex say they were woken up by the sound of gunshots and then a woman screaming for help The names of the other two people who died in the shooting will be released on Friday Yellow police tape cordoned off a parking area outside a drab gray apartment building in the City Park neighborhood, a residential area that abuts the university's 590-acre (230-hectare) campus. Many students and faculty live in the neighborhood. Blood pools were seen on one sidewalk in the apartment complex. Investigators seemed to be focusing their efforts on the area of the blood pools and a vehicle in the parking lot. Darren Rutz, a former CSU student who lives near the scene, told The Rocky Mountain Collegian he was awakened by a woman's call for help, followed by gunfire. 'It seemed like quite a few gunshots to me,' Rutz said. After the gunshots were heard, CSU officials sent out a text message to students, warning them to stay inside Grief counselors tended to students and others at an on-campus student center on Thursday Another resident, Matthew Litton, told the Reporter-Herald that he was laying in bed when he heard multiple gunshots. 'I could tell from the consistency of the firing that it wasn't fireworks, it was gunshots. I heard a girl yelling, "Call 911!" After that, I heard one last bang, and then it was quiet,' he said. Litton said he also saw a photo taken by a friend, showing two bodies laying on the sidewalk with a pistol between them. Grief counselors tended to students and others at an on-campus student center. 'We are deeply saddened by this terrible loss to our campus community and will share more information as we have it,' the university said in an email to students and staff. A vigil is set for 4pm Friday to honor McNealy on campus, near Ram Walk, which she helped design. Anyone with information about the shooting is being asked to call Detective Tessa Jakobsson at 970-221-6575. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Latest on former President Barack Obama campaigning for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia (all times local): 9:10 p.m. Former President Barack Obama is bemoaning the rise of racial politics. Former President Barack Obama, left, laughs with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Speaking at political rallies in New Jersey and Virginia, Obama said past prejudices the country thought it had "put to bed" have reemerged. The first black president offered himself as proof that the country has moved forward, telling the crowd in Richmond, Virginia - the former Capitol of the Confederacy - that he is a distant relative to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on his mother's side. "Think about that," Obama said. "I'll bet he's spinning in his grave." Thursday was Obama's return to the political spotlight for the first time since leaving the White House in January. Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states electing new governors this year. ___ 8:10 p.m. Former President Barack Obama is rallying supporters of Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate and expressing frustration about the current state of political discourse. Obama told Virginia voters Thursday evening to back Democrat Ralph Northam in next month's election, saying Northam wants to take the state forward and not backward. He also decried the current state of politics and said "our democracy's at stake" in the Virginia election. It was Obama's return to the political spotlight for the first time since leaving the White House in January. He also spoke earlier Thursday in New Jersey. Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states electing new governors this year and those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of President Donald Trump's victory last year. ___ 7:15 p.m. Virginia's Democratic governor says the Republican candidate for the state's highest office is treating President Donald Trump like he has a "communicable disease." Gov. Terry McAuliffe's comments mocking Ed Gillespie's reluctance to campaign with Trump came as former President Barack Obama visited the state in support of Virginia Democrats ahead of next month's elections. It's Obama's return to the political spotlight for the first time since leaving the White House in January. He also spoke at a rally in New Jersey. New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states electing new governors this year and those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of Trump's victory. ___ 4:25 p.m. Former President Barack Obama is rallying supporters of New Jersey's Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany during Obama's presidency. Obama spoke to Phil Murphy's campaign volunteers on Thursday afternoon in Newark. He walked onto stage and hugged Murphy as the crowd chanted, "Four more years!" Obama says he would refer those people "to the Constitution, as well as to Michelle Obama." Murphy faces Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on Nov. 7 in the race to replace Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who prohibited by term limit laws from running again. On Thursday evening, Obama will head to Richmond, Virginia, to rally support for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam in his race against former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is also term-limited. ___ 2:30 p.m. People were waiting in line for hours as former President Barack Obama returns to the campaign trail to stump for New Jersey's Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Obama is dropping in Thursday afternoon on campaign workers in Newark, New Jersey, for a private "canvass kickoff" for Democrat Phil Murphy, who's running against Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Seventy-year-old Jersey City resident Diane Coleman was among the first wave of people let in the room where Obama will speak. The Democrat says she voted for Obama twice and would vote for him again if he could run. She emphasized that speaking negatively of Republican President Donald Trump could alienate some voters. Obama will head to Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday evening to rally support for Democrat Ralph Northam in his race against former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. ___ 1 a.m. Former President Barack Obama is returning to the campaign trail to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia as they gear up for next month's elections. Obama will first drop in on campaign workers in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday for a private "canvass kickoff" for Democratic candidate Phil Murphy. He will then head to Richmond, Virginia, to rally support for Democrat Ralph Northam. Murphy is leading in polls against New Jersey's Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in the race to replace Gov. Chris Christie. Northam is in a tight race with former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. An August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 51 percent of Americans said they have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 35 percent had a negative opinion. Former President Barack Obama, right, speaks as Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam listens during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama, right, greets Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama, right, speaks as Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam listens during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, left, waves to the crowd as Gov. Terry McAuliffe applauds during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam speaks during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama listens to the crowd during a rally with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama, right, gestures during a rally with Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama, right, greets Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam during a rally in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Former President Barack Obama, right, speaks during a canvassing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, left, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama, left, speaks during a canvassing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, right, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama speaks during a canvasing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama speaks during a canvasing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama, right, speaks during a canvasing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, left, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks during a canvasing event for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Democratic nominee for New Jersey lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver, an assemblywoman from East Orange, N.J., speaks during a canvasing event for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks during a canvasing event for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with supporters as he arrives to speak during a canvassing event for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Former President Barack Obama, left, and New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy stand on stage after Obama gave remarks during a canvassing event for Murphy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (AP) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told dozens of Oklahoma sheriffs on Tuesday that policymakers should exercise caution when considering easing tough sentencing laws, a hot political topic in a state with one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. "The truth is that the problem we face today is not a sentencing problem, it's a crime problem," Sessions said during a meeting of the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association in Midwest City. "If we want to bring down our prison population, we need to bring down crime." Sessions also defended his agency's civil asset forfeiture program and decried the rising number of homicides and opioid deaths nationwide. Sessions said Oklahoma's murder rate jumped 40 percent from 2014 to 2016, while the number of overdose deaths in Oklahoma spiked by nearly 70 percent over the last decade. With the nation's second highest overall incarceration, and the highest for women, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, overhauling Oklahoma's criminal sentencing guidelines has been a priority for many state legislators as they look to ease the state's overcrowded prisons. But Ray McNair, the head of the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association, and some Republican lawmakers who spoke at Thursday's event vowed to oppose many of those efforts next year. State Reps. Scott Biggs and Tim Downing, both former prosecutors, also criticized initiatives approved by voters in November to reduce criminal penalties for drug possession and certain property crimes. Biggs, a Chickasha Republican and chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee, fought efforts earlier this year to reduce the number of violent crimes in state statute and other attempts to impose criminal justice reforms. Ryan Kiesel, the executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports efforts to reduce Oklahoma's incarceration rate, criticized Sessions and some members of law enforcement for opposing such efforts. "As reformers from diverse political backgrounds and interests continue to push for desperately needed reform, it's alarming to see law enforcement embrace polices that run contrary to the will, the well-being, the dignity, and the lives of the people they are duty bound to serve," Kiesel said in a statement. ___ Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy News / National by Staff reporter Three Zimbabweans have been dragged before the Broadhurst Magistrate Court in Botswana for allegedly masquerading as traditional healers.They are alleged to have planted a dead baboon in a woman's yard and then charged her P1 000, claiming their powers had "discovered" and removed it.The trio is facing two counts of attempting to obtain by false pretences as well as entering Botswana through an ungazetted point.Prosecutors say Gift Chihwayi (27), Phillip Rusari (39) and Emmanuel Chihwayi (42) all residing at Rasoko ward, Gabane village, acted in consent on October 13, 2017 at Phiring location in Gaborone to try and obtain the sum of P1 000 from Linet Mmali David by falsely pretending that they were traditional doctors.The three told David that they had removed a goblin from her house, which prosecutors say they knew was false as they had planted the dead baboon.After the three were arrested on Friday, police confiscated the baboon which had been hidden in the victim's yard in Phiring.Detective senior superintendent Sergeant Marapo told the court that the baboon had been taken to the Department of Wildlife to ascertain that it was indeed the ape.He opposed the trio's application for bail, saying the matter was still fresh as "investigations had only just begun," and that the three were highly likely to abscond. "Investigations into the matter are still at initial stage and all of the accused persons are illegal immigrants and if granted bail, we suspect they might flee the country through un-gazetted entry points, like they used coming in," Marapo said.The three chose to represent themselves, although the court gave them the right to have their own attorneys. Asked if they understood the charges, Chihwayi and Rusari said they did, but had nothing further to say. Emmanuel, however, told court that he did not understand the charge laid against him because he had not committed any offence."I was not even at the crime scene," he said.However, magistrate Tonoki interrupted, advising him that court proceedings were only at the stage of asking the accused whether they understood the charges, and not asking them to plead.It was then that all the accused agreed to have understood the charge. All three were denied bail after the magistrate pointed out that they do not have passports and are thus illegal immigrants.The trio will appear again on October 30. Islamic State militants are capable of orchestrating and carrying out an attack against the United States, possibly downing an airplane, even after being evicted from their self-declared Syrian capital of Raqqa, the CIA director said Thursday. Mike Pompeo said the U.S. is threatened by other militant groups as well. 'IS' capability to conduct an external operation remains. But I wouldn't put them in a singular bucket,' Pompeo said. 'Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has for a long time had this mission statement, which includes the taking down of a commercial airliner bound for a western country. Certainly, among those would be the United States.' Speaking a day after President Donald Trump's acting homeland security chief invoked the possibility of another 9/11-style attack, Pompeo said America's enemies around the world 'are intent upon using commercial aviation as their vector to present a threat to the West.' Scroll down for video CIA Director Mike Pompeo speaks during the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) National Security Summit in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 Pompeo said during the meeting the U.S. is going to do everything it can to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan Pompeo suggested Islamic State militants are capable of orchestrating and carrying out an attack against the United States, despite the group's eviction from Raqqa However, he also worried about a terrorist capability 'we just don't see.' The typically blunt threat assessment came during a wide-ranging discussion at a Washington think tank, in which Pompeo also underscored President Donald Trump's intent to counteract North Korea. He said Pyongyang is only months away from perfecting its nuclear weapons capabilities. 'They are closer now than they were five years ago, and I expect they will be closer in five months than they are today, absent a global effort to push back against them,' Pompeo said. 'From a U.S. policy perspective, we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving that objective.' 'IS' capability to conduct an external operation remains. But I wouldn't put them in a singular bucket,' Pompeo said Pompeo spoke just a day after President Donald Trump's acting homeland security chief, Elaine Duke, invoked the possibility of another 9/11-style attack Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti, left, shakes hands with Duke at the G7 Interior Ministers' Meeting in the Ischia island, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 On another nuclear concern, Iran, Pompeo stressed that Trump wants to ensure the U.S. foe has no pathway to developing the bomb. To that effect, he said, the Iran nuclear deal President Barack Obama and America's allies negotiated with Iran was insufficient. The notion that the agreement would 'curtail Iranian adventurism or their terror threat or their malignant behavior has now ... two years on, proven to be fundamentally false,' said Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas who keenly opposed to the seven-nation accord when it was reached. He said the Iran deal put the United States in a better place with respect to inspections of Iranian facilities. But from an intelligence perspective, he said, even more 'intrusive inspection' is needed. 'The Iranians have on multiple occasions been capable of presenting a continued threat, through covert efforts to develop their nuclear program along multiple dimensions ... the missile dimension, the weaponization effort, the nuclear component itself,' he said. Trump has provided the CIA with the authority it needs to track Iran's compliance with the deal, he said. 'The Iranians have on multiple occasions been capable of presenting a continued threat, through covert efforts to develop their nuclear program along multiple dimensions,' said Pompeo Pompeo also worried about a terrorist capability on the United States 'we just don't see' Pompeo also said it's an 'open secret' that Iran has links to al-Qaida. 'There have been relationships, there are connections. There have been times the Iranians have worked alongside al-Qaida,' Pompeo said. 'There have been connections where, at the very least, they have cuts deals so as not to come after each other.' Pompeo and Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, who also spoke at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies event, both said the U.S. must counter Iran's aggression in the region. They noted Iran's support for the Lebanon's Hezbollah militants, who threaten Israel; backing of Shia militias in Iraq and Syria; cyber activities; ballistic missile efforts; and a long history of proliferation ties with North Korea. Pompeo said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps controls as much as 20 percent of the Iranian economy. McMaster said the United States needs to raise the cloak on the IRGC's financial network and urge companies worldwide not to do business with it. 'Don't enrich the IRGC,' McMaster said. 'Don't enable their murderous campaign. Don't enable their threat to our friends in the region, especially Israel, but also Saudi Arabia and others.' Pompeo also discussed Pakistan's help in getting an American woman, her Canadian husband and three children released last week from the Haqqani militant network. The couple had been held for five years inside Pakistan, he said. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump has called three GOP incumbent senators to offer his support after they've come in the crosshairs of former White House adviser Steve Bannon's anti-establishment campaign. Trump made the calls on Wednesday to Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, all of whom are running for re-election. The calls were confirmed by a Republican Senate aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the private conversations. The three lawmakers are among Bannon's targets as he searches for primary opponents against incumbent Republican senators he views as overly establishment. Bannon has vowed to try to primary every Senate Republican up for re-election, with the exception of Ted Cruz of Texas. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Governor Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) In a recent interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity Bannon said, "Even safe incumbents like Barrasso and Deb Fischer, they have to understand something - just voting is not good enough, you have to have a sense of urgency." Bannon was forced out as Trump's top White House strategist in August and returned to running conservative Breitbart News, using the post to wage a war against the establishment and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Bannon claims his campaign is aimed at helping Trump by electing senators who will strongly support his agenda, which Bannon contends McConnell does not. McConnell's allies note the majority leader has devoted himself to trying to pass Trump-backed health legislation, albeit unsuccessfully, and is now at work on a tax package supported by Trump. Trump and McConnell met Monday and put on a show of unity despite past frictions including Trump's attacks on McConnell over the health care failure. During their joint press conference, Trump was asked about Bannon's campaign and said he would try to intervene with his former strategist on behalf of some incumbents. "Some of the people that he may be looking at, I'm going to see if we talk him out of that, because frankly, they're great people," Trump said at the time. During the calls on Wednesday, Trump said he would be trying to talk Bannon down, according to the GOP aide. The calls were first reported by Politico. The U.S. government is urging the world airline community to ban laptops from checked luggage because of the potential for a catastrophic fire. Tests show when a laptop's rechargeable lithium-ion battery overheats in close proximity to an aerosol spray can, it can cause an explosion capable of disabling an airliner's fire suppression system. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a paper filed recently with a U.N. agency said the fire could then rage unchecked, leading to 'the loss of the aircraft.' Scroll down for video The U.S. government is urging the world airline community to ban laptops from checked luggage because of the potential for a catastrophic fire. The ban is to be discussed in Montreal this week (picture from a test at the FAAs technical center in Atlantic City, N.J.) The FAA has conducted 10 tests involving a fully-charged laptop packed in a suitcase. A heater was placed against the laptop's battery to force it into 'thermal runaway,' a condition in which the battery's temperature continually rises. In one test, an 8-ounce aerosol can of dry shampoo - which is permitted in checked baggage - was strapped to the laptop. There was a fire almost immediately and it grew rapidly. The aerosol can exploded within 40 seconds. The test showed that because of the rapid progression of the fire, Halon gas fire suppressant systems used in airline cargo compartments would be unable to put out the fire before there was an explosion, the FAA said. The explosion might not be strong enough to structurally damage the plane, but it could damage the cargo compartment and allow the Halon to escape, the agency said. Then there would be nothing to prevent the fire from spreading. Tests show when a laptop's rechargeable lithium-ion battery overheats in close proximity to an aerosol spray can, it can cause an explosion capable of disabling an airliner's fire suppression system (stock) Other tests of laptop batteries packed with potentially dangerous consumer goods that are permitted in checked baggage like nail polish remover, hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol also resulted in large fires, although no explosions. As a result, the paper recommends that passengers shouldn't be allowed to pack large electronic devices in baggage unless they have specific approval from the airline. The U.N. agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, sets global aviation safety standards, although member countries must still ratify them. The proposed ban is on the agenda of a meeting of ICAO's panel on dangerous goods being held this week and next week in Montreal. The U.N. agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, recommends that passengers shouldn't be allowed to pack large electronic devices in baggage unless they have specific approval from the airline (stock) The paper says the European Safety Agency, the FAA's counterpart in Europe; Airbus, one of the world's largest makers of passenger airliners; the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Association, and the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Association, which represents aircraft makers, concurred in the recommendation. The paper doesn't address whether the ban should extend to domestic flights, but points out the risk that baggage containing a large electronic device could be transferred from one flight to another without the knowledge of the airline. The FAA said it believes most devices larger than a smartphone are already being carried by passengers into the cabin, rather than put in checked bags. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Manufacturers like them because they pack more energy into smaller packages, but the batteries can self-ignite if they have a manufacturing flaw, are damaged, exposed to excessive heat, overcharged or packed too closely together. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Batteries can self-ignite if they have a manufacturing flaw or are damaged. The fires can burn up to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (stock) The fires can burn up to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, close to the melting point of the aluminum used in aircraft construction. A video of a test in 2014, replicating an luggage hold with 5,000 lithium batteries on fire shows the swift devastation they can cause. Since 2006, three cargo jets have been destroyed and four pilots killed by in-flight fires that investigators say were either started by batteries or made more severe by their proximity. Earlier this year, the U.S. imposed a ban on laptops in the cabins of planes coming into the country from 10 Middle Eastern airports for security reasons. The ban was fully lifted in July after U.S. officials said airports in the region had taken other steps to increase security. SAN DIEGO (AP) - The last two of eight prototypes for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall took shape Thursday at a construction site in San Diego. The prototypes form a tightly packed row of imposing concrete and metal panels, including one with sharp metal edges on top. Another has a surface resembling an expensive brick driveway. Companies have until Oct. 26 to finish the models but Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco said the last two came into profile, with crews installing a corrugated metal surface on the eighth model on a dirt lot just a few steps from homes in Tijuana, Mexico. Crews work on a border wall prototype near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) As the crews worked, three men and two women from Nepal, ages 19 to 30, jumped a short rusted fence from Tijuana into the construction site and were immediately stopped by agents on horseback. Francisco said there have been four or five other illegal crossing attempts at the site since work began Sept. 26. The models, which cost the government up to $500,000 each, were spaced 30 feet (9.1 meters) apart. Slopes, thickness and curves vary. One has two shades of blue with white trim. The others are gray, tan or brown - in sync with the desert. Bidding guidelines call for the prototypes to stand between 18 and 30 feet (5.5 and 9.1 meters) high and be able to withstand at least an hour of punishment from a sledgehammer, pickaxe, torch, chisel or battery-operated tools. Features also should prevent the use of climbing aids such as grappling hooks, and the segments must be "aesthetically pleasing" when viewed from the U.S. side. The administration hasn't said how many winners it will pick or whether Trump will weigh in himself. There is currently 654 miles (1,052 kilometers) of single-layer fence on the 1,954-mile (3,143-kilometer) border, plus 51 miles (82 kilometers) of double- and triple-layer fence. "I'm sure they will engage in a lot of tests against these structures to see how they function with different challenges," U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday after touring the construction site. Trump has asked Congress for $1.6 billion to replace 14 miles of wall (22.4 kilometers) in San Diego and build 60 miles (96 kilometers) in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Here's a rundown of companies building prototypes, their headquarters and value of their contract. Two are making one concrete prototype and another using other materials. CADELL CONSTRUCTION CO., Montgomery, Alabama. ($344,000 for concrete wall, $320,000 for other wall) Its tan concrete wall is thick at the bottom and narrows considerably toward the pointed top. The other, also tan, has metal poles on the bottom, a metal plate in the middle, and concrete block on top. The general construction company founded in 1983 says its projects include U.S. embassies in Beijing and Kabul, Afghanistan, terminals at Houston's George Bush International Airport and renovations to the Denver Mint. W.G. YATES & SONS CONSTRUCTION CO., Philadelphia, Mississippi. ($453,548 for concrete wall, $458,103 for other wall) Its models are a darker brown than other prototypes and topped by round beams. Its concrete panel has a plain face; its metal one has a corrugated surface. The 53-year-old company has worked in a wide range of projects, including a Toyota plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, a county jail in Olmito, Texas, a marine terminal in Jacksonville, Florida, and a power plant near Panama City, Florida. ___ Two companies are building concrete walls. FISHER SAND & GRAVEL CO., Tempe, Arizona. ($365,000 contract) It's the only prototype to be built entirely on site - as opposed to being hauled in. Its tan surface gradually narrows toward the top, like a long triangle. Part of conglomerate Fisher Industries, the company produces sand, gravel and other products for roads, dams and large public works projects. The company is active is 12 western states. TEXAS STERLING CONSTRUCTION CO., Houston. ($470,000 contract) The gray surface of the U.S. side is stamped with patterns of different-sized bricks, like a driveway or sidewalk at an upscale home. There is a steel plate on top with prongs that feature at three metal spikes, resembling an agave plant. Parent company Sterling Construction Co., founded in 1991, specializes in water and transportation projects, including highways, bridges, ports, light rail, wastewater and storm drainage systems. It is active in Utah, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, California and Hawaii. ___ Two companies were selected to build walls made of materials other than concrete. KWR CONSTRUCTION INC., Sierra Vista, Arizona. ($486,411 contract) Its gray metal columns are topped with a large metal plate. The small, Hispanic-owned company counts the Homeland Security, Defense and Interior departments among its largest customers. ELTA NORTH AMERICA INC., Annapolis Junction, Maryland. ($406,319 contract) Its solid metal wall features six light blue squares with white trim on the bottom third, topped by dark blue beams and metal plates. ELTA is a large Israeli defense contractor owned by state-run Israel Aerospace Industries. The company, which makes radar and other gear, opened its new U.S. headquarters in Maryland in May. Crews look through a border wall prototype near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) People pass border wall prototypes as they stand near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A border wall prototype stands near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in San Diego. Companies are nearing an Oct. 26 deadline to finish building eight prototypes of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Twitter is to introduce new restrictions on hateful and pornographic imagery as part of new plans to tackle abuse on the social media site. A leaked email to the sites Trust and Safety Council published by Wired which Twitter has confirmed is accurate said the company would immediately and permanently suspend accounts identified as the source of nude imagery taken without consent. Hate symbols and other hateful imagery will also now be treated as sensitive media, with the content then hidden behind warning alerts. Twitter announces new restrictions on hateful or pornographic images Tired of getting harassed on Twitter? Twitter is too. Here's their plan: https://t.co/6NxZODNBDh WIRED (@WIRED) October 18, 2017 Although we planned on sharing these updates later this week, we hope our approach and upcoming changes, as well as our collaboration with the Trust and Safety Council, show how seriously we are rethinking our rules and how quickly were moving to update our policies and how we enforce them, a Twitter spokesman told the Press Association. The Council is made up of 50 independent organisations and charities Twitter consults with on matters of user safety. The new rules also include an expanded definition of non-consensual nudity, which now constitutes hidden camera content, creep shots and upskirt photos captured without consent. Twitter said it would take enforcement action against any account found to be the source of such material. Heres a description of our Council: https://t.co/aDbWkPtgsp jack (@jack) October 18, 2017 Action may also be taken against unwanted sexual advances, with reports now possible by those who observe it as well as receive it. Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said last week that the firm was planning to announce a more aggressive stance on tackling online abuse after the site was criticised for temporarily suspending the account of actress Rose McGowan, who had made accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Twitter also said it would take steps to do a better job of explaining our policies and setting expectations for acceptable behaviour on our service. The email revealed plans to introduce a new standalone Help Centre web page to explain the sites enforcement decisions and to describe policies in more detail. The social media giant, along with other tech giants such as Facebook and Google, has previously been urged by the Government to do more to tackle abusive, hateful and extremist content that appears on their platforms. A 24-year-old believed to be one of Britains shortest servicewomen is training for one of the Royal Navys most dangerous jobs. Laura Shann stands at just under 5ft (152.4cm) with her 151.5cm frame meaning she is just over a centimetre above the height restriction. She traded in a job as a receptionist in a car garage to join the Navy and was told, at 4ft 11.8in, she may struggle owing to her size as she trained to become a Naval Airman Aircraft Handler. Laura Shann But Chief Petty Officer John Etherington said: She has faced every challenge with steely grit and a desire to succeed. Aircraft Handlers have to move helicopters and jets on flight decks and be ready to rescue aircrew if needed. Speaking about her training, she said: If you fail, youve just got to come back and do it again. Sometimes due to my size I have had to find different techniques. Laura Shann with her colleagues I struggled with ladder drills at first, and because it is such a great team environment, all the lads chipped in to help me. But then I figured out a work around. Weight was a bit of an issue too at first at 25kgs, the hose was half my weight and the dummy casualties we carry are 80kgs whilst we are wearing a 10kg canister. I quickly found different ways of carrying, so my size was not an issue. Spains government has rejected a threat by Catalonias leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the regions semi-autonomous powers. Catalan president Carles Puigdemonts warning came in a letter to Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy with minutes to spare before the expiry of a deadline set by the Madrid government for him to backtrack on his calls for secession. If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonias parliament may proceed with a vote to formally declare independence, Mr Puigdemonts letter said. Madrid quickly responded with a statement saying it was calling a special cabinet session for Saturday in which it would trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spains 1978 Constitution. Carles Puigdemont (Manu Fernandez/AP) It allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the countrys 17 regions, including Catalonia. The cabinet meeting will approve the measures that will be sent to the senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards, the statement said. The constitutional law has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francisco Francos dictatorship. Spains government needs to outline the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spains senate. The ruling Popular Partys majority in the top chamber would be enough to approve the measure, but Mr Rajoy has held discussions with opposition leaders to rally further support. The government is meeting members of the leading opposition Socialist party to decide what measures to take under Article 155. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (Francisco Seco/AP) Mr Puigdemont addressed the regional parliament on October 10, saying he had the mandate under a banned October 1 referendum to declare independence from Spain, but he immediately suspended the implementation of the secession proclamation and called for talks with Madrid and international mediators. But the national government responded by setting two deadlines for Mr Puigdemont - a Monday one for him to say a simple yes or no to whether he had declared independence, and a second one for Thursday morning for him to fall in line with Spains laws. Madrid says Mr Puigdemont has not offered any clarity in his replies. Catalans would consider the application of Article 155 an invasion of the regions self-government, while Spains central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, but a necessary one, to restore legality after Mr Puigdemonts government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the countrys constitution. More than 40% of Catalonias 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal October 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Opponents boycotted the vote. Catalan officials say hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The chief executive of Goldman Sachs has cast further doubt over the banking giants future in London after Brexit in a provocative tweet that is likely to pile further pressure on the Government. Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter on Thursday to detail a recent trip to Frankfurt, where the US bank is planning to shift a portion of its UK operations after Brexit. Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) October 19, 2017 He said: Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because Ill be spending a lot more time there. Goldman Sachs employs around 6,500 people in the UK (PA) Goldman Sachs, which employs around 6,500 people in the UK, has previously confirmed that it is looking to at least double its 200-strong employee base in Frankfurt as part of its Brexit contingency plans. Earlier this month it was reported that the group has signed a contract to lease eight floors of a skyscraper in the city, capable of holding 800 staff. The bank has said it is also looking at bolstering its footprint in other financial hubs across the EU. A raft of international banks, insurers and asset managers are preparing to shift portions of their UK operations to the continent in preparation for Britains divorce from the EU in hopes of safeguarding against the loss of passporting rights which currently give UK-based financial services cross-border access to the bloc. Frankfurt has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Brexit so far as London-based financial firms increasingly opt to relocate staff to Germanys financial centre. Standard Chartered has committed to expanding or establishing offices in Germany, Citigroup has notified its bankers of plans to bolster its Frankfurt office, creating 150 jobs, and Morgan Stanley is on track to move as many as 200 staff. Mizuho will join a raft of Japanese banks which have chosen the city as an EU hub, including Daiwa, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nomura. JP Morgan is taking a similar approach to Goldman Sachs by planning to spread staff across a number of European cities, including Frankfurt. Responding to the comments, a Downing Street spokesman told reporters: Were not going to comment on an individual statement. But lets be clear, London is and will remain the worlds leading financial centre. We have The breadth of talent, legal system, regulation and deep pools of capital that are simply unrivalled by centres anywhere else in Europe and we are confident of securing an ambitious economic partnership with the EU that will include financial services. Southern Rail drivers are to be balloted on a proposed deal to end their long-running dispute about driver-only trains, and a five-year pay deal worth 28.5%. Leaders of the Aslef union are recommending that their members accept the deal, saying it guarantees a second, safety-trained, person on every train, except in very exceptional circumstances. Two previous attempts by Aslef leaders to reach an agreement were rejected in ballots, but general secretary Mick Whelan said the new proposal offered a complete resolution to the 18-month-long dispute. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has not been involved in the latest talks between Aslef and Southerns owners, Govia Thameslink Railway, and remains in dispute over the role of guards. Mick Whelan said the proposed agreement would resolve their issues with Southern. Mr Whelan said: Aslef members now have the opportunity to decide on the new proposed resolution we have negotiated with the company on the three outstanding issues we have with GTR Southern. In separate, but parallel, talks our negotiating team discussed three distinct issues, driver-only operation (DOO), terms and conditions, and pay. The proposed agreement on DOO means we will have a second safety-trained person on every train covered by this agreement except in exceptional circumstances. That person will have all the relevant safety competence including the skills to evacuate passengers in an emergency. The proposed agreement confirms and underpins the terms and conditions under which our members at Southern are employed. An Aslef picket line at London Bridge station during the 18-month dispute. The proposed deal includes a 28.5% pay increase over the next five years, from last October, to the end of Southerns franchise, said Aslef. Mr Whelan said the proposed agreement has the full support of the unions negotiating team, and Aslefs executive committee. This is, we think, a complete resolution of our long-standing issues with Southern but it is, I must stress, company-specific and does not have implications for any other company on the railway network. Southern drivers to be balloted on a proposed deal to end their long-running dispute about driver-only trains - @ASLEFunion Alan Jones (@AlanJonesPA) October 19, 2017 Ballot papers will be sent to members on October 24 and the result will be announced on November 8. Nick Brown, chief operating officer of Govia Thameslink Railway, said: We welcome the Aslef executives endorsement of the proposals we have negotiated to resolve the dispute. We have concluded negotiations on pay, productivity and driver only operation in a package that will now be put to a referendum of Aslef members. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: Once again, RMT has been excluded from these negotiations and from what we have seen so far this is exactly the sort of deal that Southern and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling have been hoping for and which drivers and guards have been fighting against. This is just a rehash of earlier company and government proposals that have been roundly rejected as unsafe. That trains can run without a second safety critical member of staff on board in any circumstances is DOO, pure and simple. It is shocking that Southern and the Government believe that drivers can be bought off in this fashion. You cannot put a price on the safety and welfare of passengers and drivers. Aslef's proposed deal with Southern just a rehash of earlier company and government proposals that have been rejected as unsafe - @RMTunion Alan Jones (@AlanJonesPA) October 19, 2017 The proposals also fly in the face of agreements reached in Wales and Scotland that give the guarantee of a guard on our trains. RMT will continue to fight for a safe, secure and accessible railway for all and our dispute remains on. By Michael Kahn PRAGUE, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Czech consumer finance company Home Credit has achieved this year what many Western banks have struggled to do for decades: lend billions of dollars to Chinese consumers. The privately-held firm has quietly become one of the biggest non-bank consumer lending companies in China. It lent 6.4 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in the six months to June - more than double the level in the same period a year earlier. A large part of its business focuses on offering financing to smartphone buyers. It finances more than tenth of all iPhone sales in China, the U.S. tech giant's second-biggest market. The Czech company has 225,000 sales points in retailers across China, and said the number could rise to up to 500,000 in the coming years. Home Credit's strategy in China - which accounts for the bulk of its profits - and emerging markets could offer some guide for other companies and investors. While many Western firms have pulled back from consumer lending in emerging markets since the financial crisis, Home Credit has taken a counter tack. It has also launched operations in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, which it believes may rival the Chinese market in years to come. The company said it had sought to identify markets with a growing middle class eager to buy consumer goods where many might not be eligible for bank loans. It can then offer good customers additional products such as cash loans, often bigger and more profitable. "Our strategy has been to target unpenetrated markets that had potential for us as new entrants," said Jiri Smejc, a minority shareholder who controls Home Credit along with majority owner Petr Kellner, the Czech Republic's richest man. There are, however, inherent risks in a strategy focused on emerging markets. Economic cycles can shift abruptly, while government and regulatory polices can change just as suddenly. Home Credit's net loan portfolio stood at around 12.5 billion euros at the end of June, up from around 9.9 billion at the end of 2016. "The Czech Republic is a small market - we needed to go abroad in order to grow," Smejc said in an interview. "Our home market because of its size, however, serves well for testing and piloting various innovations without the risk of a big loss if things are not accepted well." DIPLOMATIC DRIVE Home Credit, which was founded in 1997, entered China a decade ago, three years after Kellner's investment firm PPF had arrived. It won one of four national licences in 2014 to provide loans to a portion of China's $4 trillion consumer finance market. It is the only fully foreign-owned consumer finance firm licensed by the central bank in a country where authorities usually require overseas companies to team up with a local partner to operate. "We were in the first batch awarded a consumer finance licence because we had been in China since 2007. We practiced inclusive finance understanding and adapted to the local culture, things that are of critical importance," Smejc said. "Over our 20 years of operation in countries, including some where state policies have changed regularly, we've gained plenty of experience that helps us adapt." About half of Home Credit's business in China comes from finance loans for consumer goods - mainly smartphones, with the rest being cash loans to existing customers. The drive has been accompanied by a lobbying effort back home by Home Credit and PPF to push for closer ties between Prague and Beijing - something which analysts say has benefited Home Credit in China. Speaking to a business forum in Prague in 2016 with the Czech and Chinese presidents in attendance, Smejc suggested Home Credit and PPF had helped foster better relations. "PPF and Home Credit, and we are proud of this, have been at the foundation of an initiative that, I think, has led to the revival of Czech-Chinese relations," Smejc told the conference. In 2014, Czech President Milos Zeman - along with business leaders including Kellner and Smejc - travelled to China to sign a joint declaration of friendship. Zeman was also the only western leader to attend a military parade in Beijing in 2015 to mark the end of World War Two. "Much of the lobbying was done by PPF and Home Credit," said Martin Hala, an expert on China-Czech relations at Prague-based think-tank Sinopsis. "They are the big victors in this change." TRILLIONS OF YUAN The prize is a potentially rich one. Total outstanding consumer lending in China reached 26.76 trillion yuan ($4 trillion) in 2016, up 282.5 percent on 2011, according to Euromonitor International, which forecasts it could hit 35 trillion yuan by 2021. Consumer finance firms make up a fraction of the sector, which also includes auto loans and home mortgages. Most consumer credit is now issued by China's commercial banks and online consumer finance platforms, led by Ant Financial, the online payment arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, and JD Finance, which target existing customers with a proven credit history. But many of the hundreds of millions of residents without a proven borrowing history are turning to consumer finance companies like Home Credit. As a privately-held company, Home Credit had the freedom to build its business in China and other places despite early losses. That has paid off. For the first six months of 2017 Home Credit more than doubled its net profit to 133 million euros. ($1 = 6.5759 yuan renminbi; $1 = 0.8427 euros) (Additional reporting by Robert Muller in Prague and Matt Miller in Beijing; Editing by Pravin Char) News / National by Staff reporter NATIONAL People's Party (NPP) leader Joice Mujuru has been accused of defrauding her former party, Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF), of $4,5 million which had been raised by her British-based supporters for the Bikita West parliamentary by-election.The allegations were made by NPP Harare provincial deputy secretary for lands Trymore Bisenti, who has since tendered his resignation accusing top party officials of looting from party coffers.In his resignation letter addressed to Mujuru, Bisenti claimed that the $4,5 million saga triggered ZimPF's split after some founding party members were angered by her decision to pamper her deputy president John Mvundura with a Ford Ranger truck, among other luxuries."What I know is that the party received more than $4,5 million for the Bikita by-election, but the leadership shared it among themselves and bought a car for John Mvundura," Bisenti wrote.ZimPF secretary-general Kudakwashe Bhasikiti confirmed yesterday that greed was at the centre of the split of the party after Mujuru kept sources of party finance close to her chest."We knew there was money for elections, but she refused to release anything for the by-election. We had to run it from our own resources while she held back the purse. I am not sure how much she and her cabal got, but now that it is coming out we want to hear more," he said.The claims were corroborated by former NPP local government secretary Mlilo Joyinani, who also accused Mujuru of failing to clear the air on the missing party funds."I personally wrote to you about the embezzlement of funds by your confused MDC-T reject Friday Muleya, who has destroyed Harare province the same way Zanu-PF has done to Zimbabwe, but you acted as if you are (President Robert Mugabe) Baba Chatunga and converged a meeting to discuss me saying "munhu makamuwanepi uyu?" (where did you get this person?)," Joyinani said in his resignation letter last week.This followed allegations that nearly $9 000 from donors was stolen at the party convention.But NPP spokesperson Jeffreyson Chitando yesterday dismissed all the fraud allegations raised against Mujuru, describing Bisenti as a "mere vendor"."That is a mere vendor who is just throwing allegations and we will not be worried over pieces of paper written by vendors. I can tell you the party is surviving on the good will of the people, our convention was funded by our members, the T-shirts at the convention were bought by our members."Our vice-president (Mvundura) was an ambassador for a long time and surely he has money to buy his own car, he has children who are working and we can't say the party bought him a car," Chitando said. By Madeline Chambers and Joseph Nasr BERLIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - German politicians seeking to form a first of a kind coalition of conservatives, liberals and leftist environmentalists agreed on one thing after their first talks on Wednesday: it's going to take a while. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) partners held separate talks first with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and later with the Greens. Their party colours - black, yellow and green - match those of the Jamaican flag and have given name to the proposed coalition. "If you look in the atlas, the road to Jamaica is long," said CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer after his party and the CDU met with the Greens. Setting the stage for tough talks that could take several months, politicians from all parties have set out their stall, narrowing room for compromise in areas from immigration to the European Union and environmental policy. After the first two-hour meeting, general secretaries from the two conservative parties and the FDP emerged, smiling, to tell reporters the talks had been positive. "It was a good exchange, at times nice and above all mutually respectful and joyful," Scheuer said. Separate talks between the conservatives and the Greens appeared to have been less joyful. Straight-faced representatives of the CDU, CSU and Greens told reporters the meeting had been positive but made clear that it would take a long time to nail down an agreement. CDU General-Secretary Peter Tauber said both meetings, with the FDP and Greens, were "good." Merkel, whose conservatives bled support to the far right in the Sept. 24 election, warned her parliamentary party on Tuesday they would have to compromise. Chancellor for 12 years and known as a skilled negotiator, she angered many voters over her open-door migrant policy and her conservatives saw their worst election result since 1949. She has said she expects a government to be in place by Christmas, but others say January is more likely, pointing to a months-long policy standstill in Europe's biggest economy. GREENS TOUGHER The prospect of a minority government or new election hangs over the talks, a scenario Merkel wants to avoid due to fears the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could make bigger gains. "It is totally conceivable that before Christmas or in January we say that the whole thing is pointless and we'll talk to the Social Democrats (SPD)," Peter Ramsauer, a senior CSU member not on the negotiating team, told Deutschlandfunk radio. The SPD, which suffered its worst result since 1933, has said it will go into opposition. The parties recognise it will not be easy. "The first steps on this path went well, in an objective, solution-oriented atmosphere," said FDP General Secretary Nicola Beer. "We agreed that some of us might need to be creative to continue on this path in this way." The talks -- which will continue on Thursday and Friday -- focused on building trust and agreeing a format for future talks rather than tackling hard policies. One of which will be immigration. Merkel, further weakened on Sunday by losses in a state election, has already had to give way to the CSU on immigration, effectively bowing to a demand to limit the number of people allowed into Germany. That may be unacceptable to the Greens. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers and Joseph Nasr Additional reporting by Michelle Martin and Holger Hansen; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) By Michael Holden LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Technology firms have improved cooperation with the authorities in tackling online militant material but still must act quicker to remove propaganda fuelling a rise in homegrown extremism, acting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said on Wednesday. The United States and Britain will push social media firms at a meeting of G7 interior ministers this week to do more on the issue, Duke told reporters in London where she had been meeting British Home Secretary (interior minister) Amber Rudd. Duke said there had already been a change in the attitude of tech companies since a rally organised by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August turned deadly when a counter-protester was killed by a car driven into a crowd. "There has been a shift and for us somewhat with the Charlottesville incident," she said. "There are a lot of social pressures and they want do business so they really have to balance between keeping their user agreements and giving law enforcement what they need. "The fact they are meeting with us at G7 is a positive sign. I think they're seeing the evidence of it being real and not just hyperbole." After a series of Islamist militant attacks this year, British Prime Minister Theresa May and her ministers such as Rudd have been demanding action from tech leaders like Facebook , Google and Twitter to do more about extremist material on their sites. British politicians have also called for access to encrypted messaging services like Facebook's WhatsApp, a campaign that U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave his backing to after meeting Rudd and the head of the UK domestic spy agency MI5 last week.. Internet companies say they want to help governments remove extremist or criminal material but say they have to balance the demands of state security with civil liberties. "We would like to have the ability to get encrypted data with the right legal processes," said Duke. Asked what action governments might take if social media firms failed to act on improving their removal of extremist material, she said: "We will continue to push as far as we can go. I think that we have the cooperation of those companies and we just need to work on that." Authorities say propaganda from Islamic State has played a major part in radicalising people in the West but despite its defeat in its capital Raqqa in Syria, Duke said the group's online presence was likely to increase. "I would surmise being able to put terrorist propaganda on the internet might become more imperative," said Duke, who described the terrorist threat to the United States as being as high as it had been since pre-9/11. She also warned that those who turned to violence by being radicalised by such material posed a bigger problem than the comparatively small number of fighters who had joined the militant group returning to United States. "The number of foreign fighters we have returning is declining," she said. "The number of home-grown violent extremists, most of them inspired by terrorist organisations, is increasing." (Editing by Peter Graff) By Ricardo Brito BRASILIA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Odebrecht SA asked Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday to threaten fines against Venezuela's former chief prosecutor to stop her from leaking information from the engineering group's confidential plea bargain testimony. In an injunction seen by Reuters, Odebrecht lawyers said leaks by ousted top prosecutor Luisa Ortega were undermining company efforts to cooperate with other governments. It asked that she be fined 50,000 reais ($15,770) a day if she continued to divulge information. In December, Odebrecht and affiliated petrochemical company Braskem SA agreed to pay $3.5 billion in fines to settle a political bribery investigation with U.S., Brazilian and Swiss authorities. Aspects of the testimony that involved countries where Odebrecht did not reach a settlement with prosecutors have remained confidential. Ortega was fired by a newly elected constituent assembly in August, months after she broke with Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro and became a vocal critic of his unpopular government. She fled to Bogota by boat and said she feared for her life. During a visit to Brasilia days later, Ortega accused Diosdado Cabello, vice president of Maduro's Socialist Party, of receiving $100 million from Odebrecht through a Spanish company owned by two of his cousins. Ortega said she would deliver documents on Odebrecht to U.S., Mexican, Spanish and Brazilian authorities implicating Maduro and other members of his government in illegal acts. ($1 = 3.1706 reais) (Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Richard Chang) Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours): PKN ORLEN Poland's top oil refiner, PKN Orlen, said on Thursday its third-quarter net profit rose by a lower-than-expected 5 percent year-on-year despite bigger capacity utilisation after 2016 refinery shutdowns. PESA Polish state-run banks PKO BP and Bank Pekao have reached an agreement to help re-finance financial commitments of train producer Pesa, Puls Biznesu daily reported citing unnamed sources. POCZTA POLSKA Poland's state-owned postal group Poczta Polska is planning to invest 1 billion zlotys ($278.63 million), mainly in the construction of a new logistics hub, Puls Biznesu daily reported. ****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 3.5890 zlotys) (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau) SOFIA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgaria does not plan to borrow funds or extend state guarantees for new investment projects in 2018, the government said. (24 Chasa, Trud) CAPITAL DAILY - The financial wealth of households increased by 5.9 billion levs ($3.56 billion) in the past 12 months, reaching 73 billion levs, economic think-tank Industry Watch said. -- The government approved changes in the way salaries of high-level officials are calculated, allowing to double the monthly pay of deputy ministers and the heads of the political cabinets at the ministries. (Capital Daily, Duma, Sega, Trud) -- The parliament rejected plans to introduce an absolute ten-year statute of limitation for private debtors. (24 Chasa, Trud, Standart, Capital Daily) ($1 = 1.6581 leva) ATHENS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Jumbo, Greece's biggest listed retailer, is considering issuing a convertible bond to raise up to 250 million euros to finance foreign expansion, a Greek newspaper reported on Thursday. Despite seven years of austerity in Greece, Jumbo has fared well thanks to its low-cost products and rapid growth in its operations in Romania and Bulgaria. Jumbo will use the proceeds from the bond to finance its expansion in Romania and boost cash, the Kathimerini newspaper quoted Chairman Apostolos Vakakis as telling an institutional investors meeting on Wednesday. Jumbo was not available for immediate comment. In a bourse filing this week, it called a shareholders meeting on Nov. 8 to decide on the bond. The retailer operates 51 stores in Greece and 22 in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania. It plans to open 17 stores in Romania, two in Greece and one in Bulgaria in the next five years. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Jason Neely) BERLIN, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Failure in reaching a Brexit agreement in time would not stifle Germany's economic upswing, but such a scenario would be a huge political setback, Germany's DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said on Thursday after raising its growth forecasts. "Our projections are based on the assumption that the people in charge are dealing with the (Brexit) matter in a way so that there won't be a crash," DIHK managing director Martin Wansleben said on Thursday. Asked whether a breakdown of talks between Brussels and London had the potential to derail Germany's economic upturn, Wansleben said: "The upswing wouldn't be halted, but this would be a very bad signal, politically." (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Madeline Chambers) By Anna Ringstrom STOCKHOLM, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Swedish telecoms operator Tele2 indicated it could raise dividends sooner than planned as well as make a one-off payment to shareholders after reporting forecast-beating third-quarter profit on Thursday. Tele2's profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew to 1.8 billion crowns ($227 million) from a year-ago 1.5 billion, against a mean forecast of 1.7 billion seen in a Reuters poll of analysts. Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said free cash flow was stronger than planned so far this year and thus increasingly likely to fully cover the dividend for 2017. "As we earlier assumed dividend cover only in 2019, our board of directors will now review our dividend policy for 2018 and beyond in connection with our full-year results," she said. The company said in its 2016 earnings report it expected to pay a dividend of 4 crowns per share for 2017. It had not committed to a specific dividend policy beyond then. "With the balance sheet strength we are now seeing, and dependent on the closing of the sale of Tele2 Austria, we will also review means beyond the ordinary dividend to return these proceeds to shareholders," Kirkby added. Tele2 agreed in July to sell its Austrian business to mobile telecoms firm Hutchison Drei Austria for 95 million euros. Tele2 also raised its full-year guidance, saying it now saw EBITDA at between 6.4 billion to 6.6 billion crowns, up from the 6.2 billion to 6.5 billion range seen previously. Shares in Tele2 rose 5.9 percent by 0835 GMT, bringing its year-to-date gain to 37 percent. Separately, rival Telia posted earnings in line with expectations and said it still hoped to sell its Central Asian operations this year after reaching a settlement last month with U.S. and Dutch authorities over bribery allegations in Uzbekistan. Telia has agreed to pay $966 million to settle U.S. and European criminal and civil charges it paid bribes in connection with its entry into Uzbekistan 10 years ago. Telia is co-owner of Fintur Holdings which holds the bulk of its Central Asian business -- in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova -- while its remaining business in Uzbekistan is a separate unit. "For Fintur Holdings we see continuous progress and high activity and it is still our ambition to divest these assets before year-end, even if I will not set that as a firm deadline," Telia CEO Johan Dennelind said on Thursday. Dennelind told Reuters he also hoped to sell Telia's business in Uzbekistan by the end of the year. Telia also stood by guidance for unchanged core earnings this year. Its shares slipped 1.2 percent. ($1 = 8.1425 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Olof Swahnberg; Editing by Keith Weir) By Zachary Fagenson GAINESVILLE, Fla., Oct 19 (Reuters) - Hundreds of police will be deployed at the University of Florida on Thursday as thousands are poised to protest a speech by an avowed white nationalist, an event that prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency in preparation for possible violence. Richard Spencer's speech at the university in Gainesville comes about two months after rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to violent clashes with counter-protesters and killed at least one person. The flare-up challenged U.S. President Donald Trump and stoked a smoldering national debate on race. Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, is scheduled to speak from 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) at a performing arts center. The university said no one at the university invited him to speak and it was obligated under law to allow the event. The National Policy Institute is vetting which reporters it will allow inside to cover the speech, university officials said. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups in the United States, said Spencer is "a radical white separatist whose goal is the establishment of a white ethno-state in North America." The Orlando Sentinel newspaper quoted Spencer as saying the emergency declaration issued this week was "flattering" but "most likely overkill." About 3,000 people have signed up on a Facebook page to say they will be attending a protest rally called "No Nazis at UF," which will be held outside the venue where Spencer is speaking. The university said it will spend more than $500,000 on security. It did not provide details on tactics but among the groups dispatched will be the University of Florida Police Department, Gainesville Police Department, Alachua County Sheriffs Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol. Classes at the university will be conducted as planned except for those held in close proximity to the speech venue, the school said. University President Kent Fuchs urged students not to attend the event and denounced Spencer's white nationalism. "By shunning him and his followers we will block his attempt for further visibility," Fuchs said in a statement earlier this month. The death in Charlottesville, home to the flagship campus of the University of Virginia, occurred as counter-protesters were dispersing. A 20-year-old man who is said by law enforcement to have harbored Nazi sympathies smashed his car into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman. (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Leslie Adler) By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - European Union leaders will on Thursday reaffirm their full commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, regardless of whether an increasingly critical United States pulls out. But the bloc, reluctant to isolate itself completely from Washington, is also looking at whether it should as a next move step up criticism of Iran's ballistic missile programme and its role in what the West sees as fomenting instability in the Middle East, a senior EU official said. President Donald Trump last week adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with the nuclear deal, struck with the United States and five other powers including Britain, France and Germany after more than a decade of diplomacy. EU leaders will "reaffirms (their) full commitment to the Iran nuclear deal," after talks in Brussels on Thursday, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. The EU has been stepping up efforts to save the deal, saying it was crucial to regional and global security, and has appealed to the U.S. Congress not to let it fall. Trump has given Congress 60 days to see whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran, lifted under the pact in exchange for the scaling down of a programme the West fears was aimed at building a nuclear bomb, something Tehran denies. Should Trump walk away from the deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran would "shred" it. The bloc sees the agreement as a chief international success of recent years, and fears tearing it apart would hurt its credibility as well as harming diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions around another nuclear stand-off, with North Korea. In outlining his tougher stance, Trump said Tehran must also be held accountable for advancing its ballistic programme and its regional political role. The EU is at early stages of considering intensifying its criticism of Iran on those issues, something France has been calling for. "We will defend the nuclear deal and stand by the nuclear deal and implement the nuclear deal. But we also don't want to be standing on a completely opposing side to the U.S.," the EU official said. "If they withdraw, we would be left in a rather interesting company with China and Russia. So there may be an issue of separating the nuclear deal from the ballistic programme and Iran's regional role, sending signals on the latter two." The EU has stepped up contacts with the U.S. Congress. "They were never very fond of the nuclear deal in the first place but now the situation has changed a lot, both many Democrats as well as some Republicans feel like they need to play a more active role on foreign policy to restrain the president," the official added. Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday the ballistic missile programme would accelerate despite U.S. and EU pressure to suspend it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by John Stonestreet) News / National by Stephen Jakes Village heads in Murehwa Ward 16 were reportedly ordered by Zanu PF leaders not to sign affidavits for known members of opposition parties who will be seeking to register as voters ahead of the 2018 elections."On 10 October 2017, ZANU PF ward chairperson, Temba Chimombe instructed Village heads not to sign affidavit forms for opposition party members. Chimombe also told the Village heads to compile names of everyone who registers to vote in the area," said the Heal Zimbabwe Trust."In Mashonaland Central, Mt Darwin North ward 5 on 09 October 2017, Councillor Rainess Ben announced during a meeting at Tsenga Primary school that all Village heads were supposed to compile names of people who would have registered as voters. On 10 October 2017, Village heads Museredza and Kabayira were seen taking down serial numbers of voter slips from people who had registered."While in Mt Darwin North ward 33 on 11 October 2017, Village heads Chiguma and Kambewu force marched people to Bandimba Primary school to register to vote."In Mt Darwin North ward 33 on 11 October 2017, Village heads Chiguma and Kambewu force-marched people to Bandimba Primary School to register to vote. The Village heads also told people to submit serial numbers of their registration slips to them after the registration process," said the trust. By Michael Kahn and Jan Lopatka PRAGUE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Andrej Babis say he wants to run the Czech Republic like a business, which may mean upheaval is ahead for the country's biggest state-controlled business, the utility CEZ. The billionaire Babis has a history of confrontation with CEZ management, and with his ANO party leading in polls ahead of parliamentary elections on Friday and Saturday, he may soon have the power to take on the management he feels has steered the company adrift. "The fact that CEZ is out of his control and he doesn't have a decision in it has bothered him quite a bit," Jiri Pehe, a long-time political analyst and director of New York University in Prague. "As one of the top businessmen in the country, he simply wants to have CEZ under his control." CEZ is 70 percent state-owned, and with market capitalisation of $11.3 billion, is the Czech Republic's largest listed company. As such, it has long played a central role in Czech politics. It is the government's cash cow, paying the largest dividends among state-controlled companies to the state coffers. Its investment projects provide big-ticket orders for numerous Czech suppliers. Its chief executive, Daniel Benes, has led the company since 2011, after joining the board six years earlier. His contract has another four years to run. He has enjoyed the backing of previous prime ministers, including the outgoing Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka. That will probably end if Babis takes power following Saturday's elections. A billionaire whose own businesses include food, chemical and media holdings, Babis has long maintained that CEZ has too much influence on political parties, a charge he repeated most recently in an interview published this week. "In my view, one state firm cannot run all political parties and cannot be a piggy bank for politicians," Babis told the magazine Tyden. A CEZ spokesman declined to comment on his remarks. As finance minister from January 2014 to May of this year, Babis clashed with CEZ management but did not have enough power to make big changes. As prime minister, he would have more of a say, and he could reshape the supervisory board that appoints management. Over the past year, Babis has criticized a dividend cut, a potential sale of a coal plant and a proposal now under consideration to spin off regulated distribution and renewables assets . The proposed spin-off would separate and potentially sell CEZ's distribution and renewables businesses while the government would take full control of its nuclear and coal plants. That in turn would allow the government to take over the construction of new nuclear plants. Instead, Babis says CEZ should finance the construction of nuclear plants itself. CEZ management has refused to do so without explicit state guarantees to help fund the project. The proposed spin-off "is the first thing the government will have to solve," said Miroslav Frayer, who covers the utility for Komercni Banka. Michal Snobr, a long-time CEZ investor who represents a group that holds close to 1 percent in the company, said he expects things to change after the election. "Given how Babis is presenting it, there are likely to be changes in the CEZ leadership," Snobr said. "This management has made so many mistakes that in a normal business environment, changes would have happened long ago," he said. He cited long outages at CEZ's nuclear plant Dukovany, lack of company strategy and current initiatives, such as buying high-priced German wind plants. Snobr said a spin-off of CEZ, along the lines of the split of Innogy from RWE in Germany, should go ahead given the high valuations of regulated businesses. Babis may change his view after the election, he added. And CEZ could not finance new nuclear plants without state backing, Snobr said, because such a costly project would not be commercially justifiable and would spark lawsuits from other shareholders. (Reporting by Michael Kahn, editing by Larry King) By Jason Patinkin KAMPALA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebel groups fought each other this week in a strategic area near the Ugandan border leaving at least three dead, rebels said. The clashes broke out on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kajo Keji between two groups: one loyal to former army general Thomas Cirillo and one loyal to former vice president Riek Machar. Kajo Keji is a key conduit for rebels moving east and west and an entry point for supplies from Uganda. South Sudans civil war, triggered by a feud between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Machar, has plunged parts of the worlds youngest nation into famine and forced a third of the population - about four million people - to flee their homes. As the war burns on, battles are being fought on many fronts and armed groups have splintered and begun fighting each other. The groups that clashed this week both oppose President Salva Kiir's government and had previously been stationed side by side in Kajo Keji. But SPLA-IO spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel told Reuters that National Salvation Front forces attacked on Tuesday, killing two soldiers and capturing two others. Another SPLA-IO member said they had to withdraw troops from a battle with government troops nearby in order to fight off the attackers. An NSF commander on the ground, John Kenyi Loburon, said SPLA-IO killed one of his men. He said his group captured "a few" rebels. SPLA-IO is former vice president Machar's rebel group, while NSF is loyal to the former general Cirillo. (Editing by Maggie Fick and Andrew Heavens) ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan led to the death on Thursday of Omar Khalid Khorasani, leader of the Pakistani militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar that has carried out some of the country's deadliest bombings in the past two years. A look at some of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar's recent attacks, responsible for the deaths of nearly 250 Pakistanis: 2017 - Feb. 13: A suicide bomber detonated in the midst of a protest rally in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 13 people, including three senior police officials. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility. - March 31: A suicide bombing targeted a Shi'ite mosque in northwestern Kurram tribal region's city of Parachinar, killing 22 people. JuA claimed the attack. - June 23: A suicide car bomb exploded near the office of provincial police chief in southwestern Quetta city, killing 13 people. JuA and Islamic State both claimed the attack. 2016 - March 7: A suicide bomber attacked a court in northwest Pakistan, killing 17 people. JuA claimed the attack. - March 27: A bomb exploded at an Easter Sunday gathering at a park in eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 70 people. JuA claimed responsibility. - Aug 8: A suicide bombing killed at least 74 people, mainly lawyers, at a hospital in Quetta. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility. - Sept 2: A suicide bomber attacked a courthouse in northwestern Mardan district, killing 12 people. JuA claimed the bombing. - Sept 16: A suicide bomber exploded among worshippers at a mosque in northwestern Mohmand tribal region, killing 25 people. JuA claimed the attack. - Source: Reuters reporting. (Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.S. authorities have rescued 84 children, one just 3 months old, and arrested 120 people in a nationwide sweep of child sex trafficking that exposed the growing use of technology by traffickers, officials said on Thursday. Many of those arrested were advertising and selling children online for sex, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in a statement. The four-day sweep, which ended on Sunday, was the 11th annual effort by the FBI and other authorities to battle child sex trafficking. Called Operation Cross Country XI, it was conducted at hotels, casinos and truck stops, as well as street corners and Internet websites, they said. "The sad reality is some things stay the same, that there's still a need to do this," said Staca Shehan, executive director of the NCMEC's case analysis division. "What has changed over time is the places and the ways that child sex trafficking is occurring," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Historically, kids would be recruited in face-to-face environments, at malls and at bus stops or in schools or in and around foster homes," she said. "All that stuff happens, but now what we see more often than not is kids are recruited online, and they're controlled online and sold online." BABIES, TODDLERS, TEENS The average age of the children caught up in the operation was 15, authorities said. The 3-month-old girl and a 5-year-old girl were offered to an undercover officer in Denver for sex for $600, the FBI said. The person trying to sell them was a friend of the children's family. Related operations were conducted in Canada, Britain, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines, the FBI said. The sweep also involved the arrests of a number of adult sex workers, including 20 prostitutes in the state of Oregon. Earlier incarnations of Operation Cross Country have come under criticism by advocates for sex workers who say they are victims of exploitation and should not be charged with crimes. (Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, editing by Lyndsay Griffiths.; 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) BERLIN, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Germany's domestic intelligence agency said on Thursday that minors returning from war zones in Syria and Iraq could grow into a new generation of recruits in Germany for the Islamic State group. More than 950 people from Germany went to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, some 20 percent of them women and 5 percent minors, the BfV domestic intelligence agency said. With Islamic State losing territory in Syria and Iraq, many of the women are expected to return with their children. Germany needs to prepare for the risk of the children being radicalized, BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen said. "We see the danger of children who socialized with and were indoctrinated by jihadists returning to Germany from the war zones," said Maassen. "This could allow a new generation of jihadists to be raised here." Last year, a 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy failed in an attempt to detonate two explosive devices in the western town of Ludwigshafen. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) To understand why Cambodia is so we must go back 47 years before the genocidal movement, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot, took over. North Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979...and installed in power ex-Khmer Rouge dissidents. One of them was Hun Sen... Good things still happen. The economic growth nearly touches 7% year after year. Land reform has worked. Hun Sen did not win but he refused to step down. A compromise was found with King Sihanouk returning to power and Hun Sen becoming his number three. In other countries this might be a prelude to political liberalisation. But not in Cambodia. Cambodian PM Hun Sen Cambodia is no longer going forward, it is slipping backwards, as it has many times before. Earlier this month the government asked the Supreme Court to dissolve the main opposition coalition. One opposition leader, Kem Sokha, was sent to prison last month and the other, Sam Rainsy, is in exile. The English-language newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, has been closed and the relatively free radio stations leant on and a number closed. The decades-long Prime Minister, Hun Sen, talks about rebels in the capital, Phnom Penh, plotting to overthrow the government. Good things still happen. The economic growth nearly touches 7% year after year. Land reform has worked. The health and education of the poor has markedly improved. In other countries this might be a prelude to political liberalisation. But not in Cambodia. Hun Sen, who before has won many elections, some reasonably honest, some rigged, now fears defeat at the polls next year. To understand why Cambodia is so we must go back 47 years before the genocidal movement, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot, took over. In 1970 a pro-American military junta led by Lon Nol deposed King Sihanouk, who had succeeded in keeping his country out of the Vietnam War. Lon Nol threw his weight behind the US. Cambodia became a pawn in the Vietnam War. While he was in power he encouraged the US to bomb the Khmer Rouge movement which roamed in the interior, hitting targets using eight-engined B-52s, each capable of carrying 25 tons of bombs. Napalm was used unsparingly. In the end the Khmer Rouge overthrew Lon Nol in his bastion in Phnom Penh. Without US support the Khmer Rouge which was no serious threat in 1970,... could never have grown into a murderous force of 70,000. Ironically, later, the US came to support the Khmer Rouge against the North Vietnamese- My enemys enemy is my friend. Without this later US support, argued, Sydney Schanberg, who was the New York Times correspondent in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge which was no serious threat in 1970, being a motley collection of ineffectual guerrilla bands, totalling at the most 3,000, could never have grown into a murderous force of 70,000. Fast forward to 1979. The Vietnam War ended in 1975 with the US defeated. The Khmer Rouge were in power in Cambodia. Besides continuously provoking Vietnam with military incursions, at home they had deported everyone from the cities and made them work 15 hours a day on the farms. Intellectuals and teachers were tortured and murdered. 2 million people were killed. The North Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979, repulsing a major attack by the Khmer Rouge, and installed in power ex-Khmer Rouge dissidents. One of them was Hun Sen who became Prime Minister in 1985 and has keep that position almost ever since. Because the Cambodian government was installed by the hated North Vietnamese the US persuaded its allies to vote for the Khmer Rouge to keep Cambodias seat at the UN. Although from the safety of the Thai border the Khmer Rouge went on slaughtering Cambodians the US did not change its mind until 1990. To everyones surprise the Big Five at the UN decided to make Cambodia a protectorate. They mounted a reasonably fair election. Hun Sen did not win but he refused to step down. A compromise was found with King Sihanouk returning to power and Hun Sen becoming his number three. Before long, after a two-day civil war with the kings son, he was number one again, and still is. The Khmer Rouge continued with their attacks, boosted by all the help they had received in the past on the Thai border from the US and China. Despite its U-turn the US (and its allies) have never apologised for their long support of the Khmer Rouge. President Bill Clinton made an apology on a visit to Guatemala for the wrong done in supporting the countrys military death squads. But in Phnom Pen I was told by a senior US diplomat that they were under strict orders by the Obama Administration not even to discuss it. People from different political perspectives draw different conclusions. Ive concluded that the long period when the US and the Europeans (except Sweden) supported the Khmer Rouge embittered Hun Sen and most Cambodians. It helped build his popularity. It is that popularity he has drawn upon, together with his skill and ruthlessness in political manoeuvring. He has made the economy an Asian star. Cambodia attracts a lot of foreign investment. It has decreased the number of people in poverty faster than any other Asian country, apart from China and Bangladesh. Cambodia is reasonably efficient despite high levels of corruption. Hun Sen feels that his opponents are being helped by outside forces. Certainly they dont get the large amount of money they have available from inside Cambodia. Those of us who believe in democracy must criticise his effort to fix next years election. But it is easy to understand his motivation. - Power has been a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times for 17 years. The Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT|CC) yesterday warned Android mobile users to be cautious of infecting DoubleLocker ransomware when viewing suspicious websites. Speaking to the Daily Mirror (CERT|CC) Principal Information Security Engineer Roshan Chandragupta said the DoubleLocker ransomware could be affected by installing fake Adobe Flash Player applications. Ransomware requests the mobile user to grant access which it uses to activate the device administrator rights and set itself as the default home application. This allows the ransomware to reactivate itself every time a user clicks on the home button on the phone and new Android ransomware, dubbed DoubleLocker, that has been uncovered, poses multiple threats, he said. This ransomware can lock down the victim's phone, encrypting all data and changing the infected phone's PIN. This makes it nearly impossible for victims to retrieve data or access their phones without paying a ransom. According to foreign media, the DoubleLocker was based on a banking trojan and could become a "ransom-banker", which was essentially a "two-stage malware", that tries to wipe out victims' bank or PayPal accounts, locking the device and data down completely. In other words, victims would be unable to access their data, including bank credentials unless a ransom payment is made. The hackers operating DoubleLocker are demanding a ransom of $54, 40 which the victim is required to pay up within 24 hours. However, if the ransom payment isn't made within 24 hours, the data is not deleted and instead remains encrypted. Apart from paying the ransom and obtaining the decryption key from the hackers, the only way victims can clean out the infected device of DoubleLocker is to perform a factory reset. (Chaturanga Pradeep) The 300 plus youth delegates with primarily AIESEC membership in attendance at the Coca-Cola Youth Speak Forum Coca-Cola announced its partnership with AISEC in Sri Lanka at the Coca-Cola Youth Speak Forum on Saturday 14th October 2017. In fulfilling Coca-Colas Sustainable Communities approach in Sri Lanka, it is relevant the importance of empowering youth through capacity building, knowledge exchange and leadership. AIESEC is a global not-for-profit, youth-led organization, striving to achieve peace and fulfilment of humankind's potential by activating leadership qualities in youth through learning from practical experiences in challenging environments. Since AIESEC was founded, it has engaged and developed over 1,000,000 young people who have been through an AIESEC experience. The impact of AIESEC can be seen through its alumni who represent business, NGO and world leaders, including one Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Martti Atisaari of Finland. The YouthSpeak Forum (is part of the Youth 4 Global Goals Campaign) an initiative powered by AIESEC aimed to activate the leadership potential of young people of the world by engaging and mobilizing them through offering purposeful and cross-cultural projects around the globe that are designed to impact and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Coca-Cola Youth Speak Forum was based on the results of the Youth Survey conducted by AIESEC which found out of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs 8 & 9 on Decent Work and Economic Growth and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure respectively were considered the topmost priorities in Sri Lanka. Sohan Wijegunawardana, President AIESEC Sri Lanka commented, The partnership between Coca-Cola and AIESEC Sri Lanka is a good fit as we complement each other; we both recognise the importance of empowering Sri Lankas youth to be self-driven and socially impactful in a positive manner. We were thrilled by the engagement during the launch by Coca-Cola and look forward to the continued support in shaping the YouthSpeak Forums given Coca-Colas role to inspire thought leadership for the next generation. A keynote address at the Coca-Cola Youth Speak Forum 2017 event was delivered by Mr. Priyantha Ranasinghe, Country Human Resources Manager of Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. on the theme A Millennials Perspective on Decent Work, linking to SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth wherein he focused on an in-depth look at talent management, career development and managing individual performance. He delivered a rousing motivational presentation to the young delegates on a comprehensive pathway to achieving a decent career through decent work and decent performance, without compromising on the fundamental tenets of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity. He also emphasised not to compromise integrity at any cost, and working in private sectors means strict adherence to a companys Code of Conduct. Mr. Priyantha Ranasinghe (Country Human Resources Manager Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd.) delivering his keynote address A Millennials Perspective on Decent Work Coca-Colas partnership supports AIESEC in organizing regional, national and international summits to promote the discussion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and provides a platform for young future leaders to engage and interact. It also facilitates AIESEC to organize a network of cross-cultural exchanges in the form of volunteering experiences and professional internships. Making a significant contribution, the partnership will bring together companies and youth in developing a roadmap for sustainable development. Mr. Priyantha Ranasinghe, Country Human Resources Manager, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. commented: Equipping youth in Sri Lanka to these far-reaching, complex challenges the nation faces and engaging them to find solutions creates resilient capacities and personalities, while driving opportunities for networking and creating employment opportunities. We jointly look forward to engaging with AIESEC members and youth to engage on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and what they can do to help achieve the SDGs in Sri Lanka. AIESEC plays a critical role in driving leadership amongst youth to be future change agents. The brand continues to refresh the people of Sri Lanka, forging a special connect with the nations youth through sports, music, festivals and social projects. Over the past five decades, The Coca-Cola Company has created a special place for its range of beverages, in the hearts of the youth of Sri Lanka. Today, the company leads the beverage market with a robust portfolio of international and local brands including Coca-Cola, Coke Light, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta Orange, Fanta Portello, Fanta Cream Soda, Lion Soda and Lion Ginger Beer. The AIESEC youth delegates taking a Coke break to celebrate the Coca-Cola YouthSpeak Forum Ms. Shayani Weeresinghe (Assistant Manager Public Affairs & Communication Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd.) conducting a lively Coke pop trivia game with the 300 plus youth delegates and fellow Millennials Professor Rangika Halwathura (Senior Lecturer Dept. of Civil Engineering University of Moratuwa) delivering the Power Talk on Sustainability and Sustainable Development Dr. Harsha Subasinghe (CEO of CodeGen Pvt Ltd.) delivering his keynote address on SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Hameedia, Sri Lankas leading menswear specialist recently introduced Real Men, a perfume line comprising three unique scents. The middle uppernew line, which will be available at Hameedia outlets island-wide, features Solitude, a strong, bold and refreshing scent, Atlantis, a perfume created to inspire freedom and an element of mystery in men and Immortal, a fragrance that exudes timeless elegance and allure. The three distinctive fragrances offered by the Real Men collection will bring out the true personality of gentlemen of stature, whilst enhancing their aura and confidence. All Real Men perfumes are formulated by the best nose in France, an industry-leader in the fragrance development and perfume industry. All three fragrances, with their mild yet long lasting scent, are ideal for men who are constantly on the move, and offer the perfect finishing touch for casual and official outfits for every occasion. Real Men Solitude, the bolder and more virile fragrance of the range is a fresh blend of woody notes and is best suited for men who want to make a strong and confident fashion statement and enhance their look. Combining subtle woody undertones with an intriguing spicy element, Real Men Atlantis brings out a mans freedom and adventurous streak, and is ideal for evening occasions and day time wear. The third fragrance in the line, Real Men Immortal is a blend of sensual notes that exude luxury and it is the perfect scent for special occasions and functions.The Real Men perfume has an oil concentration of 15-20% (EDP) which is better than many fragrances in the current Market.Each fragrance developed by Hameedia, is created using standards that are on par with world-renowned fragrance brands. Hameedia alsooffers Splendid Oud, the Envoy Londons premium fragrance that caters to the luxury market. The perfume is a prestigious and authentic blend formulated to complete the overall looks of high profile gentlemen in the business, sporting and celebrity arenas. Handcrafted in a traditional manner with the use of exceptional raw materials,the Splendid Oud has an oil concentration of 20-30% which is an optimal universal standard for quality perfume which is adhered to by a few renowned international brands. This deluxe fragrance is inspired by haute couture fashion for men, and is targeted exclusively at men who are seeking an optimum form of luxury from their fragrance Hameedia, the islands premier menswear specialist has a track record for introducing trend-setting fashion statements for the fashion-conscious gentlemen in the country. At Hameedia, a complete mens fashion solution can be found under one roof amongst the companys exclusive brands for gentlemen from all walks of life. Commenting on Hameedias newest range of perfume line, Fouzul Hameed Managing Director Hameedia stated: We are pleased to introduce this new, world-class range of perfumes to our valued customers. Scent is extraordinarily important in telling people who you are and what youre made of, and the fragrance we wear speaks volumes about our personality and inner essence. The Real Men range by Hameedia offers men three exclusive and prestigious fragrances that truly enhance a mans attire and deliver an overall sense of refinement and sophistication. Manufactured on par with best-in-class global standards, this range of perfumes allows men to make a bold statement with their clothing, whether they are at work, at a function or running errands on the go. Established in 1949, Hameedia has grown to become a pioneer in the Sri Lankan fashion industry. The fashion store is renowned for delivering high-quality custom tailoring under the bespoke and Made to Measure category and ready-made clothes for gentlemen. The Hameedia, multi-brand retail stores house a collection of quality menswear brands such as Le Bond, Envoy, Signature, Raymond, Lee and Adidas to name a few. Hameedia also prides itself on offering outstanding standards of service to ensure that all clients enjoy a shopping experience that is positive and personalized. With a network of over 30 outlets across Sri Lanka and a large and experienced team, Hameedia has a strong local presence and has also extended its operations to the global fashion industry with outlets in the Maldives and Australia. News / National by Simbarashe Sithole The Salvation Army Guruve captain Enerstna Jack appeared before Bindura magistrate facing two counts of rape yesterday.Jack was remanded in custody to 1 November 2017 and was not asked to plead to rape charges before being advised to apply for bail at High court.According to public prosecutor Samson Chamunorwa the accused first unlawful had sexual intercourse with a grade 6 minor in Chemachinda village at a date not known to him.He repeated the same shenanigans on 13 October 2017 before he was sold out by the School Development Committee (SDC )chairman leading to his arrest.However, Bulawayo24.com has learnt that the victim has come under fire from church members who are threatening her to twist the story in the captain's favour.The school's headmaster Mr Thomas Mudoti is also reported to have been threatened to sweep the case under the carpet and had to seek refuge at his district offices.When contacted for comment Mr Mudoti dismissed the threats saying he has not received any so far." I have not received any threats so far and as for the girl, l am yet to know if anything of that sort happened to her," he said.Meanwhile the minor is an orphan who is looked after by her aunty who is also a member of Salvation Army Chemachinda corps.A reliable source said there are arrangement by the Ministry of Education to transfer the victim for her safety from pressure of church members."The minor is being threatened by church members at Chemachinda so we are trying hard to convince the Ministry in transferring her."Her guardians are members of Salvation who are also being victimized by their collegued in order to sweep the case under the carpet ," revealed the source. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today charged that there is a move to mislead the public with regard to the statement issued by the Joint Karaka Sabha of Asgiriya and Malwathu chapters as the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter is not even in the country. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who made this remark just after accepting a report on a research carried out on the new constitution by the Sri Lanka College of Journalism and several other organizations at the Parliamentary complex last morning. 'One of the gentlemen gathered here said there are allegations with regard to the new constitution. Who is making those allegations? Look at the newspapers today. They are carrying a story saying the most venerable Maha Nayaka Theras are against the new constitution. I spoke to venerable Maha Nayaka Thera of the Malawathu chapter. He is out of the country at the moment. I spoke to him today. Therefore how can the media carry his picture? How can media mislead the public in this manner? The draft of the constitution is yet to be made. Will you give front page headlines for my story as well? You went Kade for Rajapaksas once. Do you have to do it again," he said. (Yohan Perera) If there is any assistance, equipment or even a mobile app available to reduce road accidents, especially the accidents which occur at pedestrian crossings, there is no doubt that we should use such assistance for our own safety. Statistics collected by the police states that road accidents have been responsible for more than 2,000 deaths between January and September. It must be noted that 681 of these accidents have taken place on pedestrian crossings. Police stated that many of the deaths on the pedestrian crossings take place at night due to reckless driving and the lack of safety measures taken by pedestrians, when crossing. We couldnt determine exactly why pedestrians are victims while they use pedestrian crossings, but many speculate that these accidents that happen during the night occur largely because drivers have become so aggressive and dont bother to stop their vehicles. It is also said that these accidents happen because drivers find it hard to detect pedestrians using the pedestrian crossings at night. The solution Sankha Ratnayaka (22), a past pupil of St. Joseph College, who wihes to study computer science at the Colombo University, has invented a mobile app which offers aid in the form of a crossing assistant. The app aims to reduce the number of deaths which occurs on pedestrian crossings. Ratnayake has also roped in IGP Pujith Jayasundara in a bid to promote the app while having the safety of the public in mind. The crossing assistant has the ability only to increase the safety of its user by making him or her more visible to motorists before they appear in their range of vision. The public is advised to follow all routine steps when crossing the road in addition to using the app. Using the app in the real world If you try to cross a busy road at night, the possibility of a driver not seeing the pedestrian is very high. This is because the flash of headlights, coming from vehicles used by other drivers, disturb the visibility of the drivers who have to negotiate pedestrians walking on the crossing. Its also possible that the driver wouldnt spot a pedestrian until he or she is illuminated by the light and appears in their range of vision. But if the driver notices you before entering his lane, he will have ample time to stop the vehicle and let you cross to the other side. Thats where you need the crossing assistant. It can help you get noticed by the driver and allow you to cross the road safely. Sankha Ratnayaka However, the app is only available on android and windows mobile phones. How to use the app Hold the phone horizontally allowing drivers to see the blinking light which will indicate the direction the pedestrian is moving towards. Warning sound When you are crossing the road, even when the vehicles have stopped to let you pass, accident can still occur due to approaching vehicles which are unable to spot the pedestrian due to vehicles that have already stopped and blocked the view of the crossing. To avoid such unfortunate incidents, pedestrians can also use the warning sound, a feature in the app. When you touch the play button on the app, it will trigger a warning sound in your app as a safety precaution, allowing the drivers to know that you are crossing. This feature will come in handy even during the day. These features will be mostly effective when pedestrians have to negotiate motorcycles and three wheelers. If you try to cross a busy road at night, the possibility of a driver not seeing the pedestrian is very high. This is because the flash of headlights, coming from vehicles used by other drivers, disturb the visibility of the drivers who have to negotiate pedestrians walking on the crossing Other features The screen will switch off while the app is in operation and the brightness of the display screen will be maximized temporarily (only on android). The warning sound volume can be adjusted using your mobile phones volume rocket. Inventors vision Speaking at a press briefing held recently, Rathnayake said that the app wasnt a pass given to pedestrians to cross the road irresponsibly. This is something which will make the pedestrian visible to drivers during night. That means they must still follow all the routine steps that they use when crossing the road. Police usually ask people to raise their hands towards the traffic when they are crossing the road. Instead of hand, now you can use your phone to alert the drivers during the night. Drivers also shouldnt arrive at the conclusion No crossing assistant (app) - no pedestrian. There are thousands of people who cant afford a mobile phone which supports this app. So drivers still need to pay attention to the road and keep an eye out for pedestrians, he said. The app was available free. I dont earn anything from this app. My main target is to reduce the number of accidents and the number of deaths, with the help of this app, he said. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said today, Anika Wijesuriya, a key witness in the Bond investigation had left the country due to death threats though the government said it had enabled an environment where anyone could criticize anyone without being subjected to intimidation. SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris said if it was not for Ms. Wijesuriya, the leasing out of penthouse by Arjun Aloysius in which former finance ministers family resided in would not have come to light. This was a significant part of the investigation into Bond scam. A close relative of former minister Ravi Karunanayake had phoned and threatened the witness with death. In reality, sprats can be criticized but not sharks. When a shark is criticized, people receive death threats, he told a news briefing. He said the counsel of the Attorney Generals Department had bravely questioned and cross-examined all personnel who arrived at the Commission except for Ministers Kabir Hashim and Malik Samarawickrama. The two ministers were not questioned at all by the AGs counsel. Asking brave questions revealed the truth about the Bond scam. When questions are not asked, it will affect the investigations. It is hard to think that the entire truth will be revealed now, he said. He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should also be questioned without being given a questionnaire to answer them in way of an affidavit. Meanwhile, he said the police in the Northern Province is operated by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The TNA, being the Opposition in Parliament, helps the government in delaying elections and the government rewards the TNA in return, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla) Higher Education Minster Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament today that President Maithripala Sirisena will reveal the government stance on SAITM on Monday. He said the government was prepared for any solution with regard to the SAITM other than abolishing it. He told parliament that if the anti-SAITM protesters agreed to resolve the SAITM issue without causing any injustice to its students, the government was ready to resolve it. In response to a question raised by Joint Opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardane on the government stance regarding the request made by the Mahanayake Theras, the minister said the government was in discussion with the Theras. He said the government had already carried out most of the recommendations made by professionals including the deans of the medical faculties. "We have had several rounds of discussions with parties concerned on the SAITM issue. We have taken over the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital, suspended the admission of new students and we were taking steps to Gazette the minimum standards as demanded by the professionals," he said. Mr. Kiriella said Dinesh Gunawardane, who submitted the gazzete in parliament authorizing the SAITM, should apologise to the Mahanayake Theras for misleading them. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera) REUTERS AFP, 18 October, 2017-Rights groups on Wednesday urged the European Union and Japan to consider halting their funding for the election panel in Cambodia, if the ruling party succeeds in a bid to dissolve the main opposition party ahead of next years general election. The ruling Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) has launched a crackdown on its critics, including politicians, independent media and non-government bodies. Nearly half the opposition members of parliament have fled abroad since September. In a session boycotted by the opposition, Cambodias parliament voted on Monday to change party laws to re-distribute seats if a party is dissolved. The measure came after the government filed a lawsuit this month seeking to dissolve the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). If the governments position to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party succeeds, next years election will be a joke, Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at New York-based group Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. At that point, both the EU and Japan should face reality and terminate their financial and technical assistance to avoid lending credibility to what will be a charade of democracy, he added, speaking after a news conference in Bangkok. REUTERS, 18th OCTOBER, 2017-South Korea is considering levying its own sanctions on North Korea as the isolated state ramps up tension with its missile and nuclear provocations, the Souths vice foreign minister said on Wednesday, but no decision had been made yet. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam made the remarks at a news conference in Seoul with Deputy U.S. Secretary of State John J. Sullivan and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama. Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana said that Sri Lanka looks forward to a fruitful engagement in the two years ahead and reiterated its commitment towards the objectives of IORA at its Council Meeting, held in Durban, South Africa on October 19. Following are excerpts of the speech. Sri Lanka looks forward to a fruitful engagement in the two years ahead The global economic power centre is shifting rapidly to the East The Jakarta Concord sets important standards and targets that would create a rules-based framework for us The growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is a vital factor for the progress of the region When an association of countries in the Indian Ocean Rim (IORA) was initially conceptualized, in 1995, the legendary South African Leader Nelson Mandela gave vision to the organization by aptly describing this union as The natural urge of the facts of history and geography should broaden itself to explore the concept of an Indian Rim of socio-economic co-operation and other peaceful endeavours. Twenty years after the formation of IORA as a single platform of the Indian Ocean Countries, as envisaged by Nelson Mandela, it is a unique occasion for us to gather in South Africa to continue the momentum and further advance all areas of cooperation under IORA. The theme chosen by South Africa IORA: Uniting the people of Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East through enhanced cooperation for peace, stability and sustainable development is indicative of the new Chairs commitment towards sustaining the progress made over the years and further strengthening of IORA. Sri Lanka looks forward to a fruitful engagement in the two years ahead and reiterates its commitment towards the objectives of IORA. Sri Lanka will extend its fullest co-operation to the new Chair, in all its deliberations and endeavors to provide leadership to the Association. Bonds of friendships The Indian Ocean is a vast body of water and our shores are washed by its waves creating firm bonds of friendship and co-operation among us. Close neighbours or far away friends, we all share this enormous common resource that has the potential to make the lives of our peoples better. However, we need to act fast as time is of essence. The global economic power centre is shifting rapidly to the East. The Indian Ocean Region has an extraordinary opportunity to act on the synergies available in this emerging environment. As you would recall, this year our leaders signed the Jakarta Concord, reiterating their commitment to the course of IORA. The Jakarta Concord sets important standards and targets that would create a rules-based framework for us to achieve the identified objectives within this Forum in the Indian Ocean region. We have the IORA Action Plan 2017 2021, adopted simultaneously with a clear road map for co-operation. We need to look at these broad frameworks of commitment, to make IORA a more vibrant organization and realize the vision of our leaders to the mutual benefit of our peoples. Sri Lanka in this context supports the creation of a Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security, one of the six priority areas for collaboration. Sri Lanka would like to propose that as an internal arrangement this working group be divided into two sub working groups, one for Safety and the other for Security Security factors The growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is a vital factor for the progress of the region. Managing competition and strengthening cooperation would be essential, given that both these economic and strategic security factors have a direct impact on the future of this region. Freedom of Navigation is a historic norm upheld by all littoral states of the organization. Considering that the Indian Ocean carries half of the worlds container ships-one third of bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of oil cargo- and also considering the emerging non-traditional security threats to the Indian Ocean, it may be prudent that we enhance our collective security through additional mechanisms. In this regard I would like to refer to a proposal made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka, who envisioned a Code of Conduct that essentially provides a set of rules and conditions that would guide interactions between IORA member countries, based on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It will be a simplified arrangement for mutual convenience to strengthen the IORA unity, togetherness and cooperation, in order to ensure the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful maritime commerce and over-flight in the Indian Ocean. The Code of Conduct needs to be prepared on a consensual agreement as a facilitating arrangement for the benefit of the Indian Ocean countries. Sri Lankas proposal I recollect at this moment, Sri Lankas proposal in September 1970 to the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Lusaka to declare the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace. We must endeavor to develop an Indian Ocean Order to safeguard the Indian Ocean Region. I believe this is the vision by our leaders when they reiterated their pledge in the Jakarta Concord to build a more peaceful, stable and prosperous Indian Ocean Region. Sri Lanka in this context supports the creation of a Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security, one of the six priority areas for collaboration. Sri Lanka would like to propose that as an internal arrangement this working group be divided into two sub working groups, one for Safety and the other for Security. Sri Lanka would like to take the lead on the Sub-working Group on maritime security and propose to schedule a meeting of the Sub-working Group in 2018, on the margins of the Galle Dialogue, which is an annual international maritime conference being hosted by Sri Lanka, since 2010. Sri Lanka, as you are aware, is a country that championed in combatting terrorism which also involved maritime terrorism, piracy, human smuggling and weapon smuggling as well as other security issues. Hence, Sri Lanka, with its vast experience gained in the past in combatting all forms of terrorism is well poised to undertake more responsibility in the cooperation in maritime security matters. We are an active member of the Indian Ocean Forum on Maritime Crimes. We would be happy to provide our knowledge and expertise in the sub-group on Maritime Security, under the proposed Working Group on Maritime Safety and Security. Sri Lanka is committed to the course of IORA and together with the member states and dialogue partners will be happy to contribute to the shaping of its destiny Common Indian Ocean Identity Sri Lanka is cognizant of the need to create a common Indian Ocean identity. It will further strengthen internal cohesiveness and cultivate strong people to people links. We must harness our historical affinities based on freedom of navigation, mutually beneficial trade and other peaceful endeavors. This collective identity should emphasize our ability to promote trade, educational partnerships, exhibitions and cultural engagements. Accordingly, and as enshrined in the Jakarta Concord we must enhance trade and investments potential in the region, with specific interest to the development of Blue Economy, which could be the backbone of our collective growth, in the future. The potential of IORA to emerge as a powerful economic bloc is evident of the fact that our region represents a quarter of the global population and Blue Economy would be an intrinsic component of it. Flow of goods and services We should commit ourselves to increasing intra-IORA flow of goods, services and expedite in the field of trade and commerce, eventually reaching a free trade arrangement where we should be able to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers. Sri Lanka, during the second Indian Ocean Conference held in Colombo recently, envisioned the need to establish an Indian Ocean Development Fund by IORA. This proposal merits consideration. Today, its a multi-polar world that is gradually taking its shape and in line with it, the global capital is also getting dispersed from one holder to multi stakeholders. In such a world order, it would be pragmatic to carefully craft the necessary financial armory for the future of the Indian Ocean Rim nations, by establishing an Indian Ocean Development Fund. Sri Lanka as a committed member of IORA has already set out the mechanism to establish the IORA Centre of Excellence on Ocean Sciences and Environment, under the Ocean University of Sri Lanka. The Centre will be fully functional, with allocation of resources, from 2018, which will enhance our capacities on Ocean Sciences and related areas of research, study and cooperation. Sri Lanka is a country that is thriving, in her socio-economic development process and our future lies in the Indian Ocean. It is our belief that if we all work together, the common objectives, sustainable peace and prosperity in our region can be undoubtedly achieved. The opportunities are there - waiting to be exploited and with ingenuity and unity we should be able to forge ahead. Sri Lanka is committed to the course of IORA and together with the member states and dialogue partners will be happy to contribute to the shaping of its destiny. Towards this end, Sri Lanka would be pleased to offer leadership to the association as the Chair, for the biennial 2023-2025, with the support of the IORA family. Another individual turned himself into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today along with Rs.3 million said to have been part of what was taken out of the Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan. Sources at the CID said the suspect was relative of J. C. Nammuni, who was the first suspect arrested over the international theft. Nammunis relative was the fourth suspect arrested over the incident. Earlier, former Litro Gas Chairman Shalila Moonasinghe and a relative of his, Chulapala De Silva, were also taken into custody. The CID commenced the investigation in connection with the alleged transferring of USD 1.1 million from the Far Eastern International Bank to Mr. Moonasinghes account in Sri Lanka. The suspect Nammuni had withdrawn Rs. 30 million from a local bank earlier this month and was arrested on October 7 when he attempted to withdraw another tranche of Rs. 80 million. (Darshana Sanjeewa) US President Donald Trump told the widow of a soldier killed during an ambush in Niger he knew what he was signing up for, according to a lawmaker who accused him of insensitivity. Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida, said she listened in to part of a group phone call between the president and the grieving family of Sergeant La David Johnson. I didnt hear the whole phone call, but I did hear him say, Im sure he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts, she told CNN. Trump denied making the comments, tweeting Wednesday: Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! Johnson was among four US soldiers killed earlier this month in Niger, where Islamic State fighters have established a presence. The Miami natives body was returned home Tuesday afternoon, according to the Miami Herald. He is survived by his wife Myeshia Johnson, who is pregnant with the couples third child. After the phone call, Myeshia was crying, she broke down. And she said he didnt even know his name, added Wilson, referring to Trump. Trump had faced criticism for not contacting the families of the soldiers killed in Niger right away. AFP, 18 October, 2017 Customs officers today arrested a cabin crew service supervisor attached to SriLankan Airlines carrying more than five kilogrammes of gold jewellery at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in his person, Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne said. The 50-year-old suspect was arrested with five packets of gold jewellery wrapped around his waist and legs, he said. The jewellery was hidden inside two specially made girdles and a belt worn around his leg, he said. BIA Customs Director Parakrama Basnayake told the Daily Mirror that the suspect had served as a Cabin Crew Service Supervisor for about 29 years and a resident of Colombo. He was arrested at the arrival terminal after a flight from Jeddah at 4.15 a.m. At the time of arrest three packets of gold jewellery were found packed around his waist wrapped with cellophane tapes and inside girdles especially made for the jewellery. The other two jewellery packets were found hidden in the knee guards, Basnayaka said. The suspect is a senior staffer and a frequent flyer. After the detection the officers had searched the other crew members as well. He said initial investigations had revealed that the suspect had been in the practice of smuggling jewellery for a long time. He said the Customs had received information regarding the racket and was on the lookout for him for a long time. The gold jewellery weighed 5.21 kilogrammes worth more than Rs. 27.32 million, he said. The detection was made by Assistant Customs Superintendents Nuwan Abeynayake, Rasika Samanjith, Srilal Wijewardena. Nishantha Jayasinghe, Hasantha Guruge, M.K.U Gamini, Investigations were conducted under direction of Customs Directors Ruwan Sathkumara, and Parakrama Basnayake. (Chaturanga Pradeep and T.K.G Kapila) News / National by Staff reporter New Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Happyton Bonyongwe (pictured) had a baptism of fire in the National Assembly yesterday.Along with other new ministers in President Robert Mugabe's bloated Cabinet, the former director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) had a torrid time, trying to respond to questions from Members of Parliament who had a field day in Parliament.As Justice minister, Bonyongwe is supposed to be the leader of government business in the House. This is, however, still to be made official.Bonyongwe will take over from Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was removed from the portfolio last week.While still trying to learn the ropes, Bonyongwe had to learn the hard way as fellow lawmakers bombarded him with difficult questions yesterday.MDC Glen View North Member of Parliament Fani Munengami opened the floodgates when he demanded to know who the leader of the House was since Mnangagwa had just been dethroned as Justice minister."We had a very good relationship with Honourable . . . Mnangagwa, but we would want to know who do we direct our questions to," enquired Munengami, in jest.Deputy Speaker of the House Mabel Chinomona retorted: "It's going to be announced by the president but another duty of the Justice minister is to be the leader of government business in the House".For now, according to Chinomona, MPs could direct their questions to Mnangagwa.More drama followed as MDC Binga North MP Prince Dubeko Sibanda directed another question to Bonyongwe in his capacity as director-general of the CIO.He had Chinomona to thank after the deputy Speaker quickly came to his rescue."We don't have the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation in the House," she bellowed, amid remonstrations from a section of parliamentarians."Honourable Member you are out of order," she added.Tempers continued to flare with Zanu PF Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe frothing in the mouth, as he vehemently objected to Dubeko's line of questioning.Mashayamombe pleaded to be recognised by Chinomona on a point of order but was denied.The ruling party's Bikita South MP Jappy Jaboon also remonstrated that there were no CIOs in the House.Zanu PF Chief Whip Lovemore Matuke failed to quell tempers.It took Mnangagwa to cool down tempers that threatened to spill over.He said: "The composition of this House (is such that) we do not have the director of CIO. You cannot ask the question (in here). He (Dubeko) can write to the Office of the President".Bonyongwe had to cast a wry smile amid an avalanche of questions.During the session, he also stood to answer a question on the Biometric Voter Registration exercise as members wanted to inquire on what appears to be voter apathy in the face of inadequate voter education.And as he attempted to respond to the question, he was advised by Chinomona to stick to one language for the purposes of Hansard recordings.He urged Zimbabweans to register to vote, adding that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was doing all it could to educate voters.The new ministers' nightmares were not done yet as Zanu PF Hurungwe East MP Sarah Mahoka stood to enquire from new Home Affairs minister Obert Mpofu on government policy towards rape victims before evidence is destroyed.Mpofu pleaded for more time to allow "handover-takeover" procedure.At that point, independent Norton legislator Temba Mliswa rose on a point of order, saying there was no time to wait for familiarisation processes of Cabinet ministers while the economy implodes."Ministers should not wait for a handover and takeover procedure, another reshuffle may happen while they are waiting for that," he said.New Finance minister Ignatius Chombo was also at the end of some abusive chirping from legislators as he rose to answer a question on what government was doing to address the high taxes that are making fuel unaffordable for many.This came after it was asked why Zimbabwe continues to have the highest fuel prices in the southern African region despite getting the fuel from the same source as the neighbouring countries.As he stood, lawmakers jeered, shouting "kupinza gonzo mudura (putting the rat into the grain store)".Chombo, however, remained composed, informing members that ongoing budget consultations would address their concerns.Guns were also turned on Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha with regards to what government was doing to address the price hikes. A strike is considered successful if maximum number of patients suffered... Commuters took engine drivers to task not because they were against the strikers demands, but they were high and dry due to the strike at an hour when the bus services were also fast sagging. Who can contest these demands? At the same time who can justify their intended blockade of Colombo as a mode of struggle? Newspapers carried a picture of several Policemen risking their lives in saving a locomotive engine driver of the Sri Lanka Railways at the Fort Railway Station during a surprise strike on October 11 by the railway employees. The engine driver had been manhandled by the furious rail commuters, who had been stranded on their way home in the evening by the surprise work stoppage. The commotion lasted for several hours and the strike had to be called off next morning. The incident gained significance as one contrasting to another incident where a high ranking Police officer had been caught on camera days ago while slapping a person demonstrating in Hambantota against the proposed leasing out of Mattala airport to a foreign firm. Apart from that it is a noteworthy picture as it apparently generalises the current attitude of the ordinary people towards the so-called struggles by various groups that inconvenience them. The commuters took the locomotive engine drivers to task not because they were against the strikers demands, but they were high and dry due to the strike at an hour when the bus services were also fast sagging. A few months ago a group of people created a similar din at a Government hospital in the North-western Province protesting against the Government doctors striking against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM). Again several incidents were reported from the streets in Colombo recently where ordinary people had resorted to challenge the demonstrators who had blocked the roads creating traffic snarls. When the army barged into the Kolonnawa oil terminal of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) in August to crack down on an indefinite strike by the CPC employees, people in the country, except for those craving to overthrow the government, were happy. Also people were unmoved when thugs apparently mobilised by the politicians of the area attacked the striking CPC workers after the armys takeover of the Kolonnawa oil facility. No media criticised the high-handed measures taken by the Government or the individual politicians, since the mood of the common man was against the strike. Is the attitude of the ordinary people towards the struggles trending? It is quite possible, given the number of demonstrations and strikes witnessed in recent years, on a daily basis. The irony of these struggles is that they must exert maximum pressure on the hapless ordinary people who are not in any way responsible for their problems so that the authorities would feel heat However, the general public was not against the rights of those demonstrating on roads or launching strikes. In many occasions they do not know what the doctors are striking work for or the students are demonstrating for. It is their rights to move freely on roads, or to be treated at Government hospitals maintained with the taxes they pay they were concerned about. Given the fact that many issues have been politicised ordinary people are more confused about the demands of the demonstrators and the strikers. For instance, it is public knowledge that it was the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government that provided all assistance including loans and scholarships to establish and maintain the SAITM. When the doctors and the medical students, who meekly submitted during that Government wage an indefinite war now demanding the abolition of that private medical college, especially with the political backing of the same Rajapaksas, only a politically motivated person can justify that struggle. Besides, Government media is cleverly exposing the hypocrisy of those against the SAITM including former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) Professor Carlo Fonseka by telecasting their speeches made during the Rajapaksa regime. And irrespective of whether those struggles are justifiable or not, how long can the people tolerate the life threatening strikes by the doctors is the question remains. Not a single day is being passed nowadays without a demonstration by some group obstructing the main roads in Colombo, especially at peak hours. The protesters must undeniably have the right to express their protest and demand what they deem as the solution to their problems. But why should others who do not know an iota of the problem, leave alone being responsible for it, suffer due to their struggles? Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti had claimed recently that the people had to put up with the temporary hardships they faced in times of demonstrations and strikes, as those struggles involved the rights of those agitators and sometimes every citizen of the country. True, this contention seems to be sound on moral grounds. However, going by the number of protests and demonstrations taking place in Colombo almost on a daily basis people might hesitate to agree with the idea. So many temporary difficult situations would accumulate into a permanent chaotic situation. Tens of thousands of vehicles were trapped for more than four hours in an evening due to a sit-in-protest by Thotalanga squatters on the Japanese Friendship Bridge in March last year and many people, who were on their way to Katunayake airport to travel abroad had to reschedule their foreign trips. Thousands of people including students, women and young girls returning home had to haplessly languish in packed vehicles for nearly four hours without knowing what they should do. Hundreds of patients travelling to hospitals for treatment and those returning from hospitals were also among those trapped. One cannot deny the grievances of the squatters and their demand for redress. However, what was the right they had to take tens of thousands of people hostage in order to win their rights? In the same month the trade union leader of the JVP K.D. Lal Kantha had threatened the Government (in fact the people) on various platforms to besiege Colombo city by bringing in thousands of farmers to the city from all over the country and making them block the six main entry points to the city, unless the Government met the farmers demands. The farmers had been demonstrating then in various parts of the country demanding the fertiliser subsidy that the Government promised during the Presidential Election and a proper mechanism to be set up for them to sell their paddy harvest at a reasonable price. Who can contest these demands? At the same time who can justify their intended blockade of Colombo as a mode of struggle? The irony of these struggles is that they must exert maximum pressure on the hapless ordinary people who are not in any way responsible for their problems so that the authorities would feel heat. A strike by the doctors is considered successful if maximum number of patients suffered and as many patients as possible die due to the strike. In respect of a Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) employees strike maximum loss to the countrys economy and healthcare is expected. For the same reason peak hours are chosen for demonstrations, creating chaotic traffic jams. This is not different from the LTTEs intention when they were cornered into a small area in Mullivaikkal in April and May, 2009. They wanted maximum number of casualties among the civilians to put the blame on the Government troops and thereby invite foreign intervention. Therefore they attacked the armed forces from among the civilians. Trade unions always expect the peoples support for their struggles. They distribute leaflets in public places such as the Fort railway station and display placards with their demands written on them for this purpose. Some Leftist political parties mobilise their trade unions to prove the workers that the bourgeois governments were not interested in solving problems of the workers and the proletariat in general and thereby persuade them for revolutionary regime change. However, at the same time, they antagonise the ordinary people by their unreasonable modes of struggle. Hence, they cannot expect the wholehearted support for their struggles from the masses. It is high time for them to think afresh and find a way to strike a balance between the workers rights and the rights of other masses. REUTERS, 18th OCTOBER, 2017 China has the resolve, confidence and ability to thwart any attempt by self-ruled Taiwan to declare independence, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, prompting Taipei to retort that only its people could decide their future. Taiwan is one of Chinas most important and sensitive issues. China considers proudly democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and has never renounced the possibility of using force to bring the island under its control. Xi has set great store on trying to resolve differences, holding a landmark meeting with then-President Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore in 2015. But relations have nosedived since Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won presidential elections last year, with Beijing fearing she wants to push for Taiwans formal independence, a red line for China. We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China, Xi told more than 2,000 delegates at the opening of a week-long Communist Party Congress, drawing the longest applause during his 3-1/2 hour speech. We have the resolve, the confidence and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwan independence in any form, Xi told the audience, including some 300 from the Peoples Liberation Army. Tension in the US by the rise of the small utraderechistas does not cease and this Thursday in the state of Florida is expected a high-risk situation by the event in which one of the visible figures of reactionary extremism will participate, Richard Spencer , of 39 years and President of the Institute of National Politics, a propagandistic group of white nationalism. The governor of Florida, Republican Rick Scott, has declared the state of emergency. Spencer will give a speech in the City of Gainesville (130,000 inhabitants, Central Florida) at a University of Florida headquarters. Its intervention is scheduled between two and a half and four in the local afternoon time. Your group has paid $10,500 for the use of a college campus facility. The University of Florida has repudiated the event but has not cancelled it in order not to incur, as explained in its directive, a violation of the right to freedom of expression. The academic center has had to assume a half-million-dollar spending on security preparations to try to avoid clashes between Spencer's followers and anti-racist protesters. It is estimated that more than 500 will hear Spencer and more than 2,000 to Denostarlo. Governor Scott, a very conservative politician but with this position is showing signs of right-wing extremism, said in his emergency statement: "We live in a country where we all have the right to express our opinion." That said, we uphold zero tolerance in the face of violence and public safety is our number one priority. Spencer also planned to speak at the radical rally right on the 12th of August in Charlottesville City, Va. The event took place because in the Prolegomena, a camp battle was unleashed between protesters and white supremacistss carrying Nazi symbols and the Ku Klux Klan. Dozens of people were injured and one woman, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, died beaten by a radical's car that hit protesters on purpose. News / National by Staff reporter Embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is unlikely to go down without a fight amid revelations that his loyalists are planning to make their last stand at an extraordinary congress to be convened by Zanu-PF in December.The Daily News can report that the bastions of support for Mnangagwa - the Midlands and Masvingo provinces - have broken ranks with the rest of the political provinces that are pushing for amendments to the Zanu-PF constitution in order to effect far-reaching changes in the top echelons of the party at the special congress.Already, Harare and Manicaland provinces have specifically called for amendments to the ruling party's charter to accommodate a woman vice president, a move that has found resonance in six other provinces.Zanu-PF's constitution currently provides for two vice presidents.President Robert Mugabe is assured of retaining his position at the elective congress, having been endorsed by all the 10 political provinces.Vice president Phelekezela Mphoko also appears to be on the safe side since he owes his position to the 1987 Unity Accord signed between Zapu and Zanu to end the disturbances that rocked the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces in the 1980s.But if events of the past few weeks are anything to go by, Mnangagwa's has a lot of fire-fighting to do to survive ouster. He is facing a vicious onslaught from rivals in the Generation 40 (G40) faction who want him out of the party for plotting to unseat Mugabe.Mnangagwa denied the allegations.Unmoved by the pressure being brought to bear on them by their rivals in G40, who are baying for Mnangagwa's blood, the vice president's allies are mulling putting up a brave fight at congress, although they are unlikely to win it given that they are outnumbered.G40, which has the tacit backing of the first family, has used its numerical advantage in the provinces to push for the elective congress, which will now replace the Zanu-PF conference that had been slated for Gwanda in the same month.Having succeeded in endorsing Mugabe as the party's presidential candidate in do-or-die elections next year, G40 is now pushing for the adoption of a Zanu-PF women's league's request to have one of the slots for the vice president reserved for a woman.While Masvingo and the Midlands provinces have endorsed Mugabe as the ruling party's presidential candidate at the 2018 polls, they are not giving in to pressure from their rivals to have one of the two vice presidents reserved for a woman.A letter to the party's secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo signed by Masvingo provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamira states that the province had no other business at the congress other than "specifically and only" endorsing Mugabe's candidature."Following the meeting that was held on 15 October 2017 at Victoria Junior School in Masvingo, below are the resolutions that were made by the provincial executive council."The Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial executive council hereby requests his Excellency the president and first secretary of the party . . . Mugabe to convene an extraordinary session of congress in terms of section 26 (1) (c) and section 30 of the constitution of the party in order to specifically and only deliberate on the party's solidarity with . . . Mugabe and his confirmation as the party's candidate for the 2018 general elections. Further that the president remains the president and first secretary of the party Zanu-PF," reads the letter, in part.The provincial spokesperson for the Midlands province Cornelius Mupereri concurred, saying none of their resolutions seeks to tamper with the status quo.The Midlands provincial leadership has come up with three resolutions."We resolved that . . . Mugabe is our candidate and that we must ensure that our members register to vote, that is what was discussed but the secretary for administration can come up with additions," said Mupereri.In terms of its constitution, an extraordinary session of congress may be convened whenever it is deemed necessary and at the instance of the majority of the members of the central committee or the president and first secretary.It can also be held at the instance of not less than one third of members of its policy-making organ - the Central Committee - or its president. Alternatively, it can be convened at the instance of at least five provincial executive councils by resolutions to that effect.On receipt of a resolution requesting an extraordinary session of congress, Mugabe will have to forward the same to the secretary for administration who, in this case, is Ignatius Chombo - now the Finance minister.Upon receipt of the said resolution, the secretary for administration shall give at least six weeks' notice, convening an extraordinary session of congress. At this instance, the central committee will formulate the necessary procedures for the execution of the business of the special session of congress.Three-quarters of the members of congress shall form a quorum for the convening of the session.War veterans who have been consistently loyal to Mnangagwa view the oncoming congress as meant to humiliate Mnangagwa, their godfather.Across the provinces, war veterans who boast of working with the military, are already mobilising for the congress to derail plans to jettison Mnangagwa from his position.According to the Mashonaland Central province chapter of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (Znlwva), the former freedom fighters will not stand aside and watch while Mnangagwa is being stampeded to the exit."War veterans are concerned with the ongoing fights in the party, Zanu-PF, particularly the proposed extraordinary congress," said Sam Parirenyatwa of the Mashonaland Central chapter of Znlwva."Typically, the party is a people-driven, people-oriented institution, where decisions are made by the people and for the people. Leadership simply provide the means to the process to assist the people realise their needs, not to assist themselves (leaders)," he said.Parirenyatwa said ordering provinces to tweak the constitution goes against traditional practices of the ruling party and will be resisted."Zanu is characterised by the bottom-up approach, not the up-to-bottom approach that we are currently witnessing. Only in emergency situations do we have the up-bottom approach. One wonders therefore as to what the emergency is all about," he said."It goes to show that there are some nasty ulterior motives. If it is the change in leadership, there is a Zanu-PF way of doing it - the same way we elected the current president . . . As war veterans, we shall not stand arms akimbo while neglecting our constitutional rights as the custodians of the party. We will not allow that to happen. Not in our times and beyond," said Parirenyatwa.Analysts say Mnangagwa was now being hoisted by his own petard after he amended the party's constitution in 2014 to get rid of his predecessor, Joice Mujuru, who was fired from Zanu-PF and government for plotting to unseat Mugabe.Ironically, Mnangagwa now faces the same charges. The coronation is imminent. In a fixed internal Congress election, Rahul Gandhi will soon be chosen unopposed as the next Congress president. That will make him the fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty since 1947 to head the Congress. If this is not cringe worthy enough in making a mockery of democracy, Congress leaders show no sign of embarrassment. As pioneers of dynastic politics they are actually proud that other families have followed in their footsteps: the Pawars, Thackerays, Abdullahs, Karunanidhis, Yadavs, Patnaiks, and even several NDA allies like the Naidus, Paswans and Muftis. Dynasts Congress leaders smugly point to the scattered political dynasts in the BJP itself, ranging from Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje to ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet whose fathers were ministers or MPs. While the scale and numbers of BJP dynasts are much smaller, the principle applies equally to them: dynastic politics is bad in principle and damaging in practice. The worlds most advanced countries have long rejected political dynasty. There are no Churchill, de Gaulle, Thatcher or Kennedy dynasties. Two of the most reviled politicians in the United States today, President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are deeply unpopular at least partly because they are either products of a dynasty (Clinton) or brazenly promote assorted members of their family (Trump). Apologists for dynastic politics argue that Indias dynasts are democratically elected and therefore legitimate, unlike dynasts in dictatorships or feudal sheikhdoms. This argument is disingenuous. India has a longstanding culture of feudalism. Deep-rooted poverty gives family-backed politicians an electoral advantage. Indian dynasts use this advantage to ruthless effect, severely limiting the democratic choice available to voters. Culture and poverty collide to create a fertile breeding ground for feudalism. Other South Asian countries with similar cultural histories like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal also suffer large economic inequalities a common feature in dynasty-led countries. In India even supposedly rational political leaders bow deferentially before dynasty. In former President Pranab Mukherjees new book, The Coalition Years: 1996 to 2012, launched last week, he writes, bereft of a trace of embarrassment: I returned with a vague impression that she (Sonia Gandhi) might wish to consider Manmohan Singh as the UPA presidential nominee. I thought that if she selected Singh for the presidential office, she may choose me as the prime minister. I had heard a rumour that she had given this formulation serious thought while on a holiday in the Kaushambi Hills. Note Mukherjees plaintive, hopeful words: She may choose me as the prime minister. Sonia Gandhi, who had never held a constitutional office before appointing herself Congress party president in 1998 by railroading Sitaram Kesri, chose prime ministers while Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh looked meekly and obediently on. It is this sycophantic party Rahul Gandhi will inherit in the coming days. The idea is to give Rahul a year to establish his authority over the old guard (many of whom will deservedly be sidelined) and put together a cohesive campaign for the raft of state elections scheduled for 2018 before the Lok Sabha poll in April-May 2019. Campaign Apart from an unscheduled visit to a ladies bathroom, Rahuls campaign swing across Gujarat last week was largely gaffe-free. Despite the Patidar factor and distress among farmers, the BJP is likely to win the Gujarat assembly election, though it will need hard, no-holds-barred campaigning by Modi himself. Rahuls minders know this and are trying to cut the BJPs victory margin to just over 100 seats in the 182-seat assembly in order to change the mood in the four big states that really matter: Karnataka (which goes to the polls in April 2018) and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (December 2018). If Rahul can keep the BJPs victory margin in Gujarat below the 2012 figure of 115, the Congress has a good chance of springing a surprise in, especially, Rajasthan where anti-incumbency against Vasundhara Raje is building. Statement Rahul must also get credit for a statement he made in Gujarat which has been little noticed. Countering BJP president Amit Shahs Congress-mukt Bharat war cry, Rahul said he doesnt want a BJP mukt Bharat because India needs strong representation for people who support the BJP. He is of course right. The last thing India needs is a one-party rule. We have had enough of the Congress unbroken 30-year rule from 1947 to 1977 (and overall for 55 of Indias 70 independent years) to not want any other party, the BJP included, to create a similar political monopoly in future. In a democracy, the only thing worse than dynasty is a monopoly. Can the Congress provide the BJP with the two-party contest Indian democracy needs? Not until it changes its dynastic DNA. Rahul may have perfectly good intentions. But if he really cares about his party and his country, he must democratise the Congress and de-link his family from it. That may alarm party loyalists who regard the Gandhis as the glue that holds the party together and ensures their own political longevity. But parties are resilient. The Congress will recover from a Gandhi-mukt future. With real internal reform, it could pose a challenge to the BJP in 2024. Despite losing ground in urban India, Modi has enough momentum to carry the NDA to victory in 2019. But 2024 will be an entirely different matter. It will be the most open election in a generation. News / National by Staff reporter ZANU-PF legislator Joseph Chinotimba has challenged government to explain why it still subjected citizens to Rhodesian style forms of oppression through pegging fuel prices at far higher prices than those obtaining in neighbouring countries.Speaking during Wednesday's question and answer session in Parliament, the Zanu PF MP said that fuel used in Zimbabwe was procured from the same source with that of used in Zambia but was ironically charged at more exorbitant prices locally.He demanded answers from Energy and Power Development Deputy Minister Tsitsi Muzenda."Madam Speaker, fuel that we use in Zimbabwe and Zambia is procured from the same place in Mozambique. It is procured from the same area. Zambian fuel passes through Zimbabwe and goes through Chirundu Border Post and when it is there, it costs 80 cents per litre. Mozambique sells fuel at 50 cents per litre. We need to understand. The Minister should explain to us. If they are failing to manage, they should give the Minister of Finance and Economic Development because they regulated this."It is not proper to say it is taxes because Zambia that passes through our place when transporting their fuel sells their fuel at 80 cents, yet we are paying $1.36 per litre. A liberated country like us, we should be enlightened as to why our fuel is so expensive. We are in a liberated zone and country and we also have liberated Ministers. They are not in Rhodesia. The question that was asked by the Hon. Member was that why is it that our goods in Zimbabwe are expensive? Are we in Rhodesia?"In her response, Muzenda stuck to her explanation fuel prices were determined by taxes charged locally."It is true that fuel that goes to Zambia, that comes here and that which is taken to other nations is procured at the same place. Like I said, the issue of Government taxes is not for my Ministry. That is a mandate of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development." With the backing of the local chapter of the NAACP and a bipartisan coalition of area residents, an outspoken, longtime Charlottesville resident is pushing for the city to rename a downtown park for a second time before the end of the year. Mary Carey is circulating a petition calling on the City Council to change the name of Emancipation Park, which previously was named Lee Park, for the statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee located in its center. In a boisterous speech to the council on Monday, Carey told Councilor Kristin Szakos that she wants the name changed before her second and final term in office is over. Just because youre the senior member of the City Council doesnt mean your word means anything. You have stabbed black people in the back for years, Carey said. Youve got so many in here in this room who think youre all right, but youre not all right. Last week, Carey and members of the Unity Coalition for Charlottesville Dialogue, a group recently created by former Albemarle County Board of Supervisors candidate Lawrence Gaughan, held a news conference to promote the petition. Members of the coalition include former Democratic city Mayor Dave Norris, Republican activist Elliott Harding, conservative radio host Joe Thomas and Don Gathers, a social justice activist. The council unanimously voted to rename the park In June, several months after it voted to remove the Lee statue, a decision that remains contested in court. Jackson Park, which holds a statute of Confederate Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson, was renamed Justice Park. Last month, a Charlottesville circuit judge ruled that the city can keep the Emancipation Park name despite objections from the plaintiffs in the statue lawsuit. Harding is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case. Carey said she has more than 200 online signatures and 600 written signatures on her petition, which claims that the name Emancipation Park is not acceptable because it hearkens back to slavery. The park name is disrespectful and thoughtless, and also shows a lack of care for people of color, her petition says. How can oppressed people heal when they are constantly being reminded of the past in an insensitive manner? At Monday nights meeting, Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP President Janette B. Martin addressed the council, saying the group wanted to go on the record to say we support changing the name of Emancipation Park to a more appropriate name. Martin said the NAACP thinks the city should be transparent in how it approaches engaging the community in soliciting and adopting a new name for the park. After the council decided in February that it wanted to rename the two parks, the city solicited suggestions for names from the public. Of the more than 2,600 name suggestions that were submitted to the city in the online survey, approximately 2,200 included Lee or Jackson. Despite that, the citys Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Historic Resources Committee weighed other name recommendations and eventually submitted several recommendations to the council. For Lee Park: Monacan Park, Sally Hemings Park, Vinegar Hill Park, Unity Park, Freedom Park, Library Park and Market Street Park. For Jackson Park: Court Square/Courthouse Park, Sally Hemings Park, 13th Amendment Park, Freedom Park, McKee Park, Unity Park and Justice Park. According to a city-provided master list of the names recommended to the city, Emancipation Park was not recommended from the public. In a statement made on her Facebook account earlier this month, Szakos said community members suggested the name to her and Councilor Wes Bellamy last spring, and added that other people they talked to about the name seemed to support it more than any other suggestion. Szakos said she and others think the name is appropriate because it celebrates the defeat of the Confederacy, which was fighting to maintain slavery as an institution, and directly confronts the Lee statue in the park. She said Emancipation Park was inadvertently left off a list of names recommended by the public that was sent to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Historic Resources Committee for their consideration. I pointed out this oversight right away, but it was still not considered in their deliberations. That is why we brought it back up when council came to vote on the name, Szakos said. The name Emancipation Park was approved unanimously because all of us had been hearing widespread support of it in the community. News / National by Staff Reporter 251 elephants have been killed due to cyanide poisoning since 2013 as the country continues to battle with the worrying scourge of poaching which is threatening Zimbabwe's wildlife heritage.The revelations follow the recent killing of 13 elephants at Masikili communal area in Hwange.Between January to October this year, 42 elephants have died as a result of cyanide poisoning, while a total of 429 arrests were made.A recent study on the poaching trends in protected areas on the Zimbabwean side of KAZA points to a gloomy outlook with poaching projected to worsen as the operational tactics of poachers are becoming more sophisticated and complex.Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority Public Relations Manager, Mr Tinashe Farawo said the worrying figures should motivate all stakeholders involved in the anti-poaching drive to double their efforts.Since 2013, 900 jumbos have succumbed to poaching, and experts said this is negative to both the wildlife and tourism sectors."The wildlife sector has several multiplier effects that have to a huge extent resulted in economic development of the country but what is happening now is affecting the perception of the sector locally and globally. Poaching is really dealing a huge blow in terms of the value for the wild life resources, while posing a threat on the ability of the tourism sector to generate more wealth," said Mr Emmanuel Fundira, Safari Operators Association Of Zimbabwe President."The depletion of wildlife due to poaching is worrying if we consider its negative impact on yearly tourism receipts," Association of Zimbabwe Travel Agencies Vice President, Mr Ignatious Matungamire said.With rampant poaching emerging as a key concern, the vile emits a bad marketing vibe on destination Zimbabwe hence the need to urgently formulate workable policies to stamp out the illicit activities.Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Brigadier General Augustine Chipwere and Matabeleland North ZRP Spokesperson, Inspector Siphiwe Makonese concurred that communities must take a lead in the conservation efforts and the preservation of the country wildlife heritage.The sentiments were also shared by conservationists in the affected areas."The poachers live within our communities as has been made evident in the anti-stock theft campaigns. We have involved our communities in anti-stock theft whether one have cattle or not. So this can be a way to go in the fight against poaching," a wildlife conservationist, Mr Victor Sibanda said.Another conservationist, Mr Clement Mukwasi said the processing of trophies into finished products for both exports and domestic sales can have a huge impact in reducing revenue loss and creating employment."ZIMASSET points to the importance of value addition and the hunting sector is no different. Instead of just selling hunting quotas to hunters from all over the world what we should also focus on as a country is to do processing locally, set up industries that are going to process the tusks and hides into finished goods. We want to produce necklaces and various artifacts here which then go out and fetch higher prices abroad. This is going to create employment and reduce," he said.Chairperson of the Hwange-Gwayi-Dete Conservancy and Tourism Association Mr Langton Masunda said human wildlife conflict is also contributing to poaching cases, adding that since elephants are over-populated at Hwange National Park, systematic culling will slow down the movement of wildlife into communities.The government has crafted a human-wildlife compensation fund to cushion those that will fall victims to wild animals in the form of injury, death, property damage and livestock loss. Beverly McNeill has been involved with the preservation of Historic Stagville, a former plantation near Durham, North Carolina, for more than 15 years, but she has now started participating in a different type of living history and re-enactment. On Wednesday, she traveled from Durham to the Grounds of the University of Virginia to participate in a campout at the site of former slave quarters. Sleeping where slaves used to stay brings home the impact of slavery on her ancestors, McNeill said. Its so important for people to understand the impact of our history and how were dealing with the residue of it, she said. Some people ask her if shes scared, and some ask her if the pain of slavery is too great, but McNeill said she feels neither fear nor pain. Shes honored and encouraged, she said, to feel a small piece of the resilience her ancestors must have had. McNeill and about 50 other participants, wearing sweatshirts and wool caps to protect against the oncoming October chill, gathered Wednesday evening at the Lawn to participate in the Slave Dwelling Project, an initiative started by Joseph McGill in 2010. It was my intent that first year to just go within the state of South Carolina, where my limited resources would allow me to go, he said, describing the first few nights alone. But then, others started to join me. McGill estimates that he now has slept in more than 100 buildings, ranging from whitewashed cabins to cramped cells. On Wednesday night, the group slept in and around McGuffey Cottage, a small building by Pavilion IX. The cottage is one of the few remaining buildings on Grounds where slaves worked and lived. McGills goal with the project, he said, is similar to his goal as a re-enactor for the 54th Massachusetts, a black Civil War unit, which is to save buildings and the history they contain before the wood and brick decays entirely. Were here to counter the hate, he said. Were here to let people know that we are a nation thats proud of our history and proud of our diversity. Brendan Nigro, a third-year history major, chairs the University Guide Service, one of the first groups at UVa to begin researching and pushing for more public inclusion of the history of slavery. This is in no way an easy time to be a UVa student, but it is an important one, because UVa is participating in a national dialogue to grapple with our history, Nigro said. Nigro described learning about some of UVas history, such as the slaves who made the bricks for the Rotunda, the damp and unventilated basement quarters and the triumph of William and Isabella Gibbons. They were born into slavery in Albemarle County, worked at the university and somehow, though this was not really allowed, learned how to read, said Nigro. In many ways, this is the ideal of Jefferson that people would attain knowledge here but it would have never occurred to him that that could be true of William and Isabella Gibbons. Michael Swanberg, an assistant professor at the UVa School of Nursing, said he attended the sleep-in to try and gain a deeper historical understanding of minority communities in Charlottesville, which will benefit his work at the hospital. As a nurse, I am interested in health disparities in the Charlottesville community, he said. Knowing the deep history of the community helps me tailor nursing interventions specific to our community. The project is part of a symposium hosted by the Presidents Commission on Slavery and the University, which was formed in 2013 to research and raise awareness of the enslaved workers at UVa. The symposium continues through Saturday. Opinion / Columnist "As we approach the do or die 2018 election watershed, the people are calling for a free and fair election which will usher a legitimately elected government of the people," wrote Leonard Koni.You are right is saying the people are "calling for free and fair elections which will usher a legitimately elected government." What makes the elections "do or die" is this very key point are they free and fair. If the elections are not free and fair we are going to sink deeper and deeper into trouble."Some have argued that this election is predetermined and they find no reason to go and register to vote. This is the duty of the opposition to break this jinks and embark on a nationwide campaign to encourage voters to register," you continued.You clearly did not appreciate the importance of the elections must be free and fair because if you did you would know by now that the opposition have done nothing to implement the democratic reforms necessary to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. With not even one democratic reform in place there is no doubt that Zanu PF will rig next year's elections just as the party has done so many times in the past. Without even one democratic reform in place it is utterly pointless to take part in an election process one knows already will not be free and fair.It is not for the opposition to encourage the people to register to vote when they have done absolutely nothing to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible.Indeed, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had many golden opportunities to implement all the democratic reforms necessary to guarantee free and fair elections during the GNU. SADC leaders did their best to remind MDC leaders to implement the reforms. Sadly, MDC leaders paid no heed, they failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years of the GNU. NOT ONE!SADC leaders step in once again to try and save Zimbabwe from making the mistake of going through yet another futile electoral process whose results is a predetermine Zanu PF landslide victory and warned MDC leaders not to contest the 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first."If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!" SADC warned MDC leaders at the Maputo summit in June 2013.David Coltart, an MDC cabinet member in the GNU, explained why MDC leaders paid no heed to the SADC leaders' warning and contested the flawed 2013 elections."The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious withdraw from the elections," explained Senator Coltart."The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."We now know that Coltart was only telling the half of it because the three main MDC factions have since come together to form the MDC Alliance and yet they are all keen as mustard to contest next year's elections regardless of the reality on the ground that not even one reform has been implemented.There is growing evidence already that Zanu PF is rigging next year's election. The regime has dragged its feet over the BVR exercise, there is no way, ZEC will produce a verified voters' roll in time for the elections. There are complains of ZEC officials turning at 13.00, take two hours to registering one vote although the nation was assure the process takes five minutes, etc., etc.Those people who are arguing the people to register to vote regardless of all the evidence the elections will not be free, fair and credible because not even one democratic reform was implemented, it is clear there will be no verified voters' roll, etc. are missing the point completely. Participating in the elections is, like everything in life, subject to some minimum conditions being met and guaranteed.People should participate in the election only if the elections are free, fair and credible; if the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote are implemented, there is a verified voters' roll, etc.If the people participate in flawed elections then what incentive is there for Zanu PF to implement even one reform?By participating in flawed election, especially when they knew the process is flawed and illegal and had the opportunity to boycott it, the people are giving the process credibility.After 37 years of rigged elections, it is insane to have anything at all; be it encourage others to register to vote, registering as a voter, attending any rally, anything; that can be misconstrued as participating or approving this mockery of an election. No thinking Zimbabwean should have anything to do with next year's election; people must demand the implementation of the reforms before the elections, anything else is a waste of time, money and energy!If the people of Zimbabwe had not discarded their thinking caps the country would not be in this economic and political mess. There have been many opportunities to end the Mugabe dictatorship in the last 37 years; we wasted them all because we were not thinking. Right now, many are Zimbabweans are taking part in these flawed elections because MDC leaders told them the party has "Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies." Only someone who has taken leave of their sense would fall for such nonsense!Registering to vote in an election whose result is already predetermined just to give the process credibility is insane. Ask yourself, as any thinking person would, why should you listen to what MDC leaders want you to do, when it was them who failed to implement the reforms to ensure free and fair elections! Opinion / Columnist Enos Denhere is an Zimbabwean entrepreneur and country representative & ambassador Africa Trade & Investment global summit (ATIGS) | conference & trade show 2018. You can reach me on my email enosdenhere@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/enos-denhere-11293429/ www.enosden.wordpress.com like my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/letstalkafricaforgood The Chinese bamboo is an amazing tree , it's seed stays underground for 5 years without germinating but when it does, it grows 50feet in 1 week.What is important is not how long it delays but how fast it grows.Don't give up on your dreams on Africa no matter how long it stays underground. It's a matter of time, you need the staying power. The Chinese bamboo seed lies underground waiting for the right time to shoot out. Africa once dubbed the black continent is starting emitting light arrays. No situation is permanent. Africa needs the citizens to focus on future generations. Who is going to stand up and say I am ready to rebuild Africa?.Previously, Africa has been failing to realize economic growth, this was mainly caused by the in access to information by Africans who are supposed to effectively take part in their economies. Now an average African can access vital economic information through the increased use of technology in economic and business affairs. This has closed the gap between the African economies and the rest of the world.Ten years ago , it was almost impossible for an ordinary African to communicate with rest of the world. These ordinary citizens are now empowered and have become the drive of the economy, without a doubt such a massive economic participation by ordinary citizens is a guarantee of a massive economic turn around in Africa. His Excellence Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda,once said," In Africa today, we recognize that trade and investments and not aid are major pillars of development." Ordinary Africans have for long been seen as people in need of donations, this was mainly because of passive economic participation. However, people in Africa are now active in economics, they are now entrepreneurs instead of charity cases, this therefore rightfully supports and explains what Kagame meant when he said the above.The way to go is to believe in our capability strategies of economic growth.Before laying the foundation ,first key to unlock is to believe. The Group Chief Executive ,Old Mutual Julian Roberts said ," We wouldn't be investing as much in the rest of Africa , If we didn't believe . Africa is going to be success story in the next few decades."It's true Africa will face economic difficulties here and there , but like every other economy in the world it will recover and still grow."I have investments in 21 countries and despite the dwindling commodity prices and all the concerns being raised by the world my investment in Africa have not be dwindled", said Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings.You can create a generational legacy by being part of Africa during it's economic turn around . Aliko Dangote, President and CEO, Dangote Group and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum On Africa vowed that," Africa is the fastest- growing economic region in the world.This is the right place to invest." Be part of this movement, invest in Africa and be part of it's emerging legacy. Opinion / Columnist Today is 19 October 2017, and President Robert Mugabe, whom false prophet, Patrick Phillip Mugadza, 'prophesied' would die on 17 October 2017, is as fit as a fiddle and attending a World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting in Uruguay. In a futile bid to save face, Mugadza, realising that his lies were about to be exposed stupidly claimed that God had postponed the supposed death to a later unspecified date.Prophets earn the society's respect through their works. In Zimbabwe, the title, prophet, has become synonymous with wealth and fame. The fame lies in their prophecies, which are highly sought after, especially in these times of economic challenges. They are also highly regarded for dispensing advice which is believed to bring prosperity among their followers. This is the general profile of a typical prophet who is regarded as genuine and successful in Zimbabwe.The flip side is that the self-appointed "prophet" who seeks the people's attention through out-of-this-world stunts and incredible claims. Since being a prophet became popular a few years ago, Zimbabwe has seen a surfeit of mostly fake prophets. One such "prophet" is Mugadza.One of the false prophets' traits is their penchant for things or people who they think will attract them fame. Realising that he was getting nowhere with his unknown church, Mugadza decided to go for President Mugabe in the vain hope of getting fame. He hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons in December 2015, during the ZANU PF People's Conference at Victoria Falls when he was arrested for staging a one-man demonstration against President Robert Mugabe's alleged misrule.Seven months down the line he called for a 40-day anti-Mugabe prayer which was held at the Africa Unity Square in Harare as part of his "Mugabe must go" campaign. He sat in the park daily before the prayers which were held between 1700 and 1800hours. At one point he chained himself to the metal rails around the Africa Unity Square as part of his one-man demonstration against President Mugabe.Mugadza outdid himself in January 2017 when he told the online paper, Zimbabwe Mail that President Mugabe would die on 17 October 2017. A few days before the scheduled death day and facing an imminent embarrassment as the President exhibited no signs of ill-health and went about his duties, Mugadza issued another "word from God" this time around announcing that God had put off the President's "death" to an unspecified date.Another "prophet" who perfectly fits the profile of a Zimbabwean phoney prophet is the controversial Talent Madungwe who has made wild claims such as possessing God's mobile phone number, wrestling and overpowering Him, as well as braaing with him. The name of his church, Exile Desire of All Nations Ministries, whatever it means, indicates a person who is trying to impress any potential follower with a sophisticated looking name. This is a desperate attempt at making up for his lack of a genuine prophetic gift by using a high sounding church name.Madungwe recently "broke new ground" by distributing, through the Whatsapp platform, an advertisement, claiming to have added to his impressive repertoire of "qualifications" by adding medicine. "Greater than doctors," shouts the headline of the advert in which he claims to treat life-threatening diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS adding that he received his "medical training" in heaven.Even those prophets, who have attained international acclaim such as the Nigerian, Temitope Balogun Joshua can also slide into the mould of false prophets when he "divined" that the United States of America's Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, would trounce her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump during the 2016 American presidential elections. Even the international mainstream media was tipping Clinton to win but the results demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, Joshua was no different from your common village diviner after all.Such as is the portrait of a fake prophet. Those who are convinced or are feeling the itch to follow and listen to them should do so fully aware of the tricks of these politico-religious con artists. Preparing teens for their futures with soft skills Businesses of every size and industry continue to identify labor shortages as a top challenge across the country and... Where to find non-partisan ballot information Thank you for your non-biased bullet points explaining the three state ballot proposals in "A look at the three state... Mumbai: Search engine giant Google has emerged as the most authentic brand in the country, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple, according to New York-based global communications firm Cohn & Wolfe. Sony, YouTube, BMW, Mercedes Benz and British Airways are the other brands to feature in the top 10. The communications firm, part of WPP group, noted that Indian consumers are becoming more positive in their perceptions of brand authenticity. About 67 per cent of Indian consumers are more likely to buy from brands perceived as authentic, it said in its 2017 Authentic Brands Study for India, a part of a global consumer survey on the role of authenticity in business. It observed that in India, 37 per cent of respondents perceived brands to be open and honest compared to a global average of 22 per cent. Similarly, 38 per cent of consumers surveyed in India agreed that brands take full responsibility for their actions, compared to the global average of 25 per cent. "Brands that behave and communicate with authenticity will build better relationships with customers and deliver improved user experiences. To differentiate their offerings and grow market share, our research shows that brands in India need to focus on the three drivers of authenticity reliable, respectful and real," Cohn & Wolfe Asia Pacific President Matt Stafford said. E-commerce giant Amazon is ranked as the world's most authentic brand, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Google and PayPal. Technology brands comprise 70 per cent of the top 10 most authentic global brands. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary research, including surveys on more than 1,400 brands conducted in May and June this year, with over 15,000 respondents in 15 markets -- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The site where Navi Mumbai International Airport will be built. (Photo: AFP) Mumbai: Hyderabad-based GVK has won bids to develop the much awaited Navi Mumbai International Airport that falls in the jurisdiction of City and Industrial Development Corporation, CIDCO. CIDCO will bear the pre-development cost of the project, according to a report in The Financial Express. GVK that has built Mumbai's international airport has businesses in such diverse sectors as energy, resources and hospitality among others. The Navi Mumbai International Airport project has been monitored by a chief secretary led panel Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee formed by the Maharashtra government. The Rs 16,000 crore project will be executed by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which won the contract in February 2017. MIAL is a Joint Venture between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the GVK Industries Ltd led consortium. City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is the nodal government agency for the project which will be built through publicprivate partnership (PPP) on a 'design, build, finance, operate and transfer' (DBFOT) basis. MIAL will hold 74 per cent equity in the airport with the AAI and CIDCO each holding 13 per cent. Source: Wikipedia The PMIC headed by Sumit Malik has also recommended the GVK led Mumbai International Airport Limited's bid to the state Cabinet for final approval. Once the GVK gets Cabinet nod, CIDCO will issue Letter of Intent to developer company MIAL. "The award of the LoI will be an important step in taking the project forward, which has been dogged by inordinate delays since its conception about two decades ago," FE report said. MIAL submitted its bid in February with an offer of 12.6 per cent revenue to CIDCO, state government's extended arm that was formed as town planning authority for Navi Mumbai before local civic body came into being. GMR was the only other bidder. Bhushan Gagrani, vice-chairman and managing director, CIDCO, told FE the pre-development work had already begun at the airport site. We will be spending Rs 2,000 crore in this financial year itself on pre-development works," he added. Mumbai: Tamil Nadu government headed by chief minister K Palaniswami on October 11 accepted recommendations on salary hike drawn out by the 7th Pay Commission. With this move, the state government has raised remuneration of its employees by manifold sending out a strong message that it was a pro-people government. As many as 12 lakh government employees in the state will benefit from the decision. Palaniswami while giving details about the state's move said his government will incur an additional Rs 14, 719 on implementation of the 7th pay Commission report. A report in the Financial Express said, "The new wage structure was arrived at using the 2.57 multiplication factor followed by the central government." Here is a detailed account explaining how much compensation the state government employees would get under 7th Pay Commission. Benefits As many as 12 lakh Tamil nadu government employees will be considered for pay hike as the state accepts proposals of 7th Pay Commission. Minimum wage has been revised to Rs 15,700 from earlier Rs 6,100 which is a handsome hike. Maximum wage has been fixed at whopping Rs 2.5 lakh from earlier Rs 77,000. Hike in a number of allowances that include House Rent Allowance, HRA, has been more than previous raises. Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami informed saying, The 2.57 multiplication factor had been used to revise pension/family pension, which will be Rs 7,850. The decision would benefit seven lakh pensioners." Maximum pension would be Rs 1,12,500 and family pension would be Rs 67,500, CM said. The ceiling on gratuity at the time of retirement had been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, Palaniswami further said. - T. S. Eliot Thoughts After Lambeth "The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide." Mumbai: Ranbir Kapoor and Mahira Khans pictures from New York, where they were seen smoking together, were the talk of the town, sparking rumours of the actors being a couple. The pictures went viral in late September despite it being taken few months ago when Ranbir was shooting in the city for Sanjay Dutt biopic. The Pakistani actress was shamed for wearing a short dress and smoking, following which numerous celebrities like Varun Dhawan, Parineeti Chopra and Ali Fazal, among lent words of support for her. While Ranbir had reacted immediately when the pictures went viral by saying that Mahira was being unfairly judged and concluding with a cheeky response 'both smoking and hate are injurious to health', Mahira had kept mum on the pictures for too long. The actress had only briefly gone off social media to free herself from the negativity only to return some days later. Mahira has now finally reacted to the controversy surrounding the pictures while talking to a news channel during the promotions of her film Verna. I am a very careful person otherwise. People ask me that I do not do this in films (perhaps referring to smoking), I say I do not want to. Why should I do anything to show the world? Mahira told Samaa TV. She added, It is my personal life and it is very normal for a boy and girl to hang out. She also took a dig at paparazzi culture by saying, Nowadays, media is not only present at events but everywhere. So, I have learnt from it (the incident). It would now be interesting to see if the two actors ever meet again, considering both their interactions, one in Dubai and this in London have made headlines. Mumbai: Dileep might have had a brief respite in the sensational Malayalam actress assault case, with his bail materialising a good 85 days down the line and his most recent and very controversial release, Ramaleela, working well at the box-office. The actor has also been supported by some serious goodwill and support from his immensely loyal fans and even industry insiders. However, this phase very well might be short-lived, as the actor is all poised to be named first accused in the high-profile case, above current accused Pulsar Suni. Dileep, whos eleventh accused in the case at the moment, is believed to have been the mastermind behind the crime, and triggered by alleged personal vendetta. Reportedly, the PM's office has directed that the case must now be investigated by the Chief Secretary. This development is allegedly after a FEFKA member, Saleem, approached the PM, asking for his intervention to get justice o Dileep. The high court had imposed many restrictions on Dileep, severely warning him against trying to influence witnesses or tampering evidence. Main accused Pulsar Suni is still in the custody of the state police. The incident had occurred on February 17, when the actress was traveling to Kochi from her house in Thrissur. A gang had followed her in a tempo traveler and hit her vehicle from behind when it reached Athani near Nedumbassery. The gang members then reportedly entered her car by force and assaulted her inside the moving vehicle over the next three hours. They are said to have clicked and recorded invasive and objectionable pictures of the actress. The Special Investigation Team had reported that Dileep was in possession of the explicit content. Dileep is expected to resume work on his stalled film 'Kammara Sambhavam,' soon. Crying activates the the parasympathetic nervous system in the body to signal to the glands in the eyes to release tears. (Photo: Pixabay) While people who cry are looked down upon as being weak or too emotional, experts insist that there actually some unexpected health benefits for people who cry often. These include lower stress levels, a decrease of toxins in body and greater emotional awareness. Firstly, crying activates the the parasympathetic nervous system in the body to signal to the glands in the eyes to release tears. Once the emotional purgation is over the body is able to slow down its breathing and heart rate to a more controlled pace. This entire experience sends a positive release throughout the body and gives off the feeling of relief for the person. According to a study conducted by the University of South Florida, almost everyone in the study felt better after a crying session. The researchers also found that personality also played a role into who was more likely to enjoy their crying session. Secondly, human tears contain stress hormone ACTH. who have higher levels of ACTH in their body are at risk of developing Addison's disease. This disease can cause extreme fatigue, low blood sugar levels and depression. Crying flushes ACTH from the body, which can then make the person feel calmer. Furthermore, tears also contain the hormone prolactin which is found in both genders during moments of sexual gratification and interpersonal connections. When someone cries, this hormone is released in the body to help give off the soothing and calming feeling that people feel afterwards. Thirdly, animals cry in order to clear their tear ducts from any debris. However, humans have a different reason to shed tears. Research says that they are the only living organism on the planet who cries because of how they are feeling. By allowing the body to tap into emotions of sadness, it can also become more aware of other feelings such as happiness, relief and gratitude. Fourthly, Allowing oneself to cry can release tension that has built up in the body. Experimental psychologist Alex Goetz, who founded leading health risk management company General Health Inc, said: 'Emotional tears, shed in moments of intense feeling, carry stress hormones and are a way of getting rid of them. Experts have found that the majority of people who cry immediately feel more relaxed after they are done. Finally, being open with emotions towards others can help improve relationships and allow for them to also show how they are feeling. Certain businesses in Japan and the UK have capitalized on having areas where people can openly express their sadness. 'Crying clubs' are spaces where people can go and connect with their emotions without feeling shame. The killing of a government employee in Kandhamal district on Sunday and reported movement of rebels in Narasinghpur jungle of Cuttack district have come as a major headache for the state police. Bhubaneswar: After a brief lull, Maoists seem to be regrouping in various pockets of Odisha. The killing of a government employee in Kandhamal district on Sunday and reported movement of rebels in Narasinghpur jungle of Cuttack district have come as a major headache for the state police. While rebel activities were confined to south Odisha districts of Malkangiri, the movement in Kandhamal, a central part of the state and coastal Cuttack district, has posed new challenge for the police. Reports on Wednesday said at least 10 armed rebels were seen by villagers in Narasinghpur forest under Athagarh sub-division. We have got information that at least 10 rebels were sighted in Narasinghpur area and we are verifying the fact, said inspector general (IG) Soumendra Priyadarshi. On Sunday, the rebels belonging to Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagavali division had killed a Gaon Sathi (a village level government worker) of Durgapanga village in Kandhamal district after holding him in captivity for two days. The rebels said Gaon Sathi Basant Bhatta was killed as he was working as police informer. For the last three years, Kandhamal had recorded no Maoist violence while this is for the first time rebels were sighted in Cuttack district, close to capital city Bhubaneswar. Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, has been taking potshots at the AIADMK government, describing it as dengue regime. (Photo: File) Chennai: DMK, on Thursday, alleged that the ruling AIADMK was not disclosing the actual deaths due to dengue in the state since it is "high". "Since those who were affected by dengue and the number of people who died due to it is high, they (the State government) are not disclosing the details and hiding the truth," DMK working president M K Stalin said in Chennai. Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, has been taking potshots at the AIADMK government, describing it as "dengue regime," while alleging inaction on the issue. "I have already said that the dengue problem will be over only if the dengue regime is out," he said. Chief Minister K Palanisamy recently slammed Stalin for his remarks alleging that he was levelling such allegations "wantonly in a planned fashion," and doing it to "denigrate this government." Palanisamy had also said the state government was working in full swing to halt the spread of dengue and eradicate it besides hitting out at the DMK for seeking to politicise the issue. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar had said, on Wednesday, that dengue will be eradicated within 15 days. He had also warned against spreading rumours in social media about "Nilavembu Kudineer," a concoction of neem to fight fever. He had said Nilavembu is a proven medicine and test results made at State-run King Institute in Chennai had revealed that the traditional drink leads to increase in immunity. AIADMK government has been facing flak from opposition parties on the dengue issue. Recently, a team was deputed by the Centre to study the situation in the state. Central team member and professor of medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Ashutosh Biswas had said 40 deaths since January due to dengue was "minimal". It had invited a sharp reaction from DMK which said the remark was "insulting" and "trivialising" the lives of the people of the state. The man, who hailed from a poor family, also alleged that he lost his child as the hospital staff refused to attend to the ailing girl. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Patna: In another horrific incident, a father of a 9-year-old girl who died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Patna on Tuesday was forced to ferry the body of her dead daughter due to unavailability of ambulance. With little money on him, he carried his daughter's body on his shoulder for nearly four km to an auto-rickshaw stand at Phulwari Sharif in Patna. The man, who hailed from a poor family, also alleged that he lost his child as the hospital staff refused to attend to the ailing girl. Raushan Kumari, suffering from high fever for six days, died allegedly near the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital. According to reports, the father of the girl Rambalak and his wife, residents of Kajra village in Lakhisarai district, brought their daughter to AIIMS, following which they were directed by the staff to get a registration card made at the OPD counter. The girl's condition started to deteriorate as her father waited in the queue to get the card. Rambalak pleaded with people in the queue to allow him to get the formalities completed out of turn but it fell on deaf ears. The helpless father then pleaded the clerk deployed at the counter, but was asked to come in queue. The hospital denied the claim made by the man. AIIMS Director Dr Prabhat K Singh said, "I am unable to understand what has happened. In fact nobody there came to know about it, how is it possible?" Dr Singh has cast aspersions on the aggrieved father saying "I doubt how the girl died. I wonder that if the man left after seeing the long queues in the hospital resulting in the death of the child." With inputs from agencies. In an affidavit, the state government informed the apex court that the state police is competent enough to investigate 'love jihad' crimes. (Representational Image) Kochi: All love marriages should not be termed as 'love-jihad'," observed the Kerala High Court, on Thursday, while hearing a petition with regard to an inter-religious marriage of Kannur-native Sruthi and Anees Hammed. The court further said that these kind of marriages should be encouraged as there is no boundary for love. The court allowed Sruthi to go with her husband while ruling the marriage as 'valid'. It was alleged that Sruthi was abducted by Anees Hameed, who forcefully converted her to Islam and married her under religious customs. On October 10 while hearing Hadiya's case, the High Court gave the same verdict that 'all inter-religious marriages cannot be termed love jihad'. Earlier on October 7, the Kerala Government told the Supreme Court that an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was not needed in the case as the state police was efficient enough to carry out the inquiry. In an affidavit, the state government informed the apex court that the state police is competent enough to investigate such crimes. Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, on Thursday, that on the auspicious occasion of Diwali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases that are pending, as she responded positively to a number of such requests by Pakistani nationals. To a request for a visa by a Pakistani woman named Amna Shamin, whose father is already in Delhi for treatment and she wants to visit him, Swaraj said, Please contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this. Pls contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this. https://t.co/AYYENKtf7E Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today, Swaraj tweeted. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 On Wednesday, she had directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue a visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. The childs father, Kashif, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif, the minister tweeted on Wednesday. The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 Kashif had said the childs medicines were about to finish and he needed immediate medical consultation in India. In another tweet, Swaraj said a medical visa has also been approved for a Pakistani woman, who wants to undergo liver surgery in India. The womans son, Rafique Memon, had requested Swaraj to intervene and grant visa to his mother. Swaraj also responded positively to a request for a visa by Nazir Ahmed, whose eight-year-old child Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting medical visa for a year. We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8-year-old child in India, she said. Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi: Continuing her humanitarian gesture, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. The child's father, Kashif Chacha, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. "The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif," the minister said on the micro-blogging site. The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 Kashif had said the child's medicines were about to finish and he needed immediate medical consultation in India. In another tweet, Swaraj said medical visa has also been approved to a Pakistani woman, who wants to undergo liver surgery in India. Maria - We have approved medical visa for @Rafique85380369 mother's liver surgery in India. https://t.co/cXf4EVSlef Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 Earlier, the woman's son, Rafique Memon, had requested Swaraj's intervention for granting visa to his mother. Swaraj also responded positively to a request by Nazir Ahmed that his eight-year-old child Mohammad Ahmed is awaiting medical visa for a year. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8 year old child in India," she said. Srinagar: Jawans of the Army lit up border in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate festival of lights, Diwali, on Thursday. Poonch has been witnessing a spike in ceasefire violations, but this did not dampen the spirit of the jawans to celebrate the festival who lit earthen lamps on the Line of Control (LoC) to mark the auspicious day. "Countrymen should celebrate Diwali with utmost joy. We are deployed here and are ready to reply to the enemy," a soldier said. #WATCH: Celebrating #Diwali near LoC in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch yesterday, army jawans danced and raised 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans pic.twitter.com/2iFYCIfmSY ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2017 Diwali, which is celebrated with great fervour and gaiety across India, marks the return Lord Ram, the King of Ayodhya in northern India, after his victory over demon king Ravana in distant Lanka, as well as the culmination of his 14-year-long exile. Lord Ram is widely regarded as the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Diwali is also celebrated to honour the Goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu deity of wealth and prosperity and consort of Lord Vishnu. It is believed that the Goddess Lakshmi blesses those homes that are clean and well lit. On Diwali, people illuminate their houses with coloured lights and earthen lamps Education Commissioner Candice McQueen released all of the 2017 district- and school-level TNReady results today (link), highlighting that high school students showed across-the-board growth in all subject areas. These scores are the first complete set of results for TNReady, which is a more rigorous assessment that is aligned to Tennessees academic standards, and follow the release of state-level results earlier this year for both grades 3-8 and high school. Because it was the first year of TNReady for elementary and middle school students, their results set a new baseline for future growth, and achievement scores cannot be compared to past TCAP assessments. This was the second year high school students completed TNReady. Overall, these results provide families and educators with better information about what students know and are able to do, so they can support students readiness for their next step in their education journey which is the goal of state assessments. We continue to be incredibly proud of the work our educators and students are doing each day, and TNReady provides us with one key feedback loop that we all can use to provide every student in Tennessee with a high-quality education, Commissioner McQueen said. These results show us both where we can learn from schools that are excelling and where we have specific schools or student groups that need better support to help them achieve success so they graduate from high school with the ability to choose their path in life. We are also particularly proud given what todays results represent: providing families and educators with better information about students performance so they can help them improve. Officials said, "Todays results are a key milestone in Tennessee education. In 2007, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave Tennessee an F for Truth in Advertising about students true reading and math abilities. At the time, there was a large disparity between what TCAP results showed which was that about 90% of students were proficient and what more rigorous benchmarks like the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) said, which was that only about 20-30% of Tennessee students were proficient. Nationally, Tennessee generally ranked among the bottom third of states in education achievement. "In response, Tennessee leaders and schools began improving academic standards, aligning state assessments to accurately reflect student achievement and growth, and strengthening accountability. Now, for the first time, our state test shows similar performance as exams like ACT and NAEP. Tennessee has improved its ranking on the Nations Report Card, including moving into the top 25 states in three areas. Additionally, Tennessee has improved from a 72.6% graduation rate in 2007 to 89.1% in 2017, among the top 10 states for graduation rate in the country." Officials said TNReady "was developed in an effort to improve and better align state tests to Tennessees academic standards, which outline what students are expected to know and be able to do in each grade or course." TNReady replaces the old TCAP test and has a particular focus on students' problem solving, critical thinking, and writing skills. With TNReady, families receive redesigned score reports that can help them understand their childs strengths and areas of improvement from a big-picture perspective, and educators receive reports that break down how well their students grasped each standard so they can improve their practice, it was stated. TNReady has four performance levels. For end-of-course exams, scores fall into the categories of mastered, on track, approaching, and below. For grades 3-8, the performance levels are mastered grade level, on grade level, approaching grade level, and below grade level. In each case, students who score in the top two categories are considered to be meeting or exceeding expectations. Complete state-, district-, and school-level results, including the new district- and school-level results released today, are available onTNReady.gov. State-level results from EOCs and grades 3-8 are also detailed in press releases from earlier this year. Additionally, today Commissioner McQueen will share the story of Tennessees education journey over the past decade with the State Board of Education at their quarterly meeting in Knoxville. You can view a livestream of that presentation here at 1:45 p.m. ET/12:45 p.m. CT. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is examining the process involved in creating the financial report for the 2016/17 business year Japans securities watchdog is investigating Toshiba Corps accounting practices for the last business year to see if it properly handled the losses incurred by its US nuclear unit Westinghouse, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is examining the process involved in creating the financial report for the 2016/17 business year, said the source, who was not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified. A Toshiba spokesman declined to comment. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. While the US has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, European officials have shown they are willing to act. Silicon Valley is a uniquely American creation, the product of an entrepreneurial spirit and no-holds-barred capitalism that now drives many aspects of modern life. But the likes of Facebook, Google and Apple are increasingly facing an uncomfortable truth: it is Europe's culture of tougher oversight of companies, not America's laissez-faire attitude, which could soon rule their industry as governments seek to combat fake news and prevent extremists from using the internet to fan the flames of hatred. While the US has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, European officials have shown they are willing to act. Germany recently passed a law imposing fines of up to 50 million euros ($59 million) on websites that don't remove hate speech within 24 hours. British Prime Minister Theresa May wants companies to take down extremist material within two hours. And across the EU, Google has for years been obliged to remove search results if there is a legitimate complaint about the content's veracity or relevance. "I anticipate the EU will be where many of these issues get played out," said Sarah T. Roberts, a professor of information studies at UCLA who has studied efforts to monitor and vet internet content. Objectionable content "is the biggest problem going forward. It's no longer acceptable for the firms to say that they can't do anything about it." How closely to manage the massive amounts of content on the internet has become a pressing question in the US since it was revealed that Russian agencies took out thousands of ads on social media during the presidential campaign, reaching some 10 million people on Facebook alone. That comes on top of the existing concerns about preventing extremist attacks. This month, three men were arrested after allegedly using smartphone messaging apps to plot attacks on the New York City subway and Times Square from their homes in Canada, Pakistan and the Philippines. The plot was thwarted by an undercover officer, not technology. In some ways it goes to a question of identity. Social media companies see themselves not as publishers but as platforms for other people to share information, and have traditionally been cautious about taking down material. But the pressure is on to act. Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube in June created the Global Internet Forum to Combat Terrorism, which says it is committed to developing new content detection technology, helping smaller companies combat extremism and promoting "counter-speech," content meant to blunt the impact of extremist material. Proponents of counter-speech argue that rather than trying to take down every Islamic State group post, internet companies and governments should do more to promote content that actively refutes extremist propaganda. This approach will unmask the extremist message of hate and violence in the "marketplace of ideas," they argue, though critics see it as just another form of propaganda. Facebook has recently published details of its counterterrorism strategy for the first time. These include using artificial intelligence to prevent extremist images and videos from being uploaded and algorithms to find and disable accounts linked to pages known to support extremist movements. The company also plans to increase the staff dedicated to reviewing complaints of objectionable material by more than 60 percent to some 8,000 worldwide. "We want Facebook to be a hostile place for terrorists," Monika Bickert, director of global policy management, and Brian Fishman, counterterrorism policy manager, said in a statement. "The challenge for online communities is the same as it is for real world communities - to get better at spotting the early signals before it's too late." But Roberts argues the companies have been slow to react and are trying to play catch up. The fact is the technology needed to detect and remove dangerous posts hasn't kept up with the threat, experts say. Removing such material still requires judgment, and artificial intelligence is not yet good enough to determine the difference, for example, between an article about the so-called Islamic State and posts from the group itself. In other words, taking down much of this material still needs human input, said Frank Pasquale, an expert in information law and changing technology at the University of Maryland. Acknowledging that is difficult for companies that were built by pushing the boundaries of technology. "They don't like to admit how primitive their technologies are; it defeats their whole narrative that they can save the world," Pasquale said. "You kill off the golden goose if you cast doubt over the power of their algorithms." Employing enough people to fill in where the algorithms leave off would be a massive task given the volume of material posted on social media sites every day. Just imagine trying to moderate every puppy photo or birthday greeting, said Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia. He believes that moderating content is ultimately impossible because you can't create a system that works for everyone from Saudi Arabia to Sweden. "The problem is the very idea of the social media system - it is ungovernable," he said. "Facebook is designed as if we are nice to each other. And we're not." The US government response has been more focused on policing than regulation, with security services authorized to sweep up huge amounts of electronic data to help them identify violent extremists and thwart attacks. Beyond that, authorities have mostly relied on the market to drive change amid fears that heavy-handed regulation could interfere with the First Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens to speak out and exchange information. European courts have had no such qualms, balancing freedom of expression against the right to privacy and community cohesion. For example, the European Court of Justice in 2014 ruled that people have the "right to be forgotten," permitting them to demand removal of personal data from search results when they can prove there's no compelling reason for it to remain. As far back as 2000, a French court ordered Yahoo to prevent French internet users from buying Nazi memorabilia on its sites. The European Union's executive has been most active in matters of antitrust. This year it leveled a huge 2.4 billion euro ($2.8 billion) fine on Google and ordered it to change the way it does business, for example how it shows search results. "There's a real cultural divide," said Edward Tenner, author of the upcoming book "The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can't Do." ''European governments have been more committed to incorporating the ideas of social justice and the Americans have been much more on the libertarian side." Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. America's policy, quite simply on terrorism is that it will deny terrorists the opportunity, the means, the location, the wherewithal, the financing, the ability to organise and carry out attacks against Americans at home and abroad, anywhere in the world. (Photo: AP) Washington: A stable and peaceful Afghan would create a better condition for India-Pak relationship, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said even as he described India and Pakistan as an important element of achieving American objectives in the war-torn nation. Once the objective of a "stable, peaceful Afghanistan" is achieved, a big threat is removed from Pakistan's future stability as well, which then creates a better condition for India-Pakistan relationships, Tillerson told an audience in Washington, after delivering a major India policy at the CSIS, a top American think-tank. "So we see it as not just one issue, but a means of stabilising the entire region. And we intend to work closely with India and with Pakistan, we hope to ease tensions along their border as well," he said. "Pakistan has two very troubled borders. We'd like to help them take the tension down on both of those and secure a future stable Pakistan government which we think improves relations in the region as well," Tillerson said. Pakistan is an important element of addressing the Afghan challenge, he said. "India is an important element of how we achieve the ultimate objective, which is a stable Afghanistan which no longer serves as a platform for terrorist organisations," he said. America's policy, quite simply on terrorism is that it will deny terrorists the opportunity, the means, the location, the wherewithal, the financing, the ability to organise and carry out attacks against Americans at home and abroad, anywhere in the world. "Well, clearly the threat to that policy finds its locus in many ways in Afghanistan. To the extent we can remove that as an opportunity for terrorism in Afghanistan, the greatest beneficiaries are going to be Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said. "India's important role is in providing development assistance to Afghanistan as they move forward to create better economic conditions that provide for the needs of a very diverse ethnic group of people in Afghanistan," Tillerson said. "So, it is about a commitment, a message to the Taliban and other elements that we're not going anywhere. And so we'll be here as long as it takes for you to change your mind and decide you want to engage with the Afghan Government in a reconciliation process and develop a form of government that does suit the needs of the culture of Afghanistan," the Secretary of State said. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017, Ivanka tweeted (Photo: AP) Washington: Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India in November to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. "Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017," Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. pic.twitter.com/O1tmiFzECc Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 18, 2017 Trump had hailed the extraordinary contributions of Indian-Americans to science, medicine, business and education in the country as he celebrated his first Diwali at the White House. "You have made extraordinary contributions to art, science, medicine, business and education. America is especially thankful for its many Indian-American citizens who serve bravely in our armed forces and as first responders in communities throughout our great land," he said. "Today, we proudly celebrate this holiday in The Peoples House. In so doing, we reaffirm that Indian-Americans and Hindu-Americans are truly cherished, treasured and beloved members of our great American family," Trump added. Read: President Trump celebrates Diwali at White House, hails Indian-Americans He had been joined by senior Indian-American members of his administration including Nikki Haley, his Ambassador to the United Nations and Seema Verma Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In his address, Trump said Indian-American neighbours and friends have made incredible contributions to the US and to the world. Diwali, he said, is one of the most important celebrations in the Hindu religion. On Wednesday, US Vice President Mike Pence, along with several other lawmakers have sent their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. "Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family," Pence said in a tweet. "May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness," said the US Vice President. Happy #Diwali to those celebrating with friends & family. May we all strive for peace, prosperity & the triumph of light over darkness. https://t.co/NJPMnyDqOk Vice President Pence (@VP) October 18, 2017 Tweeting "Happy Diwali" to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. "May the light guide your path," she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. "Generally, fireworks accompany that. I don't need any fireworks; I'm getting too many fireworks around me already. So we'll forgo the fireworks," he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. The tradition of Diwali celebration at the White House was first started by President George Bush. Trump's new strategy for South Asia is culmination of several months of deliberation within the national security cabinet on the best approach to address challenges in South Asia and on the opportunities. (Photo: PIB) Washington: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in his first major India-policy speech set the tone of bilateral relationship between India and the US for 100 years, a State Department official said, observing that the talk had many audiences, including China. "China's obviously an audience of the speech. But this is a speech, obviously, which we hope all countries in the Indo-Pacific region will take to heart, that the Secretary and the President has placed a priority," a State Department official told reporters. He was speaking after Tillerson described India as an opportunity for the US. "It's a speech that was designed for many audiences," the official said. Noting that a free and open Indo-Pacific is a priority for both the President and the Secretary of State, the official said, because India is one of the anchors of an Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump Administration wants to devote a lot of time to this country. Tillerson is travelling to India next week. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Philippines next month. "So that's the reason for the speech today; there are many audiences for this. But we really view this as a speech with a global audience," the official said. The speech on US-India relations for the next hundred years to implement President Trump's new strategy for South Asia is culmination of several months of deliberation within the national security cabinet on the best approach to address challenges in South Asia and on the opportunities. "The Trump Administration considers India as an opportunity and he wanted to present extended remarks and reflections on many ways that US can deepen its ties with India for the next hundred years, and how it is a critical component to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the official said. "There is a lot of bilateral benefits that follow deepening economic, cultural, diplomatic, and security ties with India. But there are a range of benefits that also follow for the region, the Indo-Pacific region," the State Department official said. China has risen alongside India, but China has done so less responsibly and China has undermined the international rules-based order while countries like India operate within this rules-based order, the official said. "We obviously want constructive relations with China. The Secretary is in regular contact with Chinese leadership. But we are not going to shrink or ignore China's challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries," the official said. "What we like is for many decades, the US has supported Chinas rise, we have also supported India's rise, but those two countries have risen very differently," the official said. As Tillerson said about the shared values, shared security, shared national security interests, shared economies, shared democracies, this is a great friendship that US wants to expand and deepen on all areas. The official argued that there are good reasons bilaterally for the US and India to deepen its ties, but there are opportunities to grow the connectivity in the region. Referring to the India-US and Japan tri-lateral in New York last month, the official said Japan is very supportive of a free and open Indo-Pacific. "I've had many consultations with the Japanese about this. We have also talked with the Australians, and we envision a quadrilateral sort of an anchoring - the Indo-Pacific anchored by these four countries of Australia, the US, India, and Japan, he said. While the speech was mostly about India, the subtitle of the speech was "The Foundations of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific." "So that's what he talked about, including financing mechanisms, and he did talk about some of the predatory economics that we see in the area, and you have countries that are looking for better financing mechanisms and better partners, and we believe that countries like the US and India are those partners," the official said. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014. (Representational Image | Photo: File) Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is negotiating with a US firm to resume the hunt for missing flight MH370, a minister said Thursday, in news welcomed by the widow of one of those who had been on board. The American company, Ocean Infinity as well as Dutch outfit Fugro, which had been involved in the original search and an unidentified Malaysian company had put forward proposals to relaunch the hunt. Ocean Infinity was reported to be favoured after making a "no find, no fee" offer to search for the Malaysia Airlines plane. The jet disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after diverting from its flight path. No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000 square kilometre zone selected by satellite analysis of the jet's likely trajectory. The Australian-led hunt -- the largest in history was suspended in January, sparking criticism from families of those on board and some experts, who said it was called off too soon. Thursday, family members of passengers were sent a message by the MH370 Response Team in Malaysia saying they were in talks with Ocean Infinity on the terms of an agreement. "The MH370 Response Team has received several proposals from interested parties to search for MH370," said the emailed message. "These offers have been thoroughly assessed by the team and the governments of Australia and China. The government of Malaysia has given the permission for the response team to proceed negotiating the terms and conditions with Ocean Infinity." Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi confirmed talks were under way. "The ministry is still negotiating to finalise the terms... We favour Ocean Infinity," he said. Danica Weeks, an Australian whose husband Paul was on the flight, said she was "ecstatic that the Malaysian government is doing what they need to do to continue to find MH370". Ocean Infinity, which said in a statement that "good progress has been made" in negotiating the contract, claims it has the world's largest and most advanced commercial fleet of underwater vehicles for conducting searches. "We remain optimistic that we will be able to try and help provide some answers to those who have been affected by this tragedy," a spokesman said in a statement. Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon. Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy to steal at Kingston Crown Court in south-west London. (Representational Image) Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy to steal at Kingston Crown Court. An Indian-origin security guard and his accomplice have been sentenced to over six years in jail by a UK court for their role in a 7-million-pound staged robbery from their own vehicles transporting cash. Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy to steal at Kingston Crown Court in south-west London. They have been jailed for six-and-a-half years each. The duo, both employees of European cash handling company Loomis, claimed they had been robbed to cover their tracks after they stole 26 bags of cash on March 14 this year. The robbery involving cash belonging to Credit Suisse bank, which has never been recovered, took place near a cargo depot at Heathrow Airport and was described in court as being akin to a Hollywood script that could be titled The Heathrow Heist. You Siddique and Singh played your parts to perfection. You had been involved for a considerable period in the planning, said Judge Stephen John during sentencing. A third man, named Rafaqat Hussain, was jailed for 10 years and three months as the mastermind of the raid which was branded as a classic inside job. You were an organiser, trying to keep your involvement at a distance. No doubt there were others in the plot as yet unidentified, but you were the principle, expecting a large slice of the proceeds and above Siddique and Singh in the hierarchy, the judge told Hussain. The court was told that after driving from the depot, Singh and Siddique reported their van missing. Siddique was later found bound by cables on a service road near the M40 highway in Buckinghamshire, with the van abandoned and the cash missing. The two security guards pretended to be victims of a raid, but phone records showed Siddique had been in contact with Hussain and Singh. Secret recordings made by a device planted by police in Hussains car caught him admitting he had all the cash and boasting that he could buy any car he wanted with it. Both Singh and Siddique had previously denied one count of conspiracy to steal, but the jury found them guilty at the end of a trial. Hussain had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, money launder and commit burglary. He had arranged to buy a house in Buckinghamshire with the stolen cash, the court was told. The mastermind wept in the dock as his barrister, Bairaj Bhatia, said he had failed his family by carrying out a crime. A solar panel on the roof of a temporary home for Rohingya refugees at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. ( Photo: AFP) Balukhali (Bangladesh): The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmeds makeshift grocery store. The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four light bulbs and two small fans. Now we can have light at night, and when its really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief, he said as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmars Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. The refugees accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya 50% of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Solar power was the only source of electricity in the area, said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabirs sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees dont have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. Total Building and Maintenance at 1908 Cowart St. has been sold to the nearby Mountain View dealership. The sale was to Mountain View Acquisition Llc from Total Building Maintenance Inc. It was for $915,000. India and the United States of America will give shape to a new joint strategy to counter China in Indo-Pacific, when Rex Tillerson, American Secretary of State, will visit New Delhi next week. Tillerson will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on October 24. Apart from bilateral cooperation in Afghanistan, Tillersons meeting with Swaraj is likely to focus on greater India-US cooperation in Indo-Pacific to counter-hegemonic aspirations of China in the region, sources in New Delhi told the DH. The India-US synergy in Indo-Pacific is likely to be more visible in the coming months, particularly in international forums, beginning with the East Asia Summit in Manilla from November 13 to 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American President Donald Trump are likely to attend the summit. Tillerson set the stage for the new India-US joint strategy for Indo-Pacific when he called for a strong partnership between the two nations in the region while delivering a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC on Wednesday. India and the US must foster greater prosperity and security with the aim of a free and open Indo-Pacific, said the US Secretary of State. He noted that the Indo-Pacific including the entire Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific, and the nations that surround them would be the most consequential part of the globe in the 21st century. The worlds centre of gravity is shifting to the heart of the Indo-Pacific. The US and India with our shared goals of peace, security, freedom of navigation, and a free and open architecture must serve as the eastern and western beacons of the Indo-Pacific, he added. His speech titled Defining Our Relationship with India for the Next Century and responses to the questions from the audiences were put up on the website of the US State Department. Sources told the DH in New Delhi that the US President would also call for a free and open Indo-Pacific during his tour to Asia, beginning early November. Taking a dig at China, Tillerson on Thursday said the US needed to collaborate with India to ensure that the Indo-Pacific remained a place of peace, stability, and growing prosperity and did not become a region of disorder, conflict, and predatory economics. China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order even as countries like India operate within a framework that protects other nations sovereignty, said Tillerson. He said Chinas provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenged the international law and norms that the US and India both stood for. The US seeks constructive relations with China, but we will not shrink from Chinas challenges to the rules-based order and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighbouring countries and disadvantages the US and our friends. Trump will also visit China during his tour to Asia from November 3 to 4. He will also visit Japan, South Korea, Phillippines and Vietnam. Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will contest the next month's assembly elections from Arki while senior minister Kaul Singh Thakur will be in the fray from Darrang as the Congress cleared the list of 59 candidates. In its list, fathers appeared to have forged ahead in getting party tickets as their children await nod from the high command to take the electoral plunge. On the waitlist are Vikramaditya, Virbhadra's son, who is keen to contest from Shimla Rural the seat represented by his father in the outgoing assembly. Also awaiting the party nod to contest the November 9 elections is Champa, the daughter of Thakur, who is keen on contesting from the Mandi seat. The Congress has chosen to field most of the sitting legislators. Virbhadra's arch rivalSukhiwnder Singh Sukhu will be in the fray from Nadaun, a seat he has won twice. He lost the 2012 assembly polls to BJP's Vijay Agnihotri by a margin of 6750 votes. Senior ministers in the Himachal cabinet have been asked to defend their turfs with Thakur Singh Bharmouri contesting from Bharmaour, G S Bali from Nagrota, Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli, Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, Sujan Singh Pathania from Fatehpur and Dhaniram Shandil from Solan. Rajinder Rana, a local leader, has been fielded from Sujanpur assembly seat from where former chief minister and senior BJP leader P K Dhumal will be in the fray. Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur will contest from Dehra assembly seat as the leadership felt that he has the best chance of winning the seat that came into existence after the delimitation exercise in 2008. AICC Secretary in-charge of Punjab, Asha Kumari, has been re-nominated from Dalhousie assembly segment. Among the nine constituencies where candidates are yet to be announced include Theog, which is represented by veteran leader and minister Vidya Stokes, who has decided to withdraw from electoral politics citing her advanced age; She will turn 89 in December. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday offered a Diwali gift of medical visas to ailing Pakistanis seeking treatment in hospitals in India. She announced on Twitter that New Delhi would grant visas to all eligible Pakistanis, who had applied for the travel document to come to India for medical treatment but were yet to receive it. On the auspicious occasion of Deepavali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today, Swaraj tweeted. The External Affairs Minister had made a similar goodwill gesture to Pakistanis on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15. New Delhi of late has taken a more liberal approach in issuing visas to Pakistani patients seeking to undergo treatment in India, particularly after M Nawaz Sharif resigned as Prime Minister of the neighbouring country in July this year. After being approached on Twitter by the near and dear of critically-ill patients in Pakistan, Swaraj asked the High Commission of India in Islamabad to issue visas to them. Accolades Her prompt interventions earned accolades not only from critically-ill patients and their families in Pakistan, but also from the Twitterati in the neighbouring country. New Delhi earlier this year restricted grant of visas to Pakistanis wanting to undergo medical treatment in India, particularly after a military court in the neighbouring country sentenced to death Kulbhushan Jadhav, former Indian Navy officer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said silos are a "big bottleneck" in the functioning of the union government and asked bureaucrats to adopt innovative ways to break these to speed up the processes of governance, which will benefit the people. He has asked the bureaucrats to work with dedication towards creation of New India by 2022. He conveyed the message during interactions with around 380 Directors and Deputy Secretaries working in various departments and ministries in the government of India, the PMO said in a statement here today. The interactions were held in four groups, it added. "Emphasised on innovative methods to break silos & further improve the speed of governance. This will greatly benefit people," Modi tweeted tonight. The prime minister exhorted the officers to work with full dedication towards creation of New India by 2022, the PMO statement said. "He said that silos are a big bottleneck in the functioning of the union government," the statement said. "He urged the officers to adopt innovative ways to break silos, which will result in the speeding up of various processes of governance," it added. In the same vein, the prime minister said officers at the level of Director and Deputy Secretary must create teams, to achieve better results. Subjects such as governance, corruption, public enterprises, government e-marketplace (GeM), health, education, skill development, agriculture, transportation, national integration, water resources, swachh bharat, culture, communication and tourism came up for discussion during the interactions, the statement said. Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and senior officers from PMO and Cabinet Secretariat were present during the interactions held over various days, the last one being yesterday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday celebrated Diwali with soldiers near the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of north Kashmir's Bandipora district. Like previous years, Modis Diwali date with troops was kept under wraps until the last minute. After spending two hours with the troops, Modi opened up on why he does come to meet them every year his fourth such visit since he became the prime minister. Offering sweets and exchanging greetings with the jawans, Modi said, like everyone else, I too wish to spend Diwali with my family. Therefore, he said, he had come to spend a few hours with the jawans whom he considers to be his family. A statement from his office quoted Modi as telling the troops that he gets new energy when he spends time among the soldiers. He praised their penance and sacrifice amid harsh conditions. Modi asked the jawans to regularly practice yoga, saying that it would definitely enhance their abilities and give them a sense of calm. Jawans, who leave the armed forces after completing their tenure, can become excellent yoga trainers subsequently, he added. He asked the jawans to innovate so that their routine tasks and duties become easier and safer. And the best innovative ideas will be recognised and awarded at the Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day. Modi said his government is committed to the welfare and the betterment of the armed forces in every way possible. In this regard, he mentioned about the implementation of One Rank, One Pension, which has been pending for decades. Army chief General Bipin Rawat and other senior army officers were present on the occasion. Modi wrote in the visitors book that: I got an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope and generates new energy among crores of Indians. To accomplish the dream of New India, this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it. Earlier, there was speculation that Modi may spend time with the army and Indian-Tibetan Border Police soldiers at the China border in Uttarakhand during this Diwali. Modi is visiting the Kedarnath shrine on October 20. Last Diwali, Modi had spent time with soldiers in a remote village near the China border in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. After assuming office in 2014, Modi had celebrated his first Diwali with soldiers in Siachen. He also made it a point to be in Srinagar before his visit to Siachen to show solidarity with the flood victims in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2015, he had gone to meet soldiers at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab. London Stock Exchange Group said Thursday that its chief executive, French national Xavier Rolet, would leave the company by the end of 2018 after almost a decade in charge. It gave no reason for Rolet's move, which will precede Britain's planned formal departure from the European Union scheduled for March 2019. "The board is now initiating a process to find a successor and will work closely with Xavier to ensure a smooth transition process as the group continues to execute on its successful growth strategy," a statement said. Rolet joined LSEG in 2009 and since then, the company's market value has rocketed to nearly 14 billion ($18.5 billion, 15.7 billion euros) from 800 million, it added. Rolet said he was "extremely proud" to have helped "turn LSEG into a truly global financial market infrastructure group". Shares in LSEG, which also operates Borsa Italiana, were down 1.2 percent at 38.75 in early deals on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was 0.4 percent lower overall. In a separate announcement, LSEG said that group revenues jumped by 18 percent to 442.7 million in the three months to September, compared with the third quarter of 2016. Under Rolet's stewardship, the company bought US asset manager Russell for $2.7 billion to diversify and boost its business in the United States. It additionally bought LCH.Clearnet, the British clearing house. But also on his watch, the LSEG failed in separate attempts to merge with the Toronto stock exchange and earlier this year with Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The EU in March blocked a proposed blockbuster tie-up of the London and Frankfurt stock markets owing to competition concerns and fallout from Brexit. Speaking on Wednesday, Rolet warned that more British firms would move business to EU countries should Britain fail to hammer out a post-Brexit transition deal by the end of the year. "In the absence of certainty in the next few months, the businesses, the CEOs, the boards the executive committees of many companies that are based here will have to start acting on worst case scenarios," the 57 year-old said in a speech made at Britain's parliament. British Prime Minister Theresa May has backed a two-year transition period to ease the impact on the UK economy, but she is beset by divisions within her own Conservative party and talks with Brussels are stalled over the size of the country's exit bill. Rolet became chief executive of LSEG in May 2009, replacing Dutchwoman Clara Furse who had begun the process of steering the group through the global financial crisis. He has spent almost 35 years working for a number of major financial institutions. And prior to joining LSEG, Rolet headed the French operations of Lehman Brothers shortly before the collapse of US investment group that spread havoc through the world's financial system. Prime Minister Theresa May today thanked Indians for their contribution to the British society and hailed them as a shining example of what makes the UK great. In her Diwali message, the British Prime Minister said the message of the festival of lights that ultimately good will triumph over evil, hope over despair and light over darkness will resonate with people of all faiths and none. "As Prime Minister, I want to take this opportunity to say a special thank you on behalf of the whole country for the immense contributions you all make to every sphere of life in the United Kingdom," read the message released by the Downing Street. "From the doctors and nurses serving in our NHS [National Health Service], to the soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in our armed forces, the entrepreneurs creating jobs across our communities, and the stars of arts and culture inspiring and entertaining us, Britain's Indian communities are a shining example of what makes our country great," she said. May was in Brussels for Brexit talks during the annual Diwali celebrations at 10 Downing Street earlier this week, which was hosted by Priti Patel Britains first Indian- origin Cabinet minister in the country this year. But she said the festival remains a "special time" of the year and a chance to connect with Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in Britain. She added: "As successful and integrated communities you maintain your unique traditions while contributing fully to our national life. And you help to show the world that our United Kingdom truly is a place where people from all backgrounds and beliefs can live their lives in freedom and achieve their full potential". May said she will be joining in celebrating the values and freedoms of the festival as she ended her message with 'Shubh Diwali'. India's telecom infrastructure sector is likely to witness investment worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the next two to three years, Telecom secretary Aruna Sundarajan said here on Wednesday. With the expansion of the sector and upgrading of technology, there will be a lot of investment in the telecom infrastructure in two to three years, she said on the sidelines of an event here. The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body of the telecom department, recently approved several projects that include mobile phone towers in the North-East, Internet connectivity in 30,000 villages through satellite bandwidth and the revised Network for Spectrum project. With the BharatNet programme reaching 80,000 gram panchayats, it will help the government provide broadband services to one lakh gram panchayats by December this year, she said. From January, the government can deliver a number of services to a large section of rural people, Aruna added. 5G auctions The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has already sought views on the timing, pricing and quantum of spectrum to be sold in the next round of auctions, which could see 5G airwaves, promising faster download speeds. In its consultation paper issued last month, TRAI also sought views from the telecom firms on spectrum caps and rollout obligations for 5G spectrum, besides the pricing of 4G airwaves in the 700 MHz band that went unsold in the last auction. Though spectrum auction will generate more revenue for the government, it will also require the telecom firms to invest more. Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, addressing the recent India Mobile Congress, said his company would invest Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore this year in building infrastructure. The industry as a whole is likely to invest anywhere between Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore in 2017-18, Mittal said. Shelves are stocked in preparation of the Wednesday reopening of the East Brainerd Road Food City. The 48,000+ square foot supermarket has undergone an expansion and remodel over the past several months. The Chattanooga area residents have certainly been supportive of our company and were extremely excited to provide our loyal customers with this new, larger state-of-the-art Food City to replace the former outdated location, said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer. The new store includes a bakery/deli, complete with a hot food bar, larger sit-down cafe, expanded cheese selections, enlarged produce, grocery, frozen food and health and beauty departments, as well as a full line of natural and organic items. Full service meat and seafood departments offer pre-marinated and seasoned oven ready products, plus a selection of meats that are all-natural with no solutions added, including Certified Angus Beef and fresh sushi. In-house meat cutters will hand cut steaks and fresh meat to order. The Food City Floral Boutique offers a large assortment of fresh-cut floral arrangements, bouquets and gift items. Rapid checkout service is provided by six traditional check-out lanes, one express lane and four self-check-outs. The Food City Pharmacy provides prescription services and the Food City Gas N Go offers the added convenience of fuel. Food Citys GoCart curbside pick-up allows customers to select their purchases on-line at foodcity.com. Their order is filled by a shopper and loaded into their vehicle when they arrive at the store. And, they can pay for their purchases on-line or by credit or debit card at the time of pick-up. Food City Home Delivery (powered by Instacart) is also now available to over 160,000 Chattanooga area residents. To take advantage of this new time saving initiative, visit the website at foodcitydelivers.com or download the Instacart App. Im confident that our customers are going to be pleased with their new, much improved Food City and will agree that it was well worth the wait, said Rodney Dillard, Food City district manager. The location also features a new decor package, along with several award winning energy saving concepts. These range from energy efficient glass cooler doors and refrigeration systems to motion sensors and 100 percent LED lighting, both inside and outside the store. Im very excited about the new store and the additional variety, selection and services it will provide our customers, said store manager, Calvin Johnson. New Zealand's centre-left opposition leader Jacinda Ardern was poised to become prime minister Thursday in a stunning rise to power, after maverick populist Winston Peters backed the charismatic 37-year-old to form a government. Peters' decision, which came after the September 23 election ended deadlocked, gives her Labour Party the numbers to take office with his New Zealand First and the Greens. "It is an absolute honour and a privilege to have the ability as Labour Party leader to form a government for all New Zealanders," she told reporters, saying it was "an exciting day". Peters, who has been offered the deputy prime ministership under the deal, told reporters he believed Ardern offered change that could provide "capitalism with a human face". He added: "That's why in the end we chose a coalition government of New Zealand First with the New Zealand Labour Party." The 72-year-old "kingmaker" was full of praise for Ardern, who revived Labour's fortunes when she became party leader just weeks out from the election. "She exhibited extraordinary talent in the campaign itself from a very hopeless position," he said. Once the Greens formally approve the coalition, Ardern will become New Zealand's youngest leader since 1856 and only the third female prime minister of the nation of 4.6 million. Ardern thanked Peters for his support, saying it was "a critical step to forming a Labour-led progressive government". She campaigned on issues such as housing affordability and free tertiary education. Environmental action and improved healthcare were also constant themes at the hustings. The result was a bitter blow to outgoing conservative Prime Minister Bill English, who ran an unexpectedly strong campaign to claim 44.4 percent of the vote, far higher than Labour's 36 percent. He congratulated Ardern and said he had not yet decided whether he would remain National party leader in opposition. It is the first time since New Zealand adopted proportional voting in 1996 that the party which claimed the largest slice of the vote has failed to form a government. Peters had promised to reveal his choice on Thursday afternoon but had already missed several self-imposed deadlines to settle the issue. He stretched the announcement out as long as possible, appearing before reporters early in the afternoon to say he still had not made a decision. "It's seriously difficult because there are pros and cons for every part of this decision we've got to make," he said. He said the talks went down to the wire, with new information arriving throughout the day, finally addressing a media conference at 7:00pm (0600GMT). Peters thrashed out policy positions over 12 days of negotiations and said he only made his decision 15 minutes before making it public. He did not inform English or Ardern before the announcement, saying voters deserved to know first. Peters refused to specify what concessions he received from Labour, while Ardern said policy positions and ministerial portfolios would be revealed next week. The anti-immigration campaigners' demands are expected to centre on issues such as cutting migrant numbers, banning foreign home buyers and boosting regional development. Peters has been kingmaker in two previous elections, opting for National in 1996 in return for being made deputy prime minister and backing Labour in 2005 after it agreed to make him foreign minister. But he did not see out either term of office as a minister, leading some observers to say any government that relies on Peters to prop it up is inherently unstable. "I think it's going to be a one-term government whichever way he goes," former National Party minister Paul East told Radio New Zealand ahead of the announcement. "It'll be fractious and it won't last." Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for spending Diwali in Gurez along the Line of Control and urged him to gift physical and mobile connectivity to the people in the area on the festive occasion. Modi arrived in the Gurez sector this morning to celebrate Diwali with troops posted in the forward area close to the Line of Control (LoC). Army Chief General Bipin Rawat was also accompanying the prime minister. "Thank you for celebrating #Diwali with the people & troops in #Gurez. Please gift the people and troops a tunnel under Razdan pass @PMOIndia," Omar wrote on his Twitter handle. "Physical and mobile connectivity would be your biggest gifts to the area this Diwali jenab. #HappyDiwali @narendramodi Sahib," he tweeted. "You will have noticed that you can't tweet from there sir. That's because there is no data and almost no mobile service. Please do help with it," he added. Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed's house arrest was today extended for another 30 days by a Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province. However, the board refused to allow the same in the detention of his four aides. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeeds aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention order if they are not detained in any other case. Saeed and his four accomplices were presented before the provincial judicial review board today amid high security in the Lahore High Court. A good number of his supporters were present at the court's premises who showered rose petals on him and his aides. Police, however, stopped them from chanting slogans in the favour of their leader. The three member Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising Justice Yawar Ali (head), Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam held the hearing. A court official told PTI after the hearing that the Home Department of Punjab government had sought three months extension to the detention of Saeed and others under public safety law. "The judicial board after listening to the arguments of the governments law officer did not entertain his request and only granted 30-day extension to Saeeds house arrest in Lahore," he said. The board also could not be convinced about keeping Saeeds four aides in detention beyond the expiry of September 25 detention order for a month and dismissed the governments plea for further extension to their detention, he said. The government may arrest Saeed's four aides in any other case on expiry of their detention period in last week of this month, the official added. Karnataka Congress leader G Parameshwara today said Rahul Gandhi has advised state party leaders against making personal comments on opposition BJP leaders and instead engage them on national and local issues in run up to the next year's assembly elections. KPCC leaders including Parameshwara, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka party incharge and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal had met Gandhi in New Delhi on October 12 to discuss the poll strategy. Veteran Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Oscar Fernandes and B K Hariprasad also attended the meeting. Parameshwara said the AICC vice president advised them not to make personal comments against BJP leaders but corner them on national and local issues. Parameshwara also said Gandhi has asked KPCC leaders including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and him to avoid making conflicting statements in the media especially on the issue of selection of party candidates for the election. "We told Rahulji that we do not have any differences, which is evident in our discussions with him everytime we met. Maybe, it is a creation of the opposition or somebody," he told PTI here. Media reports have suggested differences between Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara on selection of candidates. The senior Congress leader also said that Gandhi discussed the political scenario in Karnataka and delineated the poll strategy to retain power. The Congress vice president also stressed the need for raising awareness about the state government's achievements among public, Parameshwara said. "Rahulji has also advised us to meet people and inform them about the government's efforts in implementing welfare schemes and seek their blessings so as to do more for them," he said. Asked about the chances of Congress winning the 2018 election, Parameshwara sounded optimistic and claimed the Siddaramaiah government has given a clean and corruption-free governance. "The BJP is merely levelling corruption charges against us but not proving them. In the case of Yeddyurappa and a few BJP ministers, they went to jail after we proved the charges with documentary evidence." The Lokayukta court had on October 15, 2011 remanded Karnataka BJP unit chief BS Yeddyurappa in judicial custody in cases relating to alleged irregularities in denotification of government land, and sent him to Parappana Agrahara Central jail here. Yeddyurappa, under whom the BJP formed its first-ever government in the south in 2008 elections, had to relinquish the chief minister's post following his indictment in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining submitted on July, 2011 by then anti-corruption ombudsman Santosh Hegde. Parameshwara claimed, "I feel, we provided good governance as we have more money in the budget and are able to spend it on agriculture, education and health." To address concerns over the shortage of coal in thermal power plants, the Centre said it has a detailed plan to ensure its smooth supply. Minister for Coal and Railways Piyush Goyal and Minister for Power R K Singh held a meeting here on Wednesday on the issue and prepared a detailed plan to supply the dry fuel immediately. The ministers also spoke to states where supply is less and promised them to address the issue immediately. The issue is being addressed in a co-coordinated manner by the three ministries concerned - power, coal and railways - a power ministry statement said. There were fears of power outages in the festive season because of critical coal shortage at power plants, especially when spot power price touched a peak of over Rs 10 per unit earlier this week. Earlier, several states, including Karnataka, had urged the Centre to increase supply to avoid disruption. According to a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report, as many as 21 plants had coal for less than four days while five had stocks for less than a week, as on October 17. The CEA monitors coal stock situation at 112 thermal power plants. Niece of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday said she would contest the RK Nagar by-poll and was confident of securing a victory. The Election Commission recently announced that the high-profile by-election would be held before December 31. "I will surely contest R K Nagar by-poll and win it with the support of the people," she said. Deepa, who floated MGR Amma Deepa Peravai, said she would continue to take forward Jayalalithaa's welfare measures. Dismissing speculations over joining the Palaniswami faction, Deepa said she would launch a statewide tour to garner people's support to strengthen her party. Expressing confidence on getting the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol, Jayalalithaa's niece said her party, too, submitted affidavits before the commission. The poll panel cancelled the by-poll following large-scale bribing of voters by the AIADMK (Amma) faction, among other parties. The constituency fell vacant after Jayalalithaa's death. Search engine giant Google has emerged as the most authentic brand in the country, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple, according to New York-based global communications firm Cohn & Wolfe. Sony, YouTube, BMW, Mercedes Benz and British Airways are the other brands to feature in the top 10. The communications firm, part of WPP group, noted that Indian consumers are becoming more positive in their perceptions of brand authenticity. About 67 percent of Indian consumers are more likely to buy from brands perceived as authentic, it said in its 2017 Authentic Brands Study for India, a part of a global consumer survey on the role of authenticity in business. It observed that in India, 37 percent of respondents perceived brands to be open and honest compared to a global average of 22 percent. Similarly, 38 percent of consumers surveyed in India agreed that brands take full responsibility for their actions, compared to the global average of 25 percent. "Brands that behave and communicate with authenticity will build better relationships with customers and deliver improved user experiences. To differentiate their offerings and grow market share, our research shows that brands in India need to focus on the three drivers of authenticity reliable, respectful and real," Cohn & Wolfe Asia Pacific President Matt Stafford said. E-commerce giant Amazon is ranked as the world's most authentic brand, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Google and PayPal. Technology brands comprise 70 percent of the top 10 most authentic global brands. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary research, including surveys on more than 1,400 brands conducted in May and June this year, with over 15,000 respondents in 15 markets -- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Blast and crash The building in Ejipura, near Koramangala, collapsed after an LPG cylinder exploded on Monday. Seven people died, including a pregnant woman. Sanjana was among the seven others who had survived with injuries. Sanjana, the three-year-old who had survived a building crash in Eijipura on Monday, died of burns on Thursday.A 45-year-old building collapsed early on Monday, following an LPG explosion.Sanjana didn't respond to treatment, according to Dr Ramesh K T, plastic surgeon."She had suffered 60% burns and fluid loss. Her chances of survival were limited," he said.Two others rescued from the debris, Janaki (45) with 25% burns and Dilip (17) with 15% burns, are recovering.Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy visited Victoria Hospital on Thursday morning to meet the survivors.He said the government would pay the medical bills for Janaki and Dilip. "We will also provide compensation for the families of the victims," he told reporters.Mayor Sampath Raj visited the hospital to pay his respects to Sanjana. Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander on Thursday said, if we really want to focus on improving Americans health, why not connect the consensus on wellness to the insurance policies that 178 million Americans get from their job. There is remarkable consensus that a healthy lifestyle leads to longer and better lives, and reduces the nations health care costs, said Senator Alexander. Wellness programs that reward behaviors such as exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, or quitting smoking have the potential to save money and improve participants health. Senator Alexander continued: The Cleveland Clinic has said if you achieve at least four normal measures of good health, such as a healthy body mass index, cholesterol and blood pressure, and you see a primary care physician regularly and keep immunizations up to date, you will avoid chronic disease about 80 percent of the time. This is important because we spend more than 84 percent of our health care costs, or about $2.6 trillion, treating chronic diseases. About 60 percent of insured Americans get their health insurance on the job, so it is hard to think of a better way to make a bigger impact on the health of millions of Americans than to connect the consensus about wellness to employer-based insurance for 178 million people. The Senate health committee on Thursday held a hearing to look at what can be done to encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices to help prevent serious illnesses and reduce health care costs. Under the Affordable Care Act, employers can offer premium discounts to employees who participated in wellness programs. Senator Alexander said, It was one of the only parts of the ACA on which nearly everyone agreed. Todays hearing is about how successful that has been and what we can do to make it easier for employers to encourage their employees to lead healthier lives and reduce health care costs. Senator Alexanders opening statement is available here. New Delhi strongly condemned the terror attack on an Afghan Army base at Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan on Thursday. Taking a dig at Pakistan, India pointed out that reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan could begin only if it stops providing sanctuaries to terrorists. The beginning of Afghan-owned and Afghan-led national reconciliation requires an end to violence, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi said in a statement after more than 40 soldiers of the Afghan Army were killed in Taliban attack. States hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction, Raveesh Kumar, MEA spokesperson said. New Delhi noted that the concerns over the terrorists carrying out the attacks in Afghanistan getting support in Pakistan were also expressed at the United Nations Security Council. New Delhi and Kabul have since long been blaming Pakistan for providing sanctuaries to Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani Network, Taliban and other terrorist organisations carrying out attacks in Afghanistan and India. The Talibans attack on Thursday followed similar deadly attacks at Paktia and Ghazni in Afghanistan. We strongly condemn the barbaric attack today (Thursday) at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province. Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people, Kumar said. The spokesperson said India was gravely concerned over the recent escalation of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, despite hopes recently kindled by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. New Delhi noted that the terror attacks demonstrated that the safe havens and support systems continue to be available to the terrorists. Rex Tillerson, American Secretary of State, on Wednesday said in Washington that President Donald Trumps administration considered India as a partner (of the US) for peace in Afghanistan. However, he sought to smooth the ruffled feathers in Islamabad and added that Pakistan too was an important partner of the US in South Asia. Tillerson, who will soon visit both New Delhi and Islamabad, nudged Pakistan to deny terrorists safe haven and sanctuaries. He said the US expected Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within its own borders and threaten its own people and the broader region. The first tri-service military exercise involving the army, air force and navy of India and Russia commenced from Thursday, signalling the depth of military closeness between the two allies. Naval frigate INS Satpura and corvette INS Kadmatt have reached the Vladivostok Port after touching base at Sasebo in Japan last week. Following the induction ceremony and preparatory meetings between the field commanders, the operational part of the 10-day war game will begin on Friday. The Indian task force is headed by Maj Gen N D Prasad whereas the two warships are under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta. Nearly 350 Indian Army soldiers from the Maratha Light Infantry and 80 airmen were flown to Vladivostok by the Indian Air Force's IL-76 aircraft. With India and Russia flying multiple common aircraft, IAF pilots would be flying the Russian Sukhoi and MiG series aircraft, sources told DH. Similarly, Indian Army soldiers will operate Russian tanks in the fields as they are familiar with similar tanks - T-72 and T-90 that are being used by India. Two IAF IL-76 would provide the transport service. The Indra series of exercises were earlier held between individual services like the two armies or two navies. For the first time, it is being held as a tri-service service exercise, showcasing the deep-rooted friendship between New Delhi and Moscow. The mock drill will be conducted at the 249 Combined Army Range at Sergeevisky and in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok. The Russian Federation Armed Forces will be represented by approximately 1,000 troops of the 5th Army, Marines and Ships of Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District. The scope of the exercise includes the establishment of joint command and control structures between the Indian and Russian forces and elimination of terrorist threat in a multinational environment under a UN mandate. "The exercise provides an opportunity to the armed forces of both countries to train in counter-terrorism operations in a multinational scenario in a joint tri-service environment. It will be a landmark event in the history of Indo-Russian defence co-operation," said Lt Gen Satish Dua, chief of integrated defence staff to the chairman chiefs of staff committee. Daphne Caruana Galizia, a renown blogger and fierce critic of the government, died on Monday in a blast that wrecked her car as she was leaving her house, throwing debris and body parts into a nearby field. The murder shocked the Mediterranean island, the smallest nation in the European Union, and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Wednesday promised a reward to anyone who came forward with information about the killing. However, Caruana Galizia's three grown-up sons dismissed the offer, and called instead for Muscat to resign, saying he should take political responsibility for the first such murder of a journalist in Malta since the island won independence in 1964. Muscat has ruled out quitting and flew to Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit. His spokeswoman told reporters that British police had joined Dutch forensic experts and a team from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help with the case. "Emerging evidences make us think that the bomb was placed under the car and was set off with a remote trigger," the spokeswoman said. She said foreign experts should be able to help identify the mobile phone which was used to detonate the bomb. A local police source said investigators believed powerful Semtex explosives might have been used in the killing, adding that if proven, it would be a first for Malta. The island has seen a number of small bomb attacks in recent years tied to gangland criminals, but the explosives used were relatively rudimentary and did not have the same power as the device that targeted Caruana Galizia. The 53-year-old journalist used her widely read blog to lambast Muscat, his wife and some of his closest advisers, accusing them of setting up off-shore accounts to hide ill-gotten gain. They denied the charges and Muscat was suing Caruana Galizia for libel at the time of her death. "The police may or may not find out who ordered the assassination of our mother but as long as those who led the country to this point remain in place, none of it will matter," her three sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, wrote on Facebook. That added that the only way forward was for Muscat to stand aside: "Resign for watching over the birth of a society dominated by fear, mistrust, crime and corruption." As he arrived at the EU summit in Brussels, Muscat denied that he had created a "mafia state". "Definitely not," he said. Police believe a bomb that killed a prominent journalist in Malta was attached beneath her car and triggered remotely, a government spokeswoman said on Thursday, giving first details of the investigation. The Centre has written to each state government to name toilets built in rural households as "izzat ghar" or "house of dignity" or any other appropriate equivalent in the local language. Noting that the toilets in rural households in many parts of Uttar Pradesh are being named izzat ghar, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation wrote to state government's principal secretaries, who are in charge of rural sanitation, to consider doing the same in their states, too. "It is recommended that this practice could be considered for replication in other parts of the country. Hindi-speaking areas may continue using the name izzat ghar, while other regions could come up with a corresponding term in the local language that signifies the equivalent of a house of dignity," the ministry wrote in its communique to all the state governments. "All states are encouraged to initiate similar local initiatives and good practices that associate a sense of dignity and pride among the households with having and using toilets," stated the ministry. The ministry has been overseeing implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission in villages across the country, with the objective of achieving a clean and open defecation- free rural India by October 2, 2019. The ministry stated that 4.99 crore toilets have been built in villages across the country since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin in 2014. Besides, over 16.41 lakh toilets have been built under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme till March 31 this year. Over 2.57 lakh villages, 214 districts and six states have been declared open defecation- free in the past three years. Healthcare company Columbia Asia Hospitals is looking at collaboration with healthcare startups. Dr Nandakumar Jairam, CEO, Chairman and Group Medical Director, Columbia Asia Hospitals, said they are open to a symbiotic association which will help them create a niche in the industry. However, we are yet to embark on a serious journey with someone as passionate about healthcare, he added. The Columbia Asia Group is owned by more than 150 private equity companies, fund management organisations and individual investors. Its first hospital in the country started in 2005 in Hebbal, Bengaluru, and it is all set to open sixth one in Karnataka. We will be opening our new hospital, located at the Iblur junction, soon. We are awaiting a few approvals, post which we will be open to the neighbourhood and also for people coming from other states and countries, Jairam said. The Sarjapur Road hospital is said to be the biggest hospital within the Columbia Asia group. It has 206 in-patient beds and a covered space of over 2,50,000 sq feet. The total investment made is around Rs 200 crore excluding the cost of land, he said, adding, this new hospital will house all specialties and multiple super-specialties. The hospital has also invested in high-end technology. We are looking at building clusters of our hospitals, similar to the manner in which we have managed to grow in Bengaluru. Our 13th hospital is underway in Pune, which will be our second hospital in the city, he said. Apart from Bengaluru and Pune, the group has presence in Ahmedabad, Mysuru, Kolkata, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Patiala. Air India unions are likely to meet next week in the national capital to discuss their strategy amid the government going ahead with the disinvestment process. Sources say efforts are on to bring all staff unions of Air India including those of the pilots and engineers on one platform and workout a strategy to deal with the situation arising out of the governments decision to offload its stake in the flag carrier. In the last few months, several Air India unions have held discussions at an individual level with the management on the issue of disinvestment. But now there is need for all unions to come together and talk to the government in one voice on airlines privatisation, said a leader of one of the largest unions at Air India. Air India, which has over 20,000 employees on its roll, has as many as six recognised unions, representing ground and commercial staff, pilots, cabin crew and engineers, among others, besides, several unrecognised unions. To revive the loss-making state-run carrier, which also has a debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore, the government has decided to go for its strategic disinvestment and the modalities are being worked out by a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. We are going to talk to all the unions and bring them on one platform to prepare a common strategy while we sit with the management on the issue of disinvestment next time. We are planning to call a meeting of all these unions next week, the source said. Significantly, seven Air India unions have already expressed their opposition to the airlines privatisation. On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries.The government has already invited applications for engaging up to two advisers, a legal adviser and asset valuer for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its subsidiaries/ joint venture. Of the nine injured, five with critical burn injuries died during treatment, said Prof. Arun Choudhury, chairman of the medical board which was constituted to ensure a proper treatment of those injured in the cracker factory blast. The Superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Prof. (Dr) Shyama Kanungo, said the medical board comprising specialists from different departments, including surgery and plastic surgery, was formed as the condition of those injured in the explosion was highly critical. The four injured, with very high degree of burns, were currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. In the aftermath of the explosion at the illegal cracker manufacturing unit, Director General of Police (DGP) RP Sharma has suspended Santosh Behera, the inspector in-charge of the Bahabalpur marine police station, for dereliction of duty. The explosion took place last evening when firecrackers were being prepared in the illegal factory at Bahabalpur, around 12 km from the district headquarters town of Balasore. Six persons had died on the spot and their bodies were recovered, Balasore District Collector Pramod Kumar Das said. "The crackers were being prepared in an unauthorised manner without any legal license," he had said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while expressing concern over the incident, had announced Rs two lakh each as ex-gratia for the kin of the deceased. He had also said Rs 50,000 would be given as assistance to those critically injured and free medical treatment would be provided to all the injured persons. Terming the incident as unfortunate, Patnaik ordered stringent action against those responsible for the explosion. An inquiry into the incident has been launched and police, fire brigade and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) personnel were present at the site. Forensic experts were also being sent to the spot, the police said. Locals said the impact of the explosion was so severe that the structure, where the firecrackers were being prepared, was blown up and that it suffered an extensive damage. Most of the bodies were severely burnt and difficult to recognise, they added. The exact cause of the incident would be ascertained after the investigation, the police said. The death toll in an explosion at an illegal firecracker factory in Odisha's Balasore district rose to 11 today with five more persons succumbing to burn injuries, while a police officer was suspended for the tragedy.The massive explosion at the illegal firecracker factory at Bahabalpur had claimed six lives and left nine persons seriously injured last night.The injured were shifted to the Sriram Chandra Bhanja (SCB) Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack, officials said. The United Nations Population Funds State of World Population 2017 report has warned that failure to give women control over their bodies would deepen gender and other inequalities in the world. The report draws attention to the fact that women and girls worldwide continue to be denied a say in decisions relating to sex, contraception, pregnancy and childbirth leaving them at risk of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. At least 214 million women in developing countries cannot get access to contraceptives. It results in 89 million unwanted pregnancies and 48 million abortions each year, the UNFPA says. Women in the poorest households not only have the least power to decide whether, when, and how often to become pregnant but also, they have the least access to quality healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth. The report underscores the importance of women being given access to birth-control measures. A woman with such access could delay and space births in a way that would allow her to pay more attention to each child. It would also reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality and free her up to take up paid employment outside the house. Accessing family planning and essential reproductive health commodities is particularly challenging in conflict zones and regions that are in the grip of crises. UNFPA Supplies, which is working to expand womens access to family planning in conflict zones, is staring at a crisis itself. It is facing a shortage of funds and this is poised to worsen. The United States, which has been one of UNFPAs top donors in 2016, it contributed $69 million to UNFPA announced earlier this year that it is halting funds to the UNFPA. Other donors have promised to step up their contributions but this may not be enough. Although successive governments in India have supported family planning measures, womens access to contraception remains low. Contraceptive coverage for women in the 15-49 years age group in the country is just 56%. Those opting for modern contraceptive methods are even fewer at 50%. The government must pay more attention to female access to family planning. It would help address a range of related issues, including maternal health and mortality, female economic empowerment and gender equality. In addition to stepping up funding for family planning services, women and men should be made aware of its benefits. The economic benefits of improving access to reproductive health services are enormous. Studies indicate that for every $1 invested in family planning services, upto $6 can be saved on public services, from health to housing. For the Indian economy, according to experts, the overall gain from savings and from unleashing female productivity would amount to around $430 billion per year. To serve the families of Northwest Georgia, as well as neighboring communities in the region and beyond, Hamilton Health Care System will soon begin construction of the Anna Shaw Childrens Institute. Dedicated to the memory of Anna Sue Shaw, the Institute will be a regional leader of and advocate for the care of children who are experiencing the challenges of autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or developmental delays. Mom had a love for children and an empathy for the difficulties they face growing up in our complicated world, said Susan Young, daughter of Anna Sue and Bob Shaw and a trustee of the Anna Sue and Bob Shaw Foundation. Our dream is that the Institute will aid and support families by assisting children to achieve their maximum potential and to become happy, healthy, productive adults. Hamilton has engaged pediatricians, specialists, and national experts to consider the need for a designated facility to provide comprehensive care and support to children with unique developmental needs. Early intervention is key, said William Edwards, MD. From birth to age three we develop from total dependence in infancy, to independent exploration as toddlers. Recognizing and addressing any problems with this development is of utmost importance in improving both the child's ability to grow, learn and function, as well as the family's ability to support and teach them. Luis Viamonte, MD, said, This humanitarian initiative by the Anna Sue and Bob Shaw Foundation is a great thing for our community and will have a lasting impact for countless families affected by lifelong conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the state of Georgia, one in 64 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, and one in eight has been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In the United States, 17 percent of children have been diagnosed with some type of developmental delay. While early intervention is critical to the long-term well-being of these children and their families, less than half are identified and diagnosed before beginning kindergarten. The children of Northwest Georgia have been without adequate access to advanced care in the specialized fields that Hamilton will provide through the Institute, said Jeffeory White, MD. Many families have to wait months just to get in to see specialists, and even then, must drive long distances for assessment and ongoing treatment. With design elements inspired by the style of a tree house, the Institute will be located in a serene environment reflective of the natural beauty that exists in the region. Families will be able to receive diagnoses, treatment and support all under one roof. Cognitive, psychological and developmental evaluations will be completed at the Institute to ensure the assessment of each childs individual skill set and to identify appropriate therapy services to maximize the childs development. Available therapies for children will include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and feeding therapy. Psychological services will provide assistance to children and families through individual counseling, family counseling and behavioral support services. A treatment navigator a dedicated Institute employee will support families through the diagnostic and treatment processes. To provide these services, Hamilton will recruit specialists in the areas of developmental pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology. The Institute will employ a staff of nationally-recognized experts in the study and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, the providers will collaborate with pediatric sub-specialists in the areas of neurology, genetics, gastroenterology and others. The pediatric sub-specialists will have a dedicated care area in the Institute and will travel to the Institute to see the children, rather than the families traveling outside of their community. Ayman Rifai, MD, said, Bringing a childrens institute to Dalton will change the lives of so many families. Each child is unique and so are his or her needs. To be able to provide specialized care, that is available close to home with the support of family and friends, brings hope for better outcomes and better quality of life for children and their families. Construction of the Institute will begin in October, with completion by March 2019. We are very excited about the opportunity to meet the needs of those who dont have access to the experts required to help our children, said Jeff Myers, president and CEO of Hamilton Health Care System. As our communitys and the regions top healthcare provider, it is our privilege to announce this newest commitment to serve families healthcare needs. All-out efforts by the state government to prevent dengue outbreak have gone in vain. The cases of the virulent fever has doubled since last year, earning Karnataka the second spot for highest number of dengue cases nationwide. Around 13,500 dengue cases have been registered across the state from January till October this year, which is more than double the number of cases (6,083) recorded in 2016, according to the directory of National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP). The state has also been witnessing a steady increase in the number of dengue cases reported since 2011. However, the number of deaths dropped to five this year, compared to eight last year. The state has been receiving more rainfall since August. This pattern of intermittent rain causes mosquitoes to breed. Also, there was scarcity of rain during June and July, when people stored water, which again promotes breeding, said Dr Prakash Kumar, deputy director, NVBDCP. He said the BBMP alone reported over 6,000 cases and private hospitals, too, regularly updated the number of cases. A web portal has been created for private hospital updates, Dr Kumar said. Doctors said this year, the dengue virus had become more virulent and the dreaded disease had become endemic. Earlier, hospital admissions were made on the fourth or fifth day after the onset of dengue, but now it is so severe that we have to admit the patient on the first day itself, said Dr Saad Hafeez Usmani, registrar, Internal Medicine, Columbia Asia hospital. He added that there have been prolonged stays and need for repeated blood infusion. Due to the steep increase in the number of cases this year, the government has intensified surveillance and employed 823 urban health volunteers for three months from August to October to monitor mosquito breeding. Dr Prakash said ASHA workers were also paid Rs 200 as incentive if the dengue cases in the villages they inspect had reduced. If larvae are found in those villages, they will not be paid the incentive, he added. He also said that the current reports were only the tip of the iceberg. The numbers may increase, for which a proper disease management programme is necessary, the doctor added. At a time when engineering colleges are struggling to stay afloat, the Department of Technical Education (DTE) has proposed starting 17 new government engineering colleges. The proposals were sent to the government between April 2016 and May 2017. Of the 17, ten new colleges are proposed in north Karnataka, with districts such as Bidar, Kalaburagi and Bagalkot leading the race. In fact, four out of the five new government engineering colleges already sanctioned are coming up in north Karnataka - Talkal village in Yalburga (Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddys constituency), Nargund in Gadag, Gangavathi in Koppal and one in Bidar. The fifth one is coming up at Challakere in Chitradurga to cater to the Science City, a township anchored by IISc, ISRO, DRDO and BARC. Karnataka has 227 engineering colleges, among which only 11 are state-run and 202 are private colleges. The rush to start new colleges, however, comes at a time when thousands of engineering seats go abegging each year. Sample this: Over 29,000 seats out of 77,500 seats (excluding management quota) that were available this academic year have remained vacant. Vote bank concerns That most proposals for new colleges are for North Karnataka seems rather obvious, given that the ruling Congress, the BJP and the JD(S) are going all out to woo voters in this region. Colleges are proposed to come up also at Raichur (Manvi), Yadgir, Vijayapura (Indi), Chikmagalur (Indavara), Dakshina Kannada (Moodabidri), Tumakuru (Kunigal), Mysuru (T Narasipura) and Udupi. Of the five new colleges already sanctioned, authorities say only two are in a position to commence operations from the 2018-19 academic year. The Talkal and Gangavati colleges will be ready by December. Work on colleges in Challakere, Nargund and Bidar are still in the preliminary stage, Technical Education Director H U Talawar said. The government is spending Rs 58 crore toward construction of the new colleges. The Government Film and Television Institute (GFTI) in Hesaraghatta, Karnatakas oldest film institute, is now out of bounds for students from other states. Following last years agitation by students - most of them from outside the state - demanding better facilities, the state government has tweaked the admission norms at the institute this year, virtually reserving all 66 seats for students from Karnataka. If all the seats approved in the institute are not fully filled up by students from Karnataka, the vacant seats can be filled up by non-Karnataka students, the Department of Higher Education has stated in a letter to the Department of Technical Education, which runs the institute. Accordingly, the institute has 24 students this year and officials say all of them are from Karnataka. Another 42 seats are vacant, but the admission process has concluded. Admissions have to close by August 15 as per a Supreme Court order, Technical Education Director H U Talawar said. The decision to reserve seats for Karnataka students is right. This is how it was from 1943 to 1995, he said. GFTI is the only state-run film institute in Karnataka. The 74-year old institute, which counts veterans like Govind Nihalani, V K Murthy and Ashok Kashyap as alumni, offers diploma courses in sound recording engineering and cinematography. The courses were housed in the S J Polytechnic campus, before shifting to a 25-acre campus in Hesaraghatta in July 1998. Students of the institute staged a protest for over 70 days last year, demanding proper equipment and experienced faculty from the film industry. However, a fact-finding committee appointed by the government concluded that the there was nothing wrong at the GFTI, rubbishing allegations made by the students. National Award-winning filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli opposed the move to restrict admissions to students belonging to one state. Its true that students who agitated were from other states and that Karnataka students did not support them, he said. Its okay if the government wants to prioritise admissions for Karnataka students, while keeping the doors open for others. Students continue to have problems at the institute, with the latest being the new curriculum that they say has some irrelevant subjects. Talawar, however, said the curriculum was revised by an expert panel. The government has also brought down the eligibility requirement for admissions from pre-university (science) to SSLC. This measure is expected to improve admissions at the institute. Nandini Matiyani, vice-president (human resources), Wipro, and an animal rights activist, who claimed to have been attacked by a mob following the raid on an illegal abattoir in South Bengaluru on October 14, has been booked for rashing driving and causing mischief. Matiyani (45), who volunteers for Gau Gyan Foundation, had got the police to raid a place in Avalahalli where cows were illegally kept for slaughter. She later claimed that she and a friend, Sijil, were attacked by a mob that was angry at their attempts to prevent cow slaughter. The attack happened in the presence of two policemen, she said. But a senior police officer, who is part of the investigation, blamed Matiyani for ignoring police warnings that eventually led to the mob attack on her. Matiyani and three of her friends had arrived at the jurisdictional Thalaghattapura police station around 7.30 pm, complaining of illegal cattle slaughter near Tipu Sultan Circle, Avalahalli. Acting on the complaint, the officer said, police accompanied her to the spot, rescued the cows and returned to the police station. The duo was specifically advised against going back to the spot. But neither Matiyani nor Sijil pay any heed and drove back in their Toyota Innova even as police bandobast was taken off. By this time, a large crowd gathered at the spot following commotion over the rescue of cows. In the melee, the duos car brushed against an auto-rickshaw and crashed into a butchers, angering the crowd which pelted the vehicle with stones. Police initially registered two cases: one of illegal possession of cattle and another over the mob violence that ensued during the visit of Matiyani and Sijil. They arrested seven people on Monday and six more on Wednesday. Now, they have opened a case of rash driving and causing mischief against Matiyani on the basis of a complaint. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy Kumaraswamy, who will revive his village stay/grama vastavya programme from mid-November, will have a yoga instructor, a physician and a cook on call during his election tour. The trio will travel with him to north Karnataka villages in the brand new hi-tech caravan, specially designed to meet his requirements. The 57-year-old leader recently underwent a heart surgery and has been advised rest for the next few weeks. That is why he has pushed the village stay initiative to mid-November. Kumaraswamy said the health scare has made him realise that he needs to take better care of his health. I have always neglected my health, especially during my tours. At times, I have had my first meal in the wee hours of the day. The erratic eating and sleeping habits have taken a toll on my health. Hence, these elaborate measures, he said. The doctors have advised me not to stay overnight at villagers homes as I am susceptible to infections. I am too apprehensive after the second heart surgery. Hence, it was decided that a health professional accompanies me, he added. He said that his first village stay will be in Basavana Bagewadi on November 15. Kumaraswamy plans to cover 62 taluks in 50 Assembly constituencies. I aim to visit 20 villages every day. The custom-made bus will cater to all my needs I can bathe, eat, hold meetings and even sleep in it, he added. The Rs 1 crore bus will be donated to Kumaraswamy by party minority cell president Syed Altaf. As the deadline for filling up of potholes is fast approaching, Mayor R Sampath Raj said that around 50% of the potholes have been filled. Around 8,000 of the 16,000-odd potholes have been filled, said Sampath Raj. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had set a deadline of 15 days to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad and Sampath Raj to fill potholes in the city. Some statistics also said there were 30,000 potholes in the city. After facing flak from motorists and residents about the bad roads riddled with killer potholes, the BBMP has for the first time put up names of contractors on its website. We have also posted the history of the condition of roads on our website which shows which contractor was in charge during which period, said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. Apart from this, the website has also been updated with an image gallery of all roads where potholes have been filled. Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister KJ George along with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike commissioner N Manjunath Prasad along with Mayor R Sampath Raj and chief engineers are going for an inspection of pothole work at 2 am on Friday early morning. The Bengaluru Urban district administration has served notices on Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, SN Hospital and owners of 69 other properties for encroaching on government land at Ideal Home township in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said the move followed high court orders. The high court asked us to give the property owners a chance to provide an explanation. Accordingly, the assistant commissioner served notices on the parties, he told DH. Asked whether any deadline was set, he said property owners had 15 days time. They may seek other details and ask for time. But the matter will reach its logical end within a month, he added. A report by K Jayaprakash, the joint director of land records, had stated that the actors house and the hospital run by former minister Shamanur Shivashankarappas family were among the properties that had encroached on stormwater drains. Served with an eviction notice, the actor had moved the court for a stay. Free housing This apart, the district administration has prepared a Rs 37.24-crore plan to provide free homes to 784 special-category families. Shankar said the homes would be built on 9.35 acres of land recovered from encroachers in survey number 281 at Gunjur village. We estimate each home to cost Rs 4.75 lakh, of which Rs 3.5 lakh will come from the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he said. Sex workers, devadasis, widows, sanitation workers, the destitute and the disabled come under the special category. The deputy commissioner said four miniparks would be created in Bengaluru on the lines of Cubbon Park and Lalbagh and the work was underway to identify suitable places for them. Three of a family and two engineering students from the city were killed when an SUV crashed into a bus shelter on NH 75 near Magadi, Bengaluru Rural district, on Thursday evening. The students were part of a five-member group that had set out to Savandurga Hills from JP Nagar. The students hired a silver Mahindra Scorpio from Zoomcar, an automobile rental firm. Upon reaching Bychapura village near Lakkenahalli, about 56 km from Bengaluru, they came across a deep curve. Shubham, who was at the wheel, lost control of the car and crashed it into a bus shelter, about 20 feet away from the highway, police said. Kemparaju (40), his wife Mamatha K and two children, Lavanya K (11) and Sanjay K (2), had stopped by the bus shelter. The family was riding a motorcycle to their native village, Muthugadahalli, Turuvekere, Tumakuru district. Kemparaju had decided to pull in as his children felt hungry and wanted to eat. The crash turned catastrophic. The speeding car crashed into the family, killing Kemparaju, Lavanya and Sanjay on the spot and critically injuring Mamatha. Two of the students Sajjan and Navaneet Upadhyay also died while Shubham, Abdur Rahman and another student were wounded. The wounded were taken to the government hospital in Nelamangala where Mamatha is battling for her life, police added. The students are from the citys HKBK College of Engineering. Sajjan and Upadhyay were from Nagavara. Kemparajus family lived in Yediyur. 2,140 cases registered Underage and student motorists from Bengaluru have been increasingly hitting highways, NICE roads and the outer ring road. The traffic police registered 2,140 cases of reckless and rash driving in the first eight months of this year. Of them, 1,340 cases were registered against minors. A seven-year-old girl was killed when a bike rider knocked her down allegedly while attempting some bike stunts at Maranayakanahalli Colony in Chikkajala on Thursday evening. However, the police said the stretch of the road did not have sufficient width to perform such a stunt. Sahana was standing outside her house watching fireworks for Deepavali. Meanwhile, the accused, identified as Raju, a neighbour lost control over the bike and knocked down the victim. Sahana sustained multiple injuries and a few bystanders rushed her to a private hospital where she succumbed to her injuries later. Sensing trouble, Raju abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene. Chikjajala traffic police rushed to the spot and detained a friend of Raju who was a witness to the accident. They are interrogating as rumours were doing rounds that he was drunk while riding. Preliminary inquiries revealed that Raju, aged around 25 years, was drunk at the time of the accident. The police are still waiting to get the statement of the parents. We will convince the family to file a case failing which a suo-motu case will be initiated against the accused, a senior police officer said. A fake journalist is among two suspected drug peddlers arrested by the police in Southeast Bengalurus Koramangala. Rs 3 lakh worth of hashish (charas) is reported to have been seized from them. Rakesh (26) and Amul Hasan (23), both from Mangaluru, were arrested during a police raid at 20th Main, 7th Block, near the BBMP park, in Koramangala. Police said the duo was trying to peddle drugs to employees of a private company. One kilogram of hashish, Rs 3,200 in cash and three mobile phones were seized from them. Police also found the identity card of a media house called All India News 24x7 from Hasan who claimed to be a reporter with it. As per the ID, the news agency does intelligence, investigation, sting and right to information (RTI) operations, and sought information and other assistance from law-enforcement agencies. Police have established that the news agency does not exist and are investigating who made the identity card. Although Hasan studied journalism, he doesnt work for any media organisation. Interestingly, police also discovered that he had created a WhatsApp group whose members include local television journalists. They have booked him for impersonation, too. Hasan had arrived in Bengaluru about three years ago in search of work and did odd jobs. Over the past two years, he got the press card and had his friend, Rakesh, join him in the city. Rakesh had studied till class 10 and was working as a construction labourer in Mangaluru. In Bengaluru, the friends started peddling drugs. They would source the contraband from a man named Devdas in Bidar and sell it to private company employees. Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III Thursday announced a $120 million settlement with General Motors Company over allegations GM concealed safety issues related to ignition switch-related defects in GM vehicles. The settlement, reached between GM and the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia, concludes a multistate investigation into the auto manufacturers failure to timely disclose known safety defects in several models and model years of GM vehicles. It is unacceptable for a company to knowingly hide significant safety concerns from the public, General Slatery said. This settlement holds GM accountable for their dishonesty and ensures a change in company behavior that will better protect consumers. In 2014, GM issued seven vehicle recalls in response to ignition switch and/or unintended key rotation related issues, which have affected over nine million vehicles in the United States. The recalls involved a defective ignition switch that, under certain conditions, could move out of the Run position to the Accessory or Off position. If this occurs, the driver experiences a loss of electrical systems, including power steering and power brakes. If a collision occurs while the ignition switch is in the Accessory or Off position, the vehicles safety airbags may also fail to deploy, increasing the risk of serious injury or death in certain types of crashes in which the airbag was otherwise designed to deploy. As the states alleged, certain employees of GM and General Motors Corporation (which went through bankruptcy in 2009), knew as early as 2004 that the ignition switch posed a safety defect because it could cause airbag non-deployment. However, despite this knowledge, GM personnel decided it wasnt a safety concern and delayed making recalls. GM continued to market the reliability and safety of its motor vehicles which were equipped with this defective ignition switch. The states alleged that these actions were unfair and deceptive and that the automakers actions violated state consumer protection laws. According to the settlement, GM shall: Not represent that a motor vehicle is safe unless they have complied with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards applicable to the motor vehicle at issue. Not represent that certified pre-owned vehicles that GM advertises are safe, have been repaired for safety issues, or have been subject to rigorous inspection, unless such vehicles are not subject to any open recalls relating to safety or have been repaired pursuant to such a recall. Instruct its dealers that all applicable recall repairs must be completed before any GM motor vehicle sold in the U.S. and included in a recall is eligible for certification and, if there is a recall on any certified pre-owned vehicle sold in the U.S., the required repair must be completed before the vehicle is delivered to a customer. GM also agreed to pay the participating attorneys general a total of $120 million, of which Tennessees share is $2,095,522 In addition to Tennessee, the multi-state group led by Ohio, South Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas - includes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. San Diego police are investigating possible drug sales by at least one person a high school parent who may have provided substances to teenagers at a private San Diego high school and possibly other schools as well, authorities said this week. A Carmel Valley woman has been charged thus far in the investigation involving students at Cathedral Catholic High School. According to court documents, 48-year-old Kimberly Quach faces 37 counts, including 10 charges of employing a minor to sell or carry marijuana, and 16 counts of furnishing marijuana to a minor over the age of 14. There are also two charges that she sold or provided a minor with suboxone, a controlled substance associated with treating opiod dependence, and one charge of selling or providing a minor with alprazolam (Xanax), a tranquilizer. Other charges include five counts of child abuse, one count of theft by false impersonation and an accusation that she provided a place for people to obtain drugs. The alleged crimes took place sometime between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28, the day Quach was arrested. She remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of $200,000 bail. She has pleaded not guilty. The Public Defenders office is representing her, but declined comment Thursday. Kevin Eckery, Vice Chancellor with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, said Cathedral Catholic officials were made aware of the investigation shortly after Quachs arrest. Eckery also emailed a statement that the ongoing investigation involved Cathedral Catholic and other high schools in the area. As part of that effort, San Diego Police and the District Attorneys Office are directly contacting a number of CCHS families to ask for their help. Officers working the case believe there are CCHS students who may be witnesses or who may have information that would assist them, he said. He said the school is not a party to the conversations happening between police, parents and the students who may have been involved in or aware of the alleged criminal activity. This is something that affects the school community for sure, but we are not going to be privy to the content of all these conversations, he said. As for fallout for students, he said the school would cross that bridge when we come to it. Quach faces up to 60 years and four months in prison if convicted of all charges, according to the District Attorneys office. --Teri Figueroa is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune Harvard University has created a tattoo with the power to monitor blood glucose levels. Named Dermal Abyss, the device works by reading and picking up biomarkers from the bodys interstitial fluid, which is a thin layer of fluid surroundings the cells. The ink turns from green into brown when blood glucose levels increases. While the tattoo device is not yet available on the market as a product, researchers have already demonstrated its success following tests on pig skin, with colour changes observed in response to different biomarkers. The technology, developed as part of a project by researchers from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed to overcome some of the limitations of current wearable glucose monitoring devices. Short battery life is one of the major drawbacks, as is the need for wireless connectivity. Researcher Ali Yetise, who is studying as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, said: We were thinking: new technologies, what is the next generation after wearables? And so we came up with the idea that we could incorporate biosensors in the skin. We wanted to go beyond what is available through wearables today. The invention also has the ability to indicate dehydration, with the green turning darker the more dehydrated people are when viewed under a blue light. Further improvements are needed, say the researchers, such as ensuring the ink does not fade or diffuse, and while the applications for the device are broad, the technology is exciting from a diabetes perspective because it could be incorporated into long-lasting tattoos for chronic conditions. Nan Jiang, co-researcher and postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School study, said: The purpose of the work is to light the imagination of biotechnologists and stimulate public support for such efforts. These questions of how technology impacts our lives must be considered as carefully as the design of the molecular sensors patients may someday carry embedded in their skin. The work of the researchers is a proof of concept study and more research and funding will be needed to develop the product. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview OLYMPIA (AP) Washington is among 17 states that have been granted a yearlong extension from the enforcement of federal requirements for state driver's licenses and ID cards. The state Department of Licensing announced the news Wednesday, and Department of Homeland Security's REAL ID website showing the current status of each state has been updated. . . . Subscriber content preview JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Chris Hladick, Alaska's state commerce commissioner, has been chosen to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional office. Gov. Bill Walker says Hladick will leave his state role Nov. 1. Mike Navarre, the outgoing mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, will succeed Hladick. . . . Catherine Heigel, the former director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, has returned to Elliott Davis, LLC as its chief operating officer. In this role, Ms. Heigel manages the firms operational support functions, including legal, information technology, human resource, marketing and communications, and firm administration. In addition, Ms. Heigel is charged with leading strategy and innovation efforts for the firm to promote the efficient operation and strategic growth of Elliott Daviss capabilities. We are honored and excited to have Catherine back with Elliott Davis, said Rick Davis, the chief executive officer of Elliott Davis. Her experience, her knowledge, and her integrity make her a valuable asset to us, our partners, and the communities we serve. Ms. Heigel earned her bachelors degree with Honors from the University of South Carolina and her law degree from The Ohio State University. She serves on the USC Honors College Partnership Board, the Anderson University Board of Regents, and the Buncombe Street United Methodist Church Finance Committee. She is a past trustee of The Nature Conservancy -- SC Chapter and the ETV Endowment Board. In addition, she is a graduate of The Wharton Schools Advanced Management Program and Furman Universitys Riley Institute for Diversity. Ms. Heigel spent 11 years with the Duke Energy Corporation, serving in various capacities including two years as president of the companys South Carolina operations. Ms. Heigel then served as executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary to American Transmission Company, an electric transmission utility based in Wisconsin. In 2013, Ms. Heigel joined Elliott Davis as general counsel and corporate strategies officer. She left Elliott Davis in June 2015 for a period of public service when Governor Nikki Haley named Ms. Heigel director of DHEC, which is one of the states largest agencies with 3,400 employees and an annual budget of more than $600 million. As Elliott Davis readies itself for its second century in business, I am excited to be part of building the firms future, Ms. Heigel said. National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA) named Brad Simmons 2017 EMS Pilot of the Year. Mr. Simmons is currently LIFE FORCE 5 Base Aviation manager and pilot. The NEMSPA Pilot of the Year Award is awarded to an EMS Pilot nominated by the nations air medical transport community of over 300 air medical services. Mr. Simmons began his aviation career 40 years ago in the U.S. Army, then joined LIFE FORCE 28 years ago, shortly after the programs inception. His experience in the air medical service gives him an ability to be a natural leader within crew members. A lead by example personality, as one nominator states, he is approachable and devoted to ensuring he and the crew are well informed and trained. Mr. Simmons is often seen in the hangar answering questions from the crew, running through emergency procedures or assisting the aircraft maintenance staff. When on calls, one crew member stated that Mr. Simmons has developed a keen awareness of the acuity of patients and is able to anticipate the medical staffs needs. As one of our most tenured LIFE FORCE pilots, Brad has shown us what a true professional pilot looks like, said Robbie Tester, vice president of Operations at Erlanger. He goes above and beyond and has always been dedicated and committed to the profession. Over the last two years, Brad has been instrumental in ensuring that LIFE FORCE 5 is a high functioning base and has continues to carry the standard of being World-Class to a new market. After the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, Mr. Simmons was one of the LIFE FORCE crew members who flew to San Antonio as part of the disaster relief efforts. His willingness to fly a LIFE FORCE helicopter to Texas in order to help more people is a true statement of his character. According to a nomination letter, he is the embodiment of a true leader and team player is and continuously shows what the looks like in practice. The award was presented during the Community Awards presentation at the Air Medical Transport Conference in Fort Worth, Tx., on Oct. 16. For more information about LIFE FORCE, visit www.lifeforceairmed.com. The Donegal Democrat has been informed of the following deaths: - Alice Mailey (nee Carlin), Convoy - Mary Murphy, The Gort, Carndonagh - Margaret ODonnell, Rosemount, Kilmacrennan - Drew Roulston, Glenmaquin, Letterkenny - Sarah Davenport (nee Doherty), Hillhead, Carndonagh - Cait Logue, Downings - Carmel Doherty (nee Lynch), 19 Gaddyduff, Clonmany - Kathleen (Molly) Shiels (nee Porter), Conneyburrow Road, Lifford - Nora Gallagher (nee Browne),Main Street, Stranorlar - Freda Smyth, Bunlinn, Milford Roseanne Nymoen, Leicester and Ballybofey The death has occurred in Leicester,England, of Roseanne Nymoen, nee Callaghan, late of Meenashammer, Ballybofey. Removal from Belfast City Airport today, Thursday Oct 19th at 7pm, to arrive at McCools Chapel of Rest, Ballybofey for Rosary at 10 pm. Reposing there on Friday October 20th from 5pm until removal at 7pm to St.Marys Church, Sessiaghoneill to repose overnight. Funeral Mass on Saturday October 21st at 11am with interment afterwards in the adjoining Churchyard. Donations in lieu of flowers, if so desired, to the Donegal Hospice, and St.Colmcilles Village, Clonmany, care of any family member. Alice Mailey (nee Carlin), Convoy The death has taken place of Alice Mailey (nee Carlin), 233 Townspark, Convoy. Reposing at her late residence. Removal at 10.30am on Friday for Requiem Mass in St. Marys Church, Convoy at 11am followed by burial in the family plot in the Old Cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu if desired to charity of the familys choice. House private from 11pm to 11am. Rosary each night at 9pm. Mary Murphy, The Gort, Carndonagh The death has taken place of Mary Murphy, The Gort, Carndonagh. Reposing at her late residence. Removal this evening, Thursday, at 6.45pm to the Church of the Sacred Heart for prayers. Requiem Mass at 1pm on Friday with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu to Carndonagh Community Hospital. House private from 11pm to 10am. Margaret ODonnell, Rosemount, Kilmacrennan The death has taken place of Margaret ODonnell, Rosemount, Kilmacrennan. Reposing at her son Josies residence, 1 Hillview, Kilmacrennan. Removal to St. Columbas Chapel, Kilmacrennan tomorrow, Thursday, October 19th, for 11am Funeral Mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. House private please. Family friends and neighbours of the deceased welcome. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu, if desired, to Hillcrest Nursing Home Patient Comfort Fund. Drew Roulston, Glenmaquin, Letterkenny The death has taken place at the Donegal Hospice of Drew Roulston, Glenmaquin, Letterkenny. Reposing at his home. Funeral from his residence on Thursday, October 19th, at 1.15pm for 2pm Service in Convoy Presbyterian Church, with burial afterwards in the adjoining churchyard in the family plot. Family time from 11pm till 11am. Family flowers only, donations if desired to the Donegal Hospice c/o any family member or Gibson Funeral Directors, Convoy. Sarah Davenport, nee Doherty, Hillhead, Carndonagh The death has taken place in Paisley, Scotland of Sarah Davenport, nee Doherty, Hillhead, Carndonagh. Remains will arrive in Larne Harbour today, Thursday, at 12.30pm. Removal from there to the Church of The Sacred Heart, Carndonagh to arrive at approximately 3.30pm to repose overnight. Requiem Mass on Friday at 11am. Interment afterwards in adjoining cemetery. Cait Logue, Downings The death has occurred of Cait Logue, Downings. Reposing the residence of her daughter Brid Byrne. Removal on Thursday to St. John the Baptist Church, Carrigart for Requiem Mass at 11am, followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery. Family time from 11pm to 11am. Carmel Doherty (nee Lynch), 19 Gaddyduff, Clonmany The death has occurred of Carmel Doherty (nee Lynch), 19 Gaddyduff, Clonmany. Reposing at her late residence. Removal on Thursday morning, October 19th, at 10.40am for 11am Requiem Mass in St. Marys Church, Clonmany. Burial afterwards in the new cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations in lieu, if desired, to the Oncology Ward. Kathleen (Molly) Shiels (nee Porter), Conneyburrow Road, Lifford The death has occurred of Kathleen (Molly) Shiels (nee Porter), Conneyburrow Road, Lifford. Remains reposing at her late residence. Funeral from there on Thursday morning at 10.20am going to St, Patrick's Church, Murlog for 11am Requiem Mass with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only please, donations in lieu, if desired, to Craig's House, Sligo. Nora Gallagher (nee Browne), Main Street, Stranorlar The death has occurred peacefully, at her home, of Nora Gallagher (nee Browne), Main Street, Stranorlar. Remains reposing at her home. Funeral leaving her home on Thursday, October 19th at 10.30am for requiem Mass at 11am in the Church of Mary Immaculate, Stranorlar, with interment afterwards in Drumboe Cemetery. Family time on the morning of the funeral please. Freda Smyth, Bunlinn, Milford The death has taken place of Freda Smyth, Bunlinn, Milford. Remains reposing at her late residence. Funeral Mass on Thursday, 19th October, at 12 noon in St Peters Church, Milford, with burial afterwards in Milford cemetery. House private please, neighbours and friends welcome. Family time from 11pm till 10am. Family flowers only donations if desired to the Heart Foundation c/o Sweeney Funeral Directors, Milford. If you wish to have a death notice included here, email us at editorial@donegaldemocrat.com. Please include a telephone number for verification. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The business of home health care is composed largely of dedication, excellent patient care, and customer service, and Southeast Alabama HomeCare has recently received accolades for their work in these areas. In July, the agency was given the Home Health Patient Satisfaction Award for placing in the top 5 percent of the Strategic Healthcare Programs report, which is a national survey benchmark for home health care providers. That achievement is important to Southeast Alabama HomeCare, said Patient Care Representative Tina Dorriety, but last week, the agency was bestowed with another honor. We are now classified as a Home Care Elite agency. There are 7 (Elite) agencies in the whole state of Alabama, and nobody in this area other than our sister agency over in Opp is in the top 500, Dorriety said. That is a huge honor. Its an award for the most successful homecare providers in the United States, and this is the 25th year that theyve been doing this, and they do the top 25 percent of agencies based on performance measures. They evaluate the care that we give from start to finish. The higher tiers of the home health care industry arent the only ones paying attention, either -- patients themselves have an opportunity to weigh in on their quality of care, and according to Dorriety, theyve been very satisfied with Southeast Alabama HomeCare. We have been recognized as a double five star agency by Medicare.gov, which means that not only is my staff giving the quality of care that shows the patients are improving, weve also got that level of satisfaction on a patient survey, which is huge to have the population say yes, we want you back, were very excited that you took care of our family. We are actually the only agency with a double five star that services the Enterprise area, she said. Though Dorriety and the Southeast Alabama HomeCare staff members are proud of their achievements, they remain focused on their purpose: to help patients and families who have placed their trust in the agency. For Dorriety especially, helping others in the community is the most important thing the agency can do. Its not about having the best scores, or the most patients on the case loadits about taking care of the patients youve got and helping people, and thats what makes me smile. At the end of the day, if I know that I have helped somebody, that theyre not scared to be at home, that they know theyve taken their medicine right, their wound cares been done Knowing that that patient knows there are eyes and ears in that home is important to me, Dorriety said. We are 24/7, so there is a nurse on call, so it gives patients peace of mind. It just lets them know that somebodys there. It all goes back to the people. Dorriety encourages anyone who believes they may be eligible for home health care to contact their physician or Southeast Alabama HomeCare directly for an evaluation. The January 2013 Midland City incident during which a gunman shot and killed a school bus driver and held a 5-year-old hostage for days, sparked concern for parents, bus drivers, and students around the world. However, with the combined knowledge of the Dale County Sheriffs Office and Gary Moore, a retired Missouri State Trooper, that incident is being shared all over the country as a way to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Moore, who is also the safety coordinator for the Missouri School Board Association, visited Dale County earlier this week. During his visit he spent time with Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson, Dale County Chief Deputy Mason Bynum, and other state officials. He also shared with everyone during his meeting if Olson, Bynum, and former Dale County Superintendent of Education Donnie Bynum, had not worked so closely with him following the 2013 incident, his training program would not be possible. Both Sheriff Olson and Chief Deputy Bynum has helped me tremendously, Moore said. When I decided to do this training, I got in contact with Mason right away. The department wasted no time in presenting their Power Point to me. When I first started doing this training, Sheriff Olson told me that if he could save another bus drivers life through my program, he wanted to be a part of it. Since Moore began this training program, he has directed 179 presentations on active shooter school bus safety all over the country. All I did was take my experience in law enforcement along with the information given to me by the sheriffs department and combined common since. I have traveled all over the country and in the combination of all three will hopefully save someones life. Moore provided main points for school bus drivers, administrators, parents, and even students. If I could discuss one topic and one topic only, it would be communication skills, Moore said. Having good communication skills is a must when a situation arises. In a threatening situation, keep your voice low. If you dont, it may result in a physical confrontation. Always be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Moore also stated everyone has a range in their head of what they believe is normal. If something strikes you as this may not be normal, pay attention, Moore said. If you see a student who never carries an instrument case on the bus, and all of a sudden starts, thats out of the norm. You have to be visual. If something strikes you out of the normal, talk to your supervisor and law enforcement may need to be contacted. You never know when you may find the missing piece to a puzzle. Moore continues to present his training program to schools across the country. Schools interested in having Moore present his program to bus drivers can call (573) 619-4799. Though he has worked just two different jobs for the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission in almost 15 years, Scott Farmer believes his versatility will help him in his new role. I think Im a pretty well-rounded person, the new SEARP&DC executive director said. Its difficult to be good at everything, but I think Im knowledgeable in several different subjects to where I can try to find out what I need to know in certain things. Farmer sharpened his jack-of-all-trades approach through his college years and his roles as regional planner and community development director at SEARPDC. Originally studying history and political science at the University of Alabama, he switched to a focus on regional and urban planning and geography after realizing he could major in geography. Ive always grown up loving maps, he said. Id look at atlases whenever I was 4 or 5. My dad told me whenever I was 5 years old, I could probably deliver mail. Summer jobs with the universitys cartography department opened Farmers eyes to the roles regional planning councils play in local government. While specific activities vary from agency to agency, regional planning commissions like SEARPDC help local governments obtain state and federal funding and provide other technical support roles like redistricting and mapping help, Farmer said. One of my summer roles was to work in the Alabama-Tombigbee Regional Council, which is in Camden, he said. That summer I drove through all the areas of the state because we were creating a GIS (geographic information system) database, sort of a mapping database for their agency. I got to see sort of the structure of a regional commission and really enjoyed a lot of the variety that it had. Before he earned his masters degree in geography, Farmer had a job offer to work with SEARPDC. He accepted it and has encountered much of the variety that appealed to him during that summer in western Alabama. Being here this long you hear whats going on in other departments, he said. Even after elections sometimes different leadership comes in, and it can change things. It can be challenging, but thats the fun part. You get to educate, and thats what Im here for. The diversity will help him as he transitions to the role of executive director. We do know, at least on some macro level, what everybody does, he said. Ive got a little bit of a learning curve to learn about Head Start, senior employment, Wiregrass Transit and what goes on administratively here, but I know enough to sort of know what the main goals are and objectives are for each program. Farmer takes over for Tom Solomon, who retired in September after many years of service to SEARPDC. Farmer said he learned great techniques for management from Solomon and hopes to emulate those moving forward. Tom was really good about letting you work and sort of figure things for yourself sometimes, he said, noting the approach allows employees to grow. He would always check on you to see if you were doing OK, but I never felt like he was over us. Farmer said federal and state regulations often limit what programs can accomplish, but he noted SEARP&DC will always look for new ways to benefit the seven counties Covington, Coffee, Dale, Barbour, Houston, Henry and Geneva it serves. The agency has been here almost 50 years, and the agency has changed a lot during that time. We just need to be forward-thinking, he said. Domestic funding has become a little more difficult. There used to be a lot more grant money available out there. You got to be creative. Are there ways to combine different programs together? You cant just concentrate on one silo. Government officials, community leaders and community members gathered on Wednesday at the Chattanooga Convention Center for the Urban League of Greater Chattanoogas Equal Opportunity Day breakfast. John Hope Bryant, founder and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Ventures, served as keynote speaker, and the event was chaired by Jeff Jackson, Southeast market president of First Tennessee Bank. The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga also presented awards to three community leaders: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BlueCross), the Chattanooga Innovation District and LaFrederick M. Thirkill. John Hope Bryants powerful keynote address was the exact message needed for us to become further inspired and motivated to bring change to our city, said Warren E. Logan, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga. Mr. Bryant not only delivered an incredible keynote message, but he took the time to have personal, meaningful and life-changing conversations with many who attended the event. The Corporate Award for Inclusion by Design, awarded to BlueCross, recognizes an organization that embraces inclusion through its business practices and community engagement activities. The Community Impact Award, awarded to the Chattanooga Innovation District, recognizes an organization that elevates the communitys standard of living and contributes to the overall quality of life. Thirkill, an elementary school principal, was selected to receive the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award, which recognizes outstanding service by an individual or group for demonstrated leadership and commitment to the cause of justice, social consciousness and civic involvement. We are proud to say we have been raising awareness in our community through Equal Opportunity Day for 35 years, said Mr. Logan. However, it is an even greater honor to be able to say our city has rallied around those in our community who are in need of empowerment and financial freedom. Pyjama parties, bake sales, fancy dress and funky hair styles, its that time of year again at Peter Mark! The annual Petermarkathon fundraiser is back and coming to Peter Mark Louth from Friday 27th Monday 30th October 2017. This year, the Peter Mark team aim to raise much needed funds for The Simon Community and specifically contribute to maintaining the support facilities for homeless individuals in crisis as part of the Make it Home campaign. The vital work of the Simon Community is needed now more than ever as Ireland faces a housing and homelessness crisis. The charity focuses not on managing but ending homelessness, ensuring that people on the edge maintain and keep their homes. The overall aim of the Make it Home campaign is to keep and ensure homes for some of the most vulnerable people in society. All eight Simon Communities and The Simon Community Northern Ireland will partake in this wonderful campaign with each of the 71 Peter Mark salons in Ireland also involved. Funds raised will help local Simon Communities deliver vital services. Speaking about the initiative, Peter ORourke, CEO, Peter Mark said, We are delighted to be able to take part in the Make it Home initiative to help raise much needed funds for The Simon Communities in Ireland. We know our customers will get behind this years Petermarkthon in their usual inimitable spirit and style. Brian Ingarfield of The Simon Communities We are thankful to Peter Mark for supporting the Simon Communities nationwide with this wonderful initiative. The management, staff and customers create a unique, special event each year which brings joy while raising much needed funds for those in need. A group of pupils from St Vincents secondary school Dundalk, have been presented with prizes as winners in the John Hooper Awards, which took place today in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Bronagh Cassidy, Aoife Lowth and Rachel Campbell, won second prize in the John Hooper competition for their poster, ARIA or Manual? - A statistical analysis into which method of grading retinal images for diabetic retinopathy is the most effective. The goal of the John Hooper competition is to improve students' abilities to describe, explore and investigate their environment using statistics. The competition was first launched seven years ago to mark the first World Statistics Day in 2010, which is now observed every 20 October. This national competition is open to teams of 2 to 3 students, up to 18 years old and is named in honour of John Hooper BA (1878 - 1930). Hooper graduated in 1898 with a First Class Honours in Mathematics, and in 1923 at the foundation of State, was appointed the first Director of Statistics for Saorstat Eireann. As the first Director of Statistics, John Hooper shaped the development of official statistics for the new State until his death in December 1930. His work led to the development of new statistics (e.g. first Census of Population and Census of Industrial Production in 1926), and the 1926 Statistics Act. This years overall winners of the John Hooper Awards, Ella Brennan, Jessie Oyenuga from Loreto Secondary School in Kilkenny, went on to win third place on the world stage in the coveted International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP) and International Association of Statistical Education (IASE) International Statistics Competition. This prestigious competition attracted entries from 23 countries including Japan, Russia, Mexico, Australia, Finland, Hungary and Zambia. The winners also received their international award at this ceremony for their project Dont ditch your dairy. For organisations, big or small, accusations of sexual harassment are alarming. With the current press surrounding the allegations of sexual harassment made against Harvey Weinstein, businesses world-wide should reflect on their own internal policies and how they would deal with allegations of this nature. In Australia, we have an abundance of laws protecting employees from sexual harassment in the workplace. At the federal level, employees are protected from sexual harassment under the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). Most states and territories in Australia also have anti-discrimination legislation prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. In Victoria, this is the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). The anti-discrimination legislation at federal and state level also prohibits victimisation against employees who complain about sexual harassment in the workplace. Similarly, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) prevents a person from taking adverse action against another person because they have exercised their right to make a complaint of sexual harassment. In more serious cases, and depending on the conduct involved, sexual harassment in the workplace may also constitute a criminal office. Unfortunately, notwithstanding these protections, a study conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2012 titled Working without fear: Results of the Sexual harassment National Telephone Survey revealed that 1 in 5 people (21%) over the age of 15 years have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the past five years. Given its prevalence, employers should ensure they are equipped to deal with allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace when they arise. Have a clear process in place If an employer is alerted to or witnesses sexual harassment in the workplace they should be careful and thorough in dealing with it. In order to do so, there are processes that can be adopted to ensure that the employer protects itself from costly litigation for example the alleged offender is afforded procedural fairness and the complainant is protected throughout the process. Below are a few steps that should be taken by employers if allegations of sexual harassment are raised in the workplace: Take the concerns seriously: Any allegations of sexual harassment should be taken seriously and should remain confidential. Full details of the initial complaint should be recorded and the complainant should be offered access to any employee assistance scheme. Conduct an investigation: Hiring an external investigator to thoroughly investigate the allegations will allow the company to eliminate any unconscious bias. Ensure that the investigator has access to all the information and people required. Suspension of the alleged offender during the investigation process is a common step. Maintain transparency: It is important to outline the process of the investigation and highlight potential timelines for both the complainant and the respondent. As a general rule, employers should have a detailed sexual harassment and grievance policy which sets out the complaints and investigation process. Consider and communicate the investigation outcome: The outcome of the investigation into the allegations should be communicated in writing to both the complainant and the respondent. If the allegations have been substantiated, disciplinary action ranging from a warning to termination of employment should be considered. When conducting any disciplinary meeting employers should ordinarily provide the respondent with an opportunity to have a support person present, as this will be a consideration in any subsequent unfair dismissal claim. Give a right of reply: The employer must provide an opportunity to the offending employee to respond to the allegations and the outcome of the investigation. If an unfair dismissal claim is subsequently made to the Fair Work Commission, the Commission will take into consideration whether the person was notified of the allegations and given an opportunity to respond to the reasons for dismissal. As always, employers are encouraged to obtain legal advice when dealing with allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. About the author Trent Hancock is a Senior Associate with McDonald Murholme, an employment law firm based in Melbourne and Adelaide. Elderly Man Robbed At Loop CTA Station Fell Down Stairs While Fending Off Robber: Police By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 18, 2017 9:53PM An 81-year-old man who was robbed at a Loop CTA station Monday night was also injured after he struggled with the robber over his cell phone and fell down a flight of station stairs. The man was on the Brown Line approaching the Washington and Wabash station when a robber "ripped" the man's cell phone out of his hand right when the doors to the train were opening. The man reportedly fell down the stairs at the station after chasing after the robber and struggling to keep ahold of his phone. He suffered from bleeding to the brain, cuts on his head, bruises and swelling to his hands and knees. He was treated at a hospital where he is under intensive care now, according to police. Police are looking for the public's help in identifying the robber, who is described as a black man, aged 19 to 24 years old, and between 5'4" and 5'7" tall. He appears in a CTA surveillance photo wearing a black bandana and Calvin Klein T-shirt and grey pants. [H/T Tribune] This past Monday, Congressman Tim Walberg held a townhall meeting in Tecumseh, Michigan where he met a raucous crowd who were largely angry with him, his Republican colleagues, and President Donald Trump. During the question and answer period, one attendee described how angry she is with President Trumps tweets. Rep. Walberg responded, I cant control his tweets. I have to answer to his tweets. I dont like to answer to some of those tweets in all honestly, but Im not the president. I can do what Im supposed to do. So thats what were going to do. And those of you that think there are impeachable offenses for tweets come on! Get a life. Get a life. Get a life. Did you just tell us to get a life?! one attendee asked incredulously. I did, Walberg responded. I did. Why do you think were here? the questioner shot back. Watch (video shot and published by Sarrah Halstead): This patronizing derision against constituents who took time out of their busy schedules to participate in participatory democracy and to give feedback to the person representing them in Congress has become all too common among Republicans. The hot mic moment when an aide to Congressman David Trott (MI-11) said they would use questions about military spending to portray constituents as un-American was another disgusting example. I have news for Rep. Walberg: His constituents are beginning to wake up to his dangerous agenda and his unwavering support for Donald Trump will not help him. Constituents from all across the 7th Congressional District have had enough of the Republicans systematic dismantling of much of what makes this country great has roused them from their disinterest in politics. Large numbers of formerly uninvolved citizens are getting involved, going to these public appearances, and are joining forces to, as my wife Anne so perfectly puts it, Reveal and Replace members of Congress who do not represent their values or beliefs. I think Rep. Walberg is in for a big surprise next November. His MI-07 constituents ARE getting a life. And they are using that new life to ensure that he is replaced in Congress, this time for good. And no amount of Koch brothers money can save him. Want to get involved? Click HERE and get started. You can make a contribution to the campaign of Gretchen Driskell, Walbergs Democratic opponent HERE. Compared to Walberg who raised his funds in the last quarter largely from special interests, Driskells support is mostly from individual Michigan supporters: Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5) ECSU Career Fair Gives Students Glimpse at Life After Graduation When Edenton native Ken Kinion graduated from Elizabeth City State University in 1984, he went out into the world and made a career for himself. Now, more than three decades later, Kinion returned to his alma mater for Career Day, to let students know that there are great opportunities available to them, too. Kinion is a vice president and director of government relations with One Main, a financial services company. He was joined by two executives from the national company, letting ECSU students know about the internship opportunities available to them, and what the future may hold as well. A recent intern who graduated in May was promoted to a manager in June, said Deidre Gwin, a One Main vice president, who explained that her organization offers paid internships and a bonus package with the potential for post-graduation careers. Gwin joined Kinion and One Main district manager Chris Warren at the fair, held inside the Ridley Student Center on Wednesday, Oct. 18. She explained that ECSU students can apply for internships with the local office, and hope to continue with the company after graduation, gaining business skills and potentially developing a lifelong career with the company. Were training leaders, she said. One Main was one of 15 organizations at the Ridley Student Center. A large number of ECSU students spoke to the businesses, representatives from graduate school programs such as East Carolina University, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Navy, all in an effort to think about the possibilities for life after graduation. According to one Navy recruiter, pilots are currently in big demand. ECSU aviation students are ideal for their needs. The recruiters said they were on hand in hopes of finding the right students to sign on, and with their degree in hand, become an officer in the Navy. Other organizations included the Norfolk and Suffolk, Virginia police departments. Suffolk police officer and recruiter Dwayne Wiggins said there is a big need for young men and women, and theyre not recruiting just graduates with criminal justice degrees. It doesnt matter what your degree is, he said. Wiggins says joining a police department is not necessarily about becoming a patrol officer. There are a number of job possibilities, including an intelligence analyst or crime analyst, the latter being responsible for researching crime-related information to better prepare police for potential trouble spots in their communities. Many of the recruiters represented say their organizations offer far more than what job seekers may expect. Vidant Health recruiter Pam Armstrong said while nurses are the biggest need, people considering careers should realize that a health-related organization also needs IT people, engineers, and even executive administrators. Other internships include the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Outreach director Tiffany Upshaw says they are looking for students interested in STEM fields to apply between now and January. For more information about these organizations and their internships, contact the ECSU director of career development, Mikitta Whitehurst-McLean at 252-335-3355. (Photo: Peter Kenny)Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew speaks at the World Council of Churches on April 24, 2017 on why humanity has a duty to protect the environment which is sacred. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I has called for "a fresh deliberation on the fate of the earth" while delivering a keynote speech during the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. The assembly drew more than 2,000 participants from 50 countries, joined religious leaders with scientists, government officials, advocates, and indigenous people on Oct. 13-15. Bartholomew recalled a time when religious people were relatively indifferent, and sometimes even hostile, to science. "Today, however," he said, "as some of those connections have become more perceptible and tangible, there is hardly a religious leader in the world who is not in one way or another concerned about the challenges posed by pollution and climate change." A conference organized by the World Council of Churches and hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland under the theme "Just Peace with Earth" was held in conjunction with the Arctic Assembly. More and more people recognize that religious consciousness and environmental science are both concerned with the ultimate questions, said Bartholomew. He said they are concerned with the way that we are shaping the destiny of humankind, the planet, and the whole of creation, reflected Bartholomew. "For that reason alone, then, spiritual leaders and ecologists cannot avoid engaging in a profound dialogue with one another," he said. "Climate change is a matter of livelihood, food, and individual and cultural survival," he said. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE ARCTIC And for the indigenous people of the Arctic, climate change is not just a theory but a stark and dangerous reality, said Bartholomew. "It is above and beyond all else a vital human issue," he said. "For scientists, the Arctic is the barometer of the globe's environmental health." The ecological misdeeds committed in other regions including chemical contamination and nuclear radiation are clearly evident in the Arctic environment, said the patriarch. "When we visit this pristine part of the planet, we cannot hide our eyes, either from the beauty of God's creation or from the changes which human folly has generated," he said. "Nor can we avoid pondering the terrible consequences for the remainder and the future of the world, if glaciers continue to melt and sea-levels continue to rise." Creation is an intricate web of life, he noted. (Photo: WCC) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew "If the environment of the Arctic Circle is now changing at a frightening pace, it is because of economic activities and energy choices in the industrialized world in the south, west and east," he said. At the conference organized by the World Council of Churches, a WCC delegation emphasized the growing role of faith with regard to climate change and sustainable communities. Among speakers at the "Just Peace with Earth" conference was WCC president for Europe and Archbishop emeritus Anders Wejryd. He reflected that, through history most peoples have been totally dependent upon nature, living constantly on the verge, which taught them respect for and care of nature. "Now, that knowledge is nearly only carried on by indigenous peoples, living traditional lives," said Wejryd. "They are the ones most seriously threatened by climate change. And here in the Arctic the rise of temperature is double the level of the world average and destroys lives and civilizations." Gov. Rauner Announces $200M In Budget Cuts, With $90M From Social Services By aaroncynic in News on Oct 18, 2017 3:05PM Illinois governor Bruce Rauner last February in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) The governor received a budget $1.7 billion out of balance and has to take action where possible to begin reducing that structural imbalance, Patty Schuh, a spokesperson for the governor, told the State Journal-Register. The Illinois Office of Management and Budget says it projects budget deficits through fiscal year 2023, including a $1.5 billion deficit in FY18 and a $2.1 billion deficit in FY19. Its original 2018 deficit estimate was $1.7 billion. Many of the cuts to social services are to programs that saw severe funding lapses during the states two-year budget impasse. Among them include cuts to addiction prevention, homelessness prevention, supportive housing services, youth employment programs, as well as services for immigrant integration, homeless youth, refugees, and people with disabilities. Its the usual list of things he has tried to zero out each time he gets the chance, Rep. Greg Harris told the Tribune. While I am glad he did not totally eliminate them this time, its the same groups and same programs that are critical investments for the state. In addition to the cuts in human services, the Rauner administration says it will cut $21 million from the Department of Agriculture, $41 million from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and $86 million from the Illinois Department of Transportationwhich hits people with disabilities a second time, because the cuts include money for para-transit services for the Regional Transportation Authority. Rauners potential gubernatorial challengers, as well as community groups, were quick to condemn the cuts. Bruce Rauner slashing vital programs that help Illinoisans build better lives comes as no surprise for this crisis creatin governor, said JB Pritzker campaign spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh, who compared them to the Good Friday Massacre of 2015, where the Rauner administration announced $26 million in cuts to social services. Bruce Rauner has no moral compass and he is hell-bent on repeating his same destructive mistakes with Illinois families paying the price, she said in a statement emailed to Chicagoist. State Representative Daniel Biss went on a mini Twitter-storm, and calling for the closure of tax loopholes that benefit the most wealthy in the state. Illinois' most vulnerable residents, from children to refugees to people with disabilities, have suffered enough in the past three years, wrote Biss. We should take immediate action to close tax dodges like the carried interest loophole that benefit billionaires like @GovRauner. If Bruce Rauner is looking for money to pay for his budget impasse, he should look in the mirror. #twill 3/ Daniel Biss (@danielbiss) October 18, 2017 Illinois is one of only a handful of states that impose a flat income tax, with the same rates regardless of income level. Thirty-three states and the federal government utilize a fair tax with lower rates for lower incomes and higher rates for higher incomes. A Fair Tax in Illinois could raise billions in new revenue while providing a tax cut for the vast majority of Illinois residents. The Governor and General Assembly should reject more cuts and act now to choose these sort of revenue options to put our state on solid footing and lay the groundwork for prosperity. In an email to Chicagoist, the Responsible Budget Coalition, an umbrella organization representing more than 300 groups statewide, called on both the governor and state legislature to reverse the decision, as well as a graduated or progressive income tax, where people with higher incomes pay higher rates and those with lower pay less: Ohios largest full-time online charter school has threatened to shut down in the middle of this school year, saying the state education departments efforts to recover roughly $80 million in disputed funds are having a fatal impact on its ability to continue operating. At the heart of the dispute are software-login records, which the Ohio education department recently began using to help determine attendance and enrollmentand thus fundingfor the states e-schools. Through reviews of those records, state officials determined that a total of nine e-schools overstated their full-time enrollment by anywhere from dozens to thousands of students during the 2015-16 school year. If the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow closes, hundreds of educators and administrators would likely lose their jobs, and thousands of studentsmany of whom are struggling academicallywould be displaced. When a school has 12,000 students spread around the state, the impact of a mid-year closure [would] create logistical nightmares for school districts and families, said Chad Aldis, the vice president of Ohio policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which recently released a study taking a critical look at the academic performance of the states e-school sector. Its important to note, though, that this would be a voluntary closure. Some smaller e-schools that were found to have overstated their student enrollment have reached settlement agreements to repay the state education department. Others have shut down or suspended operations. In recent months, the Ohio education department has withheld more than $10 million from its monthly payments to ECOT, part of its effort to recover more than $60.3 million in per-pupil funding it says the school improperly claimed during the 2015-16 school year. Open Questions What will happen to students? Presumably, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrows estimated 12,000 students, who are from all over Ohio, could return to the traditional schools in their home communities, or seek to enroll in other schools of choice. But ECOT officials argue that many students will either drop out or end up in schools that already failed them. Will the state get repaid? As part of its attendance dispute with ECOT, the Ohio Department of Education has already collected more than $10 million from the school, and the department says its owed roughly $70 million and counting more. Observers are debating whether ECOT could legally declare bankruptcy. State auditor general Dave Yost has suggested that the school could be ordered to sell its assets and recover money from its vendors, and hes warned that e-schools and even their board members could be held liable if they dont make every effort to do so. Who deals with the administrative headaches? ECOT officials say their school has enrolled between 300,000 to 500,000 students during its 17 years of operations, and currently employs 800 people. Thousands of school-owned computers and other equipment are currently in the hands of students all across the state. Forcing the school to close mid-year will create huge disruption on all those fronts, officials warn. Either the state or ECOT will have to address those administrative challenges. In September, state officials told the school it must also repay an additional $19.2 million, based on a review of the schools 2016-17 student-login records. And the department says it will begin increasing its monthly withholdings in anticipation that the school wont be able to document attendance for all the students who it claims are enrolled during the current school year. Valuable Option or Bad Education? ECOT has been challenging those actions in court , arguing that state officials have been retroactively applying an unfair standard as part of their efforts to track e-school attendance and enrollment. To date, the schools lawsuits have been unsuccessful. But the Ohio Supreme Court agreed last month to hear its appeal. Lawyers for the school have asked the court to either expedite its ruling or issue an injunction preventing the state from withholding any additional money, saying the school will otherwise be forced to close by January. Many parents remain committed to full-time online charters, describing them as a valuable option for students who have not succeeded in more traditional environments. Education Secretary But in Ohio and across the country, researchers have consistently found that students in full-time online charters perform significantly worse than their peers in brick-and-mortar schools. Such troublesome academic results provide the backdrop for mounting concerns over student attendance. Last year, for example, an Education Week investigation found that just 1 in 4 students at Colorados largest full-time online charter used the schools learning software on a typical day. Education policy experts generally agree that such findings constitute a red flag. But many are lukewarm about using such data for accountability and funding purposes, as Ohio has done. Basing school funding on the amount of time a student is logged in is an imperfect measure at best, said Aldis of the Fordham Institute. Its prime redeeming quality is that its better than simply funding students who enroll without regard to any consistent engagement. Critics of the states e-school sector say that such a lack of oversight has been the norm for far too long. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has been a particular target, especially given concerns over the schools multi-million dollar contracts with for-profit companies owned by the schools founder, William Lager, a major political donor in the state. The Ohio Republican Party, for example, recently announced it would return $76,000 in campaign donations from Lager and others affiliated with his school management company. And state auditor Dave Yost, previously an ECOT supporter, has recently joined those taking a hard line on the school, saying that Lagers companies should return $12 million it was paid from the school as the result of inflated attendance claims. If a school was overfunded, it must not result in a windfall profit for a private company, while the school itself suffers with reduced funding, Yost wrote in an August letter to the states e-schools. Neither a lawyer nor a spokesperson for the school responded to a request for comment. Collecting money from vendors is just one of a host of issues raised by the possibility of large e-school closures. The most immediate concern is what would happen to students. In their request for emergency court relief, ECOT lawyers argued that in some cases, students will have no choice but to return to the traditional schools where, for one reason or anotherthey were originally unable to find success. In other cases, the lawyers argued, students may simply drop out altogether. The school also raised concerns about the logistics of collecting computers and other equipment it has distributed to students, as well as the administrative burden of providing academic records on between 300,000 and 500,000 current and former students to those individuals last-known school. Some E-Schools Shut Down A few of Ohios 13 e-schools have already shut down in the face of attendance and funding disputes with the state education department. Provost Academy, the Marion Digital Academy, Southwest Licking Digital Academy, and the Virtual Community School either closed or suspended operations before the start of the current school year. Southwest Licking Digital Academy was found to owe the state $140,000, and the Virtual Community School was found to owe $4.2 million. Those debts are still outstanding, according to an education department spokeswoman. The department has reached settlement agreements related to the 2015-16 attendance reviews with two other e-schools in the state: Massillon Digital Academy ($12,630), and TRECA Digital Academy ($5 million, to be repaid over five years.) Four e-schools are still awaiting the results of their administrative appeals to the state. Since the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrows administrative appeal of its 2015-16 review was denied in June, the state education department has been withholding roughly $2.5 millionor 1/24 of the $60.3 million the department says its owed from the 2015-16 school year from each of its monthly payments to the school. In addition, the department this month began withholding an additional 18.5 percent of those monthly payments, a practice it says reflects the likelihood that ECOT will be unable to substantiate the full enrollment it is claiming for the current school year. ECOT has appealed the states finding that it overstated its 2016-17 enrollment by more than 2,600 students. If the school loses its appeal, the state education department is expected to seek repayment of an additional $19.2 million. 6 Must-Sees At The Chicago International Film Festival's Week 2 By Chicagoist_Guest in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 19, 2017 2:44PM "Call Me By Your Name" By Scott Pfeiffer and Jacob Oller With the 53rd Chicago International Festival headed into its second week, its time for our mid-fest report. The remaining program offers many enticing prospects, including Dee Reess Mudbound, adapted from Hillary Jordans shattering novel. We can also recommend Shorts 8These Walls Talk: Architecture, featuring Standing Nymph and Man, a visionary exploration of Chicagos Fine Arts Building. You can still catch some of our 10 pre-fest picks, as well. Wed especially encourage you not to miss the Kartemquin Films show, "Cant Turn Back" (Oct. 22), a program of two stirring half-hour documentaries. The heartbreaking Edith & Eddie is about the titular couple, 90-something interracial newlyweds. Gordon Quinns 63 Boycott remembers the October 22, 1963 Chicago Public School Boycott in light of the struggles around education today. Its a film every Chicagoan should see. Its possible to discover treasures simply by opening the CIFF schedule and putting your finger down. But if youd like some informed tips on what to see and what to miss, well, thats why were here. SEE IT Call Me By Your Name (Oct. 25) A sumptuous poem about love and loss over the course of a summer, Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name uses confident performances from Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet to supplement its bright, warm color palette. The writing is sparse, allowing you to lose yourself in the Italian countryside and the small, intense romance blooming onscreen. Sometimes achingly slow, the films love of musicincluding collaborations between Sufjan Stevens and Sryuichi Sakamotokeeps things moving when the romance hiccups and creaks. Jacob Oller Tokyo Vampire Hotel (Oct. 21) This miniseries, recut into a film that condenses a mad, legend-spanning narrative of global high-class vampire dominance spun by idiosyncratic writer/director Sion Sono, is utter chaos. Sono is known to be subversive and strange among Japanese filmmakers, who are already working with a much different set of expectations than Hollywood directors. That this movie even holds together through its amusement park amounts of energy is a marvel, but it often manages to find glimpses of humor and Tarantino levels of epic (and epically bloody) genre fare that are almost as crazy as this movie thinks it is. Jacob Oller El Mar La Mar (Oct. 24 & 25): Northwestern University professor J.P. Sniadecki (The Iron Ministry) and Joshua Bonnetta created this sensory, spooky experience on distressed 16mm shot in the wilderness of the Sonoran desert, a vast, boiling killing floor where thousands have died, or disappeared, trying to cross the U.S./Mexico border. El Mar La Mar is a boundary-challenging documentary in more than one sense, a gorgeous experimental film set often in the gloaming, and touching on themes of politics, culture and nature. At times, we simply hear personal stories from survivors, border patrol agents, farmers, and hikers told over a black screen; at such moments, we project their scarifying visions in our minds. The film thus taps into our imagination to look at the refugee crisis in our own backyard, while also evoking the "adventure of perception" that Stan Brakhage called for. Scott Pfeiffer Golden Years (Oct. 19 & 22): This passionate, moving film by French master Andre Techine (Wild Reeds, Strayed) tells the true story of Paul Grappe (Pierre Deladonchamps of Stranger by the Lake), a deserter from WWI whose wife Louise (Celine Sallette) convinces, over his strenuous demurrals, to disguise himself by crossdressing. To his surprise, being "Suzanne" liberates him; in those happy, heroic days, gender becomes for him a fluid, tangled form of playacting. Together, Paul and Louise embrace the swinging life, until he unravels in the flush of post-amnesty fame. (Starring in a cabaret biography only makes him feel like a sideshow act.) The psychology is somewhat muddledwe never fully understand Louise's point of view, or Grappe's demons. Yet Techine's sumptuous mise en scene, rich in color and texture, vividly evokes the demimonde of Roaring Twenties Paris, its fervid embraces and golden costumes like a Klimt painting come to life. Scott Pfeiffer On the Beach at Night Alone (Oct. 24 & 25): Hong Sang-soo's honest, playfully self-lacerating film features a delightfully knowing and poignant performance from Kim Min-hee (The Handmaiden; Right Now, Wrong Then). In chapter one, she plays an actress lying low in Hamburg after a scandal back home over her affair with a married director, much like the one she and Hong had in real life; in chapter two, she's back in South Korea, facing old friends (including the director). Hong has been called the Korean Woody Allen or Eric Rohmer, and this film is another dreamy, insightful comedy of manners about communication breakdown between neurotic men and women. His hallmarks are here: extended takes with punctuating zooms and pans, soju-fueled declarations of truth and love, the roguish blend of reality and fantasy. There's even a moment or two when you won't be sure exactly what you've just seen. Scott Pfeiffer "On the Beach at Night Alone" Western (Oct. 21 & 22): This nuanced drama features remarkably organic performances from a non-professional cast. It patiently examines a crew of imperious Germans working to build water infrastructure for a village in southern Bulgaria, which they condescendingly regard as a backwater, particularly the bumbling, bullying team captain (Reinhardt Wetrek). Only the film's hero (Meinhard Neumann) treats the local people and customs with respect, bonding with a serene, stoic native (Syuleyman Alilov Letifov) with whom he communicates, movingly, through gesture and broken English. Writer/director Valeska Grisebach (Longing) deftly plays with the tropes of the titular genremost poignantly a white horsemaking them an allegory for today's European Union. The story builds almost imperceptibly into a profile in ironythe Western man in Eastern Europe, whose good intentions can't keep him from getting in over his head. Scott Pfeiffer SKIP IT Control (Oct. 23): This generic crime drama, the latest to feature Flemish detectives Vincke and Verstuyft of the Jef Geeraerts novels, is diverting enough, but offers nothing you couldn't get from staying home and watching a good episode of Criminal Minds. From the dynamic of the cops (by-the-books vs. renegade), to the rooftop chases, to that scene where detectives watch helplessly after inadvertently triggering a computer to auto-delete all their main suspect's incriminating files, you've seen all of this before. Even the unpredictable bits are somehow predictable. That said, if you've been to Belgium, you may enjoy the glimpses of windmills. Scott Pfeiffer Woman In Critical Condition After Being Doused With Nail Polish Remover In River North By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Oct 19, 2017 5:00PM Google maps image of the block where the incident took place A woman was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after a man poured nail polish remover on her inside a Near North Side residence. The victim and offender, both 59 and described as acquaintances, got into a fight inside in the home in the 100 block of West Chicago Avenue around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, police said. The Tribune reports that the incident happened at the Threshold Lawson YMCA on that block. A police source told Chicagoist that the man doused the woman in nail polish remover. The woman had a severe reaction to the acetone fumes, which she inhaled. She was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in "severe respiratory distress," police said. The man was arrested. Chief Minister sets up committee to investigate gas prices Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK The Chief Minister will set up his own committee to look into the cost of gas on the Isle of Man. Speaking in his State of the Nation Address in Tynwald, Howard Quayle described the price of gas as one of the big concerns of Manx residents, and pledged to review the current situation. The committee will be made up of Tynwald members separately from Manx Gas's own review of their pricing structure. Mr Quayle believes Manx Gas are in a privileged position as a monopoly supplier, and therefore have a duty to ensure they provide a fair service. The committee will be asked to draw conclusions on whether the current arrangements works for the Isle of Man, and whether the balance needs to be redressed. A French art school has set up a research center in east China's Jiangxi Province, hoping to strengthen exchanges between French ceramic artists and Chinese craftsmen. ENSA Limoges (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Art de Limoges) opened a research and testing center at Kudan, a famous workshop in the city of Jingdezhen, China's "Porcelain Capital." Five ceramic artists -- three holding master's degrees and two researchers -- will study pottery and exchange ideas with Chinese craftsmen. Jeanne Gailhoustet, director of the school, said it will be a great experience for young French artists to communicate with Chinese companies. They are expected to create new ideas and products at Kudan, she added. Duan Zhenmin, who runs a shop at Kudan said Jingdezhen's ceramics don't sell well in European markets because the designs are completely different from western styles. The center will serve as a platform where local craftsmen can learn European designs and marketing methods, Duan said. "Chinese ceramics businesses must also look to the international market, not just the domestic market," he added. The French city of Limoges, where the school is based, is widely known for its porcelain. It is said to produce more than 50 percent of all porcelain made in France. The European Union on Wednesday (18 September) called on its member states to better secure public spaces from terrorism and manage them while keeping that threat in mind. The EU Commission said it would provide more than 100 million ($118 million) by mid-2018 to support cross-border projects and protection of the so-called soft targets in cities: public spaces with a high concentration of people. Extremists have recently been targeting areas such as pedestrian zones, airports and concert halls in Barcelona, Berlin, Nice, Paris and London. We have to accept that the terrorists dont stand still, they change and adapt their methods. We need to adapt our response, said European Security Commissioner Julian King. He added that the Commission would enable local authorities, urban planners and security experts to meet and exchange best practices on how to make public spaces safer without denaturing them. Mr. King also promised more funding and technical support for law enforcement seeking to assess and decrypt seized cell phones or laptops in terrorist investigations. Some member states are better equipped than others. We want to make sure no member state is disadvantaged, he said. Since 2013, Brussels has provided funding for 48 security-research projects related to the protection of public spaces, costing 195 million, involving technology for securing urban transport and surveillance-camera systems. The EU executive said that member states should consider security issues from the outset of any design, such as fitting new buildings with access-control zones. More detailed recommendations will be put forward by the Commission in coming months on how to minimize risk. The recommendations will include collision-avoidance systems, automatic emergency braking and the option for police officers to stop vehicles remotely. SUNNYVALE, California, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Accuray Incorporated announced today that the Court of Appeal of Nantes has rejected the appeal filed by Varian Medical Systems opposing the purchase of the Accuray TomoTherapy(R) System by University Hospital of Tours (CHU). This most recent legal ruling marks the final appeal by Varian in their efforts to overturn CHU's tender award and block their use of the TomoTherapy technology. CHU is the first public hospital in the Centre-Val de Loire region and the first hospital in France to install both the TomoTherapy and CyberKnife(R) Systems. "We are extremely pleased by the court's verdict which reinforces a clinical team's right to select the radiation therapy system they feel best meets the needs of their facility, team and patients," said Lionel Hadjadjeba, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Accuray. "CHU Tours' decision to purchase a TomoTherapy System reflects our system's ability to deliver precise radiation treatments like no other system in the world. We're committed to supporting the CHU clinical team, and all of our customers, to improve treatment and quality of life for their patients." The Court of Appeal has confirmed the CHU Tours decision on all points, concluding that: - The tender award in favor of TomoTherapy Europe should not be cancelled; - The medical needs expressed by CHU Tours were well-defined in the administrative documents of the tender; - The TomoTherapy System is the only radiation therapy device which provides continuous helical delivery of radiation from 360 degrees around the patient, a unique method for delivering image-guided IMRT which enables clinicians to modulate the dose in an optimal way and to irradiate large fields without repositioning the patient; - This technique is expressly recommended by the French National Authority for Health (HAS) for craniospinal irradiations, often used in pediatric tumors, and for total body irradiation in the treatment of blood tumors. About Accuray Accuray Incorporated is a radiation oncology company that develops, manufactures, and sells precise, innovative tumor treatment solutions that set the standard of care with the aim of helping patients live longer, better lives. The Company's leading-edge technologies deliver the full range of radiation therapy and radiosurgery treatments. For more information, please visit http://www.accuray.com Safe Harbor Statement Statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate, but are not limited, to clinical applications and Accuray's leadership position in radiation oncology innovation and technologies. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, including but not limited to the risks detailed from time to time under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's report on Form 10-K, filed on August 25, 2017, and as updated periodically with the company's other filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made and are based on information available to Accuray at the time those statements are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual performance or results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Accordingly, investors should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. CONTACT: Contacts presse : Sancie Nakarat, Accuray, Mobile : +33-6-81-36-84-34, E-mail : snakarat@accuray.com; Charline Lejust, ElanEdelman, Mobile : + 33-1-86-21-50-80, E-mail :charline.lejust@elanedelman.com Chinese Ambassador to Jordan Pan Weifang (right) delivers a speech at the "Second Sino-Jordan Silk Road Literature Seminar" in Amman. [Photo/Xinhua] Amman, capital of Jordan, ushered in the "Second Sino-Jordan Silk Road Literature Seminar" on Oct 14. Pan Weifang, Chinese ambassador to Jordan, together with the chairman of Jordan Writers Association, a delegation of Chinese writers and nearly 50 literary celebrities attended the seminar. The theme of the seminar is "New Silk Road for Literature". 10 writers from China and Jordan shared their insights on poems and literature along the Silk Road together, discussing the influence of Silk Road culture on Arabian countries and China. Pan also delivered a speech at the seminar. "2017 happens to be the 40th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between China and Jordan. Four decades have witnessed the development of our relationship and closer cooperation. The Chinese government is preparing to set up a Chinese Culture Center in Jordan to promote mutual understanding. The seminar will further our dialogue through literature and contribute to mutual culture development," Pan said. UK owned Thai operation C-TEK metal engineering company Ltd near Bangkok for all sheetmetalwork and fabrication needs. Can also rent secure factory plus use of equipment and technicians and/or secure serviced office space located 30 minutes from Suvarnabhumi airport , good rates and terms from one week to one year. Shared location with well established Thai owned truck body manufacturers megabody-truck (search google) English , Mandarin and Thai spoken , open to any opportunities so give us a call. One off's or batch manufacture , private individuals or corporation partnerships welcomed , local or export . Need anything fabricated , repaired etc we can help. Call 0066 0990946293 , friendly advise always available English or Thai.. MARFA Marfa long has been known for its big skies, vast desert landscapes, colliding cloudbanks and crystalline light. California artist Robert Irwin, working with the San Antonio firm Ford, Powell & Carson Architects, distilled those natural elements into a vessel of light and shadow in a rebuilt old military hospital, a building-sized art installation that opened in 2016. Called untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016, the Irwin project culminated 17 years of collaboration between the artist, the Marfa-based Chinati Foundation and FPC. It is a testament to the bonds that tie art and architecture together, and it won a Texas Society of Architects 2017 Design Award one of 11 winners out of 313 entries. It was on our shortlist immediately, because of not only the power of Irwins work, but the collaboration, juror Julie Snow of the Minneapolis firm Snow Kreilich Architects told Texas Architect magazine. Where architecture stops and art starts, theres something incredibly powerful about that blurring and lack of distinction. Marfa, the small West Texas town established in 1883 as a water stop on the Southern Pacific line, has been a center for ranching, railroads and the military for decades and decades. Since the 1970s, when renowned artist Donald Judd arrived in town from New York and began buying up properties, Marfa also has been a contemporary art hub. A prolific critic and avid student of architecture and design, Judd was an iconoclast associated with minimalism who questioned the traditional method of museum exhibition. He believed a lot of things about the art world were, in a favorite term, stupid, and to truly see an artists work, it should take heed of contextual factors such as landscape and architecture and, of course, natural light. His quest to create permanent exhibition spaces for his own specific objects as well as those of a select group of friends which would grow to include Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, Carl Andre, John Wesley and other artists found purpose in Marfa, population 2,200 today. Its a purpose carried on by the Chinati Foundation, which is based at the old 340-acre military post Judd purchased in the early 80s. In 1999, the Chinati invited Irwin to create a work of art centered on the crumbling hospital on the grounds of the decommissioned Fort D.A. Russell just south of downtown, a stones throw from the renovated armory buildings and barracks where the work of 13 artists is on permanent display. Irwin began his career as a painter in the 50s, then broke away from canvas and became a pioneer of the Light and Space movement in the 60s. He has conceived more than 50 site-conditional projects (responding to a space or site) over the years, working with institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Getty Center and received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the MacArthur Genius Award. On an early site tour in Marfa, Irwin was struck by what hes referred to as the Dutch landscape views a low strip of land, with a stratospheric expanse of sky out of the big, regularly spaced, rectangular window openings in what were the hospital walls. In a 2012 interview, Irwin, who turned 89 in September, said he fell in love with the building from the very beginning, describing its attributes as very functional, very straightforward, low-key, but amazingly right for that situation. What turned out to be just right took nearly 20 years and cost roughly $5 million to realize. After more than a decade of ruminating over various plans for the Irwin project, which initially included retaining the existing walls of unreinforced concrete, it was decided to tear them down and construct a completely new, 13,000-square-foot building on the 1920s hospital footprint. One of the reasons I came here was to see that work completed, said Jenny Moore, who was appointed director of the Chinati in 2013. It had developed this sort of mythical status in the art world. A low-slung structure of oatmeal-gray plaster and a gently pitched metal roof, the Irwin building has no identifying signage, no explanatory plaques. It has no artificial lighting or air systems. Shaped like a capital C looked at from above, the structure surrounds a central courtyard with a 250,000-pound sculptural installation of hexagonal basalt columns clustered like a growing petrified forest. Although the building is Irwins design, FPC made sure it would be structurally sound and drew up the construction documents. There are subtleties like the double rafters of the exterior overhang and the landscape borders of corten steel bolted to buried concrete that you dont pay much attention to, but FPC architects know they are there. An artist is expected to think freely, experimentally. An architect, at some point, has to be practical to get something built, said FPC principal John Gutzler. With this building, we played a subtle role. It was tricky to get the building to look untricky. The building, which has 14-foot ceilings, is divided inside into light and dark halves, with 160-foot, floor-to-ceiling scrims, or screens, (a favorite Irwin material) centered down each long hallway, with white scrims on one side with clear windows and black scrims on the other side with tinted windows. The scrim material is attached to wood frames with about 70,000 staples, each of them perfectly straight. Light pours into the building and is reflected and absorbed by the scrims from 92 windows evenly spaced 10 feet apart, placed 5 feet up from the concrete floor, with canted sills to draw the eye up into that Dutch landscape view. A contemplative work whose main artistic components are light and shadow, the Irwin piece reflects what one critic has called the artists practice of creating environments that bring attention to spatial relations and the subtleties of perception. The building, the land, the scrims and the light thats all one piece to Bob, Moore said. Its significant to Chinati because Robert Irwin is one of our most important and influential artists. Hes really moved the conversation forward. Its the culmination of 60 years of exploring light and all the other elements you see happening there. Ultimately, his medium is perception. He creates situations that enable you to see yourself seeing. Theres light around us all the time, but how often are you able to see it as you see it in that space? sbennett@express-news.net You are here: Home A Chinese doctor on board a United Airlines flight is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a passenger who possibly suffered a stroke mid-flight, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. Wu Xiaobo, Deputy Director of Thoracic Surgery at a hospital in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, assists with two in-flight medical emergencies while travelling recently to and from the United States. [Photo/Screenshot from CCTV] Wu Xiaobo, a thoracic surgery doctor with the People's Hospital of Wuxi, was flying to Los Angeles on Sept 29, 2017, when a fellow passenger fell unconscious and began vomiting. Responding to an in-flight announcement for a doctor, Wu heeded the call, determining the man in his 50s likely suffered a stroke. "Cerebral infarction patients may suffer another stroke, and possibly die, if they don't receive timely treatment," said Wu. A Chinese doctor on board a United Airlines flight is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of a passenger who possibly suffered a stroke mid-flight, reports the Beijing Youth Daily. Wu Xiaobo, a thoracic surgery doctor with the People's Hospital of Wuxi, was flying to Los Angeles on Sept 29, 2017, when a fellow passenger fell unconscious and began vomiting. Responding to an in-flight announcement for a doctor, Wu heeded the call, determining the man in his 50s likely suffered a stroke. "Cerebral infarction patients may suffer another stroke, and possibly die, if they don't receive timely treatment," said Wu. A 22-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a mass shooting at a 2016 Halloween party on the West Side. Robert Contreras was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He remains in the Bexar County Jail. Contreras, who was dressed as Freddy Krueger, and a group of several other men showed up for a party at a home in the 2900 block of Aspen Meadow about 5 a.m. Oct. 30, 2016, according to an arrest affidavit. The 25-year-old host of the party didnt recognize the men so he didnt let them in. Three of the men, including Contreras, allegedly pushed their way inside, initiating a shoving match, according to reports. During the fight, one of the uninvited guests reportedly told the host to fight his brother one on one. They fought, but then the host saw Contreras holding a shotgun, police said. According to the affidavit, Contreras fired the shotgun, striking the host. Reports at the time of the shooting indicate that four other people were also shot during the incident. Contreras has been charged only in connection with the shooting of the host. Paramedics transported three men to University Hospital and another man at Baptist Medical Center in downtown San Antonio; a female victim drove herself to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital but crashed on the way there, according to reports at the time of the incident. Contreras and several other uninvited guests fled the scene after the shooting, authorities said. There were no breaks in the case until the host reportedly identified Contreras in a photo lineup. The affidavit didnt specify how police developed Contreras as a suspect. A second witness identified him as well, police said. A judge then signed a warrant for Contreras arrest on Aug. 9, which was executed almost one year after the shooting. cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON A young undocumented immigrants legal battle to end her pregnancy will move to a federal appeals court Friday, with lawyers for the Trump administration arguing that the government is not obligated to facilitate an abortion for someone in the country illegally. Government lawyers are seeking to halt a judges ruling Wednesday that ordered officials to allow the teen, who is being held in Texas after crossing the border illegally, to have the abortion this week without delay. She is in her 15th week of pregnancy. Texas bans most abortions after 20 weeks. Federal officials say the 17-year-old, who entered this country in September, could solve the problem herself by voluntarily leaving or finding a sponsor in the United States to take custody of her. The Administration stands ready to expedite her return to her home country, the White House said in a statement. Attorneys general from nine states, including Texas, Missouri and Ohio, are backing the federal government, saying in a court filing that there is no constitutional right to abortion on demand. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote that the high court has never said that abortion rights extend to undocumented immigrants without significant ties to the United States. The district courts order effectively creates a right to abortion for anyone on Earth who entered the United States illegally, no matter how briefly, the attorneys general said. But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the teenager, says she is entitled to have an abortion, which she would pay for, under the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade. They say the teen, from Central America, was abused by her parents and cannot easily return home. And although she has relatives in the United States, she may not find a sponsor in time to terminate her pregnancy. It is not appropriate to use abortion as a bargaining chip, said Brigitte Amiri, her ACLU lawyer. She shouldnt have to give up that right. It remains unclear whether the teen could legally obtain an abortion in her home country. The ACLU has not released her nationality to preserve her privacy. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to swiftly allow the teenager, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, to meet with a doctor for counseling that the state requires at least 24 hours before an abortion. The meeting would clear the way for the teen to have the procedure Friday or Saturday, the judge ruled. But the Justice Department appealed, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit immediately stayed part of Chutkans order. The panel said the temporary halt was intended to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion. Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Brett Kavanaugh and Patricia Millett did allow the teenager to undergo the state-mandated counseling Thursday. The ACLU said an abortion provider will be ready to perform the abortion Friday if the appeals court rules in the teens favor. The teenager is being held at a shelter near the Mexico border that is overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for undocumented minors caught crossing the border without family. She learned she was pregnant following a medical examination after she was taken into federal custody, her lawyer said. Federal officials denied her request to terminate the pregnancy on Sept. 27, citing the Trump administrations policy of refusing to facilitate abortions. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the government did not pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or a threat to the womans life. But officials did not block immigrants in U.S. custody from having abortions at their own expense. The ACLU has asked the lower court judge to extend any protections offered to the 17-year-old to other unaccompanied, undocumented minors who are pregnant and in U.S. custody. If the teenager does not obtain an abortion this week, her lawyers said, she may have to go to another health center hundreds of miles away because of scheduling problems and clinic hours. Texas law requires that the same doctor counsel a patient and perform the abortion. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot impose an undue burden on a womans right to terminate her pregnancy in the early stages. In its court filings, the Justice Department said the U.S. government has a legitimate interest in promoting fetal life and childbirth over abortion. HHS does not impose any undue burden on her ability to get an abortion merely by refusing to facilitate it, the government wrote. Courts have recognized that the government may legitimately refuse to facilitate abortion without violating a womans constitutional rights. The teens lawyers say the governments position is a clear constitutional violation and that the teen should be allowed to be transported for an abortion - just as the government does for federal prison inmates seeking the procedure. By preventing her court-appointed representatives from transporting her to the clinic, the government has effectively barred her from obtaining an abortion, the ACLU said. This they may not do. HOUSTON Notorious Houston serial killer Anthony Shore won a stay Wednesday hours before his scheduled execution, after he agreed to tell prosecutors about other murders he may have committed and divulged plans to falsely confess to one he didnt. The last-minute push for the Tourniquet Killers reprieve came after the condemned man revealed that fellow death row inmate Larry Swearingen begged him to take responsibility for the 1998 Montgomery County slaying of college student Melissa Trotter, according to prosecutors. Instead, Shore came forward and confessed to the plot. The revelation sparked a flurry of legal machinations as Montgomery County prosecutors fired off a letter Monday asking the governor to halt the execution. Instead, state District Court Judge Maria Jackson approved resetting the killers date with death in response to a request from Harris County prosecutors. Now, the former tow truck driver is slated to die by lethal injection in Huntsville on Jan. 18, the next date legally available. Sitting in a holding cell outside the execution chamber, Shore showed little emotion upon hearing of the courts decision, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. If this was my day, Gods will be done, he told Clark. He gave me another day. Prosecutors made clear justice will be served in Huntsville. Anthony Shore is a serial killer, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. A Harris County jury said he deserves to die. Even Shores family hopes the end is near. It is frustrating, said his youngest daughter, Tiffany Hall. He can only avoid the inevitable for so long. Shore confessed to killing four young women and raping another in a gruesome string of strangulations that shook the Houston area over a nine-year period starting in 1986. But his family told the Chronicle this week that they believe he may be responsible for other slayings. In recent weeks, Shore had refused to discuss the Trotter murder with authorities but said he would answer written questions from the Harris County DAs office regarding his commission of other murders on the condition that his responses would be revealed by his attorney after his execution, according to Montgomery County DA Brett Ligons letter to Gov. Greg Abbott Ligon said he is absolutely certain of Swearingens guilt in the Trotter case. Permitting Shore to claim responsibility for that crime after his execution would leave a cloud over the judicial proceedings in Swearingens case, he wrote. Swearingen is set to be executed Nov. 16. Officials first got wind of the killers plans back in July, when Harris County prosecutors oversaw a search of Shores cell in anticipation of a last-minute appeal centered around mental health claims. But what they uncovered didnt relate to Shores case; it stemmed from Swearingens. In a folder, prosecutors found about 10 items pertaining to Trotters death, including everything from photos to a December 1998 calendar to a hand-drawn map. It looked more like Swearingens writing than Shores, but Montgomery County prosecutors immediately launched an investigation. In early September, Shores attorney, K. Knox Nunnally said his client would answer questions about other killings but wouldnt take responsibility for the Trotter slaying. The materials in his cell, he said, came either from Swearingen or from public sources. A few weeks later, Nunnally said Shore was no longer willing to confirm hed gotten materials from Swearingen. Not long after, a death row visitor told investigators that Shore had confessed in a letter to Trotters death and said he wouldnt let Swearingen be executed for the crime. Then about 6 p.m. Tuesday 24 hours before his scheduled execution Shore admitted the Trotter confession plan was a farce, saying hed become friends with Swearingen and agreed to try exonerating him as a favor, according to a release from Montgomery County prosecutors. He admitted Swearingen had allegedly given him the damning map to locations containing more physical evidence from the Trotter killing. First thing Wednesday morning, investigators swarmed a field in the Sam Houston National Forest looking for evidence based on the new revelations. Its not clear if they found anything. Im sad for the family of the victims of Anthony Shore because they may have to be disappointed for a brief period of time while we sort these details out, Ligon said. My heart goes out to them. Sandy Trotter, who has waited nearly 20 years to see her daughters killer punished, concurred. I feel for those victims families, she said. Its just beyond words. The grieving mother also struck out at the killers. I think its ridiculous that these inmates are plotting against the judicial system together, she said. Its ridiculous. If Swearingens Nov. 16 execution date is called off in light of the abandoned scheme with Shore, it will be the states eighth thwarted attempt to end his life. Montgomery Countys only death row inmate, the Willis man was convicted of raping the 19-year-old college student before strangling her with pantyhose and dumping her body in the Sam Houston National Forest. Since then, prosecutors have repeatedly asked for execution dates four of which a judge approved only to have their efforts derailed by dogged appeals surrounding bids for DNA testing. We agree with the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office that the governor should reprieve Anthony Shore so that his involvement in the Trotter case can be examined, Swearingens attorney, James Rytting, said Wednesday. He expressed hope that a stay could expose Shores potential involvement in the Trotter case, but also in other possible murders since he is a serial killer and there may be other victims out there. Shores lawyers did not return requests for comment. Even before officials uncovered the plot, Shores own family voiced concerns of a last-minute confession. Hes good at keeping things hidden, his sister Laurel Scheel said earlier this month. Gina Shore, another sister, also speculated about the possibility of additional victims. I know in my heart without a doubt that there are more, she said. There had to have been other girls. As far back as July, Shore hinted to his family that the October execution wouldnt go through as planned. Just a quick note to let you know that my execution is scheduled for Oct. 18, 2017, he wrote his father in a letter shared with the Chronicle. I will likely get a stay, but ya just never know. Id prefer to live a bit longer but am ready if its Gods will. Then on Tuesday, Shore dropped more hints about a different outcome when his youngest sister paid him a visit. He said that there was a possibility that he wouldnt go today, Scheel said Wednesday morning. But I didnt ask him why I didnt want to empower him. The former telephone technician was convicted in 2004 of raping and murdering Maria del Carmen Estrada, and begged the court for the death penalty when he appeared for sentencing. Shores victims date back to at least 1986, when he slaughtered 14-year-old Laurie Tremblay. Six years later, he raped and murdered 21-year-old Estrada before leaving her naked body in the drive-through of a Spring Branch Dairy Queen. In 1994, he killed 9-year-old Diana Rebollar. When her battered body was found, she was wearing only a black Halloween T-shirt with a ligature twisted around her neck. Less than a year later, he murdered 16-year-old Dana Sanchez, then called a local TV station to report a serial killer on the loose. The cases went unsolved for nearly two decades. Shore was forced to register as a sex offender for molesting his two daughters, placing his DNA into a state registry. But it was another five years before authorities tested old evidence that allowed them to link Shores his DNA to the Estrada cold case. When they brought him in for questioning, Shore coolly confessed to a string of rapes and murder in the Harris County area. But even though he asked for death at sentencing, the condemned killer has spent more than a decade fighting his fate. In his final appeals rejected by courts earlier this month, Shores lawyers argued that brain damage from a 1981 car wreck rendered him morally inculpable, likening it to executing an intellectually disabled prisoner. But a court disagreed, and shortly thereafter the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles slapped down his bid for clemency. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON A federal judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. government to allow an undocumented immigrant teenager in its custody in Texas to have an abortion and said she was astounded that the Trump administration was trying to block the procedure. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the pregnant teen, cheered the judges ruling as a major victory for abortion and immigrant rights. The Justice Department, which is defending the Department of Health and Human Services, declined to comment on whether it would appeal. We never should have had to fight this in the first place, said Brigitte Amiri, a senior ACLU staff attorney who argued the case Wednesday. It should never have been something that we needed to go to court over. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the government to allow the 17-year-old to visit an abortion provider closest to her shelter in Brownsville on Thursday and undergo state-mandated counseling before having the procedure on Friday or Saturday. Failure to comply with the terms of this Order may result in a finding of contempt, wrote Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and is assigned to U.S. District Court in Washington. The case of the Central American teenager, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, has attracted national attention from both advocates for and opponents of abortion rights. Democrats in Congress have expressed opposition to the governments stance, while Texas and seven other states filed an amicus brief supporting it. In the amicus brief, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the other attorneys general, all Republican, argued that allowing the undocumented immigrant with no ties to the country to abort her pregnancy here would create a right to abortion for anyone on Earth who entered the United States illegally, no matter how briefly. The attorneys general also argued allowing her to go forward with the procedure could become a slippery slope by allowing her other constitutional protections. Paxton, a Republican, added in a news release that Texas must not become a sanctuary state for abortions. Todays ruling is outrageous and sets a dangerous precedent, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the antiabortion group Susan B. Anthony List. She said government officials were trying to protect the life and dignity of the teenage girl and her unborn child while in their care. Court filings in the case made clear that the Trump administration is actively trying to prevent minors in its custody from having abortions, a departure from federal practice under Obama. Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for unaccompanied minors caught crossing the border until they can be reunited with family members, said in an email in March that federally funded shelters should not be supporting abortion services pre or post-release; only pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling. During the hearing Wednesday, Chutkan asked Justice Department lawyer Scott Stewart whether he thought illegal immigrants had constitutional rights and whether he believes that the 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a womans right to an abortion, is still the law of the land. Stewart acknowledged the ruling but said the government views this case differently because the teen is an undocumented immigrant in federal custody. He signaled that undocumented minors do not have a constitutional right to an elective abortion in federal custody, unless it is a medical emergency, and also said immigrants here illegally have minimal protections in this country. Im not going to give you a concession on that, Your Honor, he said. The judge laughed. This is remarkable, she said. Chutkan said the teens immigration status was irrelevant and that she still had constitutional rights. In her ruling, Chutkan wrote that the teen will suffer irreparable injury, including health risks, if the government interferes with her abortion plans. Chutkan also barred the government from forcing the teen to reveal her abortion to anyone and from retaliating against her or the federally funded shelter housing her in Texas. The judge has not yet ruled on an ACLU request to apply her ruling to other minors in federal custody. Chutkan said that by refusing to allow the girl to be transported from her detention facility to have an abortion, the government appeared to be offering the teenager two options: voluntarily return to a nation she fled to have an abortion or carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. I am astounded by that position, Chutkan said. In court filings, the Justice Department said the government has strong and constitutionally legitimate interests in promoting childbirth, in refusing to facilitate abortion, and in not providing incentives for pregnant minors to illegally cross the border to obtain elective abortions while in federal custody. Chutkan countered during the hearing that the teenager does not need a medical emergency to exercise her right to an abortion. She said the teen had followed state and federal rules: She obtained permission from a state judge in Texas to have an abortion and would cover the expenses herself or with help through her court-appointed guardian. All the government had to do, the judge said, is process the paperwork to let the girl visit the clinic, just as they would if she needed to have her tonsils removed. The judge also pointed out that the federal workers took the teenager, against her wishes, to a Christian pregnancy facility for counseling and also informed her mother about the abortion. Both steps potentially violated the girls constitutional protections, Chutkan said. The government didnt seem to have any problem facilitating that, Chutkan said. The teen is in her 15th week of pregnancy. Texas bars most abortions after 20 weeks. She has been in federal custody since early September, when she was caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Her native country was not identified during the hearing. Hearst Austin Bureau Staff Writer Andrea Zelinski contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The City Council got an earful Wednesday about proposed water and sewer rate increases over the next two years, with some members questioning whether the citys water utility has done enough to cut costs. San Antonio Water System officials briefed the council on its proposed rate boosts of 5.8 percent in 2018 and 4.7 percent in 2019. That would raise the average customers monthly bill by $3.45 and $3.08, respectively. Since 2011, the average users SAWS bill has gone from $44.40 to $62.24 now. Thats based on 7,092 gallons of water consumed a month, SAWS reports. Upgrades to SAWS water delivery and sewer system are driving most of the 2018 rate increase, SAWS officials said. The utility is planning to spend $188 million next year on its sewer system, under a 10-year consent agreement with federal regulators to reduce sewage spills into local creeks and rivers. That work is necessary because SAWS kept rates relatively low and put off maintenance on its sewer systems from the 1990s through the early 2000s, Chief Operating Officer Steve Clouse said. In hindsight, we were really deferring renewals of our system, he told council members. The increase also will go toward improvements to pipes and pumps that deliver potable water, including seven projects on the West and Northwest sides expected to cost $47.8 million. SAWS has raised rates substantially every year since at least 2011, with the biggest increase, 12.4 percent, proposed for 2020, when it begins buying relatively more expensive water from the 142-mile Vista Ridge pipeline now under construction. Because it is a city-owned utility, the council has the final say on all SAWS rates and is expected to vote on them in November. Whether they will accept SAWS proposal is unclear. District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry said he cant support any rate increase, and District 8 Councilman Greg Brockhouse said he wants it to be as low as possible, focusing on the must-dos like fixing the sewer system. For me to support any kind of rate increase, I would need to get down into the weeds, Perry said. A portion of SAWS revenues go to city coffers every year. After hearing later that the rate increase would boost city revenues by more than $709,000 next fiscal year, Perry suggested the city forego the extra money from SAWS and subtract that from the rate increase. Have you scrubbed that budget 100 percent? Brockhouse asked SAWS President and CEO Robert Puente, questioning Puente about operations and maintenance expenses like travel, conference fees and uniform allowances. Puente said he personally approves all travel requests. I am really sick and tired with the amount of money coming out of taxpayers pockets, Brockhouse said later, referring to a host of local taxes and fees that have increased over the years. Other councilmembers said that deferring rate increases now will merely shift the problem to future city councils who might face higher costs. Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who spoke highly of SAWS 2018 budget as being focused on infrastructure, said reluctance to raise rates is what left SAWS with the backlog of sewer maintenance. The consent decree is not just a reason to invest but a lesson in what happens if we dont invest, he said. District 1 Councilman Roberto Trevino and District 4 Councilman Rey Saldana asked for updates on how SAWS has expanded its affordability programs for low-income residents hit hardest by rate increases. SAWS affordability program offers discounts of $3.73 to $21.40 per month, depending on household income level. Over the past two years, the utilitys leaders and staff have been attending meetings in council districts and going on block-walking campaigns to enroll more residents, Puente said. That has led to a 50 percent rise in enrollement, according to SAWS. A SAWS-affiliated nonprofit called Project Agua can also offer residents beset with financial difficulties help with their water bills, provided they meet certain criteria. Saldana, who has served on council since 2011, said he has in the past combed through SAWS budgets looking for major cost reductions and had not been able to find a way to avoid a rate hike. District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran also spoke about the disproportionate share of wastewater plants and large sewer lines on the South Side, where the city historically placed sewage plants to take advantage of Bexar Countys north-to-south downhill slope. We on the South Side have been living with the citys excrement, she said, adding that she would like to see more creativity from SAWS about managing its wastewater before supporting the rate increase. Puente promised to work with Viagrans office on sewage issues, saying, Theres a lot of opportunities to be creative and innovative. SAWS will hold a public briefing on the increases at its 2800 U.S. 281 North headquarters at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24, with video from the meeting streamed at saws.org/rates and at facebook.com/MySAWS. The utility will hold another video briefing on Facebook at 10 a.m. Nov. 1. The SAWS board is expected to vote on the increase Nov. 7, with City Council voting on Nov. 9. bgibbons@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Just as the United States economy was crashing into the Great Depression, San Antonio voters in 1929 approved a $3.7 million bond for schools. It included more than $1.25 million about $23 million in todays dollars to build a new high school on land that was so remote, some complained that the only students would come from Boerne. Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1932, with ornate Spanish Moorish architecture, a state-of-the art auditorium and its own gymnasium, a San Antonio first. Voters criticized the extravagance, and the San Antonio school superintendent at the time, Byron W. Hartley, did not get his contract renewed, said David Segura, who graduated 50 years ago from Jefferson and is writing a book about the school. Jefferson eventually was San Antonios top high school, graduating many notable alumni in the 1960s and 1970s. Its historical design and architectural beauty have remained a source of pride. The fact that it has reinvented itself while maintaining traditions makes it a pretty unique place, said Ed Garza, a 1986 graduate who went on to become mayor of San Antonio and is now an SAISD trustee. When Jeffersons construction began in the fall of 1930, the architect had to check the site on horseback because streets did not yet reach it, according to an SAISD history of the school. Mule-drawn rigs were used to lay Jefferson High Schools foundation and the dump trucks were the size of todays pickups. It was built around two patios, with a tower, a sub-tower, wrought-iron balconies and a red tile roof. Hannibal Pianta and his son, Eugene, executed the elaborate carvings at the main entrance. They also did ornamental concrete work at the Aztec Theater and the State Capitol in Austin. The class of 1932 donated the pond in the Student Council patio. Colorful tile ceilings were installed in the main hall, auditorium and library. The auditorium can hold 2,000, with a movie projection booth and an inclined floor leading to an orchestra pit. The arch over the stage reflected Moorish and Aztec motifs. Students from Main Avenue High School decided to name the new school after Thomas Jefferson because of his devotion to education. Nothing could be more appropriate than that the first million and a half dollar educational plant should bear the name of the man who once wrote, No surer foundation than large scale education can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness, wrote Life magazine in a 1939 spread on the San Antonio school. In a 1937 national survey conducted for the magazine, Jefferson was chosen as the best high school in the country, out of 1,500 schools. Twentieth Century Fox filmed two movies on campus, High School and its sequel Texas Girl, in 1938 and 1939. National Geographic also featured the school in 1947. During World War II, students bought enough bonds to finance a plane for the U.S. Army Air Forces, named The Spirit of Thomas Jefferson. The school has been expanded and renovated several times, starting in 1963. It is a local, state and national historical landmark, having earned a spot in 1983 on the National Register of Historic Places. Jeffersons alumni include two Nobel Prize winners in chemistry: Robert Floyd Curl, a 1950 graduate, and William E. Moerner, who graduated in 1971. Former State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte graduated in 1973. The twins Julian and Joaquin Castro the former a onetime mayor and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the latter a congressman graduated in 1992. Segura, who had a career in petrochemicals and information technology, said he considers the early 1960s through the mid-1970s to be the schools golden age. It was a highly respectable environment, Segura said. You just did what you were told. I think it had to do a lot with tradition and the birth of the school itself. He remembered the schools focus on technology, spurred by the Space Race of the 1960s. The school also had social clubs with decades of history, which fell inactive, though some have been recently revived, Segura said. They include the Hayne Society, the Shakespeare Club and MJRs boosters, so named for Martha Jefferson Randolph, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson who acted as First Lady for the widower president. By the 1980s, the schools academic standing had diminished. Some blame neighborhood demographics, particularly white flight to the North Side caused by the 1969 Fair Housing Act, and decisions by SAISD trustees at the time that undercut Jefferson. Ana Sandoval, now the citys District 7 councilwoman, was Jeffersons valedictorian in 1993 before obtaining degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the Harvard School of Public Health. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sandoval said, many classmates lost their lives to gang-related shootings off campus. There was still a lot of school pride, Sandoval said. Some of it had to do with how beautiful the building was. There was also a reputation of it being a very dangerous place. Educators picked the top 10 to 20 students in each grade and helped them get into college, but didnt have the resources to do it for everyone, Sandoval said. Jefferson only offered one Advanced Placement course, she said, while her peers at North Side Independent School District high schools had more choices. Jefferson High School became an SAISD magnet for fine arts and government in 1996. The school is now in its second year of offering the rigorous International Baccalaureate program, open to students from across Bexar County. Two feeder schools, Longfellow Middle and Woodlawn Academy, have also become IB schools, creating the opportunity for neighborhood students to start the program in kindergarten. The SAISD bond that voters approved in November contains almost $60 million for upgrades to the Jefferson campus, including the auditorium, cafeteria, original classrooms and gym. The district also plans to install flat screens in classrooms and gathering spaces. The neighborhood also is changing again. The Monticello Park area is now affluent and heavy with retirees, but Sandoval said younger families are beginning to move in. The neighborhoods in a great place, she said. I think its a good sign for the school. Ontarios Minister of Ag defends supply management at Tri-National Agricultural Accord By Kaitlynn Anderson Staff Reporter Farms.com The discussions around NAFTA, including the debate on supply management, continue. Earlier this week, the Honourable Jeff Leal, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, attended the 26th annual Tri-National Agricultural Accord in Denver, CO. The aim of this forum is to bring together the agricultural leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico. This year, the Accord focused on building relationships at this particular point in our history when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is being renegotiated, Minister Leal said to Farms.com. Canada and the United States established the free trade agreement in 1988. In 1990, Mexico entered the agreement as well. Over the years, NAFTA has been a great (way) to increase jobs and agricultural production, and to create a better economic climate in all three countries, Minister Leal said. While current discussions have included some American concerns over supply management, Canada will continue to defend its system. Ontario stands with Canada and considers any proposal that seeks to undermine the integrity of the supply managed system to be totally unacceptable, Minister Leal said. Here in Denver, I made the Ontario position very clear to my American colleagues. Ontarios premier released a similar statement earlier this week on the governments support of supply management. While NAFTA was the main topic of discussion at the Accord, government officials addressed other concerns as well. We also had the opportunity to talk about regulatory harmonization, which is an area that I think (the three countries) have some common opinions on, Minister Leal said. This was an area that was highlighted to me when I toured the U.S. (this summer). This issue involves the delay of shipments of perishable products at border crossings, he said. Overall, Minister Leal and other delegates have and will continue to ensure Canadian interests are heard, he said. Canada will be standing firm in defending Canadian sovereignty and interests and to make sure that renegotiating NAFTA does no harm, Minister Leal said. NAFTA renegotiations will continue into 2018. Photo: Ronnie Chua / iStock / Getty Images Plus The Communist Party of China (CPC) opens the 19th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened Wednesday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote address that quickly won many plaudits as a panoramic blueprint for national development in the next five years and beyond. In his visionary report, Xi pledged: "We will unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them to a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and in the drive to secure the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era." It will surely exert profound influence on China's growth, as well as world peace and development. It shows the world that the Chinese people, and their leaders, have the genius to create a new growth model, taking the socialist road with Chinese characteristics and ensuring development is based on improved quality of economic development and social governance. In the first five years in office, Xi has guided the Party and the people at large to take giant steps towards achieving the "two centenary goals," summed up by him as: "the original aspiration and the mission of Chinese communists to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation." The Chinese Dream is an end to the worst kinds of poverty, and the rejuvenation of a nation that has already made astonishing progress, lifting more than 60 million rural people out of poverty since 2012, starting a green revolution in China and leading the country towards modernity. During this period, some 13 million new urban jobs have been created each year on an average. Surely, there is much here for the rest of the world to learn. The past five years have seen a fast-rising China making remarkable strides not only in poverty reduction, but also in reform of the healthcare system, construction of a high-speed rail network spanning the country, and various other programs enhancing people's daily life through supply-side reform, technological innovation and pollution management, for example. Xi rightly attributed these historic successes to correct guidance provided by the Partys basic theory, line, program and experience, adding that, without CPC leadership, national rejuvenation would be little more than "wishful thinking." It can be said that the concept of "Three Stricts and Three Earnests" he put forward in 2014 has strengthened ties between Party and the masses. Xi nourishes an unflinching faith in regeneration of a "great modern socialist country" that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of this century. The report firmly grasped the nettle of corruption. In warning those corrupt elements within, the CPC chief was more strident in his criticisms than in the past. Calling corruption "the greatest threat" the Party faces, he said the fight against it remained grave and complex. However, he foresaw a "sweeping victory" in the anti-corruption that has gained "crushing momentum" in the past five years. He also highlighted China's own economic growth record, saying it was built on the back of national industriousness under the CPC leadership. National GDP rose from 54 trillion yuan to 80 trillion yuan (about US$12.1 trillion) over the past five years, surely creating great confidence in China's leadership role to global growth. As far as the world is concerned, China's technological and infrastructural development, as well as economic development during the past five years, has been amazing. Despite the global economic crisis, China has still managed to do remarkably well and has become better integrated into the world economy. It was encouraging to hear Xi say China would not change its basic policy, and would continue to be committed to providing better services to foreign investors. "China will significantly ease market access, further open service sectors, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. All businesses registered in China will be treated equally," he pledged. The Chinese leader's speech firmly signaled that China will push forward reform and play a responsible role in world affairs, summed up by the words: "All countries should work together for a clean and beautiful world and tackle climate change through cooperation." Countries have the right to development, but they need to view their own interests within a broader context. Xi got a round of applause for calling on the people of all countries to work together to build a community with a shared future -- an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity. Undoubtedly, the ongoing Congress will be an epoch-making event in the history of China as it will focus on how to make the last phase of the "Chinese Dream" come true. It is hoped that the deliberations of the 19th CPC National Congress will be a milestone in China's future development and progress and also benefits China's friends all around the world. Rabi Sankar Bosu, Secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, West Bengal, India You blend it bin-by-bin, you can mix in the field or you can take it off farm and load into silos so you are segregating with the information coming off the header. The Milan Public Prosecutors Office has charged Royal Dutch Shell and four former executives for an alleged plot to pay massive bribes to win oil exploration rights in Nigeria. One of those charged is Malcolm Brinded, 64, the former executive director for Upstream International when the alleged bribery happened. Brinded retired from Shell after a 38-year career with the company. He was Shells UK chairman from 1999 to 2002. It isnt certain the defendants will face trial. Italian law requires investigating magistrates to request a trial. A judge then holds a preliminary hearing to decide whether to approve the request. The prosecutor also charged Shell itself, along with Peter Robinson, the former vice president for Shells sub-Saharan Africa operations. Two other former Shell employees, Guy Colegate and John Copleston, were charged. Both are ex-agents of the UK foreign intelligence service MI6, according to Global Witness. Shell initially denied bribing officials in Nigeria to win access in 2011 to an offshore block known as OPL 246. The company claimed it only made legal payments directly to the Nigerian government. But emails leaked to Global Witness that had been uncovered in a raid by Dutch prosecutors at Shells corporate offices revealed more about the deal. Global Witness alleged that Shell and Italian oil giant Eni paid $1.1 billion for the license for OPL 246. Half of that payment went to the former license holder, an entity called Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, which was owned by a Nigerian government official, Dan Etete. Etete had been awarded the rights to the block when he was Nigerias oil minister. In December 2016, the Milan Public Prosecutor alleged that $520 million from the deal was converted into cash for payment to other Nigerian government officials. Eni has denied being involved in any bribery related to OPL 246. But its FCPA-related investigation is ongoing. Global Witness said the Shell emails showed that executives at the company knew about the payments. Barnaby Pace of Global Witness said this week: This could be the biggest corporate bribery trial in history and a watershed moment for the oil industry. Dan Etete, the former oil minister, has said Malabu Oil was legitimately granted the right to OPL 246 because it met the Nigerian governments requirements. He said the government didnt invest in Malabu and therefore wasnt entitled to any proceeds from the sale of the block. * * * In 2010, Shell paid $48.1 million to settle FCPA offenses. Shell was one of seven companies that resolved enforcement actions for violations related to Swiss logistics firm Panalpina. A Shell subsidiary in Nigeria, SNEPCO, paid $2 million to Panalpina or an agent, knowing that some or all of the money would be used to bribe Nigerian customs officials. Shell entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ and paid a $30 million criminal penalty. In their SEC settlement, Shell and a U.S. subsidiary, Shell International Exploration and Production Inc., disgorged $18.1 million. The SEC charged them with conspiring to violate the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA, and with aiding and abetting a violation of the books and records provisions. * * * In 2010, Rome-based Eni and its Dutch subsidiary Snamprogetti Netherlands B.V. paid $365 million to resolve FCPA-related charges for Snamprogettis role in the TSKJ-Nigeria joint venture. Snamprogetti, Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Technip S.A., and JGC of Japan were the four partners in TSKJ. It won contracts from Nigerias state gas company between 1995 and 2004 to build LNG facilities on Bonny Island. The contracts were worth more than $6 billion. Snamprogetti authorized the joint venture to pay about $180 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials to help win the contracts, according to the DOJ. The Italian government controls about a third of Eni. The company, considered an oil and gas super major, operates in 73 countries with about 81,000 employees. ____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. My main hobbies are, collecting antiques. Especially from the Victorian period, my house is reflected in some of my books, especially the pottery I describe. I also have a great love of music, of all kinds, but Ive a true love of early Blues music. Diane Allen Ive never attended university, I just never got the chance. In my family you were expected to go into work as soon as you left school. I did go on to study and take A levels later in life. I love people watching and listening into conversations, it is where I get a lot of my ideas from. People can come out with some brilliant things without knowing it. I get so frustrated when I experience writers block. These days make me feel hopeless and then Ive to shake myself up and look at why I feel that way. I would love to live back in my native Dentdale. However, my family are settled in this part of Yorkshire, where I currently live and I would hate not to be within easy travelling distance of both my daughter and son and their children. Number one on my bucket list is to visit Petra in Jordan. Ive been used to living out in the countryside on remote farms, so the solitary life of an author suites me. I read more non-fiction than fiction. I enjoy reading history and especially local history. It is so fascinating to read how people used to live and be thankful for what we have today. Windfell Manor is based on a large house not far from where I live. My great aunt was once the cook there. I have a great love of nature and nothing delights me more than to write about the countryside in Yorkshire within my books. Im passing my knowledge and sayings that my mother taught me on to my grandchildren. Although I have a feeling that they will be ten times wiser than me, once grown up. Shia LaBeouf is to undertake anger management classes. Shia LaBeouf The 'Nymphomaniac' actor appeared in court in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday (19.10.17) and pleaded guilty to obstruction and no contest to disorderly conduct in relation to an incident which took place in July. A public drunkenness charge was dismissed. According to TMZ, the judge sentenced the 31-year-old star to anger management and one-year probation, and he also has to undergo alcohol evaluation and pay $2,680 in fines. Shia previously apologised over the incident, which saw him repeatedly swear at the arresting officers who were called to his hotel. He explained a few days after his arrest: "I am deeply ashamed of my behavior and make no excuses for it. I don't know if these statements are too frequent, or not shared often enough, but I am certain that my actions warrant a very sincere apology to the arresting officers, and I am grateful for their restraint. The severity of my behavior is not lost on me. "My outright disrespect for authority is problematic to say the least, and completely destructive to say the worst. It is a new low. A low I hope is a bottom. I have been struggling with addiction publicly for far too long, and I am actively taking steps toward securing my sobriety and hope I can be forgiven for my mistakes. (sic)" The 'Transformers' star's arrest was caught on camera and, in the video clip, Shia was heard yelling and swearing at the officers. He said: "I have rights! I'm an American. You got me in my hotel, arresting me in my hotel for doing what, Sir?" At one stage, Shia could be heard telling a black officer that the President "doesn't give a f**k about you, and you wanna do what? Arrest white people?" Shia was also involved in an alcohol-related incident during a Broadway performance of 'Cabaret' in 2014, when he was handcuffed and arrested after downing "a lot of whiskey". At the time, a representative of Shia said: "He understands that these recent actions are a symptom of a larger health problem and he has taken the first of many necessary steps towards recovery." Carla Bruni believes the fashion industry is "not so dangerous" for women. Carla Bruni The 49-year-old model has acknowledged there are "dreadful people" in the fashion and beauty business as there is "everywhere else", but she believes the difference is that people "don't want to abuse" models. Speaking to InStyle Online in the wake of sexual harassment allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, the catwalk icon said: "Of course, you have dreadful people in fashion like everywhere else but fashion is not so dangerous for young girls. "There's a lot of work, there's a lot of travelling, and you need to have a lot of discipline. I would say that it's one of the places in show business that is safe. "People don't want to abuse girls - they want to photograph them. It's a healthy environment." And the style muse - who recently returned to the runway alongside fellow supermodels Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford for Versace's latest catwalk show - has admitted she has "never" been sexually harassed by a "photographer or designer" during her 30 years at the helm of the fashion industry. The former First Lady of France continued: "That doesn't happen in fashion "I never had a photographer or designer do that, never ever." "Most agents are protecting girls because they have to work. And there are a lot of women in fashion - women rarely go into that kind of abuse. That keeps it safe for young models." Carla's comments come in the wake of the sexual harassment claims made against the 65-year-old disgraced film producer, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a number of women over a 30 year period including Cara Delevingne, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale. However, fellow supermodel Christy Turlington disagrees with Carla's comments as she has previously claimed the fashion industry is rife with sexual misconduct. Speaking previously, the 48-year-old icon said: "I can say that harassment and mistreatment have always been widely known and tolerated in the industry. The industry is surrounded by predators who thrive on the constant rejection and loneliness so many of us have experienced at some point in our careers. I feel fortunate that I did not personally experience anything traumatic, but also know that is not the norm." You are here: Home Flash Three people were killed and two others were wounded after a shooting at an office park in U.S. state of Maryland, authorities said Wednesday. The shooting took place at around 9:00 a.m. at Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, roughly 50 kilometers northeast of Baltimore, according to Harford County Sherriff's Office. Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told a press conference that the shooter was identified as 37-year-old Radee Labeeb Prince. Prince used a handgun in the shooting and is considered armed and dangerous, Gahler said. Police are looking for the suspect who is believed to be in a black GMC Acadia with Delaware plates. All five victims appear to be employees of Advanced Granite Solutions and the two wounded are in serious condition, according to Gahler. It appeared to be a targeted attack, limited to that business, he said. Local officials said five schools in the Edgewood area were placed on lockdown. Queen Elizabeth has "the most wonderful skin." Queen Elizabeth Gloria Hunniford received an OBE from Her Majesty last week at Buckingham Palace in London for services to cancer charities in memory of late daughter Caron Keating and has admitted she was stunned by the 91-year-old monarch complexion. Speaking to HELLO! Online, the 77-year-old television presenter said: "She gave everybody quite a long period of time and she was so affable and marvellous. And she had the most wonderful skin. I desperately wanted to ask her what cream she uses on her skin because it is so beautiful, honestly, and we were really up close. If she'd given me an opportunity, I'd have said, 'Ma'am, your skin is magnificent!' " But it's not just Elizabeth who has fantastic skin, as her Duchess Catherine - the wife of her grandson Prince William - is very serious about lotions and potions and even advised Michelle Obama on the best products to use to slow down wrinkles. According to Michelle's make-up artist, Carl Ray, the brunette beauty - who was known as Kate Middleton before she married William in 2011 - recommended Michelle use Biotulin Supreme Skin Gel on her face. Carl said recently: "Michelle Obama has been using this organic Botox gel regularly on the recommendation of Kate Middleton." Michelle uses the serum on a "regular basis" now and has found the product "unbelievable". Carl explained: "The First Lady uses this bio Botox gel on a regular basis. The effect is unbelievable. One of the constituents of this gel is Spilanthol, a biological local anesthetic extracted from the plant Acmella Oleracea (paracress). Biotulin, as this gel is called, smooths out wrinkles within just one hour." 'Great British Bake Off' bosses are struggling to get "prestigious" celebrities to star in forthcoming charity episodes that will raise money for Stand Up to Cancer. Samantha Cameron The likes of Samantha Cameron, Geri Horner, Kimberley Walsh, Louise Redknapp and Dame Edna Everage jumped at the chance to tackle the heat in the infamous tent before Channel 4 snatched the show from the BBC in a mega-money deal last year. However, Channel 4 producers have struggled to attract the same level of famous faces for the forthcoming specials. A source told The Sun: "They are terrified that they'll be forced to cast C-list dregs from reality shows at this rate. "It has come as a bit of a shock as the previous standard for celebrity specials was really high, with prestigious politicians, pop stars and even Hollywood names desperate to show off their baking prowess." Jamie Laing is one of the stars reportedly signed up for the new series, while Kate Moss' younger sister Lottie is also rumoured to be donning an apron for the show. While bosses are frantically trying to secure an impressive line-up, the programme's judge Prue Leith is yet to hear whether her contract has been extended. The 77-year-old restaurateur has won over the hearts of the nation with her brutal judging manner on the baking show over the past few months but, despite her successful first stint, Channel 4 are yet to enlighten her on her future with them. She said: "I'm still hoping Channel 4 will ask me back for the second series. They've asked me about timings and schedules but I've not seen or heard anything about a contract. It could all change, like 'The X Factor'." Although her co-stars Paul Hollywood, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding would love to see her return, Prue has admitted she's using her time now to get back into writing. She explained: "I actually gave up writing before 'Great British Bake Off'. I'd been doing it [writing cookbooks and novels] for years and it took up too much time. But I've been coaxed back into it and now I'm writing and cooking more than ever. It's a busy time." Rebel Kitchens are the only coconut yogurts to be made with the meat of organic, young green coconuts (instead of coconut milk or cream). Coconut meat is a nutritious base containing potassium and fibre, and is lower in fat and calories than coconut milk or cream. The young green coconuts are sustainably sourced from small holders in the Philippines and are certified organic. Rebel Kitchen The yogurt tastes just like a natural yogurt, just without the dairy. Its made with live vegan yogurt cultures, which give it an authentic yogurt tang. The characteristically yogurty taste and subtly sweet coconut notes make Rebel Kitchens Yogurt perfect for use in recipes or as part of breakfast. The yogurts main ingredient is young green coconut meat, a by-product of the companys coconut water production. The brand saw an opportunity to innovate and use every part of the coconut, so that nothing goes to waste; turning a problem into a solution. Rebel Kitchen co-founder, Tamara Arbib, says We are excited to be setting an example of how food businesses can address the issue of waste when they are committed to it. We were made aware of this by-product issue by our supplier and are excited to not only have found a solution but to have also created a delicious much needed dairy alternative for yogurts in a truly sustainable way. The Coconut Water and Yogurt now create a zero-waste loop; the coconut water is bottled, the coconut meat goes into their yogurts and the coconut husks that are left are used as a fuel source to help generate power at the production plant, a truly sustainable process. The range is available in 125g serving size in four flavours; Original, Chocolate, Coffee and Vanilla (RRP 1.99). Original flavour is also available in a 400g serving size (RRP 4.49). Stockists include Ocado, Whole Rebel Kitchen Dairy Free Organic Coconut Yogurt is: Dairy free Certified organic Gluten free Soy free Vegan Non-GMO Sustainably sourced Contains no refined sugar Free from additives, preservatives & thickeners Hundred and seventeen Kenyan trainees cleared a course on technical and soft skills organised by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) East Africa Trade and Investment Hubs new apparel workforce skills development programme at three training centres in Nairobi, Jumvu and Mtwapa. Similar training is under way at other locations as well.Thirty graduates from the Mombasa Apparels export processing zone (EPZ) in Jomvu, 48 from Africa Apparel EPZ Ltd in Nairobis industrial area and 39 from Africa Apparel EPZ Ltd in Mtwapa are now either being interviewed for jobs or are already employed. Hundred and seventeen Kenyan trainees cleared a course on technical and soft skills organised by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) East Africa Trade and Investment Hub's new apparel workforce skills development programme at three training centres in Nairobi, Jumvu and Mtwapa. Similar training is under way at other locations as well.# All trainees from Jomvu, the first boot camp to complete the eight-week training, have already commenced work at Mombasa Apparel EPZ Ltd, according to a press release from USAID.More such training centres will open soon in Athi River and Nairobi. USAID expects to train 2,000 individuals for careers in the apparel sector by the time the project ends.USAIDs programme addresses the constraints that inhibit growth in the East African apparel sector. (DS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Target Corporation is working with Google to make online shopping easier. The partnership includes Targets nationwide expansion on Google Express, including voice- activated shopping, and the addition of Target REDcard as a payment option in 2018. The two also will partner to develop future digital experiences focused on Targets signature style categories.In the markets where weve offered Google Express, guests tell us they love the ease and convenience of shopping Target through Google. So were excited to offer this service nationwide in time for the busy holiday season, said Mike McNamara, Targets chief information and digital officer. Whats even better is that Target and Google teams are working on the next chapter, building experiences that digitally replicate the joy of shopping a Target store to discover stylish and affordable products. Target Corporation is working with Google to make online shopping easier. The partnership includes Target's nationwide expansion on Google Express, including voice- activated shopping, and the addition of Target REDcard as a payment option in 2018. The two also will partner to develop future digital experiences focused on Target's signature style categories.# The expansion of Google Express follows Targets successful trial of the home delivery shopping service in California and New York City. By expanding Google Express nationally, more guests will be able to shop Targets assortment, including exclusive brands that are only available at Target. And since items are shipped from a nearby Target store, guests will receive their orders in just two days.Googles announcement that shopping will soon be available via the Google Assistant on eligible Android phones and iPhones, joining Google Home and Android TV, will allow Target guests to make their Target Run from a phone solely using voice commands, a first for the company.Target will further deepen its partnership with Google in 2018, as Target plans to make the Target REDcard debit or credit card available as an option for Google Express shoppers. That means guests shopping Target through Google Express will enjoy the convenience of REDcard benefits, including five per cent off most purchases and free shipping.Beginning in 2018, guests will have the option to pick up their orders in a Target store, where orders are ready in just two hours. Guests also will be able to choose to link their Target.com accounts with Google for a more personalised shopping experience.Through the partnership, Target and Google teams will collaborate on creating innovative digital experiences using voice and other cutting-edge technologies to elevate Targets strength in style categories such as home, apparel and beauty.At Google, we are focused on continued innovation and making Google Express a platform to help retailers like Target offer consumers a high quality seamless, end-to-end shopping experience, said Daniel Alegre, president of Retail and Shopping, Google. We're excited to expand our partnership with Target and bring the Google Assistant to new platforms." (SV) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Online-retailing giant Amazon is reportedly partnering with several building owners across the US to install lockers. According to WSJ, Amazon has signed contracts with apartment owners and managers representing more than 850,000 units across the U.S. to begin installing Amazon locker systems in their buildings called 'Hub by Amazon'. Amazon has committed to install the lockers in thousands of properties, many before the peak holiday shopping season. Several of the nation's largest operators, AvalonBay Communities Inc., Equity Residential , Greystar and Bozzuto Group, have signed up for the program. The locker can accommodate packages from any major parcel service and will have 42 lockers in various sizes that will be accessible 24 hours a day. Residents will receive a notification when they have a package and a code allowing them to open one of the slots. Apartment owners would have to pay about $10,000 to $20,000 to install the lockers initially and do not need to pay a monthly fee. According to Amazon, this locker service will help to sort out the struggles of many managers who have to take care of hundreds of packages each day. Staff at large buildings have to work several hours a day for just sorting mail only. 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. LONDON, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Customers can use the same data plan whiletravellingin 40 countries Truphone, the London-based global mobile tech disruptor, todayannounces it is offering data plans for iPad users with Apple SIM in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Consumers cannow purchase Truphone iPad data plans in 12 countries - with further roll-outs planned to31 countries by the end of 2017.This builds on Truphone's status as the firstglobal mobile operator. Truphone Data PlansgiveiPad usersthe abilityto instantly get online andstay connected via the Truphone network at home and whiletravellingin 40countries without international roaming charges. As an introductory offer, Truphone is giving customers 100MB of data for free. The "try before you buy" offer makes it easy for iPad users to get 4Gdata directly on their iPad with no obligation to purchase. Truphonepromises: Flexible Plans: Greater choice around connectivity without being locked into long-term contracts. Greater choice around connectivity without being locked into long-term contracts. Lower Prices: Cheaper data packages without international roaming charges. Cheaper data packages without international roaming charges. Convenience: Connect right from your iPad with Apple SIM in just a few taps,eliminating the need to visit retail stores. Connect right from your iPad with Apple SIM in just a few taps,eliminating the need to visit retail stores. Global Bundle: Use the same data package in 40 countries without the need to swap SIMcards or buy more data when travelling. The launch coincideswith the global rollout of two additional features: Auto Renew: Automatically purchase a new data plan when the current one expiresor is consumed for uninterrupted 4G connectivity, with in-built overspendprotection. Automatically purchase a new data plan when the current one expiresor is consumed for uninterrupted 4G connectivity, with in-built overspendprotection. Top Up Anytime: The freedom to add more data anytime, anywhere without having to waitfor your plan to expire.Create an easily-managedqueue of data plans to make sure you never run out of data. Consumers canalready purchase Truphone iPad data plans in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Apple SIM makesit easy to sign upfor a cellular data plan right on your iPad so you can stay connected when you're away from Wi-Fi at home or while travelling. Apple SIM isbuilt into iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (second generation) and iPadPro 9.7-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular models, and is compatible with iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation), iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular models. Ralph Steffens, CEO,Truphone said: "Truphone DataPlans for iPad users with Apple SIM delivers connectivity on the move andperfectly complements the iPad as the most versatile mobile device ever developed. "We're excitedabout the potential Apple SIM has to revolutionise how we provide seamless connectivity for our customers, no matter where they are in the world. Ourcapability, expertise and global network mean we're well placed to capitaliseon this shift as the only truly global player. This launch of data plans oniPad with Apple SIM is another testament to the ability of Truphone to delivera seamless product globally." "We're excitedabout the potential Apple SIM has to revolutionise how we provide seamless connectivity for our customers, no matter where they are in the world. Established in2006, Truphone has enjoyed a period of rapid expansion and now has more than 350staff in 11 offices worldwide. About Truphone Truphone's pioneering technology is changing the way the world communicates, creating a whole new set of possibilities for businesses and consumers alike. Headquartered in London, our global network and patented SIM technology powers connectivity on the move. We are the organisation developing and delivering game-changing products and services: the eSIM for all new Apple iPads available in 31 countries by the end of 2017; IoT solutions that already power connected cars; and global mobile call recording solutions that enable trading compliance for financial institutions. More than 3,500 companies rely on us as their business mobile provider. The majority of the world's largest Tier 1 investment banks entrust Truphone globally with their mobile voice and SMS recording, which helps meet the challenging requirements of MiFID II regulation, being imposed on on 3 January 2018 by the EU. To learn more, visit truphone.com Press Contact: Catherine Gibbon +44-(0)-7408811675 catherine.gibbon@truphone.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) provided a financial update, including an outlook for fiscal year 2018. HPE is committed to returning approximately $2.5 billion in total to shareholders in fiscal year 2018, consisting of $2.0 billion in share repurchases and about $500 million in dividend. Through HPE Next, the company will simplify the organizational structure, redesign business processes and prioritize investments in growth areas. Revenue in fiscal year 2017 is expected to grow 5% year-over-year, when adjusted for divestitures, currency and sales to tier-1 service providers. Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be approximately $1.00 for the company as it stands today, including its Enterprise Group and Financial Services segments. HPE expects to return $3 billion in cash to shareholders in fiscal year 2017 through $2.6 billion of share repurchases and $400 million in dividend payment. HPE provided its outlook for fiscal year 2018. The company expects modest revenue growth when adjusted for sales to tier-1 service providers. HPE expects its fiscal year 2018 non-GAAP operating margin to be approximately 9.5%. With OI&E expense of approximately $300 million, a non-GAAP tax rate of 20-22% and a share count of 1.60 billion to 1.62 billion shares outstanding, it expects non-GAAP EPS of $1.15 to $1.25. GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $0.43 to $0.53. On a normalized basis, free cash flow is expected to be approximately $2 billion, in line with non-GAAP net earnings. However, in fiscal year 2018, the company will have $200 million of legacy restructuring and separation payments, $300 million of payments for tax settlements, and $600 million of funding for HPE Next. This will be offset by $100 million of real estate sales. After these payments, as-reported free cash flow is expected to be approximately $1 billion. HPE said it is committed to returning approximately $2.5 billion in total to shareholders in fiscal year 2018, consisting of $2.0 billion in share repurchases and approximately $500 million in dividends. The company approved a 15% increase in its regular cash dividend to $0.075 per share, up from its prior $0.065, and also increased its share repurchase authorization by $5 billion. Over time, the company plans to return at least 75% of normalized free cash flow to shareholders, up from its prior commitment of 50%. HPE provided its long-term financial model. The company expects to drive modest revenue growth of around 0-1% organically. The company expects operating profit to grow approximately 4-5% annually, driven by an optimized operating model, reduced cost structure and favorable mix shift. EPS is expected to grow at a higher rate of approximately 7-9% annually driven by share count reductions over time. Cash flow is expected to trend towards normalized levels in fiscal year 2019 and track earnings over time. Through HPE Next, the company will simplify the organizational structure, redesign business processes and prioritize investments in growth areas. The company will also right-size its end-to-end cost structure. The HPE Next program will drive significant net savings with an attractive return on investment. Over the next three years, the program will drive gross cost savings of $1.5 billion. HPE will reinvest about $700 million of that back into the company in the form of go-to-market, operational and R&D investments in key growth areas. Net cost savings will be approximately $800 million on a run rate basis exiting fiscal year 2020. In order to achieve this level of cost savings, HPE expects approximately $1.1 billion in cash funding payments over the duration of the program. Approximately two thirds of the funding will be utilized to optimize the workforce. The remainder will be used to upgrade and simplify IT systems, in addition to other non-labor actions. These payments will be partially offset by real estate sales, which should generate approximately $300 million in cash over the next three years. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is aiming for a spring 2018 launch for its new online TV service, which has been delayed at least twice as the telecommunications giant grapples with how to compete in the media world, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. While Verizon has shared its plans with TV networks, the timing of the web-based, live TV service's introduction remains tentative and could be further postponed, the report said. The delays in the project have created the impression of a strategic drift. The phone giant has yet to finalize distribution agreements with top media companies, the report said. 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. Flash The deadliest California wildfires have rendered 22,000 people homeless since they broke out 10 days ago, despite major progress in bringing the statewide blazes under full control, fire authorities said on Wednesday. The wildfires have, by Tuesday, burned a combined number of 210,000 acres of land across the state, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said in a press release. The wildfires killed 42 people, including a firefighter who died in a vehicle rollover in combating the fires, the first death toll from the rank of firefighters in more than a week of fight against the wildland fires, it said. Nearly 10,000 firefighters continued battling 13 large wildfires burning in the state, and cooler temperatures and increased humidity overnight have aided firefighters in their efforts, CAL FIRE said. Light rain forecast for northern California, the major impact areas of the most devastating wildfires in the state, will help in the containment progress, it added. More than 90 percent of the fires in Sonoma County, the worst hit area in the ongoing disaster in California, where 19 of the 42 deaths were recorded, has been brought under controlled, according to CAL FIRE estimates. Full containment, which means the fires will no longer be able to spread, is expected Friday for Sonoma County. Evacuation orders have been lifted in many counties of northern California, including Napa County, another hardest-hit area, and residents were gradually allowed to go back home for their rebuilding efforts. California, with a summer warm temperature and low humidity, is vulnerable to forest fires. From 2006 to the end of 2016, an average of 8,317 wildfires took place in the state and burn more than 2,300 acres every year, statistics show. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 18, 2017 / Charitable donor, acclaimed real estate investor, and consultant, Jacob Frydman is proud to support the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE) and its many cause-driven initiatives. The generous donor is deeply involved with the foundation, working closely with its Orphan, Poor and Sick Fund, Released Time Program, and Toys for Hospitalized Children initiatives among many others. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson founded NCFJE in the midst of WWII with the principle mission of providing Jewish public school students with a free Jewish education. Shortly after its conception, the institution noticed that many of the children lived in households experiencing a variety of social and economic hardships, and implemented a multitude of educational, community outreach, and humanitarian services that still provide imperative aid to New York's citizens today. Rabbi Hannoch Hecht of the Rhinebeck Jewish Center introduced Jacob Frydman to the committee, and the businessman was immediately enthralled by their generosity, "I saw from their past work that the NCFJE has made countless positive lasting effects on individual families and the entire community." Created in 1941, the Released Time Program educates Jewish youth about the history, customs, and prayers of Judaism, and has inspired more than a quarter million boys and girls in the greater New York area to be proud of their faith. Each Wednesday students are dismissed an hour early from school and transported to a nearby synagogue, where dedicated instructors create a welcoming religious atmosphere and teach the children about their heritage. The classes are free of charge and are now available in over 125 public schools. Another longstanding NCFJE charity, Toys for Hospitalized Children, distributes over 10,000 toys and gifts to hospitals, special needs facilities, and destitute children each year. In an effort to share joy with the city's elderly as well, the 50-year project has recently expanded to servicing senior residences on an as-need basis. The Orphan, Poor and Sick Fund aids underprivileged families in accessing necessary resources through grocery and clothing vouchers, rent and utility assistance, school and camp scholarships, and weekly food disbursements. Rabbi Hecht considers Frydman's constant assistance with these initiatives as a sign of greater understanding, "He knows that the foundation of the Jewish community is the Jewish family, and he believes that by helping needy families we can all look forward to a stronger Jewish community as a whole." Jacob Frydman is a native New Yorker, real estate investor, and private equities expert. Over his 30-year career, he has structured, financed, and executed highly complex real estate transactions. He often discusses business, law, and ethics at Columbia University and in the Master's Lecturer series at New York Law School. A passionate and vocal member of the Jewish faith, Frydman has been an active supporter of the NCFJE for many years, and assists other charitable committees including The Chabad of Dutchess County and Washington, DC-based The Brem Foundation. Jacob Frydman - Blog - JacobFrydmanNews.com: http://JacobFrydmanNews.com Jacob Frydman (@jacobfrydman) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobfrydman Jacob Frydman -- Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/jacob-frydman Contact Information: JacobFrydmanNews.com contact@jacobfrydmannews.com www.JacobFrydmanNews.com SOURCE: Jacob Frydman TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Toyota Motor Corp (TYT.L, TM) said it regrets the inconvenience and concern caused to customers of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota confirmed that materials supplied by by Kobe Steel satisfied applicable statutory standards, and own internal standard, for key safety and durability requirements for vehicles. In response to the series of announcements by Kobe Steel Ltd. regarding improper conduct related to materials used in vehicle bodies, Toyota has been urgently investigating the impact of this matter on Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The initial phase of investigation has been focused on the aluminum plates that were the subject of Kobe Steel's initial disclosure, on October 8, 2017, of the falsification of data related to inspection certificates, Toyota said. Toyota said it believes that the identified aluminum plates purchased both directly from Kobe Steel and via other suppliers were used in certain vehicles, primarily in the construction of hoods (bonnets), rear hatches and other components of our vehicles. Further, Toyota said it has examined the data for the most recent three years possessed and provided by Kobe Steel and verified strength and durability of the affected aluminum plates, using the data Kobe provided that was furthest outside of Toyota's specifications. Based on that analysis, Toyota confirmed that the materials satisfy applicable statutory standards, and our internal standard, for key safety and durability requirements for vehicles. However, since the announcement by Kobe Steel covers a wide range of products, Toyota does not regard this matter as closed, and we are continuing our efforts to identify its full impact. Toyota is currently working to identify the impact of affected non-aluminum materials on its vehicles. 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. COLUMBIA, Mo., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- StorageMart is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of a new self storage facility located at 5 Durban Road, Bognor Regis, UK PO22 9RZ. The new addition expands the StorageMart UK footprint from 15 to 16 locations and adds to the company's combined total of more than 12 million square feet of storage space in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. "The new location in Bognor is great news for locals in need of self storage units for personal or business use," said Cris Burnam, StorageMart President. "At StorageMart we never charge a deposit nor require a minimum length of stay. Plus, our dedicated customer service team is always ready to deliver our promise of 'easy, clean, service' to all customers." The new Bognor Regis self storage facility offers 430 storage units in a variety of sizes for a total of 24,091 square feet of rentable, well-lit space. Other notable features include: a covered loading bay, lift access to all floors, and trollies on hand to help customers move their belongings in easily. About StorageMart StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, Missouri and has grown to be the largest privately-owned, family-operated storage company in the world with more than 195 self-branded, high-quality properties throughout the US, Canada, and UK. StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, which has been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean, and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home. In 2016, the company donated more than $142,000 to charities, in addition to donating over $350,000 in free rent to local organizations. Find out more at www.storage-mart.com. Media Contact Sarah Little Marketing Director sarah.little@storage-mart.com 573.449.0091 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/storagemart-finds-new-home-in-bognor-regis-uk-300539185.html HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Asia's leading big data ad technology company, Vpon Big Data Group, announces the launch of its collaboration with multiple hero media and app partners, including New York Times (Simplified Chinese version), Camera360, Qunar, Youdao, Skyyer, OpenRice, Movie Express, and more, to further broaden and deepen the premium and vertical coverage of Vpon's award-winning mobile advertising platform*. With the dedication to providing a transparent and healthy digital advertising environment for its advertisers, Vpon has augmented the premium coverage by collaborating with prestigious platforms and initiating the strategic partnerships with travel-related media to advance Vpon's cross-border marketing solutions in terms of data collection and audience targeting implementation. Moreover, by assembling the quality media across Asia, Vpon provides a flexibility for advertisers to go beyond the geographic boundary, and to plan their marketing strategy in a regional level, rather than a local perspective. Arthur Chan, APAC General Manager at Vpon Big Data Group said, "The enhancement on Vpon's inventory enables advertisers to reach their target audience precisely through the quality media. These collaborations have built on top of Vpon's strong foundation of Data Management Platform, which allows the platform to enrich audience profiles and behavioral data to the next level. The partnership can surely actualize the power of data and implement precise audience targeting through the Demand-side Platform (DSP) and Private Marketplace (PMP), helping Asia's advertisers to drive transactions." On the other hand, Vpon endeavors to deal with another hot topic hitting the industry -- media transparency. While maintaining a complete transparency is rather challenging, Vpon has committed to take steps to create a transparent and healthy digital advertising environment to foster a sustainable development. The determination has driven Vpon to expedite the inventory verification with one of the leading global measurement and analytics companies -- Integral Ad Science (IAS). Now, advertisers are able to monitor the ad campaign viewability and brand safety level through IAS tracking across Vpon's mobile app and web inventory, empowering advertisers to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of their ad campaigns in multiple dimensions. Chan explained, "We at Vpon have witnessed many brands struggling to maintain brand images when throwing themselves into the digital marketing field. Brand names are valuable yet vulnerable. We acknowledge the importance of providing a platform with quality ad inventory to advertisers, and that's why we work restlessly to suppress ad fraud and guarantee the viewability on our mobile advertising platform. And we are happy to see over 90%** of our inventory are eligible to be measured by IAS, proving our efforts on creating a transparent environment. As a market leader, we always strive our best to maintain a healthy ecosystem and development." If you wish to learn more about Vpon's solutions and services, please reach our team at sales.hk@vpon.com. * Won the bronze of 'The Best Mobile Advertising Platform' at 2017 Mob-Ex Awards, presented by Marketing Magazine in HK. ** The percentage is based on the overall results of Vpon's ad campaigns during June, 2017 under the IAS in-app inventory verification process. About Vpon Big Data Group (www.vpon.com) Founded in 2008, Vpon Big Data Group is a leading big data ad technology company in Asia. With extensive media resource reaching over 21 billion biddable inventory across Asia Pacific and advanced big data analytic technology, Vpon offers solutions in the areas of cross-border marketing to drive transactions for O2O and e-Commerce business and increase brand awareness. Vpon has been widely recognized by the industry and won Bronze for Greater China Specialist Agency of the Year 2016 and Top 3 Forbes China's Top 100 Privately Held Small Businesses for 2015. Vpon services over 1500 renowned brands through its network of 4 offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Media Contact Ms. Bowie Ma Email Contact +852 - 2748 7376 (Ext. 805) The Board of Telia Lietuva, AB (hereinafter "Telia Lietuva" or "the Company") approved unaudited Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements, prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union, for the nine months' period ended 30 September 2017. Third quarter of 2017: - Total revenue amounted to EUR 90.2 million, up by 3.9% over the revenue of EUR 86.8 million in Q3 2016. - EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 32.8 million, an increase of 8.2% over the EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 30.3 in Q3 2016. First nine months of 2017: - Total revenue amounted to EUR 270.1 million, up by 6.6% over the revenue of EUR 253.5 million for 9 months of 2016. - EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 91.2 million, an increase of 2.9% over EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 88.6 for 9 months of 2016. - Free cash flow amounted to EUR 31.3 million (EUR 36.9 million a year ago). Management comment: The merger of mobile and fixed broadband operations into single entity and rebranding is bearing fruit: customers are offered offers that are unique in the market and that combine various technologies, and the Company records growth in term of both revenue and profitability. Our top line shows further potential, especially in data monetization and further positive market share improvement. Growing demand for high quality video content, modern TV services, has contributed to growth in fixed broadband business. And after the legal merger and successful rebranding, we can now focus on further operational and structural improvements in the cost base; this is reflected in the EBITDA improvement in Q3 2017. In spring, we offered a unique hybrid-type Internet service that integrates xDSL connection with fast 4G mobile internet, and in the autumn, we are ready to launch a converged offer "Telia One" that gives more value - higher speed, more data and more TV channels - to those who have both fixed and mobile services. It is convenient and worth it. Customers can get fixed and mobile home offer by visiting one portal, one retail outlet, or calling one customer care number. We also observe the changing behaviour of our customers - especially their growing appetite for mobile data abroad. It started last year when we launched the "roam like at home" offer for customers travelling in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and accelerated after 15 June 2017 when roaming charges were eliminated in the European Union. Mobile data usage abroad rocketed by 2.4 times, while total mobile data usage increased by 1.8 times over the year. To ensure customer connectivity we continued our investments in 4G and fiber-optic network. During the first nine months of 2017, total investments amounted to EUR 42.1 million, an increase of 15 per cent over the year. More than 300 base stations were added to the largest and the fastest 4G/LTE network in the country owned by Telia Lietuva. Despite decline in customer numbers in the Lithuanian market, we have managed to increase our customer numbers over the year: - The number of IPTV users over the year increased by 11.1 per cent up to 204 thousand, - The number of FTTH Internet customers grew by 7.4 per cent up to 259 thousand, - The number of post-paid service users rose by 5.4 per cent up to 1,058 thousand. The intake of new customers in combination with higher mobile data usage and ongoing demand for smart phones and tablets, had a positive effect on total revenue growth whereof: - Revenue from equipment sales went up by 17.1 per cent, - Revenue from TV services increased by 11 per cent, - Revenue from billed mobile services was up by 7.1 per cent. During Q3 2017, our costs were under control and in combination with revenue growth, we had the highest EBITDA, excluding non-recurrent items, margin of 36.4 per cent since the beginning of joint operations in January 2016. Exploring possibilities close to the core business, Telia Lietuva together with other two Lithuanian operators - Tele2 and Bite - are planning to enter the instant payment market. The European Commission's permit for the creation of a common platform for provision of instant payments was received in July 2017. The next step will be investment into a jointly owned entity that will create, operate and supervise the platform required for the provision of instant payments. In August, the Company signed an agreement for the acquisition of UAB Duomenu Logistikos Centras, a provider of data transfer and data centre services. Completion of the acquisition is subject to receiving a concentration permit from the Competition Council. ENCL.: - Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the nine months' period ended 30 September 2017. - Presentation of Telia Lietuva AB Group results for the nine months of 2017. Darius Dziaugys, Head of Investor Relations, tel. +370 5 236 7878, e-mail: darius.dziaugys@telia.lt Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=648716 Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Regulatory News: Pernod Ricard (Paris:RI): Press release Paris, 19 October 2017 VERY GOOD Q1 SALES, WITH GROWTH ACCELERATING AND DIVERSIFYING ORGANIC SALES GROWTH: +5.7% (REPORTED GROWTH: +2.0%) FY18 GUIDANCE1 CONFIRMED: ORGANIC GROWTH IN PRO2 BETWEEN +3% AND +5% Sales for the first quarter of FY18 totalled 2,292 million, with organic growth of +5.7% Continued dynamism in the Americas: +6%, with good performance in USA and acceleration of Travel Retail throughout the continent with good performance in USA and acceleration of Travel Retail throughout the continent Significant acceleration in Asia-RoW: +7% vs. stable in Q1 FY17, with a strong Q1 in China and a rebound in Travel Retail and Africa Middle East vs. stable in Q1 FY17, with a strong Q1 in China and a rebound in Travel Retail and Africa Middle East Continued good overall growth in Europe: +3%, thanks to very strong Sales in Eastern Europe and a modest increase in Western Europe, with strong dynamism in Germany and UK but a decline in France and slow start in Spain thanks to very strong Sales in Eastern Europe and a modest increase in Western Europe, with strong dynamism in Germany and UK but a decline in France and slow start in Spain Acceleration coming from Emerging markets (+10%) Performance partly enhanced by favourable basis of comparison in Q1 FY17 (Global Travel Retail, Africa Middle East) Reported growth was +2.0% due to the unfavourable FX impact over the period. Group topline improvement was primarily driven by the Strategic International Brands (+8%) with strong broad-based growth, in particular from Martell, Absolut, Jameson, Ballantine's, Chivas and Malibu. The Strategic Local Brands grew +2% with Seagram's Indian whiskies growth still subdued due to the highway ban but strong growth in tequila and gin. Strategic Wines also had a very strong quarter at +8%, thanks mainly to Campo Viejo. Innovation delivered an incremental +2% to overall Group Sales. As part of this communication, Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We have had a very good start to the year, with our growth accelerating and diversifying in terms of both markets and brands. This is again testimony to the success of the strategic direction we adopted 2 years ago. "In an environment that remains uncertain, we confirm our FY18 guidance of organic growth in Profit from Recurring Operations of between +3% and +5%. We will continue to implement our roadmap, in particular focusing on digital, innovation and operational excellence." 1 Guidance communicated 31 August 2017 2 PRO = Profit from Recurring Operations All growth data specified in this press release refers to organic growth (at constant FX and Group structure), unless otherwise stated. Data may be subject to rounding. A detailed presentation of Sales for the first quarter of FY18 can be downloaded from our website: www.pernod-ricard.com Definitions and reconciliation of non-IFRS measures to IFRS measures Pernod Ricard's management process is based on the following non-IFRS measures which are chosen for planning and reporting. The Group's management believes these measures provide valuable additional information for users of the financial statements in understanding the Group's performance. These non-IFRS measures should be considered as complementary to the comparable IFRS measures and reported movements therein. Organic growth Organic growth is calculated after excluding the impacts of exchange rate movements and acquisitions and disposals. Exchange rates impact is calculated by translating the current year results at the prior year's exchange rates. For acquisitions in the current year, the post-acquisition results are excluded from the organic movement calculations. For acquisitions in the prior year, post-acquisition results are included in the prior year but are included in the organic movement calculation from the anniversary of the acquisition date in the current year. Where a business, brand, brand distribution right or agency agreement was disposed of, or terminated, in the prior year, the Group, in the organic movement calculations, excludes the results for that business from the prior year. For disposals or terminations in the current year, the Group excludes the results for that business from the prior year from the date of the disposal or termination. This measure enables to focus on the performance of the business which is common to both years and which represents those measures that local managers are most directly able to influence. Profit from recurring operations Profit from recurring operations corresponds to the operating profit excluding other non-current operating income and expenses. About Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard is the world's n2 in wines and spirits with consolidated Sales of 9,010 million in FY17. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008). Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector: Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, as well Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo and Kenwood wines. Pernod Ricard employs a workforce of approximately 18,500 people and operates through a decentralised organisation, with 6 "Brand Companies" and 86 "Market Companies" established in each key market. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption. Pernod Ricard's strategy and ambition are based on 3 key values that guide its expansion: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and a strong sense of ethics. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 index. APPENDICES Q1 Sales by Region Net Sales ( Million) Q1 FY17 Q1 FY18 Change Organic Growth Group Structure Forex impact Americas 649 28.9% 652 28.4% 3 0% 40 6% (3) 0% (34) -5% Asia Rest of World 917 40.8% 940 41.0% 23 2% 64 7% (1) 0% (41) -4% Europe 682 30.3% 701 30.6% 19 3% 23 3% (1) 0% (3) 0% World 2,248 100.0% 2,292 100.0% 45 2% 128 6% (5) 0% (78) -3% Note: Bulk Spirits are allocated by Region according to the Regions' weight in the Group Foreign exchange impact on Q1 FY18 Sales Forex impact Q1 FY18 ( Million) Average rates evolution On Net Sales Q1 FY17 Q1 FY18 US dollar USD 1.12 1.17 5.2% (31) Chinese yuan CNY 7.44 7.83 5.2% (13) Pound sterling GBP 0.85 0.90 5.6% (6) Other (28) Total (78) View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006386/en/ Contacts: Contacts Pernod Ricard Julia Massies, +33 (0)1 41 00 41 07 VP, Financial Communication Investor Relations or Adam Ramjean, +33 (0)1 41 00 41 59 Investor Relations Manager or Emmanuel Vouin, +33 (0)1 41 00 44 04 Press Relations Manager or Alison Donohoe, +33 (0)1 41 00 44 63 Press Relations Manager The company accelerates its strategic development in China, the largest market in the world with 70,000 to 140,000 people suffering from Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy Regulatory News: Genomic Vision (FR0011799907 GV), a company specialized in the development of diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancers and hereditary diseases, and applications for life sciences research, today announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with AmCare Genomics Laboratory to market the FSHD diagnostic assay in China. "We are thrilled to have acquired Genomic Vision's technology and signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the FSHD diagnostic assay in China. Thanks to our large network and connections within the neurology and FSHD communities in China, we are confident in raising significant awareness among physicians and patients on the most powerful diagnostic test for FSHD," commented Dr. Victor Wei Zhang, CEO of AmCare Genomics Laboratory. "Following our distribution deal with APG Bio Ltd last June, this marketing agreement with AmCare represents a second major milestone in our global strategy to enter new markets in Asia. In China, it is estimated that 70,000 to 140,000 people are affected with FSHD. Moreover, the field of genomics and genetic testing is extremely developed, notably in large cities. We are convinced that our robust diagnostic technology will provide great benefits to families and patients. We look forward to deploying our FSHD solution in China and to strengthening our presence in the country through this valuable partnership," added David Del Bourgo, Marketing Sales Director of Genomic Vision. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is the third most prevalent muscular hereditary myopathy worldwide. This genetic disease manifests as atrophy and weakness in the face, shoulders, and ambulatory muscles. There is great variability in clinical severity, from a severe infantile form to individuals who remain asymptomatic throughout their lives. This autosomal dominant disease is thought to affect 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 20,000 people. The actual number of individuals with FSHD worldwide is 870,000, which could be significantly higher due to undiagnosed cases. About 70% of FSHD patients inherit the disease from a parent, while 30% of the cases are sporadic and associated to de novo mutations. ABOUT GENOMIC VISION GENOMIC VISION is a company specialized in the development of diagnostic solutions for the early detection of cancers and serious genetic diseases and tools for life sciences research. Through the DNA Molecular Combing, a strong proprietary technology allowing to identify genetic abnormalities, GENOMIC VISION stimulates the R&D productivity of the pharmaceutical companies, the leaders of the diagnostic industry and the research labs. The Company develops a robust portfolio of diagnostic tests (breast, ovarian and colorectal cancers, myopathies) and analysis tools (DNA replication, biomarkers discovery, gene editing quality control). Based near Paris, in Bagneux, the Company has approximately 60 employees. GENOMIC VISION is a public listed company listed in compartment C of Euronext's regulated market in Paris (Euronext: GV ISIN: FR0011799907). For further information, please visit www.genomicvision.com Member of CAC Mid Small and CAC All-Tradable indexes FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT This press release contains implicitly or explicitly certain forward-looking statements concerning Genomic Vision and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Genomic Vision considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the annual financial report dated April 29, 2016, available on the web site of Genomic Vision (www.genomicvision.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Genomic Vision operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Genomic Vision or not currently considered material by Genomic Vision. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Genomic Vision to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute and should not be construed as an offer or an invitation to sell or subscribe, or the solicitation of any order or invitation to purchase or subscribe for Genomic Vision shares in any country. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be a breach of applicable laws. The persons in possession of this press release must inquire about any local restrictions and comply with these restrictions. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006617/en/ Contacts: Genomic Vision Aaron Bensimon Co-founder, Chairman CEO Tel.: +33 1 49 08 07 50 investisseurs@genomicvision.com or Ulysse Communication Press Relations Bruno Arabian Tel.: +33 1 81 70 96 30 barabian@ulysse-communication.com or NewCap Investor Relations Dusan Oresansky Emmanuel Huynh Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 92 gv@newcap.eu Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia Regulatory News: Europcar Groupe S.A. (Paris:EUCAR) today announced the success of the offerings by Europcar Drive D.A.C. of 600 million 4.125% Senior Notes due 2024 (the "Corporate Notes") and EC Finance plc of 350 million 2.375% Senior Secured Notes due 2022 (the "Fleet Notes" and together with the Corporate Notes, the "Notes"). The proceeds of the Corporate Notes amount to 600 million and the Fleet Notes amount to 350 million. The delivery and settlement and the listing of the Notes on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange are expected to occur on or about November 2, 2017. Europcar intends to use the proceeds from the issuance of the Notes for the: i) financing of the consideration to be paid for the consummation of the Goldcar acquisition; ii) repayment of the drawings made under the Senior Revolving Credit Facility to finance the Buchbinder acquisition; iii) early redemption in full of EC Finance Plc's outstanding 5.125% 350 million notes due 2021; and iv) payment of estimated costs and expenses related to the issuance of the Notes. For Caroline Parot, Chief Executive Officer of Europcar Group: "Following the significant step up in our acquisition momentum during the first half of the year, we decided to take advantage of a favourable market environment to launch a new round of bond financing. We are pleased with its outcome which will enable the Europcar Group to make significant savings on its existing fleet financing as well as its corporate financing. The success of these transactions reflects the strong support expressed to us by the bond investment community for which we are grateful, as well as the increasing confidence in Europcar's 2020 Ambition and management team." Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia Disclaimer The distribution of this press release may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Persons into whose possession this document comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of November 4th, 2003 and amendments thereto (the "Prospectus Directive"). No action is or will be taken in any member state of the European Economic Area to make an offer to the public of securities requiring the publication of a prospectus in any such member state. This press release does not, and shall not, in any circumstances constitute a public offering by Europcar of Notes nor an invitation to the public in connection with any offer. No action has been or will be taken in any country or jurisdiction that would permit a public offering of the Notes, or the possession or distribution of this press release or any other offering or publicity material relating to the Notes, in any country or jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. The offering or subscription of the Notes may be subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Europcar does not take any responsibility for any violation of any such restrictions by any person. The Notes will be offered only to qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive. No action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of the Notes requiring a publication of a prospectus in any Member State. As a result, the Notes may only be offered in a Member State: (a) to qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Directive; (b) to fewer than 150, natural or legal persons (other than "qualified investors" as defined in the Prospectus Directive), in accordance with the Prospectus Directive; or (c) in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive. The Notes will not be offered or sold, and this press release or any other offering or publicity material relating to the Notes may not be distributed, in France, except to (i) providers of investment services of portfolio management for the account of third parties and/or (ii) qualified investors (Investisseurs Qualifies) acting for their own account, other than individuals, all as defined in, and in accordance with, Articles L.411-1, L.411-2 and D.411-1 of the French Code Monetaire et Financier This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of offers to purchase or subscribe for, securities in the United States. The Notes have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state or local securities laws. Europcar has no intention to register any portion of the planned offer in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. This announcement is directed only at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom; (ii) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Financial Promotion Order"); (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Financial Promotion Order and (iv) persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) in connection with the issue or sale of any Notes may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). Any person other than a Relevant Person may not act or rely on this document or any provision thereof. Persons distributing this document must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so. This press release may not be published, forwarded or distributed in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. This press release may include projections and other "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any such projections or statements reflect the current views of Europcar about further events and financial performance. No assurances can be given that such events or performance will occur as project and actual results may differ materially from these projections. About Europcar Group Europcar Group is listed on Euronext Paris. Europcar is the European leader in vehicle rental service and is also a major player in mobility markets. Active in more than 130 countries and territories, including nine subsidiaries in Europe and two in Australia and New Zealand, Europcar serves customers through an extensive vehicle rental network comprised of its wholly-owned subsidiaries as well as sites operated by franchisees and partners. The group operates mainly under the Europcar, InterRent and Ubeeqo brands. Customer satisfaction is at the heart of the group's mission and all of its employees, this commitment fuels the continuous development of new services. The Europcar Lab, based in Paris, was created to better grasp tomorrow's mobility challenges through innovation and strategic investments, such as Ubeeqo, E-Car Club or Brunel. Further details on our website: europcar-group.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006725/en/ Contacts: Europcar Press relations Nathalie Poujol Marie-Anne Benardais, +33 1 30 44 98 82 europcarpressoffice@europcar.com or Europcar / Investor relations Olivier Gernandt, +33 1 30 44 91 44 olivier.gernandt@europcar.com or Elan Edelman, +33 1 86 21 51 56 or +33 1 86 21 50 38 europcar@elanedelman.com STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Swedish telecom company Telia Co. AB (0H6X.L, TLSNY.PK) reported Thursday that its third-quarter total net income attributable to the owners of the parent was 2.27 billion Swedish kronor, compared to loss of 8.81 billion kronor a year ago. Earnings per share were 0.52 krona, compared to loss of 2.03 kronor last year. In September, Telia reached a global settlement with the authorities regarding the Uzbekistan investigations. As part of the settlement, Telia agreed to pay fines and disgorgements in an aggregate amount of $965 million or 7.72 billion kronor at that point in time, whereof $757 million were paid during the third quarter. A provision for the settlement was already recognized in 2016, resulting in the hefty loss. Adjusted operating income fell 19.6 percent to 3.81 billion kronor from last year's 4.74 billion kronor, negatively impacted by the sale of Turkcell shares. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 3.6 percent to 6.60 billion kronor. In local currencies, adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.4 percent. The adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 33.6 percent from 31.8 percent a year ago. Net sales decreased 8.8 percent to 19.63 billion kronor from 21.52 billion kronor last year. Net sales in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and disposals, decreased 0.5 percent. Service revenues in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and disposals, decreased 0.9 percent. Further, the company reiterated its outlook for 2017. The company continues to expect adjusted EBITDA in continuing operations in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and disposals, to be around the 2016 level. Further, the company said its ambition to reduce our cost base, amounting to an expected 38 billion kronor in 2017, by 3 percent, on a net basis in 2018 over 2017, is on track. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Galantas Gold Corporation (Galantas or the Company) (TSX VENTURE: GAL) (AIM: GAL) is pleased to report accelerated development progress at its Omagh Gold Mine, Northern Ireland. As expected, the acceleration of development has followed the resolution of blasting matters. Underground development now totals over 90 metres. The stringer vein intersected earlier and reported 1st August 2017, has been accessed from the main decline tunnel. Mineralisation is approximately 0.5m wide and will be split-fired (a process where the vein is blasted separately to the surrounding country rock to minimise dilution). A narrow width loader has been acquired to operate short term on the splinter vein. This is expected to cover the delivery period for new specialist vein mining equipment. After sampling, it is anticipated that a stockpile of suitable material will be made underground until there is sufficient to operate batch processing in the flotation plant. The present drilling and loading equipment, which was purchased for training and early tunnel development purposes, is performing above expectations but has lower productivity than is expected with current technology. New drilling equipment is being acquired on a rental basis with options to purchase, and is expected to improve advance rates by over 40%. Shotcreting equipment is being similarly acquired. This is expected to cut costs and allow integration of shotcreting with the mining cycle. The rental purchase arrangements cover equipment to the value of approximately one million pounds sterling (GBP 1,000,000). Included in the rental arrangements are various time-dependent options to purchase, for instance if the purchase option is exercised within one year, a rebate of 92% of rental amounts paid is expected to be applied against the final purchase price. Additional personnel have been added to the workforce, which now totals 22 on the Omagh site. Safety and environmental matters remains a high priority for Galantas. The Company is pleased to continue to report zero lost time accidents since the start of underground operations and routine water monitoring continues to be compliant. 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. The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 prior to its release. Contacts: Enquiries: Galantas Gold Corporation Jack Gunter P.Eng - Chairman Roland Phelps C.Eng - President & CEO Email: info@galantas.com Website: www.galantas.com Telephone: +44 (0) 2882 241100 Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nomad) Philip Secrett, Richard Tonthat, Harrison Clarke Telephone: +44(0)20 7383 5100 Whitman Howard Ltd (Broker & Corporate Adviser) Nick Lovering, Grant Barker Telephone: +44(0)20 7659 1234 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Horizonte Minerals Plc (TSX: HZM)(AIM: HZM) ('Horizonte' or 'the Company'), the nickel development company focussed in Brazil, is pleased to announce that is has completed and filed the Mine Construction Licence ('Installation Licence' or 'LI') for its Araguaia nickel project ('Araguaia' or 'the Project'), Brazil's next ferronickel project. The LI was submitted to SEMAS, the Para State authority responsible for environmental licensing, for the construction of the Project, including mine, associated infrastructure and pyro-metallurgical processing plant. Highlights -- Extensive work programmes were completed to produce the LI suite of documents; including full environmental monitoring across all principal disciplines; -- This enabled Horizonte to develop social and environmental mitigation and monitoring plans for all phases of Araguaia, including: construction, operation and closure; -- Horizonte have formally gazetted the filing of the LI and vegetation suppression permit in the Brazilian Diario Oficial da Uniao; and, -- Upon approval of the LI together with approval of the Mine Plan from the Brazilian mining authority, Horizonte will have the necessary permits in place to commence construction. Horizonte CEO, Jeremy Martin, commented: "The submission of the Mine Construction Licence ('LI') marks a major milestone for the Araguaia nickel project, as it moves towards the construction decision. The work required to collect the data and develop the suite of documents that make up the LI has been finalised as part of Araguaia's ongoing Feasibility Study, which is on track for completion in Q1 2018. This has been a major piece of work, involving a number of consulting groups across a variety of disciplines led by our inhouse team. "The Araguaia project has the potential to create approximately 500 new jobs in the operational phase in a rural area where the average family income ranges between US$2 - US$4 per day. As a result, the Para Government considers Araguaia to be a key economic driver for the southern part of the State. Additionally, we continue to receive positive community support for the project as evidenced through our ongoing community engagement programmes." Mine Construction Licence The completed LI was filed at SEMAS, and published in the Brazilian official gazette (Diario Oficial da Uniao) by Horizonte's local subsidiary, Araguaia Niquel Mineracao Ltda. Approval of the LI from SEMAS, together with the approval of the Mine Plan from the Brazilian mining authority, will permit Horizonte to commence construction at Araguaia. Social and environmental mitigation and monitoring plans, together with licence condition reports, were elaborated by a leading environmental consultancy group, Environmental Resource Management ('ERM'), in conjunction with experienced local Para State consultants on fauna and flora programmes. Both Horizonte and ERM representatives presented the LI to SEMAS in a meeting held in Belem, the capital of Para State. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com. About Horizonte Minerals: Horizonte Minerals plc is an AIM and TSX-listed ('HZM') nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located to the south of the Carajas mineral district of northern Brazil. The Company is developing Araguaia as the next major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by 2020. The Project has good infrastructure in place including rail, road, water and power. Horizonte has a strong shareholder structure including; Teck Resources Limited 17.9%, Richard Griffiths 14.5%, Lombard Odier Asset Management (Europe) Limited 12.9%, JP Morgan 8.4%, Canaccord Genuity Group 6.5%, Glencore 6.4% and City Financial 5.6%. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; and the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates. Generally, 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 statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". 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, and are inherently 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 risks related to: exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Contacts: Horizonte Minerals plc Jeremy Martin (CEO) / David Hall (Chairman) +44 (0) 20 7763 7157 finnCap Ltd (NOMAD & Joint Broker) Christopher Raggett/ James Thompson / Anthony Adams / Emily Morris +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Shard Capital (Joint Broker) Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar +44 (0) 20 7186 9952 Tavistock (Financial PR) Jos Simson / Barney Hayward / Emily Fenton +44 (0) 20 7920 3150 MyoVistahsECG' Utilizes Wavelet Technology to Detect Cardiac Diastolic Dysfunction SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HeartSciences announced today the commercial launch of its MyoVista high sensitivity electrocardiograph (hsECG') Testing Device in the Middle East. The MyoVista hsECG is now available for commercial sale in the first markets of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait and will soon extend to other countries in the region. The MyoVista hsECG was developed using Continuous Wavelet Transform mathematics and goes beyond conventional ECG technology with new metrics to detect repolarization abnormalities. This new capability enables physicians to detect diastolic dysfunction which is typically diagnosed using tissue Doppler echocardiography. As an early manifestation of many types of heart disease, diastolic dysfunction has become a significant area of interest in cardiology. Coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy and valvular diseases are examples of diseases that will cause diastolic dysfunction. The MyoVista hsECG, incorporates all of the capabilities of a full featured 12-lead resting ECG plus new proprietary informatics that assist in detecting diastolic dysfunction. Using machine learning, MyoVista hsECG technology detected diastolic dysfunction with 88 percent sensitivity, and 87 percent specificity, in a recent clinical trial at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.* "The MyoVista hsECG represents an exciting breakthrough in ECG technology," said Mark Hilz, Chief Executive Officer, HeartSciences. "We look forward to introducing this breakthrough technology to the Gulf region." In the region, MyoVista will be sold via distribution partners. The device is also available across the European Union, where it received the CE (Conformite Europeenne) Mark approval earlier this year. HeartSciences is also in the process of expanding distribution to Canada, Australia, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. HeartSciences expects to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for MyoVista in 2018. AboutHeartSciences HeartSciences is advancing the field of electrocardiology through the patented use of wavelet mathematics and artificial intelligence to develop medical devices that significantly improve the early detection of heart disease. HeartSciences is bridging today's "diagnostic gap" in cardiac care by developing new low-cost effective solutions that help to identify at-risk patients prior to the occurrence of an adverse cardiac event, such as a heart attack. The company's first device, the MyoVista, features the capabilities of a full featured 12-lead resting ECG plus new proprietary informatics that assist in detecting diastolic dysfunction. Significant focus from the cardiology community is now being placed on diastolic dysfunction since it begins in the early stages of heart disease when patients often do not present with any symptoms. Coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy and valvular diseases are examples of diseases that will cause diastolic dysfunction. HeartSciences (formerly known as Heart Test Laboratories) is a privately-held U.S. corporation based in Southlake, Texas, and to date has been funded by private investors. *Data on file at HeartSciences For more information or to find a local distributor, visit www.heartsciences.com. Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/584238/HeartSciences_Logo.jpg MUNICH, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - Checkout Portal customers can now benefit from the reliable brand Trusted Shops and optimise their e-mail marketing using the web-based mailing system kajomi MAIL The Wirecard Checkout Portal is entering into a new strategic cooperation and offering retailers new value-added services from now on. Checkout Portal customers can now increase their sales due to a higher level of customer trust by using the Trusted Shops seal of approval. Thanks to the expansion of the Checkout Portal with the web-based mailing tool kajomi MAIL, online retailers can also make their e-marketing more efficient and targeted. Shop operators can flexibly choose premium services when setting up their payment methods via the Checkout Portal and integrate them in their online business. The Wirecard Checkout Portal offers SMEs and start-ups alike a plug-in tool to guarantee online payment options that are suited to individual requirements. The registration process is fast, uncomplicated and can be completed directly online with minimal administrative effort. The Checkout Portal allows e-commerce merchants to offer any desired payment methods and integrate them. Checkout Portal customers can now benefit from a trusted seal of approval and comprehensive buyer protection on account of the collaboration between Wirecard and Trusted Shops. This maximises online traffic, conversion rates and customer retention. Trusted Shops customer experiences have shown that the seal of approval can lead to an increase in sales of up to 30%. Tobias Tullius, Partner Manager at Trusted Shops: "Thanks to the new cooperation with the Wirecard Checkout Portal, we are delighted to be able to support even more shop owners with our seal of approval. Above all else, trust is required for success in e-commerce." Another collaboration by the Wirecard Checkout Portal offers a new e-marketing approach for online merchants. With the web-based mailing system kajomi MAIL, shop operators can send newsletters safely and tailored to individuals. The profiling conducted by kajomi takes into account previous target group user behaviour in order to continuously adapt the mailing system to target groups. Celal Mentes, Head of Checkout Portal at Wirecard: "The Checkout Portal is now more than just a payment portal. We are expanding our portfolio of value-added services in order to offer merchants a variety of services from a single source." About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard. About Trusted Shops: Trusted Shops is the European trust brand in e-commerce. The Cologne-based company provides a comprehensive security package with its seal of approval, including buyer protection, customer review system and anti-warning module: Trusted Shops uses strict individual criteria such as price transparency, customer service and data protection to verify its members and award its highly coveted seal of approval. Buyer protection, offered by every certified online shop, ensures that consumers are protected against issues such as non-delivery. Furthermore, the customer review system creates trust over the long term between retailers and customers. The Trusted Shops project entitled 'Locatrust' enables local retailers to obtain authentic reviews from real customers. This means that Trusted Shops offers local retailers the chance to create greater visibility for their business and online range, all of which strengthens local businesses. The project is supported by the European Union within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For further information, please visit: http://www.trustedshops.de. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 E-Mail: jana.tilz@wirecard.com Trusted Shops media contact: Trusted Shops GmbH Mustafa Ucar Tel.: +49-221-77536-7531 E-Mail: mustafa.ucar@trustedshops.com Regulatory News: Publicis Groupe (Paris:PUB): Third Quarter 2017 revenue 2,264 m 2016 revenue 2,315 m Reported growth -2.2% Growth at constant currency +1.9% Organic growth +1.2% At end September 2017 revenue 7,107 m 2016 revenue 7,068 m Reported growth +0.6% Growth at constant currency +0.8% Organic growth +0.3% Arthur Sadoun, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board: "We committed to delivering sequential improvement of organic growth in Q3 vs Q2. This has been the case even after a slightly better than expected Q2. Our organic growth reached +1.2% in Q3, after -1.2% in Q1 and +0.8% in Q2,. This is an encouraging sign in a challenging environment. We have seen a good performance in North America at +3.0% reflecting the last 12 months' account wins. Europe showed a slight 1.5% decline, facing a tough comp at +7.6% in Q3 2016. Q3 also witnessed some positive momentum, both through new business and talents joining the Groupe. This is a clear demonstration of our attractiveness and of the ability of our new model to win on every front and convincing some of the most recognized leaders that Publicis Groupe is building the future. Over the course of the summer the financial markets were exposed to a negative news flow regarding our industry. But the truth is that there is nothing new there. We all know that our industry is facing many challenges. Consumer behavior is changing, the media landscape is being disrupted, we are confronted with new competition and our clients have been facing challenges around growth, cost and brand trust challenges for years. At Publicis Groupe, we decided that to rest on our laurels was not an option and we committed to transform for the better in an ambitious and consistent way. With the acquisition of Sapient, we have put technology at the core of the business transformation of our clients. With The Power of One, we have broken down the silos, allowing us to offer a unique end-to-end solution with consulting, technology, creative, media, digital and obviously data at the core, seamlessly. For the last 4 months, we have been accelerating the execution of our plan by yshifting our model yfrom a communications business to a transformation partner by ybuilding our organization as a platform and putting our people first. We are beginning to see the fruits of these efforts, but we know we are only in the middle of our transformation journey, as it is a profound change, in a highly volatile market. That is why, even though we have some preliminary encouraging signs, we remain very cautious and determined to win. We are convinced that we have an unparalleled position in the market through both our ability to help clients with marketing transformation and digital business transformation. We are committed to achieving our transformation which will put us in a position to drive a significant improvement in organic growth and financial performance. I look forward to seeing you at our investor day on March 20, 2018." THIRD QUARTER 2017 REVENUE Publicis Groupe's consolidated revenue in Q3 2017 was 2,264 million euro, down 2.2% from 2,315 million euro for the corresponding period in 2016. Exchange rates had a 93-million euro negative impact, i.e. the equivalent of 4.0% of revenue in Q3 2016. Net acquisitions contributed 16 million euro to revenue for the period, i.e. the equivalent of 0.7% of revenue in Q3 2016. Growth at constant exchange rates was +1.9%. Organic growth stood at +1.2% in the third quarter. As expected, this was an improvement on the Q2 organic growth rate of +0.8%. The Groupe benefited from the ramp-up of contributions from accounts gained since Q2 2016, in particular those of Walmart, USAA, Asda, Motorola and Lowe's. As announced, organic growth remained impacted by the SapientRazorfish restructuring and the impact on revenue of the ending of non-profitable contracts. Breakdown of Q3 revenue by region EUR Revenue Organic Reported million Q3 2017 Q3 2016 Growth Growth Europe 626 643 -1.5% -2.6% North America 1,235 1,254 +3.0% -1.5% Asia Pacific 245 261 -3.1% -6.1% Latin America 88 89 +2.0% -1.1% Middle East &Africa 70 68 +9.7% +2.9% Total 2,264 2,315 +1.2% -2.2% REVENUE AT END SEPTEMBER 2017 At September 30, 2017, Publicis Groupe's year-to-date revenue stood at 7,107 million euro after 7,068 million euro in 2016, i.e. an increase of 0.6%. Exchange rates adversely affected revenue by 17 million euro, i.e. the equivalent of 0.2% of revenue for the first nine months of 2016. Net acquisitions contributed 38 million euro to revenue at September 30, 2017, i.e. the equivalent of 0.5% of revenue from the corresponding period in 2016. Growth at constant exchange rates was 0.8 %. Organic growth stood at 0.3% at September 30, 2017. Breakdown of revenue by region at September 30 EUR Revenue Organic Reported Million 9M 2017 9M 2016 Growth Growth Europe 2,003 1,992 +2.4% +0.6% North America 3,879 3,874 -0.8% +0.1% Asia Pacific 756 764 -2.0% -1.0% Latin America 262 241 +3.0% +8.7% Middle East Africa 207 197 +3.6% +5.1% Total 7,107 7,068 +0.3% +0.6% Europe grew by 0.6%. After factoring out the impact of acquisitions and exchange rates, organic growth was +2.4%. France performed well (+2.4%), while the UK and Italy posted strong momentum at +6.2% and +8.8% respectively. However, Germany recorded negative growth of -5.0% against a very difficult comparable period in 2016. In Q3 2017, Europe reported organic growth of -1.5% after an upswing of +4.3% at June 30, 2017. On top of few account losses, this downturn had to be put in the context of a challenging comparable period in Q3 2016 when organic growth was close to 8%. This is also why the main European countries have slowed significantly by comparison with June 30, 2017. North America achieved organic growth of +3.0% in Q3 2017, accelerating away from its +0.2% growth rate in Q2 thanks to the ramp-up of accounts gained since the summer of 2016 (including Lowe's, Walmart, USAA) and the benefit of early 2017 account wins (among which MolsonCoors and FirstNet), partly offset by the growth challenges of the FMCG sector. As announced, growth is nonetheless affected by the restructuring of SapientRazorfish as well as by the impact on revenue of unprofitable accounts that have been discontinued. Over the first nine months of 2017, organic growth remained in negative territory (-0.8%). On a reported basis, growth stood at +0.1%. Asia Pacific reported -1.0% and organic growth of -2.0% for the first nine months. China only grew by +0.4% due to difficulties at one entity under strategic review. Business grew by 9.5% in Singapore. In India, the situation is consolidating: after +0.4% in Q1 and +13.0% in Q2, the third quarter saw further growth of +3.9%. Latin America rose by +8.7% (+3.0% on an organic basis). In Brazil, revenue fell -0.8% at September 30, after +1.0% at June 30, due to the difficulty in outperforming 2016 when Brazil hosted the Olympic Games in Rio. Mexico continued its strong growth trend with +12.2%. The Middle East Africa reported growth of +5.1% (organic growth of +3.6%). NET FINANCIAL DEBT Net debt totaled 2,291 million euro at September 30, 2017 (i.e. a net debt equity ratio of 0.41), compared with 1,244 million euro at December 31, 2016. The Groupe's average net debt over the first nine months of 2017 was 2,066 million euro, down from 2,443 million euro at September 30, 2016. KEY EVENTS AT END SEPTEMBER 2017 Governance and nominations Since June 1, 2017, Maurice Levy has taken on the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board, of which he is also a member. Arthur Sadoun has been appointed CEO and Chairman of the Management Board. The Management Board (Directoire) has been reinforced by the arrival of Steve King, CEO of Publicis Media, who has teamed up with Jean-Michel Etienne, Executive Vice-President, Finance, and Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, Secretary General. Since August 24, 2017, in addition to her existing responsibilities, CSR and The Women's Forum for the Economy and Society have been placed under the remit of Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner. Headquartered in Paris, the Women's Economic Forum is a Publicis Groupe company and the world's leading platform, where women voice their opinions on major social and economic issues. The Women's Forum for the Economy and Society is dedicated to showcasing the talent and creativity of women while fostering international cooperation. The yearly Women's Forum Global Meeting, which is held in France and brings together more than 1,500 participants, has become an unmissable date on the international conference calendar: the place to be and to be heard. The next Global Meeting will take place in Paris, October 5-6, 2017. The Women's Forum is one of the key components of Publicis Groupe's commitment to CSR. The Groupe's goal is to provide outstanding solutions that represent its strong values of diversity, ethical practices and respect for the environment to have a positive social impact and promote responsible marketing, in terms of social representation, transparency and data protection. Veronique Weill has joined Publicis Groupe as General Manager, in charge of Re:Sources, IT, real estate, insurance and M&A. Veronique previously spent 21 years with JPMorgan, mainly in the USA, where she was in charge of operations and IT globally. She then joined Axa in 2006, where, as a member of the Management Committee, she focused on operations, technology, digital, marketing and innovation. As Axa's Chief Operating Officer and subsequently Chief Customer Officer, she helped make Axa one of the world's leading insurance brands. Emmanuel Andre has also joined the Groupe at the newly-created position of Chief Talent Officer (CTO). Based in New York, Emmanuel Andre is in charge of talent management and recruitment, working directly with the four Solutions CEOs and their respective CTOs who report directly to him. He is also in charge of all Groupe learning, training and development programs. He has also been appointed to the Management Committee and will report directly to Arthur Sadoun, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board. Former President of TBWA Worldwide, Emmanuel Andre previously managed HR strategy at global level, spanning the key areas of learning, career development, top talent recruitment and corporate culture at large. He began his career in advertising in 1993 and has worked for TBWA in Paris, Hong Kong and then New York. Carla Serrano, CEO of Publicis New York and Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Communications, has been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe. Throughout her career, Carla has held strategic management positions in large networks and creative agencies. Before joining Publicis, Carla was CEO of Naked NA, CSO of TBWA Chiat/DAY NY and Chair at Berlin Cameron and Partners. Publicis Groupe has set up two new management committees, in addition to its Management Board (Directoire). The first is the Executive Committee and is in charge of the Groupe's transformation. It meets every month and is comprised of the following members, in addition to the members of the Management Board: Chip Register, Co-CEO, Publicis.Sapient Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe Nigel Vaz, Digital Business Transformation Lead, Publicis Groupe, and CEO EMEA APAC, Publicis.Sapient Veronique Weill, General Manager, Publicis Groupe Alan Wexler, Co-CEO, Publicis.Sapient The second committee, known as the Management Committee, meets every quarter and oversees Groupe operations and execution of its strategy. It is comprised of the Executive Committee members plus the following: Valerie Beauchamp, EVP Business Development, Publicis Groupe Emmanuel Andre, Chief Talent Officer, Publicis Groupe Justin Billingsley, COO Publicis Communications Agathe Bousquet, Presidente France, Publicis Groupe Gerry Boyle, CEO APAC, Publicis Media Andrew Bruce, CEO North America, Publicis Communications Nick Colucci, CEO, Publicis Health Lisa Donohue, CEO, Publicis Spine Tim Jones, CEO North America, Publicis Media Loris Nold, COO Publicis Communications Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Growth Officer, Publicis Groupe Alexandra Von Plato, Group President, Publicis Health Jarek Ziebinski, CEO, Publicis One On September 27, 2017, Publicis Groupe announced Annette King will be appointed CEO of the UK for Publicis Groupe. Annette will report directly to Arthur Sadoun, Chairman CEO of Publicis Groupe and will join the Management Committee. In her role as CEO of Publicis Groupe UK, Annette will oversee all of Publicis Groupe's operations in the market, from Publicis Communications, to Publicis Media, Publicis.Sapient and Publicis Health. She will be responsible for ensuring that the Groupe brings to life its vision of being its clients' indispensable partner in their transformation. In this endeavour, Annette can count on the help of Steve King who will act as Executive Sponsor in the UK. Annette will come to Publicis Groupe from the Ogilvy Group (WPP) where she worked for seventeen years, in eight different roles, ranging from client lead on American Express across EMEA to Managing Director for Ogilvy Interactive and from New Business Director for OgilvyOne to her latest role as CEO of Ogilvy Group in the UK. External growth In January 2017, Publicis Communications acquired two digital agencies via Leo Burnett, namely The Abundancy and Ardent. These agencies will add to Leo Burnett's arsenal of data, creative and technological capabilities. Ardent provides proprietary technology that uses search data to understand behavior and predict consumer intent, while The Abundancy applies these learnings to inform customer content. Together, these two agencies count 60 professionals who have now joined Leo Burnett under newly appointed CEO Andrew Swinand in the USA. In July 2017, Publicis Communications announced the acquisition of The Herd Agency, one of Australia's largest and most-awarded public relations agencies. The acquisition enables Publicis Communications to provide clients with newly expanded public relations services, including: strategy, corporate affairs, earned media, stakeholder relations, integrated campaigns, issues and crisis management, social media and content marketing. The Herd Agency will be aligned with MSLGroup in Australia. In August 2017, Prodigious Publicis Communications' production platform announced the acquisition of Translate Plus, a leading global language services provider with expertise in "transcreation". "Transcreation", which entails completely adapting the brand message of a product or advertisement to a target market, will play an integral part in our global advertising campaigns. Translate Plus, which was founded in 2008, counts over 130 employees across ten international offices in London, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria, Washington DC, China and Japan. Its client portfolio includes Mondelez, Porsche Consulting, Reckitt Benckiser, Rentalcars and Ricoh. Finance On March 13, 2017, Publicis Groupe entered into a share buyback agreement with an Investment Services Provider under the share buyback program authorized by the Shareholders' meeting of May 25, 2016. The buyback period extended from March 14, 2017 to June 30, 2017. At the end of the contract, 5,000,000 shares were purchased at an average share price of 64.69 euro per share (64.89 euro including tax on financial transactions). OUTLOOK The first nine months of 2017 showed encouraging signs with, on the one hand, Publicis Groupe returning to positive growth in the second quarter and, as we expected, posting a slight sequential improvement in the third quarter, and on the other hand, a favorable account win momentum which includes prestigious gains such as Diesel, Southwest, Lionsgate and McDonald's. The Groupe's top priority is to improve its organic growth and there are quite a number of projects still on-going. Our ambition is to post higher growth than our competitors by becoming the leader in marketing and digital business transformation. Four concrete decisions have been taken for this purpose: make our model a reality for all our clients, leverage our competitive advantage in technology and consulting, simplify the structure of our own organization for the purposes of greater efficiency, and establish a corporate culture to attract and retain the top talents. Regarding the latter, great strides forward have been made in the third quarter, in particular with the arrival of Emmanuel Andre as the Groupe's Chief Talent Officer and the announcement of the arrival of Annette King as CEO of Publicis UK. We expect better organic growth in the second half of 2017 by comparison with the first half of the year. The longer term goals are well known, i.e. to enhance growth and improve efficiency. The Groupe is in the early stages of rolling out a new business plan with the new management team. A detailed update will be provided in the forthcoming months. Disclaimer Certain information contained in this document, other than historical information, may constitute forward-looking statements or unaudited financial forecasts. These forward-looking statements and forecasts are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These forward-looking statements and forecasts are presented as at the date of this document and, other than as required by applicable law, Publicis Groupe does not assume any obligation to update them to reflect new information or events or for any other reason. Publicis Groupe urges you carefully to consider the risk factors that may affect its business, as set out in the Registration Documents filed with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) and which is available on the website of Publicis Groupe (www.publicisgroupe.com), including an unfavorable economic climate, an extremely competitive market sector, the possibility that our clients could seek to terminate their contracts with us at short notice, the fact that a substantial part of the Group's revenue is derived from certain key clients, conflicts of interest between advertisers active in the same sector, the Group's dependence on its directors and employees, laws and regulations which apply to the Group's business, legal action brought against the Group based on allegations that certain of the Group's commercials are deceptive or misleading or that the products of certain clients are defective, the strategy of growing through acquisitions, the depreciation of goodwill and assets listed on the Group's balance sheet, the Group's presence in emerging markets, exposure to liquidity risk, a drop in the Group's credit rating and exposure to the risks of financial markets. About Publicis Groupe The Power of One Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] is a global leader in marketing, communication, and digital transformation, driven through the alchemy of creativity and technology. Publicis Groupe offers its clients seamless access to its tools and expertise through modular offering. Publicis Groupe is organized across four Solutions hubs: Publicis Communications (Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi Saatchi, Leo Burnett, BBH, Marcel, Fallon, MSL, Prodigious), Publicis Media (Blue 449, Starcom, Zenith, Spark Foundry, Performics, DigitasLBi), Publicis.Sapient (SapientRazorfish, Sapient Consulting) and Publicis Health. These 4 Solution hubs operate across principal markets, and are carried across all others by Publicis One, a fully integrated service offering bringing together the Groupe's expertise under one roof. Present in over 100 countries, Publicis Groupe employs nearly 80,000 professionals. www.publicisgroupe.com | Twitter: @PublicisGroupe Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicisgroupe | LinkedIn: Publicis Groupe http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicisGroupe | Viva la Difference ! Appendices Organic growth calculation (million euro) Q1 Q2 Q3 9 months Impact of currency at end September 2017 (million euro) 2016 revenue 2,291 2,462 2,315 7,068 GBP (2) (53) Currency impact (2) 50 26 (93) (17) USD (2) 16 2016 revenue at 2017 exchange rates (a) 2,341 2,488 2,222 7,051 Others 20 2017 revenue before impact of acquisitions (1) (b) 2,314 2,507 2,248 7,069 Total (17) Revenue from acquisitions (1) 14 8 16 38 2017 revenue 2,328 2,515 2,264 7,107 Organic growth (b/a) -1.2 % +0.8 % +1.2% +0.3% (1) Acquisitions (MercerBell, Vertiba, Seven Seconds, Insight Redefini, Venus Communications, Arcade, Digitouch, PT Publicis Metro Indonesia, PT Indonesia Media Exchange, North Notch, Metadesign, Regicom, Ardent, The Abundancy, The Herd Agency, Ella Factory, SFR Studio, Translate Plus), net of disposals. (2) EUR USD 1.111 over the first 9 months of 2017 vs. USD 1.116 over the first 9 months of 2016 EUR GBP 0.872 over the first 9 months of 2017 vs. GBP 0.801 over the first 9 months of 2016 New Business: Main wins at end September 2017 PUBLICIS COMMUNICATIONS Bradesco (Brazil), Petrobras (Brazil), eBay (France), Nokia (South Africa), Uber (Singapore), Singtel (Singapore), Marriott (USA), SNHU (USA), Chromebook (USA), Truecaller (Sweden), Match.com (Meetic) (Pan-Europe), Great West Life (Canada), USAA (USA), AkzoNobel (Global), Culligan (water filtration/conditioning systems) (USA), Service Civique (France), Sunrise (Switzerland), Britvic (UK), Asics (Global), Anheuser-Busch InBev (USA) PUBLICIS MEDIA 20th Century Fox (Australia), Aldi Stores Limited (Australia), Coty Luxury (Denmark), Ego (Australia), Expedia (Singapore), KFC (USA), Lowe's (USA), Mattel (USA), Merck (EMEA), Molson Coors (USA UK), NBCF (National Breast Cancer Foundation) (USA), PartyPoker (Norway), Royal Caribbean Cruises (UK), Singapore Tourism (Global), Southern Cross Travel Insurance (Australia), Bel Group (Global), Carpetright (UK), CCU (Compania de las Cervecerias Unidas) (Argentina), Coty Luxury (Norway), Credit Suisse Group (Italy), Danks Hardware (Australia), Dubai Corporation for Tourism Commerce Marketing (Middle East), Euroloan Consumer Finance (Poland), Fondazione Ania (Italy), Grupa Allegro (Poland), H&R Block (USA), JC Jeans Clothes (Sweden), Kolonial.no (Norway), Luminous Power Technologies (India), Materialgruppen AB Kimberly-Clark (Sweden), P&G (UK), PayU India (India), Procter Gamble (UK Ireland), ZTE Mobile (India), Alibaba (Tmall) (China), AOK-Bundesverband (Germany), Codorniu (Spain), Cubus (Nordics), Cubus (Sweden), Dressmann (Norway), Fondazione Ania (Italy), Godrej Boyce (India), Lenskart (India), Mattress Firm (USA), Profile Pensions (United Kingdom), R+V Versicherung AG (Germany), Southwest Airlines (USA), Storck (Germany), Telkom (South Africa) PUBLICIS.SAPIENT Mattel (USA), Carnival Corporation (USA), FirstNet AT&T Government Solutions (USA), Lyft (USA), GSK (USA), The Nature Conservancy (USA), Intermarche (France), Oshawa (Canada), W.L. Gore Associates (Germany), British Gas (UK), McDonalds Corporation (USA), McDonalds Deutschland LLC (Germany) PUBLICIS ONE OCBC (Malaysia), Reckitt Beckenzier (Malaysia), 20th Fox Century (Malaysia), Ikea (Czech Republic), BEL (Czech Republic), l'Oreal (Czech Republic), Societe Generale (Serbia), P&G (The Nertherlands), FCA (The Nertherlands), Skoda (The Nertherlands), Aldi (Belgium), Informazout (Belgium), ABinBEV (Colombia), Renault (Argentina), SGEBS (Romania), Coca Cola (Romania), Franke (Romania), KBC (Bulgaria), Merck (Czech Republic), Silvano (Czech Republic), VISA (Czech Republic), Kraft/Heinz (Czech Republic), Vileda (Czech Republic), SAB Miller (Czech Republic), Plzensky prazdroj, s.r.o. (Czech Republic), Generali (Czech Republic Slovakia), Cordblood (Slovakia), Unicef (Serbia), Momondo (Turkey), Yasar Holding (Turkey), Visa (Turkey), ?estle (Greece), Delacre (Belgium), Recticel (Belgium), ING Sprinters (Netherlands), ASR (Netherlands), JVH Gaming (Netherlands), Charlie Temple (Netherlands), Binck Bank (Netherlands), Nutricia (Netherlands), Expedia (Malaysia), Singapore Tourism Board (Thailand), Inbev (Colombia Peru) PUBLICIS HEALTH Novartis (USA), Genentech (USA), Shire (USA), Adapt (USA), AMAG (USA), Sunovion (USA), Clinigen Group (Global), Purdue (USA), Merck Co (USA), Intarcia Therapeutics (USA), Flexion Therapeutics (USA), AbbVie (USA), Ipsen (USA), Emmaus Life Sciences (USA), Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (USA), AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (USA), Merck KGaA (USA), Roche (UK), AstraZeneca (USA), Hospital Corporation of America (USA), Stryker Corporation (USA), Swanson Health Products (USA) 2017 press releases 09-01-2017 Publicis Communications: Appointment at Leo Burnett USA and two acquisitions in digital 11-01-2017 Publicis Communications: Appointment at Saatchi Saatchi; Robert Senior leaves the Groupe 18-01-2017 Publicis One: Appointment in Japan 19-01-2017 Publicis One: Appointment in Turkey 26-01-2017 Governance announcement at Publicis Groupe 01-02-2017 Publicis Communications: Appointment for the Nordics region 03-02-2017 Publicis.Sapient: Appointment at DigitasLBi; Luke Taylor leaves the Groupe 07-02-2017 Appointment of Laurent Carozzi as Publicis Groupe's Chief Performance Officer 09-02-2017 2016 annual results 21-02-2017 Viva Technology: 2nd edition on June 15-17, 2017 13-03-2017 Share Repurchase Agreement 16-03-2017 Publicis.Sapient: launch of SapientRazorfish's integrated offering 22-03-2017 Partnership between Publicis Groupe and Microsoft 18-04-2017 Appointment of Agathe Bousquet as President of the Groupe in France 20-04-2017 Q1 2017 Revenue 09-05-2017 Appointment of Celine Fronval as Publicis Groupe's General Counsel 31-05-2017 Combined General Shareholders' Meeting 14-06-2017 Publicis Groupe Boosts Management Structure with Two Senior Nominations and New Governing Bodies 19-06-2017 Publicis Groupe and Alibaba Announce China Uni Marketing Partnership 20-06-2017 Publicis Groupe Builds the First Professional Assistant Platform Powered by AI and Machine Learning 20-07-2017 H1 2017 Results 24-07-2017 Publicis One: Appointment in Panama 04-08-2017 Acquisition of Translate Plus by Prodigious 21-08-2017 Appointment of Emmanuel Andre as Publicis Groupe's Chief Talent Officer 24-08-2017 Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, member of the Directoire and Groupe Secretary General, takes ESG and the Women's Forum for Economy and Society under her responsability 20-09-2017 The next edition of Viva Technology will be held from on May 24-26, 2018 in Paris Definitions EBITDA: operating margin before depreciation. Operating margin: Revenue after personnel costs, other operating expenses (excl. non-current income and expense) and depreciation (excl. amortization of intangibles arising on acquisitions). Operating margin rate: Operating margin as a percentage of revenue. Headline Group Net Income: Group net income after elimination of impairment charges, amortization of intangibles arising from acquisitions, main capital gains (or losses) on disposals and revaluation of earn-out payments. EPS (Earnings per share): Group net income divided by average number of shares, not diluted. EPS, diluted (Earnings per share, diluted): Group net income divided by average number of shares, diluted. Headline EPS, diluted (Headline Earnings per share, diluted): Group net income after elimination of impairment charges, amortization of intangibles arising from acquisitions, main capital gains (or losses) on disposals and revaluation of earn-out payments, divided by average number of shares, diluted. Capex : Net acquisitions of tangible and intangible assets, excluding financial investments and other financial assets. ROCE (Return On Capital Employed): Operating Margin after Tax (using Effective Tax Rate) Average employed capital. Capital employed include Saatchi Saatchi goodwill which is not recognised in consolidated accounts under IFRS. Free Cash Flow before changes in working capital requirements: Net cash flow from operating activities before changes in WCR linked to operating activities. Net Debt (or financial net debt): Sum of long and short financial debt and associated derivatives, net of treasury and cash equivalents. Average net debt: Average of monthly net debt at end of month. Dividend pay-out: Dividend per share Headline diluted EPS. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006742/en/ Contacts: Publicis Groupe Corporate Communications Peggy Nahmany, + 33 (0)1 44 43 72 83 peggy.nahmany@publicisgroupe.com or Investor Relations Jean-Michel Bonamy, 33 (0)1 44 43 77 88 jean-michel.bonamy@publicisgroupe.com or Chi-Chung Lo, 33 (0)1 44 43 66 69 chi-chung.lo@publicisgroupe.com TechnipFMC (Paris:FTI) (NYSE:FTI) (ISIN:GB00BDSFG982) announces that an agreement has been reached with Plexus Holdings plc ("Plexus") to acquire Plexus's Wellhead exploration equipment and services business for jack up applications. In conjunction with TechnipFMC's global footprint and market presence, this portfolio expansion in the mudline and high pressure high temperature (HPHT) arena enables TechnipFMC to be a leading provider of products and services to the global jack up exploration drilling market. The business will be integrated into the TechnipFMC Surface Technologies segment and will include the transfer of key personnel from Plexus, with their specialized know-how, to ensure continuity and ongoing customer support. The business will continue to operate from the existing location in Dyce, Aberdeen, UK. Completion of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Richard Alabaster, President of TechnipFMC's Surface Technologies business, stated: "I am very pleased that we have reached this agreement, which fits within TechnipFMC Surface Technologies' strategy to extend and strengthen our position in exploration-drilling products and services while leveraging our global field presence. It also enhances TechnipFMC's capability in HPHT applications." Important Information for Investors and Securityholders Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's historical experience and present expectations or projections. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions relate to, among other things, the Company's ability to consummate the proposed transaction with Plexus, including the satisfaction of the conditions to consummation of the transaction; the Company's ability to successfully integrate Plexus' operations and employees; the Company's ability to realize anticipated synergies and cost savings from the transaction with Plexus; and the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the transaction with Plexus on relationships, including with employees, suppliers, customers and competitors of the Company and Plexus. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause actual results to differ from projected results, please see our risk factors set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which include our Registration Statement on Form S-4, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of our forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. About TechnipFMC TechnipFMC is a global leader in subsea, onshore/offshore, and surface projects. With our proprietary technologies and production systems, integrated expertise, and comprehensive solutions, we are transforming our clients' project economics. We are uniquely positioned to deliver greater efficiency across project lifecycles from concept to project delivery and beyond. Through innovative technologies and improved efficiencies, our offering unlocks new possibilities for our clients in developing their oil and gas resources. Each of our more than 40,000 employees is driven by a steady commitment to clients and a culture of purposeful innovation, challenging industry conventions, and rethinking how the best results are achieved. To learn more about us and how we are enhancing the performance of the world's energy industry, go to TechnipFMC.com and follow us on Twitter @TechnipFMC. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006734/en/ Contacts: TechnipFMC Investor relations Matt Seinsheimer, +1 281-260-3665 Vice President Investor Relations Matt Seinsheimer or James Davis, +1 281-260-3665 Senior Manager Investor Relations James Davis or Media relations Christophe Belorgeot, +33 1 47 78 39 92 Vice President Corporate Communications Christophe Belorgeot or Delphine Nayral, +33 1 47 78 34 83 Manager Public Relations Delphine Nayral or Lisa Adams,+1 281-405-4659 Senior Manager Digital Communications Lisa Adams The Clean Energy Finance Corporation will provide $94 million as the sole debt financier of Australia's first co-developed wind, solar and storage array. The 60 MW Kennedy Energy Park is being developed by Windlab and Eurus Energy and will combine 43.2 MW in wind capacity, 15 MW of solar PV, and 2 MWh of battery storage. The combining of wind and PV generation sources and coupling it with large scale battery storage can deliver reliable renewable energy supply and help balance high levels of intermittent generation on Australia's electricity network. The deployment of these innovative hybrid arrays has taken a major step forward, with CEFC committing to finance a landmark project in Queensland. The CEFC will provide $94 million in debt finance to the $170 million Kennedy Energy Park, in central north Queensland. The CEFC reports that financing two generation sources and the battery system at the one site, and in one integrated project, was "a complex undertaking". The project is the first of its kind in Australia. "As the sole debt financier for this project, our goal was to demonstrate the bankability of large-scale, integrated hybrid renewable energy projects for the future," said CEFC Wind Sector Lead Andrew Gardner. "We expect such projects to become an increasingly important part of Australia's electricity system, with complementary battery storage addressing the intermittency of wind and solar generation to support grid stability." Such hybrid solutions are likely to become much common in the Australian renewable marketplace. Signs are that both the Queensland and Victorian government large scale renewable tenders are looking to promote the integration of renewable sources with battery storage, increasing ... Den vollstandigen Artikel lesen ... NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE (dpa-AFX) - Thales (THLEF.PK) reported nine-month sales of 10.3 billion euros, up 3.5% on an organic basis (up 3.0% on a reported basis) from previous year. Order intake amounted to 8.83 billion euros, down 14% from last year. Patrice Caine, CEO, said: 'In the first nine months of the year, thanks to the commitment of our teams around the world, Thales has maintained a solid commercial momentum. Order intake is in line with our expectations and, unsurprisingly, lower than in the first nine months of 2016, which benefited from the Indian Rafale contract. We confirm all of our annual objectives, with the slight decline in sales in the third quarter due solely to phasing effects.' Although below the highs recorded in 2015 and 2016, Thales expects order intake in 2017 at around 14 billion euros. The company expects mid-single digit organic growth in sales compared to 2016. Thales expects EBIT between 1.48 billion and 1.50 billion, representing an increase of 9% to 11% versus 2016. Thales also confirmed its mid-term objectives of mid-single digit organic sales growth on average in the 2016-2018 period, and an EBIT margin of between 9.5% and 10% in 2017/2018. 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. Agility Health Tech has become the latest Partner to join the One Nucleus Partner Programme. The programme is tailor-made to meet the needs both of the Partner and the interests of One Nucleus members. Dr Claire Thompson, Director of Agility Health Tech commented "We have developed an excellent working relationship with One Nucleus over the last three years, regularly supporting its cornerstone Genesis and ON Helix events, as well as its initiatives to enhance R&D and manufacturing in the region. We are very excited to be able to deepen our collaboration via the Partner Programme, where we look forward to supporting One Nucleus and its members with engaging and impactful technical, strategic and business communications". Tony Jones, CEO of One Nucleus, commented "The raison d'etre of One Nucleus is to support our members in maximising their performance through enabling access the best possible technology, people and money. This support is provided across the life cycle of the business, from pre-start-up to revenue and exit, irrespective of the business model. Providing that support requires One Nucleus to partner with those best placed to offer our members high quality insight and advice at the most appropriate time. Agility Health Tech add significant expertise in the area of helping companies articulate their value proposition to both technical and business audiences." About Agility Health Tech Agility Health Tech is a UK-based consultancy and communications firm dedicated to advancing the products and raising the profile of its clients. With over 25 years' experience in the healthcare, materials and nanotechnology sectors we support our clients, from spin out to multinationals organisations, to advance and promote their products, business and services. About One Nucleus One Nucleus is an award winning not-for-profit Life Sciences Healthcare membership organisation centred on the Greater London-Cambridge-East of England corridor. Headquartered in Cambridge, at the heart of Europe's largest Life Sciences and Healthcare cluster, we support those businesses and individuals undertaking business in or with the above region. Through providing the local, UK-wide and international connectivity, One Nucleus' mission is to enable our members to maximise their performance, helping them achieve, or better still exceed, the goals they have set for themselves. Biomedical and Health Research have always been impactful in driving social and economic growth. In an increasingly outsourced, collaborative and multi-disciplinary sector, bringing the best people together is key to translating great innovation into great products that markedly improve patient outcomes and drive economic development. Attracting and enabling the best people to engage is at the heart of the One Nucleus team and what we strive to deliver. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005112/en/ Contacts: For further information, please contact: Claire Thompson Director, Agility Health Tech +44 (0)7885591187 Claire.thompson@agilityhealthtech.com or Tony Jones CEO, One Nucleus +44 (0)1223 896463 tony@onenucleus.com LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jive Software, an Aurea company, will host the Connect and Collaborate Forum on 1 November 2017 in London, where attendees will explore the role of collaboration in digital transformation. This event will bring together industry experts and real-world HR, corporate communications, operations and IT leaders to discuss how collaboration can help businesses accelerate innovation and generate a springboard for change by driving greater employee engagement. It will address the fragmentation that has emerged with the rise of tools such as Office 365 and Google Gsuite, and review best practices for creating a seamless, intuitive collaboration hub. "Whether companies are facing a rapid pace of digital disruption in their industry, struggling with change management surrounding organisational restructuring, mergers or acquisitions, or looking to transform employee engagement, collaboration is key," commented Simon Lappin, regional vice president at Jive Software, an Aurea company. "That said, the myriad tools on the market today create confusion for employees. Our Connect and Collaborate Forum will explore the role Jive and Aurea play in driving collaboration forward and bridging the gaps that are prevalent in tools like Office 365." Jive Software, in partnership with Foundation SP, one of the UK's leading technology solution providers, will share approaches that help companies embark on this journey and deliver transformational value to their business. Speakers include: Darren Phillips , director of solution consulting at Jive Software, will break down the key ingredients to connecting people and making collaboration part of organisational DNA. will break down the key ingredients to connecting people and making collaboration part of organisational DNA. Simon Walker , CTO of Foundation SP, will showcase the latest trends in collaboration technology. The event will be hosted at the Waldorf Hilton on Wednesday 1st November, 9:00am - 12:30pm, and is free of charge. To register or for further information, click here. About Jive Software Jive Software, part of the Aurea family of customer experience solutions, is the leader inaccelerating workplace digital transformation for organizations, enabling people to work better together. The company provides an industry-leading Interactive Intranet solution that connects people, information and ideasto help businesses outpace their competitors. With more than 30 millionusers worldwide and customers in virtually every industry, Jive is consistently recognized as a leader by top analyst firms, includingGartner Inc.andOvum.More information can be found atwww.jivesoftware.com. Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586289/Jive_Software_Connect_and_Collaborate_Forum.jpg Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586288/Jive_Software_Logo.jpg Event series at Hard Rock Cafe locations to spotlight PostgreSQL innovation and open source flexibility of EDB Postgres LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --EnterpriseDB(EDB'), the database platform company for digital business, todayannounced a European tour to showcase the EDB Postgres' Platform. The events, billed as the EDB Postgres Rocks Cafe series, will be staged at Hard Rock Cafe locations in major cities in October and November. The free events will help organizations understand how the open source-based flexibility of EDB Postgres enables the data platform to manage multi-model data, connect with existing systems, and deploy rapidly across multiple environments. The EDB Postgres Platform creates a cohesive data management fabric that accommodates a wider range of workloads and tasks by integrating with legacy systems and emerging Big Data solutions. The tour will also shine a light on PostgreSQL innovation and the significant contributions EDB engineers make to the development and advancement of the open source Postgres code base. Query parallelism, for example, in PostgreSQL 10 was developed almost entirely by EDB engineers, as were major advances in hash and partitioning indexes. The events in the Postgres Rocks Cafe series are as follows: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm Warsaw, Poland Register This event is co-hosted by EDB partner LinuxPolska. Thursday, October 26, 2017 10 am - 12 pm Madrid, Spain Register This event is co-hosted by EDB partner Hopla Software. Thursday, November 2, 2017 London, United Kingdom 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Register Amsterdam, Netherlands 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Register Helsinki, Finland 10:00 am - 12 pm Register Cologne, Germany 10:00 am - 12 pm Register Wednesday, November 8, 2017 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm Register This event is scheduled to coincide with the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, November 6-8, 2017 at the Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. EDB will be participating in the Gartner event as an exhibitor and Ed Boyajian, CEO and President of EDB, and Oscar Herrera, Vice President, Services, will deliver presentations during the event. Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Zurich, Switzerland 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Register Lyon, France 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Register Thursday, November 16, 2017 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Manchester, United Kingdom Register Antwerp, Belgium 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Register Stockholm, Sweden 9:30 am - 11:30 am Register Paris, France 10:00 - 12:00 pm Register Berlin, Germany 9:30 am - 11:30 am Register For information on how EDB Postgres can support your digital transformation efforts, or to set up an individual meeting during the Postgres Rocks Cafe tour, send an email to sales@EDBPostgres.com. About EnterpriseDB Corporation EnterpriseDB(EDB'), the database platform company for digital business, delivers the premier open source-based data platform for new applications, cloud re-platforming, application modernization, and legacy migration. EnterpriseDB integrates with enterprise technologies and infrastructures for hybrid cloud management, data integration, and data warehousing. Our customers benefit from the highest performing, most reliable, flexible, open, and cost-effective data management platform available. EnterpriseDB is based in Bedford, Massachusetts. For more information, visitwww.EnterpriseDB.com. EnterpriseDB is a registered trademark of EnterpriseDB Corporation. EDB and EDB Postgres are trademarks of EnterpriseDB Corporation. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. MEDIA CONTACTS Cairbre Sugrue Sugrue Communications +44 (0)1932 429 779 Cairbre@Sugruecomms.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586630/EnterpriseDB_Corporation_Logo.jpg Bi-directional charger and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Mitsubishi Motors Public Relations Department http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com +81-3-6852-4275 TOKYO, Oct 19, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announces the implementation of a 'Vehicle-to-Grid' (V2G) pilot, with the first charge point(1) already being utilized with Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV's in-vehicle storage batteries. Using V2G-technology, peak demand on the electricity grid can be better balanced, by allowing electric vehicles to not just take power from the grid, but also return it to the network and expect to introduce a new potential earnings model for electric drivers. MMC joins forces with NewMotion, one of Europe's largest providers of smart charging solutions for electric driving, grid operator TenneT in Netherlands, and Nuvve a worldwide leader in V2G technology and grid service deployments.In this demonstration, MMC will provide services for capacity reserve and balancing services(2) by utilizing charging infrastructure of NewMotion and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV parked at home or at work-place in the city of Amsterdam linked to Nuvve's Grid Integrated Vehicle platform (GIVe). There are more than 25 thousands of Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs available in the Netherlands.In Europe, the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 has resulted in the acceleration of initiatives to facilitate a low-carbon society, including the aggressive promotion of environmentally-friendly policies aimed at achieving renewable targets. As solar, wind and other renewable sources, which are intermittent, replace fossil fuels as a source of energy and enter mainstream power grids, stabilizing the power supply also poses a challenge.Besides, both UK and France governments have plans to prohibit the sale of fossil fuel vehicles from 2040, and the flow of electricity is accelerating. Hence, a new mechanism to reduce the burden on charging electricity infrastructure is required.MMC will verify the technology of V2G through this demonstration and aim to create new value and business opportunities utilizing electric cars / vehicle storage batteries.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_Mitsubishi101917PHEV.jpgBi-directional charger and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV(1) Transmission system operators (TSOs) in Europe are required to secure a certain number of capacity reserves in order to prepare for sudden power loss or extensive blackout. Capacity reserves are procured through market transactions. The services offered on the market vary according to degree of urgency and duration of charge / discharge.(2) Charge points provided by multinational energy corporation Enel.About Mitsubishi MotorsMitsubishi Motors Corporation is the sixth largest automaker in Japan and the sixteenth largest in the world. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. From October 2016, Mitsubishi is one-third owned by Nissan, and a part of the Renault - Nissan - Mitsubishi Alliance. For more information, please visit www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en/index.html.Source: Mitsubishi MotorsContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4.30 am ET Thursday, the Office for National Statistics releases UK retail sales data for September. Retail sales are forecast to fall 0.2 percent on month, reversing a 1 percent rise in August. Ahead of the data, the pound dropped against its major rivals. The pound was worth 1.3171 against the greenback, 148.32 against the yen, 1.2894 against the franc and 0.8947 against the euro as of 4:25 am ET. 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. VEVEY (dpa-AFX) - Swiss nutrition, health and wellness giant Nestle SA (NSRGY, NSTR.L) reported Thursday a slight decline in reported sales for the nine-month period, reflecting divestments and negative currency impact. Organic sales growth was 2.6 percent, supported by improved real internal growth or RIG of 1.8 percent and pricing of 0.8 percent. Looking ahead, the company now projects trading operating profit margin to decrease by 40-60 basis points in constant currency. Nestle noted that its structural savings initiatives are progressing faster than originally planned, leading to an additional increase of 400 million francs to 500 million francs in restructuring and related expenses in 2017. The underlying trading operating profit margin for 2017 is set to improve by at least 20 basis points in constant currency, in line with the company's expectations. The company expects underlying earnings per share in constant currency and capital efficiency to increase. Further, Nestle confirmed its sales guidance for 2017, and now expects organic growth for the full year to be around the level of the nine-month period. For the nine-month period, sales edged down 0.4 percent to 65.27 billion Swiss francs from 65.51 billion francs in the prior year. The results reflected net divestments of 2.6 percent, mainly due to the creation of the Froneri joint venture, and negative foreign exchange effects of 0.4 percent. In the nine months, organic growth was 0.8 percent in developed markets and 5.1 percent in emerging markets. Zone Americas recorded sales of 20.49 billion francs, up 2 percent on a reported basis and 1.3 percent organically. Sales in North America remained flat, while Latin America maintained mid-single-digit organic growth. North America's pricing improved while Latin America's pricing declined. Zone Europe, Middle East and North Africa or Zone EMENA generated sales of 11.82 billion francs, down 9.4 percent on a reported basis, but up 1.9 percent on an organic basis. Zone Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa's sales increased 2 percent to 11.9 billion francs. Organic growth was strong, reaching 5.3 percent at the end of September. The company recorded slight growth in sales in Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO: 'Our sales results for the nine-month period are in line with our expectations communicated in July. Organic sales growth continued to benefit from industry-leading volume growth, which illustrates our ability to innovate and meet consumer demand. Pricing remained soft...' In Switzerland, Nestle shares were trading at 84.15 francs, down 0.71 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de For Immediate Release 19 October 2017 PhosAgro opens new trading office in the Balkans Moscow - PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, announces the opening of a new trading company called PhosAgro Balkans (PhosAgro Balkans D.o.o.). PhosAgro Balkans will operate out of Belgrade, Serbia, and will focus on the sale of PhosAgro products in Southeast Europe, namely, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Cyprus, countries to which PhosAgro mineral fertilizers had previously been sold via intermediaries. PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev said: "PhosAgro's seventh trading office is being established as part of our export strategy, which aims to move to direct international sales. We have already set up trading offices in Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, France and Singapore to facilitate the Company's presence in all of its priority export markets, allowing us to quickly react to demand trends and customer needs. Curently, 80% of our fertilizers are sold directly to customers, without using intermediaries, and with the help of our new trading office we plan to double sales to Southeastern Europe by 2020, to over 250 kilotonnes." PhosAgro Deputy CEO for Sales and Marketing Sergey Pronin said: "PhosAgro Balkans will focus on meeting this region's demand for fertilizers that are free from potentially harmful contaminants. By the end of this year we plan to increase total fertilizer shipments by 35 kilotonnes. In addition to traditional DAP/MAP, we will be shipping complex NPK and NPS fertilizers, which are widely used here, and eventually granulated urea, which will soon be produced at PhosAgro Cherepovets." Konstantin Filimonov has been appointed to head the PhosAgro Balkans business. Mr Filimonov has held top positions in the sphere of agrochemical sales since 1997. Notes to Editors PhosAgro is one of the leading global vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers. The Company focuses on the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, feed phosphate and high-grade phosphate rock (P 2 O 5 content of not less than 39%), as well as ammonia and nitrogen-based fertilizers. The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe, the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock worldwide and the third largest MAP/DAP producer in the world (excluding China), according to Fertecon. PhosAgro is also one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia. PhosAgro has 2.1 billion tonnes of resources (according to JORC) of high quality apatite-nepheline ore. The Company's mines and phosphate rock production facilities are located in the mountainous areas of the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk region of northwest Russia, whereas its fertilizer and feed phosphate production assets are located near the city of Cherepovets in the Vologda region and near the city of Balakovo in the Saratov region of southwest part of European Russia. PhosAgro's 2016 IFRS revenue was over USD 2.8 bln and EBITDA was USD 1.08 bln. For further information on PhosAgro please visit: www.PhosAgro.com DUBAI, UAE, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday and Sunday, October 7-8, IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) held its annual Middle East regional conference in Abu Dhabi. More than 140 management accountants gathered to discuss global and local issues affecting the market and the industry including the VAT, IFRS, and the risks and opportunities with robotics and automation. Dennis Whitney, CMA, senior vice president at IMA, opened the conference with a presentation on data analytics. He commented on the future of the management accounting profession. "Credible sources such as the World Economic Forum, The Economist, Deloitte, Forrester Research, and Gartner are predicting up to 70% displacement of the more routine and repetitive finance and accounting job tasks by AI," he said. "IMA urges CFOs and finance leaders to retool and reskill their workforce and management accountants to develop and sustain new competencies in the areas of data science and strategy." Finbarr Sexton, partner tax advisory at Ernst & Young talked about the risks and challenges businesses and accountants and finance professionals will face as the VAT is introduced in the region. Barely four months ahead of the tax's implementation from January 1, 2018, the session had attendees eagerly asking questions to Sexton. The conference also had two panel sessions where CFOs and finance leaders from the region's most prominent businesses such as Saudi Aramco, Mubadala, Saudi Amiantit, Abu Dhabi Polymers Company Ltd (Borouge), First Abu Dhabi Bank, Dubai Airport Freezone Authority, and Al Sulaiman Group discussed the risks and challenges they face as the region deals with the current economic slowdown, increased competition, and emerging technologies. "The evolution of knowledge is slow compared to the rapid pace of change in technology. Therefore, as finance leaders, we have to be quick and flexible in dealing with technological developments as business enablers and opportunities rather than threats to our current way of doing business," said Dr. Ammr Kurdi, Group CFO at Amiantit Company based in Saudi Arabia. Advances in automation and artificial intelligence have some accountants and financial professionals concerned about losing their jobs to machines. However, Loutfi Echhade, a leading financial advisor for family businesses in the MENA region expressed a different view. "Now more than ever, family businesses in the Middle East which contribute 60% to GDP and employ over 80% of the workforce in the region need to find and keep qualified and competent finance and accounting professionals to help them manage risks and face the ever-growing challenges of complying with government policies, regulations, and international standards including the introduction of tax in the region," explained Echhade. In a light-hearted but professionally relevant response, IMA launched a new integrated advertising and communications campaign for the CMA(Certified Management Accountant) certification program. The campaign emphasizes the strategic value of CMAs in the face of increasing automation while embracing "augmented" intelligence, such as robotics, to create even greater value for organizations. "Preparing professionals for the future is not just a campaign; it is integral to IMA's vision and mission. The CMA prepares professionals for these challenges by enabling them to both improve an organization's performance and create a competitive advantage," said IMA President and CEO Jeff Thomson, CMA, CAE, during the campaign launch in New York City this month. To view the 30-second TV spot, visit: https://youtu.be/qzPSEyYXnAM Meanwhile, Reem Al Anbari, CFO of Borouge and the only woman in the panel session had a clear message for the young generation of women who aspire to take leadership roles and help shape the region's economy in the future. "There is no reason why you cannot become great finance leaders in the future. You have all the advantages our generation did not have. You are ambitious, you are equipped with state-of-the-art education, and you are comfortable with technology," said Al Anbari, who was named the Woman of the Year at last year's Oil & Gas Middle East and Refining & Petrochemicals Awards for serving as a role model for young women eager to build their career in the field of finance and accounting. To date, IMA has more than 14,000 members across the Middle East, Africa, and India, mainly comprised of finance and accounting professionals working in business. These professionals are committed to advancing their careers and further professional development as the industry integrates robotics and automation. About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) IMA, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 90,000 members in 140 countries and 300 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit https://imamiddleeast.org/. Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - Manganese X Energy Corp. (TSXV: MN) (FSE: 9SC2) (OTC Pink: SNCGF) (the "Company") has made a formal application to be listed on the OTCQB Venture Market. This will allow Manganese X Energy Corp the benefits of being publicly traded in the US as well as to inform and engage US investors. Manganese X Energy Corp continues on an aggressive path in pursuit of obtaining new business opportunities and joint ventures. About Manganese X Energy Manganese X Energy's mission is to acquire and advance high potential manganese prospects located in North America with the intent of supplying value added materials to the lithium ion battery and other alternative energy industries as well as the steel industry. In addition our company is striving to achieve new methodologies emanating from environmentally friendly green/zero emissions, while processing manganese at a lower competitive cost. For more information, visit the website at www.manganesexenergycorp.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Martin Kepman CEO and Director martin@kepman.com 1-514-802-1814 Cautionary Note Regarding 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. This news release contains "forward-looking information" including statements with respect to the future exploration performance of the Company. This forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements of the Company, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, as well as others, are disclosed within the Company's filing on SEDAR, which investors are encouraged to review prior to any transaction involving the securities of the Company. Forward-looking information contained herein is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation, other than as required by law, to update any forward-looking information for any reason. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. The 4th edition Egencia Business Travel and Technology Survey reveals what leads business travellers astray LONDON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --A recent study* by Egencia the business travel arm of the Expedia group, found that despite the wide use of travel policies worldwide, "rogue booking", the practice of business travellers booking outside of their travel programme, is still an issue for corporate travel programmes, especially when it comes to hotel stays. While 60 percent of companies have a travel policy in place, more than half of the business travellers surveyed are still allowed to book travel using any method they choose, and a full 46 percent have done so for hotel bookings, according to the 4th edition Egencia Business Travel and Technology Survey. To rein in these rogue booking tendencies, the study suggests that relevancy, incentivisation and clear policies can pave the way. When it comes to hotels, relevance beats quantity UK business travellers book out-of-policy because either they could not find a hotel close enough to their destination (42 percent), or found a better price or hotel within their per diem (37 percent). With this in mind, providing relevance in a travel programme means surfacing a selection of hotel choices at the top of their online search results that are tailored to the needs of the business travellers. This can include location of hotels as well as flexible booking options. Additionally, offering fair and competitive pricing eliminates the need to shop outside the company's preferred booking channels. "When it comes to hotels, we know that it's not about searching, it's about finding. That's why we find ways to serve up the right choice for business travellers within the first few search results. And it works - 75 percent of Egencia travellers book one of the top seven hotel results and over half book from the top three," says Andrew Dyer, VP Global Supply-Lodging. "Travellers want an intuitive, cross-device experience with clear descriptions of what is included in the price. With this they can feel confident that they are booking the right accommodations, which will in turn increase policy compliance," adds Dyer. Incentives foster compliance According to the study, incentives for staying within policy vary by region, but globally, monetary rewards prove to be the most likely incentive to encourage travellers to book within their policy. Sixty-two percent of business travellers say that they would choose within policy if they receive a percentage of savings for booking below the cap and an additional 60 percent would comply if they received funds they could apply to other travel options. This percentage is slightly higher in the UK, where 65 percent of business travellers say they would choose within policy if they received a percentage of savings for booking below the cap. Loyalty points are the third most appealing incentive - 56 percent of UK travellers reported they would book within policy if offered hotel loyalty points. Adoption improves safety and costs When travellers book within policy, companies can protect the safety of their travellers and create cost efficiencies in the long-term. With increased adoption of policies and booking tools, travel managers can immediately locate travellers in an emergency, whether it is weather-related, geopolitical and/or a terrorism event. Access to immediate, accurate reports helps keep travellers safe wherever they are in the world. The concept of going rogue creates extra work for safety officers who must locate individual straying travellers in an emergency, and calls for more time spent on collecting data streams from rogue bookings to consolidate into a comprehensive report and more spending overall. According to GBTA, 79 percent of travel managers acknowledge that using a travel management company (TMC) leads to more efficient processes and drives savings in business travel[1]. The most successful travel policies can drive compliance among travellers which means companies can ensure the safety of their travellers first and forefront, in addition to driving cost savings long-term. To learn more, visit the Egencia website for information about our lodging supplier network. *This study was conducted on behalf of Egencia by Northstar, a globally integrated strategic insights consulting firm. The study was conducted among 4521 business travellers aged 18 and older inAustralia,Canada,France,Germany,Norway,Singapore,Sweden,United KingdomandUnited States(with n=500 surveys completed per country). Surveys were completed online in April andMay 2017. About Egencia Egencia makes business travel better by making it more connected and complete. Egencia puts travellers at the heart of business travel, continuously supporting them with solutions that are more engaging and effective. Driven by consumer insights and technology investments from parent company, the Expedia group, Egencia connects everything that travellers need - content, technology, service and reporting - in one place. Egencia provides services in more than 65 countries. To connect with Egencia, visitwww.egencia.co.uk or visit ourblog,LinkedIn orTwitter. 2017 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Egencia, and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CST # 2029030-50; CST # 2083922-50. [1] GBTA Foundation, 2014, "What Costs and Savings Do Managed Travel Programmes Experience?" - http://www.gbta.org/PressReleases/Pages/rls_110514.aspx Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586178/EGENCIA__AN_EXPEDIA__INC__COMPANY.jpg CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar continued to be lower against its major counterparts in early European trading on Thursday, after New Zealand's third largest political party New Zealand First announced the formation of a coalition with Labour, with Jacinda Ardern set to become the Prime Minister. The leader of the New Zealand First Winston Peters announced his support behind Labour to form a coalition government, after weeks of negotiations. The new coalition will also be supported by the Green Party. The news sparked growth fears as the new coalition favors significant cut to immigration quotas and put new controls on foreign ownership of property. The currency was also hurt by worries over the constitutional crisis between Spain and Catalonia after the Spanish government said it would continue with the procedures set out in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore the legality of self-rule in Catalonia. Spain prime minister will convene a special Cabinet meeting Saturday to trigger process to take control of Catalonia's powers. Also in focus is the European Council meeting beginning today, with Brexit talks to be high on the agenda. Although the U.K. wants to begin talks about future relations, the EU 27 is insisting sufficient progress on divorce terms. The currency has been trading in a negative territory in the Asian session. The kiwi declined to more than a 5-week low of 79.15 against the yen, off early more than 2-week high of 80.95. The kiwi is seen finding support around the 78.00 mark. Data from the Ministry of Finance showed that Japan logged a merchandise trade surplus of 670.17 billion yen in September. That beat forecasts for a surplus of 556.8 billion yen following the downwardly revised 112.6 billion yen surplus in August The kiwi dropped to 1.1184 against the aussie, its lowest since April 2016. The pair finished Wednesday's trading at 1.0966. Further weakness may take the kiwi to a support around the 1.14 region. The kiwi lost 1.7 percent to hit near a 5-month low of 0.7027 against the greenback, compared to 0.7149 hit late New York Wednesday. The kiwi is poised to locate support around the 0.69 mark. The kiwi slid to 1.6801 against the euro, a level unseen since May 2016. The pair was valued at 1.6478 when it closed deals on Wednesday. The next possible support for the kiwi is seen around the 1.70 level. Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended October 14 and leading indicators for September are set for release in the New York session. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WALLDORF (dpa-AFX) - German software and service provider SAP SE (SAP) on Thursday lifted its forecast for fiscal 2017 after reporting higher profit in its third quarter. SAP shares were losing around 2 percent in the morning trading in Germany. Bill McDermott, CEO said, 'Led by S/4HANA, we are delivering intelligent business applications built on the most data rich architecture ever created. We see growth in every corner of the business, which is why we are again raising our guidance for the full year.' For fiscal 2017, the company now expects a strong non-IFRS earnings per share performance for the entire year. The company now expects full year 2017 non-IFRS total revenue in a range of 23.4 billion euros to 23.8 billion euros at constant currencies, up from 22.07 billion euros last year. The previous range was 23.3 billion euros to 23.7 billion euros at constant currencies. Non-IFRS operating profit is now expected to be in a range of 6.85 billion euros to 7.0 billion euros at constant currencies, up from 6.63 billion euros a year ago. The lower end of the range was previously 6.8 billion euros. Further, the company now projects non-IFRS cloud & software revenue to increase by 7.0 percent to 8.5 percent at constant currencies from prior year's 18.43 billion euros. The lower end of the range was previously 6.5 percent. The revision reflects the increasing adoption of S/4HANA and the firm's Digital Business Platform. Sap continues to expect full year non-IFRS cloud subscriptions and support revenue to be in a range of 3.8 billion euros to 4.0 billion euros at constant currencies. This is higher than last year's 2.99 billion euros. Digital core business soared with over 6,900 S/4HANA customers, representing around 70 percent growth year over year. In its third quarter, profit after tax was 993 million euros, up from 725 million euros last year, reflecting continued strong business performance despite significant currency headwinds. IFRS earnings per basic share climbed 35 percent to 0.82 euros, while non-IFRS earnings per basic share increased 10 percent to 1.01 euros. IFRS operating profit was up 19 percent to 1.3 billion euros. Non-IFRS operating profit was stable at 1.64 billion euros, up 4 percent at constant currencies. Total revenue for the quarter rose to 5.59 billion euros from 5.38 billion in the prior year. In the quarter, software revenue was 1.03 billion euros, stable year over year. Cloud and software revenue was 4.66 billion euros, an increase of 5 percent. Cloud subscriptions and support revenue climbed 22 percent. SAP's 'predictable revenue', i.e. the total of cloud subscriptions & support revenue and software support revenue, was 65 percent of total revenue, up 1 percentage point year over year. New cloud bookings grew 14 percent in the third quarter to 302 million euros. Further, the company said it is on track to buy back 500 million euros in shares. In Germany, Sap shares were trading at 92.88 euros, down 2.24 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Q3 2017 Highlights: -- Quarterly gold production of 49,293 ounces and gold sales of 50,241 ounces, on track to meet 2017 revised production guidance of 205 - 225,000 ounces -- US$63.6 million in gold revenue at an average realized price of US$1,265 per ounce -- Nkran reconciliation confirming the Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimates -- Industry-leading safety record maintained with a rolling 12 month LTIFR of 0.19 -- Stable balance sheet with unaudited cash and immediately convertible working capital balances of approximately US$64.3 million (September 30, 2017) Asanko Gold Inc. ("Asanko" or the "Company") (TSX: AKG)(NYSE American: AKG)(NYSE MKT: AKG) announces production results for the third quarter of 2017 ("Q3") from the Asanko Gold Mine ("AGM"), located in Ghana, West Africa. Q3 operating and financial results will be published on November 3, 2017, conference call and webcast details below. Commenting on the quarter Peter Breese, President and CEO, said "Overall, our quarterly production performance for Q3 was very encouraging, with positive results in a number of key areas: reconciliations confirming the Nkran resource model, management of ore losses and dilution and the plant achieving milling rates in excess of 13,500 tonnes on a per day campaign basis. Although July and August production was impacted by the three mill motor outages, which equated to in excess of 5,000 ounces of lost gold production, the quarter still produced a very respectable 49,293 ounces. Looking ahead to the final quarter of the year, we maintain our revised guidance of 205,000 - 225,000 ounces." Health and Safety There were no lost time injuries ("LTI") reported during the quarter and the 12-month rolling lost time injury frequency rate ("LTIFR") per million man hours worked is 0.19. Production At Nkran, the deployment of blast monitoring technology to minimize ore losses and dilution has been yielding positive results. During Q3 mining operations extracted ore from multiple zones of mineralization with an average mining grade of 1.8 g/t. At the Akwasiso satellite deposit, mining operations delivered approximately 20,000tpm of oxide ore. At Dynamite Hill, the second satellite pit to be bought into production, site establishment commenced during the quarter in preparation of ore mining operations in Q4 2017. The processing plant's performance during Q3 was impacted by three mill motor outages during July and August that resulted in a total of 11 days of lost milling time, which equates to in excess of 5,000 ounces of gold production. Metallurgical recoveries continued to exceed design levels at 94% with higher than design gravity recovery performance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AGM Key Production Statistics Units Q1 2017 Q2 2017 Q3 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Tonnes Mined 000 t 6,637 7,506 8,519 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waste Tonnes Mined 000 t 5,620 6,458 7,339 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore Tonnes Mined 000 t 1,017 1,048 1,180 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Strip Ratio W:O 5.5:1 6.2:1 6.2:1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Gold Grade Mined g/t 1.8 1.5 1.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ore Treated 000 t 908 887 862 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Feed Grade g/t 2.0 1.7 1.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Recovery % 95 94 94 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Produced oz 58,187 46,017 49,293 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nkran Resource & Reserve Reconciliation The reconciliation process to measure the entire value chain from gold in the ground through to mill feed and eventual gold production against the mineral resource estimate continued during the quarter. The grade control versus the resource model reconciliation continues to be positive and the reserve to mill feed reconciliation is within 1% for the quarter. Sales and Liquidity Gold production for the quarter was 49,293 ounces with gold sales of 50,241 ounces at an average realized price of US$1,265 per ounce, generating gold sales revenue of US$63.6 million. At September 30, 2017 the Company's balance sheet had approximately US$60.7 million in unaudited cash, US$1.4 million in gold receivables and US$2.2 million in dore (with a market value of US$3.7 million). Under the current debt financing agreement with RK Mine Finance ("Red Kite"), the Company's first principal repayment on its US$150 million debt facility is due on July 1, 2018. However, as previously disclosed, Asanko has the option until March 31, 2018 to extend the first principal repayment of the facility by an additional year to July 1, 2019. Asanko is currently in discussions with Red Kite regarding the possible refinancing of the debt facility to support its Project 5 Million growth plan, which includes the construction of an overland conveyor and bringing the large Esaase deposit into production. Qualified Person Statement Frederik Fourie, Asanko Senior Mining Engineer (Pr.Eng) is the Asanko Qualified Person, as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Mineral Disclosure), who has approved the preparation of the technical contents of this news release. Q3 2017 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call & Webcast Details Management will host a conference call and webcast at 9am EST on Friday, November 3, 2017 to discuss the Q3 2017 operating and financial results, which will be published on the same day: US/Canada Toll Free: 800 954 0585 UK Toll Free: 0800 496 1094 International: + 1 312 281 1210 Webcast: Please click on the link: https://cc.callinfo.com/r/1p4r4b25z6ku0&eom Replay A recorded playback will be available approximately two hours after the call until December 3, 2017: US/Canada Toll Free: 800 558 5253 International: +1 416 626 4100 Passcode: 21860092 Enquiries: For further information please visit: www.asanko.com, email: info@asanko.com. About Asanko Gold Inc. Asanko's vision is to become a mid-tier gold mining company that maximizes value for all its stakeholders. The Company's flagship project is the multi-million ounce Asanko Gold Mine located in Ghana, West Africa. Asanko is managed by highly skilled and successful technical, operational and financial professionals. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, possible future mining, exploration and development activities, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices for metals, the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses, the timely renewal of key permits, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, mining rates and recovery rates and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it or at all. The Company is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's Annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com. Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note to US Investors Regarding Mineral Reporting Standards: Asanko has prepared its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. Asanko uses certain terms, such as, "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources" and "probable mineral reserves", that the SEC does not recognize (these terms may be used in this press release and are included in the public filings of Asanko which have been filed with securities commissions or similar authorities in Canada). Contacts: Asanko Gold Inc. Alex Buck Manager, Investor and Media Relations Toll-Free (N.America): 1-855-246-7341 +44-7932-740-452 alex.buck@asanko.com Asanko Gold Inc. Rob Slater Executive, Corporate Development and Strategy +27-11-467-2758 rob.slater@asanko.com www.asanko.com 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. Baltika Group's third quarter resulted in net loss in the amount of 471 thousand euros. The result of last year same period was a net loss of 296 thousand euros. In the third quarter Group's revenue remained at the same level as last year and was 12,001 thousand euros. Retail revenue in the third quarter was 9,435 thousand euros, decreasing 1% compared to the same period last year. At the same time e-store and wholesale and franchise sales continued to increase. The retail sales in the Baltic region was mainly impacted by the August result, which stayed strongly below last year's level. The number of visitors in shopping centres decreased drastically in August probably due to warm weather, which in turn had a major impact on retail sales result. In the third quarter, Estonian retail market was the only market, which showed revenue growth. Wholesale and franchise revenue increased 4% in third quarter and was 2,222 thousand euros. Starting from spring of 2017, Baltika sells Mosaic brand to Russian shopping centre chain Lady & Gentleman CITY. Mosaic collection is represented in five Lady & Gentleman CITY shopping centres in the largest cities in Russia. In addition to the new customer, sales growth is continually supported by franchise market in Serbia entered in the beginning of the year and Peek & Cloppenburg department stores chain. At the end of the third quarter there were 32 franchise stores representing Baltika's brands, forming 26% of the total stores portfolio. In nine months total the wholesale and franchise revenue increased 7% and was 5,443 thousand euros. Revenue from Baltika Group's e-store Andmorefashion.com increased 29% in the third quarter and was 321 thousand euros. The best-selling brand in e-store was Monton, comprising of 32% from e-store revenue. As usual, the most popular product was the dress, which sold 2,500 pieces in the third quarter. Development of the e-store continued in third quarter: stores providing Click&Collect service in Latvia got an addition (adding the option to order e-shop packages to Monton store in Riga Spice), the e-shop homepage and shopping cart were updated, which improves e-customer's user experience. In nine months total, the e-store Andmorefashion.com revenue increased 38% and exceeded the one million euro threshold. The company's gross profit margin in the third quarter was 44.0% decreasing by 1.4 percentage points in the year. Gross profit margin continues to be affected by higher markdowns in retail business compared to last year. The gross profit for the quarter was 5,284 thousand euros, decreasing by 148 thousand euros compared to last year's comparable result. The nine months total gross profit amounted to 16,548 thousand euros (9 months 2016: 16,922 thousand euros). Group's third quarter and nine months total distribution and general expense remained at the last year level. The distribution and general expense ratio to revenue in the third quarter was 46.6% i.e. ratio has decreased by 0.1 percentage points in the year. In nine months total, the ratio was 49.4% (9 months 2016: 49.5%). In nine months, Baltika's revenue increased 1% compared to same period last year. The e-store and wholesale and franchise revenue showed growth; with that one of the company's objectives for 2017 - revenue growth in all of the sales channels - was partly met. Company ended the nine months with a loss in the amount of 862 thousand euros, the comparative result from previous year was a loss in the amount of 443 thousand euros. The main reason for the weak result is the lower than expected retail sales due to deeper mark-downs, which in turn decreased the gross profit. Highlights of the period until the date of release of this quarterly report -- Financial Supervision Authority approved on 10th of July 2017 the Convertible K-bond offering prospectus. The offering comprises of 900 bonds with issuance price of 5,000 euros, therefore total of 4,500,000 euros. Bonds with the term of two year bear 6% interest p.a. Each bond gives to its owner the right to subscribe for 15,625 shares of the Company with subscription price 0.32 euros per share. The offer period ended on 16 August 2017 at 2 p.m. Public offering of bonds was exercised in 99% extent: from 900 bonds offered 889 bonds were subscribed, in the total amount of 4,445,000 euros. Subscription applications were submitted by shareholders of AS Baltika and also by other investors. -- In August, AS Baltika redeemed 600 J-series bonds in total issue price of 3,000,000 euros. The three-year J-series bonds were issued on 28th of July 2014, bearing an annual interest of 6.5%, issuance price per bond was 5,000 euros. Each J-series bondholder had an opportunity to convert the bonds into the K-series convertible bonds, which was used: out of 600 J-series bonds 593 bonds with accrued interest were exchanged for K-series bonds. For the outstanding 7 J-bonds the company returned to investors the amounts paid for the bonds with accrued interests. -- On 30 August 2017 AS Baltika was informed of following changes in substantial shareholding: with a purchase of new shares on 30 August 2017 KJK Fund Sicav-SIF (on ING Luxembourg S.A. account) shareholding in AS Baltika has increased to 38.90 percentage and E.Miroglio Finance S.A (on Clearstream Banking Luxembourg S.A. account) shareholding has increased to 17.78 percentage. With a disposal of shares on 30 August 2017 OU BMIG shareholding in AS Baltika is 0 percentage and the shareholding under Meelis Milder control (direct holding, immediate family members and entities under his control) was 3.06 percentage. -- In September the biggest brand in Baltika's portfolio Monton celebrated its 15th birthday. For the occasion, Monton designers created a special collection named "Freedom" as a tribute to all free spirits, to freedom of creation and expression and to free Estonia. -- To Celebrate Estonia's 100th and Canada's 150th birthday, a premiere under the concept called Northern Spirit EstoSyle was held in Toronto in Canada in September. During this event, eight internationally most recognized Estonian fashion and design brands were showcased, including three Baltika's brands: Monton, Baltman and Ivo Nikkolo. -- On 11 November 2017, Supervisory Board decided to recall the head of purchasing and supply chain Ingrid Uibukant from the Management Board starting from 18th of December 2017. Management Board of Baltika AS will continue with two members: Chief Executive Officer Meelis Milder and Chief Financial Officer Maigi Parnik-Pernik. -- On October, Baltika Group renewed its e-store growth strategy with a clear goal to increase sales outside the Baltic states. Within this process a market entry strategy was established that integrates strengths of a physical store with strengths of Baltika Group's e-store Andmorefashion.com. The goal is to offer unified customer experience across channels and connect the classical retail business with opportunities of an e-store. Currently, the first pilot project is prepared in order to use the strategy to enter Finnish market. Consolidated statement of financial position 30 Sept 2017 31 Dec 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------- ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 428 419 Trade and other receivables 3,380 1,956 Inventories 10,716 11,096 Total current assets 14,524 13,471 Non-current assets Deferred income tax asset 228 228 Other non-current assets 529 522 Property, plant and equipment 2,519 3,022 Intangible assets 1,540 1,676 Total non-current assets 4,816 5,448 TOTAL ASSETS 19,340 18,919 EQUITY AND LIABILITIES Current liabilities Borrowings 4,197 5,835 Trade and other payables 5,461 6,923 Total current liabilities 9,658 12,758 Non-current liabilities Borrowings 5,416 1,196 Total non-current liabilities 5,416 1,196 TOTAL LIABILITIES 15,074 13,954 EQUITY Share capital at par value 8,159 8,159 Share premium 496 496 Reserves 1,345 1,182 Retained earnings -4,872 -5,049 Net profit (loss) for the period -862 177 TOTAL EQUITY 4,266 4,965 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 19,340 18,919 Consolidated statement of profit and loss 3 Q 3 Q 9M 2017 9M 2016 2017 2016 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue 12,001 11,966 34,490 34,289 Cost of goods sold -6,717 -6,534 -17,942 -17,367 Gross profit 5,284 5,432 16,548 16,922 Distribution costs -5,053 -4,985 -15,205 -15,094 Administrative and general expenses -541 -605 -1,820 -1,874 Other operating income (-expense) -43 -14 -23 -51 Operating loss -353 -172 -500 -97 Finance costs -118 -124 -362 -346 Loss before income tax -471 -296 -862 -443 Net loss for the period -471 -296 -862 -443 Basic earnings per share from net loss for -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 the period, EUR Diluted earnings per share from net loss for -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 the period, EUR Maigi Parnik-Pernik Member of the Management Board maigi.parnik@baltikagroup.com Find presentation of Q3 results: http://www.baltikagroup.com/investors/presentations/ Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=648841 Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de SafeTraces also received a prestigious FDA SBIR Phase II grant to advance commercialization of its rapid safety solution for fresh produce processing PLEASANTON, California, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SafeTraces, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area based company that provides ground-breaking food source assurance solutions, announced that it completed a $6.5 million Series A financing round. Omidyar Network led the investment round with participation from existing and new investors, including UL Ventures, S2G Ventures, Maumee Ventures, City Light Capital, and Tuscan Management. The round brings SafeTraces' total investment since launching its revolutionary food safety technology to $8.5 million and will enable the company to aggressively expand its sales efforts as well as accelerate its product development. SafeTraces welcomes Omidyar Network Venture Partner Rob Veres to its Board of Directors. Omidyar Network, launched by eBay Founder Pierre Omidyar and Pam Omidyar, invests in innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. "SafeTraces provides innovative, low-cost solutions to improving food safety and reducing food waste at a time when the global food supply chain puts increasing pressure on food safety," said Rob Veres, Venture Partner with Omidyar Network. "SafeTraces has a unique offering that we believe will have far-reaching benefits, ensuring the affordable integrity of food and other agricultural products." "SafeTraces' commitment to advancing safety and transparency in the food supply chain aligns perfectly with UL's mission of enabling safe living and working environments," said Simin Zhou, VP & Managing Director of UL Ventures. "We are delighted to partner with SafeTraces to develop the next generation of assurance solutions." "We are excited to close this round with such a world-class syndicate of investors. Their expertise and understanding of market drivers in the global food industry are testament to the immediate demand for our solutions. Together, we will capture the market potential and build a great company," said Anthony Zografos, SafeTraces Founder and CEO. SafeTraces' on-food source assurance solutions, SafeTracers' and SaniTracers', use seaweed DNA-based tags that provide producers, processors, and consumers with visibility into food origin and safety. SafeTracers' are invisible, edible, tasteless FDA-approved barcodes that are applied directly to the food, not the cardboard, and deliver complete source information in minutes, instead of days or weeks as with conventional technologies. SaniTracers' are food-safe DNA-based tags that behave like pathogens during produce sanitation and facility sanitization. They provide processors with an unprecedented level of transparency and confidence into their sanitization process, on-site and in minutes, rather than in hours or days as with existing off-site tests. Key benefits of the SafeTraces solutions include: Brand protection and reduced recalls costs for producers, processors, and wholesalers Maintenance of supply chain integrity and transparency for importers, processors, and wholesalers In-house control over food safety during food processing and sanitation Source verification at the retail level to maintain consumer confidence SafeTraces has exceeded growth plans to date and has already signed several large national and global commercial and pilot customers over the past six months. In addition, the US FDA recently granted SafeTraces a prestigious multi-year SBIR Phase II grant to advance commercialization of SaniTracers' for verification of sanitation of fresh produce. This grant is further proof that there is an urgent need for the SaniTracers' solution in an environment where newly implemented government regulations (FSMA) put increased pressure on industry to improve their safety processes. About SafeTraces SafeTraces provides the only on-food source assurance solutions that protect producers, processors, and consumers. The company is committed to improving food safety by providing complete low-cost solutions that deliver results in minutes. Its solutions enable customers to gain full transparency into the food source, protect their brand, and reduce processing and recall costs. SafeTraces was founded in 2013 by Anthony Zografos and has grown into an expert team of entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers dedicated to disrupting the food safety industry. SafeTraces' technology is patent-protected with four issued US patents, two pending US applications, and two international PCT applications. Learn more about SafeTraces at www.safetraces.com Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/584607/SafeTraces_Source_Assurance.jpg Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/584606/SafeTraces_Logo.jpg -Nexen Tire America, Inc. breaks ground for its new tire technology center in Ohio, United States - The center will provide advanced and innovative technologies for producing cutting-edge tires for the North and South American markets SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexen Tire, a leading global tire manufacturer, has broken ground for its new tire technology center in Richfield, Ohio, U.S. The 5 million U.S. dollar, 3,159 square meters (or 34,000 square feet) building will include offices, labs, test machines, and a warehouse, and will also be the first building in the new prestigious Richfield Crossroads Development District. The new technology center demonstrates Nexen Tire's commitment to the North and South American markets and will provide advanced and innovative technologies for the development of cutting-edge and eco-friendly tires for both the Original Equipment and Replacement markets. Established in 1942, Nexen Tire is a global tire manufacturer headquartered in Yangsan and Seoul, South Korea. Ranked 18th globally, it has presented aggressive growth plans to become one of the global top 10 manufacturers by 2025. As one of the world's fastest growing tire manufacturer working with dealers in 141 countries around the world, Nexen Tire has established R&D centers globally in Korea, the US, China and Germany, carrying out diverse research and development activities for Nexen Tire's top-quality tires. Nexen Tire is also currently operating three manufacturing plants-- two in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong) and one inQingdao, China. A new plant is under construction in Zatec,Czech Republicand will be operational by 2018. Nexen Tire's Changnyeong plant has been recognized as one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art tire manufacturing plants in the world with an annual output of 12 million units. Additional plans for a North American plant is also in progress, with production start-up goal aiming for 2021. Nexen Tire produces 42 million tires a year for passenger cars, SUVs, and light trucks utilizing advanced technology and with unsurpassed uniformity, quality and excellence in design. Nexen Tire supplies OE tires to over twenty global car makers in North and South America, Asia and Europe. About Nexen Tire Nexen Tire, established in 1942, is a global tire manufacturer headquartered in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and in Seoul, South Korea. Nexen Tire, one of the world's fastest growing tire manufacturers, works with 491 dealers based in 141 countries around the world (as of July 2015) and owns three manufacturing plants - two in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong) and one in Qingdao, China. Another plant in Zatec, Czech Republic will be operational by 2018. Nexen Tire produces tires for passenger cars, SUVs, and light trucks with advanced technology and excellence in design. The company also focuses on producing UHP tires, which are based on advanced technologies. Nexen Tire supplies OE tires to global car makers in various countries around the world. In 2014, the company achieved a grand slam of the world's top 4 design awards for the first time amongst the various tire makers in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.nexentire.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586683/Nexen_Tire.jpg View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexen-tire-breaks-ground-for-new-north-america-tire-technology-center-300539725.html VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- ICC International Cannabis Corporation ("ICC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: ICC), a fully licensed producer and distributor of recreational cannabis and cannabinoid extracts used for medicinal purposes, is pleased to announce it has entered into a presales agreement with Grupo Fenix (through Energia y Vida de Mexico S.A. de C.V.) ("Grupo Fenix") for the sale of cannabidiol ("CBD") oil under ICC's newly launched, proprietary line of CBD oil branded 'BIDIOL'. Grupo Fenix is a large Mexican company that manages hundreds of pharmacies through their networks Farmacias El Fenix and Famacias del Dr. Ahorro. Pursuant to the agreement, until the end of 2018, ICC will export to Grupo Fenix for medicinal purposes 10% of its CBD oil production at prices to be determined under a definitive agreement. ICC expects to produce 1.2 million 30 millilitre bottles of CBD oil in 2018. On June 19, 2017, Mexico's regulators passed legislation that legalized the use of cannabis oil and other cannabis derivatives for medicinal purposes. The legislation is intended to provide medical patients access to CBD and other cannabis products. BIDIOL is the first CBD oil product branded and marketed by ICC. BIDIOL will be made under the highest quality standards, supervised by the Ministry of Health in Uruguay. BIDIOL is expected to contain 16.7 mg of CBD per millilitre suspended in ecologic extra virgin olive oil. BIDIOL is expected to contain no THC, putting BIDIOL into a very select class as one of the world's highest content CBD pharmaceutical grade oils. "The sale and exportation of BIDIOL is part of ICC's strategy to be the global leader in CBD oil production. This agreement represents a significant milestone for the CBD industry as well as for ICC. We are also excited about the potential of the Mexican market, which has a population of over 127 million people. We look forward to building a long-term relationship with our Mexican customers, along with the Mexican regulatory authorities," stated Alejandro Antalich, CEO of ICC. The agreement between both parties remains subject to applicable regulatory approvals, including those from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), the Instituto de Regulacion y Control del Cannabis, the Uruguayan Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fishery and applicable Mexican authorities. "This distribution agreement validates our CBD oil platform on an international scale and positions ICC for additional distribution opportunities across Latin America. ICC's CBD based medicinal product 'BIDIOL' will be made under the GMP regulations and guidelines to ensure the product specifications, safety and consistent efficacy," stated Alejandro Antalich, CEO of ICC. The Company continues to expand its prospective clientele and distribution partnership network, and has been in discussions with government and healthcare agencies in jurisdictions such as Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. In addition, the Company has met with both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturers and distributors in Canada and Europe. ABOUT ICC INTERNATIONAL CANNABIS CORPORATION The Company has operations in Uruguay, and is focused on the licensed production, development and sale of recreational cannabis, cannabinoid extracts and other derivatives used for medicinal purposes and industrial hemp. For more information, please see the Company's filings on www.sedar.com and www.intcannabiscorp.com. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's future production and sales, results of operations, strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to obtain any requisite regulatory approvals, to obtain a GMP certified facility, to produce CBD oil in accordance with regulatory requirements, or at all, and to reach a definitive agreement for the sale of CBD oil. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, and available at www.sedar.com. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. Contacts: ICC International Cannabis Corporation Alejandro Antalich Chief Executive Officer 598-2900-0000 ir@intcannabiscorp.com Bill Mitoulas Investor Relations 416-479-9547 billm@intcannabiscorp.com NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- NetworkNewsWire ("NNW"), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, today announces the publication of an editorial featuring Medical Innovation Holdings, Inc. (OTC: MIHI), a client of NNW that owns and operates strategically aligned healthcare service and product companies focused on the delivery of patient care, management services for physician offices, lab services, and pharma; and non-pharma medicines and alternatives to patients and consumers. The publication, titled, "Telemedicine: Reducing the Costs While Enhancing the Quality of Health Care," discusses companies decreasing the cost of health care services through the use of inventive telemedicine solutions. To view the full publication, visit: https://www.networknewswire.com/telemedicine-reducing-costs-enhancing-quality-health-care/ "In its 'State of Telemedicine Report Reassessed for 2018,' health care brand strategy consulting and marketing communications firm Brandigo also reports that telemedicine is one of the fastest growing sectors in the overall health care market. The industry is on track to grow from $25.5 billion in 2015 to $57.92 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 18 percent over the next five years (http://nnw.fm/G7mxa). Educating patients on how to use this valuable resource will make a sizeable difference in how fast and how far the industry grows. "MIHI's vastly different approach stands out from a growing field of telemedicine providers by delivering virtual telemedicine with a unique, customized software and hardware platform. Through its MSO, 3PointCare, MIHI's telemedicine approach is unlike other providers who rely on a monthly subscription with patients required to pay an encounter fee every time an on-demand physician is utilized. Under that approach, the continuum of care is broken, insurance may not be accepted, symptom-based diagnoses are the only reference, and there is no certainty the patient is being cared for by a licensed practitioner, changing the relationship from an actual medical practice to a contract service delivering virtual care." About Medical Innovation Holdings, Inc. Medical Innovation Holdings, Inc. owns and operates strategically aligned health care service companies focused on the delivery of clinical virtual medicine (health) to bring quality medical care to all areas of need, including rural and underdeveloped areas across the country. Through its wholly owned 3Point Care subsidiary, MIHI provides personalized high-tech telemedicine encounters pairing the company's virtual health specialty doctors and traditional primary doctors that utilize next-gen virtual health technologies to connect a patient with a multi-disciplinary specialty clinical health care practice. Through its other companies and partnerships, MIHI offers Affordable Care Organization (ACO) support, wellness and prevention, lab analysis and lab services, and remote diagnostic monitoring. The company serves a number of constituents and stakeholders interested in reducing the cost of care, enhancing the quality of care, promoting access to care, and maintaining the continuum of care. For more information, visit www.MedicalInnovationHoldings.com About NetworkNewsWire NetworkNewsWire (NNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) NetworkNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, NNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. NNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NNW is where news, content and information converge. For more information please visit https://www.NetworkNewsWire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the NetworkNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by NNW, wherever published or re-published: http://NNW.fm/Disclaimer Forward-Looking Statements This 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. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. NNW Contact: NetworkNewsWire (NNW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Email Contact TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - October 19, 2017) - Celestica Inc. (TSX: CLS)(NYSE: CLS), a leader in design, manufacturing and supply chain solutions for the world's most innovative companies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mandeep Chawla as the Company's Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Chawla has been Celestica's interim CFO since June and was appointed following a search process that included both external and internal candidates. Since joining Celestica in 2010, Mr. Chawla has held progressively senior roles in the organization, most recently as Senior Vice President, Finance. Prior to joining Celestica, he held finance positions with MDS Inc, Tyco International, and General Electric. Mr. Chawla holds a Master of Finance degree from Queen's University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA). "We are delighted to have Mandeep step into the Chief Financial Officer role," said Rob Mionis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Celestica. "Mandeep is an exceptional leader who has already been playing a critical role in driving Celestica's strategy as we chart our company's transformation. His depth of understanding of our business and our markets will make him a valuable addition to our executive leadership team." About Celestica Celestica enables the world's best brands. Through our unrivalled customer-centric approach, we partner with leading companies in aerospace and defense, communications, enterprise, healthtech, industrial, semiconductor capital equipment, and smart energy to deliver solutions for their most complex challenges. A leader in design, manufacturing, hardware platform and supply chain solutions, Celestica brings global expertise and insight at every stage of product development -- from the drawing board to full-scale production and after-market services. With talented teams across North America, Europe and Asia, we imagine, develop and deliver a better future with our customers. For more information, visit http://www.celestica.com/home or follow us on Twitter at @Celestica_Inc. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are predictive in nature and may be based on current expectations, forecasts or assumptions involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from the forward-looking statements themselves. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward looking statements contained in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and in any applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions, events or outcomes. You should understand that the risks, uncertainties and factors which are identified in our various public filings at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov could affect our future actions, events and outcomes and could cause them to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Except as required by applicable law, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Media Contacts Celestica Global Communications (416) 448-2200 media@celestica.com Celestica Investor Relations (416) 448-2211 clsir@celestica.com EDMONTON, ALBERTA and NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Stantec (TSX: STN)(NYSE: STN) will release its financial results for the third quarter of 2017 on Thursday, November 9, 2017. Bob Gomes, president and chief executive officer, and Dan Lefaivre, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will hold a conference call at 7:00 AM MST (9:00 AM EST) to discuss the third quarter results. The conference call and slideshow presentation will be broadcast live and archived in their entirety in the Investors section of stantec.com. Participants wishing to listen to the call via telephone may dial in toll free at 1-866-233-4566 (Canada and United States) or 1-416-204-1042 (international). Please provide confirmation code 2252252 when prompted. About Stantec We're active members of the communities we serve. That's why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind. The Stantec community unites approximately 22,000 employees working in over 400 locations across 6 continents. Our work-engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, construction services, project management, and project economics, from initial project concept and planning through to design, construction, commissioning, maintenance, decommissioning, and remediation-begins at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships. With a long-term commitment to the people and places we serve, Stantec has the unique ability to connect to projects on a personal level and advance the quality of life in communities across the globe. Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN. Visit us at stantec.com or find us on social media. Contacts: Investor Contact Sonia Kirby Stantec Investor Relations (780) 616-2785 Sonia.Kirby@stantec.com PALM BEACH, Florida, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In a report issued this year by Ameri Research Inc., they estimate Global Cannabis Industry was valued at $14.3 Billion in 2016 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 21.1% between 2017 and 2024, culminating in 2024 Global Sales of $63.5 Billion. The Global Market is witnessing robust growth owing to the increasing legalization and decriminalization of marijuana across North America, Europe and many other Countries. The rising demand of marijuana for recreational use and medical use is a key factor driving the growth for companies such as:MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.(OTC: MYMMF) (CSE: MYM), India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE: IGC), Supreme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE) (OTC: SPRWF), Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH) (OTC: APHQF), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA). MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (OTCQB: MYMMF) (CSE: MYM.CN) announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with PUF Ventures Inc. (CSE: PUF) (OTC: PUFXF) ("PUF") for the construction of a one million square foot greenhouse facility in northern New South Wales Australia called the Northern Rivers Project. The Northern Rivers Project is a partnership with the Richmond Valley Council-the local government in New South Wales, Australia-and PUF Ventures Australia ("PVA")-a recently formed majority-owned subsidiary of PUF-to construct a one million square foot greenhouse operation, with large-scale manufacturing, processing and office facilities for the cultivation, production and manufacture of medical cannabis and associated products. Read this and more news for MYM Nutraceuticals at:http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/mymmf.html MYM will own 35% of the Northern Rivers Project, which, at full scale, will have the capacity to produce 100,000 kilograms of high quality cannabis per year, worth between C$800 million and C$1.1 billion (based on current pricing metrics in the Australian cannabis marketplace). Australia has introduced progressive medical cannabis laws in the past few years, and are essentially where Canada was four years ago. Assuming recreational cannabis becomes legal and with a population of more than 24 million people, it is estimated that the cannabis market in Australia will grow to C$9 billion over the next 7 years making it a very attractive market. Being one of the first large-scale production facilities in the Australian market, MYM and PUF could capture a significant portion of that potential revenue. By entering this market through a strategic partnership with the local land-owning government, MYM is positioning itself to become a leader in both Australian and global cannabis production. The Northern Rivers Project includes a land purchase option agreement with the Richmond Valley Council for a 27-hectare parcel of land near the town of Casino in northern New South Wales, Australia. This is a landmark agreement whereby the council will provide the land for five years at no cost, with an option for Northern Rivers Project to purchase the parcel on favorable terms after the fifth year. The Richmond Valley Council has been extremely supportive of Northern Rivers Project's growth strategy and vision and is committed to improving local economic and employment opportunities. The purchase agreement and associated partnership with the Richmond Valley Council will allow the Northern Rivers Project to enter the cannabis market on a solid footing with the full support of the local political and governing bodies. Having the largest medical cannabis facility in the southern hemisphere in Richmond Valley is expected to draw other investments in research, education, manufacturing, tourism, and other sectors. Vaughan Macdonald, General Manager of Richmond Valley Council, stated that they are very excited to be working together on the Northern Rivers Project with international partners and fully support the development of this important new industry which will significantly add to gross regional product, create approximately 300 direct new jobs in the local economy, and lead to other follow-on local and regional employment opportunities. In other industry news of note: India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE: IGC) yesterday provided compelling in vitro data compiled from genetically engineered cell lines within an Alzheimer's disease model, showing that at varying concentrations of IGC-AD1 the expression of GSK3 is reduced by as much as 62%, leading in turn to a reduction in hyper phosphorylation of tau protein. "Based on this and other previously announced compelling data, we are readying IGC-AD1, brand name Hyalolex, in a liquid formulation for commercialization in early 2018," stated IGC's CEO, Ram Mukunda. We have identified Germany, Canada and certain licensed medical cannabis states in the U.S. for commercialization. The German market recently opened for imports of cannabis products that can be sold in licensed pharmacies. Our initial research indicates that there are about 7.8 million patients with AD in these combined markets. Supreme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE.V) (OTC: SPRWF) announced this week that it has amended its agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp., as lead underwriter on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters (the "Underwriters"), to increase the size of its previously announced bought deal private placement of convertible debenture units (the "Convertible Debenture Units") to $35,000,000 . Under the terms of the amending agreement, the underwriters will now have an option to acquire up to 5,250 additional Convertible Debenture Units, each having the same terms as the Convertible Debenture Units above, which option is exercisable until the Closing Date (as hereinafter defined).All other previously announced terms of the Offering (as hereinafter defined) remain unchanged. As previously announced, each convertible debenture unit will consist of $1,000 principal amount of 8 per cent senior unsecured convertible debentures and 313 common share purchase warrants of the company. Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH.TO) (OTCQB: APHQF) last week reported its results, for the first quarter ended August 31, 2017. "In the first quarter of 2018, Aphria increased revenue and grams sold and lowered cash costs, in addition to recording our eighth consecutive quarter of positive EBITDA," said Vic Neufeld, Chief Executive Officer, Aphria. "A key driver of our continued performance has been our ability to maintain leadership as one of the lowest-cost producers in the industry. As legal recreational cannabis comes into market in 2018, low costs per gram will be a critical factor for the entire supply chain. Our proven ability to grow to scale while keeping costs low is an important competitive advantage; it positions Aphria to profitably meet projected demand for cannabis and deliver sustainable value to our shareholders."Read the full release at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aphria-reports-strong-performance-q1-120000526.html Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA), the first-ever publicly traded cannabis company in the United States, announced yesterday that its subsidiary KannawayLLC is welcoming Robert "Bo" Brannin as its new Senior Director of Operations.In this position, Brannin will be responsible for managing every aspect of the company's supply chain operations from purchasing to inventory, production and shipping. He will bring his twenty years of experience in the operations and logistics field to assist the team in building a strong foundation as the company now prepares to establish international operations. DISCLAIMER:MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.MNU and its affiliated companies is a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities.The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material.All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release.MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks.For current services performed MNU has been compensated forty four hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued by MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.. by a non-affiliated third party.MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Contact Information: info@marketnewsupdates.com +1(561)325-8757 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - Canabo Medical Inc. (TSXV: CMM) (OTCQB: CAMDF) ("Canabo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has launched its Self-Referral Sleep Aid program, a first of its kind in Canada. Patients with sleep issues are now welcome to book a medical clinic appointment directly with no prior requirement for a physician's referral. Dr. Michael Verbora, Medical Director of Canabo, commented: "Insomnia is a condition that affects millions of Canadians. We know that poor sleep habits and non-restorative sleep contributes to worsening physical and mental health. Many Canadians struggle to find options that can provide relief with tolerable side effects, which are drawbacks of many pharmaceutical sleep options. Canabo has identified specific cannabis strains that are very effective in treating insomnia with minimal side effects. We have developed a sleep protocol to identify patients whom are best suited for our self-referral program. Patients with sleep issues can now complete this process using an on-line self-referral form (CMClinic.ca)." The Canadian Sleep Society (CSS) and the Canadian Sleep and Circadian Network (CSCN) reported; "Over 25% of Canadians suffer from sleep disorders, a percentage that increases with aging."1 John Philpott, CEO of Canabo, commented: "We are delighted to expand this much needed service to millions of Canadians. As Canabo now operates 19 clinics across the country we feel that this self referral initiative will provide much needed assistance to many Canadians that suffer from sleep disorders. We have protocols and methodologies in place to ensure smooth processing for Sleep Aid patients, who can now quickly book an appointment by calling 1-888-282-7763 or by completing our user-friendly on-line self-referral system." ____________________ https://css-scs.ca/files/resources/publications/2015_CSS_CSCN_Report_PE_workshop.pdf About the Company Canabo wholly owns and operates Cannabinoid Medical Clinics, or CMClinics, Canada's largest physician led referral-only clinics for medical cannabis. Established in 2014, Canabo now has 19 clinics across Canada, with additional locations planned to open in 2017. Canabo operates referral-only medical clinics dedicated to evaluating the suitability of prescribing, and monitoring cannabinoid treatments for patients suffering from chronic pain and disabling illnesses. Clinics operated by Canabo are staffed by physicians and qualified health care practitioners specifically trained to assess patient suitability for cannabinoid treatment, recommend treatment regimes, and monitor treatment progress. Forward Looking Statements Except for historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect Canabo Medical Inc.'s current expectations regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause Canabo's actual results to differ materially from those statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to access capital, the successful and timely completion of opening clinics, regulatory changes, competition, approvals and other business and industry risks. The forward-looking statements in this press release are also based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent views only as of the date of this release and are presented for the purpose of assisting potential investors in understanding Canabo's business and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Canabo does not undertake to update forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on its behalf, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Investors are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements and are encouraged to consult with a professional investment advisor. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. For further information, please contact: Ms. Bianca Muller Telephone: +1-902-334-1700 Email: media@cmclinic.ca www.canabocorp.com Neither the 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 news release. Carson City, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - Cell MedX Corp. (OTCQB: CMXC) ("Cell MedX" or the "Company"), an early development stage bio-tech company focusing on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic and non-therapeutic products that promote general wellness, is pleased to announce that on October 12, 2017, the Company closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") at a price of $0.25 per unit (the "Unit"), by issuing 1,480,000 Units for total gross proceeds of $370,000. Each Unit sold under the Offering consisted of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share for a period of three years after closing at an exercise price of $0.50 per share if exercised during the first year, $1.00 per share if exercised during the second year, and $1.50 per share if exercised during the third year. The Units were issued pursuant to the provisions of Regulation S of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act") to the persons who are not residents of the United States and are otherwise not "U.S. Persons" as that term is defined in Rule 902(k) of Regulation S of the Act. The Company will use the proceeds from the Offering to fund its current business operations and to continue the ongoing development of its eBalance Pro Devices. The above does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of Cell MedX's securities in the United States. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless an exemption from such registration is available. In addition to the closing of the first tranche, on October 12, 2017, the Company finalized its debt reorganization by converting a total of $459,282 the Company owed under its notes payable to non-affiliated parties and $120,254 under services payable to its director, CEO and President into 2,318,144 shares of the Company's common stock at $0.25 per share. About Cell MedX Corp. (OTCQB: CMXC) Cell MedX Corp. is an early development stage company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic products for patients with diseases such as diabetes, by developing technologies to help manage both the illness and related complications. For more information about the Company and its technology please visit our website at: www.cellmedx.com, for the Company's weekly newsletter, please go to www.cellmedx.com/media/newsletters/ On behalf of the Board of Directors of Cell MedX Corp. Frank McEnulty Chief Executive Officer and President. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "anticipates", "believes", "could", and other similar words. All statements addressing product performance, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Because the statements are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties, some of which are described in the Company's Quarterly, Annual and Current Reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's underlying assumptions prove correct, actual results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on Company's forward-looking statements. In particular, the Company's eBalance Technology is still in development. The Company does not currently have any commercially marketable products based on the eBalance Technology, and there is no assurance that the Company will be successful in its development efforts. Except as required by law, Cell MedX Corp. disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory body has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Cell MedX Corp. files from time to time with the SEC, including its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports. SOURCE: Cell MedX Corp. For further information visit: www.cellmedx.com. Or phone: 1-844-238-2692 MADRID, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Telepizza has completed the conversion o f 15 stores in Saint Petersburg through a Master Franchise agreement with WWP, becoming the market leader in the region Telepizza's Master Franchisee WWP, one of the largest QSR operators in the country, has ambitious plans to open another 16 stores within the next three years focusing their investments in the North West of the Russian Market Telepizza pushes ahead in its international strategy, this time in the Russian market, with the master franchise agreement with WorldWide Pizzas Plc (WWP), one of the largest Quick Services Restaurant (QSR) operators in the country, with an extensive experience in international brands development. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150317/735407-a ) The plans of the largest non-USA pizza delivery company, together with its partner, are ambitious and with long-term prospects, focusing the investments in Saint Petersburg and the Northwest federal district. The rapid expansion programme began with the conversion of 15 stores from an US pizza brand to Telepizza in Saint Petersburg. The opening of the first 15 stores in Saint Petersburg will complete with the opening of 16 more in three years, which will allow Telepizza to consolidate in the region and lead the Northwest market with 30 stores in 2019. The operation strengthens Telepizza's international strategy, which is focused on the growth in markets where it is currently operating and entering new markets, either organically, through acquisitions of local companies or via master franchises. Flexibility and local knowledge, keys for international growth Telepizza has a solid model and a recognized and consolidated brand, scalable to different markets with a wide degree of flexibility for the franchisee. President of International at Telepizza, Giorgio Minardi, comments: "We look forward to continuing our relationship with WWP, who have helped us achieve our ambitious global growth plans through their extensive local knowledge and expertise in this key market. This new opening shows our ability to adapt and respond accordingly to local consumers in various markets, which is key to our success." "The flexibility of its franchising model, with its response capacity, the support of an experienced team and the quality service, are key elements investors that are interested in growing along with Telepizza in markets with growth potential. Its distinguished brand concept and the high degree of product innovation -freshly quality handmade pizzas in a Mediterranean style -, have been crucial when selecting a new partner," says Darrin J. Stock (CEO) Russia is a strategic market for Telepizza due to the remarkable growth of the QSR category and more specifically in pizza consumer foodservice, where the presence of international brands has substantially increased in the last years. Telepizza Group: We are the largest non-U.S.-based pizza delivery company in the world by number of stores. Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, Telepizza operates in more than 20 countries through a network of own stores, franchisees and master franchisees, with 1,440 stores globally, including 469 own stores (33%) and 971 franchised and master franchised stores (67%) as of 30 June, 2017. Including our U.S.-based competitors, we are the fourth largest global player in pizza delivery in terms of number of stores. We are the market leader in our core markets by number of stores (number one in Spain, Portugal, Chile and Colombia and number two in Poland). The total sales within our network, including own stores, franchisees and master franchisees, are recorded as chain sales, which amounted to 541.2 million in the twelve months ended 30 June 2017. Telepizza listed on the Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia stock exchanges with its shares starting trading on 27 April 2016. The total number of shares is 100,720,679. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Myanmar Wholesale of Maplewood, Minnesota announced the recall of all packages of Thanlwin brand Fried Bean Snack due to presence of undeclared peanuts. There are no reports of any illness to date. The recall was initiated after the State of New York, Department of Agriculture found the product to contain whole peanuts. The packaging does not reveal the presence of peanuts. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction, if they consume these products. Thanlwin Fried Bean Snack is contained in an 8 oz. (227g) plastic bag which is blue, yellow, and white on the front and clear on the backside and was distributed nationwide thru ethnic retail grocery stores. There is no code or expiration date on the package and contains UPC code 7 84682-00095 3 on front side of package. 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. Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article discussing the Hydropothecary Corporation (TSXV: THCX) and its unique position in the burgeoning cannabis industry. Canada's cannabis industry is expected to balloon to C$22.6 billion over the coming years, according to Deloitte, following the legalization of adult-use cannabis. With about 60 licensed producers approved by Health Canada (and about 30 of those approved to sell as well as produce marijuana), the best opportunities might be companies that have competitive advantages in terms of location, product, or economics. Quebec's Only Licensed Producer Canada's federal government is letting provinces decide how to distribute adult-use cannabis on a regional level. With three provinces submitting their plans, investors are starting to get an early glimpse at what adult-use legalization will look like across the country. The two most surprising developments are the possibility of government-owned retail locations - rather than private locations - and preferential treatment for cultivators located within a given province. New Brunswick, for example, plans on mandating that a certain percentage of cannabis sold at retail locations is grown within the province. With only two licensed producers in the province, this was big news for OrganiGram Holdings Inc. It could also be big news for other licensed producers located outside of British Columbia - where 14 licensed producers are domiciled - and Ontario - where 35 licensed producers are domiciled. Hydropothecary is the only licensed producer in Quebec, which is the second most populous province after Ontario. While there is no guarantee that there will be such a mandate in Quebec, the Quebecois culture is well-known for preferring local culture, products, and services. The most obvious example of this preference is the use of the French language as the sole provincial official language, which sets it apart from other provinces across Canada. Always Innovating New Products Canada may be among the first countries to legalize cannabis on a federal level, but it has been relatively slow in adopting cannabis oils and edibles. Many licensed producers have focused their efforts on expanding square footage for growing cannabis flower, but relatively few have focused on developing innovative products to set themselves apart. The companies that are doing so could see significantly more opportunities as the market matures. Hydropothecary has been focused on developing easy-to-use and easy-to-understand products for medical cannabis users within the government's constraints. For example, cannabis oils face many limitations when it comes to THC content, but the company's dried capsules contain an activated powder form of THC that doesn't face the same limitations. The company has also developed the first peppermint-based cannabis oils that are delivered in an oral spray format. From a branding standpoint, the company began by developing a luxury premium brand that was priced at upwards of $15.00 per gram. This helped build its brand reputation as one of high quality and reliability compared to many low-cost producers. Hydropothecary's newest product lines are focused on the mid-market, with 11 products now offered at $10 and under. By leveraging its premium brand, the company hopes to set itself apart from competitors while remaining competitive on price. Attractive Economics The best opportunities in Canada's licensed producer marketplace are companies with low costs, high scalability, and differentiated products. With some provinces likely to run government-owned retail operations, it's unlikely that producers doing business in these provinces will have much pricing power when it comes to supplying recreational customers. Low costs can help preserve margins in these cases, while differentiated products like oils can command higher prices. Hydropothecary operates with some of the lowest hydro costs in the market - especially compared to Ontario. This helps the company keep its costs extremely low relative to other licensed producers. At the same time, the company has initiated a dramatic production area expansion to 300,000 square feet, which could enable 25,000 kilograms per year of product. The goal is to leverage increased economies of scale to lower its marginal costs even more. Please follow the link to read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/invest-quebecs-licensed-producer/ About CFN Media CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed. Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/featuredcompany Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8 Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com Disclaimer: Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/ CFN Media Frank Lane 206-369-7050 flane@cannabisfn.com Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSXV: RG) (OTC Pink: RMIOF) (FSE: D4R) ("Romios" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the offering of a non-brokered private placement of up to 8,000,000 flow-through units (the "FT Units") for up to $600,000 (the "FT Offering") and up to 6,666,666 working capital units (the "WC Unit") for up to $400,000 (the "WC Offering") for an aggregate of up to $1,000,000 (the "Offering"). Proceeds from the offering are expected to be used to advance the exploration program on the Company's promising Burgundy Ridge discovery located in the southern portion of the Newmont Lake Project Area within its large (75,996 hectares/187,786 acres) Golden Triangle Property in northwestern British Columbia, and other properties. Each FT Unit is priced at $0.075 and consists of one (1) common share and one-half (0.5) of a share purchase warrant. Each full warrant ("Warrant") entitles the holder to purchase one (1) common share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.12 per Warrant Share until the date which is twelve (12) months following the Closing of the Offering. Each WC Unit is priced at $0.06 and consists of one (1) common share and one (1) common share purchase warrant ("WC Warrant"). Each WC Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one (1) common share (a "WC Warrant Share") at a price of $0.12 per WC Warrant Share until the date which is twelve (12) months following the Closing of the Offering. Eligible Finders may receive up to 7% of the value of proceeds of the sale of FT Units or WC Units in cash and up to 7% of the number of FT Units or WC Units sold in the form of broker warrants. Each broker warrant issued in respect of the sale of FT Units (the "FT Broker Warrants") entitles the holder to acquire one (1) common share of Romios at $0.075 for a period of twelve (12) months from the Closing of the Offering and each broker warrant issued in respect of the sale of WC Units (the "WC Broker Warrants") entitles the holder to acquire one (1) common share of Romios at $0.06 for a period of twelve (12) months from the Closing of the Offering. Existing Shareholder Offering The WC Offering will be open to participation by existing shareholders (the "Existing Shareholder Offering") resident in Canada as of the record date of October 18, 2017 (the "Record Date"). The Existing Shareholder Offering comprises up to 6,666,666 WC Units. The Existing Shareholder Offering will be open for a period of up to twenty eight (28) days, expiring on the earlier of November 16, 2017 and the closing of the WC Offering. There is no minimum offering. The maximum amount to be raised under the Existing Shareholder Offering is $400,000. All securities issued pursuant to the Existing Shareholder Offering are subject to a statutory four month hold period and regulatory approval. The particulars of the WC Units are set out above. The Company intends to use the proceeds raised under the Existing Shareholder Offering of up to $400,000 to maintain its existing operations, activities and assets. The use of proceeds of the Offering set out above will be adjusted pro rata subject to the funds raised on the Existing Shareholder Offering. The Existing Shareholder Offering is open to all existing shareholders of the Company resident in Canada until the earlier of November 16, 2017 and the closing of the WC Offering. Shareholders interested in participating in the Existing Shareholder Offering should contact, or have their registered broker contact, Yvonne So, assistant to Bill Johnstone, Assistant Corporate Secretary of the Company, at yso@grllp.com or (416) 865-6789 to obtain a copy of the subscription agreement for WC Units. Requests should be received by no later than November 9, 2017 so that subscription agreements can be signed and funds can be received by the Company by no later than November 14, 2017. In the subscription agreements, subscribers will be required to represent that they held common shares of Romios on the Record Date and will continue to hold common shares on closing, indicate the total number of WC Units they wish to subscribe for at the price of $0.06 per WC Unit and provide funds (certified cheque or wire transfer) for the purchase of the WC Units. The Existing Shareholder Offering is being allocated to subscribers on a "first come, first served" basis wherein the subscribers who are first to submit a completed subscription agreement and pay the corresponding subscription proceeds will be accepted up until the maximum amount of the Existing Shareholder Offering is reached. The sale of the WC Units will remain open until the earlier of November 16, 2017 and the full subscription for the WC Offering. In the event that there is an over-subscription for WC Units as at November 14, 2017, subscriptions will be adjusted pro rata (in proportion to the aggregate amount of cleared funds received) to reduce the offering to a maximum of $400,000 for WC Units. Although the Existing Shareholder Offering is not being offered pro rata, all shareholders of the Company effective as of the Record Date will be treated equally. However, the Company reserves the right not to accept subscription amounts of less than $1,200 (20,000 WC Units) in respect of WC Units to avoid disproportionate administrative costs. The Company is using other available exemptions to place the WC Offering. The Existing Shareholder Offering is being made under Ontario Securities Commission Rule 45-501 Ontario Prospectus and Registration Exemptions relating to distributions to existing security holders and under Multilateral CSA Notice 45-313-Prospectus Exemption for Distributions to Existing Security Holders and the legislation adopted pursuant thereto in other jurisdictions in Canada, as well as under other applicable exemptions without issuing a prospectus. The existing shareholder exemption limits a shareholder to a maximum investment of $15,000 in a 12-month period unless the shareholder has obtained advice regarding the suitability of the investment from a person registered as an investment dealer. The Offering is expected to close on or before November 16, 2017, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, or such other date as is agreed between the Company and the subscribers. All securities issued under the Offering are subject to a statutory four month hold period. About Romios Gold Resources Inc. Romios Gold Resources Inc., a progressive Canadian mineral exploration company established in 1995, is engaged in precious and base metal exploration primarily focused on gold, silver and copper in its properties in British Columbia centrally located between Galore Creek Mining Corporation's large copper-gold-silver deposit and Barrick's high grade gold mine at Eskay Creek. In addition to the Lundmark-Akow Lake and Hislop properties in Ontario, Romios has other property interests in Quebec and Nevada. This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such 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 further information, please contact: Tom Drivas, President and Director, (tel) 416-221-4124, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) romios@romios.com. Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-221-4124 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com. TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Note to editors: there is a photo associated with this release. Cogeco Peer 1, a global provider of enterprise IT products and services, today announced the appointment of Paul Dyck to the role of Vice President, Human Resources, where he will lead and oversee Cogeco Peer 1's human resources strategies, programs and policies. With more than 20 years of experience in human resources across a range of industries, including a decade at the executive level, Paul will now be charged with building impactful initiatives around leadership and management development, engagement, succession planning, training, compensation and recruitment. "Paul is both a strong change agent and a collaborative Human Resources thinker who will be able to develop a 'People' strategy that is well aligned to our regional needs, as well as those of our parent company," said Philippe Jette, President of Cogeco Peer 1. "He will lead the design, development and implementation of state-of-the-art HR initiatives with qualitative and quantitative metrics to measure success globally and to reward high performance at all levels." "I'm excited to join a fast-growing company with exceptionally high standards of customer service, and eager to help Cogeco Peer 1 achieve its growth objective by developing and implementing targeted HR programs to build an even stronger world class organization," said Paul Dyck, Vice President, Human Resources, Cogeco Peer 1. Paul has worked in various executive roles with COM DEV International, Toromont Energy, Armstrong Group, Spectrum Signal Processing, Bell Canada, Bombardier and Boeing. With knowledge of all facets of human resources, including talent management, compensation design, change management, and organisational transformation, he is the ideal change agent to identify competency, knowledge and talent challenges across Cogeco Peer 1. Paul has a Master's of Industrial Relations (Human Resources) from Queen's University and a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Philosophy from Brock University. ABOUT COGECO PEER 1 Cogeco Peer 1 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) and is a global provider of essential business-to-business products and services, such as colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services that allow customers across Canada, Mexico, the United States and Western Europe to focus on their core business. With 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe combined, Cogeco Peer 1 is a trusted partner to businesses small, medium and large, providing the ability to access, move, manage and store mission-critical data worldwide, backed by superior customer support. More information visit: http://www.cogecopeer1.com/ For the latest Cogeco Peer 1 news: -- Check out our blog: https://www.cogecopeer1.com/blog/ -- Follow us on Twitter: @CogecoPeer1 To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/PaulDyck_CogecoPeerLRG.jpg Contacts: INFORMATION AND INTERVIEW REQUESTS: Peter Morrow High Road on behalf of Cogeco Peer 1 peter.morrow@highroad.com 613-688-1184 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/19/17 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release. It is with great sadness that DAREarts announces the sudden passing of Indigenous Program Associate, Cathy Elliott, 60, a Mi'kmaq playwright, composer and visual artist. Cathy and DAREarts first connected 10 years ago, shortly after DAREarts was invited by the northern, remote community of Webequie First Nation to bring its multi-arts and values programs to engage their young people in healthy activities. People hid their native roots in the 60s. Yet, when asked by DAREarts Founder, Marilyn Field to use her talents as an artist, playwright, musician and actor to help empower Indigenous kids in remote communities, and to bring Indigenous culture to kids of all cultures, Cathy embraced the challenge as her journey, and she never looked back. Here Cathy found her own Indigenous roots and reached beyond her talents to help educate. As Marilyn Field explains, "From our very first sharing circle with the youths in Webequie FN, Cathy naturally embraced the DAREarts way of learning together from each other." That included the making of a documentary film called Fill My Hollow Bones which followed the first three years of DAREarts in Webequie, and was created in large part by the youths themselves. It is still being shown across the country as encouragement to young people. Cathy subsequently participated on DAREarts' team in other communities who invited DAREarts to work with their young people, most notably Marten Falls (Ogoki Post) FN, Attawapiskat FN, Sipekne'katik FN and Tuktoyaktuk. Over the years, thousands of kids, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, found their voice and an inspired appreciation for Indigenous culture by creating songs, videos, puppets, plays and artwork with Cathy. Last year, Cathy returned to focusing on writing and performing plays and musicals across Canada. She quickly became an effective leader in communicating our country's traditional Indigenous culture. She leaves behind her massive creative work, both professional and with youths, to help carry on the conversations that will strengthen us as a country with values. DAREarts will honour her legacy by continuing to give voice to the young people, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that Cathy inspired to ignite change using the arts. About DAREarts: DAREarts is a 21-year-old Canadian charity that works with 9-19 year olds from underserved communities across Canada, using the arts to empower them to be leaders. The children paint, sculpt, sing, dance, compose, design, write, act and create, mentored by arts professionals and the DAREarts guiding principles of Discipline, Action, Responsibility and Excellence, alongside traditional cultural values. Visit www.darearts.com Read Cathy Elliot's DAREarts insight blogs about Indigenous culture here. View the documentary she co-created with DAREarts kids and team here: "Fill My Hollow Bones" - Trailer "Fill My Hollow Bones" - Full Film "Girl and the Raven" - Short Film View some songs she wrote with youths here: "Don't Stop" with the youths of Webequie FN and Glenn Marais "Swimming in a Fast Current" with the youths of Marten Falls FN "Melkikno'ti (Courage)" with the youths of Sipekne'katik FN "Muskego Land" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN "Volcano" with the youths of Winnipeg, MB "We Are One" with the youths of Webequie FN "The Land Speaks" with the youths of Marten Falls FN "Roads of Webequie" with the youths of Webequie FN "Nation's Creations" with the youths of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT "Keen Sabiko" with the youths of Webequie FN and Glenn Marais "Akimiski Island" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN "Deja vu" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN "Goose Call" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN "Random Dreams" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN "Smoke the Wolves!" with the youths of Attawapiskat FN To view the photo accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20171019-DAREartsWinnipegDay2.jpg Contacts: Marilyn Field DAREarts Founder 905.729.0097 1-888-540-2787 mfield@darearts.com Sessions examine factors that drive manufacturers' growth, manufacturing and ERP best practices, and how to take advantage of new and enhanced IQMS software offerings Maximizing manufacturers' productivity was the lead topic at the 2017 IQMS European Pinnacle User Conference, the annual event for European customers of IQMS, a leading manufacturing ERP software and manufacturing execution system (MES) authority. Among the featured session topics were: factors that drive manufacturers' growth, updates on new and enhanced IQMS products, and continuing education to foster best practices. IQMS European Pinnacle ran October 16-18, 2017, at the Hilton hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The user conference brought together European manufacturing leaders and enterprise resource planning (ERP) technical experts for a range of sessions examining manufacturing technology and business best practices. Additionally, the event featured one-and-a-half days of training on how to get the most out of IQMS software for production monitoring, bills of materials, and inventory control, among other functions. "The ultimate value of an ERP system is driven by how well customers are trained in both using the product and manufacturing best practices. IQMS European Pinnacle is one of best vehicles for accomplishing both," said Steve Bieszczat, IQMS chief marketing officer. "The event provides a strong complement to our ongoing services and education programs in supporting our growing number of customers across Europe." What Drives Manufacturers' Growth Product quality and high service levels are the two main factors driving growth, according to a recent survey of manufacturers conducted by IQMS. The survey results were presented in a general session at IQMS European Pinnacle by Bieszczat. Collectively, they highlighted the importance of customer satisfaction, quality, flexible delivery schedules, and the ability to execute on all the fundamentals of manufacturing management. Most notably: Product quality was identified as a leading measure of success by 92% of survey participants. A business culture of excellence drives high levels of product quality and customer service, according to 66% of respondents. Production monitoring was named by 67% of participants as a key element of operations for supporting product quality. The value-added service appreciated most by customers is having short-notice production capabilities, according to 57% of manufacturers surveyed. IQMS Product Offerings Optimize Customers' Operations In 2017, IQMS has rolled several product offerings and enhancements aimed at optimizing customers' operations. The developments were presented at a general session by Dan Radunz, IQMS chief technology officer. There, he introduced IQMS EnterpriseIQ 16.0, which offers new multi-currency accounting functionality to support European manufacturers conducting business across the region. He also highlighted the latest version of WebIQ, the interface for Enterprise IQ, which is designed to run on any device that has a standard browser and Internet connection. Additionally, the two recently launched cloud offerings were featured: IQMS Web BI, which is powered by Oracle, provides rich, cloud-based business intelligence and visualization functionality to help manufacturers gain greater insights into their ERP and financial data. IQMS EDI VAN Services, the new hosted electronic data interchange (EDI) value-added network (VAN) services, offer a secure, reliable backbone for the connectivity, transport and integration of electronic business transactions. Radunz also reviewed IQMS's Choice is the New Cloud program, which gives customers access to three deployment models designed for the needs of manufacturing firms. Software as a Service is for customers that want to take advantage of IQMS via a cloud-based subscription. Managed Cloudis for manufacturers that want to own their IQMS license but take advantage of a hosted cloud deployment. Premise isfor customers that want to run IQMS software in their own data center-either directly on servers or in a private cloud. "Our IQMS European Pinnacle user conference provides a great opportunity to communicate with our manufacturing customers about new and coming products and enhancements to support their businesses," Radunz said. "Equally important, it has allowed us to gather feedback from attendees on what they would like to see in future product offerings to drive value for our customers." Extending IQMS Commitment to Manufacturers' Success IQMS has continued to extend its commitment to maximizing its manufacturing customers' success. In a general session, Bieszczat discussed IQMS's focus on continuous improvement in products and services that drive value for customers through best practices and continuing education. Additionally, he outlined two major developments in 2017: IQMS Enterprise Support and the new IQMS product development facility. IQMS Enterprise Support is the new, highest level support offering for manufacturing customers of all sizes that want to maximize the value of their IQMS system. It features a technical account manager dedicated to helping each manufacturer optimize use of IQMS solutions and services, along with 24/7 phone support, an onsite business assessment, and credits that can be used for advanced education and other remote services. The new 30-person IQMS product development facility in Pleasanton, California provides an agile environment for developing MES and shop floor automation solutions that take advantage of the Internet of Things (IoT) and other enabling technologies. The move comes as more manufacturers are seeking to implement Industry 4.0 best practices to build and operate manufacturing facilities that compete in the global market. About IQMS IQMS uniquely combines ERP and MES functionality to give manufacturers a comprehensive end-to-end suite for running the business, backed by the real-time performance and scalability that companies demand. Developed specifically for mid-market repetitive, discrete and batch process manufacturers, IQMS provides robust capabilities for addressing strict customer and regulatory certification and compliance. IQMS achieves this by delivering traditional ERP functionality for accounting, sales orders, material requirements, inventory, and purchasing, plus extended native features for CRM, human resources, production scheduling, shop floor control, warehouse and quality modules. With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, IQMS serves manufacturers around the world. For more information, please visit https://www.iqms.com. Trademarks: Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Engage with IQMS at: Website: IQMS.com Twitter: @IQMSerp LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/IQMS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IQMSerp YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/IQMSerp Google+: https://plus.google.com/+IQMSerp View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005426/en/ Contacts: IQMS Steve Bieszczat, 805-227-1122 Chief Marketing Officer sbieszczat@iqms.com IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a securities class action lawsuit against Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited ("Dr. Reddy's" or the "Company") (NYSE: RDY). Investors, who purchased or otherwise acquired shares from June 17, 2015 through August 10, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm before the October 24, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you purchased shares of Dr. Reddy's 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, and 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. The Complaint alleges that, during the Class Period, Dr. Reddy's made false and/or misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose, that it lacked an effective corporate quality system; and thus, its public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 10, 2017, the Company disclosed that the Regulatory of Germany (Regierung von Oberbayern) did not renew the good manufacturing practices compliance certificate of a formulations manufacturing unit of its German subsidiary Betapharm Arzneimittel, located in Hyderabad, India, following a recent inspection of the plant. Following this news, shares of Dr. Reddy's lowered in value materially, which caused investors harm according to the Complaint. If you want to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esq., a prominent litigator for nearly two decades, by telephone at (949) 419-3834 , or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions. Contact: Joon M. Khang, Esq. Telephone: 949-419-3834 Facsimile: 949-225-4474 joon@khanglaw.com SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP 19 October 2017 Acacia Mining plc LSE:ACA ("Acacia" or the "Company" or the "Group") Update on Discussions in Tanzania Acacia notes that the Government of Tanzania ("GoT") and Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick"), Acacia's majority shareholder, hosted a press conference in Tanzania today to provide an update on the ongoing discussions. Acacia has just received a copy of the framework agreement referred to in Barrick's release and is seeking further clarification. No formal proposal has been put to Acacia for consideration at this point in time. As stated at the press conference, any proposal agreed in principle between Barrick and the GoT will require Acacia's approval. Acacia will consider any agreement once it receives the full details and a further update will be provided when appropriate. ENQUIRIES For further information, please visit our website: http://www.acaciamining.com/ or contact: Acacia Mining plc +44 (0) 20 7129 7150 Giles Blackham, Investor Relations Camarco +44 (0) 20 3757 4980 Gordon Poole / Billy Clegg / Nick Hennis About Acacia Mining plc Acacia Mining plc (LSE:ACA) is Tanzania's largest gold miner and one of the largest producers of gold in Africa. We have three mines, all located in north-west Tanzania: Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi, and North Mara and a portfolio of exploration projects in Kenya, Burkina Faso and Mali. Acacia is a UK public company headquartered in London. We are listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. Barrick Gold Corporation is our majority shareholder. Acacia reports in US dollars and in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, unless otherwise stated in this announcement. Disclaimer and forward-looking statements This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of Acacia in any jurisdiction. This announcement includes "forward-looking statements" that express or imply expectations of future events or results as opposed to historical facts. These statements include, financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future production, operations, costs, projects, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates" and other similar expressions. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Acacia, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences between the actual results, performance and achievements of Acacia include, but are not limited to, changes or developments in political, economic or business conditions or national or local legislation or regulation in countries in which Acacia conducts - or may in the future conduct - business, industry trends, competition, fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold or certain other commodity prices (such as copper and diesel), currency fluctuations (including the US dollar, South African rand, Kenyan shilling and Tanzanian shilling exchange rates), Acacia's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions, Acacia's ability to recover its reserves or develop new reserves, including its ability to convert its resources into reserves and its mineral potential into resources or reserves, and to process its mineral reserves successfully and in a timely manner, Acacia's ability to complete land acquisitions required to support its mining activities, operational or technical difficulties which may occur in the context of mining activities, delays and technical challenges associated with the completion of projects, risk of trespass, theft and vandalism, changes in Acacia's business strategy and ongoing implementation of operational reviews, as well as risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development, mining and production and risks and factors affecting the gold mining industry in general. Although Acacia's management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, Acacia cannot give assurances that such statements will prove to be correct. Accordingly, investors should not place reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. Any forward-looking statements in this announcement only reflect information available at the time of preparation. Save as required under the Market Abuse Regulation or otherwise as may be required under applicable law, Acacia explicitly disclaims any obligation or undertaking publicly to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast or estimate and no statement made should be interpreted to mean that Acacia's profits or earnings per share for any future period will necessarily match or exceed its historical published profits or earnings per share. COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwired - October 19, 2017) - Bold Penguin, an InsurTech startup pushing innovation into the commercial lines property and casualty (P&C) insurance process, has developed a new rules engine, Emperor, which utilizes data points aggregated from the company's online marketplace to better predict optimum placement of insurance risks in a significantly reduced timeframe. "Emperor takes carrier recommendations to the next level," said Ryan Buzzanca, head of technology for Bold Penguin. "Using Emperor, the lengthy, complex verification process commercial insurance professionals typically go through gets narrowed to a limited question set using customized business rules to isolate opportunities according to carrier-specific situations or niches." Since Bold Penguin announced the opening of its online commercial insurance marketplace during last year's InsureTech Connect Conference, business being processed via the portal has increased significantly. The company's customer base continues to grow with firms like Hiscox, announced earlier this year, benefitting from the functionality Bold Penguin provides through flexible APIs. The Emperor rules engine builds on that success to help agents go from consideration to quote and bind in a matter minutes, hours and days, instead of days and weeks. "With many solutions helping map carrier appetite, it left us internally in need of a solution that goes to that next level of carrier recommendation," said Ilya Bodner, founder of Bold Penguin. "Our team constantly brainstorms ideas for making commercial insurance better. How can we get from quote to bind faster, without commoditizing the business or getting into a situation where the insured is under covered or only paying attention to price? How can we make the process easier and simpler for consumers? This solution drills down to recommendations quickly based on information as specific as address and zip code, and it enables agents to quote, bind and issue a policy faster than alternative methods, without ever leaving the Bold Penguin platform." Bold Penguin transforms the way agents and insurers work together, and achieve better speed-to-market by automating much of the underwriting process. Unlike some industry systems which are very closed off, Bold Penguin's open interface brings in as many data points as possible to make it easier and simpler for commercial insurance agents and carriers to issue a policy. And, the faster response helps ensure the agent using Bold Penguin gets the business. "We have long been believers in the potential of big data and analytics to positively transform the experience of agents, brokers and customers," said Jim Smith, partnership manager at Hiscox. "We are excited to be working with Bold Penguin and look forward to expanding the partnership into new lines of business." About Bold Penguin Bold Penguin is where technology meets the human touch in commercial insurance. With a heavy focus on agents, Bold Penguin pushes the boundaries of user experience for businesses, is an easy tool for agents, and offers a streamlined process of underwriting for carriers. Founded by a group of entrepreneurs who spent their early days working with Allstate, Nationwide, Progressive, regional carriers and established insurance agencies. For more details, please visit www.boldpenguin.com Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/10/19/11G146729/Images/IlyaBodner2017Crop-3cb53621bb7bb6c4b2319e1750da1fed.jpg Media Contact: Jennifer Overhulse St. Nick Media Services 859-803-6597 jen@stnickmedia.com Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentglobal chocolate beer marketreport from 2017-2021. This market research report also lists 15 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005846/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global chocolate beer market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) Competitive vendor landscape The global chocolate beer market is highly fragmented due to the presence of numerous vendors in several countries in Europe and the Americas. These companies are competing on the basis of price, distribution, promotion, product differentiation, and quality. The vendors, to survive and succeed in the intense competitive environment, are trying to differentiate their products and services across a clear and unique value proposition. The demand for differentiated products or products with some unique features in the beer market is fueling the growth in this market. Player performance is bound to be affected by changing consumer spending patterns due to rise in disposable income and changing lifestyles. According to Manjunath Reddy, a lead analyst at Technavio for alcoholic beverages research, "The rising number of craft breweries due to an increase in demand for specialty beers and craft beers will drive the market growth. The vendors are focusing on offering products of varied quality, price, and flavors to attract a larger customer base. The rise in a number of microbreweries in countries such as Chile, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Thailand, South Korea, and South Africa will have a positive impact on the chocolate beer market." 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 Technaviomarket research analysts identify the following key vendors: Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev has 23 agriculture and packaging facilities, 16 breweries, and 17 distributorships. The company ranked 56th in Forbes Global 2,000 ranking in 2016. Forbes Global 2,000 is an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine. The company is also focusing on increasing its operations in Africa, where it has little presence, and in Latin America, where it dominates. The Boston Beer Company The Boston Beer Company portfolio includes other brands such as A&S Brewing, Twisted Tea Company, and Angry Orchard Cider Company. Samuel Adams is one of the largest selling craft beer brands in the US. The company is launching products and is also investing in marketing and advertising activities by sponsoring various programs and game shows. The company is also investing in increasing its production and distribution capabilities and in training of its employees. D.G. Yuengling Sons D.G. Yuengling is one of the oldest family-owned breweries in the US. It manufactures lagers, porters, and ales for its wholesalers. The company also sells glassware, barware, apparel, and collectibles through its online store. In June 2015, the company launched IPL to target the mass consumers of hoppy beers in the US. It also expanded its operations in two states of New England and the third is scheduled to open soon. New Belgium Brewing Company New Belgium Brewing Company is introducing new products to cater to the changing demands of the consumer. The company sells beer in 50 states in the US and the District of Columbia and British Columbia. The company also sells beer in various countries such as Canada, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, Norway, and Australia. In 2016, the company sold about 957,968 barrels of beer. Sierra Nevada Brewing Sierra Nevada Brewing is a craft brewery, manufacturing ale and lager. It has breweries in Chico, Mills River, California, and North Carolina. It is one of the largest privately-owned breweries in the US. The company has received various awards for its products and is known all over the world. The company produces close to a million barrels of beer per year. Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Browse Related Reports: Global Alcoholic Drinks Market 2017-2021 Global Craft Spirits Market 2017-2021 Global Craft Beer Market 2017-2021 About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005846/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com PUNE, India, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report"Network Traffic Analyzer Marketby Solution and Service (Professional and Managed), Deployment Type (Cloud and On-Premises), End-User (Enterprise, Service Provider, and Data Center), Organization Size, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets', the global market size is expected to grow from USD 745.8 Million in 2017 to USD 1,631.2 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 16.9% during the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse80 Market Data Tables and33 Figures spread through136Pages and in-depth TOC on"Network Traffic Analyzer Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/network-traffic-analyzer-market-264497811.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. In-depth visibility into network security, need for maintaining Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS), and growth of network infrastructure are boosting the growth of the Network Traffic Analyzer Market across the globe. "The solutions segment is estimated to have the largest market share in 2017." The solutions segment is expected to have the largest market share during the forecast period. The enterprise network involves hundreds of network devices that include workstations, switches, routers, hubs, servers, virtual machines, firewalls, and various other network-related appliances. To manage and maintain these devices, the network administrator needs customized network traffic analyzer solutions. These tools deliver insights into the network traffic, bandwidth consumption, business applications, and protocol analysis. In addition to this, solutions identify breaches, detect, and mitigate security attacks, and make a network planning for the future. "The service provider segment is expected to play a key role in the Network Traffic Analyzer Market." The service provider segment is expected to dominate the market with the largest market share during forecast period. Globally, the need for service providers to manage network infrastructure is increasing at a rapid pace. The service providers include cloud service providers, Managed Service providers (MSPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and telecom operators. These service providers use the network traffic analyzer tool to manage, analyze, and optimize the entire network infrastructure. Request to Get PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=264497811 "North America is expected to hold the largest market share; Asia Pacific (APAC) to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period." North America is expected to hold the largest share in the global Network Traffic Analyzer Market during the forecast period. North America is the headquarters of about 50-60% of the vendors in the Network Traffic Analyzer Market with significant investments in network infrastructure by data center providers, MSPs, cloud services, and Communication Service Providers (CSPs). Enterprise mobility and IoT have penetrated the region. It is expected to provide growth opportunities for the Network Traffic Analyzer Market. APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth in the APAC region is driven by prevalent adoption of network traffic analyzer solutions by enterprise customers across China, Japan, India, and Australia. In addition to this, rapid increase in security attacks, including malwares, viruses, and Denial of Service (DoS) over enterprise networks is expected to drive the need for implementing network traffic analyzer solutions in the APAC region. Inquiry before Buying @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=264497811 Major providers of network traffic analyzer solutions are Cisco (US), SolarWinds (US), NETSCOUT SYSTEMS (US), ManageEngine (US), Kentik (US), Ipswitch (US), Colasoft (China), Genie Networks (Taiwan), Nokia (Finland), HPE (US), CA Technologies (US), and Plixer (US). Browse Related Reports Unified Network Management Market by Networking Types (Wireline and Wireless), Solution, Service (Training & Support, Consulting and Managed & Integration), Deployment (On-Premise and On-Cloud), User Type, Industry, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/unified-network-management-market-123940190.html Managed Network Services Market by Service (Managed Internet Access and Network Provisioning, VPN, Data Storage, Network Monitoring, Network Security, and Hosted IP Telephony), Organization Size, End-Use Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/managed-network-services-market-901.html About MarketsandMarkets' MarketsandMarkets' provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets' for their painpoints around revenues decisions. 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. MarketsandMarkets' now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets' is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets' INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email:sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/telecom-it Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Vivian Wang and Takashi Hayashi will strengthen Median's growth in Asia. With these appointments, and the recently announced opening of its subsidiary in Hong Kong, Median intends to significantly invest in and grow its business in the Asian market. Regulatory News: Median Technologies (Paris:ALMDT), The Imaging Phenomics Company today announces the appointment of Vivian Wang as General Manager, China and the appointment of Takashi Hayashi as Managing Director, Japan. As General Manager of China, Ms. Wang is responsible for scaling Median's operations and commercial teams. As the General Manager, she will ensure the execution of the strategic plan across Greater China and the delivery of key company and customer milestones. Vivian previously worked at Philips Healthcare where she spent a significant part of her career as the Business Leader for healthcare informatics, in which role she developed short-term and long-term business strategy, localized solution portfolio, new product introduction, distributor channel, clinical application and marketing communication strategy for the Greater China market. Vivian had direct P&L responsibility and used her experience to understand the software and healthcare markets in China, the Ministry of Health and the regulatory pathways for new product development as well as building a strong network of Key Opinion Leaders. Vivian graduated from the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. "I am so pleased to join Median Technologies as one of the leadership members. As a healthcare marketer, I recognize Median's excellent corporate culture, comprehensive edge-cutting solutions, which I believe will impact our doctors' ability to provide precise therapy and improve the patient experience. The China market provides a growing opportunity for our business, and I look forward to further developing and extending Median's global network," said Ms. Wang. As Managing Director, Japan, Takashi Hayashi is responsible for the development and scaling of Median's business in Japan. Mr. Hayashi has nearly 30 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he was at a Contract Research Organization (CRO). He has over 13 years of research and business experiences in clinical trials related to pharma/biotech products and health/functional foods. Previously, Takashi served as Director, Business Development and Key Accounts Asia-Pacific and Japan Country Manager, at BioTelemetry Research, the Research Division of BioTelemetry, Inc. Prior to BioTelemetry Research, he also held senior management positions as the Operating Officer and Director for Sales, Marketing Business Development at Ina Research Inc., a leading Japanese CRO, as well as serving as the President Chief Operating Officer at its Philippine subsidiary, INA RESEARCH PHILIPPINES, INC. Takashi holds a Bachelor of Science in Life Science from the Tokyo College of Medico-Pharmaco Technology (Japan) and Pacific Western University (off-campus, Hawaii). He is also a part-time researcher at the Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine in Toho University, Japan. "As a professional business developer and innovator, I am very honored to be joining the Median organization. I am also happy and excited to deliver outstanding Median services, expertise and technologies to pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in Japan to help with the development of a healthier world," said Mr. Hayashi. "The Asian market represents a significant development opportunity for Median's clinical trials and patient care business lines. Both Vivian's and Takashi's in-depth knowledge of the China and Japan markets will be instrumental for strengthening our position in this region. We are very excited to welcome them to our company," said Jeanne Hecht, Chief Operating Officer of Median Technologies. "Along with these two major appointments, we recently announced the opening of our new subsidiary in Hong Kong, which will allow the company to directly access the Asian market. We are also leveraging our Chinese Investor, FURUI, to build and further develop KOL networks for our patient care business line," she added. About Median Technologies: Median Technologies provides innovative imaging solutions and services to advance healthcare for everyone. We leverage the power of Imaging Phenomics to provide insights into novel therapies and treatment strategies. Our unique solutions, LMS for lesion management and iBiopsy for imaging phenotyping, together with our global team of experts, are advancing the development of new drugs and diagnostic tools to monitor disease and assess response to therapy. Median Technologies supports biopharmaceutical sponsors and healthcare professionals around the world to quickly and precisely bring new treatments to patients in need, with an eye on reducing overall care costs. This is how we are helping to create a healthier world. Founded in 2002, based in Sophia-Antipolis, France, with a US subsidiary in Boston, Median has received the label "Innovative company" by the BPI and is listed on Euronext Growth market (ISIN: FR0011049824, ticker: ALMDT). The company is eligible for the PEA-PME SME equity savings plan setup and has received the label Pass French Tech Promotion 2016-2017. Median Technologies has been awarded the 2017 Tech 40 Label and has joined the EnterNext Tech 40 Index. Median is a member of the Bpifrance Excellence Network. For more information: www.mediantechnologies.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006050/en/ Contacts: Median Technologies Fredrik Brag, CEO +33 4 92 90 65 82 fredrik.brag@mediantechnologies.com or Press - ALIZE RP Caroline Carmagnol Wendy Rigal + 33 1 44 54 36 66 median@alizerp.com or Investors - ACTIFIN Ghislaine Gasparetto +33 1 56 88 11 11 ggasparetto@actifin.fr Regulatory News: TxCell SA (Paris:TXCL) (FR0010127662 TXCL), a developer of cellular immunotherapies based on regulatory T cells (Tregs) for inflammation, autoimmunity and transplantation, today reports its revenues for the third quarter of 2017 and its cash position as of September 30, 2017. Cash position and revenues as of September 30, 2017 As of September 30, 2017, TxCell's cash and cash equivalents amounted to 7.0 million1, including 1.0 million for the partial pre-funding of TxCell's 2017 research tax credit. The proceeds from the potential exercise of all the warrants which were attached to new shares issued as part of the February 2017 capital increase would enable TxCell to finance its activities through to the IND approval to initiate a first-in-man study with a CAR-Treg candidate. This is expected by the end of 2018. TxCell is also looking at alternative financing options should these warrants not be fully exercised at maturity. The Company expects to communicate shortly regarding these options. As expected, TxCell did not generate revenues during the third quarter of 2017. TxCell confirms its operating cash burn guidance for the full year 2017 of up to 13 million. Recent progress with TxCell's CAR-Treg platform In September 2017, TxCell and its academic partner, UBC, presented new preclinical proof-of-concept data as part of their CAR-Treg program targeting the prevention of chronic rejection after organ transplantation2. Additional Treg and CAR-Treg related data were also presented in several international conferences in September and October 20173,4,5,6 Ongoing in vitro and in vivo studies conducted by TxCell are showing promising preliminary results in relevant models of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, confirming TxCell's CAR-Treg platform strategy. In the next few months, TxCell will present new proof-of- concept data in clinically relevant mouse models with several candidates at appropriate scientific conferences and/or in peer-reviewed journals. About TxCell - www.txcell.com TxCell is a biotechnology company that develops platforms for innovative, personalized T cell immunotherapies for the treatment of severe inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with high unmet medical need. TxCell is targeting transplant rejection as well as a range of autoimmune diseases (both T-cell and B-cell-mediated), including multiple sclerosis, lupus nephritis and bullous pemphigoid. TxCell's cellular immunotherapies are based on regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs). Tregs are a T cell population discovered in the nineties for which anti-inflammatory properties have been demonstrated. Contrary to conventional approaches based on non-specific polyclonal Tregs, TxCell is exclusively developing engineered antigen-specific Tregs, where the antigen specificity is brought by a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) (CAR-Treg cells). Based in Sophia-Antipolis, France, TxCell is listed on Euronext Paris and currently has 46 employees. Upcoming events Scientific and medical conferences Oct 17-20 ESGCT 2017 (European Society of Gene Cell Therapy) Berlin (DE) Financial and business conferences Nov 6-9 BIO-Europe Berlin (DE) Nov 9 5th Annual European Advanced Therapies Investor Day London (UK) Nov 14 Inv$tival Showcase London (UK) Nov 15-16 Jefferies 2017 Global Healthcare Conference London (UK) Nov 23-24 Actionaria Paris (FR) Dec 19 Invest Securities BioMed Event Paris (FR) Forward-Looking Statements TxCell This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of TxCell, which shall not be considered per se as historical facts, including TxCell's ability to develop, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for specific products, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements, needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of TxCell are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of TxCell may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. Although the management of TxCell believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonably made, they are based largely on the current expectations of TxCell as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of TxCell could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development of the Company's products, which may not succeed, or in the delivery of TxCell's products marketing authorizations by the relevant regulatory authorities and, in general, any factor that could affects TxCell capacity to commercialize the products it develops, as well as, any other risk and uncertainties developed or identified in any public documents filed by TxCell with the AMF, included those listed in chapter 4 "Risk factors" of the 2016 document de reference (registration document) approved by the AMF on April 26, 2017 under number R.17-024. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press release will in fact be realized. Notwithstanding the compliance with article 223-1 of the General Regulation of the AMF (the information disclosed must be "accurate, precise and fairly presented"), TxCell is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. 1 Unaudited data. 2 Levings MK, Alloantigen-specific regulatory T-cells generated with a chimeric antigen receptor. Oral presentation, 18th Congress of the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT), September 24-27, 2017, Barcelona, Spain. 3 Zhou L (presenting author), Abel T, Schneider IC, Beghelli S, Labbal F, David M, Menkova-Garnier I and Meyer F. Designing the next generation of chimeric Antigen receptors for Regulatory T cell therapy through in silico modeling-guided single chain Fv engineering. Oral presentation poster N12, CAR-TCR Summit 2017, September 5-8, 2017. 4 Menoret S, Guillonneau C, Anegon I (presenting author), CD8+ Treg new players in allograft tolerance. Oral presentation, Final Conference of the European COST Consortium 'Action to Focus Accelerate Cell-based Tolerogenic Therapies' (A FACTT), October 9-11, 2017, Barcelona, Spain. 5 Fenard D (presenting author), David M, Abel T, Marchetti I, Asnagli H, Zhou L and Meyer F, Combination of transduction enhancers with Ecotropic-MLV pseudotyped lentiviral vectors enables highly efficient transfer of chimeric antigen receptors into murine T effector and T regulatory lymphocytes. Poster presentation, 25th Anniversary Congress of the European Society of Gene Cell Therapy (ESGCT), October 17-20, 2017, Berlin, Germany. 6 Abel T (presenting author), Schneider IC, Beghelli S, Labbal F, David M, Zhou M and Meyer F, Designing the next generation of chimeric Antigen receptors for Regulatory T cell therapy through in silico modeling-guided single chain Fv engineering. Poster presentation, 25th Anniversary Congress of the European Society of Gene Cell Therapy (ESGCT), October 17-20, 2017, Berlin, Germany. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005856/en/ Contacts: TxCell Caroline Courme IR Communication Director Tel: +33(0) 4 97 21 83 00 caroline.courme@txcell.com or Image Box Press relations Neil Hunter Michelle Boxall Tel: +44(0) 20 8943 4685 neil.hunter@imageboxpr.co.uk michelle.boxall@imageboxpr.co.uk or NewCap - Investor relations Julien Perez Mathilde Bohin Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52 txcell@newcap.eu Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - Nikos Explorations Ltd. (TSXV: NIK) (OTC: NKOSF) ("Nikos" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Leo Karabelas has been appointed a director of the Company. Mr. Karabelas has more than 12 years of diverse experience in the mining industry, including the last 10 years as president of a Toronto based corporate communications and investor relations firm. Throughout his career Mr Karabelas has assisted numerous junior mining companies with corporate development and capital markets initiatives culminating in over two hundred million dollars worth of capital for his clientele. His diverse knowledge and understanding of the natural resources sectors has led to greater visibility and market attention from the investing community. Throughout Mr. Karabelas' career, he has built and maintained countless relationships with the North American and global investment community. Mr Karabelas is currently an officer and VP of Corporate Communications for TSX-V listed Novo Resources Corp. Mr. Karabelas holds a business degree from Ryerson University with a major in Business Management and Enterprise Development. "We are delighted to have Leo join our board as the Company embarks on exploring its exciting gold projects in Labrador," said Roger Moss, Chief Executive Officer of Nikos Explorations. "His mining industry experience and extensive knowledge of capital markets will undoubtedly serve the Company well going forward." About Nikos Explorations: Nikos Explorations is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in the Americas. Nikos recently signed a Letter of Intent under which the Company has the option to acquire 100% of the 740 square kilometre (km2) Ashuanipi property in northwest Labrador as well as a right of first refusal for the Nain (503 km2) and Hopedale Greenstone (458 km2) properties in central Labrador. The Ashuanipi gold project is located just 35km from the historical iron ore mining community of Schefferville, which is linked by rail to the port of Sept Iles, Quebec in the south. The claim blocks cover large lake sediment gold anomalies that, with the exception of local prospecting, have not seen a systematic modern day exploration program. Recent regional geological mapping in the area by the Newfoundland and Labrador Geological Survey has highlighted the gold potential of the region and historical work 30km north on the Quebec side led to gold intersections of up to 2.23 grams per tonne (g/t) Au over 19.55 metres (not true width). Gold in both areas appears to be associated with metamorphosed iron formation. The Nain gold project comprises three claim blocks, two of which lie along the Nain-Churchill terrane boundary. One of the claim blocks, Sneegamook, has the largest and most intense gold in lake sediment anomaly in Labrador, but no known gold exploration has taken place in the area. The Hopedale greenstone properties cover much of the Hunt River and Victoria Lake greenstone belts that stretch over 80km. The belts are typical of greenstone belts around the world, but have been underexplored by comparison. Historical exploration did result in a gold showing of up to 7.5 g/t Au, but no significant gold exploration has been undertaken since the discovery. The company has 25,684,225 shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol NIK. Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., is the qualified person responsible for all technical information in this release. For more information please contact: Roger Moss, President and CEO Tel: 416-704-8291 Or visit our website at: www.nikosexplorations.com 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. Technavio analysts forecast the global circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostics marketto grow at a CAGR of over 9% 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/20171019005910/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostics market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global CTC diagnostics marketfor 2017-2021. CTC diagnostics helps in the identification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) shed by tumor cells. CTCs are cancerous cells which detach from primary tumor and migrate to the bloodstream or lymphatic system of the patient. The market is growing steadily in developed countries and has a high growth potential in emerging countries such as India, China, and Brazil. The outsourcing of biopharmaceutical companies to the CROs is increasing, impacting the adoption rate in the emerging economies. Acquisition of CELLSEARCH Circulating Tumor Cell System from Janssen Diagnostics by Menarini Silicon Biosystems was one of the pivotal moments in the global CTC diagnostics market. 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 factors that are contributing to the growth of the global CTC diagnostics market: Increasing incidences of cancer Demand for CTC diagnostics for personalized cancer treatment Rising demand for liquid biopsy 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. Increasing incidences of cancer Cancer is one of the lethal diseases, which has increased mortality rate worldwide. Various types of cancer occur due to genetic changes, high consumption of alcohol, smoking, and other lifestyle changes. The overall burden of cancer is increasing across the globe. Some of the most common type of cancers are breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and melanoma of skin. According to the OECD, the death rate is high in colon cancer cases. Germany and Italy have contributed highest to the mortality rate of cancer in the region. The scenario remains same in APAC, where the diagnosis of cancer suffers due to negligence, lack of awareness, and late diagnosis of cancer. However, the global CTC diagnostics market is propelled by the rising incidence of cancer worldwide. Demand for CTC diagnostics for personalized cancer treatment Srinivas Sashidhar, a lead in-vitro diagnostics research analyst at Technavio, says, "CTC-based diagnostic tests are trending in the market for the diagnosis of cancer. CTC-based diagnostic test is a regular blood test used for tumor analysis. It is being preferred over painful bone marrow examination and surgical biopsies for the diagnosis of cancer metastasis. CTC analysis and quantification based on molecular research helps in the development of personalized cancer treatment." The demand for CTC-based diagnostics is increasing because it offers faster diagnosis, and the analyzers have user-friendly interface. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based identification methods are one of the most effective and sensitive methods for CTC genetic profiling. PCR-based methods are preferred over molecular identification and other protein-based methods for the detection of CTCs. Rising demand for liquid biopsy With the rising incidence of cancer, there is also a growing demand for improved detection and diagnosis in the market. Blood test for the screening of sticky DNA molecules released by the dead cancer cells helps in cancer diagnosis at an early stage. Liquid biopsy has been in demand for the early detection of cancer. It is one of the new technologies introduced in the medical field. The collection of tumor tissue through biopsies is the gold standard for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This diagnosis eliminates the use of biomarkers for the early detection of cancer. There are various academic research institutes, cancer associations and market vendors engaged in the development of liquid biopsy technology. Top vendors: ApoCell Qiagen Menarini Silicon Biosystems Browse Related Reports: Global Immunoprotein Diagnostic Testing Market 2017-2021 Global POC HbA1C Testing Market 2017-2021 Global Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Rapid Test Kits Market 2017-2021 About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005910/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com At this DC meeting, attendees will view the system's 60-second non-invasive evaluation of liver stiffness with real-time ShearWave Elastography Regulatory News: SuperSonic Imagine (Euronext: SSI, FR0010526814), a company specializing in ultrasound medical imaging, announced today it will be exhibiting at The Liver Meeting, held at Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC, October 20 24. The company will introduce the Aixplorer Ultimate, which is a image guided non-invasive liver disease assessment system during the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting. "The Aixplorer Ultimate's image-guided ShearWave Elastography (SWE) technique enables physicians to measure tissue stiffness non-invasively with color-coded images acquired in just 60 seconds," explains Alex Exposito, Director of North America at SuperSonic Imagine. "This evaluation of liver fibrosis severity* provides a highly accurate alternative to biopsy, without the high costs or risk of morbidity. This is particularly beneficial for patients with hepatitis C and other diseases that require repeated evaluations." The new Aixplorer Ultimate has expanded the technology evolution through innovation thanks to exclusive UltraFast technology. The Ultimate's elegant new look and enhanced user interface make it simple to use. The system's computation power is more than 4.5 times faster and 20% more energy efficient than its predecessor. Aixplorer Ultimate also includes a barcode scanner for inputting patient information, reducing manual errors and saving time. With its new Aixplorer Ultimate and its exclusive UltraFast technology SuperSonic Imagine expands the platform, adding new innovative features, making exams easier, without compromising quality or performance. Non-invasive tools to evaluate liver stiffness and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) assessment are at the point of care, making the procedure an extension of the clinical examination "We look forward to sharing the Aixplorer Ultimate's capabilities at The Liver Meeting. With SWE technology, Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists can evaluate liver stiffness for the assessment of liver fibrosis* and NASH severity without a biopsy" said SuperSonic Imagine CEO MicheIle Lesieur. More than 120 international publications agree in demonstrating the reliability and effectiveness of SuperSonic Imagine's ShearWave Elastography in the liver field. Attendees can learn more about the Aixplorer Ultimate by visiting SSI at booth #306 throughout The Liver Meeting. *Pending FDA 510k About SuperSonic Imagine Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence (France), SuperSonic Imagine is a company specializing in medical imaging. The company designs, develops and markets a revolutionary ultrasound system, Aixplorer, with an UltraFast platform that can acquire images 200 times faster than conventional ultrasound systems. In addition to providing exceptional image quality, this unique technology is the foundation of several innovations which have changed the paradigm of ultrasound imaging: ShearWave Elastography (SWE), UltraFast Doppler and more recently Angio PL.U.S Planewave UltraSensitive Imaging. ShearWave Elastography allows physicians to visualize and analyze the stiffness of tissue in a real-time, reliable, reproducible and non-invasive manner. This criteria has become an important parameter in diagnosing potentially malignant tissue or other diseased tissue. As of today, over 300 peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated the value of SWE for the clinical management of patients with a wide range of diseases. UltraFast Doppler combines Color Flow Imaging and Pulsed Wave Doppler into one simple exam, providing physicians with exam results simultaneously and helping to increase patient throughput. The latest innovation, Angio PL.U.S, provides a new level of microvascular imaging through significantly improved color sensitivity and spatial resolution while maintaining exceptional 2D imaging. SuperSonic Imagine has been granted regulatory clearances for the commercialization of Aixplorer in key global markets. SuperSonic Imagine is a listed company since April 2014 on the Euronext, symbol SSI. For more information about SuperSonic Imagine, please go to www.supersonicimagine.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006106/en/ Contacts: SuperSonic Imagine Marketing Communication Emmanuelle Vella emmanuelle.vella@supersonicimagine.com +33 4 86 79 03 27 or NewCap Investor Relations EU Pierre Laurent Florent Alba supersonicimagine@newcap.fr +33144719855 or Pascale Communication Media Relations US Amy Phillips amy@pascalecommunications.com +1 412 327 9499 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Flowserve Corporation ("Flowserve" or the "Company") (NYSE: FLS) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws. On July 27, 2017, Flowserve announced disappointing Second Quarter 2017 Results. Flowserve announced that "certain immaterial accounting errors were identified in prior period financial statements for the period beginning in 2013 through the first quarter of 2017..." In addition, "the Company determined material weakness existed in its internal control structure at year-end 2016 and continued through the end of the 2017 second quarter." Upon this news, shares of Flowserve were down more than 11% on July 28, 2017. To obtain additional information, go to: http://www.zlkdocs.com/FLS-Info-Request-Form-5977 or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. 30 Broad Street- 24th Floor New York, NY10004 Tel: (212) 363-7500 Toll-Free: (877) 363-5972 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Americas clinical sales grew 22% in the first 9 months of 2017 while global sales decreased 22% Focus on transition to new business model in U.S. drives significant increase in probes re-orders in this geography Mauna Kea Technologies will host a conference call today at 7:15 PM (CET Paris time) 1:15 PM (ET New York time) to discuss the Company's third quarter 2017 sales results and to provide a business update. The conference call will be hosted by Sacha Loiseau (CEO) and Olivier Regnard (CFO). To access the conference call, please use one of the following dial-in numbers at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and follow the instructions: USA: +1 646-722-4907 UK: +44 2030432440 FR: +33 (0)1 72 00 15 10. PIN number: 67839178#. Following the conclusion of the live call, a replay will be available for 90 days. To access the replay, please dial one of the following numbers: USA: +1 877 64 230 18 UK: +44(0) 2033679460 FR: 33(0)1 72 00 15 00. Passcode for the replay is 311138#. Regulatory News: Mauna Kea Technologies (Paris:MKEA) (OTCQX:MKEAY) (Euronext: MKEA, OTCQX: MKEAY) inventor of Cellvizio, the multidisciplinary confocal laser endomicroscopy platform, today announced its sales for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017. The Company will host a conference call today to review the sales results. Sacha Loiseau, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mauna Kea Technologies declared, "In the third quarter we continued to build momentum in the U.S. around our new Cellvizio pay-per-use business model. We also made progress in hiring additional sales representatives in the U.S. and strengthened our execution capabilities. Other key initiatives moved forward as highlighted by our partner Cook Medical initiating its launch of Cellvizio in the urology market and important regulatory approvals around the compatibility of Cellvizio with surgical robotics." Nine Months 2017 Sales (in thousands) IFRS 2017 2016 Change 1st Quarter 1,599 1,954 (18%) 2nd Quarter 1,686 2,511 (33%) 3rd Quarter 1,852 2,108 (12%) q/q growth 10% (16%) Total 9M Sales 5,137 6,574 (22%) Third Quarter 2017 Sales by Category (in thousands) IFRS Q3 2017 (September 30, 2017) Q3 2016 (September 30, 2016) Change Systems 926 889 4% Consumables 674 776 (13%) Services 251 443 (43%) Total Sales 1,852 2,108 (12%) In the third quarter of 2017, the Company sold 8 Cellvizio systems and secured contracts for 4 new systems under consignment in the U.S., compared to 10 systems sold and no consignment systems shipped in the third quarter of 2016. Shipped consumable probes unit volume was 175 units, up 16% compared to 151 probes sold in the third quarter of 2016. The number of probe reorders (probes shipped to existing customers or pay-per-use customers) was 108 in the third quarter of 2017, compared to 110 in the third quarter of 2016. This reflects a significant increase in reorder volumes in the U.S. (+95% in the third quarter and +30% over the first nine months), offset by a decrease in reorder volumes in other markets (-62% in the third quarter and -50% over the first nine months) due to the Company's focus on the implementation of its new pay-per-use business model in the U.S. Third Quarter 2017 Sales by Geography with Split by Activity (Clinical Pre-clinical) (in thousands) IFRS Q3 2017 (September 30, 2017) Q3 2016 (September 30, 2016) Change Americas 1,174 911 29% Clinical 1,168 853 37% Pre-clinical 6 58 (90%) Asia-Pacific 609 717 (15%) Clinical 485 614 (21%) Pre-clinical 124 103 21% EMEA 69 480 (86%) Clinical 56 457 (88%) Pre-clinical 13 22 (43%) Total Clinical Sales 1,709 1,924 (11%) Total Pre-clinical Sales 143 184 (22%) Total Sales 1,852 2,108 (12%) Clinical sales Clinical sales in the Americas region increased 37% in the third quarter of 2017. The main focus of the Company is the roll-out of its new pay-per-use business model for Cellvizio's core GI applications in the U.S., which represents a significant market opportunity and is supported by positive reimbursement coverage (cf. press release dated 4 November 2016). Clinical sales decreased 21% in the Asia-Pacific region (-45% over the first nine months of 2017) and 88% in the EMEA (-57% over the first nine months of 2017) as the company continued to focus its resources on the growth of its core clinical business in the U.S. Pre-clinical sales Pre-clinical sales are by nature less recurring compared to clinical ones. Therefore comparison from one period to another is difficult. Pre-clinical sales declined 22% in the third quarter of 2017, with growth in the Asia-Pacific region offset by declines in the Americas and EMEA regions, reflecting the inherent lumpiness in this business and the Company's focus on its U.S. clinical business. Nine Months 2017 Quarterly Data 2017 Quarterly Sales by Geography with Split by Activity (Clinical Pre-clinical) (in thousands) IFRS September 30, 2017 September 30, 2016 Var (%) Q1 Q2 Q3 9M Q1 Q2 Q3 9M 9M Americas 850 708 1,174 2,732 809 950 911 2,671 2% Clinical 871 693 1,168 2,733 610 782 853 2,245 22% Pre-clinical -21 15 6 -1 199 169 58 426 -100% Asia-Pacific 202 476 609 1,286 668 814 717 2200 -42% Clinical 171 262 485 918 424 625 614 1,663 -45% Pre-clinical 31 213 124 368 244 190 103 537 -31% EMEA 547 502 69 1,118 477 746 480 1,703 -34% Clinical 219 419 56 694 445 719 457 1,621 -57% Pre-clinical 328 83 13 424 33 28 22 83 411% Total Clinical Sales 1,261 1,375 1,709 4,345 1,479 2,125 1,924 5,529 -21% Total Pre-clinical Sales 338 311 143 792 476 385 184 1,045 -24% Total Sales 1,599 1,686 1,852 5,137 1,954 2,511 2,108 6,574 -22% Systems 685 838 926 2,449 920 1 374 889 3,183 -23% Consumables 535 564 674 1,773 681 783 776 2,240 -21% Services 380 284 251 915 353 354 443 1,151 -21% Total Sales 1,599 1,686 1,852 5,137 1,954 2,511 2,108 6,574 -24% 2017 Quarterly Unit Sales by Type Units September 30, 2017 September 30, 2016 Q1 Q2 Q3 9M Q1 Q2 Q3 9M New systems straight sales (per unit) 5 9 8 22 9 17 10 36 New consignments placed 6 2 4 12 1 5 0 6 Probes 125 129 175 429 197 217 151 565 o/w reorders or pay-per-use 115 107 108 330 167 139 110 416 About Mauna Kea Technologies Mauna Kea Technologies is a global medical device company focused on eliminating uncertainties related to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases thanks to real time in vivo microscopic visualization. The Company's flagship product, Cellvizio, has received clearance to sell a wide range of applications in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. For more information on Mauna Kea Technologies, visit www.maunakeatech.com Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Mauna Kea Technologies and its activities. Such forward looking statements are based on assumptions that Mauna Kea Technologies considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the anticipated events contained in such forward-looking statements will occur. Forward- looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties including the risks set forth in the registration document of Mauna Kea Technologies registered by the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorite des marches financiers (AMF)) on May 31, 2017 under number D.17-0574 and available on the Company's website (www.maunakeatech.com), and to the development of economic situation, financial markets, and the markets in which Mauna Kea Technologies operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are also subject to risks unknown to Mauna Kea Technologies or that Mauna Kea Technologies does not consider material at this time. The realization of all or part of these risks could lead to actual results, financial conditions, performances or achievements by Mauna Kea Technologies that differ significantly from the results, financial conditions, performances or achievements expressed in such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or to subscribe for, or a solicitation of an order to purchase or subscribe for, Mauna Kea Technologies shares in any country. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006126/en/ Contacts: Mauna Kea Technologies Olivier Regnard CFO investors@maunakeatech.com or United States Zack Kubow Lee Roth The Ruth Group 646-536-7020 / 7012 zkubow@theruthgroup.com lroth@theruthgroup.com or U.S. Media Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group 508-280-6592 kthomas@theruthgroup.com or France and Europe NewCap Investor Relations Florent Alba +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 maunakea@newcap.fr Two strategic partnerships completed validating the platform and the pipeline Major investment by Tasly Pharmaceutical Target confirmed: first marketing authorization of PXT3003 in the second half of 2019 Regulatory News: Pharnext SA (FR00111911287 ALPHA), a biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new approach to the development of innovative drugs based on the combination and repositioning of known drugs, today announced its first-half 2017 financial results. Daniel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. Co-Founder and CEO said of activity for the first half of 2017: "Activity in the first-half of the year was very dense; we implemented two prominent strategic partnerships with the biotech company Galapagos and the Tasly Group, one of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in China. Our flagship product, PXT3003 for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A, is nearing the end of Phase 3, which is slated for the second half of 2018. We confirm our target of taking the product to market by 2019 A half-year marked by strategic agreements In March 2017, Pharnext signed its first R&D partnership with Galapagos NV for the creation of a new pipeline of pre-clinical combinations. This agreement relies on Pharnext's drug research and development platform: PLEOTHERAPY. The working programme involves several therapeutic indications particularly in inflammatory diseases. In May 2017, Pharnext also signed a major strategic agreement with Tasly Pharmaceutical, a group in the top 10 of listed Chinese pharmaceutical companies. This agreement is for a 20 million investment by Tasly in Pharnext and the creation of a Joint-Venture (JV) for research and development, 30% owned by Pharnext, to develop new combinations between chemical molecules and drugs produced by modernised Chinese traditional medicine. This partnership also includes a licensing agreement for the JV to market the drug candidate PXT3003 for CMT1A on the Chinese market. Continuation of the clinical trial for PXT3003 in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A) with a first date set year-end 2017 During the first half of 2017, Pharnext continued the Phase 3 clinical trial of PXT3003, PLEODRUGTM candidate, for the treatment of CMT1A. Patient enrolment was completed in compliance with the established roadmap. An important step is expected by the end of 2017 with the results of the adaptive design and futility analysis. The aim of the adaptive design analysis is to determine whether or not more patients should be added to the study. The futility analysis helps determine whether to continue or discontinue the trial, based on the observed efficacy of the first patient sample (100/300). High visibility at large international events Along with ongoing R&D efforts, there was an increased presence at major international scientific meetings dedicated to orphan and neurodegenerative diseases, and to the repositioning of drugs: In late March 2017, Pharnext presented new synergy data in Vienna, Austria, at the 13 th International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and related neurological disorders. In pre-clinical models of Alzheimer's disease, PXT864 enhanced the efficacy of standard therapeutic treatments. International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and related neurological disorders. In pre-clinical models of Alzheimer's disease, PXT864 enhanced the efficacy of standard therapeutic treatments. In late June 2017, the R&D PLEOTHERAPY platform was presented during the 6 th Annual Conference on "Drug Repositioning, Repurposing and Rescue" in Chicago, United States. This presentation also gave Pharnext the opportunity to provide more specific information on its business model and growth strategy for the coming years. Annual Conference on "Drug Repositioning, Repurposing and Rescue" in Chicago, United States. This presentation also gave Pharnext the opportunity to provide more specific information on its business model and growth strategy for the coming years. In early July 2017 in Sitjes, Spain, a status update of the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for PXT3003 in CMT1A was presented during an oral presentation and on a poster at the 2017 Peripheral Nerve Society Meeting. In mid-July 2017 in London, United Kingdom, new synergy data on PXT864 in Alzheimer's disease were also presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2017. In early September 2017, a status update of the pivotal Phase 3 trial of PXT3003 was also presented as a poster at the 2017 American Association of Neuromuscular Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) in Phoenix, United States. From now until the end of the year, Pharnext will participate in major international events where it will have the opportunity to spotlight the clinical development of PXT3003 and PXT864 to the global medical and scientific community. For instance, the company will give a presentation at the CMT Patient Summit of the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation (HNF). This will be held in Boston, United States, on 3 November. The company will also take part in the CTAD (Clinical Trial on Alzheimer's Disease) conference in Boston, United States, from 1-4 November. H1 2017 Financial Results as K (1) IFRS at 30 June H1 2017 H1 2016 Other income 1,216 1,993 Research development expenses (7,610) (5,740) Administrative costs (2,936) (1,927) Operating income (9,330) (5,674) Financial income (767) (2,295) Net income (10,098) (7,969) Net cash flows generated from (used in) operating activities (12,108) (3,692) Net cash generated from (used in) investment activities (152) (296) Net cash generated from (used in) financing activities 1,740 5,907 Change in cash and cash equivalents (10,521) 1,919 Cash and cash equivalents 6,149 5,008 Pro forma cash after Tasly investments 26,149 (1) The H1 2017 financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors at their meeting on 19 October 2017. They were subject to a limited review by the Statutory Auditors. The half-year financial report is available on the Company's website: https://www.pharnext.com/en/investors/ As the company is not yet seeing any revenue, most other deferred revenue comes from the research tax credit (Research Tax Credit for H1 2017 of K 1,956, and the French Tax Credit for Competitiveness and Employment (CICE) to the amount of K 10.2). The increase in R&D spending is related to the development of Phase 3 trials with PXT3003 on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT 1A). The operating loss at 30 June 2017 was -9.3 million, compared to -5.6 million one year earlier. Our financial expenses decreased by 1.5 million as a result of the conversion of bonds during the IPO. After accounting for these elements, net income came to -10.1 million compared with -7.9 million at 30 June 2016. Cash flow requirements generated by the activity amounted to 12.1 million in the first half of 2017. Cash flow from investments came to -K 152. Resources generated by financing activities stood at 1.7 million. On 30 June 2017, the company's share capital was negative at -6.4 million. Cash assets amounted to 6.1 million before Tasly operations. Post-closing, the agreements signed with Tasly Pharmaceuticals had several financial impacts in July, with the income from a restricted capital increase, a 5 million cash contribution (4.9 million issue premium) and a 15 million convertible bond issuance. Restated for these two transactions, pro forma cash assets at the end of June 2017 after the Tasly Group's investment, amount to 26.1 million. About PHARNEXT Pharnext is an advanced clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company founded by renowned scientists and entrepreneurs including Professor Daniel Cohen, a pioneer in modern genomics. Pharnext has two products in clinical development. PXT3003 is currently in an international Phase 3 trial for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A and benefits from orphan drug status in Europe and the United States. PXT864 has generated positive Phase 2 results in Alzheimer's disease. Pharnext is the pioneer of a new drug discovery paradigm: PLEOTHERAPY. The company identifies and develops synergistic combinations of repositioned drugs at optimal reduced doses. These PLEODRUG have many significant benefits: effective and innocuous, their solid intellectual property includes several product patents already delivered. The Company is supported by a world-class scientific team. The company Pharnext is listed on Euronext Growth Stock Exchange in Paris (ISIN code: FR00111911287). For more information, visit our website: www.pharnext.com UPCOMING EVENTS Salon Actionaria, Paris: 23 24 November 2017 Publication of 2017 annual results: 27 April 2018 DISCLAIMER This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Pharnext and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Pharnext considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the Document de reference registration document filed with the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF- French Financial Market Authority) on July 28, 2016 under nR.16-069 and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Pharnext operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Pharnext or not currently considered material by Pharnext. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Pharnext to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Pharnext shares in any country. The communication of this press release in certain countries may constitute a violation of local laws and regulations. Any recipient of this press release must inform oneself of any such local restrictions and comply therewith. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006257/en/ Contacts: Financial Communications (France and Europe) Actifin Stephane Ruiz, +33 (0)1 56 88 11 11 sruiz@actifin.fr or Investor Relations (U.S.) Stern Investor Relations, Inc. Matthew Shinseki, +1 212-362-1200 matthew@sternir.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senate Republicans appear poised to approve a budget resolution that will serve as the legislative vehicle for their tax reform plan. The non-binding budget resolution unlocks the reconciliation process, allowing Republicans to pass their tax reform plan with a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate. While Senator Rand Paul, R-Ken., has indicated his opposition to the resolution for exceeding caps on spending, the measure is still expected to pass by a narrow margin. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., has signaled he will vote in favor of the budget resolution, and Senator Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has returned to Washington after an illness-related absence. Republicans are subsequently likely to have at least the 50 votes needed to pass the resolution with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence. The vote on the budget resolution will be preceded by a so-called 'vote-a-rama,' when senators are allowed to introduce as many amendments as they want on any subject. Senate Democrats have signaled they intend to focus on amendments related to the tax reform plan rather than on unrelated hot-button issues. Three Democratic amendments introduced on Wednesday would block potential cuts to Medicaid, shore up funds for Medicare and prevent tax cuts from benefiting the top 1 percent of earners. Democrats are also likely to force Republicans to make tough votes on increasing the deficit to pay for the tax cuts included in their plan. The Senate budget resolution would allow the tax reform legislation to add up to $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next ten years. Meanwhile, the version of the resolution passed by the House earlier this month called for a revenue-neutral tax bill. Lawmakers will subsequently have to reconcile the two versions of the measure in order to push forward with tax reform. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Appointment Bolsters Putnam's Institutional Team in Key European Markets Putnam Investments today announced that Oliver Grimson has joined the firm as Director of Investment Management for the Nordics and Benelux regions, responsible for leading the firm's work with the institutional marketplace in the area. Grimson is based in London and reports directly to Daniel Melley, who oversees the firm's broader efforts to serve institutional clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Putnam. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006306/en/ Oliver Grimson, Director of Investment Management for the Nordics and Benelux regions for Putnam Investments. (Photo: Business Wire) "In our continuing work to provide leading investment strategies to institutional clients across Europe, we are pleased to bring onboard a talented professional such as Oliver to drive the firm's efforts in two very important regions," said Melley. "Oliver's in-depth knowledge and experience working in continental Northern Europe will even further enhance Putnam's approach to building successful relationships in the marketplace based on close alignment with clients' investment objectives." Grimson joins an EMEA team led by Melley, who joined Putnam in 2016 as part of the firm's growing European presence. Melley reports directly to Jeffrey L. Gould, Head of Putnam Global Institutional Management. Melley indicated that another noteworthy new hire by Putnam was the appointment of Katherine Collins as Head of Sustainable Investing earlier this year. Collins is spearheading the firm's incorporation of advanced ESG thinking across investment platforms and will be exploring the development of new strategies for the marketplace. About Oliver Grimson Prior to joining Putnam, Grimson served as Client Relationship Manager, EMEA Institutional Sales, for Dimensional Fund Advisors in London from 2011 to 2017. In addition to managing client relationships and contributing to business development, Grimson also oversaw client service programs and trained personnel within the team. He began his career as an investment analyst for Xafinity Consulting in the United Kingdom. Grimson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Sheffield University and a Master of Finance degree with a specialization in International Wealth and Asset Management from the International University of Monaco. About Putnam Institutional Through offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, Putnam currently has relationships with more than 100 institutional clients worldwide. Putnam offers more than 50 institutional strategies for clients including multi-asset absolute return and alternative fixed income and equity products. Putnam's clients include sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, government pension funds, the defined benefit retirement plans of large corporations and other institutions. About Putnam Investments Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a global money management firm with 80 years of investment experience. At the end of September 2017, Putnam had $168 billion in assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit putnam.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006306/en/ Contacts: Putnam Investments Jon Goldstein, 617-760-1127 (office) 516-946-5598 (cell) jon_goldstein@putnam.com or Laura McNamara, 617-760-1108 (office) 978-505-0524 (cell) laura_mcnamara@putnam.com The global label-free detection (LFD) market is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of close to 11% during the forecast period, according to Technavio's latest market research. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006025/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global label-free detection (LFD) market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) In this market research report, Technaviocovers the market outlook and growth prospects of the global label-free detection (LFD) market for 2017-2021. The market is further categorized into products (cell-based assays and biochemical assays) and end-user (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organizations (CROs), and academic and research institutes). Technavio's research analysts segment the global label-free detection (LFD) market into the following regions: Americas APAC EMEA 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. Americas: largest LFD market The rise in chronic diseases such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, and other life-threatening diseases are leading to an increase in drug discovery programs in the Americas. The various drug discovery campaigns and conferences are organized to help increase market funding. The rising number of collaborations among pharma companies and academic institutes will fuel the development of the LFD market in the Americas. The improvement in economic conditions and healthcare services in countries such as Brazil and Mexico will have a positive impact on the market. In 2016, the Americas accounted for around 45% of the total market share. "The partnerships between academic institutes and industry giants helps reduce the clinical trial cost and testing of efficacy through LFD technology. The US, Mexico, and Canada are some of the major LFD markets in the Americas with the US being the highest contributor. The market in the US is dominated by the presence of major vendors. Drug discovery programs and conferences help in accelerating biomedical research in the country," says Srinivas Sashidhar, a lead research expert from Technavio for life science research tools. 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 EMEA The LFD market in EMEA occupied about 34% of the total market share in 2016. The rise in chronic diseases is leading to an increase in the development of personalized medicine, which enhances the treatment process and controls the mortality rate in the region. The LFD market in EMEA is also witnessing a fast-paced growth in Eastern European and African countries such as Tanzania, Algeria, and Ethiopia. "Governments in different countries in Europe are looking for alternatives to centralize testing procedures and are encouraging diagnostic centers to adhere to a single regulatory environment. With vendors paying close attention to LFD applications required, new end-user bases such as Contract Research Organizations are set up," says Srinivas APAC In 2016, the LFD market in APAC accounted for around 21% of the total market share.The increase in outsourcing activities to CROs by leading pharmaceutical to the emerging nations in APAC will boost the development in the region. India and China are lucrative markets for drug enhancement, kinetic studies, and outsourcing to CROs by biopharmaceutical companies. The increasing patient pool, growing interest of international players such as Bio-Rad Laboratories and F. Hoffmann-La Roche, and increasing R&D activities are propelling the market growth in this region. The top vendors in the global label-free detection (LFD) market as highlighted in this market research analysis are: Bio-Rad Laboratories GE Healthcare F.Hoffman-La Roche Browse Related Reports: Global Transplantation Market 2017-2021 Global Cell Culture Protein Surface Coating Market 2017-2021 Global Biobanking Market 2017-2021 About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006025/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com HANCOCK, MD / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / PetLife Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: PTLF) (the "Company"), a developer of a new generation of high- potency veterinary cancer medications and nutraceuticals for pets, through its subsidiary, PetLife Pharma International, Inc. (collectively "PetLife"), and in cooperation with Elite International Partners ("Elite"), announces its initiatives in Haiti to improve the lives of companion animals and the people of Haiti. With the cooperation and support of the Haitian government, and in partnership with the Mission Light of Light Church, PetLife is establishing a scorpion ranch and laboratory facilities ("PetLife Scorpion Ranch" ), to harvest the venom of the Caribbean Blue Scorpion. This effort will provide the necessary material for PetLife's research efforts and production of its patent-pending formulation for the treatment of cancer in animals and humans. PetLife's formulation has been developed to address a leading cause of death in companion animals, one that causes the death of 47 percent of dogs and 32 percent of cats in the United States. We anticipate that a successful clinical trial in animals will not only relieve suffering in our companion pets but also will be the foundation for treatment of select human cancers. PetLife plans to proceed with the development of human applications after completion of our clinical and regulatory program which will be presented to the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for approval soon. Once the program has been approved for implementation, PetLife anticipates that it will take approximately 24 months for the studies necessary for approval of the new animal drug which has been trademarked as VitalzulTM. Our CEO, Dr. Ralph Salvagno, an Orthopaedic Surgeon, was part of the early medical teams that cared for victims of the earthquake in 2010. Returning several times since, he recognized the need for sustainable economic growth. PetLife is pleased to be part of the revitalization of the country of Haiti. As part of our new presence in Haiti, we are hosting a veterinary event with the aim of reducing the rapid spread of rabies in Haiti, which is the result of the earthquake. Haiti has the highest rate of human rabies deaths in the western hemisphere. PetLife is working with the Mission Light of Light Church and the Haitian Government to establish a charitable foundation to benefit the orphans, workers and families who live nearby to our PetLife Scorpion Ranch and laboratory. As part of our long-term plan, we hope to establish a school, living quarters and medical facilities to the impoverished area. About PetLife Pharmaceuticals PetLife Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PTLF) (www.PetLifePharma.com) is a registered U.S. Veterinary Pharmaceutical company. PetLife's mission is to bring its new, non-toxic, bioactive nutraceuticals and prescription medications to the world of veterinary oncology with the ultimate goal of preventing cancer and extending the life of pets suffering from cancer while improving their quality of life. The Company's first product, Vitalzul, is currently in testing. Vitalzul's active ingredients have been shown to have activity against several different cancer cell lines. In the U.S. alone, consumer spending on domestic companion animals reached over $60 billion in 2015 with over $29 billion spent on veterinary care and medications. PetLife's acquired brand, Dr. Geoff's Real Food for Pets, will launch in 2017. PetLife Scorpion Ranch will break ground in 2017. PetLife anticipates incorporating Vitalzul in a new and advanced therapeutic pet food line in 2019. Forward-looking statement: This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements," as defined in the United States PSLRA of 1995, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and the actual results and future events could differ materially from management's current expectations. The economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the Company's previous filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Company Contact Dr. Ralph Salvagno RSalvagno@PetLifePharma.com 844-473-8543 ext. 702 SOURCE: PetLife Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --The Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School hosted a special, 20thanniversary, invitation-only gala on October 19, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, that will be followed by the annual U.S.-Japan symposium in Odawara over the weekend. The first symposium was held in 1998 to address the then severe problems in the Japanese financial system. PIFS also hosts four other annual Symposia between the U.S. and China, Europe, India and Latin America. The U.S.-Japan symposium has involved such recognizable figures in international finance as Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of Bank of Japan, Wilbur Ross, U.S. Commerce Secretary, and Larry Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University. The gala and symposium celebrate the continued cooperation between American and Japanese financial officials, financiers and academics, and their ongoing efforts to address bilateral and global financial issues. The symposium has also served to foster important relationships between the financial leaders of both countries. In recent years, symposia topics have included the future of large global banks as well as the rise of China and its implications for Japan, the U.S. and the global financial markets. At the gala, PIFS announced its forthcoming separation from Harvard Law School as Hal S. Scott, Nomura Professor and Founder and Director of PIFS, transitions to his new role as Emeritus Professor at Harvard in June 2018. The program will move forward as an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) entity, with Harvard Law School becoming a non-financial sponsor of future symposia.Scott will continue to lead PIFS. Discussing the change, Scott said, "My vision for the future of PIFS is to strengthen the role of the symposia as a place for academics, government and industry to meet worldwide and address critical problems. PIFS has also begun to play a critical role in providing executive education programs for financial officials from around the world." Harvard Law School and PIFS will also partner in expanding PIFS' executive education programs, which now includes a program withIOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions. For any inquiries regarding the gala, symposium or restructuring of the Program on International Financial Systems, please contact Whitney Vasey (wvasey@law.harvard.edu). BizVibe, a smart B2B networking platform for global buyers and suppliers, announced today the next generation of its B2B networking platform for Japan's automotive industry. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006370/en/ Japan's Automotive Industry BizVibe's New B2B Networking Platform for Auto Suppliers in Japan (Graphic: Business Wire) With the update, establish a faster and more efficient path from company discovery to getting better quotes and build long-lasting profitable business partnerships with Japan's automotive suppliers. Check out the new update Japan is now the world's 3rd largest car maker by volume and the world's 2nd largest automotive exporter by value. BizVibe's latest update connects businesses to the top auto parts companies and helps users discover thousands of opportunities daily. We've innovated the modern networking platform to make the process faster, smarter and hassle-free. Connect and network with Japan's top automotive suppliers on BizVibe. View more about Japan's automotive industry: How BizVibe is helping buyers connect with leading Japanese auto manufacturers, suppliers, and exporters. Why connect with car makers from Japan's automotive industry? The Japanese automotive industry has always been one of the most prominent and the largest in the world. In 2016, Japan produced over 9.2 million automobiles, including 7.87 million passenger cars and 1.3 million commercial vehicles, making it the world's 3rd largest automaker after China and the USA. Meanwhile, the exports of motor vehicles from Japan grew 1.2% from the previous year to 4.63 million units in the same year. Looking for more information on this market? How the Japanese automotive industry is at its best level in 2017. Not only does BizVibe's networking platform introduce businesses to verified auto parts companies in Japan, the intelligent B2B networking platform also connects global trade professionals with over 7 million prospecting and sourcing candidates in over 700+ industries. BizVibe cuts research time, allowing you to go after the real opportunities. Network with the Top Auto Suppliers in Japan BizVibe connects like-minded buyers and suppliers to help companies keep up with the market demand. Join for free today to find your next big opportunity in a community of more than thousands of automotive suppliers in Japan. Top Japanese Automotive Companies on BizVibe Hino Motors Suzuki AISIN SEIKI CO.,LTD Isuzu Motors Limited BizVibe's New Networking Platform Helps You Find Top auto suppliers in Japan Reliable and trusted auto parts industry experts Relevant business chatter in the automotive industry in Japan Increase your company's exposure. Add your company to the BizVibe network and instantly match with the top exporters, suppliers, and buyers of auto parts around the world. Browse News Related to the Automotive Industry in Japan Japanese Automotive Industry Spikes to Its Best Level in 2017 Top 10 Auto Parts Manufacturers in the US Top 20 Automobile Manufacturing Countries Connecting on BizVibe BizVibe has been specifically designed to help industry professionals connect with like-minded businesses, providing them with a seamless, efficient, and easy-to-use platform. Using cutting-edge technology and advanced match-making algorithms, BizVibe has launched the smartest networking platform on today, a platform that can truly help companies find the right matches. With extensive feedback from communities across multiple industries, BizVibe was able to identify the core problems and uncertainties when finding potential trade partners. Using this feedback, BizVibe developed an efficient networking platform dedicated to buyers, sellers, importers, exporters, manufacturers, and suppliers, helping thousands of users to connect, engage, and make business deals daily. About BizVibe The single-minded focus of BizVibe's platform is to make networking easier. Over the years, we've searched far and wide to figure out how businesses connect and enable trade. That first interaction is usually fraught with the uncertainty of finding a potential partner vs. a potential nightmare. With this in mind, we've designed a robust set of tools to help companies generate leads, shortlist prospects, network with businesses from around the world and trade seamlessly. BizVibe is headquartered in Toronto and has offices in London, Bangalore, and Beijing. For more information on the BizVibe network, pleasecontact us. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006370/en/ Contacts: BizVibe Sony Gomes Media Marketing Executive media@bizvibe.com NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. ("Dr. Reddy's" or the "Company") (NYSE: RDY). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, Ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Dr. Reddy's and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On November 6, 2015, Dr. Reddy's announced that it had received a warning letter issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning inadequate quality control standards at three of the Company's manufacturing plants in India. On this news, Dr. Reddy's' American Depositary Receipt ("ADR") price fell $11.75, or 18.01%, to close at $53.50 on November 6, 2015. On August 10, 2017, Dr. Reddy's disclosed that the Regulatory of Germany (Regierung von Oberbayern) did not renew the good manufacturing practices (GMP) compliance certificate of a formulations manufacturing unit of the Company's German subsidiary, Betapharm Arzneimittel, located in Hyderabad, India, following a recent inspection of the plant. On this news, Dr. Reddy's' ADR price has fallen as much as $1.91, or 5.92%, during intraday trading on August 10, 2017. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2017) - RT Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RTM) (OTC Pink: RTMFF) (the "Company") announces that further to its news release of September 7, 2017, it has completed ten (10) shallow NQ core drill holes (807 metres), power stripping, prospecting, geological mapping, and sampling of geophysical targets and historical gold showings on the Company's 100% optioned Norwalk gold property. Norwalk adjoins the southern boundary of Red Pine Explorations Inc. ("Red Pine") Wawa gold property. The Company is exploring for groups of close-spaced significant gold-bearing structures and areas of near-surface gold-bearing disseminated sulphides targeting a large orogenic gold deposit. Norwalk and Gananoque are two gold-bearing areas located about 1,600 metres from one another, with groups of historical gold occurrences that align in 800 to 1,200 metre zones that may be related to regional structures. The Company has not yet conducted enough work to establish the relationship between historical gold occurrences. Area L1250-615N located in the south-central part of the Norwalk property has been drilled, mechanically stripped, power washed, mapped and sampled during the current program. Surface assays confirm significant gold mineralization with free gold in a 1 to 2 metre thick chloritic shear zone with quartz-carbonate-tourmaline veins that is exposed for some 20 metre strike length in a surface-stripped area. Grab sample 582567 (UTM 667720E 5310414N) returned 4.49 g Au/Mt, and 669.55 g Au/Mt (check), and sample 582516 (same location) returned 61.39 g Au/Mt. This gold-bearing structure was tested by drill holes N17-08, N17-09 and N17-10. While most samples are still in cue for assaying, drill hole N17-09 (UTM 667712E 5310420N, Azimuth 120, Dip -45) returned 200 ppb Au from 8.0 to 9.0 metres. This gold-bearing intercept demonstrates that gold bearing structures on surface continue with depth. Highly variable gold results present from surface samples and drill core sampling at Area L1250-615N suggest nugget effect gold assays, when a gold assay does not precisely measure the gold content of the entire sample tested due to non-uniform distribution of high-grade gold nuggets in rock. Gold assays with nugget effect cannot be relied upon as the actual gold content is somewhere between extreme high or extreme low gold values. The Company will re-assay sample rejects using pulp and metallic sieve analysis method to more accurately quantify the gold content of each gold-bearing sample. Current drilling has tested 5 of 69 geophysical Induced Polarization (IP) targets identified by the Company from its recent 36 line-kilometre IP geophysical survey. IP chargeability anomalies are explained in core by disseminated pyrrhotite (Po) and pyrite (Py). IP resistivity anomalies are explained in core by increased silica content. Drill hole N17-02 (UTM 668202E 5310838N, Azimuth 025, Dip-45) tested an IP chargeability high anomaly with local resistivity high, and intersected moderately foliated to sheared quartz diorite with 2 to 4% medium to fine-grained disseminated pyrrhotite and pyrite that returned 130 ppb Au from 133-134m depth, and later intersected a mafic mylonite with trace sulphides and 10 cm quartz vein that returned 1.08 g Au/Mt from 140 to 141 metres depth. Surface stripping and washing conducted in Area L1100 has exposed disseminated sulphides in outcrop. This mineralized zone may correspond to the IP chargeability high explained by disseminated sulphides in core hole N17-04 (UTM 668051E 5310251N, Azimuth 045, Dip -45), which returned 1.44 g Au/Mt from 81.5 to 83.5 metres from strongly foliated intermediate metavolcanics with 5 to 8% fine sulphides (Arsenopyrite, Py and Po) and 10% quartz stringers. Stripped Area L1100 will be mapped and sampled in the coming weeks. Assays of drill core intervals of foliated mafic intrusive rocks and foliated intermediate metavolcanics with disseminated sulphides with quartz veins can be mineralized with gold. Prospecting has been effective at Norwalk, and this work has located several historical small-scale mined areas with shafts or adits driven on shear zones with quartz veins. Significant surface trenching and blasting is also evidence of gold potential at each site. Two groups of historical showings (Norwalk and Gananoque) are located about 1,600 metres from one another. Norwalk workings extend for some 800 metres in a general north-south orientation in the eastern part of the property, which represents a sizeable gold target for further exploration. Historical workings include an inclined shaft, a vertical shaft, and two adits driven into a common shear zone and quartz vein, and numerous surface trenches. Gananoque workings extend for some 1,200 metres and align in a NNE trend in the western part of the property. Prospecting along a steep hillside near the historical Gananoque gold showing has located two adits driven on shallow-dipping quartz veins along a steep hillside. Previous assays of grab samples from muck at the base of the hill returned from 20 ppb to 1.45 g/Mt Au (RTM Press Release Aug 22, 2017). Prospecting has exposed an extensive area of strongly carbonate, fuchsite and silica altered metavolcanics yet to be mapped and sampled. The Company's exploration team has efficiently identified two areas of the Norwalk property that warrant further gold exploration, namely Norwalk and Gananoque. Each area is between 800 to 1,200 metres in length with numerous historical gold workings, and each area represents a significant target for further gold exploration. The Company will continue to explore prominent structures and zones of gold-bearing disseminated sulphides with the objective to discover shallow, continuous zones of gold mineralization. The Company intends to complete an additional ten core drill holes, from 80 to 200 metres in core length to test current exploration targets and models. Prospecting, geological mapping, and surface sampling will continue. Mr. Kevin Kivi, P.Geo. is Qualified Person for RT Minerals Corp. and approves the technical content of this news release. FINANCING Further to its news releases of September 8, 2017 and October 11, 2017, the Company has closed the second tranche of its private placement through the sale of 1,100,000 flow-through units priced at $0.07 (the "FT Units") to raise additional gross proceeds of $77,000 (the "Offering"). Each FT Unit consists of one flow-through common share and one half of a share purchase warrant, with each whole Warrant exercisable into one further common share at a price of $0.07 for a term of one year. Insiders purchased 300,000 FT Units. All securities issued in the private placement are subject to a hold period expiring February 20, 2017. A 10% commission comprised of $2,100 cash and 30,000 common shares at $0.07 per share will be paid to registered representatives on $42,000 of the Offering. The proceeds from the flow-through portion of the Offering will be used for exploration activity on the Norwalk property. ABOUT RT MINERALS CORP. RT Minerals Corp. is a junior resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and evaluation of primarily gold and diamond properties in Canada. The Company's principal mineral properties include: Ballard Lake Property - 366 square kilometre (~141 square mile) diamond and gold property located approximately 50 kilometres northeast of Wawa, Ontario, in which the Company owns a 100% interest, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty; Norwalk Property - Gold property located approximately 6 kilometres south of Wawa, Ontario, in which the Company has an option to earn a 100% interest, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty; Dill River Property - Gold property located several kilometres southeast of Wawa, Ontario, in which the Company has an option to earn a 100% interest, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty. The property is contiguous to the eastern border of Red Pine's Surluga property; and Dog Lake Property - Gold property located 59 kilometres northeast of Wawa, Ontario, in which the Company owns a 100% interest, subject to a 2% net smelter royalty. The Company's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RTM" and on the OTC Pink Market under the symbol "RTMFF" with DTC eligibility for trading in the United States. For more information on the Company and its properties, please visit the Company's website at www.rtmcorp.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Antoniazzi President and Chief Executive Officer RT Minerals Corp. Toll Free: 877-581-3170 Telephone: 604-681-3170 Fax: 604-681-3552 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release. Forward-looking Statements Certain statements in this press release relating to the Company's exploration activities, project expenditures and business plans are approximate and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of securities legislation. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements represent management's best judgment based on current facts and assumptions that management considers reasonable, including that operating and capital plans will not be disrupted by issues such as adverse market conditions, mechanical failure, unavailability of parts, labor disturbances, interruption in transportation or utilities, or adverse weather conditions, that there are no material unanticipated variations in budgeted costs, that contractors will complete projects according to schedule, and that actual mineralization on properties may not achieve any category of resource(s). The Company makes no representation that reasonable business people in possession of the same information would reach the same conclusions. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In particular, fluctuations in the price of gold, equity markets or in currency markets could prevent the Company from achieving its targets. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. There is no guarantee that drill results reported in this news release or future releases will lead to the identification of a deposit that can be mined economically, and further work is required to identify resources and reserves.We seek safe harbour. Mya Systems (formerly known as FirstJob), the San Francisco, CA-based creator of AI recruiter Mya, secured $18M in Series B funding. The round, which builds on its $11.4M Series A announced earlier in May, was led by Foundation Capital with participation from Emergence Capital. As part of it, Foundation Capital partner Paul Holland will join Mya Systems board. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth of its AI team, open new offices in Europe, and expand its solution into new job categories. Co-founded in 2012 by Eyal Grayevsky, CEO and James Maddox, CTO, Mya Systems provides Mya, an AI-recruiter which leverages proprietary natural language processing and machine learning techniques to automate outreach and communications with job candidates throughout the end-to-end recruiting process. Mya applies advanced matching algorithms and predictive models to shortlist large applicant pools and can automatically schedule interviews enabling recruiters to prioritize their time with candidates most likely to succeed. The company has just released new features including multi-lingual support, and proprietary AI capabilities that automate the candidate sourcing process. Mya Systems recently entered into a three-year global partnership with The Adecco Group to support its largest enterprise accounts. FinSMEs 19/10/2017 Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex surrendered early gains to end over 194 points lower at 32,389.96 in a special Muhurat trading session on Thursday to mark the beginning of Hindu Samvat year 2074. Banking stocks led the fall as participants booked profits to write their first entry with gains on the first session of Samvat 2074, brokers said. The broader NSE Nifty too dipped below the 10,200-mark in the special one-hour Muhurat session. The BSE Sensex opened higher at 32,656.75 and advanced to a high of 32,663.06 on token buying activity as investors and funds opened their new accounts on the first session of Samvat 2074. However, higher levels could not be sustained due to sudden sell-off by participants and the index slipped to 32,319.37, before settling 194.39 points, or 0.60 percent down at 32,389.96. The gauge had lost 49.29 points in the previous two sessions. On similar lines, the broad-based NSE Nifty index, after shuttling between 10,211.95 and 10,123.35, ended 64.30 points, or 0.63 percent lower at 10,146.55. A weak trend at the European stock markets on Spain's escalating political crisis also fuelled selling towards the fag-end at the domestic bourses here, brokers added. The Sensex gained 4,642.84 points, or 16.61 percent, in the Hindu Samvat year 2073, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 1,572.85 points, or 18.20 percent. The laggards in the Muhurat session were banking, metal, PSU, infrastructure, power, oil and gas, auto, consumer durables, healthcare, realty, FMCG and IT sectors. The broader markets outperformed the overall trend as investors created fresh positions, lifting the BSE small-cap index by 0.54 percent and mid-cap index by 0.17 percent. Both the exchanges will be closed on Friday for 'Diwali Balipratipada'. Globally, in the Euro zone, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.63 percent, while Paris CAC 40 shed 0.54 percent. London's FTSE too fell 0.35 percent. In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.92 percent, Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.34 percent, while Japan's Nikkei ended 0.40 per cent higher/ Tery Spears doctors were blunt about the many blood clots in his body, and especially his lungs. Weve got some bad news, Tery, the doctors said, according to Spears grandmother, Violet Spear of Chippewa Falls. If you do not have the surgery, you will die. Because of the 28-year-old Chippewa Falls mans ailment, a form of high blood pressure in the lungs called CTEPH, it is a specialized surgery. So next week, Spear and his grandmother will fly to California, where Tery Spear will undergo what is expected to be 12 hours of surgery at the University of California San Diego Health-La Jolla. In the meantime, he is trying to raise $5,000 to pay for miscellaneous expenses he and his grandmother will have while in California. As of Thursday, hes raised about half of that with a Go Fund Me account: www.gofundme.com/78NN94-heart-surgery-iN-california Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy is an open heart surgery that removes the blood clots from the lungs. This surgery is quite complicated and only performed at a few centers in the county, but is considered the treatment of choice for CTEPH and can be curative and life-saving, said Dr. Hilary DuBrock, a physician with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Given the complexity of Mr. Spears case, he needs to have this procedure performed at a center with extensive experience in this surgery, and San Diego is the best choice for him that will give him the best chance at (a) cure. Violet Spear has raised Tery since he was a toddler. His mom died when he was three months old. So did his uncle. And they both were in their 20s, Violet Spear said. Both Terys mother and uncle had CTEPH, a condition leading to multiple blood clots in the lungs. Hes been in and out of the hospital quite a few times. He just gets bumped and he gets a blood clot, Violet Spear. That condition has cost him friends, afraid something they might do could injure Tery, who is a graduate of Chippewa Falls Senior High School. Violet Spear said her grandson cant be around people who smoke, and has also limited the people hes around. One person who has stood by Terry and Violet Spear is Cody Hunter. Violet spear credits Hunter with helping both her and her grandson. She said if Hunter wasnt around, she would not know what to do. To keep alive, Tery Spear has to administer shots to his stomach and take pills daily. But thats not enough. Without the surgery he will die because the clots will block off the flow of blood he has, Violet Spears said. Violet Spear is hopeful Terys surgery will work. She said she would not change her decision to raise her grandson since he was a toddler. Hes the most wonderful boy that you (could) want, she said. A year ago, Lidixe Montoya thought she and her son, Pavel, would return to live in El Salvador following her graduation from the University of WisconsinEau Claire. The mother and former practicing physician in El Salvador had traveled to Wisconsin in August 2015, after meeting Debrah Adams and her husband, Bob Adams, and deciding to improve her education by coming to the U.S. to earn another degree. She and Pavel have lived at the Adams home in Chippewa Falls ever since. But in May 2017, right as she was preparing for her final exams, Lidixe learned her mother had been hospitalized in El Salvador after a violent attack left her injured and alone in her home for six days. Olimpia Montoya had lived those six days by lying in her bed without food or water. It was very shocking because I didnt even recognize her voice. It was very weak, Lidixe recalled about finally talking to her mother after the attack. She was confused. She didnt even know that she was in the hospital until I told her, and I didnt have the good information. I wasnt able to be there, taking care of her... I was desperate. The cause and nature of the attack is still unknown, and police have yet to investigate it, Lidixe said. Professors at UWEC allowed Lidixe to take her exams a week early. The universitys foundation offered to pay for her plane ticket back to El Salvador, part of an emergency fund for international students. But her church, Hope Lutheran in Eau Claire, had already covered that cost, much like they had been helping to support her financially and emotionally all through school. So with the plane ticket reimbursed by the school, Lidixe made it back to El Salvador in time to be with her mom for a few days before the strong woman, once a leader in workers unions during a time of immense turmoil and 12-year civil war, died one day before her 79th birthday and after nine days in the hospital. She was buried on the day she would have turned 79. Because of the attack, her mothers subsequent death and being across the world from her country, Lidixe had to give up her home where her mother was attacked to the bank. Since these events this past summer, Lidixe has began to re-think her original plan of going home permanently, especially with the support she and her son have received in Chippewa Falls. I live in the war; I survive the war, Lidixe said. I dont want that for (Pavel). I want that he grow up in a safe place, peaceful, more opportunities for him. Getting to the U.S. Growing up, Lidixes country was in war. As a civil war raged in El Salvador through the 1980s and into 1992, Lidixe remembered having a happy childhood. Despite losing her sister when Lidixe was only 4 years old and the gang violence that tore apart her country long after the war stopped, Lidixe remembers a childhood with Disney movies, comic books and trips to the park. Olimpia was strong and brave, Lidixe said. She once had to spend 15 months in jail after she was accused of running a hospital for rebel forces in her home, which was not true, Lidixe said. She went through many things in her life, Lidixe recalled about her mother, and she never gave up. Adams credits Olimpia with helping Lidixe work to better her life in the U.S., for without having learned English in her childhood, Lidixe would not have been able to go to school in the U.S. Once Lidixe earned her education as a physician, she had a hard time finding a job. The bishop at her local churcha sister church with Debrahs church in Brookfield, Wis. suggested she help at a local pop-up clinic by the mission Debrah founded, Mission of Healing. Lidixe continued to help once she found a more permanent job. Eventually Debrah proposed Lidixe and her son come to the U.S. for education, of which Debrah said she was skeptical Lidixe would accept. I think we as professionals, we cannot be stuck in one thing, Lidixe said. We can keep studying, keep learning all the time, and I think this degree will give me the opportunity to give a better life to my son. A love for two countries Having been in the U.S. for just over two years now, Lidixe said she still misses her home country. She misses the fresh fruit and her friends, of whom she was able to stay with when visiting her mother while she was in the hospital this last summer. Her local church in El Salvador also supported her and helped her with paperwork and the necessary steps following a death of a loved one. I miss my country. I understand that its violent and all these awful things happen there, but thats still my country and I have so many good friends there, Lidixe said. But the U.S., she said, has offered her support she still cannot believe shes received. The Adams church and her church, Hope Lutheran in Eau Claire, has helped support Lidixe financially as she makes her way through school at UWEC, where she majors in human resources management with a minor in public health. The church has also welcomed Lidixe and Pavel into their community, supporting Pavel and embracing him while his mother left to be with his grandmother in May, which also happened to be during Pavels birthday. The response from people is just overwhelming. People at church have adopted us as their family; they are our family too, Montoya said. And I think the United States people behave that way. Im sure besides negative things, theres still that heart in the United States people just helping someone because they need it, even though they dont know them too much. The future and family In May 2018, Montoya will graduate college. Though she still is unsure where this degree will take her, she said she would like to stay in the U.S. My hope?...To find a job here, Montoya said. And we can stay here, and [Pavel] could be safe. She and Pavel have adapted to life in Chippewa Falls, with Pavel becoming fluent in English in just a few short months upon arrival. Now in second grade, Pavel enjoys school, said Lidixe and Debrah who, with her husband, is Pavels godparent. Its the support shes received over the last two years and the fervent continuation of that support during what she called the one of the worst times of her life that motivated her to consider the U.S. as her possible permanent home. Feeling like that I was supported back here, that kind of helped me to not feel even worse, like, hopeless, because I knew that people back here in the united states were supporting me back, Lidixe said. Knowing that people here were for me helped me a lot. If you're concerned (or super excited) about machine learning (ML) becoming mainstream, a recent survey by Oxford Economics on behalf of human resources (HR) and IT asset management company ServiceNow should pique your interest. The report, which surveyed 500 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in 11 countries and across 25 industries, found that 49 percent of the companies are already using ML to improve traditional business processes. Of the 500 CIOs surveyed, 200 said they're already beyond the pilot stage and have begun deploying ML in some capacity. CIOs are hoping to limit user error and errors in judgement by introducing automation. Almost 70 percent of CIOs said decisions made by machines will be more accurate than those made by humans. According to the survey, CIOs today are primarily focused on using ML to automate repetitive tasks (68 percent), make complex decisions (54 percent), recognize data patterns (40 percent), and establish links between events (32 percent). "One of the reasons you're hearing so much about ML is that it's the wave of productivity that will separate companies from the competition," said Chris Bedi, CIO at ServiceNow. "It's faster and offers [the potential for] better decisions. Humans have biases, algorithms don't." Bedi said he sees huge potential for ML in industries such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), inventory management and supply chain, among many others. Forty-one percent of CIOs in the survey cited a lack of skills as the main issue stopping them from deploying ML today. Conversely, only 16 percent of CIOs and their companies have plans for workforce size and role changes to accommodate ML. (Image Via: ServiceNow) ML and Jobs The numbers released in the Oxford Economics survey are short-term projections, unlike a report by management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Their report projected that half of today's work activities could be replaced by automation from 2035-2055, depending on various factors. The firm's report analyzed 2,000 work activities across 800 occupations and found that almost $2.7 trillion in wages are spent on jobs that could ultimately be automated. "ML will change people's roles," said Bedi. "I don't subscribe to ML taking away people's jobs; it will change people's jobs. Mundane decisions will get automated, which will free people up. New jobs will get created." Bedi said the key to leveraging ML to improve the bottom line while maintaining the rank and file is shifting current employee skill sets and hiring new talent to manage ML capabilities. "Talent is a big issue," said Bedi. "Data Scientist has got to be one of the hottest jobs out there. We really need to look at what is our three-year talent and skill road map? And be really purposeful about building those skills. We've got to train employees but also figure out alternative sources to that talent." Bedi urged employers to hire and train employees to take advantage of ML-based processes. Once humans are comfortable with ML's ability to produce reliable data and make correct decisions, he said the industry will transition [to] machine decision making guided by human oversight. (Image Via: ServiceNow) The Late Adopter Dilemma The Oxford Economics survey isolated 50 companies that were deemed "First Movers." The survey studied these companies' business processes and talent strategies to determine how and where ML would be advanced in the coming years. The study found that First Movers are more likely to have redefined job descriptions to focus on how humans work with machines, and have made plans to develop specialized teams focused on developing and using ML technology. Unlike their peers, these companies are more likely to have developed road maps for future processes, capturing errors and ensuring data accuracy. Unfortunately, other reports indicate that the smaller the organization (and the fewer resources an organization has), the less likely it is to be prepared for the ML wave. A recent study by Bluewolf (an IBM company) found that only 33 percent of small businesses planned to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and ML within the next 12 months. This is in contrast to the 30 percent of large companies that have already invested in the technologies and the 44 percent that planned to begin investing within the next 12 months. That's a total of 74 percent, or 20 percent more than the total of small businesses. "We're early in the journey," said Bedi. "People and companies that are aggressive will separate themselves from the companies that aren't. It feels like there's a call-to-action to go do this. Companies that lean in are going to start to separate themselves from the competition. That separation will increase. CIOs will really start pushing on this in the near future." This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. In the weeks preceding Halloween, several universities across the country have begun to issue guidelines to their students about what they should -- or shouldnt -- wear as costumes this Oct. 31. Every piece of literature that I see highlights the impact that these damaging costumes could have, and my question is: What tangible impact are these costumes having? And no ones been able to answer that for me yet, The Conservative Millennial Allie Stuckey told FOX Business Liz MacDonald on Risk & Reward. One of the schools, Northern Arizona University, started a campaign called, We are a culture, not a costume, suggesting that students avoid wearing costumes that include headdresses typically associated with Native American culture or sombreros. Likewise, the University of Texas issued a 29-point checklist for students on how to avoid wearing an offensive costume that could potentially appropriate the culture of someone else. And the University of St. Thomas sent a flyer to students explaining what cultural appropriation was, and how they could avoid it. Where is it going to end? Stuckey said. Are they not allowed to dress up as witches because that offends the Wiccan culture? Are they not allowed to dress up as animals because that might trivialize the endangered species? Universities spending days trying to enforce how an individual dresses is the precipice of privilege, Stuckey said, adding that liberals often decry cultural appropriation because its a product of the evils of privilege. I would argue that there is nothing more privileged than these universities spending days on end talking about how someone might be emotionally damaged by a hula skirt, she said. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced Thursday that it has launched its biggest wind farm yet in Texas, adding more than one million megawatt hours (Mwh) of clean energy to the grid each year. Thatas enough energy to power almost 90,000 homes annually. The farm, which is located in Scurry County, has over 100 turbines, and is now one of 18 wind and solar projects the e-commerce giant operates around the country, with plans to add at least 35 other projects. The new facility was built and will be operated by Lincoln Clean Energy, a company that develops wind and solar projects throughout the U.S. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos developed a long-term agreement with the company to purchase 90% of the facilityas output. aInvesting in renewable energy is a win-win-win-win-it's right for our customers, our communities, our business, and our planet,a Kara Hurst, director of sustainability at Amazon, said in a statement. The farms will deliver energy to the electrical grids supplying both current and future Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud data centers, with the Texas location providing renewable energy power for Amazon overall. Amazon said the combination of its wind and solar facilities can power over 330,000 homes a year. Bezos was excited about the project, taking to Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) Thursday to show off the new facility. During his tenure as CEO of General Electric (NYSE:GE), Jeff Immelt would fly with two private jets when traveling, a company spokesperson has confirmed to FOX Business. The news first broke in a report by the Wall Street Journal, which said Immelt would fly in the company-owned aircraft, while another jet followed and, at times, parked far away to avoid drawing attention. The second plane was used as a backup, in case the one Immelt was riding in had mechanical problems. Flight crews for both planes were told not to openly discuss the unfilled jet, according to the Journals report, which cited sources familiar with the matter. Two planes were used on limited occasions for business-critical or security purposes, a General Electric spokesperson told FOX Business. This comes as GEs current CEO John Flannery, who took the helm in August, plans to take cost-cutting initiatives such as slashing thousands of jobs, according to the Journal. One of his first orders of business after taking over for Immelt was to ground the companys fleet of corporate jets. Earlier this year GE announced plans to reduce $2 billion in cost by the end of 2018, which includes job eliminations, the GE spokesperson said. The companys stock has fallen 25% this year to $23.50 per share. The potential for a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production gained new life Wednesday, as a bill emerged from a state House committee and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf urged leaders of the Republican-controlled chamber to speed it to a floor vote. Wolf, who has long sought the tax, called the proposal "fair and commonsense." Pennsylvania, the nation's No. 2 gas state thanks to the prolific Marcellus Shale, is the only major natural gas producer that does not tax production. Wolf and other supporters of the tax say it is a fair way to help stitch up Pennsylvania's deficit-riddled finances amid a four-month budget standoff. Six Republicans on the House Finance Committee defied party leaders to vote for the bill with all 10 Democrats. The exploration industry opposes it, as does the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, and it still faces a climb to get to Wolf's desk. House Republican leaders, who oppose it, could use procedural tactics to bottle it up or delay it. The Republican-controlled Senate approved a similar tax in July, along with provisions designed to speed up the state's issuance of pollution-control permits for the activities of various industries. The House bill did not include those provisions, and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said Republicans in his chamber would not support the tax without them. The House bill imposes a volume tax that rises with the price of natural gas from 2 cents per thousand cubic feet to 3.5 cents per thousand cubic feet. A sponsor, Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks, said at the current price it would raise about $250 million in a full year, although others calculated a figure closer to $100 million, using 2016 production and current prices. Opponents also warned that a provision in the bill changing the terms of landowner royalty contracts is unconstitutional. It would effectively prohibit producers from deducting costs before paying the 12.5 percent royalty in future contracts as well as tens of thousands of existing contracts, said James Welty, vice president of government affairs for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade association. That makes the bill is a "double whammy" for the industry, Welty said, when combined with hub prices in Pennsylvania that recently have ranged from one-half to one-third of the price at a benchmark hub in Louisiana. "That's why you're seeing capital flow to other basins" in other states where prices are higher, Welty said. Pennsylvania's lower prices are due to a lack of pipeline capacity to bring the gas to customers, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department. Meanwhile, the industry and other business groups roundly say there is a profound need for faster permits: Long and uncertain wait times play havoc with a business' ability to keep its crews, equipment and money available. That hurts the economy, they say, but environmental groups bitterly oppose the Senate's proposed permitting changes. Joe Minott, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, on Wednesday said the natural gas tax "should not be used to trade away the clean air and water of Pennsylvanians." In any case, the industry has been encouraged by higher prices at the Louisiana hub, and the number of shale wells drilled in Pennsylvania has almost doubled in 2017 compared with the same point last year. DiGirolamo said he does not believe a tax will hurt Marcellus Shale exploration in Pennsylvania, which also sits atop another relatively unexplored shale formation, the Utica Shale. "They're paying this tax in every other state," DiGirolamo said. "They're not leaving. The jobs are still there." It's been nearly a year since Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) completed its spin-off of Yum China Holdings (NYSE: YUMC). Since then, the latter has largely enjoyed life on its own with the stock up over 70% from its spin-off to date. Join our Motley Fool Industry Focus podcast hosts as they discuss Yum China's recent quarter, the factors behind the split, and risks and opportunities going forward. A full transcript follows the video. 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 October 9, 2017 This video was recorded on Oct. 10, 2017. Vincent Shen: For our second piece of earnings coverage, a company I don't think we've discussed too often on prior episodes of Industry Focus, we have Yum China, ticker YUMC. Yum! Brands spun off its China business this time last year. Yum China licenses now the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and other smaller brands from its former parent company. What amazes me about this company is, it's the largest restaurant player in China with over 7,500 stores. KFC and Pizza Hut make up the large majority of those locations, though they are testing with some smaller concepts. But that kind of leadership position definitely has its benefits. During the most recent quarter, same-store sales were up 6% across the company. Most of that strength was delivered by KFC. Total revenue was up 8% as well, topping $2 billion. One year into the spin-off, it appears that we have a very smart deal. Yum originally spoke to the idea that an independent China business would allow that entity to focus more on the conditions that are unique to the Chinese market. Asit, that seems to be proving out here. What is it about the Chinese market that made this such an effective split? What were some of the considerations that they had to make? Asit Sharma: Yum! Brands, when it owned the total business, had a few stumbles. Consumers may remember that if you saw headlines in 2012, 2014, and 2015. These were primarily supplier problems. Yum! Brands had a really fast-growing business in China, but it hit a wall with trying to manage the business from afar. Management finally realized that the strength that it had been posing to investors for years as this save all for the company was actually both a strength and a huge weakness, and that the unit which exists on the mainland would be better-managed by its own self. And given the chance to expand and focus locally, it would prosper, versus Yum! Brands trying to control it and simultaneously make that huge North American business continue to grow. We talk about this a lot on the show -- comparable store sales, that's always the market that you have to meet every quarter. The company decided, let's spin-off Yum China, which, as you said Vince, the symbol is YUMC, and let that take its innovations into the market without us having to prove it from the United States. And that's worked out very well. I want to talk a little bit about some other considerations that come into a decision like this that are particular to China. China is a really hard market to crack, as you've probably heard if you invest in any companies that are over there. No. 1, the Chinese government has a love-hate relationship with foreign brands. It wants those brands to come in, because China is gearing its economy from manufacturing toward consumption, it wants people to consume, so look more like the U.S., which is less of a manufacturer now and more of the consumption-based economy. But it's a tightly controlling governmental apparatus, and there's a lot of red tape. Companies find themselves very often -- McDonald's has had this problem, Starbucks even has had problems with the Chinese government -- that they can very arbitrarily come in and put pressure on a certain city's restaurants so that that company then has to lose comparable store sales and regroup to whatever the government is asking it to comply with. No. 2, the consumer in China loves foreign brands as well but has a deep-seated loyalty toward the Chinese economy. So once a Chinese consumer becomes bored of a KFC, which is owned by Yum China, that consumer will start looking for what local brands are around, and out of a sense of, whether it's nationalism or patriotism, this is something you have to grapple with when you do business in China. You have the customer's loyalty only so long. You're only as good as your next innovation. Third is the supply chain problems that I referenced. You have to have a very tight control over your suppliers. In China, what we've seen over the years is, suppliers don't have the same standards that are already in place maybe in the U.S. or in Europe. And that's not saying anything bad about the supply in China or how their rules operate, it's just a younger economy. It's not had the decades of regulation that you would see here in the U.S. So you're going to have people who cheat sometimes. Again, this also happened to McDonald's. A bad supplier, especially with chicken, seems to be endemic to these companies. If you're doing business in China, watch your chicken supplier. I think that's the message. But this is something that is very difficult to keep an eye on through third parties, or manage from a remote location like the U.S. So all of these problems were solved a bit when Yum China became its own company and could manage things locally in China. Shen: Thanks, Asit. I think that's a good rundown on some of the risks that you face, even though you have a company that appears to have such strong tailwinds behind it, shares are up over 60% just in 2017. Management says the company is on target to hit expansion of 550 to 600 restaurants this year. They just initiated a dividend at $0.10 per share. Management continues to repurchase shares. But overall, I think they definitely have a very positive environment to work in this as well, that they've been growing their store base for several years at a compound annual rate of 11% thanks to this market's growing middle class. They're not running into the kind of saturation issues that U.S. chains have encountered with the so-called restaurant recession. We have our last minute or so here, any last thoughts from you from this earnings report or for the company before we close out? Sharma: I love that Yum China is pursuing a lot of innovation. This is what investors may want to keep an eye on. There's a new store in the city of Hangzhou, China, which is KFC Pro. In this store, you smile to pay. You walk up to a machine, and in partnership with Alibaba's Ant Financial, KFC China will take a picture at the kiosk, you enter your phone number, you have to smile so it sees that you're not a static photo, and that's the way that you pay for your meal. They offer roast chicken, a brand-new menu. They're constantly innovating, testing prototype stores for this younger generation of Chinese consumers. Just one batch of these is a couple of hundred million people. So you have to like that if you're a long-term investor of Yum China. Free from their parent company, they're pursuing innovation in a pretty aggressive way. That's something else that will show up in future earnings reports, in my opinion. 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 Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. For the last four years, Tim MacLaughlin-Barck has been baking and cooking his way into Chippewa Falls residents heartsor stomachs, ratherwinning Best Dessert and Best Appetizer at the Boys and Girls Clubs annual event, Men Who Cook. Now in his fifth year of competing in the competition and fundraiser, MacLaughlin-Barck said he is ready to take home the more coveted prize: the Top Chef Award. And hes serving up this friendly competition with a bit of philanthropy too. MacLaughlin-Barck is just one of 18 men who will cooking up appetizers, entrees and desserts for attendees of the Chippewa Falls Boys and Girls Clubs annual fundraiser, Men Who Cook, which will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. For a $35 pre-event ticket or $40 at the door, attendees will have the chance to sample the delicacies, enjoy some beveragesboth adult and otherwiseand help raise money for the organization, center director Travis Austad said. This years event will also include games, such as hammerschlagen, ring toss and Plinko. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Chippewa Falls Boys and Girls Club, now in its fifth year of operation. Attendees can vote for their favorite chef online and through giving donations to the organization, which in the past has raise $35,000 through this event. Since 2012, Austad said the event has grown, and the donations have increased every year as the community continues to show its support for local youth. Its supporting a great cause in the community, Austad said. Its supporting the kids. Those who have never set foot inside the local cooking competition arena that is Men Who Cook should prepare their stomachs, Austad said. They can expect to come hungry and leave full, Austad said. MacLaughlin-Barck, vice president of Larson Construction Company, is one of two chefs who have competed in all four of the Boys and Girls Clubs fundraisers and is returning for his fifth. His creation this year is pumpkin pie cream puffs, and its a bit outside of what hes been known for: bacon. For the last four years, MacLaughlin-Barck has used bacon in some capacity in his dishes, including the first year, when his bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed dates shot him up to first place in the opening rounds with the Best Appetizer award. Chefs at the event on Saturday will be competing for this prize, Fan Favorite through donations, the Best Dessert Award, Best Entree award, and the Top Chef Award, as decided by a panel of judges. A veteran competitor himself, MacLaughlin-Barck advised his fellow competitors to give themselves enough time to set up their station and prep as much of their dish as they can. And as for the donors who are preparing for a feast? Come very hungry, work out before you show up, dont eat for a couple days, Machlaughlin-Barck said, whatever you need to do to show up ravenous. Bring your check book [for donations] and have a good time. What goals do you have for your retirement? Do you want to travel the world, spend more time with the grandkids, or just kick back and enjoy not being part of the rat-race anymore -- maybe get a little fishing in? Whatever your goals, owning the right stocks -- well-known, brand-name industry giants with years of steady and profitable growth ahead of them -- can help to provide the retirement income you'll need to get where you want to go. And so, with that goal in mind, we asked a few of our favorite Foolish investors to suggest three steady stocks that can help you to reach your own goals. Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) are the names they came up with. Now let's find out why. Brush up on dividend income Demitri Kalogeropoulos (Colgate-Palmolive): With the market slowing to near zero growth, this is a rough time to be doing business in the branded consumer-products industry. Colgate-Palmolive isn't immune to these market pressures. In fact, the company is expecting just barely positive organic sales gains in 2017, or well below management's long-term target of between 4% and 7% increases each year. But this kind of challenging environment demonstrates the resilience of a business that dominates the global market for core categories such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and hand soap. Its profitability is at a record high 60% of sales, after all. Colgate is also reaping the benefits of having a large, diverse sales footprint. With over half of its revenue coming from outside the U.S., overall sales are rising even as that core market shrinks. As Colgate returns to its longer-term trajectory in the years ahead, I'd expect the growth that follows to be enhanced by market-leading margins. In the meantime, retirees can collect an over 2% dividend yield. This payout has room to grow, too, given that operating cash flow has averaged about $3 billion over each of the past three fiscal years, or about twice the annual dividend commitment. Take this consumer appliance giant for a spin Sean Williams (Whirlpool): The average retiree is living longer than ever. Data from the Social Security Administration suggests that 20 years, or longer, should be the average life expectancy for a 65-year-old. That means simply generating income isn't enough. Retirees need to invest in companies that can also grow their nest egg. Consumer-appliance giant Whirlpool is a company that can provide both income and share-price appreciation. Whirlpool brings a host of name-brand products to the table, but it's the company's expansion potential that's particularly intriguing. Having made acquisitions in Asia, Whirlpool is looking to take advantage of one of the fastest-growing appliance markets on the planet. At the same time, Whirlpool's acquisition of Italy's Indesit in 2014 gives the North American appliance giant a major footprint throughout a recovering Europe. There's strength in both its geographic diversity and the breadth of its brand-name product portfolio that should translate into mid-single-digit growth over the long run. Whirlpool's innovation isn't something that should be overlooked, either. Its management team is nimble enough to adjust its product lineup based on changing design trends in the kitchen and throughout the home. Similarly, Whirlpool's focus on energy efficiency and its push toward smart interconnected appliances could win over a new generation of consumers in North America and throughout the world. Of course, my favorite aspect of Whirlpool might just be its relative cheapness compared with the broader market. Between 2016 and 2020, Wall Street expects the company's full-year EPS to grow from just north of $14 to more than $20. Meanwhile, its dividend has grown steadily to $4.40 annually, good enough for a superior 2.5% yield, and its board continues to authorize share-repurchase plans. With an investor-first philosophy, plenty of innovation and geographic representation, and highly identifiable brands, Whirlpool could be just the stock retirees need for their portfolios. Oligopolies don't play nice, but they sure can be nice for your portfolio Rich Smith (Boeing): I've been a big fan of Boeing stock for a long time -- and for good reason. Strong and rising profit margins, plus a booming business selling airplanes to airlines, has helped lift Boeing stock 250% over the past five years, and 90% over the past 12 months alone. Part of the reason for Boeing's strength is how the global airplane business has evolved into one dominated by just two companies: Airbus, and Boeing itself. Admittedly, there have been some rumblings that the global duopoly of airplane manufacturing was under attack. In China, Russia, Japan, and even close to home in Canada, rivals have arisen to offer new regional jetliners just a smidge smaller than Airbus's and Boeing's offerings. If airlines begin adopting these new planes, it could threaten the viability of the duopoly. Or not. Here's the thing that has me thinking Boeing stock could reward retirees' portfolios for decades to come: Last week, we learned that Canada's Bombardier, which was offering new C-Series airplanes to compete with Boeing, was in such dire straits that it needed to seek a financial lifeline. It sought that lifeline by tying up with Airbus, however. As a result, Bombardier ended up reinforcing the global duopoly instead of challenging it. If similar dynamics play out in China, Russia, and Japan, it could turn out that all these would-be rivals are rivals in theory only -- and Boeing and Airbus will continue dividing global airplane sales between themselves for the foreseeable future. 10 stocks we like better than Boeing 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 Boeing 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, 2017 Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Sean Williams 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. Given that 3M Co (NYSE: MMM) and its fellow multi-industrial company Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) trade at a premium compared to earnings multiples in the last decade (see below) there will be increased pressure on both companies to deliver in the coming quarters. Focusing on 3M, let's take a look at the three things investors need to look out for when the company reports earnings on Oct 24th. Consumer and industrial segments need to deliver 3M Co reports out of five different segments, and in the chart below, you can see the organic local currency growth trends for each segment. The good news is 3M has raised full-year organic sales growth forecasts in the last two earnings reports -- the company started the year predicting 1% to 3% organic local currency sales growth but has since upgraded its estimate to 3% to 5%. 3M raising full-year guidance is obviously a net positive, but the trend of raising guidance might not necessarily continue, and here's why. The electronics & energy segment has led growth, but now that the recovery in energy capital spending and U.S. industrial production is in place, 3M could find it difficult to generate the kind of 10% local currency sales growth produced by the segment in the first half. Similarly, Illinois Tool Works has benefited from an improvement in its more cyclically aligned segments--such as welding and test & measurement and electronics-- and this could slow in the future as industrial production growth slows. 3M's industrial segment has automotive exposure, and with North American auto production and sales expected to weaken in the second half, Illinois Tool Works has already prepared investors for a weak quarter in its automotive operations. However, one side effect of the storms and flooding in North America could be higher demand for 3M's auto solutions. All told, it's hard to know just what 3M's industrial segment will report. Finally, as you can see above, the consumer segment -- traditionally a strong area for the company -- has been weak in 2017. Management has spoken of "inventory reductions" in the industry, an argument suggesting that the segment's growth could bounce when its customers start to replenish inventory. Ultimately, 3M needs to demonstrate that it can get its consumer segment back in growth mode. China is a wildcard In common with many other industrial companies, 3M benefited from better-than-expected GDP growth in China and the greater Asia-Pacific region (APAC). It matters to 3M as 29% of 2016 sales came from the region. Moreover, APAC grew local currency organic sales by 10% in the first half compared to just 1.6% from the U.S. -- note that around two-thirds of energy & electronics sales go to APAC while the consumer segment relies on a similar amount from the U.S. However, market analysts are predicting China's GDP growth will slow in the second half, and this could spoil the growth party for many industrial companies, including 3M Co and Illinois Tool Works. The latter's international organic revenue grew 5.2% in the first-half compared to just 1.4% from North America, suggesting an increasing reliance on markets like China for growth. Pricing power? As you can see in the chart below, total company organic sales growth has picked up in 2017, but it's interesting to look at just how it's happened. The last three quarters have seen volumes increasing, but pricing has turned negative. Why is this an issue for 3M Co? The reason it matters is it suggests 3M is losing pricing power, and if its end markets start to weaken -- taking volume growth down with it -- then the company's sales growth could be significantly affected. Management answered a slew of questions on the subject from analysts on the last earnings call amid suggesting that pricing actions were taken deliberately by the company in order to make 3M more "competitive" and "agile." However, it really doesn't matter how management addresses the issue -- the fact is, pricing has deteriorated. Ultimately, investors will want to see improvement before concluding that 3M isn't suffering some sort of pricing erosion, possibly from its products becoming commoditized. Looking ahead The earnings reports from 3M Co and Illinois Tool Works are always interesting because as multi-industrials, their numbers and commentary will give many clues as to the investing themes that will work going forward. Declining U.S. auto production will surely affect sections of the industrial sector -- watch 3M's and Illinois Tool Works' auto-based sales. Moreover, it's hard to tell where China's GDP growth will end up in the quarter. Meanwhile, 3M needs to convince investors its consumer segment is back on track and that it doesn't have issues with pricing. All told, 3M has to execute in order to justify its high rating. 10 stocks we like better than 3MWhen 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 3M 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, 2017 Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3M. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. With Amazons (NASDAQ:AMZN) application deadline for bids for its second North American headquarters fast approaching on Thursday, several of the United States largest cities have already indicated their interest. The competition to host Amazons second home has been fierce. The e-commerce giant says it plans to invest more than $5 billion in construction costs toward the new facility, which will add as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs to the local economy of whatever city wins the bidding process. We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement last month. Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. Were excited to find a second home." In announcing the competition, Amazon touted tens of billions of dollars in additional investments that HQ2 would likely attract to the local community and estimated its investments were worth $38 billion to Seattles economy from 2010 to 2016. The company set strict criteria for which bids would merit consideration. Amazon has expressed a preference for metropolitan areas with at least one million residents and a stable and business-friendly environment, as well as easy access to mass transportation. Bidders with layouts that can draw top talent or provide creative real estate options are at an advantage. Cities are going to great lengths to draw Amazons attention through tax incentives and other perks. The city of Stonecrest, Georgia has offered to make Bezos its mayor and change its name to Amazon if he awards the new headquarters to the area, while Birmingham, Alabama placed giant-sized Amazon delivery boxes throughout the city. Other locations have already bowed out of the running. San Jose, California Mayor Sam Liccardo told FOX Business he would not enter the competition because tax subsidies are a bad deal for local residents. While many cities are expected to formally submit HQ2 bids ahead of the Thursday deadline, some have emerged as frontrunners. FOX Business breaks down a few of the top contenders. Austin, Texas Austin is the top-ranked option to host Amazon HQ2, according to research by Moodys Analytics, thanks in large part to Texas business-friendly environment and a relatively low cost-of-living and operation. Austin has the highest score on business environment in the top 10, thanks to fast job growth, a dynamic tech economy, and the high incentives Texas offers businesses, the firm said. While Austin is considered a frontrunner to win the bidding process, the citys leaders have taken a low-key approach to the situation. Im not convinced that, ultimately, Amazon decides whats the best match for them based on the kinds of things that some other cities are doing, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The ultimate decision to Amazon is where the best match is, and I dont think that kind of decision lays out in a messaging to the rest of the world. The city of Austin will submit a proposal, and I think it will address the things that Amazon wants. Atlanta, Georgia State and local officials are working hard to attract Amazons attention. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said last month that the state is going to make a big push to land HQ2, with economic recruiters reportedly putting together a package of tax perks and other incentives. Moodys Analytics ranked Atlanta second in its power rankings, citing the citys high scores in human capital and affordability. "The metro area has nearly 6 million residents and is a supply-chain hub with a burgeoning tech workforce and is home to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a globally connected port of entry, Moodys told Business Insider. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ranked as Moodys third-best option for Amazon HQ2 due to a strong talent pool, multiple transportation options and solid scores in quality of life and cost-of-living and operation. The citys proximity to other East Coast business hubs is also a benefit. On the downside, Moodys told BI that Pennsylvanias fiscal problems and an inefficient local tax structure could dissuade Amazon. In a promotional campaign, Philadelphia officials touted the citys easy-to-navigate layout, talent pool and quality of life as key elements of its bid. Were really at a sweet spot, Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement to the Morning Call. The location is central on the Northeast corridor, the talent pool is vast, and Philadelphia has all of the amenities Amazon's employees want, at a lower cost than other big cities. Boston, Massachusetts Aside from its East Coast location and mass transportation options, Boston touts arguably the deepest talent pool of any city vying for HQ2. With a local headquarters, Amazon would have easy access to top schools like Harvard University and MIT. Beantown ranked 9th among Moodys top contenders, also posting strong scores in the business environment and quality of life categories. Washington, D.C. Aside from its status as the nations capital, D.C. already boasts multiple ties to Bezos. The Amazon founder owns the Washington Post and recently bought a house near the city, which would provide a convenient East Coast location for perhaps the worlds most valuable CEO, according to the Brookings Institute. In addition, Washington has easy access to major aviation and rail hubs, as well as a large potential talent pool due to its proximity to top colleges, according to Brookings. D.C. officials are set to pitch four potential building sites to Amazon, the Washington Business Journal reported. Poland announced plans Thursday to significantly increase spending on health care as a hunger strike by young doctors demanding more funding entered its third week. Poland's health care system is chronically underfunded and there are often months-long waiting lists for medical procedures. Minister Henryk Kowalczyk, in charge of economic affairs, said the conservative government would debate a plan next week to gradually increase spending in the health sector to 6 percent of gross domestic product by 2025, compared to 4.7 percent now. Deputy Finance Minister Leszek Skiba said the gradual funding increase would provide an extra 116 billion zlotys ($32 billion) for health care by 2025, while preserving financial stability. Health Minister Konstanty Radziwill called it an unprecedented and "revolutionary" change for the sector that has been mostly ignored by all Polish governments since the return to democracy in 1989. Protester Piotr Matyja, however, said the offer was "nothing new" and that Radziwill had been talking about such raises for a long time. A few dozen young doctors have been staging a hunger strike at a children's hospital in Warsaw and were recently joined by groups in Szczecin, in the northwest, and in the central city of Lodz. They are demanding an increase in the health care budget to 6.8 percent of GDP by 2021, much higher than the government offer. They say it's necessary for the better care of patients. Some street protests were held last week in support of the doctors. Wireless-tower-operator Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) reported third-quarter results on Wednesday evening. The tower portfolio delivered predictably solid results while the company continued to invest in small-cell network sites. Here's a closer look at Crown Castle's business results. Crown Castle's third-quarter results: The raw numbers Metric Q3 2017 Q3 2016 Year-Over-Year Change Net revenues $1.06 billion $0.99 billion 7.1% Net income $115 million $98 million 17% GAAP Earnings per share (diluted) $0.29 $0.29 -- Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) $459 million $416 million 10% AFFO is a non-GAAP metric, commonly used by real estate investment trusts to measure their operating performance, backing out many items not related to the management of real estate assets. Crown Castle's management reports it as a preferred measure of the company's core performance. What happened with Crown Castle this quarter? Site-rental revenues and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) profits landed at the top end of management's guidance ranges in the third quarter. On the AFFO line, Crown Castle's results exceeded the high end of guidance by $7 million, or 1.6%. Five million dollars of the AFFO surprise resulted from some planned tower maintenance and repair projects sliding over into the fourth quarter. Otherwise, management gave credit for the solid results to a healthy market for tower leases. Crown Castle's tower portfolio held steady at 40,100 sites, essentially unchanged from the year-ago quarter. Small cell installations rose to 32,000 miles of installed route fiber, up from 29,000 in the previous quarter and 17,000 a year ago. Management updated their full-year 2017 guidance to account for strong third-quarter results and positive leasing activity in the early weeks of the next period, offset by repairs after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. These storms made a heavy impact on some of Crown Castle's most important tower markets in Florida, Puerto Rico, and east Texas. Site-rental revenues are now seen adding up to $3.53 billion in fiscal year 2017, up from $3.52 billion in the previous guidance target. The net income target held firm at $451 million, up from $357 million in 2016. AFFO guidance now points to $1.78 billion for the full year, up from $1.61 billion last year, but still a reduction from the former target, at $1.83 billion. What management had to say "Based on the strong demand we see across each of towers, small cells and fiber, we expect revenue growth to accelerate driven by an increase in new leasing activity in 2018," Crown Castle CEO Jay Brown said in a prepared statement. "We believe the combination of our unparalleled portfolio of assets and our industry-leading capabilities across towers, small cells and fiber positions us to meet the evolving needs of our customers while delivering long-term value to our shareholders." Looking ahead The company is working through the final stages of the $7.1 billion acquisition of metro fiber operator Lightower. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2017, doubling Crown Castle's small-cell fiber footprint to 64,000 route miles. The financing requirements for this buyout are cutting into Crown Castle's AFFO per share in 2017, but are expected to pay off with improved AFFO growth as early as 2018. 10 stocks we like better than Crown Castle InternationalWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Crown Castle International wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017 Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Crown Castle International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The number of French protesters appears to be falling on the third day of union-backed, nationwide demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron's divisive labor reforms. In Toulouse, Marseille and Paris, on Thursday thousands of demonstrators brandished placards and posters decrying the new rules that came into force last month. Police said there were 5,500 protesters in Paris while the CGT trade union said there were 25,000 about half as many as during the previous protest last month. The new measures make it easier for French firms to hire and fire employees and reduce the power of national collective bargaining. Macron says they're aimed at boosting growth and investment in the country. Helen J. DeVos, a philanthropist from western Michigan known for her support of children's health, Christian education and the arts, has died at age 90, her family said Thursday. DeVos died Wednesday of complications from a stroke following a recent diagnosis of myeloid leukemia, her family said. She was the wife of Rich DeVos, who co-founded direct-sales company Amway and owns the Orlando Magic, and was the mother-in-law of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. "We will never forget her unfailing love, strength and devotion that were truly the heart of our family," Rich DeVos and other family members said in a statement. Helen DeVos was born in Grand Rapids, where a children's hospital is named after her. She married Rich DeVos in 1953 and volunteered her time and leadership as well the support of the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation to an array of causes, including Christian churches and ministries. "Her steadfast commitment to helping others can be seen every day in many ways, but particularly as families are cared for during some of their most challenging times at the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement. Helen DeVos and her husband supported Grand Rapids Christian schools, including the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Arts and Worship at Grand Rapids Christian High School, and numerous colleges and universities. The DeVos family also is known as big political donors, including to Republican presidential candidates. Helen DeVos was a prominent supporter of the Grand Rapids Symphony and was a board member and officer from 1971 to 1990, when she was appointed as an honorary member. She and her husband provided the funding to help the Grand Rapids Symphony make its first commercial recording of works commissioned by the symphony. Helen DeVos died in the Grand Rapids-area community of Ada Township, an Amway spokeswoman said in an email. The memorial website helendevos.com says public services will be held at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids. The visitation is scheduled for Monday from 2 to 8 p.m. and a celebration of life event will be the next day from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. A private service also will be held Tuesday. The Latest on the bipartisan health deal in the Senate (all times local): 1:30 p.m. Two leading senators have formally proposed their bipartisan compromise for steadying health insurance markets. The measure has 24 sponsors, half Republicans and half Democrats. The two main authors hope that number will help persuade President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to consider the measure. So far, Trump and McConnell have been reluctant to do that. It was unclear what impact the 12 GOP sponsors would have, since that's less than one-quarter of the Senate's 52 Republicans. The deal was reached by Tennessee GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander and Washington Democrat Patty Murray. It would restore federal subsidies to insurers that Trump has blocked, saying the money enriches carriers. The bill makes it easier for states to escape some coverage requirements of President Barack Obama's health care law. ___ 1 p.m. Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says President Donald Trump's inconsistent stance on a bipartisan health deal has hurt prospects for the Senate proposal aimed at stabilizing insurance markets and lowering premiums. Johnson tells reporters: "It's always best for the president to be completely consistent in terms of what he's supporting or not supporting. And let's face it, he's not been particularly consistent here." Trump initially spoke favorably of the agreement by GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. But Trump subsequently declared he couldn't support it, calling it a bailout for insurance companies. In fact, the Alexander-Murray deal is intended to ensure consumers are protected from large rate increases stemming from Trump's decision to cut off federal payments that help insurers reimburse lower-income people. What happened Shares of Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT) plunged on Thursday, falling more than 10% at 2:45 p.m. EDT. Driving the sell-off was the declaration of the company's latest dividend. So what Nordic American Tanker set its dividend for the third quarter at $0.03 per share. While that marked its 81st consecutive quarterly distribution, it's also the lowest level since Nordic American Tanker started returning cash to investors 20 years ago. Furthermore, it's down significantly from last quarter, when the tanker company paid out $0.15 per share, which included $0.10 in cash and a distribution of shares of its offshore supply vessel subsidiary equivalent to $0.05. Meanwhile, its first two dividends this year were for $0.20 per share. Nordic American Tanker's dividend tends to fluctuate from quarter to quarter because it pays a variable one based on its operating cash flow from the previous quarter. When cash flow rises, so does the dividend. However, when industry conditions grow turbulent, which was the case in the third quarter, the payout tends to fall. Now what Nordic American Tanker believes that the third quarter will be the low-water mark for its results, with the company noting that "at the beginning of the 4th quarter, there appears to be an upswing in the tanker market." As a result, the dividend should rise next quarter. That said, this isn't an income stock for the faint of heart, which is why dividend seekers should look elsewhere for a steady payout. 10 stocks we like better than Nordic American TankersWhen 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 Nordic American Tankers 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, 2017 Matthew DiLallo 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. The head of Princeton University is joining in New Jersey's sales pitch to tech giant Amazon to build its second headquarters in the state. Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos and top executive Jeffrey Wilke are both graduates of the Ivy League university. Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber said in a letter sent last week that the school would welcome exploring potential research and innovation initiatives with Amazon. He also pointed out that computer science was the most common undergraduate major at the school last year. Bezos has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton. Thursday is the deadline for submissions for cities across the country to apply for the Seattle-based company to build its second headquarter. Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has thrown his support behind Newark's bid. In July, the legislative committee of Dunn County approved a referendum question that is unprecedented in rural America. The question asked Congress and the U.S. president to nationalize health care. Its chances of success looked good ahead of the Nov. 8 referendum. Results of this referendum could make waves in Wisconsin. The retail giant Target says it plans to open its first Vermont store a year from now. In a release issued Thursday, Target says that once the planned 60,000-square-foot store opens in at the University Mall in South Burlington in October 2018, it will have stores in all 50 states. Target Vice President Mark Schindele says the company's expansion into Vermont is long overdue. The company plans to hire about 75 employees and by the end of 2020, all will be paid a minimum of $15 an hour. Republican Gov. Phil Scott says that while Vermont may be the last state to host a Target, he expects it to become quickly a part of the community. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level in 44 years last week, with initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropping 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000. According to the Labor Department, the last time so few Americans applied for unemployment was in March 1973. While low unemployment is a good signal for the economy, the labor market has become so tight that its negatively impacting employers. According to the Feds latest Beige Book, released Wednesday, many employers are having difficulty finding qualified workers, particularly in construction, transportation, skilled manufacturing and some health care and service positions. These shortages have in turn restrained business growth. At the same time that the labor market is constrained, an ongoing robotic revolution could transform the employment landscape. Advancements in robotics including artificial intelligence and machine learning will lead the way to what is being called The Fourth Industrial Revolution. According to the World Economic Forum, this will cause widespread disruption not only to business models but also to labor markets over the next five years, with enormous change needed in workers skill sets in order to thrive in the new landscape. While it will take some time for this evolution to come, the worlds business leaders including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk have voiced their concerns about the advancement of artificial intelligence and what it will mean for jobs, as well as the economy. While its evident that automation will take some jobs, that may be a good thing right now for business growth as the skilled worker shortage persists. As long as workers focus on developing the skills that are most likely to differentiate themselves to robots, like communication and problem solving, their job security looks promising. Some 7,000 Romanian public sector health workers demonstrated Thursday, demanding that the government eliminate a plan to make them pay more social security taxes. Protesters from all over Romania gathered in a central square in the capital city of Bucharest, blowing whistles and vuvuzelas, marching to the government's main offices. Trade union leaders later held talks with Prime Minister Mihai Tudose about their grievances. Under the new plan, social welfare taxes currently paid by employers would be paid in the future by employees. "Our wages will be cut," said Erzsebet Dobro, a nurse from the central city of Sfantu Gheorghu. "It won't be worth working in the health sector anymore." "We have among the lowest wages," said Bucharest nurse Dorina Mantu, 51, who earns 1,700 lei ($440) a month. "Why should I pay more taxes to the state?" Dumitru Constantin, head of the National Trade Union Bloc, told broadcaster Europa FM that the government was planning to raise taxes next year to cover salary hikes for public sector workers in 2018. A green energy company heavily incentivized by Mississippi is shutting down, raising questions about whether the state will get repaid. Solar panel maker Stion notified the state Tuesday that it would close its Hattiesburg plant Dec. 13, laying off 137 employees. "Intense, non-market competition from foreign solar panel manufacturers, especially those based in China and proxy countries, has severely impacted the viability of our business," the San Jose, California, company said in a statement released by spokesman Frank Yang. Stion is the fourth green energy deal made by former Gov. Haley Barbour to flop. Earlier, solar equipment maker Twin Creeks and biofuel maker KiOR went out of business. Electric car maker GreenTech Automotive has ceased production. Mississippi's state government is owed at least $92 million by those companies. Mississippi initially loaned Stion $74.8 million, and state and local governments have given millions more in other tax breaks and subsidies. The company, for example, owes more than $2.1 million in property tax payments, even though tax rates on the plant are two-thirds lower than normal. Stion agreed to start paying down those bills in May, but Forrest County Attorney David Miller said Stion only made three $75,000-a-month payments. Clay Chandler, a spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant, said Bryant was "disappointed" by Stion's shutdown, but said Stion's failure is another example of why Bryant reversed Barbour's policy of investing in startups. "The governor trusts the Mississippi Development Authority to protect the state's interests moving forward," Chandler said in a statement. The authority and Yang declined to comment on any talks between Mississippi and Stion. Mississippi already amended its original incentive contract to allow Stion to hire fewer people and make interest-only payments on its debt for a time. Yang wrote in an email that Stion is trying to sell the factory to another buyer who will keep running it. The proceeds from that sale would go to creditors, in a possible alternative to a Stion bankruptcy filing. He wrote the chances of selling the plant depend on whether President Donald Trump orders financial penalties against overseas solar panel makers for selling their product at an unfairly cheap rate. The U.S. International Trade Commission is preparing recommendations for what Trump should do, and Yang wrote that the deadline for the president to decide is Jan. 13. A round of government imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar makers improved Stion's prospects somewhat in 2014, leading to an uptick in production. The tariffs being considered now wouldn't be on the kind of solar panel Stion makes, but its facility could be attractive to a foreign manufacturer seeking to produce in an American factory to avoid tariffs. Stion raised more than $200 million from private investors, in addition to Mississippi's loan. It promised 1,000 jobs in Hattiesburg when it announced its plans in 2011. But the company was already struggling in 2013 when venture capital firm Khosla Ventures took a controlling interest. That's the same company that was the lead investor in KiOR, whose biofuel failure sparked an ongoing lawsuit by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood in state court. ___ Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/Jeff_Amy . Thursday marks an interesting juxtaposition for investors: the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, the worst one-day stock market crash on record, yet the major U.S. stock indices are hovering near record highs. This has created a time for reflection, with investors wondering if lofty equity valuations and a volatile political climate are laying the groundwork for another market meltdown. Assessing the risks on the anniversary of Black Monday, Wells Fargo Investment Institute analysts noted that they see flatter growth for S&P 500 companies going forward, but they do not believe the growth cycle is coming to an end. They cautioned that investors should prepare for an uptick in volatility, with the recent, low volatility for the S&P 500 not normal. There are concerns over the likelihood of Trumps tax reduction and other growth packages passing Congress, as the markets are being supported in this cycle by the hope that these initiatives will go through. Wells Fargo added that we are in the last third of the growth cycle, and some risks increase at the end of the cycle. The Senate and the House of Representatives must agree on a fiscal year 2018 budget resolution before a tax bill can be sent to Trump to be signed by the end of the year. While this is going on, investors shouldnt be complacent, and Wells Fargo recommends investors rebalance their portfolios in light of the aggressive year-to-date equities rally. Some of the big gainers trading on the S&P 500 this year include Boeing (NYSE:BA), PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Activision Blizzard (NADSAQ:ATVI). Dividend investors want the best of both worlds: a lot of current income plus the potential for growth over the long haul. It's important to pick dividend stocks that have a track record of success and good prospects looking ahead. With the stock market averaging about a 2% dividend yield, blue-chip stocks that can double that payout are in high demand. That's why it makes sense to take a closer look at General Electric (NYSE: GE), Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO), and Altria Group (NYSE: MO), all of which are yielding more than 4% right now. Bringing good dividends to life General Electric has been a mixed bag for investors lately, but the industrial conglomerate has a long track record of treating its shareholders well when it comes to dividends. GE was a Dividend Aristocrat until the financial crisis led it to make a massive dividend cut in order to support its financial services division. Since then, though, General Electric has gotten back on the dividend growth bandwagon, with regular increases that have more than doubled its payout since its bottom in 2009. The stock currently yields 4.1%. General Electric is at a turning point right now, with new CEO John Flannery working toward coming up with a long-term strategy for the next 10 years to help the conglomerate recover from recent weakness. With its recent foray into the energy sector having proven to be ill-timed, GE has to decide whether to stay the course and hope for a cyclical uptick or to pivot toward higher-growth areas like healthcare. Strength in initiatives like the Internet of Things as well as fast-growing industries like aerospace also hold plenty of potential for General Electric, and dividend investors can hope for both share-price gains and payout increases in the years to come. Digging for dividends Mining companies aren't known for their generous dividend policies, largely because mining is a capital intensive activity that requires considerable reinvestment of cash flow back into business operations. Yet income investors can find some companies that are willing to share their success with shareholders through regular dividends, and Rio Tinto has a good track record of treating its investors well. The mining stock currently yields 4.5% on a trailing basis if you take the company's interim semi-annual dividend payment and assume it will make a similarly sized final payment for the fiscal year next spring. Rio Tinto is a massive player in iron ore, and the rebound in global steel demand has helped to pull the mining company's stock higher after a long malaise during the commodities bust of recent years. With a policy of returning between 40% and 60% of its cash flow to its shareholders as dividends, new expansion plans to key mines like its Silverglass asset could help to boost production dramatically, and that should in turn fall through to the bottom line and increase how much shareholders receive in dividends in future years. Smoking-hot payouts Finally, Altria has had a long history of treating its shareholders well. The tobacco giant has given its investors dividend increases at a rate of more than one per year for half a century, and Altria's current yield has climbed above the 4% mark once again. Many investors are nervous about a recent regulatory proposal from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that seeks to force Altria and its cigarette-making peers to reduce the amount of nicotine present in cigarettes to levels that are small enough not to be addictive. Yet Altria has a history of working with regulators to keep such initiatives at a manageable level, and its pricing power gives it the ability to keep its revenue and profits moving higher even as the secular decline in cigarette smoking causes overall sales volumes in unit terms to decline over time. Altria has a strong brand presence thanks to its well-known Marlboro products, and betting against the tobacco giant has been a losing proposition for decades. Top dividend stocks offer both above-average yields and growth potential. Altria, Rio Tinto, and General Electric all face challenges, but they each also have the ability to produce substantial long-term returns both from share-price increases and from dividend growth. 10 stocks we like better than General ElectricWhen 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 General Electric 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, 2017 Dan Caplinger 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. The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold a hearing on Thursday regarding what actions should be taken to remedy damage done to U.S. washing machine producers by the dumping of cheap foreign products into the domestic market. On Oct. 5, the commission voted unanimously in favor of American home appliance company Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR), which brought a complaint forward accusing Samsung and LG Electronics, its South Korean competitors, of flooding U.S. markets with cheap washing machines and pricing out domestic manufacturers. While the ITC didn't say material harm was coming from South Korea in particular, Whirlpool alleged the country's manufacturers had shifted production into other countries in order to avoid U.S. anti-dumping tariffs imposed in previous years. LG, Samsung and South Korean trade officials are likely to argue that by imposing punitive tariffs or other fines, the United States would be eliminating innovation and potentially harming the consumer, if prices were to rise as a result of decreased competition. The official ITC ruling will take place in November and then will be sent to President Donald Trump the following month, whereupon he will have two months to make a final decision. In August, LG Electronics announced its plans to build a 1 million square foot manufacturing facility in Tennessee, scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, in June, Samsung said it will open its first U.S. appliances plant in more than 30 years in South Carolina. Experts believe these two massive investments could put the Trump administration in a difficult position where the trade disputes are concerned. Recently, the ITC also voted in favor of Boeing (NYSE:BA) in its trade dispute with Canadian plane maker Bombardier, recommending tariffs cumulatively valued at 300% in response to damages incurred by the U.S. manufacturer. A final hearing for that case will happen later this year. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) heard testimony from Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) and its foreign competitors on Thursday, as the body considers remedies for perceived damages suffered by domestic producers due to unfair trade practices. On Oct. 5, the ITC voted unanimously in favor of Whirlpool, which brought a complaint forward accusing Samsung and LG Electronics, its South Korean competitors, of flooding U.S. markets with cheap washing machines and pricing out domestic manufacturers. While the ITC didn't say material harm was coming from South Korea in particular, Whirlpool alleged the country's manufacturers shifted production into other countries (Thailand and Vietnam) in order to avoid U.S. anti-dumping tariffs imposed in previous years. Samsung and LG have repeatedly demonstrated a commitment to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid paying duties, Whirlpool executives said Thursday. It is therefore essential that the commission recommend a remedy that takes this past behavior into account and ensures that Samsung and LG cannot do another end run around U.S. trade measures. Whirlpool, along with GE appliances, has suggested the imposition of a 50% tariff on some imported washing machines, in addition to quotas for imported washer parts, as a resolution for the damage domestic producers have suffered. However, U.S. economic development and job creation took center stage during the hearing as both Samsung and LG indicated punitive financial measures could put their pending U.S. factory plans in jeopardy. If this commission imposes import restrictions now, it could really cut us off at the knees, particularly the draconian tariff that Whirlpool is requesting, Tony Fraley, plant manager for Samsung Electronics Americas South Carolina Home Appliance Facility, said in testimony before the ITC. A tariff that cuts off Samsungs imports will undermine our competitive position in the marketplace, and will have a negative impact on our ramp-up and transition strategy for South Carolina. In June, Samsung said it would open its first U.S. appliances plant in more than 30 years in South Carolina. That plant is expected to begin making parts by January and to employ 1,000 Americans by the end of 2018, Fraley said. With economic growth at risk, local lawmakers are also pushing back against Whirlpools complaint. This is purely a move to defeat competition, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told FOX Business in a statement. Government intervention would mean bad news for American workers and consumers. Samsung has already committed to being a domestic producer and harsh trade remedies will limit their abilities to expand operations in the U.S. and put Americans to work. Meanwhile, in August, LG Electronics announced plans to build a 1 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Tennessee, scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2019. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) expressed concern in written testimony that government intervention in the washing machine industry could have damaging economic consequences in both her state and South Carolina. These facilities could, collectively, generate more than 1,600 new jobs and account for over $600 million in local economic development opportunities, Blackburn wrote in a letter addressed to U.S. ITC chair Rhonda Schmidtlein on Oct. 3. Whirlpool and GE Appliances on the other hand argue that a robust remedy will actually benefit investments at both companies U.S. plants because it encourages them to build all of their washing machines within the country. The official ITC ruling will take place in November and then will be sent to President Donald Trump the following month, whereupon he will have two months to make a final decision. The tobacco industry is in the midst of a major transformation, and Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has led the surge away from traditional cigarettes toward reduced-risk products like its iQOS heated tobacco platform. Investors have been nervous about the prospect for losing what has been an extremely lucrative business for decades, but the company has been optimistic about the strong reception iQOS has gotten in key test markets and believes that it can use innovation to get past what it sees as a short-term bump in the road. Coming into Thursday's third-quarter financial report, Philip Morris investors wanted to see a nice jump in revenue and earnings, showing a rebound from what have been extremely difficult conditions in recent years. Unfortunately, Philip Morris once again had to deal with adverse currency impacts, and even as iQOS ramps up, reductions in guidance for the full 2017 year continued to hurt sentiment among shareholders. Let's look more closely at how Philip Morris International did and what lies ahead for the tobacco giant. Why Philip Morris had another disappointing quarter Philip Morris International's third-quarter results fell short of the figures that most investors wanted to see. Revenue net of excise taxes came in at $7.47 billion, up 7% from the year-ago quarter but still well short of the double-digit percentage growth that those following the stock were expecting. Net income of $1.97 billion was up just 1.7%, and the resulting earnings of $1.27 per share were far below the consensus forecast for $1.35 per share. Difficult issues were visible throughout the report. Currency impacts reared their ugly head yet again, hurting earnings by $0.12 per share and costing Philip Morris about two percentage points of potential revenue growth. Overall cigarette shipment volume fell more than 4% to 198.5 billion units, and even when you add in the big gains in iQOS shipments, total unit volume was down slightly from year-ago levels. The key Marlboro brand suffered a 6% drop in volume, and only substantial gains for Chesterfield were able to keep the damage from being far worse for Philip Morris. Weakness was evident across the globe. All four of Philip Morris' geographical segments posted declines in cigarette shipment volumes, with the European Union faring the worst even as Asia held up the best. Only in Latin America and Canada was Philip Morris able to post higher revenue from combustible products, using its pricing power to offset falling volume. Yet on the bottom line, there were clear winners and losers, as segment operating company income soared 40% in Asia and by nearly a fifth in the Western Hemisphere, offsetting a 20% drop in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa segment. The EU also posted operating income declines. Again, the bright spot came from iQOS. Unit shipments quadrupled in Asia to more than 8.8 billion, and ramping up in Europe continued. Revenue from reduced-risk products was up almost 350%, and that helped support massive gains in overall total revenue in the Asian region. Can Philip Morris recover? CEO Andre Calantzopoulos put a positive spin on the results. "We recorded a sequential improvement in our total volume performance," Calantzopoulos said, "driven by both our combustible and reduced-risk products, and grew our international market share." The CEO pointed to "adverse developments" in Russia and Saudi Arabia as pressuring its performance, but the company is confident that it can deliver currency-neutral earnings gains of 9% to 10%. Yet what most of those following the stock focused on was Philip Morris' decision to cut its guidance for the full 2017 year. The tobacco giant now expects earnings of $4.75 to $4.80 per share, down between $0.03 and $0.13 per share from its projections last quarter. Only some of that impact will come from currencies, with the company expecting a $0.17 per share overall hit from the strong U.S. dollar. The 9% to 10% earnings growth range represented a move to the lower end of its prior range, which extended up to 12%. Philip Morris shareholders responded negatively to the news, and the stock fell 4% in pre-market trading following the early morning announcement. Even with iQOS doing well, Philip Morris needs to find a way to cushion the blow of falling cigarette demand across the globe. Otherwise, the transition to reduced-risk products will only get bumpier in the years to come. 10 stocks we like better than Philip Morris InternationalWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Philip Morris International wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017 Dan Caplinger 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. White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly on Thursday defended President Trumps call to the family of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger. If you elect to call a family like this it is about the most difficult thing you could imagine. Theres no perfect way to make that phone call, Kelly told reporters during an impromptu appearance at the White House press briefing. The retired Marine General lashed out at Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) saying he was "stunned" by the Congresswomans negative description of Trump's call to the Gold Star widow of Army Sgt. Johnson. I was stunned when I came to work yesterday, and broken hearted, when I saw what a member of Congress was doing, Kelly told reporters during an impromptu appearance at the White House press briefing. He went on to say, It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me and I thought at least that was sacred. After hearing the Florida Congresswoman chastise the President for making the condolence call, Kelly said he found himself distraught over the reaction that it led him to walk through Arlington National Cemetery. The only thing I could do to collect my thoughts was to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth. And you can always find them because they are in Arlington National Cemetery," he said. The White House Chief of Staff said he advised Trump against calling the wife of Sgt. Johnson because of how difficult it is to deliver such a tragic message. However, the President insisted to Kelly it was the right thing to do. He said to me, What do I say? I said to him, Sir, theres nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families, he said. Kelly, whose son Second Lt. Robert Kelly died in Afghanistan in 2010, somberly described how a U.S. service family member is notified when a soldier is killed in action, saying an officer knocks on the door of the familys home after the first light comes on early in the morning to deliver the devastating news. When my son was killed his friends were calling us from Afghanistan, telling us what a great guy he was, he said. Steve Bannon has been reaching out to Republican donors to see if they will turn on their partys own leadership in the buildup to the 2018 midterm elections, but theres at least one mega financier who is taking a stand against Bannons war on the GOP, FOX Business has learned. Conservative mega donor Foster Friess said in an interview with FOX Business that he will not be joining Bannon's ranks in his fight against Republican leaders such as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R KY) because he believes the best way to pass legislation is to do it the conventional way: go after the opposing party. I can understand [the] frustrations of some of my fellow Republicans, but I believe they are wrong, Friess said in an email to FOX Business. While Steve Bannon wants to replace Republican incumbents I want to champion the effort [and for] that money be devoted instead to replacing the ten Democrats in states where President Trump won. I do not intend to raise money to defeat fellow Republicans. My efforts will be spent on raising money to defeat Democrats so we have more Republicans to pursue our agenda, he added. Friess, founder and former CEO of Friess Associates, an investment management firm based out of his home state of Wyoming, reportedly spoke with Bannon at the beginning of October. Its unclear if Friess expressed his views to him at the time. A spokesman for Bannon did not return emails for comment. Bannon has been on a warpath against the Republican establishment ever since he was forced out of the White House in August to then rejoin conservative media platform Breitbart News as its chairman, including a recent onerous promise to enact a season of war against GOP leadership at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday. Theres a time and season for everything, and right now its a season of war against a GOP establishment, Bannon said. Its no longer acceptable to come and pat you on the head and tell you everything is going to be fine just to get those people in office. Bannon picked up his first anti-establishment victory when he supported and advised Judge Roy Moore, an insurgent Republican, who beat the establishment candidate Luther Strange in the GOP primary to fill the Senate seat previously held by Jeff Sessions, Trumps current attorney general. Friesss counterpunch to Bannon could be a big financial blow to his growing list of anti-establishment candidates, as hes been a key contributor for many political hopefuls. He was a big supporter for former presidential candidate Rick Santorum during his run for office in 2012, raising over $1 million through the Red, White and Blue Fund, a Super PAC supporting Santorum, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He also contributed $100,000 to Mitt Romneys campaign through a PAC named Restore our Future. Friess also addressed his pending decision on whether he will challenge Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), whose term expires in January 2019. He insisted that if he chooses to run, its nothing personal against the lawmaker from Wyoming. "I am a fan of Senator Barrasso. My consideration is based on skill sets I developed while influencing people with $15 billion in assets to my management, skill sets that could be additive to the existing wise policies of my fellow Republicans, Friess said. Better messaging, return of civility and untangling the health care logjam are my motivation; not that I am hell bent on replacing John Barrasso, he added. Barrasso has become a target of Bannons, who called him out by name in a recent interview with Sean Hannity on FOX News Channel. "Even safe incumbents like Barrasso and (Sen.) Deb Fischer (R-NE), they have to understand something just voting is not good enough, you have to have a sense of urgency," Bannon said. "Nobody's safe, we're coming after all of them, and we're gonna win," he added. Its still unclear if the former White House chief strategist's tactics against Republicans will be successful, or if they are supported by his old boss. President Donald Trump appeared to initially embrace Bannons efforts on Wednesday but later seemed to say he was against some of his candidates. "There are some Republicans that should be ashamed of themselves," Trump said at Wednesdays cabinet meeting. "So I can understand fully how Steve Bannon feels. At a press conference after meeting with McConnell, Trump said, "Some of the people that he may be looking at, Im going to see if we talk him out of that because frankly theyre great people." Politico also reported on Thursday that Trump called three senators in Bannons crosshairs, Sens. Barrasso, Fischer and Roger Wicker (R-MS), and offered to help them against any of their challengers. Both incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia are term-limited and cannot run again. Piscopo, a notable New Jersey celebrity and former Saturday Night Live host, toyed with the idea of running as a Republican to replace Christie, but ultimately chose not to do so. Honestly, I really, really wanted to go in. I want to go in as an independent too, just to really have fun. Because I know the issues, he said on Cavuto: Coast to Coast. I stepped down for Lt. Gov. Guadagno. Shes a great gal, and I think shes a formidable candidate. Traditionally, post-presidential elections see the pendulum swing in favor of candidates who are not a part of the party currently in the White House. Some have also said that New Jersey and Virginia could be examples of what 2018 mid-term elections will look like. Elections will take place on Nov. 7. A Melbourne teen allegedly modified a truck so convincingly he was able to fool other motorists that it was an emergency vehicle. Heavy Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit detectives arrested the 16-year-old in the affluent beachside suburb of Brighton today after seeing online footage of the truck driving through traffic with emergency lights flashing. The white truck had realistic looking flashing lights fitted on the roof as well as siren, horn and spotlight. It was so convincing motorists pulled to the side to let the vehicle through. The boy had allegedly been responding to traffic crashes and even helped some people at the scene of accidents. Police have estimated the value of the truck and modifications to be $100,000, according to 7 News. The truck was mostly driven around the Melbourne suburbs of St Kilda and Elwood. Victoria Police said the investigation was ongoing and the Brighton teen is assisting police with their inquiries. The truck has been seized by police. Actor Christian Bale is known for making incredible physical transformations for the roles he plays. However, his recent new look as former vice president Dick Cheney for an upcoming biopic might be his most drastic change yet. As previously reported, the star was seen at the Toronto International Film Festival having put on weight for the role. Now, both he and co-star Amy Adams have been spotted in full makeup and wardrobe to play Cheney and his wife, Lynne, during the formers time at as vice president to George W. Bush. In the snaps, a heavier Bale looks almost unrecognizable as he dons the familiar wardrobe, glasses and bald-head of Cheney. Bale can be seen with a piece of paper clenched in his mouth, possibly a script, as he steps into the back seat of a car. Adams too looks like the spitting image of Lynne Cheney as she makes her way to the vehicle as well. She's dressed in a red skirt-suit, which the real-life Lynne typically wore to public events. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the biopic will be helmed by Adam McKay and focus on the life of Cheney including avoiding military service in the Vietnam War, rising in the ranks to become the CEO of Halliburton as well as the events following the 9/11 attacks that allowed Cheney to seize unprecedented foreign policy power for a vice president. Other stars signed on for roles in the film include Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld and Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush. The film does not yet have a title or release date. The gunman who unleashed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history first wounded an unsuspecting hotel security guard in a hallway who promptly radioed for help, according to a TV interview broadcast Wednesday with the guard and a hotel building engineer whose life he is credited with saving. In his only public recounting of the Oct. 1 shooting that killed 58 people and wounded more than 500, guard Jesus Campos told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show that he was heading down the hall after calling for a maintenance worker when he heard "rapid fire" gunshots through the nearby doors of Stephen Paddock's suite in the Mandalay Bay. "At first, I took cover. I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up, and I saw the blood," Campos said. "That's when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired." He didn't say what time that was. The hotel engineer, Stephen Schuck, who was sent to check a fire exit door that Campos found bolted shut, told DeGeneres that he didn't hear gunfire when he reached the opposite end of the 32nd floor hallway. Then, he heard what he thought was the sound of construction. "I didn't know it was shooting. I thought it was a jackhammer," Schuck said. "And, you know as an engineer, I'm like, 'We're not working up here this late at night.' We wouldn't be doing that." "It was, I believe, outside," he said, referring to gunfire that authorities say Paddock rained down from broken windows into a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival. "It wasn't in the hallway yet." Schuck said Campos leaned out from a door entrance and yelled for him to take cover. "Within milliseconds, if he didn't say that, I would have got hit," Schuck said, describing bullets whizzing past his head. Police later said more than 200 shots were fired into the hallway. Campos, who walked into the interview with a cane, is recovering from a leg wound. Schuck wasn't injured. Both are on paid leave from their jobs, according to officials at MGM Resorts International, which owns the hotel. The company, police and the FBI declined to comment on the TV appearance. Campos drew intense attention when police hailed him as a hero just after the shooting, saying he unwittingly stopped the massacre by arriving in the hallway. The police timeline changed dramatically a week later, when authorities said Campos reported being wounded at 9:59 p.m. six minutes before people in the concert crowd reported shots. The timeline of the massacre changed again last Friday, when Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Campos had been dispatched to the 32nd floor at 9:59 p.m. and was wounded in the hallway less than a minute before the massacre started at 10:05 p.m. Schuck's account in the DeGeneres interview seemed to support that chronology. He told Campos in the interview that the guard saved Schuck's life, and DeGeneres credited Campos with also warning a woman who started to come out of her room to get back inside. "Shortly after that is when Stephen (Schuck) was approaching, and I told him to stay back and get cover, and that's when more rounds were dispersed," Campos said. His interview came after the last-minute cancellation of a scheduled live interview with Fox host Sean Hannity last Thursday, said David Hickey, president of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America. Campos then dropped from public view, said Hickey, who had been involved in booking the appearance. "We're more than pleased that he's resurfaced and appears to be in good health," Hickey said. "If he comes back as a security officer at Mandalay Bay, we'll see him again. If not, we wish him the best." Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon was arrested earlier this month in California for domestic violence against his girlfriend. Brendon, 46, was arrested on Oct. 11 for violating a protective order against an unnamed girlfriend and felony domestic violence, E! News reported. The actor reportedly pulled his girlfriends arm and hair during an altercation at the bar at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs, Calif., KESQ reported. COUNTRY STARS HONOR LAS VEGAS SHOOTING VICTIMS AT CMT ARTISTS Brendon, who was best known for playing Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has two active protection orders filed against him by the woman, police told KESQ. The order allows the actor to be near the woman, but prohibits him from threatening, harassing, injuring or assaulting her, police told KESQ. Brendon posted the $50,000 bail a day after he was arrested. The actor is slated to appear in court on Nov. 28. Police were called after bystanders witnessed the altercation. JESSIE JAMES DECKER GUSHES ABOUT ROMANCE WITH ERIC DECKER Brendon has been arrested and charged previously with felony third-degree robbery, criminal mischief, felony vandalism and malicious injury. The actor has been to rehab three times. Brendon told Dr. Phil in 2015 that he struggled with depression and alcoholism, the New York Daily News reported. It goes from, 'Hey, Im having fun,' to then I, literally, needed to have a drink before I could have a conversation with people, Brendon told Dr. Phil. Drinking initially quells the anxiety, definitely, but then it just adds to the anger. The Mandalay Bay security guard who was shot and wounded during the Las Vegas massacre returned to the national spotlight Wednesday for an interview with Ellen DeGeneres but the talk show host failed to pin him down on the constantly changing timeline of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Jesus Campos described being shot by gunman Stephen Paddock as Campos walked down the 32nd floor hallway after calling for a maintenance worker on the night of Oct. 1. But he didn't say what time that was, and DeGeneres didn't ask what time it was. "At first, I took cover. I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up, and I saw the blood," Campos said. "That's when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired." Paddock rained bullets on spectators at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 others. Campos drew intense attention when police hailed him as a hero just after the shooting, saying he unwittingly stopped the massacre by arriving in the hallway. The police timeline changed dramatically a week later, when authorities said Campos reported being wounded at 9:59 p.m. six minutes before people in the concert crowd reported shots. The timeline of the massacre changed again last Friday, when Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Campos had been dispatched to the 32nd floor at 9:59 p.m. and was wounded in the hallway less than a minute before the massacre started at 10:05 p.m. Campos was scheduled to appear on Fox News' "Hannity" this past Thursday, but canceled at the last minute. During the interview with DeGeneres, the host revealed that hers would be Campos' only interview about the shooting. Campos was accompanied by Mandalay Bay engineer Stephen Schuck, who was sent to check a fire exit door that Campos found bolted shut. Schuck told DeGeneres that he didn't hear gunfire when he reached the opposite end of the 32nd floor hallway. Then, he said, he heard what he thought was the sound of construction. "I didn't know it was shooting. I thought it was a jackhammer," Schuck said. "And, you know as an engineer, I'm like, 'We're not working up here this late at night.' We wouldn't be doing that." Schuck appeared to support the most recent timeline given by authorities, telling DeGeneres that he thought the gunfire came from "outside." "It wasn't in the hallway yet," the engineer added. Schuck said Campos leaned out from a door entrance and yelled for him to take cover. "Within milliseconds, if he didn't say that, I would have got hit," Schuck said, describing bullets whizzing past his head. DeGeneres credited Campos with also warning a woman who started to come out of her room to get back inside. "Shortly after that is when Stephen was approaching, and I told him to stay back and get cover, and that's when more rounds were dispersed," Campos said. Police later said more than 200 shots were fired into the hallway. MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay, declined to comment on the appearance, as did police and the FBI. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Following the litany of women who have come forward to accuse disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, the LAPD has joined the NYPD and London police in launching official investigations into Weinsteins alleged crimes. The LAPDs robbery and homicide division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein, which allegedly occurred in 2013, Police Intelligence Operations Officer Sal Ramirez told Fox News. This case is under investigation, there is no further information at this time. According to The Los Angeles Times, an Italian model/actress, who refused to be identified to the press, sat down with officers to detail an account from the Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Festival in February 2013. She claims Weinstein showed up at her hotel after she declined an offer to go to his hotel with him. He ... bullied his way into my hotel room, saying, Im not going to [have sex with] you, I just want to talk, the woman told the outlet. Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked. He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me. She says that she begged the now 65-year-old Weinstein to stop and showed him pictures of her children during the alleged 45-minute ordeal. This particular investigation could be problematic for Weinstein, who is currently at a rehab center in Arizona, as it falls within the 10-year statute of limitations for sex crimes in Los Angeles. Following bombshell exposes from The New York Times and The New Yorker, many women have been coming forward to share their stories of sexual assault or harassment involving Weinstein. As previously reported, the NYPD and London police are investigating cases of sexual assault involving the Hollywood tycoon as well, making this the third police department thats gone on record with an investigation. A male feminist writer has been fired by the prestigious GQ Magazine after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her outside a bar. The writer, Rubert Myers, apologized to his accuser after she outed him on Twitter. Having been made aware of some allegations against Rupert Myers, British GQ can confirm that it has terminated its freelance agreement with him, with immediate effect. He is no longer British GQs Political Correspondent, a spokesperson told Fox News. Journalist Kate Leaver took to Twitter on Thursday to open up about her alleged experience with Myers. Ok, here goes. I havent told this story because I listened to the voice that told me it wasnt that bad or worth talking about, Leaver wrote. When I moved to London, I wanted to make friends. I met @RupertMyers on Twitter and agreed to go for what I thought was a friendly drink. She continued: I was very clear about not being romantically or sexually interested in him, once the subject was raised. I suggested we be mates He said Ive got enough mates, Id rather f--k you and forced himself on me outside a pub in Fitzrovia. Leaver said that Myers eventually apologized, but it was not enough, and she has heard he harasses women on a regular basis. The apology is weak, and only inspired by public humiliation and fear of consequence. This is a Weinstein microcosm, Leaver wrote. Anyone else who has been harassed by this man, or any other, I stand by you. Over and out. Myers, who deactivated his Twitter account after Leaver started tweeting her story, is a known feminist who has written stories such as, Mens rights activist are cave dwelling idiots. In the 2015 story, Myers wrote, There is a new, global group dedicated to undermining significant social change. They wear the mask of an online avatar and use technology to harass, threaten and silence their targets. Their cause? To prevent steps towards the equality of men and women. They are the Mens rights activists. Daily Caller reporter Ian Miles Cheong had harsh words for Myers, tweeting, Male feminists who claim the moral high ground, who turn their noses up at the misogynists below, are the very demons they claim to fight. Myers also has written stories mocking President Trump, declaring that there is no such thing as an illegal immigrant and bragged about being photographed with the alleged writer of the infamous Russian dossier of Trump information. Myers could not immediately be reached for comment. NBC News is coming under increasing criticism for its failure to investigate why its embattled president, Noah Oppenheim, spiked a bombshell story that would have been the first to expose Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein as a sexual predator. An NBC spokesperson says the network is not investigating the matter, despite new revelations that Oppenheim sat at small table with Weinstein at an exclusive New York gala in April, when Oppenheim reportedly already knew that his reporter, celebrity scion Ronan Farrow, had obtained damning audio recordings in which Weinstein admitted groping the breasts of an Italian model. University of North Carolina Associate Professor Lois Boynton teaches ethics at UNC's School of Media and Journalism. She feels that Oppenheim sitting with Weinstein certainly raises ethical concerns, and while attending an event with a Hollywood peer may seem innocuous, the head of NBC News should have known better. Boynton pointed to the Radio Television Digital News Association and Society of Professional Journalists ethics codes, which are both clear about the need for journalists to work independently, be transparent and avoid conflicts of interest. Although Noah Oppenheim isnt in the reporting rank and file, the impact of even perceived conflicts of interest on his part as NBC News president can affect not only his own credibility but also that of the company It would have been wiser for Mr. Oppenheim to distance himself literally -- from Mr. Weinstein, Boynton told Fox News. Perception carries a lot of weight. Human nature leads us to ask what conversations transpired between the two men during the gala. The revelation which came from Hollywood mega producer Gavin Polone, who fingered Oppenheim as one of Weinsteins accomplices has been confirmed by Fox News and increased skepticism about NBCs insistence that Oppenheim had no relationship with Weinstein prior to the screenwriting executive killing Farrows investigation, which Farrow would later take to the prestigious New Yorker magazine. An NBC spokeswoman repeated that, Noah has never had any relationship with [Weinstein], business or personal, but it appears the pair were socializing in black tie at a star-packed event after Oppenheim became aware of damning evidence obtained by his own news organization. NBC did not disclose this fraternization when it issued its original denials last week that Oppenheim had any ties to Weinstein. It is problematic when those who are in charge of reporting the news in a fair and balanced manner appear in any way to be aligned with, or supportive of, news figures on whom they may have to report, Canadas Western University journalism professor and ethic expert Romayne Smith Fullerton told Fox News. I think the very appearance of bias can be read by audiences as problematic. Oppenheim moonlights as a Hollywood screenwriter, and has screen writing credits on three produced films, including Jackie, which was nominated for three Academy Awards (Oppenheim himself was not nominated). He is currently writing a screenplay about the escape artist Harry Houdini, to be produced by Lionsgate. He has told numerous colleagues that hes bored by his NBC News role and may return to Hollywood full time at any moment. Some NBC insiders who spoke to Fox News on condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution by Oppenheim, say he had a clear conflict of interest and should have recused himself from the Weinstein investigation. Oppenheim and NBC News have also been accused by Farrow and many others of lying when Oppenheim claimed that Farrows piece did not meet NBC's reporting standards at the time they spiked it. One of the finest publications on the planet took a look at whatever Oppenheim took a pass on and felt it was worth the effort, Poynter Chief Media Critic James Warren wrote. NBC News is not even exploring why Oppenheim spiked the story, despite numerous calls from outside NBC (and anonymous murmuring from within) for him to step down. Executives at NBC knew exactly what Weinstein was doing nearly a year ago, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on Monday. Instead of reporting it, they did their best to keep that information hidden from public view. The pressure on Oppenheim has increased even as the Weinstein headlines have faded. Forbes published a story on Wednesday titled, Should NBC News head Oppenheim lose his job over Weinstein expose debacle? Breitbart Editor-at-Large John Nolte wrote that hopelessly corrupt establishment media infested with Oppenheims is the problem, noting that the system is set up for privileged and connected individuals like Oppenheim to remain exalted and remunerated. Evening TV news watchdog Andrew Tyndall called Oppenheim's rationale lily-livered and liberal CNN even quoted a source calling NBCs decision indefensible. Farrow had begun reporting on Weinstein in January of 2017 and by March he had acquired a damning and much-coveted audio recording in which Weinstein admits to having groped an Italian model, according to HuffPost. The same story alleges that Farrow landed an on-camera interview with actress Rose McGowan, during which she accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her, prior to uncovering the audio. By April, NBC News had two big scoops in its pocket: an on-record interview with McGowan and the explosive audio of Weinstein admitting to sexual assault, the HuffPost wrote. But Farrow was told by multiple NBC News executives and producers that the reporting and interviews he had conducted werent sufficient for a televised story. The Time 100 gala, which is packed with celebrities, occurred on a rainy April evening, after NBC News executives presumably knew about Farrows investigation. NBC News employees are given multiple invitations to the exclusive gala in exchange for promoting Times The Person of the Year magazine issue on the Today show. In addition to Oppenheim, Today hosts Megyn Kelly and Willie Geist represented the NBC cohort, along with NBC News chairman Andy Lack. Also there were Ronan Farrow himself and his mother Mia, the star of Rosemarys Baby. I would say that yes it was unethical, both to sit with Weinstein and to pass on the story. Weinstein's ability to continuously harm women over the years depended on the complicity of other people in positions of power, who had the ability to draw attention to Weinstein's conduct. Refusal to work with him in light of that conduct would have brought this to an end long ago. The complicity is unethical; someone who turns a blind eye to a harmful act does something reprehensible, effectively facilitating it, especially if they gain from that complicity. Weinstein should have been stopped years ago, and many people are at fault for their passivity in the face of his actions, author and ethics expert John Hacker-Wright told Fox News. An insider familiar with the Time event told Fox News that seating assignments are carefully made, and that if Oppenheim scored a seat at Weinsteins table, it was probably a favor by Times public relations department. An NBC representative tells Fox News that Oppenheim did not specifically ask to sit with Weinstein. Time did not respond to repeated requests for comment. TV historian and journalism professor Robert Thompson doesnt think Oppenheim and Weinstein simply sitting at the same table is necessarily a conflict of interest, but it all depends on what was discussed. I dont know what happened at that table, I dont know if there were conversations at that table that might be another story, Thompson told Fox News. Im not sure we know the details yet about what went into the decision not to go with that Ronan Farrow story. Thompson said he needs more information to proclaim that Oppenheim violated journalistic standards by sharing a table with the man his news division was investigating. Then, of course, there are standards as to, when you are in the middle of that, how you interact with the subject of your investigation. These are delicate things, Thompson said. I dont know how the two of them ended up at the same table, was it just where they happened to find their nameplate? If the two of them were colluding about not running this story that would be one thing. Boston University journalism professor Jon Klarfeld said Oppenheims decision certainly was unwise and called it another notch in the list of problems that TV news organizations currently face. Meanwhile, Oppenheim isnt the only influential member of the Comcast/NBC family to have ties to Weinstein. Back in 2013, the movie mogul attended an Obama event at the Marthas Vineyard home of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. The Weinstein Company has had TV programs on NBC Universal stations, and Weinstein reportedly begged NBC Universal executive Ron Meyer for support when the harassment allegations began to surface. Oppenheims boss, powerful NBC News Chairman Andy Lack, has remained silent as his subordinate takes heat for quashing the Weinstein story. Oppenheims role at NBC is far smaller than that of his counterparts at other networks, since so much of NBCs news operation reports directly to Lack. He doesnt do much other than spiking stories, said an NBC News insider of Oppenheim, who was also in the middle of NBCs decision to sit on the explosive Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape. That recording was eventually leaked to the Washington Posts David Fahrenthold, who is Oppenheims friend from prestigious Harvard University. Andy will try to throw Noah under the bus for the Weinstein and the Megyn Kelly situations, said one industry insider, referring to the troubled roll-out of Kellys new daytime show. But Noah is far more shrewd and connected than Andy realizes. NBC representatives did not respond to requests for comment from Lack. Farrow also did not respond to Fox News request for comment. When Fox News reached out to NBC for additional information, a spokeswoman responded, We continue to believe Fox News coverage of this matter is motivated by competitive concerns. President Trump campaigned on helping the little guy. His latest tax proposal, he says, is about helping the middle guy. Its a middle-class bill, Trump promised an audience of truckers last week. Other administration officials and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have also claimed that their primary objective in reconfiguring the tax code is to help the middle class, not the wealthy. Unfortunately, they seem to have gotten things backward. In a preliminary analysis, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that 80 percent of the proposed tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent of earners over the next decade. Meanwhile a quarter of households in the middle quintile would see their tax bills rise. This should be no surprise, when you consider whats in the Republican framework. It cuts the top personal income tax rate; eliminates estate taxes, which currently befall only estates worth at least $5.5 million; kills the alternative minimum tax; and slashes rates on pass-through income. The White House has lately even made the absurd claim that its enormous, unfunded corporate rate cuts are primarily about helping the middle class. On Monday, the presidents Council of Economic Advisers released a report claiming that corporate tax cuts would boost the average households income by at least $4,000. This estimate relies on a series of assumptions that seem dubious at best, given other research (including one recently deleted paper by Treasurys own staff economists). All this made me wonder: What would a tax plan that actually prioritizes the middle class look like? Not much like the one Republican leadership cooked up, but it could still include elements appealing to both parties. A real middle-class tax plan would likely include a large expansion of the earned income tax credit. For decades, the EITC has supplemented lower-income peoples pay through a tax refund. Its pro-work, because it increases the payoff from holding down a job. It also meaningfully improves working families living standards. Given these selling points, the EITC has historically enjoyed support from both Republicans and Democrats. In recent years, both Ryan and President Barack Obama proposed making it more generous to workers who dont have custody of a minor child. Curiously, though, the current GOP framework says not a peep about this powerful tool. Fortunately, theres an (admittedly expensive) off-the-shelf policy available: a Democratic plan to expand EITC eligibility up the wage ladder, to households making as much as $76,000 depending on family size. The legislation would also roughly double the maximum size of the EITC for working families and almost sextuple it for childless workers. These expansions are designed to help middle-income workers reclaim the pay they would have received had there not been decades of wage stagnation, the House bills primary sponsor, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told me in a recent interview. Khanna also observed that expanding the EITC is a much more direct way to raise middle-class families earnings than some Rube-Goldberg-like corporate tax-code machinations. Trump is saying hes going to cut the corporate tax rate in order to raise your wages, Khanna said. Im saying: Lets just raise your wages. We could also help middle-income families by expanding the child tax credit. The GOP tax plan does include an expansion of this credit, to be sure. But what theyve announced so far doesnt do much for the middle class. Thats because the expansion appears to be non-refundable (meaning it primarily helps higher-income filers), and it mostly serves to offset the frameworks elimination of personal exemptions, explains Tax Policy Center researcher Elaine Maag. Other more generous expansions would be possible though, including a version pushed by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah. What about the corporate tax code? There are some changes that could arguably boost growth and productivity, some of whose benefits could (ahem) trickle down to workers. Cutting rates and eliminating distortionary loopholes could be helpful which is why Democrats previously said theyd support such a plan. Only, though, if the plan were revenue neutral. A revenue-negative plan most likely hurts growth in the long run, as Obamas former chief economist Jason Furman points out. More important, someone eventually has to cover the cost of unfunded tax cuts through some future combination of higher taxes and lower spending. Lower spending almost certainly would disparately hurt lower- and middle-income families. Which is why the best thing elected officials can do to help the middle class would be to make sure any promised benefits are adequately funded. Which would mean raising rather than cutting tax revenue. Something tells me thats not what Republicans have in mind here. Shia LaBeouf has faced his fair share of arrests and controversies since starring in "Even Stevens" as a teen actor. Here are some of his key controversial moments. November 2007 arrest The former child star was arrested after allegedly refusing to leave a Chicago Walgreens while seemingly intoxicated, People reported in December 2007. Though LaBeouf was charged with trespassing, Walgreens declined to press charges, the report said. LaBeouf later called the incident complete and utter insanity and a mistake Im still completely embarrassed about. March 2008 warrant LaBeouf was ticketed for unlawful smoking while on a sidewalk in February 2008 in Burbank, Calif., and a bench warrant was issued after the actor didnt attend a hearing, the Los Angeles Times reported. LaBeoufs attorney was in court one day later, and pleaded not guilty for his client. The charge was dropped and LaBeouf was fined $500, the report said. July 2008 DUI arrest LaBeouf was involved in an early morning crash in California in which he injured his hand. Police arrested him on a drunken driving charge. Authorities said the actor wasnt at fault, as another driver had run a red light. In September 2008 a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said that there wasnt enough evidence to charge LaBeouf. SHIA LABEOUF APOLOGIZES FOLLOWING RACIAL RANT DIRECTED AT POLICE OFFICER 2011 bar fights LaBeouf was reportedly punched in the face by a man at a bar in Sherman Oaks, Calif., in February 2011. Police handcuffed both men, who each decided not to press charges, the Hollywood Reporter said. In October 2011, LaBeouf was struck by a man on a sidewalk in Vancouver, Canada. The man and Shia earlier may have "got into it" in a bar, TMZ reported. Alleged rape comes to light, 2014 LaBeouf told Dazed and Confused magazine in its Winter 2014 issue that a woman raped him at his #IAMSORRY performance art show in Los Angeles in February 2014, where guests could meet him on an individual basis. One woman who came with her boyfriend, who was outside the door when this happened, whipped my legs for ten minutes and then stripped my clothing and proceeded to rape me, LaBeouf recalled. He claimed the woman walked out with disheveled hair and smudged lipstick. As soon as we were aware of the incident starting to occur, we put a stop to it and ensured that the woman left, LaBeoufs collaborators Luke Turner and Nastja Sade Ronkko tweeted in early December 2014. February 2014 paper bag incident LaBeouf made headlines for when he walked out of a Berlin Film Festival news conference for Nymphomaniac Volume I. At the films premiere, he wore a tuxedo - plus a paper bag on his head. The bag had openings for his eyes and featured the words I am not famous anymore. June 2014 arrest LaBeouf was watching a performance of the musical "Cabaret" at a New York City theater when he began to smoke cigarettes, yell at actors, and swear at security guards, according to court papers. He had faced multiple charges, and would eventually plead guilty to disorderly conduct in November 2014 in a deal with no jail time or probation. A prosecutor said the deal was made because the star had been in continuous treatment since his arrest. October 2015 arrest LaBeouf was in Austin, Texas, in October 2015 when he was arrested in the citys Sixth Street district for public intoxication around 7:30 p.m., Austin police said. He was booked into jail and released on his own recognizance. Obviously he gets arrested a lot, he came down here, he acted up and APD doesnt put up with that, Ben Blake, who saw the actors arrest, told KXAN. So he got what he got, you know? He Will Not Divide Us project launch and arrest, January 2017 LaBeouf's live stream project at the Museum of the Moving Image, called He Will Not Divide Us, began on January 20, the day of President Donald Trumps inauguration. It invited participants to say He Will Not Divide Us in front of a camera set up outside. LaBeouf was arrested outside the museum on January 25. He had yanked a mans scarf, scratching his face in the process, and also shoved him, according to authorities. Assault and harassment charges were later dropped, the New York Post reported. The museum shut down the project on Feb. 10, saying that it resulted in an unexpectedly volatile situation and serious public safety hazards. The installation was moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where it was vandalized, and was eventually taken on by the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, the project website says. April 2017 incident Video showed LaBeouf yelling at bartender David Bernstein and calling him "racist," according to the Hollywood Reporter. Bernstein had reportedly refused to serve the actor alcohol. Bernstein later sued LaBeouf. LaBeouf's lawyer has argued that LaBeouf's comments were free speech. July 2017 arrest LaBeouf was arrested early July 8 in Savannah, Ga. At about 4 a.m. that day, LaBeouf had asked a police officer and bystander at an intersection for a cigarette, Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan police said. When LaBeouf wasnt given a cigarette, he became disorderly, using profanities and vulgar language in front of the women and children present, authorities wrote. He was told to leave the area and refused, becoming aggressive toward the officer. LaBeouf fled to a hotel when the officer tried to arrest him, and he was taken into custody in the lobby, police said. At a police station, LaBeouf was caught on camera telling a black police officer that he was going straight to hell, straight to hell, bro. LaBeouf later said the man would go to hell because hes a black man. In a statement posted to Twitter, LaBeouf said, I am deeply ashamed of my behavior and make no excuses for it. LaBeouf appeared before a Recorder's Court judge on Oct. 19, 2017. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction and was given one-year probation minus time served. He also pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct. Prosecutors dropped a charge of public drunkenness. His plea deal also required anger management counseling and he was ordered to complete a drug and alcohol evaluation. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Starbucks never fails to get into the holiday spirit. The coffee chain is serving Vampire Frappuccino at all locations in the United Kingdom as a sweet Halloween treat, a company spokesperson confirmed to Fox News. The drink has been available since Sunday and will be on the menu until Oct. 31. PROTESTERS TARGET STARBUCKS WITH LARGE 'CUP MONSTER' MADE FROM DRINKWARE The frappuccino is made with chocolate, whole milk blended with strawberry sauce, and topped with whipped cream. There also appears to be a drizzle of strawberry syrup on top, perhaps meant to mimic blood. A tall order of the Vampire Frappuccino will cost 2.79 pounds, or about $3.68. Starbucks U.K. are also offering a Mummy Cookie and a Pumpkin Cookie to go along with their Halloween-themed Frappuccino, Cosmopolitan reports. For fans elsewhere, the chain is rumored to be adding the Zombie Frappuccino to its American menues for the five days leading up with Halloween. According to marketing materials allegedly obtained by a site called "Day of the Human," the drink will be made from a creme frappuccino syrup base, which will be blended with green caramel apple powder and pink powder," and topped with pink whipped cream meant to resemble "brains." FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Starbucks released a version of the Vampire Frappuccino in the U.S. in 2015, naming it Fang-tastic Frappuccino. A green tea Franken Frappuccino graced fans the year before. The owners of the Cup It Up restaurant in Tucson, Ariz., say theyre hoping to open sometime soon after closing their doors earlier this month following a "nasty" backlash over a pro-POTUS Facebook post. Chris Smith and Jay Warren claim they received so much backlash after they shared their pro-Trump opinions that employees chose to quit, leading them to close [Cup It Ups] doors indefinitely on Oct. 9. We expected some shares, some discussion, but as it kept coming in, after about three hours of the pure nastiness, we decided to pull it, co-owner Smith said Thursday on Fox & Friends. ARIZONA RESTAURANT CLOSES DOORS OVER THIS PRO-TRUMP FACEBOOK POST Now, however, Smith and Warren confirmed that they plan to reopen Cup It Up in the near future, and theyre clearing up why they chose to post their Facebook message in the first place. The National Anthem [issue] really struck home with me, as a Navy veteran, explained Smith. My take on the national anthem is a patriotic one. I served in the Persian Gulf, said Smith, who explained that the anthem took on a whole new meaning after hearing it sung during a Super Bowl while he was stationed overseas. Fast-forward to today, now I turn on the TV and the gentlemen are kneeling, he added. I know Im not diminishing their cause, but theres just no justification to disrespect our national anthem and the men and women who served in the armed forces. WAITRESS ACCUSED OF STEALING $480 FROM ELDERLY CUSTOMER Smith also said that, if the tables were turned and he saw a post critical of his beliefs, he would keep that to myself rather than share his opinions on social media. Neither Smith nor Warren revealed an exact date for the reopening of Cup It Up. Smith and Warren took to Facebook in early October to share a post in which they shared a list of the things they support 100 percent as well as the things they do NOT support. Included among the things they supported were our president, always standing for the national anthem, the U.S. Armed Forces and repealing Obama Care, as seen in their since-deleted post. Conversely, things they didnt support included those that dont respect our president, kneeling during the national anthem, Antifa, political correctness and global warming, among others. A New York City waitress stands accused of swindling nearly half a million dollars from an elderly patron who considered her a friend. Alicia Legall, 46, was arraigned on Tuesday on charges of grand larceny, identity theft and criminal possession of a forged instrument, with prosecutors saying she stole nearly $480,000 from an 84-year-old widow who frequented Legalls diner in the Flatlands neighborhood of Brooklyn. CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT 'PROUDLY' SERVES POPEYES CHICKEN AS ITS OWN According to the New York Post, Legall first met the elderly customer at the Arch Diner in 2002, eventually befriending the woman and slowly gaining her trust. Over the years, Legall managed some of the womans private information, including her Social Security number, address and banking information, officials said. The elderly woman also allowed Legall to run small errands and do some grocery shopping on her dime, prosecutors say. However, Legall allegedly ended up spending $204,390 of the womans money at shops including Apple and Victorias Secret, as well as at restaurants and clubs in Florida, the Post reports. Shes also accused of taking out $73,339 in cash advances in the womans name and writing herself 75 checks totaling $200,000. Prosecutors also argued that Legall gambled some of the womans money at casinos and racetracks in New York and Atlantic City, N.J. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS [Legall] spent many years gaining the victim's trust only to betray it, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, per the New York Daily News. We will now seek to hold her accountable for this serious offense." Legall is currently being held on $2.5 million in bail. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison. Legall is expected back in court in early December. A fitness company in the U.K. recently came under fire for an advertisement they posted outside of a school, and the owner wasnt too happy about it. Skinnypigs Fitness placed a banner outside of a school announcing the more than 100 classes they offer. The ad features two figures, one heavier and another with a much slimmer silhouette, complete with an arrow pointing from the heavier one to the slimmer one. Next to the images is a bold yellow CAUTION: Skinnypigs will make you look better naked. On Twitter, people took issue with both the message and the location. BURGER KING GOES AFTER BULLYING IN STRANGE NEW AD Heather Peacock tweeted, "What element of totally inappropriate shall we say about this SkinnypigsUK?? Put up outside a school?! Come on!!" Sarah Davy wrote, "That's so shocking in so many ways. Negative body image, inappropriate location & a truly awful company name." Still another Twitter user accused Skinnypigs of "purporting outdated and dangerous gender stereotypes. Skinnypigs owner, Jonathan Hair, was not on board with the attacks his business was receiving, and went on the defensive, resulting in a heated back-and-forth on the social media site. Hair tweeted from the Skinnypigs handle, You don't even realise that modern feminism is so polluted with self loathing, man hating looms. We have equality now, it's a good thing. While we are giving advice, stop being a feminazi, you are in the wrong side of history. You'll see when you're all growed up." Hair even directly attacked one of his critics, saying, "Thanks for the input, you'd look far less stupid if you looked into what Skinnypigs is and has achieved if you did a little research." In another he added: "Oooo a feminazi eh, I should have known with the glasses." He told another critic: "Just another whiny feminazi who will end up bitter and alone with house full of cats (but thinks she can change the world by complaining)." His responses fueled his opponents fire, and many launched more attacks about the perceived fat-shaming sign, and vowed to no longer give business to Skinnypigs. The Twitter storm swelled to include Skinnypigs die-hards, who came to their favorite fitness center's aid by sharing their own weight-loss success stories. One Twitter user said, "Getting ready for Skinnypigs, a place [where] we support, encourage and empower each other." FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Hair spoke to Mirror Online and defended his responses, saying he had nothing to be sorry for. "It is open season on me at the moment," he said. "To be honest I wish I just ignored it. "I'm quite worried, I employ 50 people, 48 are women, they are ringing me crying thinking they might not have jobs, he said. "The people attacking us have no empathy. They don't realize there are real world repercussions, this is people's livelihood." He continued, saying, "All the hate I was getting, people calling me sexist. I just replied that, over the last seven years, I have helped over 100 women feel better in their own skins, what have you done? I felt like my back was against the wall. It was an online lynch mob. People were just throwing out adjectives. Hair did say, however, that his words werent as harsh as the attacks on him. "Everything I said was tongue-in-cheek and I got a lot worse than what I gave by a country mile." On Friday morning, first lady Melania Trump will donate her inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The gown, designed by French-American fashion designer Herve Pierre, will be placed in the museums First Ladies exhibit alongside several others worn by first ladies throughout American history, including Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Jacqueline Kennedy and Martha Washington. MICHELLE OBAMA, NOT MELANIA TRUMP, MAKES VANITY FAIR'S INTERNATIONAL BEST DRESSED LIST Pierre, too, will reportedly be accompanying Trump to the Smithsonian on Friday morning, telling Womens Wear Daily that he jumped at the chance. She asked me if I wanted to be her date, and I said, Oh hell, yes, Pierre told WWD. As a foreigner who became an American, to have your gown put in the Smithsonian Museum is a big huge honor. I got chills. I know how in the designer world, there are lots of big egos. I have always tried to manage my ego for many, many years. But in this case, there is nothing to be ashamed of its a big ego thing. Im really, really proud of it. IVANKA TRUMP SAYS SHE WENT THROUGH A 'PUNK PHASE' IN EARLY NINETIES In a January interview with Harpers Bazaar, Pierre said Trump herself contributed to the design of the white, off-the-shoulder dress, picking out a beautiful six-ply silk for the construction and specifying the shape of the neckline. "The lines are as sleek as a paper cut; the curves of the skirt are fluid, yet the overall shape is sharp and intense, he told the magazine. For me it reflects her personality. According to the Smithsonian, the tradition of first ladies giving over their gowns began in 1912 with Helen Taft, who donated the white silk chiffon dress she wore to her husbands 1909 inauguration. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The First Ladies exhibit now houses one article of clothing that belonged to the first lady or the presidents official hostess from every administration, though not all are inaugural ball gowns, the museum writes. The patient seemed nervous, and though he said he had come to see me for a cough, his lungs were clear and he didnt cough during the visit. He was more concerned about chronic back pain after a spine operation, and he requested a prescription for Percocet. When I declined and asked more about the nature of the pain whether it radiated, if it was brought on by movement or rest he said he had to leave to attend a meeting. I offered to refer him to a back specialist, but he said he already had one. I was concerned about the possibility of opioid addiction, but he left before I could bring it up. President Trumps plan to call the opioid crisis a national emergency next week is a good one, and not just because of the more than 30,000 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2015 alone including 20,000 from prescription pain killers. The problem extends from avoidable deaths to crippling illness to the very nature of addiction itself. The brain has its own opioid-like chemicals, called endorphins, that block pain, slow breathing and make us feel happy and calm. Manufactured opioids, on the other hand, flood the brains receptors with dopamine, causing euphoria. But they also suppress the production of the brains own opioids, leading to addiction. Before long you crave more and more opioids to bring you that euphoric feeling. The biggest culprits in this addiction epidemic are physicians. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just a 10-day supply of opioids leads to a 20 percent chance of long-term use, and 259 million painkiller prescriptions were written in 2012 alone. That is simply unforgivable. There are conditions, such as cancer or acute pain following a procedure or an injury, that call for opioid prescriptions. But opioids are often unnecessary or overprescribed. Almost half of opioid prescribers are primary care doctors treating a common problem like back pain, which is frequently muscular in nature and may respond better to heat, muscle relaxants, physical therapy, chiropractic or acupuncture than to opioids. Too often, primary care doctors throw opioids at a problem before it is properly diagnosed. But the more exposure to opioids, the greater the chance of addiction. If only those doctors could recognize this. It is too easy to place all the blame on the lack of proper physician training and education, pressure from pharmaceutical salesmen and pharmacy chains filling the scripts too easily. Doctors were instructed as far back as 1996 that pain is the fifth vital sign that we too frequently overlook, but I believe we remain responsible for what we prescribe no matter the pressures. The Institute of Medicine reported in 2011 that there are 100 million chronic pain sufferers in the U.S., but that is hardly an authorization for an opioid prescription. We doctors should have policed ourselves and sought more education a long time ago. Consider the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which revealed that 75 percent of opioid misuse begins with people taking medications that were intended for others. Opioid abuse has the feel of an infectious disease; it spreads via the medicine cabinet to someone other than the intended patient, and from there out to the street. Eighty percent of heroin users start off with prescription drugs, and the risk of addiction is particularly high when opioids are prescribed to high school students. Here again, opioid use spreads like a contagion, particularly among teens who drink alcohol. As of 2012, 2.1 million people in the U.S., a huge number, were addicted to prescription opioids. The cure, as with any epidemic, is multifactorial. We must stamp out the problem at its source, by educating physicians in the risks and proper usage of opioids, as well as alternative treatments. While researchers pursue less addictive alternatives, the FDA is working at the same time to further limit and control whats already on the market. Calling the opioid epidemic a national emergency will release resources at the federal, state and local levels to help prevent, rescue and treat addicts. But even successful rehab programs have a high recidivism rate. It takes peer-to-peer support, an intervention drug like suboxone and having a reason to live to beat this disease. Opioid addiction sends tentacles deep into the human brain that are very difficult to remove. The greatest responsibility for planting the seeds of addiction falls to the doctors who prescribe them. By now, most celebrities have completed their perfunctory condemnation (albeit delayed) of Harvey Weinsteins actions. The Motion Picture Academy ousted him. Politicians donated his campaign contributions to charity (well, some did). "Saturday Night Live" finally roasted him. Soon, business will return to normal in Hollywood. And thats the unfortunate part. Hollywood elites will get back to their pulpits and preach the same message that not only allowed for Weinsteins behavior, but continues to leave vulnerable Americans insecure and depressed. Ive found that most of my friends raised on popular cultures edicts of materialism and instant gratification are worse off. In fact, research shows that rates of major depressive episodes amongst millennials continue to increase. Church attendance rates may be plunging, butmake no mistakeyoung people still hear sermons regularly, but we hear them in movie theaters instead of sanctuaries. And the new clerics are Hollywood writers lacing their scripts with the gospel of do what feels right and have it your way. However, the more we submit to our unrestrained desires, the more we are left with regret and despair. As the son of a minister, I grew up attending church three to four times a week learning traditional, Christian values. My parents ingrained in me that an individuals highest call is to serve God, family and countryin that order. They never insulated me from culture, but always warned me to stay leery of the messages I might hear. Fortunately, at age 23, I would still rather listen to one of my fathers lectures than a Jimmy Kimmel monologue any day. But most dont have that luxury. If cultural elites genuinely cared, they would introduce other worldviews that might lead to a more fulfilling, joyful life. My friends would hear more about the immeasurable fruits of lifelong commitment and responsibility. As marriage rates decline, millennials hobble around from relationship to relationship (or worse: hookup to hookup) desperately trying to find purpose. Still, popular culture continues to sing the same tired tune. While my friends are hurting, all Hollywoods doctrines have to offer are regurgitated lines about find your own truth and discover the god-within. It isnt working. My point isnt to join the chorus of culture critics bemoaning the me generation. To the contrary, if cultural elites genuinely cared, they would introduce other worldviews that might lead to a more fulfilling, joyful life. My friends would hear more about the immeasurable fruits of lifelong commitment and responsibility. If the traditional values of faith and family were given a fair opportunity to compete in the free market of ideas, they wouldnt be so easily dismissed as relics of the past. In fact, research already seems to vindicate them. In a review of mental health studies, The Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society found a positive link between religious involvement and greater happiness, life satisfaction, and morale. They also found that regular religious practice is associated with individuals having greater hope and a greater sense of purpose in life. There are even links between religious activity and reduced incidences of domestic abuse, crime, substance abuse, and addiction. While correlation doesnt necessarily prove causation, there seems to at least be a strong connection between faith and emotional health just as there exists a compelling link between family life and economic stability. In The Millennial Success Sequence recently published by the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, researchers Wendy Wang and W. Bradford Wilcox find that 97% of Millennials who follow what has been called the success sequencethat is, who get at least a high school degree, work, and then marry before having any children, in that orderare not poor by the time they reach their prime young adult years (ages 28-34). Their research shows that eight in ten millennials (86 percent) who have followed the sequence are in the middle or top third of the income distribution by ages 28 to 34while only 29 percent of young adults who missed all three steps are in the middle or upper income groups. The researchers conclude that millennials are more likely to follow the success sequence if they have been exposed by family, friends, or members of their social network to norms, aspirations, and expectations that are conducive to education, work, and marriage. It seems as though one of the greatest hindrances to economic success is culture. Citizens bound to institutions of faith and family seem to be better off emotionally and financially than their peers who subscribe to the teachings of secularism. My parents gave me the greatest gift a child can receive in an era of uncertainty. They gave me a foundation. In a culture where everything is relative to the individual and lines are blurred, Hollywood leaves my friends navigating through the wilderness of life with nothing more than the broken compass of their own impulses. Hes not your run of the mill politician. He promises to drain the political swamp, thinks government should be run like a business, is disdained by elitists and is suspected of shady deals. And, oh, yes, hes a billionaire. No, not Trump. His name is Andrej Babis and by this time next week, he will probably be the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds elections this weekend. This is another chance for Europeans to tell the European Union to stop trying to run their lives. It happened earlier this month in Austria, where 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz led his right-of-center party to victory, and in Germany, where an anti-immigrant party posted a surprisingly strong second-place showing. If Czech voters do what the polls predict, they will join Poland and Hungary in electing a leader who opposes the E.U.s encroachment on the rights of its member states. There is no surer sign that Babis and his Ano party are gathering steam than a New York Times headline calling him a new threat to European unity. As in those countries, increasing numbers of citizens are tired of being told what to do by Brussels. They dont want to adopt the euro, preferring their currency, the koruna. They dont want to take in more immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, as Germanys iron-willed chancellor Angela Merkel has mandated for the past two years. Merkel got her comeuppance in her countrys national elections, where her Christian Democrats came in first but garnered far fewer votes than it did in 2013. The Czech Republic, which spent decades decaying behind the Soviet-era Iron Curtain, flourished in its early years of political independence. But the worldwide economic meltdown in 2008 convinced Czechs that their traditional parties were corrupt and too willing to take orders from the E.U. Like President Trump, Babis is a wealthy businessman, and he has earned his share of detractors. He has been indicted on criminal charges of misusing European Union funds during his time as finance minister. His tax returns are also under intense scrutiny. So far, those flaws have not cut into his popularity, according to recent opinion polls. There is no surer sign that Babis and his Ano (it means yes in Czech) party are gathering steam than a New York Times headline calling him a new threat to European unity. Memo to Times: Europe is a continent, not a country. Its made up of nations representing very different cultures, traditions and histories. Babis thinks serving his own country is more important than building a united Europe. Its a message that is moving across the continent with surprising speed. A popular graduation tradition at Californias Camarillo High School is about to come to an end because well because the grownups who run the school district are morons. For as far back as anyone can remember graduates wore gowns reflecting the school colors. The guys wore navy blue gowns and the gals wore blue gowns. Click here for a free subscription to Todds newsletter: a must-read for Conservatives! But that tradition just got deep-sixed for the sake of gender inclusivity and now graduates will only be allowed to wear one color that represents all genders. This is a very big national initiative, Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Penelope DeLeon told the student newspaper. It is not about gender equality as much as it is about being respectful to everybodys choice to select a gender or not to select a gender, and we have students who choose not to. Wait. What? So, kids now have the option of being genderless? Is that the latest fad among the sex and gender revolutionaries? The Stinger, in a well-written report, noted that not everyone is on board with the school districts gender neutral color palate. I understand that gender neutrality is a growing topic, student Drew Reyes told the newspaper. I just think we could have [found] a solution that allowed us to keep both colors, since theyre both shades of blue. Well, thats not going to happen because the school district is 50 shades of stupid. The whole school shouldnt have to wear one color just to accommodate some people, student Isaac DeLara told the newspaper. School staffer Lori Pristera was happy to tackle that question. Thats like saying you have three percent of your graduating class who are deaf so we dont want a sign language interpreter there because thats not what 97 percent of the students need, she told the newspaper. Ironic seeing how the school district is absolutely tone deaf on this issue. But there might be a simple fix for students who want to honor tradition and wear gender-specific graduation gowns. The guys should show up on graduation day wearing navy blue and the girls should wear blue. If the principal objects, just them tell you are color neutral. And as a color neutral student, your navy blue gown actually identifies as a blue gown or vice versa. That oughta get the school district seeing red. Thursday, New York Times columnist Charles Blow took liberal outrage to new decibel levels. His argument? President Trump is comparable to Adolf Hitler. No, Im not kidding. In Blows words: Maybe I have crossed the ink-stained line of the essay writer, where Hitler is always beyond it. But I dont think so. Ignoring what one of historys greatest examples of lying has to teach us about current examples of lying, particularly lying by the president of the most powerful country in the world, seems to me an act of timidity in a time of terror. Where to even begin? First and foremost, Donald Trump is indeed our president. Theres no need for quotations. He won nearly 63 million votes in November, in case liberals need another reminder. En route to victory, President Trump won union strongholds like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Not since the days of Ronald Reagan have we seen such crossover appeal. And, yes, he was democratically electedeven if liberal blowhards like Blow question it. Second, why exactly is this a time of terror? If anything, the president is making it a priority to confront radical Islamist groups who have committed actual acts of terrorism. For the first time ever, the U.S. military is launching strikes on ISIS training camps in Yemen. Dozens of Islamic State militants were recently killed by U.S. airstrikes. Moreover, ISIS has officially lost control of Raqqa, the groups self-declared capital in Syria, to U.S.-backed forces. In smearing President Trump, left-wing ideologues are disgracing themselves and the newspapers who continue to publish them. And Americans have President Trump to thank. From the travel ban to its rejection of the disastrous Iran deal, the Trump administration has prioritized our national security above all elsewhether Blow wants to believe it or not. But to evoke Adolf Hitlerthe most reviled dictator in the history of the worldis a bridge too far, even for the New York Times. Mentioning his name in the same sentence as our president is not only intellectually dishonestwhich even Blow acknowledgesbut also insulting to the innocent civilians who suffered under the Nazi regime and their family members, who continue to cope with the sheer evil of Nazi atrocities. Not that we need a reminder, but the Holocaust killed as many as 20 million victims overall. Millions more died fighting German forces to liberate Europe from Nazi authoritarianism. In smearing President Trump, left-wing ideologues are disgracing themselves and the newspapers who continue to publish them. Blow argues our president is next in the line of powerful leaders [who] use lying as a form of mass manipulation. Yet the Times columnist provides no examples because he cant. Even if he could, there is no comparison between a lie and the mass execution of millions of innocent civilians. Shame on the New York Times for publishing such vitriolic content. Its no wonder trust in the left-leaning mainstream media is at an all-time low. Less than one-third of Americans express even a fair amount of confidence in the media. After months of rabid anti-Trump headlines, only 14 percent of Republicans trust news outlets to do their job. With columnists like Blow in the fold, why would they? What Americans do trust is the Trump agenda, which will make our country safer and revitalize our economy like never before. President Trumps approval ratings are highest when it comes to handling terrorismactual terror, not Blows definitionand managing the economy. Its no coincidence consumer confidence has reached its highest level since 2004. The American people can take pride in a president who champions them, even as liberal snowflakes fan the flames of resistance. Monica Lewinsky raised eyebrows over the weekend when she tweeted the hashtag #MeToo, marking herself as a victim of sexual harassment or assault. Lewinsky, who carried on an affair with then-President Bill Clinton while a White House intern in the 1990s, did not go into details about her experience. Several women have accused Clinton of sexual misconduct, dating back to his tenure as governor of Arkansas. Clinton has only admitted to having consensual relations with Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers. The #MeToo hashtag gained traction after actress Alyssa Milano asked Twitter users to respond with that message if they had been subject to unwelcome advances. The social media outcry has followed a series of accusations of sexual misconduct against film producer Harvey Weinstein. A number of actresses, including Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan, have accused Weinstein of sexual abuse, assault and in the case of British actor Lysette Anthony, rape. An appeals court on Thursday halted a decision that would have allowed a pregnant illegal immigrant teen to get an abortion, just hours after a federal judge ordered the government to "promptly" take her to have the procedure. The unidentified 17-year-old girl, who is being held at a Texas facility after she entered the U.S. illegally, is believed to be about 15 weeks pregnant. Texas state law bans most abortions if a woman is more than 20 weeks pregnant and require them to get counseling from a doctor 24 hours before the procedure. Minors are also usually required to obtain parental consent or a judge's waiver. Another hearing is expected to occur Friday morning, in which the appeals court could lift the stay. The teenager can then still have the procedure on Friday or Saturday. Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Wednesday to have the teenager transported to an abortion clinic promptly and without delay. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia then issued a short ruling that blocked the order after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services filed an appeal. The teen is still allowed to obtain counseling with a doctor who would perform the abortion. She received the counseling Thursday morning, Susan Hays, legal director for the Texas group Jane's Due Process, told The Associated Press. Federal officials refused to transport the teen or temporarily release her from the facility to allow other people to take her to have the abortion on Wednesday. Its unclear where she is originally from, but her lawyers said she is from Central America. HHS argued to the appeals court the department had a policy of "refusing to facilitate abortions" except in "very limited circumstances." It also said the teenager could return to her country of origin to get the procedure. The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of the teen, arguing HHS was improperly preventing her from having the abortion and instead taking her to a crisis pregnancy center. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Juanita Broaddrick, who has long accused former President Bill Clinton of raping her in the 1970s, lashed out at Monica Lewinsky on Thursday after she tweeted the #MeToo hashtag, marking herself a victim of sexual harassment or assault. Lewinsky famously had an affair with then-President Bill Clinton while a White House intern in the 1990s. In several tweets, Broaddrick accused Lewinsky of not standing up for other women who accused Clinton of inappropriate sexual behavior over the years. I have always felt sad for you, but where were you when we needed you? Broaddrick tweeted at Lewinsky. Broaddrick made reference to Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones, two other Clinton accusers. Your silence was deafening in the 90's when Kathleen, Paula and I needed your voice, she tweeted. Broaddrick, Willey and Jones all participated in a press conference with then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign to discuss their past allegations of sexual impropriety against Clinton. I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73....it never goes away, Broaddrick tweeted last year. MONICA LEWINSKY TWEETS '#METOO' Earlier this week, Lewinsky tweeted #MeToo but did not elaborate. The #MeToo hashtag gained traction after actress Alyssa Milano asked Twitter users to respond with that message if they had been subject to unwelcome advances. Several women have accused Clinton of sexual misconduct, dating back to his tenure as governor of Arkansas. Clinton has only admitted to having consensual relations with Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers, and denied Broaddrick's allegation through a lawyer back in the '90s. The social media outcry has followed a series of accusations of sexual misconduct against film producer Harvey Weinstein. A number of actresses, including Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan, have accused Weinstein of sexual abuse and assault. California Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed into law a controversial bill that will allow the state's residents to select a water cremation, or alkaline hydrolysis, for their end-of-life remains. The move is considered part of efforts to green-ify death, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The theory goes that unlike with a standard cremation the funeral home is not putting carbon emission into the sky. Burning Grandma in fire seems to be violent, Phil Olson, a philosophy professor at Virginia Tech, told the Atlantic, In contrast, green cremation is putting Grandma in a warm bath.'" The Chronicle, citing a 2016 report from the National Funeral Directors Association, reported that more people selected cremation rather than burial in 2015. The head of a company that specializes in water cremation told the paper that the amount of energy used in one flame cremation could heat a Minnesota home for an entire winter. Granted, youre using water. However, youre not using fossil fuel and youre not putting a carbon emission into the sky, Matt Baskerville, a funeral director in Illinois who uses alkaline hydrolysis, told the paper. Its definitely a cleaner and greener option than the traditional flame cremation. The procedure is legal in 14 other states. Californians will be able to use the procedure as early as 2020. The Chronicle reported that the body is put into a pod-like vat and bathed in alkaline solution for about four hours at about 300 degrees. The alkaline reportedly accelerates the bodys natural breakdown, the report said. Clean bones are left behind, crushed to ashes and given back to the family. The Associated Press described the fluid as a "brownish, syrupy residue." The Archdiocese of San Francisco told the paper that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been keeping an eye on the issue and was still deciding whether the church could accept the process. Vices Motherboard interviewed Terry Regnier, director of anatomical services at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, last summer about water cremations. He said he believes the method will be the wave of the future. I think if people understand it a little bit more, they might not be so confused, he said. They might embrace change a little bit more positively. He mentioned that, under the procedure, titanium joint replacements are retrieved intact and could be used again for future patients. Former Trump administration aide Steve Bannon, fresh off a primary victory in Alabama, where he helped Roy Moore win in a tight primary battle, is now setting his sights on the Mississippi Senate race. Bannon is allegedly throwing his support behind Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who narrowly lost to Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014. McDaniel is mulling a Senate run but says Bannon is urging him to enter the race. Bannon said in states like Mississippi and many others, he has a strong shot at shaking up the status quo. BANNON BACKS CANDIDATES IN ARIZONA, WISCONSIN, MISSISSIPPI I said I'm going after the Republican establishment, Bannon said in an interview on October 9 with Sean Hannity. And we are going to go after them. We're going to challenge. There's a coalition coming together that is going to challenge every Republican incumbent except for Ted Cruz. McDaniel said hes known the former White House senior aide for years and is thankful to have his support as he decides whether he will run against Sen. Roger Wicker next year. He claims Wicker is part of the problem with Washington and said change is needed. Hes [a] Mitch McConnell yes man and thats not what [Mississippians] have asked him to do, McDaniel told Fox News. We want someone that will fight for our belief systems. That will fight for conservative values and Roger Wicker hasnt done that. EMBOLDENED BANNON ENLISTS EVANGELICALS TO TAKE ON MCCONNELL, ENTIRE GOP ESTABLISHMENT McDaniel describes himself as a liberty-leaning constitutional conservative and has served in the Mississippi State Senate since 2008. He is also considering a run for the states lieutenant governor position in 2019. But after Moores success in Alabama, hes now leaning toward a run for the U.S. Senate. No stranger to statewide office, he lost a runoff election against Cochran in 2014 by nearly 8,000 votes, which he claims was due to Democratic crossover voters. McDaniel says Wicker is working against the presidents agenda by failing to support a revamp of the Senates 60-vote filibuster rule. He claims hes for Trump, but [this is] the one thing Trump has asked for is to move his agenda forward [that] Roger Wicker has fought. Trump needs a 50-plus-one anti-filibuster concept in the Senate. Justin Brasell, a spokesperson for the Wicker for Senate campaign, pushed back against McDaniels claims. As much as Chris McDaniel wants it to be true, Washington, D.C. will not be on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Mississippi next June. Senator Roger Wicker will be on the ballot, Brasell said in a statement. The same Roger Wicker known to Mississippi Republicans as a stalwart conservative, who is very popular with conservative voters, including those who identify closely with the Tea Party. Brasell went on to describe Wicker as a leader in the Senate who fully supports the presidents agenda and pointed to him aligning with Trump policies related to health care, the environment and the Iran nuclear deal. Brad Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to Pres. George W. Bush, said Republicans should focus on fighting Democrats instead of each other. We have to be very careful as Republicans not to cannibalize our own, Blakeman said. It can be easy to win a primary and, as the majority leader has said, it can be hard to translate a primary victory into a general election. I think thats the problem with any challengers to incumbents no matter what the state. McDaniel says he is likely to make a decision to run for the U.S. Senate by the end of the month. A Democratic candidate facing a felony charge of grand larceny has bowed out of the race to challenge Rep. John Faso, R-N.Y. Steven Brisee, 27, was arrested on Sept. 11 and accused of shoplifting almost $1,500 in merchandise from a Kohl's department store in Newburgh. He was arraigned and remanded to custody in lieu of $500 bail. According to the Times Herald-Record newspaper, Brisee also spent eight days in the Ulster County Jail last month after being charged with a misdemeanor count of trespassing. State troopers told the paper that a homeowner in the town of Kerhonksen called police Sept. 9 after finding a stranger's clothes and a wallet containing some of Brisee's campaign cards. The candidate was eventually bailed out of jail. Brisee claimed to live in the 19th District of New York, which he sought to represent. But the Times Herald-Record reported that the address he declared to be his "doesn't appear to exist." In an email to the Daily Freeman newspaper this week, Brisee said he had "raised rougly $850 and spent roughly $18,000" in his ill-fated campaign. Brisee did not mention the charges in a statement he tweeted Tuesday. He said that he was on the autism spectrum and explained that "social skills, needed to connect with people, to raise money, and deliver a message, are skills which cant be learned mechanically. "I can do and learn a lot of things but sadly sociability will never be one of them," Brisee concluded. "So that's enough politics for me." Decrying what he called bigotry, bullying and prejudice in politics, former President George W. Bush bluntly warned about dangers to democracy, both abroad and here at home. He spoke at a New York City forum sponsored by his Dallas-based Bush Institute, called 'The Spirit of Liberty At Home, In the World.' He warned that democracy is weakening in the coarseness of current politics. "People of every race, religion and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. It means bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, and it means that the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation, he said. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." He warned that "we have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are strong than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily to animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions forgetting the image of God we should see in each other." He also slammed what he called Russia and China's aggression and challenging of the world order, but said here in the U.S. we must be on guard against isolationism and nationalism. He also criticized the dictatorship of North Korea, and met with several North Korean escapees, American college students, who are the recipients of the Bush Institute's North Korean Freedom Scholarship program. The effort, run by the George W. Bush Institute, provides $25,000 in scholarship money to eight students to "pursue higher education and build productive, prosperous lives as new Americans." Among those who met with the former President, was Grace Jo, a 26-year-old student at Maryland's Montgomery College. She addressed the gathering, earning applause when she told the group of several hundred people when she stepped up to the podium and announced, "My name is Grace Jo, and I am an American." Grace told Fox News that she and her family escaped three times to China, only to be caught and sent back. Her two younger brothers died of starvation and her father died from being tortured while in police custody for sneaking a bag of rice back from China. She says starvation was rampant while she was growing up, and that the family was occasionally given a bag of potatoes by the government. She recalled her family living for 10 days without any food, surviving only on water. That's when her mother found six baby mice in a field and her grandmother made soup out of them in order for the family to survive. She is a young woman of strong resolve who is bluntly clear about what she hopes will be the fate of Kim Jong Un's regime. "The North Korean regime should not exist in this world any more, any longer. The U.S. government military force, or any independent force should stop the North Korean regime, because the regime is killing the innocent people in the country. Child, babies and moms are dying without any hope." She says from first-hand experience that tough talk is the only thing that the Kim Jong Un regime understands. "I believe North Korean regime will not listen if we speak nicely. So I think it is time to take action to the North Korean government, because if we don't have any action and only speak words and try to give something to them, like give a candy to a little crying kid, it can solve for the moment but it will not solve for the long run," she says. She does not think a military strike, with its predictions of a possible catastrophic loss of life in South Korea and the region, is feasible. "I don't want to drop a bomb," she said. Grace hopes the U.S. and its allies can conduct covert actions that will lead to the toppling of the regime. She does not think sanctions have or will work to deter Pyongyang's nuclear programs and military aggression. Bush also said it is a time that western democracies are being tested. "We are gathered in the cause of liberty. This is a unique moment. The great democracies face new and serious threats. Yet, some seem to be losing confidence in their own calling and competence. Economic, political and national security challenges proliferate, and they are made worse by the tendency to turn inward. The health of the democratic spirit itself is at issue. And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand." Former First Lady Laura Bush also spoke, and former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright and current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, participated in a panel discussion. Haley called Grace Jo an inspiration. "Grace Jo you inspire us so much you are the reason we fight for what we fight for," she said. Ambassador Haley then warned that North Korea tops the list of threats against U.S. national security. "We do have a lot of threats but we also have to remember that leadership matters so our biggest threats obviously: North Korea, Iran ISIS, those are the three because we have to always make sure we are doing everything we can to protect Americans and our allies," Haley said. President Bush warned that one of biggest problems facing the nation right was "a deficit of confidence." "But the cause of freedom justifies our all our faith and effort. It still inspires men and women in the darkest corners of the world, and it will inspire a rising generation. The American spirit does not say, "We shall manage," or "We shall make the best of it. It says "We shall overcome." And that is exactly what we will do, with the help of God and one another." A top Senate Republican is calling for the Justice Department to lift an apparent gag order on an FBI informant who reportedly helped the U.S. uncover a corruption and bribery scheme by Russian nuclear officials but allegedly was threatened by the Obama administration to stay quiet. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is focusing on the informant amid scrutiny of the 2010 approval of a controversial uranium deal with a Russian company. Hes raising questions about potential conflicts of interest for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration, and especially wants to know whether the committee that approved the deal was aware of the FBI probe involving a subsidiary of the same Russian firm. On Thursday, President Trump called the issue your real Russia story and said its a disgrace that the fake news wont cover it. The deal in question, which was previously reported, involved the 2010 approval of a partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to Russias Rosatom nuclear company. The U.S. was involved because the sale gave the Russians control of part of the uranium supply in the U.S. TRUMP BLASTS 'FAKE MEDIA' FOR IGNORING URANIUM DEAL STORY Grassley wrote in letters last week to federal agencies that hes not convinced by previous assurances that there were no unresolved national security concerns, and revealed Thursday that he wants to hear from the FBI informant in the Russia corruption probe. Witnesses who want to talk to Congress should not be gagged and threatened with prosecution for talking. If that has happened, senior DOJ leadership needs to fix it and release the witness from the gag order, Grassley said in a statement. Victoria Toensing, a lawyer for the former FBI informant, told Fox News Americas Newsroom that her client has specific information about contributions and bribes to various entities and people in the United States. She said she could not go further because her client has not been released from a nondisclosure agreement but suggested the gag order could be lifted soon. Toensing also claimed that her client was threatened by the Loretta Lynch Justice Department when he pursued a civil action in which he reportedly sought to disclose some information about the case. In a letter sent Wednesday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Grassley said such an NDA would appear to improperly prevent the individual from making critical, good faith disclosures to Congress of potential wrongdoing. He asked for a copy of the NDA by Nov. 1 and requested that, should one exist, you release him from it and pledge not to engage in any form of retaliation against him for good faith communications with Congress. Sessions separately sent a letter to Toensing asking to set up an interview with the former informant. Grassley wrote, It appears that your client possesses unique information about the Uranium One/Rosatom transaction and how the Justice Department handled the criminal investigation into the Russian criminal conspiracy. The Hill reported earlier this week that the FBI had evidence as early as 2009 that Russian operatives used bribes, kickbacks and other dirty tactics to expand Moscows atomic energy footprint in the U.S. Grassley on Wednesday released a series of letters he fired off last week to 10 federal agencies, raising the question of whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) which approved the uranium transaction was aware of that FBI probe -- and pointing to potential conflicts involving the Clintons. The committee included then-Secretary of State Clinton. It had been previously reported that figures tied to the transaction gave donations to Bill Clinton and his family foundation, but Grassley wrote that he has learned additional details about a $500,000 fee the former president got from a Russian investment bank for a June 2010 speech. He wrote that the banks senior officers include former Russian intelligence personnel, and sources had described the company as an extension of the Russian government. Notably, in the same month as the Clinton speech, Uranium One and Rosatom notified CFIUS of the Russian governments intent to acquire 20 percent of the United States uranium assets. The next month, in July 2010, Renaissance Bank reportedly assigned Uranium One a buy rating, a move that would principally benefit its Russian investors, Grassley wrote. The donations raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest for Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration. As noted in The Hill, the feds did eventually go after Vadim Mikerin, a Russian nuclear industry official, in connection with the investigation. He was later sentenced, in 2015, to 48 months in prison in connection with money laundering allegations. When details of the Uranium One deal first emerged in 2015, Clintons campaign downplayed the allegations. "No one has produced a shred of evidence that Hillary Clinton ever took action as Secretary of State in order to support the interests of donors to the Clinton Foundation," a spokesman said at the time. "To suggest the State Department, under then-Secretary Clinton, exerted undue influence in the U.S. government's review of the sale of Uranium One is utterly baseless. Fox News Judson Berger, Griff Jenkins and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome! White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Thursday he was stunned and brokenhearted after a condolence call President Trump made to the widow of a slain soldier turned into a public and political spectacle pitting the administration against a Democratic lawmaker. In a rare and emotional moment from the White House briefing room podium, Kelly condemned Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., for listening to that phone call and then criticizing the president's tone in the press. I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and broken-hearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing -- a member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president" to the widow, Kelly told reporters. It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation, absolutely stuns me. I thought at least that was sacred, he said, blasting what he called Wilson's "selfish behavior." Kelly, whose son Second Lt. Robert Kelly was killed in battle in Afghanistan in 2010, said he was so shocked by the escalation of events that he went to Arlington National Cemetery to take a walk. The Trump call in question was made to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four Americans killed in an ambush in Niger on Oct. 4. Wilson within hours went to the press to criticize Trump for allegedly saying during that phone call that "he knew what he signed up for," claiming the remarks were insensitive. Trump denied it, while Wilson stood by her account. Kelly on Thursday seemed to back up part of Wilson's account, but sought to put the president's words in the proper context -- while blasting Wilson for listening to the conversation at all. Kelly said Trump was trying to say something akin to what Gen. Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when his own son died: That "he was doing exactly what he wanted to do he knew what he was getting into." Soon after Kelly's remarks, Wilson responded. "Let me tell you what my mother told me when I was little. She said 'The dog can bark at the moon all night long, but it doesnt become an issue until the moon barks back,'" Wilson told reporters. Trump ignited a political controversy over how presidents interact with Gold Star families earlier this week after he questioned whether former President Barack Obama called the families of fallen troops during his eight years in office. This was as he faced questions about his administration's response to the Niger ambush. Obama did call and write letters to families of some fallen soldiers, though Kelly said Thursday that Obama did not call him when his son died. However, he stressed that he did not say that as a "criticism" of Obama. When Trump called Johnson's widow 12 days after the attack, Wilson later spoke to the media and criticized his choice of words. Kelly told reporters Thursday that he advised Trump what to say to the families of the soldiers who had died in battle. Initially, Kelly said he instructed the president not to make the phone call. Former President Barack Obama on Thursday returned to the campaign trail for the first time since leaving office, traveling to predominantly black cities to implore Democrats to vote in upcoming gubernatorial races as he railed against the politics of division. During a campaign rally for New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy in Newark, Obama didnt explicitly criticize his successor, President Donald Trump. But he suggested the politics of today are reminiscent of the 19th century. What we cant have is the same old politics of division that we have seen so many times before that dates back centuries, Obama said. Some of the politics we see now, we thought we put that to bed. Obama added, "it's the 21st century, not the 19th century." He made the comments as he encouraged Democrats to vote for Murphy, who served as ambassador to Germany during the Obama administration and is running against New Jersey Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. You cant take this election for granted, or any election, for granted, Obama said. I dont know if yall noticed that. But you cant take any election for granted. He encouraged attendees to get their friends and family to the polls too. You got to get cousin Pookie, the former president said to laughter. You got to get, you know, you got to get Uncle Jimmy, hes been on the couch, hes drinking a beer, he doesnt even remember its an election. In New Jersey, incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie is term limited. A Fox News Poll released this week of likely voters in New Jersey show Murphy ahead of Guadagno 47 percent to 33 percent. Obama then traveled to Virginia to deliver a speech Thursday night at a campaign rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam, who is running against Republican nominee Ed Gillespie. "At a time when so many of us can be so cynical about government and public service, to have somebody step up who you can trust, and just wants to do right by the people of Virginia, that's worth something," Obama said of Northam. The former president said Northam "devoted his time to the next generation," referencing his time teaching at a medical school and when he served in the Army at the Walter Reed medical center. Obama also noted how he had regulary visited the medical center during his time in the White House, a comment seemingly in response to President Trump's comments that past presidents didn't always call the families of fallen troops. "I can tell you as somebody who visited Walter Reed consistently throughout my 8 years... what it meant to have a medical staff who would literally help rebuild peoples' lives after they had served our country in such a profound way," he said. In Virginia, Democrats are also ahead, with Northam, the states lieutenant governor, leading Gillespie, a former top aide to George W. Bush, 49 to 42 percent in the latest Fox News Poll. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is also term limited. Both the New Jersey and Virginia elections take place Nov. 7. Senate Republicans are on track to take their first big step toward the massive tax reform package that President Trump has promised with plans to vote on a related budget plan as early as Thursday night. The $4 trillion nonbinding budget plan would serve as a vehicle for tax legislation later this year, as it would allow the Senate to use a special process that avoids a Democratic filibuster. Republicans are expected to have the votes for the first step, though Trump left that question open as he touted the plan Thursday morning on Twitter. "Republicans are going for the big Budget approval today, first step toward massive tax cuts. I think we have the votes, but who knows?" Trump tweeted. The House passed its version last week. The passage of the budget plan in both chambers in hopes of setting the stage for tax reform is a crucial step for Republicans, after falling short on their seven-year promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Passing this budget is critical to getting tax reform done, so we can strengthen our economy after years of stagnation under the previous Administration, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Thursday morning. Its pretty obvious that this is a good budgetand thats true whether youre looking at it from a fiscal perspective or an economic one. The budget plan calls for $473 billion in cuts from Medicare over 10 years and more than $1 trillion from Medicaid. Anything that we do here has to be completed in other committees in order to ever happen, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said. But this budget does slow Medicares projected annual rate of growth by approximately 1 percent. With this plan, Senate Republicans would cut spending by more than $5 trillion over the next 10 years, with an average of approximately $540 billion per year over the life of the plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office estimate. The tax plan could also add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years, though McConnell said it's a fiscally responsible budget that will help put the federal government on a path to balance." While Trump voiced uncertainty about the vote tally, one development works in Republicans' favor. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who had been out of Washington after weeks in his district being treated for urological problems, is back to Capitol Hill and ready to vote Thursday night. Other critical votes from moderate Republicans, like Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would back the effort. But despite the relatively cozy relationship Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has developed with Trump, he is the sole wild-card vote for the GOP, being the only Republican to come out against the measure. Republicans can only afford to lose two votes and still pass the budget plan. "The fact is, most of the rest of the world has been about the business of improving their tax code while we have not," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said. "This is our moment, our opportunity to catch up, and we could do it in a big way as long as we pass this budget." Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are against the measure. "Theres going to be a very bright light shining on our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. "Its not easy writing a massive tax bill, and all the while, while theyre writing it and once it comes out, that bright light of truth will produce, in my judgment, the same result we had on health care: the more the American people see, the less theyll like it." Fox News' Brooke Singman and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A liberal-led push to overhaul the Electoral College could be moving from the op-ed pages to the courtroom, as a Harvard professor who flirted with a dark-horse Democratic presidential bid last year vows litigation to change the system. Criticism of the Electoral College was resurgent in the wake of Hillary Clintons 2016 loss. Clinton recently said she wants the system "eliminated." The latest effort isnt aimed at dismantling the structure entirely but rather, the winner-take-all system used by 48 states in awarding electors, which ends up focusing presidential races on a handful of battlegrounds. With a winner-take-all, most of America is ignored, professor Lawrence Lessig said in previewing his legal case which, like any challenge to the Electoral College, faces a steep uphill climb. Lessig, though, argues the system violates the 14th Amendments one-man-one-vote principle. Currently, all but two states award all electors to the winner of the states popular vote. Lessig said 24 people have volunteered to be plaintiffs, though hes still deciding which states to focus on. We are looking for a Republican from a blue state whose vote never counts and a Democrat from a red state whose vote never counts, he said. Lessig, who was very briefly a Democratic candidate for president for the 2016 cycle, insists this isnt a partisan endeavor and will consist of at least two separate lawsuits. If he were to beat the odds and prevail, the kind of overhaul he seeks could have mixed results -- theoretically allowing Democrats to pick up electoral votes in deep-red territory and Republicans to win electors in deep-blue states like California and New York. While it would require a constitutional amendment to ditch the Electoral College for a national popular vote system, the Constitution does not mandate how states award electors. Maine and Nebraska actually divvy up electors by congressional district. Donald Trump picked up one Maine elector in 2016 and Barack Obama won a Nebraska elector in 2012. Another alternativewhich Lessig preferswould be a proportional system, where a losing candidate could still get a percentage of the states electors based on the popular vote. Lessig contends other proposals, such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, could take decades to fully implement. By contrast, a court ruling could force states to move to a proportional system by 2020. Lessig, meanwhile, warns that election results that defy the popular vote could become more common. Two of the last three presidents were inaugurated without winning the popular vote, he noted, referring to Trumps victory in 2016 and George W. Bushs in 2000. It has happened in just three prior elections: 1888, 1876 and 1824. The number of times the Electoral College doesnt conform with the popular vote will go up given the demographics, Lessig predicted. 'The Supreme Court could knock this out.' Election lawyer Roger Austin, casting doubt on an Electoral College court challenge The current system undoubtedly concentrates campaign spending. Just 14 battleground states saw 99 percent of ad spending and 95 percent of candidate visits for campaign purposes in 2016, according to Equal Citizens. David Boies, who was the lead counsel for former Vice President Al Gore in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case in 2000, and Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics attorney under President George W. Bush, are part of the legal team for the case. But the system has its defenders. Gary Rose, chairman of the political science department at Sacred Heart University and author of Haywire: A Chronology of the 2016 Presidential Contest, said it provides stability. Under a district plan, we could see a number of third-party candidates emerge, competing for a narrow portion of the vote by just running in congressional districts, Rose told Fox News. A proportional system would be a recipe for France, a multi-party system, with a plethora of small parties that are hardly bigger than an interest group. Interestingly, fear of third parties brought Congress to its closest point of scrapping the Electoral College. After third-party candidate George Wallace won 46 electoral votes in 1968, the House of Representatives voted 338-70 in 1969 to abolish the Electoral College and require the winner to a presidential election to carry at least 40 percent of the vote. The proposed constitutional amendment was blocked by a Senate filibuster. While candidates visit only a handful of swing states now, Rose said, under a national popular vote system, presidential candidates would ignore smaller states. A national popular vote would be a detriment to the American people, and many voters would really feel disenfranchised if the campaign moved only to the urban areas, Rose said. Proving standing for the litigation could pose a challenge depending on which court hears the cases, added Roger Austin, an election lawyer and former general counsel for the Florida Republican Party who also questions the cases legal merits. The Supreme Court could knock this out as a political question that they do not want to tackle or leave to the political branches, Austin told Fox News. The court has ducked a lot of cases this way. Trump won 306 electoral votes in 2016 to Clintons 232, though Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote, with 48.5 percent to Trumps 46.4 percent. The irony might be that Trump could still have triumphed under a reformed system. Under a district plan, Trump would have won 290 electoral votes, according to an analysis by the website 270toWin.com. The analysis found under a proportional system, Trump would have won 267 votes to Clintons 265. A third party would have gained six electoral votes, sending the matter to the House of Representatives. But Lessigs own analysis of a proportional system found Clinton winning the needed 270 to Trumps 267. While technically looking ahead to future elections, Lessig hasnt quite given up on the last one. He recently penned a Medium post imagining a scenario where Trump is impeached, eventually leading to House Speaker Paul Ryan becoming president and then handing the presidency to Hillary Clinton. I realize this all sounds crazy right now, he wrote. President Trump on Thursday accused the Fake Media of ignoring new details about the 2010 approval of a controversial uranium deal with a Russian company, amid scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration. Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow! Trump tweeted. A day earlier, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, vowed at a public hearing to get to the bottom of this issue. This was as The Hill reported that the FBI had evidence as early as 2009 that Russian operatives used bribes, kickbacks and other dirty tactics to expand Moscows atomic energy footprint in the U.S. -- yet the Obama administration approved the uranium deal benefiting Moscow anyway. Trump on Thursday also took another Twitter swipe at the firm behind the controversial anti-Trump dossier, after Fusion GPS officials took the Fifth during an appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)? he wrote. The president and his allies occasionally have cited both the dossier a salacious document whose origin is shrouded in mystery, but linked to a company that allegedly did business with Russian figures and the uranium deal to counter allegations of Trump-Russia collusion, effectively arguing Democrats have links to Moscow, too. As for the Russia company probe, The Hill reported overnight that Grassley is seeking permission to interview the FBI informant who helped agents uncover the corruption. His lawyer Victoria Toensing told The Hill that the informant was prevented from disclosing certain information to the courts and Congress after signing a nondisclosure statement and was threatened by Justice officials when he tried to reveal some information in a lawsuit last year. Grassley on Wednesday released a series of letters he fired off last week to 10 federal agencies, addressing his concerns in detail and raising the question of whether the committee that approved the uranium transaction was aware of the FBI probe. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) included then-Secretary of State Clinton. The deal in question, which was previously reported, involved the 2010 approval of a partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to Russias Rosatom nuclear company. The U.S. was involved because the sale gave the Russians control of part of the uranium supply in the U.S. Grassley wrote in his letters that hes not convinced by previous assurances that there were no unresolved national security concerns. Grassley, in his hearing remarks and letters, raised two key issues. It had been previously reported that figures tied to the transaction gave donations to Bill Clinton and his family foundation, but Grassley wrote that he has learned additional details about a $500,000 fee the former president got from a Russian investment bank for a June 2010 speech. He wrote that the banks senior officers include former Russian intelligence personnel, and sources had described the company as an extension of the Russian government. Notably, in the same month as the Clinton speech, Uranium One and Rosatom notified CFIUS of the Russian governments intent to acquire 20 percent of the United States uranium assets. The next month, in July 2010, Renaissance Bank reportedly assigned Uranium One a buy rating, a move that would principally benefit its Russian investors, Grassley wrote. The donations raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest for Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration. Further, Grassley raised concerns about the FBI probe into corruption and extortion involving employees of a Rosatom subsidiary dating back to 2009 before the 2010 approval. As noted in The Hill, the feds did eventually go after Vadim Mikerin, a Russian nuclear industry official, in connection with the investigation. He was later sentenced, in 2015, to 48 months in prison in connection with money laundering allegations. But Grassley wants to know whether the committee that approved the transaction was aware of the ongoing criminal probe at the time. When details of the Uranium One deal first emerged in 2015, Clintons campaign downplayed the allegations. "No one has produced a shred of evidence that Hillary Clinton ever took action as Secretary of State in order to support the interests of donors to the Clinton Foundation," a spokesman said at the time. "To suggest the State Department, under then-Secretary Clinton, exerted undue influence in the U.S. government's review of the sale of Uranium One is utterly baseless. Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report. President Trump welcomed Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rossello to the White House Thursday, and touted his own administrations hurricane response as a 10. Trump said the federal government has done a really great job, and noted that he has given his blessing to Congress for a funding plan to address the storm-ravaged island after Category 4 Hurricane Maria hit last month. On the sidelines of their meeting, the pair spoke with reporters in the Oval Office, discussing the plan for recovery. Trump noted that the federal government is "looking at designs" for new power plants. "I think we've done a really great job and have had tremendous cooperation from the governor, and we're getting there," Trump said. "Step by step, it's taken care of and I say we have a wonderful, and the people of Puerto Rico have a wonderful representative with respect to their governor. He's worked harder than anyone I've seen." Rossello thanked the president for answering all of Puerto Rico's requests. "We recognize that a lot of it has been done, but a lot still has to be done, and we're hopeful," Rossello said. "I am confident that with your commitment and with your support, Mr. President, with your team's support, we will be able to come out of this in the long-haul together with Puerto Rico, give the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico the adequate resources, treat us the same as citizens in Texas, in Florida and elsewhere, we will come out of this stronger, and we will make this innovative." Rossello added that there was "an opportunity" to be innovative for Puerto Rico to be a "model" of sustainable energy and growth. Trump has received backlash for his response to Puerto Rico after both Hurricanes Irma and Maria last month. Nevertheless, Rossello has been supportive of Trump. Trump, following up on his tweet from last week, said that Rossello understands that these folks cant be there forever, referring to the military and first responders who are working on the island. Trumps tweet last week received backlash, with critics claiming Trump was treating Puerto Rico differently than other areas affected by the storm like Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Much of the island remains without electricity. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., sparked President Donald Trumps public feud with a Gold Star family after she accused him of making an insensitive remark to the soldiers widow. Wilson said Trump told Army Sgt. La David Johnsons pregnant widow that he knew what he signed up forbut when it happens, it hurts anyway. Johnson was killed earlier this month during an attack in Africa. But Wilson has often voted against legislation that would help veterans and their families, according to a vote-tracking website. What is the feud between Wilson and Trump? Army Sgt. La David Johnson and three other service members died in an Oct. 4 attack in Niger. Islamic militants ambushed the soldiers. Wilson said she was riding with Myeshia Johnson, the soldier's widow, as they went to Miami International Airport to meet his body when Trump called. The president said Johnson knew what he signed up for but when it happens, it hurts anyway, Wilson said. The congresswoman called the remark so insensitive during an interview with WPLG-TV. The fallen soldiers mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Associated Press Wednesday that the congresswomans account was correct. Trump denied Wilsons claims in a tweet Wednesday. Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! he tweeted. FAMILIES OF FALLEN HAVE MIXED EXPERIENCES WITH TRUMP, IF ANY White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called Wilsons criticism appalling and disgusting and accused her of politicizing the issue. She said the call wasnt recorded but other White House officials, including chief of staff General John Kelly, were present during the call. But Wilson hasnt backed away from her claim and later said that Myeshia Johnson told her Trump didnt even remember his name. "I was stunned when I came to work, when I saw what a member of Congress was doing, listened in on a phone call from the president," Kelly said Wednesday. "It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversationI thought at least that was sacred," he said. A spokeswoman says Wilson had no comment on Kelly's remarks about her Thursday. What has Wilsons voting record on veterans issues been? VoteSmart.org, a site that tracks voting records, shows that Wilson hasnt supported several measures that would have helped veterans and their families including financially. Specifically, she opposed a measure that would have given the families of four soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan in 2013 death and burial benefits. TRUMP SAYS DEM REP 'FABRICATED' ACCOUNT OF CALL TO SOLDIER'S WIDOW, HAS 'PROOF' She has also opposed measures to reform the embattled Department of Veterans Affairs. And Wilson has voted against measures multiple times that would ensure veterans and their families would still receive benefits despite government shutdowns. What else do we know about Wilsons political career? A former elementary school principal, Wilson was elected to Congress in 2010. She previously served in the Florida State Senate from 2002-2010 and the State House of Representatives from 1998-2002. Her House of Representatives website lists several issues of concern, including education, gun violence, health care, immigration and jobs. When it comes to Social Security, Wilson says that she "will vote against any measure to privatize the program, cut benefits, or increase the eligibility age." This year, Wilson voted against the Republican health care bill. In February 2015, she sponsored a bill that was introduced on what would have been Trayvon Martin's 20th birthday. The bill called for the House to press "any State legislature to reject or repeal Stand Your Ground legislation." What about her personal life? Her husband, Paul Wilson, died in 1988 after their three children were born, according to a Miami Herald profile. In addition to her three children, Wilson also has five grandchildren, her House bio says. Shes also spoken several times about her attire, specifically her penchant for wearing unique hats. "It all started with my grandmother, whose name was Frederica also. She wore hats and gloves. I just wanted to be like her, so I started wearing hats. I just like to dress up, I guess, and I got that from her," Wilson told Roll Call in 2012. Ive never counted, but I've been wearing them almost 30 years, Wilson told Politifact in 2010. "It's almost like a fetish. ... I have hundreds. The Associated Press contributed to this report. From his handling of a probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to his investigation into Russian meddling in the election, former FBI Director James Comey has long been a punching bag for President Trump. After Comey left the FBI, Trump accused him of leaving the agency in "tatters." And as Comey released his explosive tell-all book, Trump called for the former FBI boss to be "prosecuted" for allegedly leaking information and lying under oath to Congress. "He is a weak and untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI," Trump said in April. "It was my great honor to fire James Comey!" But while Trump has publicly hit the nations former chief investigator hard, his public opinion throughout his presidency and campaign hasn't been all bad. Criticism On Comey's Capitol Hill testimony On Dec. 7, Comey testified behind closed doors, despite previously seeking an open hearing. He was expected to answer a variety of questions from his decision not to recommend any criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her private server scandal in 2016 to the FBI's investigation into potential Russian collusion during the 2016 presidential campaign. Comey tweeted days before his testimony that it was "hard to protect [his] rights without being in contempt," so he agreed to "sit in the dark." House Republicans apparently weren't satisfied at the conclusion of Comey's questioning and indicated they may want to bring Comey back, according to reports. Trump, too, was clearly frustrated. "It is being reported that Leakin' James Comey was told by Department of Justice attorneys not to answer the most important questions," Trump tweeted afterward. "Total bias and corruption at the highest levels of previous Administration. Force him to answer the questions under oath!" On Clintons emails Trump has often tweeted about Comeys involvement in the FBIs investigation into Clintons use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, saying his handling of the probe has left the FBI in tatters. Hillary and the Dems loved and praised FBI Director Comey just a few days ago. Original evidence was overwhelming, should not have delayed! Trump tweeted in October 2016. Before Comey was officially sacked, Trump said Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Clinton because he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds. After the FBI confirmed Comey had drafted a statement about Clinton before the investigation was completed, Trump took to Twitter to lambast the former FBI chief even more. Wow, FBI confirms report that James Comey drafted letter exonerating Crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete. Many people not interviewed, including Clinton herself, Trump tweeted. Comey stated under oath that he didnt do this obviously a fix? Where is Justice Dept? Trump tweeted. As it turned out, James Comey lied and leaked and totally protected Hillary Clinton. He was the best thing that ever happened to her! he said. He's also said Comey, along with others, have "committed many crimes." On Comeys firing Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017 and sent his FBI chief a short, impersonal letter to make him aware of his termination. Trump predictably took to Twitter to defend the firing. James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI," Trump said the morning after the firing. Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me! Trump added. On the Russia investigation Comey told Trump that he was not under investigation by the FBI, Trump said in a May 2017 interview with NBC News. I said, if its possible would you let me know, am I under investigation? He said, You are not under investigation, Trump said. When asked if he was angry with Comey over his investigation into Russias meddling in the presidential election, Trump just said he want[s] somebody thats competent to lead the FBI. He added that he is a big fan of the FBI. Trump reportedly called Comey crazy and a nut job during a conversation with Russian officials in the Oval Office the day after Comeys firing, according to The New York Times. I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job, Trump said according to a document of the meeting obtained by the Times. I faced great pressure because of Russia. Thats taken off. And when it comes to his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump has denied asking Comey to stop his investigation into potential wrongdoing. I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie! Trump tweeted on Dec. 3. On Comey's memo As Comey has promoted his new memoir, titled "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," Trump called the former FBI head a "slimeball" and dubbed him "Slippery James Comey." "Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!" Trump said on social media. He also criticized the book for not answering certain questions, such as: "how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give [Clinton's email server] to the FBI (why didn't they TAKE it), why the phony memos," among other things. Trump has also denied asking Comey for his loyalty, something Comey detailed in his memoir. On stopping government leaks Trump has several times expressed his disappointment with Comey and the FBI not being able to stop national security leakers and even accused the former FBI boss of leaking as well. The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have permeated our government for a long time. They can't even find the leakers within the FBI itself. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on U.S. Trump tweeted in February 2017. Trump also threatened Comey against leaking, himself, information to the media. James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press, Trump tweeted. His tweet came after The New York Times reported Trump asked for Comeys loyalty during a private dinner, which Comey declined to give. The New York Times cited sources who said they knew about the details of the dinner through Comey. Later, after Comey told Fox News the memos he shared with his legal team did not constitute a leak of classified information, Trump took to social media to call him "either very sick or very dumb." Is everybody believing what is going on. James Comey cant define what a leak is. He illegally leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION but doesnt understand what he did or how serious it is. He lied all over the place to cover it up. Hes either very sick or very dumb, he wrote. Praise On Clintons emails While the president eventually castigated Comeys handling of the probe into Clintons private email server, Trump initially praised him for investigating Clinton at all. It took a lot of guts, Trump said in October 2017 of Comeys decision to reopen the Clinton investigation. I have to give the FBI credit. That was so bad what happened originally, Trump said after the FBI did not recommend charges be brought against Clinton by the Justice Department. It took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where theyre trying to protect her from criminal prosecution, Trump said. I was not his fan, but Ill tell you what what he did, he brought back his reputation, Trump continued. He also encouraged Comey then to hang tough. On the Russia investigation In prepared remarks released ahead of Comeys testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017, Comey confirmed reports that Trump asked the FBI to lay off his former national security adviser as the department investigated Russias influence on the 2016 presidential election. But Comey also confirmed that he did reassure the president that Trump was not under investigation. Trump was pleased by Comeys admission. The president is pleased that Mr. Comey has finally publicly confirmed his private reports that the President was not under investigation in any Russian probe, Trumps lawyer said in a statement. The President feels completely and totally vindicated. He is eager to continue to move forward with his agenda. A solitary fossil unearthed in Utah's Antimony Canyon reveals a long-extinct marine creature previously unknown to science. Resembling a dainty tulip bloom or an elegant white-wine glass, the 500-million-year-old bottom-feeder called Siphusauctum lloydguntheri looked uniquely ready for a romantic evening of sucking up microplankton along the seafloor. Sadly for the specimen, the world's only known example of S. lloydguntheri appears to have died alone, leaving no descendants past the end of the Cambrian period (541 million to 485.4 million years ago), possibly the victim of mass extinction. Researchers at the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute described what little is known about the obscure invertebrate in a new paper published in the Journal of Paleontology. [Cambrian Creatures: Photos of Primitive Sea Life] "Primitive and weird" "The upper part of the tulip was the organism itself," lead study author Julien Kimmig, collections manager for Invertebrate Paleontology at the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas, said in a statement. "It had a stem attached to the ground and an upper part, called the calyx, thathad everything from the digestive tract to the feeding mechanism. It was fairly primitive and weird." Measurements show that the specimen was about 3 inches (9 centimeters) long, its narrow stem accounting for a little more than half that length. With no apparent body parts to aid it in swimming, S. lloydguntheri likely rode the currents near the bottom of the sea, using its stem to anchor into soft sediment when it was time to stop for sustenance, Kimmig said. As a filter feeder, S. lloydguntheri would have taken its meals by pumping water into its calyx, then filtering out tasty organic matter like microplankton before digesting that material and excreting the waste. "It is enigmatic because we don't have anything living that is exactly like it," Kimmig said. "The closest thing to the lifestyle but not a relative would be crinoids, commonly called sea lilies." While it may have no living relatives, S. lloydguntheri does share a genus with another extinct filter feeder of the same period, named Siphusauctum gregarium. Discovered in 2012 in Canada's Burgess Shale deposit, S. gregarium shares S. lloydguntheri's bottom-feeding lifestyle and would look equally at home in the barware section of Crate & Barrel (the common name Siphusauctum comes from the Latin word "siphus," meaning "cup" or "goblet"). There are some small differences between the species' internal organs, but the most mysterious difference between the two organisms is in the number of known specimens. While large communities of S. gregarium samples have been unearthed in Canada, only this single sample of S. lloydguntheri has been discovered, despite 60 years of studying the surrounding shale deposits in Utah. Based on floating algae fossils located next to S. lloydguntheri's imprint, researchers concluded the specimen was likely carried by currents away from its community. A window into the Cambrian explosion S. lloydguntheriis named for notable fossil hunter Lloyd Gunther, who donated the shale specimen to the University of Kansas in 1976, in addition to thousands of other samples over the years. The specimen is vividly preserved in a piece of Spence shale, a fine-grained rock found in Utah and Idaho that is especially kind to soft-bodied fossils. Samples such as these provide incredible glimpses into what paleontologists call the Cambrian explosion, one of the most rapid diversifications of life in Earth's history. "Nearly every animal that we have around today has a relative that already lived during those times in the Cambrian," Kimmig said. "We have some lineages, like worms, that lived long before the Cambrian and haven't changed in appearance or behavior. Then we have things [like S. lloydguntheri] that were around for a couple of million years and just disappeared because they were chance victims of mass extinctions." Raise a wine glass to that. Original article on Live Science. Fake news ads are reportedly popping up on fact-checking websites. The New York Times reported that as recent as last week, these ads were found on sites like PolitiFact and Snopes. The report said the ads took the reader to sites that looked like major media websites, like Vogue and People. The headlines read, for example, Melania Trump is leaving the White House! The articles looks similar to a standard news site, but they transitioned to an ad. In one case, an anti-aging skin cream, the report said. Nearly a year after Facebook and Google launched offensives against fake news, theyre still inadvertently promoting it often at the worst possible times. Online services designed to engross users arent 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 theyre rolled out. In the immediate aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, Facebooks 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 Oct. 1 attack 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. As always, when we find deceptive ad practices on our platforms we move swiftly to take action, including suspending the advertiser account if appropriate, Chi Hea Cho, a Google spokeswoman, told The Times in a statement. In addition, we give publishers controls so they can block specific types of ads and advertisers. The Associated Press contributed to this report This domain was recently registered at Namecheap.com. Please check back later! A team of Army researchers did not set out to prove that human pee could fuel U.S. military vehicles and bases in the future but their unexpected urine discovery could transform how the armed forces get energy in the field. A U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) team at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland believes it has discovered a way to use urine to provide power. Soldiers can be required to carry more than 80 pounds on a typical 72-hour mission, and more than 15 pounds of those pounds can be batteries. Could this urine discovery reduce the load a soldier carries by a whopping 20 percent? In future war zones, soldiers may be using their own urine to produce electricity for the devices they need on the move from drones and night vision devices to laptops and communications equipment. WILL A SINGLE BOMB STOP NORTH KOREA? While urine could be used to power devices and greatly lighten the load for soldiers, fuel cells could also be used on a much, much larger scale like powering vehicles and theoretically even entire bases. Why urine? It is the hydrogen in the urine that Army scientists are keen to exploit to yield power. They get the hydrogen by adding the ARL teams special aluminum nano-powder to the urine, igniting a chain reaction that releases hydrogen. In under three minutes, one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the powder can produce 220 kilowatts of power from urine, researchers say. AUSA 2017: 4 AMAZING LAND VEHICLES AT THIS YEAR'S SHOW Hydrogen is important because it has enormous potential to power fuel cells. With hydrogen harvested from urine as fuel, the fuel cell yields electricity as well as water and heat, all three of which could be utilized by the military. How do fuel cells work? Fuel cells work like batteries. They contain chemicals and the chemicals are converted into electricity. With hydrogen fuel cells, the process of converting hydrogen and oxygen into water produces the electricity. But fuel cells are different to batteries in the sense that they do not go dead or need to be recharged. As long as there is hydrogen harvested from urine or elsewhere, the fuel cell will deliver endless electricity. PODCAST: INSIDE THE SEAL TEAM 6 WORLD WITH THIS FASCINATING SNIPER But why is pee important? Why the excitement over this urine and hydrogen discovery? After all, hydrogen is one of the most common elements and can come from a range of sources. AUSA 2017: THIS MILITARY ATV CAN 'THINK' AND DRIVE ITSELF Hydrogen fuel cells could greatly lighten the load for soldiers so they would not have to carry battery weight anymore. But they need fuel for the hydrogen fuel cell. One thing a soldier would always have access to in any war zone, anywhere in the world, no matter how remote and isolated ... is urine. So this discovery could help pave the way to constant, easy access to fuel and power. From Polaris MRZR ATVs to tanks, hydrogen fuel cells could be a future source of fuel. As far as military vehicles go, another fuel cell advantage is that they generate electricity quietly. By reducing noise, it could help reduce detection by enemy forces and enable a stealthier approach. Again, with the fuel accessibility of urine, soldiers would always have easy, immediate access to fuel to potentially power a motorcycle or a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). AUSA 2017: THIS NET MAKES US SPECIAL OPERATIONS VEHICLES 'DISAPPEAR' In some ways, Forward Operating Bases bear certain similarities to the International Space Station. Resources are very limited and resupply can be challenging since they are remote and difficult to access. Energy is a vital resource there to keep critical tech powered. If urine could be converted to provide fuel, then the base would have constant access to energy. To resupply fuel to a base, soldiers can be exposed to threats like IEDs and attacks by enemy forces. With immediate access to an endless power supply through urine, fuel cells could put an end to the need to resupply conventional fuels and therefore reduce the risk to U.S. soldiers. PODCAST: HOME DEFENSE AND PROTECT YOUR FAMILY LIKE THIS SOF SURVIVAL EXPERT Other advantages to fuel cells Hydrogen fuel cells are a very clean, efficient and effective way to produce electricity. If fuel cells can be cracked, they could truly revolutionize power for the military. AUSA 2017 IN PICTURES They are more energy-efficient than combustion engines they can convert the fuel chemicals to electrical energy up to about 60 percent more efficiently, according to the Department of Energy. It is also far cheaper to use urine as fuel rather than JP-8, diesel and other conventional fuels used in war zones. So hydrogen fuel cells could dramatically reduce fuel costs. They also yield far lower emissions than their combustion engine counterparts. The only emission is water. While benefiting from the efficiency and cost reduction, the military could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and air pollutants. Discovery? The pee advantage While the Army scientist team was working on developing materials and tech to improve capabilities for soldiers, they developed a special new nano-galvanic aluminum-based powder. When the powder comes into contact with water, it yields pure hydrogen. But it doesnt just work with water. Tests revealed that when the powder was added to lots of different liquids with water it also yielded hydrogen. ATHENA LASER WEAPON 'KILLS' 5 'OUTLAWS' Their research was already important. And then they made an additional discovery an unexpected one. The Eureka moment? Urine. With urine, there was a twofold increase in the reaction rates. So when the special powder was added to urine, it produced hydrogen far faster than even water. Whats next? The team is continuing to advance and also looking at how other fluids readily available to a soldier downrange could be harnessed including saliva. This is a rush transcript from "Your World," October 19, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. NEIL CAVUTO, "YOUR WORLD" HOST: All right, Senator Tim Scott was among those senators meeting the president yesterday to iron out this whole budget thing. That sets the pave -- or paves the way, I should say, for the whole tax cut thing. The South Carolina Republican joins me right now. Senator, thank you for taking the time. SEN. TIM SCOTT, R-SOUTH CAROLINA: It's good to be with you, Neil. CAVUTO: How does it look to you, the budget first off? SCOTT: Well, I think we're in good shape with the budget. We will have the 51 votes to get it passed, so that we can get to tax reform, which really is the biggest opportunity we have to help hardworking Americans keep more of their money. CAVUTO: So, if that sets the stage for the tax cut thing, is it your sense that Republicans will be in lockstep on this? Because I have some -- I wonder about Senator John McCain. I wonder about Senator Rand Paul. Now, I could be wrong on both counts. But you're pretty good. You know your colleagues pretty well. What do you think? SCOTT: Well, lockstep is something that we have a hard time digesting. (LAUGHTER) SCOTT: I do think that we're going to be in pretty good shape. The good news, Neil, is that the House, the White House and the Senate, we have been working for several months on tax reform. So, the good news, unlike health care, the three levers of government are already conversing about the importance of delivering more money in the take-home pay of hardworking Americans. So, we're on solid footing. And I think it is going to get better as we understanding and appreciating what the vehicle will actually deliver to the American people. CAVUTO: I was just speaking with your colleague Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, who feels right now he would have to be a no vote, because it skews, that is the tax cut, Senator, to the rich. What do you say? SCOTT: Yes. Well, there's no question that this is absolutely a great opportunity for us to reduce the burden on the everyday American worker and for those living in poverty. When you double the standard deduction, you essentially create a zero percent tax bracket for those living at the federal poverty level, $24,000 or less, or an individual at $12,000 or less. So, this, for the first time, will have more people not paying taxes who are at the bottom of the economic ladder. And at the same time, we're going to make sure that the progressive nature of the tax code remains the same. So our effort and our focus is on middle-class Americans who are working very hard, having very little time in their schedule. We want to make sure that they get six billion hours back. The average American spend 30 hours a week -- 30 hours year on tax preparation -- and they're going to have at least between a $4,000 and $8,000 increase in their pay, according to the experts and the economic advisers... (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: But I think what Senator Manchin is saying, Senator, and what Senator Chuck Schumer -- I'm not equating the two here -- that if there's relief for the rich, it's not going to be a yes vote from them. SCOTT: Well, Neil, let's just break this down very simply. There's two pillars of tax reform. Number one, more sure there is more money in your take-home pay. Number two, let's build the economy of the future by making sure those jobs stay here. What they're suggesting to or alluding to is that, as we lower the corporate tax from 35 percent down to a competitive position of 20 percent, there's going to be winners in that stake. Who are the winners? Well, there are three groups of individuals who are the winners. Number one, the consumers are going to win because, when you lower the tax rate, it costs less for the goods. Number two, employees win. Why? Because most economists left and right agree that employees bear the burden of corporate taxes. And, number three, those folks who invest in businesses, they're going to win as well. So it's very hard for us to grow the economy without stimulating growth in business. CAVUTO: And stimulating growth, or that is encouraging cuts for everybody then. That seems to be your position. Is that right? SCOTT: Everyone that I have talked to, the number one question they is, how much of my money do I get to keep? There's no covetousness about other folks benefiting from tax relief. We want every American who is paying taxes to benefit from the tax cut. We just want our focus to be on Middle America, those folks who are strapped every single week, every single paycheck. We want to make sure that we deliver relief for them, but absolutely we want to grow the economy, so that the jobs of the future are here in America. And when you have the highest corporate tax rate, it just doesn't happen. CAVUTO: You know, there's been a lot of sniping back and forth among some of your colleagues, Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham and all of this, over who is a real conservative or whatever. Is this making this whole process tougher with Senator Corker and his differences and tweets and all with the president, et al? SCOTT: The good news is, I have had a chance to talk to all three of my colleagues that you just mentioned there. And, frankly, I'm talking to every single member of the Republican Conference. And the fact is that none of us are concerned with the slights back and forth. Our focus is not on each other. Our focus is on the folks that we work for. The folks we work for are back in our states. None of them live in Washington, D.C. So the fact is that our goal of reaching back home to make sure that our folks are taken care of is priority. And I think you will see that happen with the Republican Conference. I hope you will see it happen in a bipartisan fashion. CAVUTO: All right, Senator Scott, thank you for taking the time. Good seeing you again. SCOTT: Good to be with you. CAVUTO: All right, Senator Tim Scott, the beautiful state of South Carolina. END Content and Programming Copyright 2017 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. A California man accused of groping and kissing a sleeping 16-year-old girl on an Alaska Airlines flight pleaded guilty to the incident more than a year after the fact. On Oct. 16., the U.S. District Court of Seattle charged Jesse Salas with one misdemeanor count of simple assault on an aircraft, the Associated Press reported. Salas, of Redondo Beach, was seated next to the girl on a flight from Portland, Ore. to Anchorage, Ala., according to the plea agreement. The incident occurred on June 22, 2016. WOMEN'S MARCH ACTIVIST TAMIKA MALLORY SAYS AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT REMOVED HER FROM FLIGHT: IT WAS 'WHITE MALE AGGRESSION' After she closed her eyes, the then 23-year-old grabbed her thigh. Pushing his hand away, he then kissed her on the mouth with his tongue. The girl later told law enforcement officers he tasted like "stale beer. Pushing him away again, Salas attempted to put his hand into her pants, prompting a fellow passenger to ask her if she knew him. When she said no, he alerted flight staffers. DELTA AIRLINES PREVENTED WOMAN FROM SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM ON FLIGHT WITH FALLEN SOLDIER, SHE CLAIMS Crew immediately separated the two. The pilot was also notified and the plane was diverted to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, SeaTac spokesperson Perry Cooper told Alaska Dispatch News. Upon landing, Cooper said that Port of Seattle police arrested Salas for investigation of fourth-degree assault. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Sentencing has been set for Jan. 2018, the AP reported. A Canadian man is suing an airline, claiming it promoted false advertising when it offered Champagne service but served sparkling wine instead, a report said on Wednesday. Daniel Macduff was flying Sunwing Airlines from Quebec to Cuba for vacation when he was offered the complimentary Champagne service, the BBC reported. Macduff said when he received his glass of bubbly, it was ordinary sparkling wine and not actually "Champagne" a designation for wines produced in the Champagne region of France. He also said he didnt receive the service on his returning flight. AIR BERLIN PLANE MAKES STRANGE MANEUVER, SPARKS GERMAN SAFETY PROBE The unsatisfied flyer said hes suing the airline because it was false marketing, according to his lawyer. "It's not about the pettiness of Champagne versus sparkling wine," lawyer Sebastien Paquette told the BBC. "It's the consumer message behind it." Sunwing said in a statement to Fox News that it uses the terms Champagne service and Champagne vacations to denote a level of service in reference to the entire hospitality package," not the specific beverages that would be given to passengers. The airline also called the lawsuit " frivolous and without merit. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Champagne is itself a variety of sparkling wine, though the name "Champagne" is legally protected and usually refers only to wines produced in its emponymous region. Sparkling wine, meanwhile, refers to all other carbonated wines. The airline has since changed the name of the complimentary service. Under the food and beverages section, it now states a welcome glass of sparkling wine will be given to passengers for free, excluding flights to Florida, Las Vegas, and in Canada. The airline also said in its statement: Anywhere that weve detailed our inflight services, we have accurately described these as including a complimentary welcome glass of sparkling wine across relevant marketing materials and even announce them on the aircraft. A Phoenix woman is claiming shell never fly with Frontier Airlines again after a racist passenger loudly declared he was pulling his white card during an argument that erupted mid-flight. Furthermore, the Riverfront Times of St. Louis reports that the drunk man has yet to be criminally charged for causing a disturbance aboard the flight, despite police and EMS workers being called to deal with him upon arrival. "He does have this invisible white card," Shemekia Cannon told the Riverfront Times. "Theyre protecting this man to the point where we dont even know his name. Hes alive, living his life, thinking this is all over. That's how I know that card exists." WOMAN SAYS DELTA AIR LINES PREVENTED HER FROM SINGING NATIONAL ANTHEM The incident originally took place aboard a flight from St. Louis to Denver on June 10, though footage of the altercation was only shared on YouTube earlier this week. In the video, the man can he heard using profanity and repeatedly telling Cannon who is black that he was pulling his white card when she asked to be re-seated. WARNING: Footage contains profane language. Viewer discretion is advised. Cannon told the Riverfront Times that she first saw the unidentified man drinking in the airport terminal while flirting with the redheaded woman who was later seated to his left. Aboard the flight, she says Frontier continued to serve him alcohol despite being visibly drunk. Cannon also says he continued flirting inappropriately with the redheaded woman, telling her how he wanted to take her to the planes restroom, and describing the size of his penis. He also began rubbing his crotch area, she says. "When he described his penis size, I couldnt take it no more, said Cannon. "I told [the flight attendants] what hed said. Cannon alleges that a flight attendant came by and told the man he was no longer allowed to order alcohol, which prompted him to turn to the redheaded woman and say, "Don't worry, I have white privilege, I have a white card." "I went from zero to a million, remembers Cannon. I looked at him and I said, 'Youre a racist son of a b----.' AIR BERLIN FLIGHT MAKES STRANGE MANEUVER, SPARKING SAFETY PROBE In the above footage, subsequently captured by Cannon, the man can be heard repeating that hed be pulling his white card after Cannon told the crew to get him away from me. Cannon also told the Riverfront Times that she was moved to a different seat, but that the man continued arguing with flight attendants. Police were called to meet the flight upon arrival, at which point they subdued the man, Cannon says. "He kept screaming, 'I'm a business owner, I'm a business owner,'" she told the Riverfront Times. "He wanted everybody to know that he is a business man and he had white privilege and a white card. He was flailing and fighting everybody." Later, inside the terminal, Cannon says she met a woman who claimed to have captured footage of the unidentified man being rolled through the airport on a gurney. Cannons lawyer later received a letter from the airline apologizing for the incident. However, Frontier wrote that they felt the crews actions were appropriate for the situation and regret any discomfort caused to Ms. Cannon. They also issued her a $250 flight voucher. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The Riverfront Times further confirmed through the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado that the man has not faced any criminal charges for his actions, though the matter is under investigation. Frontier did not confirm to Fox News whether they were planning to take any further action against the unidentified passenger. "We take allegations of misconduct very seriously and have worked internally to investigate Ms. Cannons concerns, wrote the airline in a statement. The comfort, safety and security of our crew and passengers is our first priority at all times." A Harris Teeter supermarket reopened Monday in Charleston, S.C., one day after a man described as a "disgruntled former contractor" sprayed what was believed to be feces on the store's fresh produce and other food items. Suspect Pau Hang, 41, was arrested Sunday afternoon. He claimed the store owed him money, Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis said. Danna Robinson, a Harris Teeter spokeswoman, told the Post and Courier of Charleston that Hang allegedly tried to contaminate food products in the produce department and Fresh Foods department inside our St. Andrews Shopping Center location." After Hang was arrested, the company took appropriate action to reopen, Robinson told the Charlotte Observer. "Affected areas of the store have been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, and the local and state regulators have given us permission to reopen our departments. Our teams are in the process of re-stocking, she told the Observer. The contaminated food was discarded, Robinson told the Post & Courier. Police said the liquid substance would be tested to determine exactly what it is. Hang was charged with damage to personal property and trespassing after notice, police said. The son of a Florida sheriffs lieutenant said he was just messing with his ex-girlfriend when he reportedly borrowed his fathers cop car to pull her and her new boyfriend over. Christopher Combs, a 22-year-old cadet at the Palm Beach Sheriffs department, knew where his ex-girlfriend, Jamie DiCarlo, and her new boyfriend, Robert Roberts, were parked early Saturday morning when he pulled up behind them in his fathers unmarked patrol car, the Sun Sentinel reported. Over the loudspeaker, Combs reportedly ordered Roberts to get out of his car, lay on the ground and empty his pockets. EX-OKLAHOMA COP IN MURDER TRIAL: IT WAS EITHER HIM OR ME Roberts alleged he could hear laughing as he got out of the car and laid on the ground. He told police that he felt another person put a metal object on the back of his head before they stole his wallet and pocket knife, the Sun Sentinel reported. DiCarlo reportedly told authorities that she immediately recognized her exs voice over the speaker and said his father was a sheriffs lieutenant in the area who drove the same type of car. She had recently split up with Combs after dating for five years, she said. Combs told investigators that he hadnt driven his fathers car and it had been sitting at his friends house all day, the Sun Sentinel reported. When police checked the friends house, they found that the car was still warm, meaning it had been driven recently. WOMAN CLAIMS AMERICAN HORROR STORY INSPIRED HER TO MURDER GRANDFATHER Combs reportedly was upset after he saw his ex with another guy and started messing around with them, according to a call overheard by investigators. Combs was put on house arrest with GPS monitoring and ordered by a judge not to have any contact with DiCarlo or her boyfriend, the Sun Sentinel reported. Combs was charged with armed robbery, impersonating a law enforcement officer and false imprisonment. He was released Monday from Broward County Jail after posting $120,000 bond, the report said. As far as Combs future employment on the force is concerned, Palm Beach Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said in an email to the Sun Sentinel that the son has been fired, effective right now! Combs father, who was reportedly out of town during the incident, is also under internal review in the department, she said. The man believed to have killed three people in a "targeted attack" near a Maryland business and also suspected in a later shooting in Delaware was apprehended by police in Delaware Wednesday evening after a manhunt that stretched on for hours. The suspect was identified by Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler as 37-year-old Radee Labeeb Prince. Authorities arrested the suspect at 7:05 p.m. near Glasgow High School in Newark, Del. after receiving two tips from the public indicating the whereabouts of the suspect and his car in the area. The suspect initially fled on foot after he saw authorities searching for him and threw his weapon as he ran. He was apprehended shortly after by three agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Bureau, police said. "A suspect was taken into police custody after a brief foot chase from these three agents from the ATF," Police Chief Robert J. Tracy said during a news conference. "During the foot chase, our suspect did discard a .380 firearm, which has also been recovered." Police said Prince was apprehended without incident and without any other people hurt, including any officers involved in the manhunt. "I'm very glad it came to that conclusion on a very, very sad day." Tracy said. The Harford County Sheriff's Office said the shooting took place at the Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, located about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore. Shots rang out around 8:58 a.m., according to Gahler. "We have lost three lives so far this morning in Harford County," Gahler said at a news conference, adding it was not a random shooting but a "targeted attack." All five of the victims are believed to have been employees of Advance Granite Solutions, according to Gahler. Prince is believed to have used a single hand gun in the shooting, he added. There's an individual out there on the loose who committed one of the most heinous acts we've ever seen in our county, certainly we consider him armed and dangerous, Gahler told reporters. Police later linked Prince to a second shooting in Wilmington, Del., located about 55 miles away. The Delaware shooting took place on the 2800 block of Northeast Boulevard in Wilmington, FOX 29 reported. The Wilmington Police Department said Prince "is known to have family in the Wilmington area." Gahler said Prince worked at Advanced Granite Solutions, a home improvement company, for about four months and was scheduled to be at work Wednesday. The owner of the company, Barak Caba, told The Associated Press he was a machine operator, but was shaken and would not provide additional details. A former co-worker of Prince's told The Baltimore Sun that the suspect was also fired from a different job earlier this year after he allegedly attacked a separate employee. After Prince was fired, the man said Prince came back to the business several times and once went to see him directly and cursed and yelled at him. The co-worker later filed a restraining order against Prince with the Harford County District Court. In the application for the order, the man wrote: "I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me." The man said Prince did not get physical with him, but wrote: "I do not want to wait until he will." A Harford County District Court judge denied the order. Federal law enforcement officials told Fox News the FBI is assisting local law enforcement partners, and that the shooting "looks like" workplace violence and not a terrorism incident. Two victims from the shooting were taken to Shock Trauma hospital in Baltimore and are listed in critical condition, the facility said on Twitter. Steve Chetelat, who works at KC flooring near the scene of the shooting, told FOX45 he heard "a lot of people yelling, and screaming" in some sort of argument before police arrived at the scene. The business park is just south of the Interstate 95 interchange with Route 24. The sheriff said Prince had a criminal record, but he didn't know the extent of it. According to online court records, Prince lived in Elkton -- about 35 miles from the shooting scene -- as recently as last month. Fox News Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Investigators say a fugitive gang member on a federal most-wanted list suspected in the 2002 kidnapping and slaying of a teenage girl in Southern California has been killed in Mexico. Los Angeles County sheriff's officials say detectives had been tracking George Barraza and hoped to extradite him to the U.S. for prosecution in the death of 15-year-old Brenda Sierra. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that officials recently learned Barraza died in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Investigators said Sierra was targeted because her brother had testified as a witness in a gang shooting just days before she disappeared in October 2002. Barraza was on the U.S. Marshal Service's "15 Most Wanted" list. Three others suspected in Sierra's slaying were arrested in 2015 and are awaiting trial. All have pleaded not guilty. Three people, including a female Colorado State University student, were killed in a shooting near the Fort Collins campus early Thursday. Police responded to the shooting at an apartment complex at around 2 a.m., Fox31 reported. When officers arrived, they found four people with gunshot wounds. The Coloradan newspaper reported that the suspect was believed to be among the dead. Investigators believe the suspect was known to at least one of the victims. The condition of the injured victim was not immediately available. Colorado State University said the student victim's family had been notified. The other three victims were not affiliated with CSU. Brooke Ehlers, who lives in a nearby apartment, told the Coloradan she heard gunshots and the sound of a woman screaming at around 2 a.m. Thursday. University police sent text and email alerts to students and employees at 2:35 a.m. alerting them to the incident. By 4:35 a.m., police said there was no ongoing threat. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from KDVR.com. A white former Oklahoma police officer was convicted of first-degree manslaughter Wednesday in the off-duty fatal shooting of his daughters black boyfriend after jurors in three previous trials could not decide if the ex-cop was guilty of murder. Shannon Kepler, 57, a former Tulsa police officer, was found guilty of killing Jeremy Lake, 19, in Aug. 2014. Lake was dating Keplers then 18-year-old daughter, Lisa, at the time. The jury, which deliberated for about six hours, recommended a sentence of 15 years in prison. Lakes death occurred four days before a white police officer fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. The killing sparked months of protests and became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which decried police violence against minorities and called for greater transparency from law enforcement officials. The issue of race had become an undercurrent in Keplers trial after a single black juror was seated for each of the four trials, and civil rights activists accused Keplers lawyers of purposely trying to exclude potential black candidates. They denied the accusation. PROSECUTOR GRATEFUL FOR VERDICT IN EX-COPS 4TH MURDER TRIAL Keplers attorneys said the former officer was trying to protect his daughter because she ran away from home and was living in a crime-ridden area. Defense attorney Richard OCarroll said Lisa had been in and out of a homeless shelter after her father forbade her to bring men into the home. Lisa Kepler met Lake when he was a volunteer at the homeless shelter where she was residing, the Daily Mail reported. She said her parents booted her out of the house and left her at the shelter after she was caught sneaking out of their home. Kepler told investigators Lake was armed and that he was acting in self-defense, but police did not find a weapon on Lake or at the scene. OKLAHOMA MAN KIDNAPS STEPDAUGHTER, KEEPS HER AS SEX SLAVE FOR 19 YEARS, POLICE SAY Kepler, a 24-year-police veteran, retired from the force after he was charged with the shooting. Prosecutors said Kepler watched his daughter and Lake from his car before approaching them on the street. Lakes aunt disputed Keplers self-defense account and has said her nephew was reaching out to shake Keplers hand to introduce himself when Kepler fired. Kepler told the court he called his wife, Gina Kepler, who was also an officer in Tulsa, after he fled the scene. Kepler turned himself in to police the next day with his wife. Gina Kepler was arrested for being an accessory to the crime but was never formally charged. Kepler will be formally sentenced on Nov. 20. THe Associated Press contributed to this report. A Las Vegas homeowners decision to use Halloween decorations to honor the 58 lives lost in the Oct. 1 shooting rampage near the Mandalay Bay was forced to take it down after it drew community outrage. The Nevada resident placed 58 tombstones in his front yard with a banner saying Vegas Strong hanging on a wall in the background. The tombstones simply read, R.I.P. Some had American flags sticking out of them. But the display drew criticism from neighbors, with some calling insensitive and offensive. The homeowner, who did not want to be named, said he decided to take it down after hearing peoples complaints. Hes a longtime Las Vegas resident, he knows people who were there [at the concert], he has a client whose son passed away, and he wanted to make a tribute, said Stephen Stubbs, an attorney who is serving as the his spokesman. He said his client had no ill intention and likened the tribute to the 58 white crosses that were placed near the iconic Las Vegas sign on the Strip. As soon as my client knew that anyone was offended, he immediately took it downthere was never any mal-intent, this was meant as a tribute. Personally, I dont see how it is any different from the crosses at the Las Vegas sign. The community had mixed opinions about the homeowners choice. I thought it was great, awesome, you know, representing the victims that passed away. Im very disappointed, I dont know why they had taken it down, Valarie Irvin, a resident who lives in the same neighborhood, told Fox News. But another neighbor said the display made her uncomfortable. "I was trying to understand, you know, what were the intentions, neighbor Ali Tril told KVVU. I could see by the Vegas strong sign they had no bad intentions in doing so. But I just felt so unsettled by it." Stubbs said the criticism was unfounded. This is, he said, political correctness gone wrong. A science teacher in Kansas is heading to trial after being accused of having sexual relations with a student earlier this year. Gabrielle Bauman, 24, a teacher at Hiawatha High School, was accused of having sexual relations with one of her students between November 2016 and May 2017, according to WIBW. Bauman reportedly resigned in July, just one year after she began teaching at the school. TEACHER, 35, ACCUSED OF SEX ROMP WITH TEEN BOY AT PRIVATE SCHOOL The teacher was arrested in August after the Hiawatha Police Department investigated a complaint about sexual interactions between a teacher and her student. The complaint, according to Hiawatha World Online, alleged the victim was a person 16 years or older who was a student enrolled at Hiawatha High School where the offender was employed. An arraignment hearing has been set for Nov. 27, WIBW reported. Bauman is free on a $5,000 bond. Investigators probing the disappearance of a Phoenix mom -- who's been missing since May and is feared dead -- are set to start a "very tedious" search next week of an Arizona landfill that may be the woman's final resting place. Phoenix Police said the search of the Buckeye landfill for Christine Mustafa will begin Monday. "We have various law enforcement agencies that have donated resources and supplies," Phoenix Police spokesperson Alan Pfohl told FOX10. "Coordinating that takes some time. This is going to be a very tedious search." Pfohl said officials "really think" Mustafa's body will be in the landfill, and will send 30 officers from various agencies across the state to participate in the search. Police began focusing on the landfill about a month into their investigation of Mustafa's disappearance, but officials wanted to wait until summer has passed to comb through the facility. "The searchers are going to be required to be dressed out in protective gear which does not breath very well, so we wanted to get through the summer months because doing a search like this in the summertime can be very dangerous for our searchers," Pfohl said. Mustafa was last seen leaving work at a Walgreens pharmacy on May 10, Phoenix police said. She didn't show up to work the next day. Mustafa's live-in boyfriend, Robert Interval, was arrested in early June on first-degree murder charges after a search of their home, though a body was never found, FOX10 reported. Friends and family of Mustafa have been searching on their own for months, but have come up empty. "We really need to have that proof," neighbor Diane Strand told FOX10 in June. "That's just going to finish this off, and help with any of the evidence they've already collected." An employee of a Maryland granite company who opened fire on Wednesday killing three of his co-workers and sparking a massive manhunt had a history of workplace violence, police said. Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, of Elkton, Maryland, was arrested nearly 10 hours after five people were shot, three of them fatally, at Advanced Granite Solutions. After the workplace rampage, authorities said Prince drove to Wilmington, Delaware and shot an acquaintance in the head at a used car lot. Its unclear what led to the shooting. Prince had been a machine operator at the company, which designs and installs granite countertops, for four months, owner Barak Caba told The Associated Press in a phone interview. All five of the people he shot were his co-workers. Police say Prince has a lengthy rap sheet that includes gun charges, traffic violations and issues with his probation. Hes also been accused of becoming violent with former co-workers. Prince, 37, was fired from another granite company, JPS Marble and Granite, earlier this year after he allegedly punched his work colleagues, according to court documents obtained by FOX45 Baltimore. Prince allegedly returned three times to threaten workers after he was fired, court documents show. His behavior was so scary, his former boss tried to file a restraining order, known in Maryland as a peace order, against Prince. "He came to see me, cursed and yelled at me about unemployment benefits. I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me," Prince's former boss, Philip Siason, told the court. Saison said in the court documents he "didn't want to wait" until Prince became physically violent, and noted his prior gun charge as a reason for feeling particularly afraid of the man. A Harford County District Court judge denied the order, saying the case and claims by the manager didn't meet the required burden of proof. In addition to the workplace complaint, Prince had 42 prior arrests on his record in Delaware, including 15 felony convictions, according to Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy. Tracy said the attacks were targeted and Prince knew each of his victims. "This is a person with no conscience," he said. The father of an employee at the company described Prince as a "loose cannon" to FOX45. He claims Prince gathered the employees together before opening fire. Prince appeared in court in Delaware early Thursday, where he was charged with attempted murder and three weapons charges and is being held on $2.1 million cash bond, FOX 29 reported. Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said his department is coordinating with Maryland law enforcement officials to transfer Prince back to Maryland to face charges in the workplace shooting. Two people who survived the shooting were still listed as critical Thursday morning at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, a spokeswoman told FOX45. A widow of a man killed in the rampage said Thursday in an interview with the Associated Press her husband was so concerned about the gunman's explosive temper that he brought it up in church prayer sessions. Bayarsaikhan Tudev's widow, Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren, told the AP that her husband had described Prince's volatile temper several times. "He was always angry," she said her husband told her. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An image from a Bridgewater classroom showing a young girl fitted with tethering straps held by others has sparked outrage among parents and others on social media. The image was shared several times with Boston 25 News and prompted school officials to sit down with local police, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District officials and the parents involved Thursday morning. Superintendent Derek J. Swenson said in the letter the director of education for Plimoth Plantation was delivering a lesson on 17th century attire and was demonstrating tethering straps commonly used at the time to help toddlers learn how to walk. The photo shows a white woman posing with two white children and one black child who is crouched on the floor. The girl on the floor is connected to the tethering straps. We realized without this context added to the photo that was shared by the classroom teacher it could be perceived differently, Swenson said. "It was never the intent of the lesson to demean or degrade one person or group. Read more from Fox Boston 25. Ten military families in Idaho received a surprise $1,300 grocery shopping spree after supermarket chain Albertsons and meat company Eckrich partnered up to thank the troops. The companies organized the day to thank, honor and support the military families, KIVI reported. They first went on an impromptu $300 shopping spree, and then was presented another $1,000 gift card to use in the future. David Tippery, who is a member of the U.S. Air Force, said his eyes welled up with tears when Albertsons presented him with the generous gift. "Then they surprised us with $1,000, and that actually brought a tear to my eye," Tippery told the news station. "We're just so blessed and thankful. Eckrich has donated more than $2.5 million since it began partnering with Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization supporting military families, in 2012. A New Jersey man who was charged earlier this year in the stabbing death of an 11-year-old girl now also is accused of raping her, according to a grand jury indictment. Authorities in Monmouth County said Andreas Erazo, 18, of Keansburg, faces three counts of aggravated sexual assault on Abbiegail Smith in addition to charges of murder, felony murder and weapons offenses in connection with the girls death, the Asbury Park Press reported. If convicted, Erazo could face life in prison without parole. The girl went missing July 12. Her body was found the next day on a roof outside a window of Erazos apartment, authorities have said. She died from a stab wound to the neck, an autopsy concluded. The girl, who had just completed the fifth grade, was born in Jamaica. She came to the U.S. with her mother and two brothers in 2007, settling in Keansburg in 2015. Her father and half-sister, who live in Jamaica, were unable to attend her funeral in New Jersey because they were both denied visas to enter the United States. The father had appealed to President Donald Trump for approval to attend the funeral, Fox News reported, but the request was denied. Erazo was being held without bail in Monmouth County Jail in Freehold, awaiting trial. He is expected to be arraigned Monday. Records show what items Richardson police are looking at as they continue to investigate the case of a missing girl. Search warrant returns obtained by FOX 4 indicate that between Oct. 8 and Oct.13 police took DNA swabs, grass, debris and receipts from three vehicles that belong to 3-year-old Sherin Mathews adoptive parents. They also took a flash drive, seat belt and radio equipment from the familys SUV. Items taken from the Mathews home include a vacuum and trash bags, hair fibers, blankets and sheets, shoes, multiple cellphones and laptops, financial and identification records, several wooden spoons and the familys washer and dryer. PARENTS OF MISSING TEXAS GIRL, 3, WHO WAS SENT OUTSIDE FOR NOT DRINKING MILK NOT COOPERATING WITH INVESTIGATION Attorney Bree West is a former Dallas County assistant district attorney who is not involved in the case. She says most of the items collected at the Richardson home were pretty standard. But some items that stood out to her were: a blue string, dark hair-like fibers, vacuum contents, two yellow gloves, dish scrubber inside two grocery bags and the washer and dryer. If we think it's true that he washed clothes, then what can we find in this washer? Is there going to be DNA evidence? Is there potentially going to be blood evidence? West said. If you're talking about dryers, is it possible there's going to be fibers or hairs? All of those things that may help police connect some of the dots. While they have not said where, police say there are still active searches happening on Wednesday. Theyve focused on areas south of the familys Richardson home. Just before noon on Wednesday, a family member or friend showed up at the home and stayed for about an hour before backing out of the garage and driving off. It was the first time we've seen anyone coming or going from this home in days. The vehicle he was driving was one of three belonging to the Mathews family that police seized and searched Court records show the Lexus SUV had DNA swabs, dried grass and debris taken from it. QUESTIONS SURROUND SUV TRIP AFTER 3-YEAR-OLD TEXAS GIRL VANISHED But it's another family vehicle that police have given the most attention the Acura MDX that police say was driven away from the home for one hour on the morning of Sherins disappearance. Court records show a navigation unit likely from the Acura was sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. Even if you didn't plug in an address and say make a right or a left, its still recording where you were going, West said. And it's also going to pinpoint where you stopped. Sherin has been missing for 11 days. Her father, Wesley Mathews, is charged with child endangerment. He told police he put her outside alone very early on Oct. 7 as punishment for refusing to drink her milk. He said she was gone when he returned 15 minutes later. Read more from Fox 4 Dallas. In a controversial speech at the University of Florida (UF) on Thursday, self-proclaimed alt-right leader Richard Spencer spoke about his white supremacist views, despite being booed and protested throughout. Spencer, who was scheduled to speak for two hours, ended the event early and reportedly placed blame on UF for the events disruptive crowd. Audience members loudly jeered, interrupted and chanted throughout Spencers speech at the schools Phillips Center for Performing Arts Thursday afternoon, turning variations of Go home, Spencer and F--k you, Spencer into a prolonged shouting match. "What are you trying to achieve then?" Spencer asked in response to those protesting. "You all have an amazing opportunity to be a part of the most important free speech event perhaps in our lifetime. This is when the rubber hits the road with the question of the First Amendment." WHAT IF UNREPENTANT RACIST RICHARD SPENCER GAVE A SPEECH AND NOBODY CAME? While protesters tried to drown Spencer out with chants of "Say it loud, say it clear, Nazis are not welcome here!" his supporters, according to the Miami Herald, responded by shouting: You will not replace us! That phrase was chanted among white supremacists at Spencers Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August, which left 32-year-old Heather Heyer dead. The New York Post reported that when Spencer tried to talk about Heyer Thursday, the audience shouted, Its your fault! You think that you shut me down. Well you didnt. You failed at your own game...the world is going to have a very different impression of the University of Florida. The world is not gonna be proud of you, Spencer told the crowd as he departed, according to the Miami Herald. While about 700 tickets were available for Thursdays event, according to the Los Angeles Times, it was not immediately clear how many people were in attendance. Protests outside the event were ongoing after Spencer left the campus. Earlier in the day police arrested 28-year-old Sean Brijmohan, who was allegedly hired as an armed security guard for a media group, for carrying a firearm on school property. MICHIGAN STATE SUED AFTER REJECTING SPEECH SPACE FOR WHITE NATIONALIST RICHARD SPENCER Spencers appearance in Gainesville sparked controversy and preparation days earlier when Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Floridas Alachua County ahead of his speech. Scott said a threat of potential emergency is imminent in Alachua County, where UFs Gainesville campus is located. UF President W. Kent Fuchs said Wednesday that while he believes in free speech, Spencer is hijacking public universities, which are compelled by the First Amendment to provide a speaking platform and taxpayers are the ones getting hit with the unfair burden of paying the security fees. Fuchs said a day before the speech that the school expected to spend around $600,000 for security. Spencer paid $10,564 to rent space at UF for the event. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Richard Spencer, white nationalist and self-described leader of the alt-right movement, gave an abbreviated speech at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday afternoon. In response to the event, which took place at the universitys Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, groups from around the state rallied to protest Spencer. Many audience members booed Spencer and shouted over his speech. Protestors chanted phrases like "Go home, Spencer!" and "Say it loud, say it clear, Nazis are not welcome here!" "What are you trying to achieve then?" Spencer asked the crowd, according to ABC News. "You all have an amazing opportunity to be a part of the most important free speech event perhaps in our lifetime. This is when the rubber hits the road with the question of the First Amendment." Amid concerns that the protests could turn violent, Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., signed an executive order on Monday to declare Alachua County, where both Gainesville and the university are located, in an imminent threat of potential emergency. There was also a provision to activate the National Guard, if needed. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., via Twitter asked Gator Nation to embarrass [Spencer] by denying him the attention he craves ahead of the speech. More than 500 campus police -- the most in the university's history -- were on site during the event, University of Florida President W. Kent Fuchs told Fox News. The Florida Highway Patrol also monitored the event, as did police from other college campuses in the state, he said. Overall, the university spent more than $500,000 to increase security. Ahead of Spencer's speech, Fuchs was unclear about the exact number of people who were planning to either attend or protest the event, but said that those who show up in favor of Spencer should be moderate in number. Fuchs encouraged anyone affiliated with the university to stay away from the event, warning that protesting would draw attention to him [Spencer] and create what he wants, he said. As a public institution, the university cannot deny Spencer from renting a facility on the campus to host his event, as that would violate his First Amendment right to free speech. However, Fuchs did emphasize Thursday that no one invited him, and the University of Florida is not sponsoring or hosting him. He has given us [the university] a platform as well -- we can talk to the media about the value of inclusion at our school, Fuchs added. We understand what he represents and how it goes against our values. Who is Richard Spencer? Spencer, who said his speech was intended to wake up white Americans and white people around the world, leads the National Policy Institute (NPI), a think tank located in Virginia that was founded in 2005. The think tank promotes an alternative right agenda. It also publishes a journal called Radix, which promotes white culture and identity, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Spencer, 39, became president of the NPI in 2011 after its founder, Louis R. Andrews, passed away, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Spencer is also the American editor of AltRight.com, a site he launched in early 2017 that promotes an alt-right agenda. RICHARD SPENCER THREATENS TO SUE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Spencer, who grew up in Dallas, has a bachelors degree from the University of Virginia and a masters degree in humanities from the University of Chicago. He later dropped out of a Ph.D. program at Duke University. His education background helps him to promote his image-conscious strategy that appeals to educated, middle-class whites, according to the SPLC. Why is he controversial? There are numerous controversies surrounding Spencer. Spencers main goal as a leader of the alt-right is to create an all-white America -- something he has called a peaceful ethnic cleansing. Critics have called Spencer an anti-Semite and a racist, among other terms. According to the Washington Post, in a 2013 speech Spencer said we need an ethno-state so our people can 'come home again,' can live amongst family and feel safe and secure. Spencer has rejected being labeled a Nazi, racist or white supremacist -- telling the Washington Post in 2016 that he prefers to be called an identitarian. In the same interview with the newspaper, Spencer was asked about his plans to create an ethno-state, a way of thinking that has been paralleled to Adolf Hitler. Look, maybe it will be horribly bloody and terrible, he said at the time. Thats a possibility with everything. The Anti-Defamation League has called Spencer a "symbol of the new white supremacy." Spencer has rejected conservatism and has instead envisioned a new right that embraces a white racial consciousness. CHARLOTTESVILLE WHITE NATIONALIST RALLY BLAMED FOR 3 DEATHS, DOZENS OF INJURIES Spencer gained media attention after a 2016 video of him saluting nearly 200 attendees at the National Policy Institute's annual conference went viral. In the video, Spencer can be heard saying Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory! Many attendees can be seen giving Spencer the Nazi salute in return. Spencer, whose speeches at Texas A&M and Auburn University have sparked protests, also participated in a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August to protest the citys removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. The event, which was met by counter-protesters, turned violent when a white nationalist protester drove a car into the crowd and killed one woman. Spencer, along with other white nationalists, returned to Charlottesville earlier in October to hold a torch-lit rally to once again protest the statues removal. A substitute teacher in Texas was banned from an elementary school after she reportedly put duct tape over the mouths of some students. During class on Thursday at Maxdale Elementary School in Killeen, the substitute allegedly duct-taped 10 students mouths and told three others to do it themselves, according to KXXV. There are 17 students in the class in total. Carmello Brooks, a fifth grader at the school, was one of the students affected, according to the Killeen Daily Herald. The boys mother said after her son ripped the tape off his mouth, the teacher allegedly put another strip back on. Her son also told her that the students sat with tape over their mouths for at least 15 minutes. MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL APOLOGIZES FOR IMAGE OF BLACK GIRL IN 17TH CENTURY TODDLER LEASH All 13 students involved were taken to the nurses office after administrators learned of the incident, KWTX reported. They were all able to resume class later. Terry Abbott, the school district spokesman, said the substitute was removed from the classroom and banned from school grounds as a result of this outrageous and unconscionable behavior. Child Protective Services was reportedly notified and the Killeen Independent School District is working with local authorities in their investigation. In a press release to parents, the school and the district said they were deeply saddened by this event and promised to make sure every child at campus is absolutely safe every day, the Herald reported. A Georgia teacher -- who was caught on video berating two students who wore pro-Trump Make America Great Again T-shirts in her classroom -- has submitted her resignation, claiming she received threats on her life. Lyn Orletsky, a math teacher at River Ridge High School in Woodstock, was placed on paid leave by the school in mid-September after a video surfaced showing her comparing the shirts slogan, made popular by President Trump, to a swastika. Orletsky also asked the students wearing the MAGA shirts to leave her classroom. After attacks on my character and threats on my life, I have made the decision to resign from my teaching position at River Ridge High School, she said in a statement Wednesday obtained by FOX5 Atlanta. While in hindsight I would have handled the situation differently, the outcry over this incident has been disproportionate to the event itself. When asked how she would have reacted to students wearing pro-Hillary Clinton Im With Her shirts, Orletsky told the station the incident had nothing to do with politics. The Cherokee County School Board will consider her resignation at a meeting Thursday. Orletsky told FOX5 Atlanta she's also received support after the episode, which took place soon after the violence in Charlottesville in August. But River Ridge moved quickly to remove Orletsky from the classroom in September. Her actions were wrong, as the Make America Great Again shirts worn by the students are not a violation of our school district dress code, Cherokee County Schools spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said at the time. The district also said the students did nothing wrong and said Orletsky was no longer allowed to teach at the school, effective immediately. A substitute teacher has been assigned to the classroom as officials search for a permanent replacement. A 14-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero after he defended his family by stabbing and killing one of two burglars who broke into his Philadelphia home Tuesday night. Philadelphia police said the teenager stabbed one of the home invaders in the back, and the man then fled the house with the knife still stuck in his body -- before collapsing a half block away and dying. "I thought they had guns. It was just crazy. It was like a movie," said Candace Johnson, the boy's mother, in an exclusive interview with FOX29. "I was so scared. I've never been through anything like that in my life." The teen, Quadir Boyer, said he first tried to get his sister out of the house before he went back inside to help his mom. "I saw them fighting with my mom's boyfriend. I had to like, had to stab him," Boyer said. "My sister was frozen at the door, so I had to get her outside the house." POSTMAN ACCUSED OF STEALING PILLS FROM MAIL GETS PROBATION "It took guts. I mean, I couldn't do it. I couldn't have done it." Candace Johnson Boyer said he heard one of the suspects yelling "he's going to kill you" as he charged forward to "protect my family." The pair fled the home after Boyer stabbed one of them. Police identified the dead man as Craig Jones, 42, who had 20 prior arrests, according to FOX 29. Authorities believe Jones and the other suspect followed Johnson's boyfriend home from a bar and forced their way in while trying to rob him. Police said no charges are expected to be filed against Boyer, and they are still searching for a second suspect. Johnson sustained a foot injury in the struggle, but she was not seriously injured. She said her son's actions "took guts." "Very proud of him, very much so," she told FOX 29. "It took guts. I mean, I couldn't do it. I couldn't have done it." Threat levels in the U.S. are extremely high, as intelligence indicates the Islamic State group and other terror groups are using small-scale plots to build toward another 9/11-style attack, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke warned. The terrorist organizations, be it ISIS or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11, Duke said Tuesday, speaking at the U.S. Embassy in London, Britain's Express reported. They want to take down aircraft. The intelligence is clear on that. Their ultimate goal is creating terror, and a van attack in London, as well as sporadic knife attacks, accomplish just that, while never giving up on a major aviation plot, Duke added. Duke became acting head of DHS in July, when Gen. John Kelly left the position to become White House chief of staff. President Donald Trump recently nominated Kirstjen Nielsen to lead DHS, but the appointment awaits U.S. Senate confirmation. On Tuesday, Duke underscored the importance of tightening security around the world, with laptops posing one of many threats to airline industry. She also called upon technology leaders to help combat ISIS propaganda spread on the Internet, as home-grown terrorists have increased in the United States. Terrorists are strong, they are adaptable and the terrorist threat is the highest it has been since pre-9/11. We have got to have every tool thats possible, she added. Click here to read more from the Express. Austin Community College created a comprehensive Equity Report Card for faculty and staff to self-assess how inclusive they are after several internal surveys indicated the school "continues to struggle" supporting minority students. ACCs Office of Equity and Inclusion developed the report card with the goal of equity-mindedness, which requires that practitioners are race-conscious and aware of the historical and social context of exclusionary practices in American higher education. Dr. Molly Beth Malcolm, ACC Executive Vice President of Campus Operations and Public Affairs, told Fox News in an email that the school is trying to "improve outcomes." We recognize that many community college students are the first in their family to attend college, Malcom wrote. ACC created the Office of Equity and Inclusion which developed the report card to look at programs and services in an effort to improve outcomes for all students. The term equity is defined in the report card as "practices and policies...designed to accommodate differences in the contexts of students learning not to treat all students the same. Equity requires questioning assumptions and must be both centralized and institutionalized. The report card states equity requires the examination and transformation of hearts, minds and conscious and unconscious beliefs in order to better serve historically underserved students and communities. ACC undertook the effort after several surveys showed the school continues to struggle to support African American, Latinx/Hispanic and Native American students as well as students re-entering from incarceration and women who are under-resourced and students who identify as LGBTQ+. ACC said it hoped the implementation of the report moves toward a focus on systemic change to foster a conscious climate of academic rigor, high expectations, inclusion and improved outcomes for underserved student groups and their communities. The report card has five levels of evaluation: exemplar, highly proficient, progressing, insufficient and unsatisfactory. Each grade has a list of criteria with descriptions that help determine whether or not a department is meeting the standard set by the report card, which was first covered by Campus Reform. For example, in the highest grade level for exemplar, the criteria include: Allocate and provide funding for anti-racist and anti-bias training & professional development All stakeholder groups (e.g., Black students, LGBTQ+, etc.) to be led by stakeholders from the communities they represent or identify with (i.e., Black student-focused work is chaired by Black stakeholders of the communityand students who identify as LGBTQ+ are led by LGBTQ+ community members) Engage Communities of Color and White communities in anti-racist and anti-bias training with ACC stakeholders Require anti-racist and anti-bias cultural proficiency & LGBTQ+ ally training for all new hires & 100% of current staff Implement policies that reflect an understanding of the impact of dominant cultural norms & historical contexts on policies, practices & processes (including budget development, marketing, development, fundraising, planning and all operations) To get a failing grade of unsatisfactory, a department, would be assessed with some of the following points: Race- and culture- blind Denial of institutional impact on culture and student outcomes Failure to recognize and/or implement policies and practices informed by evidence, data, and research Refusal to examine the impact of dominant culture norms on institutional outcomes and practices Malcolm said the report card is designed to support the college's core goals. The colleges mission is to produce a skilled workforce for high-demand jobs," Malcom said, "and provide all students the opportunity to achieve their educational goals and become productive members of the community. Eleven girls died. Some alone, others in pairs. Decades have passed without answers their murders are in cold case files in police departments in Galveston, Brazoria and Harris counties in Texas Enter Edward Howard Bell, a convicted killer serving a 70-year prison term for a murder of a Marine who tried to stop him when he exposed himself to a group of young girls. Bell, who is up for parole this fall, claims to have killed the girls who were killed in the 1970s in different areas of Texas -- referring to them in an interview with the Houston Chronicle in 2011 as the 11 that went to heaven. Now, an A&E series will re-examine the case. The series will include interviews with Chronicle reporter Lisa Olsen, who broke the story, as well as the police detective, Fred Paige, now retired, who worked on the case. In a description of the series, A&E says: Olsen and Paige must try to piece together evidence that demonstrates a definitive link between the convicted killer and girlsbefore he has the possibility to walk free. Bell has been inconsistent over the years, denying the written confession when interviewed by law enforcement officials and then saying that he would provide details if he were to get immunity from prosecution, according to the Chronicle. "The bottom line is Ed Bell has said these things (before). Is it fodder? I don't know. I've never been able to prove anything he has said," said then-Capt. Chris Kincheloe of the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office to the Chronicle. Bell eluded police for about 20 years after he was released on bail following the murder of the Marine, Larry Dickens. He was arrested at a yacht club in Panama in 1992. Bell reportedly said in his confession that he killed several of the victims in pairs. His letter was not shared with a grand jury. Former prosecutor Kurt Sistrunk told the Chronicle, "I didn't believe we had sufficient evidence that we could proceed to grand jury with, and without getting into specifics, that's the decision that had to be made, no matter the temptations to proceed otherwise ... It wasn't for a lack of effort." Since the Chronicle story about Bells confession, relatives of the victims have expressed confusion, and some doubt. "It makes it hard that we don't know if this Bell guy is a nut or if he's telling the truth," said Dotti Walker, the aunt of one victims, Sharon Shaw. "As bad and as mean as he is, he could be telling the truth because of his conscience ... Not knowing is heartbreaking." Paige believes Bell is guilty. Bell had a history of arrests for exposing himself to young girls. Several times, he stayed at psychiatric institutions, at times trying to lure young female patients he met at them. He said that he had committed crimes after being brainwashed to be violent by his father, among others. The series is scheduled to air on A&E beginning Thursday at 8 p.m., with back-to-back hour-long episodes. The next four parts are planned for 9 p.m. on subsequent Thursdays, starting Oct. 26. A 3-year-old boy shot a man to death Tuesday after he was given a gun and ordered to chase the victim around the yard of a home, South Carolina cops said. Albert Davis, 31, was charged with murder in the death of Timothy Johnson, 24, after officials say Davis gave the murder weapon to the toddler, Aiken County Sheriff's Sgt. Stephen Shunn said. Davis was also charged with possession of a stolen handgun and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, authorities said. Shunn told the Associated Press that deputies were still investigating why Davis gave the child the gun and whether Davis was angry at Johnson. It was not immediately clear what the relationship was between Davis and the toddler. The Aiken Standard reported that the ATF RAGE Task force and the S.C. Department of Social Service were assisting in the investigation. Neither court nor jail records indicated whether Davis has an attorney. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A transgender Wyoming woman was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl inside a bathroom. Michelle Martinez, who was known as Miguel Martinez before identifying as female, was found guilty of first-degree and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and could face up to 70 years in prison. The Billings Gazette reports Martinez, who is a family friend, invited the girl into the bathroom of a home on March 23, and touched her breasts and genitalia before penetrating her. The girl told her mother immediately after the assault, who then reported it to Casper Police. After the attack, the girl told police "it hurt inside, according to the Casper Star Tribune. Nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center performed a sexual assault exam on the minor and found redness and abrasions around the girls genitalia. When police initially questioned Martinez about the assault, she became noticeably hostile and defensive and said the girl was talking crap before denying being a child molester. Martinez also called the accusations a publicity stunt, the Tribune reported. Martinez pleaded not guilty on both counts. A Michigan school district put students and parents on alert Thursday after police received multiple reports of an unmarked school bus trying to pick up students. The superintendent of the Van Buren Public Schools district in Ypsilanti Township, outside of Ann Arbor, said the unmarked yellow bus sped off after a parent who was with a group of students ordered them not to get on board Thursday morning, FOX2 reported. "Do not allow your students to approach any bus not clearly marked with Van Buren Public Schools on it," a statement on the districts website said. The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office said the suspicious bus appeared to have the lettering on its side painted over. It could just be the district made a poor choice to put a bus like that out there, or maybe a charter school, is from a smaller or private school or something like that," Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office told the station. "We really just don't know at this point and we're just trying to figure out what it is - is it a harmless mistake? Or something more serious?" Police in nearby Van Buren Township and that school district were notified of the situation. A fire has nearly destroyed a luxury teakwood hotel popular with foreigners in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon. A body bag was being carried out of the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel on Thursday morning and firefighters said the victim was male. It was unclear if others were killed or injured. Photos and video posted online show the spectacular blaze racing through the building early Thursday morning. Smoke was still rising from the remains of the lakeside hotel hours after daybreak, and dozens of firefighters were at the site. Firefighter Kyaw Kyaw said the blaze started about 3 a.m. and one firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation. The teak upper floors of the hotel were destroyed and the fire also appeared to have swept through the cement ground and first floors. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The Philippine military says a top Malaysian militant is believed to be among 13 Islamic State group-linked fighters killed overnight in clashes in the southern city of Marawi. Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Thursday that officials were awaiting the recovery of the body to get full confirmation. Padilla said six soldiers were slightly wounded and two civilian hostages a mother and her teenage daughter were rescued Thursday morning. Military progress in retaking the battle-scarred city has sparked hopes that hundreds of thousands of displaced residents could return home nearly five months after the militants began their siege. On Monday, defense officials said two of the last leaders of the siege most-wanted terror suspect Isnilon Hapilon and Omarkhayam Maute were killed in a gunbattle. Cambridge University is being slammed by several academics after it was revealed students were given trigger warnings about an upcoming lecture on Shakespeare, amid concerns from faculty the students could become distressed. Undergraduates were advised in a Notes on Lectures document circulated to students that a potentially triggering lecture on Shakespeares "Titus Andronicus" and "The Comedy of Errors" would include discussions of sexual violence and sexual assault, The Telegraph reported Wednesday. If a student of English Literature doesnt know that 'Titus Andronicus' contains scenes of violence they shouldnt be on the course, David Crilly, artistic director at The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, told the newspaper. This degree of sensitivity will inevitably curtail academic freedom. If the academic staff are concerned they might say something students find uncomfortable they will avoid doing it. The University said the schools English faculty do not have a set policy on the warnings, but a trigger warning is entirely at the lecturers own discretion and is in no way indicative of a Faculty wide policy. Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge, also criticized the move, saying it is likely to be motivated by a genuine wish not to risk upsetting students. But she added school officials are caving to a trend to appease "hyper-sensitive" undergrads, The Telegraph reported. For instance, the University of Glasgow issued warnings to theology students earlier this year they may see distressing images of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. University of Oxford law lecturers also reportedly were instructed to warn students before talking about cases involving violence and death, and to allow students worried about the content to leave the classroom, according to The Telegraph. Catalonian separatists won a razor-thin majority on Thursday, with the three separatist parties winning a total of 70 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. But the snap regional election failed to clarify the way forward, as parties seeking Catalonia's independence will be a majority in the new parliament but a pro-union party got the most votes. Still, ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont celebrated the results from Belgium on Thursday -- the same country he sought refuge in after Spain issued European arrest warrants for him and other separatists in November. Puigdemont also said that he's ready to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in any location but Spain, because that's where he's facing arrest. In addition, Puigdemont also said he wants guarantees to return to Catalonia and be reinstated as the region's leader. In response, Rajoy said he expects a "new era based on dialogue" will begin in Catalonia following the snap election, adding that he will talk with the region's new leaders as long as they don't violate Spain's Constitution. The election comes after the Spanish government took control of Catalonia when separatist lawmakers, led by Puigdemont, declared independence in October. Spain invoked its never-before used constitutional amendment to take control of the region, giving it the ability to sack Puigdemont and his cabinet as well as authorize the government to curtail the regions parliamentary powers. Spain's Constitutional Court officially annulled the Catalan parliaments independence vote in November. European neighbors including Italy, France and Germany have condemned the independence declaration and rallied behind Spain. In light of the election, here's what you need to know. What is Catalonia? Located in the northeast region of Spain, Catalonia is largely independent with its own culture and language. Its one of the richest and most industrialized areas of the country with a heavy emphasis on manufacturing, according to the BBC. The region, which includes Barcelona, is home to about 7.5 million people. Valuing its autonomy, Catalonia has its own parliament and executive, called Generalitat in its language. Why do they want independence? Because of its own cultural identity, those in favor of Catalan independence have pushed for the region to become separate from Spain. Supporters also believe that they have given more to the Spanish government than they have gotten back. The push for independence raises questions of the future of democracy and democratic rule, Pamela Radcliff, a University of California, San Diego professor and modern Spain historian, told Fox News. Whats being contested between Spain and Catalonia, one of the things is different visions of what defending democracy looks like. SOME SEPARATIST-MINDED CATALANS URGE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Radcliff said that its very possible that neither side has much incentive to compromise. The region held a referendum on Oct. 1. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets of Barcelona around the Catalan regional government palace to celebrate the independence vote. They chanted for the Spanish flag to be removed as live music played. The regions parliament voted to establish an independent Catalonia with 70 votes in favor of independence, 10 votes against and two blank ballots. Opposition leaders had left the chambers in protest before the vote. How did the Oct. 1 vote go? Catalonias parliament voted for independence after an Oct. 1 referendum with about 90 percent of the 2.3 million people who voted choosing independence, according to Catalan officials. However, fewer than half of the eligible voters participated in the highly contested referendum. About 900 people were treated for injuries after voting turned violent when Catalan civilians and Spanish police clashed. Andrew Dowling, an expert in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales, said that an independence declaration by the Catalan parliament is symbolic without border and institutional control and no international support. PRO-INDEPENDENCE CATALANS: 'I'VE NEVER FELT SPANISH' The declaration "will see the fracture between hardliners and the pragmatic people in Catalonia who are already seeing an economic fallout," Dowling told The Associated Press. But Spains Constitutional Court officially annulled the Catalan independence vote on Nov. 8. What has been Spains response? Spain's top court declared the Oct. 1 independence referendum illegal, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had warned that the governments first move will be to remove Puigdemont from power when the Senate granted him the special powers under Article 155. Rajoy said what is happening in Catalonia is a clear violation of the laws, of democracy, of the rights of all, and that has consequences. Hundreds of thousands of anti-independence protesters demonstrated in the streets of Barcelona and called for the Catalonia region to remain a part of Spain. Rajoy reportedly refused help from outside civil-society groups and lawyers to mediate negotiations between the two factions. He has also declined to engage in talks with Catalan leaders. There is no possible mediation between democratic law and disobedience and unlawfulness, Rajoy said. What is Article 155? Spain invoked a clause of its constitution after Catalonia forged ahead with its plans to secede from the country that would take away the regions autonomy. Catalonia's refusal to backtrack from its independence threats triggered Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, the government said, which allows central authorities to take over control of any of the countrys 17 regions. Its a provision that hasnt been used in the four decades since democracy was restored in the European nation. OUSTED CATALAN LEADER SAYS HE IS NOT SEEKING POLITICAL ASYLUM, SUPPORTS SNAP ELECTION An English translation of the constitution states that if an autonomous community breaks the law or disregards the constitution, the Spanish government can after following certain procedures take the measures necessary in order to compel the [community] forcibly to meet said obligations, or in order to protect [Spains] general interests. Rajoy's cabinet met in a special meeting to approve measures to take direct control of the Catalan region under Article 155. The Senate gave him the power to do so. The Associated Press contributed to this report. As North Korean despot Kim Jong Un threatens nearly every day to strike Japan with nuclear weapons and "sink" the nation, Japanese residents are reading comic book-style guides on how to survive a potential attack from Pyongyang. Officials from Hokkaidos prefectural government, the northernmost island of Japan, published the Manga comic, titled In case a missile flies over, on its official website showing what residents should do when they hear the J-alert alarm, which was activated both times North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile over the island. Cover your head, a blurb in the comic states. The detailed images illustrate different scenarios including what to do if North Korea strikes while residents are in a classroom, at home, in an open field, out at sea or driving a car. Children are depicted hiding under desks, women crouching down with cushions on their heads, and a farmer ducking in a field. The comic, drawn by artist Manabu Yamamoto, is set to be distributed electronically to schools and other public buildings, a Hokkaido official told Channel News Asia. "We decided to release the manga after hearing from our residents that the current manual is hard to understand, the official said. Japan has been the subject of threats by the volatile regime, which lobbed its ICBMs over Hokkaido on Aug. 29 and Sept. 15, prompting the government to issue a country-wide alert. The missiles flew too high for any of the residents on the island to see, but the message was clear. When its launched, it could land here just moments later, Mitsuyo Kawamura, a seaweed farmer on Hokkaido, told Reuters. Theres nowhere to hide. She added: Now when I hear a loud sound, I look outside, I look out at the ocean. I feel anxious, like I never know when it will come again. North Korea recently vowed to bring nuclear clouds to Japan and called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a headless chicken on a suicidal deed to end the regimes nuclear program. No one knows when the touch-and-go situation will lead to a nuclear war, but if so, the Japanese archipelago will be engulfed in flames in a moment. This is too self-evident, a statement issued by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said. But Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stood firm against Kims threats, aligning with President Trump who said all options [are] on the table in regards to the nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula. Abe doubled down on Trump's words during a campaign rally and said the time for dialogue is over. They promised in 1994 and again in 2005 that they would abandon their nuclear program," Abe said. "But they have broken their word and developed nuclear devices and missiles. Were not going to be deceived anymore. Senior officials from the U.S., South Korea and Japan met in Seoul on Wednesday to continue working on a diplomatic solution on North Korea. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, however, also stressed the countries are prepared to respond to any eventuality given by Kims unpredictable nature. Our objective is, throughout that campaign of pressure, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table without preconditions, so that we can achieve our objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," Sullivan said at a news conference after the meeting. "Diplomacy is our primary objective and primary means to addressing the threat posed by North Korea. But we need to be prepared to respond to any eventuality given the unpredictable nature of the regime in Pyongyang. The Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local): 3 p.m. A state-linked Saudi news site says a high-level Saudi official is in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which was recently retaken from the Islamic State group, to discuss his country's role in reconstruction efforts. Okaz quoted unnamed Saudi sources on Thursday as saying that Thamer al-Sabhan is in Raqqa to meet with members of the city's civil council to discuss Saudi Arabia's "prominent role in reconstruction." Okaz says the United Arab Emirates will also play a role in rebuilding. The report included an image of al-Sabhan apparently in Raqqa with Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy for the coalition battling the IS group, of which the kingdom is a member. Al-Sabhan is minister of state for Arab Affairs. He was previously the ambassador to Iraq, but left amid threats from Iranian-backed militias. ___ 1 p.m. A Kurdish female militia that took part in freeing the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State group says it will continue the fight to liberate women living under the extremist group's brutal rule. Nisreen Abdullah of the Women's Protection Units, or YPJ, read a statement Thursday in Raqqa's Paradise Square, where IS fighters once carried out their public killings. She says the all-women force lost 30 members in the four-month battle. Under Islamic State rule, women were forced to wear all-encompassing veils and could be stoned to death for adultery. Hundreds of women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi minority were captured and forced into sexual slavery. Abdullah says the YPJ helped liberate dozens of Yazidi women. The ambush in Niger earlier this month that left four U.S. troops dead has been the subject of immense speculation, not only concerning President Trumps public response to the tragedy but also about what actually happened on the ground that day. Asked by Fox News on Capitol Hill if the administration has been forthcoming about the attack, Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., replied, of course not and added, it may require a subpoena. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday that the attack is under investigation, and the Pentagon has dispatched a general officer to Niger to probe what happened. While details are elusive, Fox News has compiled the following timeline of the ambush and its aftermath, which all started with a routine mission to meet village elders: A dozen U.S. Army soldiers, mostly Green Berets, along with 30 Nigeriens, traveled 125 miles north from their base at Nigers capital, Niamey, in unarmored trucks on a routine mission and to meet with local village elders in Tonga Tonga, near the border with Mali, on Oct. 4. After the meeting with the village elders ended around dusk local time, the U.S.-led patrol was ambushed by roughly 50 militants from a new ISIS-affiliated group, Islamic State of the Sahel. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, however, and a leading terrorist group in the region, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has not been ruled out. Islamic State of the Sahels leader, Adnan Abu Walid, is thought to have been holding an American aid worker from Niger hostage for a year. A senior defense official told Fox News the U.S. troops were fired on once they were already in their vehicles. The vehicles then scrambled to get off the X -- escaping the ambush site using evasive driving maneuvers -- and a gunfight ensued. At about 5 p.m. ET the Pentagon alerted the White House that U.S. troops had been attacked in Niger. Later that night, U.S. Africa Command confirmed in a statement that a joint U.S. and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger. We are working to confirm details on the incident and will have more information as soon as we can confirm facts on the ground." Two U.S. Army Green Berets and two other soldiers were killed and two other Green Berets wounded. One U.S. Army soldier attached to 3rd Special Forces Group, Sgt. La David Johnson, had vanished and it was feared he had been taken hostage by the terrorist group until his body was discovered roughly 48 hours later, after an intensive search using both drones and U.S. special operations soldiers on the ground, a U.S. official debriefed on the incident told Fox News. At the time of the attack, the Pentagon asked Fox News not to report a U.S. soldier was missing because U.S. special operations forces were headed to Niger for a possible rescue mission. Fox News is told that during the search for Johnson, there always were either French, Nigerien or U.S. troops on the ground looking. Special Operators were rushed to the scene as soon as it was known that a soldier was missing. There was no U.S. drone overhead when the joint U.S.-Nigerien patrol was attacked because the patrol did not anticipate making contact with an enemy force. The patrol that was attacked last week had actually done 29 patrols without contact over the previous six months or so; no indication that this was going to occur. I would say that what was actually very positive about it was the fact that they were able to have close-air support overhead, about 30 minutes after first contact, which is pretty impressive, the Director of the Pentagons Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., told reporters Oct. 12. Two French Mirage fighter jets showed up overhead during the attack, but did not open fire on the militants. The jets, however, flew low enough to scatter the group. The government of Niger does not allow armed drone flights overhead, despite the U.S. military operating two drone bases and roughly 800 American troops in the land-locked West African nation, which is about twice the size of Texas in area. Two French Gazelle helicopters arrived a short time after enemy forces scattered and one of them retrieved two wounded Green Berets and flew them back to the capital for treatment. A short time later, a private U.S. contracted helicopter recovered the bodies of the three Green Berets killed in the attack, a U.S. official told Fox News. U.S. Africa Command confirmed the detail. Berry Aviation was on alert during the incident in Niger and conducted casualty evacuation and transport for U.S. and partner forces, said Robyn Mack, a spokesperson. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. There were multiple things to blame for the October ambush in Niger that left multiple U.S. service members dead, including insufficient training and preparation as well as the teams deliberate decision to go after a high-level Islamic State group insurgent without proper command approval, the Pentagon has said. Four U.S. soldiers were killed in October 2017 by Islamic militants who attacked their convoy in Africa with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns. The body of one soldier was not found for two days. The Pentagons report, released on May 10, took three months to complete, spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement. Defense Secretary James Mattis found institutional and organizational issues, not isolated to this event that must be addressed immediately by the Department of Defense, she said. However, no amount of investigation or corrective action will ease the agonizing grief that the families of our fallen must feel, White said. The Department hopes that the families will take pride and comfort in knowing as this investigation makes clear that their loved ones fought and died bravely in defense of our Nation, its people and the values we hold dear. From President Donald Trumps calls to the families of the deceased to the White Houses delayed response to the ambush, details about the attack have drawn intense scrutiny and criticism. Read on for a look at what happened in Niger. Who were the Americans killed? Sgt. La David Johnson, 25; Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, 35; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson 39; and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, 29, were killed in the attack. The bodies of some of the Americans killed were recovered by a U.S.-contracted helicopter, a U.S. official previously told Fox News. Sgt. Johnson's body wasn't found until two days after the attack as he and some Nigerien soldiers were separated from the others during the battle, the Pentagon said. According to the report, the four killed gave their last full measure of devotion to our country and died with honor while actively engaging the enemy. It said none were captured alive by the enemy and all died immediately or quickly from their wounds. What did the Pentagon say happened? The Pentagons summary lays out a confusing chain of events that unfolded on Oct. 3-4, ending in a lengthy, brutal firefight as 46 U.S. and Nigerien forces battled for their lives against more than 100 enemy fighters. Amid the chaos, the report identified repeated acts of bravery as the outnumbered and outgunned soldiers risked their lives to protect and rescue each other during the more than hour-long assault. Military officials found that the U.S. forces didnt have time to train together before they deployed and did not do pre-mission battle drills with their Nigerien partners. And the report found that there was a lack of attention to detail and lax communication about missions that led to a general lack of situational awareness and command oversight at every echelon. According to the report, the Army Special Forces team left their camp on Oct. 3 to go after an Islamic State leader who was suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker. But the team leader and his immediate supervisor submitted a different mission to the higher command, saying they were going out just to meet tribal leaders. That less-risky mission was approved, and when the team got to the location, the insurgent wasnt there. Senior commanders, unaware of the teams earlier actions, then ordered the troops to serve as backup for a second teams raid, also targeting the leader. That mission was aborted, however, when weather grounded the second team. The original group was then ordered to another location to collect intelligence on the insurgent, which they did without problems. It was on their way back to the home base when they stopped for water at the village of Tongo Tongo, about 120 miles north of Nigers capital. There, the group was ambushed by Islamic State-linked militants armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and small firearms. The Pentagon said it could not conclude that the village willingly (and without duress) aided and supported the militants in the attack. What else should you know? The report included multiple recommendations to improve mission planning and approval procedures, re-evaluate equipment and weapons requirements and review training that U.S. commandos conduct with partner forces. Mattis has directed Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, to take immediate steps to address shortfalls and has given senior leaders four months to complete a review and lay out a plan for additional changes. Why were troops in Niger? U.S. forces have been in Niger for more than 20 years and a joint special operations task force was created by the U.S. in 2008. In 2011, U.S. and French forces set up a counterterrorism force in the country, led by the French, with 4,000 troops and 35,000 Nigerien troops. There were 800 U.S. troops in Niger and 6,000 U.S. troops within 53 countries in Africa, Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last year. But the presence of American soldiers in Niger reignited a debate about the Authorization for Use of Military Force a public law enacted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At issue is whether the law gives the president the authority to take action against all terrorist organizations, not just Al Qaeda and the Taliban. What was the White House's response? The White House has been widely criticized for its response to the attack especially in the delay in acknowledging the ambush. President Trump, too, was criticized for his public feud with a Democratic congresswoman and Sgt. La David Johnsons widow. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., accused Trump of making insensitive remarks to Myeshia Johnson. Trump has denied Wilsons allegations, but the mother of the deceased soldier has backed up Wilsons claims. White House chief of staff John Kelly said he was "heartbroken" that Wilson used the conversation she overheard to attack Trump. Kelly, whose Marine son died in Afghanistan, added that the president did the best he could in the situation. Because of the White Houses response to the attack, its been called the presidents Benghazi by some Democrats, referencing the controversial attack in 2012 that left four American service members dead. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Lawmakers in the Canadian province of Quebec adopted a religious neutrality law Wednesday that would require citizens to uncover their faces during state services. But critics say the bill unfairly targets Muslim women. The law -- said to be the first of its kind in North America -- calls for a ban on any face coverings for people giving or receiving a service from the state and it also proposes guidelines on how authorities should go about making accommodations based on religious beliefs. The Quebec National Assembly passed Bill 62 in a 66-to-51 vote. Under the law, Muslim women in the province will have to remove their face coverings when riding buses and subways or borrowing a book from a library, the Globe and Mail reported. "To take public transit, you have to have your face uncovered. All through the ride," Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee said, according to the newspaper. The two main opposition parties in Quebec opposed the bill, arguing it doesnt go far enough to restrict noticeable symbols of all religions in the public sphere. Similar bills have been passed around the globe in an attempt to push for religious neutrality in public places. In September, Austria became the fifth European nation to ban face veils, USA Today reported. The Anti-Face-Veiling Act also includes a ban on scarfs, masks and clown paint that covers faces in any public place or building. The Quebec bill doesnt not specifically say which articles of clothing will be banned. Pushback from Muslim rights groups suggests the bill is likely to be challenged in court. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A rejected asylum seeker who raped a 23-year-old German woman in front of her boyfriend after threatening the couple with a saw -- and who then called the victim "a prostitute" in court -- was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison Thursday. The man, identified by local media only as Ghana native Eric X., was convicted after DNA evidence linking him to the crime was found on the victim and at the crime scene, The Local reported. He was also found guilty of stealing a speaker and $7 from the couple. Eric X. received an 11 1/2 year prison term. If the court says the DNA fits, then I have to call the girl a prostitute," the man told the court during the trial. "Anyone who supports this girl who claims to have been raped is the dirtiest person on earth." Eric X., 31, entered Germany from Italy in February after being denied asylum there, and his request for asylum in Germany was rejected March 23. GREEK POLICE ARREST 8 SMUGGLERS WHO BROUGHT IN 38 MIGRANTS It wasn't immediately clear why Eric X. was allowed to stay in the country. Authorities said on April 2 he used a saw during an attack on a couple camping at the public Siegaue Nature Reserve near Bonn. The man appeared in court with his hands and feet chained as a psychiatric expert testified he was highly dangerous to society, The Daily Mail reported. If the court says the DNA fits, then I have to call the girl a prostitute. Anyone who supports this girl who claims to have been raped is the dirtiest person on earth." Eric X. "Why should I remain silent about a case I don't know anything about?" Eric X. shouted at one point during the trial, professing his innocence. In another outburst, after the court heard security footage showed Eric X. left his asylum shelter around 8 p.m. on the night of the crime and didnt return until early the next morning, the man claimed lawyers were serving up a trick question and that he was inside the facility the entire time. "I'm not interested in this kind of joke. I have no time to hear these fairy tales. They play games, so I look like a rapist," he said, according to the Die Welt newspaper. POLICE IN ROME BLAST MIGRANTS WITH WATER CANNONS Eric X. described his father in Ghana as a cocoa plant king who employed more than 100 people. "He had a lot of money and was very well known. In Ghana, a king can have as many women as he wants, if he can take care of them, Eric X said. The victim told police she did not resist the attack, even though there was a Swiss army knife in the tent, and she told her boyfriend to call police, The Local reported. But the frantic boyfriend reportedly struggled to convince police that the attack had happened and that he needed help. You are not f-----g with me I hope? said one officer who took an emergency call, according to The Daily Mail. The case prompted outrage across Germany, where high-profile crimes committed by asylum-seekers have drawn particular public scrutiny in recent years. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The sons of murdered Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia are demanding that the prime minister resign and say a climate of impunity is responsible for her death this week. In a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday, Caruana Galizias sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul dismissed a request by the countrys leaders to endorse a $1.18 million reward for evidence in their mothers death. We are not interested in justice without change. We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in the government who stood to gain from our mothers murder to turn around and say that justice has been served, they wrote. Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society replaces the desperate situation we are in. MURDERED REPORTER, DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA, MADE MANY ENEMIES Caruana Galizia, one of the small Mediterranean countrys leading journalists, was killed Monday in a car bomb near her home. Her son Matthew was home when it happened and found his mother soon after. I was sitting at the table there, Matthew, an investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize this year for his work exposing the Panama Papers, told The Guardian. I heard the explosion; the windows rattled, the whole house vibrated. I knew she was dead before I got up from my chair. Once described as a one-woman Wikileaks, the 53-year-old journalists in-depth skewering of high-level politicians she accused of being corrupt made her many enemies the past three decades. Her blog, Running Commentary, focused much of last year on the alleged corruption of Prime Minister Joseph Muscats administration in connection to the Panama Papers, the huge cache of leaked documents from the leading offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca. Her sons said these stories and countless others made their mom, and their family, a daily target of threats. We grew up with them. Phone calls, letters, notes pinned to the door. Then when mobile phones arrived, text messages. And later of course, emails, comments on her blog." Mathew Curuana Galizia In 1996, the front door was set on fire, recalled Andrew, who works in the Maltese diplomatic service, to the Guardian. Around about that time, too, someone killed the dog cut its throat and laid it across the doorstep. A few years later, the neighbors car burned out; his house has almost exactly the same name as ours. Matthew added: We grew up with them. Phone calls, letters, notes pinned to the door. Then, when mobile phones arrived, text messages. And later of course, emails, comments on her blog. Not to mention the lawsuits. So many lawsuits. At the time of her death, Caruana Galizia was fighting a libel suit from Muscat and another from opposition leader Adrian Delia. Both have denounced the journalists murder, with Muscat calling it a brutal attack and an assault to freedom of expression. But her sons blasted the politicians as only being interest in its reputation and the need to hide the gaping hole where our institutions once were. This interest is not ours. Neither was it our mothers. A government and a police force that failed our mother in life will also fail her in death, they wrote on Facebook. The Prime Minister asked for our endorsement. This is how he can get it: show political responsibility and resign, they continued. Resign for failing to uphold our fundamental freedoms. Resign for watching over the birth of a society dominated by fear, mistrust, crime and corruption. Matthew told The Guardian that while its important to find his mothers killer or killers its almost irrelevant. So many people wanted her dead, so many benefit, he said. People say, I hope they find the bastards. But we know where the bastards are. They are in government. Theyre on TV. And they all, in part, bear responsibility. The Spanish government began the process on Thursday of taking control of Catalonias semi-autonomous powers amid threats from the regions defiant leader. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Thursday, threated to explicitly declare independence unless talks with the central government in Madrid are held. "If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonia's parliament will proceed ... with a vote to formally declare independence," Puigdemont's letter said. The letter came with minutes to spare before the expiration of a deadline set by Spains government for Puigdemont to backtrack on his calls for secession. The central government unequivocally rejected the warning, saying in a statement that it was calling a special Cabinet meeting for Saturday in which it would trigger the process to activate Article 155 of Spains 1978 Constitution. [The Spanish government] denounces the attitude maintained by those in charge of the Generalitat to seek, deliberately and systematically, institutional confrontation despite the serious damage that is being cause to the coexistence and the economic structure of Catalonia, the statement said. No one doubts that the Spanish government will do all it can to restore the constitutional order. The Cabinet meeting will "approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards," the statement said. Article 155 allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the countrys 17 regions, including Catalonia. It has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Catalans would consider the application of Article 155 an "invasion" of the region's self-government, while Spain's central authorities have portrayed it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Puigdemont's government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country's constitution. The Catalan and Spanish governments have been engaged in a tense stand-off since the highly disputed Oct. 1 vote for impendence, which the regions leaders say resulted in a Yes vote. Spains top court declared the vote illegal. More than 40 percent of Catalonia's 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal Oct. 1 referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Opponents boycotted the vote. Any action could spark unrest from boiling over, as pro-secession Catalan groups have called for new protests. Ahead of Saturdays meeting, Spain government needs to outline what are the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spain's Senate. The government was meeting Thursday morning with members of the leading opposition Socialist party to decide what measures to take under Article 155. Spain's government had said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out. The Catalan government's international affairs director, Raul Romeva, told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that Catalonia's banned secession referendum gave the region's separatist government a mandate to declare independence from Spain. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Italian news agency ANSA says a 52-year-old tourist from Spain has been killed by falling masonry in one of Florence's most famous churches where such Italian luminaries as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. ANSA said the tourist was struck Thursday in one of the aisles at the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions. The church was subsequently closed to visitors. Neither officials at the church or police were immediately available for confirmation of the accident. Backed by nearly 40 years of marketing success for organizations like American Express, the National Endowment for the Arts and the San Francisco Opera, Roberta MacDonald, senior vice president of marketing for Cabot Creamery Cooperative, addressed community business leaders Thursday morning as the University of Mary Washingtons latest Executive-in-Residence. MacDonald has been with the Vermont cheese business for 28 years. She graduated from Mary Washington College in 1972 as a drama major. That, paired with being a math junkie, put me where I am today, MacDonald said, joking about how, because of her varied background, she considers herself a kind of female Forest Gump. She explained she has a compulsion to quantify everything, transforming work success into a matrix of columns and numbers. At the same time, she draws constellation charts, with bubbles of potential actions radiating from a central idea or institution. As an example, she showed a slide with the University of Vermont in the middle of the page, and actions radiating out from it. One of those actions was a commitment to the community. When [Cabot] says were committed to the community, we really mean it, MacDonald said, adding that they do more than just donate money or volunteer hours. We started the first marketing class offered at the [University of Vermont] and gave grants for application, she said. Families in the area surrounding the University of Vermont who are on the brink of homelessness benefit from the marketing class. Students developed a model called Cookies for Good, working with a local caterer to bake cookies and sell them to support shelters and homelessness prevention programs in Vermont. They generate $15 to $18 grand a year in cookie sales that go toward preventing homelessness, MacDonald said. And its a model that can be applied anywhere. MacDonald discussed a nationwide program she developed with Cabot that recognizes people who contribute to their communities in ways that often go unnoticedsuch as providing complimentary IT service to senior citizens and the disabled or improving living conditions for those in needand takes them on a cruise. Sixty community volunteers from across the U.S. were honored on an Alaskan Cruise in 2017, the sixth year Cabot has organized the event. These are the real celebrities, MacDonald said. And you know, they all talk to each other on the boat and share ideas and go back to where they live and they tell people about our cheese. MacDonald is committed to the idea that if you do the right things for the right reasons, everybody wins. President and founder of accounting firm ABC Solutions Mary Parnell attended the breakfast and said she enjoyed MacDonalds presentation. Shes a great personality, very amusing, said Parnell. I thought what she said about bringing a structure, an order to business processes, really resonated with me. Thats what I do in my business every day. UMW juniors Anastasia Morse from Manassas and Kurt Reisbeck from Williamsburg worked on a student advisory board with MacDonald in her Executive-in-Residence role as she prepared for her presentation. Ive really enjoyed learning how you should be open to your own ideas, Reisbeck said. Go with your instinct and create your own success, dont just do what others expect you to do. Morse agreed, adding, [MacDonald] is a great example of someone who is happy with herself. Thats so important when youre working in a business capacity. Walmart has spent billions buying up websites like Jet.com and ModCloth, and investing in new technology as it goes head-to-head with Amazon.com. Now, the world's largest retailer is setting its sights on virtual reality. Imagine this, says Katie Finnegan, who heads Walmart's tech incubator: You need a tent for your next camping trip. If all goes to plan, you could one day virtually swoop in to your campsite and see any given tent in action. "You could unzip it, lay down, look left and right, and say 'Oh, this is supposed to be a two-person tent? It's kind of tight,' " she said. And then you could move on to the next tent - without leaving your couch. "There is a lot of technology we're excited about," she said, "but virtual reality in particular offers an opportunity top actually experience products and items in an immersive way." The technology has yet to catch on with the mainstream, so such concepts are still very much in the gee-whiz stage with no guarantee of actually boosting sales. But this summer, the company put out an open call for technology firms, venture capitalists and other entrepreneurs to submit their ideas. A panel of five judges-including Arianna Huffington, founder of Thrive Global, and Marc Lore, head of Walmart's U.S. ecommerce operations. - whittled down the 200 applicants to five winners. They then spent about two months at Walmart's technology incubator, called Store No 8, coming up with new shopping-centric applications for virtual reality. Walmart has been experimenting with virtual reality to help train its employees for busy shopping days like Black Friday. It is also testing a program that would allow delivery drivers to walk into customers' homes and deliver groceries straight to their refrigerators. Here are the five ideas the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company says could be making their way online as early as next year: 1. 3-D holograms at Bonobos.com, the male clothing site Walmart acquired this year for $310 million, that would make it possible for shoppers to try on virtual clothing for fit and style. According to Walmart, the technology would allow customers "to view how the fabric moves and get a sense of sizing, allowing for more realistic shopping previews and reviews." (The idea was proposed by 8i, a New Zealand-based maker of virtual reality software.) 2. Over at ModCloth, the womens' clothing site Walmart took over in March, customers may one day be able to take 3-D photos of themselves using just their smartphones, and use those images to get an idea of how something might look on them. That way, executives say, shoppers could "experience the realistic feel of an item before they purchase without having to physically go in-store." (A concept offered by Fyusion, a San Francisco-based company that develops technology for processing 3D scans.) 3. An "interactive virtual store" for designer Rebecca Minkoff, whose items are sold at Walmart.com, would allow customers to sit in on fashion shows and shop directly from the runway. The technology, the company said, would effectively allow it to create a virtual store-within-a-store. (Developed by Obsess VR, a New York-based technology firm that specializes in 360-degree shopping sites.) 4. Tired of shopping online alone? If Walmart gets its way, you may soon be interacting with other shoppers and experts as you pick out items for your virtual cart. Need help picking out a pair of jeans? A virtual fashion assistant may be able to help. Trying to figure out why your nightstand is lopsided? An employee could tell you which screws are loose. (A concept from Nurulize, a Los Angeles-based virtual reality software developer.) 5. Electric outlets, stove tops and door handles can all be child safety hazards - and soon, an online tool could peek inside your home and tell you where the biggest risks are lurking. The site could also give product recommendations and allow customers to test out items virtually before buying them. (Piloted by Specular Theory, a Venice Beach, California, company that specializes in immersive content.) AMERICAN ASSASSIN (R) 2 STARS Though the films premise has an interesting twistone CIA-trained assassin takes on his rogue predecessorit all devolves into typical mindless murder and mayhem. Its a shame, because performances by Dylan OBrien and Michael Keaton are wasted. Rated R for strong violence throughout, some torture, language and brief nudity. 111 min. [PV] AMERICAN MADE (R) 3 STARS In this wild, cautionary tale, Tom Cruise uses a twinkle in his eye and a talent for action scenes to make a young pilots long, strange trip with the CIA and South American drug cartels a real hoot. It gets a little too real at the end when the cost--to his character and the country--become real. Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity. 115 min. [PV, RF] BLADE RUNNER 2049 (R) 3 STARS This long-anticipated follow-up to 1982s ground-breaking sci-fi film is many things: tense, stunning, bleak, loud, long, captivating, austere, poignant, violent and revealing. The tale of a replicant policeman seeking a widening truth could be even better if it lost 30 minutes or so. Rated R for violence, some sexuality, nudity and language. 163 min. [MC, RF] BREATHE (PG-13) NR The inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material including some bloody medical images. 117 min. [RF] IT (R) 3 STARS This Stephen King story about the fears faced by a group of nerdy adolescents is at times funny, touching and meaningfuleasily transcending the typical horror film. Of course, not all kids have to put up with creepy-looking clowns like Pennywise, whos brilliantly portrayed by Bill Skarsgard, dripping with menace and madness. Rated R for violence/horror, bloody images, language. 135 min. [PV] KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (R) 2.5 STARS Though you cant take it seriously, this sequel about the secret, buttoned-up British intelligence group called The Kingsmen has an odd mix of quirky action and comedy that is a recipe for something strange and fun. Rated R for sequences of strong violence, drug content, language throughout and some sexual material. 141 min. [MC, RF] THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE (PG) NR Six young ninjas are tasked with defending their island home, called Ninjago. With the voices of Jackie Chan, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen. Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor. 101 min. [RF] MARK FELT: THE MAN WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE (PG-13) NR The story of Mark Felt, who under the name Deep Throat helped journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal in 1974. Rated PG-13 for some language. 103 min. [RF] THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US (PG-13) 2.25 STARS Kate Winslet and Idris Elba do all they can here as two travelers fighting to stay alive after their small plane crashes atop a remote and frozen mountain range. But even though the talented pair create some interesting moments, theres not enough unique or particularly interesting about their struggle to make the journey worthwhile. Rated PG-13 for a scene of sexuality, peril, injury images, and brief strong language. 103 min. [MC, RF] A QUESTION OF FAITH (PG) 2 STARS This story of three families who interact in a tragic and supposedly spiritual way has a lot going for it, not the least of which is a cast full of more experienced actors than is typical for a faith-based film. Unfortunately, the story is so heavy-handed and predictable that it takes away from the power it might have had. Rated PG for thematic elements. 104 min. [RF] SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (PG-13) 3 STARS Marvel Studios takes a gamble that pays off in a big way in this reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, making the focus more on Peter Parker and his life in high school. A solid villain (Michael Keaton as Vulture) and neat action sequences help make it work. Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments. 133 min. [RF] VICTORIA AND ABDUL (PG-13) 3 STARS A brave performance by Judi Dench as Queen Victoria makes this is a compelling film about an unlikely friendship between the longest-reigning monarch in British history and a young clerk from India. Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and language. 112 min. [RF] Larry Marshall says he has always loved dogs and has owned them most of his life. But a 2-year-old Great Dane that lives next door to him in Marsh Run Estates in the Hartwood area of Stafford County is not among the canines that give Marshall a warm and fuzzy feeling. Marshall is angry that the dog has been allowed to live after biting him three times in less than a month after coming onto Marshalls property. The third bite ripped off part of Marshalls right ear, a wound that will require extensive surgeries. The pain was excruciating and there was absolutely no reason for it, the 80-year-old Marshall said this week at his home. I just dont think that dog should have a chance to get loose and hurt me or someone else again. During a Sept. 19 hearing in Stafford General District Court, court records show, a Stafford animal control officer recommended that Judge Bruce Strickland declare the dog, Ike, a vicious dog. That legal designation would have required the county to euthanize the dog. Instead, the judge declared Ike a dangerous dog, a label that carries a slew of extra requirements for the dogs owner, Eric Black, but allows the dog to live. That was a grave error on the judges part, Marshall said. Marshall and a younger family friend, former police officer Gail Gibson, have responded by exploring possible law changes that include immediate euthanasia for attacks that cause mutilation or worse. Gibson said she has been in touch with Del. Mark Cole, RSpotsylvania. Marshall also has been in contact with other neighbors to warn them about the dog that lives next door. The saga began the afternoon of Aug. 30. Marshall said he was in his front yard when Black came down the street with his three dogs. A smaller pit bull mix was on a leash and two Great Danes, including Ike, were running freely, as usual, he said. Both Great Danes ran toward him, but the smaller female stopped before reaching Marshall. Ike kept coming and bit Marshall in the right forearm, Marshall said. Marshall said that Black came and retrieved the dog and a short while later, while the two men were talking, the dog charged again and bit Marshall in the upper right arm. While both bites hurt, Marshall said he didnt consider the injuries to be serious and he didnt call animal control, in part because he wanted to maintain a good relationship with his neighbor. Marshalls wife, Nada, a former registered nurse, cleaned up the wounds and the Marshalls thought that would be the end of it. But the next day, a neighbor saw the bite marks and asked Marshall what happened. After he told her, the neighbor called animal control and eventually handed the phone to Marshall. Marshall said he told animal control officer Anthony McCall what had happened, but said he didnt want to press charges. But he said McCall told him that he didnt have a choice because he was going to be subpoenaed to court. The day before the Sept. 19 hearing in connection with the first two bites, Marshall was in his front yard again when Black again came by with his dogs. This time, Ike was on a leash. Marshall said he was leery of Ike because of the previous incident, but felt confident that Black had him under control as the two men again made small talk. Suddenly, Marshall said he saw a blur on his right and felt excruciating pain coming from his ear. His hand was covered in blood after he reached for his ear and he left a bloody trail as he went into the house looking for his wife. Nada Marshall took him to the Mary Washington Hospital emergency room, where about 60 stitches were used to close the wound. Marshall showed up the next day in court with his head covered in bandages. Multiple visits to doctors and at least two extensive surgeries are pending to fill in the noticeable gap in Marshalls right ear. Contacted by telephone Wednesday, Black declined to discuss the incidents, saying, Ill talk to you later. Have a nice day, before hanging up. Stafford animal control is part of the Sheriffs Office, and spokeswoman Amanda Vicinanzo said that while authorities sought the vicious dog designation, We accept the determination of the judge. Vicinanzo said the dangerous designation carries multiple requirements, including having the dog listed on a state registry. Owners of such dogs are required to keep them muzzled and on a leash when off the owners property and confined when on the property. The owner must post visible warning signs about the dogs presence and must have liability coverage of at least $100,000 covering bites, Vicinanzo said. Vicinanzo said animal control will closely monitor the dog and, if it bites again, would confiscate the dog and charge the owner with a Class 1 misdemeanor. Spotsylvania County School Board Chairwoman Erin Grampp is facing first-time candidate April May Gillespie in her bid for re-election as the Berkeley District representative. The race is for one of three Spotsylvania County School Board seats on the Nov. 7 ballot. Battlefield District incumbent Baron Braswell is running unopposed, while Kathryn Kassie Palmer and Lisa Phelps are vying for the Lee Hill District seat. Grampp, 36, is the owner of EKG Stables in Spotsylvania and a certified riding instructor, trainer and equine appraiser. She has served on the board since 2014. Gillespie, 28, has been vice president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Riverview Elementary School, where her son Robert is a fourth-grader. A lifelong Spotsylvania resident, Grampp defeated incumbent Gil Seaux and longtime Spotsylvania County schools employee Mark Marshall in 2013. Since then she has won the Virginia School Board Associations Distinguished School Board Member award in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Grampp said that the biggest challenges to school boards are unfunded and underfunded mandates, and her top priority will be to continue to serve as the unofficial legislative liaison to the General Assembly on behalf of the board. I have worked hard to develop relationships with our legislators and lobbyists, she wrote in an email to The Free LanceStar. I travel to Richmond weekly when the General Assembly is in session, and meet and lobby on behalf of SCPS. I stay in touch via email and travel to Washington twice per year to meet with our representatives in Congress as well. Fighting unfunded and underfunded mandates from the state and federal governments are the No. 1 issue for me, and I will continue to fight these cumbersome mandates one vote at a time. She said her other priorities include the School Board Advisory Committee, which she started in an effort to get more community members invested in helping county schools be successful, and making sure that the Evergreen Study on employee wages is taken seriously by both the School Board and Board of Supervisors. All the recommendations cannot be fiscally implemented in one budget year, but a three-year plan to implement the changes that I have developed should be feasible and accepted by the supervisors, Grampp wrote. She graduated from Courtland High School and from Mary Washington College with a bachelors degree in economics. She started her riding school in 2003, and is a certified American Riding Instructors Association instructor, United States Hunter Jumper Association trainer and equine appraiser. Shes also a U.S. Equestrian Federation judge, has served on the Battlefield Horse Show Association board of directors, and volunteers at the Spotsylvania County Animal Hospital. Gillespie grew up in Spotsylvania and is a Spotsylvania High School graduate. She and her husband Robert have two children, Robert, who is 10, and Olivia, who is 4. Gillespie was vice president of the Parent Teacher Association at her sons school last year and served as its business liaison. She said shes always advocated for parents and their children, and decided to run for the School Board when she felt she had no other option in order to fight bullying. Thats probably one of my biggest issues, she said during a phone interview. Gillespie said that she also thinks that less money needs to be spent on administrators so that more funds can go toward teachers salaries and benefits. She would also like more money to go to classroom supplies so teachers dont have to pay for some of them. Theres plenty of money there where they should not have to pay for school supplies, she said. Teachers have to pay for copies out of their own pocket. Thats crazy. Her other priorities include providing in-house food and custodial services instead of hiring contractors, looking at combined benefit plans for school and county employees to save costs, and bringing after-school activity buses back to the Berkeley District. She said the Livingston District got after-school buses, but Berkeley didnt. Id like to fix that problem, Gillespie said. Caroline supervisors will vote next month on whether to approve a fourth sand and gravel mine along U.S. 17 in the county. The board was to have voted Tuesday on an application for a special exemption permit to extend an existing sand and gravel mine located at the Fulks familys Fox Spring Farm from the Spotsylvania County side of the property onto the Caroline side. However, the board voted 41 in favor of a motion by Supervisor Nancy Long, who represents the Port Royal District where the mine would be located, to defer to Novembers meeting. Long said she wanted more time to determine whether the mine would financially benefit the county and whether it would cause safety concerns on U.S. 17, which is a two-lane road at that point. The application came to the board with a recommendation of denial from the county Planning Commission, which said the project does not meet the requirements of public necessity, convenience, general welfare and good zoning practices. Concrete company Bardon Inc., which trades as Aggregate Industries, initially filed the application for a special exemption permit in January 2015. It has been mining at Fox Spring Farm for 12 years. Lawyer Charlie Payne, representing the Fulks family and Aggregate Industries, called moving the mine into Caroline a natural progression of current operations at Tuesdays meeting. He said the existing site in Spotsylvania can support about two more years of mining. He said owner M.R. Fulks is a well-known local farmer with 45 years of experience and widespread recognition as a good steward of his land. The Fulks family owns Belvedere Plantation on U.S. 17 not far from the proposed mine. The operation requires a special exemption permit because Fox Spring is in an area currently zoned rural preservation. The Caroline County Comprehensive Plan designates it as agricultural preservation. Snow Creek, which runs through the property, is the western boundary of the comprehensive plans Resource Sensitive Overlay District, though according to the application, neither Snow Creek nor the agricultural land east of the creek would be subject to the special exception permit. The application states that wet processing of the sand and gravel mined at the Caroline site would occur on the Spotsylvania side of the property. Access to the operation would be via internal roads from the existing site entrance in Spotsylvania. There would be no vehicle entrance in Caroline. The mine would operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The application proposes establishing a 25-foot buffer along the property line to mitigate its effect on adjacent properties and constructing landscaped berms in the two places where the operation would be visible from U.S. 17. In other places, it would be concealed by the existing tree line, which would be undisturbed. You will not be able to see it from [U.S. 17], Payne said. Once mining is complete, the application proposes to reclaim the land for farming, which Payne said Fulks has done successfully on other formerly mined land on the nearby Belvedere and Nottingham farms. In a slideshow presentation to the board Tuesday, Payne showed pictures of Fulks standing in a field of soybeans on land that had previously been mined. Payne said the mine would generate $46,189 in annual tax revenue for the county, as opposed to the $1,618 the property generates now, according to an economic analysis conducted for the application by Chmura Economics and Analytics. He addressed environmental concerns, saying that there would be no discharge into the Rappahannock watershed from the site. He said adjoining and adjacent landowners support the proposal. We have over 75 individuals, mostly from Caroline, who have signed petitions and sent letters [in support], he said. Ive never seen that many folks support a project that is right adjacent to it. Eight people, a combination of Fulks family members, local haulers for Aggregate and local landowners, spoke in support of the proposal during a public hearing Tuesday. Sue Golicke said she lives on adjoining property that is a reclaimed mine site. She pointed out that the county approved three mining permits on U.S. 17 after rejecting a 2001 application by the Fulks family. We see disparity and prejudice in these other applications being approved, she said. Joe Parker was one of four to speak in opposition. He said he has concerns about increased truck traffic on U.S. 17 and the possibility of a blight to the surrounding landscape. How many mines are too many? How many trucks are too many? he asked. What do we want our beautiful county to look like? Supervisor Long questioned why the Fulks family needs another mining permit when they have one for a location nearby that is not in operation. If I give my kid a piece of pie, I dont give them another piece until they finish that one, she said. She said she needed more time to go over the facts and figures as she said those presented by Payne do not match those she got from Carolines Finance Department. The board will vote on the application at its Nov. 16 meeting. WHATEVER else can be said about the statewide political campaigns in Virginia this yearcontests that historically have been somewhat insulated from the howling in D.C.it seems clear that 2017 will be remembered as the year when political discourse in the Old Dominion was dominated by national issues and a singular national political figure: President Donald J. Trump. Trump has been a constant presence in the Virginia campaign. He even managed to insinuate himself into the controversy over Virginias Confederate Civil War monuments when he defended some very fine people who marched with white separatists in Charlottesville in August, and blamed both sides for the deadly violence that broke out there. Indeed, relying on campaign appeals from Virginia Democrats in these closing weeks of the gubernatorial contest, youd think that the Republican candidate is not GOP establishment mainstay Ed Gillespie, but a mad populist named Trump whose agenda threatens women, health care and the general public order. And from Republican TV spots, youd conclude Virginia is overrun by murderous Latino MS-13 gangs hatching illegal immigration plots in cahoots with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam to wreak havoc from Virginias (non-existent) sanctuary cities. Remember when state issues and personalities drove Virginias gubernatorial campaigns? Its been a long time since we had a barnburner issue like the proposal to get rid of the hated local car tax (Jim Gilmores winning ticket in 1997), or the firecracker personality of Doug Wilder (1989s winner.) Even the gubernatorial contest of 2013 gave voters a choice between a D.C. wheeler-dealer (Democrat Terry McAuliffe) and a zealous right-wing culture warrior (Republican Ken Cuccinelli). This year, despite all their efforts to create heroic portraits of themselves and disparaging images of the other, Gillespie and Northam come off as comparable politicians, and rather conventional, to boot. But facing the urgent need to mobilize their base supporters, both parties need something more dramatic. Republicans seized upon Trumps signature issue: fear of those in this country illegally. And Democrats seized upon anti-Trump sentiment. Firing up true believers is crucial in Virginias upcoming off-off-year election. Turnout typically falls off dramatically in gubernatorial contests, when we go to the polls one year after the presidential campaign. Seventy-two percent of Virginias registered voters turned out for the presidential elections of 2012 and 2016. Only 43 percent went to the polls in the 2013 gubernatorial election. The smaller electorate in a gubernatorial contest amplifies the power of those who do vote, and a smaller turnout usually means a whiter, older and more affluent electorate than presidential years. And that profile tends to skew Republican. Normally, a presidential endorsement (which Trump bestowed upon Gillespie via Twitter) would be a political godsend, but the current occupant of the White House is highly unpopular in Virginia. Trumps approval ratings (currently about 37 percent) have actually gone down in Virginia since Hillary Clinton beat him here last year. Still, Gillespie knows he needs Trump voters. So, while holding Trump at arms length, Gillespie adopted the Trump anti-immigration playbook. The tactic must be having some effect, since Democrats devoted money and airtime to refute Gillespies claims about Northam and MS-13. Gillespies tightrope act was on display in deep, red southwest Virginia on Oct. 14 when he appeared with Vice President Mike Pence. Whether Gillespie brings Trump into Virginia for a campaign appearance in the closing days of the contest will tell us if the GOP nominee thinks that the high-stakes tactic is worth the risk. Democrats have fewer qualms about reaching out to their national leadership for help. Barack Obama and Joe Biden both agreed to make campaign appearances this month for Northam and his ticket mates. Observers will be watching to see if Obama, in particular, can help to generate a strong African-American turnout, which is critical to Democrats chances. Virginia has leaned blue in recent statewide elections, thanks in large part to population growth in Northern Virginia. The last time Republicans won statewide office was in 2009. Winning the votes of independents (about a third of Virginia voters identify themselves as such) traditionally was the recipe for success in statewide races. And the appeal to independents tended to moderate the campaigns. But this year shows little sign of letup from hard-edged partisan campaigning. You can thank, or blame, changing times and Donald J. Trump. IS PERSEVERANCE possibly paying off with some progress on the twin issues of erosion and pollution at Fairview Beach in King George County? Neither mission is anywhere near accomplished, but for the residents of this Potomac River community, even taking baby steps in the right direction is welcome news. For the past 20 years, the Fairview Beach Residents Association has sought to stop the shorelines steep bluffs from eroding into the river. The land erodes slowly from year to year, though major storms have claimed much larger chunks in a matter of hours. The erosion is seriously threatening a water pipe and the paved surface of Fairview Drive. Now, finally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will take on a preliminary study of the project, thanks to the countys support, and if the work is approved, allocate funding for it. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management is helping to shepherd the process. Time is of the essence here, and the cost estimates put the situation into perspective. Fairview Beach is requesting $2.3 million from FEMA to stabilize the soil and keep the infrastructure in place. But if the bluff is allowed to further crumble and take the water pipe and roadway with it, reconstruction escalates the cost to an estimated $11 million, according to the application. Residents association President Mike Bennett is clearly heartened to see some local, state and federal cooperation on this, but he also knows time is moneyparticularly in terms of the share to be borne by Fairview Beach residents. If an ounce of prevention was ever worth a pound of cure, this is it. FEMA needs to do its part and expedite the application process. The bluffs days are already numberedwithout considering the greater damage a major storm could do in the interim. We hope that after decades of bureaucratic wheel-spinning, some traction is being gained here. There is no time to waste. The same can be said for the pollution problems that continue to plague the Potomac River at Fairview Beachwhich have also been going on for far too long. Fairview Beach already has the dubious distinction of recording the most swimming advisories of any beach in the state. At least twice this past summer, both in August, advisories were posted there because of elevated bacteria levels in the river water. Samples of water taken near the community trailer park shoreline have brought positive responses from dogs trained to sniff out human waste. To some, that suggests a public health hazard. The excessive bacteria is often found after it rains; rainy seasons bring more advisories of longer duration. One observer says hes seen a stream of brown water headed downhill from the trailer park toward the river. Unfortunately, a septic system dye test in the park proved unhelpful. There are 45 trailers in the park, but where their waste goes is unclear. One septic tank was pumped last year. There is (at least) one other one, but its hidden in kudzu and supposedly cant be inspected. High bacteria levels have also been recorded elsewhere off the Fairview Beach shoreline. Could boaters be doing some illegal dumping? If so, how inconsiderate. Are officials at various levels of government who have the clout to get this figured out passing the buck? How many red flags does it take? Brent McCord, environmental health manager with the Rappahannock Area Health District, said an inspection of the trailer park (with dye testing) revealed no evidence of a malfunctioning drainfield or public sewerage system, therefore, no declaration of a public health hazard was warranted. So now what? McCord noted that Fairview Beach had been on the State Health Departments beach-monitoring program, but was taken off two years agodespite the chronic swimming advisories. King George Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Ruby Brabo recalled expressing her incredulity at a July 31 residents association meeting that brought together government officials at all levels: You have human waste going into the water, and youre telling me you have no authority to go into the trailer park and address the matter? So who does? They all just looked at me and said they dont know. This stuff has to be coming from somewhere, and why theres been no focused effort to locate the source is inexplicable and indefensible. One of these days, when this pollution problem really hits the fan, foot-dragging officials would be wise to duck. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was widely criticized last month when she announced that her department was rescinding Obama-era Title IX guidelines regarding sexual misconduct on the nations college campuses, claiming that they lacked basic elements of fairness. In the Deptartment of Educations new interim guidance on campus sexual misconduct, issued Sept. 22, administrators were informed that they could use the clear and convincing evidence standard to determine whether a sexual assault had taken place instead of the lower preponderance of the evidence they were previously required to use, or risk losing federal funding. The preponderance standard, typically used in civil cases, requires that more than 50 percent of the available evidence favors one party over the other. The more rigorous clear and convincing standard requires a higher level of certainty, but falls short of the beyond a reasonable doubt standard that is required in criminal cases. In a speech at George Mason University on Sept. 7th, DeVos laid out two non-negotiable principles when dealing with such cases: Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined. She pointed out that while one assault is one too many, the previous guidelineswhich forced institutions of higher learning to be judge and jury in sexual misconduct casesignored due process. And two wrongs do not make a right. Thanks to the toxic, alcohol-fueled hookup culture on todays college campuses, the problem of sexual assaults on campus is growing, but it has too often been downplayed by administrators who dont want the public to know the real extent of the problem, furthering the victimization. However, not all accusers are telling the truth. For example, Rolling Stone had to withdraw a debunked 2014 article (A Rape on Campus) about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia based on a single anonymous source whose story did not hold up to a more thorough investigation. The University of Mary Washington, which has about 4,000 undergraduates, recently reported 11 forcible rapes on campus in 2016, up from eight in 2015. The same number (11) was also reported by the University of Virginia, which has more than 33,000 students. Like most institutions, UMWs policy stresses confidentiality and autonomy, so it allows a victim of sexual assault to determine whether an incident is reported to the police or handled in a campus judicial hearing, where the sanctions range from a warning to expulsion. Although college administrators should be providing victims with medical, psychological and other support as they navigate their way through the legal system, they should not be adjudicating these cases. However, the previous DOE guidelines required them to do so, even if there was a parallel criminal investigation underway. The campus justice system was and is broken, said Robert Shibley, director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Obama-era guidelines on behalf of a former UVA law student. An investigation by FIRE found that three-fourths of Americas top 53 universities do not guarantee accused students such basic due process rights as a presumption of innocence. Fair outcomes are impossible without fair procedures, Shibley pointed out. Due process is not only a constitutional right, its also the best way to get at the closest approximation of the truth in murky she said, he said situations. Putting both victim and accused under oath and subjecting them to rules of evidence and cross-examination protects the rights of both parties. College long ago abandoned in loco parentisin which they acted as substitute parentspointing out that college students are adults and should be treated as such. In that vein, administrators should stick to education and leave the investigation and prosecution of sex crimes to the appropriate outside legal authorities. Sexual assault is a serious crime, whether it occurs on a college campus or in a movie moguls hotel room. The Heritage Foundation recommends that DOE mandate that sexual assault cases on campus be reported to outside law enforcement, arguing that the current system not only tramples on due process rights, it literally gives some rapists and other dangerous predators a get-out-of-jail-free card. Sexual predators should be sent to jail, not home to their parents. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. French farmers are threatening legal action if the European Commission fails to relicense glyphosate, the worlds most widely used agrochemical. The French government looks set to vote against the commissions proposal to relicense glyphosate for a 10-year period, in a crucial EU vote in Brussels on 25 October. But farmers decried their countrys stance, insisting a ban on the weedkiller would effectively kill conservation farming and increase production costs. See also: On-farm trials focus on growing without glyphosate French grain producers union, the OPG, published an open letter calling on EU health commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, to re-authorise glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsantos Roundup weedkiller. Environmental groups are seeking a ban on glyphosate after it was classified by the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer as probably carcinogenic to humans. But the OPG pointed out the European Chemicals Agency declared glyphosate to be safe. In addition, Mr Andriukaitis stated there is no doubt that this substance is safe and the commission has acknowledged conditions for re-approval are fulfilled. Addressing Mr Andriukaitis directly, the OPGs letter said: Now, you have all the elements you need to approve the renewal of this substance which is an economical, effective and essential herbicide for hundreds of thousands of farmers in Europe. Return to ploughing If glyphosate is withdrawn, farmers will suffer a significant increase in production costs as they will be forced to use higher quantities of other herbicides and apply them more regularly, the contamination of plots by many species of weeds, including perennials, the letter added. Furthermore, working methods will have to change with a reintroduction of ploughing, an end to the new simplified cropping techniques, with vegetation cover, and agroecology methods will no longer be used. The OPG warned it will take its case to the EU Court of Justice if the commission fails to re-authorise glyphosate and inaction causes damage to farmers. Meanwhile, Frances largest farming union, the FNSEA, said there are no irrefutable scientific reasons to justify a ban on glyphosate. NFU vice-president president Guy Smith said how France and Germany votes could be key to deciding the fate of glyphosate use in future in Europe. This decision could go to the wire, he added. A Pinch of Salt: The election is over, I think, so what now? Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors Thomas Varga and Marissa Stewart will give two free performances Friday, Oct. 20, at Linn-Benton Community College's Russell Tripp Performance Center, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW, Albany. The actors will perform an abridged version of "Romeo and Juliet" at 10 a.m., and "Expectations" at 11 a.m., a mix of Shakespearean and contemporary scenes on the theme of expecting the unexpected. The OSF School Visit Program is made possible in part by LBCC Student Leadership Council, the Russell Tripp Performance Center, and LBCC English Department. Both performances are free. For more information, contact the LBCC Theater at 541-917-4531. For special needs accommodations, call 541-917-4789 or Oregon Relay TDD at 1-800-735-2900. The Corvallis Arts Walk has partnered with the Corvallis Guitar Society for its third anniversary event this Thursday. Guitar players from the society will be performing at stops throughout the walk to help celebrate. With 18 participating venues and four additional pop-up art galleries, Thursday's event is biggest event ever for the Corvallis Arts Walk. It also welcomes two new locations, The Hold, downtowns newest gallery, which will showcase artwork by Holly Campbell and Sharon Rackham King, and The Darkside Cinema. The theater will screen community digital stories created by community members during monthly workshops hosted by The Resilience Project. A contest offering a grand prize event of art offerings from Arts Walk members is being held on the groups Facebook; the winner will be selected from people who comment on the post. Numerous locations will be holding raffles and other activities to mark the Arts Walk's third birthday. For more information or to comment on the CAW Facebook page, see https://www.facebook.com/CorvallisArtsWalk. Here's a closer look at one of the artists to be featured during the Arts Walk: Name: Mazdak Shadkam Occupation: I work as a full-time artist and part-time college instructor of art at OSU. Hometown: I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. I did my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and worked as an engineer until I left the country at the age of 29 and immigrated to the United States. Here in the U.S. I chose to follow my passion, which was art and did my MFA at the Washington State University. Exhibit: IRAN: untitled Location: Bison bison! Gallery, 354 SW Madison Ave., Corvallis. Medium(s): Photography, video and installation arts. Depending on the project I force myself to choose the right medium for that matter rather than rely on what I am best at. This way it encourages me to be a constant learner. About the exhibit: In the months of August and September, I visited Iran after seven years. The reason it took me so long to go back home for a visit was the visa restrictions for most Iranians who live and work in the United States on a visa until they become permanent residents or change their visa status. The very long time of not being connected with my home country made me eagerly photograph everything around me like a tourist. In this exhibit, I have tried to share my very personal moments with the viewers through the lens of my cellphone while I was in Iran this summer; around 200 photographs taken on a daily basis ranging from my very private moments with my parents and family to my long walks along the streets and allies of the cities I visited are available in the form of family photo albums for the visitors of the gallery to go through while they are sitting at a bar specifically made for this show and sipping on their glass of wine. Simply put, here I am inviting people to have a glass of wine and respond to their curiosity about Iran through my personal photo albums. Inspiration: For me the process of getting inspired is a routine conscious or unconscious daily task. It is constant and it never stops. It comes to me from everywhere and everything lingering from the very abstract part of my mind to the outside random world around me. Maybe the better question is which one I pick as the starting point of an art project meanwhile being overwhelmed with too many of them. Impact on viewer: It is actually the other way around. I respect the viewer and I admire their presence but I always seek their impact on me. I imagine viewers having the same opinion here, so I can conclude that the impact is mutual. In this case, the art is accommodating this reciprocity. It becomes a platform to interact, not to merely impact. Previous exhibits: Nationally I have exhibited my works in galleries, such as Roman Susan Gallery in Chicago, The Center for Contemporary Art in New Jersey, Museum of Art at Washington State University and Eisentrager Howard Gallery at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Also some of the galleries and museums I have shown my work at internationally are Auckland Photo Festival in Auckland, New Zealand and Saba Art and Culture Center in Tehran, Iran. What people should know: "The best way to see more of me and my works is to visit my website www.mazdakshadkam.com and follow me on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mazdak_shadkam." World Climate Conference : Crowded city expected on November 11 Bonn Officials say Bonn is well-prepared for traffic challenges that will be presented by the upcoming climate summit. But residents should know that November 11 will be a very busy day in the city. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Bonn is well-prepared. In a news conference on Wednesday about the upcoming climate conference, this was the sentence that was heard over and over again. Gathered to talk about plans and preparations for handling traffic and transportation were members of the city administration, the Environmental Ministry, police, German Rail and regional transportation representatives. Those responsible for the coordination are optimistic that a major breakdown in traffic can be avoided during the conference from November 6 to 11, even if demonstrations or other occurrences lead to temporary blockages. The new UN-Campus public transportation stop is expected to facilitate a large number of conference participants. Here are some other measures that should help keep traffic running smoothly: UN-Campus stop: Already on November 1, the new stop near Ollenhauerstrae will be put into service. For the time during the conference, Lines RE 5 (DB Regio NRW), RB 26 (Transregio), RB 48 (National Express) and RB 30 (DB Regio NRW) will travel to and from that stop in both directions. Shuttle buses will wait for passengers at the stop. Still, passengers are advised to plan more time for their travel and avoid high peak travel times. Beuel Train Station: This train station will be used to provide some relief to the Bonn Central Train Station - where construction work will stop during the climate conference. Most long distance trains from the north will stop here, which means many passengers will need to stop and change onto local trams to get to the city - meaning a longer travel time. Nothing will change for passengers coming from the south. Road traffic: All participants of the conference will receive a free pass for local public transportation. Police are hoping that this will help keep the road traffic situation manageable. The Bundesviertel (Government Quarters) will remain open to traffic and residents have already been informed of any necessary detours or closures. At the same time, police are appealing to all companies in the region to take advantage of work-from-home opportunities. Difficult to avoid will be any larger demonstrations, and November 11 will be a very busy day. It is the official start of carnival and many revelers will be drawn to the inner city on this Saturday. Add to that an expected 10,000 demonstrators who will be in two different groups, on the city ring road, Bonner Talweg and Reuterstrae. No stopping zone: The city will enforce some no-stopping zones near the conference - in an area on Kennedyallee, because buses will be stopping there. For those who want the latest information, police will set up a resident hotline as of October 25: (0228) 15 30 30. There will also be updated information on the website: www.bonn.de Biker raid in NRW : Hundreds of police conduct raid against Hells Angels More than 700 police were deployed in a massive raid on Hells Angels across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Police enforce ban on two groups, citing potential for violence. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Von BONN It began just after six oclock in the morning in the town of Erkrath. Special forces raided twelve apartments and club facilities of the so-called Rocker or biker scene. The purpose of the police visit was to enforce a ban against the local Hells Angels group Concrete City and supporting organization Clan 81. A police spokesperson said they had come to notify the organizations personally and with written orders that their groups had been officially banned. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Interior Minister Herbert Reul justified the action by saying that members of the groups had been proven to be involved in criminal activity. Their everyday life consisted of violence, weapons, drugs and forced prostitution. He said the constitutional state would not permit the existence of a parallel society where its authority was disregarded. 16 cities, 50 properties, 700 police Police searched 50 different properties in 16 NRW cities: Erkrath, Wulfrath, Dusseldorf, Ratingen, Wuppertal, Koln, Leverkusen, Bergheim, Neuss, Pulheim, Kevelaer, Goch, Rosrath, Heiligenhaus, Krefeld and Warendorf. Computers, hard drives, gambling machines, nine motorcycles and other belongings were confiscated. The ban applies only to Hells Angels group Concrete City and supporting organization Clan 81 Germany, and not to other Hells Angels groups. In NRW, there are currently 15 Hells Angels clubs, according to information obtained from the LKA (Bureau of Criminal Investigation). With 307 members, they are the third largest biker group in the country. The Bandidos are the largest group with 890 members and there are a total of 2,166 biker group members overall. An LKA report spells out their high potential for violence, both in terms of planned confrontations and spontaneous violent acts. The report says that the use of weapons is likely, especially firearms. An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. bayonel3 at 19-10-2017 10:17 AM (5 years ago) (m) The 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Edo State, on Wednesday said it had arrested seven suspected militants in Benin, the state capital. It explained that the suspects were arrested during a joint operation with other security agencies in the Ekehuan area of the state. The spokesman for the brigade, Capt. Mohammed Maidawa, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, noted that a militant camp was also destroyed during the operation. The 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Edo State, on Wednesday said it had arrested seven suspected militants in Benin, the state capital. It explained that the suspects were arrested during a joint operation with other security agencies in the Ekehuan area of the state. The spokesman for the brigade, Capt. Mohammed Maidawa, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, noted that a militant camp was also destroyed during the operation. During preliminary investigation, three of the suspects confessed to being ex-militants of the militant camp, the statement added. The army further stated that another militant camp was destroyed at Ubaogolo creek, off Benin River, during which several items such as ammunition, charms and military uniforms were recovered. Meanwhile, the army denied reports that its personnel invaded Ajakurama community in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of the state on the invitation of an ex-militant, identified as Ejuene Peres. It described the allegation as malicious and unfounded. It explained that it received credible intelligence that a concentration of militant camps had been established in the community as a result of an onslaught by troops of the Operation Crocodile Smile. Following this discovery, a cordon and search operation was conducted in the area. During the operation, a militant camp, including two buildings belonging to one Felix Idowu, a militant leader, was reportedly destroyed by the troops. The troops also cordoned off and searched a building and a shrine belonging to one Mr. Godwin Namu, who was alleged to be fortifying suspected militants with charms, the statement added. the statement added. The army further stated that another militant camp was destroyed at Ubaogolo creek, off Benin River, during which several items such as ammunition, charms and military uniforms were recovered.Meanwhile, the army denied reports that its personnel invaded Ajakurama community in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of the state on the invitation of an ex-militant, identified as Ejuene Peres. It described the allegation as malicious and unfounded.It explained that it receivedDuring the operation, a militant camp, including two buildings belonging to one Felix Idowu, a militant leader, was reportedly destroyed by the troops.the statement added. Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. [email protected] Posted: at 19-10-2017 10:17 AM (5 years ago) | Hero felicilin at 19-10-2017 10:41 AM (5 years ago) (f) The Peoples Republic of China said it had arrested 3,339 fugitives who fled to Nigeria and 89 other countries to escape prosecution for corruption. The Peoples Republic of China said it had arrested 3,339 fugitives who fled to Nigeria and 89 other countries to escape prosecution for corruption. The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Zhou Pingjian, stated that 628 of the suspects were former officials from whom N468bn (9.36bn yuan) was recovered. The envoy disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a colloquium on the ongoing 19th national congress of the Communist Party of China organised by the Centre for China Studies. Speaking on the theme, Global significance of the 19th CPC National Congress and its implications for Africa, Pingjian noted that the party fought corruption head-on because it was aware that graft remained the greatest threat to its existence. He added that the current CPC leadership launched an aggressive high-profile anti-corruption campaign which according to him brought down a number of high-level officials, known as Tigers and their accomplices at the grassroots level. The diplomat said, More than 70,000 officials, including 42 members or alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, have been investigated for suspected corruption since the 18th national congress. China also worked with the international community to hunt corruption suspects who had fled overseas; 3,339 were captured from more than 90 countries and regions, including Nigeria. About 9.36bn yuan was recovered. The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Zhou Pingjian, stated that 628 of the suspects were former officials from whom N468bn (9.36bn yuan) was recovered.The envoy disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a colloquium on the ongoing 19th national congress of the Communist Party of China organised by the Centre for China Studies.Speaking on the theme,Pingjian noted that the party fought corruption head-on because it was aware that graft remained the greatest threat to its existence.He added that the current CPC leadership launched an aggressive high-profile anti-corruption campaign which according to him brought down a number of high-level officials, known as Tigers and their accomplices at the grassroots level.The diplomat said, Post Reply Posted: at 19-10-2017 10:41 AM (5 years ago) | Hero felicilin at 19-10-2017 03:16 PM (5 years ago) (f) An Italian priest of the Catholic Church, Maurizio Pallu, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Edo State has been released. An Italian priest of the Catholic Church, Maurizio Pallu, who was kidnapped by gunmen in Edo State has been released. Pallu regained his freedom at about 4 am on Wednesday, after spending five days in the kidnappers den. It was gathered that the priest flew out of the country shortly after he was released. The Catholic Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Ndagoso Manoso, confirmed the release to reporters on Thursday. Manoso said that the Italian Government had been informed about the development. I spoke with him but I have not asked him about the location. But he has been flown out of the country. So, I am yet to be fully briefed; those who were with him will brief me later on. He was in high spirit and that is all I can say, he added. The 63-year-old priest had on October 12 abducted by armed men in Benin, the state capital. He was said to be travelling to Benin in the company of some members of his community in Kaduna when he and two others were whisked away by the abductors. The gunmen were reported to have robbed the travellers before taking their victims away to a forest. They were also said to have demanded an undisclosed amount as ransom. Manoso, however, dismissed the possibility of a financial negotiation before the priest was set free. Pallu regained his freedom at about 4 am on Wednesday, after spending five days in the kidnappers den.It was gathered that the priest flew out of the country shortly after he was released.The Catholic Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Ndagoso Manoso, confirmed the release to reporters on Thursday.Manoso said that the Italian Government had been informed about the development.he added.The 63-year-old priest had on October 12 abducted by armed men in Benin, the state capital.He was said to be travelling to Benin in the company of some members of his community in Kaduna when he and two others were whisked away by the abductors.The gunmen were reported to have robbed the travellers before taking their victims away to a forest.They were also said to have demanded an undisclosed amount as ransom.Manoso, however, dismissed the possibility of a financial negotiation before the priest was set free. Post Reply Posted: at 19-10-2017 03:16 PM (5 years ago) | Hero TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asian Mineral Resources Limited (AMR or the Company) (TSXV:ASN) today announces that its Board of Directors (the Board) has initiated a strategic review process to explore its options with regard to the Ban Phuc Nickel Mine in Vietnam with the goal of enhancing shareholder value. Through its 90%-owned Ban Phuc Nickel Mines (BPNM) subsidiary in Vietnam, AMR holds an attractive tenement package of 150km2, including 49.7km2 of exploration licenses, which contains the Ban Phuc nickel, copper, and cobalt sulphide deposit, mine, and processing centre. The Ban Phuc deposit generated annual production of up to 10,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate and was mined from 2013 until late 2016, when operations were placed into a care and maintenance status due to low nickel prices. Since then, AMR has been focused on near and mid-term growth opportunities to increase shareholder value. A number of initiatives are ongoing and under consideration, but highlights include: Review of exploration potential on large tonnage, lower grade bulk disseminated sulphide resource (see the Companys technical report entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report Ta Khoa Concession dated March 3, 2017 which is available on SEDAR and the AMR website). Review of exploration potential for massive sulphide vein expansion with twenty-five mapped nickel sulphide prospects, including several less than 3km from existing processing centre. Supporting infrastructure at BPNM is still in place and well maintained including an internationally-designed 450 ktpa processing plant (high historical recoveries of up to 87% Ni, 95% Cu, 90% Co), a fully-permitted tailings facility (with expansion options), workshops, fabrication, and maintenance facilities, and a modern 250-person camp, all supported by circa 98% local workforce, ready to restart operations. Detailed engineering study complete for an in-country nickel smelter, which would benefit from greatly reduced export tariffs on nickel matte. Execution of Net Smelter Royalty Agreement with Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. (TSXV:KBLT), and discussions with interested offtake partners and strategic investors, both local and international. AMRs Board notes that the nickel price has been reinvigorated by the improving outlook for electric vehicle (EV) penetration due to its use in several types of lithium-ion batteries, in addition to the ongoing reduction in regional southeast Asian output caused by environmental regulations, making high-grade sulphide material a premium product amongst other lower-grade sources of nickel, and its cobalt byproduct is likely to be of significant strategic interest in the EV revolution. AMRs Board is actively considering a number of strategic opportunities, which would further leverage the Company to the EV and battery metal theme. This strategic review process is expected to be concluded by the end of 2017. It may result in a variety of outcomes or no outcome at all, and there can be no assurance that the Company will pursue or execute any specific action or transaction during this period. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not currently intend to disclose further developments with respect to this process unless and until the Board reviews and approves the outcome of this review together with recommendations. Parties interested in engaging with the Company regarding any potential transaction involving the Company should contact Duncan T. Blount, Chief Executive Officer at D.Blount@asianmineralres.com or by phone at +1 (305) 890-6516. ABOUT AMR AMR owns and operates a nickel mine with historical nickel sulphide production, and is exploring for additional high-grade nickel assets in Vietnam. AMR commenced commercial production from its 90%-owned Ban Phuc Nickel Mine in Vietnam in mid-2013. As of 30 June 2016, the Ban Phuc Nickel Mine has produced a total of c. 20,000 tonnes of nickel and c. 10,000 tonnes of copper contained in concentrate, plus a cobalt by-product since the beginning of its mine life. Mining and processing operations at Ban Phuc were suspended in September 2016 and operations were transitioned to a care and maintenance scenario. In addition to in and near-mine expansion projects, Ban Phuc provides a platform from which AMR can continue to focus on developing a new nickel camp within its 150km2 of concessions located throughout the highly-prolific Song Da rift zone, where AMR has a number of advanced-stage nickel exploration targets. For further details on AMR, please refer to the technical report entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report Ban Phuc Nickel Project dated February 15, 2013 and the technical report entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report Ta Khoa Concession dated March 3, 2017, both available on SEDAR or the AMR website www.asianmineralres.com. For further information: Paula Kember Chief Financial Officer Telephone: +1 (416) 360-3412 Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain Forward-Looking Statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including without limitation, statements regarding the future exploration and development of AMRs projects, potential mineralization, exploration results and future plans and objectives of AMR are forward-looking statements. As noted, there can be no assurance that the strategic review process that is the subject of this release will result in any transaction. Except as required by applicable securities law, the Company does not currently intend to disclose further developments with respect to this process, unless and until its Board of Directors approves a specific transaction or otherwise concludes the review of strategic alternatives. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of AMR to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AMRs expectations are disclosed under the heading Risk Factors in AMRs Annual Information Form, and elsewhere in AMRs documents filed from time-to-time with the TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory authorities. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including: that contracted parties provide goods and/or services on the agreed timeframes; that on-going contractual negotiations will be successful and progress and/or be completed in a timely manner; that application for permits and licences will be granted/obtained in a timely manner; that no unusual geological or technical problems occur; that plant and equipment work as anticipated and that there is no material adverse change in the price of nickel. Although AMR 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. AMR disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. 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 due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The scientific and technical information in this press release has been compiled and approved by Darryl Mapleson (BSc (Hons), FAusIMM) who is a Geologist retained by Asian Mineral Resources Limited and a Competent Person as defined by JORC guidelines and a Qualified Person for NI 43-101. He has been engaged by Asian Mineral Resources Limited as an independent consultant. Neither the 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. On George Washington High School choir teacher Lee Ann Sheridans classroom wall above the whiteboard and surrounded by diagrams of music tones, class notes and posters of music programs at area colleges is a picture of the Washington National Cathedral. The picture is a reminder that choir members have a chance to perform later this year at one of the most famous churches in the country as part of a three-day music program with the Manhattan Concert Productions performance group. But it all depends on whether they can raise the cash needed to make the trip to the event in Washington, D.C. This opportunity will undoubtedly enhance their growth as musicians, Sheridan said. She submitted a video performance by the Singing Eagles last year as an audition tape, and the choir was one of a handful selected to perform at the event. Choir member and GWHS senior Leondria Davis said she was honored for the choir to be chosen. Every school doesnt get selected, Davis said. It is the best of the best. GWHS sophomore Decaria Clayborne said she was excited to be able to show off a positive and enriching aspect of the high school for the entire community. Maybe we can influence other people to join the choir, she added. It also shows our passion for music. To help raise the $739-per-person cost for the trip, the Singing Eagles have been washing cars, selling donuts and hosting a stew cooking event. Sheridan said the choir will be learning and performing Frostiana a 1959 chorus composition based on the works of American poet Robert Frost. Clayborne said students will first learn the music under the direction of Sheridan, and then the concerts guest conductor will help them get in sync with other students before the April performance. The students also will be able to sight-see around the U.S. Capitol during the day, and additionally have the opportunity to attend singing workshops as part of the event. Sheridan said she personally attended the cathedral as part of a hand bell group performance years ago. So, when she saw where the concert would be held, she jumped at the chance for her students to experience the same majestic venue. Thats what drew me to this, she said. I thought what an awesome opportunity for my students to sing in that space. Along with the fundraisers the students also are asking for the entire communitys help. I know its a huge goal and its out of reach for most of these kids, but I also believe that there are people in this community that want to support things they know are good for young people, Sheridan said. Businesses and individuals interested in sponsoring students can contact Sheridan at lsherida@mail.dps.k12.va.us. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auryn Resources Inc. (TSX:AUG) (NYSE American:AUG) (Auryn or the Company) is pleased to announce new mineralization discovered at the Inuk prospect at its Committee Bay Gold Project located in Nunavut, Canada. Auryn intercepted 25 meters of 1.15g/t Au (including 3.05 meters of 4.13g/t Au) 400 meters away from the historic intercept of 12.6 meters of 16.04 g/t Au in hole INR003 within sulphidized banded iron formation. This hole extends the mineralized system considerably and demonstrates significant widths of mineralization under barren intrusive rocks that were not previously tested (Figure 1). This is the third area drilled at Committee Bay during 2017 to yield positive results and warrant further exploration. Illustrates the drilling at the Inuk prospect from the 2017 summer drill program. Mineralization has been extended 400 meters to the northeast from known high-grade historical drilling. Importantly, Auryn has identified a prominent through-going shear zone as the primary target at the prospect that was spatially associated with historical high-grade mineralization. Illustrates the geological interpretation from the Inuk prospect on a 3d magnetics inversion background. Section A-A illustrates the position of historical high-grade mineralization in drilling at the interaction of the synclinal fold structure and through-going shear zone. Section B-B illustrates mineralization intersected within the fold structure 150 meters to the north of the shear zone. The target zone for a follow-up drill program is highlighted by the black polygon. Illustrates the targets that have been drilled at the Committee Bay Gold project. Results that have been reported our highlighted by the yellow text boxes. News release Highlights: Intercepted 25 meters of 1.15g/t Au (including 3.05 meters of 4.13g/t Au) 400 meters along strike from the historic intercept of 12.6 meters of 16.04 g/t Au at the Inuk prospect. 31% of holes still to be reported from the Committee Bay drilling, including results from Kinng Gold, Kinng Mountain, Mist, Koffy targets in the northeast portion of the belt. Results are pending from 37 holes (14,811 meters) drilled at the Companys Homestake Ridge Project in the Golden Triangle, British Columbia. Targets tested included South Reef and the Homestake Main zone extension. Committee Bay follow up drilling to resume in March at the Aiviq discovery and the Three Bluffs deposit. Michael Henrichsen, Chief Geologist and COO commented, We are very pleased to have hit the broad intervals of consistent mineralization at our Inuk target. We have extended the mineralized system by 400 meters to the northeast under an intrusive cover rock sequence and glacial till. Our understanding of the geology of the Inuk prospect is at an early stage but we are highly encouraged at the strength of sulphidation and gold mineralization within banded iron formations over 10s of meters. Inuk Results The mineralization encountered from the recent drilling at Inuk is believed to be associated with the interaction of a regional fold and a fault zone that truncates it (Figure 1). Historical core drilling at Inuk was confined to an area 150 meters by 100 meters with intercepts up to 12.6 meters of 16.04 g/t Au. Similarly, this high-grade mineralization was located near the intersection of the regional fold and through-going fault zone (Figure 2a). The Inuk target area is defined by a 2.5 km long magnetic structure which remains untested at depth and open along strike (Figure 2b). Auryn believes that the mineralization encountered in the northern limb of the fold could be indicative of a much stronger system within the fault zone. Importantly, holes 17INR006 and 17INR007 were drilled to cross the target shear zone, however neither hole adequately tested the target. Drill hole 17INR006 is interpreted to have not crossed the shear zone and 17INR007 drilled through a barren intrusive sill. Rotary Air Blast (RAB) Drilling Results (69% Reported 31% Pending): To date, the Company has received complete results from the Aiviq, Kalulik, West Plains, Ziggy South, Avinngaq, Aarluk, Four Hills, Inuk, Quartzite Ridge, Castle Rock and Tuugaalik prospects representing 69% of the drill program (Figure 3). Significant intercepts from the Inuk, Quartzite Ridge, Castle Rock, and Tuugaalik prospects are reported in the table below. Table 1: Significant Intercepts - RAB 2017 Prospect Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Inuk 17INR001* 39.62 41.15 1.53 0.78 57.91 79.25 21.34 0.71 including 60.96 62.48 1.52 3.50 17INR002 108.20 109.73 1.53 0.85 17INR003 47.24 73.15 25.91 1.15 including 54.86 57.91 3.05 4.13 including 62.48 64.01 1.53 1.71 including 67.06 70.10 3.04 1.70 88.39 96.01 7.62 0.56 102.11 103.63 1.52 0.35 17INR004 59.44 65.53 6.09 2.78 17INR005 50.29 53.34 3.05 0.48 59.44 60.96 1.52 0.29 85.34 94.49 9.15 0.20 17INR006 173.74 175.26 1.52 0.63 17INR009 79.25 80.77 1.52 0.30 89.92 100.58 10.66 0.24 Quartzite Ridge 17QRR002 185.93 187.45 1.52 0.26 17QRR005 22.86 24.38 1.52 0.27 96.01 97.54 1.53 0.94 123.44 124.97 1.53 0.33 131.06 132.59 1.53 0.61 Castle Rock 17CRR007 50.29 51.82 1.53 3.07 17CRR007 64.01 65.53 1.52 0.26 Tuugaalik 17TGR001 188.98 190.5 1.52 0.25 17TGR003 28.96 38.1 9.14 0.32 17TGR004 10.67 12.19 1.52 0.49 * Hole lost in mineralization ** True widths of mineralization are unknown based on current geometric understanding of the mineralized intervals. Homestake Ridge Update Auryn has completed 14,811 meters in 37 drill holes (with all results pending) at the Homestake Ridge project (last hole was drilled as of October 12th, 2017). Numerous drill holes have encountered geological features consistent with gold and silver mineralization at both the South Reef prospect and the Homestake Main extension. Committee Bay Follow up planned for March 2018 Auryn plans to undertake both discovery expansion drilling at the Aiviq prospect and deposit expansion drilling at the Three Bluffs deposit in a planned 10,000 meter drill program in March 2018. Shawn Wallace, President and CEO, stated, We now have a minimum of three targets in addition to the Three Bluffs deposit at Committee Bay that will warrant follow-up and expansion drill programs in 2018. With seven targets from Committee Bay still pending, the scope of that program could be expanded. We look forward to mobilizing drill rigs in March to further test the Aiviq discovery and commence extending the Three Bluffs deposit. We are also waiting with great anticipation for the results from Homestake Ridge and the commencement of drilling in Peru, starting at our Huilacollo Project. Mr. Wallace further stated, This is the first year that our portfolio will be active through the winter months, generating additional results from drill programs soon to be underway. We have, much like the rest of the industry, been burdened with slower than expected assay turnaround but are due to see the first holes from Homestake Ridge later in October." Michael Henrichsen, P.Geo, COO of Auryn, is the Qualified Person who assumes responsibility for the technical disclosures in this press release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF Auryn Resources Inc. Shawn Wallace President and CEO For further information on Auryn Resources Inc., please contact Jay Adelaar, Vice-President of Investor Relations at (778) 729-0600 or info@aurynresources.com About Auryn Auryn Resources is a technically driven junior mining exploration company focused on delivering shareholder value through project acquisition and development. The Companys management team is highly experienced with an impressive track record of success and has assembled an extensive technical team as well as a premier gold exploration portfolio. Auryn is focused on scalable high-grade gold deposits in established mining jurisdictions, which include the Committee Bay and Gibson MacQuoid gold projects located in Nunavut, the Homestake Ridge gold project in British Columbia and a portfolio of gold projects in southern Peru, through Corisur Peru SAC. Forward Looking Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is information that includes implied future performance and/or forecast information including information relating to, or associated with the acquisition and title to mineral concessions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different (either positively or negatively) from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers should refer to the risks discussed in the Companys Annual Information Form and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2016 and subsequent continuous disclosure filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and the Companys registration statement on Form 40-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Committee Bay RAB Drilling QA/QC Disclosure Intercepts were calculated using a minimum of a 0.25 g/t Au cut off at beginning and end of the intercept and allowing for no more than four consecutive samples (six meters) of less than 0.25 g/t Au. Analytical samples were taken using 1/8 of each 5ft (1.52m) interval material (chips) and sent to ALS Lab in Yellowknife, NWT and Vancouver, BC for preparation and then to ALS Lab in Vancouver, BC for analysis. All samples are assayed using 30g nominal weight fire assay with atomic absorption finish (Au-AA25) and multi-element four acid digest ICP-AES/ICP-MS method (ME-MS61). QA/QC programs using internal standard samples, field and lab duplicates and blanks indicate good accuracy and precision in a large majority of standards assayed. Disclaimer The Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a9f6a625-3ff4-49e8-9fbe-d132ec35c498 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b55cbcd8-0c11-490d-8fac-6573e150a2e8 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5c5a59ee-d7da-49a6-9cff-f2274b521810 VANCOUVER, Oct. 19, 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. These assay results confirm that the outcrops discovered during the program are lithium-bearing (see press release dated August 31, 2017) and are related to one or more pegmatites. One of these outcrops exhibited some evidence of past work but had not been mapped. These discoveries are in addition to the untested, mapped pegmatites in the immediate vicinity of the main resource area; the results of which were announced on October 10, 2017. A total of eight (8) grab samples were collected from new discoveries; the assay results from these grab samples are presented in the following table: Area Sample Number Lithium Oxide (Li2O) % Nama Creek New Discovery 881763 0.59 Nama Creek New Discovery 881708 1.02 Nama Creek New Discovery 881709 1.49 Nama Creek New Discovery 881710 1.55 Nama Creek New Discovery 881711 1.68 Nama Creek New Discovery 881764 1.89 Nama Creek New Discovery 881712 1.99 Nama Creek New Discovery 881713 2.12 Martin Stephan, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Tech, commented, "The field program has successfully led to the development of several new targets for further exploration. We have discovered three new lithium-bearing outcrops adjacent to the main resource zone in the past year and have confirmed that other known pegmatites in the immediate vicinity are, in fact, lithium-bearing. These new discoveries and targets clearly show the potential for growth at the Georgia Lake lithium property and we are now planning follow up trenching and channeling to gain a greater understanding of the dimensions of these lithium-bearing pegmatites." 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. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 19, 2017) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Further to Revival Gold Inc.'s (TSX VENTURE:RVG) ("Revival" or the "Company") press releases dated September 7, 2017 and October 2, 2017, the Company announces today the closing of its private placement financing (the "Private Placement"). The Private Placement consisted of the sale of 15,033,900 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of $0.60 per Unit for the gross proceeds of $9,020,340. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a "Share") and one half of a share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant is exercisable into one Share at a price of $0.90 per Share for 24 months following the closing of the Private Placement. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement to fund exploration activities at the former producing Beartrack Gold Project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. In connection with the Private Placement, Revival also announces the formation of a strategic relationship (the "Strategic Relationship") with Orion Mine Finance ("Orion"), and the purchase by Orion of 4,167,000 Units of the Private Placement. Under the terms of the Strategic Relationship, Orion and Revival have agreed to collaborate and enter into good faith negotiations on Revival's future funding requirements, including acquisition and development financing, equal to or greater than US$25 million. "Revival is now fully funded to complete 13,000 meters of planned core drilling this season and next at Beartrack and Arnett Creek", said Hugh Agro, President & CEO. "Results from an initial 3,000 meters of drilling currently underway at Beartrack are expected by the end of January with the objectives being to begin the assessment of near surface oxide potential and to follow-up on prior high-grade drill intercepts at depth". Mr. Agro went on to say, "The high quality group of incoming new institutional shareholders, and Revival's Strategic Relationship with Orion in particular, builds on the Company's strong foundation for future growth". A portion of the Private Placement was completed by Medalist Capital Ltd. and PI Financial Corp. (collectively the "Agents") on a brokered basis. A commission was paid to the Agents which included the cash payment of $132,541 and the issuance to the Agents of 220,902 agent's warrants exercisable into Shares at $0.60 per Share for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Private Placement. Additionally, the Company paid a commission on a non-brokered portion of the Private Placement to a finder. The commission paid to the finder consisted of a cash payment of $166,212 and the issuance to the finder of 277,020 finder's warrants exercisable into Shares at $0.60 per share for a period of 24 months following closing of the Private Placement. In connection with the Private Placement, Hugh Agro, President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company, Michael Mansfield, a Director of the Company, and Steven T. Priesmeyer, Vice President, Exploration of the Company (collectively "Insiders") have acquired 253,334 Units in the aggregate. This issuance of Units to Insiders is considered a "related party transaction" as such term is defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under MI 61-101 on the basis that participation in the Offering by Insiders does not exceed 25% of the fair market value of the Company's market capitalization. Strategic Relationship Orion's subscription of Units in Revival provides that, until December 31, 2019, in the event of: (i) a proposed acquisition of a new project or entity by the Company; or (ii) the development of any existing project of the Company, and such acquisition or development has a value equal to or greater than US$25 million (a "Subject Transaction"), the parties will enter into good faith negotiations over a 15-day exclusive period regarding the terms of financing for the Subject Transaction (the "Orion Acquisition or Development Financing"). Any such Orion Acquisition or Development Financing will consist of a mix of debt, equity, or metal streaming, with the specific allocation and terms to be determined at the time of negotiation of such financing, subject to the intended use of funds and to agreement by the parties. Early Warning Reports As part of the Private Placement, Orion has acquired, through Orion Mine Finance II LP, a limited partnership managed by Orion Mine Finance Management II Limited, 4,167,000 Units at a price of $0.60 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of $2,500,200, making its holdings in the Company 6,250,500 Shares (assuming the exercise in full of the Warrants) or approximately 14.6% of the total issued and outstanding Shares on the partially diluted basis. Prior to the Private Placement Orion held no securities of the Company. Mr. Hugh Agro, President, CEO and a director of the Company is an insider of the Company as the term is defined by in applicable Canadian securities legislation. Immediately prior to the Private Placement, Mr. Agro directly or indirectly held 2,742,726 or approximately 12.3% of the then issued and outstanding Shares. As part of the Private Placement, Mr. Agro acquired 150,000 Units. Following the completion of the Private Placement, Mr. Agro holds 3,454,477 Shares (assuming the exercise in full of all convertible securities beneficially held by Mr. Agro, including the Warrants) or approximately 8.4% of the total number of issued and outstanding Shares, on a partially diluted basis. The Units were acquired by Orion and Mr. Agro for investment purposes, and depending on market and other conditions, Orion and Mr. Agro may from time to time in the future increase or decrease their respective ownerships, control or direction over securities of the Company through market transactions, private agreements, or otherwise. For the purposes of this notice, the address of Orion is 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 3000, New York, NY 10036, USA and the address of Mr. Agro is 145 King St. W - Suite 2870 Toronto, Ontario, M5H 1J8. In satisfaction of the requirements of the National Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids And Issuer Bids and National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, early warning reports respecting the acquisition of Units by Orion and by Mr. Agro will be filed under the Company's SEDAR Profile at www.sedar.com. A copy of the early warning report regarding Orion's acquisition can be obtained by contacting Rick Gashler at 212-596-3497 and a copy of the early warning report regarding Mr. Agro's acquisition can be obtained by contacting the Company. Revival currently has 40,761,735 Shares outstanding. The securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to a four month and one-day statutory hold period. Steven T. Priesmeyer, B.Sc., M.Sc., C.P.G., Vice-President Exploration, Revival Gold Inc., is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed and approved its scientific and technical content. About Revival Gold Inc. Revival Gold Inc. is a growth focused gold exploration and development company. The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in Meridian Beartrack Co., owner of the Beartrack Gold Project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. Revival also owns rights to a 100% interest in the neighbouring Arnett Creek Gold Project. In addition to its interests in Beartrack and Arnett Creek, the Company is pursuing other gold exploration and development opportunities and holds a 51% interest in the Diamond Mountain Phosphate Project located in Uintah County, Utah. Additional disclosure of the Company's financial statements, technical reports, material change reports, news releases and other information can be obtained at www.revival-gold.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. For further information, please visit www.revival-gold.com. About Orion Mine Finance Orion Mine Finance is a mining-focused investment business specializing in providing flexible capital investment solutions to mining companies in the base and precious metals sectors. Orion has demonstrated capability in debt, equity, convertibles, offtake, streaming and royalty investments. In addition, the Orion team has experience in the physical metals markets, such as facilitating the purchase, metal financing, transporting, processing and selling of a mines output to end customers. For further information, please visit www.orionminefinance.com. Cautionary Statement Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. The Supreme Court is poised in its 2017 term to decide several key cases that will have a major impact on the working conditions Americans face. Now that Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's ultra-conservative, pro-corporate appointee, has joined the court, most analysts are predicting losses for workers' ability to take collective action.People need to be able to band together to get a fair shake in their dealings with powerful corporations and large government bureaucracies, yet the Supreme Court is likely to make it much harder for them to do so by distorting existing laws and engaging in pro-corporate judicial activism. These cases should serve as a call to action for policymakers -- especially those at the state and local level of government -- to assert that workers have the right to join together to improve their workplaces and communities.This term, the court will decide whether employers can force employees to sign away their right to sue in class-action or collective lawsuits. If it decides in favor of employers, many workers will have to use a private arbitration system -- a system in which employers win four out of five cases -- to settle such issues as whether a company has discriminated against women and minorities or failed to pay overtime. Individual workers would be very unlikely to be able to go to court, as the costs of legal representation is often more than the harm to any single victim. If the Supreme Court sides with large employers, it would overturn key parts of the 1935 law that codified workers' rights to take collective action.In another critical case,, the court will decide whether the fee that public-sector unions charge non-members who benefit from the union's bargaining over pay, benefits and other issues is legal. Unions bargain for and represent all workers in a unionized workplace -- whether they are members or not -- and so they charge a fee to non-members to cover their costs, a practice that courts have upheld many times. The Supreme Court now appears poised to allow free-riders to gain benefits of union membership without having to pay the costs of representation, a decision that could further decimate union finances and undermine the ability of workers to improve their working conditions.Underlying these latest threats is the fact that over the past four decades, Americans have lost power and control over major aspects of their working lives. The courts and especially Congress have tilted the balance of power in favor of corporations and the rich so that no matter how the Supreme Court rules on these cases, the deck will still be stacked against people who work.This has all occurred as the nature of the employer-employee relationship has undergone profound changes. The percentage of workers now in "alternative work arrangements" -- working at temporary help agencies, on call, at contract firms or as independent contractors -- has increased sharply, from 10.7 percent in February 2005 to 15.8 percent in late 2015. And the percentage of workers in unions has plummeted from 24 percent in 1973 to less than 11 percent this year.Tellingly, per-capita GDP has roughly doubled since 1970, but workers' wages have effectively stagnated over this period. Meanwhile, the share of the nation's income going to the top 1 percent, as well as corporate profits, have hit near-record levels. All that money has helped those at the top gain much greater control of government.Congress is primarily to blame for this shift in power. Taken with its actions to cut taxes on the wealthy, encourage outsourcing and enable Wall Street speculation, as well as its failures to raise the minimum wage, strengthen workers' union rights or promote full employment, Congress has actively crippled the power of American workers.But the courts have been part of the problem as well. With a series of campaign-finance decisions culminating in, the Supreme Court enabled unlimited political contributions from corporations. And several warped interpretations of union laws have made it harder for workers to exercise their rights or for states to impose standards stronger than those set by the federal government.Going forward, state and local policymakers have the opportunity to lead the way in putting people who work on a more even footing with their employers. Policymakers should step up and develop new ways for workers to take collective action . They could, for example, build on the wage board that New York state used to raise fast-food workers' pay to $15 an hour, or Seattle's new law to help gig workers unionize . Even though this Supreme Court term could be very bad for people who work, some good can come if state and local policymakers seize the opportunity to chart a path forward. As President Donald Trump signals impatience to wind down emergency aid to Puerto Rico, the challenges wrought by Hurricane Maria to the health of Puerto Ricans and the islands fragile health system are in many ways just beginning.Three weeks after that direct hit, nearly four dozen deaths are associated with the storm. But the true toll on Puerto Ricos 3.4 million residents is likely to involve sickness and loss of life that will only become apparent in the coming months and in indirect ways.As victims continue to be found and stranded people reached, it will take time to assess the consequences of their missed care or undertreatment.The situation in Puerto Ricos health system is far more vulnerable than those in Texas or Florida, which also weathered hurricanes this fall medically, economically and politically. A month after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, only about half of the final official fatalities had been tallied.Puerto Rico has a higher rate of diabetes than any state, according to 2015 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of the islands population depends on Medicaid. And, unlike in the States, Puerto Ricos Medicaid system receives a fixed amount to meet residents needs, a pot of money that could run dry next month, said Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Ricos delegate to Congress.Weve had a fiscal crisis, a Medicaid funding cliff, Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria we are being hit from every angle, she said.Orlando Gutierrez, an associate professor of nephrology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a board member of the American Kidney Fund, said Puerto Rico is the perfect storm for a disaster.The Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed food and water to help stave off disease or dehydration, relief workers have prioritized efforts to get hospitals and other health facilities operating again, and the Navy dispatched the hospital ship USNS Comfort, which has 250 beds.Coordinated efforts to deliver fuel, water and medications to health facilities have allowed some to reopen. As of Oct. 12, federal emergency officials said nearly all Puerto Rican hospitals were open, although some are still dependent on generators. The Puerto Rican government said electricity has been restored to more than half of the hospitals. Nearly all of the dialysis centers are operating now, though many patients have missed treatments.But Katia Leon, deputy director of primary care for the Association of Primary Care in Puerto Rico, said she believes the populations health has worsened since the storm hit. Cases of diarrhea, pink eye and skin rashes are appearing in larger numbers, she said, and health officials are concerned about infections from contaminated water.The potential for outbreaks means it is now more important than ever to keep clinics open, Leon said, even though the operating costs are likely to be high.We are talking about a situation that is going to continue in the long term because this is a crisis without precedent, she said.Many residents are still unable to get to clinics or health centers for their chronic health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease. Diabetes test strips and dialysis equipment have been in short supply since the storm. Patients went days or weeks without medication and treatment. Nutritious food and working refrigerators to store it in are scarce.Some medicines are in tight supply or require arduous travel to secure.Slow gains to provide electricity threaten patients on dialysis, who rely on power to filter their blood and survive. And mental trauma caused by the storm will linger long after buildings are reconstructed.In addition, Puerto Rico was already facing a significant brain drain, as many young professionals, including doctors, moved to the U.S. mainland, said Andrew Schroeder, who works for DirectRelief, a private charity that has been coordinating shipments of medical supplies to the island. It will be an uphill battle to persuade these doctors and other health specialists to stay on the island now.Hospitals and health clinics are working hard to get back to speed. Eddie Perez-Caban, the executive director of the Camuy Health Services clinic on the western side of Puerto Rico, said he was astonished after making the 25-minute commute through downed wires and fallen electric poles the day after Maria hit. He found a damaged roof, a broken air conditioning system and no electricity or running water and about 75 of his employees ready to work. Five days later, the clinic opened with running water and AC and light powered by a generator.For so many people to show up truthfully, it filled me with a lot of satisfaction to work with a group of people that have that commitment to the community and the patients we serve, he said.Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have proposed allotting an additional $1 billion for Puerto Ricos Medicaid program to resupply its coffers as part of a bill that would extend the Childrens Health Insurance Program. But the legislation has been stalled in committee.Puerto Ricos program is different than those in the States. While states receive open-ended federal funding, Puerto Ricos annual funding amount is capped typically at more than $300 million. Nearly half of the islands residents rely on the program for coverage. If the money runs out, as many as 900,000 beneficiaries could lose their health coverage, according to estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration.Another bill under consideration in Congress could offer Puerto Rico millions of dollars in disaster relief, an effort that has broad support. More than 6 in 10 Americans said Puerto Rico isnt getting all the help it needs yet, and more than half said the emergency response has been too slow, with the federal government not doing enough to restore electricity and access to food and water, according to a poll released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)In Puerto Rico, most of the roughly four dozen dialysis centers are now seeing patients, though that service is dependent on getting shipments of fuel to power generators and water and dialysis solution for the treatments. Some clinics are shortening their hours and the time of treatment. Instead of four-hour treatments, patients are receiving only three hours of dialysis, which saves on staffing time, supplies and use of generators.Mike Spigler, an official with the American Kidney Fund, who is handling some of the emergency response for kidney patients on the island, describes the situation as tenuous.In the short term, patients can function without dialysis, or with limited treatments. But as time goes on, the risk of heart failure and stroke begins to climb.Schroeder also said he is worried about mental health services, which often get lower priority than food and shelter after a storm. He said people are traumatized and, without counseling, anxiety and depression could become major public problems. Multiple news outlets report that two of the islands 34 total deaths attributed to the hurricane were suicides.Older residents of the island are particularly vulnerable to mental trauma in the aftermath of the storm, said Jose Acaron, the director of the Puerto Rican branch of AARP. Approximately 1.2 million people in Puerto Rico are 50 or older, Acaron said. Many of them live outside of traditional nursing homes or independent living facilities, making them harder to reach.We still have a lot of challenges to overcome before things can go back to normal, said Acaron. But a return to normal is not going back to where we were before the hurricane. Its a new normal. This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. he state has streamlined the process for someone to become a substance abuse counselor as Vermont continues to address the opioid addiction crisis, Republican Gov. Phil Scott says.The changes simplify the educational requirements and relieve professionals from unnecessary documentation, officials said. The new rules also are mostly compatible with other states' rules so out-of-state clinicians can work in Vermont, they said."Getting the opioid crisis right is a matter of life and death. It's life and death," said Kurt White, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with the Brattleboro Retreat, a mental health and addictions treatment center in Brattleboro. "And this administrative rule helps us to do that because it helps us to increase access to treatment for those who need it."While state officials didn't know how many more alcohol and drug abuse counselors were needed, Scott said estimates suggest 100 to 200. The state has 693 such counselors, including apprentice addiction professionals, alcohol and drug counselors and licensed alcohol and drug counselors. Facing a broad audience for the final time before next month's gubernatorial election, Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Democratic nominee Phil Murphy on Wednesday night revived the acrimony between them in their last debate and presented voters with drastically different visions for the future.Guadagno insisted repeatedly that she would lower taxes in New Jersey and that Murphy would raise them. She calculated a multitude of promises Murphy has made during the campaign to run between $50 billion and $65 billion, all of it to be borne by taxpayers. And she appeared to enjoy needling the former Goldman Sachs executive for his wealth and for not directly answering certain questions.Murphy, who is leading polls in the race by double digits, did not seem to be as fazed by Guadagno's jabs as he was by what he said were her factual inaccuracies on his policies and positions. He often shook his head as she spoke, asked the debate moderators to set a baseline for facts, and at one point turned to Guadagno and said, "Youve left the middle class behind and now youve left the truth behind."The tension between the two major-party candidates was cut by light, sometimes silly moments. They were asked to name their favorite fruits and vegetables grapefruit and broccoli for Murphy, Jersey tomatoes and cranberries for Guadagno. Guadagno was asked whether she would consider naming her boss, Gov. Chris Christie, to the U.S. Senate should U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez resign. "No," she said emphatically. A Juneau Superior Court judge's ruling Tuesday could pave the way for Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, to run in the state Democratic Party's primary and get the party's support for his re-election campaign next year.Judge Philip Pallenberg, in a 33-page decision published Tuesday morning, invalidated a state law barring independent candidates from contesting partisan primaries.The Alaska Democratic Party had sued to overturn the law, arguing that it unconstitutionally restricted the party's freedom to associate with its favored candidates.Pallenberg agreed, writing that political parties' ability to run their chosen nominees, regardless of party affiliation, is an "essential associational right" established by the U.S. Supreme Court.Pallenberg dismissed the state's three arguments for restricting that right -- avoiding voter confusion, ensuring that groups that get recognized party status have a baseline level of support and preserving the political system's stability -- as "vague and abstract," "simply irrelevant" and an unsupported "doomsday vision."The decision could allow Walker to keep his unaffiliated status and run in the Democratic primary, if he chooses to do so. A victory in the primary would give Walker access to party infrastructure such as staff, voter data and volunteers that could be critical to defeating a Republican challenger.Walker, whose lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott, is a Democrat, has not said whether he would seek the Democratic nomination if the law allowed him to. A spokeswoman for Walker's campaign, Lindsay Hobson, declined to comment Tuesday, pointing to the possibility that the state could appeal the case to the Alaska Supreme Court.Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, who will make the appeal decision, works for Walker. But Lindemuth will break from routine by deciding on the appeal unilaterally, without input from other members of the Walker administration or Walker himself, "because this has political implications," said Cori Mills, a spokeswoman for Lindemuth.That decision will come after a standard legal analysis and could take "several weeks," Mills said.The Democrats' lawsuit originally stems not from Walker's re-election campaign but from the 2016 election, when independent Margaret Stock wanted to compete for the party's support in her campaign for U.S. Senate.Stock had backing from many Democratic leaders. But an initial lawsuit filed by the party to allow her to participate in its primary was rejected by a different judge, who said the case was premature because Democrats hadn't adopted their own internal rule to open their primary to non-members.The party subsequently made that change at its 2016 state convention and filed its second lawsuit in February.Tuesday's ruling will allow independent candidates with "shared values" with the Democrats to compete for the party's support and "continue to be genuine," said Executive Director Jay Parmley."This was never about the governor," Parmley said in a phone interview from the Seattle airport, where he was on his way to Las Vegas for national party meetings. "We're just giving people an option -- if you wish to have the Democratic Party's support and you're not a Democrat, you can run in our primary, win our nomination and have the support."Parmley said he expected that party officials would ultimately recruit independent candidates to participate in the Democratic primary, though he added: "It's not like I've got a list of them on my wall."Two independents in the Alaska House caucus with the mostly Democratic majority there: Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan and Jason Grenn of Anchorage.Grenn said in a brief phone interview Tuesday that he'd just learned of the decision and hadn't given much thought to running in the Democratic primary -- though he also didn't rule out the idea."I'll look at it and see how it affects me, but I don't see it changing my strategy or my path right now," he said. "I was not following the case with bated breath."Pallenberg's decision, if it stands, could allow Democrats to nominate candidates who are more competitive in the general election, said Forrest Nabors, associate professor of political science at the University of Alaska Anchorage.Parties always have to balance appeals to their die-hard supporters and to the "broader Alaska citizenry," Nabors said -- and hardcore Democrats may not be excited about the party's move to open its primaries to independent candidates.But in Alaska -- where 53 percent of voters are independent and 15 percent are Democrats -- both parties have to appeal to unaffiliated voters, and Democrats even more so, Nabors added.Walker received the Democratic Party's endorsement and political support when he was first elected, in 2014.But that came only after Mallott, the winner of the party's primary, agreed to cede his spot on the ballot to Walker and seek the lieutenant governor position as part of a "unity ticket." Democratic Party officials subsequently voted to give Walker their support.That path may not be available to Walker in next year's election if he skips the party's primary and another Democrat wins the nomination. No Democrats have registered to run for governor, but the filing deadline is still more than six months away and Mark Begich, the Democratic former U.S. senator, has told supporters that he's considering a bid.Begich didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday.One question left unresolved by Tuesday's ruling is how independent candidates nominated in a partisan primary would appear on the general election ballot.At a court hearing last month, the Democrats' attorney suggested that candidates would be listed by their own party affiliation, with nothing to signify if a candidate had won a partisan primary, Pallenberg wrote in his decision.In that case, if an independent candidate won the Democratic primary, Pallenberg added, "a general election voter would not be able to tell from the ballot whether that candidate was the candidate of the Democratic Party, or some other party with a similar rule, or alternatively whether that candidate had qualified for the ballot by petition."Pallenberg rejected the Democrats' idea, which he dubbed a "bait and switch." He suggested instead that the ballot design should be left to the state elections director, who's required by law to prepare them to "facilitate fairness, simplicity, and clarity in the voting procedure.""Sufficient care on the director's behalf will ensure that voters in both the primary and general elections are fully informed about exactly who it is they are voting for," Pallenberg wrote. Los Angeles County to San Bernardino County, Calif. Net Migration: 11,047 Miami-Dade County to Broward County, Fla. Net Migration: 7,140 Queens to Nassau County, N.Y. Net Migration: 6,684 Harris County to Fort Bend County, Texas Net Migration: 6,031 Brooklyn to Queens, N.Y. Net Migration: 5,813 Los Angeles County to Riverside County, Calif. Net Migration: 5,518 Los Angeles County to Clark County, Nev. Net Migration: 4,970 Other Top Net Migration Flows: Los Angeles County, to Orange County, Calif: 4,827 Manhattan to Brooklyn, N.Y.: 4,746 Manhattan to Bronx County, N.Y.: 4,355 Top Net Migration Per Population San Juan County, N.M., to McKinley County, N.M.: 2,994* Christian County, Ky., to Montgomery County, Tenn.: 1,074 City of St. Louis, Mo., to St. Louis County, Mo.: 2,213 City of Baltimore, Md., to Baltimore County, Md.: 2,989 San Francisco County, Calif., to Alameda County, Calif.: 2,876 Suffolk County, Mass., to Norfolk County, Mass.: 2,077 New York County, N.Y., to Kings County, N.Y.: 4,746 Hudson County, N.J., to Bergen County, N.J.: 1,955 Fairfax County, Va., to Loudoun County, Va.: 3,605 New York County, N.Y., to Bronx County, N.Y.: 4,355 Each year, millions of Americans and their families pick up and move. Some may go all the way across the country, but most typically migrate shorter distances within the same regions.Research suggests that housing is the main reason why nearly half all Americans move. Indeed, it's typical to see residents relocating from counties with high real estate costs to nearby ones with less expensive housing. Family considerations account for 30 percent of relocations, while about another 20 percent move primarily for career opportunities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Migration data released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this month provides an updated snapshot of the communities where people are moving to and from. Weve compiled data showing net migration flows between all counties from 2014 to 2015.Four of the top 10 biggest recent net migration flows originated from Los Angeles County, Calif. Thats in large part due to the fact that its the nations most populous county with more than 10 million residents. In all, L.A. County lost a net total of about 40,000 residents to other parts of the country between 2014 and 2015.We've highlighted the top county-to-county net migration flows, summarized below, using exemptions claimed on tax returns to approximate persons moving.Southern California recorded the nation's top net migration flow. The IRS data suggest more than 30,000 people moved east to San Bernardino County, while slightly more than 19,000 relocated in the opposite direction to Los Angeles County. Like other common migration patterns, it's largely a result of people seeking less expensive housing with more space.Migration from San Bernardino County to L.A. County has remained fairly steady in recent years, although total numbers of individuals moving in either direction have declined.For years, movement north into Broward County has consistently been among the top migration flows. Broward County recently welcomed more than 23,000 taxpayers from Miami-Dade County for a net gain of 7,140.Broward, which includes Fort Lauderdale and a few other cities along the coast, is mostly suburban. Its likely that many of its new residents are recent immigrants; Miami is an immigration hub where immigrants initially settle before relocating.Its worth noting that the influx of residents from Miami-Dade to Broward has slowed somewhat, though. Net migration had topped 10,000 each year before the most recent 2014-2015 period.More than 13,000 people moved to Nassau County from Queens, while only about half as many moved in the opposite direction. Like other jurisdictions in and around New York City, immigrants from abroad largely offset Nassau County's domestic migration losses, so it continues to record population increases.Fort Bend County has emerged as one of the nations fastest-growing counties in recent years. But of all its new residents, the majority arrive from neighboring Harris County, which includes Houston.State Demographer Lloyd Potter attributes part of the migration pattern to the downturn in Houstons energy sector. The other part is that younger couples are forming families and moving out in search of more affordable housing. The whole area has been growing with newer housing stock and nice subdivisions, he says.The approximately 22,600 people who moved from Harris County to Fort Bend County represents a slight decline from recent years.Nearly 20,000 people moved from Brooklyn to neighboring Queens, with a net migration of 5,813. This migration flow has historically been among the most common moves within New York.That said, more people overall move out of Queens than move in from other parts of the country. But the boroughs total population continues to tick upward thanks to international migration.Nearly 16,000 people moved from Los Angeles County to Riverside County, with a net migration of 5,518. Riverside County typically experiences a net migration gain among residents moving within California, while losing more people to other states.The vast majority of Clark Countys new residents arrive from out of state. Many relocate from California, where the cost of living is much higher. The IRS figures suggest numbers of newcomers to the county from other parts of the country have climbed in recent years.Migration to Clark County from Los Angeles Counts accounted for, by far, the single largest county-to-county flow across any state border. The next-largest took place in Miami-Dade County, where a net total of 1,803 people moved from Harris County.Another way to assess migration between counties is to compute approximate migration per total population. By this measure, the largest numbers of residents relocated from the following counties given the total exemptions claimed (excluding smaller migration flows not exceeding 1,000): Having seen shootings and murders decline this year with new technology partly in place, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) will double down on its use of predictive and analytics tools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said during his 2018 Annual Budget Address The city is also hiring nearly 1,000 additional police officers, Emanuel said during remarks on Wednesday, Oct. 18, and will equip every patrol officer with a body camera by years end deploying whats believed to be a record number of the devices one year ahead of schedule.The Chicago City Council approved publishing the budget and scheduled hearings on it, but not before a briefing on what CPD officials have said twice earlier this month: that monitoring criminals with data-driven technology; and police and residents with video cameras is reducing the amount of violence in the city.Emanuel praised CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who returned to work following a kidney transplant, for challenging the department to think differently and shift from reactive policing towards proactive, predictive policing.Establishing Strategic Decision Support Center rooms has decreased shootings 23 percent in six southern and western police districts, outpacing the citywide reduction, the mayor said at Chicago City Hall.In Englewood, in the 7th District, shootings are down 43 percent. Homicides are down 40 percent, Emanuel said, adding: We all agree the level of violence in some of our neighborhoods is totally unacceptable. That is why we are infusing our police department with the manpower, technology and training to meet this challenge head on.The implementation of Strategic Decision Support Centers rooms at district police stations with technology including gunshot detection systems, expanded pod video cameras and predictive crime software; and mobile phones to field officers has enabled CPD to make sustained reductions in gun violence this year, a police official said on Sunday, Oct. 1.Gun violence declined in September for the seventh straight month and the city saw 15 percent fewer shootings and 10 percent fewer murders compared to September 2016, CPD First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Navarro said during a press conference published on Facebook.The investments weve made to install district-based intelligence centers in some of the most active areas of the city have made us more predictive in our deployments and more proactive in our engagement. It has helped us to completely change the way we police in Chicago, Navarro said then, announcing that six additional districts would receive support centers.On Tuesday, Oct. 17 in Englewood, the city announced 82 new officers had graduated field training and were being deployed citywide. By years end, theyll be joined by an additional 171 new officers; and by April 30, 2018, to a total of 701 citywide.The deployment of body cameras with data storage in the cloud is about half complete; to date CPD has deployed cameras to officers in 12 districts with another 10 to go: four in October and three each in November and December.CPD currently fields more than 4,000 body-worn cameras and has recorded more than 1 million video segments, which by law are preserved for 90 days, or for a minimum of two years if footage is needed for a case or investigation. Completing the rollout will equip 8,157 CPD officers with cameras.When were done this year, this will be the largest body-worn camera deployment. No other department in the U.S. will have more body-worn cameras, Jonathan Lewin, CPDs chief of technical services, said during a press conference on Facebook on Friday, Oct. 13.An additional 868 cameras for other patrol units will be funded through a Bureau of Justice assistance grant, Lewin said.Preliminary results from CPDs research partner, the University of Illinois, mirror national findings showing significant reductions in officer uses of force, the chief of technical services added.Asked by a reporter at the press conference whether that is the result of how officers react while wearing the cameras or how people they interact with behave, Lewin said: I think it could be a combination of both. Civic technologists in Philadelphia are working with public servants, journalists and recently-paroled residents, among others, to collaborate on a hackathon that aims to reduce recidivism rates in the city by fostering the creation of related tech projects. The event, dubbed PowerUp Reentry: A Digital Solutions Day , is set to begin Friday, Oct. 20 and run through Saturday, Oct. 21, with many of those involved saying they expect to continue developing projects from the hackathon in the months to come.While civic tech events with a hyper-specific focus like this one are not uncommon, this event stands out for two reasons: Rarely has a hackathon brought together so many disparate groups of participants, and recidivism is a major challenge for Philadelphia. As of 2014, the recidivism rate there was 65 percent with a three-year incarceration rate of 41.1 percent. Its important because its a problem of such scale, and it affects so many people, said Aviva Tevah from Philadelphias Office of Criminal Justice. About 30,000 people come back to Philadelphia every year from different correctional systems, and what we know from data in different places is that recidivism rates are much higher than they should be. Tevah said one challenge that the city government faces in addressing recidivism is that there are often many different agencies working toward the same goal from city departments to nonprofit organizations and its difficult to coordinate efforts and share valuable data. A tech project could facilitate better cooperation. This thinking is what gave birth to the hackathon, which was first conceptualized by The Reentry Project , a journalism collective with representatives from 15 media outlets throughout Philadelphia. Described by organizers as a sustained community-oriented reporting project, the group started its work in November 2016, and the hackathon will mark one of its last major initiatives. Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, a project editor with The Reentry Project, described it as getting a lot of different people in a room together who could find connections and ways to work with each other we never could have dreamed of. While there has been excitement for the possibilities within city government and the civic tech community, Friedman-Rudovsky said the most eager participants are those they aim to help: formerly incarcerated individuals. She recounted an anecdote in which one man told her hed long had an idea for a mobile platform similar to Uber or Lyft, but instead of ride-sharing, formerly incarcerated people would use it to reach mentors for help navigating life after corrections. To coordinate the event, The Reentry Project has contracted Code for Philly , the citys Code for America brigade . Dawn McDougall, executive director of Code for Philly, said this hackathon, with its inclusion of such a broad group of participants, reflects a shift the group has made over the past five years toward incorporating both service providers and end-users into development processes.With recidivism, for example, that means the brigade works to build tech that social workers might use to more efficiently serve formerly incarcerated individuals, rather than solely focusing on projects for the individuals themselves. In addition to the wide range of collaborators, McDougall said another quality that sets the event apart is that organizers surveyed potential users in order to get ideas. The reporting work that members of The Reentry Project did over the past year has also been an asset. As such, technologists have gleaned valuable insights, one being that theres no consistent way to track parolees once they re-enter society. While predicting work at a hackathon is tricky, McDougall was reasonably sure some projects would focus on collecting better data and getting a sense of whats really happening when someone leaves the system. The goal of this hackathon is to produce a groundwork for future collaborations, said McDougall. Its all about bringing people together, creating relationships so people can work together after the hackathon. The event in Philadelphia is one of countrys first to bring together civic technologists and stakeholders for projects aimed at recidivism, with efforts having also taken place in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Kistine Carolan, data services manager in open data and digital transformation with Philadelphia, said this is a chance to combine technological expertise with the perspectives of city workers and those they serve. Theres a lot of opportunity for everyone in the room to learn more and think about what the next steps are to make things a little better and easier, Carolan said. (TNS) -- San Francisco appears to be closer than ever to building a citywide municipal Internet network an ambitious project thats proved elusive for more than a decade.City officials are poring over the findings of a comprehensive 200-page report that will serve as San Franciscos lodestar as it moves toward creating a proposed $1.5 billion city-owned fiber-optic network that can connect every home and business in the city to a blazingly fast 1-gigabit Internet service.Its an initiative that, if successful, would make San Francisco by far the largest city in the country to operate a municipal fiber network. Linking every home in the city to a fast Internet connection and providing subsidies to households that currently cant afford one is also critical, officials say, if the city is to bridge its so-called digital divide. At present, 12 percent of the citys residents, or about 100,000 people, dont have an Internet connection at home, according to city data.Bridging the digital divide is right for our residents and right for the future of our city, Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement. With this report, we are one step closer to bringing fast and affordable Internet to every San Francisco business and resident, regardless of where they live or their economic status, through municipal broadband.While theres no firm date about when the planned network would be up and running, the city is hoping to put out a request for proposals sometime next year.The new report, compiled by the consulting firm CTC Technology & Energy, was commissioned by the city last year and paid for out of a $2.5 million pot of money in Lees 2016-2017 budget allocated to create a more detailed vision of what such a service would look like in San Francisco. Those funds will also be put toward hiring a project manager to oversee the rollout and management of the network and for specialized legal counsel.But the report is more than a purely academic analysis when it comes to making a municipal fiber network a reality, said Supervisor Mark Farrell, who has been spearheading the initiative in conjunction with the mayors office. Rather, it represents the blueprint that the city will utilize as it begins reaching out to potential private-sector partners and contractors who will be hired by the city to build the network.This is not just another report, Farrell said. This is the seminal report on the issue for the city of San Francisco. This is a clear road map for moving forward, and were going to march down that road. This is going to become a reality.In November, the city will embark on what officials are calling an industry sounding day, when telecommunications experts will hear about the citys plans and talk about ways to make the project as efficient and cost-effective as possible.City officials also will hold public hearings on the project, looking for suggestions from San Francisco residents. Taken together, that input will help the city narrow its options and decide what it needs to do to move ahead with the project.As the report lays out in detail, the easiest and cheapest way for the city to operate an Internet network providing universal access to all city residents would be through a public-private partnership. Going it alone, the report said, would mean the city would have to bear all the costs and risks involved with building and maintaining a brand-new utility, including tasks like customer service and bill processing.The purely public option also would require the city to sign up between 45 and 53 percent of the city population to break even on the project financially. Few municipal networks have managed to reach this level of penetration, the report said.With a public-private partnership, the city must then work out the details of how to work with the private companies that would deliver the actual Internet service to homes and businesses.But the city will be able to have a level of control over how much the service costs, as well as key provisions on consumer privacy.This is the citys asset, and the city can presumably put requirements on it when it leases it to independent Internet service providers, CTC President Joanne Hovis said. Thats a call the city can and presumably will make.Eric Brooks, a community organizer in San Francisco and a member of a citizens advisory panel on the fiber plan convened by Farrells office, has watched one citywide Internet proposal after another sputter and fail. In 2003, then-Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly commissioned a $300,000 study also performed by CTC into a city-run Internet service, but a concrete plan never materialized. The next year, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom laid the groundwork for an ill-fated effort to beam free Wi-Fi services across the city. That project was dead by 2007.But this time, Brooks said hes optimistic the municipal fiber project will succeed where its predecessors have fallen short.What Ammiano first started in the early 2000s, we were just starting to understand how big the Internet would become, Brooks said. Its pretty obvious now. (TNS) -- AUBURN The Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office still has its body cameras in the 2018 budget and Probate Judge Michael Dubois got the raise he was seeking.All that is left is for the Androscoggin County Commission to ratify the budget following a public hearing next month.The Budget Committee completed its work on the 2018 Androscoggin County budget Wednesday, approving $20,746 in cuts in the $13.6 million budget.As proposed, the county tax levy in the 14 municipalities will rise by roughly 6 percent.The rate of increase was not palatable for some committee members, especially on top of last year's 6.44 percent increase."I appreciate the hard work by the commissioners," Andrew Titus of Auburn said. "I want people to understand that when I'm budget conscious, it's not because I don't think you guys are doing a good job, but I have a responsibility to Auburn, which is not to pass them another 6 percent increase."Titus did his best to find budget lines to cut and had a few successes. But he failed in his attempt to cut the entire amount appropriated to replace the cameras in the patrol vehicles, add body cameras for his officers and purchase a server large enough to handle the digital photos and videos from those cameras.The total cost of $125,000 was to be budgeted at $25,000 over five years. Sheriff Eric Samson explained that the vehicle cameras were outdated, with the current system not working on three cars.Looking to either cancel the entire program or at least delay its implementation for a year, Titus sought to cut the $25,000. He said that body cams are still too controversial for the county to be ahead of the curve on having the technology.But Samson countered that Titus was opposing the purchase as a matter of policy instead of a budget concern. Policy is the purview of the commissioners and not the Budget Committee, Samson said. And the commissioners had already approved the purchase of body cams.The vast majority of the Budget Committee also thought the addition of body cameras was a good idea, voting 2-9 to reject Titus' motion. Budget Committee Chairman Michael Lachance of Lewiston joined Titus in supporting the cut.The panel did adjust the cut it made to salaries for Probate Court. After initially cutting more than $7,400 in salaries, the board changed the cut to $6,500. With the department replacing a longtime clerk with a new hire, the county has enough money to give Judge Dubois the $10,000 raise he was seeking for his increased workload for several evidentiary hearings and floating court dates.The Budget Committee cut $1,800 from the Civil Process Division and $1,600 from communications."We don't want to cut budgets, but we've got no choice," Titus said. "We can't sustain this year after year. I understand we need stuff, and we want to grow. I also need to have you understand that we can't spend this year after year, whatever the reason is."County Administrator Larry Post said he agreed with Titus that the budget increase was unacceptable to him, but he defended the increase."It's all about providing the services that citizens ask of us and demand of us," Post said. "We have to provide those in such a way that we have to do it as frugally as we can. We also have to do it in an excellent manner. Sometimes I've seen places where they become so frugal that they're not providing the services, and the whole thing just doesn't work."Unlike past years, with no lawsuits threatening to tear apart the civility of the two groups, Wednesday's meeting completed one of the most cooperative budget processes between the county and the municipalities in a few years. Lachance seized on the feel-good atmosphere."I hope commissioners will take it upon themselves, in a gesture of goodwill, and set a precedent and honor the budget submitted by the Budget Committee," Lachance said. "We're at a point now that it's important this relationship between the municipalities and the county move in a positive direction."The county will hold a public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the county courthouse. (TNS) Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes on Wednesday announced new legislation, spurred by the Dec. 2, 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, expanding treatment services for victims injured in terrorist attacks while on the job.Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB44 into law on Friday, Oct. 13. The legislation, introduced by Reyes, D-San Bernardino, when she took office about a year after the attack, requires employers in both the public and private sectors to immediately provide employees injured in an act of terrorism a nurse case manager and information of the treatment options available to them.Months after the December 2nd attack in San Bernardino, survivors faced unacceptable delays and denials for critical medical treatment, Reyes said in a statement Wednesday. AB 44 is a small but important step to ensure that workers injured in an act of terrorism receive the proper attention they deserve in the workers compensation system.The new law mandates that treatment, whether medical or psychological, be provided by trained and qualified health-care professionals. But the provisions of the law are only applicable if the governor declares a state of emergency in connection with the act of terrorism, as was the case in the San Bernardino mass shooting.The shooting, committed by county health inspector Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, left 14 people dead and 22 wounded during a holiday luncheon/training seminar at the Inland Regional Center. Farook and Malik, both said by the FBI to be radicalized Muslims, were killed in a shootout with police hours after the attack.Since Reyes introduced the bill, it has undergone seven rounds of amendments. Among the provisions stripped from the bill included a proposal to bypass the utilization review process employers and workers compensation claims administrators use to determine what treatment to provide employees, said Galen Dobbins, a legislative aide for Reyes.Survivors of the attack and their advocates expressed disappointment with the new legislation, saying it didnt go far enough, but commended Reyes for her strong efforts in getting the legislation passed and going to bat for the San Bernardino shooting victims.She really did try as much as she could. The original bill she introduced was awesome, said Geraldine Ly, a workers compensation attorney representing nine of the San Bernardino shooting victims in claims against the county. The original language has been butchered.She said the gutting of key bill provisions originally introduced by Reyes, including the ability for employers to bypass the utilization review process, left the legislation without teeth. The only thing the law adds, Ly said, is it makes it mandatory, instead of optional, for a nurse case manager to be immediately assigned to an employee who is a victim of a terrorist attack.Robert Fredericks, a Redlands-based insurance services specialist and advocate for the San Bernardino victims, expressed deep disappointment that the utilization review provision was stripped from the original draft of the bill. He said it was a key reason so many survivors of the shooting were denied or delayed treatment for up to a year.The county steadfastly maintained that it could not override utilization review despite being informed in early December 2016 by the California Department of Industrial Relations that the (Dec. 2, 2015) shooting was historically unique, required extraordinary action, and advised that (utilization review) could be overridden, Fredericks said in an email Wednesday.Shooting victim Tracie Thompson would have liked to have seen the 104-week maximum for receiving workers compensation benefits extended under the new law.Once youve been victimized by something like this, it shouldnt be so hard to get help, said Thompson, 51, of Devore, in a telephone interview Wednesday.Thompson, who was shot in the right leg and still has bullet fragments lodged in it, said she hasnt been able to return to work, although she has tried.I made an attempt, but Im still having issues, said Thompson, a 26-year county employee.Like Thompson, Ly said many employees of the countys Environmental Health Services Division have been so traumatized they cannot return to work, and some have taken medical retirements.San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert issued a statement Wednesday, saying Reyes AB44 modeled itself on the process created by the county to care for those who were injured on (Dec. 2, 2015).The county provided all of the employees who were physically injured with the immediate services of nurse case managers and counseled them on the medical treatment options that were available to them, Wert said. The county eventually extended those services to other employees who were being treated through workers' compensation.2017 the San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.)Visit the San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.) at www.sbsun.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) - Dr. Scott Witt kept close behind the ambulance carrying the newborns. On his motorcycle, he drove over and ducked under downed power lines. He swerved around embers blowing onto the highway.Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, where Witt oversees the neonatal intensive care unit, was being evacuated Oct. 9 because of wildfires that would become the deadliest in California history.But Witt couldnt call the doctors who would be caring for the babies because there was no power. The physicians at the other hospital also had no way of accessing Witts medical records online to know what treatment was needed.I knew if I didnt leave then, there would be no way I could take care of the babies, he said.As the blaze grew feet away, Witt tailed the ambulance through smoke and debris.The Northern California wildfires created what some described as an unprecedented health care crisis that has served as a wake-up call in the region. Not only were two major hospitals evacuated hours into the disaster, but the chaos continued for days after.Thousands of people were displaced and staying in shelters, many without their medicines. The fires left clinics burned or evacuated for days. Pharmacies struggled to fill prescriptions. Nursing home patients waited on cots in shelters, without oxygen tanks or their caregivers. Doctors and nurses also lost their homes.Some of the problems were unique to the wine country fires, which raced from open space into the hearts of communities, killing more than 40 and destroying more than 5,000 homes, many in Santa Rosa.But the damaging effects on the health care system could easily be repeated during other natural disasters, such as earthquakes causing widespread destruction in the Los Angeles region and the Bay Area.In Santa Rosa, officials said the fires showed the success of some of their medical emergency planning, but also exposed gaps in the health care systems response.Its going to happen again. Theres going to be another fire, theres going to be another earthquake, theres going to be another flood and we absolutely have to get better at this, said Chad Krilich, chief medical officer for St. Joseph Health in Sonoma County.In the dead of night, one of the wildfires forced the evacuation of Sutter Santa Rosa and Kaiser Santa Rosa hospitals. Patients were wheeled out and hooked up to IVs, while flames approached. Staff concerned about power outages affecting the elevators helped fragile patients walk down the stairs. Some were put on city buses to their next destination.Kelsey Claybrook, a security officer for the Sutter hospital, burned his jacket as he tried to put out spot fires outside the hospital with a bucket of water and a fire extinguisher.It was like a whack-a-mole, you would pour water, it would come back up, he said.The hospitals were safely evacuated and avoided severe damage, but the fires reduced nearby neighborhoods to ash. The medical centers in the region that remained open last week treated not only the patients of the evacuated hospitals, but also people suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.Ive been at this a long time and Ive never seen anything like this, in terms of the magnitude of the response that was necessary, said Sarah Krevans, chief executive of the Sacramento-based Sutter Health system.Health workers werent spared from the fires damage. The homes of many county employees, doctors and nurses were in the blazes path, complicating the early response to the fire.When trying to roll out emergency operations at Sonoma County government offices early that Monday morning, some staff couldnt be contacted or called in because of downed power lines, said health department spokesman Scott Alonso. They had to scramble for replacements for some roles that needed to be filled, he said.We train in this, we practice it, and when a disaster strikes, sometimes its like a training, but often its not, Alonso said.At St. Josephs Petaluma Valley Hospital and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, planning was challenging as the fires continued throughout the week. A change in winds could mean a new group of staff members needed to leave work to pack up their belongings and evacuate their homes, Krilich said.It wouldve been really nice to be able to have a crystal ball if you could know what area would be impacted, said Krilich, who was evacuated from his home. Is that going to hit the lab, or anesthesiology, or is that going to hit housekeeping?Witt made it to Santa Rosa Memorial safely with the babies as dawn broke on that Monday. He then met up with his wife and children, whod been pushed from their home by the threat of fire earlier in that morning.Hours later, he learned their Santa Rosa neighborhood, Fountaingrove, had been decimated by the fire. His family hadnt grabbed much on their way out because they thought the evacuations were a precaution.The doctor hopped on his motorcycle, again scooting around felled power lines.I wanted to see for myself, he said. It was just rubble and ashes.The aftermath of the fire presented countless challenges for the rest of the health care system.Many residents struggled to breathe because of the smoky air. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated into schools and fairgrounds across the region.Each shelter had to figure out how do you manage these almost M*A*S*H unit trauma centers, said Jason Cunningham, chief medical officer for the West County Health Centers.When Dr. Deborah Donlon arrived there that Monday, many frail nursing home patients were sitting in folding chairs in the gym at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa.Donlon rushed to one of the Santa Rosa Community Health clinic sites nearby, where she works, to grab medicines that would be most useful, like aspirin and inhalers.She remembers standing in the pharmacy thinking, I wish I had a list that said, In case of huge fire that wipes out a third of your community, take these medications, she said. Our usual way of operating was completely out the window.Like many medical facilities that stayed open last week, Santa Rosa Memorial was inundated by people who wanted to help patients, both from the community and from outside. However, some had trouble getting privileges to work at the hospital and it was difficult to teach the systems electronic health record system to those who did, Krilich said.Kevin Kip Thomas, director of the health care emergency management program at the Boston University School of Medicine, said the issue exposes the downside of not having health care records that all doctors can access, no matter who they work for. Medical facilities in Northern California have planned for wildfires and evacuations, but its unlikely they envisioned so many facilities would be affected at the same time and that they would need access to so many other hospitals.The big challenge here is the magnitude of this, Thomas said. Thats definitely something that hasnt had to be addressed to this level before.With so little time to flee their homes, many evacuated without their medicines.Safeway pharmacists traveled from other parts of the state to help the stores that were filled with patients and brought medicines with them to keep up with the extra demand, said the companys Northern California pharmacy director Narayanan Ramachandran.I dont think we were ready, but we definitely reacted, Ramachandran said. Almost every counter had somebody there to take care of people, and honestly we needed everybody there.On Oct. 9, shortly after Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency because of the fires, Californias pharmacy board instituted a disaster protocol that allows pharmacists to dispense medicines without prescriptions.It instructs them to use their best judgment to help patients.But doctors in the North Bay said many patients still showed up at their offices unable to get vital prescriptions like seizure medications. Many encountered hurdles with insurance companies, which pharmacists typically had to call individually to approve the refill requests. Some doctors began standing outside of pharmacies to write prescriptions for needy patients.Richie Duenas, a pharmacist and owner of Mercury Pharmacy which has one location in Vallejo and one in Fairfield, near the Napa fires said the fire made him concerned about the durability of pharmacy supply chains.Medicines are delivered by UPS and Fed-Ex. But the delivery worker dropping off medicines in the days after the fire was suffering from the smoke, even while wearing a mask to protect his lungs, Duenas said.He said to me, I dont know how long I can do this, Duenas said.Duenas said hes considering stockpiling medicines, but many have a short shelf life.This kind of exposed a big piece of what we can do to make sure people get health care and medicine, he said. You go to the doctor. What do you get? A prescription. So how do you get people their meds in times of emergency?2017 Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. COLUMBUS A Columbus man pleaded no contest to domestic assault and trespassing at a former girlfriends apartment in June after reaching a plea agreement with the prosecution. Platte County District Court Judge Robert Steinke scheduled 49-year-old Lance Pfeifer for sentencing Dec. 1 on charges of third-degree domestic assault and trespassing in connection with the 1:39 a.m. incident June 18 at the victims Columbus apartment building. The convictions are Class I misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. George Welch of the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office served as the special prosecutor in the case because the local county attorneys office had a conflict. According to court documents, Columbus Police responded to a report of a physical fight underway inside the apartment, with the victim reportedly being choked and in a panicked state. After separating the parties, Officer Jorge Magdaleno wrote in his probable cause arrest statement, the victim kept stating that her throat hurt and she couldnt breathe. The officer called an ambulance to check on the woman. (The victim) stated she could not breathe and she thought she was going to die. (She) said if we had not gotten there in time, Pfeifer would have killed her, Magdaleno wrote. The couple share a child together. A month into the disaster, Puerto Rico is still in "response mode." If you don't have electricity or clean drinking water, you cannot call it a recovery process.See this story, Puerto Rico governor calls for "equal treatment" in relief efforts I think the governor is smart to not come into Washington, D.C., guns blazing about the level of federal response that Puerto Rico is receiving. We'll soon see if his approach works with the president and federal legislators, or if only promises are made with no significant uptick in effort or resolution to the budget crisis that Puerto Rico is in.Anecdotal evidence is that those residents with the means to leave the island commonwealth are doing so, making the long-term prognosis for a robust recovery from the disaster that much more unlikely. (TNS) -- Robots may be allowed on the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco but only if they have permits, according to a revised ordinance that Supervisor Norman Yee presented to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.The law was supposed to get its first vote that day, but Yee kicked it back to the boards Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee after offering a lengthy list of amendments to placate technology startups that are testing the robots. One such company, Marble, has several robots delivering meals in the Mission and Potrero Hill neighborhoods, to people who order via the Yelp Eat24 app.Yee said the sentiment behind his proposal is more pro-person than anti-machine.I resolutely believe that our sidewalks should be prioritized for humans, Yee said.His initial ordinance, which would have outright banned the devices from city sidewalks, did not appear to have enough votes to pass the board. Supervisor Jeff Sheehy opposed it in the boards Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee, and Supervisor Mark Farrell criticized it at Tuesdays meeting.I think its a mistake to ban things or stick our heads in the sand and say were not going to tolerate these things in San Francisco, said Farrell, who runs a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in addition to holding office.But Yee said he hopes the amended proposal will please everyone. It would allow companies to apply for a limited number of permits to test the delivery robots within areas circumscribed by the City Planning Department. Companies would also have to keep a human nearby to monitor the devices and agree to a labor clause protecting their human workers right to unionize.Also on Tuesday, Mayor Ed Lee introduced legislation to lease new buildings for city departments that are currently housed in the squalid Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. Lee also told the board to come up with an exit plan for inmates in the buildings seventh-floor jail.Supervisor Mark Farrells law barring flame-retardant chemicals from upholstery and childrens products sailed through the board Tuesday, getting unanimous approval on its first reading. The ordinance, which would take effect in 2019, was inspired by numerous scientific studies linking these chemicals to cancer, hormone disruption, lowered IQs, attention problems and reproductive issues.The supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance, sponsored by Sheehy, requiring big grocery stores to report the antibiotic content in their meat. Sheehy characterized it as a strike against superbugs that spread infections, killing 23,000 people in the United States each year, according to data from San Francisco Health Officer Tomas Aragon.And the board voted 9-2 to approve another Sheehy ordinance to prevent bicycle chop shops from obstructing city sidewalks. Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Sandra Lee Fewer voted against the law, which allows the citys Public Works Department to seize disassembled bicycles. They said it would do nothing to curb bike theft. (TNS) -- A subsidiary of Googles parent company Alphabet is taking a lead role in redeveloping Torontos waterfront into a technology-infused urban neighborhood of the future, Canadian leaders announced Tuesday.Alphabets Sidewalk Labs, an urban design firm in New York, won a bid to partner with a redevelopment agency to create Sidewalk Toronto, a 12-acre mixed-use smart city neighborhood on part of that citys massive, 800-acre project to redevelop the waterfront area.Alphabet pledged $50 million toward an initial planning phase with Waterfront Toronto, a multiagency organization, and agreed to relocate its Canadian headquarters from another part of the city to anchor the site, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference.Trudeau joined Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt and Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory to introduce the project.Trudeau painted a picture of a neighborhood that will be smarter, greener, more inclusive and a model for communities around the world that our kids and grandkids are going to inhabit.This will create a test bed for new technologies, Trudeau said.Alphabet launched Sidewalk Labs in 2015 to reimagine urban design from the Internet up. Sidewalk Labs, which built a large free Wi-Fi network in New York called LinkNYC, won a bid with Waterfront Toronto to help design a neighborhood named Quayside, on port land southeast of downtown.Architectural drawings that Sidewalk released show a neighborhood with tree-lined pedestrian paths and waterways, with buses and possibly self-driving cars on surface roads and autonomous cargo vehicles operating in underground tunnels. Planners hope for a self-driving shuttle, as well as traffic lights that give priority to pedestrians and cyclists.Sidewalk was looking for a place to build a model community in which cutting-edge technology and people-first design are built into the very foundation. Doctoroff said. We believe we can demonstrate to the world how to make living in cities cheaper, more convenient, healthier, greener, fairer and maybe even more exciting.The project aims to be a hub for innovation in fields like energy savings and environmental protection. Buildings will be modular to fit different uses, and they will have sensors to monitor noise or other pollution.Toronto has worked for more than 15 years to revitalize the postindustrial waterfront, including areas of derelict buildings, polluted lands, parking lots and warehouses that were seemingly cut off from the rest of the city by a highway, according to Matti Siemiatycki, a University of Toronto associate professor of geography and planning and a former member of the Waterfront Toronto board. Its not unlike San Franciscos waterfront before the old Embarcadero Freeway was demolished, he said.Although the revitalization was already under way, it felt for a long time that Toronto has been on the cusp of something, he said. This announcement about Sidewalk and one of the first sort of big-scale district developments is an affirmation for the city that this is a place that really is coming on the map globally.Moreover, Toronto is bidding against other cities to land Amazons second headquarters. Landing Google bodes well for the citys bid to attract other big players like Amazon, Siemiatycki said. Colorado Chief Technology Officer David McCurdy wishes hed had the foresight to invest in bitcoin in the early days. Speaking withat the NASCIO conference in Austin earlier this month, he added, I think were all wishing that right now. Today, one bitcoin is worth more than $5,000.But despite bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies' reliance on underlying blockchain technology, McCurdy doesn't anticipate a lot of uptick for blockchain in government , at least not yet. Instead, hes more interested in the potential of artificial intelligence technology, and hes got a couple of use cases in mind.There are two areas in particular where the applications for AI in government are clear to McCurdy and hes not alone . Grappling with an ever-growing threat landscape, he sees AI as an important component of the way large organizations like Colorado can effectively secure their data and assets.In addition, McCurdy acknowledges that AI can help automate responses to frequently asked citizen questions using chatbot technology . If I can take eighty percent of our tier one calls off of those phones, then I could provide better customer service for the people that do call in, he said. Brendon Hartley has admitted getting up to speed straight away in Austin will be difficult. Toro Rosso owner Red Bull has signed the New Zealander and Le Mans winner to replace Pierre Gasly this weekend, as the Frenchman is racing in Japan. Hartley, a former Red Bull reserve driver who has never raced in F1, admits he is studying hard. "I was given instructions for the car which is 50 pages," he told Newstalk ZB radio. "I will have four hours of practice before qualifying and I'd like to think it's enough to get the speed I need," Hartley, 27, added. Hartley thinks he was selected by Red Bull because of his success in the top Le Mans category LMP1, where he is a top driver for Porsche. "If we talk about laptime, the difference is not so great -- around 7 to 8 seconds," he said. "That is not so much, especially in the race. "I drive very fast cars, so I think Red Bull invited me partly for this reason but also because WEC cars are very technically complex. We use hybrid technologies, so in this regard it is similar to formula one. "But it's a big step for me, because six or seven years have passed since I drove open wheel cars. But I try to look at things simply as well," Hartley said. "It's a racing car, it has four wheels, and for a driver to go fast you have all the same physical laws. So in principle it's similar," he added. There is speculation Hartley's appearance in Austin will not actually be a one off, as he could be asked to return for the final three races of 2017 in the place of Russian Daniil Kvyat. "It's only by seeing him over the course of two to three weekends at least that they will build up a real picture of what a talent Brendon Hartley really is," former F1 figure Mark Gallagher told Newshub. (GMM) COLUMBUS A group of state senators toured Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon to get a clear picture of how reading lessons are taught in local classrooms. Patty Pansing Brooks and Lou Ann Linehan, who were joined at Emerson Elementary by Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus, made the stop as part of their visits to schools across the state for legislative resolution 222, which calls for an interim study examining dyslexia and reading literacy in Nebraska. Emerson is a very good example of great teachers and great instruction, said Amy Romshek, executive director of curriculum and instruction for Columbus Public Schools. Each school visit by Pansing Brooks and Linehan, of Lincoln and Elkhorn, respectively, includes classroom observation with student and staff interaction. Romshek gave a presentation on the districts reading program for the senators, staff and others following visits to two classrooms. The senators attended what CPS refers to as a 120-minute tier-one block of reading for all first-graders then sat in on a tier-two classroom of first-graders who have been identified as needing more instruction. That second class, called WIN (What I Need), is another 40 minutes. Those tiers are for kindergarten through second grade. Third- through sixth-graders have 100 tier-one classes. Romshek said Emerson traditionally has had strong student reading scores on standardized tests, but they were down a tick last spring after the state instituted new reading standards and testing assessments. The school should see an upswing in reading scores next spring as teachers and students adjust to those changes, Romshek said. In 2016, the Nebraska Legislature adopted LB645, which defined dyslexia as a specific learning disability in state law. Dyslexia is a general term for disorders that involve difficulty learning to read or interpret words, letters and other symbols, but do not affect general intelligence. The purpose of the interim study is to look at dyslexia and reading literacy with a goal of developing strategies for teacher training, student assessment, student intervention and demonstrable student outcomes. Early reading literacy has been linked with academic achievement, higher graduation rates, less contact with the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems and greater productivity in adult life. "We see reading as one of the most important things we teach," Romshek said. "Strong reading skills also help students do well in their coursework as they move through school." Pansing Brooks and Linehan toured Lexington, Gothenburg, Grand Island and Hastings elementary schools and Doniphan-Trumbull earlier in the week. School visits in Omaha and Lincoln are also planned. A series of discussions between school district officials and residents regarding the proposed closure of Jackson Elementary School Tuesday resulted in other options being brought to the table. Many of those options, according to Superintendent Donna Little-Kaumo, arent great replacements. According to information presented to residents, other options that could make up $1.4 million the district would save by closing the Jackson building include killing the art, music and physical education programs across the school district, discontinuing all activities available at Green River High Sc... Students upset with enforcement of Green River High Schools dress code voiced their disapproval to the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees last week. Samantha Hardin, a junior at GRHS, said dress code enforcement has become a growing problem for students, saying girls throughout the school have been told to cover up and wear different clothing. She said students face detention for failing to adhere to those requests. She said the issue has been most prevalent for girls wearing open-shoulder shirts, saying those shirts should not be a problem at the school. Senior Je... Western Wyoming Community College brings a world renowned textile artist to their campus art gallery. Eszter Bornenmiszas work will be displayed through Nov. 17. The Hungarian artist originally pursued a career in mathematics, earning a PhD and working as a researcher for nearly 20 years in Budapest, Hungary. Fascinated by the applied arts throughout her life, in the late 90s she began to work as a quilter, influenced by the modern, experimenting trends of contemporary art. As an urban citizen the theme of my work is revolving around ideas that reflect our relations to past and p... Green River residents will have a chance to talk with representatives from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Nov. 29 about what they would like to learn and know about grizzly bears. The meeting will be part of a state-wide effort from the department to help people interested in the bears speak with wildlife managers. Last year, the new management plan for grizzly bears was adopted by the WGFD and the species was delisted from the Endangered Species Act, removing protections originally in place for the bears. The meetings will also give people a chance to comment on components of the gri... Aaron P. McGarvey, 57, of Rock Springs, passed away Oct. 12, 2017. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 15, 1960, the son of Jack McGarvey and Johnnie Ruth Phillips McGarvey. McGarvey attended schools in Rock Springs and was a 1978 graduate of the Rock Springs High School. He was employed as a hoist man at Tata Soda Ash Partners for many years and retired in 2017. His interests included fishing, hunting, an avid collector and loved spending time with his family. Survivors include his mother Johnnie Ruth McGarvey of Rock Springs; two brothers, Ian McGarvey of Cheyenne and Sea... For eight years, I have participated in Green River URA/Main Streets Trunk or Treat. The Trunk or Treat may have moved locations a few times, but its always been fun. Its a chance for local businesses employees and owners to dress up in Halloween costumes, decorate their vehicles or trunks and hand out candy. Over the years, the employees and their family members at the Green River Star have been the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Scooby-Doo group, Smurfs, Willy Wanka and the Umpa Lumpas, the Super Mario Brothers, Cat in the Hat and characters from the movies Madagascar 3... Ed Marx and Corky Trumble Marx of Green River will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary Friday. The couple married Oct. 20, 1962, at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Green River. Ed worked fro El Paso Natural Gas Co. in Big Piney and they moved to Baker, Ore., with the company and then to Moab, Utah, and back to Big Piney. After retiring, they moved to Green River. The Marx's have three sons John Allen and wife Lisa, Jamie Edward and wife Lori and Jarrod Howard and wife Teresa. They also have eight grandsons and four granddaughters. Over the years, the couple participated in... Reed and Gladys Dana of Green River recently announced the engagement and upcoming marriage of their son Johan O. Dana to Charlotte Tung, both of Taipei, Taiwan. The prospective groom is a Green River High School graduate. He studied at the College of Southern Idaho, and earned an associate's of science degree at North Idaho College, he obtained a bachelor or arts degree at the University of Hawaii and a master's degree at Montana State. He has taught conversational English, and is a health, physical education and recreation professor. He's currently a teacher in Taiwan. The bride-elect is... The High Desert Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) will host its monthly meeting Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Western Wyoming Community College in room 1006 from 1-3 p.m. Two members from the Jacques Laramie Chapter in Laramie will be guest speakers. Jeny Stoesz, registrar, will give a presentation on historic toys and asks that members and guests bring an old toy from their family collections that has an interesting story. Staff from both locals museums have been asked to bring some toys from their collections as well. This portion of the meetin... Each silhouette represents a life. One that has been lost to domestic violence. Sweetwater County has 11 of those silhouettes, nine woman and two children. These silhouettes are usually put out each October for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Aimee Gatzke, Director for the Center for Families and Children, said unlike years past, they were unable to put the silhouettes out in public like they had originally planned, yet she wanted to remind people they are still there. Gatzke said they either couldnt get in touch with the right people or they couldnt get people to commit t... LINCOLN Jolted awake by the fire alarm, Mahesh Goswami opened his apartment curtains and found a wall of flames. It was coming from the upstairs down, the 31-year-old recalled Wednesday morning, as he calmly watched firefighters douse the smoldering remains of his north Lincoln apartment building. Goswami and his wife grabbed their son and daughter, ages 2 years and 7 months, and rushed outside as neighbors in Building 5027 of Black Sand Apartment Homes pounded on doors to make sure everyone escaped. Lincoln fire investigators believe an improperly discarded cigarette is to blame for the blaze, which caused $2.5 million in damage, displaced more than 50 people and ranks among the city's most significant residential fires in recent years. The 30-unit building, near 33rd Street and Folkways Boulevard, is considered a total loss. All residents escaped unharmed, but the fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage to their belongings. "I dont think I talked to one person who had renters insurance," said Lincoln Fire Investigator Rick Campos. He noted that such coverage costs about the same as a pizza per month. The complex is owned by Edward Rose Development Co. of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. A local manager didn't comment at the scene. Building alarms sounded around 4:45 a.m., and fire crews had it under control by about 6:15 a.m. The fire ripped through three-quarters of the building's attic and roof, above its sprinkler system, sending flames leaping into the morning sky. Police and firefighters accounted for the residents with help from apartment management. And in the fire's first moments, tenants made sure everyone pets included made it outside safely. One gentleman told me, I couldnt get my wife out until she got her cat, Battalion Chief Leo Benes said. His teams encountered heavy fire on their arrival and got a quick knockdown on the fire, but flames nonetheless swept quickly through the attic, stopping only when they hit a firewall on the western side. "It got ahead of us," he said. More than 50 firefighters and 18 fire rigs responded. Eight units on the third floor were probably the most damaged by fire, Benes said. The massive firefight strained fire hydrants in the area as crews sprayed the blaze with several 1,000-gallon-a-minute hoses. And sprinklers inside the apartments ran for "quite a long time," so Campos believes the water damage is substantial. He suspects a cigarette ignited the fire on a first- or second-floor balcony, and the flames spread from there. Residents who scurried from their apartments kept warm in the complex's clubhouse, left the scene or hunkered down inside a StarTran bus that was provided as a temporary shelter. Fire officials began letting some tenants inside to retrieve keys, wallets and cellphones around 8 a.m. By afternoon, complex management took over the scene and was to determine if and when tenants could continue retrieving their belongings. Many of those people were displaced at 5:30 in the morning with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, so no shoes, no socks, no coats, Fire Chief Micheal Despain told reporters during a news conference. A lot of people helped support those people who were displaced. Chelsea Fabrizius of the Kansas City area stood shivering outside the complex office just after 7:30 a.m. She stayed at Black Sand with a friend after the Snow Tha Product hip-hop show at the Bourbon Theatre the night before. When the alarms sounded, she only had time to grab a letterman's jacket to slip over her nightgown. She had nothing for her feet. But a lovely woman, who Fabrizius thought was married to an apartment complex manager, gave her fuzzy blue socks. The woman passed out socks to many of the displaced tenants. There were even young men wearing pink socks with hearts on them, she said. Fabrizius was grateful for the strangers kindness: I just want some pants." A friend who lives in a different building there gave Goswami a zip-up sweatshirt. He doesnt have renters insurance, he said, pointing at his apartment. The door to his first-level unit was charred, a window busted. Goswami wondered aloud: Is there anything left for me or not? JavaScript is disabled on your browser. CORDIS website requires JavaScript enabled in order to work properly. Please enable JavaScript. The moment was sadly ironic. On Wednesday, as city leaders celebrated the renovation of Revolution Mill a former Cone Mills textile factory that now houses shops, offices, restaurants and apartments another Greensboro textile mill was closing its doors. White Oak was the last Cone textile mill operating in Greensboro, the last to make iconic American denim in the town where it began, the last still serving its original purpose. Although the timing was purely a coincidence, it served to underscore how important historic preservation and new-market tax credits are in promoting economic development in towns where traditional businesses and industries have withered away. There are few sights as disheartening as shuttered factories that once provided a livelihood for hundreds of workers. But that doesnt have to be the end of the story. Textile manufacturing has moved overseas, but the massive brick structures left behind can become another kind of economic engine one that attracts entrepreneurs and millenials who want to live, work and play in the same space. Revolution Mill shows how successful that kind of place can be. All of its market-rate apartments are occupied, and nine of 29 affordable housing units are filled. The first building that was renovated as business space is 92 percent occupied. The second is nearly half full, even with the entire third floor held out of the rental mix. There is one 170,000-square-foot building yet to be developed, said Nick Piornack, business development manager for Revolution Mill. None of this would have been possible without historic preservation and new-market tax credits. Revolution Mill closed in 1982, and much of the complex sat empty for decades. Its sheer size and scope overwhelmed the resources of several would-be renovators before Self Help Ventures Fund bought the mill and leveraged tax credits to bring it back to life. Wednesdays event was held to showcase the importance of tax credits as Congress undertakes comprehensive tax reform. Sixth District Rep. Mark Walker (R-Greensboro) toured Proximity Mill, which awaits renovation, before the event at nearby Revolution Mill. Former Republican Rep. Jon Christensen, who is undertaking several renovation projects of his own in Tennessee, came to help convince Walker that these tax credits are vital to economic development. This project has revitalized an area that might have been forgotten, Christensen said. This is a jobs, jobs, jobs bill, which is why a conservative Republican like me is a champion for this program. Walker voiced general support for the program, noting the connection historic structures give us with the past, the economic benefits they provide in the present, and the effect they can have on lives and communities in the future. Anytime you can see an investment make that kind of impact, you can make the case that this is a good thing for all North Carolinians, Walker said. Lets hope he makes that case as leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee. Beyond the large mills and factories, there are historic structures in the downtown area of most small towns in North Carolina. Jen Gallimore, downtown economic development planner for the Sandhills town of Aberdeen, came to lobby for preserving historic tax credits a subject she explored in her masters thesis. Were definitely wanting the tax credits to stay, Gallimore said. If you just own your own property, and youre a single business owner, theres not many options if they take that away. About half of the spaces in Aberdeens historic downtown are occupied, but about half are vacant and in poor condition, Gallimore said. Theres one old hotel annex, which has storefronts on the bottom and 11 tiny rooms on top. Its all concrete on the inside, and its a beautiful space, but nobody has the money or the time to fix it up. Gallimore is focused on what historic structures can mean for the future, but mother Patty Wall is deeply connected to their past heritage. She said she remembers piling into the car with her siblings to pick up her daddy, Alvin Wall, who was a loom fixer at Revolution Mill until the textile operation closed. Cars would be lined up just like the pickup line at school when the shift ended, she recalls. Although some of the salaries may not be equivalent to those offered in its factory days, businesses at Revolution Mill provide 1,260 permanent jobs. Myrick Howard, president of Preservation North Carolina, said the redeveloped American Tobacco campus in Durham employs more people now than it did when it was a tobacco factory. Historic renovations also increase the tax base and encourage adjacent development. As legacy industries continue to decline, historic tax credits can turn blight into economic might. The federal government should continue this worthwhile investment. Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier "When you shake a veteran's hand today, look them in the eye and give them a heartfelt thank you," said USAF Ret. Col. Jen Fullmer, parade grand marshal, who spoke at the event. Defining Los Lobos is like the proverbial six blind men describing an elephant. In the ancient Indian fable, each man is convinced that his impression is correct based on touching one part of the beasts body. The elephant is like a rope, the man in contact with the creatures tail believes. The man touching the ear is convinced that the critter is like a fan. The one holding the trunk is sure the creature hes describing is a snake. The tusk man thinks the beast is a spear. The knee man believes the animal is like a tree. And the man alongside the elephants girth thinks its a wall. Depending on your field of concentration or lack thereof, Los Lobs can shimmer so intensely, so many genres flashing by so quickly and in such eclectic combinations that youre not sure what your senses are telling you. In 1974, multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Caesar Rojas and David Hidalgo, along with bassist Conrad Lozano, harpist Frank Gonzales and drummer Louie Perez started their musical journey playing for neighborhood afternoon socials called tardeadas in their East L.A. neighborhood. Calling themselves Los Lobos, they bucked the trend of playing covers of current hits, relying on their shared heritage to bring a different flavor to their music. By the time they were in high school, most of the members had already been in cover bands, but wanted something different. Hidalgo was a Fats Domino fan in his younger years, but he also loved Fairport Convention, Buffalo Springfield and David Thompson. He was a fan of country music as well, watching Buck Owens, Ernest Tubb and Ferlin Husky on local television. But although he was listening to that music, he was schooling himself on traditional Mexican instruments, as was Rojas. The band became proficient on traditional instruments including bajo sexto guitarron and requinto jarocho, and was featured in a 1975 rock-doc on public television. The band, initially called Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles (The Wolves of East L.A.), released its debut album, Just Another Band From East L.A., in 1978. But the album title seemed prophetic the band stayed local, barely getting by playing weddings, local dances and at restaurants. But meeting the Blasters after a show at the Roxy in 1981, Blaster Dave Alvin recalled seeing Hidalgo in the 75 doc, and in conversation, discovered they were both fans of accordionist Flaco Jimenez. He asked Hidalgo to send him a demo, and as a result got Los Lobos slots opening for bands like Public Image Ltd. Blaster saxophonist Steve Berlin recalls the band being pelted with various and sundry items by the audience at the Public Image show, but liked what he saw well enough to leave the Blasters and become a Lobo. Berlin started producing the band, and with T Bone Burnetts help, busted out big with 1984s How Will The Wolf Survive, mixing the country soul of Hidalgos A Matter of Time with the honkin R&B of Peppermint Harris 1951 hit I Got Loaded, mixing in the Fats Domino-inspired rocker Evangeline with the traditional Norteno sound of Serenata Norteno. The band scored a No. 1 hit in 1987 with a cover of Ritchie Valens La Bamba. Kiko in 1992 was the most innovative project the band had taken on, written as it was recorded, done in one or two takes. Theres no central theme, just a glorious blend of whatever was swirling in the ozone at the time the band could capture, from the Stones-y glimmer mixed with a dose of ZZ Top of Dream In Blue to the unholy but highly satisfying rockabilly be-bop on That Train Dont Stop Here. Tin Can Trust in 2010 was another milestone, mixing Tejano blues and rock, from the jammy blues of 27 Spanishes to the gritty, funky cover of The Grateful Deads West LA Fadeaway to the wiggly 60s surf vibe of Do The Murray. Its a group effort, but its hard not to be overwhelmed by Hidalgos vocal and instrumental skills. David Hidalgo, hes my hero, man, said Los Texmaniacs frontman Max Baca. Baca, who demonstrated his bajo sexto skills in Greensboro at the 77th National Folk Festival in September, has been friends with Hidalgo and the band for decades. Ive known David and Caesar and all the guys for years because I used to play with the Texas Tornadoes back in the 90s. I joined the band in 91 and I played with them all through the 90s. Baca was trained on bajo sexto by Flaco Jimenez and Doug Sahm in that band, but he was impressed with Hidalgos prowess on guitar as well. As a musician, as a guitar player, I love the way he plays and approaches everything, Baca said last week by phone from the road. Hidalgo schooled Baca as well. Just being onstage with Hidalgo, being right next to him and he rips out a solo that totally blows your mind, then looks at you and says, Go, youre next. You better be on your game, man. You better do something thats gonna be impressive. Baca admits its a tough way to learn, but an unparalleled ego booster if you can pull it off. I had to learn the stuff that way. The guy has enough confidence in me to say, Hey, you can do it. You are a good player. You can take off on a solo, (and) make this thing happen. Baca has played in and with the band over the years, recording with core members of the band in a side project called Los Super 7 that had its eponymous debut in 1998. The cast was a whos who of Tex-Mex, conjunto and Norteno stars including Freddie Fender, Joe Ely, Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez, Caesar Rojas, David Hidalgo, and Baca, with Steve Berlin producing. When we were in the studio, he would make instruments, Baca says. He made a guitar pick. He had to get this wooden pick and he didnt have one with him, so he got a comb, went outside on the cement and started scraping and scraping until he had it. He also conjured up a percussive instrument from a plastic cup. He got a Solo cup, used the little ridges on a Solo cup, and he got a little plastic fork, and theyd mike it up, and boom! There was this amazing sound on the track. Theres another Los Lobos connection as well. Steve Berlin produced Bacas 2015 album Americano Groove. Baca had won a Grammy for Best Tejano album in 2010 for his first Texmaniacs release Borders Y Bailes, which he self- produced. So Steve was like, Man, what do you need me to produce a Tex-Mex album for? Well, I said, We can work together on this, but I need your opinions and your motivation and your direction on the Americano stuff. Baca has high praise for the other Lobos as well, whom hes performed with as recently as this past July Fourth at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Their musicality, Louie and Conrad, theyre the quiet ones, but theyre so effective in the band because theyre the songwriters, Baca says. Then youve got Caesar with that voice he has, and the look, and David, the magic he has when he plays the guitar and directs the band, its just amazing. His voice, too. That high-pitched voice comes in, its so soothing, so pleasant to listen to. Los Lobos has the ability to tackle different styles of music, combining them into a seamless mix. No matter what the country of origin, they present it like it seems like home to them, and they make you feel welcome. They have so much experience and culture, Baca says.They can go from traditional Tex-Mex to jarocho music from Vera Cruz, and from that into country, then rock and roll, and do it right, and unique, and different. Its amazing. Therell never be another band like Los Lobos, man! Baca says excitedly. The same guys have been together for 45 years. The only bands I know that are still together for over 45 years are Los Lobos and the Rolling Stones. Even Van Halen and the Beatles everybody breaks up. Baca says he believes this wolfpack has a special bond that keeps them together. Its about the music to them, you know? Not about fame, not about money, its about making music. Those guys love the music, and they make the music. Pop-up gallery Hilary J. Clement and Friends is about to, well, pop up at 300-A S. Elm St. The gallery, being operated by artist Hilary Clement, will open in November in the corner store front vacated by Glitters. The gallery will have regular store hours during the months of November and December. Clement is seeking artists of all mediums for the gallerys run. Accepted artists will be responsible for drop-off and pick-up of artwork and are encouraged to be at the gallery during the evenings of the November and December First Friday, a monthly event in which downtown galleries, alternative art spaces and merchants stay open late for special events. Artworks must be available to remain at the gallery during the entire two months unless sold by the gallery. All artwork is consignment only and if not sold, must be picked up on the agreed upon date. A fee of $100 total for both months must be paid upon acceptance into the gallery and before artwork drop-off. The gallery will retain 30% of the sale price as commission. To be considered for acceptance, email a short biography, a website or facebook page, and five to six images of good resolution to hilaryclementart@gmail.com by Saturday. Tentative drop-off dates will be Oct. 27-29. Pieces exhibiting nudity, violence or political commentary will not be accepted. Barnabas Network needs home goods The Barnabas Network is in desperate need of mattresses and housewares. The nonprofit is completely out of twin sheet sets, for example. There is also a special need for extra long twin sheets. Clients also need new or gently used sheets of other sizes, towels, dishes, pots and pans. Organizations wishing to hold linens and housewares drives, should contact Derrick Sides. Items may be dropped off between 8:30 a.m. and noon weekdays. To schedule a pickup time, call 336-370-4002. Tip-A-Cop event set for Red Robin Oct. 21 Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews restaurants will go blue Oct. 21 as law enforcement members serve guests to support Special Olympics North Carolina. Red Robins 12th annual Tip-A-Cop event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. at several North Carolina locations including the one at 1507 Highwoods Blvd. in Greensboro. This fundraiser is part of a larger effort to support Special Olympics programs in local communities, with more than 390 restaurants in 40 states and British Columbia, Canada participating. Law enforcement members will volunteer their time as servers alongside Red Robins wait staff to raise funds, and all donations will benefit Special Olympics North Carolina. Tip-A-Cop is part of the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run campaign in support of Special Olympics. Guilford historian talk at Lets Go Seniors Gayle Fripp, Guilford County historian and local history consultant, is the featured speaker of the next Lets Go Seniors meeting, slated for 10 to 11:30 a.m. Oct. 24, at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, 330 S. Greene St., in Greensboro. The group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month and it is open to adults 50 and older. For information, email letsgosrs@gmail.com. GREENSBORO Faith Community Church is asking the N.C. Supreme Court to weigh in on its ability to buy solar power from another nonprofit. The church, and the Durham watchdog group, filed an appeal this morning of a lower courts ruling that in doing so, the nonprofit is acting as an unregulated utility company. NC WARN provides a portion of the Faith Community buildings overall power supply, which has lowered utility costs. Known as third party sales, the technique is legal in some states, but Duke Energy protested that it is banned in North Carolina. It makes all the sense in the world except if you are a corporate entity and you want to make all the profits for yourself, said the Rev. Nelson Johnson, the churchs pastor. The N.C. Court of Appeals panel ruled, 2-1, against the nonprofit in September. The two appellate judges, Hunter Murphy and Donna Stroud, agreed with Duke Energy that the arrangement also infringed on the utilitys monopoly on the retail sale of electricity. Appellate Judge Chris Dillon said in a dissenting opinion that the arrangement was not a threat to Duke Energys dominance of retail electric sales. I conclude that NC WARN was not acting as a public utility because the solar panel system is not serving the public, but rather is designed to generate power for a single customer (the church) from the churchs property, Dillon wrote in his dissent. Theres a rational argument for it, and in the eyes of one judge it was strong enough to oppose the other two, Johnson said. So it is far from a clear-cut negative decision. And I think the merit of what we are trying to do are fairly strong. I am very hopeful that we will get a favorable rendering from the Supreme Court. This test case for North Carolina dates back to June 2015, when the nonprofit began selling solar power at the Arlington Street congregation near downtown, from a system installed on the roof of the church. The congregation and the nonprofit asked the utility commission to decide whether it was legal for one nonprofit group to sell power to another in a third-party solar transaction. State law says that only a state-regulated utility may sell electricity to a consumer. The aim, according to the commission, is to make sure that utilities operate fairly, safely and professionally under close supervision by state regulators. At the time, Duke Energy, the nations largest utility company, responded by urging state regulators to impose a fine up to $1,000 per day against the nonprofit group selling solar panels to the small Greensboro congregation. There is a (biblical) story about David and Goliath, Johnson said. We believe that when you are convinced of the righteousness of something, that is sufficient reason to stand for it. The utilities commission ordered the group to end its business relationship with the church, refund any charges it had collected from the congregation and pay additional fines if it continued providing solar service to the church. Jim Warren, NC WARNs executive director, said Thursday that third-party financing arrangements such as this one are in the public interest and are in accord with state policy promoting clean, affordable energy. We feel we have a good case, Warren said. This is the wave of much of the nation and the world. Duke Energy spokesman Randy Wheeless points out that N.C. House Bill 589, passed this summer, opens the door for more solar leasing in North Carolina. The bill was supported by a range of voices, including those in the solar business and other environmental groups, and was signed by Gov. Roy Cooper. To continue on with this case seems a bit of a waste of time, Wheeless said. NC WARN attorney Jim Runkle disagrees. Its not settled, Runkle said. The law said people like NC WARN cant sell power to a church. Duke Energy went to the Legislature to make sure we couldnt. WASHINGTON Two executives of a firm that helped produce an opposition research dossier that makes salacious claims about President Donald Trumps ties to Russia refused to answer questions Wednesday in a private meeting with the House Intelligence Committee. Fusion GPS partners Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, said their lawyer, Joshua Levy. He said they would cooperate with serious investigations and also claimed that a Trump cabal has carried out a campaign to demonize our client for having been tied to the Trump dossier. We endeavor to work with all serious investigators who are going to be striking the balance between Congresss right to information and our clients privileges and legal obligations, Levy said. Weve done that with other committees, and will continue to do so. In August, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee for 10 hours, Levy said. The Wednesday appearance by Fritsch and Catan before committee staff and a single member, Republican Tom Rooney of Florida, was compelled, said Levy, even though he had informed the panel in writing they would be invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. He said they were required to appear anyway, which he called an indignity and an abuse of power. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes of California didnt attend the interview. He had stepped back from running the panels probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election amid controversy, though he kept his job as committee chairman and remains involved in some issues related to the investigation. The subpoenas he signed sought information from Fusion GPS officials on the creation of the dossier, written mostly by former British spy Christopher Steele. The 35-page document included unverified allegations about Trump, including contacts between Russian officials and his staff during the presidential campaign, and Moscows possession of compromising information about the president. Trump has denied the allegations. 2017 Bloomberg News Visit Bloomberg News at www.bloomberg.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ Topics: g000362697,g000362669,g000219715 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate REDDING The Redding Roadhouse will be back before the year is over. Easton couple Shawn and Erin Reilly will operate the popular restaurant and bar after her family purchased the property from longtime owners Kenneth and Sandra Wright. The 3.5-acre property includes the restaurant and three homes. Im excited. They are the perfect fit, said Sandra Wright, who has owned the property with her husband since 1998. Theyre a nice, local and young family and hes an experienced restaurateur. Its exciting for us and its exciting for Redding. A lot of people rely on the Redding Roadhouse. The Wrights closed the restaurant and put the property on the market this summer. The restaurant had been revitalized after Jordan Wright, Ken and Sandras son, reopened it in 2014 after it had been closed for about six months. Jordan Wright died in November after a long battle with bone cancer. His wife, Kate, took over as manager of the restaurant, but the family closed it again in June. More Business Redding Roadhouse closes again; new owners sought We didnt close it because it wasnt doing well. It was just too much for us manage, Sandra Wright said. I just want to go there for dinner now. She will be able to soon enough as Shawn and Erin Reilly have been working every day to bring the restaurant back to its former glory. They said the theme and menu of the Redding Roadhouse will not change much. Contractors are at the venue daily sanding, painting, varnishing and making other cosmetic improvements. Were bringing it to life, said Shawn Reilly, adding that they hope to be open by the holidays. You have to do things the right way and make it the best experience for everyone. The Redding Roadhouse has traditionally had a spacious bar area, large dining room, patio and upstairs game room with pool table and its own bar. The Reillys plan to maintain that layout. Shawn Reilly also owns, along with business partners, a sandwich shop and rice bowl casual restaurant in New York City, as well as handling the food and beverage for a large hotel in the city. Erin Reilly grew up in Monroe and remembers coming to the Redding Roadhouse for special occasions. Shawn is a native of the Pittsburgh area. The couple met while attending Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. They moved to New York City and lived there for about 10 years. In that time they had a son and Erin became pregnant with their second child. With a second boy on the way we decided we needed a yard, so we migrated up this way to get the quality of life you get from living in the country, Erin Reilly said. Their boys are now 6 and 3 years old. Having experienced the Redding Roadhouse while growing up, she understands the magnitude of the task the couple is undertaking. Its an institution and means a lot to a lot of people, she said. Our friend let us know this was for sale. We met Sandy and that family is just incredible. It just blossomed from there. It was the right fit. Sandra Wright liked that the Reillys wanted to maintain the character of the Redding Roadhouse and not make wholesale changes. She said interest was high in the property and many people wanted to create a specialty restaurant. We know what works here, Wright said. Theyll change it a little bit and I feel fine about it. It needs a little sprucing up. Its ready. The Wrights never had to list the property with a broker so Kenneth and Sandra were able to meet each of the potential buyers. The Wrights have owned the property since 1998, but the restaurant has been a part of the family since 1985 when Mac Groetzinger opened it. When they put it on the market this summer, Sandra Wright said they had an emotional interest in the property. It was serendipity, Sandra Wright said of meeting the Reillys. I think Jordan sent me these people. Shawn reminds me of Jordan in a way. That was a bonus aside from the fact they were the most qualified. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The downtown and South End of Stamford or downtown Hartford and East Hartford would house offices for Amazons planned second headquarters, according to the states proposal submitted Thursday to the e-commerce giant. In the first phase of a build-out that could eventually cover 8 million square feet, Amazon would occupy in Stamford some 1.3 million square feet in vacant complexes at 677 Washington Blvd., 1 Elmcroft Road and 2187 Atlantic St. Hartford is offering 560,000 square feet in two downtown towers on the Connecticut River for the initial stage. In the second and third phases, Amazon would then expand to other downtown and South End sites in Stamford or additional riverfront properties in Hartford and East Hartford. As a state, Connecticut is full of spirit and potential, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said during a news conference Thursday at the state capitol. We are happy to be engaged in this competition with other cities across North America. Stamford and Hartford-East Hartford have equal standing in the bid. Connecticuts proposal is vying with other areas across the country for Amazons nod as the site for a complex that would house as many as 50,000 people and receive more than $5 billion in investment from Amazon. The companys existing headquarters is in Seattle. State officials picked the Stamford and Hartford regions earlier this month after receiving 17 site proposals. Despite earlier speculation, Stamfords bid does not include sites in any other Fairfield County communities. Im proud of what we have to offer, Stamford Mayor David Martin said at the news conference. And I believe that Amazon is going to find everything that they want in our great city: access to transportation, access to the workforce that they need and are looking for, and a diverse and energetic city, vibrant, ready to go. For later phases of the development, Stamford would rely on a combination of existing and planned buildings. As second-phase sites that would be available within the next two years, the bid proposes 500,000 square feet at 400 Atlantic St., and 385,000 square feet in the planned Metro Tower next to the downtown Metro-North station. The 400 Atlantic building is set to lose its largest tenant, Charter Communications, which announced earlier this month it would move its headquarters to a new building at 406 Washington Blvd. In a third phase of development, the bid proposes locating some 6 million square feet of additional offices in new buildings throughout Stamfords downtown and South End. Those properties would include: 1 million square feet at 650 Atlantic St.; four parcels covering up to 800,000 square feet in the mixed-use Harbor Point complex in the South End; up to 750,000 square feet on a 14-acre peninsula in the South End, where a new headquarters for hedge fund Bridgewater Associates had been proposed before that plan was abandoned in 2014; a potential 650,000-square-foot expansion at 677 Washington Blvd.; up to 600,000 square feet at the corner of Pacific Street and Woodland Avenue; and a 600,000-square-foot office complex at the downtown Metro-North station. The third-stage sites would require approvals from planning and zoning agencies. State officials said they thought they needed to geographically concentrate the offices locations to adhere to Amazons specifications. Amazon was clear that they wanted the campus to be no larger than about a mile or a mile and a half, Catherine Smith, the states economic development commissioner, said in an interview Thursday. They wanted employees to be able to walk and bike between buildings, so thats why we gave them consolidated campuses. State officials did not disclose Thursday the specifics of the subsidies they would offer, but acknowledged the package would include long-term property tax incentives. We want to remain in a very competitive position to negotiate with Amazon about the incentives, Smith said. We dont think putting them out there now in the public arena would help us in that regard. Connecticut would not be able to offer Amazon the inexpensive costs of doing business that contenders without state income taxes such as Florida or Texas could provide. But the disparity would not necessarily hinder Connecticuts plan. Many of the states that have lower costs to do business dont have all the amenities that come with being in Connecticut, in terms of workforce, social climate and access to a wide population, said David Souder, associate dean of graduate programs in the University of Connecticuts business school. Smart business people focus on the return on the investment, what they get back not just what they put in. Other economists question whether the state should make a major investment. The company is already in line to receive $20 million in tax credits to support the opening of a distribution center in North Haven. The problem with any potential Amazon deal is that it is likely fools gold, said Stephen Rubb, a professor of business economics at Sacred Heart University. Yes, it would be nice to have a new corporate giant locate in our state, but the intense nature of the competition from other communities is likely to drive the tax incentives price tag to extremely high levels. My concern is that the taxpayers of Connecticut are not likely to benefit from such a deal, even in the long run. Amazon would likely inform the state within the next couple of months whether Stamford or Hartford-East Hartford had made its shortlist of headquarters locations, Smith said. Despite being overlooked for the states bid, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim have both outlined plans for their cities to submit independent proposals. Ganim has said Bridgeport would team with New Haven for its plan. Ken Dixon contributed to this report. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott Every once in a while, as you all know, I take a spin in the middle of my files, and lo and behold, I found something of great fascination to me, and hopefully as we go on, to you as well. It was called Greenwich from 1640 to 1990, a special section celebrating the town, its history, and its people on its 350th anniversary. And for those of you who like me are fascinated by the stories of Greenwich in the old days, it was a treasure trove as far as I was concerned. It was an insert that came with the paper and it was, in my estimation, beautifully done. Where did Greenwich come from? According to William E. Finch, Jr., our late curator emeritus of the Historical Society of the town of Greenwich, it was probably named for Greenwich England, the maritime town in the outer borough of London (where apart from being a part of our history it has the most beautiful roses I have ever seen). It says, although who knows, that Jeffrey Ferris who came to the town before it was officially founded in 1640, gave the town its name, but there is no proof to that, Finch said. Greenwich really began with the signing of a deed between the Siwanoy Indians and their families, and two English people, captain Daniel Patrick and Robert Feake. The story goes, and I presume its true, that Elizabeth Feake, the great niece of John Winthrop who came over to get Boston going, bought separately what is now Tods Point. As you all know this story from the famous and fabulous book, the Winthrop Woman, by Anya Seton. Unfortunately the Patricks and the Feakes left no land of presence in Greenwich, as he was unstable mentally, so his wife Elizabeth took an independent role in town and family affairs. Elizabeth Feake and her new husband Hallett, eventually ended up on Long Island and founded the town of Flushing. The interesting thing to me about this whole business is the article which tells about the independence of Greenwich. In the early years Greenwich rows its own canoe with no help from anybody either in Stamford under the English, or from New York under the Dutch. Unusually so, the state authorities were content to let Greenwich take complete charge under their internal orders, rules and constitutions. This was known as New England town meeting government, and this pattern of home rule was reinforced in Greenwich, according to Douglas M. Arnold, a special correspondent, by the tradition of personal independence and non-conformity. What intrigues me about this whole situation, when you consider by going back to beginnings which we just discussed, where Greenwich was a town where independence became town tradition. Although they had put the town under the Dutch, none of these moves were entirely successfully. New Haven colony gained rule over Greenwich in the 1650s and placed Greenwich within Stamford. The Connecticut colony was among the most independent in the British Empire, electing its own public officials and handling its internal affairs with little interference from London. The author points out that that this was a familiar Yankee type tradition, with regard to taxation and the spending of money, and has continued to this day. Well, hopefully so. As time went on, Connecticut and the U.S. government stationed troops in the area, although there were problems in the area because of the number of people still loyal to the British crown. British military raids, particularly the one led by William Tryon in 1779, caused much property damage in Greenwich. The state government compensated a number of townspeople in Greenwich who had losses suffered during the war, by granting them land in Ohio, but we still had General Putnam and his ride to get more troops during the war. Greenwich voters continued to exercise their political independence in the following years, with the Federalist party electing supporters of Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson to the General Assembly in 1808 and finally, supporting the Republican demand for a new constitution for Connecticut in 1818. It just goes to show that Greenwich, and in many ways Connecticut, was very independent in the early years. The people who were in Greenwich in the beginning were Elizabeth Feake, Cornelius Labden, Captain John Underhill, John Coe, Jeremiah Peck, General Israel Putnam, and Ebenezer Mead. As time goes on we will talk more about Greenwich as it grows up. We will have more columns about this, in particular to tell about Cos Cob as a community for commerce and local artists, which will be coming soon. After all, Cos Cob contains Greenwichs first historical district. But I couldnt get over this beautiful insert that went into the paper telling all about the history of our town. The advertisements and the other stories are such that I have been fascinated with this wonderful insert for hours. Greenwich native Norma Bartol, a former Greenwich Time reporter and columnist, lives in the backcountry. Lets start with an incontrovertible fact Byram needs either a new school or the current one significantly improved. Some members of the current Board of Education recently asked our town for an extra $23 million of taxpayer money on top of the original $14 million. Now thats before cost overruns, etc., which will probably bring the total cost closer to $50 million. As it stands, the school will cost some $37 million or $712 per square foot. That compares with median cost of a new school in Connecticut of $235/SF1 or a little more than $600/SF in mid-town Manhattan. Ahhh! One says, Greenwich is more expensive than other places in Connecticut. Land is, yes. But no land needs to be purchased for New Lebanon. Concrete, lumber and other building materials dont cost two to three times as much in Greenwich as elsewhere! If that were the case, these would all be bought in Stamford or Port Chester. So what was told at the meeting was a lovely, but a fabricated story that puts Hans Christian Andersen to shame. The recent history of the New Lebanon project is littered with misstatements and omissions. The board was never told the school building with 12 classrooms was running out of space. We got this news when the superintendent announced that the Byram kindergarten would need to move across the street to the BANC building by bus! Board members then realized an expansion of a few classroom would be required to serve the Byram neighborhood. A feasibility study was commissioned and a building project speced with 15 classrooms and a new large cafeteria, gym, library, office spaces, and special education classrooms. The long and tortured journey to a new New Lebanon was now in full swing. About the same time, the State of Connecticut arrived with a demand for racial balance at New Lebanon. This arrived not alone, but with a big checkbook. Make your school part of an approved racial balance plan and well write a check for 80 percent of any school construction costs. Too good to be true. And, it was. Superintendent William McKersie then announced, We have no room to take another student. He asked for a school to accommodate 475 kids taking New Lebanon from one of the smallest elementary schools to one of the largest in Greenwich. This was based on the fatuous claim that a large number of white kids from Old Greenwich and Riverside would clamor to transfer across town to New Lebanon, thereby correcting the racial balance problems. The board then commissioned a new feasibility study, which speced a huge building with 21 classrooms. To fill some of the classrooms; the school administration would move the successful preschool at under-utilized Parkway School to New Lebanon. A wonderful example of Impoverish your neighbor. But, under Connecticut Racial Balance Law calculations, this shift would make racial balance at New Leb worse, not better. Delay, and more delay while the new feasibility study was prepared. To make matters worse, the proponents of this folly proceeded to get into a protracted fight with First Selectmen Peter Tesei and selectmen John Toner and Drew Marzullo over cutting down about half of the only woodland in Byram by putting the new school in down in the neighboring ravine instead on top of the ridge as before. More delay. The architect who was finally hired made it clear in his RFP response that he would site the school at yet another location and needed a building with a wow factor. Wow is code for fancy and expensive and has no benefit regarding academic achievement. It can, however, lead to awards for architects. The proponents catch phrase was Remember the state is paying 80 percent so who cares what it costs. Well, the Greenwich taxpayer cares. A huge proportion of Greenwich nonfederal tax money never returns from Hartford. Eighty percent (not mentioned 80 percent of only approved expenses) became less than 60 percent and Greenwich residents were still on the hook for at least $14 million and probably much more. While on the BOE, I proposed to add the necessary space with temporary and rented units and then build the school using modern modular construction. Had we done that the new school would have opened years ago. This recommendation was based on my 50-plus years of experience handling more than $1 billion in projects. Beautiful schools are being built all over the United States in one-quarter of the time and half the cost using modular or off-site methods. The proponents tried to connect themselves to a free money gravy train in Hartford, but the gravy train dried up. At this point, I hope they get the money from Hartford because if they dont, the kids and families of New Lebanon are the losers. The scandalous fact is there is there is no Plan B! The only Plan B they have is raiding the wallets of Greenwich taxpayers to build a very expensive, poorly designed school at a dumb location. Peter von Braun served for four years on the Greenwich Board of Education. Deliverer of bad news. Photo: Scott Eisen/Getty Images Blue Aprons prospects just keep growing dimmer. The meal-kit company laid off 6 percent of its total workforce yesterday, according to a regulatory filing. Back in June (and presumably until yesterdays close of business), it had about 5,000 employees between its corporate offices and various fulfillment centers, which means somewhere around 300 people lost their jobs. CEO Matt Salzberg wrote workers a memo yesterday that called the layoffs painful for a close-knit team like ours, but defended them as part of a company-wide realignment. He added that the move is part of a roadmapping and reprioritization effort that will help Blue Apron reduce expenses and streamline decision-making. Truthfully, the companys been in one phase or another of a grand organizational restructuring since going public, even after Amazon bought Whole Foods a mistake, it turned out, because after just two weeks, share prices had tanked to less than the cost of a meal kit. In August, Blue Apron announced that a new state-of-the-art fulfillment center was opening in New Jersey. The cost of this facility and the meager capital raised by the IPO, forced Blue Apron to delay rolling out new recipes, and even slash its ad budget. Executives also gave 1,270 Jersey City workers until October to decide if they wanted to relocate to the new factory in Linden, about 30 minutes away. Competition has only gotten stiffer since the IPO, yet another factor contributing to Blue Aprons woes. It lost its top HR executive and fired 13 of her team members at the end of August, alongside initiating a hiring freeze for salaried employees. Salzbergs letter this week nevertheless remains optimistic: Im confident that the changes we made today will make our organization stronger and help us continue to improve the lives of our customers across the country. Correction: This post originally confused the jobs held by two of Blue Aprons three co-founders. Matt Salzberg is CEO; Matthew Wadiak was COO, until he stepped down in July. Also, a rep clarifies that the companys hiring freeze didnt apply to all salaried employees, as initially reported. Danny Meyer this past August. Photo: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images Its been two years since Danny Meyer announced he would eliminate tipping at all of his companys restaurants. At the time, it was hailed as a move that could save the hospitality industry, and restaurateurs around the country followed suit. Though some other American operators had already moved to eliminate tips at their restaurants, Meyers company, Union Square Hospitality Group, was by far the most ambitious in its implementation of what it calls Hospitality Included pricing. It would Meyer said at the time reduce the pay discrepancy between workers in his kitchens and dining rooms, and allow paychecks to keep pace with the increased cost of living and rising minimum wage in New York. However, in a series of interviews with both current and former USHG employees, its clear that the rollout has been far rockier than anticipated, people have left the company in droves, staff morale has dropped considerably, and the company has been forced to slow down its rollout plan to deal with the fallout. The majority of our strongest people have left, says one former manager at Union Square Cafe who, like many people interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous to avoid burning bridges in the industry. At two of USHGs other restaurants, Maialino and Gramercy Tavern, current and former servers say their pay dropped by about $100 per week after H.I. was implemented. Another Union Square Cafe front-of-house employee says her annual pay dropped from $60,000 per year before H.I. to $50,000 after tips were eliminated. When H.I. was first announced, Meyer said that menu prices would rise by about 21 percent, which, as the restaurateur told Eater at the time, would account for the lost gratuity and right what has been a labor of wrong. Erin Moran, USHGs chief culture officer, acknowledges that, after a restaurant moves to the H.I. system, some servers and bartenders may see a dip in pay, but that take-home pay is about the same on a macro level. The affected workers say that the changes created a sense of turmoil that has resulted in higher-than-usual staff departures. USHG declined to share exact personnel figures, but the interviewed employees all offer similar stories. After Hospitality Included was introduced at Maialino in 2016, the entire front-of-house staff turned over twice with the exception of a few people. At North End Grill, a significant group of workers from both the front-of-house and back-of-house quit. At Gramercy Tavern, though many veteran servers have stayed, a good number recently decided that they couldnt bear the pay cut anymore and that the situation was not going to improve. Union Square Cafe (where I worked as a server in 2014 and 2015) is essentially a new restaurant that opened with the same leadership from the first USC. Managers and seasoned servers have both bolted, and the company concedes that turnover at both Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern was up in the third quarter this year. We learned very quickly that this is much more challenging than we had anticipated. Erin Moran, USHG Chief Culture Officer Everyone who spoke with Grub, however, agrees that the company still offers excellent benefits paid leave, 401(k), and health care and flexible scheduling that is greatly appreciated. Some also point out that managers at restaurants have gone through great pains to explain the changes and react to employees concerns. Instead, the real problem may be that the company established unreal expectations among staff members. We were all believing that we were going to be making what we were making before, says one former manager. That was the explicit promise. (During an appearance on CBS, Meyer said, The waiters at our restaurants, when we eliminate tipping, will make as much or more, in 75 percent of cases, than theyre making right now.) But the company hasnt been able to follow through. According to Moran, that promise was based on the prediction that business at the restaurants would remain constant, but it hasnt. Customer visits have dropped, and a portion of the servers pay is directly tied to their restaurants revenue, which has also dropped. That, Moran wrote in an email, dramatically affects our front of house teams, which take part in the revenue-share program. In many cases, turnover spikes in the months right after a restaurant moves to the H.I. model, which is, of course, when workers would first see their drop in pay. When Union Square Cafe reopened this past December with no tips, Danielle Carroll who had worked at the original USC location for more than three years quit after just two months. That place was my New York home and the way I made my living, she says, and its no longer a sustainable place to do that. She now works at Gabrielle Hamiltons Prune. The move is also a problem for veteran staffers who, in the old system, could work several lucrative shifts per week and earn a decent living. Now, there is less variation in pay between vets and newbies, and busier shifts may not be preferable to slower nights. Moran explains thats also something the company is dealing with: We know some people especially servers and bartenders used to working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are making less. In those cases, weve tried to address that on an individual basis. In the kitchen, cooks starting salaries have increased from around $11 per hour to $13 though overtime is now managed more carefully, so, according to one former USHG cook, overall take-home pay is only slightly higher than it was under the tipping system. Managers at individual USHG restaurants who hope to hang on to talented staffers have told some servers that their hands are largely tied by policies mandated by the corporate office, but they have tried to prevent people from leaving by offering promotions that come with higher pay. Its apparently not an ideal solution. At Gramercy Tavern, one current server called the current situation a continuous influx and outflux of staff. (The companys chief restaurant officer, Sabato Sagaria, also left the company recently, though he tells Grub Street that the move was not related to H.I. or any issues with USHG.) At Union Square Cafe, after veteran staff left earlier this year, spots had to be filled so quickly that some people were under-qualified and under-trained, one bartender explains. At a Danny Meyer restaurant, where customers have come to expect exceptional service across-the-board, thats caused some issues. There are a lot of people whove had these insanely great experiences, whether they were really that great or whether they remember them being that great because it was 25 years ago, the bartender says. When you have a bunch of young people who dont know what theyre getting into, who arent getting paid properly, theyre not going to treat it like that. For the company, moving a restaurant to a tip-free payment system also means disrupting the culture of that restaurant. The structure begins to resemble a more traditional office environment: Under H.I., ambitious waiters and cooks will only see a pay bump by applying for it with a manager and passing written tests on their knowledge of service, food, and wine. Moran says this approach provides professional growth for servers who want to become managers at the company, along with predictable wages and a more flexible schedule. It also requires that workers rethink the way they approach these service jobs. These issues are likely why USHG hasnt yet rolled out H.I. pricing at all of its restaurants, despite its initial pledge to do so by the end of 2016. Out of the companys 15 establishments (including casual spots such as Martina and Daily Provisions, but excluding satellite cafes and counters in museums) ten are tip-free; the remaining holdouts are Blue Smokes two locations, Untitled, Porchlight, and GreenRiver in Chicago. We were very ambitious with our timeline, Moran explains, and we learned very quickly that this is much more challenging than we had anticipated. Restaurants outside of USHG have also struggled after moving to tip-free payment models: In New York, restaurateur Gabriel Stulman reverted to tipping at Fedora when he noticed customers ordering less food. Tom Colicchios Craft, Momofuku Nishi and i Trulli are all restaurants that experimented with no-tipping models before reverting to tipping. The national chain Joes Crab Shack ended its no-tipping experiment at most of its restaurants. However, the movement still manages to pick up more converts, too. Andrew Tarlow recently expanded it to more of his Brooklyn restaurants, and a brand-new Louisville restaurant is trying it, too. Despite the setbacks, it sounds like people are rooting for USHG because everyone wants a tip-free system to make sense. Its something that will probably work better in five years time than now, said one staffer. I do believe in Hospitality Included, said another. I believe in not living off tips. Its racist and sexist. The only people that benefit from that are owners of the restaurant. Yet another former USHG worker put it more bluntly: In the long run, if Hospitality Included ever works, I wouldnt be surprised. But its going to take a while. There are too many moving parts before they figure it out. It promised tickets redeemed for beer will be disposed of. Photo: Google Maps A Gainesville, Florida, bar did everything in its power to frustrate white-nationalist Richard Spencers speech today at the University of Florida. This is Spencers first visit to a college since the Unite the Right rally at the University of Virginia turned deadly. Almost nobody, including the university itself or Florida governor Rick Scott, wants Spencer to give this speech, but he threatened to sue and was allowed to proceed, so now protesters like Tall Pauls Brew House are doing what they can to help him understand that his ideology is unwelcome. In a Facebook post last week, the bar offered to exchange one of its Alligator Brewing beers for every two Spencer event tickets. We unfortunately cant stop him from bringing his hate to Gainesville. But we can empty the room so his disgusting message goes unheard, the message read. Ticket become available this Saturday, October 14th and each person can get two with a valid ID. This is our town. This... Posted by Alligator Brewing Co. on Thursday, October 12, 2017 Two tickets wasnt a random number; it was supposedly the maximum number that event organizers would distribute to any given person. Hence, the idea was to create an incentive for each Alligator Brewing fan to grab the max number, leaving two more empty seats in the Philips Center. Those sympathetic to Spencer, however, didnt like this idea, and so they, of course, started issuing death threats to people at the bar and brewery. The plan also hit a logistical snag earlier this week, when Spencer said his people were aware of Tall Pauls plot, and had put a system in place to combat that: Instead of releasing the tickets online as planned, they decided to distribute them at this afternoons event on a first-come, first-served basis. The events coordinator Cameron Padgett also apparently swung by Tall Pauls yesterday. First, he tried exchanging what the bar says looked like fake tickets for a free beer. When that didnt work, he apparently moved on to Phase Two of his plan: He began fabricating false slurs that he claimed staff had used against him. He eventually left peaceably, but its unclear what the outcome of Tall Pauls plan will be. A few hours ago, Tall Pauls posted a Facebook update saying its now dawned on them, thanks to Padgetts stunt, that they cant verify tickets authenticity, so the exchange program might not happen anyway. Whatever happens, one hopes everybody remains safe. A performance at HiFi by Lifter Puller, members of which would go on to form the Hold Steady. Photo: Alexis Scherl Bars and restaurants close all the time in New York. But not all of them play as big a part or any part at all in the citys culture as HiFi, the classic East Village rock bar, does. Last night, owner Mike Stuto announced that the bar would close at the end of the month. He confirms to Grub Street that its last day in business is October 29. The news was met with an outpouring of support from regulars, including indie musician Ted Leo, who tweeted about the closing. I have a lot to say about @hifinyc closing. And when I get on the road and settle into a routine next week, I will. This is not a threat! Ted Leo (@tedleo) October 19, 2017 Viva Stuto. @hifinyc is forever. How lucky we are to have had that place at all. pic.twitter.com/ymFBIO3KlL Joan LeMay (@joanlemay) October 18, 2017 Opened in 1989 as Brownies before becoming HiFi in 2002, the bar hosted seminal modern rock acts including Spoon, My Morning Jacket, Interpol, the National, and Bob Mould, first of the great hard-core punk band Husker Du. The stage was scraped from 2005 to 2015, but it was also home to an mp3 jukebox with more than 50,000 songs and many, many fans of its own. In his announcement, Stuto explained that HiFi was closing because, frankly, the neighborhood had changed too much from the crusty-boho place it was when the bar opened to the gentrified place it is now. (He spells out clearly that his landlord had nothing to do with it.) Renovations done earlier this decade didnt bring new life to the old business, as hoped, and he sees the neighborhoods current residents as mostly indifferent to his bar. Lizzy Goodman, author of an acclaimed oral history of New Yorks early 2000s rock scene, described HiFi as a tether to this neighborhoods faded bohemia. As Stuto tells things, it could no longer hold. He found himself unwilling to change the bar again because, he says, he didnt want to run a place he wouldnt want to hang out in. Saying the writing has been on the wall for a year and a half, he describes himself as feeling bittersweet and having passed through all of the stages of grief. Well, Im enormously proud of the run, and as far as HiFi goes, I guess it was it was definitely my living room to some extent, and I kind of designed it that way, Stuto tells Grub. And Im blessed. Definitely blessed. Ive never had a kid, so this is my kid. She worked at the Arch diner. Photo: Google A waitress at a Brooklyn diner has been accused of taking advantage of an elderly customer to the tune of nearly half a million dollars. The New York Daily News reports that 46-year-old Alice Legall was arraigned on Tuesday and faces charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument, and identity theft. Legall worked at the Arch Diner in Flatlands, and first became friendly with the elderly woman back in 2002. An 84-year-old widow, the victim was helpful toward Legall in a neighborly way and let her buy minor items at the local drug store and supermarket. However, that generosity was taken advantage of, prosecutors claim. Along with forging the elderly victims signature on 75 checks made out to herself, Legall has been accused of making purchases at Apple, Victorias Secret, and Miami restaurants; staying at hotels; and going to Harrahs in Atlantic City, all on the victims dime. She was held on $2.5 million bail, and if found guilty could face 15 years in jail. Sietsema says service sometimes felt like the equivalent of a left swipe on Tinder. Photo: Nobu Restaurants Faraway places like Cape Town, Ibiza, Manila, and Dallas all have their own Nobus, but the nations capital has somehow been without one for 23 years. That changed a few weeks ago when the Kardashians favorite sushi chain opened its newest outpost in the citys upscale West End. Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema has already reluctantly paid his visit, and its clear that the trouble he had getting a table didnt do the high-end Japanese eatery any favors: Todays review awards it 1.5 stars and serves up multiple burns, beginning with a headline that sums up his feelings pretty well: At the 38th Iteration of Nobu, the Pretense Tastes Awful. He admits that the food can be very good, but in D.C. which now has 14 Michelin-starred restaurants, as of yesterday that isnt a terribly high bar. Its also one Sietsema argues that Nobu doesnt always clear, like when it served him miso-glazed black cod. His server described it as the dish that made Nobu famous, but he prefers this economy of words for the $40 vaguely sweet slab of protein: unforgivable. He suggests the house specialty at Nobu should actually be called obnoxious. Shocks, he adds, are something of a theme. For one, you eat the pricey food with disposable chopsticks. Another surprise: the loud cries of Irasshaimase! issued by cooks at the sushi counter while bad nightclub music thumps in the background. Sietsema also claims to be onto their shameless up-selling: You may be asked Still or sparkling?, as if local water isnt an option, and offered shishito peppers and edamame as if they were gratis, only to later see them on the bill. He guesses staff may work on commission, given their penchant for insta-clearing plates (You might want to bring a (clean) fly swatter to dinner), and the fact that at least one server hid the restaurants a la cart menu behind his back. The pretension rap, though, comes mostly from the restaurants attempts to make itself appear at capacity. Sietsema writes that he was thwarted in his earliest attempts to make a reservation, so he showed up a few minutes before Nobu opened, only to find an empty restaurant. Even then, he says he was forced to sit in the bars lounge because so many tables were marked reserved; when he left two hours later, the majority were still vacant. After this review, that might be the case for a while Haiti - Social : Haiti mourns the death of Papa Pye Limond Toussaint, Minister of Culture, learned with astonishment the news of the death of the haitian actor, comedian and playwright , Jean Claude Joseph, aka "Papa Pye" occurred Wednesday, October 18 in Orlando, United States following his hospitalization on the weekend due to illness. "Papa Pye has marked his time of an oil stain and leave again happy remembrances in the memory of all those who, one day or the other, had the chance to live a sequence of his famous performances on the National Television of Haiti (TNH), with "La vi nan Bouk", his various scenic performances whether in Haiti or abroad where he immigrated and his involvement in the production of some feature film where he showed his outstanding talent. In this painful circumstance the Minister of Culture bows to the immense talent of this Haitian cultural man and once again pays tribute to him for all his contribution to the radiance and emancipation of the theater of Chez nous, an essential element of Haitian culture. Jean Claude Joseph, Papa Pye, is one of those pioneers of Haitian theater that has marked a whole generation and transcended all the social strata by telling our daily life with an artistic fluidity without measure. He is the witness of a whole section of history of the Haitian culture which leaves, with its departure for the beyond. The Ministry will never end by thanking and bowing to the immensity of the Intangible Cultural Heritage represented by Papa Pye, still today [...] While expressing his profound regret, Minister Limond Toussaint sends his sincere sympathies to the whole family of the deceased, to the members of the 'La vi nan Bouk' Troupe and to the cultural actors affected by his brutal disappearance." HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : DR and Haiti Strongly deny Ambassador Hugo Beras, Director of Communications of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIREX) denies that diplomatic relations with Haiti have been suspended as a false document circulating on social networks and in some digital media suggests. This false document attributed to the Dominican Embassy in Port-au-Prince, reports an alleged assault in the diplomatic premises that would have caused this suspension... Beras categorically denies that such an incident occurred, while insisting that relations with Haiti are normal. He claims to ignore the intent of those responsible for this false document and urges the media not to give credit or to disseminate it. Moreover, in a note "the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic informs the general public that there has been no rupture of diplomatic relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The information circulating on social networks is false. The Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic confirms that the two states have good relations and rely on the collaboration of all and each one to stop the spread of this false rumor." SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - NOTICE : Political offenders will be prosecuted and punished Me Clame-Ocnam Dameus, the Government Commissioner at the Court of First Instance (TPI) in Port-au-Prince, condemns with the utmost rigor the criminal acts that were committed during various street demonstrations including the Capital. He informs, therefore, that "the perpetrators of these acts will be brought before the competent courts to respond of their acts. As a result, he invites victims to go to the public prosecutor's office to lodge their complaints." In addition, he informs everyone that "political offenders, organizers or participants in these violent demonstration, will be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the law." Commissioner Dameus "reaffirms to the population in general and to the victims in particular the will of the Public Prosecutor's Office to maintain public order and guarantees that no act of violence will be tolerated." HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : Kidnapping of the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Linguistics In a note, the Rectorate of the State University of Haiti (UEH) said it learned that the dean of the Faculty of Applied Linguistics (FLA), "Professor Renauld Govain, had been kidnapped on Monday on 16 October around 7h00 pm in front of the FLA premises by unidentified, heavily armed and threatening individuals. During their act, the 2 gangsters who claimed a ransom of 400,000 dollars finally released him several streets away, after taking his laptop credit cards as well as his function car of color dark gray and brand Toyota Hilux, registered SE-02468. The Rectorate strongly condemns this act of banditry and demands the setting in motion of the public action against the delinquents so that the dean Govain and the State University of Haiti obtain compensation for the damage suffered on this occasion. The Rectorate of UEH takes the opportunity to renew its full support to Dean Govain." IH/ iciHaiti Haiti - News : Zapping... Renegotiation of electricity contracts In Le Moniteur N161 dated October 18th, 2017, the "Resolution of the Senate of the Republic on the renegotiation of contracts for the production of electric power with the private electricity producers" was published which requires the Executive, in the interest of the electricity subsector and the Nation, to renegotiate the contracts that bind the Haitian state to the private electric power generation companies; to the Executive to invest the amount deriving from the renegotiation of contracts in the national electrical energy infrastructure. Amendment of the Constitution... The Special Commission of the Lower Chamber in charge of the Amendment of the Constitution continues its consultations. It recently met with representatives of the judiciary. Passing of "Papa pye" "A great loss for the Haitian cultural sector, Jean Claude Joseph aka Papa pye is dead - Grasye, Bos Marcel sou Telenasyonal kiyes ki bliye ?," declared the deputy of Delmas Gary Bodeau. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22444-haiti-social-haiti-mourns-the-death-of-papa-pye.html Tourism : New Departmental Director of the South At the beginning of the week Colombe Emilie Jessy Menos, the Minister of Tourism, proceeded to the installation of Marie May Guillaume as new Departmental Director of Tourism of the South. The ceremony takes place at the headquarters of the Department of Tourism located in Faugasse/Cayes. Opening of an annex of the Alliance Francaise in Gonaives Responding to a strong demand from the local community, an annex of the Alliance francaise of Gonaives has just been set up in Port-de-Paix, at the University of Notre Dame in Haiti. More than 70 people have already registered to attend French classes ! Land and women On Sunday, Carmel Andre Beliard, the Minister of Agriculture, went to St Michel de L'Atalaye, Savane Diane where he met women members of the association "Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen" (SOFA) . Certificates were issued to them as well as a ten-carreaux concession for the construction of a farm school. Representing more than 43% of the agricultural labor force, women as part of their full integration in the sector, are actively supported by the Ministry of Agriculture. HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2017/10/18 | Source On the latest episode of the MBC drama "Hospital Ship" Kwak Hyeon (Kang Min-hyuk) expressed his love even while his life was in danger. Advertisement A group of gangsters kidnapped Song Eun-jae and Kwak Hyeon, threatening and ordering them to operate on their boss. Kwak Hyeon and Song Eun-jae tried to convince them the operation had to be done in the hospital. The gangsters told them to end it in three hours. If they were even a minute late, everyone in the hospital would die. When the operation finished, the gangsters took Song Eun-jae hostage for post treatment. Kwak Hyeon tried to save her by telling them it was better they took him and not her. Just then, the maritime police showed up and the gangster pointed a gun at Kwak Hyeon. Kwak Hyeon was shot unconscious and Song Eun-jae operated on him. When he came to, the first thing he asked was, "Are you hurt?" Song Eun-jae cried tears of relief. A source has provided a copy of this letter to Hawai'i Free Press. We have asked Rep Quinlan for comment. Will update if Quinlan responds: Speaker Saiki, October 15, 2017 On Monday, October 9, I was physically attacked by State Representative Sean Quinlan, in retaliation for charges I filed against his political mentor Michelle Matsuo. I filed a complaint with the Oahu County Democrats, for which I am Vice Chair. Ms. Matsuo, who is the Democratic Party's District Chair for House District 23 in Manoa, allegedly misappropriated DNC-Democratic Party funds to pay for what was originally going to be an anti-Rail meeting at Manoa Elementary. I also requested an investigation into Ms. Matsuo's false claims of being a resident of Manoa, when everyone in Manoa knows she now lives downtown at Harbor Square (in District 26). Under false pretenses, Ms. Matsuo used party funds to hold what was originally planned to be an anti-rail forum for Saturday, August 26, to kick off anti-Rail public support before the legislature's special session starting on Monday, August 28. Matsuo attempted to reward Kelii Akina (who is funded by the Koch brothers) and several other conservatives and Republicans who are anti-Rail, with resources and promotion, at the expense of the Democratic Partys scarce money and volunteer time. Furthermore, I filed a complaint against Matsuo for falsely claiming to live in Manoa when she actually lives downtown in a condo at Harbor Square. These are serious charges which deserve to be investigated fairly, on their merits. Last Monday night, Oct 9, Rep. Sean Quinlan (House District 47) harassed and violently accosted me. He badgered me with three pointed questions about next years elections in front of others at a fundraiser for Senator Shimabukuro and Representative Gates. I did my best to diffuse an uncomfortable and tense situation with non-emotional, deescalating and conflict resolving responses. Rep. Quinlan leaned in with a hand extended, offering a handshake. When I shook his hand, Rep. Quinlan squeezed so that I could not let go and leaned in close to my face (he is much bigger than me) Rep Quinlan threatened that Dale [Kobayashi] is going to smash [me] next year, by which point he was squeezing my hand harder and using intimidating body language, towering over me, and invading my personal space. I realized that he was insulting, taunting, and challenging me in a manner likely to provoke an immediate violent response to his own threatening, aggressive and violent behavior, and that he was about to injure me. Rep. Quinlan screamed, dont let go of my hand! Dont let go of my fucking hand! in my face. It took four men to pull Rep. Quinlan off of me and to restrain him. The four men who restrained Rep. Quinlan are Rep. Daniel Holt. Rep. Tom Brower, Ali Sek and Benjamin Gates. Rep. Quinlans attack was inexcusable, improper behavior for an elected official. Rep. Quinlan's violent behavior was in violation of 711-1101 and 711-1106 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Rep. Quinlan relied on Michele Matsuos political advice for his campaign for office last year, as did Dale Kobayashi. Matsuo is the connection between those two men, as they live in very different areas. Michele Matsuo openly brags that she got Rep. Quinlan and Tim Vandeveer, DPH Chair, elected, and that she nearly got Dale Kobayashi elected to State House last year in 2016. Matsuo also boasts that she controls Qunilan's votes in the legislature. Notice that he did vote against funding Rail in your special session. During the last session, most of the bills Matsuo lobbied, Quinlan voted in support. Rep. Quinlans physical attack on me is retaliation against me for the complaints I filed against his mentor Michele Matsuo, 6 weeks ago. Rep. Quinlan tried to intimidate me with physical violence. I will not be intimidated, or threatened with spoken or unspoken implications, or physical violence. I will not be co-blamed as the victim of violence. I did not provoke. I did nothing to deserve being accosted or harassed. Rep. Quinlan is the 'hot head', not me. Rep. Quinlan needs Anger Management therapy. I also object to how I am being treated by members of the legislature after Quinlan's attack. Your members are trying to cover-up and are protecting Quinlan's bad behavior. The day after the attack, was the annual Patsy Mink PAC fundraiser, Tuesday October 10. I had bought my ticket weeks ago and had looked forward to attending. I was advised by the Majority Leader Belatti to stay home and not attend Patsy Mink PAC. I was told that Mr. Quinlan was going to be there, and my presence would be unsettling to him. Frankly, that is ridiculous. Would the female victim of a violent attack by an elected official also be told that she needs to hide her face? I'm a male victim and I have rights, too. Why does the perpetrator of violence continue to be out in public, with no punishment, and his victim needs to stay out of sight? What about the rights of the victim to be safely out in public? If Rep. Quinlan felt any remorse, I would have heard an apology within the last 5 days. He needs to play by the same rules as everybody else, and face the same consequences. Sincerely yours, Dylan P. Armstrong, Vice Chair (Reuters) Hedge funds that trade cryptocurrencies reached over 100 for the first time, according to new data from fintech research house Autonomous NEXT, of which more than three-quarters launched in 2017. A rise from 55 funds at Aug. 29 to 110 funds at Oct. 18 comes as investors pile into the high-performing cryptocurrency market, which has seen a tenfold increase in its value so far this year. A booming Bitcoin rallied to record highs above $5,000 in recent days BTC=BTSP. To read this article: Acting Prosecutor General Raija Toiviainen revealed to Uusi Suomi that the trio are suspected of preparing an offence to be committed with terrorist intent, providing training for the commission of a terrorist offence and recruiting for the commission of a terrorist offence. All of the offences are believed to have taken place in Finland between late 2012 and mid-2013. The Office of the Prosecutor General stated in a press release that the charges are related to the conflict in Syria. The defendants are believed to have prepared to travel to the country in order to participate in the conflict as so-called foreign fighters. If convicted, they would become the first to be convicted of the said offences in Finland, highlighted Toiviainen. Recruitment for the commission of a terrorist offence, for example, was criminalised under the criminal code in 2014. This case is the first of its kind to be considered [by a court]. Were dealing with such a new issue that no case law has yet been established, she said. Toiviainen also revealed that the three suspects were remanded for one to three months at the beginning of the pre-trial investigation in October, 2014. None of them are any longer in police custody, however. Hearings in the case are reportedly set to begin at the District Court of Helsinki in November. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Emmi Korhonen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi The authors of the study analysed the responses of over 100,000 people from around to world to an online survey on empathy in an attempt to explore cultural variation in empathy and rank countries based on how likely their residents were to show compassion and appreciate the views of others. Finns are among the worst in the world at walking in the shoes of others, indicates a study published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology . Finland ranked 58th among the 63 countries that yielded a sufficient number of responses, according to Lannen Media. The only nations with a lower disposition to empathy were Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Venezuela and Lithuania. Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates, by contrast, were ranked as the five most empathetic countries on the planet. The top ten was rounded out by South Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Costa Rica and Kuwait. One of the conclusions drawn by the authors based on the research data is that nations with a higher score in empathy have higher levels of collectivism, emotionality, self-esteem and subjective well-being. The authors also revealed that a higher score in empathy correlated with a positive disposition to volunteer work but, surprisingly, not with a greater tendency to donate money. The study was conducted at the Michigan State University, University of Chicago and Indiana University. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva The father of a woman seriously injured by her partner, in the same incident in which a garda was shot dead, has appealed to the Government for a full public inquiry into the shocking events. Garda Tony Golden was shot dead and Siobhan Phillips critically wounded by her partner Adrian Crevan Mackin, who then killed himself at the couple's home in Omeath, Co Louth, on October 10, 2015. Sean Phillips (49) said his daughter and Gda Golden would not have been shot if the killer had been arrested the previous day for beating up Siobhan. Mr Phillips and his wife Norma (45) visited Leinster House in Dublin yesterday to appeal to TDs and senators to back his family's demand for a public inquiry into all matters leading up to the double shooting. He was introduced to politicians at Leinster House at a meeting chaired by Louth TD and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and appealed to them to demand a public inquiry. The domestic violence and death threat complaints made by Siobhan should have been acted upon immediately by gardai, who should have arrested Crevan and prevented the horrific shootings, he said. The family also wants to know why the killer was bailed on a charge of membership of a terrorist organisation when he had pleaded guilty to possession of firearms and explosives but had not been charged. Mr Phillips added that the family had no confidence that the Garda Ombudsman's investigation would be sufficient to reveal all relevant information. Mr Adams said his party would be seeking cross-party support for a public inquiry. Fianna Fail TD Ray MacSharry was among a number of Oireachtas members who spoke in support of the family's wishes. The Phillips family is also planning to launch legal proceedings against the Irish State, the Garda Commissioner, and the Justice Minister. Statement Siobhan has been recovering but is blind in one eye and has been left with a lifelong brain injury. Gda Golden was shot dead by Mackin in October 2015 after accompanying Siobhan on a visit to her home to retrieve her personal property after she had made a statement to gardai. Mackin shot Siobhan four times, including in the forehead. He then turned the gun on himself. Mr Phillips said he had remained outside the house in his car and he was "frozen" at the sound of the gunshots. Herton Diansambu allegedly struck the woman in the face. Picture: Caroline Quinn A young mum out walking with her two children was grabbed around the neck by a man who demanded she hand over her mobile phone, it has been alleged. Herton Diansambu (20) is accused of striking the woman in the face and shoving her and her 13-year-old son to the ground after the boy tried to protect his mother. He was served with the book of evidence when he appeared before Blanchardstown District Court. The accused, of Bealing Walk, Tyrrelstown, is charged with stealing a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone worth 700 on Church Road, Mulhuddart, on July 4 last year. Outlining the allegation for the court, Sgt Maria Callaghan previously claimed the victim was in the park when she walked past Mr Diansambu. Refused Sgt Callaghan had said the woman, who was speaking on her phone at the time, was accompanied by her 13-year-old son and 15-month-old daughter. The sergeant alleged that Mr Diansambu put his arm around the woman's neck and demanded her mobile phone. Sgt Callaghan said the woman refused to hand it over. She alleged that Mr Diansambu then assaulted the woman, pulling her hair and striking her in the face, before forcibly pushing her, causing her to fall to the ground. The court heard the woman's teenage son tried to protect his mother, but it is alleged he too was pushed to the ground. Sgt Callaghan claimed the woman's screams were heard by men in a nearby garage and they went to her aid. A state solicitor said the book of evidence had been served on the accused, who goes forward to the present sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Defence solicitor Simon Fleming and one junior counsel were assigned on free legal aid. Mr Diansambu has not yet indicated a plea to the charge. Two Dublin men who admitted false imprisonment will be sentenced before the non-jury Special Criminal Court in December. Earlier this month, former INLA boss Declan 'Whacker' Duffy (43), of Hannover Street West, and gun attack victim Christopher Maguire (38), of Dun Emer Place in Lusk, both admitted to falsely imprisoning Martin Byrne in Rathcoole/Saggart in Co Dublin on June 9, 2015. Duffy also admitted assaulting John Roche, causing him harm, at The Towers, Garters Lane, Saggart, on the same date. And Maguire also pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Lisa Byrne in the same place and on the same date. Both men face the maximum sentence of life behind bars. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding at the three-judge court, yesterday fixed a date of December 18 for sentencing. He remanded Duffy in custody and Maguire on continuing bail until that date. Duffy, who is originally from Armagh, joined the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in the 1980s. He was involved in the murder of Sergeant Michael Newman in Derby, England, while still a teenager in 1992. It was not until July 2010 that he was convicted and received a life sentence for murdering the unarmed police officer, who was shot once through the side of the head at point-blank range as he reached his car. Duffy was released from jail under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Before being convicted of that murder, he had served jail time here for membership of the INLA, as well as his role in the infamous Ballymount Bloodbath. In 1999, his group took six men from a rival gang hostage and beat and tortured them at Ballymount Industrial Estate. Machete During a bitter fight, INLA man Patrick Campbell was killed by machete blows. Duffy previously served nine years for false imprisonment and possession of a gun. He was released in 2007 but immediately became involved in a bitter gangland feud with dangerous criminals based in the south inner city, Crumlin and Tallaght areas, before being arrested and convicted of membership of an illegal organisation in 2008. Last July, Maguire survived an attempt on his life after being shot a number of times outside his home. BRISTOL, Tenn. Starting today, parents of Bristol, Tennessee, middle and high school students will have to go online to find their childs grades. The school system is one of the first in the region to go paper-free for all secondary report cards. Students in Bristol, Virginia, Washington County, Virginia, and Sullivan County continue to receive printed report cards. The school districts decision not to print report cards for students in the seventh through 12th grades was one of logistics and changing times. We live in a digital world, and this is part of our growing shift to digital learning, said Annette Tudor, supervisor of secondary curriculum and instruction. We also had a snafu with the state department and didnt get our test results back in a timely manner in May. We wanted to include them in report cards and had to end up holding them into the summer. We then decided as a district to move to electronic report cards for our secondary students. Tudor said accessing report cards is a simple process. Parents log onto the districts secure portal, PowerSchool Parent Portal, and select Report Cards. Elementary students will continue to receive printed report cards. Additionally, parents will still have the option to view or print report cards online for kindergarten through the sixth grade. Our elementary folks are still tied to getting a piece of paper, Tudor said. Our elementary principals were very passionate about still printing them out and sending them home. With the popularity of computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices, Tudor said she expects most families will welcome the change. We are trying to prepare our students for the digital world, and by doing this, we are also helping our parents make that transition, Tudor said. We will see what kind of response we get from our parents as well. For parent Melissa Dorton, paper report cards have always been a part of her life. She brought them home as a child. Now as a mother, she awaits the grade reports from her three children, all students at Tennessee High School. Its a tradition, Dorton said. You always looked forward to getting your report card. Access is the only potential concern Dorton said she has about digital report cards. I think it will limit those who dont have access to the internet or a printer, she said. I also work a lot of hours, and the last thing that I want to do is have to log in at night to see my kids grades. Those parents who dont have access to the internet or still want to receive a physical copy of their childs report card can call the school and request a printed version, according to Tudor. Report cards can also be printed off the PowerSchool website. ABINGDON, Va. A protective order taken out against Abingdon Town Councilwoman Cindy Patterson was dismissed Wednesday. Washington County Circuit Court Judge C. Randall Lowe signed off on the dismissal without a hearing, according to his office. The order was taken out against Patterson by her ex-husband, who accused her of assaulting him. It required that there be no contact between the two. She was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault but was found not guilty during a September trial. The charge and protective order led some fellow council members to seek guidance from a judge about whether Patterson is fit to serve. Patterson accused Mayor Cathy Lowe, Vice Mayor Rick Humphreys and Councilman Bob Howard of trying to use her personal problems to discredit her. By Richard Talcott From its position at the center of the solar system, the Sun spews harsh radiation and energetic particles whose effects are felt well beyond the realm of the planets. In most cases, these emissions are forces of destruction, but not always. On Wednesday at the 49th annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences in Provo, Utah, Apostolos Christou of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland showed how sunlight can be creative. Christou and his team studies Martian Trojans asteroids trapped in gravitational safe havens known as Lagrangian points. These points lie 60 degrees ahead of and behind Mars in its orbit around the Sun. Nine of the Trojans reside near the trailing point while only one orbits ahead of Mars. Of the nine trailers, eight form a tight-knit family headed by the 1.2-mile-wide (2 kilometers) Eureka. Christous team thinks the family arose from the YORP effect, a process in which sunlight slowly but steadily increases Eurekas spin rate. Eventually, a piece of the object breaks off into an independent asteroid what Christou calls a YORPlet in a closely related orbit. Supporting the idea is the fact that Eureka rotates once every 2.5 hours, about as fast as an asteroid of this type can spin without breaking up. Eurekas offspring can survive for more than a billion years. Another intriguing development comes from the Dawn spacecrafts ongoing reconnaissance of Ceres. The probe has discovered organic material on the dwarf planets surface, with the highest concentrations near the 32-mile-wide (52 kilometers) crater Ernutet. Simone Marchi of the Southwest Research Institute examined whether the organics were brought to Ceres by asteroid and comet impacts, or whether it is native to the dwarf planet. Because heat destroys the hydrocarbon bonds in organics, he was able to rule out high-speed collisions of comets as their source. And an asteroid impact would allow organics to survive only if it were a relatively slow, glancing blow. But Marchi did find that an impact could dredge up pre-existing organics from below Ceres surface, and he believes this is how Ernutet got its organic material. Finally, Carrie Anderson of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center reported on the chemical composition of a cloud that the Cassini spacecraft discovered in 2015 near the south pole of Saturns largest moon, Titan. The cloud lies in Titans stratosphere roughly 115 miles (185 km) high, far above the tropospheric clouds that rain methane. Andersons team conducted laboratory experiments that simulated conditions in Titans stratosphere to try to match the clouds spectral fingerprint. They found the best match with a mixture containing 79 percent benzene and 21 percent hydrogen cyanide. The cloud was discovered two years before winter began in the moons southern hemisphere, and has a different chemical composition than a northern hemisphere cloud seen a decade ago two years after the onset of northern winter. Anderson attributes the difference to slight seasonal variations at the two poles. The architectural form, when used as artistic subject matter, offers deep insight into how we have built our world to meet our needs, both functional and aesthetic. The Carlisle Arts Learning Center has chosen eight artists who employ the media of photography, drawing and painting to explore the common theme of architecture, and how it can be represented within the fine arts. The exhibition, 8 Takes on Architecture, allows each artist to express their unique perspective as to how they portray the architectural form. The silver gelatin prints of Howard Batchelors film photography have a classic feel as the images capture historic-looking buildings. Resembling stills from black-and-white films, Batchelor uses striking lines and expertly balanced composition. This is exemplified in Barn Window, Adams County, in which he dramatically contrasts a darkened farmhouse against the bright, white snow piled upon the window sill. Robert Cavenagh uses digital photography to pair similar, yet different imagery in several sets. In Modern: 117 North Hanover St. and Modern: A.T.S. Dickinson College, Cavenaughs color photographs have captured the vibrant blue sky above a flat roof versus a pointed rooftop corner. The lines of both buildings are definitively pronounced against the sky as shadows create their own intriguing geometric patterns beneath. Jonathan Frazier submitted both oil paintings and graphite drawings as his interpretations. Midnight at the Railyard is a painted nighttime scene, looking at the shapes and forms he sees in the industrial setting. It is his use of expressive color that sets the mood in the painting. Conversely, his drawings Cyprus, Trio and Metairie are set in cemeteries, devoid of color except for the tones and shading of the graphite pencil. Yet, these, too, impart an unmistakable mood of solemnity and reflection in the three small renderings. Patricia Walach Keough is also represented by dual media, painting and monotype. In two very intriguing pieces, the oil painting, Under 81 and the monotype, Bridge with Writing, she has used a bridge as a focal point, but has also infused their surroundings, both natural-trees and water with the man-made graffiti writing. The differing media allow the viewer to compare and contrast her approaches. Michael Lahrs paintings and drawings may be very recognizable for the natives of the area, but at the same time he captures the everyday structures of just about any small town. This is no more evident than in House in Carlisle, an alley view of the rear of a quaint downtown Carlisle home. We move in and out of these everyday spaces, often oblivious to what we see, Lahr said. If we just pause and linger over the commonplace ... we are often rewarded. His colorful paintings highlight the beauty in local architecture that many may take for granted or simply pass by in our daily lives. The oil paintings of Susan Nichols, focuses upon the line and angles of structures. Walking Moose Lodge, Deep Creek Lake is almost blueprint-like in its perspective, but at the same time her color choices give a sense of air and lightness to the structures. As she adds the natural details of the reflection of the blue sky and far off mountains, she is able to combine the technical with the natural, as if to reinforce the need for both. Pastel is not the medium most would expect to see in an architectural show. Yet Kim Stone has been able to capture structures with their surrounding shadows and reflections in such a way as to highlight the tool. Evening in Bruges not only illustrates a majestic row of buildings along a waterway but also beautifully captures the symmetry of their reflection beneath in a delicate way best represented with the soft colors. In unique assemblages, Leon Yost uses digital photos to convey the spirit of both history and architecture. Yosts assemblages from his series Irresistible Italy portray many well-known examples of Italian architecture from different angles and perspectives. In Pantheon Reassembled, multiple images of the renowned dome are pieced together to create a powerful single image, much like a jigsaw puzzle. Beneath is mounted a single photograph of the structure, in all its magnificence. As architecture frames our entire existence, it is also revealing of how we live as people, who we are as a community, and what we treasure as a society. 8 Takes on Architecture is a fascinating opportunity to look at a subject through the eyes and the processes of eight very talented individuals. 8 Takes on Architecture is on display at CALC until Nov. 11. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. CALC is located at 38 W. Pomfret St., Carlisle. The exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.CarlisleArts.org or call 717-249-6973. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ A green pant suit worn by Deepika Padukone at the ongoing Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival attracted all the wrong attention. The actor, who is considered a fashion icon, wore a blingy green outfit to the closing ceremony of the event, only for Twitter to poke fun at her. Deepika was styled by Shaleena Nathani, whose name was also mentioned in some of the hateful comments. Her makeup was done by Anil C and hair by Namrata Soni. Deepika Padukone at Jio MAMI closing ceremony last night pic.twitter.com/1esu9xtp6z Deepika Malaysia FC (@TeamDeepikaMY) October 19, 2017 In 2016, her look at the MTV Europe Music Awards was labelled as Bollywood Blunder. From calling her Poison Ivy, a Batman villain, to hideous, Twitter didnt hold back. Here are some of the reactions we found online. Dear Deepika Padukone, You have a nice body and a beautiful face. Don't let Shaleena Nathani ruin it. You deserve better than this N a t a s h a (@JeeVeSohaneya) October 18, 2017 This is hideous! IfayinOde (@IfayinOde) October 18, 2017 it look bad dp we love you but its realy look bad ravirajutandan (@tandan31_ravi) October 18, 2017 She is looking horrible.. Unfortunately (@reshmi_me1) October 18, 2017 Joker lag rhi hai Rucha mistry (@MestryRucha) October 18, 2017 A post shared by Instant Bollywood (@instantbollywood) on Oct 18, 2017 at 11:11am PDT Follow @htshowbiz for more Search engine giant Google has emerged as the most authentic brand in the country, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple, according to New York-based global communications firm Cohn & Wolfe. Sony, YouTube, BMW, Mercedes Benz and British Airways are the other brands to feature in the top 10. The communications firm, part of WPP group, noted that Indian consumers are becoming more positive in their perceptions of brand authenticity. About 67% of Indian consumers are more likely to buy from brands perceived as authentic, it said in its 2017 Authentic Brands Study for India, a part of a global consumer survey on the role of authenticity in business. It observed that in India, 37% of respondents perceived brands to be open and honest compared to a global average of 22%. Similarly, 38% of consumers surveyed in India agreed that brands take full responsibility for their actions, compared to the global average of 25%. Brands that behave and communicate with authenticity will build better relationships with customers and deliver improved user experiences. To differentiate their offerings and grow market share, our research shows that brands in India need to focus on the three drivers of authenticity -- reliable, respectful and real, Cohn & Wolfe Asia Pacific president Matt Stafford said. E-commerce giant Amazon is ranked as the worlds most authentic brand, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Google and PayPal. Technology brands comprise 70% of the top 10 most authentic global brands. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary research, including surveys on more than 1,400 brands conducted in May and June this year, with over 15,000 respondents in 15 markets -- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Centre has agreed to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals demand for an independent expert group to review all issues concerning the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), including its income and expenditure. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had demanded an audit of DMRC accounts while opposing the recent Metro fare hike, likening the transport agency to private power distribution firms that allegedly depicted fake losses for justifying high power tariffs. In a letter sent to Kejriwal on Wednesday, Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the Centre was open to his suggestion for an independent expert group to review the Delhi Metros functioning. He also invited the chief minister for a detailed discussion on the terms of reference for the proposed study. Puris letter is likely to be a shot in the arm for the Delhi government, which had even devoted a day of its special assembly session to the issue. However, it refused to comment on the matter until it receives the letter. We have always said that this hike is unsustainable and, as a 50% stakeholder, our demand for auditing the DMRC is not unjustified, said Nagender Sharma, media advisor to the chief minister. In the second hike this year, the Delhi Metro on October 10 increased fares for those travelling over two kilometres by anywhere between Rs 5 and 10. The city government vehemently opposed the anti-people move, but acquiesced after the DMRC board decided in an October 9 emergency meeting that it does not have the competence to roll back or defer the hike recommended by the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC). It cited Section 37 of the Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act-2002 to state that the panels recommendations are sacrosanct, and the Centre cannot interfere in the matter. Last week, the Delhi chief minister urged Puri to constitute an independent expert group acceptable to both the Centre and state to review Metro-related issues. Since you are keen on a study of various aspects of the DMRCs functioning by an expert group acceptable to both governments, this ministry is (willing to) take it forward in the best interests of the DMRC. This, in turn, should benefit the people of the national capital too, Puri wrote to Kejriwal on Wednesday. The Union minister was responding to two letters written to him by Kejriwal in the past fortnight, where the latter questioned the equal stake held by the Delhi government and the Centre in the Metro. The entire episode demonstrates that while the Delhi government and Centre are equal partners in the DMRC, the Delhi government has virtually no say in its management, the chief minister said. A source in the housing ministry said Puris letter was necessitated by the contradictory stand adopted by Kejriwal. While the chief minister publicly tried to create the impression that the Centre was blocking him from reviewing the DMRCs functioning, his letter to the Union minister proposed the formation of an expert group acceptable to both governments for the purpose. This indicates his agreement that no such unilateral review is possible or tenable, he added. The Union housing ministers letter also urged Kejriwal to urgently take up the Delhi Metro Phase-IV proposal for further processing and consideration. This crucial phase has already been delayed by about two and a half years. This is effectively depriving over 40 lakh Delhi residents of Metro services, he wrote. Meanwhile, both AAP and Congress continue to protest against the fare hike by staging sit-ins outside Metro stations. The DMRC had been requesting the hike since 2009, but was unable to execute it in the absence of a fare panel. The electricity tariff has gone up by over 90% since 2009, accounting for almost 30% of its total operating costs. Do you remember staring down into your darkened basement or asking your parents to check in your bedroom closet just in case? The 31 artists featured at the SHAPE Art Gallery on Shippensburgs East King Street certainly do. Running through the month until Oct. 27, visitors can see an array of creatures of the night invading the walls in Creature Feature: A Dark Art Exhibition, which is must-see experience founded on the concept of curator Mark Wojciechowski. Wandering the exhibit space, the sheer number of media in use is astonishing. Not only are there traditional pen and ink, pastel and watercolor pieces, but theres also unique mixed media pieces such as Attack of the 50 ft. Space Robot, a piece that consists of layers of acrylic sheets with a portion of a scene painted on each layer. Using this method, artist Matthew Bennett gave a retro scene depth in a unique way. The whimsy moved to reality with Chambersburg local Benjamin McAfees split canvas piece Bonnie and Clyde. The anatomical skullsfeaturing a bright red bow for Bonnie and a red bandanna for Clydeare drawn with pastels and shows the inevitable aftermath of the infamous bank robbing duo. Standing in front of these large square canvases, one cant help but feel the gaping eye sockets of Bonnie and Clyde staring blankly out at the viewer. Creature Feature would not be complete without childhood boogeymen littering the walls of the gallery. Richard Wille, of Phoenix, Arizona, had several pieces that featured creative characters that paid tribute to his fascination with macabre, yet comical creatures, including the prominent Theres No Such Thing as Beauty Sleep. This beast can be found on the posters advertising the exhibit, yet the ink drawing is rather small. However, size is no issue as Willes monster stares out from its frame with a shaded face, white eyes and clenched teeth that remind the viewer of the artists belief that every shadow comes from a source of light. I was familiar with some of these artists, but what these artists struggled with was that galleries usually do not display these horror or whimsical pieces, said Wojciechowski, who attested to his own fascination with creature art and design. The idea was to have a space to feature these artists who are not usually well received. Of course, where would a horror exhibit be without the proper atmosphere? The opening night on Oct. 6 was certainly memorable with a performance by Guillermo Pizarro, whose unique music stylings spanned the customary music genre and created a space of unnerving suspense. Pizarros performance itself was hypnotic as he used a variety of handmade tools to create his soundscape. Glancing at his station, he had blocks of wood with metal bars and springs arranged in various ways. One of the more extreme tools he had was a metal bar with electrified springs stretched across it. Pizarro then ran a violin bow over the springs to elicit an electrified shiver. The performance ended with a sudden crescendo, and the chatter that had been occurring in the exhibit space suddenly ceased. What sounded like hundreds of trains swept through the audience signifyed the performance was over. Even without the music, Creature Feature is a worthwhile experience for anyone who needs some extra Halloween spirit, but it is not your grandmothers art show. Rather, this art show will follow you home and make you wonder what might be hiding under your bed. Creature Feature runs at SHAPE Art Gallery (19 E. King St., Shippensburg) through Oct. 27. Hours for the gallery are 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. In the 2000s, if a student wanted to go abroad to study, theyd consider the USA, UK, Canada and perhaps Australia. And who could blame them? The nations had English-speaking populations, highly developed industry and their cultures were easy to understand. Between 2010 and 2011, nearly two lakh Indian students went abroad to study, says a report by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics and the Institute of International Education. Over the last few years, however, countries like China, Germany and Denmark have been emerging as attractive destinations in which to get a degree. For students, this is undoubtedly a richer experience a chance to spend ones learning years in a lesser-known culture and to study in nations that put a high value on education and specialisation. But it comes with worries. How do you settle into a land when you dont speak the language? How do you live in towns where the food is unfamiliar, and the people known to be standoffish? How do you find your bearings when the neighbourhood is not what youve prepared for? In many cases, the institutes, students and alumni themselves have been making the transition easier. WHAT IS IT LIKE? Arpit Banka, 35, who grew up in Jaipur and pursued a Masters degree in Business Administration at Aarhus University in Copenhagen between 2011 and 2012, admits that the choice of location was odd. I was tense, as all the students after landing in a foreign land are, he says. I was surprised when students who studied at the university a few years ago arrived to welcome the new batch of students at the airport, and helped settle into our dormitories. They also helped us with our studies. The gesture, he said made him realise that his decision to pick Denmark was right after all. He is now a Manager Market Intelligence with GEA Process Engineering in Copenhagen. In most big universities in the US, the towns around the campus tend to be friendly, filled with young people and have a cosmopolitan vibe, which eases the pressure on newcomers. But smaller institutions especially those in Europe and the East tend not to have this buffer. And often, stereotypes about a nation cloud a students opinion. Nino Gelantia, 25, from the tiny east-European nation of Georgia, spent time in Chinas Tianjin Normal University between September 2015 and August 2016 to study Mandarin. I had imagined many things about the city and the country, she recalls. But living in Tianjin city and interacting with the Chinese students was great fun. TNU provides language partners to non-native speakers. They are extremely polite and helpful. They help us with the content to study, making superb presentations and movies, all in Chinese. They also accompany us to buy fruits, go shopping with us to the malls and teach us the necessary communication during the long bus trips. Gelantia says Chinese-language skills are in high demand back home in Georgia, which commands high salaries too. I want to travel the world and for that I need money, she says. This is the best skill I have. And the feel of this Asian country pulls me. Hence, I am keen on returning to China. In some cases, the local authorities chip in too, making orientation easier for those unfamiliar with the culture. Richa Kulkarni, currently working as a procurement coordinator at an American engineering company in Shanghai, China, recalls studying at Tsinghua University in Beijing between 2010 and 2011. The local police gave all foreign freshers a grand welcome that included safety instructions. The university treated them with a visit to the famous Beijing Opera and a Chinese dinner. As an Indian, back home, I was always greeted with a strange smile when people heard I was flying to China, as we had always thought the Chinese are unfriendly, she says. My perceptions changed from the time I landed here. In some places, the help extends to the little things too. Shoumya Singh, 28, who studied Engineering in Information Technology in SRH Hochscule Heidelberg University in Germany from 2015 to 2017, says the people went far beyond the standard orientation. They took all of us grocery shopping, arranged boat rides, trekking and also a city tour which made us comfortable before we even started studying, she says. THE SUPPORT GROUP Bettina Pauley, who heads international relations at Germanys SRH Hochschule Heidelberg University, says taking care of foreign students is about more than academics. We have a very personal and lively mail exchange, phone calls, Skype interviews, constant communication and support in all needed issues from arrival till departure, she says. We also have student ambassadors who help on a peer-to-peer basis. If they have their visa sorted in time, students can book accommodation on campus. Otherwise we support them in finding accommodation too. At the Tianjin University of Technology in China, Lei Ming, the vice-dean of graduate school is aware that the local culture and life can take some adjusting to. Language is a big barrier in the beginning, Ming admits. But we try to break that by providing Chinese language partners to the foreigners who come to study here. The language partners are more than translators they also address cultural differences. We have tai chi and calligraphy classes for them, Ming adds. Tai chi helps them to be fit, and through calligraphy, they learn difficult characters in a fun way thats easy to remember. When it comes to studying abroad, most decisions are driven by the quality of the education available in a particular place. Richa Saklani, managing director of Stoodnt, a career-guidance advisory, says that budget, job opportunities, student-friendly visa laws, local language and weather are factors too. China is increasing in popularity as a destination, she says. Indian students find the country highly civilised and organised, with excellent education and job opportunities. Students looking to study abroad should not only have impeccable academic qualifications, they need to do some homework about life there too. They should ideally visit the websites of colleges they are applying to and take the virtual tour which a lot of colleges offer, to get a fair idea about the campus, she says. Reading about nearby towns helps the students to get a feel about that place. Learning local language is a big plus. Familiarity with the local food helps as well as learning to cook some basic favourite food in case cravings strike you. Pauley adds that students also need social skills to thrive away from home. The ability to cope and handle differences in a new culture is of great importance, she says. Some students are living away from home for the first time. It is critical that they are aware that there will be a time, when they will feel very homesick and they must have the strength and courage to overcome it. They should also have some basic skills like cooking and cleaning. Diwali, the festival of lights, is a time for family. Every year, traditions are followed. But since one of the most controversial aspects of the festival - firecrackers - has been outlawed, it makes room to start new ones. This Diwali, were selecting some of the best movies to stream online with your family. Well be selecting five films each, from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar. So stock up on the sweets, pop some bags of corn, and settle in. Netflix Dangal Former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two wrestler daughters struggle towards glory at the Commonwealth Games in the face of societal oppression. Hugo In Paris in 1931, an orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton. How to Train Your Dragon A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! A film about celebrating the Indian wedding traditions through a story of a married couple and the relationship between their families. Piku A quirky comedy about the relationship between a daughter and her aging father, whose eccentricities drive everyone crazy. Amazon The Harry Potter series Based on the books by JK Rowling, the series consists of eight fantasy films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001) and culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011). The Lego Movie An ordinary Lego construction worker, thought to be the prophesied Special, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the Lego universe into eternal stasis. The Adventures of Tintin The adventures of the young reporter, his faithful dog and friends as they travel around the world on adventures. An animated show based on the popular series of comic books by Belgian artist, Herge. The Addams Family A gothic satire about a dysfunctional family of monsters and other colourful characters. La La Land While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future. Hotstar Petes Dragon The adventures of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon. The Jungle Book After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free spirited bear, Baloo. Aladdin When a street urchin vies for the love of a beautiful princess, he uses a genies magic power to make himself off as a prince in order to marry her. Finding Nemo After his son is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a timid clownfish sets out on a journey to bring him home. Brave Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Union home ministry told state governments on Wednesday that paramilitary forces cannot act as a substitute for police as they were supposed to be deployed primarily in emergency situations. The ministrys remarks come against the backdrop of an ongoing tussle between the West Bengal government and Centre over the latters decision to withdraw forces from Darjeeling. In a statement issued to the press, MHA said it had asked all state governments to set up a committee for examining central armed police forces (CAPFs) required while keeping in view internal security and availability of central forces in nearby locations. CAPFs cant substitute the state police force as their deployment is related to emergency crisis in states for maintaining law and order, the Union home ministry said. The central government earlier this week had decided to withdraw 10 of the 15 companies of central paramilitary forces that were deployed in the hills in the wake of summer unrest. The central government has formulated standard operating procedures (SOPs) for deployment of CAPFs and according to it, the central forces would be able to meet more pressing commitments like guarding borders, fighting insurgency, anti-national operations and in related situations which need immediate mobilisation of forces, the ministry said. The home ministry statement comes a day after the Calcutta high court stayed BJP-led Centres decision to partially withdraw paramilitary forces from Darjeeling, rejecting the argument that they were required to be deployed elsewhere for elections. The Centre stated that state governments should not request for an extension of central armed police forces deployment unless there were adequate security reasons. Kashmiri school kids may get to read the same material that their compatriots are studying. There could be exchange programmes and video conferences too for students, health cards for teachers, and funds to rebuild razed schools. These are among the measures the Centre had drafted along with the state government in a comprehensive strategy to bring education back on track in insurgency-hit Kashmir, where many schools were burned in the unrest since the summer of 2016. Hindustan Times highlighted on October 3 the plight of these schools and students. Sources said the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir government drafted an education roadmap and a timeline has been proposed for the interventions starting this November. The plan includes CBSE affiliation to state schools and adopting NCERT textbooks for students. To promote cultural integration, students of Class 9 and 11 of Kashmir schools are likely to be sent on exchange programmes with sister schools across the country. There will be video conferencing to promote knowledge and idea exchanges, and a one-to-one buddy programme. Health insurance smart cards for schoolteachers and financial assistance to 36 schools razed by arsonists are the other highlights of the plan. According to a senior ministry official, some of the high-priority districts identified by the state government are Anantnag, Budgam, Baramulla, Shopian and Pulwama. One of the key interventions required is to increase avenues for connectivity with other parts of the country. Increased interaction with peer groups will lead to richer exchange of ideas, experience of cultural integration and mutual respect, the official said. Jammu and Kashmir education minister Altaf Bukhari said that state schools were already on the NCERT pattern but acknowledged the Centres efforts. He said the state was planning to promote CBSE syllabi as competitive exams like NEET were based on CBSE. Student exchange programmes were actually states own brain child adopted by Centre, he said. The ministry would identify suitable and interested schools outside Jammu and Kashmir to become sister schools for the exchange programme and video interactions. By February 2018, a feasibility study for adopting NCERT books and CBSE affiliation would be conducted. It was suggested that NCERT textbooks can be introduced in phases from Class 1. The NCERT textbooks are well-written and researched in terms of content. Also, the textbooks can go a long way in improving the quality of classroom transaction in the state. CBSE will conduct an extensive outreach effort for greater penetration in the state, the official said. The ministry also suggested providing emotional and career counselling to students, especially dropouts and those affected by the states long conflict. Repeated disturbances impact students productivity and put immense psychological pressure on them, which reflects in the form of increased insecurity about their academic pursuits and career prospects, the senior official said. Around Rs 61.27 crore is earmarked for these interventions. The Union cabinets approval will be sought for the health cards for teachers and for building new Kendriya Vidyalayas. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur has issued a fatwa prohibiting Muslim men and women from posting their or their families photographs on social media sites. In the fatwa issued on Wednesday, one of the largest Islamic seminaries in India has said that posting photos of self or family on social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp is not allowed in Islam. The edict was issued by the fatwa department of the Darul Uloom Deoband after a man approached it recently asking if posting photos on social media sites was allowed in the religion. Mufti Tariq Qasmi, an Islamic scholar associated with a madarssa here, said when clicking pictures unnecessarily is not allowed in Islam how posting photos on social can be allowed. Millions across India might be celebrating Diwali with their families but for 23-year-old Supriya, the festival of lights is a time of deep despondency. Every year this time, she and many other women in her village are forced to leave their homes for several days as part of a controversial tradition that considers menstruating women impure and unfit to participate in the holy rituals of Diwali. The locals in her village of Chennashetty Koppa and several others in southern Karnatakas Shivamogga district celebrate Gama Habba (village festival) in honour of the local deity during Diwali. The women are accepted back to the village, nestled in the green hills of the Western Ghats, on the night of the new moon after Diwali by bursting firecrackers. Even the vehicles used to transport the women out of the village are washed before they are allowed to re-enter the village. I have been asked to move out of the village because of tradition, said Supriya, a commerce graduate who is now in her uncles place around 20 kilometres away. Supriya of Chennashttykoppa stays with her maternal uncle at Gautampura during her menstrual cycle during Diwali. (Arijit Sen/HT Photo) Opposition to these traditions has been persistent, but change very gradual. Earlier, women had to live in small huts in the agricultural fields with no facilities. That changed eventually and now we are allowed to visit relatives in other villages. Earlier the duration of the purity period was 15 days, which has reduced now to seven days in most villages, said Supriya. Gaamamma, an elderly woman of Chennashetty Koppa, said she believed not complying with the traditions would anger the village deity. Honey bees sting those that do not obey these rules, she said. Chowdappa, a 50-year-old local farmer, said nobody could say exactly when the bees had attacked anybody. Everybody claims to know someone who had been attacked, but I havent ever come across such a person. Police complaints are rare because the practice isnt banned. In fact, many in the district proudly recall how more cruel practices from the past have been discarded. For example, 20 years ago, women had to walk naked from the village pond to the temple, a distance of more than three kilometers, as part of a ritual. Lalithamma, a 54-year-old member of the local panchayat, said there was no question of change. According to her, nobody had come up with a good enough explanation for the bee-sting phenomenon. Everybody talks of wanting a change but nobody has explained to us why bees sting people who disobey these rules only during the 15-day period. Veena Parameshwara of Chennashetty Koppa said the opposition to the festival had been muted because of fear. If there is any untoward incident in the village during this period, it is blamed on those not obeying the rules. This is the way these practices are enforced, she said. No young woman observes these rules out of devotion, it is fear that has forced us to stick by them. State revenue minister Kagodu Thimmappa, who is also the local MLA, said it was unfortunate that such practices continued. We need to come out of the grip of superstitions and to this end our government is going to table the Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman and Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, he said. Thimmappa added that the only long-term solution for overcoming superstitious beliefs was education. One of the practices the bill recognises as inhuman is forcing isolation, prohibiting re-entry into the village or facilitating segregation of menstruating or pregnant women. The piece of legislation was approved by the state cabinet last month and is set to be tabled in the assembly in the coming session in November. For Supriya that may be too late. Of course, I would have loved to be a part of the celebrations. But that is completely out of the question now, she rued. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Stronger, more powerful Xi Jinping will bring foreign policy challenges for India One aspect of the Communist Party of Chinas congress that is certain is that at the end of it on October 24, President Xi Jinping will emerge a stronger leader - his powers consolidated, his men in key positions in decision-making bodies of the ruling party. What does a stronger and likely more assertive Xi mean for India? Experts and diplomats believe an assertive and rising China will raise new challenges for India. Naturally a more and more proactive and assertive China, which is shaping its periphery, which has leadership ambitions in the region and beyond, will bring more challenges (for India), said AK Kantha, the former Indian envoy to China. China is opting for an Asia where it has pre-eminence. This will make our management of relations with China , management of our foreign policy priorities more challenging, he added. Read the story here. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson pitches for greater cooperation between India and US ahead of visit US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on Wednesday made a strong pitch for greater cooperation with India to tackle global threats and challenges such as ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of a predatory China. He stressed that while the United States wants to work with India and any other nation to counter terrorism, it still sees Pakistan as a valuable partner and will work with Islamabad and New Delhi to reduce tensions along the countrys eastern border with India and the western border with Afghanistan. Tillerson did not explain what steps, if any, were being considered by the US for easing tensions along the India-Pakistan border. Read the story here. Real meaning of Ram Rajya is home, electricity, cooking gas for everyone: Yogi Adityanath in Ayodhya Seeking to deflect opposition criticism, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday that no politics should be seen behind his governments efforts to develop the temple town of Ayodhya which gave the idea of Ram Rajya where there is no poverty or discrimination. Ayodhya gave the concept of Ram Rajya where there is no poverty, pain, grief or discrimination, Adityanath said, adding that the real meaning of Ram Rajya is a home for everyone and electricity and LPG cylinders for every household. Attacking opposition parties, the UP chief minister said his government did not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion unlike what happened earlier. Read the story here. Taj Mahal stands on razed Shiva temple: BJP leader Vinay Katiyar feeds fresh fuel to row Controversy-prone BJP leader Vinay Katiyar fed fresh fodder to an ongoing Taj Mahal row, saying on Wednesday that the moon-white marble mausoleum stands at a site where a Hindu temple dedicated to god Shiva once stood. Mughal emperor Shahjahan razed the shrine, Tejo Mahalaya, built by Hindu kings to make space for his monument, said the largely marginalised leader in Ayodhya ahead of chief minister Yogi Adityanaths visit to the temple town. The Union culture ministry told Lok Sabha in November 2015 that there was no evidence of any temple at the Taj. Read the story here. Rahul Gandhi raises questions on Chinese action in Doklam Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi raised questions on Wednesday on recent media reports of Chinese action in Doklam area at a parliamentary panel meeting which was briefed by foreign secretary S Jaishankar. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was briefed on the topic Sino-Indian relations with a focus on the Doklam situation. Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, had the maximum number of queries on the issue and raised questions about media reports that claimed China had again started constructing a road in the Doklam area, a member present at the meeting said on the condition of anonymity. Read the story here. AAP to contest 50 seats in Gujarat, stay away from Himachal polls in November The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to confine itself to 50 seats in the Gujarat assembly elections and stay away from next months Himachal Pradesh polls, party leaders associated with the two states said on Wednesday. The AAP has so far declared 21 seats from where it will field candidates in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state. We will fight the election in 50 seats or so, a party leader from Gujarat told HT. The party brass also decided to stay away from the Himachal polls in November. Read the story here. Trump celebrates Diwali in Oval Office with a shout out to Modi President Donald Trump lit a diya to celebrate Diwali in the Oval Office with a group of Indian-Americans from his administration, including ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, and members of the community, as he made a nod to a very strong relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trumps daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, chief of staff John Kelly, top donor to the Trump campaign and Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalabh Kumar and his family were also present, according to those who attended. Read the story here. Canada PM Trudeau celebrates Diwali, says trade with India a priority Attending his second Diwali function on consecutive nights, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed that economic ties with India have been a priority for his government since it was formed and the current environment of protectionism provides greater opportunities for engagement between the two sides. After lighting a diya at a Diwali on the Hill celebration in Ottawas Parliament on Monday evening, Trudeau attended the Canada India Business Council (C-IBC) Diwali Gala in Toronto on Tuesday. Addressing those gathered for the function, Trudeau said, Building stronger trade relationships between Canada and India is a priority for our government since Day One. Read the story here. BJP retains many old faces in 68-member list of candidates for Himachal polls The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a list of 68 candidates, consisting mostly of old faces, for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls on Wednesday. The saffron party, which lost the 2012 elections due to infighting, reportedly faced an uphill task in selecting candidates as influential leaders demanded tickets for their loyalists till the very last moment. Though it had initially planned to select nominees based on a survey meant to determine the winnability of candidates, the plan was derailed at the final stage due to lack of consensus among state leaders. Read the story here. Russian TV star Ksenia Sobchak announces presidential bid Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak said on Wednesday she planned to run in a presidential election next year, offering liberal voters unhappy with Kremlin rule someone to get behind, but will little prospect she will win. Opinion polls show that President Vladimir Putin will comfortably win re-election if, as most observers expect, he decides to seek what would be his fourth term in March. A significant minority of liberal voters accuse Putin of overseeing a corrupt system that has isolated Russia from the outside world however, and many of them have taken part in mass protests organised by Putin critic Alexei Navalny. But Russian officials say Navalny is ineligible to run for president due to a criminal conviction he says was fabricated. Read the story here. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman celebrated Diwali on Thursday with military personnel at the strategically important tri-services command on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Sitharaman, who arrived at the command on Wednesday, also reviewed its security preparedness and other operational matters. The defence minister also paid homage to the Indian Air Force personnel and their families who were killed during the Tsunami in the Car Nicobar islands. At the memorial for the victims of tsunami 2004 - Carnicobar airbase washed away with air warriors & their families. Onlly a few survived. pic.twitter.com/LmF5ilWovQ Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) October 19, 2017 She also visited a naval facility and the Coast Guard base under the Andaman and Nicobar command here. RM @DefenceMinIndia Smt @nsitharaman celebrates Diwali with troops&their families at Tri-Services Command A&N (sic), the defence ministry tweeted. With the Tri-Services in Port Blair. Formation-anchor, guns & the wings. Next to me is Lt Gov of A&N Admiral (Rtd) DKJoshi. Also seen CINCAN pic.twitter.com/0RPmmfpLzN Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) October 19, 2017 This is her first visit to the strategically important command after assuming charge as the defence minister. On her arrival, she was accorded a joint services guard of honour. Later, she was given a comprehensive brief on the security environment and thrust areas of the command at its headquarters, officials had said yesterday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reached the Gurez valley along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate Diwali with troops posted in the forward area, the Army said. Army chief General Bipin Rawat, Northern Command chief Lt General Devraj Anbu and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen JS Sandhu were also in Gurez accompanying the Prime Minister, an Army official said. Modi had spent Diwali with the people of Kashmir in 2014 in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Valley. The PM might also make a trip to Mana post at Indo-China border. Officials in the Prime Ministers Office and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) refused to divulge details of Modis visit, but sources said the ITBP was ready to receive the prime minister in Kedarnath sector at any post on Diwali. The PMs visit to Indo-China border comes after the stand off over Doklam where troops from both countries disengaged after a 73-day military standoff over the road construction activities by the Chinese in the Doklam plateau at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan. The PM is also scheduled to visit the Kedarnath shrine a day after Diwali. In 2014, the PM had gone to Srinagar on Diwali after floods ravaged the Jammu and Kashmir capital and took a detour to Siachen. A year later he visit a war memorial near Amritsar on Indo-Pak border. Sources said defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will celebrate Diwali with troops in Andaman and Nicobar and Army chief General Bipin Rawat is in Uri to celebrate Diwali. (With PTI inputs) With a Rs 133 crore package, mostly sponsored by the Centre, the Yogi Adityanath government will develop ghats of Ayodhya and provide the temple town with much needed amenities. Ram Katha gallery and park, Queen Heo Memorial, Ram Ki Paidi and Lakshman Kila Ghat all figure in plans for Ayodhyas transformation. Apart from these historical and religious places, the state government has also laid out an elaborate plan Ayodhya street rejuvenation Main Road and footpath. Under this plan, the government plans to spend Rs 8 core on eight development activities, including landscaping at public places, public toilets, drainage, streetlights, sign boards and sandstone benches among others. The temple town will have a permanent bus stand near Saket petrol pump. The town has a makeshift bus stand whose location keeps on changing according to the requirement. A parking lot will come up at the place often used as a temporary bus stand. For both the facilities, Rs 22 crore has been earmarked. The government has also proposed a multipurpose hall at the Digambar Akhara and a tourist shelter at Panchkoshi parikrama. The government has decided to spend Rs 12 crore on beautification of the Ram Ki Paidi on the bank of the Saryu river. It will get a facade illuminator. Besides, ghats will be renovated with stone railing, signage, solar lights, public convenience, drinking water kiosks and parking. Ram Ki Paidi will also have stone benches, stone planters, gazebos and stone bollard. The Yogi government has also proposed a solid waste management plant in Ayodhya, 14 watch towers, , CCTV cameras at 30 locations across the city, signage and 20 stone benches- five each at ghats and Panchkoshi Parikrama and 10 across the city. Renovation of historic Guptar Ghat also figures in the state governments scheme of things for Ayodhya. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If you want to learn to foster better civic engagement, look to those who have done it under much more dire circumstances, local business leaders were told on Wednesday The Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual luncheon meeting yesterday at Dickinson College, featuring a keynote speech by Dickinson President Margee Ensign, who arrived in Carlisle this past July after several years leading the American University of Nigeria. I learned, in the middle of Nigeria, that when communities come together, theres nothing we cant achieve, Ensign said. Her tenure at the AUN, located in Yola, in the countrys northeastern region, was marked by the increasing presence of the Boko Haram, and challenged the university to help provide opportunities for youths who were at risk of being drawn into the terror group. We went to the business community and to the civic leaders, and we said you tell us what the problems are, and what you want the university to work on, Ensign said. AUN was able to create a number of job training and community programs, and invested in creating Africas largest digital library, which was made available to the community through apps written by university professors in local languages. Despite the regions problems unemployment as high as 85 percent, 13 million children unable to attend school the AUNs programs were able to help tie the community together and keep it from fracturing on religious lines. Ensign said Yola is one of Nigerias more integrated cities in a region where tensions between Muslim and Christian groups has fueled the rise of the Boko Haram, who violently promote Islamic separatism. I had one young man look me in the eye and say its either you or Boko Haram. Theres nothing else here for us, Ensign said, adding that none of the young people in the AUNs programs were persuaded to join the group. These lessons can be applied to community issues on this side of the Atlantic, Ensign said. We have some of these same challenges in the US: How do we keep young people involved and hopeful? Ensign said. Having the college and local businesses collaborate on youth programs will hopefully create an environment so that young people in this community can walk by Dickinson and say thats for me, Ensign said. She also fielded questions from Carlisle Chamber members, including on the growing cost of higher education. We have extensive resources going into financial aid to make sure the sticker price is not the actual price for most students, Ensign said. The Carlisle Chambers annual event also featured the presentation of a half-dozen awards, including two posthumous honors. Bob Marquette, former president and CEO of Members 1st Credit Union, was honored with the chambers Star of Excellence Award. Marquette died in July of this year after a career of spearheading the credit unions rapid asset growth, as well as promoting philanthropy and volunteerism. Jim Washington, former executive director of Hope Station, was honored with the chambers Lifetime Achievement Award. Washington led the nonprofit community group, which concentrates on programs for under-served youths and parents, until this past February. He died in May. Also presented were the Chamber Spirit Award to Jen Burd of M&T Bank; the Business Executive of the Year Award to Bill Miller of Carlisle Events; the Young Business Leader of the Year Award to Dan Mowery of Midway Bowling; and the Volunteer of the Year Award to Gwen Killian of F&M Trust. A Kolkata-based engineering college has claimed to have developed a smartphone application and a device that will detect malaria within seconds at a much lower price than the charges of conventional pathological tests. Researchers and professors of the Institute of Engineering and Management, Salt Lake (IEMS) have now approached the Union health ministry for recognition of the device-cum-app. The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, near Kolkata, has provided the technical support for the development of the app-cum-device. To detect malaria, a life-threatening endemic disease, an individual has to purchase the device that will be priced about Rs 70 and download the app in the mobile phone. The device that contains a micro camera, has to be connected with the camera of the phone. A drop of blood pricked from the finger of the infected person has to be placed on a dice attached to the device. The camera will take the picture of the drop of blood. The picture will have to be uploaded on the app. The remote testing facility will need only 10 seconds to send an accurate result informing the person whether he has malaria or not, claimed IEMS professor Nilanjana Dutta Roy. Dutta Roy and her fellow researchers, Nilanjan Daw and Debapriya Paul, are now waiting for the approval of the ministry. We are expecting the approval soon since the initial reaction from the ministry was extremely positive, she said. Each device will be able to conduct multiple tests that will help an infected person to regularly monitor the response of the medication. In conventional pathological tests, it takes almost seven to eight hours to get the blood report and it costs about Rs 200. The device will bring down the cost to about Rs 10 per test and the result will be available in seconds, she claimed. We want to train social workers in remote villages so that they can conduct door-to-door blood tests using this device-cum-app, she said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) plan to resume the gherao of the institutions director Debamitra Mitra on Friday when it reopens after Thursdays Diwali holiday. Students have been at loggerheads with the SRFTI authorities after 14 female students were expelled on Monday for refusing to relocate from the old common hostel for men and women to the new womens hostel. We will continue gherao until our demands are met. Also, the authorities must withdraw the decision of rusticating students from the hostel and academics, said Debottam, one of the agitating students. The authorities have so far refused to budge and no classes were held on Wednesday at the central government funded institute. Tension between the students and authorities had been rising over the past couple of months over segregation of hostel for men and women - a decision that a section of the students have vehemently opposed. The authorities also filed police complaint against male students, who apparently in a show of solidarity with the women students had occupied rooms in the hostel meant for women. Police have so far stayed outside the institute. There is no question of backing out on the decision of segregation of hostels for men and women. Both the governing council and the academic council asked us to implement it by August this year. We had to rusticate those students after repeated warnings failed, SRFTI director Debamitra Mitra told HT. Read more: SRFTI throws out 14 female students for occupying rooms in hostel for males She said that hostel segregation was prioritised in the wake of a number of complaints of sexual harassment over the past couple of years against faculty members and students. Students, however, allege that the authorities have raised the issue of segregating hostels to divert attention from other issues raised by the students over the past one year. Regarding the segregation of hostels, the students body is of the stand that this is a logistically and morally problematic directive. It is a gender-based segregation which does not consider the work practices and conveniences of the students involved at all, the students association said in a statement Wednesday. According to the students association, the old hostel has room for 140 occupants whereas number of male students living on the campus is more than 150. On the other hand, the new hostel can accommodate 60 but there are only 40 women students who live on the campus. This has forced some first year students to living in a portion of the staff quarters where they allege the facilities are poor and the drinking water smells of plastic. Moreover, its a film school where work pattern and atmosphere cannot be compared with any other institution. Students work in groups and keep working till late nights. Things do not happen as per a tight schedule as any other institution. Restricting entry to respective hostels on the basis of gender will hamper work atmosphere, an agitating student said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dental clinic at Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad may soon be renamed after Arushi Talwar, the 14-year-old schoolgirl whose murder and subsequent conviction of her parents for the crime by a CBI court captured nations attention. The dentist couple had recently been acquitted of the murder charges by Allahabad High Court. Minister for prisons and prison reforms of Uttar Pradesh Jai Kumar Singh Jackie on Tuesday said that the state government was considering a proposal in this regard based on a request of Talwar couple. The minister was in Allahabad to attend a programme organised by MP Anupriya Patel. Read more| Handshakes, hugs and tears: How Dasna Jail inmates gave a send-off to Talwars The minister said he would meet the couple and inform them of the development. I will also appeal them to visit the clinic two days in a week to provide their valuable services, he added. It is worth mentioning that the Talwar couple offered dental treatment to prison inmates and even jail employees during their four years in prison. Talwars revived the dental clinic, which was defunct at Dasna Jail Hospital. The arrest of a Congress leader and three others, including a key accused, in connection with a fake currency case led the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to the doorstep of a textile businessman. It raided his residence in Malad and seized Rs 17 lakh in demonetised notes on Wednesday. The 35-year-old kingpin, Rehan Abdul Rahim Khan, had frequently changed his location and identity after DRI arrested three men, including a Congress leader, with counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs 8.9 lakh on October 7. He was held on Monday with fake currency. Officers also learnt that he had duped several people with a promise to exchange old notes. We conducted raid at the residence of the businessman dealing in textiles where we found toy and demonetised currency worth Rs 17 lakh in the form of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 old notes, said a senior officer. The agency has informed the Income Tax (I-T) department and said that the seized notes will be deposited into the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). While no case has been registered or any arrest made, the agency is investigating further about the origin of the old notes. The agency suspects that the businessman may have been trying to convert old currency for a commission. It is surprising that demonetised currency is still found, said the officer. The agency suspects more people are involved in the case. Earlier, investigation also revealed that Khan cheated people during demonetisation. He promised people to exchange old notes. During the actual transaction, he would stage police raids and flee with the valid notes, said the officer. After Khan was arrested from a relatives home at Shilphata in Kalyan, the agency seized Rs 9.75 lakh in fake Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes from his possession. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Anil Gondge, an Indian Army jawan from Maharashtras Parbhani district, is running from pillar to post trying to find his wife Swapna, 33, and one-year-old daughter Ara, who went missing from Arunachal Pradesh, where he is posted, a month ago. Swapna had stepped out with their one-year-old to visit a temple and never came back, said Gondge, who is disappointed with the investigation conducted by the local police and has approached Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for help. The 37-year-old is serving as Naik in the Armys 23rd field regiment and is posted at Tenga valley, a small town situated in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh. On September 20, Swapna left with their baby to go to the Nag mandir and then do some shopping at the nearby market. However, in the evening when Gondge returned to his quarters, his six-year old son Om told him that they had not returned. Gondge began by looking for her in the neighbouring quarters. Soon after, senior officers of the regiment were informed about her disappearance, and his colleagues organised a search. Finding no trace of them, Gondge filed a missing persons complaint at Rupa police station. During investigations, it was found that Swapna had been seen at an army post two km away from their quarters. The jawans at the post had asked Swapna to take a lift from an Omni car driver as it was raining and she was carrying a baby. The entire incident was captured on the CCTV cameras installed at the post, Gondge told HT. The Omni driver was interrogated and said that he had dropped the woman and baby at the temple and didnt know anything more. We searched all the nearby railway stations and also put up posters at important locations. Its almost a month now, and I still dont know where my wife and daughter are, said the jawan in grief. Significantly, ever since her disappearance, Gondge and his father-in-law have been getting calls from a number that the police have not yet tracked down. This number is the only lead we have. On many occasions, we have got calls from the same number, but no one speaks from the other end. Despite my repeated requests, the police have not tracked down the number, he said. I am really disappointed that a serving Army jawan is getting such a treatment. Tired of chasing police officials, Gondge approached Dhananjay Munde, leader of Opposition in Maharashtra legislative council, who took him to meet the CM on Tuesday. Fadnavis, in turn, has got in touch with Union minister of state for home Hansraj Ahir, who has assured him that an officer would be appointed to investigate the matter thoroughly. Ahir has also asked Gondge to meet him in Delhi. It is sad that a jawan who is fighting for the country has had to face such a situation. The governments are not showing sufficient seriousness in dealing with the matter. I am hoping that the Maharashtra government and the Centre will pursue this case seriously, said Munde. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Following the Elphinstone Road stampede, railway authorities plan to approach the state government and ask for help to monitor the foot overbridges (FOB) and control peak-hour crowds. The railway authorities will ask the home guard and state police to deploy their extra personnel at stations. This comes after a meeting held by railway officials, which was chaired by the director general of the railway protection force (RPF) last week. Railway officials said they lack the manpower to monitor crowds at all FoBs. They have also hinted at approaching private organisations to help with crowd management.We are looking at how we can increase commuters safety at FoBs. We will ask state agencies to deploy some of their manpower here, said SK Jain, divisional railway manager, Central Railway. Currently, CR authorities have deployed railway staff at FoBs at Parel, Kurla, Dadar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Ghatkopar, Dombivli, Thane, Masjid, and Kalyan stations. Western railway authorities have deployed RPF at FoBs at Elphinstone Road, Churchgate, Bombay Central, Andheri, Nalasopara and Virar stations. After stampede, in which 23 were killed, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal had classified FOBs as amenities, which put the onus of security on the railway authorities. Railway authorities had come under the scanner following the stampede as officials took 18 months to issue tenders to expand the Elphinstone Road FoB. The railway ministry formed a panel chaired by former central vigilance commissioner Pratyush Sinha, to investigate the delay. A report is expected to be submitted within three months. After the defection of six corporators, Sanjay Turde, the lone Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Thursday claimed he, too, was made an offer to join the Shiv Sena. Turde, a councillor from Kurla, said a party colleague, who joined the Shiv Sena last week, made the offer to him. He has now written to the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of the Mumbai police seeking a probe into the defection. On October 12, the colleague asked me if I was willing to defect to the Shiv Sena. They told me it would be a good career move, but I declined, Turde said. In the letter to the ACB, Turde alleged Dilip Lande made the offer. When asked how much money was offered, Turde said, As I flatly denied it, the discussion didnt reach that stage. The corporators complaint came nearly a week after BJP MP Kirit Somaiya wrote to the joint director of enforcement directorate, Satyavrat Kumar, alleging money laundering in the defection. MNS chief Raj Thackeray too alleged there was horse-trading and his corporators were offered Rs5 crore each. Meanwhile, MNS leaders have written to the Konkan divisional commissioner, seeking a hearing on the defection and demanded that defectors be considered a separate group till the hearing. On October 13, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray welcomed the six corporators into the party and dismissed allegations of poaching and horse-trading. Uddhav called it a home-coming, as most of them were part of the Shiv Sena before the MNS was formed. Routine Diwali cleaning led Central Railway authorities to a hidden historical treasure. While clearing a drawing room at their headquarters last week, they stumbled upon a collection of rare pictures and newspapers, most of which are from the early 1950s. Some of them even date back to the 1850s, said the authorities. The car stairs during the British era carried the Ballast required for the construction for the railway tracks. (HT ) The photographs depict the construction of the railways all across India and can be traced back to the British era. As for the city, the book has the earliest, and never-before seen designs of the suburban railway stations, including those at Byculla, Sion, Kurla and Ghatkopar, drawn up by the railway engineers during the British era. The intricate and detailed designs are accompanied by descriptions of the events that occurred while the stations were being constructed. Rare drawings of station bridges and embankments at Byculla. (HT) The album includes a picture of a news article dating back to 1854, which showcases the view from Sion hill station, as it was called then, and a rare picture of Tapti bridge, which is located in Surat. There are also rare pictures of three-cylinder pacific express locomotives, steam engines, trains being tested on Chambal Bridge and car stairs being used by the engineering department while the Indian Railways were being constructed. The spectacular pictures give viewers a peek into the massive efforts put in by railway workers, said authorities. The steam engines that were operational during the British era. (HT) The Central Railway has a treasure trove of such heritage records and photographs. In the past too, we have transferred railway heritage records of national importance to the National Archives Jaipur centre. We have also sent a few to the Maharashtra Archives in Mumbai, said Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer, Central Railway. However, as this album is of relevance to only the railways, we will it preserve it, along with other heritage records, he added. Untreated sewage and domestic waste is being dumped into Mithi River at six different locations in the western suburbs, says a survey by a city-based NGO. Watchdog Foundation, an NGO, identified slums, illegal encroachments and some residential areas that are dumping untreated waste into Shraddhanand, Lelewadi, Oberoi, and Krishna Nagar nullahs in Andheri East (K East Ward), Jari Mari nullah in Kurla (L Ward), and Vakola nullah in Santacruz (H/East Ward). These 6 nullahs then unload this waste into the Mithi, says the survey. The 15-km Mithi River starts from Powai, courses through Kurla, Saki Naka, Kalina and Vakola and meets the Arabian Sea at Mahim creek. According to experts, nearly 54% of the original riverbed has been lost to encroachments, roads and development. The NGO submitted a report to Mithi River Development Authority, state pollution control board and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with satellite images showing the sources polluting the river. We have also identified many polluting industries including ready-mix-concrete (RMC) plants and marble cutting industries, all located near Marol industrial estate. There are laundry industries, dyes and chemical, powder coating industries, and vehicle service centres without grease chambers in Kurla and along Andheri (East), which are also responsible for dirtying Mithi water, said Godfrey Pimenta, trustee, Watchdog Foundation. Pimenta added that the effects of water pollution are not only devastating to humans but also to flora and fauna. When toxic substances enter the sea at Mahim and other water bodies, they get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Further the pollutants can also seep down and affect the groundwater deposits and aquifers, he said. On May 20, HT had reported that Mithi is the most polluted water body in the city, with pollution levels almost 13 times above the safe limit, according to MPCBs water quality assessment. The matter is being heard by the Bombay high court. On October 13, the MPCB submitted an affidavit in the HC slamming the BMC for not having adequate facilities to treat domestic sewage entering the various creeks and the sea in Mumbai. Major source of pollution of Mithi is sewage from slum areas, plastic waste and municipal solid waste, the affidavit read undersigned by MR Lad, regional officer, MPCB. No proper garbage collection system has been implemented by the corporation, which is their responsibility. The MPCB also told the HC that while the Bandra sewage treatment plant has the capacity to treat 769.9 million litres per day (MLD) sewage, the BMC is currently treating 635 MLD and 135 MLD is directly entering the sea. Mithi River Development Authority officials said more than 95% widening and deepening of Mithi River at areas such as - Oshiwara, Walbhat, and Vakola areas - has been completed. We have told BMC officials to carry out awareness drives at slums and also install nets along river banks to trap sewage at source. Along with this, desilting activity and construction of retaining walls has been done along almost 24,000 metres of the river. However, regular communication has been made to the municipal corporation to remove encroachments from remaining areas, the official said. OFFIALSPEAK Waste segregation and composting units have been set up at various slum areas, and awareness drives have already been completed. We are monitoring the sewage inflow daily and desilting operations have reduced 75% of the regular inflow. It is, however, MPCBs responsibility to shut polluting industries in the area. A senior civic official SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The alleged confessions of a narcotics smuggler from Jammu and Kashmir have raised serious questions over the security at Srinagar airport. It is particularly alarming, taking into account the militant attack on a paramilitary complex close to the airport earlier this month. The state home department has been apprised so it can tell its J&K counterparts to plug the security gaps at the sensitive airport, which smugglers allegedly use to transport narcotics. The Mumbai polices investigation began with the arrest of a 23-year-old Srinagar resident, Ishafaq Ahmed Mohammad Ashraf Reshi. Reshi, a second-year BSc student was waiting to deliver a consignment of 15kg charas near Oberoi mall in Dindoshi on September 3, when, acting on a tip-off, ANC sleuths arrested him. The contraband was worth more than Rs60 lakh. Reshi was booked under the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. During initial questioning, Reshi allegedly revealed that he worked for a cartel operating out Srinagar, said sources. He told police the cartel was headed by a man identified as Hakim. Reshi said he was only a transporter of the drug, which is found abundantly in the valley. He received a commission in turn. ANC officials said they were surprised when Reshi claimed to have smuggled the drug into the city in a consignment of apples transported from Srinagar by truck a modus operandi used by cartels from J&K. A few months before Reshi was nabbed, the ANC had arrested another narcotics smuggler, Haji Rehman Shaikh alias Haji Baba, 67, from a hotel in Dongri. Officials recovered a consignment of 20 kg charas, which Haji had smuggle into the city via apple trucks. However, ANC officials later grew suspicious about Reshis claims when he failed to give them details about the transporter who had carried the apple consignment. When they continued interrogating him, Reshi allegedly broke down and confessed that he had actually travelled to Mumbai from Srinagar by air and hidden the drugs in his luggage. The disclosure sent alarm bells ringing as it meant serious security lapses at the airport, which remains on alert round the clock. The ANC checked with the private airline, which confirmed that Reshi had travelled with them on the date he mentioned. It was shocking to find out that the narcotics consignment had passed through the scanners unnoticed, sources said. Senior superintendent of police, Srinagar airport, Manzoor Ahmad Dalal, told HT that he had not received any report pertaining to Reshis confessions. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tuesday, Oct. 31 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luthers nailing of his 95 Theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Within a month, copies of the 95 Theses were being read throughout Germany and nearly everywhere in Europe including Rome. Luther was instantly famous because he had written what many had been thinking but feared to make known. These propositions, which Luther wanted to debate and defend, were largely about the Roman Catholic teachings on indulgences (various forms of gaining forgiveness of sins), but the seeds of the Protestant Reformation were there as well. The language of the church and the Roman Catholic Bible was Latin, but Luther had gone to the original language of Greek in his study of the New Testament. Two words were made clear to him: repent and justify. He had been taught that repent meant do penance. But in Mark 1:15 when Jesus preached ... repent and believe in the gospel. He saw repentance was linked to faith in the gospel Jesus preached, which really was faith in himself. Repent meant to turn or change our mind, not do penance. The other key discovery of Luther earlier in 1715 was as a professor of Bible at Wittenberg University. He began teaching through the letter to the Romans to his students. He had for a least 10 long years sought to satisfy the justice of a righteous God by all the means he had been taught by the church. He was miserable. The more he tried, the more he saw his sins, and he even confessed to hating God because according to the churchs teaching the righteous God gave him commands he could never obey fully. He saw no possible way to bridge the chasm between his sins and a righteous God. But as he came to Romans 1:16 he read, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He saw that the message of the gospel contained the power of God to save anyone who believes it, no matter who they might be. But how does this work? Well, Luther found in verse 17, For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Luther had hated the righteousness of God as I said, but here he saw that the righteousness of God was not something he had to achieve, but what Paul spoke of here was a righteousness outside of himself, a righteousness that God provided, not by works but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His heart and eyes were opened by the Holy Spirit to see this righteousness of God was the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. The word for justification in his Latin translation meant make righteous. (In other words, God had to make a person righteous through all the sacraments of the church.) But the original Greek meant to declare or regard or count righteous. Justification is a declaration by God that a sinner is innocent and righteous because it is the righteousness of God in Christ put to the account of the sinner and all the sinners sins put to the account of Jesus Christ when he died on the cross. Jesus paid the full price of all his peoples sins. When Luther by Gods grace came to understand these truths, joy flooded his soul and he confessed he had been born again. And though not able then to see all the implications of the gospel he now experienced, he began to teach and preach with great power in ways he never had before. And it wasnt long until this gospel of Gods free grace to sinners spread throughout most of Europe. It was a revival from the Lord, and many were brought to salvation full and free. Luther was a bold volcano of a man and did not get everything right. None of us do, but he was one of Gods instruments in a century that changed forever Europe and western civilization, indeed the world. The Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) kept a 32-year-old woman away from her baby for three months. Reason: A social media post uploaded by commuters accused the woman of child theft only because the infant was fairer than she. Finally, a DNA test proved that the baby was hers. GRP officers said they had registered a case of a suspected child theft in July, when commuters of a CSMT-Panvel local train had approached them. The commuters had claimed that they saw a woman carrying a newborn who did not seem to be hers as the child was much fairer than the mother. The commuters had also uploaded a photo of the woman and the crying child on social media. The post said, First, she said it was her grandchild and then she started behaving weird as we started questioning her about the mother and the family. Soon, she said she wanted to get down and got down at Chembur. She had earlier said she wanted to get down at Govandi, but she got down before that. We dont know what happened after that. I clicked some pictures and tweeted to Mumbai Police too. The women commuters also said they suspected that something was amiss as the baby was crying loudly when the woman boarded the train, said the police. Based on these complaints, the police tracked down the woman and took her into custody. We put the child in a day care centre and sent the woman to a rescue home in Panvel, said I B Sarode, senior police inspector of Wadala GRP. They also sent their blood samples for a DNA test and were awaiting the results. On Monday, the GRP got the report which was positive. We had to verify the complaints as the commuters had raised a doubt. Now, it has been proved that the woman is the kids mother. We will hand over the child to her only after a mental evaluation, said Sarode. Getting documents under the Right to Information (RTI) Act is set to become costlier in Maharashtra, as the finance department wants to increase the charge for a photocopy to Rs10, from the current Rs2. While the proposal may not get a nod from political leadership, the move, if passed, may create a flutter among RTI activists. Reeling under a debt of Rs4.30 lakh crore, dwindling revenue receipts and contingencies such as farm loan waiver, the state government formed a committee of high-ranking officials to look at new ways to earn money. The panel met finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar last week, and discussed various proposals, including the hike in charges for giving RTI documents. Various departments waste their time and manpower to deal with RTI applications. The documents are provided for Rs2 a copy to an applicant above the poverty line, while it is given for free to those below poverty line. Lakhs of pages are photocopied every year for this. If the rate per copy is hiked, the government will not only get revenue, but it will also help to reduce the burden, said an official from the finance department. RTI activists slammed the proposal. It is a steps towards killing the Act. If the government wants to lower the burden on the machinery, it should suo motu provide information on all its policies and decision as stated in section 4(1) of the RTI Act 2005. The government does not have the right to change the application fee or charge for photocopies as it is a Central act, but state governments have been amending rules as per their whims, said Vijay Kumbhar, a Pune-based RTI activist. Mungantiwar said the idea was rejected. The hike will hardly generate Rs10-20 lakh for the government, but will invite a huge amount of criticism. We are looking at ways to earn hundreds of crores. I have asked the department to not move the proposal forward, he told HT. All roads lead to Rome, Italy, which topped both best winter vacation and best affordable winter vacation lists. In the US News & World Report, experts compiled a list of the best destinations for either escaping the winter cold or revelling in it this year, and named Rome as the No 1 winter destination of 2017-2018. But why should you head to Rome in the winter? Youll avoid Romes notorious summer crowds, plus you can warm up with a cappuccino or a plate of fresh pasta, editors point out. Likewise, 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. Auckland is one of the best places for winter vacations. (Shutterstock) After Rome, Dubai, Honolulu, Quebec City and Auckland round out the top five spots. Of the top five destinations, Quebec City serves as the token representative for snow bunnies and winter lovers. Good news for budget-conscious travelers: The Eternal City also topped the reports most affordable winter vacations list as well. And while traditionally, most winter best of lists are made up of sun-soaked beach destinations, this years editors also created a list of the best cities for getting into the Christmas holiday spirit. Topping that list is Prague, followed by Vienna. Whether youre looking to escape winter, Christmas, or turn up the dial on the festivities, check out the list of best winter vacation ideas by US News & World Report: Best winter vacations 1. Rome 2. Dubai, United Arab Emirates 3. Honolulu-Oahu 4. Quebec City 5. Auckland, New Zealand Best winter family vacations 1. Orlando-Walt Disney World 2. Anaheim-Disneyland 3. Branson, Missouri 4. Honolulu-Oahu 5. Whistler, British Columbia Best affordable winter vacations 1. Rome 2. Quebec City 3. Auckland, New Zealand 4. Seville, Spain 5. Costa Rica Best Christmas vacations 1. Prague 2. Vienna 3. Taos, New Mexico 4. London 5. New York City Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Pakistan is betting that a pair of nine-foot chicken wire fences topped with barbed wire will stop incursions by Islamist militants from Afghanistan, which opposes Islamabads plans for a barrier along the disputed frontier. Pakistan plans to fence up most of the 2,500 km (1,500 mile) frontier despite Kabuls protests that the barrier would divide families and friends along the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the colonial-era Durand line drawn up by the British in 1893. Pakistans military estimates that it will need about Rs56 billion ($532 million) for the project, while there are also plans to build 750 border forts and employ high-tech surveillance systems to prevent militants crossing. In the rolling hills of the Angoor Adda village in South Waziristan, part of Pakistans restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), three rolls of barbed wire are sandwiched in the six-foot gap between the chicken wire fences. (The fence) is a paradigm change. It is an epoch shift in the border control management, said a Pakistani army officer in command of South Waziristan during a presentation to foreign media on Wednesday. There will not be an inch of international border (in South Waziristan) which shall not remain under our observation. Pakistans military has so far fenced off about 43 km of the frontier, starting with the most violence-prone areas in FATA, and is expected to recruit tens of thousands of new troops to man the border. It is not clear how long it will take to fence the entire boundary. But Pakistans plans have also drawn criticism from across the border. Gulab Mangal, governor of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, told Reuters the wall will create more hatred and resentment between two neighbours and will do neither country any good. The fence will definitely create a lot of trouble for the people along the border on both sides but no wall or fence can separate these tribes, he said. I urge the tribes to stand against this action. Pakistan has blamed Pakistani Taliban militants it says are based on Afghan soil for a spate of attacks at home over the past year, urging Kabul to eradicate sanctuaries for militants. Afghanistan, in turn, accuses Islamabad of sheltering the leadership of the Afghan Taliban militants who are battling the Western-backed government in Kabul. Both countries deny aiding militants, but relations between the two have soured in recent years. In May, the tension rose when 10 people were killed in two border villages in Baluchistan region. The clashes occurred in so-called divided villages, where the Durand Line goes through the heart of the community, and where residents are now bracing for the fence to split their villages in two. Pakistans previous attempts to build a fence failed about a decade ago and many doubt whether its possible to secure such a lengthy border. But Pakistani army officials are undeterred by the scepticism and insist they will finish the job as the countrys security rests on this fence. By the time we are done, inshallah, we will be very sure of one thing: that nobody can cross this place, said the Pakistani officer in charge of South Waziristan. Prime Minister Theresa May urged the European Union on Thursday to break the deadlock and move forward with Brexit talks, asking the blocs leaders to respond with urgency on easing the fears of their citizens living in Britain. Arriving at a two-day summit in Brussels with other EU leaders, May sought to lower any remaining expectation that she could win a breakthrough in the talks to unravel more than 40 years of union. Instead, she turned the focus to making progress in the coming weeks, particularly on citizens rights. Weakened by losing her Conservative Partys majority in a June election and failing to rally support at an ill-fated party conference, May cannot move on the EUs insistence on increasing her pay offer for the divorce agreement. She is hamstrung by demands in her own party for her to walk away unless the EU agrees to moving the talks forward to discuss trade, and Germany which does not want to be left with a large bill when Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019. Well ... be looking at the concrete progress that has been made in our exit negotiations and setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead. I particularly, for example, want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens rights, May told reporters. But she avoided questions about increasing the amount Britain is willing to pay when it leaves the EU, instead referring back to a speech last month in Italy when she outlined an offer of around 20 billion ($24 billion) to try to improve the tone. That speech ... set out that ambitious vision and I look forward to us being able to progress that in the weeks ahead, she said. Without a new offer on the money, May has attempted to change the focus by offering concessions on the protection of the rights of around 3 million EU citizens living in Britain, promising to make it as easy as possible for them to stay. On her Facebook page, May wrote that we are in touching distance of agreement and asked the EU to show the flexibility and creativity to secure a deal in the coming weeks. While welcome, this is unlikely to alter the outcome of the Brussels summit, where on Friday morning, when May has left, the bloc is expected to say the Brexit talks had not yet made enough progress for them to open the post-Brexit trade negotiations. CHANGE OF TACK That lack of movement has increased the pressure on May from her own party, particularly a small number of Brexit campaigners who have long said that the prime minister should walk away from the talks if the EU did not move them forward. In an open letter to May on Thursday, pro-Brexit lawmakers and business people said that unless the talks moved to trade, Britain should signal it is ready to be subject to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules from March 30, 2019, when Brexit takes effect. The government says it does not want to crash out of the EU and is working to secure a deal. But comments that ministers are planning for the possibility of a no deal have been pounced on by the Britains main opposition Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn, whose party has matched and sometimes beats Mays Conservatives in the opinion polls, arrived in Brussels on Thursday to meet EU lawmakers to try to break the Brexit logjam created by what he called government bungling. Seen as having little chance of becoming prime minister last year, Corbyn is now being listened to in Brussels and was due to meet the blocs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and other officials on Thursday. Recognising Mays position at home, EU leaders are expected to make a gesture by telling EU staff to prepare for talks on a transition period needed to ease uncertainty for business. But they warn there is still a lot to be done. We have to work really hard between October and December to finalise this so-called first phase and to start negotiating on our future relationship with the UK, Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders, said on Wednesday. Former President Barack Obama returns to the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since he left the White House, venturing out to support Democrats in two governors races that could offer a clue about the national mood before next years midterm elections. Obama, who has spoken at private party fundraisers but largely steered clear of electoral politics since leaving office in January, will make public appearances on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey - the only two states holding off-year elections for governor. Those Nov. 7 contests will be closely watched to see if Democrats can turn the grassroots resistance to Republican President Donald Trump into electoral wins after falling short earlier this year in four competitive special congressional elections. The race in the political battleground of Virginia, in particular, is viewed as a potential bellwether. Opinion polls show a close contest between Democrat Ralph Northam, the states lieutenant governor, and Republican Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman who has been endorsed by Trump. Obama carried Virginia in both 2008 and 2012, and Democrat Hillary Clinton won the state over Trump by 5 percentage points in 2016. Obamas vice president, Joe Biden, appeared recently with Northam, while Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in southwest Virginias coal country for Gillespie. In New Jersey, Obama will appear at a campaign event in Newark with Democrat Phil Murphy. Polls show Murphy has a comfortable lead on Republican opponent Kim Guadagno, the states lieutenant governor, who is hindered by the unpopularity in the state of Trump and Republican Governor Chris Christie. Since leaving the White House, Obama has frequently criticized Trump and Republicans in written statements for efforts to gut his signature healthcare law and roll back his immigration and environmental policies. The campaign appearances will give him a forum to take on Trump directly if he chooses. The state contests in Virginia and New Jersey, and a special election in December for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, are a preview of next years congressional elections, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senates 100 seats will be up for grabs. Republicans currently control both chambers. With an investment of $ 8.3 billion this year alone in Nepal, the Chinese are coming in a big way to the Himalayan country which they see as a potential gateway to South Asia because of its open border with India. Chinese aid, according to Nepalese officials, comprises grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans. There is also direct assistance from Beijing to Kathmandu to execute security and military projects, while the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region provides project-based support to districts along Nepals northern border. Chinese investments in Nepal have surged significantly since the country switched from a monarchy to a republic in 2008. According to official statistics, China has topped in investment commitments for the past five years. During the investment summit in March, 16 Chinese firms signed letters of intent and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation pledged $3 billion for hydropower projects, a hospital and the Kathmandu Metro the largest amount pledged from a single company. And with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in May, China is pressuring Nepal to select projects under the ambitious One Belt, One Road connectivity project. The MoUs major thrust is promoting trade connectivity and financial integration, and Nepal expects to upgrade its vital infrastructure and enhance cross-border connectivity under the initiative. A Nepalese team set up to select projects under the BRI, has so far identified two large hydropower projects, two cross-border grids, a cross-border rail project and two road projects worth more than $10 billion. Chinas private sector is also keen on a share of Nepals tourism pie. The heart of Kathmandu, Thamel, which is first the destination for tourists, already has a China Town as a testimony to Chinese engagement at the ground level in Nepal. There are some in Kathmandu who believe the Chinese moves are intended to have a two-fold impact: reduce Nepals economic dependence on India and also gain further access to the huge Indian market through the open border in the long-term. China overtook India as Nepals biggest foreign investor three years ago and Kathmandus trade with Beijing has grown 17 times faster than the trade with New Delhi since 2006. Political observers say that reports of China playing a key role in bringing together Nepals Communist parties led by KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda reflects Beijings continued interest in propping up politicians who were more amenable to its interests. Chinese firms are known for quick implementation of projects and in a society like ours, where people are fed up with the slow work done by the government, there is naturally public support for Chinese companies and investment, says Nishchal Nath Pandey, director of the Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS). But there are others who think Nepal needs to take a very critical look at Chinese investments and learn from examples in Africa and Sri Lanka. They fear that a small country like Nepal should not fall into a debt trap while actively seeking Chinese aid. Chinas increasing investment in infrastructure such as hydropower and connectivity and Nepals participation in BRI can be considered good developments in the realm of economic diplomacy, said Sunil KC, CEO of the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs. But at the same time, Nepal needs to thoroughly examine the fallout of Chinese investments in other countries. Strong and rational negotiation in areas such as the terms and conditions of Chinese loans and the repayment mechanism is essential to minimise the risk, he added. India has raised its concerns about the Chinese investments, and Nepalese officials told Hindustan Times that New Delhi had informed the Nepalese government and business community that it would not buy power from any hydro-electric project that received investments from China or some other country. Some, however, take comfort from the robust levels of trade between India and Nepal, which was worth $6.35 billion in 2016-17, including Indian exports of $5.96 billion. India should not worry about growing Chinese investment in Nepal, said Lok Raj Baral, a former envoy to New Delhi who closely tracks developments in Nepal. Baral pointed out that the Chinese were also investing in India while several Indian firms had invested in China. So this should not be a concern for India because Nepal welcomes investment from east, west, south and north for the prosperity of the country, he said. The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmeds makeshift grocery store. This photo taken on October 7, 2017 shows a solar panel on the roof of a temporary home for Rohingya refugees at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. (AFP) The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four light bulbs and two small fans. Now we can have light at night, and when its really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief, he told AFP as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. Solar only power source In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmars Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. The refugees AFP spoke to accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya 50% of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Solar power was the only source of electricity in the area, said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabirs sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. A Hindu refugee from Rakhine state charges his mobile phone at the Kutupalong Hindu refugee camp in the Bangladeshi district of Ukhia on October 15, 2017. The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have power thanks to a proliferation of solar panels. (AFP Photo) The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees dont have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. A local court on Thursday granted bail to former premier Khaleda Zia after she appeared before it on her return to Bangladesh, a week after the court issued an arrest warrant against her in graft and defamation cases. The bail was granted on conditions that she would inform the court before leaving the country in future, an official of the court told reporters. He said Zia, 72, also the chairperson of main opposition outside parliament Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had to give a bond of Taka 100,000 for obtaining the bail. Surrounded by her party activists, Zia came to the court complex in old Dhaka and surrendered before the judge, a day after she returned home from London after a three-month visit. Court officials and lawyers said she appeared on the dock and sought the bail this morning at the makeshift court set up on Alia Madrasha ground at Bakshibazar in the old city. After granting the bail, the court held a routine hearing wherein she gave an hour long statement claiming her innocence in the graft cases. The judge fixed October 26 date for the next hearing. She also claimed that cases filed against her are false, motivated and imaginarily made up and aimed at harassing her, a defense lawyer said, adding she was allowed to speak as the court accepted her petition to give a statement. Court officials and lawyers said Dhakas Metropolitan Magistrate issued the first warrant as Zia failed to appear in another court over a case accusing her of undermining the Bangladeshs map and national flag. She is being tried for inducting in her 2001-2006 cabinet the people who were opposed to the countrys independence and committed crimes against humanity by siding with the Pakistani troops. She obtained the bail against the second warrant issued by Dhakas Fifth Special Judges Court as she evaded appearance in a case involving her alleged corruption with funds of an orphanage trust named after her husband and slain president Ziaur Rahman. Virendra Sharma, a senior Labour leader and MP from Ealing Southall, has reiterated a long-standing demand that Britain tender a formal apology for the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in 1919. Tabling an early day motion (EDM) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Sharma called on Prime Minister Theresa May to apologise for the incident that Indian historians say cost thousands of lives. He also demanded that the shameful piece of history be taught at schools in the United Kingdom. Demands for an apology have cropped up on several occasions over the decades, including the time Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the Jallianwalla Bagh memorial in 1997 and former Prime Minister David Camerons trip to India in 2013. This was an important moment in the history of Britain in India. Many suggest it was the beginning of the end, a moment that finally emboldened the Independence movement. It must be commemorated, and the British government should make clear its repudiation of such a barbaric act, Sharma said. There have been differing estimates of the casualties incurred at the hands of the infamous Colonel Reginald Dyer. While the British put it at 379, Indians insist that thousands were killed. A plaque at the memorial says: This place is saturated with the blood of about two thousand Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims who were martyred in a non-violent struggle. Making its case for an apology from Britain, the EDM stated: That this House recognises the importance of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 for its importance as a turning point in the history of the Raj and British Empire in India; notes that the centenary of this event is approaching and that it is appropriate to commemorate it; further recognises that former Prime Minister David Cameron referred to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a deeply shameful act; further notes that this event does not represent modern British values; urges the government to ensure that British children are taught about this shameful period and that modern British values welcome the right to peaceful protest; and further urges the government formally to apologise in the House and inaugurate a memorial day to commemorate this event. Under parliamentary rules, EDMs are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few are actually debated. They allow MPs to draw attention to an event or cause, and MPs register their support by signing individual motions. Six MPs including Sharma have so far supported the motion. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON SEATTLE Memo to the many places vying for Amazon's second headquarters: It ain't all food trucks and free bananas. Pennsylvania is among the states looking to lure Amazon into making it its home for its second headquarters. But for years, much of downtown Seattle has been a maze of broken streets and caution-taped sidewalks. Dozens of enormous cranes tower overhead as double-length dump trucks hauling excavated dirt rumble past pedestrians and bicyclists. The crashing and clanging of construction is the city's soundtrack on a perpetual loop. Housing prices have soared faster than anywhere else in America, driving some low- and even middle-income residents beyond city limits. Traffic is frequently unmentionable. And while Amazon is far from solely to blame and while lawmakers, economists and many residents say the benefits clearly outweigh any drawbacks life in its hometown is indeed one more endeavor the tech giant has disrupted. "Economic growth brings opportunities, and it brings headaches," says Margaret O'Mara, a University of Washington professor who specializes in urban history. "That was true in 1840s Manchester, it was true in 1890s Pittsburgh, and it's true with Seattle in the 20-teens. ... It's on both cities and the tech companies to figure out the way to handle these things." Amazon opened its headquarters in a previously sleepy warehouse district known as South Lake Union in 2010, foregoing what it says would have been the cheaper option of building in the suburbs, where its workers might have been less connected to the city. Since then, it has expanded from a workforce of about 5,000 to more than 40,000 in 33 buildings here. It surpassed the university as the city's biggest employer, and it's still growing apace. Even as it announced plans for a second headquarters location, the company said it would lease the entirety of Seattle's second-largest skyscraper, the still-under-construction Rainier Square tower, which will have room for 3,500 workers. The city has been transformed, with new towers seeming to sprout weekly and Amazon's striking new biospheres due to open next year. Amazon estimates its direct spending boosted Seattle's economy by $38 billion from 2010 to 2016. Hotels are thriving thanks to visits by friends and family of Amazon workers, as well as by Amazon employees from elsewhere. The Downtown Seattle Association estimates $5 billion in construction activity was underway during the summer, with more than 30,000 residential units in the works. Cities across the U.S. and Canada are clamoring at the prospect of landing Amazon's second headquarters, and with it, investments topping $5 billion. They have until Thursday to submit their proposals. In Seattle, there's no question the company's growth has improved life in many ways. Unemployment is extremely low. A large fraction of its workers walk to the office or rely on public transit, and its buildings have green roofs, recycled heat, reclaimed lumber and other sustainability features. It opened plazas where it hosts farmers markets, concerts and, yes, banana stands Amazon has given away 2.7 million bananas and counting. Terrific restaurants, cafes and food trucks have proliferated, with lines of Amazon workers, recognizable by their badges or by their dogs, welcome at work, outside. That said, not everyone can afford to enjoy such amenities. Robby Stern, president of Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, which advocates for seniors, said rising housing costs have forced two of his organization's board members from the city. The Seattle Times reported in September that the median house price in the city was $730,000, double what it was five years ago. "Bringing a lot of new, good-paying jobs to town, you have to view that as being a positive development," Stern said. "But the changes that have happened have created Seattle as a less livable place for categories of people, and that's not what I want for Seattle." After taking some criticism for a perceived lack of involvement in the community, Amazon has engaged more publicly, including supporting some Seattle nonprofits: It announced this year that it will give the shelter organization Mary's Place permanent room in its new building to house 200 homeless women, children and families. It has also given FareStart, which trains people struggling with homelessness or drug addiction to work in the restaurant industry, space and equipment to open five new eateries on its campus. Last year, Amazon gave $10 million toward a new computer sciences building at the University of Washington, where it also endowed two professorships. And this year, the family of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced a $35 million gift to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the largest donation in the center's 41-year history. The company also donated to a successful political campaign last fall to expand light rail service, and has paid for an additional streetcar to serve South Lake Union. Seattle had bad traffic and limited housing even before Amazon arrived, some of which lingered from decades of anti-growth policies and a failure to build more mass transit sooner. With Amazon's bidding process for "HQ2," at least the places applying know what to expect. Greg Nickels, the city's mayor from 2002 to 2010, worked to transform South Lake Union into a tech and biotech hub. He says Seattle has had to do some catching up on transit and housing, given the company's unpredictably explosive expansion, and the city's $15-an-hour minimum wage experiment is a good one to try to alleviate income inequality. "I know many people find that growth uncomfortable, but it's much better than being a Detroit or a Cleveland, where people are watching their cities waste away," Nickels said. Spains central government threatened on Thursday to suspend Catalonias autonomy after the regions leader said it could go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid continued its repression. In an unprecedented move since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday to impose direct rule in Catalonia. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, ignoring a 10 am deadline to drop his secession campaign, threatened Rajoy with a formal declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament. A man holds a copy of the letter sent by Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on October 19, 2017 in Madrid. (AFP) The two statements increased uncertainty over a one-month political crisis that has raised fears of social unrest, led the euro zones fourth-largest economy to cut its growth forecasts and rattled the euro. Spanish government bond yields rose and stocks sold off after the deadline passed, while the euro dipped into negative territory. If the government continues to impede dialogue and continues with the repression, the Catalan parliament could proceed, if it is considered opportune, to vote on a formal declaration of independence, Puigdemont said in a letter to Rajoy. It is not yet clear how and when a Catalan declaration of independence would take place and whether it would be endorsed by the regional assembly, though many pro-independence lawmakers have openly said they wanted to hold a vote in the Catalan parliament to lend it a more solemn character. If Rajoy invokes Article 155 of the 1978 constitution, which allows him to take control of a region if it breaks the law, it would not be fully effective until at least early next week. It needs previous parliamentary approval, offering some last minute leeway for secessionists to split unilaterally. LAW UNCLEAR The terms of Article 155 are vague and could spur more wrangling with the restive region, though the government said on Thursday it had a wide political backing from other parties. The government will use all the tools available to restore as soon as possible the law and the constitutional order, recover peaceful cohabitation between citizens and stop the economic damage that the legal uncertainty is creating in Catalonia, the governments spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said in a statement. Madrid can in theory sack the local administration and install a new team, take control of police and finances, and call a snap election. But some members of the Catalan government have already questioned this interpretation of the constitution, suggesting the stand-off could extend for at least several more days. Puigdemont has already defied Rajoy once this week, when he ignored a first deadline to drop the independence campaign and instead called for talks. Rajoy says the Catalan government has repeatedly broken the law, including when it held a banned vote on independence on Oct. 1 and made a symbolic declaration of independence on Oct. 10, only to suspend it seconds later. Puigdemont says a violent police crackdown on the referendum and arrests of pro-independence leaders on charges of sedition show the Spanish state has become authoritarian. The Taliban have killed at least 58 Afghan security forces in a wave of attacks across the country overnight, including an assault that nearly wiped out an army camp in southern Kandahar province, officials said Thursday. The attack on the army camp took place late on Wednesday and involved two suicide car bombs, said spokesman Dawlat Wazir. It set of hours of fighting, killing at least 43 soldiers. Nine other soldiers were wounded and six have gone missing, Wazir said, adding that 10 attackers were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a media statement. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush in the northern Balkh province late Wednesday killed six policemen, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief. And a Taliban attack on police posts in western Farah province, also late Wednesday, killed nine policemen, said police chief Abdul Marouf Foulad. He said 22 insurgents were killed in the ensuing gunbattle. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, switching to a counterterrorism and support role. The Taliban unleashed a wave of attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, targeting police compounds and government facilities with suicide bombers, and killing at least 74 people, officials said. Among those killed in one of the attacks was a provincial police chief. Scores were also wounded, both policemen and civilians. Afghanistans deputy interior minister, Murad Ali Murad, called Tuesdays onslaught the biggest terrorist attack this year. Over the past two years and after the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops, the Taliban have stepped up attacks and spread from their southern heartland across the country. Attacks in the north have also increased. In such a climate, the Kabul government has dismissed peace talks with the Taliban but CIA Director Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States is going to do everything it can to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan. However, for that to happen, Pakistan must first deny the militants a safe haven on its soil, said Pompeo. For talks to move ahead, the Taliban must have no hope of winning on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and that means making it no longer possible to cross the Afghan-Pakistani border and hide inside Pakistan. That strategy was outlined by President Donald Trump this summer as part of his approach to ending the 16-year war, in addition to an incremental increase in US forces there. Pompeo said in a speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, that the US is going to do everything we can, to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, with the Taliban having zero hope that they can win this thing on the battlefield. US officials have long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye or assisting the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. Pakistan routinely denies colluding with the militants. US President Donald Trumps new strategy for Afghanistan and south Asia provides India an opportunity to build its ruthlessly pragmatic neighbourhood policy, experts opined at a seminar in London on Wednesday. Leading experts from the United States and Britain at the seminar on The new US strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia: Challenges and Prospects at the influential International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) dwelt at length on the new contours of the strategy and sought to allay some misconceptions about it in Pakistan. Participants included former US officials now at the Washington-based National Defence Universitys Near East Asia Center for Strategic Studies: Roger Kansas, John Wood and Jack Gill, as well as IISS experts Rahul Roy-Chaudhury and Antoine Levesques. Wood said the new strategy, announced on August 21, had been over-interpreted in certain quarters, and highlighted that Trump did not call upon India to provide military assistance in Afghanistan but sought help in the economic and development realm. On the criticism in Pakistan, he said the strategy outlined had several elements that Islamabad has been seeking for several years, such as long-term US presence in Afghanistan, need for political settlement and increased pressure on the Taliban in Afghanistan. According to Roy-Chaudhury, the strategy was an opportunity for India, and there has already been a flurry of Indian diplomatic activity following the new US strategy, as indicated by recent meetings between Indian, US and Afghan functionaries, and Indias national security advisor Ajit Doval flying to Kabul for meetings with his counterpart and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. No previous US president has talked as tough on Pakistan as Trump has, Roy-Chaudhury said, adding, And, for the first time, a US president has publicly invited India to play a larger role in Afghanistans economic development, thereby legitimising Indias influence in the country. But, at the same time, New Delhi also remains wary, for two reasons: First, Trump has expressed concern that tense relations between India and Pakistan two nuclear-armed regional powers could spiral into conflict. India has long opposed the view, which Indian officials regard as implicit in Trumps position, that Indias conventional military superiority makes Pakistans nuclear doctrine of first use against Indian forces legitimate and serves to internationalise their bilateral dispute over Kashmir. Second, New Delhi is also bewildered and troubled by Trumps perceived threat of trade repercussions, should India not deliver sufficient economic aid for Afghanistan. The apparent additional pressure on India to meet US expectations seems gratuitous, Roy-Chaudhury said. According to Wood, the contours of the USs new Afghanistan strategy is developing, but US officials recently described it as R4+S, which meant: regionalise, re-align, reinforce, reconcile plus sustain. Gill, who has a background of working in the area of India-Pakistan relations, said the tough language towards Pakistan in Trumps announcement reflected Washingtons frustrations, but it was not new. At the same time, it did not blame Pakistan for Afghanistans woes. It (Trumps announcement) is not anti-Pakistan. There is a consistent desire for Pakistan to succeed, to not to be a threat to itself and neighbours. Pakistan will be the principal beneficiary of a stable Afghanistan, Gill noted. Speakers noted that Trumps announcement aimed to provide a much-needed wider regional approach to Afghanistan. The strategy explicitly identifies Pakistan and India as key players in relation to Afghanistan, but is seen to ignore or minimise other influential non-South Asian regional players, most notably China. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two days after retaking Raqa from Islamic State group jihadists and dealing their dreams of statehood a fatal blow, US-backed forces combed the ruins of the Syrian city for survivors and bombs. A lightning final assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday saw jihadist defences collapse faster than expected as the SDF claimed a landmark victory in the three-year fight against IS. SDF fighters flushed jihadist holdouts from Raqas main hospital and municipal stadium, wrapping up more than four months of fighting to seize what used to be the inner sanctum of ISs self-proclaimed caliphate. On Wednesday, SDF forces fired into the air and danced the traditional Middle Eastern dabke line dance to blaring music amid the otherwise eerie silence of the city. Inside the stadium, the militias flag was raised as bulldozers worked to clear the ground of explosives that IS had strewn throughout the city. Many roads were still closed off, and access to the hospital was blocked while fighters worked to clear it. Teams of SDF fighters were deployed across the rubble-strewn streets to look for unexploded ordnance and booby traps left by the jihadists. They are making sure there are no more sleeper cells in Raqa, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali told AFP. Mine-clearing operations and the re-opening of the city are under way, he said, adding that his organisation would only formally announce the liberation of the city once they are completed. - City unsafe - We urge our people... who fled IS rule not to return to the city for their own security until it is rid of terrorist explosives, the Kurdish internal security services said in a statement. But some SDF fighters are themselves from Raqa. Under the stadium, SDF member Ahmad al-Hassan returned to an oval hallway lined with makeshift cells where IS locked up civilians accused of breaking its ultra-conservative rules. This is where they humiliated us, he said, near the room where he was kept for seven days with 35 other men after he tried to prevent his wifes arrest for briefly showing her face in public. The loss of Raqa left IS ruling over a rump caliphate straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border and covering a fraction of the territory it held when it declared its state in July 2014. The US-led coalition supporting anti-IS forces in Iraq and Syria said on Tuesday that the jihadists had lost 87 percent of the territory they held three years ago. Brett McGurk, the White Houses envoy to the multinational coalition, said on social media that IS had lost 6,000 fighters in Raqa. He described the organisation as pathetic and a lost cause. Raqa was one of the most emblematic IS bastions, at the heart of both its military operations and its propaganda. Several of the most high-profile attacks IS claimed in the West, including the 2015 massacres in Paris, are believed to have been at least partly planned in Raqa, earning the city the nickname of terror central. - Some surrendered, others died - Clara Raqqa, a top SDF commander, smiled and squinted into the sun as she stood at the iconic Al-Naim roundabout where IS carried out some of its most gruesome atrocities. Today, after all these years, we are here, she said. I remember my childhood here, my teenager years... Im so happy that weve reached the days of freedom. Jamila Hami, a volunteer with the Kurdish Red Crescent, said rebuilding the citys medical infrastructure would pose major challenges. Yes, Raqa is now liberated, but the next phase for us will be even harder than the one that has passed, she said. They say that they want to rebuild Raqa. Rebuild what? said Ismail Khalil, an SDF fighter originally from Raqa. Even in 20 years we couldnt rebuild. The city is totally destroyed, he added. The breakthrough in the operation to retake Raqa came last week when a local deal was struck for the safe exit of several thousand civilians who had been used as human shields by IS, while Syrian jihadists surrendered. Up to 400 mostly foreign IS fighters had been believed to remain in the city, prepared for a bloody last stand. Yet events since the Sunday announcement of the operations final phase gives few clues as to their fate. Some surrendered, others died, Talal Sello, another SDF spokesman said, without providing further details. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor relying on a network of sources across Syria, said most of the foreign fighters surrendered and were being held by Western intelligence services. It was not immediately possible to corroborate his claim. Colonel Ryan Dillon, the US-led coalitions spokesman, only spoke of four confirmed cases of foreign IS fighters surrendering and stressed that they were in SDF custody. We as the coalition do not hold or control any of these detainees, he said, adding the SDF may make separate arrangements with the detained jihadists countries of origin for some of them to be handed over and prosecuted. Chicago based artist Lord Haiti releases new single Hot Box ft Cris Dashon. Dubbed a song for all the stoners worldwide Lord Haiti gives you Chi Lakeshore Drive vibes. This 420 inspired exclusive has a dope mix of smooth & mellow tones that uplift any listener sleeping on the duo. Like many music lovers of his generation, Lord Haiti has a passion for both creating good vibes and telling the world all about it.Social Media@LordHaiti@CrisDashon January 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson begins an effort to organize a peace conference in Europe. February 18, 1916 - In West Africa, the German colony of Cameroon falls to the French and British following 17 months of fighting. This leaves only one German colony remaining in Africa, known as German East Africa. There, 10,000 troops skillfully commanded by General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck prove to be an elusive but deadly target, as they are pursued by a British-led force ten times larger. Battle of Verdun February 21-December 18, 1916 February 21, 1916 - On the Western Front, the German 5th Army attacks the French 2nd Army north of the historic city of Verdun, following a nine-hour artillery bombardment. The Germans under Chief of the General Staff, Erich Falkenhayn, seek to "bleed" the French Army to death by targeting the cherished city. At first, the Germans make rapid gains along the east bank of the Meuse River, overrunning bombed out French trenches, and capture lightly defended Fort Douaumont four days later without firing a shot. However, the German offensive soon stalls as the French rush in massive reinforcements and strengthen their defenses, under the new command of Henri Petain, who is determined to save Verdun. An early spring thaw also turns the entire battlefield into mud, hampering offensive maneuvers. March 6, 1916 - Germans renew their Verdun offensive, this time attacking along the west bank of the Meuse River, targeting two strategic hills northwest of Verdun that form the main French position. However, by the end of March, the heavily defended hills are only partially in German hands. March 18, 1916 - On the Eastern Front, the Russians oblige a French request to wage an offensive to divert German resources from Verdun. Although the Russians greatly outnumber the Germans in the northern sector of the Eastern Front, their poorly coordinated offensive around Vilna and at Lake Naroch is swiftly defeated by the Germans with 70,000 Russian casualties. April 9, 1916 - The Germans attack again at Verdun, now along a 20-mile-wide front on both the east and west banks of the Meuse River. Once again the attack only yields partial gains in the face of stiff French resistance. April 18, 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson threatens to sever diplomatic ties between the United States and Germany following the sinking of the passenger ferry Sussex by a U-Boat in the English Channel. The attack marked the beginning of a new U-Boat campaign around the British Isles. But in response to Wilson, the Germans call off the U-Boats. April 29, 1916 - In the Middle East, the five-month siege at Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia ends as 13,000 British and Indian soldiers, now on the verge of starvation, surrender to the Turks. The largest-ever surrender by the British Army comes after four failed attempts by British relief troops to break through to the surrounded garrison. May 3, 1916 - At Verdun, the Germans begin another attack on the west bank of the Meuse. This time they gain the advantage and within three days capture the two French hills they had been striving for since early March, thus achieving a solid position northwest of Verdun. May 15, 1916 - Austrian troops attack Italian mountain positions in the Trentino. The Italians withdraw southward, forcing the Austrians to stretch their supply lines over the difficult terrain. The arrival of Italian reinforcements and a successful counter-attack then halts the Austrian offensive completely. May 25, 1916 - The era of the all-volunteer British Army ends as universal conscription takes effect requiring all eligible British men between the ages of 19 and 40 to report , excluding men working in agriculture, mining or the railroads. Battle of Jutland May 31, 1916 - The main German and British naval fleets clash in the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, as both sides try, but fail, to score a decisive victory. Forward battle cruisers from the British Grand Fleet are initially lured southward toward the German High Seas Fleet, but then turn completely around, luring the entire German fleet northward. As they get near, the British blast away at the German forward ships. The Germans return fire and the two fleets fire furiously at each other. However, the Germans, aware they are outgunned by the larger British fleet, disengage by abruptly turning away. In the dead of the night the Germans withdraw entirely. The British do not risk a pursuit and instead head home. Both sides claim victory. Although the Germans sink 14 of the 151 British ships while losing 11 of 99 ships, the British Navy retains its dominance of the North Sea and the naval blockade of Germany will remain intact for the war's duration. June 1, 1916 - Germans at Verdun try to continue their offensive success along the Meuse River and now attack the French on the east bank, targeting Fort Vaux and the fortification at Thiaumont. Eight days later, both objectives are taken as the French suffer heavy casualties. The Germans now push onward toward a ridge that overlooks Verdun and edge toward the Meuse bridges. The entire nation of France now rallies behind their troops in the defense of Verdun as French generals vow it will not be taken. June 4, 1916 - Four Russian armies on the Eastern Front, under their innovative new commander, General Alexei Brusilov, begin a general offensive in the southwest along a 300-mile front. Brusilov avoids the style of predictable narrow frontline attacks used previously, in favor of a sweeping offensive over hundreds of miles that is harder to pin down. Thinly stretched Austro-Hungarian troops defending this portion of the Front are taken by surprise. Realizing their distress, the Germans pull four divisions from Verdun and send them east. By the end of summer, the Germans will send 20 more divisions and merge the surviving Austro-Hungarian troops into the Germany Army. June 22, 1916 - Germans resume their offensive near Verdun, targeting Fort Souville which overlooks the city and the Meuse bridges. Using poisonous phosgene gas at the start of the attack, they initially take the village of Fleury just two miles north of Verdun, but further advance southward is halted by a strong French counter-attack. Verdun has now become a battle of attrition for both sides with a death toll already approaching 500,000 men. Battle of the Somme July 1-November 18, 1916 June 24, 1916 - The Allies begin a week-long artillery bombardment of German defensive positions on the Somme River in northern France, in preparation for a major British-led offensive. Over 1.5 million shells are fired along a 15-mile front to pulverize the intricate German trench system and to blow apart rows of barbed wire protecting the trenches. British Commander Douglas Haig believes this will allow an unhindered infantry advance and a rapid breakthrough of the German Front on the first day of battle. July 1, 1916 - The British Army suffers the worst single-day death toll in its history as 18,800 soldiers are killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The losses come as 13 attacking divisions encounter German defenses that are still intact despite the seven-day bombardment designed to knock them out. The British also attack in broad daylight, advancing in lines shoulder-to-shoulder only to be systematically mowed down by German machine-gunners. The Somme offensive quickly becomes a battle of attrition as British and French troops make marginal gains against the Germans but repeatedly fail to break through the entire Front as planned. July 10, 1916 - The Germans attack again at Verdun, using poison gas, and advance toward Fort Souville. Four days later, the French counter-attack and halt the Germans. July 13, 1916 - The British launch a night attack against German positions along a 3.5-mile portion of the Somme Front. After advancing nearly 1,000 yards, the advance is halted as the Germans regroup their defenses. Two days later, the British once again penetrate the German line and advance to High Wood but are then pushed back. August 27, 1916 - Romania declares war on the Central Powers and begins an invasion of Austria-Hungary through the Carpathian Mountains. The Romanians face little opposition initially and advance 50 miles into Transylvania. August 28, 1916 - Kaiser Wilhelm appoints Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as Germany's new Chief of the General Staff, replacing Erich Falkenhayn following the disappointment at Verdun and recent setbacks on the Eastern Front. August 28, 1916 - Italy declares war on Germany, thus expanding the scope of its military activities beyond the Italian-Austrian Front. August 29, 1916 - Germany's entire economy is placed under the Hindenburg Plan allowing the military to exercise dictatorial-style powers to control the labor force, munitions production, food distribution and most aspects of daily life. September 1, 1916 - Romania is invaded by the newly formed Danube Army, consisting of Germans, Turks and Bulgarians under the command of German General August von Mackensen. This marks the start of a multi-pronged invasion of Romania in response to its aggression against Austria-Hungary. September 15, 1916 - The first-ever appearance of tanks on a battlefield occurs as British troops renew the Somme offensive and attack German positions along a five-mile front, advancing 2,000 yards with tank support. The British-developed tanks feature two small side-cannons and four machine-guns, operated by an eight-man crew. As the infantry advances, individual tanks provide support by blasting and rolling over the German barbed wire, piercing the frontline defense, and then roll along the length of the trench, raking the German soldiers with machine-gun fire. September 20, 1916 - On the Eastern Front, the Brusilov Offensive grinds to a halt. Since its launch in early June, four Russian armies under the command of General Alexei Brusilov had swept eastward up to 60 miles deep along a 300-mile front while capturing 350,000 Austro-Hungarian troops. But by the end of summer, the Germans brought in 24 divisions from the Western Front and placed the surviving Austro-Hungarian troops under German command. The Russian attack withered after the loss of nearly a million men amid insufficient reserves. The humiliating withdrawal from the hard-won areas wrecks Russian troop morale, fueling political and social unrest in Russia. September 25, 1916 - British and French troops renew their attacks in the Somme, capturing several villages north of the Somme River, including Thiepval, where the British successfully use tanks again. Following these successes, however, heavy rain turns the entire battlefield to mud, preventing effective maneuvers. October 8, 1916 - The German Air Force (Luftstreikrafte) is founded as various aerial fighting groups are merged. October 10, 1916 - Romanian troops return home after being pushed out of Hungary by two Austro-German armies. The Austro-German 9th Army then invades Romania and heads toward Bucharest. October 24, 1916 - At Verdun, the French under General Robert Nivelle, begin an ambitious offensive designed to end the German threat there by targeting Fort Douaumont and other German-occupied sites on the east bank of the Meuse River. The attack is preceded by the heaviest artillery bombardment to-date by the French. Additionally, French infantry use an effective new tactic in which they slowly advance in stages, step-by-step behind encroaching waves of artillery fire. Using this creeping barrage tactic, they seize Fort Douaumont, then take Fort Vaux further east, nine days later. November 7, 1916 - American voters re-elect President Woodrow Wilson who had campaigned on the slogan, "He kept us out of war." November 13, 1916 - British troops stage a surprise attack and capture the towns of Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt at the northern end of the Somme Front. November 18, 1916 - The Battle of the Somme ends upon the first snowfall as the British and French decide to cease the offensive. By now, the Germans have been pushed back just a few miles along the entire 15-mile front, but the major breakthrough the Allies had planned never occurred. Both sides each suffered over 600,000 casualties during the five-month battle. Among the injured German soldiers is Corporal Adolf Hitler, wounded by shrapnel. November 20, 1916 - Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary dies at age 86. He is succeeded by Archduke Charles who wants to take Austria-Hungary out of the war. December 6, 1916 - Bucharest, capital of Romania, falls to the Austro-Germans. This effectively ends Romanian resistance to the Austro-German invasion and places the country's entire agricultural and industrial resources, including the Ploesti oil fields, in German hands. December 7, 1916 - LLoyd George becomes Britain's new Prime Minister. His new War Cabinet immediately begins to organize the country for "total war." December 12, 1916 - Joseph Joffre resigns under pressure from his position as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, replaced by General Robert Nivelle. December 15, 1916 - The last offensive in the Battle of Verdun begins as the French push the Germans out of Louvemont and Bezonvaux on the east bank of the Meuse River. Combined with other ground losses, the German withdrawal ends the immediate threat to Verdun and both sides now focus their efforts on battles elsewhere along the Western Front. Overall, the French and Germans suffered nearly a million casualties combined during the ten month battle in which the Germans failed to capture the city of Verdun. December 18, 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson caps off a year-long effort to organize a peace conference in Europe by asking the combatants to outline their peace terms. NEXT SECTION - World War I 1917 - The Rage of Men The History Place - World War I Index Page French Await Zero Hour British in a Destroyed Village Massive German Supply Line Sussex Ferry Torpedoed The Italian Front Battle of Jutland Illustration British Artillery Attack Wounded British in a Trench Wounded French Helped Resilient Germans War in the Sky British Introduce Tanks Food Shortages at Home Women on the Job Troops Attend Mass A Bit of Relaxation Troop Decorations Scouting for Germans Asked/Answered is a weekly feature for reader-submitted questions. Follow the blog online at www.cumberlink.com: What happens if a district attorney leaves office in the middle of a term? In September, Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the next U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. If his nomination is confirmed, Freed will leave office roughly two years into his four-year term to become the federal prosecutor for cases arising out of more than 20 counties in Pennsylvania, including Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Perry and Adams counties. Freed, however, may not be the only Midstate district attorney to leave office early in the near future. Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico and Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman are seeking judgeships in the November election. Marsico is running for judge in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, and Stedman will be on the ballot for a seat on the state Superior Court. How a replacement is selected when a district attorney leaves office early depends on the type of county where they serve, according to Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association Executive Director Richard Long. For counties with a population of at least 210,000 people like Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster counties the successor is elected by the countys Common Pleas judges, Long said. In counties with a population of less than 210,000 people, the countys first assistant district attorney is appointed, he said. In both cases, the new district attorney serves for the remainder of the current term. The next general election to include the office of district attorney in Cumberland County will take place in 2019. Send us your questions Need an answer? We can help. The Sentinel wants to know what you have always wanted to know. Whether its politics, crime, history or just something youve always been curious about, if you have questions, The Sentinel will look for the answer and provide it in our online blog and as a weekly feature in the Sentinel print edition. Shoot us an email at frontdoor@cumberlink.com, call 240-7125 or stop by the office to submit your questions. The best questions will be featured in weekly Asked/Answered columns online and in print. County voters go red, state stays blue While Roscommon County voters cast their state-level ballots for Republicans, the top statewide races went to incumbent Democrats. According to... County restoration millage fails, commissioners begin cutting By Krista Tacey-Cater krista.tacey@houghtonlakeresorter.com The results of Tuesdays General Election had a direct impact on Wednesday mornings Roscommon County Board... Voters favor Beebe for District Court judge Roscommon County Prosecutor Mary Beebe will have a new job, having defeated incumbent Judge Troy Daniel, according to unofficial results... Businesses are raising concerns about the North American Free Trade Agreement, from what they see as an outdated employee visa program to political wrangling over the deal to potentially breaking down trust with Mexican and Canadian trade partners, immigration and labor attorneys said Thursday. Luis Campos of the Haynes and Boone law firm in Houston addressed these and other concerns raised by business clients during a gathering at Rice University's Baker Institute to discuss NAFTA's future. He acknowledged that the visa program, which authorizes free travel for trained personnel in 60 professions, fails to account for several new jobs created over the two decades NAFTA has been on the books. Most of the jobs stem from advances in information technology. He and others said they hope visa qualifications will be expanded during NAFTA renegotiations set to resume next month. But they also said they are alarmed at a recent rise in holders of the preapproved visas being denied entry to the U.S. Campos pointed to a case in January in which Canadian nurses were turned away shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the hiring of thousands more Customs and Border Patrol agents, which bolstered agents' enforcement at entry points. "We're concerned that there's an uneven and unpredictable application of the law," Campos said. Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute's Mexico Center, acknowledged legitimate complaints over NAFTA's economic outcomes since it took effect in 1994, particularly when it comes to the U.S. government's lack of investment in infrastructure, Mexico's low wages and Canada's call for a more streamlined border-crossing process in the transport of goods. Yet many at Thursday's event said blame lies not with the treaty itself but with political leaders who failed to seize some of the opportunities it afforded them. One example cited was Mexican leaders' failure to legislate wage increases. "NAFTA hasn't been perfect, but the political systems haven't done what they needed to do to minimize the negative outcomes," said Eugenio Aleman, senior economist at Wells Fargo. However, an attempt to dismantle the agreement altogether could set the U.S. up for economic, political and cultural losses, Payan said. Already, he said, Mexican presidential candidates are making NAFTA a linchpin of what could be anti-American campaigns when they get fully underway in March. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It took five weeks for the largest U.S. oil refinery to get back to normal after Hurricane Harvey. Its taking Port Arthur, a lot longer. Nearly two months after Harvey inundated Port Arthur, a crucial hub of the global energy industry, the city of 55,000 is struggling to recover. As attention shifted to Puerto Rico, where the devastation from Hurricane Maria is far worse, water-logged debris still lines the citys streets. The mess of furniture, carpets and appliances will take months to clear, Mayor Derrick Freeman said. Zika, mold, hepatitis and other health threats are a big concern. Youre picking up moldy sheet rock and refrigerators that have flies all over, Freeman said. The 2017 hurricane season unleashed its deadly torrents on industries and communities alike, but the ability to clean up and move on separates them. Thats been true not only for Puerto Rico, where most of the island is without power a month after landfall, but to a lesser extent in Port Arthur, also known as Energy City, whose facilities are responsible for 6.3 percent of American oil refining. Even in Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, which received $50 million in recovery funds from the states $12 billion disaster-relief fund, clearing mounds of trash will take months, according to a statement from the city. Though problems persist, the Motiva Enterprises refinery, owned by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., and other Port Arthur facilities, run by Valero Energy Corp. and Total SA, had the resources to return to near-normal relatively quickly. On the other side of the razor wire, it will cost Port Arthur $25 million to cart away all the garbage, according to Freeman. The city received $10 million from the state fund, said Chris Bryan, spokesman for the Texas comptroller. The legislature wont decide on further appropriations until its next session in 2019, he said. Port Arthur, 90 miles east of Houston, wasnt a beacon of financial wellness before Hurricane Harvey, according to the latest census data. In 2015, 27 percent of residents lived below the poverty line, compared with 17 percent in the state of Texas and 11 percent in the U.S. Median household income in Port Arthur is $32,863, more than 35 percent lower than in Texas and the country in general. The town has roughly triple the percentage of black residents as Texas and the U.S. The economic disadvantages translate into health concerns. Locals have started complaining about weird health concerns, including breathing problems and rashes, most likely from homes infested with black mold, said Dr. Marsha Thigpen, the executive director of the towns Gulf Coast Health Center. Thigpen said shes seeing 10 percent more patients than she did this time last year. The center is giving away hepatitis A vaccines and insect repellent to prevent Zika virus, she said. Prolonged contact with mold can lead to neurological disorders, according to Dr. Claudia S. Miller at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, memory loss and difficulty concentrating might appear to be from post-traumatic stress, but those problems also arise from toxic exposure, she said. Port Arthurs three oil refineries are part of a peculiar jurisdictional setup. They arent sitting on city land. Like the embassies of foreign countries, theyre not technically on U.S. soil either. Theyre in foreign trade zones, which allow the refineries an array of federal and local tax breaks. The refineries are doing well financially. Motiva spent $7 billion on a 2012 expansion that more than doubled the facilitys capacity, to 605,000 barrels a day. The move set up the company to more efficiently process a range of crudes, including oil from Venezuela and Canadas tar sands. Saudi Aramco plans to invest $12 billion into another refinery expansion, and $18 billion total into Motiva by 2023. Total said its pouring $1.7 billion into expansion at its Port Arthur plant. Getting the facilities running after the storm was a priority for more than simply business reasons, said Dan Misko, who works at Exxon Mobil Corp.s refinery in Beaumont, Texas, 20 miles northwest of Port Arthur. They dont work just for Exxon Mobil, they work for the American people, Misko said. Its important to the U.S. to make sure that we can provide fuel. The Port Arthur-based refiners have been generous to their afflicted neighbors. Motiva said it donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross; Total gave $250,000 and Valero $1 million. Motiva said it gave away fuel and food, supplied as many as 900 meals a day for 10 days to emergency responders and evacuees staying at a local middle school. The company is matching employee contributions to the Red Cross, spokeswoman Angela Goodwin said. Homes of one of every five Total employees in Port Arthur experienced flooding, and the company helped more than 200 employees with hotel stays, rental vehicles, onsite meals and fuel, said Tricia Fuller, a Total spokeswoman. Valero delivered hundreds of meals to Catholic Charities Hospitality Center, donated towels to the humane society, blankets to shelters and food to the United Steelworkers union, which represents refinery workers, said Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas. Between Port Arthur and Beaumont, 900 union members were affected by the storm, and more than 500 lost just about everything, said Richard Hoot Landry, the district staff representative. Most of our people never left the refinery, Landry said last week. Shifts are returning to normal this week, but refinery employees were working long days, Landry said, so they didnt have a lot of time to work on their homes, many of which were damaged by the water. Theyre living with family and friends, he said. Its really a nightmare trying to find good contractors that wont rip them off, so theyre really stressed right now. The Texas Gulf Coast is leading the way as the nation ships record levels of crude oil and petroleum products to foreign markets, including China, which is buying more American oil as its economy expands and middle class grows The United States is routinely exporting more than 1 million barrels of oil and 6 million barrels of petroleum products a day, the U.S. Energy Department said in report released Wednesday. More than two-thirds of those petroleum exports are leaving Gulf Coast ports. The surge in exports underscores the growing importance of the Texas Gulf Coast as a global energy hub. In a recent report, the International Energy Agency likened the Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which much of the oil from the Middle East travels. In aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which forced the shutdown of refineries and the Port of Houston, the IEA deemed the Texas Gulf Coast too important to fail. No matter what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries does to try to offset American oil growth, increasingly efficiently U.S. producers are likely to keep growing their share of the global market, said Ethan Bellamy, an energy analyst at the financial services company Robert W. Baird & Co. Just this week, Continental Resources, an Oklahoma exploration and production company, said it's piping more than 1 million barrels of Bakken shale oil from North Dakota down to Texas ports to export o China. "Houston is the world's energy gateway, and increasingly the flow of oil and refined products is out, not in," Bellamy said. "The announcement from Continental - Bakken crude flowing to China - tells you all you need to know about U.S. competitiveness." China is now the second biggest foreign market, behind Canada, for U.S. oil, according to the Energy Department. China imports 163,000 barrels of American oil a day, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The vast majority of the crude exports are shipped from Corpus Christi and Houston-area ports. Since Congress lifted the nation's decades-old ban on oil exports, foreign sales have surged from about 500,000 barrels a day last year up to about 1 million this year. Over the past week, crude exports averaged about 1.8 million barrels a day, just under the record 2 million barrels a day in early October. A slew of pipeline projects are underway to transport more oil from West Texas' booming Permian Basin to Houston and Corpus Christi hubs. The volume of U.S. crude exports should rise to 3 million a day by 2025, according projections by the research firm to IHS Markit. "The vaulting of U.S. exports is a trend which will likely continue for the next several years, " said Bill Herbert, a senior energy analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Houston. Aiding oil exports is favorable pricing: West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude, is trading at about $52 a barrel, about roughly $6 a barrel less than Brent crude, the European benchmark produced in the North Sea. And more than just oil is booming. Exports of distillate fuel oil, which is used to make diesel or heating oil, jumped 17 percent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, according to the Energy Department. Also rising are U.S. propane exports to Asia and gasoline shipments to Mexico, which buys about half of all gasoline exported by U.S. refiners. Other energy products, such as ethane, a natural gas liquid And then there are burgeoning foreign markets for other energy products such as ethane, a natural gas liquid that is a primary feedstock for petrochemicals, and liquefied natural gas. Houston's Enterprise Products Partners is shipping from the world's largest ethane export terminal, which opened last year at Morgan's Point along the Houston Ship Channel, while Houston-based Cheniere Energy is the U.S. pioneer for LNG exports from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana near the Texas state line. Collin Eaton contributed to this report. Houston-based Pontikes Development plans to develop a 3 million-square-foot distribution center in Baytown to serve companies handling products from plastic pellets to finished retail goods. The Port 10 Logistics Center, planned for eight buildings, will be built on 246 acres of undeveloped land near the southeast corner of Interstate 10 and Thompson Road. The first phase will include two cross-dock buildings, of 485,000 and 295,000 square feet, and is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2018. Two-thirds of the project will be rail-served, according to JLL, which is marketing the project for the developer. Companies operating there will be able to handle international distribution through Port Houston and reach nearly half of Texas within a four-hour drive, JLL said. The multimodal logistics project, a short drive from Port Houston's Bayport and Barbours Cut container terminals and two other deep-water ship terminals, will have more than half a mile of freeway frontage. "We're going to be able to transfer cargo by truck, ship, rail and barge," said JLL broker John Talhelm. The park will include on-site storage for about 450 railcars, trailer storage, and it will offer direct access to Union Pacific's Coady rail yard. Pontikes is breaking ground before securing tenants, which Talhelm said is not unusual for industrial projects. The vacancy rate for industrial buildings in the southeast Houston region is 4.7 percent. "It's a very strong market and it has been a strong market for some time," he said. Port 10 Logistics Center adds to a number of new big-box warehouses going up in the Houston region as demand for consumer products grows along with the population. A record seven warehouse and distribution facilities greater than 400,000 square feet are set for completion in 2017, according to JLL research. Fifty miles west, another speculative development recently broke ground at Oakmont West 10 in Katy. Oakmont Industrial Group started building a nearly 700,000-square-foot warehouse on 42 acres off Interstate 10. The project is near Amazon's upcoming fulfillment center. Talhelm and JLL broker Kevin Erck will handle leasing and marketing for Pontikes Development. Pontikes Development, an arm of Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, handles a range of construction including educational, commercial, government, manufacturing, retail and aviation facilities. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A lot of superstar chefs make their way to Houston for special dinners and foodie events. And why shouldn't they? Houston is both a philanthropic powerhouse and culinary destination. But rarely do food and philanthropy merge with such passion and high-profile connection as with this year's Southern Smoke, a barbecue and live-fire blowout from 4-8 p.m. Sunday in the blocks surrounding 1018 Westheimer. A fundraiser organized by Underbelly's Chris Shepherd, Southern Smoke is notable for the boldface names that make it one of the country's most exciting barbecue events. Southern Smoke already presented a formidable lineup of luminaries including Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin; Rodney Scott of Scott's Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, S.C.; Ashley Christensen, owner of Poole's Diner (and other concepts) in Raleigh, N.C.; John Besh of New Orleans restaurants including August, Luke and Willa Jean (as well as the upcoming Eunice in Houston); and Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope of FIG Restaurant in Charleston, S.C. Then, last week came the news that Southern Smoke was adding five-time James Beard Award winner David Chang and Matthew Rudofker, director of culinary operations for Momofuku, Chang's famous chain with branches in New York, Washington, Sydney, Toronto and Las Vegas. Shepherd said Chang's participation happened very naturally: "Right after the hurricane we talked and he said, 'Let me know what I can do.' I said he was welcome to come cook at Southern Smoke. He said, 'Let me work it out.' " The Momofuku addition also increased the footprint of the festival, which is held on the "campus" of Underbelly, the Hay Merchant, Blacksmith and that now will include parcels off California between Commonwealth and Waughcrest. This year's expanded event will welcome up to 1,500 people; last year a sold-out crowd of 1,200 attended. For foodies, the festival represents an opportunity to eat from the hands of the biggest names in the food world. Chang will be doing Korean-style short ribs using 44 Farms beef. Franklin, whose barbecue mecca suffered a fire during Hurricane Harvey, will be serving his signature brisket. Scott's got the whole hog covered. Christensen will turn out roasted oysters. Lata and Stanhope may be doing whole fish tacos. And Besh might be dipping into some smoked lamb neck. And there's so much more: The HOUBBQ Collective (James Beard Award-winning Justin Yu, Coltivare's Ryan Pera, the Pass & Provisions team of Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan, as well as cooks from Underbelly and One Fifth) will have their own area. Look for paella and fried chicken cooked over live fire from the collective. And other Houston chef bigshots also are participating: James Beard Award-winner Hugo Ortega, SaltAir's Brandi Key, Lyle Bento of Southern Goods, Kata Robata's Manabu Horiuchi, Cane Rosso's Jonathan Jones, Patrick Feges of Feges BBQ and Richard Knight of the late Hunky Dory. More Information Southern Smoke When: 4-8 p.m. Sunday Where: 1018 Westheimer Tickets: $200; southernsmoke.org See More Collapse And the hooch will be flowing - Knob Creek is hosting VIP lounges and tasting tents - as well as wine and beer. Live music too, from Bayou City Brass Band and Folk Family Revival. Now in its third year, Southern Smoke originally was designed as a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. It raised $464,000 in the first two years. The organizers shifted gears after Hurricane Harvey's catastrophic flooding. So this year's event has partnered with Legacy Community Health to provide emergency financial assistance for employees of the culinary and beverage community affected by the hurricane. "For a dishwasher to lose his car, that's hard. For a busser to have his house flooded out, that's traumatic," Shepherd said. "And for servers and waitstaff who lost money after the storm when nobody was going out to eat, that hits home really hard." Still, Southern Smoke is about having a good time. And there's every reason to expect that this year's blowout will be bigger and better. The barbecue bash's larger footprint means there's even more space to party, and enjoy another bite or a bit of booze. "It's going to be a great time," Shepherd said. "One of the things we do well is throw parties. We're good at that." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Cathy Robinson Hutton relaxes in her living room, an airy space filled with soft colors and plush furnishings. "This sofa was my grandmother's, and it's been reupholstered at least four times," Robinson Hutton says matter-of-factly as she leans into pillows on this gray-and-white piece. Two other chairs tucked into a corner spot were Round Top finds that have been reupholstered, too. It's an elegant but casual room that reflects her bubbly personality. And a visitor might walk into this Tanglewood home, wondering how they could pull off the look on a non-Tanglewood budget. Robinson Hutton will be the first to tell you that anyone with good ideas and a willingness to try new things themselves can reinvent any room. For every splurge in the home she shares with her new husband, Robbie Hutton, there are several other places where shortcuts, DIY projects or less-costly picks made it possible. There's a huge credenza against one wall. It hides a television - "I'm not a TV person," she says - and looks like a piece that could have been custom made. Not so. She found it at the Houston Junior Forum's resale shop in the Heights, then chalk painted and distressed it. When she found it, the piece was dark brown; numerous other customers had walked right by, not giving it a second look. That's what makes Robinson Hutton special: She sees what others often cannot - she sees possibilities. Robinson Hutton bought her home in the middle of 2016 and had it renovated by November, just before she remarried in December. Her first husband, Tom Robinson - they were college sweethearts married 30 years - died in a plane crash in 2012. Robbie Hutton, a high school classmate who was the first boy she ever went on a date with, touched base to extend his condolences. Three years later when Hutton's father died, Cathy did the same. Coincidentally, Hutton, an auto wholesaler in Austin, was planning a Houston visit and invited her to join him for a drink. She nervously said yes, and took a friend with her. One date turned into several, and now they're newlyweds. So 2016 and 2017 were busy years - her two grown children had two babies each, so Robinson Hutton became a grandmother, four times over, and the couple also bought a cottage in New Ulm. When Robinson Hutton first looked at her Tanglewood-area home, Hutton - then her boyfriend - tagged along. Her mother is a Realtor and the two had made a list of townhomes they liked, visiting and rejecting one after another. Perusing photos, Hutton pointed out the one she actually bought: "There's a red Porsche in the driveway of that one. Let's go see it." She reminded him that she wanted to buy a house - not a car - and off they went. Hutton saw dark rooms with dark flooring, dark counters, dark everything. She saw big rooms and a floor plan perfect for entertaining. Everything else could be dealt with. There were doors closing off nearly every room, and off they came, in favor of bare doorways that let light in and encouraged people to move. Hardwood floors were refinished, and black Saltillo tile was sanded and finished with a paint-seal combination. It saved a lot of money, compared to installing new tile. In the kitchen, black granite counters and backsplash were replaced by a splurge - quartzite counters and a glazed ceramic backsplash. She justified spending money on the quartzite, knowing that the cabinets only required a coat of paint and new hardware. Her island was another splurge, a big French baker's table that has an iron base and marble top. It's a "wow" piece and has two stools - Costco purchases with slipcovers added - tucked underneath. Work in the family room revealed surprises. The fireplace was also covered in black granite, but behind it was red brick. She gave it a distressed finish with pale gray paint and a lime wash. The dining room, on the other side of the kitchen, is filled with budget-friendly tips. Robinson Hutton has a massive round dining table, and she proudly lifts its skirted tablecloth to show that it's really a 78-inch round piece of plywood sitting on top of four-by-fours with a cross base. When her son, Gentry Robinson, thought she'd lost her mind for spending as much as she did on her kitchen island, she reminded him of her table. "When your dining room table is made out of plywood, you can pay $3,200 for a piece like this," she laughed. Beautiful pieces of art on the wall - high-quality prints called giclees - add greens and golds to a room that's otherwise full of pale neutrals. Original art is hung elsewhere in the home, though, with pieces by Austin James, Crystal Owens and Greg Budwine, as well as Kellie Morley, whose work Robinson Hutton sells at Renovate, the interior design studio and home decor store she operates with her daughter, Courtney Prochaska. One of the dining room's best hacks is its curtains - simple, tan panels from Pottery Barn that were customized by adding beautiful trim. Another custom touch in the home isn't nearly as expensive as you might think: faux painting. Robinson Hutton's friend Brigitte Howell of Fabulous Faux Finishes, worked on all kinds of things for her. She stenciled the foyer hall in a way that looks like wallpaper, and added a polished Venetian plaster treatment in the powder room, in a small bar and on the vent hood in the kitchen. Ceilings got her deft touch, as well, with special treatments in the living room and master bedroom, both of which have vaulted ceilings. The home's three bedrooms are upstairs, a master suite and two guest rooms. The master has his-and-hers bathrooms and closets, so either can be as messy as they want and there's no one to judge. The bathrooms got partial updates: Hers has a new, free-standing bathtub and tile work. His got new tile, too. They kept the vanities in each, giving them a new coat of paint and hardware. One guest room stood out from the rest of the home's original dark decor. Its walls were lined with blue-ivory French Colonial toile wallpaper with matching curtains. Robinson Hutton struggled with what to do: Give it the same bright update as the rest of the home or embrace its Old World charm? She decided on the latter, believing there was a great story behind why this room looked so different. She'll likely never know what it was, but its new life accommodates her grandchildrens' toys and a tall antique crib. In the year Robinson Hutton has lived in her home, she's hosted plenty of events. There have been book club gatherings and intimate dinner parties, but it's also the place where her daughter-in-law hosted a bachelorette party for 30 women before her mom's wedding. There have been a few baby showers, too. Robinson Hutton says it's the "fluff" - the accessories and finishing touches - that are her favorite part of her new home. "I tell people that all the time, especially young people, 'If you love it, buy it,'" she said. "It will work in your home and it will look like you." On Nov. 7, voters across Pennsylvania will weigh in with a decision on a ballot question aimed at the elusive goal of homeowner property tax relief. Specifically, the question before voters is a proposed constitutional amendment, overwhelmingly approved by the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions, that seeks to empower state lawmakers with the constitutional authority to authorize all local taxing jurisdictions to exclude from taxation up to 100 percent of the assessed value of each homestead property within each of these jurisdictions. The amendment, if approved, expands upon an existing and partial homestead exclusion overwhelmingly approved by Pennsylvanias voters in November, 1997 precisely 20 years ago. Ostensibly, the new constitutional amendment would lead Pennsylvanias property tax-weary citizens to believe that homeowner property taxes will somehow magically disappear if the question is approved. Unfortunately, thats not the case. Because, the real questions behind the question is how? ... and whether and when our state lawmakers will actually grant local jurisdictions viable alternative revenue options to reduce and/or eliminate property taxes? Because, unless we shut down our courts and our jails, close our schools, and eliminate the full range of county, municipal and school district services, local jurisdictions have no way to dramatically reduce, let alone eliminate, homeowner property taxes without an alternative revenue source. Even if we wanted to, we are barred by another constitutional provision from increasing commercial property taxes to reduce homeowner property taxes. The truth is, for well over four decades there has been enough rhetoric to send thousands of balloons skyward in the debate over how to finally reform Pennsylvanias antiquated system of local government finance; to make our local taxing structure more broad-based and fairer to finally relieve the burden of the inequitable property tax, a levy which, in too many cases, has been blamed for literally taxing people out of their homes. And yet, here we are, 20 years after the first homestead exclusion amendment was overwhelmingly approved by Pennsylvanias voters; a constitutional provision that, except for relatively modest homeowner school property tax relief from slots gaming, never came close to being fully implemented by school districts, or to being implemented at all by counties and municipalities. Pennsylvanias counties are still waiting for action by the General Assembly to enable us to implement the 1997 amendment, as we remain hamstrung by a straightjacket of state law that only allows us to levy property taxes. But, the new ballot question does raise new hope, hope that an honest discussion can ensue, hope that positive action may finally result. First off, an honest discussion must begin with the truth of the challenge. The total local property tax bill in Pennsylvania for schools, counties and municipalities is more than $18 billion, according to two-year-old data. A very preliminary estimate of the homeowner portion of that tab is about $11 billion. And while we credit the advocates of proposals like Senate Bill 76/House Bill 76 for their untiring efforts aimed at completely abolishing school property taxes, the bane of many of our collective constituents, those proposals call for a substantial and consequential tax shift: one that would increase Pennsylvanias state personal income tax (PIT) by 60 percent, from 3.07 percent to 4.95 percent, expand the states sales tax base by roughly $5 billion by taxing currently un-taxed products and services, and increase the sales tax rate from 6 percent to 7 percent. While our statewide county commissioners association has not taken a position on either SB 76 or HB 76, we have, for a number of years, advanced a proposal calling for what we believe would be a good start to finally achieve some meaningful property tax relief. Instead of a one-size-fits-all proposition, our proposal would grant counties the option, where it would work and make sense, of either a capped county-based sales tax of up to 1 percent, a capped county-based Personal Income Tax (PIT) of up to 1 percent, or a capped county-based Earned Income Tax (EIT) of up to 1 percent for the sole purpose of slashing property taxes. Our plan is revenue-neutral, meaning that all new dollars generated could not be used for anything other than property tax reduction, via the homestead exclusion, property tax or rent rebates, or across-the-board millage rate reductions. The objective is twofold: 1. to ensure that counties cannot use the new revenues to increase spending; and, 2. to ensure that the state continues to provide adequate funding to counties for the programs and services it mandates. We respectfully call upon our state legislators, whether or not the new homestead exclusion referendum is approved, to work with counties to fashion a responsible plan that will actually work to relieve property taxes. After all, no matter the jurisdiction, its all coming out of the same property taxpayers pocket. And, as such, we also respectfully request that the perceived perfect not be the enemy of the possible. Our property tax-aggrieved homeowners especially many of our seniors on fixed incomes have waited long enough. The Texas A&M University System named renowned higher education leader Ruth Simmons the sole finalist for Prairie View A&M's presidency on Thursday. She will become the full president at the board's next meeting. Simmons, who is in her 70s, has been interim president since July and previously had said she was "too old" to consider taking the full-time position. She later set out an ambitious agenda for her time as at the institution's helm last week, pledging to raise money, lift morale, boost residential life and improve coordination between different areas of campus in July. "I am not here to keep a chair warm or to simply temporize as you search for a new president. I am all in," she said in a speech. "I come to Prairie View unprepared to make compromises and unprepared to support efforts that I know run counter to the enhancement of university life." Simmons was the first black president of Smith College, a prestigious women's college in Massachusetts. From there, she hopped to Brown University, serving as the first black president of an Ivy League university for more than a decade before stepping down in 2012. In retirement, she moved to Houston, where her family lives, and she was peppered with job offers. But when A&M Chancellor John Sharp pitched her on Prairie View in Houston's Hobby Airport, she said yes. "I knew Dr. Simmons was the right fit to lead Prairie View when we asked her to serve as interim president," Sharp said in a news release. "I am so excited by the prospect of President Simmons serving our campus for the long-term." Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. She'd love to hear from other Prairie View students and faculty on Simmons' transition to the university. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com. North Korea's nuclear threat should have been solved 25 years ago. So President Trump proclaims. But the country remains problematic due not to American negligence, but because at a pivotal moment in history its own leaders misread history. We should not repeat their mistake, forgetting the real meaning of the Cold War's end for American policy: the value, and the virtue, of patience. Trump begins his narrative of failure 25 years ago, and so should we. A new democratic age seemed at hand as the 1990s dawned, one Americans took largely as validation. "We know what works. Freedom works," George H. W. Bush announced at his 1989 inauguration. The world need only follow the American model, in order to travel "through the door to freedom." Peace and prosperity would come. Those words appeared prescient three years later. "By the grace of God, America won the Cold War," Bush declared by 1992. Ronald Reagan's acolytes gave their hero specific credit for the victory, citing his military build-up and moral certitude. Experts knew better. The real answer lay in Bush's choice of words. America, collectively, had won. Panel discussion What: Engel will be part of a panel discussion for the 20th anniversary of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Center When: Friday, Oct. 20, 1 p.m. Where: Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, College Station Click here for more information See More Collapse Victory had required 40 years time enough for democracy's superiority to shine through. Moscow had turned away from Marx and toward McDonald's. Crowds marched throughout Eastern Europe, chanting for the very freedoms American presidents had long proclaimed as their own. Communist regimes fell before them. Crowds formed in China as well in 1989, but with a different result. The Chinese government fought back, transforming in the world's consciousness the words "Tiananmen Square" from a place into an event. It alone among the communist powers facing democratic uprisings survived. The heady days of the early 1990s thus offered American policymakers a choice to do nothing, and no reason to do otherwise, when faced with recalcitrant regimes like North Korea. As they saw it, the stream of history flowed democracy's way and would in time flow through even Pyongyang. Crowds would eventually form in North Korea. They'd done so elsewhere. There was nothing to do but wait, especially given the proximity of South Korean civilians to northern cannons. Rulers in Pyongyang drew a different lesson, however. They favored China's response, believing governments that stood fast, actively swimming against the democratic current of history rather than hoping to ride the tide, survived. SUB So North Korea swam hard, even as most of the world followed in America's wake. Fearful of the contagion of crowds aspiring to freedoms and material wealth others possess, North Korea chose instead quarantine, the bitter medicine of political repression and the inoculation of a revamped nuclear program. The Hermit Kingdom retreated into its hardened shell. At the same moment Eastern Europeans tore down walls, North Koreans pushed theirs higher. Germany reunited, but discussion of a similar Korean reconciliation faltered. European crowds drew energy from televised images of compatriots. North Koreans lost that privilege. Add in the sight of Iraq's quick defeat at American hands during the Gulf War and Pyongyang's ruling clique drew the same conclusion for their foreign as for their domestic policy: Strength meant survival; cooperation lead only to capitulation. But it had to be real strength. Nuclear strength. The kind China already possessed. Saddam Hussein commanded the world's fourth-largest army, which did him no good when equipped with 20th-century equipment against weaponry made for the 21st. Pyongyang thus followed China's example after 1989, and in a sense so should we, by focusing on Bush's patient response to Tiananmen. Pundits demanded Beijing's isolation. Bush, instead, strove to keep China engaged. He sent private emissaries to those others called the "butchers of Beijing"; he fought congressionally imposed sanctions; he kept America's embassy open in Beijing and its universities open to Chinese students. Regimes exposed to democratic ideals, he believed to his core, would in time yearn for more of the same. Tiananmen had to prove a setback, and not a dead-end. The results of Bush's deliberate policy of engagement have not been perfect to American sensibilities. China remains a rival, but without North Korea's frightening rogue element. Its government today is hardly a paragon of liberty, though its people are undoubtedly more open, engaged and exposed to outside ideas than in the hot summer of 1989. No, China is not perfect after Tiananmen. But Bush had only believed history flowed in democracy's direction. He'd never said how fast. Doug Mills North Korea's leaders know this, too. Nothing can stop the stream of history, but isolation can retard its progress. With a strain on three successive American administrations, President Trump shows no patience for becoming the fourth. But patience was Bush's true insight, gleaned from a career that spanned nearly the entire Cold War. Belittling words did not return Beijing to the fold after 1989, nor will they propel Pyongyang towards peaceful reform. Only time, exposure and ultimately their own people can do that. The Cold War's end revealed a critical truth: If history is indeed on your side, every day that passes without a nuclear exchange is a good day, and a day closer to inevitable victory. Patience is hard, and it has never seemed Trump's strong suit. Rather than rail against a misreading of history, he should instead study it and Bush's example. Jeffrey A. Engel is the founding director of SMU's Center for Presidential History and the author of When the World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War, published next month. Bookmark Gray Matters. It has turned away from Marx and toward McDonald's. This past week as I was returning home from a business trip to Salt Lake City with my wife. I had just landed at the airport when I got two frantic phone calls and one text from a client whose daughter was supposed to be moving into her dorm this coming Saturday, but had several issues that they were trying to work out at the last minute and he needed to talk to me ASAP. I called him back on the way home after leaving the airport and arranged to meet with him the next morning at my office. This is where, at the end of this meeting, he stated to me "Marty, feel free to use me as an example in your next workshop." He added that he didn't want other parents to make the same mistake he and his daughter had made. That mistake was waiting until his daughters second semester of her senior year of high school to begin the process of getting into college and trying to get the funding his daughter needs to attend college. This mistake is probably one of the most common ones that parents and students commit in this process. I think that in this case that she will be able to attend that college that she wants to go to but it will cost her thousands of dollars more because she and her dad did not know about the timeline that starts as a freshman in high school. She said to me, "I wish that I had started as a freshman in high school." The fact is, this has been a common occurrence for me over the last several years. The variation sounds something like this; "I wish that I had met with you last year," or "I wish I met you with our first child that was going to college." Unfortunately, as a general rule of thumb, we believe that we do not need to begin the process of getting into the school of their choice until their senior year of high school. This is also when we begin worry about how we are going to pay for their education. I would like to mention three or four things that you can start doing as a freshman through your junior year of high school that will keep you out of this situation and put you in the 10% of the students who are going to get into the colleges that you would like to attend. There are three-time frames that you should become conversant with during your student's high school career. 1.Freshman and Sophomore years. 2.Junior year. 3.Senior year. For the purpose of this article I will only be talking about your freshman and sophomore years of high school. Your freshman and sophomore years are very critical to your success, and there are two key areas that you should focus on. The first is beginning the process of understanding of what area or fields that you would like to work in. I have had some students who have been very laser-like by the time they are a junior or senior in high school and know exactly what they want to do and become, and some students who have only a general idea of areas that they think they would do well in. Once you have accomplished this process this allows you to do two very important things that must be done before your junior year of high school. You can begin the process of choosing the major that fits your needs the best. Once you have narrowed down the majors that makes sense to you, then the real fun can begin. You begin by looking at colleges that offer that major, and then can begin analyzing the top five to 10 colleges that fit your specific criteria. The second one is, preparing your student to take the PSAT in October of their junior year of high school. In one of the articles that was published earlier this year we talked at great length that the most important test that your student will take during their high school career is the PSAT of their Junior year. I know that I have not been able to talk about the junior and senior timelines in this article; however, I will follow up with that in the next couple months to hopefully give you an idea of what you need to be doing. To wrap this up, there's a couple things that I would like you to take from this article. The first is you cannot wait until your student's a senior in high school and accepted into the college of their choice for them to receive the financial aid that is possible. If they put forth the time and effort as a freshman and sophomore, they will have a higher chance at getting the funding needed. Marty McCain has been in the financial services industry for more than 18 years. He is a certified college advisor. Deputies have concluded a search Wednesday afternoon for robbery suspects that also put three Spring ISD schools on lockdown, according to the school district and the Precinct 4 Constable's Office. Three men apparently robbed a business and deputies were searching Aldine Westfield, Cypresswood and Hirschfield areas for the suspects. Deputies took one person into custody, but said the investigation is still ongoing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A former San Antonio teacher arrested last month for allegedly soliciting sex online from a minor was previously accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior with four other students. The allegations span a period of five years and teaching jobs at two San Antonio districts, according to records obtained by mySA.com. Daniel Marcus Valdez, 37, was arrested Sept. 15 after he allegedly drove to Alice, about 125 miles south of San Antonio, to have sex with a minor. The set-up was actually a sting conducted by the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office, who began investigating him after a girl's parents reported Valdez was harassing their daughter and sending her sexually explicit images. READ MORE: S.A. teacher accused of soliciting a minor had certification revoked in 2015, kept teaching Now Playing: It was one of the first teacher sex scandals to gain international attention Video: People At the time, he was working as a teacher at IDEA Public Schools, though his teaching certification had been revoked in 2015. According to Texas Education Agency records, he exhibited similar behavior 12 years before his arrest and a decade before he lost his teaching license. TEA investigators began looking into Valdez in 2013 when a former student told the agency they had engaged in a romantic relationship during the 2005-2006 school year while Valdez worked at a San Antonio ISD school, according to the heavily redacted document. Valdez told the student in an email he wanted to turn the lights off and kiss the student, according to records. "Whatcha think of that," he allegedly wrote. Valdez also suggested they could hook up on campus during school hours because he knew "when and where things can be done." RELATED: Former Tivy High School educator allegedly let student touch her breasts behind burger joint According to the TEA documents, Valdez asked the student to send him photos and received pictures "amounting to child pornography of the same student." The student told SAISD police they kissed several times, and that Valdez once changed in his clothes in front of the student, according to the document. The school district allegedly found out about the relationship, which led Valdez to resign from SAISD in 2006. In his resignation, he stated it was "for being in violation of the ... Employee Standards of Conduct." It's not clear whether the district notified the TEA of the accusations but Valdez got a new teaching job soon after. "(Valdez's) actions with Student A (was) not an isolated incident or a one-time occurrence," the TEA documents said. "(Valdez) attempted to engage or did engage in similar actions with three other students." RELATED: Former La Vernia ISD math teacher gets 12 years in prison for distributing child porn In 2008, another student came forward and reported Valdez to officials with South San ISD, where he was working at the time. The student said that during the 2006-2007 school year, Valdez told them he had a dream about the student where they made out and had sex. Valdez then told the student he hoped his "dream would become reality," according to TEA documents. On April 19, 2011, Valdez was placed on administrative leave after a different South San ISD student reported Valdez for sending inappropriate text messages. The student's phone revealed Valdez had sent about 15 text messages to the student. Valdez told the student who he was before saying what he wanted to do with the student. Valdez apologized if he was making the student uncomfortable but said he wanted them to get together. He also told the student not to tell anyone he was contacting her, records show. The student's parents told South San ISD personnel the harassment was so constant the student even changed their phone number. Still, Valdez "went out of his way to get Student C's phone number," according to the document. During the district's investigation, officials allegedly found out Valdez had similar communications with a fourth student. RELATED: TEA investigations into improper student-teacher relationships jumped 36 percent in past year Valdez resigned from South San ISD in 2011 and returned to SAISD. He left that district for a second time on June 6, 2013, after "Student A" went to the TEA with allegations against him. The TEA revoked his certification in December 2015, shortly after he was hired IDEA schools, where he worked until his arrest last month. Vanessa Barry, IDEA Public Schools Vice President of Marketing and Communication, previously told mySA.com the organization wasn't notified when Valdez's license was pulled but acknowledged officials missed the open investigation. She also said the district is making changes to prevent the oversight from occurring again. "While at the time of hire, his teacher certification was valid, he was under investigation by [State Board for Educator Certification] and we should have caught this red flag," Barry said in an e-mail. "Effective immediately, we are implementing an annual criminal background check and certification review to prevent situations such as this from happening again." A new law that went into effect Sept. 1, several years after the latest allegation against Valdez, requires principals to report to superintendents if a teacher is terminated or resigns after being accused of an improper relationship and increases the penalty for superintendents who don't report misconduct to the TEA. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Fares Sabawi is a breaking news reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate More than $5 million in funds related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been set aside for five projects in Galveston Bay, including restoration of 150 acres of marshlands, rehabilitation of oyster reefs and protection of bird habitats. The money comes from a 2016 settlement with BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in April 2010 and poured an estimated 3.19 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The company is required to pay the trustees for Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment up to $8.8 billion over 15 years to make up for the natural resource damage along the Gulf Coast. The funding is among $45.8 million for 13 restoration projects along the Texas coastline outlined in a plan released Wednesday by the Texas Trustee Implementation Group. Texas is set to receive another $185 million in coming years. Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation, said much of the money allocated to Texas will be used to improve the Gulf ecosystem because Texas did not sustain as much physical damage from the spill as Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. "In Texas, we had 60 miles of lightly oiled beach so we didn't have a lot of direct impact on the shoreline," Stokes said. "Even though Texas is hundreds of miles away from Louisiana, it's all part of a coordinated effort to do restoration of the Gulf." Restoration of wetland More Information Deepwater Horizon restoration projects The Texas Trustee Implementation Group released a plan to fund $45.8 million for 13 restoration projects along the Texas coastline as part of the 2016 settlement with BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Five of Texas' projects are in Galveston Bay. Pierce Marsh Wetland Restoration: placement of dredge material and planting to restore up to 150 acres of marshland. Estimated cost: $3.1 million. Follets Island Habitat Acquisition: 300 acres of wetland and coastal habitats on Follets Island between Drum Bay and San Luis Pass will be acquired and conserved. Estimated cost: $2.04 million. Bird Island Cove Habitat Restoration Engineering: A study of issues related to habitat degradation and ways to protect and restore it. Estimated cost: $206,000. Oyster Restoration Engineering: A study of the best ways to rehabilitating oyster reefs buried in sediment. Estimated cost: $309,000. Essex Bayou Habitat Restoration Engineering: An effort to understand why there is such high salt concentration in Essex Bayou and the Slop Bowl Marsh system and how to create a more stable system. Estimated cost: $372,000. See More Collapse The most expensive Galveston Bay project in the first phase of funding is restoration of the Pierce Marsh Wetland, which will receive $3.1 million to rebuild the 150 acres of marshes near Highland Bayou back to original levels. Funds will also be spent to bolster the oyster population in the bay and to study ways to protect and restore habitats on Bird Island Cove. Another $2.04 million will be spent to obtain 300 acres of coastal habitats and wetlands on Follets Island between Drum Bay and San Luis Pass to conserve dunes, the coastal strand prairie and the marsh habitat. Nearly $400,000 will be spent to study the high salt concentration in Essex Bayou and the so-called Slop Bowl Marsh. "Anything that brings funding into Galveston Bay for restoration is good for the region," Stokes said. Although Galveston Bay will be home to the most restoration projects in the first phase, it will not receive the most money. About $15.9 million will be funneled into the restoration of McFaddin Beach and Dune in the Sabine Lake area at the Louisiana border. This will require sand placement on 17 miles of the northeastern Texas shoreline. "This project will provide important ecological benefits by restoring lost beach and dune habitat and by helping to slow or stop marsh and land loss in McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge interior marshes," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. The Sabine Lake sites are closer to the actual oil spill, but Julie Hagen, social media specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Coastal Fisheries Division, said the project is not directly related to the spill. Instead, it sets out to protect a freshwater marsh in the area, giving migrant bird species that may have been directly impacted by the spill more places to come in Texas, she said. Other areas in Texas receiving funding for restoration projects are Corpus Christi Bay, Matagorda County and the Lower Laguna Madre near South Padre Island. Galveston Bay's oyster population will also get a boost. Although the local oyster beds were not directly impacted by the oil spill, Louisiana's suffered damage. Bolstering the oyster population in Galveston Bay will help mitigate the damages in Louisiana, since the two oyster markets are intertwined. Stokes said he's pleased one of the projects announced Wednesday is to allocate $309,000 to study the rehabilitation of oyster reefs buried in sediment. This becomes even more important in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which decimated the oyster population by flushing gallons of freshwater into the bay and upsetting the appropriate salt concentration. Huge impact on oysters Last month, industry leaders told the Chronicle that they feared no more than 10 percent of oysters survived. The Pierce Marsh project will help rebuild the marshes, Stokes said. At one time, cows could graze in that area, but now the water on the land is at least a foot deep, he said. The funding will help build the land back up by filling it with dredge material and plants, restoring about 150 acres of marsh, according to the NOAA website. This is important because these areas typically are home to juvenile fish, as well as water birds such as pelicans and egrets. They also act as a speed bump during large storms. Wetlands can't stop the storms from coming on land, Stokes said, but they can slow them down. The Bird Island Cove Habitat Restoration project will spend $206,000 to study the degradation of habitats in about 170 acres of marshes, sand flats and protected shallow water, and develop strategies for protecting and restoring the areas. BP did not respond to a request for comment. Hagen said the company has no say in projects chosen. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Central Texas attorney was sentenced this week to federal prison, nearly a year after he was convicted of an international wire fraud scheme that accumulated millions of dollars and led to a murder-for-hire plot by one of his co-conspirators. Perry Don Cortese, of Little River-Academy, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, according to federal court records. Priscilla Ann Ellis, of Killeen, received a sentence of 40 years in prison and her daughter, Kenietta Rayshawn Johnson, of Kansas, got 3 years and 4 months. Cortese, 53, worked with Ellis and Johnson to defraud law firms, title companies and users on dating websites, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. RELATED: 22-year-old arrested in 2016 'Freddy Krueger' mass shooting at S.A. Halloween party The victims would wire money into a funnel account, and the money was quickly disseminated to other accounts across the world. Authorities determined other co-conspirators lived in Canada, Nigeria, South Korea and Senegal. The court entered a $9,288,241.36 money judgement against both Cortese and Ellis. Both were also ordered to pay $3,767,196 in restitution. Ellis was also convicted in a subsequent murder-for-hire plot in March, according to court records. While an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail awaiting sentencing, Ellis approached at inmate the day after her conviction about starting a new counterfeit check scheme, according to a complaint filed by an FBI agent. Ellis also asked the inmate if she knew people who could "get their hands dirty," meaning she wanted people killed, officials said. RELATED: Man who allegedly led deputies on high-speed car chase arrested on outstanding warrants Ellis told the inmate of three people on her list, including a witness, a different witness' mother, and a Houston-based lawyer. The inmate notified authorities, who gave the inmate a recording device which was used to record subsequent conversations Ellis had with the inmate about the scheme, law enforcement said. An undercover agent acted as the inmate's cousin, and reached out to Ellis about the proposed killings, which led up to the arrest after money was exchanged for the job, authorities said. Ellis has not yet been sentenced for the conviction as she appeals the decision, according to court records. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA 8 : , 12 City Council rejected Mayor Sylvester Turner's proposal to leave Houston's tax rate unchanged from last year Wednesday, instead approving a tiny rate cut to comply with the voter-imposed cap on property tax revenues. Turner had proposed using Hurricane Harvey to invoke a disaster exception clause in the 13-year-old revenue cap and leave the rate at 58.642 cents per $100 in assessed value. That plan would have let the city collect $7.8 million next year for storm recovery costs in addition to what the cap otherwise would allow, or about $7 next year for the typical homeowner. It was the same process, Turner stressed, that his administration and former mayor Annise Parker's administration had followed to collect funding above the revenue cap after floods in each of the last two years - actions that went unnoticed by council members and news media at the time. The council nonetheless voted 15-2 to approve an amendment from Councilman Mike Knox to lower the rate by 0.221 cents - the rate City Controller Chris Brown had said the revenue cap dictated independent of Harvey-related expenses. A Monday afternoon memo from Brown outlining Turner's plan to keep the rate flat caused a stir among the council members who had not been told what rate Turner would ask them to consider. The mayor had proposed a 9 percent rate increase last month but scrapped that plan after federal officials increased their contribution to the recovery and Gov. Greg Abbott provided $50 million in state disaster funds. Brown's memo also stated that he could not verify Turner's proposed rate because the mayor publicly had said he would "not exercise the emergency provision under the revenue cap." Turner said Wednesday that his comments about not invoking the disaster clause were intended to convey that he would not do so to seek a higher tax rate; after questions from Brown and council members, he agreed he was using the exception to seek a flat rate. Brown's memo also stated he could not "validate" the Turner administration's estimates of Harvey costs that would be used to justify a higher rate if the disaster exception was invoked. Conflicting accounts Former city finance director Kelly Dowe, who left the city last month but was involved in the tax rate discussions and addressed the council Wednesday, pushed back on that point. It was easier to adjust the tax rate within the revenue cap to incorporate expenses from prior storms because they hit earlier in the year, Dowe said, adding, "There's going to be $7 million worth of costs either way." Turner produced a 2016 memo from Brown and a 2015 memo from Brown's predecessor, Ron Green, in which the controller's office had no trouble validating storm cost estimates to adjust tax rates within the revenue cap after less severe storms in recent years. That let the city collect an extra $6 million after the Tax Day Flood last year and an extra $16 million after the 2015 Memorial Day Flood. "No one is busting the revenue cap. No one is going around the revenue cap," Turner said before council voted. "We're being consistent with what we've done in 2015 and 2016 with the support of the previous and existing controller." The mayor and controller gave conflicting accounts of their private phone conversations leading into Wednesday's discussion, but there was little question about the level of acrimony between the two over the issue. Turner accused Brown of changing his process "based on what you thought you heard me say." "If you're going to be a watchdog, be a consistent watchdog," Turner said to Brown. "If you were following the same process, we wouldn't be having this conversation." The situation is different, Brown said, because Turner last year and Parker in 2015 had not publicly stated they would avoid invoking the exception clause in the revenue cap. "I'm trying to be transparent," Brown said. "If you're going to exercise the emergency provision, we need to be transparent about it." Several council members argued that setting any rate other than that dictated by the revenue cap would be taken as an affront by many voters just days before they begin heading to the polls to weigh a crucial $1 billion bond to secure Turner's landmark pension reforms and another $495 million in city improvement bonds. "If we lose the pension obligation bonds, the $7.8 million will be nothing," said Councilman Greg Travis, noting much of the nearly $3 billion in benefit cuts included in the reform plan could be unraveled if the pension vote fails. Growing needs Councilwoman Brenda Stardig agreed, saying, "I don't think the timing is such that we should proceed." Turner argued it sent the wrong message for the city to be cutting its tax rate voluntarily when it is asking state and federal officials for billions of dollars for storm recovery efforts. The need for city services will only grow in the coming months, he added. "Many of the people who are suffering today, they're going to need us to ease their situation as we go forward. Are we going to take actions today that are going to limit our ability to meet their needs?" Turner said. "The easy vote is the vote to lower. But in my humble opinion, it's not the right vote. It's not what's in the best interest of the people in this city." Ultimately only Councilwoman Ellen Cohen joined the mayor in opposing Knox's amendment to lower the rate and in the subsequent vote to set the rate at that lower amount. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For the last nine years, George W. Bush has largely stayed out of presidential politics; he declined to criticize his successor, Barack Obama, and he chose not to endorse but largely ignored President Donald Trump. While Mitt Romney and others spoke out publicly against Trump, Bush stayed above the fray. That changed in a big way Thursday. Speaking at the George W. Bush Institute in New York, Bush didn't use Trump's name, but his target became clearer as the speech progressed. Here's a sampling: --"Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." --"We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism." --"We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty . . . Argument turns too easily into animosity." --"It means that bigotry and white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed, and it means the very identity of our nation depends on passing along civic ideals." --"Bullying and prejudice in our public life . . . provides permission for cruelty and bigotry." --"The only way to pass along civic values is to live up to them." Now Playing: In a press conference Monday, President Donald Trump claimed that his predecessors didnt call families of fallen soldiers, a false claim given the response and actions of past presidents. Former President Barack Obama visited Dover Air Force base in 2009 to meet with fallen soldiers. Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton contacted service members families. Trumps claim trails criticism after his reported delayed response about an attack in Niger that killed four Green Berets on Oct. 4. Video: Mic Any one of these quotes in isolation could be dismissed as highflying rhetoric aimed at the general coarsening of our political culture - or the rise of forms of nationalism and extremism that clearly exist outside the Oval Office. But almost each of these quotes have some connection to Trump. "Conspiracy theories and fabrications?" Check and check. "Nationalism and nativism?" Check and check. A "degraded discourse?" Big check. "Bigotry and white supremacy?" Trump was criticized for not calling them out strongly enough in Charlottesville. "Bullying?" Huge check. Not "living up to civic values?" Check, definitely. More for you Sinclair Vision for TV network to rival Fox draws foes on right Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., recently drew plenty of attention for alluding to "spurious nationalism" in a speech this week. But Bush's comments actually hark back to a more thorough takedown of Trump's worldview that McCain delivered back in February. Here's what McCain said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany: --"[The founders of the Munich conference] would be alarmed by an increasing turn away from universal values and toward old ties of blood and race and sectarianism." --"They would be alarmed by the hardening resentment we see toward immigrants and refugees and minority groups - especially Muslims." --"They would be alarmed by the growing inability - and even unwillingness - to separate truth from lies." --"They would be alarmed that more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent." Sound familiar? It's possible Bush would argue that Trump is more a symptom of all of these unhealthy trends in American democracy than the root of them. But in drafting a prepared speech like that, he had to know how those words would be interpreted. Trump, during the 2016 campaign, repeatedly attacked Bush for not doing more to stop 9/11 and for the Iraq War. More recently, he has favorably compared his own hurricane response to Hurricane Katrina, on Bush's watch. On Thursday, Bush clearly decided that silence was no longer tenable. Perhaps when EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is in Houston this week to speak at an oil and gas industry forum, he also will address the trail of disasters left behind by the inaction of his agency during and after Hurricane Harvey. Perhaps he will take a few deep breaths near the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, where 20 emergency responders became ill breathing smoke-filled air after floodwaters cut power and wiped out the backup generators at the facility. Perhaps he will sit down for dinner with a family in Manchester and tell the children why EPA took so long to test the noxious odors that wafted from the Valero refinery after Harvey damaged the roof atop one of its storage tanks - a toxic plume that my organization independently found to contain benzene. Perhaps he will extend to other at-risk parts of Houston's ecosystem the promise he has made to fix one of Houston's most dangerous Superfund sites, the San Jacinto Waste Pits, and explain why EPA took the word of the company responsible for it that there was no danger from the storm. Weeks later his agency acknowledged finding the release of cancer-causing dioxins into the river there at levels 2,000 times EPA's safety limits. As a Texas-based health scientist, I am concerned about the recent past performance of Pruitt's agency during and after Harvey's tragic strike here. I am even more worried about the future and his campaign to curtail EPA's ability to protect public health every day and especially during disasters. Though Pruitt and President Donald Trump refuse to accept the scientific understanding of climate change, we know that storms like Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate will be more frequent and more intense with a warming planet. Coastal cities will flood. Wildfires will continue to rage across the tinder dry West and Southwest. More people and more infrastructure will suffer. There is a lot EPA does to help America protect itself. A fully equipped agency can help monitor pollution dangers, set and enforce prudent standards and keep the nation's laws in touch with the principles of chemistry and physics. If Pruitt and his allies have their way, however, Houston will be less ready to face environmental hazards before the next hurricane season. The administration called for slashing an astonishing 30 percent of EPA's already low budget; the House plan strips half a billion dollars from the agency, and the Senate is about to vote on its cuts to environmental protections. Pruitt, meanwhile, is installing reckless industry insiders in top EPA positions while working to lay off thousands of the agency's science, enforcement, and administrative staff. He also delayed rules requiring companies to fully address risks in their chemical emergency plans - a move he made following requests from the chemical industry. The administration's actions and the budget cuts pending in Washington threaten public health and safety. We are all in harm's way. Environmental Defense Fund's air quality sampling after Harvey renewed my belief that America needs more, not less, monitoring, as well as stronger safety plans at refineries and petrochemical plants to protect public health. We need stronger enforcement so that polluters, not taxpayers, pay the bill to clean up their messes. We also need ongoing scientific research and review, not rhetoric, to identify the best ways to keep people safe. We need reality-based standards, not politics. It is time to reverse the dangerous course of Pruitt's policies and Trump's budget cuts. Ignoring science, weakening protections and crossing our fingers that the next storm does not target the Gulf Coast will not get the job done. If the administrator who is supposed to protect our environment does not seize the opportunity of his Houston visit to start setting things right, then Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz should stand up for Texas and reject the Pruitt playbook and the back-room budget deals that put us all at risk. We need a fully funded, fully functioning EPA - for the next storm and for our future. Dr. Elena Craft is a Texas-based senior health scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The League of Women Voters of the Houston Area plans to study the cybersecurity of Harris County's election system, but the non-partisan group may not be able to gather all the information it wants. The League, working with the non-profit civic-tech activist group Sketch City, hopes to finish the study and release recommendations by May 2018. During an organizational meeting Tuesday night at the Leonel Castillo Community Center, Sketch City founder Jeff Reichman said the group had received early cooperation from both the Harris County Clerk's office, which administers elections, and the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, which handles voter registration. Reichman said the group wants to study all aspects of the election process, which uses Hart InterCivic eSlate voting machines that are about 15 years old. He said they want to look into the documented vulnerabilities of the machines; how easily computers involved in the election can be physically accessed both in storage and while in use in elections; and what the procurement process is for buying new machines. Up for debate: Is Harris County's voting system safe from the Russians? "We want to look into the best practices that anyone with access to sensitive information should follow," Reichman said during Tuesday's meeting. Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart said a member of his staff has been working with the group. But because the study topic involves security, he said, he may not be able to share everything. "We will have them in there, we will show them what's going on, but specifically on security, we may have to be a little vague," Stanart said. Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett did not return a phone call asking for comment. Although the study comes in the wake of revelations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the process began in May 2016, when the Houston-area League voted to conduct the study, Reichman said. The Department of Homeland Security has said there have been attempts by foreign operatives to hack into state and local election systems, some successful. And Bloomberg reported in June that 39 states had been "hit" by Russian hackers. Harris County officials have refused to say whether any attempts have been made to access their election systems. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Businesses and community groups are invited to take part in the second annual regional Kindred at Home Veterans Parade on Nov. 4 in Farmington. The parade begins at 11 a.m. and takes the normal parade route through downtown Farmington. This is the second year for the parade. Ginger Pizarro works for Kindred at Home and said she was led to organize the parade last year. Pizarro said she grew up in Bismarck and always remembers a parade honoring the veterans of the area. I took it to my employer and they said, sure, well back you up,' she said. The entry fee for the parade is $10 for any business wishing to participate. All proceeds from the entry fees are going to the local Disabled American Veterans Fund set up to assist those in need of food, shelter cost or transportation cost for medical treatments out of town. Ive been sitting in the American Legion office when veterans will walk over from the VA clinic here in Farmington and say I need help with my electric bill or I need help with groceries until I get paid, she said. The fund helps veterans who are in need referred by the VA clinic or other organizations. You do have to be a veteran to receive the money. Serving as grand marshals of the parade are veterans of World War II and Korea. St. Francois County has the highest population of retired veterans in the state of Missouri, she said. And, the American Legion and VFW organizations in our communities help promote the future generations by sponsoring events for students. Honoring (veterans) with this parade is one way we can give back. Flags will be distributed along the route ahead of the parade so everyone will have a flag as the parade goes by. The event is scheduled one week before Veterans Day as to not interfere with other activities scheduled that day. Veterans sell buddy poppies on Veterans Day that is their way of fundraising as a way to be able to do things in their community, she said. They also have the downtown celebration on Veterans Day as well. We chose to kick-off the week of veterans festivities. The parade is a regional one and Pizarro is reaching out to the surrounding counties for participants. Were trying to reach out in to all of the surrounding counties outside of St. Francois Madison, Iron, Washington, Jefferson, Ste. Gen as well to try and get them to participate being that this is only our second year. Its still new, she said. Pizarro anticipates the parade to grow each year as word gets out. Shes also encouraging everyone to promote the parade in their region. The deadline to register an entry for the parade is Oct. 26. Anyone wanting to register for the parade can contact Pizarro at 573-454-5706 or by email at ginger.pizarro@kindred.com. Information can also be found at Facebook.com/KindredAtHomeVeteransParade. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. of New Zealands biggest banks has begun restructuring talks with staff as it continues to analyse employee levels in a number of branches. Earlier this week, Bank of New Zealand confirmed it is looking at its workforce as well as employee skills and said change may be necessary as customers continue to embrace online and digital banking options. We cant go into detail on what that might be, as we need to let the proper consultation process take place with our people in the first instance, said a spokesperson for the lender. BNZ had 161 retail branches at the end of March 2017, down from 173 a year earlier. At the same time, automatic teller machines have increased to 488 from 479 and internet banking customers climbed to 745,000 from 705,000. First Union has already spoken out about the restructuring talks and claims more than 100 jobs may go as part of the plan. Reduced working hours and fewer positions are also expected to hit as many as 30 branches across the country. Hamish Kynaston, a partner with top law firm Buddle Findlay, said any restructuring initiative should be entered into with the utmost care. Rushing it and not thinking carefully enough about the business rationale theyre two of the most common mistakes I see employers making when it comes to major change, says Kynaston. The business rationale used to be off-limits to the courts so you could put up a really basic proposal and the focus was all on process but now there is a deserved focus on substance. Kynaston, who specialises in employment relations, says some employers still dont understand that they not only need to think carefully about their rationale they also need to explain it thoroughly. People say; We want to reduce costs so we need to reduce headcount and heres our proposal, and of course cost is a perfectly adequate reason for restructuring but you really need to drill down to that next level, he stresses. Its fine to cut head count but you need to explain why you are proposing to cut these specific positions and what other things you have considered, he continues. Failing to do that work first and then not explaining it to employees thats a major mistake. 10 years ago the president of the Methodist Church challenged me in the east of Sri Lanka following a humanitarian crisis caused by the upsurge in the conflict. "Amjad! Whenever there is a crisis, people flee to the religious institutions and religious leaders. They are there for the affected community and remain with them even as security gets worse, whilst you as NGOs withdraw when your security is threatened. Why do you never respect that?". This question has plagued me since then and I have sought to understand why we as the international humanitarian community have failed to give the faith community the respect that it deserves and a seat at the table of policy makers and donors in terms of global programming, advocacy and decision making. As the discussion around localisation of aid becomes more heated and pertinent, we have to realise that we can not have a full discussion if we do not also consider the role of faith. Advertisement Religious teachings, although diverse, teach the importance of compassion and of one common shared humanity, where each human being is important in him/herself. Human dignity and the welfare of all people are part of the main objectives of faith and religion, with the principal teaching of serving other people especially the downtrodden, irrespective of their faith, ethnicity, gender, and geography. Faith-based actors enjoy close proximity to, or are part of the populations affected by wider crises, and have therefore developed special relationships of trust, as well as insights and access to community members compared to many other actors. They are often present before crises, and are first responders when disasters hit. They are key providers of assistance and protection during crises and their aftermath. In a world where conflicts, violence, and natural disaster affect millions of people, faith-based entities share a critical responsibility and role in working for peace, both at local and national or international levels. Faith-based organizations can thus facilitate sustainable behavior and relationship changes based on faith and worldview, offering mediation and sacred space for dialogue between parties. Yet they are not a panacea. Engaging with faith and faith organisations also has its problems. There is a character to the religious playing field, that complicates matters. Our faith communities, whether they are numerous and powerful, a minority struggling for a voice, or even an influential tiny cadre, have undeniably, as strong a history of internecine strife and struggle as they do of cooperation and collaboration. There is a problem with the perception of what engagement with faith really means? In addition many faith communities are tied together across national boundaries, which have appeared or crystallised long after the faith community emerged. Globalisation has problematised, at one level, the very idea of the sacrosanctity of nation state borders. The flow of information and humans, respects no borders. This means that the faith communities themselves often feel united by mutual concerns and values, which are sometimes at odds with other policies. Advertisement This all speaks to a trust deficit that exists with engaging with faith organisations and leaders. So much more needs to be done to bridge that gap. We need more evidence and case studies about the role and impact of faith organisations on individual and community resilience. We also need to work through an understanding of the tensions between programmes of certain faith organisationss (vis-a-vis conversion and proselytization) and the humanitarian principles of 'neutrality' and 'impartiality'. Thus more is needed to explore and discuss especially in 'understanding the spiritual wisdom of humanity' i.e. in using spirituality as a mechanism higher than just simply faith for developing a consensus towards understanding human value and responding to the need. Put simply if organisations and faith leaders can converge on shared religious values towards the spiritual values of humanity regarding the protection of human life and dignity and the relationship of these values to humanitarian principles, then they would be able to possible address these tensions. There needs to be greater dialogue within and between faiths (and organisations) to not only understand humanitarian principles and instruments of International Humanitarian Law, but also look at relations with (and between) faiths, traditions and cultures which could then lead to new approaches for cooperation. We have to challenge ourselves to a new ethics of common concern that provides the moral commitments that relate to a sense of spiritual unity. On the flip side non faith organisations need greater faith literacy around humanitarian, development and peace building to have that understanding. Engaging with faith based organisations and faith leaders will also mean building the capacity of local faith communities to mitigate against and respond to disasters whilst also equipping religious premises and assets such as mosques, churches and other sacred places as possible emergency facilities and for community education on disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Advertisement So there is a lot to be done in this space. Last year at the World Humanitarian Summit, a special session to rethink and re-define the engagement with FBOs, communities, leaders and institutions. The conversation was started but has to be continued. This week in Sri Lanka, an international forum will discuss scaling up engagement of local faith actors in humanitarian response. Exploring a wide array of topics including migration, gender based violence, peace and conflict, the forum will present evidence on the responses of successful partnerships and call for greater sector-wide literacy and capacity for local faith communities. Francois Lenoir / Reuters Last night the Prime Minister wrote a letter to us, the three million EU nationals in the UK, to reassure us that securing our rights remains top priority and that a deal with the EU is in touching distance. Well, actually, she did not write it to us, while Number 10 was busy drafting press releases on writing a letter to us she posted it on her Facebook page - the next morning. Theresa May reiterates that EU nationals will be able to stay. This is not news. This has been said for the last 10 months. For many EU nationals like me who have lived in this country for decades, a promise not to be deported is an affront rather than reassurance. The letter does not contain any more substance than that. Advertisement She disagrees that she has been using the three million EU nationals as political bargaining chips - it "could be no further from the truth" she said. The questions though are, why write a letter on the evening of travelling to Brussels? Why send out a major press release before sending or publishing the letter itself? Why embargo the release to 10:30pm, early enough to be covered in all news outlets but too late to be challenged by the people actually addressed. The answer is simple: despite the letter being addressed to us, the intended audience is Brussels not the concerned EU nationals in London, Birmingham, Cardiff or Glasgow. Yet again, the plight of real people, neighbours, colleagues, spouses, children, is used for political gaming. Caring looks different. Theresa May is offering 'User Groups' to discuss the process of registering. Important note: she wants to listen to us on process but not on policy. Despite the policy of how to register us still under discussion in Brussels, both Theresa May and David Davis have declined to meet with the3million, the grass roots group representing EU nationals in the UK. The group has offered constructive advice and objected to proposed measures such as compulsory blanket criminal record checks. Something no British citizen would stand for if it was mandatory for them. The main message of the letter though is that Theresa May wants EU nationals to stay and that she is not intending to break up families. All very good, all said before, but it conflicts with the actual UK offer on family reunification on the table in Brussels. The harsh reality is that there are already 15,000 children in the UK living in so called Skype families. Families where one parent is not allowed to reside in the UK or even worse the child not allowed to reside in the UK because of UK immigration law. The same law the UK is intending to drag three million EU nationals into under the proposed settled status. Anyone who has ever dealt with UK immigration law will tell you that it is cruel and uncaring. Once rejected deportation happens first, appeals can only be logged from abroad later. Amber Rudd, during her evidence session at the Home Office committee several days ago said that unemployment could be reason for rejection. How does that fit with not breaking apart families? Will spouses, mothers or fathers be deported in case they become unemployed? Advertisement The tipping point is a helpful idea, but in this case I can't point to one. I'm sure being a (foster) dad to a young girl for nearly two years has been part of the picture; the #metoo campaign has been part of the picture, but in truth I've been thinking about this stuff for a while now. This has been a long time coming. My wife and I play to very few traditional gender roles or characteristic stereotypes and archetypes. I have become increasingly aware of rape culture, male privilege and patriarchy; and on a few occasions I've deliberately acted to fight against them. I've realised, uncomfortably, that as a white British male in the early-21st Century, I'm one of the most privileged people in humanity's history. I'm also aware that not one iota of this privilege is earned or deserved. So I've taken a decision to do what I can to walk away from it. If you're a man, I invite you to walk away from it also. Because if girls and women suffer or are held back, then I suffer and am held back. That's what it means to be a fellow human, also made in the image of God (please excuse the religious talk here - I'm a church minister), also part of the body of Christ. There is no such thing as a truly isolated human - especially one who follows Jesus. I'm doing this because I'm a man, a husband, a father, a friend, brother, son, citizen, Christian, minister, blogger, sports-fan, culture-consumer. Many other things, too. Advertisement I'm not seeking to start a movement or get publicity. I don't have a hashtag for this, a website to promote, a t-shirt to sell you or a book deal to anticipate (of course, I can't promise that none of those things will happen - but I'm not looking for them). I'm doing this because I should, and I want to. I need to, and so do you. I'm doing this in a public forum so that I know I've done it and I can't get out of it. As well as inviting you to join in, I'm inviting you to hold me to this (lovingly), especially if you're a woman. Do it sneeringly, nastily, self-righteously, or in an attempt to show me that it's doomed and useless, then I'll try to ignore you. Do it to help me do it better, then I'll listen to you and I'll try to act. So here's what I'm going to try and do. There aren't ten of them because that would just be too comfortable, and it would suggest completion. If you have other suggestions, then please make them. 1. Take responsibility for my own thoughts and actions. 2. Raise my foster daughter to insist that only 'yes' means 'yes'. 3. Raise my foster son to take responsibility for his own thoughts and actions, and to teach him that only 'yes' means 'yes'. 4. Act on the basis that only 'yes' means 'yes'. 5. Critique and challenge men when I become aware of them acting out of rape culture, patriarchy and privilege. Advertisement 6. Without evading my responsibilities or God's call, I will step away from an assignment when I know of a woman who could do as good or better a job than me. 7. Consciously empty myself of privilege when I become aware that I am acting out of it; and to examine myself for signs of acting out of rape culture, patriarchy and privilege. 8. Allow others to point out to me when I may be unaware that I am acting out of rape culture, patriarchy and privilege. 9. Work towards breaking patterns of rape culture, patriarchy and privilege in church ministry. Yesterday, I - like thousands of other women around the world - shared my experience of sexual abuse on social media, under the #MeToo hashtag. This was in response to a tweet by actress Alyssa Milano, urging people to post the words 'me too' if they had ever been sexually harassed or assaulted. In the UK, 31% of young women will experience sexual abuse in childhood, according to the NSPCC. But only around 15% of those who experience sexual violence choose to report it to the police. The riskiest years are 16-19, when women are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of these crimes. I was 12 when I was first abused by a family friend; 16 when I was groped while stacking shelves in a supermarket; in my early 20s when a university professor offered to line me up with a job at a prestigious Think Tank in exchange for sexual favours; and close to 30 when a taxi driver felt it appropriate to show me hard-core porn while stopped at traffic lights. Advertisement And like many other women, I didn't tell anyone. As an adult, my strategy was to remove myself from the situation as quickly as possible, and without confrontation. And where this wasn't possible as a young adolescent, I simply dropped hints. At home, at school, to friends. I hoped that someone would see what was happening to me, without me needing to say it out loud. As parents, we drum into our children from an early age how they must tell us if anyone asks them to do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. My parents did the same. I knew that I could tell them anything. And yet, somehow, I couldn't tell them this. Parents need to understand that just because their daughter tells them about her first crush or her first kiss, it doesn't mean she will tell them about her first experience of being groped or pinned up against a wall against her will. Some children simply don't understand just how wrong what is happening to them truly is, while others worry about how their parents react to the discovery that one of their inner circle has committed such an act. Some just struggle to get the words out. TV portrayals of sexual abuse often show men suggesting to their victim that the abuse be kept secret. But this is rarely the case. More than 8 out of 10 children who are sexually abused know their abuser. The flipside of this is that the abuser knows the child's temperament, and knows that the child will be unlikely to report the abuse, whether they ask them to keep it secret or not. I don't remember any of my abusers threatening me if I told on them. They just somehow knew that I wouldn't. Advertisement Given this, how on earth do we as parents pick up on the signs that our children are being abused? Firstly, listen very closely to any hints your child might be dropping. Perhaps they keep asking if "Granddad" or "Uncle Tom" will be there. Or maybe they are suddenly talking about sexual issues in an attempt to provoke further discussion. Younger children might even start mimicking adult-like sexual behaviours with toys or stuffed animal. Other signs could include sudden bedwetting, difficulty sleeping, or a change in eating habits. It is important that we encourage our children to tell us if their friends start acting differently or talking about anything confusing or upsetting, too. Shortly after posting about my experience on social media, an old school friend got in touch to apologise for not having spoken out about what was happening to me at the time. Of course, I don't blame her. We were young, and she didn't fully appreciate the severity of the situation. And like me, she didn't have the words to express her concerns. Some schools have introduced worry boxes that pupils can post notes in, should they be concerned about something and feel the need to speak to a teacher. While this appears, on the surface, to be a good idea, if the "me too" campaign has taught us anything, it is just how difficult 40-something-year-old adults find it to discuss sexual abuse, let alone young girls. This is what makes the "me too" campaign so powerful. The only way we are ever going to encourage more young women to speak out is by sharing our experiences with our children, in an open and age-appropriate way. We need to make them aware from an early age that there are men out there who do bad things, and encourage them to speak out, should they ever come into contact with one of these "bad" men. Most kids are well aware that bullies and thugs exist, and that there are bad men who burgle our homes and try to steal things from us. Why not warn them that there are some people who try to touch others inappropriately too? Advertisement Ultimately, we need to find a way to normalise not the abuse itself, but rather the conversations surrounding it. We need to tell our children about what happened to us, let them know that it's not acceptable, and that it's ok to speak out about it. We need to teach the issue of consent from an early age, and explain that abuse is never something to feel ashamed about. We need to make sure that they never feel the need to simply post "me too". A version of this article previously appeared on Institute of Mums. --- Something remarkable has just happened in Kingston, Jamaica. A two-day conference, "An Intimate Conviction", explored the relationship between Faith and the criminalisation of sexual intimacy between people of the same sex. The focus was the Anglican Communion but the conference encouraged all faiths, Christian and others, to attend. All were welcome. The conference attracted some of the leading figures in the Christian community across the Caribbean as well as from the UK and Canada. It was a very powerful line up. The Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies even gave the keynote address. The US Embassy was there, so too were the British. And of particular significance, the Commonwealth Secretariat gave a Special Address. The Conference took place at the University of the West Indies. The audience was principally men and women of faith interested in, and concerned about LGBT issues. Even faith groups who did not attend, such as the Seventh Day Adventists, explained their reasons in a cool headed way, avoiding invective and language that can foment hate. The media coverage was calm and objective. Underpinning the event was the fact that the Church of England led the calls for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales back in the 1950s, yet most former British colonies - where Anglican churches loom large - continue to criminalise. Their laws are a British colonial legacy. But back in the UK, it was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, who, fifty years ago in 1967, supported the legislation which permitted intimacy between men in private when both men were over 21 years. And with the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the shackles of the criminal law and the associated shame of being gay began to lift. The Church of England, and Archbishop Ramsay in particular, recognised that criminalising gay men wasted their potential, as well as affecting the Church's ability to minister to homosexuals. Lambeth Palace in those days was ahead of public opinion. It guided and led on the issue of homosexuality. Advertisement The central question that was addressed in Kingston at this conference was: what is the role of Faith in the current climate where still half the countries of the world continue to criminalise gay men and at least half of those countries also criminalise lesbians? Are there lessons that Anglican churches in the Global North can offer those in the Global South? And what of other Faith communities? Can a coalition of Faiths end LGBT persecution? Criminalisation of homosexuality is not the only cause of anti-LGBT animosity, but without ending LGBT criminalisation those that peddle hatred will always justify their actions on the basis that homosexuality merits prosecution. Those that incite hate often base their arguments on the Bible and other religious texts. The Bible, they say, forbids homosexuality. They rely on a selected interpretation of the Bible. The Gospels says nothing about homosexuality and if Jesus was as concerned about it as some Christians say, might he have mentioned his revulsion of homosexuality? Jesus did acknowledge that it might be best for some men not to marry, but he didn't utter a word about men who find love, happiness and peace with each other. And even those few paragraphs in the Old Testament or St Paul's utterings that suggest opposition to homosexuality can be given a completely different meaning depending upon which translation of the Bible you rely upon. Advertisement The Kingston conference's focus is not on these theological questions. It raises more fundamental and moral questions. What is it about the quality of a gay man in England which means the Church of England could extend the hand of friendship? Yet, for gay men living in most other countries of the Commonwealth, to be embraced by the Anglican Communion, let alone local Anglican churches, requires negotiating the criminal law. That this conference is happening in Jamaica is remarkable. Jamaicans can be notoriously homophobic. The words of some Dance Hall songs about killing the Batty Man still haunt the LGBT community there. But this conference is turning that stereotype on its head. Jamaica trail blazes. Will the rest of the criminalising world follow the lead set by this conference and have these conversations in an open, rational and transparent way? Will the faith communities and the Anglican Communion in particular pick up the challenge being posed by this conference? LGBT persecution can end. The Churches have a duty and responsibility to end that hate. As we approach the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2018 which is hosted by the UK, there is a real opportunity for change. The fact the Commonwealth Secretariat was part of the opening panel of this conference bodes well for the future. All credit to the Commonwealth Secretary General, Patricia Scotland, for leading by example. A committed Catholic, the Secretary General sets a great role model for the Faith communities to follow. She listens and is always keen to learn. She is driven by her commitment to equality. Under the leadership of Dominica-born Patricia Scotland the Commonwealth has come out of the shadows on LGBT issues. She expects the Commonwealth to be part of the debate on the future of LGBT rights. Earlier this month Gov. Eric Greitens called for a special election on Feb. 6 to fill the vacancy left by last month's resignation of District 144 Missouri Rep. Paul Fitzwater, a Republican, to serve on the Board of Probation and Parole. Now the first candidate to officially enter the ring has announced his run and he's a Democrat. Jim Scaggs was recently nominated by the Democratic Legislative Committee to run for the seat of state representative of the 144th District, which includes Iron, Reynolds, parts of Wayne and Washington counties. A long-time southeast Missouri businessman, Scaggs is in his third year serving as Iron County presiding commissioner of which he's touting his balancing of the budget, as well as the fact that the county is running in the black financially for the first time in more than a decade. Owner and operator of Scaggs Rock-N-Lime in Patterson, he cites his 40 years of business management experience both from the corporate and small business side as an advantage in serving the 144th District in the Missouri House. My primary goal as state representative is to represent rural Missouri with a fiscally responsible business approach," Scaggs said. "There has to be a stop on the over-taxing of counties I would represent. It is unreasonable to think the taxpayers can fund every program coming out of the legislature. Likewise, it does not make sense to gut priorities such as education. Scaggs maintains that if he wins February's special election, he "can and will" bring a balance to these extremes. It's my stance that the war between the parties must stop," he said. "The extreme left and extreme right use the media outlets just to belittle the other side. This does nothing for everyday Missourians and its certainly not working for the citizens of our counties. We need to come to the table and do whats right for people based on how it affects their daily lives." It's already obvious that Scaggs' message is going to place a strong emphasis on job creation and economic growth. Rural Missouri is dying and our main streets are empty, he said. One of the many reasons for this is because no one is selling our strengths and benefits to businesses across the globe whod love to partner with people like us. That can't happen if those companies don't know we're here. Weve got to promote the region in a smart way that will persuade them to relocate or startup here. Scaggs is also pushing a message of cooperation and bipartisanship that's been in short supply when it comes to the U.S. political scene, both on a state and national level. There needs to be a strong voice of negotiation between the parties in Jeff City to bring about change, not only for the 144th District but for all of Missouri," he said. "This is what I intend to deliver for my constituents." Scaggss opponent will be selected at a Republican Party nominating committee meeting set for Oct. 28. AlexLMX via Getty Images Britain is no longer considered a safe part of the world for trans people to live in. We know from recent Stonewall research just how bad things are if you are trying to get on with your life as a trans person in Britain today. In the last twelve months, two in five trans people have experienced a hate crime or incident. Every day, trans people continue to be mocked, excluded, bullied and attacked, simply for existing. But now, other countries are openly agreeing that Britain is an unsafe place for trans people. Last month, a tribunal in New Zealand granted asylum to a trans woman from Britain on the basis that her life would be in danger if she returned here. Advertisement It should be considered a national embarrassment that this is where we now are as a nation. We simply cannot continue to call ourselves a world-leader in LGBT-inclusion, nor a beacon of equality for diverse communities. Britain is at an absolute crisis point in how it treats trans people. Many mainstream media voices - from newspaper columnists to social media commentators - seem to have stepped up a gear over recent months in their attempts to make vile transphobia acceptable, questioning the right of trans people to even exist. This isn't something that is open for debate. And giving the green light to these messages has devastating real-world consequences for trans people Many trans people feel unable to be themselves because of this treatment, whether at work, using public transport or even just shopping for groceries. The woman recently granted asylum in New Zealand told the courts that she would wait until after midnight to shop for her essentials in Britain. This was so she would be around as few people as possible, because she felt too afraid and unsafe to be herself in public. Advertisement Everyday transphobia in Britain filters down into our schools too. Almost half of young trans people have attempted suicide, and yet just two in five of Britain's teachers condemn transphobic bullying. This winter, we are set to go into a public consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act, which has the potential to transform the invasive and bureaucratic system that governs how trans people get legal recognition of their gender. Our nation is at a crossroads, and now more than ever, we need allies to do the right thing and make trans equality their responsibility too. We all need to step up, be loud and visible in our support of the rights of trans people, whether that's on social media, in the work canteen or at our local supermarket. We cannot allow Britain to continue to be an unsafe, unwelcoming and frightening place for trans people to live. The situation today is shameful. We need to work together to turn it around. A new Ofsted report on how children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are being treated in our schools validates every parent of a child with a Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) who has struggled, cajoled, begged, and demanded to get their children proper support in school. For the larger-than-you-might-think subsection of those children with SEND who have FASD this report underscores the unacceptable hurdles we face in trying to do right by our children. It's fairly rare when a government report uses stronger words than I might in condemning the lack of attention to students with special needs. This must-read report is damning of the system. It's also frustrating beyond words to read it as a parent of a child with SEND and as someone engaged in efforts to support other families. We already knew the system isn't working in any sort of consistent manner. We already knew that there is no joined-up thinking about how to help our kids. We cry ourselves to sleep because of the pressures we see this placing on our children and young people, too many of whom are at breaking point. But to see it in black and white is bewildering. As parent advocates, we need to know: now you have the 'proof' what are you going to do about it? This report should be placed front and centre on the desk of every MP and every leader in every Local Authority. It talks about illegal exclusions and the failure of elected leaders to hold the local areas responsible for implementing government policy. It outlines the lack of a coordinated approach to meet the educational, health and social needs of children and young people with SEND. It talks about the long waiting times and lack of access to needed therapies, the confusion over funding, and the failure to put in place coordinated support. It highlights the way we fail our young people with special needs and disabilities as they leave school. It is a comprehensive slap down of those politicians who put in place great new policies (such as extending Education and Health Care Plans to 25) without providing resources, support and proper evaluations to ensure those reforms are being followed through. In other words, it shows that while England has some theoretically good policies in place, at the moment this is just 'talking the talk' without 'walking the walk'. Our precious children and young adults who are least able to fight back against this system are the ones being hammered by this hypocrisy. The system itself today has hoisted the red flag admitting its failures. This is true for all those with SEND and learning disabilities. Advertisement Here's where those with FASD and their parents, carers and guardians feel invalidated. The report states that "In many local areas, ante- and neo-natal checks were increasingly effective at picking up children who had the most complex special educational needs and/or disabilities." This is not happening fast enough when it comes to identifying those affected by the brain-based issues related to prenatal alcohol exposure. Due to society's ignorance, stigma or maybe even fear of opening a 'can of worms' the Powers That Be still fail to address this issue in a coherent way. The report refers to the detrimental impact of poor diagnostic pathways for those with autism. It talks about the waiting times, the delays, the frustrations. And yet with only a few notable exceptions across England, when it comes to FASD diagnosis, assessment and support the services are extremely limited or not available at all. Experts say that the brain damage of FASD is believed to be more prevalent than autism, and yet there is a big nothing in some areas such as East Hertfordshire, where there is no commissioning of diagnostic services for FASD with the excuse that they are following NICE guidelines - which is really just saying they are doing nothing, as there are no NICE guidelines on this. GPs from across the country tell us they have not received clear guidance on this from local clinical commissioning groups. The CCGs have been tasked by government with meeting these needs. It is a big, bewildering wasteland that allows those with FASD to fall through the cracks and leaves parents seeking help for their children at wit's end. Let's have a think about what the government today has said about exclusions. Why do you think there are so many exclusions? It's because behaviours at school increase when there is no support in place to help students with SEND with their sensory and cognitive needs. I would be willing to bet that were a study conducted about this, those with diagnosed and undiagnosed FASD would be among the highest proportion of students being excluded and lost in this system. If anyone wants to help fund that study we can point you toward too many families who would be willing to participate. We hear their stories every day, and it is heartbreaking. Kids with FASD try so hard to fit in at school, and yet due to their brain wiring they can't do what is being asked. Even if they are able to hold it together at school, they will likely meltdown at home. When parents or carers raise this with the schools, they are told everything is 'fine' at school and that the scenes at home must be their faulty parenting. Wrong answer. Watch this space because as little Johnny or Jenny grows up, they will have an increasingly difficult time accessing more complex and abstract education and all hell is likely to break loose when they hit secondary school. If we know that as parent advocates, surely the senior educators and decision-makers know that too. There are known strategies that help, let's get on with creating brighter futures. Advertisement The Prime Minister rightly wants to focus on child mental health. The young royals have rallied to this important cause. We can point you toward many, many young people with FASD have been torn down in educational settings, denied the support they need and deserve. There are too many lost and discouraged young people with FASD who have ended up trying to commit suicide, addicted, parenting children at too young an age, homeless, sexually abused, or ending up in prison. If you truly want to focus on improving outcomes for mental health, take a few steps back and put in place proper diagnostic and support pathways for those with FASD - including, importantly, proper supports and assessments to help them access the education they have a right to by law just like any other child. Buried within it is a glimmer of hope for parent warriors who all too often feel they are banging their heads on brick walls. Even though it is not easy, speaking out matters. "Parental dissatisfaction was often a significant factor when inspectors judged that a local area should submit a written statement of action." If you feel like the schools are letting down your child, work in cooperation with local educators when you can-start with the teachers, the TAs, the SENCOs. When you can't, raise your voice, join with likeminded families and support groups. Write to school governors, your MPs, your papers. Get on the airwaves. Make it known that we are not letting our kids slip under the wheels of this educational disaster train. They will tell you there is no money. Tough. It's their job to find it. If they don't spend it on education, diagnosis and support, they will spend it later on prisons, social services, and mental health services. A country that can field a multi-billion pound and unusable nuclear deterrent can surely find some crumbs for teacher training, in-class supports, and assessments that can change the trajectory of the lives of some of our most vulnerable students. Clarksburg Sets Saturday Town Meeting for School Project Revote CLARKSBURG, Mass. The $19 million elementary school project will be back before voters at a special town meeting to be held on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m. at the school. The Select Board on Wednesday night set the date for the special town meeting, which was prompted by a citizens' petition that garnered nearly 300 signatures after the first vote failed to reach two-thirds passage by one vote. Town officials say they're working to prevent the confusion and overcrowding that occurred at the first special town meeting vote on Sept. 27 . A record number of voters tried to cram into the small gym/cafeteria room at the school; at least 100 had to stand outside and could barely hear what was going on. This time, accommodations will be made to bring to voters into another part of the school where they can still participate digitally. "We are handling that, we are bringing possibly Skype, possibly the news camera feed," Chairman Jeffrey Levanos said. "We absolutely have to have audio, and video, if we can do that, I would absolutely like to do that as well." Town Administrator Carl McKinney said he was looking into using the main hallway or one of the larger classrooms and feed the audio and/or video from the gym. Select Board member Carlyle "Chip" Chesbro thought those planning to speak should also sign up as they come in. Levanos tried to defer any further discussion of logistics until a future meeting. Wednesday's meeting was merely to set the date, he said. The special town meeting three weeks ago drew more than 400 voters, nearly eight times the average turnout for a town meeting. It took an hour just to register voters and another hour to vote by secret ballot. This time, officials hope to get ahead of the crowd by having the special town meeting on a Saturday afternoon and opening the doors at 1:30 giving enough time for everyone to be registered before the meeting begins. Unlike an election, town meeting acts as the legislative body, meaning everyone must be present to hear the motion, ask questions and vote because articles can be amended on the floor. Like the last time, the vote will be on the authorization for borrowing the full amount for the project with the condition that the Massachusetts School Building Authority provides $11.3 million in funding and the town $7.7 million. The question also is contingent on the approval of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan over 40 years and a debt exclusion from Proposition 2 1/2. The special town meeting vote must be approved by two-thirds vote; should it pass, the debt exclusion must also be approved by a simple majority at a town election. While most agree the 60-year-old school needs a major overhaul, the price has divided the town. The loan is expected to cost up to $350,000 a year over 40 years and will tack on an estimated tax rate of $3.25 per $1,000 valuation above and beyond the cost of running the town and school. Three forums were held to inform community members about the condition of the 150-student school, the solution approved by the MSBA, and the cost and funding sources. Town officials have said they plan to hold another forum to focus on the town's fiscal situation. DEAR HARRIETTE: I was asked to give gently used clothing to a clothing drive for victims of the hurricanes that have occurred in recent weeks. I am so happy to help, and I gathered everything my family and I could give away. I was a little concerned because I saw a news report that said that sending "stuff" was not good because it was hard for people to receive it. The woman in charge of the drive promised she could make it happen. She also showed me the website of the organization she is working with that has a high charity rating. I just want to make sure this is legit. What should I do? -- For Those in Need, Chicago DEAR FOR THOSE IN NEED: It is true that sending clothing and food items can be tricky for certain parts of the world that are surviving disasters. I also have seen reports that show food rotting at drop-off points and clothing seemingly dumped and discarded. It is also true that some organizations have figured out distribution systems to make it possible to get these items directly to the people. You should go to the charity's website to learn who they are and how they care for people -- for this crisis and in the past. Also, you can look at Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org), an organization that closely checks to ensure the financial health and transparency of charities and ranks them accordingly. This will help you assess whether your donations will get to their destination. DEAR HARRIETTE: My teenage daughter and her best friend often spend time together after school. I got word from a friend that he saw them walking in a busy commercial neighborhood, and he was worried about them. He said they looked innocent, but he was sure young men would be interested in them because they looked provocative, even though he said they weren't necessarily dressed in a sexy way. He said, as a guy, he knows how guys can look at innocent girls like that. He told me he didn't speak to them and might not have told me, but since I ran into him he thought I should know. How can I handle this situation? I know my daughter has to grow up, and I am figuring out how to protect her and to let her have some independence. -- In the Balance, Manhattan, New York DEAR IN THE BALANCE: Your job is to constantly teach your daughter how to protect herself as she is growing up. She should always be mindful of her surroundings, and -- as she is doing -- it is best to travel at least in pairs. For your friend, ask him to speak to her whenever he sees her so she knows someone who cares about her is looking out for her. Ask him to tell you whenever he sees her. Then when you tell her she will realize, as the old folks used to say, you do have eyes in the back of your head. We need a village to help protect and raise our children to keep them safe. Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Imperial Valley News Center NORTHCOM Visits USS Kearsarge Caribbean Sea - Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command, visited the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). Robinson, the combatant commander for Defense Support of Civil Authorities, is overall in charge of military humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, toured the ship, met with senior leaders and spoke to the crew. "While our mission is to fight and win our nation's wars, helping Americans in their greatest time of need will always be a sacred responsibility for us all," Robinson said. "That is exactly what you have done and continue to do." Kearsarge is assisting with relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The Department of Defense is supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal agency, in helping those affected by Hurricane Maria to minimize suffering and is one component of the overall whole-of-government response effort. Imperial Valley News Center U.S. Postal Services Save Sharks Forever Stamps Debut at San Diego Zoo San Diego, California - The San Diego Zoo hosted a ceremony this morning to debut a U.S. Postal Service special pictorial stamp dedicated to sharks. The ceremony was held at the all-new Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks exhibit and featured remarks by representatives from the San Diego Zoo and U.S. Postal Service (USPS), followed by special enrichment activities for the leopard sharks residing at the Cape Fynbos habitat at Africa Rocks. This ceremony kicked off a daylong pictorial cancellation opportunity at the San Diego Zoo promoting the sale of the USPS Sharks Forever stamps featuring five species of shark that inhabit American waters. The five species include the mako, thrasher, great white, hammerhead and whale sharks. Speakers referenced the need to raise awareness for sharks as they face continued threats from wildlife trafficking. The leopard sharks housed at the San Diego Zoo are one of the most common shark species found along the coast of California, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists the leopard shark as a species of Least Concern. The 12 sharks in the Cape Fynbos penguin habitat range in age from 5 to 20 years, and they average between 3 and 5 feet in length. Visitors to the San Diego Zoo can see the leopard sharks swimming alongside the Zoos colony of endangered African penguins when the Cape Fynbos habitat at Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks opens July 1. Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is inspiring children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in childrens hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global. The difference between Encryption, Hashing and Salting Davis, California - Quick, do you know the difference between encryption and hashing? Do you know what salting is? Do you want to? Thats a rhetorical question - Im going to tell you anyway. Encryption and hashing are sometimes confused with one another. Salting not so much. But its worth taking a look at all three so that we can better understand encryption as a whole. What is Encryption? Encryption is the practice of scrambling information in a way that only someone with a corresponding key can unscramble and read it. Encryption is a two-way function. When you encrypt something, youre doing so with the intention of decrypting it later. This is a key distinction between encryption and hashing. Encryption dates back to ancient Egypt (and possibly earlier, Egypt is the first time it appears in written record). Ancient Egyptian encryption was decidedly simpler than what encryption looks like today. As was Caesars encryption, which stands as one of the most important examples of encryption in history. Caesar used a simple cipher that simply changed letters around. It was extraordinarily useful though, making any information intercepted by Caesars opponents practically useless. Lets take a look at encryption using a simple cipher. In this case Im going to encrypt the sentence, Dont be a doody-head using a cipher that just replaces each letter with one that is sequentially three places ahead of it. Dont be a doody-head becomes Grqw eh d grrgb-khdg Ive omitted the punctuation for the sake of simplicity (also I have no idea how to encrypt an apostrophe). Now, using the corresponding key, someone else could decrypt this message and read it. Obviously, the ciphers we use in digital encryption are much more complex, but you get the general idea behind it. What is Hashing? Hashing is the practice of using an algorithm to map data of any size to a fixed length. This is called a hash value. Whereas encryption is a two-way function, hashing is a one-way function. While its technically possible to reverse hash something, the computing power required makes it unfeasible. Hashing is one-way. Now, whereas encryption is meant to protect data in transit, hashing is meant to verify that a file or piece of data hasnt been alteredthat it is authentic. Heres how it works, each hashing algorithm outputs at a fixed length. So for instance, you may hear about SHA-256, that means that the algorithm is going to output a hash value that is 256 characters long. Every hash value is unique. But, if two different files produce the same unique hash value this is called a collision and it makes the algorithm essentially useless. Earlier this year, Google created a collision with the SHA-1 hashing algorithm to demonstrate that its vulnerable. SHA-1 was officially phased out in favor of SHA-2 in early 2016. But Google had a point to make so it devoted two years worth of funds, man hours and talent in a partnership with a lab in Amsterdam to make something that was to that point more of an abstraction into a reality. Thats a long way to go to prove a point. But Google went there. Anyway, heres an example of hashing, lets say you want to digitally sign a piece of software and make it available for download on your website. To do this, youre going to create a hash of the script or executable youre signing, then after adding your digital signature youll hash that, too. Following this, the whole thing is encrypted so it can be downloaded. When a customer downloads the software, their browser is going to decrypt the file, then inspect the two unique hash values. The browser will then run the same hash function, using the same algorithm, and hash both the file and the signature again. If the browser produces the same hash value then it knows that both the signature and the file are authenticthey have not been altered. If its not, the browser issues a warning. Remember, no two files can create the same hash value, so any alteration even the tiniest tweak will produce a different value. What is Salting? Salting is a concept that typically pertains to password hashing. Essentially, its a unique value that can be added to the end of the password to create a different hash value. This adds a layer of security to the hashing process, specifically against brute force attacks. A brute force attack is where a computer or botnet attempt every possible combination of letters and numbers until the password is found. Anyway, when salting, the additional value is referred to as a salt. The idea is that by adding a salt to the end of a password and then hashing it, youve essentially complicated the password cracking process. Lets look at a quick example. Say the password I want to salt looks like this: 7X57CKG72JVNSSS9 Your salt is just the word SALT Before hashing, you add SALT to the end of the data. So, it would look like this: 7X57CKG72JVNSSS9SALT The hash value is different than it would be for just the plain unsalted password. Remember, even the slightest variation to the data being hashed will result in a different unique hash value. By salting your password youre essentially hiding its real hash value by adding an additional bit of data and altering the hash value. Now, if a brute force attacker knows your salt, its essentially worthless. They can just add it to the end of every password variation theyre attempting and eventually find it. We could write an entire article on password security and whether its still even a useful safeguard and we will sometime but for now that should be a passable definition of salting. And a quick aside, if you hadnt put two and two together by now, our name, Hashed Out, is a play on the popular idiom for discussing something and the hashing process involved in SSL encryption. Hey Patrick, thats really clever. Thank you for noticing. Les Chateaux De France, Inc. Recalls Bacon-Wrapped Scallops Washington, DC - Les Chateaux De France, Inc., an Inwood, N.Y. establishment, is recalling approximately 4,225 pounds of bacon-wrapped scallops due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. The products contain milk, a known allergen, which was not declared on the product label. The frozen, raw, marinated scallops wrapped in bacon were produced on various dates from April 19, 2016 through October 13, 2017. 3.5-lb. plastic-lined, boxed packages containing 100 pieces of MARINATED SCALLOPS WRAPPED IN BACON SECURED WITH A TOOTHPICK. The products subject to recall bear establishment number EST. 1393 inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to institutional locations in Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The problem was discovered on October 17, 2017 by an FSIS Enforcement, Investigations and Analysis Officer (EIAO) while conducting a Food Safety Assessment (FSA). There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. Consumers and media with questions about the recall can contact Jerry Shapiro, owner, at (516) 239-6795 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Chad Visa Restrictions Washington, DC - National Security Advisor Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster spoke to Chad President Idriss Deby Itno to underscore the importance of the bilateral relationship and Chads effort as a key partner in countering terrorism. In a recent Presidential Proclamation, the United States identified the need for Chad to enhance identity management practices and information sharing requirements. In response, the Government of Chad has shown a clear willingness to work closely with us on these issues. The United States is committed to working with Chad to address the deficiencies, toward the goal of improving vetting capabilities and lifting visa restrictions. Our assistance to Chad continues in all areas including security and humanitarian assistance. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight 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 Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There are few satirists who have made Britain laugh quite like Armando Iannucci, the mastermind behind The Thick of It, Im Alan Partridge and Veep. Critical acclaim has welcomed almost all of his projects, winning the 52-year-old some famous fans. Among them is Jason Isaacs, who admits to being familiar with every nanosecond of Iannuccis output, from the Oscar-nominated In the Loop to the BBC Radio 4 show On the Hour. As with all of his work, Iannuccis second feature film, The Death of Stalin, which stars Isaacs along with Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin and Andrea Riseborough has touched a few nerves. Centring on the aftermath of the Soviet leaders death, and based on a graphic novel of the same name, Russias Communist Party has already called on the Kremlin to ban the film. Sitting down with The Independent, Iannucci spoke about the upcoming project (likening the titular characters reign of terror to Americas current President), while also discussing Brexit, heading into space, and learning how to laugh at Donald Trump. Read the full Q&A below. Before this, I rewatched The Thick of It. You must have been depressed! Now that seems like a golden age, where politics actually worked. I remember watching In the Loop with my dad, who joked how it must be difficult constantly seeing the world in such a cynical way. The scary thing is, In the Loop was true. When we played the film in Washington, one congressional aide put their hand up and said, Can we just apologise, because all of that is true. In the Loop was based on the stories we had heard in the lead-up to the Iraq War, the misunderstandings. The Defence Secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, was recruiting people to help run Iraq after the invasion. You had people who did not know the language or the customs. There was a period at these barriers where marines would put their hand up to say stop, but the cars would keep driving forwards and the marines would shoot. It took six months before someone explained that putting your hand up meant come forward. There are lots of politicians who say the film was demeaning politics but privately they says its worse in real life. Watching The Thick of It now, as part of the media, I look at certain characters and see people in my building. Theres this constant pressure to perform, to be perfect. For the cameras, the microphones, and if you get a word wrong especially now with social media you have 24 hours of abuse. Peter Capaldi and the cast in Iannuccis brilliant political sitcom The Thick of It With Twitter being so widely used now, the show would surely be very different today? The characters would all be wrecks by the end, more than they were. Theres this mob rule taking place on social media which is a disturbing thing to see. Social media can be great, especially for engaging people and getting a message out there. The other side is, if anyone says something different to you, rather than engage with them you just cut them off. Democracy is about different opinions coming together, trying to hammer out something that appeals to the most people. Today, if you say something I disagree with, I can block you. Thats how democracy breaks down. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Theres been nothing quite like it before. I wonder if there will be a backlash against it? I know of young people who have switched their Twitter off, they want to get out of Facebook. Im often tempted! So, The Death of Stalin. You have always told timely stories, so why this one now? A few years ago, I wanted to tackle a contemporary authority figure, perhaps a dictator, a populist, or a cult leader. Someone like Putin, or Erdogan in Turkey. This was, of course, pre-Trump. When the production company introduced the graphic novel, I knew this was the story. Why look at something else? This happened. As if to say, this happened, lets not do this again. By the time The Death of Stalin finally comes out, weve had Trump, and the parallels are just Anyone Stalin disagreed with was called an enemy of the people, you were criminalised. Trump calls you fake news and unpatriotic. Its that same tendency of someone who wants to run the country by himself, not wanting anyone to oppose him. I find it disturbing. Iannuccis new film The Death of Stalin harks back to the political intrigue of the 1950s And now you have Putin possibly not letting your film play in Russia. So far thats just been one person in the Communist Party who was quoted on a website somewhere. Thats it. We have a Russian distributor who will go through the normal process. Like what we talking about earlier, when these things appear on a website that looks like The Guardian its as if they become absolute scientific incontrovertible fact. They get quoted and quoted again until they become official news. Everything looks official on the web, but its just somebody, somewhere, in some obscure bedroom, saying I think Damian Green looks like a fish. Before you know it, its almost like Damian Green is a fish because the story appeared on a website that looks official. The upside would be stories about someone like Harvey Weinstein are finally getting covered. Absolutely. You can quickly subvert the channels of censorship. There are these tremendous upsides, but like anything, we have to think about what were doing. For instance, the car is great but it kills people. It also gets people very successfully from A to B. We just have to monitor it in a way that we can reduce the bad aspects and improve the good aspects. At the moment, we have this mindset where we believe everything should just be anarchic. You can download instructions on how to make a bomb. If we let it go completely, it will become like the wild west. Whats your fascination with telling stories like The Death of Stalin and The Thick of It? I really dont know. I think, when you start off as a writer, you write about what you are interested in. Im keen on politics. I want people to be actively engaged in politics. It was great that the last election inspired more young people to come out in higher numbers. Its also the drama of politics, particularly in the UK. One minute you have a majority government, which means you have absolute power, unlike what you have in other countries. If you are the prime minister with a big majority you can do whatever you like, within reason. If its against the law, you can change the law. But, hold an election and the next day you can be out, loading stuff into the back of a van and driving off. 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson Youve previously said Brexit is almost too depressing to make fun of. Do you still think that? Its hard to be funny about Brexit. Everyone says its the biggest crisis to hit the UK since the Second World War. So what did we do then? We had a national unity government. But weve lost that sense of reaching out to the other side. The last election showed us no one party commands a majority, so why do we still have one party monopolising the negations? Clearly, the Conservatives are divided from top to bottom. Wouldnt it be better for the two leaders to come together and take us forward. Im not saying there should be a coalition government, but if this is the biggest thing to hit the country since the war then why arent they stepping up and doing something as radical? Part of the frustration is no party leader wants to give ground to any other. Labour said if Theresa May cant do it, well do it, but they should both be doing it! If you look at how the election turned out, thats where you get your majority. Do you fear the same making fun of Trump? The danger is turning him into a comedy character. Because then he becomes a clown, someone who is quite containable. Hes not. Trumps dangerous. Hes unstable. Hes not an idiot, hes deranged. Thats why I like what John Oliver does because he does journalism. His way of being funny about Trump is to explore the facts and lay them out. The discrepancy between what he said then and now, between wanting to this here and now, thats where the comedy is. Its a comedy of realising what an absurd situation were in. Its nervous laughter rather than raucous laughter. Is laughter, then, still the best medicine? Theres a satirical tradition in the UK which means we dont protest. In Europe, they man the barricades and storm the palace and release the prisoners. Here, we make jokes. Theres always a danger that means, fundamentally, we dont disrupt as much as we could do. If Im really excised by a political issue, I just want to write about it, not make jokes, to encourage people to take part, to protest and demonstrate and write to their MP. To voice their concerns, to make contact with people in politics. With Trump in the US and Brexit here, the world seems a pretty terrible place. Is that why your next show heads into into outer space? Unfortunately, the crew have a lot of people with them who remind them of home. They try to come up with a new version of society starting from scratch, but things dont go to plan. The Death of Stalin is in cinemas now. 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 The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A French chauffeur has accused Harvey Weinstein of beating him up when prostitutes he expected to meet did not turn up. Mickael Chemloul, who worked for the disgraced film producer in Cannes between 2008 and 2013, said much of his work revolved around transporting young female actors and models for Weinstein. Mr Chemloul said some of these aspiring female actors would be left crying after their encounters with Weinstein, who was known as The Pig in Cannes, and he felt like he was driving them into the jaws of the wolf. He said some even left Weinsteins home barefoot. Weinstein is currently facing rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment allegations and is the subject of criminal investigations on both sides of the Atlantic. I had the feeling of driving poor innocent people, innocent girls, to the jaws of the wolf and I could not say to them: Be careful where youre heading its dangerous, the chaffeur told French TV channel BFMTV. When they left Weinsteins place, there was sadness; they were melancholy. I didnt know what had happened, but I had to console them offer them water, or a cigarette. But it was the response of a young woman who was a massive aficionado of Weinsteins which troubled him most. The one that most struck me was a girl who was a fan of his, who loved him and followed him for years, he recalled. She gave him her body, her soul everything to this man because he promised hed find her castings and make a film, which never happened. Mr Chemloul, who is penning a book about Weinstein called The Last Monster of Hollywood, said he had not seen her since 2010 at Nice airport when she had no money for her flight out. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up He alleged his own encounters with Weinstein were fraught and the Pulp Fiction producer was often abusive towards him and would shout Stupid driver! at him in English. 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. The chauffeur alleges that on 14 July 2013 Weinstein got incensed after prostitutes did not show up at Club 55 beach bar in St Tropez and beat him so badly he was not able to work for four days. He went crazy and hit me. At that moment, there was no question - Id never work for him again, said Mr Chemloul. He said he went to the police in 2014 but the prosecutor refused to go ahead and press charges. A spokesperson for Weinstein told The Independent: There was never any altercation between the driver and Mr Weinstein. The driver was terminated by the company because of his habit of speeding, many times as fast as 140 miles per hour. "It is a fallacy that the driver procured any meetings of any kind with anyone for Mr Weinstein or anyone else at the company. He was a driver and that was his sole task. Dozens of women have come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment against the embattled movie mogul who has now been sacked from his namesake company and expelled from the Oscars. The Weinstein fallout exploded earlier in the month when The New York Times published a bombshell story about Weinstein's numerous settlements with women and included Ashley Judd accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment. This was followed by a 10-month investigative piece in The New Yorker that included three women who accused him of rape. Weinstein denies all accusations of nonconsensual sex. 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, his spokesperson told The Independent in a statement. 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 The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond set tongues wagging at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and - going by this brand new trailer brought to you exclusively by The Independent - it's easy to see why. The film hones in on actor Jim Carrey and his time spent portraying the erratic comedian Andy Kaufman for Milos Forman film Man on the Moon released in 1999. Director Chris Smith worked through approximately 100 hours of footage shot on the film's set compiling Carreys controversial four-month transformation into Kaufman which the actor himself describes as a crazy melodrama." The Great Beyond sees Carrey reflecting on the footage - shot by his girlfriend at the time Lynne Margulies and former writing partner Bob Zmuda - 18 years later. "Universal didn't want the footage we took behind the scenes to surface so people wouldn't think I was an a**hole," he can be heard saying in the trailer. 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson Carrey won a Golden Globe for the role - his second in a row after The Truman Show. Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond will be released 17 November on Netflix. 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 The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It has been a difficult year for Hollywood with summer box office dipping in alarming fashion and the Harvey Weinstein scandal casting a shadow over the independent sector. This is the point at which you need a good Marvel superhero film to come to the rescue. Thor: Ragnarok doesnt entirely fit the bill. Its kitsch and colourful. Its New Zealand director Taika Waititi accentuates the comedy and brings plenty of energy to proceedings but the in-jokes and self-mocking humour cant hide the fact that the action here seems little different from that in any other Marvel superhero film. As for the plot, that is very convoluted indeed. The big departure here is that Thor goes through much of the movie without his beloved hammer. He is also made to suffer the indignity of a haircut. In his fifth outing in the role, Hemsworth plays the character in familiar tongue-in-cheek fashion. Thor may be a demi-god and Crown Prince of Asgard but hes not the type to take himself too seriously. The first time we encounter him, he is in chains, locked up in a cage and seemingly about to be toasted by an evil fire god. Even in such a predicament, he just cant stop the banter. When his oppressor refers to him as son of Odin, he refers back to his fiery foe as son of a bitch. Thor comes from a very extended family. For once, his main source of grief in Ragnarok is not his endlessly deceitful and cunning adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston, as sleek as ever but not quite as malevolent as in previous Marvel movies). Thors nemesis this time round is Hela, Goddess of Death. Cate Blanchett plays this character in high camp fashion as if she is a dominatrix version of the wicked witch from The Wizard Of Oz. In combat kit, she looks the spitting image of Angelina Jolies Maleficent. Hela is very angry indeed and is determined to go on a wrecking spree. She is the one who will unleash Ragnarok, which means end of days. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has been sent to the Shady Acres care home in New York not exactly where you expect to find a Norse god. However, that care home has been demolished and the one-eyed king now seems to be spending his final days by the seaside in Norway. Its thanks to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) that Thor is able to track down his old man. Thors scene with Strange is enjoyably bizarre but also slightly pointless. Strange is only seen for a minute or two and his function is simply to bridge a gap in the storyline and to fill up by magic Thors huge tankard of Scandinavian lager. 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson For a brief period, it is as if we are watching two separate films. On one side of the cosmos, Thor is a prisoner of the softly spoken but very nasty Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), ruler of the planet Sakaar, who likes to stage gladiatorial contests and to burn his enemies to death with his big melting stick. On the other, in far away Asgard, Hela is wreaking havoc. Heimdall (Idris Elba) is trying to protect the Asgardians but its an uphill battle, even if he does have a magic sword. There are many thousands of miles between the two planets and the quickest route from one to the other is to find safe passage through a molten gap in the sky called the devils anus. (Cue the predictable sniggering.) At least, the characterisation here is very vivid. One of the most engaging new protagonists is the hard-drinking warrior and bounty hunter Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). She has very close connections to Asgard but has been drowning her sorrows on faraway Sakaar. Karl Urban also makes a strong impression as the opportunistic Skurge, a bit of a sleazeball but one with a good heart underneath it all. Director Waititi himself plays Korg, a stoneman and would-be revolutionary who has been working as a gladiator. A wonderfully laidback type with a very wry turn of phrase, Korg is certainly more articulate than the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who has been the Grandmasters champion in the gladiatorial arena for two years. In that period, he hasnt once been transformed back into scientist Bruce Banner. As if taking his cue from Hemsworths Thor, Waititi as director is always looking for an excuse for undercutting the darkest scenes with some comic business. The result is that the film seems a bit of a lark and theres very little sense of threat. Even when Hela summons back a gigantic, slavering dog from the dead, this vicious mutt is far less terrifying than youd expect. Thor is certainly put through the wringer here: beaten up, made to endure slavery and gladiatorial combat, taunted, tasered and subjected to the barbers scissors. Nothing affects his good humour. There is no sense that he is on a spiritual journey or is learning new lessons about himself. Hes precisely the same genial, laidback presence at the end of the movie as he is as the start. Given that he is supposed to be saving the world from apocalypse, you might expect him to take matters just a little more seriously. Thor: Ragnarok is fun in its own kinetic, comic book fashion but it doesnt have any dramatic urgency whatsoever. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This 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 Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In case anyone wasnt clear about the message of Nadine Shahs latest album, Holiday Destination, she gave an overt and timely reminder in Manchester last night. This song is for anyone who doesnt like immigration because theyre f****** idiots, Shah shouted before Out of the Way, a track detailing the fearful rise of Nationalism, deafens the venue. Met with universal applause, Shah added: I know Im preaching to the converted in herebut its so important for me to keep telling everybody. Born in South Shields, Shah is a British Muslim, a second-generation immigrant with Norwegian and Pakistani heritage. As well as experiencing her own othering in the current political landscape (she was questioned about her heritage on a recent visit to the US), Shah was bewildered by the lack of empathy seen at the global refugee crisis and the division brought about in local communities through the re-emergence of fascist ideology and rhetoric, especially that peddled by right-wing media. "Yes Men" saw such media get a particular damning from Shah last night, her band merging an imaginative blend of post-punk with Krautrock to convey their disorientation at the state of the world. On many tracks, subtle drone like undertones build into crushing guitar crunches to correlate with Shahs increasing lyrical anger. Often, Shahs songs built to a moment of disorientating deconstruction where were forced as listeners to experience unfamiliar alienation, crossing uncanny musical borders in the process as genres clash and jar. Its deliberately unsettling surrealism, forcing us to empathise with those in similar situations around the world, to play a tiny part in humanising the dehumanised, as Shah put it last night, her theatrical voice all the while conveying the drama of characters experiencing this every day. There are millions of people all over the world displaced in situations we could never imagine because were so f****** lucky, Shah said before final emotive song "Mother Fighter". Dedicated to a political activist and mother, Raga, a character who Shah discovered via the film A Syrian Love Story, the song sees Shah at her angriest: these streets they are yours and theyre mine, she scorns to those who think otherwise. Early into the song, Shah jumped from the stage and wandered amongst the crowd, singing directly to, and reaching out to, as many in the room as she could, perhaps modelling the example of empathy she wants mirrored in the world. Shahs voice has, if anything, pushed its theatricality even further, becoming more exaggerated as she satires the absurdity of certain characters or situations. The percussion of Ben Hillier on drums (her co-writer and producer) and Ben Nicolas on bass drive Shahs urgent message through, as does the frantic saxophone of Pete Wareham and evocative piano playing from Shah herself. "Jolly Sailor", a song about the corruption of communities by right-wing ideologies, is one of the most brutally emotive of the evening and showcases how far Shah and her band have come in recent years. As well as the political, Shah still levels in the personal, reaching out to people through the more familiar themes of mental health and failed relationships, making intense, individual contact with her audience as always. Channelling "Let England Shake "era PJ Harvey and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Shah last night showed us how we find compassion and hope in the current wilderness; hers is a pervasive sonic and lyrical narrative. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter 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 IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Walking Dead season eight is almost here (read our spoiler-free review) with the threat of Negan looming larger than ever - however, one cast member has warned viewers of the bigger danger the characters should not be forgetting about. Ahead of the premiere episode, we spoke to British actor Lennie James - who plays Morgan Jones - who stated that one of the eighth season's most exciting aspects is the danger of the walkers. With the battle between Rick and the villainous Negan poised to bring explosive action to screens around the world, it becomes easy for viewers to forget that these characters are actually still surrounded by hordes of the undead desperate to tear them limb to limb - asking if we should forget about them as a threat, James said: No, we really shouldn't. One of the things thats most exciting about this season is the danger of the walkers - its forthright front and centre all over again. Teasing how they'll be incorporated into the forthcoming season, he said: There are some fantastic walker encounters. Theyre used as a weapon a lot in the battles. Theyve not been ignored in season eight - and on a number of occasion they are the difference between winning and losing. With the show set to air its 100th episode this Sunday (22 October), it's a relief to hear the team behind the series have continued to find creative ways of bringing these zombies to screen after eight years. Lennie James as Morgan in 'The Walking Dead' We also asked the actor - who briefly appeared in Blade Runner 2049 - about his views on whether the group could survive without Rick following the intensifying rumours suggesting the character may soon die. Yes. I do, James said. I think that anything is possible as this shows proven over and over again. Its managed to carry on without Glenn. Its managed to carry on without Abraham. Its managed to carry on without a number of characters you thought the show couldnt survive without, so its possible, yes. TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Show all 16 1 /16 TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Jessica Jones Starring: Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Tennant Start date: 8 March, Netflix Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for The OA Starring: Brit Marling, Emory Cohen, Phyllis Smith, Patrick Gibson, Jason Isaacs Start date: 15 March, Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Trust Starring:Hilary Swank, Brendan Fraser, Donald Sutherland, Harris Dickinson, Anna Chancellor Start date: 25 March 2018, AMC (Sky Atlantic air date TBA) FX Productions TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for A Series of Unfortunate Events Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Malina Weissman, Patrick Warburton, Lucy Punch, Tony Hale, Nathan Fillion Start date: 30 March, Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Atlanta Robbin Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Malina Weissman, Patrick Warburton, Lucy Punch, Tony Hale, Nathan Fillion Start date: 30 March, FOX (UK air date TBA) Matthias Clamer/FX TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Legion Starring: Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart, Jemaine Clement Start date: 17 April, FOX 20th Television TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for The Alienist Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans, Dakota Fanning, Brian Geraghty Start date: 19 April, Netflix Warner Bros. Television Distribution TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Westworld Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, James Marsden Start date: 21 April, HBO TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Fear the Walking Dead Starring: Kim Dickens, Lennie James, Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam Carey, Colman Domingo, Maggie Grace Start date: 23 April, AMC on BT TV Richard Foreman, Jr/AMC TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for The Handmaid's Tale Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Samira Riley, Yvonne Strahovski, Ann Dowd Start date: 25 April, Hulu (Channel 4 air date TBA) Hulu TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Better Call Saul Start date: TBA, Netflix Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Call the Midwife series 7 Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Kate Lamb, Stephen McGann, Leonie Elliott Vanessa Redgrave, Kate Lamb, Stephen McGann, Leonie Elliott Start date: TBA, BBC One TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for House of Cards Start date: TBA, Netflix Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for 13 Reasons Why Start date: TBA, Netflix TBA, Netflix TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for This Is Us season 2 Start date: TBA, Channel 4 TBA, Channel 4 Ron Batzdorff/NBC TV preview 2018: Everything to look out for Unforgotten series 3 Start date: TBA, ITV1 Do I think its something I would necessarily like to see? Absolutely not. The Walking Dead season eight airs on 22 October in the US on AMC with the UK premiere arriving the following evening (Monday 23 October) at 9pm on FOX and NOW TV. You can read our spoiler-free thoughts on the premiere here. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email 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 Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Pollution is killing 50,000 people a year in the UK, according to a damning new report, which lays bare the toxic danger posed by contaminated air and water. The problem is responsible for more deaths in Britain than almost all of its Western European neighbours, the study says, and suggests a higher death toll in the UK from pollution than had been feared. Experts had previously estimated that 40,000 people were dying in the UK from air pollution, which itself had led to calls for immediate action from the Government. The new findings, from a two-year project involving more than 40 international researchers, show the worlds air quality is reaching crisis point and must be dealt with urgently. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan Globally, nine million people died in 2015 as a result of air pollution. Many of those deaths occur in the developing world but even among rich countries, a huge number of people are dying as a result of unclean air and other pollution. The new research shows that people are in the grip of a profound and pervasive threat that is damaging human health and well-being, according to the scientists behind it. Not enough is done to halt one of the biggest killers of people in the world, they said. Recommended Delhi air pollution hits hazardous levels on night of Diwali The obvious solutions are available to governments in the UK and across the world, said campaigners. But they are failing to confront the challenge and further deaths will come, they warned. The UK has repeatedly suggested that it will work on a new clean air act, but has been criticised for delaying many of the most important measures to tackle pollution. A tax on diesel fuel, for instance, would help bring cleaner air, the campaigners said. Others urged the Government to work quickly to establish clean air zones and encourage people to use more environmentally friendly forms of transport. Air pollution from vehicles and factories is the most fatal of all the deadly pollution, killing 6.5 million people a year. But hazards are found in water and elsewhere, the researchers found, including pollution of water supplies that lead to infectious diseases. Most pollution victims around the world died as a result of non-communicable conditions such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), said researchers. But others still die from unsafe water that transmits other deadly illnesses, a problem that is linked to 1.8 million deaths. Many of the pollution-related deaths around the world come from quickly growing countries, whose populations suffer as building construction and new cars damage the environment. In the most severely affected countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Madagascar, and Kenya, up to a quarter of all deaths were caused by pollution. But pollution was found to be hurting that economic development, causing damage equivalent to 1.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in low-income countries. Diseases from pollution took up an estimated 1.7 per cent of healthcare spending in high-income countries such as the UK and 7 per cent in middle-income countries. This report reveals the consequences air pollution can have when left unchecked. Air pollution is reaching crisis point worldwide, and the UK is fairing worse than many countries in Western Europe and the US, said Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation. A contributing factor could be our dependence on diesel vehicles, notorious for pumping out a higher amount of poisonous particles and gases. These hit hardest people with a lung condition, children and the elderly. The Government should act immediately by using the Budget to amend the tax system to stop incentivising diesel vehicles, and finally commit to a new clean air act. Among countries in Western Europe, only Belgium is worse than the UK for the number of deaths caused by pollution. Some 8.39 per cent of deaths in the UK came from pollution, far worse than other countries like the US, where more than 155,000 people died who made up just 5.74 per cent of the deaths. The researchers behind the study said they hoped it served as a wake up call for politicians and other authorities. The findings came as part of the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, which looked at deaths in 2015. That project is looking to pull together information from the Global Burden of Disease study, a huge inquiry into the leading causes of death and illness worldwide, to come up with the findings published in The Lancet journal. Professor Philip Landrigan, from the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, who co-led the investigation, said: "Pollution is much more than an environmental challenge it is a profound and pervasive threat that affects many aspects of human health and well-being. "It deserves the full attention of international leaders, civil society, health professionals, and people around the world. Despite its far-reaching effects on health, the economy and the environment, pollution has been neglected in the international assistance and the global health agendas, and some control strategies have been deeply underfunded. "Our goal is to raise global awareness of the importance of pollution, and mobilise the political will needed to tackle it, by providing the most in-depth estimates of pollution and health available." The British Heart Foundation warned that the effects of pollution were not simply focused on poor countries, but also the poorest within those countries. Illness and death from unclean air and water disproportionately affects the poor, said its chief executive. "These figures are a stark reminder of the deadly toll air pollution is having worldwide, said Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said. "Globally, we know an estimated 80 per cent of premature deaths from air pollution are caused by heart disease and stroke. "In the UK, poor air quality disproportionately affects some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our communities, including the young, elderly and those with existing cardiovascular conditions. And the problem is being exacerbated by a government that is failing to do its bit to clean up the affected air and water, according to campaign group ClientEarth. Theres no doubt that air pollution is a worldwide public health problem. Here in the UK, there are illegal levels of air pollution across the country, harming peoples health on a daily basis, said Andrea Lee, Healthy Air Campaigner for ClientEarth. Despite this, the UK government has persistently failed to take effective action to bring it to within legal levels. We need a national network of clean air zones to take the dirtiest vehicles out of the most polluted parts of our towns and cities and help for people to move to cleaner forms of transport. But ministers continue to dither and delay and we continue to breathe toxic air. Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts Sign up for our free IndyBest email 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 IndyBest email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The practice of lobbing fruit and spices into barrels of rum is nothing new. Distillers have been blending their rums with all kinds of adjuncts for centuries whether to help thirsty sailors ward off scurvy, or to mask off-flavours of their dodgy grog. Until recently, spiced rum has been the poor relation to its pure, barrel-aged cousins, seen as a party drink rather than something for the connoisseur. A few respected spiced rum brands such as Captain Morgan and Sailor Jerry have been bobbing around the spicy seas for years, but now a once niche style of spirit is being seized upon by distillers keen to capitalise on the ever expanding market for innovative, flavoured booze. Spice is in vogue, and for those who like a flavoursome twist to their cocktails or simply an alternative sipping choice to straight rum, there are many products to choose from. Heres our top ten, guaranteed to flush your cheeks and warm your cockles. You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent. 1. Chairmans Reserve Spiced Rum, 40%: 22.99 for 70cl, Drinks Supermarket You can see why Chairmans has been so clutchy with this slick, spicy export from the revered St Lucia Distillery. The initial citrus twist of orange peel gives way to a warm wash of caramel, nutmeg and a delicate smattering of cinnamon. It's the perfect balance of sweetness and spice. Dont waste this one on mucky mojitos make like the Chairman and save it for best. Buy now 2. Foursquare Spiced Rum, 37.5%: 29.31 for 70cl, Amazon Blended by the molasses-stained hands of Master Distiller Richard Searle, Foursquare Spiced Rum is a high caliber, smooth sipping treat, packed with bags of butterscotch flavour and underlying hints of cherries and almond. This is a classic Bajan Rum distilled with both column and pot stills which makes for a light, fruity spirit that has been enhanced not dictated by flavours of cinnamon and ginger. Expertly done. Buy now 3. Elements Eight Exotic Spices, 40%: 26.34 for 70cl, Ministry of Drinks Elements Eight has the word artisan plastered on the bottle, but fear not this is no slick marketing gimmick to entice and ensnare a booze-craving hipster. Its a mellow sipper, with emphasis on orange peel and ginger. Honey and toffee combine with light floral notes, backed up with cinnamon, cloves and a hint of coconut. If you prefer your spiced rums a tad sweet, this is the one to reach for. Buy now 4. Dead Mans Fingers Rum, 37.5%: 22.95 for 70cl, Amazon The folks at St Ives Rum & Crab Shack know a thing or two about rums; pop in for a crustacean-crunching lunch and youll be greeted with an eclectic rum menu that would make the most sea weary pirate go Arrrrrrrrr. This spiced rum is one of its own creations a vanilla led booze with a heady nose of cola-cubes and toffee. Dont expect a tooth-dissolving, sickly sipper though, for these Dead Man's Fingers havent been lingering in the sweetie jar on taste, it's a dry, well-balanced tipple, with marmalade and cloves adding fruity depth. Buy now 6. Bumbu Rum, 35%: 34.60 for 70cl, The Drinks Shop Head for the bottle marked with an X, as this bourbon, barrel-aged rum certainly hits the spot. Based on the original recipe created by 16th and 17th century West Indian sailors, its a smooth, vanilla-led rum that riffs off the Christmassy, thrice-spice triangle of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bumbu will hoist up many a cocktail and makes a particularly fine dark mojito. Add 2oz rum to 1oz demerara sugar syrup and squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Shake with ice, pour into a tall glass and top up with soda water. Buy now 7. Ron de Jeremy Spiced Rum, Hardcore Edition, 47%: 36.90 for 70cl, Urban Drinks Were guessing elderly, ex-pornstar Ron Jeremy doesnt get as many bookings as he used to, hence hes turned his attentions to the delicate art of rum making. The suggestive brand marketing leans heavily on Jeremys eye-popping career, but to be fair on Ron, this is a fine booze that more than holds its own in the spiced rum market. It comes in two varieties, the Original Spiced, and our favorite, Rons Hardcore Edition a strapping 47 per cent beast, packed with bold notes of butterscotch, cloves and allspice. Sip it naked, splash it over ice, or slip it into a cocktail for a spicy surprise. Buy now 10. Don Q Spiced Rum, 45%: 28.95 for 70cl, Ocado Made from a heady blend of three to six-year-old rums, this Puerto Rican piquant potion has been given extra tannic bite thanks to the oak barrel aging process. Vanilla, spice and toasted nuts dominate the nose, with a fruity, boozy christmas cake on taste. Dons finish is soft, slow and warming. This rum makes a super spiced daiquiri mix 2oz rum, 1oz cointreau, 1oz lime juice, 1oz sugar syrup, shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and form an orderly Q. Buy now 5. Spytail Black Ginger Rum, 40%: 38.90 for 70cl, Urban Drinks A relative newcomer on the spiced rum scene, this French treat pours dark mahogany from a bulbous, bathysphere-shaped bottle, inspired by Jules Verne and his tales of underwater escapades. Its based on a 19th century recipe that has punchy ginger spices dominating proceedings with a long-lasting, piquant, bonfire-toffee finish. Its a delicious, flavoursome booze with which to submerge your tonsils. Buy now 8. Wester Spirit Co. Premium Spiced Rum, 40%: 35 for 70cl, Wester Spirit Co. A Scottish, Caribbean-style rum might sound at odds with itself, but Glasgows Candleriggs Quarter has a long, historic association with sugar refinement, so the leap from palm-fringed Barbadian sands to the Clydeside docks is not so vast. Westers offering is a premium-priced, spiced sipper that pours the colour of deep mahogany with a cola candy nose. Its a dry, complex drink with sweet vanilla cut with hints of citrus. Spice is supplied by star anise, ginger and nutmeg, which complements the overall package. Buy now 9. Pussers Spiced Rum, 35%: 20.45 for 70cl, The Whisky Exchange Pussers already dominates the navy rum market with its flotilla of fine golden boozes, but this is its first and relatively recent foray into the spice market. Its a clear, copper-coloured rum that sails between sweetness and spice with consummate ease. There are ginger marmalade flavours ahoy, with a peppery heat courtesy of cinnamon and allspice. It works as a sipper, but also makes a mean Dark & Stormy. Combine 2oz rum and 3oz ginger beer in an ice-filled glass. Add an optional oz lime to ward off scurvy. Buy now The Verdict: Spiced rum Jemmy open the Chairman's drinks cabinet and get your hands upon his boozy bounty. Its our pick of the spice rack and a rare rum treat. Voucher codes For more offers on alcohol, try our discount code pages: Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Japan's work culture is so intense, people in the 1970s invented a word that translates to "death by overwork." "Karoshi," as it's known, involves employees committing suicide or suffering from heart failure and stroke because of long work hours. The Japanese federal government has taken steps to reduce karoshi cases, but experts fear the measures don't go far enough. Ever since the late 1970s, Japan has had a word to refer to people dying from spending too much time in the office: karoshi. The literal translation is "death by overwork." The latest employee death determined to be karoshi was 31-year-old journalist Miwa Sado. She reportedly logged 159 hours of overtime in one month at the news network NHK, before dying of heart failure in July 2013. Her death was just recently announced as karoshi in early October 2017. Before that, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi worked 105 hours of overtime in a month at the Japanese ad agency Dentsu. Takahashi leapt from her employer's roof on Christmas Day 2015. Tadashi Ishii, Dentsu's president and CEO, resigned a month later. Working yourself to death Japan's karoshi concept can be traced back to the aftermath of World War II. During the early 1950s, Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida made rebuilding Japan's economy his top priority. He enlisted major corporations to offer their employees lifelong job security, asking only that workers repay them with loyalty. The pact worked. Japan's economy is now the third largest in the world, and it's largely because of Yoshida's efforts 65 years ago. But within a decade of Yoshida's initial call, Japanese workers began committing suicide and suffering strokes or heart failure from the enormous burdens of stress and sleep deprivation. Initially, the ailment was known as "occupational sudden death," as the fatalities were primarily job-related, according to researchers studying the history of karoshi. In their quest to make good impressions on their bosses, workers began putting their undying loyalty to the ultimate test. Fast-forward to today and the picture of work-life balance in Japan is hardly any better. A 2016 report examining karoshi cases and their cause of death found that more than 20% of people in a survey of 10,000 Japanese workers said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month. In the US, 16.4% of people work an average of 49 hours or longer each week. In Japan, more than 20% do, according to the report. Half of all respondents said they don't take paid vacations. Instead of karoshi cases affecting a majority-male workforce, as they used to, now women like Takahashi and Sado also suffer the consequences of staying committed to a job. "It's 4 a.m. My body's trembling," Takahashi reportedly said in one Twitter post. "I'm going to die. I'm so tired." It's not uncommon for young employees in Japan to work long hours. Bosses expect young employees still working their way up the corporate ladder to arrive early and leave late, often well into the night. Takehiro Onuki, a 31-year-old salesman, often arrives at 8 a.m. and leaves at midnight. He sees his wife only on the weekends. So it goes for countless other Japanese employees, many of whom work in white-collar jobs that come with rigid hierarchies. Advancement is earned through back-breaking effort. And people seldom leave their jobs because finding a new one means starting from scratch, not at the level they just left. The result is an entire generation of workers desperate to seem devoted to their work. How to end karoshi for good Japan is trying to curb cases of karoshi through policies that give people more time off at work. Soon after Takahashi's suicide in December 2016, the federal government announced its Premium Friday plan. Effective immediately, workers would get the chance to leave at 3 p.m. on the last Friday of each month. Now eight months into the program, the government hasn't seen much success. Many Japanese companies are organizing their monthly finances and looking to hit sales targets at the end of the month; a shorter day has only made people busier. "We will listen to various views both from the viewpoint of boosting consumer spending and achieving work-style reform, and review the campaign if necessary," Hiroshige Seko, a Japanese politician leading the program, recently told Japan Times. Other companies have tried to minimize karoshi cases by offering breakfast to those arriving early, dissuading them from staying too late. Others have let workers take more time off as needed. Experts on Japanese culture are skeptical these measures will make a long-term impact, however. They believe Japan's true problem lies in its view of gender roles. Frances Rosenbluth, a political scientist at Yale University, has said the best strategy for cutting working hours is to give firms tax breaks if they hire more women, thereby increasing the labor pool. But she acknowledged it won't be easy. "What do you do about the fact that firms' incentives don't align with the social desirability of changing this problem?" Rosenbluth told Business Insider. "That's a hard one." Read more: This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed How Uber became the world's most valuable startup These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} He was a university boyfriend, and we were very much in love. But it was not necessarily a stable relationship and could turn quite toxic at moments, recalls Lucy* of her relationship with her ex-partner. We were on and off for six years, and lived together during years five and six. It was much more a financial decision rather one based on developing the relationship, the 26-year-old post-graduate student tells The Independent. Their relationship was failing, but Lucy and her boyfriend stayed together for two months longer than felt right because they both feared they wouldn't be able to find affordable housing alone. Trapped is how she felt during the final breaths of their relationship. And theyre not alone: relationships counsellors say that "rentlationships" are not uncommon. And research shows that those in the renting sector feel their lives are being affected by the housing crisis. The 2016 Generation Pause study by homelessness charity Shelter showed that 13million, or 60 per cent, of those aged between 18 and 44 feel poor housing delayed them achieving their life goals even though the average millennial will spend 53,000 on rent by the time they are 20. A further one in seven private renters are spending more than half of their income on rent, according to recent figures from the Local Government Association. A separate survey by mortgage adviser L&C suggested that one in ten people are prepared to stay in an unhappy relationship if it allowed them to get a foothold on the property ladder. And due to rising rents, benefit freezes and a lack of social housing more than a million households living in private rented accommodation are at a risk of becoming homeless by 2020, according to a separate Shelter study. Recommended Breadcrumbing is the latest depressing dating tactic As we were both quite carefully timing the end of work and or moving on to study, we felt we couldn't fit moving costs and or someone fitting the bill for our room on their own and had been relying on sharing rent, Lucy continues. This was a kind of unspoken thing. Both of us knew we were driving each other into the ground and knew it was coming to an end, but weren't in a position financially to move. So we let it be. At the time, Lucy was working in a post-graduate job in publishing, and her partner also had a professional role - but they both still struggled to make ends meet in the capital. I've found it difficult to pay rent and live in London without very careful concern for money," she says. "Sharing with a partner was a way to alleviate that, and I moved into his house knowing that I would prefer my own space, but the financial incentive of shared rent and avoiding admin fees was huge. I have several friends who have made similar choices, and stayed sharing rooms with partners after breaking up with them, as they were not able afford to move and there was a shortage of decent housing available in London. Or they needed to wait for the return of large deposits makes easy movement difficult. Karren*, 23 who also lives in London, had a similar experience to Lucy. She and her ex-boyfriend moved in together over the summer as he settled in the capital. They hoped to save up for a deposit in exchange for paying half of her rent. The issue is the more this was just seen as how things were going to go, the more financially dependent I became on him moving in with me. We'd been together for four years and while we got on really well things had just sort of fizzled out. I was so scared about what would happen that I had to ring my parents and come up with a financial plan to break up with him. Ive learned that staying with someone because you feel like you 'have to' is never healthy. I thought I was being kinder to him by not letting him be alone in London and trying to provide this sort of like life admin support. When actually I was miserable, and I was making him miserable. I resented him for not making me happy Luckily, Karren was able to negotiate late payments with her landlord, although not all tenants are so lucky. I don't regret the fact I'm now in financial trouble, but I do regret that I treated my ex in the way I did out of frustration, she adds. Barbara Bloomfield, a councelor at the relationships charity Relate, says Lucy and Karren's situations are not uncommon. I've heard of couples where after splitting up and living with friends or relatives for a while, one partner is forced to move back home due to overstaying their welcome. Theyre effectively homeless and sometimes even end up having to share a bed with their ex. Couples in these situations have to be very flexible if theyre going to make it work and it does often lead to a lot of stress with neither party being able to move on because of uncertainty around living arrangements. Its difficult to begin dating again or to start a new relationship if you're not sure if your ex-partner is going to turn up at the door, needing a bed for the night. The current economic climate is making divorce very difficult for those on low incomes. We also hear of ex partners creeping downstairs during the night to sleep on the sofa because they don't want to upset children about the split because the adults cant afford to separate and make it official. In other words, the children think their parents are still together, long after theyve decided to separate. For those who must live with ex partners or become homeless, she stresses that setting ground rules is key when. "Giving each other as much space as you can is important. For example, if youre fortunate enough to have a spare room for one of you to sleep in, you could make a kitchenette in there so that you dont have to share the communal living space. Sit down and discuss house rules and be especially considerate to your ex-partner when thinking about whether or not to bring new partners into the house. She adds: "Living apart together works best when its a choice, rather than a necessity." Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A bizarre sex-doll brothel has opened in Germany. Bordoll, as its named, is located on an aptly scarlet-lit street in Dortmund and is run by a 29-year-old woman called Evelyn Schwarz. It currently houses 11 silicon dolls and rents them out for 80 (71) an hour. Each 30kg doll has its own name and is aesthetically unique; Schwarz reportedly imported them from Asia, costing her 1,786 each.According to Bordolls website, the dolls are extremely high quality. The ladies are real dream women, the website reads, claiming that the dolls are always willing and uncomplicated." As if promoting non-consensual sex with a plastic sex worker wasnt unusual enough, the site also lists the possible service options that are passed passively by the doll. The 11 dolls are categorised as real, skinny, fantasy, or anime and are listed on the site alongside their full specifications from the colour of the hair to the size of their body parts. Customers are also encouraged to bring outfits to dress their dolls in. Schwarz explained that the brothel is very popular, with the dolls booked around 12 times each day to men of every age from all over the country. She also claims that 70 per cent of her customers return for a second visit, the Mail Online reports, and that these visitors often have "tolerant" wives, who wait outside in the car whilst their husbands have sex with the silicon dolls. Schwarz recently had to replace Anna, one of the brothels most popular dolls, after one customer broke it. Although Schwarz's passive sex dolls differ drastically from sex robots, which can actually move, speak and respond to touch, the ethics of engaging with either one of the two are arguably fairly similar. Recommended A therapist explains what sex addiction really is According to David Levy, author of Love and Sex With Robots, sex robots can bring about a number of positive benefits, such as aiding the loneliness of single people who cannot make a relationship work. "I see nothing wrong from an ethical point of view of having sexual relationships with robots," he told Time. His beliefs were also supported by a recent report conducted by the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, which claimed that the robots could bring a "revolution" in sex and help those who struggle with real-life intimacy. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At age 20, Malala Yousafzai is one of the most accomplished and most celebrated people in the world. Five years ago, she was shot by the Taliban in her native Pakistan for defying the ban against women going to school. Since then, she has won the Nobel Peace Prize, traveled all over the world, authored two books, and started studying at Oxford University. Below, we rounded up some of the highlights of Yousafzai's incredible life. Malala Yousafzai is 20 years old. She is a Pakistani activist, an author, and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Yousafzai began studying at Oxford University in October 2017. She will study philosophy, politics, and economics. Yousafzai grew up in the Swat Valley in Northwest Pakistan. The Taliban took control of the area in 2007. She defied the ban preventing women from attending school: "I just could not imagine a life limited to the four walls of my house and never be myself." In 2012, Malala was 14 when she was shot by a member of the Taliban. A bullet narrowly missed her brain. In 2013, Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin, established the Malala Fund to give girls all over the world access to education. That same year, Yousafzai published a memoir titled "I Am Malala," co-written with Christina Lamb. She appeared on The Daily Show and left Jon Stewart speechless when she explained what she would do should someone from the Taliban come after her again: "I will tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well. And I would tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you. Now do what you want.'" Yousafzai met with President Barack Obama and challenged him on the drone strikes in Pakistan: "Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact." In 2014, Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She said the award was also "for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change." As of 2014, Yousafzai didn't have a cell phone or use social media, so she could focus on her education. She does use Twitter, though. Recently, she crowdsourced tips on packing for college. Yousafzai recently published a children's book titled "Malala's Magic Pencil." "The magic is in their voice, in their words, in their writings," she said of the kids who read her book. "They should dream beyond limits and believe that there is magic in them." In April, Yousafzai went on a "Girl Power Trip" to meet with women around the world and was designated a UN Messenger of Peace. After winning the award, Yousafzai told the audience that the most difficult period of her life was between 2007 and 2009 in the Swat valley: "We were at a point of making a decision about whether to speak out or remain silent. And I realized that if you remain silent, you are still going to be terrorized. So speaking out, you can help people." Read more: This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed How Uber became the world's most valuable startup These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A woman who suffered 18 miscarriages and spent 80,000 on IVF has at last achieved her dream of becoming a mum at the age of 48. Lauren Warneford, from Swindon, and her husband Mark, 55, had been trying for a baby for over 16 years before a specialist finally discovered the reason her pregnancies were ending prematurely. Diagnosed with killer cells that were destroying embryos at just a few weeks old, the couple made the devastating decision to give up trying in 2010. She explained that very time she got pregnant, she ended up losing the baby at around the 14-week scan mark. She would repeatedly get her hopes up only to have them dashed. I couldn't stop crying every time I miscarried. I couldnt go through the turmoil anymore, she said. But five years later Warneford knew she had to give herself one last chance and underwent embryo donation in the Czech Republic in 2015. Incredibly, the couple conceived and gave birth to their son, William, at 37 weeks in June last year by c-section 18 years after first trying for a baby. Despite being mistaken for Williams grandparents on occasion, the happy couple say that they are delighted to finally have a child of their own. The couple suffered 18 miscarriages and spent 80k, but they say it was all worth it. Im not the spring chicken that I used to be and it does take me a while to chase him around the floor but it's worth it," she said. We're a perfect family now and I finally feel complete. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Victims of bank fraud and other scams could be given a new hotline to call to report the offences, it has been suggested. The idea was put forward at a meeting of the Joint Fraud Taskforce in September, which was attended by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and senior staff from a number of UK banks. Minutes published by the Home Office reveal that Brian Dilley, of Lloyds Banking Group, told the meeting about an "early stage idea" of having a single number - such as 555 - for the reporting of scams and fraud. Recommended Why not enough is being done to tackle bank fraud Currently victims of fraud are advised to call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040. Details about how any hotline would operate are not clear as the suggestion is in its infancy. The minutes say: "Brian Dilley (BD) ... commented on the issue of communicating to customers who have been told not to trust unsolicited contact from their bank. "BD outlined an early stage idea ... for a central reporting telephone number e.g. 555 that victims of fraud/scams could contact. "At its simplest the number could be a triaging facility directing victims to the appropriate agency and at its most ambitious it could sit in front of enhanced data sharing/analytics which would take in all reporting and provide standardised reporting and a collective intelligence picture across fraud and money laundering." 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. James Freedman, fraud ambassador for City of London Police, told the Daily Mail: "The problem is that people may liken the number to 999 and expect an emergency response. "In reality fraud can take time to investigate. "However, it is vital to encourage more people to report scams, even in instances where they have got their money back or not fallen for them at all, as this is the only way the body of information available to the police will grow." PA For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} UK regulators are looking into whether HSBC and Standard Chartered facilitated money-laundering as a result of possible ties to South Africas politically powerful Gupta family. The Financial Conduct Authority is taking interest after Lord Hain wrote a letter raising concerns about the banks possible exposure to the Guptas. The Labour peer mentioned allegedly illicit funds may have passed through the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, where HSBC and Standard Chartered had large footprints. It will be no secret to financial-crime experts that criminals target large and credible financial institutions for the same reasons that legitimate multinational networks do for their global reach, Lord Hain said in a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond on 25 September. I have deep concerns and questions around the complicity, whether witting or unwitting, of UK global financial institutions in the Gupta-Zuma criminal network. The three Indian-born Gupta brothers are at the heart of South Africas biggest post-apartheid scandal. South African opposition groups, campaigners and investigators accuse them of using their friendship with President Jacob Zuma, and business partnership with his son, to make millions of dollars from state contracts. Hain asked the authorities to investigate Zuma, 10 of his family members, 11 Gupta family members, and five other associates, as well as 14 entities linked to them. In a question to the House of Lords on Thursday, the peer also requested that authorities look into Indias Bank of Baroda, the only place still holding accounts for Gupta companies. In June, South Africas central bank fined Barodas South African unit 11 million rand (616,000) for lapses in its financial crime prevention measures. Standard Chartered said while it wasnt able to comment on specific client transactions, it could confirm that after an internal investigation, accounts were closed by us by early 2014. Standard Chartered takes its responsibility to combat financial crime very seriously and is fully committed to doing business in accordance with local and international regulatory and legal requirements, the London-based bank said in a statement. HSBC and spokespeople for the Guptas and Mr Zuma all declined to comment. Mr Zuma and the Guptas have always denied any wrongdoing. Baroda didnt immediately respond to phone calls and an email requesting comment. The Treasury passed Hains letter on to the FCA and prosecutors at the National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office, saying we take allegations of financial misconduct very seriously. 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. The FCA said in a statement that it had already contacted both banks named in the Hain letter and will consider carefully further responses received. An spokeswoman for the Serious Fraud Office said the agency was aware of the allegations but couldnt comment on them at this time. The NCA said in an email that it was aware of and reviewing the information. Bloomberg For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Unilever reported third-quarter sales growth that fell well short of estimates as poor weather in Europe and hurricanes in the Americas cut demand for ice cream. Underlying revenue rose 2.6 per cent, the Anglo-Dutch maker of Magnum and Ben & Jerrys said Thursday, compared with the 4 per cent median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Growth slowed from the second quarters 3 per cent increase as volume decelerated for the fourth straight period. The developed markets were extremely challenging, with retailers cancelling orders after hurricanes hit Florida and Texas, Unilevers second- and third-largest states for revenue in the US, chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly said on a call. In Europe, ice cream was the main source of volume decline, London- and Rotterdam-based Unilever said in a statement. Unilevers refreshment business, which includes ice cream and tea, accounts for about one-fifth of overall sales. The company has maintained its commitment to spend 1bn to 3bn (894m to 2.6bn) annually on fast-growing businesses such as teamaker Pukka Herbs and Sir Kensingtons condiments, even after Kraft Heinzs unsuccessful $143bn takeover bid in February. A review of the dual-headed legal structure is progressing well, Unilever said. The Anglo-Dutch company has been taking steps to simplify its corporate structure with predators circling the food industry, and it has put its underperforming spreads business up for sale. In addition to the hurricanes, increased competition hurt the ice cream business, Unilever said. Underlying sales in North America were down 2.9 per cent, while the company said China and India showed signs of improvement. To pursue growth in the emerging world, which accounts for almost two-thirds of sales, Unilever last month agreed to acquire cosmetics maker Carver Korea for $2.7bn. The company maintained its forecast for full-year underlying sales growth of 3 per cent to 5 per cent. Bloomberg Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter 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 Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Universities that use "no platforming" and "safe spaces" to shut down free speech could face action from the new higher education regulator, the Government has announced. Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said young people and students need to "accept the legitimacy of healthy vigorous debate" as he outlined plans for the Office for Students (OfS). According to the Times, this could include powers to fine, suspend or deregister universities if they do not meet a statutory duty to commit to free speech in their governance documents. But any proposals will form part of a consultation to help establish how the OfS will operate in its regulation of English universities. It will be able to hold universities to account on their duty to secure free speech, ensuring it is upheld by staff, student unions and student societies, the Department for Education (DfE) said. In an interview, Mr Johnson told the Times: "No-platforming and safe spaces shouldn't be used to shut down legitimate free speech. "Our young people and students need to accept the legitimacy of healthy vigorous debate in which people can disagree with one another. "That's how ideas get tested, prejudices exposed and society advances. "Universities mustn't be places in which free speech is stifled." Launching the consultation, he added: "Free speech is one of the foundations on which our higher education tradition is built. It goes to the heart of our democratic values and is a principle I know universities hold dear. "I know there is good practice out there, and am proud that some of our university leaders and academics have publicly defended free speech. But there are still examples of censorship where groups have sought to stifle those who do not agree with them. "This is why I want the OfS to work with universities to encourage a culture of openness and debate and ensure that those with different backgrounds or perspectives can flourish in a higher education environment." Sir Michael Barber, chairman of the OfS, which gets its legal powers in April, said: "Ensuring freedom of speech and learning how to disagree with diverse opinions and differing views of the world is a fundamental aspect of learning at university. The OfS will promote it vigorously." Mr Johnson also criticised a campaign by Oxford University students to take down a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes, who founded Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe after freeing itself from British rule in 1980. "The mark of a civilisation is a knowledge and understanding of your own past," the minister said. "I don't think tearing down statues contributes to a proper understanding of how our societies and cultures have developed. It's a dishonest way of assessing your own society." UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will 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 Sir Michael supported Mr Johnson, telling the newspaper: "If you start demolishing statues, where does it all stop? I can think of lots of terrible things that Oliver Cromwell did, but I'm glad he stands outside the House of Commons. "I can think of even worse things that Richard the Lionheart did, and he stands outside the House of Lords." The consultation will also look at forcing universities to publish and justify high salaries for senior staff, improving transparency on how students can transfer between courses, and compulsory participation in the Teaching Excellence Framework for universities with more than 500 students. PA For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sir James Craig was a diplomat and academic who became Britains top Arabist and go-to man on Anglo-Arab relations in a career that spanned four decades. Yet choosing to study Arabic was fortuitous he told one interviewer he would almost certainly have chosen Celtic languages had he known the course was available at Oxford. Then Id have spent my life collecting folk songs in the Outer Hebrides. (He had wanted to study Chinese but was told the choice was Russian or Arabic. He chose the latter because it was more exotic.) The son of a miner, he was not your run-of-the-mill public school British diplomat. His excellent Arabic and command of regional dialects, his understanding of the cultures and his ability to get to the heart of a problem, no matter whom he was dealing with, helped garner him much respect in the Middle East where British influence was often in flux. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir got to face Craigs tough talking in a two-hour stand-up row over who started the 1967 Six Day War. And as our man in Jeddah, he was equally blunt in private with his Saudi hosts. Despite his forthright views, expressed in his farewell ambassadors speech, on Saudi competence, honesty and morality, he maintained good relations with the countrys royals beyond his diplomatic days. Craig became known as an accomplished trouble-shooter following his part in ending a Palestinian aeroplane hijacking crisis in Tunis with nominal casualties; and smoothing relations with Saudi Arabia following the broadcast of the ITV drama-documentary Death of a Princess in 1980, which nearly severed diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries. Born in a working class area of Liverpool in 1924, Albert James Macqueen Craig was the eldest of four children to James, from Scotland, and Florence. The family had Scottish roots. During the summers, he holidayed with family either in the Royal Village of Scone or in Perth. Craig showed academic promise from an early age winning a special scholarship to the Liverpool Institute for Boys where from the age of 10 and encouraged by his Oxonian headmaster, he contemplated going to university. He won an exhibition to Queens College, Oxford. Supported with a raft of such scholarships and bursaries, he secured a first in Classics Mods in 1943, and then joined the army, but returned after a year due to an illness linked back to having had tuberculosis as a child. Craig graduated with a first in Arabic and Persian in 1947. Following a years postgraduate study at Magdalen College, Craig became a lecturer in Arabic at Durham University. After a year or so, in 1950, he took a sabbatical at Cairo University. In 1955 he was approached to be senior instructor at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies in Shemlan, then Britains spy school in the Lebanon whose history he published in 1988. Following a suggestion to join the Foreign Office, Craig took the exam and formally joined in 1956, returning to London in 1958 to work on the Sudan Desk, without any formal training. In 1961 he was despatched for three years to Dubai as political agent for the Trucial States, which are now the UAE. After spells in Beirut (as First Secretary) and Jeddah (Head of Chancery), Craig spent a sabbatical year at St Antonys College, Oxford, before becoming head of the FCOs Near East and Africa Department in 1971, which saw him travelling regularly to Europe as well as the Soviet Union. In 1974, four Palestinians hijacked a British Airways VC-10 from Dubai to Tunis with 39 hostages. Craig was sent to negotiate; he was told by the pilot to get things moving, otherwise there could be dire consequences. The hijackers demanded the release of 13 terrorists held in Egypt and two in Holland; 24 hours later, they shot dead a German bank manager and threw him to the tarmac, threatening to kill a hostage every two hours. Playing the situation by ear, Craig talked with the hijackers, the crew, the FCO and Downing Street, while coordinating with Arab leaders. After 84 hours of anxious negotiations, 13 hostages were released following the arrival of the freed prisoners from Egypt. The rest were let go when those from Holland arrived. Urged by Craig, Tunisia rejected the hijackers asylum request and they eventually surrendered peacefully. In 1975 Craig returned to the field as deputy commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before moving on to become UK ambassador in Damascus, Syria, for three years until 1979. Here, he was the first British diplomat publicly to meet the PLO.. He then became ambassador in Jeddah, always a sensitive posting given Saudi Arabias human rights issues. In 1980 Britain and Saudi Arabia were on a collision course after the screening ITV drama-documentary Death of a Princess. Its focus was events three years earlier: 19-year-old Princess Mishaal bint Fahd al Saud had been executed by firing squad for adultery, and her lover beheaded. It also alleged that hundreds of Saudi officers were thrown out of transporter planes after a failed coup. The film particularly offended Saudi sensibilities by depicting life in an upper stratum of society where only lip-service was paid to the tenets of Islam. Craig arrived in Jeddah with communications from London for Prince Saud Al Faisal, but on their third meeting was told to leave the country. Days later, the Saudis halted the appointment of a new London ambassador and began reviewing economic relations with Britain. The next day, a Cypriot company registered in the Channel Islands lost a 80m Saudi housing contract; overall, British firms lost 250m in orders. After five months and numerous government apologies, Craig was able to return but Saudi hardliners blocked a visit by Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington for talks with Saud. Craigs rebuilding of relations was further complicated when Britain refused to accept an Arab League delegation because it included a PLO representative. A former colleague said that Craig often found the Arabs exasperating but had a deep affection for the peoples and the region. Craig married Margaret Hutchinson in 1952, and had four children; she died in 2001 and the following year he married Bernadette Hartley Lane, who survives him along with his four children. Sir James Craig, diplomat, born 12 July 1924, died 26 September 2017 For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At least nine families of the 43 soldiers killed in action during the Trump administration have not been contacted by the President a revelation that will add to the furore surrounding his alleged insensitivity to the widow of a Green Beret who lost his life in Niger. The Associated Press contacted all of those Gold Star families relatives of US military members who died in battle and of those who were willing to answer questions, nine said they had no contact while nine said they had received a phone call or letter from Donald Trump. Mark Hunter said he was disappointed that he at least didnt call and thank me for my son and our ultimate sacrifice, after his 23-year-old son Army Sergeant Jonathon Hunter was killed in Afghanistan in August of this year. The family did speak with Vice President Mike Pence, who grew up in the same southern Indiana city, at the ceremony honouring the return of the soldiers remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. But Mr Hunter said he would have preferred to hear from the commander-in-chief. Another botched call was to the father of Army Sergeant Dillon Baldridge, also killed in Afghanistan, this past June. Chris Baldridge actually spoke with the President, who went on to promise the Gold Star father a cheque for $25,000 of his own money to help, but according to the Washington Post, the money never arrived. The newspaper later reported the White House confirmed: The cheque has been sent. It is unclear why Mr Trump offered a personal check for that amount when family members of fallen soldiers are eligible for payments the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) scheme. The White House has not offered comment on why these nine families have not been contacted as yet. Donald Trump clarifies comments on presidents' policy of talking to bereaved families The recent controversy began with the deaths of Staff Sergeants Bryan Black, Jeremiah Johnson, Dustin Wright and Sergeant La David T Johnson, who were patrolling with Niger troops when they were ambushed by militants thought to be affiliated with Isis. Mr Trump was silent on the matter for 12 days until he was asked a question about it during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Mr Trump had suggested that he was rare among presidents in that he either wrote to or spoke with relatives of service members killed in action. Bonnie Carroll, the founder and president of a Washington DC-based organisation working to help those who have lost a military loved ones, called the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), told The Independent that past presidents have used a variety of ways to communicate with Gold Star families not just phone calls, on which Mr Trump focused. If you look at president Obama and other presidents most of them didnt make calls. A lot of them didnt make calls, Mr Trump had said. He later sought to walk the claim back, though did not apologise for his error when it was pointed out. Former Obama administration staff and cabinet members were swift in their reactions, with former deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco calling him a f***ing liar on Twitter. Gold Star families also spoke up about how presidents George W Bush and Mr Obama consoled, called, and wrote to them. Ms Carroll said what is important to these families is not the method used to communicate, but that the president acknowledges the life and service of their loved one, and expresses gratitude on behalf of the nation. The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Show all 20 1 /20 The most iconic images from the war in Iraq The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds an Iraqi child in central Iraq, March 29, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An explosion rocks Baghdad during air strikes March 21, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi woman watches U.N. weapons inspectors leave Saddam airport in Baghdad March 18, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi girl holds her sister as she waits for her mother (R) to bring over food bought in Basra March 29, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Marine Corp Assaultman Kirk Dalrymple watches as a statue of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein falls in central Baghdad's Firdaus Square, April 9, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq US Marines kick in a door while securing a building next to the main hospital in central Baghdad April 15, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A soldier of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse) searches through dense vegetation around the Diala river where Iraqi militants are hiding outside Baquba early November 13, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi detainee gestures toward U.S. soldiers through bars of his cell at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad May 17, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Mays, a young Iraqi Shi'ite girl, cries after a mortar shell which landed outside the family's home in a Najaf residential area injured her uncle August 18, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Marines carry an injured colleague to a helicopter near the city of Falluja, November 10, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi man suspected of having explosives in his car is held after being arrested by the U.S army near Baquba, Iraq, October 15, 2005 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A wounded Iraqi woman is helped after several bomb attacks in central Baghdad, July 27, 2006 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A man runs down a street warning people to flee shortly after a twin car bomb attack at Shorja market in Baghdad, February 12, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi girl holds her hands up while U.S. and Iraqi soldiers search her family house in Baquba early June 30, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi woman tries to explain that she has nothing to do with illegal fuel as soldiers from the 2nd battalion, 32nd Field Artillery brigade patrol search for illegal fuel sellers in Baghdad August 6, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. President George W. Bush (L) walks in front of Humvees with Defense Secretary Robert Gates (C) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following remarks to the press after nightfall at Al-Asad airbase in Anbar Province September 3, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. soldiers blindfold an Iraqi man after arresting him during a night patrol at the Zafraniya neighborhood, southeast of Baghdad September 4, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi baby lies in a cradle while a woman argues with U.S. soldiers of 1/8 Bravo Company searching for weapons, explosives and information about militants in the area during a foot patrol in a neighbourhood of Mosul June 26, 2008 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Policemen cry during a funeral of their colleague a day after a bomb attack in Baghdad's Jihad district November 3, 2010 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Staff Sgt. Keith Fidler kisses his wife Cynthia, as their son Kolin looks on, during a homecoming ceremony in New York, April 8, 2011 for the New York Army National Guard's 442nd Military Police Company's return from Iraq Reuters Controversy was sparked when Mr Trump reportedly called the pregnant widow of one of the soldiers killed in Niger, Mr Johnson, and said: You know, he mustve known what he signed up for. The details of the conversation between the President and Myeshia Johnson were revealed by Florida Congresswoman Federica Wilson on CNN. Ms Wilson said: When [Ms Johnson] got off the phone, she said, He didnt even know his name. He kept calling him, Your guy. Mr Trump vehemently denied the Congresswomans interpretation of the conversation and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later commented that just because the President said your guy, I dont think that means he doesnt know his name. But Mr Johnsons mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson told the Washington Post that Mr Trump did disrespect her son and the rest of their family. Mr Trump also went on Fox News Radio and said to the best of my knowledge, I think Ive called every family of somebody thats died, and its the hardest call to make ... As far as other representatives, I dont know, I mean you could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? He was referring to when White House Chief of Staff and retired Marines General John Kellys son Robert, a Marine Second Lieutenant, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. Mr Kelly was the highest-ranking military official to lose a child in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. A White House official claimed to NBC News that Mr Kelly never received a call from Mr Obama after his sons death. However, the younger Kelly was married at the time of his death so per protocol any phone call would have gone to his wife and not his parents. Ms Carroll said going forward for the President, there is no right or wrong way to express ones condolences; what matters is that we honour the life and the sacrifice, and provide support for all grieving families. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Black and Muslim prisoners are twice as likely to have negative experiences in jail than white inmates with the figure nearly four times as high for black Muslims new research has revealed. A major survey of nearly 400 prisoners shows that black inmates are significantly more likely to have negative prison outcomes than their white counterparts. Forty per cent of black male prisoners have experienced a negative outcome compared to 21 per cent of white male prisoners. The research, by equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust and the University of Greenwich, also found that when broken down by religion, Muslim prisoners had the highest prevalence of negative outcomes compared to those of all other religions. Statistical analysis of these figures indicates that prisoners who are both black and Muslim have an almost fourfold increased risk of having a negative experience compared to those of other ethnic and faith groups. Experts warned that the impact of chronic cuts to prison staff have exacerbated already existing racial inequalities in the penal system, with dwindling resources intensifying everyday racism that BME prisoners experience. The report shows that almost a third (29 per cent) of Muslim prisoners did not have prison jobs or attend education courses which can have as positive impact on rehabilitation compared to 17 per cent of Christian prisoners. BME prisoners were meanwhile more likely to be on the lowest rung of the prison rewards and punishment scheme, as well as being more likely to be put into segregation and more likely to have restraint used against them. The Government pledged last week to increase numbers of BME officers in response to their race disparity audit. The Runnymede Trust said the Government will need to hire four times as many BME prison officers to reflect the prison population. Dr Zubaida Haque, one of the report authors and a Runnymede Trust research associate, told The Independent the decline in the rights of all prisoners due to staff cuts and overcrowding has seen structural racial discrimination in prison intensify. Through our research we were able to show that theres a disproportionate impact on black and Muslim prisoners, or at least theyre disproportionately involved in all those things, she said. We could see the impact of staff cuts happening. Prisoners are losing rights around safety, decency and dignity. The Government has a decency agenda which says that prisoners should be treated with respect, but all of that has gone out of the window, because of the chronic staff cuts. Prisoners have said it themselves it was punishment upon punishment for them. That pretty much captures it. It explains the rise in mental health issues, self-harm, suicide all of which have gone up dramatically since 2012. It was bad for BME prisoners anyway. The structural racial inequalities were there anyway, and then on top of that you have Government policies where prison officers are treating them even worse, not necessarily to do with race or religion, but theyre just spread really thin. The report recommends that the Government rapidly increase the current low numbers of highly skilled prison officers, starting with a drive to hit their target of 2,500 new prison officers. BME prisoners should also have the opportunity to participate in programmes or workshops which take account of their cultural backgrounds and identity as research shows that this facilitates their rehabilitation progress, the report stated. The report comes after the Governments race disparity audit revealed that black, Asian and mixed-raced people were more likely than their white counterparts to be both suspected of and victims of crime in England and Wales. An independent study on the treatment of BME people in the criminal justice system last month meanwhile revealed that black people in the UK were four times as likely to be in prison than would be expected given their proportion of the total population. The review, conducted by Labour MP David Lammy for the Ministry of Justice, found that while black people account for just 3 per cent of the UK population, they make up 12 per cent of people in prison. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will 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 Responding to the Runnymede Trust report, a Prison Service Spokesperson said: Black people and other ethnic minorities should not face discrimination in the criminal justice system, or anywhere else. Thats why we are looking at the findings of David Lammys extensive review into the treatment of BAME individuals in the criminal justice system. We welcome the insights of organisations such as the Runnymede Trust and have noted the contents of this report. The spokesperson added that the Government had invested 100m to boost the front line by 2,500 prison officers over the next 18 months, and urged that it was on track to meet its recruitment targets, having recently seen a net increase of 868 prison officers since January this year. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The UK is bracing itself for Storm Brian, which is expected to batter parts of the coast just days after Ophelia wreaked destruction. Heavy rain and gusts of 50mph are expected to hammer large swathes of southern England and the west of Wales on Saturday, with a warning that winds could reach 70mph in exposed areas. The wild conditions, caused by a weather bomb over the Atlantic Ocean, may cause coastal flooding and affect transport, the Met Office said. Spokesman Grahame Madge said: Dramatic waves could pose a threat to life and there will be quite hazardous conditions along the seafront. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will 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 He warned thrillseekers not to risk their safety by posing for storm selfies along the coast. A yellow weather warning for wind has been issued in affected areas, valid from 4am to midnight on Saturday. Wide parts of the country could see between 15mm and 25mm of rainfall, with deluges of up to 60mm in isolated areas. Northern Ireland, one of the areas worst affected by Storm Ophelia, is also braced for further disruption when a band of rain moves in from the west on Thursday. A yellow weather warning for rain has been issued across the region, valid from 3pm to midnight. Met Office forecaster Helen Roberts warned that heavy rain would be falling on already saturated ground and could cause flooding and affect properties. She said: It will be fairly patchy to begin with but then it looks like through the afternoon and into the evening it becomes heavier and more persistent and more widespread. Around 40mm of rain is expected in parts of Northern Ireland and 60mm is possible over the mountains. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government has performed an unexpected U-turn to allow a Palestinian-Syrian asylum seeker to remain in the UK after desperate appeals from his family. Home Office officials had threatened deport Yousef Hassan to Italy the country where he first arrived in Europe after surviving the deadly boat crossing over the Mediterranean Sea. The 22-year-old was told he could be detained ahead of removal in June, despite having lived in the UK with his family for three years. But after a campaign by relatives, lawyers, his local MP and MEP, the Home Office has now abandoned attempts to remove Yousef from the UK. A letter sent to his lawyers said the case no longer falls under the terms of the Dublin Regulation, meaning his asylum application will now be considered in Britain. Yousefs father threatened to throw himself under any vehicle used to take his son away when The Independent first reported on the case in June. But now Jehad Hassan is elated at the prospect of his son receiving full refugee status alongside his parents and sister. When I told Yousef the news he was so happy he couldnt talk, he told The Independent. The Hassan family are from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, which was overrun by Isis in 2015 (Getty) He said dad, are you sure?. I told him yes. His mother was crying and crying because she was so happy. Now all of us can be together. But Yousefs situation remains precarious, with the Home Office still able to refuse his application for asylum when it considers the case within six months. While awaiting its verdict, he has passed English and maths courses and is progressing to the next level, while his sister is studying chemical engineering and Mr Hassan is working as a delivery driver while gaining a computer science qualification. All my family is good for the UK, we are useful, the father said. We appreciate everyone who has helped us, I want to thank them all. As the descendants of Palestinians who fled to Syria in the 1948 exodus, the Hassan family have always been classed as refugees, living in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus that was overrun by Isis in 2015. Yousef was just 15 when the Syrian civil war broke out, fleeing his home country after he reached the age of military conscription and was recruited by Bashar al-Assads forces. Separated from his family in the chaos of the conflict, he journeyed to Europe alone and arrived in the UK in a lorry from Calais in 2014. Now reunited, the Hassan family are rebuilding their lives in Middlesbrough, where all members apart from Yousef have been granted refugee status. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. Because he was too old to gain protection under family reunification laws, Yousefs entry to the UK was treated as illegal and the Home Office traced his arrival in Europe to where he was fingerprinted in Italy in 2014. The process gave Britain the means to deny responsibility for his asylum application using the EUs Dublin III Regulation, which allocates primary responsibility to the country of arrival. Campaigners have described the regulation as inherently unfair, both to refugees and frontline countries like Italy and Greece that are struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers that the rest of the EU refuses to resettle. Yousefs representatives attempted to start a judicial review but the case was dismissed and the Government rejected a claim under the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to family life. A letter from the Home Office at the time claimed Yousef would be able to maintain a reasonable degree of contact with his family through such means as the telephone, email and letters from Italy. But his family argued that he would end up on the streets in the country, where he does not speak Italian and had no contacts or means of supporting himself. Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough, wrote to Amber Rudd asking her to intervene in the case and said he was delighted at the outcome. Amber Rudd criticised by asylum seeker who was sent back to Afghanistan Its a good sign but we shouldnt be totally complacent, he added. We should only celebrate when Yousefs application has been considered and hopefully he is granted the right to stay with his family. He said the U-turn came after Labour MEP Judith Kirton-Darling raised the case with Italian authorities, although the Home Office did not give a reason for its abrupt change of heart. Recommended What happened to Samim Bigzad after the Home Office deported him More than 2,700 people signed a petition to stop Yousefs deportation that condemned the British asylum system as not fit for purpose. It was started by Gary Spedding, a human rights campaigner supporting the family, who called the Home Offices reversal a small victory ahead of the final decision on granting the student asylum. Today remains a cause for celebration, now the asylum claim will be assessed without the risk of Yousef being forcibly transferred, he added. The impending threat of him being returned to Italy or even possibly Syria is no longer looming like a menacing shadow over his familys heads. It comes after the Government drew international condemnation for deporting an Afghan asylum seeker to Kabul, despite him being threatened with beheading by the Taliban. High Court judges found the move was in prima facie contempt of court after ordering Samim Bigzad to be returned to the UK pending a judicial review. A spokesperson for the Home Office has not yet responded to The Independents request for comment. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The UK has an endemic problem with low pay, experts have warned, after it emerged that one in four low paid workers in the UK are permanently stuck in poorly paid jobs. New research from the Social Mobility Commission has found that a quarter of low paid workers remained permanently stuck on a low salary, while nearly half (48 per cent) have fluctuated in and out of low pay over the course of the last ten years. Just one in six low paid workers, or 17 per cent, meanwhile managed to permanently escape from low pay in the last decade. The study, carried out by the Resolution Foundation, tracked individuals pay over 10 years, exploring trends in low pay over recent decades and examines the factors linked to low pay and progression. It revealed that part-time workers are disproportionately affected, with nearly two thirds, or 64 per cent, of workers who are stuck in low pay working part-time, while nearly three quarters, or 71 per cent, of people who escaped low pay were in full time work. On average, people stuck in the low pay trap have seen their hourly wages rise by just 40p in real terms over the last decade, compared to a 4.83 pay rise for those who have permanently escaped, the findings showed. The report also found that women were more likely to be low paid than men and are also far more likely to get stuck in low pay, with the lack of good quality, flexible work to fit alongside childcare responsibilities making it particularly difficult for women in their early twenties to escape low pay. Age is also identified as a factor with older people far less likely to escape low pay than their younger counterparts, with the report finding that 23 per cent of low paid people aged 25 or under escaped low pay over the following decade, compared to 15 per cent of those aged 46 to 55. The research also found that in the last decade, low paid workers were mostly likely to escape in Scotland and least likely to escape in the North East. It added that while the National Living Wage is reducing the number of people in low paid work last year saw the biggest fall in 40 years there will be still around four million low paid employees in 2020, highlighting the scale of Britains low pay challenge. It comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launched an attack last month on the epidemic of low pay, condemning top bosses with salaries thousands of times more than those of the average worker. He argued that the pay gap at firms such as McDonalds whose chief executive is paid 1,300 times more than ordinary staff was symbolic of the deep inequality and injustice that scars our society. Responding to the latest findings, the Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said the UK had an endemic low pay problem, arguing that while record numbers of people are in employment, too many jobs are low skill and low paid. Millions of workers particularly women are being trapped in low pay with little chance of escape. The consequences for social mobility are dire, he said. Britains flexible workforce gives us global economic advantage but a two-tier labour market is now exacting too high a social price. A new approach is needed to break the vicious cycle where low skills lead to low pay in low quality jobs. Welfare policy should focus on moving people from low pay to living pay. Mr Milburn called for the Government to join forces with employers in a new national effort to improve progression and productivity at work, warning that without concerted action, Britain would become more socially divided and social mobility will continue to stall. Conor DArcy, senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, meanwhile said: Britain has one of the highest proportions of low paid work in the developed world. And while three-quarters of low-paid workers did manage to move into higher-paying roles at some point over the past decade, the vast majority couldnt sustain that progress. This lack of pay progress can have a huge scarring effect on peoples lifetime living standards. The National Living Wage is playing a massive role in reducing low pay, but it cant solve the problem alone. Employers need to improve career routes for staff, while government should support them with a welfare system that encourages progression at work. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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 Dr Carole Easton OBE, chief executive of the Young Womens Trust, highlighted that low pay was driving many young people, particularly women, into reliance on foodbanks, saying: Young people and particularly young women are getting stuck on low pay and have little hope of finding a way out. As a result, we are seeing many young people struggling to make ends meet, falling into debt and using foodbanks to put food on the table. It can be especially hard for young mums; in many cases, low pay means an hours childcare can cost more than an hours wages. A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: We have more people in work than ever before, taken 1.3 million people out of income tax altogether since 2015 and the national living wage has delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years. But we want to go further by creating good quality jobs for all through our modern industrial strategy, boosting earning power and improving living standards across the country. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The smacking of children will be banned in Scotland, the Scottish government has confirmed. Ministers have said they will ensure that a Bill brought forward by Green MSP John Finnie would become law. The legislation will remove the defence of justifiable assault in Scottish law, which allows parents to use physical punishment to admonish a child. Recommended Welsh parents could be banned from smacking their children The move would make Scotland the first part of the UK to introduce a ban on smacking children. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: Mr Finnies proposals are not a Scottish Government Bill; however, we will ensure the proposals become law. We believe physical punishment can have negative effects on children, which can last long after the physical pain has died away. We support positive parenting through, for example, funding for family support services. The statement follows First Minister Nicola Sturgeons confirmation in her programme for government last month that ministers would not oppose Mr Finnies Bill. She highlighted that about 50 countries including France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Ireland had already made the change. The detailed document setting out Ms Sturgeons legislative programme appeared to go further, stating the government would support the proposals. Scottish Labour announced earlier this week it would also support the bill as the right thing to do. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will 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 Mr Finnie said: It is especially welcome that the Scottish Government has reiterated its support for my bill, because there is clear evidence that the use of physical punishment is detrimental to childrens long-term health and wellbeing. Giving children equal protection against assault will send a clear message to all of us about how we treat each other, and underpin Scotlands efforts to reduce violence. The physical punishment of children is already illegal in 52 countries, and my proposal will give children in Scotland the necessary protections to flourish in a healthy environment and encourage the building of stronger relationships between children, their parents and others who care for them. PA Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight 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 Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister has played down hopes of a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations as she arrives at this weeks European Council summit. On her way into the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels on Thursday the Prime Minister said the summit was an opportunity to take stock of progress in talks. The Independent confirmed yesterday that the PM would have no opportunity for a direct dialogue with EU leaders about leaving the EU at the summit sticking to the strict framework of negotiations. The PM said she would be setting out ambitious plans for further negotiations in the weeks ahead, and said she wanted to inject a new urgency into discussions on the post-Brexit rights of EU citizens living in the UK and Britons on the continent. It had previously been hoped that the UK would be judged to have made sufficient progress in Brexit talks at the summit, so that negotiations could move to trade and transition. The latest indications are that this next phase has been delayed until at least December, however. The two-day European Council summit comes as Ms May spoke directly to the estimated three million European Union citizens living in Britain, to tell them that she wants them to be able to stay after Brexit and that a deal on their rights are in touching distance Britain's hopes of getting the green light for trade talks at the European Council meeting in Brussels were dash after a series of top EU figures came out against them. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier, Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament Brexit Chief Guy Verhofstadt, and European Parliament president Antonio Tajani also said talks had not reached a mature enough stage. But Ms May is hoping to persuade the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states to at least agree to begin discussions among themselves on the transition to Brexit and the future trade relationship. She will address them in an after-dinner speech on Thursday evening but there will be no discussion or reply from the leaders, a spokesperson for the European Council presidency confirmed. The other 27 EU leaders will then discuss Brexit in full without Ms May on Friday sticking to the strict protocol of only conducting negotiations within the framework agreed by the Council. Arriving in Brussels, Ms May said: This Council is about taking stock. It is also about looking ahead to how we can tackle the challenges that we all share across Europe. 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 That means of course continued co-operation, co-operation which must be at the heart of the strong future partnership that we want to build together. Of course we will also be looking at the concrete progress that has been made in our exit negotiations and setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead. I particularly want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens' rights." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight 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 Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has admitted for the first time that Brexit negotiations have hit difficulty as she beseeched European leaders to give her a deal she can sell to the British people. The Prime Minister explicitly conceded last night that talks were in trouble ahead of her key intervention in Florence two weeks ago, prompting her to try and get negotiations back on track. She told Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders that there is now the urgent need for progress with the threat of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal looming. Recommended Theresa May plays down hopes of Brexit breakthrough at council summit Speaking on Thursday evening at a working dinner with other heads of government in Brussels, Ms May said that at the end of the summer she recognised the difficulty the process was in. I took stock, listened to what the people in the UK were saying, and what my friends and partners in Europe were saying, and I made a step forward, she said. The Prime Minister, who is attending a meeting of the European Council, told leaders that the Florence speech was designed to break the deadlock she had identified and called for a new joint effort and endeavour. There is increasingly a sense that we must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people, she said, adding that when the 27 remaining member states convene tomorrow to discuss Brexit in private the clear and urgent imperative must be that the dynamic you create enables us to move forward together. The PM and world leaders dined on gnocchi and pheasant supreme at the dinner, followed by fresh pineapple. Ministers fear collapse of Brexit talks 'within weeks' despite Theresa May's best efforts to kick-start process European Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier has repeatedly said he is worried about deadlock in negotiations, but the line from the UK government has always been significantly more optimistic, stressing concrete progress. The PMs intervention comes as the European Council appears set to refuse to allow the UK to move to trade and future relationship talks which it has said can only start once sufficient progress has been made on settling the divorce bill, Northern Ireland border, and EU citizens rights. The 27 remaining EU leaders will meet tomorrow to discuss Brexit without Ms May, whose address to dinner was not followed by any discussion or debate. They are expected to tell Britain to come back in December once more progress has been made for another assessment of whether it is ready for trade talks. Senior UK government officials also admitted that the prime minister was working against a difficult political backdrop at home an apparent reference to Tory MPs who were pushing her for a no deal. Arriving at the summit on Thursday Angela Merkel said she believed there were encouraging signs that sufficient progress could be made in December. Ms May said the summit was a time to take stock of the progress that had been made in talks so far. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte however told reporters in Brussels that Ms May had to come up with more clarity on what she means by other commitments in her Florence speech. 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 I phoned her last week, and tried to encourage her to do that and so far she hasnt, he said. The Prime Ministers spokesperson told journalists in Brussels: The Florence speech intended to create momentum and we achieved that. In all our talks with EU leaders they have been responsive and we hope that will continue. Other issues such as forest fires and migration have dominated the first day of European Council discussions, with Britain's departure not even getting a mention in the first press conference between Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk after hours of talks. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight 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 Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May is being urged to prepare to walk away from the EU without a deal by former Conservative ministers, insisting the UK should not be terrified of ending the negotiations with Brussels. In a letter to the Prime Minister, four ex-Cabinet ministers, including Lord Lawson, Owen Paterson, John Redwood and Peter Lilley, call on Ms May to concentrate our resources on resolving administrative issues ahead of leaving with no deal in March 2019. Operating on World Trade Organisation rules, they claim, would help Britain crystallise the economic opportunities of Brexit, give businesses absolute certainty about the future and sever ties with Brussels regulations which take opportunities off the table. The letter, organised by the Leave Means Leave campaign, comes as the Prime Minister travels to Brussels in an attempt to appeal directly to the EU heads of government and bypass the stalled negotiating process. Ms May will hope to engage them in a discussion to end the impasse, a senior UK Government official said, ahead of the EU leaders own Brexit talks in Britains absence. In the letter to The Daily Telegraph, the senior Eurosceptics add: No deal on trade is better than a deal which locks the UK into the European regulatory system and takes opportunities off the table. It has become increasingly clear that the European Commission is deliberately deferring discussions on the UKs future trading relationship with the EU27 post-Brexit. Speaking about the plea to Ms May, Mr Paterson, the former Environment Secretary, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that it appeared unlikely a trade deal would be struck with the EU because they are flatly refusing to talk about it and that there was a complete obsession with money - the so-called divorce bill. He said that a trade deal with the EU is the best destination, but what we should not be terrified of is the WTO. 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 As European leaders gathered in Brussels, he said: We have to face the fact that this summit is not going to discuss any future trade deal. We are ineluctably moving down the road to a WTO arrangement so we had better start preparing for it. If they come back - and we very much hope they would - to talk about a free trade deal, that would be a bonus. But pro-EU Tory former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said: It is absolutely not 'inevitable' that the UK ends up on WTO terms with no Brexit deal - it is what the hard Brexiteers want. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An outbreak of plague in Madagascar has killed 74 people over the last two months. The disease, which is mainly spread by flea-carrying rats, is endemic in Madagascar, where 805 cases have been reported since late August. Nearly 600 of those cases were the pneumonic form of the plague, which is spread from human-to-human and is more dangerous than the bubonic plague, which is spread by fleas. Plague-era skeletons bring history back to life in London The pneumonic form invades the lungs and is treatable with antibiotics. If it is not treated, it is always fatal and can kill a person within 24 hours. Global health officials have responded quickly to the outbreak. The World Health Organisation (WHO), which was criticised for its slow response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, has released $1.5m (1.1m) and sent plague specialists and epidemiologists. The Red Cross is sending its first-ever plague treatment centre to Madagascar. The outbreak could continue until the end of infection season in April, experts warn. Madagascar has about 400 plague cases per year, or more than half of the world's total, according to a 2016 WHO report. The WHO calls plague a "disease of poverty" caused in part by unsanitary living conditions. Madagascar has a per capita GDP of around $400 (300), and national programs to control the disease have been "hampered by operational and management difficulties," according to a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 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 current outbreak began in August when a 31-year-old man who had spent time in a village in the central highlands, Ankazobe, travelled by bush taxi to the east coast, unaware he had the plague. He died en route and was buried without any safety precautions in Toamasina. Four people in contact with him also died. Residents of the capital began to relax in recent days amid the global response to the outbreak, but the disease remains a serious threat with the number of new cases per day remaining steady. Madagascar has fought the disease for more than a century. It was introduced to the island in 1898 when steamships from India brought rats infected with the bacteria that causes the disease. The plague nearly disappeared from Madagascar for 60 years, starting in 1930, but re-emerged in recent decades. The black rats that carry the disease in the highlands have gradually developed resistance to it. Unsafe burial practices that involve touching corpses are another reason the disease spreads, according to a 2015 study by scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Madagascar. Additional reporting by agencies Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since leaving office, trying to rally black voters behind candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey amid warnings that they may not come out in force on an Election Day that is just three weeks away. Obamas appearances on behalf of Virginias lieutenant governor, Ralph Northam, in Richmond and financier Philip Murphy in Newark two white candidates in predominantly black cities come as Democrats struggle to inspire African-Americans to vote this year. While Murphy appears comfortably in the lead in New Jersey, the race in Virginia is close. And in Alabama, where voters go to the polls on 12 December, Doug Jones, a former prosecutor, is running a surprisingly competitive race for the Senate against the firebrand social conservative Roy Moore. Barack Obama and Donald Trump reacted to mass shootings quite differently There is not one person in Birmingham who disagrees we need Doug Jones, said Randall Woodfin, the newly elected mayor of Alabamas largest city, which is predominantly black. The issue is motivating them to come out and vote for him. The partys dilemma echoes a challenge that Democrats have faced in elections since Obamas rise to the presidency: how to persuade some of the most loyal voters to show up for elections when the Democrat they most love is not a candidate. In 2017, antipathy for President Donald Trump could be a new motivation, but Trump is not on the ballot either. Phillip Thompson, the President of the NAACP in Virginias Loudoun County, said he was worried that black voters were simply not engaged. Im just not getting the vibe on it, he said. Not at all. Obama may be a draw, but there are limits to what he can accomplish as a surrogate campaigner during brief forays into electoral politics. Democrats recall too well the dip in black turnout in the decisive states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that doomed Hillary Clinton last year. That same dip was partly to blame for the down-ballot losses that Democrats suffered earlier in Obamas term. Another slump in 2018 would imperil the partys efforts to capture the House, hold its own in the Senate and win key governorships. If the party doesnt change what theyre doing, were not going to take back the House, well lose seats in the Senate and folks will come around after and say, What happened?' warned Representative Cedric Richmond (Democrat-Louisiana), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. We are doing a pathetic job of reaching out to minority voters. In both Alabama and Virginia, Democrats have tried to lay the groundwork for stronger black turnout in 2017 and midterms next year. Officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee briefed party strategists this month on plans to conduct research in several states, including New Jersey and Virginia, to identify issues most likely to motivate minority voting in 2018. Michelle Obama calls out Trump without mentioning his name In Alabama, national leaders, including Senators Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) and Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) have appealed to Woodfin to deploy his field organization to help Jones in the special election for the Senate. Woodfin, a 36-year-old insurgent who toppled an incumbent Democrat this month, said he intended to help Jones, who convicted two Ku Klux Klansmen for a Civil Rights-era church bombing in his city. African-Americans are looking for people to fight for their issues, he said. In Virginia, Northam has targeted black voters in the final weeks of the race, frequenting black churches and campaigning with Eric Holder Jr, the former attorney general, in addition to Obama. But Northams overtures have been met with mixed results. Kathy Harkless and two of her fellow congregants at First Mount Zion Baptist Church had just met Northam after he attended worship services here Sunday, but when asked about his bid for governor, they quickly steered the conversation toward Washington. I dont want what we have now, said Harkless, referring to Trump. Its awful. It is a familiar refrain to Dr Luke Torian, who divides his time pastoring the church, founded 150 years ago by former slaves, and representing parts of this Washington exurb in the state legislature. The lieutenant governors campaign has to make some of the current administrations issues resonate, he said. Thats going to be his challenge. Northam seems well prepared to engage black residents. He attended integrated schools as a child on Virginias eastern shore and often worships at a black church when back home. He won African-American voters decisively in the Democratic primary this year, and has put opposition to Trump at the center of his message. But Northam has also been uncertain about how to handle calls to remove Confederate statues in the state after the bloodshed in Charlottesville this summer, seemingly torn between not wanting to offend whites in this history-drenched state and not wanting to get crosswise with his African-American base. After initially saying he would be a vocal advocate for taking down the monuments, Northam, facing an onslaught of ads from his Republican opponent over the issue, said last week that he was not going to meddle with localities over the issue. Elected Democrats in Virginia suggest the anger toward Trump will ultimately translate into votes. The national circus is overshadowing it, but if youre on the doors like I am, youre hearing that excitement and youre hearing the people excited to vote, said Marcia Price, a delegate. The Alabama contest is even more delicate for Democrats, because of the states intensely polarised racial politics. But Democrats believe Jones has a slim path to victory. To win, Jones must maximize turnout among the quarter of voters who are black, while capturing about a third of the overwhelmingly white Republican population. Democrats have little infrastructure left in the state. Old-guard black groups have withered, and Republicans have won every statewide office for a decade. Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Show all 11 1 /11 Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama's best moments in the White House May 19, 2009 The President was leaving the State Floor after an event and found Sasha in the elevator ready to head upstairs to the private residence. He decided to ride upstairs with her before returning to the Oval Office, Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Oct. 26, 2012 President Barack Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets the son of a White House staffer in the Outer Oval Office Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House A National Security staffer, Carlton Philadelphia, brought his family to the Oval Office for a farewell photo with President Obama. Carltons son, Jacob, softly told the President he had just gotten a haircut like President Obama, and asked if he could feel the Presidents head to see if it felt the same as his. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House March 21, 2010 The President, Vice President and senior staff applaud after watching on television the House vote on H.R. 4872 for health care reform, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Dec. 3, 2009 President Barack Obama fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building following the opening session of the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Sept. 22, 2015 "The Obama family and Biden family greet Pope Francis as he arrives in the United States for the first time at Joint Base Andrews," Sept. 22, 2015. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Feb. 21, 2014 President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden participate in a "Let's Move!" video taping on the Colonnade of the White House, Feb. 21, 2014 Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Feb. 18, 2016 President Barack Obama watches First Lady Michelle Obama dance with 106-Year-Old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a reception celebrating African American History Month, Feb. 18, 2016 Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Jan. 21, 2013 "The President and First Lady wave to supporters as they ride in the inaugural parade. I had asked the President if I could ride in the presidential limousine and the President joked, 'But Michelle and I were planning to make out," Jan. 21, 2013. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama share a private moment in a freight elevator at an Inaugural Ball, January 2009 all pics: Pete Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama rests his hand on the bible that President Lincoln used for his swear-in, being held by his wife Michelle Obama as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America Rex Jones has put his legal pursuit of the Klan at the centre of his message and has reached out to leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Richmond. Representative Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat-New York), a member of the House leadership team, said he met with Jones and was watching the race closely. To turn out black voters in 2018, Jeffries said, Democrats would have to go beyond doing drive-bys in African-American churches. Those days need to be over if Democrats are serious about winning, Jeffries said. The New York Times Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Lulu the bomb-sniffing Labrador has been dropped from the CIA's explosives detection programme because she was "no longer interested in searching for explosives." The 18-month-old dog "was clearly not enjoying herself any longer," the agency said, adding it was "sad to announce" she had been dropped from training for the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia. "Sometimes, even when a pup tests well and they successfully learn how to detect explosive odours, they make it clear that being an explosive detection K9 is not the life for them," the CIA said in a post on its website. Following a 10-week training programme, the dogs are expected to be able to sniff out 19,000 explosive scents. But the CIA said Lulu had begun to "show signs she wasn't interested in detecting explosive odours" a few weeks into her training. "All dogs, just like most human students, have good days and bad days when learning something new. The same is true during our puppy classes. "A pup might begin acting lazy, guessing where the odours are, or just showing a general disregard for whatever is being taught at the moment. Usually it lasts for a day, maybe two." The agency said "there can be a million reasons why a particular dog has a bad day," with its trainers becoming "doggy psychologists" to figure out what will help them. Sometimes they are bored and need extra playtime or challenges, the CIA explained, sometimes they need a break or have a food allergy requiring a change in food. "But for some dogs, like Lulu, it becomes clear that the issue isnt temporary. Instead, this just isnt the job they are meant for. "Lulu was no longer interested in searching for explosives. Even when they could motivate her with food and play to search, she was clearly not enjoying herself any longer." The CIA then made the "extremely difficult decision to do what's best for Lulu and drop her from the programme." "Well miss Lulu, but this was the right decision for her. We wish her all the best in her new life." But the story has a happy ending. Lulu was adopted by her handler, and now spends her says "playing with kids, sniffing out rabbits and squirrels in the backyard, and eating meals and snacks out of a dog dish." Many social media users praised the CIA for having Lulu's best interests at heart. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps downward mental health spiral could potentially lead the US to war, according to a clinical psychologist. Leanne Watt, who specialises in the treatment of adults with personality disorders, and Richard Painter, a White House ethics chief under George W Bush, argued experts had the professional and ethical responsibility to speak up when they see behaviours which appear troubling or suspect. President Trumps mental health has gained growing attention in recent months and a number of psychologists have come forward to issue stern warnings about the potential danger it poses to the world. Writing in a piece for NBC News, the pair noted many clinicians have already highlighted their own concerns about President Trumps psychological health. Nearly 800 mental health professionals have joined a coalition which say they are so worried about the billionaire property developers mental health they feel obliged to warn the public. At this juncture, waiting for unfitness to manifest beyond the types of observable and highly predictive behaviour patterns studied by psychiatrists and psychologists is, we believe, naive, said Ms Watt and Mr Painter in their joint piece. Though remote, we cannot rule out the possibility that a president in a downward mental health spiral could destroy important global partnerships, alter centuries-old alliances and leave the United States vulnerable to terror attacks or war. 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 An online petition, created for mental health professionals who believe the president is not fit to be in the Oval Office, has been signed by roughly 62,000 people. The pairs comments come as Peter Wehner, George W Bushs advisor, has said he is concerned President Trump is someone who is psychologically and emotionally not well. During a panel discussion with Trump biographer Michael DAntonio on CNN, he claimed that the former reality TV star says abhorrent things because he is not stable. Its not just this incident, this is one of a series of incidents. Theres data point after data point in the campaign and during the presidency, he said. This is a president who has a disordered mind. Hes impulsive and vindictive. And even when it is in his self-interest not to do certain things like drag General Kellys son into this or drag President [Barack] Obama into this, or get into a fight with the Khan family, or go after John McCain; he continues to do it. Theres no strategy. This is a person who is just not in command of his emotions and feelings and actions. President Trump has sparked criticism for his treatment of grieving military families this week. The president has been accused of telling the grieving widow of US soldier "he knew what he signed up for" moments before she wept over his coffin. He has since insisted the story is totally fabricated. Since then, he has been accused of not knowing the name of a dead soldier whose widow he telephoned to console after he was killed in Niger. Mr Wehner said that the commander-in-chief sometimes had to play the role of pastor-in-chief but argued President Trump was not adept at helping people who were distraught or wounded. He takes these wounds and makes them deeper and wider and creates more pain, not less. Thats important because its deeply painful for the families. It also tears at the civic and social fabric of a country, he said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The father of a US soldier killed in Iraq has said he wants to learn how to use Twitter so he can call Donald Trump a damn liar. Euvince Brooks said he had not heard from the President since his 30-year-old son, Sergeant Roshain E Brooks, was killed on 13 August. Mr Brooks told The Washington Post he became angry after Mr Trumps claim that he contacts families that have lost a son or daughter in action. I said to my daughter, Can you teach me to tweet, so I can tweet at the president and tell him hes a liar? Mr Brooks told the newspaper. You know when you hear people lying, and you want to fight? Thats the way I feel last night. Hes a damn liar. Sergeant Brooks was killed during what was branded a mishap by the Army during a mortar fight against Isis. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal and Combat Action Badge. Rep. Frederica Wilson: Trump didn't know the name of the fallen serviceman Sgt. David Johnson Mr Brooks, from Brooklyn, New York City, called the President a damn disgrace to the White House. Ive been here for 17 years. Presidents George Bush and Obama, none of them behaved like this guy. This guy is a damn lunatic, he told New York Daily News. Mr Brooks comments come after allegations the President told the widow of another fallen serviceman he knew what he signed up for. He also tried to defend his record on contacting the families of dead soldiers by falsely accusing President Obama of failing to make phone calls to parents. Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images Other grieving families have, however, weighed in to praise the 71-year-old for his response to US military deaths. The father of Sergeant Cameron H Thomas, a US Army Ranger killed in April during a raid in Afghanistan, told The Washington Post: He gave his condolences and made some comments how different his paperwork was when it went across his desk. He said most of the paperwork he sees in these types of death says, Hes respected by his peers. He said Camerons stuck out because it said he was respected and loved by his peers. He added: Politics is politics, and maybe some people wouldnt care to hear from him. But putting politics aside, it does mean a lot to a family, their child. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An eight-year-old boy endured unimaginable abuse before his death including being forced to eat cat litter and being bound and gagged, a court heard. Gabriel Fernandez's mother Pearl and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre allegedly tortured the child in the months leading up to his death in 2013. Gabriel was sprayed with pepper spray, forced to eat cat faeces and regularly gagged, bound and beaten, according to testimony from Gabriel's older brother Ezequiel, who was 12 when his brother was killed. "My mom and her boyfriend made Gabriel eat spoiled stuff or expired stuff. One thing I remember is expired spinach. He threw it up, and they made him eat it off the table," Ezequiel told the court, according to ABC7. He was also burned with cigarettes, whipped with a metal hanger and shot with a BB gun, the jury was told. Prosecutor Jon Hatami said Aguirre forced Gabriel to go to school in pink clothes and was motivated to kill him because he thought he was gay. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty "It was just unbelievable amount of trauma on his body," Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic James Cermak, who responded to the 911 call on the day of his death, told the court. Gabriel's 14-year-old sister Virginia, who was 11 at the time of the abuse, also described what happened on the day he died. "He knocked the air out of him, and he fell over, and he didn't get back up," she told the court. "So they picked him up. They threw him in the shower. And they kept yelling at him to wake up. And when he didn't wake up, my mother decided to call the police. And she told me to grab a rag and we cleaned most of the blood that was on the floor." The judge reportedly called a recess during the testimony because so many in the room were crying. The disturbing details came to light during the trial of Aguirre. The boy's mother Fernandez will be tried separately. Both are accused of torture and murder. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis and other Islamist terror groups are still plotting to bring down a plane in a similar attack to 9/11, Donald Trump's acting secretary of homeland security has warned. Elaine Duke said jihadists were using lower level plots, such as knife or vehicle attacks, to raise money and keep their members engaged. "The threat is still severe," Ms Duke told an event at the US Embassy in London, describing Isis as being in an "interim" period as it focuses on a bigger endgame. Isis completely driven out of Raqqa by US-backed forces "The terrorist organisations, be it Isis or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11," she said, the Daily Mail reported. "They want to take down aircraft, the intelligence is clear on that. "However, in the interim they need to keep their finances flowing and they need to keep their visibility high and they need to keep their members engaged, so they are using small plots and they are happy to have small plots." She added: "Creating terror is their goal and so a van attack, a bladed weapon attack, causes terror and continues to disrupt the world but does not mean theyve given up on a major aviation plot." Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa atop of military vehicles REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces march past destroyed buildings as they celebrate victory REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the "V" sign in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces evacuate a civilian from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A civilian prays after she was rescued by fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters ride atop of military vehicles as they celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrates in Raqqa Reuters Her comments came one day after the head of MI5 warned Britain was experiencing an unrelenting and unprecedented terror offensive. Andrew Parker said in his 34 years working for the Security Service he had never faced such a relentless tempo of attempted and successful bombings, shootings and stabbings. Ms Duke also said the US and Britain would push social media firms to do more to remove extremist propaganda at a meeting of G7 interior ministers. Authorities say Isis propaganda has played a major part in radicalising people in the West but despite its defeat in its de facto capital Raqqa in Syria, Ms Duke said the group's online presence was likely to increase. "I would surmise being able to put terrorist propaganda on the internet might become more imperative," she added. She also warned that those who turned to violence by being radicalised by such material posed a bigger problem than the comparatively small number of fighters who had joined the militant group returning to US. "The number of foreign fighters we have returning is declining," she said. "The number of home-grown violent extremists, most of them inspired by terrorist organisations, is increasing." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Let's just establish, up front, that Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) thinks pretty much all questions about President Donald Trump are dumb. Recall that between Election Day and New Year's Day, McCain went through a phase in which he simply refused to answer reporters' Trump-related inquiries. At all. On the first of January, McCain said last 6 December, I promise to start answering these stupid, idiotic questions. McCain has generally kept his word, but in a gaggle on Tuesday he grew agitated when Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked the following: Has your relationship with the President frayed to the point that you are not going to support anything that he comes to you and asks for? Why would you say something that stupid? McCain replied. Why would you ask something that dumb?... You mean that I am somehow going to behave in a way that I'm going to block everything because of some personal disagreement? That's a dumb question. The basic idea behind the question really wasn't dumb at all. It is natural to wonder whether the long-running feud between Trump and McCain could hinder legislative business. McCain had addressed that prospect moments earlier when he told MSNBC's Kasie Hunt: I'm not interested in confronting the president; I'm interested in working with the President. But McCain clearly did not appreciate the suggestion that he might reject everything Trump supports - as if the senator were the one behaving unprofessionally. And, unusual as it is to see a Republican blow up at Fox News, tension between McCain and the network has been building for a while. When Trump said in 2015 that McCain is not a war hero, Doocy's father, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy, defended Trump instead of McCain. [Trump] says it one time then immediately corrects himself and says [McCain] was a war hero four times, Steve Doocy told viewers in July 2015, suggesting that the rest of the media had misrepresented Trump's remark. In truth, Trump never really corrected himself; he said that McCain is a war hero only because he was captured. Steve Doocy justified Trump's insult as standard political rhetoric. They don't like each other, Doocy said. There are a lot of people in this country who don't like each other, but it's political season and, you know, a lot of people might say, 'Look, it's Donald Trump being Donald Trump.' He is not going to apologize because he says he does not like what John McCain has done for the vets. McCain's rapport with some other big Fox News personalities is strained, too. We've had a love-hate relationship for many, many years, Sean Hannity said on 27 July. Hannity was reacting to a speech McCain had delivered on the Senate floor on the day he returned from a brain-cancer diagnosis. McCain told his colleagues to stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them! Talk radio, TV hosts - we are not, Senator, the ones to blame for your inaction and your failure in Washington, Hannity said in response. Tucker Carlson's criticism of McCain and his sins once spilled over into a critique of his daughter. Carlson tweeted that the senator does not deserve a daughter like this, referring to TV host Meghan McCain. Carlson later apologised. 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 McCain has a history with Peter Doocy, too. During his campaign for president, in 2008, McCain participated in a town hall event at Villanova University, moderated by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. The younger Doocy was a student at Villanova and asked McCain this question about the Democratic primary: I'm sure that you saw one of your Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton, recently drinking whiskey shots with some potential voters. Now, I was wondering if you think that she's finally resorted to hittin' the sauce, just because of some unfavorable polling. And I was also wondering if you would care to join me for a shot after this. McCain laughed but tiptoed his way through an awkward response. The Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The security guard who became the first person to confront the Las Vegas gunman has spoken out about his ordeal. Jesus Campos, who works at the Mandalay Bay casino, was on duty the night Stephen Paddock killed 58 people at a country music festival by shooting from his hotel room. The 25-year-old had previously sparked concern after vanishing ahead of planned media events, but has broken his silence in an interview with TV host Ellen DeGeneres. Walking on set with the aid of a walking stick, Mr Campos explained how on the night of 1 October he had been told to check on a fire escape door on the 32nd floor of the hotel that had been left open. Realising someone had put metal brackets on the door and unable to fully open it, he called an engineer. As he went to leave, Mr Campos said he heard "rapid fire" as Paddock began shooting through his hotel room door. NRA says nothing could have stopped Las Vegas massacre At first I took cover, I felt a burning sensation, I went to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood. Thats when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired, he said. He decided not to say he was hit in order to free up radio traffic to allow security to coordinate the response. As engineer Stephen Schuck came to fix the fire escape door, Mr Campos yelled for him to take cover just as the shooting begun again. If he didnt say that, I would have got hit, Mr Schuck told DeGeneres. Las Vegas shooting in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Las Vegas shooting in pictures Las Vegas shooting in pictures People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson Las Vegas shooting in pictures People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Paul Buck Las Vegas shooting in pictures FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting in pictures Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival Ethan Miller/Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting in pictures A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip AP/John Locher Las Vegas shooting in pictures A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas Getty Las Vegas shooting in pictures Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting in pictures Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA Mr Campos has also been credited with saving the life of a female guest, ordering her to get back inside as she wandered out of her hotel room. DeGeneres said this would be the only time Mr Campos would speak about the ordeal. I just wanna mention all the people that assisted that night, whether it was Metro, the FBI, the community especially coming out together to help everyone in need, Mr Campos said. The shooting was the deadliest in modern US history, leaving 58 dead and almost 500 injured. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An American university is taking a bold step into the future, and has begun offering the first-ever marijuana-focused degree. The new degree will allow students at Northern Michigan University to get an professional edge as marijuana seems poised to become an explosive industry in the United States. But, administrators there say the four-year medical plant chemistry degree isnt for your stereotypical stoner. Recommended Quarter of Seattle cancer patients turn to marijuana to help cope Obviously, the programme is new and it might speak to a certain crowd. But, for a student to succeed, theyre going to have to be very dedicated and motivated, Brandon Canfield, an associate chemistry professor at the school, told the Detroit Free Press. This is not an easy programme. Its a really intense biology chemistry programme. Mr Canfield said that students wont be growing marijuana as a part of their degree, but they would be studying similar plants with medicinal value. The programme includes studies in soils, biochemstiry, biology, and biostatistics. More and more states are approving the use of recreational or medical marijuana in recent years, leading to millions of dollars in added tax income for states who have decided to implement more lenient laws. In the last election alone, eight states voted to legalise marijuana for one of those uses. In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Show all 26 1 /26 In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man wears a marijuana leaf mask during the annual 4/20 cannabis culture celebration at Sunset Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia AP In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A lady smokes marijuana on Parliament Hill on 4/20 in Ottawa, Ontario Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies James Reed smokes a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People sign a 4/20 sign on Parliament Hill on in Ottawa, Ontario Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A woman smokes marijuana on Parliament Hill on 4/20 in Ottawa, Ontario. Polling released showed strong support in Canada for a government drive to legalise recreational use of marijuana, but many would like the proposed minimum age for consumption to be raised. Sixty-three percent of respondents told the Angus Reid Institute they support legalisation Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man smokes marijuana during the annual 4/20 marijuana rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Reuters In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Demonstrators smoke marijuana during the '4/20 Santiago' rally in favour of legalisation in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, as part of the Global Marijuana March which is being held in hundreds of cities worldwide Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People play with a mock marijuana joint during a 4/20 party to demand legalisation and to celebrate marijuana culture outside the Senate building in Mexico City, Mexico Reuters In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DCMJ, hands out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Police arrest Rachel Ramone Donlan after she handed out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC AFP/Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Police arrest Rachel Ramone Donlan after she handed out free marijuana joints to DC residents who worked on Capitol Hill as part of the 1st Annual Joint Session to mark '4/20' day and promote legalising marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Thousands of people gather to smoke marijuana during the '420 Santiago'rally in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies People attend the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Kevin Barron and Lasean Moore of Raleigh, North Carolina, share a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Nic Ruhl takes a pull on a giant hand rolled joint at precisely 4:20pm MDT during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Various cannabis paraphernalia on display at a vendor's stall during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Mo Banez, of Austin, Texas, lights a joint during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies A man displays a large container of cannabis during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado. The rally, held annually, is a celebration of both the legalisation of cannabis and cannabis culture. Colorado is one of twenty-six U.S. states along with the District of Columbia that has legalised the use of cannabis either recreationally or medically AFP/Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known as '420' rallies Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-marijuana events, known as '420' rallies Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli girl poses with a mock marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current laws Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies aelis pass around a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current laws Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem during a rally at the Rose garden, to celebrate 420 and to express their defiance of current law Getty Images In pictures: 4/20 Marijuana world rallies An Israeli smokes a marijuana joint in Jerusalem on April 20, 2017 during a rally opposite the Knesset to celebrate 420 and express defiance of current laws AFP/Getty Images That included California, one of the largest states in the country with a massive economy the size of Frances, where recreational marijuana dispensaries are set to open up early next year. The roll-out of legal marijuana dispensaries could have national implications, with many eyes watching the implementation there to see if the process is smooth, and reduces deficits. But, states that legalise marijuana could face a foe in the federal government. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a harsh critic of legalising the plant, and it is technically illegal under federal law. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At times, Donald Trump's presidency resembles an opera bouffe - a comic opera with simple wording and plenty of farce. The act on stage last week centred on two female protagonists, First Lady Melania Trump, the ethereal and powerful heroine, and Trump's first wife Ivana, the villain challenging her leadership and status. Misleading and partly senseless as it was, Ivana's claim that she was the real first lady hid an important message between the lines, sarcastically revealed by Ivana herself in a rapid series of rhetorical questions. Would I straighten up the White House in 14 days? Absolutely. Can I give the speech for 45 minutes without [a] teleprompter? Absolutely. Can I read a contract? Can I negotiate? Can I entertain? Absolutely. In her rant against Melania, Ivana struck one of the many raw nerves of the administration: The difficulties that the First Lady has encountered in fulfilling her traditional duties. Ivana spotlighted Melania's uneasiness with ceremonies, her difficulty in stirring the imagination of her audience, her struggle with the complex machinery of her office. Because they are crucial parts of public diplomacy, Trump's uneasiness in these areas reveal her failings as a first lady - and the challenges of the administration more broadly. Does Melania Trump have a body double? Recommended Trump White House descends into reality show as Melania and Ivana feud In the modern era, First Ladies have played three primary roles. First, they share unique perspectives with the president. It was Betty Ford who used the expression pillow talks to refer to the informal discussions she had at night with her husband, during which she tried to relay her own points of view on policy. President Andrew Johnson, according to historian Robert Winston, consulted his wife more often than any fellow statesman. Similarly, Michelle Obama acted as a driving force behind many of her husband's most difficult choices, such as the open support for same-sex marriage or the drafting of ambitious health-care and immigration reform agendas. Second, First Ladies usually advocate for social causes. Eleanor Roosevelt incessantly travelled across the country to observe the consequences of the Great Depression: Unemployment, starvation, poverty. On several occasions she condemned racial segregation as not only immoral but also inconsistent with the most cherished American values, diverging from her husband's necessarily pragmatic political agenda. Lady Bird Johnson pioneered environmental protection and global beautification. Pat Nixon encouraged young volunteerism. Betty Ford fiercely supported women's rights. Barbara Bush was a staunch supporter of global education and childhood literacy. Third, and perhaps most importantly, First Ladies have performed a delicate function as public diplomats abroad. For this reason, they have needed a complex set of personal skills as much as political shrewdness. Among the 19th century First Ladies, Abigail Adams, Elizabeth Monroe (who in Paris was dubbed la belle Americaine) and Louisa Adams acquired reputations as the most-travelled women of their times. In 1877, Julia Grant accompanied her husband Ulysses on a 28-month trip around the world during which she dined with royalty, breakfasted with intellectuals and drank tea with businessmen. These journeys contributed to spreading the first images of US women abroad and to redefining women's public role and sphere of action. In this regard, late-19th century First Ladies represented women who were concerned with substantive matters such as social, economic and political changes, and the rise of the first wave of feminism during this period gave them an unprecedented international prominence and an unexpected transnational audience. Nor were these just social calls. In the 1970s, Rosalynn Carter deeply influenced US foreign policy on several trips abroad, helping her husband's administration, for instance, redefine the Panama Canal treaties and foster Middle East negotiations. In June 1977, she undertook one of the most overtly political international missions ever assumed by a First Lady: She visited Jamaica, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela as the president's personal representative, holding substantive meetings with Central and South American policy leaders on issues such as human rights, arms reduction, demilitarisation, beef exports, pilot training and drug trafficking. She also attended the peace talks negotiated by the president between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Not every First Lady needs to be a Rosalynn Carter. But how does Melania Trump measure up as First Lady? It may be too early for an exhaustive assessment, but she seems to be grappling with the duties of a position she was unprepared to take on. Melania's social agenda largely adheres to the one set by her predecessors and hardly reflects any of her own concerns. Unlike her longtime interests in fashion and fine art, her involvement in humanitarian and social campaigns, such as the one against cyberbullying, is quite recent and covered with feigned enthusiasm. Her overall aptness is so questionable that even when she tried her best to be empathetic to the people struck by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, she ended up eliciting widespread criticism because of her outfit. Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Show all 18 1 /18 Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The 12th-century castle dominates Sevnica old town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The old town has a beautiful riverside setting Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town 'White House' slippers in Sevnica castle Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The annual salami festival, the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica was a nondescript town before Melania hit the big time AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica butchers take their sausage-making skills seriously Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Only men are allowed in the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town As American as.... a Sevnica apple pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town There are no plans to make a Donald pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The slippers featured in a recent fashion show AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The castle is one of the top tourist sites in town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melanija cake has gone down a storm AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The smart house still owned by Melania's parents Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town They live in America but visit occasionally Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The communist block of flats in which Melania grew up Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melania skin cream, for a presidential complexion Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town First lady chocolates, dusted with gold Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Even locals can't get enough of the Melanija cake Nick Redmayne It is of course true that the office of the First Lady represents a drift toward a less-representative democracy. Voters can provide no direct oversight of the activities that first ladies carry out at home and abroad. But first ladies have achieved important policy goals and helped to strengthen American democracy through their activism. Because the office of the First Lady has become an extension, and a reflection, of the administration's agenda and effectiveness, it is essential to understand whether a first lady satisfies the requirements of her position. And that is in the end the underlying question posed by Ivana's remarks. Ivana admitted she wasn't fit for the office, and charged that Melania wasn't, either. Melania needs to prove her wrong, not so that she can best one of her husband's former wives, but because she has the potential to have a real impact on the country in her current role. The Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A police officer in Ohio who was recorded beating a black motorist during a traffic stop in August has been fired, officials said. The officer, Michael Amiott, was terminated from his job with the Euclid Police Department on Friday, Mayor Kirsten Gail said in a statement emailed on Tuesday. Amiott, who is white, had been on disciplinary suspension after a video surfaced in August that showed him beating an African-American man, Richard Hubbard III, after pulling him over in Euclid, a suburb of Cleveland. The video shows Amiott punching Hubbard in the head and face more than a dozen times, even when Hubbard is prone on the ground. It was taken by a bystander and posted on Facebook, and the police department also released a version. Gail said in her statement that Amiott, 31, had been suspended for rule violations since then but that her office had continued to receive complaints of other episodes of professional misconduct. After a review, I found Amiott to have violated additional departmental rules, including Conduct Unbecoming and Courtesy, calling into serious question his suitability as a Euclid Police Officer, the mayor said in her statement. A staff member at her office said by telephone the mayor would have no further comment. Calls to telephone numbers listed under Amiotts name were not answered, and a spokesman for the police department did not reply to an email and voicemail messages. According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, Amiott received four letters of reprimand and one formal citizen complaint in his three years as a Euclid officer, but he was never disciplined beyond written citations. He was cited for pistol-whipping a driver with a handgun, mishandling evidence, losing his temper in front of his commanding officer and being involved in two crashes in police vehicles, the AP reported. On Tuesday, Christopher McNeal, a lawyer for Hubbard, said in a telephone interview that Hubbard, 25, a welder, had been treated in the hospital for bodily injuries and released. He had pleaded not guilty to misdemeanours, including resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license. His girlfriend, Yolimar Tirado, was also arrested during the traffic stop and was charged with misdemeanours, McNeal said. McNeal has filed a motion to dismiss the charges. In its broader context, there are some serious questions regarding the patterns, the practices and the customs of the Euclid Police Department using excessive force against its citizens, especially the African-American citizens, McNeal said. The arrest of Hubbard set off protests in Euclid, a city of about 48,000, and calls for a thorough response by the authorities. The citys chief of police, Scott Meyer, said at the time that he wanted to assure everyone that the incident would be investigated. I can understand and appreciate the great concern and alarm of those who have seen or heard of the videos involving the arrest of Richard Hubbard III, he said. Meyer had suspended Amiott for 15 work days, and Gail had extended the suspension for 30 more days, saying then that she would make a further decision on his case by 15 October. David Trend, the president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the interests of police officers, could not be reached by telephone on Tuesday. In August he stood by Amiott after the video surfaced, saying in a statement published by local news outlets that raw video of police officers using force to subdue those who resist arrest can be difficult to watch. 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 Everyone has an opinion about how much force is necessary and how much is too much, he said. Its easy to provide commentary after the fact. Its not easy being in the moment, on the street, trying to keep our community safe. He added: Officer Amiott faced just such a situation and responded in a manner that he felt necessary. James Hardiman, the President of the NAACP's Cleveland branch, said in a statement that the organisation was aware that the union was trying to contest the termination. He applauded the mayors decision as a step in the right direction. The New York Times Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Protesters at the University of Florida have drowned out white supremacist Richard Spencer's first major speech since the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. As Mr Spencer took the stage, most of the half-filled Phillips Centre theatre stood and chanted: "F*** you Spencer!" Many raised their fists in a Black Power salute. Mr Spencer started by welcoming the crowd to "the most important free speech event of [their] lifetime". He also thanked university President Kent Fuchs for allowing him to speak on campus. "For the record, I don't stand behind racist Richard Spencer," Mr Fuchs quickly responded on Twitter. "I stand with those who reject and condemn Spencers vile and despicable message." The university had attempted to bar Mr Spencer from speaking on campus, but relented when he threatened to sure for an infringement of free speech. 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 Hundreds of protesters gathered outside to oppose the speech, carrying signs reading "No Nazis UF" and "Resist Fascism". More than 3,000 people had RSVPed on Facebook to an anti-Spencer protest scheduled for that day. Florida Governor Rick Scott had also declared a state of emergency, putting the Florida National Guard on standby and allowing the county Sheriff to call on specialised security forces from across the state. "We live in a country where everyone has the right to voice their opinion, however, we have zero tolerance for violence and public safety is always our number one priority," he said in a statement. Richard Spencer apologises for holding press conference in his flat after no hotel would host him It was unclear what Mr Spencer intended to discuss in his speech, as he spent the majority of his address shouting down the protesters in the crowd. Do you not want to hear something, poor little babies, that might contradict something your professor told you?" he asked. "Might you have to think about something, child? The crowd alternated between different chants, from "Go home Spencer!" to "Let's go Gators!" a reference to the school's mascot. The first two rows of audience members, and a scattered few throughout the crowd, cheered Mr Spencer on. One of the most tense moments came when Mr Spencer discussed the rally in Charlottesville, in which one counter-protester was killed when a car drove into her. Mr Spencer insisted that the facts of the young woman's death were not yet clear, but the crowd had already erupted in chants. "It's your fault!" they called. Eventually, Mr Spencer decided to turn to a question and answer session. The first questioner took the microphone and asked: "Why do you think youre welcome here, when it literally took a court order to get you here?" "We have a tremendous amount of support" Mr Spencer said before being drowned out by boos. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A state of emergency has been declared in Alachua County, Florida, where thousands of protesters and hundreds of police have gathered in advance of a speech by a prominent white supremacist. Far right figurehead Richard Spencer is due to speak at the University of Florida (UF) on Thursday, marking his first university speech since the Unite the Right rally at the University of Virginia. The August rally descended into violence, leaving dozens injured and one dead. UF President Kent Fuchs said he is working to prevent a similar outcome at Thursdays event. In an email to staff and students, he urged community members to stay away from the speech altogether. Recommended Florida governor declares state of emergency over Richard Spencer talk [Do] not provide Mr. Spencer and his followers the spotlight they are seeking he wrote. ...By shunning him and his followers we will block his attempt for further visibility. In service of this goal, the school has cancelled classes and closed roads near the speech. But thousands of protesters appear to be paying no mind: More than 3,000 have RSVPed on Facebook to an on-campus protest called, No Nazis at UF - Protest Richard Spencer. Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Show all 9 1 /9 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Protesters clash and several are injured White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. A state of emergency is declared, August 12 2017 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Trump supporters at the protest A white nationalist demonstrator walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville State police stand ready in riot gear Virginia State Police cordon off an area around the site where a car ran into a group of protesters after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Militia armed with assault rifles White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' with body armor and combat weapons evacuate comrades who were pepper sprayed after the 'Unite the Right' rally was declared a unlawful gathering by Virginia State Police. Militia members marched through the city earlier in the day, armed with assault rifles. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee stands behind a crowd of hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' during the 'Unite the Right' rally 12 August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are protesting the removal of the statue from Emancipation Park in the city. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Racial tensions sparked the violence White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally Getty Violence on the streets of Charlottesville A car plows through protesters A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident resulted in multiple injuries, some life-threatening, and one death. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Rescue personnel help injured people after a car ran into a large group of protesters after an white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville President Donald Trump speaks about the ongoing situation in Charlottesville, Virginia from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He spoke about "loyalty" and "healing wounds" left by decades of racism. According to the event page, the protesters plan to march to the Phillips Centre, where Mr Spencer will be speaking at 2:30 pm. The group has arranged shuttles to bring people to the protest, and organised groups to provide water. According to the event plage, they plan to keep the protest nonviolent. The most important thing that everyone is working for [is] to peacefully get the message that the students, people from Gainesville, and everyone across the state oppose Richard Spencers white supremacist ideology, protest organiser Mitch Emerson told The Independent. The other important thing, he added, is to do everything we can to get everyone home safe. Alt-right leader Richard Spencer punched in the face during inauguration protest In the interest of public safety, Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in the surrounding county. The declaration places the Florida National Guard on standby and allows the Alachua County Sheriff to call on specialised security forces from across the state. The University of Florida Police Department, Gainesville Police Department, Alachua County Sheriffs Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Florida Highway Patrol were all dispatched on Thursday, Reuters reported. The school alone said it would pay for an estimated $500,000 in additional security. Mr Spencer told CBS that the emergency declaration was "flattering" but "most likely overkill." "I'm not a hurricane or an invading army, at least not literally," he said. Still, Mr Spencers own team was taking additional precautions on Thursday. Cameron Padgett, an organiser for Mr Spencers National Policy Institute, told USA Today that only people who looked like Spencer supporters would be given one of the 700 tickets for the speech. According to Mr Padgett, this was to thwart a local bars plan to give free beer to protesters who obtained and discarded an event ticket. "There's only so many tickets we're allowed to have for the event, so it didn't make sense to let that happen," said Mr Padgett. Mr Spencer was not invited to UF by a student group, faculty member, or community organisation Instead, the National Policy Institute booked and paid for the speaking space itself. The university attempted to bar Mr Spencer from speaking when he first applied in August, but backed down when threatened with a free speech lawsuit. UF supports the constitutional right to free speech, the university said in a statement, and our role as a public university includes legal obligations to allow a wide range of viewpoints to be expressed by external groups even when they are contrary to the core values of our university. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The University of Florida (UF) was on high alert on Thursday, as white supremacist Richard Spencer prepared to take the stage for a speech on campus. Approximately 700 tickets were available for the event, but hundreds more were expected to protest outside. Scores of police also arrived on campus. Classes were cancelled and roads were closed in areas near the event. The Florida Governor declared a state of emergency. Why did one mans speech generate such an outcry? Heres what you need to know. Who is Richard Spencer? White supremacist Richard Spencer talks with reporters during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Mr Spencer is a white supremacist and self-proclaimed white nationalist who runs the National Policy Institute. His think tank aims to to elevate the consciousness of whites, ensure our biological and cultural continuity, and protect our civil rights, according to its mission statement. Mr Spencer claims to have invented the term alt-right, which is now used to describe a group of loosely organised, far-right believers who reject traditional conservatism in favour of more white supremacist, anti-Semitic beliefs. Mr Spencer was also scheduled to speak at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville a white supremacist rally that erupted into violence and left dozens injured and one dead. Why has his appearance in Florida caused controversy? The University of Florida originally rejected Mr Spencers application to speak, citing safety concerns. In a statement, UF President Kent Fuchs called Mr Spencer's rhetoric racist, repugnant, and counter to everything the university and this nation stands for. But the university later backed down, after the National Policy Institute threatened to file a free speech lawsuit. The President signalled his disappointment with the decision in an email to students and faculty. Students have since taken up the banner of protest, with more than 3,500 signing on to a petition calling the decision abhorrent and unacceptable. This event is an opportunity for the alt-right, neo-Nazis, and active Ku Klux Klan in Florida to rally on campus and intimidate students as well as Gainesville residents, the petition read. This decision is not just about free speech; it is about student safety. How are people reacting to it? Alt-right leader Richard Spencer punched in the face during inauguration protest Aside from signing petitions, students have also organised physical protests at UF for the day of the speech. More than 3,000 have RSVPed on Facebook to a protest called, No Nazis at UF - Protest Richard Spencer. Participants plan to march to the Phillips Centre, where Mr Spencer will be speaking at 2:30 pm. The organisers say they want a peaceful protest, to show solidarity as a community in the face of those that wish to incite fear and violence against the most marginalized amongst us. Florida Governor Rick Scott has also declared a state of emergency in the surrounding Alachua County. The declaration places the Florida National Guard on standby and allows the Alachua County Sheriff to call on specialised security forces from across the state. The goal, officials say, is to prevent another Charlottesville. What happened in Charlottesville? Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Show all 9 1 /9 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Protesters clash and several are injured White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. A state of emergency is declared, August 12 2017 Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Trump supporters at the protest A white nationalist demonstrator walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville State police stand ready in riot gear Virginia State Police cordon off an area around the site where a car ran into a group of protesters after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Militia armed with assault rifles White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' with body armor and combat weapons evacuate comrades who were pepper sprayed after the 'Unite the Right' rally was declared a unlawful gathering by Virginia State Police. Militia members marched through the city earlier in the day, armed with assault rifles. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee stands behind a crowd of hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' during the 'Unite the Right' rally 12 August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are protesting the removal of the statue from Emancipation Park in the city. Getty Images Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Racial tensions sparked the violence White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' exchange insults with counter-protesters as they attempt to guard the entrance to Lee Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally Getty Violence on the streets of Charlottesville A car plows through protesters A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The incident resulted in multiple injuries, some life-threatening, and one death. AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville Rescue personnel help injured people after a car ran into a large group of protesters after an white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia AP Photo Violence on the streets of Charlottesville President Donald Trump speaks about the ongoing situation in Charlottesville, Virginia from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He spoke about "loyalty" and "healing wounds" left by decades of racism. Hundreds of neo-Nazis, KKK members, and other white supremacists descended on Charlottesville on the weekend of August 11 for the Unite the Right rally. Many marched on the University of Virginia, carrying tiki torches and chanting slogans like, Jews will not replace us. The rally ultimately devolved into violence between attendees and counter-protesters. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency, and Virginia National Guard troops were sent in. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes, and one counter-protester was killed. What has Mr Spencer said in the past? Mr Spencer has been unapologetic about his view that white people should have their own nation, separate from people of colour. He once told a Vice reporter that he dreamed of a new society, an ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans. It would be a new society based on very different ideals than, say, the Declaration of Independence, he added. Mr Spencer has also called Martin Luther King Jr a fraud and a degenerate, and called the word racist a slur. In a speech at Texas A&M University, he claimed that America does belong to white people, culturally, politically, socially, everything. We defined what America is, he said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The father of a soldier who died in Afghanistan was promised $25,000 (18,940) and fundraising support by Donald Trump, but has recently said that no support has materialised. Chris Baldrige, the father of 22 year old Army Corporal Dillon Baldridge, who was killed on duty in Afghanistan in June, told The Washington Post on Wednesday he had a fifteen minute phone call with the President a few weeks after his sons death. It is customary in the US for the President to call or write to Gold Star families - the name given to relatives of those who have died in military combat. The cheque has now been sent, according to CNN - following media coverage months after the original phone call. During his conversation, Mr Baldridge told President Trump he was concerned that his ex-wife would receive the entirety of the $100,000 gratuity the Pentagon awards to named beneficiaries of deceased soldiers. President Trump said he would write a cheque for $25,000 to the soldiers father from his personal account, according to Mr Baldridge. Reporter confronts Donald Trump over repeated false claims US is the highest taxed country I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, No other president has ever done something like this, but Im going to do it. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told The Washington Post, The cheque has been sent. Its disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognised as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the medias biased agenda. It is the second embarrassing incident involving a Gold Star family in a matter of days for President Trump. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat Congresswoman, recently claimed she overheard the President tell a dead soldiers widow that her husband knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway. President Trump has denied Ms Wilsons version of events, claiming the Congresswoman had totally fabricated the incident. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump says that his administrations response to the disaster in Puerto Rico deserves a grade of 10 out of 10, even though much of the island is still without power nearly a month after Hurricane Maria smashed through the US territory. The President boasted of his own administrations work during a meeting in the Oval Office with the US territorys governor, Ricardo Rossello. The Puerto Rican governor notably avoided the question when asked how hed rate the US federal governments response. I think weve done a really great job, Mr Trump said. I give ourselves a 10 [because] we have provided so much, so fast. Recommended Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Three weeks after Maria made landfall on the US territory, as much as 78 per cent of the island is still without power, endangering vulnerable populations in hospitals and elsewhere. Ninety-eight per cent of the hospitals on the island are reportedly open, but they are hobbled by unsteady access to electricity. Of those hospitals with generators, the influx of patients from other hospitals that don't have the resources to serve their patients has put strains on doctors and medical professionals there. Emergency health services are also paralysed in many places, leaving many sick people trapped in their homes without access to phone services to call for help, and without access to their medications. People with lifelong medical conditions are particularly vulnerable, and many are being forced to go without the medications they need to survive. In parts of the island, the supplies of life-saving medications like oxygen and insulin are running out, and some have spoiled. In some scenarios on the island, there simply isn't enough to go around already. Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Show all 20 1 /20 Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew chief Kenney shelters under the blade of an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit preparing to take off during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, Puerto Rico, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico An HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit takes off behind Crew Chief Alexander Blake and his fellow soldiers during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Morovis, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew member Bynum stands in tropical rain as a HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit prepares to take off during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot Chris Greenway receives a hug from a woman thanking him for water as he works with the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Verde de Comerio, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A man carries a case of water away from an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after soldiers working with 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit dropped off relief supplies during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Jayuya, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Crew chief Alexander Blake from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit loads water into a helicopter during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents wait for soldiers in UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade to deliver food and water during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo Reuters Bringing aid to Puerto Rico An HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit lands in a field to avoid lightning during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Manati, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents hold their hands aloft to signal that they need water as UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade fly past during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, near Ciales, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Tropical rain splashes on a runway as HH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit wait for weather to clear during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Pilot Eldwin Bocanegra Torres speaks with residents isolated by landslides in the mountains after unloading water and food from a helicopter during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, near Utuado, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents stand in front of wind-damaged trees as they wait for soldiers in UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade to deliver food and water during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico The contents of a home are seen from the air during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Utuado, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Thomas looks out of the window of an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit, loaded with relief supplies, during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in Isla Grande, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A message written on the rooftop is seen from the air during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Humacao, October 10, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico A HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit lands in a field during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria in San Sebastian, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Sergeant First Class Eladio Tirado, who is from Puerto Rico, looks for a landing spot for a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria near Ciales, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Boys carry water away from an HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter after soldiers working with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit dropped off relief supplies during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Jayuya, October 5, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Sergeant First Class Eladio Tirado from the First Armored Division's Combat Aviation Brigade, who is from Puerto Rico, speaks with residents as he helps during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in San Lorenzo, October 7, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson Bringing aid to Puerto Rico Residents peek through a fence at helicopters from 101st Airborne Division's "Dustoff" unit that had parked in a locked field during recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria, in Lares, October 6, 2017 Reuters/Lucas Jackson The dire medical situation on the island has led to deaths, though many of those may not be accounted for in the official death toll of 48 people. That's because, in areas that are harder to access, the deaths may not be officially certified. Reports of bodies piling up at some hospitals have hinted that the number of deaths may end up being much higher than currently reported. Mr Trump has appeared openly resentful of the notion that the United States is obligated to provide aid to Puerto Rico, a US territory with 3.4 million American citizens, and has been repeatedly criticised for that perceived attitude. He tweeted last week that "we cannot keep [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)], the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!" While visiting, the President also commented on the cost of the disaster relief, telling local officials there that they had thrown the US federal budget "out of whack". Some in Mr Trump's administration appear to have a tenuous grasp on Puerto Rico's legal status, with Energy Secretary Rick Perry referring to the island as a "country" on the same day as that tweet, while fielding questions about efforts to repair the island's energy grid. FEMA says that there are more than 20,000 federal civilian personnel and military members, including 1,700 FEMA personnel, who are in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. That response includes a Department of Defense hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, which is reportedly underutilized, since people on the island aren't sure how to get patients to the boat. The emergency management agency has provided millions of meals and millions of liters of water to distressed people in Puerto Rico. The governor of the island has established 10 regional staging areas around the island to aid in the distribution of aid, and is reportedly working alongside the National Guard in that mission. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has appeared to suggest, without providing evidence, that the FBI and Russia may have colluded to fund the infamous dossier that alleged links between his team and the Kremlin. Taking to Twitter, the US President said: Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)? Mr Trumps outlandish claim comes after two bosses of Fusion GPS, the firm that helped produce the dossier, refused to answer questions on Wednesday in a private meeting with the House Intelligence Agency. Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, saying they would only cooperate with serious investigations that strike a balance between Congresss right to information and our clients privileges and legal obligations. Joshua Levy, their lawyer, also accused a Trump cabal of carrying out a "campaign to demonize our client for having been tied to the Trump dossier. Fusion GPS's client is former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a report that made allegations of Russian financial and personal links to Mr Trumps campaign and associates. Donald Trump says Isis are "giving up" now he is president Until this month, the FBI was leading inquiries into the dossier. A special counsel looking into whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 US election, led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, has since taken over the investigation. The 35-page document made unverified allegations about Mr Trump and some of his campaign staffs contact with Russia officials. It also alleged Moscow had compromising footage of the US President. 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 has denied all the allegations. Fusion GPS had originally been hired by Republican opponents of Mr Trump in September 2015. Mr Steele joined the team eight months later in June. After winning his partys nomination in July 2016, Democrats took over and began paying Mr Steele and Fusion GPS to look into the billionaires activities. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has called criticism over Hillary Clinton's role in a uranium deal with Russia "the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow". As the controversy over the president's handling of grieving military families grows, he lashed out on Twitter on Thursday morning and attempted to push the news agenda towards a debunked theory about a uranium deal. "Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!" he wrote. Trump asks if reporters 'know what uranium is' in press conference A report this week claimed the Obama administration potentially knew of corruption at a Russian nuclear supplier years before it agreed to sign over 20 per cent of US's uranium supply to the company, and it was widely covered by the media. The matter was investigated by the US Department of Justice for nearly four years beginning in 2010, headed by Rod Rosenstein who is now Mr Trump's Deputy Attorney General but had been appointed by Barack Obama at the time. Employees at Tenex, a subsidiary of Rosatom the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear complex received bribes and kickbacks from American companies as early as 2009, according to The Hill. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images The FBI found - using a witness working in the Russian nuclear industry to gather the financial record evidence - showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's main man in the US, Vadim Mikerin, had been involved in corruption since 2009. Mr Mikerin arrived in the US in 2010, on a work visa approved by the Obama administration, to open the US arm of Tenex, called Tenam. Some have claimed that the approval of the deal was a quid pro quo exchange for Moscow donations to the Clinton Foundation, the charity run by the Clinton family that included the international development arm known as the Clinton Global Initiative. Donald Trump denies 'ranting and raving', attacking media, Clinton, Democrats However, then-Secretary of State Clinton did not have the power of veto or approval over the deal with the firm. She was one of nine cabinet members and department heads collectively charged with advising the president on potential national security issues with such transactions on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. Several sources told The Hill newspaper "they did not know whether the FBI or DOJ ever alerted committee members to the criminal activity they uncovered." The timings of the donations don't match either; of the alleged $145m reportedly contributed to the foundation by investors, most came from a single donor who sold his stake three years before the Russia deal. In December 2015, Mr Mikerin was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $2m. However, the FBI is barely mentioned as a player in the court records and the newspaper said "the lack of fanfare" on the part of the FBI or DOJ touting their own accomplishment left many within the bureau and Congress "with no inkling that a major Russian nuclear corruption scheme with serious national security implications had been uncovered." Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Less than a month before Facebook executives appear in front of US intelligence officials to explain the role their platform played in Russian meddling at the 2016 US election, former employees have come forward and expressed regret at having worked at the company. The social network, used by a quarter of all people on the planet, is at the centre of growing outrage at the scale of the Russian disinformation campaign staged on the platform, and is facing claims it has done little to address the issue. Critics have accused Facebook of failing to properly acknowledge and deal with the Russia problem. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that in April, Facebook cut out a reference to Russia in a draft report on election influence, without explaining why. Despite the long public debate over the issue, Facebook only admitted last month that thousands of advertisements had been bought by Russia-linked pages. At least 3,000 politically divisive ads were bought by Russia at the time of the presidential campaigns and elections, the company revealed. Analysis revealed that each of these propaganda efforts could have been viewed millions of times. According to the Associated Press, a Russian sponsored page named Being Patriotic racked up over 4.4 million interactions by the time Donald Trump was inaugurated. The pro-Trump page repeated emotive words and phrases such as illegal alien, Sharia law, border wall, American, Trump win, and welfare state, several times, a content analysis revealed. This was just one of thousands that were targeted at specific users. A CNN report found some Russian-linked ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin two states crucial to Mr Trumps victory. Both states were won by Mr Trump by less than one per cent, with a few thousand votes deciding the outcome. In all, Facebook believes the entire Russian propaganda effort was seen by 10 million people, and cost just $100,000 (76,000). This week, former Facebook employees told Vanity Fair they are concerned by the companys scale and impact in its current form. They look at the role Facebook now plays in society, and how Russia used it during the election to elect Trump, and they have this sort of Oh my God, what have I done moment, one early ex-Facebook employee said. The same former employee added: I lay awake at night thinking about all the things we built in the early days and what we could have done to avoid the product being used this way. Insiders also believe Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, along with high-level executives at the company, think the extent of Russias influence in the election is overblown. They have their head in the sand like Mark, one person who personally knows Mr Zuckerberg told Vanity Fair. Recommended Google says Russia bought adverts to influence US election But in a sign the company is taking Russian interference seriously, Facebooks chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said last week the company owed the American people an apology over foreign meddling. Things happened on our platform that shouldnt have happened, she said in an interview with US news website Axios. Its not just that we apologize. Were angry, were upset. But what we really owe the American people is determination to improve prevention, she said. Next month the focus on Facebook and fellow tech giants Twitter and Google will intensify, with executives formally invited to appear before the House intelligence committee. Congressional investigators will ask these firms to account for how their networks became the key battle grounds for foreign influence in the election. The scale of the challenge Facebook faces in dealing with politically-charged content is one the company still seems unsure how to grapple with. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images At our heart we are a tech company, Ms Sandberg told Axios. We dont hire journalists. In 2016, Pew Research reported 44 per cent of American citizens got their news from Facebook. This figure helps illuminate the extraordinary scale of the platform as a news dissemination service, and also explains why it will remain attractive to subversive actors seeking to influence people. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Senator John McCain and two Democratic senators have unveiled a bill that would force Facebook, Google and others to disclose who is purchasing online political advertising a measure that could bring sweeping change in an industry that has fought against having to comply with rigorous regulations. When releasing the first legislative response to revelations that Russians used tech platforms to interfere in the 2016 election, the senators said their bill was intended to defend the bedrock of the US's political system. During a news conference, the Democratic co-sponsors of the bill senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner bristled at how foreign actors had been able to take advantage of loopholes in current laws to threaten the integrity of the US election system. Our entire democracy was founded on the simple idea that the people in our country should be self-governing, Ms Klobuchar said. Now 240 years later, our democracy is at risk. Russia attacked our elections, and they and other foreign powers and interests will continue to divide our country if we dont act now. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Facebook sold more than $100,000 worth of ads to a Russian troll farm with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, company representatives told congressional investigators. Meanwhile, Google sold at least $4,700 worth of ads to accounts believed to be tied to the Russian government, according to the New York Times. These disclosures raised alarm on Capitol Hill, and followed months of criticism about the role tech companies had played in the spread of false information during the election. Long before last years presidential race, Google and Facebook had requested to be exempt from existing disclosure rules that cover TV and radio stations, asserting that adverts on their respective platforms were too small to fit disclaimers listing who had purchased them. The Federal Election Commission had justified granting the exemptions by declaring the Internet a unique and evolving mode of mass communication and political speech that is distinct from other media in a manner that warrants a restrained regulatory approach. Now, members of Congress are looking to change this policy. 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 "Our bipartisan legislation would address this serious challenge by expanding landmark campaign finance law to apply to internet and digital communications platforms that command a significant audience, Mr McCain said in a statement. I have long fought to increase transparency and end the corrupting influence of special interests in political campaigns, and I am confident this legislation will modernise existing law to safeguard the integrity of our election system. Ms Klobuchar and Mr Warner said the bipartisan Senate bill would ensure that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio and satellite. Mr Warner is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is one of multiple congressional panels conducting an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr Warner said he was interested in collaborating with the platform companies, which have been lobbying on Capitol Hill to shape legislation regarding online political advertising, according to Politico. From initial drafts, this bill has only gotten stronger and tougher, Ms Klobuchar said. Many Republicans and members of the intelligence committee have expressed interest in supporting the legislation, Mr Warner said, with several saying they are waiting to see what happens during a panel hearing on 1 November. At that time, representatives from the tech companies are due to testify as part of the committees Russia probe. So far, representatives of Google, Facebook and Twitter have been reticent in their responses to the new legislation. Facebook and Twitter released statements pledging to work with politicians; Google declined to comment. A Twitter representative said in an emailed statement that we look forward to engaging with Congress and the FEC on these issues, and a Facebook spokesman said, We are open to working with lawmakers and reviewing any reasonable legislative proposals. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Mike Pences older brother is running for Congress after saying that the vice president was full of shit. Gregory Pence filed a tax document this week indicating he is planning to run for the same congressional seat in eastern Indiana that Mike Pence held for 12 years. A campaign announcement video touts the elder Pence as a Republican who believes in fiscal responsibility, the sanctity of life and our Second Amendment rights. Im going to fight to help Donald Trump help our district, Mr Pence says in the video. Thats why Im running for the United States Congress. The elder Pences experience in politics is limited. Over the years, he has served as a close confidant to his brother and had a brief stint as deputy for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in 2005 during his brother's congressional term despite having no environmental credentials, according to the Indianapolis Star. Mr Pence also ran the family's now-bankrupt chain of convenience stores and gas stations. 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 Earlier this year, he took his first formal steps into the political fray when he became statewide finance chairman for current Republican Congressman Luke Messer, who is running for Indiana's US Senate seat in 2018. In a recent interview with the New Yorker, Mr Pence offered several colourful quotes about the Vice President. Speaking about Mike Pence's unsuccessful campaign for a congressional seat in 1990, Gregory said, Mike burned a lot of bridges. The campaign struggled after media reports revealed he had used donations for personal expenses, such as his mortgage and groceries, the New Yorker said. He upset a lot of his backers, the elder Pence added. It was partly because of immaturity, but he really was kind of full of shit. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Almost three-quarters of Americans fear the US is to become involved in a major conflict in the next few years, according to a new survey. Amid escalating tensions with North Korea over its aggressive missile tests and development of nuclear warheads, combined with sabre-rattling from Donald Trump, 72 per cent of the population fears the country will become embroiled in such a war within four years. Most people believe the greatest threat to the US is from North Korea, followed by Isis and Russia. Only two per cent of people believe Iran is the greatest threat. Most Americans beleive North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Un is the greatest threat (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images) The NBC News/SurveyMonkey National Security poll also found that people are evenly divided on what represents the greatest form of threat - nuclear weapons, a cyber attack or terrorism. Reporter confronts Donald Trump over repeated false claims US is the highest taxed country The survey also found that 54 per cent of Americans disapprove of the way Mr Trump is handling the confrontation with North Korea. The President has responded to Pyongyangs missile tests with a flurry of rhetoric; in his inaugural speech at the UN, Mr Trump said there would be no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters If the righteous many dont confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph, Mr Trump said. Yet most Americans do not agree with their President that the diplomacy being conducted by his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is a waste of time. Indeed, the poll found that 64 per cent of people would prefer the US found a diplomatic solution to resolving its stand-off with North Korea. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An explosion at an unlicensed firecracker factory killed eight workers and injured 20 other people in eastern India as Hindus celebrated their most popular Diwali festival, police said Thursday. A police officer said rescuers cleared debris of the collapsed building in a town in Balasore district in Orissa state on Thursday morning. Seven injured people have been hospitalized while the others were treated and sent home. The area is nearly 195 kilometers (130 miles) south of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital. Recommended Delhi air pollution hits hazardous levels on night of Diwali Balasore district administrator Pramod Kumar Das said a huge explosion took place on Wednesday as firecrackers were being made in a house used as a factory without a legal license, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast. Accidental explosions are common at Indian firework factories as owners often ignore safety standards. Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Young hocky players light candle after track pujan at Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium Rex Features Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium decorated with oil lamps during Diwali celebrations Kumar Verma/ZUMA Wire/REX Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Sri Lankan Hindu devotees offer prayers during Diwali Festival at a temple in Colombo AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 A child watches fireworks at the Madan Mohan Malviya stadium AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 An Indian Sikh devotee paddles in the holy water tank 'sarovar' AFP/Getty Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 A young Indian Sikh devotee lights a candle in the early morning during Diwali Festival AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Indian Sikh devotees take an early morning dip in the holy water tank 'sarovar' AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Indian Sikh devotees lights candles in the early morning AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 An Indian Sikh devotee takes an early morning dip in the holy water tank 'sarovar' AFP/Getty Images Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures v Indians watch a sky lantern take flight during Diwali festival AP Diwali celebrations 2017 in pictures Diwali celebrations 2017 Indian Sikh devotees light candles at sunset AFP/Getty Images Setting off firecrackers is part of celebrations during festivals and weddings in India. In June, another explosion at a fireworks factory killed 23 workers and injured seven others in a village in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The explosion triggered a blaze that engulfed the factory before firefighters put it out. Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Pakistani court has indicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter and son-in-law on corruption charges stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm. A lawyer for 67-year-old Sharif, who is in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former prime minister's daughter Maryam Sharif and her husband Mohammad Safdar attended the hearing at the Accountability Court in Islamabad and also pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from a trove of documents, known as the Panama Papers, that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. Maryam Sharif denied the allegations as baseless after leaving the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and they would face these cases with courage. The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. His political future has been hanging in the balance since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from being prime minister. A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said: We knew justice would not be done. Rana Sanaullah said there were hidden hands behind Sharif's dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties who say Sharif is continuing to rule through a puppet prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} North Korea has threatened to launch an unimaginable strike on the US, accusing the Trump administration and its South Korean puppet allies of seeking to ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost. The statement released by the Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyangs officials mouthpiece, predicted imminent catastrophic disaster in the region. Using typically hyperbolic language, it vowed to mercilessly smash the war frenzy of the US and South Korean puppet warmongers to get rid of the abyss of ruin through dangerous war gambling and inflict the most miserable death on the invaders. The threat came in response to joint US-South Korea military drills in waters east of the Korean peninsula involving the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Forty warships have been deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan. The presence of the US Navy's biggest warship in Asia, coupled with F-18 Super Hornets and B1-B strategic bombers, comes ahead of Donald Trumps first official visit to the region, set to start in Japan on 5 November. The White House is yet to decide whether the President will visit the demilitarised zone (DMZ) during his 12-day trip, which will see him visit South Korea on 7 November and leave for China a day later. North Korea said America's plans to evacuate US civilians in South Korea beginning on Monday would intentionally create the tension on the eve of war. An image released by North Korea's news agency on Thursday shows Kim Jong-Un at a shoe factory (Reuters) Next weeks drill, known as Courageous Channel, is being used by the US Department of Defence to respond to a wide range of crisis management events. The drill takes place every six months but has garnered more attention amid escalating tensions on the peninsula. Recommended American military staging evacuation drills across South Korea North Korea's statement added: The US is running amuck by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time. The South Korean puppets, too, will not go scot-free as they are introducing the US nuclear strategic assets and turning the whole land of south Korea into the worst-ever field of a nuclear war without seeing the imminent catastrophic disaster. The grave situation on the Korean peninsula reaching the unpredictable phase more clearly shows that the US and South Korean puppet warmongers are the chieftains threatening the existence and development of the Korean nation and the root cause of a nuclear war. USS Ronald Reagan conducts joint drills with the South Korean navy (Reuters) A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on 3 September and two missile launches over Japan, has stoked tensions. But on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Mr Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to defuse tension with North Korea. Washington has not ruled out the eventual possibility of direct talks with the North to resolve the stand-off, US Deputy Secretary of State John J Sullivan said on Tuesday. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Muslim cleric has been arrested in connection with the murder of the woman who has come to be known as Pakistans Kim Kardashian. Qandeel Baloch, 26, was allegedly strangled to death by her brother, Muhammad Waseem, in a suspected honour killing, after she posted racy pictures online. Now a high-profile cleric, Mufti Abdul Qavi, has been arrested after his phone records showed he was in contact with Mr Waseem, following Mr Qavi himself being embroiled in a scandal involving Ms Baloch. Mr Qavi was sacked from his position on a government committee after Ms Baloch released pictures with the cleric in his hotel room just weeks before her murder. In the pictures she is seen wearing his hat while posing beside him. She accused the Muslim cleric of smoking cigarettes and drinking soft drinks with her during the month of Ramadan when Muslims are supposed to be fasting. She also accused him of inappropriate behaviour and called him a blot on the name of Islam. I thought I would expose him as he is in reality. He is a different person alone and different when he has his followers around him, she told AFP. Qandeel Baloch (Getty) The cleric has been accused of inciting her murder following the incident something Mr Qavi has denied. Miss Baloch was a polarising figure in Pakistan, a notoriously conservative country, and had tens of thousands of fans online. Mr Qavi claimed their relationship stemmed from him trying to show her the right path. 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 Her brother has said he killed her for bringing shame on his family but has since pleaded not guilty. The case has not yet gone to trial. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Tajikistan has drawn up a register of hundreds of allegedly gay citizens and indicated they would be subject to mandatory testing for sexually transmitted infections. The state prosecutor's magazine, Zakonnost, said the list of 367 gay and lesbian people was compiled after it conducted research into the LGBT community. The announcement has been greeted with alarm by human rights workers, who warned that homophobic policies were spreading throughout the central Asian region. The prosecutor's article said 319 gay men and 48 lesbians were identified by federal prosecutors as part of operations called "Purge" and "Morality". It did not specify what the tests involved, but said the individuals were "put on a register due to their vulnerability in society and for their safety and to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Although Tajikistan decriminalised homosexuality in 1998, abolishing a law from the Soviet-era, stigma remains around the issue and gay people report discrimination by authorities and employers. Boris Dittrich, advocacy director LGBT rights at Human Rights Watch, told RFE/RL that the registry was part of a trend going on in which authorities in former Soviet republics are targeting [gay people]". Homophobic state policies are spreading, he said. Its a very scary situation when a government starts to register [gay people] putting them on a list and then, usually, forcing them to undergo some kind of medical testing." 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 LGBT rights in the former Soviet Union has caused increasing concern. UN experts last week implored Azerbaijani authorities to investigate reports of torture taking place against gay men in detention in the country. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} German researchers believe they have found the legendary Amber Room, thought to be most valuable piece of art stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. The ornate panels, embellished with amber and gold leaf, were gifted to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great in 1716 and are estimated to be worth 250m (224m). Mystery has surrounded the whereabouts of the Amber Room for the last 70 years. Now, three treasure hunters say a series of clues has revealed the room to be hidden in a network of tunnels under a cave in the Ore Mountains, eastern Germany. Leonhard Blume, 73, Peter Lohr, 71 and Gunter Eckhardt, 67, examined witness reports complied by the Stasi and KGB. They then used radar to see what lay beneath the so-called "Prince's Cave" outside Hartenstein, a town close to the Czech border. "We discovered a very big, deep and long tunnel system and we detected something that we think could be a booby trap, Mr Blume told The Times. Evidence of an explosion fits with witness accounts that a shipment of crates had been hidden in the tunnels and the entrance blown up to hide them, he said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Now, the three men are seeking funding to excavate the site. We want to go on but its all very complicated and we need a sponsor, Mr Blume said. The East German and Russian secret police each spent a decade hunting for the Amber Room. Historians are divided on its fate. Some believe it was destroyed in an air raid on Konigsberg in 1944, while others think it was destroyed by Soviet soldiers at the end of the war. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has threatened to explicitly declare independence if no talks are offered, in a letter to Spain's prime minister. Minutes before a deadline to back down on the independence bid expired, Mr Puigdemont warned Mariano Rajoy that if Spain's government continued to impede dialogue and continues its repression, Catalonia's parliament would proceed to hold a vote on declaring independence from Spain. The Catalan leader declared independence in an address to the regional parliament last week, but then immediately suspended it and challenged Spain to hold negotiations. After Mr Puigdemont's letter was published, Mr Rajoy's government made an official announcement saying it will trigger Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the central government to take control of the autonomous region. Article 155 has not been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Catalans would consider the application of the measure an invasion of the region's self-government, while Spain's central authorities are portraying it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Mr Puigdemont's government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country's constitution. More than 40 per cent of Catalonia's 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in the illegal 1 October referendum as police used violence to try to enforce a court order to stop it from going ahead. Opponents boycotted the vote. Catalan officials say that hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents and on the grounds that it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Spain's government has said it would be willing to hold off on applying Article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out. The Catalan government's international affairs director Raul Romeva told reporters in Brussels that Catalonia's banned 1 October secession referendum gave the region's separatist government a mandate to declare independence from pain. Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Show all 17 1 /17 Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man faces off Spanish Civil Guards outside a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police form a security cordon around the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police evict a young woman during clashes between people gathered outside the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Spanish Civil Guard officers break through a door at a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona on Sunday AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Crowds raise their arms up as police move in on members of the public gathered outside to prevent them from voting in the referendum at a polling station where the President Carles Puigdemunt will vote later today Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters People confront Spanish Civil Guard officers outside a polling station Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Three man hold each other as they try to block a Spanish police van from approaching a polling station AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A woman shows a ballot to a Spanish Civil Guard officer outside a polling station Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man wearing a shirt with an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) and holding carnations faces off with a Spanish Civil Guard officer Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Police try to control the area as people attempt to cast their ballot at a polling station in Barcelona Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man is grabbed by officers as police move in on the crowds Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Two women argue with a Spanish National policeman during clashes between Catalan pro-independence people and police forces at the Sant Julia de Ramis sports centre in Girona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Sant Julia De Ramis in Spain Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Confrontation outside a polling station in Barcelona, where police have tried to stop people voting AFP/Getty Images Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A Spanish National Police officer aims a rubber-bullet rifle at pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police clashed with voters as polls opened in Barcelona Sky News PDeCAT's Pascal said that the only election on the table would be a vote to elect a constituent assembly in the next few months once the path to independence gets underway. We need to defend what Catalan political nationalism has created over the years, Pascal told reporters. We need to defend our institutions, language, culture, schools and regional police. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Spain has announced it will impose direct rule over Catalonia, after the region's leaders failed to meet a deadline to withdraw a declaration of independence. The government of Mariano Rajoy will trigger article 155 of the constitution, withdrawing Catalonia's right to govern itself, in a cabinet meeting on Saturday, the Prime Minister's Office said. It came after Catalan president Carles Puigdemont wrote a letter to Mr Rajoy, minutes before a deadline on Thursday morning to clarify Catalonia's position, stating the Catalan parliament could vote on a full declaration of independence from Spain if Madrid did not agree to new talks. In his letter, Mr Puigdemont accused the Spanish government of obstructing progress. He said that if Madrid continued to "impede dialogue and continues its repression", Catalonia would proceed to a formal declaration. The Prime Minister's Office responded by saying the government would hold the special Cabinet meeting and "approve the measures that will be sent to the Senate to protect the general interest of all Spaniards". The measure falls under article 155 of Spain's 1978 Constitution, but has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Catalans have previously described the imposition of direct rule as an "invasion" of the region's self-government, while Spain's central authorities are portraying it as an undesired move, yet a necessary one, to restore legality after Mr Puigdemont's government pushed ahead with a banned referendum that violated the country's constitution. Spain's highest court, which delayed judgement in the run-up to the 1 October vote, this week confirmed it was illegal under the 1978 constitution which restored democracy at the end of General Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship. The vote went ahead anyway, even as police used violence to try and enforce a court order against it. Regional officials say more than 40 per cent of Catalonia's 5.5 million eligible voters cast ballots and that the vote went 90 per cent in favour of independence. Catalan officials say that hundreds of people were injured in police violence, while Spanish authorities say hundreds of police officers were also hurt and the use of force was proportional to the resistance they met. The separatists declared an overwhelming victory despite the boycott by opponents, who stayed away on the grounds that it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees such as an independent electoral board. Spain's government has said it would be willing to hold off on applying article 155 if the Catalan separatist leader were to call a snap regional election. But Catalan officials have ruled that out. Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Show all 17 1 /17 Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man faces off Spanish Civil Guards outside a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police form a security cordon around the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police evict a young woman during clashes between people gathered outside the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Spanish Civil Guard officers break through a door at a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona on Sunday AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Crowds raise their arms up as police move in on members of the public gathered outside to prevent them from voting in the referendum at a polling station where the President Carles Puigdemunt will vote later today Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters People confront Spanish Civil Guard officers outside a polling station Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Three man hold each other as they try to block a Spanish police van from approaching a polling station AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A woman shows a ballot to a Spanish Civil Guard officer outside a polling station Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man wearing a shirt with an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) and holding carnations faces off with a Spanish Civil Guard officer Reuters Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Police try to control the area as people attempt to cast their ballot at a polling station in Barcelona Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A man is grabbed by officers as police move in on the crowds Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Two women argue with a Spanish National policeman during clashes between Catalan pro-independence people and police forces at the Sant Julia de Ramis sports centre in Girona EPA Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Sant Julia De Ramis in Spain Getty Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Confrontation outside a polling station in Barcelona, where police have tried to stop people voting AFP/Getty Images Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters A Spanish National Police officer aims a rubber-bullet rifle at pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona AP Catalonia independence referendum: Riot police clash with voters Riot police clashed with voters as polls opened in Barcelona Sky News The Catalan government's international affairs director, Raul Romeva, told reporters in Brussels that Catalonia's banned 1 October secession referendum gave the region's separatist government a mandate to declare independence from Spain. PDeCAT's coordinator Marta Pascal said that the only election on the table would be a vote to elect a constituent assembly in the next few months once the path to independence gets under way. "We need to defend what Catalan political nationalism has created over the years," Ms Pascal told reporters. "We need to defend our institutions, language, culture, schools and regional police." What is Article 155? Article 155 of Spain's Constitution allows for central authorities to take over the semi-autonomous powers of any of the country's 17 regions, including Catalonia. The measure has never been used in the four decades since the end of General Franco's rule. The article grants the national government the right to "take all measures necessary" to force a region to meet its obligations to the wider state, if it is deemed to have acted in any way to undermine the interests of Spain. President of Catalonia says they have earned the right to independence Spain's government needs to outline the exact measures it wants to apply in Catalonia and submit them for a vote in Spain's Senate. The exact wording of Article 155 is as follows: "If a self-governing community does not fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain, the government, after having lodged a complaint with the president of the self-governing community and failed to receive satisfaction therefore, may, following approval granted by the overall majority of the senate, take all measures necessary to compel the community to meet said obligations, or to protect the above mentioned general interest. "With a view to implementing the measures provided for in the foregoing paragraph, the government may issue instructions to all the authorities of the self-governing communities." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Catalan independence crisis was plunged into uncharted waters on Thursday as the Spanish government announced unprecedented and potentially far-reaching plans for direct rule in the troubled region. Ministers are set to meet on Saturday morning to start activating Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, giving them control over whichever elements of the regions autonomy are deemed necessary to as Madrid put it in a statement today restore the legality of Catalan self-government. Spain is a country where its regions pride themselves on their considerable margin of independent rule and action. Therefore, using Article 155 is often regarded as a political action so hard-hitting that the mere threat of its application, as has happened only once, in 1989, in a lengthy row over taxes between Madrid and the Canary Islands, proved enough to quell any rebellious thoughts. Spain says it will impose direct rule on Catalan region after deadline passes As far back as 2015, government ministers had, according to Spanish daily El Pais, mulled over using Article 155 in a dispute with Catalan nationalists. This time, however, the turbulence sparked by the Catalan separatism conflict has reached a point where the Spanish government feel they have no choice but to trigger Article 155, despite widespread fears that it may lead to civil unrest. Madrid have laid the blame for applying Article 155 squarely at the door of regional premier Carles Puigdemont and his response to a second, final government deadline to retract his provisional declaration of Catalan independence last week. Instead, Mr Puigdemont sent a defiant letter back threatening to do the exact opposite and make that provisional declaration of independence definitive. Suspending autonomy indicates you dont understand the problem and dont want to talk, he added. Recommended Spain says it will impose direct rule on Catalonia Puigdemont is an utterly irresponsible zombie leader whose only intention is to hurt Catalonia and its institutions as much as he can, fumed Rafael Hernando, the ruling PPs Congress spokesman later this morning, and the more harm, the better. Mr Hernando described the Catalan crisis as one of Spain and sovereigntys greatest problems since the foiled coup detat in 1981. Resolving this crisis, from the Spanish governments point of view, will start with Saturdays cabinet meeting, with plans to be submitted to a vote in the Senate where the PP has an overall majority. Rather than taking full-scale control of all regional government departments which technically it could claim to have the authority to do, given the vagueness of Article 155s remit to protect the general interest of the state it is believed Madrid will begin with limited direct intervention. Taking over the running of the local police, the Mossos dEsquadra and government finances is seen as likely, and in the mid-term, regional elections are a near certainty. Article 155 is a constitutional weapon of powerful, but somewhat limited range. It does not permit varying a pre-established order of measures, for example, nor taking full control of the regions autonomous government. According to El Pais, experts back in 2015 already unanimously stated that Article 155 did not contemplate using the Spanish army to gain control of an unruly autonomous region, either. Whether that comparatively softball approach is enough to keep a lid on fuming nationalist sentiment is debatable. The Mossos dEsquadras current director, Josep Lluis Trapero, is currently very much in the media spotlight after he was charged by a Madrid court with sedition, over the Catalan polices alleged lack of collaboration in stopping the banned pro-independence referendum. His removal from power would likely prove controversial. What the lengthy process of getting Article 155 up and running will give Madrids government is some much needed room for manoeuvre. The Senate vote that gives the definitive green light will take at least a week, and possibly until 30 October, to be carried out. Actually implementing Article 155 could take longer still. As for the nationalist reaction, Mr Puigdemont has already promised (in his letter sent on Thursday) that if the state persists in impeding dialogue and carrying out repression then he will carry out his threat of asking the Catalan parliament to make the declaration of independence definitive. At a local level, unspecified direct action has been promised as soon as Friday by one grassroots pro-independence association. Two of the most important, ANC and Omnium Cultural, are expected to continue their protests against the incarceration of their leaders, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, on sedition charges, and against what the separatists view as state persecution. A much bigger pro-independence and anti-Article 155 protest is now scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Barcelona. Meanwhile as the crisis deepens, the financial markets have reacted with concern to the latest developments in a region responsible for a fifth of Spains GDP. After news of triggering of Article 155 broke, the euro weakened and by Thursday lunchtime Spains benchmark stock index was already down 0.8 per cent. How Catalonia reacts in the coming weeks to the unprecedented unleashing of Article 155 which, even in 2015, El Pais described as the most explosive in the Constitution is anyones guess. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The newspaper for which Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote a weekly column has published a stark tribute to the investigative journalist days after she was killed by a car bomb. The prominent reporter, who played a major role in the Panama Papers case, had written a weekly article for The Malta Independent every Thursday for the last 20 years. On the first Thursday after her death, the paper published an empty page in her memory, marked with a single black ribbon in the centre and a pledge to continue her legacy. "Your pen has been silenced but your voice will live on," the tribute reads. Ms Galizia was described as a one-woman Wikileaks by Politico and her blog sometimes achieved a larger readership than all the other newspapers in Malta combined. Galizia's Daphne on Thursday column was replaced with a stark tribute (The Malta Independent) Her in-depth reporting made her many enemies, including the Prime Minister, opposition politicians and members of the judiciary. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, while acknowledging Ms Galizia as one of his harshest critics on a political and personal level", denounced the "barbaric attack" as "unacceptable". Opposition leader Adrian Delia described her death as a political murder. 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 Ms Galizia is believed to have just published the last post on her widely read blog, Running Commentary, before leaving her house in Mosta - a town outside the capital Valletta - when she was killed. "There are crooks everywhere you look now, she had written, the situation is desperate." Soon after driving away in her Peugeot 108, Ms Galizias vehicle exploded with such force it was sent flying over a wall and into a field. She had reported death threats against her to the police just over two weeks ago, according to local media. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Falling masonry in one of Florence's most famous churches killed a 52-year-old tourist from Spain on Thursday, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The tourist and his wife were visiting the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Renaissance city's top tourist attractions, where such Italian luminaries as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. ANSA says he was struck in the head by a decorative element that dropped from a height of 20 meters (66 feet) in one of the church's aisles. According to media reports the stone fragment was about 15 centimeters by 15 centimeters (six inches by six inches) and gave support to a beam. Authorities were checking the stability of the gothic-era church, which was expected to remain closed to visitors at least through Friday. Neither the Culture Ministry in Rome, officials at the church or police were immediately available to provide additional details. AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The worlds major internet companies are attending a G7 summit for the first time, in an urgent attempt to draw up tough new rules to counter the dramatic rise in the use of social media by terrorists. These talks with multinationals at the meeting, which began today in Italy, come amid deep concern that the volume of Islamist traffic on tech platforms will increase even more, as Isis tries to compensate for its defeat in Syria and Iraq by instigating attacks in the West online. Global corporations have been invited to the conference at Ischia in the Bay of Naples, which will also consider steps to cope with the impending return of hundreds of European jihadists who went to fight with Isis and al-Qaeda. The issue of internet radicalisation has been taken up to the level of G7 the governments of the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan -- after warnings by counter-terrorism officials of an ongoing Islamist offensive. Earlier this week the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, spoke of Britain facing unrelenting attacks at an unprecedented scale. This was partly fuelled, he said, by extremists finding motivation and material online, from indoctrination to bomb-making tutorials, as well as explosives available for purchase. laine Duke, the acting US secretary of homeland security, speaking in London on her way to the summit, said: "The fact that the companies are meeting with us at G7 is a positive sign. I think they are seeing the evidence of it [terrorist use] being real and not just hyperbole. There are a lot of social pressures and they do want to do business, so they have to balance between keeping their user agreements and giving law enforcement what they need. We would like to have the ability to get encrypted data with the right legal processes. We will continue to push as far as we can go. I think we have the cooperation of these companies and we need to work on that. Ms Duke, who met Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Wednesday, said that America and Britain will be pressing for more security measures to be taken by the internet service providers. Details are yet to be worked out, she said one option could be finding a suitable algorithm to detect and remove dangerous material, the way US authorities search airline records for suspects trying to enter the country. UK law is expected to be changed so that those who repeatedly view extremist content online can face a possible sentence of 15 years behind bars. The US, said Ms Duke, faced more of a threat from homegrown terrorists being influenced on social media than from those trained abroad. She said that much of the extremist threat is not related to Islamic terrorism. The issue of online subversion was brought into focus in the US during white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, when a woman was killed. There has been a shift for us somewhat on this with the Charlottesville incident, she said. The G7 summit is being hosted by the Italian interior minister Marco Minniti. A senior Italian diplomat said: Some progress has been made in discussing the issue with the internet companies and this needs to continue. It is significant that it has now become a matter for the G7. The companies have said they want to help. They have an obligation to do so; they are now international players who have huge influence as well as massive revenue. Last year, for example, Google and Apple became bigger than Exxon and Shell. The issue of social media and terrorism is politically sensitive, with human rights groups as well as some internet analysts warning of encroachment on civil liberties if the governments gets unchecked access to content. The online service providers also stress that there needs to be a balance between security and the right to privacy of their clients. There have been repeated calls from politicians, including Ms Rudd, for access to encrypted material, something which they maintain is needed to detect terrorism-related online activity. However, it appears that security agencies have acquired means to get to some encrypted information. The Independent revealed in the past that the last message of Khalid Masood, who carried out the Westminster attack last April, was successfully uncovered. This was achieved, said security sources, through the use of human and technical intelligence. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US is pushing for a weaker Russia while Europe is betting on a resurgent neighbour to the east to boost trade, Germanys former chancellor has said. Gerhard Schroeder suggested a fault line had emerged among Western allies, with Washington seeking to isolate Russia while its allies on the continent, including Germany, hoped to see the country prosper. Mr Schroeder, who served as chancellor between 1998 and 2005, called for an end to sanctions and warned against attempts to destabilise Russia. Speaking at the Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, the former head of state said: The US believes that it is possible to isolate Russia from the political point of view, and this is dangerous from the economic point of view. Mr Schroeder, who was appointed chairman of Russias state-controlled oil company Rosneft last month, added: I see that the United States is interested in a weaker Russia, and the interest of Europe and Germany is that Russia will prosper, two reasons: we need a market, especially Germany, we need resources for our industry. Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said it had been the policy of every US administration since the end of the Cold War to seek Russias integration into the world economy and global political affairs, precisely because the idea of an isolated Russia is impossible and the idea of an impoverish Russia is undesirable. The heart of the dispute between the West and Russia is not over Russias isolation or integration; it is over the terms of Russias integration, Mr Shapiro, an expert in transatlantic relations, told The Independent. Putin watches Russia's military might on display in war games Both the US and Germany seek a Russia that plays by the political and economic rules, largely determined by the United States and its partners; Russia seeks a special status for its integration that recognises it as a great power with special rights. Mr Schroeder faced a backlash including from the incumbent German Chancellor, Angela Merkel after he accepted the job at Rosneft, which is subject to Western sanctions. Some claimed he was "cashing in" on his former role as chancellor. But Mr Schroeder dismissed the criticism, saying his opponents wanted a new Cold War. Imagine if I had been proposed not for a Rosneft board position but for Exxon in America, he said. Nobody would ask my true motives. He added: It is the largest oil company in the world, with important links to Germany. It is not the long arm of the Kremlin. They are the majority shareholder, but BP is a shareholder - not a small shop. Qatar is a shareholder. Rosneft also has informal ties to the Kremlin via its CEO, Igor Sechin, who is a close associate of the Russian President and who has earned the title grey cardinal on account of the influence he enjoys in Moscow. Gerhard Schroeder greets Vladimir Putin in 2005 in Berlin (Getty) As chancellor, Mr Schroeder backed plans for a pipeline between Germany and Russia. He has maintained links to another Russian energy giant, Gazprom, since leaving office and is a vocal supporter of Vladimir Putin, having once called the Russian President a flawless democrat. Compared to Mr Trump, Mr Putin is a very rational man, you have to admit, he said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey may shut its border with northern Iraq at any moment after closing its air space to the region, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday, reviving a threat first made after Kurds there voted for independence. We have completely closed our air space to the regional government in northern Iraq, the paper cited Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane returning from a trip to Poland. Talks are continuing on what will be done regarding the land (border)... We have not shut the border gates yet but this could happen too at any moment, he added. Turkey announced on Monday it was closing its air space to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and said it would work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the central Iraqi government. The Habur Gate is the main transit point between Turkey and Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. A 25 September referendum, in which Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence, alarmed Baghdad, Iraq's neighbours and Western powers, all of whom feared further regional conflict could arise from the vote. Subsequently Kurdish Peshmerga forces retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after the referendum, a senior Iraqi commander said on Wednesday. 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 Ankara, which has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its own mainly Kurdish southeast, fears an independent Kurdish state on its borders would heighten separatist tension at home. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Eight European Union countries are demanding Israel compensate them for the demolition of new school facilities for Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank. A letter from the eight member states is expected to be delivered to Israel's Foreign Ministry in the coming days, the Haaretz newspaper reported. Belgium is said to be leading the move, followed by France, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland and Denmark. Man dies as Israeli forces attempt to seize him from hospital In August, Israel demolished structures intended to serve as classrooms in various Bedouin communities and confiscated solar panels on another structure being used as a school. Israeli officials said the buildings were constructed illegally, while Palestinian activists and EU diplomats countered that Israel makes it almost impossible to obtain building permission. The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child The letter, initially reported in France's Le Monde, said the eight countries would demand over 30,000 (27,000) in compensation if Israel does not return the seized equipment. The destruction and confiscation of humanitarian equipment, including infrastructure for schools, and disrupting the transfer of humanitarian aid contradict Israels commitments under international law and cause suffering for the Palestinian residents," the letter said, according to Haaretz. Israel will categorically reject the demand, the newspaper reported. Last year saw the highest number of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures since rights groups began keeping records. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email 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 Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theres a chill in the air but the sky is a brilliant blue. The sun is shining. The rain that pelted down on the city during the rainy season has begun to ease and the cool winds that always seem to accompany Day of the Dead can be felt across the mega-metropolis. Today, it is one month since the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that shook central Mexico, killing at least 369 people, 228 of whom died in Mexico City. The sounds of Mexicos capital, which fell silent in the days following 19 Septembers deadly quake are back in full force. Honking horns, the tamale guy shouting his wares, the whine of the old-metal collector, the high pitched squeal of the sweet potato seller and the strum of the passing entertainers guitar, provide a comforting soundtrack of normality to the streets. The city is functioning close to normal once again, but signs of the earthquake can be seen all around. Certain streets remain hidden behind cordons, some collapsed buildings remain uncleared and others are now empty lots that have become memorial sites where flowers are laid and tributes are left. Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Show all 8 1 /8 Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake A woman and two girls pass by a house which collapsed during the quake AFP/Getty Images Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake Technicians watch as a building seriously damaged by the September 19 earthquake is demolished AFP/Getty Images Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake A concert was held in aid of the victims of the September 19 earthquake, at the Zocalo Square in Mexico City on October 8 AFP/Getty Images Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake Rodrigo Diaz Mejia climbs over a crushed car into what was a second-story apartment AP Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake Presentation of the cultural program of Days of the Dead in Mexico City EPA Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake Workers tear down an earthquake-damaged building AP Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake Clowns take part in the 22nd Latin American clown convention at Revolucion monument in Mexico City REUTERS Mexico City: How it's rebuilding after the September earthquake Mexico City rebuilding after September earthquake A worker fills a water tank in the neighbourhood affected by the earthquake REUTERS Deconstruction and reconstruction are already beginning. Some buildings need to be repaired while others must be pulled down. Everything happens little by little explosives cannot be used to demolish buildings which are in such close proximity to others (some as close as 15cm from the next). So engineers chip away slowly. Chip, chip, chip, a new soundtrack for the city. In the immediate wake of this disaster, solidarity was a saving grace. Young and old, rich and poor, all working together, helping each other. Now, a kind of collective shock remains, though it lessens day by day. Chip, chip, chip. The citizens slowly knock away at the remaining fear, the shock that resides in the body. Tourists are already making their way back to the city. Some came immediately, trips already booked, ready to see what awaited them an equally impressive city, seemed to be the verdict, just functioning at a different pace. Clowns take part in the 22nd Latin American clown convention at Revolucion monument in Mexico City (REUTERS) Many, however, cancelled. Hotel occupation has dropped to just 30 per cent in the city. Its low season, admittedly, but this is still half the normal level. National arrivals to Mexico Citys International Airport fell by 3.8 per cent in the month of September, Mexicans choosing to avoid their own capital city. The trendy neighbourhoods of Roma and Condesa, two of the hardest hit, remain quieter than normal. Restaurants offer promotions, specials deals to chip, chip, chip their way back from the deficit left after weeks with fewer punters, and days of cooking for free for volunteers and rescue workers. Is it safe to come to Mexico? Absolutely. Yes this country sits on fault lines, yes Mexico City was built on a lakebed that shakes like jelly when the plates readjust themselves, and no, earthquakes cant be predicted. But, as the Ministry of Tourism is reminding people in a statement, Of the two million buildings in Mexico City, only 38 fell. This doesnt serve to diminish the tragedy and loss of life, but it does lend perspective. Tourist attractions and museums are open, transport is fully functioning, cafes and bars on still-pretty plazas are business as usual. The clink, clink, clink of coffee cups and mezcal glasses are another part of a welcome soundtrack of a city resurrecting. Right now, Mexico City is gearing up for Day of the Dead celebrations for which run from 31 October to 2 November an event that is perhaps even more poignant this year. The markets, already replete with skeletons, sugar skulls and cempasuchil (marigold) flowers will continue to fill, the smell of flowers and copal incense spicing the air. Sugary Day of the Dead bread is being baked in panaderias across the city, ready to be dipped into a warming hot chocolate. In a few days the parades will begin. Colourful displays of gigantic skeletons in every shape and form will dance their way down the citys central Paseo de la Reforma. Then cemeteries will light up with candles and graves will be decorated, ready for the ancestors to visit. It remains to be seen whether the return of the ancestors will also mark the return of tourism to Mexico City. However, just as the ancestors are encouraged back to visit with flowers, sweet smells, delicious food and beautiful music, it is hoped that these same temptations will help to return a healthy flow of tourists back to Mexicos dynamic capital. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email 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 Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Italian town is offering to pay people up to 2,000 (1,800) to move there. Nicola Gatta, mayor of Candela, a small town in Puglia, has made the offer in the hope of reversing the towns declining population. Gatta told CNN Travel that he wants to bring numbers back up to the 8,000 of the 1990s, when the town was known as Little Naples. Today, there are just 2,700 residents. The declining population of Italys borghi historical small towns has been a matter of national concern for decades. Many people emigrated in the post-war years, and since then, a combination of ageing populations, economic squeeze and lack of opportunities has seen an exodus from the countryside to the cities. Many have tried to find solutions. In Lazio, Civita di Bagnoregio which has just 12 permanent residents has reinvented itself as an Instagram-perfect weekend retreat from Rome. The strategy has worked so well that visitor numbers have risen from 40,000 to 800,000 a year something former Italian premier Matteo Renzi recently called an example for everyone. The albergo diffuso model in which abandoned apartments are turned into a scattered hotel is also making headway, providing income for the towns as well as jobs for the locals. The brainchild of Giancarlo DallAra, the scheme is proving popular in Puglia, down in the heel of Southern Italy, which has seen mass emigration over the past few decades. And in nearby Calabria, refugees are breathing new life into Riace, a town that had been all but abandoned by locals. Author Roberto Saviano said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair Italy that refugees are the future for Italys economy. Candela's population has shrunk from 8,000 to under 3,000 (Wikimedia Commons) The offer to pay people to move to a village is not new. In May, Daniele Galliano, the mayor of Bormida a small town in rural Liguria offered 2,000 via Facebook to anyone who wanted to move. He soon withdrew the offer after being inundated with potential residents. Gatta, however, seems in it for the longhaul. Six families have already moved from Northern Italy, with another five in the process of relocating, he told CNN. Interested in the dolce vita? Youll need to commit to being a permanent resident, rent a house in the town, and earn more than 7,500 per year. If you meet the requirements, the council will pay 800 for singles and 1,200 for couples. Families of up to five receive over 2,000. Tax credits on council bills and childcare are also available. As for the logistics of your new life, be warned that this isnt classic beachside Puglia. Candela sits inland to the east of the Appennines, 40 minutes south of much-maligned Foggia and an hour from the coast. It is an easy drive from the pristine Gargano peninsula the spur of Italys boot, with pilgrimage site San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Italian saint Padre Pio, just 90 minutes away. And the locals are enthusiastic. Life quality rocks here, says Stefano Bascianelli, who works with the mayor. The nearest airport is Bari, 90 minutes south-east, and well served for international flights. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email 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 Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At a time of turmoil for smaller airlines, one of Britains newest carriers has revealed promising results. Earlier this month Monarch Airlines collapsed; after months of winding down with significant disruption, Air Berlin is set to close on 28 October; and yesterday Flybe issued a profits warning. But Stobart Aviation, which owns the regional carrier Stobart Air as well as Southend and Carlisle airports, is poised to grow and create significant value. Southend airport, which was moribund until the Stobart Group invested more than 100m, has seen passengers rise by 25 per cent to 610,492 though it still handles fewer people in a year than Heathrow does in three days. Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, told The Independent: Were delighted with progress, and moving forward pretty much exactly as we thought we would be. Stobart Air, which is mainly based at the Essex airport, is expanding steadily and has just announced a new route to Antwerp. Its a volatile time, as Alitalia, Air Berlin and Monarch have demonstrated, but as our own airline has shown, you can make money, said Mr Jones. The airline is in a profitable position. Thats not a common position for a regional airline. Stobart Group says its airline and airports will deliver significant value. The firm showed pre-tax profits of 111.6m, a 10-fold increase, largely due to the disposal of a large slice of Eddie Stobart Logistics. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Spanish government has announced that it will meet next Saturday in order to trigger article 155 of the Constitution, which allows it to suspend the autonomy of a region if it does not fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain. The suspension of Catalan self-rule is an unprecedented decision since the restoration of democracy in Spain in the 1970s, and it will deepen the political conflict in Catalonia. The activation of article 155 will probably lead Catalan authorities to pronounce an official declaration of independence in the following days, and a new cycle of street mobilisations and police repression is likely to take place. The Catalan government (Generalitat, in Catalan) was restored in 1977 by virtue of an agreement between the Spanish post-Francisco Franco Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez and Generalitats leader in exile Josep Tarradellas. In 1978, the Spanish constitution recognised the right of Spanish regions and nationalities to self-rule, including Catalonia. The powers of the autonomous regions were progressively enlarged during the decades that followed the approval of the 1978 constitution. Nowadays, the Catalan Generalitat enjoys a wide range of competencies, including providing public services such as health and education, collecting taxes and maintaining public order. Spain says it will impose direct rule on Catalan region after deadline passes The Mossos dEsquadra the regional police body is responsible for security in Catalonia, while the Spanish National Police and the semi-military Civil Guard have very limited competences. Limitations of the Catalan self-rule were imposed by Mariano Rajoys government last September, with the aim of preventing the Generalitat to celebrate the 1 October self-determination referendum which had been forbidden by the Spanish Constitutional Court. On 15 September, the Spanish government intervened the Generalitats accounts to avoid the use of public money to fund the referendum. Besides, thousands of police agents and civil guards were sent from other Spanish regions to prevent the vote, which they heavily repressed. These measures were taken without applying the procedure established by article 155 of the constitution. The scope of article 155 is extremely wide: it entitles the Spanish government to take all measures necessary to compel the community to meet the said obligations, or to protect the above mentioned general interest, with the authorisation of the Senate where the ruling Popular Party (PP) has as majority. The Socialist Party (PSOE), which wholly supports Rajoys government regarding the Catalan crisis, has proposed that a Rajoys minister assumes the executive power in Catalonia (which would imply the destitution of Carles Puigdemonts elected government), with the aim of convoking advanced regional elections. Others want to go further: president of Popular Party in Catalonia, Xavier Garcia Albiol, has advocated the use of article 155 to promote changes in the regional police and the Catalan education system. Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Demonstrators block a Guardia Civil vehicle as they try to leave the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Demonstrators react as they try to stop the car carrying Xavier Puig, a senior at the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office, after he was arrested by Guardia Civil officers in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests in pictures A demonstrator reacts as he tries with others to stop the car carrying Xavier Puig, a senior at the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office, after he was arrested by Guardia Civil officers in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Spokeswoman of the Catalan pro-independence anticapitalist party "Candidatura d'Unitat Popular - CUP" (Popular Unity Candidacy), Ana Gabriel, talks to the media in Barcelona Josep Lago/AFP Catalonia referendum protests in pictures Republican Left of Catalonia party's (ERC) Member of Parliament Joan Tarda (C) attends a demonstration outside the regional Economy Ministry in Catalonia during a police search for documents connected with the organisation of the Catalan independence referendum, in Barcelona EPA/Alejandro Garcia Catalonia referendum protests in pictures A man holds pro-referendum poster next to a Spanish Civil Guard who stands in front of the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government in Barcelona. The operation comes amid mounting tensions as Catalan leaders press ahead with preparations for an independence referendum on October 1 despite Madrid's ban and a court ruling deeming it illegal Josep Lago/AFP Catalonia referendum protests in pictures People hold placards reading "Democracy" as they protest in front of the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government in Barcelona AFP Catalonia referendum protests in pictures A crowd of protesters gather outside the Catalan region's economy ministry after junior economy minister Josep Maria Jove was arrested by Spanish police during a raid on several government offices, in Barcelona Reuters/Albert Gea Catalonia referendum protests in pictures People holding 'Esteladas' (Catalan pro-independence flags) attend a protest near the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government Lluis Gene/AFP Catalonia referendum protests in pictures People demonstrate on a Spanish Civil Guard Police car outside the Catalan Vice-President and Economy office as police officers holds a searching operation inside David Ramos/Getty Images If Mariano Rajoys government convokes regional elections in Catalonia against the will of most Catalan parties, pro-independence parties may boycott the vote. This would not be a problem for some PP leaders such as Albiol and MP Pablo Casado, who have advocated the illegalisation of pro-independence parties in Catalonia which obtained 48 per cent of the vote in the last regional election. Several experts in Constitutional law have raised doubts about the constitutionality of removing the Catalan president and convoking regional elections, insofar as convoking elections is an exclusive competence of the president of the Generalitat. The Spanish government has not announced yet to what extent it will intervene the Catalan government, but Vice Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria has stated her intention to preserve the economic recovery in Catalonia, which probably means that the Spanish government will take control of the Generalitats Department of Economy, whose current head is the pro-independence leader Oriol Junqueras. The suspension of Catalan self-government will have serious political consequences. The arrival of thousands of national police officers and civil guards to Catalonia in September was experienced by large sectors of the Catalan society as a sort of invasion Occupation forces out! has been one of the most frequently scanted slogans in recent demonstrations. The removal of the elected Catalan government and its substitution by a viceroy sent from Madrid will certainly provoke the wrath of the majority of the Catalan society including many Catalans who do not support the independence of the region but cherish its political autonomy. By triggering the 155 article, Mariano Rajoy is creating the conditions for a new cycle of mass demonstrations and police repression in the streets of Catalonia. Besides, Catalan pro-independence parties will probably vote an official declaration of independence in response to its triggering. A negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict is more unlikely than ever. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} How many countries can boast a world leader who DJs at music festivals? Jacinda Ardern, New Zealands freshly minted Prime Minister, has an undeniable Trudeau factor: she is young, popular with the youth bloc, and, yes, irrelevant as it should be, she is photogenic. She is likely to attract continued world media attention, which given Kiwis tendency to react with startled enthusiasm on the rare occasions the international spotlight swings our way will add to the pressure on her to deliver the change Labour has promised. The nation barely had time to blink at Arderns surprise promotion to the partys leadership before she was being asked about her baby plans propelling her into world headlines before she had time to establish her political raison d'etre. 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 She responded unflappably to the sexist debate winning the first round and consolidating Jacindamania as a force to be reckoned with. But the lefts return to power should not be interpreted by overseas observers as a vote for a charismatic cipher: it sits among a context of brewing unease in New Zealand a mood which was palpable when I left my home country four months ago. New Zealand operates an MMP voting system. This election was not the first that left populist NZ First leader Winston Peters party holding the deciding seats. This has happened before in his long career, and he has no consistent track record; he could go either way. It would have become evident to Kiwis and to the hopeful leaders, also learning of Peters decision live, that he was poised to become Queenmaker when he began speaking about how capitalist politicking had failed New Zealanders. Jacinda Ardern becomes the youngest female Prime Minister of New Zealand Despite international perception of the little isles down under as a slice of paradise, New Zealand, like many of its friends, is grappling with a widening social divide. Because the left has conventionally been accused of being fiscally suspect, Ardern will be under pressure to deliver Labours social welfare policy without breaking the bank after watching John Key, then Bill English, lead post-recession New Zealand into surplus despite years of destructive earthquakes. But a perception of Nationals tight-fistedness left a niche for Labour and traditional coalition partner the Greens to campaign in; they criticised Nationals focus on reducing public debt at the cost of social services, and accused it of favouring the dairy industry over protecting New Zealands clean, green environmental image which is fast becoming more Middle-earth myth than reality. It may be some time before Winston Peters strategy in siding with the left essentially handing Jacinda Ardern power becomes clear. But his speech criticising Nationals neoliberal approach will have struck a nerve for many Kiwis. New Zealand will pay for your holiday if you agree to a job interview in Wellington We saw a party deliver strong fiscal leadership. But we also saw a period in which a new New Zealand developed: a country where people waiting for emergency social housing slept in cars and garages, local authorities grappled with a visible surge in street begging in urban centres, and leaks sprang from a flailing mental health system in a country that leads the developed world in youth suicide rates. This was also an election fought on generational battle lines. National steadfastly and foolishly refused to admit to a housing crisis, as outpriced young Kiwi voters dubbed Generation Rent watched speculators and offshore buyers scoop up morsels from the countrys slow-growing housing stock, chipping away at their fading hopes of achieving the home ownership dream. No wonder, then, that Jacindamania brewed on Facebook, Twitter and in the headlines. New Zealanders have long been a fawning audience to calculated PR campaigns that sold us the politician as a dad-joke: former PM John Key minced down catwalks, newly ousted leader Bill English dished out his pineapple and spaghetti pizza recipe. Jacindamania appears to have traversed that cringe-factor appeal and long may that last beyond the bizarre pantomime that was the 2017 election: she has bigger fish to fry. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight 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 Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The weight of pessimism hangs over the Northern Irish political landscape like a grotesquely dark cloud, heavy with ideological fervour and inconsolable stubbornness, as yet another deadline for Northern Irish government to restart flies past us, as if caught up in Storm Ophelias headwind. The Monday just passed was being heralded in advance as the day our local government, Stormont, would return. As it turned out, hope dissipated into the kind of hot air that continues to blow out of the DUP and Sinn Fein; we have gone nearly an entire year without government. This dire position is best summed up by the Alliance party politician, Stephen Farry: "Its beggars belief that the DUP and Sinn Fein have put this matter of Irish language and culture on such a pedestal that they have lost a sense of proportion and perspective on the wider need to provide good governance to Northern Ireland, to reform our public services, invest in our economy, and to have a proper Brexit plan." Half a year ago, Sinn Fein decided that they would not enter government without an Irish Language Act. The DUP refused at first, and then said they will accept an Irish Language Act, but in the form of a broader Culture Act. So, it was the same present, but in different wrapping paper. European Parliament to propose Northern Ireland stays in single market Sinn Fein refused, arguing that an Irish Language Act in itself wasnt enough; it must be a standalone Act. The most recent bout of negotiations between the DUP and Sinn Fein, culminating in Bill Clinton flying in to sprinkle some of his magic over our insufferably intransigent politicians, has again fallen flat on its face. Both the Belfast Telegraph and Irish Times lay the blame squarely at Sinn Feins feet; the story goes that while the Northern Irish leadership was prepared to compromise last week, the partys southern hierarchy overruled it, reinstating the stalemate; there is concern that Sinn Fein have decided a Northern Ireland in Brexit turmoil adds fuel to the United Ireland fire, and they arent too concerned about us making up the kindling in the meantime. There is now the real prospect that we will enter 2018 with the Good Friday agreement floundering on the rocks in the year it should be celebrating its 20th anniversary. The spectre of a No-Deal Brexit is beginning to loom ever-larger as the UK struggles in its own faltering negotiations with the EU. The impact of the hardest of borders being slashed across Ireland would be devastating. So while we argue amongst ourselves, we deprive Northern Ireland of a strong and crucial voice during the negotiations with Brussels. The gaping hole where our Brexit strategy should be is just one of the damaging consequences of our absent administration. So we must ask: can we build lasting local government here? UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will 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 The answer is yes, we can unquestionably, but not like this. We are building upon unstable foundations. People mistake the problem as being solely down to Northern Irelands history. Imagine our system applied to Westminster: the UK being without government until both Labour and the Tories form a coalition and completely agree upon a Queens Speech. How on earth would that work? Mandatory coalition, rather than coalition by consent, is a completely manic democratic model, and yet, that is what Stormont is burdened by. It was necessary in 2007, to build compromise and navigate those first wobbling years. But the country is far different a decade on, and the training wheels should no longer be worn, as its making gathering any momentum and pace impossible. The current system we have makes failure inevitable. A new system would at least give us a chance. The great Ulster poet John Hewitt once wrote that the Northern Irish are a people endlessly betrayed by our own weakness, by the wrongs we suffered in that long twilight over bog and glenand by glittering fables which gave us martyrs when we needed men. More than ever we need those men and women who declare themselves leaders to prove themselves as such to show vision and aspiration to shake our political structures so we can finally form stable political foundations. Otherwise, we stare down at the prospect of a Brexit guided entirely by others hands an economic risk we cannot be willing to take. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} After Israels victory in the 1973 Middle East war, Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko went on 22 October to see President Brezhnev at his dacha at Zavidovo just outside Moscow. The Israelis were not much interested in accepting a ceasefire set to begin the previous day, and, according to Anatoly Chernyaev, a Soviet official present at the talks, Brezhnev wanted to encourage the Israelis to keep the truce by offering a Soviet guarantee of Israels borders. Gromyko replied that the Arabs would take offence but Brezhnev burst out that we have been offering them (the Arabs) a sensible course of action for so many years. They wanted war and they are welcome to it To hell with them. It was a view long shared by Soviet military officers. I recall the remaining anger of a former Soviet instructor in Yemen during the 1962-70 civil war, who, showing me Red Square one cold afternoon, made a remark almost as contemptuous as Brezhnevs. We helped to train the Arabs [against the monarchists] and they were useless and I think they should be on their own. Let someone else save them. Why should it be us all over again? World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In October 1973, Brezhnev was saying the same thing. He swore at Gromyko, said Chernyaev, for wanting to keep our flag and bases in the Middle East. And Brezhnev then shouted out: We will not let these f***ing people involve us in a world war! According to author and former British intelligence official Gordon Barrass, who wrote one of the best books on the Cold War eight years ago, the Soviet airlift of military equipment to Syria stopped that very day. How lucky now are the Arab potentates and dictators to have a Russian rather than a Soviet to talk to, and a fit some might say almost too fit Vladimir Putin to rely on, rather than a Brezhnev. A vacillating Obama and a lunatic Trump, of course, do the impossible: they make Putin look like a Roosevelt or an Eisenhower perhaps even the swashbuckling Theodore Roosevelt with his Rough Riders. Vladimir Putin presented with a puppy on his birthday Putins Rough Riders in Syria are crushing the Isis threat and any other threat for Bashar al-Assads government. The Russians are not just bombing Assads enemies and re-arming the Syrian army but helping to arrange ceasefires. I watched them escorting al-Nusrah and other still-armed Islamist fighters from Homs all the way to the Turkish front line at al-Bab (inside Syria). Russian armoured vehicles stood on both sides of that line this year I saw them with my own eyes alongside both Syrian and Turkish occupation troops. Putin has learned a few tricks from the Brezhnev days. Just as the bankrupt Soviet president put Tajik Muslim Soviet military units into bases west of Kabul, so Putin has deployed Chechen Muslim Russian soldiers into Palmyra. But these Russians are not the Soviets of Afghanistan infamy. Many of the officers speak fluent Arabic (and, please note, pretty good English). Putin knows how to measure Russian power in the Middle East, happy to keep Moscows flag and bases in the region. And playing Bismark across the Arab world, even in Turkey and Israel. Egypts field marshal/president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi took Putin to a Verdi performance in Cairo. Iran will host him before the end of this year. Putin welcomes both Assad loyalists and Syrian rebels to Astana. He invites both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his racist (and Soviet-born) defence minister Lieberman who once advocated drowning Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea to the Kremlin. And of course, he won the cachet of a visit from King Salman of Saudi Arabia to the Kremlin. Putin watches Russia's military might on display in war games Undemocratic, brutally suppressing his own internal political opponents, hateful of all Muslim extremists he suggested that Moscow doctors could emasculate them careless of what others say of his air forces bombing in Syria and we must not forget Ukraine and the Crimea and Western sanctions, in the Middle East he can wear the mantle of an international statesman. It might all come to grief for Putin. Failing to foresee the outcome of his actions was regarded as his greatest fault when he was a KGB officer in Dresden. But hes been sending in groups of Russian military non-FSB intelligence men to Syria, some of them in Aleppo reporting directly to the Kremlin. Maybe he has learned a thing or two. And so we come back to King Salmans visit to Moscow. Here is a man whose kingdom maintains the same purist Wahhabi faith which inspires Isis and the Taliban and al-Qaeda. He signed preliminary agreements to buy Russias S-400 air defence missile systems. Of course, the kings long speech he enjoyed his Kremlin banquet, they say talked about the necessity of preventing Irans destabilisation of the Middle East. Russian foreign minister Lavrov said Russia supports the efforts of the Saudi kingdom in trying to unify the Syrian opposition. Which particular opposition, one might like to know? So, I imagine, would Assad. LSE Saudi Arabia academic: Lifting ban on women driving is being used to deflect bad news Yet the king was, according to Russian officials in the Middle East, asked to participate in the rebuilding of Syria when its war finally peters out. Quite a role for King Salman if Assad as all believe he will remains the president (or in some similar role) in Syria. But of course, it would be Russia who does the rebuilding, Saudi Arabia who paid for it. So the two vast oil nations now seem to be set on a course of mutual collaboration. So much for Trumps $300bn weapons deal with the King. Maybe Salman is smarter than we think. If Putin might, for Washington, be Ivan the Terrible, thats better than being Trump the Farcical for the Arabs. Putin knows the Saudi weaknesses; Riyadhs shameful war in Yemen (not unlike the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) and the attacks on the kingdom, not least the mysterious explosion outside the kings palace just before his visit to Moscow; after which the Saudi Press Agency admitted that three armed men had tried to enter the building. And beware, if the Saudis resist the Russian offer on Syria, Putin can always turn and many there are in Syria who believe this to Qatar, with which the Saudis still maintain their childish feud. The Saudis will remember how Putin encouraged an Islamic conference in Chechnya but sent no invitations to Saudi clerics. Putin still keeps a Russian military base in the Caucasus in formerly Soviet Armenia. The Armenian parliament has this month, quite unnoticed in the Western media, ratified a new military defence treaty with Russia. So, please note, Turkey which still claims to protect Turkish Azerbaijan against the aggression of Armenia. May denies suppressing report into Saudi Arabia's funding of extremism to protect arms deals And watch out to the Kurds south of Turkeys border (both the Syrian and Turkish variety), whose notional independence has received no support from Moscow. They will not be defended by Putin when the US betrays them again (Kurds having died in lieu of US ground troops in Raqqa and Mosul). Putin knows who the major powers are. Yes, he would like to take over the pseudo-neutral peace-making role of the US in securing a Palestinian state but, as a Palestinian socialist (of whom few are left) says in Beirut, dont hold your breath. When Moscow agreed to sell Kornet anti-tank missiles to little Lebanon last month, prime minister Saad Hariri was apparently a bit stunned to be told that the Russians would not hand over the weapons on credit. Russian and Lebanese finance ministry officials are to discuss this matter. Readers will wait in vain for the outcome. Wearying cliches about the Russian Bear or Putin the Fox as he is actually called in Cairo do no credit to any serious analysis of Russian behaviour in the Middle East. This is ruthless power politics, of course, only accentuated by Washingtons inane and insane President. Everything must be in Russias interest militarily, economically, internationally and domestically. And amorally, too. But sometimes the Arabs and the Iranians and the Turks, and the Israelis, too must wonder if there is, here, just a little bit of Putins own persona, the one he wants to show to the world: warrior, peacemaker, negotiator, friend of all who do not threaten Russia. And enemy of all those who do. Who will be the next, then, to offer Moscow another Russian air base or warm-water harbour, military facilities in the Mediterranean, even welcome Russian warships into Middle Eastern ports? And who will be the last to deny Putin? But hes not trying to solve the regions problems, whatever he may say. Hes still taking risks, not least in Syria. To some extent hes playing with the people of the region. More importantly, however, hes establishing Russia in the Middle East. No one will do anything now without first thinking of Putins reaction. Thats what political power is really about. Theresa May has held talks with former US president Bill Clinton on the continuing political deadlock in Northern Ireland. The meeting in Downing Street followed private discussions earlier this week between Mr Clinton and the main Northern Ireland party leaders in Belfast. As president, Mr Clinton played a key role in helping to secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which led to power-sharing at Stormont. Number 10, however, has made clear that he had not been used to deliver a message on behalf of the Government to the parties. The devolved institutions at Stormont remain suspended following the collapse of the administration in January in the wake of the resignation of the late Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister. As he left after almost an hour in No 10, Mr Clinton told reporters: "We had a wonderful talk." Asked by reporters about the prospects for Brexit, Mr Clinton said: "We didn't talk much about that. I don't have much of a portfolio here." A man remains in police custody following a 1m euro drugs bust in Co Offaly. Cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine were found during a search at a house, sheds and land in the Geashill area on Wednesday. A large quantity of 9mm ammunition, shotgun cartridges and a sawn-off shotgun were also discovered during the major Garda operation. The raid was part of an ongoing probe into organised criminal activity in the midlands, gardai said. A 34-year-old foreign national was arrested and is being held at Tullamore Garda Station for questioning. The Brexit transition period should be "as long as it take to find a solution" according to former-Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Speaking to Bloomberg TV ahead of a Brexit themed conference in New York organised by law firm Matheson, Mr Kenny also described the prospect of a hard Brexit as "catastrophic for business" and noted that "sufficient progress had not been made" to allow negotiations move on to their second phase. "The prospect of a 'Hard Brexit' that many are now discussing would, in my opinion, be catastrophic for business and by extension terrible for the people that politics is meant to serve. That is the challenge now for those involved directly in the ongoing talks," Mr Kenny said. Speaking ahead of the conference, Matheson managing partner, Michael Jackson, said that almost 16 months on from the Brexit vote result, US multinationals with operations in Europe were still seeking certainty. "In the absence of the necessary clarity around Brexit, businesses are now making decisions to secure their long-term ability to access European markets beyond Brexit," Mr Jackson said. Over 200 people from a wide range of sectors are attending the event in New York, including Irelands foreign direct investment agency, IDA Ireland. The comments come ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels today during which the British Government will be told that it must be willing to make more concessions. Fears have been raised of a "Mexican stand-off" over Brexit talks if the EU doesn't become more flexible about moving on to the next phase of talks and Britain doesnt improve its divorce bill offer. Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes has raised concern that the negotiations are "going no where" and warned that failure to make progress in the coming weeks would be "absolutely disastrous". The remaining 27 member states are set to formally decide at their European Council meeting that the talks can't move on to trade and the UKs future relationship with The EU. December will become the new deadline for completing phase one of the talks which involve Irish issues, citizens rights and the so-called divorce bill the UK will have to pay to settle its EU commitments. Mr Hayes said: " if we don't get a deal between now and December it would be an absolutely disastrous position for Europe, for Britain but especially for Ireland." He believes action in two areas would lead to progress. According to Mr Hayes Britain needs "to up their offer" in terms of the payments it has to make to the EU and Europe "needs to move on the question of Ireland and the border." Mr Hayes said: "It is unrealistic to suggest that we can have a frictionless border while at the same time not having a discussion on the future relationship between Britain and the EU." He said such discussions don't have to get into specifics but should encompass "general principals as to what way that new relationship will go." The EU, including the Irish government has been strict on their insistence that talks won't move on to the next phase until they're satisfied with the outcome of the initial round of negotiations. Mr Hayes warned that once this week's council meeting is over "we're into a new territory" that's "potentially a Mexican stand-off with no progress." He said that a no deal scenario in Brexit would be a disaster for Ireland but also for the wider European economy and could damage the progress made to recover from the Eurozone crisis. "We can't allow that to happen. It's too serious. So that's why I think flexibility has to be shown by all of the participants to the talks, EU and the UK. "I think that kind of two-step approach is the way to proceed." Taoiseach Leo Varadar last night told the Dail that he will use today's European Council meeting to stress to other leaders the importance of the issues at stake for Ireland. Mr Varadar said that while there has been positive deveopments in the Brexit process since Theresa May's Florence Speech it's evident "much more work needs to be done" on the issues prioritised in the first phase of negotiations. He welcomed the progress on Ireland so far including the joint principle of continuing the Common Travel Area and undertakings to protect the Good Friday Agreement. But he said it now seems unlikely the EU will be in a position to decide that that sufficient progress has been made in phase one. Mr Varadkar said he spoke to Mrs May earlier this week about Irish concerns over trade and the border. He said it's still possible the overall outcome of the negotiations is a trade and customs relationship so close to the status quo that a border problem can be avoided. But he said it depends "very much" on the UK government and it will be necessary for the UK to commit to arrangements for Northern Ireland that reflect its unique circumstances and the need to avoid a customs border. EU leaders will also discuss the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the ambition of developing a Digital Single Market, and issues relating to Turkey, North Korea and Iran. There is nothing like travel, and free time, to set one thinking about new ideas. In business, we all know the importance of innovation, yet we allow little time for considering 'the big picture'. Where will our firm of estate agents, our development company, or our property investment firm be in ten years? Will we be needed at all? The leaders of all firms should be allocating thinking time for these questions, or risk being left behind. Estate agency is a business I know for over 30 years. Most of the change in the business has happened over the last five years and has been driven by technology. The chief disruptor has been Stephen McCarthy. He has brought large volume auction sales to Ireland, through Allsop Ireland and made online bidding routine. Having developed his own technology, which facilitates both auction and private treaty transactions, he launched BidX1, a global property platform and a measure of his success is that competitors have been following him, both into online auctions and online bidding. MyHome.ie and Daft.ie emerged as the most successful property portals and if one needs proof of the value of a good idea, well executed, then the sale of MyHome.ie for 50m says it all. This was the same price as paid by Savills when acquiring Hamilton Osborne King, who were 30 years in business and turning over 50m per annum. Thereafter, technology-driven changes have tended to be aids to marketing, e.g. online viewing, rather than fundamental changes in the business. Estate agents, from time to time, add and subtract services, such as building surveying, but, this doesn't change the overall market. International expansion is no longer an option for the larger firms which have become part of global groups. One attempted disruption, which failed, was 'Solicitors Property Services', a firm backed by a group of solicitors. The strategy was simple - one firm would handle both the sale of your property, and the conveyancing, for a lower fee. A lot of smaller agents joined the group but despite heavy marketing, the initiative failed, largely because the biggest legal firms didn't want to spoil their relationships with agents. However, in the UK, Purple Bricks, which describes itself as a 'hybrid model' is causing major disruption. The firm offers a combination of cutting-edge online technology, a local agent, and add-on conveyancing services, at very low fees, and is reckoned to be the third-largest player in the residential market already. Don't be surprised to see a similar model tried here soon. Leading the next strategic changes in the market will be both a profitable, and a defensive strategy. But the hard part is - where do you start? How can you predict what is going to happen, and capitalise on it? For inspiration, it's useful to look at how some of the most-successful companies in the world have done it. The interesting thing is that the best ideas are usually obvious, but we can't see them, because we're too close to the business. Accor Hotels have 4,200 hotels worldwide. They flew their top executives to a think-tank meeting on the design of hotels. At a coffee break, one executive remarked that he was exhausted and hadn't been able to get a nap because his room wasn't ready when he arrived. Eureka! They realised that the most important thing for a guest was a guaranteed available room and they now offer that in certain brands. That led to the conclusion that the most important people working in the hotel were the cleaners, because they dictate when rooms are ready. Ryanair saw that its profitability turned on minimising the time its planes spent on the ground. But, sometimes it's not the obvious, and we have to let our minds wander. Hitachi were one of the biggest manufacturers of televisions in the world. Motivational speaker Watt Nicoll challenged management to come up with comparisons between televisions and cheese. The winner was a comparison of the holes in Swiss cheese, with potential 'holes' in TV screens. Hitachi build nuclear power plants and bullet trains now. They don't make televisions, but for decades they received a licence fee for every television made in the world using their 'picture in picture' patent - the 'hole in the screen'. How much more of your fund valuation can be done by a computer? Will 3D printers be producing what you build, in 10 years? Whatever your approach, allocate time for thinking. It's the difference between leading and following. Beef farm incomes may be slashed by 35pc forcing some to get out of the sector because of Brexit, according to a Teagasc economist. Dr Kevin Hanrahan told the Teagasc National Beef conference that there was no scenario he could envisage where farmers wouldnt be negatively impacted by the UKs departure from the EU. And he was not optimistic about the prospect of increasing Irelands share in existing European markets, as these are what he described as mature markets. "We just don't have markets that can instantaneously take that 250,000t of beef," he remarked. He also said that aside from lobbying, there is little that individual Irish farmers could do in response to Brexit. Speaking at the event in Tullamore, Dr Hanrahan said farmers in Ireland are incredibly resilient, they have hung in there a long time. This could be one of those inflection points where the shock is of a sufficient magnitude that they just stop doing what they have been doing, or many of them do. He believes the potential impact of Brexit could lead to a big decline in the number of cows we have in the country, beef cows, and in the number of farmers farming beef. This is bigger than Brazilian beef, this is bigger than decoupling in terms of the potential impact on Irish cattle farming. If no agreement is reached with the UK ahead of Brexit, as Dr Hanrahan believes is a growing possibility, tariffs of 50pc could be applied to Irish beef which would also lose its preferential status, said Dr Hanrahan. If that is the case, he predicted the demand for Irish beef in the UK market with that type of tax will be effectively zero." The potential loss of the UK market, accounting for half of Irelands beef exports or 250,000m tonnes of beef per year, will likely be compounded by a reduction in direct payments from Europe as the overall budget lowers with the loss of Britains contribution. Teagasc estimates that this could result in a 10pc drop in direct payments. Although he said there was a strong case for maintaining payments to Irish farmers, Dr Hanrahan admitted, the most likely case is that the income support that farmers get will decline. Citing analysis carried out by Teagasc last November, he conservatively estimated that "for cattle finishing, cattle rearing farms you are looking at income impacts in excess of 30pc and that is assuming that they dont reduce the amount that they produce." "That 35pc is made up of a combination of negative price shock and a reduction in the type of direct payments that they are going to get form the European Union," Dr Hanrahan pointed out. He noted the difficult climate beef farmers are already working in. The problem with beef figures in particular is their incomes on average are actually less than direct payments on average. So most beef farmers are using some of their direct payments income to cover their costs in production that they are not covering with their sales of cattle, Dr Hanrahan said. The most optimistic Brexit scenario is one where the UK leave the European Union but somehow in the next 12 months we agree a deep and comprehensive agreement with the UK and European Union. Even if that was the case the British Government have said they are leaving the Customs Union and they are leaving the single market, he explained. He said in this case, even If there are no tariffs, there is going to be regulatory barriers. Theres going to have to be checks on the border or somewhere in factories, there is going to be a lot more paper work by people who ship agri food products off the island into the UK, so costs of doing trade are going to go up, he stated. One beef farmer was unhappy that no-one directly impacted in the room will have any input in the decision. This potentially finishes beef farming at a family level in this country, he remarked. Do we all have to go milking cows? he asked. The continued growth in the dairy herd is underpinning replacement heifer prices, say livestock agents. Mullingar-based agent David Clarke said spring-calving heifers were generally making between 1,050 and 1,400/hd, with strong demand from new dairy entrants. This view is shared by Tom McCarthy of Bandon Mart, who said good quality heifers were freely being quoted at 1,000 to 1,200/hd. While Mr McCarthy said the trade had not kicked off in earnest as of yet, he predicted that the high milk price this year will give the trade a boost. Mr Clarke, who heads up www.cows.ie, said the firm was moving around 100 animals a week to a mix of Irish, Northern Irish and British buyers. EBI was the main selling point for buyers in the South, the Mullingar-based agent pointed out. "The EBI index is important, buyers want quality stock from strong AI breeding," Mr Clarke explained. He said many of the new entrants were using good breeding as an "insurance policy" against potential problems such as poor health or fertility. Although grass-based dairy farmers in the North and Britain will also look for high-EBI heifers, the majority of buyers on both sides of the North Channel wanted Holstein bloodlines, he said. "Most of these guys are liquid milk men who want a cow capable of producing 30-40 litres per day," he said. MEPs are proposing that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, be phased out with a full ban by 2020. Environment Committee MEPs are backing a full ban on glyphosate-based herbicides by December 2020 and immediate restrictions on the use of the substance. The Environment and Public Health Committee opposes the European Commissions proposal to renew the controversial herbicide licence for 10 years. And, instead, MEPs say the EU should draw up plans for a phase-out of the substance, starting with a complete ban on household use and a ban in use for farming when biological alternatives (i.e. integrated pest management systems) work well for weed control. MEPs say that glyphosate should be completely banned in the EU by 15 December 2020, even with the necessary intermediate steps. The EU risk assessment process of renewing the substances licence was mired in controversy, as the UN cancer agency on the one side and EU food safety and chemicals agencies on the other pointed to different conclusions regarding its safety. Moreover, the release of the so-called Monsanto Papers - internal documents from the company, shed doubt on the credibility of some studies used in the EU evaluation on glyphosate safety, say MEPs. The EUs authorisation procedure, including the scientific evaluation of substances, should be based only on published, peer-reviewed and independent studies commissioned by competent public authorities, MEPs say. They say that EU agencies should be beefed up in order to allow them to work in this way. They also reiterate that all the scientific evidence that has been the basis for the positive classification of glyphosate and the proposed re-authorisation should be disclosed, given the overriding public interest. The non-binding resolution was approved by 39 votes to nine, with 10 abstentions. The full House is to vote on the resolution on 24 October in Strasbourg. EU Member States will vote on a Commission proposal to renew the marketing authorisation of glyphosate the following day. A European Citizens initiative calling for a ban on the herbicide reached more than a million signatures in less than a year and will trigger a public hearing in Parliament in November. Galway's hurlers swept all before them in the spring and summer, but their farmers are being hammered by the Department of Agriculture this autumn, local TD Michael Fitzmaurice has claimed. Deputy Fitzmaurice said a quarter of Galway's farmers who were inspected by Department officials this year had received penalties of some description. The introduction of a 'yellow card' system which allowed farmers a specified time-frame in which to iron out difficulties that are identified during inspections should now be considered as a matter of urgency, the Independent TD maintained. "Reports over the past week have emerged that one in four farmers in Co Galway received a penalty after being inspected by the Department of Agriculture," Deputy Fitzmaurice said. "When we were in the talks for the formation of a Government last year, it was agreed that there needed to be some kind of a yellow card system introduced to give a farmers three weeks or a month to get things in order after an inspection." The Roscommon-Galway TD added that such a system was especially needed in the west of Ireland because the direct payments were small, so penalties had a disproportionate impact. "It is alarming to see that 25pc of farmers are getting penalties when the figures for other parts of the country are not nearly as high," Deputy Fitzmaurice said. High levels of penalties in North Tipperary provoked protests from farmers earlier this year. One farmers' representative blamed the problems on "over-zealous inspectors" and the rules behind the inspections which he said are inflexible and too severe. It is understood that close to 40pc of penalties nationally involve Nitrates Directive infringements. The firm is marketing a device for the placement of ear tubes (grommets) in children without requiring general anaesthetic. (Stock picture) Cork-based medical technology firm AventaMed has raised 1.6m in funding from the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN). The sum represents the highest amount ever raised under the 'angel' investor scheme. The round brings to 3.1m raised by the Bishopstown startup, a spin-out company from Cork Institute of Technology that was set up by co-founders Olive O'Driscoll and John Vaughan in 2013. The firm is marketing a device for the placement of ear tubes (grommets) in children without requiring general anaesthetic. The insertion of grommets is used to treat recurring ear infections and hearing loss in children and adults. AventaMed, which employs five people, will use the cash to focus on clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration, which is required for the product to enter the US market. "We are already treating patients in Europe with the Solo device," said O'Driscoll, co-founder and chief executive of the company. HBAN is a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, set up to promote business angel investment across the island. Its umbrella group focuses on early-stage entrepreneurs. Shares in UK regional airline Flybe plunged by as much as 20pc in early trading yesterday as it issued a profit warning - its second in just over six months. The carrier, headed by former CityJet boss Christine Ourmieres-Widener, warned that its first-half loss would be lower than anticipated due to higher -than-expected maintenance costs. Some of Flybe's services are operated on a contract basis by Dublin-based Stobart Air, which also operates the Aer Lingus Regional service. Flybe said that the higher-than-expected aircraft-maintenance costs it has incurred in the first half of its financial year "reflects the drive to further improve the reliability of its aircraft, particularly the Bombardier Q400 turboprop". "A full review of the maintenance strategy has now been launched which aims at a significant improvement of aircraft performance and costs," it added. The airline now expects its adjusted profit before tax to be between 5m ( 5.6m) and 10m (11.2m) in the first half of its financial year. That compares to a pre-tax profit of 15.9m (17.5m) in the first half of its previous financial year. It added that the figure for the first half of the current financial year includes 6m of additional IT costs as Flybe rolls out a new digital platform. Flybe also issued a profit warning back in March, as it shouldered unexpected costs. "While half-year profits are lower than expected, I am confident that we are still on a clear sustainable path to profitability in line with our stated plan," Ms Ourmieres-Widener said. "The increased maintenance costs are disappointing, but we are already addressing these in the second half and remain focused on improving our cost base and reliability performance," she said. The chief executive, who took over at the airline at the beginning of this year, added that Flybe's business-improvement plan was delivering benefits, with its fleet size reducing, and yield and load factors increasing. Flybe has struggled in recent years, battling intense competition and fare wars across Europe. It floated on the stock exchange in 2010, but its shares were changing hands yesterday at just 37p, having originally listed at 2.95. The airline had to raise an extra 150m in 2014. It has posted a full-year, pre-tax profit only twice since the initial public offering. The airline reported a loss of 20m (22.4m) in its last full financial year as it continued efforts to realign its service with demand. That compared to a 2.7m profit in the previous financial year. Its revenue rose by 13.4pc to 707.4m, however. Flybe's fleet size peaked at 85 aircraft this year and is declining as it cuts capacity from its network. "Flybe has never been in this position before," Ms Ourmieres-Widener told the Irish Independent in an interview earlier this year. "We control our fleet. Being able to fly a network with only routes that are profitable has never happened for us in the past few years. We can look at what routes are profitable, what routes are in difficulty." Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. The directors of a Kerry luxury hotel group have sounded warnings over the short to medium-term impact on business of Brexit, the US election "and the troubling state of the EU". The directors of the Swiss-owned Killarney Hotels Ltd sounded the note of caution as revenues continued to increase last year at the group to 19.2m. New accounts show that revenues at the group - which operates two five-star hotels in Co Kerry, The Europe Hotel & Resort and the 102 bedroom Dunloe Castle - last year increased by 13pc to 19.2m. Turnover at the group has increased by 126pc since 2011, when revenues of 8.49m were recorded. However, hefty non-cash depreciation charges of 6.2m resulted in Killarney Hotels Ltd last year recording an pre-tax loss of 5.5m. Along with operating The Europe Hotel & Resort and Dunloe Castle Hotel, Killarney Hotels also operate the four-star Hotel Ard na Sidhe. The group recorded a pre-tax loss of 5.5m last year and this followed a pre-tax loss of 4.9m in 2015. According to the directors' report for 2016, they "consider the performance of the company to be in line with expectation". The directors are listed as Michael Brennan, Gerry Browne and Adrian Stehr and remuneration for the directors last year jumped to 606,694 including 34,776 in pension contributions. Numbers employed increased from 175 to 191 with staff costs increasing from 7.3m to 8m. The firm's shareholder funds totalled 3.5m. The company's cash pile increased from 6.6m to 8m. WHAT do Silicon Valley's tech engineers, Brooklyn's hipsters and Los Angeles movie producers have in common? They're all hooked on an Irishman's coffee. Bryan Meehan's Blue Bottle Coffee chain has taken over large parts of San Francisco, New York and LA. It's also making solid progress into Tokyo. And it's about to set its sights on China and South Korea. But the Dubliner's 50-strong chain recently attracted its most important admirer: Nestle. In recent weeks, the Swiss giant bought a majority stake in the coffee company for around 400m, valuing it at over 600m. That leaves Meehan, together with company founder James Freeman and a number of Silicon Valley investors, such as Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, on something of a caffeine-related high. Meehan says he's staying on as chief executive of the firm and expects to be still there in five years. "I've championed the transaction, so I feel responsible," he says. "I'm not going to bail." But the 49-year-old has a track record of building something new every three or four years. Twice before, he has grown businesses that were acquired by giants. After an early start in Guinness and a Harvard MBA, he co-founded the London-based organic food store chain Fresh and Wild, selling it later to US food behemoth Whole Foods. Then he turned to cosmetics, co-founding the Bono-backed Nude Skincare brand in 2007 with Ali Hewson. The French perfume giant LVMH bought it in 2011. His move into coffee came about when he led a 16m venture investment into Blue Bottle in 2012, subsequently becoming its chief executive. Since then, the chain has blossomed, with almost 50 locations and several more planned. This was helped along the way with a $73m (62m) funding round that included Bono, actor Jared Leto and celebrity skateboarder Tony Hawk. Most recently, its success was brought into sharp focus when Meehan took a phone call from Nestle chief executive Mark Schneider. "I had read an article in the FT that Nestle was going to focus on coffee in North America," he says. "Literally two weeks later, I got a call from them. They said they loved the company and would I be interested in meeting up." Meehan brought Schneider to one of Blue Bottle's Brooklyn cafes. Soon after, they agreed a fairly unique deal: Nestle would acquire a majority stake for hundreds of millions of dollars, but would leave Blue Bottle alone to run as an autonomous entity. "I don't report in to anyone there," says Meehan. "They've literally left us alone to get on with it." The strategy is a smart one, says the Dubliner. "The future of coffee is moving in a way that Blue Bottle is driving," says Meehan. "Nestle got involved with us not because they thought they could do it better, but because they realise that they're not good at specialty coffee for retail and we are." Is Blue Bottle angling to be the next Starbucks? "Definitely not," he says. "Starbucks is an offering of convenience, while Bluebottle is on a campaign to serve excellent coffee. "We just opened a cafe in Manhattan, two blocks from the Rockefeller Centre where we already have one. You might wonder how opening cafes two blocks away from each other would work, but Manhattan is so big and people often don't like to walk. Anyway, the second one is already a success. This makes me think that Manhattan would like to see more Blue Bottle Coffee." Meehan may have taken the company to a new platform, but he himself has several other interests. Throughout the last 15 years, he has had a parallel career as a serial property and angel investor, both through his own Greenmont Capital and later through vehicles such as UK property investment company TBE Southern. In Ireland, interests have included Kildare Village, small tech startups and premium property through his investment firm, Ailesbury Estates TBE. Among its portfolio was a house on Dublin's Shrewsbury Road that was described as the "biggest flip of the year" in 2014. Having bought the property in 2013 for 4.6m, Meehan's firm sold it less than a year later to the then Aryzta boss Owen Killian for 6.5m. He is similarly active in the US, with investments in the messaging giant Slack and California property. He recently made news for selling San Francisco's most expensive home. The Pacific Heights house, which had been extensively refurbished by Meehan and his wife Tara, was sold for $21.8m (18.5m), having been bought in 2009 for $6.95m (5.9m). However, all of this capitalism does not, apparently, come at the cost of a conscience. Meehan is known as an advocate for business 'sustainability', regularly campaigning on environmental, organic food and ethical issues. Broadly speaking, he wants to make the world better while doing business. So how does being bought by Nestle square with this set of core beliefs? This, after all, is the company that is still haunted by the controversy over marketing baby milk formula in third world countries. It also continues to face accusations of fostering obesity in developing nations through the marketing of processed food. "I had a much more aggressive opinion of Nestle 25 years ago than I do today," says Meehan. "I think they made a lot of mistakes in the eighties and nineties in how they marketed products and in their business ethics in developing countries. "But if you look at their practices in the last 15 years, they've learned from those mistakes. If you look at the things they're doing today, they've become one of the most progressive companies on ethics and child labour. "Obviously, they face concerns globally in the areas of obesity and water consumption. But what gives me comfort about that is that they have at board level a commitment to get out of products that are causing damage." While there continues to be some debate about this, Nestle says that it has a solid annual record of reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat in its foods and beverages. Pointing to its top three status in a global 'Access to Nutrition Index', it also says that it has habitually increased the amount of wholegrain, fruits and vegetables in its foods, as well as "micronutrients" to food in countries "where there are known deficiencies". "They're making investments that they think are more sustainable," Meehan says. "They don't think that businesses like candy have a future." This, he says, represents a "great opportunity" for him. "I have a big background in sustainability, in encouraging biodegradable packaging and other things," he says. "I've campaigned a lot against genetically modified foods. Recently, I was thinking about how the campaigning side to myself had died because I was more of a CEO. But now with Nestle, I see my role as not just a CEO but as a campaigner again." Meehan says that he has had similar positive feedback from organisations such as Greenpeace. Although his life, as well as that of his wife and family, is now centred around San Francisco, Meehan returns to Dublin regularly. Is the Irish market ready for artisanal coffee yet? Or is this a more expensive perk? "Since I left ireland in 1991, it's been transformed in how we think about health and food. We're willing to pay for quality now. In Dublin, I always make a beeline for 3FE. "Colin (Harmon, 3FE founder) epitomises where the movement is going, hires people who know about coffee and serves great food. I don't remember it being that much more expensive. I mean, you can go to one of the big chains in Dublin, but there's no comparison." Meehan is well connected in Silicon Valley, having marshalled co-investors for Blue Bottle that include Instagram co-founder Systrom, About.com founder Tony Conrad and Google Ventures general partner Kevin Rose. He sees a future where Blue Bottle Coffee goes beyond cafes to retail sales and online orders. "The online digital side, where people can subscribe to have it delivered, is a growing part of our business. We have 12 engineers literally working full time on that." Ireland is home to 20 of the worlds top 25 financial services companies (Stock) Two of the largest fund services businesses in the IFSC will merge following the acquisition of Deutsche Bank Alternative Fund Services (AFS) unit by Apex Fund Services and Genstar Capital. Close to half of AFSs global staff are based in Dublin. All of the around 130 Ireland-based employees along with staff in all of its other offices will join Apex following the deal, which is expected to close in 2018. The transaction will add $170bn to Apexs assests under administration (AUA), propelling the Bermuda-based firm to become the eighth largest administrator in the world and the largest independent administrator with $300bn of AUA. Apex already has three offices in Ireland, in Dublin and Cork. Its expected that Deutsche Bank AFS staff will move into Apex locations following the deal. This is another significant step in the evolution of the Apex Group, said Peter Hughes, founder and CEO of Apex. This transaction complements the existing Apex business and further strengthens our position as the leading independent provider of fund services globally. In September, Deutsche Bank agreed to sell its global corporate services unit housed within its global transaction banking business to Vistra Group, the European fund administrator controlled by Barings Private Equity Asia. In the latest deal, Macquarie acted as exclusive financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher provided legal counsel to Genstar and Apex. Deutsche Bank was self advised, with legal advice from and Freshfields, Bruckhaus Deringer. French food company Danone, whose brands include activia and evian, will combine the functions of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and chairperson, effective from 1 December. Danones current CEO, Emmanuel Faber, who has served in the role of CEO since 2014, will succeed Franck Riboud as Chairman. The board of the company, which earlier this week announced a reported sales increase of 16.6pc year-on-year to 6.4bn in the three months to 30 September, also approved a proposal to reduce the size of the management committee from nine people to six. Mr Riboud will become honorary chairman of Danone and will continue to serve as a director of the company and a member of the strategic committee of the board. "[The] announcement reflects the culmination of a planned leadership transition process that I initiated for Danones top management three years ago and that has allowed the company, under Emmanuel Fabers leadership, to enter a new development phase. Combining the Chairman and CEO roles will solidify this momentum," Mr Riboud said. Earlier this week, a sales update from Danone showed that the company had experienced a very strong performance in its specialised nutrition business, where sales increased 17.8pc in the three months to 30 September. The strong performance reflected accelerating growth in infant formula sales in China, as well as progress in Danones strategic priorities, such as the expansion of tailored nutrition products, which grew at a mid-teen percentage in the three month period. A year-old pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic data transfers won a green light from the European Union yesterday after a first review to ensure the US protects Europeans' data stored on American servers. The EU-US Privacy Shield was agreed last year after everyday cross-border data transfers were plunged into limbo when the EU's top court struck down a previous data-transfer pact in 2015 because it allowed US spies excessive access to people's data. That came after Austrian student Max Schrems filed a complaint in Ireland in 2013 over data transfers by Facebook Ireland to the US under the old so-called Safe Harbour data protocols. The European Commission last month conducted its first annual review of the new framework as it seeks to ensure the US lives up to its promises to better protect Europeans' data when they are transferred across the Atlantic - failing which it could suspend the Privacy Shield. The Commission said it was satisfied that the framework continues to ensure adequate protection for Europeans' personal data although it asked Washington to improve the way it works, including strengthening privacy protections contained in the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The conclusion will come as a relief to the more than 2,400 companies that use the scheme, including major Irish employers such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The EU Commission said the US Department of Commerce should be more proactive in monitoring companies' compliance. "Transatlantic data transfers are essential for our economy, but the fundamental right to data protection must be ensured also when personal data leaves the European Union," EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said. "Our first review shows that the Privacy Shield works well, but there is some room for improving its implementation," Companies that transfer Europeans' personal data outside the bloc are forbidden from moving data to countries deemed to have inadequate privacy protections, unless they have special legal contracts in place. Harvey Weinstein is at the centre of a torrent of sexual misconduct allegations, including rape, from women on both sides of the Atlantic. Photo: Reuters It is 2003. Four of the five Academy Award nominees for Best Picture have involved film producer Harvey Weinstein - 'Gangs of New York', 'The Hours', 'Chicago' and 'The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers'. Fast forward 14 years and Weinstein has been booted out of the Academy, fired from the Weinstein Company and is facing numerous investigations, including two police probes in the UK for allegations of rape. His company looks set to change hands through a forced sale as it grapples with the financial fallout of the sexual harassment scandal. But rather than ask how did it all come to this - because we all know the answer to that - the biggest question being asked is why didn't it all come to this a lot sooner? Weinstein faces allegations that he sexually assaulted and harassed possibly dozens of women over a long period dating back to 1980. The outing of the 'Weinstein monster' shows not only how things are changing in Hollywood but also how much they still have to change. His behaviour was said to be an 'open secret' in Hollywood. It actually sounds like template with which we in Ireland are very familiar. It is an open secret that somebody is doing something wrong. Nobody does anything about it for years and then suddenly a journalist blows it open and everybody is outraged. But there are serious corporate questions to be asked here too. The first reaction of the Weinstein Company was to communicate its shock at the revelations. Yet David Boies, a lawyer who advised Weinstein during 2015 contract negotiations, has said the board of the company was told about three or four settlements with women at the time. Harvey Weinstein's brother, Bob, issued a statement in which he denied all knowledge of his brother's "depravities". He went on to insist: "Our banks, partners and shareholders are fully supportive of our company and it is untrue that the company or board is exploring a sale or shutdown of the company." Yet not only is the firm receiving an infusion of new capital from Tom Barrack's Colony Capital to stabilise operations but Colony is also weighing up the purchase of some or all of the business. The problem for the Weinstein Company was that it was utterly implausible to think it could be fully separated from its boss's behaviour. Several members of the board resigned, including the deputy chief executive of Technicolor. It emerged very quickly that Technicolor had declined to provide any more credit to the Weinstein Company and was insisting on being paid up front. Other major corporations started running for the hills too. Viacom and Disney removed Weinstein as a producer. Apple cancelled a project with his company and the publisher Hachette said it was shutting its Weinstein Books imprint. Harvey Weinstein owns around 42pc of the company, while Goldman Sachs owns around 5pc. As the remaining directors move to sell what is left of the business, it is worth exploring just what there is to sell. Like any other business on the block, it has both tangible and intangible assets. Its tangible assets are likely to be relatively small. Its intangible assets would include Harvey Weinstein's contacts and reputation - now worth what exactly? - its name or brand, now practically worthless; the talent and experience of its 150 staff - probably valuable in the industry; and its ownership of rights to past productions and those in production or due to be released. These are its biggest remaining asset. They were described by one industry person as "potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars". Private equity group Colony Capital, which is injecting money into the business and may end up owning what is left of it, has made millions from Harvey Weinstein's previous film business, Miramax. Colony bought Miramax from Disney in 2010 for around $660m. Quite quickly, it securitised the firm's back library of films. It owned the rights to around 700 films and Colony got most of its money back on Miramax through that $500m securitisation. It later sold the business to Qatar firm BeIn. Coming back to the question of how it all went on so long, Weinstein used legal agreements - settlements and non-disclosure agreements - to cover up and basically buy the silence of his alleged victims. It has been reported that at least one of the women was advised that she would face enormous legal actions if she breached the confidentiality agreement reached. It is a divide-and-conquer approach to buying silence. As long as one woman believed she would be sued, she might not be willing to go it alone and take a public legal action. The multiple women who reached settlements would not necessarily know of the existence or identity of the others. Use of these kinds of agreements raises the question of whether the courts should be used in this way to cover up multiple abuses of power, which could have constituted a crime. Some commentators are suggesting that the Weinstein case now marks the end of hypocrisy at the top of large organisations. Sadly, that may not be the case but hopefully it is a significant blow to it. Corporate culture is changing but sometimes the company escapes the sins of its executives. Take Fox News in the US. Its former CEO, Roger Ailes, and former star presenter, Bill O'Reilly, both left after allegations of sexual harassment and claims of settlements being made. Yet Fox News is as strong as ever. Perhaps one way to make real progress on all of these issues is to have more women in the boardrooms of large corporations. But questions of gender equality run right through organisations. In Hollywood, men directed 96 of the 100 top-grossing films last year. Some 97pc of cinematographers are men in top-grossing films. A spotlight has been thrown on the issue of gender pay gaps from top to bottom in organisations. More big companies are seeking to have more women on their boards. Unfortunately, too much of this is driven by 'the optics', as they say in PR. In other words, large publicly listed firms that might feature in published surveys or which hold public AGMs are leading the way. But are they motivated by fairness and the desire to run a better business or are they paying lip service to gender equality in order to avoid negative publicity? Irrespective of the motive, I have no doubt those companies are benefiting in real terms from having more women directors, which should improve the culture of the entire organisation. But lots of smaller companies or large private companies are still sorely lacking on this issue. Weinstein appears to have embodied the worst kind of Jurassic-era depravity. Yet up until a fortnight ago, he was still a major film industry figure. He could not have lasted as long as he did without the complicit silence of so many individuals in the corporate world around him and throughout the wider industry. It isn't the end of this kind of hypocrisy but perhaps it is the beginning of the end. US private-equity fund Lone Star has sealed a long-running deal to acquire 75pc of Portugal's Novo Banco, ending a three-year battle to sell the lender. The deal is likely to provoke comparisons to the firm's strategy in Ireland in the wake of the economic crash when the Dallas-based fund ranked as the largest holder of distressed debt in the State. At one stage Lone Star contemplated taking over Nama and reportedly button-holed the then Minister for Finance Michael Noonan about the radical plan at the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos, Lone Star still holds a banking licence here, acquired when it purchased sub-prime lender Start Mortgages. Earlier this year the firm bundled some of these loans into a company called European Residential Loan Securitisation 2017-PL1 DAC in a 500m asset-backed bond issuance. While the firm swooped on over 7bn of debt at the time of the crash, it has exited the bulk of these exposures. According to sources, it remains less interested in current loan sales, including AIB's looming 2bn Redwood portfolio. Under the terms of the Novo Banco deal, Lone Star will pump 1bn into the state-rescued lender in exchange for a three- quarter ownership slice, the remaining 25pc will be retained by Portugal's bank resolution fund. Lone Star is also expected to raise 400m of Tier 2 capital in the market. The firm emerged victorious after an initial attempt to sell the lender failed in 2015. Back then Apollo Global Management - as well as the Chinese private-equity firm, Fosun and insurer, Anbang - were in contention but their bids were rebuffed as too low by the Portuguese authorities. At a signing ceremony to mark the conclusion of the deal, Bank of Portugal governor Carlos Costa said the deal "allows a very significant strengthening of Novo Banco's capital and the bank now has the means to proceed with a business plan that allows it to continue its relevant position in financing the economy". Johnny Depp, who is embroiled in a legal battle with his ex-managers, is now suing his former lawyers, claiming they also cheated him out of millions of dollars. The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor has accused his former Hollywood lawyer Jacob Bloom and his firm of unlawfully collecting 30 million dollars (23 million) in fees, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The legal action adds to his 25 million dollar (19 million) lawsuit against The Management Group (TMG), which has led to damaging revelations about the actor. Expand Close Johnny Depp TMG / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Johnny Depp TMG The firm claimed Depp, 54, has spent years failing to memorise his lines and instead employed a sound engineer to feed them to him. The allegation came as TMG attempted to prove it was not responsible for his financial situation, saying it was instead due his ultra-extravagant lifestyle that included strings of luxury homes and a 30,000-dollar-a-month (23,000) wine bill. Mr Bloom and his firm, who began working with Depp in around 1999, stand accused of unjust enrichment and legal malpractice for allegedly illegally collecting 30 million dollars of fees from the actor. The lawsuit adds they worked in tandem with TMG by taking a fox guarding the hen house approach in not telling Depp of alleged wrongdoings. Expand Close Johnny Depp at Glastonbury / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Johnny Depp at Glastonbury Kurt Peterson, representing Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, said the firm is extremely disappointed in Depps lawsuit. The firm disagrees with Mr Depp and his counsel on the law and the facts, and intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously, he added in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Depp is demanding compensation and a refund of any illegally taken fees in the latest lawsuit, while the action against TMG is set to go before a jury next year. Video of the Day He filed the lawsuit against TMG in January, following the finalisation of his multimillion-dollar divorce from Amber Heard after she accused him of domestic abuse. Lloyds Banking Group "mugged" shareholders when it got them to agree to the "catastrophic" HBOS deal at the height of the global financial crisis, a lawyer representing thousands of investors suing the bank said on the first day of a London trial. Senior executives "pursued a dangerous and value-destroying strategy" to push the deal through, Richard Hill, the claimants' lawyer, said yesterday in court. They "withheld or misrepresented" vital information that shareholders never would've approved had they known the full extent of the risk. The case is the second shareholder lawsuit in London courts this year relating to the financial crisis, which forced the UK government to pledge 1.2 trillion to support banks. In June, Ulster Bank owner Royal Bank of Scotland Group reached a last-minute deal with investors as the trial was due to start. Lloyds has consistently stated that the allegations are without any foundation. HBOS - which included the former Bank of Scotland Ireland - failed in 2008 and was sold to Lloyds, which then required about 20.5bn of UK taxpayers' money to prevent its collapse. The claimants, which include about 300 pension and investment funds, accuse Lloyds of "secretly" making a 10bn loan facility available to HBOS and that the bank received billions in "covert" financial support from the Bank of England to keep the bank from collapsing while the deal was being negotiated. The Bank of England declined to comment on the claimants' allegations. The warning signs were clear had the executives done a proper analysis of the risks and impairment rates faced by HBOS, which at the height of the financial crisis was one the UK's worst-performing lenders, Mr Hill said. "HBOS was facing catastrophic impairment," he said. "Extraordinarily, the bank's board didn't put the risks through any analysis and in pressing the deal forward mugged shareholders into accepting. The information that would have disclosed that HBOS was a bust bank was deliberately withheld." The trial, set to run until the beginning of March, will feature ex-CEO Eric Daniels and former chairman Victor Blank as key defence witnesses. A night porter who was sacked after allegedly threatening to kill his boss has been awarded 3,500 in compensation for unfair dismissal by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The unnamed Polish national was employed at a hostel for asylum-seekers for 11 years before his sacking, which happened after his wife told a manager he was on his way to the hostel to kill her. The alleged threat followed a "relatively minor set of events" that had an "extraordinary" effect on the porter, WRC adjudication officer James Kelly said. The female manager left a note for the complainant on March 23 last year which asked him why a non-resident had been admitted after the 10pm curfew. This made the porter very stressed and he did not go to work the following day. He started drinking and attempted to take his own life. His wife, who worked as a cleaner at the hostel, met with the manager the next day and told her that her husband was very angry with her. She then received a call from her daughter and told the manager that her husband was on his way to the hostel to kill her. In her evidence, the complainant's wife said her English was limited and she had not literally meant that he was going to kill her. The manager called gardai and a doctor, who were on the premises when the complainant arrived. He left voluntarily at the direction of gardai. The porter told the hearing he had never said he was going to kill anyone and only wanted to speak with the manager. He said she had over-reacted by calling the authorities. The complainant went to meetings with an HR adviser, but they were "explosive, difficult and frustrating", according to Mr Kelly, and both parties were suspicious of each other's intentions during this period. On September 28, he received an email stating that his refusal to participate in the process had been construed as a resignation. The adjudication officer said both parties had contributed to the breakdown in communication, but there were no substantial grounds to justify dismissal and directed the hostel to pay 3,500 compensation. Aviva Insurance had established that a 60,000 personal injuries claim by a 25-year-old Dublin home care worker had arisen out of a contrived traffic accident, a judge has told the insurance companys legal team. Judge Francis Comerford, when he threw out the claim by Leonard Naughton Madden, said a link had been shown between him and his uncle to whom the car that crashed into him had been afterwards brought for inspection. That is quite a coincidence, the judge told barrister Paul ONeill, counsel for Aviva, who had told the court there was more than enough evidence to cast doubt on Naughton Maddens case. Mr ONeill, who appeared with Charlotte Finnigan of Corrigan and Corrigan solicitors, told the Circuit Civil Court there were too many disquieting factors in the case and it should be dismissed. Naughton Madden said the car in which he had been a passenger had been driven at the time of the accident in Rathmines, Dublin, on September 2012 by a William OBrien senior who, prior to the crash, he did not know. In cross-examination by Mr ONeill he said he did not know the co-defendant in his case either, a Joseph Carroll with an address in Rathgar, Dublin, who had been driving the car that had crashed into him. He also did not know that William OBrien senior had been the deal maker on behalf of Joseph Carroll when Carroll had bought the car off an Ann Gibney before it had subsequently rear-ended OBriens car in which he was a passenger. Naughton Madden told the court he knew nothing about a number of other allegedly linked claims made against Aviva and denied any connection with claimants who allegedly contrived this and other accidents. Ann Gibney told the court William OBrien senior had brokered the deal to buy her car. Another man Mr OBrien said was from Rathgar had produced the money for it. Dismissing Naughton Maddens claims with costs against him, Judge Comerford said he accepted Carroll was involved in a contrived accident and that it was more likely than not that Mr Naughton Madden knew there was going to be an accident. The personal injury system and the way it was structured was there to facilitate genuine plaintiffs who suffer injuries in accidents and while the court had to have regard to this it had to have a concern if it felt the system for doing justice to others was being used in a dishonest way. Following the hearing Robert Smyth, Head of Fraud at Aviva, said the company had a duty to customers to fight all fraudulent claims irrespective of the significant costs involved. Every effort will be made to ensure we recover our costs and we will co-operate with the gardai to ensure that anyone involved in staged accidents face criminal prosecution, he said. A father of three had "trouble in mind" on the night he was stabbed to death by a Brazilian man who he had assaulted and racially abused, a barrister has told a murder trial. Colman Cody SC said that the deceased, James Banville, had launched cowardly, gratuitous and unprovoked assaults on his client and verbally abused him leaving the Brazilian in fear and causing him to lose self control. The jury of six men and six women began considering their verdict this afternoon and will return to the Central Criminal Court tomorrow. Juraci Da Silva (36), with an address at Park Lane Apartments in Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of 28-year-old James Banville at New Street in Waterford on October 8, 2016. His plea was not accepted by the State and he is on trial at the Central Criminal Court. Mr Da Silva has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Conor Hogan causing him harm and not guilty to a charge of producing a knife on the same date and at the same place. Mr Cody urged the jury to find Mr Da Silva not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds that he was either provoked by the deceased or defending himself from a third assault. The court has heard that Mr Hogan and Mr Banville snorted cocaine and twice assaulted the accused man on the streets of Waterford City during a 20 minute period after pub closing time in the early hours on a Saturday. After the second assault Mr Da Silva followed the two men and there was a third confrontation during which he stabbed Mr Banville in the heart, fatally wounding him. Mr Cody said the jury had seen and heard evidence that Mr Hogan and Mr Banville "had trouble in mind, or if trouble presented itself they were going to embrace it." He described the assaults on Mr Da Silva as "gratuitous and unprovoked" and said it could be inferred from CCTV footage that Mr Da Silva was in fear following the first assault. After that assault Mr Da Silva went back to his apartment where he changed his jacket and reemerged onto the city streets. Mr Cody said it is open to the jury to conclude that if Mr Da Silva took the knife from his apartment at that point, he did so out of concern for the safety of his Brazilian friends who he believed were still out and about in the city. He said they had heard evidence from one of his flatmates that Mr Da Silva wanted to know where his friends were and went out again looking for them. He said there was no evidence that he was seeking Mr Hogan and Mr Banville to get revenge, as the prosecution had asserted. The second assault on Mr Da Silva came less than 20 minutes after the first. CCTV footage showed that the accused was standing at the steps to his apartment speaking to two girls when Mr Hogan and the deceased came up behind him and punched him a number of times. The girls he was speaking to gave evidence that Mr Hogan and Mr Banville called Mr Da Silva a "pervert" and a "paedophile" as they attacked him. Mr Cody described the assaults as "cowardly and unprovoked" pointing to the evidence that Mr Da Silva is much smaller than his attackers, was highly intoxicated, swaying and unsteady on his feet and had shown no aggression at any point. By contrast, he said witnesses had spoken of how Mr Hogan and Mr Banville, both of whom have previous convictions for assault, were taking cocaine and acting in a hyperactive and aggressive manner throughout the night. He said the jury must consider Mr Da Silva's frame of mind after going on a night out, not bothering anyone and finding himself subjected to two assaults and derogatory, humiliating and racist abuse. He added: "This was an ordinary man placed in extraordinary circumstances by the actions of Mr Hogan and Mr Banville." Describing the third and fatal encounter, Mr Cody told the jury that they had heard evidence that Mr Hogan and Mr Banville saw the accused and decided they would "sort him out again". They had heard that the two Irish men landed punches and one of them tried to grab Mr Da Silva and it is only after that that the Brazilian inflicted the fatal wound to Mr Banville. Mr Cody told the jury that if it is reasonably possible that Mr Da Silva acted to defend himself then he did not have the necessary intent to kill or cause serious injury and should be found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Mr Cody said his client accepts that he stabbed Mr Banville but he did not murder him. He said he accepts some responsibility but that he was a victim on the night and that he behaved as he did because of what he suffered. While he was not the aggressor or the cause of what happened, he accepts that the fact that he had a weapon means it was an unlawful killing but not murder. Justice Michael White told the jury that they must consider the defences of provocation and excessive self defence. Provocation, he explained, arises where the accused temporarily lost self control. He said it is not merely a loss of temper but a total and sudden onset of passion which deprived him of all self control. In his summary of the evidence Justice Michael White told the jury that it was obvious from the CCTV footage that the assaults on Mr Da Silva were "entirely unprovoked" and "serious". He said Mr Da Silva was hit on the head and kicked in circumstances where he offered no aggression. He added that in order for the defence of provocation to be accepted, all the elements must be there, including that the reaction was provoked by the deceased, was sudden and total and not calculated. Explaining excessive self-defence, he told the jury that they should find the accused not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter if they decide that he believed he was acting in self defence but used excessive force. If the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill or cause serious injury and that he was not provoked and did not act in self-defence, they should find him guilty of murder. Over the three years of junior cycle, the total difference in tuition time can amount to 211 hours - with the highest allocation of 439 hours, almost double the lowest, 228. (Stock image) Massive variations in the time that second-level schools devote to maths teaching is putting some pupils at a severe disadvantage. A new report says the Government must act to end the unfair treatment of students who receive less tuition in the subject than others, by laying down fixed time allocations for maths. By the time they sit the Junior Cert, some pupils have spent almost twice as long in maths classes as others. The biggest gap is in first year, with some timetabled for only 67 hours in the year, while others receive up to 167 hours. Over the three years of junior cycle, the total difference in tuition time can amount to 211 hours - with the highest allocation of 439 hours, almost double the lowest, 228. Across fifth and sixth year, the hours devoted to the subject in different schools or classes range from 198 to 323. It means that - Transition Year excluded - some second-level students may benefit from up to 762 hours maths tuition overall, while others have to get by with 426. Variations on that scale are likely to have an enormous impact on the grades that students achieve in the junior and leaving cert exams, and how well equipped they are for future study and life in general. Proficiency in maths is a cornerstone to future academic success generally and regarded as essential for employment in the modern age. Differerences in scheduled class allocations can be further compounded by voluntary classes put on by some teachers. The disparities are down to factors such the school attended, the class group a pupil in, teacher they have and whether they are doing higher or ordinary level. But the report published today by EPI-STEM, the National Centre for STEM Education say that all students should receive the same amount of maths instruction time. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths. The analysis is the first of its kind in Ireland to offer insights into the allocation of maths tuition time in post-primary schools.. The overarching finding to emerge from this study is that current arrangements relating to the time allocated to maths masks a significant inequity in the treatment of students at all levels, and across all years, say authors Niamh Meara of the University of Limerick and Mark Prendergast of Trinity College Dublin. They insist that, regardless of school they attend, students are studying the same syllabi and preparing for the same state examinations and there is no argument to support the variation in instruction time evident in the results of this study . There are Department of Education guidelines on the amount instruction time for maths, but the report calls on the Government to specify a fixed amount of class time to be allocated to all curriculum subjects at second level. The EPI-STEM findings come against a backdrop of concern about Irelands average performance in maths when compared with other countries in the developed world. In the Leaving Cert, almost three in four students aim only for the ordinary level paper, and about one in 10 of those dont achieve a minimum 40pc mark in the exam. The report cites international research that found that the number of hours, days and years that students are formally required to take instruction in a subject has an impact up their academic success. Although the proportion of time given to maths in Irish second-level schools is on a par with the international average, the relatively short school year in Ireland means that the overall allocation is less. Farmers face a race against time to avoid devastating stock losses and an animal welfare crisis due to power and water disruptions across Munster in the aftermath of Storm Ophelia. Thousands of farmers are now desperately trying to hire industrial generators to power wells, water supply systems and milking parlours, with many facing losses of tens of thousands of euro. The crisis emerged as Cork City Council sought the assistance of the Defence Forces and specialist chain-saw teams from the forestry industry to help deal with 35 giant lime trees which have blocked the Centre Park Road. The trees, which were toppled like dominoes by the 130kmh winds from Storm Ophelia last Monday, have totally blocked one of the main access routes to Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the Cork GAA grounds, which is set to be officially opened on Sunday. While the ESB and Irish Water focus on tackling supply disruptions to all customers, the farming industry has emerged as potentially one of the worst-hit by the storm. In north Cork, one farmer cannot use his newly built 100,000 milking parlour because he has been unable to source a sufficiently powerful generator. Read More Outside Cork city, another farmer had a generator burn out under the load of trying to run a milking parlour and refrigeration units. In Glanmire, John O'Connell was one of the lucky ones as ESB crews worked around the clock to restore his local power grid. "It is very serious - you cannot operate a farm without electricity," he said. The crisis is worst in Cork where some dairy farmers were without power for a third day - and cows run the risk of contracting diseases like mastitis and infections such as E-Coli if they are not milked within a 36-hour period. The problem is exacerbated by the demand for generators nationwide to operate water pumping stations which have been left without electricity. In Glanworth, generators had to be sourced from Laois to operate a number of small pump houses to restore water supplies to homes and farms. Irish Water has dispatched almost 40 generators to Cork alone to operate pumping stations until power is restored to the water network. It has also been made worse by the fact that the mild weather, good grass growth and high milk prices meant thousands of farmers kept their cows milking longer than normal this year. "This time last year, most farmers would have either dried off or be drying up their cows because prices were so bad. This year, everyone has them milking later because prices are so good," Cork farmer John Keane said. Read More Some farmers are so desperate for generators they have been pleading to rent them for four-hour periods from neighbours so they can milk their cows. Crucial Irish Farmers Association (IFA) National Dairy Chairman Sean O'Leary said it was crucial that co-ops co-ordinate their efforts. "The most pressing problem on farms is where they are left without electricity after a power outage which it could take days for ESB to deal with," he said. "Ensuring that cows can continue to be milked is crucial from an animal welfare point of view, and maintaining refrigeration is essential to ensure the valuable quality milk produced is not spoilt or wasted. "I am aware that some co-ops, including Glanbia, have made teams of electricians available, and are facilitating the loaning of generators between farmers who have them but don't need them and those who do." He said farmers who continue to have difficulties should contact their IFA country chairmen and co-op. The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed they are aware of the case An Irishman has died following a drowning accident in the Maldives. It is understood that the man got into difficulty while swimming. It is believed he was on his honeymoon on the Indian Ocean group of islands when tragedy struck yesterday. The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed to the Irish Independent that it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance to the deceased man's family in Ireland. There is no Irish embassy in the Maldives. However, officials at the Irish embassy in New Delhi in India are liaising with the authorities in the Maldivian capital of Male following the death of the Irishman. The Maldives consists of almost 1,000 coral islands spread across hundreds of kilometres. However, just over 100 of the islands are inhabited and it has a flourishing tourist industry. The destination has been gaining in popularity with Irish holidaymakers in recent years and is particularly popular among young and honeymooning couples. A number of Irish-based tour operators organise holiday packages to the Indian Ocean islands. It will be especially beneficial in rural and isolated areas. (Stock photo) A new system for alerting emergency services to the precise location of callers is set to go live today. Ireland will be among the first countries in Europe to activate the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) on Android phones. When callers dial 112 or 999 the AML will send an invisible SMS to operators alerting them to the person's accurate location. The new service will be launched today after undergoing testing in recent months. Communications Minister Denis Naughten, whose department is working on the introduction of AML, told RTE Radio One that it will be especially beneficial in deploying emergency services to rural and isolated areas. AML testers have been able to reach callers within an average of 25m from their exact location but Mr Naughten said that "in some instances we're getting within 10m of the exact location". The new location system is built into the software of the phone. It's currently only available for Android users. It will automatically become available when customers update their software or register for AML on Google Play. Mr Naughten described an incident that he experienced this year where he would have benefited from the AML service. "I was on the Wicklow Way during the summer and an old man had fallen off his bike but I didn't know where I was," said Mr Naughten. "I was lucky enough that a local person came on the scene." Experts say it will help them identify the location of victims of assault or medical emergencies who are unable to speak or cannot provide an exact location; suicidal callers; children or adults with intellectual disabilities who may be unable to provide an accurate location; visitors or tourists who may not recognise the area they're calling from and domestic abuse victims. "We can get to emergencies far quicker. Once someone dials 112 or 999 [within] the first 25 seconds this comes live," said Mr Naughten. Emergency services currently handle over 4,000 mobile phone calls a day. Mr Naughten said that more than 50 percent of those are from Android phones. He said he hopes it expands to iPhones shortly but it is not clear when it will become available on Apple devices. Responding to fears that the AML service might breach data protection rules, Mr Naughten said the information will only be used in emergencies. "It's not being used outside emergencies. Data will only go through ECAS (Emergency Call Answering Service) who will disclose the location to the relevant service." A young man who had been sleeping rough has died in Co Louth. A man (20s) passed away after he was found unresponsive in Mill Lane in Drogheda, Co Louth at around 9.45pm. The young man is understood to have been in contact with homeless organisations. Cllr Pio Smith, Mayor of Drogheda, said that more needs to be done to help our most vulnerable. He told Independent.ie: "No child comes into this world thinking they will be die alone on a street. "This is just a crazy situation, a man has died on our streets and in a few days people will forget about it until the next tragedy happens, something has to change." Mr Smith extended his sympathies to the family of the deceased. Louth County Councillor Joanna Byrne echoed his sentiments, as she said that she is "devastated". "This is someone's brother and son and friend, a family has been torn apart and a young man has died. "He is in his 20s and had his whole life ahead of him and obviously if he had been sleeping on the streets then he had been having a terrible time," she said. A garda spokesman said in a statement: "Gardai from Drogheda were called to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital yesterday evening to take reports of a sudden death of a man in his 20s. "A file will be prepared in accordance with the Coroners Act. We have no further details on this." Read More In a separate incident, a man was discovered without a pulse in Adair Lane in Dublin's Temple Bar at around 2am. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke told Independent.ie: "The man who found him told me that he was walking passed the lane with a friend at around 11pm when he saw the man lying against the wall. "He didn't have a sleeping bag but he said that he looked like he was asleep. "When they were coming back the same way at 2am they noticed the man in the exact same position, so he went to take a pulse and he couldn't find one. "They called an ambulance but he was pronounced dead and the doctors said that the man would have been dead for a few hours before he was found. "The man who found him is understandably really upset and we have offered him counselling. "He has been saying that if he hadn't checked then that man might have been dead there overnight and nobody would have found him until the morning." A Garda spokesman said: "Gardai are investigating the sudden death of a man at Adair Lane, Dublin 2. He is yet to be identified. "The incident is not being treated as suspicious at this time." Leading psychiatrist Dr Patricia Casey announced today she will not be appearing before the Oireachtas committee on abortion next week, saying the process has become deeply imbalanced. Dr Casey, of the Mater Hospital in Dublin said she is unwilling to participate in a process that is so deeply imbalanced in respect of those invited to present evidence. She was scheduled to present before the Oireachtas Committee on abortion on October 25 but made it clear today she is withdrawing from the process. She said I have carefully followed the sessions of the 8 Committee in preparation for, and in anticipation of, appearing before it. It has become increasingly clear that the process of the Committee has been so arranged as to reach a pre-set decision without balanced consideration of any evidence that runs contrary to this pre-determined outcome. There are 25 on the pro-choice side and four with a pro-life or neutral perspective. Ireland deserves better than that. I believe the Committee is failing Irelands unique European position in providing protection for the rights of an unborn child and is failing in its duty to Ireland to fairly consider evidence that runs contrary to its fixed and inevitable conclusion that the Constitutional protections for the unborn child should be abandoned. Dr Casey added: I will not add any further credence to this deeply flawed process or to its inevitable and equally flawed conclusion that a referendum is required to repeal the 8 amendment without any meaningful Constitutional protection for the unborn child. Professor Casey said she also had concerns about the tenor and veracity of some of the remarks made by some Committee members at committee hearings. For example, I was forcibly struck by the comment of one member that lies were being told about botched abortions and gestational periods. An example of a botched abortion was offered by one of the speakers who claimed that a woman had died travelling between Britain and Ireland for an abortion, although the example was used to justify performing abortions in Ireland. The incident was subsequently erroneously reported as taking place on the flight back to Ireland. In fact, this woman tragically died in a taxi after an abortion in London and this information has been in the public domain for a long time. The member of the committee who spoke of lies had clearly never heard of this case while the person who made the comment used it to castigate our laws when this tragedy was due to the procedure itself obtained in the UK, something that could as easily have happened here, if we had abortion clinics. She added:I have never demurred from informing the public of the evidenced based information in respect of womens mental health and abortion and I did so in 2013 before a similar Oireachtas Committee when the Protection of Life in Pregnancy Bill was being considered. Had I felt that the current committee was truly open and objective I would have presented the research evidence showing that abortion does not protect womens mental health, information on the debate on whether abortion harms womens mental health and the data limitations concerning refused abortion. In my opinion this committee has adopted as its primary purpose a determination to repeal the 8 Amendment and to that end is intent on advocates of that position being favoured over independent experts. It was, I suggest, supposed to conduct a balanced hearing and, in that purpose, has failed. The great tragedy is that this failure is designed to reduce the Constitutional protection of Irish unborn children. The public are being manipulated and in conscience, I cannot be used by it to legitimatise its pre-determined outcome. The man who discovered the tragic death of a rough sleeper has said he knew something was wrong after seeing the man sitting in exactly the same position twice in a couple of hours. "Me and a friend were walking to the casino and passed the chap in the lane in Temple Bar at around 11pm," he said. They had initially presumed the man was sleeping. "We walked back across at 2am and saw the same fella sitting in the same place in between two bins. "As soon as I checked his pulse it was cold," he added. The man was sitting still, wearing a tracksuit and had no sleeping bag. The pair ran around to a nearby hotel looking for help, and said a dutch women with fluent English, was a medic and ran back around with them. The deceased man, who has not been named, was discovered in Adair Lane in Dublin's Temple Bar at around 2am. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke told Independent.ie: "The man who found him told me that he was walking passed the lane with a friend at around 11pm when he saw the man lying against the wall. "He didn't have a sleeping bag but he said that he looked like he was asleep. "When they were coming back the same way at 2am they noticed the man in the exact same position, so he went to take a pulse and he couldn't find one. "They called an ambulance but he was pronounced dead and the doctors said that the man would have been dead for a few hours before he was found. "The man who found him is understandably really upset and we have offered him counselling. "He has been saying that if he hadn't checked then that man might have been dead there overnight and nobody would have found him until the morning." A Garda spokesman said: "Gardai are investigating the sudden death of a man at Adair Lane, Dublin 2. He is yet to be identified. "The incident is not being treated as suspicious at this time." Mr Burke said that Inner City Helping Homeless counted 150 people on the streets of Dublin last night - 130 men and 20 women. Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae has said storms were worse hundreds of years ago than they are now - insisting it rained for two years in the 1740s. The Independent TD reiterated again that he does not "subscribe to the idea that man can influence climate". The TD, who was elected last year, stood firm on his beliefs around global warming, telling an Oireachtas committee yesterday that storms took place long before cars were invented. Speaking to the Irish Independent last night, following the meeting of the Oireachtas committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Healy-Rae referred to adverse weather conditions in the 1700s and 1800s. "I don't believe any human has control over the weather," he said. "There were floods long before it [cars] too, I don't subscribe to that notion [of human-influenced global warming], I honestly don't. Wind "There were probably worse storms, they were worse," he added, referring to the night of the Big Wind in 1839 to back up his claims. "There were churches knocked in Armagh and in Castlebar and there was mass destruction all along the west coast, 300 people were lost in that storm and they were only ones that we knew about. "They are facts and you can go all the way back to the 1740s when there was rain for two years." Mr Healy-Rae said experts in the industry were making a substantial living from climate change and he was unhappy with how the Government was dealing with the issue. He said the current emissions targets for 2020 and 2030 were unrealistic and putting a burden on the citizens of the country. The TD said a further recession could be on the cards because of the measures being taken. "I believe that climate change is one of the biggest industries in the world, they're making money out of it," he said. "I don't subscribe to this climate change thing and the way it is being meted out. Criticised "We are being very unfairly treated by the Government in order to meet the regulations. "We won't be long going back into a recession if we keep up with that," he added. Mr Healy-Rae also criticised the stringency of EU regulations on farmers and said that issues with flooding of rivers was due to farmers being afraid to clear them out in case their EU grants are taken away. "For the past 20 years, if farmers touched a river - in some cases you may get permission - they'd get such a fright and that's why they haven't touched them and they're all blocked," he said. Last night was not the first time Mr Healy-Rae has spoken out on the issue of climate change. Ark Earlier this week he said he rejected the idea that climate change caused Hurricane Ophelia. He also made headlines last year when he said in a Dail debate that "God above is in charge of the weather and we here can't do anything about it". In an interview with 'Hot Press' magazine, he also said that Noah's Ark backed up his claims on climate change. "The facts are there and history proves it," he said. "We had the Ice Age, we had Noah's Ark, we had all those stories," he added. Older women suffering pension cuts due to a controversial rule change in 2012 cannot expect any early remedy, Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has made clear. Ms Doherty has rejected a Fianna Fail move to revert to the old pension regime, arguing such a move would be too costly and risks causing other problems. The minister said pensions cost 1.7bn per year in 1997, and now cost 7.3bn, and there was a 76pc increase in the past decade alone, during Ireland's toughest economic period. The Social Protection Minister said 680,000 people qualified for the pension next year and the numbers would continue to grow. She said this money came from current revenues and the future was uncertain without major pension reforms. "As important as it is to try to ensure equity in the treatment of today's pensioners, it is just as important that we strive to protect the long-term sustainability of the system, so that today's workers will themselves be able to avail of an adequate pension when it comes to their turn to retire," the minister told the Dail. Ms Doherty said the Fianna Fail remedy would cost 73m in 2018, 85m in 2019 and again rise in subsequent years. She said the 2012 changes were aimed at ensuring future affordability and minimising hardship. Fianna Fail welfare spokesman Willie O'Dea said the system was extremely unfair, and his party had opposed the rule changes every year since they were introduced in 2012. Because pensions are now calculated on a yearly average basis, somebody with a total of 520 PRSI payments could get a full pension, but someone with three times that amount could qualify for only a partial pension. Mr O'Dea said women were unduly disadvantaged due to childcare duties and caring for sick relatives, which led to an enforced absence from the workforce which diluted their yearly average PRSI contributions. He rejected a suggestion by the minister that they would study the issue and assess potential remedies for people losing out. Read More "The time for action is now. Give us an indication now of the timescale for reform," he said. Fianna Fail's Fiona O'Loughlin said people were appalled at the level of discrimination against women. "I am appalled that the Government is doing nothing to end this discrimination," the Kildare South TD said. Sinn Fein welfare spokesman John Brady said his party had moved last year to end the rule. He and party colleague Caoimhghin O Caolain accused Fianna Fail of taking up the issue belatedly for publicity. Labour TD Willie Penrose, whose former party leader Joan Burton introduced the 2012 rule changes, backed the Fianna Fail motion. He advocated other pension changes, including abolition of mandatory retirement at 65. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has rejected Fianna Fail TD Jim O'Callaghan's "compromise" suggestion that a retired judge should chair the new Judicial Appointments Commission. Mr O'Callaghan's proposal was the latest twist in a row over the composition of the commission, which the Government plans to give a lay majority and a lay chairperson. The move will greatly lessen the influence judges and lawyers have over who is appointed to the bench. It was included in the Programme for Government at the behest of Independent Alliance Minister Shane Ross. Mr O'Callaghan, his party's justice spokesman and a barrister, has been an outspoken critic of the proposed changes. He has championed the view of the Bar Council and the judiciary that the Chief Justice should chair the board. The Chief Justice chairs the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, the body which currently advises the Government on the selection of judges. It had seemed opposition to having a lay chairman was dead in the water after Sinn Fein indicated earlier this year it would support the Government's Judicial Appointments Commission Bill. However, Mr O'Callaghan and Fianna Fail colleague Jack Chambers surprisingly tabled an amendment proposing the appointment of a retired judge as chairperson. Observers said such a move would effectively ensure a legal majority on the commission. The proposal was shot down by Mr Flanagan yesterday during a discussion on proposed amendments at the Oireachtas Justice Committee. "I will not be agreeing to any amendment which cuts across the basic tenets of the Programme for Partnership Government commitment," said Mr Flanagan. The minister said he did not see how a retired judge could be considered a lay person. Mr O'Callaghan clashed with Mr Flanagan, making the point that retired judges were frequently approached to chair commissions of investigation. He asked Mr Flanagan if he believed it was a good idea to exclude retired judges from membership of the commission. The minister said his views were "entirely in accordance with the Programme for Government". He added: "Can I say that I think it is challenging to sustain a position that a member of the judiciary, who for one reason or other steps down from that position, can suddenly be categorised as a non-legal person. "I think that is a challenge in terms of public perception." Justice committee member and Independents4Change TD Mick Wallace told the committee he was inclined to agree with Mr Flanagan's view. He said former judges were still regarded as legal people when they retired. Sinn Fein has been accused of being more focused on preparing for direct rule from London than restoring the institutions in Northern Ireland. The party was embroiled in a bitter war of words with the Irish Government tonight as efforts to strike new power-sharing deal suffered a major blow. Earlier, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams launched a ferocious attack on the Government, accusing it of issuing malicious, shameful, and untruthful off-the-record briefings to the media. And he went on to accuse Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of behaving in a reckless way, saying he should stop it and behave like a Taoiseach should behave. In further dramatic developments, Sinn Feins leader in the North, Michelle ONeill, disputed an article in the Irish Times about the efforts to form an executive. The article stated that the Government in Dublin believed Ms ONeill was ready to do a deal with the DUP to restore power sharing - but was blocked by senior party figures. Its believed that there are senior figures in Sinn Fein who dont favour a return to power-sharing whatsoever. The article said the view was also held by the Secretary of State to Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire. Ms ONeill and Mr Adams have denied the report - but sources in Dublin have now claimed that Sinn Fein has little interest in working to resolve the impasse. A senior Government source told Independent.ie that Mr Varadkar and his colleagues are anxious to get the institutions re-established. "Everything else is an unnecessary distraction." But the source added that it appears Sinn Feins main focus is preparing for direct rule instead of getting the institutions back up and running. Mr Adams, in his statement, pointed the finger directly at Mr Varadkar. "I am very concerned on an issue as important as this that the government is using spin and anonymous briefings in the interest of its own narrow political agenda in this State with no real sense, no real concern about the necessary process in the North. "The Taoiseach in my view, by what he has said and by these briefings, is behaving in a reckless way and he should stop it and behave like a Taoiseach should behave on issues which are in the national interests and above party politics. "Of course the Government is entitled to try to score points off Sinn Fein, thats part of the business, but in terms of getting the institutions back in place, the Taoiseach must fulfil his responsibilities and his obligations and his duty to the people of the entire island. "Hes a Taoiseach, not just a Fine Gael leader. He needs to behave like a Taoiseach." Ryanair is writing to former pilots "begging" them to return to the embattled airline. The carrier was accused of mismanagement when it was forced to cancel around 700,000 flight bookings because of "messing up" its pilots' holiday rostering. Critics said the airline was suffering a pilot shortage after a number of captains and first officers had deserted to rival carrier Norwegian. Chief executive Michael O'Leary initially denied this was the case before admitting the airline needed to hire more flight crew. Last week the airline said it had enlisted 45 in one day, taking its total number of pilots hired in 2017 to more than 860. However, the UK's 'Telegraph Travel' said the carrier's flight operation manager Elaine Griffin has been appealing to former staff to return to the airline for more money and better working conditions. "I hope you are keeping well since you left Ryanair," the email read. "My name is Elaine Griffin and I am a new flight ops bases manager in Ryanair. We are currently a team of four which is doubling to eight as part of Ryanair's drive to significantly transform the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development." A source at the airline said it was "begging" former staff to come back. Ryanair was threatened with a mass walkout by pilots over conditions and the way in which the scores of cancellations was handled. Mr O'Leary was compelled to apologise to his pilots after initially accusing them of being "full of their own self-importance". Last month, Norwegian said 140 Ryanair pilots had joined it so far in 2017. Now, it looks like Ryanair is attempting to woo them back. "You may or may not be aware of the significant changes that are taking place at Ryanair," the email continued. "We have increased captain and FO [first officer] pay rates by approximately 20pc." In response, Ryanair said they sent the letter to a small number of former Ryanair pilots. They said they are not "short of pilots", they have over 4,200 or 10.5 per aircraft. They added that they have recruited over 860 so far this year. Savita Halappanavar "died as a consequence of the Eighth Amendment", according to the former Master of Holles Street Maternity Hospital. Professor Peter Boylan was speaking before the Oireachtas committee on abortion, which last night voted to recommend not to retain the Eighth Amendment in full. The Eighth Amendment has caused "grave harm to women, including death", Prof Boylan told committee members in the run-up to the vote. The fifth anniversary of the death of Mrs Halappanavar, who died of sepsis while pregnant at Galway University Hospital, is next week. "She died as a consequence of the Eighth Amendment," Prof Boylan told the committee following questions from Deputy Mattie McGrath. Mr McGrath went on to argue there are "lots of differing opinions" about the cause of death. Expand Close Dr Peter Boylan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Peter Boylan Prof Boylan said Ireland could look at other EU countries as possible legal models when shaping any new abortion legislation, not just the UK, where most Irish women have an abortion. He said 99pc of women in the EU had access to termination in the first trimester. Expand Close Praveen and Savita Halappanavar on their wedding day (Reuters) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Praveen and Savita Halappanavar on their wedding day (Reuters) He added that Ireland would have an "epidemic of illegal abortions" and a "massive increase" in maternal mortality if women were unable to access abortion in the UK. Also present at the committee was Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, president-elect of the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, who also investigated the death of Mrs Halappanavar. Expand Close Savita Halappanavar's parents / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Savita Halappanavar's parents Prof Arulkumaran said abortions could be life-saving in certain conditions. He spoke of the Irish legislation, where a clear and present threat to a woman's life must exist before an abortion can occur. He said this created a serious ongoing risk as "some cases accelerate steeply and you miss the boat". Last night, a vote was taken in public session, proposed by Sinn Fein and seconded by Fianna Fail, "not to retain the Eighth Amendment in full". In the vote, 15 members voted in favour, three against - Senator Ronan Mullen, Independent TD Mr McGrath and Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick - and two Fianna Fail TDs abstained, James Browne and Anne Rabbitte. Senator Mullen called the vote and the committee "a disgrace" with no regard for the human rights of the unborn. Fine Gael TD Kate O'Connell said it was "a great moment in Ireland" and the democratic nature of the process showed the people of Ireland the value of politics. "It's not just about the lad who fixed the road - this is human rights, women's rights," she said. The committee is responsible for recommending what question will go before the people in a referendum on the Eighth Amendment in May or June next year. Members are now considering six options as alternatives to the Eighth Amendment, among them deleting the article entirely from the Constitution. FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA Tributes have been paid to three victims who lost their lives in Storm Ophelia related incidents: Fintan Goss, Michael Pyke and Clare ONeill A heartbroken family prayed for Ireland's three Hurricane Ophelia victims as they paid an emotional tribute to "a quiet man and a gentle soul" who now has "the best seat in Heaven." Emotional tributes were paid to Michael Pyke (31) who was killed on the Ardfinnan-Cahir road in Tipperary last Monday by a falling tree at the height of Hurricane Ophelia. Mr Pyke, the youngest in a family of 11, had kind-heartedly stopped to clear a fallen tree from the roadway with a chainsaw because he was worried about elderly neighbours being trapped in their homes. He was struck by a second falling tree as he worked and suffered fatal head injuries. Michael's sister, Linda, said she was sure "the best seat in Heaven" was now reserved for her kind-hearted baby brother. "Michael, what can I say - we are heartbroken," she said. Expand Close Tributes have been paid to three victims who lost their lives in Storm Ophelia related incidents: Fintan Goss, Michael Pyke and Clare ONeill / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tributes have been paid to three victims who lost their lives in Storm Ophelia related incidents: Fintan Goss, Michael Pyke and Clare ONeill "You were the best son, brother, uncle, friend and boyfriend (to Nollaig)." Linda said that the entire family were comforted by the fact that Michael, the youngest in the family, "was back in the arms of our mother (Moira)" who died some time previously. "Michael, you will always be in our hearts - and you will never, ever be forgotten." "Sleep well, Michael, until we meet again some day," she said. Linda said Nollaig Hennessy, her brother's partner, was devastated by the loss of the 31 year old. Ms Hennessy referred to the "gentle giant" as her "adventure buddy." "What memories we have - unfortunately we are now on different paths, but I know you are never far away. Love you always." Ms Hennessy brought one of the Offertory Gifts to the altar, a framed copy of a photograph taken during one of her hill walks with Mr Pyke. The young man's coffin was escorted to the altar by his seven sisters. Clogheen Parish Priest Fr Bobby Power said that, from chatting to the family since Monday's tragedy, he realised that Michael, the youngest in the Pyke family, was "the white haired boy who could do no wrong." "The whole community is in shock and is devastated by the tragedy last Monday," he said. "(Michael was) a quiet man and a gentle soul who always thought of others," he said. Fr Power said the entire community had commented on Michael's kindness, his unselfish nature and how devoted he was to his family, friends and neighbours. The Prayers of the Faithful made specific reference to the two other Irish families who lost loved ones during the height of Hurricane Ophelia, Clare O'Neill from Aglish in Waterford and Fintan Goss from Ravensdale in Louth. Both died in accidents linked to fallen trees at the height of the storm. Michael's niece, Sophia, told Ardfinnan Parish Church all her cousins were so proud to have such a kind, caring and protective uncle. "You were such an incredible person. Thank you for being such a wonderful uncle to all of us (nieces and nephews) - and there are a lot of us," she said. The mourners were led by Michael's father, Tony, his partner, Nollaig, his brothers, Anthony, David and Philip, and sisters, Linda, Tina, Sharon, Claire, Lisa, Sara and Valerie as well as his grandfather, Michael O'Brien. The deceased was a student at Limerick Institute of Technology and LIT was represented at the Requiem Mass by Prof Vincent Cunnane. Following Requiem Mass, a special honour guard of motorcycles defied torrential rainfall to escort the cortege to the graveyard across the nearby River Suir. There were angry scenes in the Dail as a row erupted between Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein Wicklow TD, John Brady, accused Fianna Fail of trying to hijack his partys efforts to reverse tough pension rules which are described by both parties as discriminating against women. Leading the debate, Fianna Fails Willie ODea hit back and rejected the Sinn Fein claims. Soon the matter degenerated into a loud shouting match. You bully young women but you wont bully me, Mr ODea declared. The Limerick TD noted that his party colleague, Michael McGrath, had already castigated Sinn Fein for shunning any involvement in government last year. Mr McGrath had described Sinn Fein as hurlers on the ditch. But I say yere the snipers behind the ditch, Mr ODea added. Expand Close Willie ODea Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Willie ODea Photo: Tom Burke Deputy Brady demanded that Mr ODea retract those comments but Mr ODea continued to accuse the Sinn Fein deputy of trying to shout him down. Eventually, deputy Dail chairman, Pat The Cope Gallagher, restored order and instructed both TDs to stop shouting across the chamber at each other. Met Eireann have issued two Status Orange warnings and three Status Yellow warnings as Storm Brian is offically named by Met Eireann. The Ophelia-battered southern half of the country is now bracing itself for yet more high winds, along with potential torrential rainfall and spot flooding. It is estimated that 60mm of rainfall will fall in the south over the next 24 hours alone. One of the Orange warnings is for the hard-hit counties of Wexford, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Waterford. They can expect gusts of between 110kph and 130kph during a 12-hour period from midnight on Friday night until 12pm on Saturday. Those powerful winds will come with risks of coastal flooding thanks to impending Storm Brian's arrival across central and eastern parts of the country late on Friday. The other Orange warning is for counties Galway and Mayo. They too can expect gusts of between 110kph and 130 kph, but that warning is in place from 6am Saturday until 6pm Saturday. A Status Yellow wind warning has been issued for the entire country from 10pm Friday night for24 hours and mean wind speeds of 65kph will again batter Ireland, with gusts up to 110kph at times. There is also a rainfall warning for Munster, Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Meath where accumulations of 30 to 50mm that covers all day Thursday. Finally, a Status Yellow weather advisory regarding the Atlantic depression now known as Storm Brian has been issued for the entire country with string winds gusting up to 110kph expected to hit for 36 hours from Frday at 6pm. Tweeting this morning, Met Eireann wrote; "The system that may become #StormBrian will undergo explosive cyclogenesis in the next 24 hours. Deepening from 1006hPa to 961hPa." Speaking to Independent.ie, a forecaster said that an "explosive cyclogenesis", which is otherwise known as a 'weather bomb' or 'explosive development', is a "rapidly deepening pressure system". "We are now looking at the depression as it deepens and moves. It is predicted to move towards the south-west of Ireland tomorrow night and to move across the country. "This will bring a risk of strong winds to the south of that," they added. Chairman of the National Emergency Coordination Group Sean Hogan said they are not expecting anything like Ophelia's weather conditions. "We don't have control of nature," Mr Hogan told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland. "Our job is to manage the consequences and the impact on society. "Last weekend was an unprecedented event, we had no experience of hurricane conditions. "We had good warning from Met Eireann and had time to calm and prepare. "It enabled us to have a big impact. "The ESB have restored about 312,000 customers, while Irish Water alone have restored more than 100,000. "We don't know what the impact will be, I'd be much more confident [about the weather ahead]." Mr Hogan added that the group's thoughts and sympathies were with the families of the Storm Ophelia fatalities. Heavy overnight rainfall left many roads around Cork city and county suffering from spot-flooding. Worst hit were roads in the Mayfield, Glanmire, Bishopstown and quays areas of the city. Read More The torrential rainfall and spot flooding resulted in traffic misery for commuters with lengthy delays along all routes into the city. However, motorists were warned to expect surface water and spot-flooding in parts of Cork county as well including Bandon, Macroom, Fermoy, Mallow and Skibbereen. The heaviest rainfall will be tonight with the greatest risk of flooding in Cork city between 9am and 6pm tomorrow. Cork City Council officials are carefully monitoring rainfall levels amid fears that, in combination with a high tide, parts of the city quays could flood. Gardai have urged motorists to slow down and exercise extreme care given the challenging driving conditions. However, the greatest fear is that the heavy rain and winds could bring down trees badly weakened by Hurricane Ophelia last Monday. Cork took the brunt of the damage from Ophelia with more than 400 trees ripped down across the city and county. A total of 35 giant Lime trees - planted to mark the opening of Henry Ford's car plant in Cork more than 100 years ago - were knocked over like dominoes on the Centre Park Road by the winds which reached 130km/h. The other fear is that the heavy rainfall and gusting winds, albeit nowhere near as strong as Ophelia's last Monday, could also delay the work of emergency crews in restoring electricity and power to storm-hit households. In 1995 US President Bill Clinton meets then British PM John Major, and in 2017 he returns to Downing Street It was a case of a real life Throwback Thursday when former US president Bill Clinton visited Downing Street to chat to the Prime Minister. Clinton, who was president from 1993 to 2001, was a frequent visitor to Number 10 during his term in office. He visited in 1995 when he was greeted by then PM John Major, now Sir John, ahead of a trip to Northern Ireland. Expand Close Bill Clinton with John Major at Number 10 Downing Street in November 1995 (Adam Butler/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bill Clinton with John Major at Number 10 Downing Street in November 1995 (Adam Butler/PA) And he was one of the first foreign visitors to descend on Downing Street when Tony Blair swept to a landslide victory in 1997. Expand Close President Bill Clinton with Tony Blair, Hilary Clinton and Cherie Blair outside Number 10 Downing Street in May 1997 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Bill Clinton with Tony Blair, Hilary Clinton and Cherie Blair outside Number 10 Downing Street in May 1997 The president, accompanied by his wife Hillary now a former US Secretary of State, was in Downing Street at the end of May the same year. Blair secured his record win which ended 18 years of Conservative government on May 1. A picture of his meeting with David Cameron was tweeted in 2014. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference On his way into Downing Street this time around, Clinton, now 71, took time to shake hands with the bobby outside the famous black door and smiled and waved at the press. He later revealed that he and current PM Theresa May had enjoyed a wonderful talk. It came after Clintons visit to Northern Ireland where he had private discussions with the main political party leaders in Belfast. Expand Close Theresa May and Bill Clinton meeting / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Theresa May and Bill Clinton meeting As president, Clinton played a key role in helping to secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which led to power-sharing at Stormont. The devolved institutions at Stormont remain suspended following the collapse of the administration in January in the wake of the resignation of the late Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister. Ted Cruz is obviously not the Zodiac Killer an infamous uncaught serial killer who was active in California during the 1960s and 70s but thats never stopped the internet saying he is. Since sometime in 2013 theres been a joke that the Republican senator is the Zodiac Killer a person whose last confirmed murder was in 1969, one year before Cruz was born for no reason other than its a bit funny. The joke reached its peak during the 2016 Republican primaries, with Cruz spending a lot of time in the spotlight. But on Wednesday night he acknowledged the joke for the first time, and killed one of the truly great memes. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference Cruz, who Donald Trump branded Lyin Ted during the US election build-up, replied to a tweet with one of the cryptograms sent to the police by the Zodiac Killer. The killer sent four letters taunting the police, each of which included a cipher, and only one of which has been solved. But despite being aware of the joke, and ignoring it publicly until this point, it was a tweet by Republican senator Ben Sasse that caused Cruz to acknowledge it for the first time. Sasse had tweeted about accidentally spilling a drink in Cruzs lap during a Senate hearing, to which someone responded if I were sitting with the son of the guy who killed Kennedy I might do worse than spill some Dr Pepper referencing an old claim by Trump about Cruzs father having known Lee Harvey Oswald. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The Nebraska senator joked that he was wearing a T-shirt suggesting Oswald, the man convicted of assassinating President John F Kennedy, was framed. And amazingly, after all this time, that was what caused Cruz to break his silence on the Zodiac Killer. Hes also making sure Sasse no longer has access to the Dr Pepper fridge at their office (who has one of those?!) We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The fact that the meme was finally referenced was too much for some people. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference People did think it showed good humour on Cruzs part. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference But also wondered whether hed just given his true identity up. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference And of course, the death of a really good meme had to be mourned. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference The Zodiac Killer is still unidentified. North Korea plans to launch many more satellites, its deputy UN ambassador has said as he accused the US of trying to block its efforts to help peacefully develop outer space. Kim In Ryong told a UN General Assembly committee meeting, titled 'International Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space', that the country's five-year plan for 2016-20 includes development of "practical satellites that can contribute to the economic development and improvement of the people's living". As a party to several space treaties, North Korea's space development activities all have "legal basis in all aspects", Mr Kim said. But he said Washington was "going frantic to illegalise our development of outer space", claiming the effort violates UN sanctions. "The US is the country that launched the largest number of satellites and yet it claims that our launch of satellites is a threat to international peace and security," Mr Kim said. "This is a preposterous allegation and extreme double standards." Cover The United Nations, the US and other countries view the North's space launch development project as a cover for tests of missile technology. North Korea is also openly working on developing nuclear-armed missiles capable of striking the US mainland. Mr Kim said the treaty on outer space states it is "a common asset of humankind and all countries can develop outer space without any discrimination". He said no article states that satellite launches threaten international peace and security, "nor is there any article stipulating that one cannot use ballistic rocket technology in launching a satellite". He claimed the US relies on "illegal" UN resolutions, referring to Security Council actions taken in response to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Mr Kim said Pyongyang's right "to produce and launch artificial satellites will not be changed just because the US denies it". He said North Korea launched its first pilot communications satellite, Kwangmyongsong-1, in August 1998. In February 2016, with the successful entry into orbit of Kwangmyongsong-4, he said the country "entered the practical satellite developing stage". TODAY TRIAD meeting, noon, Room 211, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Annette Mills of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition will reflect on 10 years of connecting people and organizations to create a sustainable community. The public is welcome to attend free of charge. An optional catered lunch is available for $13. Reservations: Jeannine.cropley@cgrb.oregonstate.edu. FRIDAY Oregon State University Anthropology Lecture Series, noon, Room 201A, Waldo Hall, 2250 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Nelson Ting, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon, will present "Monkeys, Migration and Microbes: Factors Shaping Migration and the Microbiome in African Colobus Monkeys." This event is part of the Anthropology Program's "Tan Sack" Lecture Series. Information: drew.gerkey@oregonstate.edu. "Polyploidy and Sex Chromosome Evolution in Wild Strawberries," 3 p.m., Room 302, Learning Innovation Center, 165 SW Sackett Place, Corvallis. Aaron Liston, professor in the departments of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University and director of the OSU Herbarium, will lecture on his research. "A Critical Discussions Round Table," 4 p.m., Room 206, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. The literary subfield of Romantic studies has long been a locus of forward-thinking scholarship, criticism and theoretical work. But what are its central concerns and methods today? This round table will bring together five Romanticists from different institutions to explore this question; their short position pieces will be followed by extended discussion with the audience. "Guerrillas of Desire," 4 p.m., Room 213, Pan Afrika Room, Memorial Union, 2501 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis. Join in a conversation with Kevin Van Meter, author of "Guerrillas of Desire," about revolution, organizing and everyday resistance. Friday, Oct. 20 at 4 p.m. Memorial Union, 213 Pan Afrika Room. Open to all. Food will be provided. MONDAY College of Business McGregor Lecture Series, 7 p.m., LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St., Corvallis. Talk by Elisa Steele, technical CEO, board member and advisor, who will share practical advice about how to live, learn and navigate a new career after college years. TUESDAY "The Catalan Vote," 4 p.m., Room 101, Joyce Collin Furman Hall, 200 SW 15th St., Corvallis. Join Anuncia Escala, Raisa Canete and Clara Llebot for a discussion of the Oct. 1 Catalan vote for independence and the Spanish governments response. Sponsored by the School of Language, Culture and Society. "The Peoples School," 6 p.m., Special Collections and Archives Reading Room, fifth floor, Valley Library, 201 SW Waldo Place, Corvallis. Join the Oregon State University Press for a presentation celebrating OSU150 and the publication of "The Peoples School: A History of Oregon State University." William G. Robbins, professor emeritus of history, and Lawrence A. Landis, director of the Special Collections and Archives Research Center, will engage in a discussion on the history of Oregon State. The presentation will be moderated by Jo Anne Trow, former vice president of student services. Reception to follow. Books will be available for sale and signing. Brazilian president Michel Temer has survived a first vote by politicians in a case that holds the potential of suspending him from office. A Chamber of Deputies committee voted 39-26 against putting the president on trial on charges of obstruction of justice and leading a criminal organisation. The committee recommendation will be considered by all 513 deputies next week, Speaker Rodrigo Maia said. If two-thirds of the deputies accepted the indictment, Mr Temer would be suspended for up to six months, pending a trial in the country's highest court. The Chamber of Deputies already denied a request by Brazil's top prosecutor in March to try Mr Temer on a corruption charge. Mr Temer has denied any wrongdoing in the cases brought against him, which arose from a sprawling investigation in Brazil that has uncovered systemic graft in the halls of power. Mr Temer allies control appointments to the Chamber of Deputies committee, but have said they expect more difficulties in the full house now than in the first charges against the president. Even if the embattled leader survives the full house vote, he can be put on trial after his term ends in 2019. In a letter sent to politicians on Tuesday, Mr Temer said he is the victim of a conspiracy led by his political rivals and former top prosecutor Rodrigo Janot, who brought the charges against the president. Mr Janot was replaced at the end of his term in September by a Temer-appointed adversary, Raquel Dodge. Debbie Wolfe in the burned ruins of her home in Santa Rosa (AP) California governor Jerry Brown has issued an executive order to speed up recovery as fire authorities say they have stopped the progress of wildfires that have killed at least 42 and destroyed thousands of homes in California. More people were allowed home on Thursday and about 15,000 people remain evacuated, from a high of 100,000 on Saturday. The wind-whipped fires that started on October 8 swept through parts of seven counties in the north of the state in the deadliest series of blazes in California history. The fires hit hard the wine country counties of Napa and Sonoma. Mr Brown issued an order allowing disrupted wineries to relocate tasting rooms and suspends state fees for mobile home parks and manufactured homes. The order expedites hiring of personnel for emergency and recovery operations. Daniel Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said by Friday, crews should fully contain one of the wildfires that devastated Sonoma County's Santa Rosa. Other large fires will take longer, even with cooler temperatures and light rain forecast for Thursday. "That rainfall will definitely be a welcome sight," he said. Crews continue to battle a blaze further south that broke out on Monday night, sending smoke to the nearby college beach town of Santa Cruz and injuring seven firefighters. It has grown to more than 300 acres and the number of houses under threat has doubled to 300. Seven firefighters sustained minor injuries, stymied by the steep and rugged terrain. North east of Los Angeles, authorities said a charred body has been found on Mount Wilson, where crews working in steep terrain are trying to surround a smouldering wildfire. Sergeant Vincent Plair said the male body was recovered by the coroner's office, which will try to make an identification. AP Around 300 jobs have been lost at the UK arm of computer reseller Misco after the operation plunged into administration. The Northamptonshire-based firm has appointed joint administrators FRP Advisory after coming under pressure from Amazons incursion into the business-to-business market and ramped-up terms from its credit insurers. While Misco UK has ceased trading, the move will not impact Misco Europe, which continues to operate across Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden. Geoff Rowley, joint administrator at FRP Advisory, said: Misco UK had made great progress since the change of ownership and new investment in March this year but the companys turnaround plans could not deal sufficiently with the rapid deterioration in cash flow after the sudden tightening of credit insurance terms. The UK business had moved to a system of supply chain outsourcing of stock, with increasing levels of automation to enable greater efficiencies with suppliers and distributions and overall lower cost, however these efforts came at a time of heightened competition from other globalised online retailers which have eaten heavily into the margins of even established IT resellers like Misco. Efforts to save the business fell flat after it failed to attract any firm offers. It is understood that 30 staff will be kept on during the administration process, while nearly all of the 80 jobs at the Greenock warehouse in Scotland will be axed. Around 200 jobs will also go at the firms Wellingborough headquarters, with close to 30 positions being lost at its sales office in Weybridge in Surrey. Mr Rowley added: Our immediate priority as administrators is to work closely with all agencies and services to ensure employees receive every support and assistance at this time. We shall be assisting those staff who have lost their jobs with their timely applications to the Redundancy Payments Service. The US court rejected an attempt to revive a defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby (AP) A US federal appeals court has refused to revive a defamation lawsuit filed against Bill Cosby by a woman who said he raped her decades ago. A three-judge panel of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a lower court ruling dismissing Kathrine McKee's lawsuit against Cosby. The former actress said Cosby defamed her in a letter that his lawyer sent to the New York Daily News demanding a retraction of a 2014 story about Ms McKee's rape allegations. The judge who dismissed Ms McKee's case said the letter was protected by the First Amendment. Ms McKee, who said Cosby raped her in a Detroit hotel room in 1974, was among dozens of women who came forward with allegations against the actor once known as "America's Dad" for his TV role as Dr Cliff Huxtable. Cosby has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. Alan Greenberg, an attorney for Cosby, said in an email that they are pleased with the appeals court's "well-reasoned decision confirming that there was no defamation". An lawyer for Ms McKee did not immediately respond to an email on Wednesday. Ms McKee's lawyer argued earlier this month that Ms McKee does not have to prove actual malice because she is not a public figure. To show actual malice, she would have to prove Cosby knew statements in the letter were false or entertained serious doubts as to whether they might be true. But the appeals court said Ms McKee became a public figure when she went public with the rape allegations in the newspaper. "McKee took concerted steps meant to influence the public's perception of whether Cosby was, in fact, a sexual predator," Judge Sandra Lynch wrote for the panel. A separate defamation lawsuit filed by seven other women also is pending in Massachusetts, where Cosby owns a home. The 80-year-old has filed a counter lawsuit accusing those women of defamation. The only criminal case against Cosby ended in a mistrial in Pennsylvania in June. Cosby is expected to be retried in April on charges that he drugged and molested an employee of Temple University, his alma mater. Cosby insists their encounter was consensual. AP Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned the EU and UK not to "sleepwalk towards a cliff edge" on Brexit. He said were quite far back from the 'cliff-edge' but its incumbent on all European prime ministers that we dont sleep-walk towards it. He also said the Irish government requires a lot more detail from the British on how to deal with the issue of the Irish land border between the north and south. Its not enough to say you dont want a hard border, there needs to be detail and language isnt enough. He added that it is the UKs responsibility to put forward detailed proposals as to how we can ensure things remain much the same after Brexit. Yesterday, Ireland's European Commissioner Phil Hogan launched a stinging attack on the UK's approach to Brexit, warning: "We're now so close to the cliff edge of a hard Brexit that we can see the drop almost in front of us." Mr Hogan also said that "it's painfully clear the UK government is not going to propose workable solutions for the benefit of the island of Ireland". He also hit out at hardline Brexiteers who he claimed are "hooked on brinkmanship". During a speech in Brussels, the Irish Commissioner also spoke of the urgency of an agreement for the return of the Northern Ireland Executive and the need for renewed North-south co-operation to discuss potential solutions to a hard Brexit. A new deadline for sufficient progress to be made on negotiations between the EU and the UK has been set for December. The EU has to be satisfied that there is enough agreement by the UK on key areas that deal with the future of 3 million EU citizens living in the UK, the financial settlement owed by Britain after they leave, and solutions to avoiding a hard border between the north and the republic of Ireland before it will move on to trade talks. The Taoiseach said he thinks it is possible we can achieve sufficient progress by December, but well require further concessions by the UK government. Earlier this afternoon, Mr Varadkar attended a meeting of the Norid/Baltic states which include Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands, all of which are small economies and have like-minded financial policies. He said the group was surprised that the majority of people in Northern Ireland will be Irish and European citizens even after Brexit because of the Good Friday Agreement, and said more and more European leaders are now understanding the unique situation that pertains to Northern Ireland, he told reporters. I asked for their understanding of our issues, and they have our back, he said. Former US president George W. Bush has denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics, warning that the rise of "nativism", isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation's true identity. The comments, delivered at a New York City conference on Thursday hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, amounted to an indirect critique from a former Republican president who has remained largely silent during President Donald Trump's unlikely rise to power. The 43rd president did not name Mr Trump, but he attacked some of the principles that define the 45th president's political brand. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Mr Bush said. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. "We've seen the return of isolation sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places." "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," he continued. "Bigotry seems emboldened. "Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." "We need to recall and recover our own identity," he continued. "To renew our country, we only need to remember our values." Asked about the speech, Mr Trump said he had not seen it. The comment about identity was one of several that warned of what Mr Bush described as troubling political trends. Mr Bush noted Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and declared that "the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other". "Foreign aggressions, including cyber-attacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated," Mr Bush said. Mr Trump has expressed scepticism of Russia's involvement. A special prosecutor is currently investigating whether Mr Trump and his campaign associates coordinated with Moscow in the effort to sway the election. Mr Bush is the brother of 2016 presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor nicknamed, belittled and ultimately vanquished by Mr Trump during the race for the Republican nomination. He joins a slowly growing list of prominent Republicans who have publicly defied Mr Trump, including Republican Senators John McCain, who delivered a similar speech this week. Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who has announced he is retiring, has denounced what he termed the "adult day care centre" of the Trump White House. But during the Bush event, a current Trump administration official also broke with Mr Trump's dismissive tone on Russian interference. Nikki Haley, Mr Trump's chief envoy to the United Nations, cast Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election as "warfare" and efforts to "sow chaos" in elections across the world. "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian? And why have we done the sanctions?' Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian," Ms Haley said. She added: "When a country can come and interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." Facebook recently provided three congressional committees with more than 3,000 ads they had traced to a Russian internet agency and told investigators of their contents. Twitter also briefed Congress last month and handed over to Senate investigators the profile names of 201 accounts linked to Russians. AP The chief executive of Goldman Sachs has cast further doubt over the banking giants future in London after Brexit in a provocative tweet that is likely to pile further pressure on the Government. Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter on Thursday to detail a recent trip to Frankfurt, where the US bank is planning to shift a portion of its UK operations after Brexit. We need your consent to load this Social Media content We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preference He said: Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because Ill be spending a lot more time there. Goldman Sachs, which employs around 6,500 people in the UK, has previously confirmed that it is looking to at least double its 200-strong employee base in Frankfurt as part of its Brexit contingency plans. Earlier this month it was reported that the group has signed a contract to lease eight floors of a skyscraper in the city, capable of holding 800 staff. The bank has said it is also looking at bolstering its footprint in other financial hubs across the EU. A raft of international banks, insurers and asset managers are preparing to shift portions of their UK operations to the continent in preparation for Britains divorce from the EU in hopes of safeguarding against the loss of passporting rights which currently give UK-based financial services cross-border access to the bloc. Frankfurt has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Brexit so far as London-based financial firms increasingly opt to relocate staff to Germanys financial centre. Standard Chartered has committed to expanding or establishing offices in Germany, Citigroup has notified its bankers of plans to bolster its Frankfurt office, creating 150 jobs, and Morgan Stanley is on track to move as many as 200 staff. Mizuho will join a raft of Japanese banks which have chosen the city as an EU hub, including Daiwa, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nomura. JP Morgan is taking a similar approach to Goldman Sachs by planning to spread staff across a number of European cities, including Frankfurt. Responding to the comments, a Downing Street spokesman told reporters: Were not going to comment on an individual statement. But lets be clear, London is and will remain the worlds leading financial centre. We have The breadth of talent, legal system, regulation and deep pools of capital that are simply unrivalled by centres anywhere else in Europe and we are confident of securing an ambitious economic partnership with the EU that will include financial services. Police at the business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County (Baltimore Sun/AP) A man accused of killing three co-workers at a Maryland granite company and wounding three other people has been charged in a Delaware court. Radee Prince, 37, is being held on 2.1 million dollars (1.6 million) cash bail, charged with attempted murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and other weapons charges. Those charges relate to the shooting of an acquaintance Prince is accused of wounding at a used car dealers in Wilmington, Delaware, after he had allegedly shot five people at Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland. Maryland police are expected to seek his return to that state to face charges in the workplace shooting. Three people died in the Maryland incident and t wo of Prince's co-workers remain in critical condition at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Centre, Baltimore. The incident sparked a 10-hour manhunt for Prince, a machine operator at Advanced Granite Solutions. Police said he drove to Wilmington after the first shooting and wounded a man he had a "beef" with at the car dealers. The manhunt ended when police and federal agents on foot chased down and arrested Prince after they spotted him in the Glasgow neighbourhood. He had left his SUV near a school and a civilian notified authorities. Officers found him nearby and he ran about 75ft, throwing away a gun, before being arrested. No-one was hurt in the capture. Police said the attacks were targeted and Prince knew each of his victims. Harford County Sheriff's Office identified the dead as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Maryland; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Maryland. The wounded employees have not been publicly identified. Mr Tudev's w idow said her husband was so concerned about the gunman's temperament that he brought it up in church prayer sessions. Gerelmaa Dolgorsuren said her husband described multiple times how Prince was always angry. Tudev was a native of Mongolia who arrived in the US in 2005. He and his wife settled in Arlington, Virginia, which has a large Mongolian community. AP Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group has notched up a hike in sales thanks to a boost from online betting. The group, which also owns the Grosvenor Casinos chain, said like-for-like revenues lifted 2% in the 16 weeks to October 15 as a 19% surge in online sales offset a 1% fall in trade at its casinos and bingo halls. Online revenues surged 34% across Grosvenor Casinos and were 11% higher at Mecca Bingo. It saw sales falls at its venues narrow since its full-year, but remain under pressure, with like-for-like sales down 2% at Mecca and 1% at Grosvenor. The group stuck by its full year guidance. Rank also said the quarter saw a management shake-up, with a single leadership team created for the retail business covering both Grosvenor and Mecca. The new structure will retain distinct operations for both businesses but will allow for improved synergies, it said. The figures come after Rank posted a 7% fall in annual profits to 79.7 million for the year to June 30 after it was hit by falling numbers of players at Mecca bingo halls. The group said in August falling sales at Grosvenor were also down to a combination of macro-economic conditions, customer due diligence, venue closures and competitor openings. Last year Rank pulled out of a joint bid with 888 for rival William Hill after abandoning a 3.6 billion three-way merger attempt. When President Donald Trump rescinded the executive order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Robert Harrison looked for a way to take action. Harrison, a history instructor and the faculty adviser for the Our Revolution club at Linn-Benton Community College, knows the clock is ticking for recipients of DACA, who are also called "Dreamers." Brought to the United States with their families as children, DACA recipients are undocumented immigrants with no residency status. Those who qualified for the program are allowed them to work legally, obtain a driver's license and avoid deportation, but with the president's action on Sept. 5 even with a six-month window to give Congress time to act the future holds no certainty. Harrison and the Our Revolution club organized a rally for DACA on Wednesday at LBCC to show support for program recipients and share their stories. As part of the rally, speakers gave information on how to sign an online petition at www.change.org to create a path to citizenship for the nearly 800,000 DACA recipients nationwide. "When DACA was rescinded, I thought, we have to show some kind of support for Dreams on this campus," Harrison said. "They're our neighbors; our classmates. ... These are Americans, to me. They should be citizens." Speakers included Harrison; Javier Cervantes, LBCC's director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; and two people who shared their immigration stories. Juan Navarro, 24, of Monmouth is studying for his master's degree in the college student services administration program at Oregon State University. He was brought to the United States from Mexico at age 3 by parents desperate to find help after a doctor told them he would never walk. It took a Shriner's hospital willing to take Navarro as a research case, 12 years of physical therapy and six surgeries, but today, Navarro can walk. And with DACA's help, he was also able to work, drive and receive certificates and degrees from both Chemeketa Community College and Western Oregon University. DACA made him feel safer, he said. It prompted him to get involved and to be vocal about his life story. When he receives his master's, "My dream is to come back to a community college or university," he said. "I want to be a name; be a 'Javier Cervantes' of an institution. ... I want people to say, 'I got motivated because of you.'" But DACA can be renewed only every two years. And if Congress doesn't act, Navarro's status will evaporate right around the time he is finished with his master's program, leaving him unable to legally work. Oregon's U.S. representatives can help find an answer, he said. "Call him every day. Emal him every day. ... What we need you to do is aid us in changing the narrative." Blanca Ortiz of Albany was brought to the United States from Mexico at age 9. She attended classes at LBCC but struggled to pay her tuition because she was not allowed to work legally. She ended up working as a waitress for several years and recently opened her own nutrition and fitness business, with an office in Lebanon. To qualify for DACA, applicants had to have been born on or after June 16, 1981, which made Ortiz ineligible. Instead, she and her family pursued documentation through a program called Family Unity. To be eligible, an immigrant must be the spouse or unmarried child of a legalized immigrant holding temporary or permanent residence. Ortiz did receive Family Unity status, but it must be renewed every two years. She also qualified for a four-year U visa, granted to victims of crimes and abuse, but that expires next year. By then, however, she's hoping her application for permanent residency comes through after 31 years of trying. "People say, 'Why not be legal?' It's not easy," Ortiz said. She urged the listeners to support restoration of DACA and a path to citizenship. "I do believe the Dreamers have so much to offer," she said. "I do not believe that making it go away is going to make anything better." More than 60 people, including least two writing classes, attended the noon event Wednesday in the LBCC courtyard, although some attendees stressed they were there only as observers, not necessarily to take a side. Nevertheless, Harrison deemed it a success. "I think they did a wonderful job of just raising awareness," he said. A senior Syrian commander and one of President Bashar al-Assad's most trusted generals has been killed during an operation against Isil. Brig Gen Issam Zahreddine, a field commander in the elite Republican Guard, died after a convoy he was travelling in hit a landmine yesterday morning as it drove through Hawija Saqr, near Deir Ezzor province. The general, who was in his late 50s, had been leading 7,000 troops in the battle to retake the eastern city of Deir Ezzor from the jihadists. He also led offensives against armed opposition in the central Homs province and near the capital, Damascus, in the earlier days of the conflict. His death will be a major blow to the regime, which has lost huge numbers of high-ranking soldiers and generals over the course of the six-year war. He was a controversial figure who was pictured last year posing next to hanging corpses which appeared to have been cut into pieces. He is named in a lawsuit filed by the family of the late war correspondent Marie Colvin, who was killed in an artillery attack in Homs in February 2012. The Colvin family alleges that after learning of 'The Sunday Times' journalist's whereabouts, he ordered a targeted artillery attack on the makeshift opposition media centre where she had been staying. Landmines Meanwhile, US-backed Syrian forces were removing landmines and clearing roads in the northern city of Raqqa yesterday, a day after commanders said they had driven Isil from its de facto capital. Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said preparations were underway for a formal declaration of the city's liberation. The SDF said on Tuesday that military operations in Raqqa have ended and that its troops have taken full control of the city. The US-led coalition cautioned that the clearing operations would continue, saying some 100 militants may still be hiding in the city. Yesterday, the spokesman for the coalition, Col Ryan Dillon, tweeted that 95pc of the city is now under full control as clearing operations continue. The coalition stressed that the SDF has been successful in holding onto captured territory. Sgt. La David T Johnson, 25, who was killed with three other US soldiers in southwest Niger. Photo: Getty Images US President Donald Trump has been branded "insensitive" after reportedly telling the widow of a soldier killed in north-western Africa that "he knew what he signed up for". The US president, who has been criticised for not immediately reaching out to relatives of the four soldiers killed in Niger nearly two weeks ago, telephoned the wife of Army Sgt La David Johnson (below) on Tuesday to offer his condolences. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson told CNN she was travelling with Myeshia Johnson on the way to Miami International Airport to see his casket arrive home when the president called. She said Mr Trump told Mrs Johnson: "Well I guess he knew what he signed up for. But when it happens, it hurts anyway." "They were astonished," Ms Wilson told the 'New York Post'. "It was almost like saying, 'You signed up to do this, and if you didn't want to die, you shouldn't have signed up'." The Democratic congresswoman from Florida said the call lasted about three to five minutes and the only words that the widow spoke to Mr Trump were "thank you" at the end. "It's so insensitive. He should not have said that. He shouldn't have said it," Ms Wilson told reporters. She later tweeted: "Sgt La David Johnson is a hero. Donald Trump does not possess the character, empathy or grace to be president of the United States." Mrs Johnson has a two-year-old son, a six-year-old daughter, and is expecting a third child in January. Footage showed the casket arriving at the airport, draped in the American flag. Mrs Johnson can be seen leaning over it, her body shaking as she sobbed. The president has been embroiled in a political fight over his response to the deaths of American soldiers. Defending his record of contacting relatives of slain American soldiers, he said: "If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls. A lot of them didn't make calls. "I like to call when it's appropriate, when I think I'm able to do it." The comment triggered an immediate backlash, with the US president later softening his claim when challenged a second time. Mr Trump fuelled the row further on Tuesday on Fox News Radio, saying: "You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?" John Kelly, a Marine general under Obama, is Mr Trump's chief of staff. His son, Marine 2nd Lt Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. A White House official said Mr Obama did not call Mr Kelly after his son's death, but did not say whether the former president reached out in some other fashion. Separately yesterday, Mr Trump backed away from a bipartisan deal from two US senators to stabilise Obamacare by restoring subsidies to health insurers, one day after signalling his support for the plan. The agreement reached by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and Democratic Senator Patty Murray would continue billions of dollars of subsidies to insurers for two years to help lower-income Americans obtain medical coverage. Mr Trump last week announced that he would end the subsidies, potentially creating chaos in the 2018 health insurance markets set up under Obamacare. Meanwhile, a second US federal judge has blocked Mr Trump's latest effort to restrict citizens from eight countries from entering the United States, dealing another legal blow to the administration's third bid to impose travel restrictions. US District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, in a ruling filed overnight, said the plaintiffs challenging the policy were likely to succeed in proving that it violated the non-discrimination law "to the extent that it bars entry by immigrants on the basis of nationality". Mr Trump's bid would have taken effect this week, but was blocked on Tuesday by a US federal judge in Hawaii in a separate challenge. Radee Labeeb Prince, a suspect in the shooting deaths of three co-workers and critically injuring two others at a kitchen countertop company in Edgewood, Maryland, U.S., is shown in this handout photo provided by the Wilmington Police Department October 18, 2017. Wilmington Police Dept/Handout via REUTERS People gather across the street from the scene of a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman killed several co-workers and wounded others at Advanced Granite Solutions before fleeing the scene, authorities said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Unidentified bystanders embrace as police and Emergency Medical Services respond to a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2017. (Matt Button/The Baltimore Sun via AP) A gunman shot five of his co-workers at a US office park in the state of Maryland on Wednesday, killing three of them and setting off a manhunt, authorities said. The gunman was linked to a later shooting at a used car dealership in Delaware about 55 miles away. At least one victim was targeted, authorities said, but the extent of their injuries was not released. Authorities said it was not clear why the man they identified as 37-year-old Radee Labeeb Prince arrived at work as scheduled and opened fire with a handgun on five of his colleagues. Expand Close Radee Labeeb Prince, a suspect in the shooting deaths of three co-workers and critically injuring two others at a kitchen countertop company in Edgewood, Maryland, U.S., is shown in this handout photo provided by the Wilmington Police Department October 18, 2017. Wilmington Police Dept/Handout via REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Radee Labeeb Prince, a suspect in the shooting deaths of three co-workers and critically injuring two others at a kitchen countertop company in Edgewood, Maryland, U.S., is shown in this handout photo provided by the Wilmington Police Department October 18, 2017. Wilmington Police Dept/Handout via REUTERS Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said Prince shot his victims about 9am and fled the Emmorton Business Park in Edgewood, eluding deputies who arrived in four minutes. Kevin Doyle of Thornhill Properties said he was getting tools from his vehicle when he heard screaming and saw three men running from the office park. The men told him someone was shooting and he asked if they had called 911. They said no, even though, Mr Doyle said, they had phones in their hands. Expand Close People gather across the street from the scene of a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman killed several co-workers and wounded others at Advanced Granite Solutions before fleeing the scene, authorities said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People gather across the street from the scene of a shooting at a business park in the Edgewood area of Harford County, Md., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. A gunman killed several co-workers and wounded others at Advanced Granite Solutions before fleeing the scene, authorities said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) "I think they were just so scared, they didn't (call 911). They had a look of terror," he said. The victims and the suspect worked for Advanced Granite Solutions, the owner of the company said. Prince has been an employee for four months, working as a machine operator, owner Barak Caba said. The wounded were in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the head, according to Maryland governor Larry Hogan, who spoke at an unrelated event. He said authorities in helicopters and on the ground were searching for Prince, who may be driving a black 2008 GMC Acadia with the Delaware licence plate PC64273. "The killer remains on the loose," Mr Hogan said. Prince was fired from another job earlier this year after he attacked a co-worker, according to The Baltimore Sun. A former co-worker sought a restraining order against Prince in February, saying he had punched another employee and threatened employees. "I felt very threatened because he is a big guy and very aggressive on me," the co-worker said in the application for the restraining order. The man said Prince did not get physical with him, but wrote: "I do not want to wait until he will." A Harford County District Court judge denied the order. Myeshia Johnson cries over the casket in Miami of her husband, Sgt La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger. Photo: WPLG via AP President Donald Trump appears unable to resist getting drawn into public battles involving figures who are far more vulnerable and sympathetic than he is, and true to form, he used Twitter to escalate the battle over a call to a war widow in which he is alleged to have been insensitive. Trump tweeted that the witness to the call had "totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" But in an interview yesterday with this reporter, the witness, Democrat Congress-woman Frederica Wilson, stood by her story, and denounced Trump as a "liar" and "crazy". But perhaps even more interesting, she shared some new details that will thicken this plot: She said there were other witnesses in the car, and also noted that she has known the slain soldier for a long time and "mentored" him. The slain soldier, Sgt La David T Johnson, was one of four soldiers gunned down on the border of Niger and Mali on October 4. Their fate has been tangled in a political battle that picked up steam when Trump, questioned several days ago as to why he hadn't commented on their deaths, falsely suggested that former president Barack Obama hadn't called the families of deceased soldiers. Trump continued stoking this story by instructing the media to ask his chief of staff John Kelly if Obama had called him upon the death of his son in combat. On Tuesday night the news broke that Trump had told Johnson's widow, Myeshia Johnson, that "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway." This was according to Ms Wilson, who late on Tuesday told the 'Washington Post' that she had overheard the call on a speakerphone while riding in a limousine with Johnson when Trump called, and that this exchange made the widow cry. This is what Trump claims was "fabricated", which now has reporters speculating that Trump may have a recording or an official transcript. 'I want to know why he can't have an open casket' But Ms Wilson said in our interview she was sticking by the story, and asserted that there were other witnesses in the car, including the driver and the aunt and uncle of the deceased soldier. "I was not the only one in the car," she said. "Mr Trump is crazy," Ms Wilson told me. "He's a liar. He's proven to be a liar." She said she was more "concerned about the circumstances around his death" than about what Trump said. When I pressed Ms Wilson on whether she was sticking by her account that she heard Trump say, "he knew what he was signing up for", she said: "Yes." When I reiterated that Trump claims to have proof otherwise, she said: "How about you go get that proof and call me back?" Ms Wilson said that the widow had been informed that her slain husband would have a closed-casket funeral. "I want to know why he can't have an open casket," Ms Wilson said. "They told us no, because of the condition of the body." She said that the widow was "distraught" over this, adding: "When don't you have an open casket? When the face or the head is disfigured, right?" Ms Wilson said she had known the slain solder for a long time, noting that he had passed through the mentoring programme for boys of colour she founded in Miami in 1993. It's called the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence Project. She said she had "practically raised" him. She added that there was also a scholarship fund bearing his name. Hopefully we will soon find out whether Trump has the proof he claims to of what was said on the call, and hopefully that can be settled. Either way, it appears that this story is likely to escalate, now that it appears that Ms Wilson had her own relationship with the dead young man, which will perhaps complicate any further criticism of her by Trump. And now we know there were others in the car, they may be sought out. When I asked Ms Wilson if she would be making the aunt and uncle available for comment, she said: "I don't think they have that kind of strength." ( The Washington Post) A Pakistani court has indicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter and son-in-law on corruption charges stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm. A lawyer for 67-year-old Sharif, who is in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former prime minister's daughter Maryam Sharif and her husband Mohammad Safdar attended the hearing at the Accountability Court in Islamabad and also pleaded not guilty. Sharif told reporters in London that he will go back to Pakistan to attend the next court hearing, scheduled for October 26. In televised comments, he claimed he was removed from office by judges on a trivial charge. The charges stem from a trove of documents, known as the Panama Papers, that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. Maryam Sharif denied the allegations as "baseless" after leaving the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and they would "face these cases with courage". The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. His political future has been hanging in the balance since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from being prime minister. A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said: "We knew justice would not be done." Rana Sanaullah said there were "hidden hands" behind Sharif's dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations. Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties who say Sharif is continuing to rule through a "puppet" prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. AP The person sought in an early Tuesday warrant service that involved the Linn County regional SWAT team led Lebanon police on a short but speedy chase later that evening, according to reports. The suspect, a juvenile wanted for having absconded from the Oregon Youth Authority, was allegedly inside a Nissan Xterra reported stolen in Albany when Lebanon police officer Joseph Staub observed it on Santiam Highway near Walmart at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. When Staub pulled in behind the vehicle, the driver accelerated to speeds above 100 mph, according to reports, and finally pulled in behind a building. Staub was waiting for another officer because the nature of the call suggested the suspects might have guns. He observed two people bolting from the Xterra. He was unable to locate the runners, but detained an unnamed female at the vehicle who said she'd been hanging out with her cousin, whose name matched that of the suspect. The Tuesday morning warrant service, near 34th Avenue and Chicago Street, yielded no arrests but resulted in detectives confiscating a small amount of marijuana and some electronic devices. Family members in the home at the time have complained police used excessive force when they entered the home, saying SWAT team members detonated flash bangs and broke windows, ransacking the home while its occupants were detained on the curb. Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley defended his team's actions, saying the tactics were necessary to preserve officer safety, and to ensure the action didn't devolve into a shoot-out or a barricaded suspect situation. "If you just go and Barney Fife up to the door and knock, chances are the suspect is going to be tipped off," he said. Riley added that the use of force by the team is dictated by a matrix that shows the potential for violent confrontation. In this instance, he said, known felons with violent and person crime histories were known to be in the home. Further, he said the juvenile suspect is accused of committing dangerous crimes, and so is considered a risk for officers. He added that the home's proximity to a church day care and to South Albany High School compelled officers to gain the upper hand quickly, and before the school day began. "Can you imagine if we'd been dealing with barricaded suspects while kids were arriving for school and day care?" said Riley. Riley also said no flash bangs were detonated inside the home where people slept; one was detonated on the back patio while another was deployed in the garage. He also said team members were aware there were children and an infant in the home, and so took measures to protect them. But he also said the juvenile suspect invited the police activity through his actions. "Even though he's 17 and he's a kid, he's playing big-boy games," said Riley. The suspect remains at large as of Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old tourist from Spain was killed on Thursday by falling masonry in one of Florence's most famous churches, the Basilica of Santa Croce. The church, a top tourist attraction, is where Italian luminaries Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Niccolo Machiavelli are buried. The fatal accident raised questions about the state of Italy's considerable cultural heritage, which includes numerous ageing and fragile monuments. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, speaking from New York, said prosecutors would conduct an investigation to determine the cause and if faulty maintenance was to blame. The victim was struck by a decorative stone fragment that fell from a height of 66 feet as he visited the church with his wife. According to Italian media reports, the fragment was about six inches by six inches and supported a beam. The 15th-century basilica, which has a famed neo-Gothic facade, has been undergoing a multi-year maintenance programme in collaboration with Italy's civil protection agency, the head of the organisation that manages the church, Irene Sanesi, told the Italian news agency Ansa. "For that reason, all of the work has been done in a constant manner over the years. "We are really astonished at what has happened, and we ask ourselves how it could happen," she said. Authorities were checking the stability of the church, which is expected to remain closed to visitors indefinitely. Other deadly incidents involving Italian monuments included the 1989 collapse of a 14th-century bell tower in the northern city of Pavia into a pile of brick, marble and dust that killed four people. The cause of the accident has never been determined. A toddler and a disabled 30-year-old were gravely injured in July when plaster fell from the ceiling of the Acireale Cathedral in Sicily during a wedding. In October 2012, a cornice fell from the wall of the Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, causing part of the roof to cave in just a few feet from tourists. No one was injured. AP Consumer goods giant Unilever has said third quarter sales were hit by hurricanes in the US and poor weather in Europe. The Anglo-Dutch group, which is behind Dove, Marmite and Ben & Jerrys ice cream, posted a 2.6% increase in underlying sales for the period to 13.2 billion euro (11.8 billion), below expectations and down from 3% in the first half of the year. Chief executive Paul Polman said: Growth in the third quarter was adversely affected by poorer weather in Europe compared with last year and natural disasters in the Americas. However, he also pointed to signs of improvement in some of Unilevers biggest emerging markets, including India and China. Its emerging markets division booked a 6.3% increase in underlying sales over the quarter, which compares to a 2.3% fall in developed markets. However, Unilever held its underlying annual sales growth forecast at within the 3% to 5% range. Unilever, which employs 169,000 people worldwide, announced in April that it would offload some of its best-known brands including Flora and Stork after fending off a $143 billion (115 billion) takeover attempt from Kraft Heinz. It plans to sell its underperforming spreads business, which could yield up to 6 billion. Earlier this year, Unilever also struck a 2.27 billion euro (1.9 billion) deal to buy South Korean cosmetics firm Carver Korea. It bought the business from Bain Capital Private Equity, Goldman Sachs and the firms founder, strengthening its foothold in the Asian beauty market. Though white women are more likely than Black women to be diagnosed with breast cancer, Black women are more likely to die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Societys Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 20172018 report. A local nonprofit is addressing the disparities in breast cancer mortality rates in an unlikely way by reaching women through their faith. A few years ago, a group of passionate health professionals, support services providers, government representatives and members of faith-based communities united to address the disparity in breast cancer mortality between African-American women and caucasian women. The group, now led by Executive Director Lisa Hayes, came to be known as the R.E.D. (Reaching to End Disparities) Alliance. Through faith-based programs and systematic intervention, the R.E.D. Alliance seeks to provide education and support and to connect African-American women to affordable and accessible breast health services. When people receive information through the church, they feel it is trustworthy because they are in a safe environment, so we had the idea of training advocates (in churches) to bring awareness about the disparity, and also have them do programming to connect women in the church with resources if they needed a mammogram, or emotional support, said Hayes. We introduce them to free community resources to remove barriers that women may face to make sure they have a successful treatment. Hayes explained that while not all women jump at the chance to go to the doctor, many attend church weekly. She also pointed out that for some women of faith, their beliefs prevent them from seeking life-saving services. Her organization helps people work through their fears. As we talk to people, one of the things we are finding is that women are fearful about breast cancer diagnostics, fearful about getting tests or going to the doctor, so one of the ways to overcome that fear is by faith, said Hayes. Some people are of the view that, No, my faith is sufficient and I dont need to rely on doctors, Im not going to get a test, Im just going to believe, and the R.E.D. Alliance wants to show that you can rely on your faith, but you can also rely on the fact that God has placed medical professionals in their path that can help them. It doesnt have to be one or the other. In 2015, the R.E.D. Alliance selected nine pilot churches and trained 25 women from those churches as advocates to raise awareness of breast cancer disparities in their congregations and provide support to women fighting breast cancer. During that process, the advocates surveyed the women in their congregations to assess what obstacles women were facing. Over 750 women completed the survey, which gave the R.E.D. Alliance insight on how to best assist the community they are seeking to serve. Since 2015, the organization has been active in the community, hosting town hall meetings and breast health summits that offer members of the community opportunities to express their perspectives and concerns. On Saturday, Oct. 28, the R.E.D. Alliance will host a free gospel concert to celebrate breast cancer survivors and share breast health information and resources. The concert features a performance by two-time breast cancer survivor Nikia Hammonds-Blakely from Dallas. Vouchers for free mammogram screenings will be given away at the event, among other gifts for attendees. Hayes hopes that individuals who come out to the event will feel rejuvenated spiritually and leave encouraged to take care of their physical health. Churches and faith-based institutions are places where people find support and assistance, develop relationships with tons of people, and its very natural. Culturally, working through the church has proven to be a successful way to reach people with messages, said Hayes. For more information on the R.E.D. Alliance, visit facebook.com/redallianceindy. Is the criminal justice system broken? If you are like me, you answered a resounding yes. However, we have it wrong. Really wrong. This week, the Marion County Re-entry Coalition hosted a conference focused on re-entry. Attendees of the conference included several nonprofits that work with ex-offenders, housing representatives, elected officials, criminal justice professionals and various individuals who represent city and state departments. The keynote speaker of the conference was Deanna Hoskins, senior policy advisor for Corrections and Re-entry, Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. When Hoskins posed the question of whether or not the criminal justice system was broken, most attendees said yes. But as I mentioned before, that was the incorrect answer. As Hoskins noted, the criminal justice system is not broken. As a matter of fact, it is operating just as the powers that be planned for it to operate. According to the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, The cost of imprisonment and jail in the past 20 years has grown at a faster rate than nearly any other state budget item. It costs an average of $78.95 a day to house an inmate, and the United States spends an excess of $68 billion a year on corrections federal, state and local. Now do you understand how the criminal justice system is working optimally and exceeding expectations? There probably isnt a person reading these words who has not been impacted by the penal system in some capacity or another. Either you have personally been incarcerated, a family member has been incarcerated or even a friend. Or, you may be impacted in another way. Perhaps you are an employer who hires ex-offenders, or maybe you work for an organization that helps that demographic. I recently had an extensive conversation with someone whose husband is currently in prison. We spoke about a wide variety of things relative to prison and the criminal justice system in general. Prison takes a toll on inmates and their families. While I firmly believe people should be punished for their wrongdoing, I also believe that the punishment should be fair and consistent across the board. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as data show that time and time again, Black and brown people are incarcerated far more often than their white counterparts, and the time that minorities serve is significantly longer than the time served by whites even when the same crime is committed and the individuals criminal history (or lack thereof) are consistent. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to the woman I spoke with as Mary. Marys husband has been incarcerated for three years, and he has four more to go before he is eligible for release. Mary and I chatted about simple things like the phone calls inmates are allowed to make. The prison her husband is at only allows inmates to talk on the phone for 300 minutes per month regardless of how much money they may have on their books designated for phone calls. An important part of an offenders effective re-entry into society is that they have some sense of understanding of the outside world upon their return. They also need to be emotionally sound having consistent conversations with family and friends help in these efforts. However, five hours per month of conversation with an outsider is not a lot of time for an inmate. In addition, the cost of the phone calls is astronomical, making it impossible for many inmates who dont have a lot of resources or outside support to converse with loved ones. Inmate calls can be as much as $1.50 per minute. To make calls, most family members of inmates must set up accounts with private companies who hold money deposited by family members to support the calls. The companies generally have contracts with federal and state prisons, in which the prisons receive commission from the call revenue. Under President Obama, the Federal Communications Commission pressed to limit the cost of prison calls; however, President Donald Trumps FCC leader reversed that action. Again, do you see that the criminal justice system is actually working? Prison is supposed to reform inmates. Access to education while incarcerated helps inmates prepare for life outside of the prison walls, but now, many prisons have little to no educational programs for inmates. As a matter of fact, some only have GED-type programs, which do nothing for an individual who has graduated high school or even completed college. If prisons are receiving nearly $80 a day per inmate, there should be more resources available to them while incarcerated. Dont get me wrong; I know that prisons arent designed to be luxury hotels or even model college campuses. However, if we truly want to see recidivism reduced and more inmates effectively reintegrate into society, we must prepare them for it while they are on the inside. Ex-offenders face so many challenges once released. Simply getting acclimated to life outside prison walls is a challenge, just as finding employment and securing housing are challenges for ex-offenders. The government has made a business out of prison, specifically by incarcerating minorities and price gouging basic services such as phone calls. As the criminal justice system is designed now, upon release, many offenders are expected to fail. That is why the work of local organizations that aim to help ex-offenders is so important. That is why it is also imperative that each one of us holds our elected officials accountable by ensuring any promises they made regarding criminal justice reform are actually executed. There is a new 3,990-square-foot space for Hoosiers to soak in the vibrant history and novel achievements of individuals with African roots. Central Librarys much-anticipated Center for Black Literature and Culture (CBLC) will open its doors this Saturday, Oct. 21, with a celebration taking place from noon3 p.m. Nichelle Hayes, special collections librarian and member of the Indianapolis Public Librarys (IndyPL) African-American History Committee, has been spearheading the Centers development and overseeing the collection of 10,000 volumes that will be available at the Center, many of which were brought to life by local writers and artists. In addition to new books, the space will host author fairs, discussion forums, art exhibits, poetry slams, writers workshops and other interactive events. Nichelle Hayes, special collections librarian and member of the Indianapolis Public Librarys African-American History Committee, spearheaded the development of the Center for Black Literature and Culture at Central Library. This space goes beyond books. We want it to be a place where you can gather and chill. Maybe it will be deep conversations, maybe it will be laughter or contemplation, said Hayes. We wanted to make sure we were bringing in the African diaspora. If you are from Nigeria and you live here, you dont necessarily consider yourself an African-American; you may consider yourself an African or Nigerian-American. You can be Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican, Afro-European; there are different nuances. Portraits adorning the walls of the space pay tribute to Black leaders, many of whom have local ties, such as musician Kenneth Baby Face Edmonds, journalist Amos Brown and athlete Tamika Catchings. The bookshelves include a diverse selection of reads, from books on Afro-futurism to biographies on civil rights icons. Renowned journalist and political commentator Roland Martin will be the keynote speaker for the grand opening. Martin considers himself an avid reader, explaining that books allow individuals to explore places and philosophies that they would not have access to otherwise. I am always talking about the importance of reading, because that is how you are able to experience a world that you are not familiar with, said Martin. Former slaves understood that there must be something powerful about a book, about that knowledge. Thats why freed slaves were fervent in their desire for education. Martin, who has worked as executive editor for the historic Black newspaper The Chicago Defender in the past, thinks the center is important because its imperative that marginalized groups share stories of their reality. This year marks the 190th anniversary of the nations first Black newspaper. A comment from a lead editorial said it all when they said, We wish to plead our own cause; too long have others spoken for us, said Martin. I am all for inclusion, diversity and making sure our voices are in mainstream publications, news, books and places, but that cannot replace us telling our own stories. When we dont own our own media, we cannot in any way control the narrative. The CBLC is all about helping the Black community control that narrative. The Center supports the work of the librarys African-American History Committee, an organization that works to present the diverse accomplishments of African-Americans to the general public and provide cultural programming at the library and around Indianapolis. Hayes says the Centers value goes beyond enriching the local Black community, because Black history is American history, too. If you are not aware, or did not have an inclusive education about history, you may think people of color havent done anything or provided anything to the country, and we know that is not true, said Hayes. We know that Black history is American history, is world history. We are not a museum, but especially at this time in our countrys history where people are talking about alternative facts, we want to give people resources and information to make judgments on their own. The CBLC is hoping to, in some small way, help spread education on that topic. For more information on the CBLC, visit indypl.org/cblc or call (317) 275-4100. CBLC The 2017 NAACP Indiana State Conference Convention will come to Indianapolis Oct. 2629, hosted by the Greater Indianapolis NAACP Branch at Clarion Hotel Indianapolis Airport, 2500 S. High School Road. The Education Summit kicks off the convention on Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Topics will include school funding, the state of public schools, charter schools and best education practices. During the Education Summit, attorney Michael Curry immediate past president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP and a member of the organizations national board of directors, who also sits on the executive committee will share the NAACPs comprehensive report on charter schools. In addition to his other roles, Curry serves on the NAACPs Quality Education Task Force, which gathered national data and diverse perspectives on the state of charter schools and their traditional public school counterparts. The Task Forces report included five critical recommendations, which Curry will discuss. Attorney Victor Goode, director of the NAACPs national education program, will also attend the Summit. Various state and local leaders, including school board members, Indiana lawmakers and state Superintendent Jennifer McCormick are also slated to attend. The Education Summit is open to the public but limited to the first 100 registrants. Registration is $40 for adults or $15 for students and includes breakfast and lunch. Convention schedule: Oct. 27 Opening Plenary Session Health Breakfast Labor and Industry Luncheon featuring Richard Womack, AFL-CIO/USW Soul Food Dinner and Public Mass Meeting, 57 p.m. at First Baptist Church North Indianapolis, 880 W. 28th St., Indianapolis Oct. 28 WIN (Women in NAACP) Breakfast featuring Paula Young Shelton, author of Child of the Civil Rights Movement Membership Luncheon featuring Mary Walker, Wisconsin State Membership Chair Youth & College Division Luncheon Freedom Fund Scholarship and Awards Banquet featuring Rev. Mark Thompson, radio host of Taking it to the Streets Presidents Ball Reception Oct. 29 Closing Plenary Session For more information about the NAACP Indiana State Conference Annual Convention, visit indianascnaacp.org. Indiana NAACP conference coming As authorities continue to investigate the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas, leaders from various faiths are speaking out. Of course, they have offered prayers of comfort and peace for everyone impacted by the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 58 people and led to hundreds of others being wounded after a gunman fired into a crowd at a concert. However, many of these same faith leaders are joining forces to call for solutions to prevent future acts of mass violence. Prayer can be a powerful healing force in a divided country, but action is also needed to solve the epidemic of violence, said Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, in a statement released to news media. After stating the need for substantive policy recommendations, he added, We need to engage in a national conversation and ask ourselves how can we properly balance the right to bear arms with the need to keep weapons. In Indianapolis, Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis said she respects the right of law-abiding citizens to have weapons for self defense but agrees that a national conversation about gun violence is overdue. She issued a joint statement as part of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, which said, It is entirely reasonable in the wake of mass killings perpetrated by murderers with assault weapons to ask lawmakers to remove these weapons from civilian hands. Leaders in other faiths have also been blunt in calling for changes to laws governing weapons and ammunition. For example, the Bnai Brith faith has already adopted a resolution calling for a federal ban on assault weapons, as well as a limit on the capacity of ammunition magazines. It is well past time for meaningful, bipartisan gun violence legislation in this country, stated Gary Saltzman and Daniel Mariaschin, two leading Bnai Brith officials. We have long held there is no reasonable need for citizens to have access to large amounts of ammunition. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, believes prayer must be followed by action to curb easy access to firearms. Common sense measures, like restricting the use of silencers that make a shooter harder to locate and stop, must prevail, said Jacobs. As the nation prepares for a possible debate on gun laws, some faith leaders have encouraged practical measures to assist survivors of the shooting in Las Vegas. American Muslims, along with Americans of all faiths and backgrounds, should immediately donate blood in Nevada and across the nation to assist the wounded, said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Awad also noted that people of all faiths should unite against terrorism, particularly after the terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas shooting. Their claim has not been substantiated. That the terror group ISIS would without evidence claim credit for this heinous crime is an example of evil exploiting evil, Awad said. It is further evidence of their depravity. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, believes that the best way to counter evil committed by mass shooters and terrorist groups is for Americans to come together and do good for each other. In the end, DiNardo said, the only response is to do good for no matter what the darkness, it will never overcome the light. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. LME Week is the annual gathering of the global metals community in London. Representatives from the entire supply chain meet to discuss current trends in metals markets, what to expect for the year ahead, and to network with industry peers and colleagues. The London Metal Exchange hosts two official flagship events, the LME Metals Seminar and the Annual Dinner. LME METALS SEMINAR When: Monday 30 October, 08.00-13.00 Where: QEII Centre, Westminster, London The seminar kick starts LME Week and covers all aspects of the ever-changing market including the global economy, market trends and issues facing the metal industry today. It always features high-profile speakers, interactive panel discussions as well as an exhibition suite, and has an international attendance of over 600 which keeps growing. More than 350 delegates, 25 sponsors and 45 exhibitors participated in first edition of SURIMEP (2014) We are delighted to announce the dates for the 2nd edition of SURIMEP 2017, which will be held on 1 3 November 2017. The event is organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Suriname and AME Trade Ltd and will take place at the Chamber of Commerce of Paramaribo, Suriname. SURIMEP will feature three days of conference sessions, pre-event training, post event touristic and industry tours, as well as a packed social program. The main theme of SURIMEP 2017 is Optimising resource industry linkages to catalyse Surinames economic development A Lagos State High Court of the Ikeja Division presided over by Justice Hakeem Oshodi on Thursday has fixed November 3 for the trial of Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (popularly known as Evans) and his five other gang members. The defendants Evans, Uche Amadi, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Nwachukwu Okwuchukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi, and Victor Aduba pleaded not guilty to an amended two-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping. They were accused of conspiring on February 14 at about 7:45pm at Ilupeju, Lagos, to kidnap Donatus Dunu and collect 223,000 for his release. At the last court sitting in August, when the defendants were first arraigned before the judge, Evans and Mr. Amadi pleaded guilty to the two counts. Mr. Nwachukwu pleaded guilty to conspiracy and not guilty to kidnapping. Ms. Uchechukwu, the only female in the group, and Messrs Ifeanyi and Aduba, pleaded not guilty to the charges. But on Thursday, amidst a heavy security presence that included the police anti-bomb squad around the court premises, the defendants were unanimous in their plea before the judge all said they were not guilty of the charges against them. Before their charges were read, Ike Chika, the prosecuting counsel, informed the court of their intention to bring an amended charge which would require the defendants to take fresh pleas. He added that the amended charge had already been served on the defence. The statement elicited arguments between the prosecution and defence counsels, with the latter claiming they were just served minutes before the days proceedings began and, therefore, did not have the opportunity to discuss with their clients. I need a new date to confer with my clients because I have not discussed with them on the implication of the charge as amended, Olukoya Ogungbeje, counsel to Messrs Evans and Amadi, said. O. Ajanaku, counsel to Mr. Okwuchukwu, however, urged the court to continue with the case as his client was ready. There is nothing new in the charge, just a change in the section of the law that the second charge was attributed to, the charges remain the same and I am ready to commence in the case. Ms. Ike, the lead prosecuting counsel, also argued against the move for adjournment saying the defence counsels were only attempting to derail the case. According to Section 155(1) of the Criminal Justice Administration of Lagos State, in case of an amended charge, the law does not require any formal application, all that the law needs to do is to take fresh plea to the new charge, there is no material change in the charge, the request is an attempt to derail the case, the counsel said. The amended charges retained the accusations of conspiracy and kidnapping but changed the section in the Law on punishments regarding the offences allegedly committed. Justice Oshodi, after listening to arguments, gave a 45 minute recess to allow the defence counsels confer with their clients on the amended charge, noting that the defendants should be given every opportunity to defend themselves. Upon resumption of the matter, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit felony to wit kidnapping under Section 411 of the Lagos State Criminal Laws and also kidnapping. Mr. Ogungbeje then informed the court that since the defendants had taken a fresh plea, he will be withdrawing a motion he filed earlier to notify the judge of his clients intention to change their guilty pleas to not guilty. The judge said the amended charge had rendered the application unnecessary and then struck it out. Speaking to journalists after the court proceedings, Mr. Ogungbeje said his clients initial guilty plea was due to pressure from the prosecution, the Lagos State government, and the Nigeria Police Force. I must say that my client was pressurised by the defence counsel and police to plead guilty but he has now said it today, that he is not guilty, Mr. Ogungbeje said. He has been extorted too and we have called on international organizations to look into his case of financial extortion and molestation of his girlfriend, we would not rush issues but we are right on course. Source: ( Premium Times ) Kim Kardashian was photographed taking her daughter North West, 4, to deliver food to the homeless. Kim was also joined by her elder sister, Kourtney and they set up a station to hand out food items to those in need. In her hands, Kim was clutching onto two huge bags of donations while her daughter held two cans of food and seemed eager to help out. Kourtney, meanwhile, was joined by her daughter Penelope, 5, and son Mason, 7. The Kardashian sisters appeared in high spirits as they ferried donations from the car to the table and gave them out to the homeless people. Their charitable outing comes a year after Kim survived the robbery attack in Paris so it is believed this is her way of showing gratitude to God. More photos below. Source: Linda Ikejis blog A man identified as Audu Alhassan has been sentenced to five months imprisonment by a Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja for bathing a young girl with hot oil. The judge, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, who convicted Alhassan, advised him to learn to control his temper. Sadiq, who advised the convict to desist from committing crimes in the future, added that the sentence would serve as a deterrent to other would be offenders. Alhassan, who resides at Karmo village, was convicted on a two-count of criminal intimidation and causing hurt. The convict, who pleaded guilty to the charge, begged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying that he did not know what came over him. The Prosecutor, Florence Avhioboh, had told the court that the victims mother, Mrs Safiya Mohammed, reported the matter at the Karmo Police Station on Oct. 16. Avhioboh said the complainant said she sent her daughter to dispose waste at the refuse dump when the convict started intimidating her. The convict, who was said to have threatened to kill the victim and her entire family, made good his threat and poured hot groundnut oil on the girl. Avhioboh said during police investigation the convict confessed to the crime. The prosecutor said the offence contravened Sections397 and 253 of the Penal Code. Source: ( NAN ) A young man caused a mild scare in the South-eastern part of Nigeria as he posed with an assault rifle in public place without his official uniform thereby sending wrong messages to residents. A man was spotted carrying an AK-47 rifle in broad daylight in Owerri, Imo state. The man who is apparently a security operative judging from how relaxed he looked with the gun in public wore a causal cloth during the outing with bathroom slippers to top it all. The Nigeria Police Force has warned all its operatives to ensure they wear their uniforms while on duty, irrespective of where they find themselves, a message that some have failed to adhere to. Controversial media personality, Toke Makinwa took to social media to show off her N1.3m Gucci bag with bamboo handle. Toke Makinwa shared some pictures of the expensive bag , and according to information gathered from Guccis website, her Gucci Lilith Leather Top Handle bag costs $3,700(N1.3m). 32 year old Toke Makinwa is a Nigerian radio personality, television host, vlogger, and bestselling author. She is known for best selling book, On Becoming, co-hosting The Morning Drive on Rhythm 93.7 FM and her YouTube vlog series Toke Moments. See more pictures of the expensive bag; source: Theinfong A 30-year-old woman,identified as Kula Pelima, has been charged with drowning her infant son and the babys 5-year-old half-brother, police officials in Wilmington, USA on Tuesday. According to reports, the mother killed the two children after expressing concerns over her immigration status. The Police in Wilmington, who summoned to the womans apartment on Monday morning, found the children dead in the tub and a strong smell of gas in the air, prompting a temporary evacuation of the building, Philly.com reported. Chief of Police Robert Tracy told journalists at a news conference that Pelima has been taken into custody and charged with two counts of first-degree murder after questioning and confession. The boys were identified as Solomen Eppell, 4 months old, and Alex Eppell, 5. According to police, no one else was home at the time. Pelimas boyfriend, Victor Epelle, whos also the father of the two children was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this month for immigration issues, Whyy.org reported. Epelle is originally from Nigeria. Hes being held in a York, Pennsylvania prison. Investigators said Pelima never explained why she harmed the children, but it appears she grew concerned about her immigration status. She is originally from Liberia but has been in the U.S. since 1997. Police said Pelima and Epelle established residence in Wilmington within the past few months. Tracy said Pelima, a Liberian native, had called police at 3:45 a.m. Monday, expressing concern about her immigration status. An officer who went to the address to reassure the woman she was not in trouble saw the 5-year-old and reported seeing nothing wrong or alarming. When police were called again to the apartment around 8:30 a.m., the children were dead. Police have not been able to locate the 5-year-old boys biological mother, the chief said. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) The National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA ) announced on Thursday the commencement of an indefinite strike which is to start with immediate effect. It was gathered that the directive to proceed on strike was issued by the Trade Union Congress and the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in Abuja. It was learnt that the strike followed a threat that was issued by the workers of the agency in a letter that was written in September this year over the non-payment of their allowances, among other issues. The Abuja headquarters of the agency was shut down by the workers, as they all insisted that they were not going to work until the management of the agency listen to their demands. Some of the workers said, despite the letter of threat that was issued in September, the management of the firm had yet to respond positively to the demands of staff. The letter, it was gathered, was written by the Secretary-General, ASCSN, Isaac Ojenmhenike, and was addressed to the President, Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other senior government officials. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A woman, identified as Chinyere James, has been arrested by the police in the Okokomaiko division, Lagos State, for allegedly torturing her nine-year-old cousin, Emmanuel. It learnt that the victim had been wrongly accused by the 28-year-old of defiling his three-year-old sister at their home on Akinberu Road, Okokomaiko. The aunt, without investigation, allegedly flogged him for hours, as his plea of innocence fell on deaf ears. A resident was said to have rescued him and reported the matter to the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender. An official of the agency, who did not want to be identified, said the case was reported to the police. She said, The boys mother, Joy, and the aunt, Chinyere, live in the same single-room apartment with their parents. Joy, who is 27 years old, had Emmanuel and the three year-old for different men. Chinyere tortured the boy for an offence he didnt commit. Investigation showed that it was one of their neighbours that defiled the boys three-year-old sister. When the police interrogated Joy, she took responsibility for the injuries on the boys body and lied that Chinyere did not touch the boy. But the truth later came out. The police arrested her and her sister, Joy, while the two children were taken into protective custody. Our correspondent was told that the three-year-old had been tested by Mirabel Medical Centre, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. A report was still being awaited to ascertain the culpability of the neighbour. The Director of the OPD, Mrs. Adebukola Salami, said government would not condone child abuse. She said, The Lagos State Government has zero tolerance for child abuse. This is a warning that it is irrelevant if the abusers are the parents of the child. Nobody is above the law. Child abuse is a criminal offence and abusers will be prosecuted. It was learnt that the sisters had been charged before an Ojo Magistrates Court on counts of assault. The charges read in part, That you, Chinyere James and Joy James, on or before September 24, 2017, on Akinberu Road, Okokomaiko, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire together to commit felony to wit: indecent treatment of a child, thereby committing an offence. That you, Chinyere James, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did unlawfully assault one Emmanuel James by inflicting injuries on his body. The defendants were said to have pleaded not guilty to the charges and were subsequently admitted to bail. The case was said to have been adjourned till December 13, 2017. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A male nurse was caught in the act of having sex with a dead patient in the hospital. According to Mirror.co.uk, the grief-stricken husband gave the nurse a beating of his life before handing him over to the Police in Bolivian capital La Paz. The 27-year-old nurse who was later identified as Grover Macuchapi, 27 is currently facing prosecution on charges of profaning a corpse and obscene acts. The police chief, Douglas Uzquiano, said the incident happened around an hour after the patient died at Hospital de Clinicas in La Paz on Monday and was transferred to a hospital morgue. He said, Relatives of the dead woman had gone to the hospital to cancel a debt they had for the medical treatment she received. The husband went to the morgue and saw a male nurse having sex with his late wife. The unnamed husband told a local newspaper: I saw what he was doing and hit him. He was moving and he had his trousers down. The hospital worker blamed his actions on a trance. He was quoted as saying: Something happened. It was like a dream. The next thing I remember was feeling a blow from behind when the womans husband hit me. The unnamed female patient, a 28-year-old, had only died around an hour before she was targeted. Prosecutors said Macuchapi could not be charged with necrophilia because the offence didnt exist under Peruvian law. Source ( Mirror.co.uk) Pastor Samuel Adegboye of the General Overseer of Testimony Chapel, Ilorin, Kwara State, has blamed the rising spate of prostitution among young girls in the country to laziness and refusal to further their studies. Speaking in Ilorin, Adegboye called on the Federal Government to impose a total ban on the dirty business in the country. Adegboye said the government should create job opportunities which will be a panacea to prostitution in the country. According to Adegboye, Most young girls become lazy and not ready to further their studies since they have hope in operating as a social worker to survive. Imagine most hotels are being used to harbour commercial sex workers where they have their own rooms to host their clients; at times, you will see them roaming the streets in search of clients without shame. Government must enact a law to ban such an evil business. It is becoming worse every day as some non-Nigerians will even come to practice such a dirty act in our dear country. Prostitution is responsible for increased rate of sexual diseases in our society. When different people are allowed from neighbouring countries to come and live as commercial sex workers in Nigeria without let or hindrance. Since the government has refused to intervene, Nigeria now become a home of commercial sex workers. It is time to act fast and curb the evil practice. Government must use security agents to check every hotel and arrest any person suspected to be a commercial sex worker. Source Dailypost Stanbic IBTC Bank and Zenith Bank have both been asked by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to unfreeze two accounts linked to the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience. Members of the panel took turns to condemn the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the continued freezing of the accounts by the banks when there was a court order vacating the freezing order. The lawmakers specifically faulted the EFCC for notifying banks on court judgments freezing accounts domiciled in the financial institutions but allegedly refusing to write the banks when the freezing order had been vacated, but later served them with notice of appeal. The committee is made up of members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Patience had petitioned the Senate through her lawyer, Mr. Charles Ogboli (SAN), protesting against the freezing of her accounts in seven banks without court orders. Several members of the committee queried the powers of the EFCC to serve court orders on banks, when the anti-graft agency was not part of the judiciary. According to them, the banks were afraid of the EFCC, which was the reason why they kept flagging the accounts based on letters from the commission. The EFCC cannot take someone to court, and then be the one to serve the bank. The EFCC is not the judiciary, the judiciary is separate. That is why there are people engaged as court bailiffs, a member of the panel, Senator Obinna Ogba, said. He added, Mr. Chairman, I think you need to give a definite instruction for them to open that account now because this bank has no business freezing that account. Ogba also accused the banks of taking advantage of such orders to trade with customers frozen funds. Also criticising the banks, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, said, Why you responded to that instruction (to freeze the accounts) was because there was a court order. And now you have an evidence to show that the order has been vacated. Then, somebody (EFCC) is now writing you a letter (notice of appeal). On what basis are you basing your actions? The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sam Anyanwu, also faulted the process, saying, The court bailiff should be the one to serve the court order and the bank should sign for it. It looks as if they (banks) are taking the advantage. The money is available to you (banks) and you are trading with it. Anyanwu specifically faulted the decision by Stanbic IBTC Bank to freeze an account linked to Finchley Top Homes Limited, one of the firms affected by the court order, while the account itself was not listed among those to be frozen. According to officials of the bank who appeared before the panel, the account, which belonged to AM-PM Global Network Limited, has one Ada Amah as the same signatory to the Finley Top Homes account. Officials of the bank stated that though the two accounts had been linked, the second account was only frozen because it had not fully complied with the Know Your Customer requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and not by any court order obtained by the EFCC. In his ruling, Anyanwu said, We will like to have the statement of the accounts and the mandate cards of the accounts. Then, of course, you said there was a KYC issue on it; the committee will decide on what to do about that. If you can implement the EFCC directive, I think you should implement the directive of the Senate. The EFCC is coming on their own but this one (second account) has no impediments; it must be opened. That account must be opened because there is no encumbrance. There is no court order on it. The Executive Director of Corporate Banking and Acting Managing Director, Ecobank, Mr. Akin Dada, also said the personal account of Mrs. Jonathan was not frozen by the bank and was operated just last week. He however noted that a court order was served on the bank by the EFCC to freeze two accounts belonging to Ariwabai Aruera Reach Out Foundation, which has the former First Lady as one of its trustees:, and another belonging to Finley Top Homes. Dada however pointed out that the bank was not aware of any court order vacating the initial order to freeze the account. Source: (Punch Newspaper ) Workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways on Wednesday said that about seven of their colleagues died in the last one week while awaiting their severance package from the Federal Government. They spoke with journalists in Lagos through the Chairman, Elders Forum of the defunct Nigeria Airways, Mr. Godwin Jibodu, adding that the pensioners died in abject poverty despite having served the nation well. He gave names of the deceased persons as Capt. Asuquo, Capt. Akintaju, Capt. Tunde Akinyosade, Capt. Sam Ohioma, and Mr. K. C. Amah while Mr. T. Bellgam and Mr. Ebenezer Akinbode were down with stroke. According to him, one of the ex-workers, Capt. Charles Ntanyi, has been missing since August after boarding a commercial bus at night in the Ogba area of Lagos. The Federal Government had earlier this year approved N45bn for the payment of gratuities and other retirement benefits of former employees of defunct airline, out of N78bn owed the workers. The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who made the announcement after a Federal Executive Council meeting said that the ministry had started to put modalities in place for the payment, even as he regretted that some of the ex-workers had lost their lives in the process of waiting for the payment. However, several weeks after the approval, the ex-workers were still waiting, Jibodu said. He said, We have lost seven colleagues within the last one week because they could not afford proper treatment for their ailments. This is very sad because the government has approved N45bn since June for the payment of our pensions and gratuities. We are appealing to Nigeria as a nation not to forget the contributions of the (defunct) Nigeria Airways to national development. Nigeria Airways till date has helped in building the capacity of workers in the aviation sector. Jibodu said since the money was approved, the pensioners had been making enquiries at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Aviation and the Central Bank of Nigeria to know the reason for the delay in the disbursement of the money. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) A veteran journalist who was based in Lagos State, the financial nerve centre of Nigeria has passed away after losing his battle to stroke. Broadcaster, pioneer General Manager of Silverbird TV, and lifelong friend of the Murray-Bruces, Oscar Udofia, has died. He died yesterday October 18th after battling with stroke for nine years. He worked in several media houses before joining STV where he was working when he fell ill. May his soul rest in peace, amen. The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member. It said it would respect the decision of the former President, but added that whether he returned or not, it (the party) would not die. Obasanjo had on Tuesday vowed never to return to the party, saying he would rather remain a statesman, working for the interest of the nation. He spoke with journalists after he held a meeting with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed doors at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. He had said, I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but not now. God forbid, se when dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no. I have said no partisan politics for me again, but Nigeria is my passion until death do us apart. And anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of Nigeria, youll see my involvement. So, the chairman has come to greet me and I greet am, and now that we have greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone. Reacting, the spokesperson for the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said Obasanjo had earlier said that he would not return to the party, adding that as an individual, the party would respect his views. He said, He has said it before (that he wont return to the party). We are not going to force him. No individual is bigger than the party. Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion. But the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not. We respect his opinion. Theres nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Two people were arrested and charged in connection with a burglary Tuesday at the Store-n-Save Self Storage in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Police received a tip from a caller about 2 a.m. who said two men were acting suspiciously at the facility at 777 Highway 18. When officers arrived, they found stolen property propped against a nearby fence, according to the source. Although the investigation is ongoing, at least three self-storage units were burglarized. The tenants were notified, the source reported. The apprehended men, whove only been identified as being from Chatham, Ontario, have been charged with breaking and entering. One was also held for failing to comply with a condition of his previous release, the source reported. Store-n-Save is managed by Real Storage Group, which operates more than 30 facilities in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario, Canada. Denver-based real estate developer Eric H. Bush, whose projects included self-storage, died Oct. 7 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Arapahoe County, Colo., Coroners Office. Bush founded Bush Development Inc. in 1992 and specialized in building self-storage and small retail centers in the Denver area. He was 49. Bush dropped out of college to pursue entrepreneurial interests, childhood friend Raven Wells told the source. After reportedly helping to turnaround a telecommunications company in 1991, Bush moved home to Colorado to pursue real estate. While building custom homes in the Denver area in the mid-1990s, he learned there were customers on waiting lists for self-storage units and decided to pursue development opportunities in the sector, Wells said. Bush reportedly built one storage facility in Evergreen, Colo., for $480,000 and sold it a year and a half later for $1.65 million. In a 2007 interview with a local newspaper, he expressed his willingness to build self-storage on the moon. Bush was also involved in developing a storage facility at 6150 Leetsdale Drive in Denver. The property once operated as United Storage and is now listed as part of the CubeSmart operating portfolio. In 2012, investor Daniel E. Young filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and members of four limited-liability companies connected to Bush, including Leetsdale Self Storage LLC, accusing Bush of mismanagement. Though Bush appears to have been successful with his early real estate projects, he ran into problems with financing during the Great Recession, according to friend and attorney Jeff Wittebort, who told the source he believes ongoing legal issues, financial trouble and a recent separation from his wife played a role in Bushs suicide. During pursuit of a development in Cherry Creek, Colo., in 2010, Bush launched a private-equity firm to raise money without bank financing. Though he raised capital from hedge funds and private investors, the terms of those deals were far worse than traditional loans, Wittebort told the source. Bush never developed the project and sold the Cherry Creek property in 2012 for about $16 million. Bush filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March 2013 and May 2014, listing less than $50,000 in assets and liabilities between $1 million and $10 million. Another bankruptcy filed this year by the developer listed assets between $1 million and $10 million and financial liabilities in the same range, according to the source. A December 2016 lawsuit filed by Nevada-based Crosscheck LLC, which invested in projects spearheaded by Bush and also loaned his companies millions of dollars, alleged Bush misappropriated funds for his own personal use and gain, the source reported. In another lawsuit last year, Bush agreed to pay a $225,000 judgment to Shames Makovsky Realty for unpaid commission, but reportedly never followed through. Shames Makovsky sued Bush again in March, alleging the developer had transferred funds to avoid payment. Wittebort knew Bush for more than 30 years and told the source he recently spoke to the entrepreneur about a new self-storage deal Bush was working on and that he seemed optimistic he could dig his way out of trouble. Wells indicated Bush was generous while successful, sometimes giving real estate brokers an equity stake in a project on top of their commission. Wells also told the source he lost money as an investor in the Cherry Creek project. By the time it was done, he was just crushed, Wells said. In addition to business, Bush also liked to ski, fish and target shoot, Wittebort said. More than 160 industry professionals attended the Georgia Self Storage Association (GASSA) Convention & Expo, Oct. 1-2, at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, Ga. The event included seminars, roundtable discussions, networking events and a tradeshow featuring 43 exhibitors. Winners of the Facility of the Year and Manager of the Year Awards were also announced. The nine-hour education program covered topics including customer service, selling to Millennials and the life cycle of the storage industry. Featured speakers were M. Anne Ballard, president of training, marketing and developmental services for Universal Storage Group; Jim Chiswell, owner of Chiswell & Associates LLC; Carol Krendl, CEO of SkilCheck Services Inc.; Guy Middlebrooks, vice president of third-party management for CubeSmart; and Scott Zucker, a partner with the law firm Weissmann Zucker Euster Morochnik P.C. The shows exhibitors represented a variety of self-storage products and services, such as brokerage, construction and development, insurance, security, technology, and others. The title Facility of Year was awarded to Space Shop Self Storage in Snellville, Ga., for the conversion of a single-story bowling alley to a three-story self-storage facility. Candidates in this category were judged on their overall excellence in design, construction and operation, according to a GASSA press release. Qianna Felder, a manager at Storage World Inc. in Stockbridge, Ga., was named Manager of the Year. The honor recognizes excellence in self-storage management and customer service. The date and location for the 2018 GASSA conference will be announced in the coming months. Founded in 1992, GASSA is a nonprofit organization for self-storage professionals in the state of Georgia. Its 240 members include owners, managers, management companies, vendors and suppliers representing more than 800 facilities. Merit Hill Capital LP, an investment firm launched late last year to pursue self-storage acquisitions and development opportunities, has purchased a six-property Compass Self Storage portfolio from the Amsdell Cos. The facilities serve the Memphis, Tenn., metro area, with three in Tennessee and three just over the Mississippi border. Together, the properties comprise 337,846 square feet in 2,391 units and 297 outdoor parking spaces, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap, the commercial property-investment firm that brokered the deal. Constructed between 1983 and 2006, the facilities consist primarily of single-story, drive-up buildings with a mix of traditional and climate-controlled units. Common features across the portfolio include electronic gate access, perimeter fencing and video cameras. The portfolio includes two rentable billboards, a cell tower and a commercial tenant generating additional revenue, the release stated. The purchaser had the opportunity to enter a new market with scale, and by bringing on a national management company, can continue to improve the value of the assets, said Charles Chico LeClaire, executive managing director of investments in the Marcus & Millichap Denver office, who represented the seller in the transaction, along with Adam Schlosser, first vice president of investments. LeClaire and Schlosser also procured the buyer. Anne Williams, the Marcus & Millichap broker of record in Mississippi and Tennessee, also assisted in the transaction. Merit Hill launched a $300 million self-storage fund with private capital in June to pursue single-property and small-portfolio acquisitions in markets with at least 25,000 residents and demonstrating population growth. At the time, the investment firm was reportedly under contract to purchase two properties, with a third in its pipeline. The company is planning to use real estate investment trusts CubeSmart and Extra Space Storage Inc. for its third-party management, though other property-management firms are also under consideration. Merit Hill is based in Brooklyn, N.Y. The private-capitalization the company received was from an investment firm with approximately $29 billion in assets under management, according to its LinkedIn page. Compass is the operating brand of Compass Self Storage LLC, an affiliate of the Amsdell Cos., headquartered in Cleveland. The parent company draws its roots from the family-owned construction company founded in 1928. Since its inception, the company has been active in several billions of dollars of real estate ventures, with a primary focus on self-storage. It has owned and operated more than 500 storage centers under various trade names in more than 27 states. It currently owns and operates properties in 15 states. Founded in 1971, Marcus & Millichap is a commercial property-investment firm with more than 1,700 investment professionals in offices throughout Canada and the United States. The firm closed nearly 9,000 transactions in 2016 with a value of approximately $42.3 billion. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission ( ASIC ) has strengthened its relationship with its New Zealand counterpart in expanding opportunities in fintech and innovation.The fintech cooperation with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), forged in 2012 through a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding (MoU), was re-affirmed as senior executives from both regulators sat down to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the emerging fintech industry in Sydney this week.Both ASIC and FMA confirmed their commitment to assist innovative businesses hoping to make ventures in each other's markets by providing them referrals for advice and support.In Australia, ASIC's Innovation Hub helps fintechs navigate the regulatory framework, while helping the regulator monitor and understand fintech developments. ASIC also entered into fintech referral and information-sharing agreements with other regulators including in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan to understand developments and help businesses expand to other jurisdictions.In New Zealand, FMA's Innovation Strategy Group (ISG) was launched to monitor emerging trends in fintech and innovation, and coordinate the regulator's approach to engaging within the market and across the government.Were pleased to further develop our relationship with the FMA and demonstrate our collaborative approach in this space, ASIC commissioner John Price said. Across the Tasman well continue to cooperate with the FMA and refer new businesses where they have an appetite to work in both jurisdictions. Honan Insurance Group is set to focus on its organic growth following its recent acquisition in South East Asia.The brokerage announced this week that it had acquired Singapore-based NGA Benefits as the business continues its expansion into the growing Asian insurance market.Damien Honan, CEO of Honan Insurance Group, told Insurance Business, that the firm is heavily focussed on its organic growth in the wake of the acquisition as the firm is happy with its current South East Asian progress.Its a competitive market, but we approached our first acquisition with the mindset to learn and grow, Honan said. I believe its increased our global footprint by facilitating inbound business.Honan stressed that the South East Asian market is unique but offers opportunity to those who can understand its nuances.It takes a lot of commitment to make it work, Honan continued. You need to understand local customs, and culture. You need to have your timing right, and a long-term strategy behind the decision.Honan noted that NGA Benefits aligns well with the group as Honans first Asian acquisition, of Singaporean broker MACS in 2015, had opened doors for the business to grow further.We already had a good network in Singapore based on our earlier acquisition. This opened up the door to meeting NGA, Honan said. Their service culture and client philosophy is very similar to ours at Honan.With a presence in Asia, New Zealand and the US, as well as its home base in Australia, Honan said that the NGA Benefits acquisition will boost the group at large as the acquired business uses a best practice platform with capability to service both multinational and local clients in the Singaporean market.Weve had strong organic growth in Australia due to our focus on people, partners and clients so for me those three things need to line up very closely, Honan said.The Malaysian service centre will also provide a great leverage point; we are considering how we could potentially integrate this through the group. Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen is suing his insurer for failing to cover for his cancelled solo tour.According to Fagen, he took out a policy with International Insurance Company of Hannover to cover his 28 solo tour dates scheduled this year in North America and in Japan. However, he was suddenly beset by multiple medical complications an upper respiratory tract infection, severe sore throat, as well as sinus and headache pains in September, which prompted him to call off his tour until he could recover.Fagen attempted to file a claim with the insurer but Hannover allegedly demanded more paperwork and medical opinions before they could offer a payout, court documents say.TMZ reported that Fagen is seeking over US$1 million through the suit.Not too long ago, another artist filed a suit against his insurers for failing to cover for a canceled tour Kanye West. West filed a US$10 million lawsuit against his Lloyds of London insurers, only for the syndicates to hit him with a countersuit of their own.Wests insurers argued that the policy they issued had exclusions such as preexisting physical or psychological conditions, possession of illegal drugs, prescription drugs not taken as medically prescribed, and alcohol consumption generally, things that could render West unfit to perform contracted duties. As Wests tour cancellation allegedly came about due to one or more of the listed exclusions, the insurers reasoned that they were not obligated to pay out. AmWINS Group, the countrys largest independent wholesale distributor of specialty insurance products, has been ranked fifth in the 2017 Grant Thornton North Carolina 100. Grant Thornton is the US member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the worlds top independent audit, tax and advisory firms. The Grant Thornton North Carolina 100 ranks the states largest private companies by revenue. Celebrate excellence in insurance. Join us at the Insurance Business Awards in Chicago. We are honored to be named to the 2017 Grant Thornton North Carolina 100 list, said AmWINS CEO M. Steven DeCarlo. While we are proud to be recognized as one of the top-performing businesses in North Carolina, what really makes us successful is the talent of our people and our commitment to providing an industry-leading level of expertise and service to our clients. AmWINS recently grew even larger, acquiring 15 insurance programs from Willis Towers Watson. Hamilton Insurance Group has announced the appointment of Pina Albo as its new chief executive officer.Pending approval from the Bermuda Department of Immigration, Albo will join Hamilton on Feb. 1. She succeeds Interim Group CEO David Brown, who held the position while Hamilton searched for a permanent replacement after the May departure of Brian Duperreault, who now heads AIG Its with great pleasure that we make this announcement today, Hamilton Chairman William Freda said. Our search for a new CEO has been robust and thorough, and we were delighted with the very high caliber of candidates we considered. In the final analysis, all of us involved in the search were impressed by what Pina will bring to Hamilton: an accomplished career with extensive experience and contacts in the global insurance and reinsurance markets, a dynamic commitment to change in our industry, and a deep understanding of what were building at Hamilton.Albo began her career as a lawyer in Toronto, Canada, practicing in real estate, corporate finance and M&A. She then accepted a position at Munich Re . During her 25-year career at the company, Albo held increasingly senior positions, including head of the casualty unit and president of Munich Reinsurance Americas reinsurance division. She most recently served as a member of Munich Res board of executive management.Its an honor to be joining Hamilton, Albo said. Ive been aware of what the company has been doing over the last four years and its goal of leveraging data science and analytics to transform underwriting. Hamilton has strong management, committed shareholders and a dedicated board of directors, intent on delivering transformative change for the benefit of all stakeholders. The components of a great company are already in place. Im keen to join this impressive team. Metro Credit Union, the largest state-chartered credit union in Massachusetts, has launched its own insurance business.The business, Metro Insurance Advisors, is an agency offering a complete line of insurance products and coverage for automobiles, homeowners, renters, and businesses, a release said.Insurance is a product that all individuals need, said Metro Credit Union president and CEO Robert Cashman. As the trusted financial institution for more than 190,000 members, our goal is to provide high-quality, affordable solutions that make managing finances easy. We are pleased to add Metro Insurance Advisors to our already-robust line of financial solutions.The company has collaborated with MAPFRE Insurance to develop the business.We are proud to partner with MAPFRE Insurance, the number one provider of auto and home insurance in Massachusetts, added Cashman. Partnering with MAPFRE allows us to deliver a comprehensive suite of insurance products at the best price, while delivering the exceptional service our members and business owners have come to expect.We are pleased to partner with Metro Credit Union, the largest state chartered credit union in Massachusetts, as it launches Metro Insurance Advisors, commented MAPFRE Insurance senior vice-president John Kelly. This new insurance agency will offer Metros members access to our comprehensive coverage options, along with the exceptional service that has made us a market leader in Massachusetts. Members and insurance customers alike will discover that Metro and MAPFRE share the same values: providing quality products and expertise they can trust, with the goal of increasing financial peace of mind. The FBI arrested a Texas man last week for allegedly scheming to bilk insurance companies for more than $25 million by posing as a physician.According to the Department of Justice, David Williams, 54, ran the scam between November of 2012 and August of this year.Williams allegedly advertised on his website that he offered in-home fitness training and therapy. He billed himself as Dr. Dave and told potential clients that he accepted most insurance plans.In order to bill insurance companies, Williams registered with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, falsely claiming that he was a healthcare provider, authorities said. He allegedly enrolled as a healthcare provider at least 19 times under different names or variations of his own name. The DOJ said that Williams would then bill insurance companies as if he were a medical doctor who had provided care requiring medical decision making of high complexity. In reality, the DOJ said, Williams was simply providing fitness and exercise training.According to the DOJ, Williams would meet with new clients or speak with them over the phone, review their health history, and assign each a personal trainer. The trainer would generally meet with the client one to three times a week, and Williams would allegedly bill insurance companies for each training session using inaccurate codes. Authorities said that Williams occasionally billed for services that neither he nor his staff provided.If convicted, Williams could face up to 10 years in federal prison. Is insurtech and indeed, the whole financial technology space losing momentum? At the very least, the pace of start-up creation seems to be slowing. More than 1,000 fintech start-ups were created in 2015 in the United States. In 2016, that number dropped to just 500, according to data-analysis company Tracxn.Start-up creation in the sector also slowed dramatically in France, Germany and the UK, according to French finance publication Les Echos.There are signs that the financial sector transformation promised by these actors is stalled, Accenture said in a recent report. The technological breakthroughs are real, but many fintechs are struggling to scale up.Some start-ups have developed truly innovative technology but have failed to capture the market, Accenture said. Meanwhile, disruptive technologies have managed to fragment the financial services market, Les Echos reported.Early warning signs of the collapse of an integrated financial service provider model are appearing in the rate schedules of asset managers or private banks, Accenture said in its report. A Machiasport, Maine, man is suing a salmon farm over a workplace injury in which he lost two fingers. Jesse Redman sued True North Salmon US Inc. and Cooke Aquaculture USA Inc. last week in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Maine. Hes seeking unspecified damages. His lawyer, Dov Sacks, told the Bangor Daily News that the injury was so serious that Redman may never be able to go to sea again. The lawsuit contends he was gripping a rope for balance because there was no gang plank when the site manager activated a winch that crushed his hand. Attorney William Devoe, who represents the salmon companies, said he could not comment on the lawsuit because he has not seen the complaint. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Commercial Lines Business Insurance Maine Five of the worlds largest risk management associations have agreed to work together towards a recognition of their respective risk management designations/certification programs. The organizations, ALARYS (Latin America), FERMA (Europe), IRMSA (South Africa), PARIMA (Asia) and RIMS (North America), signed a letter of intent when they met at the FERMA Risk Management Forum in Monte Carlo this week. The letter indicates that they will jointly draft a memorandum of understanding within the next few months to establish the conditions under which a risk professional certified by one of the five associations will receive continuous professional development (CPD) points for attending any of the five associations events. Although our various certification programs take into account local specificities which should remain, it is fundamental for the profession that we ensure a gradual convergence of our respective certification programs over the coming years, said Jo Willaert, president of FERMA. It should start with a mutual recognition of our respective main events in terms of CPD points, and that is the important step we are now taking. The FERMA Forum also provided an opportunity to announce the 2018/2019 edition of the FERMA Lloyds Professional Development Program. For the second time, this programme will be licensed by the FERMA rimap certification program and will grant CPD points to participants. FERMA Lloyds Professional Development Program is the first risk management education program to receive CPD points for the FERMA rimap European certification. It is an opportunity for participants to increase risk knowledge also also to maintain their certification, said Willaert. Information and online registration can be found on FERMAs rimap European certification platform. FERMA said the next online examination sessions will take place on Oct. 26, Nov. 23 and Dec. 14, 2017. Source: FERMA Topics Europe Risk Management Ohio Department of Insurance Director Jillian Froment says that the average rates in 2016 for the top 10 homeowners and private passenger auto insurance groups in Ohio increased 1.9 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Ohioans pay among the lowest average insurance premiums for homeowners and auto insurance. Ohioans pay an average of $797 (9th lowest) for homeowners insurance and $683 (12th lowest) for auto insurance compared to the national average, according to the most recent data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Ohios combined average premiums are $518 below the national averages. Changes in auto insurance rates can be associated with medical costs, weather-related claims, the number of cars on Ohio roads and repairs costs. Homeowners insurance rates can be impacted by weather-related claims, and building and material costs. Individual insurance consumers may have experienced rate changes that differ from the average. The Ohio Department of Insurance reviews rates to ensure they comply with Ohio insurance law and that they are actuarially sound. The top 10 insurance groups represent approximately 75 percent of the market in Ohio. Source: Ohio Department of Insurance Topics Auto Ohio Homeowners A first-year associate at a Manhattan law firm brought her complaint of sexual harassment to the managing partner. Her male boss, she said, had told her to take off her clothing. After months during which she continued to work for the same man, she left, signing a nondisclosure agreement in connection with a severance package. The associate wont give her name, fearing retribution for what she thinks would be an obvious breach of a legal contract. A provision in the nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, says that, in exchange for $40,000, she agrees to not disclos[e] to any person or entity any information about any one at the firm. She also agreed to not sue or disparage the law firm. Her boss kept his job. This is very often how the Harvey Weinsteins at companies stay employedand part of the reason his story rarely spreads beyond office whispers. Dozens of women have come forward to add to the record of alleged sexual assault and misconduct by Harvey Weinstein in the days since the New York Times first reported on decades of silenced accusations. Some of those speaking publicly about the high-powered movie producer are breaking confidentiality contracts, risking lawsuits to do so. Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women, according to the Times, and some of these featured NDAs. In one of several such settlements reported by the Times, Weinstein made a $100,000 payment to actress Rose McGowan in 1997 to keep her quiet about conduct that she has since described as rape. McGowan, who was 23 years old at the time, appears to have gone two decades without explicitly identifying Weinstein. CNN reported that she retracted an interview with the New Yorker for its competing investigation into Weinsteins conduct over fear of legal consequences. At this point, with Weinstein shamed in lengthy exposes and shunned by his industry and peers, its unlikely that he will pursue in court any of the women who may have violated NDAs. But there can be little doubt that the agreements have helped keep his conduct from coming into the open, according to multiple employment lawyers. Possible Criminal Activity Nondisclosure agreements come in a few flavors, with varying degrees of enforceability. Many employees sign NDAs as part of their employment contracts when they first start a new job, agreeing not to sell a companys trade secrets and other intellectual property. Google Inc., LinkedIn Corp., and Facebook Inc., among many others, require anyone who walks into their headquarters to sign an NDA. Reality-show contestants sign contracts saying they have to pay steep fines if they reveal a shows secrets. Weinstein also used NDAs in cases that have nothing to do with allegations of harassment or sexual assault. In 2015, for example, he was at the center of a financial dispute with the AIDs charity AmfAR. As part of Weinsteins attempt to resolve the dispute, he asked AmfAR board members and others involved to sign NDAs. An unsigned copy of the NDA given to Thomas Ajamie, a lawyer hired by AmfARs board to investigate the matter, was reviewed by Bloomberg. It seeks to prevent the recepient from talking to virtually any third party about Weinsteins personal and business activities or otherwise assisting in any investigations. For the avoidance of doubt, the document reads, any third party as used herein shall include, without limitation, any individual or entity of the press and/or media. Employment lawyers who reviewed the Weinstein NDA said its language is standard. Ajamie declined to comment, and a spokeswoman for Weinstein declined to comment because the agreements are private. In workplace harassment casesboth in Hollywood and in the rest of the American workforcemany companies try to use NDAs and other legal agreements to protect the employer from legal consequences for wrongdoing and, whether that is the intention or not, to keep criminal behavior out of the public eye and the courts. That way, someone like Weinstein can be a repeat offender without consequence. Its buying silence. Its buying confidentiality. Its trying to sanitize, said Peter Romer-Friedman, an employment lawyer at Outten and Golden. These agreements are often protecting criminal activity. The constellation of people for whom a settlement can become a pact for silence is relatively small. Only from 6 percent to 13 percent of victims formally report workplace harassment to their employer or law enforcement, according to a recent study by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. NDAs are geared to ensure that the fraction of people who do come forward cant warn others or bring claims to light, all of which contributes to the culture of silence around workplace harassment. Legal scholars are now asking if settlements backed by nondisclosure pacts are protecting criminal activity. It should be a question of whether all of this is enforceable for public policy reasons, said Orly Lobel, a labor and employment law professor at the University of San Diego. When these stories come out, it helps every one understand their rights and what is totally inappropriate and unlawful. Some companies also tack on broader nondisparagement clauses alongside NDAs. While an agreement limiting disclosure will typically bar either party from describing the facts of a particular case, nondisparagement clauses prevent an employee from saying anything negative about the companyat all, even down to a post on social media. Nondisparagement clauses are particularly popular in Silicon Valley, and critics argue that their use has helped shroud a sexist culture in the tech industry. Ann Lai, a former principal at Binary Capital LLC, had to sign a nondisparagement clause when she joined the venture capital firm. A complaint Lai filed against her former employer alleges that the clause became a means to ensure her silence about what she alleges was a culture of harassment at Binary. Lais complaint describes repeated texts from Justin Caldbeck, a partner at the firm, urging her not to speak out. She did anyway, and she now faces a potential countersuit for breaking her NDA. (Binary did not immediately respond to questions about the case.) A 2006 case, Lyle v. Warner Bros., pushed writers rooms on television shows to consider potential harassment claims as liabilities. A female comedy writers assistant working on Friends claimed her coworkers used vulgar language, drew lewd pictures and talked about personal sexual experiences. Warner Bros. said it had warned the employee, Amaani Lyle, that she would be in earshot of many of these conversations. The California Supreme Court ruled that raunchy sexual comments made in the workplace, in this case, didnt equal a hostile work environment because the jokes werent directed at Lyle. But the judge also found that context matters: A writers room, as a workplace, isnt immune to harassment claims just because employees routinely tell lewd jokes and stories. The finding put employers on notice for legal risk, even if workers knowingly enter a job associated with behavior that can be construed as harassment. Still, its not clear that these contracts hold as much power as a superficial reading would suggest. Breaking an NDA doesnt necessarily mean giving back all the settlement money. Its unlikely that a court would approve of something like that, said Romer-Friedman, an employment lawyer. More likely, he added, someone who violates a nondisclosure provision would have to pay a smaller fine. The specter of a lawsuit by an employer, past or present, is one part of what keeps people quiet. You might see a nasty threatening lettersaying were going to bankrupt you, Lobel said. Dealing with a lawsuit, even if you win, is expensive. An NDA also cant prohibit an employee from filing a sexual harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, something former Fox News Network LLC founder and Chairman Roger Ailes reportedly tried to require of at least one of his victims. (A representative for Fox News did not immediately respond to questions.) The agency recently sued CVS Health Corp. for asking its employees to sign broad severance agreements that were alleged to prohibit communication with the EEOC, although a federal judge dismissed the suit. A representative for CVS said nothing in its severance agreement prevents complaints to or cooperation with the EEOC. After the Weinstein revelations, however, the power of NDAs may face new legal and legislative challenges. Two New York State lawmakers recently introduced legislation to void any contract that includes a provision to silence workers about harassment or discrimination. It is past time that we looked at why we allow this to occur, said Brad Hoylman, one of the co-sponsors of the bill in the State Senate. By silencing victims, were just creating new victims. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Legislation For state Rep. Lyle Larson, Hurricane Harvey was not only a tragedy but also a wasted opportunity. The San Antonio Republican, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, estimates that the amount of rain the storm dropped on the state could meet all its water needs household, agricultural and otherwise for at least eight years. Instead, he said, those 34 trillion gallons ended up in a place where they didnt do a bit of good: the Gulf of Mexico. You could capture a good percentage of that water and start storing it, he said in a recent interview. In Harveys wake, Larson and other lawmakers are re-upping calls for state support of aquifer storage and recovery projects in which water is pumped into underground reservoirs and stored for future use. Larson authored several related bills earlier this year most of them passed, but were later vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott that wouldve earmarked state funding for such projects and directed the states water planning agency to study the best places to put them. His counterpart in the Texas Senate, Charles Perry, appears just as passionate. At a hearing Monday, the Lubbock Republican also called Harvey a missed opportunity and said such projects could help the state better withstand the next, inevitable drought. Both he and Larson represent water-strapped districts. The practice of capturing water and injecting it into underground aquifers is well established. According to the Texas Water Development Board, there are at least 175 operational aquifer storage and recovery projects throughout the United States, including three in Texas. (The oldest, in New Jersey, came online in 1969.) Several more projects are in the works throughout the state. None of the projects in Texas involve capturing floodwater, however. And experts say the feasibility of corralling excessive stormwater, cleaning it and injecting it underground is yet to be determined. A study underway in Harris County is exploring what one hydrologist working on the project described as significant technical challenges to the process. We are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg as far as potential is concerned, said Bill Mullican, a water project consultant and former Water Development Board administrator. If you look at the floods of May 2015, the [Tax Day] floods of 2016 and Harvey, what youve seen is a series of rather routine flood events that demonstrate that we have water that we are not capturing for later use during times of drought. Generally speaking, supporters of aquifer storage and recovery say the approach has many advantages over traditional methods of water storage such as surface reservoirs. For one, water stored underground is not vulnerable to evaporation, which is a major problem in Texas. According to the Water Development Board, Texas on average loses about 40 percent of its water demand to evaporation each year particularly in hot summer months. Unlike a traditional surface reservoir, aquifer storage projects also dont require the acquisition of private land and generally are quicker to implement. Mullican said the majority of land in Texas suitable for large reservoirs has greatly diminished since the heyday of reservoir construction in the 1960s and 70s. The amount of water that we have in storage in our [surface reservoirs and] lakes has been declining over the last 20 years because our population keeps getting bigger and were not adding anything to our storage [capacity], he said. He noted that the last major surface reservoir in Texas was built over two decades ago. The Texas cities that have active aquifer storage and recovery projects are El Paso, Kerrville and San Antonio Larsons hometown. San Antonios project, which came online in 2004 and cost more than $2 million, is perhaps the most well-known. Its design is distinctive in that it doesnt inject surface water underground but transfers water from one aquifer to another that is better suited to store water for longer periods. Kerrvilles system is more traditional it captures water from the Guadalupe River in cooler months when water demand dips. El Pasos system uses treated wastewater. Still, Larson said the state is some 20 years behind the rest of the country in taking advantage of aquifer storage and recovery technology. Weve got our work cut out, he said, because in the foreseeable future, you are going to see a pretty substantial drought, and all that water is going to be in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the bills Larson authored that Abbott later vetoed would have directed the Water Development Board to conduct a statewide assessment of potential sites for aquifer storage and recovery systems, especially in flood-prone areas something Abbott said the agency already had the authority to do. Another bill would have earmarked state funds for aquifer storage and recovery projects. (Larson attributed the vetoes to raw politics.) Public entities have already been eligible to receive state assistance for such projects in the form of low-interest loans. The city of Bryan, for example, secured an $18 million, multiyear loan last year for an aquifer storage and recovery project through the voter-approved SWIFT program. In large part, an increased interest in aquifer storage and recovery projects is a result of one of Larsons past legislative successes, Mullican said. A 2015 bill eliminated some red tape from the permitting process by giving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality the sole authority to sign off on underground storage projects. Previously, groundwater conservation districts also had to approve them. While some regulatory hurdles are disappearing and more cities are looking to cache their water resources below ground, no one in the state has yet produced an operable system that is specifically designed to capture and store floodwater. Thats because dealing with water from excessive flood events brings unique challenges, said Gretchen Miller, a Texas A&M; University engineer who is studying the feasibility of such a project for Harris County. The biggest issue is the quality of stormwater, she said. In general, water injected into aquifers has to meet very strict quality standards and stormwater frequently carries a dirty mix of clays and silts that could clog up water pumps designed to move it underground not to mention other contaminants such as bacteria. But water treatment takes time, and there are natural limits on how quickly water can be pumped into the ground, Miller said. If there is a rain event, water treatment may not be able to keep up with how quickly aboveground capture facilities fill up, she said. Another limiting factor is the scale of rain events. Aquifers have finite storage space, so experts familiar with aquifer storage and recovery are quick to point out and Larson agrees that an event like Harvey dumped so much rain it would be impossible to capture and store it all. One Harris County official who pushed for the study Miller is working on says he is cautiously optimistic of the feasibility of such a project. It really does have a lot of promise, said Harris County Commissioner Jack Cagle. But its not something that can be implemented quickly. Some caution that overzealous capture efforts could impact the environmental integrity of surface water supplies. Kirk Winemiller, a professor of wildlife and fisheries studies at Texas A&M;, said he supports the capture and storage of water during massive rain events like Harvey, which dumped so much water on rivers, bayous and lakes that they escaped their banks. But he said after a smaller rain event it could be easy to harvest too much water, which would harm the health of plants and animals. Any water that you take out of the natural system is going to have some effect, Winemiller said. Cagle said another concern for Harris County as it explores the possibility of creating a floodwater storage project of its own is how much it might cost. Regardless, he said events like Harvey are a reminder to continue to explore creative solutions: The balance point for whether something is feasible or not on an economic scale may be tilting towards, Lets try it.' This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/18/extreme-weather-events-texas-renew-push-underground-water-storage/. Disclosure: Texas A&M; University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Topics Texas Flood The mayor of the Gulf Coast community of Rockport says Hurricane Harvey destroyed about a third of the town and that 30 to 35 percent of it will probably never be rebuilt. Mayor Charles C.J. Wax said during a panel discussion Tuesday in Victoria that only about 300 businesses out of the 1,300 in Rockport have reopened since Harvey came ashore in August. Wax says people know Rockport as the city of trees but most were lost as crews have removed nearly 800,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris. A town heavily dependent on tourism, Rockport saw four of its five main tourist attractions either destroyed or damaged beyond the point of use, Wax said. This isnt going to happen tomorrow or the next day this is going to be several years before we are anywhere close to where we were, Wax said. The impact next year is going to be severe. Wax was joined by three other mayors of communities devastated by Harvey. They spoke as part of a discussion hosted by the Texas Tribune. Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan told the panel that 75 percent of the homes in his community were either severely damaged or destroyed. According to the Texas Tribune, Port Aransas tax base has shrunk from $2.9 billion to $1.6 billion as a result of Hurricane Harvey. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas It took five weeks for the largest U.S. oil refinery to get back to normal after Hurricane Harvey. Its taking Port Arthur, Texas, a lot longer. Nearly two months after Harvey inundated Port Arthur, a crucial hub of the global energy industry, the city of 55,000 is struggling to recover. As attention shifted to Puerto Rico, where the devastation from Hurricane Maria is far worse, water-logged debris still lines the citys streets. The mess of furniture, carpets and appliances will take months to clear, Mayor Derrick Freeman said. Zika, mold, hepatitis and other health threats are a big concern. Youre picking up moldy sheet rock and refrigerators that have flies all over, Freeman said. The 2017 hurricane season unleashed its deadly torrents on industries and communities alike, but the ability to clean up and move on separates them. Thats been true not only for Puerto Rico, where most of the island is without power a month after landfall, but to a lesser extent in Port Arthur, also known as Energy City, whose facilities are responsible for 6.3 percent of American oil refining. Even in Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, which received $50 million in recovery funds from the states $12 billion disaster-relief fund, clearing mounds of trash will take months, according to a statement from the city. Though problems persist, the Motiva Enterprises refinery, owned by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., and other Port Arthur facilities, run by Valero Energy Corp. and Total SA, had the resources to return to near-normal relatively quickly. On the other side of the razor wire, it will cost Port Arthur $25 million to cart away all the garbage, according to Freeman. The city received $10 million from the state fund, said Chris Bryan, spokesman for the Texas comptroller. The legislature wont decide on further appropriations until its next session in 2019, he said. Census Data Port Arthur, 90 miles east of Houston, wasnt a beacon of financial wellness before Hurricane Harvey, according to the latest census data. In 2015, 27 percent of residents lived below the poverty line, compared with 17 percent in the state of Texas and 11 percent in the U.S. Median household income in Port Arthur is $32,863, more than 35 percent lower than in Texas and the country in general. The town has roughly triple the percentage of black residents as Texas and the U.S. The economic disadvantages translate into health concerns. Locals have started complaining about weird health concerns, including breathing problems and rashes, most likely from homes infested with black mold, said Dr. Marsha Thigpen, the executive director of the towns Gulf Coast Health Center. Thigpen said shes seeing 10 percent more patients than she did this time last year. The center is giving away hepatitis A vaccines and insect repellent to prevent Zika virus, she said. Prolonged contact with mold can lead to neurological disorders, according to Dr. Claudia S. Miller at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, memory loss and difficulty concentrating might appear to be from post-traumatic stress, but those problems also arise from toxic exposure, she said. Trade Zone Port Arthurs three oil refineries are part of a peculiar jurisdictional setup. They arent sitting on city land. Like the embassies of foreign countries, theyre not technically on U.S. soil either. Theyre in foreign trade zones, which allow the refineries an array of federal and local tax breaks. The refineries are doing well financially. Motiva spent $7 billion on a 2012 expansion that more than doubled the facilitys capacity, to 605,000 barrels a day. The move set up the company to more efficiently process a range of crudes, including oil from Venezuela and Canadas tar sands. Saudi Aramco plans to invest $12 billion into another refinery expansion, and $18 billion total into Motiva by 2023. Total said its pouring $1.7 billion into expansion at its Port Arthur plant. For America Getting the facilities running after the storm was a priority for more than simply business reasons, said Dan Misko, who works at Exxon Mobil Corp.s refinery in Beaumont, Texas, 20 miles northwest of Port Arthur. They dont work just for Exxon Mobil, they work for the American people, Misko said. Its important to the U.S. to make sure that we can provide fuel. The Port Arthur-based refiners have been generous to their afflicted neighbors. Motiva said it donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross; Total gave $250,000 and Valero $1 million. Motiva said it gave away fuel and food, supplied as many as 900 meals a day for 10 days to emergency responders and evacuees staying at a local middle school. The company is matching employee contributions to the Red Cross, spokeswoman Angela Goodwin said. Homes of one of every five Total employees in Port Arthur experienced flooding, and the company helped more than 200 employees with hotel stays, rental vehicles, onsite meals and fuel, said Tricia Fuller, a Total spokeswoman. They Never Left Valero delivered hundreds of meals to Catholic Charities Hospitality Center, donated towels to the humane society, blankets to shelters and food to the United Steelworkers union, which represents refinery workers, said Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas. Between Port Arthur and Beaumont, 900 union members were affected by the storm, and more than 500 lost just about everything, said Richard Hoot Landry, the district staff representative. Most of our people never left the refinery, Landry said last week. Shifts are returning to normal this week, but refinery employees were working long days, Landry said, so they didnt have a lot of time to work on their homes, many of which were damaged by the water. Theyre living with family and friends, he said. Its really a nightmare trying to find good contractors that wont rip them off, so theyre really stressed right now. With assistance from Joe Carroll and Barbara Powell. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Texas Energy Oil Gas Hurricane S.S. Nesbitt & Co. Inc. (SSN), a Southeastern insurance agency and division of EBSCO Industries, Inc. (EBSCO), has appointed Mike Roman as vice president of its property and casualty sales. Roman is joining senior vice president of property and casualty (P&C) Allen Baker in supporting the P&C sales team and group practice. Romans primary focus will include the recruitment, onboarding and training, mentoring and management of producers across all agency branches. He will also serve as an independent insurance consultant for regional businesses while providing all the agencys clients with expertise on management liability, with a particular focus on cyber liability. Before joining SSN, Roman worked as senior vice president and client advocate at Willis Towers Watson, where he spent nearly 14 years. Prior to his work in insurance, Roman was a pilot with American Airlines after a career as an aviator and electronic warfare mission commander with the U.S. Navy. SSN also announced that Matt Monroe has been named vice president of business development. Monroe will operate in an internal sales role, cultivating business relationships among EBSCOs various business units to develop new insurance customers. Monroe, who was formerly vice president of sales management for SSN, will continue to support the agencys management team through operational and sales planning and strategy. Monroe has been with SSN for over a year in the sales management role. He came to SSN from Royal Cup Coffee, where he served as director for sales operations, OCS Division, and a regional manager for their central region. He also worked as a Miller Heiman consultant and practice manager. S.S. Nesbitt is a privately held independent insurance agency based in Birmingham, Ala., with multiple locations in the Southeastern United States. These offices provide all lines of insurance in partnership with specialized carriers. Topics Property Casualty Alabama A utility that provides water in southeastern North Carolina has sued a company it accuses of polluting the Cape Fear River, where the utility gets its water. The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority filed a complaint in U.S. District Court on Monday afternoon accusing Chemours and DuPont of violating the Clean Water Act and several other federal laws by putting a chemical known as GenX into the water. The complaint calls for damages of more than $75,000. The chemical is used to make Teflon. Utility director Jim Fletcher told North Carolina lawmakers earlier this month that the utilitys water meets state and federal drinking water standards. But Fletcher said too little is known about the chemical. A spokesman for Chemours did not immediately respond to questions about the lawsuit. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits North Carolina Colorado energy regulators are proposing tighter rules for shutting down oil and gas pipelines after a fatal explosion blamed on natural gas leaking from a line that was thought to be out of service but was still connected to a well. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission rules govern flow lines, which carry oil, gas and wastewater from wells to tanks and other gathering equipment. A public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11-12, and the commissioners could vote to approve the rules after that. The rules are in response to an April 17 explosion in Firestone that killed two people and destroyed a house. Investigators said the explosion was caused by odorless, unrefined gas leaking from a severed flow line. Investigators said the line was believed to be abandoned but was still connected to an operating well with the valve turned to the open position. The flow line was severed about 10 feet (3 meters) from the house, and gas seeped into the homes basement, investigators said. The well and pipeline were in place several years before the house was built. The presence of homes and schools near oil and gas operations is a contentious issue in Colorado, where the booming Front Range urban corridor overlaps with an oil and gas field. The 14-page draft of new regulations says flow lines that are permanently taken out of service must be disconnected, drained and sealed at both ends, and any above-ground portion must be removed. The rules also allow energy companies to simply remove the lines. Bruce Baizel of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which advocates for environmental and community protections from energy development, said the rules should require energy companies to remove all abandoned flow lines to prevent explosions like the one in Firestone. Removing them would also prevent the leak of any chemicals left in the lines, he said. Dan Haley, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry group, said he hopes the new rules take into account the differences in energy company operations in the state. The Colorado Petroleum Council, another industry group, is still reviewing the rules and had no immediate comment, Executive Director Tracee Bentley said. The proposals also require energy companies to provide information on the location of flow lines to the Call 811 program, which marks the site of underground utilities at a property owners request. Thats meant to help homeowners and construction companies avoid inadvertently severing a line. The new rules also revise or add requirements for designing, installing, testing and documenting flow lines. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Energy Oil Gas Colorado A fire that erupted at the West Coasts largest oil refinery threatened storage tanks and sent huge flames into the sky and black smoke across neighborhoods before crews quickly smothered it. Dozens of firefighters responded late Tuesday to the 1,000-acre Chevron El Segundo Refinery just south of Los Angeles, which processes nearly 275,000 gallons of crude per day. Residents were urged to close windows and shelter in place as dramatic flames roiled at the facility and thick plumes of acrid smoke traveled through neighborhoods. Surrounding streets were briefly closed, but no evacuations were ordered. No injuries were reported. Crews using firefighting foam kept the blaze from spreading to storage tanks and within about a half-hour, there was little visible flame. Chevron officials did not immediately comment Wednesday on the possible cause. Fires at such refineries have had implications for gas prices, though it wasnt yet clear if this one would. The refinery, the West Coasts largest, supplies 40 percent of the jet fuel to nearby Los Angeles International Airport and has 20 percent of the gasoline market share in Southern California, according the companys website. Daily production includes 110,000 barrels of gasoline and 100,000 barrels of jet and diesel fuels. Other products include fuel oils, coke and liquefied petroleum gas. About 1,100 Chevron employees and 300 contract employees work there. The El Segundo refinery dates to 1911. Its name is Spanish for `the second, and was bestowed because it was the second refinery built by Chevron predecessor Standard Oil Co. The first refinery was built at Richmond in 1901. Chevron was fined nearly $1 million by the state of California for a major fire in 2012 at a refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Energy Oil Gas The California Workers Compensation Institute this week released a report on a list of bills that will affect the workers comp system. The bills were recently signed into law at the end of the Legislative session by Gov. Jerry Brown. Here is the CWCIs recap of those bills: Physician Access to CURES (AB 40, Santiago): Enables medical providers to use third-party software to access information about a patients prescription drug history from the states prescription drug monitoring program (CURES). Currently, providers can only access this information through the CURES website, but AB 40 will simplify the process by allowing them to link their systems directly to CURES, eliminating the need to log on to the website and perform a manual search. Advocacy Services for Workers Injured by Terrorist Acts (AB 44, Reyes): Requires employers to provide immediately available advocacy services for workers injured by acts of domestic terrorism. Advocates (nurse case managers) will be responsible for helping these injured workers obtain medical treatment and helping their medical providers obtain treatment authorizations and payments. The bill was introduced in response to medical treatment issues that arose on claims filed by workers following the December 2015 terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. Liens Filed by Suspended Providers (AB 1422, Daly): Extends the automatic stay on liens filed by medical providers charged with criminal fraud so that it runs from the time the criminal charges are filed all the way through the suspension hearing. The bill closes a loophole in existing law that gave providers an opportunity to pursue liens for payment between the time they were convicted of fraud and the point at which they were suspended. AB 1422 further clarifies that these rules also apply to entities controlled by individuals charged with criminal fraud. Drug Transparency (SB 17, Hernandez): Requires pharmaceutical companies to notify health insurers and government health plans at least 60 days before scheduled prescription dnrg price hikes that would exceed 16 percent over a two-year period and to explain the reasons behind those increases. Limits on Assistance to Immigration Enforcement Agents (SB 54, DeLeon): Requires the state attorney general to draft model policies for state agencies, including the Department of Workers Compensation, limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law. The model policies are to cover state buildings, including those used by the DIR, the DWC, and the WCAB. The bill requires the attorney general to adopt the model policies by Oct. 1, 2018. Workers Comp Exemptions for Officers and Directors (SB 189, Bradford): Allows corporate officers and directors who own at least 10 percent of a business to opt out of workers comp coverage for themselves if they sign a waiver stating that they are covered by a health insurance plan. The 10 percent threshold is a reduction from the 15 percent threshold established by AB 2883 in 2016. This bill also includes a conclusive presumption that a person who executes a waiver is not covered by workers compensation. New State Compensation Insurance Fund Executive Positions (SB 272, Mendoza): Enables the State Compensation Insurance Fund Board to appoint a chief underwriter, chief information security officer, senior vice president of insurance services, executive vice president of corporate claims, executive vice president of strategic planning, and a pricing actuary. Each of these are executive positions, exempt from civil service protections. Retaliation Complaint Investigations and Awards (SB 306, Hertzberg): Expands the Labor Commissioners ability to investigate complaints by employees that their employer retaliated or discriminated against them in response to protected conduct (which may include filing or testifying on behalf of a coworker in a workers compensation claim, repealing safety violations, etc.). SB 306 allows the commissioner to initiate investigations of such claims without having to go to court to obtain an enforcement order, and to obtain an award for attorneys fees and costs when it successfully prosecutes a retaliation claim through the courts. CIGA Reinsurance (SB 430, Senate Committee on Insurance): Enables the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), upon the approval Of the Insurance Commissioner, to purchase reinsurance for its workers compensation fund from any reinsurer licensed in California. This removes the current restriction that has only allowed CIGA to purchase reinsurance from its member companies even though most reinsurers in the state are not CIGA members. Emergency Room Physician Bills (SB 489, Bradford): Extends the deadline for emergency room physicians to submit their bills to workers compensation claims administrators from 30 days to 180 days, for treatment provided under SB 1 160s pass-through provisions for certain treatment provided during the first 30 days following injury. Topics California Legislation Workers' Compensation Reinsurance Drugs San Diego, Calif.-based ICW Group Insurance Cos. has named John Novak chief operating and strategic execution officer. Novak will succeed David Hoppen, who accepted the position of president of VerTerra Insurance Co. (a member company of ICW Group). Novak has more than 24 years of leadership experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to joining ICW Group, he was a managing director of Guy Carpenter. Novak also has expertise in enterprise risk management, compliance, financial reporting and capital markets. ICW Group is a privately held insurance company domiciled in California. Topics California We recommend the best products through an independent review process, and advertisers do not influence our picks. We may receive compensation if you visit partners we recommend. Read our advertiser disclosure for more info. There is a wide range of books available for learning technical analysis, covering topics like chart patterns, crowd psychology, and even trading system development. While many of these books provide outdated or irrelevant information, there are several books that have become timeless masterpieces when it comes to mastering the art of trading. In this article, we will look at seven books on technical analysis to help traders and investors better understand the subject and employ the strategy in their own trading. Leo Varadkar opened the Data Summit at the Convention Centre Dublin which hosted speakers included vice president and chief internet evangelist at Google, Vint Cerf, and Irelands data protection commissioner Helen Dixon. New documents show that the department paid 96,136 to events firm Happening Conference and Events Ltd for event costs including fees, catering and promotion. It also paid Q4 Public Relations 25,750 for providing PR and communications services. ESB Networks has been working around the clock to restore power to some 306,000 homes and businesses since Monday. However, 78,000 customers remain without power and will have to wait three or four days to be reconnected. Those in isolated areas will not have power restored until Monday. The 2,500 ESB Networks staff and 1,000 contractors have been joined in the operation by 283 staff from electricity utilities in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Man and France. Some 24,000 people remain without water but this has fallen from a peak of 109,000. Irish Water said that 2,000 people are on water supplies that are at risk of running out of water, down from a peak of 260,000. Cork, Waterford and Wexford are worst affected by the outages with half of those without water in Cork. Irish Water said that while progress has been significant and is continuing, some of the smaller schemes with fewer than 1,000 people will take longer to get back on track. Of the 148 wastewater schemes affected nationwide, 104 are back up and running. At present, 26 generators are being used to power water treatment plants across the southern region, serving a population of 90,000. In the past 24 hours, supply has been restored in a large number of areas in Cork, including Cobh, Leap, Cloyne, Kealkill and Doneraile. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the vast majority of insurance policies are valid for damage from Storm Ophelia. He said Government would engage with the insurance industry in the coming days but urged consumers to read the fine print on policies as well. We do think this will be a little bit different to flooding. I know that when it comes to severe weather that causes flooding, that quite a number of people find themselves uninsured because they are on floodplains or have been flooded before. We expect this will be different. Nobody is in a hurricane path. Its different to a floodplain. We think that in the vast majority of cases people will be insured and will be covered but the best thing to do is to read your own policy and contact your insurer as soon as you can, he said. Meanewhile, Siptu has written to management in the HSE to clarify why home care workers were expected to remain working on Monday after HSE offices were shut at 12pm due to the unprecedented weather conditions. Last week, up to 30 cases were struck out in Dungarvan. Judge Terence Finn said a considerable amount of time had passed since the legal matter was before the courts and it would be unsafe to now hear the cases. The legal challenge was taken by a Romanian man Mihai Avadanei over his 2014 prosecution for drink-driving in Dublin, on the basis that the print-out from the intoxilyser machine should be in both English and Irish, as written in the Road Traffic Act, 2010. In March 2015, the High Court upheld the appeal on his prosecution, opening the way for up to 1,100 motorists to stop their prosecutions under the same law. Today in Letterkenny, 45 cases are up for mention after a series of adjournments while awaiting the outcome in the superior courts. In September 2015, then transport minister Pascal Donohoe issued a new statutory instrument to correct the clause in the Act requiring the printout in both languages. All cases initiated before that date under the 2010 Act were still liable for challenge on the basis of Mr Avadaneis case. The DPP had appealed the High Court ruling to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the appeal in May 2016. The appeals court ruled that even if the Irish version of the document had been produced, it would not have added anything of substance to the document and the omission could not have misled anybody on the contents of the document. Mr Avadanei appealed the case to the Supreme Court on a point of law. The court reserved judgment. Susan Gray, of the PARC Road Safety Campaign, said the issue has been dragging on for too long and is having a major impact on the courts. This has been through all the superior courts over the last two-and-a-half years, she said. Now district court judges are obviously losing patience and feel obliged to throw out these cases. Its a shambles of prosecuting what we all know to be an offence where people lose their lives or are seriously injured. Its outrageous that this whole lacuna has emerged since 2010. This has been strung out because the government has allowed a farcical gap to happen in the law. Paul Moynihan, the councils director of services in corporate and external affairs, said Lord Mayor Cllr Tony Fitzgerald had been in Dublin on official mayoral business on the Friday night. He had made his own overnight arrangements and attended his partys ard fheis in a private capacity the following day. The city incurred no additional costs by his use of the car, he insisted. City Hall moved to defend the matter last night after Mr Fitzgerald, who was not wearing the mayoral chain, was spotted getting into the 172-C-1 car outside the RDS at around 9pm on Saturday, after party leader Micheal Martins address. Workers Party Cllr Ted Tynan described it as an abuse of the office and said the mayor could have made his own travel arrangements following the political event. But Mr Moynihan said the matter had been discussed at length in the days before and the city executive signed off on allowing the car remain in Dublin on the Saturday. In a statement, he said the Lord Mayor had been invited by Bohemians FC to attend a pre-match reception with the Lord Mayor of Dublin ahead of the Cork City FC clash with Bohemians in Dalymount Park on Friday. It was appropriate and expected that the Lord Mayor would then attend the match in his capacity as First Citizen of Cork so that he would be present if Cork City were to win the match and therefore the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for the first time in 12 years, said Mr Moynihan. In normal circumstances, the Lord Mayor would have been driven back to Cork city directly after the match. However, as he was due to attend the Fianna Fail ard fheis in Dublin the following day and as he had made his own personal overnight arrangements council executive deemed it legitimate, under the circumstances, that the Lord Mayors car would remain at the RDS all day before transporting the Lord Mayor back to Cork following the Fianna Fail Leaders speech. Cork City Council in making this decision did not incur any additional expense. Unions went into the WRC previously seeking a 3.75% pay increase without any associated productivity measures. The company only offered 1.5% accompanied by a number of productivity initiatives. The unions have said workers, who have not received a pay increase in almost a decade, are no longer prepared to subsidise an underfunded public service in which subvention had been cut by 41% between 2008 and 2013. The company has said its financial position is extremely challenging and that insolvency is looming if it makes further losses. Ahead of the meeting between management and unions at the WRC, National Bus and Rail Union general secretary Dermot OLeary accused Irish Rail of simply turning up to the State institutions and engaging in a futile exercise of kicking the can down the road. He warned Irish Rail that insisting that an efficiency based pay award is the only show in town will simply not pass muster for its members, and such an approach will inevitability lead to widespread disruption to all rail services, inclusive of inter-city, commuter, and Dart within a matter of days. Siptu organiser Paul Cullen said: As always it is only as a last resort that our members will initiate industrial action. However, a ballot by our members in Irish Rail for industrial action is currently under way. The counting of this ballot will go ahead as planned on Friday. A spokesperson for Irish Rail said: We hope we can continue the progress which has been made in our previous engagement at the WRC, albeit we do not underestimate the difficulties ahead. We believe there is a route to better earnings for all colleagues, and hope we have constructive engagement with our trade unions at the WRC. Most importantly, we hope that any threat to services for our customers arising from ballots being undertaken by the trade unions can be avoided. Leo Varadkar said the failure of the banks to properly address the plight of 13,000 plus customers has undermined the States rebuilding of the banking system. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Varadkar said: The slow response of lenders has undermined the Governments efforts to restore trust in the banking system. They need to fess up and fix it. We do not rule out new regulations and new taxes if we dont see a step change in their response. The threat to strengthen the powers of the Central Bank and to sanction the banks is the strongest language to date from the Government in relation to this scandal. The comments come as Fianna Fail demands the Central Bank examine minutes of bank board meetings and emails to see who was responsible for the scandal. Mr Varadkar said the Government has lost patience with the banks over their maltreatment of 13,000 tracker mortgage customers who were adversely affected, in what Labour leader Brendan Howlin called a gross betrayal. Mr Varadkar said: We do need a clear timeline for redress and compensation. The two banks who have been found wanting are likely to be named by end of October. The Government believes the behaviour of the banks in regard to removing people from tracker mortgages was scandalous, he said. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is to haul bank CEOs into his office next week to admonish them over their failure to resolve the plight of those affected. The minister for finance has arranged to meet the CEOs of the main banks, Bank of Ireland, AIB, Ulster Bank, PTSB and KBC, on Monday and Wednesday next week, and he will admonish them for their conduct on behalf of the Government, he said. Mr Varadkar and Mr Donohoe held several conversations throughout Tuesday on the tracker mortgage scandal and while Mr Donohoe was due to meet the banks, sources have said the context has changed significantly given the Central Banks report which confirmed the 13,000 cases. The Taoiseach was speaking as the governor of the Central Bank Philip Lane is to tell the Oireachtas finance committee today that the tracker scandal has pushed his powers to their limit. In his address, seen by the Irish Examiner, he will say he believes the number of those who have lost homes and properties will increase from the 23 homes and 79 buy-to-let properties already confirmed. However, Mr Lane will stress the bank has been pushed to its limit by the lack of co-operation and progress made by lenders in compensating and amending tracker cases with borrowers. The failure of the Central Bank to take a tougher stance on the banks has come into focus as the Irish Examiner has also obtained copies of 2014 correspondence sent by former Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan to then Fine Gael backbencher now minister Jim Daly which said the bank felt the amount of customers affected was zero. Separate correspondence sent by Mr Lane to Mr Daly this year said the problem was limited to a small number of isolated cases. Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the political will to address the plight of the mortgage customers is there and should be capitalised upon. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he said: The Government has finally woken up here to the seriousness of the situation in that thousands of customers remain to be repaid. The Central Bank is being faced down and it is unacceptable. He added: There must be accountability, there is a need to examine if any additional powers are needed. The political will is there. 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. POLICE have warned people to be vigilant after scammers targeted elderly people on the Isle of Wight. An 80-year-old woman and a 67-year-old man, both from Newport, were contacted separately by suspicious callers who said they owed outstanding taxes. The callers told them to pay by purchasing iTunes vouchers and providing the serial numbers to the callers at a later date. In addition, a 76-year-old man from Ryde was contacted and asked to send money to Kenya and Macedonia via Western Union, and by purchasing Steam vouchers at Game stores and providing the serial numbers to the caller. Police are investigating the incidents alongside the Isle of Wights Trading Standards team and Action Fraud. Inspector Adam Henderson-Parish said: Im keen that no-one else falls victim to a similar type of phone call from someone that they do not know. Its always important to remember that legitimate callers will not ask you for money there and then without providing proper identification to you, and will not pressure you into using unusual methods to provide money to them. Never share details such as passwords or account details with a caller and the simplest advice I can give to elderly or vulnerable people who are unsure about a caller is to hang up and terminate the call. Were now undertaking enquiries to see if the reports are linked and are providing advice to the victims to ensure they do not receive similar calls again. Id urge anyone with elderly family members on the Isle of Wight to share our crime prevention advice with them. Anyone with information that could help our enquiries or who receives one of these calls should call 101 asking for Inspector Adam Henderson-Parish quoting Operation Signature. Police have issued the following advice: Never give personal or bank account details to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly Never tell anyone your PIN number If you have given out information which could compromise your bank security in any way, call your bank to cancel your cards as soon as possible Never hand over your card, money or valuables to someone at the door to be sent off elsewhere If you are concerned about an unsolicited phone call from someone that you do not know, who asks you to hand over money please report this to police as a suspicious incident by calling 101. Anyone who is concerned about similar incidents should contact police by calling 101 and quoting Operation Signature. Local Dems sweep; town rejects pot Every Democrat on the local ballot won their race Tuesday, including Jamestown resident Peter Neronhas re-election as the states top prosecutor, and local voters followed suit with the statewide trend... Voters rebuff allowing retail pot sales in shops By a margin of 157 votes, the electorate decided Tuesday not to allow local businesses to cultivate, manufacture, test or sell recreational marijuana in Jamestown. The referendum to allow the... School board agrees to contract with North Kingstown Jamestown students entering high school can continue to choose North Kingstown as their destination for grades 9-12. We are pleased to continue this historic partnership, said Ken Duva, superintendent of... Despite Israels 5th election in four years, it remains a beacon of democracy and freedom The Israeli elections are fast approaching. On November 1, Israelis go back to the polls for the fifth round of elections in less than four... What is a Jew? Israeli museum attempts an answer JERUSALEMI was on a short visit to Israel and spent time with a friend with whom I have been engaged in a 30-year argument. Elli... ELKO Enrollment numbers are in for the first month of the 2017-2018 school year and they dont look promising for the school districts funding. Elko County School District enrollment was reported to be down 130 students from last year, which means a possible decrease in revenue from the state, said Superintendent Jeff Zander. Were anticipating close to an $800,000 loss in the general fund budget, Zander said. Well work through vacancy savings and other areas within the budget to generate economies that will offset this reduction coming from the state. Zander added that the reduction is not set in stone, it is variable. The number is going to vary. Were funded for enrollment on a quarterly basis, Zander said, adding that its possible to have an increase in enrollment during the quarter. Zander said the drop in enrollment numbers is a mixed-blessing because of the overcrowding at Spring Creek Elementary that has a 10.5 percent capacity, or available classrooms to accommodate growth. Elko has 23 percent capacity. We have more available capacity in Elko K-6 than we do in Spring Creek, Zander said. The Board Trustees approved at the last regular meeting Oct. 10 to build a new elementary school in Spring Creek. Zander pointed to reduced birthrates in Elko County as a possible reason for the decrease in enrollment. We were expecting a decrease in our primary grades, Zander said. ELKO In the spring of 2016, Patty Fox imagined a permanent art collection for Great Basin College. She visualized a diverse collection of artwork representing GBC art instructors from the past 25 years. More than a year later, her vision becomes a reality. The Permanent Art Collection opens in the GBC Art Gallery at the Leonard Center for Student Life on Thursday, Oct. 19. The show is about honoring the instructors and highlighting the diversity of the art classes, said Fox, GBC art professor. The show is purchased and donated artwork. Dr. Mark Curtis, past GBC president, was instrumental in the development of the project. Dr. Curtis vision was that we have a permanent art exhibit, Fox said. For artists to have their work included in the exhibit, they must have taught art classes for GBC within the last 25 years. Works of community instructors through the department of Continuing Education are also showcased. Fox said she believes the permanent collection is a way to especially honor part-time instructors. Professional artist Gail Rappa is one of those instructors. Rappa has taught jewelry construction and design at GBC since 1997. Its important to acknowledge the part-time faculty, Rappa said. We wouldnt have as rich of an educational experience without their knowledge. A piece Rappa designed in collaboration with glass beadmaking artist Kristen Frantzen Orr will be part of the collection. We felt it was a good representation of both our work, Rappa said. Orr, who has taught a variety of glass beadmaking classes at GBC for 14 years, said collaborating with Rappa allowed them to combine their individual strengths. Pairing different skill sets and different media, we created a unique piece of wearable sculpture, Orr said. Rappa, who is also the former gallery curator, said she believes the collection will bring awareness to the community about the high caliber of the professional artists who teach at GBC. I think its great to show the level of talent and expertise of people who have taught here. A lot of students realize how lucky they are to take classes with these artists, Rappa said. Orr agrees. It will promote awareness of the arts and provide the community with exposure to creativity at work. Most of the art classes are taught by part-time instructors, many of whom are professional artists, she said. With the opening of the permanent collection, students and community members will have the opportunity to view and appreciate artwork year-round. The idea was to have a permanent collection so we would always have artwork up, Rappa said. Along with Rappa and Orr, artworks by Lynn Kistler, Ron Arthaud, Ben Parks, Sarah Sweetwater and Cynthia Delaney are represented. The collection features works by more than 35 artists and instructors. Almost every media is represented, Fox said. Leah Brady made a berry basket. We have good Native American representation; we have good Western representation. Fox invites the public to the opening reception at the Leonard Center for Student Life on Thursday, Oct. 19, from 4-6 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Call 753-2221 for more information. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. continued to gain momentum and market share with traditional cigarettes during the four-week measuring period by Nielsen that ended Oct. 7. Bonnie Herzog, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, said Tuesday that the recent 10-cent per pack list price increase by Reynolds and Philip Morris USA is easing the impact of Californias $2 a pack increase in its tobacco excise tax. The list price is what wholesalers pay manufacturers for their products. The increases typically are passed on to customers. In November, California voters approved raising the excise tax to $2.87. It took effect April 1. Overall cigarette sales volume rose 1.3 percent during the four-week period and is up 0.7 percent over the past 12 weeks. It is the sixth confirmed increase for the Big 3 tobacco manufacturers since May 2014, as well as second this year. Herzog has projected a 3.8 percent overall industry volume decline for 2017, slightly below the 4 percent decrease of recent years. Reynolds 4.4 percent year-over-year gain in pricing was offset somewhat by a 0.9 percent decrease in sales volume. Reynolds Newport, the top-selling menthol brand and No. 2 overall brand, and superpremium Natural American Spirit continue to outperform their competition. Newport sales rose by 13.1 percent over the past 12 weeks, nearly equally divided between pricing and sales volume gains. R.J. Reynolds Tobaccos corporate parent, Reynolds American Inc., now owned by British American Tobacco PLC, spent $29.25 billion in June 2015 to buy Greensboro rival Lorillard Inc., essentially to acquire that cigarette-makers Newport brand. Since the completion of that deal, Reynolds has sharply increased its marketing efforts for Newport to boost its market share to 13.2 percent. By comparison, Lorillard was content with a status quo market share of about 12 percent. Natural American Spirit was positive overall, up 6.4 percent on volume. Its market share is 3.2 percent overall. Camel pricing increased 6.2 percent, while sales volume dropped 1 percent during the four-week period. Its market share is at 8.7 percent. Pall Mall, the nations top discount brand and No. 4 overall, dropped 7.8 percent in sales volume as more smokers chose to buy a higher-priced product. Pall Malls market share is at 6.6 percent. Herzog has said Philip Morris USAs top-selling Marlboro brand would be more affected by the California excise tax increase because of its strong exposure in the state. It experienced a 4.4 percent volume decline in the four-week period. Its market share held steady at 46.3 percent. Fortunately, Philip Morris USA has multiple levers to offset these volume pressures, including pricing, which on an incremental basis has almost three times the leverage impact on earnings than volume for cigarette manufacturers, Herzog said. With ITG Brands, pricing was up 2.2 percent, while sales volume was down 1.8 percent. Nielsen data showed ITG Brands with a 7.4 percent market share, comprised primarily by 2.3 percent from top-10 brand Winston, 1.6 percent from Kool and 1.6 percent from Maverick. ITG Brands overall market share is down from 10 percent in June 2015 when it acquired three Reynolds brands (Kool, Salem, Winston) and one Lorillard brand (Maverick) as part of parent company Imperial Brands PLCs $7.1 billion purchase from Reynolds. Imperial Brands has said ITGs market share was at 9.2 percent at the end of 2016. Turning to sales of electronic cigarettes, Herzog said the top market share of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.s Vuse brand fell from 29.5 percent in July to 28.9 percent. Nielsen data tracks the electronic-cigarette mass channel and convenience-store marketplace. Vaporizers, which typically are lower in price, are sold mostly in tobacco and vapor shops, where Nielsen has limited tracking. Herzog said Vuse is facing stronger competition for sales, including particularly from Juul of Pax Labs Inc., which has climbed to a 27.2 percent market share. The remaining top five e-cigs are MarkTen XL (16.3 percent) of NuMark LLC, a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc.; blu eCigs (12.2 percent) of ITG Brands; and Logic (9.1 percent) of Japan Tobacco. Two separate shootings in July and September brought community members and members of the Winston-Salem Police Department together Wednesday afternoon at United Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church to figure out solutions. The message people left with was simple be proactive. That included working closely with the Winston-Salem Police Department to solve crimes and to steer young people into programs that can help keep them out of trouble. Everyone is here because we take you seriously, said Council Member James Taylor, who represents the Southeast Ward and is the chairman of the citys public safety committee. We will do what we can to keep you safe. On July 1, four people were shot during what police described as a neighborhood dispute that turned violent. Police were called to the 2800 block of Patria Street. The Rev. C. Anthony Jones Jr., the senior minister at United Cornerstone, said the shooting happened about a block away from the church. Capt. Christopher Lowder of the Winston-Salem Police Department said two people have been arrested in that shooting. Jamie Barnes Blackmon, 30, of Highland Avenue, and William Darnell Ruth III, 27, of Woodleigh Street, were both charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. Theyre accused of shooting Dalton Valentine. Lowder said the investigation is still active. Ruth had previously been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 17-year-old boy in 2014. A woman was also shot during the 2014 incident and part of her leg had to be amputated. Blackmon was released on a $50,000 bond. Ruth is in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed. He was on probation at the time of the shooting. Blackmon and Ruth are scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on the assault charges from the shooting on Nov. 2. No charges have been filed in the shootings that occurred Sept. 25. Sgt. Scott Doss said officers responded to reports of someone shooting into an occupied dwelling around 1 p.m. that day on Dixie Broadway. Then at 4:30 p.m., officers found Irvin Marcial Ruiz, 18, on Patria Street with a gunshot wound to his chest. Ruiz was a passenger in a red car involved in a shooting at the corner of Anderson Drive and South Main Street. Michael Sosa told police he was sitting in his vehicle when occupants of a red car shot at him. Sosa told police he shot back. At 9:30 p.m., police were called to the 500 block of Pitts Street and found a green SUV with seven people. One of the passengers said he was shot earlier at Anderson Drive and South Main Street. He was shot in the arm. Officers seized a shotgun, a rifle and a handgun inside the SUV. No one has been charged, but it appears that this was an armed robbery and not gang-related. He said police investigators are working with the Forsyth County District Attorneys Office and hope to file charges soon. Margretta Rice, president of the South Crest Neighborhood Association, said the shootings dont reflect the neighborhood. She said she has lived in the neighborhood since 1974. Long-time residents have moved away or died, Rice said, and many homes that had been owned are now rented out. And police officers arent as present in the neighborhood as they once were, Rice said. In 1974, we had police to knock on our doors to make sure we were okay, she said. We dont have that anymore. I know they say theyre short-staffed but come through here sometime. Robert Leak III, the president of Easton Neighborhood Association, said many young people are in survival mode and are trying to figure out where their next meal is coming from. Some young people are struggling with poverty and problems in their home, he said. We are not talking to our young people, Leak said. And because were not talking to our young people, theyre joining gangs. Taylor said the city has programs to help keep young people out of trouble. He mentioned Youth Build, which teaches young people about the construction industry. Taylor also talked about SOAR, a program that helps former criminal offenders get jobs with the city. Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said the police department is here to serve the community and if people see something thats not right, they should say something. Our work is long and, in some cases, never-ending, she said. We are here as a police department to serve you. Nothing is too big or too small. In the end, Bishop Todd Fulton, former president of the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, said the community wont be intimidated by criminals. You are rock and we are water, and we will wear you down one drop at a time, he said. ELKO About 66 cases of bullying were reported within the Elko County School District during the 2016-2017 school year, four fewer than the year before. We keep fighting for zero, said Chris McAnany, director of secondary education, who along with Todd Pehrson oversees the bullying policies for the district. The Nevada State Report Card released in September by the Nevada Department of Education breaks down the number of reports made, incidents to be determined after an investigation, and incidents resulting in suspension or expulsion. Elko County had 65 cases of bullying and one case of cyber bullying, one incident to be determined and 25 incidents resulting in suspension or expulsion. Last year, there were 70 bullying incidents reported, no cyber bullying incidents reported, and no suspensions or expulsions. McAnany said that looking at the amounts of bullying reported with per capita enrollment with other schools of near Elkos size, the numbers are low. Elko County has the fifth highest enrollment in the state with 9,907 students and a ratio of .007 percent bullying incidents reported. Lyon County School District has 8,348 students enrolled and 102 bullying cases reported, a .0122 ratio. Carson City has 7,815 students and 52 reported bullying cases, about a .007 ratio. Douglas has 5,932 pupils enrolled and 74 cases of bullying with a .0125 ratio. The school district follows all the policies and procedures outline by state law, said McAnany. To help schoolchildren and families, five social workers are working throughout the school district to get the resources to the parents and promote awareness, said Peherson. No one wants to be bullied, Pehrson said. He pointed to programs such as Leader in Me as a positive way to combat bullying, McAnany agreed because the program promotes a positive culture where kids care about each other and feel more empowered to come forward [about bullying.] Overall, McAnany said the new program protects kids. Cases in the Report Card include substantiated and unsubstantiated claims of bullying and cyber bullying, said McAnany, and each report must be investigated by the school principal the day it is received or on the next school day. Theres a short window to stop bullying immediately, McAnany said. Once bullying has been reported, the parents or guardians of victims, alleged perpetrators and witnesses are contacted and everyone is interviewed. Cyber bullying witnesses are more difficult to find because it is harder to determine how many people saw an offensive text or picture, McAnany said. Our technology has made [everything] so much bigger, Pehrson said. All parties involved receive a written report by the principal and a progressive discipline plan is enforced. Unsubstantiated claims mean there was a misunderstanding or the actions didnt meet the guidelines, McAnany said, but for substantiated claims, major infractions can lead to out-of-school suspensions. Discipline means in- or out-of-school dentition for 1 to 3 days for the first offense. All substantiated claims are followed up within 10 days to ensure the bullying has ceased. If not, the process starts again with an increase in penalties. A student found to have a second offense of bullying after another investigation could be suspended 3-5 days. Subsequent investigations for further offenses may lead to a 90 day out-of-school suspension or possible expulsion. Students can report bullying either in-person to a teacher or principal, or a parent can report it in person, online through the schools website, or by calling a toll-free number to the Office of Safe and Respectful Learning that is within the Nevada Department of Education. Reports can also be made anonymously. The law also ensures that principals investigate promptly as there are repercussions for not getting it done, Peherson said. According to the statute, a principal may face disciplinary action for not reporting bullying within the time-frame and could be suspended, demoted or dismissed from their office. So far this school year, McAnany said monthly tracking reports show that there have been 20 reports of bullying, and six claims were substantiated. If the trend continues well be down this year, McAnany said. Capitol Broadcasting Company published this editorial Wednesday. Did Senate Leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and others at the North Carolina General Assembly miss the election for governor a while back? While a very select sample of voters in their gerrymandered districts elected them to run the legislature, the voters across North Carolina elected Roy Cooper to be their governor. That may not be a result the legislative leaders preferred, but it is time for them to stop working so hard at preventing the governor from doing his job. The latest in their secretive plot to thwart the governors constitutional leadership has been months-long stonewalling critical gubernatorial appointees, most significantly to the State Utilities Commission, State Board of Education and trustees for the Teachers and State Employees Retirement System . It is just another chapter in the legislatures growing collection of case studies in bad management. Those case studies in malfeasance and mismanagement already include: Draconian budget cuts that hobble the state Justice Department, all without consulting the attorney general or public hearings. Creating chaos in the management of public education with secretly concocted changes to the roles of the state Board of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction. Weakening Coopers ability to run his administration by slashing, without any public discussion, the number of exempt state. workers after allowing a massive increase for former Gov. Pat McCrory. Wreaking havoc on the states judicial system by gerrymandering judicial districts, eliminating judicial primary elections and less than a day ago preparing to ram a constitutional amendment through to shrink all judicial terms to two years, all concocted behind closed doors. For months the nominations from the governor have gathered dust. At the same time, legislative appointees to some of the same boards have sailed through without a peep. This is serious business. There are important rate-setting cases before the Utilities Commission. The state Board of Education is facing a variety of critical issues concerning the education of our young people. Assuring that the states retirement system is properly managed is fundamental to keeping our obligation to those who have served the state. The governor was right to adopt a stern tone in his letter to legislators this week seeking action. Legislators are disrespectful. Their treatment of the appointees is dilatory and unacceptable. This is not the way to treat these appointees who have committed themselves to public service. Bergers defense was more illustrative of a banana republics tin-horn dictator than the leader of a legislature in the greatest democracy on the planet. "The governor, really, until we got this letter today, had not been pushing for these nominees to any appreciable extent that I'm aware of," Berger told WRAL-TVs Travis Fain. Did Berger really say that with a straight face? It is the duty of Berger and the other leaders of the General Assembly to hear from the nominees and vote on their confirmation. Its mandated by law. You could look it up, as Annie Savoy says in the classic film Bull Durham. It is past time for the secret, hyper-partisan machinations from Bergers junta to end. With these delays, ambushes and subterfuge, Berger, Moore and those who follow their dictates have produced a perfect storm of incompetence, disrespect and petty spite. And closer to home, what justification do members of the Wake County legislative delegation Senators John Alexander and Chad Barefoot along with Representatives Chris Malone, Nelson Dollar and Linda Williams have for their continued votes to prevent the governor from doing his job? Listen to the voters. Let the governor do his job. North Carolinians deserve better. Election Day 2018 cant come soon enough. ELKO The countys legal counsel will look into the ramifications of allowing Jackpot to have a recreational marijuana facility, as the commissioners informally asked the chief civil deputy district attorney to investigate the issue during their Oct. 18 meeting. The direction, which requires no further formal board action, came after Jackpot residents and an out-of-state business team requested the unincorporated town be exempted from an ordinance passed Sept. 6 that prohibits recreational marijuana facilities in the countys jurisdiction unincorporated areas outside of Elko, Carlin, Wells and West Wendover. Boise, Idaho, based business partners David Poole and Doug Eisenberg asked the commissioners to reconsider the ordinance or make an amendment to exempt Jackpot so that they could open a dispensary. The duo has already bought property in Jackpot and has been in discussion with the Jackpot advisory board, which reports to the county as its governing entity. Jackpot needs this, Eisenberg said, adding that the business would bring industrial cannabis to the state. Elko County, Northern Nevada, needs this Im asking you guys to help us. Change the ordinance. Board chairman Jeff Young addressed the commission on behalf of the advisory board, saying its five members voted unanimously last Thursday in favor of allowing a dispensary. We would like us to have an exception, a variance to the ordinance, to allow us to have a dispensary, whether its these guys or somebody else, Young said. Its like a roadblock to progress to the county, and we would like that roadblock removed. Addressing the commission, the entrepreneurs and residents proposed that the business would bring tax revenue to Jackpot, stimulate the economy and help eliminate the black market for cannabis. Poole and Eisenberg said they hoped the business would one day include a cultivation facility and smoking lounge. Jackpot resident Zack Wood presented the commission with a petition containing more than 85 signatures requesting that a dispensary be allowed in Jackpot. A group of about 10 residents supported him from the audience. During a lengthy discussion that drew hisses and heckles from the audience, the commissioners raised concerns including how much tax money would reach the local level in Jackpot and whether the substance would be taken into Idaho, where it is still illegal. So, for your business to work, youre depending on people being willing to have an illegal product, said Commissioner Demar Dahl. Poole responded: Heres what Im banking on. The kids going to Vegas. Their No. 1 stop is, they gotta come through us. Using it in Nevada posed another concern. Commissioner Cliff Eklund asked if they would be driving high. Thats not on us, Eisenberg responded. Commissioners Delmo Andreozzi and Jon Karr differed on whether to consider Jackpot individually with an amendment or re-examine the entire ordinance. Andreozzi said he didnt think that one unincorporated area should be given preferential treatment. If the county considered allowing such facilities, he said, the option should be opened up for all to compete. That would require repealing the ordinance. Karr said he preferred to deal with each community on a case-by-case basis, and Commissioner Rex Steninger agreed. We have a compelling reason that Jackpot is here asking us, Steninger said. Correction: This article has been changed to clarify that the commissioners' direction to staff was informal and does not require further board action. The conflicting parties alliance (Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre) to share power in the government has destroyed the norms of justice and the agenda set by the Peoples Movement. They abused their authority without addressing conflict survivors key demands for truth and social justice. When the top level leaders from both sides of the conflict built an alliance with security forces to forget about past abuses, compromising standards for their mutual benefit and position, the hope for fair trials and justice has become a distance one for ordinary citizens. Instead of creating hope for the future, the political forces built a strong alliance with the security forces who were directly involved in the most egregious human rights violations during the armed conflict. This alliance has served to sabotage the peace process by establishing an amnesty commission to hide the truth and protect alleged perpetrators. This represents a betrayal of the citizenry and of every element of the transitional justice process. Both commissions after 3 years of their establishment now argue that they cannot finish their task within the mandated time, this is great shame shame for the commissions, who abused public resources to assist political amnesty and indirectly supported alleged perpetrators without questioning their past, and in so doing insulted the wider community of victims and the general public. The system failed to deliver Overcoming the threats of state agents, victims and frontline activists have been raising their voices, after a long wait for justice. As a result, they are facing more threats, and a deeper feeling of injustice and insecurity. For the victims and marginalised groups in Nepal, the justice system has failed to deliver; the state never implemented local court verdicts, Supreme Court decisions or the National Human Rights Commissions(NHRC) recommendations, and ignored the UN Human Rights Committees views on the violations of ICCPR provisions. The question is: where should victims families go in this complex situation and what strategies should they adapt? Most families know the alleged perpetrators of the crimes committed. Personally I have been naming the people responsible for my fathers illegal arrest, torture and disappearance since 2001: they are Pitamber Adhikari, Shiva Nepal and Santoshsing Thakuri. There is a long list of alleged perpetrators in hand and almost public in the Nepal context. Thousands of families registered complaints in the ongoing commission process, and provided the alleged names, however all the government mechanisms and state-led commissions failed to publish the names and fully investigate the crimes committed. Instead, the alleged perpetrators have been promoted, protected and have powerfully defended their past abuses without accepting guilt. There have been no credible investigations and no institutional reforms of either state of the security forces. Instead, political parties are actually promoting alleged perpetrators, protecting criminals and defending the security forces without vetting them. All in the name of political consensus and political alliance to protect their future, while actually laying the ground for renewed conflict. In this situation of increasing threats and subversion of the political process, there is no meaning to extend or continue the mandate of the existing commissions. There is no possibility to amend or revise the commissions legal mandates before they reach their end. If the government seriously seeks to speak the truth for its victimized citizens, the content of the current Act, its driving principles and all procedural approaches need to be amended in coordination with victims representatives; otherwise the state approach to their commission has failed, and failed all those actors, both national and international, who were actively involve in the name of transition in Nepal. Truth Commission The attempt at a Nepali truth commission failed largely because of the state and the parties' unwillingness to allow the formation of an independent commission. A number of key people in the Nepal peace process have not internalized the core value of social justice and didnt cooperate at any point of the process either the recent left alliance, security forces, or the current prime minister Sher Bahadur Deubas alliance, himself an abuser and defender of his crimes. Thus the new political alliance in whatever cover is a dangerous alliance for poor victims and marginalised communities who may become further isolated and increasingly unable to fight for their rights. In the situation of the betrayal of the commissions, political irresponsibility and security intervention, conflict survivors and victims of conflict must organize local resistance through naming of perpetrators, boycotting abusers in public level as the basis of social intervention. Recently the Nepal army challenged the district court and Supreme Court verdicts against their personnel who committed crimes. Through filing a writ petition (074-W0-0143) against Maina Sunuwars torture, rape and murder case, against family activist Devi Sunuwar (mother of Maina) including the National Human Rights Commission, the Army headquarters is threatening activists and the human rights community. The political alliances are promoting and providing tickets to many alleged perpetrators, the corrupt and criminals in the upcoming election, that may bring serious consequences for the future course of Nepali politics. Lets boycott and empower locals against the abusers.. Both political and security alliances are openly challenging the rule of law, legitimizing their crimes through unhealthy alliances and hiding the truth against the spirit of the Peoples Movement. This is a tough time for rights activists and the grassroots struggle for social justice. This is time for defending the rights struggle and creating momentum for a unified peoples struggle as an alternative. The International Criminal Court said Wednesday it was investigating several potential war crimes including murder in Mali, months after finding an ex-jihadist guilty liable for millions worth of damage in the landlocked country. "Our investigations are continuing (into) other crimes... sexual crimes and crimes against peacekeepers, killings and all those," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told reporters in Bamako. The Hague-based tribunal said in August that ex-jihadist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi caused 2.7 million euros worth of damage when he destroyed several fabled shrines in Timbuktu, in northern Mali, during the jihadist takeover there in 2012. The judges further ordered that the Malian state as well as the international community be compensated with a symbolic amount of one euro for the damages suffered. Al-Mahdi was jailed for nine years in 2016 after he pleaded guilty to directing attacks on the UNESCO world heritage site and apologised to the Timbuktu community. It was a landmark case for the ICC as it was the first time a jihadist had pleaded guilty to a war crimes charge. Bensouda said the court was expanding its investigation in Mali, which is home to a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission. "I am not in position to talk about what else is being done regards to Al-Mahdi proper but all I can tell you the court is looking at other crimes within the context of our investigations in Mali," she said. Photo Credit: Conrad New York Shop the Holidays Away in the Heart of New York City One of my favorite annual trips is to New York City during the holidays. The winter village in Bryant Park, the Rockefeller Christmas tree, the skating in Central Park: I love all of it. I also love bundling up for a shopping excursion and the cozy moments post-trip with high tea time and delectable treats. To prep for my December trip this year, I scouted out my NYC game plan this fall and have the winning itinerary ready to deploy. Photo Credit: Conrad New York Fifth Avenue is legendary for its row of designer mega stores, but Lower Manhattan is having a moment. Saks Fifth Avenue opened its second location in New York City downtown with a novel concept store last year. The so-called Saks Downtown is nearby the futuristic Westfield Oculus Mall and new Conde Nast offices. Nearby, the stunning Conrad New York hotel is partnering with another Lower Manhattan destination, the Westfield World Trade Center, with a holiday package that is irresistible. The Holiday Shopper Escape Package includes a Hudson River suite, a $200 Westfield gift card, a turndown gift box with luxe goodies from Westfield retailers and VIP concierge services. One can also take advantage of a private tour of the architectural marvel that houses the Westfield World Trade Center, the gleaming white Oculus by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Photo Credit: Ritz Carlton Shopping in Lower Manhattan is reason enough to come downtown, but the Conrad New York is its own destination. The Hilton property has snatched up numerous accolades since its opening in the spring of 2012 including Best New Hotels in the United States on Conde Nast Travelers Hot List in 2013 and 2014. Conrad New York also earned a prestigious LEED Gold New Construction Certification, the first LEED New Construction hotel in an existing building to be certified Gold. Most impressively, the 463 all-suite property houses more than 2,000 contemporary artworks. The most striking piece, a slightly squiggly purple and blue 13-story painting by noted minimal and conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, consumes nearly the entire 15-story lobby atrium. The work, titled Loopy Doopy, is breathtaking and oddly soothing to take in, a lovely respite from the bustle of New York just outside. Once I heard Conrad New York was a beacon for modern art lovers, I spent nearly two hours roaming the event space and hallways of the property one afternoon. I spotted a Richard Nonas bold, block oil painting as well as Pat Steirs playful Topsy Turvy painting that fills a wall by the Gallery Ballroom. Photo Credit: Ritz Carlton After touring the Conrad and shopping for most of the day, I took a respite and headed to Central Park for a stroll and then high tea at the Ritz Carlton New York, Central Park. This Ritz property is one of the citys grande dames, a 1930s-era regal property that overlooks Central Park and rests just steps away from the original shopping avenue New York is famous for: 5th Ave. Ushered in by gloved doormen, I stepped into the handsome lobby of the Ritz and right into the Star Lounge, the richly cozy and wood paneled area still ran, 40 years later, by celebrity bartender Norman Bukofzer. Photo Credit: Ritz Carlton The autumn team menu is a standout, particularly for tea lovers like me. This Ritz property has its own dedicated tea sommelier, and I sprung for the organic pear tree green tea, a luscious Chinese tea with crisp finish. I admired the fanciful and elegant Wedgwood dishes my tea pot and cup came inan extra bonus of classic luxury that Ritz Carlton never skimps on. A savory treat tower came first, followed by scones and then an elegant presentation of petit fours. I purposely skipped lunch, knowing Id like to devour each bite, and I happily did. The pumpkin macaroon was fall in one delectable bite. Art, tea, and shopping options scouted from Lower Manhattan to Central Park, I look forward to returning in December to the Conrad, the Ritz Carlton, and the Big Apple. September and October were unforgettable months for Juventus Academy in Switzerland with the launch of the Academy in Villeneuve. Over 120 people signed up to the first Year-round Training activity in the country, a resounding success. Meanwhile, two delegations from the same Academy paid a visit to Turin last week, where they watched a match live from Allianz Stadium before greeting players during an open training session in Vinovo. Oct. 18 Cerise M. Algerio, 18, of Elko was arrested at North Fifth Street and Quail Circle as a minor who purchased and consumed an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail $355 Brooke A. Banks, 19, of Elko was arrested at North Fifth Street and Quail Circle as a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail $355 Sara M. Frederick, 19, of Spring Creek was arrested at North Fifth Street and Quail Circle as a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail $355 Stephanie M. Hampel, 18, of Sparks was arrested at North Fifth Street and Quail Circle as a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail $355 Pourya Aghababaeinajafabadi, 26, of Orangevale, California was arrested at the Flying J Parking Lot in West Wendover, Nevada for conspiracy to buy, possess and receive stolen property. Bail $1,140 Ismael M. Fragosa Jr., 22, of Elko was arrested at Old Highway 40 and Interstate 80 at the 310 mile marker onramp for violation of probation. No bail Torrance C. McKnight, 26, of Spring Creek was arrested on Lamoille Highway at mile marker 12 for failing to maintain a proper lane, and lane change, and for driving under the influence. Bail $1,255 Sammual R. Munk, 18, of Elko was arrested at Elko High School for two counts of possessing a dangerous weapon on school or child care property, and as a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail $5,355 Robin A. Olsen, 48, of American Fork, Utah was arrested at the Utah County Jail on a felony warrant for first degree burglary, grand larceny and theft. Bail $33,500 Heather M. Shine, 36, of Elko was arrested on a warrant at the Elko County Jail for two counts of failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail $805 Nigel B. Thiele, 28, of Spring Creek was arrested at Scoreboard for failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. No bail ELKO Interstate 80 between Halleck and Wells was reopened to westbound traffic late Wednesday night following a hazardous materials spill. The eastbound lanes remained closed, as did the Secret Pass Highway detour. A commercial vehicle towing a tanker trailer crashed on I-80 Wednesday morning, spilling 51,000 pounds of ammonium bisulfite. The substance is an inhalation hazard so we need to keep the area clear of all interstate traffic, stated an announcement on the Nevada Highway Patrols Facebook page. NHP Trooper Jim Stewart said the road would be closed all night. We cant let traffic through, eastbound or westbound, he said. The westbound lanes, however, were reopened shortly after 11 p.m. The crash occurred around 8:30 a.m. about 20 miles east of Elko, at mile marker 323. The driver was headed west and apparently fell asleep, allowing the vehicle to cross the center median of the highway, according to NHP. The trailer unhitched from the truck and toppled onto the eastbound lanes and south shoulder of the freeway. Traffic was being rerouted through the Secret Pass Highway State Route 229, however, the detour was closed at 6 p.m. because of maintenance concerns. A head-on collision occurred on the detour road mid-afternoon Wednesday, Stewart said. The new detour requires drivers to travel south to U.S. 50, cutting through Eureka and Ely. Motorists are advised to call 511 or visit nvroads.com for updates. Woman steals wallet from clerk having a seizure SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Authorities say a woman has been arrested on suspicion of rifling through a wallet and stealing a credit card from a 7-Eleven clerk while he was having a seizure. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Unified police identified the woman from the stores surveillance footage. The video from Oct. 4 shows the woman standing next to the clerks legs while he has a seizure. Police say she walked around the counter and took his wallet. Surveillance video shows the woman exploring the wallet before taking a credit card. Several people including her parents recognized the woman from the video and called police. She turned herself in and told them she didnt remember stealing the card because she had been on Xanax. But, she said, she took full responsibility. Giunchigliani announces bid for governor LAS VEGAS (AP) A second member of the elected body with jurisdiction over the Las Vegas Strip says shell run as a Democrat for Nevada governor in November 2018. Chris Giunchigliani made the announcement to supporters on Wednesday and said in an interview on Thursday that she plans an inclusive campaign that will empower people statewide. Giunchigliani is often referred to as Chris G. Shes a former special education teacher and teachers union president who served in the state Assembly before being elected to the Clark County Commission in 2006. Shell be vying against Clark County Commission colleague and chairman Steve Sisolak for the Democratic party nomination. On the Republican side, state Treasurer Dan Schwartz and political newcomer Jared Fisher are running, and state Attorney General Adam Laxalt plans to announce his candidacy Nov. 1. Jury acquits man accused of raping BYU student PROVO, Utah (AP) A jury acquitted a Utah man accused of raping a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Nasiru Seidu was found not guilty Wednesday of first-degree felony rape for the alleged crime that took place in September 2015. On the first day of trial, the alleged victim testified that she had consensual sexual contact with Seidu, but at some point she got a really bad feeling and told him she did not want to continue. She testified Seidu then pulled off her clothing, threw her on her bed and raped her. Defense attorney Matthew Morrise told jurors the states case relies solely on whether the jury could believe the alleged victim, and he accused her of telling various stories about the rape to suit her audience. Wyomings economy leveling off after downturn CASPER, Wyo. (AP) A state report indicates Wyomings economy appears to be leveling off and energy industries are stabilizing following the downturn last year. The Casper Star-Tribune reports that a state analysis released last month shows progress in the states economy over the last six months after the coal, oil and gas decline that wrecked state revenue and led to the loss of about 11,000 jobs. State Economist Jim Robinson says that the mild recovery of the mining sector made up a large portion of that economy boost. Jobless claims in the mining sector are down by more than 75 percent, but jobs related to coal have remained static since the prior year. Robinson says sales and use taxes and severance income are up but the growth rate may be slowing. Late last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the secretaries of the treasury and health and human services to cease making payments to health care insurance companies in behalf of the more than 6 million Americans who qualify for these payments under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Obamacare is the signature legislation of former President Barack Obama, enacted in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. Its stated goal was to use the engine of the federal government to make health insurance available and affordable to everyone in America. It seeks to achieve that goal by regulating the delivery of health care, giving federal bureaucrats access to everyones medical records, compelling everyone in America to acquire health insurance and providing financial subsidies for those people whose household incomes are below certain levels and who do not otherwise qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. Under President Obama, the subsidies were regularly paid, and they had been paid under President Trump, as well, until he decided to cease paying them last week. Here is the back story. How is it up to the president to decide whether to spend federal dollars when the law requires him to do so? The answer to that question depends on whether Congress has authorized the specific expenditure of the tax dollars. Under the Constitution, when Congress passes legislation that directs the president to spend federal tax dollars or, as is likelier the case today, dollars borrowed by the federal government Congress must appropriate funds for the expenditure. So for every federal program that spends money, Congress must first create the program for example, building a bridge or paving an interstate highway and then it must pass a second bill that appropriates money from the federal treasury and makes it available to the president for the purpose stated in the first law. When Obamacare was drafted in 2009 and 2010, one of the many compromises that went into it was the gradual rollout of its provisions; different parts of the law became effective at different times. The law was enacted with all Democratic votes. No Republican member of either house of Congress voted for it, and only a handful of Democrats voted against it. By the time the subsidy provisions took effect, the Republicans were in control of Congress, yet Obama was still in the White House. When Obama asked Congress to appropriate the funds needed to make the subsidy payments required by the Obamacare statute, Congress declined to do so. Thus, Obama who, as the president of the United States, was charged with enforcing all federal laws was denied the means with which to enforce the subsidy portion of his favorite legislation. So he spent the money anyway. He directed his secretaries of the treasury and health and human services to take appropriated funds from unstated programs and to make the subsidy payments to the seven largest health insurance carriers in the United States from those funds. Of course, by doing so, he was depriving other federal programs, authorized and funded by Congress, of the monies to which they were entitled. But Obamacare was his legacy, and he was not about to let it die on the vine. Can the president spend federal dollars, whether from tax revenue or borrowing, without an express authorization from Congress, even if he is following a law that requires the expenditures? In a word, no. Thats because the drafters of the Constitution feared the very situation confronted by Congress and Obama in 2013 a law that is no longer popular, is no longer supported by Congress and costs money to enforce, with a president eager to enforce it and a Congress unwilling to authorize the payments. To address this tension between a president wanting to spend federal dollars and a Congress declining to authorize him to do so, the drafters of the Constitution put the power of the purse unambiguously in the hands of Congress. The Constitution could not be clearer: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. It follows that where the appropriations have not been made by Congress, the funds may not be spent by the president. When Obama declined to recognize this constitutional truism, the House of Representatives sued the secretary of health and human services in federal court, seeking to enjoin her from making the subsidy payments, and the House won the case. The court underscored the well-recognized dual scheme of the Framers whereby two laws are required for all federal expenditures one to tell the president on whom or on what the money should be spent and the second to authorize the actual expenditure. Without the second law the express authorization there can be no lawful expenditure. President Trump, after making the same unlawful expenditures for nine months, decided last week to cease the practice. Whether he did so to bend Congress to his will on health care or he did so out of fidelity to the Constitution, he did the right thing, but he should have done it on his first day in office. Lets not lose sight of the whole picture here. President Obama has triumphed over President Trump and the Republicans who control Congress, because all but a handful of those who are faithful to the Constitution are behaving as if there were a constitutional obligation on the part of the federal government to provide health insurance for everyone in America. According to a plain reading of the Constitution and even as articulated by the Supreme Court in the case that upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare there isnt. President Trumps most recent high-profile executive actions on Obamacare, immigration and the Iran nuclear deal do three big things. First, they push Congress to act, which involves more than just calling the bluff of Republican leaders who talked big during the Obama years but failed to produce once the GOP controlled both Congress and White House. In a larger sense, Trumps actions point toward restoring a proper balance of power in which Congress makes law on issues that are clearly its constitutional responsibility. The president is using executive authority to pressure lawmakers to exercise appropriate legislative authority. Second, Trump has reinforced what many of his supporters find most appealing about him that he can act as a leader not clearly aligned with either party. And third, Trumps actions galvanize support among some of Washingtons most conservative lawmakers and thinkers, even some who have been highly critical of him in the past. On the first point, Trump is pressing Congress to act in areas in which Republicans accused Barack of Obama of executive overreach. On Obamacare, Trump cut off the flow of cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments to insurance companies. The expenditures were never appropriated by Congress; the Obama administration carried them out to keep Obamacare afloat, regardless of the law. Now Trump has set the stage for a constitutional fix. On DACA, Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Trump has challenged Congress to come up with a legitimate fix to an Obama executive action that all Republicans saw as overreach. And on the Iran deal, Trumps action opens the door for action in Congress, where Republicans said the issue always belonged, after Obama bypassed lawmakers. Each action undoes what Obama ought not have done without Congress (CSRs, DACA and Iran), said a conservative lawmaker in a text exchange recently. Restore constitutional government! On the second point, Trumps actions highlight the fact that a lot of his supporters still see him not as an insider but as an outside force pushing an entrenched, sclerotic Republican Party to act. That was candidate Trumps pitch to voters, going way back. Trump is about the closest thing to a third-party candidate without having to leave the party, Chuck Laudner, who ran Trumps Iowa campaign, told me in May 2015, when crowds were starting to take Trump seriously. Not much has changed since then. To a huge chunk of the electorate, Trump is not a Republican, a veteran GOP operative told me recently, after attending focus groups in several states key to next years midterms. Thats also consistent with what Stanley Greenberg, the Democratic pollster, found over the summer in a Macomb County, Michigan focus group. What many Macomb voters value about Trump is that he represents an unaligned force in American politics, wrote the Atlantics Franklin Foer of Greenbergs findings. Its a scenario in which the GOP leaders of Congress are the villains. When Greenberg showed those Michigan voters photos of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, they became visibly angry. Thats also what the veteran Republican operative found. Trumps supporters think its amazing hes getting so much accomplished, seeing how Ryan and McConnell are trying to screw him every day, the operative told me. Finally, on the third point, Trump is getting high marks from some conservative Republicans and thinkers. When I asked one deeply conservative lawmaker, who in turn polled what other members had told him, he said they are glad to see the president putting Republicans to the test: Will they just talk like conservatives, or will they actually legislate like conservatives? Some conservative writers who have long criticized Obamas unilateral actions were happy to see Trump begin to undo them. On Obamacare, National Review which published an Against Trump issue in the primaries and has had a bumpy relationship with the president since reacted with an editorial headlined Trumps Sensible Health-Care Actions. On DACA, a lot of conservatives slammed Trump when there were reports he had reached a deal with Democrats Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. But now that Trump has attached a wish-list of tough border and interior enforcement priorities to any DACA legalization, many see it as a chance for Congress to take actual action on immigration. (And even if Republicans cave and pass a simple legalization, doing it through Congress would still be a constitutional solution, unlike Obamas original action.) On the nuclear deal, the Weekly Standard, which has a times been a center of NeverTrumpism, published a reaction with the headline, Hes right about Iran. We believe (Trumps) instincts are sound, the magazines editors wrote. Trumps actions might not work. After all, he is pressuring Congress to act, but that doesnt mean Congress will act, especially when the president is feuding with some key members. But Trumps moves are a step in the direction of fixing some of the worst excesses of the Obama administration if Republicans will take the opportunity. When it comes to illegal aliens, Ive not been in the camp of deport em all and let God sort em out. But the way some of these trespassers have been acting lately is causing me to have second thoughts. Democrats on Capitol Hill recently staged a dog-and-pony show featuring insulting, in-your-face, illegal aliens who object to President Donald Trumps immigration reform policies, especially as it applies to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. The so-called dreamers. The president does not care about our children and our families, accused Lenka Mendoza, as reported by Breitbart News. Trump and his government supposed priorities are nothing else but an anti-immigrant and white-supremacist agenda that dont solve anything. White-supremacist agenda? Somebody needs to read How to Win Friends and Influence People. And its not anti-immigrant. Its anti-ILLEGAL immigrant. At least be intellectually honest in debating this issue if you want to be taken seriously. Now heres the kicker: As Breitbart reports, Mendoza is an unskilled illegal alien who has been living in the United States for 17 years. And yet her smear of Republicans who oppose illegal immigration was delivered by wait for it a TRANSLATOR. Over 17 years Ms. Mendoza hasnt even taken the time to bother learning English. Lovely. A second illegal alien, Ingrid Vaca, then took to the microphone and declared, DACA was taken away by Trump and his racist advisors, Jeff Sessions and Steven Miller We will not let racist men negotiate with our kids lives. We will not allow our families to be broken up A mothers love is stronger than the racists from the White House. These incendiary accusations are absolutely outrageous. Just because someone supports enforcement of our nations existing immigration laws doesnt make them a racist. Knock it off. A third illegal alien, Luis Condorimay, piled on There are politicians in power right now who want to deport my father and my mother, who want to separate me from my little sister. They say they have heart for us, they say they understand our pain, but all they really want to do is hurt our families and continue to separate us as they have done for the past many years. The gigantic flaw in both Vacas and Condorimays belly-aching is that theres absolutely no reason whatsoever that any illegal alien family needs to be broken up or separated. Prospective deportees are more than welcome to take their families with them when they return to their home country. Problem solved. For her part, Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi chimed in that the Trump administrations immigration reform proposals were trash and brutal as her home state of California moved to become a sanctuary state. None of this is helpful to actually fixing this problem. And as the illegal alien crowd becomes ever more militant and obnoxious, the odds of Nevadans approving an expected ballot measure to ban sanctuary cities and ditch DACA become more and more likely even among those who are otherwise empathetic to the plight of dreamers. Cool it with the vinegar and try a little honey. One of the most important decisions you make is corn hybrid and soybean variety selection LINCOLN As fall harvest gets underway, so do early seed discounts and seed buying decisions for 2018. In times of tight margins, every extra bushel produced and every dollar spent on production inputs like seed (10%), fertilizer (13%), and chemical (9%) become more acute. One of the first routine management decisions you make and one of the most important is corn hybrid and soybean variety selection. No Small Decision How much yield difference is there between corn hybrids and soybean varieties? On average, regional third-party trials have shown a 15 bu/ac difference in soybean variety performance and a 50 bu/ac difference in corn hybrid performance. At current commodity prices, that is a difference of $135 per acre for soybean varieties and $150 for corn hybrids in potential revenue driven by a decision you made a year earlier. Soybean variety selection (Table 1) ranks first for management factors driving yield differences and corn hybrid selection ranks second. Table 1. Impact of various management decisions on soybean yield RANK MANAGEMENT FACTOR YIELD DIFFERENCE (BU/AC) 1 Variety Selection 15 2 Planting Date 8 3 Weed Control 8 4 Phosphorus Fertility 5 5 Crop Rotation 5 6 Row Spacing 3 7 Seeding Rate 3 Source: Why Soybean Variety is Critical to Improving Farm Yield in CropWatch When selecting seed for next years crop, following are some key points to consider. Also see Which Bt Traits Do You Need to Purchase? Price Genetics The price per unit for technology traits can vary $5 in soybeans (for example, between RR2s) and easily ranges from $10 to $60 per unit in corn. Dont pay for traits or add-on treatments you dont need. Consider weed, disease, and insect problems youve experienced in the past and choose accordingly. Overall, worrying about seed cost versus yield performance is more critical in corn than in soybeans. Early Orders Capture early seed discounts. Why? Seed companies have internal data showing the average performance difference among their products. They consider such performance in regional placement and share this through recommendations for your region. Ask them if the supply for some products they recommend is a little tighter than others and consider ordering those sooner if they sound like a good choice for your farm. Its your call on how many companies or seed dealers you want to work with when selecting hybrids/varieties. Once 2017 yield data is available from various sources, evaluate the hybrids/varieties you ordered and make a substitution if needed. Your seed dealer will likely make this substitution, assuming seed supply exists, but discuss this with them ahead of time. Proven Performance Look for yield stability or proven yield record across locations and years if possible for each variety and hybrid. Use multiple data sources including third-party trials, company trials, and on-farm results. For on-farm comparisons, precision ag data management software and services can be used to summarize performance from past seasons. Ask your seed representative to run comparison analysis between hybrids and varieties that you are considering within their company to help with selection. Though not all hybrids and varieties are tested in third-party performance trials, these tests are a great source of information: Farmers Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST) Trials Iowa Crop Performance Tests South Dakota State University Extension Crop Performance Testing UNL Crop Variety and Hybrid Testing Program Mix Maturities Soybeans A recent analysis of third-party soybean data from 2012-2016 in eastern Nebraska and from recent farmer surveys across the Midwest show that soybean maturity accounts for less yield difference than do variety and planting date. Consider diversifying maturities, for example in east central Nebraska use a 2.4 to 3.4 maturity. In Nebraska, short periods of heat/drought for two weeks during early or late August may impact fuller season varieties more or less than the shorter season varieties, depending when or if these conditions occur. Corn Choose hybrids that will reach maturity at least 10 days before the first average frost for your area. Plant multiple hybrids with varying maturities to spread out risk during pollination. This will also widen the harvest interval. Plant earlier maturing hybrids to facilitate cover crop establishment. GEM Assess the interaction between genetics, environment, and management (GEM). Make a list of specific traits you want for certain management practices (irrigated, continuous corn, etc.) and fields (river bottom, terraced ground, etc.). Remember, no matter how good your management, maximum yields wont happen without the best varieties or hybrids. Your trusted agronomist can help you with selection, but its up to you to remember your product placement at planting! We have asked numerous farmers over the years how much time they spend on corn hybrid and soybean variety selection and placement. As agronomists, the answer has been either disheartening or satisfying. May it be the latter. Nathan Mueller, University of Nebraska Extension Educator; Roger Elmore, Extension Cropping Systems Agronomist; and Troy Ingram, Extension Educator LA VISTA Kearney and Broken Bow events were honored Wednesday evening as 2017 Nebraska Tourism Industry Award winners. The Outstanding Event Award for communities with populations up to 9,999 went to the Broken Bow for its NE150 DRIVE. The Outstanding Event Award for communities with populations 10,000 or greater was awarded to Crane River Theater Company for its annual outdoor production in Kearney. The Broken Bow NE150 DRIVE was a new event this year by the Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the states sesquicentennial. The DRIVE took participants on a 150-mile road trip through Custer County with eight unique stops. To participate, individuals purchased drawing tickets and then were given turn-by-turn instructions to the eight stops. The route totaled about 150 miles. Purchasing a drawing ticket got the participants name entered to win $500. To prove they visited the destinations, contestants had to take selfie photos at each stop and upload the pictures to the Broken Bow NE150 DRIVE Facebook page. In the six weeks the event took place, 24 groups completed the drive and nearly 200 photos were uploaded to the event page. The event culminated on the day of the Great American Eclipse, and a winner was drawn at the Broken Bow watch party. Crane River has been staging outdoor summer productions for eight years. It has drawn in more than 105,000 audience members. More than 15,000 of those theatergoers attended this years performances at Yanney Heritage Park of The Little Mermaid, an elaborate show full of colorful costumes and quirky characters. Half of the patrons seeing the Crane River production at the Cope Amphitheater visited from outside Kearney, so they spent the night at a local hotel, ate at local restaurants and visited local attractions. To pull off this affordable event, Crane River Theater recruits talent on the local and national level, helping to grow Nebraskas reputation as a state committed to the arts. Wednesday nights tourism industry awards at the La Vista Conference Center capped the annual Nebraska Tourism Conference organized by the Nebraska Tourism Commission. Visit Sarpy County was the host. The Outstanding Agritourism & Ecotourism Entity Award was presented to the Crane Trust Nature and Visitors Center of Wood River, located at the Interstate 80 Alda interchange. It was recognized as a great location to experience nature and the awe-inspiring sandhill crane migration. Just a short walk from the visitors center is the Trusts herd of genetically pure bison, a 35-foot viewing tower and two footbridges that allow guests to cross the Platte River. Trust officials have spent the past five years expanding a VIP experiences that now include immersion in the prairie for migration viewing, fat bike tours and kayaking in the Platte. KEARNEY The University of Nebraska at Kearney just made it more attractive for students from Colorado and Kansas to become Lopers. Beginning in fall 2018, UNK will offer in-state tuition rates for residents from those two states who enroll as regular on-campus undergraduate students and meet admissions requirements, according to a news release from UNK Communications. The new Advantage Scholarship effectively reduces the UNK hourly tuition rate for Kansas and Colorado students to $198 per credit hour, which is the proposed 2018 Nebraska tuition rate. Kansas students currently pay $288, which is 150 percent of resident tuition as members of the Midwest Student Exchange agreement between Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Colorado is not part of the exchange, and students from there currently pay $418 per credit hour to attend UNK. UNK also will extend the new rate to current undergraduate students from Colorado and Kansas who are in good standing academically. The new Advantage Scholarship is an opportunity to attract more academically capable students from Colorado and Kansas, increasing UNKs access to a wider market, said Ed Scantling, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management. Cost of attendance coupled with the quality of our programs will make UNK an attractive choice for Colorado and Kansas students. This plan makes UNK a less-expensive option for students who reside in Colorado, Scantling said. The Advantage Scholarship represents an estimated savings of almost $28,000 in tuition over four years for the average undergraduate student who is not a resident of Nebraska. To learn more about UNK scholarships, visit unk.edu/financialaid, and for the Advantage Scholarship go to unk.edu/advantage. Applications for fall 2018 are underway. Prisons play a key role in Nebraskas criminal justice system by protecting public safety and preparing inmates for return to our society. Under the leadership of Director Scott Frakes over the past two years, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) has been making great strides and working to better achieve their mission. From expanding facility capacity to automating sentence calculation processes and expanding programming, the agency has been adopting data-driven practices to modernize its operations and facilities. While Frakes and his team have accomplished much over the past couple years, their efforts havent come without support from numerous partnerships. To realize many of these changes, we have taken an all hands on deck approach by working with all three branches of state government on several initiatives. Since 2014, Nebraskas three branches of government have collaborated with the Council of State Governments Justice Center on justice reinvestment initiatives, which included the successful passage of sentencing reform with LB605 in 2015. In August, NDCS announced they had successfully completed implementation of their justice reinvestment initiatives. These included risk/needs assessments and programming reviews to protect public safety and help prepare inmates for reentry into the community upon completion of their sentences. Successful outcomes for NDCS also require proper funding. Since entering office I have made it a priority to adequately fund our corrections system. I worked with the Legislature in 2015 to secure an additional $37 million over two years to improve operations in the corrections system. In 2016, the Legislature and I agreed upon an additional $26 million to expand our current prison facilities. This year, we worked together again to provide another $75 million in housing investments to appropriately house and care for the needs of elderly inmates and to deliver better programming for those with behavioral health needs. We are beginning to see tangible results from these investments. Eight of our 10 facilities are successfully filling vacancies and retaining staff members. The agency has put more of a focus on leveraging data to manage the prison population and better deliver programming. This year, NDCS completed over 7,000 risk-needs assessments on inmates to determine where they should be housed and what programming can help prepare them for reentry. Last month, the agency opened a new 100-bed dormitory at their community corrections facility in Lincoln, which is preparing inmates to return to society. While we continue to see great progress, we still have work to do. Staffing at two of the states maximum security facilities continues to present a challenge. To address this, Frakes recently instituted a new hiring bonus for corrections officers at these facilities along with raises for more experienced workers. These bonuses and incentives aim to decrease the amount of overtime required by the current workforce. If these strategies succeed, a higher level of staffing will alleviate pressure on our workforce, allowing our officers to better focus on their jobs, families, and personal well-being. We want our corrections officers to go to work each day feeling secure and supported in their environment as they protect public safety. Hiring more corrections officers not only benefits our loyal officers, but also saves the taxpayer money as well. Every vacant position which is filled by a full-time team member rather than overtime saves an estimated $13,000 per year. Pete Ricketts is governor of Nebraska. It is bogus, it is dangerous, it was built on lies and capitulation, cheating has been going on, the so-called inspection system is a farce, and President Donald Trump wants to do something about it, this nuclear arms deal with Iran. Every 90 days the president has a responsibility to decertify the program if Iran has overstepped the bounds. It has and he did, but did not say we were walking out of the seven-party agreement that will almost certainly stay in place. All kinds of options are nevertheless open. U.S. economic sanctions could be renewed by Congress, and there could be an effort to renegotiate a plan that allows Iran to continue its march toward horror as all obstacles are gradually removed. The anything-goes applause team says wait a minute, all is hunky dory, hope is absolutely justified and no certification rules have been broken. That is absolutely, unmistakably 100 percent wrong. A major certification provision has been shattered. It says the president can certify the deal only if Iran is verifiably and in every respect heeding what it calls for. Iran adamantly refuses to allow the U.N.s International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its military bases, and, in so many words, the head of that organization has finally conceded we therefore have little idea what deadly mischief Iran could be up to. This is no small thing. It is very nearly everything. If you cant verify what Iran is doing, the deal begins to lose what little meaning it ever had. Nuclear weapons could be with us in a hurry because detection and immediate reaction are crucial, and heres what could be going on at those bases: prohibited activities to develop devices of a kind that could make cities or much of the nation of Israel go poof in minutes. Oh, look, complain the deals defenders, Iran is letting intensive searches go on in nuclear facilities, and thats true even though it is like a thief telling police you can search this room but not that one for the stolen object, you jerks. The deal in fact says inspectors should be allowed to go wherever they determine a pressing need, and President Barack Obama promised the agency will have access where necessary, when necessary. The current necessity happens to be underlined by Irans continued demonstration of its nuclear ambitions, its permitted ease in getting there, and its militaristic and terroristic aggressiveness. The nation has, for instance, been openly, happily and unceasingly testing ballistic missiles in almost certain preparation for someday delivering nuclear warheads. Though not in violation of the sloppy deal, this is in violation of a U.N. Security Counsel resolution, and its hugely important. Then theres the scary truth that Iran could quickly replace the highly enriched uranium it has gotten rid of. Keep in mind that Iran has already been caught ignoring the rules on a variety of fronts, such as playing with heavy water and centrifuges to help enable mushroom clouds. It has even been caught trying to buy prohibited nuclear technology from Germans. Europe still likes the deal that has meant all kinds of profitable trading, but Europes signatories to the deal Britain, France and Germany are also saying the U.N. agency should inspect those military bases. Here is the first thing Trump should aim to negotiate, though there is lots more in a deal thats so unbelievably lopsided. Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form 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 FILE - In this May. 23, 2017, file photo, actress and author Mayim Bialik poses for a photo in Los Angeles. In a Facebook Live interview with The New York Times on Oct. 16, 2017, Bialik discussed a recent opinion piece that drew accusations that she was blaming accusers of Harvey Weinstein. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) Workers re-affix heavy canvas panels to the city-owned pergola along the Art Walk in downtown Kelowna on Wednesday morning. The panels, installed as part of security for the high-profile Jonathan Bacon murder trial in the nearby courthouse, blew down in strong winds Tuesday. Ali Omar Ader is shown in court in an artist's sketch. The fate of a Somalian man charged with holding Amanda Lindhout hostage is now in the hands of an Ontario Superior Court judge.Justice Robert Smith reserved judgment Thursday after closing arguments in the 10-day trial of Ali Omar Ader, and is not expected to rule for several months. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Greg Banning We have a great opportunity in the world - Karen Karapetyan (video) Today, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Karen Karapetyan attended and addressed at the official opening of an international workshop, which is jointly organized by the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF), in Yerevan. Prime Minister Karapetyan thanked the organizers of the event, as well as the guests' for their willing to share their experience and knowledge with Armenian specialists. "It is a fact that science and economy are tied together now. I think, FAST can be an integrator with its partners, ensuring the connection of the best science and technology centers to our specialists. He continued, "In fact, today in the world we have a great opportunity to give impetus to our development. It is very important for us to create the necessary ecosystem and innovation campuses throughout the country to provide modern, technological and knowledge-based development. The state is ready to support this process. All of us, the government, the Diaspora, and those individuals in Armenia who are united, especially FAST, have one objective: we want to have a competitive, progressive nation. We are united by the idea that the aforementioned is possible it must be implemented consistently," said Prime Minister Karapetyan in his speech, wishing good luck and productive work to the forum participants and organizers. Machine Learning for Discovery Sciences brings together more than two hundred researchers in Data Science and related disciplines with the aim to promote creation of the basis for sustainable international cooperation and development of science. The workshop aims to become a platform for communication and future cooperation between young researchers, doctorate students and the leading specialists in the mentioned disciplines. Toronto-born MIT professor Sara Seager is shown in an undated handout image. Seager has pledged to spend the rest of her life searching for another Earth among the billions of stars that inhabit our night sky. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-MIT-Justin Knight MANDATORY CREDIT Basil Borutski leaves in a police vehicle after appearing at the courthouse in Pembroke, Ont., on September 23, 2015. The man accused of murdering three women in a rampage in the Ottawa Valley two years ago has broken his self-imposed courtroom silence as the sister of one of the victims testifies.Sixty-year-old Basil Borutski faces three charges of first degree murder in the deaths of Carol Culleton, 66, Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48, who were all former friends and girlfriends. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie raises his arm in response to a speaker as he sits with Sylvia Maracle, right, and Jacqueline Guest during an investiture ceremony, in Ottawa on Monday, June 19, 2017. As Gord Downie fans reflect on his music and advocacy for the plight of Canada's Indigenous people, the medical community is also remembering his great contributions in that world that they say will be felt for decades to come. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld The Draft Law Against Post-Graduate Boys Suren Eremjyan, lecturer of Russian-Armenian Slavonic University, talked about the changes in the Law on Military Service. Strangely, such a draft law is introduced into circulation. One can realize that the changes lead to the deprivation of post-graduate boys from the postponement of their military service. And Im not speaking about those who want to study in the bachelor's and master's degrees. Let's make a simple calculation. Today, only 140 students are eligible for post-graduate education by postponing their military service. There are 70,000 servicemen in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, therefore, even if we accept the presumption that most of these 140 boys are going to university to avoid the military service, this number is nothing with compared to the scale of the Armed Forces. Meanwhile, the number of people involved in science in the Republic of Armenia is about 7,000 (10 times less than the MOD), and even if we admit that only 10 out of 140 will become scholars, it is far more profitable. I do not even say that we have a lack of young teaching staff in universities today. Let's talk about the idea that those who want to learn after the service, are studying more enthusiastically. It is a total lie. There are always some free places in universities for those who wish to study after the service, but the numbers of entrants for these places are never big. I would provide my personal experience in order to be more precise. I had a group with excellent students, but after 11 students returning from their military service, only 2 of these 11 boys continued their studies. To sum up, I'll add that the presence of higher education in the Armed Forces, as well as the soldiers age difference is a great thing for us. Meanwhile, the elimination of the latter from the army will lead to the fact that only the 18-year-old youth will go to army (and such laws will ultimately lead to this), which will lead to the reduction of the educational level or the moral and psychological atmosphere of the servicemen. Sarah Hoffman, newly appointed Alberta Deputy Premier is sworn in, in Edmonton Alta, on Monday February 2, 2016. Canada's health ministers are looking at ways of working together, including an electronic prescription database, to fight the growing crisis in opioid addictions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson Maryam Sharif, daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, right front passenger in vehicle, arrives at an accountability court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Sharif and his family members have been indicted on corruption charges stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) FILE - In this May 7, 2015, file photo, conservative blogger Pamela Geller speaks during an interview at The Associated Press in New York. David Wright was convicted Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, in federal court in Boston, of plotting to behead Geller and kill other Americans on behalf of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) New Zealand First leader Winston Peters talks to media on Thursday, October 19, 2017, in Wellington, New Zealand. Peters announced he was backing the Labour Party in a coalition government that would be led by Jacinda Ardern. (AP Photo/Nick Perry) A group of elderly people talk about the political situation in Catalonia, near a building with Spanish flags fixed on balconies at the Oriente square in Madrid, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Spain's government on Thursday immediately rejected a threat by Catalonia's leader to declare independence unless talks are held, calling a special Cabinet session for the weekend to activate measures to take control of the region's semi-autonomous powers. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Shannon Kepler walks out of the courtroom as the jury leaves to deliberate on his fourth court case at the Tulsa County Courthouse in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Kepler, the former Oklahoma police officer on trial for the fourth time in the 2014 killing of his daughter's black boyfriend, told jurors Wednesday he had no choice but to shoot the young man. (Jessie Wardarski/Tulsa World via AP) 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 BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China will fend off risks from excessive optimism that could lead to a "Minsky Moment", central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Thursday, adding that corporate debt levels are relatively high and household debt is rising too quickly. A Minsky Moment is a sudden collapse of asset prices after a long period of growth, sparked by debt or currency pressures. The theory is named after economist Hyman Minsky. China will control risks from sudden adjustments to asset bubbles and will seriously deal with disguised debt of local government financing vehicles, Zhou said. The People's Bank of China governor was speaking on the sidelines of China's 19th Communist Party congress. (Reporting by Min Zhang, John Ruwitch and Matthew Miller; Writing by Elias Glenn; Editing by Kim Coghill) BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China's property risks have been effectively resolved, with destocking efforts in third- and fourth-tier cities achieving results, a spokesman for China's statistics bureau said Thursday. China's economy will maintain steady and improving momentum, with economic growth still within a reasonable range, National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Xing Zhihong told a news conference. (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Richard Borsuk) 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. MEXICO CITY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The Mexican peso slipped on Wednesday, continuing its volatile gyrations as talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deteriorate. The Mexican peso has seesawed as investors puzzle over what the contentious talks mean for the nation's future, dipping almost 0.5 percent on Wednesday. A day earlier, the United States, Canada and Mexico wrapped up the latest round of NAFTA renegotiations in Washington, D.C., trading barbs. "We think the (Mexican peso) could remain very volatile as the market continues to digest the results of the fourth round of NAFTA negotiations," Nomura analysts Mario Castro, David Wagner and Benito Berber wrote in a note to investors. The losses came after the peso rose about 1.5 percent on Wednesday on news that trade ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico would extend a deadline to finish talks. The jump marked the currency's biggest one-day gain in about 4-1/2 months. Before its rebound, the peso had shed close to 5 percent this month on concerns that talks to revamp the 23-year-old North American trade accord could founder. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave the pact, crying foul over the United States' trade deficit with Mexico. Mexico's government is not worried about the movements in the country's peso, which have been orderly, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said on Wednesday. NAFTA is a critical pillar of the Mexican economy, which sends nearly 80 percent of its exports to the United States. Meanwhile, Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index edged up 0.5 percent as investors remained cautious amid a corruption scandal that has embroiled President Michael Temer and could doom his market-friendly reforms. Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 21:00 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily YTD pct pct change change MSCI Emerging Markets 1,126.90 0.11 30.69 MSCI LatAm 2,952.59 0.73 26.14 Brazil Bovespa 76,591.09 0.51 27.17 Mexico IPC 49,938.98 -0.4 9.41 Chile IPSA 5,517.97 0.63 32.92 Chile IGPA 27,649.69 0.6 33.35 Argentina MerVal 26,213.15 -1.54 54.94 Colombia IGBC 11,012.49 -0.16 8.73 Venezuela IBC 559.96 -0.32 -98.23 (Reporting by Julia Love, Michael O'Boyle and Noe Torres; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Angola's new President Joao Lourenco backs the reform plans of oil company Sonangol, the state firm's powerful chief Isabel dos Santos said on Wednesday. "Our relations are full alignment," dos Santos said in a Reuters newsmaker interview, adding Lourenco was "fully aware" of her plans for Sonangol's transformation. "We are engaged with the government and the government's mission to overcome the difficulties in the Angolan economy." Dos Santos, appointed to her role in 2016, is 18 months into a five-year turnaround plan for Sonangol, which was hit hard by the slump in oil prices that began in 2014. Last month, Lourenco was sworn in as Angola's first new president in 38 years. (Reporting by Libby George; Writing by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Mark Potter) By Stefano Bernabei and Philip Pullella ROME, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Bank of Italy and its governor, Ignazio Visco, came under increased scrutiny on Thursday when former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joined a chorus of politicians criticising its operations. Visco's mandate expires at the end of the month and he is eligible to serve another six-year term. But what had been considered almost a given was thrust into uncertainty on Tuesday when the ruling Democratic Party (PD) passed a parliamentary motion calling for a "new phase" at the central bank. This was seen as implicit criticism of Visco and the bank's supervisory operations as 10 banks have collapsed in the last two years. The "Visco Affair", which is dominating Italian media, has ignited an institutional tug-of-war between political parties and the president, who makes the ultimate decision on who to appoint as central bank chief. Berlusconi, a key player in the centre-right coalition that is looking to make a comeback in national elections next year, joined the fray by taking a jab at the bank, echoing the attacks of the centre-left and other parties. "The Bank of Italy did not exercise the control that was expected of it," he told reporters in Brussels in response to specific question about Visco. However, Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia (Go Italy!) has not taken a unified stand on the bank affair and many of its members are still believed to back a second term for Visco. According to Italian law, President Sergio Mattarella appoints the central bank governor, after consulting Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. The Bank of Italy's own supervisory board also has a say. In a rare statement seen as a direct rebuke of the PD's motion against Visco, the head of state said everyone should "respect their own roles." Mattarella favours renewing Visco, who has been in office since 2011, for a second mandate, a government source told Reuters. CROSS-PARTY CRITICISM The growing criticism of the central bank from virtually all the main political parties could, however, make it harder for Mattarella to re-appoint Visco, who banking sources say is a close ally of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Candidates to succeed Visco include Fabio Panetta, Italy's representative to the ECB's bank supervisory board and the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy Salvatore Rossi. The central bank has defended its actions, saying a spate of bank scandals and failures were due to Italy's worst post-war economic crisis, and it did everything in its powers to defend people's savings. Last month, a cross-party commission was set up in parliament to investigate the bank scandals, though it is unlikely to complete its work before the election. Though he has declined comment on the affair, Visco made an unexpected visit to the commission on Wednesday night to show members documents which Italian newspapers said defended the bank's operations. Though the ECB started directly regulating Italy's 15 largest banks in 2014, the Bank of Italy continues to supervise the financial health of the rest of the sector. (additional reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, Steve Scherer, Valentina Consiglio, Massimiliano di Giorgio,; Editing by Richard Balmforth) SEOUL, Oct 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank said on Thursday the economic setback from retaliatory measures taken by China against the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in the country is expected to subside from the second quarter of next year. Chang Min, the Bank of Korea's director general for its research department, told a press briefing the expected relief from the economic backlash is expected to boost economic growth by 0.1 percentage point in 2018. China has been curbing South Korean companies from doing business in China in protest against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system it believes can be used to look inside its territory. Both South Korea and the United States have said THAAD is only to deter North Korea's missile threats. (Reporting by Christine Kim and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) * Leu weaker on politics, government may reject bond bids * PKN Q3 earnings knock Warsaw stock index By Sandor Peto BUDAPEST, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The zloty and forint edged lower on Thursday, pausing for breath after recent strong gains as investors began positioning for expected changes to the European Central Bank's stimulus programme. The leu also fell, before a Romanian bond auction in which the government may reject bids, leading modest losses among buoyant Central European currencies. The region's most liquid currency, the zloty edged down to 4.2371, close to three-month highs reached on Tuesday on the back of strong Polish economic data. The forint shed 0.1 percent, still close to a five-week high. Both the Hungarian central bank and the ECB hold policy meetings next week, and speculation about their outcome -- along with uncertainty over who will replace Janet Yellen early next year as U.S. Federal Reserve chair -- were driving markets, the trader said. The ECB is expected to say next Thursday it will trim its monthly asset purchases to 40 billion euros from 60 billion euros in January, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The leu eased 0.1 percent to a one-week lows of 4.593 against the euro, while the yield on Romania's five-year bonds, the maturity due to be auctioned on Thursday, rose one basis point to 3.07 percent, near its highest level in years. Romania rejected all bids at its past four debt auctions and might do likewise on Thursday, a Budapest-based fixed income trader said. A liquidity squeeze in the banking system has helped support the leu despite worries over planned reforms that critics say could erode judicial independence. In Prague, the crown traded at 25.72 against the euro, off Wednesday's four-year highs. Czech central banker Oldrich Dedek said late on Wednesday that the likelihood of another rate hike at the bank's Nov. 2 meeting was "rather higher" than earlier. His comments underpinned expectations for a hike, which have contributed to a recent rise in Czech bond yields and a surge of in the crown. Czech government bonds were flat on Thursday. Raiffeisen analysts said in a note that Czech bonds had almost fully priced in expected rate hikes. "We are therefore comfortable with our upgraded recommendation to 'Hold'." In equities markets, Warsaw's bluchip index fell almost one percent, pulled down mainly by a 4.4 percent plunge of PKN shares after the oil group reported a smaller than expected rise in third-quarter profits. The shares of its Czech unit, Unipetrol , hit a record high after strong third-quarter results. CEE MARKETS SNAPSH AT 1037 CET OT CURRENCIES Latest Previo Daily Change us bid close change in 2017 Czech crown 25.720 25.712 -0.03% 5.00% 0 5 Hungary 308.68 308.35 -0.11% 0.05% forint 00 00 Polish zloty 4.2371 4.2356 -0.04% 3.94% Romanian leu 4.5930 4.5877 -0.12% -1.26% Croatian 7.5080 7.5075 -0.01% 0.63% kuna Serbian 118.94 119.03 +0.08 3.71% dinar 00 00 % Note: daily calculated previo close 1800 change from us at CET STOCKS Latest Previo Daily Change us close change in 2017 Prague 1054.3 1053.8 +0.05 +14.4 8 3 % 1% Budapest 38939. 39081. -0.36% +21.6 70 77 7% Warsaw 2479.4 2502.3 -0.92% +27.2 4 4 9% Bucharest 8029.7 8053.3 -0.29% +13.3 0 5 3% Ljubljana 807.43 810.37 -0.36% +12.5 2% Zagreb 1852.1 1854.0 -0.10% -7.15% 6 6 Belgrade 727.69 726.52 +0.16 +1.44 % % Sofia 670.43 670.55 -0.02% +14.3 2% BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech spread Republic 2-year 0.267 -0.022 +100b -1bps ps 5-year 0.624 0.023 +094b +3bps ps 10-year 1.466 0.007 +108b +2bps ps Poland 2-year 1.676 -0.032 +241b -2bps ps 5-year 2.668 0.013 +298b +2bps ps 10-year 3.307 -0.005 +292b +0bps ps FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interb ank Czech Rep Hungary Poland Note: FRA are for ask quotes prices ********************************************************* ***** (Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by John Stonestreet) (Kitco News) - Gold prices are moderately higher in early U.S. trading Thursday, on a corrective rebound from selling pressure seen earlier this week. A lower U.S. dollar index and a downturn in world stock markets are supportive daily elements for the gold and silver markets. December Comex gold was last up $7.60 an ounce at $1,290.70. December Comex silver was last up $0.078 at $17.07 an ounce. World stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward solidly lower openings when the New York day session begins. The bourses are seeing some profit taking after recently hitting record or multi-year highs. Today is the 30th anniversary of the Black Monday record-setting crash of the U.S. stock market. In overnight news, Chinas gross domestic product was reported up 6.8% in the third quarter, year-on-year. Thats just a bit down from the 6.9% rate in the second quarter. Other major world economies would be ecstatic to see growth numbers half that size. The rift between Spain and its Catalonia region deepened Thursday when the Catalan leader did not respond to a government order to stop his secessionist plans. Spanish government officials are holding an emergency meeting on the matter. This is another mildly supportive element for the gold and silver markets today. China on Wednesday started its twice-a-decade Party Congress meetings, in which major economic and cultural planning initiatives are laid out for the next five years. Traders and investors will keep a close watch for any pronouncements coming out of those meetings. The key outside markets Thursday morning see the U.S. dollar index slightly lower. Meantime, Nymex crude oil futures prices are lower and trading above $51.00 a barrel. U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the Philadelphia Fed business survey, and leading economic indicators. Technically, December gold futures bulls have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls next upside technical objective is pushing and closing prices above chart resistance at $1,300.00. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is closing prices below solid technical support at the October low of $1,262.80. First support is seen at todays low of 1,277.60 and then at $1,270.00. First resistance is seen at todays high of 1,292.00 and then at $1,300.00. Wyckoffs Market Rating: 5.5 December silver bulls also have slight the overall near-term technical advantage. The next upside price breakout objective is closing futures prices above solid technical resistance at $17.75 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the October low of $16.345. First resistance is seen at $17.28 and then at $17.50. Next support is seen at this weeks low of $16.92 and then at $16.765. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5. Asanko Gold Inc. (TSX, NYSE MKT: AKG) says production in the third quarter of 49,293 gold ounces is on track to meet 2017 guidance of 205 to 225,000 ounces. The company says it generated $63.6 million in gold revenue at an average realized price of $1,265 per ounce. The company operates the Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana, West Africa. Peter Breese, president and chief executive officer, says the quarterly output very respectable considering July and August production were impacted by three mill motor outages that meant 5,000 ounces of lost output. The quarterly production was still up from 46,017 in the second quarter although down from 58,187 in the first. "Overall, our quarterly production performance for Q3 was very encouraging, with positive results in a number of key areas: reconciliations confirming the Nkran resource model, management of ore losses and dilution and the plant achieving milling rates in excess of 13,500 tonnes on a per-day campaign basis, the CEO says. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com McEwen Mining Reports Decline In 3Q Output McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE, TSX: MUX) reports consolidated production in the third quarter of 19,051 gold ounces and 749,749 silver ounces for a total of 29,047 gold equivalent ounces, using a 75-to-1 gold to silver ratio. This is down from 36,496 gold-equivalent ounces in the same quarter of 2016. The company reports that the purchase of the Black Fox complex, completed earlier this month, boosts consolidated 2018 production guidance to between 172,000 and 185,000 gold-equivalent ounces. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Goldcorp Completes Sale Of Copper-Zinc Project Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG) announces completion of the previously announced sale of its 21% minority interest in the San Nicolas copper-zinc project, located in Mexico, to Teck Resources Ltd. for $50 million. The closing follows Mexican anti-trust approval. ATHENS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A potential deal with the United States to upgrade Greece's F-16 fighter jets is not expected to have a fiscal impact and should not cause concern to the country's EU lenders, Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump said after meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the White House this week that the two countries were in talks over a potential sale to upgrade dozens of F-16 aircraft in Greece's Air Force. "It (the deal) is not expected to impact in any way the country's fiscal progress," Tzanakopoulos told reporters, adding that Athens was ready to brief the Commission, if it requested any details. "There is no reason for any concern," he said. Discussions have progressed but the deal over the Lockheed Martin jets has not yet been sealed, he said. It is not expected to cost Greece more than 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), an amount which would be paid in annual installments over a decade. ($1 = 0.8458 euros) (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos) MAPUTO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not in discussion with Mozambique over a new aid programme for next year as the southern African nation was yet to explain gaps on how $2 billion in previously hidden loans was spent, a fund official said. The IMF cancelled its funding last year after the emergence of the loans to three state-owned companies that were not approved by parliament or disclosed publicly, sending the nation's currency into freefall. "In terms of our projections we are not at the moment assuming that there will be a program next year," IMF Africa Director Abebe Selassie said in a press briefing transcript posted on the fund's website seen by Reuters on Thursday. "There is no program discussion as you know, the engagement that we had has been interrupted ... until the gaps that have been identified by the audit that's been done can be filled, so we are waiting for those to be completed." An independent audit of the debt showed in June that gaps remained on how the $2 billion was spent and roughly a quarter of the money remained unaccounted for. The IMF had insisted on external scrutiny as a precursor to resuming financial aid to what is one of the world's poorest countries. (Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia) JAKARTA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia central bank governor Agus Martowardojo told reporters on Thursday that a rupiah exchange rate level of around 13,500 per dollar is "competitive for Indonesia". The rupiah dropped to its weakest since December earlier this month, but since then has been trading within a narrow range of 13,455-13,517 per dollar. The central bank on Thursday kept its policy rate steady, saying the decision was in line with efforts to maintain stability in consumer prices and the rupiah. (Reporting by Hidayat Setiaji) BAGHDAD, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil ministry on Thursday cautioned oil companies against signing contracts with Iraqi Kurdistan. On Wednesday Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft signed an agreement to put production sharing agreements into force with respect to five production blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Jason Neely) 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. BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Italy's Prime Minister will seek assurances from EU authorities that its banking system will not face "inappropriate measures" that hamper lending under stepped-up efforts to manage bad loans. The European Central Bank - which supervises the euro zone's biggest banks -- has proposed that banks should set aside larger amounts of money against new bad loans. Investors are concerned that will lead to further loan writedowns, with Italian banks -- which ECB data shows hold nearly 30 percent of the bloc's 915 billion euros ($1.1 trillion) of problem debt -- prominently in the firing line. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday he would raise the issue of bank loans with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. "I will ...insist on the necessity of the banking union being a tool to improve bank lending," Gentiloni told reporters at a meeting of centre-left leaders ahead of an EU summit. "There should not be inappropriate or untimely measures that could hamper lending and reduce the protection of savers." Gentiloni made no direct reference to the ECB, which is independent of the Commission and has faced criticism from Italy over its proposal. Euro zone countries have launched a scheme to strengthen their banking system under a plan known as banking union. Under the scheme, banks have a single supervisor -- the ECB's Single Supervisory Mechanism -- and a single set of rules on resolution if they collapse. The missing part of the union is a pan-European system to protect bank deposits, which Germany does not want to agree to until euro zone banks reduce their bad loans. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; writing by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Jan Strupczewski and John Stonestreet) BAGHDAD, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A Kurdish demonstrator was killed and six others wounded on Thursday as they were protesting the takeover of their city, Khanaqin, by Iraqi forces, Mayor Mohammed Mulla Hassan said. Kurdish forces withdrew on Tuesday from the city on the border with Iran to avoid clashing with Iraqi forces sent by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Khanaqin, mainly populated by Shi'ite Kurds, lies outside the official boundaries of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. It is claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central authorities in Baghdad. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Janet Lawrence) By Claire Ruckin LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Another wave of event driven financings is set to hit Europe's leveraged loan market in November promising at least 7.6bn-equivalent of new issuance for cash-rich investors before the end of the year. Two of the higher profile deals are a US$2.59bn-equivalent loan financing backing Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners' buyout of UK payment processing company Paysafe and around 2.5bn-3bn of leveraged loans backing US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman's DKr33.1bn (US$5.3bn) takeover offer for payments firm Nets . Other deals include 1.6bn of debt financing to back BC Partners' acquisition of German industrial ceramics group Ceramtec; 430m of leveraged loans to back CVC's buyout of the remaining assets in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' women's health business; and a 300m leveraged loan for Bain Capital's acquisition of the UK divisions of human resources software company NGA Human Resources. "We are back into the start of a leveraged buyout phase so we are looking at new deals," a syndicate head said. Europe's leveraged loan market has been light on buyout financings throughout October after several post-summer leveraged buyout loans closed and allocated towards the end of September. Since then, October has seen the return of refinancing and repricing activity, similar to what dominated the loan market for the first half of the year, as sponsors take advantage of a quiet spell to launch opportunistic loans. Opportunistic deals are unpopular with bankers and investors alike as they offer low fees to the former and typically lower yields to the latter. Some of the more opportunistic transactions include a 1.3bn-equivalent term loan for UK vehicle glass repair and replacement group Belron, to repay existing debt and fund a 450m dividend to shareholders. A 630m repricing for Swiss shopping tax-refund company Global Blue effectively clipped 100bp off in interest, while Belgian aluminium systems manufacturer Corialis, Swiss packaging firm SIG Combibloc, French telecom group Altice and its subsidiary SFR all completed repricings or refinancings in October. LOOKING GOOD Meanwhile the pipeline of potential deals that could come to the market towards the end of the year or beginning of 2018 is also looking healthy as bids go in on a variety of assets. Some of the most hotly anticipated auction processes include the sale of the margarine and spreads business of Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever , which would require up to 5bn of debt financing. New deals are likely to be welcomed by investors, as CLOs, warehousing CLOs and managed accounts continue to scramble to put money to work amid an on-going imbalance between demand and supply that has plagued Europe's leveraged loan market since last year. New deals are popular as they boost portfolio diversity and tend to be more generously priced than opportunistic financings. Yet questions remain whether the terms of the new deals will be more favourable for investors, specifically with regards to documentation, after pushback on a number of recent event-driven financings including life sciences company Avantor's buyout of lab supplies company VWR Corp led to more lender-friendly docs. (Editing by Christopher Mangham) Oct 19 (Reuters) - Uber rival Lyft said on Thursday Capital G, the growth investment fund of Google parent company Alphabet Inc , led a $1 billion round of financing, boosting the valuation of the ride-hailing service to $11 billion. The company already received an investment from GM but it looks like Lyft is shifting more to Alphabet, which has its own autonomous car development platform Waymo. Lyft also said that CapitalG partner David Lawee will be joining the company's board. ( ) (Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr) TOKYO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Mitsui Life Insurance Co plans to increase the holdings of foreign bonds without currency hedging by more than 100 billion yen ($884 million) in the six months to March, a senior company official said on Thursday. The company plans to reduce domestic bond holdings due to low bond yields in Japan, Yoichiro Matsuta, head of the investment planning department, told a news conference. ($1 = 113.0700 yen) (Reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim) 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. Oct 19 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Thursday. DEBT TENDER Debt managers plan to sell 300 million lei ($77.05 million)worth of March 2022 treasury bonds at tender. JUDICIARY BILLS Romania has put the finishing touches to a plan to overhaul the judiciary that critics say erodes judicial independence and which will have to be discussed with the European Union. PAY PROTESTS About 8,000 workers from the health sector are expected to rally in downtown Bucharest on Thursday in a pay protest. 2018 BUDGET Romania's ruling coalition said next year's budget will target a consolidated deficit of under 3.0 percent of gross domestic product and a nominal GDP of 901 billion lei ($230.86 billion), co-leader Calin Tariceanu said on Wednesday. RAYTHEON MEMORANDUM Romania's Aerostar SA on behalf of the economy ministry and U.S. company Raytheon International Defence System signed memorandum regarding cooperation on equipment and components for the multi-level air defence integrated system. CEE MARKETS The Czech crown hit a four-year high and the zloty tested 3-month highs against the euro on Wednesday as Polish retail and industrial data confirmed robust economic growth in Central Europe. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on For other related news, double click on: --------------------------------------------------------------- Romanian equities RO-E E.Europe equities .CEE Romanian money RO-M Romanian debt RO-D Eastern Europe EEU All emerging markets EMRG Hot stocks HOT Stock markets STX Market debt news DBT Forex news FRX For real-time index quotes, double click on: Bucharest BETI Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX --------------------------------------------------------------- ($1 = 3.8934 lei) (repeats earlier Oct. 18 story with no changes) By Rodrigo Campos and Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a nearly 24-year-old trade pact between Canada, the United States and Mexico, hangs in doubt after the latest round of talks in Washington ended in acrimony on Tuesday, casting uncertainty over a range of stocks. NAFTA, long opposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, eliminates most tariffs on trade between the three countries. Although trade more than quadrupled between those countries since 1994, Trump blames NAFTA for lost U.S. manufacturing jobs and a trade deficit with Mexico. REVENUE EXPOSURE U.S. stocks with the most revenue exposure to their NAFTA partners include Kansas City Southern , Molson Coors Brewing and Colgate-Palmolive Co . Investors are positioning for the final outcome on NAFTA, which could be negative for several sectors if the deal is scrapped. Since Trump's election victory, Mexican shares with the most NAFTA revenue exposure have far underperformed Canadian and U.S. shares screened by the same measure. Here are some of the most sensitive sectors and stocks: AUTOS & STEEL The Trump administration is proposing stricter automotive content rules that require the use of North American-made steel, aluminum, copper and plastic resins. U.S. automakers and the U.S. steel industry are concerned that changes to NAFTA could interfere with existing supply networks. "Decades have been spent optimizing supply chains and they are very intertwined," RBC analysts said in a note on the sector and NAFTA this month. "Even if a specific plant isn't directly impacted it could be indirectly impacted because of supply constraints." American Axle , which manufactures chassis modules and other auto and truck components, Canadian auto systems maker Magna International , Linamar Corp , and Martinrea International could be among the hardest hit. "Our general view is that any disruption to NAFTA is negative for autos," the RBC note said. GROUND TRANSPORTATION Perhaps no company has been in the NAFTA cross-hairs as much as railroad Kansas City Southern. Cross-border revenue makes up more than a quarter of its total revenue, according to its second-quarter earnings presentation. "We believe the market would punish KSU shares immediately upon NAFTA collapse due to the uncertainty of the impact on U.S. trade with Mexico," said Morningstar analyst Keith Schoonmaker. Shares in Kansas City Southern have underperformed those of rivals CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern since the election. Union Pacific Corp , the No. 1 U.S. railroad, derives 10 percent of its revenue from trade to and from Mexico, Schoonmaker says. Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway are other railroads to watch. Share in trucking companies such as Celadon Group Inc and Werner Enterprises could also move on the NAFTA outcome. One possible impact is the cross-border shipment process could become less efficient, said Morningstar analyst Matthew Young. FOOD The U.S. Agriculture Secretary told Fox Business last week that NAFTA benefits Canada more than it does the United States, singling out the dairy, wine and poultry industries. Asked last week about a worst-case NAFTA scenario, U.S. poultry producer Sanderson Farms Chief Executive Joe Sanderson said tariffs on agricultural products going into Mexico would be "bad for the industry, and be bad for Sanderson Farms." Canadian dairy producer Saputo Inc , which also has U.S. operations, could be hurt if the flow of U.S. dairy products to Mexico and Canada is affected as prices inside the United States could come under pressure, said a brokerage research analyst who requested anonymity. On the sweeteners side, financial services company Kepler Cheuvreux earlier this year questioned the tenability of Tate & Lyle's North American bulk ingredients performance partly due to risk of the NAFTA renegotiation. Shares of Constellation Brands Inc , which holds rights to sell Mexican beer brands Corona and Modelo in the United States, dropped 7.6 percent the day after Trump's election, their biggest single-day loss in about 3-1/2 years. Molson Coors , which imports Molson brands to the United States from Molson Coors Canada, slid 8.6 percent over four days after the election. ENERGY Suncor Energy Inc and Canadian Natural Resources Limited are among the top Canadian exporters of crude to the United States and their stocks could suffer if the United States were to impose tariffs. But the Canadian energy industry doubts that the United States would tax Canadian crude imports, a major source for U.S. refineries. AGRICULTURE Agriculture exports for the United States are expected to total roughly $139 billion in 2018, of which roughly 30 percent is to Canada and Mexico, according to Jefferies analyst Stephen Volkmann. Should NAFTA falter, it could have implications for agriculture equipment makers such as Deere & Co and ACGO Corp as export demand for U.S. crops falls. "Market expectations are for a significant rally in crop prices and equipment sales, but fraying NAFTA ties pose a risk to this recovery thesis," Volkmann said in a research note. TEXTILES An estimated $11.5 billion out of $26.3 billion of U.S. textile exports go to Canada and Mexico, according to the National Council of Textile Organizations. "Cutting off that flow of goods or taxing that flow at a higher rate is believed to be harmful," said Stefanie Miller, senior tax and trade analyst at Height Securities. Canadian company Gildan Activewear has 87 percent of its revenue exposed to the United States, according to Thomson Reuters data. However, in a filing last month, yarn manufacturer Unifi Inc said it anticipates that any modifications or updates to the trade agreement "will not significantly impact textile and apparel trade in the NAFTA region." <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ NAFTA revenue exposure NAFTA stocks v. the S&P 500 Autos, Rails & NAFTA Tale of two stocks: Constellation vs Tate & Lyle Kansas City Southern shares vs rail stocks ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Christine Murray in Mexico City and Solarina Ho and Fergal Smith in Toronto; Editing by Megan Davies and Meredith Mazzilli) HANOI, Oct 19 (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 0402 GMT. October 19 USD/VND mid-point 22,462 USD/VND interbank 22,719/22,720 USD/VND unofficial 22,720/22,740 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.30/36.52 Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.6-1.1 1 week 0.7-1.2 1 month 1.4-1.9 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) JOHANNESBURG, Oct 19 (Reuters) - South African platinum producer Royal Bafokeng Platinum said on Thursday it was dropping the services of contractor JIC Mining Services, majority by Oakbay Investments, the main company operated by the Gupta family. RBPlat, a black-owned mid-tier producer of the precious metal, is the latest South African company to cut ties with companies linked to the Guptas, accused of using their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to win state contracts. The Gupta family and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing. "It was a commercial decision, with effect from 31 December. Notice period began at the beginning of October. The agreement between the parties entitles the company to terminate for convenience," a spokeswoman for RBPlat told Reuters in response to emailed questions. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia) MADRID, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Spain sold 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of debt at a quadruple bond auction on Thursday, with yields on the benchmark 10-year bond higher than the previous sale as a dispute between Madrid and Barcelona on Catalan independence worsens. Spain's political showdown with Catalonia reached a new level on Thursday after Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont threatened to take a formal declaration of independence to the regional parliament. The Treasury had aimed to sell between 4 billion and 5 billion euros of the four bonds. The 10-year benchmark, due Oct 31, 2027, sold 1.0 billion euros at an average yield of 1.627 percent and with demand outstripping supply by 1.8 times. The yield was higher than when it last sold early September for 1.540 percent. The previous bid-to-cover ratio was 2.0. The shortest-dated bond, due Jan. 31, 2021, sold 1.8 billion euros at a yield of 0.043 percent, up from the -0.027 percent when it was last run Sept. 21. The bid-to-cover ratio was 1.4 after 2.6 previously. The longest-dated, Oct 31, 2046 bond sold 735 million euros at a 2.874 percent yield, down from 2.904 percent when it last ran in July, suggesting Catalan concerns did not extend to long-term investors. The bond was 1.6 times subscribed after 1.3 times in July. The July 30, 2025 bond, with a 4.65 percent coupon, sold 965 million euros at an average yield of 1.124 percent and with demand 1.5 times supply. ($1 = 0.8482 euros) (Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Tomas Cobos) STOCKHOLM, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Sweden's central bank bought 1.125 billion Swedish crowns ($137.81 million) of government bonds in a reverse auction as part of its quantitative easing programme, it said on Thursday. It bought 500 million crowns of 2023 bonds at an average yield of 0.173 percent and 625 million crowns of 2026 bonds at 0.566 percent. Investors offered to sell the Riksbank 900 million crowns and 1.325 billion crowns in the two bonds respectively. ($1 = 8.1632 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Johan Sennero; Editing by Simon Johnson) 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. PRAGUE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Czech Finance Ministry sold 68.0 million crowns ($3.13 million) worth of 0.95/30 government bonds in the second, non-competitive round of an auction on Thursday. Issue status: REOPENED, 13th tranche Maturity: May 15, 2030 with floating annual coupon Settlement date: October 20, 2017 AUCTION DATE 18/10/17 27/09/17 AVG. ACCEPTED YIELD 1.713 1.453 AVG. ACCEPTED PRICE 91.433 94.239 HIGHEST ACCEPTED YIELD 1.726 1.483 LOWEST ACCEPTED YIELD 1.679 1.402 TAIL (max yield less avg. yield) 0.013 0.030 ALLOCATION AT THE CUT-OFF PRICE (%) 100.000 100.000 TOTAL INVESTOR BIDS (bln crowns) 4.034 4.334 NON-COMPETITIVE BIDS (bln crowns) 0.068 0.000 SOLD (bln crowns) 3.049 3.384 FINMIN RETAINED 0.000 0.000 BID-TO-COVER RATIO (1st auction leg) 1.330 1.281 AMOUNT OUTSTANDING AFTER NEW SALE (bln 49.544 46.495 crowns) NOTE. In the second round, bonds are allotted to primary dealers at the average price and yield set in the first round. Dealers are not required to buy any bonds in the top-up round. Details of the government's debt auctions can be found on page . ($1 = 21.7590 Czech crowns) (Reporting by Mirka Krufova; Editing by Robert Muller) MADRID, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Spanish toll road operator Abertis said its top shareholder was ready to take up an acquisition offer by Italy's Atlantia although its board thought the price could be improved after a rival offered more. Trumping Atlantia's bid, German builder Hochtief , controlled by Spain's ACS , made a 17.1 billion euro ($20 billion) offer for Abertis on Wednesday. Atlantia's bid, worth around 15.7 billion euros on a comparable basis, would create the world's biggest toll-roads operator, helping both companies in their drive to branch out from their home markets. Abertis said its board saw several "industrial and strategic" advantages in Atlantia's offer but thought there was room to improve the price, also in light of the competing bid. It said Criteria Caixa, the top investor in Abertis with 15.08 percent of voting rights, was ready "as of today" to take up Atlantia's offer, accepting in exchange for its stake shares in the Italian toll road operator. Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci was quoted as saying in the Italian press on Thursday that the group would assess all options regarding possible changes to its bid. ($1 = 0.8473 euros) (Reporting by Jose Elias Rodriguez and Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir) (Adds details, background) Oct 19 (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange Group Plc said on Thursday that chief executive Xavier Rolet will leave the bourse operator by the end of December 2018, just under a decade after he took the helm at the firm. LSE said it would start looking for his successor immediately. Rolet, 57, who joined the group from Lehman Brothers, said last year that he would leave the group if a merger with Deutsche Boerse went through. However the collapse of the deal in March meant he opted to stay on for longer. Under the Frenchman's leadership, the exchange has completed a string of deals including buying up the FTSE Group and clearing house LCH.CLearnet. But his attempts to make truly transformative deals eluded him. LSE walked away from an attempted takeover of the Toronto stock exchange in 2011 in the face of a rival bid from Canadian banks, while competition regulators thwarted his bid to merge with Deutsche Boerse. Rolet took over at LSE from Clara Furse in May 2009, with his banking background making him a popular choice among the exchange's largest customers. Under his leadership the company's market value has risen from less than 1 billion pounds to almost 14 billion, helped by diversifying into the derivatives, data and index businesses. LSE said in a separate statement on Thursday that group income for the quarter ended Sept rose 17 percent to 1.66 billion pounds ($2.19 billion), with revenue up 14 percent to 486 million pounds as its clearing and FTSE Russell businesses grew strongly. Thirteen analysts had forecast total income of 477.5 million pounds, according to company provided consensus estimates. ($1 = 0.7569 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Rachel Armstrong) (Updates with Fiscal Council quote) By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Slovenia's public debt is expected to fall to 75.2 percent of GDP this year, down from 78.5 percent last year, the statistics office said on Thursday citing the Finance Ministry's forecast. However, the Fiscal Council, a body which advises the government on public finances, said later on Thursday the government should still do more to reduce its deficit and debt in years of solid economic growth. "In such good economic conditions we need consistent restricted fiscal policy so that debt would be gradually reduced to the level before the (financial) crisis and that reserves will be formed," the council said in a statement. "This is very important for smaller economies, which are more exposed to external and internal shocks," it added. Slovenia's GDP of about 40 billion euros is mostly driven by exports to other EU states, including cars, car parts, pharmaceuticals and household appliances. The statistics office said the debt this year will rise in nominal figures as it will reach 32.2 billion euros ($38.00 billion) at the end of this year versus 31.7 billion at the end of 2016, but will fall when measured as a percentage of GDP due to economic growth seen at 4.4 percent this year. In 2008, before the onset of the global financial crisis, Slovenia's debt amounted to only 21.8 percent of GDP. It subsequently rose sharply as the country only narrowly managed to avoid an international bailout for its banks in 2013. Last year debt fell as a share of GDP for the fir st time in eight years. A draft of the government's development strategy showed last week that it is due to fall to 60 percent of GDP, the maximum level allowed for EU members, only in 2030. The statistic office also said the forecast for 2017 budget deficit remained unchanged at 321 million euros or 0.8 percent of GDP versus a deficit of 1.9 percent in 2016. ($1 = 0.8473 euros) (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Peter Graff) * Harmony mulls rights issue, shares fall over 5 percent * AngloGold cuts exposure to tough domestic industry (Adds shares, details) By TJ Strydom and Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG, Oct 19 (Reuters) - South Africa's Anglogold Ashanti is to sell two gold mines for a total $307 million in the latest retreat from a sector which is in a state of steep decline. Anglogold will sell its newest mine to Harmony Gold for $300 million and another mine for 100 million rand ($7.4 million) to China's Heaven-Sent SA Sunshine Investment Company, the companies said on Thursday. Anglogold, after suffering heavy losses in its home market, had said in June it would restructure its South African mines which could lead to 8,500 workers, or around 30 percent of its workforce, being laid off. Yet Harmony, which agreed to buy the Moab Khotsong mine where operations started in 2006, for $300 million in cash, said it was committed to boosting production at the mine. "We may even increase the workforce," Harmony Chief Executive Peter Steenkamp told Reuters. Harmony shares fell more than 5 percent after it said it might consider a rights issue of new stock to repay a loan it will use to finance the transaction, a rare acquisition in South Africa's gold industry which has been impacted by a range of political and geological issues. After over a century of mining, shafts are plunging to depths of up to 4 kilometres, costs have been soaring, and government policy is shrouded in uncertainty, curtailing investment. "$200 million will be funded through a fully underwritten$200 million bridge loan facility. Harmony is assessing various alternatives to optimally repay the bridge, including a potential rights issue," the company said. AngloGold Ashanti Chief Executive Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said the sale was in line with the company's capital allocation strategy and its aim to improve its portfolio, which includes 17 operations in nine countries. Harmony said the mine would add 250,000 ounces of gold to its annual production and increase its underground resource base by 38 percent. Anglogold will also sell its Kopanang mine, a gold plant and related infrastructure to Heaven-Sent SA Sunshine. "The purchase consideration will be settled ... by a payment of 100 million rand in cash and the transfer of certain gold-bearing rock dumps from VMR to AngloGold Ashanti," Anglogold said. ($1 = 13.5603 rand) (Reporting by TJ Strydom and Ed Stoddard; Editing by David Holmes) The BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting was held for a second day Wednesday in Grand Junction. The board heard from researchers and scientist all day, and the public had a chance to comment. For two hours, a room, full of about 100 people, listened to and shared their opinions on how to control the wild horse populations. Some, like Suzanne Roy, the executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, want the committee to reverse their recommendation to euthanize or sell without limitation the horses that the BLM rounds up. Her group brought boxes of 300,000 signed petitions supporting a reversal. "These are signatures from people in every state of the nation who care deeply about our wild horses and our public lands and oppose where this board is going," Roy said. On the Little Bookcliffs, a birth control method called PZP is successful because darters can get close to the horses. The Trump administration has proposed a $10 million budget cut for programs like this. Roy said her group conducted polls with Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, that found 80 percent of Americans don't want the wild horses destroyed. "If Congress were to grant the Trump administration's budget request, up to 92,000 wild horses and burros could be killed or slaughtered," Roy said. "So it's very serious. And again, it's something the American people just don't support." But some came to the meeting with hopes that the board would reaffirm their earlier recommendation. "In many areas of the West, the land is overpopulated by wild horses and burros, and it's causing resource damage," said Kenneth Brown with the Western Counties Alliance. "There needs to be more gathers." The board will meet again on Thursday, and there will be time for public comments. After this meeting, the board is expected to make a recommendation to the BLM for how to manage the wild horse populations. Grayson Subaru helps Ijams Nature Center add 13.4 acres to protected lands KNOXVILLE Thanks to Grayson Subaru of Knoxville, Ijams Nature Center has added 13.4 acres to its permanently protected lands. The property will be named the Grayson Subaru Preserve. It will become a cutting-edge, nature free-play area for children as well as a site for citizen science and other Ijams environmental education programs. "We have worked with Ijams on several events and projects in years past, said Randy Carter, Grayson Subaru sales manager. Grayson has been waiting for the perfect project to come along to help Ijams in a big way, while giving Grayson a permanent presence at the center. We are excited that this new addition will offer generations of kids new outdoor educational opportunities, while bolstering Ijams footprint. New Ijams property from Island Home Boulevard. Image courtesy of Ijams. The property is located just past the Meads Quarry entrance on the right side of Island Home Avenue between McClure Lane and Harold Lane. It features riparian wetlands along two creeks as well as upland habitat that includes a small cedar glade and secondary growth forest. This site has great potential and brings additional diversity to the Ijams landscape, and what we create will serve as a model for nature play areas across the country, said Amber Parker, executive director of Ijams Nature Center. Our goal is to have a space that allows parents to give their children a bit more freedom to roam, as many of us did when we were kids, but with the oversight and safety considerations required by modern parents. The Grayson Subaru Preserve will take shape over the next year. Parker said the staff plans to assess the needs for nonnative plant removal, stream restoration, trail planning and building this winter, host a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the late spring of 2018 and then continue to create the elements needed. Parker said there will be many volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups to help prepare the site. Ijams staff will be able to use the Grayson Subaru Preserve for students in the centers new nature preschool, which will open in summer 2018. Nature preschoolers spend 80% or more of their time outdoors, and the nature play opportunities at the Grayson Subaru Preserve will be perfect for these young learners. Ijams Nature Center is a nonprofit, 315-acre educational nature center for all ages, abilities and walks of life. Ijams mission is to encourage stewardship of the natural world by providing an urban greenspace for people to learn about and enjoy the outdoors through engaging experiences. Located just three miles from downtown Knoxville, Ijams features 12 miles of hiking and mixed-use trails, a public access river dock, swimming, boating, biking and more. The center offers hundreds of educational programs annually, from school field trips and off-site programs to on-site outdoor and classroom education programs that focus on topics from birding and wildflowers to yoga hikes, cooking classes and art programs. The Ijams grounds and trails are open every day from 8 a.m. until dusk. The Visitor Center is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit Ijams.org or call 865-577-4717. Supreme of Tennessee Court honors East Tennessee Attorneys for Justice NASHVILLE -- The Supreme Court of Tennessees Access to Justice (ATJ) program recently joined forces with Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) to honor attorneys who earned the Courts prestigious Attorney for Justice recognition in 2017. The distinction is given to Tennessee attorneys who provide a minimum of 50 pro bono, or volunteer legal, service hours in a calendar year. This year approximately 330 attorneys will be honored across the state. On October 13, attorneys from the Tri-Cities area were recognized at The Press Room in Kingsport. Those recognized include: Karen Boyd (Kingsport), Curt Collins (Greeneville), Michael Forrester (Kingsport), Rachel Mancl (Johnson City), Kristi Murray (Johnson City), Tony Seaton (Johnson City), Brent Young (Johnson City), and law student Sarah Blessing (University of Tennessee). Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Roger A. Page attended the event and shared personal stories of pro bono services provided by his wife and himself back when he was an attorney. Quoting former U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day OConnor and Antonin Scalia, Justice Page thanked attendees for sharing their talents and giving their time to the people of East Tennessee. Supreme Court of Tennessee Chief Justice Jeff Bivins and Legal Aid of East Tennessee Executive Director Sherri Fox also attended and spoke at the event. The passion and commitment that comes with doing pro bono service are what we need during these difficult and uncertain days, Fox said. And, its what we have evidenced by your presence here tonight and your service all year long. At the event, Fox read from the many comments received by clients receiving pro bono legal services including, you put a face on a sterile, overwhelming system, you made me realize there are great people left in the world, I am proud to be represented by an attorney, and it made me feel like someone cares about the elderly. Many clients receive free legal services at clinics held throughout East Tennessee during the year. October is Pro Bono Month, a time to highlight the need for an importance of pro bono civil legal assistance to disadvantaged people. While many people understand the constitutional right to an attorney, that right only applies to certain criminal cases and does not apply to civil cases, including evictions, bankruptcies, divorce, child custody, and more. Each year, more than 60 percent of disadvantaged Tennesseans have at least one civil legal problem and nowhere to turn. In 2015, Tennessee lawyers provided more than $100 million worth of free legal services, ranking the state as one of the top in the nation for access to justice. For more information on pro bono service in Tennessee, visit justiceforalltn.com. Published October 19, 2017 By Kim Jae-kyoung Korea must create a level playing field for foreign financial companies to achieve its renewed attempt to make Seoul a financial center in Asia, according to analysts. They stressed that Korea's financial system needs a major overhaul to improve the competitiveness of its market and banks. Korean financial firms, including banks and securities companies, still remain inwardly focused and lack scale beyond the country, while global financial firms are leaving due to the unfriendly regulatory and business environment. Against this backdrop, the most urgent task for President Moon Jae-in is to push for deregulation and create a level playing field for every market player. "Korea needs to open up its financial system to foreign competition. Only competition inside Korea can make Korean banks competitive abroad,"Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Asia-Pacific chief economist at Natixis, told The Korea Times. She pointed out that it is well known in the market that Korea's banking system is extremely difficult for foreign participants. Citing the example of Standard Chartered, she said, "In fact, no foreign bank has a relevant enough share of the market. Many large global players have been unable to tap the market." On Oct. 11, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) unveiled its renewed roadmap for 2017 to 2019 to develop Seoul as a financial center. The government first introduced a financial hub plan in 2008 but it has made little progress. The latest move comes as a growing number of foreign financial firms operating in Seoul have been closing their offices or reducing operations. Over the past year, Barclays Capital decided to withdraw its investment banking division, following Citigroup (consumer finance) and Royal Bank of Scotland. Goldman Sachs closed its asset management arm, and UBS and BBVA returned their banking licenses. Together with market deregulations, the experts said that more effort should be made to revamp the profit structure of Korean banks and other financial firms. "Korean banks rely too heavily on interest income compared to income from fees. The opposite is true for many foreign financial institutions," said Sohn Sung-won, professor of economics and finance at California State University, Channel Islands. He previously served as CEO of Los Angeles-based HanmiBank and executive vice president of Wells Fargo Bank. "Fee income is more stable over economic cycles than interest income. At home, Korean banks should try to compete more aggressively with foreign banks in going after fee income," he said. Sohn also suggested that large Korean banks acquire foreign financial firms. He explained this has two goals first, financial technology can be transferred to Korean banks, and second, Korean banks would have access to overseas customer bases. "Japanese-owned banks in the U.S and in Europe have done this very well. Korean banks should do the same." Achilles' heel for economy The biggest concern is that "finance" has become a major stumbling block that prevents the country from becoming a globally competitive player. In other words, finance is unable to play its role in supporting the economy in the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution. "Banks in Korea have always been subordinated to the goals of developing the manufacturing industry," said Mauro Guillen, director of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "Although with ups and downs, it worked in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Then they were privatized, and many chaebol positioned themselves in the banking sector," he added. "Korea does not have a clear advantage in this area, and Seoul is not Hong Kong, Tokyo or Shanghai." According to the latest survey by the World Economic Forum, Korea's overall global competitiveness ranked 26th out of 137 countries surveyed. It peaked at 11th in 2007 but has since been falling, stopping at 26th for four years since 2014. One of the biggest culprits behind the poor ranking was the underdeveloped financial environment. Korea ranked 74th in overall financial market development. It is performing especially poorly in the areas of the soundness of banks (91st), ease of access to loans (90th) and availability of venture capital (64th). In the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) released by Z/Yen Group in March, Korea saw the deepest fall, dropping to 24th, 12 notches down from six months ago. Singapore ranked third, Hong Kong fourth, and Shanghai 13th. Bruno Lanvin, founder and co-editor of INSEAD's global indices, said that the degree of sophistication and efficiency of domestic financial markets are important components of national overall competitiveness. "This being said, Seoul can find inspiration from other financial hubs to develop its advantages in this highly competitive area," he said. "If one looks at successful examples such as London, it is clear that being a multi-cultural, highly connected center helps, as well as having a liberal fiscal and legal environment around financial transactions." He pointed out that the recent European experience post-Brexit also shows that such advantages are not unassailable, and can be significantly eroded by political and technological changes, noting that places like Frankfurt or Paris now offer alternatives to London. "One lesson to be drawn from Brexit is that an open economy will always be seen as a better potential financial hub than a closed or isolated economy," he said. "Providing appropriate attention to new methods of trading and new vehicles, such as blockchains, orcrypto-currencies,should also be considered." President's blue-ribbon team members born in Daegu, vicinity By Park Jae-hyuk The Moon Jae-in administration is filling its economic team with policymakers born in Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, contrary to initial expectations the administration may leave officials from the southeast area of Korea out of Cheong Wa Dae. Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are known as Korea's most conservative region. They include the hometowns of former President Park Geun-hye and her father, the late President Park Chung-hee. Voters of the region cast more ballots for Hong Joon-pyo than Moon in the May presidential election. Hong was the presidential candidate of the conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which was the ruling party under the previous Park administration. Because of public sentiment, observers expected Cheong Wa Dae would be filled with policymakers from southwestern Korea, which is known as the most liberal region. When Jang Ha-sung, the presidential chief of staff for policy, visited Daegu City Hall in July, Mayor Kwon Young-jin of the LKP said, "Seoul's people, money and jobs are not coming here." In response, Jang said, "Cheong Wa Dae's top economic policymakers come from this region, except for me." As he said, all of the senior secretaries for economic policy come from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, except for Jang who was born in Gwangju. Hong Jang-pyo, senior secretary for economic affairs, was born in Daegu and graduated from Dalseong High School there. Ban Jang-sik, senior secretary for job affairs, was born in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, although he graduated from Duksoo Commercial High School in Seoul. Kim Soo-hyun, senior secretary for social affairs, was born in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, and graduated from Kyeongbuk High School in Daegu. In addition to them, Kim Hyun-chul, the presidential aide for economic affairs, was born in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, and graduated from Simin High School in Daegu. Moon Mi-ok, the presidential aide for science and technology, was born in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, and she graduated from POSTECH in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and got her Ph.D. at the same university. Oh Jung-ki, the executive official for balanced development, led the Democratic Party of Korea's members in North Gyeongsang Province. Bluehole Chairman Chang Byung-gyu, who was appointed as head of the presidential committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, graduated from Daegu Science High School. The committee members include Science and ICT Minister Yoo Young-min from Busan and Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu from Masan, now Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. In fact, top government officials from southwestern Korea account for 25.7 percent of the total. Included are presidential secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, ministers and vice ministers, military generals and high-ranking officials at the Prosecutors' Office, the National Police Agency, the National Tax Service and the National Intelligence Service. However, most of Moon's economic aides come from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. It is regarded as the President's message to voters in the region. Moon seemingly wants to say the administration will not discriminate by region. He promised during his presidential election campaign to unite the country. During the meeting with Daegu Mayor Kwon, Jang also said Cheong Wa Dae will fully support the city's autonomous vehicle business. By Nam Hyun-woo Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said conditions are ripe for the central bank to end its monetary easing stance, sending a signal that it could start raising its key rate in the near future. "Conditions are getting ripe for the central bank to reduce the extent of monetary easing," Lee said, emerging from the bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Board meeting, Thursday. At the monthly meeting, the bank left its key rate unchanged at a record low 1.25 percent for the 16th straight month. However, a board member, Lee Il-houng called for a rate increase of 0.25 percentage points. This is the first time in six years that a dissenting call for a rate hike has appeared at the seven-member monetary board since September 2011. It is also the first time in 18 months that a dissenting call has been made at the rate-setting board. In June, Governor Lee said that the central bank could raise its rate should the economy show signs of a robust recovery. The bank's rate freeze also reflects growing geopolitical risks stemming from North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations. It raised its 2017 economic growth rate to 3 percent from the previous 2.8 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports. The central bank raised its growth outlook from 2.5 percent to 2.6 percent in April, to 2.8 percent in July and 3 percent Thursday. The BOK attributed the upward revision to improvements in exports and plant investment amid a moderate recovery in the global economy. "The solid trend of economic growth has continued, as exports and plant investment have sustained their high rates of increase and domestic consumption has also picked up moderately," the bank's Monetary Policy Board said in an English statement. It said employment conditions appear to be sustaining their trend of moderate improvement, with domestic demand activities also recovering moderately on the expansion in fiscal spending. The 3 percent growth outlook is in line with forecasts by the government and the International Monetary Fund. This positive growth outlook helped Lee to send signals for a key rate hike in the near future. With the dissenting rate hike call being interpreted as another signal for a potential hike, eyes are on the next board meeting slated for Nov. 30 as to whether the BOK realizes its hints. The central bank has come under greater pressure to raise its key rate as the U.S. Fed has raised its benchmark rate. The Fed's target rate stands at 1 percent to 1.25 percent, which means if the Fed carries out another rate hike, its rate will be higher than the BOK's 1.25 percent. A higher U.S. rate tends to trigger capital flight out of the Korean financial market in pursuit of higher interest and investment gains. If the U.S. Fed continues its rate hikes, the BOK will have to stop its long-held accommodative stance. Still, the bank cautions against any immediate hike, citing heavy household debt and uncertainty about the strength of economic growth. "There are internal and external risks lingering around the economy, thus more study is needed to judge whether the current growth and consumer price flow will continue," the board said. Geoje Prisoner of War Camp during the Korean War. Presumed to have been around Sinhyeon-eup, Suwol-ri in the city of Geoje, it imprisoned about 173,000 soldiers from North Korea and China. / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan The city of Geoje wants a prisoner of war camp from the Korean War listed as a UNESCO Memory of the World. The island city off the southern coast has formed a special committee for the mission. City mayor Kwon Min-ho is leading 37 others, including lawmakers, heads of government offices and experts from academic circles, to have the camp recognized. It is believed there are over 2 million pages of surviving records about the camp's heritage kept by 43 institutes in 18 countries. They include 1,500 recorded items possessed by 10 institutes in South Korea. The committee will see if there are more records around the world. It has begun translating the records before submitting an application to register the camp in March. One of the museums in the island's Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp will likely be renovated as an archive for the records. The camp was used during the war to imprison North Korean and Chinese soldiers. It was designated by South Gyeongsang Province as cultural heritage No. 99 in 1983. In 1995, the city decided to build a 64,224-square-meter park, which was completed in 2002. An academic symposium held last November concluded that the camp has a better chance of being selected as a Memory of the World than for UNESCO's World Heritage program. The Seoul High Court has questioned the legitimacy of an Immigration Control Law section that allows foreigners sentenced to deportation to be kept in custody for an unlimited time. / Korea Times file By Ko Dong-hwan, Park Si-soo A court has questioned an immigration control law that allows unlimited detention of foreigners awaiting deportation. The Seoul High Court recently filed a petition with the Constitutional Court asking the top court to examine the constitutionality of Article 63, Clause 1 of the Immigration Control Law. It lays the ground for immigration authorities to detain foreigners awaiting deportation, but it doesn't stipulate a time limit. "Putting foreigners in protective facilities under the law unfairly deprives them of physical freedom, which is equivalent to arrest or imprisonment," the court said. "When the mandate in question has to be enforced, there must be a legitimate mechanism justifying the action." The high court filed the petition citing the case of a Chinese man who has been detained since October 2015. By Kim Se-jeong The promotion of irregular workers to regular ones can be a critical element for a country to boost economic growth, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said Thursday. "Non-regular workers don't have the same level of wages, social protection or opportunity," Gurria said during a meeting with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on the sidelines of the Global Mayors Forum held in the capital. Irregular employment status "affects productivity very seriously," he said, calling this "dualism" of regular and irregular workers "bad for ethical, moral and political reasons because people are angry and feel insecure." He said stronger job security will be the basis for higher productivity. "If you have a workforce that believes they are strongly associated with the success of the company, they will be more loyal to the company," he said. "They will be more productive and they will work harder." At the same time, if they are irregular workers they can be fired at any time he said. "And what happens is they will not invest their own time for training, and the company will not be investing in the training of these employees. Productivity tends to fall. No loyalty. No continuity." Under 10 years of conservative governments in Korea, the economic mantra seemed to be: Let's achieve economic growth first then share the wealth. However, the liberal Moon Jae-in government has stressed the importance of boosting irregular workers' job status and raising their wages over a macro-level pursuit of economic growth. Gurria sided with the Moon government, which is currently pushing to increase the number of regular workers. Incheon International Airport Corp. is an example. President Moon visited the company and the process of changing employment status for irregular workers is currently underway it is slower than initially expected because of opposition from regular workers who will see the extent of their benefits slashed. Irregular employment has been around for decades but the numbers in Korea accelerated in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis. According to statistics, the number of irregular workers in Korea was at least 6.44 million as of this year, more than 30 percent of the workforce on the payroll. The income gap between regular and irregular workers is more than double. Echoing Gurria, Mayor Park stressed the importance of public services for irregular workers and boasted about what Seoul is doing. "We are offering a lot of public housing almost 20,000 apartments per year in addition to affordable and quality childcare centers." Gurria was in Seoul this week to host the forum on inclusive economic development for cities. Mayors from more than 30 cities around the world flocked to Seoul for the one-day meeting, Thursday. The OECD hosts the forum every year, and Seoul was the first host in Asia. By Choi Ha-young Rep. Rhee Cheol-hee The Korea Military Academy (KMA) and the Korea Naval Academy (KNA) have created files showing personal data of male and female cadets who are dating each other, Rep. Rhee Cheol-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea claimed Thursday. The files included the couples' names, residences and family backgrounds, Rhee said. A paper obtained from the KNA listed the private data of 19 couples. The KMA and the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy (KAFNA) were also updating such lists. Three academies the KMA, KNA and the Air Force Academy commonly prohibit cadets from dating each other when they are freshmen. Cadets at the Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon can start dating in the second semester of third grade. If cadets after completing a year in the academy decide to start a relationship, they are obliged to report their relationship to a teacher in charge of moral training. If students are caught breaking the rule, they are punished according to school regulations, Rep. Rhee said in a press statement. On April 15 last year, a female freshman and a male first classman were placed on probation for eight and 12 weeks respectively, according to the rule. Even though they were not dating each other, confessing love to one another was deemed a matter for management. If a senior cadet asks a freshman on a date, the younger one should report this to the teacher. Otherwise, they could be punished. Further, the KMA, KNA and KAFNA prohibit male and female cadets from staying together in an enclosed space office room, classroom, ward, language learning room, reading room or museum. Taking a walk on an isolated road is also banned. From the beginning of this year, eight couples at the KMA were placed under probation for dating and one couple was punished for staying in the same place. On July 13 last year, a male and a female cadet at the Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon were subject to the heaviest punishment short of expulsion. "Military discipline would grow when cadets learn self-regulation rather than under invasion of privacy," Rep. Rhee noted. "Such regulations show how outdated the academies are. The rules are also against the Constitution and positive laws." A law regarding soldiers' status and service stipulates the fundamental rights of soldiers, including protection of their privacy. Questioned about the rules in a National Assembly audit Thursday, Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Um Hyun-seong vowed to revise the "undemocratic" system. "I totally agree with Rep. Rhee's point of view," Um said. The issue had surfaced in August 2013, when the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended the Air Force Academy not ban dating between cadets. The Academy dismissed the recommendation. The NHRC, however, has not taken issue with the same rules at the other academies. Human rights violations in military academies have drawn flak in recent years. On May 16, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that expulsion of a KMA first classman for having sex with his fiancee, then a student of a private university, was "illegal." In 2012, the KMA expelled the cadet from the academy citing his "dishonesty and lack of moderation." Following the final ruling, the KMA, the KNA and the Air Force Academy partly alleviated rules against drinking and wearing casual clothes off campus, but they still forbid smoking and marriage. Recently, the KMA caused a stir for interfering in cadets' chat rooms. The KMA used to punish cadets for talking in chat rooms without the supervision of a moral training teacher. In January this year, the KMA accepted the NHRC's recommendation to abolish this rule, after the civic group Center for Military Human Rights Korea brought up the issue. By Maija Rhee Devine The controversy rages even as more statues of Korean comfort women crop up in Busan, San Francisco and Sydney. However, how many former Korean comfort women, estimated at up to 200,000, became rich, and how many had already been sex workers? The Survey of Comfort Women (Korean Council, Seoul, 1992-2002) provides clues. Critics hold up Moon Ok-ju as one of the documented examples of Korean comfort women as "high-priced whores." She "made enough money by prostitution to buy five houses in Tokyo," an activist wrote. However, her experience seems to be an exception. In the survey, 77 percent of the 192 registered Korean former comfort women interviewees reported receiving no wages. Critics are right about Ms. Moon having been a gisaeng/sex worker, though. However, she became one after she lived two rounds of life as a comfort woman. At 15, captured "by two Japanese and two Korean" policemen and transported to Manchuria, she endured a year as a comfort woman. Miraculously, a recruiter of civilian workers signed a furlough certificate for her, and she returned home. There, she worked at a Japanese sandal factory. Then, following a lead for good-paying restaurant work, she and her friend boarded a cargo ship at Pusan Harbor, only to arrive at a comfort station in Mandalay, Burma. On weekends, she serviced "30 to 40 men a day" ("Comfort Women Speak," Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Holms & Meier, New York, pp. 53). Surprisingly, she became famous for singing Japanese songs, for which officers tipped her handsomely. Not paid wages, she saved her tip money. Her life as a comfort woman fits the profile of 11- to 19-year-old Korean comfort women. The survey reports: 50 percent thought they'd be in nursing or factory work. Twenty-seven percent had no knowledge about the nature of their future work. Sixteen percent were drafted by the Japanese government to Jungshindae (a women's "volunteer" corps) supposedly for work in nursing or manufacturing. Only 2 percent said they responded to ads for comfort women. Although Ms. Moon held a bank balance in Shimonoseki of 50,108 yen, a significant sum in 1965, she never bought even one house in Tokyo. In a 1996 interview, two years before her death at age 72, she said the bank never allowed her to withdraw her money. She died poor, unmarried, childless and in pain with injuries from being thrown out of a second floor window by a drunk Japanese soldier ("Comfort Women Speak," p. 61). Maija Rhee Devine (www.MaijaRheeDevine.com) authored an autobiographical novel about living through her parents' son-preference-motivated polygamy and the Korean War, "The Voices of Heaven," and a poetry book, "Long Walks on Short Days." By Arthur I. Cyr "There is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies and that is to fight without them." Winston Churchill with that statement summed up a basic truth of international politics and war. Churchill's words bear directly on the current debate over the nuclear agreement with Iran. United States leaders seem to be preoccupied with talking to themselves, while ignoring partners in the agreement, including our most vital durable allies. President Donald Trump has dramatically "decertified" Iran, arguing they are not abiding by the international agreement to deter developing nuclear weapons. This means Congress can now decide whether to re-impose economic sanctions. In fact, the Tehran government has carefully remained within the limits of the accord, while pressing at the margins. The actual agreement does not involve only the U.S. and Iran. The P5+1 group that negotiated with Iran consists along with the U.S. of Britain, China, France, Russia the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - plus Germany. Secretary of State John Kerry in the Obama administration demonstrated phenomenal energy, dedication and effectiveness in brokering the complex accord. In 1979, revolutionaries overthrew the pro-U.S. Iran regime and established Islamic fundamentalism. This abruptly ended Iran's previous posture as a close and distinctively influential American ally. Over the intervening decades, hostility has continued. After revolutionaries ousted autocratic Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Islamic militants seized the American embassy, took hostages and held them for months. The lengthy crisis poisoned Tehran-Washington relations and helped Ronald Reagan defeat President Jimmy Carter's bid for reelection to the White House in 1980. A failed military mission to rescue the hostages, directed in detail by the Carter White House, fostered an image of presidential weakness. During the Reagan administration, the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein's Iraq in a lengthy eight-year war with Iran. Yet beneath the broad tapestry of religious fundamentalism, signs of moderation on the part of the Iran's leaders have appeared. President Hassan Rouhani, reelected in a landslide earlier this year, emphasizes strengthening the economy, improving relations with the West and modernizing legal procedures. In February, he signed a Citizens' Charter on Human Rights. Before the nuclear agreement, UN sanctions on Iran devastated the economy. Yet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani's predecessor, directed inflammatory rhetoric toward Israel and the U.S. in particular. Extremist Iran factions continue to support terrorist groups, and the nation remains a destabilizing force in much of the Mideast. Trump's unilateral announcement is just that. The earlier sanctions on Iran worked because they involved a comprehensive coalition. Today, the U.S. increasingly is isolated internationally. As usual, history provides important insights as well as background. During the early 1990s, after the Soviet Union collapsed, former President Richard Nixon wrote in his book "Beyond Peace" that while both Iran and Iraq were enemies of the U.S., Israel and Mideast stability, Iran was the greater threat by far. This is because of the potentially broad appeal of extremism couched in Islam. Iran could exploit that strategy, while secular Iraq could not do so. Nearly a decade before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Nixon pointed out that a stronger Iran was one inevitable dangerous result. History confirms Nixon's insight, and his approach should inform policy. That approach involves disciplined analysis of all the factors bearing on our nation's decisions, including potential negative consequences. This point should be self-evident, but unfortunately seems alien to the approach of current U.S. presidential leadership or lack thereof. Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of "After the Cold War" (Macmillan and NYU Press). By Jhoo Dong-chan Hyundai Mobis said Wednesday it has successfully developed the world's first panorama sunroof airbag that is deployed from the vehicle's ceiling to protect passengers in case of accidents. The nation's largest auto parts maker completed its own impact test for the airbag last month, and it is ready for mass production, according to Hyundai Mobis. Hyundai Mobis added it has put its utmost efforts in developing airbag technology to improve passenger safety since it started mass-producing airbags in 2002, and the panorama sunroof airbag system is the first of its kind in the airbag industry. "During this year's International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles held in June, a number of global carmakers and government officials showed much interest in the Hyundai Mobis panorama sunroof airbag," said a Hyundai Mobis official. "Starting with the premium SUV market, Hyundai Mobis will promote the airbag in various vehicle segments to become one of the global airbag powerhouses." According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a total of 260 passengers have been thrown through vehicle sunroofs in rollover accidents between 2000 and 2015 in the United States. The NHTSA has carried out various tests to study dangers related to the vehicle's sunroof in case of accidents, and Hyundai Mobis said the panorama sunroof airbag will prevent passengers from being thrown out of the vehicle. Installed along with the vehicle sunroof, the panorama sunroof airbag is deployed from the vehicle's rear to the front, similar to the curtain airbag that is deployed from the vehicle's side. If the vehicle sensor detects it's in a rollover, it deploys the panorama sunroof airbag in 0.08 seconds to protect passengers. The airbag is deployed regardless of whether the sunroof is open or not. Hyundai Mobis has submitted a total of 11 patent applications for related technologies. An increasing number of cars have a panorama sunroof installed for leisurely purposes, and U.S.-based market researcher P&S Market Research said the global sunroof market is about 6 trillion won ($5.3 billion) in size as of 2015. The market is expected to grow 11 percent annually until 2022. By Jhoo Dong-chan Seoul National University (SNU) engineering students and renowned scholars from prestigious foreign universities have questioned the Moon Jae-in administration's anti-nuclear policy, claiming the government's stance is a "serious threat to the nation's engineering industry." Student council members of SNU's department of engineering recently held a press conference to issue their statement about the government's "unilateral" anti-nuclear policy. The announcement was made as the Office for Government Policy Coordination is slated to submit its proposal with the government about whether to halt construction of reactors 5 and 6 at the Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant. The Office for Government Policy Coordination is the prime minister's secretariat that collects extensive opinions from the public and experts for the decision. "The government's sudden nuclear-exit policy has jeopardized the public and private sectors' efforts for next-generation nuclear projects overseas," SNU's department of engineering students council said. "A number of joint nuclear projects between academia and government have been suspended under the government's guidance. It really discourages students with related majors." Renowned scholars from prestigious foreign universities also questioned the Moon administration's anti-nuclear policy in chorus. Twenty-one foreign scholars, including MIT professor Kerry Emanuel, Harvard professor Steven Pinker and U.S.-based NGO Environmental Progress founder Michael Shellenberger, released a joint statement. "We came to Korea to provide correct information about nuclear power with the Office for Government Policy Coordination," they said. "In order to replace Korea's nuclear power with solar energy generation, it will need a land site seven times larger than Seoul. If it is to replace its nuclear power with natural gas, possible carbon emissions are expected to be equivalent to emissions from 27 million cars. Prevailing fear about nuclear power here is based on false information." In July, a consortium of three construction companies led by Samsung Construction & Trade delivered complaints to the government for unilaterally halting construction of the Shin-Kori reactors. They said the government unilaterally stopped the project for no legitimate reason while failing to suggest any plans to reimburse them for additional expenses caused by the measure. "The suspension of the construction project at reactors 5 and 6 has become a national concern, and it is a very important issue for the local economy," Samsung C&T said in the complaint. The Seoul-based builder has a 51 percent share in the consortium. Timothy Yeo acknowledged there was fear and anxiety among Koreans following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown in Japan following an earthquake and tsunami. But the former member of the U.K. Parliament representing South Suffolk and chairman of New Nuclear Watch Europe said nuclear power is safe. "If Korea reduces its dependence on nuclear power without sincere consideration on how to fill the power gap with its nuclear power plants gone, the Korean people and their industries should take the burden of higher electricity fees and production costs. And that would be a mistake. I believe the level of Korea's energy technology is good enough to prevent nuclear-related accidents from happening," he said. Nearly 90 per cent of the military delegates to the party congress are new faces. By Minnie Chan The Chinese military will embark on a massive hardware upgrade and top personnel shake-up under President Xi Jinping's orders for the PLA to become a world-class fighting force in the next three decades. Laying out his ambitious plan for the People's Liberation Army in a report to the Communist Party's national congress on Wednesday, Xi said the PLA must modernise by 2035 and become a top-ranked military by 2050. "A military force is built to fight. Our military must regard combat readiness as the goal for all its work and focus on how to win when it is called upon," Xi said. He said technology was at the core of combat strength and the PLA needed to apply information technology and modern warfare strategies to advance. Xi also said the military's ongoing overhaul should include changes to the PLA's top brass, better integration between the civilian and military sectors, and stronger border defence forces. Military specialists said Xi was urging the PLA to ramp up equipment and troop changes and promote more young generals to put the military on a par with its Western counterparts. The PLA has been through an upheaval this year, with its seven military regions trimmed down to five theatre commands and the navy benefiting from a major build-up. Chinese President Xi Jinping has declared China has entered a new phase to create a "modern socialist country". By SCMP Staff Chinese President Xi Jinping mapped out a confident vision of China's rise as a global power by 2050, opening a twice-a-decade party gathering on Wednesday by reaffirming the Communist Party's continued control and pledging the start of a "new era". In one of his most important political addresses since taking power five years ago and underscoring his own pivotal role since then, Xi declared China had entered a new phase to create a "modern socialist country", a declaration analysts saw as a prelude to the omnipresent party-state under his governing philosophy. "Right now both China and the world are in the midst of profound and complex changes," he told more than 2,300 delegates at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development. The prospects are bright, but the challenges are severe." In an all-encompassing, 3-hour speech that will set the tone for the country's development over the next decade, Xi urged the party to tackle these severe challenges, from widespread corruption and imbalances in the economy to mounting social unrest and a long list of other social and environmental woes. Despite criticism of his tightening grip on power and narrowing space for civil society, Xi signalled his confidence that relatively high economic growth combined with deepening reforms and better income distribution, a continuing crackdown on corruption and the shaping of its political system on its own terms would engender the party's legitimacy. Xi appeared to be more ambitious than his predecessors, as he unveiled a two-stage plan to transform China into a "great modern socialist country" by mid-century. Under the plan, China will realise a moderately prosperous society by 2020 and socialist modernisation by 2035. China would become a modern socialist power that was "prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful" by 2050. Observers said this was the first time the party had set out a post-2020 plan. Amid widespread speculation that his development philosophy will be enshrined in the party's constitution at the end of the week-long congress giving him the same stature as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Xi said the country had formed "thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era". In separate panel meetings with provincial delegates, Politburo Standing Committee members Zhang Dejiang, Liu Yunshan and Yu Zhengsheng labelled these ideas as "Xi Jinping's thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era", hinting at their impending elevation into the constitution. In a politically choreographed show of unity, former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao followed Xi as he walked into the hall, flanking him at the rostrum while dozens of party elders rarely seen in public in recent years were seated in the same row. Xi conceded during the televised event that the survival of one-party rule would be decided largely by the fight against corruption, which remained "grave and complex" despite the much-touted success in snaring a long list of corrupt officials. "The people resent corruption most Only by intensifying efforts to address both the symptoms and causes of corruption can we avoid history's cycle of rise and fall and ensure the long-term stability of the party and the country," he said. Xi struck a nationalistic chord throughout his speech, calling for the party to not only safeguard China's sovereignty but also to assert itself in every possible aspect of Chinese people's lives in an ideological crusade to crush any attempts to undermine the party leadership or copy Western-style democracy. "No one political system should be regarded as the only choice, and we should not just mechanically copy the political systems of other countries," he said. Xi also pledged further controls on the media and the internet while strengthening the country's soft power, such as building more think tanks "with Chinese characteristics" and promoting so-called socialist moral values. "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is no walk in the park or mere drumbeating and gong-clanging. The whole party must be prepared to make ever more difficult and harder efforts," he said. Stressing that a nation would prosper only if its youth were allowed to thrive, he said: "To all our young people, you should have firm ideals and convictions, aim high, and have your feet firmly on the ground." At age 5, La Jolla resident and Bird Rock Elementary School kindergartener Fletcher Flynn may be the youngest person to have summited Mount Whitney the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet. He and his father, Justin, completed the climb on Oct. 14. In August 2016, 6-year-old Anthony Slosar of Rancho Santa Fe was credited with being one of the youngest people to ever scale Mount Whitney. However, there are no records with the ages of those who complete the trail. The story behind the climb, Fletcher said, goes like this: I always talked about being famous and I like the mountains and hiking. I always want to push my limits. I told my dad I wanted to do climbs with him. When I was four, we saw a video on my dads phone about a boy who climbed Mount Whitney and we got the idea. As for possibly breaking the record, I say its good, he added. Dad Flynn testified: From the time Fletcher could walk, he was always pushing himself and testing his own limits. Whether its on his bike or climbing trees or being with me and climbing mountains, he always wants to push it further and go a little faster. He began his climbing career up a tree in our yard. Since I enjoy mountain activities, when he expressed an interest, I started taking him with me. The trekking twosome began with local mountain trails, eyeing higher summits this summer. They completed the White Mountain trek, which peaks at 14,200 feet, in August. When I saw he could do that, I had confidence he could climb Mount Whitney, Flynn said. The hike starts at the Whitney Portal base, with an elevation of 8,000 feet. The 6,500-foot ascent includes steep inclines and mellow trails. Overall, Flynn reports, the day went smoothly and the excursion was completed faster than expected. In the mountains, I can play all day and I dont have to go to school, Flynn said. What makes me keep going is when Im close to the top or the bottom, it gets me excited so I march, march, march as much as I can. On Mount Whitney, uphill was the really hard part, but once we were going downhill, I was never stopping. I didnt ask for breaks, I just walked, walked, walked. The hardest part was when we had to do the switchbacks to get back to the car. It was dark and it felt like we were going in circles. His father elaborated, Its a total of 22 miles and 13 hours, so the day starts under headlamps and ends under headlamps. The last three miles, it was really dark and smoky from the nearby fires, so there were no stars or moon, and you couldnt see your progress. It just felt like it was never ending. At that point, he had 20 miles under his legs. That was our one moment of pain and wanting it to end. But along the way, they were motivated by other hikers. We would see people pass us in shock over how young he was, Flynn said. Fletcher added, Someone said youre my hero to me! His father chuckled, I think he really likes the attention, as we all would. Once back at sea level, Fletcher was already talking about his next venture and record to break. While the kindergartener said he wants to start climbing in the snow with ice axes, his father said that might have to wait a few more years. In the meantime, Flynn said the goal is to hike the California Fourteeners, which are the 12 mountains in the state with at least a 14,000-foot elevation. With the White Mountain and Mount Whitney treks complete, its two down and 10 to go. If we do it in the next few years, he should be the youngest, Flynn supposed. When Indianapolis native Col. Jennifer Shaar first considered a military career more than 25 years ago, she said she never thought of the Marine Corps. I had no clue women could even be in the Marines. Id never seen it advertised. They were looking for a few good men, she said. Now the Commanding Officer at the Headquarters Service Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Shaar spoke to an intimate gathering at the La Jolla Womans Club for its Women in Leadership lecture series, Oct. 12. This years focus is women in the military. Fewer than 25 guests provided the appropriate platform for the personal nature of Shaars stories and allowed for more of a one-on-one interaction with opportunities to ask questions. So much so that half of the engagement was dedicated to such dialogue. Stories included why Shaar enlisted in the military, the division selection progress of the time, a 2004 deployment to Iraq and more. She also discussed how womens presence in the Marine Corps has changed in the last quarter century. The women we have coming into our Corps today are some of the fastest, strongest, most capable and most self-confident women I have ever seen, she said. They are far better than anything that came before and each one of them serves selflessly. They volunteer to come in uniform and put their lives on the line each and every day, just like their male counterparts. And they do so without fanfare, without hubris and without attention. Basic Training Shaar told the group she began her career at the U.S. Naval Academy (from which she graduated in 1992) because she was a strong swimmer. She said a military education was appealing because she could get a scholarship. When she was actually in the Marine Corps, she underwent training at TBS (The Basic School) and chose a specialty that could translate into the civilian world, so following five year commitment, she could leave if she wanted to. She chose financial management. Five years came and went, and I loved every second of it. At the nine- or 10-year mark, the point at which most people have to look at where they are going in their career and evaluate whether it makes sense to keep going or start another career I decided to stay, she said. Now I stand here with 25 years of service. In that time, she said, the presence of women in the military has expanded into new arenas. We had two women graduate the Army Artillery Officers Course, one was the honor graduate; we had an honor grad at the tank school; we now have a female astronaut that came from the Marines; in a few months, we are going to have the first aviation group commander. A lot of this has happened fairly recently, but has been growing and developing for a long time, she explained. The Female Point of View With the gradual acceptance of female presence in the Marines, higher-ups have begun seeing the new skillsets women provide. The 21st century battlefield is not just air and sea; its space, cyber and electromagnetic. Its everywhere, Shaar said. We need to be recruiting, not just the best and the brightest, but a diverse group. Women bring more to the table than we ever realized. And the Marines agree. Traditionally, if women came in to enlist, that was great. But they were not being actively recruited. Today, they are. She pointed out that women are team-builders and look at problem-solving differently than men. For example, the five-foot-two Shaar shared a story from a basic training exercise, a six-mile endurance course. The last obstacle in the course is a log you must climb over. There is no support underneath and the log is probably six feet up. Men can bound over that thing. I had to figure out another way. So, I took the sling of my rifle, hoisted it onto the log, and used it to climb up. I adapted and I overcame. I had to look at the problem differently, based on my challenges. I think women have to look at a lot of things differently, she said. When asked about transgender people in the military, a subject that has come to light with a recent proposed ban on transgender service, Shaar said, I support current laws and regulations of the Department of Defense on this (which allow for transgender service people). Im humbled by the fact that we have an all-volunteer force. Every man and woman who serves volunteered. We dont draft. From my standpoint, it is my honor to serve with people who want to serve. Strength Across the Board Of the challenges that still exist for woman in the military, Shaar concluded, I think this situation is probably true for most women, but when we walk into a new command, especially when we are pretty junior, its on us to prove we deserve to be there and we can contribute to the mission. We try our best to hide the qualifier woman in all that. If you can run as fast as everyone else and train as hard as they did commanders recognize that. Even if it wasnt at first, its become so over time. Thats OK. It takes time to earn respect and trust, and I would rather do that than immediately have trust and then lose it. Is it a challenge? Absolutely. But the women are out there are strong and theyre proving it across the board. Historic ties of north Meck span throughout region Though the north Mecklenburg area didnt see significant population growth until a few decades ago, its rich history dates back to the Revolutionary War. That was the basis of... An easier-than-expected first mammogram experience HUNTERSVILLE Scheduling a cancer screening probably ranks somewhere on your to-do list between "clean out the garage" and "donate those clothes that don't fit." Sure, you'll get to it at... If you're working in corporate America, chances are you've experienced your fair share of stress. Whether it's meeting deadlines, managing projects, or dealing with difficult co-workers, the workplace can be a breeding ground for stress. reducing stress from completing a project Once you've identified your triggers, it's important to take a step back and assess the situation objectively. LewiLink.com provides an in-depth article on reducing the stress from meeting deadlines at work. Bong a la noi ma ta co the hoa nhip ban than vao, noi ma nhung cam xuc uoc dang trao, that tuyet voi khi xem bong a cung ban be va xem tai nhung kenh truc tiep tuyet voi nhat cakhiatv Chung toi noi khong voi quang cao, luon ua trai nghiem cua nguoi dung len hang au, truc tiep nhung tran bong kich tinh nhat e phuc vu cho tat ca fan bong a . PRESS RELEASE NATO Conducts Nuclear Military Exercise in Semi-Secrecy Oct. 18, 2017 (EIRNS)NATO has begun its annual nuclear exercise, "Steadfast Noon," if not in secret, certainly with a very low profile, since it was not loudly announced as NATO exercises usually are. The exercise began yesterday at the Kleine Brogel air base in Belgium and the Buchel air base in Germany, two of about a half-dozen air bases in Europe where the U.S. stores 150-200 B-61 nuclear bombs. During the exercise, crews with Belgian F-16s and German Tornados, and likely also from the U.S. and Italy, will practice conducting nuclear missions. Polish F-16s and Czech Air Force Gripens are also thought to be participating in support roles. The low profile of the exercise, explains the Wall Street Journal, is that NATOs nuclear drills are sensitive, due to the domestic politics of a number of participating countries. A NATO official told the Journal that nuclear exercises remain a "delicate balancing act among allies," with some countries uncomfortable with public discussions and others wanting acknowledgment of the deterrents importance. The official said continuing these annual preparations are vital, especially as geopolitical concerns increase. Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, in a blog posting yesterday, notes NATOs hypocrisy in refusing to openly acknowledge Steadfast Noon. "The secrecy of the exercise is interesting because NATO only a few weeks ago complained that Russia was not being transparent about its Zapad exercise," Kristensen writes. "Seems like both sides could do better." PRESS RELEASE A Day in the War Against the Mueller Coup Oct. 18, 2017 (EIRNS)WGBH, Bostons Public Radio station, carried an expose on Robert Mueller demonstrating that he is more akin to "Tomas de Torquemada" (the Spanish Empire's Grand Inquisitor) than "the choir boy he is touted to be." The piece was written by Harvey Silverglate, Bostons legendary criminal defense and civil liberties champion, who is known nationally for his defense of the Constitution. Silverglate detailed how Mueller once tried to entrap him by running a sting on him when Mueller was the U.S. Attorney in Boston. Prosecutors going after defense lawyers directly is considered by the bar to be the equivalent of deliberately targeting paramedics on the battle field, a demonstration of zealotry far outside the bounds of the permissible. Silverglate goes on to recount a meeting with Mueller at the Justice Department concerning the Jeffrey MacDonald case, which many consider to be a wrongful conviction of an innocent man. At a meeting called to explore possible law enforcement misconduct in the case, Mueller walked in and announced, "Gentlemen: Criticism of the Bureau is a Non Starter." Silverglate goes on to attack the General Counsel statute as a constitutional abomination, endorse Alan Dershowitzs analysis that no crimes have been committed by the President based on what has been reported to date, but notes, "Muellers demonstrated zeal and ample resources virtually assure that indictments will come, even in the absence of crimes rather than behavior which is simply politics as usual." The impact of our mobilization and public disgust with the Russiagate charade are also demonstrated in the CNN Story, "GOP calls grow to end Russia investigations in Congress this year." The lead: "A growing number of key Republicans are sending this message to leaders of the congressional committees investigating potential Trump collusion with Russians: Wrap It Up Soon." Although it doesnt have the poetic ring of "Suck It Up, Move On," we are, of course, dealing with Republicans. Senator James Risch of the Intelligence Committee said, "Nobody wants to move this so quickly that we miss something," but added, "The question is how many weak leads can you follow?" Watermelon head Adam Schiff countered that the Committees involved were trying to "rush" the now nine-month-old investigation. Schiffs remarks were characterized as "nuts" by Committee Republicans, according to CNN, who accused Democrats of trying to extend the "fishing expedition" into the midterm elections. The report otherwise makes clear that sharp public demands for an end to this hoax are beginning to be felt. Last Fridays call for investigation of Mueller was not some sort of "one off." We just have to increase that pressure. The latest example of a grotesque "go fish" based on brazenly fake leads which can readily be demonstrated to be such, has been provided by former oligarch and British intelligence spawn Mikhail Kordokofsky. He claims that Jared Kushner was intimately tied to bankers who are "close to Putin." The reader might assume that Kordokofsky is an unbiased private individual. But Kordokovskys Open Russia movement and the Institute for Modern Russia are open intelligence fronts for British and NATO intelligence and the NED in the U.S. They have been critical to fomenting the anti-Putin hysteria in the U.S., with open support from both British and NATO intelligence. Otherwise, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, with the Democrats still trying to pump the impeachment narrative, but to little effect. Sessions caught Senator Richard Blumenthal in an outright lie, to the effect that Sessions had been interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller when he had not. The Attorney General also engaged in a heated back-and-forth with Senator Franken about Sessionss limited interactions with former Russian Ambassador Kislyak. Franken, demonstrating his best infantile rage-ball persona, basically accused the Attorney General of perjury, and Sessions defended himself In general, the Republicans countered the Democrats kabuki show by inviting Sessions to defend Comeys firing, which he did well, focusing on Comeys draft exoneration statement concerning Hillary Clinton before the FBI had even interviewed her, and on the suppressed FBI investigation of Russias purchase of U.S. uranium, and bribery and corruption allegations concerning the Clinton Foundation which accompanied that purchase. All of this nonsense on the Judiciary Committee while the nation drowns in an opium epidemic, which is killing more and more people daily. While this did receive some attention from the Committee with jurisdiction to discuss and legislate about it, it was a sidelight to the continued insane braying at the moon by Committee Democrats. PRESS RELEASE Xi Lays Out Broad Vision for the Next Three Decades Oct. 18, 2017 (EIRNS)Opening the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President and Party General Secretary Xi Jinping laid out, in a nearly four-hour speech, a broad vision for the period leading up to the Centenary celebration of the founding of the Communist Party to be held in 2049, significantly shortening the pace of Chinas modernization. Xi began with a look back at the last five years of development since he became General Secretary of the Communist Party, pointing to the expansion of the middle-income group in Chinese society, major advances in the previously backward central and western regions. In that period the country has become "more purposeful" in implementing green technology, and it has revitalized the armed forces. Poverty elimination has been "formidable." At the same time, Xi continued, the Communist Party has "enforced strict governance" and "created a deterrent against corruption," problems, he said, that were threatening the party. In addition, the process of reform and opening up has "propelled China into a leadership capacity." "Chinas influence has risen as never before," Xi said. "China stands tall and firm in the East." "The changes have been fundamental and profound. We have solved problems that had never been tackled," he said. Looking ahead to the next decade, Xi accelerated the pace of development from earlier prognoses. The two Centenary goals that China had set itself as a goal have been to a) realize a moderately prosperous society by 2020, effectively eliminating poverty in China by that time, and b) to transform China by 2050 into a "strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country." In his speech, Xi now divided that period into two parts. Between 2020 and 2035, China will achieve full modernization; between 2035 and 2050, China "will be transformed into a great society in which China will reach new heights." By then China will have "achieved its capacity of governance," the Chinese people will be prosperous and safer, and the nation will be "a strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful nation, and China will have become a fully active member of the community of nations." The means for attaining these goals, Xi underlined, will be expanding the breadth and depth of the Chinese Communist Party, the main instrument for the great breakthroughs that the Chinese nation has achieved since the century of humiliation which began with Chinas defeat in the Opium Wars and up to and including the present era of reform and opening up, initiated by Deng Xiaoping, in which the notion of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" was developed. Xi stressed that China had not been interested in adopting . foreign model for its development. "We had to establish a social system that suited the Chinese reality, he said. "It was the most profound transformation of the Chinese people in which it succeeded in reversing its fate" he said. "Our party has never forgotten its primary mission. We have overcome difficulties and created miracle upon miracle." "The country has now entered a new era in its development, requiring a theoretical development of the notion of socialism with Chinese characteristics," Xi said. "This Congress is a meeting of great importance in this decisive stage as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era," he said. "Party-building plays a decisive role in that process," Xi said. "Our mission is a call to action. We must live up to the wishes of the people. We have to take up a theoretical study of what socialism with Chinese characteristics means in all areas of our activity." This will include: "assuring party leadership over all work; committing ourselves to a people-centered approach; continuing to comprehensively develop reform and getting rid of all outdated thinking; adopting a new vision for development; and seeing that the people run the country." The key objective of the Party Congress in launching this new era is to prepare the party cadre for this endeavor and to make sure they have their eyes on the goal. The anti-corruption campaign within the government and the party has been aimed at doing this, and Xi, in his speech, was keen on underlining the importance of this process, reiterating again and again the need for the party cadre to be solely committed to the welfare of the people they serve. "Party cadre must breathe the same breath as the people," Xi said. The Party would also continue its development of a socialist democracy, Xi said, reaching out to non-party members and members of other parties in realizing the dream of Chinese Rejuvenation. The consultative process with non-party members, which has always been an integral part of Chinas political system since the founding of the PRC, will be expanded and the consultations intensified as China moves forward. Members of other groups and parties had also been invited to attend this years party congress with more extensive coverage by the international media. Realizing these goals would not be "a walk in the park," Xi underlined. The country still faced serious problems particularly with its "unbalanced and inadequate development". "We have to aim high and beware of the dangers," Xi said. He placed great stress on the continued development of Chinas military strength and assured that it would be transformed into a world-class military by the middle of the century. He underlined the need for maintaining the system of One Country, Two Systems with regard to Macau and Hong Kong, both of which have flourished under this system. And he warned against any revival of notions of Taiwan independence, reiterating Chinas determination to prevent separation from Taiwan under the One Country, Two Systems model. He said China would continue its opening up, both expanding investment from abroad and pursuing Chinas "going global" strategy, with the emphasis on the Belt and Road Initiative. Globally, "there are many challenges to face," Xi said. And "no country can meet the challenges alone, nor can it retreat into isolation." Chinas "call for cooperation is inclusive and is aimed at creating a community of nations with a shared future," he said. "We must stick together through thick and thin." "Let us seek to learn from each other," Xi said. "China respects the right of all nations to seek their own path. We will never pursue development at the cost of others. We will find a convergence with other countries and will strengthen cooperation with other developing countries and promote cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative," he said. While underlining the importance of a renewed study of the history of China since the creation of the Peoples Republic in 1949, he also underlined the need for a continued revival and proliferation of the great traditions of Chinese thought throughout its 5,000-year history. "In the course of tha. 5,000 year history," Xi said, "China has made a great contribution to mankind. China would continue to promote the arts and to preserve traditional Chinese culture and encourage a people-centered approach in the arts." Xi also underlined the importance of science, outlining the latest breakthroughs that China has made in scientific discovery and urging the promotion of the "spirit of science" among the people and "making scientific knowledge more widely available." The immediate goal of Chinas economic policy is to transform it into an "innovation society." Among the delegates to the Party Congress were several astronauts, including Jing Haipeng, the commander of the last Shenzhou mission and the Chinese astronaut who has spent the longest time in space. Even when I left my house at 2:30 in the morning, and my wife, Sanaz, and I were afraid that the fire behind us would catch our car, which was still stuck on Hemlock Street in the anxious gridlock of other evacuees, I couldnt escape the irony. The reason why we moved to the North Bay in 2015 was my job teaching fiction in Sonoma State Universitys English department. And the book that was largely responsible for the job and our new home was the gothic novel Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone. The Kisbyes street after the fire. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) Writing and moving have been intertwined for many years, and so the story of this fire starts with Kurt. Kurt is a German shepherd and bloodhound mix. He barks at garbage trucks and breathes so noisily that our neighbors always knew who was coming down Hemlock Street long before they could see us. Advertisement In 2012, Kurt appeared in our yard in Portales, N.M., where I taught before moving to Santa Rosa. He wasnt house-trained, he wasnt car-trained. He couldnt settle down. Even now, Kurt is never calm. He is in your face. He wont let you escape. This past Sunday night, we did not receive a phone alert. No sirens blared in Santa Rosa. Kurt woke us at 1:30 a.m. He banged against our bedroom door. He does that when he hears fireworks or a thunderstorm approaching. I finally got up, and while I was walking through our dark house a small wooden ranch in the Coffey Park neighborhood I smelled smoke. I checked all the rooms, I opened the outside door. Something that sounded like far-away thunder became audible, and I thought I saw lightning beyond Hopper Avenue. Smoke was filling the air like fog. It was a windy night. Before I opened my laptop to see what was going on, I thought of North Korea. About 2:15, Sanaz said, We should pack a bag. She was scheduled to fly to San Diego in the morning to work at a conference she had organized. I took a duffel from the garage, but I couldnt make sense of the situation. I looked for my passport and grabbed our three iPads. That was it. I never thought of saving my filled notebooks, my glasses. This inability to focus strikes me as a moral failing of sorts. In other moments, I believe I understood that saving a favorite jacket or painting wouldnt help. It wasnt about two or three precious items. What tied us to our life on Hemlock Street was the web of routines we had established with the help of small and big items. And yet, lost items become phantom limbs. I still want to reach for the signed copy of The Tattoo Hunter that lay on my nightstand. I still want to go into the garage to open the first of two cans of green paint I had just bought the day before to start work on our siding. Every morning, Sanaz and I made coffee and sat either in the kitchen or outside on the patio. That usually took half an hour. Sometimes longer. It was my favorite part of our day. I was extinguishing burning weeds in my neighbors front yard when we got the evacuation order from a police car driving up Hemlock. Ten minutes later, we left. Before the end of the night, a friend texted me and invited us to her house. She and her husband gave us a room, and all morning, we searched for updates about our neighborhood. Around noon, we looked at photos the local paper had posted online. The very first one showed a street with burned-out cars on either side. It was a beautiful picture, nearly black and white because of the devastation. The fire had moved through and left behind a flat landscape. Gone were the fences, the bushes and hedges. Gone were the wooden houses. Then I discovered that it was Patricks burned work truck standing in the driveway to the left and it was Martys truck he had inherited from his father on the right. The mangled car and boat in the middle of the street belonged to my next-door neighbor. The photographer had been standing in front of our house to take this shot. A second picture followed a bit later. The photographer had turned 90 degrees, was now facing east. There was the charred weeping willow that belonged to our neighbor but extended generously into our yard. In the far back stood a redwood, only the upper branches intact. And there was our apple tree, whose fruit Kurt had eaten all summer long. The photographer had been standing in our driveway. He shouldnt have been able to see the apple tree. Im a pessimist and dont believe that humanity will find a way to save our planet. Conversations with me can turn painfully depressing. But what happened after I posted the photograph of our nonexisting house on Facebook has me crying at times. Weve been receiving invitations from around the country. People have offered rooms and are sending food and toys for our dogs. They are sending clothes. Friends from Portales set up a GoFundMe account, and the response has been stunning. The association whose conference Sanaz had planned and organized all summer dedicated the event to her, and board members and attendees have donated money to help. People have called and emailed all week to make sure were out of harms way. People are the best. On Monday night, we drove the 20 miles to northern Santa Rosa. The city had asked everyone to stay away, but how can you? Once we turned into the Coffey Park area, we drove along the roads we had run with our dogs every morning, and we didnt recognize a thing. We knew, and yet nothing matched up. Small fires were still burning, smoke was still rising from some structures. Only the chimneys of the houses with fireplaces still stood, like monuments in a cemetery. At first it was difficult to make out our plot of land, even though we were standing right in front of it. Everything was flat, borderless, of the same palette of gray and black. Even our graveled backyard looked black. The fire had been fanatically thorough. What we found was our first dogs old food dish. Wed kept it as a souvenir on the kitchen wall. I picked it from the ashes, blackened and rough to the touch, and put it in the trunk of our car. Aerial view of the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Oct. 11. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) Writing and moving have been intertwined for a long time. One night shortly after moving into the house on Hemlock, we came home from the grocery store, opened the garage door but felt too exhausted to get out. We kept sitting in the driveway. We stared at the moving boxes piling up in front of us. Sanaz said, How about we leave the garage door open? People will come and take the boxes away. I turned her remark into a story based on Jack Londons To Build a Fire. A couple not unlike ourselves leave the garage door open. Things start to disappear, and their lives slowly dissolve. In the end, the man returns from work to find that his house wasnt burning anymore, the fire trucks had gone leaving behind a gray and black sludge. White wisps of smoke ascended unhurriedly from a few places. He rested against the fence, the ruined house in his sight. It was of no importance where they went, they just needed to go. We had coffee this morning together with our friends Cathy and Jorn. Kurt was standing by the window, barking at the trucks. The fires keep spreading, but it was garbage day in Petaluma. Kiesbye, his wife and two dogs safely escaped the wildfire in Santa Rosa. Kiesbye teaches creative writing at Sonoma State University; his novels include Knives, Forks, Scissors, Flames, The Staked Plains and Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone. In the annals of cynical corporate subterfuges, it would be hard to top the effort by the drugmaker Allergan to fend off a patent challenge by selling its drug rights to a rural New York Indian tribe. Thats saying a lot, given the creativity of corporate lawyers searching for ways to subvert the law. But a federal judge in Texas this week called foul on Allergans stunt. In reality, observed Judge William Bryson of Marshall, Texas, Allergan tried to purchase or perhaps more precisely, to rent the Tribes sovereign immunity purely in order to defeat the patent challenge. Sovereign immunity, Bryson continued, should not be treated as a monetizable commodity that can be purchased by private entities to evade their legal responsibilities. He compared Allergans maneuver to abusive tax shelters, which are designed to look legitimate on the surface, but are shams to the core. Advertisement The Court has serious concerns about the legitimacy of the tactic that Allergan and the Tribe have employed. U.S. Circuit Judge William Bryson For technical reasons, the significance of Brysons words is unclear. Thats because he actually ruled that Allergans patents on its dry-eye drug Restasis are invalid; the patent challenge at which the tribal stunt was aimed is a separate proceeding. Bryson didnt invalidate the tribal deal because that wasnt at issue in the case before him, but he expressed serious reservations about whether the deal should be treated as valid. That could function as a guidepost for the U.S. Patent Office, which will have to rule on the transactions validity. Legal authorities say Brysons opinion should be taken as a red light by other companies thinking about using the same maneuver. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which acted as Allergans patent front, isnt showing any regrets thus far. As recently as Wednesday, the tribe sued Microsoft and Amazon on behalf of a small technology company called SRC Labs, which claims that the big companies are infringing its patents on data processing technologies. SRCs goal in assigning its patents to the tribe was to head off a counter-challenge from Microsoft and Amazon. The tribe also has defended its role in fronting for patent owners as a blow for inventors rights, protecting them from patent trolls and infringers. In justifying its creation of its grandiosely-labeled Office of Technology, Research and Patents, the tribe acknowledged that it has not, and will not, invest a dime in the business. The Tribe will not be at risk to lose any of its own money, it says. If a challenger happens to win an infringement case against a patent, the tribe says, it will be fully indemnified by the original patent holders. That sounds like another hint that these deals should be regarded with suspicion. The Allergan arrangement shows why. Formerly based in Irvine and now treated as an Irish firm thanks to a tax-avoidance deal, Allergan was desperate to protect its monopoly rights to Restasis, its second-biggest product after Botox, from generic competitors Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mylan. Those companies were trying to get the Restasis patents ruled invalid on grounds that the patented formulation wasnt anything new. Bryson ruled in their favor this week by tossing the Restasis patents, but another legal test still remains. If Mylan and Teva succeed, that could result in lower prices for American consumers as Restasis turns from a monopoly brand owned by Allergan into a generic drug. Business can challenge patents in two main ways in court, or before the U.S. patent office via a so-called Inter Partes Review. Allergan contends that the latter cant be filed against a sovereign entity such as, oh, an Indian tribe. Accordingly, the drug maker sold its Restasis patents to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which promptly granted the company an exclusive license to those same patents and obligingly filed a motion to dismiss the Inter Partes Review. In return, the tribe was paid $13.75 million up front and the promise of $15 million a year in royalties. One wonders if the tribe could have held out for more, since Restasis sales come to $1.5 billion a year, according to Allergan. In announcing the deal, Allergan executives exuded all the sincerity of made men singing the praises of their capo di tutti capi. Allergan claimed it was approached by the tribe with a sophisticated opportunity to strengthen the defense of our Restasis intellectual property, and praised the thoughtful and enterprising approach of the native Americans, whose home base is in the rural hinterlands a few miles south of the St. Lawrence River and Canadian border, to achieve their goals of self-reliance and help them address the most urgent needs in their community. To Bryson, the deal smelled more as if the deals real motivation was to attempt to avoid the IPR proceedings currently before the patent office by invoking the Tribes sovereign immunity. What Allergan is after, he found, is the right to continue to enjoy the considerable benefits of the U.S. patent system without accepting the limits that Congress has placed on those benefits. If successful, he said, Allergans tactic could spell the end of the IPR program, which was an important component of patent reform in 2011. The Court has serious concerns about the legitimacy of the tactic that Allergan and the Tribe have employed, Bryson continued, noting that transactions that have no real economic substance but are chiefly designed to game the law, such as abusive tax shelters, are vulnerable to being invalidated. In this case, he said, although the tribe seems to have nominal rights to the Restasis patents, the substantial rights remain with Allergan, with the tribe merely getting a stream of royalties. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. President Trump intends to nominate Joseph Simons, a longtime expert in competition law, to head the Federal Trade Commission, Americas top privacy and consumer protection agency, the White House said Thursday. The announcement ends months of speculation over who might lead the FTC and its efforts to regulate perceived monopolies and unfair business practices, at a time when many policymakers have raised questions about the growing consolidation of industries, including retail and media. One industry that may be breathing a sigh of relief: Silicon Valley. Advertisement Simons serves as a co-chair of the antitrust practice at the law firm Paul Weiss. His previous clients include many tech or tech-related firms, such as MasterCard, Microsoft, Sharp and Sony. He has also represented companies in the defense, music, software, telecom and transportation industries. His selection by Trump is notable in who Simons is not: Earlier this year, Utah Atty. Gen. Sean Reyes was widely rumored to be Trumps favored candidate for the FTC job. Reyes, who would have been a relative newcomer to Washington, had called for reopening a federal antitrust probe into Google over the companys practices in the online search business. Many policy analysts took that to imply Trump wanted the FTC to take a harder line toward Silicon Valley. Trumps move to nominate someone else instead suggests a shift away from that approach. A more establishment candidate with decades of experience, Simons served under President George W. Bush as the director of the FTCs competition bureau. The White Houses decision to side with a Washington-insider type for FTC chair is consistent with Trumps appointment of another longtime expert to head antitrust enforcement at the Justice Department, Makan Delrahim. Delrahim is said to be a straight shooter unlikely to be swayed by Trumps public rhetoric on such issues as the AT&T-Time Warner acquisition. Similarly, by siding with Simons over Reyes, the White House appears to be prioritizing the mainstream over the unconventional. Some policy analysts said Simons first task should be to clarify how the FTC communicates its expectations to businesses involved in the sprawling world of data security. Currently, said Berin Szoka, president of the think tank TechFreedom, the agency simply provides nonbinding guidance reports and, in some cases, uses settlements reached with companies that it sues as a way to nudge industries toward a vague approximation of a standard. The resulting arbitrary enforcement is unfair to businesses and potentially fatal to tech start-ups, Szoka said. Even worse, it also makes consumers worse off, since companies dont know how to comply with the law. Also on Thursday, the White House said Trump would nominate Rohit Chopra, a former top official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to fill a Democratic slot at the FTC. Chopra is known as a tough fighter who took on the private student loan industry and is close with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The thing to know about Joe and Rohit is that they both play well with others, and thatll be good for the commission executing its mission, said Jon Leibowitz, a former FTC chair who is now a partner at the law firm Davis Polk. Chopra and Simons should they be confirmed by the Senate would flesh out a short-handed agency that is currently led by Acting Chairwoman Maureen Ohlhausen, who is a Republican commissioner, and by Democratic Commissioner Terrell McSweeny. One additional Republican seat remains for Trump to fill; policy analysts say Noah Phillips, a legal aide to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is a leading contender for the role. Irvine has unveiled its proposal to win Amazons second headquarters, joining cities from across the country that are vying to lure the tech giant and tens of thousands of new jobs. With bids due Thursday, the city and its joint partner the Irvine Co. said they want to put Amazon in the Irvine Spectrum area a sort of downtown for the master-planned city that includes office towers, a large shopping center and thousands of residential units. Dan Young, an advisor to Irvine Co. chairman Donald Bren, said the bid has a leg up on the competition. Thats because the developer can give Amazon the 8 million square feet of office space it wants on land Irvine Co. owns in the Spectrum, where the tech giant already has offices with around 1,200 employees, including those who work on its cloud computing and Alexa voice-activated services. Advertisement While not all of the offices are built, Young said the company has received the necessary entitlements and will finance the construction, leaving Amazon to only pay rent. Even more space is available in buildings it owns in the University Research Park, next to UC Irvine. In its request for bids, the company said it may spend more than $5 billion to build out a second headquarters, a cost that would include land, construction and purchasing equipment such as computers. They can go invest that [money] in the company, in software development and solutions that have made them famous, said Young, a former Irvine Co. executive. Irvine joins a frenzied competition for Amazon, which last month announced an unusual public search for what it calls a second headquarters that would be home to as many as 50,000 employees. Some places have used the opportunity to come up with wacky ways to gin up buzz for their bids. In Tucson, an economic development group tried to gift a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus to Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. The city of Birmingham, Ala., placed giant Amazon boxes around town. And in Kansas City, Mo., the mayor announced he had purchased 1,000 items on Amazon and left a review for each that touted the city. Others are proposing hefty public subsidies, including New Jersey, which has floated a $7 billion tax incentive package to convince Amazon to pick Newark. The competition has sparked backlash from some quarters and this week community and labor groups from across the country penned an open letter to Bezos that, among other things, criticized the practice of doling out tax breaks. The things about our cities that make you want to move here are the same reasons many of us live here we have great systems of higher education, museums, and infrastructure, the letter says. But we got that stuff by collectively paying for it, through taxes, and were expecting Amazon to pay your fair share if you end up being our neighbor. California is offering subsidies, but historically the state has tended to rely more on its inherent attractiveness. Among the incentives Gov. Jerry Browns office said are available under current law are up to $200 million as part of the California Competes Tax Credit program and up to $100 million in workforce training funds. Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner said there are no subsidies from the city in Irvines proposal, but if something is needed down the line to close the deal, the City Council may take a look, but noted it must work out for taxpayers. Irvine city spokesman Craig Reem said that because the Irvine Co. would pay to build the offices and then lease them to Amazon, the desire for subsidies will be less than if the tech giant went elsewhere and had to build. If that doesnt interest Amazon, there is nothing we could do as a city that would, he said. Among Irvines competitors in the Southland are Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Santa Ana and a joint bid between Long Beach and Huntington Beach. Amazon has not said what the next steps would be, other than to say it plans to announce a winner sometime next year. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter Negative headlines. Congressional inquiries. Corporate apologies. The heightening scrutiny surrounding Facebook after it allowed Russian trolls and inflammatory political ads to spread on its network is the kind of thing companies would do anything to avoid. But dont expect it to harm the tech giants bottom line. As the political world looks to apply the lessons of Donald Trumps victory to future campaigns, one of the few clear conclusions is that Facebook played an outsized role in propelling the candidate to his improbable win. The companys ability to affordably target hyper-specific audiences with little to no transparency gives it a distinct advantage over other forms of media, researchers and political operatives believe. Advertisement Political ads on Facebook have fueled controversy. They spread Russian propaganda and reportedly helped the Trump team suppress black support for Hillary Clinton and aided a conservative political action committee in targeting swing voters with scaremongering anti-refugee ads. Yet the backlash is unlikely to dissuade future campaigns from relying on Facebooks advertising platform. Even the threat of new regulation governing the disclosure rules for political ads on social media cant stunt the companys stock price, which continues to reach new heights. If anything, the controversies appear to be functioning like a giant advertisement for the effectiveness of Facebooks political advertising business. I dont lose sleep over Facebooks business. I lose sleep over the future of democracy, said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of a book on Facebook out next year called Anti-Social Media. Political advertising represents a small percentage of Facebooks booming $26.9-billion ad business, which accounted for nearly 15% of all the money spent on digital advertising worldwide in 2016, according to EMarketer. But its growing rapidly. After years of trepidation, campaigns are adjusting to the fact audiences are increasingly found online rather than via TV, radio or print. Political spending on digital advertising soared in the 2016 election cycle to $1.4 billion, according to Borrell Associates, a data tracking firm. Thats nearly an 800% increase from the last presidential election when only $159 million was spent on digital advertising, a category that encompasses search, display, e-mail, video, social media and mobile. Digital political spending is expected to rise to $1.9 billion in the 2018 election cycle and $2.8 billion in 2020, the firm said. The main beneficiary of those increasing ad dollars probably will be Facebook. The social network took $4 out of every $5 spent on social media in the 2016 election cycle, said Kip Cassino, executive vice president at Borrell Associates. No one can brush off or minimize the impact of Facebook on the 2016 presidential contest, both as a platform for advertising and as the perfect laboratory for testing and honing messaging targeted to various voter blocs, Cassino said. The sea change was first evident with the spread of partisan news, conspiracies and hoaxes on Facebook during the campaign. Then news emerged last month that Facebook had sold about $100,000 in ads to a Russian troll farm. The shadowy group, known as the Internet Research Agency, placed ads believed to have been seen on at least 10 million Facebook users news feeds. The ads were aimed at inflaming divisive social issues such as race, gun control and gay rights to potentially tip the scales in Trumps favor. Facebook has responded to the growing Russian scandal by cooperating with congressional committees and pledging more transparency, including requiring buyers of political ads to disclose their identity and reveal other ads theyve run. The company had previously argued against requiring disclaimers on political ads, saying it would be impractical akin to placing disclosures on small items like bumper stickers and pins. Such disclosures could have sounded the alarm on Russian meddling earlier. I dont want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy, Zuckerberg said last month. Facebook said it will introduce more transparency in the coming months, though no details have emerged about how it will deal with so-called dark posts ads like those bought by Russian operatives that have no link to a candidate or campaign. Instead, theyre designed to sensationalize wedge issues such as immigration in hopes of racking up more likes and shares, giving their backers a larger audience and more bang for their buck. Russian groups reportedly placed dark posts on Facebook referencing the Black Lives Matter movement to inflame racial tension in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore. Currently, no law requires such ads to disclose who paid for them, what other ads or issues they promote, whom the ads were directed at and for how long. Such information is readily available on other mediums such as TV to ensure voters arent being misled or manipulated. Senate democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia unveiled legislation Thursday called the Honest Ads Act, which would make political ads on social media subject to the same rules as on traditional media. As the technology companies continue to grow in the political advertising space, the importance of greater transparency and disclosure will only grow along with it, said Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who favors regulating political ads online. There is no evidence the Russian ads were linked to the Trump campaign. But theres a strong belief in some quarters that Facebook was a difference maker in helping Trump take the White House through persuasion and fundraising. Trumps digital team was able to fire up new support and amass $240 million in small donations, mostly through Facebook, at a cost of $94 million. Thats about 20% better than a typical return on investment in digital campaigns, industry officials said. I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win, Brad Parscale, the Trump campaigns digital director, told CBS 60 Minutes this month. Twitter is how he talked to the people. Facebook was going to be how he won. Parscale even said Facebook embedded Republican employees in the Trump campaign to help them maximize the platforms potential. Facebook reportedly offered the same level of support to the Clinton campaign but was turned down. Facebook did not reply to requests for comment. David Karpf, an associate professor at George Washington University and author of Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy, said it would have been fair to refuse Facebooks assistance based on the social networks performance in the 2014 election cycle. But by 2016, Facebooks data were exponentially more robust and precise at prospecting for would-be supporters and donors. The Trump team, unburdened by expectations, took a chance. It sounds like Facebook went to both campaigns and said they had magic beans, Karpf said. The Clinton team said, Well pass, weve seen the returns, and Parscale and the Trump team said Magic beans? Take my money. We can call it dumb luck or stumbling into innovation. The response from both parties, despite the likelihood voters were manipulated by a foreign nation state, will be to spend more on the worlds biggest social network and other social media platforms. We certainly hope Democratic campaigns spend more on digital advertising this cycle but not because of Russia, said Patrick McHugh, executive director of Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC. Its just the smart thing to do if you want to win elections. david.pierson@latimes.com Follow me @dhpierson on Twitter ALSO Twitter finds 201 accounts linked to Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election Facebook buys TBH, an app for teens to give anonymous compliments Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms UPDATES: 1:03 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about legislation introduced Thursday. In the topsy-turvy world of tech, an investor can fund a company one minute and sue it the next. It also can turn around and fund a competitor, which is what Googles parent company did when it announced Thursday that its growth equity fund led a $1-billion investment in Lyft, four years after its venture capital arm invested in Uber. The injection of cash increased Lyfts valuation to $11 billion, up from around $7.5 billion in April when it last raised $500 million from unnamed investors, and up further still from its $5.5-billion valuation last year. For the record: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of Greg Sichenzias firm. It is Sichenzia Ross Ference Kesner LLP. As part of the deal, David Lawee a partner at Alphabets CapitalG growth equity fund will join Lyfts board of directors. Advertisement CapitalG is honored to work with Lyfts compelling founders and strong leadership team, Lawee said in a statement. Ridesharing is still in its early days and we look forward to seeing Lyft continue its impressive growth. CapitalG is a separate entity from GV, Alphabets venture capital arm, which invested in Uber in 2013. Where GV focuses on early-stage funding, CapitalG typically invests in late-stage companies such as Airbnb, Stripe and Snap Inc. Ubers valuation, which is close to $70 billion, still dwarfs Lyfts. But the pink-mustachioed ride-hailing firm has been nipping at the heels of its much bigger rival. As Uber weathered a string of high-profile controversies this year, including allegations of a culture of harassment and bullying and the departure of its controversial chief executive, Lyft has taken the opportunity to raise money, expand its business and play the foil. The companys latest funding round comes as Uber is fighting a costly legal battle against Alphabet-owned Waymo, which has accused the ride-hailing company of obtaining stolen autonomous vehicle technology. Neither Uber nor Lyft is profitable, and past leaked financial documents have shown that both companies have spent heavily in marketing, offering driver bonuses and incentives, and ride subsidies. Both firms continue to rely on external funding. Alphabets investment in Lyft isnt necessarily a vote of no confidence in Uber, particularly since its two investment arms operate independently of each other. Rather, industry experts said its a sign of Alphabet hedging its bets. Its uncommon, but theres nothing wrong with it, per se, said Greg Sichenzia, a founding member of Sichenzia Ross Ference Kesner LLP. This is just an obvious way for Google, which has endless amounts of money, to hedge its bets. Now it wins either way. Japanese telecom company SoftBank has been known to invest similarly. The firm invested in Ubers competitors in China and Southeast Asia and is reportedly mulling a significant investment in Uber itself. The Chinese ride-hailing incumbent, Didi Chuxing, also previously partnered with Lyft before buying Ubers China business. Alliances in the tech world also have been known to switch as quickly as they form. GM, a major investor in Lyft, was slated to partner its self-driving car subsidiary, Cruise, with the ride-hailing firm. Since then, Lyft has diversified its partnerships and started working with Cruise competitors Waymo, Drive.ai, and nuTonomy. Sources with knowledge of the matter said Cruise is now in talks to work with Uber instead. This is a whole new world, Sichenzia said. Back in the 60s, if a bank funded Mobil, they couldnt fund the next oil company because theyd lose Mobils business. But all thats changed. Now, the money makes the rules. Times staff writer Russ Mitchell contributed to this report. tracey.lien@latimes.com Twitter: @traceylien UPDATES: 2:35 p.m.: This article was updated to include context about Lyfts work with GM. This article was originally published at 10:50 a.m. Last week in this space, to mark the 20th anniversary of Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, I raised a series of questions about how life in Los Angeles might be different had Gehrys Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A., designed well before the museum, managed to avoid fundraising delays and open before it as well. Would the much-touted Bilbao Effect have been ours, a Bunker Hill Effect, instead? A different set of questions might be asked about another major museum set to celebrate its 20th birthday this fall: Richard Meiers Getty Center. To wit: What if the Getty, instead of hiring a New York firm to design a single billion-dollar museum complex on a hilltop overlooking the 405 Freeway, had instead built five $200-million campuses, each in a different (ground-level) section of the city and each by a different architect? Or 10 with a price tag of $100 million each? Or 100 at $10 million per? How might the cultural history of Los Angeles or contemporary architecture be different? Advertisement In the 1990s the Getty, of course, was looking to consolidate its various activities rather than distribute them, which makes the idea of a hydra-headed Getty Center ridiculous in purely practical terms. This was not an institution looking to radically redefine institution-building or museum architecture in that way. On top of that there have always been many visitors who treasure the Gettys very isolation, who appreciate the ways in which a trip to its galleries is also a trip outside the city. But that doesnt mean the questions arent worth asking. A Getty Center whose architectural personality matched the polycentric quality of Los Angeles rather than bucking it is a fascinating thing to contemplate even simply as a thought exercise, a way to test our assumptions about cultural philanthropy and why the city and region look the way they do. And it turns out that the Getty has discovered a way to climb down from its hilltop. Its just not a strategy that involves a famous architect or a building campaign. With its Pacific Standard Time series whose third iteration, focusing on the cultural traffic between Southern California and Latin America, is now in full swing the Getty has managed to do what it so dramatically declined to do when it opened its new campus to the public on Dec. 16, 1997. By mounting its own exhibitions but even more powerfully by supporting shows, events and publications at other local museums and galleries this time around to the tune of $16 million it has threaded itself into the contemporary cultural life of Los Angeles and Southern California. The Getty has not only paid for and otherwise supported important scholarship on the cultural history of Los Angeles, helping topple cliches and complicate over-simplified narratives about its art movements in the process. It has also used the PST effort to redefine itself. By supporting shows, events and publications at other local museums and galleries, the Getty has threaded itself into the contemporary cultural life of L.A. This fall, as the Getty has both rolled out the third PST and prepared to celebrate its 20th anniversary in Brentwood, the power and appeal of that redefinition have been thrown into clear relief. Any effort to revisit the history of the complex, to examine the process that led the Getty to settle first on the site and then on Meier as its architect, makes entirely clear just how differently the institution sees itself now and just as important how differently it aspires to be seen by the city, other museums and the culture at large. Take Condemned to Be Modern, among the strongest of this years PST offerings. The show, organized by the Los Angeles cultural affairs department and running through Jan. 28 at the Municipal Art Gallery, was supported with $310,000 in PST funding from the Getty Foundation. Organized by Clara Kim, former gallery director at REDCAT inside Disney Hall and now senior curator of international art at the Tate Modern in London, it features work by artists who grapple in a range of ways with the legacy of modernist architecture and city planning in Latin America. Just as important, the show shines a light on L.A.s own history. The Municipal Art Gallery is right next door to the 1921 house Frank Lloyd Wright designed for Aline Barnsdall, known as Hollyhock House for its ornamental details featuring Barnsdalls favorite flower. Chu Mayaa, a short film in the exhibition by Clarissa Tossin featuring the choreographer Crystal Sepulveda, is shot in and around the house and explores the pre-Columbian aspects of Wrights design. Sepulvedas gestures in the film, mimicking poses found among other places in Maya pottery, clarify the debt the architect owed to pre-Hispanic cultures, the way in which he saw them in both naive and sincere ways as fodder for a new Southern California architecture that would bypass both the Spanish Colonial Revival and Bauhaus-style Modernism. The relationship between the film and Wrights work gains layers of richness and power because the exhibition is being held next door to Hollyhock House. After you watch the film you can visit the house yourself, tracing with your own fingers the details of its pre-Columbian concrete frieze and abstracted hollyhocks. That sense of adjacency between exhibition and city at large, each rubbing off on the other, is something Meiers Getty Center alone on its hilltop, all but inaccessible for anybody without a car has never been able to offer its visitors. Or its curators, for that matter: Given its themes and preoccupations, Kims show would be thinner and less persuasive if it were held at the Getty Center. The museums distance from the city below has become only harder to ignore and easier to measure as the Los Angeles Basin, the landscape Reyner Banham called the Plains of Id, has grown denser, more urban and more vital. And as the cultural center of gravity in the city has moved steadily eastward, leaping the 405 in the process. It is as if the Gettys campus has extended in Seussian fashion higher and higher into the clouds, its details harder to make out from down below. Yet the Getty, to its credit, has learned that exhibitions and other kinds of programming can begin to make up for that isolation. More to the point it has learned that PST can be more flexible and nimble than architecture, a way of at least attempting to reach across the broad gaps of geography, race and class, to name just three that continue to mark Los Angeles. It can be a kind of software to the hardware of the Getty Center campus, with the ability to be quickly updated as conditions change. (The evolution of PST from its first two iterations to the current one, from an initiative the Getty controlled relatively tightly to one it is now willing to let sprawl, with perhaps more unevenness but also more curatorial surprises, is one example of this.) It can be, finally, an effective antidote to a sense of detachment that Meiers architectural ensemble, for two full decades now, has both symbolized and fostered. christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com Twitter: @HawthorneLAT MORE ARCHITECTURE: With Lucas Museum on the way, Natural History Museum plans another makeover Two decades after Gehrys Guggenheim Bilbao, where does architecture stand? Obama Presidential Center greeted with excitement and wariness on Chicagos South Side It began as a lark: a satirical advice column in which readers could write in and ask a question any question of the Mexican columnist. And the questions poured in. Why do Mexicans love dancing so much? Why do Mexicans call each other guey? Why do so many Mexicans whistle to communicate? To these missives, most of which cant be reprinted in their entirety due to salty language, Gustavo Arellano would duly respond in his Ask a Mexican column, published in the pages of the OC Weekly: One reader wrote in to ask why cholos love Old English fonts then ended the missive by stating: Theyre ugly, just like everything about your culture. Arellanos withering reply: Dear Racist: The popularity of Old English script is a prison phenomenon that transcends race just check out some of the tats on your white-supremacist cousins the next time they show up at your family picnic. Advertisement I first stumbled onto Ask a Mexican about a decade ago, and it was a little bit like being hit by lightning. Here was a writer who was both mouthy and erudite. He took serious topics like racism and made them blisteringly funny. He deployed Spanglish slang without feeling like he had to explain it to death. And did it all while waxing poetic about things like the mexcelente Mexi-mullet of Los Tigres del Norte bassist Hernan Hernandez. For the OC Weekly, Arellano wrote about a host of other things too: music, food, culture and the sexual abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church in Orange County. He liked to muck around in historical archives. Since 2011, the weekly has run a semi-regular series about Orange County founders who were members of the Ku Klux Klan. And he wrote books, including the cultural history Taco USA, and served as a consultant on the now-defunct Fox animated series Bordertown. Most significantly, as a writer, and later in his role as editor of the OC Weekly, he made the Latino experience in particular, the Chicano experience central to the media conversation, rather than the sidebar. Gustavo Arellano (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times ) And he did it in a county that has been typically associated with the white and wealthy un-realities of The Real Housewives of Orange County and the early aughts TV drama The O.C. (Never mind that Orange County has been a majority-minority county since 2004 and that the Mexican presence has been a mainstay since its foundation.) The fact that there was a Mexican running the OC Weekly? Arellano tells me via telephone. That was significant, because it shows we are here as the people who are helping move the conversation along. Look at Southern California, its Latino. And we are Americans. On Friday, after 15 years at the OC Weekly almost six of them as its editor-in-chief Arellano abruptly resigned from the paper. He declined to discuss the details of his resignation with The Times. But in an interview on the Tom Leykis Show on Friday afternoon, he stated that he had been asked to lay off half of his staff by the papers owners, Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. I offered them a plan that would not involve losing all of those amazing, talented people, he told Leykis. The plan, he said, involved cutting his own salary in half. The proposal was not accepted by the company and Arellano resigned. In a statement issued to The Times last week, McIntosh, the OC Weeklys president, said that the papers editorial staff and budget had remained virtually unchanged for a decade and that editorial expenses had consistently exceeded their limits. A status update posted to the weeklys Facebook account noted Arellanos service: He will be missed, but his contribution to the newspaper and legacy of leadership will always be remembered. Gustavo Arellano poses at the Cielito Lindo restaurant in downtown Los Angeles in 2012. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times ) Whatever the details of Arellanos resignation, his departure lays bare the shaky position that Latinos occupy in English-language media. Arellano was the rare Latino editor-in-chief among American alt weeklies. In fact, he was the rare Latino leader at any English-language news organization period. According to census population estimates from 2016, Latinos account for almost 39% of the population of California and 18% of the total U.S. population, but remain conspicuously underrepresented in media both in the state and nationwide especially at its top ranks. On the television side, a report published by Columbia Universitys Center for the Study of Ethnicity in 2014 revealed that only 1.8% of news producers at the top national news programs are Latino. In newspapers, a 2016 newsroom diversity survey by the American Society for Newspaper Editors revealed that only 17% of newsroom workers are members of an underrepresented minority. The study didnt break out individual minority groups, so its impossible to pinpoint Latino representation specifically. But given that Latinos and African Americans together comprise more than 30% of the U.S. population, its safe to say that newsrooms do not parallel the countrys demographic trends. An analysis of high-ranking editors at major English-language dailies, released in August by the student reporting program at the Asian American Journalists Assn., reveal the same pattern. Latinos remain underrepresented if represented at all. The New York Times and Washington Post each have one Latino editor on their mastheads. The Los Angeles Times has none (though the newsroom had the most diverse newsroom staff of the major newspapers polled.) Arellano covered Latino culture as the mainstream it is, not as the exotic sidebar. Certainly, the lack of a Latino presence affects not only the stories that get told, but how they get told if at all. The Columbia University study showed that from the nine-year period from 1995 to 2004, Latino-themed stories made up less than 1% of all network news stories and those that did make it on air were largely about crime, terrorism or illegal immigration. Of the three presidential debates held last year, for example, not one was moderated by a Latino despite the fact that immigration was a burning issue throughout the election. (That wall? The prototypes are happening.) At last months Emmy Awards, no Latino actor, director, producer or writer was nominated for any of the ceremonys big awards. Writers such as Dennis Romero of LA Weekly and Patricia Garcia of Vogue highlighted the oversight but the response was generally muted, with the story lasting barely one news cycle. And when Beyonce appeared on a remix of Colombian reggaeton star J. Balvins Mi Gente, it was suddenly being described by media outlets as Beyonces new song. Except it wasnt Beyonces song. It was a collaboration between Balvin and DJ Willy William and it had already been on the charts for months. (Sorry, Beyhive.) It is anecdotes such as this that made Arellanos work and presence at the OC Weekly so important. He ran stories about groundbreaking Latino chefs, stoner norteno bands, Latino Islamophobia and the Mexican legacy of Santa Ana which he spelled SanTana, to mimic the Spanish pronunciation of the citys name. People would say, Thats not how its spelled! says Arellano. But I say, thats how the natives pronounced it. These stories were as central to the paper as were the reports about political corruption, police brutality, U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick and medicinal pot. In other words, Arellano covered Latino culture as the mainstream it is, not as the exotic sidebar. The OC Weekly helps save Orange County from itself. Its telling our history, about citrus wars, about Chicano murals, about the Black Panther Party... The OC Weekly helps save Orange County from itself, he says. Its telling our history, about citrus wars, about Chicano murals, about the Black Panther Party, about desperadoes all of those stories. Now that Arellano has left the OC Weekly, it leaves the Southern California media landscape just a little bit barren. For years, publications outside of Orange County have courted Arellano. But he has steadfastly refused to leave because he wanted to stop the brain drain of writers leaving the county, and partly because it was a place rich with stories Latino and not that simply werent getting told. It is a horrible place and its a beautiful place, he says. Its paradise lost and paradise found. Now that he has left the OC Weekly, the publication with which he has been intimately identified with for so many years, the big question is what comes next. Arellano will no longer write Ask a Mexican, since the OC Weekly owns the rights to the column. In the immediate future, he will focus on a number of freelance pieces he already had in the works including a research trip to South Carolina. Among his various, non-OC Weekly pursuits, he has been a regular contributor to Gravy, the magazine of the Southern Foodways Alliance. But the big picture? Thats still unclear. Im going to wait for the tomato harvest, Arellano says with a laugh, and then I will think about things. Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter carolina.miranda@latimes.com @cmonstah ALSO OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano resigns from alt-weekly newspaper in dispute over cost cuts Celebrating the Chicana/o murals of L.A., some lost forever, with 'Murales Rebeldes! Getting the Bordertown cartoon right as border issues reemerge With raw eggs and a roomful of clay, Anna Maria Maiolino makes unsentimental art about being a woman 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. Obsessive but accessible, the deepest dive imaginable into one of the most celebrated scenes in movie history, the documentary 78/52" looks at a brief three minutes of cinema the way its never been looked at before. Though not everyone would agree with director Alexandre O. Philippes contention that the shower sequence in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho is the single most iconic and significant scene in the history of motion picture arts and sciences, his cut-by-cut, almost frame-by-frame celebration and analysis certainly makes for completely fascinating viewing. A Hitchcock fanatic since he was a boy, Philippe has been entrepreneurial about rounding up articulate, like-minded souls who are as zealous about the sequences significance as he is. Included in the conversations (which are made to look like they were shot in a dreary motel) are fellow directors like Guillermo del Toro, Peter Bogdanovich, Karyn Kusama and Eli Roth. Advertisement Just as interesting, if not more so, are interviews with knowledgeable below-the-line individuals, including two sound designers and no less than seven editors, including the always incisive Walter Murch. Also talked to are people with a more personal connection to the film, such as star Janet Leighs daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, costar Anthony Perkins son Osgood, Hitchcocks granddaughter Tere Carrubba, and, most memorably, Leighs body double Marli Renfro. 78/52s title, which refers to the sizable number of setups and cuts in the shower scene, indicates how laser-focused this documentary is going to be, detailing how and why Hitchcock devoted a full week out of a four-week schedule to shooting that one sequence. We find out, for instance, that chocolate syrup doubled for blood, that Hitchcock auditioned several kinds of melons to find the one that sounded best when stabbed by a knife (casaba was the winner) and that no detail, not even the nature of the painting that cover the Bates Motels illicit peephole, was in any way accidental. Philippe has also included several interview clips of Hitchcock himself, picking unexpected moments like the directors insistence to the BBC that he intended the whole thing to be rather tongue-in-cheek. One of 78/52s most fascinating digressions is speculation about why, aside from personal psychology, Hitchcock indulged in what one observer calls an act of aggression against fans, critics, actors. Speculation includes the idea that the director wanted to get out of his comfort zone, felt competitive with French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique) or was conscious that, after films like Suddenly Last Summer and Anatomy of a Murder, times had changed and he didnt want to be left behind. Theres even conjecture that Hitchcock was angry at America and Britain for their lack of preparedness for World War II and saw this film as revenge. As to what seeing the film feels like, it is perhaps director Del Toro who sums it up best. You knew you were in the hands of a master, he says, and there was nothing to do but submit. ------------ 78/52 Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Playing: Laemmles Monica, Santa Monica, Playhouse 7, Pasadena See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers kenneth.turan@latimes.com @KennethTuran Hwang Dong-hyuks South Korean historical epic The Fortress, a grim look back at the infamous 1636 siege of a mountain stronghold, is so evocative that by the end viewers may be as cold and hungry as the movies cast of courtiers. Based on Kim Hoons novel Namhansanseong, The Fortress covers the crisis faced by the Joseon dynasty when its historical alliance with Chinas Ming government was challenged by the emergence of the Manchu Qing. When the latter sent armies to force Koreas King Injo into line, the royal family and its aides retreated to the chilly hills. The king (played by Park Hae-il) soon realizes hes effectively imprisoned his people in a fort that lacks the supplies to survive the winter. He turns to two trusted advisors: Choi Myung-kil (Lee Byung-hun), who believes they have an obligation to the citizenry to surrender, and Kim Sang-hun (Kin Yoon-seok), who wants to fight. Advertisement The battle scenes here are impressively large-scale, but too sparsely deployed. A good two-thirds of this movie consists of miserable-looking people quietly debating their terrible options, which can be exhausting. Still, by fostering an intimate understanding of what these historical figures went through, Hwang has given purpose to a story about hopelessness. The situation in The Fortress comes to a sad end. But its just one chapter in our ongoing human story. ------------- The Fortress In Korean with English subtitles. Not rated Running time: 2 hours, 19 minutes Playing: CGV Koreatown, Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Theres a whole lot of buildup without much payoff in Nightworld, a supernatural Euro-thriller that spends most of its time teasing the arrival of some dreadful evil, then only leaves itself about 15 minutes at the end for literal hell to break loose. Jason London stars as Brett, an ex-cop who recovers from multiple personal and professional tragedies by taking a security job at a creepy old building in Sofia, Bulgaria. Hes meant to watch the monitors, report anything unusual to a mysterious blind consultant named Jacob (Robert Englund), and not ask questions about the locked doors with Lovecraftian monster-carvings in the basement. When Brett starts suffering from extended blackouts and nightmarish hallucinations, he looks into the history and purpose of his new home. Annoyingly, hes one of those fantasy film protagonists who doubts everything and learns nothing, which means his investigation grinds along slowly until its almost too late. Advertisement London is adequate (if not exactly magnetic) as the lead, and director Patricio Valladares gives the film a rich, shadowy look that almost compensates for the turgid pace and distractingly incessant score. But perhaps because Nightworld doesnt have much new to add to the demon-haunting genre, its more invested in watching Brett skulk around dark hallways than in what hes going to find. And while subtle, moody horror films can be great, without something solid to coalesce around, eventually the atmosphere dissipates. ------------- Nightworld Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes. Playing: Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com For its first half, the biopic Tom of Finland proves an immersive, handsomely crafted look at how famed gay Finnish illustrator Touko Laaksonen (Pekka Strang) came to create his fetishistic drawings of hyper-masculine, leather-clad men that would become a gay porn staple and eventually fill coffee table art books. The film, Finlands official Academy Award entry for 2018, deftly traces how Laaksonens time in the Finnish army in World War II, during which he had his share of illicit gay sexual encounters, clinched his fascination with hot, uniformed men of authority. Postwar, Laaksonen lives with judgmental sister Kaija (Jessica Grabowsky), with whom he also works at an ad agency; furtively draws what would become his trademark images; starts a long-term relationship with Kaijas and his fetching new roommate, Veli (Lauri Tilkanen); and travels from repressive Finland to more tolerant Berlin to riskily purvey his stylized art. Its a captivating look at a bygone era. Advertisement But later, when Laaksonens eye-popping work finds its way to America, the film becomes a more surface, time-lurching checklist of scenes as the artist, rechristened Tom of Finland, grows into a gay icon, whose peak years the 1970s and 80s coincided with both the gay liberation movement and the AIDS epidemic. Although the movie watchably re-creates this kaleidoscopic era (including visits to anything goes California), director Dome Karukoski and writer Aleksi Bardy never quite contextualize Laaksonens output within the vast world of gay porn. In addition, why so many gay men are attracted to the strapping, wildly endowed Tom of Finland-type male image is one of several deeper psychosexual issues that go underexplored. Its also surprising that, given the nervy homoeroticism of the Laaksonen oeuvre, the film itself lacks a certain heat. Still, Tom of Finland entertainingly recounts an intriguing and vital chapter of 20th-century gay history with style and deference. ------------- Tom of Finland In Finnish, English and German with English subtitles Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes Playing: Landmark Nuart Theatre, West Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Three love stories unfold in Jane, Brett Morgens stirring portrait of conservationist Jane Goodall. The first is the directors respect and affection for his octogenarian subject. Embraced in the clear, honeyed light of Ellen Kuras cinematography, Goodall comes across as vibrantly plainspoken during a new interview. Theres also the love between Goodall and wildlife filmmaker Hugo van Lawick, who would become her husband. His dazzling half-century-old footage of her groundbreaking observations of chimpanzees in Tanzania, discovered in the National Geographic archives in 2014 and never before viewed publicly, is the astonishing heart of Jane. But the love that infuses the film is Goodalls passion for her work, her bond with nature and the chimps, as well as her calm certainty, when she arrived at Gombe Stream National Park as a 26-year-old with no scientific credentials, that this was where she was meant to be. Goodalls quiet amazement pulses through Van Lawicks 16-mm footage of her on the hills and beaches of Gombe and in its impossibly green trees. Morgen lets the images speak, in eloquent combination with the spectacular intensity of Philip Glass score. Advertisement Jane director Brett Morgen and primatologist Jane Goodall are photographed at the Hollywood Loews hotel. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times ) No stranger to found footage, Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture) has tapped into NatGeos treasure trove with a bracing immediacy. (He also showcases the memorable exchange of telegrams that sealed Goodall and Van Lawicks engagement, and excerpts Jack Paars 1973 interview of the couple and their young son.) His film is by no means comprehensive in the strictest sense (dont expect overt nods to the Tanzanians and others who worked with Goodall), but it has a sure grasp of an extraordinary life finding its convention-defying trajectory. Meeting a chimpanzees gaze, the pioneering researcher says she encountered a thinking, reasoning personality. With Jane, we see what she saw. ------------- Jane Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Playing: ArcLight Hollywood See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers calendar@latimes.com Animal corpses tend to pile up with alarming regularity in the films of Yorgos Lanthimos just ask the cat in Dogtooth, or the dog in The Lobster. (You cant, sorry. Theyre dead.) So imagine my surprise that no antlered beasts are slaughtered in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a lightly blood-spattered but technically immaculate nightmare of a movie that invites us to cackle alongside its director into the void. The title, thankfully, is not a plot summary but a reference to the tale of Agamemnon, who killed a deer from Artemis grove and was ordered to sacrifice his own daughter as a punishment. Even without that knowledge, you might be able to divine the storys mythological roots not just because Lanthimos hails from Greece and has a regionally specific taste for tragedy, but also because his films often play like behavioral experiments devised by unfathomably cruel gods. That was the case with The Lobster, an absurdist, melancholy indictment of contemporary Western mating rituals and a major breakthrough for Lanthimos, proving that, after a few brilliantly unsettling Greek productions, including the Oscar-nominated Dogtooth, his trademark blend of satirical ingenuity and formal severity could flourish in the English language. It was a triumph, too, for Colin Farrell, who discovered a rich sad-sack poetry in the role of a divorce forced, by the laws of a very strange land, to find a new wife. Advertisement Farrell is back for more high-toned punishment and bizarre ultimatums in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, this time playing a man who has long since settled down. Steven Murphy is a heart surgeon with an optometrist wife, Anna (Nicole Kidman), two bright, well-behaved kids and a suburban mansion large enough to accommodate the cavernous, high-angle compositions devised by the cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis. Its a world that looks a lot like ours (the film was shot in Cincinnati) but, as always with Lanthimos, stubbornly refuses to sound anything like it. This is due not only to the soundtrack, with its shuddering violins and its mighty choral blasts of Schubert, Bach and Ligeti, but also to the flat, stilted rhythms and deadpan non sequiturs of the characters speech. You might be slightly bewildered by an early scene in which Steven and his anesthesiologist (Bill Camp) dwell at length on the subject of wristwatches, specifically the merits of metal and leather straps. But things advance to another level of creepiness when Steven has a slightly different version of the same conversation with Martin (a superb Barry Keoghan), a teenager whom he occasionally meets for visits at and outside the hospital. Are they speaking in code? Are the watch straps meant to signify something, like the inescapable grip of time? Even after two viewings, I have no idea. My suspicion is that they signify nothing, except perhaps the banality of small talk, the way polite conversation and other forms of social tyranny serve to stifle the unruliness of real human feelings. This becomes clear when Steven, showing Martin an almost-untoward degree of attention, invites him over to the house for dinner. What a charming boy, Anna says later that night, the slight lift in Kidmans otherwise flat delivery indicating precisely the opposite. With a nastiness that seeps into the movie like a slow-acting poison, [Lanthimos] turns a domestic-medical nightmare into a feverish exercise in style. Once Martin returns the favor and invites Steven over for dinner with him and his mother (Alicia Silverstone in a memorable one-scene performance), his demands on the surgeons time become ever more insistent, his random hospital visits increasingly unwelcome. Amid so much inexplicable menace, perhaps the most eerily credible subplot involves the Murphys 14-year-old daughter, Kim (Raffey Cassidy), who develops an intense, gently requited crush on Martin. Meanwhile, their 12-year-old son, Bob (Sunny Suljic), is suddenly immobilized by a mysterious illness, the origins and implications of which baffle Steven and his medical colleagues. Im reluctant to say much more about the plot, which is at once deeply twisted and startlingly straightforward. In any case, while the Murphys fate may be of enormous consequence to them even if their unnaturally calm, composed expressions suggest otherwise Lanthimos himself seems less interested in what happens than in how it happens. With cunning precision and a nastiness that seeps into the movie like a slow-acting poison, he turns a domestic-medical nightmare into a feverish exercise in style. The atmosphere quivers with menace, and the threat of ghastly violence seems to lurk behind every impeccably lighted corner. Lanthimos evokes both the sinuous psychological horror of Roman Polanski and the icy technical precision of Stanley Kubrick, particularly The Shining. The camera tracks and prowls the sleek, shiny corridors of Stevens hospital in much the same way Kubrick filmed the labyrinthine hallways of the Overlook Hotel, and its probably no coincidence that Suljic bears a faint resemblance to the young Danny Lloyd. Kidman, for her part, might remind you of Eyes Wide Shut, particularly when she strips down for some mildly kinky marital hanky-panky. Farrell and Kidman recently enacted an entirely different on-screen dynamic in Sofia Coppolas The Beguiled, a Civil War drama that made plausible accommodation for Farrells Irish accent. He makes no attempt to hide it here, either, and if neither he nor Kidman (suppressing her own Australian inflections) seems entirely at home in the movies vision of sun-kissed American suburbia, that disjunction only enhances the weirdness of the story, which Lanthimos has carefully positioned several degrees south of reality. Keoghan, who played the youngest and most vulnerable character in Christopher Nolans Dunkirk, is positively skin-crawling here as Martin, who increasingly comes across less like a teenage boy than a force of implacable, unambiguous evil. Fittingly, if no less creepily, the Murphys themselves dont always seem entirely human. They may bleed like the rest of us, as their ruptured flesh and distressed eyeballs can attest. But they are essentially phantom projections, sentient pawns in a vague but rigid allegorical thesis. A playful art-house punisher in the reputably disreputable tradition of Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier, Lanthimos signals his intentions with an early shot of Steven taking off his stained surgical gloves, as direct an indication as any of a man with blood on his hands. And in Farrells soulfully stoic performance, Steven becomes a convenient stand-in for white male complacency, the moral idiocy and cowardice bred by a life of Western privilege. An evergreen target, to be sure. But as it marches its characters ever so slowly toward a suitably despairing climax, the movie feels increasingly like a self-satisfied but unsustained provocation, a rich display of craft in service of secondhand shocks and ideas. Lanthimos effectively strikes the same harsh, dissonant chord for two hours, and its a virtuoso performance, even if The Killing of a Sacred Deer a more fitting title might have been The Shooting of a Barreled Fish winds up feeling closer to monotony than myth. ------------ The Killing of a Sacred Deer Rating: R, for disturbing violent and sexual content, some graphic nudity and language Running time: 2 hours, 1 minute Playing: ArcLight Cinemas, Hollywood, and the Landmark, West Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang Lets talk about how I can do better, Lisa Bloom said. It was a Friday morning the first day the attorney was back in her Woodland Hills law firm following her resignation as Harvey Weinsteins adviser and shed called her staff into a meeting. She wanted to apologize. She told her colleagues shed made a colossal mistake in deciding to represent the Hollywood producer against numerous claims of sexual harassment. That she was sorry for associating the firm with a case that ended up being such a nightmare. That she should have known better. Bloom is not often on the defense. Like her mother, famed feminist attorney Gloria Allred, she has become a ubiquitous figure in bringing high-profile cases against powerful men. Shes represented women who alleged that Bill OReilly and Bill Cosby abused them. And days before last years presidential election, she called a press conference at which she said one of her clients would make charges against now-President Donald Trump. (The woman, never named, backed out at the last minute.) In June, after Kathy Griffin enraged many with a photo shoot in which she held a fake bloody Trump head, Bloom organized another media event that ended up engendering more disdain for the comedian than sympathy. Advertisement Lisa Bloom, left, with client and comedian Kathy Griffin at a news conference in in June. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) So when it became known that Bloom was advising Weinstein even as decades-worth of sexual harassment accusations came to the fore the attorney found herself on the other side of her own issue. In the court of public opinion, not only was she a hypocrite, but she was a sellout, profiting from her cozy business relationship with a man who had recently decided to turn her book about Trayvon Martin into a television miniseries. Even Allred, Blooms own mother, released a statement saying she not only would have declined to work with Weinstein but would not hesitate to represent one of his accusers, even if it meant that my daughter was the opposing counsel. The actress Rose McGowan, who claims Weinstein raped her, wrote on Facebook that Bloom offered her money if she got on the Harveys Changed bandwagon. (Bloom said this was absolutely false.) I was never aware that there were allegations of sexual assault, Bloom insisted, sitting in her office a few hours after the staff meeting. Should I have based on my long experience as a sexual harassment lawyer assumed that it could have been a lot worse than what I knew? Yes, I should have assumed that. Thats on me. And that was why she felt the need to apologize to her staff. Apologies are big for Bloom. If ever one of her employees makes an error, she is quick to forgive if someone just says Im sorry. She thought if she could get Weinstein to apologize to his accusers something OReilly, Cosby and Donald Trump have never done it might make a difference. Womens pleas Bloom was influenced, she said, by comforting countless women who came to her for legal help after experiencing sexual harassment and sexual assault. Every day theres a woman in my office crying, Why wont he just admit it? Why does this have to be an open wound for my entire life? I dont want to litigate, Lisa, she said. Almost every single one comes to me and says, If he would just apologize, then we could move on. Indeed, after the New York Times published the first accounts of Weinsteins behavior on Oct. 5, Bloom did break the usual deny-and-discredit pattern that plays out so often in these cases. Weinstein provided a statement that read in part, I appreciate the way Ive behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain and I sincerely apologize for it. But the statement which Bloom said Weinstein verbally dictated was widely derided. Beyond the apology, Weinstein attempted to blame his behavior on the fact that he came of age in the 60s and 70s, quoted a non-existent Jay-Z lyric and said he was going to channel his anger into a fight against the National Rifle Assn. No one bought it. Missing in Blooms calculations was the sheer number and severity of the allegations, which would be revealed by the New Yorker on Oct. 10 to include accusations of rape. Within 48 hours of the Times report, Bloom quit Weinsteins team only to find another client about to fall, Roy Price. Graphic details of sexual harassment allegations against the Amazon Studios boss first revealed in an August story on the technology news site the Information came out in the wake of the Weinstein scandal. Price was quickly suspended and on Tuesday resigned from Amazon. Bloom put out a statement saying that her representation of Price had concluded before The Man in the High Castle executive producer Isa Hackett went public with her accusations. But Kim Masters, the journalist investigating Price, alleged that Bloom had tried to kill her story by spreading rumors about her. Bloom said she could not comment on anything regarding Amazon Studios because, unlike Weinstein, Price had not released her from attorney-client privilege. That included Masters allegations, Bloom said, which unfortunately I cant respond to, as much as I would like to. Instead, she evoked the sentiments of Weinsteins own statement. I feel very bad, because so many people have said that they really looked up to me as this champion for women and now Ive been shown to be their champion, and its hurtful to them. Im sorry, Bloom said, her gaze drifting toward a drawing of her own role model, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that was affixed on her office door. This really hit me, because I certainly dont want to hurt anyone. And I hadnt thought of that. Im still processing it. This is not OK Bloom said she first began talking to Weinstein about his behavior early this year, when the two were discussing the Martin docuseries. (She said she has no idea what will happen to the project now, but she is trying to just let it go, whatever its gonna be.) Yes, shed heard there were issues with the executive and women just from breathing air in Los Angeles, she said. So she called him on it: Very bluntly and directly, I asked him, What is this? Whats happened? What have you done? (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times ) She said Weinstein told her that he had verbally made a lot of inappropriate remarks to women both inside the workplace and outside the workplace. Discouraged, she tried to get through to him. You have to understand the power imbalance. This is not OK, she told him. Well, they laughed, Weinstein responded. They thought it was OK. No, they didnt, Bloom said. He would repeat back to me, The power imbalance, Lisa. I get it. I see it, she said. He choked up I dont know whats wrong with me. Im sick. Im stupid. Ive hurt people. What can I do now? And I said, You need to apologize. You cant turn back time. But you can do the right thing now. Dont go after the women, and get help. And stop it. He said, Will you work with me to do that? And I said, Yes, I will. Before Bloom, Weinstein had worked with male lawyers. He told her that in the past, his attorneys would make jokes about the harassment rumors, like it was funny or cool. He wondered why no one had ever talked to him the way Bloom was; she wondered why he hadnt previously considered hiring a more diverse legal team. So he hired me. I thought this was a good thing, she said. I thought I was doing something positive. I do believe I got through to him. However, it was far too little and far too late. It wasnt so much that I thought that I could change him Im not a therapist, Bloom said. I thought what I could do was change his reaction to the allegations once they came out. To get the guy at least to say when the big story breaks: I did wrong. I apologize. Im not going after the women. And I did accomplish that. In hindsight Yet even as Bloom was still coming to terms with the events of the past month she attended the post-Burning Man gathering L.A. Decompression over the weekend in an attempt to gain perspective she seemed focused on some of the smaller details of what went wrong. For instance, she said she should have waited for all of the accusers stories to be told before pushing Weinstein to apologize. Then, if he were to acknowledge his wrongdoing, he should do it on camera not in a written statement. With every other client, she did a press conference where the person showed their feelings. I think Harvey didnt have that in him, said Wendy Walsh, who Bloom began representing in April in a sexual harassment suit against Fox News OReilly. I believe America loves a story of redemption, but that story has a very long arc, and it begins with lots of stone-throwing, begging for forgiveness and then the Prodigal Son comes home. Lisa didnt forecast the time for that arc. She came out with Act 3 when we were only at Act 1. Bloom, left, with Wendy Walsh, whose complaint of sexual harassment prompted the ouster of Fox News star Bill OReilly. (Carl Court / Getty Images ) The press conference is a signature Bloom tactic, one gleaned from her mother, whose firm she worked at from 1991 to 2001. From Blooms perspective, inviting the media into her office gives her the opportunity to fully present her clients side of the story. I do it for a reason, strategically, said Bloom, who spent eight years serving as an anchor on Court TV before launching her own firm in 2010. I do it to get victories for my clients, or to get a message out that I feel needs to get out. In November, when her client decided not to go public with her accusations against Trump, Bloom showed up without her at the press conference to explain her absence. She was here in this very space and she couldnt do it, Bloom said, looking around her office, in which she has a treadmill desk and framed pictures of her three children. Short of me dragging her out there and shoving her in front of the cameras, it just wasnt going to happen. We got a lot of death threats called into the office that day and she overheard some people talking about some of them. Camera ready She acknowledges that her press conferences have earned her a reputation as an attention-seeker, but insists she turns down most media requests. The lobby of her office, meanwhile, is decorated with framed press clippings from outlets like the Hollywood Reporter, Elle and the New York Times. And Bloom almost always looks camera-ready. Even on this warm afternoon in the Valley, it looks as if her hair has been blown-out professionally. I sometimes am invited to come on programs and discuss an issue I care about, and I enjoy that because I feel like I have something to say. I dont always love it. Theres a lot of hassles. It takes half the day by the time you get in the car and get over there and the makeup and the hair and then its delayed and some guy is yelling at you who barely knows what hes talking about and you dont get to say anything. But obviously, yeah, I dont do a lot of things that I dont like to do at this point in my life. Theres not a lot that can shake Bloom, who is often the recipient of death threats especially this month. After all, this is a woman who purchased the Los Feliz Murder Home last year for $2.3 million a house where a doctor bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer in 1959 and then killed himself. It didnt freak me out at all. I aint afraid of no ghosts, she said, noting that it will likely be another year until she and husband are able to move in following renovations. A more realistic threat, however? Losing business in the wake of the Weinstein scandal. Bloom said potential client calls and emails have remained consistent over the past week, and she believes that not everybodys a social media hater who judges me by one mistake. We are fine, she said, shrugging off the concerns. It doesnt really change a lot for the firm. Just this week she was fighting on behalf of two women in a sexual harassment case. She also has the majority of her clients standing by her. Janice Dickinson, whom Bloom represents in an ongoing sexual harassment case against Cosby, said she isnt bothered that the attorney took on Weinstein. Attorneys are neutral, the former supermodel said. I respect the hell out of her. Shes a bulldog she is her mothers daughter, dont forget. I feel like shes a champion in representing women, and she helped me view my assault in perspective, going for therapy and group meetings and giving back to women that have been similarly accosted. Walsh, however, initially had more trouble accepting the news. Like every other woman on the planet, she recalled, her first reaction was: What the hell? But I completely believe in my heart that Lisa never knew the degree of these actions, said the radio host. She would never have been his voice if she knew about these rape allegations. I can promise you that. Shes not hanging out in Hollywood. Actresses in their 20s might have known, but not Woodland Hills women in their 50s who are lawyers. But theres still a rift between Bloom and her mom. And of everything thats been said about her over the past few weeks, it was the comments from her famous mother that hurt her the most. Gloria Allred, right, with her client Louisette Geiss, who claims Harvey Weinstein sexual harassed her. (Javier Tovar / AFP/Getty Images ) That was the most painful part, Bloom said, growing quiet. She stands by what she did. And its gonna take a lot of time to heal. Ive stood by all of her choices for 40 years. You will research in vain to find something negative Ive said about my mother. Shes made many controversial choices and done many provocative things. Ive always believed in family first, and I feel that has now been breached. In recent days, Allred has walked back her original remarks. Nothing that has happened in the recent past has altered my views of Lisas commitment to protecting and advancing womens rights, she posted on Facebook. I stand behind Lisa and support her. Asked if the words provided comfort, Bloom responded: I think its healthier for family members to call one another rather than do Facebook posts. amy.kaufman@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @AmyKinLA ALSO Harvey Weinstein went from power player to pariah in less than a week. Heres how it happened How Trumps election and Weinsteins fall signal warp speed on taking sexual harassment seriously It was Bob and Harvey Weinstein against the world. Then they turned on each other The end of Harvey Weinstein and an industry that secretly loves its bullies Harvey Weinstein: His cinematic gifts and his bullying sway over a Hollywood he fascinated and repelled Kate Winslet didnt thank Harvey Weinstein when she won the Oscar. Heres why In The Snowman, a wretched waste of time and talent from the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), two detectives track a serial killer who likes to hack up womens bodies and then scatter the pieces all over: a head here, a limb there. The movie, perhaps subscribing to the fallacy of imitative form, adopts this dispersal method as a narrative strategy: a scene here, a flashback there, chunks of exposition strewn about like severed fingers. You could try piecing it all together, but really, what would be the point? Dead is dead. The task of tracking down the killer falls to an Oslo police detective named Harry Hole, played by Michael Fassbender, who looks about as excited as anyone would be playing a character named Harry Hole. A chain-smoking, hard-drinking sleuth known for his unorthodox methods, Hole is the protagonist of a bestselling series of crime novels by the Norwegian writer Jo Nesb, of which The Snowman is the seventh installment but the first to be adapted to the big screen. It might also be the last, at least with this particular talent configuration. Alfredson has already spoken publicly about a rushed production schedule that kept a significant portion of the script (written by Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini and Sren Sveistrup) from even being filmed. That goes some distance toward explaining how a gifted director (he also helmed 2011s masterful Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) could have marshaled such a stellar ensemble, including Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Toby Jones, enlisted gifted collaborators like the cinematographer Dion Beebe, and still managed to emerge with one of the more disturbingly inept motion pictures released by a major studio this year. Advertisement The setting is Norway, though it might make more sense to call it Noway, a mythic land of slush and snow populated almost exclusively by variably accented English speakers. J.K. Simmons tries on a beard and a weird voice as a smarmy Oslo politician, while Chloe Sevigny, rightly confirming that you can never have too much Chloe Sevigny, plays identical twin sisters. Val Kilmer is nearly unrecognizable as a boozy, self-destructive older cop; I was too busy trying to decipher the characters atrociously looped dialogue to realize that his scenes were supposed to be set in the 80s. Presumably the unfilmed material would have clarified the significance of some fatally uninteresting municipal intrigue. But Im getting ahead of (or perhaps behind) myself. When Hole isnt drinking himself into a face-down-in-the-snow stupor, he has an amiable relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Rakel (Gainsbourg), and a particularly close one with her teenage son, Oleg (Michael Yates), whom he still regards with stepfatherly affection. But hes soon distracted from these and other emotional concerns by a madman whos been busy abducting women across the city, leaving a small snowman behind at every crime scene. The murderer also sends ominous, taunting messages to Hole, complete with childlike snowman drawing; hes like the Zodiac killer with a Frosty fetish. Before long Hole joins forces with an impetuous junior detective named Katrine Bratt (Ferguson), steering the plot into a thicket of complications as dense and impenetrable as the fog that settles on the nearby mountaintops. Given how skillfully Alfredson navigated the intricate cloak-and-dagger world of John le Carre in Tinker Tailor, its startling to see what a scattershot mess has been made of Nesbs rather more elementary procedural. Imagine acing differential calculus and then failing geometry. Presumably the unfilmed material would have clarified the significance of some fatally uninteresting municipal intrigue involving Oslos bid for an Olympics-style tournament. It almost certainly would have made for an easier salvage job for the editors, Claire Simpson and Thelma Schoonmaker, the latter known for her longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese (who is credited as an executive producer here). You can understand the industrys eagerness to cash in on the Nordic crime-fiction craze that brought us The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Killing and their various literary and screen incarnations. Theres probably a good movie or several buried in the frigid wilds of Nesbs fiction, and with more time and cultural nuance and fewer cooks in the kitchen, it might well be realized. Watching this bungled slopsicle of a movie, its hard not to conclude that somebody let the wrong one in. ------------ The Snowman Rating: R, for grisly images, violence, some language, sexuality and brief nudity Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes Playing: In general release See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang With its intricate structure and 600-plus page length, Brian Selznicks Wonderstruck is not the easiest Young Adult novel to bring to the screen, and filmmaker Todd Haynes is not the likeliest director to take on any YA book, easy or not. Yet, working beautifully together with a major assist from the visual team of cinematographer Ed Lachman and production designer Mark Friedberg, they have created a bit of magic with their production. Selznick, who also adapted the screenplay, previously had the experience of seeing a novel of his turned into Martin Scorseses Hugo, while Haynes, whose work includes such unclassifiable movies as Im Not There, Safe and Velvet Goldmine, was in uncharted territory with this one. Advertisement My films are not always the most conventional, the director acknowledged when Wonderstruck debuted at Cannes. The thing that excited me is that Id never done a movie about kids, a film kids could see. Haynes was also energized by the possibilities that the unusual structure of Selznicks story offered. Its not every book that tells two parallel tales half a century apart involving a pair of fearless and curious 12-year-olds, 1977s Ben and 1927s Rose, babes not in Toyland who run away from safe homes to unsettling Manhattan to chase personal dreams. More than that, while Selznick tells Bens story in prose, Roses comes to us in exquisite black-and-white illustrations, pictures that are wordless because Rose is deaf and does not speak. (In an additional wrinkle, Ben becomes deaf after an accident early in the story.) Working from Selznicks script and complementing Friedbergs exceptional re-creation of two different periods, Lachman, a Haynes veteran, has employed two different visual approaches here. Bens story is shot in gritty urban color reminiscent of Midnight Cowboy and The French Connection, while Roses tale is a silent movie shot in luminous black and white, such a rare occurrence that the 35 mm film stock had to be special-ordered from Kodak. Like any good tale of marvels, Wonderstruck has elaborately worked out parallels, both visual and narrative, between its two stories intricate, artful coincidences that we can believe in. And it has a through-line of emotion that connects them with each other and the audience. Met first is Ben, living in Gunflint, Minn., and with his young life in tatters, someone not surprisingly subject to nightmares of being pursued by wolves. Bens mother, Elaine, has just died in a car crash (Michelle Williams plays her in flashback), and the boy, who has never been told who his absent father is, is living unhappily with his aunt and her kids. Sneaking into his old house, Ben (Oakes Fegley) is the victim of a bizarre accident that takes away his hearing in an instant. He also comes across a book called Wonderstruck about cabinets of wonder as the ancestors of modern museums. A bookmark with a note on it from Kincaid Books in Manhattan feels like a clue to his fathers identity, so as soon as he can, Ben sneaks away and boards a bus for New York. Fifty years earlier, just across the river in Hoboken, N.J., young Rose (Millicent Simmonds) also has her eye on Manhattan. Deaf from birth though a stranger to sign language (both she and Ben communicate with others using written notes), Rose is fixated on silent film star Lillian Mayhew (Haynes veteran Julianne Moore). Rose finds out that the actress will be appearing on the Broadway stage and intrepidly heads into the big city to try and find her. In addition to narrative parallels that keep getting stronger, the alternating pair of stories in Wonderstruck are linked by visual cues as well. When Rose puts a paper boat into the East River, for instance, the film cuts almost immediately to a shot of a wooden boat on the water in Gunflint. Another parallel is that both youngsters end up spending considerable time in Manhattans American Museum of Natural History, especially the institutions iconic animal habitat dioramas. Though Moore and the other adult actors acquit themselves well, the task of carrying Wonderstruck falls to the children on-screen. That Fegley does well is no surprise to those who saw him in Petes Dragon, but Simmonds work is another story. An exceptionally self-possessed and gifted performer who is herself deaf, Simmonds had mainly done stage work before was discovered in a nationwide search. With an expressive face and a vibrant personality, she is alive on-screen in the most wonderful way. Though it takes its time, Wonderstruck like the best tales of wonder resolves all its mysteries as the plots disparate strands come together in a lovely way. I need you to be patient with this story, a key character says to young Ben, and its good advice for those of us in the audience as well. ------------ Wonderstruck Rating: PG for thematic elements and smoking Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes Playing: ArcLight, Hollywood, Landmark, West Los Angeles See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers kenneth.turan@latimes.com @KennethTuran ALSO Brian Selznick: The author who inspired Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes to make family films Wonderstruck director Todd Haynes reveals how he found the deaf actress so good it gave him chills Chris Hemsworth , the Australian actor best known for playing the hammer-wielding superhero Thor on the big screen (a third Thor film hits theaters next month and the next installment of the Avengers franchise lands next year), recently landed a sweet-smelling side gig as Hugo Boss new global fragrance ambassador, the face of its Boss Bottled line and star of its latest Man of Today advertising campaign. To kick off the campaign and unveil Boss Bottled Tonic eau de toilette (a fresh jolt of citrusy ginger with a woody dry down, the new juice launched exclusively at Macys this summer and widened retail distribution last month), Hemsworth popped by New York Fashion Week: Mens over the summer, where he screened the new TV campaign for the media, answered a few softball questions from ESPN broadcaster Will Reeve (son of Christopher Reeve who starred in four Superman films) on stage, and took in the Boss spring/summer 2018 runway show. Thats where we caught up with Hemsworth for a fragrance-focused face-to-face that touched on surfing, a mixed bag of lollipops and Scarlett Johansson as the top note of the Avengers films. Here are some excerpts from that conversation. Ive read that the sense of smell is more closely linked with memories than any of our other senses. What are some of your earliest scent memories? Funny enough, I had Hugo Boss cologne given to me when I was, like, 16 by my mum. It was one of my first fragrances and one of the few Ive ever had. Smelling the cologne brought me back to that period of my life. Its funny how the sense memory [related to] smells [makes] you instantly remember, Oh, wow, I remember who I was dating then, who I liked, who my friends were. It was like [being] back in high school. Theres a certain plant, a bush/shrub on the coast in Australia that was very prominent in this one surf spot where I learned to surf. I think its called bottlebrush. It has quite a sweet scent to it, and on the track down to the surf spot where we spent most of our youth, you would just be overwhelmed by the smell. And if I smell it now, it takes me instantly back to that time. What are some of the other smells you associate with growing up? Surfboard wax, sunscreen, coconut oil and the beach. Once you were tapped as Hugo Boss global fragrance ambassador, how did it work? Did you get a short course in fragrances and how theyre created? We sat down and talked through the different scents and fragrances and [learned about] top notes and so on. Chris Hemsworth in a photo from Hugo Boss' new Boss Bottled Tonic fragrance campaign shot by Nicholas Goldberg. Nathaniel Goldberg / Coty Inc. Whether you call it KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken, the restaurant that made founder Colonel Sanders a household name is one of the worlds biggest and most successful fast food chains. But even if no Sunday dinner is complete without a bucket of that finger-lickin good chicken, we bet theres a lot you didnt know about this international chain. 15 Things You Didnt Know About Kentucky Fried Chicken (Slideshow) The story of KFC begins, of course, with Harland Sanders, and his is truly a rags-to-riches story. After a rocky childhood in Henryville, Indiana, near the Kentucky border, he left home at age 13 and worked lots of jobs, with mixed success, before taking over a Shell filling station in small-town Kentucky in 1930, at the age of 40. His cooking (which he served to travelers at his own dining room table) was such a success that he expanded to a larger location across the street. By 1937 his operation had expanded to 142 seats and a motel, which he named Sanders Court & Cafe. Advertisement Sanders became a bit of a local celebrity when the governor bestowed upon him the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel - Sanders took the honor very seriously, and even dressed the part. After a newly constructed highway hurt his business, Sanders sold all his properties and began selling his fried chicken recipe to restaurants, allowing them to use his name and likeness for promotion. The name Kentucky Fried Chicken was soon adopted by all the restaurants that sold the product, and by 1963 they had turned into the largest fast food chain in the country. In 1964, the 74-year-old Sanders sold his company to a group of investors for $2 million, guaranteeing himself a lifetime salary and the opportunity to stay on board as quality controller and to appear in commercials for the company, which made him a full-fledged celebrity. The company was sold again in 1971 to Heublein (a packaged food and drink company), and by the time Sanders died in 1980 there were about 6,000 KFC outlets in 48 countries. In 1982, KFC was sold to tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds; in 1986, it was sold to PepsiCo; and in 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division (which also included holdings Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) into a public company called Tricon, which was renamed Yum! Brands in 2002. While KFC is still a major international brand (with nearly 20,000 locations worldwide and $23 billion in revenue in 2013), the company has seen better days. Its dominance in the chicken world has been threatened by chains like Chick-Fil-A, which has surpassed it as the leading chicken retailer, and its bringing in less money than chains half its size, like Panera Bread. The company is currently completing a $175 million makeover, complete with throwback-style commercials starring a string of comedians and actors including Darrell Hammond, Norm MacDonald, Jim Gaffigan, and Rob Lowe as an eccentric Colonel Sanders; and stores are being remodeled with touches like blackboards indicating what farm the chicken comes from and lots of photos of the Colonel himself. Theyve also rolled out some succesful new menu items, like Nashville hot chicken. Whatever the future holds for KFC, its clear that the Colonels creation isnt going anywhere anytime soon. Click here for 15 things you didnt know about it. In the first critical hours of the wildfires that swept through wine country this month, firefighters struggled to defend homes without the help of water-dropping aircraft. It was not until the next morning, Oct. 9, that they were able to move in by air to fight the fires that eventually destroyed more than 5,000 structures and killed more than 40 people in neighborhoods in Sonoma and Napa counties. The problem is that there were no firefighting helicopters or planes in the region capable of flying at night. In the case of the wind-whipped wine country fires, officials say, its doubtful more air support that night would have made a major difference, but its a resource gap they plan to fill. A helicopter prepares to drop water on a fire threatening the Oakmont community along Highway 12 in Santa Rosa on Oct. 13. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Like trying to stop a tornado The idea that a helicopter or night-flying air attack would stop a fire in the middle of night really is a misconception, said Daniel Berlant, assistant director of planning for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Aircraft have slowed down fires when conditions are right, but ground crews are the critical force. Other fire experts agreed, saying the force of the winds and flames were so intense that water drops probably would have done little to halt the flames during those first critical hours. Stopping a wildfire of this ferocity and intensity is like trying to stop a tornado, said Robert Baird, director of fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service in California. Night flights can be hugely beneficial, he said, but there is a huge limitation when the wind is blowing. Still, with Northern California experiencing a string of deadly wildfires in recent years, experts said it would make sense for the region to have more night-dropping choppers on hand. Firefighter Mario Topete attacks flames as his unit tries to prevent a fire from crossing Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) It really depends on the fire Night flights have made a big difference in other cases, and some departments have increased those capabilities. The Los Angeles Fire Department now has seven aircraft capable of night flights, and the agency has used them to halt several dangerous fires before they spread to residential areas. In 2008, the department got attention for a daring night flight during a fire that threatened upscale homes as well as the Getty Museum in Brentwood. Just this week, a brush fire in Griffith Park barely had time to get bigger than an acre before helicopters drenched it with precision water drops and ground crews snuffed what was left. LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey said a night attack can make a big difference, but there are significant limitations during a huge wind-whipped blaze. The issue of air attack: This is the sad thing, its not succinct, Humphrey said. It really depends on the fire. The issue of air attack: This is the sad thing, its not succinct. It really depends on the fire. LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey The Atlas fire in Napa County was spotted by chance by a passing California Highway Patrol airplane pilot. It also showed up minutes earlier on weather satellite images. Within 15 minutes, the satellite pictures showed the blaze exploding, doubling in size. The Tubbs fire in Sonoma County began about the same time. But it moved more slowly, taking an hour before mushrooming and making its run toward Santa Rosa, destroying whole neighborhoods. There are only two helicopters in the region capable of night flight, both operated by the California Highway Patrol. Essentially flying ambulances, neither is equipped to drop water or fire retardant, and the craft spent the first night of the Atlas fire airlifting trapped residents out of harms way. Cal Fire, the states primary firefighting agency, has no aircraft capable of night flight. The U.S. Forest Service has one, based at the Angeles National Forest. The rest are largely operated by county and city fire departments all in the south, including Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Los Angeles counties and the city of L.A. None of Cal Fires helicopters can fly at night because they have single engines, increasing the risk of danger if that engine should fail, Berlant said. Cal Fire planes and helicopter pilots were told before dawn that Monday to be prepared to head to Napa and Sonoma counties to help battle the fires, Berlant said. Incident commanders on the Atlas and Tubbs fires requested night-flying helicopters, and one was sent north from the Kern County Fire Department. But it did not get there until the second night of the fires, Berlant said. Firefighters Gary Mattingly, from left, Tim Zanotelli, Brandon Tolp and Devon Elenburg, all based in San Bernardino, perform a firing operation along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) More aircraft that can be used at night on the way Cal Fire intends to require night-flying capabilities on a fleet of new helicopters that will eventually replace 12 Vietnam War-era military choppers. It received authorization last year to spend $12 million for the first replacement but has not yet bought that aircraft. Wildland firefighting expert Bill Gabbert, who retired after 33 years with the National Park and U.S Forest services to run an online news outlet, Fire Aviation, said agencies lose some of the most critical hours by not staffing night and pre-dawn flights. In some cases, dropping water on fires at night can be effective because temperatures are cooler and winds are calmer than during the day. But Gabbert said these drops are less effective during nights of heavy winds. From an ecosystem view, the wine country fires were not new nor different. Fire history maps show most of what burned in the Atlas fire was consumed by another fire 30 years ago. The total loss back then was 65 homes. The order to evacuate homes in Santa Rosa when the Tubbs Fire was breaking away from Calistoga was based on fire history. Similar winds kicked off another wildland fire siege two years ago: the Valley Fire that swept into and through the community of Middletown. State maps overlaid with all fires since 1970 make the region look like a crazy quilt. Urban development changes the equation, elevating the risk of loss by putting people and expensive homes in the way and increasing the public demand to do more, even if it might not always help. Firefighters who would have focused on stopping the advance of a wildland fire now find themselves assigned to defend and protect structures, Gabbert said. Air attack is extremely popular. Theres pressure on incident management to use them, said Gabbert. Night flights have been an issue of debate in recent years. After the deadly Station fire hit L.A. County in 2009, a Times investigation found that the U.S. Forest Service misjudged the threat posed by the blaze and did not allow water drops the first night. A federal audit in 2011 called on the Forest Service to develop a strategy for when planes and helicopters should be flown at night. The agency now has a night-flying chopper in the region. A lack of water-dropping helicopters also became an issue in San Diego after the massive 2003 Cedar fire burned thousands of homes. Since then, the region has increased its firefighting aircraft arsenal. Times Staff Writer Adam Elmahrek contributed to this report. ALSO Thousands displaced by Northern California's wildfires now face the region's housing shortage After staggering losses in California firestorm, officials expect state's largest debris-removal effort ever For families of dozens missing in California wildfires, 'its emotional limbo' UPDATES: 3 p.m.: Updated with additional details on fire history in the region. Published at 9:10 a.m. An Italian model-actress met with Los Angeles police detectives for more than two hours Thursday morning, providing a detailed account of new allegations that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her at a hotel in 2013. She is the sixth woman to accuse Weinstein of rape or forcible sex acts. Los Angeles police Capt. Billy Hayes confirmed that the department has launched an investigation into the matter. It is the first case related to Weinstein to be reported in Southern California. New York police already have two active sex crime probes and Londons Metropolitan Police is investigating allegations made by three women. Advertisement The new allegation could be legally troubling for Weinstein because it falls within the 10-year statute of limitations for the crime that existed at the time of the alleged incident, legal experts say. It could open the door to a prosecution if the evidence exists, said defense attorney Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County sex crimes prosecutor. Until now, most of the allegations against Weinstein that could lead to criminal charges concerned incidents that are more than a decade old. Weinstein has unequivocally denied allegations of non-consensual sex, according to his representative, Sallie Hofmeister. On the latest allegation, she said: I cant respond to some anonymous complaint. The 38-year-old woman, who has asked not to be named because she is fearful of retaliation and concerned about protecting her childrens privacy, first contacted police on Tuesday, through her attorney, David Ring of the law firm Taylor Ring. Two detectives from the Los Angeles Police Departments Robbery-Homicide Divisions rape special section took her statement on Thursday. She told the Los Angeles Times that the incident occurred at Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel after she attended the 8th annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February 2013. She had previously met Weinstein once, briefly, in Rome after being introduced by an acquaintance. At that time, he invited her up to his hotel room, but she said she declined. She said they spoke briefly at the film festival, but he didnt appear to recall meeting her before. Later, he showed up without warning after midnight in the lobby of her hotel, which she said surprised her because she didnt tell him where she was staying. He asked to come up to her room. She said she told him no and offered to meet him downstairs, but soon, he was knocking on her door. He ... bullied his way into my hotel room, saying, Im not going to [have sex with] you, I just want to talk, the woman told The Times. Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked. She said Weinstein repeatedly bragged about his power and influence and told her not to fight him. She tried to show him pictures of her children and her mother, who was undergoing chemotherapy at the time, as she cried and begged him to go away, she said. He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do, she said. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me. When he left, she said he told her she was very beautiful, and that she could work in Hollywood. He acted like nothing happened, the woman said. I barely knew this man. It was the most demeaning thing ever done to me by far. It sickens me still. He made me feel like an object, like nothing, with all his power. After the incident, he invited her to parties at his house. She did not attend. Throughout the interview with The Times on Thursday, she was calm and collected though her voice quivered when she spoke of her three children. It is because of them, she said, that she decided to report Weinstein to the police. At the time, she said she was too afraid, but did tell a priest, a friend and a nanny what had happened. I feel responsible that I didnt talk for years, I feel responsible that I didnt react that night and I didnt call the police, I feel responsible that I wasnt brave enough, she said. All these years Ive been thinking why I didnt call the police immediately. I regret that I opened the [hotel] door. About a week before the Weinstein story broke, her high-school-aged daughter told her about how she had been experiencing mistreatment from a boy for seven months. To comfort her, she told her about the incident with Weinstein and urged her to report what was going on. If I need to do that, why dont you stand up for yourself? her daughter said, she recounted. And she said her son told her: You just need to be strong, Mom. Her attorney, Ring, one of L.A.s top sex-abuse attorneys, said the woman is fully cooperating with the LAPD. The model-actress, who was 34 at the time, is well-known in Italy, where she appeared on the cover of Italian Vogue and as an actress in Italian films. The woman was living in Italy with her three children at the time of the alleged attack, but has since moved to Southern California. FULL COVERAGE: The Harvey Weinstein scandal The allegations could also bolster a New York police investigation into a report that Weinstein forced an aspiring actress in 2004 to perform oral sex on him, as the L.A. case involves similar acts. Lucia Evans told the New Yorker that Weinstein assaulted her during a meeting at his Miramax office. Since a New York Times article first revealed allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein earlier this month, more than 40 women actresses, studio workers and models have accused Weinstein of inappropriate behavior, ranging from harassment to rape. Actresses Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Lysette Anthony and Evans have all publicly stated that they were raped or forced to perform a sex act by Weinstein. An unnamed woman also told the New Yorker that he allegedly raped her. Eight women have received civil settlements over the years from Weinstein or his companies related to his conduct, the New York Times reported. In other developments Thursday, a group of Weinstein Co. staffers responded to sexual harassment and assault allegations against their companys disgraced co-founder, saying they did not know he was a serial sexual predator. We all knew that we were working for a man with an infamous temper. We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator, about 30 staffers said in a letter sent to the New Yorker. We knew that our boss could be manipulative. We did not know that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women. The memo also blasted nondisclosure agreements in their contracts that some have blamed for helping to keep allegations under wraps for years. Times staff writer Ryan Faughnder contributed to this report. richard.winton@latimes.com victoria.kim@latimes.com ALSO: It was Bob and Harvey Weinstein against the world. Then they turned on each other The end of Harvey Weinstein and an industry that secretly loves its bullies Kate Winslet didnt thank Harvey Weinstein when she won the Oscar. Heres why Harvey Weinstein went from power player to pariah in less than a week. Heres how it happened UPDATES: 4:05 p.m.: This article was updated with details about a letter signed by Weinstein Co. staffers saying that they did not know they were working for a serial sexual predator. 3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the actress about the alleged assault in Los Angeles. 2:10 p.m.: This article was updated to add a comment from Harvey Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister. This article was originally published at 1:40 p.m. When Partnerships to Uplift Communities, a local charter school network, filed a complaint with a state agency alleging that Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez may have violated conflict-of-interest laws, the evidence included a series of checks and check authorizations. The Times obtained these documents through a Public Records Act request. The highlights of these documents are embedded below. The charter network, better known as PUC Schools, filed its complaint Friday with the state Fair Political Practices Commission. The checks and other information laid out the case that Rodriguez, who co-founded the PUC charter network, may have been guilty of self-dealing when he transferred $265,000 in school funds to a nonprofit that he ran called Partners for Developing Futures. An attorney representing PUC said that so far the charter network has found little to no evidence of services provided to schools in exchange for these payments. PUC Schools has requested an explanation from Rodriguez. The state filing also raised questions about $20,400 in payments to a private company in which Rodriguez may have owned a stake. Separately, Rodriguez faces three felony and 25 misdemeanor charges for campaign money laundering. A criminal complaint and a Los Angeles city ethics accusation allege that Rodriguez recruited donors to his successful 2015 school board campaign and then illegally reimbursed them. Rodriguez has declined to discuss the criminal complaint and the conflict-of-interest allegations. The Times broke the story about the state filing on Monday and wrote about the possible political ramifications on Tuesday. Checks to Better 4 You Fundraising (FPPC Filing) PUCs filing with the state raises questions about the two checks above. Rodriguez co-signed these checks for a combined $20,400 to a company called Better 4 You Fundraising in the first half of 2014. In a candidate disclosure form he filed with the L.A. Ethics Commission in November 2014, Rodriguez disclosed that he owned a stake in that company. Its not clear when Rodriguez acquired a stake in Better 4 You Fundraising. Its possible that he did not yet have an ownership interest when he signed the two checks. But the documents raise the possibility that Rodriguez had a conflict of interest when he authorized a payment of public funds to this private firm. PUC does not question the payments themselves. They appear to be linked to school fundraisers. The check from CALS Charter Middle School has a memo indicating chocolate fundraiser. Better 4 You Fundraising apparently was established to sell such goods as chocolate bars, taking a fee from the proceeds of the sales. That check is co-signed by Nancy Villagomez, the schools principal. Later that year, Villagomez donated $900 to Rodriguezs campaign, a donation that would be included among the 25 in the money-laundering prosecution. (She also made two other contributions, totaling $600, that the city ethics commission did not cite in its case against Rodriguez.) In a campaign mailer in 2015, Villagomez, identified as a middle school principal, provided a rousing testimonial on behalf of Rodriguez. She did not respond to recent attempts to contact her. On the other check, the companys Chatsworth address also is associated with Better 4 You Meals (also known as Better 4 You Breakfast). Better 4 You Meals was the focus of an earlier conflict-of-interest probe involving PUC. Better 4 You Meals and Better 4 You Fundraising had overlapping ownership or management, according to public records filed with the California secretary of state. But there is no indication in records reviewed by The Times that Rodriguez owned a share in Better 4 You Meals. The first check to Partners for Developing Futures Check for $9,437.50 from ECA Leaders & Scholars to Partners for Developing Futures on May 30, 2014 (FPPC Filing) The first check, above, was drawn on a school account. According to the filing, the fundamental problem is that Rodriguez signed and authorized the check and that the nonprofit he ran was the recipient of the funds. On this check, there is only Rodriguezs signature. An accompanying document (below) indicates that this check was authorized by Rodriguez and requested by Elizabeth (Liz) Melendrez, Rodriguezs cousin, who was an administrator at PUC Schools. In PUC records reviewed by The Times, Melendrez is listed as the person who requested eight of the checks Rodriguez authorized, adding up to nearly $188,000. Melendrez resigned from her job at PUC on Friday. Melendrez also is a co-defendant in the unrelated political money-laundering case. Her attorney, Mark J. Werksman, said his client has done nothing wrong. Regarding the transfers, he said Melendrez could not be held responsible because she had no authority either to approve the payments or force someone else to do so. Her role was purely secretarial in connection to these transactions, Werksman said. (FPPC Filing) Six checks assigned to school accounts These checks were drawn on the same date. The three-letter codes on the right refer to individual schools in the charter network to which these costs were assigned. (FPPC Filing) The six checks below were written on the same day, June 2. All fall below the $50,000 threshold that would require approval by the PUC Schools board of directors. Related paperwork above lists the six checks and their total: $162,347.34. The three-letter code to the right indicates that each check is to be assigned as a cost to a designated school. The code CAH, for example, refers to CALS Early College High School. All of these checks are to be paid to Partners for Developing Futures. The checks bear the signature or stamp of both PUC co-founders, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot. Elliot had no immediate explanation for her signatures except to emphasize how much trust she had in Rodriguez. Youre talking about someone whos created opportunities for thousands of children and who demonstrated a commitment day in and day out to acting in the best interest of students, Elliot said in an email. Refs track record was unquestioned. Elliot is one of the PUC officials who took responsibility for filing the FPPC complaint and notifying the Los Angeles Unified School District, which oversees most local charter schools. (FPPC Filing) Two checks drawn on school accounts The day after signing six checks totaling $162,347.34, Rodriguez signed two more checks for $16,000 apiece that were drawn on school accounts. One school was CALS Early College High School and the second was CALS Charter Middle School. Once again, the party being paid is Partners for Developing Futures. (FPPC Filing) Five checks totaling $61,845 Below is the final set of checks, all dated Oct. 3, included in the filing to the state political oversight commission. The checks bear the signature or stamp of Rodriguez and Elliot. The California Supreme Court decided Wednesday not to lower the passing score on the states licensing examination for lawyers. The states bar exam has long been one of the toughest to pass in the nation. Last year, California had the lowest rate of passage of any state, and its average score has dropped by about a third in recent years. Several law school deans called on California to reduce the score needed for passage, and the state Supreme Court asked the State Bar of California to study the issue. Advertisement The score required for passage in California, known as the cut score, is higher than in any state except Delaware, and the number has remained unchanged for three decades. In a letter Wednesday, the court said it was not persuaded that the relevant information and data developed at this time weigh in favor of departing from the longstanding pass score of 1440. The court noted that the pass rate has fluctuated over time, and that other states also have seen a decline in the passage of the exams. The court expects the state bar to complete its other bar exam studies and to continue analyzing whether the exam or any of its components might warrant modification, the court said. Californias pass rate hit a record low 62% in July 2016 for graduates of law schools accredited by the American Bar Assn. New Yorks pass rate for its accredited schools last year was 83%. maura.dolan@latimes.com Twitter: @mauradolan A woman has been sentenced to five years in state prison in what prosecutors called a diabolical scheme to frame her husbands ex-fiancee in a Craigslist rape fantasy plot. Angela Maria Diaz, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday to 10 felony and 22 misdemeanor charges, including kidnapping, false imprisonment and falsely reporting a crime to a peace officer, according to the Orange County district attorneys office. The case stretches back to June 2016, when Diaz made false claims to Anaheim police against Michelle Hadley that could have sent the ex-fiancee to prison for life. Hadley was exonerated later of any wrongdoing, but did spend about 90 days in jail because of Diazs bogus reports. Advertisement Diaz alleged that Hadley had sent her emails threatening to have her raped, officials said. The emails contained links to photographs of aborted fetuses and decapitated bodies. But really, prosecutors said, Diaz routed the emails to herself using eight accounts, virtual private networks and third-party proxy servers. Diaz responded to rape fantasy advertisements on Craigslist, and even posted one of her own. She told men who responded that she wanted them to rape her, even if she resisted or screamed, prosecutors said. Investigators stopped at least two men near Diazs condo, who admitted responding to the Craigslist ad. Diaz then went to police and accused Hadley of impersonating her in the ad. She falsely told police that she had nothing to do with the solicitations online and that Hadley was stalking her. Hadley was arrested twice during the summer of 2016 and spent nearly three months in jail. After she was cleared of wrongdoing, she told reporters that the experience was such a nightmare for me. Shes trying to put it past her, Hadleys attorney, Michael Guisti, said Wednesday, adding that his client has moved out of state and has a pending civil case against Anaheim. It has damaged her reputation and shes having to rebuild her life. Charges against her were dismissed after investigators discovered that the Craigslist ad and the harassing emails had been sent from Diazs condo and her fathers home, prosecutors said. In January, Diaz was arrested in Phoenix, where she lived. She and her husband, who she met on a dating website a few months after he and Hadley broke up, are separated. Police also discovered that Diaz faked cervical cancer, pretended to be an attorney, forged doctors notes and faked a pregnancy, prosecutors said. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek What should you do when an earthquake hits? Cover in place? Run outside? Its a decision one must instantly make when the shaking begins. Californian natives might instinctively drop under a table, cover their head and hold tight. Out-of-staters might feel an urge to flee out the door. During the global ShakeOut drill held at 10:19 a.m. PDT on Thursday, one common refrain was to drop, cover and hold on. Theres a reason for that. Many deaths in Californias earthquakes have come from moving objects inside a room like a loose television or a falling microwave. The last person to die in a California earthquake, during the 2014 Napa temblor, was a woman who was struck in the head by a television that wasnt strapped down. Another big rationale: The most vulnerable part of a building can be the facade. That means that while a building may continue standing after an earthquake, the first thing to collapse likely will be part of its outer wall posing a deadly hazard for anyone trying to escape. RELATED: Get ready for a major quake. What to do before and during a big one Before the Napa earthquake, the last two people who died in a California quake ran out of an unretrofitted brick building when a temblor struck Paso Robles in 2003. A wall came tumbling down on them as they exited. If they had stayed inside, experts said, they would have survived. Rescue workers sift through debris in the wake of the 2003 Paso Robles earthquake. The families of the two women killed by falling bricks and plaster in an old building sued the property owners. A jury awarded the families nearly $2 million. (Los Angeles Times) Something similar happened during the Sept. 19 Mexico earthquake. In the town of Jojutla in the state of Morelos, about a two-hour drive south of Mexico City, three people died when they fled the historic town hall. As they ran out, parts of the unretrofitted brick building fell, crushing them. As they escaped through the building, that bell tower fell and killed the people right on the spot there. So sometimes, its really dangerous to just run out, said California seismic safety commissioner Kit Miyamoto, who recently visited Mexico. In California, generally speaking, youre better off staying in the building, said Miyamoto, a structural engineer. Chances are, youll get hit by something on the street, Miyamoto said. Brick buildings, in particular, tend to fall outward, Miyamoto said, making it generally a bad idea to run out of a brick structure. Miyamoto said hed also stay inside a steel frame building, as the probability of a steel building collapsing is believed to be relatively small. But for Miyamoto, there are exceptions. One of them is being in an older, brittle concrete building. Videos taken during the recent Mexico earthquake showed instances where collapses of brittle concrete buildings did not happen immediately. That threat gave some occupants precious seconds to run outside before a building collapsed. Brittle concrete buildings were exposed for their vulnerabilities in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, but most local governments around the world have done nothing to require owners to go back and strengthen those buildings. The city of Los Angeles in 2015 passed a law requiring such buildings to be retrofitted, but gave owners a 25-year deadline to do it once they are given an order to seismically evaluate the building. The city plans to send out the orders next year, according to the mayors office. The threat posed by brittle concrete buildings is well established. Just last month, a seven-story building on Avenida Alvaro Obregon in Mexico City suffered a catastrophic collapse, with its columns exploding under the weight of the fall. Forty-nine people died in that building the highest death toll of any single site in Mexico. But others in that building escaped by running for cover in a steel stairwell that was part of a separate structural system. Those that made it to the stairwell survived, said Miyamoto, who consulted with local engineers on the recovery effort. Some people in the Mexico City seven-story office building at Avenida Alvaro Obregon 286 were able to survive if they managed to escape into the exterior steel stairwell before the building collapsed. (Rong-Gong Lin II / Los Angeles Times) Even in the United States, if Miyamoto knows he is in a brittle concrete building, I [would] probably run out if I was on the ground floor. I know how these buildings are extremely dangerous firsthand, he said. But he added that being struck by falling objects is still a high risk. So I would be very careful, he said. Miyamoto said that if he were in a wooden apartment building with flimsy supports on the ground floor like to hold up a carport, garage or storefront, known as a soft-story building he would run out if he was on the ground floor, but stay inside if he were upstairs. So what are you supposed to do in California if you dont have that technical knowledge of knowing what kind of building youre in? Ideally, the owner would have seismically retrofitted the building so occupants can safely drop, cover and hold on without fearing a collapse. But if you have to make a decision, and you dont know what type of building youre in, Miyamoto advises: Stay in. He stressed that many people can die from falling walls and objects. Other experts agree that staying inside is a safer bet in California. I would not like to be in a bad building where I would have to make that choice, seismologist Lucy Jones said. I really cant say, Run outside, if theyre in a bad building. I have seen too many situations where people run out of a bad building and the building collapses on them as they ran outside. A brick building collapses outward during the 2011 earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand. One of the most dangerous places to be is fleeing a collapsing unretrofitted brick building; the exterior may collapse just on the outside of the structure. In this collapsed Mexican building that was damaged in the 1985 Mexico earthquake, space can still be seen under desks. Thats one reason why experts say taking cover in a collapsing building is the best option. (Handout via seismologist Lucy Jones) There is a chance that a person might emerge unscathed in an earthquake after running. But there are data suggesting that, statistically speaking, running opens you up to a higher risk of injury. A New Zealand earthquake study found most people who were injured had been trying to move around during the shaking, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Elizabeth Cochran said. By trying to run, you may end up in a more vulnerable location. During a recent visit to a Mexico school, Cochran said she was told how a group of schoolchildren started evacuating as soon as they felt the first shaking. But the shaking became so strong in this location that the students could no longer walk, and had to shelter in place in the hallway just outside the classroom door, Cochran said. In that particular school, officials had done an excellent job of securing furniture and other objects, so the students werent in any more danger at this particular location. But had that not been the case, then ducking and covering under a desk would have been preferable, she said. Having different advice for how to react in different buildings risks confusing people, Cochran said. Im not a structural engineer. I wouldnt necessarily know walking into a building that its one thats at risk. So we need to be focused, hopefully, on retrofitting that building. Giving people different messages in terms of what their response should be during an earthquake its too easy to get confused, Cochran said. L.A., Santa Monica and West Hollywood have passed laws requiring owners of brittle concrete buildings to retrofit them. But most other local governments in California have not done so. Mark Benthien, director of outreach for the Southern California Earthquake Center and global coordinator of ShakeOut, suggested that a blanket recommendation to flee buildings in California when an earthquake hits is a bad idea. Even in Mexico, Benthien said, there were videos of the facades of buildings falling. If people had been running out of the building, they wouldve been hit, he said. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Mexico City contributed to this report. ron.lin@latimes.com Twitter: @ronlin ALSO Fixing L.A. buildings vulnerable to collapse is vital before next big earthquake, Garcetti says Heres what earthquake magnitudes meanand why an 8 can be so much scarier than a 6 Could your building collapse in a major earthquake? Look up your address on these databases Fearing a big earthquake like the one in Mexico isn't enough. Here's how to turn anxiety into action UPDATES: 5:40 p.m., Oct. 21, 2017: This article was updated with a quote from U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Elizabeth Cochran, and edited throughout. 5:45 p.m., Oct. 20, 2017: This article was updated to reflect that ShakeOut has passed. 8:25 a.m.: This article was updated with Miyamotos advice for reacting to an earthquake in a soft-story apartment building. This article was originally published at 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2017. Deadly wildfires in Northern California have caused over $1 billion in insured losses, according to Californias insurance commissioner. Preliminary loss figures released Thursday by State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones estimate total insured losses at $1.045 billion. The insurers eight of Californias largest also found that there were 4,177 partial residential losses, 5,449 total residential losses, 601 commercial property losses, and over 3,000 auto losses. Advertisement Jones, who released the findings Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles, noted that it will take months to finalize the total insured losses from the fires. We know this number will climb as more victims go through the claims process, as they secure the safety of their loved ones and themselves and begin to reach out to their insurance agents and insurance companies, Jones said. News of the insured losses come as crews continue to gain control of multiple wildfires. Firefighters from around the state are starting to return home while some evacuees are just now digging through whats left of their neighborhoods. Most mandatory evacuations throughout the region have been lifted, but about 22,000 people in Sonoma County were still displaced Thursday morning, either because their homes are still at risk or were in a burn zone, said Sonoma County spokesman Scott Alonso. The fires destroyed at least 5,700 structures, including more than 2,800 homes in the city of Santa Rosa alone. Officials called it the deadliest week in California fire history, with at least 42 confirmed fatalities. Better weather this week has helped firefighters continue to control flames and prevent further damage. With cool temperatures and a small dose of rain expected Thursday, the objective in the days to come will be to make sure no spot fires grow out of control and that crews that have been here for nearly two weeks stay vigilant and avoid mishaps, officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a morning briefing at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Just give us your best for a few more days, Cal Fire incident commander Bret Gouvea told firefighters Thursday. According to the National Weather Service, light rain will move into the region by the afternoon. Winds will start blowing to the northeast before reversing in the evening, and gusts of up to 25 mph could breathe new life into small fires within the larger wildfire perimeters, officials said. At their peak, the states large fires had drawn about 11,000 firefighters into the battle. But with the largest blazes in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties nearing full containment, firefighters have begun to trickle back to their respective states, counties and districts. The Pocket fire, the smallest but least contained of the active Sonoma County fires, had burned 16,552 acres and was 73% contained Thursday morning. The Nuns fire was 82% contained after scorching 54,423 acres, including an offshoot near Oakmont that had worried firefighters earlier this week. As of Thursday morning, Nuns fire activity was minimal with some smoldering, according to a Cal Fire incident report. All activity [is] confined to the inside of the fire perimeter. The Tubbs fire, which leveled swaths of the city of Santa Rosa and was responsible for at least 22 deaths, has burned 36,432 acres and was 92% contained Thursday morning. As with the Nuns fire, smoldering in the Tubbs fire was contained to inside of the fire perimeter, according to Cal Fire. Sonoma County is holding community meetings Thursday on the process for getting state and federal aid to clean up ash and debris, Alonso said. Cleanup of the hazardous materials can be dangerous and expensive, he said. Were really concerned about people touching the debris, trying to remove ash. We will have hazardous materials teams deployed to help homeowners with large-scale removal, Alonso said. We dont want folks doing it on their own. In Napa County, the 51,624-acre Atlas fire, responsible for at least six deaths, was 85% contained Thursday morning. While most evacuees in Napa County have been allowed back into their neighborhoods, many roads remained closed Thursday. In Mendocino County, where eight people died, evacuees from the Redwood and Sulphur fires are returning home as well. The Redwood fire was 85% contained and had burned 36,523 acres as of Thursday morning, and the nearby 2,207-acre Sulphur fire in Lake County was 96% contained. Over the last few days, Californias Department of Insurance has taken steps to speed up assistance to policyholders affected by the fires, Jones said. A consumer services team has been deployed to affected areas to cut through red tape and expedite claims, he said. Jones also signed a declaration of emergency on the insurance code, allowing insurers to bring in licensed adjusters from out of state. He reminded victims that additional living expenses coverage on policies cover food, lodging and transportation associated with disasters. He asked insurers to begin advancing up to four months payment of the additional living expenses. The commissioner also cautioned victims to be wary of third-party contractors who solicit business. We know that people are vulnerable, Jones said. Sadly, what weve seen time and time again in these circumstances, is scam artists and others will flow into an area to take advantage of people. To deter scams, Jones deployed a team of detectives into areas affected by the fires. It appears to me that we are entering a new era, Jones added. An era where there is no longer a fire season, but in which California and Californians are at risk year-round. He said that this was something California officials would have to grapple with going forward. There is going to have to be a lot of consideration by senior leaders in California of what this means for us in terms of how we do business, in terms of how we develop, in terms of how we operate, Jones said. joseph.serna@latimes.com sonali.kohli@latimes.com makeda.easter@latimes.com UPDATES: 4:25 p.m.: This article was updated with more comments from State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. 2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with insurance estimates released by State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. This article was originally published at 9 a.m. A couple who founded a Crenshaw private school and fled after authorities charged them with 13 sex crimes against minors were arrested by Florida and Los Angeles police Wednesday after 17 years on the run. Joseph Green, 52, a registered sex offender, and his wife, Chanell Warren, 43, were arrested at 6 a.m. Wednesday at a home in Plantation, a city in the Miami metropolitan area, said Det. Robert Rettig of the Plantation Police Department. Green is being held in the Broward County Jail on $185,000 bail. Warrens bail was set at $170,000. Advertisement The arrests capped a joint investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI, Rettig said. The case was featured last month on CNNs The Hunt with John Walsh: School of Lies. Soon after, investigators discovered that the couple had moved to Florida and assumed false names. When Green and Warren were charged with sexually molesting a 16-year-old girl in 2000, they were administrators of the Enlightened Minds School, a private, Afrocentric school in South Los Angeles. The allegations came to light when students on a school camping trip noticed another student sleeping in a room with two adults, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The victim told several students she was sexually involved with the pair. Green was a registered sex offender when he co-founded the school with Warren. He was charged with three counts of sexually molesting a minor in 1996, pleaded no contest to one count of sexual battery and was sentenced to two years in state prison in Chino. In 1998, he and Warren founded the school, saying they wanted to improve educational outcomes for inner-city students. They rented a 10,000-square-foot commercial building on West 54th Street, a busy boulevard with storefront churches and hair salons. The schools inspiring story earned a proclamation from then-Mayor Richard Riordan and won them funding from a national scholarship program. But as they ran the school of 50 students, they also were posting Craigslist ads soliciting sexual partners as a couple, prosecutors said. In 2000, Los Angeles police charged them with molesting one of their students in a white RV parked at their home. Authorities believed the couple fled in the motor home. Green used fake names to found the school and evade police detection. He registered as a sex offender in Lancaster, but authorities didnt know he was living in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles under the name Ty Yiyara. The couple also used fake names and credentials to found and market the school to South Los Angeles parents who were desperate for an alternative to the areas struggling public schools. Green told parents that he had served in the Air Force and earned a masters degree in social work from Dallas Baptist University. Police found no record of military service, and Green admitted to buying his degree in a catalog. Nana Gyamfi, an attorney whose son attended the school as a preschooler, said she had mixed feelings when she heard that the couple had been arrested. Shes glad the couple are no longer at large, but she says sending them to prison wont fix the harm they caused. Green and Warren knew that black parents in the neighborhood badly needed an alternative to the public schools and exploited that, Gyamfi said. The schools closure broke the communitys trust and hurt the reputations of other alternative, Afrocentric schools. And the damage done to the molested student cant be undone, she said. Theres a lot of harm they caused. At the same time, theres a lot of restoring that needs to be done. None of that happens with people just getting arrested and going to prison, Gyamfi said. Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report. UPDATES: 8:50 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the investigation. 2:05 p.m.: This article was updated with bail amounts for the couple. This article was originally published at 12:50 p.m. A former Los Angeles police officer accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in the departments cadet program was held over for trial Thursday on charges of possessing a cache of assault weapons at his San Bernardino County home. Robert Cain, 31, was charged with 10 felony weapons offenses after police recovered more than 100 weapons during a search of his Rancho Cucamonga residence in June. The search was conducted after Cain was personally arrested by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck on suspicion of having unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl enrolled in the LAPDs cadet program. Cain is charged with possessing five rifles that are considered assault weapons under California law. At a preliminary hearing Thursday morning, LAPD Det. Eric Good testified that the weapons had been modified with flash suppressors, which make it harder to detect a weapons muzzle flare, pistol grips and other items that would cause them to be classified as assault weapons. Advertisement Police recovered two bump stocks at Cains home, devices that can increase a guns rate of fire and make it similar to an automatic weapon, Good said. Bump stocks, which are illegal to own under California law, became a topic of national conversation after investigators revealed a man used the devices during a shooting rampage that left 58 people dead at a Las Vegas music festival earlier this month. The devices are legal to own under federal law, but the Las Vegas attacks have led advocates, legislators and the National Rifle Assn. to ask lawmakers to reconsider the danger they pose. Cain, a 10-year-veteran of the department who was last assigned to 77th Street Division, resigned last month, according to Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman. Cain was silent for most of the hearing, remaining seated and handcuffed as he wore a green jail jump suit. He briefly turned to speak with his mother, who was the only person present in the gallery, before he was politely rebuked by Superior Court Judge Bridgid McCann. Defense attorney Bill Seki argued that prosecuting Cain on the weapons charges is pre-mature because the weapons that were seized became illegal under state law only as of Jan. 1, 2017. Gun owners whose firearms had been reclassified as assault weapons were supposed to be immune from enforcement actions until the state Department of Justice updated its website to allow gun owners to register those modified firearms as assault weapons. Seki contended that the website was not functioning at the time of Cains arrest. But McCann determined there was sufficient evidence to allow the case to proceed to trial. Cain pleaded not guilty to the weapons charges earlier this year. Technically, they should not have done anything, Seki said, referring to the prosecution. Cain, an Army veteran and gun enthusiast, was in the process of modifying the weapons to comply with the change in state law at the time of his arrest, Seki said. The bump stocks were not attached to firearms when they were discovered, the attorney said. Police recovered more than 70 rifles during the search of Cains home, Good said. Cains arrest came as part of a widening scandal involving the theft of LAPD vehicles and other equipment by members of the departments cadet program. Using the stolen LAPD cruisers, some cadets led officers on a wild chase through South L.A. that ended in a pair of car crashes in June. Seven cadets were arrested as part of a subsequent investigation, which also revealed evidence of a sexual relationship between Cain and the 15-year-old girl, investigators have said. Criminal proceedings against Cain in Los Angeles County remain frozen while the weapons case plays out in San Bernardino County. His initial appearance on charges of oral copulation with a minor and lewd acts with a juvenile was delayed in July, and an arraignment has yet to be rescheduled, according to Greg Risling, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. No other officers have been accused of wrongdoing, Rubenstein said. The LAPD has yet to present cases against the former cadets who were arrested in June, Risling said. The scandal that led to Cains arrest sparked a wide-ranging review of the cadet program and calls for an audit of all of the departments youth initiatives. The cadet program was suspended at 77th Street and Pacific Divisions, where the teenagers involved in the thefts were assigned. james.queally@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca won a reprieve Wednesday when an appeals court ruled he could remain free while he appeals his conviction on charges of obstruction of justice and lying. Baca, 75, was convicted this year for his role in a 2011 scheme by Sheriffs Department officials to interfere with an FBI investigation into alleged inmate abuse and corruption by sheriffs deputies working in county jails. In sentencing Baca in May, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson told the career lawman that his three-year prison sentence should serve as a deterrent to other public servants. Advertisement Your actions embarrass the thousands of men and women [in the department] who put their lives on the line every day, Anderson said at the time. No person, no matter how powerful, no matter his or her title, is above the law. Baca promptly appealed his conviction to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that rulings by Anderson in the lead-up and during the trial had unfairly disadvantaged him. And when Anderson ordered him to begin his prison sentence immediately, Baca asked the appeals court to overrule the decision. The court initially declined, telling Baca he had to make his case for leniency once again to Anderson. Anderson again ordered Baca to prison, saying he should spend his best remaining days behind bars. Baca suffers from Alzheimers disease, which doctors expect will become increasingly more severe in coming years. In granting Baca bail, a three-judge panel of the appellate court found he posed no risk of fleeing and was not using his appeal as a ploy to delay his prison sentence. And, the judges said, the former sheriff had raised a legitimate challenge to a ruling Anderson made before the trial that barred any experts from testifying about Bacas illness. Sheriff Baca very much appreciates the Ninth Circuits decision, said Bacas attorney, Nathan Hochman, criticizing what he called the flawed and constitutionally deficient trial and verdict. The guilty verdict capped a string of prosecutions in which 10 sheriffs deputies and supervisors were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from the obstruction plan. joel.rubin@latimes.com Follow @joelrubin on Twitter UPDATES: 10:45 a.m.: This article was updated with details about the court order and comment from Bacas attorney. This article was originally published at 5:55 p.m. on Oct. 18. With more than 5,500 homes destroyed across Northern California wine country in wildfires, the staggering level of loss can be defined by the personal items that residents lost. Incinerated photos and personal papers. Jewelry that melted away. Refrigerators, washers and dryers burned black. Residents have made a grim pilgrimage in recent days back to their devastated neighborhoods to examine the destruction for themselves and see if anything is salvageable. Advertisement Bruce Costello, 62, walks through the rubble of his Wikiup home on Monday after it was destroyed in the wildfires. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) But authorities are now shifting to what will be one of the pressing tasks in the long recovery effort: clearing out those neighborhoods. They say that one of Northern Californias worst wildfire disasters is transitioning into the largest debris-removal campaign in state history. State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said details of the massive cleanup effort thats expected to cost more than $100 million will be provided at town hall meetings throughout the region over the next several days. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund 75% of the effort, with the rest paid for by the state Governors Office of Emergency Services, officials said. We were at war with ferocious wildfires across hundreds of square miles, McGuire said in an interview in his Santa Rosa office. Now, state, federal and local agencies are coordinating a colossal cleanup in order to start rebuilding the charred heart of this beloved region. Our focus is on helping people get back into homes and back to work, he said. Weve lost 5,000 jobs, most of them in service industries. With evacuation orders being lifted, a small army of insurance adjusters and crews certified to haul hazardous and carcinogenic materials such as lead and asbestos will start assessing property losses later this week, on a lot-by-lot basis, officials said. Within two months, fleets of contracted bulldozers, dump trucks and water tenders will replace fire engines, utility trucks and emergency response vehicles still crowding local freeways, streets and narrow country lanes in Sonoma and Napa counties, Sean Smith, state debris removal coordinator, said Wednesday. A member of a search and rescue crew follows a cadaver dog as he searches for a possible victim of the wildfires in the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on Monday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) The debris stream will be going to many different landfills, Smith said, depending on the toxicity of the substances they contain. But all of it will be hauled to landfills within the state, he added. In an effort to expedite reconstruction, local community leaders are calling on county officials and state and federal regulatory agencies to relax building permit requirements and environmental rules such as a mandatory 10-day notice before removing debris laden with asbestos. Even then, however, the job of collecting samples of ash and testing them for the presence of hazardous materials wont be easy. I suspect that recovery will proceed piecemeal when it comes to residential lots and commercial property, said Chip Prokop, president of Petaluma-based Air and Water Sciences, a consulting firm that assists insurance adjusters. Thats because every property is different. Some may be laden with asbestos. Others may have propane tanks that didnt explode in wildfires but now could go off with a little jostling. This week, residents returned to Journeys End mobile home park in Santa Rosa to see what could be salvaged. The park was devastated by the fire which destroyed an estimated 5% of Santa Rosas housing stock and killed more than 40 across wine country and there was not much that many residents could find. Jeff Moroni, 55, had come back to see what he could collect of his mothers belongings. His mother had kept a few of her husbands prized possessions, including an antique bathtub he had turned into a flower planter and a collection of Morgan silver dollars, old pennies and nickels he had been building his whole life. On Tuesday, Moroni retrieved the safe holding the collection and, back at his van, opened it. The coins were still there, but all of the accompanying paperwork was burnt to a crisp. Now I just gotta figure out how to go through it all and clean it, he said. He also debated whether to salvage a wheelbarrow in which his dad had tugged him along as a child growing up in San Mateo. Maybe I could restore it, he said. It remains to be seen, however, how the relief efforts can resolve Holly Michaels fire-related predicament. My home is still standing, but its not livable because its filled with smoke and ash, Michaels, 76, said. In the meantime, Im living with my ex-husband and the woman hes been dating for years. Ive got the couch, of course, she added with a chuckle. But I know were going to get through this because we must, and because, in our own peculiar way, were family. Times staff writer Nina Agrawal contributed to this report. louis.sahagun@latimes.com In September 2016, local Rep. Judy Chu met with then-head of the Drug Enforcement Agency Chuck Rosenberg. She was reassured by Rosenberg that recently passed legislation related to the oversight of how opioids are distributed, which she cosponsored, did not interfere with the DEAs ability to successfully stop bad actors. Now, Chu (D-Monterey Park) has written to two powerful congressional committees demanding an investigation after the release of a report from the Washington Post and 60 Minutes detailing how this little-noticed piece of legislation took away the DEAs ability to prevent hundreds of millions of painkillers from entering the black market. Advertisement She is the second lawmaker to call for an investigation into the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in spring 2016. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who was also a cosponsor, sent a letter to two congressional committees asking for the law to be reviewed to figure out if it should be altered or repealed. Chu said in the letter that she asked for the meeting with Rosenberg after the Los Angeles Times published an investigation in July 2016 about how Congress had passed, with little attention and virtually no public opposition, a law that makes it more difficult for government to take action against the pharmaceutical industry. The article reported on internal dissent within the DEA about this legislation and quoted Joseph Rannazzisi, a former DEA deputy assistant administrator, as saying of Congress: They are taking the word of industry rather than the governments expert in diversion control. In her letter, Chu explained that in her meeting with Rosenberg last year, she learned that the DEA had had been consulted by legislators about the bill and that the agency felt the legislation was unnecessary. [Rosenberg] reiterated that it was not the agencys position that this bill would interfere with the agency efforts to stop harmful opioids from entering our communities, Chu added. Last year, The Times also reported how Purdue Pharma, which has reaped more than $31 billion from the painkiller OxyContin, collected extensive evidence suggesting illegal trafficking of its drug and, in many cases, did not share the information with law enforcement or cut off the flow of pills. One drug ring that Purdue monitored was operating for several years in Chus district. As of last year, shortly after the law passed, Chu had received more than $31,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The Post and 60 Minutes found that a DEA lawyer turned pharmaceutical executive actually wrote the draft legislation. This lawyer also testified in favor of the legislation when it was going through Congress. The change in the law made it harder for the DEA to stop suspicious shipments of narcotics. If it had been the intent of Congress to completely eliminate the DEAs ability to ever impose an immediate suspension on distributors or manufacturers, it would be difficult to conceive of a more effective vehicle for achieving that goal, DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney wrote in an article to be published in the Marquette Law Review, according to the Post. Chu and Welch were two of the bills three Democratic sponsors. The legislation was primarily pushed by Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) who had taken tens of thousands of dollars from the drug industry. Marino was also President Trumps pick to be the nations next drug czar but withdrew after the Post and 60 Minutes story ran Sunday. In a statement to The Times, the DEA didnt address Chus assertion about her meeting with Rosenberg but said, We will continue fighting the opioid crisis and continue to use all the tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic. Chu and Welch asked the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate the matter. benjamin.oreskes@latimes.com @boreskes ALSO Opioid law draws scrutiny after Trumps pick for drug czar steps aside Embattled congressman Tom Marino withdraws from consideration as drug czar, Trump says Dont blame the surgeons: Long-term opioid use rarely starts with surgery, study finds Nikki Sixx: Take it from a recovering addict, a lot more could be done to end the opioid crisis Students and other audience members heavily booed white nationalist Richard Spencer on Thursday as he gave a speech at the University of Florida, where the atmosphere was tense but mostly peaceful as police in riot gear kept watch. We represent a new white America, said one speaker who came onstage to introduce Spencer. Black lives matter, student protesters responded. Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Advertisement Later, Spencers supporters, some of whom filled the front rows of the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, chanted back: You will not replace us! Go home, Spencer! protesters intoned after Spencer began speaking. You are trying to stifle our free speech, Spencer said as the crowd continuously booed and chanted through his speech, in which he recited his ideas about the ideal of a white nation. Police and media helicopters circled over the area Thursday as hundreds of protesters marched in opposition to Spencers appearance. Demonstrators were met by a blockade of police wearing riot gear. From what Ive learned, this guy just preaches hate, said one of the marchers, LaMonte Kendrick, 22, of Gainesville. What he says doesnt make sense. Its like the 60s or something. Gainesvilles already had enough hate and racism in its history. Spencers last major public appearance with other white nationalists ended with a deadly riot in Charlottesville, Va., in August. Spencer gained national prominence in recent years for his support of President Trump and for his views calling for a separate nation for white people. The apparent resurgence in white nationalism in the United States has sparked anti-supremacists to mobilize with their own efforts, including nonviolent demonstrations and pressure campaigns on companies providing services to white nationalists and sometimes violent attacks intended to drive them out of public spaces. Spencer has turned his sights to public universities, where 1st Amendment protections of free speech limit officials ability to deny Spencer a platform. Officials at the Florida college have confirmed theyve spent roughly $500,000 on security for the event, and police from around Florida gathered in Gainesville to assist local police. About 700 free tickets were available for the event and were supposed to be distributed outside the venue on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Spencers website, AltRight.com. Weapons were banned from the event, along with a wide range of other items, including water bottles, masks, shields and hats. Everyone is welcome at #SpenceratUF, Spencer tweeted before the event Thursday. This is going to be an important dialogue for the entire community. Police corralled protesters into a single line outside the venue and turned away attendees for various reasons, including a military veteran who walked with a cane, which was deemed a potential weapon. One woman said she was denied entry by Spencers supporters at the gate because she was with an African American man. Some journalists with cameras and notebooks were denied access but were allowed entry without those items. Inside the auditorium, a group of Spencers supporters sat close to the stage, while the audience of protesters sat toward the back, separated from Spencer and his proponents by rows of empty seats and a cordon of police. Spencer initially protested the boos as suppression of his speech but later began taking questions from audience members who variously asked why he hadnt left yet or how he could form a white ethno-state without performing violent ethnic cleansing. Many in the audience protested by standing during his speech and holding up their fists, the symbol of black power. One questioner who introduced himself as a son of immigrants told Spencer he was disappointed with the crowds protests, saying he wanted to engage in a dialogue. Another introduced herself as a beautiful brown woman of Egyptian and Puerto Rican descent. She thanked Spencer for coming, and asked, How did it feel to get punched in the face on camera? The student was referring to a viral video of Spencer being struck by an anti-fascist in Washington, D.C., on the day of Trumps inauguration. Her question drew a cheer from the crowd. It hurt, Spencer said. Yeah, it hurts when someone punches you in the face. Is that a real question? Spencer added: Whats the point of such a question? Are you threatening me with violence? Do you all want to get your hands dirty? Are you really willing to do something like that, or do you just want to shout self-righteously? The womans question was the final one during Spencers 90-minute appearance. He thanked the crowd for coming, and to protesters, he said: You think that you shut me down? Well, you didnt. You actually even failed at your own game. The world is not going to be proud of you. Spencer left campus shortly afterward as the audience filed out. Outside the venue, where hundreds of protesters gathered, small scuffles broke out when one man with swastikas on his shirt walked through the center of the crowd, seeming to relish the startled and appalled reactions of protesters. He was escorted away after someone punched him in the face, according to reporters on the scene. Only one arrest appeared to take place before Spencers appearance. Police said a security guard, hired by a media outlet covering the event, had illegally brought a gun on campus. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for Alachua County on Monday, saying in his executive order that a threat of a potential emergency is imminent, and that law enforcement must defend public safety and security will be safeguarded and critical infrastructure, and public and private property will be protected. The measures, which came at the request of Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell, are not in response to any specific threats, according to the sheriffs and governors offices. University officials announced that most classes would meet as normal Thursday. The school asked students to boycott Spencer, whose views university President W. Kent Fuchs has described as repugnant. 1 / 13 White nationalist Richard Spencer, who popularized the term alt-right, speaks at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Thursday. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 2 / 13 People react as white nationalist Richard Spencer speaks in Gainesville, Fla. Spencer was frequently met with protest chants. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 3 / 13 Protesters chant and hold signs at the site of a planned speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer on the University of Florida campus on Thursday. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) 4 / 13 Richard Spencer initially protested the boos and chants as suppression of his speech, but later began taking questions from audience members, who variously asked him why he hadnt left yet or how he could form a white ethno-state without performing violent ethnic cleansing. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 5 / 13 Police monitor the scene as protesters gather near the site of a speech by a white nationalist on Thursday. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) 6 / 13 A man stands on a Nazi flag and an Antifa flag near the site of a planned speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) 7 / 13 Protesters hold a rally ahead of white nationalist Richard Spencers speech at the University of Florida. (Jason Dearen / Associated Press) 8 / 13 Sam Hyde of Houston, who was wearing a Nazi SS pin on his shirt, talks to the media before the speech by a white nationalist. (Ricardo Ramirez-Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel) 9 / 13 A man protests a scheduled speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (Ricardo Ramirez-Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel) 10 / 13 Police monitor the site of a planned speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida on Thursday. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) 11 / 13 White nationalist Richard Spencer is joined onstage by controversial talk radio host Mike Enoch, left. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 12 / 13 Police on a nearby rooftop monitor the scene at the site of the speech on the University of Florida campus. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) 13 / 13 Police check the bags of journalists entering the site of the Richard Spencer event. (Brian Blanco / Getty Images) A group calling itself No Nazis at UF planned to stage a protest outside the event. About 3,000 people indicated on Facebook they planned to participate. Students also staged a sit-in at a student senate meeting earlier in the week. The neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer urged Spencer supporters who couldnt get tickets to carry out flash mobs throughout the city, including at a Jewish center, a black culture center and the Gainesville Sun newspaper, though as Spencer gave his speech, no such events appeared to have taken place. The point is to confuse the situation and to create public attention, to make it feel like the entire city is taken over by our guys, wrote site editor Andrew Anglin, who also urged followers to dress normally, leave signs or flags in their cars and not bring weapons. The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors hate groups, warned about attending the event. This type of activity is dangerous. We are working with local officials to ensure everyones safety, the group tweeted. We encourage people to avoid this event all together. Showing up will only play into their hands. Los Angeles Times staff writer Pearce reported from Los Angeles and special correspondent Neuhaus from Gainesville, Fla. The Orlando Sentinel contributed to this report. matt.pearce@latimes.com Matt Pearce is a national reporter for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @mattdpearce. ALSO In California, a battle brews over the future and soul of college Republicans Milo Yiannopoulos confronted by dozens of counter-protesters during brief appearance on UC Berkeley campus Can white supremacist groups be blocked from raising money online? Theres a campaign to try Sessions says free speech rights are under attack at schools. But he sides with Trump on NFL protests UPDATES: 1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with Richard Spencers response to questions from the crowd. 1 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Richard Spencer. 12 p.m.: This article was updated to report crowd reaction. 11 a.m.: This article was updated with information on protesters and additional reaction. This article was originally published at 10 a.m. In an extraordinary albeit veiled attack, former President George W. Bush delivered a scathing assessment Thursday of President Trump and his policies, suggesting he has promoted bigotry and falsehoods to the detriment of the country and its values. Speaking at a policy seminar in New York, the nations 43rd president never mentioned Trump by name. But his target was unmistakable. We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty, Bush said. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism. Forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. Advertisement Read George W. Bushs scathing rebuke of Trump presidency>> Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children, he said at another point. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them. The remarks were an exceptional breach of the protocol governing post-presidential behavior be seen and rarely heard and were especially striking coming from Bush. He has gone to great lengths ignoring repeated provocations from Trump, who savaged the former presidents younger brother Jeb in the 2016 campaign and often assailed Bushs administration. He has, as matter of principle, made it a point not to comment on ongoing matters of political interest. I actually heard him in person talk about this, said Russell Riley, co-chairman of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginias Miller Center. I think he wouldnt do this unless he felt obligated to do so. Some who know Bush suggest he reached a breaking point and felt it no longer tenable to ignore Trumps daily trampling of political and presidential norms. I think Trump has stretched the bounds of decency to a point where Bush is highly offended on the part of the nation, said Don Sipple, a political ad maker who helped elect Bush governor of Texas and has periodically been in touch with the former president. Bush is a traditionalist, and I think he thinks the presidency is being besmirched. Bush delivered the stinging rebuke of his fellow Republican as part of a larger survey of the political horizon at home and abroad. Speaking at a program hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, his policy think tank, he restated many of the principles that guided his presidency and were standard GOP orthodoxy until Trump upended the party. Bush celebrated the virtues of free trade and robust engagement around the world, saying they have contributed to stability and prosperity for the better part of a century. He acknowledged, however, a backlash as some have fallen victim to the destabilization and economic costs of globalization. I think Trump has stretched the bounds of decency to a point where Bush is highly offended on the part of the nation. Don Sipple, former political advisor to George W. Bush In recent decades, public confidence in our institutions has declined, Bush said. Our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs .... Discontent deepened and sharpened partisan conflicts. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. Hours before the speech, Trump suggested via Twitter that the FBI, Russian officials and the Democratic Party colluded to create a dossier of potentially incriminating information about him during the 2016 race. It was another unfounded theory promulgated by the president. At one point, Bush seemed to allude to the white supremacists who marched last summer in Charlottesville, Va., under the Nazi creed blood and soil. Trump was widely assailed for his equivocal response to the violence provoked by members of the Ku Klux Klan and their sympathizers. Our identity as a nation unlike many other nations is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. Being an American involves the embrace of high ideals and civic responsibility, Bush said. People of every race, religion, and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. It means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed. Bush also weighed in on Russian interference in the 2016 election, something Trump has steadfastly refused to acknowledge. Foreign aggressions including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence should not be downplayed or tolerated, the former president said. This is a clear case where the strength of our democracy begins at home. We must secure our electoral infrastructure and protect our electoral system from subversion. The indictment was unlike any in the modern history of the presidency, when those who have held the office abide by a mutual if informal agreement not to publicly criticize their successors. By failing to mention Trump by name, Bush maintained at least a patina of that precedent. Stuart K. Spencer, who has spent more than 50 years in Republican politics as chief strategist for President Reagan and informal counsel to others who held the office, said Bush was probably very upset, and maybe even irate over Trumps actions. Not, Spencer said, that his cutting remarks are likely to change the presidents pugnacious approach. Not for a second. Not for a millisecond, Spencer said. I think its pretty well established how he handles himself. Hes going to do what he wants to do. mark.barabak@latimes.com @markzbarabak ALSO Trump punts top priorities to Congress, setting stage for year-end showdown Trump meets with Yellen as decision on Fed chair nears Pentagon probing troubling questions after deadly Niger ambush Former President George W. Bush on Thursday delivered a scathing warning about Donald Trump, saying his America first philosophy portends a dangerous inward turn that is eroding democracy at home and threatening stability around the world. The health of the democratic spirit is at issue, the 43rd president said during a speech in New York. And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand. Below is the full transcript of his speech: Advertisement Thank you all. Thank you. OK, Padilla, gracias. So, I painted Ramon. I wish you were still standing here. Its a face only a mother could love no, its a fabulous face. (Laughter.) I love you Ramon, thank you very much for being here. And, Grace Jo thank you for your testimony. And, big Tim. I got to know Tim as a result of Presidential Leadership Scholars at the Bush Center along with the Clinton Foundation, with help from 41 and LBJs libraries. I am thrilled that friends of ours from Afghanistan, China, North Korea and Venezuela are here as well. These are people who have experienced the absence of freedom and they know what its like and they know there is a better alternative to tyranny. Laura and I are thrilled that the Bush Center supporters are here. Bernie [Tom Bernstein], I want to thank you and your committee. I call him Bernie. (Laughter.) Its amazing to have Secretary Albright share the stage with Condi and Ambassador Haley. For those of you that kind of take things for granted, thats a big deal. (Laughter and applause.) Thank you. We are gathered in the cause of liberty. This is a unique moment. The great democracies face new and serious threats yet seem to be losing confidence in their own calling and competence. Economic, political and national security challenges proliferate, and they are made worse by the tendency to turn inward. The health of the democratic spirit itself is at issue. And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand. Since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of free markets, from the strength of democratic alliances, and from the advance of free societies. At one level, this has been a raw calculation of interest. The 20th century featured some of the worst horrors of history because dictators committed them. Free nations are less likely to threaten and fight each other. And free trade helped make America into a global economic power. For more than 70 years, the presidents of both parties believed that American security and prosperity were directly tied to the success of freedom in the world. And they knew that the success depended, in large part, on U.S. leadership. This mission came naturally, because it expressed the DNA of American idealism. We know, deep down, that repression is not the wave of the future. We know that the desire for freedom is not confined to, or owned by, any culture; it is the inborn hope of our humanity. We know that free governments are the only way to ensure that the strong are just and the weak are valued. And we know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed. It is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy. This is not to underestimate the historical obstacles to the development of democratic institutions and a democratic culture. Such problems nearly destroyed our country and that should encourage a spirit of humility and a patience with others. Freedom is not merely a political menu option, or a foreign policy fad; it should be the defining commitment of our country, and the hope of the world. That appeal is proved not just by the content of peoples hopes, but a noteworthy hypocrisy: No democracy pretends to be a tyranny. Most tyrannies pretend they are democracies. Democracy remains the definition of political legitimacy. That has not changed, and that will not change. Yet for years, challenges have been gathering to the principles we hold dear. And, we must take them seriously. Some of these problems are external and obvious. Here in New York City, you know the threat of terrorism all too well. It is being fought even now on distant frontiers and in the hidden world of intelligence and surveillance. There is the frightening, evolving threat of nuclear proliferation and outlaw regimes. And there is an aggressive challenge by Russia and China to the norms and rules of the global order proposed revisions that always seem to involve less respect for the rights of free nations and less freedom for the individual. These matters would be difficult under any circumstances. They are further complicated by a trend in western countries away from global engagement and democratic confidence. Parts of Europe have developed an identity crisis. We have seen insolvency, economic stagnation, youth unemployment, anger about immigration, resurgent ethno-nationalism, and deep questions about the meaning and durability of the European Union. America is not immune from these trends. In recent decades, public confidence in our institutions has declined. Our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs. The American dream of upward mobility seems out of reach for some who feel left behind in a changing economy. Discontent deepened and sharpened partisan conflicts. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seem more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned, especially among the young, who never experienced the galvanizing moral clarity of the Cold War, or never focused on the ruin of entire nations by socialist central planning. Some have called this democratic deconsolidation. Really, it seems to be a combination of weariness, frayed tempers and forgetfulness. We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions forgetting the image of God we should see in each other. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. We have seen the return of isolationist sentiments forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places, where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge. In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have a great advantage: To renew our country, we only need to remember our values. This is part of the reason we meet here today. How do we begin to encourage a new, 21st century American consensus on behalf of democratic freedom and free markets? Thats the question I posed to scholars at the Bush Institute. That is what Pete Wehner and Tom Melia, who are with us today, have answered with The Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In the World, a Call to Action paper. The recommendations come in broad categories. Here they are: First, America must harden its own defenses. Our country must show resolve and resilience in the face of external attacks on our democracy. And that begins with confronting a new era of cyber threats. America is experiencing the sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our countrys divisions. According to our intelligence services, the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other. This effort is broad, systematic and stealthy, its conducted across a range of social media platforms. Ultimately, this assault wont succeed. But foreign aggressions including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence should not be downplayed or tolerated. This is a clear case where the strength of our democracy begins at home. We must secure our electoral infrastructure and protect our electoral system from subversion. The second category of recommendations concerns the projection of American leadership maintaining Americas role in sustaining and defending an international order rooted in freedom and free markets. Our security and prosperity are only found in wise, sustained, global engagement: In the cultivation of new markets for American goods. In the confrontation of security challenges before they fully materialize and arrive on our shores. In the fostering of global health and development as alternatives to suffering and resentment. In the attraction of talent, energy and enterprise from all over the world. In serving as a shining hope for refugees and a voice for dissidents, human rights defenders and the oppressed. We should not be blind to the economic and social dislocations caused by globalization. People are hurting. They are angry. And, they are frustrated. We must hear them and help them. But we cant wish globalization away, any more than we could wish away the agricultural revolution or the industrial revolution. One strength of free societies is their ability to adapt to economic and social disruptions. And that should be our goal: to prepare American workers for new opportunities, to care in practical, empowering ways for those who may feel left behind. The first step should be to enact policies that encourage robust economic growth by unlocking the potential of the private sector, and for unleashing the creativity and compassion of this country. A third focus of this document is strengthening democratic citizenship. And here we must put particular emphasis on the values and views of the young. Our identity as a nation unlike many other nations is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. Being an American involves the embrace of high ideals and civic responsibility. We become the heirs of Thomas Jefferson by accepting the ideal of human dignity found in the Declaration of Independence. We become the heirs of James Madison by understanding the genius and values of the U.S. Constitution. We become the heirs of Martin Luther King Jr. by recognizing one another not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. This means that people of every race, religion, and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. It means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed. (Applause.) And it means that the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation. We need a renewed emphasis on civic learning in schools. And our young people need positive role models. Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them. Finally, the Call to Action calls on the major institutions of our democracy, public and private, to consciously and urgently attend to the problem of declining trust. For example, our democracy needs a media that is transparent, accurate and fair. Our democracy needs religious institutions that demonstrate integrity and champion civil discourse. Our democracy needs institutions of higher learning that are examples of truth and free expression. In short, it is time for American institutions to step up and provide cultural and moral leadership for this nation. Ten years ago, I attended a Conference on Democracy and Security in Prague. The goal was to put human rights and human freedom at the center of our relationships with repressive governments. The Prague Charter, signed by champions of liberty Vaclav Havel, Natan Sharansky, Jose Maria Aznar, called for the isolation and ostracism of regimes that suppress peaceful opponents by threats or violence. Little did we know that, a decade later, a crisis of confidence would be developing within the core democracies, making the message of freedom more inhibited and wavering. Little did we know that repressive governments would be undertaking a major effort to encourage division in western societies and to undermine the legitimacy of elections. Repressive rivals, along with skeptics here at home, misunderstand something important. It is the great advantage of free societies that we creatively adapt to challenges, without the direction of some central authority. Self-correction is the secret strength of freedom. We are a nation with a history of resilience and a genius for renewal. Right now, one of our worst national problems is a deficit of confidence. But the cause of freedom justifies all our faith and effort. It still inspires men and women in the darkest corners of the world, and it will inspire a rising generation. The American spirit does not say, We shall manage, or We shall make the best of it. It says, We shall overcome. And that is exactly what we will do, with the help of God and one another. Thank you. (Applause.) ALSO: Sessions again refuses to answer questions about his talks with Trump before Comey firing How did Trumps response to four soldiers deaths go so wrong? Trump punts his top priorities to Congress, setting the stage for a year-end showdown Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Blackberry are leading technology companies with something notable in common: They are all run by Asian American CEOs. The visibility of Asian American leaders in tech companies has not gone unnoticed. Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon infamously complained that two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or Asia. Perception is far from reality, however. A new report by Ascend shows that Asian American CEOs are the exception, not the norm. Rather than being overrepresented in Silicon Valley, Asian American executives are severely underrepresented. They may be hired in large numbers by tech companies, but Asian Americans are the group least likely to be promoted into managerial and executive ranks. Whites are twice as likely as Asians to hold executive positions. And while white women have made gains over the past decade as more have broken through the glass ceiling, Asian women have not experienced the same. In fact, they are among those least likely to be promoted, and their gap with white men has worsened over the last decade. So, while Asian Americans can get through Silicon Valleys doors, they are unable to move up the ladders. What might account for this bamboo ceiling? One obvious explanation is racial discrimination, whether based on explicit or implicit bias about whofits in among corporate leaders. Employers often counter that their judgments about leadership potential are based on evidence, not stereotypes. Asian American employees, they suggest, tend to rank high in hard skills such as technical competence, but low in soft skills such as the ability to communicate and work well with others. This perceived deficit in soft skills may be particularly acute for first-generation Asian immigrants, who may have lower levels of English proficiency, speak with a foreign accent or lack deep familiarity with American cultural traditions. Advertisement Only 51% of Asian American employees indicated that they had led a meeting at work, compared with 68% of white employees. Recent data reveal something else at play: Asian Americans arent provided basic opportunities to demonstrate their soft skills and hone their leadership abilities, and this is true not only for first-generation immigrants but also for those Asians born in the United States. In the 2016 National Asian American Survey, we included several questions about leadership experiences at work and elsewhere. The survey was based on a nationally representative sample of Asian Americans, with comparable samples of whites, African Americans, Latinos and Pacific Islanders. Our survey showed that an identical proportion of Asian American and white employees said that they serve in a supervisorial capacity (40%), and Asian American women actually were slightly more likely than white women to serve in such a capacity (35% versus 32%). Significant differences emerged, however, when we asked employees whether they ever planned or chaired a meeting at work. Running a meeting at work is a relatively low bar for providing employees with leadership experience a prerequisite for an executive position but our data suggest that Asian Americans are significantly disadvantaged, even in this simple endeavor. Only 51% of Asian American employees indicated that they had led a meeting at work, compared with 68% of white employees. Results for African American and Latino employees were on par with Asian Americans, at 53% and 50%, respectively. The situation was worse among women, with Asian American women 25 percentage points less likely to chair a meeting when compared with white women. Racial gaps persisted even among those in supervisory roles, with Asian American supervisors 18 percentage points less likely to chair a meeting than white supervisors. What can be done to address these disparities? One obvious, simple and costless solution is for employers to make sure that everyone whos qualified gets an opportunity to lead a business meeting. (Asian American employees also can show greater initiative by explicitly requesting such opportunities.) Mentoring also makes a difference: Research shows that when white men in leadership positions mentor minority employees, the latter are more likely to advance. Of course, larger problems with implicit bias and explicit discrimination may await those who move on to higher-level leadership experiences, as the case of Ellen Pao recently revealed. And the remedies for those higher-level problems may range from diversity training and inclusion programs to the threat of lawsuits and public shaming. Still, employers can do more to help Asian Americans break through the bamboo ceiling. Karthick Ramakrishnan is associate dean of public policy at UC Riverside (@karthickr). Jennifer Lee is professor of sociology at Columbia University (@JLeeSoc). Together, they are writing a book on Asian American mobility and soft skills. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook When he was running for president, Donald Trump alarmed 1st Amendment enthusiasts when he threatened to open up our libel laws. It was a pretty hollow threat. For one thing, libel laws are enacted at the state level; the primary way the president can affect libel law is through his appointments to the Supreme Court, which ensures that libel lawsuits comport with the Constitution. Ironically, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trumps only appointee to the court, has a record as an appeals court judge of protecting the media in libel actions. But there is another area of the law in which Trump might pose a threat to 1st Amendment: free speech for students in public schools. Advertisement In 1969, in Tinker vs. Des Moines School District, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of students who were suspended for coming to school wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. In a line that has rung ominously in the ears of generations of school administrators, the court said that schoolchildren dont shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. Schools could suppress student speech, Justice Abe Fortas wrote, only when administrators had a reasonable expectation that the speech would cause substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities, or when the speech would violate the rights of other students. The Tinker decision remains unpopular not only with school administrators but also with some members of the court. Justice Clarence Thomas has noted approvingly that in the earliest public schools, teachers taught, and students listened. Teachers commanded, and students obeyed. Tinker, he complained, extended students rights beyond traditional bounds. But while Tinker has been applied inconsistently including by the Supreme Court it remains good law. Enter Donald Trump. And exit Lyn Orletsky. This week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Orletsky submitted her resignation as a high school math teacher to the Cherokee County school board in Georgia. The board had placed her on leave in September after she requested that two students wearing Make America Great Again T-shirts turn them inside out. In this video, Orletsky explains her reasoning: It wasnt about Trump, she says. Her classroom at River Ridge High School was 30% minority and all of these kids have the right to feel comfortable in my classroom. And, unfortunately, since Charlottesville, this slogan Make America Great Again has been appropriated by a number of hate groups, a number of neo-Nazi groups. The case of the MAGA shirts recalls a similar controversy in California that ended up in federal court. In 2010, some white students at Live Oak High School near San Jose came to school on Cinco de Mayo wearing shirts that incorporated the American flag. Worried that Latino students might see the shirts as a nativist provocation and recalling that a year earlier Latino students had reacted with threats when white students hung an American flag administrators told the students to either turn their shirts inside out or take them off. Two students who refused were told to go home. The students who wore the flag shirts sued the Morgan Hill Unified School District, claiming their 1st and 14th Amendment rights had been violated. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their claim, holding that the possibility of an altercation justified the decision to order them to remove or hide their shirts. That decision could be squared with Tinker. Its harder to argue that allowing students to wear Make America Great Again T-shirts posed the risk of substantial disruption. Did it violate the other standard set out in Tinker, of violating the rights of other students to be secure and to be let alone? Probably not. There is no right to feel comfortable. (Orletsky also says she wanted her students to be safe in her classroom, but she doesnt seem to be talking about physical safety.) Orletskys resignation suggests that this incident isnt likely to result in a court decision. But the Trump administration is young. And given the presidents penchant for polarizing rhetoric and dog whistles, other teachers are likely to share Orletskys apprehensions when they see a student wearing a MAGA hat or T-shirt, especially in a racially and religiously diverse classroom. If they and their principals order the students to remove those garments, and the kids and their parents go to court, even some liberal judges may come to perceive wisdom in Justice Thomas objections to student free speech. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Could you imagine what would have happened, say, three years ago if a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education had been charged with money laundering and accused of ethical violations? (Ref Rodriguez needs to explain himself or get off the board, editorial, Oct. 18) The outrage would have been monumental. And it would have expanded to the whole school board and the whole inefficient LAUSD. In those days, United Teachers Los Angeles was very influential and the pro-charter movement had not yet taken over the board. Fast forward to 2017, and board member Ref Rodriguez is being charged with serious crimes and ethical violations, but the Richard Riordans and Eli Broads of the world who supported Rodriguez do not seem to have the time to criticize the board that is controlled by their friends. Advertisement The Rodriguez scandal is about more than alleged crimes. It is also about a morally bankrupt movement determined to destroy public education and the consequences society faces if we do not regulate the sector appropriately. Charter schools must have the same responsibilities that we demand from traditional public schools. Otherwise, there will be only more scandals. Nestor M. Fantini, Northridge .. To the editor: After reading about allegations of money laundering and ethical violations against Rodriguez, the former school board president, my heart really goes out to his colleagues in their quest to do ethical school business when such a murky mist engulfs them at district headquarters. As a retired employee of the district, I have known some members personally, and they all had the best interests of children at heart. If a dark cloud continues to hang over the school board, then Rodriguez should gather the courage to resign his seat. Perhaps the salient words of comedian George Carlin are apropos for this gloom: Remember, behind every silver lining, is a dark cloud. Tom Kaminski, Manhattan Beach Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: It is appalling that officials in the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese took accommodation of child sexual abuse by a member of the clergy to an unimaginable low. They removed a priest repeatedly accused of child molestation from their diocese and then recommended him for hire in a public school. (The Catholic Church knew he was an abuser, but helped him get a job in public schools, Oct. 13) Thus this priest was able to become a public school teacher and continue assaulting minors. The churchs apology and $1.3-million payment to a victim doesnt mean justice has been done. Perhaps this sad case will prompt laws making church officials criminally liable for failure to report sexual assault allegations to police, as many states now require. The state of Washington, alas, permits penitent privilege to shield child abusers from law enforcement scrutiny. Deference to religion should end short of allowing childrens lives to be irreparably ravaged. Advertisement Edward Alston, Santa Maria .. To the editor: On the one hand, I empathize with churches that do their utmost to secure devout, law-abiding clergy, yet wind up with chronic sex offenders in their pulpits. On the other hand, I feel that any church whose administrators strive to cover up clergy sexual assaults should answer to the law (if not to their god). This agnostics prayer: Enact federal laws mandating a church to immediately notify police of any clergys suspected child molestation, with penalties that include revocation of the churchs tax exemption (which would preclude the churchs supporters from claiming tax deductions for donations). Churches whose administrators tolerate pedophiles in the pulpit should pay a steep price. Hitting them hard in the pocketbook may be whats needed to put the fear of God in them. Nancy A. Stone, Santa Monica Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Jerry Brown heads to Washington to talk about the threat of nuclear war Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, troubled by a lack of information two weeks after an ambush on a special operations patrol in Niger left four U.S. soldiers dead, is demanding a timeline of what is known about the attack, as a team of investigators sent to West Africa begins its work. The growing list of unanswered questions and inability to construct a precise account of the Oct. 4 incident have exacerbated a public relations nightmare for the White House, which is embroiled in controversy over President Trumps belated and seemingly clumsy response this week to console grieving military families. We need to find out what happened and why, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, whose son was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, told reporters at the White House on Thursday. Advertisement At the Pentagon, Mattis suggested to reporters that he would say little pending results of the investigation. We at the Department of Defense like to know what were talking about before we talk, he said. And so we dont have all the accurate information yet. We will release it as rapidly as we get it. The attack, apparently carried out by militants affiliated with Islamic State, was the deadliest since Trump took office, yet the U.S. militarys Africa Command still does not have a clear story board of facts that commanders usually gather swiftly after deadly incidents. That has senior Pentagon officials and lawmakers suggesting incompetence. The questions arising from the incident, particularly about the availability of additional military support to the patrol, echo those raised in the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four people: U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, foreign service information officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Thursday that getting to the bottom of what happened may require subpoenas. Thats why were called the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said. Its because we have oversight of our military. So we deserve to have all the information. Trumps national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, at an event hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, said the Pentagon will have authoritative, definitive answers to questions such as whether an intelligence failure contributed to the ambush and why the body of one soldier initially was left behind. But the investigation will take time, he said. There is a period of time where there is always ambiguity here in Washington to what is going on halfway down the world, McMaster said, adding that there are no military missions that are risk free. A team of investigators, led by a one-star general, is working to clear up the confusion of what occurred before, during and after the mission. For instance, Sgt. La David T. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Fla., was initially unaccounted for and his body wasnt found until after an intense two-day search, and then by Nigerien villagers. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wash.; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga. For months before the ambush, the U.S. military had requested more drones or other surveillance aircraft in Niger and additional military medical support, but those requests met resistance from the U.S. ambassador to the country, who was reluctant to increase the American presence in the country, according to a U.S. official briefed on the attack. The Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, otherwise known as an A-Team, increasingly had been operating in remote areas far from command support, the official said. Green Beret-led patrols had visited the area along the Mali-Niger border 29 times in the last six months. Islamic State and Al Qaeda operate there, exploiting divisions within local tribal forces in the region. U.S. military officials also are looking into the possibility that French forces were attacked in the same area in previous days, but that information may not have been relayed to the A-Team. More details about the deadly firefight are coming to light as the Army moves forward with its formal investigation. The military now considers the ambush to have been a well-planned and coordinated series of two successive attacks on the Special Forces A-Team attached to Nigerien forces. The A-Team had been able to fend off the first ambush but was attacked again while trying to retreat deeper into Niger, the official said. It was in the chaos of the second attack that the unit may have lost track of Johnson and initially members were unable to confirm he had been killed in the assault. French attack helicopters and jets responded during the second ambush, successfully killing and pushing away the gunmen, allowing the remaining members of the U.S. and Nigerien force to escape. Without the French air response, the military is concerned the entire unit could have been killed. Two American soldiers were wounded, and four Nigerien soldiers were also killed in the attack, and eight wounded. The unit was driving in light unarmored vehicles that are sometimes preferred by Special Forces units for maneuverability and speed. Given the sophistication of the attack, U.S. military officials believe Islamic State may have played a role in helping plan the attack. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command, documented to Congress in March his forces lack of needed resources on the continent. He said about 20% to 30% of requirements for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights were being met, and complained there werent enough military helicopters to help locate missing, wounded, or killed service members. For personnel recovery, Africa Command relies heavily on contract search and rescue assets due to lack of dedicated assets to support operations, Waldhauser said. Furthermore, African partners lack the capability and capacity to assist with personnel recovery missions. Twitter: @ByBrianBennett brian.bennett@latimes.com ALSO Analysis: How did Trumps response to four soldiers deaths go so wrong? Timeline: A deadly ambush in Niger, and quiet in Washington until now Trump continues spat with congresswoman over his call to soldiers widow: I did not say what she said Shelly Lanning, her husband and two children are staying with her mother in Ukiah, an hour from where her home burned down the morning of Oct. 9. Shes not sure where shes going to live next. Lanning, 46, ran a day-care center and her husband a catering company out of their home in Santa Rosas Coffey Park neighborhood. Fire destroyed the entire community, including the apartment building down the street from Lannings home, where her 23-year-old son lived. Lanning would like to find a new place that will fit her whole family, including their Labrador retriever mix Jax. But she cant. Weve been looking everywhere, Lanning said. If theres anything available, theyre gone in seconds. Advertisement Lanning is one of thousands of residents who have lost their homes in a region that has faced some of the worst effects of the states housing affordability crisis. A limited housing supply fueled by the San Francisco Bay Areas booming job growth and decades of slow construction has forced home values and rents to near record highs. Now, with Coffey Park and other neighborhoods devastated across the region estimates of damage to residential properties have topped $3 billion, and Santa Rosa lost 5% of its homes 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. The fires threatened many of Burbank Housings properties, which are generally reserved for families of four making less than $71,000 a year, or equivalent salaries for smaller or larger families. Residents from almost 1,000 Burbank Housing units faced evacuation orders during the worst of the blazes, and 14 of its houses in the Coffey Park neighborhood were destroyed. Even before the fire, 15,000 people were on wait lists for Burbank Housing homes. An aerial view of homes destroyed by wildfire in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The regions housing struggles affect more than its neediest residents. Sonoma Countys $599,000 median home price is almost triple the national average. Demand has far outstripped new construction in the region, with the number of homes for sale decreasing by at least 10% in the last year in many of the neighborhoods most affected by the fire, according to an analysis by real estate website Zillow. The median monthly rent in Sonoma County stands at $2,633, double the national average and almost 5% higher than the 2016 median. A year ago, the City Council in Santa Rosa, the regions largest city with 175,000 people, declared a state of emergency over rising housing costs. City leaders realized thousands of restaurant and hospitality workers could no longer afford to live in the community even though they earn more than their counterparts around the country, said Julie Combs, a Santa Rosa city councilwoman. A passenger rail service connecting cities in Marin and Sonoma counties that opened this summer has boosted hopes of traffic relief and more home building along the transit corridor. But the region has been having trouble attracting drivers to operate the trains because housing costs are too high, Combs said. In response, Santa Rosa has been weighing plans to reduce permitting times and allow developers to build more homes in exchange for reserving some of them for low-income residents. The City Council approved a plan to implement rent control in the city, but voters overturned that decision in a special election over the summer. The city has recently approved some projects taller than one story in historic neighborhoods over the objections of some community members. Santa Rosas leaders realized they needed to make room for more people, Combs said. Thats been our role in our county and in the North Bay region, she said. Its been to accept growth. But thousands of residents added to the housing market over the last week make the burden much heavier. The estimated 6,700 homes lost in fires across all of Northern California over the last two weeks is roughly half the Bay Areas annual housing production from recent years, according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Rebuilding efforts will come as the area faces a construction labor shortage and rising costs for home-building materials, a situation exacerbated by hurricane recovery efforts in Texas and Florida, said Robert Eyler, an economics professor at Sonoma State. And while Santa Rosa officials have worked recently at their housing problems, North Bay residents have had a traditional reluctance to approve new homes the city and other communities in Napa and Sonoma counties have fallen short of meeting the states growth targets. Beyond that, Eyler said, the region will probably face tension over how much new home building it should accept, including whether it should rebuild at all in areas at risk of wildfire devastation. A sculpture of a child rests in the fire ravaged neighborhood of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) The policy reaction could be that we need to make sure something like this never happens again, Eyler said. For now, Combs said the city is considering rolling back restrictions against people sleeping in their cars and making it easier for churches and other organizations to establish havens for homeless residents in their parking lots. She also wants to change city codes to allow people to live in temporary structures on their property while homes are being rebuilt. In the longer term, she said, Santa Rosa is looking into allowing developers to rebuild entire neighborhoods, instead of building homes one by one, to lower costs and increase efficiency. When that happens, Combs would like to help homeowners add additional standalone second homes, known as granny flats, on their properties to ease overall housing concerns. Were going to have to figure out how to facilitate rebuilding and rebuilding more units than we lost, Combs said. Before any large-scale construction happens, the region faces a lengthy cleanup effort, said state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who represents the area. Federal and state environmental officials have to clear toxic ash and debris from residential properties and remove up to six inches of soil before its safe for people to live on those properties again. McGuire said such efforts would be the largest in Californias history. After that, he said the state would need to boost spending on housing. This year, lawmakers approved a package of legislation that would raise $250 million annually for low-income construction subsidies with an additional $4 billion in subsidies possible if voters support a bond measure on the November 2018 ballot. But those dollars will barely dent the states widespread affordability problems. McGuire praised Gov. Jerry Browns and state disaster officials response to the fires and hoped for the same once it came time to rebuild. Gov. Brown has opened up the checkbook and written a blank check to make sure we have the necessary resources to tame this beast, McGuire said. And were going to take the same approach to rebuilding our communities. In the meantime, the regions housing shortage has led to soaring rents some to levels that may be illegal. Widespread reports have detailed complaints from displaced residents about landlords raising their prices far beyond the 10% allowed under the law after an emergency. Soon after the fires broke out, Lanning saw a home advertised at $2,400 a month, but two days later the price had risen to $3,000 about double her monthly mortgage payment. Now, based on the real estate listings shes scanning from Napa, Sonoma and as far away as Ukiah and Marin County, Lanning expects to pay around that amount while her family waits to rebuild. At this point, Lanning said, we would take just about anything. liam.dillon@latimes.com @dillonliam ALSO Despite clear risks, Santa Rosa neighborhood that burned down was exempt from state fire regulations Gov. Brown just signed 15 housing bills. Heres how theyre supposed to help the affordability crisis Updates on California politics Barack Obama returned to the campaign stage on Thursday to denounce the politics practiced by his successor, President Trump, as unbefitting a nation yearning for unity rather than division. Speaking in New Jersey and Virginia on behalf of Democratic candidates for governor in next months off-year elections, Obama never mentioned Trumps name in his first political activities since leaving office. But his indictment of his replacement and his defense of his own eight years in office was by turns angry and somber, and clearly targeted at the White House. Advertisement In Richmond, Va., the former seat of the Confederacy, Obama recalled the violent protest between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville earlier this year as demonstrating, ultimately, that American values stood firm. He did not utter a word about Trumps assertion that fine people populated both sides, but the contrast hung in the air. The question of the fate of Civil War monuments helped spark the Charlottesville protest and has become a campaign issue in Virginia. The Democratic candidate, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, has moved further to the left than many of the states voters in seeking to have the monuments taken down and placed in museums. Trump has criticized that idea, saying that removing the monuments would erase part of American history. Obama, the nations first non-white president, said as he defended Northam that in dealing with history, we should do it in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds, not in a way that divides. After Charlottesville, he said, Americans rejected fear, rejected hate, and so we rise. We dont rise up by repeating the past. We rise up by learning from the past. In a passage that lightened the mood, he noted that while his father was from Kenya as some of you know his mother was distantly related to the president of the Confederate states, Jefferson Davis. Think about that, Obama said, laughing. I bet hes spinning in his grave. The point is thats America, and we claim all our history, the good and the bad, he continued, more soberly. We can recognize that even if our past is not perfect, we can honor the ideals that have allowed us to come this far. Thats who we are. Why are we deliberately trying to misunderstand each other and be cruel to each other and put each other down? Thats not who we are. Obamas remarks came on the same day that his predecessor, George W. Bush, offered a similarly forceful denunciation of Trumps brand of politics. Like Obama, Bush did not mention Trumps name. But the speeches nonetheless were a remarkable two-punch repudiation of the sitting president. While Obama seemed to have Trump in mind much of the time Thursday, he also heatedly criticized the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, Ed Gillespie. Gillespies main campaign ad recently included pictures of heavily tattooed Latinos and mentions of the dangerous MS-13 gang to impugn Northam as insufficiently tough on immigration and crime. What hes really trying to deliver is fear, Obama said of Gillespie. What he really believes is if you scare enough folks, you might get enough votes to win election. Its as cynical as it gets. As with that blast at Gillespie, much of Obamas remarks in both cities hit on the need for civility in debate and unity among Americans. It was an evocation of what Obama wanted his presidency to be, even though opposition to him ushered in some of the contentiousness that persists to this day. Instead of our politics reflecting our values, weve got politics infecting our communities, he said in Richmond. Instead of looking for ways to work together weve got folks who are deliberately trying to make folks angry, to demonize. And so the question now, at a time when our politics seem so divisive and so angry and so nasty, is whether we can recapture that spirit where we support or embrace somebody who wants to bring people together. His answer: Yes, we can. That echo of one of his most famous campaign lines was intentional, as were his repeated mentions of the Affordable Care Act, now under persistent fire from Trump, who favors its repeal. That effort has been confounded by splits among Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Trumps inability to generate the kinds of early victories that marked Obamas first years may have been one of the factors Obama was alluding to in a biting remark that drew laughter from more than 6,000 supporters in the Richmond Convention Center. Youll notice I havent been commenting much on politics lately, he said. Heres what I know: If you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you wont be able to govern. In both speeches Thursday, Obama asserted that Democratic victories would send a signal both here and internationally that the United States was intent on correcting course after the Republican victory last November. Not only will you move New Jersey forward, but you can send a message to the country and send a message to the world that we are rejecting the politics of division, we are rejecting the politics of fear, and we are embracing a politics that says everybody counts, a politics that says everybody deserves a chance, he said in Newark. The former presidents first venture onto the campaign trail came on behalf of two early supporters of his presidential efforts. In New Jersey, Phil Murphy, Obamas first ambassador to Germany, has easily led in polls leading up to election day. In Virginia, Northam has held onto a narrow but not comfortable lead over Gillespie. In both cases, the candidates are hoping Obama will energize his loyalists, particularly young and minority voters, to show up in midterm elections that they often spurn. In Newark, Obama implored them to turn out with an arch reference to the 2016 election. You cant take this election or any election for granted. I dont know if you all noticed that, he said dryly. Whatever the eventual results, it was clear Thursday night that for a big segment of Democrats, Obama remains the biggest draw there is. In Richmond, the crowd was rapturous, obliterating his remarks at many points as his words dissolved under the sound of the crowd. As he entered the rally in Newark, the crowd opened with a chant: Four more years! Four more years! He replied with a laugh. I will refer you both to the Constitution as well as to Michelle Obama to explain why that will not happen, he said. For more on politics from Cathleen Decker cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO: The latest from Washington Updates on California politics UPDATES: 6:35 p.m.: The story was updated with details from Obamas appearance in Virginia. The story was first published at 4:20 p.m. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, a retired Marine general who lost his son in combat, gave an emotional defense Thursday of President Trumps calls to the families of soldiers killed this month in Niger, and assailed a Democratic congresswoman who was among the presidents chief critics. Kelly said he was stunned and brokenhearted to see a member of Congress, Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, on television describing Trumps conversation with the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, one of four U.S. soldiers who died in an Oct. 4 ambush in the West African country. Wilson, a longtime friend of and mentor to Johnson and his family, was with his wife, Myeshia Johnson, in a car when the widow took Trumps phone call, and heard him on a speakerphone. Wilson later described Trumps message as insensitive for suggesting the sergeant knew what he was getting into when he joined the Army. Advertisement Kelly, by his unexpected and extraordinary appearance in the White House briefing room, sought to use his uncommon gravitas on the subject of military culture and sacrifice to blunt a controversy that his boss had ignited in past days by a series of false, derogatory and seemingly insensitive remarks. As both a former general who had sent men and women to battle and a Gold Star father, Kelly spoke with an authority that no typical presidential aide, or the president himself, could have. The press corps sat silent for much of it. Kelly said that at the presidents request, he had advised Trump what to say to parents or spouses of the four soldiers killed in Niger words that Trump has now been criticized for. The congresswoman and Johnsons maternal guardian have said they upset Johnsons widow. Kelly said he recounted to Trump what his best friend -- Joseph F. Dunford Jr., now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told him after his son, Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010: that the young man was doing exactly what he wanted to do, that he knew what he was getting into by joining the military in wartime and that he was surrounded when he died by the best men on Earth. Thats what the president tried to say to four families the other day, Kelly said. While Kellys description of Trumps call provided the president with some political cover, it also confirmed Wilsons account of what the president said and contradicted Trump, who repeatedly has accused Wilson of spreading a totally fabricated story. With some emotion and anger, Kelly said that he was stunned and brokenhearted on Wednesday, after arriving at his office, at what I saw a member of Congress doing, a member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife. Trump had, Kelly said, in his way tried to express that Johnson was a brave man, a fallen hero. So incensed was Kelly, he said, by Wilsons television appearances that he spent an hour and a half walking through Arlington National Cemetery among the graves of fallen soldiers some of whom I put in there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed. The flap began on Monday, when Trump was asked why he had yet to speak about the nearly 2-week-old attack on the four soldiers, which is the most deadly to date in his presidency. He did not respond directly but instead asserted that prior presidents had failed to call family members of soldiers who died in combat, eliciting outraged fact-checking from former presidential aides. Later, Trump challenged reporters to question whether President Obama had called Kelly. The chief of staff confirmed Thursday that he had told Trump that he did not receive a call from Obama when his son died, but Kelly quickly added that said he was not criticizing the former president. Then Kelly went on, with a more general gripe. You know, when I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country, he said, listing women, religion and the dignity of life among them and Gold Star families. Kellys effort at damage control had mixed results. On social media and elsewhere, many noted that the chief of staff was silent on Trumps own role in violating sacred cows, including by his behavior toward women, his attacks on the Gold Star parents who criticized him at the Democratic National Convention last year, and his maligning of his predecessors for how they responded to military deaths. John Kellys trying to keep his job. He will say anything, Wilson told Politico. There were other people who heard what I heard. Kelly said his initial piece of advice to Trump was to not call the families. There is nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families, Kelly recalled telling Trump, adding that the most important phone calls come from a dead soldiers buddies in the field. Perhaps the most poignant moments came as Kelly calmly described the militarys process for handing a battlefield death. He told how comrades wrap bodies in whatever passes as a shroud and pack them in ice, how bodies are flown ultimately to Dover Air Force Base for embalming and meticulously dressed in uniform with the medals that theyve earned. Then a casualty officer arrives at families homes early in the morning, waiting for the first lights to come on. Then, Kelly said, the casualty officer proceeds to break the heart of a family member and stays with that family until well, for a long, long time. Twitter: @ByBrianBennett brian.bennett@latimes.com At first blush, the gala suggested a particularly awkward celebration. According to the official White House schedule for Thursday, President Trump would be attending a gala dinner honoring his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, and the foremost international refugee office, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the Kuwaiti Embassy that evening. Trump has outraged the refugee community, initially proposing to ban all refugees from entering the United States and ultimately announcing plans last month to slash the number of refugees allowed in the country by more than half while at times describing those fleeing their countries as posing a danger to national security. Advertisement Responding to questions about the event, a U.N. official, who requested anonymity given the sensitive diplomatic issues involved, quickly made clear that the dinner is not in fact being sponsored by the U.N.s refugee agency. It is instead being put on by the Kuwait America Foundation, with proceeds going to the U.N. agency. The White House schedule called it a gala dinner for UNHCR honoring First Lady Melania Trump, without mentioning the Kuwait America Foundation. Were trying to fix that, the U.N. official said. The official could not say which U.N. officials may be in attendance. The Kuwait America Foundation did not immediately return phone and email messages. The Trump administration told Congress that it will limit refugee admissions to about 45,000 for the current fiscal year, which began this month. The Obama administration had set the cap at 110,000 last year, though Trump was able to limit the actual number of refugees admitted to 52,000. The cap has not been so low since the 1980s, according to senior officials. Despite the crackdown, the United States remains an important player on refugee issues, as the biggest donor to the U.N. and the UNHCR. Even with reduced admittances, the United States admits more refugees and migrants than any country except Germany. Melania Trump, a Slovenian immigrant who became an American citizen in 2006, has not been known as an advocate for refugees. But some advocates hope she will nonetheless influence her husband. Mark Hetfield, president of a refugee advocacy group called HIAS, said any honor bestowed on Melania Trump for work on refugee issues would be more about potential than actual contributions to the cause. Noting that she has said she wants to be an advocate against bullying, Hetfield said he hopes the first lady will influence her husband to stop scapegoating, bullying, and maybe even to protect and welcome particularly vulnerable people. No one is more vulnerable or more bullied than refugees, he added. Melania Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie A. Grisham, said in a statement that the first lady is being honored for her dedication to causes affecting women and children in the U.S. and abroad. As an American woman with an international background, she is an inspiration to women and girls worldwide. Asked if Melania Trump would try to persuade the president to accept more refugees, Grisham did not answer directly, saying instead, Her focus is to have a positive impact on the lives of children and effect change within our next generation. noah.bierman@latimes.com Twitter: @noahbierman House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has served for three decades on Capitol Hill, said she had not seen or experienced the kind of behavior that sparked the vast #MeToo campaign for victims of sexual harassment and assault. The San Francisco Democrat made the comments during a wide-ranging interview at a Los Angeles Times and Berggruen Institute event in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday. More than 140 women in Californias Capitol including legislators, Capitol staff, political consultants, lobbyists and the congresswomans own daughter Christine Pelosi signed a letter on Tuesday calling out a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and mistreatment there. Advertisement I dont have that experience in Washington, D.C. I just dont, Pelosi said when asked if the nations Capitol had the same problem. I have not seen that. She said that there should be zero tolerance when it comes to disrespect for women and thanked those who have shared their stories. Your courage gives comfort to other women, she said. The discussion also touched on Pelosis future in the partys leadership, the division within the Democratic Party and the Democratic showdown between state Senate leader Kevin de Leon and veteran U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Pelosi, who beat back a challenge by Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan to win another term as minority leader last December, is looking to lead her party out of the wilderness in the 2018 midterm elections. Meanwhile, the partys more liberal base is growing increasingly bold and testing its strength. Progressive activism fueled a nearly successful effort by progressive Kimberly Ellis to lead the state party, as well as the acrimonious push for a single-payer healthcare bill in Sacramento this year. On Wednesday, Pelosi pushed back on the idea that the party is not united. It has its diversity, and that is what its beauty is, but these are not big differences within the party, she said. Pelosi tried to stay out of the emerging fight between De Leon and Feinstein, but did tell the crowd she thinks Feinsteins seniority in Washington is a valuable asset. People running against each other for office, that is a democracy, she said. I do think that it is important to note how powerful Dianne Feinstein is in Washington, D.C., and how important that is to the state of California. Another case can be made as to whether that is valuable or not, and that is what the discussion is about. Pelosi says shes very confident her party will win back a majority of the seats in Congress during the midterm elections, citing the new wave of activism in the party created by President Trumps election. Democrats have ambitious plans to take back the House that depend in large part on defeating Republicans in California districts that former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won last year. The Democratic Partys strategy has involved tarring the Republican House members who voted to repeal President Obamas signature healthcare legislation. With the Senate potentially moving toward a bipartisan deal to fix parts of the law, Pelosi said shes not worried the deal could blunt the partys campaign against vulnerable Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista. We dont have to hold the healthcare of the American people hostage to point out why [Darrell Issa] shouldnt be in Congress, Pelosi said. Watch the full conversation Pelosi, who previously said she had considered retiring if Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election, seems to be reinvigorated by her role as a foil to Trump. But she is navigating a changing political landscape at home, too. Last month, more than four dozen immigration activists upset with Democrats for negotiating with Trump drowned out Pelosi at a San Francisco news conference, shouting, We are not your bargaining chip. Whittier Rep. Linda Sanchez, a new addition to House Democrats leadership team, recently said Pelosi and other longtime leaders need to make way for a new generation. Pelosi said Wednesday that new leaders are emerging in Californias Democratic delegation, name-dropping East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell and Los Angeles Rep. Adam Schiff. Asked about Sanchezs comments, she said while she does not have 100% of the people in her caucus in her fan club she does have an overwhelming majority of support among Democrats. I dont want to be dismissive of this, but Im not worried about it, she said. The Times also asked for Pelosis insight for women starting out in politics. She said she has run into plenty of naysayers over the years, but 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 the Summit event. 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. 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. Pelosi also made headlines Friday in an appearance on ABCs The View, saying she needs to keep her leadership position so there is a top woman at the table when decisions are made. She noted she was interrupted by Cabinet officials during her consequential White House dinner with Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). I was the only woman at the table, and thats why I have to stay there, to be one of the top women, top people, at the table, she said. Watch the full conversation at latimes.com/PelosiEvent. javier.panzar@latimes.com | Twitter: @jpanzar colleen.shalby@latimes.com | Twitter: @cshalby ALSO: Pelosi, in Los Angeles visit, calls on Congress to pass Dream Act Its time for Nancy Pelosi and other longtime Democratic leaders to leave, California Rep. Linda Sanchez says Updates on California politics 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. Read More Police are on the lookout for a man suspected of burglarizing a Burbank home and possibly casing two others in the same neighborhood early Monday. A family living in the 1200 block of North Parish Place reported a burglar had broken into their home sometime around 1:55 a.m. Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman for the Burbank Police Department, said a 61-year-old woman had confronted an unknown person inside her home. He said the person, who is believed to be a man, subsequently fled after the confrontation. Officers found that items in and around the house were disturbed and a window screen had been removed, according to Green. A 33-year-old woman also living at the home reported her purse was stolen as a result of the break-in. Green said the woman eventually found her purse later that day in the frontyard, but she did not know how it got there, and was sure it wasnt in the yard at the time of the break-in. Residents of two other homes nearby also reported disturbances. One resident found home window screens removed while another found a gate and exterior door opened without the residents knowledge. Green said it appeared the burglar may have been casing the neighborhood. The burglary remains under investigation. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc The man who organized an August demonstration that drew more than 2,500 people to Lagunas Main Beach, including thousands in opposition, plans to return to the same location Sunday, albeit with a different focus. Johnny Benitez, founder of the group Onward America, said Tuesday that he wants greater transparency from the U.S. government about attacks on Extortion 17 and American government facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Unanswered questions surrounding both events remain, he said. Advertisement The Taliban shot down Extortion 17, a U.S. Army helicopter, killing all 38 occupants in 2011, according to Air & Space Magazine, a news division of the Smithsonian Institution. Those killed ranked among the worlds most highly trained and experienced commandos, including 15 men from Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team 6, the magazine reported. Benghazi refers to a 2012 coordinated attack against two U.S. government facilities in the Libyan city by members of an Islamic militant group, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. I feel that these and other events are demonstrative of a political system that lacks transparency, and ultimately victimizes soldiers and citizens, Benitez said, who has said he is from Orange County, but declined to say which city. Dave Oakley, a Laguna Beach resident and treasurer of the Democratic Socialists of America Orange County, said the group would not organize a protest Sunday as it had in August. . [Benghazi] is not an issue that puts peoples lives in immediate danger nor threatens to tear families apart, Oakley said. Laguna Police Chief Laura Farinella did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the departments preparations for Sundays event. Police arrested four people, including one man who allegedly carried a knife, in connection with Augusts demonstration. Officers also found pepper spray, sticks, poles, chains and metal pipes, according to a city staff report. The City Council on Sept. 12 passed an ordinance that prohibits participants or others attending public demonstrations, rallies or protests at city beaches and parks from carrying items police consider weapons or capable of being used as weapons. The demonstration will begin at 7 p.m. at Main Beach, near the intersection of Broadway Street and South Coast Highway. bryce.alderton@latimes.com Twitter: @AldertonBryce Despite repeated calls from residents to reject the latest version of proposed changes to Laguna Beachs historic preservation ordinance, the Planning Commission on Wednesday decided it was time for the City Council to review the matter. In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Sue Kempf dissenting, commissioners recommended proposed ordinance changes such as eliminating the citys E, K and C rating system and setting a minimum age requirement for a structure 70 years that the city would consider in reviewing an application to demolish or alter a property not listed on its historic register. The sixth meeting on the topic since March included more of the same arguments from residents that they do not want their houses to be included on any city list of historic structures and that they should be able to do what they want on their property. Advertisement This property is anything but historical, Laguna resident Dean Harbold said of the house he bought in 1970. It has never been lived in by Bette Davis or any other Hollywood people. The previous owner was a pipe fitter who worked on ships in Long Beach. Who is to say what is historic? To one person, it looks like an eyesore. The other one calls it historical. Some attendees shouted or clapped following speakers comments, forcing Commission Chairwoman Susan Whitin to gain control early in the meeting. We need everyone to calm down here, Whitin said. In a public meeting there is certain behavior required. At our meetings there is no clapping. Listen respectfully. The proposed ordinance would do away with a 1981 inventory that included 852 pre-1940s homes, some of which embodied the distinctive characteristics of a time period, region, construction method, or represent work of an important creative individual, otherwise known as E- and K-rated properties. Under the draft ordinance, these properties would be assigned a state Historical Resource Status Code of 1 through 5 and be considered a historic resource under the California Environmental Quality Act. C-rated structures contribute to overall character and history of a neighborhood, but may not be architecturally significant, according to city documents Under the proposed ordinance, these structures would be labeled 6L, which is not considered a historic resource under the California Environmental Quality Act, but still be given special consideration in Lagunas planning review process. I have a lot of issues with the ordinance, Kempf said. I personally believe people should have voluntary inclusion in the historic preservation process. When you have voluntary historic preservation, when you have incentives, you get good results. The proposed ordinance includes incentives for homeowners such as waived building and permit fees and parking credits. Just because a property may not fall under the aforementioned state status codes does not mean it would escape the lens of historical review in Laguna. Laguna Beach, unlike some other Southern California cities, has a Design Review Board that vets proposed development projects using criteria such as historic preservation during public hearings. Under Lagunas current code, special preservation consideration should be given to any structures more than 45 years old. When a homeowner wants to remodel or demolish a structure in Laguna Beach, a public hearing is required, attorney Kathy Jenson, representing the city, said during the meeting. One of the issues the city is required to assess [under state law] is whether it is affecting historic resources, Jenson said. Residents questioned why the community development director should be the person deciding if a structure might be a historic resource when a homeowner applies for a permit to demolish or alter a structure at least 70 years old. Under the proposed ordinance, if the director determines that the property could be a historic resource, then Lagunas Heritage Committee would weigh in on a suggested rating. The 70 years is just a screening tool, Community Development Director Greg Pfost told the commission. It does not mean all homes 70 years old are historic. We could have said zero so every property has to be evaluated, Commissioner Ken Sadler said. I thought having 70 years [or older] would be less burdensome. As part of their recommendation, the commission wants to cap the number of parking spaces a commercial property owner would not need to provide in exchange for preserving or enhancing a buildings historic character. bryce.alderton@latimes.com Twitter: @AldertonBryce At a bustling farmers market at Santa Ana High School on a recent Thursday, families packed shopping carts, cardboard crates and strollers full of fresh produce. The days bounty onions, potatoes, chili peppers, apples, pears, watermelon, plums and carrots, plus containers of oatmeal and boxed cereal was all completely free. The monthly open-air market is part of Second Harvest Food Banks mobile school pantry program, which offers free fruits and vegetables at 30 schools across the county. My resources are very limited, so the ability to get so much free food is a blessing, said Josefina Xochitla-Garcia, a single mother of five whose 15-year-old son attends Santa Ana High School. Now I go to the store knowing that I already have this stuff, so I can get other things. And I feel like a lot of people in the community are in the same boat. About 91% of Santa Ana Unified School District students qualify for free or reduced-priced meals, meaning their families are living at or below 185% of the poverty line. Guillermo Mendoza, 5, gets a bag of onions during a farmers market from Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County at Santa Ana High School. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer ) While Second Harvest has been distributing food to needy families in Orange County for more than 30 years, offering fresh produce at schools is a relatively new strategy. The idea is that by bringing healthy food out into the community instead of keeping it all in a centralized food bank families will have an easier time accessing goods they need. Now in its third month, Santa Ana High Schools October farmers market served 278 families, who each received about 30 pounds of food. Second Harvest is aiming to bring the program to six new schools each year, so that theyll reach 48 by 2021. Were bringing it to a space where the parents are already coming, said Ellie Nedry, community programs manager for Second Harvest Food Bank Orange County. Theyre coming to drop their kids off from school or pick them up. Its also a safe space its already a place that they trust and feel comfortable coming to. Its familiar to them. Families collect food at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange Countys farmers market at Santa Ana High School. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer ) Jeff Bishop, principal of Santa Ana High School, said that this familiarity is particularly important to his students families, many of whom are undocumented immigrants. Whereas in other communities, they have welfare, that support system, that safety net, these folks dont have safety nets so that safety net becomes the school, Bishop said. Of course, in the world right now, they dont even want to open their doors, so were going to open up. When you come here, youre going to have a fortress, someone you can trust. We want parents to know that we love them and want them here, Bishop said. The market is open to anyone, not just the parents of students, said Nedry, and Second Harvest doesnt ask for income verification or about citizenship status. Wendy Sarinana, a parent volunteer who helps run the market, agreed. People feel secure in a high school, she said. With everything thats going on, they dont want to just show up somewhere. Youve seen what happens sometimes, so in a school setting they feel that theyre not in any sort of danger. Its a safe environment. Assistant principal Gannon Burks, right, helps distribute food during a monthly farmers market at Santa Ana High School. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer ) And as for students, they feel like they are contributing something to the household, said Sarinana, who has a 15-year-old at Santa Ana High School. A lot of the kids feel that way, like its my way of helping my family, Sarinana said. The kids are calling their families saying, Come, because they know the struggle. To find a Second Harvest food distribution site, visit www.feedoc.org/get-help or call the food assistance helpline in English or Spanish at 855-2-FeedOC (855-233-3362). CAITLIN YOSHIKO KANDIL is a contributor to Times Community News. A teacher at Edison High School in Huntington Beach is one of five educators selected as 2018 California Teachers of the Year. The California Department of Education said Gregory Gardiner, who teaches environmental science and biology, will be honored by state schools Supt. Tom Torlakson at a gala in Sacramento on Feb. 12. Gardiner said in an interview that Torlakson called him last week during class to give him the news. I was totally surprised. Im excited to be one of five teachers representing California and my district, Gardiner said. Gardiner already was honored in May as one of six 2018 Orange County Teachers of the Year. He began his teaching career in 1999 at Torrance High School as a science instructor. He arrived at the Huntington Beach Union High School District in 2001 as an administrator before returning to the classroom at Edison High. Gardiner said he uses a hands-on, minds-on approach when teaching his students. He partners with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for its Trout in the Classroom program, in which students learn about fish habitats while watching eggs hatch. He also created a science elective class for students with special needs in which he grows plants in and outside the classroom so students can see the difference between them. I just love to teach science and connect it with kids and their world, Gardiner said. Jennifer Graves, principal of Edison High, said Gardiner is one of the reasons the campus has its Innovation Lab, a space for hands-on lessons in science, technology, engineering and math, known as the STEM fields. The greatest thing is his passion, Graves said. He loves to teach and he wants students to get fired up and learn. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella Fannie Briggs Carr, who made a fortune in the early 1900s with a line of cosmetics, had a passion for animals. Not only did Carr love and care for the animals that lived on her Glendale ranch, she spoke out about the suffering of animals she saw during her 1910 trip to Cuba. Joemy Wilson, who researched Carr for a 2016 Doctors House Museum exhibit, shared a Los Angeles Times story from April 24, 1910, relating Carrs experiences while she and her husband were traveling in that island country. In Havana, Carr visited a woman named Jeannette Ryder, who was working to bring about better treatment for animals. Ryder related her story of how she had once single-handedly stopped an illegal bullfight and had the principals arrested. She had heard about the proposed bullfight, which was to take place in a little city not far from Havana. Ryder journeyed there on the appointed day and was in time to witness eight poor, broken-down horses gored by the infuriated bulls, Carr told The Times reporter. Ryder called upon the police to stop the fight, but only one came to her assistance. With him, she stepped out into the arena and arrested the matadors, Carr said. Ryder brought several of the culprits before a local judge who assured her that he was for strict enforcement of the law and then fined each one the laughable sum of $5 each, according to Carr. Carr went on to relate her own experience while riding in a horse-drawn cab, practically the only means of conveyance in the capital. She quickly realized that the horse was underfed. With the interest I have taken in the Los Angeles Humane Society, it is not hard to understand why I asked the driver about the horse, Carr said. The cab driver told her he didnt make enough money to keep the horse well fed. When Carr and her husband arrived at their destination, her husband handed the driver a good bonus to buy feed for the horse, but, as the driver drove away, he turned and laughingly assured us that the money would never go in that direction, Carr said. Cockfighting, which had been illegal until shortly before Carrs 1910 visit, was everywhere, she continued. Every grocery store has its birds ready to fight, she said. Carr and her husband lived on her 19-acre ranch, called Viznaga, then on the outskirts of Glendale (on the border with Eagle Rock). She had several dogs and cherished them all. One, an English spaniel named Nellie, was embalmed and hermetically sealed beneath the stone terrace of the house, according to an Oct.14, 1912, L.A. Times article, which went on to detail her divorce party. Carr had filed for divorce shortly after the Cuba trip. Many court appearances ensued before an interlocutory decree was issued and her husband moved out. A Times photographer and reporter were on hand to record the 1912 luncheon, celebrating her newly single state. A photo accompanying the article showed Carr, surrounded by 100 guests, sitting at the head of a long table with one of her dogs at her side. Her divorce became final in 1914. Carr remained on the ranch until her death in 1937 at age 76. Readers Write: The Sept. 23 Verdugo Views column about the beginnings of the Glendale Historical Society and the effort to save the Doctors House brought several emails. George McCullough wrote that he was involved on several different levels in the Doctors House project. Its success rested on the funds to actually physically move/relocate the house. If my memory serves me right, the Glendale Building Assn., in general, and Jim Pollard and Frank Howard Co.s, in particular, totally underwrote the move from Belmont and the new foundation construction at Brand Park. I was a parks and recreation commissioner at the time, and I vaguely recall the city popped for some dollars, McCullough wrote. Keep up the great work and articles; us old-timers appreciate it, he added. Alicia Hales Greenwald provided the name of the artist who created the original artwork for the Doctors House signs and logo. He is Michael Haasis, who lives in Burbank. He [received] the commission through my mother, Audrey Hales, she wrote. That information was not available when the column went to press, so thank you, Alicia. Jo Anne Sadler, past president of the Crescenta Valley Historical Society, wrote, Enjoyed your article about TGHS and how it picked its inappropriate name. I have always said they are not a historical society, but a home preservation society. KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number. La Canada residents interested in potentially staving off home break-ins by installing a video-doorbell answering system may now do so more affordably, after the City Council on Tuesday approved a joint rebate program with Ring.com. The city will offer a $50-per-household subsidy, to be matched by the Santa Monica-based company for a total $100 rebate for La Canada customers who purchase a unit through the companys website using a special promotional code. The contract between the city and Ring will last for 120 days or until the $5,000 the City Council designated for the program runs out. After that, the council will decide whether to continue the program by dedicating more funds toward the effort. In an interview Thursday, city staffer Christina Nguyen said La Canada officials had yet to sign an agreement with Ring, which would mark the start of the promotional offer. Nguyen recommends residents call City Hall at (818) 790-8880 to confirm when the rebate program is scheduled to start. Once the program begins, residents can email lacanada@ring.com and provide their shipping address. In return, they are assigned a unique one-time promotional code that takes $100 off the total cost of a unit purchased online. The company will also offer another $30 discount for additional cameras and doorbell units purchased and a 20% discount on accessories listed on its website, both applied at checkout. The technology allows homeowners to see on their cellphones, by means of a video installed at a door or strategic location, anyone who rings the doorbell or triggers the camera. They can also talk to that person remotely through their smart device. Recent versions of the software allow users to post videos of potential suspects on social media sites, share information on crimes or warn neighbors of suspicious activities. In a Feb. 13 meeting of the city Public Safety Commission, Sgt. John Gaw of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Departments Advanced Surveillance and Protection Unit said the systems are effective at scaring off most would-be burglars. On Tuesday, Councilman Greg Brown said he has a unit at his home and was notified earlier in the meeting someone was at his own front door. I could have pressed a button and talked to them. They dont know whether youre home or across the country its pretty amazing technology, he said. City weighs benefits of buying, selling its own electricity Also Tuesday, the council discussed the possibility of entering a Community Choice Aggregation program that would allow local governments to purchase and sell electricity to residents instead of relying on traditional investor-owned utility procurement, such as Southern California Edison. Carl Alameda, the citys director of administrative services, explained there are currently two different CCA programs La Canada could join. The countys Los Angeles Community Choice Energy program would create a joint powers authority for member cities that would be governed by a board of directors comprising one representative from each city. Municipalities must decide whether to enroll by a Dec. 27 opt-in deadline for inclusion in the program that would begin in January 2018. The cities of South Pasadena, Alhambra, Sierra Madre, Calabasas and Rolling Hills have signed up to be members. The city of Lancaster Choice Energy CCA program model would let La Canada contract as an associate member under the city and fellow original member city San Jacinto, also under a joint powers authority, with the Lancaster City Council acting as board of directors. The city of Pico Rivera has joined this program. Both models would let members operate on one of three tiers based on how much green-sourced energy theyd want to use the first equivocates the 28% currently used by Edison, while the second provides 50% green energy and the third 100% with increasing costs for higher tiers. Alameda clarified that even if the city opts in, Edison would continue to provide transmission and distribution services, power line maintenance and customer billing. Benefits include potential rate savings of about 5.4% starting out, reduction in the use of nonrenewable power and access to fully renewable energy. But the cost savings could be canceled out as Edisons own energy contracts become cheaper in time, or as L.A. County turns to member agencies to pay back a $10-million loan the county Board of Supervisors offered to start the program. A future vote by the California Public Utilities Commission could also seek to impose fines or increases for CCA cities whose withdrawal from Edisons customer base would constitute a financial loss to be picked up by cities who remain SCE customers. Its not fair, in Edisons view, to distribute that to customers that decide to stay in, Alameda said. Another concern is that joining a CCA would add a layer of administration to an already complicated accountability structure and muddy the waters in residents minds about the citys perceived responsibility for supplying power, Alameda said. Also, Edison could deprioritize its investment in the infrastructure of cities who withdrew to join a CCA. Council members decided more discussion was needed, and expressed an interest in hearing from Edison representatives and CCA organizers and member cities. City Manager Mark Alexander said hed determine whether opting in by the Dec. 27 deadline would bring any significant benefits to the city and schedule a study session at a later date. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine UPDATES: 3:38 p.m.: This article was updated with information regarding the timeline of the Ring.com rebate. This article was originally published at 5:25 p.m. on Oct. 18. School board members celebrated student achievements at the district meeting Tuesday evening, when the board also took a closer look at the direction of the districts Challenge Success initiative to balance student wellness and emotional health. One highlight of the evening was the annual delivery of a large presentation check representing funds the La Canada Educational Foundation has raised in the prior school year. This year, the check was in the amount of $2 million. In a special report, the school board learned that while the recently announced scores on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) remained stagnant for a third year, La Canada public schools continued to produce strong academic performance, especially at one of its elementary schools, according to the state Department of Education. La Canada Elementary School stood out in the results. In English, 96.62% of LCE students met or exceeded the state targets and 95.51% did so in math. Lindi Dreibelbis, chief director of assessment, research and consolidated programs, said La Canada schools scored in first, second and third place in the state in five out of seven grade levels tested in English. In math, four out of seven grade levels were in the top spots, while sixth-graders took first place in English. LCUSD continues to jockey for top honors with the San Marino and Piedmont City unified school districts, she said. In LCUSD, 85.86% of students met or exceeded the state target in English. Nearby San Marino Unified led the top-achieving districts with 90.05% of its tested students meeting or exceeding the targets in English. In math, San Marino achieved 85.81%, and La Canada came in at 83.53% The highest LCUSD achievement came in fourth-grade math with 89.97% of students meeting or exceeding the state target. Also in math, all grades except 7 and 11 had more than 60% of students scoring in the exceeded category, the highest possible score. Third and fourth grade math scores have shown the most consistent improvement in the district for the last three years, according to Dreibelbis. Students exceeding the standards have grown more than 16 and 7 points, respectively, in those two grade levels. At Palm Crest Elementary School, the highest scores were in sixth grade English at 91.43% and math at 86.67%, with more than 70% of students in each subject scoring in the exceeded category. Paradise Canyon Elementary School has seen its already high scores improve in math each year over the last three years in grades 3, 4 and 5, as well as in grade 6 in English. At La Canada High School, the highest score in English was in eighth grade, at 87.03% of students meeting or exceeding the standards a continual growth over three years. Juniors dipped slightly in both English and math, but are at 86.42% and 79.42%, respectively, of meeting or exceeding the state standards. If there was one area where students struggled on the assessment, Dreibelbis said, it was in the listening category, which is an audio-only portion. School board Vice President Kaitzer Puglia said she did not think it was a problem with listening but the engagement from listening. Supt. Wendy Sinnette told the board she is proud of the students performance and grateful for their continued hard work, as well as efforts by the teachers. She said administrators and teachers can use the tests metrics to improve curriculum Also at Tuesdays meeting, and juxtaposing the meetings energy and focus on achieving high academic results, the districts new executive director of pupil and personnel services, James Cartnal, said he can share numerous anecdotes of how students pathway to success is narrowing over the years, and students are stating they do not have time to learn at school when they have to spend that time getting high grades. Last school year, the district held a career day-type of event called Challenge Success, where high school students and students in grades 7 and 8 heard from dozens of professionals in a wide variety of industries. In the 2017-18 school year, Cartnal said La Canada continued as partner schools in the Challenge Success program. As a shared action plan, the Stanford Survey of Adolescent School Experiences will be given to students in grades 7-12 and assemblies will be organized to share more details about the initiative. The goal is to create a three-year, site specific implementation plan. I am genuinely optimistic, Cartnal said. I havent received much resistance. This is about healthy child development. Also at Tuesdays meeting, the board unanimously approved an updated resolution with the city citing their concerns about the Devils Gate Reservoir sediment removal and maintenance project, which is proposed by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District to remove between 2.4 and 4 million yards of sediment and debris from the reservoir over a five-year or longer time period. Board President Dan Jeffries said the school district continues to work with the citys common interests and the county on addressing air emissions, traffic congestion and noise pollution. Cake and refreshments were served at the start of Tuesdays board meeting to celebrate La Canada Elementary School kindergarten teacher Mandy Redfern having been recognized as one of 16 Los Angeles Countys Teachers of the Year for 2017-18. Ten LCHS students were also recognized for being National Merit Scholar semifinalists. Those students are Cora J. Wu, Arjun Aron, Veronica Backer-Peral, Yolanada Hu, Erica J. Lee, Christos Menemenlis, Harrison B. Min, Blake Northop, Matthew C. Randolph and Averi D. Suk. Matt Sanderson is a contributing writer to Times Community News Chinese artist Ai Weiwei s new film Human Flow shows the bleak churn of the lives of global refugees at 40 camps in 23 countries during 2016. Now the artist turns New York City into his personal canvas in crafting another way to communicate what it means to be uprooted and what it means to feel trapped. Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, the phrase Robert Frost used in his 1915 poem Mending Wall, is an expansive public art display of sculpted cages, fences and banners at 300-plus locations in the city, from Manhattan to Brooklyn to Queens. It opened Oct. 12 and will remain through Feb. 11. Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator of the Public Art Fund, worked with Ai on the project that weaves his artwork into the fabric of the city. Its impossible to really understand it until you have that experience, and people are just blown away, Baume said of walking in and out of the sculptures. Here are some of the locations not to miss in this exhibit thats free to all. 1. Arch Arch is made of galvanized and polished steel. (Jason Wyche, Courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) Arch is a cage that fits inside the Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village that has a cutout for visitors to pass through. Baume recommends going on a late afternoon when sunlight sometimes sets its galvanized and polished steel ablaze. You can walk through the arch while experiencing the barrier. 2. 'Gilded Cage' Gilded Cage is located inside Central Park. (Ai Weiwei Studio, Courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) Gilded Cage is a free-standing sculpture in Central Park that Baume refers to as having a certain sinister beauty. The idea, of course, is to experience the feeling of being put in a cage with turnstiles and bars but also knowing you can escape. The top of Gilded Cage, part of the exhibit Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. (Ai Weiwei Studio, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) The New York Post reports: Ai said that he decided to paint this Central Park cage gold in an ironic nod to Fifth Avenue's former resident, President Trump . 2. Lamppost banners One of the hundreds of banners bearing faces in the Ai Weiwei exhibit. (Jason Wyche, Courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) Dont overlook what you may think is a promotion for the exhibit (which it is, but not in an advertising sense). More than 200 banners in all five boroughs are part of the display. You may see a 19th century immigrant to Ellis Island, you might see the face of Sigmund Freud, or a young refugee in a camp in the Middle East, Baume says. The portraits are made on see-through mesh material. 4. 'Circle Fence Circle Fence is a low-lying rope barrier that surrounds the Unisphere, a depiction of the Earth made for the 1964 Worlds Fair. (Timothy Schenck, courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) The Unisphere, which is 140 feet high, is the best-known remnant of the 1964 Worlds Fair in Queens. Ai surrounds the base of the landmark with a low rope fence. Its a playful, interactive piece sort of like a hammock, Baume says. Visitors recline on the netting of Circle Fence. (Timothy Schenck, Courtesy Public Art Fund, NY) To see the whole exhibit or individual pieces, check out the interactive map on the Public Art Funds website. When we sisters-in-law (one in California, the other in Nevada) agreed to a midway Western weekend for the brothers, we should have known better. The setting and scenery would be grand, the river inviting and the amenities, well, less so. Arizonas Marble Canyon and the upper Colorado River near Glen Canyon Dam are jaw-droppingly beautiful in spring and fall. But for those wishing to stay close by and partake of the great outdoors in this Arizona Strip region, historically cut off by the river, with its renowned rafting, hiking, slot-canyon exploring, fly-fishing and bird watching well, certain niceties go by the wayside. The tab: Each couple spent $275 for three nights in remote Marble Canyon (abandoning one motel for more comfortable lodging nearby), excluding taxes; $585 for fishing guides and rafting; and $200 for meals and lunch supplies. The bed Advertisement The friendly personnel at Marble Canyon Lodge go above and beyond (Diabetes meds need refrigeration? No problem. Off-hours move-in? OK), but serene patio vistas, high-thread-count sheets or speedy Wi-Fi? Not so much. We voted Marble Canyon Lodge our favorite for comfort and service, and it has the best access to the river landing at Lees Ferry and historic Navajo Bridge. Nearby Cliff Dwellers Lodge caters to hard-core fishermen. The meal Our favorite: the bountiful one-stop breakfast buffet at Marble Canyon Lodge, with hefty portions of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit and yogurt. Mornings are crowded with rafting groups chowing down before departing for Lees Ferry. During our stay the restaurant shut down after breakfast and opened again for home-style dinner. Down the road, the Cliff Dwellers restaurant gets raves for its grilled fish tacos. The find Colorado River Discovery offers numerous options for raft trips, including a raft/slot canyon tour, a raft/helicopter excursion and even a rowing trip. The best choice for us: a leisurely motorized raft ride on the Colorado River casting off from Page, Ariz., an hour north of Marble Canyon. Our guide regaled us with tales about adventurer-geologist John Wesley Powell and his band, exploring here in the 1860s and 1870s without a motor or knowing what lay ahead. We gazed at the sheer cliffs, odd rock formations and the tiny spectators waving from atop precarious Horseshoe Bend. The lesson learned Dont miss the condor-watching at the old Navajo Bridge in Marble Canyon or at the viewing site along House Rock Road in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. With a pair of good binoculars, the re-introduced California condors (down to a few dozen in the 1980s) came into view either perched atop the cages at their release point high above or swooping rapturously by the dozen off the colorful cliffs. If you go Marble Canyon Lodge, U.S. Highway 89 A, Marble Canyon, Ariz.; (928) 355-2225. Some wheelchair-accessible rooms. Cliff Dwellers Lodge, North U.S. Highway 89A, Marble Canyon, Ariz.; (928) 355-2231. One wheelchair-accessible room. Colorado River Discovery, 130 6th Ave., Page, Ariz.; (888) 522-6644. Half-day rowing trips through Nov. 30, $93 for ages 13 and older; full-day motorized trips are through Nov. 13., $113 for ages 13 and older. Condor viewing Glen Canyon National Recreation Area travel@latimes.com Fear, anger and anxiety heightened on both sides of a secession divide as the Spanish government vowed Thursday to take the unprecedented step of stripping autonomous powers from the northeastern region of Catalonia. The regions president, Carles Puigdemont, did not renounce independence despite a Thursday deadline imposed by the central government. The escalating confrontation between Madrid and Spains most prosperous region sent ripples of unease across the continent, where European Union leaders are already wary of fissures within the bloc. Advertisement Spains worst political crisis in nearly four decades of democracy could hamper a still fragile economic recovery in the country as a whole and cause particular financial harm to Catalonia, which is already experiencing a flurry of corporate flight. Imposition of direct rule by the central government, which would be a first in Spains democratic history, raises the specter of violence that could be more widespread than the clashes that accompanied an Oct. 1 independence referendum in Catalonia. In that vote, separatist leaders said 9 out of 10 voters backed independence, but turnout was less than half of the electorate. Facing a Thursday deadline to back away from independence proclamations, Puigdemont issued a letter that urged dialogue, but threatened to have regional lawmakers vote on an explicit declaration of independence if Madrid does not agree to talks. The office of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy responded by saying the Cabinet would meet in special session Saturday to trigger Article 155 of the nations constitution, which allows for the imposition of direct central government rule in any Spanish region in the event of a serious violation of the law. The objective is to restore legality in Catalonia, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said in Madrid moments after Puigdemonts written response to the deadline. As the political dispute intensified, popular sentiment appeared to be hardening on both sides as well. In Madrid, Spanish flags have appeared on balconies in recent weeks, and people largely voiced support for Rajoys unyielding stance. We need to cut out this nonsense, said Carlotta Badia, 28, on a cigarette break outside her office in downtown Madrid. I support our government; its defending the unity of Spain. In Catalonia, anger was growing over what is seen as the Madrid governments refusal to try to find some compromise. Puigdemont wants dialogue with the central government, and they say, No, no, no! every time, said Jordi Costa, 47, a waiter in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. I think coexistence is now more difficult than ever. The accelerating developments threatened a constitutional order that has prevailed for four decades, after the 1975 death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. During Francos harsh rule of nearly 40 years, some of Spains disparate ethnic and national groups were repressed. The survival of the new Spanish democracy that followed was thought to rest on the devolution of powers to the regions, reversing the centralized power of the dictator. Spain insists that the independence referendum held Oct. 1 in Catalonia was illegal and that the entire country would have to have a say in whether the region would be allowed to secede. Catalonia, home to 7.5 million people, has its own language and traditions and enjoys a degree of self-rule. But despite exercising considerable control over their day-to-day affairs, Catalans have chafed at contributing a disproportionate share of wealth to the central tax coffers. Spain is still struggling to throw off the effects of a financial crisis and sees any independence move not only as a threat to the republic but also as a potentially crushing economic blow. The European Union, fearful of igniting secessionist movements elsewhere, has sided with Spains government in the dispute and ignored appeals from Catalan leaders to step in and shepherd talks. Spain has ruled out international mediation. The independence fray overshadowed talks in Brussels on Thursday by EU leaders, even though they were not officially slated to discuss Catalonia. Rajoy did not speak with reporters as he arrived for the gathering, but other leaders offered backing for Spains anti-secessionist stance. We support the position of the Spanish government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. French President Emmanuel Macron said the gathering would send a message of unity around Spain. Belgium, which has weathered tension between its French- and Dutch-speaking regions, voiced misgivings about a potential boiling over of the political dispute. I condemn all forms of violence, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. If Spains Cabinet moves to implement Article 155, a step that would require approval of its Senate, which is controlled by his party, Rajoy would have a range of options at his disposal. A central government takeover could involve asserting control over Catalonias finances, its Interior Ministry and its regional police force. Rajoy could also move to disband the current regional government and call for new Catalan parliamentary elections. The financial dimensions of the dispute are growing. Catalonia is Spains economic engine, accounting for about a fifth of the total economy and more than a quarter of exports. Barcelona is a tourist hub and Spains second-largest city. Airlines and Spains high-speed rail company have all warned of possible disruptions due to the separatist conflict. Since the referendum, dozens of Catalan banks and other companies have announced they would move their offices out of Catalonia or change their tax registration to neighboring Spanish provinces if the region secedes from Spain. An independent Catalonia would be forced to leave the European Union, and many companies say they want to retain protection under EU laws. Such an exodus of companies is only an appetizer of what could happen if independence were confirmed, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told the national parliament Thursday. This week, Spains government was forced to revise downward its economic growth forecasts amid instability over Catalonia. Special correspondent Frayer reported from Madrid and Times staff writer King from Washington. Special correspondents Catherine Stupp in Brussels and Leanne Hayman in Barcelona contributed to this report. laura.king@latimes.com @laurakingLAT ALSO A global primal scream: #MeToo (#YoTambien #QuellaVoltaChe # _#) Sebastian Kurz to be Europes youngest leader as Austria swings sharply to the right On Putins 65th birthday, thousands of protesters gather across Russia in support of opposition leader UPDATES: 1:30 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from residents in Barcelona and Madrid and background information about the economic consequences of secession. 9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with European leaders comments in Brussels and more background on planned Cabinet session. This article was originally published at 6:35 a.m. Spain and Catalonia hurtled toward a potential secession showdown, with the president of the northeastern region facing a Thursday deadline set by the central government to back away from a bid for independence. Madrid has warned that if Catalonia moves unilaterally to secede, the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will invoke a never-used provision of Spains democracy-era Constitution to impose direct rule on the region, which now enjoys autonomy in some matters. On the eve of the deadline, neither side showed any signs of budging. Advertisement Rajoy, speaking to the Spanish parliament Wednesday, urged Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to act sensibly. He called on the regions leadership to put the interest of all citizens first an explicit reminder that Spain believes the country as a whole should vote on any independence proposal for Catalonia, not the region alone. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said a failure by Puigdemont to meet the Thursday morning deadline for abandoning a declaration of independence would provoke the application of Article 155, the constitutional provision that allows an administrative takeover of any Spanish region by the central government in the event of a serious legal violation. The constitution was approved in 1978, after the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, whose authoritarian rule spanned four decades. Catalonia has its own parliament and police force and sets policy on matters such as healthcare and education, but the central government handles matters such as tax collection, border security and external relations. Catalan leaders, for their part, have repeated calls for dialogue, which Spain says is impossible unless the region first renounces its secession bid. Puigdemont ignored a Monday deadline by Madrid to clarify whether independence was being declared. Catalonia, a region that is home to 7.5 million people, has its own language and traditions. But despite exercising considerable control over its day-to-day affairs, Catalans have chafed at contributing a disproportionate share of wealth to the central tax coffers. Spain is still struggling to throw off the effects of a financial crisis and sees any independence move not only as a threat to the republic but also as a potentially crushing economic blow. The European Union, fearful of igniting secessionist movements elsewhere, has sided with Spains government in the dispute and ignored appeals from Catalan leaders to step in and shepherd talks. Spain has ruled out international mediation. The sharpening political confrontation, Spains worst in decades, has triggered a wave of corporate flight from Catalonia, and many fear a reprise of the kind of violence seen during the regions Oct. 1 independence referendum if Madrid moves to strip the regional government of its powers. Hundreds of people were injured when authorities tried to stop the vote, which the Madrid government considered illegal. Catalan leaders say the referendum showed 90% of voters in favor of breaking with Spain, but the turnout was less than half of those eligible to cast a ballot. Catalonia has also been the scene of street protests over Spanish authorities detention of two separatist leaders, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, who are being investigated for sedition. The two men helped orchestrate the referendum. Puigdemont told the regional parliament last week that the referendum result gave Catalonia the right to secede, but said he was suspending the outcome and calling for dialogue. That ambiguous stance angered both the Spanish government and those in Puigdemonts political camp who favor formally setting out a road map for breaking away from Spain. If Rajoy moves to implement Article 155, a step that would require approval of Spains Senate, which is controlled by his party, he would have a range of options at his disposal. Spanish news reports have suggested that a potential central government takeover could involve asserting control over Catalonias finances, its Interior Ministry and its regional police force. Rajoy could also move to disband the current regional government and call for new Catalan parliamentary elections. laura.king@latimes.com Twitter: @laurakingLAT A Pakistani court on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as his daughter and son-in-law on corruption charges stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm. A lawyer for the 67-year-old Sharif, who is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former prime ministers daughter, Maryam Sharif, and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended Thursdays hearing at the Accountability Court and also pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from a trove of documents, known as the Panama Papers, that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. Advertisement Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as baseless after exiting the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would face these cases with courage. The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. Sharifs political future has been hanging in the balance since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from being prime minister. A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said we knew justice would not be done. Rana Sanaullah said there were hidden hands behind Sharifs dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations, without elaborating. Sharif was reelected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties, which say Sharif is continuing to rule through a puppet prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Social media around the world responded with something like a primal scream to American actress Alyssa Milanos Twitter request that women tell their stories of sexual harassment or assault with the hashtag #MeToo. Milanos campaign grew out of accusations by actresses against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, but instantly touched a nerve among women in dozens of countries and all walks of life. , pic.twitter.com/lVB6Fdugu9 (@elikmargalit) October 18, 2017 Nowhere was the reaction stronger than in Israel, where the countrys biggest newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, downplayed headlines about Iranian threats and police investigations of the prime minister and devoted nearly its entire front page to the Hebrew meme # (#UsToo) on Wednesday. Along with the hashtag, the newspaper ran photos with personal stories from six women, including former Minister of Education Limor Livnat, a onetime rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recounted an attempted rape by a senior politician she met while looking for work. On Facebook, the model Maayan Keret, who walked the runway for Yves St. Laurent and Jean-Paul Gaultier, among others, posted: I have stopped counting the number of times I was raped. Advertisement Gila Gamliel, Israels minister for social equality, described a formative experience when, at age 19, she found herself on a crowded bus and suddenly the disgusting feeling of an unknown hand touching my backside. In Italy, home to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconis bunga bunga sex parties, the hashtag became #QuellaVoltaChe (#TheTimeThat). France, which reacted with confused ambivalence to rape allegations against presidential aspirant Dominique Strauss-Kahn, saw social media flooded with #BalanceTonPorc (#DenounceYourPig). Without using the hashtag, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he had started proceedings to strip Weinstein of his Legion of Honor award. In the Spanish-speaking world #MeToo translated directly as #YoTambien. A Mexican journalist for Buzzfeed, Mireya Gonzalez, tweeted: Every morning Im accosted at least four times within 10 minutes of my house, and Ive had it up to here. #YoTambien. In the Arabic-speaking world, where any mention of sexual harassment is still commonly considered taboo, two versions of #MeToo are competing, both of which translate as me too or me also. Men and women have come forward to share an experience that seems, taboos notwithstanding, to be ubiquitous. Rami Jarrah, a Syrian activist, tweeted: Me too. Because almost [every woman] in my life & that I know has either been assaulted or raped, or even molested as a child. #MeToo. Me too. Because almost everyone women in my life & that I know has either been assaulted or raped, or even molested as a child #MeToo Rami Jarrah (@RamiJarrah) October 16, 2017 In Egypt, Mona Seif, an activist, posted that I dont know of any female friend of mine in Egypt who has not been a victim of sexual harassment, and definitely #MeToo. Sexual harassment and assaults in the streets are a daily part of any womans life here. We think about it, prepare for it--mentally and physically--every time we step out of the door. Egyptian chanteuse Jermeen Nasr tweeted: Girls and women of Egypt face sexual harassment every day.They are forced to keep silent.no we wont. #MeToo. Girls and women of Egypt face sexual harassment everyday ... They are forced to keep silent .... No we won't .. #MeToo Jermeen Nasr (@JermeenNasr) October 16, 2017 In Egypt, reports of abuse and harassment against women run rampant. A 2013 United Nations study found that 99.3% of women interviewed reported having experienced some form of sexual harassment. Hearing this, 23-year-old Gaia Ostrovsky, a recent Hebrew University of Jerusalem graduate, said: It is something that happens daily. The other day I was walking through the central bus station and some guy called out Slut! I wonder who the .7% is. Even in Iran, where the government has banned the use of Twitter and Facebook, citizens managed to circumvent censorship to share their experiences and discuss the issue under a Persian hashtag that translates as #MeToo. #MeToo I was 13 years old. I had nightmares for some time after that, a tweeter using the name Vida wrote. How insecure I became about everything. It was on the level of harassment but had a terrible impact. Yes, #MeToo. But the person who did that to me is around here and is liking #MeToo tweets and retweeting them and utters kind things to those tweets, an Iranian woman named Nahid tweeted. In Afghanistan, Maryam Mehtar, who identifies herself as a freelance journalist, tweeted: When I was a child, I had some experiences of sexual harassment which still bother me. #MeToo. The New York-based French videographer Sandra Muller, 46, who came up with #BalanceTonPorc, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the incredible proportions of the Weinstein affair shocked her. The image that inspired the now-ubiquitous hashtag was a huge picture of Weinstein in Le Parisien magazine that identified him as the pig. It started as a joke, she said. Milanos inspiration, it appears, came from Tarana Burke, an African American activist for equal rights who established the MeToo Movement 10 years ago. It wasnt built to be a viral campaign or a hashtag that is here today and forgotten tomorrow, Burke told Ebony magazine. It was a catch phrase to be used from survivor to survivor to let folks know that they were not alone and that a movement for radical healing was happening and possible. ALSO Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah reach a preliminary deal on governing Gaza Heres a look at 26 newsmakers accused of sexual harassment, assault or related behavior A trip through horror, confusion and contradictions in Syria Special correspondent Tarnopolsky reported from Jerusalem and staff writer Etehad from Los Angeles. All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Central American nation's FinMin says a new bond issue valued at around $500m will likely surface in the second quarter of next year A 25-year-old Allentown gang member was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on charges that he shot and killed a 19-year-old from an opposing gang and wounded the man's brother after a dispute on July 4 in the city, authorities say. Shadre Quamire Leach, 25, of Allentown. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Shadre Quamire Leach, 25, a member of the Bloods, appeared before District Judge Karen C. Devine on charges of homicide and aggravated assault, police and court records said. Leach was arrested in New Jersey and held there until he was extradited Wednesday to Allentown, city police Capt. Tony Alsleben said. Javard Lane, from the 600 block of Cleveland Street in the city, and Leach, of the 300 block of Law Street, fought after Lane and his brother confronted Leach on Oak Street about punching Lane's girlfriend, Alsleben said. As Lane, a member of the Crips street gang, left, Leach shot Lane in the back and Lane's brother Jamil Howard in the leg, Alsleben said. Lane was pronounced dead at 3:59 p.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said at the time. Howard suffered two gunshot wounds and was treated at St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill, Alsleben said. Due to the nature of the homicide charge, Leach was held without bail in Lehigh County Jail, records show. His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. Court papers describing the shooting were sealed for 60 days to protect witnesses, Alsleben said. It wasn't immediately clear how quickly Leach was developed as a suspect or arrested. Leach pleaded guilty in March 2013 to a July 2012 possession of heroin charge in Passaic County, New Jersey, records show. He was sentenced to three years behind bars but was released on bail. On July 28 of this year, he was jailed at East Jersey State Prison on the charge, the New Jersey Department of Corrections reports. His release date was Sept. 27, 2019, and he wasn't to be eligible for parole until March 20 of next year, records show. He was released to Allentown authorities to face the more serious charge, Alsleben said. Police, the coroner's office and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office investigated the homicide case. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A man confronting someone for looking into a home on South Side Bethlehem was punched in the face by an assailant who then pulled a gun and chased the victim, police said. Hector Antonio Rios-Vanderdyz (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) It occurred shortly before midnight Wednesday in the 700 block of East Fourth Street. Hector Antonio Rios-Vanderdyz, 37, of the 500 block of Broadway in Bethlehem, was arrested in the alleged assault and pursuit with the firearm. The alleged window peeper was not immediately charged in the incident. After being confronted and punching the victim, Rios-Vanderdyz pulled the firearm from his waist and chased the victim, saying, "I will bust you," according to police. Rios-Vanderdyz was taken into custody and arraigned before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez on misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats, simple assault, reckless endangerment and loitering and prowling at night, and summary harassment. He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $25,000 bail with a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled Nov. 1 before Matos Gonzalez. If released, Rios-Vanderdyz would need to remain under the supervision of Northampton County Pretrial Services and have no contact with the victims or witnesses. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Lorraine Foulke bought her New Street home in 1973 and raised her two sons in a wonderful north side neighborhood. The boys could walk to school at William Penn Elementary School and she knew her neighbors. Today, if she was house hunting Foulke says she would bypass her own street. That's why she's thrilled that the city of Bethlehem, the Bethlehem Area School District, Moravian College and local businesses are teaming up to create a north side community investment program. Dubbed NorthSide 2027, the initiative teams the resources of the public, private and nonprofit sector with the aim of driving a neighborhood turnaround. To kick off the program, the city is budgeting $50,000 for 2018 and plans to hire a consultant to map the area's pressing needs. Wednesday afternoon NorthSide 2027 held its first community meeting at Moravian to lay out its plans. About 70 interested residents gathered to learn about the next steps and share their ideas for improving where they live. The initiative was spurred by Councilman J. William Reynold's desire to build upon Mayor Bob Donchez's plans to establish a LERTA district in the neighborhood after watching a rise in rentals and poverty rates in the area. The city hopes the tax incentive program jumpstarts stalled redevelopment projects within the boundaries and encourages the deconversion of multi-family rentals into single-family homes. LERTA is designed to encourage property improvements in deteriorating areas by phasing in any increases in taxes that come with renovations. Fixing up a facade won't trigger a reassessment, but changing a property's use or adding square footage with a new garage or porch does. The college and district signed on because the vibrancy of the area directly impacts the schools. Since Moravian's inception, its been integrated with the needs of the community, Moravian President Bryon Grigsby said. "The stronger the region is the stronger the school will be," he said. Foulke suggested the city work with local realtors to market the areas and to enforce its existing ordinances so absentee landlords clean up their properties. "We've got to get the inner city back to young families that want to come (move here,)" Foulke said. Colleen Marsh lives on the north side, works at Moravian and sends her daughter to preschool on Main Street, so she's happy to see the program taking off. But she cautioned of the dangers of gentrification and painting all renters with a broad brush. "A lot of our neighbors rent," she said. "They are great people." Reynolds, who grew up in the neighborhood and still lives there, said the area has an identity that is often overlooked and he wants the quality of life to be what it once was. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. TRENTON -- Voters in this year's New Jersey governor's race are not just picking Chris Christie's successor. Their choice will dictate whether or not marijuana for recreational use will be legalized in New Jersey. Electing Democrat Phil Murphy means New Jersey would soon join eight other states in legalizing marijuana for people 21 and older and creating what is predicted to be a multi-billion-dollar industry. He's promised to sign a legalization bill into law within the first 100 days of his term. Democrats who control the state Legislature appear willing. Murphy said he sees legalizing marijuana as a solution to the social justice problem of higher arrest and conviction rates for blacks than white. "That is reason we want to legalize marijuana -- not because we can make money off of it, that the last reason," Murphy said during the debate last week. A victory for Republican Kim Guadagno means you still won't be able to legally smoke marijuana. But pot possession would be decriminalized -- an offense punishable by a fine instead of incarceration. Guadagno also said she would shed some of the Christie-era regulations to improve access to medical marijuana program. "There is a less intrusive way to solve the social injustice problem than legalizing drug dealers," Guadagno said at the debate. "I am wholly opposed to legalizing marijuana. Having said that I, do believe we can decriminalize it." "I also would expand the medical marijuana program," she added. "It's onerous, it's hard to work with, it's not available to those who it should be made available to." Either way there is no going back to the status quo -- not with the eager array of marijuana business associations that have formed to persuade lawmakers that New Jersey must jump on board with the economic opportunities a broader acceptance of marijuana offers. NJCANNA PAC, a political action committee spun-off from the 10-month-old NJ Cannabusiness Association, donated $4,300 to Murphy's campaign, according to state Election Law Enforcement Commission finance records. Cannabusiness board member Michael Ray Figler, the CEO for Intra Capital Holdings, LLC, a commercial and residential real estate company, also independently donated $1,000 to Murphy's primary campaign, state campaign finance records said. Scott Rudder, a former state legislator and the president of the Canabusiness Association, said the organization does not have plans to endorse a candidate despite their strong support for a legal pot market, which Murphy backs. But the group also sees the bright side should Guadagno win, he said. "We know no matter who wins in November, there will be an expansion of the medical cannabis market to provide greater access to patients, and decriminalization. We are confident that will occur," Rudder said. Cannabusiness' perspective includes that of board member Andrew Medvedovsky, a neurologist in Camden County who has referred some 3,000 patients to the medical marijuana program -- more than any other physician in the state, according to a report in Philly.com. New Jersey's medical marijuana program "has been overly regulated from the beginning," Rudder added. "People have had to fight tooth and nail to get (qualifying) conditions added, and overall it has been an unnecessarily burdensome process." Meanwhile, two other nonprofit pro-legalization advocacy groups have met with the candidates, including members of the state Legislature who all face re-election this November. Neither one is a PAC and cannot make donations. But representatives from both groups say they think their private meetings and public discussions they've organized are making an impact as the contours of a cannabis industry takes shape. Pete Cammarano, a founder of the New Jersey Cannabis Industry Association, a nonprofit trade group established earlier this year, said the group sees its role as being "helpful, so when (legalization) moves forward, we have a well-regulated and vibrant industry." Cammarano, a longtime lobbyist and former chief of staff to Gov. Richard Codey, sits on the board with Christopher Beals, president and general counsel at Weedmaps, what has been described as the Yelp for pot dispensaries. New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform helped produce a often-cited report last year that estimated the legal marijuana market is worth $1.3 billion in New Jersey and could generate $300 million in state tax revenue. Beyond the economics, New Jersey United is promoting legalization as an alternative to jailing people caught with pot -- an outcome that falls disproportionately on blacks and Hispanics, said Bill Caruso, one of the group's founding members. Some of the groundwork involves meeting with mayors, some of whom are intimidated by the idea a grow facility or dispensary would lay down roots in their community, Caruso said. His organization is trying to prevent the reaction in Massachusetts, where many local officials passed ordinances to block the recreational marijuana industry from settling in. "We are very much involved in the education side of this," said Caruso, who also sits on the board of Cammarano's business organization. Elected officials have grown more receptive to these conversations as the polls show growing public support. A Quinnipiac University survey released last month found 57 percent of New Jerseyans favor legalization. "Most people are waking up and seeing the world did not end" in states where marijuana is legally for sale, Caruso said. "The public is coming around. ... Senior citizens are the largest demographic trying cannabis. The culture change is wide." Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Pennsylvania residents who renewed their car registrations this year may have noticed the absence of the little rectangular date stickers for their license plates. But did you take off the old sticker? Officials are warning Pennsylvanians, especially those who travel out of state, to tear it off, or risk being pulled over. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation stopped issuing the stickers at the end of 2016 in part as a cost-saving measure. It ended a practice that dated back to 1959. The department anticipates saving $3.1 million in the first year. New Jersey eliminated registration stickers in 2004. Residents are not required to remove the stickers, according to PennDOT's information page. State Rep. Justin Simmons recently posted on Facebook for residents to remove their outdated stickers, to avoid being pulled over by police assuming their registration is expired. PennDOT alerted police from other states and Canada about the lack of registration stickers, Simmons wrote, but some residents have reported being pulled over for "expired" registrations. The Southern Regional Police Department, which covers communities in York County near the Maryland border, posted a reminder back in August to remove the stickers, after hearing about local drivers being cited. This agency has received several reports as well as seen discussions on the Southern York County Facebook page regarding... Posted by Southern Regional Police Department - York County on Friday, August 4, 2017 Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A MAN has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of a pensioner in a multi-vehicle collision in County Limerick two years ago. Noel Higgins, aged 28, who has an address at Ballineetig, Lispole, County Kerry was prosecuted following a road accident on the main N21 near Newcastle West on July 26, 2015. Margaret Peg Kelly who was a passenger in one of the cars died at the scene from injuries she sustained in the impact. The 71-year-old mother-of-nine, who had five grandchildren, was originally from Ballygeele, Newcastle West. The three-car pile-up happened at around 6.30pm at Ballyfrawley around three miles on the Rathkeale side of Newcastle West. After his client entered his guilty plea at Limerick Circuit Court this Wednesday, Mark Nicholas SC sought a sentencing hearing in December. Judge Tom ODonnell agreed and adjourned the matter to December 15, next. Under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, the maximum sentence for the offence is two years imprisonment. MORE than 600 former members of Charleville Credit Union attended a public meeting this Tuesday night to discuss the fall-out of the sudden closure of the towns credit union. The High Court appointed provisional liquidators to Charleville Credit Union last week after being told that efforts to deal with its financial problems dating back more than a decade had not been successful. The credit union, which is not insolvent, has deposits of more than 40m on its books. Customer deposits up to 100,000 are covered by the Governments Deposit Guarantee Scheme and cheques are expected to issue to depositors within the next two weeks. Representatives of the Central Bank, which applied for the winding up order, said it was not happy with Charlevilles poor lending policy, its costs to income ratio and its overall business model. The winding up application, the court heard, was being made in the public interest and in the interest of the wider credit union sector. An affidavit from Wesley Murphy of the Central Bank stated bad debt provision at Charleville Credit Union was particularly high and it was in a negative reserve position in 2010 and 2011. The Credit Unions offices at Main Street, Charleville were closed to the public at around midday last Friday week and the twelve staff who worked there were made redundant this week. We knew the credit union had its problems, but we also know that everyone worked incredibly hard to save the credit union - huge sacrifices were made by the staff since 2009- we worked long unpaid hours all to try and ensure that the credit union could survive, said its former CEO Annette Kiely on Tuesday night. The Central Bank says its conscious there is a demand for the services of a credit union in the local area and that it is committed to ensuring credit union services are available in the community. Following the High Court proceedings, the board of the Charleville Credit Union condemned the liquidation describing it as unnecessary and draconian. An independent audit has demonstrated to the Central Banks satisfaction that there are no governance issues in Charleville, the board said in statement issued following the appointment of David OConnor and Jim Hamilton of BDO as joint provisional liquidators. Fianna Fail councillor Ian Doyle said what happened last Friday came as a total shock. The day it happened was shocking, nobody know this was the situation, he said adding that his thoughts are with employees of the Charleville Credit Union who have lost their jobs. Cllr Doyle, who organised Tuesdays meeting at the Community Hall in Charleville, says the mood of those at the meeting was one of concern. We are a major trading town in North Cork and people need to have access to a credit union facility they depend on it, he said. He said he held talks this week with representatives of one credit union which is located elsewhere in North Cork and that he due to meet with another over the coming days in the hope that a new service can be secured within the next fortnight. It is understood that both Mallow Credit Union and Mitchelstown Credit Union have expressed an interest in establishing a branch in Charleville. What happened happened and the liquidator is only doing his job but my job now to make sure that Charleville has a viable and financially secure credit union as soon as possible, said Cllr Doyle. THE HSE has said that there is no issue in Limerick in relation to GPs charging pensioners with medical cards for the free flu jab, following an investigation. The HSE probe was launched after Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan stated in a parliamentary question that one GP had charged a constituent 15 for a flu vaccine shot. He later said that this was not an isolated incident. In a statement to some-200 GPs across the Mid-West this Wednesday morning, the HSE said that it had concluded its investigation. We have contacted our GP network and could not establish any particular situation where this occurred. Senior staff in Mid West Community Healthcare contacted Deputy Quinlivan who made the comments but unfortunately he was not in a position to furnish our department with any specific details with regard to the matter. Therefore as we do not have specific details the matter is now closed with the conclusion that it is not an issue in Limerick. Deputy Quinlivan told the Leader this Wednesday: In recent days I again contacted those constituents and they were crystal clear that a charge was suggested at the GP or Medical Centre they had attended. All those who contacted my office, wish to remain confidential and despite me asking them could I name their doctor or medical centre none wanted to do same. I am very happy that the HSE has investigated the matter and now it seems that everyone will be aware that no charge should apply to medical card holders over 70. The flu vaccination scheme is vitally important and I would encourage everyone to get the jab. I am booked in myself for my flu jab next week. A LEADING childrens charity is currently recruiting volunteers to play with sick children at the University Hospital Limerick. Childrens Hospital Ireland (CHI) is calling for volunteers to give two to three hours of their time every week to help children at UHL in the Childrens Ark unit and across other wards. CHI, which already has a team of volunteers currently in place at UHL, provides play and fun for sick children in hospital around the country and has been in operation for almost 50 years. The organisation provides play activities for hospitalised sick children, from painting, helping with jigsaws or board games to simple arts and crafts or reading stories. Hospitalisation can be a very stressful experience for both children and parents. Play helps to alleviate some of that trauma. Simple play activities introduce a reassuring normality to a strange hospital environment. It is a natural part of a childs life and aids recovery. "It also helps the child to build relationships and make new friends, and above all brings fun into the childs life, explained a spokesperson for CHI. They are currently appealing for volunteers to help out at UHL and will hold an upcoming information and interview evening next Tuesday, October 24 at 6pm in Limerick. Successful candidates will then be invited to attend a training session to be held on Saturday, November 18 from 10am to 4pm. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer with CHI please send your details to info@childreninhospital.ie or call 01-2903510. Please do not contact UHL directly. Volunteers must be over 18 years of age, be enthusiastic, caring, reliable and have two to three hours a week to spare and be prepared to sign up for a year. All volunteers will undergo garda vetting. A comprehensive training programme will be provided for volunteers, as well as on-going support. A COMMUNITY in County Limerick is still without water, despite Irish Water confirming on Wednesday evening that it had been restored. According to a message on social media, Irish Water stated that a power outage may affect water supply to Herbertstown and surrounding communities until 8pm on Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon, the utility confirmed that 600 customers, homes and businesses were without water supply following the destructive conditions of Storm Ophelia on Monday. At 5.45pm on Wednesday, Irish Water stated that the 600 customers had water supply restored. However, a number of readers contacted the Limerick Leader to say that, despite Irish Waters statement, they were still without water. #IWLimerick: Update - For those affected by disruptions to Pallasgreen, Barna, works will now finish at 8pm tonight. Please retweet. Irish Water Care (@IWCare) October 19, 2017 Power outages will affect the Herbertstown including Ballinard, Ballyhobin, Caherconey, Mohane, Kilcullane, Cloghaviller. It will also impact the Reeves Castle area in Knocklong, as well as Barna and Nicker, near Pallasgreen. There is also a reported burst water main in Limerick, which will affect the Caherconlish area until 1.30pm, according to Irish Water. #IWLimerick: Repairs to a burst water main may affect supply to Caherconlish and surrounds until 1:30pm today. See https://t.co/XORWGK81wm Irish Water Care (@IWCare) October 19, 2017 There is currently a Yellow rain warning in Limerick, and according to Met Eireann, Limerick will experience strong winds on Friday night and Saturday morning. A Storm Brian has yet to be confirmed. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Overview of the event (Photo: VNA) The event was reported live on the website and YouTube channel of the Regnum News Agency, attracting a large audience. The event was attended by about 30 delegates from Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs and authorities, economists, leading experts in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian students specialized in international relations, Vietnamese students studying in Russia and some media organizations of Russia and Vietnam. For over two hours, the delegates discussed the purpose and mission of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum 2017, the prospect of developing the comprehensive strategic partner relationship between Vietnam and Russia, the role of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the position of Vietnam in the international arena and the world economy, thereby giving out recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness of Russian-Vietnamese cooperation in all areas and within the APEC framework in the coming time. Speaking at the opening of the conference, Mr. Griffira Trofimtruk, Head of the Expert Council of the Asia-Europe Idea Research Support Fund, emphasized that Vietnam is playing an important role not only in the region but also around the globe. The organization of APEC 2017 is an opportunity for Vietnam to affirm to the world the successes achieved over the past time, showing the stability and growth of the economy in the context of today's many emerging threats. Ms. Tatiana Flegontova, Director of the APEC Research Centre at the Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, said that APEC is important because it was a non-political economic dialogue forum. It is a place where companies of many countries seek information to develop their business. Russia is also active in the APEC framework as a key to regional and international integration processes. Meanwhile, Mr. Igor Bayazov, senior expert from the Department of Asia 3 under the Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, affirmed that Russia's diplomatic approach in the region hasnt changed, but continued to expand and strengthen cooperation with Vietnam. He also said that Hanoi is willing to support cooperation with Moscow at the highest level. At the end of the workshop, the delegates adopted three points: APEC 2017 taking place in November this year in Vietnam will be a new stage in the international integration process, contributing significantly to the enhancement of economic security and global stability; APEC member economies should make the most of this opportunity to achieve the goals set and take into account the current geopolitical context: and the comprehensive strategic relationship between Vietnam and Russia is one of the fundamental components in the framework of APEC and Russia's Eastern Orientation, especially in Southeast Asia. The conclusion also confirmed that this year's APEC summit was attended by leaders from many countries, notably Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. This shows Vietnams role and status in the context of the significantly changing international situation, and that Vietnam is not only an important factor in the region but also in the international arena./. Overview of the meeting (Photo: toquoc.vn) "Vietnams tourism is honoured to serve APEC. This is our pride and responsibility that we have a great opportunity to promote the image of Vietnams tourism, which is open, friendly and hospitable. Therefore, we are all unanimous and uphold the sense of responsibility to excellently complete the mission assigned. Units welcoming APEC delegates must show professional attitude, skills and behaviour, said Mr. Tuan. The success of APEC Summit 2017 will rely on the important and direct contributions of enterprises in Da Nang, Hoi An and Thua Thien-Hue, travel companies as well as tourism areas. On this occasion, the General Director proposed State management agencies and tourism departments continue to check and review material facilities of hotels and tourism destinations; arranging enough forces to serve delegates before and during the event; proposing issues arising to the local authorities and the Organizing Committee to have solutions to settle; working with destinations to organize food zones for journalists, visitors and international visitors to self-discover. Hotels, including 18 resorts, hotels welcoming high-level delegates and 24 hotels welcoming APEC delegates, continue to improve facilities; control the quality of service thoroughly; continue training to improve skills; ensure hygiene and politeness. During the APEC meetings, it was suggested that staff should be arranged to be on duty 24/24, special attention should be paid to food hygiene, maintain contact and provide information to State management agencies. Tourism destinations should embellish material facilities, especially hygiene, sign-boards and instructions. For five travel companies selected to serve APEC delegates, they must well prepare the means, facilities and tour guides. The VNAT will nominate a working delegation headed by a VNAT leader to support and cooperate with the local units to coordinate the work, and always be ready to solve problems promptly. At the meeting, Tourism Departments leaders of the three localities also reported on preparation work for APEC 2017./. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The first of the deadly Northern California wildfires to spark up nearly two weeks ago was fully contained by firefighters Thursday, who welcomed cooler temperatures throughout the disaster zones and the regions first rain since the blazes began. A light dousing hit parts of the Bay Area on Thursday night, including the North Bay, and although the rain wasnt expected to last, firefighters said any moisture helps, whether from clouds, helicopters or air tankers. Full containment of the calamitys most destructive wildfires in Sonoma County was pushed from Friday to Tuesday by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire. Yuba Countys 9,989-acre Cascade Fire was 100 percent contained Wednesday evening, meaning firefighters have surrounded the blaze with control lines to stop spreading and allow flames to burn themselves out. Now Playing: A software engineer in Silicon Valley is raising money to help a wildlife preserve in Sonoma County affected by the wildfire. Miraculously, all 1,000 animals at Safari West were saved, but the owner and employees homes were not. So far, the engine Video: KTVU The inferno started north of Collins Lake near Cascade Way and Marysville Road and killed four of the 42 people confirmed dead since the series of blazes began during a fierce windstorm the night of Oct. 8. Since then, about 100,000 people have been evacuated statewide as 21 large fires decimated nearly 7,000 structures and burned through more than 246,000 acres. The latest of the ruinous blazes, the Bear Fire burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was 320 acres and 30 percent contained on Thursday after destroying four structures and threatening 300 homes since starting as a building fire Monday night. Seven firefighters have been injured battling the blaze, including an inmate firefighter who was hospitalized with minor burns on Wednesday. But some mandatory evacuation orders prompted by the fire were lifted including those in the Las Cumbres community, where homes had been at risk. Sonoma County bore the brunt of the devastation, with 23 deaths recorded in an 11-day span as four large fires that recently merged to become three tore through more than 80,000 acres in the North Bay. But as the three fires the Tubbs, Pocket and Nuns neared containment, first responders were looking forward to recovery. And on Thursday, the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office said there were now 37 people unaccounted for, an increase from the 30 listed as missing a day earlier. On Friday, the weather will be cool, clear and dry, with moderate winds, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson. Temperatures in the North Bay and in the Santa Cruz Mountains will be in the 60s and 70s. Well be warming up and drying out through the weekend, and well have a bout of hot, dry weather next week, Anderson said. The word from the fire lines Thursday was that the battle to extinguish the Oakmont arm of the Nuns Fire went really well last night, said Sonoma County Sheriffs Deputy Brandon Jones. Still, Cal Fire changed the expected date of full containment on the Sonoma County wildfires from Friday to Tuesday as firefighters worked to strengthen containment lines and open more neighborhoods that had been evacuated. The Oakmont branch once its own fire combined with the Nuns blaze this week to make the Nuns a combination of at least five other fires and the largest of the blazes, blackening at least 54,423 acres straddling Napa and Sonoma counties. It was 82 percent contained Thursday. The deadliest conflagration, the 36,432-acre Tubbs Fire, blamed for 22 deaths, was 92 percent contained Thursday. The 16,552-acre Pocket Fire was 80 percent contained, according to Cal Fire. Claims by insurance policy holders for wildfire losses already exceed $1 billion, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said on Thursday. We know that number will climb as more victims file claims, Jones said. So far, 5,400 holders of homeowner policies have filed claims of total loss and another 4,200 have filed claims of partial loss, Jones said. Those claims reflect recent wildfires in both Northern and Southern California. In addition, there have been more than 3,000 automobile loss claims and 600 commercial property loss claims. Insurers are being asked to cut red tape, Jones said, by immediately providing four months worth of living expenses to policy holders and paying out 25 percent of a policys limit for property loss. In Sonoma County alone, wildfires caused in excess of $2 billion in damage with an estimated 3,947 structures destroyed and 159 structures damaged, Jones said. As fire victims prepare to rebuild, they should be wary of signing contracts with contractors or independent adjusters or what Jones called scam artists who tend to pop up in fire areas immediately after a disaster. We know this is the most vulnerable period for people, Jones said. Evacuated homeowners returning to their homes should avoid disturbing ash and debris, an environmental expert told Sonoma County residents at a community meeting. Christine Sosko of the Sonoma County Department of Environmental Health said such debris could contain metals and other hazardous materials that might require licensed hazardous material crews to remove. People who clean up debris and ash on their own could find themselves ineligible for state funded debris cleanup programs. Sosko specifically advised people not to use leaf blowers to clean up ash. Although fire officials have not determined what caused the wildfires, one Sonoma County resident filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., claiming negligent operation of its electrical system. In the suit, filed on Wednesday, Pamela Schrock, 27, alleged the utility was liable for the fire damage due to negligent and improper maintenance, inspection, repair and ownership of the electrical system. Jenna Lyons and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com and srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno Helping and getting help FEMA is offering assistance to fire victims. For information go to www.disasterassistance.gov or call (800) 621-3362. The Red Cross is organizing relief efforts. Evacuees trying to connect with others should post on the organizations website: www.redcross.org/safeandwell. Community volunteers who want to help with relief efforts can sign up with the Red Cross at http://tinyurl.com/RedCrossVolOctober2017. For thousands of fishing enthusiasts up and down Texas' coast, getting a fresh one hooked is equally important as getting recognition for it. The South Texas Fishing Association Facebook page has provided fishermen and fisherwomen an outlet for the latter over the past three years. I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street By Matt Taibbi Spiegel & Grau. 322 pp. $28 --- 'The police department is like a crew. It does whatever they want to do." Those words - from an old-school hip-hop song by the group Boogie Down Productions - were the soundtrack in my head as I read "I Can't Breathe," journalist Matt Taibbi's gut-wrenching account of the death and life of Eric Garner. As the whole world knows, Garner died in 2014 after being placed in an illegal chokehold by a New York City cop who was arresting him for selling a "loosie" tobacco cigarette on a Staten Island street. The book is a deep dive into every aspect of the case, including its legal impact, which is minimal, and its cultural and political impact, which has been profound. But the most revealing stories Taibbi tells - the ones that made me put the book down because it got too heartbreaking - are about other African-Americans, mostly male and poor, who were stopped and frisked, strip-searched, sexually assaulted, set up, beaten, or killed for the tragic reason that racist cops didn't like them, or the even more tragic reason that these kinds of humiliations are ordained by U.S. law and policy. There is Ibrahim Annan, who in 2014 got roughed up so badly by NYPD officers that he was hospitalized for three weeks and his ankle had to be surgically reconstructed. The crime the officers were trying to arrest him for? Marijuana possession. In the kind of revealing detail that makes "I Can't Breathe" compulsively readable (after I put the book down, I would pick it right back up because I needed to know the next outrage), Taibbi tells us that the city billed Annan $700 for the ambulance that took him to the hospital. Carnell Russ was not fortunate enough to escape with his life. In 1971, a Pine Bluff, Ark., cop shot him between the eyes after Russ asked for a receipt when the cop required him to pay a traffic ticket on the spot. The officer was acquitted by an all-white jury, but at least that cop was prosecuted, unlike NYPD officer Donald Brown, who, in 1994 in Staten Island, asphyxiated to death an unarmed black man named Ernest Sayon, setting off protests but no grand jury indictment. All these stories relate to one another and to the Garner case, which gives "I Can't Breathe" the feel of a police procedural. The narrative unfolds like an episode of "The Wire," but without the comic relief - or that show's grudging empathy for the cops. Some readers might object to Taibbi's tone of sustained outrage; the book is not objective, if that means giving equal weight to the concerns of the police and the victims of their misconduct. Taibbi by no means portrays people subject to police abuse as saints. Garner had been found guilty of a number of crimes, although he was probably not guilty that day of the charge that led to his death, and other victims of police brutality lived what you might call blemished lives. But Taibbi is mad as hell at the police and the politics that empowers their brutality in the 'hood. Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who put Garner in the chokehold, is, in Taibbi's account, a muscular hothead given to touching black men's private parts. Before his encounter with Garner, he racked up more civilian complaints than the average cop, costing the NYPD thousands of dollars in settlements with people who claimed he abused their rights or planted evidence on them. That amount pales in comparison with the more than $5 million Garner's family reportedly received in a civil settlement, but Pantaleo remains a sworn officer of the NYPD. In what passes for good news in the sordid mess, he is now confined to desk duty. Taibbi appropriately directs the reader's anger to others outside the usual police suspects. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio won election by campaigning to end the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program, which a federal judge later found discriminated against African-American and Latino men. De Blasio invoked his own biracial son to express his concerns about the NYPD, but he appointed as police chief William Bratton, who championed the "broken windows" concept of policing, which focuses on enforcement of low-level infractions and made it possible for the cops to repeatedly lock up Garner, simply for selling untaxed cigarettes. Even the reason selling loosies is so lucrative comes in for Taibbi's steely rage. New York's previous mayor, Michael Bloomberg, faced a revenue shortfall after $1 billion was spent rescuing Wall Street from the financial crisis. He had pledged not to raise taxes but still increased the city's cigarette tax from 8 cents to $1.50 a pack, providing the city with $250 million in cash and creating a business opportunity for Garner to import cigarettes from Virginia, where they are much cheaper, and sell them in New York at a profit. If even for me the book sometimes gets too bogged down in legal procedure - and I'm a law professor - the average reader might be even less interested in New York's "Civil Practice Laws and Rules provision 5704(a)" and the ins and outs of filing Freedom of Information Act requests to police departments. Much of the horror of U.S. criminal justice that Taibbi depicts isn't legalistic or nuanced: It's brute abuse of power by cops and prosecutors who know they can get away with it. Ramsey Orta filmed the famous video of Garner's encounter with the NYPD. He'd ignored the cops' illegal order that he stop recording, and later that night the police drove past his home, shining a spotlight at his window. It was a warning that Orta was a targeted man, and he didn't help himself by selling drugs. Orta ended up with repeat arrests for crimes he had not committed and crimes he had. The night came when the cops executed a search warrant at his home, armed with cameras in addition to guns. They didn't find any contraband in the house, but they arrested Orta and his mother anyway, filming the whole thing. A police source told the New York Daily News: "He took the video. Now we took the video." Orta now is serving time in prison, formally for drug crimes but in reality for filming truth to the NYPD's power. "I Can't Breathe" reminds us that Staten Island is America. A month after Garner's death, an officer killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Several weeks later, a Cleveland cop shot to death Tamir Rice, who was 12 years old. A few months after that, Freddie Gray died in police custody in Baltimore. All black men and boys who have been treated in death more like criminals than the cops who killed them, not one of whom has gone to jail. I have a cop friend who invokes a standard line when the Garner case comes up: "If you can say 'I can't breathe,' that means you can breathe." My buddy intends this as an expression of solidarity with the thin blue line, but it comes across as victim blaming: Even this thug's last words were a lie. But Garner's death lamentation was true. The New York medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, caused by "compression of neck (chokehold)." Taibbi suggests that Dan Donovan, then the Staten Island district attorney, engineered the grand jury process so that Pantaleo would not be charged. Donovan's reward, from the conservative voters of Staten Island, was his election to Congress, based in part on their approval of the way he handled the investigation of Garner's death. Taibbi's account is bleak. For African-Americans, the criminal laws work too well and the civil rights laws not well at all. A black man has no rights that a cop is bound to respect. Even liberal politicians sell out because they are afraid of the police. The inspiration, if any, comes from the people who resist, even if that is mainly a losing prospect. Garner's stepfather meticulously cares for the street corner where Garner was killed. His daughter Erica emerges as the hero of the effort to make the world pay attention to what happened to her father. Some of Garner's associates testified to the grand jury, even though the word on the street was that cops would never be prosecuted in Garner's death but that the police would target people who cooperated with the investigation - and the word was right on both counts. But these folks told the grand jury what happened out of a sense of justice, something people in Garner's world almost never get back from police or prosecutors. --- Butler is the Albert Brick professor in law at Georgetown University. A former federal prosecutor, he is the author of "Chokehold: Policing Black Men." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TV news anchorwoman Michele Marsh, who left San Antonio in 1979 for a groundbreaking career in New York, died this week. She was 63. Marsh, who worked at KSAT here, was one of the few women in the late 70s and 80s who broke into the mostly all-male club of evening anchors in the nations No. 1 TV market. A Wednesday New York Times article reported she was at her home in South Kent, Conn., at the time of her death Tuesday. The cause, according to Marshs son, John Paschall, was complications of breast cancer. During her time as KSATs main co-anchor in the late 1970s, Marsh, then in her 20s, made an almost immediate splash. RELATED: WOAI-TV anchor welcomes first baby She became so popular that guards were assigned to fend off her admirers, the Times noted. KENS-TV anchorwoman Deborah Knapp, another veteran of local television news, remembered her as a real pro and go-getter. I worked with Michele at KSAT my first year out of college, until I went to KENS 5, Knapp said via text message. Even though we were so young, she was a true professional. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. Knapp recalled that Marsh anchored the 5 or 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. After Marsh graduated from Northwestern University, the Detroit native started her news career at WABI-TV in Bangor, Maine, where, according to the Times, she ran the teleprompter with her toes while on the air. RELATED: Where are they now? San Antonio's ex-TV anchors, hosts share updates Back then, Marsh also was a hit with the younger set. She told The Bangor Daily News in 1976 that she had gotten fan mail from little boys who say, Lets run off together, my father owns an ice cream truck. Maine was the home state of another San Antonio TV news veteran, former KSAT anchor Don Colson. In fact, Colson may have been instrumental in KSATs hiring of Marsh. I was home in Maine on vacation. Saw Michele on WABI-TV. I called her and asked her to send a tape. History, he recalled in a Facebook message. Colson said he was Marshs co-anchor for most of her KSAT tenure. I liked her a lot. She was great to work with and a good friend, said Colson, who anchored at KSAT until 1979, jumped to KMOL for a time, then finished out his career at Marshs old station in Bangor. Never, ever heard anyone say a bad word about Michelle, he said. Much too young. Im a better man because Michelle was my friend. RELATED: '60 Minutes' star embraces life in the Texas Hill Country After New York beckoned, Marsh spent 17 years at the citys CBS flagship station, WCBS, alternating between jobs as an anchor and correspondent, depending on the ratings. After what the Times called a housecleaning in 1996, when she was one of seven anchors and reporters dismissed by the station, she was hired by WNBC. She left after losing her anchor post in 2003. Marsh was married twice. Her first marriage, to Nathaniel Price Paschall, ended in divorce. In addition to her son, she is survived by her second husband, P. H. Nargeolet. Marsh was an Emmy winner and a groundbreaker, the Times reported, one of a handful of women who had by 1980 swept into anchor positions at all five of the New York stations that had late-night news programs. On Twitter, the reaction to Marshs death by former New York co-workers and fans was both extensive and heartfelt. RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel chokes up over shootings, drawing best S.A. rating Her former WCBS co-anchor Mike Schneider said she was a true professional and a joy to work with. Longtime WCBS traffic anchor Tom Kaminski tweeted that she was a big star in New York in the 80s and 90s. San Antonio viewers also remembered Marsh. Local cartoonist and former KSAT intern Bill Field, 54, wrote an R.I.P post on Facebook. She was the first female local anchor that I remember, and the first anchor that I noticed (for) delivery and showmanship, Field said via Facebook message. She was the definition of professional. jjakle@express-news.net The cultural space will be reinstated on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street and areas surrounding Chua Cau (Pagoda Bridge). Diverse activities such as exhibition of historical documents and archeological results on commerce and Japanese streets in Hoi An in the 17th century; performances of Japanese tea arts; exhibition on Japanese and Vietnamese bonsai; Vietnamese and Japanese games for children; performances of Vietnamese and Japanese traditional clothes; lantern release on Hoai River, tours on Japanese imprints, reading space on Japanese book; and introduction of Vietnamese and Japanese handicrafts will be held. Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street - the main place for Vietnam-Japan cultural space in Hoi An (Photo source: sggp.org.vn) Especially, from 2019, Hoi An City will allocate the house at 6 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street for Japan to open Japanese cultural house and organize exhibitions, film screenings, reading space and tea making. According to Nguyen Van Son, Vice Chairman of Hoi An city Peoples Committee, this event brings out the historical and current cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan./. On this date in ... 1917: Vito Scolomieri, a Schenectady cobbler who for many years ran a business on Philip Street in Albany, arrived at the Boston docks to meet his intended Italian bride, Luisa Castelli, for a marriage arranged through relatives in Italy and facilitated by letters and photos between the two. One look at Castelli, however, proved to Scolomieri that she "did not live up to his expectations" and he called off the nuptials. For his troubles, Scolomieri was out the $100 he had spent for transportation and a trousseau, and had to return to his five motherless children to whom he had promised a "new mamma." Castelli, having arrived early and been detained by immigration authorities until Scolomieri arrived, now faced deportation as a public charge. A data center will be coming to Houston soon after all. The University of Houston said Thursday it will start an on-campus data science center. The decision comes months after the University of Texas System called off plans to develop a 300-plus acre swath of land, likely for that purpose, in March amid a political backlash. UH's institute will cover cyber and physical security, drug development and discovery, sustainability and health care. Planning began 18 months ago, Provost Paula Myrick Short said in a news release. UT's plans were made public in March. Data programs are increasingly present in the UH Systems academic offerings. UH started a new masters program in statistics and data analysis this year within its math department, and its computer science masters program offers a track in data analytics. Courses include machine learning, artificial intelligence and data mining. Proponents of data science cite its potential impact in industry. Energy and oil companies globally have turned to data analytics as a cost-savings technique, especially when they drill in new areas. Spending money on data analysis, for example, can save money drilling in bad wells. In late March, there were at least 178 U.S. graduate business programs covering data analytics and information management, a spokeswoman for the Graduate Management Admission Council said at the time. Twenty-three of those were in Texas. Rice University started a $43 million institute in data science to focus on urban flooding, air quality and education policy. UH's center will be in an on-campus research and engineering building that opened last year. It will include both non-degree certificate programs and undergraduate and graduate degrees. Andrea Prosperetti, a National Academy of Engineering member who joined UH in 2016, will lead the effort. Prosperetti said he joined the project early in the summer. He said Thursday that certificate programs and potentially graduate programs could begin as early as next fall. An undergraduate program may take several years to begin, he said. Qualified faculty from other departments will begin teaching courses at the institute, which may rely on adjuncts in its early stages, he said. Partnerships with industry could fund professorships and scholarships, too, but none have yet been formed, he said. He also envisioned research projects in collaboration with Rice University, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. "There is no reason why we shouldn't be collaborating with them," Prosperetti said. UT System regents never formally approved a data center on the Houston land, which it purchased for hundreds of millions of dollars without disclosing an explicit purpose for the property. Chancellor William McRaven scuttled UT's project in March amid concerns about the process from state lawmakers, who were frustrated that UT had not alerted them to their plans. Documents later revealed that a UT advisory group for the property proposed developing a data science center focusing on medicine, energy and education. In his annual State of the City address in May, Mayor Sylvester Turner asked the University of Houston, Rice University and Texas A&M to work with UT to take on a task force's recommendations for how to use UT's land, near the Texas Medical Center. "If Houston wants to remain a global leader in energy, aeronautics, health care and education, we also need to be a leader in data science. And the world's premiere data science center needs to be and must be right here in the city of Houston," Turner said at the time. This post will be updated. Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com. The overview of the roundtable disscussions (Source: hanoimoi.com.vn) The event drew the participation of Head of Vietnam Cinema Department Ngo Phuong Lan and Counsellor of Culture of the Embassy of Spain to Hanoi Mencia Manso de Zuniga. Ms. Lan gave a brief introduction of Vietnams cinema. She also stressed that the event was a chance for film makers from the two countries to share experiences and a premise to promote bilateral cinema cooperation. While Ms. Mencia Manso de Zuniga thanked the Vietnam Department of Cinema for supporting the organization of the film festival. The highlight of the film festival is the world premiere screening of the film titled Thi Mai, the first Spanish feature ever to be shot in Vietnam. The film is a classic tale of West-meets-East, with a hilarious Spanish-Vietnamese twist and a star-studded cast from Spain and Vietnam. The films director, Patricia Ferreira, and producer Larry Levene spoke to the audience about working on location in Hanoi and Ha Long bay at the festivals first screening. The festival is among activities marking the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Spain diplomatic ties./. Richard Weissman knows the value of a good lesson. In 1980, when his parents opened The Learning Experience, a private preschool in Boca Raton, Fla., he learned about hard work, spending his after-school hours mopping floors and cleaning toilets. In 1987, after co-founding a new learning center franchise concept, Tutor Time, with his parents, he learned about the perils of rapid growth: Success came quickly, too quickly to manage, and by 1999 the Weissmans were no longer running the business. Weissman moved on to a less-than-satisfying stint in private equity, where he concluded that his business roots still rested with business ownership and education. That was why, in 2001, he set out to revive his parents original brand, The Learning Experience, with a handful of locations. But his plan for small, sustained growth slowly grew into a robust franchise operation with a national presence. And this time, the CEO is older, wiser and smartly managing growth. Related: Smart Tips for Growing Your Franchise You planned to open just a few locations but now have 200 centers and are franchising again. What changed? I thought four or five successful preschools could be a nice life. We built a fairly large organization with Tutor Time the last time around, and I thought this was the time to manage expectations. But as soon as I got started, I realized it wasnt in my blood to facilitate a small company. We started franchising The Learning Experience in 2003, and my goal was to be the dominant preschool company for New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. But because of entitlements, zoning and site plan approvals, our schools were taking years to build. We had to look at a larger footprint to facilitate growth. But the financial crisis threw a wrench in your plans. In 2007, we had 27 locations and $17 million in revenue with pretty significant growth in front of us. I have been in this business some 30-odd years and had seen multiple recessionary markets. But when youre in the middle of it, you always feel thats the worst of times. If franchisees believed that they werent going to do well, then they werent going to invest in their centers. Related: 7 Ways Franchises Help Franchisees Obtain Financing How did you convince them success was still possible? There was a sign on our door at corporate that said no negatives beyond this point. We had to lead by example. We put videoconferencing and instant messaging in all our centers and started daily marketing calls. We brought everyone to a convention -- and spent a fortune -- just so I could tell them our story. We provided working capital loans to franchisees, but you had to do it our way. We drove the engine. Thats a lot of investment to make during a downturn. Did you find places to cut costs? The overall costs in the tristate market were significant in terms of taxes, living expenses and hiring talent. So in 2009, I relocated the entire headquarters to South Florida. I had historical talent to recruit there, since thats where our earlier operations were based. Related: 15 Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Franchises How did franchisees respond to the added oversight? At the time, about 35 percent of the system was company-owned -- and thats unusual. So when a franchisee would say, I cant do it, I would say, Look at corporate stores and what were doing. Were maintaining payroll. Were maintaining marketing. A franchisee cant tell you youre wrong if youve already proved it. And now the franchisees are doing as well or better than our corporate centers. The changes really proved the model and made us better. Related: Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com Meet the new Chelsea Handler. The comedian announced Wednesday that she's leaving her eponymous talk show on Netflix to pursue political activism, citing Trump's presidency as a prime motivating factor. "Like so many across the country, the past presidential election and the countless events that have unfolded since have galvanized me," Handler wrote in a statement on Twitter. "From the national level down to the grassroots, it's clear our decisions at the ballot box next year will mark a defining moment for our nation." Instead of returning to her show, Handler said she will speak to colleges across the country in hopes of hearing from students and gaining "a better understanding of our political divide." She also "joined forces" with Emily's List, an abortion rights women's political action committee, in hopes of electing more women into public office. Finally, she said she'll campaign "for candidates who are fighting for women's rights." Some of these travels will be turned into a documentary for Netflix, in which she will speak to "people of different ethnicity, religions and political philosophies." It's impossible to know how popular "Chelsea" is since Netflix doesn't release ratings. The show will continue through the end of 2017. Reviews of the show were generally negative, with one critic calling it the "most narcissistic talk show in memory." But despite the reviews, the streaming giant rarely cancels shows. Netflix has not commented on the ending of "Chelsea." Since Trump's campaign and subsequent presidency, the comedian has become vocal about political issues, primarily those pertaining to women, LGBT rights and gun control. Still, it might seem an odd decision to those who don't regularly check in on Handler's career. Her appeal to her fans is that she's always been an open book, sharing personal stories about her one-night stands, getting a DUI and her relationship with alcohol. She wasn't usually political. If anything, she was viewed as offensive by some. "Handler isn't always known for her enlightened social views; she's made widely criticized remarks about fat people and dwarves, for instance," Vox once wrote. Some think her attitude toward alcoholism can be damaging to those who suffer from the disease. And instead of bringing up politics, the stand-up comedian's breakout talk show "Chelsea Lately" generally focused on a sleazy, who-slept-with-whom brand of celebrity gossip. But she said Trump energized her to become more politically engaged and informed. "I've become a better person, and I'm more informed. I'm learning," she told CNN's Jake Tapper. "I have the Trump family to thank for that." Handler wove some of that political engagement into her Netflix show, mixing guests such as Amy Schumer and Blake Shelton with political leaders such as Democratic strategist James Carville and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, D. "I just feel a sense of responsibility, I think, more than anything else, to help people understand," she told CNN about her show. "I know I certainly didn't understand politics as much as I do now. I have a lot more to learn." Meanwhile her Twitter feed is now a constant barrage against Trump, most of her humor forgoing nuance for a hammer-like bluntness, as a recent tweet displayed, when she wrote: "Is there anyone dumber than @realDonaldTrump," before also attacking his wife and children. This new, politically-charged Handler began to emerge during the presidential campaign. After Trump announced his candidacy, Handler teamed up with Rock the Vote, a nonprofit aimed at getting young people to the polls. The organization registered more than 400,000 voters in 2016 through its online voter registration tool, Adweek reported. She also began to discuss abortion rights both on and off her show. In June 2016, for example, she wrote an essay in Playboy about having two abortions when she was 16 years old. "Like millions of women, I can live my life without an unplanned child born out of an unhealthy relationship because of Roe v. Wade," she wrote, pointing out that, "At least five states - Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming - currently have only one clinic left within their borders." The day after the election, a sobbing Handler interviewed then Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on her show, and said, "I'm sad. I'm disappointed, and I'm confused." Boxer empathized, before adding a bit of advice. "My heart's on the floor," Boxer told her. "A lot of us are on the ground right now. But I have lived a little bit longer than you and the audience here, and I have learned how painful politics can be. But that doesn't mean you run away. It means you pick yourself up, as the president said, and you fight even harder for your country, because it's ours." Handler listened. Just months later in January, donning a pink "pussy hat," Handler led the Sundance Film Festival edition of the Women's March in Park City, Utah. "Don't sit down and don't be quiet," she said at the March. "Get up, and you scream, and you yell, and you use rights. Because this is . . . bad. This isn't the country I want to live in." She also tackled gun control on several episodes of her Netflix talk show, saying, "It's time for us to start voting for politicians who do not live in the pocket of the NRA" and encouraging her fans to show up at the polls during the 2018 midterm elections. In June, she hosted an awards gala for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where she was the night's star honoree. "I'm at a place in my life where I'm, like, wow, I want to do everything I can to make sure that I'm responsible so that I don't ever look back at this time and think, 'Why the (expletive) was I sitting there on my bed? Why didn't I do anything?'" she said from the podium. Handler announced a mission statement of sorts on her Instagram earlier this year, which perhaps serves as the best explanation for the brash comedian's foray into the world of politics. In it she discussed her privilege as a white, wealthy person, one who doesn't need programs like Planned Parenthood or even medical insurance. "I'm not Muslim. I'm not Mexican. I'm not black. I'm not gay or I'm not transgender," she said. "But I know this country is based on inclusiveness, on welcoming people, on loving people that are not like you, on not worrying about how something impacts your life personally, but how it impacts all the people around you and all the people that aren't around you." "And I will fight for it," Handler added. --- Chelsea Handler announced on Oct. 18 plans to end her Netflix talk show "Chelsea" to focus on activism. (Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post) URL http://wapo.st/2gS9dtq Embed code In a tear-jerking final segment on a recent episode of Shark Tank, Robbie Cabral accepted a $200,000 investment for 20 percent equity of his company from Kevin O'Leary. The emotional moment marked the culmination of Cabral's inspiring path from a penniless immigrant student, working janitorial jobs just to scrape by, to full-fledged CEO of a well-funded startup. "It's an incredible feeling," he tells Entrepreneur. "When you come from the bottom and then go up, you kind of appreciate the journey more." Related: 8 Reasons a Powerful Personal Brand Will Make You Successful Entrepreneur asked him to share some of his lessons over the past few years. Sit down, be humble. Cabral came to L.A. from the Dominican Republic with dreams of being a rock musician. But after a few brutal months banging on club doors, the cold hard reality of life in the music business set in. His friends packed up and went home, but Cabral decided to stay. "I love my country, but I just felt like there was really not a lot of opportunity to move forward," he says. "I needed to figure out a way how to stay here and be proactive." So he banged on some other, less glamourous, doors. "I did a lot of crappy jobs. Dishwashing in restaurants, cleaning vomit in hotel rooms, doing people's laundry, cleaning up gym locker rooms," he says. "I had a BA from college and I was doing this." There were many days when he felt like quitting, but a voice in his head kept telling him, "This is not the end of your journey. This is going to lead to something else, keep pushing forward, always stay positive," he says. "Even though that was hard, the positive energy really helped me." Eventually, Cabral was able to cobble together enough money to pay for a management course at UCLA. Learn to live with rejection. Even with his newfound credentials and connections, Cabral couldn't land a decent job. "I just started applying to lots of jobs, and nothing came in," he says. "It was always that rejection." A lot of it was cultural, Cabral claims. Related: 11 Habits of Truly Happy People "When you come from another place, even to draft an email, I had to ask my wife to help me out," he says. "But you kind of have to learn and grasp, and each interview I did, I learned more." One thing he learned was to always be on time. "[Here,] when they tell you we're going to speak at 10 a.m., 10 a.m. is the call. Back home, I'd probably expect your call at 1 p.m," he says. Following up was also essential. "You need to follow up after a job interview regardless if you get the job or not," Cabral says. "It shows that you are passionate and really want to pursue that aspiration, especially in my case where everyone was looking for a talent who was more specific for their needs." Treat others how you want to be treated. Eventually, Cabral began to land some jobs, including a well-paying position at a real estate company. Unfortunately, for reasons he still doesn't entirely understand, he was let go during the Christmas holidays -- two weeks before his baby boy was born. The news was devastating, but rather than get angry, he got a former co-worker a promotion. "I told them that this has been a positive experience for me, but I just wanted to recommend one thing: To give a young kid on my team a full-time job," he says. "Because he's been working here part time and I don't think you guys appreciate him enough." The kid got the job. Related: Habits of the World's Wealthiest People (Infographic) Image Credit: Michael Desmond | ABC Stay curious. With no job, no prospects and a new baby keeping him up all night, Cabral hit an all-time low. "Part of me felt like I want to go back home. I'm done with this whole American Dream crap," he says. He became depressed and gained 50 pounds -- which, strangely, turned out to be a good thing because it led to him joining a gym. "That's where the whole BenjiLock idea started because I noticed people having issues with their combination, locking their keys inside the locker, getting stuff stolen all the time," Cabral says. "One guy had a Bluetooth lock but couldn't get a Wi-Fi connection. So I thought, what if I designed a simple lock that you can open with your fingerprints, but also with a traditional key?" The good news: After doing research, he discovered there was no product like this in the marketplace. The bad news: Cabral had zero tech experience. Luckily, he was able to find a local engineer to buy into his vision, and he agreed to build the lock on his off-time. Take big chances. For three years, Cabral scraped together enough money to keep his dream alive, even though his family and friends told him he needed to get a real job. "That kind of inspired me more," Cabral says. "I was like, I'm just going to take all this in and Ill be the last one laughing." Related: 11 Ways Successful People Deal With People They Don't Like Last year, a friend suggested that Cabral showcase his invention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, an idea which he initially dismissed. "I wasn't selling," he says. "All I had was a protype." But realizing he needed to make a big move to jumpstart his business, he decided to go for it. It was the best decision he ever made. Crowds gathered around his booth, and he was named a CES 2017 Innovation Award Honoree. In addition, people kept encouraging him to audition for Shark Tank, which was doing an open casting call at the convention. "I'd never even heard of the show," Cabral says. "But I ran over to their booth at the last minute. I was one of the last people on the line." After his audition, he was told, "There's something here. I can't promise you anything, but I'll be in touch," according to Cabral. Go with your gut. Back in L.A., Cabral was asked to pitch Shark Tank's producers numerous times. The same guy who couldn't get an employer to even return his calls three years ago was ulimately selected to be one of 50,000 applicants to appear on the show. After he poured his heart and soul into his pitch, Cabral was faced with a dizzying array of different deal options. Many expected him to team with fellow Dominican-American Alex Rodriguez. Lori Geiner, with her QVC expertise, also seemed like a good fit. But in the end, Cabral went with Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary. "I went with my gut, and my gut kept telling me to go with Kevin," he says. "He was asking all the right questions. He just connected with me." Related: He Went From Dead Broke to Millionaire Because He Just Wouldn't Stop Trying This was the same gut check he's used to keep him on track all these years. "Even though I had to do all those crappy jobs," he says, "I always followed my gut, followed my passions and just kept pushing." It's finally paying off. Related: How Digital Businesses Can Stay Relevant 3 Simple Steps to Grow Your Business Through Referrals How to Write a Business Plan Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com WASHINGTON - The Senate's top Republican on military matters threatened Thursday to subpoena the Trump administration if officials are not more forthcoming about the Niger attack that left four American service members dead - just one of the steps lawmakers are taking to insist that Congress be read in on military operations before tragedies occur. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., is pushing the Trump administration to brief key members of Congress about the existence of ongoing operations - something he said the Obama administration was far better about doing than the Trump team. "There's a mind-set over there that they're a unicameral government," McCain said on Thursday, accusing the Trump administration of intentionally trying to keep Congress in the dark about the military's foreign engagements and noting that "it was easier under Obama." "We are coequal branches of government; we should be informed at all times," he added. "We're just not getting the information in the timely fashion that we need." McCain communicated those frustrations to national security adviser H.R. McMaster during a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Armed Services Committee members. While McMaster seemed sympathetic to his demands that Congress be better informed, McCain was unconvinced that that would lead to any policy changes, noting that "talk is cheap." Tensions between lawmakers and the Trump administration about how extensively key lawmakers like McCain are briefed on active operations have flared in recent weeks after four U.S. Special Forces soldiers died in an ambush in Niger. Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, and Sgt. La David Johnson had been in Niger as part of a counterterrorism mission to provide advice and training to local forces and were not expected to come into contact with enemy fighters. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have yet to be briefed about the particulars of the attack - a delay that led McCain to accuse the administration this week of not being upfront with Congress about the particulars of the ambush. On Thursday, McCain added that he was prepared to use "everything, everything, everything" at his disposal to get complete information about the attack, even if "it may require a subpoena." McMaster, he added, promised on Wednesday to brief lawmakers soon. But the lawmakers' frustrations run deeper than simply being underinformed about one attack. McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Thursday that before the news of the ambush, they had almost no knowledge about what U.S. Special Forces were doing in Niger. "Very little," McCain said, when asked whether he knew anything about the military's mission there. He surmised that there were likely to be other troops deployed in global operations that the committee had not been made aware of, "but I don't know who they are." Graham, who also met with McMaster on Wednesday, said that his knowledge of U.S. forces' work in Niger was "not in any great detail, just in general." "I'm all for going after terrorists," Graham added, "but I want to know before I read about it in the paper where our people are and what they're doing." White House Chief of Staff John Kelly addressed the confusion surrounding the events in Niger on Thursday, telling reporters that "there's an investigation ongoing. An investigation doesn't mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesn't mean people's heads are going to roll. The fact is they need to find out what happened and why it happened." But he did not promise to expedite getting information out to the public, adding: "I've read the same stories you have. I actually know a lot more than I'm letting on, but I'm not going to tell you." The FBI is assisting in the investigation, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official declined to describe the particular assurance, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, but characterized it as routine and noted that the bureau has personnel in Africa. McCain said Thursday that he was ready to be briefed by administration officials in a classified or public setting, depending on the issue. But, he stressed, the Pentagon must be more forthcoming. "It's not wanting [more information]," he said. "It's a requirement that the Senate Armed Services Committee have oversight of the military." The dispute over disclosure of operations is just one of the latest arenas in which McCain has tangled with the Trump administration over its defense policy. He has accused the Trump team of not living up to its promises to better fund the military in its budget request - a subject that is gripping Congress as members hash out the particulars of a budget and an annual defense authorization bill. McCain has excoriated the administration as being unprepared for the aftermath of the Islamic State in the Middle East and as too soft on Russia after Moscow's attempts to challenge Washington on the world stage and meddle in various government systems and the 2016 U.S. election. McCain has also periodically chastised the administration for complicating his congressional oversight responsibility - at first, because the Pentagon was sluggish about filling vacant positions, and more recently, because the Pentagon has not furnished certain government officials for committee interviews. On Thursday, McCain noted with irritation that the Trump administration had refused to let Rob Joyce, the White House's top cybersecurity official, testify at a hearing devoted to examining the country's defenses against cyberattacks. "Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the White House declined to have its cyber coordinator testify," McCain complained. "To me, the empty chair before us represents a fundamental misalignment between authority and accountability in our government today when it comes to cyber." - - - The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report. It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the Prime Minister Mark Rutte has started on the final step in what's already been the longest ever process of forming a new government in the Netherlands: assembling the team of ministers that will make up his third cabinet. The administration to be known as Rutte III will have 16 cabinet ministers -- six from the premier's own Liberals, four each from the Christian Democrats and the progressive centrist D66 party and the remaining two from the small Christian Union, under a coalition deal sealed by chief negotiator Gerrit Zalm earlier this month. There will be another eight junior ministers. One cabinet member from each of the three smaller partners will also act as deputy prime minister, according to Dutch media reports. The question now is who Rutte, a former human-resources manager at Unilever, will pick for the ministerial roles. The rumor mill will no doubt continue to spin for as long as Rutte, 50, is crafting his team, with the Liberal leader saying he's aiming for the new cabinet to be ready on Oct. 26. None of the heads of the three other parties will be in the government -- the Christian Democrats' Sybrand Buma, D66's Alexander Pechtold and the CU's Gert-Jan Segers have all said they will keep their seats in parliament instead. Unlike in the U.K. for example, Dutch ministers have to relinquish their seats in the legislature. A key cabinet position is that of finance minister, succeeding Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Labor politician who has said he won't stay in parliament after finishing his stint as Eurogroup chairman in January. Labor suffered the biggest drop in support in the March election, losing 29 of its 38 seats. In Dutch politics, the finance minister's job traditionally goes to the second-largest party in the coalition. Both the Christian Democrats, known as the CDA in Dutch, and D66 won 19 seats in the March elections; however, the CDA took more votes, with 12.4 percent of the total, ahead of D66's 12.2 percent. CDA senator and deputy chairman Wopke Hoekstra, a 42-year-old who's also a McKinsey & Co. consultant, is the CDA's lead candidate for the role, the newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported last week. Deputy Finance Minister Eric Wiebes, 54, is expected to take the post of economic affairs and climate minister, a new larger role mirroring the government's expanded environment plans, De Telegraaf reported Monday. Halbe Zijlstra, 48, and like Wiebes a Liberal, will become foreign minister, the newspaper said. Earlier media reports linked D66's Kajsa Ollongren, 50, currently the deputy mayor in Amsterdam, to the economic affairs portfolio, though the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad said Tuesday that she could become interior minister. Between 2011 and 2014, Ollongren was secretary-general, the most senior civil servant, at Rutte's Ministry of General Affairs. Ollongren has also been identified by Dutch media as one of the three deputy prime ministers. The four coalition parties are expected to compile the final list of names Friday evening, with Rutte holding meetings with the future government members starting Saturday, according to another newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad. Whoever lands a post in Rutte's team, one thing is certain: their job will be the result of a record-breaking effort. On Oct. 10, the process of forming the coalition had taken 209 days, breaking the barrier set in 1977 for the longest coalition talks since World War II. That's about three times as long as the postwar average of 72 days. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - Muslim Americans had planned to gather in the nation's capital to protest President Donald Trump's latest travel ban on Wednesday, the day it was scheduled to go into effect. But late Tuesday, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked its implementation, saying that it "plainly discriminates based on nationality." A federal judge in Maryland early Wednesday issued a second halt to portions of the ban. Protesters briefly celebrated, then took to the streets Wednesday afternoon to demonstrate as planned. The ban didn't go into effect, but protesters said the fight is far from over. The majority-Muslim group gathered near the White House before marching to the Trump International Hotel and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters, shutting down Pennsylvania Avenue and booing at the hotel along the way. "The news of [Tuesday] was obviously exciting. It's a victory, but it's not the battle," said Isra Chaker, a campaign adviser at the nonprofit Oxfam America, which was part of a coalition that organized the protest. "We need to be able to keep the energy high and voice our disapproval of whatever version of the Muslim ban this administration comes up with." The White House defended its ban Tuesday and decried the Hawaii judge's ruling as "dangerously flawed." "These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation," the White House said in a statement. Protesters, many from New York and the Washington suburbs, carried American flags and signs that read "We Muslims Love America" and "Build a Wall Around Trump." They chanted "No hate, no fear, Muslims are welcome here," and "This is what America looks like." One woman donned a hijab with the American flag printed on it. They said the president's rhetoric and actions are harmful to Muslim Americans and other minority communities. "We're citizens so we don't have to worry about us, but we have to worry about our families still in Yemen who want to come here," said Fahini Lutf, a 36-year-old grocery store owner from the Bronx. "We're afraid because every time, there's a new [travel ban] law." An organizer said that first- and second-generation immigrants from most of the countries Trump tried to ban from traveling to the United States - Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela - attended the rally. Abdulwarf Muslah was 17 when he came to the United States from Yemen in 1997. He now owns a bodega in New York and said the ban doesn't represent the ideals he associates with this country. "We know this country is for immigrants, this country is for freedom for everyone," he said. "My favorite word is 'God Bless America.' " The rally included speakers who explained how the travel ban would affect their communities and what the United States means to them. A Jewish speaker said, "Any Muslim ban is an insult to me as an American and a Jew." Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American who helped plan the Women's March in January and works with grass-roots Muslim advocacy group MPower Change, said, "The biggest threat to a white supremacist agenda is solidarity and unity." Mona Sala arrived in the United States from Jordan four months ago on a temporary visa and said she hopes to live here permanently in the future. She said the president's ban was unjust and she wanted to support the Muslim American community she has found in the United States. "This is a nonsense law," she said. "It doesn't make sense to ban a whole country." ISTANBUL - Iranian security forces prevented former president and opposition figure Mohammad Khatami from leaving his Tehran home late Wednesday, local media reported. It was the latest sign that regime hard-liners were seeking to crack down on the country's reformists, activists said. Two opposition-linked news sites said security forces arrived at Khatami's home in the Iranian capital to block him from meeting with political allies, a move that one outlet referred to as "temporary house arrest." Khatami, a widely popular, pro-reform cleric, served two terms as president, from 1997 to 2005, but was later banned from public appearances after supporting anti-government protests in 2009. An order from a state prosecutor this month tightened those restrictions, according to one of Khatami's lawyers, imposing measures including a three-month ban on receiving political guests. The government did not publicly confirm the restrictions. But the incident Wednesday is being cast as part of a broader conflict between pro-reform figures, who have allied with President Hassan Rouhani, and hard-liners in the security forces and judiciary. Those rivalries are likely to be aggravated as tensions rise between Iran and the Trump administration, which has vowed a more aggressive U.S. policy toward Iran, and as Iranian political factions jockey for power. The Iranian regime "never misses a chance to utilize American antagonism to its own advantage," said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Brookings Institution. On one side are the moderates and reformists, who have pushed for gradual change in the system, including greater political freedoms and more dialogue with the West. On the other side are the hard-line security forces and conservative clerics, who have balked at diplomacy and suppressed dissent. President Donald Trump's speech on Iran last week, in which he outlined a new, aggressive strategy, gave Iranian hard-liners "the opportunity to crack down against any political force that poses even a notional challenge to the authority and the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic," Maloney said. This month, an Iranian court sentenced seven reformist lawmakers, including Khatami's brother, to a year in prison for "propaganda against the state." Rights activists have also reported that relatives of late president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were recently banned from traveling abroad. But the moves against Khatami - the 74-year-old standard-bearer of Iran's reform movement - are likely to raise the stakes further. Khatami remains highly popular among Iran's youth and urban middle class, analysts said. His popularity as a reformer "is deeply unsettling to the intelligence and security apparatus of the Islamic republic," said Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. People "look back on his presidency and his reformist agenda with fond memories," he said. "Arguably, he is the most popular politician in Iran today." Khatami has faced pressures since the nation was hit by mass protests in 2009 after the disputed reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner, amid claims by activists and others that Iranian leaders had manipulated the vote against reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi and another presidential contender in that race, Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since 2011. In 2015, Iranian news media were temporarily blocked from publishing Khatami's name or image. Still, in May, he defied the ban to endorse Rouhani for reelection. Since then, Rouhani has sparred with the judiciary and commanders of the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps. And this month, he criticized judicial officials for the new restrictions on Khatami, adding to a string of public rebukes by Rouhani against the clerical establishment. Iran's judiciary is acting like it has "nothing better to do" than summon people for questioning, Rouhani said during a speech at Tehran University on Oct. 7. Iran's judicial chief, Sadegh Larijani, responded harshly. "If there's anyone with nothing better to do, it's you, who for the past four years has been defending the nuclear deal so passionately that it seems there are no problems in the country," Larijani said. Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran's hard-liners are sending a message to those seeking reform. "Khatami's restricted mobility, which essentially places him under house arrest, carries a message from Iranian hard-liners to reformists," he said. "It says, 'Ultimately, you are dispensable.' " - - - The Post's Brian Murphy contributed from Washington. Last month in the Pearl City community on Oahu, Safeway customer Arlene Sua watched as a man suddenly grabbed eight cases of Spam and head for the door. She thought "'OK, this isn't real. No, he's not going to take it, no, no," she told KHON TV. But it was real. The man took off with the Spam and disappeared. Elsewhere on the Island at about the same time, three women loaded up shopping carts at a Long's drugstore with 18 cases of - you guessed it - Spam. They made a rush for the exit. Fortunately, an alert customer, Kurt Fevella, saw the attempted heist in progress, stationed himself at the door on Spam patrol and stopped them in their tracks. They shoved the carts toward at him and took off, Fevella told KITV4. A shop at a downtown mall wasn't so lucky. The Honolulu Police Department is now offering a $1000 reward for a man (and an apparent accomplice) who entered a store on Oct. 3, grabbed a case of Spam and punched a security guard who attempted to stop him. More for you Romano's Macaroni Grill files for bankruptcy protection Police reported that the thief "fled in an unknown direction." These Spam snatchers are not hungry people desperate for Spam, said Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. They are most likely part of a Spam black market that's taking off in a state where the demand for Spam knows no bounds. "It's a staple," Yamaki told The Washington Post. The thefts have proliferated to the point that some businesses are putting Spam in plastic cases under lock and key, she said, along with the more conventional and more expensive shoplifting targets such as electronics, Gillette Power Fusion razor refills and, as it happens, canned corned beef, also popular in Hawaii. To buy a can of Spam, you have to ask a sales person to retrieve it. Yamaki thinks Spam has become a form of currency, particularly for drug addicts in need of quick cash. With Spam selling for roughly $2.50 per 12 ounce can (depending on where in Hawaii you look), a thief who paid nothing for an 8-pack or a case of 12 can turn a decent profit underselling the retailers from whom they stole. "It's organized retail crime," said Yamaki. "It's not like 'I'm going in to steal Spam to feed my family. I'm going in with a list of things I want to steal.'" The thieves work in teams, one to distract onlookers, the others to "run out with Spam." "We hear a lot of rumors where it's going," Yamaki said. "We've heard they work through middlemen. We've heard that they're selling it from the back of their cars. We've heard all kinds of rumors. Whether they're true or not, I'm not sure." To some mainland Americans, this may all seem funny. But mainlanders often think of Spam either as junk email or a cheap "mystery meat" that comes in a can and has no taste, which is true if you just eat plain Spam from a can. After all, how flavorful is a mixture of pork with ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite? But in Hawaii, nobody eats it plain out of the can. They eat "Spam fried rice," or "Spam and eggs" or a Korean spam stew called budae jjigae and especially Spam Musubi, a sushi-like snack of cooked rice, Spam and often teriyaki sauce all wrapped in seaweed. (Try it in Hawaii, you'll like it, Anthony Bourdain once advised. "They love it," he said. "They'll make you love it.") And they eat it in vast quantities and have since World War II, when conventional meat was scarce and the thousands of GIs based in Hawaii ate the Hormel product as lunch meat. Now Hawaii residents consume more per capita than any other state, some five million pounds a year, "six cans for every man, woman and child," as National Geographic once noted with a dash of disapproval, commenting that "a 12-oz can is supposed to contain six servings, and each serving includes 25 percent of the U.S. recommended daily fat intake and 33 percent of a day's sodium." But in Hawaii, they don't make fun of Spam. They celebrate Spam, literally, with an annual "Spam Jam" in Waikiki. But thefts of Spam in bulk, by the case, appear to be a relatively recent phenomenon, Yamaki said. She attributes the thefts to a state law enacted last year that changed the definition of a felony from a theft worth at least $350 or to one worth at least $750. So a thief could make off with about 300 cans before risking a felony charge. "They steal right under" that $750 cutoff, Yamaki said. That's why the Oahu online publication, Honolulu Civil Beat, found cans of Spam locked up in a case at a Walgreens this week. "Items electronically monitored for theft," said the sign. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - They'd demonstrated before, thousands of anti-war protesters singing and waving banners and burning draft cards on the Mall in Washington. Now the organizers for the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam wanted to go further - much further. On Oct. 21, 1967, they announced, anti-war protesters would march en masse past the Lincoln Memorial, across the Memorial Bridge all the way to the front steps of the Pentagon. And then they would try to levitate it. And storm it. And bring the military-industrial complex to its knees. "We will dye the Potomac red, burn the cherry trees, panhandle embassies, attack with water pistols, marbles, bubble gum wrappers, bazookas, girls will run naked and piss on the Pentagon walls, sorcerers swamis, witches, voodoo, warlocks, medicine men and speed freaks will hurl their magic at the faded brown walls," promised Abbie Hoffman, one of the organizers and a co-founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies). "We shall raise the flag of nothingness over the Pentagon and a mighty cheer of liberation will echo through the land." As many as 100,000 people, mostly young, mostly white, flooded the capital for the demonstration, anticipating an injection of counterculture flair into the anti-war movement. An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 demonstrators descended on the Pentagon. And by dawn the next day, nearly 700 had been arrested for various acts of civil disobedience, including trying to get inside the building. It was an early test of that fall's new motto, "from protest to resistance," and a concrete shift in the "tone and tactics of the anti-war movement," according to Maurice Isserman, a history professor at Hamilton College who attended the Pentagon march as a 16-year-old high school student. Now, on the 50th anniversary of that pivotal weekend, Isserman and more than 100 others plan to demonstrate once again in Washington as part of a two-day retrospective event organized by the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee. "This is not an attempt to repeat what happened in 1967," said Terry Provance, a VPCC staffer who helped organize the weekend's festivities. "Though you never know," he joked. "If somebody acts on their own, they act on their own." That was the mindset 50 years ago, too, as the mobilization committee worked with different factions within the anti-war movement to plan the Pentagon march. Some groups were only comfortable demonstrating at the Mall. Others supported putting the pressure on military officials, rather than picketing the White House or marching to Capitol Hill. And still others were made quite nervous by the radical rhetoric of Hoffman and his Yippies co-founder Jerry Rubin, who were primarily responsible for the threats to levitate the Pentagon and turn the Potomac River red. A few months before the demonstration, Hoffman and Rubin held a press conference to detail their plans of an "exorcism to cast out evil spirits" by the "flower power contingent." They had incense and a "psychedelic bomb," which looked like a bowling ball, according to Jonah Raskin's book "For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman." On Oct. 21, 1967, demonstrators began filling the Mall mid-morning. Speakers included writer Norman Mailer, poet Robert Lowell, pediatrician Benjamin Spock and Clive Jenkins of the British Labor Party, whose remarks were interrupted when a member of the American Nazi Party tried to punch him at the podium. By late afternoon, the momentum had shifted toward the Pentagon. Throngs of people marched south, bottle-necking as they crossed the bridge and slowing to a shuffle, Isserman recalled. All around the Pentagon, military police, federal marshals and thousands of Army troops with rifles and riot gear were stationed in place, according to the Department of Justice, ready to defend the nation's wartime command center against the demonstrators coming to storm it. From their perimeter positions on the ground and perches on the roof, the officers watched as the protesters inched closer and closer, spilling into the Pentagon's parking lot and toward its entrance. They readied their weapons, though some officers said years later that the guns weren't loaded. "It was a great deal of uncertainty," Isserman said. "You kind of didn't know which way it was going to go." Isserman had no intention of getting arrested - he had promised his parents he wouldn't. But then a section of fencing gave way on the perimeter and suddenly people were pouring through by the thousands, pushing closer and closer to the Pentagon entrance. Isserman was in the middle of it. Most of the crowd was quickly cordoned off, not allowed to move forward or backward. More than a dozen others broke the line though, making it just inside the Pentagon doors before being carted out by officials. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara watched the chaos from the safety of his office. He would later say he'd turned against the war himself by 1967. The Potomac never ran red, no cherry trees burned and the Pentagon did not leave the ground. The hippies and yippies who wanted to levitate the massive 3.7 million-square-foot building couldn't fully encircle it as planned - though the exorcism was more about theatrics than anything else. As the sun set, the crowd began to shrink. But there were confrontations into the evening, with brawls and bloodied heads and tear gas lobbed into the crowd. The steps of the Pentagon were streaked red. By dawn the next day, only a few protesters remained, huddled together, having burned their signs to keep warm. At that point, nearly 20,000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam, and the war would claim 38,000 more lives before the U.S. finally withdrew in 1975. But the march on the Pentagon became a defining moment of the anti-war movement, immortalized in Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Armies of the Night." "It was really hard for the anti-war movement to understand it's own progress," Isserman said. "In a way, we had more influence than we possibly could have known staring up at the Pentagon." GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Richard Spencer came to the University of Florida hoping to spread his white nationalist ideas, but his speech was instead quickly drowned out Thursday by a hailstorm of chants, shouting and mockery. At one point, Spencer said, "You know that what I am saying here will change the world." At another point, he described the audience as a mob. People chanted, "Black lives matter!" and "Go home, Spencer!" "Are you adults?" Spencer asked. "It doesn't look like it." Now Playing: White nationalist Richard Spencer's speech at the University of Florida on Thursday was disrupted by dozens of protesters with raised fists who booed and chanted, "Go home, Spencer." Video: Time Spencer called the crowd "shrieking and grunting morons." They responded by chanting, "Let's go, Gators!" The public university spent an estimated $600,000 on security for the event. More than 500 law enforcement officers were deployed, a state of emergency was declared, and many students avoided classes, and campus, entirely on Thursday. With an intense police presence - snipers were positioned on the rooftops of nearby buildings, hundreds of uniformed state troopers stood at attention behind barricades - the protest outside the speech proved peaceful. The event was Spencer's first public speech on a college campus since he led torch-bearing followers through the University of Virginia in August, the start of a weekend of clashes between white nationalists and white supremacists and counterprotesters that turned deadly in Charlottesville the next day. Spencer's efforts to speak at UF had been closely watched and bitterly debated - a sign not only of how raw the tensions over race and culture remain but also of the intensity of the fight over free speech on college campuses. The campus of 52,000 students was eerily quiet Thursday morning, with a heavy police presence, barricades and road closures, but by early afternoon, crowds of protesters had gathered to counter Spencer's appearance. "We have a duty to fight for our freedom," a woman in an orange tank top shouted, leading a group of marchers who repeated her words in unison. There was a brief scuffle when protesters turned on a man wearing a shirt that was branded with a swastika, and he was marched out of the crowd. But, mostly, people chanted in unison: "Not my town, not my state, we don't want your Nazi hate!" When an airplane carrying a banner that read, "Love Conquers All! Love will prevail!" flew overhead, the crowd erupted in cheers. Before he spoke inside a heavily secured performing arts center, Spencer answered questions at an often contentious news conference. He said it was "absolutely right" that the university and state expected to spend more than $600,000 on security. "This is the free-speech issue of our day." Asked whether he was a racist, he said he was not a racist in a "cartoonish" sense but that, "Yes, race is real, race matters, and race is the foundation of identity." Eight hundred tickets were handed out for the event, but the lower level of the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts looked to be only about half-filled moments before Spencer began his speech. A theater manager said there were about 400 people inside, including media. The protest and chants in the auditorium began as soon as the event began and continued until Spencer finally walked offstage 90 minutes later. People came for many reasons. "I came here to support Spencer because after Charlottesville, the radical left threatened my family and children because I was seen and photographed in Charlottesville," Tyler TenBrink, 29, said. "The man's got the brass to say what nobody else will." Crew Kinnard, 58, a nurse from Gainesville, came to hear what Spencer had to say "because I want to know what I'm arguing against. "I want to know what logic and what information he might be using," Kinnard said. "It breaks my heart that this is happening in the 21st century, but we all have freedom of speech." Emmanuel Kizito, a 20-year-old political science major at UF, sat near the back of the auditorium with a group of black students. He said he "came to witness Spencer's violent rhetoric and to indict the University of Florida . . . who emboldened his ideals by allowing him to speak." Asked if he was worried about violence or if he thought the event could be dangerous, he replied, "As a black man, everywhere in America is dangerous for me." After Spencer's speech ended, the few supporters who did show up began to trickle out, and the protesters started shouting. One man emerged from behind the police line only to be sprayed in the face with something, witnesses said. Police began escorting others. "Nazi scum!" protesters screamed as one man in a white polo shirt and a slicked-down side part emerged from the theater, and state troopers formed a cordon between him and the protesters and helped him move down Hull Road. The crowd followed, chanting and surrounding them. In a telephone interview after the speech, Spencer described the appearance as "frustrating and exhilarating at the same time." "I'm inspired that we persevered against totally thuggish behavior," he said. "Screaming at the top of your lungs is the same as trying to bar the door." Spencer called his appearance a "very big win for us and a very big loss for the University of Florida and antifa." Zachary Bautista, a University of Florida medical student, said he views the protest as part of a larger series of demonstrations related to hate and injustice across the country. There was the women's march against President Trump and racism in Washington. There were the marches against racial inequality in Missouri. Now, it's Gainesville's turn, he said. "Having the presence of someone like Richard Spencer here is a call to action for us," Bautista, 23, said. "This is our opportunity to let everyone know we don't agree with this. We want everyone to know we want equality and opportunity and for everyone to get along." Police on Thursday fenced off a vast parking lot adjacent to the artcomplex. Campus police, officers from the Florida Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies took up positions around the campus and the designated protest zone Thursday morning. Spencer and his opponents praised the law enforcement response. All major roads leading to the event were blocked by dump trucks or other large vehicles. Outside the barriers, a sign listed dozens of prohibited items: no firearms, tasers, fireworks, torches, masks or chains; no wagons or pull carts; no pets, no drones, no skateboards or laser pointers. Police made two arrests. A 28-year-old man from Orlando was arrested for carrying a firearm on school property. And a 34-year-old man was charged with resisting arrest without violence. Gov. Rick Scott, R, declared a state of emergency days before the speech. University officials sent out cautionary emails about "the event," as they called it, urging students to avoid the area and denouncing the "hateful rhetoric" of the National Policy Institute. And protesters converged, blitzing social media. A group called No Nazis at UF urged solidarity on social media and offered detailed plans and shuttle rides to get as close as possible to the closed-off area. Mike Ryan Simonovich, 39, a stay-at-home father from Gainesville, was trying to find tickets to see Spencer's speech. His plan was to attend the event and then walk out when Spencer started speaking to "demonstrate my contempt for his odious views." Ryan Simonovich said he acknowledged that Spencer's right to speak was protected by the First Amendment. "A roomful of angry liberals shouting at him does more to promote his ideas than people walking out in contempt does," he said. Spencer's supporters had been planning, too. On the Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin advised people to dress inconspicuously ("if you've got Nazi tattoos, cover them up"), avoid the designated protest area ("TRAP ZONE") and try to get a ticket to the speech. Spencer is trying to keep the momentum going for his movement by appealing to college students, "trying to get young disaffected whites interested in white nationalism," as well as getting media attention, said Marilyn Mayo of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. WASHINGTON - White House Chief of Staff John Kelly unequivocally defended President Donald Trump's calls to the families of four fallen soldiers, on Thursday using his credibility as a retired general who lost a son on the battlefield to try to help his boss contain a public relations crisis. In an extraordinary, emotional appearance in the White House briefing room, Kelly described in painful detail the trauma of losing service members. He also excoriated a Democratic congresswoman for publicizing her account of Trump's call Tuesday with the widow of one of the four young men killed in an ambush in Niger. The former homeland security secretary said that Trump had sought his counsel this week about making those calls and that he thought Trump spoke "bravely" and "expressed his condolences in the best way that he could." "If you elect to call a family like this, it is about the most difficult thing you can imagine," Kelly said. "There's no perfect way to make that phone call." His voice growing thin, Kelly expressed regret and apparent indignation that the commander in chief's interactions with Gold Star families had become a subject of public debate for four straight days. "I just thought that that might be sacred," Kelly lamented. What Kelly did not acknowledge was that it was Trump who initiated that public discussion. Asked by a reporter Monday why he had been publicly silent about the Niger ambush for 12 days, Trump immediately politicized the issue by claiming to have called all Gold Star families during his tenure and by falsely accusing former president Barack Obama and other predecessors of doing so rarely or never. At the time of that news conference, Trump had yet to call any relatives of the soldiers killed in Niger. The next day, Trump also suggested that reporters should ask Kelly whether then-President Barack Obama had called him when his son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, died in Afghanistan seven years ago. Kelly, who had gone to great lengths to avoid injecting his personal story into political debates, did not reveal Thursday how he felt about Trump's invoking his son. He confirmed that there had been no call from Obama but also said he did not fault the former president for not making one. In fact, Kelly said, he had advised Trump not to call the loved ones of dead soldiers. "I said to him, 'Sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families,' " Kelly said. The 67-year-old retired Marine Corps general also sought to claim the moral high ground by deploring the degradation of modern American society. When he was growing up, he said, women, religion and the dignity of life were sacred. Now, he said, they no longer are. There was evident irony in Kelly's making that particular point in defense of Trump, whose presidential campaign last year was marked by name-calling, harsh rhetoric about Muslims, Mexicans and other minorities and allegations of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women. The appearance was an attempt to tamp down a self-created and ballooning controversy over Trump's contacts with the families of fallen soldiers. The Washington Post on Wednesday identified at least a half-dozen Gold Star families who were not called by Trump as he had claimed and reported that Trump had promised one grieving father $25,000 in June but had never sent a check; the White House said it was sent this week after The Post asked about the case. Kelly specifically addressed Trump's call with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and reserved his harshest criticism for Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., a friend of the family's who was with Myeshia Johnson when the president called and who listened to the conversation on speakerphone. Kelly said he was "stunned," "appalled" and "brokenhearted" to learn Wednesday morning that Wilson had criticized Trump's tone and choice of words in a series of media interviews. He accused the congresswoman of "selfish" behavior and of speaking "in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise." But Kelly also appeared to effectively confirm Wilson's account by echoing some of the language she had described - an account that Trump had called "totally fabricated." Kelly said Trump's message to Johnson was: "He knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted. There's no reason to enlist. He enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken." Kelly also said he was shocked that Wilson had listened in on the call, although Kelly was among the staffers who listened in on the president's line, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. "When I listened to this woman and what she was saying and what she was doing on TV, the only thing I could do to collect my thoughts was to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth - and you can always find them, because they're in Arlington National Cemetery," Kelly said, adding that he spent 90 minutes walking among the tombstones there Wednesday collecting his thoughts. Wilson told Politico in response to Kelly's remarks that Trump's chief of staff is "trying to keep his job. He will say anything. There were other people who heard what I heard." Johnson's aunt, who raised him as her own son after his mother died when he was young, has backed up Wilson's version of events. Late Thursday, Trump continued his criticism of Wilson, tweeting: "The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson (D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!" Surprising reporters Thursday afternoon, Kelly took the lectern from Sanders about two minutes into the daily briefing and spoke for about 18 minutes. He answered a few questions before departing, but only from journalists who said they knew Gold Star parents. Kelly, who became the highest-ranking military official to lose a child in Iraq or Afghanistan, watched both his sons follow him into the Marine Corps. At the time Robert died, by stepping on a land mine in southern Afghanistan in 2010, Kelly and his two sons had participated in a combined 11 combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kelly noted Thursday that his surviving son is serving in Iraq. He has been private about Robert's death, even though both his and his sons' military service clearly informs his thinking on White House foreign policy and national security decisions, several White House officials said. "In my case, hours after my son was killed, his friends were calling us from Afghanistan, telling us what a great guy he was. Those are the only phone calls that really matter," Kelly said. "If you elect to call a family like this - and it's about the most difficult thing you could imagine - there's no perfect way to make that phone call." Kelly began his remarks with a stark and meticulous explanation of what happens to fallen military personnel overseas. "Their buddies wrap them up in whatever passes as a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as a routine and sends them home," he said. Their first stop along the way is when they're packed in ice, typically at the airhead, and then they're flown to, usually, Europe, where they're then packed in ice again and flown to Dover Air Force Base." He also walked through the process of what happens when "a casualty officer" visits the home of a fallen soldier. "The casualty officer proceeds to break the heart of a family member and stays with that family until - well, for a long, long time," Kelly said. "Even after the interment. So that's what happens. Who are these young men and women? They are the best one percent this country produces." Aside from the controversy over Trump's outreach to the families of the slain soldiers, the administration is facing mounting questions about the deadly episode itself. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., threatened Thursday to use subpoena powers if Trump administration officials are not more forthcoming about the attack. "There's a mind-set over there that they're a unicameral government," McCain said, accusing the Trump administration of intentionally trying to keep Congress in the dark about the military's foreign engagements and saying "it was easier under Obama." Defense Secretary Jim Mattis took issue with media coverage of the aftermath of the ambush, after which Johnson was found to be missing and his body was not recovered for about two days. "I would just ask you not to question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether they did everything they could to bring everyone out at once," Mattis said. In the White House briefing room, Kelly said "there's an investigation ongoing," but added: "An investigation doesn't mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesn't mean people's heads are going to roll. The fact is, they need to find out what happened and why it happened." Shortly afterward, he acknowledged, "I actually know a lot more than I'm letting on . . . but I'm not going to tell you." --- VIDEO Kelly: "There's nothing you can do to lighten the burden" Video coding: Oct. 20, 1937: The district governor of Rotary was introduced by local President Frank Cave during a visit to the Plainview Rotary Club. --Mrs. Gertrude Burbank, noted Southern home economist and food authority, will conduct The Heralds Cooking School with lectures and demonstrations. --Jimmie Sherman will be host for Eugene Harris class of boys at First Methodist Church tonight. Oct. 20, 1957: Wayland College will dedicate Brotherhood Hall, a $100,000 residence hall for 50 young men, during ceremonies later this week. --The United Fund of Plainview will launch its Red Feather Campaign at a kickoff dinner in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel on Monday. Featured speaker will be Jim Ed Waller, formerly of Plainview. Contributors will receive a red feather to wear on their lapel or jacket to signify their support. --FFA member Truman Reese of Plainview was shown in a photo with his animal which was grand champion of the Junior Livestock Show during the State Fair of Texas. The animal was purchased by Southland Insurance Co. Oct. 20, 1977: A 13-year-old Floydada youth was treated and released from Central Plains General Hospital in Plainview after a bullet he was tinkering with discharged, striking him in the knee. --Russ McBeth won the 12-year-old division of the Punt, Pass and Kick competition and will advance to the third round of the contest at Dallas on Saturday. Oct. 20, 1987: Aaron Rambo, 12, is the creator of Puddles, a weekly cartoon that runs in the Hale Center American. State Sen. Bill Sarpalius of Canyon and State Sen. Chet Edwards of Duncanville are making the rounds of Panhandle-South Plains cities urging passage of Proposition 19 in the Nov. 3 Texas Constitutional Amendments election. --Lockney resident Mitch Probasco, whose single-engine airplane crashed Monday, is in serious but stable condition in ICU at St. Marys of the Plains Hospital in Lubbock. --Dennis W. Thompson, son of Tull and Adele Thompson of Plainview, has been promoted to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Two relatively new members of the San Antonio City Council spoke out Wednesday against proposed rate increases for the citys water and sewer utility. District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry said he cant support any rate increase, and District 8 Councilman Greg Brockhouse said he wants it to be as low as possible, focusing on the must-dos like fixing the sewer system. Have you scrubbed that budget 100 percent? Brockhouse asked San Antonio Water System President and CEO Robert Puente, questioning Puente about operations and maintenance expenses like travel, conference fees and uniform allowances. Puente said he personally approves all travel requests. RELATED: San Antonio ends drought water restrictions SAWS requested rate boosts of 5.8 percent in 2018 and 4.7 percent in 2019. That would raise the average customers monthly bill by $3.45 and $3.08, respectively. Over the last six years, an average monthly SAWS bill has gone up by nearly 50 percent. The utility is planning to spend $188 million next year on its sewer system, under a 10-year consent agreement with federal regulators to reduce sewage spills into creeks and rivers. The increase also will go toward improvements to pipes and pumps that deliver potable water, including seven projects on the West and Northwest sides expected to cost $47.8 million. SAWS has raised rates substantially every year since at least 2011, with the biggest increase, 12.4 percent, proposed for 2020, when it begins buying relatively more expensive water from the 142-mile Vista Ridge pipeline now under construction. Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who spoke highly of SAWS 2018 budget as being focused on infrastructure, said reluctance to raise rates is what left SAWS with the backlog of sewer maintenance. The consent decree is not just a reason to invest but a lesson in what happens if we dont invest, he said. District 1 Councilman Roberto Trevino and District 4 Councilman Rey Saldana asked for updates on how SAWS has expanded its affordability programs for low-income residents hit hardest by rate increases. RELATED: SAWS helps restore water to Port Aransas SAWS affordability program offers discounts of $3.73 to $21.40 per month, depending on household income level. SAWS will hold a public briefing on the increases at its 2800 U.S. 281 North headquarters at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24, with video from the meeting streamed at saws.org/rates and at facebook.com/MySAWS. The utility will hold another video briefing on Facebook at 10 a.m. Nov. 1. The SAWS board is expected to vote on the increase Nov. 7, with City Council voting on Nov. 9. bgibbons@express-news.net | Twitter: @bgibbs We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Kyiv's Economic Court has changed the way of enforcing a court decision to recover a fine of UAH 171 billion from Russia's Gazprom, extending penalties to all property of the debtor, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said. "Kyiv's Economic Court granted the petition by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the Enforcement Service of the Justice Ministry and changed the way of enforcing the court decision regarding the recovery of a UAH 171 billion fine from Gazprom. To put it simply, earlier it was possible to recover only Gazprom's funds placed in banks, but now the recovery is extended to all property of the debtor," he wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday. He noted that in accordance with the procedures, the court decision should be made public in a few days. In January 2016, the Antimonopoly Committee decided to fine Gazprom UAH 85 billion for abuse of its monopoly of the Ukrainian market for transit shipments of natural gas. This decision was upheld on several occasions by Ukrainian courts. In its latest ruling, on February 22, Kyiv's Economic Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of a lower court confirming the order to recover the fine from Gazprom, which had already grown to UAH 172 billion (about $6.4 billion) with fines for nonpayment. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld the counterclaim of public joint-stock company Tatneft and annulled the decision of the High Court of Justice in London rejecting the companys claim against Ukrainian businessmen Hennadiy Boholiubov, Ihor Kolomoisky, Oleksandr Yaroslavsky and Pavlo Ovcharenko, the press service of Tatneft has reported. The decision was made on October 18. Thus, the claim will be heard by the High Court of Justice. Tatneft said that the company seeks to continue defending its rights. "We are satisfied with the decision. The court fully supported the arguments of our lawyers who opposed four legal teams of defenders. We are ready to continue to defend our claims. We are sure that justice will triumph, and cynical theft will not go unpunished," the press service said, citing Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov. As reported, Tatneft in March 2016 initiated a legal investigation in England against a number of Ukrainian businessman in a case about oil supplies to the Kremenchuk oil refinery, and is demanding that $334 million in damages and interest be compensated, Tatneft said that in 2009 these people fraudulently appropriated money due to Tatneft for oil supplied to the Kremenchuk oil refinery. In April 2016 the London court froze foreign assets of the businessmen. Download Image: Web The Jenny Wilson Trio, a family of jazz musicians, will perform at Lycoming College on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Lindsay Welch Honors Hall on the Lycoming College campus. Jenny Wilson, a notable jazz pianist and composer, will lead the trio in a selection of her original music, as well as jazz standards. The event is sponsored by Brilliant Corners, Lycoming Colleges national literary journal founded in 1996 by Sascha Feinstein, Ph.D., professor of English at Lycoming, and is free and open to the public. Wilson studied under composers Don French and Grammy-nominated Roswell Rudd while pursuing a degree in contemporary music. She also studied with jazz pianist Art Lande, a collaboration that would eventually inspire Wilson to move to Europe where she toured and taught in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. During her 12 years in Europe, Wilson made a name for herself as a distinguished jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. She performed with local and American jazz musicians, was featured at the Zurich Jazz No Jazz Festival, and appeared in Germanys Jazz Zeitung magazine. Her original music is said to have a European jazz influence due to her time spent with Lande and abroad. Recent concert performances given by the Jenny Wilson Trio include the Timucua Center for the Arts in Orlando, Fla., the Open Studio in Englewood, Fla., the Stifel Fine Arts Center in Wheeling, W.Va., the Tamarack Arts Center in Tamarack, W.Va., and Concerts in the Loft in Morgantown, W.Va. In duo and trio settings, she has released several CDs, including What She Sang in Winter, Willow and The World is Turning Gold. The Jenny Wilson Trio is comprised of Wilson, her husband Nathan, a seasoned bassist, and son Evan on the drums. Wilson and her husband are performers for the West Virginia Jazz Society, and are the current musicians-in-residence at the Eddie Vs restaurants in both Pittsburgh, Pa., and Tyson, Va. Nathan is responsible for recording the trios CDs, and is a longtime member of the Squonk Opera in Pittsburgh, Pa. When he is not playing with the family trio, Evan can be found drumming with several jazz musicians in the Washington, D.C., area, and touring with the band Electric Love Machine. Kyiv's business court on Thursday decided to terminate the agreement signed in March 2011 after a privatization tender to sell 92.79% stake in Ukrtelecom with ESU LLC under a claim of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF). The defender seeks to file a counterclaim against this ruling. "ESU disagrees with the court ruling of lower instance and continue defending ownership right to Ukrtelecom's shares in the court of appeals," the company told Interfax-Ukraine. ESU said that the court ruling would not affect operations of Ukrtelecom. In particular, the large-scale modernization of the company in partnership with China Development Bank will continue. "Taking into account the claims of the SPF and their relation to the steps of the previous owners of Ukrtelecom, ESU LLC believes that a compromise on the implementation of privatization commitments should be found," the company said. ESU said that the SPF commission several times inspected the company and confirmed the implementation of relevant privatization commitments, apart from the latest inspection that was conducted in violation of terms (from May 2016 through February 2017). As reported, in the middle of May 2017, the SPF filed a claim seeking to terminate the agreement with ESU and to collect UAH 2.17 billion of fine. PGO wraps up probe into 4 former riot Berkut policemen for beating protesters in January 2014 Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has completed its pretrial investigation of a criminal case involving four ex-members of Kyiv's Berkut riot police detachment suspected of beating activists during the night of January 22 to January 23 in Kyiv. The PGO's department of special investigations on its Facebook page has said the Berkut policemen are suspected of beating 18 activists from the Automaidan group on the night of January 22 to January 23 at the intersection of Schors St. and Hrushevskogo St. in Kyiv. In addition, the policemen are suspected of damaging the activists' vehicle. The police are suspected of violating Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 365, Part 1 of Article 366 and Part 2 of Article 384 of Ukraine's Criminal Code. The suspects are also incriminated by forgeries of official documents (police reports) and false testimony, according to which the Automaidan activists were detained and convicted of hooliganism charges. Lawyers for the suspects now have access to materials of the criminal case. Kochi: Earlier reports were afire that a fresh case will be charged against actor Dileep in connection with the actress assault case. According to the Mangalam television report, the actor forged the medical document which cites Dileep's presence in the hospital on February 17, the day the actress was abducted and assaulted in Kochi. However, Dr Hyder Ali, who treated the actor in the Anwar Memorial hospital in Aluva denied the allegations that the documents were forged. He made it clear that Dileep usually goes home even if he was admitted. In a statement given to the investigation team, the actor pointed that he was at the hospital during the incident. The reports suggested that the police also questioned the nurse and doctors in the hospital. The Court of Justice of the European Union (Luxembourg) has upheld the European sanctions levied against disgraced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr, whose accounts were arrested during 2015 and 2016, the Kyiv-based e-zine Yevropeiska Pravda (European Truth) has said. The e-zine says Yanukovych and his son filed an appeal against the year-old decision. "On September 15, the EU court (General Court) ruled on two waves of sanctions introduced by the Council of the European Union against Yanukovych and his son. At the time, the sanctions dated in 2014 had been revoked "via backdating." However, the court recognized newer sanctions which took force in 2015. Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych appealed last year's ruling of the European Court of Justice which ruled on the appeal of decisions taken by the EU court initially. The high chamber of the EU court upheld completely the initial ruling, recognizing as legal European sanctions against Yanukovych and his son mandating freezing their assets," the e-zine says. As noted in the ruling of the court on October 19, 2017, "concerns of Viktor and Oleksandr Yanukovych about the biased Ukrainian judicial system cannot cast doubt on the grounds of the charges against them for very concrete incidents of embezzlement of state funds." The court also said no evidence was provided that would cast doubt on the charges made against Yanukovych and his son in Ukraine. "The ruling of the European court pertains to only one sanctions wave, which was in force from March 2015 through March 2016 and, correspondingly, is no longer valid. However, it shows attempts by the Yanukovych family to overthrow sanctions against them (introduced in 2016 and 2017) will probably be unsuccessful," the e-zine says. On 17 October, a major Brazilian daily paper, Jornal de Comercio published a long interview with Alan Woods: a discussion ranging from Donald Trump, to Hugo Chavez, to Jeremy Corbyn and Trotsky's biography of Stalin. We republish the interview here in its entirety. Special report by Carlos Villela In the year that marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution, British political theorist, Alan Woods, visited Brazil and was in Porto Alegre to launch his translation of the new edition of the book Stalin. One of the architects of the revolution, Leon Trotsky, was working on this biography when he was assassinated by a Soviet agent in Mexico City in 1940. As critical of the Russian dictator as was Trotsky, Woods sees Stalin as a bureaucratic and totalitarian caricature" and a monster who came to power over the dead bodies of the (Communist) Party leaders. In this interview with Jornal do Comercio, Woods says he believes that the economic crisis of 2008 was directly responsible for popular revolt against the political system in several countries. The theoretician also commented on the crisis in Venezuela and the government of US President Donald Trump, who, in his view, "is the real ugly and crude face of capitalism, while the so-called centre is only capitalism with a mask." Jornal do Comercio: The left was defeated in elections around the world last year, along with a revolt against the current political system. Does that explain the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States? Alan Woods: My first observation is that the ruling class in the United States was not happy with Trump. They remain unhappy, and are trying to get rid of him. There are three reasons for this. If you look at the history of the USA over the last 100 years, it was based on two fundamental pillars: the Republicans and Democrats. Stability there depended on this balance. But, as my favorite American author Gore Vidal says: "our republic has one party, the Property Party, with two right wings." Image: Gage Skidmore, Flickr The interesting thing about these elections is that this system has completely broken down. Everyone thought Hillary Clinton would be the winner. All the press was against Donald Trump, and yet he won. They [the ruling class] like a politician they can control, and they cannot control Trump. In this context it is very important to consider another politician, Bernie Sanders. When he introduced himself as a candidate for the Democratic Party, no one paid any attention, and yet this man talking about the need for a political revolution against the billionaire class got a lot of support from the people. And if the election had been between Bernie Sanders and Trump, Sanders might have won. What you see in the US is a rage against the system. JC: As a billionaire, would not Trump be part of that system? Woods: Trump is a multi-billionaire, but he talked a lot about the working-class. Paradoxically, Trump appealed specifically to the poorest groups. He is a demagogue. It was all a lie, but he talked about the closed factories and mines, and these people are desperate. This struck a chord with millions of Americans who were sick of this system. What Trump is, in fact, I would say, is the real crude and ugly face of capitalism. The so-called centre is capitalism with a mask. JC: In your opinion, what are the causes of this political polarization? Woods: In 2008, the so-called free-market economy, which was supposed to be our salvation, collapsed. And this happened because of the big banks. According to economists, the state should have no role in the economy, but in 2008 the banks rushed to the state to ask for money, and the state gave that money. And that is just why this capitalist economy still exists. I might add that, 10 years later, we still have not got out of this crisis. All that was achieved was to turn a huge black hole in the finances of the big banks into a huge black hole in the public finances. And that's why you have the deficit. There is no money for houses, for the poor, for health and for education, but there is plenty of money for the banks. And there are constant attacks on the living standards of the poorest. JC: Younger voters often do not identify themselves with the centre, tending more to the left or to the right. What is the reason for this? Woods: It's because the political centre is a fiction. Society is increasingly divided between a small group of people who control the system and most people who are getting poorer and tend to rebel against the system. Capturing the centre ground was an idea of Tony Blair [former British Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007] to try to find an agreement between the parties, but this agreement is impossible, because they are completely antagonistic. What we are seeing is the collapse of the centre. The guys who hold power are not happy about it. These groups were very happy because Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, won in France, but in fact 70 per cent of people did not bother to vote. In addition, the left-wing Jean-Luc Melenchon is the most popular politician in France. And just look at Britain, where the Conservative Party thought it was going to win the election by a large margin the polls gave them a 20 percent advantage but that did not happen. What happened was that the Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, remained the opposition, but reduced the difference drastically. It is very likely that Corbyn will win the next election. JC: Why do so many people within the Labour Party, especially those linked to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, dislike Corbyn? Woods: It's not the case that people do not like Jeremy Corbyn. He is the most popular politician in Britain. Do you like rock? I do not. But there is a very popular rock festival [called] Glastonbury, in which more than 100,000 people participate. This summer, they invited a political figure to address the festival from the main stage, and this figure was Jeremy Corbyn. Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury / Photo: Raph_PH, Wikimedia Commons Is he unpopular within the party? Yes, but [only] within parliament. For the past two years they've been trying to get rid of Corbyn in every possible way, but they failed. In my view, the Parliamentary Party in does not represent the Labour Party. Since Corbyn was elected leader of the party, there has a been a huge stream of new members, especially younger people. JC: You were close to former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In your opinion, what led Venezuela to the present political crisis? Woods: I was a very close friend of Chavez, and I supported the Bolivarian Revolution from the beginning. The problem there and I have discussed it with Chavez many times and said it on Venezuelan television is that you cannot make half a revolution. Either you liquidate the power of the oligarchy, or they will liquidate us. You cannot try to balance between the classes, because it leads to chaos. JC: Was it out of fear or weakness? Woods: I believe it's the result of reformist illusions. The problem with Chavez, and especially Nicolas Maduro, whom I also know, is that they did not do what was necessary. They did not expropriate land, the banks and the major industries. The idea of combining capitalism and socialism without eliminating the market economy is impossible in practice. This leads to chaos, and chaos is what leads to counterrevolution. JC: Maduro lost a lot of support from the left after the protests and more than 40 deaths. Does this directly affect the Venezuelan governmental project? Woods: The left is divided on this issue. I think those so-called leftists in Brazil and Argentina who support the opposition to Maduro should ask themselves: what is the alternative? If the Venezuelan revolution is defeated, it will be a blow to the left on a world scale. I do not understand why some foolish people cannot see this. JC: Has China not succeeded in balancing communism and capitalism? Woods: No, because China is actually a capitalist market country. Certainly there are some things, like the banks, that are managed by the state, which gives the Chinese state an advantage. That's why they managed to avoid the collapse in 2008. Despite this, I believe a Chinese collapse is imminent. Woods and Chavez / Photo: own work China produces a huge quantity of commodities, and they need to export within the context of the world market. If Europe and America are consuming less, then China cannot produce. The Chinese are in a very difficult situation because the world economy will not be able to absorb their exports. Donald Trump is already threatening China with a trade war, and capitalism cannot solve this problem. JC: Another political crisis is currently taking place in the Middle East. It has led to a crisis of refugees and political instability in the region. How do you see power relations in the region, especially now that tensions between the United States and Russia are growing after investigations into alleged Russian interference in US elections? Woods: The whole ghastly mess that we see in the Middle East has only one cause, which is the invasion of Iraq by the United States. Saddam Hussein was a dictator, a monster, but does anyone believe that what they have now is better than they had before? The United States behaved very stupidly, they did nothing but destabilize the Middle East. They wiped out the Iraqi army, the only force that could fight the Islamic state. The people who are opposed to the Bashar Al-Assad regime are not moderate Islamists. There is no moderate opposition in Syria. And it is interesting to note the limitations of American power. The most powerful country on the planet economically and militarily in reality has lost the war. Now Russia decides everything that happens in Syria, the United States does not determine anything, and they are the only ones to blame for this crisis. Stalin biography / Photo: Marxist.com JC: You came to Brazil to present the book Stalin, which Trotsky was working on when he was killed. Does Stalin's image still scare people around the world? Woods: I do not think so. Stalin is finished; he is a thing of the past. He was a monster who rose to power over the dead bodies of leaders of the Bolshevik Party. Stalin is completely discredited today. At the beginning of the revolution, Russia was the most democratic country in history. But there were no resources and conditions to build socialism in Russia; this is why Lenin and Trotsky always based themselves on the idea of an international revolution. When the revolution was isolated in Russia, it began to slide backwards. Stalin was a rather insignificant figure within the Bolshevik Party. And Trotsky was the one who led the resistance. After Lenin's death, Trotsky tried to preserve the original ideas of the Revolution, but Stalin came to power destroying the Bolshevik Party. Stalinism was a bureaucratic and totalitarian caricature of socialism, which is why it collapsed. JC: Is there a possibility of a new Hitler or Mussolini, who does not necessarily commit the same atrocities, but who has the same rhetoric? Woods: No, I do not think that's possible. And the reason this is not possible is because the correlation of class forces is different to what it was in the 1930s. At that time, teachers would never consider themselves part of the working-class, they would never strike. Students, before World War II, were upper-class kids, many of them fascists. Today, when there is a strike, students and teachers are the first to support. Fascism has lost much of its mass base. JC: Can a revolution like the one led by Bolsheviks happen again? Are there any politicians today resembling Trotsky, for example? Woods: It could happen yes, why not? People do not know it, but the Russian Revolution was a peaceful revolution. But I would not say it would be a single person like Trotsky. What we have is Trotsky's ideas, as well as the ideas of Lenin, Marx and Engels. These ideas, without a doubt, can serve the cause of revolution. I'm sure it will happen. Sooner or later it will happen in one country or another that country may even be Brazil! Profile: Alan Woods is 72 years old and is a British Marxist political theorist. Born in Swansea, Wales, he is considered one of the main icons of world Trotskyism today. One of the founding leaders of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), Woods played an activist role within the left-wing of the UK Labor Party until the 1990s, when he was expelled for ideological differences. A friend of Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, Woods was seen as his political adviser when the former Venezuelan president spoke on a television network reading Reformism or Revolution, the most famous of his more than 20 books and pamphlets. In 2002, he helped found Hands Off Venezuela, a political support group for Chavismo and opposed to the US aggression against the country. He studied Russian and Philosophy at the University of Sussex in England, and then University of Sofia, Bulgaria and Moscow State University. Woods is married and has two daughters. The following letters, originally in Russian, were only recently found in the police files on Andres Nin in the National Historical Archives in Madrid (Ministerio de gobernacion, policia [historico], h.394). This material represents a significant historical discovery. Most importantly, Trotskys correspondence is an important political weapon for todays revolutionary movement. [Nins file contains documents ranging from 1913 until 1940. Since the letters carried no description, it is unclear whether they were requisitioned by the Republican police during the Civil War as part of the repression against the POUM, or if they fell in the hands of the Francoist police later on.] Introduction Leon Trotskys unpublished letters to Andres Nin in late 1930 reveal the problems that Trotsky faced in building up the original nucleus of the International Left Opposition. Most of his extensive correspondence in this period deals with these problems. Trotskys struggle with Stalin and his expulsion from the Communist International attracted support from a variety of quarters, many of whom opposed Stalin, but were not in complete political agreement with Trotskys defence of Leninism. For them, Trotskys implacable support for the ideas and methods of Bolshevism was a step too far. Such elements had drifted into the Opposition, but soon came into collision with Trotsky and what he was building. As Trotsky explains to Nin, In 1923-24, people were expelled from different parties for the sole reason that they did not agree to immediately condemn Trotsky. Subsequently, these elements were forced to group their forces together, while having neither revolutionary traditions nor a theoretical foundation underfoot. Some of them didnt even feel themselves part of a revolutionary organisation and soon took the opportunity to abandon it. The first task of Trotsky in exile was to give guidance and support to the genuine adherents of the Left Opposition in different countries. But this also meant an implacable struggle against those accidental elements which had entered the movement, a troublesome mixed bag of aginers that had evolved in either a reformist or sectarian direction. Unfortunately, we have to confirm over and over again the fact that many have thrown in with us not because we are a Marxist opposition, but because we are an opposition in general, and they are either not able or not inclined to subordinate their hollow capabilities to the discipline of a serious cause, explained Trotsky (Writings 1929-33, p. 88). The Opposition had emerged from a fusion of different groupings, with different traditions. In France, the groups that made up the Opposition were led by Raymond Molinier and Pierre Naville. The integration of such groups proved extremely difficult, and led to a series of disputes, both political and personal. Within the French League, the heated dispute over work in the trade unions, contained in the letters, revealed an opportunist deviation towards left-reformist currents. Many of the Opposition groups were very small and isolated from the working class. An exception was the Greek group, which Trotsky comments on, which had roots in the trade unions in Athens and elsewhere. As Opposition groups tried to break out of this isolation, frictions and conflicts developed within their ranks, mainly from a layer which could not adapt to the new situation. This was the case within the French League. The League is on the way to transforming itself from a small propaganda group, which was like a family, to a public organisation where relations are less warm, ties and duties more formal, and conflicts at times brutal, explained Trotsky. (ibid, p.55) These disputes and splits form the basis of the correspondence between Trotsky and Nin, who Trotsky hoped would personally help in resolving some of these problems. Given his revolutionary record, Trotsky had high hopes in Nin, who he hoped would be the key in developing the Spanish Opposition into a coherent organisation. But Trotsky was to be disappointed. On his return to Spain, Nin had sent a promising letter to Trotsky. The conference [of the Spanish Opposition] went off well. The internal misunderstandings are eliminated, explained Trotsky. Nin spoke of a great success in mass meetings in Madrid and elsewhere. I believe that we will make progress in Spain. (ibid, pp. 86-87). In fact, the misunderstandings had certainly not been eliminated, but increased and became more fundamental. Trotsky had been misinformed. Nin tended to play down differences and cover them up. He began to see the Spanish group as his own property, rather than part of an International. Instead of helping Trotsky resolve the problems of the early Opposition, Nin and his group eventually broke with Trotsky and the ILO four years later, with disastrous consequences for the Spanish Revolution. Rob Sewell --- Letter: September 13th, 1930 My dear friend! We were all extremely pleased by the cheerful lines of the letter you sent from Berlin. I can try to catch up with you in Paris through airmail. For a long time I had longed to see you on Western European soil. Despite all the hardships of the trip, especially considering that you were travelling with your family, it is good all the same that you were able to overcome all the dangers and are now able to take on some work. You write that you will be in Paris for no more than two or three days, and that you will quickly head to Spain. I admit I had hoped that you would have come visit me in Constantinople and spend some time with us here. I also thought you would spend a few weeks in Paris to become familiar with the state of affairs. But, on the other hand, the haste with which you want to return to Spain is quite understandable. Let us hope you dont give our liberal general [Damaso Berenguer] the chance to arrest you. That would be an insurmountable blow for us. No matter how short your trip to Paris, you will, presumably, become involved in our work. A lot of good progress has been made. It is completely indisputable that we have scored successes, and many signs speak of the fact that soon quantity will turn into quality. However, we have also seen some alarming developments. The most significant are the internal frictions, especially in France. The French League now occupies a central position in the International Opposition; but the internal tensions have been passed onto other national sections. I have no doubt that while in Paris you will spend some time assessing the internal struggles in the League, and I therefore consider it necessary to express my views on this question. What are the reasons for the polemic? Until now, the Opposition lived the life of an isolated literary-propaganda group. Now it is starting to become a political organisation. This transition from one stage to another gives rise to internal groupings, which are not always apparent to the participants themselves. In the La Lutte de Classe group we have a very valuable asset: it is difficult in Europe nowadays to find Marxist groups with such theoretical preparation and literary talent. I place great hope in this group. But the group also has serious shortcomings, which are explained by its origins. This is a purely intellectual group, recently drawn from literary layers, lacking connections to the workers, lacking familiarity with the workers, and without experience in Party work and in the internal life of an organisation. This group, and particularly comrade Naville, is characterised by an attitude of insufficient attention to purely political and organisational questions, a tendency towards reaching conclusions hurriedly and abstractly, and a totally unacceptable sensitivity towards any criticism coming from the activists rather than his literary circle. Comrade Molinier is characteristic of the other group; he is not a theoretician, or a literary person, but an energetic man of action, very devoted to the cause, with initiative, although sometimes excessively hot-tempered. For a long time, and despite the fact that in the realm of theory and as a writer he is far inferior to Naville, in relation to political questions, to questions of Party psychology, to organisational questions, Molinier has shown to be stronger than Naville, in any case until now, before Naville has had the chance to acquire the necessary experience. In the course of this year, Naville took the wrong position on a number of important issues, significantly hampering development, both in the French Opposition and internationally. On all of these questions, Molinier has been in the right, but he did not have sufficient literary ability and theoretical talent to defend his position. Molinier is supported by all the elements that especially value the practical and organisational aspect of our work. In other words, what we have here are not two principled tendencies, but, so to speak, two kinds of weapons in the army of the Opposition. If Naville and the literary types had shown more political maturity, they could establish a proper rapport and a proper division of labour. But unfortunately this has not been the case. Until now, the Opposition only had a spirit, but it has started to develop a body, and this body of the organisation has started to embarrass and annoy the literary circle, who represent the pure spirit. On every question, objection, debate, discussion the spirit itself always knows better. Thus began the struggle between spirit and body. I had been counting on the fact that in the course of this conflict comrade Rosmer would maintain an attitude of tranquillity and the position of an impartial conciliator and arbitrator. Sadly, he has become involved in the struggle on the part of the literary group. This circumstance has given the conflict an unprecedented sharpness. An attempt has been made to remove Molinier from his position of leadership and even to oust him from the League. It is said that Naville has not given up on this idea and that now he is ostensibly taking steps in that direction. I dont know to what extent this is true. In this type of struggle exaggerations on both sides are indeed inevitable. Although I wouldnt rule out that Naville might really be trying to achieve an actual split. Molinier is now here with me. With him has come comrade O., of whom Naville speaks very highly. Comrade O. is calm and is assessing the situation correctly, and fully understands the need for Naville and the entire group to move on, and at the same time considers that Naville is entirely wrong in this conflict. O. assuredly confirms that Molinier and his group are not looking for a split, and that they dont want to remove Naville from a leading position. Their tasks are: a) to ensure normal and healthy internal relations in the organisation, and b) to guarantee the necessary attention to organisational, practical-agitational and political tasks. And in this case Molinier, despite his blunders, is again completely right. After months of correspondence, Naville has still not been able to formulate his disagreements with Molinier. On the contrary, he tended to deny these differences, pointing instead to the unbearable character of Molinier, his impatience, his confusion, and so on. This type of appraisal of the struggle on Navilles behalf is explained by the fact that Naville himself has never given an account on the origins and causes of the polemic. If he had given such an account, the struggle would have ended or, at least, would have relented. Molinier is visiting me for the second time. From the conversations Ive had with him, I can confirm once again that Naville is being extremely unfair and biased in his reactions. On many questions Molinier displays greater intuitiveness than Naville, and on top of that he is a person of exceptional devotion to the movement. To allow him to be ousted or thrown out would be an outright crime. I consider that our task, as well-known comrades with authority and who stand above the struggle, should be to ensure the normal and correct participation in our work of both groups following the principles of party democracy. This is what Molinier wants to do. He only wants to stop the witch-hunt directed against him and his friends. This is what is required of Naville, and of the organisation as a whole. To this end, I asked Naville to come and visit me here. The two comrades who are already here will wait for him. I earnestly hope that Naville will come, and that we will be able to reach an agreement, especially with the assistance of authoritative comrades, including yourself of course. Above I have already explained that comrade Rosmer has sided with Naville in the polemic. Rosmer seems to believe that I am against Naville. But in reality that is not so. If the question of ousting Naville were to be put on the table, I would come out energetically and intransigently in his defence. However, that is not the issue now. Actually, it is Navilles group that wants to get rid of Molinier, which would deliver a terrible blow to our practical work, and, more importantly, would create a completely unacceptable and intolerable dictatorial regime of the literary group inside the League. That is why I dont consider it possible to make any compromises on this matter. Just a few more words on the international organisation. It now finds itself in an very weak condition. The conference held in April was very irregular and up to now no one has any exact knowledge of its resolutions. A few days ago we sent some practical suggestions to Naville. I exhort you to look through them. The crux of the matter is as follows: we need a) a leading International bureau, and b) an administrative secretariat. The bureau, unfortunately, will continue to be scattered in different countries (Rosmer, Landau, and myself). The secretariat, an organ in permanent session, should be based in Paris and act as the executive body of the International bureau. If you were to remain in Paris, or return there at some point, I would consider it completely indispensable that you enter the bureau and the secretariat. But for the near future weve had to abandon these plans, at least with regards to the secretariat. Here were proposing a secretariat with three members: Naville, comrade O, whom I mentioned above, and an Italian comrade. This secretariat, under the general supervision of the International bureau, must manage all current networks, information, etc., and edit our bulletin. In the hands of the secretariat are the immediate practical preparations of a conference of the European Opposition, with a view to organising a world conference later on. All this work is now compromised by the internal struggles of the French League. Both groups are now recruiting like-minded people internationally. This is particularly evident among the Hungarian exiles, some of whom are now starting, inspired by the French, to sabotage a very important and valuable initiative led by two comrades who are presently here with me. If in Paris you are drawn into all these internal affairs (and I think you should), it is essential that you listen to both sides of the argument. I would appreciate it if you could write to me in detail with your impressions. I embrace you and all your family, Warm greetings from all of us. P.S. I hope you will write to me about everything you know about the USSR, the Party, the Opposition, the exiles Leon Trotsky Letter: October 29th, 1930 Dear friend! I have received your letter of October 23rd, after much anticipation and with great joy. Your long silence, of course, is perfectly understandable, and can only be explained by the reasons you specify. In the Spanish Opposition Bulletin, which comes out in New York, it is said that immediately upon your arrival, you had all sorts of trouble on the part of the domestic authorities. This is how I had explained your silence, and I am glad to see that it is not the case. The conditions of your banishment I know only in vague terms. It would be good if you could write about it in some detail: let the description stay in my archive, it may come in handy. The correspondence attached to your letter is of great interest to me. I ardently hope that you will send a follow up, because I am very poorly informed about these events. I beg that you tell me of all you know about the peasant uprisings and the bloody events in Ryazan. The existing accounts, coming from the second and even third hand sources, need to be verified and supplemented. Your accounts are valuable especially because they provide not only the bare facts, but also certain psychological and political nuances, of which I often do not have enough. The complaints of the Smirnovists about how we exposed their ingenious plan to deceive the Party, the working class and the interests of the Opposition, is really curious. In reality, these people have tried only to deceive the Opposition and members of their own group: they wanted to create a noble and revolutionary cover for the capitalists, correctly calculating that if they sweetened the very act of surrender, in the future no one will, nor would be able to, verify whether the ones who surrendered actually fulfilled their commitments or not. And so, I eagerly await the follow up to your correspondence. Now a few words about the affairs in France. A number of the French comrades have visited me recently, including Naville and Molinier, i.e. the most active representatives of the two groups that are in conflict. We have discussed all of the issues very thoroughly and have unanimously worked out some kind of agreement, which should facilitate further work and, in particular, the orderly preparation of the conference. The work in France is going well, but a split or even a prolonged internal struggle could paralyse the work of the League for a long time. I want to count on this not happening. Recently, it became clear that the strongest group of the Opposition is in Greece. This you will soon find in the contents of the Opposition press. The organisation has some sway in the trade unions, counting in its ranks 500 workers and 10,000 under its influence in the trade unions. Regarding the overall situation in the ranks of communism, and Spain in particular, I hope in the near future to read your article or series of articles in the Opposition press. What I wrote on this subject is far too general. Not being very familiar with the situation in the country, I had to rely on secondhand information which is in any case very scarce. Comrade Lacroix wrote to me at the time saying that he did not agree with some of the provisions of my article. I did not start a polemic because I did not feel sufficiently grounded to do so. As for the Spanish question, as well as other current political issues, I am planning to take them up in the near future, after I finish a history book; I hope that this will at last happen in the course of the next week. I hope to count with your help in regard to Spain. First of all, I would like to hear from you more detailed information about each of the communist groups and organisations. What is the platform of each of them? On what grounds and in connection with what circumstances were they expelled from the Party? In particular, which of these organisations is Maurin part of? For what purpose did he publish the shamelessly ignorant report by Stalin to the [conference of] Marxist agronomists? You write that the Left Opposition is weak in Catalonia. What about the other provinces? In your most important question on the unification of the various communist organisations, I cannot give an answer because I know nothing about any of them. In any case, this question should be addressed from an international perspective. You probably know the Czech comrade Michalec. I have been in correspondence with him for a long time. He considers himself as a co-thinker of ours, but at the same time considers it necessary to combine all of the opposition within the same organisation. In practice, this means a union with the Right Opposition, which is a part of the international organisation of Brandler. In full accordance with our Czech friends, I spoke out against the plan. Of course, we can create our own cells in the Right Opposition, which boasts an internal regime of democracy and free opinions. But this work can only be successful with the complete independence of our own organisation. It would be unforgivable if we made ourselves subject to the discipline of the Right Opposition themselves playing the role of a double opposition. In this spirit I replied to comrade Michalec. He could not convince me. In the end he did not join the Left Opposition, and is instead collaborating with the Right, working in the newspaper Neurath, where he translates some of my articles, objecting, however, to our intransigence towards the Right Opposition. I give this example which in any case I do not use to draw any conclusions in regards to Spain, especially in the absence of the necessary facts. I just wanted to illustrate with this example the importance of international considerations for us on this question. About my books. I will, of course, be very pleased to provide you with all the publishing rights, which you yourself will hold. This applies to my History of the Revolution. Overseeing the foreign translations is the responsibility of my German translator. I hope she has as yet to assign the Spanish edition to someone. I will send her a request about this today. I unfortunately cannot send you How the Revolution was Armed for the moment, as I have only one copy, which for me is an absolute necessity for the continuation of my historical work. I will try to get a second copy, although it is now extremely difficult, as the Stalinists are on a crusade against my books. By the way, has my book It Happened in Spain been published in Spanish? I received a request from the publisher to write the foreword a long time ago. In fact, the publisher cited you. I immediately complied with his request and sent him a preface by registered mail. I received no response from him. We asked for a second time about the fate of the books and the preface, but to no avail. You paint a pretty grim sketch of the situation of the Left Opposition in the USSR. Of course, I do not myself have any illusions on this score. However just the other day we received a letter from Russia, which depicts the situation as not so bleak. The writer seems to be more familiar with the provinces than with Moscow. He wrote about growing sympathy for us in the factories and on the need for us to come out with bolder and more determined tactics. The German magazine Der Communist has been promised your correspondence. Will you send them the same correspondence that you sent me? The fact is that I want to prepare an extract of your correspondence for the next issue of the Bulletin, since its publication as a whole would be in many ways inadvisable. But if the German edition receives the same correspondence (which I doubt), then printing the excerpts would be doubly unwanted because we could have crossed out the places where we have not written in Russian. Please give me the necessary clarification on this matter. Your lecture tour in Spain is extremely interesting to me. Please write to me about this in more detail. You do not write anything about your health. Meanwhile, if I am not mistaken, you have had a second operation after receiving my letter. What are the results? How have you settled in Barcelona? How did your family adapt to Barcelona? The children must be happy in this blessed climate. I remember our boys were delighted in Barcelona, especially with the abundance of fruit. Cordial greetings to your wife and children from all of us. TROTSKY Letter: November 21st 1930 Dear friend! I received your letter on November 12th with the very interesting proposal that will be very useful for the 17th number of the Bulletin. Only now, after your letter, do I have a more or less clear picture of the state of the communist ranks in Spain, in particular, the position of comrade Maurin. A few words about this. I found out through Naville that Maurin was in Paris, where he was in contact with Souvarine, and made no attempt to contact us. You know, of course, that Souvarine nowadays stands in the most bitter and treacherous opposition to us. Over a year ago, he sent me a long programmatic letter, or rather, an entire pamphlet. This work shows not only has he abandoned the ranks of Bolshevism as a political movement, but also Marxism as a doctrine. He now writes in the bourgeois press, under various pseudonyms, in defence of Stalin. All this made me very suspicious, when I heard that Maurin is related to him not only through family ties, but also politically. He made no attempt to enter into relations with us, not even in a simple comradely way, which I, of course, would have welcomed very much; and, finally, when he returned from Paris to Spain, he began to publish a newspaper, which contained articles by Stalin. Since Comrade Maurin is not a novice, has a political history, and is a highly qualified individual, I have arrived on the basis of these facts at a definite conclusion about his political position. You will, of course, know better, you have better connections and the conditions to judge, so if you express the hope that comrade Maurin will come over to our side, I can only rejoice at this in advance. It is also quite possible that in Spain, given that the position of communist organisations and groups is so peculiar, that the best way forward would be to unite all these groups that have yet to take a concrete position, and then to develop our work within this unified organisation. But I am just not quite clear how and in what way you intend to develop this work, i.e., do you have in mind to create from the outset an embryo of the Left Opposition, which then, subject to the discipline of the unified organisation, will conduct its factional activities? I would be very grateful if you could tell me more specifically about your plans and intentions in this regard. We have recently received several letters from deportees, including a very long letter from a detention camp. This letter presents a far more favourable picture than the one drawn on the basis of your information. The confusion in the camps has come to an end, and theoretical work is being done widely and with great optimism. This correspondence will be published in the next issue of the Bulletin, and you should examine it: it comes from a very serious person, whom I know well. It is unlikely that you are now able to read Soviet newspapers: they will again give a slightly more optimistic picture than your correspondence. Now Pravda, as with the other newspapers, for almost a year has been filled with a furious persecution of the Opposition. The blows were directed mainly against Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky and so on. But at the same time, with the exception of the resolutions, articles, correspondence, etc., they mention a renewal, or revival, of the boldness and so on of Trotskyists and semi-Trotskyists. Now about the French affairs. Here we have the beginning of another conflict on the lines I always thought of as troublesome over the trade union line. This work, as you may know, led by comrade Gourget, is actually outside the control of the League. You probably know the techniques of French groups of the Monatte type: each one takes on a certain task on the basis of some kind of mutual understanding (or indeed does not take on the task), all or some of which occasionally converge, diverge and exchange remarks. In the old days, I often saw this picture in Quai de Jemappes. These habits even partially affected Verite. The organisation is understood as a federation of free individuals whose duty is not to interfere with each other. You certainly see I am drawing a caricature of sorts, but at the same time you know this environment well enough to recognise the reality Im referring to, jokes aside. In these circumstances, Comrade Gourget led the work of the Unitary Opposition. According to the articles and notes in Verite, and the letters of the Comrade Gourget (who we were quite correctly in correspondence with all of the time), I was fearful that he might shift the centre of gravity of all the work towards establishing a diplomatic rapport with certain individual well-established leaders of the trade union movement, particularly and especially the Teachers Union. During his stay in Prinkipo, Naville acknowledged that Gourget, for all his good qualities, was working more or less on the fringes of the League, and primarily in the diplomatic fashion. This is the background of the conflict. On [October] the 20th, a conference of the Unitary Opposition was held in Paris. At this conference Gourget, together with other opposition activists, who are not members of the League, established a broad trade union opposition platform. At the meeting of the League, Molinier asked to hear Gourgets political reasons for this, which he reluctantly explained. The platform was criticised not only by Molinier, but also Naville and Gerard, who recognised the platform as unacceptable as it was. Thereafter, Gourget stated in writing (refusing to come to the meeting in person) his resignation from the League as long as it intended to enter the Unitary Opposition. What the relationship should be between the League and the Unitary Opposition is a separate question. But in this case, it was not a question of the UO submitting to the League, but the control by the League over the work of one of its members, who was in a position of responsibility. Then, the resignation of Gourget provoked the resignation of Rosmer and resulted in a number of new tensions, difficulties and conflicts. I have received the platform of Comrade Gourget. It is absolutely and in all respects an impossible document, both in content and form. To put the name of the League on the cover of this document would be to compromise it hopelessly. We must not forget for a moment that it is not a question of a trade union organisation platform, but the platform of a political faction within the trade unions. Gourgets platform (or the product of his compromise) represents an eclectic and thoroughly contradictory platform of some kind of the new faction, which must compete with the League in the trade unions. In other words, this is the greatest absurdity you can imagine. The Unitary Opposition can, of course, be joined by people who are not members of the League. The more sympathisers it has, or semi-sympathisers, who are not completely compromised, the better. In relation to all of these elements, we need to adopt the greatest tact. We need to patiently explain, to use a formula that you cited on another occasion. But in order to patiently explain, it is necessary that there exists a body that can give this explanation, namely, the political organization, which strictly binds together all its constituent parts. You probably remember that in the days (the beginning of April 1917), or rather on the exact day (April 4th), when Lenin put forward the formula patiently explain, he also addressed the Party conference: I will stand up against all, like Liebknecht, if you make the slightest concession to defencism. Both these formulas are inextricably linked in Lenins method. In order to be able to patiently explain to workers organised in the trade unions, we must not make the slightest concession to syndicalist theory, which in France is the most useful, authoritative, and disastrous mask for quasi-proletarian opportunism. Meanwhile, Gourgets theses are an eclectic mix of the theory of syndicalism with communist phraseology. If we assume that the UO has significant numbers of workers not convinced of the trade union platform of the Left Opposition, we should organise a block or broad coalition with them, based on a practical understanding, while retaining our full right to conduct propaganda for the ideas of the League. But to introduce into the League the right to control the work of their own members, as you know, is a very different thing. The fact that comrade Rosmer, as I understand it, supported Gourget, while very sad, does not come as much of a surprise to me. You know that Rosmer and I are old friends, he spent a few months with us here and I had the opportunity many times to talk to him about all matters. The fact that he was rarely involved in the party, and that he was not active for the last five years, did not pass unnoticed. He has the same methods as those of Monatte: gather once a week to exchange experiences, without taking any decisions, letting everyone do their own thing, and letting events go their own way. Rosmer twice wrote to me saying he felt his personal mission accomplished, that further work would be a hassle, and that he needed to give way to the youth, and so forth. I strongly resisted this mood, especially when he denied the existence of any differences of principle, both within the League, and with me. Now, however, he has resigned. I wrote a letter to him yesterday about it. If I had the slightest opportunity, I would, of course, immediately go to see him, to try to personally dispel this mood. But since this was not possible (I am including to you my letter to Rosmer), I asked him to come for a few weeks in Prinkipo to try to discuss and for us to come to an agreement. After a few days, if that proves not possible, if it is possible to separate the political issues from our personal friendship, then all the better. If Rosmer moves away from the Left Opposition, he will remain generally on the side of the revolutionary movement, as was the case in the last few years. Here is how things stand in France. Of course, it would be better if things were not like this. But we must take the situation as it really is. The development of the Opposition in Western Europe occurred in the face of such ignorance and disunity, that random personal factors played an important and often harmful role. We see this in Germany, in Belgium, and in other countries. In 1923-24, people were expelled from different parties for the sole reason that they did not agree to immediately condemn Trotsky. Subsequently, these elements were forced to group their forces together, while having neither revolutionary traditions nor a theoretical foundation underfoot. Some of them didnt even feel themselves part of a revolutionary organisation and soon took the opportunity to abandon it. This latter category includes Madeline and Max Paz, and to some extent the old man Loriot. Souvarine, who not having had time to become a Marxist, became a freethinker, as I have already written above. In Germany, Urbans compromised for several years the Opposition between Social-Democracy and Sapronovism. Finally, in Belgium, Overstraten - and it was a big surprise for me - revealed himself as an impressionist and dilettante. Without a Marxist understanding, he begins each question from scratch, as a blank slate, like a political autodidact, despite his intellectual upbringing. I met Overstraten at several congresses and during two or three visits he paid me at the military commissariat. As I recall, he never spoke at congresses, and in personal conversations he listened more than he spoke. Now it is quite clear that he did not feel at ease in Lenins Comintern: but now he openly admits it. He has lost both theoretical and organisational discipline, and I am afraid he may no longer be able to get it back. As the Western European Oppositionists never lived a consistent ideological and political life, did not rise to the bigger questions, did not involve themselves in the internal life of other parties, this is how all these accidental fellow travellers (Urbarns, Overstraten, Souvarine, Paz) saw themselves and appeared to others as well as to our comrades. But in essence they caused us great harm, blocking the way for the Oppositions ideas entering the party, which they declared dead and liquidated. This approach is much easier and gives one the opportunity to live quietly in his corner, with one hour a week of oppositional discussions. Our work abroad over the last two years was to put an end to these fictions and the proliferation of fundamental misunderstandings and to develop the foundations of the International Left Opposition. During these two years, I had spent more time clearing the ground than in building. But this was absolutely necessary preliminary work, if we take into account that the soil is very clogged, not only with the trash of the official apparatus, but also with the confusion and chaos of random and accidental oppositionist groupings. A functioning Oppositionist organisation was hardly present in any country for the last two years. The best organisation was probably the American group, precisely because it really came into being recently, receiving a strong and fresh impetus from the Sixth Congress, and not yet having become stale (you write that comrade Cannon was insufficiently active; it is possible that this is true; the most active comrades are Shachtman, Abern and generally the youth). In view of the conditions mentioned above, I believe that for almost two years, we have made very substantial progress in all countries. We have sections and publications in about twenty countries, whose solidarity is not based on old memories and personal ties, but on the Marxist analysis of the most important world events of the last period (the era of epigonism) and on the collective orientation in the events of today. A number of books have been produced in all the major languages, which allow you to navigate the history and development of the ideas of the Opposition. Outwardly, our break with Overstraten may seem like a defeat. But if we take into account that a few dozen workers in Charleroi conducted a principled struggle with Overstraten over the last two years, and regardless of the fact that not only comrade Rosmer, but I myself defended Overstraten against them, then I would say that we have won the greatest victory in Belgium. We have discovered that there exists real proletarian cadres who are able to stand up for themselves, even against higher authorities. The fact remains that hundreds of Belgian Oppositionists were pulled in different directions, due to the formlessness of the Belgian Opposition and a totally incapable leadership. This is payback for the past. On the other hand, the workers in Charleroi are the cadre of the future and we can build with them. I speak in so much detail about this so that new crises are put into the right perspective. In your letter, there is the following sentence: The split in France would have been catastrophic for us. Of course, every split has a painful character. And of course, the departure of Comrade Rosmer could be a setback for the work of Verite, and I for my part, am ready and willing to do anything to avoid this. It was in this spirit that I wrote to the French comrades and to Rosmer himself (see above). However, I must still stress that no split is catastrophic for us. I do not want to argue against your letter, as it is unlikely that you used the word catastrophic in its literal sense, but only in the sense of the sad consequences of the split, about which we have no disagreement. The basis has been laid. But the training of cadres in the Opposition is still a huge challenge. There are the two sides of this task. First, we must learn to patiently explain i.e., reject the absurd arrogance of the Opposition in relation to the proletarian vanguard, i.e., especially in relation to the official Communist Parties, which in most countries represent a serious force which cannot be overlooked anywhere. To explain patiently, without falling into prostration, we need a targeted politics. But to ensure that small national groups without a sufficient theoretical basis, without traditions, without experience, are not lost in the process of patiently explaining, we need a close connection between them, constant mutual reassessment, an organised ideological control, and a double and a triple ideological intransigence. Only with a very sharp knife, can you perform complex and delicate carving. I would like to briefly return to Spanish affairs. In my article I very carefully expressed the idea that after a few years of dictatorship, the opposition moves of the bourgeoisie, the surface noise of republicans and the demonstrations of the students must inevitably wait for the action of the workers, and this action can catch a revolutionary party by surprise. If I am not mistaken, Comrade Lacroix and others felt that I exaggerated the symptomatic importance of the student movement and together with it the prospects of the revolutionary mobilisation of the workers. Since then, the strike movement in Spain has acquired a giant scale. It is not clear who is leading these strikes. What place does the official Communist Party have in them? What is the Opposition doing? Since all groups are very weak, it would seem likely that a united communist front would be necessary, primarily dictated by the need for a common policy with respect to the general strike. Do you not think that Spain could go through the cycle we saw in Italy after 1918-19: ferment, strikes, general strikes, the seizure of factories, lack of leadership, the decline of the movement, the rise of fascism, and counterrevolutionary dictatorship? Primo de Rivera was not a fascist dictatorship of the Italian type, as it did not rely on the reactionary masses. Do you not think that as a result of this undoubtedly revolutionary upsurge in Spain, with the complete failure of the proletarian vanguard, as with the parties, there can be, and moreover in the short term, the conditions for genuine Spanish fascism? The most dangerous thing in these circumstances is lost time. How do we deal, in particular, with the agrarian question in Spain? Is this raised by any of the parties? Was this developed theoretically? Is there work underway among the peasantry, especially among the agricultural workers? As regards the book you have written about the dictatorships, I know from the French comrades, who greatly praised the the book, as well as the review of Comrade Gorkin, with whom you seem to be in disagreement, but who nevertheless gives a very high opinion about it. He said to Naville that in his, Gorkins opinion, as well as in the opinion of the other comrades, you have to take a leading position in the Spanish Opposition. (If I am not mistaken, he complained before to Comrade Naville that you did not want to meet with him in Paris, despite his willingness to put aside his reluctance to work under your guidance). I might be saying something incorrect, but this is the impression I have after my conversation with Naville. I would be very happy to read your book on the dictatorships; in Catalan, I would hardly understand it, but in Spanish with the dictionary in hand, I could probably make out the main lines of the argument. I enclose here a copy of the letter from Comrade Gorkin on the Spanish edition of Permanent Revolution. The proposal being made is very favorable both politically and financially. I think that Spain is now the only country where a bourgeois publisher would be willing to pay for this kind of book: such books are in demand thanks to the revolutionary ferment. I have not replied yet to Comrade Gorkin, as I previously wrote to him saying that [the rights of] the book had been transferred to you. In your letter you mention Permanent Revolution, but in a different context, following my articles in the bourgeois press, and so on. It seems to me that the immediate appearance of Permanent Revolution would have a much greater significance than the antiquated articles in the bourgeois press, which also have less importance with the appearance of my Autobiography. I would advise you to change the sequence [of publication] and start with the Permanent Revolution, so as it will come out before the History of the Revolution, which represents a larger volume. If you think it more appropriate to proceed immediately with the History of the Revolution, then what about the Permanent Revolution? Unfortunately, as strange as it may seem, my German translator, who is at the same time my literary agent, as the Americans say, has still not answered my question about the Spanish translation. I cant explain it and have again sent her an urgent request. But this does not alter the situation. Even if we assume (which is unlikely), that she has signed an agreement with a Spanish publishing house without my prior consent, I still need the translation to be made not from the German, but from the Russian text, and will demand that they employ you on as the only competent translator. But I believe the agreement has not been concluded. In any case, it is necessary that you reply to me soon. If you take on the Permanent Revolution, I will send you a Russian copy and the preface that is not included in the Russian edition of the book, but printed in the Gazette under the title Two Concepts. If you take over the History of the Revolution, I will send you the Russian manuscript. You say that Landau has announced [the publication of] your correspondence without your consent. But in that case, how does he have your correspondence? Or did he simply write them using your words? Or did you send him a copy of the letters that you sent me? If so, I am very fearful that Landau, who is hasty and careless, might print some things that we will publish in the Russian Bulletin, which will create an extremely unpleasant situation. It would be good if you could write to him, stating that he may print your correspondence but only in the form in which it appears in the Bulletin. We can send, say, the Russian version of the text to him before the release of the Bulletin. [Written by hand, some parts are illegible:] I am very concerned about your financial situation. Unfortunately, I am now without money. The Autobiography, apart from in Germany, reached [illegible] results. The French publisher deceived me all around (well, from Spain, I .... for one of the ... ... I have not received yet). The Americans also robbed me, to round off a big hit. (I donated $10,000 in the fund in Paris.) However, what I can offer you is unfortunately very little: Mararita P. wrote to me about your gift from the fund: do not give way at the moment, I will not cover this. Fees (authors) for the Permanent I grant [illegible] to you: if you [ineligible] for the transfer, with the [illegible] your [...] of course [...] pay. All this is very little, but as soon as [...] the question of the History, I will try to do more. I firmly shake your hand, warm greetings to your family from all of us. LT Letter: November 29th, 1930 Dear Comrade Nin, I am hurrying to write to you some additional notes further to my previous letter, as I consider (I hope you share this feeling) the unity of our positions and actions necessary. I have written to you quite extensively about my worries regarding Comrade Rosmer and about my letter to him; if you remember, I asked him, in case of any political disagreements, to come and see me, given the complete impossibility of me travelling to see him. This letter was preceded by the message about the resignation of Comrade Rosmer and the removal of his name from the paper as chief editor. In the last edition (a very good one, with 6 pages), his name is indeed absent. But then I received the following telegram from him: neither resignation, nor political disagreements. You can understand how much this telegram pleased me. I must, however, say that I am not completely sure that this telegram signifies the complete elimination of all misunderstandings. I have already written to you about Comrade Rosmers highly negative attitude towards personal, rather than political questions. Nothing can be done against personal sympathies or antipathies, assuming that they are not placed above political considerations. Unfortunately, this very question has long transcended the sphere of personal relations and become political, because Comrades Rosmer, Naville and others have attempted, several months prior to the removal of Molinier from the position of secretary of the Parisian organisation, not to allow him into the leadership of the League. At that time they suffered an organisational defeat, since the majority spoke in favour of Molinier. I only found out about this whole story through backdoor channels from Comrade Naville and others, who to my surprise, demanded that I intervene personally against Molinier. To be able to find my bearings, I asked for the political reasons for this. The answer I received was that the question was purely personal. However, when I then attempted to thoroughly and properly understand all the sides of the conflict, I came to the conclusion that behind the personal conflicts lie a struggle between two embryonic tendencies. The trade union question, about which I wrote to you last time, has become intertwined with personal conflicts, in the sense that, on the one hand, Comrade Gurzhe, a member of Rosmers and Navilles group, took an entirely mistaken position, while Molinier took the correct stance. In order for you to understand the matter fully, I must tell you that Gurzhe and Molinier came to visit me together, as soon as I arrived in Constantinople. In fact, Gurzhe spoke not only positively about Molinier, but in enthusiastic terms, as of a loyal and selfless comrade, but not without a degree of giddiness. Over the last few months, I was compelled to recall that on all those occasions when Molinier disagreed with Naville or Gurzhe, Molinier was always more in the right than his adversaries. Under these circumstances, I had no grounds or rights to come out against Molinier. I therefore made efforts to bring about conciliation, which was very time consuming. It is unfortunate that the League in Paris has officially ratified the peace of Prinkipo. Thats why the telegram: neither resignation nor political differences, pleased me, but did not completely reassure me. I also remembered that a certain part of your letter remained unclear to me. Namely, the very part where you talk about the backwardness of Spanish workers and of the necessity to familiarise them preliminarily with the fundamental ideas of communism before turning to the question of Left Opposition. This position can give grounds for misunderstandings. I am very willing to admit in advance that these misunderstandings can be entirely my fault, that is, that they might be the result of excessive pedantry on my part. I must admit I cannot imagine that I could give a lecture to the most backward of workers about communism, without simultaneously raising the question of the Left Opposition. In Spain, this is surely inevitable due to the existence of an official party with several opposition groups around it: the speaker would have to repeatedly explain why he is calling to support one party and not the other. In every workers meeting one can stumble upon a socialist or an anarcho-syndicalist who would point to the split among the communists, or that within the USSR communists are being arrested, that Rakovsky has been exiled to Siberia, Trotsky has been exiled, etc. It is not possible to brush aside these questions by dint of general formulas on Marxism and communism. Whenever a member of the Left Opposition tries to do this under the pressure from the official communists or the socialists and anarchists, he is put on the defensive - the most disadvantageous of positions. If I was giving a lecture about communism to the most backward of workers in Spain or elsewhere, I would clear the path before me from the very beginning with a statement that would go more or less like this: There are several different tendencies in communism. I belong to a particular one, and will state how this tendency looks at the tasks of the working class. To conclude, I would call upon the workers to join the organisation that supports my point of view. Without this, propaganda and agitation will acquire an academic character, would lose its organisational basis and in the final analysis will help our opponents, that is, the centrists or the rightists. Forgive me for stating such elementary things with such perseverance. My main goal was pointed out previously: clarity. I didnt receive a reply from the German translator. Expecting an answer from you. [Warm greetings] Trotsky In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. 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Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com SPRINGFIELD -- Any Amazon tax and infrastructure incentive package from Massachusetts should require the internet retailing giant to make some investment in the western part of the state, says Richard K. Sullivan Jr., president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. "So its not all about Suffolk Downs or about any of these other sites that are being discussed," Sullivan said Thursday in an interview. "It is a way to make sure there is some benefit from this project in Western Massachusetts. And you know what? it doesn't cost (the state) a thing." Examples of Amazon projects that would fit here might be developing drone technology with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, using Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport and the aviation technology students at Westfield Technical Academy. Sullivan, a former mayor of Westfield, said turning a Boston-area project into an opportunity for the Pioneer Valley has been done before. The MBTA went without federal funding for Red Line and Orange Line cars so it could require those cars be assembled in Massachusetts. The move led to CRRC MA building its factory in East Springfield and more than 200 local jobs. Sullivan is one of the Western Massachusetts officials backing Enfield's pitch to Amazon. The Enfield plan could result in Amazon creating satellite offices in Springfield and elsewhere up and down the Connecticut River. In September Amazon released a request for proposals saying it was looking for a site for a second North American headquarters. The internet retailer said it could hire as many as 50,000 full-time employees over the next 15 years with an average salary of more than $100,000 a year. Besides Enfield, Boston is pitching the Suffolk Downs racecourse site. Worcester, Leominster and other Massachusetts cities have proposals. If any of those sites are chosen, it would mean millions in tax incentives and infrastructure money for the construction of highways, transit and water and sewer. Sullivan, a former cabinet official in the administration for Gov. Deval L. Patrick, said he's made this point in meeting with Jay Ash, current state secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Massachusetts House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and others. The anti-terrorist operation headquarters have reported 53 ceasefire breaches by militants on Wednesday. According to the headquarters, the Ukrainian army had to return fire 31 times, and three servicemen were injured in the hostilities. In the Donetsk sector, Ukrainian positions came under attack by 82mm mortars and various types of grenade launchers in the Avdiyivka area, and grenade launchers were used against the army near Luhanske, Mayorsk, and Kamyanka. More than 20 shells were fired from 120mm mortars on the outskirts of Troitske, the headquarters said. In the Mariupol sector, an 82mm mortar was fired near Hnutove, and a heavy machinegun was employed near Starohnativka, it said. Three Red Cross trucks, one from Swiss embassy go to Donbas Four humanitarian trucks have crossed into territory of Donbas not controlled by Kyiv via the Novotroitske checkpoint on October 18, the Ukrainian State Border Service said on Thursday. Three trucks were carrying 61 tonnes of food on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission to residents of Donetsk region, the service said. "One truck carrying almost one tonne of medical equipment crossed the checkpoint on behalf of the Swiss embassy to Ukraine," it said. The Republic of Korea supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and is ready to support Ukaine's economy, South Korea's Ambassador to Ukraine Lee Yang-goo has said. "Korea steadfastly continues to support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence," Yang-goo said during a joint press conference with State Secretary of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Andriy Zaitsev in Kyiv on Thursday. Zaitsev said Seoul is ready to support Ukraine's economy and technology development, as well as to solve the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Yang-goo said the situation on the Korean peninsula remains tense. He expressed the hope that the situation would get better soon in a peaceful way. Zaitsev said South Korea has contributed $1.5 million to humanitarian organizations working in Donbas. Come enjoy the premier of a new Montana film, made about a Montanan, made in Montana by Montanans. Presented by Implement Productions with the Montana Film Office http://www.montanafilm.com and Montana Ambassadors http://montanaambassadors.com/ The L.A. Film Premiere of CHARGED: The Eduardo Garcia Story Charged with 2400 volts of electricity, Eduardo lost an arm, ribs, muscle mass, and nearly his life, but more important than what he lost is what he found. Date: November 4th Location: Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main Street Los Angeles,CA 90012 Time: Doors at 7:30 p.m. with a pre-screening reception Screening starts at 8:30 p.m. (street parking and nearby parking facilities) Call Dennis Aig with any questions, at 406.570.9505 Please RSVP when you have a moment (and by Oct. 31). Much gratitude! http://chargedfilm.app.rsvpify.com/ *** Film related job openings in Montana: http://www.montanafilm.com/crew-services/now-hiring/ Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has announced the intention to set up a group for implementing the medical reform. "Now we will create a project implementation group, where we will unite all: deputies and doctors in order to start these changes very quickly and qualitatively," he said in his video address. The prime minister noted he understands the complexity of implementing this reform, but "is ready to take responsibility." As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on October 19 at second reading and as a whole supported the draft law on state financial guarantees for providing medical services and medicines (the medical reform). Nissan has announced that its best-selling model, the Rogue, will be the first global model to receive the companys new ProPILOT Assist technology. ProPILOT Assist is the first of what Nissan says is the foundation for fully-autonomous vehicles. Aaron Turpen https://newatlas.com/nissan-rogue-propilot-assist/51802/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=266ebe23e9-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-266ebe23e9-92465361 *** Completely driverless cars could hit California roads as early as next June, if not sooner http://www.matr.net/article-79286.html It was a lovely September day in Yellowstones Boiling River, which was not, in fact, boiling. Tourists trundled through the shallow water and dipped in where it was deeper. A herd of elk even waded through unconcerned. And among it all, a team of researchers in waders sampled the water for a brain-eating amoeba that kills 97 percent of the people it infects. Matt Simon https://www.wired.com/story/the-hunt-for-the-brain-eating-amoebas-of-yellowstone/ "For small to medium to national organizations, for events and fundraisers of any size, in any format live, virtual or hybrid the platform is built for scale." There is an ASU professor, Thad Miller, who is going to be doing a course this fall just on the potential impact of autonomous vehicles in Tempe. Hes going to be working with MAG, city planners and our elected officials to make sure that we are future-proofing for autonomous vehicles. We also are doing a new urban core plan to make sure were doing transit-oriented urban development and were making sure autonomous vehicles are being considered in that planning. So were still at the beginning of figuring what autonomous vehicles are going to do in our city, but its definitely on the mayors radar and is part of the way were thinking about our future investments. by Bob Graves http://www.govtech.com/fs/Transportation-in-Tempe-How-One-Arizona-City-Is-Going-All-in-on-Autonomous-Vehicles.html According to West Paw https://www.westpaw.com/ CEO and Owner Spencer Williams, West Paw exports to over 35 countries already and sees a huge market for growth in China. "I think its really an opportunity and also a real testament to our culture at West Paw," Williams said. "The innovation and ability to manufacture world-class products right here in Bozeman and then export to a rapidly growing market like China really reflects positively on the people at West Paw." By Kenneth Webb http://www.kbzk.com/story/36631795/west-paw-expands-international-distribution-to-include-china Job preparation is a good reason for making a high-quality math and science education more broadly available, but there is another increasingly important reason to move quickly to give young people a solid grounding in those areas of study. This country desperately needs a science-literate citizenry. Jerry Large https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/students-need-tech-skills-for-more-than-just-jobs-they-need-it-to-be-good-citizens/ Shell opened its first electric vehicle recharging points at three gas stations in Britain on Wednesday, part of the oil giants efforts to respond to a global push toward zero-emission vehicles. Three charging stations are in London, Surrey and Derby, with seven more expected by the end of the year. It comes only days after Shell agreed to buy electric vehicle charging firm NewMotion. Danica Kirka, Associated Press http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Shell-opens-its-first-electric-vehicle-charging-12286685.php A report commissioned by the Legislature on how Wyomings state government can save money has found as much as $227 million in possible annual savings but lawmakers are a little stumped on how to actually implement the suggestions. Arno Rosenfeld 307-266-0634, [email protected] http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/a-study-found-that-wyoming-could-save-million-now-what/article_8bbd3a5a-5e6a-532b-a0a6-ffd18d0d4a5f.html#tncms-source=home-featured Rada declines three bills on changing election system in Ukraine, to work on election codes at next plenary week People's deputies haven't supported any of the three bills on the election of people's deputies, which assumed a change in the election system. Corresponding bills No.1068 and 1068-1 polled less than 100 votes of people's deputies, each with 226 minimum required. Bill No. 1068-2 polled 169 votes; the parliamentarians did not support the speaker's initiative to send it for finalizing by the profile committee or the author of the legislative initiative, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. Thus, the parliament rejected all three initiatives without adopting any of them at the first reading. "We passed the first stage of the election reform," Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy said after the vote. He added that at the next plenary week, which will begin on November 7, the Verkhovna Rada will continue considering election legislation. Two draft electoral codes No. 3112 and 3112-1 have been submitted to the parliament. Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference ' Great October: False Start? New Maidan? Revolution? What's Next and What Should be Done?" On Friday, October 20, at 12.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference, entitled "Great October: False Start? New Maidan? Revolution? What's Next and What Should be Done?" The participants include director of the Institute of Global Strategies Vadym Karasiov, expert of the Gardarica Strategic Consulting Corporation Kostiantyn Matviyenko, Director of the Ukrainian Barometer Sociological Service Viktor Nebozhenko (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. Level Up Ukraine 2017 is a new platform for communication between businessmen and investors The huge business forum "Level Up Ukraine 2017" will take place with the support of ICF Legal Service and the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine at Parkovy Convention and Exhibition Centre on November 15, 2017. The forum will unite the key players of Ukrainian and international business, investors, regulators and experts. For the second consecutive year we draw attention to the changes in international and Ukrainian taxation, ongoing modifications and preparation. In 2017 we are aiming to concentrate on tax and investment solutions for business. We also intend to create a platform for open dialogue between businesses, investors and the government. Start-up alley will become a unique platform for networking and making agreements. The speakers of the forum will be: Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance at IMD, Director IMD World Competitiveness Center, Nina Yuzhanina, Chairman of the Committee of the Vekhovna Rada on tax and customs policy issues, Grygol Katamadze, Head of the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine, Valeriy Omelchenko, owner of HUB 4.0, Vice President of TAU, Head of the IT Committee of TAU, Givi Topchishvili, Founder and CEO of 9.8 Group, Michael Eger, Secretary General of the European Association of Taxpayers. Among the main topics for discussion: what kind of changes are expected in business in relation to Ukrainian and international tax fields; do businesses have a chance to be efficient in turbulence conditions; in which directions does the private and investment capital flow; how do the rules that affect capital direction change; how should the business react to these changes; searching for assets for investment and start-ups searching for investors; the market of the future: what will it be like and how to prepare for it, etc. "The most important things that you will obtain from the forum are practical advice on how to move business to a new level, protect assets and attract investors. Enter markets of Europe, the United States, China and Arab countries by using a contemporary unique historical opportunity. You will be able to look at the things from a different angle, evaluate the situation from inside by seeing the whole picture. Don't forget that any discussion that is not followed by concrete solutions remains only ineffective rambling of words," ICF Managing Partner, Vice President of the TAU Natalia Ulianova said. The participants of the forum will have access to a mobile app that will allow them to follow events, comments and to participate in discussions. Participate with the whole team corporate discounts are available. Participation fee from UAH 4,500. Please find more details on http://levelupukraine.org Organizers: ICF Legal Service and the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine. Media Partners: Channel 5, RTI, Media, Radio Era, Radio Vesti, Business Ukraine, UJBL, Ukrainian law firms, magazine Business, "Grushevskogo, 5," Delovaya Stolitsa, Focus, magazine "Krayina," "Podatky," "Dovidnyk Ekonomista," Ukrainian People, Business Woman, newspaper "Vesti," "Newspaper Po Ukrainsky," News agency UNN, Obozrevatel, Interfax-Ukraine, UBR, LigaBusinessInform, Apostrof, RBK Ukraine, Glavkom, Gordon, Znay, Politeka and others. The event is supported by Business School MIM Kiev, the European Business Association in Ukraine and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. Regarding MM accreditation, please contact Lidiya Markova, mob +38 066 165 7787, markova@mprgroup.com.ua For further information please call: 0 800 211 685 or visit: http://levelupukraine.org MORGANTON -- A Marion man was charged with armed robbery in Burke County after a witness said he stole the wallet of a man who had wrecked his moped, according to a Morganton Department of Public Safety report. Officers charged the suspect, Charles Young, 33, on Monday, nearly two weeks after the crime was committed. Capt. Jason Whisnant said officers had to wait before charging him because the victim still was injured and on pain medication from the wreck. The wreck happened Sept. 27 in the 100 block of Holly Place in Morganton, the report said. Officer J.B. Bess arrived at the scene and found Roderick Caldwell, 23, of Morganton, on the ground next to a moped turned on its side. Caldwell was unresponsive and had a bleeding knot on his head, the report said. The pocket of his shorts was turned inside out as if someone had taken something out of it. The 911 caller, Kevin Hamm, also was at the scene and told Bess he saw a silver Ford Mustang stopped beside the moped. Hamm asked the driver of the Mustang if everything was OK, and the driver said the moped had fallen over, the report said. As Hamm began driving away, he noticed the driver got out of the car and began going through Caldwells pockets, the report said. This was the first time Hamm noticed someone was on the ground. Hamm said it looked like the man was taking Caldwells wallet, the report said. When Hamm started coming back toward the Mustang, the driver sped away toward Lenoir Road. Hamm then called 911, the report said. Officers also found a pistol on the ground near Caldwell, the report said. The gun was missing its magazine, and Whisnant said officers believe the gun belongs to Young. EMS arrived and transported Caldwell to a local hospital before he was airlifted to a Charlotte hospital, the report said. MDPS officer Miller located the Mustang at the Jett Express in Morganton later that night, the report said. The report said Young was found with a gram of marijuana, and Whisnant said he was charged for drug possession that night. Young was charged with felony armed robbery Monday and was placed in a local jail under a $20,000 bond, according to an arrest report. Whisnant said Young still was in jail as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Officer Gillstrap arrived at the scene Sept. 27 and conducted a reconstruction of the wreck, the report said. The cause of the moped wreck still is under investigation, and officers are trying to rule out an intentional collision, Whisnant said. Young was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2002, according to a North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender search. A Duke Energy lineman from Old Fort placed second in an international competition held on Saturday. Tyler Manick, a lineman apprentice from Old Fort, brought home honors from the International Linemans Rodeo held Saturday in Bonner Springs, Kan. Manick also placed second in the apprentice written test and second in the investor-owned utility division, according to a news release from Duke Energy. I was blown away with the whole rodeo experience, said Manick, who is based out of Duke Energys Marion Operations Center. I went in with a game plan and was really focused leading up to the rodeo. There was stiff competition and it is an amazing feeling being second overall. Overall the Duke Energy team earned 18 awards the most ever as a combined company. It was awesome to have support from the entire Duke Energy team, added Manick. We all practice together and push each other and want each other to do well. So many linemen have helped with me tips, pointers and advice along the way to help me prepare, and I really appreciate the support theyve provided. Bryan Minikel, a lineman apprentice from Cary, earned the top apprentice title overall and in the investor-owned utility division and won first place in the apprentice written test, according to the news release. Trey Grissom, a lineman apprentice from Roxboro, placed fifth in the world and fourth in the investor-owned utility division. Other lineman apprentice award winners include George Gripshover from Burlington, Ky., placing fifth in the investor-owned utility division, third in the written test and third in mystery event one and Miles Bell based in Spindale, placing fifth in the pole speed climb. A lineman journeyman team based in New Bern placed fourth in the world. The team consists of Dan King, Brent Whitford and Stephen Cox. The team also placed second in the investor-owned utility division and fourth in the simulated hurt-man rescue event. A journeyman team based in western North Carolina placed fourth in the investor-owned utility division. The team is comprised of Joey Wilson of Franklin, Luke Leatherman of Arden and Jeff Porter of Cullowhee. Two teams took home awards in the second mystery event announced the day before competition designed to simulate unexpected challenges on a job. Mark Perkinson, Josh Greguire and Jeramy Wilson of eastern North Carolina took home first place with Sandy Barnhill, Keith Griffin and Jay Tipton, all of the Asheville area, taking home fifth place, according to the news release. All Duke Energy participants at the rodeo earned their spots by competing in regional Duke Energy competitions in 2016 and 2017. An apprentice is a line worker with less than four years of utility experience, and a rodeo journeyman has greater than four years of utility experience, according to the news release. Linemen were tested on simulated hurt-man rescues, equipment repair and pole climbs while being judged on speed, agility, technique and safety procedures at the International Linemans Rodeo competition. The best lineworkers at Duke Energy and its legacy companies have showcased their talents at the International Linemans Rodeo for more than 20 years. Duke Energy lineworkers took home 12 awards in 2015 and 11 in 2014. A Marion man was charged with armed robbery after a witness said he stole the wallet of a man who had wrecked his moped, according to a Morganton Department of Public Safety report. Officers charged the suspect, Charles Young, 33, on Monday, nearly two weeks after the crime was committed. Capt. Jason Whisnant said officers had to wait before charging him because the victim still was injured and on pain medication from the wreck. The wreck happened Sept. 27 in the 100 block of Holly Place in Morganton, the report said. Officer J.B. Bess arrived at the scene and found Roderick Caldwell, 23, of Morganton, on the ground next to a moped turned on its side. Caldwell was unresponsive and had a bleeding knot on his head, the report said. The pocket of his shorts was turned inside out as if someone had taken something out of it. The 911 caller, Kevin Hamm, also was at the scene and told Bess he saw a silver Ford Mustang stopped beside the moped. Hamm asked the driver of the Mustang if everything was OK, and the driver said the moped had fallen over, the report said. As Hamm began driving away, he noticed the driver got out of the car and began going through Caldwells pockets, the report said. This was the first time Hamm noticed someone was on the ground. Hamm said it looked like the man was taking Caldwells wallet, the report said. When Hamm started coming back toward the Mustang, the driver sped away toward Lenoir Road. Hamm then called 911, the report said. Officers also found a pistol on the ground near Caldwell, the report said. The gun was missing its magazine, and Whisnant said officers believe the gun belongs to Young. EMS arrived and transported Caldwell to a local hospital before he was airlifted to a Charlotte hospital, the report said. MDPS officer Miller located the Mustang at the Jett Express in Morganton later that night, the report said. The report said Young was found with a gram of marijuana, and Whisnant said he was charged for drug possession that night. Young was charged with felony armed robbery Monday and was placed in a local jail under a $20,000 bond, according to an arrest report. Whisnant said Young still was in jail as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Officer Gillstrap arrived at the scene Sept. 27 and conducted a reconstruction of the wreck, the report said. The cause of the moped wreck still is under investigation, and officers are trying to rule out an intentional collision, Whisnant said. Young was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2002, according to a North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender search. Ryan Wilusz is a staff writer and can be reached at rwilusz@morganton.com or 828-432-8941. Advertisement Cold stage (shivering) Hot stage ( fever, vomiting, headaches) Sweating stage (sweating, tiredness) "The camera will take the picture of the drop of blood. The picture will have to be uploaded on the app. The remote testing facility will need only 10 seconds to send an accurate result informing the person whether he has malaria or not," claimed IEMS professor Nilanjana Dutta Roy.Dutta Roy and her fellow researchers, Nilanjan Daw and Debapriya Paul, are now waiting for the approval of the ministry. "We are expecting the approval soon since the initial reaction from the ministry was extremely positive," she said.Each device will be able to conduct multiple tests that will help an infected person to regularly monitor the response of the medication."In conventional pathological tests, it takes almost seven to eight hours to get the blood report and it costs about Rs 200. The device will bring down the cost to about Rs 10 per test and the result will be available in seconds," she claimed."We want to train social workers in remote villages so that they can conduct door-to-door blood tests using this device-cum-app," she said.The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, near Kolkata, has provided the technical support for the development of the app-cum-device.To detect malaria, a life-threatening endemic disease, an individual has to purchase the device that will be priced at Rs 70 and download the app on the mobile phone.Malaria is a serious parasitic disease and is carried to humans by mosquitoes infected with the protozoan parasite called Plasmodium.An important fact about malaria is, only the female mosquitoes belonging to Anopheles genus act as vectors in carrying the disease. These mosquitoes blood feed on infected humans and contribute to the transmission of malaria. However, malaria is a non-contagious disease and does not spread directly from person-to-person.World Health Organization (WHO) classifies malaria into:Uncomplicated malaria results in symptoms, but clinical tests do not indicate any vital organ dysfunction. This type of malaria goes through 3 stages:Severe malaria is caused mainly by P. Falciparum, and if left untreated, can result in organ failure. Severe malaria also causes anemia, cerebral malaria resulting in abnormal behavior, acute respiratory distress syndrome, low blood pressure, acute kidney failure, hyperparasitemia and hemoglobinuria.Though malaria is a treatable disease, the major concern is that malarial parasites are increasingly becoming drug resistant and thereby throw challenges in curbing the spread of the virulent disease.The two groups mainly vulnerable to contracting malaria are - children who are below the age of five and pregnant women. During pregnancy, immunity to malaria reduces, making a woman more vulnerable to the disease.Source: Medindia Advertisement A research team led by psychologist Simone Kuhn has examined which effects nature near people's homes such as forest, urban green, or wasteland has on stress-processing brain regions such as the amygdala."Research on brain plasticity supports the assumption that the environment can shape brain structure and function. That is why we are interested in the environmental conditions that may have positive effects on brain development.Studies of people in the countryside have already shown that living close to nature is good for their mental health and well-being. We, therefore, decided to examine city dwellers," explains first author Simone Kuhn, who led the study at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and now works at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).Indeed, the researchers found a relationship between place of residence and brain health: those city dwellers living close to a forest were more likely to show indications of a physiologically healthy amygdala structure and were therefore presumably better able to cope with stress.This effect remained stable when differences in educational qualifications and income levels were controlled for. However, it was not possible to find an association between the examined brain regions and urban green, water, or wasteland.With these data, it is not possible to distinguish whether living close to a forest really has positive effects on the amygdala or whether people with a healthier amygdala might be more likely to select residential areas close to a forest.Based on present knowledge, however, the researchers regard the first explanation as more probable. Further longitudinal studies are necessary to accumulate evidence.The participants in the present study are from the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) - a larger longitudinal study examining the physical, psychological, and social conditions for healthy aging.In total, 341 adults aged 61 to 82 years took part in the present study. Apart from carrying out memory and reasoning tests, the structure of stress-processing brain regions, especially the amygdala, was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).In order to examine the influence of nature close to peoples' homes in these brain regions, the researchers combined the MRI data with geoinformation about the participants' places of residence. This information stemmed from the European Environment Agency's Urban Atlas, which provides an overview of urban land use in Europe."Our study investigates the connection between urban planning features and brain health for the first time," says co-author Ulman Lindenberger, Director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world population is expected to be living in cities. These results could, therefore, be very important for urban planning. In the near future, however, the observed association between the brain and closeness to forests would need to be confirmed in further studies, and other cities stated Ulman Lindenberger.Source: Eurekalert Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. Advertisement Previous research by Lee's lab had shown that p75 is involved in a signaling pathway that regulates the development of sensory neurons--cells which transmit our sensation of pain, touch and muscle tension--in the dorsal root ganglia.In this latest study, the investigators collaborated with a team at the University of Michigan led by co-senior author Brian Pierchala to further learn about the role of p75 in the development of sensory neurons. They studied mice lacking p75 only in the sensory neurons. When these mice were born, their sensory neurons were normal. But by the time they were six months old, some of those sensory neurons had degenerated, particularly the populations of cells that usually transmit pain signals.It turned out that p75 partners with another class of receptors, called the GDNF (glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor) receptor family. The p75 protein binds to one such receptor called Ret, which is associated with some neurological conditions as well as certain types of cancer. Members of the GDNF family support the survival of sensory neurons that transmit the pain signal and p75 enhances this survival-promoting effect by interacting with Ret. When p75 was removed, the survival-promoting signal from GDNF family members was reduced and the sensory neurons that need this signal to survive gradually degenerated."In this particular study, one of the remarkable findings is that this relationship between Ret and p75 exists at all. It's something that wasn't previously known," says Zhijiang Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in Lee's lab and one of the paper's co-first authors. "This research adds further significance to the role of p75 as a master regulator for many different signaling pathways that are vital for the nervous system to function normally."Lee says that although he doesn't know of any human disorders that are associated with the loss of p75 in particular, pain sensation is obviously vital for quality of life. "We do know of people who have these kinds of sensory deficits, and it can be serious problem," he says. "Thanks to this research, we now know more about the broad influence of the p75 protein."Future studies will look at the role p75 plays in two other types of cells -- glial cells and skin cells. The investigators also plan to look in more detail at the role of p75 in different parts of the body. "We know that in the sacral region, there is a high percentage of sensory neurons with strong p75 expression," Lee says.Source: Eurekalert Wu Haitao (front C), the charge d'affaires of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, addresses a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East at the UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 18, 2017. China on Wednesday asked for more efforts to tackle the Palestine issue, saying the international community should have a sense of urgency to push for a political settlement. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) China on Wednesday asked for more efforts to tackle the Palestine issue, saying the international community should have a sense of urgency to push for a political settlement. The Palestine issue is the crux of the Middle East crisis and a root cause of many problems in the region, Wu Haitao, the charge d'affaires of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, told an open debate of the Security Council. Palestine and Israel are neighbors that share a fate. Accelerating the political settlement of the Palestine issue through dialogue and consultation is in the fundamental interests of both Palestinians and Israelis and conducive to durable peace and stability in the region, he said. He warned that the Palestine-Israel situation is fragile, the conflicts centering on settlements are acute and the humanitarian situation in Gaza is grave. At the same time, the Palestinian people's demand and aspirations for correcting the historical wrongs and resuming the exercise of their unalienable national rights are strong. He asked for efforts to push for political settlement on the basis of the two-states solution, which he said best fits the realities in the region, has won broadest international recognition, and is demanded by UN General Assembly resolutions. Parties concerned should push for the resumption of peace talks on the basis of relevant Security Council resolutions, the "land-for-peace" principle and the Arab Peace Initiative in a bid for a comprehensive, fair and durable solution, he said. Wu asked to remove negative factors that would impede such an endeavor and called for sincerity for peace and the building of mutual trust. It is imperative to stop all settlement activities in occupied territories, to cease the closure of Gaza, to enhance measures that would improve the livelihood of the Palestinian people and to prevent violence against civilians, he said. He asked the international community to coordinate efforts and boost synergy for peace. Recently, the international community has increased attention to the Palestine issue and made various efforts to push for the resumption of peace talks. China supports all efforts toward peace between Palestine and Israel, he said. The recent progress in intra-Palestine reconciliation is conducive to unity within Palestine, to the resumption of peace talks with Israel and to the attainment of Palestinian statehood and peaceful co-existence with Israel, said Wu. China commends Egypt's diplomatic efforts to broker the deal between Fatah and Hamas, he said, adding that the international community should build on the progress and promote peace. China is a staunch supporter of Palestinians' legitimate course and an active mediator for peace between Palestine and Israel, he said. China firmly supports the two-states solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with full sovereignty and independence on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said. China will follow as general guide President Xi Jinping's four-point proposal on the settlement of the Palestine issue and will work with various parties toward a political settlement, he added. On the Iran nuclear issue, Wu said the 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers helped defuse a crisis and consolidate the international non-proliferation regime. The agreement was an important achievement in terms of international security governance and multilateralism and also a good example for addressing hot spot issues through political and diplomatic means, he stressed. China hopes the parties concerned will cherish and safeguard the agreement as a historic achievement, honor their respective obligations and ensure the comprehensive implementation of the agreement and properly settle their differences through dialogue and consultation in a concerted effort to peace and stability in the Middle East, said the Chinese envoy. At least 43 Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban attack in S. province About 43 Afghan army soldiers were killed in an overnight attack by Taliban insurgents in Maywand district of southern province of Kandahar, a local official said Thursday. "Scores of militants attacked an army outpost in Chashmo locality of Maywand district with car bombs and firearms overnight. The fighting lasted till predawn before additional forces arrived at the area," the official told Xinhua anonymously. A total of 43 soldiers have been killed and several others wounded, the source said, adding further details about the incident will be shared with media by army officials later in the day. Taliban suicide bombers used two explosive-laded security forces' hijacked armored vehicles in the attack, the source added. Several militants were also killed and wounded during the fighting, but their number could not be exactly specified as the militants evacuated their casualties after the clashes. Meanwhile, a local TV Channel Arina News reported that about 70 soldiers died in Maywand. Zia Durrani, a provincial police spokesman, when reached by Xinhua confirmed the clashes in the district, west of provincial capital Kandahar city, 450 km south of Kabul. The attack occurred days after Taliban launched two massive coordinated attacks in eastern Paktia and neighboring Ghanzi provinces. Over 70 people were killed and more than 170 others wounded in the Tuesday's attack in the eastern provinces. BERLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- With China's "fascinating" development in the past five years and providing more public goods to the world, Europe will benefit from a strong Chinese economy, a German expert on China has said. Nele Noesselt, a professor and China expert with the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, spoke highly of China's reform measures, especially those listed in a landmark blueprint in 2013. Issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the document known as "The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms", stipulated the market's leading role in the allocation of resources. "All these efforts will lead to greener and sustainable development and growth," Noesselt told Xinhua. Regarding Chinese foreign policy in the past five years, the Duisburg-based expert said China is no longer regarded as a passive observer or bystander in the international system. The change emerged during the 2008 global financial crisis and has become more obvious since 2013, with the Chinese government putting forward an array of ideas for building a just and fair world order, safeguarding peace and promoting development. While more and more Chinese soldiers are being deployed in UN peacekeeping missions, in a correlated development, China is also becoming increasingly active in global economic governance. "Chinese companies are growing globally, calling for China's participation in world security affairs to ensure (Chinese)interests. At the same time, (the) domestic economy is more and more intertwined with the world economy," Noesselt said. "China's participation in the international system has somehow stabilized the global market." The Belt and Road Initiative, one of the major outcomes of the new trend in China's foreign policy, will bring benefits to European countries, he added. The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to create greater trade, infrastructure and people-to-people links between Asia, Europe and Africa by reviving and expanding the ancient Silk Trade routes. The modern version comprises an overland Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. China is providing infrastructure and securing transport routes, thereby not only benefiting Chinese markets but also providing economic growth and stability to Europe and other regions, Noesselt said. "We have to keep in mind that we are just over the financial crisis. Everyone (was) hoping that Chinese companies (would) jump in, in a bid to stabilize the European market and also to re-stabilize the euro as a currency. And China did contribute," he said. BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Foreign leaders, political parties and organizations around the world have been sending their best wishes and congratulations as the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened in Beijing Wednesday. The messages, lauding the CPC's leadership as well as China's socio-economic development and global contributions, expressed confidence that the CPC would lead China to greater success. These are some of the messages: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of United National Party Under General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership in the past five years, China has made great economic and social achievements, and helped promote global economic growth and raise living standards worldwide. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, secretary-general of People's Action Party The 19th CPC National Congress is a milestone event in the history of the CPC and China, and will set guidelines for China's future road under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping. A prosperous and stable China is beneficial to the region and the world at large. Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila, president of Center Party The Center Party of Finland would like to encourage the CPC leadership to continue (pursuing) its reforms and be (an) active member of the international community. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leader of Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti It is my hope that the 19th National Congress of the CPC ... will lead China further on its road to progress. (The progress already made) has strengthened the role of China in international relations and cooperation on global issues such as the fight against poverty, climate change, and the (UN-listed) sustainable development goals. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, chairman of GERB I sincerely hope that the future decision on the strategic development of China, including the unfolding of the market economy, as well as the principles and goals that the country will follow in its foreign policy, will continue to engage with good relations ... the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, leader of Smer-Social Democracy The CPC has led China to take major measures to fight against corruption, improve the environment, eliminate poverty, deepen reform and maintain world peace and stability in recent years. The 19th National Congress ... will inject new impetus into the fulfillment of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation and the country's two centenary goals. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, leader of Labor Party The CPC has contributed greatly to enhance multilateralism and to promote the maintenance of peace and stability ... (and) uphold world trade and the global economy. Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane, leader of All Basotho Convention We believe the decisions and action plan adopted by the 19th National Congress of the CPC will lead China to a brighter future. Sao Tome and Principe's Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada, president of the Independent Democratic Action The results achieved during the 19th National Congress of the CPC will help China continue to play a vital leading role in global governance, including maintaining world peace, promoting economic cooperation and environmental conservation. Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, leader of People's National Congress (The CPC's good governance) has been evident through the resurgence of the Chinese economy from within as well as through international cooperation with the other global partners. Over 20,000 students have applied for Japanese schools in Egypt since registration opened on 27 September, education ministry spokesperson Ahmed Khairy said in press statements on Saturday. Five Japanese schools, which run from kindergarten through the third grade, will open their doors to students for the first time in October. The project, which aims to create 100 such schools, is part of a cooperation protocol signed between Egypt and Japan in May 2017, with Japan providing the necessary technical support for the project. The students will be attending schools in Cairo's Shorouk City, the Fifth Settlement, New Cairo, and in the governorates of Alexandria, Menoufiya, Suez, Assiut, Beni Suef, and Minya, according to Khairy. The new schools will teach the same curricula taught in government schools in addition to the Japanese "whole child education" system known as Tokkatsu. Tokkatsu focuses on achieving a balanced development of intellect, virtue and body by ensuring academic competence, rich emotions and healthy physical development. "The schools will focus on enhancing the child's personality rather than scientific content by introducing a special system that is meant to improve students' cognitive skills and behaviour while encouraging innovation and creativity," Khairy told Ahram Online. Parents are required to sign an agreement to spend at least 20 hours during the school year in workshops with their children at the schools. Each class at the school is planned to comprise 40-45 students, and runs until 5pm, an average of three hours longer than regular schools in Egypt. Fees for the schools will range between EGP 2,000 and EGP 4,000 ($113 to $225). Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Wait, did Sen. Chris Murphy just take himself out of the 2020 presidential race? It seemed as though he did when used the R-O words on a CBS podcast last week. R-O is rule out. You see, in the rarefied world of Washington journo-speak, political figures can say theyre not running for president because they are focused on their upcoming re-election, which is what Murphy told the interviewers, including CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett. But then Murphy was asked whether he would rule out a run in 2020, a verbal construct that has considerably more sticking power. Am I ruling it out? Murphy asked. Here we go, Ill rule it out for you. Whoa! That certainly seems pretty dispositive. But in a subsequent interview on ABC, Murphy went back to deflect-the-question mode, saying: I have an election in 2018 and so, all of my focus is on asking the people of Connecticut to send me back to the United States Senate. But, in the Kabuki-craven argot of political-reporter-obsessives, he added he would cross bridges if and when they appear after 2018. Confused? Well, you have good company. The wonder of it all is why would Murphy even bother to rule out or say anything very much at all about 2020? Hes way, way ahead in fundraising with his main Republican rival Dominic Rapini, so at this point his 2018 re-election is hardly in doubt. But the dust-heap of political history overflows with ashes of political hares so ahead and confident that they didnt see the tortoise catching up. Anyone heard of Hillary Clinton? Feeling stonewalled Sen. Richard Blumenthal jousted with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on a host of topics FCCs power to take away TV licenses for criticizing President Trump, the Constitutions emoluments clause (think Trump hotel here in D.C., a popular international supplicant watering hole) and a host of other topics. It was Sessions first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee since his confirmation hearing way back in January. Since then, Sessions and the Justice Department have sat in the eye of the storm over special prosecutor Robert Muellers Trump-Russia investigation. Sessions has even incurred the unbridled wrath of Trump himself. The net result of Blumenthals Q&A? Not too much. Sessions tried to smile and laugh his way through Blumenthals questions, even asking Connecticuts senior senator him to name his source for how he knew Mueller had contacted Sessions for an interview. But during the course of the hearing, Sessions did offer up a few interesting tidbits. For one, Russian interference in the 2016 election is real, which undercuts Trumps long-standing claim the whole thing is a hoax. And for two, he said he respected Mueller and hoped for a fair conclusion to the investigation, again at variance with Trump. Blumenthal was less than satisfied. This hearing was long overdue and lacking in forthright clear testimony on critical topics, he said. Sessions essentially stonewalled the committee. Debating bump-stock blame Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, is one of many closely following debate in Washington on bump stocks, the after-market device that essentially turns a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic machine gun legally. When I asked for his take on the issue, I expected a pro-gun kind of guns dont kill people, people kill people kind of response. Instead, he forwarded a video, which had already been taken down by YouTube for dangerous or harmful content. Well, Wilson managed to convey two videos that werent in YouTubes crosshairs. One depicted a man with a semi-automatic blowing off rapid-fire bursts by hooking the trigger around one of his belt loops. Another showed a second shooter with a Hungarian semi-automatic rifle who got it to fire similar bursts by planting the metal stock against his shoulder and contorting his thumb and trigger finger into a simulated hook. His point? In the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting, Congress can ban bump stocks, they can do whatever they think they need to do to prevent future acts of this kind, said Wilson, whose organization represents roughly 28,000. But it boils down to whether they want to kill a whole bunch of people, they can find a way to do it. He called Congressional proposals to ban legal bump stocks feel-good legislation. Weve heard the argument before. Take away guns and theyll use knives or trucks, for that matter. Murphy and others on the gun-violence-prevention side would counter that every time Congress fails to act after a mass-shooting, it gives virtual license to the next killer. You may think of Wilson as the most unpopular guy in the state, but he doesnt see himself that way. I know our cause is unpopular with some, and I do get the occasional email that speaks to that, he said. But Im OK, I sleep well at night knowing I stand up for principles I believe in. dan@hearstdc.com Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Wednesday that the government is currently working on relocating ministries headquarters from Cairo to the new administrative capital, which is set to be completed in 2020. In a statement issued after a cabinet meeting, the prime minister said that the government is modernizing the states administrative apparatuses. Ismail said that the cabinet has received the executive bylaws of the new investment law from the Ministry of Investment on Wednesday and expects to issue them next week. Last week, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended a ceremony marking the official launch of the country's new administrative capital, which will be home to government ministries, residential units and an international airport. Located some 40km to the east of Cairo, the under-construction city is part of the governments plan to expand urban areas to deal with the country's rapid population growth and improve the nation's infrastructure. The government has started building 25,000 residential units in the city so far. Search Keywords: Short link: File photo MIDDLETOWN The Community Health Center has recently been awarded a $175,000 grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration that will help treat patients and communities affected by the opioid crisis. The number of overdoses in Connecticut has increased in 2017 and Community Health Center staff have seen the number of patients seeking services for drug addiction climb dramatically, according to a press release. Connecticut is one of the highest ranking states in the country for hospitalization and emergency room visits due to drug abuse, the CHC reports. The services' incentive comes at a time where the military is still grappling with getting troops to fully comply with its... The gun was hot. So hot that the crew of the AC-130U "Spooky 43" didn't know if they could crank up another burst of rounds against Taliban fighters ambushing a joint U.S.-Afghan team on the ground in Boz Qandahari village, Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. But "Spooky 43" kept the gunship's 105mm Howitzer cannon armed like a revolver, hitting the positions over and over during the night mission on Nov. 2, 2016. The 14 airmen of the 4th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron were the crew staving off the enemy that night, as Air Force Staff Sgt. Richard Hunter, a combat controller, called in the airstrikes from below. They came in, "flying low for hours, [firing] just one more Howitzer round through a blazing hot, dangerously hot barrel hoping it doesn't blow up -- again and again," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said during a valor ceremony Tuesday for the air commandos at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Related content: Wilson awarded five crew members with the Distinguished Flying Cross: Maj. Alexander W. Hill, Maj. Aaron C. Hall, Staff Sgt. Freddie R. Coffee II, Staff Sgt. Cody M. H. Flora and Senior Airman Jonathon R. Russell. She bestowed another four members with Air Medals with Valor: 1st Lt. Zachary A. Hanley, Staff Sgt. Alexander P. Skidgel, Staff Sgt. William D. Cody and Senior Airman Raymond T. Bourne. Five airmen not in attendance were also presented with the Air Medal with Valor: Capt. Garrett W. Robinson, 1st Lt. Marshall A. Shefler, Staff Sgt. Timothy A. Lewis, Staff Sgt. David L. Kerns and Senior Airman Kellen A. Lloyd. During the ceremony, Wilson also presented the Air Force Cross -- second only to the Medal of Honor for valor in combat -- to Hunter for his steadfast decisions and courage during the U.S. Army-led mission in Afghanistan. The aircrew rearmed and refueled as many times as needed to come back "to support the injured team, remaining on station beyond sunrise until the surviving force and their casualties egressed the battlefield," according to Spooky 43's awards citation. "At this point, [the team] is dragging [casualties] down the alleyway while still returning fire, and we're using all of our weapons on the aircraft to destroy fighting positions and buildings ... all within about 12 meters of Staff Sgt. Hunter," said Maj. Alexander Hill, aircraft commander of Spooky 43. "We told Hunter to put his head down, and we fired closer than I think anyone's ever fired an air-burst round," he said in a release. They employed all three weapons on the gunship to repel the enemy, firing "inside danger-close distances through 21 engagements with the 25 millimeter and 40 millimeter cannons, once as close as 10 meters from the friendly position, allowing the remaining team to drag their wounded comrades out of the kill zone," the citation said. Danger-close refers to strikes coming within 100 meters of friendly personnel. At times, the Howitzer rounds came within 12 meters of friendlies. "There was so much chaos on the ground, and everybody above us had our backs completely," Hunter said. "It was a beautiful, beautiful thing, because as scared as we all were, and as bad as the situation was -- at no point did I fear for my life and neither did my brothers because overhead we have these guys in the gunship raining all kinds of hate and taking care of us completely," the combat controller said. Spooky 43 attacked in formation alongside AH-64 Apache helicopters, and marked targets with the 40 millimeter. Both the Apaches and the gunship coordinated with additional teams to prepare medical helicopters to evacuate the casualties, and launched a Quick Reaction Force to help evacuate the ground force from Boz Qandahari. During the eight-hour long firefight, more than 50 lives were saved, and 27 Taliban fighters were killed. In all, 1,787 munitions rained down on the enemy's position. "This mission was the perfect example of the power of our special tactics airmen American airpower, and the nation's elite ground forces," Wilson said during the ceremony. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. A new circuit will hear Alaa's appeal next month An appeals judge recused himself on Thursday from hearing the case of imprisoned political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who is contesting a five-year sentence for violating Egypt's protest law. The judge referred the case a different circuit, setting 8 November for a new appeal hearing. Abdel-Fattah, an icon of the 2011 revolution which toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, is serving a five-year-prison sentence over charges including protesting without a police permit and attacking a policeman during a demonstration outside the Shura Council in November 2013. In 2014, Abdel-Fattah received a sentence of 15-years in jail but the penalty was reduced on retrial in 2015 to five years. Abdel Fattah has so far served three and a half years of his term. Most of those sentenced in the case have been pardoned by the president on separate occasions. Search Keywords: Short link: In a modern take on an old-school go-to maneuver, Ford has crafted a crib that simulates the act of leisurely driving around the block to help babies fall asleep. The Max Motor Dreams cot was designed by Ford of Spain, and it is activated through a smartphone app. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker says in a news release that users can customize the sleeping experience from the motion, engine noise and even the lighting. As the automaker points out, parents should expect around five hours of sleep at night while losing around 40 days of sleep during their child's first year of existence. Ford points to a U.K.-based study by Ergoflex for its statistics on parental sleep habits with a new-born. Ford says its smartphone app also tracks and records different settings so parents can remember their most successful ones. Check out a video (with subtitles) below, and a photo gallery courtesy of Ford at the top of the page. -- "After many years of talking to mums and dads, we know that parents of newborns are often desperate for just one good night's sleep," designer Alejandro Lopez Bravo said in the news release. "But while a quick drive in the family car can work wonders in getting baby off to sleep, the poor old parents still have to be awake and alert at the wheel. "The Max Motor Dreams could make the everyday lives of a lot of people a little bit better." Ford Spain reports that the Max Motor Dreams crib remains an award-winning one-off pilot project, but that the automaker is considering moving it to production. WYOMING - Absent one member, City Council voted unanimously to adopt an agreement with the state of Michigan concerning the protection of critical infrastructure data at its Monday, Oct. 16, meeting. The city, in an effort to contribute to a statewide asset management database, has been voluntarily sharing data with state officials in Lansing since earlier in the year, following directives from Gov. Rick Snyder. It was in the early months of 2016 that Snyder issued an executive order, Order No. 2016-5, which established a 21st Century Infrastructure Commission for the purpose of advising and assisting "in matters relating to the assessment and development of a 21st Century infrastructure strategy." Following the submission of a comprehensive list containing 110 recommendations from that commission to the governor in November 2016, Snyder issued another directive, Directive No. 2017-1, in April instructing state departments to work together to establish a regional asset management pilot and "forward recommendations on how the state can operationalize a statewide comprehensive asset management database and system." "The governor of Michigan has been very concerned about infrastructure since he was elected to that office and we certainly appreciate his interest," Director of Public Works Bill Dooley said. Dooley said state officials have access to information concerning roadways throughout the state, but that the same could not be said for other kinds of infrastructure and utilities, such as water and sewer systems, which is why the governor thought it prudent to set up a pilot program to gather that kind of data. "(As with the roads), they wanted to look at something similar with buried infrastructure -- water and sewer systems and treatment plants -- and what they found is that there is no central database to find out what is the condition of utilities throughout the state of Michigan, including electrical and cable TV and so on," Dooley said. "That process is ongoing (and) Wyoming is participating, as well as a number of other municipalities, on a voluntary basis," he said. "But in providing all this data about our utilities to the state database, there is concern that, while it's going to be used for good purposes at the state level, what if that information got out to people who would abuse that or maybe even ... use it for terrorist means of some kind?" Thus came the necessity of striking a Universal Data Sharing Agreement with Michigan State Police in order to protect critical infrastructure data from falling into nefarious hands. The agreement between the city and MSP puts limitations on the type and amount of data that can be shared with various parties so as to protect "such data from unintentional release, access, and exploitation by institutional and non-institutional actors, including foreign governments, terrorist organizations, and individual criminals." Mayor Jack Poll said the information the city has been able to share with Snyder so far has he and other state officials very impressed. "We have donated Wyoming's time and the number of people that are involved in this -- some 61 individuals -- to supplying all this data and information, (and) the governor has just been completely blown away," Poll said. "(City Manager) Curtis (Holt) and I had a luncheon with Gov. Snyder a month ago or so, and it's amazing the number of things that we know and understand this side of the state compared to our friends on the other side of the state." Poll said the city's involvement with the Grand Valley Metro Council and REGIS, or Regional Geographic Information System, which provides a common database and suite of applications and interfaces to satisfy spatial data management needs for a number of West Michigan municipalities, have been largely responsible for the "unbelievable layers of data" that Wyoming has been able to provide the state. "It's been very good, and obviously that became a big concern about protecting our data," he said. An Egyptian court has set November 11 as the date of the first trial hearing of a man charged with killing a Coptic priest and injuring another in Cairo last week, a judicial source told Ahram Online on Thursday. The prosecution charged forty-year-old Ahmed El-Sonbaty with premeditated murder in the killing of Arch Priest Samaan Shehataa, who hailed from Beni Suef Governorate in Upper Egypt. The defendant was arrested last Thursday on the same day of the attack, which took place in Al-Salam City, a satellite city north-east of Cairo. The interior ministry has not commented on a possible motive behind the attack. Evidence against the defendant includes a confession, witness statements, and forensic evidence, according to Egypt's state news agency MENA. Search Keywords: Short link: ANN ARBOR, MI - The city of Ann Arbor is taking steps to ensure its process for licensing medical marijuana facilities complies with the state's new Medical Marihuana Licensing Facilities Act. The state law, which took effect in December 2016, outlines different types of commercial medical marijuana facilities that can be licensed in Michigan. The state plans to begin accepting licensing applications Dec. 15. Any dispensary that is going to apply for a state license must first go through the city's licensing process, said Councilmember Chip Smith at a meeting on Monday, Oct. 16. The city council approved a first reading Monday of a proposed amendment that would repeal Ann Arbor's current "medical marijuana licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries" ordinance and add a new "medical marijuana facilities" ordinance that complies with the state's regulations. The city's planning commission also is expected to propose changes to the zoning ordinance to reflect the state's new medical marijuana licensing regulations. "These proposed amendments apply only to Chapter 55 Zoning of city code. They address where various newly-defined medical marijuana uses may be appropriately located, and reasonable restrictions to protect people and other uses in that zoning district. Permitting for medical marijuana facilities is being addressed in a separate code section," states a report reviewed by the planning commission on Tuesday. The city council decided Monday to move forward with a first reading of the medical marijuana licensing ordinance, rather than wait to review it in tandem with the proposed zoning ordinance changes. A second reading on the licensing ordinance is scheduled for Nov. 9. "We think it's prudent (to move forward) for a number of reasons, one of which is to express our support to both our local businesses and our local patients," Smith said at Monday's meeting. "To show that we do support medical marijuana, that we are interested in continuing to permit these uses in the city of Ann Arbor and that we are organized so that our providers can go through the state process as quickly as possible." Councilmember Jason Frenzel, who sponsored the medical marijuana licensing ordinance with Smith, said he hopes the city's ordinance will guide local businesses as questions remain about implementation of the state's new licensing process. "I just want to make sure that we're setting a goal post for our local businesses so that they know what they'll need to respond to in the city regulations so they can respond more directly to the state when need be," Frenzel said. Under the proposed ordinance, Ann Arbor would allow the following types of medical marijuana facilities to operate, provided they have a state license: Grower, including Class A grower (up to 500 marijuana plants), Class B grower (up to 1,000 marijuana plants) and Class C grower (up to 1,500 marijuana plants); Processor, which is an operation that purchases marijuana from a grower and extracts resin to create packaged marijuana-infused products; Provisioning center, which is a commercial entity that sells marijuana to qualifying patients; Secure transporter, which stores and transports marijuana between facilities for a fee; and Safety compliance facility, which tests marijuana for contaminents and then may return it to a marijuana facility. Existing medical marijuana facilities in Ann Arbor would be required to apply for city permits once the new ordinance goes into effect. The permits would be valid for one year. An application fee would be part of the permit process, and the proposed ordinance says the amount would be determined a resolution of the city council. Mayor Christopher Taylor said he hopes establishing a city ordinance for licensing for medical marijuana facilities will allow businesses to continue operating undisrupted as the new state law is implemented. ANN ARBOR, MI - There was no one to speak for Arriele Williams at her father's manslaughter sentencing Wednesday, Oct. 18, according to prosecutors. The 2-year-old died Dec. 29, 2016 while sleeping with her intoxicated father, 39-year-old Anthony M. Williams, who was ordered to serve three years and six months to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. "I think it speaks volumes about this tragedy and the nature of this case that there is no one here to speak for this little ... girl who died," said Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Blake Hatlem. "Ultimately, the person at fault for that is the defendant. He had responsibilities for her. He failed miserably." In the absence of any other family members - Williams said the girl's mother died when the baby was just four months old - Hatlem spoke on behalf of the girl. "She could talk. She could walk. Unfortunately the one thing she could not do was pry her very small frame from underneath the defendant's very large frame. (His) intoxicated body was on top of her," he said. "It's literally stuff that horror stories are made of. If we were to think of the last moments of this young girl's life, as she's trapped under her inebriated father." Hatlem said Williams and the little girl were living off the charity of neighbors, in the basement of a woman's Ypsilanti home, where there was only a couch. Arriele Williams was forced to sleep on top of her father, who was frequently passed out drunk, because there was no other place to sleep, according to Hatlem. On at least two other occasions, the residents expressed concern about the way Williams drunkenly slept with the little girl on the couch, Hatlem told Judge Archie Brown. When given a chance to speak, Williams disputed some of Hatlem's claims, saying he had secured his daughter a bed, but that the grandkids of the homeowner broke it. "I did take other steps ... to arrange housing for us. We were getting ready to move the day of the incident," he said. Williams said he is remorseful. "I take full responsibility," he added. "I would ask for leniency. The grieving is enough. It's something I'll never get over." Brown stuck to the sentencing agreement struck in a plea deal. Williams pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter Sept. 2 in exchange for the dismissal of a second-degree child abuse charge. The recommended prison sentence was part of the deal. Williams told authorities he woke up in the early morning hours of Dec. 29, 2016 and found that his daughter wasn't breathing. Police said Williams had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 percent, which, for perspective, is about twice the legal limit allowed for driving. Investigators believe the 2-year-old was pinned down by Williams' leg. ANN ARBOR, MI - Suicide-prevention fences are rising around the tops of Ann Arbor's downtown public parking decks. In recent days, crews have finished installing chain-link fencing on the rooftops of the Fourth and William garage across from the Blake Transit Center and the Maynard garage. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, they were installing chain-link fencing around the top of the Fourth and Washington garage. Next up are three more city-owned parking decks: Ann/Ashley, Liberty Square and Forest Avenue. The Downtown Development Authority voted Oct. 4 to spend $148,840 to have Warren-based Future Fabricating install the temporary chain-link fencing around the rooftops of the six garages after several jumps and falls, including another fatal one on Oct. 2 at the Fourth and William garage that police believe to be a suicide. The fences are not guaranteed to stop anyone from jumping, but they're intended as another barrier and deterrent to give someone with suicidal thoughts a chance to stop and think. John Greden, founder and executive director of the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Depression Center, told the City Council last month fencing can help prevent suicides. "Physical barriers ... such as fencing and screening provide deterrents to these impulsive times. They work. They have been shown to be successful in decreasing suicide rates in high-risk places," he said, adding that means they can save lives. "Those individuals then have a chance and opportunity to get treatment." The City Council passed a resolution in September urging the DDA to take action to provide physical barriers on parking garages, starting with the levels highest above the ground. DDA officials said the temporary fencing might not look pretty, but they didn't want to wait any longer to take action. They're still talking about more permanent fencing options, though an initial bid received in June indicated that could cost nearly $1.4 million. At the moment, the DDA also is having Republic Parking, the company that manages day-to-day parking operations for the DDA, assign additional staff to monitor the garage rooftops. Though only the rooftops are being fenced for now, DDA officials are considering fencing around other levels of the parking decks. DDA Executive Director Susan Pollay said the contractor is making better time than predicted and the crews have been doing what they can to get the fencing installed as quickly as possible. Anyone experiencing thoughts of suicide can get help from: UPDATE 2:27 p.m.: The bus has been located and was determined to be a contracted bus on an official route, said Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. Van Buren Public Schools said in an update on their website that the bus was a new transportation provider for another school. -- YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI - Area school districts are warning parents and students after the driver of an unmarked school bus reportedly attempted to pick up children in Ypsilanti Township on Thursday, Oct. 19. A parent reported shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday that an unmarked school bus pulled up to a bus stop near Tyler Road and Buick Avenue in the West Willow neighborhood and claimed to be a driver for Van Buren Public Schools, said Peter Kudlak, district superintendent. The district name on the school bus had been spray painted over, according to a Nixle alert issued by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, and Kudlak said all Van Buren buses are well-marked and accounted for. The parent was concerned and did not allow the children onto the bus, Kudlak said. The children were either middle school or high school students. While police seek the driver of the bus, Van Buren Public Schools and neighboring districts are taking precautions to protect and alert students. Immediately following the reported incident Thursday, Van Buren schools alerted parents with phone messages, posted on their website, and contacted other school districts to warn them, Kudlak said. His district also has requested a greater police presence during afternoon dismissal Thursday and the morning bus route on Friday, he said. "Clearly unmarked school buses are not affiliated with any school district," Kudlak said, noting that the attempt was bold and even contracted buses would be clearly marked. "It's marked the same on first day of school as on the 20th day of school." He said children should be warned to leave any situation or offer of transportation that makes them feel uncomfortable, whether a school bus, van or something else. If they miss their actual bus and miss a day of school, he said it's worth it - it's more important that children are safe. Elsewhere in the county, school districts also sent alerts and warnings to members of their communities. Lincoln Consolidated Schools Superintendent Sean McNatt said his staff and the district liaison officer were notified of the incident, and the district put an alert on their website to inform community members. "There was an unmarked bus - it was not within our school district," he said. "We keep our community informed of anything we know like this and left the staff know." The alert on the Lincoln Consolidated Schools stated "our drivers also have been instructed by Superintendent McNatt to wear and display their employee badge. Any sightings of this unmarked bus should be reported to the police." A community notice emailed Thursday morning, Saline Area Schools Superintendent Scot Graden called for community members to be vigilant and observant. "Saline Area Schools will NEVER send a mismarked school bus to pick up students," Graden said in the email. "DO NOT allow students to approach a bus not clearly marked with SALINE AREA SCHOOLS on the front, sides, and rear of the vehicle. Our drivers also have been clearly instructed to wear and display their employee badge." Ypsilanti Community Schools also stated in a Facebook post that Superintendent Benjamin Edmondson asked district drivers to wear and display their employee badges. "Any sighting of an unmarked bus should be (reported) to the police immediately," according to the statement. Police continue to seek information on this incident. Those with information are asked to contact the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office at 911 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. UPDATE 2:27 p.m.: The bus has been located and was determined to be a contracted bus on an official route, said Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. Van Buren Public Schools said in an update on their website that the bus was a new transportation provider for another school. -- YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI - Police are searching for a suspicious, unmarked school bus that attempted to pick up children in Ypsilanti Township on Thursday, Oct. 19. Van Buren Public Schools were notified of the incident shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday, when a parent reported that the unmarked school bus pulled up to a bus stop near Tyler Road and Buick Avenue and claimed to be a driver for the district, said Peter Kudlak, district superintendent. The location is in Ypsilanti Township's West Willow neighborhood. The district name on the school bus had been spray painted over, according to a Nixle alert issued by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. The parent was concerned and did not allow the children onto the bus, Kudlak said. The children were either middle school or high school students. The driver sped off and the school district then alerted parents with phone messages, posted on their website, contacted police and contacted other school districts to warn them, officials said. "Clearly unmarked school buses are not affiliated with any school district," Kudlak said, noting that the attempt was bold and even contracted buses would be clearly marked. "It's marked the same on first day of school as on the 20th day of school." Police are investigating the incident and further details were not immediately available, Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office confirmed. He said it was not immediately clear if the bus was an actual, but poorly marked, school bus from some school district, and said police are searching for the bus. Kudlak said the bus is not from Van Buren Public Schools, where all buses were well-marked and accounted for. He was not aware of any children that did not make it to school safely. Police were also notified of a similar bus near Michigan Avenue and Prospect Street in the Ypsilanti Township area, Jackson said, though he noted details of all incidents are still under investigation. Just a few minutes after Van Buren Township schools issued its warning, police also received a call, about 8:30 a.m., about a bus at the Belleville Manor mobile home community, 8701 Belleville Road, Van Buren Township Director of Public Safety Greg Laurain said. All incidents remain under investigation. In the meantime, Kudlak said the district has asked police to have a greater presence during Thursday's afternoon dismissal and Friday's morning bus route and said children should be warned to leave any situation or offer of transportation that makes them feel uncomfortable. If they miss their actual bus and miss a day of school, he said it's worth it - it's more important that children are safe. "It's very concerning understanding that this was reported and that somebody would do this," he said. Those with information on the incident are asked to contact the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office at 911 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said on Thursday that Egypt and other Arab states that are in a diplomatic row with Qatar are still concerned about Doha, which Shoukry says has not taken the necessary steps to end the dispute. "We have not seen a positive reaction from the Qatar's government," Shoukry said at a press conference with his Portuguese counterpart in Cairo, according to state news agency MENA. In June, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE severed diplomatic and transport links with Doha, accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs, sparking the region's worst diplomatic dispute in years. Doha has denied these accusations. Shoukry said the four countries are holding to their demands of Doha so as to ensure their national security and that of the region, adding that the recent measures taken against Qatar have relatively "restored stability" in the region. The four nations have demanded that Doha commit to combating terrorism and ending what they describe as acts of incitement and interference in the internal affairs of other Arab countries. They also demand that Qatar abide by a list of 13 demands, which include ending its support for the Muslim Brotherhood group, shutting down the Doha-based Al-Jazeera media company, closing a Turkish military base and downgrading its relationship with Iran. The information ministers of Egypt the other Arab states are set to hold talks about the ongoing diplomatic rift in Manama, Bahrain on 25 October. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has postponed the opening of new Japanese schools in the country in order to guarantee the highest level of transparency in the selection process of students and teachers, Minister of Education Tarek Shawky announced on Thursday. "New conditions will be set for the admission of students and teachers at the Japanese schools," Shawky said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that all the previous procedures for selecting students and teachers have been cancelled scrapped. Five new Japanese schools, which run from kindergarten through the third grade, were set to open their doors for students on Sunday. "[Some 1,800] students who have been accepted in Japanese schools will remain in their original schools," the minister said, adding that students enrolled in the kindergarten stage will be transferred to experimental schools in their areas. Over 20,000 students applied for the Japanese schools since registration opened on 27 September. Some 11,000 students were not accepted. Shawky said that his ministry is not fully prepared to run the new schools in their current status. During a meeting with Shawky on Wednesday, El-Sisi ordered the formation of a specialised committee comprising sociology, psychology, mathematics and language professors to select students and teachers for the Japanese schools and to ensure that these schools achieve efficient results. Last week, however, MP Anisa Hassouna requested a hearing session in parliament with the minister of education to discuss what she described as "disorganized management" of the project. Hassouna said that there was a lack of transparency and an absence of clear and reasonable criteria for accepting or rejecting students at the Japanese schools. The project aims to create 100 such schools as part of a cooperation protocol signed between Egypt and Japan in May 2017, with Japan providing the necessary technical support for the project. The new schools will teach the same curricula of government schools while adopting the Japanese "whole child education" system known as Tokkatsu. Tokkatsu's course of study focuses on achieving a balanced development of intellect, virtue and body by ensuring academic competence, rich emotions and healthy physical development. The five schools included in the first phase of the project are located in Cairo's Al-Shorouk City, the 5th Settlement, and the governorates of Assiut and Minya. Another school is currently under construction in the governorate of Suez, east of Cairo. Search Keywords: Short link: A top aide to US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, following a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties -- including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, said in a statement. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," he added in the first detailed US response to last week's Palestinian unity deal. The statement from Greenblatt was similar to the Israeli government's response this week in which it vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. The demands included recognising Israel and renouncing violence. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war with Fatah in 2007 following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. Search Keywords: Short link: Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday its ballistic missile programme would accelerate despite U.S. and European Union pressure to suspend it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. In a significant U.S. policy shift on Oct. 13, President Donald Trump disavowed Iran's compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and unveiled a more aggressive approach to the Islamic Republic over its missile development activity. "Iran's ballistic missile programme will expand and it will continue with more speed in reaction to Trump's hostile approach towards this revolutionary organisation (the Guards)," the IRGC said in a statement published by Tasnim. The Trump administration has imposed new unilateral sanctions aimed at impairing Iran's missile programme. It has called on Tehran not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs. Iran says it has no such plans. Tehran has repeatedly pledged to continue what it calls a defensive missile capability in defiance of Western criticism. "Imposing cruel sanctions against the Guards and hostile approach of the rogue and brute (U.S.) president shows the failure of America and the Zionist regime's (Israel) wicked policies in the region," the Guards statement said. Iran has one of the most advanced ballistic missile programmes in the Middle East, viewing it as an essential precautionary defence against the United States and other adversaries, primarily Gulf Arab states and Israel. Signalling no respite in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, where Shi'ite Muslim Iran has waged a long proxy war with U.S.-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the Guards vowed to continue confronting the United States and Israel. "More decisive and stronger than ever, the Guards will continue to defend Islamic Iran and its interests," the statement said, alluding to the Quds force, the Guards' overseas arm that operates in Iraq, Syria and Yemen among other places. Search Keywords: Short link: About 100,000 Kurds have fled the Kirkuk region for fear of persecution since Iraqi armed forces retook disputed territory after a Kurdish independence vote rejected by Baghdad, Kurdish officials said on Thursday. The United Nations voiced concern at reports that civilians, mainly Kurds, were being driven out of parts of northern Iraq retaken by Iraqi forces and their houses and businesses looted and destroyed, and urged Baghdad to stop any such abuses. In the first incident of deadly violence, a Kurdish man was killed and six wounded by Iraqi security forces while protesting at the army's takeover of their town, Khanaqin, by Iraqi forces, local Mayor Mohammed Mulla Hassan said. Kurdish troops had left Khanaqin, near the border with Iran, on Tuesday to avoid clashing with advancing Iraqi forces. Central government forces swept into Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city of more than 1 million people and the hub of a major oil-producing area, largely unopposed on Monday after most Kurdish Peshmerga forces withdrew rather than fight. Iraqi forces also took back control of Kirkuk oilfields, effectively halving the amount of output under the direct control of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a serious blow to the Kurds' independence quest. Baghdad's recovery of Kirkuk, situated just outside the KRG's official boundaries on disputed land claimed by Kurds, ethnic Turkmen and Arabs, put the city's Kurds in fear of attack by Shia Muslim paramilitaries, known as Popular Mobilisation, assisting government forces' operations in the region. Nawzad Hadi, governor of Erbil, the KRG capital, told reporters that around 18,000 families from Kirkuk and the town of Tuz Khurmato to the southeast had taken refuge in Erbil and Sulaimaniya, inside KRG territory. A Hadi aide told Reuters the total number of displaced people was about 100,000. Hemin Hawrami, a top aide to KRG President Masoud Barzani, tweeted that people had fled "looting and sectarian oppression" inflicted by Popular Mobilisation militia. U.N. relief officials said they had received allegations that 150 houses had been burned and 11 blown up in Tuz Khurmato and offices of Turkmen political parties in Kirkuk assaulted. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement urging the Baghdad government "to take every action to halt any violations and ensure all civilians are protected and that the perpetrators of acts of violence, intimidation and forced displacement of civilians be brought to justice". Khanaqin, mainly populated by Kurds, also lies in long contested territory just outside KRG boundaries. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Wednesday that security was being maintained in Kirkuk by local police backed by the elite Counter Terrorism Service, trained and equipped by the United States mainly to fight Islamic State (IS) militants. "All other armed group should not be allowed to stay," Abadi said. Sunni Muslim Kurds comprise the largest community in Kirkuk followed by Sunni and Shia Muslim Turkmen, Sunni Arabs and Christian Assyrians, according to the Iraqi Planning Ministry. In another sign of rising tensions, Iraq's Supreme Justice Council ordered the arrest of KRG Vice President Kosrat Rasul for allegedly saying Iraqi troops were "occupying forces" in Kirkuk. Iran and Turkey joined the Baghdad government in condemning the Iraqi Kurds' Sept. 25 referendum, worried it could worsen regional instability and conflict by spurring their own Kurdish populations to push for homelands. The Kurds' long-time big power ally, the United States, also opposed the vote. KURDISH LEADERS WELCOME ABADI OFFER OF TALKS With the referendum having given Abadi a political opening to regain disputed territory and tilt the balance of power in his favour, the KRG cabinet on Thursday welcomed his call for talks to resolve the crisis. Abadi had said on Tuesday he considered the referendum "a thing of the past", and asked that the KRG cancel the outcome of the vote as a precondition for negotiations to begin. In a statement, the KRG cabinet said, "It will not be possible to resolve the issues through military operations". It added: "(We have) asked the international community to help both sides start a dialogue to solve the outstanding issues based on the Iraqi constitution." KRG Peshmerga forces deployed into Kirkuk in 2014 when Iraqi government forces fell apart in the face of a lightning offensive by IS insurgents, preventing the oilfields from falling into jihadist hands. Iraqi armed forces also took control of Kurdish-held areas of Nineveh province north of Kirkuk, including the Mosul hydro-electric dam, after the Peshmerga pulled back. Crude oil flows through the KRG pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan have been disrupted by a gap between incoming and outgoing personnel since Baghdad's retaking of Kirkuk. An Iraqi oil ministry official in Baghdad said on Thursday that Iraq would not be able to restore Kirkuk's oil output to levels before Sunday because of missing equipment at two fields. The official accused the Kurdish authorities previously in control of Kirkuk of removing equipment at the Bai Hasan and Avana oil fields, northwest of the city. Kurds have sought independence since at least the end of World War One when colonial powers carved up the Middle East after the multiethnic Ottoman Empire sundered, leaving Kurdish-inhabited land split between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Search Keywords: Short link: Air India unions are likely to meet next week in the national capital to discuss their strategy amid the government going ahead with the disinvestment process. Sources say efforts are on to bring all staff unions of Air India including those of the pilots and engineers on one platform and workout a strategy to deal with the situation arising out of the government's decision to offload its stake in the flag carrier. "In the last few months, several Air India unions have held discussions at an individual level with the management on the issue of disinvestment. "But now there is need for all unions to come together and talk to the government in one voice on airline's privatisation," said a leader of one of the largest unions at Air India. Air India, which has over 20,000 employees on its roll, has as many as six recognised unions, representing ground and commercial staff, pilots, cabin crew and engineers, among others, besides, several unrecognised unions. To revive the loss-making state-run carrier, which also has a debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore, the government has decided to go for its strategic disinvestment and the modalities are being worked out by a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "We are going to talk to all the unions and bring them on one platform to prepare a common strategy while we sit with the management on the issue of disinvestment next time. We are planning to call a meeting of all these unions next week," the source said. Significantly, seven Air India unions have already expressed their opposition to the airline's privatisation. On June 28, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of Air India and five of its subsidiaries. The government has already invited applications for engaging up to two advisers, a legal adviser and asset valuer for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its subsidiaries/ joint venture. Nestle India | The share price performance in FY20: 48%, FY19: 34%, FY18: 23%. PAT Margins for FY20, FY19, and FY18 were 12%, 14%, and 16% respectively. Nestle said it expected its operating margin to slip by 40 to 60 basis points in 2017 due to higher restructuring costs from a faster overhaul and said full-year organic sales growth should be in line with the 2.6 percent seen in the first nine months. But the world's biggest food company said its underlying margin, which strips out costs of closing factories and other charges from its revamp, was set to improve. Makers of packaged foods are under pressure to review their business models and brand portfolios to satisfy consumers' appetite for fresh, healthy, local foods, while at the same time improving returns to silence increasingly vocal activist investors. The maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe instant coffee said on Thursday that restructuring was progressing faster than planned, taking overall spending to as much as 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.02 billion) this year. "We maintain our guidance for overall restructuring costs of up to 2.5 billion francs until 2020," Chief Finance Officer Francois-Xavier Roger told reporters on a call. Organic sales growth accelerated to 3.1 percent in the third quarter, from 2.3 percent in the first and 2.4 percent in the second, Nestle said. This matched the forecast in a Reuters poll. In the nine-month period, sales reached 65.272 billion Swiss francs as growth in Asia and Europe picked up, while in the Americas sales growth eased, Nestle said. Organic growth in North America was flat, the company said, citing soft consumer demand, with a decline in sales volumes particularly in confectionery and ice creams. Roger said he still expected the sale of Nestle's U.S. confectionery business by the end of the year. Nestle shares, which have risen almost 15 percent so far this year, were indicated to open 0.4 percent lower, according to pre-market indications. ($1 = 0.9806 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields) The pan-European STOXX 600 was off 0.32 percent in early trade, while most sectors traded in the red. All major bourses were marginally lower. European markets were under pressure during Thursday's morning trade, as earnings season and political turbulence in the region continued to shake up investor sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 was off 0.32 percent in early trade, while most sectors traded in the red. All major bourses were marginally lower. Tele2 was Europe's top performer in early trade, soaring over 5 percent after the open on news that the operator has raised its guidance after third-quarter profit beat expectations. Builders' merchant Travis Perkins also rose on earnings, ticking 3.6 percent higher, after the group posted a rise in third-quarter sales. Carrefour and Pernod Ricard both climbed 2.5 percent or more, after both French firms published positive earnings reports. However, not every company was celebrating when it came to earnings. Unilever reported a slowdown in third-quarter revenue, placing blame on natural disasters and poor weather in Europe for slowing growth. Shares slipped over 3 percent, falling to the bottom of the household goods sector, which fell almost 1 percent. Meanwhile, advertiser Publicis tumbled 3 percent in early trade after the group published third-quarter sales which missed analyst forecasts. The STOXX 600's worst performing stock in morning deals however was London-listed IWG, after the group issued a trading update which stated that group operating profit for the year was now expected to be "materially below market expectations." Shares tanked 33 percent. Kion Group also issued a profit warning Thursday, causing it to sink almost 9 percent. Meanwhile, shares of the London Stock Exchange Group fell over 1 percent after it announced that CEO Xavier Rolet would be leaving the group by the end of 2018. In data news, retail sales data for the UK is due out in morning trade. Catalonia deadline looms Switching focus to politics, Brexit and Catalonia are both expected to be at the front of investors' minds on Thursday, as new events emerge. Thursday will mark the second deadline for Catalonia to officially declare independence. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he would be ready to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution if the declaration is not withdrawn. Meanwhile in Brussels, the first day of the EU Summit is set to commence, where leading members of the European Union are set to meet in the Belgian capital. One key topic which is expected to be up for discussion during the two-day summit will be that of how the Brexit negotiations are coming along. In international markets, major indexes in Asia traded mixed on Thursday, as investors pored over the latest economic data from China, including GDP figures for the third quarter, which met analyst expectations. Google live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Search engine giant Google has emerged as the most authentic brand in the country, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple, according to New York-based global communications firm Cohn & Wolfe. Sony, YouTube, BMW, Mercedes Benz and British Airways are the other brands to feature in the top 10. The communications firm, part of WPP group, noted that Indian consumers are becoming more positive in their perceptions of brand authenticity. About 67 per cent of Indian consumers are more likely to buy from brands perceived as authentic, it said in its 2017 Authentic Brands Study for India, a part of a global consumer survey on the role of authenticity in business. It observed that in India, 37 per cent of respondents perceived brands to be open and honest compared to a global average of 22 per cent. Similarly, 38 per cent of consumers surveyed in India agreed that brands take full responsibility for their actions, compared to the global average of 25 per cent. "Brands that behave and communicate with authenticity will build better relationships with customers and deliver improved user experiences. To differentiate their offerings and grow market share, our research shows that brands in India need to focus on the three drivers of authenticity reliable, respectful and real," Cohn & Wolfe Asia Pacific President Matt Stafford said. E-commerce giant Amazon is ranked as the world's most authentic brand, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Google and PayPal. Technology brands comprise 70 per cent of the top 10 most authentic global brands. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary research, including surveys on more than 1,400 brands conducted in May and June this year, with over 15,000 respondents in 15 markets -- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Men sit under a banner carrying a portrait of chief of India's Congress party Sonia Gandhi outside the Congress office in New Delhi May 16, 2014. Counting of votes began on Friday after India's mammoth election, which could usher in the most profound economic change in a generation if opposition leader Narendra Modi wins a clear mandate for his agenda to revive growth and create jobs. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3PEHK The Congress on Wednesday hit back at the BJP for raising the Bofors issue, saying that the ruling party was "flogging dead horses". Chief Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "BJP is clutching at straws to save Shah-Zada. 'Beta Bachao Abhiyan' won't succeed by flogging dead horses of Bofors by discredited ministers." His tweet came hours after Union minister Smriti Irani sought to put the Congress in the dock on the Bofors issue, citing claims of a private detective Michael Hershman involved in its probe. The minister asked the Congress to come clean on the involvement of its leaders in the alleged Bofors scam. Berkeley: Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi delivering a speech at Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley, California on Monday. PTI Photo(PTI9_12_2017_000038B) Karnataka Congress leader G Parameshwara today said Rahul Gandhi has advised state party leaders against making personal comments on opposition BJP leaders and instead engage them on national and local issues in run up to the next year's assembly elections. KPCC leaders including Parameshwara, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka party incharge and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal had met Gandhi in New Delhi on October 12 to discuss the poll strategy. Veteran Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Oscar Fernandes and B K Hariprasad also attended the meeting. Parameshwara said the AICC vice president advised them not to make personal comments against BJP leaders but corner them on national and local issues. Parameshwara also said Gandhi has asked KPCC leaders including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and him to avoid making conflicting statements in the media especially on the issue of selection of party candidates for the election. "We told Rahulji that we do not have any differences, which is evident in our discussions with him everytime we met. Maybe, it is a creation of the opposition or somebody," he told PTI here. Media reports have suggested differences between Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara on selection of candidates. The senior Congress leader also said that Gandhi discussed the political scenario in Karnataka and delineated the poll strategy to retain power. The Congress vice president also stressed the need for raising awareness about the state government's achievements among public, Parameshwara said. "Rahulji has also advised us to meet people and inform them about the government's efforts in implementing welfare schemes and seek their blessings so as to do more for them," he said. Asked about the chances of Congress winning the 2018 election, Parameshwara sounded optimistic and claimed the Siddaramaiah government has given a clean and corruption-free governance. "The BJP is merely levelling corruption charges against us but not proving them. In the case of Yeddyurappa and a few BJP ministers, they went to jail after we proved the charges with documentary evidence." The Lokayukta court had on October 15, 2011 remanded Karnataka BJP unit chief BS Yeddyurappa in judicial custody in cases relating to alleged irregularities in denotification of government land, and sent him to Parappana Agrahara Central jail here. Yeddyurappa, under whom the BJP formed its first-ever government in the south in 2008 elections, had to relinquish the chief minister's post following his indictment in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining submitted on July, 2011 by then anti-corruption ombudsman Santosh Hegde. Parameshwara claimed, "I feel, we provided good governance as we have more money in the budget and are able to spend it on agriculture, education and health. 5G, the fifth generation of mobile network, doesn't yet exist but aims to provide faster data speeds and more bandwidth to carry ever-growing levels of web traffic. The next revolution in mobile technology looks set to be led by China. 5G, the fifth generation of mobile network, doesn't yet exist but aims to provide faster data speeds and more bandwidth to carry ever-growing levels of web traffic. Analysts at CCS Insight predict the technology will be in place by 2020 and said in a report Wednesday that there will be more than one billion users of 5G by 2023, with more than half based in China. "China will dominate 5G thanks to its political ambition to lead technology development, the inexorable rise of local manufacturer Huawei and the breakneck speed at which consumers have upgraded to 4G connections," said Marina Koytcheva, VP Forecasting at CCS Insight. CCS Insight said 5G will take off faster than any other previous mobile technology with the United States, South Korea, and Japan all battling to launch the first commercial network. Exact technology specifications for 5G have yet to be agreed internationally and there are still uncertainties about the technology. These include how and where network operators will deploy vast numbers of new base stations, the lack of clear business case for operators, and consumers' willingness to upgrade their smartphones, CCS Insight said. In Europe, market fragmentation, the availability of spectrum and the influence of regulators bring additional challenges. But several technology firms are trying to show progress in the 5G. Chipset manufacturer, Qualcomm, claimed this week that it had demonstrated the first working 5G data connection on a mobile device. The speed generated in the test would allow users to download data at around 1,000 Mbps. One estimate suggested this would allow users to download a 2 hour HD film in around 12 seconds. Qualcomm said the demonstration used their Snapdragon X50 NR modem chipset over a 28GHz millimetre wave spectrum band. The 28 GHz millimetre wave spectrum band has been described as problematic because the radio signal at this frequency reportedly deteriorates if data is transmitted over more than a few kilometres. The technology could also be important for technologies like driverless cars. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed's house arrest was today extended for another 30 days by a Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province. However, the board refused to allow the same in the detention of his four aides. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeeds aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention order if they are not detained in any other case. Saeed and his four accomplices were presented before the provincial judicial review board today amid high security in the Lahore High Court. A good number of his supporters were present at the court's premises who showered rose petals on him and his aides. Police, however, stopped them from chanting slogans in the favour of their leader. The three member Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising Justice Yawar Ali (head), Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam held the hearing. A court official told PTI after the hearing that the Home Department of Punjab government had sought three months extension to the detention of Saeed and others under public safety law. "The judicial board after listening to the arguments of the governments law officer did not entertain his request and only granted 30-day extension to Saeeds house arrest in Lahore," he said. The board also could not be convinced about keeping Saeeds four aides in detention beyond the expiry of September 25 detention order for a month and dismissed the governments plea for further extension to their detention, he said. The government may arrest Saeed's four aides in any other case on expiry of their detention period in last week of this month, the official added. Answer: McDonald's South Korean investigators raided the Seoul office of McDonald's Corp on Wednesday, following a series of complaints that children fell ill after eating hamburger patties alleged to have been undercooked, Yonhap News Agency and other media said. The Seoul central district prosecutors' office confiscated some documents and evidence at the office and three other companies, including an ingredient supplier, the reports said. A spokeswoman at the office confirmed the raid to Reuters, but gave no reason or further details. Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment on the issue. In July, a consumer filed a complaint against the U.S. firm, saying her 4-year-old daughter was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, often referred to as hamburger disease, after suffering irreversible kidney damage following the consumption of a McDonald's hamburger last year, Yonhap said. Complaints were also filed by parents of four more children who became sick after eating McDonald's burgers. In August, consumers at a McDonald's in the southwestern city of Jeonju reported stomach aches and high fever after eating bulgogi burgers. The chain temporarily halted sales of the burgers, launched in 1997, to determine the cause. At the time, McDonald's said it was cooperating with an investigation by the South Korean government into the possible food contamination case. Last year, talks to sell McDonald's South Korean business to domestic firm KG Chemical Corporation collapsed over "a large difference of opinion". An anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law over corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The accountability court in Islamabad indicted 67-year- old Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country, Dawn reported. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. During the proceedings, the court rejected an application filed by Capt Safdar's counsel Amjad Pervez seeking an adjournment of the indictment proceedings, the paper said. The second lawyer from Sharif's legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the Supreme Court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well, the paper said. A third application has also been filed by Sharif's counsel, seeking merger of the three references filed against him. The court has reserved its decision on the application. The NAB had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. Judge Mohammad Bashir was set to indict Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law on October 13. However, after a violent clash between the PML-N lawyers and police, the court postponed the indictment until today. Sharif's family has alleged that the cases are politically motivated. He may be jailed after the indictment. President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy said on Thursday that if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government, it must renounce violence and commit to negotiations with Israel demands the Islamic militant group has always rejected. Jason Greenblatt's statement was the first American comment on the advancing reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions, and echoed Israeli demands. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties including to disarm terrorists and commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said in a statement. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah-led forces in 2007, leaving Abbas only in control of autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Past attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed. But after a decade-long blockade by Israel and three deadly offensives Israel against Gaza, Hamas has said it is ready to compromise. Under Egyptian auspices, the Palestinian factions last week reached a preliminary agreement and have formed committees to sort out unresolved issues. Later Thursday, Greenblatt arrived in Cairo for talks on the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, Egyptian and American officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Greenblatt has been shuttling through the region in search of a formula to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which last broke down in 2014. *This story was edited by Ahram Online Search Keywords: Short link: accusing it of promoting Google Shopping in organic search results while simultaneously demoting rival services. Ryanair reached a settlement with Google and online travel agent eDreams to end legal proceedings in the Irish High Court over what it said were misleading advertisements for Ryanair flights, the airline said on Thursday. Ryanair accused Google in 2015 of allowing eDreams to use "misleading" subdomain www.Ryanair.eDreams.com and a website with branding similar to Ryanair's to sell plane tickets at higher prices than on the Irish airline's own website. Ryanair said terms of the settlement would remain confidential. Ryanair, Google and eDreams said in a statement that they were pleased to have resolved the issue. Britain's parliament will not discuss the key European Union withdrawal bill next week, the leader of the lower House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, said on Thursday, amid concerns the government is struggling to manage divisions over its contents. The bill is at the heart of the government's Brexit strategy. It will transpose EU law into British law at the point of Britain's departure from the bloc and repeal the 1972 act of parliament which made it a member. Lawmakers have proposed hundreds of changes to the bill, some of which have enough backing from lawmakers within Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party to defeat the government - something that would cause May a major headache and question her ability to complete the Brexit process. "There is nothing odd or anything to fear from this slight pause," Leadsom told lawmakers. She promised them there would be eight days of debate on the bill but did not say when they would start. The BBC reported on Wednesday hat the government might delay the bill's passage through parliament until next month because of political divisions. The bill has already passed its first stage of the legislative process, but is expected to face a stiffer challenge when it is next debated. It has been criticised by lawmakers who say it gives the government too much power to amend EU laws as they are transferred onto the British statute book. Others want safeguards to ensure the government cannot walk away from negotiations without parliament's approval. USA and China China today asked the US to shed its "biased views" and work with Beijing to uphold the momentum for a steady and sound relations, a day after the top American diplomat lashed out at the Chinese model of funding infrastructure projects and developmental activities. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also said that Beijing is "happy" over the development of ties between India and America as long as they are conducive to regional peace. In a major India-policy speech yesterday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had highlighted the need for collaborating with New Delhi on offering alternative model of financing infrastructure projects and economic development to that of China whom he described as "predatory economics". He had lashed out at the Chinese model of funding infrastructure projects and developmental activities, saying it does not create jobs and results in enormous level of debt. Playing down Tillerson's criticism of China and his remarks to deepen ties with India, Lu told reporters here that the US should take more objective look at China's development. "China steadfastly upheld the international order with the UN at the core and based on the purposes and principles of UN charter we will firmly uphold the multilateralism yet we will also firmly safeguard our own interests and rights," he said while responding to a question on Tillerson's remarks. The US diplomat had branded China a "predatory rule breaker" specially in the South China Sea and leaving countries in debt. China hopes that Washington can look China's development in an "objective way" as well as China's role in the international community, Lu said. The US should "abandon its biased views on China and work with it towards the same goal to uphold the momentum for a steady and sound China relations", Lu said. "We are happy to see the development of relations between these India and the US as long as they are conducive to the peaceful development of the region and enhancement of relations among the regional countries," he said. Tillerson's strong comments coincided with China's once- in-a-five-year congress of the ruling Communist Party of China which is set to endorse a second term for President Xi Jinping. On October 17, a top official of the CPC told media here told media here Chinese firms have invested about USD 560 billion in different countries abroad most of it was stated to project financing. "Between 2013 and 2016 Chinese companies have invested about USD 560 billion overseas, paid over USD 100 billion in various kind of taxes to the host countries and created millions of jobs for the local communities," Tuo Zhen, spokesman of 19th Congress of the CPC said, refuting reports that China has been bringing its own workers and not hiring locally to execute several infrastructure projects that China is funding under the more than USD 50 billion ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana. Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip said Thursday "no one" can force it to disarm or recognise Israel, after Washington demanded it meet those conditions as part of a unity government. "No one in the universe can disarm us. On the contrary, we will continue to have the power to protect our citizens," the Islamist movement's Gaza head Yahya Sinwar said. "No one has the ability to extract from us recognition of the occupation." Sinwar made the remarks during a speech to young people that was provided to AFP by Hamas. Earlier in the day, a top aide to US President Donald Trump said an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, Washington's first detailed response to a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. Trump's special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, who has repeatedly visited the region to seek ways of restarting peace talks, laid out a series of conditions. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties -- including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Greenblatt said in a statement. The US conditions were roughly in line with principles previously set out by the Quartet for Middle East peace -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said. The statement also echoed a response this week by Israel, which vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. They included recognising Israel and renouncing violence, but also returning the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, among other conditions. Netanyahu welcomed Greenblatt's comments. "We want a genuine peace, and because of this we will not conduct negotiations with a terrorist organisation in diplomatic disguise," he said. Sinwar said of Hamas: "We are freedom fighters and revolutionaries for the freedom of our people. We fight the occupation according to international and humanitarian law." Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel launched three deadly offensives on Gaza Strip since 2008. The coastal enclave has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war in 2007 with Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank, following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: This weekend, community members will participate in Make a Difference Day, a day that Waldensian Presbyterian Church of Valdese plans to use to make a difference in the lives of community members. According to the Rev. Kevin Frederick, Pastor at Waldensian Presbyterian, Make a Difference Day is a national day that has been going on for several years. The church wanted to make sure they were doing their part to make a difference. We had originally been doing mission work the day before but decided to focus on Make a Difference Day to rally people, Frederick said. We have children, youth and adults interested and participating. Doing things for others and helping your neighbor is a lesson many churches teach. Waldensian Presbyterian is no different. We decided to expand this year to allow children to be involved in this mission day so that they are getting a feel for doing things for other people, Frederick said. Some of the projects the church will engage in on Make a Difference Day include Operation Christmas Shoe Box through Samaritans Purse preparing 50 shoe boxes, a visitation and letter writing team of older adults who will make contact with homebound and nursing care center homes, a team of children and youth who will assemble nearly 900 treat bags to be handed out in the streets in Valdese on Halloween, repainting a deck on a house of a church member who is 100 years old, repainting the trim work on a house of a 94-year-old church member, and helping a young family on some house repairs. The church refers to their work as local mission day since they are helping out people in their own church community, he said. Frederick also believes that Make a Difference Day gives the congregation an opportunity to come together. Its us as a church body working together and essentially being Christ to our neighbor, said Frederick. While the church is participating in Make a Difference Day on Saturday, they are continuing their efforts into Sunday by raising money for school funds for kids in Guatemala. The church is raising money on Sunday for a partner church we have a relationship with in Guatemala, Frederick said. We have had this relationship for over 20 years and we raise money to put the children through school. The price of schooling in Guatemala is on the backs of parents and for teenagers it is 10 times the cost it is for elementary age students so we want to continue helping them. Waldensian Presbyterian Church is participating in Make a Difference Day with local mission work on Saturday and will continue their mission work on Sunday by raising money for school expenses toward a partner church in Guatemala. Waldensian Presbyterian is located at 109 Main St. E, Valdese. The church can be reached by calling 828-874-2531. Mark Taylor has worked in the financial services industry for two decades and is currently employed by investment platform Selftrade, now part of the Equiniti group. The impact of technology on investing over the past 20 years has been huge. The time between making a transaction and settlement has decreased hugely, meaning the speed and efficiency of the process has increased immeasurably, he says. In addition, the advent of electronic trading has reduced costs and the time it takes to buy or sell shares. And the emergence of online trading has allowed many investors to access a far wider range of stocks and other assets. But while the investment market has significantly changed over the past 20 years, he says his investment goals have remained the same. My primary goal is saving for retirement if Im lucky enough to have one. But Im also trying to save for my children. Hopefully there will be enough to help them finish their education or to help them onto the housing ladder, and making a positive impact on the world. Taylor says these longer-term, more altruistic goals are also balanced by a saving pot that is dedicated to his next big motorcycle adventure. Tax Efficient Investing in Smaller Stocks Not surprisingly for someone who works in the financial services industry, Taylor makes use of tax allowances, by investing in both SIPPs and ISAs. He says: Nowadays most of my portfolio is in ETFs, but in the past Ive concentrated more on individual stocks. Many of these have been mid-cap or smaller companies at one point around 30% of my portfolio was in the FTSE 250. Some of these stocks delivered fantastic returns although there have been a few horror stories along the way. From time to time I see or read an article about a company that catches my eye and will look to do a bit more research on it. Taylor says there are three key factors he looks at before deciding to invest in any one company. Firstly Id have to check whether the company provided a differentiated product or service that makes it unique or gives it a competitive advantage over rival firms in its sector, he explains. I dont buy companies that I dont understand. I also try to think about what macro-economic impact could set the company back or provide an advantage. Taylor admits that this latter requires a bit of creative guesswork and reading between the lines of company reports. He adds: If Im happy with this then I will look at the management team and staff. Do they have a clear view on the strategic direction of the business and are they delivering against their promises to shareholders? Has the stock got a strong and sustainable revenue source? Finally, Id look at how the stock has traded in the past few months. Who are the big shareholders in this company and what their activity has been in recent months. Stock Successes Taylor is the first to admit that there is no guarantee of future returns, even if stocks look promising against his checklist, but by adopting this approach he has had decent returns in recent years. One such example is Burberry Group (BRBY). This British luxury fashion brand has delivered stellar returns to investors over the past decade, rising from 6.32 to 18.83 today. Morningstar equity analyst Jelena Sokolova says: Through strong execution, Burberry has transformed from an essentially wholesale business model with inconsistent regional product and brand presentation into a strong monobrand luxury player with consistent message, good control over distribution, and a global presence. Burberry is the category leader in its trench coat business, enabling it to generate high operating margins in this category through scale and pricing power. Demand for luxury products is linked to GDP growth and an increasing number of wealthy and middle-class people. Future global growth is likely to come from China, India and Latin America, where Burberry has established a presence. Morningstar points out that Burberry has a narrow moat meaning its profit margins and products are protected from competition by the strength of its brand. Its shares are currently trading above its fair value estimate of 17.20. Selling Out of Falling Shares Taylor has also made good returns in the past from Carillion (CLLN), the support services group, although this company has endured far more difficult trading conditions recently. The company saw its share price rise substantially between and 2003 and 2007, and again from 2009 to 2011. But since 2014 the trend has been downwards, with a precipitous fall this year. Shares are currently trading at just 43.5p, a fall of 76% in one year. Taylor says that while he was fortunate enough to sell his holding in Carillon before prices fell he hasnt always sold other holdings at such an advantageous time. One such stock was Bradford & Bingley. This former building society was caught up in the fallout from the credit crisis and after a poor rights issue the bank was eventually part-nationalised and part sold to Santander. Taylor also invested in Connaught PLC. He says: At the time this company looked as though it had great prospects in the social housing sector, but went into administration after a series of misleading statements, resulting in unexpected profit warnings and material losses. Taylor says this highlights some of the difficulties inherent in investing in individual shares and why he prefers to invest in broader ETFs today. Militants launched two separate attacks on Afghan security installations killing dozens of soldiers Thursday, the latest in a series of devastating assaults this week that have left more than 120 people dead and underscored spiralling insecurity. At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a Taliban-claimed assault on a military base in southern Afghanistan which saw the insurgents blast their way into the compound with at least one explosives-laden Humvee -- a tactic used in three separate attacks this week -- the defence ministry said. A security source in Kandahar put the toll at 50 dead and 20 wounded. But the real figure is likely to be higher because Afghan officials habitually understate the actual number of casualties. The militants razed the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar province to the ground, according to the ministry. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. Just two soldiers were known to have survived unscathed, with six unaccounted for, the ministry said, underscoring the shocking casualties that Afghan security forces have faced in their struggle to beat back the insurgents. More than 10 militants were killed, it added. US aircraft carried out an airstrike during a counter-terror operation in Maiwand on Thursday, a spokesman for US Forces in Kabul said, though he did not specify whether the target was insurgents at the base. Provincial officials said two Humvees were used in the attack which was condemned by President Ashraf Ghani. They said the assault may have been carried out with the help of insiders. The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists that said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Separately Thursday, militants besieged a police headquarters in the southeastern province of Ghazni, attacking it for the second time this week. Airstrikes were called in to support embattled police in the ongoing assault, which has killed two security forces so far, Ghazni provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman told AFP. The strikes were not immediately confirmed by US Forces. Officials said the earlier assault on the headquarters, which took place on Tuesday, left 20 people dead and 46 wounded. Thursday's attacks take the number of major assaults on security installations this week to four, with the total death toll climbing past 120, including soldiers, police and civilians. The Taliban used a Humvee as a bomb to blast their way into their targets in three out of the four assaults this week. The insurgents have been able to steal dozens of Humvees from security forces after taking over districts and raiding military bases across the country. US President Donald Trump vowed earlier this year to stay the course in Afghanistan, America's longest war. But the Taliban said the recent assaults were a "clear message to the Americans and the Kabul government, that they cannot scare us with their new so-called strategy". "We are fighting back and winning on every front, Inshallah (God willing)," spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told AFP. Beleaguered Afghan security forces have faced soaring casualties in their attempts to hold back the insurgents since NATO combat forces pulled out of the country at the end of 2014. Casualties leapt by 35 percent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police killed, according to US watchdog SIGAR. The insurgents have carried out more complex attacks against security forces in 2017, with SIGAR describing troop casualties in the early part of the year as "shockingly high". The attacks included assaults on a military hospital in Kabul in March which may have killed up to 100 people, and on a base in Mazar-i-Sharif in April which left 144 people dead. The assaults, along with high rates of desertion and corruption, have eroded morale. This week's attacks come near the end of the summer fighting season, when militants traditionally intensify their offensives across the country. They began hours after US drone strikes in the tribal region along the border with Pakistan killed more than two dozen militants, according to sources and local officials. Tuesday's attacks alone killed 80 people in total and wounded nearly 300 in the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months. The deadliest of Tuesday's assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez in Paktia province where Taliban militants disguised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles -- including a truck and a Humvee -- that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter. At least 60 people were killed in the blasts and ensuing battle that lasted around five hours, health officials said, with more than 230 wounded. Afghan forces now control 59.7 percent of the country, up from 57.2 percent the previous quarter, according to SIGAR's assessment earlier this year. But the Taliban and other insurgent groups have also seen their areas of control or influence increase slightly from about 10 percent to 11.1 percent. Search Keywords: Short link: Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. 19 October marks the 5th anniversary of the death of Hanaa Abdel-Fattah, the prominent Egyptian theatre director, actor, translator, and critic. He passed away on 19 October 2012 in Cairo after a long battle with cancer. Mohamed Hanaa Abdel-Fattah Metwaly was born in December 1944 to a family submerged in culture. He began acting at the age of 8, landing a number of roles in both radio and then film. In fact, Abdel-Fattah's later career did not seem to be his initial calling. His father, a journalist working for the national radio, was the author of Shakhseyat La Tonsa (Unforgettable Personalities), a series of articles in which he explored the lives of largely forgotten and underappreciated artists. Fully aware of the hardships of the field, Abdel-Fattah's father did not welcome his son's interest in a career in theater or film. Yet against his father's will, together with his sister Souheir, Abdel-Fattah decided to enter a competition for children organized by Baba Sharo (renowned radio figure Mohamed Mahmoud Shaaban). Souheir was accepted onto the radio show, but the eight-year-old Abdel Fattah was asked to improve his pronunciation before he could join. Determined to join his sister, he locked himself in a room for two weeks working on his pronunciation. He returned to Baba Sharo two weeks later proudly demonstrating a clear "s" instead of his previous "th." "For years he had been a household name thanks to a long-running radio drama serial about the daily life of an ordinary middle-class Egyptian family in which he played the youngest son. The serial (The Family of Marzouq Effendi) was broadcast daily as part of a morning show targeting housewives and, indeed, non-working women of all ages, married or otherwise. "A regular radio actor from his tender years, with occasional appearances in films," wrote the late Egyptian theatre critic and friend of Abdel-Fattah, Nehad Selaiha, in her obituary titled "Exit Great Theatre Maker," published in Al-Ahram Weekly in October 2012. Among many other radio roles, Abdel-Fattah was also voice of the 1960s Sindbad, a role which was particularily close to his heart and which he remembered for years to come. From radio voice-overs he moved on to stage acting at the National Theatre, and then later to films. In 1958, at the age of 14, he played in Youssef Chahine's celebrated Bab Al-Hadid ("The Iron Gate"). "Hanaa was something of a star then, with plenty of acting experience as well as three years of professional training behind him; and yet, he was gentle, quiet, modest, and unassuming," Selaiha wrote. The career of the "miraculous child," as described by one critic of that time, continued to grow, but directing began to call to him more than anything else. He entered the High Institute of Theatrical Arts in the theatre, acting and directing department. At the same time, he studied script-writing at the Egyptian Cinema Institute. Following his studies in Egypt, Abdel-Fattah left to continue his education in Poland. In the more than two decades he spent there, he studied at the directing department of Warsaw's State Institute of Theatrical Arts, to which he was the only foreign student ever accepted. By the time he graduated from the State Theatre Academy with honors, he had become a well-known figure in Polish theatrical circles, gaining the love and respect of many Polish artists, theatre critics and directors. Many of the professors who used to teach him at the State Theatre Academy became his close friends. Renowned Polish actor and professor at the Academy, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz (1934 2009), was specially impressed with Abdel Fattah's unique perspective on the meanings and undertones of Polish dramas. Abdel-Fattah went on to earn his PhD in theatre theory from Warsaw University. He was actively involved in Polish theatrical and intellectual circles, directing a number of plays in Warsaw and other European capitals. In 1986, his production of Carlo Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters" received the audiences first prize. As his artistic career flourished his family in Poland was also growing. A wife and three daughters became a passion equal to the theatre. His wife, Dorota Metwaly, "his life-long companion, closest friend and advisor and work-partner," as Selaiha puts has always suppoerted generously Abdel Fattah's work and helped in his translations. "Theirs was a marriage of true minds and kindred souls." He returned to Egypt in the 1990s, where he continued his work as a theatre director and began teaching at Cairo's Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts. In the early 2000s, he became head of the institute's acting and directing department. Meanwhile he continued to regularly direct theatre productions in both Egypt and Poland. "The launching of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET) in 1988 marked the beginning of a new line of activity for Abdel-Fattah, adding to his many roles -- as experimental director, theatre promoter, critic and actor -- a new one as cultural mediator. From the first edition until the very last in 2010, he was indefatigable in promoting knowledge of the Polish theatre in Egypt, suggesting the invitation of prominent figures as well as translating and moderating their presentations when they arrived. He assisted at workshops conducted by visiting Polish artists, translated Polish plays and important critical and theoretical works on theatre, and wrote illuminating reviews of guest Polish performances," Selaiha recalled in her obituary. Abdel-Fattah also directed on Egyptian stages a number of the theatrical works which he himself translated from Polish into Arabic. He also brought Egyptian theatre to Poland, where he frequently directed Polish actors. Metwaly was also among the principal promoters of Polish cultural activity in Egypt, overseeing numerous lectures, presentations and workshops. "When the issue of the Theatre Magazine dedicated to that year's CIFET appeared, it featured many translations, studies and portraits of Polish theatre artists by Hanaa Abdel-Fattah. From that time onward, the work of leading Polish writers and directors became one of the major sources of inspiration for young Egyptian theatre-makers who wanted to revitalize the craft, and guest shows from Poland invariably excited frantic interest and wild admiration, often causing furious rioting at the venues where they played. It is thanks to Hanaa Abdel-Fattah that CIFET audiences could enjoy over the years such stunning, breathtaking productions as the Centre of Theatrical Practices' Carmina Burana... For You the Way, Fin, and Caligula, also, all by the St. I. Witkiewicz Theatre." Selaiha wrote. It was in the last decade of his life that Abdel-Fattah made his return to Egyptian cinemas. Among his numerous roles were those in films such as El-Sefara fi El-Omara (2005), El Shabah (2007), Cairo Time (2009), among others, as well as television series such as Ayza Atgawez (I want to get married) starring Hend Sabry. He played role of Professor Badawi in Fair Game (2010) a USA drama directed by Doug Liman. While he enjoyed the exposure he received through his appearances in cinema and television series, his heart always belonged to theatre, whether in Egypt or in Poland. In 2009, his adaptation of a work by Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag at the Dramatic Theatre in Bialystok was received with acclaim. The following year, he was awarded the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Culture Award for his work "promoting Polish culture internationally." In recognition to his achievement, Abdel-Fattah was awarded honorary Polish nationality. His other awards from the Polish government include the Polish Literary Syndicate Prize and the International Theatre Institute award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue between Poland and the Arab world. In 2011, he was granted the Appreciation Award by the Egyptian government for his lifetime contribution to culture. In June 2012, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture by the Polish Ministry of Culture, given to persons and organisations who make exceptional contributions to Polish culture and heritage. Abdel-Fattah was among very few international artists to have received the medal and, as Selaiha recalled, the award boasts among its former recipients such distinguished figures as the Italian author and theatre director Eugenio Barba." Selaiha concluded her obituary saying that "Hanaa will be remembered as a force of innovation and rejuvenation in the post-1960s Egyptian theatre, as a liberating energy that helped to revolutionize theatrical practices and concepts in Egypt and inspired many artists to cross boundaries, search for new routes and explore new horizons. He was a man that left the world, in his case the world of theatre and culture, better than he found it. Can anyone aspire to more?" 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 Search Keywords: Short link: Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High 73F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy skies after midnight. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. Real estate investors looking to maximize rental yields from single-family homes should head to Atlanta, Houston, Central Florida and Dallas.They are among the top housing markets for strong returns for investors in single-family homes according to an analysis from ATTOM Data Solutions.Its third quarter Single Family Rental Market report identifies the 25 best zip codes for returns based on potential rental yields and cash flow, vacancy rates, home price appreciation, population growth, neighborhood quality, and average property age.Top zips for the highest potential annual gross rental yield were 30238 in the Atlanta metro area (17.7%); 77373 in the Houston metro area (13.5%); 34472 in the Ocala, Florida metro area (13.1%); 76140 in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area (12.7%); and 30228 in the Atlanta metro area (12.6%)."I can buy lots in areas that I can't sell homes, but I can rent," said Adam Whitmire, director of acquisitions for Atlanta-based Whitmire Group, explaining his company has shifted from buying existing homes as rentals to primarily buying lots and building new homes as rentals.Rental homes in coastal markets had the lowest potential rental property returns and included Miami, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, New York and San Jose.The top performing zip code areas all had vacancy rates of 5% or lower for non-owner-occupied homes, and at least 25% of all single family homes were non-owner occupied in these zip codes."This top 25 list includes zip codes that not only have solid rental returns and positive cash flow opportunities, but are also located in neighborhoods with relatively low vacancy rates and with home price growth and population growth which should continue to put upward pressure on rental rates," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. SIPES speaker to discuss analystics Members of the Midland chapter, Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists, will meet 11:15 a.m. Oct. 18 at the upstairs ballroom at Midland Country Club. Bill Fairhurst, president and Founder of Riverford Exploration, LLC, will address Analytics and Geoscientists. There is no charge for members; fee for guests is $20. Patterson-UTI Energy completes MS Energy Services acquisition HOUSTON Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. has closed the previously announced acquisition of Multi-Shot, LLC d/b/a MS Energy Services. Total consideration for the acquisition included approximately 8.8 million shares of stock and $75 million in cash, which valued the transaction at approximately $262 million based on the most recent closing price for Patterson-UTI of $21.31. Andy Hendricks, Patterson-UTI's chief executive officer, welcomed the employees of MS Energy to Patterson-UTI Energy. Their hard work and dedication, combined with a strong technology focus, has grown MS Energy into a leader in U.S. onshore directional drilling services, and we are excited to have them join our team." Danos acquires construction assets in West Texas HOUMA, LA. Danos has acquired the civil construction assets and transitioned several skilled craftsman from Renegade Backhoe Services, located in Levelland. With this acquisition, Danos takes over RBS fleet of backhoes, heavy-haul trailers, dump trucks and associated construction services equipment. In addition to our well-established production and roustabout lines of services, Danos can now offer support for construction operations to customers in Western Texas and Eastern New Mexico, said Jeremy Adkins, general manager of U.S. land operations for Danos. Danos has also relocated its Lubbock office to a larger facility in Levelland with shop space and a lay-down yard for equipment and materials. The new location is closer to Danos northern Permian field operations, offers more office space for employees and provides storage space for backhoes and other equipment. The companys Midland office, located at 1501 W. Francis Ave., works with the Levelland location to offer Permian customers an integrated services offering, including project management, automation, production workforce and facility construction. The recent acquisition bolsters these service offerings with site-preparation, pad construction, dirt work, utility installation and hauling services. Kalnin Ventures announces fifth Marcellus asset acquisition HOUSTON Kalnin Ventures LLC announced that an affiliate of its BKV Oil and Gas Capital Partners LP fund has entered into purchase and sale agreements with respect to the funds fifth acquisition of assets in just over two years in the northeast portion of the Marcellus Shale. The fund is financially backed by its sole investor, Banpu Pcl, a Thailand-based coal mining and power generation company with total assets of more than $6 billion. The transaction is valued at an aggregate price of $210 million, with potential additional payments to the sellers of up to $18.75 million over the next three years depending on natural gas prices. Separate purchase and sale agreements were entered into with Carrizo (Marcellus) LLC and Reliance Marcellus II LLC, to acquire their respective interests in the assets, which are comprised of interests in 112 wells, including 98 producing wells, 11 drilled and uncompleted wells and three wells that are temporarily abandoned. The assets, which are predominantly located in Pennsylvanias Wyoming and Susquehanna counties, will generate cash flows for the fund immediately and fit within Kalnin's strategy of acquiring profitable, low-risk assets that provide strong cash flow yields. With its fifth transaction in just over two years, Kalnin has invested, through the fund, $417 million in the Marcellus Shale and is poised to fully invest its first fund as it continues to expand and diversify its strategy of acquiring, managing, and monetizing portfolios. With this acquisition, the fund is now one of the top 20 natural gas producers in Pennsylvania. ExxonMobil Corp. is continuing to expand its footprint in the Permian Basin, first through acreage acquisitions and now a crude oil terminal. The company announced last week it has purchased from Genesis Energy LP a crude oil terminal located in Wink. ExxonMobils new property will offer takeaway capacity to Gulf Coast refineries and export terminals through rail, truck and pipeline access, company officials said in an email. The terminal is interconnected to the Plains Alpha Crude Connector pipeline system and currently has capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. ExxonMobil officials say it has the ability to expand the terminal to meet additional demand. Crude storage is also available at the terminal. This is the companys first terminal in the Permian Basin to be anchored by its Delaware Basin acreage, but it will be open to all Permian Basin operators active throughout West Texas and New Mexico, not just ExxonMobil and not just those operating in the Delaware Basin. ExxonMobil entered the Delaware Basin in January when it acquired companies owned by the Bass family of Fort Worth. The company paid more than $6 billion -- an upfront cash payment of $5.6 billion in ExxonMobil shares and a series of additional contingent cash payments totaling an additional $1 billion to be made starting in 2020 through 2032 commensurate with the development of the resource. The purchase more than doubled ExxonMobils Permian Basin resources to 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent with the addition of the Bass familys 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Delaware. Technical advances have dispelled some long-held assumptions in the oil patch. Among them: When a well is fractured, the rock will break the same. If youre driving through the Rockies, or the Northeast where they cut through the roads, you know rocks change every few feet, Peter Duncan, president and chief executive officer of MicroSeismic Inc. said in a phone interview from his San Antonio office. Being able to picture that subsurface rock is critical to allowing operators to know not only where the fractures are and how they break but where the frac fluids and sands are going in the formation and where the crude and natural gas is being drained. That information helps operators answer the critical question of well spacing, Duncan said. Drill two wells too close together and theyve wasted their money because the wells interfere with each others production ability, he said. Drill them too far apart and too much hydrocarbons are left in the ground, he said. Hydraulic fracturing has largely been done blindly, he said. They pump all this high-pressure fluids and sand down the well, and then they watch the pressure needle as it rises and rises. When it falls, they believe theyve broken the rock and the fluid has flowed out of the well. They believe theyve fractured the well but they dont really know what it looks like. When hydraulic fracturing first began 60 years ago, the entire well bore was left open for the fluids and sand to flow into the rocks, but generally only 10 percent of the formation was fractured, he said. Operators then began to fracture well bores in intervals or stages, starting with about five stages and expanding to as many as 100 stages today. That was driven by microseismic monitoring that showed the need to frac in separate stages along the entire length of the well, Duncan said. He credits microseismic monitoring as one of three technologies that has driven the revival of the Permian Basin and the entire U.S. oil and gas industry. The other technologies are horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. MicroSeismic Inc. has just released its Real-Time Completions Evaluation workflow analysis, which offers on-the-spot fracture modeling, simulated reservoir valuation, end-of-stage estimated ultimate recovery and drainage estimation and rapid stress analysis. We become the eyes of the frac engineer to describe how the rock is broken, Duncan said. With the application, the frac engineer can watch the frac grow, tell whether the fluids and proppants are going to the right place, whether the stage has been fractured enough and if the fracturing composition needs to be adjusted between stages. Weve struggled with a way to present the data and theres a huge amount of data generated in a way that the engineer at the well can interpret and interpret fast enough to affect the well being worked on, Duncan said. The companys analysis details rock porosity, water saturation and hydrocarbon saturation by incorporating geologic data into reservoir modeling and simulation and analyzing all that data quickly enough to let the engineers respond in real time, he said. Duncan said his company has seen its Permian Basin business rise along with the regions rig count. In the last two years, the most growth has come from the Permian Basin, he said. In June, I had five crews on five pads in the Permian Basin. And we found that, from mid-2016 to mid-2017, operators who drilled eight of the 10 highest initial potential wells were our clients. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. New legislation would require scooter riders under the age of 21 to wear helmets on Florida's roads, expanding a helmet mandate that already applies to young riders of traditional motorcycles. New bill pushes for helmets for younger scooter riders Scooters becoming popular on college campuses Lawmakers have tried and failed to bring back the mandatory helmet law Scooters, which boast low-powered motors that don't allow them to exceed 30 miles per hour on level ground, are becoming increasingly popular on college campuses. Not only are they inexpensive to buy and operate, but they can also maneuver around densely-packed areas with much more ease than cars. But some students worry their scooters could become significantly less utilitarian if they were forced to wear helmets, as the legislation (SB 346) would mandate. "I'm more realistic in that I have a maybe five-minute commute to campus from where I live," said FSU senior Michael Kowalski. "It's stop-and-go traffic, maybe 30 miles an hour max. I don't really get in that many situations where I've felt endangered." The bill's introduction comes less than a year after a measure to reinstate Florida's across-the-board motorcycle helmet ban failed to gain traction in Tallahassee. The ban was repealed in 2000, allowing riders over 21 years old to ditch their headgear. Motorcyclist groups, livid that some lawmakers were attempting to revisit the issue, launched an aggressive and ultimately successful campaign to defeat the measure. With Florida motorcyclist deaths having shot up by 30 percent since 2015, supporters of the new bill are hopeful it could both save lives and encourage expansion of the state's now-limited helmet laws. Not that younger riders plan to be any less aggressive than their older cohorts in voicing their opposition. "Children should wear helmets because it's a good idea and they're more clumsy," Kowalski said. "But, at this point, we're adults and, you know, maybe it's not the best choice, but it's my choice." TULIA Swisher Electric Cooperative annual Youth Tour Speech Contest was held Monday, Oct. 16, with students representing Canyon, Happy, Nazareth, Olton, Silverton and Tulia presenting speeches. Each student did an outstanding job of representing their families, schools and communities. The two winners of an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. in June 2018 are: Nov. 11 is the day each year that the United States of America sets aside to honor veterans and thank them for their service and the sacrifices they have made. The Veterans Appreciation Banquet is being hosted by the Plainview Elks Lodge. Assisting with the banquet are the Plainview High School Naval Junior ROTC, Plainview Christian Academy students, Plainview 4-H, American Legion Auxiliary Unit 260 and student volunteers from Wayland. The community has been a tremendous help in the planning of this event, explains Janice Langley of the Plainview Elks Lodge. The banquet will be held at 5 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Laney Activity Center on the campus of Wayland Baptist University for veterans and their immediate family. There will be a program honoring veterans of the past, present and future along with a meal, a great reunion and conversation among Plainview area veterans. According to County Veterans Service Officer Karla Glowicki and others who work with veterans, data shows there are approximately 3,100 veterans in Swisher, Hale and Floyd counties that officials are aware of, and hundreds more that have not registered with any program to be counted. Only a small number are members of the American Legion or VFW posts in the area. The Plainview Elks want to make sure that all veterans are given the opportunity to attend this banquet. They feel it is very important to honor and recognize all veterans living in the Plainview, Tulia, Kress, Lockney, Floydada, Petersburg and Cotton Center areas. Veterans who do not drive at night or might need assistance in attending may call 806 292-1086 to reach Janice Langley. If there is no answer, leave your name and number. Your call will be returned as soon as possible. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Editor's note: This story first ran on May 25, 1986. Cellular telephones - those new status symbols with the funny antennas - are catching on like wildfire in Houston. According to industry estimates, Houston is one of the fastest-growing markets for cellular telephones, and it is estimated that there are close to 20,000 users already plugged in to the devices in the Houston market. Growth is averaging more than 1,000 per month. In setting up guidelines for the development of the cellular industry, the Federal Communications Commission authorized two "carriers" for each geographical market. Until recently, GTE Mobilnet Inc., a subsidiary of GTE of Stamford, Conn., was the only company operating in Houston using its own cellular system. But all that is changing. Houston Cellular Telephone Co. (which until now purchased time from GTE for resale to the public) has started up its own system. Richard Wirth, chief executive officer of Houston Cellular, said his company's system of 28 cells have been switched on - the largest system ever to be turned on at one time in the United States. Consequently, competition between GTE Mobilnet and Houston Cellular is heating up - at least from a marketing standpoint. "It's a real foot race now," explained Wirth, a former vice president of Warner Amex's QUBE cable system here. Another factor helping to stimulate cellular telephone usage in Houston is price. Suppliers say that cellular telephone costs have dropped dramatically within the past two years, and some models are available for as little as $500, not including installation, antenna or other extras. Both Houston Cellular and GTE Mobilnet are partnerships of several companies. Houston Cellular, formed in 1984, is made up of Mobile Communication Corp. of America, headquartered in Jackson, Miss.; LIN Broadcasting Co. of New York and Cellular Systems of Houston. GTE Mobilnet comprises Southwestern Bell, Centel Cellular Corp., Lufkin-Conroe Telecommunications Inc., Fort Bend Telephone Co. and SLT Communications Inc. Richard Sharman, vice president of marketing for GTE Mobilnet, said one of their main marketing advantages is the fact that they were the first to begin operation here. The company is projecting it will have 17,000 customers by the end of this year, Sharman said. By comparison, Houston Cellular currently claims to have 5,500 customers. Sharman admitted that GTE Mobilnet had difficulty with its system in the beginning, such as "dropped" calls. However, he said those problems have since been eliminated as capacity has been increased. "We've gone through our growing pains," Sharman said. "We had more subscribers sign up in the beginning than we expected, and we had to rush to catch up with capacity to meet the demand." Sharman expects Houston to have a total of 45,000 cellular telephone owners by 1990. A lot will happen in the next few years to make cellular desirable," Sharman explained. "For one thing, price is coming down. Also, we expect portable cellular telephones (that can be taken out of vehicles) will begin to grow, representing the lion's share of the market in the future." The average "drive away" cost for a person wanting to own a cellular telephone ranges from $1,200 to $1,500. On top of this, however, is a monthly "access fee" and charges for actual usage time. In Houston, there currently is pricing parity between Houston Cellular and GTE Mobilnet. Both companies charge $35 as a basically monthly charge. Once a cellular telephone is installed, customers can expect to pay an average monthly bill of about $125 to $150, not including long distance charges. Standard usage charge is 39 cents per minute (peak), 20 cents (off peak) and 5 cents (night). Currently, completely portable, battery-operated cellular telephones range in price from $2,000 to over $4,000. Another option available to Houston customers is to rent or lease the cellular equipment. Recently, costs have been advertised as low as $37.95 per month. Management of both Houston Cellular and GTE Mobilnet explained that the business is very capital intensive and not for the fly-by-night operator. For instance, Houston Cellular already has invested $20 million on its system here. GTE Mobilnet estimated its expenditure will reach $42 million by year-end. According to Wirth, cellular customers want the widest geographical coverage possible. Houston Cellular's system of 28 cells covers 6,752 square miles extending south of Lake Jackson, east to the Jefferson County line, north to the Walker County and west to the San Bernard River. GTE Mobilnet's system of 30 cells currently covers a similar area, but additional cells to be constructed later this year will enlarge their coverage area to 8,000 square miles (including Galveston and Beaumont) by the end of this year. Analysts who follow the cellular telephone industry say there are about 350,000 users nationally. Herschel Shosteck, a telecommunications analyst in Silver Spring, Md., said about 250,000 units are expected to be sold this year. "Houston will be one of the large gainers," Shosteck said. "The city is currently in a depression, but it still is a wealthy city." Shosteck said the cellular telephone market is hot in Houston because of traffic congestion and the absence of public transportation. "For this reason, Los Angeles and Houston are in stark contrast to New York, for instance," Shosteck said. "The size of the Houston business base also contributes to a very favorable market." Shosteck agreed that cellular telephony is not a "get rich quick" business. "We think it will be very profitable by the mid-1990s. It takes a long time to build-up a customer base, install hardware and software and stabilize maintenance costs. We're already seeing a consolidation in the business, and I anticipate it to continue. "This is a very capital intensive business and not for the quick buick artist. People have to be committed to long-term service. If you have deep pockets, then it can be profitable, but it's only for people who have a real commitment to the telephone industry." Shosteck predicted still lower costs by 1989-90 as new, more efficient digital technologies are introduced by the cellular companies into their systems. "What I foresee is a steady growth that will be very profitable for those businessmen who are astute about it and in for the long haul," Shosteck concluded. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Some San Antonio companies are trying to make life a little easier for their employees with children, trying to create a work schedule that wont compromise time with family. Perks for parents at some San Antonio-area companies include parental leave, child care, lactation rooms and extra time to bank for school functions. In July, USAA began offering up to 12 weeks of benefits with full pay for bonding when a child joins the family, for both mothers and fathers, said Asa Waterman, assistant vice president of benefits. We recognize the importance of bonding time between parents and children following the birth or adoption of a child and want to ensure we provide support to our employees during this important time, Waterman said. Birth moms also receive short-term disability benefits, Waterman said, providing compensation for five to seven weeks, dependent on the moms recovery time. The San Antonio banking, insurance and financial services company also offers rooms for nursing mothers and other resources for parents, such as on-site child care centers at USAAs campuses in San Antonio, Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Tampa, Florida, Waterman said. Rackspace Hosting has a mothers room for pumping on-site, and parents have access to child care help through Bright Horizons, said Sharon Noneman, director of global benefits and wellness. The company also has the employee-founded and employee-run group called RackParents, which serves as a support network for working parents, Noneman said. Rackspace offers a 12-week continuous paid maternity program and four-week continuous paid paternity program, she said. We also offer four to six weeks of continuous paid leave benefits for adoption. The company offers generous paid family leave. Pam Goble, owner of Ability HomeCare Inc., said she understands a working parents hardships as she has been a single parent. Therapists can set their own schedule for seeing patients, and the company is flexible with its administrative staff, Goble said. All full-time employees with children in kindergarten through 12th grade also earn four hours per semester to attend school functions without being penalized, Goble said. There is also a private room for new mothers to pump breast milk, Goble said. We need to provide a flexible schedule for our employees so they are comfortable and happy, Goble said. Theres nothing worse than going to work and youre nervous because, oh, I have to leave at this time to go get my child. Ed Bucholtz, general manager at Grand Hyatt San Antonio, said the company has a policy of eight weeks paid maternity leave and two weeks for paternity leave. Employees can also bank up to 60 sick days, he said. I just think its the right thing to do, Bucholtz said. Obviously thats made at a company level, not my particular level, but I think its where, if youre really talking about caring for your associates, I think thats the critical time in most families lives. Accenture offers up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave for employees and eight weeks for all primary caregivers, said Cynthia Barrera, San Antonio Delivery Center lead. Barrera said Accenture also provides for employees to ship breast milk when traveling on business and gives new parents hospital-grade breast pumps. Staff Writers Joshua Fechter and Rye Druzin contributed to this report. sehlinger@express-news.net | Twitter: @samehlinger This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate To make it to the top among employers in San Antonio, two Hyatt establishments emphasize their culture of care, respect and dignity. The Hyatt Hotels and Resorts of San Antonio, which includes the Hyatt Regency San Antonio and the Grand Hyatt of San Antonio, took first place among large employers in San Antonio with more than 500 employees beating out 19 other contenders. READ ALSO: Top Workplaces for midsized S.A. companies in 2017 Grand Hyatt San Antonio general manager Ed Bucholtz said a key to success is developing a really strong culture of care. If you take care of your employees, you model how to take care of your employees, theyll know how to take care of the guest as a result of that modeling, he said. Bucholtz speaks from experience his 32 years with Hyatt have taken him to Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa, Denver and now San Antonio. He said he tries to be accessible to employees and visible at his hotel every day, making sure to personally interact with people rather than spending time on his cellphone. He tries to sit with the line staff in the cafeteria when theyre eating lunch to get to know more about them and their families, he said. RELATED: Top Workplaces 2017 small employer winner founded on flexibility I really try to encourage people and I hope I set a good example in doing this that you take that time to get to know the person whos in the laundry department who you dont know, he said. Practicing servant leadership, setting an example for the people that work with you and for you of how they should treat everybody is really important, Bucholtz said. Culture is important to runner up Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, which ranked No. 2 for large employers and has been listed as a Top Workplace for six out of the past nine years. We used to have a CEO who said to treat members and each other like youd treat your mother, and so we take that to heart, said Mary ORourke, chief of staff at Randolph-Brooks. That CEO was Randy M. Smith, who led the company from 1987 until 2012. ORourke said Smiths successor, Chris OConnor, continued the tradition and is a 29-year veteran with Randolph-Brooks. Some changes the credit union has made under OConnor include raising its matching two-for-one 401(k) contribution from 8 percent to 10 percent. For every $1 an employee contributes, the credit union will contribute $2, up to 10 percent of an employees annual salary. READ ALSO: Top Workplaces 2017: Some employers make the list every year He cares about the employees, he goes out, visits every branch, sits down, talks to the employees and listens to what they have to say, ORourke said of OConnor. Because he comes back and reacts based on what hes told they have a lot of respect for him. ORourke said millennials have real big on sense of purpose and that Randolph-Brooks emphasizes volunteer work that extends to individual branches. Every branch is responsible for working with the community that surrounds that branch, and we do that across the board across all of our locations, ORourke said. Bucholtz echoed that community work is important, saying Hyatt employees work with Haven for Hope and Habitat for Humanity. The hotel also likes to extend benefits to its employees such as movie nights in the ballroom, where employees can bring their families and neighbors to watch a kid-friendly movie on a big screen. Over his years in hospitality, Bucholtz said hes learned from good mentors and some not so good ones. Sometimes taking how a manager handled a situation poorly is just as valuable as the ones where they handled it well. In the end it all comes down, for Bucholtz, to culture. Culture sometimes can trump good strategy if youve got a real strong culture, he said. You do that by showing care for your associates and when you do that you start to enhance the culture. rdruzin@express-news.net | Twitter: @druz_journo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The San Francisco police bicycle officer who was run down by a sport utility vehicle driven by a man with a long rap sheet suffered severe injuries and remained in intensive care Thursday, but his family and his colleagues are optimistic he will recover, said Police Chief Bill Scott. Officer Elia Lewin-Tankel, 32, who according to officials has been recognized repeatedly for outstanding work during his five years on the city force, remained in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery on him after Wednesdays incident. Elia is a fighter in every sense of the word, and this fight is not over, Scott said outside the hospital, where Lewin-Tankels co-workers at Tenderloin Station had gathered to keep vigil. His family is very positive. And hes doing better today than he was yesterday. ... Were going to be by his side and help him fight through this. Now Playing: San Francisco police say they have taken a suspect into custody after an officer on a bicycle was struck by a hit-and-run driver this afternoon. Video: KTVU The chief read a letter from the injured officers wife, who wrote, Elia is a symbol of strength. Its in his blood. This situation is no different. This is not the end of Elias story. Lewin-Tankel was on his bicycle when a suspect in a gun-related case ran him down in a stolen Lexus SUV about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday on Turk Street between Franklin Street and Van Ness Avenue, just a few blocks from City Hall, police said. More for you Suspect arrested after SFPD officer on bike is hit, critically... The suspect, Maurquise Johnson, 50, drove off and abandoned his car about a mile and a half to the east at Central and Fell streets, prompting an hours-long manhunt of surrounding areas, police said. Johnson was taken into custody about 3:30 p.m. on Ellis Street, officials said, before being jailed on suspicion of attempted murder, reckless driving, hit-and-run, resisting arrest and driving without a license. In an interview Thursday from jail, Johnson told KTVU that he and the officer collided as he pulled out of a garage. He said he wasnt at fault. Police Department officials did not detail Lewin-Tankels injuries. His family released a statement asking everyone to send good energy and prayers for his recovery, which we know will happen, because Elia is a survivor. Lewin-Tankel began his career with the city force in 2012, working at several stations before being permanently assigned to the Tenderloin in March 2016. He asked to be assigned to the station because it is one of the busiest, most demanding districts, a testament to his dedication to serving the residents of San Francisco, department officials said in a statement. The officer, who recently started law school, received the departments Purple Heart Award in 2015 after he was injured as a direct result of actions he took to prevent serious injury or loss of life to members of the community, officials said. In his free time, Lewin-Tankel teaches jiujitsu to fellow officers in the department and in the community, and volunteers at events in the Tenderloin. Hes one of those officers that makes himself known to the community, said Fernando Pujals, the communications director at the Tenderloin Community Benefit District. He talks to people, looks them in the eye and treats them with respect. He approaches his job with care, and when you talk to him, you feel that hes really listening. Lewin-Tankel has an extensive knowledge of the neighborhoods history, Pujals said. He loves jazz and has talked about wanting to put together a throwback event at the Black Hawk jazz club that operated at Turk and Hyde streets in the 1950s, Pujals said. A lot of people have been in contact, just asking for updates and asking whats going on, and you can really see how many people hes touched, Pujals said. Its a really heavy day in the neighborhood. City Supervisor Jane Kim said Lewin-Tankel has been a familiar face at community meetings and on the streets. I really have not seen officers and residents so shook up in a while, she said. Hes young and he wanted to be in the Tenderloin, and hes one of the bike patrol and foot beat guys. Theyre the front line of the Police Department, and theyre the ones who get to know the residents and the small business owners. Lewin-Tankels wife is a public school teacher in San Francisco, Kim said. This is really hitting two communities very hard, Kim said. Its a public servant family. The man suspected of injuring Lewin-Tankel has been in and out of jail in recent years and has a history of reckless driving and trying to evade arrest, court documents show. Johnson has allegedly used several aliases, including Maurice Johnson and Willie Flanagan. According to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, Johnson was convicted in that county of misdemeanor petty theft in 1993 and of giving false information to an officer in 2013. Also in 2013, San Francisco prosecutors charged Johnson with robbery, receiving a stolen car, grand theft and evading an officer. He was convicted of grand theft. The next year, he was charged in San Francisco with drug possession, driving without a license, disturbing the peace and providing false information to an officer. After pleading guilty to disturbing the peace, he was sentenced to 16 days in county jail. A few months later, Johnson was arrested in San Francisco on suspicion of buying or receiving stolen property and providing false information to an officer. The next year, he was arrested in the city on suspicion of recklessly evading police and leaving the scene of an accident. In June 2016, he was sentenced to state prison for two years for stealing a car and evading police in San Mateo County. Johnson was released after a few months because he had already served much of his time before sentencing. In February, he pleaded no contest in San Francisco to drug dealing, records show, and was sentenced to 67 days in jail. The city district attorneys office accused Johnson of a slate of charges Thursday including attempted murder of a police officer, battery, assault, evading arrest and reckless endangerment. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. Scott said the department had pulled together to support Lewin-Tankel. On Thursday, much of Tenderloin Station was staffed by officers from other stations, allowing the Tenderloin officers to be at the hospital. This is what we do, and we understand this is a part of the job, Scott said. We accept that. But it also gives us the opportunity to show what were made of. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo Fans who are still flying high from the recent Selena Google Doodle have another posthumous accomplishment to celebrate she will be immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next month. Last June, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced the Class of 2017 honorees which include the Queen of Tejano and Eva Longoria, both Corpus Christi natives. On Thursday, the official Selena Facebook page said the "wait is over." Hurricane Harvey dealt a blow to the Kingwood community, but it is slowly getting back on its feet. Dozens of businesses already have reopened. H-E-B is slated to reopen Jan. 15, according to the Lake Houston Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the #LHABack2Biz campaign, keeping track of which businesses in the Lake Houston area are reopening. Meanwhile, Pholicious, 4521 Kingwood Dr., Suite 240, hopes to reopen in November, and the Hampton Inn, 20515 U.S. 59 North is expected to take six months to reopen. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For many of the Debbie McKelvey's orchestra students at Fred Roberts Middle School in Pasadena ISD, playing a violin or viola is a luxury. But it shouldn't be, she said. "We don't want that to be the case," McKelvey said. The school is one of the district's Title 1 schools, meaning it receives federally funds for having a high percentage of students from low-income families. According to McKelvey, 70 percent of the students at Fred Roberts are considered low-income. Before Hurricane Harvey, the school could only help 22 lower-income students who could not otherwise afford to be in the program. Music Doing Good is a nonprofit that brings music to low-income communities and Title 1 schools in Houston and its surrounding areas. "We basically serve children that wouldn't otherwise have access to music programs," said Julie Lambert, the organization's marketing director. After Harvey, the devastating loss of property and homes disrupted thousands of lives in the area and instruments in school music programs were destroyed by flooding. Music Doing Good immediately responded. One its primary missions, said Lambert, had always been to support programs or students that lack resources. Harvey instantly shifted that mission into high gear. Through social media, Chris Johnson, formerly of Houston's KUHF radio station and a friend of Music Doing Good, reached out to assess where the greatest needs were after the storm. "That's when we learned more about Pasadena ISD's programs, and their commitment to the arts which was very impressive to us," Lambert said. The district suffered losses to several of their music programs, with the most significant damage occurring at Fred Roberts and at Thompson Intermediate School. That loss was doubled for students whose homes and belongings were destroyed in the storm. One mother, whose student had rented out one of the school-owned instruments came to McKelvey. "She asked me, 'Mrs. McKelvey, is there anything you can do to help us?' They were living in a hotel, she was coming to the school to get supplies to the pantry for food and basic necessities - that's what her family's focus was after Harvey, just regrouping," McKelvey said. The storm left about 40 students at Fred Roberts without instruments. "One of the things we're interested in doing is being a bridge for these school districts," Lambert said. The challenge was to ensure that students who started playing music could continue despite financial hardship. Like McKelvey, Music Doing Good believes music education should not be a luxury. "Music is like superfood to developing minds, it's one of the only art forms that accesses different parts of the brain simultaneously," Lambert said. Music Doing Good recently presented new instruments to 12 Fred Roberts students directly impacted by Harvey. "Those instruments are in students' hands. Cellos have gone home with students who are living in hotels; violins and violas are going home with kids in a new apartment," McKelvey said. The school also received donations from individuals and other groups, and 23 additional students have been provided instruments. Harvey, said McKelvey, brought out the best in people, and the issue of providing instruments for music education strikes a chord in the community. "I'm passionate about music; so I want music to be part of their life every day, not just if and when you're wealthy enough to afford it," McKelvey said. For more information on Music Doing Good, visit http://musicdoinggood.org. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A trimmed-down production of William Shakespeare's play about the romance of two larger-than-life, historical figures unfolds Oct. 20 through Nov. 5 when the Pearl Theater presents "Antony and Cleopatra." The original 'Brangelina'? Director Jonathan Gonzalez called Antony and Cleopatra "the original 'Brangelina,' " referring to the famous, modern-day couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. "The play puts Antony and Cleopatra on a deeply human level. The ups and downs of lovers; the negotiations of relationships and the war between duty and what the heart wants," said Gonzalez, a veteran of more than 50 productions of 27 Shakespeare plays. "We have streamlined the battles and political intrigue and focused on the human angles: The love stories, the stories of brothers-in-arms and the price to be paid for war and the friendships," he said. "We have enlarged the role of the soothsayer, making the character a more overreaching harbinger of death and tragedy." The play, which usually clocks in at about three hours, will run about two hours and 15 minutes at the Pearl, which is just west of Pearland at 14803 Park Almeda Drive. "Uncut, it is one of Shakespeare's longest plays," Gonzalez said. "It is shamefully underproduced, I believe, because it covers so many years and has so many characters." More Information want to go? What: Pearl Theater's production of "Antony and Cleopatra" When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 5. Where: Pearl Theater, 14803 Park Almeda Drive, Houston Cost: Tickets are $16 for adults and $14 for senior adults and students, with discounts available for groups of 10 or more. Details: www.Pearl-Theater.com. For questions, call 832-459-4674. See More Collapse Gonzalez cast Jeffrey Dorman as Antony, and Renee van Nifterik, who also serves as the theater's artistic director, portrays Cleopatra. "She is described as a woman of 'infinite variety,'' van Nifterik says of Cleopatra. "It is probably the most challenge role I've ever played. There so many different directions she can go in. She is a woman of power who also has a sensual side. She knows what she wants and goes for it, but she also can be hurt, and at times, she is devastated." Antony is a complicated character, too, Dorman said. "The language of Shakespeare is so rich in imagery and symbolism that a single line can mean two or three different things and sometimes more," he said. For example, Antony's widely known line, "Let Rome in Tiber melt," could be dismissive towards Rome as a city or it could describe how strong his love is for Cleopatra, or both. "Antony and Cleopatra" was listed as a tragedy in the 1623 collection of Shakespeare's plays, known as the First Folio, but Gonzalez thinks it also could be characterized in other ways. "Upon closer look, I believe tragicomedy is more truthful, and one could even say there is some history, and it is epic like a romance," he said. "It is one of Shakespeare's latter plays, and he really is operating at all cylinders here. There is a lot of humor, and it is at turns morbid, joyful, adventurous, jingoistic and cynical." Colin Brock co-stars as Julius Caesar. Rounding out the cast are Pearl veterans Jeff Merriman, Kim Roberts, Mari Tortorice, Steve Lassiter, Steve Harrison and Gage Catttoni, while making their debuts at the Pearl are Rebecca Bernstein, Sandra Peck Ramsey, Amy-Kristina Herbert, Ain Rashida Sykes and Nkemakolam Ajiodo. Nifterik designed the set as a backdrop for scenes that occur "in Egypt, Rome and many places between." "It is a gorgeous Rome/Egypt mashup, engineered by Robyn and Ed Legris," Gonzalez said. "Our costumes, designed by Dru Bowman, were concieved as 'Baz Lurmann on a budget,' " he said, alluding to the festive style of the Australian producer/director of "Moulin Rouge" and "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet." "We are not going for stark historical realism, but much like Shakespeare and his Globe Theatre, creating an intimate human world of the imagination that ultimately feels both familiar and strange - a dream world of history that includes elements of then, now, and what might be," Gonzalez said. Performances will be at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays. A 7:30 p.m. performance on Tuesday, Oct. 24 will be "Pay What You Can Night." Buy One, Get One Free Thursday will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Tickets are $16 for adults and $14 for senior adults and students, with discounts available for groups of 10 or more, and are on sale at www.Pearl-Theater.com. For questions, call 832-459-4674. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TOKYO - Spare a thought for Japanese voters as they go to the polls in a snap parliamentary election Sunday. The economy is ticking along respectably, the stock market is at a 20-year high, the country enjoys full employment, Japanese companies are making good profits and there are no divisive problems involving race and almost no issues surrounding immigration. It is, as Daniel Sneider of Stanford University puts it, a "Seinfeld election." An election about nothing. But this election offers one important thing for voters at home and governments abroad: stability. Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for five years, will almost certainly secure control of the House of Representatives for another four-year term. That is noteworthy in a country that went through six prime ministers in six years - until Abe returned to power at the end of 2012 - and in a world where other advanced nations are dealing with the effects of electoral surprises. "Britain is in a negative spiral after making a major mistake with Brexit, and obviously there's the sad story of the U.S.," said Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Australia, for its part, is now on its fourth prime minister in five years. "There has been so much dysfunction in politics and churn in leadership, and there has been a tendency among Western countries to look inward rather than taking an outward-looking, more muscular view," Fullilove said. "Japan under Abe is an exception to both those trends." Abe, who is 63, called the snap election 14 months before it was due, ostensibly to seek a new mandate to be tough on North Korea and channel a planned consumption-tax increase into social spending rather than retiring debt. But most analysts say he is being opportunistic, trying to exploit a sudden rebound in the polls - Kim Jong Un's missile launches over Japan helped boost the hawkish Abe's numbers - and a vacuum in the opposition after months of lingering scandal. If he retains a two-thirds majority in the powerful lower house, the nationalistic Abe will likely press ahead with plans to revise the postwar pacifist constitution and strengthen Japan's military. After a surprise challenge from Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike quickly fizzled, Abe's ruling coalition is poised to win more than 300 of the 465 seats in the lower house, according to forecasts from the Jiji Press news agency. It must take 310 seats to retain the supermajority needed to amend the constitution. But the anticipated support for the government belies the decidedly tepid feelings about the prime minister himself. A poll by the Asahi Shimbun published Wednesday night found that 51 percent of respondents do not want Abe to remain as prime minister. "Japanese voters are rewarding Abe for providing continuity and stability, even if they don't like him," said Sneider, an East Asia specialist currently based in Tokyo. "They might not greet him enthusiastically, and they might worry about his nationalism, but they're not interested in trading that for uncertainty." This is partly because the memories of political upheaval remain so fresh in Japan. When Junichiro Koizumi retired in 2006 after five years as prime minister, as required by LDP rules, Abe succeeded him. But he lasted only one year, quitting suddenly after a huge defeat in an upper house election and two scandals in his Cabinet. Then, within the next five years came two conservative prime ministers and three from the Democratic Party of Japan, during a rare but difficult period in government that coincided with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Repeated Cabinet reshuffles meant some ministers were changed even more frequently. Abe got a second chance when he was returned to the premiership at the end of 2012. The LDP changed its rules earlier this year to allow him to serve a third consecutive three-year term. If he stays until 2021, he will become Japan's longest-serving prime minister. But Alison Evans, a Japan specialist at IHS Markit, the consulting firm, says Japan's recent stability is more a function of the party than the person. Except for two short periods, the LDP has been in government since 1955. "The LDP will continue to dominate, but prime ministers will come and go," Evans said. "Japan is a democracy, but culturally and structurally, there has been no move towards pluralism." Abe is taking advantage of this, though. Even his critics concede that he has learned from his first disastrous stint as prime minister and proven himself to be a political survivor. Under his "Abenomics" stimulus policies, the Japanese economy has grown for six quarters in a row after two decades of recession and stagnation, now ticking along at 2.5 percent annual growth. Even if ordinary Japanese say they don't feel the improvement, at least the numbers are heading in the right direction. Allies and other like-minded governments would welcome Abe's continuing in office. Just having a prime minister who lasts more than a year has injected some certainty and stability into governments' political and trading relationships, says one diplomat from the region. It is especially important for the relationship with the United States, Japan's main ally. "There were multiple moments over recent years when American officials said, 'Why bother building a relationship when he or she isn't going to be there in a few months,'" said Brad Glosserman, an American who is a visiting professor at Tama University in Tokyo. "It's hard to exaggerate the value of having this relationship." One relationship that is serving Japan well is the bond that Abe has formed with President Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, Trump had repeatedly lashed out at Japan, espousing a 1980s view of their trading relationship and repeatedly saying that Japan should be paying for its own defense. But Abe made determined efforts to get on the right side of Trump, being the first foreign leader to visit him after his election victory and holding a chummy summit with him at Mar-a-Lago just a few weeks after Trump's inauguration. The two regularly talk on the phone about North Korea, and Trump arrives in Japan on Nov. 5 to begin an Asian tour. That Trump has not acted against Japan's interests - with the exception of withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal - is a testament to Abe's influence, analysts say. At first, second or even third glance, Brays Bayou isn't likely to make anyone's list of Texas' premier recreational fisheries or even be recognized as a fishery at all. Certainly, the idea of holding a fishing tournament and fish/fishing-focused event on what is one of the most urbanized waterways in the state seems unfathomable. Except it's not. It's brilliant, and why as many as 150 or so anglers will ply its waters Oct. 28 in what will be the second annual contest/event aimed at highlighting the waterway's fishery, educating the public about the waterway and the threats some of its fish pose and connecting urban Houstonians to a natural world right in their own backyards. Brays Bayou is an unlikely site for such things. The bayou rises in Fort Bend County just about where Westheimer Road, Westpark Tollway and Clodine Road form a triangular traffic nightmare, flows east through an almost unbroken sea of subdivisions and neighborhoods in southwest Houston, through Bellaire, the south side of West University Place, the Texas Medical Center and on through the heart of Houston until it joins Buffalo Bayou square in the middle of the Port of Houston. Brays and its tributaries, Keegans Bayou and Willow Waterhole Bayou, hold about 120 miles of channels, every inch of them bent, straightened, lined with concrete or otherwise manipulated, mauled and misshapen by human hands. The bayou is wholly urban, a once natural waterway transformed into little more than a sluice for effluent and rain runoff. Or so it seems. But a closer look shows the waterway, like the dozen or so other bayous that vein Houston and give the metropolis its "Bayou City" sobriquet, maintains a decidedly feral character. "There's a tremendous fishery in Brays Bayou," Mark Marmon. said. "It's a much richer waterway that most people can imagine." Marmon would know. For more than 30 years, the long-time Bellaire resident has stalked the concrete-lined banks of Brays Bayou, fly rod in hand, fishing for personal enjoyment and operating Metro Anglers, a business built on teaching fishing skills and guiding anglers to Houston's inner-city angling opportunities. Over those years, Marmon has caught 18 species of fish from the Brays system. Many of those fish - largemouth bass, several species of sunfish, gar, catfish, crappie, white bass - are among the 50 or so species of native Texas freshwater fish calling the bayou home. But many - most, really - of the fish he and other Brays anglers land are not native Texans, or even native to North America. The majority of fish in Brays and other Houston bayous are non-native species, aliens introduced to the waterway mostly through ignorance, poor judgment and missteps in fisheries management. More than a dozen species of non-native fish live - thrive - in Brays Bayou. But a handful - grass carp, common carp, armored catfish and two species of tilapia - dominate. And while those non-native fish create most of the angling opportunity in the bayou, they also cause significant ecological and economic damage. "Invasive species are a big problem, whether it's tallow trees on land or grass carp in the bayou," said Ralph Rieger, president of the Willow Waterway Greenspace Conservancy, a volunteer organization managing a 300-acre patch of land developed as an innovative park designed to mitigate flooding by mimicking natural systems. Willow Waterhole Greenspace, located along its namesake waterway in the Westbury area of southwest Houston, has seen the negative effects of Brays Bayou's invasive fish. Attempts to grow aquatic vegetation in the parks wetlands and ponds, as well as the bayou proper, have been stymied by the voracious appetite of the vegetarian grass carp. That aquatic vegetation is crucial to water clarity and quality (the plants filter suspended sediment from water) and as habitat for all manner of aquatic life, including fish. The bayou holds a thriving, reproducing population of grass carp, fish that can grow to more than 30 pounds. It also holds swarms of armored catfish, South American natives sold as juveniles by the aquarium trade as "algae eaters" and released into the bayous when the fish grow too large for captivity. The shovel-headed, hard-scaled catfish that look like something out of a science fiction film thrive in the bayous, where their behavior as communal cavity nesters causes problems. Using their shovel heads, the armored catfish build their nests by burrowing into shallows along the banks of the bayou, often turning stretches of bank into something like Swiss cheese. That burrowing undermines the banks, resulting in sloughing, collapse and erosion of those banks. That damages the bayou's hydrology, affecting its ability to handle floodwaters. Tilapia, an African species, competes directly with native species for space and food, as do all of the bayou's other invasive fish species. Negatives for waterway Other than providing some very challenging and exciting fishing - a 10-pound grass carp is a world-class battle on light tackle - the bayou's invasive fish species have no positives for the waterway and plenty of negatives. That is reflected in Texas' fishing regulations that require anglers who land grass carp, armored catfish, tilapia or other non-native fish listed as "invasives" to immediately dispatch the fish. Texas fisheries managers want invasives out of the state's waters. The bayou's surprisingly vibrant, diverse, accessible fishery combined with benefits of removing those non-natives and educating the public about both the fishing opportunities the bayou offers and the problems caused by invasives triggered an idea in folks such as Marmon, Rieger and others with ties to the bayou. How about a fishing tournament and associated events that would accomplish both goals? This past year, the collaborative efforts of a collection of private individuals, fishing organizations, academia, local and state government created under the highly appropriate name Carp and Armored-Catfish Removal Plan (CARP) Task Force resulted in the inaugural Brays Bayou Invasive Fish Round-Up and Carp-A-Thon. The 2016 event, held at the Willow Waterhole Greenspace in late September, included environmental education, fishing instruction and a fishing tournament targeting invasive species. "We didn't know if it would be successful or not," Marmon, who was involved in the event's planning, said. "We hoped to get maybe 50 fishermen to sign up." The tournament drew 125 or so anglers. And scores of folks, many of them families, participated in the free fishing instruction, educational seminars and booths and other offerings at the event. "It turned out to pretty much exceed all expectations," Rieger said. So they are doing it again. The second annual Brays Bayou Invasive Fish Round-Up and Carp-A-Thon is scheduled for Oct. 28 at Willow Waterhole Greenspace, 5300 Dryad Road. The fishing tournament, which incudes categories for conventional tackle, fly tackle and youth, involves a $20 entry fee that's waived for seniors and anglers younger than 12. The associated event at Willow Waterhole Greenspace is free to the public and will include fishing instruction, casting contests, informational seminars on invasive species, flood mitigation and other topics. More information on the event is available at willowwaterhole.org and through Texas Flyfishers of Houston, texasflyfishers.org. Long-term possibilities No one involved in the fishing tournament expects it to have any real immediate effect on the plague of non-native fish infesting Houston's urban waterways; recreational fishing could never remove enough invasives to make a dent in their numbers. But the event has loftier goals that include connecting Houstonians with the bayous that are so much a part of their city, increasing awareness of issues surrounding invasive species and introducing young Texans to the rewarding, life-long recreation of fishing. It certainly will make some folks look at Brays Bayou in a different way. A couple of weeks ago, Catalans went to the polls to decide whether to seek independence. Catalonia, located in Spain's northeast and the home of Barcelona, has been agitating for independence for more than 300 years. But something about this latest push was different, according to Spanish journalist Clara Jimenez Cruz. Cruz is a reporter with Maldito Bulo, aimed at debunking falsehoods on social media. Cruz told me that the lead-up to the Catalonia independence vote was full of "fake news." She said, too, that she's never seen anything like it. She thinks that's partly because the Catalonia vote was one of the most important and sensitive political issues to come up in Spain in recent years. "With Catalonia, because of all the feelings from both sides being involved, people are willing to believe any story that favors their argument and social media consumers have been taken in by a lot of fake news from both sides," Cruz told me in an email. Among the more pernicious fake stories that circulated right around the Oct. 1 vote: a picture of the fingers of a woman, allegedly broken by police to stop her from voting; reports that a police officer sent to Catalonia to block the vote had died of a heart attack there, surrounded by activists; and a story of a 6-year-old boy paralyzed by police brutality. Other fake news stories claimed that photos from a 2012 miners strike in Madrid actually depicted pro-independence Catalans injured during the vote. Some reports seemed intended simply to cause confusion. On social media, people circulated a photo of a man in a yellow shirt, claiming that he was an undercover police officer. As Maldito Bulo reported, he was in fact a pro-independence advocate. "We've had to be specially watchful with images depicting supposed victims of the police and the civil guard on the first of October," Cruz told me. Most, she said, "turned out to be pictures from the past which had no relation whatsoever with the voting and also pictures of alleged right-wing demonstrators doing the Nazi salute with the Spanish flag which, many of them, were also pictures from other demonstrations." Cruz said she also saw people sharing fake tweets from politicians and lots of videos of alleged tanks deployed in Catalonia. She noted, too: "We are aware that there has been going on a lot of stuff on Whatsapp but we've only been able to debunk those pieces that were sent to us by our users since Whatsapp is such a private system." It's not clear who was responsible for the fake news. El Pais reported that Russians were to blame, suggesting that news outlets like Russia Today and Sputnik were circulating the fake stories to deepen divisions in Europe. According to Politico, Russian state-backed news organizations and bots aggressively pushed misinformation about the politically charged vote. But Spain's foreign minister said he did not have "definitive evidence" that Russia was involved. And Ban Nimmo, an information defense fellow at the Atlantic Council, told AFP that he does not think Russian media was given "specific orders by the Kremlin about how to cover Catalonia." Among the thousands of firefighters on the front lines of the blazes in Napa and Sonoma counties are 102 female inmates, some of them working 72-hour long shifts in the first days of a firestorm that engulfed California's wine country in flames. These women are part of a partnership program between the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and Cal Fire that trains incarcerated men and women who choose to take part in the grueling, dangerous work of fighting fires. The men and women must meet the same criteria with minimum custody statutes and a record of non-violent behavior in prison; they're considered a low-safety risk. Men and women must pass the same physical fitness test that includes being capable of 35 push-ups, 5 pull-ups, 5 chin-ups and a one-mile run in nine minutes or less. And they both perform similar duties on the job. "All of our inmate crews have one very specific job to do," says Bill Sessa, a public information officer with CDCR. "They cut firebreaks. They work under the direction of a Cal Fire captain and their job is to cut fire breaks that either stop the fire or slow it down or change its direction." Sessa explains that the inmate crews are made up of 12 to 14 men or women, all carrying about 50 to 60 pounds each of gear when fighting a wild land fire. The lead carries a chainsaw to cut down brush, while others help remove brush and debris with rakes, shovels, and Pulaskis (a cross between a hoe and an ax), until they've created a break six feet in width. "Think of it as a 14-person mowing machine going through brush," Sessa says. On the job, they wear the same Nomex fire-retardant suits as firefighters employed by Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service, but theirs are orange, rather than the standard yellow. Inmate labor in California goes back to the 1940s and incarcerated men helped build the state's roads. Their mission evolved into fire-fighting in the 1960s, and females were incorporated into the inmate fire-fighting program in 1983. In recent years, the program has been made up of about 3,800 inmates who make up 13 percent of the state's firefighting force. About 200 of the inmates are womenthat's 5 percent. The inmates are paid $2 for each day in camp and $1 an hour for time on the fire line. The pay is among the highest of the inmate jobs and that's because of the danger on the job. Frank Anaya, 22, died when he fall onto an active chainsaw while fighting a brush fire in San Diego County in June. Mathew Beck, 26, was killed when a tree fell on him as he was clearing brush in Humboldt County. And Shawna Lynn Jones became the first female inmate firefighter to die in the state when she was hit by a falling boulder while helping work a fire in Malibu in 2016. In total, five inmates have died fighting fires in the past 40 years. "Considering the danger in this job, the injury rate is very low, and to have three fatalities in two years is a true anomaly," Sessa says. Pay for a civilian firefighter starts at $40,000; by comparison an inmate firefighter makes about $500 a year, according to the New York Times. "The pay is ridiculous,'' inmate firefighter La'Sonya Edwards, told the New York Times. ''There are some days we are worn down to the core,'' she said. ''And this isn't that different from slave conditions. We need to get paid more for what we do.'' The women train at the California Institution for Women in Chino and then are sent to one of three female-only conservation camps staffed with correctional officers. When they are not fighting fires, these crews do conservation and fire prevention work, everything from clearing brush, taking out stands of diseased trees or maintaining trails. A camp in Malibu provides backup fire support for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The camps are year-round permanent assignments and inmates remain in them, working daily, through the end of their sentence. CDCR estimates the cost-savings to taxpayers as around $100 million per year, although Sessa says the primary purpose of the program is to not save money but to create roles that help inmates more easily transition back to life in society. Sessa says, "This is not a vocational program and most of the inmates who volunteer for the duty have no aspiration to become a firefighter. This is a job they choose to do because there are immediate benefits for them to do the job now." Even if an inmate wanted to pursue a career in firefighting after leaving prison, finding a job could be difficult as most fire departments and agencies don't hire felons. That said, Sessa says, "I do know anecdotally there are some inmates who went on to work for Cal Fire. I've gone on jobs and I've had captains say they've hired inmates." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Woodville-based company whose burning silo filled a Port Arthur neighborhood with smoke for more than two months this spring has not made the safety changes required to resume using their storage facility and remains quiet on what exactly those safety improvements will be. Judge Donald Floyd signed an amended injunction order last week giving German Pellets Texas and Texas Pellets Inc. more time to meet the requirements set by the City of Port Arthur and agreed to in June. That injunction, which expired on Oct. 12, is now effective through Oct. 31. It requires GPTX to remove all of the biomass pellets from the facility, put in safety measures to comply with a hazard analysis plan and allow the city access for spontaneous inspections. GPTX, which is currently in bankruptcy proceedings, said Wednesday that three of the four remaining silos have been emptied, and the last "is expected to be substantially emptied by the end of this week." GPTX has not yet implemented the unspecified "safety measures," the company said through its attorney. One of the company's five silos holding thousands of tons of wood pellets at the Port of Port Arthur began smoldering from internal combustion on April 15 and burned for almost two months before collapsing on June 4. The Port Arthur Fire Department was on at the site around the clock spraying down the facility and monitoring the temperatures in the silos for 102 days. Residents of the nearby neighborhoods complained of health problems and difficulty breathing from the smoke and particulate matter that filled the area. The City of Port Arthur filed suit against the company on June 30, alleging it had violated city public health and nuisance ordinances. The July injunction required GPTX to comply with a "Fire and Explosion Analysis Plan," which was developed by a Houston-based consulting company and approved by the city. The company declined to release the plan, which details their safety measures and compliance with city ordinances, in response to a public information request from The Enterprise, claiming in a letter to the Attorney General's Office that it contains information that would reveal business secrets to competing companies. Ken Paxton's office ruled last week that the plan could remain confidential but allowed the release of a related document that details changes the city required be added to the plan. That document, dated July 11, indicates that the city plans to allow the company to resume operations, over the objections of some residents who want GPTX to leave. The plan divides the company's responses into four stages, the letter from Fire Marshal L.P. Washburn said: Phase 1, before new material can be received, stored or offloaded; Phase 2, within 120 days of receipt of new pellets; Phase 3, within a year of completing Phase 2; and Phase 4, "voluntarily at the discretion of German Pellets Texas for further risk reduction." Before receiving new material, GPTX is required to make changes to the facility's temperature monitoring system, including implementing "automatic control of silo ventilation fans" and providing ways to seal silo openings in case of a future fire. A section in the company's Phase 2 titled "Silo Firefighting Improvements" was moved to Phase 1, requiring it to be completed before new pellets can arrive. A dust collector that was demolished when the silo collapsed will require approval for its new fire suppression system, Washburn wrote in the letter. Washburn also recommended, but did not require, that GPTX "consider adding equipment to dehumidify and cool the existing ventilation fan supplied air stream." "The Fire Department reserves approval rights afforded by the Port Arthur Fire Code as to specific details and timing of all recommendations," Washburn wrote in the later. PAFD Chief Larry Richard said in August that the department was "checking in" with the company about pellet removal, but responsibility for ensuring safety during the process is in GPTX's hands. GPTX said the facility "had no significant direct impacts from Hurricane Harvey," though "unfortunately several of the employees were affected through damage to their residence." LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitz A federal judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. government to allow an undocumented teenager in its custody to have an abortion, after saying she was "astounded" the Trump administration was trying to prevent the procedure. Lawyers for Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington that the 17-year-old, who crossed the border from Mexico illegally last month, did not have a constitutional right to an elective abortion in federal custody, unless it was a medical emergency. Chutkan, an Obama administration nominee, said the government appeared to be presenting the teenager identified in court papers as "Jane Doe" with two options: Voluntarily return to a nation she fled to procure an abortion, or carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. "I am astounded by that position," Chutkan said in a 40-minute hearing that was mostly consumed by a back-and-forth between the judge and Scott Stewart, a deputy assistant attorney general. She ordered the government to transport the teenager to have the procedure - or allow her guardian to transport her - "promptly and without delay." Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the girl, asked Chutkan for an emergency restraining order to prevent the government from blocking the girl's plan to have an abortion. They also sought a preliminary injunction to protect others seeking abortions. ACLU lawyer Brigitte Amiri argued that it was "out of any sort of constitutional bounds" for the U.S. government to block the teenager's legal right to an abortion, which is preserved in the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling. But Stewart told the judge that pregnant undocumented minors from other countries are not entitled to abortions, and said in court records that opening the door to that right "would significantly infringe on the government's interests in preserving life and protecting national boundaries." "I respectfully disagree that she's entitled to an abortion" facilitated by the government, he said, noting that the girl's case was not a medical emergency. Chutkan countered that the teenager does not need a medical emergency to exercise her right to an abortion. She said the girl had followed state and federal rules: She obtained permission from a state judge in Texas to have an abortion and would cover the expenses herself or with help through her court-appointed guardian. All the government had to do, the judge said, is process the paperwork to let the girl visit the clinic, just as it would if she needed to have her tonsils removed. However, the girl is quickly running out of time to have a legal abortion in the United States. The girl is 15 weeks pregnant, and Texas bars most abortions after 20 weeks. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As a state senator, Ralph Northam began expanding his financial portfolio to include stock in companies that do extensive business in Virginia. In early 2013, he reported owning between $10,000 and $50,000 of stock in Dominion Energy, Virginia's largest utility and the top corporate donor to local campaigns. Later that year, Northam voted on eight Senate bills Dominion lobbied on. As lieutenant governor in 2015, he praised legislation that suspended audits of Dominion by state regulators, a measure denounced by consumer advocates but touted on Wall Street as a boon to shareholders. And if Northam, a Democrat, is elected governor next month, he probably will approve or veto bills that affect the utility - and very likely the value of his personal investment. The same is true for the other companies active in Virginia in which he owns stock: AT&T, Bank of America, Norfolk Southern, Kraft Heinz, DuPont, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson and Mondelez International. Northam and his Republican opponent in the race, Ed Gillespie, have had extensive financial or business relationships with companies active in Virginia, raising questions about how those ties could influence their governance of a state known for unusually lax ethics laws. Northam's investment in Dominion - although apparently permissible under Virginia's ethics laws - already has opened him up to accusations that he has put the company's bottom line ahead of the public's interests. In particular, he has come under attack from environmentalists for not opposing a 600-mile natural gas pipeline Dominion is planning to build with several smaller partners. Environmentalists say the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would damage some of the state's most naturally pristine areas, while proponents - including Gillespie and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe - say it would curb energy costs and create 8,800 jobs. Northam has tried to stake out middle ground by calling for a "rigorous and transparent" review of the pipeline's environmental impact. Northam says that if elected governor, he would put his stock investments in a blind trust managed by a trustee who could sell or purchase stock without his knowledge. The campaign notes that he has backed some policies opposed by Dominion, including McAuliffe's veto of a 2016 bill that would have extended tax credits for coal plants. "I have always put the interests of those I have served first, and I promise to do that as governor," Northam, a pediatric neurologist, said in a statement to The Washington Post. But some pipeline opponents argue that Northam can't help but be influenced by his Dominion investments. "Your personal investments and campaign contributions weigh on decisions, that's just reality, and Dominion is such a force in Virginia politics," said David Sligh, conservation director of Wild Virginia, a nonprofit group that opposes the pipeline. Gillespie has mutual funds and partnership interests in three investment funds but no stock holdings, according to his campaign disclosure form. Last year, he advised four companies with vast interests in the state - AT&T, Bank of America, Microsoft and Anthem. If elected governor, Gillespie would almost surely face legislative or policymaking decisions affecting his former clients' interests. Gifts scandal involving former Gov. Robert McDonnell triggers debate over Virginia ethics laws. Virginia's conflict-of-interest laws generally allow lawmakers and state officials to vote on legislation affecting a company in which they own stock if colleagues own stock in the company and so also would be affected. For example, the law seems to permit Northam's votes on bills affecting the utility in 2013 because several other state senators also had holdings in Dominion. If the rules were more stringent, ethics experts say, an administration and part-time "citizen legislature" made up of doctors, bankers, developers and lawyers would be prevented from acting on innumerable bills and policies. "Public officials should not profit from their government service, but the reality is that people are going to have investments, and a relatively small interest shouldn't affect their decision-making," said Paul Nick, president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws, a nationwide association. "It's similar to the idea that accepting a cup of coffee shouldn't affect your decision-making, but an all-expense paid trip will." Anna Scholl, executive director of Progress Virginia, a liberal advocacy group that pushes for higher ethics standards, said she thinks Northam has "complied with the letter and spirit of the law." "The challenge is, how do you balance ethics restrictions with a citizen legislature in which they all have outside business interests?" she said. Northam's campaign said his stock purchases were recommended by a financial adviser, "independent of anything going on in state government." Most of the eight Senate bills Northam voted on after listing the Dominion stock on his disclosure form were technical and not controversial. Of the bills Northam voted to support, Dominion favored five and ultimately did not object to three, a company representative said. Northam is not alone in state government in investing in Virginia companies; 10 lawmakers reported owning Dominion stock last year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, or VPAP. Republican Sen. Frank Wagner owned stock in Dominion valued between $5,000 and $50,000 when he sponsored the 2015 law suspending biennial financial audits by state regulators through 2022. He sold the stock later that year because, he said, "I didn't want what's going on with Ralph Northam. I didn't want any reproach like I was trying to help myself." VPAP records show that Wagner, who lost the GOP primary to Gillespie, later purchased $5,000 to $50,000 of stock in Dominion Energy Midstream Partners, a limited partnership formed by Dominion Energy with assets separate from the state-regulated utility. Aside from Dominion, disclosure filings show, Northam owns stock worth between $5,001 and $25,000 in seven companies that do significant business in Virginia and are potentially affected by legislation and policy in the state: AT&T, Bank of America, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International, Verizon, Norfolk Southern and DuPont. He owns between $50,001 and $250,000 in Johnson & Johnson, another company that has interests in the state. Some of those companies directly interact with the governor's office. McAuliffe unveiled a $1.9 million grant from a state economic incentive fund last March to help Norfolk Southern move 165 employees to Norfolk. A few months later, McAuliffe and other officials announced that DuPont would pay $50 million to settle claims that it contaminated 100 miles of river and floodplain. Northam's campaign said he was not involved in these decisions. As lieutenant governor, Northam said he would not participate in tiebreaking votes on legislation affecting Dominion. None have come up. But the next governor's administration will have to consider requests for air quality permits related to the pipeline, and continue monitoring the project. In Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Dominion says delays in pipeline permits and negative publicity could have an "adverse impact" on company finances. An analysis by Credit Suisse, a financial services company, estimated the pipeline would add about 6 percent to the value of the $49 billion company. If he becomes governor, Northam may also face legislation repealing the 2015 law that suspended Dominion audits. Northam has said he backed the law, signed by McAuliffe, because it increased the use of solar power and included assistance for low-income customers. But consumer advocates argue that it delays potential rate cuts and allows the utility to avoid paying millions of dollars in potential refunds. After the Virginia Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the rate-freeze law brought by a group of utility customers, Goldman Sachs said that if not for the court decision, rate changes "could provide a head wind" of a 20-cent decrease in earnings per share. Since his comments in 2015, Northam has steered clear of the debate. "When an issue threatens a major donor, you don't see a lot people stick their necks out," said Rep. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, who plans to try to overturn the rate freeze next year. "The lieutenant governor was no different than anyone else." The $5 billion pipeline would move natural gas extracted from shale by fracking in West Virginia through central and southern Virginia and into North Carolina, with a spur flung out to Hampton Roads. Northam's leading challenger in the Democratic primary, former congressman Tom Perriello, made his opposition to the pipeline a signature issue. On the defensive during a May debate, Northam touted a letter he wrote urging the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to "strongly consider" a more rigorous review that would analyze the pipeline's impact on individual water crossings. But a few weeks later, DEQ said it would not issue individual permits for every waterway crossed by the pipeline. Instead, state officials would rely on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' water quality review. DEQ never responded to Northam's letter, and he did not follow up, public records show. "This is the most important environmental issue facing the state, and Northam failed to use his bully pulpit," said Jonathan Sokolow, a Democratic activist who supported Perriello. "It seems improper to own stock in a company you're supposed to be regulating, and even more troubling are the campaign contributions." Dominion has poured more than $10.8 million into Virginia campaigns over the past two decades, more than any other company, according to VPAP. Northam's campaign and a political committee he controls received more than $88,000. Employees of and lobbyists for the company also contributed about $63,000. Northam has backed a ban on corporate contributions. Gillespie also has received campaign donations from Dominion, although far less - $53,500, plus $20,500 from employees and lobbyists. "Just like other companies and trade associations, Dominion is proud of the work we do every day in the communities where we live, work, and raise our families," spokesman David Botkins said. "Why should we be excluded from the political process?" - - - The Washington Post's Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report. FALLS VILLAGE The Northwest Corner Prevention Network (NCPN) invites the community to take a visible stand against drugs by celebrating Red Ribbon Week from Oct. 23-31. The Red Ribbon Campaign is the brainchild of the National Family Partnership, created nearly 30 years ago. The week-long campaign serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and engage in drug prevention activities. Red Ribbon Week encourages our entire community to adopt healthy, drug-free lifestyles, said Lesly Ferris, chairperson of the prevention network. The campaign brings together parents, schools, and businesses as we look for innovative ways to keep kids and communities drug free. This year the NCPN is collaborating with North Canaan Elementary School, Kent Center School, Lee H. Kellogg School, Salisbury Central School and Sharon Center School on a variety of Red Ribbon Week activities. The most observable is a Red Out Day at the elementary schools. Students and staff will be encouraged to wear red to show their commitment to making healthy decisions on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. NCPN representatives Christina Khounsombath and Josh Licursi will attend each school during Red Ribbon Week and on Red Out Day to visit the classes and have a discussion with students about ways to keep their bodies healthy and to make good choices. They anticipate speaking with more than 600 students in District 1 Elementary Schools. NCPN has also invited the first selectmen of the school district to sign a proclamation supporting Red Ribbon Week. Students will celebrate throughout the week by participating in daily activities. For example, Put A Cap on Drugs and Wear a Crazy Hat to School and Team up Against Drugs and Wear your favorite team jersey/shirt to school. Also NCPN hopes students will sign pledges to stay drug free and make a wall of pledges along with coloring red ribbons posters throughout the schools. NCPN will distribute Red Ribbon Week pencils and stickers to the regions elementary school students. Red Ribbon Week gives us the opportunity to be vocal and visible in our efforts to achieve a drug-free community, said Christina Khounsombath, Prevention Facilitator at the McCall Center for Behavioral Health and NCPN. Research shows that children are less likely to use alcohol and other drugs when parents and role models are clear and consistent in their opposition to substance use and abuse. The Northwest Corner Prevention Network receives general support from Housatonic Valley Coalition Against Substance Abuse, Inc. and financial support by the State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. NCPN partnered with McCall Center for Behavioral Health to receive coalition enhancement funding from The Foundation for Community Health and the Northwest Corner Fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. The inaugural roll out of Red Ribbon week in this area in 2016 was one of many of the groups strategies aimed at youth to help prevent the effects of drugs and alcohol from taking hold. NORWALK One leasing agent skipped the tour of the roof-top deck, a prized amenity complete with barbecues and planters for personal gardens. Another neglected to follow up the tour with a phone call or email. In one case, a discount was not given; in another, a more desirable apartment was not offered. Often, housing discrimination takes the form of things withheld. It is illegal to use race, religion, disability or the presence of children to treat potential tenants differently. But such cases can be difficult to prove. So a pilot study by the Norwalk Fair Housing Advisory Commission sent a black and a white couple with similar credentials to ask about units at 10 different apartment buildings in largely white neighborhoods throughout the city. The results, shared by Mayor Harry Rilling at a news conference Thursday morning, showed seven out of the 10 tests with signs of discrimination that needed further investigation. One test was inconclusive. While the test couples in the studies shared similar incomes, credit scores and rental histories, in most cases they were treated differently. Black couples were given abbreviated tours and different offers; in one instance, the black couple was given a more complicated application process than the white couple. It does raise a red flag for us that we want to make sure that we do further testing, said Rilling, although he was quick to caution the study was a very small sample of the properties in Norwalk, and sometimes different agents helped the different couples. Some of the places tested showed high levels of discrimination, but we dont know what the whole picture is, said Erin Kemple, the executive director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, a nonprofit that partnered on the study and conducted the testing. It could be that these are the worst properties in Norwalk. Or it could be that these are the best properties in Norwalk. The roots of the study go back to 2015, when Fair Housing Officer Margaret K. Suib requested $93,550 to test for housing discrimination the first study of its kind in the state, according to the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. While the center has sent people to pose as prospective renters for two decades, it does so in response to complaints instead of proactively seeking out discrimination. The real way to figure out whats going on in your community is to test, Suib said at the time. The city of Norwalk allocated $10,000 for a pilot study; that was the money used to test the 10 buildings. Kemple said the tests cost the center more than the $1,000 apiece the city paid because of the research conducted beforehand and the reviewing done afterward, in addition to recruiting and training the test couples. She projected the same costs per test for future studies by the center. Because funding only covered 10 tests, each building was tested only once, and the study looked solely at race-based discrimination. It was for minorities this time, said Fair Housing Advisory Commissioner Daisy Franklin. But it could be for Section 8 or families or different topics. Rilling and Jeffrey Ingraham, chairman of the Fair Housing Advisory Commission, noted usually, when housing discrimination is found in testing, lawsuits are brought against the housing provider. These can be quite costly for owners and managers this month, a housing discrimination case in New York ended with a $620,000 award to the plaintiffs, in addition to mandatory training for the employees involved in renting out apartments. However, the city is not pursuing litigation and is not releasing the names of the apartments studied. This is a pilot program with a lot of variables that need to be weeded out and vetted, Rilling said in explanation. Instead, the city had reached out to work with the apartments, which were willing to cooperate. Just last night, an attorney representing four of the properties reached out, Rilling said, and theyre going to put together a document of how theyre going to help us. He described apartment representatives as surprised and disappointed by the findings. However, the report produced by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center concluded, Given the size and sophistication of the housing providers tested, it is unlikely that the differential treatment uncovered is the result of ignorance of the fair housing laws. The report recommended mandatory fair housing training for all housing providers receiving or applying for benefits from the city. Rilling said the city would begin offering such training the first time the city has paid for training for private complexes. The details have yet to be determined, but options include a city-run training or a contractor-run training, where the costs would be shared with developers. He pledged further funding would be provided for a larger, more extensive study. The scale of the new study is still unknown. When were putting together this budget, we have to be very careful because of the state situation, Rilling said. He hoped that such future testing could deter discrimination. It goes perhaps to the Hawthorne Effect, he said, referring to research at the Hawthorne Works factory in Illinois. Workers were more productive during the studies than when the studies ended, leading researchers to conclude people temporarily change their behavior when they are aware theyre being observed. Franklin agreed. If youre not acting right, there might be a tester coming to your door. Ingraham urged people who believed they may be the victims of discrimination to reach out to Suib. Her job is to make sure the law prevails, he said, adding options could include mediation or referrals to pro-bono attorneys. While the study was taking place, Suib referred two Norwalk residents with housing discrimination complaints to the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. So far, the center has sent seven people to the apartments in question to test for discrimination. The investigation is ongoing and could lead to litigation. rschuetz@hearstmediact.com; @raschuetz WASHINGTON - There's a surging - and probably doomed - struggle on Capitol Hill to pass legislation easing hefty rate hikes in the 2018 Obamacare marketplaces. But that cake is already baked. Less than two weeks remain before Healthcare.gov and a dozen state-run marketplaces open for business. The administration hasn't released final prices, but expect them to look sizable and even as much as 30 or 40 percent higher in some states. A portion of the hikes - an average of 19 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation - are because insurers are no longer getting extra payments (called cost-sharing reductions, or CSRs) to help them discount cost-sharing for the lowest-income customers. Even if Congress finds a way to provide these subsidies, there's no time left for insurers to adjust their premiums. Insurers were already in a state of flux over the past few months, forced to consider two scenarios as they submitted their 2018 rates to state and federal regulators. Under Scenario A, the Trump administration continued the monthly CSR payments. Under Scenario B, President Donald Trump halted them, as he'd been threatening all along. Now that Scenario B has unfolded, with the administration's announcement last week that it would immediately halt the monthly payments, insurers have to run with it regardless of what Congress does or doesn't do. Enrollment for next year's marketplaces begins Nov. 1, after all. Luckily for most of the insurers selling plans on Healthcare.gov, they'd assumed they wouldn't get the payments next year and opted for a higher set of rates, Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley told me. For the ones that didn't, HHS is allowing them to refile their rates at the last minute. Two Montana insurers - Montana Health Co-Op and PacificSource - proposed a respective 24 percent and 11 percent rate increase on Monday, for example. Oakley said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (which manages Healthcare.gov) is working with insurers that were required by their states to assume the CSRs would continue, resulting in premiums they think are too low. "CMS is working on a case-by-case basis with those states where regulators explicitly required insurers to assume CSR payments would be made," Oakley said. And then there are the dozen states running their own marketplaces instead of using Healthcare.gov. Those states had taken a mixed approach to the CSR uncertainty. Some, including Colorado and Washington, had asked insurers to submit two sets of rates. Others, such as Connecticut, had instructed insurers to assume the payments would be terminated. Maryland went the opposite direction, telling insurers to assume the payments would continue. California took a unique approach by requiring its mid-level "silver" plans to include a surcharge that would take the place of CSR payments should the federal government cut them off - a move that turned out to be smart. "Our insurers do not have to file new rates because we had already figured out what to do in case CSRs were not funded," Covered California spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez told me. Don't get me wrong. Congress could still improve future marketplaces by finding money for the CSRs, which is the only remaining way for insurers to get the payments. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced a bipartisan bill toward that end this week. The measure includes a provision opening the door for insurers to pay rebates back to consumers if they start receiving the payments at some point. Ten state governors sent congressional leaders a letter last night urging them to pass the agreement. The signers include three Republicans -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval -- and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an independent. But it's looking less and less likely by the hour that Republicans can unify to pass the Alexander-Murray bill, especially in the House. House Speaker Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., press secretary, Doug Andres, told Axios Wednesday that "the speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't scheduled a vote, appearing noncommittal about the measure when Alexander and Murray announced it Tuesday. President Trump has perplexed everyone this week with his mixed messages, alternately appearing to support the Alexander-Murray deal but then seeming to dismiss it as an undue "bailout" for insurers. On Tuesday, at a joint news conference with the prime minister of Greece, Trump had sounded positive about the plan. "Yes, we have been involved, and this is a short-term deal," Trump said. Then, after speaking at the Heritage Foundation that evening, the president tweeted this: "Any increase in ObamaCare premiums is the fault of the Democrats for giving us a 'product' that never had a chance of working." And then this confounding tweet Wednesday morning: "I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care." --Is that the sound of Alexander banging his head against a wall? The senator insisted the president had personally asked him to work on the deal with Murray, saying he gives Trump "full credit" for it. Alexander said the president even expressed openness to it in a phone call Wednesday morning. "He told me that he wanted to encourage me but that he will review it, as I would expect a president to do," Alexander said, per my colleagues Sean Sullivan and Juliet Eilperin. "He may want to add something to it. It may come up as part of the end-of-the-year negotiations. We'll see." President Donald Trump said he's supportive of the work lawmakers are doing to help temporarily stabilize Obamacare's insurance markets, as a bill to do so was introduced Thursday with broad bipartisan support in the Senate. "I respect very much the two senators your talking about, I love that they're working on it," Trump said at the White House Thursday when asked about his position on the bill. Shortly after Trump's comments, Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Washington Democrat Patty Murray introduced their stabilization bill with 22 senators, half of whom are Republicans. That broad backing could give the package momentum in the Senate. "This is a first step," Alexander said on the Senate floor. "Improve it and pass it sooner rather than later." Time is short for lawmakers to act before Nov. 1, when the Affordable Care Act's insurance markets open for Americans to sign up for coverage. Even if a bill passes, it's likely to be a chaotic enrollment season. Health insurers have sharply raised the rates they plan to charge next year, citing the uncertainty in Washington. And Trump has said he's taking steps to dismantle Obamacare and wants to eventually replace it. The legislation will also have to make it through the House, where Republicans have said they too want to repeal Obamacare, not stabilize it. Trump said that's ultimately his priority as well, and he prefers giving money to states to run their own programs. "It'll be absolutely short term because ultimately it's going to be repeal and replace," he said of the Senate bill. Trump has made conflicting statements on the Senate effort, urging lawmakers to work on it and then seemingly pulling back his support for it. Alexander said the version he's introducing contains language to make clear there won't be what Trump has cast as a bailout of health insurers. "I want them to be careful with respect to the insurance companies, insurance companies are extremely good at making money," Trump said. "I want to take care of our people. I don't want to take care of our insurance companies." The bill has "about a page and a half of language in our agreement that tries to make it clear that the benefits of cost-sharing reductions go to consumers and not insurance companies," Alexander said in an interview Thursday before the bill was introduced. The bill would pay for two years health insurance subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, that help consumers afford out-of-pocket health costs. It would also give more flexibility to states to modify how the Affordable Care Act is run in their own insurance markets. "Some have said well that's not enough," Alexander said. "Well, that's more than we've gotten for eight years and it's a first step." On the Republican side, co-sponsors of Alexander's bill include three senators who have opposed previous efforts by the GOP to repeal and replace Obamacare: John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Murkowski thanked Alexander and Murray for helping the Senate find a "better path." Others such as Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, shared Trump's concerns. He tweeted Wednesday that "Ins co profits have DOUBLED under O'care & Dems top priority is corp bailouts w/ nothing for citizens paying higher premiums." Alexander predicted the bill would become law this year. "I do not believe that Congress would want to fail to deal with a problem that will hurt millions of Americans if we allow it to continue," he said. "I predict that this agreement that we're suggesting today, we 24 senators, will become law in some fashion before the end of the year." --- Bloomberg's Steven T. Dennis and Arit John contributed. RICHMOND, Va. - Ed Gillespie's perceived snubbing of a former Donald Trump operative he had hired to whip up support for his gubernatorial campaign is causing an uproar among GOP activists already exasperated by Gillespie's highly cautious stance toward the president. Jack Morgan had expected to play a key role at a Gillespie rally headlined by Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday in Abingdon, a coal country region that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November, activists said. But he found himself sidelined. Gillespie hired Morgan, a colorful evangelical preacher and former 9th Congressional District GOP chairman, as his ambassador to Trump country after nearly losing the June primary to a rival who had run in the president's bombastic, populist image. But Gillespie's campaign did not let Morgan help plan or speak at the rally - over the objections of another GOP candidate who employs Morgan, state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, who is running for lieutenant governor and wanted him to introduce her. Morgan's wife was so offended that she refused to drive John Whitbeck, chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, to the airport for his return trip, according to the three Republicans familiar with the matter. And in an area of the state that Gillespie needs to turn out in force to overcome Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, D, on Nov. 7, activists took to social media to vent their outrage. "I will guarantee you all this," Republican activist William Totten, the Smyth County director for Vogel, wrote on Facebook, "should Ed ever run for anything in politics again I will work my every waking moment to make sure he loses the primary." Blunter still was activist Patricia Bast Lyman. "Ed showing his elitist butt to the 9th was a MONUMENTAL error from which he will not recover, " she posted on Facebook. Morgan has told associates that he quit the Gillespie campaign but will continue to work for Vogel, according to the three Republicans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Gillespie spokesman David Abrams denied that Morgan quit but would not elaborate. "Jack Morgan is working hard to help us turn out our vote in critically important Southwest Virginia," Abrams said. "Any rumor about Jack Morgan quitting is false." Morgan declined to be interviewed, but in a brief text to The Washington Post he wrote: "I continue to work to ensure the entire Republican ticket wins on Nov. 7." He did not initially respond to a follow-up text seeking to clarify if that meant he was still working for Gillespie or only Vogel. But hours later, in a text message coordinated with Gillespie's campaign, Morgan wrote that he had not quit. He directed further questions to the campaign, which declined to specify any public events that Morgan would staff over the next week. Vogel spokesman Chris West declined to comment. Coming three weeks before Election Day, the episode is just one sign that Gillespie's risk-averse, thread-the-needle approach to Trump and hot-button cultural issues is backfiring with some members of his party's conservative base. In the past two weeks, Gillespie has struggled to smooth over relations with some religious conservatives after privately promising a Northern Virginia business group that he would oppose any legislation seeking to regulate bathroom use by transgender people - a stance that conflicted with some of his public statements. On Monday, the Virginia First Foundation issued a statement saying that neither candidate for Virginia governor lines up with its position that transgender people should be required to use the bathrooms that correlate with their gender at birth. And on Tuesday, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham criticized Gillespie on the air for his apparent reluctance to campaign with Trump, and for rebuffing her offers to stump for him or put him on her show. "I actually offered to help him!" Ingraham said, marveling that Gillespie was raising money that day with former president George W. Bush in Richmond and Northern Virginia. "But he thinks George W. Bush is going to - I don't know. God bless him. I hope it all works out." Abrams said Gillespie has been trying to find a date to appear on Ingraham's show. Most of Gillespie's conservative critics say they will still vote for him over Northam, but they question how hard the grass roots will work for him. Most polls show the race - the nation's only competitive governor's contest - about tied. A lot is riding on the results, which will be widely read as an early referendum on Trump and a harbinger of the 2018 congressional midterm elections. Gillespie's campaign is a still-unfolding case study in whether an establishment Republican can successfully navigate swing-state politics in the Trump era. A former Republican National Committee chairman, Washington lobbyist and adviser to Bush, Gillespie has struggled to find his footing regarding Trump. He has tried to avoid weighing in on Trump's policies and tweets. When Trump surprised Gillespie with a tweeted endorsement Oct. 6, Gillespie did not even retweet it. In a purple state that gave Hillary Clinton her only Southern victory last year, Gillespie has looked for ways to excite rural Trump supporters without turning off moderates and inflaming Democrats in the state's deep-blue population centers. Prominent Republicans, from the White House on down, urged Gillespie to hire Trump strategists after he nearly lost the June primary to Corey Stewart, a Prince William supervisor and Trump's onetime Virginia campaign chairman who dubbed him "Establishment Ed." In August, Gillespie hired Morgan, who had worked for Stewart during the primary, to lead his efforts in Southwest Virginia. Putting the blunt-spoken preacher and motivational speaker on the payroll carried some risk. In a Facebook video posted while campaigning for Gillespie and Vogel, Morgan warned that the country was on the brink of civil war and that communists were behind the effort to remove Confederate statues. But Morgan, a military veteran who lost a leg rendering aid at the scene of a car accident, is well known and highly regarded in the region. "The thing I love about Jack is he's bold, he's bold in his speaking," said state Sen. Charles Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, a friend. "People are tired of political answers, and that's what Jack brings to the table." Morgan's swaggering style is a reliable hit with local audiences, but in a backroom at the Washington County Fairgrounds, as organizers reviewed the program schedule ahead of Pence's arrival, Gillespie's campaign staffers made it clear that Morgan would not be on stage. Carrico, who attended part of the meeting, said that Morgan appealed to him for help. "Jack was upset," said Carrico. "Jack is a dynamic speaker because he speaks from the heart, and, you know, sometimes events like these, especially when it's involving a vice president, the candidate likes to be in control and have a message." Morgan's wife appeared to take the snub even harder than he did, refusing to drive Whitbeck, the party chairman, back to the airport. Morgan himself eventually did so, according to four people familiar with the events. Whitbeck dismissed that account as coming from "a bad source," but he did not elaborate. "She drove me one way and Jack the other," he said via text. WESTPORT A debate Monday featured three of the towns biggest boards taking on the issues. The towns Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), traffic and affordable housing were among the top issues the five candidates seeking to fill three positions on Planning and Zoning commission. The most contentious part of Planning and Zonings portion of the night at Town Hall came toward the beginning of the League of Women Voters debate. Coalition for Westport candidate, Jennifer Johnson one of five vying for three spots on Planning and Zoning said the POCD has been a grave disappointment, due to its supposed lack of transparency. Johnson said as an RTM member she filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request against the town because she was unable to get a copy of the draft POCD from the sitting commission. It is unheard of that this document was not publicly available, Johnson said. The draft came out with very limited opportunities for people to comment. An extensive and robust dialogue did not happen with this town plan. Republican candidate and current Planning and Zoning Commission Alternate Jon Olefson said the POCD plan to which Johnson referred was an initial draft from a consultant and, an internal working copy, for the Planning and Zoning Commission. Johnson responded to Olefson saying, I shouldnt have had to FOIA it. Save Westport Now/Democratic candidate and current commissioner, Danielle Dobin, claimed the 2017 creation process allowed for public comment but was hindered by disrespect from other commissioners. We had one real public hearing where people were invited to comment, Dobin said. From my perspective as a relatively new commissioner, I was surprised to hear that when residents approached the podium to speak to us they were interrupted, occasionally they were criticized, and I felt as though that tone chilled other people from coming up and speaking. Fellow Save Westport Now/Democratic candidate Greg Rutstein echoed Dobins comments and said he was, literally shocked to see the lack of respect among the commissioners themselves, some of them, and the applicants. Its my full intention to try and stop all of that, Rutstein said. Neither Dobin nor Rutstein specifically named which P&Z commissioners they believe to have been disrespectful. Current commissioner Michael Cammeyer said he and his other Save Westport Now/Democratic candidates are, not looking to rehash what happened in the history. The debate then moved to the issue of town traffic. Referring to the Cribari bridge, Johnson, who was a town transit director for four years, said she was, deeply disturbed when the town decided to walk away from over $44 million in federal funding for a chocked bridge. If the town of Darien was able to stop 18-wheelers from going through their town, we couldve as well, remarked Johnson. Olefson proposed a holistic view and warned of unintended consequences that may result from the increased development of the bridge. Rutstein said he would address traffic issues by taking a common sense view and seeking expert opinion. Dobin vowed to consider the impact of traffic first and foremost whenever a proposal came before the P&Z Commission as a means of protecting property values. Protecting commuters is critically important, said Dobin. Affordable housing also proved a fractious issue among the candidates. Olefson spoke of the importance of affordable housing but with a caveat. People move to Westport for a certain characteristic and we dont want any unintended consequences. So we have to make sure we put multi-family dwellings in the right parts of town. Rutstein was stronger on the issue, both because its the right thing to do and because we need to make sure we maintain control over multi-family developments to avoid the risk of having an outside developer come-in and build an 830G development in a zone where it just doesnt belong. The desire to prevent outside developers from gaining control of affordable housing project was a rare point of consensus among all the candidates. Dobin remarked the affordable housing cause was part of the reason she decided to join the P&Z Commission and said she was, embarrassed to see that our neighbors in New Canaan and Darien are enjoying multiple years of moratorium while in Westport we have no protection against developers. Cammeyer also committed himself to affordable housing and those he believes would benefit from the increased stock: That is our workforce, that is our teachers, that is our firefighters, that is our police officers. We want them living in this town. Johnson proposed an affordable housing project on the towns property in Canal Park and suggested reopening the discussion about putting senior housing on a portion of the Barrons South property, while Dobin favored an approach that focused on preserving antique houses for affordable housing rather than creating new units. ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS HOW MANY ARE RUNNING FOR HOW MANY SEATS The ZBA has two spots open and three candidates in the race. Democrat and current ZBA alternate member Victoria Gouletas emphasized her orderly approach of referring to case law and Connecticut statute. Gouletas is an attorney with experience in title underwriting and real estate development and has a J.D. from New York University School of law and graduated from Bryn Mawr College. She lives in Westport with her husband and two young children. Bernard Deverin, also a Democrat, has served on the ZBA for the past four years and currently serves as the ZBA Secretary. He is a member of the Westport Chamber of Commerce and the Greens Farms Association and Founder and President of Westport Builder Group Design-Build Firm. Deverin lives in Westport with his wife, Midge Deverin, Membership Coordinator at the Westport YMCA. Republican candidate Thomas Hood highlighted his diverse background as a civil engineer, architect, and businessman. He is currently the owner of a private architecture firm and has served for the past eight years on the Flood and Erosion Control Board and most recently as its chair. BOARD OF EDUCATION Leading off the night, each of the four uncontested Board of Education candidates all incumbents was given the opportunity to deliver her stump speech. Starting off the night, Democrats Candi Savin and Elaine Whitney seeking second and third terms, respectively both noted the importance of fiscal responsibility given the states shaky financial footing. Proactive fiscal management is essential to focus our resources in the classroom and to keep taxes reasonable, all the more so in the light of current state budget pressures, Whitney said. I have an 8-year track record of achieving substantial recurring savings in non-classroom operating costs and advocating for both appropriate funding and greater local flexibility. Savin noted her efforts to urge the administration to look into making school properties compatible with solar energy which she said could enhance both the environment and our budget sheet. The Republican nominees, Karen Kleine and Jeannie Smith who have served for four years and five years, respectively each focused at times on their experience. My 12-year professional education career as both a teacher and an education consultant enables me to provide an essential classroom perspective when it comes to the board making decisions that are best for Westport students, Smith said. Kleine has been a Parent Teacher Association President, put in 60 hours of additional education to become a state certified Board of Education member and organizes annual meetings between Board of Education members, legislators, and administrators. Policy is the foundation of an excellent Board of Education and an excellent school district, Kleine said. But most important, according to Kleine, is maintaining Westport Schools sterling reputation. The goal is to remain the best school district in Connecticut, Kleine said. justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 MARK RALSTON, Contributor / AFP/Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Reshma Kirpalani, MBR / TNS Show More Show Less 5 of 5 The deadline for Texans from counties hit by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath to register for federal disaster relief has been extended another month. The Federal Emergency Management Agencys new deadline for registering for the funds is Nov. 24. The extension also gives more time to take out low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration for losses not compensated for by insurance. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A former San Antonio teacher arrested last month for allegedly soliciting sex online from a minor was previously accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior with four other students. The allegations span a period of five years and teaching jobs at two San Antonio districts, according to records obtained by mySA.com. Daniel Marcus Valdez, 37, was arrested Sept. 15 after he allegedly drove to Alice, about 125 miles south of San Antonio, to have sex with a minor. The set-up was actually a sting conducted by the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office, who began investigating him after a girl's parents reported Valdez was harassing their daughter and sending her sexually explicit images. READ MORE: S.A. teacher accused of soliciting a minor had certification revoked in 2015, kept teaching At the time, he was working as a teacher at IDEA Public Schools, though his teaching certification had been revoked in 2015. According to Texas Education Agency records, he exhibited similar behavior 12 years before his arrest and a decade before he lost his teaching license. TEA investigators began looking into Valdez in 2013 when a former student told the agency they had engaged in a romantic relationship during the 2005-2006 school year while Valdez worked at a San Antonio ISD school, according to the heavily redacted document. Valdez told the student in an email he wanted to turn the lights off and kiss the student, according to records. "Whatcha think of that," he allegedly wrote. Valdez also suggested they could hook up on campus during school hours because he knew "when and where things can be done." RELATED: Former Tivy High School educator allegedly let student touch her breasts behind burger joint According to the TEA documents, Valdez asked the student to send him photos and received pictures "amounting to child pornography of the same student." The student told SAISD police they kissed several times, and that Valdez once changed in his clothes in front of the student, according to the document. The school district allegedly found out about the relationship, which led Valdez to resign from SAISD in 2006. In his resignation, he stated it was "for being in violation of the ... Employee Standards of Conduct." It's not clear whether the district notified the TEA of the accusations but Valdez got a new teaching job soon after. "(Valdez's) actions with Student A (was) not an isolated incident or a one-time occurrence," the TEA documents said. "(Valdez) attempted to engage or did engage in similar actions with three other students." RELATED: Former La Vernia ISD math teacher gets 12 years in prison for distributing child porn In 2008, another student came forward and reported Valdez to officials with South San ISD, where he was working at the time. The student said that during the 2006-2007 school year, Valdez told them he had a dream about the student where they made out and had sex. Valdez then told the student he hoped his "dream would become reality," according to TEA documents. On April 19, 2011, Valdez was placed on administrative leave after a different South San ISD student reported Valdez for sending inappropriate text messages. The student's phone revealed Valdez had sent about 15 text messages to the student. Valdez told the student who he was before saying what he wanted to do with the student. Valdez apologized if he was making the student uncomfortable but said he wanted them to get together. He also told the student not to tell anyone he was contacting her, records show. The student's parents told South San ISD personnel the harassment was so constant the student even changed their phone number. Still, Valdez "went out of his way to get Student C's phone number," according to the document. During the district's investigation, officials allegedly found out Valdez had similar communications with a fourth student. RELATED: TEA investigations into improper student-teacher relationships jumped 36 percent in past year Valdez resigned from South San ISD in 2011 and returned to SAISD. He left that district for a second time on June 6, 2013, after "Student A" went to the TEA with allegations against him. The TEA revoked his certification in December 2015, shortly after he was hired IDEA schools, where he worked until his arrest last month. Vanessa Barry, IDEA Public Schools Vice President of Marketing and Communication, previously told mySA.com the organization wasn't notified when Valdez's license was pulled but acknowledged officials missed the open investigation. She also said the district is making changes to prevent the oversight from occurring again. "While at the time of hire, his teacher certification was valid, he was under investigation by [State Board for Educator Certification] and we should have caught this red flag," Barry said in an e-mail. "Effective immediately, we are implementing an annual criminal background check and certification review to prevent situations such as this from happening again." A new law that went into effect Sept. 1, several years after the latest allegation against Valdez, requires principals to report to superintendents if a teacher is terminated or resigns after being accused of an improper relationship and increases the penalty for superintendents who don't report misconduct to the TEA. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Fares Sabawi is a breaking news reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA The state's highest criminal court this week split over whether a ballistics expert's testimony was material to a 1992 Harris County death penalty verdict. In a ruling handed down Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied 47-year-old Arthur Brown a new trial or new sentencing phase because a Houston police analyst overstated the proof that two guns connected to Brown were involved in the shooting of six people during a drug deal 25 years ago. The high court, with a single judge dissenting, said the analyst's possibly inaccurate testimony was not material to the jury's decision. Appeals Judge Elsa Alcala authored the dissent, writing that she agreed with former Harris County District Judge Mark Kent Ellis who ruled that the firearms evidence introduced at Brown's trial was false or misleading. "I agree with the (trial) court's determination that this evidence was not only false or misleading but also material," she said. Alcala wrote that she would support a new trial, a new punishment phase or even a new hearing to further flesh out the issue. The 1993 death penalty verdict came back to Harris County last year because of a recent law allowing inmates to take advantage of scientific breakthroughs that were not available during their original trials. DUring a hearing in front of Ellis last year, attorneys for Brown argued that two guns that had been linked to him were not used to kill four people and injure two others during a large-scale cocaine deal. Brown was convicted of running drugs from Houston to Alabama with two other men. The trio apparently decided to cut out the middlemen and went into a southwest Houston cocaine deal with the intent to kill. Court records show that Brown with Marion Dudley and Tony Dunson arranged to buy 3 kilograms of cocaine from Rachel Tovar and her estranged husband, Jose Tovar. When the three went to Tovar's home in the 4600 block of Brownstone for the deal, they tied up the couple and four other people - friends and neighbors who were in the house coincidentally. All six were shot in the head. Four people were killed: Tovar's husband; 19-year-old Jessica Quinones, who was seven months pregnant; Audrey Brown, 21; and 17-year-old Frank Farias. Rachel Tovar survived along with family friend Nicholas Cortez. Cortez said Dudley shot him and Jose Tovar with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun, according to court records. He was sentenced to death and has been executed. Dunson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors said Brown used a .38-caliber revolver to shoot Farias, Quinones and Audrey Brown, who was no relation to Arthur Brown. Prosecutors relied heavily on testimony from Brown's sister who said he admitted to her that he killed six people. She later said that testimony was coerced after hours of being interrogated. Brown's latest appeal centers on whether bullets at the scene actually match guns recovered during investigations of Alabama drug dealers known to associate with Brown. The majority of the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the HPD ballistics expert believed his analysis, which was verified by another expert, that the bullets matched the guns. And, the court said, even if he was wrong, there was enough other evidence to convict Brown and sentence him to death. Alcala argued that the testimony was inaccurate and bolstered weak and questionable evidence. If jurors had known that the ballistics results that painted Brown as the shooter were questionable, she said, it may have affected the guilty verdict or the death sentence. The City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a massive incentives package for a local credit union that had explored leaving San Antonio but will now build a new headquarters at The Pearl. The once-controversial plan to give Credit Human known from its 1935 inception until last fall as San Antonio Federal Credit Union some $8.8 million in city and county incentives had stoked criticism from within the council and out. But in sparsely populated council chambers Thursday, the arguments against the package were tepid, at best. Ultimately, the package of tax abatements and rebates totaling $5.9 million passed 10-0 (Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran was absent for the vote). The approval came in the same week that the Bexar County Commissioners Court approved its incentives package, paving the way for a 10-story LEED-certified building that will house 435 current employees of the financial institution, which has also agreed to add an additional 50 new positions at its new, midtown headquarters. Mayor Ron Nirenberg applauded the package, saying that development continually pushing outward is unsustainable and that this deal helps to develop a community connected to needed services, from transportation to parks. If we are to build a sustainable community, we have to make sure were building live-work-play options throughout our city, he said, noting that the housing incentives that have been given in the area were by right, meaning that theyre available to any development that meets certain criteria. In this case, this area of the city that is being incentivized for job growth has not seen it, which is why I think its something worth celebrating. The package approved by the council is a decade-long 100 percent tax abatement in addition to a 5-year tax rebate with a total value capped at $5.9 million. The tax rebate doesnt impact the general fund, officials said, because its covered with funds from the Midtown TIRZ an area that captures the incremental increase in tax revenue and reinvests it to promote growth within its boundaries. In addition to the 10-story tower, the project includes an adjacent 6-story mixed-use office building that will pay 100 percent of its city property taxes to the TIRZ. The net benefit to the city, Economic Development Director Rene Dominguez told the council, is about $7.7 million over the next two decades. Councilman John Courage said hed originally scoffed at the deal but changed course as he learned more about it. Credit union representatives had suggested they might move the firms headquarters to Schertz or New Braunfels as they planned to consolidate employees in a larger space. Like some of my colleagues, I was pretty skeptical of providing incentives for this project. I said to myself, Well, you know, if they want to move to Schertz, so what. The 435 people who work there will just commute to Schertz and we dont have to worry about $5 or $6 million worth of incentives, he told Dominguez from the dais. The more you explained the project, and the more I think we discussed it, there certainly are values of keeping it in San Antonio, and the idea of the kind of building, the structure, thats going to be built is impressive, and Im glad to see that. Councilman Roberto Trevino, whose district includes the headquarters project, said it will lead to a much-needed investment in nearby streets and sidewalks, and a small park along Broadway and East Grayson. The approval of this incentive package, which keeps Credit Human in San Antonio, has truly set the bar for economic development in the urban core, he said in a press release. Credit Human is now positioned to make a serious investment in our infrastructure, but most importantly, our residents. He and others championed the financial institutions mission of working with underserved segments of the community. The project also retains hundreds of jobs in San Antonio, and moves them to the urban core. Trevino applauded Credit Humans commitment to implementing commuter programs that address urban sprawl and traffic, promoting workforce development and using sustainable construction materials and methods. Incentivizing good, multi-generational projects with good actors like Credit Human is good business, he said. This is doing the right thing for the right reasons with a positive benefit. jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaugh This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A San Antonio man snagged in a massive international child porn investigation focusing on the dark corners of the Internet was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release. Cody Alexander Stoops, 24, was one of 215,000 people identified when the FBI seized a website known as Playpen on the Tor network, which keeps users identities anonymous. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez also ordered him to pay $28,500 in restitution to victims. Stoops was among the first in San Antonio to be linked to Playpen and the first to be charged federally here with engaging in a child-exploitation enterprise, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. RELATED: Records: S.A. teacher behaved inappropriately with 4 students before online solicitation arrest Though he had low activity in Playpen, Stoops ran several groups on the Kik social media app that were exclusively for trading and sharing child pornography, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson. The material was so extreme that aside from toddlers being sexually assaulted, they were tortured with numerous items and waterboarded with human waste. It even shocked veteran FBI agents who investigate those cases, and the judge. That was the most horrific stuff I've seen, said Thompson, who regularly prosecutes child exploitation cases. It is absolutely the most horrific thing, and thats what theyre trading. In one month, the groups Stoops ran loaded more than 100,000 posts through Kik with child porn images or videos equating to one post every 3.5 seconds during the brief period the FBI zeroed in on Stoops. RELATED: Former H-E-B exec found guilty in child porn case Stoops, who dropped out of Texas A&M before returning to San Antonio to work as a kennel aide at a program for spaying and neutering animals in San Antonio, also had reams of images of bestiality, authorities said. Stoops arrest led to others around the country being arrested for posting and sharing the material on Kik, among them a convicted sex offender in St. Louis, Robert J. Holloran, 40, who ran a group called youngtorture. A story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said police moved in after being alerted by the FBI in San Antonio. As for Playpen, the site operated from August 2014 until the FBI shut it down on March 4, 2015, after agents used special techniques to obtain information about its users, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in federal court in New York. RELATED: SAPD: Woman logged into ex's Instagram account, posted revenge porn It said the website could not be accessed through the traditional Internet and required specialized software and the users knowledge of its exact Web address. Users made child porn available for others on a system that functioned like a trading board, according to the affidavit. Several other suspects have been identified in San Antonio, and have been charged since the investigation was first revealed by the San Antonio Express-News in 2015. Numerous others have been arrested in the United States and abroad. gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Brazoswood High School homecoming king's crown was allegedly discounted when some fellow students created T-shirts that read "#NotMyKing," a Facebook post alleges. Joel Mireles, 17, is a senior at Brazoswood in Clute and according to his cousin's Facebook account, he was bullied by fellow students after he campaigned to win homecoming king. CONTROVERSY: School Photoshops homecoming queen's hair color, apologizes "He worked for something and won. Soon after, a lot of kids were on the internet saying some really, really hateful things," Mireles' cousin Danielle Pena wrote on Facebook. "They even went to the extent to make shirts stating #NotMyKing." Now Playing: Two students at Largo High School shared a very special homecoming proposal with their classmates this week. Kyana Chevalier surprised her schoolmate, John Zamminer during class with a sign that read Wanna have a ball with me @ homecoming?! Video: FoxM9NJ Pena continues to describe how their bullying made her angry, but Mireles handled it like a champ telling her, "It's okay, it doesn't bother me. I won! They can't take that from me." To prove just how unphased he was, Mireles actually bought one of the T-shirts and wore it proudly, accessorized appropriately with his homecoming king crown. AGELESS: Photo of Houston mom looking younger than her 18-year-old son goes viral Pena posted the photo on Facebook with a message about the situation and just how proud she is of her little cousin saying, "You deserved that crown, Joel. Now I'm the one who looks up to your courage. I hope one day I am not affected by the hurtful hate in people's hearts. I love you so much and I've never been so proud!" Pena also writes on Facebook that she spoke to school officials and asked them to address the situation, but she alleges that the school's leadership never spoke to Mireles nor were there consequences for the student. Chron.com has reached out to the leadership at Brazoswood High School, Mireles and Pena for further comments, but have yet to hear back. When we hear back, the story will be updated. This is among the many bullying situations that have gained the attention of the media over the years. A San Antonio business owner appealed to the public for help after someone recently vandalized businesses in the Deco District. Anthony Medrano, who helps run a political consulting firm named Viva Politics in the area with his wife, posted pictures and surveillance video of the incident, which appears to show two men spray painting the walls. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The night Hollis Daniels allegedly shot and killed a Texas Tech officer, police were reportedly called to his dorm room on reports a gun had been fired. The officers found Xanax and other unknown tablets and were told Daniels had been dealing drugs out of the room, according to newly released documents in the case. The 19-year-old from Seguin is accused of shooting Officer Floyd East on Oct. 9 with a stolen .45 caliber pistol in the campus police station. Police arrested Daniels later that night near the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. He was charged with capital murder and possessing a stolen firearm. RELATED: Affidavit: Texas Tech student told police he 'f----d up' and 'shot their friend' following arrest Recently released search warrants provided more details Thursday on what happened that night. In a search warrant, Lubbock police indicated the welfare check that sent officers to Daniels' room stemmed from reports a gun was fired in the room in Talkington Hall. Police were also told drugs were being sold out of the room, according to the warrant. Daniels' roommates allegedly told police after the shooting that Daniels was constantly smoking marijuana, using Xanax and that he dealt drugs to others. RELATED: S.A.-area family of suspected Texas Tech cop killer releases statement Three officers, including East, responded and made contact with Daniels. Officers handcuffed him after they discover suspected Xanax and "another quantity of unknown tablets," the warrant says. Police took him to the police station, where he was searched and placed unhandcuffed in the same room where East was filling out paperwork, officials said. Daniels somehow gained access to the gun and shot East before fleeing, authorities said. He was arrested soon after. READ MORE: Chief: Police pulled over Seguin teen, released him hours before he allegedly killed Texas Tech cop A search of Daniels' room after the shooting turned up two laptops, a ledger, a diary, a pipe, white pills in a baggie and a digital scale, as well as a shell casing. Police also searched his car and discovered a prescription bottle and bag of small drug baggies, according to the warrant. If Daniels is convicted of capital murder, he faces life in prison or the death penalty. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Fares Sabawi is a breaking news reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA Now Playing: Authorities said a call came out for a wrong way driver on Loop 1604 near Blanco Road around 2:30 a.m., Oct. 19. Shortly afterwards, the driver smashed into the woman near Bulverde Road. Video: San Antonio Express-News A 20-year-old woman was airlifted to University Hospital in critical condition early Thursday after a wrong-way crash on Loop 1604 on the far North Side. Authorities said a call came out for a wrong-way driver on Loop 1604 near Blanco Road around 2:30 a.m. Shortly afterwards, the driver smashed into the woman's vehicle near Bulverde Road. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump agreed Thursday to a new storm relief package with money earmarked specifically for people hit by Hurricane Harvey, according to Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. An unspecified sum, which is expected to come before Congress in November, would be in addition to $36.5 billion in general disaster aid that the Senate was poised to approve late Thursday night or early Friday for Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and other areas hit by natural disasters. Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas lawmakers in Washington signed a letter earlier this month seeking $18.7 billion in funding specifically for relief and recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey. But the pending $36.5 billion package, which was approved by the House last week, addresses communities affected by all the recent hurricanes and wildfires, including Texas. Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said he met Thursday with Trump and budget director Mick Mulvaney and obtained a "commitment" for additional aid aimed at Texas. "It's clear to me that Texas needs additional federal help for rebuilding needs," Cornyn said. Last week's House vote came after Abbott accused the Texas delegation of getting "rolled" by not securing more money specifically for the victims of Harvey, which struck the Gulf Coast in August, before subsequent hurricanes that hit Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Texas lawmakers said that though the bill provided money for all the areas hit by natural disasters, including the California wildfires, at least $15 billion could be claimed by Texans, who were the first to be hit and file claims through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The legislation now being cleared in the Senate is intended to replenish FEMA's disaster funds, which have been seriously depleted by the string of recent disasters, as well as provide money for the flood insurance program, which is nearly $30 billion in debt. Cornyn said that while Texans can benefit from the current legislation, much more is needed. "The problem ... is the vast majority of people who suffered flood losses were not even covered by flood insurance," he said. "So this is just the tip of the iceberg." Abbott also was assured by House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy last week that Congress would soon pony up more money specifically for Texas, where damages are expected to top $100 billion. So far, the state has benefited mainly from a $15.25 billion emergency appropriation that Congress approved in September. Cornyn said that Trump and Mulvaney agreed to the additional money for Texas, though he provided no specific dollar figure. "The president strongly indicated his preference that a second appropriation request in November will include funds specifically to aid Texans recovering from Harvey," Cornyn said. He said Congress also is looking long term at flood and storm control projects like the proposed "Ike dike" coastal barrier around Galveston. Other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects have been on the books for decades, but remain unbuilt because they were never funded. "A lot of the flooding in Houston in particular would have been mitigated if some of these important Corps of Engineers projects had actually been built," he said. Despite the administration's new commitment, Cornyn said, it remains important for the Texas delegation the largest Republican delegation in Congress to keep up the pressure. "I don't want the federal government to kick the can down the road, because as time goes by there are other competing demands, as we have seen with other hurricanes and natural disasters," Cornyn said. "I don't want people to forget about Hurricane Harvey and the state of Texas." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Researchers may have found the perfect spot for NASA to build a base on the moon. According to a release from Purdue University, a large, open lava tube discovered on the moon could shield astronauts from hazardous conditions. "Lava tubes are naturally occurring channels formed when a lava flow develops a hard crust, which thickens and forms a roof above the still-flowing lava stream. Once the lava stops flowing, the tunnel sometimes drains, forming a hollow void," the release reads. HURRICANES FROM SPACE: NASA snaps all three Atlantic hurricanes in one picture Astronauts have only been able to stay on the moon for three days maximum, due to the lack of atmosphere. Space suits can't protect people from extreme temperature variations, radiation and meteorite impacts note researchers. The lava tubes are in the Marius Hills, the largest volcanic dome field on the moon, according to NASA. The lava tube opening pictured has been dubbed the Marius Hills Skylight. Even if a base isn't built in the lava tube, scientists believe studying it would be beneficial. "It's important to know where and how big lunar tubes are if we're ever going to construct a lunar base," Junichi Haruyama, a senior researcher at Japan's JAXA, told Purdue University. "Not knowing these things is also important for basic science. We might get new types of rock samples, heat-flow data and lunar-quake observation data." BACK TO THE MOON?: Houston NASA chief says agency is 'very well set up' to go to the moon JAXA discovered the lava tubes by analyzing radar data from the SELENE spacecraft. However, the spacecraft wasn't designed to detect lava tubes so it wasn't able to get more accurate readings of the area in which it was discovered. Researchers at Purdue used gravity data with the JAXA radar data, theorizing the lava tube is several kilometers in length and at least one kilometer in height. One model shows the lava tube being big enough to house the entire city of Philadelphia. The area could become a major site of focus in the near future, as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration said it'll push for more moon exploration at an Oct. 5 meeting of the National Space Council. Scroll through the slideshow above to see strange things that have been captured in NASA photos. We are more than 100 days into a new fiscal year without a state budget. The situation is dire. Funding cuts are crippling nonprofits that provide services to Connecticuts most vulnerable. The majority of the states towns and schools have received no state money. Even the ones that have gotten state funding are looking at deep service cuts and the possibilities of layoffs. That should be more than enough motivation to override the Governors veto of a balanced budget approved by legislative Democrats and Republicans. If not, the latest warning from bond rating agency S&P Global Ratings should. The agency issued a negative outlook for Connecticut general obligation bonds. The ongoing budget stalemate makes it look less and less likely that our state can achieve long-term structural balance. This makes investing in Connecticut a risk bond buyers may want to avoid. Following suit, Moodys Investor Service announced it is investigating downgrading the bond rating for 26 municipalities and three regional school districts. It also assigned a negative outlook to 25 other municipalities and three regional school districts. The people of the State of Connecticut deserve better. Connecticut was once considered one of the best states in America to live, work, and raise a family. We had an excellent quality of life, the best educational system, and served as the corporate headquarters for industry giants like Aetna and GE. Today, it is a very different story. Connecticut ranks among the highest in country for resident tax burden. Connecticut ranks dead last in the nation for job creation. Connecticut has the third worst debt rating in the nation. Connecticut state government has underfunded its pension liabilities. Four Connecticut cities ranked in top 10 worst real estate markets in the nation. Connecticut has declining state tax revenue. Connecticut suffers a daily net outflow of residents. Connecticuts talented young people see limited job opportunity here. With the very public exit of large companies from Connecticut, Connecticut is creating a persona of anti-private sector. The recent exit of two billionaires would alone require near 1,800 jobs created to replace the state taxes they were paying. Current homeowners and taxpayers dont want to live in fear of rising property, sales, and income taxes. At the same time, the states declining services and decaying infrastructure will destroy the equity in their homes. This doesnt have to be Connecticuts future. We can heed the warnings of the bond rating agencies and those businesses that no longer call Connecticut home. Tax policy matters! It should be the states number one focus. If you dont get policy right, people and jobs flee and tax revenues plummet. This is exactly what we have seen over the last several years in Connecticut. Poor policy and its consequences hurt our schools, the disabled, and those that most need government services The budget that passed the legislature with bipartisan approval contained structural changes designed to restore stability to our state. It also starts to address the size of a government taxpayers can no longer afford. It was by no means a perfect budget, but it should serve as a starting point for making the changes that will stop our states downward fiscal spiral. For too long, high taxes and state government have chipped away at the states ability to be successful. Its time to change course. Connecticut deserves better! State Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican, represents the 26th District, which encompasses the communities of Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton. Below your feet no matter where you are in the city are miles and miles of a hidden circulatory system that breathes life into this great city of ours. More than 12,000 miles, to be approximate. It is an extensive and complicated system that delivers safe, clean water to our homes, our businesses, our schools with the simple turn of the tap. And with a simple flush, that system is also tasked with directing our used water to facilities that recycle all its byproducts with nearly zero waste. Think of it as a circulatory system, just like the one we all have pumping blood to our heart while carrying away waste products to keep us healthy. That is essentially what our infrastructure of water and sewer mains do 24/7 for 1.8 million residents. Our proposed San Antonio Water System budget for 2018 is a back-to-basics budget that keeps our system running as optimally as possible. The proposed 5.8 percent adjustment, which requires approval from the SAWS board and City Council, would change the average monthly residential bill by $3.45 ($62.24 to $65.69). Also included in the rate proposal is a recommended adjustment in 2019 for 4.7 percent to allow multiyear water and sewer projects to progress without interruption. The additional revenue would allow SAWS to replace aging critical systems throughout the city. For example, in 2018, $29 million would fund SAWS water and sewer improvements being made in conjunction with neighborhood street projects funded through the citys bond program, such as the West Commerce corridor from Frio Road to Colorado Street. Revenue from the adjustment also would fund: Sewer improvements, including a portion of more than $1 billion needed to repair and replace aging sewer infrastructure to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates. Water delivery upgrades, including $41.2 million in rehabilitation of essential water pump stations and other related infrastructure to ensure reliable water service. Water supply projects such as a massive water pipeline on the West Side to distribute water from H2Oaks, a state-of-the-art facility in south Bexar County that produces water from three sources, including 12 million gallons a day from our new desalination plant. Deferring these needed repairs and upgrades only makes our system more vulnerable to leaks and main breaks that interrupt service and contribute to water loss. Having achieved the highest bond rating in SAWS history AA+ due to fiscal responsibility, SAWS can make these repairs at todays prices. In looking to the future, the proposed 2018 budget includes major technology upgrades such as a pilot wireless meter reading program. These critical investments also are in line with the citys SA Tomorrow plan, which guides the city toward smart, sustainable growth as San Antonios population is expected to increase by 1 million people by 2040. Having said that, we are sensitive to our current customers, especially those on fixed incomes or living below or near the poverty line. Through strategic door-to-door outreach, SAWS has increased enrollment in its Affordability Discount Program by 33 percent since 2015, and the budget for that program has been increased by more than $1 million to ensure all customers have access to our life-sustaining services. In 2018, customers enrolled in the program, which now includes more than 25,000 households, could receive a maximum discount of $24, up from $21.40. Our city deserves the most reliable, cost-effective infrastructure both water and wastewater for today and the future. As individuals and a community, we are only as strong and healthy as the circulatory systems working just below the surface. Berto Guerra is chairman of the San Antonio Water System board of trustees. SAWS rates are scheduled for a vote at the Nov. 7 SAWS board meeting and at City Council on Nov. 9. One of two things is happening in President Donald Trumps recent over-the-top demands on legislation to allow immigrants brought here as children to legally remain. These demands are either an opening gambit in his art of the deal, or a sign the presidents expression of sympathy for these immigrants was never sincere. Were hoping for the former, which is why we ask Congress to call that bluff and make the president publicly refuse to sign a new Dream Act for these immigrants, sans his restrictionist demands. Topping the presidents list is funding for that infamous wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. While some enhanced border security measures would certainly have to be on the table, the president surely knows this is a nonstarter. And it must remain a nonstarter even if that imperils a new Dream Act. And the presidents demand that Central Americans fleeing violence and persecution primarily in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala essentially be treated as, well, Mexicans, is nothing short of an abdication of U.S. values. These Central Americans are in a different category of immigrants. Yes, they want good jobs, but they are primarily refugees, fleeing because they dont want to be pressed into gangs or persecuted by them, and fleeing lawlessness and impunity generally. Trump proposes that their deportations be expedited, though many of them are unaccompanied minors due more consideration. And he also demands that federal funds be withheld from so-called sanctuary cities. This, too, would be counterproductive. If city police and county correctional officials become de facto immigration agents, as the president wishes, this would sour police relations with the immigrant community. Crimes will go unreported, witnesses will not come forward, and an already victimized population will become more so. The presidents demands after saying he would not link the wall to Dreamers legislation will harden sides in Congress, particularly his proposal that no bill should include a path to citizenship. There is no reason why it should not be included. This opening gambit might actually scuttle all negotiations. But Democrats and like-minded Republicans on this topic should persevere. They should send a bill to the president and dare him not to sign it. Even before he was sworn into office, Donald Trump inflicted on the nation a bevy of unpresidential behaviors. But his words on Puerto Rico will surely stand out when the history of the Trump years is written. Battered by a devastating Hurricane Maria that knocked out power and still deprives the island of essential services and drinking water, Puerto Rico has persevered in the face of lagging response from the federal government in comparison to other recent disasters. The difference, of course, has been those previous hurricanes struck the states of Texas and Florida. With Puerto Rico, President Trump has flipped from blaming the commonwealth for its own woes, to saying he will always stand with the island, to warning that islanders cannot expect federal aid indefinitely, to tossing out paper towels. Imagine if he had suggested that Texans and Floridians are responsible for their own disaster-inflicted plights. Yes, Puerto Ricos government was in dire financial straits before Maria struck, with no small measure of culpability by the U.S., including the Jones Act that ups the price off foodstuffs to the island. All the more reason, then, to have been sensitive to the destruction. Can one imagine such a response if Kansas whose tax cuts and program slashing left that states budget in shambles had been ravaged by super tornadoes? In reality, once a disaster strikes, the president cannot turn off the aid spigot, particularly since Congress has been generally responsible in its appropriation of disaster aid. All the more reason to be puzzled. The presidents words on Puerto Rico served no purpose. In such times, a president offers hope. Trump has generally done no such thing. So, we will repeat, for the benefit of the president, what others have told him: Puerto Ricans are Americans. STAMFORD-Hart Magnet Elementary School was evacuated early Thursday afternoon because of a minor gas leak. A fire official said that maintenance workers were purging a gas line of water on the roof of the Adams Avenue school, which released a small amount of gas into the building. FORMER Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister, Engineer Tapiwanashe Matangaidze has allegedly been found with 32 tonnes of rice stashed in a warehouse at Chachacha Growth Point in Shurugwi, Sunday News has learnt. The rice was donated to Zimbabwe by the Chinese government as food aid and the former deputy minister could not explain how it ended up in his hands. Zanu-PF Midlands provincial spokesperson Mr Cornelius Mpereri confirmed that Eng Matangaidze was found with rice stashed at Chachacha Growth Point. In the province we have received reports that there are two former ministers and an MP who have been found with food stashed either at their houses or farms. In Shurugwi Eng Matangaidze was found with hordes of bags of rice, in Zvishavane Makhosini Hlongwane was also found with sugar beans while in Kwekwe Masango Matambanadzo was found with an assorted collection of items that he failed to account for, he said. Word is that police together with other Government officials pounced at one of the warehouses in Chachacha last week and discovered 32 tonnes of Chinese rice. A Government source told the Sunday News that following the incident Eng Matangaidze was called by police in the presence of Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Owen Ncube where he alleged that the food was a donation to him as an individual from China. The source said Eng Matangaidze was asked to produce documentation to support his claims but was yet to do so. Eng Matangaidze was last week found with 32 tonnes of Chinese rice stashed at Chachacha Growth Point. He was raided by police and other Government officials and they found the rice stashed in one of the shops at the growth point. Midlands Minister of State Cde Ncube was then informed of this development. Eng Matangaidze was then asked to bring documentation which shows that it was indeed a donation but he is still to do so. Immediately after the raid he then moved some of the rice which he donated to villagers in Shurugwi. The suspicion was that he used his position as Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to get the donation under the auspices of seeking food aid for the people, said the source. Acting Midlands police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende could neither deny nor confirm the development when contacted for comment. I am not aware of that. I will get hold of the responsible station and if I get any information related to that I will inform you, she said. Contacted for comment Eng Matangaidze vehemently denied the allegations. I dont have those details, my house is in Gweru, you can go and check for yourself I can even give you my address. There is nothing like that, he said. Minister Ncube referred this reporter to the police. Such matters are handled by police, he said. SundayNews Breaking News via Email Tipperary people with asthma could be damaging their health doing something as simple as drying their laundry! As the winter sets in, more people start drying their clothes indoors. However, as the Asthma Society of Ireland has warned, that many of the 15,377 asthmatics in Tipperary could be damaging their health by doing so. Research has shown drying wet clothes indoors can raise moisture levels by up to 30%. Moist environments encourage the growth of mould which can release seeds called spores, explains Averil Power, CEO of the Asthma Society of Ireland. These often invisible spores can trigger breathing problems in people with asthma and other respiratory conditions. The Asthma Society of Ireland has teamed up with Dyson Ireland to alert at risk asthmatics to the importance of managing their indoor air quality. People whose asthma is more likely to be triggered by fungal and mould spores include: Babies and children Elderly people People with existing skin problems such as eczema People with a weakened immune system People with severe asthma Where possible dry your washing outside, or in a tumble dryer in a well-ventilated indoor space away from bedrooms and living areas Power recommends. The Asthma Society has also issued the following tips to help protect against mould in their homes. 1.Try not to dry clothes indoors, store clothes in damp cupboards or pack clothes too tightly in wardrobe; 2.Ensure your house is well-ventilated by opening windows regularly; 3.Use extractor fans or open windows to increase ventilation from showers, appliances and cooking; 4.Wash mould off hard surfaces using a water, vinegar and soap mix; 5.Consider using a purifier with a built-in air quality sensor to remove allergens and pollutants from the air; 6.Consider using a dehumidifier to remove excess moisture; 7.Keep air conditioner and heating filters clean and dry; 8.Fix leaks and moisture problems and keep things dry and clean in places where mould tends to grow such as showers and under sinks. For more information, check out www.asthma.ie for Asthma Friendly Homes guidelines, sponsored by Dyson. The Asthma Society of Ireland also offers a free Asthma Adviceline where you can speak on the phone with an asthma nurse specialist about making your home asthma friendly or any other issues. Freephone 1800 44 54 64 to book an appointment. Code Girls Liza Mundy Hachette (2017) 9780316352536 After the United States' abrupt entry into the Second World War in 1941, its military recruited a shadow army of code breakers. More than 10,000 talented female mathematicians and linguists joined their ranks. As Liza Mundy reveals in this astonishing chronicle, this elite corps helped to shorten the war, building the field of cybersecurity. Mundy, who mined US National Security Agency archives and interviewed survivors for the book, joins authors such as Margot Lee Shetterly and Nathalia Holt in giving the women behind great twentieth-century scientific endeavours their due. The Aliens Among Us Leslie Anthony Yale University Press (2017) 9780300208900 Whether it's Florida's Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) or Asian carp in the Great Lakes, invasions of alien species in the United States are rising, just as many ecosystems reach critical vulnerability. Tracing the pattern of invasion from introduction to adaptation, biologist Leslie Anthony explicates the science amid interviews with researchers on the front line. He ably cuts through the complexities of controlling species such as Didymosphenia geminata (rock snot algae), and eloquently defines the existential dilemma at the heart of the issue: They were alien, I was alien; they were nature, I was nature. Dinner with Darwin: Food, Drink, and Evolution Jonathan Silvertown University of Chicago Press (2017) 9780226245393 The Darwinian dining served up by evolutionary ecologist Jonathan Silvertown in this delectably erudite study is all about tracing the impact of natural selection on foods. We learn that mussels helped to fuel the hominin exodus from Africa; rye is a weed domesticated by accident; carnivory and tapeworms are intimately linked; and Penicillium camemberti mould evolved in soft cheeses. We even examine engastration stuffing one animal into another before cooking as a status-led manifestation of the need to share food. This intricate scientific banquet is a marvellous read: bon appetit. Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet Dallas Campbell Simon & Schuster (2017) 9781471164057 In this nifty melange of real and fictional attempts to leave Earth, the vintage images alone are worth the price of the ticket. But broadcaster Dallas Campbell's deeply impractical guide is all pretty space-tastic. It begins logically, with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's launch into orbit on 12 April 1961, and ends with the commercial propulsion of human ashes into space. In between are snippets such as a theme-park visit with Al Worden, pilot of the Apollo 15 command module; a history of spacesuits; astronaut Peggy Whitson's tortilla cheeseburger; and other fuel for imaginative lift-off. Rise of the Necrofauna Britt Wray Greystone (2017) 9781771641647 The global gig economy has influenced industries from taxi driving to software engineering. With the rise of websites and apps such as Uber, TaskRabbit and Upwork, more workers than ever are selling short-term services to many clients rather than holding down single full-time jobs. Some researchers are juggling multiple short-term jobs as the gig economy begins to influence the scientific sector. Credit: Noel Hendrickson/Getty People with scientific training are adopting these practices as well, either by offering services on sites such as Upwork or finding projects through their previous academic networks. About 3,200 freelancers, most with backgrounds in the life or physical sciences, sell services such as statistical review and literature searches through the online platform Kolabtree.com, which is based in London and started in 2015. And in May, LabMate in Boston, Massachusetts, launched its site LabMate.us to match researchers with consulting gigs and full-time jobs at biopharmaceutical companies; about 200 scientists have registered so far. Although researchers have always taken on jobs with finite timeframes, such as postdocs and adjunct teaching, many of the projects completed through gig-economy platforms are shorter and performed remotely. So will the gig economy transform the scientific enterprise? Nature asked freelance scientists and labour researchers for their views. Anne Thessen: The independent data scientist Founder, The Data Detektiv, Waltham, Massachusetts, and research scholar at a virtual organization for independent researchers. I'm an oceanographer by training. I spent at least two years applying for academic jobs, and there were about 200 applicants for each one. While I was doing this, people I knew from my research career asked me to work on their projects. My first client was the Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org), a website that builds a page for every species; I was doing programming for content acquisition. A colleague at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland, asked if I would help populate a database of oceanographic and hydrocarbon measurements. The pieces were starting to come together I could be an independent scientist. The gig economy enables you to keep yourself afloat while other things have time to mature. When I started as an independent scientist, I also drove for Lyft, an Uber competitor, for about a week. I had quite a bit of freelance work on science projects, but I still wanted to feel safe, so I decided to pick up a little extra work. After a week, I realized I didn't need it and didn't have time to do it. But it gives you a safety net; you have in the back of your mind that you could easily do something else in your down time. There are lots of scientists in the wilderness that point where you are tired of doing postdocs and you question what you're doing. The gig economy can be one way to find a path, by providing an income stream while you figure stuff out. It can help you realize what marketable skills you have. It can give you time to mourn the loss of a job in academia that you thought you were going to have but that never really existed. And it helps to expand your network into places that would be interested in your skill set, such as the technology community. Eventually, you realize you can leave academia without leaving research. Not all gigs are created equal; here, Deliveroo workers attend a protest for higher wages. Credit: Brighton Pictures/Rex/Shutterstock Scientists don't need universities any more. In the Boston area, the start-up community is driving the need for resources that can be consumed and discarded on very short time scales. You can rent office space, lab space and equipment; you can pay for processing time on a server; you can hire a car or boat to take you to sampling locations. My hopeful view of the future is that scientists will have more freedom, and the gig economy is one way to make that happen. Lawrence Katz: The labour economist Economist, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Alan Krueger of Princeton University in New Jersey and I estimated that as of autumn 2015, about 0.5% of the US workforce had their main or secondary job in the online gig economy. If you expand to independent contractors, freelancers, on-call workers, temporary-help agency workers or people who are contracted out in their main job, it's about 16% of the US workforce and it was about 10% a decade ago. So it's grown very rapidly. For most of what academic scientists do, there hasn't been that big of a change. But in some areas, such as data science and technology work, the gig economy is having a much greater effect. For computer and mathematical professions, about 22% of workers are in alternative work arrangements. As big data has grown, greater numbers of large teams are being assembled. You could have freelance programmers working on a project in any location, doing statistical analysis or providing code. Potentially, we haven't realized all the benefits of the greater availability of talent anywhere in the world to help with tasks such as inputting the same data multiple times to check errors. Anything that lowers the cost of others verifying research may be helpful in the reproducibility of science. But the rights of freelance scientists will increasingly become issues. What happens if you have an illness or injury? You're not covered by workers' compensation. New forms of benefits could operate like workers' compensation or unemployment insurance, with independent workers paying into a fund that they could draw from in down times. We need new institutions. Ursula Huws: The sociology researcher Social scientist, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. In 2015, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies and UNI Europa, the Brussels-based European services workers' union, invited me to do research on crowd work. We focused on paid work that is managed through online platforms such as Upwork, Clickworker, Uber and TaskRabbit. We surveyed approximately 2,000 working-age adults online in each of the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden. Very crudely, 1 person in 40 is getting more than half of their income from online crowd-work platforms. A lot of online-economy practices are spreading into conventional employment. Academic jobs are looking more like gig-economy jobs with the use of performance indicators and student surveys. On the site RateMyProfessors.com, for example, students score academics on their teaching skills and often make highly personal remarks. University-run student surveys increasingly feed into the appraisal process if a course gets consistently low ratings, that has bad implications for the instructor. People are given targets to bring in external funding, and failing to meet them could put their careers in jeopardy. You have to spend more and more time begging and bragging, saying how wonderful you are and asking for money. Serious research careers have been affected by 'projectification'. You get a finite project, two or three years. More and more teaching staff are employed on casual short-term contracts. Young researchers increasingly have fragmented careers, with poor worklife balance and career prospects. This constant need to pitch and the sense of being only as good as your last project those are absolutely common to the gig economy and to academic labour. Routine aspects of research, such as categorization and database verification, are being outsourced. In the social sciences, there's an enormous use of online platforms that are generally regarded as part of the gig economy, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Clickworker, which draw on a global labour force to carry out micro-tasks. A typical project would be: are people who are considered more attractive more likely to get hired? You might put photographs online and ask 'click workers' to grade attractiveness; in the next stage, you ask potential employers if they would employ this person. These workers not only fill in questionnaires but also do scientific tasks such as coding data, sorting and counting, which would previously have been done by research assistants or graduate students. Caline Koh-Tan: The freelance science consultant Freelance scientist, Singapore. My PhD was in cardiovascular genetics at the University of Glasgow, UK. My first postdoc was mostly cardiovascular research, and the next was in veterinary sciences. Towards the end of my second postdoc, my husband and I decided to move back to my birth nation of Singapore. I thought: 'Why not see if I can work from home? Regardless of the job, the way I do things is still the way I would do them as a scientist. I went to Upwork, a platform that allows freelancers to look for jobs. I did academic-proofreading projects and other types of work. One client was a medical practitioner in the United States who was thinking of setting up a laboratory to test for diseases. He wanted advice on methods, tests and anything involved with running a lab, such as reagents. Another client was a family member of a person with cancer who wanted to understand chemotherapy; I wrote a report explaining how it works and what factors influence the effectiveness of a particular drug. I have an active project as a freelance genomics consultant for Omic, a software start-up in Seattle, Washington. For instance, if they find two genomics databases, they might ask which one I recommend. I also put data mining and biostatistical-analysis skills on my profile. But about half of the job invitations so far have been from students looking for someone to do their class assignments. I will not accept those jobs. My current rate is US$30 an hour, but that is flexible I work about 1030 hours per week. My rate is lower than what I would make as a staff scientist or postdoc, but I consider it acceptable because I work less, have lower stress levels and fewer responsibilities, and do not have to constantly think about work during my non-working hours. I miss the lab. But I do not see freelancing as losing out, because I still get to read the most up-to-date research. At the end of the day, regardless of the job, the way I do things is still the way I would do them as a scientist. Cecile Menard: The part-time freelancer Independent land-surface modeller; research associate, University of Edinburgh, UK; and member of a small virtual research organization for freelance scientists. The common denominator between all the freelance scientists I know is location. We want to choose, geographically, where we're going to work. At some point, you don't want to move any more. I lived in the United Kingdom for 15 years, did a postdoc there and went to Finland for another. Eventually, I wanted to be back home. I work in snow and vegetation research; it's a very small research field in Britain, and I couldn't find a job. You can register as a freelancer for tax purposes online (go.nature.com/2kamsoz) in five minutes. I told professors and a reader that I had registered, and one employed me as a consultant to run land-surface simulations. There are two sides to being a freelance scientist. One is being a consultant providing services to someone. The other is being an independent researcher; you're not part of an organization, but you can perform research. In some fields, collaboration with research organizations and universities will be imperative for freelancers to have access to instrumentation. For my work, I sometimes need a supercomputer. That's when collaboration is important; I've used the supercomputer of colleagues in England. For people who need to work in a lab, you may be able to go to one of your partners' labs. I love the freedom. But for other people, it may be too stressful. A regular income is not guaranteed, and it is a risk if you want to do it full-time. I was fully freelance for one year. Now I'm working three days a week as a research associate at the University of Edinburgh on a project to reduce uncertainties in snow models; it gives me two days for my freelance work. It's a good safety net to have a part-time job. Actor Shia LaBeouf was sentenced to probation Thursday after the "Transformers" star pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction stemming from his attempt to elude police following a vulgar public outburst in Georgia. LaBeouf, 31, received a year on probation from a Recorder's Court judge in Savannah, where he was arrested July 8 while in coastal Georgia to film the movie "The Peanut Butter Falcon." He was also ordered to pay $2,680 in fines and fees, perform 100 hours of community service, enroll in anger management counseling and complete a drug and alcohol evaluation. LaBeouf was spending a late night out in a popular Savannah nightlife district last summer when he became aggressive and began shouting vulgarities after a bystander refused to give him a cigarette, according to a Savannah-Chatham County police report. Police said LaBeouf refused to leave when an officer told him to do so. He then fled to a nearby hotel in an attempt to avoid arrest, authorities said. Booking video from the Chatham County jail showed LaBeouf accuse police of being racist and tell a black officer he was going to hell. He later released a statement apologizing for "my outright disrespect for authority," blaming struggles with addiction for pushing his behavior to "a new low." Police charged LaBeouf with two additional misdemeanors following the outburst in Savannah. He pleaded no contest Thursday to disorderly conduct, while prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of public drunkenness. A majority of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, say North Korea is the greatest immediate threat to the country, according to a new NBC News/SurveryMonkey poll. That 54 percent is up from July, when only 41 percent saw North Korea as the greatest immediate threat. ISIS is seen as the greatest threat by 19 percent of Americans, putting it in second place, followed by Russia, China and Iran. Americans, however, are even more decided about their desired path to resolution, with a 64 percent majority saying the U.S. should mostly use diplomacy when dealing with North Korea up 5 points since July. The NBC News|SurveyMonkey National Security poll was conducted from October 13 through October 17, 2017, among a national sample of 5,047 adults. Respondents for this non-probability survey were selected from the nearly 3 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. Results have an error estimate of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points. The U.S. military says it continues to search for answers about what happened in Niger two weeks ago, After four U.S. soldiers were killed during an ambush in Niger tour weeks ago, The Pentagon has sent a team to the country to conduct a "review of the facts," two U.S. defense officials told NBC News. The inquiry is not being called an "investigation" but that the team needs "to collect some very basic raw facts," one defense official said. In addition to the Pentagon, a top Senate Republican wants answers. Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain of Arizona told reporters this week that the Trump administration was not being forthcoming about what happened in Niger. The ambush appears to have been orchestrated by a branch of ISIS. The team wants to know where U.S. forces were when the attack occurred, if they had adequate personal protective equipment, and if they prepared for the attack. Also, was there adequate intelligence in advance of the mission and adequate response to the attack? A few days after President Donald Trump announced his get-tough approach to Iran, one of its top military commanders helped engineer the seizure of an important Iraqi city from a U.S. regional ally, Iraqi, Kurdish and American officials told NBC News. Iran brokered seizure of oil-rich Kirkuk from the Kurds by the Iraqi government and the Shiite militias it partners with, according to former U.S. national security officials. The move heightens the risk of civil war in Iraq, and amounts to an embarrassing strategic blow for the United States. "It is a catastrophic defeat for the United States and a fantastic victory for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, proving that Qassem Soleimani gets his way once again," said Ali Khedery, a senior adviser on Iraq policy in the Bush and Obama administrations. Soleimani, who heads up the Iranian military's special forces and extraterritorial operations, helped negotiate a deal in which one Kurdish faction would abandon its positions to allow Iraqi government forces and Iranian-supported militias to take the city uncontested, Kurdish and former U.S. intelligence officials said. Win or lose, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney thanked the people who pushed for the City of Brotherly Love to land Amazon's second headquarters. Kenney praised the efforts of the Amazon HQ2 Coalition for its #PhillyDelivers effort during a speech at the Barnes Foundation Thursday morning. The support we received from the leaders and the residents of this region in preparing our bid for HQ2 is really inspiring - not only because we received so much support, but also because we received it from so many different types of people, Kenney said. Thanks to their insight, we were able to show that Philadelphia is in the Goldilocks zone for Amazon. Our location is central on the Northeast corridor, our talent pool is vast, and Philadelphia has all of the amenities Amazon's employees want, at a lower cost than other big cities. The home of cheesesteaks and Rocky Balboa isn't highlighting either in its pitch to Amazon. In addition to the standard tax and financial incentives, Philadelphia is selling its quality-of-life attributes, said Lauren Cox, the spokeswoman for Philadelphia's commerce department. Philadelphia released a series of promotional videos in an effort to persuade Amazon to call the City of Brotherly Love their next home. Using the hashtag "#PhillyDelivers, the city drove home its "Logistics," its "Talent" and its "Livability" with a trio of short videos featuring business leaders like La Colombe CEO Todd Carmichael, Piper Wai co-founder Jess Edelstein, Curalate CEO & Co-Founder Apu Gupta, Urban Outfitter CTO Matt Strode, Iroko Pharmaceuticals founder Osagie Imasogie and Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb and Yard Brewing COO Trevor Pritchett. Walkability and bike-ability are key features: the city has over 400 miles of bike lanes, an ever-expanding bike share program, and it offers the second-shortest commute times of any city on the east coast, she said. The cheesesteak might be not be front and center, but food is still a part of the pitch. The city has over 400 sidewalk cafes and more 2017 James Beard Award winners than any other U.S. city. Art is being touted, too. Philadelphia has more public art than any city in the country, and is home to 4,000 murals, she said. It also is home to the nation's first zoo. Cox said all of the amenities come at a much lower cost than other cities: Philadelphia's cost of living comes in 48 percent lower than Manhattan; 21 percent lower than Washington, D.C.; 20 percent lower than Boston; and 18 percent lower than Seattle. "Amazon employees are sure to enjoy calling Philadelphia home," she said. "Centrally located on the northeast corridor, were the second largest city on the East Coast. We have an immense amount of access to talent and we have room to grow," said Sylvie Gallier Howard, the chief of staff of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. "Theyre a company that needs a lot of employees and needs room to grow." Amazon, which is based in Seattle and has its headquarters there, has said its second headquarters would bring 50,000 jobs along with it. Howard told NBC10 she visited Amazons headquarters in Seattle to get an idea of what the company is looking for. "Going to Seattle allowed us to see what the campus looks like to get a feel for what the company is like," Howard said. "What they look for in their building." "I really got the sense that they really need a much more scalable city and that the East Coast would be much more ideal for them," Howard said. Philadelphia city leaders are stepping up their game to bring Amazon to our city. Over the next 24 hours, nearly a dozen people are headed to Seattle. NBC10s Erin Coleman caught up with some of them about what it will take to get the new company headquarters here. Philadelphia is competing with four New Jersey cities. Camden, Jersey City, New Brunswick and Newark have also put in their bids. On Monday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie backed Newarks effort saying the state and the city are planning nearly $7 billion in tax breaks. The state of Delaware, Allentown and Delaware County also planned to put in bids. FILM REVIEW: 2049 even better than 80s original Blade Runner 2049 (15) Running time 2hr 44mins Rating: ***** RELEASED at a time when studios could not trust audiences with film titles longer than three syllables (it was a liberal adaptation of Philip K Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Blade Runner had no right being as utterly masterful as it was. Shunned in its day, Ridley Scotts sci-fi spectacular would eventually overcome commercial failure (and, more perplexingly, critical bemusement), leaving a mark on the genre matched only by Star Wars in its longevity. Of the 30,000-or-so people who saw it back in 1982, every single one of them, it would seem, went on to make a movie no Blade Runner, no Matrix, no Fifth Element, no Ghost In The Shell. That same Hollywood paternalism the film did so much to combat for the first time in years, fantasy cinema was once again dealing with adult notions and philosophical big ifs has since reasserted itself; many were, understandably, rolling their eyes the minute the mere question of a sequel was raised. Yet Blade Runner 2049 is no mere inheritor of its predecessors legacy in several respects, it goes above and beyond it, expanding the thematic and narrative base of the first movie in startling new directions. The directorial baton has actually been handed down a generation to Denis Villeneuve, but, with its photographic scope and lofty technical ambition, this could easily pass as a Scott effort; just as The Force Awakens showed JJ Abrams to be a Lucas fanboy, Villeneuve is quite clearly nothing less than a Blade Runner fanatic, going to gobsmacking lengths in investing 2049 with that distinctive air of grief and mystery. Which isnt to say that its not its own, distinct beast. Whereas Blade Runner was possessed of a neo-noir cool, all rain-swept pavements, runaway consumerism and neon night-terrors, 2049 roots itself in the Western genre, spiriting us out of futuristic LA to an altogether more desolate, tragic plane. Scotts vision of a city in the throes of total dysfunction was already one of the most blisteringly dystopic yet to have imposed itself upon the big screen; like a mad prophet, Villeneuve ushers us, the congregation, forward into delirium, finding that hallowed metropolis a twisted outpost of civilisation amid a sea of unmitigated barbarism, a lawless wasteland peopled by bandits, slumlords and, of course, by Deckard (Harrison Ford), the first films antihero, now in hiding from the forces of order. He is to meet his match here in the form of K (Ryan Gosling), an android cop on the verge of an explosive discovery. The twos climactic run-in takes place in a skeletal Vegas, an irradiated clump of high-rises and ramshackle hotels; broken holograms and erotic statues tease longingly of ancient decadence. But things are no better in safe LA, where dead-eyed K holds down a desperately sorry relationship with Joi (Ana de Armas), a beautiful simulacrum. One might ponder the true purposeof the citys crude, militaristic regime to keep the savages out, or the restless, alienated denizens in? Gosling is, by all accounts, a worthy successor to Ford, channelling the freaky minimalism that made him so watchable in his collaborations with Nicolas Winding Refn; yet he is but one cog in a most tantalising machine. The soundscape is a disciplined, multi-textured work in need of its own write-up, an ideal complement to Vangelis legendary Blade Runner score; its intellectual savvy will no doubt spawn books. But all that can wait another day. Heres to Blade Runner 2049, a sequel every bit as great as its forerunner and, dare we say it, occasionally superior. By PTI WASHINGTON: US Vice President Mike Pence, along with several other lawmakers have sent their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. "Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family," Pence said in a tweet. "May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness," said the US Vice President. Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. "Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017," Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. pic.twitter.com/O1tmiFzECc Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 18, 2017 Tweeting "Happy Diwali" to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. "May the light guide your path," she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. "Generally, fireworks accompany that. I don't need any fireworks; I'm getting too many fireworks around me already. So we'll foergo the fireworks," he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. America's top corporate leadership too joined the festivities. "Happy Diwali! May the festival of lights spread love, peace & prosperity to all!" Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet."Today, lets light up the world with the glow of our diyas and the warmth in our hearts. From my family to yours, best wishes for Diwali!" tweeted Pepsico chairwoman Indra Nooyi. WASHINGTON: US Vice President Mike Pence, along with several other lawmakers have sent their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. "Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family," Pence said in a tweet. "May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness," said the US Vice President. Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. "Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017," Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. pic.twitter.com/O1tmiFzECc Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 18, 2017 Tweeting "Happy Diwali" to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. "May the light guide your path," she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. "Generally, fireworks accompany that. I don't need any fireworks; I'm getting too many fireworks around me already. So we'll foergo the fireworks," he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. America's top corporate leadership too joined the festivities. "Happy Diwali! May the festival of lights spread love, peace & prosperity to all!" Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet."Today, lets light up the world with the glow of our diyas and the warmth in our hearts. From my family to yours, best wishes for Diwali!" tweeted Pepsico chairwoman Indra Nooyi. Questions raised over offshore wind cable proposed for Sakonnet River After offshore wind developers raised concerns over financing, Rhode Island regulators consider pausing application for electric cable for one of the projects. Out With the Old Rogers The demolition of Rogers High Schools auditorium began Oct. 4 as part of the schools rebuilding plan. The exterior demolition began following extensive testing of potentially hazardous interior materials. AA... City Could Be First in RI to Use Automated Noise Enforcement The city of Newport is currently soliciting bids to install noise detection cameras at strategic locations in an effort to increase enforcement against loud car mufflers and stereos. The pilot... Music and Food Set Mood for Community Meal It was fitting that the volunteers of Touro Synagogue fed the hungry under a giant beech tree that served as a soothing canopy on the front lawn of the United... Training the Workforce for Historic Preservation Newports thriving tourism industry has been built largely on the physical evidence of its history. Gilded Age summer cottages, restored colonial homes, renovated grand Victorians, and accurate preservation requires a... London: British energy major BP said Thursday that chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has decided to step down after a spell of almost eight years which included the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. The 65-year-old Swede "has informed the company's board of directors of his intention to retire as chairman", BP said in a statement. He will stay in the post until a replacement is found. Svanberg became chairman in January 2010 shortly before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in April of the same year in the Gulf of Mexico. The blast killed ten men off the coast of Louisiana and caused 134 million gallons (507 million litres) of oil to spew into Gulf waters, sparking the worst environmental catastrophe in US history. As chairman, Svanberg has also helped guide the company through a precipitous plunge in world oil prices. "It has been a tremendous privilege to lead the BP board over the past eight years. I am proud of the achievements of the management and the company in that time," said Svanberg, who is one of Sweden's top business executives. "The first couple of years were incredibly challenging for us all as we navigated an unusually complex corporate crisis. "Through that turbulent period we stayed focused on saving and restoring the company. Today I can say with confidence that BP is back and ready for the future." The total cost of the oil spill disaster to the company to date, including fines and compensation to businesses, stands at more than $63 billion (54 billion euros). With the lion's share of the gigantic costs behind the group, BP announced in August that it returned to profit in the second quarter of this year. "BP's comeback would not have been possible without the strong leadership and steadfast support of Carl-Henric and the board," added Chief Executive Bob Dudley. "Together we were able to honour our commitments to the Gulf while rebuilding BP into a safer, stronger company. "We devised a strategy to weather the downturn in the oil market while returning to growth." Dudley himself took over from predecessor Tony Hayward in October 2010 in order to help restore the company's shattered reputation. Kerala's Tourism Department has "saluted" the Taj Mahal for "inspiring millions to discover India" in what many see as an attempt by Kerala government to troll the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. This comes at a time the Uttar Pradesh government is under criticism for leaving the Mughal-era monument out of its tourism booklet. BJP MLA Sangeet Som went as far as to call the Taj Mahal a "blot on Indian culture. Read all about the ongoing political debate centred around the Taj Mahal here. The post was shared both on the official Facebook and Twitter handles of the Kerala Tourism and reads: "God's Own Country salutes the #TajMahal for inspiring millions to discover India. #incredibleindia. God's Own Country salutes the #TajMahal for inspiring millions to discover India. #incredibleindia pic.twitter.com/TXqSXQ9AYQ Kerala Tourism (@KeralaTourism) October 18, 2017 At the time of writing, the tweet has received over a thousand retweets. On Facebook the post has been shared close to 300 times and has generated a lively debate. People were quick to acknowledge not just the sick burn', but also the political opportunism therein: The burn though Dipshekhar Das (@das_dipshekhar) October 19, 2017 Please send some burnol to BJP office in Kerela and to Dongi Adityanath. Aa gaye achche din. (@RoflMessi) October 19, 2017 A number of people came out in clear opposition to politics in the name of what is Indias most loved monument: The monument of love in the north gets a distant promoter from south! Kudos to @KeralaTourism https://t.co/gDLHdfvtqe MJ Vijayan (@mj_vijayan) October 19, 2017 While a certain CM chose to ignore its importance, here we have my dear Kerala giving Taj Mahal due respect. https://t.co/b26wbGvkhj Parasu of Happyness (@ajayparasuraman) October 19, 2017 As an Indian, I am proud of our rich heritage & #TajMahal symbolises it. Kerala salutes Taj Mahal which inspire millions! #KeralaLeads https://t.co/UsWuCHUpN4 Kadakampally (@kadakampalli) October 18, 2017 One individual even (and perhaps rather wistfully) wondered if the poetry in stone maybe could be in fact relocated to Kerala: If only Taj Mahal could be shifted to Kerala!https://t.co/j7C8EZLy2H Dream of the Dolphin (@mytwoaanas) October 19, 2017 In the end, while the Indian public is taking sides and expressing their opinion on the ongoing political debate around the Taj, one truth remains: the Taj is and will be a symbol for India. This is what a Taj-lover had to say: Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed's house arrest was on Thursday extended for another 30 days by a Judicial Review Board of Pakistan's Punjab province. However, the board refused to allow the same in the detention of his four aides. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeed's aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention order if they are not detained in any other case. Saeed and his four aides were presented before the provincial judicial review board today amid high security in the Lahore High Court. A good number of his supporters were present at the court's premises who showered rose petals on him and his aides. Police, however, stopped them from chanting slogans in the favour of their leader. The three member Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising Justice Yawar Ali (head), Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam held the hearing. A court official told PTI after the hearing that the Home Department of Punjab government had sought three months extension to the detention of Saeed and others under public safety law. "The judicial board after listening to the arguments of the governments law officer did not entertain his request and only granted 30-day extension to Saeeds house arrest in Lahore," he said. The board also could not be convinced about keeping Saeeds four aides in detention beyond the expiry of September 25 detention order for a month and dismissed the governments plea for further extension to their detention, he said. The government may arrest Saeed's four aides in any other case on expiry of their detention period in last week of this month, the official added. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to 9 days under different charges but for an extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board. Last Saturday the Punjab Home Department had withdrawn its request from federal judicial review board to seek extension to detention of Saeed and others under "Anti-Terrorism Act". According to the Home Department, the government did not require extension of Saeed and his four accomplices under the Anti-Terrorism Act any more. Explaining as why the government withdrew its application seeking extension to detention of Saeed and others, the Punjab government said since it has extended the detention of Saeed and four others for the last week of this month under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 it does not require to have their house arrest extended under the anti-terror law. On January 31, Saeed and four others were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under preventative detention under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However, the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014. The JuD chief carries a reward ofUSD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities. Bengaluru: Thirty-five civic workers on Thursday filed a police complaint against a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) contractor for sexually harassing them when they demanded their wages that have been pending for three months. On the occasion of Diwali, the women workers paid a visit to their contractor and demanded the payment. The contractor, according to workers, pulled his pants down, intimidating them with rape threats and abuse. The contractor, then, passed lewd and casteist remarks. The women registered a complaint against the contractor accusing him of sexual offenses, caste abuse under the SC /ST Atrocities Act. Nagalakshmi, one of the victims, told CNN-News18 that the contractor even threatened to get them raped by his goons. "He pulled his pants down and told us we will be raped if we walk by bushes, in secluded areas. He told us our caste is always like the dirt under his feet, and then asked us to walk away with our heads bowed. We tried complaining to the local BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike) officials like the Health Inspector, but the officials say we have to fear for our lives if they take up a complaint," she said. A police officer registers a complaint while a woman worker explains how the contractor would exploit her and her fellow workers. Another worker, Devi, broke down, explaining how they were treated with no respect. "He always misbehaves with us. He often asks other men to disrobe us. We have suffered for more than a year, ever since he took this contract." Victims also alleged that though they were eligible for more than Rs 12,000 as wages every month, they barely received Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000, with the contractor taking away the remaining money. "My hair was pulled, I was physically assaulted and pushed to the ground," another victim said. They finally contacted their pourakarmikas Union and lodged a complaint at the Krishnarajapuram police station. Clifton Rosario, a rights activist and lawyer, who was helping them file the case, said the new contractor pays them poorly and has taken control of their bank accounts and ATM cards, which he operates. "The contract system must go, the State Cabinet has said that workers should be paid directly, but BBMP is dragging its feet on this. Why have they allowed a goonda to work," Rosario said, adding that a separate complaint has been forwarded to the BBMP top brass and they are also probing the matter. The Social Welfare Department, after receiving a complaint, asked its zonal officials to inquire the incident and file a report. Kolkata: GJM leader Rooshan Giris Darjeeling house was raided by the West Bengal CID early on Thursday and his personal computer, two printers and a suitcase were seized. A senior police officer said the raid was conducted based on specific inputs that the GJM was responsible for the recent killings and incidents of arson in the Hills. After GJM chief Bimal Gurung went off the radar, Rooshan, along with few others, had been holding meetings with Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had condemned the meetings, saying Rajnath Singh should not have met the leaders while holding a constitutional position. They broke open the main door of my house and seized my personal belongings. I condemn this act and have already informed our Darjeeling MP. I will also lodge a complaint against the officers for illegally raiding my house, Rooshan said. Why have the police taken my computer and printers? Why did they vandalise my house? I am not a criminal. I am a law abiding citizen of this country. The state government is trying to frame me in false cases. Our only crime is that we are raising our voice for a separate state in a democratic manner. Bimal Gurung also condemned the raids and appealed for peace in the Hills. I dont want any bloodshed. The alleged firing incident with the Bengal Police is a conspiracy to suppress our voice. We only want Gorkhaland. I dont want any post. The Bengal Police burnt houses of our leaders and supporters. The common people of the Hills are suffering. On September 22, in a major setback for Rooshan Giri, three of his close aides DK Pradhan, PT Ola and Tilak Chandra Roka were arrested from Gurugram by the Bengal CID. Patna: A 9-year-old girl died at the Patna AIIMS while her father waited in a queue to fill up forms and register her name at the OPD. While an official posted at the counter allegedly refused to help the poor man, the authorities later denied the family an ambulance to carry her body. The father ended up carrying her on his shoulder. The opposition RJD on Wednesday demanded a high-level probe into the matter. Raushan Kumari, who was suffering from high fever for six days, died near the Outdoor Patient Department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna on Tuesday. Her father Rambalak and his wife, residents of Kajra village in Lakhisarai district, brought her to AIIMS, following which he was directed by the staff to get a 'parcha' (registration card) made at the OPD counter. As Rambalak, a daily wager, stood in the queue at the counter, his wife told him the girl's condition had deteriorated. As Rambalak pleaded with people standing in a long queue to allow him to get the formalities completed out of turn, no one paid heed. He even pleaded with the clerk deployed at the counter, but was asked to come in queue. "By the time Rambalak left the counter after getting the registration done, his daughter had died," a staff of a private agency contracted for cleaning operations at the hospital said on condition of anonymity. To add to his agony, the distraught man was allegedly not even provided an ambulance by AIIMS officials to ferry the body to his village. With little money on his person, he carried his daughter's body on his shoulder for nearly four km to an auto-rickshaw stand at Phulwari Sharif here. AIIMS Director Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh said he had no information that a critical patient had died due to lack of treatment. "As far as a 'parcha' is concerned, doctors treat critical patients without it and later their registration is done. But I will inquire into this case if it has happened," he said. Interestingly, Patna AIIMS does not have an Emergency Ward. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad flayed the Nitish Kumar government for its "apathy towards the poorest of the poor" which, he claimed, led to the girl's death, and demanded a high-level probe. "Everything has collapsed in Bihar, including law and order, education, and health. The latest incident of the girl's death at Patna AIIMS vindicates our stand. There is no facility for the poor for treatment -- they have been left to die, as happened in this case." He also took a dig at Union Minister of State for Health Ashwani Kumar Choubey, who last week reportedly suggested that patients from Bihar should be treated at Patna's AIIMS and not in AIIMS at Delhi. Choubey's alleged remark about Biharis "crowding" AIIMS at Delhi even for minor ailments had drawn criticism from opposition parties. Lalu Prasad said: "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi have no time for genuine health issues. Both are busy showing their faces in the media, more or less on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." "Girls are dying for want of 'bhat'(rice) in Jharkhand and lack of treatment in Bihar," the RJD chief remarked while referring to the death of 11-year-old Santoshi Kumari in Simdega district in neighbouring Jharkhand due to starvation. (With IANS inputs) Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that all inter-religious weddings cannot be viewed as 'love jihad' as it upheld a marriage between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. A division bench comprising justices V Chitambaresh and Sathish Ninan made the observations in its judgment on a habeas corpus petition. A habeas corpus plea is filed to ensure a person under arrest is brought before a court which will determine whether the detention is legal. "We are appalled to notice the recent trend in this state to sensationalise every case of inter-religious marriage as either 'love jihad' or 'ghar wapsi' even if there was platonic love between the spouses before," the court said. The bench also cited the Supreme Court order in the Lata Singh v State of Uttar Pradesh case of 2004 to emphasise the need for encouraging inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. "We caution that every case of inter-religious marriage shall not be portrayed on a religious canvass and create fissures in the communal harmony otherwise existing in the God's Own Country Kerala," the bench said and upheld the marriage. It said the present case was projected by the parents of the woman as 'love jihad' whereas the man, who was in love with her and married her later, termed it as 'ghar wapsi' (a bid to coerce her to come back). The woman from Kannur had left her home on May 16 along with the Muslim youth. On a complaint from her parents, police had traced and detained them in Sonepat in Haryana a month later. Initially, a lower court had allowed the woman to go with her parents, who then lodged her in a yoga centre at Tripunithura in Ernakulam district allegedly to make her give up the relationship with the Muslim man. When the woman was produced before the high court on August 18, she had interacted with a single judge and expressed her desire to go back with parents. Subsequently, when the petition came up for hearing four days later, the woman retracted her stand and told the division bench that she made the statement expressing her wish to go with her parents under pressure. She alleged that she was tortured at the yoga centre. It was being run "to coerce the inmates to return to Hindu religion", she had charged. During the litigation and counter-litigation by both sides, the woman and man had got married legally. The division bench applauded the "extra-ordinary courage" shown by the girl to live up to her conviction and "decry the attempt of her parents to deflect the course of justice by misleading litigations". It observed their marriage had now been registered too. The court also observed that any centre for forcible conversion or re-conversion had to be busted by the police whether it was Hindu, Muslim or Christian lest it offends the Constitutional right. Article 25 (1) of the Constitution guaranteed every citizen the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion which cannot be trampled upon by subversive forces or religious outfits, the court observed. The judgment began with a quote from American poet Maya Angelou who famously said: "Love recognises no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope." Another division bench of the Kerala High Court had in May annulled the marriage of a 24-year-old woman with a Muslim man after allegedly forced to convert to Islam, terming it as an instance of 'love jihad'. On an appeal by the husband, the Supreme Court had on August 16 ordered a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the case as the agency claimed it was not an isolated incident but a "pattern" that was emerging in Kerala. New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday that on the auspicious occasion of Diwali India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases that are pending, as she responded positively to a number of such requests by Pakistani nationals. To a request for a visa by a Pakistani woman named Amna Shamin, whose father is already in Delhi for treatment and shewants to visit him, Swaraj said, "Please contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this." "On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today," Swaraj tweeted. Yesterday, she had directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue a visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. The child's father, Kashif, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. "The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif," the minister tweeted on Wednesday. Kashif had said the child's medicines were about to finish and he needed immediate medical consultation in India. In another tweet yesterday, Swaraj said a medical visa has also been approved for a Pakistani woman, who wants to undergo liver surgery in India. The woman's son, Rafique Memon, had requested Swaraj to intervene and grant visa to his mother. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 Swaraj also responded positively to a request for a visa by Nazir Ahmed, whose eight-year-old child Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting medical visa for a year. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8-year-old child in India," she said. We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8 year old child in India. https://t.co/416vzZsWox Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali on Thursday with soldiers from the Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) in Jammu and Kashmirs Gurez Valley along the Line of Control. Addressing the soldiers, the Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, called the armed forces his family and said his government was committed to their welfare and betterment. People think meeting our jawans is a formality. No, it is not a formality. I get new energy when I am among our jawans, the PM said. Donning the Army fatigues, Modi also mentioned the implementation of the One Rank, One Pension scheme for the armed forces. If we all work together, 125 crore Indians will take India ahead by 125 crore steps by 2022, the year India completes 75 years of Independence, Modi said. The prime minister said that he had been told that the jawans present at the gathering regularly practise yoga. He said this would definitely enhance their abilities, and give them a sense of calm. He said jawans, who leave the armed forces after completing their duty tenure, can become excellent yoga trainers subsequently. Northern Command chief Lt General Devraj Anbu and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu were also in Gurez, accompanying the Prime Minister, an Army official said. He also encouraged the jawans to innovate, so that their routine tasks and duties become easier and safer and mentioned how best innovations are now being recognised and awarded at the Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day. "I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians," the Prime Minister wrote in the visitors' book. Modi spent two hours with the soldiers in Gurez Valley, which is close to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and has witnessed many gunfights with infiltrating militants in the past 27 years. This is the fourth successive Diwali that the prime minister has celebrated with jawans on the border. Modi had spent Diwali with the people of Kashmir in 2014 in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Valley. Earlier in the day, PM Modi extended Diwali greetings to the nation. Imphal: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday said that terrorists have no religion and there are no Muslim or Christian terrorists, because once they embrace terror, they have nothing to do with religion. "People cease to be Muslim, Christian or any group the moment they became terrorists," the Dalai Lama said at a public reception in Imphal. Dalai Lama is on a three-day visit to Manipur. The Tibetan leader also said that he has a strong objection to the "America first" slogan of US President Donald Trump. A strong votary of non-violence, the Nobel Prize winner said violence does not solve any problem. "India, which has a tradition of 1,000 years of non-violence, could ensure world peace by reviving the ancient knowledge." According to him, almost all the problems people face today were "our own creation". He underlined the need to control emotions. Anger weakens people's immune system and as such was bad for health, he warned. "Out of seven billion people on earth, six billion are children of god while one billion are non-believers." Problems around the world can be solved through dialogue, said the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959 and who is hated by the Chinese Communist regime. India with her ancient knowledge and education could ensure world peace, he said. "China has also potentialities except for the Communist ideology." The spiritual leader said that the widening gap between the rich and poor was morally wrong. "This gap is visible in India and Manipur also." In his speech, the Dalai Lama recalled how he came to India as a refugee 58 years ago. India is also home to some 100,000 Tibetans. (With IANS inputs) Washington: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in his first major India-policy speech set the tone of bilateral relationship between India and the US for 100 years, a State Department official said, observing that the talk had many audiences, including China. "China's obviously an audience of the speech. But this is a speech, obviously, which we hope all countries in the Indo- Pacific region will take to heart, that the Secretary and the President has placed a priority," a State Department official told reporters. He was speaking after Tillerson described India as an opportunity for the US. "It's a speech that was designed for many audiences," the official said. Noting that a free and open Indo-Pacific is a priority for both the President and the Secretary of State, the official said, because India is one of the anchors of an Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump Administration wants to devote a lot of time to this country. Tillerson is travelling to India next week. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Philippines next month. "So that's the reason for the speech today; there are many audiences for this. But we really view this as a speech with a global audience," the official said. The speech on US-India relations for the next hundred years to implement President Trump's new strategy for South Asia is culmination of several months of deliberation within the national security cabinet on the best approach to address challenges in South Asia and on the opportunities. "The Trump Administration considers India as an opportunity and he wanted to present extended remarks and reflections on many ways that US can deepen its ties with India for the next hundred years, and how it is a critical component to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the official said. "There is a lot of bilateral benefits that follow deepening economic, cultural, diplomatic, and security ties with India. But there are a range of benefits that also follow for the region, the Indo-Pacific region," the State Department official said. China has risen alongside India, but China has done so less responsibly and China has undermined the international rules-based order while countries like India operate within this rules-based order, the official said. "We obviously want constructive relations with China. The Secretary is in regular contact with Chinese leadership. But we are not going to shrink or ignore China's challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries," the official said. "What we like is for many decades, the US has supported China s rise, we have also supported India's rise, but those two countries have risen very differently," the official said. As Tillerson said about the shared values, shared security, shared national security interests, shared economies, shared democracies, this is a great friendship that US wants to expand and deepen on all areas. The official argued that there are good reasons bilaterally for the US and India to deepen its ties, but there are opportunities to grow the connectivity in the region. Referring to the India-US and Japan tri-lateral in New York last month, the official said Japan is very supportive of a free and open Indo-Pacific. "I've had many consultations with the Japanese about this. We have also talked with the Australians, and we envision a quadrilateral sort of -- an anchoring the Indo- Pacific anchored by these four countries of Australia, the US, India, and Japan, he said. While the speech was mostly about India, the subtitle of the speech was "The Foundations of a Free and Open Indo- Pacific." "So that's what he talked about, including financing mechanisms, and he did talk about some of the predatory economics that we see in the area, and you have countries that are looking for better financing mechanisms and better partners, and we believe that countries like the US and India are those partners," the official said. Ayodhya: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday visited the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site, a day after the mega pre-Diwali celebrations organised by his government in this temple town. Speaking to reporters after the visit, Adityanath said Ayodhya was his personal belief and opposition parties had no right to question him on it. On the second day of his visit here, Adityanath after having stayed for the night at the Faizabad circuit house, offered prayers at the Hanumangarhi temple before going to the Ram Janmabhoomi site. Later, speaking to mediapersons, the priest-turned-politician said, "Ayodhya is my personal belief and it is my duty to develop Ayodhya. Referring to opposition parties, he said they had no right to raise questions on it (his personal belief). I have given instructions for complete cleanliness and hygiene for the temple town, he added. "By celebrating a grand Diwali in Ayodhya, I have not started a new practice but it is an age old tradition here to celebrate the home coming of Lord Rama," he said. It is an effort by me to protect and promote our age old culture, he added. "I am trying to bring the Ayodhya town on the world tourist map by ensuring all-round development," the chief minister said. After visiting Hanumangharhi and Ram Janmabhoomi site, Adityanath went to Digambar Akhara where he had breakfast with about a dozen 'Mahants'. He also visited the Sugreev Qila temple to meet its ailing priest Purushottamacharya. Mumbai Actor Tabu says she will not say no to a film with Ajay Devgan as that is the equation she shares with the superstar. The two actors have worked together in films like Takshak, Haqeeqat, VijaypathDrishyam and Golmaal Again. "Ajay and I are childhood friends. It is always an added benefit to be working with him. I will not say no to a film with Ajay," Tabu told PTI. "If he ever offers me anything as a director or producer, I will definitely do it. We are teaming up again for a film with Luv Ranjan (producer) and Ajay and everyone thinks I am the right choice for the film," she says. The film, produced by Pyaar Ka Punchnama fame Luv Ranjan, is a romantic-comedy with a fresh and quirky take on urban relationships. It is expected to release late next year. Meanwhile, Tabu has stepped into the Golmaal franchise for the first time and she credits the film's leading men for making the series successful. "The boys and all those who have been regularly associated with Golmaal franchise have made it a brand. It is a very big franchise, it is a non-efforted franchise for me, as it has been already established," she says. "For me it is not so much of a responsibility. The most attractive thing for me was to be a visitor in their house (referring to the sets) and have fun," the actor says. The Golmaal series, helmed by Rohit Shetty, had Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor in all the four parts, while Shreyas Talpade joined the team in the second installment and Kunal Khemu in the third one. "I wanted to experience the vibe of working with so many actors for a film after a long time. It was a nice place for me to explore...that I am not doing a comedy film. I have the most credible part in the film, I don"t have the comic part, but it is an important role. Also, the subject of Golmaal Again is also "hatke" this time, it has an element of magic and intrigue," Tabu says. The film is set for October 20 release. New Delhi: All set for his elevation as the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi may soon change the name of his Twitter handle, which goes as @OfficeOfRG. In an apparent move to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his popularity on Twitter, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is most likely to change his Twitter handle to something simpler and direct, like Rahul Gandhi or Rahul. Of late, Rahuls Twitter activity has changed drastically with a daily dose of sarcasm and humour in his blatant attacks on BJP and the central government. Earlier, News18 has reported that ever since Kannada actor-turned-politician Divya Spandana has taken charge, supporters and opponents have noticed a change in Congresss social media communication. With 3.78 million followers as compared to Narendra Modis 35.5 million, Rahul Gandhi still has a long way to go on Twitter, but his latest tweets have made him a favourite on this social media platform. In the last tweet on Tuesday, the Congress scion hit out at Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, calling the latter Shah-Zada and asking Why this Kolaveri Da, in an apparent reference to the ongoing controversy involving Jay Shah and his business. Earlier, it were the BJP leaders who would call Rahul a shehzaada, in reference to his political lineage. Ahead of PM Modis Gandhinagar visit on October 16, the Congress leader earned many a fan with his sharp remark of A weather forecast: Brace for a downpour of jumlas ahead of the elections. Lucknow: Finally after much damage done to the partys name and legacy in Uttar Pradesh politics, the Samajwadi Party clan has come together to celebrate Diwali at their native village in Saifai, Etawah. Starting with Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav and the new party president Akhilesh Yadav, everyone took part in the celebrations on Wednesday. The younger generation of the Yadav clan including Dharmendra Yadav, Tej Pratap and Anshul were also spotted at the celebrations along with the senior family members. Mulayam Singh Yadav also went to meet his estranged cousin Ram Gopal Yadav at his house on Wednesday. The meeting between the two lasted for about an hour. Party sources hinted that the Mulayam went to meet Ram Gopal in a bid to unite the family and end the tussle between Ram Gopal and Shivpal. With the Yadav clan coming together at their ancestral house in Saifai village, party workers present at the venue raised slogans and were buoyed with enthusiasm. On Wednesday, speaking to News18, Shivpal Yadav too showed signs of reconciliation with Akhilesh Yadav and said that his nephew is the party president and it is on him to take it forward. Shivpal, the former president of the partys UP unit, said, The party is now in the hands of Akhilesh Yadav and it is completely his wish on how he plans to take it ahead. The chacha-bhateeja fell out last year ahead of the UP Assembly polls. Amid souring family ties, Akhilesh Yadav convened an emergency meeting of the national convention on the New Year's Day to replace father Mulayam Singh Yadav as the national president of the Samajwadi Party. During this prolonged family feud, Mulayam Singh Yadav has been backing brother Shivpal. But at the same time, Akhilesh has, if anything, cemented his position in the party, while the patriarch has held on to his brother. Thiruvananthapuram/Lucknow: Kerala's Tourism Department has "saluted" the Taj Mahal for "inspiring millions to discover India" in what many see as an attempt by a government wing of the Left-run state to troll the Yogi Adityanath government. The unprecedented acknowledgment comes at a time the Uttar Pradesh government is under criticism for leaving the Mughal-era monument out of its tourism booklet and various voices of the ruling BJP are calling it a "blot on Indian culture". The post was shared both on the official Facebook and Twitter handles of the Kerala Tourism and reads: "God's Own Country salutes the #TajMahal for inspiring millions to discover India. #incredibleindia." God's Own Country salutes the #TajMahal for inspiring millions to discover India. #incredibleindia pic.twitter.com/TXqSXQ9AYQ Kerala Tourism (@KeralaTourism) October 18, 2017 Taj Mahal, India's most recognisable tourist landmark, was surprisingly left out of UP's recent tourism booklet 'Uttar Pradesh Paryatan-Apaar Sambhavnayen' which listed all other tourist spots in the state. The monument is marvelled as one of the Seven Wonders of the World' and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being 'the jewel of Muslim art in India'. UP government's omission synchronised with hardliners from the ruling BJP - MP Vinay Katiyar and MLA Sangeet Som - claiming the mausoleum was built by Mughals over a Shiva Temple 'Tejo Mahalaya' and that its patron, Emperor Shahjahan, had targeted many Hindus during his rule in the 17th century. They were quickly put down by Chief Minister Adityanath who said "it was built by the sweat and blood of the sons of Bharat Mata" and indirectly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who called for pride in one's heritage and history. The UP government also published a heritage calendar this Wednesday - an exercise normally done every January - featuring the Taj in the month of July alongside pictures of PM Modi and CM Adityanath. The Uttar Pradesh government calendar with a page on the Taj Mahal. (Image: News18) The CPM-led Kerala government has been engaged in a game of political oneupmanship with Yogi Adityanath ever since he recently visited the southern state for a rally against political killings, and in its wake had questioned its human development indices seen as comparable to that of European countries. The Left then hit back questioning the Adityanath government's record in public healthcare and communal amity. The personal handle of CM Pinarayi Vijayan on October 4 tweeted out - in Hindi - a gentle reminder to Adityanath on the Taj controversy. Yogi ji while you go back to your state, THE ENTIRE KERALA IS UPSET & wants to ask you ? #YEHKYAHAIYOGI Removing #TajMahal from tourist map pic.twitter.com/gRmWi0SgfW Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) October 4, 2017 In the background of such political animus, the significance of Kerala Tourism's tweet was not lost. New Delhi: Congress giving a virtual free hand to Virbhadra Singh has forced BJP to go back to the drawing board to fine-tune its strategy for the upcoming assembly polls in Himanchal Pradesh. The party may now have to bank heavily on the Thakur vote and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to take on the ruling Congress in this poll bound state. Congress had earlier this week named the 83-year-old veteran leader as its campaign committee chief after some hard bargaining by Singh. The party, in the process, has bestowed unbridled power in the octogenarian leader to lead the electioneering and choose his candidates. Electoral politics in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh as in Uttarakhand is dominated by the upper caste. And within the upper caste, fault line run deep with the numerically and socially dominant Brahmins and Rajputs vying for a larger share in the spoils of power. Earlier this year, Trivendra Singh Rawat, a Rajput by caste, was nominated by BJP as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister. Rawat's elevation was seen as an indication that the party might choose to do the same in Himachal Pradesh and hand over the leadership baton to a Brahmin, if it were to win in the otherwise Congress-ruled state. This guiding axiom in CM selection has been referred to by both the national parties in equal measures in the past. The attempt is to maintain a delicate power balance between the dominant social groups. In fact, intra-party politics in both states is also guided by the same principle. As a derivative of this caste calculus, both Congress and BJP, over the years have projected one Brahmin and one Rajput face. They always come in pairs Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal, Virbhadra Singh and Sukh Ram. With Sukh Ram facing the corruption taint, Congress sought to replace him with Anand Sharma. In the case of BJP, Union Health Minister JP Nadda has emerged as a strong contender to take the baton from Shanta Kumar. Nadda, who is the former BJP Yuva Morcha President, has risen up the ranks from student union politics. He's also served as a minister in Dhumal government earlier. In the prevailing caste matrix, Nadda was thus seen as a clear challenger to stake claim for the top post. Dhumal at 73, is fast approaching the 75 year retirement age set by the current dispensation in the BJP. But with Congress deciding to wager this election on Virbhadra Singh's dexterity to manage caste combinations, BJP had to bring back Dhumal to the battlefield. After Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, BJP appears to be willing to relax the age limit for another leader up north. In a high stake political battle, age after all, is only a number. Washington: The head of the CIA said on Thursday that a US-Canadian couple kidnapped by Islamist militants in Afghanistan were held inside neighbouring Pakistan for five years before being freed last week. "We had a great outcome last week when we were able to get back four US citizens who had been held for five years inside of Pakistan," CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington. Pompeo's remarks appeared to be the first time a US official has publicly stated that the family spent their captivity in Pakistan. Pakistan's military and government has indicated that US citizen Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle and their children were rescued shortly after entering Pakistan from Afghanistan. The couple had been kidnapped in 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan and their children were born in captivity. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have previously said there was no indication that the hostages had been in Afghanistan in the days before they were freed, contrary to the Pakistani account. The officials said the United States believed the hostages were probably held by the Haqqani militant group in or near its headquarters in northwestern Pakistan the entire time. A senior Pakistani security source said last Friday that Pakistani troops and intelligence agents, acting on a US intelligence tip, zeroed in on a vehicle carrying the family as they were being moved into Kurram tribal agency near the town of Kohat, some 60 km (37 miles) inside Pakistan. Pakistani officials bristle at US claims Islamabad is not doing enough to tackle Islamist militants, particularly the Haqqanis. After the release of the family, they emphasized the importance of co-operation and intelligence sharing by Washington, which has threatened to cut military aid and other punitive measures against Pakistan. However, two Taliban sources with knowledge of the family's captivity said they had been kept in Pakistan in recent years. The Haqqani network operates on both sides of the porous Afghan-Pakistani border but senior militants have acknowledged they moved a major base of operations to Kurram agency in the tribal areas. Washington: US Ambassador Nikki Haley urged the UN Security Council on Thursday to follow in the US footsteps and confront Iran over what she described as its "aggressive, destabilising and unlawful behaviour" in the region. The council met for its monthly debate on the Middle East just days after US President Donald Trump refused to certify the Iranian nuclear deal, leaving its fate to the US Congress. "The United States has embarked on a course that attempts to address all aspects of Iran's destructive conduct - not just one aspect," Haley told the council. "It's critical that the international community do the same." Trump's decision has been sharply criticised by Washington's partners in the deal - France, Britain, China, Russia - which sit on the Security Council as permanent members along with the United States. Germany is also a signatory. The 2015 nuclear deal was unanimously endorsed in a Security Council resolution, placing the onus on the top UN body to uphold its implementation. Haley accused Iran of "playing" the council by complying with technical provisions of the nuclear deal while threatening peace and security in the Middle East with its "outlaw behaviour." She pointed to arms sales and military support for warring sides in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon as examples of Iranian violations of UN resolutions and singled out Iran's missile launches as "the regime's most threatening act." "Iran must be judged in a totality of its aggressive, destabilising and unlawful behaviour. To do otherwise would be foolish," she said. The new more aggressive US policy toward Iran provides an "opportunity" for the council to show that it will defend council resolutions, she argued. "This council now has the opportunity to change its policy toward the Iranian regime," she asserted. Haley's appeal, however, appeared to draw little immediate support. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia tersely reminded Haley that the Middle East debate is aimed at tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that she "didn't even mention the word Palestine." Turning to Iran, Nebenzia warned that "attempts to dismantle the architecture of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program will lead to a negative reaction in the Middle East and beyond. Islamabad: A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, pressing charges over accusations that could see the former leader jailed. Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. A Reuters witness in court said Sharif, his daughter Maryam, as well as her husband Muhammad Safdar, had all been indicted by a court of the anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Safdar were present in court, but Sharif sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment. Sharif's disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London. The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Sharif but ordered an investigation into his familys wealth. After the probe, it disqualified him and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial. A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the familys wealth did not match its income and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats. Dera Ismail Khan: The leader of a Pakistani militant group whose suicide bombings killed more than 250 people died on Thursday of injuries from a US drone strike in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the militants said. Omar Khalid Khorasani's death comes ahead of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit and is likely to help ease tensions between the often-wary allies, as Islamabad has been asking Washington to target militants who attack inside Pakistan and hide over the border in Afghanistan. Khorasani's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, is one of dozens of armed Islamist factions including al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But JuA has been particularly deadly in Pakistan, claiming responsibility for eight major attacks in two years. Among them was last year's Easter Sunday bombing in a park that killed at least 70 people, including 29 children, in the eastern city of Lahore. The group also said it carried out a suicide attack at a hospital that killed at least 74 people in the southwestern city of Quetta, a bombing also claimed by Islamic State, with which JuA also has been affiliated. Rumours had flown for two days that Khorasani had been wounded in US drone strikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and on Thursday his group confirmed he had died. "Our leader, Omar Khalid Khorasani, was wounded in one of the recent drone strikes in Afghanistan. He was wounded badly, and today he was martyred," JuA spokesman Asad Mansur said by telephone. The announcement came a week after Pakistan's army rescued a kidnapped American couple and their three children from the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban faction that Washington has long accused Islamabad of failing to target. The killing of Khorasani is likely to add to the recently improved mood between Washington and Islamabad, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and prominent political analyst. "He was a very powerful leader and he had done great harm to Pakistan," Masood said of Khorasani. "I think Pakistan has been looking forward to this, and I think the Americans targeting him has been very helpful in that sense." Khorasani had a background that reads like a history of Pakistani militancy. Born Abdul Wali in a village called Lakaro in the northwestern Mohmand tribal region, Khorasani started out as an anti-India jihadist, according to a long-time friend who spoke last year to Reuters on condition of anonymity. He later joined the Pakistani Taliban in 2007 to fight the government to establish strict sharia Islamic law. In 2014, Khorasani left the Pakistani Taliban after a leadership quarrel to form Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. JuA gained attention in September 2014 when it announced it was supporting Islamic State and rejecting the main Pakistani Taliban leadership. By March 2015, however, the group was again swearing loyalty to the main Pakistani Taliban umbrella leadership. Still, JuA never specifically disavowed Islamic State either, and several attacks inside Pakistan have been claimed by both groups. The United States last year designated JuA as a terrorist group. Khorasani had previously been seriously wounded in a NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan in 2015 but later recovered. Berlin: A female German politician has triggered a fierce debate by accusing a former ambassador of sexism after he failed to recognise her at a conference and then said he was not expecting such a young and beautiful woman as a speaker. Sawsan Chebli, a 39-year-old state secretary in the Berlin city government, said she was sitting in the front row waiting to speak at a meeting of the Indo-German Society but was not recognised by the head of the group, Hans-Joachim Kiderlen. When he realised his mistake, the retired former German ambassador to India reportedly said: "I wasn't expecting such a young woman. And you are also so beautiful." Chebli, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats, went ahead with her speech but posted on her Facebook page afterwards that she was in shock. "Of course, I'm always experiencing sexism, but I have never experienced anything like what happened today," she said. Her comments prompted an outpouring in German newspapers and social media, already abuzz as million of women across the world have been sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse in an online campaign using the hashtag #MeToo. Chebli, a former spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry born to Palestinian refugee parents, was swamped with insults on her Facebook page, including suggestions that she wear a Muslim headscarf if she does not want to receive compliments. She also received messages of support, including from women who had similar experiences, including Teresa Buecker, editor-in-chief of the feminist magazine Edition F. "I have also been called up to the stage as the 'beautiful speaker' - it is degrading and disrespectful," Buecker wrote on Twitter. Kiderlen wrote to Chebli to apologise for his "inappropriate address and greeting", the Tagesspiegel daily reported on Thursday. An employee of a Maryland kitchen countertop company suspected of fatally shooting three co-workers and critically wounding two others on Wednesday was arrested in neighbouring Delaware, a Maryland county sheriff said. The suspected gunman, Radee Prince, 37, was apprehended by the US agents and others, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said on Twitter, without providing further details. Prince was also being sought for a shooting in Delaware that took place after the Maryland shooting. Prince entered Advanced Granite Solutions in Edgewood, Maryland, just before 9 a.m. and fired multiple shots from a handgun, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters. Three people died at the company's premises in a business park northeast of Baltimore. Two people were taken to a hospital, one of whom had come out of surgery, he said. Gahler called the shooting a "targeted attack." Asked about the gunman's possible motive, he said: "We believe he's tied into a relationship here at work." Prince had worked for Advanced Granite Solutions for the past four months and had been scheduled to work on Wednesday, the sheriff said. The suspect fled in a black GMC Acadia with Delaware license plates. Police in Wilmington, Delaware, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Edgewood, said Prince was also being sought for a shooting there at 10:46 a.m. that injured a man. Wilmington police spokeswoman Stephanie Castellani said the victim identified the shooter as Prince, who fled in the same vehicle. Prince had been arrested 42 times in Delaware and had 15 felony convictions, she said. "He is a dangerous individual," said Castellani, adding that the motive was not yet known but that Prince was associated with all six victims. "We do not know if there is a beef going on between the victims and the suspect." New York: Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump's chief envoy to the United Nations, cast Russian interference in the 2016 election as "warfare" on Thursday, breaking in tone, if not substance, from a president who has consistently downplayed Russian influence in American politics. US Ambassador Haley lashed out at Russia's efforts to "sow chaos" in elections across the world during a conference hosted by the George W. Bush Institute. "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian? And why have we done the sanctions?' Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian," Haley said. She added, "When a country can come and interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." Haley's comments were reinforced by former government officials from both parties, including former President George W. Bush. "America has experienced a sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our country's divisions," Bush declared. "The Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other." The comments come as Trump continues to question the intelligence community's determination that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Federal officials are investigating Russia's actions and the possibility of collusion with the Trump campaign. Facebook recently provided three congressional committees with more than 3,000 ads they had traced to a Russian internet agency and told investigators of their contents. Twitter also briefed Congress last month and handed over to Senate investigators the profile names of 201 accounts linked to Russians. "Foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated," Bush said. The Republican former president did not go after Trump by name, but he condemned some of the values Trump has championed during his rise to power. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America," Bush said. "We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism." He added, "We need to recall and recover our own identity." On 5 October, we wrote to the Minister (of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion) with our recommendations. We hope to receive feedback by mid to end of October so that the candidate can assume full time occupation of the authority and take over the day-to-day running of the show from the chairman and also lighten the burden of my board members, Gono said. Former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere has been dragged to the High Court by a white farmer, who accuses him of confiscating his farm equipment. In the application, Stodart Brothers (Private) Limited is the applicant, while Muchechetere and a woman only identified as Chanetsa are cited as respondents. According to an affidavit by Robert Alexander Stodart, who is the director of the Stodart Brothers company, Muchechetere is barring him from collecting his equipment, despite having permission from the Lands ministry. This is a court application for a declaratory order in respect of the following property that belongs to the applicant (Stodart Brothers), which respondents are refusing to allow applicants representative access to and to remove them from Buryhill Estate and Chikomo Chemhunga Farm in Chinhoyi, namely, 2 x steel structure sheds, 5 x metal grain silos, weighbridge, maize grading plant and tobacco steam boiler, the court heard. Stodart told the court he is the previous owner of Buryhill Estate and Chikomo Chemhunga Farm, before the properties were compulsorily acquired by the government under the national Land Reform Programme in 2001. Consequently on September 6, 2002, my family and applicants workers vacated from the two above mentioned farms. As a result of the sensitive nature of the land reform process at the time, applicant was not able to remove and take its movable property that was affixed to the land except for the movable property such as tractors and other farm implements, the court heard. Stodart said he was later advised that the government would compensate for its acquisition. He further said that between 2004 and 2015, he was negotiating with the Lands ministry in respect of the compensation, which culminated in a permission letter from the Lands ministry secretary for him to remove the equipment. He said that he later engaged a contractor to remove the property to Banket but was ordered to stop the removal by Bothwell Mugariri, which forced him to approach the police for assistance. However, I came across information on May 17, 2017 that one of the grain silos at Buryhill Estate was being dismantled and loaded in a truck. I visited Buryhill Estate and personally witnessed the dismantling of the grain silos. The first respondent (Muchechetere) was only stopped from ferrying the dismantled silo by ZRP Banket, after he claimed that he had authority over the equipment and was tasked to come with the requisite documentation at Banket Police Station on Friday, May 17, 2017, the court heard. Stodart, however, said Muchechetere could not be in a position to bring the requisite documents to the police, proving his claim to the property, resulting in the police ordering him to unload the property from trucks. He was later advised by the police that Muchechetere had no authority over the equipment but the ex-ZBH boss insisted that the property belonged to him. Stodart now seeks a court order allowing him to remove his equipment from the farms, adding that he has reasonable belief and suspicion that Chanetsa would do the same. Muchechetere and Chanetsa have not responded to the application. daily news ZIMBABWE National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) vice chairman Cde George Mlala has said Christopher Mutsvangwa and his allies are renegade freedom fighters and cannot speak on matters affecting Zanu-PF. Cde Mlala yesterday told ex-freedom fighters who were gathered at the Zanu-PF provincial offices in Bulawayo that Mutsvangwa, Victor Matematanda, Headman Moyo and Zenzo Ncube were fired from the party for denigrating Zanu-PFs leadership. He said time has come for war veterans to make a decision on where they stand between the party and renegade freedom fighters. We agreed to introspect as an executive that was elected in Masvingo on where we stood vis-a-vis developments in the party. We all agreed that we are all children of the party, we were created by the party and we belong to the party Zanu-PF. We agreed that we work for the party and once you are fired from the party you can no longer be a representative of the party. We then identified the people who were fired from the party. These include Mutsvangwa, Headman, Matematanda, Zenzo and Nhando, said Cde Mlala. He said the party also expelled Douglas Mahiya but as war veterans they could not expel him because he was never an elected executive member. He said his team has engaged the Zanu-PF leadership, including National political commissar Cde Saviour Kasukuwere, secretary for administration Cde Ignatius Chombo and secretary for war veterans Cde Sydney Sekeramayi, informing them that war veterans were submitting to the partys leadership. From today onwards we submit ourselves to the party. We will work with the party and follow the partys programmes. The party is supreme, our duty as party soldiers, military wing of the party, we will take instructions from the party. We will be given programmes by the party and well execute them accordingly. Well not at any level or time tell the party what to do. We will implement what the party has decided, said Cde Mlala. Those expelled from the party, he added, cannot sanction any gathering on behalf of the association. Anyone who holds meetings saying he or she is a member of the Mutsvangwa-led faction should not find a space in our security system, said Cde Mlala. He said Zanu-PF should reclaim the war veterans Entumbane offices as they have been personalised by Mutsvangwa and his loyalists. He said Mutsvangwas loyalists who were denigrating the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe saying she was the leader of G40 faction in the party were actually targeting the President. How can one claim that they love the President when they are insulting his wife? When they say the First Lady is the leader of G40, its not the First Lady they are targeting but the President himself. They also tell the South African media that they have their presidential candidate for the 2018 elections who is a leader in the party. Isnt that a coup? We want the leader who is loyal to the party to distance himself from them, said Cde Mlala. chronicle President Robert Mugabe has been named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the the first ever goodwill ambassador on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for Africa. President Mugabe was singled out for his dedication, commitment and role in placing universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of his government policies. The announcement was made by WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the ongoing WHO Global Conference on NCDs in Uruguay. It was indeed a proud moment for Zimbabwe when WHO chief made the announcement during the high level meeting of heads of state and government in Montevideo. President Mugabes demonstrated commitment is thus expected to steer the NCDs agenda in Africa to greater heights, which in turn will see a reduction in the number of people succumbing to NCD related deaths. We are also honoured to be graced by President Mugabe, said Dr Ghebreyesus. President Mugabe, who earlier on had presented a powerful speech appealing for a multi-sectoral approach in the fight against NCDs, was also commended for encouraging innovative funding mechanisms to fund health programmes. The WHO director general commended President Mugabe for demonstrating the intellect to drive the NCDs agenda further. Dr Ghebreyesus also paid tribute to Paraguay which was represented by President Horacio Cartes for its efforts in highlighting cardiovascular diseases. Chile was acknowledged for the great strides it has made in packaging and labelling of food packages that has enabled consumers to make informed choices. Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco was also commended for putting the cancer fight high on the health agenda in her country. In an interview Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Walter Mzembi congratulated President Mugabe for landing such a prestigious honour saying the Presidents record speaks for itself when he was chairman of both the Southern African Community Development chairman in 2015 and African Union chairman in the same year, and how he successfully mobilised resources to assist three West African countries Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia when they were ravaged by the Ebola disease. Non-communicable diseases are emerging as a global threat and are becoming the leading causes of death globally, killing more people each year than all other causes combined. However, there is lack of attention in the global development agenda, while overseas development assistance for health is only US$377 million out of the $38 billion allocation, which translate to just 1.2 percent of the total funding. Bezos' Ex Is Already Doing This. Now He Is, Too North America appears to have its first "burka ban," the Guardian reports. Quebec's National Assembly passed Bill 62 on Wednesday, and while the law banning facial coverings doesn't specifically mention burqas or niqabs, those have certainly been the main point of debate, according to Reuters. CBC reports the law applies to both public workersteachers, doctors, and moreand people receiving public servicesincluding, potentially, public transit riders. A 21-year-old woman who wears a niqab says the ban will force her to stay home instead going to the library or hanging out at the mall with friends because she doesn't have a car. "It will just block me from the rest of the world," she says. The ban will take effect in July. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard says the law is about "identification and safety." "We are in a free and democratic society," he says. "You speak to me, I should see your face, and you should see mine. It's as simple as that." But critics say the law unfairly targets Muslim women and is simply an attempt to gain votes ahead of next year's elections. The National Council of Canadian Muslims calls it "ugly identity politics," and the council's Ihsaan Gardee says it's "a made-up solution to an invented problem." A 2016 survey found just 3% of Muslim women in Canada wear a niqab. Meanwhile, hate crimes against Canadian Muslims are on the rise, and six people were killed in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City last January. Bulgaria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Bavaria in Germany have passed similar burka bans. (Read more burka ban stories.) A judge has ordered the federal government to allow a pregnant 17-year old immigrant who entered the country illegally to undergo an abortion, the AP reports. US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Wednesday that authorities either transport the woman or allow her to be transported by others to the clinic. The case originated in Texas, where the unnamed woman is being held by federal immigration authorities, and was brought to the Washington court by the American Civil Liberties Union. The woman has already received a court order permitting her to have the abortion, but officials refused to transport her or temporarily release her so supporters could transport her to the clinic. In a testy exchange with government lawyers Wednesday, Judge Chutkan said she was "astounded" by the government's position. A new report says this teen is not the only one who has been prevented from getting an abortion, read more here. (Read more abortion stories.) Bob Weinstein's prior knowledge of the sexual harassment and assault allegations now piling up against his brother, Harvey Weinstein, isn't clear. What is clear is that the brothers were in the midst of a rift that the scandal would only expose. According to the Los Angeles Times, the brothers with a reputation for noisy spats had for years pursued their own interests at the Weinstein CompanyBob favoring commercial flicks, Harvey preferring high-brow filmswhen Harvey reportedly punched Bob during a meeting six years ago. "I divorced my brother five years ago" and since then, "I've probably talked to my brother 10 times on any personal level," Bob Weinstein tells the Hollywood Reporter. "I could not take being around him." In 2015, it was Bob Weinstein who alerted the Weinstein Company's board of directors to a sexual harassment allegation made against his brother by a female employee, the Times reports. Publicly, however, the brothers played nice to appease their mother, sources say. Upon her death last year at age 90, outright war was no longer out of the question. But if Bob Weinstein intended to take full control over the company he built with his brother, he might've been overconfident. Now facing his own allegations of harassment and bullying, he may only hold onto his offshoot label Dimension Films. There's also the possibility he could start a new label, but that may be a challenge without his brazen brother leading the charge, reports NBC News. (Read more Harvey Weinstein stories.) Chris Allen's phone started buzzing as word broke that invisible attacks in Cuba had hit a US government worker at Havana's Hotel Capri. Allen's friends and family had heard an eerily similar story from him before. The tourist from South Carolina had cut short his trip to Cuba two years earlier after numbness spread through all four of his limbs within minutes of climbing into bed at the same hotel where the American government workers were housed. Those weren't the only parallels, per the AP, which examined his medical records. A conclusive link is all but impossible to make, but Allen for one is sure the incidents must be related. He has thus joined a growing list of private US citizens asking the same alarming but unanswerable question: Were we victims, too? It may be that Allen's unexplained illness, which lingered for months and bewildered a half-dozen neurologists in the US, bears no connection to whatever has harmed at least 22 American diplomats, intelligence agents, and their spouses over the last year. But for Cuba and the US, it matters all the same. It's cases like Allen's that illustrate the essential paradox of Havana's mystery: If you can't say what the attacks are, how can you say what they're not? One troubling fact is true for tourists and embassy workers alike: There's no test to definitively say who may have been attacked with a mysterious, unseen weapon and whose symptoms might be entirely unrelated. The United States, meanwhile, hasn't disclosed what criteria prove its assertion that 22 embassy workers and their spouses are "medically confirmed" victims. Click for the full story, with more details on Allen's case. (Read more Cuba stories.) When President Trump added Chad last month to his most recent installment of travel restrictions, everyone from the Pentagon to Chad's leaders to the French government was perplexed. The US has praised Chad's cooperation on counterterrorism, especially its campaign against a vicious Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from Nigeria. As it turns out, a seemingly pedestrian issue was largely to blame: Chad had run out of passport paper, reports the AP. Chad and every other country had been given 50 days to prove it was meeting a "baseline" of security conditions the Trump administration says is needed for the US to properly screen potential visitors. One condition was that countries provide a recent sample of its passports so that the Homeland Security Department could analyze how secure they really are. Lacking the special passport paper, Chad's government couldn't comply, but offered to provide a pre-existing sample of the same type of passport. Homeland Security wouldnt make an exception, but told Chad it could be removed once the issues were addressed, several US officials said. Homeland Security confirmed that the US "lacks a recent sample from Chad" of its passports, but said there were other problems, too. Chad does not adequately share public safety and terrorism-related information, a spokesperson said. Other officials said once the other national security agencies learned of the plan to add Chad, they objected vehemently, but were overruled. Chad remained on the list when a federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trumps order hours before the new restrictions were to take effect Tuesday. (Read more Trump travel ban stories.) Last week, reporter Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times wrote a harrowing account of how Myanmar soldiers ripped a baby boy from the arms of his Rohingya mother and threw the child into a fire before raping her. Now, in a first-person account, Gettleman writes that his interview with the woman shook him to his core. "Ive covered genocide in Sudan and children being blown apart in Iraq," along with "earthquakes, hurricanes, civil wars, international wars, insurgencies and famines." In other words, he's seen it all. "But Rajuma's story stopped me." He remembers her sobbing as she told him the story, backed up by witnesses, and second-guessing himself for putting her through it again. But he then realized that ignoring it, and the larger story of the Rohingya ("probably one of the most unwanted ethnic groups on the planet") would be worse. The details themselves were brutal enough, the boy screaming for his mother as he burned to death, but Gettleman writes that ending the interview also was wrenching, because he had no idea what to say in parting. "I wanted to give her every dollar in my wallet. Or hug her. Or punch someone in the face." It's one of the worst parts of being a journalist, he writes, the obligation to stay removed from the story. If Rajuma were bleeding in front of him, of course, he wouldn't hesitate to help. "But that wasnt the situation here; her baby was dead and she would be traumatized forever." In the end, he settled for the Bengali phrase Ami dukkhito," which he'd been using over and over in the Rohingya camps. It means, "I'm sorry." The full account is well worth a read. (Read more Rohingya stories.) A young Barack Obama questioned his place in the world and his racial identity, agonized over whether he'd make enough money as a community organizer, and lamented his incompatibility with his ex-girlfriend in 30 pages of letters he wrote to her that are now being archived by Emory University in Atlanta, the AP reports. The nine full letters, sent by Obama to his college girlfriend, Alexandra McNear, are being made public to researchers. The university has had the letters since 2014 but could only make them public now, officials said. The letters span 1982 to 1984. During that time, Obama was at Columbia University in New York City, in Indonesia, and finally working at Business International Corporation in a job for which he had no passion The letters give a peek into Obama's psyche as he sought out the path that would eventually land him in the White House, Emory University officials said Wednesday. "My ideas aren't as crystallized as they were while in school, but they have an immediacy and weight that may be more useful if and when I'm less observer and more participant," Obama wrote in 1984 to McNear. The "very lyrical, very poetic" letters will be useful to researchers trying to craft a picture of Obama the college student and recent graduate, Emory officials said. "They tell the journey of a young man who is seeking meaning and purpose in life and direction," said the director of Emory's Rose Library. Read excerpts from the Obama letters here. (Read more Barack Obama stories.) On Thursday, President Trump gave himself perfect marks for the federal government's response to the ongoing disaster in Puerto Rico, USA Today reports. "I'd say it was a 10," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Gov. Ricardo Rossello of Puerto Rico. According to the Washington Post, Trump called rendering aid to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria "probably the most difficult" disaster response in history. "It was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen," the president said, adding, "It was worse than Katrina." (Trump has previously said Hurricane Maria wasn't a "real catastrophe" like Katrina.) Trump said the response in Puerto Rico has been hampered by damaged ports and roadways, already-poor infrastructure, and "corruption on the island." Rossello was also asked to give his assessment of the government's response to Mariaspecifically by Trump, who wanted to know, "Did we do a great job?" "You responded immediately, sir," Rossello answered. The governor also tried to deflect some of the criticism away from Trump, the Guardian reports. "We didnt have the ports open for a couple of days," Rossello said. "We didnt have the airports open at full capacity until about a day or two ago." Recent polls show the rest of the US might not share Trump's optimistic assessment of the situation in Puerto Rico. One poll found less than a third of the country approved of his handling of relief efforts; in another poll, 36% of people said Trump hadn't done enough for Puerto Rico, where more than one-third of houses still lack running water and less than a fifth of the power grid has been restored. (Read more Donald Trump stories.) The Pentagon has dispatched a team to Niger to figure out exactly what happened in an attack two weeks ago that left four US soldiers dead and two others injured, the New York Daily News reports. Despite the deadly attack happening Oct. 4, officials tell NBC News they still have pretty much no idea about what happened. "We need to collect some very basic raw facts," one defense official says, adding the confusion surrounding the attack was "tremendous." According to CNN, we know the US soldiers were conducting an exercise in Niger when they were ambushed by 50 fighters linked to ISIS. The Defense Department review of the ambush hopes to determine if the soldiers were prepared for the attack, if they had protective equipment, if they adequately responded, and more. One person who doesn't want to wait for the Pentagon to get answers: Sen. John McCain. McCain on Wednesday said he believes the Trump administration has more information on the attack than it's sharing with Congress, and he may resort to a subpoena to get that information without waiting on the investigation. "That's not how the system works. We're coequal branches of government," McCain said Thursday. "We should be informed at all times." Jim Mattis says the military doesn't yet have the facts on the attack, Reuters reports. We, in the Department of Defense, like to know what we are talking about before we talk and so we do not have all the accurate information yet," the Defense secretary said Thursday. He says the administration will release the information "as rapidly as we get it." (Read more Niger stories.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Prosecutors on Tuesday asked the Seoul Central District Court for an additional arrest warrant so they can extend the detention of ex-President Park Geun-hye while her trial drags on. The six-month limit on her original detention expires on Oct. 16, but there is little hope that the trial will wrap up by then as the long Chuseok break looms. If the extension is not granted, she can go home and attend her trial from there, but that increases the risk of more delay tactics and no-shows. The fresh arrest warrant has to be sought on charges other than those cited in the original warrant in March, but more charges were added when she was indicted in April. They include suspicions that she solicited bribes from the Lotte and SK conglomerates, which prosecutors have now cited for the extension. Park's lawyers protested. Her attorney Yoo Yeong-ha said, "Arrest warrants are issued depending on investigative needs, but the trial about the Lotte and SK bribery charges is almost over. The basic principle of criminal lawsuits is trial without detention." The court plans to reach a decision by Oct. 10, when the long Chuseok holiday ends. The detention periods of other suspects in the massive influence-peddling and corruption scandal that brought Park down have already been extended. They include Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, who has been on remand since late last year, and former Park aides Ahn Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong. But legal precedents are difficult to find. One lawyer who used to be a judge said, "Detention takes place only when necessary, but the facts about the former president have largely been revealed in the trials of other suspects involved in the case. It would be proper to release her to ensure her rights." But prosecutors argued that Park could try to drag out the trial indefinitely if she is released by refusing to show up on various pretexts. Delay tactics have been her legal team's only coherent defense strategy so far. The trial has gone through an epic 75 session since May 23, and 73 witnesses have testified. Prosecutors have listed another 60 witnesses, and Park's lawyers plan to summon around 50. That means the trial is unlikely to wrap up before the end of the year. Teenagers are turning away from traditional social media like Facebook and increasingly turning to Snapchat to communicate with their friends, according to a new study released Wednesday. According to Piper Jaffray's semi-annual "Taking Stock with Teens" research survey, 47 percent of teenagers said Snapchat is their favorite social media platform, compared with just nine percent who said Facebook was their favorite. The results show a sharp spike in the number of teens who said Snapchat is their favorite platform, up from 24 percent when the survey was given in the spring of last year. In addition to Snapchat and Facebook, 24 percent of teens said they preferred Instagram -- virtually unchanged from 2016 -- and seven percent said they prefer Twitter, down from 15 percent last year. For the report, Piper Jaffray interviewed 6,100 teens in 44 states, with an average age of 16. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge say their third child will be due in April. The royal couple had already revealed that they were having a child, but didn't previously say which month the child is due. The brief statement released Tuesday by their Kensington Palace office offered no further details. Mumbai: Search engine giant Google has emerged as the most authentic brand in the country, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, Maruti Suzuki and Apple, according to New York-based global communications firm Cohn & Wolfe. Sony, YouTube, BMW, Mercedes Benz and British Airways are the other brands to feature in the top 10. The communications firm, part of WPP group, noted that Indian consumers are becoming more positive in their perceptions of brand authenticity. About 67% of Indian consumers are more likely to buy from brands perceived as authentic, it said in its 2017 Authentic Brands Study for India, a part of a global consumer survey on the role of authenticity in business. It observed that in India, 37% of respondents perceived brands to be open and honest compared to a global average of 22%. Similarly, 38% of consumers surveyed in India agreed that brands take full responsibility for their actions, compared to the global average of 25%. Brands that behave and communicate with authenticity will build better relationships with customers and deliver improved user experiences. To differentiate their offerings and grow market share, our research shows that brands in India need to focus on the three drivers of authenticity -- reliable, respectful and real, Cohn & Wolfe Asia Pacific president Matt Stafford said. E-commerce giant Amazon is ranked as the worlds most authentic brand, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Google and PayPal. Technology brands comprise 70% of the top 10 most authentic global brands. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary research, including surveys on more than 1,400 brands conducted in May and June this year, with over 15,000 respondents in 15 markets -- Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In yet another crime incident, six people have allegedly robbed jewellery worth lakhs in rupees from a jewellery shop at Crossing Republik in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Six people, in a group of two, came to the Vaishvi Jewellers at around 11:15 am on Wednesday and looted the shop. The robbers had done meticulous planning to effect the crime. They engaged the shopkeeper by asking him to show them some jewellery pieces. When the shopkeeper left his counter, the robbers took no time in picking up a jewellery box without coming to the shopkeepers notice. The theft was recorded by the CCTV cameras installed in the shop. ALSO READ | PMLA: Gems, jewellery dealers get exemption from reporting requirement New Delhi: Salman Khan's love life has always been the talk of the town. The superstar who has been linked up with several divas is said to be dating Romanian beauty Iulia Vantur. While there were reports about the two getting married soon, the recent buzz suggests that Salman has finally called it quits with Iulia. According to the media reports, the couple is having trouble in their paradise for a while now. The reports further suggest that it is Katrina Kaif who has been the reason behind Salman-Iulia's break up. Apparently, Iulia is quite miffed with Salman's growing proximity with Katrina. As per the gossip mongers, Salman has been standing tall with Katrina post her break up with Ranbir Kapoor and this has irked Iulia to a great extent. A source close to Salman has reportedly told Deccan Chronicle, Salman has been showing more than a passing interest in Katrinas career and life, ever since she broke up with Ranbir Kapoor. During the shooting of Tiger Zinda Hai, Salman and Katrina got really close again. We dont know how close, but close enough to rattle Iulia, who wanted to fly out to Abu Dhabi where Salman was shooting. But she was not allowed to. On the other hand, there have been reports that Iulia had left India as her visa has expired. While earlier, Salman used to assure about the renewal of Iulia's visa, this time it hasn't been the case. While no official confirmation has been made in this regard, if the reports turned out to be true, it will indeed leave Salman's fans disappointed who have been waiting for the Sultan actor tie the knot soon. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A top North Korean diplomat arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, to attend a three-day conference on nuclear non-proliferation. Choi Sun-hee, an official of Pyongyang's foreign ministry, did not answer reporters' questions at the airport regarding the purpose of her visit. But speculation is running high that Choi will hold discussions with a number of former U.S. government officials who are also in Russia to attend the conference. Washington and Pyongyang used to exchange views through unofficial talks in times of high tension. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday extended his greetings to all the citizens of the nation on the occasion of Diwali. In a Twitter post, the Prime Minister said, Hearty wishes to the people of India on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. He also shared a picture with a message reading, May this auspicious festival brighten your lives with prosperity and good health and may there be happiness all around. President Ramnath Kovind also took to Twitter to wish people on Diwali. He appealed to the people to be sensitive to others and also the environment as we celebrate the festival of lights. Diwali greetings to all. As we celebrate with our families, let us promote sensitivity to others and to our environment, the President tweeted. Diwali, also known as Deepavali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated with much fervour across the country. Popularly known as the festival of lights, Diwali is also celebrated by Hindus in Nepal, Malaysia, Mauritius and Pakistan. According to the Hindu holy books, the festival marks the return of Lord Ram from Sri Lanka to Ayodhya after defeating Raavan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: World leaders across the globe celebrated Diwali and wished Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world a joyful festival of light.A US President Donald Trump celebrated his first Diwali at the White House during which he hailed the contribution of Indian-American community and said he valued his strong relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US President on Facebook posted the Diwali celebrations video and wrote, aAs we do (celebrate Diwali) so, we especially remember the People of India, the home of the Hindu faith, who have built the worldas largest democracy.a His daughter and advisor Ivanka trump shared photographs of Diwali celebrations in the White House and extended her greetings. Ivanka on Twitter wrote, aWishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. a at The White Housea Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017. pic.twitter.com/O1tmiFzECc a Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) October 18, 2017 Indian-American members of US President administration including Nikki Haley, his Ambassador to the United Nations and Centers for Medicare and Medical Services administrator Seema Verma, Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai, and Trumpas Principal Deputy Press Secretary A Raj Shah participated in the Diwali celebrations at the White House. US Vice President Mike Pence greeted Diwali wishes and on Twitter he wrote, aHappy #Diwali to those celebrating with friends & family. May we all strive for peace, prosperity & the triumph of light over darkness.a Happy #Diwali to those celebrating with friends & family. May we all strive for peace, prosperity & the triumph of light over darkness. https://t.co/NJPMnyDqOk a Vice President Pence (@VP) October 18, 2017 Canadian President A Justin Trudeau to send his Diwali wishes. On Twitter he tweeted aDiwali Mubaraka and shared a photograph celebrating the festival of light. Celebrating #Diwali with the Canada India Business Council last night! Our countries have a long history & bright future together. pic.twitter.com/6BMXGmXgLS a Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 18, 2017 Official Twitter handle of UK Prime Minister Theresa May's office shared a video where she can be seen giving Diwali wishes. She said, aI want to send my best wishes to everyone celebrating Diwali in Britain and around the world.a This #Diwali let us celebrate the values and freedoms that we share a and let me wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year. pic.twitter.com/qmjGLeg8jp a UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) October 19, 2017 May added, aFestival of Light is important time for family and friends to come together to share wonderful gifts and sweets and to draw confidence from the knowledge that ultimately good will triumph over evil.a For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Gujarat Police have arrested five persons including members of Karni Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad for allegedly vandalising a rangloi inspired by an upcoming film Padmavati at a mall in Surat. Surat Commissioner of Police Satish Sharma said, We have arrested five people. Four persons belong to Karni Sena and one VHP member. Raids are being carried out to arrest the others involved in the incident. He added that they have asked the mall owners to come forward to lodge complaints in cases of vandalism. The Surat commissioner of police added, We will deal strictly with any such action. Freedom of expression is everyone's right in a democracy, but vandalism will not be allowed. Police have identified the arrested as Vikramsih Sekhawat, Shambhusinh Rathod, Narendra Chaudhary, Sanjaysinh Gohil and Shailendra Rajput. The arrested have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 141, 149 unlawful assembly, 451 trespassing, 427 mischief causing damage. Also read: Padmavati: Deepika Padukone asks for action post rangoli vandalism On October 16 a local artist had registered am FIR against a group of people for vandalising a rangoli created by a local artist. On Wednesday Deepika Padukone had said that she was heartbroken by the attack on a rangoli inspired by her upcoming film "Padmavati" and drew Union minister Smriti Irani's attention to the incident. Who are these people?Who is responsible for their actions?For how long are we going to let this go on? pic.twitter.com/2WFN0jcdua Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) October 18, 2017 On Twitter the Padmavati actor wrote, "Absolutely heart breaking to see the recent attack on artist Karan and his artwork! Disgusting and appalling to say the least!" For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Diwali or Deepavali is being celebrated over the country on Thursday. Diwali is one of the most popular festivals celebrated by Hindus and other communities. In Hindu Religion lots of different things/items (samagri) are required to perform a pooja or pujan. Puja samagri are different for different puja to different god or goddess. Following is the list of important materials (samagri) required to perform Maha Lakshmi Pujan, Ganesh Puja, Navagrah Puja, Shodashmatruka Puja, MahaKaali Puja, Maha Sarswati Puja, Kuber Puja, Tula Maan and Deepavali Puja. List of important Diwali puja samagri, check them here: # New Murti (Idols) of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi # Bahi-Khata (Account Books) # One red silk cloth for Goddess Lakshmi, One yellow cloth and Inkpot with pen # One red cloth for God's Aasan (seating) # Wooden stool for keeping Murti(s) # Five big earthen Deepak (lamp) # Small earthen Deepak (at least 25) # One fresh earthen Kalash (pitcher) # Flowers and at least three garlands made of fresh flowers # Bilva-leaves and Tulsi-leaves # Naivedhya e.g. sweets, fruits, sugarcane, Lava (parched rice) # Sweet Paan (at least 3) # One pen made of pomegranate or Bilva branch # Duba (aaa) - Durva grass # Pancha Pallav(aazaas aaaaa) - twigs of following five trees - Mango - Palash - Banyan - Peepal # Bakul (aaaa) # Sarvoshadhi (aaaaaaaa) ten following herbs - Mura (aaaa) - Jatamasi (aaYaaaaa) - Bach (aas) - Kushtha (aaaaa ) - Shaileya (aaaaa) - Haradi (aaaa) - Daru-Haradi (aaaa-aaaa) - Soonthi (aaaa a) - Champak (asaaaa) - Musta (aaaaaa) - Sapt-Mritika (aaaa-aaaaaaaa)- mud collected from 7 places - Horse Stable - Elephant Stable - Cow Shelter - Ant Heap - River confluence - Lowland - Royal Palace If some of the items are not available then Akshata can be used in place of missing item as a remedy. Also Read: Diwali 2017: Know history, significance and shubh Lakshmi puja muhurat For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Maharashtra Police arrested two Nigerian nationals for allegedly duping a Chinchwad-based businessman of Rs 1.04 crore by honey trapping him into a herbal oil trade deal with a fictitious UK company. According to cybercrime department of Maharashtra Police the duo contacted the businessman via Facebook. Police officials said that a friend request was sent to the businessmans Facebook account from a profile which carried a womans photo. Police further added thhat they identified themselves as representative of a UK based pharmaceutical company which dealt with herbal oils. They fleeced the businessman of lucrative offer for supplying herbal oil. The two arrested have been identified as Amara Obiasogu alias Frank Age and Ekene Unachukuwu Age. Deputy commissioner of police (cyber & economics) Sudhir Hiremath said, The duo arrested used lay a 'honeytrap' by sending friend requests on social networking sites to get acquainted with random people. According to police the duo have duped many other from Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to celebrate Diwali 2017 with troops of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on the China border in Uttarakhand on Thursday. The PM today took to Twitter and extended Diwali greetings to the countrymen. According to reports, the PM may pay a visit to the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand on October 20 - his second visit in less than five months. The PM is scheduled to visit the holy shrine a day after Diwali where he will inaugurate a number of projects including the temple protection wall which has been built to prevent 2013-like floods from hitting the temple devoted to Lord Shiva, media reports quoting government sources as saying. However, there is no official confirmation yet regarding the PM's Kedarnath visit. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary, has issued a fatwa (decree) banning Muslims from posting pictures on social media sites. Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the largest Islamic seminaries of the country based in Uttar Pradeshs Sahranpur district, has reported to have announced the decree asking both men and women not to post pictures of themselves or family members on social media. The Fatwa was issued by the seminary after a person submitted a written question to Darul Iftaa seeking an explanation whether posting pictures of himself or his wife on Facebook and Whatsapp was un-Islamic or not. The seminary in reply to the query said that Islam doesnt allow the act. The seminary has termed the act of India Muslims posting pictures on social media as un-Islamic. Also read: Darul Uloom Deoband issues fatwa imposing ban on eyebrow plucking Shahnawaz Qadri of Darul Uloom Deoband justifying the move told the media that unnecessary uploading of pictures on social media is wrong. Fatwa issued is appropriate, said Qadri. Also read: Fatwa announces Rs 5.5 lakh bounty on Tripura CM Manik Sarkars head, FIR lodged Earlier it was reported that the Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa calling ban on women plucking, shaping their eyebrows, trimming and cutting hair. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: At least 43 soldiers were killed after the Taliban carried out two suicide car bombings at an army camp in the southern Kandahar province, the Afghan officials said. A member of parliament from the province, Khalid Pashtun provided the toll of the attack. An Afghan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information, confirmed the toll. In a media statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility of the attack. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush in the northern Balkh province late Wednesday killed six police, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ | Afghanistan: 3 killed, 16 wounded in Cinema Pamir attack, says Kabul Interior ministry For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: US Vice-President Mike Pence, along with several other lawmakers have send their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family, Pence said in a tweet. May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness, said the US Vice President. Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017, Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Tweeting Happy Diwali to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. ALSO READ: PM Modi, Army Chief celebrate Diwali with troops in J-K's Gurez sector along the LoC May the light guide your path, she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. Generally, fireworks accompany that. I dont need any fireworks; Im getting too many fireworks around me already. So well forgo the fireworks, he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. Americas top corporate leadership too joined the festivities. Happy Diwali! May the festival of lights spread love, peace & prosperity to all! Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet. Today, lets light up the world with the glow of our diyas and the warmth in our hearts. From my family to yours, best wishes for Diwali! tweeted Pepsico Chairwoman Indra Nooyi. ALSO READ | Happy Diwali 2017: Top 10 Bollywood songs that will set your mood in STYLE For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeeds house arrest was extended on Thursday for another 30 days by a Judicial Review Board of Pakistans Punjab province. However, the board refused to allow the same in the detention of his four aides. The 30-day detention will be applicable from October 24. Saeeds aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain may walk out free on the expiry of their September 25 detention order if they are not detained in any other case. Saeed and his four accomplices were presented before the provincial judicial review board on Thursday amid high security in the Lahore High Court. A good number of his supporters were present at the courts premises who showered rose petals on him and his aides. Police, however, stopped them from chanting slogans in the favour of their leader. The three member Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising Justice Yawar Ali (head), Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam held the hearing. A court official told PTI after the hearing that the Home Department of Punjab government had sought three months extension to the detention of Saeed and others under public safety law. The judicial board after listening to the arguments of the governments law officer did not entertain his request and only granted 30-day extension to Saeeds house arrest in Lahore, he said. The board also could not be convinced about keeping Saeeds four aides in detention beyond the expiry of September 25 detention order for a month and dismissed the governments plea for further extension to their detention, he said. The government may arrest Saeeds four aides in any other case on expiry of their detention period in last week of this month, the official added. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday requested during a meeting with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan that Washington send a new ambassador to Seoul as soon as possible. The post has been empty since January. Sullivan was visiting Seoul for talks over the North Korean issue. "We really want to see an ambassador taking up the post," she said. "We fully respect U.S. procedures but hopefully this will be concluded very soon." Sullivan stressed that the approval process takes time and was getting more stringent, citing his experience of going through it three times. Washington: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States holds Myanmar's military leadership "accountable" for the Rohingya refugee crisis, drawing a distinction with Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Myanmar's recent return to elected rule has given it a hybrid government in which the military still has wide powers in the security domain and in Rakhine state, where the United Nations has reported ethnic cleansing. "We're extraordinarily concerned by what is happening with Rohingya in Burma", Tillerson said. "I've been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi the leader of the civilian part of the government, as you know this is a power-sharing government." "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening", he said, warning the world won't stand and "be witness to the atrocities that have been reported." In the last seven weeks, more than half a million Rohingya have fled Rakhine and crossed into Bangladesh. Their stories have shocked the world globe, with accounts of Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist mobs murdering and raping civilians before torching their villages to the ground. The western region descended into chaos when Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar police posts on August 25, triggering the brutal military crackdown. Read more: Rex Tillerson says India, US stand together against terrorism Tillerson said that Washington understands that Myanmar is facing "serious rebel terrorist elements" in Rakhine, but warned the military must be disciplined and "restrained." And he said Myanmar must grant fuller access to aid agencies to aid civilians and to allow the world "a fuller picture of what is going on." "Someone is going to be held to account for that and it's up to the military leadership of Burma to decide what role do they want to play in the future of Burma", he said. "This is a real test for this power-sharing government." For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. paraklisi By Saint John, Archbishop of Shanghai and San FranciscoLet the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice!A new God-pleaser is being glorified by the Church.A new intercessor and mediator for sinful men has openly appeared in heaven. Not from the present day has he become a saint.Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt19 October/1 NovemberFrom the day of his removal to the Kingdom of Heaven he entered into the choir of the saints, and with them he mediates for them that turn to him for help. With them he glorifies the Creator and delights in inexpressible joy. Already for a long time, even during his life, many have been venerating him as a God-pleaser. The miracles performed by him testified to this. But that was only the opinion of feeling of individual persons, and panichidas were performed for him, as for ordinary people. Now, though, the Church states:"Truly this is one of God's elect. Truly this is a righteous man and mediator for us before God." The earthly Church celebrates, and all the holy angels and God-pleasers make glad with her. Among them there is no envy or division. When one of them is glorified, they all rejoice with him. And they rejoice not so much over the honor rendered to him, as over the fact that through him men are turning to God. They rejoice over the fact that men from the sinful world are turning their mental gaze toward heaven. Let us lift up our spiritual eyes and we shall behold John in heavenly glory.Who is he? He is a great righteous man. His whole life he tried to keep God's commandments and to do everything as God has commanded. He is a reverent sacred minister of the Church. Not by inheritance did he become a priest, as did the Old Testament priests, but by sincerely striving to serve God. He fervently raised up prayers to God, assiduously kept the church regulations, was truly an image and example for all sacred ministers. That is also why his prayer was effectual. He was the incarnation of mercy, took pity on everyone, helped everyone. No only did he respond to requests for help, but he himself sought out the needy. He condescended to everyone, strove to help everyone, giving material, worldly alms to some, raising up others from a sinful fall and enriching them with spiritual gifts. He was also a stern denouncer of human sins, like unto the Prophet Elias and John the Baptist, not fearing to speak the truth openly to someone's face. Kind to the repentant, no matter how great their sins were, he could not bear obstinacy in sin.A great wonderworker, he filled the whole world with his miracles, like unto Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, while by his teachings he edifies everyone going along God's way. A clairvoyant, who saw what was within those who came to him, what their life was, and who gave saving councils to each, at the end of his earthly life he had already become a prophet, who foresaw the coming calamities, if repentance and correction of life did not ensue. Let us then cry out to him now, when before everyone he has shown forth in the spiritual heaven: "Pray for us, righteous Father John; turn us all to the way of salvation, and deliver thine and our fatherland from the calamities that have come upon it according to thy prophecy, that joyfully we may cry out to thee: Rejoice, O righteous Father John, most wondrous wonderworker and intercessor for us before God! Holy righteous Father John, save us by thy prayers!"Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone(composed by Archbishop John Maximovich of San Francisco)O Wonderworker living in Christ forever, with love have mercy on those in danger; hear thy children who call upon thee with faith; be compassionate to those who hope for aid from thee, O Father John of Kronstadt, our beloved shepherd. Incheon International Airport has been named the best airport in the world for the 12th year in a row in the Airport Service Quality Awards. The awards event was held in Mauritius, an island nation off Africa's east coast, on Wednesday as part of the Airports Council International's annual meeting. Incheon ranked at the top in three categories -- best airport in the Asia-Pacific region, best airport handling over 40 million passengers per year, and best airport handling 40 million passengers or more per year in Asia-Pacific. Overall, Incheon scored 4.994 out of five points to be named the best airport in the world for the 12th year running since 2005, only four years after it opened. Senior officials from Japan, the United States, and South Korea have agreed that the 3 countries will put maximum pressure on North Korea for its repeated ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama, US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam met in Seoul on Wednesday. They agreed that the threat posed by North Korea has increased markedly. They pledged to work to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table and press it to give up its missile and nuclear programs through full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions against it and other means. At a joint news conference, Lim said the countries confirmed the shared goal of the North's abandonment of nuclear arms. He added the 3 countries will make all possible diplomatic efforts, including sanctions and dialogue. Sullivan referred to US President Donald Trump's planned visit to Japan and South Korea next month. He noted that Trump will reaffirm the US commitment to its allies. Sugiyama stated that Japan highly appreciates the fact that the US government has made it clear all options are on the table. He also said the 3 countries will closely cooperate on the issue of abductions by North Korea. Oct 19 (ANNnewsCH) - aaaaaaeYaa3aaaaaaaaaeaaaaaeaaaaeaaaaaaSaaeaaaaaaaaeaaaaYa An international research team, including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Wednesday that it has found a 50-kilometer-long cave under the surface of the moon through a study of observation data from JAXA's Kaguya (Selene) lunar orbiter launched in 2007. The cave, located under an area called the Marius Hills, could be a candidate site for a future lunar exploration base because temperatures inside are stable and effects of radiation are limited, according to the team. The team's finding was published in U.S. science magazine Geophysical Research Letters. Kaguya collected a massive volume of data by orbiting the moon for one and a half years from 2007. In 2009, it found a hole, which is about 50 meters in both diameter and depth, at the Marius Hills. Members of the team, including Tetsuya Kaku, a graduate student of Tokai University, and Junichi Haruyama, associate professor at JAXA, analyzed data collected by the explorer's Lunar Radar Sounder, and investigated the underground structure around the hole. Four people were found alive Wednesday on snowy Mount Asahidake in Hokkaido after they went missing Tuesday, police and rescue workers said. The four - two Japanese and two other Asians - were spotted late Wednesday afternoon on the mountain, the highest peak in Hokkaido, during a search and rescue operation that included local police and Ground Self-Defense Force personnel. They were expected to be transported to hospital, possibly later in the day, according to local police. The police received a call for help from a Japanese man at around 7:35 p.m. Tuesday. He said that they lost their way while descending the 2,291-meter peak. A woman who said she was Singaporean later called the police Wednesday morning, saying all four were safe. But police were subsequently unable to contact them. One person is said to be unable to walk, possibly suffering from hypothermia, the police said. The two Japanese are 71-year-old Masahiko Kato from Yokohama and his 65-year-old wife Yumiko who started climbing the mountain Tuesday morning. They apparently gave up on reaching the top due to bad weather and got lost on their way down as it became dark. Oct 19 (ANNnewsCH) - 18aaeaaa2aaaaaaaaaaaaaaYca4aaceaaaaaYa4aaaaaaaeZaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an organized crime member suspected in the trafficking in stimulant drugs who used a special delivery service to send the contraband to customers, reports TBS News In March, Wataru Hagiwara, a 45-year-old member of the Ninkyo Yamaguchi-gumi, and two other persons allegedly used a takkyubin delivery service to send kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs, from Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture to a woman in Aomori Prefecture. The woman paid 25,000 yen to the suspects for the drugs, police said. Hagiwara and one of the other suspects deny the allegations, according to the Fuchu Police Station. The suspects solicited customers, the majority of whom were housewives in their 30s and 40s, via internet bulletin board sites. The suspects are estimated to have accumulated about 4 million yen in sales over a two-year period. Oct 19 (ANNnewsCH) - 20aaaaeseaaaeaaceaaYaaaaaa aacccaacaeaaaaaYa Miyazaki Prefectural Police plan to arrest a 62-year-old man in the murder of the manager of a diner in Miyazaki City last month, reports Nippon News Network At 11:50 a.m. on September 9, a male customer of the Ehira Yotsume Shokudo, located in the Ehira-Higashi area of Miyazaki City, found the body of Tatsuo Onishi, 65, collapsed and bleeding from the head in the kitchen. Emergency personnel arriving at the restaurant confirmed him dead. An area of his head near an ear appeared to have been stabbed by an ice pick. According to police, the suspect fled to Oita Prefecture where he stole a vehicle. He was later arrested and prosecuted in Niigata Prefecture on suspicion of theft. During the course of that investigation, the suspect hinted at killing Onishi. Based on the condition of the body, which had experienced rigor mortis, police believe the incident took place several hours before the discovery. The diner occupies three floors of a building. A sliding door on the first floor was found unlocked upon the arrival of officers. As well, the drawer of the register was open. The suspect was scheduled to be sent from Niigata to Miyazaki on Thursday. Oct 19 (ANNnewsCH) - aaZaaeYa aeaaYacaaaaa62acaecSaaaaaaaaaa9aaaZaaaaaYaaaceYa aaaaaaaeeaaai65iae aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeaaaaYaaaaa Hyundai Mobis said Wednesday it had developed the world's first airbag for vehicle sunroofs. Testing of the airbags, which are designed to protect passengers from being thrown out of sunroofs in case of accidents, is complete and they are ready for production, the auto-component maker said. According to the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, about 260 people were seriously injured after being thrown from vehicles during rollover accidents in North America from 2000 to 2015. Hyundai Mobis said the airbags take just 0.08 second to protect passengers. Chinas national customs clearance integration, part of a reform starting in July, is bringing enterprises immense convenience and satisfaction, facilitating their clearance progress and savings in trade costs. Ever since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has been working to strike a balance between importation and exportation and introducing a wide range of optimizing policies and measures in various regards, including trade, customs, and regulation. Being one of the largest commodity importers, China contributes one-tenth to global import shares. Its high on the agenda of Chinas government to reduce institutional transaction costs, improve trade facilitation conditions, and develop the domestic market to create a level playing field. On Sept 4, 2015, China became the 16th member to accept the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which came into force this February. Being the very first multilateral protocol since the establishment of WTO, TFA is due to lower global trade costs by 14.3 percent and propel the modernization of Chinas ports governance system and the reduction of operation costs for enterprises. The efficiency of clearance determines enterprises trade costs to a great extent. Clearance duration from January to August was shortened by 24.7 percent compared to last year, resulting from the all-around implementation of integral national customs clearance reform in July. Consumers demand for quality imports is positively correlated with constantly upgrading consumption. A guideline on improving Chinas pre-warning and quick response system of quality risks in import and export commodities issued by the State Council in September urged bringing openness, sharing, shared-governance, and interconnected quality governance in efforts to safeguard peoples lives and offer high-quality supplies for economic development. Information exchange, mutual recognition of supervision, and mutual assistance in law enforcement are simplified among customs, inspection and quarantine, maritime, immigration inspection and other departments, relieving burdens for foreign trade enterprises, said Xie Song, chief of Guangzhou Customs. Midterm elections 2022: Republicans edge towards slim House majority as last results trickle in Democrats slim hopes of holding on to lower chamber appear to be ebbing away as Donald Trump expected to announce 2024 run #donaldtrump #elections #chamber US Navy: 70 tons of missile fuel from Iran to Yemen seized - The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The U.S. Navy said Tuesday it found 70 tons of a missile fuel component hidden among bags of fertilizer aboard a ship bound to... Alert: Moldova reports 'massive power outages' across the country after Russian strikes on Ukraines energy infrastructure CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) Moldova reports 'massive power outages' across the country after Russian strikes on Ukraines energy infrastructure. Migrant worker left injured, unable to travel home to Jamaica after he's hit while on his bike in Niagara Seasonal agricultural worker Ceto Reid was hit by a car on Oct. 6, the day before he was to fly home to Jamaica for the winter. The crash has forced him to... Rod Stewart Turned Down Over $1 Million to Perform at World Cup in Qatar Rod Stewart says he turned down over $1 million to perform at the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The 77-year-old singer said he was offered to play there 15... Taylor Swift's Eras tour presale breaks Ticketmaster Ahead of Verified Fan presale for Taylor Swift's highly anticipated Eras Tour, Ticketmaster promptly broke like a promise. People started reporting problems... Q&A: Scottish Child Payment The benefit has increased to 25 a week and has been extended to include anyone under 16. Covid campaigners send message to Matt Hancock in the Im A Celebrity jungle Campaigners flew a plane over the Im A CelebrityGet Me Out Of Here! jungle with a message for former health secretary Matt Hancock, which read: Covid... Wealthy Nations Offer Indonesia $20 Billion to Curb Coal The deal is the most ambitious effort yet by the United States and European countries to persuade a developing nation to abandon the dirtiest of the fossil... Trudeau, Chinese President Xi Jinping meet face to face at G20 in Indonesia Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke face to face on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. Average house price down by more than $170,000 since February Canada's housing market continued its slowdown last month, with the volume of home sales down by more than a third compared to the boom times of last year ... Trump Prepares To Launch 3rd Campaign For The White House Watch Video Former President Donald Trump is preparing to launch his third campaign for the White House on Tuesday, looking to move on from... Adults need toys, too: Some holiday gift suggestions NEW YORK (AP) Adults. They need toys, too. From sweet treats to things with wheels, some ideas for pleasing a child at heart this holiday season: BOARD... Demolition of Nain Boarding School closes 'dark chapter' of Inuit history, says Nunatsiavut Elders, survivors and children gathered in Nain on Monday to watch the abandoned building be demolished. Premier Danielle Smith rules out mask mandates despite widespread school illness Thousands of Alberta children are home from school with respiratory illnesses, but Alberta's premier says a school mask mandate is not on the table, and she... 'Notorious' Holocaust denier arrested in fishing village two years after fleeing France A Holocaust denier who fled France after he was convicted under anti-Nazi laws has been arrested in a Scottish fishing village. Inquest probing drug deaths of five inmates in eastern Ontario jail underway A coroner's inquest into the drug-related deaths of five inmates at an Ontario jail heard Monday that one of them used to "self medicate" with drugs to cope with... Almost 2,000 firms slide into insolvency in October Company insolvencies leapt by 38% last month in England and Wales as the economic downturn caused more firms to collapse. Meghan faces demonisation in the media, actress Jameela Jamil says The Duchess of Sussex has thanked Jameela Jamil for fighting back on her behalf after the actress criticised the demonisation of Meghan in the media. Nursing unions pay claim is unaffordable, says PM Rishi Sunak said the pay deal sought by the nurses union was unaffordable but acknowledged people were struggling with the rising cost of living. Another painting attacked by climate activists Climate activists have attacked a painting by Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid before another glued himself to its frame. Climate activists throw liquid at Klimt painting in Vienna BERLIN (AP) Climate activists in Austria on Tuesday attacked a famous painting by artist Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid and one then glued himself to... Roberta Flack has ALS, now 'impossible to sing,' rep says A representative for Roberta Flack announced Monday that the Grammy-winning musician has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and can no longer sing. Steven Gerrard lands new job fresh from Aston Villa sack All the latest Aston Villa news as BirminghamLive brings you details on Steven Gerrard's new role within football Exclusive: The WhatsApp scandal in banking and its place in the City The recent fine from the SEC, exacted on 16 Wall Street banking giants, caused ripples on both sides of the pond. The collective $1.8bn in punishments doled... Trump exec says he feared firing if he spoke up about scheme An executive at Donald Trump's company testified Monday he was afraid he'd hear those famous words 'youre fired!' if he went to the big boss with... Katie Price and Carl Woods 'jet home from Thailand early' after 'row about exes' The couple are reported to have come home from a holiday early after Katie commented on a post shared by her ex Kris Boyson's new fiancee. Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media Costco disclosed to investors that Connecticut regulators warned it a second time in September over its disposal of unsold pharmaceuticals, with the warehouse giant operating pharmacy counters in Norwalk, Brookfield and Milford. In a regulatory filing, Costco stated it is seeking to cooperate concerning the resolution with a Costco spokesman declining further comment to Hearst Connecticut Media on the investigation by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY Mayor Mark Boughtons eight minutes of fame on a Fox Business program Thursday did more than promote the citys bid to bring Amazons $5 billion headquarters here. Boughtons appearance on Mornings with Maria also elevated the longtime GOP mayors profile as a likely candidate for the 2018 governors race. Are you going to run for governor against Malloy? Anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Boughton on the program Thursday. Were looking very closely at that race and we will see what happens there, Boughton said during a segment about cities bidding for Seattle-based Amazons second world headquarters. We think there is an opportunity and we think it is time that we make Connecticut great again. Boughton noted, however, that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is not running for re-election. The mayors Fox appearance came the same day Malloy unveiled details about the states pitch to Amazon, which makes Stamford and Hartford the preferred locations for the new headquarters. Amazon had set Thursday as the deadline for cities to bid for its second headquarters, which could employ up to 50,000 well-paid workers. After being passed over by the state, both Danbury and Bridgeport submitted their own proposals. Boughton last month released a video making the case for why Danbury should be considered. So, Alexa, where is the best place for Amazon to locate its second world headquarters? Boughton asks on the video. Danbury, Connecticut, the voice service responds. Now Playing: Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton's pitch to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for Danbury to host an Amazon headquarters. Video: News-Times Danburys creativity, which also included mailing Amazon a key to the city, earned Boughton the spot on Mornings with Maria. You miss 100 percent of the shots you dont take, so we are going to take our shot, Boughton said on the program. The economic spinoff and derivative will be incredible, and transform Connecticut. I think this will lead the Connecticut comeback. Connecticut Comeback, by the way, is the slogan for Boughtons exploratory campaign for governor in 2018. In the final two minutes of the Fox segment, the conversation turned to Boughtons likely run for governor. When asked by Bartiromo if he would cut taxes if elected, Boughton responded, Oh, Ill eliminate the income tax. We have a plan to eliminate the income tax over the next 10 years and bring people back to Connecticut. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Boughton has raised $195,000 toward the $250,000 mark he needs in small contributions to qualify for $8 million in state election grants. He repeated his position on Thursday that he will not make an announcement until the end of January. The way the subject morphed from a national story about Amazons request for proposals to Boughtons plans to fix Connecticuts economic crisis showed his ability to seize the opportunity, said the states GOP leader. Mark is certainly well-versed on the issues, and he represented himself well, said J.R. Romano, the Connecticut Republican party chairman. Hes capitalizing on the opportunities. Romano, whose party has a growing field of contenders for the states highest office, would not go any further in his assessment of Boughton as a candidate, except to say that Boughton represented himself and the party position well. Speaking about the economic disaster the state has become under Democratic leadership was spot on, Romano said. The Fox episode was not all about Danbury. A few minutes were devoted to a pitch by Tulsa, Okla., for the Amazon bid. At one point, Fox Business roundtable contributor Kevin Kelly said he would move to Connecticut if Boughton was elected governor and eliminated the income tax. Romano said he noticed that comment. There is no question that people outside our state are watching what is happening in Connecticut, Romano said. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD A plan to merge the states 12 community colleges into one prompted more questions than answers when it was aired Thursday before the board that will ultimately decide. But there are still concerns. Lois D. Aime, president of the Norwalk Community College Senate, said she worried about simply being a branch of a Nutmeg Community College. We cannot be a branch of a larger state system and retain the ability to react to the needs of our immediate area, Aime said. With curricular decisions taken away from us, we are no longer a community college that can effectively meet the needs of our service area. Barbara Richards, a sociology professor at Housatonic Community College and ex-officio member of the Board of Regents that oversees community colleges and the states regional universities, told the board she is concerned about the role faculty will play in search committees for campus leaders. They cant be unqualified people, she said. Irene Martin, director of financial aid at Middlesex Community College, worried there are flaws in the plan. I am concerned that with this structure financial aid professionals appear to be replaced with enrollment service specialists, Martin said during the public speaking portion of the meeting in Hartford. Students deserve the most expert, quick and correct response without me having to say, Let me get back to you on that. System President Mark Ojakian unveiled plans this week to create a Community College of Connecticut which would put the 12 colleges under a single accreditation. The system would keep its 12 campuses and all satellites, but students would have to apply just once, fill out one financial aid form and take their grade-point average with them should they transfer to another campus. Combined, the system of 52,000 students would become the fifth-largest community college in the nation. The plan promises to save the system $28 million by the time it begin in July 2019. Barbara Brittingham, president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, called the idea unprecedented in New England and perhaps the country. It is a bold and dramatic move to improve services to students even as financial resources are decreasing, she said. The commission is working with the system to help understand the plan and for them to understand what it will take to win commission approval. It is prepared to review the proposal next spring. Under the plan, the system would go from 12 presidents to one vice chancellor, and would shrink 36 college administrative positions into 16, with the elimination of campus financial and academic officers. Each existing community college would be governed by a vice president and would be clustered into three regions headed by a regional president. Those presidents would do double duty, serving as a vice president at one of the campuses. At Thursdays meeting, Hector Navarro, a student at Naugatuck Valley Community College and student representative to the board, asked what the plan would mean to the regional universities. Ojakian said there are no plans to unite at Western, Southern, Central and Eastern universities, but efforts are being made to share services, leverage purchasing contracts and implement best practices across the system. Board members were assured the process would not tamper with academic rigor or freedom. State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, didnt attend the meeting, but said she finds the plan intriguing. I like the direction of the thinking, she said. But she has questions. Before making a final decision, she wants to hear more from administrators, faculty, and students. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW MILFORD Growing up, Jacob Eun considered following in his fathers footsteps and becoming a pastor. But while on a youth church retreat in high school, he felt in his heart God was calling him for a greater purpose. Years passed and he began to doubt this feeling, so he asked God for a sign something like the burning bush he showed Moses. But then I realized that Gods presence is anywhere everywhere I go, Eun said. Thats when I realized I dont need any sign. Now 26, Eun is the new pastor of a tight-knit parish of about 50 people at Gaylorsdville United Methodist Church, established in the mid-1800s. Our church is very loving, very caring, very welcoming, Eun said. Its like my family. They were so kind and they really do appreciate me being here. And I do, too. I am so blessed by this church. Heidi Haug, who has been going to the church on and off since childhood, said she loves Euns spirit and excitement. Hes kind and thoughtful and has great ideas, she said. He loves everybody. You can tell when hes doing a service, its really coming from his heart. Eun may be young, but he is wise beyond his years, said Kathleen Weinzierl, who has been a parishioner for four years. She said he brings a younger perspective that is critical. He is very humble, Weinzierl said. He is very intelligent. He has really been a blessing to the church. He is very spirtual. Any decision he makes, he prays about it first. Hes the real deal. Eun describes himself as a born-and-bred Methodist. His father, John Higon Eun, was the pastor at a church in South Korea until Jacob was 12 and the family moved to America. The senior Eun was seeking better educational opportunities for his two sons. He had to sacrifice a lot, Eun said. He actually gave up everything he built in South Korea. For Euns teenage years, the family lived in Fairfield and Easton, as his father served as a pastor at Fairfield Grace Korean Methodist Church. John Higon Eun then became the pastor at the Chamsarang Korean Methodist Church in Long Island. When Eun told his father he wanted to be a pastor, his dad had a piece of advice. He said being a pastor is not just being a pastor for one day out of seven days, Eun said. You have to embody Gods ministry in all (your) life. Eun has tried to do that by keeping God at the center of his life, he said. Much of his day is spent praying and preparing for his Sunday sermon. Always, at the core of the sermon, theres the love of God that is accessible to anyone who wants it, he said. Parishioners said his services are interactive, with the music, prayers and Scripture readings on a wall in front of the church so people do not need to follow along in their Bibles. He asks questions or has parishioners review the previous weeks sermon, Haug said. Hes really bringing a lot of pep to the church, a lot of excitement, she said. Were learning from him. We werent sure how that was going to work because were all older than he is, pretty much. But its great because its all fresh with him. Its new. Eun graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Arts in history and psychology in 2012. In 2015, he earned a Master of Divinity at the Drew Theological School in New Jersey. He attended Princeton Theological Seminary, last year earning a Master of Theology with a concentration in New Testament. Before starting at Gaylordsville in July, Eun was the English ministry pastor and youth pastor at his fathers church and as the elementary pastor at Arcola United Methodist Church in New Jersey. Few young people are at the Gaylordsville church, but Eun hopes to change that. Thats one of my passions, he said. I want to engage in more church ministry and bring more children (and) youth into the church, bring more livelihood into the church. He hopes to be a resource for Korean international students in nearby schools. He is planning a Holyween event where attendees dress as Bible characters and play games and other activities at the church. Im going to open the church door more to the community so they can come and enjoy the fellowship together, Eun said. On Feb. 7, 2017 the U.S. invaded the sovereign state of Yemen. It was a surprise attack deliberately creating terror, chaos and death, killing a number of civilians including children one of whom was a U.S. citizen, a little girl. The attack originated from a forward offensive U.S. base in the nation of Djibouti, a small impoverished neighboring state unfortunately susceptible to CIA payoffs for a U.S. offensive military presence within its borders. This was just another day of needless terror and wanton death by the worlds most prolific killing machine, distressingly our United States. On that same day in Djibouti, another international power contributed to the world news. In this case it was China. However, this story wasnt of a major power launching an invasion from Djibouti of deliberate destruction and death to a small defenseless country, but rather it was about another kind of initiation, one of hope, pride and a regional positive commitment. For on this day, Djibouti celebrated construction instead of destruction, cooperation instead of war, brightness instead of darkness and dreams instead of nightmares. China completed a multi-billion dollar engineering and construction marvel, the 850 km high-speed rail connection between Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and Djibouti bringing economic enlightenment to these impoverished states. What a stark contrast, on one hand the U.S. using Djibouti as a platform to invade Yemen and to originate daily regional assassination drone flights and on the other, the Chinese helping Djibouti originate daily world class international rail transportation. China building, the United States destroying, people, this is not a healthy contrast, nor one that can endure. Yemen is but one of at least nine wars, yes nine wars, with Americans daily killing people with no Constitutional authority and under the poisonous cover of National Security. If this is what it takes to be secure, I want none of it. It is the false security propagated by those who profit by it both monetarily and politically. National security, which means constant bullying and killing of defenseless states who have absolutely no means to threaten us, is not sane, its not constitutional, its inhumane. This national security is the real fake news. We are constantly told its our number one priority by our leaders and a complicit major media. It has brought us constant war, taken nearly all our discretionary federal spending resources leaving us broke, financially and spiritually and making us each year less secure! How can this insanity continue? This is not security its reckless and deliberate, malicious insecurity. With so much of our resources going to war, our health system, infrastructure, education, national parks, environment, social services and national disaster relief is devastated. Until this country stops its war machine under the guise of national security and the insidious forces menacingly lurking behind it, we are a nation at risk. I hope that this example of China in Africa shines a light on our misbegotten ways. Charlie De Santis is a resident of Newtown. TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Brink's Canada and Unifor have reached a tentative agreement that would avert a strike in Ontario and B.C. We believe this agreement is fair and reasonable for both the company and our employees. This tentative arrangement is subject to ratification by employees. "Throughout the negotiating process, the sustainability of our business and protection of jobs have been our chief concerns. We are pleased to have reached an agreement that will keep our valued employees on-the-job, maintaining critical service to our customers. If ratified, the agreement will help to protect our position within the Canadian marketplace," said Chris Parks, President & General Manager, Brink's Canada Limited. Brink's Canada looks forward to continuing to provide world class service to our valued customers. SOURCE Brink's Canada Limited For further information: John Perenack, [email protected], 416-864-7903; Jonathan McGuire, [email protected], 416-864-7910 VANCOUVER, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - CRH Medical Corporation (TSX: CRH) (NYSE MKT: CRHM) (the "Company"), plans to release its unaudited results for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 after market close. The Company's executive management will discuss the results during a conference call on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 11:00 am Eastern Time/8:00 am Pacific Time. To participate in the call, please dial 1-800-319-4610, or (604) 638-5340. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call by dialing 1-855-669-9658 or (604) 6748052 and entering access code 1687. The replay will be available for two weeks after the call. About CRH Medical Corporation: CRH Medical Corporation is a North American company focused on providing gastroenterologists throughout the United States with innovative services and products for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The CRH O'Regan System is a single-use, disposable, hemorrhoid banding technology that is safe and highly effective in treating all grades of hemorrhoids. CRH distributes the O'Regan System, treatment protocols, operational and marketing expertise as a complete, turnkey package directly to gastroenterology practices, creating meaningful relationships with the gastroenterologists it serves. CRH's O'Regan System is currently used in all 48 lower US states. In 2014, CRH acquired Gastroenterology Anesthesia Associates, LLC ("GAA"), a full-service gastroenterology anesthesia company that provides anesthesia services for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. Since then, CRH has incorporated 14 additional acquisitions to its anesthesia business. CRH Anesthesia now services 35 ambulatory surgical centers in seven states and performs approximately 235,000 procedures annually. SOURCE CRH Medical Corporation For further information: Kettina Cordero, Director of Investor Relations, CRH Medical Corporation, 800.660.2153 x1030, [email protected], http://investors.crhsystem.com/ Related Links www.crhmedcorp.com Flight to Freedom: The Canadian Refugee Experience Conference in Ottawa, October 21-23, 2017 Join Canada's top refugee thought leaders OTTAWA, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - What is Canada's role today, given the global rise of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee movements? Experts, policy makers, academics, refugee advocates, and award-winning authors will gather for a three-day conference in Ottawa, October 21-23, 2017. The public are invited to attend and explore Canada's history of protecting refugees in challenging times, and our Country's potential role at home and abroad. Recognizing Canada's 150th celebrations and the 60th anniversary of the arrival and settlement of 38,000 Hungarian refugees during 1957, this conference investigates how government and civil society can work together. What is Canada's response to the current global refugee situation? WHAT: Flight to Freedom: The Canadian Refugee Experience Since 1957 WHEN & WHERE: Sat., Oct. 21 (2:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Saint Paul University, Amphitheatre) Sun., Oct. 22 (8:15 AM - 7:00 PM, Saint Paul University) Mon., Oct. 23 (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Saint Paul University); (2:00 PM - 8:00 PM, The Canadian Museum of History) REGISTRATION AT DOOR: Open to the public; $75 for 3-day admission; $30 for single day pass and students. Flight to Freedom Conference Program Highlights Keynote address by The Honourable Bob Rae on October 23 rd at 9:30 AM . on at . Readings and talks by Canadian authors: Moyez G. Vassanji , multiple award-winning writer; Tasneem Jamal , a Ugandan Asian child refugee to Canada , journalist and editor. , multiple award-winning writer; , a Ugandan Asian child refugee to , journalist and editor. First person accounts by former or new refugees: Judy Trinh , a CBC Ottawa journalist and child refugee from Vietnam ; Peter Duschinsky , a retired immigration and foreign service officer who arrived in 1957 as teenager from Hungary ; Rabea Alriffai, a recent Syrian refugee and now a graduate student in education at the University of Ottawa . , a CBC Ottawa journalist and child refugee from ; , a retired immigration and foreign service officer who arrived in 1957 as teenager from ; Rabea Alriffai, a recent Syrian refugee and now a graduate student in education at the . Heart-warming stories: Amina Jalabi , a photographer and Syrian immigrant to Canada will speak of her project to help recent Syrian refugees see their new country through the lens of a camera. , a photographer and Syrian immigrant to will speak of her project to help recent Syrian refugees see their new country through the lens of a camera. Panel discussion with top thought leaders of our time on "Protecting Refugees in Challenging Times: Canada's role at home and abroad" . Welcome by Mark O'Neill , President and CEO of The Canadian Museum of History; Introduction by Peter Showler , former Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada , and other experts including Janet Dench , Canadian Council for Refugees. . Welcome by , President and CEO of The Canadian Museum of History; Introduction by , former Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board of , and other experts including , Canadian Council for Refugees. "Refugee Experience and Inclusion" art competition for children organized by St. Joe's Women's Centre. Artwork by refugee children and others will be displayed during the conference in Saint Paul University. Winners will be announced by Mathieu Fleury , Councillor for Rideau Vanier Ward in The Canadian Museum of History on October 23 rd at 5:00 PM . organized by St. Joe's Women's Centre. Artwork by refugee children and others will be displayed during the conference in University. Winners will be announced by , Councillor for Rideau Vanier Ward in The Canadian Museum of History on at . Screening of a recent documentary on the Vietnamese "Boat People" and their journey to Canada in A Moonless Night. Boat People: 40 Years Later. Screening to be followed by a Q&A with Executive Producer Thi Be Nguyen and Director/Producer Marie Helene Panisset. Read the full conference program here: Hungarian Presence Anniversary or www.hungarianpresence.ca More About Flight to Freedom Flight to Freedom has been organized by a partnership committee brought together and sponsored by the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation. Other partners include the Canadian Immigration Historical Society, the University of Ottawa, Saint Paul University, The Canadian Museum of History, The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, St. Joseph's Parish in Ottawa, and other interested institutions and individuals. What is the significance of 1957? The arrival of Hungarian refugees in 1957 was the first time such a large group of refugees arrived here from one county. That experience, identified by the Canadian government in 2010 as an event of national historic significance, helped shape the development of subsequent refugee policies and programs. When large numbers of Ugandan Asians and Vietnamese refugees arrived in the 1970s, and more recently Syrians, Canada had the example of 1957 as a benchmark. Flight to Freedom will explore the impact of refugees from these and other groups on Canadian society and culture. SOURCE CANADA-HUNGARY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION For further information: To schedule an interview or to obtain media passes, please contact: Heidi Vincent, [email protected], 613-293-3564; Judy Young, President, The Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation, [email protected] This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Brewing is becoming a big business in Connecticut, creating a $1 billion impact on the states economy and drawing attention from the states legislative delegation to Washington. The state currently has between 50 and 60 craft brewers, according to Dana Bourque, co-owner of Firefly Hollow Brewing in Bristol and president of the Connecticut Brewers Guild. Its growing so fast that its hard to keep track of the exact number, Borque said Tuesday night during a meeting with U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5, at Alvarium Beer Co. in New Britain. That kind of growth has been helped out in part by loans that have the backing of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Anne Rice Hunt, the director of SBAs Connecticut District office, said 30 Connecticut breweries have availed themselves of loans backed by the agency since 2013. A lender can make a loan to a brewer that they might not otherwise make because we are taking on the risk, Hunt said. Estys visit to Alvarium is also illustrative of the industrys growing clout. Twice during the summer, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., focused his attention on Connecticuts brewery industry, once visiting a farm that grows hops in Morris and then later with a visit to the Thomas Hooker brewery in Hartford. RELATED: Craft brewers hit major milestone in 2016 Esty said part of the reason for the growth in Connecticuts local brewers is that many consumers want what they eat and drink to be as locally sourced as possible. Theres a lot thats going on in the Fifth District alone, whether its in Kent or here, she said. People dont want everything to be cookie cutter anymore. Alvarium opened in a former printing facility in June. Two of its founders, Brian Bugnacki and head brewer Chris DeGasero, still work day jobs and work at the brewery in their spare time. RELATED: Two Roads breaks ground on second brewing facility Bugnacki said that city officials have been very cooperative in helping the brewery get off the ground. But he said Connecticuts liquor laws have put a crimp in how much Alvarium can sell. Esty said state and federal laws regarding the brewing and sale of beer should be structured so that they compliment each other rather than conflict. DeGasero said that even though craft brewers are theoretically competing against each other for customers, there is also a sense of camaraderie. Its a feel good industry, he said. Everyone helps everyone else out. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Connecticuts economy lost 2,000 jobs in September, officials with the state Department of Labor said Thursday, the third month in a row that employment has declined. Making matters worse, the number of jobs lost in August was revised downward from 3,900 to 4,200. With that revision, the state has lost 7,200 jobs since July. Septembers decline of 2,000 seasonally adjusted payroll jobs caps a slow third quarter for Connecticut job growth, said Andy Condon, director of the state Labor Departments Office of Research. Even with Septembers job losses, Connecticuts unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percent to 4.6 percent, Condon said. The employment sectors with the biggest losses in September were construction and mining, which saw a decline of 1,400 jobs, and the leisure and hospitality industry, which lost 1,200. Four industries saw employment increases, led by professional and business services, which added 1,100 jobs, followed by a gain of 900 in the financial activities sector. Pete Gioia, an economist with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the continued loss of jobs in the state is disturbing. Connecticuts economy is impacted by the instability at the capitol, Gioia said in a statement. We started this year with great momentum, even seeing as much as 11,000-plus job growth year-over-year. But over the last three months, its eroded dramatically. Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, was even more pessimistic in his assessment of the states latest employment numbers. We have to be seriously concerned about the prospect of recession starting to emerge in Connecticut, Klepper-Smith said. The pronounced lack of fiscal discipline at the state and local level now gives incentive for expanding businesses, both inside and outside of Connecticut, to look elsewhere. My concern is that this negativity will continue to feed on itself until meaningful changes that address the structural nature of these deficits over the next several years are dealt with. The New Haven area was Connecticuts lone bright spot in terms of employment gains, adding 1,200 jobs in September. It was the only labor market area in the state that added jobs last month. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The corporate parent of New Haven-based Sargent Manufacturing is acquiring a high technology home security start-up company from San Francisco. Officials with Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy said Thursday that their acquisition of August Home is expected to close before the end of the year. Terms of the deal were not released. August Home was founded in 2012 and its marquee product is a door lock that can be open and shut remotely using a smartphone app. It also makes Internet-connected video doorbells. The companys focus is selling these products to the do-it-yourself market. And the lure of that market has been attractive enough to investors so that August Home has been able to raise $63 million in funding since March 2015. Jason Johnson, chief executive officer of August Home, said in a blog post that the two companies have a shared vision for smart doors and making in-home delivery a reality. Now we begin the work of combining our talent, technology expertise and software-centric approach with the capabilities, reach and distribution Assa Abloy brings to the partnership, Johnson wrote. Thanasis Molokotos, executive vice president of Assa Abloy and head of its Americas division, said August Home has created a fantastic consumer experience through differentiated features and software. We look forward to the opportunity to draw from the 180 years of cumulative experience of the Yale (lock) team plus the technology expertise of the August team to create the future of smart residential doors, Molokotos said in a statement. Assa Abloy is the world's largest lock maker. It acquired Sargent, which makes a variety of locks and lock components, in 2006. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com HAMDEN A man and a woman were extricated from their car after crashing into a tree on northbound Route 15 by Exit 61 Thursday afternoon, fire officials said. Hamden firefighters responded to the scene of the accident around 1:53 p.m. One car had crashed head-on into a tree, Deputy Fire Chief Gary Merwede said in a release. NEW HAVEN Concerned about the limited number of single-room-occupancy units in the city, Mayor Toni Harp has asked the City Plan Commission to hold a public hearing on the upgrading of the Duncan Hotel. The Duncan at 1151 Chapel St. will be renovated to a boutique hotel under new ownership, a plan that eliminates the 38 single-room-occupancy options that have long been available there. Harps resolution set off a discussion at the commission Wednesday on SROs and gentrification that one commission member thought was being overblown. The mayor, in her request to the commission, asked for the hearing to be held if the Duncan submits a site plan for the project. Preliminarily, the plan is to cut the total number of hotel rooms to 72 from 90. The new facility will also have a game room, a lobby coffee shop and will continue to have a basement-level restaurant. Harp said members of the commumity have raised concerns about the loss of these SRO units and about the dimishing affordable housing options in downtown New Haven. There is only one other SRO facility downtown. Harp referred to the New Haven Vision 2025, comprehensive plan of development, which said the city lacks opportunities for this kind of housing for young adults, seniors and persons with disabilities. Commission Chairman Ed Mattison said he feels there should be a discussion of how to increase the availability of low- and moderate-income housing downtown and throughout the city. It is amazing to think, but it could happen that we could turn ourselves into San Francisco, Mattison said, referring to the new upscale apartments being built downtown. Jonathan Wharton, another member and a political science teacher at Southern Connecticut State University, said I think that is a stretch. With all due respect, I actually teach and study gentrification, so this is nothing new to me, he said. Wharton referred to the growth of downtown Jersey City, where development after development came in and changed that city. That was gentrification, he said. Mattison agreed, but said in New Haven you want to be ahead of it. This city has so much more potential to draw people into it. There have to be pathways of doing both (high-income and low-income housing,) Wharton said. He abstained when it came time to a vote on the resolution, which the rest of the commission agreed to. After the meeting, he said he wasnt for or against the study, he just needed more information. The big picture is what happens to future development when we know that there is a lot of red tape to getting projects off the ground, Wharton said. Who gets a public hearing and who doesnt? he asked. Mattison said afterward that the study does not imply that the Duncan , owned by a private company, should be compelled somehow to have SROs This is not within the commissions jurisdiction. It was not even known whether AJ Capital Partners will submit a site plan on its renovation. We are not talking about ... discouraging development in New Haven, Mattison said. Wharton said he wants to see a bigger picture of how the comprehensive plan refers to this. I have qualms about this one project and setting a precedent, Wharton said. Leslie Radcliffe, another commission member, said public hearings elicit new ideas and they should answer questions on how any given project serves the city. Wharton worried that adding another layer of red tape could discourage a developer. Radcliffe and outgoing City Planner Karyn Gilvarg said pubic hearings are at the discretion of the commission. Anne Hartjen, a staff member of the department, said the commission could divorce the hearing from the Duncan and just have one on the general concept of SROs. Someone has to take the leadership and maybe it is us, Mattison said. The chairman said it is important to have a variety of housing options. You have city centers that have nobody who is not identical to everyone else. We dont want that, but we have to plan as to how we avoid it, Mattison said. Mattison said AJ Capital has done right by the tenants. The company hired an agency to help them find alternative housing. They have told the tenants, that if they are dissafisfied with their new apartment, they will help them find something else. Lets discuss an uncomfortable subject. The n-word. State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, was reprimanded last week for using the racist epithet at a meeting with the University of Connecticut College Democrats in which she recalled her experience ridding libraries of kids books containing the word, and in doing so, she used it. She apologized, according to a statement by the UConn College Democrats. The release said Slossberg explicitly used the n-word, without euphemism, within the context of its presence in book. It also refuted the use of this word and any others that target the identities of groups affected by racism. News of the statement formed immediate battle lines. On one side were Democratic leaders who scolded Slossberg for using the epithet, saying there is no appropriate time, place or setting for its use. On the other side were the Republican leaders who claimed Slossberg was being punished for voting for a Republican budget that most Democrats voted against. JR Romano, chairman of the GOP State Central Committee, called Slossbergs reprimand a vendetta. A few small points, then a big one. One is that Republican leaders seem comfortable appearing indifferent to the use of a racist epithet. Romano could have said he condemns using the n-word while accusing the Democrats of punishing Slossberg, but he didnt. In politics, whats unsaid is sometimes as important as whats said. Second is that a vendetta is unlikely. Likelier is the urge among college students, especially liberal white college students, to display their anti-racism. Slossbergs use of the n-word gave them an opportunity to stand against white supremacy. All things considered, we should encourage that. But we should not encourage a color-blind view in which the n-word should never be said. There is a right time, place and setting. The real question is not whether to use it. The real question is who uses it. I say this bearing in mind George Mintz, president of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP, who told reporters seeking comment that it all depends. If I said something like, these n-people, thats offensive, he said. But (if) I said something like: You want to do away with the n-word, well, thats not offensive. It depends on the context. I think Mintz is right and wrong. Hes right in saying that its not offensive for an African-American man like himself to use the n-word, because his using it would not cause the harm that would result if I used it. But while I appreciate his giving a white person allowance to use it in a right and proper setting, I think the issue is more complex. I say this from personal experience. When I was teaching a course on presidential campaign reporting at Yale, I often read to students. This meant I read words someone else wrote, and sometimes those words included the n-word. (Some of our reading was published in the 1950s and 1960s.) I used to think I was morally in the clear. These werent my words, I said to myself. They were someone elses. But then a colleague said something that changed my mind. He said context is irrelevant, because the point is something else entirely: being responsible for the words you use. If a student of color objected to my reading the n-word from Norman Mailers Miami and the Siege of Chicago, I could, if I chose to, defend using the n-word by saying: These arent my words. They are Normal Mailers. But thats not the point. The point is being responsible for the words we use, and understanding the potential harm of using them irresponsibly. During my brief stint at Yale, no student of color and they numbered in the dozens had ever put me in the uncomfortable position of having to defend myself. That says more about them than it says about me. Yam market Mr Yandev Amaabai, the Managing Director, Wan Nyikwagh Farms Nigeria Limited, has appealed to the Federal Government to provide the necessary support to private yam exporters in order to cut cost and prevent time wastage, according to The Tribune. Amaabai also begged the Federal Government to fast-track the transportation of yam tubers to the United States of America and United Kingdom before their shelf life expiration. He made the appeal during an interview in Abuja as he admitted that the Federal Governments policy on yam exportation to the US and UK was a good initiative, adding that Nigeria was the largest producer of the product in Africa. He noted that for the policy to achieve its objectives, there are some challenges that needed to be put in place by the government to ease the stress of exporting yams to other countries to earn foreign exchange. I moved my yams from Benue to Lagos on 25 and 26 of June. The flag-off for the yams exportation was on the 29th by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh. When we got to Lagos, I discovered that we needed certain containers to export the yams. I discovered such containers were not available so we were given a space at the port to packed the yams. After the flag-off, I was able to get the required container. So my yams were loaded on July 7 and left Nigeria on July 9 to the US. The yams did not get to the US until Sept 1. After the flag-off, we were left on our own without any form of direction or assistance by the government and this did not go down well with us. Because movement within the ports took us more than 2 to 3 days. To move a container from Tin Can port to Apapa port just a close distance was hectic for us, he said. He further stated the Federal Government agency is saddled with the responsibility to ensure proper packaging and handling of this product for export due to the lack the exact requirements. From my experience, the government agency that was supposed to supervise how we were packaging the yams did not know the exact thing they were supposed to do. We were asked to cut the bottom of the yams and put wax but when we got to the US, we discovered that that was not necessary. The moment you cut the bottom of the yam, it makes it rotten quicker. So some of the yams when we arrived the US were actually not too good again but most were good and we sold all out, he noted. Reacting to the recent report of poor quality of consignment of yams exported from Nigeria to the US, the Managing Director debunk the story, stating that the report was politically motivated to frustrate governments effort. We did not have any challenge with the America government. My yams were the first to arrive. It was cleared and delivered to the warehouse just three days after shipping in. The second day, we moved them to quarantine office where they did fumigation. Then we packed our yams to the warehouse. So wherever this story is coming from that America government says that yams exported from Nigeria are not good, I dont know about that. Even on the shelves in the US, you can still see some Ghanaian yams rotten. I have pictures as evidence to show in case of any doubt. There is no way these yams could have been 100 percent okay because of the time wasted to ship them to the US. By all standards, yams from Nigeria were far better in terms of quality and taste. Right now, we are out of stock. The yams we took there were all bought, he said. Amaabai, however, appealed to the Federal Government to reach out to these shipping lines and ensure quick delivering of such perishable product in good time. Government should reach out to the shipping lines. Let us get shipping lines that can do this thing in a shorter period to avoid a lot of time being wasted. My yams went through 12 ports before it finally got to the US. If we can get ships that are going the direct route, that will have been better and the cost will also be reduced. So far, it was a success story. I believe this is a learning process. I have learned a lot. Next time, I should be able to cut the cost at least half of what I inquired from this last experience. It will be recalled that the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) an agency that has the responsibility to ensure the quality of yams for export provided farmers with guidelines to meet international standards. Dr Vincent Isegbe, Coordinating Director, NAQS, spelled out the conditions to include: uniform size of the product, it should not have growth on the head, it will be cut and waxed with a candle to prevent infection among others. The Ekiti State House of Assembly, on Thursday hinted on the possibility of sending the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu to jail over what it described as the illegal arrest of two officials of the state.Recall that the anti-graft agency had arrested the states Finance Commissioner, Toyin Ojo and Accountant General of the state, Yemisi Owolabi over alleged misappropriation of Paris Loan Refund.The duo were, however, released unconditionally after two weeks of detention in the anti-graft agencys custody.Chairman, House Committee on information of the Assembly, Samuel Omotosho made the submission while addressing top government functionaries and heads of MDAs, led by the states Head of Service, Gbenga Faseluka.Omotosho, who is representing Oye Constituency in Oye Local Government Area of the state, said the constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, supersedes an Act of the National Assembly which created the EFCC.He maintained that the only organ of government empowered to probe alleged misappropriation of funds by officials of the state government remains the state Assembly and not the EFCC.Omotosho said, What the EFCC has done by invading and arresting the two officials on September 28 is tantamount to illegality, witch-hunt, unjust humiliation and oppression of the officials.This is why the matter has been taken up by the state government which is instituting a legal action against Mr. Ibrahim Magu.We want to state that Magu could be jailed for his illegal arrest and subjecting the officials to two weeks emotional and mental torture for no just cause. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, said 2.158171 million registered voters would take part in the Nov.18... The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, said 2.158171 million registered voters would take part in the Nov.18 governorship election in Anambra.Mrs Bimbo Oladumjoye, Assistant Director, ICT Department INEC , Abuja made the disclosure during the official publication of Register of voters for the Nov.18 Anambra governorship election in Awka.She said out of the figure, 50.3 per cent were females while 49.6 percent were males.Oladumjoye further said that students were the highest number of registered voters constituting 48 per cent, adding that Idemili North Local Government Area had the highest number of registered voters.Also speaking, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, INEC National Commissioner (South-East Zone), described voters registration as the bedrock of a free, fair and credible of any election.It is in view of this that the INEC has decided, today, to publish the register of voters in Anambra state, he said.Read also: Anambra Polls: Buhari backs Nwoye, to attend rallyIbeanu said the publication was in compliance with the Electoral Law which according to him stipulates that the commission should publish the register, 30 days before the election.The INEC official said that the commissions headquarters in Awka had received non-sensitive materials for the exercise.Ibeanu, however, noted that Anambra was the first to have 37 candidates contesting for a governorship position in an election since the history of elections in Nigeria.In spite this number, the commission is very happy to remark that political parties have been very orderly in their campaigns without heating the polity and we are glad with such development, he said.In an address of welcome, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, confirmed that 37 political parties would be participating in the election.He reiterated the commissions readiness to conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election on Nov.18 in the state.Orji applauded the assistance of security agencies to the commission and their readiness to ensure that the election would be violent-free.Some Chairmen of political parties that attended the meeting expressed confidence in the ability of the commission to conduct an acceptable election in the state. In what appeared a formal endorsement of the reported N520 million statue erected by the Imo state government in honour of South Africa... In what appeared a formal endorsement of the reported N520 million statue erected by the Imo state government in honour of South Africas President, Jacob Zuma, the ruling All Progressives Congress APC has hailed the state governor, Rochas Okorocha for bringing the South African leader to the country.At a meeting of its National Working Committee NWC with its 24 state governors and principal officers of the National Assembly, APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said Okorochas efforts at attracting foreign investment to the country is highly commendable. Let me use this opportunity to congratulate you (Rochas) on your birthdayyoung man, where I was very powerfully represented and for your feat in bringing some of the significant figures from the African continent, said Odigie-Oyegun in a brief introductory remark before the meeting dissolved into a closed session. Welcoming participants to the meeting, Chief Odigie-Oyegun thanked God for safely bringing back President Muhammadu Buhari from his medical sojourn in London.I welcome you to the sixth of the series of our consultative meetings which has proved to be extremely useful not only in stabilizing the party but also contributing immensely towards handling various challenges that have appeared before us as a nation and as a people. The meeting got so productive that we decided at last meeting to bring in our National Assembly leaders to joins us in the deliberations which I have said earlier have been found to be very productive and useful indeed.I thank you for coming to this first meeting since the return of our dear President for his medical leave. On your behalf, I want to formally welcome him and thank the Almighty God for the wonderful healing that has been performed because since he came back there has been no question at all, he stated. Though the Senate President was represented by the Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, was also absent but reportedly represented by a member from Rivers state.Out of its 24 governors, only seven as well as four deputy governors were present. Those at the meeting included the Govs. Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and Abdullahi Jibrilla Bindo (Adamawa) who was attending the meeting for the first time. Deputy Governors of Ondo, Kano, Kogi and Nasarawa states were also in attendance. Okorochas decision has continued to attract a wave of backlash from both Nigerians and South Africans who have described the statue as meaningless.Unable to pay pensioners, some Nigerians had queried the governors decision especially as it also came few days after another Nigerian, Jelili Omoyele, a 35-year-old, was killed in South Africa, adding to a long list of Nigerians to have been killed in the former apartheid enclave. The governor has however accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP of sponsoring the attacks saying the party never attracted any meaningful personality to the state when it held sway. If it was in the days of PDP, Schools and Markets would have been shut down and roads closed because President Zuma was coming. But none of such thing was done because Rochas and his government have a human face.The PDP for the 12 years they held sway never attracted any meaningful visitor to the State except PDP NEC members who were coming to loot the State. And in case these Galatians do not know, if all we need to do to attract good things or investments to Imo is erecting statues, then, we have no option than to erect as many of such structures as possible. We owe no one apology, the state government had said. The ruling All Progressives Congress has said it will abide by its constitution to resolve the controversy over whether or not President ... The ruling All Progressives Congress has said it will abide by its constitution to resolve the controversy over whether or not President Muhammadu Buhari will be given an automatic ticket to contest the 2019 presidential election. Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar, made this known while speaking to reporters in Abuja, after an expanded meeting of the partys National Working Committee with state governors and principal officers of the National Assembly, at the partys National Secretariat, on Wednesday. Abubakar, who was flanked by the partys National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, and the Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, was asked whether the partys presidential ticket was open to all or restricted to the President. He said, This meeting has not deliberated on that but the APC has a constitution and that is one of the items that was discussed the amendment to the constitution of the APC in order to faithfully hold the convention in line with democratic principles, and we will abide by the provisions of our constitution. Article 20 (iii) of the APC Constitution 2014 stipulates that nomination of candidates for (f) President shall be through direct or indirect primary election to be conducted at the appropriate level. Abubakar also faulted the reports that the President indicted governors for failing to meet their financial obligations to civil servants and pensioners. He said, The President is concerned about the plight of the downtrodden and when you sit with him, he always talk about that. He did not direct any accusation at the governors because the governors have actually utilised the Federal Governments intervention for the payment of the salary. In Bauchi, I do not owe a dime in salary and pension. We are not begging for support but asking that what is due to us should be paid to us. You will recall what was canvassed in the media was that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the World Bank to focus their attention on the North. The issue came up for discussion at the meeting and they threw their weight behind Mr. President. And we would like to clarify in addition to all that had been said that the import of Mr. Presidents message to the World Bank was in recognition of the particular devastation that Boko Haram has caused in the North. Therefore, when the President asked the World Bank to focus its attention on the North, he had in mind, the necessary reconstruction that need to happen in that part of the country, especially in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states that have suffered as a result of the Boko Haram activities. It was not therefore a statement intended to bifurcate any part of the country and show preference for any part of the country against the other. So, the APC throws its weight completely behind the Presidents position and we believe that as long as the North-East remains and continues to represent a dark spot in the human development indices for Nigeria, there is a need to direct special attention to that particular region of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said he was pleased with the friendly relations between Turkey and Nigeria, which he said has grown in leaps and bounds over the years.According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President wrote the message in the register he signed when he visited and laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkeys founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, before meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace.Buhari is in Turkey on official visit and to attend the D-8 Summit.The President was quoted as writing in the register that he looked forward to a more fruitful cooperation between the governments and people of Nigeria and Turkey in areas of mutual concern and interests.Accompanied by Nigerias Ambassador to Turkey, Iliyasu Paragalda; and other senior government officials, Buhari was said to have laid the wreath in red and white colours of the Turkish flag at the tomb of Ataturk and later observed a minute silence.Afterwards, the President signed the official Anitkabir memorial Book of Honour at the Misaki-i Milli Kulesi (National Pact Tower), within the precincts of the mausoleum, and toured the museum.Buhari wrote, It is an honour and privilege to visit Anitkabir, the mausoleum of a great patriotic, visionary and courageous leader who shaped modern Turkey, during my official working visit to Ankara and the ninth D-8 summit in Istanbul.I pay my profound respect to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey and the first President from 1923 until his death in 1938.I am pleased with the friendly relations between Turkey and Nigeria, which has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. I look forward to a more fruitful cooperation between our governments and people in areas of mutual concern and interests, for the benefit of our people. The trial of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Raymond Dokpesi resumed Thursday with two prosecution witnesses telling a... The trial of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Raymond Dokpesi resumed Thursday with two prosecution witnesses telling a Federal High Court in Abuja that Dokpesi bought house hold items with funds allegedly paid to him by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Dasuki.The witnesses Peter Imoekor and Fabian Ozoemina informed the court that they supplied generators, a transformer and security doors valued at millions of naira, to Dokpesis houses in Lagos and Agenebode, Edo State, and his offices at different times after N2.1bn was allegedly paid to him by the Office of the National Security Adviser between January and March 2015.Dokpesi and his firm, Daar Investment and Holding Limited are standing trial on a six-count charge in relation to the N2.1bn they allegedly received unlawfully from the Office of the National Security Adviser between January and March 2015.They are accused of engaging in money laundering and procurement.Dokpesi and Daar Investments were said to have received the sum of N2.12bn from ONSA then headed by Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), as payment for a purported contract on presidential media initiative.The two witnesses, who testified as the prosecutions 7th and 8th witnesses, were led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe.Imoekor, who is the Administrative Manager of Mikano International Ltd, Abuja branch, was the first to mount the witness box. He said that he was invited by the EFCC in February 2016 to clarify some transactions which Mikano had with Dokpesi and Daar Communications Plc.He explained how between February and August 2015 Mikano supplied four units of 140KVA, two units of 200KVA and a 500KVA electric transformer to Dokpesis house in Agenebode (Dokpesis hometown) and Daars offices in Sokoto and Gusau, Zamfara State.He said The transaction was in respect of four units of 140KVA Basic (open type). Each costs N3.5m and they all totaled N14mDaar made payment for all. The payment was made in two tranches of N7m each through First Bank drafts.On March 19, 2015, they came to exchange three of the Basic generators with soundproof type and paid the difference of N6, 350,000 through UBA Plc.Then on March 30, 2015, delivery was made. We delivered them to Sokoto and Gusau, capital of Zamfara State.In the same March,they made a request for the purchase of two units of 200KVA basic generator and payment of N11,657,240 was made through transfer and delivery was made to his (Dokpesis) house in Otuake Quarters, Agenebode in Edo State.In August 2015 payment for 500KVA electric transformer was made. The amount paid was in cash. It was N3,073,200. This time the receipt was issued in his name, that is, High Chief Raymond Dokpesis name.Then a memo was issued to the head office of Mikano International Limited for delivery in Agenebode Edo State. It was subsequently delivered, the witness said.He confirmed that the instructions for the transactions were from Dokpesi and that they were mostly carried out by the officials of Daar Communications.While being cross-examination by Dokpesis lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), Imoekor said did not know the sources of the money paid by Dokpesi and his company for the supply of the products.He also said he did not know about the income and expenditure of Daar and that there is nothing about the transactions which he considered abnormal until he was invited by the EFCC.Ozoemina said the EFCC invited him sometimes in January 2016 and asked him what the money paid to my company was for and he said it was for security door.The witness was later handed a document a bank statement and was asked to read from it.He said, The narration reads: inward clearing cheque in favour of Gilgal Concept Ltd, on January 27, 2015 N5m. Inward clearing cheque in favour of Gilgal Concept Ltd on the same day, January 27, 2015 N1,066,558.Ozoemina confirmed that the sums of money were paid into the account of Gilgal, his company.He said the total sum of N6,066,558 was for installation of security doors at Dokpesis house in Agenebode.The witness further said We got a total of N6,066,558 for the supply and installation of steel security doors. We installed the security doors. They were installed at chairmans project at Agenebode. It was installed towards the end of 2014 and early 2015.He confirmed that Dokpesi, whom he had known for close to 20 years gave the instructions for the transactions.While being cross-examination by Agabi, he denied knowing the sources of the money paid by Dokpesi.On whether he would describe Dokpesi, with whom he said he had related for the past 20 years as a good man, Ozoemina said the 1st defendant is.The trial judge, Justice John Tsoho subsequently adjourned further proceedings to November 17. Former U.S. president George W. Bush on Thursday urged the United States to push for democracy around the world and resist the temptatio... Former U.S. president George W. Bush on Thursday urged the United States to push for democracy around the world and resist the temptation to turn inward.The rare public remarks by the former president seemed to take direct aim at President Donald Trumps America First policies, but without ever actually naming the present occupant of the White House.We have seen the return of isolationist sentiments forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places.Where threats such as terrorism, infectious diseases, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge.In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have a great advantage: To renew our country, we only need to remember our values Bush said in a speech hosted by his institute in New York.Bush denounced nationalism distorted into nativism and stressed the importance of immigration to the U.S.Trump has sought to restrict immigration, pushing for a wall along the U.S Mexican border and calling for other restrictions.He also pushed back against Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, calling it a sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our countrys divisions and said such attacks should not be tolerated.Trump has downplayed the Russian efforts. (dpa/NAN) The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Wednesday, frowned at the constant abduction of police officers by gunmen. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Wednesday, frowned at the constant abduction of police officers by gunmen. He castigated his officers for being careless to the extent that they were kidnapped. Idris described as embarrassing and annoying the recent kidnap of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Sarkin Pawa in Niger State. Speaking yesterday in Abuja during a meeting with Commissioners of Police and other senior officers, the IG urged policemen to be careful and protect themselves first. He said: There should be more visibility policing. Policemen should be deployed in flashpoint areas to take care of security because the presence of police in those areas would help in the reduction of crime. We must take the protection of our officers seriously. We have a problem; two days ago, one of our DPOs was kidnapped. How can you be a DPO, you have all the policemen under your Command and then you start driving as if you dont have anybody. You allow the useless kidnappers to pick you and your orderly, it is very embarrassing. We had the same issue in Zamfara state where an ACP going on leave travelled alone. It is embarrassing. Utilize the men you have and you must protect yourself first. You can only protect others when you are protected because you are a target. The information we are receiving is that our ACPs vehicle was abandoned in a bush and he has not been seen which obviously means that he has been kidnapped. How can we be living with such situation? It is becoming an embarrassment. DPOs and other personnel should be careful of their movement. The police chief added: The CP Niger said there is contact already and they are working on it. Policemen who are protecting others should not allow themselves to be target. We should be careful in our movement. Our officers have to be concerned about their personal safety first because this issue is becoming an embarrassment. CPs would also be vicariously liable for any policeman that is just picked up like a fowl or anything, it is very annoying. We should be careful in our movement. If you notice that an area is not safe, you should deploy men in those areas. We should take their protection very serious. Our policemen should also be careful with the way they move around. On the recent law on kidnapping, Idris said: The Nigeria Police Force is very glad with the law on kidnapping. With the law which is a death sentence for those that would be tried for kidnapping, the spate of kidnapping in Nigeria will be reduced. President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday admitted that he was disturbed and surprised by the claim made by members of Boko Haram sect about the support they have been receiving from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.He however said he was happy that his administration had been able to prove that it can contain the insurgents.According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President at a joint press conference he held with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey after their talks in Ankara.We were very surprised and disturbed by the claim made by Boko Haram on what they have been getting from ISIS.We know we will be able to contain them and we have proven that we can do it.We are very pleased that Turkey is in a position to assist us and has been strengthening our educational and health institutions, Buhari reportedly said at the press conference.According to the statement, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation between the security agencies of both countries to counter terrorism.Buhari said he was very pleased that the defence ministers of both countries held extensive discussions on developing new strategies for counter-terrorism.He said, We are very pleased with the progress of the meeting so far and we are going to wait for the details of meetings between the two countries.We will as a result of the meeting between the ministers and officials of both countries strengthen rapidly whatever their recommendations are.Commenting on the degradation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, the President said the improved security situation in the North East was an eloquent testimony to the efforts of his administration in combating terrorism since he came into office in May 2015Buhari said the two leaders also discussed the prospects of increasing their bilateral trade, which has exceeded $779m in the first eight months of 2017.There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investments and a lot is being done in the educational and health sectors in Nigeria.These will be strengthened and I assure you that Nigeria is prepared to accept Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigerias potentialities, the Nigerian leader said.In his remarks, Erdogan said Nigeria had great potentials and remains a global actor in terms of economy, demographics and its peacekeeping records.He indicated that Turkey was interested in investing in Nigerias electricity, refineries and gas sectors, adding that increasing the flights between Turkey and Nigeria would further improve commercial and people-to-people relationships.On the fight against terrorism, the Turkish leader said, There is no difference between Boko Haram, Fethullah Terrorist Organisation or Daesh , which have all killed, inflicted pain and hardship on innocent people.All of these organisations are hordes of murderers that feed on the innocent people, and in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with our Nigerian friends, and we are ready to share our experience and provide all kinds of support.We also expect the same cooperation from Nigeria in fighting against Fethullah that murdered 250 Turkish citizens last year. Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris yesterday castigated police officers for being careless to the extent that they are kidnapped. Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris yesterday castigated police officers for being careless to the extent that they are kidnapped.He described as embarrassing and annoying the recent kidnap of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Sarkin Pawa in Niger State.Superintendent of Police (SP) Amos Aliyu was on Sunday abducted near his home at Turin Fulani by unidentified persons.Speaking yesterday in Abuja during a meeting with Commissioners of Police and other senior officers, the IG urged policemen to be careful and protect themselves first.Idris told Commissioners of Police that they would be vicariously liable should anything happen to any policeman under them.He said: There should be more visibility policing. Policemen should be deployed in flashpoint areas to take care of security because the presence of police in those areas would help in the reduction of crime.We must take the protection of our officers seriously. We have a problem; two days ago, one of our DPOs was kidnapped. How can you be a DPO, you have all the policemen under your Command and then you start driving as if you dont have anybody.You allow the useless kidnappers to pick you and your orderly, it is very embarrassing. We had the same issue in Zamfara state where an ACP going on leave travelled alone. It is embarrassing.Utilize the men you have and you must protect yourself first. You can only protect others when you are protected because you are a target.The information we are receiving is that our ACPs vehicle was abandoned in a bush and he has not been seen which obviously means that he has been kidnapped. How can we be living with such situation? It is becoming an embarrassment. DPOs and other personnel should be careful of their movement.The police chief added: The CP Niger said there is contact already and they are working on it. Policemen who are protecting others should not allow themselves to be target. We should be careful in our movement.Our officers have to be concerned about their personal safety first because this issue is becoming an embarrassment. CPs would also be vicariously liable for any policeman that is just picked up like a fowl or anything, it is very annoying.We should be careful in our movement. If you notice that an area is not safe, you should deploy men in those areas. We should take their protection very serious. Our policemen should also be careful with the way they move around.On the recent law on kidnapping, Idris said: The Nigeria Police Force is very glad with the law on kidnapping. With the law which is a death sentence for those that would be tried for kidnapping, the spate of kidnapping in Nigeria will be reduced.On the Anambra State governors election next month, the IG said additional policemen would be deployed to join the 17 units already on ground.The IG explained that the massive deployment would ensure a credible election in November 18.He said: The major challenges we are having now are the elections we would be having in Anambra state and two other states.The deployment will involve all commands. We are going to send directives to all CPs for the mobilisation of officers who are the Special Unit and the Conventional police for the election.When you receive the directive, act on them promptly because it is going to be a massive deployment. We dont have time to delay in our planning and deployment because the election date is too close. It is important for us to prepare so that we can provide personnel and logistics in order for the officers to perform creditably.It is unfortunate that before this election, we had some minor problems especially in the southeast but I believe the challenges have been addressed because we deployed 17 units there and with the additional deployment requested, we are going to take care of security in that location. A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, sitting in Abuja, has sentenced one Audu Alhassan to five months imprisonment for bathing a young girl with hot... A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, sitting in Abuja, has sentenced one Audu Alhassan to five months imprisonment for bathing a young girl with hot oil on Thursday. Judge Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, who convicted Alhassan, said he should learn to control his temper. Sadiq, who advised the convict to desist from committing crimes in the future, also said that the sentence would serve as deterrent to other would be offenders. Alhassan, who resides at Karmo village, was convicted on a 2-count charge of criminal intimidation and causing hurt. The convict, who pleaded guilty to the charge, begged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying that he did not know what came over him. The Prosecutor, Florence Avhioboh, had told the court that the victims mother, Mrs Safiya Mohammed, reported the matter at the Karmo Police Station on October 16. Avhioboh said the complainant said she sent her daughter to dispose waste at the refuse dump, when the convict started intimidating her. The convict, who was said to have threatened to kill the victim and her entire family, made good his threat and poured hot groundnut oil on the girl. Avhioboh said during police investigation the convict confessed to the crime. The prosecutor said the offence contravened Sections 397 and 253 of the Penal Code. States are not begging the Federal Government for money, but asking to be paid the Paris Club refund, which is their entitlement, a Nige... Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar said the Presidents statement to the governors at a meeting on Tuesday was part of his usual concern for the plight of workers. He did not see it as an indictment of the states helmsmen.The governor said: Dont forget, this is money that belongs to us. We are not begging for anything, but demanding what belongs to us and that it should be paid to us.Abubakar, who addressed reporters after a meeting of some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors with the National Working Committee (NWC), said governors judiciously utilised the Federal Governments intervention in the payment of salaries and pensions.He added: I was at the meeting with the President. Mr President, in his usual fashion, expressed his concern on the plight of workers and the downtrodden. He did not direct any accusation at the governors because the governors have actually utilised most of the intervention fund from the Federal Government for payment of salaries.Take Bauchi State, for example, my salary bill is N5.1 billion (states and local government). If you count the number of months that I came to FAAC and collect anything above N5 billion, it will not be more than five months in my two and half years in office.But because of the intervention today, I am proud to say that I am not owing a single kobo salary or pension. We have in the main, utilised this intervention towards payment.President Muhammadu Buhari told some governors on Tuesday that he was concerned about the agitation for salaries. How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid salaries for months, Buhari said.The governors at the governors NWC meeting include: Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar (Bauchi), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Godwin Obaseki (Edo) and Abdullahi Jibrilla Bindo (Adamawa).Deputy Governors of Ondo, Kano, Kogi and Nasarawa states stood in for their governors.On why Southwest governors were absent, the Bauchi governor said: There is no communication gap. Two other deputy governors sent word that their flights were cancelled because of weather problem. The same thing applied to the Sokto State Governor who sent word that his flight was cancelled due to difficulty in weather.So, there is no communication gap whatsoever. In the past, the governors were attending. Governors are very busy people and it is always very difficult for us to have time to be on the field in addition to running our states.On the statement credited to former APC Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande that President Buhari was yet to tell the party that he would run in 2019, he said: The meeting has not deliberated on that. The APC has a constitution and, in fact, that is one of the items that was discussed, how to amend the constitution of the APC with a view to strengthening the party in line with democratic principles. We will abide with the tenets of the constitution.National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said the leadership of the party an its governors fully supported Buharis request that the World Bank should focus on the Northeast. According to him, the Presidents request was not meant to give preferential treatment to any section of the country.He said the Presidents statement was made in view of the specific attention that the Northeast needed as a result of the devastation caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.He said: You will recall that a few days ago, there was an issue in the media that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the World Bank to focus attention on the north of Nigeria.The issue came up for discussion and the meeting threw its weight behind Mr. Presidents position and we will like to clarify, in addition to everything that has been said, that the import of Mr Presidents statement to the World Bank is in recognition of the particular devastation that Boko Haram has caused in the Northeast of Nigeria.Therefore, when Mr. President was asking the World Bank to focus attention on the development of the Northeast, he had in mind the necessary reconstruction that needs to happen in that part of the country, especially in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa axis that suffered specifically because of the Boko Haram activities.National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun said previous editions of the meeting had been extremely useful not only in stabilising the party, but also contributing immensely towards handling various challenges.He said: I welcome you to the sixth of the series of our consultative meetings, which have proved to be extremely useful not only in stabilizing the party but also contributing immensely towards handling various challenges that have appeared before us as a nation and as a people. The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member. The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member.It said it would respect the decision of the former President, but added that whether he returned or not, it (the party) would not die.Obasanjo had on Tuesday vowed never to return to the party, saying he would rather remain a statesman, working for the interest of the nation.He spoke with journalists after he held a meeting with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed doors at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.He had said, I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but not now. God forbid, se when dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no.I have said no partisan politics for me again, but Nigeria is my passion until death do us apart. And anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of Nigeria, youll see my involvement.So, the chairman has come to greet me and I greet am, and now that we have greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone.Reacting, the spokesperson for the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said Obasanjo had earlier said that he would not return to the party, adding that as an individual, the party would respect his views.He said, He has said it before (that he wont return to the party). We are not going to force him. No individual is bigger than the party.Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion. But the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not.We respect his opinion. Theres nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him.Meanwhile, as the countdown to the December 9 elective convention of the party draws nearer, the South-West geopolitical zone has been warned on the danger of losing the national chairmanship of the party if it failed to agree on a consensus candidate.A former Minister of Police Affairs Minister, Adamu Maina Waziri, gave the warning in Abuja on Wednesday at the declaration of a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, for the office of the national chairman of the party.Waziri warned that the zone would be the loser in the event of the inability of any of the aspirants from the zone to emerge victorious at the December convention.He said, If, for any reason, Gbenga Daniel fails in his bid to become the national chairman, it is Daniel that would lose. But if none of the about six aspirants from the South-West fails to win, the South-West will be the loser.He called on the aspirants from the zone to close ranks and present a common front at the convention in the interest of the party.Also speaking at the declaration event, a former Aviation Minister and a chieftain of the party, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, lauded the leadership acumen of Daniel even as he charged the PDP to shun divisions within its ranks.Fani-Kayode, who described all aspirants from the zone as his personal friends, however, insisted that Daniel remained the first among the equals in the pack.In his speech titled, Lets start afreshTogether we can do it, Daniel said he was in the race to make a difference having taken stock of the troubles that rattled the PDP in the past couple of years.He said, I have come to the conclusion that the challenges which face our political party are not permanent. They could be rectified through a careful deployment of resources, the will power and ability to work through difficult situations, concessions and compromises if need be, and ability to move all our people into one disciplined accord on all matters.I declare before you today to contest for the office of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party at the national convention.I come to this resolve after a careful analysis of the challenges confronting the PDP and on the strength of clear understanding of my personal ability to provide the needed leadership in our collective search for solutions.But the senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, has said it will be a monumental disaster to elect Daniel as the PDP national chairman.Kashamu said in a statement on Wednesday that Daniel was the least qualified among those aspiring for the post.The statement read in part, When I heard that he was vying for the post, my initial reaction was that it was a joke. But, now that he has decided to make a formal declaration, I would say it is a joke taken too far.Let me say with all sense of responsibility that Daniel does not have what it takes to lead our great party. He is the least qualified among all those vying for the position. Succour has come the way of police officers who served in the defunct Biafran Police during the 30 months Civil War as President Muhamma... Succour has come the way of police officers who served in the defunct Biafran Police during the 30 months Civil War as President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of pension to those who were granted presidential pardon in 2000.The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) yesterday announced that about 162 of such retired police officers and 57 next of kin of those who died will be paid their pension benefits in the first phase of the payment with effect from tomorrow in Enugu.A statement from the PTAD management said after their pardon, a verification exercise was conducted for them by the defunct Police Pension office and recently by PTAD and the Police Service Commission.The statement reads: The general public would recall that Nigeria witnessed an ugly Civil War between July, 1967 and January, 1970 and as a result of that unfortunate period in our history, some members of the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and paramilitary officers who took part with the secessionist were dismissed from the service.The dismissal of those officers was commuted to retirement in the year 2000 through a Presidential Amnesty granted on May 29, 2000 by the Administration of the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo.A verification exercise was conducted for the pardoned officers by the defunct Police Pension Office and recently PTAD on one hand and the Police Service Commission on the other.Despite the presidential pardon and verification of these officers, many of them remained unpaid years after the pardon. However, the present administration under the able leadership of President, Muhammadu Buhari has graciously given approval for the payment of pension entitlements to these officers and their next of kin. The House of Representatives said yesterday that officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should bear arms in a bid to effe... The House of Representatives said yesterday that officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should bear arms in a bid to effectively carry out their responsibilities of saving lives.The Green Chamber noted the increasing cases of violent attacks, harassment and intimidation of personnel and officers of the FRSC by highly placed individuals, motorists and hoodlums across the country, particularly in Zamfara, Jigawa, Abia and Lagos states.The members noted that from 2015 to date, there have been 149 cases of attacks on personnel and 201 cases of damage to properties and equipment of the commission.They, therefore, urged the Federal Government to facilitate the procurement of arms and ammunitions for FRSC officers.The resolution of the House was sequel to the passage of a motion by Hon. Solomon Maren titled: Need to Curb Incessant Attacks on Personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).Maren while moving the motion noted that despite Section 19 of the FRSC (Establishment) Act, 2007, which stipulates that personnel of the commission who are exposed to high risk in the enforcement of the provisions of this Act, shall have same powers, authorities and privileges, including power to bear arms, as are granted by law to members of the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Government has not provided road safety officers with arms to enable them protect themselves in the course of performing their duties.When he Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara called for a vote on the motion, it was passed without dissent.The House subsequently mandated the Committee on Federal Road Safety Commission to investigate cases of attacks on personnel of the FRSC and also ensure implementation of the resolution to arm the officials.The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action. GLEN ROCK - The borough and its police department have settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a teenage girl who received 189 sexually charged text messages from a veteran police officer who is now a convicted sex offender. Eric Reamy The girl, identified in court documents as "H.G.," will receive $295,000 in exchange for dropping her lawsuit against the borough and the police, according to a settlement agreement obtained this week by NJ Advance Media. The settlement excludes Eric Reamy, the disgraced former Glen Rock police officer who admitted sending sexually suggestive text messages and naked pictures to the 17-year-old and another teenage girl. The exclusion means Reamy, 53, may have to reach his own settlement with the teenager and her attorney. Reamy was paroled Sept. 18 after spending less than a year in prison for child endangerment. He was ordered to register as a sex offender. According to the lawsuit filed earlier this year, the girl was arrested in May 2015 on juvenile charges after she attempted to purchase alcohol with someone else's identification. Reamy, who was chief of the Glen Rock Police Department's juvenile section, was responsible for managing and supervising the girl after her arrest. "Instead of just managing and processing her case in the usual way, Eric Reamy embarked upon an unsolicited, illegal series of gender-based, gender-discriminatory actions that included sending many texts to plaintiff's cellphone and multiple phone calls to her," the suit states. Many of the calls and texts were sexually based or contained sexual innuendos, and included statements like, "Can I say you're hot?" "He sent a total of 189 texts, many of which were sexually suggestive, sexually explicit and filled with entreaties to have sexual encounters with (H.G.)," the suit states. The lawsuit states the victim suffered emotional pain, anguish, anxiety and depression as a result of Reamy's behavior. The suit alleged Reamy was acting in his capacity as an employee for the borough of Glen Rock and that his "employers negligently failed to take appropriate disciplinary actions against him (for) other inappropriate things while on the job." Reamy retired from the police department before his arrest and later sued the borough for $37,000 in unused sick and vacation time. The settlement agreement, signed by the girl and her attorney on Aug. 15, dismisses the lawsuit against the borough and its police department but not Reamy. The borough of Glen Rock admits no liability in the matter and both sides have agreed not to discuss the case, according to the settlement. The victim's attorney, Thomas Ferro, did not return calls seeking comment. Anthony Suarez, the borough attorney, was in court Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Reamy could not be reached for comment. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. CAMDEN -- A Pennsylvania man lied to the government in order to get more than a quarter of a million dollars in funds for repairs to his mother's Ocean City home, which was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy, authorities said Wednesday. Nicholas Ochs, 54, of Ambler, has been charged with disaster benefits fraud, mail fraud and theft of government funds, acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in a statement. Ochs was released Wednesday on $100,000 bond. Ochs applied for FEMA benefits on behalf of his mother in January 2013, authorities said. Ochs also agreed to return any relief funds if his mother received a similar amount from an insurance claim. FEMA initially denied the application because the home was covered by flood insurance, but Ochs submitted false documents showing the insurance claim had been denied, authorities said. Ochs also fraudulently sought rental assistance aid for a property where Ochs's mother was staying that she actually owned, as well as seeking transportation assistance based on a false claim that Ochs's mother's 1985 Mercedes had been destroyed in the storm, authorities said. Ochs also sent false invoices to Wells Fargo showing inflated costs for home repairs in order to persuade the bank to release insurance funds being held in an escrow account, authorities also said. All told, Ochs defrauded FEMA of $252,734, according to authorities. Ochs faces up to 30 years in prison on the charge of disaster benefits fraud, up to 30 years on each count of mail fraud and 10 years on the charge of theft of government funds. Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- The high-profile lawyer who represented Bridget Anne Kelly in the Bridgegate trial will now defend Mayor Ras Baraka in a civil lawsuit filed by the city's former corporation counsel. The City Council on Wednesday approved hiring Michael Critchley of the firm Critchley, Kinum and DeNoia for up to $125,000 to represent Baraka in the whistleblower case filed by Willie Parker. Court records showing the substitution of attorneys for Mayor Ras Baraka. Parker served as corporation counsel from February 2015 until earlier this year. He filed a suit in June alleging he was fired in retaliation for not signing off on a multi-million dollar development deal that he said would hurt taxpayers only to benefit private interests. Parker is also suing the city, Baraka's chief of staff and brother, Amiri "Middy" Baraka, and two other administrators. Last month, the council approved spending up to $125,000 for Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith and Davis to represent Middy Baraka and up to $75,000 for Tompkins, McGuire, Wachenfeld and Barry to represent Business Administrator Jack Kelly and Personnel Director Kecia Daniels. The city will continue to be represented by Domenick Carmagnola, who previously represented all named defendants. Kenyatta Stewart, the city's corporation counsel, said having each official represented by different firms made sense given the scope of Parker's allegations. "When you have someone who is filing so many different claims, it's best because you get different points of view," Stewart said. "It speaks to how seriously we're taking this case ... the city isn't a cash cow." In the lawsuit, Parker alleges he was fired after he refused to sign off on a development deal. He said he got into a disagreement with Middy Baraka, who allegedly told him the paperwork needed to be pushed through for "political reasons." Parker informed Mayor Baraka of the incident and claims Middy Baraka later confronted him outside his home "on why he had snitched" to the mayor, according to the lawsuit. Parker suffered a heart attack due to the high levels of stress and repercussions for his actions, he alleges. He is seeking damages and his job restoration with back pay. City officials have denied any wrongdoing in court papers. In a statement previously issued by the city, Stewart said Baraka was concerned over Parker's performance and supervision of other attorneys. Court records show Baraka filed a motion on Sept. 12 to replace Carmagnola with Critchley as lead attorney. Any professional services contract is exempt from public bidding requirements. On Wednesday, Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins was the sole no vote on hiring Critchley's firm. Critchley, whose style as a top-notch trial attorney has been described like that of a professional fighter, has represented failed presidential candidate John Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter, the Archdiocese of Newark and former Essex County Executive James Treffinger. He also represented reputed mobsters and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, who was acquitted of bribery charges. Though he's made headlines for his criminal defense work, Stewart said Critchley has successfully tried civil cases. Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. NEWARK -- New Jersey Citizen Action, a non-profit group that provides free financial services and lobbies for reforms, had outgrown its 2,500-square foot headquarters high up in the National Newark Building on Broad Street and was looking to relocate. The group didn't have to look far. Across Broad and two blocks north, the redeveloped Hahne & Company Department Store had commercial space available in its two-story atrium. The $174 million mixed-use redevelopment project by L+M Development Partners also includes 160 rental apartments. The redeveloped Hahne complex opened to much fanfare in January, when it was hailed as a deeply symbolic yet very real sign of Newark's current revival. Hahne's best known tenant, Newark's first Whole Foods supermarket, opened in March. The Hahne & Company Department Store had once been a center of retail and social life in one of Newark's most prominent locations, opposite historic Military Park, only to close down in 1987 and remain a nagging reminder of the city's inability to remake itself. The Hahne apartments, which include 96 market-rate and 64 affordable units, are now 100-percent leased, according to L+M, which is based in Larchmont, N.Y. Following behind them, like Citizen Action, a variety of retail businesses and other commercial tenants have been snatching up chunks of Hahne's 165,000 square feet of rebuilt, raw commercial space and tailoring it to their needs. "We needed more space, and we wanted to be part of something big, something new and exciting, that we hoped would be good for Newark," said Citizen Action's executive director, Phyllis Sallow-Kaye. L+M said this week that 75-percent of Hahne's 40,000 square feet of office space had been leased to tenants including Citizen Action and one of the banks it works with to facilitate loans, City National Bank. About 80 percent of Hahne's 75,000 square feet of a retail space has been leased, L+M said. Whole Foods, a Barnes & Noble book store, PetCo, and a Kite & Key tech store are already doing business, and L+M said a City MD medical office, Cool Vines wine and liquor store and a restaurant by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson are expected to open in the coming months. In addition to housing Hahne's commercial space, the atrium serves as an enclosed pedestrian mall linking Broad Street to Halsey Street, a budding boutique and restaurant row that runs along the southern edge of the city's university section, which includes the Rutgers-Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology campuses. Unlike its old space in the National Newark Building, Citizen Action's new headquarters will have a storefront on the atrium balcony visible and far more accessible to regular clients as well as walk-in traffic, including Rutgers and NJIT students the group hopes to help educate financially. "The fact that we see so many thousands of people each year for direct services and they're going to be able to come to a place in the center of Newark, makes this commitment to Newark for the next 15 years, for the future, both personal and organizational," said Sallow-Kaye, who thanked donors for helping raise the $500,000 cost of tailoring the new space. Citizen Action's new space is next to the Newark Print Shop and Newark Express, an art collaborative run by Rutgers Newark. Whole Foods has lined its exterior wall inside the atrium with tables that are often crowded with diners at lunchtime. Jon Cortell, Vice President for Development at L+M, said the mixed-use project was working out as expected. "We are pleased to find that residents of Newark and New Jersey had longed for a renewed Hahne's," Cortell said in a statement. "And we hope that the dynamic mix of office, residential, and retail will at least partially match the memories people have of the great department store." Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Adam Mayr DEPTFORD TWP. -- A former teacher at Gloucester County Institute of Technology accused of taking upskirt photographs of his students must pay $10,000 each to six of them, lawyers for the students said. Adam Mayr, who lived in Washington Township and taught English before his arrest in March 2015, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison in August. He would use a small video recording device and film under the victims' dresses, storing the footage on school-owned technology. He reached a settlement to pay $60,000 divided among the students, who were represented by Mike McKenna and Richard Grungo, two lawyers from separate firms in Cherry Hill. McKenna and Grungo also represented the six students in their case against GCIT. The students shared $660,000 as part of a settlement with GCIT. Some of the students have since moved on to college, while others are still enrolled at GCIT, McKenna said. "They were taken advantage of by someone they trusted, and that feeling can permeate every aspect of their lives," Grungo said. "Some are still reluctant to stay behind after class with a male teacher." McKenna said the idea that Mayr would not pay a settlement but the school paid thousands "did not sit right" with him. "I said, 'we will try this case if we have to if he will not acknowledge responsibility,'" McKenna said. He added that the case reminds him of the #MeToo phenomenon that was seen on social media. "I'm proud of our girls for not standing mute, and being the one to take the bull by the horns," he said. As part of the terms of his plea agreement to counts of third-degree invasion of privacy and second-degree official misconduct, Mayr must serve at least five years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. UPDATE: 'We don't feel safe here,' Student tensions flare over racism, scuffle at HS WASHINGTON TWP. -- A private text message exchange among a group of students and the fallout it caused when the discussion was shared on social media has ignited racial tensions at a Gloucester County high school. Text messages containing racist comments led to a hallway scuffle at Washington Township High School on Wednesday, a meeting with the Gloucester County NAACP on Wednesday night and a silent protest and an increased police presence at the school on Thursday morning, district officials said. The incident began Tuesday with a text message from a white student who repeated the n-word, asserted his right to use it because of freedom of speech and offered, "ya'll think your cool cause the color of your skins, black, but I think we should bring the kkk back," according to screenshots shared on Twitter. After seeing the comments, a group of about a dozen mostly African-American students confronted the student they believed had written the comments. In a video posted to Twitter, one student is seen lunging at another in a school hallway, but is intercepted by a school official. In another shot, an adult is seen struggling to hold back another angry student. Students are heard shouting as school personnel try to restore order. "The confrontation that ensued was controlled by staff members and administration," according to a letter from Principal Ann Moore that was sent to families and shared with New Jersey Advance Media. "No students were injured during this incident." Please go Rt this and tell everyone!We need to let people know that its not ok to say the n word and this was in twp https://t.co/Uyl8Mphff9 (@alannahtaylor27) October 19, 2017 Moore said students involved in the texted conversation and Wednesday's scuffle have been suspended, and a report was filed with the Washington Township Police Department. Police said no criminal charges were filed. Students dressed in black Thursday morning and staged a silent protest at the school, where the student population is 81 percent white. Police Chief Pat Gurcsik and other officers were also on hand to assist the school's two resource officers if needed, school officials said. Following the protest, students were invited to discuss their concerns, and about 170 students took part in an "uncensored exchange," as officials described it, with administrators in the school's performing arts center. "We want to assure our community that those students involved in these incidents have been dealt with swiftly and vigorously," district Superintendent Joe Bollendorf said in a statement. "Under no circumstance will hatred, racism, bigotry or violence be tolerated in any of our schools. I commend those students who chose to peacefully protest and to articulate their concerns to school leaders. "We hope to use this negative, unfortunate and intolerable incident to challenge our students and staff to embrace and promote a school culture that is one that better reflects the values of our District and community." High school senior Naszire Johnson organized Thursday's silent protest and said that, given the nature of the racist comments, he knew he had to act. "Some students were very angry about the situation," he acknowledged. "We had discussions with the administration and it has brought attention to the issue." Johnson was surprised by the amount of support shown by fellow students in the wake of the incident. "It seems as though it has had a very positive effect," he said Thursday afternoon. "I didn't expect this many people to come out." Administrators met with Loretta Winters, head of the Gloucester County NAACP, on Wednesday night to "collaborate on steps in moving forward," Moore said. Winters said the racist comments were upsetting to students, but that she is happy with progress made to recover and learn from the incident. "The minority population was obviously hurt and offended, to know they have classmates who feel that way about them," she said. Winters praised the administration's handling of the matter. "I think the superintendent and the principal are doing a phenomenal job," she said. "They are nipping everything in the bud. I give them kudos." The school district has scheduled a community meeting for 7 p.m. tonight in the Investors Bank Performing Arts Center to "engage in a dialogue related to culture and community in our schools" in light of this incident. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. By Patrick Villanova | The Jersey Journal It's been a tragic month and a half on Hudson County roads. Since Sept. 1, New Jersey's most densely populated county has seen seven different fatal crashes on its roadways. A total of eight people have died in these incidents, including a 15-year-old boy who was struck by a car in Jersey City this afternoon. Here is a look at the recent traffic fatalities in Hudson County: Don't Edit Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal Sept. 1: Couple dies in motorcycle crash A married couple from Union City was killed in the early morning hours of Sept. 1 when the motorcycle they were riding on collided with a box truck on Route 440 in Jersey City. Angel Colon-DeJesus, 33, and his wife Andreina S. Guanga, 27, were both pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver was not charged. Don't Edit Joe Shine | For The Jersey Journal Sept. 26: Woman killed in North Bergen hit-and-run Luisa Valdez, 59, was killed Sept. 26 when an SUV jumped the curb along River Road in North Bergen and struck her as she sat at a bus stop in front of her job. The man behind the wheel of the vehicle -- later identified as 36-year-old Olvy Torres -- fled the scene on foot and was later charged with leaving the scene of a deadly accident. Don't Edit Caitlin Mota | The Jersey Journal Sept. 27: Woman struck on 1&9 Deirdre Cotto, 34, was was fatally struck by a vehicle while crossing Routes 1&9 in Jersey City near Sip Avenue around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 27. The 29-year-old driver of the vehicle -- a 2003 Honda Accord -- was not able to pull over for about 500 feet "due to the impact of his vehicle and damage to his car" but eventually stopped, authorities said. He was not charged in Cotto's death. Don't Edit Sept. 27: Man killed in Turnpike crash A 65-year-old man died after his sedan crashed with a tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus just after 10 a.m. The victim was airlifted to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he died hours later. Don't Edit Don't Edit Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media Oct. 4: Teen killed on bicycle Sixteen-year-old Sean Lemus was killed Oct. 4 when his bicycle collided with a garbage truck on Palisade Avenue in Union City and got pinned under the truck. The driver of the garbage truck was not charged with the boys death, but a pair of Paterson men were later arrested when they sped through the intersection as police were conducting their investigation. One of the men crashed his motorcycle into the truck, injuring four officers, authorities said. Don't Edit Oct 10: 1 killed on Baldwin Avenue One person was killed in a crash on Baldwin Avenue in Jersey City on Oct. 10. The crash occurred around 5:20 p.m., according to New Jersey State Police records, although no other details on the incident were immediately available. Don't Edit Oct. 18: Teen dead after hit-and-run A 15-year-old boy was was killed and another suffered life-threatening injuries in Jersey City when they were struck by a vehicle in the area of Terrace Avenue, Leonard Street and the Roue 1&9 northbound ramp to Secaucus Road this afternoon. The driver and two passengers fled the scene, but the car and two passengers were detained. Authorities were still searching for the driver. The juvenile who survived was thrown over an 8-foot fence and down 30 feet to the northbound lanes of Route 1&9, a source with knowledge of the investigation said. Don't Edit Patrick Villanova may be reached at pvillanova@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @pvilla_nova. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY - A Bayonne man has been found not guilty of manslaughter in the 2015 killing of his friend in Union City, but still faces up to a decade in prison. John Gutierrez, 31, was acquitted of the most serious charge brought against him in connection with the death of 34-year-old Ely Chalas. A jury, however, did find him guilty of second-degree aggravated assault and possession of PCP. Thursday morning's verdict came at about 10 a.m. in Superior Court Judge Mark Nelson's courtroom. Authorities say they found Chalas dead in the backseat of Gutierrez's car on Oct. 10, 2015 after responding to a motor vehicle crash. Gutierrez admitted he was under the influence of drugs and did not know how Chalas ended up in the backseat after an argument began in the front seat over a woman. Defense attorney Hope Mitchell argued her client was trying to defend himself during a drug-fueled argument and other factors, such as a heart condition and intoxication, resulted in Chalas' death. She said the victim had initiated the fight. Mitchell declined to comment on the verdict after the hearing. When asked if she planned to file any motions with the court, she only said "it's possible." The state argued Gutierrez -- who was "disrespectful" to the court while testifying -- never felt his life was in danger and did not suffer serious injuries during the fight. Gutierrez even testified that said he was not afraid of Chalas while the two fought. Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Roe file a motion to have Gutierrez's bail revoked after the verdict. Nelson accepted the motion, but noted Gutierrez was never able to post his $150,000 cash-only bail and has remained in custody since his arrest. Gutierrez is expected to be sentenced in December. An aggravated assault charge carries up to 10 years in prison. Two women - one identified as Gutierrez's mother - attended today's verdict. Both only spoke Spanish. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- A 59-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to stabbing his wife to death inside a Duncan Avenue apartment early Wednesday morning. Jose Morel is charged with murder and weapons offenses for the death of 38-year-old Milagros Rodriguez De Morel. During Morel's first appearance before Superior Court Judge Shelia Venable, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Leo Rinaldi motioned to have him held in jail pending trial. Morel, who was presented via video link from a conference room at the Hudson County jail, said nothing. He was represented by a public defender. Police were called to 36 Duncan Ave. at about 2:15 a.m. on reports of a stabbing. They found Rodriguez De Morel in the hallway of the building. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Sources told The Jersey Journal the victim's teenage son witnessed the attack and tried coming to his mother's defense. The preliminary law enforcement incident report that details the murder indicates a child was present and "placed at risk by the offense." Witnesses said Morel dragged his wife out of their third-floor apartment and repeatedly stabbed the her in the center hallway near the main staircase. A cleaning crew said they removed "a lot, a lot, of blood." Morel will appear in court again Tuesday for a detention hearing. People are encouraged to wear purple on Oct. 19 to bring awareness to domestic violence. Many people in the courtroom, including members of the prosecutor's office, were dressed in purple for Morel's hearing. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY - A second teenager has died after being hit by a car in the Heights Wednesday afternoon and now police need help finding the driver, who has previously been identified as one of the city's "most violent" gang members. Rashaun Bell, 20, is wanted for the deaths of Elionel Jimenez, 15, and a 16-year-old boy who was identified by school officials Alexander Rosas-Flores, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced. Both boys were riding on the same bicycle at about 2:30 p.m. near Terrace Avenue and Leonard Street when they were struck by a gold Nissan Maxima allegedly driven by Bell. The 20-year-old and his three passengers left the car a few blocks away and fled on foot, Suarez said. Two of the passengers returned to scene and were treated for injuries they suffered in the crash. Bell has still not been apprehended, authorities said. Charges were not filed against the passengers. Elionel was pronounced dead at the scene and Alexander died at Jersey City Medical Center Thursday afternoon. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has not released Alexander's name pending notification of his family. Last year, Bell was among more than a dozen people arrested in Jersey City during a sweep of the city's "most violent" gang members. Bell was charged with gang criminality in April 2016 and was then arrested four months later on cocaine possession and distribution charges. The disposition of those charges was not immediately known. The two crash victims were both students at Dickinson High School, which was not in session Thursday for unrelated reasons. Grief counselors will be at the school on Friday. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY - A teenage boy continues to fight for his life one day after being critically injured in a fatal hit-and-run in the Heights section of the city. The crash on Terrace Avenue near the ramp to Routes 1&9 north killed Elionel Jimenez and left Alexander Rosas-Flores critically injured. Both are 15-year-old students at Dickinson High School, Jersey City school officials said in a statement today. Rosas-Flores remains in critical condition at a local hospital, the school district said. Authorities said the teens were riding on a bicycle together around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when the driver of a gold car struck the boys. The driver drove away after the crash and abandoned the vehicle a few blocks away before fleeing on foot, officials said. Elionel, who sources say was pedaling the bicycle, was pronounced dead at the scene. Alexander was thrown over a fence and landed about 30 feet away, sources close to the investigation said. Two passengers were apprehended by police but it remains unclear if they face charges. As of Thursday morning, the driver had not been arrested but police know who they are looking for, sources said. Jersey City schools are closed today for a professional development day for teachers, but grief counselors will be available at Dickinson High School on Friday. "We will do all we can to help our community recover from this devastating loss and to support the students and staff at Dickinson as they cope with these events," Superintendent Marcia Lyles said in a statement. The School Board also released a statement expressing condolences to friends and family of the boys. "The members of the Jersey City Board of Education are deeply saddened to learn about the tragic accident that occurred yesterday resulting in the loss of life of one of our students and severe injuries to a second student," president Joel Torres said. A bouquet of flowers was laid at the scene of the crash on Thursday morning. Wednesday's crash marked the seventh fatal crash that killed eight people in Hudson County since Sept. 1. Of those crashes, two juveniles on bicycles were killed and two crashes were considered hit-and-run incidents. More information about the investigation is expected to be released later today. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. A 20-year-old High Bridge man was arrested earlier this month after he was found to be distributing numerous narcotics, the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office said. Austin Vasallo was arrested Oct. 5 following a joint investigation led by Lebanon Township Police Department and Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office Gangs, Guns & Narcotics Task Force. He was found to be distributing LSD, MDMA, cocaine, marijuana, marijuana edibles and psilocybin mushrooms, police said. He faces multiple drug distribution charges including two second-degree offenses, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns said. The investigation showed the crimes occurred in Lebanon Township and High Bridge Borough in September and October, the prosecutor's office said. He was lodged at Somerset County Jail and was released. He will have a future court appearance, though the date is pending. Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips PRINCETON -- Princeton University's president issued an open letter to Amazon's top two leaders, who are both Princeton alumni, asking them to consider New Jersey to build the company's coveted second headquarters. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and CEO, graduated from Princeton in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. He announced last month that the Seattle-based company was looking for a North American city to host a second, equal headquarters. Eisgruber also addresses Jeff Wilke, the company's CEO of Worldwide Consumer, who graduated from Princeton in 1989 with a degree in chemical engineering. In the letter, Eisgruber wrote that Princeton's student body could help fill the desire for the "excellent institutions of higher education" that Amazon is looking for near its second headquarters. "Princeton University is increasingly engaging with corporate and other external partners throughout the state," Eisgruber wrote. "And we would welcome an exploration with Amazon of areas ranging from potential research collaborations and innovation initiatives, to possible internship or recruitment programs." Earlier in the month, Gov. Chris Christie endorsed Newark as his top city for consideration, if Amazon were to choose New Jersey for their second headquarters. Newark and the state would offer Amazon about $7 billion in potential tax incentives to build its second headquarters, if chosen. Mercer County officials have also submitted proposals to host HQ2. "I wanted to assure you that my colleagues and I are prepared to help in any way we can as you consider the many benefits that a location in New Jersey would provide," Eisgruber wrote. Thursday is the last day Amazon will accept proposals from cities. Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEW YORK -- Three men have been indicted on charges they used a web of telemarketing companies to defraud victims, virtually all of whom were at least 70 years old, said Joon H. Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Christopher Wilson, 32, of Teaneck, Jack Kavner, 31, of West New York, and Daniel Quirk, 33, of Little Ferry, have each been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. They were arrested Wednesday, Kim's office said. "These three defendants, together with their previously charged co-defendants, allegedly targeted the elderly in a callous telemarketing scheme," said Kim. "They allegedly lured their victims into making 'investments' in their company, then just stole their money...we will continue to investigate and prosecute all those who target victims who are vulnerable because of their age." The three men are accused of operating telemarketing firms that solicited investments in bogus business development, web design and other service companies. The elderly victims often provided thousands of dollars in anticipation of returns which never materialized, authorities said. When the victims sought refunds or contested credit card charges, the companies provided false documents and explanations claiming the victims had actually received the services, authorities said. Wilson, Kavner and Quirk face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, while Wilson, who has also been charged with destruction of records, also faces up to another 20 years on that charge. Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- Dozens of pimps and prostitutes were arrested in New Jersey as part of annual international sweep led by the FBI to crackdown on human trafficking, officials said. In what authorities dubbed "Operation Cross Country XI," 42 people were arrested in the state on warrants and charges of sex trafficking, child exploitation and prostitution. It was the 11th year of the FBI-led international sweep. While officials declined to give a breakdown of the towns in which the arrests occurred, they said six were made in North Jersey, three in Central Jersey and 33 in South Jersey. Officials said they did not want to provide the towns to "avoid criminal activity moving to another town." The arrests, which were made in hotels, truck stops and street corners from Oct. 12 through Oct. 15, resulted in charges against 120 traffickers in the U.S. A total of 84 juveniles were also rescued in the U.S. during the operation. During last year's sweep, authorities in New Jersey rescued a 17-year-old. Even though no juveniles were rescued in the state this year, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bradley Cohen, of the FBI Newark Field Division, said, "we potentially touch the life of an adult to stop them from participating in criminal activity." Authorities in Canada, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom also made dozens of busts in similar operations. There were 55 FBI field offices and 78 state and local task forces involved in the sweep, along with hundreds of law enforcement partners. Among the 84 juveniles rescued in the U.S. were a 3-month-old and a 5-year-old in Denver, Colorado, according to the FBI. A 16-year old girl was also rescued by the FBI in El Paso, Texas. The following agencies in New Jersey took part in "Operation Cross Country." Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office Atlantic County Sheriff's Office Atlantic City Police Department New Jersey Human Services Police Department Egg Harbor Township Police Department Galloway Township Police Department Cape May County Prosecutor's Office Fairfield Police Department Essex Fells Police Department Monmouth County Sheriff's Office Ocean Township Police Department Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office West Caldwell Police Department Caldwell Police Department New Jersey State Police Essex County Prosecutor's Office New York/New Jersey Port Authority Police Department Irvington Police Department Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook. TRENTON-- General Motors has reached a settlement with 48 states, including New Jersey, under which the automaker has agreed to pay a total of $120 million for waiting years to recall vehicles with a defect that could have prevented airbags from deploying in a crash, Attorney General Christopher Porrino said Thursday. "General Motors' conduct here was unconscionable. It put profit ahead of integrity and, more disturbingly, sat on its corporate hands as unwitting drivers and their passengers traveled throughout New Jersey - and throughout our nation - in GM vehicles that had the potential to fail and become uncontrollable at highway speeds," said Porrino. New Jersey is to receive $4.1 million under the settlement. GM issued seven recalls in 2014, affecting 9 million vehicles, because of a defective ignition switch that could spontaneously go from the "run" position to "accessory" or "off" under certain conditions. Airbags could have failed to deploy in a crash if the switch were in the accessory or off positions. GM was aware of the defect in 2004, authorities said, a decade before issuing recalls. Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook. As I've noted, I have never known a politician quite as fond of cliches as Phil Murphy. Here's one that that's highly appropriate regarding his campaign: "The elephant in the room." That elephant of course is property taxes. Polls show that more than half the respondents cite these taxes as the biggest problem in New Jersey. Yet despite a relentless inquiry during Wednesday night's debate with Republican Kim Guadagno, the Democratic nominee once again managed to make it through the evening without acknowledging the pachyderm in the parlor. The most telling moment came when moderator Jessica Dean of CBS News brought up that 2 percent cap on arbitration settlements with police and fire unions that sunsets in December. She then asked this rather loaded question: "Will you keep the cap and side with homeowners or get rid of the cap and side with the police and firefighter unions?" "That's a false choice," Murphy responded. He said he would wait until "the facts" are in from a study of the cap. But the only fact that matters is that if we don't retain that cap then there's no way to retain the 2 percent cap on property taxes that was implemented in the first year of the Christie-Guadagno administration. Guadagno pounded that home when she said to Murphy, "You just want to dodge the answer," and then said to the audience at William Paterson College in Wayne "He has been endorsed by every union and he has made promises to those special interests." That seems like a reasonable assertion in the face of Murphy's stonewalling. But stonewalling seems to be working for him. Polls show he's got a lead in the mid-teens in an election that will take place a mere two weeks from Tuesday. As she did last week, Guadagno moved to the right in a last-ditch effort to defeat a candidate who seems determined to stay well to the left of the political spectrum. Guadagno made that turn to the right evident last week by capitalizing on a comment Murphy made in the first debate in which he called for New Jersey to become a "sanctuary state." The Guadagno team promptly cranked out an attack ad linking Murphy's statement to the case of Jose Carranza, an undocumented alien from Peru who masterminded the gang that shot four college students at a Newark schoolyard. The Murphy forces cried foul, as did virtually all the editorial writers in the state. But Guadagno doubled-down on the attack Wednesday night. She told of how she was appalled when, upon becoming Monmouth County Sheriff, she found that arrestees were being released from the county jail with no check of immigration status. "I was shocked to find out we could release a violent criminal from our jails without a criminal background check to see if he was an illegal alien," she said Guadagno told how she changed that policy to require such checks. "If we had done just that, Jose Carranza would not have been in a schoolyard in 2008 shooting four college students," she concluded. The lieutenant governor's turn to the right is probably the only strategy that could make this race competitive. The big question is whether she did well enough in this debate to attract the sort of super-PACS that could hit Murphy with a last-minute wave of negative ads. Super-PACs are not connected to the candidate and therefore not constrained by any limits of taste. If some super-PAC wanted to portray a candidate as the second coming of Hitler, there's nothing stopping them. In fact, in 2016 a super-PAC did just that, putting out an attack ad on Donald Trump titled "Heil Trump." No super-Pac will be portraying Murphy as the second coming of Hitler. But they could certainly make a good case he's the second coming of his fellow Goldman Sachs alumnus Jon Corzine. Guadagno pounded on that theme in this debate, first listing all his promises - from fully funded public pensions to expanded to free community college and so on - before stating the proposed spending "adds up to 50 to 65 billion dollars" When the moderator pressed Murphy on how he would fund all those programs, he responded "you know all of these numbers aren't true," prompting someone in the audience to shout out something unintelligible. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you," Murphy said. "He said, 'Answer the question,'" Guadagno offered helpfully. He doesn't have to, at least for now. But that might not be the case if Guadagno can rustle up come campaign cash in the last two weeks. PLUS - ASK A STUPID QUESTION: I have no idea why we New Jerseyans let out-of-staters moderate our debates, but sometimes the result is embarrassing. That was certainly the case when one of the CBS talking heads asked a question that showed not the slightest knowledge of the issue in question. That came when the two candidates were asked what they would do to offset the cost to New Jersey residents if New York City adopted congestion pricing for cars entering the city. What the heck? Anyone familiar with the congestion-pricing proposal knows that it would apply to crossings on the East River side of Manhattan, not the Jersey side. They would get tolls of perhaps $6 to $8. But we already pay tolls of about $15 to cross the Hudson. They would not be affected. Nonetheless, both candidates said they would offer some sort of a tax rebate to offset those congestion pricing tolls New York would collect. That qualifies as a stupid answer. But that's what happens when you ask a stupid question. ADD: Just what did Sheila Oliver say about Israel? There was one exchange in Monday night's lieutenant-governor debate in which the Democratic nominee made a statement that neither I nor any of my friends in politics could figure out. Maybe you can. It came at the 47-minute mark in the video of the debate. It concerned an issue that I wrote about previously. Oliver was just one of three members of the 120-person Legislature to vote against a bill that directed the state pension funds not to invest with any companies that honor the boycott of Israel. After moderator Michael Aron asked her why she voted for the bill, Oliver gave this response: "Because I believe our investment funds should not be used for any country or for any corporation that is supporting or propping up discrimination in any form." That had me scratching my head. The bill in questions does not prohibit the state pension fund from investing in companies or corporations that discriminate. It does the exact opposite. It prohibits the fund from investing in companies that participate in a boycott based on alleged discrimination. But was Oliver accusing Israel of doing so? Aron ask that question but she ignored it and continued: "I believe that if our state investment council and our legislature was going to proceed in that way, and the Legislature was going to proceed in that way, then we should have developed a more comprehensive bill without investing our pensions with anyone. With anyone? That would mean no investments could be made by the investment council. Then there was this: "if you look around the international community, there are a lot of places with a lot of human rights violations. I believe the bill should have been broader." Huh? If those countries are committing human-rights violations, then why on Earth would we want a "broader" bill that would protect them from boycotts? Or was she proposing something else entirely? Maybe you can figure it out. Technically, legalizing marijuana is not on the ballot next month. But its future could depend on how you vote in the gubernatorial election Nov. 7. Democrat Phil Murphy said he would legalize cannabis as a solution to a social injustice. Blacks have a higher arrest and conviction rate than whites for minor drug offenses. Also, if legalized, sale of the plant could generate billions of dollars in taxes for the state. But Murphy insists he's taking the higher road. "If it doesn't pass the social justice test, you can't talk about revenue implications, and the fact of the matter is that we have the widest white-nonwhite gap of persons incarcerated in New Jersey," he said during last night's debate. The Democratic-controlled Legislature has suggested it would go along with such a move. His opponent, Republican Kim Guadagno, doesn't want you to legally buy the drug, but she says she would decriminalize its use. "There is a less intrusive way to solve the social injustice problem than legalizing drug dealers," Guadagno said previously. "I am wholly opposed to legalizing marijuana. Having said that, I do believe we can decriminalize it." She added last night that legalizing it sends a bad message while the state is fighting an opioid overdose crisis. Murphy countered last night that decriminalizing, but not legalizing, helps keep alive the underground drug market. He prefers that sales be regulated. The role of cannabis in New Jersey is only one of several issues that divide the candidates. But we wonder, will marijuana's future play a role in whom you vote for? Vote in our informal, unscientific poll and tell us how you voted in the comments. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. WAYNE -- The race to replace Chris Christie as New Jersey's governor isn't sleepy any more. That much was clear Wednesday night as Democratic nominee Phil Murphy and Republican nominee Kim Guadagno spent much of their second and final televised debate shooting verbal arrows at each other. The event was held at William Paterson University in Wayne just 20 days before a Nov. 7 election that has often inspired little more than apathy among the state's voters. But if the rivals' first debate was contentious, this one was downright nasty. Murphy, who is leading by double digits in the polls, repeatedly accused Guadagno, the state's lieutenant governor, of lying and at one point mocked her tax plan with a reference to a former New Jersey electronics store. Guadagno accused Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ex-Goldman Sachs banking executive, of dodging questions and suggested his wealth makes him out of touch. At one point during the event at William Paterson University in Wayne, Guadagno tried to interject something when Murphy was speaking. "You'll have your shot," he fired back. Later, someone in the crowd yelled at Murphy not to dance around an answer. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you there," he said to the heckler. "'Answer the question!' was the shout," Guadagno said. It was that kind of night. Just as she did in the first debate, Guadagno touted her plan to cut property taxes for the middle class -- which she said will save the average taxpayer $800 but will also cost $1.5 billion to implement. Murphy dismissed the proposal, known as the "circuit breaker," as being unrealistic. "It sounds like an overstock item at Crazy Eddie's," he said. "You need to have a credible plan." Guadagno countered that Murphy does not even have a property tax proposal. "At least I have a plan," she said. But Murphy said he'd lower property taxes by fully funding public schools because they have been underfunded by $9 billion under Christie. "Where are you getting the money? That $9 billion is coming from your back pocket," she told the crowd, referencing Murphy's proposal to raise $1.3 billion to pay for education, pensions, and more by hiking taxes on the wealthy, closing corporate tax loopholes, and taxing legalized marijuana. Murphy disagreed, noting that part of his tax plan is to close loopholes for corporations and hedge funds. "The $9 billion is coming from your really wealthy friends," he told her. "The corporations and the hedge funds you have taken care of." Murphy once again dodged whether he will support extending a 2 percent cap on how much in salary raises that police and fire unions can win in arbitration. The law expires at the end of the year, and Republicans say it must be renewed because it helps keeps property taxes from skyrocketing. Murphy has repeatedly said he is waiting for a report on the cap's effectiveness to come out at the end of the year before deciding. "I want our voters to know I want to make decisions based on facts," he said Wednesday. Gudagno shot back, accusing Murphy of making a promise to unions who have supported him that he won't support the caps. "You just want to dodge the answer," she said. During a discussion on whether to keep the state's takeover of Atlantic City, Murphy accused Guadagno of making a false statement. "You've left the middle class behind," he said. "Now you've left the truth behind." Then, when the talk turned to New Jersey's troubled pension system, Murphy stuck to his vow to fully fund the system. Guadagno said that's not feasible because it would cost $5 billion in pension payments and another $10 billion in health care payments. She added she would at least negotiate having new hires put on a different retirement plan. "Shouldn't there be a basic line here of telling the truth in these discussions?" Murphy asked. "You're just making stuff up." During a discussion about how to fix problem-plagued NJ Transit, Guadagno said she would audit the state Department of Transportation and have employees reapply for their jobs. She also suggested Murphy wouldn't understand transit problems. "My opponent is a Goldman Sachs billionaire," she said. Murphy shook his head and smiled. The former banker, who is retired, actually made $7.3 million in 2015, according to his tax returns -- mostly from investments. New Jersey Governor Debate WATCH LIVE: Democrat and former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno are facing off in a debate for New Jersey governor. http://cbsloc.al/2yAzPZS Posted by CBS New York on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WAYNE -- It was an awkward moment Wednesday night kicking off the second and final televised debate of the race to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey's governor. Christie's lieutenant governor, GOP nominee Kim Guadagno, declared she's no Christie. Instead, she tried to tie her Democratic rival Phil Murphy to the unpopular outgoing governor who put her in a position to run for statewide office when he plucked her from local office to serve as his running mate in 2009. "Anybody who knows me, knows I'm not Chris Christie," Guadagno said in response to a question from the debate moderator. "I'm running on my record," she said. Then she distanced herself from Christie even further. She described how she "had to stand up and disagree" with him over his decision to sign a gas tax hike into law. Murphy stood with Christie for the gas hike, which was coupled with tax cuts, Guadagno said. Of course, Murphy, whose campaign has been running ads closely tying Guadagno to Christie argued "his record is her record." The lieutenant governor has been standing behind the governor," Murphy said. Polls have shown Guadagno has been hurt by her association to Christie, whose record-low approval ratings are in the teens. Later during the debate, the moderator asked Guadagno if she would appoint Christie as U.S. senator if Sen. Robert Menendez, who is under a federal criminal trial, is found guilty and is forced to resign. Guadagno didn't skip a beat. "No," she said. "That was an easy one." The back and forth kicked off the second and final gubernatorial debate before voters head to the polls on Nov. 7 to elect a new governor. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Johntrell 'John John' Washington, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday (Oct. 31) to a felony charge of resisting a police officer with force, after receiving assurance from the Department of Corrections that he would be released on time served after processing.(Courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office) Travis Boys, 35, is accused of fatally shooting NOPD Officer Daryle Holloway during an escape from custody in June 2015.(Courtesy of Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office) He, however, asserted the state govt should also respect its limits that it's not their job to run universities. Tulane hosting a slew of prospects, looking to fill needs down the stretch WASHINGTON The head of the Environmental Protection Agency sought Tuesday to calm Midwestern senators who could block his nominees if the agency sets renewable fuel mandates too low. All four GOP senators from Iowa and Nebraska attended Tuesdays face-to-face meeting with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. After the meeting, lawmakers indicated that they got assurances of more conversation but no commitment on numbers. Just hours before the meeting, Grassley bluntly answered a reporters question about what leverage the group would have if the agency fails to listen. Hold up EPA nominees, Grassley said. I think theres plenty of senators would do that. The dispute centers on the EPAs recently released proposals for the mandated levels of ethanol and biodiesel usage under the Renewable Fuel Standard. Those policies are followed closely by Iowa and Nebraska, the nations top two producers of ethanol. Renewable fuels groups have criticized the agencys latest numbers as too low, particularly its levels for biodiesel. The July RFS proposal wasnt good, but Iowans optimistically clung to President Trumps promise to make renewable fuels an integral part of an America First energy plan and hoped for the best in a final rule, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said during a press conference with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Wednesday afternoon. But in recent weeks, the EPA has delivered a one-two punch that makes it clear the EPA is not on track to uphold the Presidents commitment to biofuels. The President must intervene to put the EPA back on track with his own publicly expressed energy views or risk irrevocably losing the trust of rural Americans. A bipartisan group of 33 senators wrote Pruitt on Monday objecting to those biodiesel requirements as insufficient. These proposed volumes do not reflect the existing potential for the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries in our states and could cause near-term job losses and discourage investment in capacity and new fuel development, they wrote. Grassley signed that letter, along with Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., did not sign it but instead sent his own letter saying that while the agency has some waiver authority, it should strive to issue volume requirements that respect the intent of Congress. During the press conference Reynolds also expressed concerns about the future of the fuel standard. The purpose of the Renewable Fuel Standard is to grow demand for biofuels while driving the industry to innovate, Reynolds said. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agencys proposals seem to take us backward, not forward. While I have appreciated the accessibility of the EPA and have had many positive conversations about the RFS, I have some significant concerns with the direction the agency appears to be taking. Sasse praised Pruitt for listening to concerns during Tuesdays meeting and explaining the pressures coming from various interests. He said Pruitt was not in a position to offer guarantees because he has to gather more information before finalizing the numbers next month. Pruitt left the meeting without speaking to reporters. Ernst and Fischer are both members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the agency and will be considering EPA nominees. The administrator gave us assurances that hes going to continue his conversations with us and committed to working with us on a variety of issues that deal with the RFS, Fischer said after the meeting. Fischer indicated support for at least one key EPA nominee but did not rule out using the nomination process to get the agencys attention on the RFS. There are always options available for senators to use, Fischer said. An Oklahoman, Pruitts ties to the oil and gas industry caused some heartburn among Midwestern senators when he was nominated for the position, and he won confirmation only after offering them reassurances during a similar meeting in Grassleys office. Ernst recalled that earlier session in a press release she issued after Tuesdays meeting. Administrator Pruitt again claimed today that he will not do anything to undermine the program, Ernst said. However, we have heard this before. We now need to see it. I will continue to work with the EPA, but they must prove to the agricultural community who put their faith in this administration that they will fulfill their promise to maintain the letter and the spirit of the RFS. We will not accept anything less. Speaking to reporters, Grassley pointed to President Donald Trumps campaign promises to support ethanol. Grassley said Trump called him not long ago to assure him that he would stand by that support. I reiterated this story to Mr. Pruitt and said that you can get in the weeds about what you ought to do or not do as a way of policy, but this is an issue of the president keeping his promise to the people, Grassley said. Nonpareil News Editor Mike Brownlee contributed to this report. Krist hosts public discussions ahead of 2018 governor run Executive-branch leadership and a return to nonpartisanship in the state Legislature are two things that state Sen. Bob Krist says are imperative for the state to move forward. Krist, who is running for governor in 2018, was in North Platte on Wednesday for a listening tour and roundtable discussion. He started the day in Scottsbluff and from North Platte, continued on to Lexington and Lincoln. Today he will pick up the statewide tour with stops in Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney and Omaha. The purpose of this listening tour is to put a face to the name and let you know who I am and what I stand for, said Krist, of Omaha. Youll have nine years of legislative experience and voting record to measure and weigh. Ive been on most of the standing committees and dealt with some pretty tough issues. Krist said his experience in the Legislature has prepared him for his gubernatorial run. Im a veteran, Im a father, a real believer in a nonpartisan way of doing business, said Krist, who represents the 10th District. In my first few years in the Legislature, I saw a nonpartisan legislature, and I really enjoyed my time there. He said in the last few years the officially nonpartisan Legislature has become less and less nonpartisan. Also, I think the lines are blurred between the branches of government, and Id like to restore that separation of powers thats written in our Constitution, Krist said. He said during his first term, the Legislature was nonpartisan. I had people like Mike Flood and Steve Lathrop on opposite sides, and they both took me under their wing and showed me how to do business, Krist said. Thats the way it used to be, mentoring and moving forward. With the new Legislature, Krist said, it was different. This time what I saw with the new folks coming in is they were shuttled off campus someplace as a party and told how to react and how to do things, and I think thats wrong, Krist said. Because of the increasing partisanship, Krist said he has decided to start a new party. Ive decided not to answer to party bosses, as either a Republican or a Democrat, Krist said. Ive decided to do it as an independent in the state of Nebraska. He said, however, the word independent is not used to mean nonpartisan. So my hill to climb was to figure out whether to use the existing state statutes for independency, which would require 150,00-plus signatures or to establish a new party, and that only requires 5,000 signatures, Krist said. Thats the path were choosing. Krist has set up a poll to see what that party name will be and the name Nebraskans United is winning: Nebraskans United providing independent leadership for Nebraskans, Krist said. He said the individual issues are obvious, beginning with property tax reform. I understand property taxes are No. 1 on the list, Krist said. Education puts an onerous burden on the property owners right now, and we need to solve that problem. And I plan to do that. His plan is to rebalance the three legs of the tax stool income, property and sales taxes. Weve been talking about it for many, many years and really not acting on it, Krist said. I think right now we suffer from a lack of leadership in the executive branch, and I think Im the leadership that can provide that move forward in terms of what is going to be required to move into reform. Terry Kruse attended the roundtable Wednesday and asked about the waiting list for services from the Department of Health and Human Services. Kruses son Brady died of complications from his multiple handicaps in November 2009 after he was moved out of the Beatrice State Development Center. Since then, Kruse has spent much time conversing with senators, including Krist, to continue to work for better funding and care for others like his son. Do we know where the waiting list numbers stand right now? Kruse asked. A few months ago, I was told by a representative of HHS that it was back at 2,700. Kruse said the citizens of Nebraska need to know about this list and the reasons that the list exists. Krist said the last number he heard was 2,400. Weve had a list ongoing for many, many years of people waiting for services and housing across the state, Krist said. (The length of that list) comes from a lack of leadership and lack of responsiveness from the Department of Health and Human Services and from the executive branch in order to provide those services for people who desperately need them. Krist said the state has community homes and community-based services. Those providers are actually mom-and-pop organizations that provide those services across the state, Krist said. And we have gradually defunded those programs, making it very difficult for people to go into business and serve those people in need. Prisons play a key role in Nebraskas criminal justice system by protecting public safety and preparing inmates for return to our society. Under the leadership of Director Scott Frakes over the past two years, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has been making great strides and working to better achieve its mission. From expanding facility capacity to automating sentence calculation processes and expanding programming, the agency has been adopting data-driven practices to modernize its operations and facilities. While Frakes and his team have accomplished much over the past couple of years, their efforts havent come without support from numerous partnerships. To realize many of these changes, we have taken an all hands on deck approach by working with all three branches of state government on several initiatives. Since 2014, Nebraskas three branches of government have collaborated with the Council of State Governments Justice Center on justice reinvestment initiatives, which included the successful passage of sentencing reform with LB 605 (2015). In August, NDCS announced it had successfully completed implementation of its justice reinvestment initiatives. These included risk/needs assessments and programming reviews to protect public safety and help prepare inmates for re-entry into the community upon completion of their sentence. Successful outcomes for NDCS also require proper funding. Since entering office, I have made it a priority to adequately fund our corrections system. I worked with the Legislature in 2015 to secure an additional $37 million over two years to improve operations in the corrections system. In 2016, the Legislature and I agreed upon an additional $26 million to expand our current prison facilities. This year, we worked together again to provide $75 million in housing investments to appropriately house and care for the needs of elderly inmates and to deliver better programming for those with behavioral health needs. We are beginning to see tangible results from these investments. Eight of our 10 facilities are successfully filling vacancies and retaining staff members. The agency has put more of a focus on leveraging data to manage the prison population and better deliver programming. This year, NDCS completed over 7,000 risk-needs assessments to determine where inmates should be housed and what programming can help prepare them for re-entry. Last month, the agency opened a new 100-bed dormitory at the community corrections facility in Lincoln. While we continue to see great progress, we still have work to do. Staffing at two of the states maximum-security facilities continues to present a challenge. To address this, Frakes recently instituted a hiring bonus for corrections officers at these facilities along with raises for more experienced workers. These bonuses and incentives aim to decrease the overtime required by the current workforce. If these strategies succeed, higher staffing will alleviate pressure on our workforce, allowing our officers to better focus on their jobs, families and personal well-being. We want our corrections officers to go to work each day feeling secure and supported in their environment as they protect public safety. Hiring more corrections officers not only benefits our loyal officers, but also saves the taxpayer money. Every vacant position filled by a full-time team member rather than overtime saves an estimated $13,000 per year. Looking to the future, we also continue to focus on programming to prepare inmates for their return to the community. More than nine in 10 people currently in our prisons will re-enter society. One program new to NDCS is Thinking for a Change. It is helping inmates to recognize criminal thinking and replace it with constructive thinking and problem-solving skills. The program aims to reduce recidivism (the rate of reoffending) as well as lower incidents of inmate misconduct. Weve also seen great community support for innovative partnerships thanks to the philanthropic support of Nebraskans like Rhonda and Howard Hawks, Ken Stinson and others. Last fall, NDCS launched a new partnership with Defy Ventures, a nonprofit organization that transforms the lives of individuals with criminal records by hosting entrepreneurship, employment and character development training programs. By providing this opportunity, Defy not only equips inmates with multiple skills they can use once they return home, but it also makes our prison environments healthier and safer. Thinking for a Change and Defy Ventures are just two examples of the innovative programming changes NDCS has made. These changes are evidence-based and are helping accomplish our goal of rehabilitating the individual rather than simply holding onto them until their sentence is finished. These programs, combined with increased housing and new hiring initiatives, are building a bright future for NDCS. Contact Gov. Pete Ricketts: 402-471-2244 or pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov. Aldi plans to reopen its newly remodeled store at 7925 Indianapolis Blvd. in Hammond next week. The discount grocery chain is investing $1.6 billion to remodel supermarkets across country, including $180 million it's investing in 130 stores across the Chicago area. It's recently renovated several Region stores, and just reopened its Lansing supermarket on Ridge Road in August. "The new Aldi store look delivers on its customers desire for a modern and convenient shopping experience with a focus on fresh items, including more robust produce, dairy and bakery sections, and more room for customers favorite products," the company said in a press release. "Remodeled stores will also feature a modern design, open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally-friendly building materials such as recycled materials, energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting." Aldi is an imported German chain that's known for efficiency, such as by having few employees per store, carrying only off-brand items and requiring customers to use quarters to get shopping carts, so they have to return them to get the quarter back and workers don't need to spend a lot of time chasing carts down in the parking lot. A grand reopening ribbon-cutting ceremony for the remodeled Hammond store is planned at 8:25 a.m. Oct. 26. The first 100 shoppers will get gift cards. INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana Court of Appeals has affirmed the 40-year prison term issued in April to a Gary mother who allowed her infant son to starve to death and likewise neglected her five other children. Katherine Holmes, 29, pleaded guilty to Level 1 felony neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and five additional felony child neglect charges, following the July 5, 2016, death of Kannon McMillan, who gained approximately half a pound in the three months following his March 31 birth and weighed less than 6 pounds when he died. Court records indicate that at the time of his death the child had no body fat, his bones were protruding, his stomach was sunken and the skin on parts of his body had deteriorated, exposing muscles and tissue. There was fungus and blood in the child's diaper and Holmes' one-bedroom apartment, which nine people called home, was roach-, flea- and bedbug-infested, as well as littered with trash, according to court records. Holmes argued in her appeal that the prison sentence set by Lake Superior Judge Samuel Cappas was excessive and should be reduced, in part because she was raised in similar, deplorable conditions, she was employed before being arrested, and she was remorseful. The appeals court was unpersuaded. In particular, the court noted in its 3-0 ruling that Holmes had been trained as a certified nursing assistant, and yet did not apply the skills she learned about how to take care of others to her own children. "Even considering these things in Holmes' favor, they do not overcome the horrific nature of the offense," the court said. The child's father, Jarod T. McMillan, 33, was separately convicted of multiple child neglect charges and sentenced in July to 48 1/2 years in prison. CALUMET TOWNSHIP It's still unknown if Sunday's fatal crash will result in any criminal charges against the driver who was allegedly observed by a Lake County sheriff's officer speeding in the moments leading up to the crash. Blood test results are still pending for the 27-year-old Chicago driver who disregarded a red light before striking a Calumet City woman with his pickup truck Sunday afternoon, said Mark Back, a spokesman with the Lake County Sheriff's Department. "Initial investigation indicates that this drivers speed was a contributing factor in the fatal crash. However, any potential charges are pending further investigation and the results of the blood analysis," he said. The Indiana State Police lab is handling the blood analysis, Back said. A Lake County sheriff's police officer on patrol Sunday saw the pickup truck driving recklessly at a high rate of speed east on 45th Avenue about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, but the crash occurred before the officer was able to turn his vehicle around and initiate the pursuit, Back said. The vehicle ran the light, striking Genecia Hearn's northbound vehicle on Cleveland Street and two other vehicles, authorities have said. Hearn, 31, of Calumet City, was pronounced dead from blunt force trauma at 3:40 p.m. at the scene, a coroner's release said. Four other people, including the three other drivers and a passenger in one of the vehicles, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Back said. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the sheriff's Crash Reconstruction Unit, Back said. LAPORTE Two pets died and two sheriff's deputies were treated for smoke inhalation after authorities responded Wednesday afternoon to a house fire just east of the city limits. Fire crews and EMS personnel, along with LaPorte County sheriff's deputies, responded at 2:42 p.m. to a home in the 1900 block of East County Road 150 North, according to a news release. Two dogs were found unconscious on scene by sheriff deputies Andrew Morse and Kristina Wimmer, police said. Morse, who is a K-9 handler and had been trained in canine CPR, tried to resuscitate the German shepherd. He gave instructions as Wimmer began resuscitation efforts on the second dog, a Labrador mix, police said. Both canines were placed into Wimmer's squad car and rushed to All Creature Features Animal Hospital on U.S. 35 near Kingsbury, police said. It was determined at the vet that the German Shepherd had died, police said. However, the Labrador mix was stabilized and remains under the care of the veterinarian as of Wednesday night. A pet cat also died in the fire. Three other cats were found safe inside the home. Deputies Wimmer and Morse were sent to the emergency room at LaPorte Hospital after they reported symptoms of smoke inhalation. Both deputies were cleared by medical staff and returned to duty later in the shift, police said. Fire departments with Kankakee Township, City of LaPorte and Pleasant Township responded to the blaze. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, but is not believed to be suspicious. No one was home when the fire was reported. CALUMET CITY A man and woman were killed in a shooting Wednesday in Calumet City just west of the Indiana-Illinois border. Police and EMS were dispatched at 2:48 p.m. to the 500 block of State Street in Calumet City for a report of shots fired. There, police found a 48-year-old woman and 19-year-old man, both of Chicago Heights, suffering from gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the Calumet City Police Department. Leon Perry, 19, was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center and pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. The Cook County medical examiner's ledger lists him as being from Lansing, but police listed him as being from Chicago Heights. Seretse Robinson-Perry, 48, of Chicago Heights, was transported to Franciscan Health Hospital in Hammond and pronounced dead at 3:31 p.m., according to the Lake County Coroner's office. Both died from gunshot wounds in a homicide, authorities said. The Calumet City Police Department and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force are investigating. Anyone with information should call the Calumet City police at 708-868-2500. LANSING A 33-year-old man wanted in connection with a Whiting bank robbery was arrested Wednesday in the area of River Oaks Center in Calumet City, an official said. Jason N. Piepenbrink, whose last listed address was in Portage, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Task Force after the marshals received anonymous tips that Piepenbrink was in the area of the mall, Whiting Police Chief Steve Miller said. Piepenbrink's girlfriend, Monica Keilman, 33, of Merrillville, also was arrested on a warrant related to a theft charge out of Schererville, Miller said. Lake Criminal Court records show the warrant for revocation of probation was issued Oct. 9. Piepenbrink and Keilman were taken to separate Chicago police districts and will face extradition proceedings in Illinois before they can be brought before a judge in Indiana. Piepenbrink was identified as a suspect in a robbery Oct. 10 at Horizon Bank, 1321 119th St., hours after police released surveillance photos from the bank. Piepenbrink is accused of entering the bank and handing a teller a note with instructions to put cash on the counter. "Do not hit the panic button and nobody gets hurt. I'm dead serious," the note said. Police released a photo of the note along with surveillance images. INDIANAPOLIS Hoosier lawmakers once again will ask federal officials to take whatever actions are needed to free Lake and Porter county motorists from the biennial vehicle emissions testing mandate. On Wednesday, the General Assembly's Interim Study Committee on Roads and Transportation unanimously voted to request the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency remove Northwest Indiana from its Chicago region for air quality purposes. Lake and Porter counties for years have met the EPA standard for ozone, a pollutant produced by vehicle emissions that can cause breathing difficulties for children, the elderly and individuals with lung disease. However, because the EPA lumps the Region with Chicago, excess ozone levels on the Illinois-Wisconsin border require Northwest Indiana motorists to submit to vehicle emissions testing. "This solution has to be dealt with on the federal side if we're going to get anything done," said state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell. Niemeyer believes having a Hoosier in the White House Vice President Mike Pence offers a rare opportunity for the state to press its case to someone willing to listen. He recommended state lawmakers, business leaders and Region residents all contact their U.S. senators and congressmen to urge the EPA to eliminate the emissions testing obligation that applies, in Indiana, only to Lake and Porter counties. CROWN POINT Lake Commissioners hope to make the site of the old Hermit's Lake subdivision sewage plant sweeter smelling. Commissioners voted Wednesday to pay Wealing Brothers of Fowler, Indiana, $110,000 to remove sewage being stored at the decommissioned Hermit's Lake sewage treatment plant at 125th and White Oak Drive. The plant once processed sewage from 200 homes of the Hawthorne Hills and Hermit's Lake subdivisions, which are just outside Crown Point's city limits. It initially was run by Center Utilities, a private company, that was cited by the state for dumping inadequately treated sewage into Foss Ditch, which flowed south, fouling Lake Dalecarlia, Cedar Creek and the Kankakee River. County government took over the plant's operation 20 years ago, but as the costs of improving and maintaining it rose, the county petitioned the city of Crown Point and the federal government for help. U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, arranged a $750,000 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grant. That and $250,000 from county government was used last year to build a transfer line and pumping station to send the subdivision's sewage to Crown Point's sewer system. Commissioners also voted to pay $65,700 to Grimmer Construction, of Highland, to seal and repair sewage collection lines in the subdivisions. They will pay a total of $100,000 to four Lake Criminal Court public defenders for additional work in representing indigent criminal defendants. Commissioners will pay Texas-based Assessment Advisors LLC up to $73,150 for software needed by the county assessor's office to set property values. Commissioners will pay East Chicago's Lurbifleet Powerwash Inc. $380 per snow storm to plow the parking lot of the Calumet Township Assessor's office in Gary. Commissioners will pay New York-based Infor $317,658 to furnish the county with financial accounting software and Ohio-based Mapsys Systems and Solutions Inc. $9,000 for record-keeping software. Commissioners will be upgrading neighborhood parks on King Court and Ralston Street in unincorporated Calumet Township. The parks were once the property of homeowners' associations that became inactive years ago, but are not the responsibility of county government. Commissioners approved an agreement with Illiana Christian High School to split the costs of improving an intersection at 109th and Calumet Avenue in St. John Township. The county, the high school and the Town of St. John are each paying on third of the $500,000 cost. Commissioners voted to pay Johnson Controls, of Milwaukee, $14,302 to repair a furnace in a county government building that houses the sheriff's department special victims investigations unit in Crown Point. Commissioners appointed Aimbrell D. Holmes, of Gary, and Robert Morgan, of Schererville, to serve on the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission, which nominates attorneys to fill judicial vacancies in the Lake Superior Courts. EAST CHICAGO An additional 200,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment will be removed from the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal this year as part of the Army Corps of Engineers massive dredging project. Army Corps project manager Natalie Mills provided an update on the project at the East Chicago Waterway Management District board meeting Wednesday night. The Army Corps contractor resumed dredging Sept. 30 under a five-year contract, with employees working, at times, six-to-seven days per week. The goal is to dredge approximately 180,000 cubic yards from the federal channel and 30,000 cubic yards of dredging in another area of the canal at the request of ArcelorMittal, Mills said. Dredging first began in 2012 in the Grand Calumet River, which contains polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCBs, and is considered one of the most polluted in the country. Since 2012, more than 1 million cubic yards of material has been removed and hydraulically offloaded into a confined disposal facility at 3500 Indianapolis Blvd. The contract allows up to 400,000 cubic yards to be removed each year, though the amount is largely dependent on available funds, Mills said. The dredging and operation of the facility is a joint venture between Durocher Marine, a division of Kokosing Construction Co., and O'Brien & Gere, according to the Army. Stan Neff, with Kokosing Construction Co., and Scott Petersen, with O'Brien & Gere, were also on hand to answer questions about safety measures in place at the site and the offloading area that includes groundwater and air monitoring. Real-time air monitors in the dredging area detects for elevated levels of naphthalene, particulate matter and VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, they said. However, East Chicago residents and community activists werent satisfied with the safety measures in place. George Smolka, of Griffith, said more contaminants should be monitored during the dredging process, arguing workers on site are in harms way. Other residents urged more robust monitoring, noting the canal is close to several schools, including Central High School and the new pre-kindergarten center. Neff said if detectable levels of chemicals are detected by the air monitoring systems, employees are alerted and, if sustained trends are detected, they are instructed to wear respiratory masks. The Army Corps is dredging the canal to 22 feet for navigational purposes, but Thomas Frank, an environmental activist in East Chicago, argued for a more deeper environmental dredge and more permanent fix. Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Indiana Department of Environmental Management tabled the Army's request for a permit to store the most highly contaminated sediments containing PCB concentrations of 50 parts per million or more at the facility. Instead, state and federal environmental officials agreed to study an option for off-site disposal and capping of contaminated sediment hot spots. VALPARAISO A 29-year-old South Haven man disappeared midway through his child molestation trial this week, and the ankle monitor he was wearing was found many miles away in South Holland, Illinois, according to a court official. A jury found Phillip Kress guilty on a felony count of child molesting in his absence, and officials are waiting to see if he shows up for sentencing Nov. 17, said Tracy Goodpaster, bailiff for Senior Judge Thomas Webber. The evidence portion of the trial began Tuesday morning, and Kress left at lunch to go to the hospital, complaining about kidney stones, Goodpaster said. When he did not return to court that day, his attorney Bob Harper requested a continuance until Wednesday morning. Kress failed to show up Wednesday, and the case went to the jury without testimony from Kress, Goodpaster said. The jury returned later in the day with the guilty verdict, she said. Harper could not be reached Thursday for comment. Officials believe that sometime Tuesday or Wednesday Kress removed and ditched the ankle monitor he was wearing as part of his pre-trial release. Kress had been charged with molesting a then 5-year-old girl between July 1, 2014, and Feb. 21, 2015, according to court documents. The girl reportedly told family members about the abuse even though Kress told her not to tell anyone or he would be really mad. A former girlfriend reportedly told police that Kress had pornography on his computer, but that it was locked up, according to case records. She said she caught him watching it on several occasions, but he would close it immediately. Among the items police seized from Kress home were a computer and a hard drive, according to records. Kress was charged with numerous counts of child pornography. Kress is out of jail on a $7,000 cash bond. Goodpaster, who has served as bailiff for 10 years, said this is the first time she can remember a defendant disappearing during a trial. Free e-newsletter Our daily newsletter is FREE and keeps you up to date with the world of mortgage. Please complete the form below and click on SIGN UP to receive daily e-newsletters from NZ Adviser. Dennis McKelvy, all 6-foot-4 and approximately 260 pounds of him, stepped upon the green lid of the grease trap behind D Square Donuts on 1625 East University Drive in Auburn and commenced to jump up and down Thursday morning. The maneuver added emphasis to McKelvys concern, which is a question that remains to be answered: How exactly, or in what way, did 3-year-old Sadie Grace Andrews fall into a grease trap at an Auburn ice cream shop? The answers to this question are pending on the conclusion of a police investigation conducted by the Auburn Police Division, which in turn, will determine what steps the city will take going forward, according to Auburn City Manager Jim Buston. Until we know how this tragedy happened, we wont know what actions to take to keep this from happening ever again, Buston said. Following Saturdays tragedy, officials from the city manager's office contacted the other two local businesses with grease traps similar to the one at Brusters on 2172 East University Drive and informed them what had happened. The Opelika-Auburn News reached out to representatives of these two businesses -- D Square Donuts and Venditoris Italian Restaurant -- seeking comment about how the restaurants are responding to news of the tragedy. The majority of the citys 110 grease pits are located in traffic areas or roadways and are sealed with metal manhole covers, Buston said Tuesday. The grease pits at three businesses, including the former ones at Brusters, were sealed by plastic lids. At D Square Donuts, four posts connected by a heavy chain surround the sealed grease pits as a warning. The plastic lids are secured by eight long, stainless steel screws. Even before Saturdays tragedy, the posts and chain were in place behind the business, McKelvy, manager of the doughnut shop, said. When the grease trap was put in eight years ago, we did it [installed the posts] so people couldnt drive over the trap or the doors, he explained. The business is looking into implementing extra precautions, McKelvy also said, including possibly putting up a 3- or 4-foot fence. John Sellers, owner of Venditoris, said the city contacted the restaurant about the tragedy, He anticipates having continuing discussions about the matter with city officials. 'Never should have happened' Over the years, McKelvy said, he has come outside behind the shop to discover that someone had taken one of the grease trap lids off, failing to put it back on properly. He said he didnt know who left the lid off. McKelvy said the trap is regularly inspected by the city. The trap is also emptied by a private service contractor by appointment. McKelvy said he meets those who pump it out to ensure that the lid is sealed appropriately afterward. The city, however, doesnt inform when it does inspections, McKelvy said, and he he said noted this matter Wednesday with a city employee who called the business, saying it would be helpful to know when inspections occur. In questioning how Andrews could have fallen through a trap lid, McKelvy said he didnt know why Brusters would even have a need to open its trap, other than to have it pumped out or for a quick inspection, given how drainage generally flows to such traps through a sink inside a business. The original trap lids at Brusters were made of the same material as those at D Square Donuts and Venditoris, city manager Buston said, except those formerly at Brusters were rounded and arched, giving the appearance of a mushroom top. The ones at the other two businesses are flat. The Opelika-Auburn News also reached out to State Sen. Tom Whatley, who expressed his concern for the Andrews family and said he would like to reach out and talk with them about potential steps for improving safety in all areas of Alabama. Its a terrible tragedy, and I will look at everything we can do to make everything safer for children and Alabama families, Whatley said. This never should have happened. South Korean artist Young-Sung Kim has a very special talent, he can paint photographs. That may sound like a gross exaggeration, but just take a look at what hes able produce with a paintbrush, some acrylic and mountains of talent and patience. The old saying, Ill believe it when I see it, doesnt really apply to Youn-Sung Kims art. You can stare at his incredibly detailed painting for hours and still not be able to tell them apart from high-resolution digital photographs. Kim is so good at what he does that, sometimes, he himself has trouble telling his hyper-realistic paintings from the photos that inspired them. Once, he actually mistakenly sent the press the file of a photo he took, instead of the painting he did, because they looked virtually identical to the naked eye. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook The 43-year-old artist, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but currently lives in New York, recently said that almost everyone whos seen his paintings has, at one point, asked him if he just prints photos on the canvas. Having had trouble telling his artworks from photos himself, he takes that as a compliment, not an insult. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Most of Kims paintings depict small animals interacting with man-made objects, and the artist admits that he has been fascinated by insects, reptiles and amphibians since he was a young boy, keeping them in his room and painting them. Back then, the result of his hard work were nowhere near the level of his most recent works, but that only made him want to become a better painter. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook It wasnt easy to paint their structure and color well. It was much harder than I had expected. I promised myself I will train myself at art school when I grow up and paint them perfectly, the artist told Yonhap News Agency. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Unfortunately, his parents didnt approve of his decision to focus his studies on art, fearing that he would not be able to land a good job. In high-school, their opposition only made Kim rebel even more, defying his parents every chance he got, getting into fights, and basically wasting his time aimlessly. After two years of this, his family finally gave in and allowed him to pursue his dream. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook My parents realized that I wasnt just protesting and that I just cant live without painting, Young-Sung Kim said. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Kim eventually convinced his parents that they made the right decision. Not only does he get to earn a living doing what he loves most, but he became one of the worlds most highly-regarded hyperrealistic painters, earning between $10,000 and $130,000 per artwork. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook That may seem like a high price to pay for a painting, be it as realistic as a digital photo, but youre also paying for the time put into it by the artist. Youn-Sung Kim paints for more than 12 hours a day, even on weekends, but, even so, he sometimes spends up to a year on his large scale masterpieces. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Even though I work from 9 in the morning till midnight, it takes a year for me to finish some paintings, the talented artist said. As I want to paint as realistically as possible, it just takes forever to complete a piece that I am satisfied with. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Despite the stunning realism of his paintings, Young-Sung Kim is never completely happy with his work. He scores his artworks on a 100-point scale, and none of his dozens of paintings have ever scored above 90 points. Kim hopes to better himself and get as close to that 100-point mark as possible. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook If you enlarge a photo to observe it, you will realize it is not very realistic, Kim said. Technology advances at a great speed and it is hard to keep up, but my goal is to outperform a high-definition TV or computer monitor. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook Thats quite an ambitious goal, but looking at his incredible hyper-realistic artworks, if anyone can do it, its this guy. Photo: Young-Sung Kim/Facebook For more examples of exceptional hyper-realistic art, check out the works of Anna Halldin Maule, Tom Martin, or Robin Eley. We have questions for Ketchums Ray Kotcher, permanent senior counsel to PRSAs board and another indication of Omnicom/Ketchums influence on the Society. Three Ketchum staffers are on the leader list of the New York chapter, the only organization represented by more than one person. Ray Kotcher The bio of Kotcher, holder of numerous PR awards and titles, says that Perhaps most importantly (he) believes in the importance of character and integrity in our lives and in our work. It further notes that as chair of the PR Council he worked to promulgate the highest standards of ethical practice, and to ensure those standards, he asked every member to sign the Councils Statement of Principles, which all didan industry first. He is professor of the practice of PR at Boston University. Why No Press Room at Conference? We have a number of questions for Kotcher starting with why was there no press room at the 2017 national conference in Boston? As of today, almost two weeks after the Oct. 7 Assembly, there is no report on in in the Societys online newsroom. We found out what happened from a posting on the Oregon chapter website. After heated debate, the Assembly approved the addition of communications to PR wherever PR appears in the bylaws. A bid to eliminate district reps was blocked and a bid to allow the national board to amend bylaws was withdrawn. There was no coverage of the conference by the Boston Globe or Herald. Were they invited? Why was press barred from the Assembly? An attempt by this reporter to get credentials was ignored. $945 Spent on Ethics You emphasize the importance of ethics for members and the PRSA Code of Ethics says ethics is the most important obligation of a members. Then why was only $945 spent in ethics in 2016 when total spending was $11.5M? How can PRSA position itself as a professional organization when it lacks the hallmark of professionan enforced ethics code? The Society abandoned its enforced Code in 1999. PRCA Ousted Offender The PR Consultants Assn. of the U.K. recently ousted member Bell Pottinger which had been accused of running a campaign that inflamed racial discord in South Africa. The PR industry needs advocates who can communicate with the media and general public, said Francis Ingham, director general of the 20,000-member group. BP went into "administration" (similar to bankruptcy) after a campaign that triggered client defections, resignation of CEO James Henderson, five-year expulsion from the PRCA, and failure of consultant BDO to find a buyer. PRSA, Other Groups Called on to Act Ingham aimed his message of PRs duty to engage with the public specifically at anybody representing our business which would include PRSA, Intl Assn. of Business Communicators, PR Council and other trade groups. PRSA membership has stagnated since it dropped its enforced Code. Enrollment of 19,600 in 2000 grew to only 21,000 in 2017. Revenues in 2016 of $11.3M were below revenues of $11.4M in 2006. Membership has been declining in recent months. Modern PR is much more than traditional media relations but an antagonistic relationship with traditional media means our story seldom breaks through to the business community or general public, added Ingham, who is celebrating his tenth year as director general. PRCAs suspension of BP shows that members will be held to account by its ethical code, said Ingham. He added that Agencies that arent members need to be able to justify their position. Cynthia Isaac The pace of business today is faster than ever before. Connecting employees from different geographies and cultures, providing 24/7 anywhere/anytime access to information, and automating tasks formerly performed by people has become the new normal. Adding to the complexity is four generations of employeesBoomers, GenX, Millennials, and GenZconverging in the workforce, each bringing with it diverse workstyles and differing expectations of employers. Across every industry, no issue is more integral to success than maintaining the highest levels of employee engagement and the retention of top talent. Savvy leaders in human resources and internal communications functions have always understood that internal communications and employee engagement are critical business imperatives. A recent Towers Watson Change and Communication ROI Study indicates that internal communications is a leading indicator of financial performance, revealing that firms ranked as highly effective communicators earned 47 percent higher returns across five years compared to firms that were ranked the least effective communicators. Despite their importance, engagement and retention remain top challenges for business leaders in healthcare. The 2017 ProClinical Employee Engagement Life Sciences Benchmark Report reveals a drop from 67 percent in 2016 to 63 percent in 2017, while commitment to remain with their employer for the long term has dropped from 60 percent in 2016 to just 47 percent in 2017. Similarly, our team works with several large pharmaceutical companies employing sizeable outsourced field forces to combat high turnover rates and low engagement. Why is employee engagement such a challenge? We believe three core trends are having a global impact: First, trust in large businesses is declining, with only 18 percent of Americans reporting a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in big business, with similar declines worldwide. When asked about healthcare, only nine percent of Americans surveyed believed that companies put patients over profits. Is it any surprise that employees in an industry eyed with suspicion and who dont believe that their values are aligned with those of their employer arent willing to go the extra mile to create value for their company? Second, many companies are moving toward an outsourced and highly distributed business model: lean and flexible core teams supplemented with specific expertise from consultants and freelancers as needed, allowing companies to rapidly adapt to changing customer needs. It appears that the workers who desire the more traditional path are becoming fewer in number as perks like greater flexibility in schedule and more control over their work environment increase in importance. While today 34 percent of the total US workforce is made up of freelancers, 41 percent of full-time employees indicate they expect to become independent workers in the next year, and 53 percentmore than halfanticipate becoming independent workers within the next five years. This is truly a new workforce, and one that brings different expectations about their relationship with their employers to the job, along with a strong desire for relationships and collaboration. As a result, companies must find new ways to build strong connections to the company, its culture, leadership and mission if they are to capture the innovations these consultants can bring to the enterprise. Third, the demographics of the workforce are undergoing a seismic change. As 3.6 million Baby Boomers retire, one-fourth of Millennial workers will take on management roles as an increasing percentage of Generation Z enters the workforce. With this shift in demographics (which amplifies the cultural differences brought forward by globalization), comes expectations about employee experience in the workplace. Despite the trend toward a distributed workforce, a 2017 Future Workplace survey showed that Millennials and Generation Z desire collaboration and in-person communication, with 56 percent answering the people I work with when asked to name the top attribute that enables them to do their best work. Viewed through the lens of this relationship-centered environment, reports that Millennial managers feel ill-prepared to lead are alarming29 percent report their education has not prepared them to resolve conflicts, 28 percent report lacking negotiating skills and 27 percent say they do not know how to manage people. The challenges are clear, so what should HR leaders and internal communications leaders think about in in the context of these trends? Defining a shared purpose. The purpose of a company defines why a company exists, and how it addresses larger forces at work in society and the broader economy. Most employees want to feel that they are working for a greater good, and with many agreeing that a shared purpose is more important than a paycheck. Instilling a sense of shared purpose through the companys narrative, communications and actions can attract and energize not only the right employees, but also a companys customers, partners and vendors. Building trust. The rumor mill is damaging in any company, but particularly in one with a highly-distributed workforce. Building trust requires a two-pronged approach that provides continuous and consistent communication. Leadership communications must continually reinforce how the current business strategy supports the companys shared purpose and values, and must be as transparent as possible regarding the companys business, success and future plans, even when the news is not good. At the same time, managers must communicate consistently with their teams so all employees understand the role they play in achieving the companys goals. Equally important is offering regular opportunities to provide feedback, so emerging issues can be identified, and meaningful solutions that will strengthen trust are offered. Shaping culture. Companies can define their culture on paper, but engaging employees to take ownership of the companys culture requires modeling real-life examples of culture in action. To accomplish this goal, HR and internal communications executives must consider aligning both learning and development and rewards and recognition programs to reinforce core behaviors. A recent Harvard Business Publishing State of Leadership Development Survey of learning and development professionals and business managers from large enterprises showed that only 19 percent of business managers strongly agree that their leadership development programs have a strong correlation to the business issues their company culture is designed to address. Taking a fresh look at these programs and ensuring they are in line with the companys current direction and focus should not be a rare endeavor, but an ongoing evaluation. In addition, programs that reward positive behavior and ideally allow for both peer-to-peer and manager-to-employee recognition bring culture to life in a way that creates stronger bonds between teams. Managing the transformation of the global workforce is certainly fraught with challenges. Human resources and internal communications leaders are in a position to provide the competitive advantage to their companies in the race to recruit, retain and engage talent by empowering a workforce aligned in objectives, values and purpose. *** Cynthia Isaac, Ph.D, leads the Corporate Communications practice for the public relations group of INC Research/inVentiv Health. The largest independently branded accounting firm in Ireland has announced that it will be creating 80 new positions in its Dublin and Midlands offices. RBK has grown from a relatively small, regional practice to a nationwide, indigenous firm with a sophisticated skills and services profile. At the official opening of our its new office in Dublin 4 today and the launch of its new brand, the firm has formally announced 80 new positions in its Dublin and Midlands offices at all levels within the firm over the next three years in addition to its annual intake of 20 plus third level graduates in September each year. With offices in Dublin, Athlone and Roscommon, RBK currently ranks in 12th position in a list of Irelands top accountancy firms by Finance Dublin magazine. RBK is currently led and managed by 19 Partners who are supported by a 180 plus strong team of technical and advisory specialists. It provides audit, accounting and taxation services to domestic and overseas individuals and companies and delivers a wide range of additional services ranging from wealth management to payroll, corporate finance and HR. The firm also provide management support and technology based services. As the firm continues to grow, RBK is experiencing increased demand for additional resources to provide expert advices and services for our clients, particularly in relation to sectoral specific insight and knowledge. In addition, we have recently entered into a strategic alliance with a leading U.S. advisory funds group, Marcum LLP, headquartered in New York. The new venture is established as an Irish service centre for hedge fund and private equity clients. It combines RBKs expertise and experience in providing audit, accounting, taxation and business advisory services to domestic and overseas businesses with Marcums leadership as one of the top five hedge fund service providers in the US. On Thursday, 19th October 2017 The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan has praised the Gardai in Laois-Offaly in the Dail. Minister Flanagan highlighted in particular their success in combatting burglaries in the region. Answering a Topical Issue for his colleague, Offaly Fine Gael TD Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy in the Dail, Minister Flanagan said: I am very much aware of the impact of crime on rural communities, including the serious damage done by organised gangs who target rural areas to engage in burglary and other property crime. Operation Thor tackles organised crime gangs and other prolific offenders as well as working with communities to prevent crime throughout Ireland. Since the beginning of Operation Thor, it is encouraging to note that burglary figures in particular have decreased significantly. The CSO official crime statistics for the last three months of 2016 show a 30% decrease in burglary compared to the same period in 2015. "The decrease in the Laois/Offaly Division for this period is 7% higher than the national average - with a decrease in burglary of 37%. I want to complement the Gardai in Laois/Offaly on this success," he stated. I am informed by the Commissioner that the Garda strength of the Laois/Offaly Division, on 31 August 2017, the latest date for which figures are readily available, was 325. There are also 17 Garda Reserves and 24 civilians attached to the Division. "When appropriate, the work of local Gardai is supported by a number of Garda national units such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. "Since the reopening of the Garda College in September 2014, close to 1,400 recruits have become members of An Garda Siochana and been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, 66 of whom have been assigned to the Laois/Offaly Division. "Another 200 trainees are scheduled to become Gardai later this year which will see Garda numbers, taking account of projected retirements, increase to around the 13,500 mark by year end - an increase of 500 since the end of 2016. "In the period 2013 to end of 2017 almost 44 million will have been invested in the fleet with some 2,000 vehicles coming on stream in that period. The governments commitment to policing around this country and in Laois-Offaly is clear. Agricultural News 2017 National FFA Convention Expected to Attract Over 64,000 Members and Guest to Indianapolis Innovators and leaders of tomorrow, FFA members make a difference by sharing their stories of agricultural education and FFA. This year, members will continue the tradition as they attend the 90th National FFA Convention & Expo, held in the Circle City Oct. 25-28, 2017. More than 64,000 FFA members from across the U.S., representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are expected to attend the event. Today, the 2016-17 National FFA Officers will dye the downtown Indy canal blue, as a precursor to the thousands of blue jackets that will be seen throughout the city of Indianapolis next week. In addition to celebrating the upcoming national convention, FFA also announced its record membership numbers for the year: 653,359 FFA members, 8,568 FFA chapters and more than 344,000 FFA Alumni members and 2,051 FFA Alumni chapters. Convention and expo events will take place at several venues in downtown Indianapolis and surrounding areas. FFA members and advisors will meet in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where eight of the nine general sessions will be held. At the Indiana Convention Center, members can explore the expo or expand their minds by attending a variety of workshops or participating in education and career success tours. This year, the theme of the convention and expo is I Can. We Will., and the national officer team is excited to share this with all of those in attendance. "FFA members know that individually they can make a difference, but together, they are stronger and have a louder voice," says 2016-17 National FFA President David Townsend, a student at the University of Delaware. "The National FFA Convention & Expo gives members an opportunity to learn from one another on how we can continue to grow leaders, strengthen agriculture and build our communities." The national convention and expo will have an estimated $33 million impact on the city. Attendees will stay in more than 120 hotels throughout the Indianapolis area. The convention and expo will kick off with the National FFA Band leading a grand march down Georgia Street in downtown Indianapolis on Wed., Oct. 25. The march will end at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and usher in the start of the opening session. On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 28, the eighth general session will be held in Lucas Oil Stadium where American FFA Degrees, the highest degree for an FFA member, will be bestowed upon more than 4,000 members. Throughout the week, convention and expo attendees will also be lending a helping hand to the greater Indianapolis area as part of the National Days of Service. Areas where students will be giving back to the community include Gleaners Food Bank, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Growing Places Indy, White River State Park, Woodruff Place Civic League and more. The National FFA Convention & Expo is scheduled to be held in Indianapolis through 2024. This year, stay up-to-date with the National FFA Convention & Expo app. Download it for free on Apple and Android. Features include a customizable convention and expo schedule; cool photo filters; interactive maps; an exhibitor listing; exclusive convention and expo news and updates; a photo challenge; and more. News, features, sights and sounds from the 2017 National FFA Convention & Expo will be published on FFA.org/convention and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with #ICanWeWillFFA. The National FFA Organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to 653,359 student members who belong to one of 8,568 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization is also supported by 344,239 alumni members in 2,051 alumni chapters throughout the U.S. We are taking pictures related to our 2017 National FFA Convention- click here to check out the Convention Album on FLICKR. Our exclusive coverage of the 2017 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis October 24-28 is a service of ITC Great Plains, Your Energy Superhighway- learn more about this high voltage, transmission only utility and their commitment to the communities they serve which is the cornerstone of their business - click here. We also appreciate the support of the Oklahoma FFA Association and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association. Click here for more information about one of the top states in the US in the FFA- the Oklahoma FFA Association. Oklahoma FFA impacts the lives of over 27,000 members in 359 chapters across the state. Source - National FFA Organization WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady NSI Top Agricultural News WASHINGTON News of an unauthorized, off-the-books waiting list for mental health appointments at the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System has attracted the attention of Capitol Hill. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Iowa Republicans, on Thursday sent a letter to David Shulkin, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, citing a Sunday World-Herald story that revealed the existence of the list. While we appreciate that the VA apparently took action to correct the situation after learning of it, the little that was disclosed publicly leaves some unanswered questions, the two senators wrote. Earlier in the week Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., sent his own letter to the VA secretary, seeking more information. The existence of a secret list or lists of those denied appointments or for whom treatment was delayed is shocking, and the VAs refusal to answer questions about it is unacceptable and must be remedied immediately, Sasse wrote Shulkin. I trust you share this view. The secret list dodged requirements for establishing and maintaining waiting lists, according to an Aug. 11 memo from the systems compliance officer to Director Don Burman in Omaha. The unauthorized waiting list echoed a nationwide scandal in 2014 at the VA Medical Center in Phoenix, which showed that veterans there were dying while waiting months for medical care on lists that were kept secret. In a statement, the Omaha VA indicated that no veterans were harmed a statement Grassley and Ernst noted in their letter. With mental health, receiving prompt care is crucial and in severe cases can be a matter of life and death, they wrote. They asked the VA to respond to the letter by Oct. 31 and stated that its important for veterans and taxpayers to know how any list or lists affected access to care, what types of employees were involved and what corrective actions were taken to ensure that it doesnt happen again. They also asked generally how the public should be informed of such situations. Sasse put an even tighter deadline on his inquiry, asking Shulkin to provide answers by today. His list of questions covered how many Nebraska veterans were affected, who kept the list or lists, what disciplinary actions resulted and whether the employees involved received bonuses. Nebraskans have no patience for improper treatment of our veterans, nor for attempts to cover it up, Sasse wrote. In a statement, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said that her aides are in frequent contact with the Omaha VA and that they are monitoring the situation closely. Our veterans deserve timely, quality care and its clear changes must be made at the VA, Fischer said. In this particular case in Omaha, we need to know what went wrong so it doesnt happen again. VA press secretary Curt Cashour said in a statement: VA appreciates the senators concerns. We are looking into their questions, and will respond to them directly. For years, Ginger Neuhart, the village of Alvos clerk/treasurer, came to the monthly board meetings with a stack of checks for the villages business. The payroll checks, including her own, were filled out in her loopy scrawl, all awaiting Board Chairman Ryan Andersons signature. It wasnt until September after reaching out to the state auditor in August that Anderson learned why the loopy letters spelling out seven hundred on Neuharts payroll check were spaced so far to the right of the check. When the check was processed by the bank two days after the meeting, the words one thousand had been squeezed in front of the seven hundred. Shed gotten away with it for years, Anderson said by phone on Wednesday from Alvo, a village in Cass County of about 150 people. Its a small town and you trust everybody. I trusted her. Neuhart received $105,000 in overpayments over seven years, according to the state auditors examination of all checks made out to her by the village of Alvo. She has been charged with felony theft by deception and will appear in court for a preliminary hearing in Cass County this morning. According to an affidavit, on Sept. 11, Neuhart told a Nebraska State Patrol investigator that she had altered her Alvo checks monthly, adding $1,000 and sometimes $2,000 to her own paychecks after Anderson had already signed them. Neuhart was also the clerk/treasurer for the villages of Ithaca and Memphis and the city of Waverly. The states Auditor of Public Accounts has requested financial information and bank statements from the other three municipalities. Neuhart, 60, of Waverly, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In Nebraska, the filing of a felony complaint charging embezzlement carries a statute of limitations of three years. Bank records for the last three years show $39,000 in unauthorized funds by altered payroll checks to Neuhart from Alvo, the affidavit said. Anderson said hes glad the fraud has stopped, but now the village is left to figure it out. Everyone the auditor, the State Patrol they do their job, but theres not really any help for Alvo to get that money back, Anderson said, adding that the village would have to file a civil suit for funds embezzled before 2014. Anderson expects the village to be back in good financial shape in six years. Its a mess now, Anderson said. Its overwhelming. GRAND ISLAND, Neb. A 35-year-old Grand Island man is charged with driving under the influence with seven children in his vehicle. The man, who was arrested last month, was charged in an 18-count complaint in Hall County Court. He also faces seven counts of committing child abuse intentionally with no injury and seven counts of transporting a child while intoxicated. The other charges are having no operators license, possession of an open alcoholic container in a vehicle and driving during revocation, second offense. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon, but he and his attorney, Mark Porto, made a written waiver of that hearing Tuesday. In the waiver, he requests a jury trial. The man was arrested about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 on Highway 30 east of 130th Road. In the affidavit, Hall County Deputy Chance Engel wrote that he encountered the mans vehicle, a white Chevrolet Tahoe, driving east on Highway 30 in Wood River. Engels radar clocked the vehicle going 46 mph in a 35 mph zone. According to the affidavit, there were seven children, all under the age of 16, in the vehicle. Three other adults were also in the vehicle. Four of the children who were younger than 6 were lying down in the cargo area of the vehicle on the floor board without any safety restraints, the affidavit says. The mans license had expired and been revoked, but he did have a valid ignition interlock permit. A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled. He was released on bail Sept. 18, paying 10 percent of the $15,000 amount. Two conditions of his bail are that he refrain from alcohol and from driving. LINCOLN Preschool owner Theresa Thibodeau of Omaha has been appointed to replace former State Sen. Joni Craighead in the Nebraska Legislature. Joined by her husband and three children, Thibodeau took the oath of office Thursday at the State Capitol moments after Gov. Pete Ricketts announced her appointment. The 42-year-old registered Republican plans to seek election to the District 6 seat in west-central Omaha next year as she finishes out the final 14 months of Craigheads term. Im very excited to serve the residents of District 6, said Thibodeau, the younger sister of Omaha City Councilwoman Aimee Melton. I truly appreciate the opportunity. Thibodeau and her husband, cardiologist Joseph Thibodeau, own Primrose School of La Vista, a day care/preschool franchise that employs a staff of 48. Her business background appealed to Ricketts. That kind of experience in the real world having to run a business is exactly the kind of experience we want in the Legislature, the governor said. A total of 11 applicants submitted their names to the Governors Office by the Sept. 29 deadline listed in a public announcement on the vacancy. But Thibodeau applied Oct. 13. Ricketts encouraged Thibodeau and others to apply for the position, said Taylor Gage, the governors spokesman. The governor recruited the last person he appointed to the Legislature earlier this year, Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood. Thibodeaus resume says that she has a bachelors in psychology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and that she formerly worked as an account manager at Lockton Benefit Co. Additionally, she has served as her sisters political campaign manager since 2012. Mayor Jean Stothert appointed Thibodeau to the Omaha Personnel Board in 2016, and she also serves on the boards of the La Vista Community Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands. She is a member of St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church and described herself as a passionate advocate for childrens issues. Thibodeau, who did not take questions from reporters Thursday, said in a statement that she wants to work on policies that promote job growth, boost achievement in the classroom and encourage fiscal discipline in state government. Craighead, a real estate broker who stepped down to focus on her career, also was a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. Democrat Machaela Cavanaugh has previously said she will run for the seat. On Thursday, independent Ricky Fulton, 62, a retired U.S. Postal Service employee, announced that hes getting in the race. Both Cavanaugh and Fulton were among the applicants who applied for the appointment. COUNCIL BLUFFS The grand opening of the pavilion at Tom Hanafan Rivers Edge Park was, as one speaker called it Wednesday night, the opening of Council Bluffs new front door. A large gathering of city and county officials, local organization leaders and residents enjoyed the facility, which will see frequent use in the future, Mayor Matt Walsh said. Larry Foster, director of the citys parks and recreation department, said the pavilion was a way for parkgoers to enjoy their time in the area. We resurrected the idea of having a pavilion like parks in the old days, but with a modern face, Foster told the crowd. Its a place everybody can be proud of and use, he said, for weddings, birthday parties or business meetings, all the while remaining affordable. The facility features public restrooms, a rooftop deck, plaza, water wall and a public water play park, which will when finished emit fog. The rooftop was inaccessible Wednesday night due to construction. The whole attraction is unrivaled in the region, Walsh said. Walsh asked those in the crowd to look at the people next to them, because they were the true owners of the park. This is your building, you own it, he said. Pete Tulipana, president and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, said the organizations funding of the project and the citys diligence helped make the site a destination for the region. Places like this show that Council Bluffs is a city where families can live and businesses can grow, Tulipana said. It is a new front door for our community. Fireworks lit up the sky above the park to cap off the grand opening festivities. An unusual partnership has emerged between the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition and real estate developers who rehabilitated the coalitions old downtown neighborhood into millennial-friendly housing. The nonprofit coalition provides substance abuse treatment and other services at its current headquarters, in the middle of Arch Icon Developments trendy new Flats on Howard apartments and town houses. Now, Arch Icon Development and the nonprofit group propose to create a new campus for the coalition, at 23rd and N Streets in South Omaha. Thats the former home of the South Omaha Eagles Club. Their proposal has two parts. They would erect a building with 44 apartments on parking lots northwest of 23rd and N. And they would renovate the vacant club and its banquet hall, turning it into space for social services including residential addiction treatment, plus offices and cultural events. The planning is in its very early stages. The complicated financing for the apartments, expected to cost about $7.8 million to build, would involve a number of sources, including low-income housing tax credits. The renovation of the Eagles Club would require donations, and fundraising has yet to begin. Nothing would likely be built before 2019, said Darin Smith, an Arch Icon principal. Given all that, the group has talked with some neighbors but otherwise hasnt said a lot about it yet, said Donna Polk-Primm, CEO of Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition. Its becoming public now because theyre applying for tax-increment financing for the apartments, called Eagle Heights. The Omaha City Planning Board voted last week to recommend that the City Council approve the Eagle Heights redevelopment plan. That would allow up to $310,000 in tax-increment financing, or TIF. The financing mechanism allows developers to use a portion of a projects future property taxes to pay for upfront costs. The redevelopment plan and TIF proposal will probably go before the City Council in a few weeks. The apartment ownership would eventually transfer to the coalition, but despite its nonprofit status, it would pay taxes on the apartments under the proposal before the city. There would be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. They would rent for an estimated $375 a month for a studio to $750 a month for a three-bedroom unit. Polk-Primm said the group is planning to move to the South Omaha site so it can expand its services and help more people. She said the coalitions current building is too small even for the current services offered there. It has 12,000 square feet, according to county property records. The Eagles Club building has 26,000 square feet. It would double our space to help us serve our community better, Polk-Primm said. The coalition primarily serves urban American Indians and the Alaska Native populations, and some services are reserved for those groups because of funding sources. But the apartments would be open to any qualifying applicants, and many services are available to everyone, according to documents filed with the City Planning Board. Polk-Primm said the proposed apartments would allow for more transitional housing for the coalitions clients. The club building also has space for community meetings, memorial dinners and other cultural events. She said the coalition has been hoping to expand for several years. It seriously looked into moving seven years ago, hiring a consultant and conducting focus groups, but it didnt work out that time. Polk-Primm said real estate developer Todd Heistand, whose daughter Mindy Crook is a principal in Arch Icon, approached her more recently and asked how they could help the coalition. Polk-Primm said she welcomed the help. She said Arch Icon has been a good neighbor, and Heistand has developed half of Omaha. Crook said the coalition needs to expand and wants more housing, but is landlocked. This is what we do, she said. We do housing. We do development. Crook said she and Polk-Primm came across the Eagles Club property listing on the Internet practically on the same day. When Crook saw the listing, she quickly made an appointment to see the property. About 9 p.m. the next day, she received an email from Polk-Primm about the Eagles Club, saying, we should look at this. We kind of thought it was a cool moment, one of those this-was-meant-to-be cool things. To Polk-Primm, it was symbolic that it is the former Eagles Club, named for an animal sacred to Native Americans. We are planning to move to 2226 N Street, Polk-Primm said. Were very excited about it. She said the only obstacle is raising money for the renovations. Were very hopeful, Polk-Primm said. Im very optimistic. Red Robin restaurants 12th annual Tip-a-Cop fundraiser for Special Olympics will occur today from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at all Omaha and Lincoln locations. The fundraiser is part of a larger effort to support Special Olympics in local communities, with more than 390 restaurants in 40 states and British Columbia, Canada, participating, officials said. Law enforcement officers will volunteer their time as servers alongside Red Robin waiters to raise funds, with all donations going to Special Olympics Nebraska. Tip-a-Cop is part of the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run effort supporting Special Olympics, officials said. WASHINGTON Midwestern senators welcomed signals Wednesday that the Trump administration would back off of proposals to weaken federal renewable fuel mandates, but the lawmakers werent ready to declare victory just yet. We want the president, we want the EPA, to be very public about the steps they can announce, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told reporters. Ernst was straightforward about her role in prompting the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to cancel Wednesdays vote on several Environmental Protection Agency nominees. Those nominees included Bill Wehrum, who has been tapped to head the office that administers the renewable fuel program. A member of the committee, Ernst said she found Wehrums answers pretty darn squishy when she pressed him on support for renewable fuels. I told them outright I would not support him if I didnt have assurances, she said, then noted that Republicans have a razor-thin 11-10 advantage on the panel. One vote makes a difference. Political leaders and renewable fuel groups across the Midwest have criticized the EPAs recent proposed volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard a policy that requires refiners and importers to blend a certain amount of ethanol, biodiesel and advanced alternatives into the nations fuel supply. In particular, they have said the agencys proposed biodiesel volumes are so low they could significantly harm the industry and cost jobs. Another proposal to count exported fuels against the domestic requirements also has raised concerns. Iowa and Nebraska represent the countrys two biggest ethanol states. All four GOP senators from Nebraska and Iowa attended a Tuesday meeting with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley described that meeting as an effort to persuade Pruitt to make good on the promises to support renewable fuels that President Donald Trump made to Iowans on the campaign trail. Trump spoke to Iowas Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds by phone Wednesday in a conversation she described as positive and productive. Wednesday also brought word that White House officials had directed the EPA to abandon both the reduction in biodiesel requirements and the separate proposal to allow exported renewable fuel to count toward domestic quotas, according to individuals familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly about the move. A handful of senators completely cornmailed the administration by threatening to hold nominees hostage until they get their way, Stephen Brown, the head of federal affairs for refiner Andeaver, said in an email. Faced with tactics that would have made Don Corleone blush, the administration essentially had no choice but to relent. Still, pro-ethanol senators such as Grassley and Ernst arent satisfied. Ernst said they want something more definitive and public from those in charge. Those negotiations represent a somewhat delicate dance given that the administration must follow established rule-making procedures that require the gathering of public input before releasing the final 2018 volume requirements at the end of next month. And in the meantime, those nominees are cooling their heels. They are anxious to get this resolved, Ernst said, referring to both the administration and Senate committee aides. They are nonstop on the phone with my chief, with my staff. She declined to share specifics about the commitments shes seeking from the administration, but she said the bottom line is that she wants to see administration officials do more than just follow the letter of the law. They need to follow its spirit of supporting the renewable fuel industry, she said. Were getting closer, Ernst said. This report includes material from Bloomberg News. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries Wednesday while battling an apartment complex fire in north Lincoln estimated to have caused $2 million in structural damage. The quick-spreading fire at the Black Sand apartment complex occurred around 4:45 a.m., officials said. It was declared under control around 6:15 a.m. The complex is near 33rd and Superior Streets. In addition to the structural damage, fire officials said, an estimated $500,000 in contents were damaged. Fire Chief Mike Despain said a firefighter suffered a strain and another fire crew member suffered a minor burn. Both were treated at the scene, he said. No other injuries were reported. Numerous residents were displaced by the fire, Despain said. At least 20 units were damaged by fire, he said, and more probably sustained water and smoke damage. Inappropriate disposal of smoking materials was cited as the cause of the fire. More than 45 Lincoln firefighters were on the scene, at times battling tall flames. Despain said fire officials had a general idea where the fire began probably on the outside of one of the complexs buildings before working its way up to a roof. LINCOLN State corrections officials drew fire in a recent report for double-bunking inmates in solitary confinement cells. The report was in response to the April slaying of an inmate in a double-bunked cell at Tecumseh State Prison. The states Inspector General of Corrections Doug Koebernick called on the state to suspend and review the practice, citing studies that conclude that placing two troubled inmates in a small cell designed for one prisoner not only increased dangers and tension for the inmates but for staff as well. He cited a federal judges comments in a recent case in Alabama. The judge called double-bunking the worst of both worlds crowding two inmates into one cell, yet isolating them from the rest of the prison population. But State Corrections Director Scott Frakes, in his written response to the inspector general, rejected suspending the practice. He said the department had reviewed the double-bunking practice and plans to continue it with the required screening of cellmates for compatibility. Frakes acknowledged that no academic studies exist to show that double-bunking is a positive practice that can improve behavior but said his 35 years of corrections experience shows that it can be as safe as in general population. He blamed the death of 22-year-old inmate Terry Berry Jr. solely on his cellmate, Patrick Schroeder, 40, who was serving life in prison for murder. Mr. Schroeder had multiple avenues with which to address any concerns about his living situation and he chose, instead, to kill Mr. Berry, Frakes stated. On April 15, Berry was found unresponsive in the solitary confinement cell, which was 7 feet by 12 feet and 7 inches. Schroeder, who has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case, has said he assaulted Berry because he was a punk who wouldnt shut up. Solitary confinement, or restrictive housing, is where disruptive and dangerous inmates are sent when they break the rules or are a threat to themselves or others. Nationally, double-bunking such cells is seen as risky, though several states and county jails do it, mostly to deal with overcrowding and slim budgets. Nebraska, which has the second-most-overcrowded state prisons in the U.S., has double-bunked cells in solitary confinement in three other state prisons besides Tecumseh. Immediately after Berrys slaying, some state senators questioned the practice, particularly the pairing of an older lifer with a young, talkative inmate who was about to be released on parole. Berry had been sentenced to prison for check fraud and kneeing a guard. The use of solitary confinement, which has been shown to exacerbate mental troubles and illnesses, has also drawn concern from state lawmakers, who passed a law in 2015 seeking to reduce its use. That has led to changes that emphasize alternatives to punishing inmates other than sending them to the hole for up to 23 hours a day. Corrections reported Wednesday that the average daily population in restrictive housing was 347 during the past fiscal year, a reduction of 11 percent. Koebernicks report, released late last month, indicated that some prison staff had concerns about pairing Schroeder and Berry. Berry was known as very talkative and bothersome, the report said, while Schroeder was known for his temper and a history of assaultive behavior, and had spent an extensive amount of his 10 years in prison in solitary confinement. The decision to pair the two inmates was made by two unit managers after filling out a required worksheet to assess their compatibility. The manager, however, failed to fill in a required statement about how double-bunking the pair provided reasonable safety from assault for the inmates, Koebernick said. He also expressed concern that staff had threatened the two inmates with double-bunking if they didnt comply with directives. Koebernick, whose job is to oversee and report on state prison conditions and reforms, made six recommendations to corrections, including suspending the use of double-bunking until two advisory committees could review the practice. He also asked prison officials to review why Berry was being housed in a solitary confinement cell at a maximum-security prison, calling it hardly ... the optimum setting. Frakes, in response, said the reviews had been conducted and that corrections had added daily checks of double-bunked inmates in solitary to hear of any problems. State Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus, who introduced the bill to reduce the use of solitary confinement, said the practice appears to be alive and well, just under a different name, restrictive housing. We havent dedicated near the amount of money we need to for the prison system, Schumacher said. He added that theres been a lot of political spin associated with the states multiple prison problems that should be sorted out via a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Nebraska. That (federal court) system is fairly good at separating out the truth from the politics, the senator said. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Sky News 15 Nov 2022 A mentally ill man, who was accused of harassing supermodel Kate Moss, has been detained indefinitely for stabbing his divorced.. euronews (in English) 28 Sep 2022 Under the new package, EU citizens will be barred from serving on the boards of Russian-state companies. Jerusalem Post 19 Mar 2022 Identified among the refugees fleeing Ukraine, he and his wife landed in Israel to a ceremonial reception. Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more Cabinet has appointed Moresby South MP, Justin Tkatchenko, as Minister Responsible for APEC as 2018 approaches. The responsibility for APEC will be added to the Ministers current portfolio of Lands and Physical Planning. Prime Minister Peter ONeill announced this yesterday afternoon, saying that with less than two months remaining before the start of APEC 2018, it is timely for the Minister to resume the portfolio he held before the national elections. Minister Tkatchenko has substantial experience in the coordination of major events at the ministerial level, Mr ONeill said. As minister, he oversaw the successful delivery of the Pacific Games and the Pacific Islands Forum. Hosting APEC is of much greater magnitude, and Minister Tkatchenko is well placed to ensure the successful delivery of all of the components that must be delivered for APEC in the coming year. Over the past three years, Minister Tkatchenko has had a core role in planning for APEC 2018 in Papua New Guinea, and particularly as APEC Minister prior to the elections. Mr ONeill said the start of the APEC year is only months away, and the governments preparations continue to increase. Beginning with the Informal Senior Officials Meeting in December, the focus of APEC member economies and the regional business community will be on Papua New Guinea. Through the year we will hold a range of technical and ministerial meetings concluding with the APEC Leaders Summit in November 2018. In this time, there will be substantial attention on the delivery of major projects including the construction of APEC Haus, the Hilton Hotel and the renovation and upgrade of Morauta House and the National Convention Centre, Mr ONeill said. In the delivery phase of APEC, we will see the ongoing increase in personnel and the training regime for staff who are delivering APEC logistics, security and the policy agenda. Papua New Guinea will experience significant gains from hosting APEC, which will not only include the promotion of trade, investment and tourism, but in capacity strengthening in economic sectors. The APEC policy agenda and technical support covers a wide range of areas critical for development and the creation of more jobs. This includes agriculture, forestry, transportation, tourism and resources that are all essential for future economic growth in the country. Vineet Sachdeva Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva for New Managers: A newly-launched India focused fund has placed itself in a sweet spot by applying a strategies that are rare in that particular market, namely, factor-based systematic and market neutral. The Elysium India Fund, managed by Mumbai-based Elysium Investment Advisors LLP, is an India focused, systematic, equity investment fund with the option of long-only and market neutral share classes. It has a long to medium term investment horizon and is designed to be highly liquid, well diversified and comprising high quality companies. The Mauritius-domiciled fund was launched in August, but the strategy was started in December 2013 with managed accounts. The only factor-based systematic manager investing in the Indian market "We are the only factor-based systematic manager investing in the Indian market," fund manager Vineet Sachdeva tells Opalesque. "We are probably the only market-neutral fund in India - by market neutral, we mean that we have very low net (...................... To view our full article Click here Bennett ends Quakers season in AA semifinals After allowing 460-yards and five touchdowns in their Sept. 24 matchup, Orchard Park head coach decided that if Bennett was... Quakers reach Sectional Finals vs Lancaster Orchard Park boys volleyball coach Rick Albano always wants his team to be playing their best volleyball at the end... Bertola leads harriers on record day at sectionals Orchard Park cross-country coach Steve Dillsworth went pretty far back into the history of Quakers cross-country, and he was unable... All-Bee Girls Soccer Majority of First Team are past honorees Many of the First Team selections on the 2022 All- Bee Girls Soccer Team are no strangers to the all-star... A man fired at least one shot at Vancouver police officers early Thursday morning as they approached an apartment to investigate a domestic disturbance complaint, police said. A SWAT team responded after the shot, or shots, was fired at about 12:14 a.m., from an apartment at 2010 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., police said. The man in the apartment, Cody C. Burris, 22, was arrested without incident, and booked into the Clark County Jail on multiple counts of first-degree assault, according to police. No one else was found in the apartment. No officers or citizens were injured. The incident began when a citizen stopped a Vancouver officer near Fort Vancouver Way and East Fourth Plain Boulevard and said a man was holding people against their will inside the apartment, a news release says. The shot, or shots, was fired from inside the apartment as patrol officers approached, the news release says. Vancouver Police Department Major Crime Unit detectives are investigating. -- Allan Brettman The concept ubuntu denotes an African worldview rooted in the communal character of African life. The concept ubuntu is also used in language planning. How can the ubuntu paradigm be used in curriculum work, language of instruction and assessment? In this seminar, Professor Birgit Brock-Utne will discuss the type of educational research needed for the development of Africa and ways in which western bias in educational research contributes to marginalization of African experiences. How can Nyerere s educational thinking be used as a theoretical framework? What can be learnt through the use of an ethnoautobiographical approach to research? The seminar will then focus on policies regarding language in education, both at the micro-level, where translanguaging and codeswitching are central, and at the macro-level, where Prestige Planning is discussed. Finally, the seminar will consider assessment practices taking place in schools through an ubuntu lens. Date Wednesday, 1 November 2017 Time 12:00pm - 1:00pm Audience Public Event Category Humanities Event Type Open Seminar Campus Dunedin Department National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Location 530 Castle St seminar room Cost Free Contact Name Rosemary McBryde Contact Phone +64 3 479 4546 Contact Email peaceandconflict@otago.ac.nz Save this event This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It was 2 a.m. when Dr. Scott Witt got a call at home telling him he was needed to help evacuate the babies under his care in the neonatal intensive care unit at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital. The Tubbs Fire, which had erupted hours earlier, was sweeping across much of the city and its flames were nearing the hospital. Within minutes of the call, the director of the hospitals neonatal ICU was steering his pickup truck away from his Santa Rosa home toward Highway 101, leaving behind his wife and four of his children. It was the beginning of a harrowing early-morning adventure in a quest to save eight newborn babies. It did not get off to a smooth start. By the time Witt, 45, reached the freeway, it had been closed. Flames from the fire had jumped across its lanes and traffic was a mess. Figuring it would be easier to weave through traffic on his motorcycle, Witt turned around and raced back home to get it. Now Playing: A Santa Rosa doctor went on a dangerous mission to save newborn babies form the deadly Tubbs Fire. He used his motorcycle to get through the clogged, and debris heavy, highway. Video: KTVU It was a 15-minute drive to his Fountaingrove neighborhood , and when he arrived, police were advising residents over loudspeakers to evacuate. The fire was still far away, Witt thought, but he asked his family to do as police requested and leave. He said he needed to focus on the babies under his units care and didnt want to also worry about his family. He then climbed onto his motorcycle, a 2015 BMW R nineT, and navigated side streets toward the hospital, 4 miles away. I got to where the fire was and started skirting around it, he said. It wasnt all that harrowing, it just involved darting around traffic, riding on the shoulder, sliding in the gravel. The police, when I explained, let me go through. When he arrived at the hospital, flames were approaching from two sides. Witt scanned the parking lot for a spot where patients could shelter if the building caught fire, as advised by the hospitals fire safety plan, but saw nothing. In this case, he said, no place was safe. Inside the hospital, he along with another doctor and the nurses prepared the units babies, most of them born prematurely, to be taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital about 6 miles away. They moved them to the labor and delivery unit, closer to a fire-free exit, and began loading them into ambulances as they became available. It took multiple trips over about three hours. As the last two babies were loaded into an ambulance, Witt realized the only way he could make it to Memorial Hospital was on his motorcycle. At that point, the fire had come close enough that I knew the only way I could get there was to follow the ambulance on the freeway, he said. I figured it would be OK if I followed the ambulance and got some draft. The ambulance, with Witt on his motorcycle close behind, sped onto Highway 101, which was closed to all but emergency vehicles. The smoke from the fires was so dense, Witt had to rely on the ambulances lights to guide him. Flames licked at the side of the freeway and embers whipped through the air and across the pavement. Fallen power lines and branches were scattered across the roadway. Witt said he simply tried to steer clear of hazards and stay focused on getting to the new hospital to take care of his young patients. On a motorcycle, youre pretty versatile, he said. I wasnt really thinking of the danger because I was just thinking about what the babies would need. I know each baby personally, I know what they need and I wanted to pass that on to their new doctors. I wanted to be there for them. The babies, and Witt, arrived safely at Memorial Hospital. I wouldnt say it was the scariest thing I did in my life but close to it, Witt said. It didnt seem scary at the time. It seemed like the fire was far enough away. But later, looking back, it seems a little dangerous. With the newborns safe and being cared for, Witt called his family. They were safely sheltered at their church. He joined them there, to recover from his ordeal, and wait. It was Monday morning, the first day of the fires that would bring so much destruction. About noon, Witt and his family learned their home and the rest of their neighborhood had been destroyed. We lost everything, he said. But well be OK. We have insurance, and we intend to rebuild. And the support from the community has been amazing. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan Yeo & Yeo CPAs & Business Consultants has been selected as one of Michigans Best and Brightest in Wellness for the fourth consecutive year. The program highlights companies, schools and organizations that promote a culture of wellness, as well as those that plan, implement and evaluate efforts in employee wellness to make their business and their community a healthier place to live and work. This is an exciting achievement that recognizes Yeo & Yeos commitment to the health and well-being of our employees, said Thomas E. Hollerback, president and CEO of Yeo & Yeo. The focus is to help employees make real changes in their health and lifestyle behaviors at home and in the workplace. Yeo & Yeo supports wellness for its employees by paying a large portion of health care premiums, helping to keep costs low for employees. The firm has a high percentage of participation in its wellness plan and health care premium reduction incentive. Another initiative is the firms Fitbit Fitness Program. Themed, monthly challenges for individuals and teams, along with prizes and friendly competition, have resulted in a high level of participation. New this year, Yeo & Yeo introduced an ergonomic standing desk option for employees, for a healthier work environment. The firm also provides free flu shots. Nominees were evaluated by using an assessment, created and administered by SynBella, the nations leading wellness provider. Criteria for selection included wellness programs and policies, culture and awareness, leadership, participation and incentives, communication and measurement, among others. A total of 527 companies and organizations were nominated for the award. Of those organizations, 241 completed the entire selection process, and 123 winners were chosen. Yeo & Yeo will be honored at a symposium and awards celebration Friday at The Henry in Dearborn. Winners will be featured in the November issue of Corp! magazine. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A massive string of white lights hinted at a rough outline of the hulking steel frame that sat patiently in the water. The lights, one could argue, could be either a welcome sign, or a warning. Whatever the message, people descend on the site for a good scare and a family-friendly good time. It is Halloween season down on the Saginaw River in Bay City, and the floating naval museum that is the USS Edson comes alive, or maybe undead, as a full blown haunt. The Edson Event runs every weekend in October. The haunt opened on the last weekend in September, and runs through the rest of the month every Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight, and on Saturdays from 7 p.m. to midnight. Ticket prices and other haunt information are available at www.edsonincident.com, and proceeds are used for operation and maintenance of the museum. The haunt covers five decks, and the average time inside the haunt can run from 20 to 25 minutes. That all depends on if you dont run, volunteer Wendy Forsythe said, laughing. Guests will have the opportunity to travel through the internals of the Edson. When not trying to avoid ghouls and goblins that go bump in the night, they will find themselves immersed in a vessel that once housed more than 200 crew members and served with distinction in Asia, as well as seeing service along the Vietnamese coastline in the 1960s. The Edson was built in Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. Construction started in December of 1956, and she launched in January 1958. She is named after Major General Merritt Red Mike Edson of the U.S. Marine Corps. Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor while serving with the First Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal during World War II, and he also received the Navy Cross and Silver Star. After being decommissioned in 1988, the Edson called the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City home from 1989 to 2004. The destroyer underwent a complete hull restoration in 2004, and then spent time at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard until August 2012, when it was acquired by the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum. The Edson was towed more than 2,000 miles to her current home in the Saginaw River, near the Independence Bridge. This is 20 years in the making, retired Chief Petty Officer Mike Kegley said. Known by everyone at the Edson site as Chief, Kegley, the president of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, said it has been a two decade mission to bring the destroyer to her permanent home in the Saginaw River. Our first application to the Navy weighed 17 pounds, he said. Kegley said the ships primary mission is education, and all of the other events, like paranormal ghost hunts and the theatrical haunt every October are all ways of preserving and presenting the history of the ship. This thing is here to educate our youth, Kegley said, pointing to the destroyer. If we dont study and learn from our history, we are going to do it again. Kegley said the ship has brought guests in from all over the world. We have had people come from China, South Korea, Africa and Europe, he said. He told a story of a man who was wandering the decks of the ship one day, talking to the iPad in his hand. I didnt know what he was doing so I asked, him, the Chief said, laughing. It turns out he was from Russia, and he was Skyping with his father back home. He was taking him on the tour with him. Along with bringing in visitors from all over the map, the Edson also brings in volunteers from miles away. Many of those people who make The Edson Event happen dont call the Great Lakes Bay Region home. Im from Macomb, volunteer Wendy Forsythe said. She and her husband Chris make the long trip to be part of the theatrical haunt. When asked why she makes such a drive to be part of something so far from home, she was quick with an answer. Because I love the ship and I love being here, she said. Wendys husband Chris agreed, and said the Edson offers more than many other haunts in the state. You can go to a haunted house anywhere, but there are few places you can go on a real ship, Chris Forsythe said, pulling on a yellow hazmat jump suit. Chris Forsythe help runs the haunt, and he does double duty as one of the actors. We have great volunteers that make this happen, he said. We have people who drive up to Bay City on the weekends (in October) just to make this happen. Bruce Biddinger of Berrien Springs has a special connection with the Edson. Biddinger has the distinction of having served on the destroyer as a fire control technician in the early 1970s, and he said he loves showing the ship to guests. I was happy to hear she was in Michigan, he said of the ships final home port. Biddinger said the ship earned a motto due to its ability to put shells in the air and on targets up to 17 miles away. Three guns, no waiting, Biddinger said. Volunteer Jo Gifford drives to Bay City from her home in Dewitt several times a year to be a part of various events on the Edson. Her husband, Russ, is also part of the haunt, and the couple belongs to one of the several paranormal investigation groups that hunt for ghosts on the ship at different times of the year. Gifford said there is something unique to the Edson that brings people to the decks of the destroyer. The ship is actually haunted, Gifford said. A man named Paul Spampanato passed away on the Edson in 1999, and is believed to still be lurking on the ship as a ghost. Many paranormal investigators have spent time on the ship trying to document the spirit. A lot of people have seen him, she said. Ive seen him, Kegley added. Another chapter in the Edsons story that adds to its mystic is the fact that the ship was used in an episode of the original Twilight Zone series. The 1963 episode The Thirty-Fathom Grave starred Bill Bixby and Simon Oakland, and used the Edsons interior for many of the storys locations. If all those reasons werent enough to bring guests in for a haunted good time, one story that sounds like it should something on television allegedly happened in real life on the Edson during one of her tours in Vietnam. The Edson was involved in what was called a black helicopter event, Wendy Forsythe said. She explained that is coded military terminology that means the ship witnessed some sort of UFO event. We are using that as part of the back story for our haunt, she said. Factoring in all the history, supernatural events and the ability to experience a piece of history, it is easy to see why the Edson continues to bring guests in from all over the planet. And who wouldnt want to wander around in the belly of a destroyer? But if you visit the Edson for a haunt in October, just keep in mind that ghost you see in the corner might just not be an actor. Chippewa Nature Center (CNC) has been awarded a grant from The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation to support operations over three years from 2018 to 2020. Chippewa Nature Center is an incredible resource for environmental education and recreation for residents of the Great Lakes Bay Region and beyond," said Macauley Whiting Jr., president of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. "We are proud to support this non-profit organization to improve the quality of life for us all. These funds will help support environmental education programs for the thousands of people who visit CNC annually from throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region and around the state of Michigan. CNC offers a diversity of programs including school and scout programs, courses, field trips, workshops, public programs, guest speakers, annual events, Nature Day Camp and Nature Preschool. CNC also offers 19 miles of trails, a Visitor Center with interactive exhibits, and 1,200 acres for visitors to explore and learn about the natural world, free of charge. The mission of CNC is to connect all people with nature through educational, recreational and cultural experiences. Throughout the years, the trustees of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation have provided significant and ongoing support of CNC, from operational and major project grants to most recently, the gift of a two-story observation tower previously located at Whiting Forest. It was dismantled in preparation for the Whiting Forest Canopy Walk and Connectivity Project, and installed at CNCs Wetlands Area property located on Badour Road between Pine River and Ashby roads in Midland this summer. For more information, visit www.chippewanaturecenter.org or contact CNC at info@chippewanaturecenter.org or 989-631-0830. (Patrick Cullen, Jane Servinskis great-great grandfather, emigrated from Ireland in 1850 during the Great Hunger when a million people died during the Potato Famine and another million emigrated from Ireland to America. He met his future wife on the ship and they married in December of 1850. Patrick and Mary Cullen had five children. In 1864 Patrick was paid $300 to be a substitute soldier in the Union Army and died in the Battle of Cold Harbor six months later. James, 11 years old when his father died, became the head of the family taking any job he could get, working his way up to becoming a teamster for the Wenona Hotel in Bay City, Michigan. James daughter, Kathleen, became the grandmother of Jane and Kathleens daughter, Frances, would become the aunt who raised Jane. Janes story continues.) Frances Henne and Edward Jeroue were married in the Pinnebog Catholic Church in 1937, in Huron County. While Frances Henne could trace her family back to Irish immigrant Patrick Cullen, Ed Jeroue was also born of immigrants from Canada. His grandmother was a Native American. His dad, Roy, carried the epithet nickel immigrant because the boat trip from Canada to Michigan was a nickel. When Ed was a teenager, Roy broke his leg and was unable to work for a year. Ed stepped into the breach picking up odd jobs to help support the family until his dad was able to work again. Eds mother was Barbara Walding who was of German parentage. Frances and Eds first child was a little boy, born prematurely and died shortly after birth. Their next child was also a little boy and they named him Herman. Sarah Jane Servinski was raised by her aunt and uncle, Frances and Edward Jeroue. The Jeroue family lived in Detroit where Ed had a job at Ford Motor Co. From 1949 to 1953, the family lived in Marlette, where Ed owned and operated a Western Auto Store. In 1955, Ed bought the Western Auto Store that Cecil Borthwick owned in Midland. Jane said, I remember the door had a circular arrow reading Home Owned Associates Store. The first home the Jeroue family lived in was on Dartmouth Court. Frances decided to go into real estate working for Miller-Christenson and began sub-contracting housing construction. When she got a house built, we moved in until she sold it and then we moved to the next house she had built, Jane said. Jane attended elementary school at St. Brigids Catholic School, then attended Northeast and finally Midland Senior High. By now she had met the young man she would marry in 1965, Leonard Servinski. I met my husbands family because their boys came into our store to buy parts for their bikes, Jane said. Both the Jeroue and the Servinski families attended Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Leonard was a senior and Jane was a junior and they dated a few times but nothing serious. Leonard graduated. A year later, Jane graduated from high school and entered Michigan State. Coincidently Leonard was taking summer classes when Jane began her freshman year. Then Leonard joined the National Guard. When he got back from the National Guards, we got married," Jane said. "He asked me to marry him and I said, Why not? They just celebrated 52 years of married life. Their first year of married life they spent in Flushing, where Jane taught school and Leonard was employed by Lloyd Thompson Floral Shop. The next year they moved back to Midland and Jane had a teaching job at Bullock Creek High School and Leonard worked at The Dow Chemical Co. for awhile before going into business with his brother Joe operating Servinskis Sod Service. Later he sold his share to Joe and bought Lapelles Flowers. Our big break came when we had the opportunity to buy part of the Ball estate and Maple Hill Nursery became a reality and we sold Lapelles to Thomas Barcia," Jane said. Jane has high praise for her in-laws James and Anna Skalnican Servinski. James parents were Mary and Ignace Servinski. They were married in their native country Poland and Ignace came with a group of people to Steubenville, Ohio, to work in the mines. When Ignace saved up enough money, he sent for Mary and their little boy, James. They came on the ship Carolina to New York then by train and finally by boat to Steubenville. Mary came to America carrying a bundle of clothes, $37 in her pocket and their 2-year-old son, James, Jane said. Ignace and Mary had three more children in America: Anna, Mary and John, who died as a baby. James Servinski married Anna Skalnican and they had John in 1940, Leonard in 1942, Joseph in 1945 and Bernard in 1954. James always considered himself first and foremost a farmer," Jane said. "But he was self-educated and active in Larkin Township. He was chairman of the board of the Midland County Soil Conservation District for 25 years. She attributes Leonards interest in serving the public because he went with his dad to numerous meetings of Larkin Township. Leonard followed in his dads footsteps taking an active interest in furthering projects to improve the township. He was Supervisor of Larkin Township for 27 years and considers getting city water into the township his greatest achievement. Anna, her mother-in-law, was also praised by Jane, who said, Nobody could cook like she did. I was astonished. She could prepare a meal at the drop of a hat! The first summer we were married she took me under her wing and taught me how to can. Jane and Leonard have five children. Chuck always stuck closely to his dad working in the nursery and today he handles the retail store at Maple Hill Nursery. His wife, Michelle (Scherzer), works at The Dow Chemical Co. Michael attended seminary at Mt. Calvary in Wisconsin and today teaches science at Midland Senior High. His wife, Margaret, works at The Dow Chemical Co. Their daughter, Mary, is manager of environmental remediation for The Dow Chemical Co. She is married to Todd Draves and he has his own automotive business. Kate and Andy were adopted from India. Kate is a nanny and Andy works in the nursery with his brother and dad. Leonard, at 75, still puts in 10 to 12 hours each day at the nursery. He loves it and he loves the people he deals with. Many are lifelong friends," Jane said. Of her husband, she said, He was the most interesting man I ever met. Kind. Fun. I wanted to teach. He wanted to have his own business. He moved heaven and earth to let me do what I wanted to do. We always thought of ourselves as a team." Someone once wrote, The best things in life are the people you love, the places you've seen and the memories youve made along the way." The little girl named Sarah Jane Jeroue grew up and knows how true that is. Even the simple things like her family eating supper at the Ponderosa on Friday night have become treasured memories. Part of the testimony Wednesday in a Midland County cold case characterized the defendant as being paranoid about the investigation over the years. Michael Todd McIntyre, 52, New Hudson, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder in the 1991 cold case homicide of Diane Ross. Ross, 43, was attacked by an assailant about 1 a.m. Aug. 7, 1991,while sleeping in her North 11 Mile Road home, just off M-20. Her killer used a broken pool cue to beat her in the head, officials reported at the time. Her 5-year-old grandson witnessed the attack. He ran to a relatives home for help. Ross was found lying on her bedroom floor, covered in blood, but still breathing. She died later that day at the hospital. Ross had lost both of her legs to a blood disorder and was confined to a wheelchair. McIntyre, who was arrested in the case in March 2016 and is now himself confined to a wheelchair due to medical problems, listened as prosecutors called a former girlfriend and played a recording of an interview of himself from 1991. Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks first called Ruschel Whitson, whom McIntyre had a romantic relationship with and lived with in the early 2000s in California. The questioning was at times difficult, with Whitson claiming to be unclear on how to answer as well as interrupting Brooks. Whitson said multiple times while testifying that she had lied while speaking with detectives from California as well as Midland County. Brooks was able to elicit information about things McIntyre said to Whitson and some of his actions during their relationship, which included him mentioning to Whitson that he was a suspect in a murder case. Whitson said McIntyre had told her the police were trying to pin a murder on him. He became worried about being a suspect, Whitson said. When asked by Brooks, she answered it was true that McIntyre took apart a friends computer because he thought he was being spied on, as well as once got off a bus five times because he thought he was being followed. He also was fearful that his phone was tapped. Brooks requested to consider Whitson as a hostile witness, which Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen P. Carras allowed. Many of the questions centered on one statement in particular Whitson made to the detectives. Whitson repeatedly denied making the statement, which prompted Brooks to play the portion of the interview. During the audio, a detective asks Whitson what sort of things McIntyre would say to her when he was paranoid. She replied, He used to tell me I know they know I did it. Directly after hearing the audio in the courtroom, Whitson claimed McIntyre never said that to her. Retired Midland County Sheriffs Detective Dan Stark also took the stand, testifying his role in the investigation included interviewing McIntyre. The interview occurred in Starks detective car three days after Ross killing. I just asked him if he wanted to talk to me, Stark said. Brooks played a recording of the interview, in which McIntyre first denied knowing Diane Ross, then backtracked when Stark asked if McIntyre had dated her daughter. Stark also asked McIntyre if he had called Ross and argued with her, or threatened her, either about not being able to find her daughter or about payment for repairs made to a hot water heater. No, shes a nice lady, McIntyre said. Always has been. At one point during the interview, McIntyres voice is heard saying, I didnt have anything to do with killing anyone. Stark replies, How do you know she was murdered? McIntyre told Stark he knew because Stark had just said Ross was killed. No I didnt, Stark said. On the day Stark interviewed McIntyre, officials found the car McIntyre was known to drive parked at his mothers home. In the front passenger seat, detectives saw a cardboard box containing a large amount of quarters. A bottle filled with quarters had been reported stolen from Ross home during the assault, leading officials to impound the car and seek a search warrant. Stark also testified he was never able to establish an alibi for McIntyre. He said he did not contact McIntyre again after the interview in 1991, but in 2004 received two voicemail messages regarding the case from him. In both, McIntyre said he wanted Stark to quit the mind control. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. From the very first time boy met girl, the road to romance has had many twists, turns, dead ends and detours. The timeless, inarguable truth is, love is messy. Despite many fairy tales to the contrary, happy endings are not guaranteed. Perhaps that's why Shakespeare's "All's Well the Ends Well," once classified as one of his comedies, is now considered a "problem play," for its ends cannot be tied up neatly. Well, that, and the fact that it's just not one of his more popular works. That said, the current production, now playing in ISU's Westhoff Theatre, is not without merit. In fact, with lavish costumes and impressive scenery, its viewing is time well spent. The saga follows the romantic fantasy of the orphaned Helen, who has fallen for the son of her guardian, the Countess de Rousillon. Helen, though the only child of an esteemed physician, is considered lowly born, and is viewed by Bertram, the object of her affection, as beneath him. He heads to France to join the King's army. Helen follows, and discovers the King in ill health. She offers to use the knowledge she gained at her father's knee to heal him, if he would promise to arrange for her marriage to Bertram should she succeed. Helen succeeds in restoring the King to good health, and he makes good on his promise though Bertram, who with a roll of the eyes, quickly flees into combat to get away from her. But not before making it clear that he would never consider Helen his wife, until she can pull off the impossible: Trick him into fathering her child and acquiring his family's signet ring. What's a girl to do? She follows him, of course, and discovers he is quite the ladies man who has wasted no time in wooing an Italian maiden named Diana. Helen convinces Diana's mother that Bertram is already married to her, and she and her daughter join the bride in her trickery to capture her wandering husband. This production, adapted and directed by Enrico Spada, is beautifully set in the mid-18th century thanks to the efforts of scenic designer Kim Lartz, costume designer Megan Wood, and hair/makeup artisan Ian Liberman. Impressive performances by Daniel Balsamo, as Parolles, Bertram's vain and conniving companion, and Asa Wallace, as Lavatch, a fool in the Court of Rousillon, provide the evening's lighter moments. Anthony Thomas Harden, as the King of France, gives a commanding and authentic performance, bringing his scenes into clearer focus. If only he had been in more of them. Other notable turns were offered by Paige Brantley, as Helen, Katie MacLauchlan, as Diana, and Robert Hunter Bry as Bertram. For today's audiences, it may be difficult to accept that any woman would be interested in a man who treated her as callously as Bertram does Helen. However, the course of true love is never smooth, and this centuries-old tale is wonderfully revisited with this production. BLOOMINGTON OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington is undergoing a leadership change as President Chad Boore has been promoted and the head of OSF's Kewanee hospital has been named St. Joseph president. Lynn Fulton, 46, president of OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center in Kewanee since 2014, will become St. Joseph president, effective Nov. 5. Boore, 49, St. Joseph president since 2013, has been promoted to CEO of OSF HealthCare's Eastern Region, which is based in Bloomington and includes McLean, Livingston and DeWitt counties. Boore replaces Ken Natzke, who retired at the end of September, Boore told The Pantagraph on Thursday. Natzke also was president of St. Joseph before Boore. Fulton had been CEO of Kewanee Hospital. After that hospital joined OSF HealthCare and became OSF Saint Luke, Fulton was named president and led the transition of that hospital into OSF HealthCare. "Fulton has worked tirelessly to change the culture of OSF Saint Luke to what it is today," OSF said in a prepared statement. "I am excited to join OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center as its president," Fulton said. "It is my experience that, to be a truly great organization and to offer excellence in care, leaders must spend time and attention developing and supporting a culture of caring and empathy. It is evident that the leaders at OSF St. Joseph have done just that. I feel blessed to be joining this team and look forward to the future." St. Joseph, 2200 E. Washington St., Bloomington, is a 149-bed, not-for-profit, acute care and Level II trauma center. It has about 1,100 full- and part-time employees and treated more than 9,000 inpatients and observation patients in the fiscal year that ended in September, Boore said. Fulton received her bachelor of business degree from Western Illinois University and her master of applied science in health care administration degree from the University of St. Francis. A search for her replacement at Saint Luke will begin immediately. WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly defended President Donald Trump's firing of James Comey, but at a Senate hearing Wednesday repeatedly declined to discuss private conversations with the president about the dismissal, frustrating Democratic lawmakers who wanted to link the firing of the FBI director to a broader inquiry into Russian election meddling. The repeated, often-testy questioning about the Russia investigation, coming even as Sessions spearheads sweeping changes to the Justice Department in the areas of LGBT rights, criminal justice and immigration, illustrates the extent to which the probe continues to shadow Sessions even though he recused himself months ago. Sessions advised the Senate Judiciary Committee at the outset of his first oversight hearing as attorney general that he would not answer any questions about conversations with the president that he considered confidential. He largely adhered to that principle during the five-hour hearing, refusing to say what Trump told him about his reasons for wanting to fire Comey, whether Trump confided in him his concern about "lifting the cloud" of the Russia investigation and whether he had asked him to drop a criminal case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona. Sessions deflected the questions by maintaining that presidents are entitled to have private discussions with Cabinet secretaries, saying at one point, "I do not confirm or deny the existence of any communication between the president that I consider to be confidential." Still, Sessions' defense of the Comey firing and his insistence that it stemmed from the handling of the Hillary Clinton email case was consistent with the initial explanation by the White House. It was, he said, "the first time I'm aware of" in which an FBI director had performed the traditional role of Justice Department prosecutors by announcing on his own the conclusion of a federal investigation that no charges would be brought against Clinton. He said he was further galled when Comey, shortly before his firing, insisted to Congress that he would have taken the same actions again. "That was a fairly stunning event for both of us and it did highlight the problem more significantly than it had been before," Sessions said, referring to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. Though he refused to say whether he discussed with Trump Comey's involvement in the Russia investigation, he did say that the president had asked him and Rosenstein for their recommendations about what to do with Comey. But that explanation has been muddled by Trump himself, who days after the May 9 firing said he would have fired Comey even without the Justice Department's recommendation and that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he dismissed him. The circumstances of Comey's firing are among many events being investigated by Robert Mueller, who was appointed as the Justice Department's special counsel to look into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. After initially balking at the question, Sessions said that Mueller's investigative team had not approached him for an interview. The hearing marked a return to the Judiciary Committee for Sessions, who served on it for years as a Republican senator. Yet his interactions with his former peers have been frayed as attorney general, particularly amid Democratic accusations that he provided misleading testimony at his confirmation hearing about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. He bickered with Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, who accused him of having moved the "goalpost" in his denials about his contacts with the ambassador. Apart from Russia, Sessions faced questions from lawmakers about his swift undoing of Obama-era protections for gay and transgender people and his rollback of criminal justice policies that aimed to reduce the federal prison population, among other changes he has made in the nine months since taking office. Franken praised his decision to send an experienced federal hate crimes prosecutor to assist in a transgender murder case in Iowa, but said his Justice Department has "demonstrated an unrelenting hostility toward LGBT people," an assertion Sessions disputed. Sessions has tried to pressure so-called sanctuary cities into cooperating with federal immigration authorities by threatening to withhold grant money, and he was the public face of the Trump administration's decision to end a program benefiting hundreds of thousands of young people who entered the U.S. illegally as children. Congress is seeking a legislative solution to extend the protections before recipients' work permits expire. He tussled with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois over whether people living in the country illegally are driving Chicago's gun violence. The city has been in the Trump administration's crosshairs for refusing to help immigration authorities detain and deport immigrants. Durbin said he wanted Chicago officers doing community policing and not immigration work. "How does that make the city of Chicago safer when you don't remove criminals who are illegally in the country?" Sessions said. It is standard policy for attorneys general to appear before the Justice Department's congressional overseers on the House and Senate judiciary committees. Yet, in a reflection of the extent to which the Russia investigation and his own role as a Trump campaign ally have dominated public attention, Sessions made his first appearance on Capitol Hill as attorney general before the Senate Intelligence Committee. White House chief of staff John Kelly, in an extraordinary and at times emotional statement Thursday, said he advised President Donald Trump on what to say before he called the families of the four fallen soldiers who died during an ambush in Niger. Kelly said from the White House briefing room that he advised Trump to offer similar words that Gen. Joseph Dunford offered to Kelly when his son was killed in Afghanistan. "He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1%. He knew what the possibilities were because we were at war," Kelly said, channeling Dunford's words to him upon the death of Kelly's son. "And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the President tried to say to the four families the other day." Kelly said he was "stunned" Wednesday when he heard what Rep. Frederica Wilson said about Trump's phone conversation with the widow of a fallen soldier. The Democratic congresswoman told CNN Tuesday evening that Trump told the widow that her husband "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt." Wilson, who listened in on the call via speakerphone, said on CNN's "New Day" Wednesday morning that Trump didn't know the name of the service member and that his widow "broke down" after her call with the President. Sgt. La David Johnson was among the four US soldiers killed by enemy fire in the October 4 ambush. Cowanda Jones-Johnson, a family member who raised Johnson, told CNN Wednesday that Wilson's account of the call between Trump and Johnson's widow, Myeshia, was "very accurate." She said she was in the car when the call happened. Trump denied Wilson's account in both a tweet and a statement made at the White House. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't say it at all," Trump told reporters during a meeting on tax reform in the Cabinet Room. "She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said." Trump said he had a "very nice" conversation with Johnson's widow, "who sounded like a lovely woman." Referring to Wilson, he added: "I'd like her to make the statement again because I did not say what she said." Kelly said it prompted him to leave the White House to go to Arlington National Cemetery and "go walk among the finest men and women on this earth." CNN's Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report. SPRINGFIELD Illinois earned an average grade for its efforts to care for mentally ill inmates in state jails and prison, according to a recent study by the Treatment Advocacy Center. The nonprofit organization ranked states according to their treatment of seriously mentally inmates who had committed major crimes. Illinois was among several states earning a "C" based on an opinion that the state "is making a modest effort and has some components of a model program." Illinois, like most other states, faces a critical shortage of beds for defendants deemed by a judge to be mentally unfit to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity. As of April 2017, Illinois had 802 forensic beds in five facilities for people in those two mental health categories, according to the study. The 95 percent nationwide decrease in public psychiatric beds from 1955, when 558,239 such beds were available across the country, has left counties and states scrambling for treatment facilities. About 60,000 mental health evaluations are conducted annually in the U.S.; last year, 383,000 people were held in a treatment facility because of mental fitness or an insanity finding. "The quality of life for individuals undergoing repeated psychiatric hospitalizations and incarcerations is dismal," the report concluded. Improvements to community mental health care are needed, said the report, to close the revolving door that brings seriously mentally ill offenders back to jail at twice the rate as their counterparts without behavioral health issues. The 200,000 seriously mentally ill people who have committed a serious crime in the U.S. represent about two percent of the population with a severe psychiatric disorder. The Treatment Advocacy Center estimated that about 20,000 offenders with a serious mental disorder are released from local and state custody each year after spending time in a state treatment facility related to a major crime. 100 years ago Oct. 19, 1917: Cooksville farmer Earl Jefferies was turned down when he tried to enlist in the Army. The reason: a bad eye. He told the recruiter hed have the eye fixed with a special lens and then come back. He did, and this time he passed the vision test. Jefferies is going to war. 75 years ago Oct. 19, 1942: I knew General MacArthur, recalls Spanish War veteran Lewis Hill. But hes talking about General Arthur MacArthur, father of Douglas. Hill, 63, served under the elder MacArthur in the war with Spain, but did meet Douglas. Now he lives on MacArthur Street. 50 years ago Oct. 19, 1967: State Treasurer Adlai Stevenson III says he has no desire to run for governor or senator next year. Instead he wants to serve out his term as treasurer, which expires in 1970. (He did run for the Senate then and won. Later he ran for governor and lost.) 25 years ago Oct. 19, 1992: The town of Normal bought the Hewett House, 202 W. College Ave. Its between the Stubblefield Funeral Home and Normal Public Library. The yard will allow expansion for library parking; the house can be preserved as one of Normals historic homes. Room to Grow: Positive Future Ahead for Forest Products Industry through Advocacy Paul Noe By Paul Noe, Vice President, Public Policy, AF&PA Oct. 19, 2017 - As we recognize National Forest Products Week (October 15 -21), let's take a moment to highlight our industry's enormous contribution to manufacturing and underscore the American Forest & Paper Association's (AF&PA) mission to help it grow through common-sense, fact-based public policy. The forest products industry accounts for approximately four percent of total U.S. manufacturing GDP and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers. We produce over $200 billion in products annually and employ 900,000 men and women in rural and urban communities across 45 states. We meet a payroll of approximately $50 billion per year and support about 2.4 million jobs. The American free enterprise system has been one of the greatest engines for prosperity and liberty in history, and it can deliver a promising future for the USA and the world. The U.S. manufacturing sector has been a key driver of this success, with the highest economic multiplier of any economic sector, and contributing12% of US GDP, or $2.17 trillion. Manufacturing also supports about one in six private sector jobs (18.5 million), and the average annual compensation for full-time equivalent worker ($79,553) is 24% higher than the average American worker. Large swaths of the American economy have been distorted by regulatory mandates and incentives, with an average of 3500 new federal rules each year contributing to an invisible tax on the order of $2 trillion annually by some estimates. But, the U.S. also faces growing challenges in an increasingly competitive global economy. Large swaths of the American economy have been distorted by regulatory mandates and incentives, with an average of 3500 new federal rules each year contributing to an invisible tax on the order of $2 trillion annually by some estimates. Manufacturers spend almost $20,000 per employee to comply with regulations nearly double the cost for all U.S. businesses. And too often, manufacturers that want to expand are stymied by cumbersome permitting processes. Poorly-designed regulations may cause more harm than good; stifle innovation, growth and job creation; waste limited resources; undermine sustainable development; and erode the public's confidence in government. On the other hand, when sensible, evidence-based regulations respond to compelling public need, such as material failures of private markets, they can provide vital benefits, such as the protection of the environment, public health and safety, civil rights, consumers and investors. AF&PA supports regulation and a regulatory system that does more good than harm. If we need to regulate, our goal should be sustainable regulation regulation that remedies gaps in our free market system and addresses economic needs, environmental concerns and social expectations. There is no better place for a robust manufacturing sector than the United States, which has productive workers, creative entrepreneurs and innovators, abundant resources, a strong democratic legal system, and regulatory agencies capable of smarter regulation. Smarter regulation can liberate the creativity and competition that produce economic growth, jobs and opportunity for us all. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance a sustainable U.S. pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and wood products manufacturing industry through fact-based public policy and marketplace advocacy. AF&PA member companies make products essential for everyday life from renewable and recyclable resources and are committed to continuous improvement through the industry's sustainability initiative Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 . The forest products industry accounts for approximately 4 percent of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufactures over $200 billion in products annually, and employs approximately 900,000 men and women. The industry meets a payroll of approximately $50 billion annually and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 45 states. Visit AF&PA online at: www.afandpa.org or follow us on Twitter @ForestandPaper . SOURCE: AF&PA Reformist Political Activist Turned Refugee Briefly Arrested Upon Return to Iran 10/19/17 Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran A reformist political activist who fled Iran in 2011 after years of being harassed by the Intelligence Ministry was summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Evin Prison upon returning to the country. Sedigheh Vasmaghi A source close to Sedigheh Vasmaghi, who had been sentenced to prison in absentia, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that she was detained for a few hours by Intelligence Ministry agents at Tehran's international airport on October 15, 2017, and told to return after her case was processed. Saham News, an opposition website, claimed Vasmaghi, a former Tehran City Council member, was released because of her "physical condition;" she is clinically blind. Vasmaghi, who was targeted by the Intelligence Ministry while it was under the authority of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13), wrote a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on October 22, 2016, expressing her wish to return to Iran. "After enduring five years in exile with my loyal husband, we intend to return to our home," wrote Vasmaghi in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CHRI. "In the fifth and sixth decades of our lives, we are not at an age where we want to suffer in exile," she wrote. "It will also be difficult for me to go to prison, given my physical condition, especially my extremely weak eyesight." "However, I understand that the current ruling establishment has a policy of making the people who return home sorry-a policy that has denied our freedom and forced us to choose between silence, exile and prison," she added. Vasmaghi explained that the Intelligence Ministry began harassing her in 2008 and intensified its actions, including issuing threats intended to silence her, in 2010, to the point where "I could not do anything in public or at academic gatherings, or even in private settings." "The ministry wanted me to be quiet, not to publish my poems, not to speak or write about injustice and corruption," she wrote. Before being elected as a reformist member of Tehran's first city council in 1998, Vasmaghi was an associate professor in theology at Tehran University. The author and poet also wrote political columns for the moderate Ettela'at newspaper and Soroush magazine. In 2011, Vasmaghi moved to Germany, where she became a guest lecturer in Islamic studies at Georg-August University in Gttingen. She also engaged in academic collaborations with Uppsala University in Sweden. After she left, Intelligence Ministry agents raided her home and office and confiscated her personal belongings. In 2014, Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced her in absentia to five years in prison for "propaganda against the state," a charge brought by the Intelligence Ministry. US push to sell Trump's policy on Iran walloped at UN 10/19/17 Source: Press TV US Ambassador Nikki Haley's push to derail a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East towards Iran's nuclear deal has been met with backlash as the participants seek to focus on Israeli-Palestinian issues, especially Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank. Related Article by Eliana Johnson, Politico: Nikki Haley was Trump's Iran whisperer During the meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday, Haley urged the Security Council to adopt President Donald Trump's toughening position on Tehran, but the call failed to draw any support, apparently indicating that Trump's "comprehensive approach" is alienating allies and leaving the US isolated internationally. Haley said that the Security Council as a whole is taking a "dangerously short-sighted approach" by only looking at compliance with the nuclear provisions, adding that "this council now has the opportunity to change its policy." The meeting was held a few days after Trump refused to formally recertify that Iran is complying with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and warned that he might ultimately terminate the agreement. While Trump did not pull Washington out of the nuclear deal, he gave the US Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the pact. Reimposing sanctions would put the US at odds with other signatories to the accord, including the European Union, which has sharply criticized Washington's decision about the deal. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he wondered if "some delegates" were confused about the agenda item, emphasizing that the Middle East debate is aimed at tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He reminded Haley that she did not even mention the word Palestine. "The fact that some delegations did not mention the word 'Palestine' saddens us," he said. Nebenzia warned that "attempts to dismantle the architecture of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program will lead to a negative reaction in the Middle East and beyond." Olof Skoog, Sweden's ambassador to the UN, highlighted that Europe's position has not changed since Trump's speech, stressing that the Middle East debate should focus on the so-called peace process and not the nuclear deal. "The nuclear agreement is underpinned by UN Security Council resolutions. It's clear where we stand... The EU is determined to preserve the JCPOA as a key pillar of the international nonproliferation architecture," Skoog said. Britain's Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen stated that the UK supports the Iran nuclear deal, saying, "We encourage careful consideration of the implications to the security of the US and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the JCPOA, such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement." Moreover, Iran's Ambassador Gholamali Khoshrou hit back as Haley, telling her that she provided "the wrong address when it comes to the root causes of insecurity in the Middle East," noting that at the "core" of the all conflicts in the Middle East is Israel's "occupation of the Palestinian land." "The new US administration's approach and the recent dangerous strategy toward the (nuclear) deal and Iran run counter to all of these efforts and are intended to add another crisis to the regional issues," Khoshrou added. France did not mention the Iran nuclear deal, and warned against downplaying the importance of a Israeli-Palestinian deal to foster stability in the Middle East. France's Ambassador Francois Delattre said before the hearing, "For others it's also a great opportunity to focus precisely on the peace process, what needs to be done, and settlement activity." Japan's representatives also reiterated that Tokyo will continue to support the Iran accord, urging all of the participating nations to continue to abide by its provisions. When its veiled behind fear mongering tactics, voter suppression can easily look like a remedy for voter fraud. When the Supreme Court invalidated key parts of the Civil Rights Act in 2013, allowing states to alter election laws without federal approval, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. claimed that the country had changed. Right after that initial decision, southern states began passing voter identification laws and early voting procedures that were initially blocked by the federal government. And redistricting maps no longer required federal approval so state legislatures could tactfully draw districts that looked like shoestrings and bent straws at will. With a population of over 600 million people, the survival of the structures that exist and have always existed in this country are heavily dependent on limiting peoples vote; whether its by race, class, or ideology. The prison system for example, is designed, among other things, to incarcerate as many men of color as possible and therefore take away their right to vote. Once you are convicted of a felony, the only way you can regain your right to vote is by being pardoned by the states governor. Thats why a quarter of Floridas black citizens cant vote. Voter ID laws indiscriminately target poor people, especially poor people of color, who simply cant afford to get IDs. If youre too poor to got to the DMV, youre too poor to cast a ballot and your voice doesnt matter, simple as that. Perhaps the most blatant recent example of voter suppression is what happened in Montana. Last November, after the sudden death of one of the congressional candidates, a county in Montana had to reprint thousands of ballots to avoid potentially electing a dead man. After the election, Donald Trump picked Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) as Interior Secretary, prompting Montana to have a special election to replace him. Because they were still financially recovering from the last election, and for the sake of sheer fiscal responsibility, a bill was introduced to allow voting by mail and save up to $750,000. But Montana House Speaker Austen Knudsen (R) killed the bill because of the noble and earnest reason that it could potentially give Democrats an advantage. The reluctance to expand voting rights tends to be conservative but its not partisan. That bill in Montana was introduced and backed by Republicans. This isnt about what party is more guilty of what crime, this is about the fact that the country has grown numb to the fact that voter suppression is abundantly present at every level of government. Voter suppression is as tangible as systematic oppression can be. Voter fraud is a myth. Its a concocted idea perpetuated with little to no evidence. Its so easy to see through the Trump Administrations Voter Fraud Commission, which behind the veil of 3 million illegal aliens voted for Hillary, looks like the remedy to a problem that doesnt exist. Arguments were made by both the plaintiffs and the defendants in Gill v. Whitford, the gerrymandering case that will affect how millions of Americans vote, either amplifying or muffling their voices. So we now wait and watch as the Supreme Court Justices, each with their bare hands, bend the moral arc of the universe. Government will soon review a sub-contracted youth employment and capacity building initiative that made the headlines in 2014 for allegedly paying beneficiaries a paltry monthly fee. The purpose of the review, according to the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) will be to assess whether is delivering on its mandate. The Youth in Sanitation Module was signed between the erstwhile Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and sanitation giant, Zoomlion Ghana, in 2011 to address youth employment challenges. Under the contract terms, Zoomlion Ghana is charged with the responsibility of equipping the youth who are engaged by the module with the appropriate equipment and working gear to undertake the sweeping of the ceremonial and major streets and cities as well as the de-silting of drains. Zoomlion also provides capacity building through training sessions. The government does the recruitment of the workers, pays their allowances through Zoomlion on quarterly basis and pays the company for the management service. Currently, at least 40,000 workers have been engaged nationwide, according to figures on the website of Zoomlion Ghana. However, a Joy News investigation revealed that out of a stipulated GH500 to be paid to Zoomlion per beneficiary engaged in the module per month, only GH100 was received by a beneficiary, prompting criticisms that the disparity between the fee the contractor received from the government and what it paid to the beneficiary was too big. There were calls for the cancellation of the contract following the expose, however, that did not happen. When the new Board Chair of YEA which has replaced the GYEEDA spoke on current affairs programme, Upfront, on the Joy News channel (MultiTV) on Wednesday, he said although Zoomlion still keeps about 80% of what it takes from government to employ the youth, there is not much that can be done now. Sammy Awuku said a new Act guiding the administration of the YEA makes provision for the review of contracts after two years. The last Zoomlion contract was renewed in 2015 by the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, he revealed. What I can assure you is that the NPP [New Patriotic Party] government will take a critical look at this sanitation module going forward, Sammy Awuku told the host of Upfront, Malik Abass Daabu. He said the concern over the difference in what Zoomlion takes from government and is paid beneficiaries of the module has come up at the board level of YEA, promising that just as we have taken some bold decisions within the past few weeks, expect us to take some very bold decisions. For a start, he said when the contract ends later this year, Zoomlion will have to prove to us why this contract must be renewed. Source: Joy News 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 Government has said it is committed to deploying the Ghana Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) to the 156 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) by March 2018, to crack down on financial malpractices and wasteful public spending. The GIFMIS implementation, which started in 2012, has been deployed to 60 MMDAs to improve efficiency and achieve comprehensive and transparent management of public funds. Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng, Deputy Minister for Finance, said this at a stakeholders forum in Accra that brought together representatives from the Local Government Service Secretariat; Metropolitan, Municipal District Chief Executives; and Presiding Members among others. The forum was aimed at discussing the roadmap and major activities to ensure a smooth implementation, and also to establish stronger dialogue with stakeholders at the Ministries, Department and Agencies and MMDAs. Mr. Kwarteng explained that implementation of GIFMIS was in line with governments efforts to create a more business-friendly environment and invariably harness better opportunities for the country through improved fiscal discipline, containing deficit, and eliminating corruption as part of concerted efforts to ensure good governance. The GIFMIS, he indicated, was meant to replace all stand-alone legacy financial management systems at the MDAs and MMDAs, with the possibility of interfacing with other systems that need to be maintained. This is to assist in achieving improved comprehensive, transparent and effective management of public financial resources. There is a need to review the progress of work to ensure that all policy, administrative, operational and technical issues are being addressed effectively to ensure an effective implementation of the IGFS on the GIFMIS. I encourage MDAs and MMDAs to accept the GIFMIS and adopt it to process financial transactions including Internally Generated Funds transactions, which are exclusively in your domain, and to generate reports accordingly. We all have a role to play in making this a success, he said. The Controller and Accountant General, Mr. Eugene Ofosuhene, explained that the last two decades have seen an enormous transformation in public financial management, with a marked shift from manual to electronic systems. He said it was in line with such developments that government entreats management of MMDAs to accord the team the needed cooperation to ensure a successful rollout. I dare say that strict adherence to the tenets of GIFMIS will lead to the elimination of corruption in MDAs and MMDAs in the country. I am convinced that successful implementation of GIFMIS throughout all MDAs and MMDAs in the country, in line with the Public Financial Management Act 621(2016), will go a long way to reduce external queries and render the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament redundant as regards public financial controls and management, he said. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Service, said the benefit of the GIFMIS could not be over-emphasised. The system, when fully implemented, will address problems concerning the lack of integration between budget preparation and execution systems, inadequate budgetary controls, and lack of interface between various public finance management systems across MDAs and MMDAs among others. Another key milestone ahead of us is to implement the electronic funds transfer and automatic bank reconciliation for public funds, fixed asset modules, among others. The success of all these interventions will depend on our solid commitment. It is our wish that we not only speak but demonstrate an high level of commitment to the process, he indicated. Source: today Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video One of the six district hospitals started by the John Mahama government to eliminate disparities in healthcare delivery in the country has been abandoned at the Garu Tempane in the Upper East Region. In August 2013 the then Health Minister Sherry Ayitey cut sod for construction work to begin on the hospitals under the 175 million-dollar turnkey project at Dodowa, Kumawu, Sekondi, Abetifi, Garu Tempane and Fomena. Four years on, only the Dodo District Hospital has been completed under the agreement signed between the Ministry of Health Ghana and NMS Infrastructure Limited from the United Kingdom. Construction work on the Garu Tempane District Hospital, which officially started in May 2015, was abandoned a year later by the contractors who left the site without explanation. The site has been taken over by weeds and roofs of the buildings serving as offices have also been ripped off while thieves have taken advantage of the situation and lack of security at the site to steal building materials meant for the project.The Garu-Tempane district is the largest in terms of land and population in the upper east region but without a hospital. Residents currently rely on clinics and CHPS compounds which cannot handle certain cases. Cases beyond those hospitals are awalys referred to either the Bawku Hospital or Bolgatanga Regional Hospital. Youth want action taken News of the construction of a district hospital for the people came as joy but their hopes of getting a modern health facility to handle their healthcare needs have now waned with the years of abandonment of the project. Some youth in Garu-Tempane are now calling on the government to as matter of urgency ensure the completion of the stalled project.Member of Parliament for Garu, Albert Akuka Alalzuuga, told 3News in a telephone interview that the project at Garu-Tempane was suspended for the contractor, MNSI to complete the others in the southern sector. At a news conference Wednesday, the youth of Garu called on the current government to call the contractor to order to complete the project, indicating the district needs hospital to take care of serious healthcare issues in the area. Spokesperson for the youth, James Akasire, said items meant for the construction of the hospital were being stolen by some residents and they blamed the contractor for the activities of these miscreants. We may sound mild and modest in our demands and presentation; we should not be misconstrued to mean a weakness. We shall closely monitor events and if no action is taken in respect of our demands we shall advise ourselves accordingly. We shall not hesitate to embark on massive street protest among other options, he warned The group said the Garu-Tempane District Assembly spent huge amount of money in paying compensations for the release of land for the project and that such investment should not be allowed to go waste. The contractor should explain why he had to cause the Garu-Tempane district Assembly to spend huge sums of money as compensation for land and the construction of residence to house him and some of his workers, he said. Some of the stolen iron rods at the Police station Meanwhile, three people arrested for stealing iron rods from the project site have been given bail for investigations to continue into 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. Featured Video Shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) looms as retailers of the commodity yesterday suspended their operations indefinitely, to allow operators undertake maintenance work at various retail outlets nationwide, Today can report. In line with that, transporters of LPG have also suspended their operations, Public Relations officer of the LPG Marketers Association, Bernard Kwame Owiredu, said, on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 He explained to journalists that the action was a preventive measure to avert a possible shutdown of any LPG retail outlet in the country by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Mr Owiredu said the decision was in the interest of the public, following the spate of gas explosions in the country with the recent one at Atomic Junction in Accra which claimed seven lives and injured over 100 people a week ago. The Atomic junction disaster caused cabinet to issue a number of directives, including implementation of the gas cylinder re-circulation policy within a year. According to the LPG Marketers, already authorities of the NPA had started inspections of gas outlets in the country and closed a number of them down for not meeting the required standards. Yesterday members of the association met to do some deliberations on cabinet directive concerning our operations, and at the meeting, it came up that most of our outlets are being shut down by the NPA, he said. Members resolved that if that is the case, we are going to put up a technical committee to check on the integrity of the installation and to make sure that everything in terms of safety is in place before we start our operations. Its internal scrutiny and maintenance, he added. Mr Owiredu said they were taking steps to avoid a situation where members who fail to meet the standards would have their outlets closed and also fined. If we should sit down for the NPA to go about closing our outlets it comes with a fine, it comes with paying re-inspection fee and all that so we thought the best approach is to do the inspection ourselves so that it wont be as if we dont take safety issues seriously, he explained. On when customers should expect a resumption of service, he said he could not tell because the inspection is technical in nature. He said once the team is done with the checks and satisfied with the integrity of the installation, that outlet will be given the green light to resume operations. He said: As soon as they visit an outlet and they are of the view that, in terms of safety, in terms of security and in terms of integrity of the installation youre good to go they will just them the go ahead to operate. Source: today Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By the end of 2020, the Danish government will phase out its development aid to Ghana; the Danish Ambassador to Ghana has reveled Madam Tove Degnbol said it was time Denmark to move beyond giving aid to Ghana under the countrys strategy of development cooperation and rather increase collaboration in trade and investment. She said for the past after 25 years Denmark has been a long-standing and trusted partner to Ghana which has been based on development cooperation in social and economic sectors, human rights, and good governance. She noted that Ghana was different today in terms of development and that having gained lower middle income status the country was no longer depending on development aid to the same extent as previously. Ghana now wants to pursue inter alia trade, commercial investments and credits. Denmark aims at upscaling political and commercial cooperation while at the same time downscaling development assistance to the country and by 2020 development cooperation will seize, she added. Madam Degnbol was speaking at a forum organized by the Embassies of Denmark, Netherlands and Norway in collaboration with Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) on the theme Ghana Beyond Trade. She said her government last year released $20million for its third and final phase of the Support to Private Sector Development (SPSD) programme as it phases out its development aid. The aim of the programme according to her, was to promote inclusive and greener economic growth through private sector development leading to increased income and better welfare of Ghanaians. The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) which empowers private sector organisations (PSOs) to pursue issues that affect the performance of their members and their business environment by enhancing the advocacy skills of the PSOs to influence the government and other duty bearers to create a better business enabling environment is also in its last phase. Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who gave the key note address indicated that domestic revenue mobilization was the most sustainable way of growing the countrys economy if Ghana was to move beyond aid. He said aid from donor partners was dwindling and it was imperative that the country puts measures in place to move beyond aid. Dr Bawumia said if governments in Africa need to borrow, it should be targeted at priority areas such as education, agriculture and the production sector. He said the government of Ghana was embarking on policies such as the Free Senior High School programme which was aimed at investing in the youth, building capacity of human development through the promotion of Public Private Partnerships as well as investing in connectivity like the digital address system. He explained that the digital address system would open up the country especially in enhancing effective domestic revenue mobilization and accountability. A panel consisting of representatives of GIPC, academic and entrepreneurs held a discussion on how the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda could be realized. Source: The Finder 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 Vice President of the Republic, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the automated business registration system, e-Certificate and e-Payment on the online portal of the Registrar Generals department with an assurance that the long delays associated with business registration is now a thing of the past. Launching the event at the Banquet Hall, State House on Thursday, Dr. Bawumia described it as the starting point to make Ghana the most business friendly nation in Africa. During a surprise visit to the Registrar Generals Department on 18th January, 2017, the Vice President charged the acting Registrar General to improve the turnaround time for business registration and speed up the process of going online with business registration after bitter complaints from clients of the Department. The objective of the e-Registration is to put in place an appropriate business registration and filing regime. Reforms are also intended to lead to a reduction in the time and cost of registering businesses, the provision of customer friendly business registration, Dr Bawumia disclosed at the launch. The Vice President highlighted how critical Information Communication Technology (ICT) is in the 21st century and pointed out that Ghana will leverage technology to effect a digital transformation. His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos administration has embraced this digital transformation and will lend his support to ensure the smooth operation of this process for improved customer satisfaction. The importance of ICT cannot be overstated in this 21st century and Ghana will leap frog to catch up whenever the opportunity arises, Dr.Bawumia assured. The Vice President urged the management and staff of the Registrar Generals Department to adopt innovative approaches to maximise revenue and also customer satisfaction. I therefore urge staff and management of the Registrar Generals Department to intensify their stakeholder engagement programs through the use of all available channels, including print and social media to build consensus to enhance its revenue operations and boost revenue collection. In addition, management should brainstorm and adopt other innovative revenue enhancing strategies to raise the level of compliance and transparency in the Ghanaian business registration system. he said. The automated business processes will reduce the human interface and turnaround time associated with registration. The e-Registration portal makes use of the Tax Identification Number (TIN) to distinguish portal users and the e-Certificate has been designed to provide flexibility, transparency and accountability for businesses. 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. Featured Video A Ghanaian asylum seeker accused of raping a German woman while forcing her boyfriend to watch has been branded a danger to society by a psychiatric expert in Bonn, Germany. The man - only identified as Eric X - is accused of raping a 23-year-old woman after spotting the couple camping in a nature reserve near Bonn, West Germany in April. Speaking during the trial in a Bonn district court, the psychiatrist who interviewed Eric X, 32, said he completely lacks empathy and is highly likely to re-offend. The attack took place on April 2, shortly after midnight. The couple were already asleep when Eric X allegedly cut through the tarpaulin, threatened them with a tree saw and ordered them to hand over their valuables - six euros (5.35) and a music box. After robbing them he is said to have dragged the 23-year-old woman outside, where he raped her and forced her boyfriend, 26, to watch. German media have reported that the boyfriend's call to police was initially considered a joke. The suspect was arrested soon after in nearby Siegburg after a man recognised him from a composite picture of the sex attacker. Yesterday, psychiatric expert Dr Wolfgang Schwachula testified in court and shared his observations about the failed Ghanaian asylum seeker he examined before the start of the trial and observed throughout the court case. Dr Schwachula said that Eric X. is fully criminally liable despite a combined personal disorder of emotional instability and narcissism. According to the psychiatric expert, the Ghanaian migrant is not capable of empathy and abuses others for his purposes. Dr Schwachula said this makes Eric X 'highly dangerous to society', putting his risk of re-offending at between 40 to 60 per cent. Eric X., who has appeared in court with both his hands and feet chained due to his extremely aggressive behaviour, has made several accusations against the victim and the prosecution. When a DNA analyst explained to the court that the saliva sample taken from Eric X. matched with the sperm found in the genital area of the victim, the accused dismissed the evidence. Eric X. said: 'That cannot be, how does my DNA come to the woman?' On a separate occasion during the trial, he said out loud in court: 'If the girl claims she has been raped, she must be a prostitute. 'All who help her in the lie are filthy people.' Lawyer Gudrun Roth, who represents the 23-year-old student, said that it is 'always a slap in the face, if someone who has experienced such a thing is mocked even further.' Both of the victims, from Stuttgart, south-west Germany are currently undergoing psychological care as according to local media they are still heavily traumatised. Following his arrest it emerged that the man had been served notice by the German authorities ten days before the attack, informing him he would face deportation to Italy as his asylum application had been rejected. He arrived in Italy in January and his asylum application was immediately rejected but by then he had made the journey to Kassel in Germany. The suspect lived for a time in asylum seeker housing accommodation in the town of Sankt Augustin, near Bonn. But local media have questioned why he was not immediately deported. Eric X. has been charged with aggravated rape and predatory blackmail. Source: dailymail.co.uk Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu, believes that the launch of Ghanas Digital Property Addressing System will boost the operations of the Ghana Post. According to her, Ghana Post, which has in the last several years struggled with numerous challenges despite its prospects, will now play a key role in the roll-out of the addressing system. The inability to keep up with technological advances in the past, bedeviled Ghana Post and almost killed it. Ironically, the technological advances of today have become the salvation and rejuvenation of Ghana Post, and this is what we are about to witness today [Wednesday], she said at the launch of the system in Accra on Wednesday. The launch of the digital addressing system is part of governments grand plan of promoting effective governance through the adoption of modern technology. Ursula Owusu remarked that, the digital addressing system will unlock a new window into the area of modern technology for the country. She added that, the launch of the system will also help the country in the identification and registration of lands in the country, while banks will find it easier to locate their clients and borrowers. Ursula, who had indicated at her ministerial vetting that her outfit will make the Ghana Post a profitable business, expressed her delight that the system, known as the Ghana Post GPS, is a partnership between a Ghanaian firm Vokacom, and the Ghana Post. Ghana Post is a national communication and financial agency with nationwide coverage that has served its purpose for more than 5 decades. In spite of its previous successes and dominance in the communication sector in the past, the company is currently struggling for relevance due to competition from private telecom companies, courier agencies and internet service providers. Digital Property Addressing System will be sustained Nana Addo Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said his government will commit all the necessary resources to ensure that the countrys digital property addressing system is sustained. Source: citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects (SEHP), founded by Second Lady Samira Bawumia, has donated medical equipment and supplies worth over $60,000 to the Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern Region. The items include minor surgical and OPD equipment, NG tubes, suction devices and catheters among others. The wife of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia acknowledged the contribution of the hospital towards the health needs of residents. She commended the commitment and hard work of the staff of the Hospital, charging them to continue to prioritise the needs of their clients over their parochial interest. Mrs Bawumia also promised to make available any support that the Hospital will need to discharge its services to the satisfaction of patients. The acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hospital, David Z. Kolbilla thanked the Second Lady for her support, lauding her for the works she has been doing across the country. He had one appeal that the government will continue to support the Hospital with the requisite logistical support to enable it to run at its fullest capacity. The Tamale Teaching Hospital serves as a referral hospital for the three regions of the north. Its mandate is to provide advanced clinical health services, support the training of the undergraduates and postgraduates in medical sciences. It also undertakes research for the purpose of improving health care. The donation was made through the Samira Empowerment & Humanitarian Projects (SEHP), an NGO founded and managed by Mrs Bawumia. SEHP is dedicated to empowering Ghanaians through initiatives in health, education, entrepreneurial development and women empowerment. Source: JFM/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video NEW ORLEANS -- Jury selection was halted Wednesday afternoon for a man charged with killing a New Orleans police officer after the defendant rubbed feces on his face, head and mouth in the courtroom, according to two law enforcement sources. Travis Boys, 35, has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charge that he murdered NOPD Officer Daryle Holloway during an escape from custody on June 20, 2015. A jury was being impaneled Wednesday for a trial expected to open testimony Monday. Orleans Parish prosecutor Taylor Anthony was at the podium questioning the day's second panel of prospective jurors when the incident occurred around 4 p.m. As the prosecutor spoke, Boys, seated at the defense table between attorneys Billy Sothern and Matthew Vogel, pulled from his suit pocket excrement that he had wrapped in a napkin, apparently during an earlier restroom break. He began rubbing the feces on his face and head without saying a word. Criminal District Judge Karen Herman ordered an immediate halt to the proceedings, dismissed the jury panel that had witnessed the incident, and ordered a new competency evaluation for the defendant on Thursday. Boys, who faces life imprisonment if convicted of murdering the 22-year NOPD veteran officer, already had been deemed competent to stand trial following a Sept. 21 hearing in Herman's courtroom that lasted nearly six hours. At that hearing, two members of the court-appointed sanity commission -- forensic psychologist Dr. Rafael Salcedo and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Richoux -- recommended that the defendant be deemed competent for trial, concluding that he suffered from no mental disease or defect that would prevent him from assisting in his defense. Tulane University professor and psychiatrist Dr. James Brad McConville, hired by Boys' defense team, offered a conflicting opinion. McConville told the judge he did not think it was a "close call" that Boys could not currently understand his legal predicament or assist his attorneys. "He doesn't understand his legal rights," McConville testified at that hearing. "He would have significant difficulty testifying without incriminating himself. ... My recommendation is that he be found incompetent to stand trial and undergo further testing and legal-rights education." Herman ultimately sided with the court-appointed doctors and ordered Boys' trial to proceed as scheduled. Whether Wednesday's courtroom-clearing incident was nothing more than a desperate stunt or a genuine psychotic episode will be contested Thursday, likely with input from the same mental health professionals. Boys arrived in court Wednesday morning sporting a right eye that was swollen shut. The first jury panel was delayed while Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office officials summoned medical personnel to administer treatment. Sothern told the court that "an infection" had caused his client's eye to swell shut. A new jury panel is expected to be called in for voir dire Thursday morning if Herman determines the trial need not be delayed. SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- Even before fire wiped out the home she rented for 17 years, Suzanne Finzell had thought about leaving this city on the edge of the San Francisco Bay Area because of rising prices. A spike in housing and other living costs had driven her friends to Nevada and Oregon. Now Finzell wonders if that will be her fate too, as the wildfires that charred California wine country send thousands of people who lost their homes scrambling for new places to live in one of the nation's tightest and most expensive housing markets. Before the fires, the rental vacancy rate was a mere 1 percent in Santa Rosa and 3 percent in surrounding Sonoma County. Then the city lost an estimated 5 percent of its housing stock to the flames. "We had a housing crisis before the fires," Mayor Chris Coursey said Wednesday. "It's magnitudes worse now." Meanwhile, authorities reported more progress against the flames. The deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said crews had stopped the movement of all fires. Firefighters were helped by cooler weather and the lack of wind. Forecasters expect a tenth of an inch of rain in the affected areas on Thursday -- not enough to quench any fires outright but still welcome. The fires that swept through parts of seven counties were the deadliest and most destructive series of blazes in California history. At least 42 people died and 6,000 homes were lost. The flames were especially devastating in Sonoma and Napa counties on the northern edge of the Bay Area -- a region that has seen housing prices skyrocket in recent years amid a technology industry boom. In San Francisco, an average one-bedroom apartment rents for more than $3,000 a month, and the median home price is about $1.5 million. Cities such as Santa Rosa, about 50 miles north of San Francisco, have offered more affordable housing for people willing to endure a longer commute. But that may not be the case anymore. The 62-year-old Finzell, who has lived in Santa Rosa since she was 3, said the housing situation means her generation "heads into retirement with no chance of living in the places we grew up." Housing for displaced families is "going to be a really big challenge," said Ana Lugo, president of the North Bay Organizing Project, an organization that advocates for affordable housing in Sonoma County. Lugo said government officials are still focused on putting out the fires and "repopulating" evacuated neighborhoods. But she said the affordable housing issue will need to be addressed, including preventing price gouging. Elsewhere in the aftermath, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said he did not expect the county's death toll to go much higher. It stood at 23 on Wednesday. "The number of dead people we're finding has really slowed down," Sgt. Spencer Crum said, and many people listed as missing have been found safe. About half of the 50 missing person reports are for homeless people. Crum does not believe they perished in fires because they did not live in the hardest-hit areas. An estimated 100,000 people were evacuated at the height of the fires, and about 22,000 remain under evacuation. Many homeowners who lost houses or condos said insurance would cover the cost of temporary housing and rebuilding. But those who rented faced greater uncertainty. Yvette Escutia, 28, lost the four-bedroom, three-bath home she rented in Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood for $1,750 a month. The rent was already lower than that of a neighbor, who was paying $2,800 for a similar unit, so she expected a steep rent hike. She and her 2-year-old son, parents and other family members were at a friend's house, where she planned to stay "until they kick us out," she said. Affordable housing advocates are concerned that many residents, especially the working poor, will have difficulty remaining in the region. Escutia vowed to stay in Santa Rosa. "It's going to be very expensive, but we have our jobs here and we were born here," she said. Tenants Together, a renters' rights group in San Francisco, warned that landlords could not raise rents by more than 10 percent under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Jerry Brown in Napa and Sonoma counties. The group encouraged tenants who face steeper rent hikes to contact local prosecutors. Finzell, a nursing assistant, was trying to get permission to put a trailer on the property that she rented. But she may have to look for another rental home, an option that she knows would be unaffordable. She lamented that the area had turned into a destination for tourists and the "ultra-rich." "There has to be a balance," she said. "There has to be a way where those who loved and built this land for generations can retain and stay here if they choose to." --By Sushin Thanawala and Paul Elias They were at the wrong place at the wrong time, which happened to be "the apex of a tight curve," according to police in Lancaster County. It took place Wednesday on River Road in Conestoga Township, as a compact car was headed in one direction and an escorted tractor trailer hauling a bulldozer was headed in the other. No one was injured in the 4 p.m. accident which closed the road for about an hour, forcing school buses to find a different route. The Southern Lancaster Regional Police Department is investigating "to ensure proper permits were in place and abided to for the truck to be on that roadway at the time of the crash." The tractor trailer was operated by a Tennessee man, police said. The car was driven by a 45-year-old township woman. A former top administrator at Clarion University has been appointed to serve as that 5,225-student university's interim president, succeeding Karen Whitney who is now serving as the State System of Higher Education's interim chancellor. Peter Fackler, 72, previously served as the university's interim vice president for finance and administration from 2012 to 2015. The Chester County native will be paid a $232,000 salary and serve as interim president until the successful conclusion of a national search for a permanent president. "I am looking forward to reuniting with friends and colleagues at Clarion University during the transition to a new president and to working with faculty and staff in service to the university's students and the local Clarion and wider Pennsylvania communities," Mr. Fackler said. Fackler, who started immediately after his Wednesday appointment, most recently served as interim vice president of finance and administration at Misericordia University and has more than 30 years' experience in higher education. "It is important that we maintain strong leadership during the search for a new, permanent president for Clarion University; someone who can keep the university moving forward during this period of transition," said system board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira. "Mr. Fackler has demonstrated his leadership throughout his career, including during his previous tenure at Clarion. His familiarity with the university and the State System should be of further benefit as he assumes this new role." Whitney said Fackler's familiarity "will be important as he takes on this new role, and guides the university during this time of transition." Fackler holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. He also studied at both Harvard University's Institute for Educational Management and Columbia University's Teachers College. WILLIAMSPORT -- A Georgia State University student wants a federal judge to order Penn State to lease him space so white nationalist Richard Spencer can speak at the University Park campus. Cameron Padgett identifies himself in the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court as an individual who subscribes to the identitarian philosophy. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, identitarians preach opposition to multiculturalism and advocate for separate regions and nations that, within their borders, are culturally and ethnically homogenous. The senior at Georgia State says he does not consider himself alt-right but supports Spencer and is the organizer of his collegiate speaking tour. The basis of the lawsuit against the Penn State President Eric J. Barron and the board of trustees is the university's refusal to honor Padgett's July request to rent a conference room or lecture hall for an appearance by Spencer. In August, Barron released statement in which he said Spencer was not welcome on the Penn State campus in light of violence in Charlottesville, Va., during a "unite the right" protest rally. Barron said although Penn State supports the right of free speech, "the First Amendment does not require our university to risk imminent violence." Spencer's views are "abhorrent and contradictory to our university's values," he said. "There is no place for hatred, bigotry or racism in our society and on our campuses." Padgett contends the refusal to rent a conference or lecture hall for fear of violence constitutes unconstitutional content discrimination. There is no reason to believe Spencer or his supporters will engage in or advocate criminal misconduct, the suit states. Padgett points out a federal judge in Alabama granted him a preliminary injunction and Spencer spoke without incident at Auburn University. The judge in that case directed Auburn's police department to take all steps necessary to provide security for Spencer, event attendees and peaceful protestors. Padgett is seeking similar injunction from Judge Matthew W. Brann without posting a bond or being required to pay for police protection when Spencer speaks. He contends he is entitled to an award of punitive damages due to Penn State's malicious, oppressive reckless disregard of his free speech rights. The complaint also seeks a monetary judgment in excess of $75,000. It is Penn State's practice not to comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Lisa M. Powers said. WILLIAMSPORT -- A New York man who a judge said "effectively poisoned" the Williamsport area for several years has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Thursday told Permaeshwar Singh, 35, of Brooklyn, he was part of the opioid crisis. Singh last December pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute between 700 and 1,000 grams of heroin over a two-year-period beginning in January 2014. Brann described Singh as the bulk supplier for a major Williamsport area heroin distribution organization run by Larry Eason. Eason, who is serving a 15-year-sentence, admitted when he pleaded guilty he was responsible for distributing between 1 and 3 kilograms of heroin. He admitting traveling to New York City several times a week and returning typically with 40 to 50 grams of heroin that would be sold through co-conspirators. As he did at Eason's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel said the motive for Singh was profit. He pointed out the amount of heroin Singh supplied equated to at least 28,000 doses at a minimum of $10 each. Singh told the judge he started using drugs as a young age, made wrong choices and takes responsibility for what he did. Singh, who is classified a career offender because of his record, which also includes assaults on a woman and a police officer, is the 10th individual in the organization to be sentenced. He will be on supervised release for five years upon his release from prison and must participate in mental health and drug treatment programs. A Harrisburg man who stabbed a woman with scissors and a knife, as well as hitting her in the head with a hammer last year was ordered to serve nearly two decades in state prison. Larry Wayne Cathey Larry Wayne Cathey will spend 17 to 34 years in state prison, following his guilty plea and sentencing Wednesday for brutal attack Sept. 30, 2016. Cathey began the assault on his then girlfriend after she told him of her plans to move out of his home and return to the Philadelphia area to be with his family, according to a news release from the Dauphin County district attorney's office. An enraged Cathey grabbed pair of scissors, attempting to slice the woman's throat, prosecutors said. The dull scissors were ineffective for his malicious intentions, so Cathey began to stab the woman multiple times in her head, face, chest, arms and legs. During the attack Cathey told the victim he was going to kill her and himself, officials said. As the attack continued, Cathey grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim. He later used the claw end of the hammer to hit the back of the woman's head. Once Cathey finished the attack he carried the injured woman into a bedroom and forced her to take a large amount of pills, prosecutors said. She lost consciousness as a result of significant blood loss and because of the pills. Cathey was passed out in the bed next to the victim when she regained consciousness the next day. The woman was able to crawl out of the bed to an apartment across the hall where she got help from a neighbor who called police. Cathey was arrested and the woman was taken to a local hospital for surgery, beginning her long rehabilitation, prosecutors said. Cathey pleaded guilty to felony counts of attempted homicide and aggravated assault. He was pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of unlawful restraint. Deputy District Attorney Codi Tucker said the attack was an example of how bad domestic violence can be when a victim tries to leave an abusive relationship. Rucker added that the case is also an illustration of the victim's perseverance in surviving and holding Cathey accountable through prosecution. YORK--Shortly after Aditya "Sunny" Anand opened the Exxon Mart store in York where he worked Tuesday morning, a man came in and asked for a pack of Newport cigarettes. Anand put the cigarettes on the counter with a smile. But his kindness was not reciprocated. Instead, the man pulled out a gun. He stunned Anand by firing a thundering warning shot right next to him through a cigarette rack and demanding Anand open the register. "Sunny" Anand The longtime clerk's hands shook as he fumbled to open the register, his ears likely still ringing from the gunfire. "You can see the terror in his eyes," said York police Detective Jeffrey Spence, describing the surveillance video that recorded the crime. "He was shaking." Within moments, the gunman got antsy. He looked to his left and right, Spence said, and looked back at the door, apparently worried a customer might interrupt the robbery. He started leaving, but then he turned back, Spence said, and for no good reason fired directly at Anand, hitting him in the left arm and chest. The robber fled with no cash, just the single pack of cigarettes. Anand ran out of the store looking for help. But he didn't make it far. He collapsed in the parking lot, alone. A customer found him within a few minutes, at about 5:45 a.m., and he was taken to a hospital, where his death was confirmed. The shooting rattled regular customers who have been greeted warmly by Anand for more than a decade as "my friend" or "my brother." They organized a vigil for the man they knew as "Sunny" Tuesday night that drew about 35 people, including families with children. Friends wrote recollections about Sunny on posters, remembering his kindness and upbeat attitude, no matter the situation. Sunny would even loan regular customers gas money if they were low on cash. A former co-worker, Juanita Singh, set up a table on the side of the store to keep watch over a memorial for Sunny and to collect donations to help pay for his funeral. She said she was going to sit out there every day until the killer was identified. Sunny's parents are deceased and he reportedly was an only child who immigrated from India more than a dozen years ago and became a U.S. citizen. He may have cousins who live in New York, police said. Because Sunny had worked at the store so long, "he was pretty much known all around town," said Bobby Kumar, the store manager. He loved working around people and loved being at the store. "Even when he wasn't working, we used to see him sitting in the office, just hanging out," said Meenakshi Sharma, who frequented the store. Sunny had hoped to eventually move to a higher-paying job or start his own business, said Sharma. "He liked it here, but he wanted to move on," she said. "I know he wanted to start a family." Charles Logan saw Sunny nearly every morning when he stopped in for coffee and his Lottery tickets. "Of all the people," Logan said, "There's a lot of people who love him. And they were saying, 'Not him.'" Police were equally appalled at the killing. Detectives released images of the robber taken from another convenience store across the street, just minutes before the robber confronted Anand. The angles of the cameras inside the Turkey Hill ended up being superior to the ones inside the Exxon, Spence said. The photos showed the robber entering Turkey Hill at 5:30 a.m. and leaving at 5:33 a.m., passing by another customer, which could explain why he didn't try a robbery at the Turkey Hill. Police are hoping someone will recognize the mustachioed man by his clothing, if not his face and build, as captured in the photos. Police are not releasing the actual video of the crime because it's too disturbing. Spence said. "The guy goes from making coffee and in a matter of seconds you can see the terror," Spence said. "There's nothing logical about what happened here. You didn't even get what you came for. You just turned this into a senseless homicide." The clerk was trying to comply with the robber when he was killed, Spence said. "To me, it didn't look like the clerk took that long," he said. "I've been doing this for 28 years and you don't usually see anything like this." Anyone with information about the killing should call York police at 717-846-1234 or text tips to 847-411 or use the York police cell phone app. Tipsters already have provided many names to police and detectives are methodically investigating each one, Spence said. The right name might already be in their pile of tips. Editor's Note: This story was updated with the correct spelling of the detective's last name. By E. Fletcher McClellan When the U.S. Senate failed several times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, most lately the Graham-Cassidy bill in late September, supporters of the law heaved sighs of relief. E. Fletcher McClellan (PennLive file photo) Little did they know that efforts to repeal and replace ACA by legislation were but one front in a three-theatre war. The second front is what Andrew Slavitt, a former Obama administration health care official, calls synthetic repeal, referring to actions by the Trump administration to whittle away the infrastructure supporting Obamacare. President Donald Trump's decision last week to terminate subsidies to insurance companies offering health care plans to high-risk populations was only the latest example. Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services undertook a series of moves to discourage enrollment in ACA exchanges. The enrollment period, which begins November 1, was reduced from 12 weeks to six weeks. Funding for public service ads and other outreach efforts was severely decreased. The Healthcare.gov website will be shut down for maintenance 12 hours every Sunday but one during the enrollment time-frame. Trump's order to end the $7 billion subsidy to the health insurance industry, issued just as companies were deciding rates for the upcoming year, was timed for maximum disruption of the exchanges. Trump himself attempted to sew doubt among potential enrollees by declaring Monday that his actions killed Obamacare. Another Trump directive, an executive order allowing small businesses to pool together to buy cheaper, skimpier health insurance plans, is aimed at creating loopholes around the ACA requirement that health care plans include a standard set of benefits. Younger, heathier people could be attracted to such plans, which in turn would raise insurance rates for older, sicker Americans. Aside from the effect these moves will have on public health, they hardly make political sense. Costs will rise especially for prime Trump voters, middle-aged to older people who do not qualify for ACA-mandated subsidies to low-income individuals to purchase health insurance. More enrollees in ACA exchanges live in Republican-held congressional districts than in districts represented by Democrats. The third front in the war on Obamacare is the fiscal year 2018 federal budget. The president and Republican leaders in Congress are running out of ways to pay for the $1.5 trillion tax cut they desperately want to enact. By eliminating some popular tax exemptions, such as the deduction for state and local taxes, Trump's tax reform framework could raise taxes for many middle-class Americans. Instead, House and Senate budget negotiators have targeted large cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. Senate Democrats estimate the proposed Republican budget will reduce Medicaid alone by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. While the focus of Republican criticism of the Affordable Care Act was on the exchanges, which are in trouble in some but not all states, the main target was Medicaid. Over one-half of the 20 million additional Americans who obtained health insurance under ACA was through the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in 31 states. Going back at least as far as the Newt Gingrich-led Congresses of the 1990s, the GOP has attempted to scale back Medicaid, proposing to convert the program into block grants for the states. While this approach would give states greater administrative flexibility, Republicans would cap the total amount of the grants the federal government would provide. This proposal was featured in both the House repeal bill and Graham-Cassidy, which bundled the funds for Medicaid expansion, subsidies for low-income individuals, and the administration of the exchanges into health care mega-block grants. One of the surprises in the story of the Graham-Cassidy bill was the role played by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. The authors of the measure adopted Santorum's suggestion that Obamacare repeal follow the model of welfare reform, which replaced the AFDC program for needy, single parent families with temporary assistance. Unlike the traditional stereotype of welfare recipients, however, the Medicaid clientele is larger, better organized, and harder to stigmatize. Nearly 70 million Americans are on Medicaid, including the elderly on assisted living, the disabled, and the opioid-addicted. It is no wonder that Republican senators from high-enrollment Medicaid states, such as West Virginia and Maine, and states that expanded Medicaid, including Ohio, Arizona and Alaska, rejected at least one version of repeal-and-replace bills this summer. Still, the proposed reduction in Medicaid funding in the House and Senate FY18 budget plans would inevitably result in fewer enrollees and a cutback in benefits, accomplishing much of what the Republican repeal bills would have done. Trying to stave off the implosion of Obamacare, U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., have reached an agreement that would restore the subsidies to health insurance companies and give states greater discretion in administering ACA. Intriguingly, the president stated that he could sign such a bill and that the main intent of his actions was to bring the two political parties to the bargaining table. Whether Trump is sincere, bluffing, or making-it-up remains to be seen. Two things are for certain: the president and his party own the health care issue now, and they will be held responsible if the system collapses. The exasperation surrounding Pennsylvania already a third of the way in the fiscal year without a completed budget is not lost on state lawmakers. It may be the one thing that could help to drive the budget stalemate to a conclusion. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said the House of Representatives' funding plan to address the $2.2 billion revenue gap in the 2017-18 state budget is unlike the revenue package his chamber passed in July. But it holds the advantage of having won 102 votes in the House. That alone makes it deserving of serious consideration, said the GOP senator from Centre County. The Senate could possibly consider action on the House plan as early as Monday. "I just want to get done," Corman told reporters on Wednesday. "We need to get this accomplished. We need to get it done and that's really the one thing that's leading us to really trying to take a serious look at this and be as supportive as we can." The House on Tuesday evening voted 102-88 on a revenue bill that relies mostly on borrowing and a set of small tax increases to raise $1.6 billion. That is a major part of its $2.2 billion plan that includes legalized gambling expansion, one-time fund transfers and other accounting maneuvers. A House committee on Wednesday passed legislation by a 16-9 vote to impose a new tax on natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale formation as proposed could also supplement the chamber's revenue plan. Despite his opposition to a shale tax, House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, promised the legislation will get its day on the House floor to be debated but when that occurs remains in question. Borrowing is in but how much? This latest iteration of a House revenue plan has some similarities to a funding package the Senate passed in July although it includes none of the Senate's new taxes on natural gas consumption, electricity or cell phones. Both plans, for one thing, relied heavily on borrowing against future revenues due Pennsylvania from the 1998 multi-state settlement with big tobacco companies. The Senate plan proposed borrowing $1.3 billion and the House plan, $1.5 billion. The increased borrowing is a cause for concern for senators as is the aggressive revenue estimates that the House is counting on from the yet-to-be-determined expansion of legalized gambling, Corman said. The House estimates the new gambling options will raise $265 million this year. Still, Corman said that uneasiness for senators has to be balanced against a certain realization. "The likelihood of us amending it and sending it back and getting 102 votes for something else, I think, is a long shot at best. So we want to be as supportive as possible," he said. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County said his caucus is reviewing the House's borrowing plan but needs to analyze it as part of a comprehensive proposal including the fund transfers that the House wants to use to balance the budget. "In the coming days, we'll be working internally as a caucus, but also with our colleagues across the aisle and with the governor's office," he said.. While the Senate Republicans and Democrats takes the next few days to review the plan, senators also want to hear whether Gov. Tom Wolf plans to continue with the executive actions he announced recently to balance the budget even if they send him a legislative-crafted revenue package. Wolf announced his plan to raise $1.2 billion by borrowing against future anticipated payments from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and $200 million from leasing the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg to a private operator. At this point, the governor is proceeding with his plan to ensure the commonwealth meets its commitments to school districts, human services and other providers, said Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott said. "When a final plan from the Legislature reaches his desk, he will evaluate the pieces," Abbott said. "Governor Wolf is open to a responsible alternative, but feels it is necessary that he ensure we meet our commitments." Corman told reporters he was concerned the governor may go down a dual track of borrowing against future LCB payments even if the Legislature sends him a revenue plan that securitizes tobacco settlement payments. "Nothing would stop him from doing it since he's doing it on his own anyway," Corman said. "So we would like before we jump into this proposal to just get a little clarity on some of these issues." Obstacles to overcome Despite this week's developments on closing out the belated state budget, there remains some obstacles that could still derail the effort. Corman said the Senate has no appetite for allowing slots-like video gaming terminals in truck stops to generate revenue to help fund the budget. Instead, it favors allowing a limited number of satellite casinos to open up around the state. Reed said the House's revenue plan looks to gambling expansion to raise $265 million. "That is not accidental," he said. "We need that amount of revenue" to complete funding for this year's budget and provide $600 million for Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities and University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school, which continues to hang in limbo. "We'll wait and see as we get to the final negotiations on a gaming bill what's actually in and what's actually out," Reed said. The highly controversial shale tax also remains a hurdle to cross. The Senate's revenue plan included a natural gas severance tax that had a slightly lower rate than the one that the House Finance Committee supported but floats based on the market price of the natural gas produced. The House committee-approved rate would generate $200 million to $250 million for the general fund, said Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks County, who championed the measure in the House. That compares to $108 million that the Senate's rate is estimated to produce. But along with a disagreement over where that tax rate should be set is the side issue of gas industry-friendly regulatory and permitting reforms included in the Senate plan but absent in the House version of severance tax legislation. "If we're going to go down that road as we said all along, looking at the industry as a whole is important and permitting reform has to be part of it or it's not something we could support," Corman said. House members during the committee discussion indicated that the bill was a starting point for the chamber's discussion of this issue that has been percolating for the past decade. "This, at least in my view, is not the final product," said Rep. John Lawrence, R- Chester County, adding he for one plans to introduce some amendments during a promised House debate. "I do believe this is something the people of Pennsylvania want the Legislature to take up a discussion on." It's not clear whether the shale tax can be wedged into a final revenue plan for this fiscal year but Senate Democrats and Wolf seems to be keeping that hope alive based on a statement he made following the committee vote. "I urge House leadership to bring the severance tax to a vote on the floor as soon as they return to Harrisburg next week," he said. "This is a fair and commonsense proposal that will address our structural budget deficit. Pennsylvania is the only natural gas producing state without a severance tax and the vast majority of the tax would be paid out of state." The House and Senate are scheduled to return to session next week. That is the last scheduled session week before the break for municipal elections in November. Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a series of modest medical assistance reforms crafted and passed by the Republican-led General Assembly. The veto kills, for now, the proposed addition of a work / work search / training requirement that supporters said would have applied to nearly 500,000 "able-bodied" adults receiving Medicaid. Children, pregnant women, senior citizens and the disabled were all specifically exempted from the 20-hour-per-week requirement. Other proposed changes in the bill included: * A requirement obligating the Wolf Administration to match future single-year cost overruns in the medical assistance program with proposed program modifications, which would need separate federal government approval. * Requirements for the administration to test-drive programs that identify fraud and abuse within the system. * A request for the administration to test a data-driven care management program for participants in one region of the state, to see if it can eliminate treatment errors and otherwise wring costs out of the system. But the work search requirement seemed to be the lightning rod. Early estimates were the new requirement could capture nearly a half-million Pennsylvanians, including 350,000 who qualified for Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, and another 140,000 pre-Obamacare medical assistance clients. Supporters said the goal is to provide at least some of those people with a carrot to get a job, in the hopes that, for many, that will become an important first step to self-sufficiency and, ultimately, becoming taxpayers themselves. Work requirements are already in place for food stamp and cash assistance programs. For food stamps, able-bodied adults without dependents are asked, for example, to get a job, enroll in a job training program or school, or volunteer. Advocates for Medicaid recipients opposed the bill because they said it wasn't clear how the work requirements would apply to people with long-term diseases like cancer, those caring for children or older relatives, or people in treatment for drug and alcohol addictions. Those folks might appear "physically and mentally able" to work, but in many cases cannot hold a job, said Antoinette Kraus, of the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Health Access Network. They also contend the cost-overrun off-set provision is a veiled way to cut "non-essential" benefits like dental, vision, and mental health care. While no one knows how much the proposed changes could save, Republicans see them as a key continuation of their efforts to try to contain growth in long-term cost drivers for state government. In formally sending the bill to Wolf's desk this week, GOP lawmakers veered between characterizing the changes as no stricter than welfare reforms previously approved by Democrats like Bill Clinton and Bob Casey a generation ago, and cheering on the end of the welfare state. "The free ride should be over," said Rep. Dan Moul, a Republican from Adams County, flanked by dozens of his colleagues in the Capitol Rotunda for a mid-day press conference to make a final case for the bill. "If you are truly disabled and can't work, I give you that pass. But if you can work, we need to encourage people to get out there and be a productive member of society." Wolf was unmoved. In his veto message released Thursday afternoon, the governor wrote: "This legislation does not promote health coverage, access and treatment for our seniors, individuals with disabilities and individuals suffering from a substance use disorder. "Instead, this legislation increases costs, creates unnecessary delays and confusion, penalizes individuals who need healthcare, and terminates health coverage for those who need it the most." Wolf's veto provoked predictable anger from the legislature. "This just goes back to the governor just does not respect the taxpayers of this state," Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, said after the veto announcement. "The main thrust of the bill was to help control the out-of-whack spending of the DHS (Department of Human Services) budget. "We don't think there's anything wrong with asking able-bodied people to at a minimum look for work - a job search is not unreasonable, nor is volunteering. Why does the governor oppose people looking for work?" Miskin continued. "We are just standing up for taxpayers... you know, the people who work hard for their money." A veto override seems unlikely; House Bill 59 passed the House on a 116-78 vote on Oct. 4, a margin significantly less than the two-thirds majority needed to enact a law over a governor's veto. An override attempt would need to start in that chamber since this is a House Bill. What was murkier, at the moment, was whether any of the proposed Medicaid reforms will resurface as part of still-evolving efforts to close a $2.3 billion general fund deficit. It seemed possible Republican leaders in the House and Senate could still try to push for at least some of the proposed reforms as part of a global package that could include authorization to borrow against future tobacco settlement payments, school reforms and, possibly, an expansion of legal gambling and a new severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas production. Medicaid, the primary public medical assistance program for the poor, blind and disabled, is one of the biggest cost drivers in state government because of the runaway train nature of health care costs. For many fiscally conservative Republicans, it is the next major state spending spigot to turn. In Pennsylvania, state taxpayers pay about half the cost of Medicaid treatments, and in the 2015-16 budget year, the program accounted for 29 percent of all state general fund spending. From 2004 through 2014, before federal Affordable Care Act changes took effect here, general fund dollars spent on medical assistance lines jumped from $3.9 billion to $6.0 billion, or nearly 54 percent. Our car park now has dedicated EV Charging Bays. As the world goes green, were working to make it easy for you to do the same. In this undated handout photo provided by Macsween, a worker prepares haggis at their factory near Edinburgh. For the first time in nearly 50 years Scotland will start exporting haggis to Canada, but traditionalists may be left disappointed as offal, a key ingredient, must be left out of the iconic dish to meet Canadian regulations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO, Macsween, *MANDATORY CREDIT* This Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 photo shows part of a replica four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker in Parma, Ohio. Owner Nick Meyer tells Cleveland.com he used wood, hard foam and plastic barrels. He says he enjoys the "Star Wars" movies but isn't a fanatic and simply thought the display would be unique. (Patrick Cooley/The Plain Dealer-Cleveland.com via AP) Mounties swarmed 377 Winnipeg St. in September to arrest a man who was wanted for failing to serve an intermittent jail sentence. Some people living in the area were disappointed to see police leave so quickly. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, speaks with members of the audience the second annual Francis Forbes law lecture at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's on Thursday, October 19, 2017. Canada's top judge says access to justice for poor and marginalized citizens is the biggest challenge to the legal system. Nothing is more precious than a person's liberty, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin told a public lecture at Memorial University in St John's, N.L., on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly Shoppers enter and leave a Sears retail store in Toronto on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The company begins its liquidation sales today at its stores across the country as it prepares to shut its doors for good after 65 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Dan Albas is the Conservative member of Parliament for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola which includes Summerland, Hedley, Olalla and Keremeos (which are all in The Herald's readership area.) PETERSBURG, Alaska (AP) Petersburg drivers are complaining that the states new system for painting street lanes has smeared paint across roadways and stained vehicles. It comes a month after a new paint job left officials in Ketchikan baffled. Petersburg Borough assembly member and former city Mayor Jeff Meucci said he had yellow paint on his vehicles mirror, running board and bumper _ similar to what happened to Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor David Landis, KFSK-FM reported. Meucci said it looks like the crews had a hard time driving in a straight line while painting Mitkof High... Upstream 80,000 people could see pensions cut as much as 40% monthly. Petrobras Pension fund needs $8.7 billion to keep operating RIO DE JANEIRO Petroleumworld 10 19 2017 Sins of past to haunt Petrobras worker paychecks 18 years into future The sins of the past are about to follow 80,000 active and retired Petrobras workers 18 years into the future. That's the time frame for a plan, nearing approval, that will trim their monthly payments by as much as 40 percent to keep their private pension fund solvent. The cutbacks proposed by Petroleo Brasileiro SA target a 27.7-billion-real ($8.7 billion) deficit run up by the fund since 2013, when many of its investments soured in the wake of a massive graft scandal affecting the company and a rout in global oil prices. If approved by regulators, the cutbacks -- which vary depending on salary levels -- could start just before Christmas, a final kick in the wallet for affected workers. Officials argue that the fund known as Petros could collapse without the planned changes. But they're already facing a legal challenge from one of Brazil's largest unions, and workers argue they're being forced to pay for decisions they were never part of. The burden on us is too heavy, the price is high and 18 years is too long, said Silvio Sinedino, who retired in July and will have around 3,000 reais from the 10,000 he receives from Petros discounted automatically from his paycheck. Sixty percent of the $8.7 billion deficit is the result of investments in companies that became targets in corruption probes, as well as the impact of Brazil's recession, according to Petros. The increasing life expectancy for Brazilians and other structural changes account for the remaining 40 percent of the deficit. All participants already make regular contributions to the fund and the additional charge won't be higher than 26.9 percent of the salary, Petros said by e-mail. Collapse Feared Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras and its fuel distribution subsidiary are only required to plug 13.7 billion reais of the deficit under the plan presented by the company. If the remainder isn't addressed swiftly the fund will collapse and be unable to pay any benefits at all, Petros President Walter Mendes told reporters, after it was announced. Investments didn't have the returns the fund expected, '' said Mendes, who entered the job a year ago. Sinedino, a former Petros council member and a former Petrobras board member who represented employees, said the additional contributions leave the fund exposed to lawsuits. The FUP oil union, one of the largest in the country, has already entered a civil class action claiming the charge is abusive and asking for its suspension. This represents legal exposure, which is not good for any pension fund, Sinedino said in an interview. Employee Savings Petros used employee savings to invest in a host of oil industry projects during the commodities boom, including a $25 billion venture to build drilling vessels for deep waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Since then Petrobras became the center of a massive pay-to-play scandal that saw leading executives from the company and domestic equipment suppliers go to jail. Then the oil price crash forced it to slash investments in the domestic supply chain, further undermining companies Petros had invested in. The cutback plan is now in front of the government and regulators. Approval is almost certain, said Ronaldo Tedesco, a Petros fiscal council member. I'm sure Petrobras presented the plan only after negotiating previously with the government," Tedesco said by telephone. The chances it gets rejected are very low. Petros will start charging bigger contributions within 60 days after approval. Adalberto Lourenco, a refinery worker who contributed 11 to 14 percent of his monthly payments to Petros starting in June 1981, isn't happy about the upcoming changes. I won't go hungry, but this charge is too damaging, specially considering all I've paid in," he said by telephone. I have people in my family who depend on me to eat. Lourenco, who said he is studying the best way to dispute the extra charge legally, will lose more than $2,000 a month in income under the plan. I'm ok paying, he said. Just not that much. Complimentary Plan The fund was created in the 1970s as a complimentary retirement plan for Petrobras employees in addition to Brazil's Social Security. The current deficit started in 2013 when Brazil entered an economic downturn that eroded the value of Petros' portfolio. Petrobras also started slashing investments to counter a debt binge it pursued during the oil boom, which further undermined some of the projects Petros had invested in. Investigations into Petrobras and its suppliers have uncovered government intervention in the pension fund, where investment managers would allocate funds to high-risk projects that were beneficial to the ruling party at the time. One of Petros' most notorious investments was Sete Brasil, a $25 billion company created to build 28 high-tech drillships for Petrobras to use at some of the deepest oil fields in the world. Sete Brasil executives have been arrested in the Carwash operation and it filed for bankruptcy protection before its first vessel was finished. Gathered at NextFabs makerspace in South Philadelphia are (left to right) Alperen Topay, cofounder of motorcycle-headphone company EAOS; U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester; Evan Malone, president of NextFab; and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. Read more In 10 years, Cornell University Ph.D. Evan Malone has built NextFab into a for-profit chain of Philadelphia and Wilmington "makerspaces," where high-tech materials scholars and start-up inventors pay to build stuff with 3-D printers and other digital machines. This week, Malone hosted a bipartisan mini-session of Congress at NextFab's Washington Avenue flagship location in South Philadelphia. U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D., Del.) reached out to a fellow freshman, Bucks County Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, to propose that the two build cred with grassroots manufacturers by using the occasion to promote the Startup Opportunity Accelerator Act. The measure would give the U.S. Small Business Administration $6 million a year for the next five years to seed new tech incubators, up from the current $1 million a year. SOAR particularly focuses on getting more "accelerators" like NextFab going in urban and rural areas most of the incubators that have mushroomed in recent years are in Silicon Valley and other high-end communities. Blunt Rochester and Fitzpatrick said they want to spread the opportunity, and not "leave American workers and entrepreneurs in rural, suburban, and urban areas behind," as Fitzpatrick put it in a statement. The U.S. economy "is driven by the entrepreneurs and small businesses who are investing in innovation," Blunt Rochester added. She and Fitzpatrick are cosponsors of the bill. Rich and poor, city and country, many "passionate visionaries" have great tech and business ideas, but "entrepreneurship is complex, stressful, and risky," Malone said. Accelerators such as NextFab offer not just useful machines, he said, but also "consulting networking, space, and capital, [and] moral support of fellow entrepreneurs and staff." The SBA has given five- and six-figure incubator grants in the past to the University City Science Center and to the Pennsylvania-backed Ben Franklin Technology Partners loan fund, among others, noted Robert Goza, spokesman for the SBA. (More here and here.) Blunt Rochester, who represents all of Delaware (she is the state's first woman and first African American in Congress), focuses on jobs, so SOAR is a natural, said her aide Courtney McGregor. Fitzpatrick, who serves in the majority Republican caucus on the House Small Business Committee, has "committed to working across the aisle" to make law "that would positively impact our economy" and U.S. workers as part of a "strong, bipartisan coalition" of supporters for bills like SOAR, she added. Blunt Rochester "hopes that passage of this bill will allow small businesses like NextFab and its clients to benefit from additional funding." Alongside the members who pay for monthly access, NextFab's investment accelerator program has lately attracted "impressive" start-ups, marketing chief Laate Olukotun said. Current products that members are building include math- and science-oriented play toys by Unruly Studios, motorcycle headphones by EAOS, intensive small-space farming systems by Kelby, secure digital apartment access from GuestOf, fast response for fallen service members by POWTI Innovations, and stadium video gaming by Robocandy. Mayor Kenney speaks at a gathering hosted by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia at the Barnes Foundation. The mayor thanked the diverse coalition Thursday that made the Philadelphia regions bid for Amazon HQ2. Read more Casting itself as an affordable, ethnically diverse, technologically savvy, bike-friendly haven of good food and coffee, Philadelphia marked the submission of its official bid Thursday to become Amazon's new corporate home away from home. Mayor Kenney unveiled a series of promotional videos, interactive maps, and letters of endorsement that make up part of the city's bid to the e-commerce giant during a morning event at the Barnes Foundation held to recognize those who aided with the rapidly completed proposal. "We're going to win this," Kenney said in his remarks to the gathering. "But regardless, I've never been more proud of our city and our region. Everything we've done has truly stepped up to the plate." Amazon.com Inc. has said it planned to employ 50,000 skilled workers at the second headquarters campus, nicknamed HQ2. The plans, spelled out in a request for proposals issued only six weeks before Thursday's deadline for submissions, call for spending $5 billion to develop millions of square feet of office space. Nationally, Philadelphia will be vying for the headquarters against dozens, if not hundreds, of other cities, including tech-and-education powerhouse Boston; business-friendly Austin, Texas; and New York City-adjacent Newark, N.J., which is backed by $7 billion in state tax breaks; as well as a half-dozen bids from the region. Amazon has said it would make a decision next year. It plans to occupy the first 500,000 square feet of office space at the new headquarters in 2019. Philadelphia's pitch revolves around the Schuylkill Yards and uCity Square developments in West Philadelphia, and South Philadelphia's Navy Yard sites that have been portrayed as the most promising for the Amazon campus because of their size, central locations, and single ownership. Prominent in the video portions of Philadelphia's presentation were Brigitte Daniel, executive vice president of Wilco Electronic Systems Inc., one of the nation's last remaining African American-owned cable companies; Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby, owners of the upscale vegan eatery Vedge and its more affordable spin-offs; 76ers center Joel Embiid; Thomas Jefferson University Hospital emergency room innovator Bon Ku; and a foulmouthed Todd Carmichael of La Colombe Coffee Roasters fame. Also featured were everyday Philadelphians of diverse stripes, such as the pair of young Asian men who spoke about their backgrounds. "I'm from Northeast Philadelphia," said one. "I'm from Northeast China," said the other. An interactive map included with the presentation displays central Philadelphia's bicycle lanes and Indego bike-share stations, as well as housing densities, home-price ranges, and cultural sites. "Philadelphia is in the Goldilocks zone for Amazon: Just right," Kenney said. "It has all the key ingredients that it needs to support its long-term growth and has all the amenities Amazon's employees want, at a lower cost than other big cities." Bristol Township in Bucks County is the latest Philadelphia-area community to say it's making a run at attracting Amazon's proposed second headquarters, with plans to offer a nearly 800-acre riverfront site for the e-commerce giant's use. Township officials say in their proposal to Amazon.com Inc., which they plan to submit on the company's Thursday deadline for receiving pitches, that their community offers "a diverse, welcoming community that is on the rise, government leaders who make decisions quickly [and] a talent pool so deep we need Michael Phelps to lifeguard." Local Bids for Amazons HQ2 Click here for an interactive map of places in the region that have bid for Amazons proposed second headquarters. The bid centers around a 794-acre mostly undeveloped Delaware River waterfront property known as Maple Beach, now primarily owned by Dow Chemical Co.-subsidiary Rohm & Haas Co., which city officials say has expressed an interest in selling. Bristol joins Bensalem Township in announcing a bid for the Amazon campus. Bids are also expected from Philadelphia, Camden, Delaware County and Chester City, the state of Delaware and New Castle County, and other regional communities. OIf you donOt have a personal brand, itOs almost impossible to stand out in the job market,O says Orly Zeewy, a brand architect, at home in Wynnewood. Read more Orly Zeewy is an attention hog. Her goal is to make you one. The Wynnewood resident is a brand architect who for years has helped big companies and institutions get products and services noticed. Among her clients over the years have been Cigna, Kraft Foods, and the University of Pennsylvania. As the economy has trended from industrial to entrepreneurial, Zeewy's focus has followed the shift. A professor at the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University, she lectures on the importance of brand identity to start-ups, and the need for founders of those new businesses to be sure of the answers to two questions: "Who are you?" and "Who are they?" They being the customers the businesses want to serve. Among the start-ups she has helped is Boost Linguistics, Philadelphia-based platform developers using artificial intelligence to help marketers more effectively communicate with their target audiences. "Her understanding that branding is something that needs to be created and cultivated with intention has had a lasting impact," said Ethan Bresnahan, a cofounder of Boost who took one of Zeewy's classes at Drexel. Zeewy is also a consultant for those just out of college. Her reason is hard to blow off if you're hoping to be employed: "If you don't have a personal brand, it's almost impossible to stand out in the job market." An observation Zeewy made in 20 years of working in the print industry "the total lack of clarity" of many business brochures influenced her migration to personal branding in 2002. By that time, websites had emerged as the new "brochure." "If you don't have clarity on your website, it is much more damaging because people spend 10 seconds on the home page before they decide on a go/no-go," Zeewy said. "It's unforgiving." Following are excerpts from a recent question-and-answer session: Why personal branding? Why now? We are in this incredible time, which really has not happened since the advent of the printing press. The way that we communicate is completely, radically changed forever. We're being messaged at 12,000 messages a day. In 1985, the number was 1,500. The only way you're going to be able to cut through that noise is you have to have something worthwhile to say. Why is personal branding important for new college graduates? The future of work is changing. We've been becoming more entrepreneurial. Employers are looking for people who can be hybrid thinkers. The entrepreneur is not looking for a square peg that's going to fit in a square spot. From a personal-branding standpoint, that is how you immediately establish how you're different. It's the only way to become competitive, and the only way you're going to go from being invisible to what all recruiters will reach out to. What are the top five things a new graduate should do to establish his or her personal brand? Unless you're sure there's nothing on your Facebook page you'd be embarrassed to have your grandmother see, take it down. Seventy-nine percent of hiring managers and job recruiters go online and research job applicants. Of those, 70 percent have said they've rejected job candidates based on what they found there. Instead of focusing on what you did in an internship or job, highlight who you worked for. If you developed a product that gets used by a global brand, you need to tell people. You want to try to get them to see you being identified with this global brand and having created something people used or that had some impact. That's a big deal. Establish a LinkedIn account, because 80 percent of companies use LinkedIn to find talent. If you're not on LinkedIn, you don't exist. Focus on trends, talk about things that will relate to a recruiter. Write a cover letter that explains who you are and why you are writing, and includes a short work story that illustrates how your skills have helped an organization, company, or project and what the outcome was. Stay away from a list of computer skills. These days, it's assumed that you have the skills needed, and often what students list is standard for your industry. Close with something that makes you different, such as if you're bilingual or have experience with nonprofits. Come in to an interview excited. You cannot show enough passion. Don't leave that at the door. Having that kind of passion tells me you're going to work really hard. What do you see as the future of personal branding? Personal branding is going to become even more important as the tools become more sophisticated. Imagine when we have robots and artificial intelligence picking up messages and giving it back to us. Stories are going to become more important because we're still humans. The way we connect is through stories. Governor Christ Christie speaks at a ceremonial groundbreaking for the for the Rutgers-Rowan Health Sciences Building that will be located at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd and Broadway in Camden, New Jersey. Read more Gov. Christie and other officials who spoke at the groundbreaking for a key piece of Camden's downtown development had many celebratory words for the city Thursday, but no one uttered the "A" word for Amazon, that is. The governor earlier this week spurned Camden's upstart bid for the online retailing giant's second-headquarters project in favor of one being submitted by Newark. Thursday was the deadline for bids. The essentially symbolic move nonetheless was a bit of a blow to Camden, which by all accounts has done rather well during the Christie administration. Camden County already had submitted the 167-page Amazon proposal, along with a dozen or so pages of testimonials and other appendices, on the city's behalf. "This groundbreaking today is another milestone," the governor told the crowd of several hundred under a tent and in a block-long patch of cleared ground at Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard where a Joint Health Sciences Center is to rise. "Camden is a great American success story." Other speakers at the jubilant event, including Mayor Dana L. Redd (who thanked Christie "for believing in the possibilities of this city") and U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, observed similar political etiquette. Amid all the literal and figurative sunshine, those on the dais evidently did not wish to rain on the city's parade. Or on what's likely one of Christie's final visits to the city as governor. And the governor left immediately after his gracious, bipartisan speech without taking questions. The deadline to apply for the $5 billion, 50,000 job-generating Amazon crown was Thursday. Perhaps 100 municipalities or metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada, including Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Chester, have submitted bids, or were expected to. Amazon says it will announce the winner in 2018. Speaking to reporters prior to the festivities, Redd who has been an important ally for Christie, and vice versa said she was "not going to say anything negative" about the governor. She also said the city "is undeterred" and would be "lobbying aggressively" on behalf of its bid. The public remarks Thursday were all about the Joint Health Sciences Center, a $70 million, 95,000-square-foot, first-in-the-state collaboration involving three colleges and two medical schools in South Jersey. It will rise on what had been a bedraggled but viable retail block one of the last in downtown Camden. Across the street from the construction site, stores on the east side of Broadway's 200 block are shuttered in expectation of more development to come. The Health Sciences Complex, dramatic renderings of which were displayed on digital video, will enable students from different institutions and disciplines to learn and work collaboratively. It will include classrooms, laboratories, simulation facilities and a rooftop terrace. The center also will serve to further bridge the gap between the Cooper Street-centric campuses of Rutgers and Rowan Universities and Camden County College, and the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and adjacent Cooper University Health campus a few blocks south. The goal is to create an "eds and meds" corridor downtown. "This really is a wonderful day," said an ebullient Jack Collins, the former New Jersey Assembly speaker and longtime Gloucester County Republican leader who heads the Rowan/Rutgers Board of Governors. The board was created through a 2012 legislative compromise brokered after Trenton's politically untenable attempt to have Rowan virtually absorb Rutgers. In addition to housing collaborative medical-education programs already underway among city institutions, including Camden high schools, the health sciences center will include offices for the joint board. During his public remarks, Christie said Camden's mayor had long greeted him with "welcome home" on his visits to the city. "Camden will always be his second home," Redd told the crowd. And who knows? Perhaps a second home to Amazon as well. A graduate course that Susanna W. Gold once taught at Temple's Tyler School of Art explored the Atlantic Ocean as a "connective cultural force" between the nations and peoples on its shores. That same perspective, now applied to the Caribbean Sea, informs "The Expanded Caribbean: Contemporary Photography at the Crossroads," curated by Gold at Drexel University's Leonard Pearlstein Gallery. That cultural connectivity is borne out in the works of 16 photographers and artists Gold has selected for her exhibition. All have worked on Caribbean projects, covering 14 nations among them. Despite their diverse heritages, most of Gold's participants were born in the United States. Several of them work within recognizably contemporary trends, and all are clearly familiar with them. Unsurprisingly, much of this work draws on the fraught histories of various Caribbean islands. Adrian Fernandez, who is Cuban and lives in Havana, photographs 20th-century, government-approved Cuban postage stamps that were intended to show the country in its best light. But Fernandez makes them difficult to see clearly by zooming in until they're slightly blurred. He also enhances colors and crops his images. The resulting prints suggest an alternative truth. His 2014 work Beyond What You Can See (The Great Rock), from a stamp issued shortly after the Cuban revolution, shows a family seated together on a rocky precipice, surveying a majestic Cuban landscape. Fernandez has cropped the view that this family is enjoying to eliminate the far-distant horizon, subtly underscoring the uncertain future of the country at that time. Ivette Spradlin, a Cuban American photographer and video artist based in Pittsburgh, is represented here by a series of photographs she took during a trip to Cuba in 2006 to visit family members. (Spradlin's mother fled communist Cuba in the late 1960s, and Spradlin grew up in Miami). Her large color photographs capture intimate glimpses of her relatives' homes, the details of which reveal their conflicted feelings about life under Castro, from an official portrait of the president laminated to a bedside table to an aspirational ceramic sailing ship placed atop a vintage TV. In Barbados, Haverford photographer William Earle Williams continues a project of three decades that has taken him across North America, England, and the Caribbean, shooting spaces, landscapes, and structures related to African and African American history. His silver gelatin print Whites Alley, Bridgetown, Barbados, 2008, depicts a quiet, unpeopled view of what was once the main trading street for the British Royal African Co., which delivered African captives to the New World. In Sunbury Plantation, Barbados, 2008, Williams presents an ordinary scene of a linen-covered card table on a lawn at Sunbury, now a guesthouse for tourists. Chillingly, nothing in this placid black-and-white image speaks of the plantation's history as the site of a famous slave revolt. Barbados-born Kara Springer constructs minimalist white structures and places them in island seascapes as temporary installations, which she then photographs. Her 2014 series "Repositioned Objects" brings sculptor Donald Judd to mind his 1965 essay "Specific Objects" addressed a new art combining elements of painting and sculpture. Springer's work also speaks poignantly of memory and loss, referencing the sense of displacement she experienced as the daughter of a Bajan father and Jamaican mother growing up in Ontario. (She is now based in Philadelphia). Her photograph of a group of open cubes on a beach in Barbados, along with a subsequent photograph of the same structures lying broken on the sand, struck me as an uncanny foretelling of the current hurricane ravagings of various Caribbean islands. So did a haunting photograph of solid white rectangular forms floating in the sea off a Nassau beach. "The Expanded Caribbean: Contemporary Photography at the Crossroads" also features photographs, photo-based works, and videos by Susan S. Bank, Vincent Dixon, John E. Dowell, Jr., O'Neil Lawrence, Matt Levitch, Conrad Louis-Charles, Karyn Olivier, Tony Rocco, Erika P. Rodriguez, Sheena Rose, Ron Tarver, and Byron Wolfe. Through Dec. 10 at Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel University, 3401 Filbert St., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. 215-895-2548 or drexel.edu/pearlsteingallery. Solo show for Yellow Drawings Speaking of historic sites and events reimagined as contemporary art, the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield and environs have been the subject of Mark Mahosky's art since 1986. His "Yellow Drawings" from then to now make up his current one-person show at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery one of the gallery's rare solo shows in its Arch Street space. Mahosky's charcoal and ink drawings of landscapes, monuments, and houses on cadmium yellow backgrounds are as emotionally reserved as 19th-century documentary photographs of the Civil War. But their warning-sign-yellow backgrounds allude to much more: to future battles, as well as to the mundane fake-parchment facsimiles of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address sold at tourist traps. You never doubt Mahosky's engagement with his subject, and it became even more passionate in 2015 when he became a resident artist with the National Park Service and began drawing the battlefield en plein air. Seeing this body of work together, in one fell swoop, is gripping for its wholehearted dedication to a battle of unprecedented horror and loss and for its relevance to our nation's current divisions. Through Nov. 11 at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1216 Arch St., 10:30 to 5:30 Tuesday through Friday, 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday. 215-545-7562 or fleisher-ollmangallery.com. Prints as individual as fingerprints Jed Williams Gallery, which has never before devoted itself to a show of prints, has now given its small white space over to Craig Stover's vividly colored linocut prints, displayed unframed in floor-to-ceiling grids. His semi-representational images reference historical works he admires Picasso and Matisse are obvious influences but they are also said to contain hidden autobiographical elements. Rather than produce multiple editions of any given print, Stover makes unique artist proofs by varying the colors for the prints and the sequences in which they are applied. In other words, there is no official edition of any image. Each unframed unique print is $200. Through Oct. 31 at Jed Williams Gallery, 615 Bainbridge St., 4 to 6 p.m. Monday and Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 267-970-5509 or jedwilliamsgallery.com Be on the lookout for Jake Tapper's new book, Killing O'Reilly. The CNN host and Philadelphia native was drawn into an unprovoked Twitter fight with conservative talker Bill O'Reilly after the former Fox News host attempted a snarky takedown over television ratings. After years of avoiding each other, O'Reilly and current Fox News host Sean Hannity have developed something of a bromance. In recent weeks, O'Reilly has appeared on Hannity's show to sell his new book, an awkward look for a network that fired him after the New York Times revealed $13 million in payments were made to settle claims made by former Fox News employees and personalities accusing him of inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct. With that as a backdrop, O'Reilly took to Twitter on Wednesday to tout the ratings success of Hannity's show, which topped The Rachel Maddow Show as the most-watched cable news program during the 9 p.m. time slot. O'Reilly also took the opportunity to attack one of Hannity's competitors. But instead of going after MSNBC's Maddow, O'Reilly chose to slam Tapper, whose show airs five hours earlier that Hannity's. Exactly 11 minutes later, Tapper shot back at O'Reilly with a tweet of his own, which as of Thursday morning had been retweeted over 49,000 times and liked by over 196,000 people. Don't ask John McCain about his loyalty to Trump On Monday, during a speech in Philadelphia, Republican John McCain didn't have to mention Donald Trump by name to offer a stinging rebuke of the president's "spurious nationalism" the longtime Arizona senator fears has tarnished the country's reputation across the globe. "To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain 'the last best hope of Earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems, is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history," McCain said. Trump, responding to McCain's speech on conservative talk-show host Chris Plante's syndicated radio program Wednesday, warned the Arizona senator that "at some point I fight back and it won't be pretty." Obviously, there isn't any love loss between these two. During the 2016 president campaign, Trump mocked the heroism of McCain, who spent five arduous years in a Vietnamese prison of war camp. "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured," Trump said. "I like people who weren't captured." McCain went on to cast the deciding vote against the Republican's best chance to repeal Obamacare, a move that Trump has reportedly mocked the senator over behind closed doors. On Wednesday, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy (son of Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy) wanted to know if McCain's relationship with the president is unsalvageable, asking, "Has your relationship with the president frayed to the point that you are not going to support anything that he comes to you and asks for?" "Why would you say something that stupid? Why would you ask something that dumb?" McCain shot back, visibly angered by the question. "My job as a United States senator, is a senator from Arizona, which I was just reelected to. You mean that I am somehow going to behave in a way that I'm going to block everything because of some personal disagreement? That's a dumb question." Watch: The Washington Post's Erik Wemple thinks McCain was right to bristle at Doocy's question, which implied that the Arizona senator voted against the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare purely to spite Trump. "In other words, Doocy was channeling the sentiment that prevails on various Fox News opinion shows, including Fox & Friends and Hannity," Wemple noted. Lehigh magazine publisher sold to Hearst Rodale Inc., the family-owned publisher of popular magazine titles such as Running World, Women's Health, Men's Health, and Prevention, has been sold to the New York-based publisher Hearst. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but a source told the Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Trachtenberg that the price was "under $225 million," around the same amount as Rodale's annual revenues, meaning there isn't much expectation for growth. "Rodale's sale is the latest indication that the magazine industry's financial downturn has hit small and midsize publishers particularly hard," wrote New York Times media reporter Sydney Ember. According to my colleague Joe DiStefano, Rodale employs around 450 people in Emmaus, Pa. #FIFA World Cup Numbers confirmed for S. Korean players South Korea released squad numbers for their players at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, with captain Son Heung-min getting his usual No. 7. The Korea Football A... #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... Buffalo police diver Officer Craig Lehner drowned in the Niagara River during a training exercise with the department's underwater recovery team. His body was recovered five days after he went missing. (Photo: Buffalo PD/Facebook) After five long days of searching the relentless Niagara River, the body of missing Buffalo Police diver Craig Lehner has been found. The police made the official announcement just after 3 p.m. Police and firefighters lined up along the river bank to greet the vessel that brought Lehner to shore, the Buffalo News reports. Joining them was Mayor Byron W. Brown who offered his condolences. "I join with all City of Buffalo residents in mourning the loss of this outstanding public servant. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, including his mother, as well as the Buffalo Police Underwater Recovery Team and the many dedicated local, state, federal and Canadian first responders, who worked tirelessly in the search and recovery effort." On Friday morning, Lehner, a member of the Buffalo Police Underwater Recovery Team, jumped into the river as part of a training exercise with other police divers in the river at the foot of West Ferry Street, according to Buffalo police. The U.S. Coast Guard said a cable connecting Lehner, 34, to his diving crew broke, leaving him stranded alone underwater. Fugitive Michael Zaydel surrendered to Redford, MI, police and gave them a dozen doughnuts after losing a Facebook bet. (Photo: WXYZ Screen Shot) A fugitive who taunted Redford, MI, police on Facebook surrendered Monday night and even followed through on a promise to deliver a dozen donuts after losing a bet with officers. Michael Zaydel challenged Redford police to get more than a thousand shares of a "wanted" bulletin on Facebook. He offered to turn himself in and deliver the sweets once it happened. Zaydel was wanted for probation violation related to a DUI and other charges, WXYZ TV reports. Officers working at the station thanked him for the donuts soon after he arrived, and just prior to making an official arrest. At least a hundred Florida state troopers were gathered outside the Phillips Center on the University of Florida campus Wednesday to walk through preparations for keeping the peace during Thursday's speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer. Beginning Wednesday, a large number of police officers will be on the Gainesville campus. More than 500 law enforcement officers are expected there Thursday, University President W. Kent Fuchs said. Spencer, who leads the National Policy Institute, was not invited by the university or its students, and UF leaders have rejected his message as hateful. But after hearing from a lawyer representing Spencer and his supporters university officials reluctantly acknowledged Spencers First Amendment right to speak at a campus venue they rent out, the Washington Post reports. Research by a University of Illinois professor has revealed that contrary to what many people think, mass murders are not on the rise in the United States. According to computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson, there were 323 such killings in which four or more people are killed in one incident between January 2006 and October 2016. The mass killings appeared to be evenly distributed over that time, meaning their rate remained stable over the past decade, and did not spike during any particular season or year. The professor used a decades worth of data from USA Today that was cross-checked by the FBI. He said his analysis also found public shooting sprees like the Las Vegas massacre are not the most common type of mass killing. Family mass killings are over three times more likely to occur than a public killing. So what we just saw in Las Vegas is actually not the most common type of mass killing, Jacobson told CBS Chicago. Axon, a global leader in connected law enforcement technologies, has announced the launch of Axon Citizen, a public safety portal that allows community members to submit evidence directly to law enforcement agencies only for crimes under investigation. There are two ways in which officers can solicit help from the community: one-on-one between an officer and the citizen, or with a community-wide broadcast requesting information on a specific crime. The one-on-one tool is available now for Axon customers signed up for early access. It will be available to all U.S. customers on the Evidence.com Pro, Ultimate, or Unlimited licensing tiers at no incremental cost, with no additional storage fees, later this year. The large-event community broadcast Citizen tool will include additional software capabilities to help triage the massive amounts of data that may be submitted and will be available for an additional enterprise license based on the size of the agency. Learn more by visiting www.axon.com/citizen. Axon Citizen is a great example of the power of our cloud-based technology model, says Axon CEO and founder, Rick Smith. Our customers will receive the breakthrough ability to collect one-on-one information from members of the community via a seamless software update. Similar to when we launched multi-cam sync a few months ago, we endeavor to delight our customers with unexpected new features that extend the capability of their Axon experience. With the increasing prevalence of photos and video recordings being captured on mobile devices, Axon Citizen enables law enforcement agencies to securely receive and manage community submissions relating to a specific crime. The citizen receives a URL via text message that they can click to upload their photos or video footage. The evidence goes straight into Evidence.com so community members do not need to hand their phones over to police. The direct upload to Evidence.com eliminates any need for officers to download, print and transfer data to a USB drive and physically place it inside an evidence locker at the agency. Axon Citizen will include the following features and benefits: * Accelerates the review process: Axon Citizen's triage tool allows the reviewer to quickly decide which submissions to accept or decline. * Streamlines searching: All submissions are automatically categorized and searchable within Evidence.com to simplify case building. * Keeps community privacy in mind: For people who prefer to submit evidence without formal attribution, Axon Citizen allows the community member to submit without inputting any personal information. * Offers network reliability: Axon Citizen provides agencies the infrastructure and tools needed to support large volumes of submissions, so agencies can remain confident during large-scale events. * Seamless integration with Evidence.com: Data submitted with Axon Citizen is maintained at the highest levels of security and compliance on Axon's Evidence.com solution. In addition to working with public safety agencies, Axon surveyed a sampling of more than 1,500 community members nationwide to develop a system that would suit their needs. The survey found that more than one-fifth (21%) of respondents had captured digital evidence pertinent to a police investigation, but fewer than half (45%) had submitted that evidence to the police. More than half of respondents (65%) were extremely likely or somewhat likely to proceed with sharing evidence if only a text message was involved. With this valuable community input, we were able to create a product that meets the needs of both law enforcement officers and citizens. Axon Citizen is a feature of Axons Evidence.com solution, a proven cloud service that provides law enforcement secure workflows and sharing capabilities to aid in the management of digital evidence. Evidence.com maintains ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 certifications, has been awarded the Cloud Security Alliances STAR Level 2 attestation, and has contractually committed to the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy within all states. Axon will be showcasing Axon Citizen along with other products at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Philadelphia on Oct. 22-23, at Booth Number 2825. *Axon Citizen will do everything possible to not capture obvious attribution data without tampering with the evidence submission, or destroying the usefulness of the submitted evidence. To be clear, while Evidence.com is not capturing any personal contact information, there is still metadata embedded in the image being submitted, and the inherent contextual information in the image/video/audio itself that could be used through investigative efforts by law enforcement to identify the submitter. Investigators said they couldn't have solved a mysterious cold case without the help of reserve Tony Kava. Kava volunteers with the Iowa Crimes Against Children Task Force and with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Department as a reserve. He is most comfortable sitting behind a computer, analyzing data and using his coding skills to solve crimes. Investigators were looking into the November 2012 mysterious disappearance of Cari Farver. She disappeared and was never seen again, but her family and friends kept receiving bizarre texts, emails and social media posts. "Cari was impersonated in about 12,000 emails that were sent over the years," Kava said. In late 2016, authorities arrested Shanna Golyar for murder. They said Golyar took on Farver's identity after killing her. The motive they said was jealousy over a mutual boyfriend. Kava said he donated around 3000 hours of work on the case, for free. Reserves are paid one dollar year. But his hard work paid off. The county created a new position in the sheriff's department of digital forensics investigator and hired Kava to do the job, KETV reports. Safariland Vievu, a leader in body-worn camera and video evidence management and a brand of The Safariland Group, will debut the LE5 body-worn camera at the 2017 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) annual conference in Philadelphia next week. The technological advances of the LE5 camera provide what the company describes as "industry-leading" connectivity and adaptability to integrate with radios, smartphones, holsters, vehicles, and other connected communication devices. The Bluetooth-enabled LE5 camera boasts two industry firsts: a user-selectable field of view and USB-C connection, according to Vievu. The LE5 camera is fully configurable to capture 95 degrees, which replicates the human eye, a narrower 70 degrees for a focused view, or a wide-angle 120 degrees. The USB-C connection provides fast charging, high speed and its symmetrical and reversible design allows easy docking. Im thrilled to bring to market our fifth-generation camera, which reflects a decade of customer feedback, innovation, and the newest technology in optics. With cutting-edge components, the LE5 delivers the functionality and flexibility requested through customer feedback, said Sean McCarthy leader of Vievu and Safarilands Wearable Technology business. We understand the needs of our users for a lightweight, compact camera design with a variety of easy-to-adjust mounting options and easy-to-use slide switch. The finishing touches and attention to detail is what our long-term customers will appreciate the most. The Safariland Vievu LE5 camera works with the Safariland 7TS duty holster with CAS technology, leveraging proprietary chip technology to automatically activate the camera any time a weapon is drawn from the holster. Bluetooth and wi-fi streaming enhances possibilities for the connected officer with a camera that can record for over 12 continuous hours without having the battery recharged, enabling ample livestream videos and the addition of metadata in the field. With storage for over 50 hours of footage, the LE5 features a selectable pre-record of up to three minutes, and post-record for up to one minute with video and audio, ensuring that critical moments of an event are captured. Additional features include an easy to use on-off slide switch, an IP66 rating for water resistance and a user-selectable record indicator with either LED lights or a vibration-only covert mode, all in a package weighing less than five ounces. At Safariland, we know officers like to customize their gear and make adjustments to get their system dialed in perfectly, so selectable options were core elements of this design. The LE5 body-worn camera and CAS technology are defining the way law enforcement agencies integrate connectivity and technology into policing, McCarthy added. This leading-edge wearable technology reinforces our commitment to provide the most innovative solutions for law enforcement. As with other Safariland Vievu body-worn cameras, the LE5 camera integrates with the company's CJIS-compliant digital evidence management systems. Agencies may select either Vievu Solution, the fully hosted cloud system built on Microsofts Azure Government cloud, or Veripatrol, the onsite solution. Product presentations of this new body-worn technology will be on display throughout the 2017 IACP Conference (Oct. 22 through Oct. 24) at booth #1515. Agency Test and Evaluation opportunities will also be available. For more information, visit www.vievu.com. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Rachel Maddow threw the hammer down on Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying the presidents assault on Gold Star families in recent days is a moral disgrace. The MSNBC star said that we dont have very many circuits as Americans to process the despicable behavior by the commander-in-chief this week. Video: Moral Disgrace: Rachel #Maddow Lays Waste To Trump For Attacking Gold Star Families pic.twitter.com/nW8opqSapH Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) October 19, 2017 Maddow said: Its just hard for us as a country to face the loss borne by families of service members anyway, even in normal times. Its, therefore, already hard for us a country to face the sacrifices and the losses that these patriotic families have gone through. But its incomprehensible for us as a country to see those families, of all people, jerked around and lied to and slimed and called liars by the president very shortly after these service members died. This just feels like a strange news story to report. It feels surreal. It feels so unbelievable. Maddows comments come as Trump continues to tarnish the memory of fallen U.S. heroes by lying to and attacking their surviving family members. The president kicked off this shameful week instead of appropriately honoring the four heroes who recently lost their lives in Niger by claiming, unlike Barack Obama and his predecessors, that only he calls and writes to all family members who lose a loved one under his watch. But as Jason Easley pointed out earlier today, thats a lie there are a good handful of Gold Star families who have yet to hear from Trump, and these families arent very happy about the commander-in-chief going on national television and lying about it. According to the Washington Post, the grieving father of Sgt. Roshain E. Brooks, who was killed in Iraq back in August, said that after hearing Trumps lies this week, he wants to set up a Twitter account as a way to get the attention of the social media-obsessed commander-in-chief. I said to my daughter, Can you teach me to tweet, so I can tweet at the president and tell him hes a liar? Brook said, according to the report. You know when you hear people lying, and you want to fight? Thats the way I feel last night. Hes a damn liar. All of this was compounded by another revelation that Trump promised to write a $25,000 check to a grieving Gold Star father but never sent it until tonight when the media called him out for failing to follow through. As Maddow said on Wednesday night, its hard enough for these families to grapple with the loss of a family member on the battlefield. That is something they have to live with for their entire lives. But its an utter shame to have a commander-in-chief of the armed forces not only fail to honor those losses, but to spit in the face of the families members still grieving. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A foundation run by Alabama Republican Senate nominee, Roy Moore, received a $1,000 donation from a Nazi organization in 2005, adding more controversy to the GOP senate hopefuls extremist campaign. According to The Huffington Post, the donation came from the Foundation to Defend the First Amendment, a group run by Nazi supporter and white supremacist Willis Carto. More from the report: In 2005, the foundation run by Judge Roy Moore, now the Republican nominee for a Senate seat in Alabama, accepted a $1,000 donation from a group founded by Willis Carto, a white supremacist, Nazi supporter and World War II vet who famously said he regretted fighting for the U.S instead of Germany. The Foundation to Defend the First Amendment is one of several nonprofit groups Carto used to shuffle money around to his anti-Semitic and racist conspiracy publications, to fund Holocaust deniers, and, apparently, to donate to Moores nonprofit. The Carto-founded group touts its support for Moore and his Foundation for Moral Law on its web site. The contribution to Moores group stands out as one of just a handful it has made to organizations not explicitly involved in Holocaust denial. The people who run the Foundation to Defend the First Amendment have an ideology that is, Total Nazi; and notice I didnt say neo-Nazi, Todd Blodgett, the former head of the white supremacist record label Resistance Records and later an FBI informant told HuffPost. This is only the latest evidence that Moore is a dangerous extremist who has no business serving in the United States Senate. As I noted last month, Moore has said in the past that homosexuality should be criminalized, that the Sept. 11 attacks happened because America turned away from God and that the Sandy Hook shootings were divine retribution. When Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, a Muslim, was elected in 2006, Moore said he shouldnt be allowed to serve because of his religion. There are also ethical questions surrounding Moore. According to the Daily Beast, he earned up to $150,000 in speaking fees but didnt disclose the income in Senate Ethics Committee filings as is legally required. Despite how deeply red Alabama is, it appears voters in the state have recognized the sea of red flags surrounding his candidacy. In a Fox News poll released yesterday, Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones are tied 42-42 a stunning finding in a state that Donald Trump carried by nearly 30 points. In Alabama, the candidate with the letter R next to his or her name is likely to have the upper hand even when the candidates platform is rooted in hatred and bigotry but the more voters learn about Roy Moore, the closer this race will be. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump kicked off this week claiming there has never been a president who honors fallen soldiers as much as he does, but it is increasingly apparent that the opposite is true. Turns out, Trump doesnt honor American soldiers, whether they are currently fighting overseas or have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Instead, he uses them as props in order to boost his own image. According to a Washington Post report out a short time ago, Trump promised two things to a Gold Star father in a phone call this summer to give him $25,000 and start an online fundraiser for the mans son but he didnt follow through on either pledge. More from the report: President Trump, in a personal phone call to a grieving military father, offered him $25,000 and said he would direct his staff to establish an online fundraiser for the family, but neither happened, the father said. [Chris] Baldridge said that after the president made his $25,000 offer, he joked with Trump that he would bail him out if he got arrested for helping. The White House has done nothing else other than send a condolence letter from Trump, the father said. I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a check in there, to be honest, the father said. I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking. But I was like, Damn, no check. Just a letter saying Im sorry. Thats right: Instead of following through on a promise he made to the grieving father of Army Sgt. Dillon Baldridge, Trump sent him a form letter saying, Sorry. No check. No fundraiser. No shame. Of course, after the media called Trump out on yet another act of generosity he failed to follow through on, the White House said in a cold statement on Wednesday, The check has been sent. Instead of apologizing for the presidents broken promise or for the fact that it took four months and a Washington Post report for Trump to finally send the money, the statement attacked the disgusting media for having the nerve to report on it. There is a litany of disturbing, nauseating things about the latest Trump controversy: The presidents 12 days of silence after four Green Berets were killed in West Africa; his disgusting lies about his predecessors; his need to make every last thing tragedy or otherwise about him; his politicization of fallen U.S. soldiers. But beyond the sea of outrage that this small, insecure president has created this week, one thing has been confirmed beyond any doubt: Donald Trump is a complete fraud who has no business being commander-in-chief. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) European Union leaders will on Thursday reaffirm their full commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, regardless of whether an increasingly critical United States pulls out. But the bloc, reluctant to isolate itself completely from Washington, is also looking at whether it should as a next move step up criticism of Irans ballistic missile program and its role in what the West sees as fomenting instability in the Middle East, a senior EU official said. President Donald Trump last week adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with the nuclear deal, struck with the United States and five other powers including Britain, France and Germany after more than a decade of diplomacy. EU leaders will reaffirms (their) full commitment to the Iran nuclear deal, after talks in Brussels on Thursday, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. The EU has been stepping up efforts to save the deal, saying it was crucial to regional and global security, and has appealed to the U.S. Congress not to let it fall. Trump has given Congress 60 days to see whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Iran, lifted under the pact in exchange for the scaling down of a program the West fears was aimed at building a nuclear bomb, something Tehran denies. Should Trump walk away from the deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran would shred it. The bloc sees the agreement as a chief international success of recent years, and fears tearing it apart would hurt its credibility as well as harming diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions around another nuclear stand-off, with North Korea. In outlining his tougher stance, Trump said Tehran must also be held accountable for advancing its ballistic program and its regional political role. The EU is at early stages of considering intensifying its criticism of Iran on those issues, something France has been calling for. We will defend the nuclear deal and stand by the nuclear deal and implement the nuclear deal. But we also dont want to be standing on a completely opposing side to the U.S., the EU official said. If they withdraw, we would be left in a rather interesting company with China and Russia. So there may be an issue of separating the nuclear deal from the ballistic program and Irans regional role, sending signals on the latter two. The EU has stepped up contacts with the U.S. Congress. They were never very fond of the nuclear deal in the first place but now the situation has changed a lot, both many Democrats as well as some Republicans feel like they need to play a more active role on foreign policy to restrain the president, the official added. Irans elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday the ballistic missile program would accelerate despite U.S. and EU pressure to suspend it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by John Stonestreet) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Rep. Pat Tiberi of Ohio is latest House Republican to see the 2018 midterm writing on the wall and opt for retirement instead of dealing with the Trump/GOP dysfunction. Rep. Tiberi said in a statement: It has been the most remarkable honor of my life to serve the people of the 12th District. As the son of Italian immigrants, I am forever grateful for the opportunity my parents gave me by coming to America and raising our family in Ohio. It was because of their pursuit of the American Dream that made it possible for me to serve 17 years in the halls of Congress representing my home. This truly is the greatest country in the world. Today, it is with a humble and thankful heart that I announce I will not be seeking reelection. While I have not yet determined a final resignation date, I will be leaving Congress by January 31, 2018. I have been presented with an opportunity to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable that will allow me to continue to work on public policy issues impacting Ohioans while also spending more time with my family. Leaving Congress is not a decision I take lightly but after a lot of consideration, it is the best one for me, my wife, Denice, and our four wonderful daughters. Tiberi, who is an influential member of the House Ways And Means committee is a close ally of former House Speaker John Boehner and is said to be frustrated with the Republican failure to get anything done even though they have control of the House, Senate, and White House. Republicans in Congress were a dysfunctional mess before Trump arrived in DC, but this president has been the match that set the Republican gas can on fire. The Republican-run Congress is a joke that is only surpassed in dysfunction by Trumps White House. Tiberis district is solidly Republican, so the odds of a Democratic pickup there are slim, but when experienced lawmakers are walking away in frustration, it does not bode well for the future of the Republican Party. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By John Whitesides (Reuters) Former President Barack Obama returns to the campaign trail on Thursday for the first time since he left the White House, venturing out to support Democrats in two governors races that could offer a clue about the national mood before next years midterm elections. Obama, who has spoken at private party fundraisers but largely steered clear of electoral politics since leaving office in January, will make public appearances on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey the only two states holding off-year elections for governor. Those Nov. 7 contests will be closely watched to see if Democrats can turn the grassroots resistance to Republican President Donald Trump into electoral wins after falling short earlier this year in four competitive special congressional elections. The race in the political battleground of Virginia, in particular, is viewed as a potential bellwether. Opinion polls show a close contest between Democrat Ralph Northam, the states lieutenant governor, and Republican Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman who has been endorsed by Trump. Obama carried Virginia in both 2008 and 2012, and Democrat Hillary Clinton won the state over Trump by 5 percentage points in 2016. Obamas vice president, Joe Biden, appeared recently with Northam, while Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in southwest Virginias coal country for Gillespie. In New Jersey, Obama will appear at a campaign event in Newark with Democrat Phil Murphy. Polls show Murphy has a comfortable lead on Republican opponent Kim Guadagno, the states lieutenant governor, who is hindered by the unpopularity in the state of Trump and Republican Governor Chris Christie. Since leaving the White House, Obama has frequently criticized Trump and Republicans in written statements for efforts to gut his signature healthcare law and roll back his immigration and environmental policies. The campaign appearances will give him a forum to take on Trump directly if he chooses. The state contests in Virginia and New Jersey, and a special election in December for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, are a preview of next years congressional elections, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senates 100 seats will be up for grabs. Republicans currently control both chambers. (Reporting by John Whitesides in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print President Trump started his day by trying to sell lies about the Trump dossier, including peddling the notion that Russia, the FBI, or the Democrats paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS for it. Anti-Trump Republicans actually funded the Steele Dossier originally. As more and more of the Steele Dossiers unverified in parts charges prove to be uncomfortably accurate, conservatives circled the wagons to sell Trumps lies. Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017 Even though Russia clearly acted to help Trump and harm Clinton, given their fear of Hillary Clinton, Trump tried to smear her with his Russian taint: .@foxandfriends "Russia sent millions to Clinton Foundation" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017 Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017 The problems with this line of defense are many. Natasha Bertrand, a political correspondent for Business Insider who covers national security and foreign policy, explained why over a tweet claiming the same by the co-founder of the conservative Federalist and former chief instigator for Sen. Tom Coburn Sean Davis: Fusion GPS execs are set to plead the Fifth on whether Russians paid them to meddle in our elections by peddling a bogus dossier. Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 19, 2017 As with all of Trumps claims, the incorrect claims are too many to address in a single tweet. I didn't know it was possible to fit this many incorrect claims in 1 tweet. This person literally has no clue what he's talking about. https://t.co/FbPXNt6wnB Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 19, 2017 1) they didn't plead the 5th 2) Republicans hired Fusion, Dems funded later 3) Steele wrote the dossier, not Fusion Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 19, 2017 The "Russia funded Fusion!!!!!" line stems from confusion over 2 totally separate projects. I explained that here: https://t.co/6XjExYcpuO Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 19, 2017 The real stinker here is that Republicans hired Fusion to investigate Trump originally. Democrats only started funding the research after Republicans dropped it when Trump won the nomination. Smearing the Steele Dossier via Fusion not a new idea for Republicans. Bertrand reported that in March, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley wanted the Justice Department to investigate Fusions role in overseeing the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier of allegations of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians the Trump-Russia dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. Congressional Republicans appear to be trying to discredit Steeles work as a way of undermining special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, Vanity Fair reported in early September. These desperate accusations are cover for the Republican Party and President Trump. Even now, in the face of Trumps glaring incompetency and mental health crisis, Republicans continue trying to distract from his Russian connections and possible collusion with the Kremlin to impact the U.S. presidential election. Sadder words I cant imagine typing. A major political party so corrupt that it is still, after all of this evidence, investigating the people coming forward with evidence against Trump that suggests he knowingly worked with Russia to win. These Republicans are almost as bad as Putin himself, attacking truth with coordinated missiles of propaganda, using subpoenas as proof of wrong-doing, wildly trying to distract citizens from the attack on their country that Republicans are aiding and abetting. Donald Trumps increasing paranoia and failure to even land on reality a few times a day should trouble everyone. The man has his hands on the red button, he is egging on a nuclear war with North Korea and isolating the U.S. even further by taking us out of the Iran Agreement. The Republicans funded the Fusion Steele Dossier originally. It has not been verified completely, but the effort going in to discredit it is telling in and of itself. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Last week, Twitter suspended Rose McGowans account because, according to Twitter, she violated TOS. The problems here are so familiar to anyone who has been harassed or threatened on Twitter. The rules are applied discriminately and by Twitters own admission, suspended if the person tweeting is newsworthy or more specifically Donald J. Trump. Were putting significant effort into increasing our transparency as a company, and commit to meaningful and fast progress. Will do better. https://t.co/g1Rvkaj2sl jack (@jack) September 25, 2017 In real terms, Twitter has eventually gotten around to suspending people who violate TOS as often as they breathe. Todd Kincannon, the former head of South Carolinas Republican party violated Twitters TOS on a regular basis for years before Twitter finally suspended the account. As Vox pointed out, the Rose McGowan suspension epitomizes the sites most infuriating problem. Twitter may very well have suspended McGowans account because one of her tweets included a personal phone number. Thats a minor infraction that occurred once compared to TOS violations that have gone on for years with impunity. Its because of this that Trump can retweet white supremacists without consequences. Its why the tweeps who harassed and threatened Chris Suprun after he announced he would not cast his electoral college vote for Donald J.Trump did so with impunity. While that was a different kind of harassment, the point is, threatening people is okay if the person doing the threatening is a prominent State Republican or Donald Trump. It can go on for years. If your tweet isnt newsworthy, but youre backing Donald Trump, you also have impunity as Chris Suprun found out. Heres a small taste of the tweets directed at Mr. Suprun by Trump supporters. At this point, Id like to share what Christopher Suprun told me via email in response to the idea that if your tweet is newsworthy the rules dont apply to you. Twitter needs to figure out who and what they are and what their rules are day to day. I love America because of the rule of law; its too bad Twitter has an Animal Farm rule system where some users are more equal than others when it comes to Twitter TOS violations. The harassment of Caroline O came when she recounted her step mothers story about Trumps reaction when she rejected his advances at a Miss USA pageant. They are worse than what Chris Suprun experienced but all too familiar to too many women on Twitter. 5/2016: I retold my stepmom's story of how Trump flew into a rage when she rejected his advances at a Miss USA pageant The responses I got pic.twitter.com/EnnAzOfdXO Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) October 14, 2017 Yes, I realize some of these accounts are now suspended SEVENTEEN MONTHS LATER. At the time, @Twitter ignored it https://t.co/XPQUHtxWHe Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) October 14, 2017 For years, the unwritten rule for women when it came to sexual harassment is dont bother to report it, because Twitter wont do anything. Gee, where have we heard this before? In the workplace, in school, in Hollywood, in DC, in small-town America. Sure, there are defensive tactics, like blocking harassers or filtering the sort of words that tend to be used by misogynists. But the fact remains, Twitters inconsistent application of the rules enables misogynists, the misogynist in chief, Donald Trump and Russian bots Twitter chose sides in the larger political debate. Im not the only Twitter user who has noticed the political bias inherent in Twitters selective enforcement of its TOS. See this tweet from John Fugelsang: So @rosemcgowan gets slapped by Twitter but this guy can do this. https://t.co/GCJu3gR9Bf John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) October 17, 2017 And as Adam Parkhomenko suggested in a tweet, Twitters animal farm enforcement of its TOS has the appearance of political bias. If you are @rosemcgowan, Twitter will shut your account down, but if you are thousands of Russian bots supporting GOP in Alabama, forget it. Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) October 17, 2017 Im also not suggesting there is an easy fix. As Caroline O pointed out in a thread, there are a few issues in Twitters application of its rules. 1. @Twitter cant stop every incident of harassment or threatening behavior. But they *can* learn from the incidents they dont stop. 2. One of the problems with @Twitters current policies is that users/accounts are largely viewed in isolation, not as part of a network. 3. But much (most?) online harassment is not just the action of an individual its the actions of a network of people working together. 4. Lets say you have 20 accounts harassing 1 user. Maybe only 2 of those accounts explicitly violate Twitters terms of service 5. So the other 18 accounts are engaging in coordinated harassment, but not explicitly threatening/doxxing the targeted user. The irony is this approach would also work on Twitters other problem, namely Russian bots that have been working to Donald Trumps advantage since the 2016 campaign. No one is suggesting this is an easy task, but the fact remains that the combination of Twitters Animal Farm version of its TOS and the Russian trolls tells Twitter users the rules only apply to opponents of a right-wing agenda that includes misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism, Homophobia, and intolerance of political dissent. By taking consistent action, regardless of the newsworthiness of the serial TOS violator, Twitter would enhance its credibility with its users who dont have sinister purposes for using the platform while also removing a mechanism for Vladimir Putin and his bots to wreak havoc on America. Twitters claim about the newsworthiness of the tweet sounds like just another excuse to enable sexual harassment, racism, political coercion while punishing people who dont have sinister motives for using the platform. Thats especially true when you consider the examples of Rose McGowan and Donald Trump. Sexual harassment was a big news story at the time Twitter suspended McGowans account for a one-time violation at the time she was, in fact, part of a major news story, albeit about what sexual predator Harvey Weinstein did to her when she was a younger, up and coming actress. Ill grant that under any calculus sexual harassment is less consequential to the world then say tweeting us into World War III. But given that Trump supporters who didnt tweet anything newsworthy at Christopher Suprun, newsworthiness was not the issue. Donald Trump has a lengthy resume of harassing, coercing and bullying people be it with lawyers, through friendly media outlets or a twitter handle. Trumps resume on Twitter includes, but is not limited to: harassing Gold Star families, attacking dying war heroes and others in Congress who know that Congress is not subordinate to the Executive. Trump has repeatedly tweeted hate messages about Muslims, Puerto Ricans, and woman who stand up to him. He even threatened Trump University plaintiffs with Twitter harassment during a rally. He has his army of cyber soldiers who werent above threatening an Electoral College elector. While the threats didnt alter the results of the Electoral College vote, this is not okay. Threatening people as a means of swaying their votes is in itself a threat to American values. When you combine that with the role of Russian bots on social media in general, and Twitter in particular, one has to wonder how much coordination there was between the Trump campaign and Russia on the whole bot operation that includes spreading fake news and likely violations of Twitters TOS. Robert Mueller and the Congressional committees may be looking at this angle. It seems only appropriate and in Twitters interest that it does something to apply its TOS in a manner more consistent with Americas rule of law than that of Animal Farm or Putins Russia. A formal complaint as been filed with the South Carolina board of engineering over the lack of professional engineering during the construction of two nuclear reactors at V.C. Summer station in Fairfield County. File/Provided/SCANA Corp. South Carolina patients are at higher risk of lung cancer and less likely to live five years after diagnosis, according to a new report. Black patients particularly are less likely to be treated for their cancers and less likely to survive. Read moreReport: SC patients more likely to get lung cancer, less likely to get surgery or survive 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 Across South Carolina, from the coast to our mountainous state line, new and expanded trails have certainly made a lot of headlines in recent months. Here are just a few of the exciting developments: Read moreEditorial: From the SC coast to the mountains, welcome progress on new trails The migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and the subject of immigration have been political hot topics for more than a decade. There were nearly 2.4 million arrests at the nations southwestern border during the past fiscal year, which was the highest number ever recorded, according to U Read moreImmigration letter wins October's Golden Pen Award Everybody loves cake. Caring Acts of Kindness Everywhere (CAKE) is an online group that engages in random acts of kindness. Formed by Danielle Teal, the group has a humble beginning. Several years ago, Teal was ready to pay for the gas she pumped into her vehicle when the cashier told her the bill had already been paid by someone else. "I was touched that a stranger would do something so kind without knowing who I was," she said. "I wanted to carry that forward and not let the kind act end with me." Shortly after, Teal began her personal quest to complete a leap-years worth (366 days) of kind actions in 2012. She began a blog to chronicle her intentions, and others who read her blog began to follow suit. ADVERTISEMENT The CAKE group has been involved in a host of local efforts to bring kindness and a generous spirit into Rochester and the surrounding communities. CAKE members created and distributed welcome baskets for Gage East housing residents, provided turkey dinners for Christmas, created giving trees at local businesses and parks, and coordinated efforts to help pay down the school lunch debt at public schools in Rochester. "We see hate, destruction, and harm in the world," Teal said. "What better way to combat hate than with love and kindness?" Five ways to begin kindness today 1.Connect your talents and passions with acts of kindness. Artists and crafters might want to make homemade cards or bookmarks as gifts. Coffee lovers might buy someone elses morning cup of Joe. 2.Volunteer at a place that connects with personal values. The United Way has a link to local volunteer opportunities at volunteer.uwolmsted.org. 3.Participate in kindness groups like CAKE online. Meet others who also want to share kindness. Check out their Facebook page for more, facebook.com/CAKERochMN 4.Need further inspiration? Visit the Random Acts of Kindness website, randomactsofkindness.org. 5.Put your kindness into action during the week of November 6-11to celebrate Minnesota Acts of Kindness Week. United Way is teaming up with CAKE to shower the world with kindness. More information is available from the United Way and CAKE online. Altra Federal Credit Unionhopes to break ground on a new northwest branch yet this fall. The La Crosse, Wis.-based credit union plans to build a 7,400-square-foot branch office on the open southwest corner at West Circle Drive and 19th Street Northwest. Altra already has a Rochester branch at 123 16th Ave. SW. Cheryl Dutton, Altra's vice president of marketing, says the credit union owns two potential branch sites the one on 19th Street and one on 55th Street Northwest. Altra purchased the West Circle/19th Street land for $1.35 million in August 2016 and the 55th Street parcel for $1.25 million in December 2015. "We decided to build on the 19th Street site first because it's the bigger piece and it allows us to build a bigger office," she said. Dutton says that means Altra will be able to staff the branch with full business and mortgage lending teams as well as retail branch employees. They expect there will be 10 to 12 employees working at the branch. ADVERTISEMENT "That 19th Street and West Circle area has high traffic, retail growth and expected residential growth. It's a good spot for us," she said. The hope is to break ground yet this fall and open the branch in the fall of 2018. Branch manager Brittany Johnson, Altra's Rochester market manager, will be based at the West Circle Street office. The new branch will include a drive-through and a new "smart" automatic teller machine, which will offer more services than a standard ATM. The branch also will feature a large public meeting room for Altra to host financial education seminars. This new spot will put Altra in the mix of what's becoming Rochester's financial district. Home Federal Savings Bank, Associated Bank, West Bank and US Bankhave branches on or near that intersection. Think Mutual Bank and Olmsted National Bankalso have major branches within a few miles of the intersection. A group of 40 to 50 local residents asked Mayo Clinic to lead in an effort to raise $60 million during the next five years to help create affordable housing in Rochester. In a letter to Dr. John Noseworthy, CURE Communities United for Rochester Empowerment also asked for a meeting with the Mayo Clinic CEO before Nov. 8, as well as public support for creating a city policy that would require 20 percent of all new housing to be affordable. "All we are asking is for Dr. Noseworthy and the Mayo Clinic to do their part," said Darious Johnson, a community organizer with CURE. Johnson and a handful of other community organizers led chants and a march from Peace Plaza to a lobby of the Mayo Clinic Building, where they were asked to stop and wait for someone to accept the letter. Among the group was Xenmerrie Estrella, a Rochester resident who has taken in her niece's family because they can't afford housing. ADVERTISEMENT "I am adding my voice because I am impacted by the housing crisis," she said. Nancy Adams, a Rochester resident and CURE member, said she felt the voices were heard after she handed the letter to a Clinic staff member with instructions to take it to Noseworthy. "I feel we made some, even if only this much, progress," she said. Ginger Plumbo of the Mayo Clinic Department of Public Affairs, issued a statement shortly after the letter was delivered, indicating the Mayo Clinic is already engaged in seeking ways to address housing needs. "Mayo Clinic has a history of engagement on affordable housing in Rochester," she stated in an email to the Post Bulletin. "Currently we are actively participating with the task force convened by the Rochester Area Foundation to collectively identify the best ways for the community to achieve more affordable housing." The request for Mayo Clinic to help raise $12 million a year for the next five years stems from a comprehensive housing plan prepared by the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund. The plan indicated that level of fundraising, if started last year, could help build 4,563 housing units over five years, meeting 100 percent of Olmsted County's anticipated housing need by 2020. In addition to calling on the Mayo Clinic to lead a private fundraising campaign, the group wants it to push the Rochester City Council to adopt a policy requiring at least 20 percent of new housing development be affordable. By CURE's definition, affordable would mean renters earning approximately $20,000 a year would pay less than 30 percent of their incomes for rent and homeowners earning $34,000 a year would have mortgages that took less than 30 percent of their incomes. The council has discussed adopting housing policy changes to encourage the creation of affordable housing but has yet to adopt a policy requiring a specific percentage of new housing to be deemed affordable. ADVERTISEMENT Council member Mark Bilderback said he continues to meet with CURE members to discuss potential solutions, as well as raise awareness of challenges at the government level. "We've met, and we're going to continue meeting," he said. In their letter to Noseworthy, CURE members indicated the goal is to find mutually beneficial solutions for Mayo Clinic and Rochester communities that include employees, patients and others. "As the primary employer and economic engine in our city, we expect Mayo Clinic to take a leadership role in helping solve this crisis," the letter stated. When Vada and Susan Haxton locked eyes last week, a decade of broken dreams and missed opportunities painfully passed between them. As the twins from Winona celebrated their 24th birthdays on Wednesday, there was also a glimmer of hope finally after battling drug and alcohol addiction since age 12 that nearly cost them their lives. Since losing her childhood to halfway houses, the judicial system, and simply running from responsibilities, Susan completed Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge's long-term, inpatient treatment program in May. She's been sober for nearly two years after abusing marijuana, Xanax and synthetic drugs, among other things, for a decade. Vada followed her sister's lead to MnTC's Minneapolis facility last November after frequent stints in jail and short-term treatment centers across southern Minnesota. She's set to graduate next month in what figures to be an emotional ceremony. After years spent as bitter enemies, rarely talking as substance abuse drove them apart, the twins' journey will come full circle when they become sober roommates at their grandparents' home in Brooklyn Park. They've both earned their GED, found jobs and enrolled at North Hennepin Community College while also restoring their relationship. ADVERTISEMENT "We're getting back all the years that we lost from our addiction," Vada said. "It's just nice to be able to see my sister having the one thing I wanted her to have all along hope," Susan said. Missing out on motherhood Still, it remains a bittersweet moment with an uncertain future. That's especially true for Vada. Vada forfeited parental rights of her daughter, Skylyn, after a 2016 relapse violated parole and sent her to prison for eight months. She's rarely seen Skylyn after opting to enroll in MnTC's Grace Manor facility upon her release. Tina Presson, Vada's and Susan's mother in Winona, has served as Skylyn's foster parent for the past year; she's in the process of completing formal adoption. Photos of Skylyn fill Vada's bedroom at MnTC, but the child is still not aware Vada is her birth mother. Tina, Susan and Skylyn all plan to attend Vada's upcoming graduation ceremony from MnTC. "I know I'll cry, for sure, just to see her accomplish anything," Presson said. "Sometimes I have to ask myself if this is even real because it's been so long since I've seen them happy and enjoying life. ADVERTISEMENT "Vada, you are becoming the mom you wanted to be. You have come a long way. Don't ever let anyone push you back. You're going to make all your dreams come true." MnTC and Fountain Centers Vada and Susan both received short-term care from facilities throughout the region during their lengthy battle with addiction. However, they're two of many who have been forced to trek north to enroll in long-term programs as the Rochester area has been affected by the national opioid epidemic. That scarcity of local access is a key reason why local officials are celebrating the opening of MnTC's new women's facility in Rochester. The $7.1 million facility will soon add 44 beds for long-term addiction treatment and 30 beds for short-term treatment, effectively filling a missing niche in Southeast Minnesota. However, those gains will be offset by Mayo Clinic's recent decision to "pause admissions" at its women's residential unit at Fountain Centers, which opened in 1974 in Albert Lea. Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said "critical staffing shortages" forced Mayo's hand at what was once a 50-plus bed facility that could serve up to 12 females. Mayo plans to create a "behavioral health center of excellence" in Albert Lea by combining its residential program at Fountain Centers with its inpatient psychiatric services unit, which is moving from Austin to Albert Lea in 2018 as part of Mayo's consolidation plan. It will serve up to 18 men in the residential unit and 16 patients in the psychiatric unit. "This will uniquely position us to care for patients struggling with both mental health and substance abuse disorders," Plumbo said. Mayo is still evaluating the future of its women's residential program and is unable to say when women's services will be reinstated. Plumbo says that's due to a "critical shortage" of "nurses and front-line technicians who are with patients 24/7." ADVERTISEMENT Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson called the Fountain Centers news "a huge loss" for the region. "I know we're jammed up with mental health beds across the state and that's an issue," Torgerson said. "There's a correlation there with these addictions and mental health issues. Any type of loss of beds, it's a huge loss, no question." Courtney Lawson, director of Rochester-based National Alliance on Mental Health of Southeast Minnesota, agreed with Torgerson. "Even with the number of beds before (Fountain Centers') were taken away, it wasn't adequate," Lawson said. "To lose those, that's puts a strain on the system. If you're ready for help and can't get it oh my gosh, those people don't always stay ready." Local numbers Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem was one of 700 who attended last week's MnTC's annual gala in Rochester, making it the largest in history. He's been a vocal proponent of the women's facility, which he calls "a desperately needed resource" for Southeast Minnesota. "I think we're just scratching the surface," Ostrem said of opioid problems across the region. "I don't think we're realizing the problem our community has." Between 2012 and 2016, Ostrem says drug cases in Olmsted County have increased by 100 percent. He says drug-related crimes are "extraordinarily outpacing every other crime" in the Rochester area. Over the last five years, that's included a big jump among women. Torgerson is acutely aware of that fact. Torgerson says he's had to rearrange Olmsted County's adult detention center to create additional space for women. His hand was forced after the daily census often hit 30 in the 16-bed female unit. "As our community is growing, we know that there's a lot of women who are out there functioning as addicts," Torgerson said. "There's a need and it's not just here. Women, for whatever reason, have not been as out front with addiction. They have not been given the same kind of support in the recovery and addiction area." Planning to give back Vada and Susan have both lived that harsh reality, forced to travel to get the help they needed. That's an especially difficult decision to make for mothers, like Vada, forced to leave families behind. The twins now plan ways they can be part of the solution. Susan is pursuing a degree as a licensed drug and alcohol counselor. She hopes to prevent teens from going down the same path she did, perhaps even working for the same program that helped her get sober. Vada's plans are even bolder. "I'm going to open a recovery church in Rochester someday," Vada said. "I tell everyone that and (Susan) gets embarrassed, but I just know that I'm called to do ministry work, and I just have love for people who are going through addiction." That desire to give back isn't unusual, according to Tom Truszinski, director of Rochester's MnTC facility. The new women's facility will be "seeded" with up to six Rochester-area women nearing the end of their long-term program in Minneapolis. They eagerly volunteered to move closer to family, but Truszinski hopes they'll also "take ownership" of the facility by guiding a building full of newcomers. Truszinski says the need for a long-term, inpatient treatment facility for women in Southeast Minnesota is "overwhelming," as evidenced by the volume of calls he's receiving before the Nov. 1 opening. "Meth, opiates and heroin are stealing and taking lives," said Truszinski, a recovering addict himself. "I can't even tell you how many phone calls we're getting a day asking when we're opening. All across Southeast Minnesota, they've been saying we need a facility like this." Denise Robertson of Health Access Minnesota said that when clients come to her with concerns about health care prices, she might refer them to facilities with lower costs than the Mayo Clinic or OMC. "We are constantly coming up with ways to keep people from having to go to Mayo or to Olmsted because they cant afford it," she said Wednesday during a round table discussion on health care. "The cost of health care is too high, and unless we address that as an underlying issue, everything were doing is band-aids on a dike." Plenty of the patients she encounters will never make their insurance deductibles unless they have a "chilling, near-death experience," she said, so their out-of-pocket costs will remain high. Other of Robertson's clients have unpaid bills at the Mayo Clinic and/or OMC, and cannot schedule appointments at either location. In that case, she has not choice but to refer them to other providers. The high cost of health care was one of many issues discussed by officials from Olmsted County, the Mayo Clinic and other health care providers during a round table discussion on health care organized by Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick. It was one of 10 such events held throughout Minnesota to learn how to improve the states health care. ADVERTISEMENT Issues such as data sharing and workforce retention came up in almost every discussion, Lourey said. The Legislature will reconvene in January. Record-sharing Minnesota is one of two states that has stricter patient privacy laws than required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which operates at the federal level. Legislators are hesitant to loosen restrictions on patient record-sharing, Lourey said, but lack of information impedes clinical care. "Every single city said their approach to health care was greatly hampered," he said. "It's a very strong recommendation across the state. The inability to share records between providers is a problem in an area with many complicated patients, who may receive treatments from multiple providers, said Dr. Sarah Crane of the Mayo Clinic. "No one can have every part of a person's health care," Crane said. Heather Geerts, of the Zumbrota Valley Health Center, agreed that providers need to know about new developments in their patients' health as they happen so they can change treatment plans as needed. ADVERTISEMENT "If we don't know that they go into the hospital, how are we supposed to follow up with them?" she asked. Insurance rates Insurance rates in Rochester and Southeastern Minnesota are higher than elsewhere in the state and continue to rise even as rates fall in northern cities. "Why should everyone else pay for the choice that Mayo has made to recruit these patients from around the world with high needs?" Robertson asked. "The downside for the people who live here has been that we feel like we're subsidizing the high costs that (Mayo) provide(s) down here." While Rochester's insurance rates are going up 9.2 percent at the end of this year, rates in Minneapolis will drop by about 14.3 percent. Robertson suggested that one solution might be to fold the Twin Cities' rating area into Olmsted County. However, Lourey pointed out that the populations of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the voting power inherent in them would make that a hard sell. Workforce Another main issue at hand was recruitment and retention of health-care workers. ADVERTISEMENT "We are always struggling for staff," said Beth Krehbiel, CEO of Zumbrota Valley Health Center. "I think everyone is struggling to support and pay." Rural providers especially have a difficult time retaining employees, the table agreed. Possible solutions included lowering standards that prevent people with any criminal records from being hired in any capacity, and instituting a broadband network that could connect rural buildings with higher-tech providers downtown. Simpler intake The discussion also touched on Minnesota's Excellence in Mental Health Act and the turn toward Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. Geerts called a single-intake system the "next step in providing care," which could cut down the time between requesting multiple treatments and receiving them. If a patient required five treatments, she said, the five different intakes and assessments could take six to eight weeks to get through a daunting stretch for many. "You have to have an incredibly motivated client to get through that," Lourey agreed. The single-intake system only works within Zumbrota's services, Geerts said, as the organization has permission from the state to simplify their intake process a permission that does not extend to other providers' services. She said the system has been well-received by patients, who can usually be seen within 10 days, if the situation is not an emergency. Lowering costs? Mayo Clinic has been exploring online and phone appointments, which help save money. But providers can miss issues when they're not seeing their clients face to face. Moving away from a fee-for-service system also poses challenges, Crane said. Convincing other providers to cut costs to patients by adopting similar systems will be tricky. "Much of that (work) is uncompensated, under the current fee-for-service system," she said. "We're doing the right thing for the patient and that's a really powerful thing. But it's a different thing." America has an under-incarceration problem. Too many people whose history of criminality shows they should be in jail are on our streets committing crimes, including heinous ones. Ive written about this here, here, here, and elsewhere. Todays news brings more evidence of the problem. Radee L. Prince killed three co-workers and wounded two others at his workplace in northern Maryland and then drove to Delaware where he shot a sixth victim. Police apprehended him early this evening after a manhunt. The shootings occurred only hours ago, and Princes full criminal record has not yet been reported. However, he has a lengthy criminal history in both Maryland and Delaware, according to court records and law enforcement officials. Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy says that in Delaware alone, Prince has a total of 42 arrests, including 15 convictions for felonies and several for misdemeanors. Thats quite a record for a 37 year-old. Prince has also had trouble with the law in Maryland. For example, in 2015 he was pulled over for driving with his front headlight out, and became extremely loud and aggressive, according to court records. Police found a pistol in the card, and Prince was charged with multiple handgun violations. However, prosecutors dropped these charges three months later. Earlier this year, Prince was fired from a job in Maryland for punching a co-worker and threatening other employees. As far as I can tell, he was not prosecuted for this, and a judge declined to issue a peace order when another co-worker applied for one. We dont know yet whether Prince has committed drug offenses. Reportedly, however, he has been ordered in recent years to undergo counseling for drug abuse. I probably will have more to say about Prince as additional information about his history becomes available. But even with what we now know, it seems almost certain that, in a properly functioning criminal justice system, this 15-time loser with a recent history of violence against co-workers would have been behind bars when the day began, and lives would have been spared. Recently, a friend who is enrolled in a graduate program at a prestigious university asked me whether I would be interesting in speaking to a group of students as part of series on public policy the program was holding. She said that all of the speakers so far have been liberal and that I would add a different perspective to the proceedings. I responded, chidingly, that I might be risking life and limb if I participated. She assured me that I would be in no jeopardy because I am not a white supremacist. I dont really believe there would much real risk associated with speaking to a handful of graduate students at this university. However, the shout-down movement is not about preventing white supremacists from speaking. It is about enforcing left-wing orthodoxy (which, to be sure, now includes the notion that those who reject that orthodoxy are white supremacists). Accordingly, the next logical steps in the shout-down movement are (1) to prevent speech by liberals who dont embrace key tenets of radical leftism and (2) to prevent speech by mainstream conservatives and Republicans. We discussed an example of the first phenomenon here. The second was on display the other day at UC Santa Cruz. Campus Reform reports: A College Republicans meeting at the University of California, Santa Cruz was taken over by protesters screaming that the groups existence is a threat to the safety of students. Shortly after the CR meeting convened, one student entered the ground floor room of McHenry Library to ask attendees which group was assembling. After being informed that the meeting was a gathering of College Republicans, the student returned about 15-20 minutes later with company. To muster his group of brownshirts, the student posted this on the official UCSC Student Facebook group: White Supremacist, fascist sympathizing College Republicans are having a meeting at McHenry library, room 0332. Everybody be aware of this violent racist activity happening everyday on this campus! We need a movement of people on this campus that rejects the right of assembly, or right of free speech for white supremacists and fascists. Heeding this call, lefty students disrupted the meeting by banging open the door to the meeting space and shouting accusations that the members were fascists, racists, and white supremacists. The College Republicans say they offered to discuss the concerns of the protesters. The brownshirts replied: dialogue is violence. In these three words, they captured the essence of the shout-down movement, as well as the authoritarian nature of the emerging radical left. Claims that dialogue is violence are antithetical to democracy and to academic life in a free society. Those who act on such claims to curb free expression of any kind dont belong in college. They should promptly be placed on the track to expulsion, e.g. through a two-strikes and youre out policy. The UC Santa Cruz leftist protesters demanded that the College Republicans leave the library. They even berated library staff members when they refused to shut down the pre-approved meeting. One staff member eventually asked the Republicans to leave in order to end the disturbance. To their credit, the attendees refused. Finally, after nearly two hours, school officials called the police. Reportedly, three protesters were arrested. All of the protesters should be disciplined by the college. Stanley Kurtz, who is leading the charge against the shout-down movement, writes: This incident is another warning that shout-downs are threatening to morph into generalized warfare. I mean that only partly metaphorically. How long before student groups, nose-to-nose in confrontation, resort to violence? We saw some violence at Middlebury. But if nothing is done to stop these shout-downs, Allison Stangers concussion and neck-brace will have been only the beginning. I reminded the student-friend who invited me to speak to her classmates about Allison Stanger after the student promised, jokingly, to protect me from protesters. Stanley concludes: We can see that the campus free-speech crisis is escalating; that the targets of shout-downs are expanding; that the potential for violence is growing; and that the deadly anti-free speech culture purveyed by faculty and administrators alike is metastasizing. He is right. Former FBI Director James Comey knows how to play the G-Man as a straight arrow on television, but hes a cynical Washington operator in real life. His orchestration of the appointment of his friend Robert Mueller as special counsel to take down President Trump in the fictitious Russia collusion scandal (and all its penumbras and radiations) represents a striking case in point. Comeys hand in it should discredit the Mueller operation all by itself. Comey is a sort of Rosetta stone for the Russia investigation. Interpreting him and his works might allow one to decipher the hieroglyphics. Im not saying Ive done it or that I can do it. Comey is way over my head, but Im not alone. Few have the requisite background, knowledge, expertise and motivation to do it. Yet it needs to be done. It is reported, for example, that Comey insisted on inserting the infamous Fusion GPS Trump Dossier in Januarys final intelligence community report on Russian meddling in the election. Its inclusion lent it a credibility that it appears not to deserve, to put it mildly. As we all know by now, there is something funny about that Trump Dossier. Two knowledgeable witnesses from Fusion GPS asserted their right agains self-incrimination before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. This week Comey emerged as a player in the bombshell story of the Russian bribery plot behind the sale of Uranium One to the friends of Vladimir Putin. The plot was uncovered by the FBI under Comeys directorship. Yet the FBIs informant in the case was barred by Obamas Department of Justice from testifying to Congress about it. John Solomon and Allison report today in the Hill: The information the [FBI informant] possesses includes specific allegations that Russian executives made to him about how they facilitated the Obama administrations 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal and sent millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to the U.S. to an entity assisting Bill Clintons foundation. At the time, Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of State on the government panel that approved the deal, the [informants] lawyer [Victoria Toensing] said. When do we get to hear from James Comey on this story? This week we learned that an early draft of Comeys absolution of Hillary Clinton for violating the Espionage Act is dated May 2, 2016. The draft is entirely redacted; the date appears in a related email. Comey testified to Congress that it was then Attorney General Loretta Lynch tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton that compelled him to seize control of the prosecutorial decision from the Department of Justice. That meeting took place in Phoenix on June 27, 2016. The timeline undermines Comeys testimony. Its almost enough to make you think were dealing with a character whose shadiness rivals the Clintons own. NOTE: I had completely forgotten the video of Comey that I clipped for Comey: I am not a weasel (below). Ed Driscoll reminded me of it here. As for Comey, the gentleman doth protest too much, methinks. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Minnesota Senator Al Franken was accorded time to question Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his regularly scheduled appearance before the committee yesterday. Riding his old hobby horse(s), Franken read a long statement implying that Sessions perjured himself in a colloquy with Franken during Sessionss confirmation hearing. According to Franken, Sessions was lying when he denied having conversations with Russians. By Frankens dim lights, Sessions was instrumental to the Trump campaigns fictitious collusion with Russia. According to me, Franken is the unfunniest senator. (Google the unfunniest senator!) This is nevertheless farcical. Franken specializes in the absurd ambush, but Sessions came prepared for Franken. I think a fair-minded observer would find that Sessions destroyed Franken in this exchange. The Free Beacons Kaitlyn Caralle covered the exchange and posted the companion video below. CNN covered it here; FOX News covered it here. Watch the baloney meet the grinder. ATLANTIC CITY - Cara Mund, Miss North Dakota was crowned Miss America a little more than a month ago and next week another crown will go to one of the talented women representing their state in the Ms Senior America Pageant. A Ms. Senior America is to be crowned any minute as the finals were set for 1 p.m. Thursday in the Superstar Theater at Resorts International Hotel and Casino. The women will be judged in talent, evening ware and on stage question about their philosophy on life. All of the women are over the age of 60. ABSECON Sayuris Mendoza credits her success in recovery to a combination of support from her church family and her mental health family. The spiritual part of my life helps keep me grounded, despite my mental illness and living with bipolar disorder, she said. I have a healthy relationship with God, and when Im taking my medications and getting help, I feel more sane and on track. Its because of people like Mendoza, 32, of Atlantic City, that mental health advocates stressed the role of pastors, rabbis, ministers, imams and others in getting congregation members connected to treatment and support in their communities. There are a large number of individuals who could be attending your congregations who are struggling with mental health issues or have mental illnesses, said Francine Bates, board member for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Atlantic-Cape May chapter. About 20 mental health professionals and South Jersey faith leaders attended NAMIs Clergy Connection Seminar on Wednesday at Absecon United Methodist Church. The event aimed to provide the community leaders with education and resources they could use when helping individuals or families with mental health issues and co-occurring substance use disorders. Bates said mental illness and mental health issues affect thousands of people in New Jersey. Nearly 2,900 people are living with schizophrenia in Atlantic and Cape May counties, another 25,500 people live with major depression and more than 67,000 live with anxiety disorders. The Rev. Christopher Miller, of Absecon United Methodist, said knowing those statistics helped him figure out about how many people might be living with those disorders in his own congregation. What I take away from this, is that when I look at my average attendance on Sunday mornings, I can see that there are people there who have some of these things, and they might not be talking about it, he said. Abbie Katz, a member of NAMIs board of directors, said some people seeking help for their mental health issues may first turn to the leader of their church, synagogue, mosque or place of worship, and religious leaders can connect those people to mental health professionals if they know about the resources available in their communities. Christine Miller, director of family services at Mental Health Association in Atlantic County, said she also sees people who are in treatment and support groups and looking to join a spiritual, or religious, community, but may not know where to turn. The association recently launched a data project that is collecting information on faith-based organizations so it can eventually create a database for people to use when looking to join nearby religious or spiritual communities. If somebody comes to us, were able to say, part of your wellness includes spirituality, Miller said. We want to be able to look into the database and connect those people to you. We really do believe that spirituality and faith is an important component of recovery. Loyal Ownes, senior director of clinical services at AtlantiCare Behavioral Health, shared information on the health providers continuing and new services aimed at helping people with mental health and addiction issues. Ann Thoresen, senior director of programs at Jewish Family Service of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, gave seminar participants links to programs not only designed to treat mental illnesses, but wrap-around programs for housing and justice-involved services. Fern Fine, NAMI board member and caregiver of an adult child with a mental illness, said the goal was for everyone to work as a team in order to provide the best support to individuals with mental illnesses and/or co-occurring substance use disorders and their caregivers. We use the word chaos a lot in NAMI. Without having this information when the chaos hits, everyone gets confused and upset, she said. This is a team effort, and (faith-based leaders) are a big part of that team. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. NEWARK An officer with the state Department of Corrections was arrested and charged with receiving images of child pornography, acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced Thursday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Stephen Salamak, 37, of Lodi, Bergen County, at his home. According to the complaint, Salamak used multiple email accounts to seek and obtain explicit images of underage children. In May, an undercover law enforcement officer responded to a Craigslist ad, placed by Salamak, seeking "Woman/Moms that are into Cheese Pizza." The complaint said Salamak communicated with the undercover officer and requested photos of an 8-year-old child. In July, authorities executed a search of Salamak's email account, finding he communicated with multiple people about pornography and pedophilia. A search warrant of Salamak's home was executed on Thursday, where admitted to authorities "Cheese Pizza" was a reference to child pornography, he knowing received emails containing child porn and knowingly communicated with various individuals regarding child pornography and pedophilia. Salamak was employed as a corrections officer at East Jersey State Prison in Rahway. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the charge of receiving child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison with a maximum potential penalty of 20 years and a $250,000 fine. ATLANTIC CITY Leaders of community groups, children and activists implored City Council on Wednesday to help them keep afloat organizations that serve the citys youth. LaToya Dunston, director of the Atlantic City Xclusive Drill Team, operated programs out of the ACX Multicultural Community Center on North New York Avenue since August 2016. This past August, she held a march to raise awareness of the funding required to operate the center, including rent of more than $3,000 per month. We fundraised in order to open up this community center, she said. They cant afford to be members. Thats why they were coming to us. Dunston said she received notice that fundraising to keep the building open had to cease, and she couldnt provide the funds to operate anymore. Dunston stressed shes also been feeding children who use her facilities breakfast and lunch and wants to be able to provide facilities for kids that their families dont have to pay for. Many parents and children spoke about other issues in the community, such as a lack of organized recreation programs and space to gather. Community group leaders said residents need to support each other to keep the programs standing. Councilman Moisse Delgado expressed frustration that community programs have trouble in the city, citing the need to offer youth more options. Council President Marty Small suggested Dunston speak with city administrative officials to begin figuring out a solution. Members of the public brought up additional issues that affect youth, sparking a conversation among council members to look into adding crosswalks and monitoring speeding and traffic congestion near schools and in areas frequented by children. Council also gave final approval Wednesday to an ordinance to regulate parades and assemblies in the city. The ordinance was adopted 8-0, as Councilman Frank Gilliam was not present for the vote. The ordinance was introduced following the Aug. 12 violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, when white supremacists and white nationalists gathered for a Unite the Right rally, met with anti-racism protesters. The law would add to current regulations, making masks hiding the identity of a person, weapons, sticks and vehicles driving over 5 mph unlawful. False and misleading information and money are the basis of the drive to legalize the recreational use of marijuana (pot) in New Jersey. Remember how the opioid crises started? In 1988 an article appeared in the reputable New England Journal of Medicine which concluded that based on scientific studies, the use of opioids for pain management would not create addiction. A worldwide epidemic resulted from premature conclusions based on limited studies coupled with greed. We have heard it all why recreational pot should be legalized. Myths over time unless challenged become accepted as fact. The most often heard myths follow. Myth 1: The jail population, especially of minorities, will be reduced. Truth: Eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational pot. One ounce was legalized in seven states; two ounces in one state and D.C. In reality, few if any are incarcerated for possessing such small amounts of pot. Myth 2: Pot is not harmful. Truth: Pot is a schedule l drug under federal law because of its high potential for harm. Credible studies found clear indications that pot use, especially when started young, adversely affects brain development, motivation, impulse control, mental abilities, and the occurrence of psychosis and schizophrenia. Anyone who doubts the harmful effects of pot should ask an experienced teacher, police officer or addiction counselor how someone acts when stoned on pot. Put a stoner behind the wheel of a car, in the drivers seat of a forklift or in a classroom setting and the results are bad for the individual and society. Myth 3: Pot use does not lead to use of other drugs. Truth: An overwhelming percentage of drug addicts started out smoking pot. A senior probation officer said pot is socially addictive. His point is that conduct engaged in by others in a group setting influences conduct of others in the same group. Pot use often leads to meth or cocaine use, which often leads to heroin use. Myth 4: Pot use is no worse than alcohol. Truth: One is just as bad as the other. The harm from the use of pot previously noted has rippling negative effects on individuals and society just as with alcohol. An example is the increase in DWI arrests attributed to pot use where pot has been legalized. Just as with alcohol, pot use causes social dysfunction and carnage on highways. Myth 5: Law-enforcement resources are being wasted. Truth: Few resources are devoted to the use or possession of up to 2 ounces of pot. Myth 6: It is inevitable. Truth: Nothing in politics is inevitable. It is a copout to accept this myth. So why are some politicians hell-bent on legalizing recreational pot? The answer is MONEY! There are few options for politicians to solve New Jerseys serious financial problems. Along comes The Answer. Think about it. Many millions of new revenue would flow into Trenton from the sales tax, income tax and permit fees. And there will be created a huge new pot bureaucracy in Trenton. Hundreds of constituents will become new state employees to license, inspect, monitor, test and enforce the new pot law. Pot growers, distributors and sales entrepreneurs will prosper. Money. Patronage. Greed. What about the public interest? Where do you think the retail pot and fancy paraphernalia stores will be located? Notwithstanding what we might be told, it is likely such stores would be located in cities where many choose not to reside. Advocates want legal pot as long its not sold near where they live. Existing studies are very limited. Only eight states and D.C. have legalized small amounts of pot for recreational use. These studies only reflect the experience of six states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts), the earliest (Colorado) from 2012, the latest (California) from 2016. Pot sales will not start until 2018 in Nevada and Maine. D.C. studies are essentially nonexistent. Moreover, the applicability of any such studies is of questionable value because of the population differences of the various states as compared to New Jersey. The alternative should be to change existing laws, not to legalize but to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot for first-time offenders, which is widely supported. False and misleading information and money should not be the basis of public policy. We should learn from our past mistakes with opioids. Laws are supposed to better society. No public good will come from legalizing recreational pot. Donald Charles, of Ocean City, is the city prosecutor and former Cape May County prosecutor. Plenty of ways to keep playing, stay youthful We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing, said Benjamin Franklin, a truth that has prevailed for many generations. Residents in retirement and vacation communities have diverse opportunities for play with all of its healthy benefits. Play, or recreation, provides fine mental and physical assets as well as social and even spiritual connections. Television and technology are fine in controlled quantities but usually dont connect people in meaningful ways. Television, especially, leads to a sedentary lifestyle that is unhealthy of mind and body. The excellent Cape May County Library system offers classes in art, cooking, exercise, dance, history and literature in its nine branches. Likewise, the County Vocational-Technical School has many fine evening programs. Cornelius Newman Cape May Ease firefighters schedule in A.C. Working a 40-hour week is difficult enough for many, but Atlantic City firefighters work a 72-hour schedule over six days. The cycle begins with a 24-hour day, with the second day being 24 hours off. Then the fire/rescue personnel work a second 24 hours and 24 hours off.The third cycle of 24 hours is most problematic and deleterious. I am greatly concerned about the good and welfare of the citys residents and guests. In addition, this schedule is difficult on families and spouses. Young children are without a father or mother for extended periods. Considering the tragic events in London and Hawaii with high-rise conflagrations, I urge state and city officials to modify the work schedule. Firefighters have already sacrificed much with a massive pay cut. Daniel B. Slattery Egg Harbor Township Backs Youngblood candidacy for Congress I hope local residents will take a serious look at Tanzie Youngblood, who should be chosen in 2018 as the Democratic candidate to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo. I have spoken with Youngblood on several occasions and have been impressed she is not running for office for personal gain. For too many years, South Jersey has been held hostage by career politicians who have proven they care little about their constituents. Area residents suffer under ever-increasing taxes while natural assets such as the Pine Barrens arent completely protected. The general neglect of the region has discouraged many to the point where they dont even bother to vote. A retired teacher, Youngblood is genuinely interested in supporting education, assisting local veterans in obtaining needed medical services, protecting the environment and attracting new job opportunities. Youngblood recognizes that change is needed for South Jersey to ensure working people have access to health care and a living wage. She will also promote real immigration reform and a foreign policy agenda that is grounded in strengthening relationships with allies through continued diplomacy. She has impressed me as a caring and compassionate person, who truly wants to serve the people of the region. Patricia A. Martinelli Minotola - Company's Carlsbad, U.S., manufacturing facility passes FDA and EMA inspections - Underscores capabilities as commercial manufacturer of viral and gene therapy products - Highlights position as leading contract manufacturing organization (CMO) for production of next-generation gene therapies DARMSTADT, Germany, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that its Carlsbad, California-based manufacturing facility for the production of BioReliance viral and gene therapy products has completed both a U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Pre-License inspection and a European Medicines Agency (EMA) Marketing Authorization Application inspection. Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586070/Merck_Virus_Image.jpg "The successful FDA and EMA inspections of our Carlsbad manufacturing facility mark an important milestone for Merck and our customers who are manufacturing exciting new treatments for cancer and many other diseases," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. "As one of the first CMOs in the industry to complete pre-licensure inspections for this class of therapies, this achievement underscores our commitment to bring our customers one step closer to commercialization of novel therapies." These inspections will enable one of Merck's key customers to launch its novel gene therapy in both the U.S. and in Europe, which is currently under review by both the FDA and EMA. The inspections were significant milestones in the approval process to obtain the licenses necessary to manufacture the gene therapy as a commercial product. This key benchmark underscores Merck's continued investment in viral and gene therapies from clinical to commercial scale. Merck has close to three decades of experience in gene therapy, and its Carlsbad site has been involved in the gene therapy area since 1997, near the time clinical trials for gene therapy began. The Carlsbad facility provides contract development and manufacturing services that can contribute to a more efficient delivery of these lifesaving therapies to market. The business serves many leading developers of viral and gene therapy products globally. The company's Carlsbad facility underwent a major expansion in 2016, and is now nearly double its former production capacity. The upgraded facility grew from 44,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet and now includes 16 modular viral bulk manufacturing cleanroom suites with single-use equipment and two fill/finish suites for gene therapy, viral vaccine and immunotherapy products. Merck also offers viral and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Glasgow, Scotland, has cell-banking services in Rockville, Maryland, and offers BioReliance biosafety testing globally for both clinical and commercial stage gene therapy products. Gene therapy involves the delivery of genetic material into patient cells to produce a therapeutic effect such as correction of a mutated gene or retargeting of an immune cell to fight cancer. Diseases such as hemophilia and cancer are being investigated using this technique where a single dose may cure the disease. Merck recognizes the potential benefits of conducting properly defined research with genome editing because of the breakthrough therapeutic potential. Therefore, research with genome editing is allowed with careful consideration of ethical and legal standards. The company has established the Merck Bioethics Advisory Panel to provide guidance for research in which Merck is involved, including research on or using genome editing. All Merck news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service. About Merck Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2016, Merck generated sales of 15 billion in 66 countries. Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck holds the global rights to the "Merck" name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials. SOURCE Merck LONDON, October 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Netwise Hosting officially made the switch to true 100% renewable energy at its fast-filling London Central data centre. This places the organisation right at the head of the field in terms of its commitment to a sustainable future, as one of the first data centre operators to push entirely renewable energy in the UK. Netwise will join ranks with the likes of Google, who are themselves committed to making the switch across their entire global estate by the end of the year. This comes as welcome news to everyone in the industry, as current estimates predict global data centre power usage to top 500 terawatts by 2020. That's over 3% of the world's energy consumption, an unignorable figure that places data centres at the epicentre of responsibility for spearheading and supporting genuine renewable energy schemes. Netwise Hosting, now two years on from launching its London Central facility, turned to specialist provider Ecotricity for the delivery of this ground-breaking change, as leaders in the supply of truly green energy. DATA CENTRE: https://www.netwisehosting.co.uk/assets/img/pr/renewable-announcement/datacentre-1.jpg DATA CENTRE: https://www.netwisehosting.co.uk/assets/img/pr/renewable-announcement/datacentre-2.jpg Crucially, rather than relying on ambiguous carbon credits and misleading offset schemes, Ecotricity generate this energy themselves using the wind, the sun, and soon the sea. This is directly in keeping with Netwise Hosting's own ethos of owning and controlling as much of the service chain as possible. Matthew Butt, Managing Director at Netwise Hosting, gave comment on the recent change. "This is a big step for us in setting the standard for the future of data centre operations, particularly in a major capital city like London. We are incredibly proud to be delivering our customers with what may well be the greenest data centre service set in London, if not the UK." This bold new move works together with the industry-leading Power Usage Effectiveness rating already achieved at Netwise Hosting's London Central data centre, which is one of the lowest in Europe. It is through the intelligent deployment of evaporative and free cooling technologies that allows the facility to reach its impressive PUE of just 1.12 [lower is better, with the average at 1.60]. Netwise Hosting work with a wide range of clients who now consider 'going green' to be a major priority for their service delivery. None of these are more prevalent than Krystal, who are one of the UK's largest cloud hosting companies, and who actively push responsible service provision. Earnestly evolving energy procurement in line with these pressures has become a primary driving force behind Netwise making the jump to a renewable supply at its private facilities, both now and in the future. Matt Seaton, Senior Manager at Netwise Hosting, also gave comment. "We now work with several large service providers who are feeling added weight every day in reducing their carbon impact, as computational demands continue to increase. We've listened to this demand, and helped our early adopters in delivering this to their end clients." Netwise plan to run a range of events and engagement activities to increase awareness around the importance of delivering services to end clients using energy sourced responsibly. The first of these occurred this month, with a soft launch of the company's new 'green wall', now in place at its London Central facility. GREENWALL: https://www.netwisehosting.co.uk/assets/img/pr/renewable-announcement/greenwall.jpg About Netwise Hosting Netwise Hosting provide enterprise-grade hosted environments to a wide and varied customer-base, working closely with clients all around the world. By designing and building its own private data centres, and offering unparalleled flexibility in its colocation services as a result, Netwise Hosting brings to life a wholly unified approach to hosting. A young, energetic team sit at the helm, allowing Netwise to grow progressively and organically into the inimitable company it is today. The bespoke, almost boutique nature of the Netwise Hosting facilities, coupled with the unique dynamism of company operations, allows for the supply of truly individualised solutions which meet the exacting requirements of any business. http://www.netwisehosting.co.uk SOURCE Netwise Hosting The new technology center demonstrates Nexen Tire's commitment to the North and South American markets and will provide advanced and innovative technologies for the development of cutting-edge and eco-friendly tires for both the Original Equipment and Replacement markets. Established in 1942, Nexen Tire is a global tire manufacturer headquartered in Yangsan and Seoul, South Korea. Ranked 18th globally, it has presented aggressive growth plans to become one of the global top 10 manufacturers by 2025. As one of the world's fastest growing tire manufacturer working with dealers in 141 countries around the world, Nexen Tire has established R&D centers globally in Korea, the US, China and Germany, carrying out diverse research and development activities for Nexen Tire's top-quality tires. Nexen Tire is also currently operating three manufacturing plants -- two in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong) and one in Qingdao, China. A new plant is under construction in Zatec, Czech Republic and will be operational by 2018. Nexen Tire's Changnyeong plant has been recognized as one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art tire manufacturing plants in the world with an annual output of 12 million units. Additional plans for a North American plant is also in progress, with production start-up goal aiming for 2021. Nexen Tire produces 42 million tires a year for passenger cars, SUVs, and light trucks utilizing advanced technology and with unsurpassed uniformity, quality and excellence in design. Nexen Tire supplies OE tires to over twenty global car makers in North and South America, Asia and Europe. About Nexen Tire Nexen Tire, established in 1942, is a global tire manufacturer headquartered in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and in Seoul, South Korea. Nexen Tire, one of the world's fastest growing tire manufacturers, works with 491 dealers based in 141 countries around the world (as of July 2015) and owns three manufacturing plants two in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong) and one in Qingdao, China. Another plant in Zatec, Czech Republic will be operational by 2018. Nexen Tire produces tires for passenger cars, SUVs, and light trucks with advanced technology and excellence in design. The company also focuses on producing UHP tires, which are based on advanced technologies. Nexen Tire supplies OE tires to global car makers in various countries around the world. In 2014, the company achieved a grand slam of the world's top 4 design awards for the first time amongst the various tire makers in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.nexentire.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/586683/Nexen_Tire.jpg Related Links http://www.nexentire.com SOURCE Nexen Tire If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here New Delhi, Oct 16 : A World Bank report cautioning Pakistan over its $31 billion gross external financing has triggered a fresh rift between the country's civil and military leadership. In its twice-a-year South Asia Economic Focus (SAEF) report, released on October 10, the apex bank said that external account pressure has persisted in 2017-18. "The current external situation can become unsustainable in absence of adequate policy response," warned the global lender. After the report, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor and Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal were in an apparent disagreement over the economic condition of the country. The country's finance ministry took an exception at what it called was the Bank's attempt to paint a "negative picture" of its external account. "Pakistan's external account has shown a strong performance in the first two months of the current fiscal year and misinterpretation of data (by the World Bank) to deliberately paint a negative picture is uncalled for," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance. Despite the finance ministry's rebuttal, country's powerful army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, expressed concern over the "sky-high" debt, and said national security and economy were interlinked and called for broadening tax base and bringing in financial discipline to break the "begging bowl" syndrome. The army chief said Pakistan's economy was showing mixed indicators as "the growth has picked up, but the debts are also sky high". Infrastructure and energy, he added, had improved considerably, but the current account balance remained not in Pakistan's favour. "The common man across Pakistan needs reassurance of benevolent and equal treatment from the state," he said, adding that it was high time for the country to place economic growth and sustainability at the highest priority. The statement was followed by Director-General or Inter-Service Public Relations, Major-General Asif Ghafoor, giving an interview to a private channel where he said: "If Pakistan's economy is not bad, it's not good either". The statement from the Rawalpindi General Headquarters didn't go down well with the country's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who cautioned the Inter-Services Public Relations not to comment on the national economy. "DG ISPR should refrain from commenting on national economy," said the minister , adding that "Irresponsible statements could hurt Pakistan's global image." The ISPR head responded to Ahsan Iqbal's criticism saying that being a soldier and citizen of Pakistan, he was disappointed in the statement made by the interior minister. To a query Major General Ghafoor said: "I stick to my words," adding "If we need to improve the economy, we will have to bring certain changes and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor needs to be supported (holistically)," he said. Country's economy wasn't the only reason of tension between the civil and military leadership. On October 2, paramilitary troops barred their boss -- Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal -- from entering the court hearing a corruption case against ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "I cannot be a puppet interior minister," Iqbal said, threatening to resign in protest. "There will be one rule, one government." Although military spokesman Asif Ghafoor later told reporters the rangers were providing security to Sharif, Iqbal ordered an inquiry on who ordered their deployment. This maneuvering ahead of elections next year is not only raising concern that the military will tighten its grip on policy, it is reflected in the stock market taking a hit. Already it has slumped to among the world's worst performers from the best in 2016. The army has directly ruled Pakistan for almost half its 70-year history and, even when not in power, is seen as exerting influence over security and foreign strategies. The renewed civil-military fight threatens to worsen Pakistan's economic fortunes, and if the fight between the army and politicians continues, it will certainly spill over to worsening of relations with neighbouring India, Afghanistan and Iran. (Aadil Mir can be reached at aadil.hussain@ians.in) Mumbai, Oct 17 : At least 40 scientists from 13 Indian institutions, including IIT-Bombay played an important role in the exciting August 17 observation of gravitational waves from a pair of colliding neutron starts, detected for the first by Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Europe's Virgo, officials said here. The Indian scientists were part of the team of 1200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide, plus 280 physicists and engineers from 20 research groups of Europe, which contributed, among other things, to LIGO-Virgo discovery paper, said Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) in a statement late on Monday night. The Indian scientists contributed to the fundamental algorithms which are crucial to search for inpiralling binaries in noisy date from multiple detectors, in computing waveforms for these signals by solving Einstein's equations, separating astrophysical signals from numerous instruments and environmental artefacts, interpreting the joint gravitational-wave and Gamma-ray observations, tests of Einstein's theory and many other aspets of the data analysis. From IIT-B, two faculty members of the Department of Physics - Archana Pai and V Gayathri -- are members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration with complementary expertise. Archana Pai has expertise on gravitational wave multi-detector algorithms and probing astrophysical parameters in the joint detection scenario. The group interpreted joint-gravitational wave and gamma-ray observations along with K. G. Arun, (CMI, Chennai) and a PhD student M. Saleem (IISER Trivandrum) within the collaboration.A Varun Bhalerao, whose expertise is in the search and study of counterparts to gravitational wave sources, was involved in the EM follow-up efforts: the X-ray searches with AstroSat, along with student Arvind B, a search for optical sources with the Himalayan Chandra Telescope and a radio search with GMRT. The LIGO has Indian scientists drawn from CMI Chennai, ICTS-TIFR Bangalore, IISER-Kolkata, IISER-Trivandrum, IIT-B, IIT-Gandhinagar, IIT- Hyderabad, IIT-Madras, IPR-Gandhinagar, IUCAA-Pune, RRCAT-Indore, TIFR-Mumbai and UAIR-Gandhinagar. Besides, astronomers from IISER-Pune, IIT-B, IUCAA-Pune, TIFR-Mumbai, PRL-Ahmedabad, IIT-Hyderabad, IIA-Bangalore, NCRA-TIFR Pune, ARIES-Nainital and IIST-Trivandrum also took part in the electromagnetic follow-up of this event using a variety of telescopes. Several Indian telescopes like the AstroSat, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Himalayan Chandra Telescope scanned the skies for electromagnetic flashes and the sensitive CZTI instruments on AstroSat helped narrow down the location of the gamma-ray flashes. Similarly, HCT obtained optical images at locations of neutrinos detected by other telescopes at the same time as the burst and showed that they were unrelated to the gravitational-wave trigger, while GMRT played a crucial role in understanding jet physics and refining models of radio emissions from the remnant formed by the merging neutron stars. The development is significant considering it happens to be the strongest gravitational-wave signal detected so far, owing to its relatively close location of about 130 million light-years from Earth. It was also confirmed by a large number of telescopes around the world which studied various forms of radiation from the merger. "This is a new milestone in the success saga of advanced gravitational wave detectors, which have announced the discoveries of four black hole mergers to date. The first such detection in 2015 led to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics this year," said the IIT-B statement. Neutron stars are the smallest, densest stars known to exist and are formed when massive stars explode in supernovas. Typical neutron stars are heavier than the sun, but have a diameter of just about 20 kilometers: objects so dense that a teaspoon of neutron star material weighs more than Mount Everest. Kolkata/New Delhi, Oct 17 : Celebrating Dhanteras? Have you ever wondered where did the gold in your jewellery come from? A cosmic cooking pot may hold the answer. This emerged when scientists detected for the first time light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars located about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. "For the first time ever, we measured spacetime ripples (gravitational waves) and light from the same source in the universe," Karan Jani, an Indian-born astrophysicist and part of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) team that made this discovery, told IANS. Crashing neutron stars may be the universe's dominant source for many of the heaviest elements, including platinum and gold. "The collision provides us clues on how heavy elements like gold and platinum are produced in our cosmos," Jani said. "Each element of gold that we love to show off in our jewellery, has reached our Earth after traveling from such collision of neutron stars from millions of light years from galaxies far far away. Yes, all of us carrying the pride of wearing gold are carrying relics from such cosmic events," he added. On August 17, LIGO in the US, working with the Virgo Interferometer in Italy, detected gravitational waves passing the Earth. This event following the neutron star merger was named GW170817. About two seconds later, two space observatories, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and European Space Agency's INTErnational Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), detected a short gamma-ray burst from the same area of the sky. Several scientific papers describing and interpreting these observations have now been published in the journal Science, Nature, Physical Review Letters and The Astrophysical Journal. Neutron stars are one of the smallest stars in the universe and form when a star much more massive than the Sun runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses to form an extremely dense and small object. It is heavier than the Sun but its diameter is the size of an average city like Kolkata. Such is the density of these bodies that a spoon of neutron star material can be as heavy as Mount Everest. "The process (merger of neutron stars) leaves signatures in both gravitational and electromagnetic waves whose detection and exploration can potentially revolutionise our understanding of the universe," said Dibyendu Nandi, head, Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI) at IISER Kolkata. "The very high energy released in this process sustains exotic phenomena that may have produced a major fraction of the gold in the universe," he said. As many 40 scientists from 13 Indian institutions are part of the LIGO-Virgo discovery paper, according to Tarun Souradeep, LIGO India spokesperson. This discovery is also extremely significant given that this is the first time that both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from a cosmic event were detected together, said Nandi. "We now get to see both sides of the coin," Nandi told IANS. The neutron stars merged in a galaxy called NGC 4993. "This detection is significant in three remarkable ways - first, it allows us to independently test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity as we recorded two different forms of radiation - gravitational waves and light - originating from the same astrophysical source," Jani said. "Secondly we were able to constrain the expansion of our universe and subsequently measure the age of our universe, and thirdly the collision provides us clues on how heavy elements like gold and platinum are produced in our cosmos," he added. Indian scientists contributed to the fundamental algorithms crucial to search for inspiraling binaries in noisy data from multiple detectors, computing waveforms for these signals by solving Einstein's equations, tests of Einstein's theory and many other aspects of the data analysis, said Souradeep. In addition, several Indian telescopes such as AstroSat, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) participated in the search for electromagnetic flashes. The sensitive CZTI instrument on AstroSat helped narrow down the location of the gamma-ray flashes. HCT obtained optical images at locations of neutrinos detected by other telescopes at the same time as the burst, and showed that they were unrelated to the gravitational-wave trigger. The Indian team in LIGO includes scientists from CMI Chennai, ICTS-TIFR Bangalore, IISER Kolkata, IISER Trivandrum, IIT Bombay, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IPR Gandhinagar, IUCAA Pune, RRCAT Indore, TIFR Mumbai and UAIR Gandhinagar. Astronomers from IISER Pune, IIT Bombay, IUCAA Pune, TIFR Mumbai, PRL Ahmedabad, IIT Hyderabad, IIA Bangalore, NCRA-TIFR Pune, ARIES Nainital and IIST Trivandrum participated in the electromagnetic follow-up of this event using a variety of telescopes. Previous detections of gravitational waves have all involved the merger of two black holes, a feat that won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics earlier in October. (Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in; Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ians.in) Madrid, Oct 17 : A Spanish judge has jailed two key members of the Catalan independence movement as the country moves closer to imposing direct rule over the region to thwart its push for freedom. Jordi SAnchez and Jordi Cuixart, who led prominent separatist groups, were being held without bail and under investigation for sedition, the BBC reported. The men were leading figures in the October 1 independence vote regarded by the Madrid government as illegal. Their detention led to protests overnight with more expected across Catalonia on Tuesday. SAnchez heads the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a pro-independence organisation, and Cuixart is the leader of Omnium Cultural association. Both the leaders appeared before the High Court in Madrid on Monday. They were being investigated over a protest on September 20 in which a crowd blocked Civil Guard officers inside a building in Barcelona, Catalonia's regional capital. Following the referendum, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence but halted its implementation to allow negotiations. He called for talks to take place over the next two months. However, the Spanish government warned that Catalonia must revoke the declaration or face direct rule from Madrid. Puigdemont also angered Madrid by refusing to clarify whether or not he declared independence last week. Puigdemont, who was given until Thursday to clarify his position, hit out at the government on Twitter following news of SAnchez and Cuixart's detention. "Spain jails Catalonia's civil society leaders for organising peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again," he wrote. In a video recorded before his court appearance and released on his Twitter account after his detention, Cuixart instructed separatists to "never lose hope because the people of Catalonia have earned their future". Just hours before the ruling, the High Court freed the head of Catalonia's police force, Josep Lluis Trapero. His force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, was accused of failing to help Spain's Guardia Civil police tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters in Barcelona during the run-up to the referendum. Islamabad, Oct 19 : A senior Pakistani Taliban leader Omar Khalid Khorasani is presumed dead in recent air strikes on the Afghan side of the border, local media and the militant sources said late on Wednesday. However, Khorasani's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP JuA), has not commented on the reports. Ahrar is blamed for many deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent years that killed many people. Khorasani, whose real name was Abdul Wali, had parted ways with the main Taliban faction in 2014 over serious differences with the leadership. Pakistan Army said on Tuesday that military operations were conducted in Afghanistan's eastern Khost and Paktiya provinces over the past few days by the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) and Afghan Forces, opposite to Pakistan Kurram Agency with reports of "heavy losses to terrorists". The army did not identify about those killed in the operations but said "coordination between the forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan has enhanced" after the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's visit to Afghanistan on October 1. TV channels quoted security sources as saying that Khorasani was also killed in the operations on the Afghan side of the border. Pakistan officials have not offered any comments. Pyongyang, Oct 19 : North Korea on Thursday strongly condemned naval manoeuvers that the US is presently carrying out with South Korea on the peninsula, and threatened to launch an "unimaginable strike" against them. Pyongyang's Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills criticised Washington's mobilisation of nuclear strategic assets in a statement issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reports Efe news. The Pentagon has deployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and two destroyers, among other ships, for the naval manoeuvers, which will last until Oct. 20. "The US is running amuck by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time," the statement read. The North Korean committee also said that Washington has also deployed the nuclear submarine USS Michigan, although this has not been officially confirmed. "This proves that the US and South Korean puppet authorities are attempting to ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost while watching for an opportunity after making its 'pre-emptive attack'," against North Korea, it added. The drills between the naval forces of the US and South Korea come amid escalated tensions in the region and shortly after Pyongyang conducted its latest weapons tests including a nuclear test on September 3 and the launch of a missile that flew over Japan on September 15. New Delhi, Oct 19 : They first got together to bring on the silver screen the life of England's Queen Elizabeth I. And now, as Oscar-nominated filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has expressed his desire to make a movie series on Lord Krishna, one of Hinduism's most adored gods, English screenwriter Michael Hirst is willing to help him write the narrative for the project. With actress Cate Blanchett in the lead role, Kapur panned his camera to narrate the journey of a girl to the throne. The first film came out in 1998 and the sequel, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age", was released in 2007. The films won Kapur international acclaim with "Elizabeth" bagging the prestigious BAFTA Award and the second movie earning Oscar nominations. Hirst, who is also the creator of "Vikings" -- the fifth season of which is aired in India on AXN -- says his idea of creating something on Indian gods could turn into reality soon. "I would love to (work on an Indian show). I wrote 'Elizabeth' with Shekhar. I love Shekhar. I am still in touch with him. We talk a lot, we talked about doing something on Indian gods and hope one day we will be able to do that because I would love to be able to work with him again," Hirst told IANS on the phone from Los Angeles. Kapur, the man behind cinematic gems like "Masoom", "Mr. India" and "Bandit Queen", had told IANS that his "big dream is to make a series of films on the life of Krishna". Talking about the prospect of both of them getting back together, Hirst said: "I might be able to help him write Krishna... That would be a dream for me." Hirst, who also wrote Emmy Award-winning television series "The Tudors", is busy with the fifth season of "Vikings". First it narrated the story of Ragnar Lothbrok, a legendary Viking hero. Lothbrok died in the fourth season, and the storyline is now focusing on the new generation of Vikings. Hirst feels there is a strong connection between Vikings gods and Indian gods. "I am fascinated by the Vikings sagas and pagan gods... As a writer, it is wonderful material. Some Indian gods are the same...They are wonderful, paradoxical, contradictory... In fact, the roots of the Vikings and Scandinavian paganism go back to the roots of Indian culture. "There is definitely a connection between some of the Viking gods and some of the Indian gods. I wanted people, certainly Western audiences, to understand where some of there ideas came from. Most of our Christian holidays are based on pagan holidays, a lot of rituals are actually pagan rituals. I am not trying to educate them but trying to show that we are still connected to these people for many reasons." He says his mission is to "connect the past with the present". "Vikings" has a universal appeal, and that helps the show cross boundaries and find an audience around the world, including India. "I think about the characters in human terms and to think about their dilemmas -- they are universal. And (treat them) as people from another planet. "I hate all those historical dramas where I can't connect to the characters." (Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in) New Delhi : (Editor's Note: For far too long, Neville Maxwell's narrative on the 1962 war -- which sees India as the aggressor and China as the victim -- has held court. Nearly 50 years after Maxwell's book, Bertil Lintner's "China's India War" argues that China began planning the war as early as 1959 and proposes that it was merely a small move in the larger strategic game that China was playing to become a world player. Following is an exclusive extract from "China's India War") It was entirely unexpected that the Chinese would attack. The Indians had observed a massive build-up across the border and there had been several encounters between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA in the days before the main attack, including bombardment of Dhola and Khenzemane on October 19, 1962. But the ferocity and the sheer coordination of the Chinese attacks on October 20, 1962, and the days that followed stunned the Indian security establishment as well as international observers. At day-break on that day, artillery guns and mortars began intense bombardments across the Thagla Ridge. According to Brigadier John Dalvi: At exactly 5 on the morning of 20th October 1962, the Chinese Opposite Bridge III fired two Verey lights. This signal was followed by a cannonade of over 150 guns and heavy mortars, exposed on the forward slopes of Thagla... this was a moment of truth. Thagla Ridge was no longer, at that moment, a piece of ground. It was the crucible to test, weigh and purify India's foreign defence policies. Dalvi called it "The Day of Reckoning -- 20th October 1962". The all-out assault on Indian positions north of Tawang was on. On the western front in Aksai Chin, the fighting was spread out over a swathe of land from north to south, covering a distance of approximately 600 kilometres. But the thrust of the Chinese towards the south was confined to a relatively narrow area, which measured approximately 20 kilometres from west to east. Most of the attacks by the PLA seemed to be confined to dislodging Indian troops from the outposts that had been established as a result of the government's Forward Policy rather than for capturing territory. According to Indian military analysts, "In the Western sector, [the] Chinese had a limited aim. They were already in occupation of most of the Aksai Chin plateau through which they had constructed the Western Highway connecting Tibet and Xinjiang. In this war, their aim was to remove the Indian posts which they perceived were across their 1960 Claim Line." They had no intention to move forward deep into Indian territory, as they did in NEFA (The North-East Frontier Agency). The Aksai Chin plateau was and still is virtually unpopulated; this had made it possible for the Chinese to build their highway there in the mid-1950s without the Indians finding out about it until a year after it had been completed. The name Aksai Chin means "the desert of white stones", and the altitude varies between 4,300 and 6,900 metres above sea level. In the past, some Ladakhi villagers used the area for summer grazing and made it part of the Cashmere wool trade, but otherwise there has been no commercial activity worth mentioning in the area. Whatever ancient trade routes that existed were secondary, and the only valley, if it may be called such, is along the River Chip Chap that flows from Xinjiang to Jammu and Kashmir. During the 1962 War, the Chinese captured several Indian positions in the valley and have since controlled most of the area. During the weeks of fighting in this western sector of the theatre of the 1962 War, it became obvious that the Chinese knew exactly where the Indians were, how many there were at each position, and what kind of weaponry they had. As was the case in the NEFA in the east, pre-war intelligence gathering had been carried out in the Aksai Chin area by small teams of surveyors who could move freely and, presumably, undetected on the barren plateau. A contentious issue on the eastern front was the location of the Indian outpost at Dhola in the River Namka Chu gorge, where the borders of India, Bhutan, and Tibet intersect northwest of Tawang. The post was created on February 24, 1962, and according to the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report, the site "was established north of the McMahon Line as shown on maps prior to the October/November 1962 edition. It is believed that the old edition was given to the Chinese by our External Affairs Ministry to indicate the McMahon Line. It is also learnt that we tried to clarify the error in our maps, but the Chinese did not accept our contention." The Chinese, in any case, would not have paid much attention to Indian maps. Their objective was entirely different: To teach India a lesson. This remark in the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report is any way a far cry from the claim by Neville Maxwell and others that the establishment of the Dhola outpost triggered the 1962 War and that India was the aggressor. Chinese troops had crossed the Namka Chu on September 8, surrounded an Indian outpost in the gorge, and destroyed two bridges on the river. The nearby Dhola Post was reinforced and firing from both sides continued in the area throughout September. Three Indian soldiers were wounded when the Chinese threw hand grenades at their position, but otherwise, there were no casualties. (Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong, the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, and Jane's Information Group in the UK. Lintner has written 17 books on Asian politics and history. This is part I of a two-part series, extracted with permission from Oxford University Press. Part II will be released on Friday) New Delhi : Title: The House and Other Stories; Author: Amit Dasgupta; Publisher: Yoda Press; Pages: 128; Price: Rs 295 There's always something appealing about short stories -- narrating a tale within restricted pages and yet perfectly delivering thrill or suspense; stories that make the readers finish the book at one go -- or, if not, then in the quickest possible time. Amit Dasgupta's "The House and Other Stories" succeeds in doing just that. It's a collection of three stories attached to a single important string called Calcutta (now Kolkata). Not surprisingly, the protagonists are all Bengalis. Dasgupta, a retired Indian diplomat and now an educator, explains the city thus: Calcutta "as all Bengalis will tell you, even when the city stands quietly in the corner, not saying a word, her presence may be deeply felt by those close to her", adding that "Calcutta is a city where it is difficult to keep secrets". Thus, "Calcutta is the dominant and central character in each of the three stories in this book. Somehow or the other, she keeps coming back again and again". However, the book is not just about the city, but goes beyond it -- and will appeal even to readers who haven't stayed in Calcutta or are not closely associated with, or accustomed to, Bengali culture. All this through simple belongings like a diary, a last letter or simply a house that is a witness to many stories and incidents of a family and an individual. The first story, "Mohua", might remind the readers of Satyajit Ray's short stories. The protagonist comes to know about the story of a girl named Mohua Emily Dey, who lived in Dey Mansion on Moira Street with her father, Parimal Albert Dey. Mohua had died some 100 years ago and unnatural happenings are often associated with the house. But the protagonist, under mysterious circumstances, lands up in the house. What happens thereafter is better left for the reader to discover. "The Little Red Book" is the story of a septuagenarian who is trying to overcome the void created by the death of his wife. Initially, he finds the company of his daughter and her family soothing in Berlin. He decides to return and it is in his home at Dover Lane in Calcutta that he finds peace. He suddenly discovers a horoscope which predicts his death the next year and starts writing a diary for his daughter, but fate had something else in store for him. The final offering is "The House", story of an elderly couple, Rajat and Monisha, whose son Aloke flies down from the US after he receives the news of his father not being well. Although Monisha remains hesitant to accompany hers son to the US following her husband's death, she finally agrees to move to her son's house -- but the house is not a home for Monisha. The stories succeed in grabbing the attention of the reader. The book's an absolute page-turner. (Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in) Hong Kong, Oct 19 : A senior Microsoft executive has confirmed that upcoming Windows 10 laptops driven by Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile chips will offer "multi-day" battery life. "Expect an 'extreme gain in battery life'. For Netflix streaming with LTE, we're looking at 28-29 hours playback. We're looking at all-day computing with everything on in excess of 16, 17 or 18 hours," Trustedreviews.com quoted Cristiano Amon, Executive VP of Qualcomm Technologies, at the 5G Summit late on Wednesday. The company last year said it had been working with chipset-maker Qualcomm to debut a series of laptops powered by mobile chips. "The final numbers aren't in, but the battery life is really, really good," said Pete Bernard, Principal Group Programme Manager for Connectivity Partners at Microsoft, told Trustedreviews.com. "Amazingly good. To be frank, it's actually beyond our expectations. We set a higher bar for (our developers), and we're now beyond that," he added. The upcoming laptops Windows 10 laptops would run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 platform which is the same processor that powers flagship Android smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy S8, OnePlus 5 and LG V30. Snapdragon chipsets are said to be more power-efficient by design and nature. These chips are smaller than a traditional laptop processor, hence provide more room to manufacturers to fit in a bigger battery. Srinagar, Oct 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday celebrated Diwali with soldiers deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Official sources said Modi reached the Dawar Brigade headquarters of the Indian Army in the border town of Gurez. The Prime Minister will also visit the far-flung Tulial area near the LoC and spend time with soldiers there. A day earlier, Army chief General Bipin Rawat also visited the area to review the security situation in the Kashmir Valley. Islamabad, Oct 19 : An anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar in a corruption reference pertaining to the London properties owned by the family. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed three references against the Sharif family related to their Avenfield properties in London, the Azizia Steel Mills as well as another 16 offshore companies. One reference was filed against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The references were filed by the NAB in the National Accountability Court in the light of Supreme Court orders in so-called Panama Papers case. The apex court had disqualified Sharif from holding office on July 28. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and vowed to contest the case. The court proceeded with the verdict after rejecting applications filed by Sharif, Maryam and Safdar requesting suspension of their indictment, Dawn online reported. The court indicted the former Premier through pleader Zafir Khan as Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz. The charges against Maryam and Safdar were framed in person. The former Prime Minister and his sons Hassan and Hussain were likely to be indicted in the other two references later. Maryam Nawaz told reporters as she was leaving the court: "One day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together." Speaking to Geo News about Maryam and Captain Safdar's indictment, Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid said: "The law has truly been implemented today." Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhary said his party was satisfied with the progress of the case. "We are happy this case is proceeding correctly and at a swift pace. This indictment has come in just one case, there are two other cases as well. "All the money involved in these cases belongs to the people of Pakistan, and this money will be brought back to Pakistan," Chaudhary said. A number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and workers were present outside the court complex. They held a protest after the police did not allow them to enter the premises. Islamabad, Oct 19 : Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar were indicted by an accountability court on Thursday in a corruption reference pertaining to the London properties owned by the family. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed three references against the Sharif family related to their Avenfield properties in London, the Azizia Steel Mills as well as another 16 offshore companies. One reference was filed against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The references were filed by the NAB in the National Accountability Court in the light of Supreme Court orders in so-called Panama Papers case. The apex court had disqualified Sharif from holding office on July 28. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and vowed to contest the case. The court indicted the former Premier through pleader Zafir Khan as Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz. The charges against Maryam and Safdar were framed in person, Dawn online reported. The former Prime Minister was also indicted in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment references as well. His sons -- Hassan and Hussain -- were named co-accused in the chargesheet in the references. The court proceeded with the verdict after rejecting applications filed by Sharif, Maryam and Safdar requesting suspension of their indictment. Maryam Nawaz told reporters as she was leaving the court: "One day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together." She said this was the first case of its kind "in which the verdict had been announced first and the trial was being held later." Commenting on reports that a NAB team has gone to London to collect evidence about Sharifs' properties, Maryam wondered how NAB could now be entrusted with the investigation when the Supreme Court had criticised it for being ineffective during the Panama Papers case hearings. "Has the JIT's fraud been exposed or has NAB suddenly woken up?" she asked. Speaking to Geo News about Maryam and Captain Safdar's indictment, Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid said: "The law has truly been implemented today." Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhary said his party was satisfied with the progress of the case. "We are happy this case is proceeding correctly and at a swift pace. This indictment has come in just one case, there are two other cases as well. "All the money involved in these cases belongs to the people of Pakistan, and this money will be brought back to Pakistan," Chaudhary said. A number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and workers were present outside the court complex. They held a protest after the police did not allow them to enter the premises. Patna, Oct 19 : RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday said Lord Ram will punish the BJP as it has been doing politics in his name. "It is wrong and unethical to play politics in the name of Lord Ram," the former Bihar Chief Minister told the media on the occasion of Diwali. Lalu Prasad also attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for allegedly doing "political drama" in the name of Ram. Lalu Prasad said everyone was free to practise his or her religion and offer prayers. "But BJP leaders, particularly Yogi, have been doing political drama. People understand this drama in the name of religion." He said he was sure the BJP would be punished by Lord Ram for misusing his name for political gains. "The BJP-led central government has made life difficult for the poor due to domenetisation. Poor people are struggling for survival... For this Lord Ram would finish off the RSS and the BJP because Lord Ram is in the heart of all the people in the country." New Delhi, Oct 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday conveyed Diwali greetings to the crew of Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, currently on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. Modi also communicated with the crew through video call and wished them a "Happy Diwali" on behalf of the nation. He also wished them success in their mission. The Prime Minister had earlier met the crew of INSV Tarini on August 16 this year before they embarked on the 22,100 nautical mile circumnavigation journey. Tarini is currently approaching their first stop in Fremantle, Australia and is expected to reach there on Sunday (October 22) after covering 4,770 nautical miles. The Prime Minister also conveyed birthday greetings in advance to two of the crew -- Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi and Lt. Payal Gupta -- whose birthdays are coming up shortly. New Delhi, Oct 19 : The India-Russia annual joint military exercises called INDRA is set to begin on Friday, officials said on Thursday. This year, all three services are involved in the 10-day exercises being conducted in Russia. The indigenously built Indian Naval ships INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt on Thursday reached Vladivostok Port. The rest of Indian contingent comprising of army and air force personnel had reached Vladivostok on Wednesday in IL-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The Defence Ministry, in a statement, said the INDRA-2107 will be "a landmark event in the history of Indo-Russian defence cooperation". Scheduled to be conducted at the 249th Combined Army Range Sergiyevisky and in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok, it is the first tri-service bilateral exercise between the two countries. In its previous nine editions, INDRA has been conducted as a single service exercise alternately between the two countries. The Indian contingent is comprising 350 personnel from army, 80 from air force, two IL 76 aircraft and one Frigate and Corvette each from the navy. Russia will be represented by approximately 1,000 troops of the 5th Army, marines and ships of Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District, an official release said. "INDRA-2017 will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries," the statement said. "The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations," it added. Chandigarh, Oct 19 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday issued orders to hand over probe into the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosai to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials said. The Chief Minister, who met a delegation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders here on Thursday, announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Gosai's family and a government job for one of his four children. The decision to hand over the probe to the NIA was taken in view of reports that the alleged handlers of the assailants were operating from foreign soil, a Punjab government spokesperson said. Amarinder said that his government would not tolerate lawlessness, especially targeted killings. He said that efforts were being made to solve earlier cases also. Gosai, 58, was near his house when he was attacked on Tuesday morning. He was the Sangh Pracharak (regional missionary) at the RSS Mohan Shakha in Ludhiana. He was shot from close range by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Kailash Nagar area. Later, he succumbed to his injuries in a hospital. Punjab Police have failed to nab those behind the killings of leaders of Hindu organisations in Punjab in recent years. Senior Punjab RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retd) was shot by unidentified motorcycle-borne youths in a busy area in Jalandhar on August 6, 2016. Gagneja was critically injured and succumbed to his injuries a month later. His assailants continue to be at large. Leaders of Hindu organisations have been attacked and killed in some other incidents in Gurdaspur and Khanna towns earlier. In two separate incidents, unidentified persons fired shots at RSS activists in Ludhiana in January and February last year. We are exceedingly proud of the Advance Financial leadership team and all of the employees at this company they are what drive our growth year after year. Award-winning local financial services company Advance Financial was included on the Nashville Business Journals Fast 50 list of the fastest-growing private companies in Middle Tennessee. The company was also included on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country for the sixth consecutive year, at rank 2000. To be included in the Fast 50, the Nashville Business Journal examines the revenue growth of the top 100 private companies over the past four years. The Inc. 5000 rankings review revenue from 2016 as well as a companys growth over the previous three years. During this time Advance Financial grew by more than 188 percent. We are exceedingly proud of the Advance Financial leadership team and all of the employees at this company they are what drive our growth year after year, said Tina Hodges, chief executive and chief experience officer at Advance Financial. Their innovative thinking and tireless commitment to our customers fuels our expansions, not only into new markets, but also into new service lines. I am confident we will be able to continue this significant growth over the coming years and help more individuals find financial independence. Among the Nashville companies included on this years Inc. 5000 list, Advance Financial ranked 19th out of 53 companies. For more than 20 years the company has served communities through its more than 80 locations throughout the state. Last year the company committed to opening 25 new stores in 12-18 months and is well on its way to meeting that goal. Advance Financial also expanded its reach by offering its FLEX loan services online to residents in Missouri, Kansas, Idaho, Utah and Alabama. To learn more about Advance Financials FLEX loan program, visit here. About Advance Financial Advance Financial, founded in 1996, is a family owned and operated financial center based in Nashville, Tenn. The company currently operates more than 70 locations throughout Tennessee and employs more than 700 local representatives. By focusing on a wide variety of financial services including wire transfer, bill payment, unlimited free money orders and FLEX loans they are committed to building long-lasting, strong relationships with every customer. Advance Financial recently earned an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and was named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country for the sixth year in a row. CastleKeep Investment Advisors LLC (CastleKeep), a Westport, Connecticut based independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), serving high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families in Fairfield County and across the globe, announced the addition of partners as part of its long-term succession plan, as well as a promotion in the investments area. Chuck and Steve Haberstroh, two Managing Directors at CastleKeep, and sons of founder, Charlie Haberstroh, have been made partners, together owning a minority share of CastleKeep. Charlie Haberstroh, who remains President and CEO, will maintain a majority ownership stake in the company. In addition, Lauren Quesada was promoted to Vice President Investments. Regarding the two new partners, Chuck and Steve Haberstroh: I founded CastleKeep 17 years ago when Chuck and Steve were in college. They spent their summers as interns and each eventually chose to work in the family business. Nearly two decades later, I cannot be more proud to have them formally involved as co-owners. Westport, CT resident, and CastleKeep founder, Charlie Haberstroh said. Im absolutely thrilled to be a part owner of CastleKeep. Its been a goal of mine since I was interning here in 2001. My young children are frequent visitors to the office. I hope they too become owners of CastleKeep one day! commented Chuck Haberstroh. Chuck who is also a Westport, CT resident, serves as Treasurer and runs trading and operations at CastleKeep. Chuck joined the firm shortly after graduating with a degree in Finance from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University in 2004. Weve always felt that having multiple generations within the firm gives CastleKeep a unique perspective in helping our client families preserve and pass on wealth to their children and grandchildren. With the latest changes, we are confident that CastleKeep will be here for our clients and their families well into future generations, said Steve Haberstroh. Steve, who is a New Canaan, CT resident, is responsible for new business and client relationships. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in Economics. Steve worked at Ameriprise in Boston for 4 years before joining CastleKeep in 2008. Regarding the promotion of Lauren Quesada to Vice President - Investments: I am pleased to promote Lauren to Vice President. Lauren works extremely hard and is dedicated to her craft. This is a natural progression for Lauren as she is assuming more portfolio management responsibilities reporting to me in my role as CIO, Charlie stated. Lauren commented, I am particularly motivated and equally excited to continue to advance my career in portfolio management especially at CastleKeep. I proudly accept this position with ambition to succeed and I am very grateful for everyones continued support and encouragement. Lauren resides in Norwalk, CT and is responsible for evaluating and monitoring portfolio securities and investments. Lauren joined CastleKeep in 2011 as an intern. In 2012 Lauren graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University with a degree in Finance and officially joined the CastleKeep team as Portfolio Assistant. She was promoted to Portfolio Associate in 2015. Lauren is currently working towards the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and has passed the Level 1 exam. Steve, Chuck and Lauren serve on the Investment and Portfolio Review Committees with Charlie. Charlie Haberstroh continued, We manage the financial affairs for wealthy families. Many of our clients also happen to be business owners. Weve been helping our clients manage their assets, which include family owned businesses, through multiple generations for years. This was the right time for our business and our family to practice what we preach. For more information about CastleKeep Investment Advisors, please visit http://www.castlekeepadvisors.com or please call or email Steve Haberstroh at 203.286.9394 or steve@castlekeepadvisors.com. Charles W. K. Haberstroh President and CEO CastleKeep Investment Advisors LLC October 13, 2017 This support and infrastructure for my project is invaluable and it will enable the continuation of a project I believe can make a positive contribution to individual lives and a wider audience. The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is pleased to announce that Daniel Castro Garcia is the recipient of the 2017 Grant in Humanistic Photography for his project, Foreigner: I Peri NTera a Sicilian colloquialism that translates as "feet on the ground. Selected from a talented group of 12 finalists, Foreigner is the second chapter of Garcias ongoing project on the migrant/refugee crisis in Europe, focusing on Sicily, Italy and capturing the lives of those who survived the long journey across the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. The project takes a hard look at unemployment, exploitative labor, and the difficult process of receiving documentation in a new land. The Smith Grant will allow Mr. Garcia to continue his project with subsequent chapters set to explore the psychological impact of these journeys and the struggles of integrating into new communities throughout Europe. The annual grant, which was increased to $35,000 by the Smith Funds board of directors this year, was presented to Mr. Garcia during the organizations 38th annual awards ceremony at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Theater in New York City Wednesday evening. Receiving the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant in Humanistic Photography presents me with the most humbling and extraordinary achievement in my professional career, he told attendees at the SVA Theater. This support and infrastructure for my project is invaluable and it will enable the continuation of a project I believe can make a positive contribution to individual lives and a wider audience. I am incredibly grateful and moved to be given this vote of confidence and support and I will endeavor to respect the standards and expectations of both previous recipients and the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund organization. The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is presented annually to photographers whose work is judged by a panel of experts to be in the best tradition of the compassionate dedication exhibited by W. Eugene Smith during his 45-year career in photojournalism. The grant enables recipients to undertake and complete worthy photojournalistic projects. The judges were struck by Mr. Garcias humanism which is appropriate for a grant that honors the legacy of W. Eugene Smith, explained W.M. Hunt, longtime Smith Fund board member and the Chair of this years adjudication committee. The pleasure of judging the Smith Fund is the strength and range of the work submitted. The judges were aware that having 12 finalists would be a bit unwieldy, but they wanted to ask questions and consider each of the proposals for a longer time, Mr. Hunt continued. They are delighted with the selection of Daniel Castro Garcia as the $35,000 Smith Grant Recipient and felt his work was blessed with clarity and wonder. Garcia undertook his Foreigner project in May, 2015, one month after reading about two boats that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea with an estimated 1,000 people dead. As select British media outlets used adjectives such as cockroaches to describe those who were onboard the vessels, Garcia made an unbreakable commitment to himself and this project, driven by the desire and belief that proximity and engagement with people could provide answers that often go unheard. As the son of migrants himself, he did not feel represented by the way the images of this crisis were used by the media, nor did he agree with the tone of the narrative being used to discuss migration as a solely negative issue. Feeling that much of the image-making and reporting were questionable, he set out to determine the truth and share his findings through his photographs and written word. Additional Awards Photographers Edmund Clark and Alex Majoli were also honored, each receiving a $5,000 Smith Fund Fellowship. Clarks project The Unseen Consequences and Networks of Air Strikes and Drone Warfare is intended as a multi-media investigation of the expanded use of air-strikes and drone weapons as the primary strategy of the on-going American-led War of Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Majolis project, Titanic, deals with the fragmentation and polarization of Europes identity as it grapples to come to terms with the realization that it can no longer isolate itself from the crisis unfolding just across the Mediterranean. His photographic approach intentionally makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. The $5,000 Smith Fellowship is important, of course, but given at the jurys discretion, Bill Hunt explained. Two fellows were selected for recognition. The Jury petitioned the Board to request that both receive the $5,000 Fellowships rather than split it equally as in the past. It is the first time in the Funds history. Judges for this years grant and fellowship included W.M. Hunt (USA), Mitra Abbaspour (USA) and Enrica Vigano (Italy). Mr. Hunt is a New York City-based collector, former-dealer, writer, teacher and longtime member of the Smith Fund Board of Directors. Mitra Abbaspour is an art historian specializing in the history of photography and art of the modern and contemporary Middle East. Ms. Vigano is a curator of photography from Milano, Italy. In 2009 she founded Admira, an organization specializing in cultural events and traveling exhibitions in the field of photography including W. Eugene Smith: More Real Than Reality. Recipients of the 2017 W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund grant and fellowships were selected from hundreds of submissions received from 51 countries. Recent recipients of the grant include Justyna Mielnikiewicz (2016), Matt Black (2015), Joseph Sywenkyj (2014), Robin Hammond (2013), and Peter van Agtmael (2012). A complete listing of recipients can be viewed at SmithFund.org. This year's Howard Chapnick Grant was presented to Michael Shaw, founder and publisher of Reading the Pictures, a web-based educational and publishing organization dedicated to visual culture, visual literacy and media literacy through the analysis of news, documentary and social media images. The grant is awarded to an individual for his or her leadership in any field ancillary to photojournalism, such as picture editing, research, education and management. The Reading the Pictures Salon is a documentary research project and online webcast analyzing the visual representation of major social issues. The project, U.S. Medias Visual Representation of the US/Mexico Border Wall, focuses on how that controversial barrier has been characterized. It will also explore how photographers and the media are using imagery to capture the political narrative, inject opinions, or to outright challenge the wall from a human rights and social justice perspective. I am honored to receive the Howard Chapnick grant on behalf of myself and Reading the Pictures, Mr. Shaw said. I never had the privilege to meet Mr. Chapnick, but I greatly appreciate his legacy. He was dedicated to photographers, to developing their vision, and to capturing deeper truths. We feel his conscience is in our work. Chapnick might have been surprised by how much photography and visual culture have taken off, and now permeates daily life. But Im certain the commitment to understanding that imagery, and helping people read it, is a mission he would have thoroughly recognized, Shaw added. Michael Shaw and his team at Reading the Pictures have brought deep analysis to daily news photography, said Brian Storm, founder of MediaStorm, Smith Fund board member, and Chair of this years adjudication committee for the Chapnick Grant. Their online salon brings together experts and practitioners in an effort to raise visual literacy." Lynsey Addario, the famed New York Times and Pulitzer Prize documentary photographer delivered the evenings keynote address. Ms. Addarios best-selling book, Its What I Do, is currently being produced as a motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jennifer Lawrence as Addario. The Smith Fund took a moment during the ceremony to recognize and pay tribute to two members of the journalism community who passed away this year: A recipient of the Smith Fund Grant in 2004, Stanley Greene became one of the leading international conflict photographers of his generation. A founding member of the photographer-owned agency Noor Image he was highly regarded and liked by his peers. He succumbed after a long battle with liver cancer, last May, at age 68. A legendary photo editor and co-founder of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, John G. Morris was an amazing globe-trotting centenarian. He passed away in July. A humanist and a pacifist, he was photo-journalisms tireless defender and champion, and possibly its most exceptional chronicler and historian. But most of all, he was our friend, said Smith Fund board member, Robert Pledge. Sponsors The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is supported by generous contributions from The Incite Project, Herb Ritts Foundation, Canon USA, and The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation. Additional support is provided by Aperture, Brilliant Graphics, Center for Creative Photography (CCP), the International Center of Photography, MediaStorm, Photo District News (PDN), the School of Visual Arts BFA Photography, MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department, and Synergy Communications. EDITOR'S NOTE: Images from this years award recipients are available upon request. Please contact Lou Desiderio at lou(at)pr-synergy(dot)com or 917-627-0912 to receive hi-res photos and captions. GearSource marks its 15th anniversary as one of the original and largest dedicated pre-owned professionals in stage lighting, pro audio, video and staging. GearSource has grown from a small one man operation to a recognized Global leader in re-marketing pre-owned production gear. Quoting founder and CEO, Marcel Fairbairn, "We have achieved this milestone through hard work and dedication to vendors plus, a company-wide culture of customer service. GearSource is an innovator... dedicated to developing even better tools, better services and better opportunities for all of our users. The products and services we continue to design are geared towards answering this one question how can we make it better? With the same excitement and enthusiasm he has always had for the industry and the company, Marcel adds, Sure, its good to remember where we started and appreciate what we have achieved, however, its where were going that has my attention the focus is as it always has been lets do it better! With a focus to always strive for better, GearSource will continue to provide our customers and vendors with the benefit of experienced people, leading edge technology, unique brands and white glove service. About Gear-Source, Inc. Since 2002, GearSource.com has been a worldwide reseller of pre-owned professional stage lighting, pro-audio, video, and staging equipment. In 2015, GearSource.com added a huge inventory of Musical Instruments to the line-up of gear. For more information about GearSource.com, visit http://www.gearsource.com or call (866)669-GEAR. Specialty Technical Consultants Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) and Specialty Technical Consultants (STC) announce the availability of the newly updated International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC) EHS audit protocol for Italy. Leading companies around the world use IAPC EHS audit protocols to understand the scope of their EHS regulatory obligations and rapidly collect, share, archive, and export audit findings in a cost effective manner. IAPC EHS audit protocols are now prepared by STC in partnership with STP and continue to focus on those national (plus, in some cases, regional or provincial) EHS requirements that have site-specific application for manufacturing operations. As a leading EHS management consulting firm with a global network of experienced EHS teaming partners, STC has indepth knowledge and technical expertise of local/regional EHS requirements. STP and STC maintain leading-edge EHS audit protocols for more than 30 jurisdictions. The protocol documents are written in English and are available in MS Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel formats, as well as through STPs web-based portal or can be integrated into an existing company platform. Using the protocols custom templates and advanced functionality features, auditors can easily track audit findings and manage data over time to improve compliance, risk management and safety performance. In addition, STPs formatting is compatible with leading risk management and sustainability platform providers. Highlights of selected legislation covered in the newly updated protocol include: Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006 was amended by Legislative Decree No. 46 of 4 March 2014 and Legislative Decree No. 104 of 16 June 2017. As a result, Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006 now applies to all facilities with regard to environmental impact assessments (EIA or AIA in Italy). Legislative Decree No. 46 of 4 March 2014, Implementing Directive 2010/75/EU on Industrial Emissions - Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control added Article 237-bis to Title III-bis of Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006, and now includes all requirements on incineration and co-incineration of waste in one regulatory framework in Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006. Ministerial Decree No. 52 of 18 February 2011has been replaced by Decree No. 78 of 30 March 2016 with regard to the SISTRI system for waste tracking. Decree of the Ministry of the Environment No. 406 of 28 April 1998 has been replaced by Decree of the Ministry of the Environment No. 120 of 3 June 2014 regarding the national register of waste management companies. Part 2 of Annex V to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on Persistent Organic Pollutants has been replaced by Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/460 of 30 March 2016 amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Persistent Organic Pollutants. As of 23 December 2015, Legislative Decree No. 151 of 14 September 2015 repealed the requirements regarding the maintenance of accident registers. Legislative Decree No. 183 of 25 May 2016 outlines the provisions for implementing SINP, which provides for the single national information system that collects all data regarding accidents. Companies will no longer be required to maintain paper records of accidents. All relevant information will be managed in SINP and updated in real time. Ministerial Decree of 3 August 2015: Approval of fire prevention technical standards Fire Prevention Code has been adopted to provide fire prevention and protection measures for certain activities and facilities. Legislative Decree No. 81 of 9 April 2008 was significantly amended regarding exposure to electromagnetic fields to implement Directive 2013/35/EU. Legislative Decree No. 105 of 6 June 2015 has repealed and replaced Legislative Decree No. 334 of 17 August 1999 in order to implement Directive 2012/18/EU Seveso III in Italy. For more information on all International EHS audit protocols offered by STP and STC click here. About Specialty Technical Publishers Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) produces technical resource guides covering environmental, health & safety, transportation, accounting, business practices, standards and law, offering comprehensive guidance on key compliance and regulatory issues. STP is a division of Glacier Media Inc., a Canadian information communications company that provides primary and essential information in print, electronic and online media. Glaciers Business and Professional Information Group publishes directories, technical manuals, research and development materials, medical education, electronic databases, investment information and specialty websites. About Specialty Technical Consultants Specialty Technical Consultants, Inc. (STC) is a specialized management consulting firm working to enhance environmental health and safety (EHS) performance. Through its consulting services, STC partners with clients to strengthen management systems' design and implementation, and identifies needs and implements solutions to meet business objectives. Services provided include: EHS compliance support; risk assessment; EHS auditing; corporate responsibility and sustainability; EHS management systems development and implementation; EHS regulatory information tools; and EHS training. STC is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Supplier Clearinghouse for the California Public Utilities Commission, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program. BKV creates award winning nonprofit website at 48in48 Atlanta The Clarkston Community Center staff, board and volunteers are very grateful for all of the hard work, time and energy BKV and 48in48 put into creating this wonderful website. For the third consecutive year, Atlanta ad agency BKV had a large presence at the annual 48in48 presented by Delta Air Lines hackathon-style event in Atlanta. During the 48-hour event, local marketing professionals including designers, copywriters, project managers and others create 48 custom websites for local nonprofits, completely free of charge. BKVs support of 48in48 grows deeper every year. For the 2017 event, several employees volunteered in leadership roles for both the planning and execution of the event; the agency also taught two short courses for the participating nonprofits, one on free tools for nonprofits and the other on best practices for local SEO. The robust team of volunteer designers, art directors, copywriters and project managers took on the heavy lifting. Teams worked around the clock from Friday night to Sunday night to concept, design, write and build brand new websites for two of the events nonprofits. Every year, 48in48 also recognizes the best websites created during the event. This year, BKV was awarded first place for the new Clarkston Community Center website, as well as Best Homepage for the redesigned site for STEAMsport, Inc. Cindy Bowden, Executive Director of Clarkston Community Center, added, "The Clarkston Community Center staff, board and volunteers are very grateful for all of the hard work, time and energy BKV and 48in48 put into creating this wonderful website. We have already received many compliments and it has only been live a few days. The new website will enable us to reach our audiences with clarity and precision." Virginia Doty, EVP Director of Nonprofit Accounts at BKV, reflected, The 48in48 event is always inspiring, and this year was no exception. The nonprofits who participated are all making a real difference in the Atlanta community. To have the opportunity to join with others in our industry to build beautiful, innovative, hard-working websites for them is a privilege. After our team gets caught up on their sleep, well start planning for 2018! To learn more about 48in48, visit 48in48.org/. About 48in48 48in48 is a 501c3 nonprofit that brings digital marketing professional together to create websites and marketing materials for nonprofits around the world. In 2015, Jeff Hilimire of Dragon Army and Adam Walker of Sideways8 brought 150 digital marketing professionals together in Atlanta to build websites for 48 nonprofits in 48 hours. They understood that nonprofits spend their time and resources to do good, and they wanted to help those nonprofits look good as well. From their vision, 48in48 was created to help the helpers and in doing so, to strengthen our communities. Per event, 48in48 provides more than $1.5 million in services - including websites, logos and marketing support - for nonprofits in Atlanta, New York, Boston and Minneapolis. For more information visit, 48in48.org/. About Clarkston Community Center Established in 1994, the Clarkston Community Center offers programs for children, teens, adults and seniors, centered around education, wellness, art, recreation and community building. The Center serves over 56,000 individuals annually, primarily from Clarkston and greater DeKalb County, Georgia, many of whom have immigrated to the United States or are newly-arrived refugees. The Center relies on private donations, corporate support and financial grants to provide its numerous services and programs to the community. To learn more, visit their new website at http://www.clarkstoncommunitycenter.org. About STEAMsport, Inc. STEAMsport, Inc., based in Atlanta, GA, is a nonprofit organization that provides science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) exposure, education and competition specifically focused on youth living in underserved communities. The organization's mission is to provide free, accessible and effective STEAM programming leading to secondary education and then to STEAM careers with the goal is closing the circle in generational poverty. For more information visit, http://www.steamsport.com. About BKV BKV is an Atlanta-based full-service direct and digital advertising agency specializing in using data-driven strategies that make brands work harder. BKVs client portfolio includes local, national and global brands. The agency provides digital and traditional media services, as well as creative, web development, email marketing, CRM, SEO, social media, digital PR, direct mail, DRTV, database management, analytics and data modeling. BKV is a part of unified.agency which has offices in Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Princeton, NJ. For more information, visit http://www.bkv.com. New Jersey based IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions Company,Futran Solutions, Inc. has recently acquired Apportunity Futureware, an established Indian app development company operating out of Mumbai and Chandigarh. Futran Solutions provides IT services in artificial intelligence, big data sciences, web development, and mobile apps development. The company serves variegated industries like life sciences, insurance, finance, gaming, retail and media and communications. In view of its expanding spectrum of services in the mobile app development scene, Futran Solutions has strategically decided to add more knowledge and expertise to their existing processes. The acquisition of Apportunity Futureware is being viewed upon as an extension of the exercise. Mr. R. Narayan, COO of Futran Solutions said: With this acquisition, Futran Solutions can now address all small and large corporations with their web and mobile applications. Apportunity will lend us agility in the development of iOS, Android, Web based applications. Apart from this, Apportunity brings a range of capabilities in appification such as, Market Viability analysis, suctioning, UI/UX, Development, testing, market strategy, app launching solutions, etc. Apportunity has provided exclusive solutions for the mobile development needs of startups as well as well-established enterprises. Mrs. Jyoti Vazirani, President, Futran Solutions, reiterated: We went ahead with this strategic acquisition to give Futran the opportunity to offer its clients mobile development solutions and acquire new clients who are in need of mobile development solutions right from the idea to the opportunity. About the companies Futran Solutions, Inc. is a full-service IT organization with solutions in big data, artificial intelligence, web and mobile development. Apportunity is an integrated app development company that services both web and mobile platforms. It also extends into services like app testing, mobile app launching solutions and mobile application viability analysis. For more information, please contact: Public Relations, Futran Solutions Phone: 732-236-8877 Email: vjyoti(at)futransolutions(dot)com Families love introducing their kids to the language and culture of another country while knowing their children are safe, happy and cared for by their au pair. AuPairCare, the nations leading au pair agency that matches American families with international au pairs, was named the Best Nanny Agency in the East Bay, Peninsula, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco/Marin areas as part of the Bay Area Parent Magazines Best of the Bay Contest. The contest asks Bay Area Parent Magazine readers to rank their favorite businesses in a wide variety of industries, and this year, voters in each part of the Bay Area agreed that AuPairCare was the best nanny agency. http://www.bayareaparent.com/Article/Best-Nanny-Services-in-the-Bay-Area/ The au pair program is unique as it combines cultural exchange and personalized childcare. Families benefit by bringing an international au pair into their home to provide consistent childcare, while also being exposed to new cultures, languages and experiences. Sarah McNamara, Senior Vice President of AuPairCare. For more than 25 years, AuPairCare has been committed to matching Bay Area parents, and parents from around the country with live-in au pairs. Our greatest success and validation is having the trust and approval of the families we serve. Each year, Bay Area Parent Magazine, which provides parenting news and information for Bay Area families, names the most reputable businesses across the East Bay, Peninsula, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco/Marin areas as chosen by its readers. AuPairCare has won awards for being one of the best nanny agencies in each region for the last five years. But this year, AuPairCare was named the best in all four areas a clean sweep. Families love introducing their kids to the language and culture of another country while knowing their children are safe, happy and cared for by their au pair, said McNamara. We are deeply honored to be named the best nanny agency across the Bay Area and would like to thank all of the AuPairCare participants and Bay Area Parent readers for their continued support. About AuPairCare AuPairCare is a leading au pair agency providing a cultural exchange program to American families since 1989. Designated by the U.S. Department of State, AuPairCare has connected more than 60,000 au pairs with American families across the U.S., benefitting families and au pairs alike with a childcare environment rooted in cultural exchange. AuPairCare is a division of Intrax, a family of organizations that provide a lifetime of high quality educational, work and volunteer programs that connect people and cultures. Intrax is headquartered in San Francisco with offices on four continents. To find an au pair to fit your familys needs visit http://www.aupaircare.com. Whether you have a military installation right in your backyard, in a neighboring region, or anywhere in Maryland, they can have a profound impact on your community. The Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) is hosting its Fall Conference entitled Marylands Unique Economic & Innovative Driver from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23 at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park. Understanding how to capitalize on business opportunities with local military installations is pivotal to Maryland's growth. The conference will guide economic developers to position companies in ways to capitalize on opportunities military installations provide across the state. By the end of the conference, attendees will leave understanding how to take advantage of the military as an economic driver. Whether you have a military installation right in your backyard, in a neighboring region, or anywhere in Maryland, they can have a profound impact on your community, said MEDA President Kimberly Clark, Our Fall Conference will have expert speakers and panelists that highlight these opportunities for our attendees. Brigadier General Mike Hayes USMC (Ret.), director of the office of military affairs for the Maryland Department of Commerce, will open the conference sharing his unique perspective of the various bases throughout Maryland. He will share how economic developers can identify the key sectors for their businesses and the expansive role economic developers can play in their region. Leslie Taylor, executive director of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), joins the conference conversations as a luncheon keynote speaker. As the CEO of an entity with over 14,000 personnel, her comments will address how naval aviation is fairing in a climate of increased global threats, readiness challenges and budget uncertainty. She will also provide insight about the importance of partnering with industry and academia to assist in the commercialization of NAWCAD inventions for use in the private sector and the importance of educational partnerships for workforce development. The MEDA Fall Conference will round out the conversation with three panel discussions that include experts who will discuss forming alliances, leveraging installations, and creating compelling military drivers for economic development: Alliances for Cooperation Panel Rear Admiral Tim Heely USN (Ret.), Executive Vice President, Southern Maryland Navy Alliance Tim OFerrall, General Manager, Ft. Meade Alliance Leveraging Installations as Innovation Drivers Panel Moderator: Christopher Wilhelm, Ph.D., Customer Advocate for Science and Technology Lead, Office of Research and Technology Applications Ron Kaese, Director, Federal Programs, Maryland Technology Development Corporation Charles Daitch, Ph.D., CEO, and Founder, Akonni Biosystems Tom Sanders, Managing Director, and CEO, Coherent Technical Services, Inc. Effective Military Drivers for Economic Development Panel Moderator: Helga Weschke, Director, Federal Business Relations, Maryland Department of Commerce Ashley Buzzeo, Managing Director at the Center for GIS, Towson University TBA, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers Mary Lee Kolich, Procurement Specialist & Certified CVE Counselor, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers Rick Decker, Executive Director, Regional Additive Manufacturing Partnership of Maryland (RAMPMD) The conference is part of MEDAs seventh annual Economic Development Week, which takes place from Oct. 22 through Oct. 28. St. Marys County Department of Economic Development sponsors the Fall Conference along with MEDA premier sponsors, The Maryland Department of Commerce and the Maryland Department of Housing & Community Development, who are also sponsoring MEDAs seventh annual Economic Development Week. Additional sponsors of Economic Development Week include Comcast/NBCUniversal and the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO). To learn more or to register for the MEDA Fall Conference, visit http://www.medamd.com. About MEDA MEDA enhances the knowledge and skills of its members and encourages partnerships and networking among those committed to bringing jobs and investment to Maryland. In addition to quarterly conferences, members have access to opportunities, discounts, and scholarships for professional development. They may also participate in awards programs that highlight innovative economic development, redevelopment and marketing projects and programs in the state of Maryland. ### MEDIA CONTACT Sandy Sponaugle, Program Manager Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) sandy@medamd.com 301-358-9255 In the latest article for The Legal Intelligencer, The Grand Bargain Becomes the Grand Betrayal, Managing Partner Sam Pond and Attorney Maureen Morty Cassidy explain the history of the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act and its ongoing erosion. One of the greatest political compromises in history, the Grand Bargain exchanged the constitutional right of an injured worker to sue their employer for the guarantee of workers' compensation benefits to cover lost wages and medical treatment. Today, that certainty and the humanitarian foundation of the Act itself are under constant attack across America. Changes in policy are making it harder for workers to receive the benefits they deserve. American citizens have all given up the right to sue employers in the event of an injury or death, but it has not made anything more certain, Partner Pond and Associate Cassidy explain. A trade was made, a bargain struck and it must be kept or abandoned altogether, but a farce and shell of a system cannot be allowed. Partner Pond and Associate Cassidy explain in detail how a long line of alleged reforms to the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act, most recently represented by House Bill 18, seek to remove the rights of injured workers and deny them adequate medical care, turning the Grand Bargain into a Grand Betrayal. We are honored to welcome Gordon and Newton Group Transfers into the community Gordon Newton, President of Newton Group Transfers - a timeshare exit company based in Gilbert, Arizona - has been accepted into the Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Mr. Newton joins other Forbes Agency Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on Forbes.com. Forbes Councils combines an innovative, high-touch approach to community management perfected by the team behind Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) with the extensive resources and global reach of Forbes. As a result, Forbes Council members get access to the people, benefits and expertise they need to grow their businesses and a dedicated member concierge who acts as an extension of their own team, providing personalized one-on-one support. I am excited to be added to the list of thought leaders on the Forbes Agency Council and I look forward to being an active member, sharing both business and consumer insights with the Forbes community, said Newton, whose company has risen to be a trusted name in the field of timeshare exit over the past decade. Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, We are honored to welcome Gordon and Newton Group Transfers into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world. About Newton Group Transfers For over a decade, the management team at Newton Group Transfers has been passionate about helping timeshare owners and during this time has helped thousands of timeshare owners successfully exit their timeshares. The company maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and offers a financial commitment guarantee that is unmatched in the industry, as well as a 100% money back guarantee. To learn more about Newton Group Transfers, visit NewtonGroupTransfers.com. About Forbes Councils Forbes partnered with the founders of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to launch Forbes Councils, invitation-only communities for world-class business professionals in a variety of industries. Members, who are hand-selected by each Councils community team, receive personalized introductions to each other based on their specific needs and gain access to a wide range of business benefits and services, including best-in-class concierge teams, personalized connections, peer-to-peer learning, a business services marketplace, and the opportunity to share thought leadership content on Forbes.com. For more information about Forbes Agency Council, visit https://forbesagencycouncil.com/. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com. Great Place to Work 2017- Dalton Pharma Services Daltons success is a result of how we value our employees and encourage work-life balance Building a culture in which employees are valued, while professional and personal development is encouraged, has been a key to inspiring Dalton employees to do great work. This has played a major role in attracting and retaining talented people from around the world and has been a critical factor in creating a vibrant and award-winning workplace. Our corporate culture is a product of the cumulative traits of the great people we have attracted and retained over the years. Daltons success is the result of how we value our employees and encourage work-life balance, explained Peter Pekos, President and CEO. This has helped instill the passion essential to providing exceptional expertise for our customer needs. Our staff shares an inspiring CAN DO attitude and a desire to support the pharmaceutical industry in developing life-saving medicines." About Dalton Pharma Services: Dalton Pharma Services is a leading cGMP pharmaceutical organization providing integrated drug discovery, development and manufacturing services. We are FDA registered and Health Canada approved and bring over 30 years of experience to every project. We deliver fully integrated solutions with an emphasis on speed, flexibility and quality. We are experts in Custom Synthesis, cGMP API Manufacturing, Formulation Development, API Process Development, Sterile Filling Services and Accelerated Stability Testing. To learn more about Dalton visit http://www.dalton.com. About Great Place to Work: GPTW (http://www.greatplacetowork.ca) is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, GPTW recognizes the world's Best Workplaces in a series of national lists including those published by Fortune magazine (USA) and The Globe & Mail (Canada). Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. Follow GPTW online at http://www.greatplacetowork.ca and on Twitter at @GPTW_Canada Partner David F. Stern taught a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course, The Basics of Workers Compensation Law for Third Party Counsel, at personal injury law firm Kline and Specter to an audience of twenty five attorneys. Mr. Stern discussed the important nuances in workers compensation law that have a potential impact on third party personal injury cases. He explained various impacts workers compensation litigation and settlements can have on the outcome of third party matters. Mr. Stern went over Section 319 of the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act that sets forth the Employers right to subrogation and strategies for workers compensation counsel and personal injury counsel to use together to get the best result for the injured worker. Subrogation, by definition, is the Employers right to recover monies from the injured workers third party suit, based on how much was paid in the workers compensation matter. It is a very complex set of laws and Mr. Stern lectured on some important strategy ideas. He also discussed various exceptions in the law that may make a work injury compensable in Pennsylvania, despite initial facts that might lead personal injury counsel to believe otherwise. Mr. Stern illustrated the various benefits available to an injured worker under the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act. There was a lengthy and engaging question and answer session. In September, Vets Advocacy, the nonprofit created in the landmark Valentini settlement agreement, secured a partnership with Los Angeles County to bring Measure H funding to the VA West Los Angeles Redevelopment Project in an unprecedented move to better coordinate federal and county resources for homeless veterans. In March, L.A. County voters overwhelmingly approved Measure H, a $355 million dedicated annual funding stream for 10 years to combat homelessness through services and rental subsidies. Vets Advocacy successfully advocated for, negotiated, and coordinated the first deployment of Measure H funding to the VA West Los Angeles campus under Homeless Initiative Strategy D7. Step Up on Second, currently the only permanent supportive housing provider on the campus, will receive these Measure H funds as a beneficiary of the Measure H program for the VA West Los Angeles campus. The VA West Los Angeles Redevelopment Project represents the single largest planned homeless housing development in Los Angeles County. In January 2016, VA adopted the Draft Master Plan Framework in an effort to build at least 1,200 supportive housing units for homeless veterans on the VAs storied 388-acred campus in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to latest 2017 Point-In-Time Count, there are 4,828 homeless veterans throughout Los Angeles County. Vets Advocacy plans to announce this first-of-its-kind Measure H partnership with the County and Step Up on Second at a town hall event on October 18, 2017. At the town hall, Vets Advocacy will present real estate development experts with decades of experience in urban planning and complex veteran housing projects. Other speakers at the town hall will include representatives from Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative as well as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who will present on the planned Purple Line stop on the campus.. The Countys commitment to dedicate Measure H funding to the West LA VA Redevelopment Project clearly shows the County is serious about its promise of coordinating Measure H dollars with other agencies and service providers involved in fighting homelessness and leveraging resources to stretch them farther, said Jesse Creed, Executive Director of Vets Advocacy. This partnership fulfills two key commitments LA County made to voters with Measure H to provide services to homeless veterans and coordinate with other government programs, agencies, and service providers to enhance the homeless services delivery system said Leticia Colchado of L.A. Countys Homeless Initiative. Aaron Criswell, Step Up on Second Vice President of Housing Services, added This funding will go directly to the aid of the vets living on campus. It will allow Step Up to enhance the supportive services staffing available and increase the efforts to turn 54 tenants into a thriving and viable community. Arjuna Solutions, an artificial intelligence company specializing in non-profit fundraising solutions, announced today that Michael Gorriaran has joined the company in the new role of Senior Vice President. Gorriaran brings decades of experience in scaling cloud software solutions, including 10 years at Microsoft, where he most recently served as General Manager of the Worldwide Commercial Markets Strategy Group. In that capacity, Gorriaran was responsible for leading Microsofts transition from software to cloud services, outpacing competitors like Google, VMware, and Amazon. While at Microsoft, Gorriaran received the Corporate Circle of Excellence Platinum Club Award for his outstanding work and leadership. Gorriaran also recently served as Managing Partner at Veo Consulting group, where he designed cloud-specific go-to-market strategies for multinational corporations and emerging technology companies. Having managed multi-billion dollar departments in markets all over the world, Gorriaran brings a much-needed global mindset to Arjuna Solutions, and more specifically to ExactAsk, Arjunas artificial intelligence product for non-profits. ExactAsk is dedicated to increasing the revenues of U.S. based non-profits on an international scale. Im really excited to be joining the talented Arjuna Solutions team and helping them fulfill their mission to improve non-profit fundraising, said Gorriaran. We are thrilled to have such a gifted and proven executive coming aboard, says Arjuna Solutions CEO Adam Treiser. ExactAsk will benefit from Mr. Gorriarans experience in a variety of ways, and his arrival will aid the company in continuing to expand our footprint in the non-profit sector. About Arjuna: Arjuna Solutions is a data science company based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in predictive analytics solutions. Their products include Persanalytix, which analyzes marketing data and provides advanced insights, and ExactAsk, which uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm to determine personalized ask amounts for non-profit donors, helping to increase fundraising revenues. NAF is thrilled to announce that Capital One has joined its growing list of corporate partners supporting NAFTrack Certified Hiring. Uniting with some of Americas fastest growing industries, including KPMG, Lenovo and Verizon, Capital One is amplifying its commitment to support students and recognize those that have achieved NAFTrack Certification. NAFTrack Certified Hiring is the groundbreaking promise by a growing number of top companies to support eventual job applicants who have completed the NAF course of study and graduated from high school, enrolled in college, and earned NAFTrack Certification. These benefits may include pre-interview and resume support, access to paid internships, and more. NAFTrack Certification is gained through careful assessment of student performance displayed in course exams, project, and internships. Capital Ones partnership with NAF kicked off in 2009, and Sanjiv Yajnik, President, Capital One Financial Services, serves on NAFs Board of Directors as Treasurer. For nearly a decade, Capital One has dedicated its resources and associate talent to provide work-based learning and mentoring experiences to NAF students. This support comes as part of Capital Ones Future Edge initiative to help more Americans with the skills, tools and resources they need to succeed in an ever-changing digitally-driven economy. As part of this initiative, Future Edge DFW symbolizes Capital Ones commitment to make Dallas-Fort Worth a destination for top talent, spur growth as a world-renowned technology hub, and nurture leaders of tomorrow. Capital One has provided more than 70 internships to NAF students in the Dallas area. Capital One also piloted NAF Future Ready Labs in North Texas during the summer of 2017. The program is an innovative concept designed to scale the quality of meaningful internship experiences for high school students preparing for future careers. The internship was the first of its kind in finance, hospitality, and engineering. Capital One hosted approximately 20 student interns at its Plano campus and the University of Texas-Dallas (UTD). The program provides high-school students an opportunity to put their education into practice in a unique work environment with support from a corporate partner. In partnership with Capital One, NAF is improving college and career prospects for students by focusing on specific geographies where NAFs design and support services, Capital Ones corporate citizenship and resources, and local district and community commitment align. NAF President, JD Hoye, said, We are honored to welcome Capital One to our roster of NAFTrack Certified Hiring partners. Capital One has been steadfast in its commitment for several years, and Id like to thank this organization for the tremendous difference its support has made and will continue to make for thousands of high school students across the nation. We look forward to many more years of dynamic partnership together. Capital One looks forward to supporting NAFTrack certified students in achieving their professional aspirations, said Sanjiv Yajnik, President, Capital One Financial Services. Through our NAF partnership, we are helping our future workforce build expertise today to help them be more competitive for jobs tomorrow. About NAF NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure that high school students are college, career, and future ready. NAF works with high need communities to transform the high school experience through an educational design that includes industry-specific curricula, work-based learning experiences, and relationships with business professionals, culminating in a paid internship. NAF academies fit within and enhance school systems, allowing NAF to become an integral part of a plan for higher achievement at a low cost. NAF academies focus on one of five career themes: finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences. During the 2016-17 school year, more than 96,000 students attended 675 NAF academies across 36 states, including D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2016, NAF academies reported 96% of seniors graduated with 92% of graduates with post-secondary intentions. For more information, please visit: http://naf.org/ About Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation (http://www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $239.8 billion in deposits and $350.6 billion in total assets as of June 30, 2017. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has branches located primarily in New York, Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COF and is included in the S&P 100 index. Armando and Alfredo Ulloa won The Ultimate Pitch contest in 2017 for their innovation: Let's Hang The Innovations Center is a life changing moment for an innovator in the creative arts space, says Mark Hill, President and Chief Executive Officer, AFCI. The Association For Creative Industries (AFCI) is looking for entrepreneurs who have an innovative product or idea to enter its Innovations Center program for the chance to exhibit at Creativation and participate in The Ultimate Pitch competition to win $10,000. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2017 at 11:59pm EDT. The Innovations Center is a life changing moment for an innovator in the creative arts space, says Mark Hill, President and Chief Executive Officer, AFCI. The individuals who are selected will gain significant exposure to major retail chains, distributors, manufacturers and marketing companies, and could win $10,000 to turn their idea into a tangible product. Up to 25 candidates will be chosen to showcase their invention in the Innovations Center at the tradeshow portion of Creativation, which will take place January 20-22, 2018. Up to five of those candidates will then be selected to pitch their brainchild to a panel of industry leaders during The Ultimate Pitch contest on Monday, January 22. Each innovator will get five minutes to pitch their innovation and five minutes of critique from the judges. One innovation will be awarded a cash prize of $10,000 and launched as the Top Creative Innovation of 2018. The panel of judges will include executives from Michaels, Joann, HSN and Crayola. Last year, Armando and Alfredo Ulloa, the brother duo from Dallas, Texas, won the grand prize of $10,000 for their product, Lets Hang, a tool that helps you hang frames and pictures level and precise. Its kind of crazy. We never expected to get the response that we got. says Armando Ulloa. I would recommend anyone in our situation with a new tool, or a new invention, or a new product to come to Creativation. Its overwhelming, but its awesome. The submission deadline is Monday, October 31, 2017 at 11:59pm ET. To enter and receive more information, visit http://www.CreativationShow.org. ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION FOR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES The Association For Creative Industries (AFCI) is the premier trade association for the global creative arts products industries. AFCI strives to deliver innovative high value services as we support our Members who provide products and services to educate, entertain, and inspire creative consumers. Our Members include the manufacturers, retailers, distributors, designers, educators, digital content providers, professional makers and DIYers, and other creative professionals that comprise the $40 billion+ creative arts industries around the globe. For more information about AFCI, membership, or its annual Creativation trade event, visit http://www.afci.global. UC Berkeley undergraduates are enrolling at Mills for the first Biology course sequence, where smaller classes allow for more direct interaction with faculty. Both institutions have so much to offer, and this new partnership allows us to make the most of our differences and complement each others strengths. Its our hope that the collaboration will grow in the coming years, and that students will take full advantage of the new options available to them. Two East Bay higher education institutions located only nine miles apart geographically but worlds apart in many other respects have formed a partnership that will leverage their respective strengths and help maximize limited resources while enriching the student experience. It also aims to address the four-year capacity issue in California. The unique agreement between the University of California, Berkeley and Mills College will be commemorated at Mills on Thursday, October 19, when the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding will take place. This new collaboration, developed by a joint task force, builds on the institutions longstanding relationship, which in part has enabled students to cross-register for classes. Encouraged by earlier successes, leaders determined that the distinct challenges faced by their separate institutionssuch as capacity issues at UC Berkeley and enrollment issues at Millscould be mitigated by broadening students access to each others services and facilities. The result: UC Berkeley and Mills students will have access to a myriad of opportunities that do not exist at their own institution. IMPETUS FOR COLLABORATION The partnership speaks to the separate set of issues facing state-run universities and small, independent colleges across the country. Many public universitiesincluding many of the UC campuseslack the capacity to place all of the qualified applicants looking to enroll, and tend to have large class sizes. Smaller private colleges may not be able to offer many of the opportunities provided by larger public, government-supported institutions. Both institutions approach this MOU with the understanding that such a collaboration must be nimble enough to evolve in response to changing strategic directions at each institution. This is a win-win for our students and our institutions, said Carol T. Christ, chancellor at UC Berkeley and the architect of the collaboration, which she conceived while serving as the universitys executive vice chancellor and provost, in collaboration with former Chancellor Dirks and President Elizabeth L. Hillman of Mills College. With our campuses only a few miles apart, we can each provide solutions to some of the others challenges, and in turn give our students a fuller college experience. Were excited about this new opportunity for our students and the East Bay community, said Elizabeth L. Hillman, president of Mills College. Both institutions have so much to offer, and this new partnership allows us to make the most of our differences and complement each others strengths. Its our hope that the collaboration will grow in the coming years, and that students will take full advantage of the new options available to them. EFFORTS ALREADY UNDERWAY The expanded collaboration is already underway, with several other projects scheduled to roll out in the near future. Those currently in operation include: Undergraduate Biology at Mills: UC Berkeley undergraduates are enrolling at Mills for the first Biology course sequence, where smaller classes will allow for more direct interaction with faculty. Housing: Currently, 25 UC Berkeley students are living in Mills residence halls, helping to ease UC Berkeleys housing shortage. 4+1 MBA or Masters in Management (MM) at Mills: UC Berkeley undergraduate students who complete the prerequisite course during their undergraduate work, or who take the BASE program or summer accounting program, can have an accelerated pathway to an MM or MBA at Mills. Summer Study Abroad and Global Internships: Mills students now can join summer Berkeley Study Abroad programs, as well as Global Internships, providing Mills students with a wider range of opportunities and helping UC Berkeley to fill slots to make the programs financially viable. Future plans envision deeper collaborations such as semesters in residence or joint degree programs. MODEL FOR OTHER CALIFORNIA CAMPUSES Task force members expect the UC Berkeley/Mills collaboration to serve as a model for other UC campuses and their neighboring liberal arts colleges around the state, many of which are coping with the same challenges faced by the East Bay institutions. We believe were developing an effective partnership that can be replicated elsewhere, and will help to resolve capacity and curriculum issues that continue to affect many of our counterparts, said Christ. The signing ceremony will be held from 12:00 pm1:30 pm at Mills Colleges Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business and Public Policy in the Gathering Hall. "I would recommend their process and expertise to anyone considering a business sale. It truly was an Optimal Outcome. - Lance Downs NETX Pallet is a wood pallet manufacturer located in Clarksville, Texas. Exit Partners represented the former owner, Lance Downs, in the sale. It was a great experience working with Exit Partners. In a short time frame, they secured numerous offers for me to consider, from both financial and strategic acquirers. Ultimately, I chose the best fit for myself as an owner, and the company going forward. I would recommend their process and expertise to anyone considering a business sale. It truly was an Optimal Outcome. Founded in 1989, North East Texas Pallet primarily served customers in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Kansas. Producing over 100 truckloads weekly, the Clarksville facility manufactures standard, block and export pallets. PalletOne Chief Executive Officer Howe Wallace said, "We are excited to expand our market share in Texas. This acquisition enhances our operational efficiency and customer service. We are proud to have such a capable group of managers and employees join our team and excited Lance will continue with the company as a part of our leadership team." Exit Partners is a M&A advisory firm based in Plano, TX providing sell-side, buy-side, and strategic advisory services to well-positioned companies across many industries. Organized in 2001 from predecessor companies, PalletOne now operates 17 locations in 9 states and manufactures new pallets, repairs and recycles used pallets and produces a variety of other wood products. The combined operations of PalletOne process more than 500 million board feet of lumber annually and employs more than 1,500 people at 21 locations. What do you need to know? In 2012, the United States Congress enacted the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century bill, which included a provision requiring the FMCSA to develop a rule mandating the use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). The purpose of the ELD was to electronically record a drivers Record of Duty Status (RODS), which replaces the paper log book that drivers use to record their compliance with Hours of Service (HOS) requirements. In December 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published the final electronic logging device rule, or ELD Mandate. In accordance with the mandate, fleets have until December 2017 to implement certified ELDs to record HOS. Additionally, fleets that are already equipped with ELD technology will have until December 2019 to ensure compliance with the published specifications. What does an ELD do? ELDs installed in motor vehicles can monitor and record a whole host of data about the vehicle and its driver that go beyond RODS from Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) to driver behavior reporting on speeding, idling, and hard braking. Many systems are capable of integrating map and route optimization solutions as well, which can help drivers navigate through the best routes on any given day. What are the benefits of ELD? Besides being in compliance and avoiding heavy fees, many fleets are already seeing the benefits of ELDs, such as: Saves the drive time by reducing paperwork Keeps a dispatcher updated on a drivers status, while letting them plan for loads better in light of HOS compliance needs Reduces the hassle of keeping a paper Tracks a drivers HOS electronically Ensures drive segments are capture through being integrally synchronized with a trucks engine Synchronizes driver with fleet manager by passing data to a system where one can see e-logs in a near real-time basis Save money by reducing fuel costs Can I use rugged smartphones and tablets instead? Knowing that there is a cost burden associated with adopting new technology, the FMCSA has authorized the use of rugged handhelds, smartphones, and tablets as the system as a whole meets ELD requirements, including a hardwired connection to the trucks engine. This helps address the start-up costs associated with some of the HOS compliance systems. Furthermore, most truck drivers are already using rugged devices as part of their other operations, such as direct store delivery, signature capture, route optimization, and inventory management. They also allow the drivers the flexibility to choose from a wide range of mobile devices that they are comfortable using. What are some mobile device options? While there are hundreds of devices to choose from, here are some of the newest technologies that are ideal for the on-the-go driver: To learn more about the ELD Mandate or to get a free consultation on an ELD hardware and software solution, reach out to one of our Barcodes, Inc. representatives at 1-800-351-9962. Photo by Victoria Chamberlin | victoriachamberlin.com The curricular units will be based on the Responding section of the 2014 Music Standards, which deals with how musicians learn about the social, cultural, and historical contexts of the pieces they perform. Ten music educators from across the nation convened in Reston, VA, October 15-17 to begin working on writing curriculum units for band and orchestra classrooms. Supported by a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress, these teachersfive band and five orchestrawill be writing curriculum units based on primary archival materials from the Library connected to music. The curricular units will be based on the Responding section of the 2014 Music Standards. This section of the voluntary national music standards deals with how musicians learn about the social, cultural, and historical contexts of the pieces they perform. The teachers began drafting the curriculum and visited the Library of Congress during their time in Washington, D.C., working with the professional librarians in the performing arts and recorded sound specialty centers in the Library of Congress. The teachers will then complete the curriculum, meeting virtually throughout the months of NovemberJanuary, at which time the units will be piloted by band and orchestra teachers across the country. Teachers interested in piloting should contact Johanna Siebert, project director, at JohannaJSiebert(at)gmail.com. The 2017-2018 Teaching with Primary Sources curriculum writers for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) include: BAND Chair, Armalyn De La O, San Bernardino, CA Theresa Hulihan, Phoenix, AZ Jenny Neff, Bala Cynwyd, PA Jesse D. Espinosa, Houston, TX Amanda Tierson, Webster, NY ORCHESTRA Chair, Susan Davis, Queens, NY Rebecca Holmes, Reserve, LA Beth Fortune, Seattle, WA Laura Smith, San Diego, CA Patricia Ritchie, Omaha, NE The 2017-2018 school year marks the second year of this proposed three-year project with the Library of Congress. Curricular units for Chorus and General Music classrooms were created last year, and are available for use by any music or classroom teacher in the country. ### National Association for Music Education, among the worlds largest arts education organizations, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. NAfME advocates at the local, state, and national levels; provides resources for teachers, parents, and administrators; hosts professional development events; and offers a variety of opportunities for students and teachers. The Association orchestrates success for millions of students nationwide and has supported music educators at all teaching levels for more than a century. With more than 60,000 members, the organization is the national voice of music education in the United States. Follow NAfME on Twitter and on Facebook. For additional information, contact Catherina Hurlburt at catherinah(at)nafme.org or 703-860-4000, ext. 216. Our ecommerce platform that went live earlier this year is powered by the HighRadius payments gateway that allows us to comply with PCI-DSS guidelines and works seamlessly with our ERP HighRadius Corporation will host an online workshop featuring Hubbell Incorporated on October 19th at 1:00 PM Central Time. Attendees of the workshop will learn how to comply with PCI-DSS while processing credit card payments at a fraction of the cost. Hubbell, a 130-year-old electrical and electronic products manufacturer with annual revenues of $3.67 billion, had historically processed credit card payments in offline terminals. Typical of most receivables teams, Hubbell was concerned about PCI-DSS compliance, payment reconciliation overheads, disconnected back-end processes and the rising costs of processing card payments. In 2016, Hubbell embarked on an ambitious project to launch an enterprise payments platform while consolidating payment acceptance for more than 70 public facing websites. Leveraging close integration with their ERP system and third-generation card tokenization, the team plans to significantly reduce compliance and payment processing costs. Join Hubbells Paul Cahill, Director of Enterprise Project Management, Rajesh Dhuri, Director, Systems Development, and Mike Sheer, Senior Systems Analyst as they share best practices for deploying an integrated, secure solution to process card payments. We needed an enterprise payments platform that could consolidate credit card payment acceptance at about 10 business units. Our ecommerce platform that went live earlier this year is powered by the HighRadius payments gateway that allows us to comply with PCI-DSS guidelines and works seamlessly with our ERP states Paul. Title: The Four Challenges of Credit Card Processing: How Hubbell Plans to Cut Processing Costs by 50% while Achieving PCI-DSS Compliance Date and Time: October 19th, 1:00pm Central Time The webinar will also be co-presented by Travis Jones, Enterprise Account Executive at HighRadius. To join, please click here. About Hubbell Hubbell Incorporated was founded by Harvey Hubbell as a proprietorship in 1888, and was incorporated in Connecticut in 1905. Hubbell design, manufacture and sell electrical and electronic products for non-residential and residential construction, industrial and utility applications. The Companys reporting segments consist of the Electrical segment (comprising electrical systems products and lighting products) and the Power segment. Hubbells manufacturing facilities are located in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the People's Republic of China ("China"), Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia and maintains sales offices in Singapore, China, India, Mexico, South Korea, and countries in the Middle East. Hubbell was previously headquartered in Orange, Connecticut, and has now moved its headquarters to Shelton, Connecticut. About HighRadius Corporation HighRadius is a Fintech enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company. The HighRadius Integrated Receivables platform optimizes cash flow through automation of receivables and payments processes across credit, collections, cash application, deductions, electronic billing and payment processing. Powered by the Rivana Artificial Intelligence Engine, HighRadius Integrated Receivables enables teams to leverage machine learning for accurate decision making and future outcomes. The RadiusOne B2B payment network allows suppliers to digitally connect with buyers, closing the loop from supplier receivable processes to buyer payable processes. HighRadius solutions have a proven track record of optimizing cash flow, reducing days sales outstanding (DSO) and bad debt, and increasing operational efficiency so that companies may achieve strong ROI in just a few months. For more information contact: Taylor Bartlett Marketing Coordinator taylor.bartlett@highradius.com By partnering with the SC&R Foundation offering CICB Workforce Grants and promoting careers in the industry with Lift & Move USA, we are encouraging those who might otherwise not consider or even be aware of the opportunities available. Continuing their mission to upgrade the skills and certification of the current workforce and provide a continuous pipeline of trained and educated workers entering the field, Crane Inspection & Certification Bureau (CICB) has entered into a partnership with the SC&R Foundation to provide worthy applicants with grants for Crane Operator Training and NCCCO Certificate Courses. The grants, which are open to the public through the SC&R Foundation are awarded to individuals pursing a career in the specialized transportation, crane, or rigging industry. Typically applicants are seeking skills and/or certification as a Crane Operator or Rigger. We are extremely pleased to assist the SC&R Foundation in opening up doors to those wishing to enter the crane and rigging industry or for those needing certification to continue their careers said Craig Epperson, CEO of CICB. Recently, CICB established the first and only career school in the Houston area approved and regulated by Texas Workforce Commission Career Schools and Colleges to train and certify individuals as crane operators and riggers. With the aging of the baby-boomer workforce and the tremendous amount of construction occurring from the Texas coast to the Florida panhandle, the current labor shortage has become a crisis continued Epperson. By partnering with the SC&R Foundation offering CICB Workforce Grants and promoting careers in the industry with Lift & Move USA, we are encouraging those who might otherwise not consider or even be aware of the opportunities available. For information on the grants and deadlines, visit the SC&R Foundation website, http://www.scr-foundation.org ABOUT CICB: Headquartered in Orlando, FL since 1969 with a second training facility in Houston, TX, Crane Inspection & Certification Bureau (CICB) provides customized training for every type of lifting equipment and inspection services worldwide. CICB's professionally trained instructors and subject matter experts are not only NCCCO Accredited Practical Examiners, but are NCCCO Certified as Mobile, Overhead & Articulating Crane Operators, Riggers, Signalpersons, Lift Directors and Crane Inspectors. CICB's instructors have been awarded the prestigious Top Trainer Award in 2017, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2009. Lucas Group Brandi Jones is a talented young marketer who brings a fresh perspective to our digital strategy projects Lucas Group, North Americas premier executive recruiting firm, announced the new hire of Brandi Jones as Marketing Coordinator. Jones will assist with public relations, content marketing, and social media marketing. Brandi Jones is a talented young marketer who brings a fresh perspective to our digital strategy projects, says Chief Marketing Officer Scott Smith. As a testament to her drive, shes jumped into full-time work with our team while simultaneously completing her MBA. As Lucas Group continues to grow, passionate marketers like Jones are key to showcasing the consultative services and deep expertise our Associates bring to every relationship. Jones graduated summa cum laude from Florida Southern College with a degree in Business Administration and Integrated Marketing Communications. She will receive her MBA from Florida Southern College in December. Prior to joining Lucas Group, Jones interned with SPCA Florida, acting as a liaison between the marketing director and community partners. She created new marketing collateral and used demographic data and research to improve SPCA Floridas outreach initiatives. At Lucas Group, Jones is supporting marketing projects including the management of YourCareerIntel.com, Lucas Groups online hub for career advice. Lucas Group specializes in Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Manufacturing, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing recruitment. Taking pride in the professional growth and career advancement of its associates, Lucas Group provides clear career path trajectories together with the industrys most sophisticated onboarding and ongoing educational programming. About Lucas Group Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Jayson Lusk, 2017 Borlaug CAST Communication Award winner For the eighth year in a row, the winner of the Borlaug CAST Communication Award (BCCA) was honored at a World Food Prize side event, and this year's recipient--Jayson Lusk--gave an insightful keynote address about "The Future of Food." A Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, Dr. Lusk achieved a B.S. in food technology from Texas Tech. Before diving into academic work at Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, and now Purdue, he obtained his Ph.D in agricultural economics from Kansas State. In 2015, Lusk was named a fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, and he has served on councils, chaired committees, written extensively, and become a valued voice in the realm of agricultural sciences. Recipients of CAST's annual award are science/ag experts who demonstrate an ability to communicate through written material, public presentations, and various forms of media. Lusk is a consummate communicator who promotes agricultural science and technology in the public arena using multiple forms of media to advocate for science. His blog explores how innovation and growth in agriculture are critical for food security and global progress. His most recent book, "Unnaturally Delicious: How Science and Technology Are Serving Up Super Foods to Save the World," explains how science and innovation are linked with feeding the growing global population. As one nominator wrote, "Lusk is an excellent columnist and blogger. His perspective is often surprising, and he engages the reader." After a breakfast sponsored by Syngenta, CAST Executive Vice President Kent Schescke and Syngenta's Dirk Drost spoke about Lusk's communication abilities and the many accomplishments that make him a perfect fit for this group of dynamic BCCA influencers. Then Julie Borlaug Larson (INARI Agriculture) spoke about her grandfather's legacy and his connections with CAST. She pointed out that Borlaug's words ring true today as much as ever. Larson praised Lusk for his communication abilities and encouraged all to "take it to the farmer, take it to the public." Dr. Helen Jensen of Iowa State University formally introduced Jayson Lusk, and he began his presentation by pointing out that he wanted to prove "an ag economist can be an effective and stimulating communicator." He spoke of the need to consider an emerging food movement and how to engage consumers who mistrust tech and innovation. Lusk points out that productivity and sustainability have improved with tech advancements. Using facts and surveys, he showed that precision agriculture benefits us all. He then stressed the importance of considering consumers and their values when communicating with the public. In an era of misinformation and polarization, Lusk is optimistic about "the future of food." The honor is presented annually by CAST, and this year the award was sponsored by Syngenta. Attendees included scientists, journalists, farmers from around the world, and dignitaries such as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey (and nominee for a USDA leadership role), Ambassador Kenneth Quinn (head of the World Food Prize), and Channapatna Prakash (Tuskegee University Dean and 2015 BCCA winner). Following Lusk's speech, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) organized a presentation and panel discussion--"Designing the Road out of Poverty: Ensuring Resource Access." Dr. Stephen Searcy (Texas A&M professor and ASABE president) introduced the session. Panelists included David Baltensperger (Texas A&M), Margaret Catley-Carsen (World Food Prize Committee), Geoff Graham (DuPont Pioneer), Timothy Williams (International Water Management Institute), and Jayson Lusk. The thought-provoking session was moderated by Indrajeet Chaubey (Purdue), and panelists focused on topics about food, energy, and water. The gathering ended with a Q & A session, providing each speaker with an opportunity to provide specifics about what works best for sustainable food production. Visit the CAST website at http://www.cast-science.org for updated information about the award, including nomination forms for the 2018 Borlaug CAST Communication Award. CAST, through its network of experts, assembles, interprets, and communicates credible, balanced, science-based information to policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public. Contact: Kent G. Schescke, CAST Executive Vice President Phone: 515-292-2125, ext. 231; E-mail: kschescke(at)cast-science.org Perq.com PERQ helps dealers make better online connections with buyers by creating an online guided shopping environment that rivals the experiences consumers get from big brand websites. PERQ, specialists in online guided shopping and consumer engagement, today announced that the company is a participant in the CDK Global Partner Program. As a member of the largest third-party partner program in the industry, PERQ is now part of a marketplace of applications and integration choices developed to help automotive dealers succeed. Were thrilled to be part of the CDK Global Partner Program which will make it easy for forward-thinking dealerships to take advantage of our unique online guided shopping solution, said Stephanie Ragozzino, EVP of Product at PERQ. PERQ helps dealers make better online connections with buyers by creating an online guided shopping environment that rivals the experiences consumers get from big brand websites all with just one line of code on their existing website. PERQs Online Guided Shopping Solution increases leads and improves close rates for dealerships by guiding online car shoppers with smart, interactive and connected experiences that replace traditional tools and static lead forms. No other solution improves the website customer journey in the intuitive way PERQ does: engaging car shoppers through their vehicle of interest, trade-in and test drive to researching incentives, handling deal arrangements and providing an interactive payment calculator. Were very pleased to introduce PERQ as the newest member of the CDK Global Partner Program, said Howard Gardner, vice president and general manager, CDK Data Services. PERQ is a welcome addition to our vibrant program that provides dealers with a range of partner choices and the assurance that their programs can be seamlessly integrated with our applications. The CDK Global Partner Program provides its partners with access to a diverse CDK ecosystem through the ability to integrate with a range of CDK applications, as well as with CDK dealer websites. Benefits of the PERQ Online Guided Shopping Solution include a 50-200% increase in unique lead submissions, an average lead-to-sale conversion increase of 10-50%, as well as 10% higher gross profits on website leads. Dealership case studies can be found here: https://perq.com/success-stories. About the CDK Global Partner Program The CDK Global Partner Program now numbers 300 partner companies that together offer more than 400 unique applications dealers can use to run their businesses. The CDK Partner Program provides data, workflow and website integration to a wide range of third parties, OEMs and dealers. Visit http://www.cdkglobal.com/partners. About CDK Global With more than $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global is a leading global provider of integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 28,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process from targeted digital advertising and marketing campaigns to the sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com. About PERQ PERQ (http://www.perq.com), a marketing technology provider, boosts website conversions by creating and delivering interactive experiences to the right consumers at the right time. Founded in 2001, PERQ solutions today are used by more than 1,000 businesses across the United States. PERQs brands have been named to the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America list on three separate occasions, and its Online Guided Selling Solution is a 2017 Gold Stevie Award winner for lead generation software and a 2017 Ventana Research Digital Innovation Award Winner for Marketing. PERQ Media Contacts Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, melanie(at)mwebbcom(dot)com or 949-307-1723 Angela Jacobson, mWEBB Communications, angela(at)mwebbcom(dot)com or 714-454-8776 The new version includes many client-requested features, so we're thrilled to demonstrate it to our users. High Line Corporation, which provides human resources management solutions for organizations with complex requirements, will co-host its regular users group conference with the High Line Customer Association (HLCA), Oct. 23-26 in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Highlighting the High Line Users Group (HUG) Conference 2017 is the unveiling of High Line's integrated HRMS version 5.04. The new version includes: Expanded WEB Services API Improved email and calendar integration Embedded organizational charting capabilities Media-rich onboarding and benefits enrolment processes Resume parsing 9-box talent management dashboard for managers and administrators Dashboard-driven self-service on mobile devices Updated self-service navigational framework "The new version includes many client-requested features, so we're thrilled to demonstrate it to our users," High Line President Megan Rogister said. "Our focus was on strengthening integration between our complementary solutions, building on superior usability and expanding our talent management capabilities." The conference will feature 17 education sessions, led by both High Line and client representatives. "HUG 2017 sessions will span the technical and functional topics most requested by clients," said Robert Forbes, Highline's Vice President of Client Support. Among the sessions are: WEB Services Automated Benefit Carrier Integration Open Enrollment Clocking Options Enhanced Reporting Advanced Workflow Hosting Services Product Roadmap Enhancements Roundtable "HUG is always a great opportunity for all of us to network and learn together with High Line," said Renee Mueller, president of the HLCA. "This promises to be another great conference." About High Line Corporation High Line Corporation develops, services and supports a fully integrated, highly configurable HRMS, available to be installed on-premise or delivered from the cloud. Our HRMS includes human resources, payroll, time and attendance, benefits, recruiting and talent management solutions for organizations with complex requirements. High Line's clients typically include unionized private sector, public sector and not-for-profit organizations, with more than 50 percent coming from the local government sector across North America. For more information, visit https://www.highlinecorp.com/. Press Contact Jeff Koven Sales Director Jkoven(at)highlinecorp(dot)com (905) 940-8777 ext. 2224 Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer visits UniKey's office "[UniKey is] a great example of what we're trying to do in the city. Every bit of our economic development strategy is aimed at creating amenities in our City that attracts all the bright young people like you guys to live and work in." UniKey Technologies, secure access control platform providers, announces plans to work with the City of Orlando on a eKey to the City campaign focused on unlocking possibilities by digitizing the city. The hope is to highlight the citys offerings and inspire innovation and collaboration in the metropolitan area by working with the City of Orlando, Orlando businesses, the University of Central Florida, and other tech companies. UniKey, founded in 2010 in Orlando, Florida, invented the mobile key platform and powered the first residential smart lock in 2013. The company has since expanded into the commercial and automotive industries and established 17 partnerships worldwide. UniKeys Founder and CEO, Phil Dumas, was born and raised in Central Florida and opened UniKeys headquarters in downtown Orlando to support the economic growth and tech development in the area. UniKey is focused on connecting the digital and physical worlds and the eKey to the City campaign is an extension of this vision. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer visited UniKeys office in early October and expressed excitement for the citys growth and support for continued tech companies in the city. "[UniKey is] a great example of what we're trying to do in the city. Every bit of our economic development strategy is aimed at creating amenities in our City that attracts all the bright young people like you guys to live and work in. I know this company could be located anywhere in the country but it's located here in Orlando, because of what our City has become in the last 10-15 years, stated Mayor Buddy Dyer while visiting UniKey. "We established UniKey in downtown Orlando because there are so many incredible resources that surround the region. Central Florida is also home to UCF, where you have one of the finest engineering and computer science programs in the world. The city is full of inspiring tech startups that connect and support one another and were excited to be a part of the continued growth and innovation in the area,states Dumas. ### About UniKey UniKey Technologies is the industry leader and pioneer of smart lock and access control platform technology. UniKey provides companies and manufacturers the ability to rapidly develop and deploy smart lock or access control products on a proven, scaled and secure platform. For more information about UniKey Technologies, please visit http://www.unikey.com. UniKey Contact Name: Hilary Pogarch Number: 248.891.3284 Email: hpogarch(at)unikey(dot)com BAASS Business Solutions will be hosting their 21st annual conference during the month of November at five different locations across Canada. BAASS is a long standing partner with Sage and anticipates to have a large Sage presence over the course of these events. In addition, Sage will be providing more information to our customers on their most recent acquisition of Sage Intacct. We are very excited to offer this opportunity to our customers in Canada says Joe Arnone, president of BAASS. We understand the importance of staying connected with the technology industry and being able to exchange expert knowledge and relevant education among the business community. During this unique one-day event, BAASS Connect will be working towards helping customers sharpen their technical skills, network with other attendees, partners, product leaders and BAASS consultants. Additionally, registrants will be given access to a wide variety of products and services offered by Sage and other authorized development partners. This year, the conference will be set to take place in Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, London and Burlington. Technology is a driving force that affects how business is being conducted. In todays changing market, Cloud-based software has significantly improved business efficiencies in countless industries. Scalability, minimal maintenance, real-time access to business data and high-level security are some of the many benefits of the Cloud system. As a product leader for over 25 years, BAASS has extensive involvement with Cloud migration and implementation. During BAASS Connect, experts in Cloud-based technology will be offering detailed insight to all attendees who are interested. Registration information and conference details are available online at http://www.baass.com/baassconnect2017. Participants interested may also contact BAASS via email at marketing(at)baass(dot)com or by following along with updates from our social media account on Twitter @BaassBiz using the hashtag #BAASSConnect17. About BAASS Business Solutions A team of knowledgeable and highly skilled IT professionals and consultants based in Toronto, Canada. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, BAASS provides a comprehensive range of services including needs assessment, management consulting, system design and configuration, software training and technical support in accounting, ERP, CRM, e-business, as well as custom solutions. For more information please visit http://www.baass.com or call 866-260-5302. Dont forget to connect with BAASS on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube! TSC Advantage named a 2017 Top 10 Managed Security Service Provider Our managed security services take a smart business approach for more strategic investments, proactive security, and advanced risk insights. TSC Advantage, an innovative leader in enterprise security assessments, managed security services, and cybersecurity consulting, was named among the Top 10 Managed Security Service Providers 2017 by Enterprise Security Magazine. As cyber threats continue to evolve day by day, businesses and organizations have been compelled to deploy effective and reliable managed security services against these threats, said Michael Brown, Managing Editor of Enterprise Security Magazine. We take pride in honoring TSC Advantage as one among the 10 companies that are featured in the Managed Security Service Special Edition. A distinguished panel comprising CEOs, CFOs, analysts, and Enterprise Security Magazines editorial board have selected the top players in the sector. Using best-in-class tools, TSC Advantage combines internal and external scanning, analysis, reporting, and mentoring to provide a top-tier vulnerability management program. This relieves businesses from the administrative and analytic burden of security. Over the past decade, weve heard from CIOs about resource challenges and organizational skills constraints, TSC Advantage founder and president Sean Doherty told Enterprise Security Magazine in an interview. Thats why our managed security services take a smart business approach. The outcome is more strategic investments, speedy results, proactive security, and advanced risk insights. TSC Advantage offers Managed Security Services tailored to needs and budgets: TSC Operated Full vulnerability management program including design, build, and operation of system; continuous analysis and reporting; TSC Advantage account manager TSC Supported Shared responsibility for vulnerability management, including as-needed scans, and analysis by a TSC Advantage security expert Customer Managed Guided implementation using TSC Advantages infrastructure About TSC Advantage TSC Advantage is a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) with 10 years of experience helping the federal government and Fortune 500 companies in the proactive and holistic defense of intellectual assets and sensitive information. A leader in enterprise security assessments, cybersecurity consulting and managed services, TSC Advantage has also partnered with leading global underwriters to provide pre- and post-binding risk assessments to support cyber insurance policies for the critical infrastructure market. In 2014 its methodology received Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act dt&e designation. Learn more about TSC Advantage enterprise security solutions. Visit https://tscadvantage.com/ About Enterprise Security Magazine Enterprise Security Magazine is a technology magazine that provides information about security solutions to help organizations adapt to the radical changes taking place in information security infrastructure. A panel of experts decided the Top 10 Managed Security Service Providers 2017 and shortlisted the best vendors and consultants in the Vulnerability Management arena. For more information, visit http://www.enterprisesecuritymag.com/ We look forward to accelerating growth in the area by providing industry-leading technologies. Id like to thank our new customers in advance for their patience as we begin the transition to TDS. TDS Broadband Service LLC, a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., and operated by TDS Telecom (TDS), announces it has purchased the cable and broadband assets and business of K2 Communications, LLC (K2) in Mead, Colorado. TDS will immediately begin working to transition customers and start planning for network improvements. TDS currently serves neighboring communities in Berthoud and Johnstown, Colo. and will utilize employees and contractors from these areas to support its new customers in Mead and surrounding areas formerly served by K2. Customers who need to reach TDS should call 877-422-5282 for assistance. We look forward to accelerating growth in the area by providing industry-leading technologies, states Jim Butman, chief operating officer at TDS Telecom. Id like to thank our new customers in advance for their patience as we begin the transition to TDS. We will start design work immediately and over the next 12 to 24 months update systems and integrate networks. These changes will lead to increased broadband speeds and new video products and services. TDS Telecom has been doing business in Colorado since 1991 and provides services to more than 30 communities in the state. TDS is leveraging Alternative Connect America (A-CAM) funds in Colorado to expand and improve broadband service to wireline customers. In addition, in 2013, TDS acquired cable TV provider Baja Broadband LLC. OneNeck IT Solutions, also part of the TDS family, provides a full-suite of hosted and managed IT services. The company also operates a 35,000 square foot top-tier data center just outside Denver, Colo. Dave Kavanagh of KavaCom Consulting assisted K2 Communications with this transaction. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed. TDS Broadband Service LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, is a growing force in the cable industry. With more than 300,000 customer connections, TDS Broadband Service provides cable TV, broadband internet, and phone service to customers in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Texas. BendBroadband, located in central Oregon, is part of TDS Broadband Service. Visit helloTDS.com or BendBroadband.com. TDS Telecommunications Corporation (TDS Telecom), headquartered in Madison, Wis., operates OneNeck IT Solutions LLC and BendBroadband, which is part of TDS Broadband Service LLC. Combined, the company employs more than 3,400 people. Visit tdstelecom.com. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS ], a Fortune 1000 company, provides wireless; cable and wireline broadband, TV and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately six million customers nationwide through its businesses U.S. Cellular, TDS Telecom, OneNeck IT Solutions LLC, and TDS Broadband Service LLC. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. employs more than 10,000 people. Visit tdsinc.com. Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forward-looking statements. This includes all statements about the companys plans, beliefs, estimates, and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates, projections, and assumptions, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that may affect these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: intense competition; the ability to execute TDS business strategy; uncertainties in TDS future cash flows and liquidity and access to the capital markets; the ability to make payments on TDS and U.S. Cellular indebtedness or comply with the terms of debt covenants; impacts of any pending acquisitions/divestitures/exchanges of properties and/or licenses, including, but not limited to, the ability to obtain regulatory approvals, successfully complete the transactions and the financial impacts of such transactions; the ability of the company to successfully manage and grow its markets; the access to and pricing of unbundled network elements; the ability to obtain or maintain roaming arrangements with other carriers on acceptable terms; the state and federal telecommunications regulatory environment; the value of assets and investments; adverse changes in the ratings of TDS and U.S. Cellular debt securities by accredited ratings organizations; industry consolidation; advances in telecommunications technology; pending and future litigation; changes in income tax rates, laws, regulations or rulings; changes in customer growth rates, average monthly revenue per user, churn rates, roaming revenue and terms, the availability of wireless devices, or the mix of services and products offered by U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom. Investors are encouraged to consider these and other risks and uncertainties that are discussed in documents furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Equality Health and Health Net Announce Partnership Equality Health has partnered with Allwell from Health Net to create a unique partnership providing culturally sensitive and effective care to Hispanic seniors through Allwell, a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan. The Hispanic population in the United States is rapidly increasing, yet many individuals experience challenges accessing the care they need. Equality Health has spent the past two years developing an innovative delivery system designed to reduce disparities and improve health outcomes for ethnic populations. The Allwell/Equality partnership is designed to raise the bar for delivering health care to diverse communities and filling the health care gap that currently exists. Equality Health is all about serving the underserved and bringing excellent, culturally appropriate health care to those most at need in our community, said Hugh Lytle, Equality Health founder and CEO. Together with Allwell, we will be able to organize a better care delivery system for Hispanic seniors, a population that too often is overlooked by traditional care delivery models. By partnering with Equality Health, Allwell expands its access to a variety of community resources and culturally competent providers. The Equality Health Network consists of more than 800 local medical and behavioral health professionals who are specially trained and dedicated to administering culturally effective care. Allwell and Equality Health will also work with providers on incorporating a holistic, whole-family approach to health care and medical discussions, by leveraging trusted health advocates who are already members in the communities served. This year, Health Net of Arizona continues its commitment to quality care in our Medicare Advantage program under the name Allwell from Health Net, said Paul Barnes, PhD, Arizona Plan President. Working together with Equality helps us advance our mission of transforming the health of our communities by delivering community-based care, including connecting our members to resources such as housing, access to food, transportation and medication support that not only improve their health but also their quality of life. About Equality Health Equality Health, LLC is an Arizona-based integrated delivery system focused on improving care delivery for underserved populations through culturally-sensitive programs that improve access, quality and patient trust. Through an integrated technology and services platform, culturally competent provider network and unique cultural care model, Equality Health helps managed care plans and health systems improve care for the Hispanic population while simultaneously making the transition to risk-based accountability. For more information about Equality Health, visit http://www.equalityhealth.com or follow @EqualityHealth on Facebook and @EqualityHealth1 on Twitter. About Health Net of Arizona, Inc. Health Net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, provides and administers health benefits through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid and dual eligible programs. Health Net offers Marketplace coverage through Ambetter from Health Net and Medicare coverage through Allwell from Health Net. For more information on Health Net, please visit the companys website at http://www.healthnet.com. "We are grateful to our teams here for the warm and familial culture they have created." - Jackie Safier, President of Prometheus Real Estate Group Prometheus Real Estate Group, the largest private owner of multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been named to Fortunes 2017 100 Best Medium Workplaces list. Prometheus was ranked 88. Additionally, Prometheus was the only real estate company to be recognized by Fortune on the Best Medium Workplaces list. We are honored to be included in Fortunes Best Medium Workplace list, said Jackie Safier, President of Prometheus Real Estate Group. We are grateful to our teams here for the warm and familial culture they have created." The Best Medium Workplaces List is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and Fortune, based upon employee survey feedback together with a Culture Audit which reports details such as compensation and benefits, hiring practices, recognition and training. A summary of these ratings can be found at http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/prometheus-real-estate-group-inc. Past Fortune honors for Prometheus include ranking fifth in the 2016 Best Workplaces in the Bay Area list among small- to-medium-sized businesses, and making the top 100 Best Places to Work for Women List in both 2016 and 2017. Prometheus has more than 400 employees in the Bay Area, and approximately 500 employees in total. To learn more about working at Prometheus, please visit prometheusapartments.com. About Prometheus Real Estate Group Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc. is the largest private owner of multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a growing portfolio of more than 15,000 metropolitan-area apartments in the Bay Area, Seattle and Portland regions. Since its inception in 1965, Prometheus has specialized in the acquisition, development and management of high-quality residential and commercial properties throughout the western United States. Prometheus has a long history of award-winning approaches to development, management and general excellence. Its philosophy is centered on making the apartment experience more fun and interesting while providing a true sense of home. For more information, visit prometheusapartments.com. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews, Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In the United States, Great Place to Work produces the annual Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For" list and a series of Great Place to Work Best Workplaces lists including lists for Millennials, Women, Diversity, Small and Medium Companies and over a half dozen different industry lists. Pangea Money Transfer, a mobile-centric remittance platform disrupting the money transfer space, is celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Lights, with millions of Hindus across the world. The company has embarked on a massive digital, print and broadcast advertising campaign, with a special focus in the New Jersey and San Francisco markets, where a sizeable portion of Indians reside in the United States. Pangea, which is available to senders in the U.S. remitting money to their families in 15 countries across Latin America and Asia, facilitates secure and fast cross-border payments in a matter of seconds through its award-winning mobile app. Today is the Festival of Lights, which is the third day of week-long Diwali celebrations. In addition to the spiritual nature of the holiday, Diwali is a major gift-giving time of year for Indians around the globe as the calendar turns to festival and marriage season. With a flat transfer rate, a competitive Dollar-to-Rupee exchange rate and introductory bonuses for new users, Pangea is already experiencing a surge in user referral activity. At Pangea, we want to be intimately involved with the various communities we serve, and as we grow within the Indian community here in the U.S., we want to acknowledge the immense cultural importance of a holiday like Diwali, said Pangea CEO Nishu Thukral. As a person of Indian descent, this personally means a lot to me, as well. Said Pangea user Pamela (through Trustpilot), I had used Western Union before, but they always gave me so much trouble. It became frustrating to the point that I will never use them again. Finding Pangea was wonderful. The Pangea app makes it easy for users from the U.S. to quickly and securely send money to friends and family in a few simple steps. The app features an intuitive set-up process that takes only a few seconds, a smooth user interface and a low, transparent fee structure. Registered senders can just login and repeat past transfers in only one click. Within minutes, recipients can get their money in cash at thousands of pickup locations, or have it deposited directly into a bank account or onto a debit card. To learn more about Pangeas customer-friendly and mobile-focused approach to remittance payments, visit pangeamoneytransfer.com. To send money instantly to friends and family in India, visit pangeamoneytransfer.com/send-money/india. # # # About Pangea Money Transfer: Pangea Money Transfer is a mobile-centric remittance platform that allows on-the-go users to send money from the U.S. to 15 countries across Latin America and Asia in less than 30 seconds -- all for a low flat fee. Receivers can collect the money at thousands of retail locations or have it directly deposited into any bank account or onto a debit card. Pangeas remittance solution is flexible, fast and easy to use, earning Best User Experience and Fastest Transfer at the 2017 Finder Money Transfer Awards. As a result, the platform has achieved industry leading loyalty and referral rates. To stay up to date on Pangea expansion news and product announcements, visit http://www.pangeamoneytransfer.com. John Novak Throughout ICW Groups long-standing partnership with Guy Carpenter, Ive come to know and respect John very much. Hes a seasoned leader whose insight and business acumen has consistently delivered strong results. ICW Group Insurance Companies, a group of property and casualty carriers, today announced the appointment of John Novak as chief operating and strategic execution officer, effective immediately. Novak will succeed David Hoppen, who accepted the position of president of VerTerra Insurance Company (a member company of ICW Group). Hoppen will relocate to Florida and assume this position beginning Jan. 1, 2018. Since joining ICW Group in 2005, David has made a tremendous impact on our company, said Kevin Prior, ICW Group president and CEO. His commitment to strategic and operational excellence has played an integral role in growing ICW Group into the billion dollar company we are today. As president of VerTerra, I look forward to his ongoing contribution to our success. Novak joins ICW Group with more than 24 years of leadership experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. Prior to joining ICW Group, he served as managing director of Guy Carpenter, a leading global reinsurance broker. Novak also has expertise in enterprise risk management, compliance, financial reporting and capital markets. Throughout ICW Groups long-standing partnership with Guy Carpenter, Ive come to know and respect John very much. Hes a seasoned leader whose insight and business acumen has consistently delivered strong results. John will be joining an accomplished team of senior ICW Group leaders and Im confident his vision for growth will be a tremendous asset to our company, said Prior. As chief operating and strategic execution officer, Novak will report directly to Prior in leading ICW Groups operations and driving the companys strategic business plans. Im extremely honored to join such a vibrant and successful company, said Novak. ICW Groups reputation for providing best-in-class products and services and for developing mutually successful agent /broker partnerships is second to none. I look forward to working closely with our dynamic leadership team in making ICW Group even stronger operationally and driving further growth across the organization. Novak earned a bachelors degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley. He will be based at the ICW Group Corporate Headquarters in San Diego. ### About ICW Group Based in San Diego, ICW Group Insurance Companies is the largest privately held insurance company domiciled in California. Quoting more than $3 billion annually, ICW Group represents a group of Property, Auto and Workers Compensation insurance carriers, including Insurance Company of the West and Explorer Insurance Company. ICW Group is recognized nationally as an industry leader in helping policyholders achieve fewer and less costly claims, and is committed to meeting the needs of its policyholders and elevating the trusted agents and brokers who advise them. More information is available at http://www.icwgroup.com, http://www.twitter.com/ICWGroup, http://www.linkedin.com/companies/icw-group and http://www.facebook.com/ICWGroup. IIA CEO Jack Phillips and CAO Bill Franks present the 2017 ANNY Award to Sri Srikanth and Corey Sykes from Cisco Ciscos marketing analytics project stood out for its clear, measurable business impact and is a great example of well-executed change management. The International Institute for Analytics (IIA), the leading independent research and advisory firm focused exclusively on helping clients improve their analytics performance, named Cisco the winner of the 2017 ANNY at IIAS Analytics Symposium in Chicago. Ciscos marketing division won the Excellence in Analytics Award for its Marketing Accountability analytics initiative. Cisco marketings analytics team guided the organization to focus on three key performance indicators tied to several core functions: customer and partner engagement, lead generation and marketing-sourced bookings. Dashboards track the three indicators and assess performance across all of Ciscos marketing activities on a daily basis. Marketing functional teams use the dashboards to plan, execute and enhance campaigns, and senior leadership use them to optimize investments. Ciscos marketing analytics project stood out for its clear, measurable business impact and is a great example of well-executed change management, said IIA Chief Analytics Officer Bill Franks. Congratulations to Cisco for its highly effective analytics initiative. We are pleased to be recognized by IIA. Every single marketing activity can now be planned, goaled, tracked and optimized in a common context with a clear understanding of its relative impact towards organizational and corporate goals, said Svein Olslund, Senior Director of Digital Insights & Accountability at Cisco. Organizations were invited to submit an application or were nominated by IIAs network of analytics experts and practitioners. All nominees and applicants were asked to complete an in-depth application and were evaluated in five key areas: outcomes, ambition, scale, skills and insights. Franks led a panel of judges who examined each application and cast anonymous ballots. The other two finalists for the 2017 ANNY were Bank of America Merchant Services and Navistar. Previous years winners include Caterpillar Inc., Procter & Gamble, UnitedHealth Group, Intermountain Healthcare, Ford Motor Company and UPMC Health Plan. About the Analytics Symposium The Analytics Symposium is a semi-annual event that brings together a community of analytics practitioners and thought leaders for moderated discussions on key analytics topics, industry specifics and functional applications. The most recent event was held in Chicago and featured keynote speakers from Morgan Stanley, UPS, Uptake Technologies and several other organizations. About IIA The International Institute for Analytics (IIA) is an independent research and advisory firm for organizations committed to accelerating their business through the power of analytics. Co-founded by Tom Davenport and CEO Jack Phillips, IIA works across a breadth of industries to uncover actionable insights from its global network of analytics practitioners, industry experts and faculty. IIAs research clients gain access to on-demand consulting, an extensive research library, faculty-moderated executive roundtables and expert network of practitioners. IIA also provides analytics assessments and training services designed to optimize performance in the new data economy. For more information about IIA, its services and how you can become a member visit http://www.iianalytics.com/. We can do much to assist the families and businesses that have been hard hit. A NYC area IT business continuity consultant and MSP discusses how concerned citizens can help with business disaster recovery efforts. The company relates the need created by 2017s string of natural disasters and offers six ways for individuals and organizations to help affected businesses. In the informative article, the company outlines the lack of preparation for and huge economic impact of three hurricanes and numerous wildfires. The article then offers practical ways to aid recovery efforts, including physical labor, donating and sharing technology and expertise, and working through professional associations. The victims of natural disasters are on everyones minds right now, stated Jennifer Mazzanti, CEO, eMazzanti Technologies. We can do much to assist the families and businesses that have been hard hit. The article concludes by urging business readers to prepare for future disasters. IT professionals are named as an excellent resource to help complete appropriate business continuity and disaster recovery plans. Below are a few excerpts from the article, 6 Ways to Help Business Disaster Recovery. Tragically, one in four small and medium-sized businesses hit by a major storm do not reopen. With computers and customer data incinerated or flood damaged beyond repair, business owners often cant get the business operating again quickly enough to survive. How to Help with Business Disaster Recovery Provide economic assistance - Contribute to GoFundMe accounts to help individual businesses, or to community-based organizations, such as the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund to support hard-hit communities. Donate technology and expertise Used computer equipment can get a business going again. Owners will need help installing and setting up an improvised network. Share resources You may have spare server capacity or a generator that can get business technology running again quickly until power is restored and claims are paid. More ways to help>> Business Disaster Recovery Planning With one in three small businesses affected by extreme weather (prior to 2017), disaster recovery or business continuity planning, cannot be ignored. Failure to develop an appropriate plan and implement solutions could risk your business. A competent IT professional will help you create a disaster recovery plan and provide a variety of options including cloud storage and backup for an effective and affordable disaster recovery solution. Related resource information: Increase Protection and Reduce Costs with Azure for Disaster Recovery and Backups Affordable Cloud-based Disaster Recovery Available to NYC area Businesses About eMazzanti Technologies eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring and support to increase productivity, data security and revenue growth for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers. eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list eight years running, is a 2015, 2013 and 2012 Microsoft Partner of the Year, 2016 NJ Business of the Year, 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year and one of the TOP 200 U.S. Microsoft Partners! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info(at)emazzanti(dot)net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies. Fortior Solutions is the market leader in high-assurance identity solutions used by the government and critical infrastructure. The sale enables our talented team at Fortior Solutions to focus on growing our proven and successful RAPIDGate, RAPID-RCx and PIV-I solutions to markets across military, government and critical infrastructure segments. SureID, Inc., the market leader in high-assurance identity solutions, announced today the sale of its commercial business segment to Sterling Talent Solutions (Sterling), one of the worlds largest background screening and HR solutions companies. The transaction enables Hillsboro-based SureID to focus on strengthening and expanding its core business in the military, government and critical infrastructure markets. Key products include its patented RAPIDGate and RAPID-RCx programs and PIV-I credentialing. The company will operate under its new assumed business name, Fortior Solutions. The commercial segment under Sterlings ownership will retain the brand name SureID as a separate business unit of Sterling. We are very excited that our commercial business segment is moving into the future with Sterling, a true industry leader, said Jim Robell, President and CEO of Fortior Solutions. The sale enables our talented team at Fortior Solutions to focus on growing our proven and successful RAPIDGate, RAPID-RCx and PIV-I solutions to markets across military, government and critical infrastructure segments. Under the transaction, Sterling is acquiring the SureID network of digital fingerprinting technology, deployed through kiosks with sophisticated, user-friendly biometric technology in more than 800 locations nationally. Sterling also is hiring some SureID employees to support the SureID business. We enthusiastically welcome the SureID business to the Sterling team, said Clare Hart, CEO of Sterling. This sophisticated technology addition to our screening solutions will allow Sterling to more effectively serve the evolving needs of customers. Perkins Coie LLP acted as counsel to SureID, Inc., dba Fortior Solutions, on this transaction, and Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC served as financial advisor. About Fortior Solutions: Fortior Solutions is the market leader in high-assurance identity solutions used by the government and critical infrastructure. The company creates end-to-end trusted identity programs offering full credential lifecycle management through the combination of registration, identity proofing, verification, background screening, credentialing and identity authentication for government, critical infrastructure, and individuals including contractors, vendors and other authorized personnel. Fortior Solutions RAPIDGate program provides an enterprise-wide, single-credential high assurance identity for the U.S. Marine Corps, Army and Coast Guard installations and critical infrastructure sectors across the country. Fortior Solutions is the leading issuer of PIV-I credentials. Fortior Solutions is headquartered in Hillsboro, OR, and has been delivering trusted identity solutions to customers since November, 2001. The 2017 DrugDev Summit If youre a sponsor, CRO or site that is truly passionate about improving the quality and economics of your clinical trials, and believe technology is one of the key answers, join more than 100 of your peers at the innovative DrugDev Summit. The worlds most progressive pharmaceutical companies, CROs and sites will continue to advance beyond the clinical trial status quo at the 2017 DrugDev Summit in Philadelphia, November 7-8. Co-chaired by Novartis and CSL Behring, DrugDevs annual Summit is widely regarded by customers as the premier open forum for sharing clinical trial best practices and new ideas, developing strategies to improve processes from planning through closeout, and pushing clinical operations technology development forward. The event is complimentary for sponsors, CROs and sites using the DrugDev Spark clinical operations suite on over 2,000 trials worldwide. More than 100 clinical leaders are expected to attend the event. Qualified members of the trial industry may register for the 2017 DrugDev Summit here. Highlights of this years agenda include Dan Dietrich, Novartis Vice President of External Development Operations, will discuss how Novartis centralized global operations Mark Ridge, CSL Behring Vice President of Clinical Operations Development, will describe CSLs journey to achieving transformational change in clinical trial delivery Results from DrugDevs annual global site survey with responses from sites in more than a dozen countries, with reactions from sponsors and site staff Product workshops that showcase new features and preview upcoming additions to provide customers with an opportunity to help shape future development Customers presenting case studies on enterprise-wide technology deployments, improved patient enrollment, faster site activation, eConsent site adoption strategies, evidence-based site selection tactics, and more DrugDevs annual event continues to generate excellent feedback from attendees due to its collaborative nature, action-oriented agenda, and open and honest discussions. In 2016, Michele Famularo, Bayer Associate Director, Site Contracts Group, U.S. Site Management, Pharmaceuticals, said In my 17+ years in this industry I have never gained so much value and insight from a meeting as I did at the DrugDev Summit." Kristopher Sarajian, Vice President, Marketing at DrugDev, said, If youre a sponsor, CRO or site that is truly passionate about improving the quality and economics of your clinical trials, and believe that technology is one of the key answers, we welcome you to join us and more than 100 of your peers at our innovative Summit. Working together in interactive sessions, we will discuss how to establish standards, enable collaboration and deliver a beautiful technology experience for your study teams, your sites, and ultimately for the patients in your global clinical programs. We look forward every year to bringing together so many clinical leaders into one room, enabling everyone to benefit and learn from the challenges, ideas and solutions we all share. Register online at drugdev.com/summit2017. Email summit(at)drugdev(dot)com with questions or for more information. About DrugDev DrugDev, a QuintilesIMS company, helps the world do more trials through industry-wide collaboration, standardization and a beautiful technology experience. DrugDev Spark, the unified clinical operations suite, is comprised of proven solutions used by 85 sponsors and CROs on over 2,000 clinical trials to transform the quality and efficiency of clinical trials from startup through closeout. DrugDev Spark is powered by the DrugDev Golden Number, the award-winning universal identifier for global site facilities and investigators used by TransCelerate and the Investigator Databank. Learn why 9 of the top 10 sponsors and 4 of the top 5 CROs trust DrugDev by scheduling a demo of DrugDev Spark at drugdev.com. In what will be an exciting multi-partner effort, the SWAN North American Alliance, an initiative of the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN), together with industry leaders, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, Current, and Global Water Works invite you to attend Modernizing North American Water Systems in the Digital Age, a one-day workshop on Nov. 6th in Chicago. Hosted by Uptake, the event will feature an interactive exploration of innovative, digital solutions to North American water infrastructure challenges, with a special focus on the Midwest region. Following the Workshop, Sensus will host a special evening reception. This upcoming Workshop, which builds off the successful first utility workshop held in partnership with Cleantech San Diego earlier this year, will feature a keynote presentation by David St. Pierre, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and will showcase progressive Midwest utilities from Chicago, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Madison, and South Bend. The event will also engage participants in peer-to-peer roundtables and cover critical smart water trends and topics such as real-time water quality monitoring, urban flooding management, and digital transformation. The organizers and partners plan to attract a diverse audience of utilities, tech providers, researchers and consultants to foster collaboration and further emphasize the role of data-driven technologies in advancing smart water and wastewater networks. Steve Frenkel, Executive Director of Current, a new non-profit water innovation platform and workshop partner added: Chicagos robust water research capacity and tech community drive new innovations including the shift to digital water solutions. The workshop brings together progressive utilities and innovative companies to discuss the important contributions of digital water technologies in ensuring the more effective and sustainable use of water resources. Learn more about the Workshop and reserve your spot today here: https://www.swan-forum.com/chicago-workshop/ --- About The SWAN Forum & SWAN North American Alliance: The Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) is the leading global hub for the smart water sector, accelerating the awareness and adoption of data-driven technologies in water and wastewater networks worldwide. A nonprofit organization, SWAN brings together key players in the water sector to collaborate and share knowledge while offering access to cutting-edge research, global networking opportunities, and the ability to proactively influence the future of the water industry. The SWAN North American Alliance focuses these efforts in North America by drawing from SWAN Forums collective industry expertise and collaborative partnerships. Learn more at: https://www.swan-forum.com/ The polls findings prove that voters from red states and blue states, young and old, understand the value of the UN to American interests, says Peter Yeo, President of the Better World Campaign. Exactly one month after President Trump and Ambassador Nikki Haleys first appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, a new bipartisan poll released today by the Better World Campaign finds that 65 percent of Republicans and specifically 58 percent of Trump voters agree the UN is still needed today. Similarly, among millennial voters, 86 percent also agreed with that sentiment, making support for the UN one area that millennials and Trump voters agree on. Even amid a tight fiscal environment, 53 percent of Trump voters support paying our dues to UN Peacekeeping, a budget line-item that has been under particular scrutiny this year. Millennial support for this issue is even stronger, with 84 percent in favor of paying our UN regular dues and 83 percent favor paying our UN Peacekeeping dues. The polls findings prove that voters from red states and blue states, young and old, understand the value of the UN to American interests, says Peter Yeo, President of the Better World Campaign. Support for the UN among millennials was overwhelmingly positive across the board. Specifically, 75 percent of millennial voters believe the UN supports Americas goals and objectives around the world. Moreover, more than 92 percent of millennial voters agreed that it is important for the U.S. to maintain an active role in the UN. The largest generation in the U.S. overwhelmingly agrees that the UN is a positive force for good and that the organizations efforts ultimately support American objectives around the world, added Yeo. Chris Whatley, Executive Director for the United Nations Association of the United States adds, The polls findings among millennial voters are in line with what were experiencing with UNA-UNA, where weve seen explosive growth among new members under the age of 25. The nationwide poll of registered voters was conducted September 30 through October 3, 2017 by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates with a margin of error of 3.46 percent. The bipartisan research team has conducted UN-related polling for more than a decade. Click here for an executive summary. Click here for the full results. About the Better World Campaign The Better World Campaign works to foster a strong relationship between the U.S. and the UN to promote core American interests and build a more secure, prosperous, and healthy world. The Better World Campaign engages policymakers, the media, and the American public alike to increase awareness of the critical role played by the UN in world affairs and the importance of constructive U.S.-UN relations. About UNA-USA The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a membership organization dedicated to inform, inspire, and mobilize the American people to support the ideals and vital work of the United Nations. For 70 years, UNA-USA has worked to accomplish its mission through its national network of Chapters, youth engagement, advocacy efforts, education programs, and public events. UNA-USA is a program of the United Nations Foundation. UNA-USA and its sister organization the Better World Campaign represent the single largest network of advocates and supporters of the United Nations in the world. Media Contact: Erika Briceno Howard | ebriceno@unfoundation.org | 202-864-5156 High School students from Monmouth and Ocean counties attend "Mini Medical School". This country, and the State of New Jersey especially, is facing a critical shortage of health care professionals and primary care physicians in particular. Our new school of medicine is designed to help ease that shortage by reaching into the community to find and train talented individuals.... In a collaboration between the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Hackensack Meridian Health and Monmouth University, 85 high school students from Monmouth and Ocean counties will graduate from Mini-Medical School on October 23. Touted as an opportunity to learn what it takes to have a career in medicine as well a chance to get a taste of medicine, without the exams, 142 students from 23 different high schools signed up for the series of seminars, with 50 plus students consigned to a waiting list. Dr. David Kountz, an associate dean at the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and co-chief academic officer, Hackensack Meridian Health, led the six-week curriculum, which introduced students to the world of medical care through lectures and discussions with leading physicians, medical practitioners and educators. This is the fifth year of the program, which was awarded a School Leader Award from the New Jersey School Boards Association in 2015. Reflecting on the importance of community outreach, Dr. Kountz said, This country, and the State of New Jersey especially, is facing a critical shortage of health care professionals and primary care physicians in particular. Our new school of medicine is designed to help ease that shortage by reaching into the community to find and train talented individuals. Mini-Medical School is one more step in that process, bringing the prospect of a career in the medical professions squarely into the community, where it belongs. All of the registered students were allowed to attend any of the lectures, but only those who attended at least five of the six will receive graduate certification. Seminar topics included : How To Get Into Medical School; Sharing the Gift of Life: A Look into the World of Kidney Transplantation; Opioid Addiction: The Physiology of Addiction and What Students Can Do To Help Address the Epidemic (co-sponsored by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey); Understanding Some of the Many Great Opportunities in Healthcare Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Therapist, Technologist; and Every Day Medical Emergencies: Do You Know What To Do in Case of? Dr. Bonita Stanton, founding dean of the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, will give the graduation speech at this years ceremony. She noted, It is vitally important that these young students know the opportunities that await them within the healing professions. There are many important roles to fill as we bring our countrys health practice into alignment with the team and community approach to medicine and those who have taken this course are one big step further along in that journey. The graduation ceremony will be held at Monmouth University, Wilson Hall Auditorium, on October 23 at 7:30 p.m. As Californians return to their homes and begin the post-wildfire recovery process, teams of insurance claim handlers are standing by to help. The American Insurance Association (AIA) offers these tips for property owners who have been affected by the wildfires: 1. Use Caution when entering burned areas. Dont reenter evacuated areas until fire officials say it is safe. Be aware of hazards that may still exist, such as fire hot spots that could flare up or damaged or fallen power lines. Follow public health guidance on safe clean-up procedures, and wear heavy gloves and thick-soled shoes. Wet debris down to avoid breathing dust and ash particles. 2. Contact your insurer immediately to report all losses and damages. Provide a general description of the damage and have your policy number handy, if possible. If you have an agent, contact them they may report the loss to your insurance company or to a qualified adjuster who will contact you as soon as possible to inspect the damage. If you can't remember the name of your company and your agent is not reachable, call your mortgage company it will have a record of your insurer. Stay in regular contact with your insurer to get the best and fastest results. 3. Keep all recovery-related receipts, including those for meals and lodging these may be covered under the additional living expenses portion of your insurance policy. Talk to your insurance company about temporary repairs. Most homeowners insurance policies will reimburse you for reasonable expenses related to immediate repairs needed to prevent further damage to the home. However, dont make permanent repairs until your insurer has inspected the damage. Secure a detailed estimate for permanent repairs to your home from a licensed and bonded contractor, and give the estimate to the adjuster. 4. Prepare a list of damaged property. If possible, photograph or video the damaged items. Prepare a list of damaged or lost items for your adjuster and make two copies, one for yourself and one for the adjuster. Providing as much detail as you can may help speed things upconsider including a description of the items, dates of purchase or approximate age, cost at time of purchase and perhaps even what it might cost today to replace it. 5. Return claim forms to your insurer as soon as possible. If you do not understand the process, be sure to ask questions and write down the explanation. 6. Build stronger for the future. Ask your contractor about adding features to increase your homes resistance to future wildfires. Additional Resources: California Department of Insurance FireWise USA Insurance Information Institute The American Insurance Association (AIA) is the trade association for todays leaders in the property-casualty insurance industry. Our members work each day to protect the American Dream, whether thats a house, car, business or otherwise. Now more than 150 years old, AIA has an unparalleled record of advocating on state, federal and international issues for insurers and their customers. Our membership is comprised of more than 320 companies, collectively writing more than $125 billion in premiums each year. We have the experience of a veteran organization coupled with the innovative ideas that drive our industry forward. AIA is leading the insurance industry into the second half of the 21st Century today. Haitian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Paul G. Altidor Our diverse community of students and scholars hail from many parts of the Caribbean, making Seton Hall an ideal location for the summit. Haitian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Paul G. Altidor, will deliver the Keynote address at The Caribbean Summit at Seton Hall University. Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education & Professional Studies, the Summit will be held on November 3. The day will be dedicated to exploring leadership, tourism, education, the arts and investment opportunities in the Caribbean region, and will also address how organizations can fulfill contractual obligations and maintain business operations in the aftermath of natural disasters a particularly compelling aspect of concern given recent events and the regions ongoing susceptibility to nature's elements. Born in Jeremie, Haiti, Ambassador Altidor received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, an advanced degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and pursued additional graduate studies in law and economics at the University of Paris X, in France. Before assuming office, Ambassador Altidor was Vice President at the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund in Washington, D.C. "Our diverse community of students and scholars hail from many parts of the Caribbean, making Seton Hall an ideal location for the summit," notes Karen A. Passaro, J.D., event co-chair and dean of the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies. "We have a tradition of supporting entrepreneurship, travel and service to the Caribbean and we look forward to working with others to strengthen their ties to this beautiful and resilient region." The Caribbean Summit is co-chaired by Reginald Boisrond Canal of Les Cayes Partners. In addition to Ambassador Altidor and Reginald Boisrond Canal, the Caribbean Summit will feature a number of speakers with a wide range of experience and expertise in Caribbean affairs. The program includes: Leadership in the Caribbean Innovative Approaches in Education Business of Tourism Private Equity and Venture Capital The State of Creative Industries Enterprise Resiliency and Business Continuity The full-day event will include continental breakfast, plenary sessions and a Caribbean-inspired lunch. Following panel presentations in the afternoon, participants will enjoy networking at our closing reception which will end at 5:30 p.m. View the Program Agenda and register here, https://www.shu.edu/continuing-education/the-caribbean-summit-agenda.cfm. With guest speakers from a variety of business, finance and educational organizations, participants will have an opportunity to share experiences, network and gain insights on a variety of business opportunities in the Caribbean region. Program & Speakers 8:30 a.m. - Registration and Continental Breakfast Welcome Remarks Karen A. Passaro, J.D., Dean Division of Continuing Education & Professional Studies, Seton Hall University The State of Leadership in the Caribbean Scott Hilton-Clarke, Partner, Inspiration Labs Innovative Approaches in Education Steven Lorenzet, Ph.D., Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Management Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University Luncheon and Corporate Recognition Keynote Speaker H.E. Paul G. Altidor Ambassador of Haiti to the United States of America View Ambassador Altidor's Biography here, https://www.shu.edu/continuing-education/upload/Ambassador-Paul-G-Altidor-Bio.pdf. Corporate Recognition Stephanie Barnes, Director of Sales, Marriott Port-au-Prince Hotel Business of Tourism Private Equity & Venture Capital Advances Ken Allen, Founder and Managing Director, Azurest Partners Christal M. Jackson, Founder, Head and Heart Philanthropy The State of Creative Industries Lisa Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer, Hawtan Leathers Sabine Toussaint, Director of Programs, JPHRO Enterprise Resiliency and Business Continuity Rocky Romanella, CEO and Senior Partner, 3SIXTY Management Services, Author, "Tighten the Lug Nuts," Former President and General Manager of UPS Supply Chain Solutions and former CEO of Unitek Paul Williams, Director of NA Procurement Operations, Mondelez International Inc. Closing Remarks 4:30 p.m. Reception & Networking Two leading trial lawyers from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP were listed among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America in the 2018 Benchmark Litigation guide. On the list are Lori G. Cohen, chair of the firm's Trial Practice, as well as of its Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Health Care Litigation Practice; and Louis M. Solomon, global co-head of the firms International Litigation Practice. Benchmark Litigation is a guide to Americas leading litigation firms and attorneys; focusing exclusively on U.S. litigation. According to the publication, attorneys are listed among the Top 100 based on a geographically diverse and intensive peer-and-client review-driven study over six months of research. Those listed are found as the elite trial strategists in their respective fields based on the study conducted. Cohen has a national litigation practice focusing on product liability litigation and specifically, medical device and pharmaceutical litigation. Cohen is national counsel for a medical device manufacturer, handling its litigation including class actions, multidistrict litigation, and trials nationally. She has served as both National Counsel and Regional Counsel for pharmaceutical and medical device companies and has expertise in mass tort, multidistrict, and class action litigation. She also has vast experience in other products liability litigation and jury trials of all kinds. She has defended numerous health care providers, including physicians, hospitals, and managed care entities nationwide. Cohen has obtained 57 defense verdicts at trial, including a recent defense verdict after a two-month trial with $28 million in alleged damages involving pelvic mesh implants against a medical device manufacturer of womens health products and a defense verdict after a two-month trial with $30 million in alleged damages involving a laser-resistant endotracheal tube against a medical device manufacturer. She has been referred to as a product liability star by The American Lawyer and is noted by clients in Chambers USA as being a fine trial lawyer who is fearless, has enormous energy and her clients feel extremely well served when shes in charge. Solomon is an internationally recognized trial lawyer, having tried over 50 complex commercial cases to judges, juries, and arbitral or governmental bodies. He has broad experience in acting as lead trial counsel in international disputes or controversies affecting multinational companies operating across the globe, including in over a dozen 9-10 figure litigated controversies. Solomon has served as lead trial counsel in private and class action cases as well as government and regulatory proceedings. The Wall Street Journal has described Solomons "long and distinguished career as a corporate litigator." Other national and international credentialing organizations praise him as a trial lawyer with "immense" experience; "particularly prized for his strong international litigation experience"; "highly experienced trial lawyer handling cases in a wide range of areas, from antitrust to IP to international litigation"; "specializ[ing] in pulling clients out of the fire"; "ascribe this life-saving ability to his exceptional judgment when advising on risky business or regulatory situations"; and "just as good at crafting watertight settlements. No detail or potential future risk escapes him." Solomon has leading trial and appellate victories involving international litigation issues, and his broad international litigation experience has included litigations and arbitrations involving numerous EU countries, Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, as well as Russia and other former Soviet countries. Solomon is the author of a renowned e-book, International Litigation: Topics and Trends, http://www.internationalpractice.org. His OneWorld international practice blog postings can be read at blog.internationalpractice.org. About Greenberg Traurigs Litigation Practice Greenberg Traurigs Litigation Practice includes a team of more than 600 attorneys. The firms trial lawyers regularly appear in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as in appellate courts and before international arbitration panels. They work closely with in-house counsel to develop a strategy that best fits a litigation cost and proficiency model appropriate to the clients unique needs goals. 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. GTLaw has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and was among the Top 20 on the 2016 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. The Illinois manufacturing industry is one of our states best assets, and innovative ideas and products are crucial for its continued growth, Gov. Rauner said. mHUB, IMEC and UI LABS celebrated the inaugural Fourth Revolution Awards to recognize regional manufacturing for its leadership and innovation as the industry stands on the brink of a new technological revolution. The industry awards ceremony took place on October 18, 2017 at the Wintrust Grand Banking Hall. Event sponsors included Wintrust, JLL, GE Ventures, ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL), ComEd, Grosvenor, Pritzker Group, WaterSaver Faucet Co., and UL. The Illinois manufacturing industry is one of our states best assets, and innovative ideas and products are crucial for its continued growth, Gov. Rauner said. The entrepreneur development and technological advancements supported by our innovation community will help drive the future success of Illinois economy. "Chicago is the manufacturing hub in the Heartland, making it the ideal home for the Fourth Revolution Awards," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "By investing in transformative technology and ensuring our workforce has a 21st century skill set, the City of Chicago is helping local companies compete both regionally and globally." The ceremony culminated in the presentation of seven awards to deserving leaders, companies and industrial initiatives that have made significant contributions to the Chicago regions manufacturing ecosystem. The Community Empowerment Award recognizes a program or an initiative that promotes diversity and inclusion in manufacturing. Winner: The German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc. developed the ICATT (Industry Consortium for Advanced Technical Training) as an industry-driven cluster approach to help companies overcome the challenges they face when trying to find and retain a skilled workforce. Apprentices are part of an earn-while-you-learn program that offers company training based on comprehensive industry standards, an Associates Degree at a local community college free of charge, and a two-year employment guarantee at the company after successfully graduating from the program. Receiving the Community Empowerment Award is an incredible honor for the Industry Consortium for Advanced Technical Training (ICATT). As the only apprenticeship program in the Midwest fully benchmarked on the German Dual Education System, ICATT exists to help companies especially manufacturers who are struggling to find and retain a loyal workforce by identifying, vetting, and delivering a pipeline of skilled talent. Manufacturing is thriving and we are proud to work within this innovation-fueled industry, said Mark Tomkins, president and CEO of GACC Midwest. The Product Design of the Year Award recognizes a product design that is unique, improves user experience, and impacts productivity as well as the greater good. Winner: AE Machines empowers small manufacturers to program and reprogram simple automated systems in-house. The program allows users to design their own automated system by building from either the software side or the hardware side of the program. We've spent the past two years working with hobbyists and everyday users to figure out how to transition university robotics research into an automation system that anyone can operate and maintain without specialized training; the result of that process is the AE Design Tool. This award will help us achieve our next goal, which is to bring our approach to manufacturers in the region who want flexible automation cells that their existing workforce can maintain, said Amy LaViers, Co-founder and CTO of AE Machines. The Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturer of the Year Award recognizes a small- or mid-sized manufacturer that has demonstrated its excellence in business practices, innovative processes, and productivity enhancements as well as contributions to its local community. Winner: WaterSaver Faucet Co. is a locally-owned and operated corporation of two manufacturing facilities with 160,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Chicago that ship products all around the world. Their hallmarks are quality, product innovation, a high level of service, and competitive pricing. As a Chicago-based manufacturer for over 70 years, we are very proud and gratified to have received a Fourth Revolution award. The award recognizes the accomplishments of our 240 people to make innovative, high quality products for our customers. It also recognizes the commitment we have made as a company to stay and invest in Chicago and be responsible members of our community, said WaterSaver Faucet Co. CEO, Steven Kersten. The Innovation of the Year Award recognizes a technology or process that can advance multiple technologies and significantly improve the manufacturing ecosystem. Winner: Impossible Objects CBAM (composite-based additive manufacturing) technology solves the manufacturing industrys unmet need for a 3D printer solution able to make end parts in high volume. Their innovation allows manufacturers to make efficient parts quickly, cheaply, and locally. We are proud to receive this recognition among such an esteemed group of innovators. People live their lives through things, and with our new composite-based additive manufacturing technology we aim to accelerate 3D printings disruption of the way things are made, said Larry Kaplan, CEO of Impossible Objects. The Startup of the Year Award recognizes an individual startup company for its innovation, creativity, and significant accomplishments in the region. Winner: Intelligent Flying Machines developed an end-to-end solution that completely automates stock-taking in high-bay rack warehouses at more than 400 times the speed of manual methods and with nearly 100% accuracy and reliability. Unlike competitors, Intelligent Flying Machines provides a completely modular and fully distributed system that operates at full autonomy and without human operators. "IFM is honored to be recognized for our hard work bringing cutting-edge robotics and AI technology to everyday operations of the manufacturing industry. We are looking forward to using the momentum from the Fourth Revolution Awards to grow our company and promote Chicago's position as a top technology hub for the digital future of manufacturing," said Intelligent Flying Machines CEO, Marc Gyongyosi. Previously announced winners were JLL, Corporate Champion Award, and GE, Manufacturer of the Year Award. Congratulations to the winners of this years Fourth Revolution Awards. For more information on this years ceremony and announcements for next years awards, visit http://www.4RevAwards.com and follow @4RevAwards on Twitter. About mHUB mHUB is Chicagos innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing. mHUB is a co-working community of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, a network of manufacturing mentors, industry experts and investors, and a source of intellectual and economic capital. mHUB is home to ten shops and labs, including electronics, plastic fabrication, metals and rapid prototyping as well as a microfactory for small production runs. About IMEC IMEC is a team of improvement specialists and technicians dedicated to providing organizations in Illinois with the tools and techniques to create sustainable competitive futures. The experienced, hands-on team at IMEC works closely with its clients to plan, implement, and excel critical business improvements in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Customer Engagement, Operations, and Workforce. About UI LABS UI LABS is an innovation accelerator that leverages its network of hundreds of partners from universities + industry to address problems too big for any one organization to solve. Our mission is to transform industries, starting with manufacturing and infrastructure, using digital technology. UI LABS' manufacturing innovation platform, the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), aims to provide U.S. factories with the tools, software, and expertise they need to build things more efficiently, less expensively, and more quickly, so they can win more business and bring jobs back to the United States. Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask(TM) Market The projector technology patents are part of over 1070 patents available in twelve technology areas. Ocean Tomo Transactions is presenting 34 projector technology patents on the Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask Market. The projector technology patents are part of over 1070 HP patents available in twelve technology areas, including: Printing, Computing, Imaging, Network Services, Personal Communication Systems, Life Science & Microfluid, Mobile, Tablet, Telecommunications, Projectors, Sensors, photovoltaic, RFID and Gaming. Two patents from this lot include a media projector system (US7393110) and tools for directing a collection of light-emitting devices toward pixel locations to make an image (US7230657). A control unit combines a projector and a media player (US7393110) to monitor the media content and turn the lamp on or off in order to display the highest quality image. Patent US7230657 focuses on light emitting device projection methods and systems. More than 100 companies have cited these patents on over 615 subsequent patent filings. Notable companies that have sighted these patents include: QUALCOMM Inc., Seiko Epson Corporations, Lighting Science Group Corporation, 3M Company, Biological Illumination, LLC, Sony Corporation, NEC Corporation, Amazon.com Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Steelcase Inc. The HP auction will be held in both English and Mandarin for brokers located in both the U.S. and China. Payments can be made in USD or RMB. Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask professionals located in the U.S. and in China can manage the needs of buyers in their local time zones and in their native languages. For further information on these HP assets for sale and to request bidding information please contact HPAuction@OceanTomo.com. About Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask Market The Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask Market (OTBA) was built to further enhance Intellectual Property (IP) liquidity and transaction transparency. OTBA serves a broad community of active buyers and sellers, providing a platform to purchase or sell patents and patent applications globally. This market is supported by Ocean Tomo and affiliate international voice brokers. OTBA is a highly efficient platform able to quickly clear patent transitions through a unique blend of technology and professional services. OTBA is currently available in both English and Mandarin (with other language offerings forthcoming). Traditional auction markets are seller driven buyers are limited to what is offered for sale. The Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask Market equally services buyers and sellers. Buyers can now efficiently post anonymous bids resulting in prompt notification of the patent owner by Ocean Tomo. Drawn to the opportunity to better serve their clients, Greenberg Traurig, LLP Intellectual Property & Technology shareholders Ralph W. Selitto Jr. and John K. Kim have both relocated to the firms Phoenix office. Selitto and Kim joined Greenberg Traurigs New Jersey office in 2006. Practicing from the Phoenix office will give us better access to our clients located in the Western States. Greenberg Traurigs footprint in the U.S. offers us the flexibility to run our practice in a way that best benefits our clients needs, Selitto said. We look forward to working more closely with our clients, and continuing to grow our Intellectual Property, Patent Prosecution, and Intellectual Property Litigation practices. We are delighted to have Ralph and John join the Phoenix team, said Nicole M. Goodwin, managing shareholder of the firms Phoenix office. They bring a wealth of substantive knowledge and are dedicated to the highest level of client service. They will augment our already robust Intellectual Property practice. Selitto is a registered patent attorney with wide-ranging experience in all aspects of intellectual property law, on both the transactional side and the litigation side. On the transactional side, Selitto has assisted clients in the development and management of global patent, trademark, and copyright portfolios, while counseling them on the strategic commercialization and valuation of their portfolios. His transactional work has involved preparing and prosecuting U.S. and foreign patent and trademark applications, as well as drafting license agreements and infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate opinions. His considerable litigation experience over the years complements his more recent, but equally significant, experience with administrative patent challenges, whether they be post-grant reviews (PGRs) or inter partes reviews (IPRs). Kim is a registered patent attorney with over 23 years of experience in virtually all aspects of intellectual property law. His transactional practice includes preparing and prosecuting patent, trademark, and copyright applications in the United States and foreign countries, as well as conducting all types of investigation on intellectual property assets. Kim also has significant litigation experience involving patent, trademark, and copyright infringement claims. More recently, Kim has successfully prosecuted a number of AIA trials (IPR/PRG proceedings) before the Patent and Trial Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. About Greenberg Traurig's Phoenix Office In Arizona, Greenberg Traurig counsels clients on a wide range of critical issues, such as litigation, mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution, securities, labor and employment, real estate, public finance, bankruptcy, and intellectual property matters. About Greenberg Traurig: 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 Infoverity Named to Fast 50 Infoverity, a leading global provider of Master Data Management (MDM), Product Information Management (PIM) strategy and implementation, next generation analytics, managed services and hosting solutions, today announced that it has been named to the 2017 Columbus Business First Fast 50, ranking #11 among the 50 fastest growing private companies in Columbus. Infoverity received the award today at the Fast 50 ceremony at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Each and every employee at Infoverity has played an important role in our companys growth, said Infoveritys CEO Matt Wienke. Its exciting to see the hard work and dedication of our team pay off. We truly appreciate our customers and valued partners that have helped us grow to where we are today. It is an honor to be recognized among the Fast 50 and we also congratulate our fellow winners. For the 2017 Fast 50 awards program, Columbus Business First received nominations, ranking them on top line percentage growth. Independent, for-profit, privately held companies headquartered in the Central Ohio region that averaged at least $1 million in annual revenue per year for the past three years were eligible. About Infoverity Founded in 2011, Infoverity is a leading global professional services organization focused on solving business problems caused by the proliferation and diversification of data in large enterprises. Infoverity provides Master Data Management (MDM), Product Information Management (PIM) strategy and implementation, next generation analytics, managed services and hosting solutions that help clients in the retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, financial and healthcare sectors to simplify and maximize the value of their information. Infoverity is on the Inc. 5000 list, the Columbus Fast 50 and is named among the Best Places to Work in IT by IDGs Computerworld and Columbus Business First. Partners include Dell Boomi, Dun & Bradstreet, Informatica, inRiver, Priint, Perfion, Reltio, Riversand, SAP, and Stibo Systems. Infoveritys global headquarters is in Dublin, Ohio, and additional service and support teams are located in Spain, Germany and Russia. For more information, please visit Infoverity.com and follow @Infoverity on Twitter. ### Bureau of Automotive Repair Attorneys When a technician or mechanic calls us about a STAR certification or SMOG program dispute with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Automotive Defense Specialists, top attorneys involved in STAR and SMOG disputes with California's Bureau of Automotive Repair, is proud to announce a newly updated contact page. The newly updated page makes it easier than ever for impacted SMOG / STAR Program station owners and/or technicians to request a consultation. When a technician or mechanic calls us about a STAR certification or SMOG program dispute with the Bureau of Automotive Repair, they may think that weve got the case covered at that point, but they would be wrong, explained attorney William Ferreira of Automotive Defense Specialists. The initial contact is about gathering information. Once weve done that part, we need to schedule a consult to discuss the case and how to move forward. We hope the update to the website makes the process easy. To review Automotive Defense Attorneys newly upgraded about page please go to http://automotivedefense.com/about/. Defense attorneys working to represent station owners and SMOG check technicians against California's Bureau of Automotive Repair, may request a consultation after initial contact. The newly updated page emphasizes the importance and ease of reaching out for a consultation. To learn more about services involving so-called STAR Program invalidations by the Bureau of Automotive Repair visit http://automotivedefense.com/about/services/bureau-of-automotive-repair-star-invalidation-cases/. Contacting and Consulting a Bureau of Automotive Repair Defense Lawyer can be Easy as 1,2,3 Here is background to this release. If a SMOG station or STAR Program participant has received a letter from the Bureau of Automotive Repair, the reasons for the contact may vary. Low FPR (Follow Up Pass Rate) scores could have flagged the BAR to send a STAR invalidation letter, for example. Another scenario is that a visit from an undercover car may have resulted in a SMOG violation letter. Auto Shop Technicians and dealers may not have a lot of time to decipher the reason for receiving an accusation letter from the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Deadline dates and violation fees can cast a dark cloud over a busy shop owners day. Contacting a top auto defense attorney may be the first move, but it shouldnt be the last. For these reasons, Automotive Defense Specialists has recently announced a newly updated web page for persons requiring a contact or consult with an attorney. SMOG shop owners, dealers and STAR certified technicians may not realize contact with an auto defense attorney can involve several steps. The basic steps are noted below: Step 1: Make Contact with a Bureau of Automotive Repair Defense Lawyer Step 2: Follow up with the defense attorney and schedule a consultation to review the potential case. Step 3: The defense attorney begins the process of defending, as necessary, any actions taken by the Bureau of Automotive Repair It may be important to remember that merely contacting a top attorney to defense against a BAR letter may not be the only action to take. Following up with a consult can ensure a SMOG shop or STAR Program participant has the best lawyer to fight the Bureau of Automotive Repair in every legal way possible. About Automotive Defense Specialists Automotive Repair Specialists is a top law firm representing auto repair facilities, SMOG check stations, and technicians in every facet of their legal needs including accusations from the Bureau of Auto Repair, STAR license invalidations and STAR invalidation appeals. Contacting a top auto defense lawyer and consulting with attorneys after initial contact can the best strategy to fighting back. The company offers free phone consultations to auto shops, mechanics, technicians and others who are facing disciplinary actions from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair. Web. http://automotivedefense.com/ Tel. (415) 392-2886 Bay Area Artas Hair Transplant Not everyone living in San Jose works in the tech industry. In fact, many long-time San Jose families can still feel on the outskirts of whats happening today. Silicon Valley Hair Institute, the Bay Area leader in robotic hair transplantation, is proud to announce upgrades to its informational page for San Jose residents. While the Institute is located in Foster City, it is not a far drive from San Jose and offers leading ARTAS technology for robotic hair transplantation for both men and women. Not everyone living in San Jose works in the tech industry. In fact, many long-time San Jose families can still feel on the outskirts of whats happening today, explained Miguel Canales, surgeon and founder of Silicon Valley Hair Institute. Our new landing page specifically targets the hair loss issues of San Jose residents. We're reaching out to ensure that San Jose residents know that ARTAS hair transplant technology is just a short drive away. To review the new landing page focused on ARTAS transplantation go to http://siliconvalleyhairinstitute.com/artas/. Information regarding the ARTAS hair transplant system and other treatments for hair loss can be found. Persons interested in directions from San Jose to Silicon Valley Hair Institute can find details at the newly updated San Jose hair transplantation page at http://siliconvalleyhairinstitute.com/san-jose-hair-transplant/ SAN JOSE FUE TRANSPLANT LANDING PAGE HELPS LONG-TIME RESIDENTS FIND TOP ARTAS HAIR TRANSPLANT TECHNOLOGY Here is background to this release. Growing up in the Bay Area can afford locals important perks such as cutting-edge technology. Ground-breaking medical treatments for issues including eye surgery and hair restoration can be found a short drive away. Residents of perceived forward-thinking cities such as Palo Alto and Sunnyvale may feel comfortable with new innovations since childhood. Some Silicon Valley locals might not feel part of the progressive culture, however. Long-time San Jose residents searching for a hair transplant may not live and work in the high-tech industry, and not realize just how close the latest technology truly is. Searching for San Jose ARTAS hair transplantation, the San Jose resident may be pleasantly surprised to learn it is just up the road in Foster City, California. For this reason, Silicon Valley Hair Institute has announced newly updated landing pages. Residents outside the boundaries of everyday high-tech living can still benefit from innovative hair restoration programs. San Jose ARTAS hair transplant services can be attained by residents outside of the high-tech sphere. Hair loss can affect women and men in all industries. Working outside of a Silicon Valley culture may not mean settling for outdated hair loss programs. Women and men living in the San Jose area can find ground-breaking ARTAS hair transplant technology up the Highway 101 in Foster City. ABOUT SILICON VALLEY HAIR INSTITUTE Silicon Valley Hair Institute (http://siliconvalleyhairinstitute.com/), under the leadership of top-rated California hair transplant surgeon Miguel Canales MD, is one of the best facilities offering San Francisco Bay Area hair transplants. Dr. Canales provides the full range of advanced hair transplant and hair restoration procedures for Bay Area residents, from San Francisco to San Jose and Foster City. Services include robotic hair transplant systems, San Jose ARTAS hair transplant and San Jose FUE transplant programs. If one needs a hair transplant specialist, look no further than this Bay Area hair transplant center. Dr. Canales also performs female hair transplants for women and eyebrow restoration, thus offering the best hair transplant and robotic hair replacement options. Call today to 650-551-1100 for a no-cost consultation, or for more information visit the website. Home Remodeling Contractor Northern Virginia A well-known contractor with large offices and big branding does not mean they are the best fit for a specific home remodeling job. Elite Contractor Services, a highly-rated home remodeling contractor servicing Northern Virginia communities from Alexandria to Fairfax to Annandale, is proud to announce a new blog post on the confusion between "contractor" and "company" in the home remodeling industry. A well-known contractor with large offices and big branding does not mean they are the best fit for a specific home remodeling job, explained Ana Blanco, marketing manager for Elite Contractor Services. "We want to remind Northern Virginia homeowners to check out the substance of a company. Customers should include the quality of their work and customer service record, before choosing one. To review the new blog post for Elite Contractor Services, please go to http://elitecontractorservices.com/home-remodeling-company-remodeling-contractor/. The difference between a home remodeling contractor and a home remodeling company in Northern Virginia may be small, but important. Some business may not take into account the personal investment of a home remodel project. Getting past the savvy branding and reviewing the real work of a Northern Virginia home remodel business may ensure success. To learn more, specifically, about home remodeling in cities like Fairfax, Vienna, or Annandale, visit http://elitecontractorservices.com/home-remodeling/. NORTHERN VIRGINIA HOME REMODELING CONTRACTOR RIGHT FIT FOR LOCALS Here are details on this release. Home remodeling projects can include finite details for specific types of homes. The right contractor might not be the one spending big dollars on advertising and plush offices. It may be a smart plan to review the work of a Northern Virginia contractor before choosing the right one. Companies (as opposed to contractors) can spend millions of dollars on branding to attract customers. High end offices and large advertising budgets along with appealing websites may entice persons to sign up. If a property owner is searching for a top contractor to remodel a home in Northern Virginia, a well-branded company may be enticing. Unfortunately, sometimes larger businesses can end up to be style and no substance. Shoddy workmanship and cheap materials can quickly turn a dream kitchen remodel into a waste of money and time. Before a Northern Virginia resident confirms a home remodeling contractor, it may be smart to review a business further to ensure a good fit. For this reason, Elite Contractor Services, a professional family-owned home remodeling business has announced a new blog post. Northern Virginia residents may be ready for a home remodel project. Building a new kitchen or refurbishing a bathroom could have been the dream of a homeowner. If its time to choose a Northern Virginia home remodeling contractor or company, finding the right match may include more than choosing a well-known brand. Selecting the right home remodeling team to update a Northern Virginia home can include a little investigation. A long-time locally respected home remodeling contractor may provide more than flashy branding. Reviewing the quality and personal attention a local contractor has provided to Northern Virginia homes may be a smart idea. ABOUT ELITE CONTRACTOR SERVICES Elite Contractor Services (http://elitecontractorservices.com/) is a family owned home remodeling company serving cities as diverse as Washington DC, Alexandria Virginia, and Bethesda Maryland as well as Falls Church home contractor services. Persons looking for a top remodeling contractor for a home remodel or kitchen remodel, can reach out for a no obligation consultation. The company consists of expert contractors for kitchen remodels, home remodels or additions, and even specific jobs such as basement remodels or attic additions. The company aims to be one of the best, top-rated remodeling companies and remodeling contractors in communities as diverse as Arlington or Fairfax, Herndon or Washington DC or up to Vienna, Fairfax County or even Rockville, MD. Media Relations Tel. 703-813-1678 Haley Marketing Group logo Our goal was to take staffing websites to a whole new level, providing more tools for recruiting and sales lead generating, simplifying the website development process for our clients, cutting the development time from months to weeks, and enabling a world-class staffing website to be affordable... Haley Marketing, the largest website development, social and content marketing firm serving the temporary staffing and executive recruiting industries, just announced the All-Inclusive Staffing Website, which is a new service offering that provides everything staffing and recruiting firms need for a world-class website, including bold design options, unique features to maximize job applications and client inquiries, a new website development process that allows sites to be launched in less than one month, and a new monthly pricing option that includes development costs, hosting, software licensing, ongoing support and site maintenance. All-Inclusive Staffing Website Features Ideal for firms that want to build a more robust, affordable website specifically optimized for recruiting and generating sales leads, the All-Inclusive Staffing Website includes: Bold design. Staffing and recruiting companies can choose from 28 staffing-optimized site designs, which will be customized to match each companys branding and specialties. Robust content and custom copy. Sites come with 18 standard pages of professionally written copy and offer unlimited scalability, so they can grow as the client's business grows. Search-optimized job board software. Firms can post unlimited jobs to their site. Haley Marketings Job Board Software provides: optimization of individual jobs, including Google for Jobs schema mark-up; automated job distribution to Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter and other job aggregators; social media integration; job agents with unlimited email marketing; and recruiter bios integrated with each job. The Job Board can also be integrated with 26 staffing ATS platforms. SEO. Each site is optimized to the client's company and type of staffing they provide, with state-of-the-art blog and page optimization tools built in. Jobs are individually optimized on the client's domain. 100% mobile. Websites are fully responsive and include a mobile-only quick-action bar to encourage candidates to search and apply, and employers to request staffing services. Content management and analytics. Staffing websites: are built using WordPress CMS; track applications by source; come with Haley Marketing's job board for easy job entry and editing; and include Google Analytics to improve website ROI. SSL hosting, free training and ongoing support. With every All-Inclusive Staffing Website, Haley Marketing provides secure (SSL) hosting, WordPress database updates, regular Job Board software upgrades, monthly training webinars, 24/7 help desk and priority support with up to two hours per month for site edits or additional training. FREE Design upgrade. Clients are eligible to receive a free website design update after 36 months. Amazing features. All-Inclusive Staffing Websites are loaded with features to drive response, including: Call-to-action fly-in manager Custom blog page design with unique call-to-action manager Testimonials, case studies and team profiles managers Contact, quick contact, request an employee, quick apply, submit resume, refer a friend, employee performance review and assignment feedback forms Job portal quick-search widget and featured jobs feeds Social sharing integration A Better Approach to Staffing Website Development, Management and Affordability According to Haley Marketing CEO, David Searns, "In early 2017, we set out to completely revolutionize our approach to developing staffing websites. Our goal was to take staffing websites to a whole new level, providing more tools for recruiting and sales lead generating, simplifying the website development process for our clients, cutting the development time from months to weeks, and enabling a world-class staffing website to be affordable to virtually any staffing or recruiting firm. Our new All-Inclusive Staffing Websites deliver on all these goals. About Haley Marketing Group Haley Marketing provides website development, email and content marketing, social media marketing and strategy consulting to the staffing industry. The company provides services to more than 1,200 staffing and recruiting firms throughout the world. Haley Marketings mission is to make great marketing more affordable, and the firms clients range from solo recruiters to larger staffing and recruiting organizations with regional, national and international offices. Haley Marketings services include: Website Design Direct Mail Campaigns Email and Content Marketing Blog Writing and Social Media Reputation Management Corporate Identity & Creative Marketing Strategy Online Advertising For more information, contact Haley Marketing at 1.888.696.2900. Now through the end of the month, Lennar is hosting its Annual Sales Event. This is a once a year opportunity to save thousands on newly built homes with all the most desired finishes and features. Pi Since there are a limited number of homes that are eligible for this Annual Sales Event, we encourage you to make an appointment today to learn how you can take advantage of this extraordinary savings so you can move into your dream home just in time for the holidays. The best way to celebrate the upcoming holiday season is in a new home, and there is one homebuilder that is determined to help you do just that. Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN and LEN.B) is pleased to offer its Annual Sales Event from now through October 31, 2017, featuring discounted pricing and perks on newly built homes throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A limited number of homes at select communities qualify for this special promotion, which also highlights closing cost credits and no mortgage payments until 2018. Since there are a limited number of homes that are eligible for this Annual Sales Event, we encourage you to make an appointment today to learn how you can take advantage of this extraordinary savings so you can move into your dream home just in time for the holidays. said Anthony Mignone, President of Lennars Tri-State Division. And for those who have always felt held back by student loans, we are pleased to unveil our new Student Loan Debt Mortgage Program, which will help reduce student loan balances or payments when purchasing a new Lennar home. It really is a fantastic program that will allow individuals with student loans to finally achieve their dreams of homeownership. Since 1954, Lennar has had the privilege of helping hundreds of thousands of families across America move into the next stage of their lives with a new home. From first time and move-up homebuyers to active adult lifestyles and multigenerational living, were here to accommodate your changing family needs, said Mignone. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania specifically, Lennar prides itself on catering to individuals, families and active adults of all ages and stages by offering award-winning communities that are beautifully designed and ideally located to ensure year-round enjoyment. All homes are designed under Lennars Everythings Included mantra, providing included features that are options from other builders as deluxe standard equipment in every home. This groundbreaking Everythings Included approach offers thousands of dollars of features at no additional cost, said Mignone. Lennar prides itself on being an industry innovator that is constantly focused on providing the highest quality homes with the best possible value. Since Lennar is the second largest builder in the community and the only publicly traded company with an A rating, homebuyers can rest easy knowing they have found a homebuilder that they can trust and will be by their side throughout the entire homebuying process, said Mignone. As an added benefit, Lennar offers homeowner orientation programs and new home warranties on every home. We also proudly support the communities we serve through the Lennar Foundation and Focuses Acts of Caring Grants. To learn more about Lennars Annual Sales Event or to visit a Lennar new home community, visit http://www.lennar.com or call 609-349-8258. About Lennar Corporation Lennar Corporation, founded in 1954, is one of the nation's largest builders of quality homes for all generations. The Company builds first time, move-up and active adult communities under the Lennar brand name. Eagle Home Mortgage and North American Title provide mortgage financing, title insurance and closing services for both buyers of the Company's homes and others. Lennar's Multifamily segment is a nationwide developer of high-quality multifamily rental properties. Previous press releases and further information about the Company may be obtained at the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website, http://www.lennar.com. Atkins Gregory is committed to the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant ERS brings a host of positive outcomes to any organisation Atkins Gregory, Cambridgeshire-based commercial contract cleaning provider, is both delighted and proud to announce that it has received the bronze award from the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), in recognition of our commitment to the scheme. ERS encourages employers to support defence and inspire others to do the same. The scheme encompasses bronze, silver and gold awards for employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant. Atkins Gregorys Managing Director, Simon Biggs, says: I am a veteran, ex-Army and a big supporter of the reservists. The Armed Forces Covenant is the nations commitment to those who serve in the armed forces and their families; that commitment continues after they leave the services. Reservists and veterans have a host of skills to bring to the workplace, but sometimes need a little extra support or a helping hand to during the transition to the civilian career ladder. Atkins Gregory is proud to be part of that. Its not a totally altruistic gesture, though, as a company we benefit from the forces training, whether that is in management skills or general work ethics, it makes sense for us to invest in these people. Signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant ERS brings a host of positive outcomes to any organisation, it enhances the workforce, not only with skills but also with accredited training; it demonstrates a commitment to local community and Corporate Social Responsibility; and it gives something back to those who would give their lives for our freedom and safety. For more details of Atkins Gregorys services please visit the website or call 01223 438118 Just a sample of the graphs and charts you get with SmartTRAK China Advanced Dressings Module. Charts are presentation ready and just a click away. China is one of the fastest growing markets globally, and with over 400 domestic wound care manufacturers, 50 in advanced wound care, is a challenge to master. BioMedGPS announces expanded coverage of SmartTRAK Business Intelligence for Advanced Wound Care with the addition of its newest module, China Advanced Wound Dressings. BioMedGPS estimates the China Advanced Dressings market will grow from ~$411.0MM in 2017 to ~$599.0MM in 2021, a CAGR of +9.4%. The SmartTRAK China Advanced Dressings module provides an extensive analysis of the market, market shares and estimations of growth projections, by nine different dressing categories, as well as a split of the Foam Dressings market into Silicone and Non-Silicone layered. China is one of the fastest growing markets globally, and with over 400 domestic wound care manufacturers, 50 in advanced wound care, is a challenge to master. Historically, domestic companies have focused on cotton-based gauze and tape products, but we now see many high-end manufacturers challenging the multi-nationals, commented Lennart Stadler, Senior Analyst Wound Care. China is dominated by global multi-national leaders who have had a long presence in China, including Coloplast, Smith & Nephew and Molnlycke. Winner Medical is the largest domestic company, offering a wide range of advanced dressings. China Advanced Wound Dressings also covers Incidence & Prevalence, Regulatory and Reimbursement overviews, as well as company and product profiles, with extra focus on domestic companies who rapidly are moving into more Advanced dressings, like Winner Medical, Top Medical, Zhende Medical, ForYou Medical, UMT Medical, WEGO and 3L Medical Products. To keep subscribers updated on the latest events in the market, SmartTRAK also provides China-specific news updates, distributed daily/weekly via email. A complimentary summary overview of the China Advanced Dressing Market written by Stadler is available here. About BioMedGPS BioMedGPS, LLC is the developer of SmartTRAK Business Intelligence, the leading portal for real-time data and analysis on the life sciences industry for the orthopedic/spine, wound care, regenerative medicine and neuro therapies markets. Known for expert analysis and innovative tools, SmartTRAK provides daily updates, strategic insights, and in-depth analyses of the orthopedics, wound care, regenerative medicine and neuro therapies markets. SmartTRAK has become an integral resource for some of the largest medical device companies currently used by the top ten orthopedic/spine implant manufacturers and nine of the top ten wound care companies. A key differentiator for SmartTRAK is its team of industry experts who are all former marketing, business development, and competitive intelligence professionals at leading medical device firms. For more information about BioMedGPS and SmartTRAK please visit SmartTRAK.com or contact BioMedGPS. Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor hosts "Purple Day" in an effort to raise awareness and funds for Houston's 2017 Walk to end Alzheimer's. By hosting this unique event our residents have created, we give them an opportunity to be of service in their own special way. Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor will host Purple Day on Friday, October 20, 2017. This special event will raise awareness and funds for the 2017 Houston Walk to End Alzheimers. Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor is a non-profit retirement community, one which offers specialized memory support to residents suffering from several types of dementia diagnoses. Thus, Alzheimers is an issue which is near and dear to the hearts of residents, their family members, and staff members alike. Purple Day was born when residents expressed their desire to devote their time and energy to the cause of ending Alzheimers. Many noted they simply were not up to a 5K walk, and wanted to find a unique way to offer meaningful material support. The solution? Coming together as a community to create and host this special day. Purple Day will kick off at 10 AM. It will include talks from guest speakers George M. Taffet, M.D., and Kathryn Berson. Berson is the Director of Corporate Initiative for the Alzheimers Association in the Houston and Southeast Texas Chapter. Taffet is the FACP Professor in Medicine, Chief Geriatrics, Geriatrics and Cardiovascular Sciences for the Baylor College of Medicine. There will be a silent auction to raise funds, as well as a variety of fun activities, including a craft table, a balloon memory send-off and a live Tell the Truth game show. The day will wrap up with a Purple Happy Hour. The bar will serve a host of purple delights while the Purple Piano Players provide live music for all. At Brazos Towers our motto is Every day in every way enhancing lives, explains Michelle Watkins, Marketing Director for Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor. By hosting this unique event our residents have created, we give them an opportunity to be of service in their own special way. By contributing in this way, they uphold the motto of the Alzheimers Association: Together, we can end Alzheimers Disease. We feel we are creating a powerful partnership that will last for many years to come. The 2017 Houston Walk to End Alzheimers kicks off on November 17, 2017. For more information, visit act.alz.org. ABOUT BRAZOS TOWERS Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor is a non-profit retirement community that has been serving Houston-area seniors for over 50 years. They offer all levels of living, from independent living to full-scale skilled nursing and rehabilitation care. For more information, visit http://www.brazostowers.com. DaCapo Agricultural Corporation provides peaches and table grapes to high-end produce retailers worldwide. Fybr provides a valuable service that can help growers understand their existing water usage, measure real-time water needs, and then optimize water distribution and allocation. Using Fybrs Insights, growers can not only help minimize the impact of droughts but operate far more efficiently. Fybr has partnered with DaCapo Agricultural Corporation, located in Californias Central Valley, to develop an automated, wireless irrigation solution built using Fybrs digital transformation platform and secure network. With crop production utilizing more than 70% of the world's clean water, finding ways to reduce agricultural irrigation waste is critical to achieving sustainability. Improved water management in agriculture will increase global potable water availability, reduce soil erosion, and lead to better and more diversified agricultural yields all while helping to feed a growing global population estimated to reach 9 billion by the year 2050. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 60% of the water diverted or pumped for irrigation globally is currently being wasted, either via runoff into waterways or evapotranspiration. With a handful of US states discussing policies to regulate water distribution and utilization, the potential for unintended consequences on the economy and employment is real. Using Fybrs Smart Agriculture solutions, growers can proactively optimize water usage by using cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to stay ahead of regulations and potential water-use restrictions. Fybrs Smart Agriculture solution is an affordable, turnkey, and scalable solution for growers. Comprised of a full suite of sensors, controllers, and software analytics tools, growers can not only monitor crop/field conditions but also automate selected processes. For example, automating irrigation controls can reduce water consumption by as much as 50%, while potentially increasing yields by up to12%. Additionally, by automating the irrigation process, growers can minimize the time and manual labor required by legacy irrigation systems. Unlike other systems, Fybrs devices are 100% wireless and battery powered with field life of up to 10 years removing the need to run underground cables required by many existing systems. This paradigm shift gives growers greater flexibility in the placement of sensors and actuators, as well as the ability to more easily relocate devices while contributing to a cost-effective system that can monitor and irrigate more crops with greater precision. "I believe that one of the things we as growers have to do is show that we are monitoring and proactively managing our exposure to water shortages. Real-time analytics and documenting groundwater usage for compliance with future regulations, i.e., SGMA in California, will be a necessary tool for growers of all crops for compliance with new demands by government. We cant simply sit back and wait for restricted government allocations," said Bob Greiner of DaCapo. Fybrs pilot installations, deployed during the 2017 growing season in DaCapos plum orchards and table grape vineyards, monitor soil moisture and soil tension at multiple depths, temperatures at ground level and each sensor depth, canopy temperature, and microclimate data. During testing, this data is being used to teach the system how and when to irrigate. When released commercially, Fybrs data engine will use data analytics and artificial intelligence to control irrigation lines and pumps autonomously allowing for optimal watering when it is both needed and most cost-effective to operate. Irrigation lines are also equipped with flow meters to monitor not only how much water is used in each portion of the fields, but also to detect leaks a contributing factor to water waste each year. Fybrs platform also allows additional farm systems to be automated and monitored on the same wireless network via FybrLynk a postage stamp sized microcontroller and communications device that can connect a broad range of new or existing sensors and devices to the platform. "Fybr provides a valuable service that can help growers understand their existing water usage, measure real-time water needs, and then optimize water distribution and allocation. Using Fybrs Actionable Insights, growers can not only help minimize the impact of droughts but operate far more efficiently in normal conditions," said Bob Glatz, CEO of Fybr. About DaCapo Agricultural Corporation Headquartered in Dinuba, California, DaCapo Agricultural Corporation was established in 1997 and is one of the Worlds largest plum orchards, producing over 30 varieties throughout the growing season. In addition to plums, DaCapo also produces peaches and table grapes for high-end produce retailers worldwide. About Fybr Fybr is a leading, end-to-end IoT solution provider collecting and delivering data along with advanced analytic tools to solve business and community-based quality-of-life issues such as agriculture, transportation, power, water management and safety for customers worldwide. Fybr is an integrated and proven hardware, software, and network stack that reliably, securely and efficiently delivers data to and from the physical world. Combining real-time sensing data with intelligent machine-learning algorithms, the Fybr Platform delivers actionable insights that help leaders fix issues proactively saving money and improving services. Headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri, Fybr has deployments in the U.S., Canada, and Asia. With Fybrs IoT solution managing nearly 3 billion sensor events, Fybr provides a powerful, simple, and turnkey solution to enable almost any Internet of Things ambition for cities, farms, and businesses. For more information, visit http://www.fybr-tech.com Grossnickle Eye Center Ophthalmologists & Optometrists Its a comprehensive team now, providing treatment for virtually all eye problems. On Thursday, September 28th, Grossnickle Eye Center (GEC) celebrated the 30th anniversary of its ambulatory surgery center (ASC) with a staff picnic lunch. Several of the doctors and employees attending GECs event were present for the ASCs first surgery performed in 1987. Over the years, they have watched GECs state-of-the-art ASC embrace the latest advances in vision correction technology and expand its team of eye care professionals. Before the surgery center was built, Grossnickle Eye Center was already established as a regional center for medical eye care, says ophthalmologist Dr. Bruce Grossnickle. Since then, our office and surgery center staff number has increased to more than 100, with 12 doctors, including ophthalmologists and optometrists. Its a comprehensive team now, providing treatment for virtually all eye problems. Laser cataract surgery, LASIK, glaucoma surgery, laser treatments for diabetic retinopathy, and much more. To learn more about the services, history, and physicians at Grossnickle Eye Center, visit GECenter.com. Stock of Qudian, an online small credit provider, popped more than 43% after the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning, opening at $24 a share. The China-based company, which was founded by a 34-year-old named Min Luo, targets China's younger and underserved markets with small loans via its mobile app. The stock jumped to a high of $34 a share Wednesday morning before falling back to $30 at the time of publication. Qudian, according to its prospectus, offered 37.5 million shares. Reuters reported that the company raised $900 million from the initial public offering, making it one of the largest IPOs of a Chinese company in the US this year. The company counts Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and technology company also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as a backer. Carl Yeung, the company's chief financial officer, told Business Insider the firm was going after a market the country's traditional banks couldn't serve. Yeung said reaching the hundreds of millions of Chinese people with modest incomes is too expensive for larger financial-services players. Qudian is using nascent technology to capture that market. "We are looking to use behavioral data, more and more data, to discover business opportunities," Yeung said. "We are tracking the cutting-edge data with artificial intelligence to see who has a high willingness to repay." With such technology, the company is able to offer folks higher credit limits and earn a larger margin. Qudian, according to a press release, "facilitated $5.6 billion in transactions" to 7 million customers in the first half of the year. Chinese fintech is red-hot Qudian's strong IPO illustrates the red-hot market for fintech in China. Some of the world's largest privately owned financial technology companies are based in China, including Lu.com, a Shanghai-based personal finance company, valued at $18.5 billion, according to CB Insights. A recent study by the consultancy EY found that one in three digital consumers used two or more fintech products. This level, according to EY, indicates that fintech has crossed the threshold of early mass adoption. The firm said adoption was being driven by emerging markets, such as China. "FinTech adoption by digitally active consumers in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa average 46%, considerably higher than the global average," the report said. "From an individual market perspective, China and India have the highest adoption rates at 69% and 52% respectively." The firm said emerging markets were more open to fintech disruption because of the large populations of people who are underserved by existing financial infrastructures. Here's EY: "Our five emerging markets are characterized by having growing economies and a rapidly expanding middle class, but without traditional financial infrastructure to support demand. Relatively high proportions of the populations are underserved by existing financial services providers, while falling prices for smartphones and broadband services have increased the digitally active population that FinTechs target." A bill that passed through Congress without much objection is being revisited after an explosive investigation by " target="_blank"60 Minutes" and The Washington Post. The investigation found that members of Congress, alongside the pharmaceutical industry, may have helped fuel the opioid crisis. The reports led Republican Rep. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania to withdraw his name from consideration for the president's top drug-policy position. Marino had been key in creating a bill that became law in 2016. The law, titled the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, aimed to improve enforcement around prescription-drug abuse and diversion. But it also raised the standard of proof that the Drug Enforcement Administration needed to crack down on a company's pain-pill distribution, making it more difficult for the agency to enforce fines against the drug distributors. Marino introduced the bill in 2014, after which it went through two years of back-and-forth, delays, and opposition from the DEA. But by the time the bill became law in 2016, neither the DEA nor the Justice Department objected to it. The bill passed the Senate with unanimous consent and passed without objection in the House. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on April 19, 2016. Despite the support for the bill at the time it passed, The Post called it "the crowning achievement of a multifaceted campaign by the drug industry to weaken aggressive DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market." Marino and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who was also instrumental in the bill, disputed the investigation's characterization. "These allegations are complete baloney, and we all know it," Hatch said on Wednesday, citing the fact that the bill passed unanimously. "I don't want to hear anyone claim they didn't know anything about the bill." Marino, after commenting on his decision to withdraw his name from consideration for the drug-policy position, said he wanted to correct the record "regarding the false accusations and unfair reporting to which I have been subjected." "Im proud of my work on the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016, which passed with unanimous consent in the House and Senate, unopposed by the DEA and was signed into law by President Obama," Marino said in a statement. "This landmark legislation will help to facilitate a balanced solution for ensuring those who genuinely needed access to certain medications were able to do so, while also empowering the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to enforce the law and prevent the sale and abuse of prescription drugs." Shortly after the investigation went up, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri introduced a bill aiming to repeal the 2016 law. When the bill originally passed through the Senate, McCaskill did not voice opposition to it. McCaskill has been vocal about the pharmaceutical industry, particularly launching investigations around drug pricing and the opioid epidemic. She's not alone in wanting the bill repealed. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry group that represents drugmakers, on Tuesday said it supported legislation to repeal the law. The Post reported that the group lobbied for the bill, but the group, known as PhRMA, says that is "unequivocally false." Thanks for signing up for our daily insight on the African economy. We bring you daily editor picks from the best Business Insider news content so you can stay updated on the latest topics and conversations on the African market, leaders, careers and lifestyle. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Citizenship Office, representing the Citizenship Commission, is presenting to the media and other agencies in Vanuatu, that the Citizenship Office has not got any legal confirmation on any so called Bitcoin payments as stated in the media outlets, Acting General Secretary Samuel Garae said, according to the Vila Times. The Office of the Citizenship is giving an assurance to all the Citizenship Designated Agents, that all the payments concerning the DSP program will still be in US dollars as prescribed by the Citizenship Regulations, he said. Any other arrangement made by any sub-agent will not be considered by the Citizenship Office. Earlier this year, the Thai government started offering "elite" residency visas for wealthy foreign citizens, allowing them to live in the country for around $3,000 (2,403) a year. There are seven different packages, with the most expensive being the "Elite Ultimate Privilege" scheme. It costs $60,000 for 20 years residency, along with a $600 a year membership fee. READ MORE: 6 SHS with the strongest alliance groups According to reports, the teachers asked the students from bringing such devices to the school but the students argue that the school is not a boarding facility and so they use their phones to communicate with their parents and guardians. During an inspection in the school, about 200 mobile phones, ear phones, chargers and laptops were confiscated and burnt to ashes. The move angered the students and generated into a controversy. READ ALSO: 2 SHS student crashed to death A police team led by the district police commander arrived and warned the students from the violent clashes. According to Buzzsouthafrica.com, Sten Zvorwadza made the remark about the controversial leader while he was commenting on the recent disturbance between the countrys authorities and vendors. READ MORE: Man arrested for helping girlfriend commit suicide The Zimbabwean police launched a campaign called operation restore order to get rid of vendors in the streets of the countrys capital, Harare. The operation was initiated after Mr. Mugabe complained that the streets were overcrowded and needed to be decongested. Sten Zvorwadza who is the leader of the street vendors union, reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the way the authorities handled the issued. As part of his comment Sten allegedly described Mugabe as an old, day-dreaming President whos walking dead. He was arrested and charged for insulting and undermining the President. READ ALSO: Man defeats father in a defamation lawsuit Zvorwadza is a anti-Mugabe campaigner who has led several protests, encouraging Zimbabweans to rise and get rid of Mugabe. Confirming Zvorwadzas arrest, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said that he was yet to appear in court. A Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum expressed in February 2017, its concerned about the unnecessary restriction on vendors by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Harare Central Business District, which resulted in the arbitrary arrest and torture of vendors. The forum stated that Arbitrary arrest, torture, and the propensity of the ZRP officers to use brutal force on citizens is a violation of an individuals self-worth and the right to personal liberty, human dignity, personal security and freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment; rights that are all protected in the Constitution of Zimbabwe. But an autopsy revealed that there were no cancerous tumors in her body. Vibe.com reports that Matthew Stubbendieck took police to the forests where the girlfriend, Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan slit her wrists. Wilemon-Sullivan reportedly told Stubbendieck more than a year ago the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, stomach, neck and armpits. Stubbendieck told law enforcement he never accompanied his girlfriend to the hospital and assumed she received treatment when she went to the emergency room after being diagnosed. According to The New York Daily News, In July, Wilemon-Sullivan left her three children back in Florida and flew to Nebraska to be with Stubbendieck. They walked to Acapulco Lake where they stayed for hours as she tried to kill herself. Stubbendieck admitted to trying to suffocate her but says he stopped because he saw her suffering. At 9:30PM he left and when he came back she was dead. Doctors say the wounds she had were self-inflicted. An investigation shows Wilemon-Sullivan had morphine in her system and while there was nothing that could prove she had cancer, but that doesnt mean shes cancer free Reports indicate that Yaw Dankwa was travelling in a taxi to an Accra Circuit Court to represent his clients in the court when the incident happened. According to Ghanaweb, midway through the journey, the taxi driver lost his way and asked the lawyer to alight and ask for directions. READ MORE:Paedophilia: Husband films wife while she had sex with 11-year-old boyHowever, the driver outsmarted him and drove off with the lawyers suit and brief case, which contained his laptop, phone, case dockets and other personal effects. Lawyer Yaw Dankwa was compelled to borrow a suit to appear before the court in order not to appear naked before the judge.The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, went ahead to deliver its judgement anyway. The two convicts, Samuel Adjako and Benjamin Adu Asante aka Attah were arraigned before the court for robbing one Rosemary Kugblenu, Pharmacy Technician and her sister, Linda Kugblenu, a police officer of various items, totalling GH7,000 at gunpoint. READ ALSO: Desperation: Desperate man uses car to pay for a pack of scarce McDonalds sauce The robbed lawyer for the accused tried to convince the court that the second accused person (Benjamin Adu) could be wrongly prosecuted for mistaken identity, since he was said to be wearing a mask, but the Judge said the prosecution managed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the crime. The court took the plea of the defence lawyer for mitigation in consideration as it sentenced the two to 15 years imprisonment each in hard labourThe judge said considering the weapons used and the modus operandi of the crime, 15 years is a serious punishment but the court finds it as enough deterrent to the youth that the path of robbery is more bitter than sweet and not worth embarking upon. Chief Inspector Kwame Adu told the court that the two on January 28, 2017 at about 12:40am went the complainants house at Abokobi armed with a machete and locally manufactured pistol. READ ALSO: Man defeats father in a defamation lawsuit He said they robbed them of a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge mobile phone valued at GH3,000, assorted jewelleries valued at GH590, cash GH3,410, as well as a Susu box containing an unspecified amount of money.He said Benjamin Adu was wearing a mask while Samuel Adjako was not.Chief Inspector Adu narrated that Adu, who saw one of the complainants sleeping naked in bed, attempted to rape her but was stopped by his accomplice who was more interested in the items. He said a third accused person, identified only as Kwadzo, who is still at large, positioned himself at the entrance of the house to prevent anyone from entering the house. The armed robbers managed to bolt with their booty. He said on February 4, 2017, Samuel Adjako was spotted in the area by the complainant, who raised an alarm that led to his arrest. READ ALSO: ZimbabweanDisrespect for Authority: Zimbabwean activist arrested for attacking Robert Mugabe He mentioned Benjamin Adu and Kwadzo as his accomplices after his arrest.He added that Samuel Adjako, upon his arrest, told the police that the other two convicts were his partners, who had robbed several people of their valuables in the past two years. An employee counts renminbi and dollars at a bank in Qionghai, South China's Hainan province. [Photo/VCG] BEIJING - China's central bank's yuan outstanding for foreign exchange (forex) rose in September, snapping a 22-month decline, data showed Thursday. The funds increased by 850 million yuan ($128.6 million) from August to 21.51 trillion yuan, according to the People's Bank of China. As the Chinese currency is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by the trade surplus and inbound foreign investment, adding funds to the money market. Such funds are an important indicator of cross-border foreign capital flows and domestic yuan liquidity. An increase of the funds usually signals eased capital flight pressure, while a decrease of the funds often means higher capital flight pressure. Analysts attributed the increase in September partly to a stronger yuan. The central parity rate of the Chinese currency, the yuan, once strengthened to 6.4997 against the US dollar last month, breaking the psychologically important 6.5 barrier for the first time since May 2016. The rise of the funds was also in line with the upward trend of foreign exchange reserves. The country's forex reserves rose for the eighth month in a row in September as pressure from capital outflow eased, data from the central bank showed last week. Forex reserves totaled $3.1085 trillion by the end of September, increasing $16.98 billion from a month earlier. The country's economic growth has remained stable and sound since the beginning of the year and the yuan has appreciated steadily, while cross-border capital flows stayed stable, which contributed to the forex reserves' gradual rebound. China's economy continued its firm growth in the first three quarters of this year, with gross domestic product expanding 6.9 percent year on year to 59.3288 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics data showed Thursday. The growth rate held steady from a 6.9-percent increase in the first half of this year and is well above the government's target for the year of 6.5 percent. According to Odditycentral.com, Partridge, from Ontario, Canada, recently traveled to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, to compete in the Retired Racehorse Projects Thoroughbred Makeover. It is an annual competition in which retired racehorses compete in various categories. As she approached the town of Georgetown, where she had booked a room for the week, Partridge decided to stop and drop off her luggage, before driving to the contest venue. Little did she know that one of her horses would be joining her in the room as well. Upon entering the lobby of the Supreme 8 Hotel, the horse trainer noticed a pet dog and jokingly remarked to the receptionist that she didnt know about the hotels pet policy, adding that she also had some pet horses traveling with her and it would have been nice to check them in as well. However, to her surprise, the receptionist replied Oh, I dont care. Sure, bring them in. Though she was initially taken aback by the response, Lindsey Partridge decided that it was too good an opportunity let go, so she unloaded one of her horses from the trailer and brought it into the hotel. Partridge told ABC News that other people in and around the hotel were surprised by the unusual guest, but they all knew it was in good fun. She only paid $10 to have the horse spend the night in her hotel room. She later said I was like lets just check in with the horse, and we did our video and then my room happened to be on the first floor, so we took her into the hotel room to watch a little TV. Out of amazement, Partridge then posted some photos and a video of the whole experience on Facebook, and they quickly went viral. As you can expect, most people were curious about how she had pulled the whole thing off, while some jokingly asked how the large horse managed to use the toilet. Luckily for the hotels cleaning staff, Fuzz, 5-year-old thoroughbred, didnt actually spend the whole night in the room. Partridge just took some photos, watched some TV with the horse and then took her back to the trailer for the night, according to Odditycentral.com. When contacted by ABC News, the Supreme 8 hotel acknowledged the development, saying, We did not know she was going to bring the horse into the facility. We are pet-friendly, and it is [for animals] 25 pounds and under. We had no knowledge of it being in the room. WiLDAF Ghana and Oxfam in Ghana is using this opportunity to call on the Government of Ghana, traditional leaders and other key land stakeholders to support and honour the demands of rural women proclaimed in the Kilimanjaro Initiative Charter of Demands (Charter of Demands) as way of advancing womens land rights in Ghana. The Kilimanjaro Initiative is a campaign spearheaded by Civil Society Organisations which brought together over 500 rural women from across 22 African countries including Ghana to the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, where they proclaimed a Charter of Demands on access to land and natural resources on October 15, 2016. The Charter of Demands was presented to the African Union, for onward presentation to UN Women. The Charter of Demands contains fifteen demands emanating from Rural Women on strengthening their land rights. Six of these demands have been prioritised by key Ghanaian land and agricultural stakeholders as follows: Sensitization of leaders (Traditional, community, religious and land sector actors) youth, people with disabilities, and women on the laws and policies on land. Women empowerment by enabling them access their land rights, technology and financial resources to improve their livelihood. Ban harmful and oppressive cultural practices that undermine womens rights including those that prohibit women to inherit land and other resources. Women and communities to have a say on what land, investors and companies invest in their communities. These investors must be obligated to provide information about the impact of their investment (sustainability- economic, environment, health, social and infrastructure) Enact and amend laws to provide safeguards to womens land rights Translate land policies and laws into simplified versions and accessible local languages Though a lot of work still needs to be done to see to it that the country's economy is transformed, the Akufo-Addo-led administration has done a significant amount of work in just hundred days to set the right foundation for much needed change Ghanaians voted for. READ MORE: Minority threatens to walk out over withdrawal of AMERI deal Ghanaians through a tall list of measures and interventions that have been put in place by the NPP government to boost growth in the economy and stimulate development across the country. Pulse.com.gh takes a look among the issues talked about since he took over from the National Democratic Congress. Focus of economic policy from taxation to production The NPP has abolished excise duty on petroleum, levies imposed on kayayei by local authorities, levies imposed on religious institutions by local authorities, reduced National Electrification Scheme Levy from 5% to 3%. In the fishing industry, the government spread the allocation of premix fuel to more OMCs. Previously only 2 OMCs were allowed to sell premix. As part of governments effort to ensure transparency and stamp out corruption, we have increased the number to 9. Free SHS President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, making good his promise of free secondary education, declared that, beginning public senior high schools (SHS) would be free. By free SHS, there will be no admission fee, no library fee, no science centre fee, no computer lab fee, no examination fee, and no utility fee; there will be free text books, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free. Free SHS will also cover agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at the high school level. I also want to state clearly again that we have a well-thought out plan that involves the building of new public senior high schools and cluster public senior high schools. Nursing trainee allowance restored Trainee nurses have lined up to thank President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for restoring their allowances scrapped by the previous government. The allowances will see over 58,000 trainee nurses and midwives in the various public nursing and midwifery schools receive a little over GH400 every month. READ ALSO: Nurses line up to thank Nana Addo for restoring trainee allowances 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. National Digital Property Addressing System President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, October 19, has launched the National Digital Property Addressing System, "ghanapostGPS", describing it as a "move ever closer to realizing our vision of formalising the Ghanaian economy." The informal nature of the economy, he explained, has affected the nations ability to broaden the tax base, deepen and widen financial inclusion, and deliver services to those most in need. The launch of the National Digital Property Addressing System is a fulfillment of one of the campaign promises made by the New Patriotic Party, in its bid to win the December 2016 elections. Paperless port transactions take-off In May 2017, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia gave three directives at a port efficiency conference he organised to improve trade in the country. The directives included the removal of all customs barriers on the countrys transit corridor, a joint inspection by all regulatory agencies at the ports and a hundred percent paperless transactions at the ports. Ahead of the implementation of the directives, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, GCNet, West Blue Consulting, customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Shippers Authority, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and a host of other stakeholder institutions including the freight forwarding associations embarked on several engagements with importers and freight forwarders to educate them on what they need to expect and changes that have been made on their systems. One district, one factory project- One district, one Warehouse President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched governments one district, one factory project, with the promise to drive industrialization across the country. At a ceremony at Ekumfi in the Central Region, Nana Addo cut the sod for the construction of the first factory under the programme. The Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Limited is expected to be completed in 2018, with the promise of creating over 4,000 direct jobs. It will also employ some 5,000 outgrowers. At least 173 factories are ready to be rolled out as part of the initiative. The 173 projects will be carried out by private businesses with support from the government. The one district, one factory project marks a giant step towards the fulfilment of major promises made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the heat of the 2016 general elections. However, he has launched the first warehouse under the One-District-One-Warehouse programme. The 13 pleaded guilty to the offence of escaping from lawful custody, and were fined GH1,800 each or serve 12 months in jail in default by the Asokwa District Court in Kumasi when they were arraigned on Thursday. READ ALSO: Delta 13 case adjourned again The court presided over by Korkor Achaw Owusu has also ordered the members to sign a bond of good behaviour for 12 months. They were charged for escaping from lawful custody after a group of young men believed to be their colleagues in the Delta Force stormed the court to free them following a two-week remand slapped on them. The prosecutor, ACP Okyere Darko, told the court presided over by Her Honor, Mary Nsenkyire Tuesday October 10, that, the Attorney General had withdrawn all the earlier charges. The 13 are Kojo Fosu Bamba aka Kojo Bamba, Awal Sadat Abubakar, Abubakar Sadiq Abuhammed, Jamil Issa, Hamza Mohammed, Salu Issahak, Akwasi Owusu, Kwabena Owusu, Kofi Kyei, Eggya Boadi, Salu Yussif, Yussif Salu and Kwaku Awortwe. Just two soldiers are known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar province, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that nine soldiers were wounded and six unaccounted for. Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP the attackers detonated at least one explosive-packed Humvee vehicle and razed the compound in the early morning assault. "We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one," Waziri said. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside." The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists which said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Ten insurgents died, the ministry said. "We have sent a delegation to assess the situation. The base is under ANA (Afghan National Army) control," Waziri added. It was the third suicide and gun attack on a security installation this week and takes the total death toll to more than 120, including soldiers, police and civilians. In each assault the Taliban used a Humvee vehicle as a bomb to blast their way into their targets. On Tuesday two attacks in southeast Afghanistan killed 80 people and wounded nearly 300 in the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months. The deadliest of Tuesday's assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez in Paktia province where Taliban militants disguised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles -- including a truck and a Humvee -- that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter. At least 60 people, including Paktia police chief Toryalai Abdyani and civilians waiting to collect documents, were killed in the blasts and ensuing battle that lasted around five hours, health officials said, with more than 230 wounded. On Wednesday Muscat told parliament that the government would put up a "substantial and unprecedented reward," for information leading to a conviction over Monday's car bomb killing of anti-corruption campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia. Her sons revealed that the government was putting up a million euros, but said they would not bow to pressure to endorse the idea. "We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mother's murder to turn around and say that justice has been served," they said. "The Prime Minister asked for our endorsement. This is how he can get it: show political responsibility and resign." Caruana Galizia had used her widely-read blog to highlight numerous cases of suspected corruption, including several scandals implicating Muscat's inner circle which had left her facing a string of legal suits. Her sons, Matthew, Andrew and Paul, said Muscat should resign because he had worked to "cripple our mother financially and dehumanise her so brutally and effectively that she no longer felt safe walking down the street. "And before resigning he can make his last act in government the replacement of the Police Commissioner and Attorney General with public servants who wont be afraid to act on evidence against him and those he protects." Muscat called and won an early election in June after the late journalist said she had evidence that his wife Michelle was the beneficiary of a secret Panama bank account. Caruana Galizia, 53, alleged the account was used to stash kickbacks from Azerbaijan's ruling family linked to an Azeri bank gaining a licence to operate in Malta. Muscat asked a magistrate to investigate the claims and has vowed to quit if any link is established between him and hidden offshore accounts. The investigation, which the opposition has derided as rigged, is ongoing. Togo's security minister, Colonel Yark Damehame, denied the claims, however, saying no-one was killed. The streets of the coastal capital were largely deserted in anticipation of the rally, which the opposition refused to cancel despite a government ban on weekday marches on security grounds. Demonstrators planned to march to the offices of the West African bloc ECOWAS to demand the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe -- the latest in two months of mounting protests against his regime. Gnassingbe has been president since 2005 and is the scion of Africa's longest-ruling dynasty that has been in power in Togo since 1968. The opposition wants the constitution changed and the introduction of a limit of two, five-year terms for presidents. Colonel Damehame said of the opposition claims that three people were killed on Thursday: "No deaths have been brought to our attention." At least four people were reported to have been killed in Lome and the country's second city, Sokode, during clashes between protesters, police and soldiers on Wednesday. But Damehame said they had previously been announced on Tuesday, blaming the confusion on the health services in Sokode being overwhelmed. "No death was recorded yesterday (Wednesday) in Sokode," he told reporters. Shut down In Lome, most shops were still shut by midday (1200 GMT) and the streets were virtually empty apart from the occasional motorbike-taxi, an AFP correspondent said. "Activity is at a standstill after days of disruption by the marches," said one mobile phone vendor in Deckon, the city's commercial hub. "What's happening is weighing heavily on us. The politicians need to talk to find a solution to this crisis." Adjamagbo-Johnson said the opposition was undeterred by the crackdown. "We're determined. We will continue to protest every day," she said. In the opposition stronghold of Be, in the southeastern part of the capital, groups of youths attempted to block the roads with barricades and burned tyres. But the security forces, who were deployed in large numbers, sporadically fired teargas in a game of cat and mouse that lasted all day. In other areas such as Amoutive, efforts were under way to remove barricades and the remains of burned-out cars that had been torched on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets on an almost weekly basis since August, increasing tensions across the country, including in the north, which has typically been supportive of the Gnassingbe family. In all, up to 15 people, most of them teenagers, are said to have been killed in that time. Gnassingbe currently holds the rotating presidency of ECOWAS and there has been little comment in the region and beyond about the unrest. In Paris, the foreign ministry said it was following events in its former colony "with concern". "We strongly condemn the recent violence that has left several people dead or injured (and) call for calm on both sides and dialogue," it said in a statement. LONDON City of London police raided 20 offices on Tuesday as part of a crackdown on binary options fraud, after nearly 700 people reported losing more than 18 million in scams during the first six months of 2017. In a "day of action," conducted in partnership with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Revenue and Customs, the Police occupied offices across London's financial district in order to review companies' compliance documents and gather intelligence on different types of investment fraud. Glenn Maleary, head of the economic crime directorate at the City of London Police, said in a statement: "With our partners, we want to ensure the City is a hostile environment for fraudsters to operate in and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that this is the case. "Throughout this year we have been raising awareness of Binary Options fraud and over the coming days we will be providing more advice on how people can beat the boiler rooms and protect themselves from all types of investment fraud." Binary options trading is an investment that works like a prediction market. An investor bets that a given asset will be above or below a certain point after a set amount of time, and if correct will recoup their investment with a bonus. If they are wrong, they lose the entire amount. 2,065 people have reported being a victim of a binary options scam since 2012, according to Police figures, losing a total of roughly 59.4 million and 22,811 each on average. During this week's raid, one team discovered a business that had paid over three month's rent up front, then disappeared. The Police are now working to gather more information about the company, and whether it was a "boiler room" a hub out of which criminals operate. Last year, the FCA found that 82% of people who engage in binary options trading lose money, and some have said the practice is more akin to gambling than to investing. The City of London posted the below video on YouTube to raise awareness: What could become one of President Donald Trump's signature legislative achievements is being held up by a handful of GOP lawmakers who are hung up mostly over one item in the bill. The legislation is the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act, a broad aviation bill that would, among other changes, privatize the nation's air-traffic-control system. The AIRR Act is being pushed by Republican Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and has the backing of the White House and House leadership. It would be the largest aviation-related overhaul in roughly four decades, something Trump could claim as a major policy victory. But the proposal is controversial. It would hand over the air-traffic-control system to a newly formed nonprofit organization, which would be governed by a board that included people nominated by the transportation secretary, airline companies, and representatives of aviation unions, such as those representing pilots and air-traffic controllers. Some Republicans are worried about the effects that nonprofit would have on smaller, private aircraft, specifically the costs that could be implemented on people who fly privately to use privatized air-traffic control. The bill, which has a trio of Democratic cosponsors, is facing opposition from Republican Reps. Bill Flores of Texas, Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, and Todd Rokita of Indiana. The bill passed committee in June but has not yet been brought forth for a vote, though a previously scheduled vote was delayed as Republicans try to negotiate a compromise on congressional oversight over the newly formed nonprofit. But unlike last year, when a similar effort stalled out because it did not have enough votes, the legislation now has the full backing of the executive branch. Those who oppose the legislation zeroed in on three aspects, Flores told Business Insider. Two of the three main concerns which were related to coordination with US national-security operations and access to the new, private air-traffic-control system for general aviation (meaning nonmilitary, governmental, or commercial aircraft) have mostly been resolved. It's the third issue congressional oversight of the board of the newly formed nonprofit and of the nonprofit's pricing to use its services that has caused a hangup. Flores, a pilot, said lawmakers who remain opposed to the legislation as a result are still working with the Trump administration and Shuster to "try and resolve" that hangup. "We haven't found where the middle is yet," Flores said. "I've offered a couple of suggestions to Chairman Shuster and the T&I Committee that I think are user friendly so that the private entity that runs it and the private capital that finances it would have some certainty that they wouldn't be held up by Congress, but we're not quite there yet." In explaining his idea for how to handle congressional oversight over the nonprofit's pricing, Flores said a mechanism separate from the Congressional Review Act would allow Congress to have a limited time to veto prices set forth by the nonprofit. If Congress did not act within that time, the pricing provided by the nonprofit would go into effect. "That should be user-friendly, and it doesn't leave" the nonprofit and its capital providers "in limbo for an extended period of time," Flores said. But as a Republican aide on the Transportation Committee insisted to Business Insider, the issues that Republicans who are opposed to the current legislation "call out don't exist in the black letter text of the bill and they've all been worked out." "That's been the most frustrating thing," they said. The aide said that the bill "explicitly states" that they "may not" pay a user fee for general aviation access to the new service. The major airliners would be paying that fee. While Flores and others are concerned about congressional oversight over the nonprofit's board, the aide described its makeup and added it would not be "a giveaway to the big airlines." "It's a 13-seat board, and at maximum commercial aviation have three seats out of 13," they said. "So it's a mathematical impossibility. Even if they voted in a block, they still don't have the numbers to do it." Additionally, they said board members could not be a CEO of a major airliner. "They can't serve two masters," they said. "If they're a board member, they're a board member." In addition to the privatization effort, the bill provides a long-term Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization and provides consumer changes such as preventing customers from being booted from a commercial flights once they receive a boarding pass, something that caught major attention after a passenger was dragged off a United flight earlier this year. Rokita, the Republican lawmaker who is most outspoken against the legislation, was the only Republican to vote against the bill when it went through the Transportation Committee. The Indiana lawmaker is a fierce opponent of privatization, believing that it would cause the major airliners to dominate the field. The issue also hits close to home for Rokita, a licensed pilot who flies a small plane frequently. His flying was the subject of a controversy in what is now a brutal Senate primary race that he's running against Republican Rep. Luke Messer. As Politico reported in May, Rokita used roughly $100,000 in campaign cash to reimburse the company he co-owns for using that private plane. Though there was no evidence he broke any ethics rules or laws, Politico wrote that "campaign finance advocates have long questioned the use of campaign funds to reimburse companies owned by members." "Messer is attacking me for using my small prop plane to travel Indiana meeting Hoosiers the same plane I use doing charity work for wounded veterans and sick children," Rokita wrote in a fundraising email. "However, as the reporter notes, I have done nothing unethical and followed all relevant laws." A representative for Jenkins did not return a request for comment. In her statement following the Trump administration's budget proposal in March, which called for air-traffic-control privatization, Jenkins said it would "adversely" affect general aviation and her home state of Kansas, where three of the top five largest employers are in the aviation industry. "The proposal to privatize air traffic control has dangerous long-term implications on general aviation and the small airports and rural communities it serves," Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said in a February statement, highlighting the difficulties the legislation could face in the Senate even if it makes it through the House. "General aviation would forever be under the threat of higher, unfair fees and costs, with no opportunity for American citizens to affect change through their elected officials." The Republican resistance to the legislation has angered some of the grassroots. Noah Wall, vice president of advocacy for the conservative group FreedomWorks, told Business Insider that he's "very disappointed to see Republicans, especially from Trump districts, opposing really commonsense stuff. "I understand that, yeah, this is slightly disruptive to private-jet owners," he added. "But our opinion and the opinion of our activists is that this is a no-brainer. It increases safety, it decreases wait times for customers on airplanes and wait time on the ground and all that so we think that's very important." FreedomWorks has "engaged" its activists on this issue, Wall added, pointing to Rokita, Jenkins, and Flores as "the three major holdups." "We plan to continue," he said. "This is, from our point of view, this year, any wins that we can get I think are very important, heading into the midterms." Wall said that the current system essentially provides private-jet owners with a large subsidy to use the system, compared to the commercial airliners. "Frankly, I don't know how many FreedomWorks activists have a whole lot of love for private-jet subsidies," Wall said. "I don't know how many Americans do either." The bill is waiting for its day on the House floor. A representative for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not return a request for comment about when leadership was seeking to have one take place. As the Republican transportation aide said, the environment for the bill "has been kind of taken away" by "the issues of the day," which have included healthcare and emergency funding following the recent Atlantic hurricanes. "I mean we'd love to get this done," they said. "But every day that we have is another day to talk to members and educate them and get them on board." For Flores, he simply wants to get the bill "to where it's good policy." Though he said he has only "conjecture at this point" for whether the bill would see a floor date soon, he said the fact that it has yet to come to a vote was telling. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a Republican from Ohio, announced Thursday that he would not seek reelection and would leave Congress by January 31, before the end of his term. The New York Times on Wednesday night first reported the news of Tiberi's resignation. In a statement, the congressman said he would leave the House by January 31. Tiberi has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2001 and is an "influential member of the House Ways and Means Committee" with "close ties to his party's leaders," The Times reported. Tiberi was in the running to chair the tax-writing committee in 2015 but lost to Rep. Kevin Brady. Tiberi said in a statement that he would leave Congress to head the Ohio Business Roundtable, confirming The Times' report. The position, he said, "will allow me to continue to work on public policy issues impacting Ohioans while also spending more time with my family." Rep. Tom Cole told The Times that he was "happy for my friend, but Congress will be a poorer place without him." Tiberi's resignation is surprising. He was reportedly weighing a campaign to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a state that Republican President Donald Trump won in 2016. Tiberi had more than $6.6 million in his reelection account at the beginning of October, according to The Times. However, Tiberi had been openly critical of the pace of progress in Washington this year, even with a Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress. Of the investigations into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election, Tiberi said in May, "It's the elephant in the room right now." "The smartest minds in the White House know that, whether it's tax reform or anything else on the public policy front," he told Reuters. "It's hard enough to get things done in the US Capitol under the best of circumstances." Heres Tiberis full statement: A painting from the National Art Museum of Belarus will be showcased during the exhibition at the National Art Museum of China on Oct 24, 2017. [Photo/namoc.org] As 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Belarus, an exhibition featuring pieces from Belarusian artists will be held at the National Art Museum of China on Oct 24. The 57 pieces, spanning from the 19th century to the early 20th century, are all classic pieces from the National Art Museum of Belarus. The exhibition features a series of worldly well-known artists, including Ilya Yafimovich Repin, Isaac Ilyich Levitan and Konstantin Makovsky. The event aims to help Chinese people learn more about Belarusian culture and enhance mutual understanding between the two nations. Sen. Bernie Sanders went head-to-head with Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday night in a CNN town-hall debate on the Republican Party's tax plan. The polarizing topic of tax reform has been at the center of Capitol Hill. Republicans have explored trying to pass a tax bill without Democratic support, while Democrats say they feel left out of a crucial, bipartisan process of governing. Included in the GOP's tax plan is a 20% corporate tax rate, the elimination of the estate tax, and a reduction in tax brackets to three from seven. Cruz defended the plan, saying on CNN, "Republicans want to lower the taxes for each and every person watching this debate." He argued that a lower corporate tax rate would allow businesses to create more jobs. Sanders, however, said the GOP's tax plan was about giving "tax breaks to people who don't need it," adding that he supports "a tax cut for the middle class and working families." Throughout the evening, the two senators threw several verbal jabs at each other's expense. After discussing Sanders' proposal to raise taxes, Cruz said: "You said if we had this conversation, the American people will be ready to do that ... I know that is a verbatim quote." Sanders said, "No, what I said was " "Bernie, I didn't interrupt you," Cruz said. "Yes, you did," Sanders said, as the audience erupted in laughter. "Well, I stopped when you pointed it out," Cruz said. "Don't interrupt me when I'm interrupting you!" Sanders shouted. At another point, Cruz said that his 2016 presidential campaign focused on strengthening Social Security and that politicians in Washington were "recklessly letting it careen towards insolvency." "There are no changes at all," Cruz said. "Every dollar, every penny of benefit is protected, but for young people, people my age " "You're not so young anymore," Sanders said. "You'd be surprised," Cruz said. Earlier, Cruz joked about the impersonation of Sanders that the comedian Larry David, the star of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," has done on episodes of "Saturday Night Live." "I'm not interrupting you," Sanders said, waving his hand to indicate he wanted Cruz to hurry. "Come on, come on." "You know, as some might say, curb your enthusiasm," Cruz quipped. "By the way, the impression Larry David does of you is spectacular and uncanny." "Someday, you may also have somebody who does that of you," Sanders said. "You got to work on it, Ted." The White House chief of staff, John Kelly, on Thursday responded to a firestorm of criticism President Donald Trump has faced over a congresswoman's account of his call to the widow of a slain soldier. Kelly defended Trump, saying there was "no perfect way to make that phone call" to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four US Army Special Forces troops killed in action during a mission in Niger earlier this month, but that the president intended to commend Johnson's bravery. "I said to him, 'Sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families,'" Kelly told reporters at a press briefing. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general whose son was killed in 2010 while serving in Afghanistan, said he advised Trump on what to say during calls he made to the families of the four troops. Of Johnson, Kelly said: "He's a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted." He added: "And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message. That was the message that was transmitted." Rep. Frederica Wilson, a friend of Johnson's family, said on Tuesday that Trump told the widow that her husband "knew what he signed up for" when he enlisted. On Wednesday morning, Trump accused Wilson of lying about what he said. He added that he had "proof" to support his denial, but he did not elaborate. "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" Trump wrote. Wilson responded to Trump's accusation on Wednesday morning, calling the president "a sick man" who "feels no pity or sympathy for anyone." Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, said on Wednesday that she agreed with Wilson's account of the call. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Jones-Johnson told The Washington Post. Trump then doubled down on his denial of the congresswoman's account of the call. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said, didn't say it all. She knows it," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, later adding: "I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren't too surprised to hear that." Kelly said he was angered and saddened by Wilson's criticism of the call, adding that he walked around Arlington National Cemetery for over an hour to collect his thoughts. "I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing," he said. He added: "And when I listened to this woman, what she was saying, what she was doing on TV, the only thing I could do to collect my thoughts was to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth." Kelly also confirmed Trump's claim earlier this week that President Barack Obama did not call Kelly's family after his son was killed in action. Trump "asked me about previous presidents, and I said, 'I can tell you that President Obama ... did not call my family," Kelly said. "That was not a criticism. That was just to simply say I don't believe President Obama called. That's not a negative thing." President Donald Trump, resurfacing a campaign-trail attack, on Thursday morning tweeted about a bombshell report that the FBI investigated a bribery scandal involving the Russian nuclear industry and the Clintons. "Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!" Trump tweeted. Trump also tweeted a quote from "Fox & Friends" on Thursday morning that Russia "sent millions to Clinton Foundation." John Solomon and Alison Spann at The Hill reported Wednesday that the FBI investigated Russian nuclear industry officials engaging in bribery and kickbacks before the Hillary Clinton-led State Department and Obama administration approved a 2010 deal giving Russia control of much of the US's uranium. The Senate Judiciary Committee opened a fresh inquiry into the matter, its Republican chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, said Wednesday. Trump's own dealings with Russia remain under constant examination in the media. The FBI's special counsel, Robert Mueller, as well as the House and Senate intelligence committees are examining Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates played a role. During the campaign, Trump claimed that the deal for uranium, an important element needed for both nuclear power and weapons, had enriched the Clinton family because people with interest in the deal had donated to the Clintons' charity, the Clinton Foundation. Clinton has said, however, that she was not personally involved in vetting the deal. "The Russians were compromising American contractors in the nuclear industry with kickbacks and extortion threats, all of which raised legitimate national security concerns," a person who worked on the case told The Hill. "And none of that evidence got aired before the Obama administration made those decisions." In another report, Solomon and Spann cited an American businessman who said the Obama administration blocked him from testifying to Congress about "conversations and transactions he witnessed related to the Russian nuclear industry's efforts to win favor with Bill and Hillary Clinton and influence Obama administration decisions." The investigation was conducted under the leadership of Mueller, then the director of the FBI. The investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia have loomed over his presidency since its early days. It has continually expanded and now includes possible obstruction of justice by Trump and one of his sons as well as the role social media played in Russia's push to influence the 2016 election. Some regard these things as very noble acts, while others see them as unnatural things created to undermine Gods work. Interesting, right? It is this contrast among people of different beliefs that we are exploring today. Here is how different religious denominations see blood and organ donations. Anglican: These two things are accepted by the church. According to Blood banker, this denomination believes in sacrificing for others. Baptists and the Catholic Church: These two share the same view on these medical procedures. Both see transfusions and donations as an act of charity guaranteed to reduce the pain of others. In 2014, Pope Francis described the act of organ donation as a "testimony of love for our neighbour. However, he does not encourage organ donation for commercial purposes. Speaking on his behalf, Romes mayor, Ignazio Marino said, The pope authorized me to say that in his view organ donation through generosity must be encouraged, but the commercial use of organs is immoral. We need to explain that donating organs is a gesture of love. Each of us, for example, has two kidneys, and giving one of them to a relative or a person we love is a beautiful gesture. Entering into the spiral of trade and sales is a crime. Islam: Muslims are okay with these two things as long as they pass two conditions, the offer must be free and there must be proof of consent from the donor. Also, it must really be of major benefit to the recipient. Helping and saving a human life is a big deal to Muslims so they would never refuse to help if they can. Years ago, this used to be a taboo for Islam. This belief was eventually changed in 1983 by the Moslem Religious Council. Jehovahs Witness: It is common knowledge that this religious group does not believe in donating blood or accepting blood transfusions. For them, this is not a medical issue but a religious one. They believe that avoiding anything that involves blood is both an act of obedience and respect for God. This belief is based on the following verses; Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10; Deuteronomy 12:23; Acts 15:28, 29 and Leviticus 17:14. Genesis 9:4: But flesh (meat) withbloodye shall not eat Leviticus 17:1214: No soul of you shall eat bloodwhosoever eateth it shall be cut off Acts 15:29: That ye abstainfrom blood In an emergency, they opt for doctors to use blood-conservation techniques as opposed to blood transfusions. This belief is so important that anyone that knowingly receives a blood transfusion is seen as a sinner who longer has eternal life. This tainted person is also shunned by other Jehovahs Witnesses. Interestingly, the group is okay with organ donations as long as it involves the cornea, kidney, other tissues and bones. For Jehovahs Witnesses, the fact that the Bible does not comments directly transplants gives room for individuals to decide. Lutheran Church: Based on a resolution, made in 1984, members are encouraged to donate because it is an expression of sacrificial love for a neighbour in need. Members are also advised to consider donating and to make any necessary family legal arrangements, including the use of a signed donor card. Mormons: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is okay with the donation of organs and tissues. Seventh-Day Adventist: A lot of people believe that this church is like Jehovahs Witness when it comes to transfusions. This is quite wrong since the church is fine with it. So fine, that they even have numerous Seventh-day Adventist transplant hospitals. Well, not all churches have figured this out yet, hence this hilarious strange names. Here are 10 strange and funny names of real churches. 1. Barking Methodist Church in East London: Who wants to attend a church that barks? 2. The Five Precious Wounds Catholic Church, Stonebridge: This is still from London. All we can say is why? 3. Custom House Baptist Church: We hear this and what comes to mind are Customs officers. We can't help but wonder it is a church for just custom officers. This is the only explanation for why a church would be called a Custom House. This is also from London. Let's bring it home. These remaining seven names are from our very own motherland, Nigeria. 4. Laboratory Church of God: What? Why? 5. Run For Your Life Ministry: Is the church for only runners? ALSO READ: 5 interesting church posters that will have you laughing out loud 6. Elshaddai Shall Not Die Ministries: We already know this to be true. So, why does it have to be the name of a church? 7. NTA Channel Jesus new Testament Assembly Worldwide: First of all, this is just too long. Secondly, why do Nigerian churches, schools, e.t.c always say worldwide when there is only one branch? 8. One Flesh Ministry International: Another international church that has not left the shores of Nigeria. 9. Occupy Till I Come Deliverance Ministry: Who is I? Jesus???? 10. Mountain of Swallowing Problems Interdenomination Prayer Ministry: Where do we even start from?Swallowing ministry? Okay o. Also, shouldn't it say interdenominational? As we all know, Naija no dey carry last. Unfortunately, this also applies to church names. Here are additional names that we simply couldn't ignore. Guided Missiles Church Jehova Sharp Sharp (Festac) Satan in Trouble Ministry Fire for Fire Ministry Guided Missiles Church FIST OF FURY (NTA road, Port Harcourt) The Yoke Must Broke Ministry Jesus Heal Ministry According to the Newfrontiers, The name that you choose does make a difference." For many people, it is the very first impression they will get of your church, and the way they perceive you (and even whether or not they decide to rock up and visit you) will be decided in part by the impression this name makes on them. The Chancellor also said the adopted son, the children of Governors and relatives of a Nigerian president were rusticated for failing to keep to the laid down rules. Oyedepo in an interview said there was zero attention to character when Covenant University first started and there was a need to create a platform that helps enhance the character aspect of learning and it is showing today. He said, I must say this; Governors have come to pick their children from our campus. The daughter of our first Vice-Chancellor was rusticated from the University for one year, my adopted son was thrown out for one year at Covenant, so there is no white cow in the system and that makes everybody shake and fear. If I must mention it, one of our former Presidents had a relation that had a son rusticated and called me, I said I am sorry, I do not get involved, please talk to the Vice-Chancellor. He said can I have his number, I said no and we are still friends. Because the moment you make rules and you abide by the rules yourself, everybody is forced to follow, and that is what we are trying to do We are in dire need of leaders in our country and we will be wishing till death until we start raising the kind of leaders we want by taking them through the principle of this kind of training so that they can be there to effect changes. It has been one year and four months of academic hiatus in the university and it seems the warring parties too are tired of seeing the students idling away. Now, the lecturers are set to return to their dusty dirty desks, and students to the lecture rooms that have been emptier than a vacuum since the university and constituted authorities lost it. Before the students resume on Monday, October 23, to see their classrooms covered in cobwebs, let's cast our minds back to the warning strike that ended up becoming an indefinite industrial action. In June 13, 2016 LAUTECH lecturers embarked on what students and parents thought would last for a week or two. But it turned out to be the longest strike in the history of the school. The institution has become infamous for embarking on strike, and once the school gate is shuttered for a warning strike, students would do better to learn a trade or skill. Chances are that the students who goes to learn a skill would graduate before the school gate reopens for academic activities. Going on strike in Nigeria is a thing and in recent time, no school has outdone LAUTECH in paralyzing academic activities for more than a year. No thanks to the conflict between the government owners of the school and the academic staff union. The ineffective ownership pattern and management style of the University is its main problem, which over the years has made strike a culture at LAUTECH. Even in the 90, a set of students spent seven years instead of five. The former SUG president of the school , Adebayo Adeyinka once said. "Strike action is an age long thing in Nigerian University. If I remember very well, I was admitted into LAUTECH in 1992 and I finished in 1999. I spent seven years for a five year course without having carryover or extra year". Knowing the school's penchant for strike, Olutoba Olayiwola, a 300 level student of Mechanical Engineering took advantage of a training and has become a soap manufacturer even before the authorities that rendered them idle dreamt of resolving the crisis. Many other students like Olayiwola followed suit because LAUTECH would not call of the strike anytime soon. Frustrated by the strike after nine months, the students trooped out to seek explanation from the government as to why their school was shut down for almost a year. But Governor Ajomobi in misconstrued the students' plight for disobedience, contempt and disrespect of authorities. Ajimobi like the students lost his home training for a moment. He shouted back at the protesting students and even ordered a police officer in the gathering to arrest an angry student who has every right to question the authority about the education he had been denied for months. The Governor said, "If you come here shouting at me, I am not going to talk to you. If you came here to start a fight, do go ahead. This government will not tolerate any nonsense from anybody. "If this is how you want to talk to me, then go ahead and do your worst. If you think you can be troublesome, I dare you...I am ready for you. Let's see what you can do. "You have no respect for constituted authority". This is not the first time schools are getting shut. If your school was shut down for eight months, so what?" That memorable protest marked one of the epic episodes of student-government confrontations since return of democracy. Nigerian students are like slaves in the hands of greedy politicians. They use and dump them at will. But these LAUTECH students stood their ground even when wads of Naira notes were threw at them to buy their sensibility. In the heat of the argument, the constituted authority promised the school would be opened for them by the end of January. But the promise and failed attitude of government in Nigeria further delayed the students resumption till February 20. Perhaps calling off the strike was a mistake because the students only resumed to write exams and the university was shuttered again. It may sound ridiculous that some students might have forgotten their matriculations numbers after spending 16 months of academic and intellectual nothingness at home. The progress of graduating students was paused like a game and now that the government and the academic unions have pressed play again, we hope the school would not be shuttered again because the main cause of this shenanigan has not be fully addressed. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Born Sumonu Oladele Giwa on March 16, 1946, this consummate and thoroughbred journalist was murdered October 19, 1986, making it exactly 37 years today since he paid the ultimate prize for daring to pursue what he loved. The pioneer Editor and founder of Newswatch Magazine, Giwa, a legendary and uncompromising journalist, via a parcel bomb right inside his Talabi Street, Ikeja, Lagos home at about 11: 40 am. Giwa who was just 39-years-old at the time he was assassinated, was the first every victim of such an ingenious way of murder and till date, his killers have not been apprehended despite many theories expounded by various investigative panels set up. Giwa was born to a poor family working in the palace of Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife. He attended Local Authority Modern School in Lagere, Ile-lfe but when his father moved to Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, as a laundryman, he gained admission to the prestigious school. Giwa later traveled to the United States of America for his higher education, earning a BA in English from Brooklyn College in 1977 and enrolled in a Graduate program at Fordham University. He worked with the New York Times as a News assistant for four years after which he relocated to Nigeria to work with Daily Times. In 1984, Giwa founded Newswatch Magazine alongside other journalists like Ray Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed, and Dan Agbese, with the first edition hitting the streets on January 28, 1985. And within a short while, Newswatch magazine became of the most read titles in Nigeria in the '80s. With the popularity of the Magazine came a haunted life as he became a thorn in the flesh of the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. After romancing with Babangida for some months, the magazine began taking a more hostile view of the regime and their Editors soon became marked men. He got invitations by the State Security Service [SSS] officials on several occasions with the military junta always picking him up due to his unwavering brand of investigative journalism. His magazine was proscribed many times by the government while editors and reporters were harassed, arrested at will and brutalized on many occasions. A month to his death, precisely September 19, 1986, Giwa had been invited by the SSS to their headquarters after writing an article in which he described the newly introduced Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market [SFEM] as 'God's experiment' and suggested that if SFEM failed, the people would will stone their leaders in the streets. Giwa was reportedly interviewed and his statement taken by two SSS operatives and was to later meet with Lt. Col. A.K. Togun, the Deputy Director of the SSS, in his office. Lt. Col. Togun is reported to have told Giwa that he found nothing offensive in the story as Giwa had also stated in the same story that he was hopeful that Babangida seemed determined to make SFEM work. However, Giwa was killed by the mail bomb in his Lagos home on October 19 of that year, two days after he had been invited yet again by the SSS for another interview. According to Giwa's colleague who was also his neighbour, Ekpu, on October 16, 1986, Giwa had been questioned over the telephone by Col. Halilu Akilu of the Directorate of Military Intelligence [DMI] over an allegation that he [Giwa] had been heard speaking to some people about arms importation. The SSS officials reportedly summoned Giwa to their headquarters again later that day and on the next day, Ekpu accompanied him to the SSS headquarters for the interview. Lt. Col. Togun was said to have accused Giwa and Newswatch of planning to write the 'other side' of a story on how Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe who was removed as Chief of the General Staff to Gen. Babangida lost out in the power game in its next edition which was to come out on October 20. Lt. Col. Togun also accused Giwa of plotting with the Nigeria Labour Congress [NLC], the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU], and students to carry out a socialist revolution. Ekpu also believed that their houses and phones may have been bugged because he and Giwa had discussed employing the suspended Police Public Relations Officer, Alozie Ogugbuaja, over the phone only, only for the SSS to question them about the discussion, and that he found two bugging devices on the cover of two books inside his study. Giwa married an American nurse in 1974 but the marriage crashed and he went on to marry Florence Ita-Giwa, a one time Senator and popularly known as Mama Bakassi. The marriage lasted only 10 months. He later married Olufunmilayo Olaniyan in 1984 and they were married until his death in 1986. "In Mu Xin's Words: Treasures of the British Library" opens at Mu Xin Art Museum. [Photo/CGTN] Original manuscripts from some of the greatest writers from English and Irish literature have traveled to Wuzhen, the water town in eastern China's Zhejiang province, and are on display at the Mu Xin Art Museum, dedicated to the famed Wuzhen-born artist, author and poet Mu Xin. Entitled "In Mu Xin's Words: Treasures of the British Library", the exhibition celebrates his love affair with English literature. Visiting China for the first time, these valuable treasures demonstrate the creative processes of some icons of literature. They include the original manuscript of "The Hours" by Virginia Woolf; a handwritten manuscript of Lord Byron's poem "Love and Gold"; a typewritten and extensively corrected manuscript for act one of Oscar Wilde's play "Lady Windermere's Fan" and original letters by Charles Lamb, co-author of "Tales from Shakespeare". Mu Xin once described Lord Byron as "the strongest voice in human civilization...for absolute freedom of the individual." Of Charles Lamb's impact on him as an adolescent, Mu wrote: "It was love at first sight." The group in a press briefing held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, decried the hoaxes about soldiers supposedly forcefully injecting school students and pupils with killer vaccines in Rivers State and other parts of Nigeria, blaming the scare on the Governor. While addressing the press, the Executive Secretary of NICreL, Rev. Steven Onwu, said their findings have shown that Wike planted the story with the aim of rubbishing the security apparatus in the state. The group, while lamenting the untold distress the hoaxes have caused children and their parents alike, noted that none of those that have responded to the fake news has been able to tender credible evidence of anyone being forcefully vaccinated in any part of the country. Rev. Onwu described the hoax story as an act of causing terror to spread among the populace to score cheap political points with an institution that has sacrificed so much for the country. The statement reads in part: "NICreL condemns the hoaxes in the strongest terms as it is abominable to toy with vaccination which is something that is sensitive to human life. Information at our disposal has indicted the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike and his spawns in the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB], as the brains behind the hoaxes, particularly in Rivers State. It has been further revealed that Mr. Wike facilitated fake Army uniforms that IPOB members are wearing to cause panic in schools. This situation has forced schools to shut down in several states as IPOB members dressed in military outfits pretend to force pupils to receive the vaccination. This development is the actualization of threats by both IPOB and Mr. Wike on several occasions to rid the south-east and south-south of military and police presence to enable them to pursue their stated secessionist agenda. The impersonation of the Army to terrorize citizens, therefore, appears geared towards reversing the gains of its Operation Python Dance II while frustrating Operation Crocodile Smile II as both have medical outreaches that are not conducted in school environments. The impersonation of the military by members of a terrorist group is a mutation of the threats posed by IPOB and one that must be immediately countered. The hoaxes about the killer vaccination are being elaborately staged for propaganda value for now but it is a matter of time before these terrorists begin to actually inject children with biological agents. We, therefore, call on the Nigerian Army to immediately investigate persons wearing its uniform to impersonate soldiers and terrorizing citizens with fake news about forceful vaccination with killer viruses. Anyone caught in this nefarious act should be dealt with in accordance with the law. We also urge the Nigerian Governors Forum and the National Assembly to call Mr. Wike to order as his ambition is not worth plunging the country into crisis over whatever that ambition may be." Daily Mail reports that Pelima drowned the children in her apartment after expressing concerns over her immigration status following the arrest of her husband, Victor Epelle, who is also the father of the two children, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this month for immigration issues. Pelima who resides in Delaware is now facing two counts of first-degree with drowning her infant son, Solomon Epelle, and his older brother, Alex Epelle, in the bathroom of their home. It was gathered that after committing the double murders, Pelima called the police and confessed to drowning the two boys around 8.30 am Tuesday, October 17, 2017. She reportedly explained to police that she took the three-month-old upstairs and dropped him into the tub, then plugged the drain and turned on the water. She then left the infant in the tub as it filled with water to retrieve the five-year-old. Wilmington Police Chief, Robert Tracy, said Pelima first call to police Monday at 3.45 am and met officers at the front door of the Wilmington home when they arrived. "She was concerned about her immigration status. She was reportedly worried about what could happen to her because her boyfriend and father of the boys, was detained by authorities on an immigration issue a week prior. Investigators have been in touch with the father of the boys, who is being held in Pennsylvania by immigration officials," Tracy said. Epelle who is originally from Nigeria is currently being held in a York, Pennsylvania prison while Pelima is a Liberian immigrant who arrived the US in 1997. Investigators said Pelima never explained why she harmed the children but it appears she grew concerned about her immigration status. I am an orphan and since I was 16-years-old, I have been struggling to fend for myself and my younger ones. I was brought from my hometown in the South-South to Lagos by an aunt who has been using me as her meal ticket. Instead of my aunt who had promised to either send me to school or make me learn a trade to fulfill her promises, she has been giving me out as a maid to different families while she collected my salaries with the promise of helping me save them. I got this new job after I was sent packing by my former employers who accused me of bringing thieves to rob their home. God knows I was innocent of the accusation but they would not listen to my explanations. They got me arrested, locked me up, charged me to a court and I was remanded in prison custody for three weeks before I was granted bail when the judge found out I was framed up. When I got to this new household, they were so nice to me especially my madam who treated me as her relative. For the first time in my life, I found love as the woman made sure she bought me clothes, gave me money to make my hair, buy makeup and I even had an air conditioner and cable TV in my room. But my problem started when my oga decided to take me more than a maid but his sex machine. I had stayed with the family for about six months when he came to my room one night after his wife had traveled. It was around 11 pm when he knocked on the door and when I opened, thinking there was something he wanted me to do for him, he pushed me into the room. He had only a boxer short and reeked of alcohol. He turned, locked the door and promptly removed his boxer, bringing out his erect penis. I tried to scream and asked him what he was doing but he told me that if I made a noise, he would kill me and no one would ask him. I was trembling in fear and resorted to begging him but he gave me a slap across my face which almost blinded me and threw me to the floor. That night, my boss raped me two times before leaving. I was left in pains and cried till daybreak. In the morning, he came to me and told me he was sorry and that he was drunk when he raped me. He saw that I had packed my things and wanted to leave but he begged me to stay as his wife would leave him if she found out. After begging me and promising it would not happen again, he gave me some money and knowing that my aunt would not think twice before sending me out of her house if I went back, I decided to stay back, hoping he would keep his promise. But two weeks later, the same thing happened again and since then, he has been raping me violently and all the time vowing to kill me if I ever reported to anyone or leave his house. I found out two months ago that I was pregnant and when I told him, he screamed at me and said I wanted to plant a bastard on him. He said he was going to give me money to go for an abortion but when I refused and threatened that I would tell his wife but he said he would kill me if I ever tried such. My madam has been out of town for some months now and is due back in two weeks and I know she would surely find out that I am pregnant. I don't know what to do right now and I feel like ending it all. I am so confused. Please, I need advice from readers. Rose." Also, with the revelation by the Nigerian Police that they found suspected hard drugs in the car of Davido's former late DJ, DJ Olu has people concerned about the drug culture in Nigeria. On Sunday, October 15, 2017, Pulse wrote an article on codeine, the favourite drink of Nigerian drug users. In the article, it was stated that three million bottles of codeine are consumed daily in the Northern states of Kano and Jigawa. The codeine culture is very serious up north and in urban areas in Southern Nigeria as well. It is the favourite drug of choice for many junkies in the country. While the focus is rightly on codeine, it should be said that there are other drugs that are popular on the streets and ruining the lives of many Nigerians. Here are some of them; 1) Tramadol This drug is a painkiller that belongs to the opioid family. It is recommended for treating moderately severe pain. On the streets of Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, this drug has been abused. Many Nigerians are popping Tramadol pills daily. It is very addictive and can lead to both physical and psychological dependence. The side effects are nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, constipation, dizziness, constipation and others. 2) Rohypnol Pronounced as Refnol, this drug is extremely popular among drug dealers in the country. Rohypnol is illegal in the United States. The drug has a paralyzing effect. Other side effects of Rohypnol include slurred speech, lack of coordination, and loss of motor control. If taken in large doses, the user will roll on the ground, rolling his eyes and being incoherent. 3) Cocaine Nigeria was initially a transit nation. South American drug cartels used Nigeria as a route to move cocaine into Europe. Nigeria is now a consumer nation, with some of its elite buying the expensive drug. Cocaine is one of the most notorious hard drugs in the world. Nigerians who sniff cocaine are usually from the elite class because of its expensive nature. It is highly addictive. 4) Synthetic Marijuana Known on the streets as black mamba, this relatively new drug is extremely dangerous. It is the total opposite of natural marijuana. It is a collection of man-made chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana and are sprayed on dried herbs or similar substances, wrapped in brightly coloured packs and sold as an alternative to marijuana that is both legal and more potent. Also known as spice, the effects are said to be alarming. 5) Meth A bunch of Hollywood movies with a theme of modern warfare portray soldiers as effective at battle, humorous and kind. You would have lost a bet if you were banking on finding the last listed feature in a Nigerian soldier. Their show of brutality when dealing with civilians, the people that showered them with praise for their bravery against the Boko Haram insurgents, is no secret. Some soldiers have acted in a manner that fits the idea of an entitled brat. The notion that you can be battered by a Nigerian soldier if he finds you wearing an army fatigue is not a myth if one has experienced it either as the object of an ensuing assault or a spectator. Dont pay too much mind on the recurring use of a masculine pronoun in addressing the issue. This is not only restricted to male soldiers as their female colleagues have proved that they are equally capable of assault and intimidation. Why are our soldiers so angry? Do you recall a viral video that saw a woman-soldier punish a male civilian who gave her a compliment according to reports? She was heard making comments about her rough experiences in an army academy. She seemed to feel her encounter during training should earn her the position of a demi-god who is immune to advances from men. This sense of pride and air of remarkable achievement has characterized most army personnel in their interaction with civilians and their excuses have gone unchecked. The high echelon officers in the Nigerian army have only seemed to be correcting their underlings when there have been a public outcry by the masses. They mostly follow up with a press release announcing that the concerned soldiers have been arrested but have often failed to give further comments on the outcome of investigations. This is why it is easy to assume that they are encouraging more misdemeanor. It might appear that these soldiers are in a state of fantasia or nostalgia. Their sweet exploits thirty years ago seems fresh in their minds. Alonge documented the Benin society starting in the 1930s while working as the official photographer for the Royal Court of Benin. He snapped photos of the royal wives, visiting dignitaries and celebrities, annual festivals, and court ceremonies. As the owner of the first commercial photo studio in the city, he photographed birthdays, weddings, and graduations throughout the years before and after Nigerian independence in 1960. A rare collection of Alonges work, preserved and curated by the Smithsonian Institution, has been returned to Nigeria where it will be on permanent display at the National Museum of Benin City. The goal, according to organizers, is to share knowledge about the history of the former capital of the pre-colonial Benin empire and the lives of its residents. In 1938 Alonge photographed the Benin Social Circle, the first local social club in Benin City. Its members would go on to become teachers, civil servants, businessmen, and local politicians. However, it was during the Jonathan spell that she was handed supreme powersa carte blanche of some sort; with the portfolio of coordinating minister of the economy bestowed on her. The Jonathan administration has been accused of wanton corruption by the succeeding government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Okonjo-Iweala was part of a panel discussion on the theme Fighting corruption at the World Bank/IMF headquarters in Washington DC, United States, last weekend. Here are five ways Okonjo-Iweala suggests Nigeria and other countries battling corruption, can deal with endemic graft: 1. Run a cashless economy Okonjo-Iweala says cash based economies are a lot more prone to corruption. If you have a financial management system that is still cash-based, you open the door for people to manipulate or be able to intrude into the system, she says. If you can introduce more technology, if you can have systems and processes that guide government, if you can make e-procurement the more you can fight corruption. 2. Weak institutions mean more corrupt activities Until institutions are made corruption proof and stronger, the malaise will continue to plague the developing world, says Okonjo-Iweala. In terms of the fight against corruption, incentives and institutions matter. My experience has been that people in one place are no more corrupt than the other; but if the institutions are not there or they are very weak, then the incentive to be corrupt is stronger, Okonjo-Iweala says. 3. Rule of law will help anti-graft war According to Okonjo-Iweala, Have the institutions of the rule of law alongsideI think the more you will be able to fight corruption. We really need a systematic plan about fighting corruption. 4. Private sector has to clean up its act Okonjo-Iweala figures that the private sector has to be a part of the solution because it is a part of the problem. Now, coming to the private sector; yes, the private sector is part of the problem; there is no doubt about it. The World Economic Forum estimated that bribery adds about 10 per cent to the cost of doing business. So, they are undoubtedly part of it. But I also want to say that the private sector is beginning to see that they are part of the solution, and that the world has changed. There are responsible private sector people and organisations that want to be part of the solution and part of that change. 5. Putting in place workable systems take time, but keep at it Okonjo-Iweala suggests that countries determined to fight corruption should be patient through the hurdles. The bid stories about scandals about corruption are really what people want to read. The Water Council and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will host two conferences in China next month to highlight how Wisconsin's water technology companies can help China address its water challenges. "One Water, One World: The US-China Conference on Water and Sponge Cities", which will take place on Nov 27 in Nanjing and on Nov 30 in Beijing, will be one of the first conferences between the US and China to focus on the concept of "one water" as a complete water cycle from the removal of water to its sustainable return to nature. China launched its "sponge city" program in 2015 to upgrade urban infrastructure to address urban flood risks and improve its use of rainwater. Mark R. Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, said the conference is another indication of the international reputation that Wisconsin has achieved in the water technology sector. "Helping China address some of its water challenges not only benefits that country's citizens, but also presents new opportunities to some of the more than 200 Wisconsin-based companies currently in the water technology sector," Hogan said. The main goal for the conferences, said Katy Sinnott, vice-president for international business development for the WEDC, is to have open and informative two-way conversations about China's water challenges and how Wisconsin could provide solutions that contribute to the success of the sponge city objectives, and from that point begin taking steps to implement workable solutions with Chinese partners. Sinnott said the Wisconsin participants in the conference look forward to hearing more details about China's sponge cities initiatives and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. During a trade venture to China in March, leaders from WEDC and the Water Council met with key government organizations responsible for the development of "sponge cities". Those meetings gave Wisconsin officials a better understanding of the water ecosystem in China and how "sponge cities" are being developed; they also laid the groundwork for the council and WEDC to jointly develop a strategy to help China address its water challenges. "There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the water challenges facing China's cities, which is why we look forward to speaking with officials in each region to learn more about their specific challenges and how Wisconsin companies can play a role in meeting those challenges," Sinnott said. "The bottom line is that regardless of the size and location or the level of access to clean fresh water it is imperative for every city to wisely manage the water that they do use," she added. The conferences will feature panels of Wisconsin experts discussing storm water management and efficient water use. More than 200 leaders from government, water technology companies and academia in both countries are expected to attend the two conferences, which will also have representatives from the two cities in attendance. The Water Council is the only global fresh water consortium that deals with the full cycle of fresh water management, from water quality to flood management and water education. "Through our established ecosystem of academic and research expertise, technological subject-matter experts and support at the regional and state level, we have a special opportunity to assist other countries in their endeavors toward developing 'one-water' cities," said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of the Water Council. We have embarked on a crusade against corruption and want everyone, especially rural dwellers, to be part of the effort to rid Nigeria of the menace, ICPC acting chairman Bako Abdullahi said on Wednesday in Minna. He spoke at a one-day engagement with Community Development Associations (CDAs), organised in partnership with a democracy action group, Dispute Resolution and Development Initiative. Represented by Mr Baba Ashiru, the commissions Head of Education, Abdullahi asked rural communities to assist the commission with useful information about corrupt practices in their localities. We have enlisted individual members of the public into our ; it has branches in every state to ensure adequate grass root sensitisation, he said. In his remarks, the Executive Director, Dispute Resolution and Development Initiative, Dr. Muhammad Yahaya, urged citizens to key into the anti-corruption crusade as part of their contribution toward a better Nigeria. Yahaya said that education and public enlightenment were key to the anti-graft war, adding that the role of communities as change agents could not be over-emphasised. He maintained that corruption persists in the grass root because most victims lacked awareness and could easily be intimidated into submission or silence. The Minister stated this while delivering an address at the 2 Annual Nigerian Mining Week on Thursday in Abuja, according to a statement by Mr Olusegun Ogunkayode, a Principal Information Officer in the ministry. He said the idea was to facilitate the development of critical infrastructure in fulfillment of the Federal Government campaign promises. The minister commended stakeholders in the mining sector for the amazing milestones recorded, saying that very little could be achieved in the power industry without inputs from the sector. As we roll out transmission stations, we install transformers, the steel casing and copper winding inside it stem from the operations of the mining industry, minister said. The statement also quoted the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi as commending the organisers of the Nigerian Mining Week. He said the event would provide a networking platform and learning turf for existing businesses in the sector. Fayemi said that a recent World Risk Report published by the Mining Journal indicated that Nigeria had made remarkable improvements in both hard and perceived risk factors. The plea change happened during his appearance before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The suspect had initially entered a 'guilty' plea to the charges after he was arraigned, alongside five other accomplices, before the court on Wednesday, August 30. The suspect is being tried alongside five accomplices: Uche Amadi, Ogechi Izechuwku, Okechukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwumonso. At the August hearing the prosecution team, led by the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, accused the defendants of capturing and detaining and collecting a ransom of 223,000 on Mr. Duru Donatius between Feb. 14 and April 12, 2017. At the commencement of Thursday's hearing, lead prosecutor, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, told Justice Oshodi about an amendment of the charges which relates only to the punishment section for the second charge. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the punishment section in the second count of the amended charge was changed from Section 271 (3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State to Section 2(1) of the Kidnap Prohibition Law of the Laws of Lagos 2017. While Evans' counsel, Olukoya Ogungbeje, asked the court to grant him a short adjournment to properly confer with his client on the way forward, Justice Oshodi only granted him a 45-minute recess. After Evans' plea change, the prosecution informed the court about its readiness to proceed with the trial as it already has three witnesses willing ot testify in court. Justice Oshodi adjourned the case until November 3 to allow the defence time to prepare for the trial. ALSO READ: Evans pleads guilty to kidnapping in court After the guilty plea in August, Evans' defence team had promised that he would change it because the plea was obtained through an "unconstitutional procedure for hoodwinking, undue influence, brainwashing and coercion". They alleged that he was denied access to his lawyer and family and threatened with death if he didn't admit to being guilty. Evans was arrested by a combined team of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Anti-Kidnap Unit of the Lagos State Police Command at one of his Magodo Phase II GRA, Lagos, home on Saturday, June 10, 2017. The Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs; and Marine Transport disclosed this on Wednesday, October 18, as contained in the panel's interim report. The report was presented at the Senate plenary and adopted by the chamber. The panel said the funds have been deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria. On November 15, 2016, the Senate ordered the investigation after the adoption of a motion titled, 'Urgent Need to Examine the Operations of the Nigeria Customs Service Revenue Drive.' The probe panel was mandated to unravel any infractions going on in the Customs "with a view to identify the leakages and irregularities as well as the causes of the declining revenue profile of the service and come up with recommendations that will reinvigorate the revenue of the Nigeria Customs Service." According to the report presented by the panel Chairman, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, some banks have remitted N128 billion to the CBN. Also, some of the 60 companies investigated made voluntary payments of N12 billion into Federal Government's coffers. "As a result of this exercise, some collection banks have made additional remittances to the Central Bank of Nigeria to the tune of N128bn and evidence of payment and receipt has been received by the committee," the panel said. "From the selected 60 companies, over N12bn payments have been made to the government voluntarily by the companies based on their internal self-audit after receiving documented evidence of their culpability from our committee. "It is instructive to note that despite all the payments so far made, none of the approved collection banks or the selected companies has fully cleared the established liabilities against them." To this end, the committee asked for additional eight weeks to carry out its investigations. It added that the banks and companies currently under investigation represent less than one per cent of the entire import and export value chain. Having identified 32 "leakage channels" as the "major sources of revenue losses" in the import and export business, the panel said; "These infractions...place extensive pressure on the nation's scarce foreign exchange." "It also negates all Central Bank of Nigeria initiated foreign exchange management plans. This is because a distorted forex requirement does not essentially reflect the actual forex needs of individuals and businesses in the country. "This situation benefits only the purveyors of capital flight from the country and adds absolutely no value to the nation." News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that staff of the agency in Abuja, Minna, Lagos among others were seen with placard with inscription such as Mustapha Maihaja must go, Mustapha we are tired of aluta, pay our claims or resign, enough is enough. Other read: No hazard allowance, no life assurance cover, Who will die next, No promotion exercise, Give us training it is statutory, Maihaja is an electrician, we are humanitarian. He told NAN that the union embarked on the warning strike over failure of the management to adhere to public service rules. He said the union was also agitating for better welfare and the resignation of its Director-General, Engr. Mustapha Maihaja. According to him, Maihaja has failed to live to expectations and had failed to implement the recently signed agreement with the union, which was chaired by Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment. He said that the three-day nationwide warning strike commenced from Thursday will end on Monday, adding that if the management fails to meet their demands, indefinite industrial action would be declared. He listed the staff demands to include unpaid allowances, failure to renewed life assurance policy, lack of capacity building for staff amongst others. Bello said that the members of staff have also called for resignation of Maihaja as he has shown that he does not have adequate capacity and knowledge on how to run a humanitarian agency. We are here to fight for our rights and implementation of the agreement reached between NEMA management and the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Nigeria, with the Ministry of Labour and Employment as witness." We have a lot of issues that are bothering the minds of the workers of this agency and we have tried to approach the management but they became adamant." We gave them the first twenty one days notice to no avail, fourteen days notice to no avail, seven days warning to no avail until the Minister called us to a roundtable to discuss the issues that were raised." Agreements were reached, with the management of NEMA and the Ministry of Labour and Employment signed, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and the NEMA unit of the Association equally signed the agreement." This agreement bothers on the lots of liabilities of staff welfare, DTA, overtime, transfer allowances that had not been implemented and the agreement specified that it should be concluded within three weeks." Three weeks had elapsed, nothing has been done about it and we cannot have a vibrant agency without capacity building, Bello said. The Union Leader said that the entitlements of members of staff, who died from 2016 till date, have also not been paid for lack of life insurance policy. Bello said that another issue brought for discussion was the posting of some staff posted out of the headquarters because they clamoured for justice from management, and the Ministry agreed that they should be returned but nothing had been done. He said that if Maihaja feels he cannot implement the agreement, he should step aside for a new and capable person to take over the helm of affairs of the agency. He said that the Federal Government has been very supportive as the Minister of Labour championed the reconciliation meeting. He called for further intervention from the Federal government on the activities of the agency as a key humanitarian agency. Other members of the Union said that they were no longer opened for dialogue but calling for the implementation of the signed agreement and demands. All efforts to reach Maihaja at the time of the report were not successful as he sent a text that he was attending a National Council Meeting. The IGP asked officers, especially high ranking ones, to be more vigilant to avoid getting kidnapped because they'll always be targets. While speaking during a monthly conference with Commissioners of Police (CPs) and other senior police officers in Abuja on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, he said personal security for officers is paramount to the fulfilment of their duties to the public. He said, "We must take the protection of our officers seriously. We have a problem. Two days ago, one of our DPOs was kidnapped. How can you be a DPO, you have all the policemen under your command and then you start driving as if you don't have anybody. "You allow the 'useless kidnappers' to pick you and your orderly, it is very embarrassing. We had the same issue in Zamfara state where an ACP going on leave travelled alone. It is embarrassing. "Utilise the men you have and you must protect yourself first. You can only protect others when you are protected because you are a target. "The information we are receiving is that our ACP's vehicle was abandoned in a bush and he has not been seen, which obviously means that he has been kidnapped. "How can we be living in such situation? It is becoming an embarrassment. DPOs and other personnel should be careful of their movement. "Our officers have to be concerned about their personal safety first because this issue is becoming an embarrassment. CPs would also be vicariously liable for any policeman that is just picked up like a fowl or anything, it is very annoying. "We should be careful in our movement. If you notice that an area is not safe, you should deploy men in those areas. We should take their protection very seriously. Our policemen should also be careful with the way they move around."\ The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Sarkin Pawa Division of the Niger State Police Command, Superintendent of Police (SP) Amos Aliyu, remains in captivity after he was kidnapped alongside his orderly by unknown gunmen on the evening of Sunday, October 15. Assistant Commissioner of Police and Officer-in-Charge of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Zamfara State Police Command, Emmanuel Adeniyi, was also kidnapped alongside three of his family members in Kaduna on September 27 before they were later set free. ALSO READ: Police confirm release of abducted ACP To combat the scourge of kidnappings across the country, the IGP backed the bill passed by the National Assembly that recommended the death penalty as punishment for convicted kidnapping suspects. The president was welcomed with a 21-gun salute as he inspected a Guard of Honour with his host, Erdogan. According to President Buhari's Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, the two leaders later sat down to discuss defence and security cooperation, migration issues, among others. Before his meeting with President Erdogan, President Buhari laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in the company of Nigeria's Ambassador to Turkey, Iliyasu Paragalda, and other senior government officials. He also signed the official Anitkabir memorial Book of Honour at the Misaki-i Milli Kulesi (National Pact Tower), within the precincts of the mausoleum, and toured the museum. The president had left for Turkey after presiding over Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday. His official working visit to Ankara on the invitation of President Erdogan is part of his participation in the ninth Summit of the Developing 8 (D-8) that'll be held on Friday, October 20. The president was accompanied by cabinet ministers and top government officials including the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali. According to Bashir, Ali's presence on the delegation is part of efforts to halt the worrying rise in the illegal importation of firearms into Nigeria from the European country. The Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu made this known on Thursday in a statement in Abuja. He said that Buhari gave the commendation at a meeting with the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ismail Kahraman. The international media helped the world in trying to understand what really happened (on July 15) and what the government is doing, he said. The Presidential aide said Buhari reiterated Nigerias solidarity with Turkey after the failed attempt to oust a democratically-elected government. He expressed the hope that Turkeys assumption of the Chairmanship of the D-8 from Oct. 20, would further strengthen economic, security and political ties of the two countries. Shehu revealed that after the meeting with Kahraman, Buhari visited a part of Turkeys Parliament building damaged by a bomb during last years coup attempt, and laid a wreath at the site of one of the damaged areas. The presidential aide said the President then made an unscheduled appearance at the Turkish Parliament in session. THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER Respite for Atiku as Reps reverse INTELS contract revocation The House of Representatives yesterday ordered an immediate reversal of the termination of the contract between Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS) Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Judges, bankers caution against use of virtual currencies Judges, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) headed by Prof. Segun Ajibola, yesterday in Abuja alerted Nigerians to the danger of transacting business in any of the emerging frontiers in the banking sector, especially virtual currencies. SEC suspends trading on Oando shares, begins probe of oil firm The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday ordered the immediate suspension of trading on the shares of oil marketing firm, Oando Plc., on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) till tomorrow when they could go on technical suspension pending the outcome of an investigation into an allegation of corporate governance abuse levelled against some directors of the company. __________________________________________________ VANGUARD NEWSPAPER NPA vs INTELS: Reps divided along party lines LAWMAKERS in the House of Representatives were, yesterday, divided along party lines over allegation of unlawful termination of concession agreement between INTELS Nigeria limited and the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. Monkey pox: Army not dispensing vaccines FG THE Federal Government, yesterday, exonerated the military from allegations of vaccination and injection of monkey pox virus on citizens in the South-East and South-South regions of the country. SEC to commence forensic audit on Oando The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Wednesday, disclosed that a forensic audit into the affairs of Oando Plc will be carried out, even as it directed Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, to suspend the shares of the company from trading. __________________________________________________ THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER Buhari okays pension for Biafran police personnel The Federal Government says it will commence the payment of pension benefits to retired war-affected police officers and their next-of-kin. Senate panel asks EFCC to unfreeze Patience Jonathans accounts The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on Wednesday asked Stanbic IBTC Bank and Zenith Bank to unfreeze two accounts linked to the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience. Without you, we wont die, PDP replies Obasanjo The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will not force former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return as its member. __________________________________________________ THISDAY NEWSPAPER 2019 Presidential Race: No Discussion on Automatic Ticket Yet, Say APC Govs The governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have said that they would abide by the partys constitution in choosing a candidate for the 2019 presidential election, adding that no discussion has been held on an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari. Monkey Pox Spreads to 11 States with 74 Suspected Cases The federal government yesterday disclosed that cases of monkey pox virus which broke out in Bayelsa State a fortnight ago has spread to 11 states in the country with 74 suspected cases being examined. SEC Wields Big Stick, to Conduct Forensic on Oando MADRID -- Spain's cabinet will meet on Saturday to discuss suspending the Catalonia region's autonomy and imposing central rule in response to Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont's threat of secession unless talks were held on the issue. About 2.26 million people took part in a referendum on Catalan independence on Oct. 1 despite a government ban on it, with 2.02 million casting "yes" votes. Subsequently, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last week gave Puigdemont a Thursday 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) deadline, asking for a clear response on whether he had declared Catalan independence on Oct. 10. Puigdemont's reaction was to write to Rajoy Thursday, proposing dialogue. The letter said, "Despite all of these efforts and our will for dialogue, the fact the only reply is the suspension of our autonomy implies that (the government) is not aware of the problem and does not want to talk." "If the central government persists in impeding dialogue and continuing its repression, Catalonia's parliament will, f it considers it appropriate, vote on a formal declaration of independence," he said. The wealthy Catalonia region, with a population of 7.5 million, accounts for about a fifth of Spain's economic output. Residents mostly speak Catalan, a language that some believe is a Spanish dialect but some argue to be a totally different language. According to the committee, the NAHCON boss has refused to honour three different invitations sent to him to appear before it for explanations on alleged extortions of pilgrims and exorbitant hajj fees Chairman of the committee, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi) made this known while briefing newsmen in Abuja, on Thursday. The NAHCON chairman, through his behaviour, has been a stumbling block to the committee as far as the assignment given to it by the senate is concerned. He has not honoured any of the invitations sent to him since Aug. 7, Aliero noted. In July the very month the committee was set up by the Senate, invitation letter was sent to the NAHCON boss to furnish us with required information on the Hajj exercise as regards total money to be spent by the commission, fees being charged per pilgrim among others but complained that such information could not be supplied then due to preparation on the impending exercise. Consequently with the 2017 Hajj exercise over for close to two months now and the NAHCON chairman failing to honour the invitation of the committee and forwarding to it required documents for the assigned investigation , the committee will definitely invoke relevant section of the 1999 constitution to compel his appearance . He, however, said a fresh letter of invitation would be sent to the NAHCON boss before invocation of the constitutional provisions that would enforce his appearance before the committee. Anyanwu expressed optimism that Abia state would vote massively for President Buhari if he seeks re-election in 2019. The APC chieftain, however, urged President Buhari to reshuffle his cabinet. Abians are very likely to vote for Buhari in 2019 if he re-contests and indeed we are going to ask Buhari to run in 2019, Anyanwu said. Nigerians need to believe that Buhari is the best thing that has ever happened to this country. Sadly, few persons that are working for him in the South-east are not really taking care of that zone, they are not doing much. Like in my state, the minister isolates himself from the people. He is un-marketing President Buhari in the state. Is he the minister only for Abuja? I dont think he has visited the state APC secretariat. I dont think he has electoral value in his ward. That is we have called on President Buhari to reshuffle the cabinet, bring in somebody who loves and is loved by the people. I expected the Minister of Trade and Investment () to parley with the agitators but the man has never spoken a word on the agitation. If you want to appoint a minister, you must look for somebody who is ready to work for you, not somebody who delights in using high sounding words to confuse the people. Politics is not a childs play; it is a very serious business. We need experienced politicians, he added. He said that the challenges with the device were being magnified by politicians, but assured that steps had been taken to check the problems with handling of the machine. We have taken steps to improve the process of the smart card readers and we will continue to do so. We will also use improved smart card readers in Anambra election, he said. On the method the commission intended to use for the 2019 general elections in the rural areas, the chairman said that specific machines would be deployed to specific communities. We will deploy specific machine to the specific community and we will also provide additional machines and speak to the community leaders. We will treat all states equally. He disclosed that the commission had suspended voter registration in Anambra until after the Nov. 18 governorship election in the state. On INECs involvement in party primaries, Yakubu said that there was nothing the commission could do about the party imposing a candidate on its members. We have problem with party primaries but INEC has no power to disqualify a candidate of a party. There is nothing the commission can do about it but we promise the country that INEC can never go to court to defend any candidate after election, he said. In his remarks, Chairman of the committee, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, urged INEC to update the committee with every detail of the ongoing voter registration. The PDP said as much as it respects Obasanjo's decision, his absence will not have a negative impact on the party. Obasanjo had made the assertion on Tuesday, October 17, while speaking to news after he held a meeting with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, behind closed doors at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. "I have told the chairman that I was in the PDP before but not now. God forbid, se when dog vomits, it will go back to eat its vomit, no," He had said. "I have said no partisan politics for me again, but Nigeria is my passion until death do us apart. And anything that concerns Nigeria, the good of Nigeria, youll see my involvement. "So, the chairman has come to greet me and I greet am, and now that we have greeted ourselves, the chairman will be going, you gentlemen and ladies of the press, you can now go, leave the chairman alone." ALSO READ: Obasanjo disagrees with Tinubu on true federalism In reaction to the statement, the spokesperson for the PDP, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the party is bigger than any individual, adding that they will not force Obasanjo to return to their fold. He said, "He has said it before (that he wont return to the party). We are not going to force him. No individual is bigger than the party. "Obasanjo has the right to hold his opinion. But the PDP will not die, either he joins us or not. "We respect his opinion. Theres nothing to say more than that. He is an individual and we respect him." October 1: Violence-hit referendum Spanish riot police try to block the vote. Shocking footage emerges of them using batons and rubber bullets on crowds and roughing up voters. The Catalan government says 90 percent of those whote voted backed independence, but turnout was only 42.3 percent as many who oppose a split boycotted the referendum. October 3: General strike A general strike called by unions and political groups disrupts Barcelona's port, transport and some businesses. Up to 700,000 people demonstrate in the city against police violence, defending the right to vote. King Felipe VI accuses Catalan leaders of threatening Spain's stability and urges the state to defend "constitutional order". October 5: Business exodus begins Banco Sabadell, Catalonia's second largest bank, announces it will shift its registered domicile out of the region. More than 800 companies follow suit in a bid to minimise instability. October 7-8: Mass protests Tens of thousands of people demonstrate across Spain on October 7, some demanding unity, others demanding dialogue. The next day hundreds of thousands march in Barcelona to back unity with Spain. - October 10: 'Suspended' independence declaration In a move that sparks widespread confusion, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his separatist allies sign a declaration of independence, but say they are suspending its implementation to allow for time for negotiations with Madrid. The next day, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy gives Puigdemont until October 16 to clarify his stance. October 16: Separatist leaders detained Puigdemont refuses to say whether he had declared independence and instead calls for dialogue. Madrid gives him an extended deadline of October 19 to say whether he is planning to secede. A court orders the leaders of two powerful grassroots independence groups, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, to be detained pending an investigation into sedition charges. Their detention prompts tens of thousands to protest in Barcelona the next night. October 19: Spain to start suspending Catalan autonomy Puigdemont says Catalonia has not yet declared independence but that the region's lawmakers could do so if Spain goes ahead with its threat to suspend its autonomy. "We didn't just see it here -- you can look at France, you can look at other countries. They are doing this everywhere. This is their weapon of choice," she said. The US Congress is looking into an alleged Russian campaign aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2016 election and a special counsel, Robert Mueller, has been appointed to oversee a federal investigation into the allegations. Election interference is warfare "because you are making sure that the democracy shifts from what the people want," said Haley, seen as among the most influential members of President Donald Trump's administration. "We have to be so hard on this," Haley said about the Russian role. "We have to hold them accountable." Hillary Clinton has pinned part of the blame for her loss to Trump in the November vote to Russian hacking of her campaign emails and use of social media. Moscow has denied the allegations. Under pressure from investigators, Facebook agreed last month to hand over the content and targets of Russia-backed political messages on the social network in the 2016 election. Haley said the private sector needs to help US authorities confront Russia. Asked about threats facing the United States, Haley listed North Korea, Iran and the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, but she also discussed Russia's role in sowing instability. "Russia can't necessarily win anything. They don't have a big enough military. They don't have a strong economy, so they insert themselves in every situation to create chaos," she said. Two former US secretaries of state, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, told the panel that Russia was resorting to more sophisticated cyber tactics to weaken the United States. "I hope people will wake up," said Johann Le Saux, a 38-year-old railway worker and activist of France's largest union, the CGT, which called the protest along with the smaller Solidaires union. "It's not over, we're not giving up at all," Le Saux told AFP in the western city of Rennes. The CGT estimated the turnout in Paris at around 25,000, down sharply from the 60,000 they claimed on September 12. Police estimated Thursday's crowd at 5,500. CGT leader Philippe Martinez, leading protests in Marseille to demand the repeal of major changes to labour laws which took effect last month, insisted "we are determined to see this through." Martinez has been one of the most vocal critics of Macron since his election in May, and the CGT has spearheaded what has so far been a largely ineffective round of strikes and demonstrations to demand that the government change tack. As with two protest days in September, the unions failed to mount a united front, with the more moderate CFDT and FO preferring talks over demonstrations. The CGT and Solidaires are hoping a meeting of all the unions next Tuesday will bring FO and others back into the streets. Unions 'inaudible' Commenting on the splintering of the union movement, analyst Jean-Marie Pernot told the daily Le Monde that the unions have become "inaudible to the workers, not to mention the government." Macron, who fast-tracked the labour reforms using executive orders to avoid lengthy parliamentary debate, has staked his presidency on overhauling France's sluggish economy. The president insists he has a mandate for change after handily winning election in May and seeing his centrist LREM party sweep June parliamentary polls. But his popularity has plummeted, with only 34 percent of respondents in an Ipsos Game Changers survey out Wednesday saying they had a favourable view of the former investment banker. The government says the reforms are necessary to rein in unemployment currently stuck at around 9.6 percent -- about twice that of Britain or Germany and well above the European average of 7.8 percent. It has already launched the next stage of the "transformation" of the French social model promised by Macron. He proposes major changes to France's generous unemployment benefits system, as well as large increases in state-funded training aimed at helping the unemployed back into the workplace. A draft bill is set for completion in April. "Chief of our Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Umar Khalid Khorasani, who sustained serious injuries in a recent US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday evening," JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. "At least nine close associates of Khorasani were also killed in the strike", he added. Two US drone strikes on Monday along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed at least 26 people including fighters from the Haqqani network which is allied to the Afghan Taliban. The US has increased pressure on Pakistan in recent months to crack down on the Haqqanis, who are one of the strongest factions in the Afghan Taliban insurgency and have earned a fearsome reputation for their attacks on NATO troops and Afghan installations over the years. The use of US drones has dwindled dramatically in recent years in Pakistan, where the strikes have proven extremely controversial with the public and rights groups. Monday's strikes came days after Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle and his American wife and three children were freed in Pakistan after five years of captivity at the hands of the Haqqani network. Mansoor, the spokesman, said a high-level meeting of JuA's consultative council will be convened soon to appoint the outfit's new chief. However, an important Taliban commander said on condition of anonymity that one of JuA's senior commanders, Asad Afridi, has already been appointed new JuA chief. JuA pledged allegiance to IS in 2014, but a year later said it had rejoined the Pakistani Taliban -- which in turn is allied to Al-Qaeda, a foe of IS. However since 2016 JuA and IS have both laid claim to several attacks, notably a suicide bombing at a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta last year that killed 73 people. Pakistan's deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children. The joint claims raised the possibility the outfits were colluding -- or that JuA, which has foot soldiers on the ground, was allowing IS also to take credit to achieve propaganda goals. Analysts said Khorasani's death suggested resumption of intelligence sharing and coordination between Pakistan and the US. "The resumption of drone strikes on anti-Pakistan elements following hard stance on Trump's Afghan policy signals moderation of positions by Islamabad and Washington," leading Pakistan security analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP. He said "it shows America's willingness to redress Pakistan's complaints about presence of militant safe havens on Afghan soil". About 100 officers from South Sudan's national security service "surrounded the convoy and pointed weapons at the vehicles," said the confidential report sent to the council on Monday. "At one point the contingent commander accompanying the convoy was physically assaulted before diverting to UN House," in Juba, it added. Guterres listed 17 incidents during the month of September when convoys were blocked, peacekeepers harassed and in some cases detained by South Sudan's forces. US Ambassador Nikki Haley is scheduled to visit South Sudan next week as a new regional push to end the war appears to be struggling to get off the ground. UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the council on Tuesday that the government had given a "lukewarm response" to the new peace initiative by the regional IGAD group. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions uprooted from South Sudan since 2013 during a conflict characterized by rape, ethnic massacres and attacks on civilians. In his report, Guterres said he was reviewing the 14,000-strong UNMISS operation in South Sudan and would present his recommendations to the council before it decides on extending the mission in December. The United States is South Sudan's biggest aid provider and a key supporter of its 2011 independence from Sudan. South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused rebel leader Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup. The couple, who maintain that they were not kissing, were given a lighter sentence than the original term handed out at their October 4 trial, after widespread outrage on social media and in the press over the incident. The man was handed four months in prison for "public indecency" and "refusing to obey the police", with the woman given a two month sentence on the first charge only. "It's an independent decision," a spokesman for the public prosecutors office, Sofiene Sliti told AFP. "What has been reported nationally and internationally is wrong -- they weren't arrested for a kiss, the couple was naked," he added. At the hearing Wednesday, the woman collapsed into tears when the court president read a police description saying a sexual act was in process when the couple were stopped on October 1 in a suburb of Tunis. The woman said that her friend had simply taken her into his arms when the plainclothes police stopped them and made them get out of the car. The Frenchman confirmed to the judge that he had tried to film the police to make a complaint about their behaviour. A dozen defence lawyers had been arguing for an acquittal for the couple. The majority of the lawyers were working for free on the case, which has triggered an uproar in Tunisia over morality campaigns and police behaviour. The defence pointed to numerous flaws in the case, including hearings in Arabic which the Frenchman, who is of Algerian origin, did not understand. "It is normal that he reacts badly when his fundamental rights were being violated," said lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, whose client is accused of intimidating police. He pointed to what he said was "bad faith" on the part of the police, who he said were looking for revenge after being implicated over their handling of the case. "This case highlights key problems with the judicial system and the police. Abuse of powers... lack of respect for citizens and their rights, attacks on individual liberty," said former deputy Nadia Chaabane, who is a member of a group to support the couple. A Hamas official immediately rejected the comments as "blatant interference" in Palestinian affairs, but did not say directly whether the Islamist group planned to comply with any of the demands. Trump's special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, who has repeatedly visited the region to seek ways to restart peace talks, laid out a series of conditions. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties - including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Greenblatt said in a statement. The US conditions were roughly in line with principles previously set out by the Quartet for Middle East peace -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said. The statement was also similar to the Israeli government's response this week in which it vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. The demands included recognising Israel and renouncing violence, but also returning the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, among other conditions. Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim condemned Greenblatt's statement and accused the United States of adopting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's positions. "This is blatant interference in Palestinian affairs because it is the right of our people to choose its government according to their supreme strategic interests," Naim told AFP. "This statement comes under pressure from the extreme right-wing Netanyahu government and is in line with the Netanyahu statement from two days ago." Gaza humanitarian crisis Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed in recent years. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war in 2007 with Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank, following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. The Palestinian Authority, currently dominated by Fatah, is due to resume control of the Gaza Strip by December 1 under the deal. Talks are also expected on forming a unity government, with another meeting between the various Palestinian political factions scheduled for November 21. Previous attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed, and many analysts are treating the latest bid with caution, waiting to see if actual change will occur on the ground. A major sticking point is expected to be Hamas's refusal to disarm its 25,000-strong armed wing. Diplomats say it would be possible to form a unity government that they could deal with that does not officially include Hamas. A previous attempt at a unity government in 2014 was made up of technocrats deemed acceptable by the international community, though that bid fell apart. Hamas has faced increasing isolation and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip in recent months, including a severe electricity shortage. Abbas has imposed a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, including cutting electricity payments, which has worsened the power cuts. Hamas has reached out to Cairo for help, hoping to have the Rafah border with Egypt opened. In return, Cairo has pressed Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah. Greenblatt said "all parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there." At a meeting moved to a new venue at the last minute due to an eruption of toxic gas, May will urge her colleagues to start looking now at a future trade deal and a transition period after Britain leaves in 2019. The EU says that there is insufficient progress on divorce issues to move on to the next phase dealing with future relations at this summit, but that it will start internal preparations to do so in December. May will "encourage them to move the conversation on to consider the future partnership and the implementation period, so that they are ready to engage in that discussion as soon as possible," a senior British government official said. May also published a letter on her Facebook page promising to make it as easy as possible for EU citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit. The British official said a deal on citizens' rights was "within touching distance." EU President Donald Tusk warned there would be no breakthroughs at the summit, saying that while there had been "promising progress" London needed to come up with more concrete proposals. "I don't expect any kind of breakthrough tomorrow -- we have to work really hard in between October and December to finalise this so-called first phase and to start our negotiations on our future relations with the UK," Tusk said. Divorce talks on the rights of EU citizens living in Britain have made the most progress, while issues surrounding Northern Ireland are less far along, and the topic of the bill the EU wants Britain to pay is virtually deadlocked. 'Nice words' are cheap After five rounds of negotiations produced few results, fears are growing that Britain may fail to strike a withdrawal agreement before its formal departure on March 29, 2019, which would have a major economic and social impact. Britain's exit bill is the most poisonous issue. May has promised to maintain Britain's contributions for two years after Brexit in March 2019 to complete the current EU budget period, totalling around 20 billion euros ($24 billion). European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani -- whose institution will have a final veto on any Brexit deal -- told the BBC on that "20 billion is peanuts. The problem is 50 or 60 (billion euros), this is the real situation." EU diplomats said the decision to start internal preparations was designed to throw May a bone at the summit, while sticking to the French- and German-led insistence on settling the bill before starting trade talks. "Writing a few nice words in the summit conclusions doesn't cost much... just 10 billion per sentence," an EU diplomat joked. The summit takes place over two days, including a special session on Brexit on Friday morning from which May will be excluded. British officials said that during Thursday's dinner May would highlight her "bold vision", building on a speech in Florence last month in which she unveiled key proposals on the financial settlement and on a two-year transition. "What the prime minister wants to see is a clear commitment to swift progress from both sides, for an ambitious plan to be set out for what should be achieved in the weeks ahead," the official added. Macron trade appeal May was advised against pushing for a full discussion with EU leaders, who view Brexit as an unwelcome distraction from efforts to reform the bloc after years of crisis. On Thursday French President Emmanuel Macron will push trade onto the agenda with a call to his sceptical EU counterparts to put the brakes on free trade agreements or risk angering citizens who are increasingly wary of globalisation. The leaders will also deal with foreign affairs including Turkey, the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons and US President Donald Trump's refusal to certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. On Friday morning Tusk will discuss an ambitious timeline of 13 summits over the next two years to reboot the EU and introduce major reforms of the eurozone. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered his unexpectedly sharp message to Beijing on the same day President Xi Jinping opened the Communist Party congress. His upbeat speech was designed to set the stage for a visit next week to China's main Asian rival India, and to lay out a vision for a 100-year "strategic partnership" between Washington and New Delhi. But President Donald Trump's chief diplomat also took the opportunity to compare the United States and India -- the world's "two greatest democracies" -- with China, which he said was undermining the "rules-based international order." Coming on the day Xi opened a party congress designed to further secure his long-term control of what is already one of the most powerful Chinese presidencies in history, Tillerson's address will be seen as provocative. After the speech, reporters asked a senior State Department official whether it had been intended as a warning or a rebuke to China. "It's a speech that was designed for many audiences," he said, smiling. "The fact that he mentioned China is obviously built into the speech," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But this is a speech, obviously, that we hope all countries in the Indo-Pacific region will take to heart." Washington and Delhi have been building stronger ties for some time, but Tillerson made one of the clearest cases that the "shared values" underpinning the relationship make India and the United States ideal partners. As such, the speech also amounted to a warning to great power rival China that Washington will build regional alliances to counter its ever-growing power, while promoting free trade and open sea lanes. 'Provocative actions' "The United States and India are increasingly global partners with growing strategic convergence," he said. "Indians and Americans don't just share an affinity for democracy. We share a vision of the future," he said, projecting the relationship into the next 100 years. Promising greater prosperity and security in a "free and open Indo-Pacific," Tillerson did push India -- which has its own range of protectionist laws -- to open up its borders to more regional and US trade. But his harshest words were for China, the Asian economic behemoth and the nearest rival to India's huge population or to the United States' still world-leading economy. "China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order," Tillerson chided. "China's provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for." The senior US official, briefing reporters to flesh out the themes of the speech, said the idea of a "New Pacific" is a priority for both Trump and Tillerson. In more concrete terms this would mean a four-way arrangement of Australia, India, Japan and the United States to "anchor" the huge region and set standards for trade and security. Implicitly, this would exclude China. As it has slowly emerged as a powerful, economy India has avoided entangling alliances, preferring to maintain cautious relations with both Washington and Beijing, but Trump has built warm relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'Greatest democracies' "The secretary of state spends a lot of time dealing with problems. India is an opportunity," the senior official said. Last month, the chief of India's army warned that China had been "testing our limits" in a recent border stand-off and warned that Delhi's forces must be ready for conflict. India and China went to war in 1962 over the state of Arunachal Pradesh and China has maintained better ties with Delhi's foe Pakistan. Tillerson did not directly address August's stand-off on the Doklam plateau in the Himalayas, which is claimed by both China and Bhutan, an ally of India. But he vowed that Washington "won't shrink from China's challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries." And he approvingly cited US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' declaration "that the world's two greatest democracies should have the two greatest militaries." Tillerson noted the Indian navy now flies the American P-8 surveillance aircraft alongside US forces, and promised to help India in developing a carrier-born strike force. The secretary was speaking to guests of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He is due in New Delhi next week for talks with Indian leaders. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters confirms the existence of a large open lava tube in the Marius Hills region of the moon, which could be used to protect astronauts from hazardous conditions on the surface. No one has ever been on the moon longer than three days, largely because space suits alone cant shield astronauts from its elements: extreme temperature variation, radiation, and meteorite impacts. Unlike Earth, the moon has no atmosphere or magnetic field to protects its inhabitants. The safest place to seek shelter is the inside of an intact lava tube, according to the study. Lava tubes are naturally occurring channels formed when a lava flow develops a hard crust, which thickens and forms a roof above the still-flowing lava stream. Once the lava stops flowing, the tunnel sometimes drains, forming a hollow void. Its important to know where and how big lunar lava tubes are if were ever going to construct a lunar base, said Junichi Haruyama, a senior researcher at JAXA, Japans space agency. But knowing these things is also important for basic science. We might get new types of rock samples, heat flow data and lunar quake observation data. JAXA analyzed radar data from the SELENE spacecraft to detect underlying lava tubes. Near the Marius Hills Skylight, an entrance to the tube, they found a distinctive echo pattern: a decrease in echo power followed by a large second echo peak, which they believe is evidence of a tube. The two echoes correspond to radar reflections from the moons surface and the floor and ceiling of the open tube. The team found similar echo patterns at several locations around the hole, indicating there may be more than one. SELENEs radar system wasnt designed to detect lava tubes it was built to study the origins of the moon and its geologic evolution. For these reasons, it didnt fly close enough to the moons surface to get extremely accurate information on what is (or isnt) underneath. When the JAXA team decided to use their data to try and find lava tubes, they consulted scientists from the GRAIL mission, a NASA effort to collect high-quality data on the moons gravitational field. By surveying the areas where GRAIL had identified mass deficits, or less mass under the surface, they narrowed down the data they needed to analyze. They knew about the skylight in the Marius Hills, but they didnt have any idea how far that underground cavity might have gone, said Jay Melosh, a GRAIL co-investigator and Distinguished Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University. Our group at Purdue used the gravity data over that area to infer that the opening was part of a larger system. By using this complimentary technique of radar, they were able to figure out how deep and high the cavities are. Lava tubes exist on Earth, but their lunar counterparts are much larger. For a lava tube to be detectable by gravity data, it would need to extend several kilometers in length and at least one kilometer in height and width which means the lava tube near the Marius Hills is spacious enough to house one of the United States largest cities, if the gravity results are correct. The existence of lava tubes on the moon has been speculated in the past, but this combination of radar and gravity data provides the clearest picture of what they look like and how big they are yet. This information might be more useful than previously expected. At the first meeting of the National Space Council in decades, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Trump administration will redirect Americas focus in space to the moon. This marks a fundamental change for NASA, which abandoned plans to send people to the moon in favor of Mars under President Obama. We will return NASA 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, Pence said. Writer: Kayla Zacharias, 765-494-9318, kzachar@purdue.edu Sources: Jay Melosh, 765-494-3290, jmelosh@purdue.edu Junichi Haruyama, haruyama.junichi@jaxa.jp ABSTRACT Detection of intact lava tubes at Marius Hills on the Moon by SELENE (Kaguya) Lunar Radar Sounder T. Kaku1,2, J. Haruyama2, W. Miyake1, A. Kumamoto3, K. Ishiyama2, T. Nishibori2, K. Yamamoto4, Sarah T. Crites2, T. Michikami5, Y. Yokota6, R. Sood7, H. J. Melosh8, L. Chappaz9, K. C. Howell8 1Tokai University, Japan, 2Japan AeroSpace Exploration Agency, Japan, 3Tohoku University, Japan, 4National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan, 5Kindai University, Japan, 6Kochi University, Japan, 7University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 8Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 9AstroLabs, Pasadena, CA Intact lunar lava tubes offer a pristine environment to conduct scientific examination of the Moon's composition and potentially serve as secure shelters for humans and instruments. We investigated the SELENE Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) data at locations close to the Marius Hills Hole (MHH), a skylight potentially leading to an intact lava tube, and found a distinctive echo pattern exhibiting a precipitous decrease in echo power, subsequently followed by a large second echo peak that may be evidence for the existence of a lava tube. The search area was further expanded to 13.0015.005N, 301.85304.01E around the MHH and similar LRS echo patterns were observed at several locations. Most of the locations are in regions of underground mass deficit suggested by GRAIL gravity data analysis. Some of the observed echo patterns are along rille A, where the MHH was discovered, or on the southwest underground extension of the rille. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) State officials have designated six sites around Illinois as enterprise zones to encourage business development. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced the sites Wednesday. Officials said the Enterprise Zone Board evaluated applications and awarded designations to sites in Chicago; Douglas County; Effingham and Effingham County; an intermodal operation shared by Jersey and Greene counties; Massac County; and Whiteside County. Municipalities of Sterling, Rock Falls, Morrison, Fulton, Lyndon, Prophetstown, Savanna, Thomson, Mount Carroll, Tampico, Milledgeville and rural Whiteside and Carroll counties are included in the new zone. Enterprise zones are meant to encourage investment in depressed areas. Companies and other organizations in a zone might qualify for tax incentives. They include sales tax exemptions on qualifying building materials, investment tax credits, utility tax exemptions and possible local enticements. Applications for becoming one of three enterprise zones scheduled to be designated in 2018 are available. Everyone in a district of 1.8 million people in Chinas southern metropolis of Guangzhou has been ordered to undergo virus testing while a major city in the southwest closed schools as another rise in infections was reported. Chinas virus numbers are low, but the increase over the past week is a challenge to a zero-COVID strategy that aims to isolate every infected person. People in Guangzhous Haizhu district were ordered to stay home while testing is carried out. The government announced changes to quarantine and other anti-virus restrictions this week to reduce their cost and disruption. But the ruling Communist Party says it is sticking with zero COVID" even as other countries ease restrictions. Puerto Ricans are Americans. However, a recent survey by The Morning Consult found that only 54 percent of Americans know that people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. The territory of the United States may exist in people's minds as not related to us because it's not clear that it will ever pursue statehood, despite years of nationwide referendums with varying outcomes. The myth that Puerto Rico is not part of America is so pervasive and ingrained in our society that even children internalize the misunderstanding. At the beginning of the school year, I was observing a classroom in which high school seniors were learning how to form arguments to defend their opinions. The task was for small groups of students to decide on which flavor of ice cream was the best and then persuade the rest toward consensus. At this predominantly Hispanic -- and overwhelmingly Mexican -- school, the students nominated flavors ranging from ordinary, like plain vanilla and chocolate, to decadent and tropical. One young woman wrote on her group's poster: "The best flavor is coquito, because it soothes my foreign soul." Coquito is a Puerto Rican treat -- made with coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and spices -- and when I read the student's comment, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Only respect for another teacher's classroom kept me from calling a timeout to discuss this student's egregious mistake. When the bell rang, I ran to catch her and asked, "Are you Puerto Rican?" She shyly said, "Yes." I told her, "Don't ever call yourself a foreigner again -- Puerto Ricans are American citizens. Your soul is not foreign here, it's as beautiful and as part of America as everyone else's." She broke into a big, wide grin and gave me a sheepish nod. It was a moment that struck me because we were standing less than three miles from Humboldt Park, the epicenter of the Puerto Rican community in Chicago, and the only nationally recognized Puerto Rican neighborhood in the country. Still, it wasn't that surprising. Geography and civics in school are pretty watered down. In units about the geography of the U.S., it's rare for much time (if any) to be spent on Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands or other American territories. My younger son's best friend is from St. Croix, and he is forever forced to deliver his elevator speech about it being part of the U.S. Virgin Islands and that he is a U.S. citizen. (And in stark contrast to the media's albeit late reaction to the plight of Puerto Rico following recent hurricanes, few are talking about the devastation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.) The media and public's anemic handling of the aftermath of Puerto Rico's hurricane-related destruction - largely because too few realize that Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. -- got Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's "America" looping through my brain. "West Side Story" has always been my favorite musical, but the tragedy made me listen with new ears. Anita and Rosalia duel about the charms and challenges of Puerto Rico with Anita complaining: "Always the hurricanes blowing, always the population growing." Later the chorus sings the fundamental misnomer, "Immigrant goes to America, Many hellos in America," before it immediately corrects itself: "Nobody knows in America, Puerto Rico's in America!" Repeat after me: Puerto Ricans are not immigrants or foreigners. If anything good can come out of the suffering and devastation our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico are experiencing, let it be that they can rebuild their community to be stronger than ever. And, maybe, their fellow citizens on the mainland can finally understand their citizenship status better. It's past time to do so. After all, Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic-origin group in the U.S., there are more Puerto Ricans living on the mainland of the United States than on the Island, and the majority of them were born here. It really shouldn't have taken a weather tragedy to bring these facts to light. Celebrating Our Service Members Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day, when we honor and show gratitude to all members of our Armed Forces those currently serving, those who... Transit Equity Starts With QueensLink For decades Queens has seen a disinvestment in the necessary transit infrastructure the borough needs to promote equity and sustainability. Most of the time, transformative... The fleet of 26 vehicles is being assembled by Cital, a joint venture of Alstom, Algiers Metro Company (EMA), Ferrovial, and Algerian National Railways (SNTF), at its facility in Annaba. Each 44m-long 2.6m-wide bidirectional vehicle will accommodate up to 302 passengers with 12 passenger doors on each side. A joint venture of Alstom and Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi was awarded a contract in 2014 to build and equip the 15.2km line from El Bez University to Eastern Maintenance Centre, which will have 27 stations and a commercial speed of 20.3km/h, with peak capacity of 6000 passengers per direction per hour. Louis Berger has appointed former District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Leif Dormsjo as Senior Vice President for Infrastructure Asset Management. He is based in the companys Washington, D.C. office. Dormsjo will oversee the management and growth of the companys Infrastructure Asset Management practice, which operates and maintains a range of public and private transportation facilities and infrastructure assets for clients in the U.S. He also will serve on the companys global public-private partnership (P3) council. Dormsjo brings nearly 20 years of experience in the transportation industry, managing large-scale infrastructure programs and operations. During the course of his career, he has worked closely with public sector leaders, government officials, contractors, concessionaires and private financiers to find P3 solutions to overcome public funding challenges. At DDOT, Dormsjo worked on a wide range of services, including infrastructure delivery, local transit service, highway asset management, emergency response, bicycle and pedestrian programs and parking operations. He helped launch the D.C. Streetcar project. Dormsjo previously served in a range of leadership positions, including deputy secretary for the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), where he played a key role in advancing the Purple Line transit project. He also served as Chief of Staff for the Baltimore Department of Transportation and as operations analyst for the Baltimore mayors Office. Dormsjo earned his bachelors degree in history from Wesleyan University and a masters degree in public policy in transportation, housing and urban development from Harvard University. As a public sector champion for public-private partnerships during his tenure at DDOT and MDOT, Leif demonstrated an ability to bring together public and private interests to solve community challenges from public safety to urban mobility, said CEO Jim Stamatis. His unique perspective, experience and understanding of both the public sector and private sector needs are a valuable addition to both our infrastructure asset management practice and our global P3 team. Chinas CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Company this week rolled out the first of four pilot transit cars for testing on Bostons Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The ceremony attended by CRRC, government and MBTA officials at the builders Changchun, China manufacturing facility marked the occasion of the first Chinese railcar builder to enter the U.S. rail car manufacturing market. Dignitaries took a ceremonial ride on one of the four pilot cars to be sent to Boston for testing on November 18 via the port of Shanghai. These state-of-the-art vehicles provide improved passenger comfort, said Vice President of CRRC MA, Jia Bo, and incorporate technology including solid state microprocessors, LCD passenger information displays, CCTV cameras, platform gap mitigation, automatic passenger counting and computer-based training simulators. The company is designing and manufacturing 404 subway vehicles for the MBTA, including 152 new Orange Line vehicles and 252 new Red Line vehicles. CRRC is constructing a $95-million, 204,000-square foot railcar manufacturing facility; a 2,240-foot dynamic test track, and a staging/storing area in Springfield, Mass., where assembly of the MBTAs subway cars will take place. The company was also recently awarded contracts for the Los Angeles Metro and Philadelphias SEPTA. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK Relatives of victims in Egyptian plane crash case file suit with Moscow court MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) Relatives of victims killed in the Kogalymavia airlines plane crash in Egypt filed a lawsuit with the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow seeking to receive moral damages of more than 93 billion rubles (about $1.6 billion), RAPSI learnt from the courts press-service on Thursday. There are 118 applicants behind the lawsuit. Defendants in the case are Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, AerCap Holdings N.V., Kogalymavia and Triomed company. The lawsuit has not been processed yet. The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula on October 31, 2015, leaving 224 people dead. The airliner was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia. A militant group linked to Islamic State terrorist organization, prohibited in Russia, said in a statement that it had brought down the plane in response to Russian airstrikes in Syria. As a consequence of the attack, Russia cancelled air travel and tourist visits to Egypt. Pugachevs claim to reconsider recovery of $1.3 billion dismissed MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court has dismissed a claim filed by ex-Russian senator Sergey Pugachev seeking to acknowledge new evidence and to reconsider the recovery of 75.6 billion rubles (about $1.3 billion) from him, a representative of the claimant told RAPSI on Thursday. The claimant stated that the new evidence in the case is that on September 15, 2016, a court of appeals found out that from July 9, 2012 till July 15, 2015 the Moscow Commercial Court reviewed motions and claims related to the case in an unlawful manner. On April 30, 2015, the Moscow Commercial Court ruled in favor of the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) in a lawsuit filed to declare Pugachev and other Mezhprombank executives guilty of knowingly bankrupting the bank, primarily through the transfer of liquid assets. The court decided to debit 75.6 billion rubles from former managers of the bank. The Moscow Commercial Court in late October granted DIA the right to forcibly collect 75.6 billion rubles from former Mezhprombank staff, including 68.5 billion rubles from Pugachev and Marina Illarionova, the last CEO of Mezhprombank, and 7.16 billion rubles from two former chief executives, Alexander Didenko and Alexey Zlobin. In 2014, DIA filed a lawsuit with a UK court to collect the assets which Pugachev allegedly embezzled from Mezhprombank. In July 2014, Londons High Court granted an injunction to seize $2 billion worth of Pugachevs assets in various countries. Pugachev appealed the decision, but in December 2014 Londons High Court refused to release his assets. On October 11, 2017, the High Court of Justice in London recognized trusts owned by ex-Russian senator Sergey Pugachev as sham. Associated Press, October 18, 2017 The aftermath of a suicide bomb attack on a police post in Gardez city of Paktia province, Afghanistan on Oct. 17, 2017. 21 police officers and 20 civilians were killed. Among the wounded were 48 police officers and 110 civilians. (Photo: Ahmadullah Ahmadi/EPA) (Photo: Farid Zahir/AFP/Getty Images) Up to 150 people were injured in the Gardez attack.(Photo: Farid Zahir/AFP/Getty Images) The aftermath of a suicide bomb attack on a police post in Gardez city of Paktia province, Afghanistan on Oct. 17, 2017. 21 police officers and 20 civilians were killed. Among the wounded were 48 police officers and 110 civilians. (Photo: Ahmadullah Ahmadi/EPA)(Photo: Farid Zahir/AFP/Getty Images)Up to 150 people were injured in the Gardez attack.(Photo: Farid Zahir/AFP/Getty Images) At least 74 people have been killed in a wave of Taliban suicide attacks targeting police compounds and government facilities in the south, east and west of Afghanistan. Among those killed was a provincial police chief. Scores of people, including police officers and civilians, were also wounded. The deputy interior minister, Murad Ali Murad, said the attacks on Tuesday had been the biggest this year. He told a press conference in Kabul that 71 people had been killed by insurgents in Ghazni and Paktia provinces. In southern Paktia province, 21 police officers and 20 civilians were killed when suicide car bombers targeted a police compound in the provincial capital of Gardez. Among the wounded were 48 police officers and 110 civilians. The provincial police chief, Toryalai Abdyani, was killed in the Paktia attack, Murad confirmed. The interior ministry said that after the two cars had exploded in Gardez, five assailants with suicide belts had tried to storm the compound but had been killed by Afghan security forces. Gardez city hospital reported receiving at least 130 people wounded in the attack, a health ministry spokesman, Waheed Majroo, said. Hamza Aqmhal, a student at Paktia University, said he had heard a powerful blast that shattered the windows of the building he was in. The university is about 1.25 miles from the training academy, said Aqmhal, who was slightly injured by broken glass. A lawmaker from Paktia, Mujeeb Rahman Chamkni, said that along with the provincial chief of police several of his staff had been killed in the attack. Most of the casualties were civilians who had come to the centre, which also serves as a passport office, Chamkni said. In southern Ghazni, suicide car bombers stormed a security compound in Andar district and killed 25 police officers and five civilians, Murad said. At least 15 people were wounded in the attack, including 10 police officers, he added. Despite the high death toll, Murad said Afghan forces remained confident about their readiness to fight terrorists and eliminate them from Afghanistan. Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghazni, said the onslaught there had lasted nine hours. The bodies of 13 Taliban fighters were discovered after the attack, Noori added. In western Farah province, the police chief, Abdul Maruf Fulad, said Taliban fighters had killed three police officers in an attack on a government compound in Shibkho district. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attacks. Murad said the militant group had sustained heavy losses over the past six months at the hands of Afghan forces and was seeking revenge. Foreign Policy, October 19, 2017 By Ruby Mellen Around 130 million girls dont go to school every day. ONE, a global organization that fights extreme poverty, is trying to fix that by finding out where the problem is the worst. Their new report ranks the 10 worst nations in the world for girls to get an education. Nine of those are in Africa. The other? Afghanistan a place where the United States has poured massive funds for education since overthrowing the Taliban there in 2001. Yet its still the fourth-worst place in the world for girls education, according to ONEs index, which measured rate of attendance, amount of spending on education, and the number of teachers trained, among other factors. The report points out that keeping girls out of school starts early. As of 2014, Afghanistan had the highest level of gender disparity in primary education, with only 71 girls in primary school for every 100 boys, it says. In Tanzania, by comparison, girls have outperformed boys in attendance to primary school and stayed consistent with boys in attendance through lower secondary school, according to the United Nations Girls Education Initiative. Education in Afghanistan, and reversing much of the social engineering of the Taliban, was touted by Washington as a big success after the 2001 invasion. According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the Pentagon, State Department, and the United States Agency for International Development spent a total of $759 million on primary and secondary education in Afghanistan since 2002. But its unclear if that money has made much difference. I think theres no question here that a lot of funds were wasted, and on close examination it doesnt look as good as we made it out to be, said Marvin G. Weinbaum, the director of the Afghanistan and Pakistan program at the Middle East Institute. But Weinbaum noted that part of the problem with education in Afghanistan is simply the ongoing conflict. Look, they started from zero, and 40 percent of the country is contested, he said. Under those circumstances, the question of where can you get an education is naturally going to be affected by the fact that the fighting is going on in these regions. The report also found that extreme poverty doesnt necessarily condemn girls to a lack of education. Burundi has one of the worlds lowest GDPs per capita, but it ranks 18th in the reports index. Other factors like child marriage seem to play a part as well. According to the World Bank, around 15 million girls every year are married before the age of 18, and many drop out of school after being married off. According to ONE, in many of the 10 worst-performing countries, more than half of women are married before they are 18, sharply limiting their educational opportunities. Originally published on Oct. 17, 2017 During speeches while President of the Cato Institute, John Allison would often say that there were thousands of Googles before Google. Allisons point was that the company which has come to define search technology wasnt the only Silicon Valley start-up to attain funding based on its idea for a search engine. Countless start-ups funded, countless failures, and lots of learning from those failures, led to Google. As this column regularly points out, most Silicon Valley start-ups go belly up. Over 90 percent according to Valley eminence Andy Kessler. The previous number is more evidence that the road to Googles gargantuan valuation was paved by the decline of many companies like it that didnt make the cut. Whats important is that as opposed to impoverishing the U.S. technology sector, the high rate of bankruptcy within it is a major driver of its extraordinary wealth. Failure crucially informs the sector about what is and isnt working, plus it quickly releases improperly utilized economic goods and labor from poorly run companies so that they can be snapped up by businesses with a stated objective to deploy them more skillfully. As New York Times television writer James Poniewozik recently explained in a review of Halt and Catch Fire, AMCs television series about the 1980s computer boom, fail fast, fail often is the mantra that most informs the Silicon Valley business culture. The approach ensures that bad ideas dont have a long shelf life such that labor and economic goods are wasted. Much as untouched recessions signal the broad economic boom on the way, so do rapidly realized mistakes provide great strength to the technology sector for them producing crucial information while relentlessly pushing people and economic goods to their highest use. Which brings us to a story that has rated front page attention at the New York Times. Last week, China-based reporter Keith Bradsher informed readers that, Propelled by vast amounts of government money and visions of dominating next generation technologies, China has become the worlds biggest supporter of electric cars. Its Bradshers contention that If China succeeds and there is no guarantee Beijings policy makers will be front and center re-imagining the global auto industry. Bradsher should spend more time with Poniewozik. If so, he wouldn't have written the article that he did. Indeed, in suggesting that China's ruling class will develop a dominant industry, Bradsher unwittingly revealed why Chinese businesses will never be players in the electric car market, assuming there will be one. Plainly missed by Bradsher is that dominance in any sector is an effect of voluminous trial, near constant error, market-driven mothballing of those errors, and eventual success. Thats why what Bradsher describes is certain to go nowhere in a competitive sense. For one, skillful investors dont work in government. The venture capitalists capable of finding the rare unicorn (companies with billion dollar+ valuations) enjoy personal wealth that can be measured in the tens of millions, and often billions. Theyre not toiling for government pay. Furthermore, government is incapable of playing investor simply because failure doesnt inform the equation. Thanks to an endless inflow of taxpayer money, the bad ideas are rarely starved so that the good can replace them. What doesnt work is not only perpetual, but it often grows since politicians backed by government dont have to kill off their darlings. Applied to the electric car sector, government investment will remove China as a player. It will for the same reason that a lack of government investment bolsters Silicon Valleys technology culture. In the Valley, bad ideas once again die quickly. But as they're dying crucial economic resources and information are released to better stewards. This wont be true in Chinas electric car sector. So long as vast amounts of government money are directed to electric carmakers, the failure that produces abundant information and asset fluidity will not reveal itself. The problem there is that there were once again countless, or thousands of Google-equivalents before Google itself succeeded. The myriad mistakes are what made Googles eventual dominance possible. Yet major errors and bankruptcies will not factor into the Chinese governments unwitting plan to shackle the electric-car industry within China itself. Without failure there will be limited success, and no possibility of dominance. If Washington had decided that the U.S. would dominate search, Google likely doesn't exist today; that, or it exists as a limp version of its prominent self. To all of the above, some will reply that Chinas government could emulate the Valleys fail fast, fail often culture. But it couldnt even if it wanted to, and even if talented venture capitalists actually worked in government. As Americans know all-too-well by the decline of government-connected industries like banking and automobiles, business sectors close to politicians generally arent allowed to fail. Well-connected (in Washington) businesses develop political constituencies that cruelly protect them. Insolvent U.S. banks were saved in 2008, and now the whole sector suffers the suffocation of government protection in the form of excessive regulation. Washington has been bailing out U.S. carmakers since the 70s, and the result has been a mass exodus of the talented from Detroit. Why does anyone think politicians in China will be more enlightened, and that the talented there will act with less of a focus on their self-interest than the U.S.s skilled? More realistically, vast amounts of government money ensure the propping up of the politically-connected bad at the expense of the good in Chinas electric car sector, and the departure of the talented from an industry that will be the opposite of dynamic. After that, it's worth asking when government has ever been front and center when it comes to re-imagining any industry? Lets be serious. What we find is that whether its airplanes, computers, or internet, its always the outsiders who re-imagine or invent in the first place. The truly great ideas are the ones generally dismissed by the established order, yet Bradsher believes Chinese officialdom will swim against the tide in finding gems? One reply might be the laughable one about how the federal government invented the internet in the U.S., but even if readers want to believe whats ridiculous, that without government we wouldnt have internet, the reality is that the federal governments crude version of what's now essential had no market applications, and more important, wasnt seen as having any. Yet Chinas leaders are somehow enlightened enough to invest wisely on the way to the creation of an industry that it will dominate? Readers can be excused for chuckling. Bradsher and the Times are letting their congenital gullibility paired with alarmism get to them again. Back to reality, time will tell if theres even an electric car industry in the first place. Indeed, history is clear about the future of commerce being very blurry. But assuming electric cars are the future, the profitable sellers of them wont spring from government investment simply because the latter deprives its alleged beneficiaries of the failure and stresses that eventually make success possible. So while it doesnt really matter which country dominates electric cars, readers can rest assured that the Chinese government has taken China out of the running. Robert Lighthizer, the recently appointed U.S. trade representative, has one year to investigate allegations against China for unfair trading practices. This is widely acknowledged as the Trump administrations most important step taken to implement its trade agenda. The investigation represents more than a new direction in our economic and foreign policy: Its also part of the latest shift in an ongoing jockey between business, military, and political leaders for national pre-eminence in these matters. The order, under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act, opens a fast track for the president to take all appropriate action to obtain removal of any [trade] practice that is unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce. This little-known tool, which enables the president to unilaterally impose punitive tariffs, has rarely been used. The initiation of a Section 301 investigation reflects both a major policy shift in the U.S. position toward the global order and the changing foreign policy coalition within the White House. Until now, President Trumps aides have been deeply divided on trade, with adviser Peter Navarro and former strategist Steve Bannon calling for aggressive measures against Beijing. Others, like National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, have urged caution. But this decision reportedly won broad support among the presidents ideologically diverse staff. Thats likely because Section 301 makes the president the central decisionmaker and gives him greater leverage in direct negotiations with foreign heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. If Lighthizer concludes that China is in violation of established practices, Section 301 gives the president the power to impose retaliatory tariffs. Since assuming power, the Trump administration has overseen a major structural shakeup of the coalition leading U.S. foreign policy. The investigation coincides with a purge of liberal internationalist advocates, felt most acutely within the State Department in a mass exodus of experienced personnel. Few high-level officials will be left to make the case for the importance of the international architecture as the appropriate setting for settling disputes. Business elites are left to contend with Trumps military advisers for influence. Both are unhappy with Chinas growing role as a regional protector and investor in global trade and infrastructure, and see it as a major threat to U.S. business and security interests. They agree that the international architecture has not led to a successful resolution of differences. Political experts have been relegated to junior membership in this new coalition and a new generation of political advisers must adjust their views if they hope to have a place at the table. Changing structures In the past, structural shakeups of foreign policy have had major implications. The U.S. foreign-policy coalition has always comprised political, military, and economic elites -- but their hierarchy and authority have changed from time to time. During the Cold War, the military had the upper hand; political elites coordinated closely, and business elites played a secondary role. After the Cold War, the pecking order changed, with the military demoted to the third rank as business interests superseded national security concerns. Economics became a new driving force in foreign affairs. The success of the political leadership became linked to that of the business community. But the political elite developed an additional concern. The easing of Cold War pressures enabled them to adapt a long-term strategic view of the role for international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and to establish a new, economically liberal world order. This was modified after 9/11, when the military agenda again attained a higher priority. But the defenders of international institutions (for whom former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a spokesperson) still dominated the political wing. Military objectives were still defined within the larger framework of liberal internationalism. The liberal internationalists considered broad, sustained American investment in China to be a vital element of U.S. security policy and maintained that the most productive policy for the U.S. government was to make the growth of a Chinese private sector a high priority. The internationalists argued that Chinas private-sector growth would produce beneficial long-term political implications because a rising business elite would embody broader interests than those of the countrys ruling military. The new middle classes would have a stake in the orderly relations with counterpart nations. A reaction to disappointment But the new political narrative of the Trump administration sees risks in providing economic support to China and reflects a disappointment with international institution building. They have seen no signs that well-resourced private business interests will eventually be in a position to challenge Chinas ruling party. They believe fast growth has enabled China to unify and has enabled the Communist Party to project its strength as the leader of an economically transformed country. Instead of supporting a liberal world order, China seems to be seeking a world order built around its own principles. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Gary Cohn have argued that striving for security by establishing a global regime of democratic nations is a chimera. The business lobby within the administration sees the risks of turning China into a Cold War enemy and is hesitant to engage in a trade battle. If Trump acts unilaterally, they ask, what is to stop Chinese policymakers from enacting their own unilateral Section 301 process? So far, Beijings approach has been to challenge its grievances with American trade policy at the WTO; but they frequently lose. The business lobby understands that if we operate outside the norm, China will follow suit. There is no one at the table to speak for the continuing importance of the global order. The internationalist political wing has been pushed out, and in the future, the foreign-policy dispute will be between the business and military sectors. If the U.S. business community eventually finds itself upended, we could shift back toward familiar Cold War rhetoric and containment policies that will feed the antagonism between Washington and Beijing. Property details: Parcel #11-51-5000-0085-00-1 Michigan's lakeside paradise-ride your bike to the beach. Approximately 2-3 miles to the water and Lake Michigan. Benton Harbor has strong roots to an agricultural past and is fulfilling a promising future as an arts and shopping district. In the 1930's the Benton Harbor Fruit Market was the largest cash-to-grower non-citrus fruit market in the world. This heritage is reflected in the Blossom Time Festival, the oldest multi-community festival in Michigan. Emerging do... 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Mike Monello, one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project and co-founder of media agency Campfire, and Joshua Brand, writer, director, producer and veteran of five Peabody Award-winning programs, are joining the board this year. 'After it was finished, Shah Jahan visited the Taj only twice.' 'There is a letter from Aurangzeb to him after a visit, reporting that the dome was leaking and needed to be fixed.' 'Shah Jahan wasn't bothered: He had moved on to designing his next project, Shahjahanabad,' reveals Aakar Patel. To what can we attribute the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to demote the Taj Mahal as a tourist attraction? Bigotry? Stupidity? Forgetfulness? It is not easy to say, though given the atmosphere and the times we are living in, the answer is obvious. However, we should not be particularly concerned by this act of spitting at the sun from our Hindutva-minded friends. The Taj needs no marketing and it is one of only three man-made structures that are instantly recognisable anywhere in the world, the other two being the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Eiffel Tower. These are also the only three structures that the average human, whether Nigerian or New Zealander, can sketch from memory because their lines are clean and elegant and therefore memorable. Anyone who has an idea of what goes into a building being designed from the bottom up will know what it took to make the Taj. Shah Jahan is not my favourite Mughal and I will explain why in a bit as we take a look at some interesting aspects of our most famous dynasty. But he was without question the finest builder of any Indian ruler in history. His major contributions are three. First, the peacock throne, which was actually a large room-sized structure that was dismantled when not being used. It was extraordinarily detailed (apparently there were bejewelled peacocks in the four corners). What was looted by Nadir Shah was likely only the actual seat, which was but a single component of something grand in scale. Second, the city of Shahjahanabad, which we know today as Old Delhi, with the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid, both classic buildings, and its organised street plan, possibly the first in India after the Indus Valley towns. And third the Taj, which was actually his first project. Shah Jahan absolutely nailed it, producing a perfect building admired by the entire world. Mark Twain, who came to Agra on a package tour around the world, was moved enough by it to believe that the world was divided into those who had seen the Taj and those who hadn't. In his work, Following the Equator, Twain also called it 'the most celebrated construction in the earth'. Having seen it in the day and at night, he wrote: 'I knew all the time, that of its kind it was the wonder of the world, with no competitor now and no possible future competitor.' The visitor today will be struck by how enormous the thing is, a truly magnificent monument. Rabindranath Tagore called it, because it was constructed in grief for a beloved wife (Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan had 14 children), 'a teardrop on the cheek of time'. I suspect the real reason so much money was spent on a dead wife wasn't love but respect. It may surprise the reader to know that after it was finished, Shah Jahan visited the Taj only twice. There is a letter from Aurangzeb to him after a visit, reporting that the dome was leaking and needed to be fixed. Shah Jahan wasn't bothered: He had moved on to designing his next project, Shahjahanabad, shifting the Mughal capital from Agra. It is for this reason that I find the story about the jailed and pining Shah Jahan begging for a room facing the Taj probably false. But it is probably true that when Aurangzeb sent his father Dara Shikoh's head (actually served on a platter when Shah Jahan was dining), the old man fainted and his face crashed into the table, breaking his teeth. Why was Aurangzeb so cruel? The question should be turned around. Why did Shah Jahan hate Aurangzeb so much? It is not easy to understand, but it is true. From a very young age, before he was an adult, Aurangzeb was sent out by his father on impossible missions ('Go and reconquer our ancestral lands in Samarkand' and so on), while Dara Shikoh was mollycoddled in court. Unfortunately, for both father and his favourite son, this mistreatment of Aurangzeb produced a hardened and experienced warrior. Finally, after Akbar, the Mughals produced an emperor who could fight. Though he faced the imperial Mughal armies, Aurangzeb destroyed the opponent with his smaller field army. Aurangzeb followed through to kill all his brothers (a common occurrence in the Mughal dynasty) and went on to rule for half a century. He has an undeserved reputation for being anti-Hindu and the facts show this to be so. Aurangzeb was as inclusive as his forebears and as inclusive as any ruler in India ever was. Babur's generals were mostly Chagatai Turks and Mongols. Humayun, after his exile in Iran, brought with him Shia Persian administrators, and Akbar introduced Rajputs to the court as we know. The Marathas were brought by Aurangzeb, as he campaigned in the Deccan. There are records of long negotiations, many lasting several years, over the terms on which Maratha chieftains would enter Mughal service. Shah Jahan was a useless warrior, like Humayun (whose main interest in armies was the colours of their uniform, which he changed each day of the week) and Jahangir (who was notoriously indolent and was once kidnapped by one of his own courtiers). Shah Jahan became emperor because of his wife. Her relatives used the uncertainty around Jahangir's illness and death, to secure power for him. By the time he arrived in Agra, his brothers had all been blinded. This left the throne open for Khurram (as Shah Jahan was named) and without his wife, he would not have been emperor. Towards the end of his life, Jahangir hated Khurram and writes of his son with total contempt in his memoirs. Absent the quick actions of his wife, Khurram would likely have been blinded or executed by one of his brothers, instead of going on to become a name famous in history. And so the Taj was likely an act of Shah Jahan showing gratitude and it explains why, having done this, he moved on without a qualm. The Taj is the centrepiece of the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur triangle that pulls in hundreds of thousands of tourists into UP. It is ingratitude bordering on stupidity that one would choose, for petty and juvenile reasons, to demote an asset any other nation would value and treasure. IMAGE: Hollywood actress Eva Longoria at the Taj Mahal, December 2015. She captioned the picture, 'Can't leave Agra without a jumping photo in front of Taj Mahal.' Photograph: Kind courtesy Eva Longoria/Instagram 'The surgical strikes were not meant to deter or stop infiltration.' 'It was meant to create a kind of uncertainty in the minds of Pakistani military commanders.' 'By using hard power we've created an option which was not there earlier.' On September 29, the first anniversary of the cross-LoC surgical strikes, Nitin A Gokhale -- senior journalist, author and co-founder of Bharatshakti.in -- released his book Securing India The Modi way - Pathankot, Surgical Strikes and More. In the book, Gokhale -- a long standing contributor to Rediff.com -- provides details of events and decisions that led to the surgical strikes and also accounts of soldiers who took part in the operation conducted on September 29, 2016. The book also lists other policy decisions taken by the Narendra D Modi government to enhance national security. Nitin A Gokhale spoke to Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra about his book and national security issues. The first of a two-part interview: While introducing your book, you write 'This is by no means an analytical document'. Why didn't you want it to be one? In my view, the analysis of any event should wait for sometime. Its impact should be analysed only after a certain period of time. For example, the Dolam (Doklam) standoff was resolved while I was writing about it in the book. So I couldn't have offered an analysis on it. The facts of any event are not fully clear in the immediate aftermath. They take time to emerge, to consolidate. Therefore, I said it is not exactly an analysis. I may expand it into one later. But at that moment, as they say about newspapers, I wanted it to be the first draft of history, or the first draft of contemporary events and developments. And since I had the access, I thought it best to record it then and there, instead of waiting for 15 or 20 years. You've pointed it out multiple times in the book that the surgical strikes of September 2016 were an unprecedented operation. But former army chief General Bikram Singh had said there were strikes of similar nature in the past too. How was it different? I've explained in the book why the surgical strikes were unprecedented. I've already stated the reasons. General Bikram Singh should know better why he made that statement. But these strikes were indeed unprecedented, for two reasons. One, the forces never had such clear political directive from the top. For the first time a prime minister was ready to do something like this. It was a political gamble for him. Anything could have gone wrong. Two, on this scale it never happened. You must have heard Lieutenant General D S Hooda, who led the operation, multiple times remarking that it was completely different from what would have happened in the past. In the past it was just one post against the other or one battalion against another. But here you had an arc of nearly 270 km, seven locations to target at different times. There was a risk of timings going wrong. The political willingness shown to go beyond the set template of doing 'kadi ninda' or sending dossiers was also unprecedented. If you ask me, can they do it again? Well, maybe, maybe not. They can do something else. But it unshackled the minds of the military commanders. They now know that if necessary, the government will authorise punitive strikes against Pakistan. That's the difference. Army chief General Bipin Rawat has of late said a couple of times that we can launch similar strikes again. Either they can strike again in the similar manner, from a different location. Or they can do it some other way. I don't know all the options that are available. It is best left to the professionals who know what they are talking about. The army said in April that terror launch pads destroyed in surgical strikes are active again. Can it then be said that the only purpose such strikes serve is to eliminate a certain number of terrorists at a given time? Or do they count for some long-term gains? I'm saying the surgical strikes were not meant to deter or stop infiltration. It was meant to create a kind of uncertainty in the minds of the Pakistani military commanders. I don't know why people are saying (that infiltration should stop after surgical strikes). Infiltration will continue because foot soldiers are available in plenty in Pakistan. They will continue to come and they will continue to try and stir up trouble in Jammu and Kashmir. But by using hard power we've now created the space of an option which was not there earlier. For a short while it has served its purpose. And as for the long-term we'll see whether it served its purpose or not. I don't know why people have a problem in accepting the fact that these were unprecedented strikes. I think we've to overcome that bias. Also, nobody went there with the notion that some particular results will be achieved. The immediate thing was to send a message to the Pakistani army and the terrorists, which was done. You also write about the NIA crackdown on Kashmiri separatist leaders, after which we saw a dramatic reduction in incidents of stone-pelting. While it was known that these people are funded by non-State actors across the border, why didn't such action come earlier? That's exactly what I have mentioned in the book. This government has taken initiatives in domains which were not easy to do. Earlier governments didn't do it because there was a kind of nexus and nobody was willing to take hard decisions. That is what shows this government in a different light that they're willing to take hard decisions. If it comes to cracking down on the Hurriyat, why should we hesitate? That is what the difference is. Though it has not come too soon, it takes time to build a case so that they don't get away. I think it's a very welcome step. In the light of India's hard stand against Pakistan at the United Nations, do you think the words need to be backed up by action? Should India revise the MFN (most forward nation) status to Pakistan or impose an embargo on trade? These are things which need a lot of consideration. There are international treaties to be abided by. But the hard line against Pakistan that there will be no talks until terrorism stops is itself a kind of comprehensive policy. It would have been easy for the government to succumb to the post-Burhan Wani killing hysteria and stone-pelting and say 'No, no we will start talking to both Hurriyat and Pakistan'. But they didn't do it. They stuck to their policy and this year the results are very evident. More than 160-odd terrorists have been killed in the valley and stone pelting has almost vanished from the streets. The government just stuck to its line that it will not talk to Pakistan under pressure. Other things will follow. For example just a thought that India will revisit the Indus Water Treaty had Pakistan in knots. Those things will continue. We'll put Pakistan under pressure and on the back foot. About the efforts of the PM in reaching out to countries in the Middle East, you write that it has 'rendered Pakistan impotent'. But the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has always backed Pakistan on Kashmir. How do you see it? The OIC can keep backing Pakistan, but what does it mean in real terms? Do they go and help Pakistan economically? Do they invest in Pakistan? Do they take a pro-Pakistan stand at the UN? It is just a pro forma statement issued by OIC every time. By reaching out to Pakistan's friends in the Gulf, India has actually isolated Pakistan internationally. Often people think that isolation means they have to be completely cut off from any kind of aid or oil supply, but what it actually means that when it comes to 'India or Pakistan' at the international forums, what do these countries do? They've also realised that they've a better chance of investing in India and make money. No such situation exists in Pakistan. Therefore they have largely remained neutral. You see, even after the surgical strikes, no country questioned India's newfound approach on the Line of Control. If not for India's outreach to these countries, you would have found the OIC objecting or Russia or China saying something. That's how it makes a difference. In diplomacy, nothing is black and white, there are always shades of grey. At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a Taliban-claimed assault on a military base in southern Afghanistan which saw the insurgents blast their way into the compound with at least one explosives-laden Humvee vehicle, the Afghan defence ministry said. "Unfortunately there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside," defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. Just two soldiers are known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar province, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that six soldiers have gone missing. The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists which said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed. Ten insurgents died, the ministry said. Meanwhile, India has strongly condemned the "barbaric" attack and asserted that states hosting terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately. "We strongly condemn the barbaric attack today at the Afghan National Army base in Kandahar province," the external affairs ministry said in a statement. It said India is "gravely" concerned at the escalation of terrorist violence against Afghanistan, despite hopes kindled recently by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. "Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people," the MEA said. It said the terror attacks "demonstrate" that safe havens and support systems continue to be available to terrorists. "States hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction," it said, seen as a clear reference to Pakistan. The MEA said these concerns were also highlighted yesterday by the United Nations Security Council. "The beginning of Afghan-owned and Afghan-led national reconciliation requires an end to violence," the MEA said. It further said, "India expresses solidarity with the people and the Government of Afghanistan in these difficult times." Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush in the northern Balkh province late Wednesday killed six police, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, switching to a counterterrorism and support role. With inputs from PTI Image used for representative purposes only. Photograph: Omar Sobhani/Reuters Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were indicted on Thursday by an anti-graft court in a corruption case related to the Avenfield property in London. The National Accountability Bureau had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against 67-year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court in Islamabad on September 8. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Maryam and Safdar were present in the court during the hearing. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a court official. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. Sharif and his sons -- Hassan and Hussain -- are likely to be indicted in the other two references later. At the start of the hearing by Judge Muhammad Bashir, the defence filed application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to illness of his wife. The defence team also argued that head of Sharif's legal team Harris was out of country due to an emergency and in his absence Sharif should not be indicted. But the court rejected the application after hearing the argument. The second lawyer from Sharif's legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the apex court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well. Sharif's leagal team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case. The court has reserved its decision on the application. During the proceedings, the judge thrice stopped hearing and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications. Sharif's family alleges that the cases are politically motivated. Maryam, in informal chat with reporters, said that it was for the first time that "Sicilian mafia" was appearing in the court. She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by the Supreme Court bench which disqualified him. "It is for the first time that first decision was given (about disqualification of Sharif) and now trial is being held," she said. Sharif, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and independent lawyers had objected to the use of phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will. Maryam said that one day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. "Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together," she told reporters outside the court. She said that her party is still united despite the differences of opinion. Sharif was re-elected as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on October 3 and immediately demanded that those who disqualified him should respect the people's mandate. Maryam said the government is an institution which should be respected. "Each institution should do its job." Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth. Judge Bashir was set to indict Sharif and his family on October 13. However, after the violent clash between the PML-N lawyers and police, he had postponed the indictment until Thursday. During the hearing on October 9, the court had decided to separate the trial of Sharif's sons -- Hussain and Hassan -- from Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law. It had also ordered to start the process of declaring Sharif's sons proclaimed offender for failing to appear before the court. The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts and seized properties of Sharif and his family members to put pressure on them to appear before the court. A steel tycoon cum politician, Sharif had served as the Prime Minister for the first time from 1990 to 1993. During his first tenure, Sharif developed serious differences with conservative president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dissolved the National Assembly using his powers in April 1993. In July, Sharif resigned under pressure from the army. His second term as Prime Minister from 1997 ended in 1999 when then powerful Army Chief Pervez Musharraf carried out a bloodless coup. Sharif, who leads the countrys most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, successfully managed to swim through all the tsunamis since he assumed power for the third term in June 2013, but the Supreme Court ruling against him in the Panamagate case struck a heavy blow to his career. His political future has been hanging in balance since then. Photograph: Maryam Nawaz/Twitter This is the fourth successive Diwali that Modi has celebrated with jawans on the border. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday celebrated Diwali with troops posted along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez Sector and lauded the soldiers for their penance and sacrifice saying he considers them his family. In an unannounced visit, Modi arrived at Gurez in the morning to celebrate Diwali with the army and Border Security Force soldiers posted along the LoC, officials said. He spent two hours with the soldiers in Gurez valley, which is shouting distance of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and has witnessed many gunfights with infiltrating insurgents in the past 27 years. This is the fourth successive Diwali that the prime minister has celebrated with jawans on the border. Chief of the Army Staff Gen B S Rawat and other senior army officers were present on the occasion. Modi offered sweets and exchanged greetings with the jawans, the officials said. Addressing the jawans, he said like everyone else, he too wishes to spend Diwali with his family. Therefore, he had come among the jawans of the armed forces, whom he considers to be his "family", he said. Modi said he gets new energy when he spends time among the jawans and soldiers of the armed forces and appreciated their penance and sacrifice, amid harsh conditions. The prime minister said that he had been told that the jawans present at the gathering regularly practice yoga. He said that this would definitely enhance their abilities, and give them a sense of calm. He said jawans, who leave the armed forces after completing their duty tenure, can become excellent yoga trainers subsequently. The prime minister spoke of the new resolve that each Indian citizen must make for 2022, the 75th anniversary of independence. He also encouraged the jawans to innovate, so that their routine tasks and duties become easier and safer and mentioned how best innovations are now being recognised and awarded at the Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day. Modi said the Centre is committed to the welfare and the betterment of the Armed Forces, in every way possible. In this regard, he mentioned the implementation of One Rank, One Pension, which had been pending for decades. "Protecting the motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nation's borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication," the prime minister wrote in the visitors' book. Modi further wrote, "I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians." "To accomplish the dream of 'New India', this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it," he added. Photogrpahs: @narendramodi/Twitter Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, Karnataka's anti-superstition bill is seen as a big step ahead. Nikita Puri reports from Bengaluru. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com It took a 'talking' bird for Edgar Allan Poe to write The Raven. All it took for its crow cousin to become the subject of news in Karnataka was its deciding to sit atop Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's car last year. The crow would weigh heavily on the chief minister's fortunes, television channels predicted. The prediction was repeated earlier this year when a crow's dropping fell on Siddaramaiah's white dhoti. This time, a headline read: 'Siddaramaiah haunted by crows.' With reports centred on the misfortunes-to-come, Siddaramaiah had to make a statement. 'Crow is just a bird. But a section of the media, banking heavily on superstition, said a crow on my car was a bad omen which may cost me heavily. They made a mountain out of a molehill then.' 'When I was in Kerala, a crow pooped on my dhoti, and the headlines screamed that Siddaramaiah will surely lose power this time,' the chief minister said. Fighting superstition has been one of Siddaramaiah's pet projects ever since he came to power in 2013. The same year, the state announced The Evil, Inhuman and Superstitious Practices Prevention Bill. But it was only last fortnight that the Karnataka cabinet finally cleared the Bill, with a few touch-ups and under a new name: The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017. Some feel that the bill, drafted with suggestions from an expert panel from Bengaluru's National Law School of India University, has been watered down in its new avatar: Practices such as vastu shastra, astrology and numerology have been kept out of its purview. But as Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, says, "Something is better than nothing." The road for the draft Bill, to be introduced in the legislature during the winter session in November, has only been uphill. This comes as no surprise considering how superstitions are a profound part of even urban value systems. Sample this: While filing their nomination papers in 2013, a majority of candidates vying for a place in the Karnataka assembly used only either blue or green ink; black and red, they believed, bode ill. One of these ministers swears by his fur hat to woo Lady Luck. Some were advised by astrologers to wear four or six layers of clothing over a pre-decided colour of undergarments, while one of them was asked to file his nomination in the nude! Though the crow that hassled Siddaramaiah and the naive black cat (which supposedly unleashes bad luck on unsuspecting folk) remain outside the purview of this Bill, they do highlight practices not rooted in science. "There are, of course, harmless superstitions that all of us believe in. The idea is to tackle the harmful ones that enable exploitation and oppression," says Alok Prasanna Kumar of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. Kumar was part of the team that helped draft the Bill in 2013. If the Bill is passed, it will outlaw black magic done in search of treasure, tantric acts that include physical and sexual assault, assailing people under the pretext of exorcism and creating panic in the name of ghosts. It will also outlaw rituals involving self-mutilation, such as piercing jaws and tongues with rods (locally known as baibiga), and the practice of rolling on food left over by Brahmins in some of Karnataka's temples. While it will allow pujas, yatras and parikramas at religious places, it will ban occult practices to treat dog and snake bites, or other illnesses. For years, Bengaluru-based health care professional Sushi Kadanakuppe has had patients approaching her in advanced stages of oral cancer, by which time they are often beyond help. Rituals directed by traditional healers and astrologers had kept these patients from seeking scientific, professional help. This, she says, will change. Another positive, says Kadanakuppe, is that the Bill "seeks to address indignities against women such as ostracism during menstruation and pregnancy, or parading them naked in the name of worship." Women, in fact, are a targeted majority by those peddling superstition. Nayak recounts the time a 25-year-old computer science graduate approached him in Mangaluru about an astrologer. "When his solutions didn't solve her problems, she was told they'd vanish if she slept with a Brahmin," says Nayak. When she seemed upset, the astrologer reportedly tried to placate her by saying, "There's no lust here, he'll only be helping you. And don't worry, I can arrange the Brahmin for you." If and when the Bill is passed, it will outlaw such exploitative practices. A day after writer and rationalist Malleshappa Madivalappa Kalburgi's murder in 2015, Nayak had stood alongside journalist Gauri Lankesh in a protest march in Bengaluru. During that event he had asked ministers how many rationalists would have to be killed before a law came into place. A month after Lankesh was murdered, Nayak says, "It's ironical that this bill is going to the cabinet after Gauri was killed." In many ways, the assassination of rationalists and activists like Narendra Dabholkar (2013), Govind Pansare (2015) and Kalburgi (2015) cemented the route to outlawing superstitious practices. While the Karnataka anti-superstition bill is still a step away from becoming law, Maharashtra already has such a law -- the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, which was originally drafted by Dr Dabholkar. This law was passed just days after Dr Dabholkar's murder. In Karnataka, Lankesh's assassination was the trigger for the state government to pass the bill just a few months before the assembly elections are scheduled to be held. "Unfortunately, it took such sacrifices for it to happen, but that's how politics works in our country," says Dr Dabholkar's son Hamid, who is also a member of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, the rationalist organisation his father founded. There is evidence that laws such as these work as a deterrent. Earlier this year, the Maharashtra police arrested Rameshsuresh Bagal, a self-styled baba who had been selling palm-sized stones with a face painted on it using ash and sindoor, saying the 'divine' stone could cure anything, including schizophrenia. Bagal's arrest is one of the 400-odd cases registered in the state since the law was enacted. Till recently, people in Maharashtra had been flocking to 'Tomato baba', a godman who passed off tomato juice as a magical remedy. Cases of hospitalisation here were growing as people had discontinued their medication for chronic condition, waiting for the baba's tomato cure to work. This man shut shop when he heard there was going to be a police complaint, says Hamid Dabholkar. "If such a law existed in Haryana, that lady wouldn't have had to write to the prime minister and Gurmeet Ram Rahim would have been arrested much sooner," he adds, referring to the case where a sadhvi wrote anonymously to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, alleging rape by the self-proclaimed godman. The Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti has worked with over 2,000 policemen to help them gather evidence that can stand in court against such exploitative babas. Karnataka's Bill, too, has provisions for a vigilance officer to investigate cases such as these. After Karnataka, there have been calls from several groups in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana to have similar laws for their state. West Bengal, too, announced its plans for a law against black magic a few months ago. Maharashtra's law has clearly had a snowball effect, says Hamid, adding how the state has always been a pioneer in bringing about social reform. He cites the contributions of Dr B R Ambedkar and Savitribai Phule. Similarly, Tamil Nadu's history of Dravidian rationalism and Bhagat Singh's influence in Punjab and Haryana have helped rationalist arguments. In Karnataka, the writings of literary figures such as U R Ananthamurthy (Samskara, 1965) continue to influence generations by questioning orthodox rites and traditions. Before Maharashtra's law, an existing law aimed at combating superstition was the one against witch-hunting: 12 states including Assam, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have this law in place. But it hasn't eradicated the practices it proscribes. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that close to 3,000 people -- mostly women -- have been killed in India since 2001 on suspicion of practising witchcraft. "Law is one way to address bad social practices, but it alone can't bring about lasting changes," says Chandan Gowda, professor of sociology at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. He points out how untouchability stands abolished by law, but many still practise it. Kumar uses the "imperfect historical analogy" of Sati to back the Karnataka bill. "I would compare it to the Sati prohibition law that put an end to the practice but it was many years before widows could lawfully remarry or inherit property," he says. Even if the practices are put to an end through police action, it will take a while for superstitious beliefs to be removed from people's minds, he adds. Any legislation that targets a social evil needs to be followed by awareness campaigns. Kadanakuppe does this through a Facebook page and posters in schools and villages across the state. These posters feature graphic illustrations of children at the receiving end of heated rods and babas invoking ghosts. They are the stuff of nightmares: Visuals of self-mutilation by Shia Muslims, photographs of babies being dropped from a height as part of religious activities, bodies recovered after suspected cases of human sacrifices. Change is coming, reckons Hamid. The fact that the movement against superstition has only gained strength after its leading lights, such as Dr Dabholkar and Kalburgi, were assassinated, has given greater hope to rationalists. For long, one was accused of being anti-religion if one questioned these self-proclaimed babas, but that narrative is evolving, says Hamid. The nexus between politicians and self-proclaimed gurus has also become more evident. "So there is rationalist thought growing because, irrespective of religion and background, it's the common people being exploited," says Hamid. Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long and dreary, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, the Karnataka bill is being seen as a big step ahead. The road ahead, however, is still long. With astrology and vastu shastra and other such beliefs being kept out of its purview, the battle between rationalists and believers continues. Since 2001, for example, A S Natraj, founder of the Bengaluru-based rationalist association Akhila Karnataka Vicharavadi Sangha, has been inviting fortune= tellers to prove that at least 80 per cent of their predictions will come true. The challenge remains unaccepted, and the prize money of Rs 1 crore remains unclaimed. Author and environmentalist Arefa Tehsin recalls a story her uncle would tell of the time he visited China. Confused at a society that did not have any religious practices, he reportedly asked his Chinese host, 'Tell me something, friend, when you're facing a problem, whom do you pray to? What do you do?' The man replied saying, 'Why, my friend, we solve the problem.' Pakistan: Election to UN Rights Body Spotlights Failings Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Pakistan: Election to UN Rights Body Spotlights Failings, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e864454.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 International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch are urging Pakistan to take immediate steps towards meeting "the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights," following the country's election to the Human Rights Council on Monday. On October 16, the UN General Assembly selected 15 states to serve as members of the UN Human Rights Council from January 2018 to December 2020. From the Asia-Pacific region, Nepal, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan were selected out of five candidates. To secure the UN Human Rights Council membership, Pakistan pledged its commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. However, the pledge failed to address directly many of the most serious human rights issues facing Pakistan, including enforced disappearances, the use of the death penalty, blasphemy laws, the country's use of military courts, women's rights including the right to education, and threats to the work of human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists. According to UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251, "members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights." The Resolution also provides that, "when electing members of the Council, Member States shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto." Pakistan's abuses have been highlighted by various national and international human rights organizations, UN treaty-monitoring bodies, and special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. Pakistan has affirmed in its election pledge that it is "firmly resolved to uphold, promote and safeguard universal human rights and fundamental freedoms for all." Given the pressing human rights issues in the country, the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch urge Pakistan to take the necessary action to fulfill these responsibilities. Background on human rights areas of concern: The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch urge Pakistani authorities to act promptly to address the following human rights concerns: Enforced disappearances Despite hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of enforced disappearance reported from across Pakistan, not a single perpetrator of the crime has been brought to justice. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has noted there is "a climate of impunity in Pakistan with regard to enforced disappearances, and the authorities are not sufficiently dedicated to investigate cases of enforced disappearance and hold the perpetrators accountable." Pakistan authorities should publicly condemn and call for an end to the practice of enforced disappearances; ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; recognize enforced disappearance as a distinct, autonomous offence; recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive and consider communications from on behalf of victims or other state parties; and hold perpetrators of enforced disappearance, including military and intelligence personnel, to account, through fair trials before civilian courts. Death Penalty Pakistan has executed at least 471 people since it lifted an informal moratorium on executions in December 2014. In many cases, there are serious concerns that people executed were denied the right to a fair trial. Courts have also imposed the death penalty, in violation of international law, on people with mental disabilities, individuals who were below 18 years of age when the crime was committed, and those whose convictions were based on "confessions" extracted through torture or other ill-treatment. Pakistan should restore the moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, in line with repeated UN General Assembly resolutions, and pending the moratorium, ensure the death penalty is not applied in violation of international law. Blasphemy laws Pakistan's blasphemy laws are incompatible with the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and equal treatment before the law. These laws have been disproportionately applied against religious minorities, they are frequently misused, and people accused of blasphemy offences are often denied the guarantees of equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to legal counsel and the right to a fair trial. Pakistan should repeal or significantly amend its blasphemy laws, in particular sections 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A, 295-B, and 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, to bring them in line with international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Military Courts Since January 2015, Pakistan's military courts have convicted at least 305 people, out of which 169 have been sentenced to death. Proceedings before Pakistani military courts fall short of national and international standards on fair trial. Judges are part of the executive branch of the State and continue to be subjected to military command; the right to appeal to civilian courts is not available; the right to a public hearing is not guaranteed; the right to a duly reasoned, written judgment - including the essential findings, evidence, and legal reasoning - is denied; the procedures of military courts, the selection of cases to be referred to them, the location and timing of trial, and details about the alleged offences are kept secret; the right to counsel of choice is denied; and a very high number of convictions are based on "confessions" without adequate safeguards against torture and other ill treatment. Pakistan should repeal or amend relevant laws in order to ensure that only civilian courts may try civilians, including for terrorism-related offences, and to ensure that military courts only have jurisdiction over military personnel for military offences. National Human Rights Institution Pakistan has committed to provide the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) adequate human and financial resources. However, the NCHR does not have the required independence to fulfill its mandate effectively and impartially. We also note that the NCHR has a limited mandate to investigate human rights violations allegedly committed by military forces, and it does not have jurisdiction over intelligence agencies. Pakistan should extend the jurisdiction of the NCHR to cover military and intelligence agencies and ensure its autonomy and independence in accordance with the Paris Principles on national human rights institutions. Human Rights Defenders Authorities in Pakistan have increased restrictions on human rights defenders and attempted to stop the operation of certain nongovernmental organizations for reasons such as "presenting a very bleak picture of human rights" to the UN. In some cases, state agents have perpetrated human rights violations against human rights defenders: activists exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly have been subjected to unjustified or excessive force by the police and even prosecuted under Pakistan's anti-terrorism laws; and many have been attacked, killed, or forcibly disappeared. The onerous and opaque procedures of the international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) policy, coupled with the vague, arbitrary, and at times unlawful reasons for refusing or canceling INGO registrations, have also resulted in severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of association for people working for INGOs. In accordance with international standards including the ICCPR and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Pakistan should guarantee, and ensure that human rights defenders are able in practice to exercise, the rights of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the right to express opinion - whether critical or not - of the state, its agencies and other matters of public interest; and the right to unhindered access to other human rights organisations and institutions - domestic, regional or global. Cooperation with Special Procedures Since 2012, Pakistan has accepted country visit requests by the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Requests for visits from a number of other special procedures, however, remain pending, including: the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions (pending since 2000); the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (pending since 2003); the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism (pending since 2006); the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (pending since 2006); and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (pending since 2010); among others. Pakistan should extend a standing invitation to UN Special Procedures, should respond favorably to all outstanding requests, and should facilitate the visits in an expeditious manner. Refugees In 2016, more than 380,000 registered Afghan refugees were returned to Afghanistan with the assistance of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Exit interviews conducted by UNHCR give rise to concern that these returns were not voluntary and therefore were contrary to the principle of non-refoulement, in what amounts to one of the largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees in recent times. Of those repatriated, 24 percent said they feared arrest and/or deportation and had therefore decided to leave. Those left behind face an uncertain future, including because of the heightened risk of harassment and intimidation by the Pakistani authorities. These returns have taken place at a time when Afghanistan has been enduring the highest recorded levels of civilian casualties. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 11,418 people were either killed or injured last year. In the first six months of 2017, according to UNAMA, there have been 5,243 civilian casualties. No part of Afghanistan can be considered safe, putting returnees at a real risk of serious human rights abuses. Pakistani authorities should immediately halt all returns to Afghanistan and ensure that Afghan refugees can continue to seek and enjoy protection in Pakistan. Pakistani law enforcement agencies should end their campaign of harassment and intimidation of all registered and non-registered Afghan refugees. Pakistan should also ratify the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Optional Protocol while abandoning policies that deny refugees protection in line with international standards. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Kyrgyzstan: President-Elect Should Make Rights a Priority Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 19 October 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Kyrgyzstan: President-Elect Should Make Rights a Priority, 19 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e8653a4.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. Kyrgyz President-elect Sooronbai Jeenbekov should demonstrate from the outset that he intends to put human rights front and center when he takes office in December, Human Rights Watch said today. Jeenbekov's government should reverse the human rights backsliding that accelerated in the months leading up to the presidential election, reaffirm the importance of an independent media, and respect the important role of independent groups and activists. Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission announced preliminary results on October 17, giving Jeenbekov 54 percent of the vote to 33 percent for Omurbek Babanov, a businessman who was his leading opponent. "A competitive presidential election took place in Kyrgyzstan, but concerns expressed by election monitors, including about media restrictions, underscore the continued need for reforms," said Mihra Rittmann, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The president-elect should set out how he intends to guarantee human rights in his domestic policies when he takes office." In an October 16 preliminary statement on the presidential election, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) election monitoring mission noted that even as the election "contributed to the strengthening of democratic institutions by providing for an orderly transfer of power from one elected president to another," they had "received credible reports of widespread abuse of public resources and pressure on voters, as well as of vote-buying." The observers also said there were "numerous and significant problemsduring the vote count and the initial stages of tabulation," and noted that "elections were held concurrently with several criminal cases against opposition politicians or others supporting one of the main candidates." The OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Harlem Desir, on October 17 condemned an assault on three journalists in the southern city of Osh on election day, saying that the authorities should investigate and bring those responsible to justice. The observation mission had also noted that "an increasing number of defamation cases with excessive damages claimed by the incumbent president and Mr. Jeenbekov and awarded against media and journalists before and during the campaign had an adverse effect on an open debate of matters of public concern." The president-elect should publicly acknowledge these and other concerns and pledge to address them as a signal that he is committed to upholding Kyrgyzstan's international obligations, Human Rights Watch said. Jeenbekov, a former prime minister and member of the majority party in parliament, will be confronted with other significant human rights concerns, which he should also make clear he intends to remedy, Human Rights Watch said. These include the deteriorating environment for media freedom and human rights activism, and the wrongful imprisonment of the human rights defender Azimjon Askarov. The new government should move promptly to free Askarov from his life sentence, to carry out a ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee, in accordance with Kyrgyzstan's international obligations. The government should also stop bringing unfounded lawsuits against media that criticize the government, and instead ensure that both journalists and human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan can work without fear of reprisal or harassment. The incoming president should also make it a priority to address the longstanding issue of ill-treatment and torture in places of detention. He should oversee the rigorous enforcement of laws criminalizing torture and end the culture of impunity for torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement. The new president should also work to eliminate the country's persistent domestic violence and violence against women. Following the adoption of a strengthened law against domestic violence earlier in 2017, Jeenbekov's government should commit the resources to ensure adequate protection, support, and access to justice for survivors of abuse. The president-elect should also give appropriate attention to improving interethnic relations in the south and take steps to provide justice to victims of the 2010 ethnic violence and its aftermath. Another challenge facing the new administration will be ensuring respect for human rights in the context of fighting terrorism and extremism. Over the past year, the government stepped up counterterrorism measures, arresting dozens of people for possession of vaguely defined "extremist" materials. Some detainees have alleged they were arrested based on false testimony or evidence planted by the police, and that they were tortured or otherwise abused in police custody. Jeenbekov should ensure that law enforcement agents do not violate rights in the context of fighting terrorism and extremism in Kyrgyzstan. Jeenbekov has said that he will continue his predecessor's policies and that his task is "to preserve what has been achieved [and] strengthen what has been started." "Strengthening what has been started means building on areas of human rights progress, and in equal measure, bringing an end to rights-violating practices," Rittmann said. "Jeenbekov has an important opportunity to address head-on existing human rights problems, and to set a meaningful human rights agenda for his time in office." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Australian firm Canstruct takes up toxic contract profiting from the abuse of refugees Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Australian firm Canstruct takes up toxic contract profiting from the abuse of refugees, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e866414.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 civil engineering company Canstruct International Pty Ltd ('Canstruct') has taken on a toxic contract to run facilities on Nauru where the Australian government has trapped refugees in a system that amounts to torture, Amnesty International said today. Canstruct, an Australian family-run company, has signed a contract to run refugee processing centres on the island, where hundreds of people have been forcibly transferred after trying to seek asylum in Australia. Australian officials have admitted this system is intentionally harsh. "What is so deeply shocking is that Canstruct has taken on this contract despite a mountain of evidence which shows that Australia's whole offshore processing system is inherently abusive," said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International's Director of Global Issues. "The company will provide the very services that sustain a system that keeps women, men and children trapped in a cycle of cruelty and desperation." Amnesty International has documented how Australia's offshore refugee processing system is so deliberately and inherently cruel and abusive it amounts to torture, findings that have also been backed up by UN experts. The refugees are trapped in a legal and emotional limbo on an island where they also face a risk of violence. Refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru have faced physical attacks and sexual assault by some members of staff at the refugee processing centres, as well as violence from the wider community, without anyone being held properly accountable. Doctors and other experts have exposed the excruciating level of mental and emotional pain experienced by refugees, many of whom have suffered serious mental illness. The fear and isolation they experience is exacerbated by failures in health care which have left people with chronic illnesses unable to receive proper treatment. Canstruct is taking up the contract from another Australian company, Broadspectrum, owned by the Spanish multinational Ferrovial. Ferrovial, which was criticised for its role by human rights groups including Amnesty International, decided to end the contract on 31 October this year after buying Broadspectrum in April 2016. Broadspectrum has run the processing centres on Nauru since September 2012. "Broadspectrum and Ferrovial have made millions from the suffering of people fleeing persecution. Canstruct needs to ask itself if it really wants to be the next company to become complicit in the Australian government's illegal policies, and if it's willing to expose itself to legal liability for being complicit in this system - as Broadspectrum and Ferrovial already have," said Audrey Gaughran. Background Canstruct is a family run, Brisbane based civil engineering company with no past history of providing the kind of refugee support services it has now agreed to provide on Nauru. The company has provided construction services on Nauru in the past and built the refugee processing centres on Nauru, under three contracts with a combined final value of AUS$650 million (USD510 million). Canstruct also holds numerous other contracts with the Australian government. Australia's processing systems on Nauru and Manus Island are so fundamentally at odds with basic human dignity that Amnesty International believes it would be impossible for any company to operate the processing centres without causing or contributing to serious human rights abuses. Any company that provides these services is acting in direct contravention of its human rights responsibilities under international standards on business and human rights, and exposing itself to potential criminal liability and damages claims. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Iraq: Security Council voices concern over reported violence in Kirkuk Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Iraq: Security Council voices concern over reported violence in Kirkuk, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86a594.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 Security Council on Wednesday expressed concern over recent reports of violence near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. According to media reports, the city was reportedly seized by Iraqi Government forces from Kurds. "Council members called on all sides to refrain from the threat and use of force, and to engage in constructive dialogue as a pathway to de-escalation and a means to preserve Iraqi unity while upholding the provisions of the Iraqi constitution," said a press statement issued by the 15-member body. The Council reaffirmed its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of Iraq, as well as the importance of remaining focused on efforts to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh). The Council likewise voiced its full support for UN efforts to facilitate dialogue between Iraqi stakeholders. UN strongly condemns terrorist attacks across Afghanistan Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN strongly condemns terrorist attacks across Afghanistan, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86a814.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. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the United Nations Security Council have condemned yesterday's attacks in Afghanistan's Paktya and Ghazni provinces, which left many dead and injured. "He extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. He expresses his solidarity with the people and the Government of Afghanistan," according to a statement issued Wednesday by UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric. "Such attacks are violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and can never be justified," the statement added. For its part, the UN Security Council strongly condemned what it called "a wave of terrorist attacks" that killed at least 70 people and injured more than 200 across the country. "The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attacks that took place in Paktia, Ghazni and Kabul," said a press statement issued by the 15-member body on Tuesday. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks that reportedly targeted police and Government facilities across the country. The Council also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that all States need to combat such threats by all means. The Council also underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these acts to justice, urging all States to cooperate actively with the Government of Afghanistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard. The Council expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Afghanistan and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured. With 'cautious optimism,' UN political official reports positive developments on Middle East peace Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, With 'cautious optimism,' UN political official reports positive developments on Middle East peace, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86ad84.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. A senior United Nations political affairs official on Wednesday highlighted at the Security Council some positive developments on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, particulalry on intra-Palestinian reconciliation efforts. "Today's briefing is taking place as important developments unfold to end the more than 10-year-long Palestinian divide and return Gaza to the full control of the legitimate Palestinian Authority," Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca said, referring to the 12 October agreement between the Fatah and Hamas factions that enables the Palestinian government to resume its responsibilities in Gaza. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority should take control of the crossings of the Gaza Strip by 1 November. A statement released by Egypt, which facilitated the accord, further highlighted that the Palestinian Government should assume its full responsibilities in the management of the enclave by 1 December. Mr. Jenca said that the agreement does not contain any provisions related to elections, the formation of a national unity government, or the disarming of Hamas. On the humanitarian situation, he said that power supply restrictions have continued for the sixth consecutive month, leaving two million people in Gaza without electricity, except four to six hours per day. Gaza is also "an unfolding environmental disaster that has no regard for borders," he said, as the equivalent of over 40 Olympic-size swimming pools of virtually raw sewage continues to flow daily into the Mediterranean Sea, leaving the whole shoreline contaminated. The quality of health care inside Gaza is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Access to medical care outside Gaza has also become increasingly difficult. As the Government returns to Gaza, it is critical that urgent measures are taken to reverse these trends, he stressed. He emphasized that "despite the overall negative trajectory that has characterized the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for far too long, there are reasons for cautious optimism." This past month, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women united in a two-week march for peace that brought forward participants of all ages and backgrounds. "The yearning for peace amongst both peoples remains strong. These grass-roots initiatives by civil society are critical to building the foundation for peace and must be supported," he said. Mr. Jenca also recalled that the July 2016 report of the Middle East Quartet - comprising the UN, Russia, the United States and the European Union - identified the lack of Palestinian unity as one of the main obstacles to achieving a two-state solution, which is to establish a viable, sovereign Palestinian state that lives in peace and security with Israel. "The parties (Hamas and Fatah) have taken a crucial first step in this process," he said. "Success carries with it an enormous opportunity, just as failure carries with it great risks. Palestinians need to decide which path they will take." Iran: UN rights experts urge country to halt imminent execution of juvenile Amirhossein Pourjafar Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Iran: UN rights experts urge country to halt imminent execution of juvenile Amirhossein Pourjafar, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86b194.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. United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday urgently appealed to Iran to halt tomorrow's execution of Amirhossein Pourjafar, who was sentenced to death when he was 16 years old. "The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the execution of this juvenile offender and annul the death sentence against him in compliance with their international obligations," said the experts in a statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). "International standards unequivocally forbid imposing the death sentence on anyone under 18 years of age," they added. The experts said that despite being strictly prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is party, the country continued to execute juvenile offenders. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child strongly urged Iran to end the execution of people who committed a crime while under the age of 18. However, the country has executed at least four juvenile offenders since January, and at least 86 more are known to be on death row - although the actual figure may be higher. Several months ago, Iran executed Alireza Tajiki, who was arrested in 2012 at age 15. Prior to his execution, he had spent four years on death row amid reports of torture and violations of his right to a fair trial. Mr. Pourjafar was sentenced to death in September 2016 after being convicted of raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl. The court said he had attained "mental maturity" at the time of the crime and had understood the nature and consequences of his actions. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in January 2017. "We deplore the continued scheduling of the executions of juvenile offenders," the experts stressed. "Iran should immediately and unconditionally abolish the sentencing of children to death, and engage in a comprehensive process of commutation of all death sentences issued against children, in line with juvenile justice standards." The experts are: Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Renate Winter, current Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work. UNICEF and partner agencies in South Sudan help reunite 5,000 children with families Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UNICEF and partner agencies in South Sudan help reunite 5,000 children with families, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86b434.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. Since conflict broke out in South Sudan in 2013, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children and other partners have successfully reunited more than 5,000 children with their families. "Keeping families together is the best way to ensure that children are protected, which is why the family tracing and reunification process for unaccompanied children is so important," said UNICEF Country Representative Mahimbo Mdoe in a press statement Wednesday. "Children rely on their family for a sense of stability, protection and support, and that's even more imperative in times of conflict," he added. The 5,000th child to be reunited with his family was a 17-year-old boy, who had fled Tombura in Western Equatoria and sought refuge in Wau, Western Bahr El Ghazal. The boy had been separated with his mother for almost four years. "I want to go back to school and someday help other children who are suffering like me," he said. According to UNICEF, the boy's mother said: "When I ate, I always thought about what my son could be eating. I only ate to stay alive but I never enjoyed it. I have been unhappy because I have been thinking about my son's whereabouts. It was hard to forget him because I didn't see him dead and bury him." Reuniting separated children with their families is a challenging process in a country with virtually no infrastructure and no telephone reception in many areas. Staff often have to trek for hours to look for separated families. Family separation is considered one of the key drivers to psychosocial stress for internally displaced persons and other affected populations. The longer a child is separated from her or his family, the more difficult it is to locate them and the more at risk a child is to violence, economic and sexual exploitation, abuse and potential trafficking. "The family tracing and reunification programme is one of the most effective child protection in emergencies interventions in South Sudan," said Save the Children Country Director Deirdre Keogh. A total of 16,055 unaccompanied and separated children have been registered by the organisations involved in the family tracing and reunification programmes in South Sudan. Efforts continue to trace the families of the more than 10,000 children still separated from their family or caregivers, so that they too can be reunited. UN chief announces trip to Central African Republic, where crisis is 'far from media spotlight' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief announces trip to Central African Republic, where crisis is 'far from media spotlight', 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86ba44.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. Speaking to the press at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that he will be travelling to the Central African Republic early next week to draw attention to the fragile situation in the country "that is often far from the media spotlight." "Across the country, communal tensions are growing. Violence is spreading. And the humanitarian situation is deteriorating," the Secretary-General said. The deteriorating situation driven about a quarter of the people in the country from their homes and since the start of 2017, the number of internally displaced persons has reached 600,000 and refugees in neighbouring countries number over 500,000. "Despite these rising needs, humanitarian personnel and aid workers are being targeted and access restricted," added Mr. Guterres, noting that so far this year, 12 relief workers and an equal number of peacekeepers from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, have lost their lives in hostile acts. "My upcoming visit will be an opportunity to engage with the Government and others in order to ease suffering, halt the current backsliding, and strengthen international support for peace," he said. At the press encounter, the UN chief announced that he will be spending United Nations Day, celebrated on 24 October, with the Mission's "blue helmets" to pay tribute to the work of peacekeepers around the world who show tremendous courage in volatile environments. Mr. Guterres added that during the visit, he aims to give impetus to the new UN approach to addressing and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse. "We know that the good work and tremendous sacrifice of peacekeepers around the world has been tarnished by the appalling acts of some UN personnel who have harmed the people they were meant to serve," he said. Mr. Guterres will be accompanied by Jane Connors, appointed recently as the UN's first Victims' Rights Advocate. "We are determined to ensure that the voices of victims are heard - I will myself be ready to meet with victims and their families - in and beyond the Central African Republic. Victims must be at the centre of our response if we want our zero-tolerance policy to be successful," he said. JCPOA 'absolutely' essential - Secretary-General In response to a question concerning the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Iran's nuclear programme, the Secretary-General underscored that the agreement is essential and needs to be preserved. "It is up to the parties to the agreements to look into whatever development they might consider, but it is absolutely essential, in my opinion, to preserve this agreement for peace and stability in the world," he said. On another question, regarding the tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Guterres said that unity in the Security Council is crucial to achieve denuclearisation in the region and that it also creates the room for diplomacy. "Diplomatic engagement is the way to be able to achieve the objective of denuclearisation that we all cherish. I think that a war situation would be a tragedy that we need to be able to avoid," said the Secretary-General, adding that he remains available for any action that might be useful and in agreement of the relevant parties. Yemen: UNICEF warns conflict shutters one in 10 schools; teachers unpaid for a year Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Yemen: UNICEF warns conflict shutters one in 10 schools; teachers unpaid for a year, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86bfc4.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 conflict in Yemen now into its third year continues to take a toll on millions of children, with their education now under threat, adding to an already long list of bitter hardships including malnutrition, displacement and violence, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned. As of July 2017, 1,600 schools have been partially or totally destroyed, and 170 have been used for military purposes or as shelter for displaced families, said Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement today. The violence has forced one in ten schools across the country to close, and textbooks and other school materials are in severely short supply, he added, noting that the beginning of the school year has been postponed several times from its usual September start. Adding to the crisis is the fact that three-quarters of the teachers in Yemen have not been paid in nearly a year, compelling them to resort to extreme measures to survive. One such case is that of Hassan Ghaleb, a teacher for the past 20 years and the sole breadwinner for his family of four, who was evicted from his home with his children. He had to sell what was left of his furniture just to feed them and treat his sick sister. How can [they] teach if [they themselves are] in need? questioned UNICEF, noting that over 166,000 teachers across the war-torn country are in a similar situation. The children of Yemen have suffered in ways that no human being should have to bear. Education is their only way to secure a better future Lack of education and the protective environment provided by a school is not only robbing the children of some semblance of a normal childhood, it is also leaving them vulnerable to recruitment into fighting or early marriage. Ongoing humanitarian efforts are only a drop in the ocean of suffering that Yemen has become, underscored Mr. Cappelaere, urging the parties to the conflict to protect schools, refrain from using schools for military purposes and work together to find an urgent solution to the salary crisis so that children can learn. He also called on donors to step up their assistance and enable the payment of incentives to education personnel, health workers and other civil servants who deliver vital services for children. The children of Yemen have suffered in ways that no human being should have to bear. Education is their only way to secure a better future and to help put Yemen on the path to peace, he said. Myanmar: Plight of refugees focus of top UN political official's meetings Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Myanmar: Plight of refugees focus of top UN political official's meetings, 17 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86c414.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. Concluding a visit to Myanmar, the top United Nations political official has underscored the importance of accountability and non-discriminatory rule of law and public safety as part of the comprehensive approach needed to address the fears and distrust among communities in Rakhine. According to a press note issued by the UN, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman visited several communities affected by the recent violence in northern Rakhine state and viewed dozens of burned and destroyed villages by air. He witnessed how, in addition to the documented endemic discrimination against the Rohingya population, socio-economic challenges adversely affect all communities, read the note. Mr. Feltman noted the Government's endorsement of the recommendations of the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and urged their comprehensive implementation which the UN can help support if so requested the note added. Visiting the country from 13-17 October, the UN official met with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Tatmadaw (the country's armed forces) Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, among other officials, as well as with representatives of Myanmar's civil society, the resident diplomatic community and representatives of international non-governmental organizations. Most of Mr. Feltman's discussions focused on the situation in Rakhine state and the plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to Bangladesh in the aftermath of the 25 August attacks on security positions and subsequent military action. He reiterated Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call that humanitarian actors be given full and unhindered access to northern Rakhine state and that refugees be allowed voluntary, safe and dignified return to their place of origin, added the press note. Acknowledging the announcements by the Government of Myanmar, including the State Counsellor's address to the nation on 12 October, regarding the establishment of programmes and policies to address the humanitarian concerns in Rakhine and the return of refugees from Bangladesh, Mr. Feltman encouraged the authorities to utilize the capacities, best practices, and extensive experience of the UN to help assure that stated intentions could be implemented in a timely and effective manner. In his meeting with the Tatmadaw officials, Mr. Feltman said that in the UN's experience, successful counter-terrorism efforts do not rely exclusively on security measures. Returning to New York, Mr. Feltman will report to Secretary-General as the Organization continues to respond to the humanitarian and human rights crisis and positions itself to work with Myanmar to help relieve the suffering of the Rohingya population and address the grievances and needs of Rakhine and other ethnic groups. During his visit, the UN official also attended the commemoration of the signing of Myanmar's National Ceasefire Agreement and met with the signatory ethnic organizations. He also visited internally displaced persons' camps outside Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, set up in 2012. Libya: Smugglers holding refugees and migrants in deplorable conditions, say UN agencies Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Libya: Smugglers holding refugees and migrants in deplorable conditions, say UN agencies, 17 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86ce04.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. After weeks of conflict in western Libya, United Nations agencies have been working around the clock to meet the urgent needs of the more than 14,000 refugees and migrants who had been held captive in numerous locations in the coastal city of Sabratha - approximately 80 kilometres west of Tripoli. "The refugees and migrants were taken to a hangar in the Dahman area in Sabratha that has been serving as an assembly point since the onset of the crisis," Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told reporters Tuesday at the regular press briefing in Geneva. From the hangar in Sabratha - a main departure point for migrant boats attempting to journey across the Mediterranean to Europe - they are being transferred to official detention centres for humanitarian assistance by Libyan authorities, who estimate that an additional 6,000 migrants and refugees remain captive by smugglers. If confirmed, it would bring the total number of those held to 20,500 - including those in official detention centres. "As a priority, UNHCR teams have been working on identifying refugees and they continue to advocate for their release. In some locations, UNHCR has provided tents that are being used as makeshift hospitals where UNHCR doctors are providing medical assistance," said Mr. Mahecic. "Colleagues on the front lines describe a picture of human suffering and abuse on a shocking scale," he elaborated, noting that the rescued refugees and migrants are visibly traumatized - most of whom say they were subjected to numerous human rights abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour and sexual exploitation. He also pointed to "a worrying number of unaccompanied and separated children, many under the age of six," saying that many of them report losing parents on the journey to Libya or in the chaos that resulted during the last few weeks. While UNHCR is working very closely with the authorities to respond to the growing needs, the scale of the emergency has overwhelmed existing facilities and resources. Detention centres and assembly points are at full capacity and lack basic amenities, like water tanks and sanitation facilities. Many people, including children, have to sleep outside in the open. "The devastation in Sabratha further reaffirms the need for international action and highlights the high price refugees have to pay to reach safety in the absence of safe legal pathways," stressed Mr. Mahecic. "UNHCR will continue to call on resettlement countries and the international community to step forward and open more resettlement places and look for a way to protect vulnerable refugees who need international protection." For its part, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing support to those in Zuwara and the Sabratha assembly point in the form of core relief packages, which include mattresses, blankets, pillows and hygiene kits at six separate locations and more than 100,000 meals. Pointing out that the migrants are from almost a dozen nations, IOM reported that out of 1,631 interviewed, 44 per cent wished to return to their countries of origin through IOM's Voluntary Humanitarian Return Programme. To this end, IOM has provided online consular sessions for 332 migrants to speed up the travel document issuance procedures. The UN migration agency strongly advocates for alternatives to detention. "We are concerned about the large number of migrants transferred to detention," said Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya Chief of Mission, saying they are overcrowded and do not meet the minimum international human rights standards. "We stand ready to provide any necessary support to the Libyan authorities in providing alternatives to detention, especially for the most vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children," he underscored. Thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded near Bangladesh-Myanmar border UN Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Thousands of Rohingya refugees stranded near Bangladesh-Myanmar border UN, 17 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86d2b4.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 United Nations refugee agency is concerned about the humanitarian condition of up to 15,000 Rohingya refugees who are stranded in paddy fields near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. "Since Sunday night, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point in Ukhia district in the country's south-east," Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters Tuesday in Geneva. "Many say they had initially chosen to remain in their homes in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state despite repeated threats to leave or be killed. They finally fled when their villages were set on fire," he added. Tensions have escalated into violence in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state. Since 25 August, an estimated 582,000 Rohingya Muslims have arrived in Bangladesh. As of Tuesday morning, the new arrivals were still squatting in the paddy fields of Anjuman Para village, where the sound of gunfire continues to be heard every night from the Myanmar side. UNHCR is advocating with the Bangladesh authorities to urgently admit these refugees fleeing violence and increasingly-difficult conditions back home. UNHCR and our partners are delivering food and water to the stranded refugees, among them children, women and the elderly who are dehydrated and hungry from the long journey. "Every minute counts given the fragile condition they're arriving in," said Mr. Mahecic. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday that without immediate additional funding, the agency will not be able to continue providing lifesaving aid and protection to Rohingya children who have fled horrific violence in Myanmar. UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva that almost 60 per cent of the refugees who have fled Myanmar since August 25 are children. "The growing needs are far outpacing resources," she said, noting that as of Tuesday, UNICEF has received just 7 per cent of the $76 million required to provide emergency support to children over the next six months. Without more funding, UNICEF would soon have to stop lifesaving services. "Rohingya children have already endured atrocities. All of them need the lifesaving basics - shelter, food, water, vaccinations, protection - not tomorrow or next week or next month, but right now," she said. South Sudan's leaders must pull country back from 'impending abyss,' UN peacekeeping chief Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 17 October 2017 Cite as UN News Service, South Sudan's leaders must pull country back from 'impending abyss,' UN peacekeeping chief, 17 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e86d754.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. Amid worsening security and the dire humanitarian and human rights situation in South Sudan, the head of United Nations peacekeeping operations on Tuesday called on the international community to demand that the country's leadership act in a manner that is expected of them. "I would like to reiterate that the conflict in South Sudan is a man-made conflict for which the leaders of South Sudan bear a direct responsibility," Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), told the Security Council. "The same leaders responsible for the conflict can also bring the country back from the impending abyss," he added, underscoring the need for genuine political will to halt military operations, peacefully negotiate and make the compromises necessary to achieve sustainable peace in the country. During the past month, South Sudan has seen rising insecurity because of numerous clashes in many parts of the country, as well as presence of armed groups and soldiers that continues to drive tension. The insecurity has also led to shrinking space for humanitarian action - which used to be very effective, reaching millions with assistance - as well as restrictions on the movement of relief actors and the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS). The human rights situation too remains extremely concerning, with alarming reports of extrajudicial killings of civilians, arbitrary arrests and detentions, repression of free speech and harassment of political opponents. In his briefing, Mr. Lacroix, said that while dialogue remains key, the unwillingness - so far - of significant opposition groups to join, notably because of the concurrent Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) military operations, the credibility of the National Dialogue process remains in question. Recalling a meeting between Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD, an eight-country trade bloc in Africa) Foreign Ministers with President Salva Kiir and his cabinet, held on 13 October, during which the IGAD group reportedly committed to support the Revitalization Forum, the UN official called on the members of the Security Council to use their "leverage on all parties and encourage them to engage in this process meaningfully and without any preconditions." "The conflict in South Sudan is a direct outcome of a prolonged disproportionate access to power and wealth in the country. All future dispensations, therefore, must rest on the principle of inclusivity that leads to equitable power and wealth-sharing," he said, adding that it is critical that all processes and international support must strive to build institutions so that politics shifts from ownership by individuals to those institutions that must be accountable to the people of South Sudan. Also in his briefing, Mr. Lacroix updated the Security Council on the deployment of the Regional Protection Force (RPF) to the country. Threats force provincial radio station to close in CAR Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Threats force provincial radio station to close in CAR, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e87cdc4.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) regrets that a leading community radio station in the southeast of the Central African Republic has been forced to close after being threatened by armed groups, and reminds all parties to the conflict of the need to respect media freedom and independence. The main source of local news and information in the southeastern town of Bangassou and the surrounding region, Radio Mbari has been harassed and threatened repeatedly by rival armed factions, which accuse it of not broadcasting their messages with sufficient readiness. The southeast of the CAR has seen violent clashes in recent months between local self-defence units and members of the UPC (Union for Peace in the CAR), a rebel group led by Ali Darass, a former leader of the now disbanded Seleka rebel coalition. The violence reached a new level on 13 October when a member of a self-defence group burst into Radio Mbari and told staff to broadcast a communique that ordered Bangassou's inhabitants not to go to the market in Tokoyo, one of the town's districts. The programme presenter wanted to have the communique approved by the head of programmes before broadcasting it, but the militiaman threatened him with his automatic weapon, forcing him to read it out on the air at once. After this incident, the radio station's management decided to temporarily suspend all broadcasting because of the growing violence. Radio Mbari played a major role in restoring normality in Bangassou after an attack on the Tokoyo mosque in May and the ensuing exodus of thousands residents. It appealed for calm and allowed representatives of the different armed groups to speak on the air. Gira FM, a United Nations radio station that also broadcasts in the region, has less credibility and is seen by many as a propaganda outlet. "The media's role is to inform the public, not to serve as the mouthpiece of armed groups," RSF said. "Threatening journalists is unacceptable. Under no circumstances can a conflict be used as an excuse for obstructing media freedom and independence." Since the presidential election that ended President Catherine Samba-Panza's transitional government in March 2016, the security situation has worsened steadily in the CAR and fighting between armed groups has resumed throughout almost the entire county. The CAR is ranked 113th out of 180 countries inRSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Burma: Sentencing of environmental rights defender Mr. Khaing Myo Htun Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 16 October 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Burma: Sentencing of environmental rights defender Mr. Khaing Myo Htun , 16 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e87db34.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 Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the sentencing of environmental rights defender Mr. Khaing Myo Htun, co-founder of the NGO Natural Resources for the People [1], board member of the Arakan Natural Resources and Environmental Network, member of the advocacy group Arakan Oil Watch, and Deputy Spokesperson for the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), at the end of a repeatedly delayed trial in Sittwe, Rakhine State. According to the information received,on October 12, 2017, the Sittwe Township Court found Mr. Khaing Myo Htun guilty of "disturbing public tranquillity" and "incitement" under Article 505(b) and 505(c) of the Criminal Code, and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. Mr. Khaing Myo Htun reportedly does not intend to appeal the verdict. The Observatory recalls that Mr. Khaing Myo Htun has been detained since July 25, 2016 in Sittwe prison. He will now have to serve three months and ten days in prison as a result of time already served. The charges against Mr. Khaing Myo Htun stem from a statement issued by the ALP on April 24, 2016, in which the party alleged human rights abuses by the Burma army (Tatmadaw) in Rakhine State, including claims of forced labour. The statement led to an army officer filing a complaint against Mr. Khaing Myo Htun under Article 505(b) and 505(c) of the Criminal Code. The Observatory believes that Mr. Khaing Myo Htun's sentencing and prolonged arbitrary detention are mere acts of retaliation for his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities, and recalls that Burmese authorities frequently use Article 505(b) and 505(c) of the Criminal Code to silence human rights defenders and other critical voices in Burma. The Observatory is further concerned that the prolonged arbitrary detention of Mr. Khaing Myo Htun has led to a severe degradation of his health. During his detention, Mr. Khaing Myo Htun fainted three times in prison. The Observatory urges the Burmese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Khaing Myo Htun and ensure his physical and psychological integrity while in detention. Background information: On July 25, 2016, Mr. Khaing Myo Htun was arrested and detained in Sittwe prison, pending a court decision on whether to charge him with "disturbing public tranquillity" and "incitement "under Article 505(b) and 505(c) of the Criminal Code. On August 25, 2016 and January 13, 2017, the Sittwe Township Courtdenied bail to Mr. Khaing Myo Htun, despite his poor health condition. On April 5, 2017, Mr. Khaing Myo Htun was charged with disturbing public tranquillity and incitement under Article 505(b) and 505(c) of the Criminal Code. Actions requested: Please write to the authorities of Burma asking them to: i.Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. KhaingMyo Htun and of all human rights defenders in Burma; ii. Release Mr. Khaing Myo Htun immediately and unconditionally as well as all human rights defenders detained in Burma, as his detention only aims at punishing him for his human rights activities; iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Mr. Khaing Myo Htun and all human rights defenders in Burma, and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their activities without hindrance; iv. Comply with all the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular with its Articles 1 and 12.2; v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards. Addresses: U Htin Kyaw, President; Fax: +95 1 652 624 Lt Gen Kyaw Swe, Minister for Home Affairs; Fax: +95 67 412 439; Email: [email protected] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Fax: +95 67 412396 U Win Mra, Chairman of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission; Email: [email protected] U Tun Tun Oo, Union Attorney General; Email: [email protected] Maj Gen Zaw Win, Director General, Myanmar Police Force, Ministry of Home Affairs; Fax: +95 67 412006; Email: [email protected] HE Mr. Htin Lynn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; Fax: +41 22 732 89 19, +41 22 732 73 77; Email: [email protected] Embassy of Myanmar in Brussels, Belgium; Fax: +32 2 705 50 48, Email: [email protected] Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Burma in your respective countries. *** Paris-Geneva, October 16, 2017 Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society. 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. Women fleeing FGM find abuse in Libya Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Vania Turner & Bela Szandelszky Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Women fleeing FGM find abuse in Libya, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e889254.html [accessed 15 November 2022] Aisha (not her real name) was seven years old when she underwent the procedure in her native Ivory Coast. Her eldest daughter was four when it happened to her. Last year Aisha fled with her youngest daughter to save her from being cut. But instead of finding safety, she was caught in the vicious reality of smuggler networks. In captivity, she experienced a 9-month-long nightmare, where she experienced repeated abuse and witnessed the killings of people held with her. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, calls for measures to prevent risks of sexual and gender-based violence and for safe legal pathways for people fleeing persecution. On Tuesday (October 17) UNHCR expressed concern over the deplorable conditions in which refugees and migrants are being held in Libya. It said that for over a week, UNHCR teams had been working around the clock to meet the urgent needs of over 14,500 migrants and refugees who were being held captive by smugglers in different locations, including farms, houses and warehouses in and around the coastal city of Sabratha in Libya. The refugees and migrants were taken to a hangar in the Dahman area in Sabratha that has been serving as an assembly point since the onset of the crisis. From there, refugees and migrants are being transferred by authorities to official detention centres where humanitarian agencies are providing lifesaving assistance. Libyan authorities estimate that an additional 6,000 migrants and refugees are still being held by smugglers. If confirmed, this would bring the total number of refugees and migrants held in Sabratha to 20,500, including those in official detention centres. Since the onset of this humanitarian crisis, UNHCR staff have been on the ground providing emergency assistance in all locations where refugees and migrants have been transferred to, and are conducting assessments to determine needs and vulnerabilities. Up to 15,000 newly arrived Rohingya refugees stranded at border Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Vivian Tan Publication Date 18 October 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Up to 15,000 newly arrived Rohingya refugees stranded at border, 18 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e889a04.html [accessed 15 November 2022] UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned about the humanitarian conditions of thousands of newly arrived refugees stranded near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told a press briefing at Geneva's Palais des Nations on Tuesday that an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya refugees had entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point in the country's south-east since Sunday night. "Many say they had initially chosen to remain in their homes in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state despite repeated threats to leave or be killed," he said. "They finally fled when their villages were set on fire." Some told UNHCR staff they had walked for about a week to reach the Bangladesh border. "They are waiting for permission to move away from the border, where the sound of gunfire continues to be heard every night from the Myanmar side," Mahecic added. UNHCR, together with the Bangladesh Red Crescent and Action against Hunger, are delivering food and water to the refugees, among them children, women and the elderly who are dehydrated and hungry from the long journey. Agency staff are working with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to identifying the sick for treatment. Thousands of Rohingyas have fled violence in Myanmar. Follow the crisis here. At the border, UNHCR staff spoke to, Rozia, 20, who said she had walked for seven days from her village in Buthidaung in Myanmar's Rakhine state, carrying a plastic bag and a solar panel. "On the way they robbed and beat me, hurting my head," she said, shaking and crying. She was travelling alone, limping from cuts to her feet. UNHCR staff took her to the nearest village where she was given water and food, and MSF took her away in an ambulance. Mohammed Ismail, 65, arrived with his family of 12 from Buthidaung. They sat on the ground, exhausted. "Men in uniforms came to our village every day to warn us - 'leave or we will kill you'," he said. "We tried to stall because my son was waiting to be paid for his farm work." Eleven days ago, they came and beat him, breaking his left wrist, and a few days later they burnt down the houses belonging to three neighbours. "We had no time to pack, we just left. We had to hide and travel at night. Along the way, people tried to take our things." The little money they had was stolen. Egypt: End two year arbitrary detention of human rights defender Hisham Gaafar Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 October 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Egypt: End two year arbitrary detention of human rights defender Hisham Gaafar, 19 October 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59e88a114.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 Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the journalist and human rights defender, Hisham Gaafar, who will complete two years in arbitrary pre-trial detention on 21 October, Amnesty International said. He is being held in inhumane conditions and prolonged solitary confinement causing his health to deteriorate seriously. Security forces arrested Hisham Gaafar on trumped up charges in October 2015. Since then, a judicial panel has repeatedly renewed his pre-trial detention without examining the scant evidence prosecutors have presented against him. "It is disgraceful that Hisham Gaafar has been forced to spend two years behind bars. His arbitrary and prolonged pre-trial detention is another shameful illustration of how Egypt's judiciary is abusing the criminal justice system to punish peaceful critics and dissidents," said Najia Bounaim, North Africa Campaigns Director at Amnesty International. "Hisham Gaafar is a prisoner of conscience solely detained for his human rights work. He should never have been detained in the first place. His prolonged and arbitrary detention is a flagrant breach of both Egyptian and international law that the judges should not allow to be extended by even one more day." Hisham Gaafar, 53, is the director of Mada Foundation for Media Development, an NGO which provides consultation, training and information on a variety of human rights and development topics. He had been researching sectarian violence and democratic transition before his arrest. On 21 October 2015, officers from the National Security Agency of the Ministry of Interior seized him from his office in Cairo without an arrest warrant. They searched the premises and confiscated documents and office laptops. Simultaneously, another force raided his home in Cairo. They held his wife and his children inside the house for 17 hours before leaving with their cell phones, laptops and personal documents. He is being detained on the unfounded charges of receiving funds from foreign agencies for "the purpose of harming national security" and belonging to "a banned group" - the Muslim Brotherhood. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison. According to Article 143 of Egypt's Code of Criminal Procedure, the maximum period of pre-trial detention must not exceed six months for defendants accused of crimes punished by up to three years in prison, 18 months for crimes punished by up to 15 years in prison and two years for crimes punished by death or life imprisonment. The judges reviewing Hisham Gaafar's detention are therefore obliged, by law, to release him once he completes two years in pre-trial detention. His next review session is scheduled for 26 October. His lawyer Karim Abdelrady, from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told Amnesty International that since his arrest, the Supreme Sate Security Prosecution has failed to present any evidence justifying his continued detention. He added that the prosecution has based its investigation on reports from the National Security Agency and lawyers have not been allowed any access to the case file. Systematic use of pre-trial detention Since July 2013, thousands have been held in custody as a result of Egypt's abusive pre-trial detention system which grants judges and prosecutors broad powers to justify detaining defendants before and during trials. During the Mubarak era, the authorities used to circumvent the limits on pre-trial detention by applying the Emergency Law, which allowed them to use administrative detention to hold individuals indefinitely without charge or trial. Today, the Egyptian authorities' routine use of prolonged pre-trial detention is again being used as a means to evade fair trial guarantees and silence any form of peaceful dissent. "Since President Abdelfattah el-Sisi came to power, prolonged pre-trial detention has become a systematic means of punishing dissenters rather than a preventative and exceptional measure. Hundreds of individuals have been held in detention for periods of up to four years awaiting their court verdicts," said Najia Bounaim. "The failure of the judiciary to ensure that pre-trial detention is only used when necessary, in exceptional circumstances, is significantly eroding its independence." The judiciary's application of pre-trial detention has also revealed major inconsistencies. For example, former President Hosni Mubarak, who was being tried for ordering the killing of protesters during the 25 January uprising and was at risk of facing the death penalty, was released in April 2013 after two years in pre-trial detention, while at least 737 people being tried for participating in the Rabaa sit-in have been detained for more than four years since August 2013. Inhumane detention conditions Hisham Gaafar is being detained in al-Aqrab prison in dire conditions and has been in prolonged solitary confinement for the past seven months. He is not allowed regular exercise outside the cell. Occasionally, prison guards allow him to walk along the corridor of his ward for between 30 and 60 minutes. Other times, he is confined to his cell for 24 hours. According to his relatives, his cell lacks a bed or mattresses, proper lighting and ventilation; and is infested by insects due to sewage leaks. Manar Tantawie, Hisham Gaafar's wife, told Amnesty International that since March 2017, his family has only been able to visit him four times - for less than 15 minutes each time. She told Amnesty International that he has been suffering from optic nerve atrophy in both eyes and an enlarged prostate. She added that the poor prison conditions and the lack of proper food in prison had led to the deterioration of his health. She also said the family had submitted petitions and complaints to the President, the Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Interior calling for his release. "All our calls have gone unanswered. The detention of Hisham is destroying our family," she told Amnesty International. Soon after his arrest in October 2015, Hisham Gaafar described his prison cell at al-Aqrab like being in "a grave". "Holding detainees in squalid prison conditions is not just cruel and inhumane, it is a violation of international law which in certain circumstances could amount to torture," said Najia Bounaim. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International NEW HAVEN A legislative breakfast where state charter school families and officials on Wednesday asked for more funding for their students was missing one thing. Legislators. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released a new budget in Hartford, so it was difficult for legislators to attend, said Jose Alfaro, Connecticut Advocacy Manager for the Northeast Charter Schools Network, said. Hearst Media reported on Tuesday that lawmakers considered Wednesday to be make-or-break for the state budget. Aside from requesting an increase to charter students $11,000 per-pupil funding, as has been the law for the last four years, Alfaro said the breakfast at Common Ground School was an occasion to build fellowship among the different charter schools in the state. As a preamble to more than a dozen speakers at the breakfast from charter schools in New Haven and Waterbury, Alfaro preemptively dismissed multiple criticisms of charter schools. Charter schools are public schools, he said, serving underrepresented students and they do not cherry pick which students enter the schools, which is done through a lottery. Liz Cox, the director of Common Ground High School, rattled off several statistics the student body is 70 percent students of color, the four-year graduation rates have been 100 percent and 92 percent in the last two years and the school is in the 90th percentile in growth on statewide exams and said she is worried about the schools future. Teachers at the school work at 85 percent of the pay scale as traditional public school teachers, she said, and they can cross to the district for more money. Additionally, she said school officials worry about covering the overhead for a new $7.5 million building, unveiled in June 2016. Cox said state legislators must know we will do whatever it takes to work with them for more funds. John Taylor, executive director of Booker T. Washington Academy, said an 8-year-old student asked him if the school would be around in 20 years so he could send his own children, which he pondered. I wonder how viable the charter sector is and how viable choice is, he said. If flat funding continues, we wont be there in 20 years. The $11,000 per-pupil figure is below the state average by about $4,000. Taylor said that, once $2,500 is taken out of each students funding for facilities costs, the amount of funding that reaches charter school students in Connecticut each year is about $8,500. Thats Mississippi-level funding, he said. Cathy Dumas, community outreach liaison for the Achievement First network, painted a grim picture of traditional public schools. Too many young, bright children are lost to a public education system that doesnt educate them at all, she said. If were fiscally smart, we would be spending the money where its shown to work. Patricia Foster-Newton, aunt of a Common Ground student, matched criticism for traditional public schools and called on the charter advocates to march on Hartford. I dont understand how public schools can get more money than charter schools, she said, rapping her hands against the lectern with each word. I am begging the legislators I am actually begging them to increase funding to charter schools, she said. Common Ground senior Elijah Voss said his experience at Common Ground gave him a larger perspective and made him realize he could be a leader and enjoy working on a farm. Booker T. Washington student Zahariyana Jenkins, a fourth grader, said her reading lexile is 795, which places her in between fourth and fifth grade reading level. She is on track to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor, she said. The New Haven Educators Collective, a local group centered on support for public schools, said in a statement it supports Common Ground as an independent and locally-owned charter school, but they disagree with the characterization of charter schools as underfunded. [W]e believe that corporate-style charter management organizations like the Achievement First seek to divert funding from public schools into [Charter Management Organizations] that are not transparent or accountable to the public, the group said in a statement. We have seen these attempts to divert public school funding in New Haven, as well as across the country, as part of a national effort to dismantle and privatize our public education system. Although no legislators showed, Alfaro still challenged attendees to email the governor and the lawmakers to request more funding for charter schools. Requests for comment to representatives for New Havens legislative delegation were not returned before press time Wednesday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TORRINGTON Two city residents were arrested Tuesday after a search of their home turned up 81 bags of heroin and other drugs, according to police. Sean M. Haggerty, 31, of 71 Cameron St., was charged with possession with intent to sell narcotic substance, possession of a controlled substance or more than a half-ounce of marijuana, risk of injury to child, possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana, use of drug paraphernalia, delivery of drug paraphernalia, and possession of drug paraphernalia in a school zone, according to court records. Dani Tullock, 35, of 71 Cameron St., was charged with operating a motor vehicle without a license, failure to obey a stop sign, possession of narcotics, and possession with intent to sell, according to a probable cause report contained in Haggertys court file and a release from the Torrington Police Department. According to the probable cause report, city police conducted a month-long investigation into the distribution of heroin from 69/71 Cameron St. and its current residents, Haggerty and Tullock, prompting the arrests. A search warrant was served Tuesday at 6 p.m., according to the report. Dani Tullock was to be found in possession of heroin packaged individually for sale after leaving the residence in her vehicle and failing to stop for the stop sign at the intersection of Culvert St. and High St., police said in the report. During the investigation, it was determined that Tullocks license was expired since 10/15/16. Tullock was in possession of 20 bags of heroin when stopped by police, according to a release. Haggerty was caring for two children when found by police, according to the report. Haggerty reported that he was under the influence of methadone and marijuana upon contact, said the officer. During the search, Haggerty was found in possession of a significant amount of heroin, cash, and narcotic packaging materials. Police found acetaminophen and codeine in a bottle in Haggertys nightstand, according to the report. A check of state records indicated that Haggerty did not have any listed medications prescribed to him for the past (three) years. Police seized 81 bags of heroin, 25 prescription pills, marijuana, packaging material, drug paraphernalia and a CO2 pellet pistol as a result of the search, according to the release. Haggerty is next due in court Oct. 31. In the probable cause report, police said Tullock was released on a $1,500 non-surety bond and is due in court Oct. 30. In the release, police said she was released on a $2,500 bond. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com TORRINGTON Candidates for the citys Board of Education considered financial challenges, special education requirements, and other aspects of life in the district during a forum Wednesday night at the Connecticut Academy of the Arts. Six candidates Democrats Ed Corey, Byron Francis, and incumbent Ellen Hoehne, and Republicans John Giansanti, former member John Kissko, and Molly Spino came together to answer questions from city residents. The forum was moderated by former mayor Owen Quinn. There were points of effective consensus during the evening. All six candidates voiced support for the district to provide individualized plans for special ed students, which was a concern raised by former Torrington Middle School Principal Valerie Bruneau. And all six disagreed with an idea put forward by Superintendent Denise Clemons to have paraprofessionals follow students from kindergarten on through their education, except in appropriate circumstances. And all agreed on the importance of parents to be involved in the education of their children. During the question-and-answer period, candidates voiced their views on the financial state of the city schools, goals for the district in five and ten years, what they considered admirable qualities in a superintendent, and what they consider the most important goal the role of the school board in fighting the use of prescription drugs in the schools. The candidates also shared their backgrounds and rationale for running and spoke about aspects of the city education system that they wanted to maintain or improve. Spino, a lifelong resident has three children in the school district. After attending board meetings for some years, she said sheis seeking to bring fresh ideas, she said. She said she wants to bring programming into the city schools, including STEM education, and noted the impact of arts classes. Being a member of the school orchestra, she said, had been meaningful in her life. For me, it opened up a lot of doors it gave me different ideas, it opened up my creativity, said Spino. We need to offer different options for kids. When it comes to the music, and the arts, I think those are important programs we need to build on those in our district and not cut these programs. Francis also has three children in the district, and has worked as an educator for more than a decade, he said. Education is the ultimate equalizer, he said it provided him the chance to grow from a difficult background and can do the same for students on into the future. As a parent, I am very concerned. I am concerned about the budget. I am concerned about the community. I am concerned about whether or not our children are going to meet the challenges in the 21st century, said Francis. I am also an entrepreneur I own a real estate company and one of things people ask is how are the schools? And I get so uneasy when they ask, and I want to just bring it to a place, by serving on the Board of Education, where I can say the Torrington school system is the best in the world. Kissko is a city native and has a background as an educator he taught history in the Litchfield schools. He said he had more time on his hands than he expected after leaving the board, and wanted to run again to provide continuity, as a series of members step away, he said. He noted the importance of providing stability to the district during his remarks Wednesday. Weve heard from the valedictorian and (salutatorian) of the last two graduating classes, (who said) give us some stability. Give us some continuity keep the same people, keep the same programs, dont pull things out from under us, said Kissko. And I think thats what we need to do over the next five to ten years, and over the next 50 to 100 years, is continuity, is stability. You do that by keeping people in jobs, by making the jobs good enough to do that keeping them here, and giving them the circumstances under which they can work. Corey is a fairly recent graduate of the Torrington schools. He said the city schools provided him with great teachers as he grew up in a household with limited means. He wants to help prepare future generations for the demands of the modern world, he said. Corey raised the idea of implementing a magnate school model in the district on multiple occasions during the evening providing a basic foundation of information, then allowing students to pursue their respective passions. I want our students to have, not just the same opportunities that I had as a poor kid with a single mom, living in HUD housing. I want every kid to have better opportunities than the ones I had, even if theyre in the same circumstances, said Corey. If our students are empowered, right here in Torrington, in our public schools, then theres no telling where theyll go and what theyll be able to achieve. Giansante has no children in the city schools, but his family has ties to the city, he said. He said he wants to give back by considering the flow of money through the district, including lessening the citys dependence on the state, and guarding the education of students. He suggested providing more options for students that are not aiming to pursue a college education and said he wanted to help stabilize life in the district. The reason Im here tonight is because kids, our kids, and our teachers, lack any kind of stability. Thats what I want to bring back to the Torrington education system is a sense of stability, for our teachers to have what they need to help our students in the best way possible, said Giansante. Hoehne said she grew up in the city, as did her children. Her aim is to continue her work on the board in a third term, provide teachers with the tools they need, and make progress in the face of the challenges faced by the district, she said. Theres still a lot of things that havent been done. Weve had six superintendents in eight years very difficult. We try to keep teachers in front of the kids (with) unfunded mandates, budget cuts very, very difficult, said Hoehne. But its a work in progress, and we all need to work together in order to make it happen. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com Scavengers dig for raw jade stones in piles of waste rubble next to a jade mine in Hpakant, northeastern Myanmar's Kachin state, in an undated photo. Five migrant workers trying to scavenge gems were shot dead and about 20 others were injured during a clash with security police on Wednesday night at a jade mine in the resource-rich Hpakant township mining region of northern Myanmars Kachin state, a local police official said. Police Lieutenant Colonel Myo Thura Naung from the Kachin State Police told RFAs Myanmar Service that more than 60 workers entered the operations of a Myanmar-China joint venture called Triple One Company in the Lone Kin mining area at 9:30 p.m. After security guards made them turn back, about 600 scavengers returned an hour later and refused to let the guards stop them from entering the area, he said. They brought knives, stones, and sticks and attacked security police with these weapons, Myo Thura Naung said. When they attacked the police, the police had to open fire to stop them. Because of this gunfire, five workers were killed, and 20 were injured, he said. Five security guards, including a police major, were also injured in the attack. Hpakant administrator Kyaw Zwa Aung told RFA that the scavengers hacked security guards, set fire to a vehicle, and threw stones at two other trucks. Security guards opened fire to scare them, he said. About five security guards received minor injuries from rocks that were thrown, five miners were killed, and 20 other miners were injured. Eleven of those who sustained injuries in the melee were taken to a hospital in the state capital Myintkyina Hospital, Kyaw Zaw Aung said. RFAs Myanmar Service tried to contact miners involved in the clash, but was unable to reach them. Clashes not uncommon Such deadly clashes are not uncommon in Hpakant, where companies working at jade-mining sites employ guards to keep out scavengers who trespass to search for cast-off stones to sell. Because they have a lot of manpower, these mine workers usually come into mine areas by force and destroy jade companies property, Myo Thura Nuang said. About 200,000 mine workers from various regions of Myanmar work in the Hpakant jade mine area. In June, one person died when police opened fire to stop about 1,000 jade scavengers who were entering the Wakyae jade mine in Hpakant. A month earlier, guards working at the Nansibon Jade Mine near Hkamti township in northwestern Myanmars Sagaing region, adjacent to Hpakant, killed four migrant workers and wounded 11 others trying to search for cast-off stones at the site when they fired on them. The Hpakant region has also seen a significant number of deaths over the past few years from a string of deadly landslides where slag heaps have collapsed on scavengers. Hpakant, which lies about 400 miles (640 kilometers) north of Myanmars capital Naypyidaw, is the center of the countrys jade mining industry and produces some of the highest-quality jade in the world. Much of the gem is exported or smuggled to neighboring China, where demand for the precious stone is high. Reported by Kyaw Myo Min for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Satellite images of Sichuans Larung Gar Buddhist Academy show widespread destruction of the one of the worlds largest and most important centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism more than a year after Chinese authorities began a program of forced evictions and demolitions, according to a report issued Thursday. The report by two Tibetan rights groups Free Tibet and Tibet Watch shows that at least 4,725 homes have been leveled and about 4,800 residents forced to leave since July 2016 when authorities issued an order to destroy homes and to reduce Larung Gars population to 5,000 by Sept. 30, 2017. Chinese authorities did not consult those living at the complex about the plan, which they said was to protect the safety of residents by reducing overcrowding and the risk of fire. International law recognizes forced evictions in which residents are temporarily or permanently removed from their homes against their will as a human rights violation. The report was issued on the one-year anniversary of the launch of the International Day of Action for Larung Gar, which saw protests in at least 20 cities around the world to raise awareness about the destruction of the complex. Demonstrations were held in Washington, D.C., Toronto, Buenos Aires, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Dharamsala, India. The academy, located in Serthar county (in Chinese, Seda) in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province, was once home to between 10,000 and 40,000 monks, nuns, and visiting students, the report said. Before-and-after images from U.S. satellites in 2016 and 2017 show how houses have been destroyed to make way for wider roads, new pathways, and additional space around religious buildings. The destruction corroborates claims and evidence presented by residents that authorities have undertaken the program to facilitate tourist access to the complex, the rights organizations said. In addition, former residents have been humiliated in patriotic reeducation sessions, forced to perform for Chinese audiences, and prevented from moving into other monasteries, the report said. Many of these practices have been reported by RFAs Tibetan Service since the destruction began in 2016. Beijings attempts to reduce this important site to a mere tourist destination make this destruction even more heart-breaking, said Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, director of Free Tibet and Tibet Watch, in a statement. Larung Gars residents understand and appreciate the significance of the site in a way that the Chinese Communist Party never could, she said. They must be spared any further harassment and allowed to live, study, and practice their religion in peace. At the end of June, a senior abbot at the center told RFA that Chinese authorities had destroyed 4,725 monastic dwellings over the course of a year at the complex, with a total of more than 7,000 demolished since efforts to reduce the number of monks and nuns living at the sprawling center began in 2001. More than 4,825 monks and nuns have also been expelled since 2016, the abbot said at the time, with many forced back to their hometowns and deprived of opportunities to pursue religious studies. Beyond all repair Free Tibet and Tibet Watch have urged the international community to press China to end the demolition of the complex. A site of learning and devotion is being turned to rubble, and the lives of its residents are now characterized by violence and instability, Byrne-Rosengren said. Governments around the world must up the pressure on China and make it change course before this site and everything that made it special is scarred beyond all repair. In November 2016, six United Nations experts wrote to China to express concern about severe restrictions on religious freedom at Larung Gar, the mass expulsion of monks and nuns, and the demolition of homes. The following month, the European Parliament, passed a resolution demanding that China end the destruction and forced evictions at the complex and respect Tibetans' religious freedom. The expulsions and demolitions at Larung Gar, along with restrictions at Yachen Gar, another large Buddhist center in Sichuan, are part of an unfolding political strategy aimed at controlling the influence and growth of these important centers for Tibetan Buddhist study and practice, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said in a March 13, 2017, report. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Husband-and-wife Americana-folk duo Shovels & Rope had a baby girl, were taking care of a parent with Alzheimers and recorded a new album, all in roughly the same period of time. Now theyre on tour and headed to Richmond this week to perform from it. All of these things were happening at once. It was a mixture of joy and anticipation, fear and some sadness in there, too. The whole record isnt an anxiety bomb, though, Michael Trent, the husband half of the duo, said by phone from Ohio where the couple had stopped on tour. These things happen to every family: You get married, have kids; your parents grow old; and you start facing your own mortality, Cary Ann Hearst added. All of these things can be super overwhelming, but thats life. Its the ticket you pay for the party. Little Seeds was released in 2016 and lauded as the couples most personal work to date. The South Carolina couple released their debut album, O Be Joyful, in 2013 and made their breakthrough with a blistering performance of their stomp-worthy song Birmingham on the Late Show with Dave Letterman. Since then, theyve released two more albums, including Little Seeds. Besides the storytelling songs they are known for, the new album also touched on their personal life, from marital issues to dealing with grief. The couple recorded the album in their home in Charleston, S.C., shortly after their daughter, Louisiana Jean, was born. They had to plan their recording process around their daughter. On loud heavy drumming days, Hearst said, shed put Louie in her stroller and stroll around the neighborhood. Everything in this family is divide and conquer, she said. I was a nursing mother, recovering from a C-section. Ive never been more distracted in my life. But when Louie got older, she started getting into the music. When she was 3 months old, wed put her in her Johnny Jump-Up and shed be jumping up and down to the music, Hearst said. Now at age 2, Louie is able to join the couple on their tour, An Evening with Shovels & Rope. This tour is smaller than we normally play, so we can try out material and play some songs that we dont normally get to perform, Trent said. The couple will be playing from all of their albums in Richmond, as well as some new songs that theyve recently written. Shovels & Rope have played Friday Cheers, and Hearst said shes especially looking forward to catching up with Richmond musician J. Roddy Walston when theyre in town. We always try to get together. They have a daughter, too, she said. And theres this great Jewish deli in Richmond ... Perlys. I want to go there again and get a knish. A neighborhood repairman who volunteered to babysit two young sisters as a favor to their single mother so she could work without worrying about child care was sentenced Wednesday to serve 25 years in prison for sexually molesting the girls over a three-month period last year. In remarks from the bench, Chesterfield Circuit Judge David E. Johnson noted the depth of depravity of William F. Ayers actions, the obscene reality of his repeated abuse of two vulnerable young girls, and Ayers violation of trust and responsibility as a caretaker. Those aggravating circumstances, combined with the North Chesterfield mans continued denial and callous disregard for the seriousness of his crimes, prompted Johnson to triple the maximum active prison time calculated for the 49-year-old under discretionary state sentencing guidelines. In agreeing with Chesterfield prosecutor Erin Barr, who argued that the guidelines dont adequately address certain factors, such as the number of victims and the vile nature of the abuse, the judge sentenced Ayers to 50 years in prison with 25 years suspended on convictions of two counts each of aggravated sexual battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The guidelines, which Virginia judges are not constrained to follow, called for an active prison term of between two years and three months on the low end and seven years and five months on the high end. According to the prosecutions summary of evidence, Ayers was a friend of the two girls and their mother. As a favor, Ayers volunteered to babysit the girls so their mother, who is parenting her children alone, could work without the financial burden of child care. These were young girls, Barr told the court. They werent even approaching teenage. He put himself in this situation to do this to these little girls. Ayers sexually abused both girls by touching them inappropriately and having them touch him, and engaging in sexual acts as well. The assaults occurred from March to June last year. The abuse came to light after the older sister was given a school assignment to tell one of her teachers something about herself that her teacher didnt know. After telling the teacher she had a personal secret to share, the girl advised that Ayers had touched her private parts, Barr said. Police were alerted, and both girls then described the sexual activity that Ayers inflicted on them. Ayers entered Alford pleas to all four counts in June; in such a plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction. Barr noted that Ayers never acknowledged the seriousness of his crimes. He told a probation officer, simply, I screwed up; in an interview with a clinical psychologist, Ayers said, It was one of those things. It happened. The judge noted that Ayers also told the psychologist who conducted a psychosexual evaluation of the defendant that he abused one of the girls one time but denied having any contact with the other victim. At one point he called the girls pretty good liars. Defense attorney Melanie Jennings, in arguing for a punishment within the state guidelines, noted that the psychologist opined in his evaluation of Ayers that he was at low risk for future dangerousness. The psychologists report doesnt say lock him up and throw away the key, she said. A defense witness, a former longtime neighbor of Ayers and a retired Richmond police officer, testified that Ayers did odd jobs for people in the neighborhood, especially the elderly. The witness testified that they had never observed any abusive behavior from Ayers. In lieu of testimony from the victims and their mother about how the abuse affected their lives, Barr stipulated evidence on their behalf. Barr said the younger sister sleeps with her mother because shes scared to sleep alone, and is generally leery of men. The older sister is acting out sexually and has expressed a premature interest in sex. Moments before sentencing, Ayers offered an apology but asked for leniency, saying he needs treatment to help me get better. Im sorry I put everybody through this, Ayers said. I take full responsibility. Outside auditors tasked with looking into a Chesterfield County residents complaint about an administrator in the school Supplemental Retirement Program have upheld the school systems actions. The county paid $9,500 for the outside audit firm, PB Mares LLP, to investigate citizen watchdog Brenda Stewarts complaint, which she lodged through the countys Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline in February. That administrator is scheduled to earn just over $300,000 over five years for her work in the program, in which retired employees take up temporary jobs for one more year to perform tasks that may be similar to their pre-retirement work. The outside audit was commissioned by county officials after some were concerned that the countys own internal audit department dismissed Stewarts concerns without producing a report. Internal Audit evaluates all hotline allegations and produces a fiscal year report summarizing program results. Consistent with industry practices, we do not produce separate formal reports for each hotline allegation received, the countys Director of Internal Audit Greg Akers wrote in an email. Stewarts complaint had to do with the participation of Sharon Thomas, the former chief executive to then-Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome, in the school systems SRP. Stewart argued that Thomas shouldnt have been able to participate in the program. SRP requires that participants must work 10 years in the Chesterfield school system, unless they were terminated due to a reorganization approved by the School Board. Thomas hadnt worked 10 years, but in a letter responding to Stewarts concerns, School Board Attorney Wendell Roberts wrote that Thomas position was eliminated and replaced by a chief of staff position during a reorganization. Stewart argued that Thomas position wasnt eliminated, but simply revised and given a new name. PB Mares didnt agree with Stewart. Thomas work during the program also raised concerns. School Board policy says an employee in SRP should perform work similar to tasks they performed before retirement. Yet Thomas performed work below her former pay grade. Thomas was earning $172,332 when she retired as chief executive to the superintendent, but worked as the paralegal/public records coordinator under the SRP program. The coordinator position has a salary cap of $71,263. Under SRP rules, she will be paid based off of her pre-retirement salary for her SRP work. She will be paid just over $300,000 over five years. PB Mares primarily responded to that concern by saying that SRP rules gave broad latitude to the superintendent when assigning SRP duties. After the SRPs financial troubles came to light this past year, one of the restrictions county supervisors placed on SRP was that someone couldnt be placed in a new SRP assignment that varied more than two pay grades from their previous position. Stewart felt the language of the audit report was inconclusive. She took issue with the countys stipulations that PB Mares couldnt consider Akers initial evaluation and that the outside auditors bill stay under $10,000. She also felt that PB Mares didnt give the proper weight to SRPs requirement that participants be assigned work that is similar or equivalent to their pre-retirement work. She felt that requirement, which is included in the SRPs governing document regulated by the state and federal government, overrode the superintendents powers. They need to be careful if they think that this has settled anything, Stewart said. Im not accepting this as the resolution of my concerns and issues. The PB Mares auditor who signed the report didnt respond to requests for comment. While I understand (Stewarts) concerns associated with the external audit, there is a distinction between poor judgment and what constitutes the technical definition of waste, fraud, and abuse, said Supervisor Chris Winslow, one of the supervisors on the Finance and Audit committee, which oversees the countys internal audit processes. Supervisor Steve Elswick, the other supervisor on the committee, declined to comment until he had a chance to discuss the report with staff. School Board Chair Javaid Siddiqi, another member of the Finance and Audit Committee, said in a statement that the outside auditors finding was expected and consistent with the determinations of the many school division and county staff members who have reviewed the citizens concern. He added that the School Board believes its time to close the discussion on this matter and focus energy on more important school-related matters. The Finance and Audit Committee is expected to discuss the report in a future meeting. Akers department is already looking into the overall operations of the SRP after revelations of its financial troubles over the last year alarmed many school employees who were attracted to Chesterfield in part because of the benefit. Former President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign stop with Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Thursday evening. This page will be updated with the latest news throughout the evening. Obama says he's related to Jefferson Davis: 'I'll bet he's spinning in his grave' 9:10 p.m.: Former President Barack Obama is bemoaning the rise of racial politics. Speaking at political rallies in New Jersey and Virginia, Obama said past prejudices the country thought it had "put to bed" have reemerged. The first black president offered himself as proof that the country has moved forward, telling the crowd in Richmond - the former Capitol of the Confederacy - that he is a distant relative to Confederate President Jefferson Davis on his mother's side. "Think about that," Obama said. "I'll bet he's spinning in his grave." Obama speaks at Virginia Democratic rally 8:32 p.m.: Former President Barack Obama is rallying supporters of Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate and expressing frustration about the current state of political discourse. Obama told Virginia voters Thursday evening to back Democrat Ralph Northam in next month's election, saying Northam wants to take the state forward and not backward. He also decried the current state of politics and said "our democracy's at stake" in the Virginia election. It was Obama's return to the political spotlight for the first time since leaving the White House in January. He also spoke earlier Thursday in New Jersey. Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states electing new governors this year and those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of President Donald Trump's victory last year. The Associated Press McAuliffe slams Trump Gov. Terry McAuliffe says the Republican candidate for the state's highest office is treating President Donald Trump like he has a "communicable disease." McAuliffe's comments mocking Ed Gillespie's reluctance to campaign with Trump came as former President Barack Obama visited the state in support of Virginia Democrats ahead of next month's elections. The Associated Press Stoney, McEachin, Fairfax kick off Northam rally in Richmond 6:35 p.m.: The rally for Democrat Ralph Northam got underway in the 6 o'clock hour at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Some members of the large crowd stood for hours in a line that snaked along the sidewalks by the building. According to the fire marshal, the crowd count for the rally was 6,250. The first speaker after the convocation, Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem was Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. "Ed Gillespie and his team seek to silence our voices," Stoney said. "But in 18 days we can tell them that our voices matter more than the NRA! We can tell than our voices matter more than Donald Trump!" Stoney was followed by U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-4th. "Do you understand that the eyes of the world are on Virginia? And that we must push back against Donald Trump?" McEachin said. Justin Fairfax, the Democrat candidate for lieutenant governor, was the next to speak. "Virginia will be the match that sparks the wildfire of progressive change all across this country and across this world," Fairfax said. Graham Moomaw Obama tells Democrats to reject politics of division, fear 5:15 p.m.: Former President Barack Obama on Thursday rallied at the side of his former ambassador to Germany, who is running for governor in New Jersey, and called on the crowd of Democrats to reject politics of "division" and "fear." Obama did not mention Republican President Donald Trump in his speech while standing next to Democratic nominee Phil Murphy, but he told the crowd at a Newark hotel that "you can send a message to the country and you will send a message to the world that we are rejecting a politics of division. We are rejecting a politics of fear." "Some of the politics we see now we thought we put that to bed," Obama said. "That's folks looking 50 years back. It's the 21st century, not the 19th century." The event for Murphy marked the first time the former president stepped back into the political spotlight since leaving the White House in January. The Associated Press Obama speaks at N.J. campaign stop 4:40 p.m.: Former President Barack Obama spoke at a campaign event in New Jersey for Democratic candidate Phil Murphy. Obama walked onto stage and hugged Murphy as the crowd chanted, "Four more years!" Obama says he would refer those people "to the Constitution, as well as to Michelle Obama." Murphy faces Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on Nov. 7 in the race to replace Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who prohibited by term limit laws from running again. The Associated Press Obama pushing Democratic governor candidates in N.J., Va. 3:45 p.m.: People arrived early and were waiting in line for hours Thursday as former President Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia. Thursday's events to fire up Democrats ahead of the Nov. 7 elections in both states mark the first time the former president is stepping back into the political spotlight since leaving the White House in January. Obama is hoping to sway voters in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two gubernatorial races this year. Both Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, are term-limited. Those Nov. 7 races will be considered a bellwether of Democrats' strength in the face of Republican President Donald Trump's victory last year. Obama was to drop in Thursday afternoon on campaign workers in Newark, New Jersey, for a private "canvass kickoff" for Democratic candidate Phil Murphy, who is running against Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Diane Coleman, 70, of Jersey City, was among the first wave of people let into the room where Obama was to speak. The Democrat who oversees real estate records for one of the state's largest counties said she voted for Obama twice and would vote for him again if he could run again. She emphasized that speaking negatively about Trump could alienate some voters. "This is a great opportunity to see my president," she said. "I don't want to say anything bad about Donald Trump." After the Newark stop, the former president will head to Richmond, Virginia, to rally support for Democrat Ralph Northam in his campaign against Republican Ed Gillespie. Obama's appearance should serve to unify Democrats, who are out of power in the federal government and in most statehouses across the country, experts say. "I think Obama also is a reminder to Democrats of all stripes left, center that there was a time when Trump was not here, sort of the nostalgia of the pre-Trump days," said Seton Hall University associate political science professor Matthew Hale. Bob Adams in his first act as chairman of the Richmond housing authoritys governing board announced Wednesday that a contested vehicle decal proposal for residents had been frozen in light of concerns. The measure pitched as a public safety tool and panned by detractors as a potential burden on the citys poor was initially requested by a police department eager to reverse a surge in violence across Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority properties this year. This is a complicated issue, and were aware that it has prompted serious concerns, said Adams, a community development consultant. This morning in a meeting with staff, we made the decision to suspend action on this proposal. As initially envisioned, the system would provide one pass per household with allowances for guest passes. There would be no upfront costs for the decal or replacements, but towing fees in the event of confusion or noncompliance could add up. The proposal found mixed support Wednesday among people who live in the authoritys communities, but many who showed up to address the agencys commissioners criticized authority officials for failing to engage residents in meaningful discussions about an effort that would directly affect them. Instead, they said, leaders of tenant councils in authority communities were handed a draft to review and told to prepare for what was coming. That information did not trickle down to all residents, at least one of whom showed up anxious Wednesday about lay ahead. I dont want my baby to come out the house and her cars gone because shes taking care of me, said Vicki Dortch, a Whitcomb Court resident whose daughter visits overnight to help when Dortch suffers from seizures. Dortch said she was worried. She shouldnt have to feel that way, said Lynetta Thompson, a past president of the Richmond NAACP. Thompson said she was relieved the proposal had been tabled but wanted to see the agency work harder to build trust with the communities it serves. It is important that each one of us hold each one of us accountable, she said. Accountability might mean different solutions for different communities, speakers said Wednesday. For some, the plan represented a headache that would penalize those whose names were not on vehicle titles, or end up costing friends and family members confused about the new requirements. Decal systems are in place at major housing authorities across the country, including in Dallas and New York City, said the housing authoritys chief operating officer, Carol Jones-Gilbert. For Fourth Avenue senior apartments resident Debbie Wilkes, the proposal augured relief. Wilkes said she spoke for her whole community in welcoming any action that could force drug dealing and prostitution away from residents homes. Theyre afraid to come out of their apartments. ... Theyre afraid to come to the snack machines, she said of her neighbors. Theyre in favor of the parking permits just because they feel like it would make them a little safer. Ultimately, residents and other housing advocates demanded that agency seek bottom-up solutions to complex problems. There is no other community in this city where violence would be allowed to displace people and move them from their homes, Art Burton, founder and executive director of Kinfolks Community, said of reports that people were moving out of Creighton Court to escape crime. The city saw nine slayings in eight days last month and is on pace to surpass last years homicide total, which at 61 was Richmonds highest in a decade. The housing authoritys executive director proposed moving to a decal system, to help police monitor public housing communities, in a news conference held after four people were killed in Gilpin Court within hours last month. That approach did not sit well with Marcel Slag, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Justice Center who represents housing authority clients in eviction cases. They are putting the burden on the people who live there, who already are suffering because they have inherited decades of public policy that perpetuated conditions that cause poverty, Slag said. Their neighborhoods are not as well protected, so the city in fact creates, itself, the environment that attracts crime to these poor neighborhoods. Burton told agency leaders to embrace those critical of the authority. We are not here to belittle or denigrate or to cast aspersions on the work that you guys do here, he said. We are here to operate as a partner. Members of the Richmond City Council and Mayor Levar Stoney joined Richmond-area state lawmakers Wednesday to review the citys proposed legislative package for the upcoming session of the Virginia General Assembly. The 90-minute event, held at the Library of Virginia, featured a discussion of the citys draft legislative package that identifies specific bills the council is asking members of the state delegation to carry, as well as dozens of policy positions on various issues that may come up when state lawmakers convene in January. Each year, we try to identify the things that can move the city forward, but wed also like to prevent things that can do the city any harm, said Council President Chris Hilbert, who represents the citys 3rd District. Among the proposed requests in the citys package: A bill establishing a state commission to identify financing that localities can use to overhaul large public housing communities. The city has six: Creighton, Fairfield, Gilpin, Hillside, Mosby and Whitcomb courts. A bill to require gun owners to report a stolen or lost gun to police within 24 hours of discovering that it is stolen or lost. A bill amending state law that requires public universities and colleges to collect a local admissions tax for public events and pay it to the locality in which the events take place. Two charter changes, one of which would establish an office of an inspector general, a council-appointed position with the power to conduct investigations within City Hall. The other would give the council full authority in the charter to set its own salaries by ordinance. Each proposed charter change is expected to go to a council vote prior to inclusion in the legislative package, Hilbert said. In brief remarks at the beginning of Wednesdays event, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney named two priorities for the upcoming session: funding for city schools and tighter gun restrictions. City schools have not received their fair share of state funding for many years, said Stoney, reiterating a point he has repeated since his days as a candidate. Beyond funding for operations, Stoney asked city leaders to lobby for capital funding to improve Richmond Public Schools decrepit portfolio of school buildings. Im calling on all 19 of us the School Board, City Council, myself to walk across the street this January to advocate for the state to invest not just in renovations on Capitol Square, but also in renovations we need to make in the capitals schools, Stoney said. In November, voters will weigh in on the issue. On the ballot is what is called the schools modernization referendum, which could prompt a charter change compelling Stoney to present to council members a fully funded plan to overhaul Richmond school facilities that does not rely on a tax increase, or else admit it cant be done. On guns, Stoney said it was unacceptable that the city could not ban firearms in its public buildings or prohibit people from bringing assault-style weapons to public demonstrations. He called on state lawmakers to give localities the authority to make those decisions. Urban environments like ours are just different. ... The gun laws that may be right for Richmond County dont necessarily work here in Richmond city. Its time for the General Assembly to acknowledge that, Stoney said. Council members are expected to formally approve the citys legislative package next month, Hilbert said. Prosecutors are no longer seeking the death penalty against a Henrico County man charged with murdering his parents on Easter Sunday last year. Henrico Commonwealths Attorney Shannon Taylor said her office filed a formal notice with the Henrico Circuit Court on Thursday informing the court that it was withdrawing the death penalty as a potential punishment in the capital murder case against William Roy Brissette, 24. Based on the information that has been provided to date, we felt it was the appropriate action to take at this time, Taylor said. Taylor declined to be more specific about why prosecutors decided to withdraw the death penalty as an option. Taylor had initially said in September 2016 that prosecutors would seek to execute Brissette, who is charged in the March 27, 2016, slayings of his parents, Martha B. Brissette, 56, and Henry J. Brissette III, 59. The defendant has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a psychosis that includes hallucinations and delusions. Daniel Sheneman, the assistant medical director at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, said at a May court hearing that staff at the hospital suspected Brissette had been hearing voices; Sheneman said the defendant denied that was the case. Doug Ramseur, Brissettes defense attorney, said he was pleased with the prosecutions decision to no longer seek the death penalty, adding that it was not an appropriate punishment, particularly given the defendants severe mental illness. Brissette was found to be incompetent in April, meaning he lacks the capacity to fully understand the court proceedings and assist his attorneys in his own defense. In a court hearing Wednesday, Henrico Circuit Judge James Stephen Yoffy said officials at Central State Hospital told the court in a letter that Brissette remains incompetent but that the mental hospital believes further treatment can bring the defendant back to the point where court proceedings can continue. In May, the judge had ordered staff at the mental hospital to begin administering anti-psychotic medication to Brissette to treat his mental illness so he could be made competent and the case could proceed. The staff began the involuntary administration of the drugs to the defendant on May 30; this week, the judge ordered that treatment to continue for six more months. Brissettes legal counsel appealed Yoffys original medication order to the Supreme Court of Virginia, asking that the judges ruling be thrown out. Brissettes defense team contends that the Circuit Court did not follow proper procedures when ordering the involuntary administration of drugs. A Washington, D.C.-based political action committee is pledging to reach out to 200,000 African-American voters in Virginia to promote Justin Fairfax, the candidate for lieutenant governor who was left off of some fliers printed by the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam. The Northam campaign printed some fliers that omitted reference to Fairfax, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, at the request of the Laborers International Union of North America. The union, a financial backer of Northams campaign, requested a flier without Fairfax on it because the group had not endorsed him, according to a spokesman. Fairfax does not support two controversial natural gas pipelines that have the backing of the union. The Fairfax-free flier looked similar to one that included him, Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring on it. When compared side by side, the discrepancy led to questions Tuesday about why Fairfax was removed. Quentin James is the co-founder of the political action committee The Collective, which supports progressive black candidates nationally. He said the image of the fliers side-by-side is striking and kept him awake in the middle of the night when he saw it. While the labor union has a right to support candidates of its choosing, James said, he noted that the Northam campaign approved of literature that excluded someone on the party ticket. Leaving out Fairfax, an African-American, hurts the ability of the entire ticket to turn out votes and win, because African-Americans are such an important voting block for the Democrats and promoting a black candidate to black voters drives up turnout, James said. Why would it at all be questioned or even an option for you to consider dropping the black candidate from the piece when that is actually counter to helping turn out black voters who are a key constituency? James said. They saw him as disposable when he was actually critical to their ability to win. According to the Northam campaign, fewer than 15,000 Fairfax-free fliers were printed, out of 3 million pieces of literature in total. And only 1,000 of the 15,000 were distributed during door-to-door canvassing in Northern Virginia, according to the Northam campaign. In response, the PAC hopes to spend about $50,000 and use volunteers to reach out, via text message, to African-American voters in Virginia on behalf of Fairfax. Candidates disagree on issues all the time, but after primaries are fought, it is traditionally accepted that efforts to elect Democrats should help all Democrats on the ticket, a news release from The Collective stated. While we might not be able to stop subtle racism in 20 days, we can surely help Justin win this election. The Fairfax campaign issued a statement from him that said: This was a poor decision, which shouldnt have happened, and we need to make sure this doesnt happen again. People who are canvassing for the coordinated campaign should be carrying (literature) for the entire ticket. Ive heard that theyve pulled the lit and it wont be used. Sadly, this issue detracts from what we should be focused on which is getting our base, especially our African-American base in Virginia, excited about this election so that they come out to vote. Northam campaign spokesman David Turner issued a campaign statement that said: Ralph Northam is making a historic investment in the coordinated campaign, including giving or raising $9 million in get out the vote efforts for the entire ticket without asking for any additional investment from the ticket mates. Turning out more Democrats to support Democratic candidates is critical to Virginias future. This is a historic investment and Ralph is thrilled to make it to support Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring. Fairfax, a white-collar defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, faces Republican state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel on the Nov. 7 ballot. He is backed by the AFL-CIO and his policy positions are more liberal than both Northam and Herring. His acceptance within the power structure of his own party has not been without hurdles. After narrowly losing to Herring in the 2013 Democratic primary for attorney general, Fairfax was a co-chair for U.S. Sen. Mark Warners 2014 re-election bid. Last year, when another potential Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor was booked to speak at a state convention, the Fairfax campaign called it unfortunate and puzzling that he was not invited to speak. The Democratic Party of Virginia then attacked Fairfax, then apologized for attacking him. In a debate earlier this month, Vogel questioned whether her Duke- and Columbia-educated rival was informed enough to talk intelligently on the issues. Party officials rallied around Fairfax to denounce Vogels comments as a dog whistle with racial undertones. Carol's Place in Forest opened a little earlier than usual Thursday morning in preparation for a live broadcast from "Fox & Friends" on Virginia and national politics leading up to the Nov. 7 election. Members of the College Republicans at Liberty University sat down for a bite shortly after 6 a.m. when the restaurant opened. Dylan Slaughter, a junior and recruitment director for the student group, talked about his priorities going into the gubernatorial election. Republican Ed Gillespie, Democrat Ralph Northam and Libertarian Cliff Hyra are vying for the governor's seat. President Donald Trump and former president Barack Obama each have voiced support for the candidates from their respective parties. With alleged MS-13 gang activity impacting the Central Virginia area following a March killing of a Lynchburg teen, Slaughter said part of his focus turns to illegal immigration, since he understands that many MS-13 gang members are illegal immigrants. "If we can crack down on illegal immigration, then a lot of that crime wouldn't happen if those people weren't here to begin with," he said, adding that he's fine with legal immigration. John Wood, chairman of the College Republicans, said he and the others have gone door-to-door campaigning for Gillespie in Lynchburg, Bedford and Campbell counties. One of the group's goals is to increase voter registration and turnout at LU, something he said the presidential involvement in this race might help with. A handful of local elected officials and hopefuls stopped by Carol's to sample the political atmosphere and grab some breakfast, including Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, and Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown. We are excited and ready! @foxandfriends at Carol's Place in Lynchburg, VA talking to voters about their governor's race and other issues. pic.twitter.com/WddTYVgBlt Todd Piro (@ToddPiro) October 19, 2017 I hav biscuits and gravy in front of me now! pic.twitter.com/ZcItizrD8B Todd Piro (@ToddPiro) October 19, 2017 A note from the editor about Walter Williams: On Saturday, we published a Walter Williams column, "White Privilege and Other Fables," that included two paragraphs about sexual assault - to which many readers have taken strong exception. As we said in an earlier note, we often publish opinion pieces with which we, too, strenuously disagree and we disagreed with Williams' points in his Saturday column. That was an understatement. The column fell short of our editorial standards. Given the chance to do it all over again, we would not run it - and certainly not those two paragraphs. In light of that, we are removing the column from Richmond.com, and we are re-evaluating Williams' place in our stable of syndicated columnists. I would like to stress that the Times-Dispatch newsroom had zero role in publishing the column. The News and Editorial departments are entirely separate operations, and News bears no responsibility for anything that appears in the opinion pages. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback about the column, for reminding us of the importance of striving always to elevate the conversation rather than debase it. Nobody is perfect - ourselves least of all. But we do aspire to something higher. - A. Barton Hinkle, Editor of the Editorial Pages Here are several of those objections that were sent as letters to the editor. Williams' column should have been tossed out Editor, Times-Dispatch: "Do I have a right to place my wallet on the roof of my car, go into my house, have lunch, take a nap and return to my car and find my wallet just where I placed it? I think I have every right to do so, but the real question is whether it would be a wise decision. Some college women get stoned, use foul language and dance suggestively. I think they have a right to behave that way and not be raped or sexually assaulted. But just as in the example of my placing my wallet on the roof of my car, Id ask whether it is wise behavior." The above is from Walter Williams' Op/Ed column, "White privilege and other fables." It is a disgusting comment to make. As a female on a college campus, I think it is degrading and insulting to the educated women attending university to be compared to an object placed on the top of a car and forgotten about. My body is not an object, and it is not something that I forget about and leave unattended. This article is a good example of garbage, and it belongs in a dump. The use of foul language and recreational drugs does not in any way indicate that my body is open to sexual assault. Clearly the better question here is: Why do men think it is okay to sexually assault women in any situation? It is disgusting to imply that women are asking to be sexually assaulted by dancing or wearing a tank top. This column should have been thrown in the trash. Juliana Irace. Richmond. *** Williams' column shocked and insulted reader Editor, Times-Dispatch: I am deeply insulted and shocked that the leading newspaper of one of Virginia's most progressive cities would dare publish something as barbaric as the Walter Williams' Op/Ed column, "White privilege and other fables." Shame on the Richmond Times-Dispatch for employing and publishing the work of a harbinger of rape culture. Women are not wallets, nor are they items or things to be owned or left out or stolen. They are human beings just like everyone else and you should know better. Please, for the good of your city, do the nation a favor and stop spreading this insulting and atrocious garbage. Harry Grice. Powhatan. *** Williams' column: backward, racist, and sexist Editor, Times-Dispatch: In response to the incredibly simple-minded and insanely backward views touted as opinion in Walter Williams' recent Op/Ed, "White privilege and other fables": In fewer paragraphs than I can count on two hands, Williams has dismissed centuries of imperialism by white men amassing land, resources, and power through the systematic disenfranchisement of any race, sex, or culture that differed from their own. Williams' false equivalencies boggle the mind. In what world does one equate the rape of a daughter, sister, any woman to the inconvenience of getting a wallet stolen? Does Williams' wallet theft leave him with nightmares he replays over and over, scarred from ever getting a wallet again? As a white man, being aware of the privilege I have been granted simply because of my race and sex makes me more vocal and makes me stand stronger against views like those shared in Williams' column. It helps me stand closer in solidarity to those who have experienced the traumas that in his world are just the price of not being him. Can these institutional and individual prejudices be overcome to allow anyone to succeed? Yes, and just like the racist and sexist people who taught Williams to be how he is, someday, they'll be gone for good. Mason Hedgecoth. Richmond. *** Inquisitive readers can handle polemic columns Editor, Times-Dispatch: It has come to my attention that some of the readers of The Times-Dispatch have said they are insulted because the newspaper has printed Op/Ed columns that are not currently popular. (I refer specifically to White privilege and other fables, by Walter Williams.) Without getting into the merits of the Williams column, I defend The Times-Dispatch's decision to print this and other thought-provoking pieces. Any intelligent reader knows that the very term op/ed means that the newspaper publisher and staff do not necessarily agree with the ideas expressed. And its a wonderful thing that they dont. To be thinking people, we need to hear many sides of an issue. I, as most readers, are adults, and we are perfectly capable of sifting through material, however controversial, and deciding which things fit our personal values. Please continue your good journalistic judgment and determining which pieces are well written and worthy of a critical reading by an inquisitive audience, which I hope defines The Times-Dispatch reader. Bonnie Atwood, J.D. Richmond. *** Why did you publish Williams' rantings? Editor, Times-Dispatch: In response to the disgusting Op/Ed column, "White privilege and other fables," by Walter Williams, all I can say is: Really? Is this some way to completely write off those who have experienced rape or sexual harassment? And all his words about communist leaders, white privilege, and those "leftist" schools of ours? Frankly it reads like the rantings and ravings of someone's elderly, racist, homophobic, and misogynist uncle who drank a little too much eggnog during Thanksgiving dinner. How about instead of alienating the people in your city who have a more well-rounded and open-minded world view, you allow other, better writers to come up with something coherent and relevant? This was the most tone-deaf and unsympathetic piece of literary garbage I've recently read from The Times-Dispatch. Come on. You can do better. Tracy Herman. Richmond. *** Williams' column was a waste of good ink Editor, Times-Dispatch: Walter Williams' Op/Ed column, "White privilege and other fables," should never have been published particularly the third- and second-to-last paragraphs, wherein he proceeds to spew the same kind of victim-blaming, rape-culture garbage that women the world over are sick to the teeth of seeing. That garbage continues to perpetuate harmful myths surrounding sexual assault, on campus and everywhere else. Equating a woman with a wallet furthers the objectification of female people, and asking whether or not "dancing suggestively" is wise behavior reinforces the idea that victims share any responsibility for their sexual assault or rape. They do not, and the fact that the Richmond Times-Dispatch has spent ink on words that reinforce these shameful and harmful stereotypes is deplorable. Apologize, retract, and do better. Jo Bachman. Roman Sigaev/Hemera/Thinkstock(GAINESVILLE, Fla.) -- A Florida brewing company is offering free beer to those who boycott a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer scheduled to take place at the University of Florida on Thursday. Alligator Brewing instructed people to trade in their tickets at Tall Paul's Brew House for a free draft beer. The tickets will then be disposed of, "leaving two more empty seats in the Philips Center," the brewery wrote on Instagram. "Here at Alligator we believe free speech is a cornerstone of our great nation," the company said in a statement posted to Instagram. "Speech that condones, let alone promotes racial supremacy has no home in America. And it sure as hell doesn't have a home here in our beautiful town." Ticket become available this Saturday, October 14th and each person can get two with a valid ID. This is our town. This is our home. Lets do this Gainesville. A post shared by Alligator Brewing (@alligatorbrewing) on Oct 12, 2017 at 3:56pm PDT Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. ROCKY MOUNT Franklin County celebrated the first phase of development at its 550-acre Summit View business park with a groundbreaking Thursday afternoon. At a price of $9.7 million, the first phase includes construction of an access road, water and sewer utility extensions and grading of two pad sites, where future buildings could stand. Work is already underway, and bulldozers could be seen moving in the distance. County Administrator Brent Robertson said it was a proud day for Franklin County and the region and he was glad to welcome those in attendance economic development officials, politicians and the family that sold the land to the county, among others to Summit View. If youre wondering how we came up with the name, Robertson said, pausing to allow everyone to take in the view of Cahas Mountain, I cant help you. Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin, commended the countys board of supervisors for its forward thinking and effort to bring jobs to Franklin County. He pledged support from himself, the General Assembly and state agencies to help make the park a success. Supervisors Chairman Cline Brubaker acknowledged that the park is a significant investment the land alone cost upward of $11 million but said its a worthy one, since it will benefit young people. Brubaker, a dairy farmer, said when he went off to college he was proud to tell people he was from Franklin County and told them after graduation, he was going back. With the jobs created in the park, others will have the same opportunity. The beauty of the property, previously appreciated from a tractor by the select few people who farmed the land, can now be shared with many more, Brubaker said. Its Gods beauty, he said. Ronnie Thompson is supervisor of the Boone District, where Summit View is located. He echoed Brubaker, saying the board often gets calls from parents asking whats being done to create jobs that will allow their children to get a job in Franklin County after college or trade school. Summit View is the answer, Thompson said. He asked the audience to imagine coming to work and looking out the window of their office to see Cahas Mountain, or having trails to walk and bike on during lunch breaks. What a tough life those employees would have, Thompson joked. When its fixed up, itll be nice, and itll be something that we can all be proud of, he said. John Loftus, with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, said the business park would create employment opportunities for the region as a whole. Both the Roanoke region and the state lack large, business-ready sites, costing them opportunities, Loftus said. Sites like Summit View will allow us to get into the process and compete for these projects, he said. Besieged by allegations that it failed to protect children in danger, the Rockbridge Area Department of Social Services is facing a third investigation. The board of directors of the Virginia Department of Social Services voted at a meeting held Wednesday in Richmond to investigate the actions of a Rockbridge County board that oversees an agency where reports of abused and neglected children were given short shrift. A regional social services office and a special grand jury have already looked into the matter, finding that reports were disregarded and in some cases shredded by a former supervisor in the agencys Child Protective Services unit. While declining to bring criminal charges, the special grand jury issued a scathing report on what it called gross negligence, dysfunctional dynamic and rank incompetence at a department charged with protecting the most vulnerable children of Rockbridge County. The grand jury also found a hands-off approach by the local board which appears to be the focus of the investigation authorized Wednesday by the state board. The [local] board didnt do their job, and they are still there, said Susan Lawrence of Rockbridge County, a frequent critic of the department who called for a state investigation during comments at Wednesdays meeting. Somebody has to do something, and if they dont do something another baby is going to die, Lawrence said after the meeting, a reference to an infant who was found dead at a home identified as high risk by social services workers who failed to take additional action. An investigation like the one launched Wednesday is unusual, said Suzanne Adcock, who as director of the Rockbridge Area Department of Social Services attended the meeting. No one in attendance could recall such a step in at least 20 years, she said. Its a little unclear at this point how they will proceed, Adcock said. Whatever the direction, she added, the Rockbridge department will do whatever we need to do to cooperate with the investigation. Since the problems at the agency were first revealed, a brother and sister have been convicted of sexually abusing four children and the parents of a 4-month-old girl have been charged with murder in her death incidents that happened in troubled homes that were reported to the department of social services, which according to the special grand jury failed to follow up on the complaints. When no charges were brought against any employee of the agency, public scrutiny shifted to its board of directors. The seven-member board of the Rockbridge Area Department of Social Services is appointed by the three jurisdictions served by the agency: Rockbridge County and the cities of Lexington and Buena Vista. Critics have complained that the board failed to stop problems it should have been aware of within the agency, and then was evasive to questions that were raised by the public after the grand jury report was released in May. There have been conflicting accounts of what the board members knew and when they knew it, according to a seven-page report, compiled by Lawrence and Lexington resident Mark Reed, that was presented to the board. Public statements by the board call into question their veracity during public board meetings, in their public interactions with local residents, and in their statements to the local media, the report stated. Since the release of the grand jury report, Lawrence and Reed have asked the governing bodies of the county and two cities to replace the board with new members. They are now seeking their removal by the state board. The supervisor accused of shredding reports of possible child abuse and neglect is no longer employed by the social services department. According to an earlier investigation by the social services Piedmont Regional Office, many of the problems with low morale and lackluster work at the agency were the result of her bullying and harassing behavior. While the problems persisted for years, this board appeared to take a hands-off approach to [Child Protective Services], even when board members were contacted by CPS case workers who had concerns, the grand jury report stated. Even after infant deaths the board members asked no probing questions. There are a few things Erick and Whitney Anderson would like you to know about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, and the catastrophe still unfolding on that Caribbean island. First: Its a U.S. territory (and has been for more than a century). Second: Its roughly 35 miles wide and 100 miles long, which makes it bigger in land area than both Delaware and Rhode Island. Third: All Puerto Ricans are natural-born American citizens. Fourth: Though most pay no federal income tax, the island remitted $3.6 billion to the federal treasury last year. Fifth: Puerto Ricos more populous than 20 American states. Roughly 3.4 million people live there. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, which made a direct hit on the island nearly a month ago, almost all of them are still suffering greatly. Tuesday, 83 percent of the island remained without electric power, and in many places that do have it, its for a few hours per day. Water treatment requires electricity; thus, the flow from taps is greatly hampered. Blocked and washed- out roads and collapsed bridges are preventing distribution of food and bottled water. Hospitals are closed Maria creamed them, too. In some towns, the hurricane destroyed 60 percent of the dwellings. All of this is a huge concern to the Salem couple. Erick, 48, a computer network engineer, was born in Puerto Rico and spent his first 27 years there. (Whitney, 40, the internet communications manager at Roanoke College, met him there during a semester abroad from Virginia Tech two decades ago). Ericks mom, a teacher who lives in San Juan, and at least 14 other uncles, aunts and cousins are still there. Most of them are in the small town of Ciales (pop. 18,000), where Erick spent much of his youth. Situated in a valley, its about a 45-minute drive from San Juan, in the islands mountainous interior. Maria acted in Puerto Rico like a gargantuan tornado. During the hurricane, winds roared at up to 155 miles per hour, ruining crops, felling and stripping trees, and nearly 40 inches of rain fell in some places on a single day. To put that in perspective, its roughly four times the amount that fell in Roanoke, over four days, producing the flood of 1985. For the first two weeks after the storm, the Andersons had zero communications with Ericks relatives. More recently, its been very hit-and-miss, mostly messaging via cellphone. Its like theyve gone back in time 100 years, Whitney told me. People are doing their laundry in the river. Theyre bathing in the river. Theyre drinking from the river. More than half the sewage treatment plants are down. Theres raw sewage in the river. Though the official death toll from earlier this week stood at 48, reports from news media on the island have left the Andersons deeply suspicious of that number. Some accounts peg the dead at 10 times the official count. What were hearing is its many, many, many more, Whitney said. Weve heard that people are burying their loved ones in their back yards, Erick said. In the aftermath, the Andersons have been scrambling to send help to relatives and others. They started with nonperishable food, ferried by an airline-employee cousin of Ericks, after San Juans airport reopened. More recently, theyve relied on the U.S. mail. Tuesday, their dining room table was covered with handheld water filters, bottles of hand sanitizer, solar powerbanks, batteries and mini-lanterns. Those are headed out in eight care packages. So far, the couple have spent $400 of their own money and another $2,100 raised from friends and family on six shipments of food and supplies. By and large, people have been compassionate and loving and giving theyve given us money to help us do what were doing, Whitney said. Ericks mother, Silvana, 69, picked up the first shipment at the San Juan airport when it reopened after Maria. She organized the stuff for delivery to Ciales, but couldnt drive there until the roads were clear. Then she waited all day in a line to buy gasoline for her car, to make the trip. By the time she arrived, eight days had passed since the storm. One of Ericks cousins lost two cars and all her other belongings when her single-story home was flooded up to its ceiling. She had to be rescued from it. The roof of an aunts two-story home blew away in the storm. Some towns and cities have re-flooded several times from subsequent rain. Surveying the tragedy via TV and social media from 1,500 miles away has left the Andersons with deep wells of frustration and a mixture of other emotions. Theyve been buoyed by efforts of volunteers, such as celebrity chef Jose Andres, whos organized a gigantic meals-delivery effort said to be preparing up to 100,000 meals a day. And theyve cheered smaller actions, such as when volunteers on the ground rigged a rope-and-pulley system to ferry necessary aid to residents of a small town cut from travel by washed-away bridges. But theyve cringed at comments theyve read on social media portraying Puerto Ricans as entitled and ungrateful. Listening to them vent, you cant miss tinges of bitterness that Americas government is doing far, far too little to help citizens suffering on the island. They cited one statistic trumpeted on the news this week that 80 percent of supermarkets have reopened. What many dont understand, the couple noted, is that an open supermarket with little food and no lights or refrigeration doesnt do anyone much good. We have food and water, but we dont have trucks and truck drivers, Erick said. We dont have enough boots on the ground. Why cant [the Federal Emergency Action Agency] do better, instead of getting to some towns and giving out Vienna sausages and Skittles? Whitney asked. Its a leadership issue. Much of their anger is focused on President Donald Trump. After he went to the island, both of us were so angry we were shaking, Whitney said. They took him to the richest suburb of San Juan that had the least amount of damage. He spent most of his time in an airplane hanger, telling them it wasnt a real catastrophe, Whitney said. Its been too little, too late, she said. A day after Trump visited Puerto Rico, Erick said, the president went to Las Vegas. But his tone there was different. He didnt minimize the scale of the massacre, like he did in San Juan, when he noted the number of people killed by Maria was minuscule compared to deaths in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Vegas shooting was not a catastrophe compared to 9/11, Erick said with a mixture of cynicism and sadness. Why would he say that to Puerto Rico? (Whitney Anderson has a blog on which shes listed ways individuals can help in the Puerto Rico recovery effort. You can visit that at whitneyanderick.com/puertorico.) WARM SPRINGS A judge has removed a local mental health agency from a lawsuit that blamed it for the suicide of a senators son, leaving one of its former employees as the last remaining defendant. The Rockbridge Area Community Services Board is entitled to sovereign immunity from a lawsuit filed by state Sen. Creigh Deeds, Judge Paul Sheridan decided after hearing half a day of testimony and arguments Thursday in Bath County Circuit Court. Deeds accuses the CSB and one of its caseworkers of giving up on their efforts to find space in a psychiatric hospital for his troubled 24-year-old son and then releasing him from emergency custody the night of Nov. 18, 2013. The next morning, Austin Gus Deeds attacked his father, stabbing him 13 times at their Bath County farm, and then committed suicide. In a $6 million wrongful death lawsuit, Deeds contended that his son died as a result of neglect by the states fragmented and often ineffective mental health system. But Sheridan accepted the arguments of an attorney for the CSB who said it should be protected by the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity, which generally shields public agencies and officials against lawsuits stemming from their performance of a governmental function. Sovereign immunity is still alive and well in Virginia, attorney Rosalie Pemberton Fessier told the judge. Deeds attorney, John Lichtenstein of Roanoke, argued that the CSB is an independent body that does not have the same protections afforded to a state agency. Although Sheridan found the agency performed a governmental function and could not be sued, he stopped short of reaching that conclusion in the case of Michael Gentry, who as a CSB employee was directly involved in the short-lived search for a psychiatric bed for Gus Deeds. Sheridan gave Lichtenstein two weeks to amend the lawsuit to focus specifically on Gentrys actions. Depending on what happens next, Gentry could be granted qualified immunity, which would shield him from a claim of simple negligence. But the protection of sovereign immunity does not apply to gross negligence which Lichtenstein said is the case with Gentrys insufficient efforts to find a bed for Gus Deeds. Gentry did not call 27 of 34 available facilities to see if they had room to take Deeds, whom he had already determined was a threat to himself and others and should be held on a temporary detention order. We believe it was quitting. We believe it was abandonment, Lichtenstein said. He knows the danger, and then he quits. It later turned out that at least five facilities in the region had room to admit a new patient, but were never contacted by Gentry. Gentry, who no longer works for the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board, had limited time to find a bed. Under the law at the time, CSBs had a maximum of six hours from the time a patient was first detained on an emergency custody order to find room in a mental health facility, at which point a temporary detention order would be issued. If no space was available, the patient would be free to leave. Mr. Gentry had a lot of decisions to make and a very narrow window of time, Fessier said. At first, Deeds named the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services as a defendant in a lawsuit that made more sweeping allegations against the states mental health system. The senator dropped the state agency from his lawsuit in July. With the Rockbridge CSB now out as well, Gentry will be the sole focus of a case that from the start has put his actions under a microscope. At one point in the arguments Thursday, the judge asked what made this case different from that of a hypothetical surgeon who decided to walk out on a patient in the middle of a procedure. But its not like Gentry made no effort to find a bed, his lawyers have argued. The defendants were not indifferent to Austin [Gus Deeds]; they showed some degree of care, a written argument stated. Gentry called or faxed at least seven hospitals and took other steps in an effort to help Gus Deeds, including conducting an evaluation and talking with family members and a physician, his lawyers said. At the time, overcrowding in psychiatric hospitals often led to the practice of streeting, or returning mentally ill patients to the community for lack of a space to treat them. Even after the six-hour limit to find a bed had passed, state law allowed Gentry to keep looking after Deeds left Bath Community Hospital, where he had been detained. Gentry decided to continue his search the next day, which proved to be too late. Angry that his father had tried to have him committed, Gus Deeds attacked him the next morning at their Millboro farm, stabbing him repeatedly in the face and torso. Severely wounded, Creigh Deeds managed to escape and was airlifted to a local hospital. Left behind at the farm, Gus Deeds then fatally shot himself with a rifle. While admitting that Gentry could be judged harshly in retrospect, Fessier argued that the actions he took while trying to find treatment should guide a determination in the case not what happened in the end. With Creigh Deeds watching from a front bench in the courtroom, Sheridan agreed. The tragic result doesnt determine the outcome, the judge said. Its a part of the total picture. By John Long The cowled figure wended his way through the silent streets of Wittenberg, resolutely approaching the cathedral. Reaching the door, he took out his manifesto, a hammer, some tacks. He couldnt have fully realized it as he tapped the list of grievances to the door, but history was being changed. I suppose every day is the 500th anniversary of something, but seldom do we have the opportunity to reflect upon so momentous a half-millennium mark as we do this month. It was 500 years ago this October 31 that Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg the 16th Century version of tweeting his opinion on the ecclesiastical situation. Maybe. Many modern historians contend that he didnt literally nail anything to any door; he merely sent his superiors a letter (dated October 31, 1517) inviting a debate on some arcane theological topics. No matter. Whatever happened that day changed the world, and we, five centuries later, still live in the shadow of the movement Luther started. Martin Luther had grown up in a medieval world we would scarcely recognize. Hanging above all of Europe was the monolithic Catholic church, wielding enormous religious, political, social, and economic power. To many of its adherents, including Luther, it had become regrettably corrupt; more an earthly racketeering enterprise than the representative of Christ on Earth. Most egregious to Luther was the selling of indulgences, the practice whereby a donation to the church could be applied to shorten someones stay in purgatory. Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church? Luther asked in Thesis 82. Luther came to focus on three other primary points of doctrine: justification by faith, not works; scripture alone as a source of authority; and the priesthood of all believers. None of these could be reconciled to contemporary Catholic doctrine. He initially sought not to break away from the church, of which he was an ordained clergyman, but to reform ithence his movement came to be called The Reformation. Nevertheless, break away is exactly what his followers ended up doing. Meanwhile, several German rulers, often for less sacred reasons of politics, jumped at the chance to challenge the authority of Rome within their realms. Under their protection, when church officials ordered Luther to recant his teachings, he refused with steadfast determination: Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen. Translation: Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen. You dont have to agree with Luther on all points to admire such backbone. Luther ignited a fire in Europe, and there was no quenching it. Soon Protestantism, as the movement came to be called, was sweeping through entire kingdoms, destroying the ecclesiastical unity of old Christendom. The result was the western world we know today. Why do these events, fifty decades removed from your life, matter? If youre a Lutheran, or (like me) adhere to another branch of Protestantism, the answer should be obvious. Even if youre Catholic, you owe Martin Luther a nod this monthhis protests touched off a reform movement within Catholicism that ameliorated many of the abuses that so offended him. But if you adhere to another faith, or no faith, Luthers Reformation shaped your life nonetheless. It was a crucial element in the process of creating the modern Western world: an environment of religious diversity; a world in which your beliefs are primarily your own business; a culture in which a single person can stand up and speak truth to power; a system in which religion and politics certainly overlap, but are distinct entities. Luther may not have intended all of this, and certainly could not have foreseen it fully. But more than most figures of the last half-millennium, he made it happen. Luthers, and hence Lutheranisms, emphasis on education was also a momentous legacy for many lives, including my own. I graduated from a fine Lutheran institution just across town. Luther was not a perfect man by any means. In later years he became increasingly irascible and expressed some blatantly anti-Semitic ideas (some believe he suffered from a form of dementia). But this doesnt take away from the fact that, 500 years ago this month, something significant started at his hand. And we still havent seen the end of it. Long is the education director for the National D-Day Memorial. Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate for governor, used last weeks debate in Wise to unveil his regional plan for Southwest Virginia. We have more than a passing interest in the fate of Southwest Virginia, so lets take a deeper look at what Gillespie proposes and how it compares and contrasts with that of Democrat Ralph Northam. The first thing we notice is that the candidates for governor are actually talking about Southwest Virginia and, indeed, rural Virginia in general. Thats a good thing, of course. However, were not convinced either candidate has ideas big enough and bold enough to match the urgency of the crisis that some localities face. For instance, the economic problems of many rural localities are entwined with a demographic crisis an unprecedented exodus of young adults. The GO Virginia economic development council for Southwest Virginia recently issued a report that warned the regions shrinking labor pool makes it hard not only to attract new employers, but also to retain existing ones. Meanwhile, demographers at the University of Virginias Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service have warned that the populations of the coal counties will decline even faster than they have been. Right now, the coalfields are losing about 600 people a year just through the natural process of deaths outnumbering births. People moving out simply add to that. Now, heres the problem: The region has a distinctly older population thats getting even older. Even if we could persuade everyone in the coalfields to stay home, over the next decade the population of the coalfields will start to decline by at least 1,300 to 1,800 per year because thats how much deaths will outnumber births. In reality, of course, some people will continue to move out, so the population declines will be even steeper. Just to stay even, the coalfields will need to import a lot more than 1,300 to 1,800 people per year. How does this even happen? Rural Canada has tried to fix a similar demographic collapse by encouraging immigration, but right now the United States is trying to cut back on immigration. Kansas has experimented with paying off college loans if young adults move into rural areas. Some rural communities in Manitoba and Nebraska have offered free or reduced building lots. Both Gillespie and Northam have some good ideas but neither go that far. Perhaps they should. Regardless, any compare/contrast must begin with all the places where the two candidates agree: n Both support expanding the University of Virginias College at Wise and adding graduate programs as a way to create a bigger economic engine in the heart of the coalfields. They have slightly different ideas. Northam wants to see UVA-Wise as a center for research into renewable energy, which fits into a larger theme that as coal declines, the coalfields should position themselves as a center for the next generation of energy. Gillespie proposes a more specific figure doubling the present enrollment of 2,099 and focusing on cybersecurity, a field that UVA-Wise is already specializing in. n Both have plans to extend broadband to rural areas. Northam doesnt offer a metric, but cites Minnesota has a model thats trying to get the whole state on broadband. Gillespie says hell cut the number of people unserved by broadband in half by the end of his term. n Both also support industrial hemp, which wouldnt transform anybodys economy but does have the niche potential to create a new industry in certain localities. n Both also support extending passenger rail from Roanoke to Bristol. Now we move on to the differences. Northam proposes to waive certain taxes on start-ups in economically-distressed areas for a period of two years, which he says will encourage entrepreneurs to set up shop in rural communities. Gillespie says his statewide, across-the-board tax cut would be a particular benefit to rural areas. He says thats because his tax cut would especially help small businesses and small businesses in rural areas are likely to have a disproportionate impact on the local economy. Now, here are the downsides of both: Northam is essentially proposing a variant of enterprise zones, which have had mixed results nationwide. Gillespies tax cut would take effect only if certain revenue triggers are met, so that could mean it might never happen but rural Virginia needs help now. Depending on your views on tax policies, both of these might be good ideas but neither is guaranteed to produce immediate results. Gillespie also wants to reinstate the coal tax credit, which Gov. Terry McAuliffe has blocked. That might save some coal jobs from disappearing, but at best can only slow the decline of the coal industry. It wont create a new economy to replace it. Thats the big picture we need the next governor to focus on. Beyond that, Gillespie offers up a lot more details. He proposes to host a red carpet tour for site selection consultants. That would be a good thing and such high-level attention shouldnt be discounted. Just keep in mind that site decisions involve a complex matrix of factors beyond simple salesmanship. The GO Virginia reports said the labor force in rural Virginia lacks the skills demanded by the 21st century economy. Northam has a somewhat complicated plan to get more students into community college, which would help address that. But neither he nor Gillespie go so far as Tennessee where the Republican governor proposed, and the Republican state legislature enacted, a free system for community college. Gillespie touts support for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which he says would create construction jobs in the region. Thats undoubtedly so; the question is whether the pipeline is worth the environmental trade-offs. Northam, of course, has said he takes no position on the pipeline, which has infuriated environmentalists even more than Gillespies embrace of natural gas. Gillespie also touts a plan to grow Virginias $21.9 billion outdoor industry whose epicenter is in the Southwest Virginia region. Part of that plan includes adding 50 new access points for put-ins on rivers. Its difficult to argue with that, although some would say its hard to promote an outdoors culture when were tearing up the mountains with a natural gas pipeline. So whos best for Southwest Virginia? That depends on what youre looking for. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. Amy Wortley and husband David, who are raising funds for cancer charities by organising a fundraising event at Thrybergh Top Club on October 21. 171753 TWO family traumas have prompted a couple to organise a special fundraising event to help cancer charities. Amy Wortley (31) and her husband David (37), of Bray Walk in Kimberworth Park, along with friend Stacey Goldsborough, have organised the money-spinning party and disco event at Thrybergh Working Mens Club on Saturday. Amy was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer, shortly after her 67-year-old mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now they want to give something back to two good causes which have helped them Weston Park Hospital and Cancer Research UK. Amy said: Its been quite a year. I lost an uncle and my mum was diagnosed with cancer, and about a week after that I got diagnosed with cancer. My mum and I have been supporting each other. I didnt realise how much these charities do until this happened. They support you so much. David, along with others, has raised 200 already with a Brave The Shave head shearing session planned as the main event on Saturday, courtesy of Rotherham hair salon Darcr gets Toxic. The event will kick off at 7pm and include activities such as face painting and the chance to win big prizes. Admission is free. Royal Asscher, renowned for cutting some of the worlds most celebrated diamonds, plans to open its largest, flagship store in the Ginza district of Tokyo in late November, the jeweler announced. The new two-story branch will feature the diamond stores current and traditional bridaI collections, and a VIP and high jewelry fIoor, the company said. As well as its retail offerings, the store will showcase a museum-styIe experience zone displaying artifacts from the Amsterdam-based diamond company, including the original tools it used to cut the Cullinan diamond in 1908. The two largest stones cut from the Cullinan, called Cullinan I and Cullinan 2, can be found among Britains crown jewels. Coinciding with the store opening, RoyaI Asscher will celebrate its Dutch heritage with a limited-edition jewelry collection, inspired by Dutch architecture and set with rare, natural orange diamonds, the national color of the Netherlands. Japan is a mature market that demands high-quality diamonds and fine jewelry by brands with a history, said Royal Asscher vice president Mike Asscher. As customers seek more brand experiences and interactions we are looking at new ways to bring our heritage and history to life for them to enjoy, he explained. The new flagship store continues Royal Asschers growth in Asia, adding to another store in Tokyo and branches in Beijing and Tianjin. Numerous important events took place during the last day of the Dubai Diamond Conference (DDC) 2017 organized by the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE), a Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) platform. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a keynote speech which addressed a range of issues, particularly the issue of sustainability and ethical business. The second day of the DDC saw an inauguration of Nemesis International, UAEs first diamond polishing facility. According to DMCC, it will complement the range of services that Dubai's diamond trade can offer, which include customs, insurance, banking, a Kimberley Process office, and international tenders of a wide range of rough diamonds among others. Later that day Ashit Mehta, Director of Aurostar, spoke about the challenges affecting the midstream of the diamond sector where diamond margins are dropping, followed by speeches of several mining ministers of important African diamond producing states. Meanwhile, Christie's displayed the 163.41-carat emerald-cut diamond owned by the Geneva-based luxury jeweller, De Grisogono. The auction house said it is the largest D-colour flawless diamond to ever come to auction. A panel on Lab-grown diamonds and their disclosure: Is there a problem sparked much debate. Among other topics that were discussed at the conference was the proposed KP reform; the impact of value added tax (VAT) or GST on wholesale diamond trading; diamond trading centres and diamond tenders. World Federation of Diamond Bourses President Ernie Blom praised the DDC, saying that it exhaustively covered the major issues affecting the industry as it brought together leading diamond trade figures from across the world covering all areas of the diamond pipeline. "In less than two days, the conference covered everything from sustainability to issues around undisclosed lab-grown diamonds, financing, reviewing the work of the Kimberley Process, the effect on the industry of the marketing trend of selling diamonds at tenders and auctions, and the impact on the trade in Dubai and India of VAT and the Goods and Services Tax, respectively. We became used to having really excellent discussions and networking opportunities at the two previous conferences, and this edition again provided an excellent platform for debates on a global scale by bringing together experts in many different fields," said Blom. A majority of voters think President Donald Trump does not care about the problems facing Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, according to the results of a new Quinnipiac University national poll. Fifty-two percent of voters said Trump does not care about the problems facing Puerto Rico, including 72 percent of Hispanic voters. Forty-three percent said they do think Trump cares. The poll also found that voters say 55 percent to 36 percent that Trump and his administration have not done enough to help Puerto Rico following the storm. On the other hand, voters say 57 percent to 27 percent that Trump and his administration have done enough to help Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Voters also say 57 percent to 26 percent that the president and his administration have done enough to help Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The survey was conducted before Trump's recent tweets indicating that federal aid for Puerto Rico cannot go on forever. Trump made a series of posts to Twitter about Puerto Rico on Thursday and seemed to hint at pulling out emergency responders. "We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!" Trump tweeted. The tweet from Trump came even though the Puerto Rican government says most of the island remains without power and only 55 percent of residents have telecommunications service. Responding to the tweet, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Trump of treating Puerto Ricans differently than other Americans when it comes to natural disasters. "FEMA needs to stay until the job is done and right now, it's not even close to done," Schumer tweeted. "There is still devastation, Americans are still dying. FEMA needs to stay until the job is done." The Quinnipiac survey of 1,482 voters was conducted October 5th through 10th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News (Agencia CMA Latam) - Colombian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luis Zuluaga welcomed a Chinese authority delegation to the South American country recently. Chinese inspectors intend to stay in Colombia until October 22 to evaluate quality procedures for the admissibility of Hass avocado imports into its . China is expected to become the world's largest importer of food in the near-term. Due to the growth of the Chinese middle class, the average income and the development of marketing channels in small and medium-sized cities, the demand for imported food increased in the Asian country. According to Zuluaga, the Chinese inspectors' visit to verify the Colombian exports is essential in a moment in which the South American country seek diversification of its agricultural products sales abroad, which in turn would influence the employment of rural people. China is the fourth largest importer of agricultural products in the world, purchasing US$ 58.399 billion in products abroad in 2016. 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. Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 670.17 billion yen in September, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That beat forecasts for a surplus of 556.8 billion yen following the downwardly revised 112.6 billion yen surplus in August (originally 113.6 billion yen). Exports climbed 14.1 percent on year 6.811 trillion yen, missing forecasts for a gain of 15.0 percent and down from 18.1 percent in the previous month. Exports to Asia climbed 18.7 percent on year to 3.704 trillion yen, while exports to China alone advanced an annual 29.3 percent to 1.284 trillion yen. Exports to the United States gained 11.1 percent on year to 1.297 trillion yen and exports to the European Union added an annual 11.5 percent to 766.435 billion yen. Imports picked up an annual 12.0 percent to 6.140 trillion yen versus expectations for 14.7 percent and down from 15.2 a month earlier. Imports from Asia jumped 7.7 percent on year to 3.085 trillion yen, while imports from China alone gained an annual 1.6 percent to 1.565 trillion yen. Imports from the United States were up 17.2 percent to 680.790 billion yen, while imports from the European Union gained 15.3 percent to 749.745 billion yen. The adjusted trade surplus was 240.3 billion yen, missing expectations for 309.2 billion yen and down from 367.3 billion yen in August. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Thales (THLEF.PK) reported nine-month sales of 10.3 billion euros, up 3.5% on an organic basis (up 3.0% on a reported basis) from previous year. Order intake amounted to 8.83 billion euros, down 14% from last year. Patrice Caine, CEO, said: "In the first nine months of the year, thanks to the commitment of our teams around the world, Thales has maintained a solid commercial momentum. Order intake is in line with our expectations and, unsurprisingly, lower than in the first nine months of 2016, which benefited from the Indian Rafale contract. We confirm all of our annual objectives, with the slight decline in sales in the third quarter due solely to phasing effects." Although below the highs recorded in 2015 and 2016, Thales expects order intake in 2017 at around 14 billion euros. The company expects mid-single digit organic growth in sales compared to 2016. Thales expects EBIT between 1.48 billion and 1.50 billion, representing an increase of 9% to 11% versus 2016. Thales also confirmed its mid-term objectives of mid-single digit organic sales growth on average in the 2016-2018 period, and an EBIT margin of between 9.5% and 10% in 2017/2018. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Homeserve Plc (HSV.L) reported that the Group had a good first six months and remains on track to deliver further strong growth in fiscal 2018. Statutory profit before tax was 21 million pounds for the six months ended 30 September 2017 compared to 22 million pounds in the prior year due to an increase in interest and amortisation charges as a result of investments and acquisitions in 2017. Adjusted profit before tax was flat year-over-year at 29 million pounds. Group adjusted operating profit was up 13% on prior year at 35 million pounds with the benefit of 2 million pounds in favourable exchange movements. Group revenue rose 17% to 366 million pounds, 12% on a constant currency basis. Richard Harpin, HomeServe Chief Executive, stated, "We have made excellent progress in the first six months of this financial year, with continued investment for growth in our UK and progress with key partners in France, Spain and Italy. We remain confident that we will deliver further strong growth in the full year." Separately, the Group announced, through HomeServe USA Repair Management Corp., it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain of the trade and assets of the home assistance cover business of Dominion Products and Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Dominion Energy, Inc based in Richmond, Virginia. The transaction has an enterprise value of $143 million. To fund the transaction and retain balance sheet strength, HomeServe has separately announced its intention to raise up to 125 million pounds by way of a cash placing, the equivalent of approximately 5% of issued share capital. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Swiss nutrition, and wellness giant Nestle SA (NSRGY,NSTR.L) reported Thursday a slight decline in reported sales for the nine-month period, reflecting divestments and negative currency impact. Organic sales growth was 2.6 percent, supported by improved real internal growth or RIG of 1.8 percent and pricing of 0.8 percent. Looking ahead, the company now projects trading operating profit margin to decrease by 40-60 basis points in constant currency. Nestle noted that its structural savings initiatives are progressing faster than originally planned, leading to an additional increase of 400 million francs to 500 million francs in restructuring and related expenses in 2017. The underlying trading operating profit margin for 2017 is set to improve by at least 20 basis points in constant currency, in line with the company's expectations. The company expects underlying earnings per share in constant currency and capital efficiency to increase. Further, Nestle confirmed its sales guidance for 2017, and now expects organic growth for the full year to be around the level of the nine-month period. For the nine-month period, sales edged down 0.4 percent to 65.27 billion Swiss francs from 65.51 billion francs in the prior year. The results reflected net divestments of 2.6 percent, mainly due to the creation of the Froneri joint venture, and negative foreign exchange effects of 0.4 percent. In the nine months, organic growth was 0.8 percent in developed and 5.1 percent in emerging markets. Zone Americas recorded sales of 20.49 billion francs, up 2 percent on a reported basis and 1.3 percent organically. Sales in North America remained flat, while Latin America maintained mid-single-digit organic growth. North America's pricing improved while Latin America's pricing declined. Zone Europe, Middle East and North Africa or Zone EMENA generated sales of 11.82 billion francs, down 9.4 percent on a reported basis, but up 1.9 percent on an organic basis. Zone Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa's sales increased 2 percent to 11.9 billion francs. Organic growth was strong, reaching 5.3 percent at the end of September. The company recorded slight growth in sales in Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO: "Our sales results for the nine-month period are in line with our expectations communicated in July. Organic sales growth continued to benefit from industry-leading volume growth, which illustrates our ability to innovate and meet consumer demand. Pricing remained soft..." In Switzerland, Nestle shares were trading at 84.15 francs, down 0.71 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News North Korea has made a scathing attack on President Donald Trump and his "America First" policies, calling him worse than Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The nuclear-armed reclusive Communist state had previously called Trump names like "lunatic" and "a frightened dog barking louder," and compared him to Hitler. Addressing the UN forum of world leaders recently, Trump mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission." Pyongyang's latest attack targeting the US President appeared in a commentary published Sunday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It said Washington is not qualified to talk about global peace, security and civilization because of the Trump administration's decision to withdraw the United States from UNESCO and the Paris Climate agreement. "The Trump group is mulling denying the payment of dues to the UN which it has used as a tool for hegemonism and imposing the payment on other member states. On June 1, it ruthlessly violated the Paris Agreement, the fruit of the common efforts of the international community to preserve global environment," the article read. "When the U. S., an arch criminal of wrecking global environment, announced it would withdraw from the agreement, the international community branded its move as an 'act surpassing the toxic gas atrocities by Hitler' and a 'crime to annihilate humankind by making the whole green planet a room filled with toxic gas,'" it added. Provoked by North Korea's ballistic missile tests in recent months targeting his country, the US President told the UN General Assembly last month that if forced to defend itself or its allies, the United States will totally destroy the Communist nation. The North Korean leader retorted by warning that Trump will "pay dearly" for it. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Myanmar Wholesale of Maplewood, Minnesota announced the recall of all packages of Thanlwin brand Fried Bean Snack due to presence of undeclared peanuts. There are no reports of any illness to date. The recall was initiated after the State of New York, Department of Agriculture found the product to contain whole peanuts. The packaging does not reveal the presence of peanuts. People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction, if they consume these products. Thanlwin Fried Bean Snack is contained in an 8 oz. (227g) plastic bag which is blue, yellow, and white on the front and clear on the backside and was distributed nationwide thru ethnic retail grocery stores. There is no code or expiration date on the package and contains UPC code 7 84682-00095 3 on front side of package. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Alice Cooper was joined by Bob Geldof during his recent concert at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia for an encore performance of Alice's 1972 hit "School's Out." Geldof was reportedly in town to speak at a Telethon fundraising lunch. "Surprise! Sir Bob Geldoff joined Alice Cooper on stage @pertharena tonight to sing School's Out, even segueing into his "pink" character Another Brick In The Wall. Incredible close to an epic show," one fan posted to Instagram of the surprise duet, along with a photo of Cooper and Geldof doing their thing onstage. Cooper's show in Perth was the first date of his thirteenth tour of Australia, which features former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley as direct support. The trek consists of seven concerts marking the fortieth anniversary of Alice's first tour Down Under. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Entertainment News While the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary is more than two years away, a new survey from the University of New Hampshire has provided an early look at the potentially pivotal contest. The Granite State Poll showed Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are the early frontrunners on the Democratic side. In an open-ended question about whom they would support, 58 percent of likely Democratic primary voters are undecided or could not provide a name. Fourteen percent named Sanders, while Biden and last year's Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were each mentioned by five percent. Another 4 percent mentioned Warren and 3 percent named Congressman Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass. When provided with a list of potential candidates for the Democratic nomination, 31 percent chose Sanders, who won the New Hampshire primary in 2016. Biden came in second at 24 percent followed by Warren at 13 percent. The poll showed lower levels of support for other potential candidates such as Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, and Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, the survey results provided some potential warning signs for President Donald Trump's bid for a second term in the White House. Forty-seven percent of likely Republican primary voters said they plan on voting for Trump in 2020, although 23 percent said they plan to vote for another candidate. Thirty percent don't know or are unsure. At the same point in his presidency, 64 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they planned on voting for President Barack Obama in the 2012 primary. The survey of 573 New Hampshire adults was conducted October 3rd through 15th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News (Agencia CMA Latam) - A Brazilian House of Representatives Committee voted in favor of shielding President Michel Temer from a trial for corruption. The decision must be endorsed by the House floor and was widely expected by investors. Temer was charged for the second time this year in September, when public prosecutors accused him of leading a criminal group that received at least R$ 587 million (US$ 187 million) in graft payments. The complaint says that Temer and other members of his political party (PMDB), including current cabinet members, used public companies and agencies to commit crimes in exchange for money. Prosecutors also say that Temer and other PMDB politicians engineered a plan to oust Dilma Rousseff from the Presidency last year because of a perceived lack of effort from her government to stop investigations about corruption schemes. Temer denied the charges and said that he is the victim of a conspiracy plot. The charges were submitted to the House of Representatives because the Brazilian Constitution requires authorization from the lower house of Congress to any presidential trial. Wednesday night, the Brazilian House of Representatives' Committee on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship approved by 39 to 26 votes a report advising lawmakers to shelve the complaint against Temer. The report says that there are "insufficient elements" to admit the charge. If the House floor endorses the report, prosecutors will have to wait for Temer to step down to proceed with the trial. If the floor decides to authorize the trial, Temer can be removed from office for up to 180 days and leave the presidency if found guilty. 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. Marking the auspicious occasion of Diwali, India on Thursday promised medical visas all those people abroad, including in Pakistan, seeking treatment. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted. Keeping to a promise made on Independence Day, India on Wednesday issued six more medical visas to Pakistani nationals, including three children. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your eight-year-old child in India," Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Wednesday night in response to a request from Nazir Ahmed who said that his son Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting a medical visa from India for one year. In a separate tweet, she also promised a visa to Muhammad Asif Malik's son, who is currently in an intensive care unit (ICU) in children's hospital in Lahore, and to Kasif Chacha's child who is running out of medicine. Visas were also issued to Irfan Ahmed Shaikh, Nasir Mahmood and the mother of Rafique Menon for liver surgeries. This month, Sushma Swaraj has announced the issuance of 19 medical visas to Pakistanis for treatment in India. Last month, India issued a medical visa to a Pakistani child seeking open heart surgery. On Independence Day, the External Affairs Ministry had announced that India would provide medical visas to all bonafide Pakistani patients. As ties between the two countries soured over various issues, the ministry had announced in May that only a letter of recommendation by then Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz would enable a Pakistani national to get a medical visa for India. The action was termed "highly regrettable" by Islamabad, which said that asking for such a letter violated diplomatic norms and such a requirement had not been prescribed for any other country. However, on July 18, a patient from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, seeking treatment in New Delhi for liver tumour, got a visa. Sushma Swaraj then said that he needed no recommendation from the Pakistani government for a medical visa because the territory "is an integral part of India". Since August 15, however, Pakistani nationals seeking medical treatment have not been denied visas. North Korea on Thursday strongly condemned naval manoeuvers that the US is presently carrying out with South Korea on the peninsula, and threatened to launch an "unimaginable strike" against them. Pyongyang's Emergency Measure Committee for Opposing Nuclear War Drills criticised Washington's mobilisation of nuclear strategic assets in a statement issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reports Efe news. The Pentagon has deployed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and two destroyers, among other ships, for the naval manoeuvers, which will last until Oct. 20. "The US is running amuck by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face an unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time," the statement read. The North Korean committee also said that Washington has also deployed the nuclear submarine USS Michigan, although this has not been officially confirmed. "This proves that the US and South Korean puppet authorities are attempting to ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost while watching for an opportunity after making its 'pre-emptive attack'," against North Korea, it added. The drills between the naval forces of the US and South Korea come amid escalated tensions in the region and shortly after Pyongyang conducted its latest weapons tests including a nuclear test on September 3 and the launch of a missile that flew over Japan on September 15. WASHINGTON (AP) Millions of Americans would lose a prized tax break under President Donald Trump's sweeping revamp of the tax code, but corporations would get to keep it. The Republican proposal would eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a widely popular break used by some 44 million Americans, especially in high-tax, Democratic-leaning states like New York, New Jersey, California and Illinois. But corporations, which pay billions in local property levies and state income taxes, wouldn't be affected. Republicans are determined to overhaul the nation's tax system by year's end, offering a plan that lowers the corporate tax rate from 36 percent to 20 percent and reduces the number of tax brackets. Trump and the GOP cast the plan as a boon to the middle class. Meeting at the White House on Wednesday with members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, Trump said, "this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, in my opinion." Democratic members of the committee remained united in opposition to the current plan, said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat. He said their message to the president was: "You fix it (the tax system) with real tax relief that helps the middle class. You don't give tax cuts to people like him (Trump)." Toward the end of the meeting, Trump issued a thinly veiled threat to Democratic senators, according to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Most of the Democratic members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee who were invited are up for re-election next year in states Trump won in 2016. Brown is among them. Brown said Trump told them, "I couldn't imagine being a Democrat and running in 2018 having voted against" the GOP tax legislation. The plan is still evolving with lawmakers filling in the blanks, but the proposed repeal of the state and local deduction has divided Republicans. Ending the deduction would affect individuals and companies unevenly. If Amazon, now being frantically courted by dozens of cities, decided to locate its new second headquarters in Westchester County north of New York City, an affluent suburban area in one of the highest-tax states, the tech commerce behemoth still would be able to claim state and local taxes as a regular business expense, on par with items like buying machine parts. But the company's employees living in the area wouldn't be so lucky: They'd take a financial hit from losing the ability to deduct their state and local taxes from their federal income calculations. Trump and his Republican partners in the nearly $6 trillion tax overhaul plan push back against the idea that it would benefit mainly wealthy people and corporations. And they say the rest of the country shouldn't have to subsidize wealthier states like California and New York whose residents use the state and local tax deduction in large numbers. Defenders of the state-local deduction, including several GOP House members, say repealing it would hurt low- to mid-income taxpayers, subject them to being taxed twice and enable a federal revenue grab on the backs of homeowners who pay property taxes. The bare-bones tax framework leaves a pack of details to be determined by Congress. Yet the blueprint as written indicates that the deduction of expenses deemed an "ordinary and necessary" cost of doing business would mostly remain, and would continue to include state and local tax payments. The only business deduction specifically set for elimination is one that allows U.S. manufacturers to deduct costs related to production such as building plants. Several experts confirmed that reading of the tax framework, including Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Rosenthal, who previously worked as legislative counsel to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, said he expects lawmakers to continue to allow the business expense deduction. As with many aspects of the Republican tax plan, "the money basically goes to corporations and big business. It's unfair," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. To be sure, small businesses too can deduct state and local taxes as business expenses. But many more billions of dollars are at stake for large corporations, especially those with plants and operations in high-tax states. Trump and the tax plan's Republican architects eye the roughly $1.3 trillion in lost revenue over 10 years that the state and local tax deduction costs the government. They want to recoup it to help pay for the deep tax cuts, especially for business, proposed in the far-reaching plan. At its core, the overall plan would double the standard deduction, to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families; dramatically cut taxes for corporations and potentially for individuals; shrink the number of personal income brackets; and simplify the tax system. Trump and the Republican leaders promise that the plan would benefit middle-class families by lowering tax rates, creating new jobs and sparking economic growth. But there are too many gaps in the proposal to know how it actually would affect individual taxpayers and families, how it would be paid for and how much it might add to the soaring $20 trillion national debt. The chief architects of the tax plan in Congress say nothing is written in stone. Spokeswomen for the leaders, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who heads the Senate Finance Committee, declined to comment specifically on the divergent treatment for companies on state and local taxes. They did point to earlier statements by the two Republican leaders indicating that everything in the tax framework is subject to change. Hatch will work with members of his committee to examine all aspects of the plan and decide on possible changes, said spokeswoman Julia Lawless. Brady has signaled willingness to compromise on full repeal of the state and local deduction. BEIRUT (AP) U.S.-backed Syrian forces were removing land mines and clearing roads in the northern city of Raqqa on Wednesday, a day after commanders said they had driven the Islamic State group from its de facto capital. Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said preparations were underway for a formal declaration of the city's liberation. The SDF said Tuesday that military operations in Raqqa have ended and that their troops have taken full control of the city. The U.S.-led coalition cautioned that the clearing operations would continue, saying some 100 militants may still be hiding in the city. On Wednesday, the spokesman for the coalition, Col. Ryan Dillon, tweeted that 95 percent of the city is now under full control as clearing operations continue. The coalition stressed that the SDF has been successful in holding onto captured territory because of its thorough clearing procedures, which prevent counterattacks. Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy for the coalition, said he was in northern Syria to prepare for the defeat of the militants. He said the United States will help in clearing explosives as well as restoring services in the city. McGurk posted a photograph Wednesday of surrendering IS militants, saying: "Once purported as fierce, now pathetic and a lost cause." He said IS lost nearly 6,000 militants in Raqqa before surrendering in large numbers. The White House says the imminent liberation of the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa will open a new phase in the Syrian conflict. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed the Syrian government for hindering previous efforts to free Raqqa. Aid and charity organizations have warned of the high cost borne by civilians. In the neighboring Deir el-Zour province, where the SDF and Russian-backed Syrian troops are waging separate offensives against the militants, nearly half a million civilians remain trapped by the fighting, the International Rescue Committee said late Tuesday. The U.N. refugee agency said that in the last few days, around 40,000 Raqqa residents arrived in already overcrowded displacement camps in the province, warning of the danger of land mines and unexploded ordnance. The fall of Raqqa marks a major defeat for the extremist group, which has seen its self-styled Islamic caliphate steadily shrink since summer. IS took over Raqqa, located on the Euphrates River, in 2014 and transformed it into the epicenter of its brutal rule. The group still holds territory to the south of Raqqa and in Deir el-Zour, as well as smaller pockets elsewhere in Syria and Iraq. On Wednesday, fierce clashes were reported between the SDF and IS militants in the group's last strip of land in Hassakeh province, to the east of Raqqa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported intense clashes between forces allied with the Syrian government and IS militants. A media outlet affiliated with the Syrian military said a senior commander who led the fight against IS in Deir el-Zour was killed Wednesday in operations against the group. The Central Military Media described Brig. Gen. Issam Zahreddine, 56, as one of the most important field commanders in the Syrian army, saying he was instrumental in breaking a nearly three-year IS siege on the city of Deir el-Zour earlier this year. The Lebanese Al-Manar TV, which is close to the Syrian government, said a land mine killed him. Zahreddine maintained a government presence in Deir el-Zour despite the prolonged siege on his forces. The siege was breached in September in a Russian-backed offensive, and the government and allied troops have since retaken most of the city. Zahreddine also led government offensives against armed opposition in the central Homs province and near the capital, Damascus, in the earlier days of the Syrian conflict. In comments widely played after Deir el-Zour's siege was breached, Zahreddine warned those who fled the country not to return because the army "will never forget or forgive." He later apologized on state TV. The good news is that Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is reportedly recovering well. And if all goes according to plan he should be back in the country on Sunday. The progress of his recovery, without a doubt, is music to the ears of a nation that had been praying for his swift healing after the news broke about his medical evacuation to New Zealand two weeks ago. Up until now, we still have not been told officially about the P.M.s condition and what led to his evacuation. All the government has said is that it is a precautionary medical trip based on the advice of doctors at Motootua. Lets hope that is the case. But it would seem odd that a precautionary trip would involve a medivac, wouldnt it? But then that doesnt matter now. Whats more important is that Prime Minister Tuilaepa is making good progress in terms of his recovery and God willing; we should see him again in action next week. Its something Acting Prime Minister, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, can probably hardly wait for. After a couple of weeks in P.M. Tuilaepas big boots, he can now probably understand the pressure that comes with the role and why Tuilaepa is sometimes cranky like he is. You see, on top of having to run the administration of a nation, Tuilaepas other role within the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P) was just as critical in terms of keeping it together. And it only needed him to be away from his throne for a couple of weeks for the kingdom to begin to unravel. It surfaced on Sunday when Member of Parliament, Faumuina Wayne Fong, revealed an underground power struggle for the Prime Ministership position. The Member of Parliament told the Sunday Samoan there are certain members of the Party who have been campaigning for votes should something happen to the Prime Minister. I find it absolutely disgusting, Faumuina said. This is all happening while our Prime Minister is in New Zealand undergoing a medical check up. How can they think like that? These people are driven by the hunger for power they will stop at nothing to get what they want. Faumuina went as far as to confirm that he had been approached by a certain party member. I declined the offer based on so many factors. But the most critical for me is the fact that these people are power hungry people who are self-centered. They will do anything to get to the helm. I call it the small party made up of small-minded people. Here they are rallying up other people to select a leader when our leader is overseas getting his medical check up. We should be up in arms praying for our leader and not do this while hes on his bed being sick. Well Faumuina makes a lot of sense. But just dont say that to another H.R.P.P member and Faleatas Member of Parliament, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, who immediately challenged him to cough up the names of the so-called members of the H.R.P.P who are conspiring to take over the Prime Ministership role. This is not right, Leala said. As a member of the H.R.P.P., theres nothing going on in our party nor is there any underground jostling for the Prime Ministership position among certain members as mentioned by Faumuina in the paper. Leala added if Faumuina thought he was doing Tuilaepa a favour, he clearly wasnt. Hes adding more pressure on the shoulders of our leader. So for the Prime Minister, he should be assured that nothing is happening unless Faumuina Wayne reveals who he is talking about. Really? Nothing? Well obviously Acting Prime Minister Papalii thinks there is something. Thats why he is on a mission to get to the bottom of it before Prime Minister Tuilaepa returns. As far as I know, these are just speculations of a small party who are small minded, Papalii said. I am not really concerned about them and their motives. I am meeting with Faumuina Wayne this afternoon (Wednesday) because I need to know what is going on. Im meeting him for information to be relayed to the Prime Minister when he calls and I will tell him what is going on. But for me I cannot comment on what is going on because I dont know who are behind this and like Faumuina said they are small-minded people. Now this group of small-minded people phrase seems to be tossed around a fair bit these days. So who are they? I mean I hear speculations here and there from other members of Parliament and I think its time the identities of people behind this should be revealed, Papalii said. I will meet him this afternoon and then I will get those names and report back to the Prime Minister. Perhaps Papalii should go one step further. He should also tell members of the public about who is in this group of small-minded people so all doubts can finally be removed. What do you think? Stay tuned! World leaders must do more to address climate change and its impact on Samoa and other small island states. Thats the message from Member of Parliament, Lenatai Victor Tamapua, to world leaders. Lenatai is attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union (I.P.U) General Assembly being held in St Petersburg, Russia. He joined forces with fellow Pacific Parliamentarians from Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Fiji and Federated States of Micronesia to ensure the voice of Pacific small island developing states (S.I.D.S) was heard loud and clear by global leaders. As Parliaments, we have a key role to play in terms of legislation, budget allocation and also oversight to make sure that policies are being effectively implemented, Lenatai said. Samoa is in a similar position to that of other island states that we have heard from today. Climate change is central to our country, to all development work and to our future. From healthcare to agriculture, from fisheries to transport all of these issues will be impacted by climate change. In the Pacific, the focus is on adaptation. We need to move villages away from low-lying areas. We need to make sure our schools and hospitals are located in areas that will not be flooded when king tides come. Weather patterns are changing and impacting on our traditional way of life. We need to build sea walls to protect our communities. All of this costs money money that small island developing states are expected to cover even though we are not the countries that have created this climate change crisis. Lenatai also called for the amendment of the I.P.U outcome statement in two ways. Make a clear commitment that temperature rises must be limited to 1.5 degrees. Parliaments need to lead on this issue and make government of the large polluting countries do more, he said. Secondly, mention in the outcome statement that we need to simplify the process for small vulnerable countries to receive climate finance to pay for these adaptation measures. The system currently is so complicated and bureaucratic that many of the most vulnerable states find it difficult to access these funds. On behalf of the Parliament of Samoa, thank you. For the first time, a meetings of S.I.D.S Parliaments was held and an outcome statement from S.I.D.S Parliaments was developed. The outcome statement was presented to the I.P.U by the Seychelles Parliament who co-hosted the S.I.D,S meeting with the Fiji Parliament. The S.I.D.S parliament meeting at the I.P.U General Assembly was organised with the assistance and support of U.N.D.P. In order for the Police to launch an investigation into anything, an official complaint has to be filed with Ministry of Police. Thats the response from Police Superintendent, Salaa Sale Salaa, to questions as to what action the Police have taken after the Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, confirmed that Customs had confiscated a container allegedly smuggled into the country using falsified documents. We cannot do anything unless an official complaint is filed with the Police, said Salaa. It was put to Salaa that members of the public were concerned that its been a month and yet the matter has yet to be settled. He was asked whether the case has been referred to the Police. There are certain cases where we do act without an official complaint, he said. However, for the case in which are you inquiring about, because it is a government ministry, we cannot interfere with their procedures, they have to file a complaint before we can actually step in. He explained the Ministry of Police cannot act based on a news story. Again we have to get an official comment from the said Ministry before we can launch an investigation, said Salaa. I can confirm that we have not received an official complaint from the Ministry of Revenue. The Minister can say what he wants to say on the news, but that does not necessarily mean we have to act on it because its been published in your paper. Last month, Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt said the container belonged to a businessman running a furniture store. He was not at liberty to divulge the identity of the man. The red flag arose with the increasing number of containers that had been imported, he said. Usually this company brings in two containers but this time it had increased to five. The manifest indicated the items in the container were furniture but we found out they were not. All five containers were released under the Customs Green Lane List. When the Ministry became suspicious, they demanded further information. They were never provided by the local business and then we had to step in and to confiscate the containers. By the time we got to the containers there was only one left and we took 2,300 soda cases. Despite the distance of some 15,654 kilometers, this Polish couple were really keen to experience Samoa. So they took the long flight or flights for that matter. A few days after they left their home, they arrive. And their verdict so far? Its worth the long trip, they say. Dear Tourist caught up with the couple during the cultural tour at the Samoa Tourism Authority Cultural Village yesterday. We chose Samoa because we wanted to go somewhere that is tourist- oriented and just simple, said Mr. Jaynisiow. We also wanted to go to a country that is Christian-oriented as well because we are Catholics and so we looked up Samoa and we saw that it has all that we wanted to see and experience. We arrived on Wednesday night and we are staying at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel which is very convenient because its close to town. We also saw that there will be a cultural tour and that is why we came because we wanted to learn about the Samoan culture as well as the life style. Its our first day and so far so good, we learned about your Samoan food, how the people used to live and also your traditional tattoo. Mrs. Jaynisiow went on to say that it is very hard to find places that are just simple. We chose here because its an absolutely unique country and its further from Australia and Bali and from the commercialized countries, she said. Here is tourist-oriented and its just simple and that is why we chose here. Its so hard to find a country that is more isolated and its hard to get here as well. We are here for one week and we will be leaving next week Wednesday. This is our first time here and we love it because from where we come from, its always cold and we were looking for somewhere sunny and where the weather is hot because we wanted to enjoy the beaches. Its amazing how the Samoan people live, its just plain simple. And also how extended families all live together thats something different back home we are so used to just us and our children and when they get to a certain age they leave home as well. Not only did the communal way of living mesmerize the couple, our umu definitely was the icing on the adventurous escape. Learning about how you make your food its just different we are so used to the oven but here looking at how you make earth oven is just amazing. All the food that were cooked inside the earth oven came out perfect its just amazing. This is just what we wanted to be able to go to a very strange place and learn about their living standard. Its a pity that we are only here for just a week but we hope to see as much as we can so that we can plan for our next trip and we will definitely come to spend a lot more than just a week here, said Mr. Jaynisiow So far the people are just very generous, Samoan people have a great sense of humor and they really know how to crack a joke. Its just funny and we are happy that we made the right choice and hopeful we will get to go to other villages and learn from there as well. The couple said their experience was surely their ticket to return to our shores. The life of a long serving public servant and former Electoral Commissioner, Tanuvasa Meleisea Matauitaua Isitolo Lemisio, was celebrated during his final service yesterday at St. Theresa Lepea Parish. Tanuvasa passed away on 9 October 2017. He was 69. Acting Prime Minister, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, and other government officials were among the dignitaries who joined the family and friends to witness Tanuvasas farewell. In his eulogy, Acting Prime Minister, Papalii Niko Lee Hang paid tribute to Tanuvasa. Tanuvasa is an honest public servant, he was a hardworking person during his time in the government, said Papalii. I used to work with Tanuvasa at the Public Trust Office back in the days and I found him a very reliable person who loved serving the people of Samoa with honesty, Papalii said. At that time at the Public Trust, there was no lawyer so Tanuvasa was my legal advisor for estates issues. He was a trustworthy and humble person. You could hardly tell if something was wrong with Tanuvasa because he always turned up happy with cheerful smile on his face every day. People who know him that well will find it hard to forget Tanuvasa. Death is real and the truth is that we walk in the shadow of death every day. To my brother Tanuvasa, may you rest in peace! His wife, Silia Tanuvasa, described her husband as a loving and an ambitious father and grandfather. Hes a loving father to so many children and like any other father in the world; Tanuvasa loved and adored not only his children, but also his grandchildren and family. We miss you and we love you so much! Tanuvasa is survived by his wife, 14 children and eight grandchildren. Among them is his son and incumbent Electoral Commissioner, Faimalo Mathew Lemisio. HIS LIFE Tanuvasa Meleisea Matauitaua Isitolo Lemisio was born on the 4th of March 1948 to Le Mamea Tauti Pine Lemisio of Lefaga, Nofoalii, Saleimoa, Lotofaga, Vaiee and Iulia Mareko Matalavea of Vailele. He has seven siblings and is married to Silia Tanuvasa from Saleaumua Aleipata. He attended Marist Brothers School, Chanel College, St Patricks College Sliverstream, Wellington New Zealand and Flinders University Adelaide, South Australia. He first worked as a News Editor for Radio 2AP from 1975-1976 before he became the Head of Clerk Station at the Legislative Assembly from 1976-1979. He later worked as a Clerk of the Legislative Assembly from 1980-1988. Tanuvasa was then employed as a reporter for Samoa News newspaper in American Samoa in 1989-1990 before being the Estates Manager for the Samoa Public Trust Office from 1991-1997. In 1989-2000, he became a Press Secretariat at the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet then Registrar of Electors and Voters from 2001-2002. From 2003-2012, Tanuvasa worked as the Electoral Commissioner for Samoa. He has roots in Lefaga, Nofoalii, Saleimoa, Lotofaga, Vaiee and Vailele. To our dearest Papa! To us you were many great things, a husband who loved, a father that deeply cared, a friend and grandfather, whose strength was beyond compared When hardships dawned, you remained strong and true, We are and will always be inspired by you Although you had to leave us we rejoice and are blessed, to know that under Gods wings, is where you finally rest. Sommer Lemisio (granddaughter) Most visitors to Samoa find out about the place through different means. For most of them, they would have heard about Samoa in relation to Manu Samoa rugby, Seiuli the Rock Johnson and of course our world heavyweight champion, Lupesoliai Joseph Parker. But for a young female from Vietnam, Robin Ton, she heard about Samoa in a very different way. The first time I heard about Samoa was through the movie Moana, she told Dear Tourist. That was the first time I have ever heard of such a country and immediately I said to my friends one day I will be going to this country. I must see this country because this is one of the first movies made in the Pacific that I have watched and I must see what Samoa is like. So when my friend and I got the chance for a holiday I straight away told her thats it were going to come to Samoa. The young lady began her research on the internet to get more information about Samoa. When we finally got all the information that we needed, we paid our fares and came to see this very strange place, she said. It took us more than 12 hours to fly from Vietnam to New Zealand, and then 3 and half hours from New Zealand to our destination. We arrived on Wednesday night and we are staying at the Olivia Accommodation. Ms. Ton said one of the places that really drew her attention was the To Sua Trench. That place really caught my eye, she said. [And] it is a must for me to visit that place because its unique and I just cant wait to go and jump off that place. Today I am here at the cultural village because I wanted to learn more about the culture as well as the people. I wanted to get some ideas of where the people of Samoa are from and hopefully I will get something from this tour. I also wanted to learn about the Samoan traditional tattoo, it looks painful and I just want to know whether everyone in Samoa should get this tattoo or are there certain people who get this. There is so much to learn in just seven days but hopefully I will learn all that I need to know and who knows maybe when I get back home Ill write an essay about my experience about Samoa. Moreover, Ms. Ton said when all is well, she will definitely return to visit but hopefully stay a little bit longer. The answer to addressing the high cost of living nowadays is to work hard. For Atonio Pati of Moamoa, he is diligently looking for work. He knows nothing can be achieved by doing nothing and expecting life to turn out merrier in the end. We must work, work and work as long as we live, he said. The man from Moamoa met the Village Voice team while on his way to pick up his son from school. The cost of living in Samoa is high and expensive at the moment and I guess it depends on how much the person spends. I live together with my parents, my wife and kid and one older brother and his wife. He says he is looking for a job to cope with the cost of living as well as to support him and his family. Right now I think the best way to cope with this high cost of living is getting a job to help my familys source of income. I am very good with carpentry work and would love to get hired by any construction company if needed. Atonio said his wife was the one supporting him and their child with whatever she earned from her job. He is responsible for taking their son to school every day. Our son is in primary school and that is my job right now, I am the one whos responsible for dropping and picking him up from school and cooking here at home. Atonio also acknowledged the brotherhood bond and the positive side of living together with his brother. I am grateful because my brother and his wife are both working so sometimes if I dont have money I will ask him and thats how we are most of the time. I am hoping to get a job as soon as possible so I can help and assist my family with the high cost of living in Samoa. If you want to help Atonio, contact him on 729-0779. Less than a week before the San Diego City Council is to consider new short-term rental regulations, the City Attorneys office Wednesday released a memo that raises numerous legal questions about a proposal that appeared to have the best chance of gaining consensus. At issue is a proposal unveiled last month by four of the nine council members that would largely let most home-sharing activities continue, although with some restrictions relating to minimum stays in the beach areas and the number of investor properties that could be rented out. Many of those provisions, though, raise questions of equal protection by imposing different regulations for different types of short-term rental hosts, says City Attorney Mara Elliott. She also points out that some of the fees recommended for generating revenues to help enforce new rental regulations could be interpreted as taxes and would require voter approval. Advertisement Without any guidance on how to make these proposals work from the legal perspective, I dont see how we could move forward on Monday with any pieces of this, said Councilman David Alvarez, one of the four council members who released the compromise proposal. There are some very specific legal objections being raised over multiple pieces of our proposal. We were trying to reach a point of consensus on how to legally allow these rentals while also protecting neighborhoods by avoiding excessive partying, building in an affordable housing fee, capping rentals so that its not an investor-driven activity but now we have no guidance on whether we can do any of that. San Diegos elected leaders have been wrestling with how to regulate the explosion of Airbnb-type rentals for the last 2- years, but multiple public hearings so far have not yielded any consensus on a set of acceptable rules. Hosts have argued that the city should not be taking away their property rights by over-regulating vacation rentals, while residents in single-family neighborhoods have complained that their quiet communities have been overrun by mini hotels. Elliott earlier this year issued an opinion concluding that such rentals are unlawful because they are not identified anywhere in the citys municipal code, but the city has not been enforcing that ruling. On Monday, the citys planning department will present council members with a range of three proposed ordinances, ranging from the most permissive to the most restrictive, which would limit the rental of entire homes to no more than 90 days a year. Also up for discussion will be proposals drafted by individual council members. Councilwoman Barbara Bry, whose district includes the La Jolla area, has proposed that homeowners be allowed to rent out only their primary residences on a short-term basis for no more than 90 days a year. In contrast, the proposal from Council Members Alvarez, Chris Ward, Scott Sherman and Mark Kersey would allow owners to rent out up to three properties on a short-term basis, and a three-night minimum stay would be required in San Diegos coastal areas. Elliotts legal concerns about singling out primary residents from other types of rental hosts seems to apply to Brys proposal as well. Treating primary residents who wish to allow for the short-term use of their dwelling unit differently from those who are not primary residents requires a rational relationship between the requirement that the property be an applicants primary residence and a permissible state objective. It is unclear what permissible state objective would be met by this requirement. Both Bry and Ward said Wednesday they could not comment on the memo because they had not yet read it. Elliott also has equal protection concerns with the limitations on how many properties a homeowner can rent out, as well as the three-night minimum stay on the coast because of possible conflicts with the state Coastal Act. Said Alvarez, The breaking news is there wont be anything done on Monday. Business lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-2251 Twitter: @loriweisberg It was the giant chicken alongside the road that started it. A handful of people attending the weekly Tuesday protest outside Rep. Darrell Issas Vista office found tickets on their cars for infractions including five with no front license plate. There were a total of seven tickets issued, six for parking and one moving violation. Advertisement One woman found herself pulled over and cited for honking her horn in support as she drove past the crowd of roughly 300 protesters. And the sole President Trump supporter at the event also got a ticket, a $56 citation for parking his motorcycle the wrong way, with the nose pointed to the curb instead of to the street. The citations ruffled feathers, and a few protesters said the sight of the deputy double parked while writing a ticket was far more distracting for drivers than the giant chicken. They were creating an incredible traffic problem themselves, said Ellen Montanari, who has emerged as the rally organizer. She said such aggressive ticketing has never happened before, ever during the event. Authorities said the citations were not intended to be harassment, nor did politics come into play. A deptuty speaks with a driver he pulled over Tuesday during the weekly rally outside Rep. Darrell Issas office. ((Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune) ) The problem Tuesday seems to have started with a 20-foot-tall inflatable chicken with orange-gold hair, a new addition to the attention-seeking protests held just about every week since the inauguration. The chicken was on the dirt, not in the road. The sheriffs lieutenant who monitors the rallies said he was concerned the big bird was a safety problem and a traffic hazard, including a distraction for drivers passing by, so he took action to address the matter. It wasnt targeting anybody in particular, Lt. Mike Munsey said. Its a traffic and parking citation. It doesnt have anything to do with a political issue. First, he said, he contacted city code enforcement officers, and sent them a picture to ask if the inflatable fowl violated any city codes. He said he was told it did not. Vista spokeswoman Andrea McCullough said the City Attorney determined the chicken was linked to the protest, and thus protected by free speech rights unless it had obstructed traffic. Munsey said he then called for a traffic enforcement deputy. At some point, the deputy ran out of tickets, and had to have more brought out to him. Capt. Chuck Cinnamo, who runs the Sheriffs station in Vista, said the deputy was called to the area to look for traffic violators. Once out there, authorities spotted and cited other parking violations. (They were) out there to make sure that some of the safety concerns were addressed, but it doesnt mean we are not going to enforce the law when we are out there, Cinnamo said. He said that his department has fielded complaints about all the cars parked on the street, including from people who live in a gated community near Issas office. I could see if you said it was harassment if we were out there repeatedly doing petty enforcement, he said. This is in response to safety concerns raised and brought to us. Since the rallies started, it has been commonplace for passing motorists to hit the horn and wave support as they drive by the gathering. There is usually at least one deputy at the event, sometimes more. According to sheriffs officials, there has been one other person cited (in June) for honking their horn in the hour before, during or after the weekly rallies since the start of the year. One driver was ticketed in February for illegally stopping, and two others were cited in March for parking in a red zone. Since Dec. 20, 2016, the sheriffs department has received 18 calls for service including traffic hazards and illegal parking on the block in question on Tuesday mornings. The rallies, which routinely draw 200 to 300 people, including many retirees, have themselves drawn controversy, because of noise, high turnout and safety concerns. The protesters have since instituted rules, from running a yellow rope to keep people on the sidewalk and out of the street, to establishing crossing guards of sorts. Oceanside resident Susan Porter was the motorist ticketed Tuesday for honking her horn. She had been in the crowd, but went to move her car, fearing that she may have parked too close to a fire hydrant (although the curb is not painted red in front of it). The 63-year-old said she gave two beeps, three times and my horn is the wimpiest in the world as she drove by the crowd to find a new spot. That, she said, is when a deputy pulled a U-turn and pulled her over. If nobody had ever blown their horn in front of the rally before, I wouldnt have blown my horn, Porter said. Porter said she plans to fight the ticket, and called the citations harassment and intimidation. Its not so much the ticket thats the bummer for me, Porter said. The bummer for me is that I have a lot of respect for police they have a tough job and this has just diminished that (good feeling). Issa was not even in the country. A senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Issa has been in the Middle East as a part of a congressional delegation mission. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4945 Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT The parent of a Cathedral Catholic High School student has been charged with supplying students with marijuana and prescription pills, an investigation prompted after the parents of one minor found pills in their childs room. According to court documents, investigators suspect the woman, 48-year-old Kimberly Quach, used a teenager to sell marijuana to students of Cathedral Catholic, a private school in Carmel Valley, as well as to students from La Jolla. A search warrant affidavit filed Oct. 3 by San Diego police investigators alleges that Quach showed the teenager how to make the sales, and that the teen collected customer money in cash and through online payments. The teen told investigators that she made fewer than 10 sales of an ounce of marijuana, for $25 each, in the 30 days before the arrest. Advertisement The document paints Quachs home as a place where minors knew they could obtain and smoke marijuana, and that she also provided alcohol and nicotine products. It is known at the school that if you need anything, you can have Quach buy it for you, a police investigator wrote in the search warrant affidavit. Quach, who lives in Carmel Valley, was arrested in late September and subsequently charged with 37 counts, including 10 charges of employing a minor to sell or carry marijuana, and 16 counts of furnishing marijuana to a minor over the age of 14. There are also two charges that she sold or provided a minor with suboxone, a controlled substance associated with treating opioid dependence but also reportedly used for pain relief, and one charge of selling or providing a minor with alprazolam (Xanax), a tranquilizer. Other charges include five counts of child abuse, one count of theft by false impersonation and an accusation that she provided a place for people to obtain drugs. The alleged crimes took place sometime between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28, the day Quach was arrested. As of Thursday, she remained jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail. Quach has pleaded not guilty. The Public Defenders office is representing her, but declined comment Thursday. According to the search warrant affidavit, Quach came under suspicion after parents of a teenager found suboxone in their daughters room, then text messages between their daughter and Quach, who was the parent of a friend of the teen. The daughter asked Quach for pain medication and Quach supplied her with the suboxone. A search of the home Quach shared with her fiance and two minor children turned up marijuana plants drying on tables throughout the home, as well as planters, grow lights and other items used to grow the plant. Kevin Eckery, vice chancellor with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, said in an interview Thursday that Cathedral Catholic officials were made aware of the investigation shortly after Quachs arrest. Eckery also said the ongoing investigation involved Cathedral Catholic and other high schools in the area. As part of that effort, San Diego Police and the District Attorneys Office are directly contacting a number of CCHS families to ask for their help, he said in a statement provided to the media. Officers working the case believe there are CCHS students who may be witnesses or who may have information that would assist them. He said the school is not a party to the conversations happening between police, parents and the students who may have been involved in or aware of the alleged criminal activity. This is something that affects the school community for sure, but we are not going to be privy to the content of all these conversations, he said. As for fallout for involved students, he said the school would cross that bridge when we come to it. Quach faces up to 60 years and four months in prison if convicted of all charges, according to the District Attorneys office. Her preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 14. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4945 Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT Encinitas voters, instead of the City Council, will be the ones deciding whether to allow commercial marijuana growing operations on the citys few agriculturally zoned lands. And for now, until that likely November 2018 ballot measure, the citys current bans on marijuana will remain in place, the council decided late Wednesday night. Cities across California have been grappling with the issue of marijuana regulations ever since voters approved the marijuana legalization initiative Proposition 64 last year. Advertisement The intensity of the debate has only increased in recent months as the January 2018 state deadline for putting regulations in place approaches. Last month, San Diego City Council voted to legalize both cultivation and manufacturing, while Poway decided to continue its bans on cultivation, manufacturing and establishing dispensaries. Encinitas, which has a long agricultural heritage and is famous for starting the nations poinsettia industry, began exploring the idea of allowing commercial marijuana growing operations months ago after one of the citys longtime flower growers -- Bob Echter of Dramm & Echter Inc. -- asked the city to consider it, saying it would allow him to diversify his business and help preserve the citys agricultural heritage. A proposed ordinance before the City Council Wednesday night called for allowing commercial marijuana growing only on agriculturally zoned lands -- essentially a handful of properties in the Ecke Ranch region of the city, only one of which -- Dramm & Echter -- has indicated any interest in growing the crop. Council members decided to put the issue on the ballot rather than taking a vote on the proposed ordinance after hearing hours of public testimony from more than 60 people, with roughly 60 percent of them opposed to the proposed ordinance. The councils decision was 4-1, with Councilman Mark Muir opposed. Councilman Tony Kranz, who has been a strong supporter of allowing commercial marijuana growing, said Encinitas voters havent yet sent the citys leaders a clear message about what they want. I think the right position for the council is to put this on the ballot and let the voters decide, he said as he suggested the ballot measure proposal. The citys voters overwhelmingly backed Proposition 64 -- the California marijuana legalization initiative last year --- but two years earlier they rejected Proposition F -- an Encinitas citizens initiative that would have allowed marijuana dispensaries to open in town, he noted. It was quite a mixed message between those two ballot measures, he said. Mayor Catherine Blakespear, who held off on voicing a position in the past, and Councilwoman Tasha Boerner Horvath, who has supported commercial growing, agreed. This is truly one of the most difficult issues I have faced since I have been on the council, Boerner Horvath said, adding that months ago she had thought that this wouldnt be the case. Councilman Joe Mosca, who opposed the proposed rdinance, said he wouldnt stand in the way of putting the issue on the ballot, but said he felt marijuana growing businesses were not compatible with the city. Muir, who has strongly opposed the proposed ordinance and is married to a school board member who has been helping organize community opposition to it, said he thought the council was making a poor decision. It ought to be easy to vote no, he said, adding that he believes commercial marijuana growing might lower neighboring property values, while increasing crime and youth drug use. I think the big winners in this are the pro-pot people, he later added. They dont have to put it on the ballot --- the citys going to pay for it. The San Diego-based Association of Cannabis Professionals had been circulating a petition to put an initiative on the ballot in Encinitas, but informed the city clerk late Tuesday that it was being withdrawn. On Wednesday night, association representative Dallin Young said that his group withdrew its petition because it appeared that the council would use the possibility of a citizens initiative as an excuse to kick the can down the road and delay on voting that night on the proposed ordinance. Muir told Young that he didnt buy that, and wondered if the group faced a lack of interest in its petition as community opposition to the commercial grow proposal has spread in recent weeks. Not at all, Young responded. During the hours of public testimony that night, council members heard many opponents and proponents of the proposed ordinance. Supporters included current and past Encinitas flower business owners, as well as the head of the San Diego County Farm Bureau and people who provide marijuana to medical patients. Opponents included many people who live near the Dramm & Echter property, youth drug-free advocates, and people who have relatives whove struggled with drug abuse issues. Three Poway Unified School District students have been chosen to perform in the National Association for Music Educations All-National Honor Ensembles. Valerie Chen, John Lettang and Jessica Trost will perform in Orlando, Fla., from Nov. 26-29 at Disneys Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World. They will join the best of the best student musicians in the country, chosen through an audition process. Eligible students qualified for their state-level honor ensemble program and competed against top students for a spot in these national honor ensembles. Advertisement The All-National Honor Ensembles consist of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed choir and jazz ensemble. Valerie Chen, a junior at Del Norte High School, will play the cello for the symphony orchestra; she was one of 11 California students chosen for the orchestra. John Lettang, a junior at Poway High School, will sing Bass 2 for the mixed choir, and Jessica Trost, a junior at Del Norte High School, will sing Soprano 2 for the mixed choir. They were among 12 California students chosen for the mixed choir. The concert band and symphony orchestra will each have 155 and 152 instrumentalists respectively, the jazz ensemble 20 instrumentalists, and the mixed choir 281 vocalists. No California students were chosen for the jazz ensemble, and only six were chosen for the band. Selected students will be rehearsing a challenging repertoire in preparation for performing under the baton of five of the most prominent conductors in the United States: Dr. Z. Randall Stroope (mixed choir); Dr. Margery Deutsch (symphony orchestra); Dr. T. Andre Feagin (concert band); and Todd Stoll with Lauren Sevian (jazz ensemble). All conductors have received top honors in their field and will spend several days rehearsing with students before the concert. Names, schools and states, as well as music directors, of all 608 2017 All-National Honor Ensemble students are available at https://nafme.org/programs/all-nationalhonor-ensembles. laura.groch@sduniontribune.com There were two things Mark Vizcarra knew he wanted to be when he grew up: a Navy pilot and a filmmaker. Hes done both. The retired Navy commander served 21 years in the military, flying the A-4 Skyhawk, the F-14 Tomcat, and the F/A-18 Hornet at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, combat air patrol missions in Kuwait and in fighter squadrons stateside. He ultimately flew more than 2,500 hours and is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (also known as Top Gun), which means he knows plenty about the details and realities of military life. That realism is critical in his latest career as a filmmaker, and especially this week where he has two short films being screened at this years GI Film Festival San Diego, which continues through Sunday. Hollywood writers know very little of the heroic stories and incredible feats that occur on a daily basis (in the military); veterans do because they lived them, he says. A film festival that is specifically focused on the military and veterans expands storytelling of the human condition that is very rarely told. The festival features 33 films being screened in San Diego and Carlsbad, including premieres, stories about women in the military, the LGBTQ community, perspectives on military experiences from Latino, black and Asian service members, and wars from World War II to conflicts today. Advertisement Vizcarra, 57, lives in 4S Ranch with his wife, Tandy, and they have two sons. Hes also the president of Speed & Angels Productions and his festival short films, Forgotten Hero and Once Guilty, Now Innocent, Still Dead, are based on true stories that tell parts of history that were either withheld or forgotten. He took some time to talk about each of his films, what he hopes audiences take away from his projects, and why hell probably skip that Top Gun sequel. Q: Did you see yourself eventually becoming a filmmaker? A: I grew up going to the movies. My father always took me to the best aviation films ever made: The Blue Max, 633 Squadron, Battle Of Britain. Movies quickly became my passion, and I started writing scripts when I was in fifth grade. By the time I was in ninth grade, I was using my fathers 8 mm camera directing and making movies. Where a lot of people struggle to find themselves not knowing what they want to be when they grow up, I never had that problem; I just had to choose which career to do first, flying or filmmaking. Q: Tell us about the GI Film Festival San Diego. A: The festival started in 2015 and continues to grow every year as it transforms into a military version of Sundance (Film Festival), with all the allure and attractions of one of the finest cities in the country. I cant think of a better place to have a unique film festival that honors the men and women whove served. With San Diego being one of the largest military cities in the country, the number of filmmaking veterans continues to grow, and with the support of KPBS and the San Diego Film Consortium, service members now have a way to showcase their talents and work. Q: Why do you think its important to have a film festival that is specifically focused on the military and veterans? A: Its the unique stories. The sad truth is that with the exception of law enforcement and firefighters, only veterans who have served know what its like to risk their lives, willing to sacrifice their own to protect not only the men and women they serve with but more importantly their family and friends back home. What I love about 4S Ranch... I love the reactions from all of our neighborhood kids when I take my 13-year-old basset hound for a walk. When they see him, and my dog sees them, they light up and the interaction is magical. Q: You have two films in this years festival. It seems like there would already be a lot of pressure getting one film completed, let alone two. What was the experience of finishing two films for the same festival like for you? A: The complexity of making a film is quite demanding, from preproduction to production to postproduction. However, it is a labor of love because of the story youre telling. Luckily for me, I have an incredible team of top-notch professionals who I love to work with and that I can always count on, even when things start going to hell in a handbasket during production. It seems with all of my film projects, theres always an element of something greater pushing the project to a successful completion. It always seems to magically appear out of nowhere at the most opportune times, that I now jokingly refer to them as God moments when they happen. Q: Tell us about Forgotten Hero. A: I am honored to tell this incredible true story of a living American hero who, after 60 years, has been nominated for the Medal of Honor for his heroic feat of protecting a carrier battle group from seven Russian fighters. I first met Royce (Williams) at a veterans group I belong to, and I was immediately in awe of him. I had no idea he was 90 years old. His story is compelling because what a lot of people dont know, is that as the Korean War raged, Russia was not only supporting, but secretly fighting against the U.S. during this armed conflict with two superpowers at the brink of a nuclear World War III. Forgotten Hero is a short film that tells his story of being outgunned and outnumbered, but still able to take on seven, superior Russian fighters. He not only won, but was ordered to keep it secret for over 60 years. Realism in film defines what cinema is all about, and it is my focus to take the audience back to 1952, so they can visually experience this tumultuous time that has just been declassified and released. Q: Tell us about Once Guilty, Now Innocent, Still Dead. A: As I said, I am drawn to making films based on true stories. I have always wanted to do a western film from a historical perspective, with the mysteries of time being a central point to the story. I happened to come across a New York Times article reporting the Tom Horn retrial 90 years after the fact. The headline, Once Guilty, Now Innocent but Still Dead, captivated me. The reality of an innocent man whod been hanged, impelled me to ponder one of lifes unique truths: only a person who is sentenced to death really knows the exact time they will die. I use that theme throughout this film to tell the true story of a 19th-century, legendary assassin in the middle of a clash between the cattle barons who hire him and the 20th-century expansion of the West. Tom Horn was a tracker and enforcer who was framed for a murder he didnt commit. The compelling story of Tom Horns life is not well-known and I hope my film will present a part of American history that is now only a faded memory. Q: What went into the decision to tell both of these stories as short films as opposed to another format? A: Film production is very expensive, and although Id love to tell both these stories in a full feature film format, until Im able to get these projects fully financed, I have to work with what I have. Q: What do you want audiences to get from your two films? A: Im also a big fan of history, Id hope audiences are entertained as they learn about these true events. Q: Do you have a favorite military-themed movie? A: Thats a tough question. I have so many favorites, but if I had to pick one it would be the 1980 film Final Countdown, which has a unique, time-travel element. Its about a modern U.S. carrier that, due to a freak storm at sea, ends up off the coast of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 6, 1941. When I saw the aerial cinematography along with the USS Nimitz and F-14 Tomcats dogfighting with World War II Japanese Zeros, it was a done deal for me and I decided to put my film career on hold and pursue a military aviation career first. The memorable experience of this film really hit home when, years later, I found myself on the deck of the USS Nimitz, strapped into an F-14 Tomcat, just like in the movie. As I sat in the cockpit waiting to be launched, I reflected back to that film and thought, I must be the luckiest man on Earth. A good film entertains, but a great film inspires and galvanizes action. Q: You were a Navy pilot. Are you looking forward to the Top Gun sequel (or have you heard enough Maverick jokes over the years)? A: Not really. The F-14 dogfight scenes werent too bad, and the carrier flight deck scenes were shot and told well, but thats about it. The script and actions of the Navy fighter pilots were all Hollywood and just not real. During my Navy career in F-14 squadrons, if someone got the call-sign Maverick, it was a real put-down. Q: Whats been challenging about your work in filmmaking? A: Securing the financing to produce these films has definitively been the most challenging. Q: Whats been rewarding about it? A: Working with an incredible group of creative professionals is always the most rewarding because, in the end, we get to sit back and watch a film each one of us had a part in creating. Q: What has it taught you about yourself? A: Having written, produced, directed and edited three successful film projects that have gone on to film festivals, the one thing that it has taught me about myself is that Im too much of a perfectionist. It drives my family nuts! Q: What is the best advice youve ever received? A: The best advice that I ever received came from my father, who taught me never to give up. Those simple words have enabled me to experience things in life that are absolutely amazing. Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you? A: That Im obsessed with time. Its the one thing in life that you can never get back, so Im fixated on enjoying every moment while Im alive. Q: Describe your ideal San Diego weekend. A: In my mind, any time with my family is an ideal San Diego weekend. Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @lisadeaderick Shortly before she was shot to death inside her Benedict Canyon home, Susan Berman told a close female friend she had the inside story about the disappearance of the wife of a male friend in New York with whom she was angry and disappointed, according to testimony Wednesday in the murder case of Robert Durst. The witness, Robin Karr-Morse, said Berman never named the male friend she referred to. But prosecutors allege that Durst, a New York real estate tycoon, killed Berman in December 2000 to silence her for what she knew about the decades-earlier disappearance of his wife, Kathleen. He has pleaded not guilty. Berman was a crime writer and a close confidante of Durst. Advertisement The eccentric millionaire, 74, is unlikely to stand trial before 2018, and the judge has allowed prosecutors and defense attorneys to gather early testimony from several older witnesses. Karr-Morse testified that she met Berman as a teenager at a boarding school in Portland, Ore., where the girls bonded over being orphans. They stayed close through the years, the witness said, even as Bermans life spiraled out of control. The 72-year-old witness said that toward the end of her life, Berman was broke; Karr-Morse said she gave her friend around $1,000. The two spoke about once a month, the witness said, adding that Berman also mentioned that a high-profile friend of hers had sent her $15,000. (According to testimony at a hearing earlier this year, Berman said that Durst sent her checks for large sums of money before her death.) Over time, Karr-Morse said, she and Berman had numerous conversations about a friend of Bermans from New York whose wife had disappeared. The subject came up again during their last conversation in December 2000, the witness said. Berman seemed nervous and said someone was coming to talk to her about the topic, Karr-Morse said, adding that Berman said she was angry and disappointed in her male friend. She said, Im going to blow this case wide open, Karr-Morse said. It was as if she had information. She simply told me she had the inside story. The witness testified that she tried to steer the conversation to a different, happier subject, but she said Berman insisted on speaking vaguely about her male friends situation. What are you talking about? Karr-Morse recalled asking. Id tell you, Berman responded, but your life would be in danger. During cross-examination, the witness recalled a 2001 interview with Los Angeles police detectives a few months after Bermans death, during which she discussed several of Bermans acquaintances. Did you ever tell them anything about Susan Berman blowing the lid off a story? asked defense attorney David Chesnoff. I dont remember, Karr-Morse answered. A few moments later, a prosecutor conceded that during the 2001 interview, Karr-Morse had never mentioned Bermans friend with the missing wife or how she planned to blow the case open. On Tuesday, prosecutors questioned Bermans next-door neighbor, Marvin Karp, eliciting testimony they may use to help establish a timeline of Bermans slaying. Karp, a retired doctor, said he often saw Berman playing in the backyard with her two dogs but never saw them running loose in the neighborhood. It would have been dangerous to do so, he said, as traffic often barreled down their street. So, the witness said he was surprised to find the dogs loose in his frontyard the morning of Saturday, Dec. 23, 2000. He was concerned about the dogs and considered going over to Bermans home, but he decided against it when the dogs ran off. Investigators know from airline records that Durst took a 10 p.m. flight from San Francisco to New York that evening. Bermans body was found the next day. Prosecutors may argue that Berman wouldnt leave her dogs loose and was already dead when Karp encountered them, giving Durst time to drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco. During cross-examination, Karp conceded that he didnt remember any cars driving up to Bermans home and hadnt heard any unusual sounds the night before the dogs showed up at his front door. Robert Curtis, retired assistant chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department, also testified Tuesday about a very unusual anonymous note he received on Dec. 27, 2000, which alerted police to a cadaver and included Bermans address. Curtis said he could not recall any other instance of receiving a note about a dead body. Some of the most damaging testimony against Durst came during a hearing this year, when Dursts longtime friend Nick Chavin said that the real estate scion had once confessed to killing Berman, their mutual friend. I had to. It was her or me, Durst said, according to Chavin. I had no choice. Durst was arrested in connection with Bermans slaying on March 14, 2015 a day before the finale of a six-part HBO documentary, The Jinx, in which Durst mumbles, What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course. Some viewers interpreted the comment, which was captured on a hot microphone while Durst was in the bathroom, as a confession to the killings of Berman, his long-vanished wife and Morris Black, his neighbor in Galveston, Texas, where Durst was living off the grid and using an assumed identity as a mute woman. Durst admitted killing Black and dismembering his body, but he argued at trial that the gun had accidentally fired while he was defending himself in a struggle. A jury acquitted him. marisa.gerber@latimes.com For more news from the Los Angeles County courts, follow me on Twitter: @marisagerber UPDATES: 6:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional testimony from the hearing. This article was originally published at 3:35 p.m. A single mother who was previously allowed to stay in the country as long as she checked in with immigration officials every year is going to be deported Thursday, according to the office of state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego). Silvia Ocampo Ortiz had a check-in meeting with immigration officials last week and was detained after years of being permitted to stay, an increasingly familiar story under the Trump administration. After hearing that Ocampo would be deported, Gonzalez Fletchers office and Unite Here Local 30, the hotel workers union that Ocampo joined in 2000, began rallying the San Diego community to her defense. Deporting Silvia Ocampo is heartless and sickening, Gonzalez Fletcher said. She is a hard-working, taxpaying member of this community and she has two children who are U.S. citizens, including an 8-year-old daughter with special needs. What will happen to her kids after their mother is deported? Are we now a country that takes relish in separating parents from children? Im absolutely devastated and horrified. Advertisement Ocampo came to the U.S. about 24 years ago with her husband and their small child, according to a biographical summary from Unite Here Local 30. She had three more children in the U.S. Two of them are still minors, and the youngest, her 8-year-old daughter, has a learning disability. According to Unite Here Local 30, Ocampo is crucial support in her daughters life. As of today, her daughter is still unaware where her mother is, the bio from Unite Here Local 30 says. It is causing her emotional stress not to know what happened to her mother and why she was never picked [up] from school last Wednesday. This has been the longest she has ever been without her mother. After immigration officials previously became aware of Ocampos immigration status, they permitted her to stay in the U.S. to take care of her daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, because of her daughters special needs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication. In 2009, Ocampo and her husband were charged with perjury relating to their drivers license applications, according to the union. The California law allowing unauthorized immigrants to get drivers licenses was still a few years away. On advice from her lawyer, Ocampo pleaded guilty, not knowing what that felony could mean for her in the immigration system, the union bio says. Her husband was deported, leaving her pregnant with their daughter. Since then, Ocampo has raised the family on her own. Ocampo had yearly check-ins with immigration officials. When she went for her appointment in July, they told her to come back in three months instead of a year. When she showed up Oct. 11, she was taken to Otay Mesa Detention Center. She has tried over the years to appeal her conviction, and she has a court date at the end of October to try to reopen her criminal case, the union said. We are outraged that ICE would take a single mother of a special needs child away from her family, said Brigette Browning, president of Unite Here Local 30. They are heartlessly deporting Silvia right before a court date that could enable her to remain here with her children. Tearing apart families is the real crime here. Ocampos attorney was unavailable for comment. If Ocampo is deported, her 27-year-old nephew will likely take custody of her children, the union said. Some immigrants in similar situations to Ocampo have stopped showing up to their check-in meetings with immigration officials. One woman took refuge in a Colorado church rather than show up for what she assumed would be her deportation. Unite Here Local 30 is planning to rally on Thursday for Ocampo but had not released details Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. For more than a year while he was dean of USCs medical school, Dr. Carmen Puliafito abused drugs on days he worked as an eye doctor in university facilities and would return to his medical office to see patients within hours of using methamphetamine, a state investigation alleges. Puliafito consumed heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs on a near-daily basis at the Keck School of Medicine campus and in other locations, and the physician supplied drugs to other people, including a teenager and a patient in an addiction treatment facility, according to a filing that details the results of an investigation conducted for the Medical Board of California. A Los Angeles Times investigation in July first sparked the state probe. It may have serious implications for both Puliafito, who could lose his medical license, and the reputation of the university that kept a troubled person in one of its most important and sensitive posts. Advertisement Arthur Caplan, the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York Universitys Langone Medical Center, called the medical board filing describing Puliafitos alleged misconduct a grim litany and said it ranks among the worst cases against a physician that he had seen. Its one after another after another of reprehensible conduct, Caplan said. Puliafito, a once-renowned ophthalmologist who resigned as dean last year, could not be reached for comment. The attorney representing him before the medical board did not respond to a message seeking comment. USC received complaints about Puliafitos drinking and abusive treatment of colleagues, but administrators have said they were stunned by revelations of his drug use. As we have previously stated, until July of this year no university leader was aware of any illegal or illicit behavior by Carmen Puliafito and to date there have been no issues or complaints related to patient care. Once the university was aware of his illicit behavior, he was immediately removed from his patient care role and he is no longer employed by the university, USC spokesman Charles Sipkins said Wednesday in a statement. In the filing, medical board Executive Director Kimberly Kirchmeyer portrayed Puliafito as both an addict and an enabler of addiction. Between February 2015 and November 2016, Puliafito used drugs with a circle of addicts, prostitutes and other criminals. The conduct persisted after he stepped down as dean in March 2016 and continued practicing medicine as a member of the faculty, according to the dates outlined in the filing. After The Times report, investigators interviewed people who partied with Puliafito and reviewed photos and videos of the physician using drugs and socializing with the group. Puliafito, who earned more than $1 million a year at USC, bought drugs for group members, the filing states. Among those to whom he furnished drugs was Huntington Beach teenager Charles Warren, according to the filing that identifies the teen as C.W. Puliafito purchased methamphetamine and pipes for smoking the drug for Warren when he was 17, according to the filing. In an interview with The Times, Warren, now 19, said that he had never tried any drugs beyond marijuana when the physician gave him methamphetamine. He recalled visiting Puliafito in his deans suite at USC and then accompanying him to a campus parking structure to smoke methamphetamine. Over the course of 18 months, Puliafito also provided methamphetamine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and heroin to Warrens 22-year-old sister, Sarah, according to the filing. The Times has previously written about Puliafitos presence in a Pasadena hotel room in March 2016 when Sarah Warren suffered an overdose and was rushed to a hospital. Sarah Warren told state investigators that around the time of her overdose, Puliafito stashed a bag of heroin, methamphetamine and GHB in a hotel stairwell, according to the filing. The state investigation found that before her overdose, Puliafito covered some of the costs of inpatient rehab for Sarah Warren identified as S.W. but also sent her drugs of abuse while she was in treatment. She told The Times that Puliafito mailed her drugs, hidden in packets of Skittles candy. At one Malibu rehab center, he delivered methamphetamine to her camouflaged in a sunglasses case, she said. The Warrens and their parents have retained high-profile lawyer Mark Geragos in connection with their contact with Puliafito. USC banned Puliafito from campus and university medical facilities in the wake of The Times report. He voluntarily surrendered his medical license last month in the midst of an investigation by the state Department of Consumer Affairs, which conducted the inquiry on behalf of the medical board. In the accusation filed in Sacramento last week, Kirchmeyer, the medical boards executive director, asked the board to hold a disciplinary hearing to revoke or suspend Puliafitos license. Obtaining and using drugs occupied a great deal of time in Puliafitos life, the filing states. While tasked with overseeing hundreds of medical students and thousands of faculty members as dean, he spent nearly every day, including business days, using drugs and driving to see Sarah Warren, according to the filing. Investigators found that Puliafito wrote prescriptions for both Warrens for various non-addictive drugs and introduced Sarah Warren around campus as his niece. He maintained a secret compartment in his car to hold drugs, the investigators found. He and his acquaintances often partied at hotels, and as a result of unruly conduct and behavior, including room damage due to drug use, Puliafito was banned from hotels in Pasadena and elsewhere, according to the filing. matt.hamilton@latimes.com harriet.ryan@latimes.com paul.pringle@latimes.com A San Diego businessman and a lawyer from Arizona were sentenced to lengthy terms in federal prison for their roles in a multi-million real estate loan fraud. Cortland Gettel, 43 of Coronado was sentenced to 135 months in prison and Jeffrey Greenberg, 67, of Tucson, Ariz. was sentenced to 81 months by U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes on Tuesday. Gettel had pleaded guilty in July and Greenberg in May to wire fraud conspiracy that federal prosecutors said netted $33 million in fraudulently obtained loans between 2013 and 2015. Advertisement Gettel owned the real estate investment firm Conix, which was also known as Variant Commercial Real Estate, and Greenberg was the lawyer for the company. Prosecutors said they bought four multi-million dollar mansions in La Jolla and Del Mar, claiming to lenders the properties would be used as luxury rentals or investment properties. Instead prosecutors said Gettel and his business partner, Peter Cash Doye, lived in the homes with their families. After buying the homes Gettel and Greenberg then used the properties as collateral to get second and third loans from other lenders. To get those additional loans, prosecutors said they forged documents, inflated the value of the homes, and created records making it appear either that the mansions were owned free and clear, or the loans had been paid off. Greenberg admitted using his legal expertise to generate bogus documents titled Deeds of Full Release, showing the first loans had been paid in full, and even having the documents officially filed in the San Diego County Recorders office, court records say. Doye, 41, was indicted in September along with Raquel Reid, 39, a notary public and real estate broker who also worked at Conix, for their roles in the scheme. Doye is accused of negotiating the loans with victimized lenders and investors, and lying about the value of the collateral. Reid is accused of notarizing the fake records used to dupe lenders that were drawn up by Greenberg. Both she and Doye have pleaded not guilty, with their next court appearance set for November. Greenberg and Gettel have also pleaded guilty to a similar conspiracy that was based in Arizona. There, they admitted they got million in payments from from a real estate financing firm, by creating fake invoices and expense reports for work they supposedly did on their commercial real estate portfolio. Instead of using the money to refurbish their commercial properties as required, they used the money for their own personal use. Gettel pleaded guilty to participating in that scheme in a case filed in the District of Arizona, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in November. On Tuesday, Hayes sentenced Greenberg to 40 months in prison for the Arizona, and ordered it to to run concurrently with the 81-month sentence for the San Diego case. Twitter: @gregmoran greg.moran@sduniontribune.com A San Diego woman presumed dead filed for divorce last year from the man now suspected of killing her, according to court documents. Julia Jacobson cited irreconcilable differences in seeking a divorce from Dalen Payne Ware after two years of marriage and separation for half that time. They had no children. Advertisement Ware, 39, was arrested at his Phoenix home on Thursday and jailed on suspicion of murder. Jacobson, 37, an Army veteran, disappeared over the Labor Day weekend and authorities, believing her dead, have been looking for her body. She was last seen in Ontario in San Bernardino County on Sept. 2. Ontario police have been working with San Diego police in investigating her disappearance. According to a felony complaint against Ware, authorities believe Jacobson was murdered on Sept. 3. Her SUV was found abandoned with the keys in it on Sept. 7, not far from her home in Normal Heights, according to Facebook posts about her disappearance. In papers filed on March 2, 2016 by her attorney, Jacobson asked a San Diego Superior Court judge to accelerate the divorce process so she can get married before the end of the year. The couple married on Feb. 28, 2014 and separated on March 1, 2016. The marriage dissolution was granted on Dec. 13. Jacobson worked for a 7-Eleven corporate office and served two tours of duty in Iraq, her friends said. There is no record that she entered a second marriage. The divorce filings against Ware showed the couples division of property, giving Jacobson their home in Chula Vista and a property in Dallas. She was to pay Ware $20,000 in cash to even out the value of what each of them were keeping. Ware was excused from paying her back on two loans: $30,000 in 2010 and $6,000 in 2011. pauline.repard@sduniontribune Twitter: @pdrepard A 23-year-old Imperial Valley man who claimed to be the first dreamer deported under the Trump administration has dropped his lawsuit against the federal government, closing a case that garnered national attention and presented wildly conflicting facts from each side. The lawsuit in San Diego federal court filed on behalf of Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez not only sought his return to the U.S., but also asked the government to release records of his encounter with border officers the night of Feb. 18. The government has contended that there was no encounter, that Montes was lying, and therefore no such records existed. According to a motion for dismissal filed late Wednesday, the government resolved the records request by producing supplemental documents on Oct. 5, and Montes decided not to pursue his additional claims. A judge approved the motion on Thursday. Advertisement Like all litigation, this case has been a taxing experience for Juan Manuel, one of his attorneys, Nora Preciado of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement. He has now asked us to dismiss his case. As his attorneys, we respect his wishes and have filed the papers on his behalf. The Department of Justice declined to discuss the new development. The case put the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program in the political spotlight. Under DACA, those brought to the U.S. illegally as children were promised that they could remain in the country as long as they registered with the government, worked or attended school and followed other criteria. The program, created under former President Barack Obama, is now slated to end March 5 at the direction of President Donald Trump. He has told Congress to come up with a law to address the status of childhood arrivals. Montes, who was brought to the U.S. as a 9-year-old boy in 2004 and suffers from cognitive disabilities, was enrolled in DACA when he said a Border Patrol agent on a bicycle took him off the street in Calexico. Authorities then removed him to Mexico at 1 a.m. He said he had forgotten his wallet in a friends car, and the agents didnt take the appropriate steps to verify his identity. He said he was robbed of his belongings later that day in Mexicali and, out of fear, decided to cross over the border fence back into the U.S. on Feb. 19. He was immediately arrested by Border Patrol and again taken back to Mexico the morning of Feb. 20, he said. The government said it has no record of an encounter with Montes the first time. The Calexico Border Patrol chief said in a sworn affidavit there were other problems with Montes claims. The chief said there have been no repatriations after 10 p.m. this year, and that there were no agents working bicycle patrol the night in question. The government argued that Border Patrol deported Montes to Mexico on Feb. 20 because DACA participants are not allowed to cross into Mexico without prior permission, and Montes actions made him ineligible for protection. (The government originally falsely claimed that Montes was deported because he had failed to renew his DACA enrollment.) The case has been on the fast-track toward trial since August, when Montes attorneys filed a request asking the judge to allow Montes to lawfully return to the U.S. while the case is pending. He has been living with relatives in Mexico. But U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel declined to decide on that issue and instead asked for a speedy trial. Trial was set for December, and both sides have been in the process of exchanging discovery and preparing for depositions. Montes attorneys had been asking for numerous records of Border Patrols operations on Feb. 18-19 from surveillance footage to names of agents to policies and practices. Government attorneys said that surveillance video from then was not available because it is standard practice to tape over footage after 30 days. PREVIOUS Juan Manuel Montes was protected under DACA but he was deported to Mexico. Now hes suing. (April 20, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR) kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis A single mother who was previously allowed to stay in the country as long as she checked in with immigration officials every year is going to be deported on Thursday, according to Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletchers office. Silvia Ocampo Ortiz had a check-in meeting with immigration officials last week and was detained after years of being permitted to stay, an increasingly familiar story under the Trump administration. After hearing that Ocampo would be deported, Gonzalez Fletchers office and Unite Here Local 30, the hotel workers union that Ocampo joined in 2000, began rallying the San Diego community to her defense. Deporting Silvia Ocampo is heartless and sickening, Gonzalez Fletcher said. She is a hard-working, tax-paying member of this community and she has two children who are U.S. citizens, including an 8-year-old daughter with special needs. What will happen to her kids after their mother is deported? Are we now a country that takes relish in separating parents from children? Im absolutely devastated and horrified. Advertisement Ocampo came to the U.S. about 24 years ago with her husband and their small child, according to a bio from Unite Here Local 30. She had three more children in the U.S. Two of them are still minors, and the youngest, her eight-year-old daughter, has a learning disability. According to Unite Here Local 30, Ocampo is crucial support in her daughters life. As of today, her daughter is still unaware where her mother is, and it is affecting her at school and missing her at home, the bio from Unite Here Local 30 says. It is causing her emotional stress not to know what happened to her mother and why she was never picked from school last Wednesday. This has been the longest she has ever been without her mother. After immigration officials became aware of Ocampos immigration status, they permitted her to stay in the U.S. to take care of her daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, because of her daughters special needs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not able to comment in time for publication. In 2009, Ocampo and her husband were charged with perjury relating to their drivers license applications, according to the union. The California law allowing unauthorized immigrants to get drivers licenses was still a few years away. On advice from her lawyer, Ocampo pleaded guilty, not knowing what that felony could mean for her in the immigration system, the union bio says. Her husband was deported, leaving her pregnant with their daughter. Since then, Ocampo has raised the family on her own. Ocampo had yearly check-ins with immigration officials. When she went for her appointment in July, they told her to come back in three months instead of a year. When she showed up on Wednesday last week, she was taken to Otay Mesa Detention Center. She has tried over the years to appeal her conviction, and she has a court date at the end of October to try to reopen her criminal case, the union said. We are outraged that ICE would take a single mother of a special needs child away from her family, Brigette Browning, president of Unite Here Local 30. They are heartlessly deporting Silvia right before a court date that could enable her to remain here with her children. Tearing apart families is the real crime here. Ocampos attorney was unavailable for comment. If Ocampo is deported, her 27-year-old nephew will likely take custody of her children, the union said. Some immigrants in similar situations to Ocampo have stopped showing up to their check-in meetings with immigration officials. One woman took refuge in a Colorado church rather than show up for what she assumed would be her deportation. Unite Here Local 30 is planning to rally on Thursday for Ocampo but had not released details in time for publication. 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 The mystery is over: Las Vegas security guard Jesus Campos has been found. On the set of Ellen. On Wednesday, Ellen DeGeneres television talk show is expected to broadcast the much-anticipated first interview with the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino security guard, who was the first shooting victim in the Oct. 1 massacre in Las Vegas. Advertisement DeGeneres tweeted a photo of Campos holding a cane on the set Tuesday alongside maintenance engineer Stephen Schuck, who was also shot at by the gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. Tomorrow, the first people to encounter the Las Vegas shooter are here security guard Jesus Campos and building engineer Stephen Schuck. pic.twitter.com/dDmjzN6xBx Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) October 18, 2017 The news ended five days of speculation over the whereabouts of the security guard, who was shot as he passed outside gunman Stephen Paddocks hotel room and who holds important information on who knew what and when as the shooting rampage got underway. Reporters had been looking for Campos to help explain what happened in the moments before Paddock began firing at the crowd assembled for a country music festival opposite the hotel and how long it took for police to respond. Shifting timelines given by police and near-total silence from Mandalay Bays owners have left Campos as one of the only potential sources of first-hand information on how the shooting rampage unfolded and how the hotel responded. In a recording of his appearance on Ellen, Campos, who said he was doing better each day, slowly but surely, confirmed he had called in when he was shot before the full rampage began. But he gave few other details that would answer nagging questions about the response of hotel security and Las Vegas police. Appearing in a gray suit and with a cane, Campos said he got an alert for an open door on the 32nd floor. He went up a stairwell from the 31st to the 32nd floor, but the stairwell door was blocked apparently by the gunman so he had to take another route to get to the floor. When he got onto the 32nd floor and reached the stairwell door which was inside a small room with two doors that separates the stairwell from the hallway, immediately adjacent to Paddocks suite Campos found a metal bracket blocking the door to the stairwell. He said he called security dispatch to transfer his call to the buildings engineers, who sent an engineer to examine the door. At that time I heard what I assumed was drilling sounds, Campos said. (Officials have said that Paddock appeared to be drilling into a wall inside his room for unknown reasons.) As Campos walked down the hall, away from Paddocks suite, the outer door of the access room, which was unblocked, closed loudly behind him. I believe thats what caught the shooters attention, Campos said. As I was walking down, I heard rapid fire, and at first I took cover. The gunman was shooting through the door of his hotel suite. I dont know how he was shooting. Campos felt a burning sensation and went to lift his pant leg up and, seeing blood, realized hed been shot. Thats when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired, Campos said. I was going to say that I was hit, but I got on my cellphone just to clear that radio traffic for they can coordinate the rest of the call. Engineer Schuck, responding to Campos earlier call about a blocked door, arrived on a service elevator from a higher floor, and he spotted Campos at the end of a hallway. It was quiet as Schuck walked toward Paddocks end of the hallway. Then he saw Campos and heard gunshots. At the time I didnt know it was shooting; I thought it was a jackhammer, Schuck said. Campos said take cover, take cover, Schuck said. Within milliseconds, if he didnt say that, I would have got hit.... They were passing behind my head, and I could feel pressure. One female guest came out of her room, and Campos told her to take cover in her room. Campos thanked the first responders and the community for their work during their darkest hour. DeGeneres hinted that Campos would not be giving any more interviews after appearing on her show, but that the appearance was unpaid. Youre talking about it now and youre not going to talk about it again, DeGeneres said, adding, We of course wanted to give you money, and you both were very, very specific. You said you dont want money, you dont want money at all, so youre not getting any money. Speculation about Campos whereabouts had begun after he mysteriously left a Las Vegas hotel room Thursday where he was preparing for televised interviews on the Sean Hannity show on Fox, as well as news shows on CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC. No interviews took place. David Hickey, president of the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America union that represents the security guards at Mandalay Bay, told The Times that he was attending a meeting with MGM representatives in one room of the suite as Campos waited with a security guard hired by MGM and another union member in the living room. When the meeting ended about 2 p.m., Hickey said Campos no longer was in the room. When I got in touch with the other union member, I was told Campos was taken to the Quick Care health clinic, Hickey said. Hickey didnt hear from the guard afterward and announced to a scrum of reporters that night that Campos had canceled interviews. Campos didnt contact his union in the days after he walked away. The company that owns the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino issued a statement Tuesday that implied it was in touch with Campos as questions mounted over the Las Vegas casinos response to the mass shooting. Jesus Campos wants to tell his story at a time and place of his choosing, Debra DeShong, a spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International, said in a statement after the Los Angeles Times requested an interview with him. Hes asked that everyone respect his request for privacy. We could not be more proud of Jesus. Las Vegas police initially stated that Paddock shot Campos through the door of his hotel suite on the 32nd floor midway through his attack on the concert, essentially crediting Campos with turning Paddocks attention away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival across the street. But police later said that Campos was shot six minutes before the attack began, and then officials changed their story again, stating that Campos was shot moments before Paddock began his attack on the concert. Police and casino officials have said that Campos promptly reported the gunman to hotel security and that police officers and armed security responded immediately to the 32nd floor, where Paddock had a suite. But the first officers to get to the floor arrived 12 minutes after Paddock had launched his assault on the crowd and two minutes after he had stopped shooting raising questions about how quickly the hotel had informed officers on the scene about Campos report. Times staff writers Jaweed Kaleem, Melissa Etehad and Ruben Vives contributed to this report. matt.pearce@latimes.com | @mattdpearce ALSO Most of the injured in Las Vegas have left the hospital and gone home. But one still wonders when she will Mandalay Bay management says Las Vegas rampage began within 40 seconds after security guard reported shooting In Las Vegas, the casino is always watching and yet it missed Stephen Paddock UPDATES: 3:00 p.m. Wednesday: The story was updated with a link to Campos interview. 11:40 p.m. Tuesday: The story was updated with details of Campos television appearance. 8:25 p.m. Tuesday: The story was updated with news of Campos upcoming appearance on television. The story was originally published at 12:55 p.m. The person found dead in a barrel floating in the San Diego Bay last week was a victim of murder, according to the Medical Examiners Office. The victim has also been identified, but the identity will not yet be released due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, police said. We recognize the publics interest in this case, however, due to the on-going investigation, it is necessary to keep most details confidential for the immediate future, said Chula Vista Acting Capt. Eric Thunberg. These needs currently outweigh any public concern. Advertisement The remains were located Thursday by Harbor police officers after two boaters reported seeing the white drum about 200 yards off J Street Marina Park in Chula Vista. The 55-gallon drum was weighted down with cinder blocks, but officers managed to pull it aboard a police boat. Once the barrel was aboard, officers immediately smelled the scent of decomposition. One officer donned a hazardous materials suit, opened the drum, saw the corpse and immediately called homicide detectives with the Chula Vista Police Department. The Medical Examiners Office identified the victim and the family was notified. The victims family has asked (the department) to convey their request for privacy during this time, Thunberg said. The acting captain declined to release further details, saying doing so could jeopardize the investigation. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com A vague threat to Eastlake High School was posted on social media Wednesday by a student who told Chula Vista police it was only a joke, school district and police officials said. Classes will be in session Thursday at the Eastlake Parkway campus as usual, said Manny Rubio, spokesman for the Sweetwater Union High School District. The post on Snapchat was a photo of the entrance to the campus, with the ambiguous message: This school is gone tomorrow. (Im going to) make all the cool kids pay. Advertisement Parents got wind of the post Wednesday evening and notified school administration and police. The culprit was quickly identified as a student, who was questioned by officers at his home, said Chula Vista police Lt. Dan Peak. He said the student, whose name and age were not released, admitted posting the fake threat on Snapchat. He said he did it as a joke. He thought it was funny, Peak said, adding that the student had not been a victim of bullying. At his home, officers determined the student did not have access to guns, Peak said. School administrators will determine the proper discipline for the student. Police said the hoax was not a crime because the message was too ambiguous and the student did not have the means to carry out the threat. Rubio said the school would notify parents of the fake threat Wednesday night via an email and an automated phone call. As a precaution, Eastlake Highs school resource officer may be joined by additional Chula Vista police officers at the campus on Thursday, Rubio said. Breaking News Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez Does a new state law that aims to better detect, document and respond to strangulation cases one of the deadliest forms of domestic violence look familiar? It should, since San Diego County implemented a very similar protocol months earlier. The bill, which goes into effect in January 2018, directs all California law enforcement agencies to ask domestic violence victims if they were strangled and to document any evidence of it. Officers and deputies also have to inform victims that strangulation may cause internal injuries and advise them to seek medical attention. Advertisement Basically, it requires the same things San Diego Countys own strangulation protocol started requiring of its law enforcement agencies when it was unveiled in February. While local law enforcement agencies will need to be a bit more specific when talking to victims about the dangers of strangulation, they wont need to change much else to adhere to the new state law. We are so proud to have been on the cutting edge of domestic violence solutions in San Diego County, District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement. Now that the entire state will be required to complete the same steps, we are sending an even stronger message to domestic violence victims that we see their pain and suffering and will fight to protect them from the high risks associated with strangulation. Experts say strangulation is a particularly dangerous form of domestic violence. Victims can fall unconscious in seconds and be dead in minutes. In San Diego County, 15 percent of domestic violence-related homicides between 2008 and 2016 were strangulation cases. Victims who survive can be left with serious, long-term injuries like memory loss, traumatic brain injury and stroke. Theyre also more likely to become victims of homicide later eight times more likely than those who suffer other forms of domestic violence according to a study done by the San Diego City Attorneys Office in the 1990s. Even so, evidence of strangulation can be hard to detect. Victims may not realize the severity of their own injuries. Both the new state law and the county protocol aim to address the problem by requiring investigators to ask specific questions that will help them document evidence of the injury. A recent grant from the Office of Emergency Services has helped local agencies in this endeavor by funding 130 domestic assault forensic examinations. The exams are conducted by specially trained forensic nurses who record information about injuries including strangulation to aid in prosecution. Since February, 73 of those exams have been performed. A number of law enforcement leaders applauded the new law, saying they hoped it would help bring further attention to strangulation cases. By talking about the deadly consequences of strangulation we shine the light on this dangerous crime and keep it out of the shadows, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said in a statement. Twitter: @LAWinkley (619) 293-1546 lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com A teenage girl was rescued and three alleged traffickers were arrested in San Diego last week as part of a national operation to combat the lucrative trade of selling underage victims for sex, the FBI announced Wednesday. In all, 84 minors were recovered including a newborn baby and a 5-year-old girl and 120 traffickers were arrested as part of Operation Cross Country XI, which spanned the country during a four-day period last week. The 16-year-old girl in San Diego was recovered on Friday as she tagged along with a man who was driving an adult woman in response to an online ad for escort services, said FBI spokeswoman Davene Butler. Investigators said the teen was being groomed to be trafficked for sex herself. Advertisement The girl accepted victim services from a local nonprofit to help prevent further trafficking, the FBI said. The average age of victims recovered was 15 years old, according to the FBI. The youngest was a 3-month-old girl, who was being offered along with a 5-year-old girl for sex for $600 in Denver on Friday. The suspect was a friend of the childrens family, the FBI said. The operation underscored what politicians, law enforcement officers, prosecutors and service providers in San Diego County have known for a while now: that child sex trafficking is a thriving industry here and in communities across America, fueled by the internet. About 100 such leaders gathered Tuesday afternoon in a forum hosted by Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, that featured state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to brainstorm creative ways to combat the problem. While the FBI operation shows that the crime is occurring throughout the nation, both Vargas and Becerra said there is still a false perception that sex trafficking is not close enough to home to worry about. People have this wrong impression about what sex trafficking is, Becerra said. They think its not anything near their neighborhood or their family. Slow but steady progress being made against sex trafficking in San Diego Vargas said some of his counterparts in Washington, D.C., feel the same way, including a friend from the Midwest who views sex trafficking as an immigrant issue. In fact, a 2015 study found that nearly 80 percent of sex trafficking victims in San Diego County are U.S. citizens. The study also found that the average age of entry into the $810 million industry is 16, and many are being recruited by older boyfriends who turn out to be pimps. Around the country, they dont understand it, Vargas said. The crowd in the San Diego City College auditorium applauded the newest measures passed by state lawmakers that take aim at sex trafficking, including one that mandates school curriculum on the topic. But participants all agreed there is still so much more to be done. For one, the curriculum law did not include a funding source, leaving it up to schools to pursue grants or private resources to educate students about the dangers and red flags of sex trafficking. San Diego County is not waiting for state funding to come and has already gotten started on previewing some programs, said District Attorney Summer Stephan. Deputy Attorney General Maggy Krell outlined her thoughts on how to get the biggest bang out of prosecutions: Go after the money. You have to be able to go after the industries that make it possible and the people who profit the most, said Krell, who is leading the prosecution against the operators of Backpage.com, which is accused of being a leading place to advertise commercial sex. There is a person who is making a lot of money and who is saying that this is OK. And its not. San Diegos Human Trafficking Task Force has been conducting training at hospitals for physicians and medical staff to recognize signs of trafficking, but R. Daniel Hernandez, director of community relations for San Ysidro Health Centers, asked for the training to trickle down to the community clinic level. We see a lot of the patient population that is susceptible to this. ... If we can get training, we are on the front lines, we see people everyday, Hernandez said. Emergency bed space for trafficking victims also remains a critical need, with only 33 spots in the county, experts said. Dan DeSaegher, executive director of GenerateHope, a shelter for women, asked Vargas for tax incentives for people or businesses that want to donate real estate for such purposes. And one provider with the Salvation Army suggested the government declare a state of emergency when it comes to sex trafficking to free up resources, just as has happened with the recent hepatitis A outbreak in the homeless community. While those were more tangible solutions, the effort to reduce demand is trickier, participants said. It can be done one john at a time such as the cyber patrols of activists who post fake online sex ads and then educate the potential buyers who call. But the most promise lies with the young generation and teaching respect for women. Thats where you should begin to address the demand, said Marisa Ugarte, director of Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, a victim service organization and shelter. In the end, Vargas said it comes down to the old adage: Squeaky wheel gets the grease. If we dont elevate the issue, we wont get the resources, he said. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis Democratic state Senate leader Kevin de Leon held his first official campaign event Wednesday and went right to his core criticism of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein ahead of what promises to be a bitter and expensive battle. We are living in unique times, facing unprecedented challenges that require new ideas and new energy, he told the crowd, which campaign spokesman Roger Salazar said included a few hundred supporters, at the launch of his U.S. Senate bid. The D.C. playbook is obsolete. The event, held at a community college in downtown Los Angeles, paid homage to De Leons humble upbringing and alluded to chief complaints De Leon has had about Feinstein, who at 84 is making her sixth run for the Senate. Advertisement De Leon played on the themes of change and bold action that hes embraced as a leader of Californias pushback against President Trumps policies. We can no longer afford to be polite or patient. We cant cross our fingers and hope that Trump can learn and change, De Leon said, referencing comments Feinstein made about the president in August at San Franciscos Commonwealth Club. Now is the time for a senator who is willing to stand up and be heard, not from the sidelines, but loud and proud from the front lines. California State Senator Kevin DeLeon rally (Video by Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Supporters, many of them sporting purple shirts from the SEIU United Service Workers West union, replied in Spanish with chants of Were in the fight! and Kevin de Leon is a champion! De Leon announced his challenge Sunday in a campaign video and an email to supporters in which he promised to fight a Trump administration that wages war on our people and our progress. The intraparty battle between De Leon and Feinstein promises to be a study in contrasts. Feinstein, a member of the Democratic old guard who has been in office since 1992, is known as a cautious consensus-seeker and was criticized by members of her own party when she urged patience with Trump. De Leon, part of the partys ambitious younger generation, has taken center stage in Sacramento as a leader of Californias resistance against the Trump administrations policies on immigration, climate change and education. De Leon sought to highlight those differences, talking about how he was raised by a single mother with a third-grade education who made ends meet by cleaning houses. I saw how distant success can feel when you look and talk differently and dont even speak the same language, De Leon told his supporters, who included half a dozen of his legislative colleagues. Speaking to reporters afterward, De Leon remarked that he doesnt have the ability to pick up a pen and write myself a personal check. That is the contrast in this campaign, from someone who is a billionaire, to someone who grew up in the most humble neighborhoods in California. State Sen. Toni Atkins, who was among De Leons colleagues in the crowd, said Feinsteins work over the past 25 years cant be questioned. But we are in a new day and a new time, and I think Kevin de Leon has shown the leadership to actually move an agenda forward, Atkins said. Hes got a good story for California, and hes got a good story for our place in history, and I think thats going to resonate. christine.maiduc@latimes.com For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc. ALSO California Senate leader Kevin de Leon announces he will challenge Sen. Dianne Feinstein Californias feverish political moment creates opportunity for a Feinstein challenge or a few Billionaire activist Tom Steyer says hes considering Senate bid of his own Super PAC forms to back Kevin De Leon over Sen. Dianne Feinstein in Senate race Updates on California politics UPDATES: 6:25 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from campaign spokesman Roger Salazar. 4:38 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details and context. This article was originally published at 3:45 p.m. In the 10 years since the deadly wildfires of October 2007, local officials have spent more than $400 million in new fire-fighting tools. Now, they say, its your turn. We will never be your Plan A, said Tony Mecham, CAL FIRE San Diego Unit Chief. We are your Plan B. Advertisement Plan A? Be prepared, said County Supervisor Dianne Jacob. Preparedness starts with all of us. Yet, a survey conducted on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Witch Creek, Harris and Guejito fires indicates that San Diego County residents are less ready for a disaster than they were in 2007. That year, 74 percent of respondents said they were ready to evacuate their homes within 15 minutes. Today, that figure had dropped to 50 percent. And while half of the 2007 respondents had an emergency plan, only 38 percent can make the same claim today. Thats not good news, said Jacob. Were really going in the wrong direction. Jacob, Mecham, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Fire Chief Brian Fennessey and other officials met Wednesday at Gillespie Field to mark the wildfires anniversary. The 2007 firestorms began on a Sunday morning, Oct. 21, and raged through Nov. 16. Flames swept through every corner of the county, from Fallbrook to the border, from Julian to Rancho Bernardo. In 2007 the Witch Creek, Harris, and Guejito wildfires ravanged San Diego County, burning 580 square miles, destroying hundreds of structures and killing 7 people. The people of San Diego will never forget. Almost one out of every seven acres in San Diego County was charred, while 10 people perished and more than 1,700 homes were destroyed. Coming just four years after the massive Cedar and Paradise fires ravaged the county, the 2007 fires prompted officials to spend more than $406 million on new equipment and reforms. In the last decade: Rural fire agencies have been consolidated under the County Fire Authority, overseeing more than 1.5 million acres. An additional 16 fire engines have been stationed in the backcountry. A firefighting helicopter has been added to the countys fleet, bringing the total to three. Agreements have been forged allowing the region to request help from 30 Marine Corps and Navy aircraft. Building codes have been revamped to require fire-resistant exteriors and roofs, plus automatic sprinkler systems. Land use regulations have been amended to require 100 feet of defensible space around residences. More than 100 weather stations have been opened in the backcountry, affording firefighters real-time reports on local conditions. Dispatchers from city fire departments, CAL FIRE and other agencies have been linked, so fire engines and ambulances can be routed from the nearest station, regardless of agency or jurisdiction. As we know, Faulconer said, fires dont recognize any jurisdictional boundaries. Despite these and other high-tech advances at readysandiego.org, residents can request emergency alerts to their cell phones officials warned that the danger is growing. Fires fueled by a lethal combination of high temperatures, low humidity and high winds are becoming more common, said Chief Fennessey. The world, he noted, has recently seen a series of wildfires of unparalleled destructiveness. In January, Chile endured the worst wildfires in its history. In June, wildfires in Portugal killed at least 64 people. And this month, wildfires have devastated Orange, Napa and Sonoma counties in California. Faced with this growing threat, Fennessey and other officials urged residents to take common sense precautions. Cut away tree branches that overhang roofs; store firewood away from the walls of your house; install mesh screens on homes vents, so flying embers arent sucked inside. And be ready to evacuate at a moments notice. Michelle and Gregg Grimaldo fled their Jamul home well ahead of the Harris fire, taking shelter in a friends home. Hours later, as flames swept even closer, they fled that refuge, too. While Gregg tried to round up some horses, Michelle and her mother drove down Honey Springs Road where their path was blocked by flames. I got out of my car and mother got out of hers. We hugged each other and said goodbye, Michelle said, tearing up. We thought we were not going to make it. Then Gregg arrived and led the women to a vacant field. There, they watched fire on all sides until morning, when firefighters saved them. To this day, Michelle said, I wish I could go to those firefighters and say thank you again. That was a decade ago, and San Diego County has not seen wildfires on this massive, terrifying scale since. But local residents are not out of the woods even if they dont live in a wooded area. Fires are something that no longer stay in the backcountry, CAL FIREs Mecham said. This is the new normal we live in. For decades, visitors have come to San Diego to enjoy the beach, sample the local cuisine and experience the unique history the citys neighborhoods offer. Whether its to stay near the parade route during the San Diego LGBT Pride Festival in Hillcrest or to help college students move into their dorms in La Jolla and College Grove, short-term rentals have long helped support the local economy and create a more affordable stay for visitors from all over the globe. After nearly two years of thoughtful consideration, town halls and community meetings, the San Diego City Council is evaluating several proposed ordinances intended to better define and regulate short-term rentals. Last month, City Council members David Alvarez, Chris Ward, Scott Sherman and Mark Kersey submitted a proposal outlining a compromise between competing proposals introduced in August. Related: Why San Diego leaders should delay action on short-term rentals Advertisement At Airbnb, we believe that to be regulated is to be recognized, which is why weve worked with council members, city staff and community partners to identify sensible regulations, many of which were included in the latest council proposal. We believe that the strongest components to be included in the final vote should be: A definition of short-term rentals. A short-term rental should be defined as the occupancy of a residence for less than 30 days. A requirement for community and neighborhood respect. While instances of disruption are rare, we want to equip hosts and communities with the effective tools to address them when they do occur. Hosts and guests should adhere to good-neighbor standards and be both available and accountable when problems arise. A new funding source for enforcement. The city must have adequate funding to ensure prompt investigation of any complaints that arise in short-term rentals. A comprehensive registration process. The city should establish a permitting process where all short-term rentals are registered, with fees that fully fund enforcement. One of the many upsides of home sharing is that it allows visitors to get a look into neighborhoods outside of the traditional tourist areas of the city and give an economic boost to communities that wouldnt normally benefit from tourism dollars. Some of the proposals introduced would impose such severe restrictions on short-term rentals throughout the city that hosts, guests and San Diegans who have benefited from the positive economic impact would all feel the consequences. I recently met a host from Rancho Bernardo who has guests who come to stay with her to be closer to their family at Scripps, the UCSD Medical Center or the Childrens Hospital, and she herself relies on the income from her short-term rental to supplement her disability income. I also met with a host who lives and works in Hillcrest who is excited about more visitors being able to stay in the neighborhood and visit the local cafes and restaurants. Hillcrest is home to the San Diego Pride parade and just this year, Airbnb hosts earned roughly $1.5 million welcoming guests from around the country to the annual event, which is an important supplement for hosts in a neighborhood with limited lodging options. Without Airbnb and other short-term rental options, these guests would have to stay in hotels far from their intended destinations throughout the city. In addition to events throughout the city, many guests especially families use Airbnb to visit San Diegos iconic beaches. Without short-term rental options, the coast would become less accessible to one of Californias greatest destinations. The amenities that a short-term rental offers a family visiting the beach a kitchen, quiet sleeping areas and in some cases beach amenities like chairs, umbrellas and cooler help make the experience for those traveling to the coast. With expensive hotels and resorts at the coast, short-term rentals also offer more affordable lodging alternatives for people who otherwise wouldnt be able to visit. Were pleased to see the City Council taking action on short-term rentals and urge members to vote on the compromise proposal that is best for guests, hosts and the city of San Diego. Moret is public policy manager for Airbnb. In recent weeks, several City Council members have been furiously scrambling to place ordinance changes aimed at legalizing short-term rentals on the docket for upcoming meetings. Passage of any of these proposals would result in the ruinous conversion of our neighborhoods into commercial hospitality zones. The existing municipal code does not allow short-term rentals in any zone in the city. This was an intentional and informed decision by the city founding fathers to protect citizens and neighborhoods and guarantee the best possible quality of life in the city. Unfortunately, our mayor has steadfastly refused to allow the law concerning short-term rentals to be enforced despite clarification by the city attorney. In 2007, then-Councilman Kevin Faulconer toured areas of Pacific Beach with the PB Planning Group to observe how the burgeoning practice of short-term rentals was threatening neighborhoods. In the 10 years since, nothing has been done to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, members of the mayors staff have developed a relationship with Airbnb through many meetings with their lobbyists. Related: Why Airbnb favors San Diego rental regulations Advertisement Since that time, the number of illegal short-term rentals has grown exponentially to thousands of units. More than 60 percent are whole home rentals. This onslaught has caused many residents to lose their homes and driven up the cost of housing by depleting housing stock and pushing up property prices. Many families have had their lives upended by aggressive and unruly visitors frequenting short-term rentals in their neighborhoods. Residents feel unsafe and stressed in their homes because of the noise, trash, parking impact, strangers coming and going and the belligerent attitude of vacationers who believe they can do whatever they want without regard to the neighbors. Many of the 5,000 operators of these illegal mini hotels own several units and are making a career out of exploiting our city and its neighborhoods. To add insult to injury, half of these operators do not even reside in San Diego. That means that the council is proposing going to great lengths and expense to protect a small number of commercial operators who are violating the law at the expense of thousands of San Diego residents. San Diego is in serious financial difficulty due to the shoot from the hip legislative style that has characterized our city government for decades. These proposals are more of the same. This point has been made crystal clear by the memo published Wednesday by the city attorney that explains why these proposals are not ready for prime time. The city seems to see the legalization of short-term rentals as a way to boost revenue but unfortunately it will be on the backs of residents trying to live peaceably in their neighborhoods in between unattended hotels. The memo details how the research and analysis needed for a serious revision to the municipal code has not been done. Perhaps the most important missing ingredient in this discussion is any explanation of why the city needs to accommodate short-term rentals at all. Is it because they think the transient occupancy tax will make a difference? One argument is that the city cannot afford to enforce the code as it stands. Does that mean that we need to legalize illegal activity just because we dont know how to enforce it? Ridiculous! At least 12 California coastal cities have reiterated their code (similar to San Diegos) and are prohibiting short-term rentals . Some of these communities have reported 85 percent and 60 percent success rate in their enforcement efforts. This is by far the least expensive solution as demonstrated by the city attorneys memo. I strongly believe that the council should back off from making any decision until work has been done on the due diligence needed before any changes to the municipal code are contemplated. Those should include a serious study of the situation in our neighborhoods and the history and evolution of the existing code. I also strongly believe that Mayor Faulconer should stop stonewalling and instruct code enforcement and the city attorney to enforce the existing law. Judging from the memo, it could take years for the council to sort it all out. San Diegans should not have to wait any longer to have the law enforced so that these illegal establishments can be reduced and that affected residents can start to get their lives back. Austin is a board member of Save San Diego Neighborhoods. UPDATES: Updated at 5:15 p.m. Oct. 19 to reflect developments. A month after the Democratic San Diego City Council majority voted to reject a $160 million religious-themed retreat in Mission Valley, the council wisely reversed course Tuesday, steering clear of the nations culture wars and potential litigation. In voting 7-2 to approve San Diego televangelist Morris Cerullos plans for the shuttered Mission Valley Resort, every council member but Chris Ward and Georgette Gomez heeded the advice of the City Attorneys Office and The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board about council limitations. Fatuous fears about traffic impacts were not only mitigated, they seemed a thinly veiled attack on Cerullos evangelical teachings, especially when some in the LGBTQ community opposed the project so strenuously. San Diego Democrats for Equality derided Tuesdays vote for an anti-gay theme park as an absolute betrayal to the LGBTQ community and began encouraging a challenge to Council President Myrtle Coles re-election. But if Cole is vulnerable, it shouldnt be for this. If people oppose Cerullos themes, this wasnt the forum. Advertisement The City Attorneys Office flatly warned the council it couldnt take the resorts religious nature into account before its hearing and again before its vote. All three council members who changed their votes should be lauded for listening to legal advice and avoiding a lawsuit the city would have lost. Related: Will culture wars come to San Diego after council rejects religious retreat? Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion Re School librarian, citing racist propaganda, rejects Melania Trumps gift of Dr. Seuss books (Sept. 28): Its hard to believe that a few bitter and misguided people accusing Dr. Seuss of overtly racist themes or illustrations could be taken seriously. Calling a political cartoon featuring Asians that came out right after Pearl Harbor racist? Its wonderful that we are not enemies with the Japanese now, but they were a mortal threat back then. To call this and other works of Dr. Seuss racist is an unconvincing conclusion extracted with great effort by a few myopic and unqualified critics. Worse is for the U-T to propagate the myth of a need to correct a lack of diversity in childrens literature. Such a dogmatic effort is simply a push toward censorship. It is anti-American. Grow up, U-T, and put your efforts into something useful for society. Advertisement John E. Humiston Chula Vista Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. In a span of just four days, two giants of the Grand Old Party Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former President George W. Bush have given speeches calling for an end to divisiveness and a restoration of American ideals and identity, taking clear jabs at President Donald Trump . Describing the current state of affairs in America while accepting the Liberty Medal on Monday, McCain slammed half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. Bush expanded on that message at the Bush Institutes Spirit of Liberty event in New York on Thursday. Weve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, Bush said. We need to recall and recover our own identity. McCain tweeted shortly afterward calling the speech an important reminder of the values that have made America a beacon of hope for all. Bush said it seems that the worlds great democracies are faltering, and he extolled democratic values in the face of economic, political and national security challenge made worse by a tendency to turn inward. We cannot wish globalism away, Bush said. Heres more from his speech: Weve forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade, forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism. Weve seen the return of isolationist sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair in distant places, where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge. In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have great advantage. To renew our country, we only need to remember our values. How does Bush suggest people to come together in the name of democracy and free markets? 1. Harden U.S. defense against external threats, especially cyber attacks. 2. Improve leadership and collaboration abroad when it comes to freedom and free markets. 3. Strengthen democratic citizenship in the U.S., especially among young people. 4. Quickly respond to declining of trust in American institutions. Self-correction is the secret strength of freedom, Bush said. Were a nation with a history of resilience and a genius for renewal. The speech has been described by analysts in The Washington Post as an anti-Trump manifesto and in Politico as a slam against Trumpism. On social media, the response to it was more complicated. Some praised his message. Others thought it was uncalled for. Others pondered how the speech played out politically. You can watch his full speech here. Watch live from New York City at 9am Eastern/8am Central. The Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In the World, a national forum will focus on freedom, free markets, and security. The ev ... Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @abbyhamblin Behind this weeks highly politicized exchange between President Donald Trump and the widow of a U.S. soldier killed in an ambush attack in Niger are lingering questions about the deadliest combat mission of this presidents administration. Whats known is that four American soldiers were killed in an Oct. 4 attack in a remote area of Niger an African country bordering Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Mali and Algeria and that the U.S. Department of Defense is investigating the incident, per CNN. But more than two weeks after the incident, questions remain about what exactly happened there and why. What were U.S. soldiers doing in Niger? Were they exposed to a threat and, if so, why? One Florida congresswoman has begun to refer to the Niger incident as Mr. Trumps Benghazi. Here is what is known and what is not known. When and where exactly did the attack occur? The attack occurred on Oct. 4 after a 12-member Green Beret team from the U.S. military was leaving a meeting, CNN reported. The team was traveling in unarmored trucks along the border of Niger and Mali somewhere near a village called Tongo Tongo, per The Washington Post. Who are the four American soldiers killed? The four U.S. soldiers killed in the attack were part of a U.S. Army Special Forces, the Post reported. Their names are Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Sgt. La David Johnson. Were others killed or wounded in the attack? Two Nigerian soldiers were killed, and the attack also left at least two other U.S. soldiers wounded. Their names have not been made public. What was the U.S. military doing in Niger? Military officials told The Washington Post that the soldiers were there on a counterterrorism mission to advise and train Niger forces fighting extremists in the region. The unit was led by the U.S. Africa Command based in Germany. The U.S. military has broadened its fight against terrorist groups to include remote parts of Africa, including Niger, where Al-Qaeda and similar groups have operated nearby, the Post reported. Who attacked U.S. soldiers that day? The attack is believed to have been carried out by up to 50 Islamic State fighters using small arms, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, CNN reported citing a U.S. defense official. The Trump administration has not publicly acknowledged that Islamic State fighters were involved. Where was backup and when did it arrive? It is believed that it took nearly an hour to evacuate the American soldiers under attack, CNN reported. French military helicopters took part in the evacuation because no American military vehicles were anywhere nearby. What are the questions that remain to be answered? A big part of the investigation into the attack has centered on how or why up to 50 Islamic State fighters went undetected before the attack and why the U.S. military was not anticipating a deadly firefight. Officials told CNN that it was a completely unexpected attack. Also unanswered are questions over how the body of Sgt. Johnson was left behind in the evacuation mission. Johnson is believed to have been separated from his fellow soldiers and is believed to have activated a beacon as an alert that he was still alive, Axios reported but his body was recovered two days after the attack. What have U.S. military officials and lawmakers said? CNN reported that, behind closed doors, defense secretary James Mattis was dismayed at the lack of detailed information as a result of the investigation. Publicly, Mattis told reporters that We will look at this and say, Was there something we have to adapt to now? Should we have been in a better stance? Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said he wanted more information from the Trump administration but fell short of saying that the Senate Armed Committee he chairs would conduct an investigation of its own. It took 12 days for Trump to offer public remarks about the attack despite there being a statement prepared the day after the attack, per Politico and CNN, leading to some criticism over his administrations handling of the incident. On CNN, Rep. Frederica Wilson , D-Florida, said there were so many unanswered questions about the attack that it amounted to a mirror image of what happened in the attack of a U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. This might wind up to be Mr. Trumps Benghazi, Wilson said. John Kelly , a former Marines General and now White House chief of staff, on Thursday defended Trumps handling of the deaths of the four soldiers killed in Niger and added that the Niger incident remained under investigation. An investigation doesnt mean anything was wrong. An investigation doesnt mean peoples heads are gonna roll, Kelly said in reference to a questions about the attack in Niger. The fact is they need to find out what happened and why it happened. But at the end of the day these young people, some times old guys, put on the uniform and go where we send them to protect our country theyre helping those partners be better at fighting ISIS in north Africa so we dont have to send large number of troops. Have some thoughts to share? Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet. Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez Read The Conversation on Flipboard. Locals are being asked to donate food or money to help other area families who are financially struggling this Thanksgiving. Donations of food, grocery gift cards and money are needed by Thursday, Nov. 9. All contributions are tax-deductible. They can come from individuals or groups. The Rancho Bernardo-based Friends & Family Community Connection will likely help at least 872 local families the number of recipients last year by providing them with a complete Thanksgiving meal the recipients can cook at home, according to Becky Palenske, FFCCs director of family support. Each year the all-volunteer organization has set a new record for families it assists at Thanksgiving. She said the charitable program is especially popular because it lets recipients prepare and eat their holiday meal at home versus most other Thanksgiving meal programs that have recipients go to a place where a prepared meal is served to them. Because recipients receive a gift card for fresh foods they can purchase a turkey or other item, such as a ham or fish, if that is their preference. Some families dont prefer turkey because it is not their custom or their holiday routine, Palenske said. What is great about our project is that were the only game in town where we help by providing food they can cook at home and we do not assume that our traditional Thanksgiving food is (theirs). We give them a choice and (the other food items) supplement. They can use them that day or later. The recipients mostly live within the Poway Unified School District boundaries of Poway, Rancho Bernardo, 4S Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs and Del Sur. Palenske said most recipients are recommended through the school district, local churches and programs in subsidized housing areas that FFCC works with for its weekly food distribution program. If (someone) is concerned about a family and wants to contact us we would consider referrals (for Thanksgiving food boxes) from the community, Palenske said. She can be reached at 858-538-2492 or ffccsdlocal@gmail.com. Donors have several options. They may contribute just a few non-perishable items or grocery gift cards in $15, $20 or $25 amounts. The preference is for Vons and Stater Bros. since those are the stores the recipients often live closest to and transportation to other stores is sometimes an issue, Palenske said. Donors are also welcome to donate a complete meal or money so FFCC can purchase the gift cards and meal ingredients. To make a monetary donation, send a check written to FFCC with Thanksgiving Food Box Project on the memo line to FFCC c/o Becky Palenske, 12382 Pathos Lane, San Diego, CA 92129. Online donations via PayPal can be made at ffccsd.org. For those purchasing food, a meal consists of canned cranberry sauce, canned corn, stuffing, corn bread mix, canned sweet potatoes or yams, canned green beans, gravy (canned, jar or mix), aluminum foil, a small bottle of cooking oil and a grocery store gift card so the recipient can purchase a turkey, ham or other entree plus fresh ingredients. She said the least-donated items are the gift cards, cooking oil, corn bread, yams and foil, perhaps because they are the more expensive items on the list. To complete the boxes FFCC uses the cash donations to purchase the needed items. Because FFCC has limited storage space, those contributing food need to contact Palenske at 858-538-2492 or ffccsdlocal@gmail.com to make drop-off arrangements. If groups are going to make this one of their charitable projects, she requests they contact her first so she can give them collection guidelines for a successful food drive. email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com Jakobstad, Finland -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/19/2017 -- Internationally renowned film director Leonid Lopatin has announced that he is raising funds and support for the upcoming action feature film titled Bitter Wind. The film is a story of action, crime, thrill and suspense with a talented cast performing alongside a seasoned crew. Moreover, the upcoming criminal feature film will be shot in multiple locations including countries such as Finland, Estonia and Albania. "With your support we are able to produce and finalize this film project faster and we will be able to reach a higher level giving the auditory an unforgettable experience." Said Leonid Lopatin, the Director of this upcoming feature film, while announcing its launch on Indiegogo. According to the director, the film production company is relying heavily on the fans and is welcoming them to make pledges in this Indiegogo campaign. All funds raised through this crowdfunding campaign for the film will be used in covering the expenses of travel tickets, accommodation, advertising and distribution. Moreover, the goal of this Indiegogo campaign is to raise a sum of EUR 50,000 and supporters can participate by making pledges. The Indiegogo Campaign is located on the web at: www.indiegogo.com/projects/bitter-wind-criminal-feature-film and supporters from around the world can make pledges to support this film. These pledges can range from EUR 5 to EUR 15,000, with each pledge offering a great reward to the backer. More details are available on the Indiegogo campaign page of the film. About Bitter Wind Bitter Wind is an upcoming action and criminal feature film from a European filmmaking company. The film will be shot in Finland, Estonia and Albania, with some of the most talented cast and crew members on board. The creators of this film are raising funds and support to make this film a reality and they are therefore welcoming everyone to pledge in this Indiegogo campaign. Contact: Contact Person: Leonid Lopatin Company: jupiter4movie City: Pietarsaari State: Ostrobothnia Country: Finland Phone: +358 505830237 Email: jupiter4movie@gmail.com Website: www.indiegogo.com/projects/bitter-wind-criminal-feature-film A team of marine biologists from Monterey Bay Aquarium and the California Academy of Sciences has discovered and described a new species of the butterflyfish genus Roa from the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines, West Pacific Ocean. We named this reef fish Roa rumsfeldi because, as Donald Rumsfeld once said, some things are truly unknown unknowns, said senior author Dr. Luiz Rocha, Associate Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences. This fish caught us completely off-guard. After traveling from the deep reefs of the Philippines to our aquarium in San Francisco, former Academy aquarium biologist and co-author Dr. Matt Wandell noticed a black fin spine that looked different from other known Roa weve collected in the past. It was a light bulb moment for all of us. Butterflyfish, a group of tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae, are iconic coral reef species. Roa rumsfeldi and its close relatives are only known to live in mesophotic twilight zone reefs, a place where sunlight is scarce and divers with traditional scuba gear cannot safely visit. The new species was found on mesophotic reefs of Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, and Bauan, Batangas, between 330 and 425 feet (100-130 m) depth. However, it likely has a wider distribution and remains undetected because of its preferred depth range. Roa rumsfeldi are usually seen in pairs, but the two specimens the team collected were solitary individuals. We have kept one of the specimens alive in the California Academy of Sciences Twilight Zone exhibit for more than one year, where it thrives and is feeding on a variety of dried and fresh food, Dr. Rocha and colleagues said. Roa rumsfeldi is described in a paper published in the October 18, 2017 issue of the journal ZooKeys. _____ Luiz A. Rocha et al. 2017. Roa rumsfeldi, a new butterflyfish (Teleostei, Chaetodontidae) from mesophotic coral ecosystems of the Philippines. ZooKeys 709: 127-134; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.709.20404 [NAIROBI] Often, we hear lamentations over the lack of policymakers uptake of science, technology and innovation (STI) products. Most people, especially experts, argue that the two need to complement one another for rapid socioeconomic development in Africa, but that is not the case in many instances. We need to establish intelligent links that aid continuous and interactive flow of information to help build trust between policymakers and scientists. Gilbert Nakweya But who is to blame for the persistent gap between policy making processes and science in Africa? How can the continent increase engagements between science, research and policy making processes as one of the means to creating opportunities aimed at enabling its populace to realise their wide-ranging dreams? Those are some of the questions that came to my mind and I sought answers for as I listened to experts from Eastern and Southern African countries such as Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe at a forum that took place in Kenya last month (27-29 September). Many studies conducted by international bodies such as the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme have indeed revealed the importance of STI in fostering sustainable development. However, it is still a matter of concern on the wide gap that exists between policy and STI and research in Sub-Saharan Africa, as I learnt during a conference of Kenya-headquartered Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development. The academicians, research scientists, members of the private sector, and government officials at the gathering were concerned that the engagement between science, research and policy is still poor despite the increasing research output aimed at informing decisions that can foster sustainable development in the region. Following the interactions at the conference, I gathered that the producers of knowledge (scientists and researchers) and the consumers (policymakers) are equally to blame for the low input of research work in policy-making. Some scientists in Africa have been blamed for not having established networks to share information with policymakers early. Additionally, they are to blame for not involving all important actors including policymakers and the various relevant members of the public in their research works from the start to the end. For instance, a professor at an African university may choose to solely work on an innovation to address the challenges of pasture and water affecting nomadic pastoralists without involving policymakers and the pastoralists. On the other hand, policymakers, in most cases, mistrust scientific knowledge producers even from the research institutions that are owned by governments. To this end, most of the delegates agreed that it is important for scientists to have a good understanding of the end users of certain technologies, for example, before working on them. I agree with the delegates. We need to establish intelligent links that aid continuous and interactive flow of information to help build trust between policymakers and scientists. Such links should also involve the public who are an integral part of the implementation of research and are key to research sustainability. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. Cady Mansell has always had a strong sense of fashion. At 9 years old, she likes trying on makeup and painting her nails. She likes shopping trips to Chicago with her fashion-conscious mother. And since she asked for her first bow tie during one of those trips to the mall when she was just 4 years old, Cady has had a thing for snazzy suits. When it came time for her First Communion, a major event for Cady, she naturally started thinking early about what she wanted to wear on the big day. She settled on a brand-new all-white suit. "It kind of sparkles in the sunlight," she enthused when she tried it on. But then word got out at her Catholic school about Cady's planned attire. School officials told Cady's parents that she couldn't participate in First Communion with the rest of her class unless she wore a skirt or dress. And when the Mansells dug in their heels, insisting that their daughter should wear the outfit she had picked out for her special day, the argument escalated quickly - to the point that the Mansells pulled their daughters out of the school and the church altogether. "It made me sad and mad," Cady said. "We should all be equal and wear what we would like." At the school, St. John the Evangelist in St. John, Indiana, an official, who asked The Post not to publish her name because she didn't make the decision to ban Cady's suit, said that the school simply couldn't bend its dress code to suit Cady's style. "We have a dress code in place for our school. We consistently enforce that," she said. "Oftentimes you'll get somebody who wants to wear sneakers instead of dress shoes, or a purple shirt instead of a white shirt." The dress code prescribes dark slacks and a white shirt for the boys at the school, and a white dress or skirt for the girls. A girl would not be allowed to wear an outfit that fits the boys' dress code, the official said, though she couldn't give a reason, other than that it is against the dress code. "Most people have dress codes at work. They have dress codes for other things. They're in place for a reason: So that there's a consistent, uniformly enforced dress code," she said. The Rev. Sammie Maletta, the priest at St. John the Evangelist, told the Mansells that a deacon at the church could administer Cady's First Communion privately, but that she couldn't attend the ceremony with the rest of her classmates unless she wore a dress or skirt. Cady was upset by that; she wanted to sit with her friends. "We couldn't go to the real Communion Mass," Cady's mother, Chris Mansell, said. "We would have to wait until all the kids left the building, then come in like a secret. No picture, no anything, like we were ashamed of her. I said, 'That's not an option.' " After Chris, who worked at the school as a teacher's aide, discussed the dress code with the principal, her husband took Cady to the rehearsal for the ceremony. There, Chris said, Maletta pulled Cady's father aside. In Chris' telling, Maletta said: "You're raising your daughter wrong. You're setting bad examples for her. She doesn't have the brain development and maturity to decide if she wants to wear a suit. It's your job as a parent to say, 'You're not wearing a suit. You're wearing a dress.' If you won't do this, you're raising your daughter wrong." Mansell responded by saying that if that was how Maletta saw it, the family would leave the parish, which was central to their lives. It meant pulling their daughters out of the school and Chris quitting her job at the school. They went through with it. "He already said I was raising my daughter wrong and we're bad parents. At that point, I don't want to be in an organization like that," Chris said. Chris said that all this has nothing to do with Cady's gender identity or sexuality - her 9-year-old girl definitely identifies as a girl. Cady does have short hair right now, for excellent reason. She has twice grown her hair long and then cut it to donate to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for patients who lose their hair to disease. And her father has shaved his head several years in a row as a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research. This year, Cady declared, "Can I shave my head for St. Baldrick's? I want to see if I can make more money than Daddy ever did." And she did it - she said that she raised $6,000, the most of anyone at the event, and after she shaved her head, they gave her a medal almost as big as her face. Her hair is still growing back right now; she wears it plain at school, but at home, she sometimes plays around with silly styles like a mohawk. Ask her about her fashion sense, and you'll get a list not just of clothing but of all her many favorites: "I like Star Wars stuff. I like cartwheels. I like drones. I like math. I like to color." Cady said she's enjoying the new Catholic school that her parents enrolled her in a few days after they left St. John the Evangelist at the end of September. But the kids at her new school already did their First Communion at the end of third grade, instead of the beginning of fourth grade like Cady was supposed to do at St. John the Evangelist, so Chris (who will also need to find a new job) is looking for a church where Cady can finally make her First Communion. That matters a lot to Chris, who said she tried attending a nondenominational church for about a year but returned to Catholicism specifically because of her deep connection to Communion. "I just felt really called to go back because of the sacrament. I prayed on it a lot. I always wanted my girls to make the sacrament in the Catholic Church," she said. "The Eucharist is just something so special. I think when you're a cradle Catholic, it's different. It's in your blood. It's in your roots. I just wanted my daughters to be able to experience that." Until that day comes, Cady is getting ready - she practiced Communion at home with orange soda instead of wine. And her mom posted a photograph of her in her suit in the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation, a group of feminists who supported famous pantsuit-wearer Hillary Clinton. Cady liked hearing some of the responses on Facebook. "I really love it," she said, "because then I'm not the only one that thinks girls should wear suits." FLORENCE, S.C. -- Lighthouse Ministries Thursday morning invited a collection of ministers and community leaders to a brief ceremony to bless its new building on West Evans Street. About two dozen people turned out for the 15 minute ceremony that included Bible and other religious readings. The organization's new building, located at the corner of West Evans and Sunset Drive, is about the same size as its former building on Elm Street but the space is such that it can be better and more fully utilized to the benefit of the clients. The new building will allow them to share space with the Alston Wilkes Society, Echo and the Veterans Resource Center of Florence. A public ribbon cutting was scheduled for later in the day Thursday. COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A Scranton man has been arrested and charged with one count of disseminating obscene material to a person twelve years of age or younger. Brock Bladen Garrett, 20, was arrested Tuesday by Florence County Sheriff's deputies, according to a release from the South Carolina Attorney General's office. Investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a member of the Minnesota ICAC Task Force, and Red Lake Nation Police Department assisted with the investigation. "Investigators state Garrett sent a nude image to the minor victim via social media," according to the release. Since the Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1970, it has made our air cleaner and prevented millions of premature deaths, hospitalizations, and sick days all while America enjoyed a growing economy and quality of life. But now the agency is under attack from the polluter lobby and special-interest groups in Washington who want to roll back critical air quality safeguards. This is nothing more than an effort to protect corporations from being held accountable for reckless actions. The key battle taking place right now is in Congress, where the current appropriations bill would slash the EPAs budget by 30 percent, to its lowest funding level in 40 years. Cuts of that magnitude would be catastrophic for South Carolina families. Over the past five years, South Carolina has received more than $236 million in grants from the EPA. This critical funding goes to clean up lead pollution and toxic waste sites, protect air quality in our communities, and support science-based, technology-fostering programs that promote public health. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit, bipartisan watchdog group, nearly 1,300 South Carolinians are saved every year by EPA clean-air programs. Many of these individuals are in the most vulnerable populations, like children and seniors. Any cuts to the EPA budget put those lives at risk. South Carolina would also pay a heavy economic toll if Congress chooses to de-fund the EPA. Agricultural crop yields and tourism revenue take a direct hit from dirty air. Combined, these two industries have a $60 billion economic impact on South Carolina and nothing kills crops or discourages travel quite like polluted air. Additionally, more than 200,000 adults and 62,000 children in South Carolina suffer from asthma. Each year, asthma attacks are the cause of nearly 10,000 pediatric emergency room visits and more than $750 million in associated medicals costs in the Palmetto State, according to the EDF. All total, in South Carolina, the EPA says that its enforcement of mercury and air toxics standards alone creates up to $2.7 billion in health benefits every year. The facts are clear: Air pollution might be invisible, but its impacts are not. If the EPA loses one-third of its budget, South Carolina will experience a significant rise in asthma attacks among children, heart attacks among healthy adults, sick days due to breathing harmful air pollutants and deaths caused by lung diseases. We can all agree that our families deserve clean, beautiful and healthy air. So why would we want to take away funding from the EPA? Why would we choose to reverse years of progress made toward improving our states public health, quality of life and tourism and agriculture-based economy? If EPA roll-backs are successful, theres only one winner: big polluters. The rest of us end up losers. Please join me in urging your representatives in Congress and the Senate to stand up for South Carolina and vote against any appropriations bill that includes cuts to the EPAs budget. The health of our families and our economy depends on it. SARAH H. FALLAW Darlington Its never too early for people to start getting involved in their communities. Involvement can include something as simple as helping an elderly neighbor collect his or her newspaper on a daily basis; or something more extensive like putting in five to 10 hours of volunteer work at an organization. Whatever the service may be, it all matters and helps to make a community a better place to live. On Saturday, Oct. 28, dozens of Fremont High School Key Club members are putting their efforts toward gathering money and non-perishable food items for the Fremont Salvation Armys food pantry. During the winter months, the Salvation Army helps dozens of families in a variety of ways; but a big source of giving comes from its ability to distribute food from a fully-stocked food pantry. On Oct. 28, approximately 30-40 of Key Clubs 70 members will congregate outside of Hy-Vee engaging with community members and gathering the valuable resources for the Salvation Army. A yellow school bus will then be filled with gathered non-perishables and cash and driven to the Salvation Army, said Ryan Olson, FHS Spanish instructor and third-year Key Club sponsor. In 2016, 31 boxes of non-perishable food items and approximately $150 in cash was donated to the Salvation Army through the annual Stuff the Bus campaign, he said during a Thursday interview with the Tribune. The goal is to double that this year. The campaign has been going on at least for six years, he said. The beauty of the event is that theres never a lack of community members willing to donate a few items during the event, which lasts from 9 a.m. through noon. Often times, shoppers will even run back inside of Hy-Vee to pick up a few additional items before taking off. People in the community get to see that high school students are taking an active part with helping their community and a group like the Salvation Army, Olson said. Its something the kids really like doing; and we really just provide the bodies and get kids out there who want to do good and who want to provide a service to help people. Every year, the Stuff the Bus campaign is organized by Key Clubs five elected officers. The club, Olson said, teaches students not only about philanthropy but also leadership. Thats one of the great parts of Key Club, that there is a leadership portion, he said. Really, our high school Key Club officers are the ones who organize the events; they make contact with people and do a lot of networking. They know how to get something done quickly and efficiently. Being able to make a difference in some peoples lives is gratifying for Olson and his Key Club students. There isnt anybody out there who hasnt been helped or benefitted by somebody else at one time or another, he said. And thats really the meaning of volunteering, just giving back; because at some point youve gotten something in your life. So if we can help students to realize that in high school this early on before they graduate its great. The development of this new homeport on Perico Island is driven by the national government through the Panama Maritime Authority. It will allow many thousands of passengers to embark on cruises from Panama, according to Maritime Authority administrator Jorge Barakat Pitty. With this port officials also hope ships transiting the Canal will dock at Panama City. The 2017/18 cruise season sees around 250 vessels making transits. 'This means more than 600,000 tourists passing through the Canal without having the opportunity to make a stop in Panama City,' said Panama President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez, who participated in the groundbreaking. The facility will have two berths that can simultaneously handle a pair of ships carrying up to 5,000 passengers each. The design and construction were awarded in a competitive bidding process to the Cruceros del Pacifico consortium consisting of the Belgian company Jan De Nul and Beijing-based China Harbour Engineering Co. (CHEC). Jan de Nul was one of the companies that participated in the expansion works of the Canal, inaugurated in 2016, and CHEC has been present in Panama for several years. Amador Cruise Terminal is expected to boost Panama's maritime business while also diversifying the tourism sector by serving as a gateway for cruising. Varela welcomed the positive impact on the nation's economy. The terminal will be key to economic development, generating 1,000 direct jobs and 1,800 indirect jobs during its construction phase, as well as permanent jobs for the operation of the terminal, the president said. The construction begins as Panama celebrates the centenary of its world-leading international ship registry. 'With the same level of excellence Panamanians will manage this terminal and make it one of the most visited in the world, always maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety,' Varela said. The Amador Cruise Terminal is the first government project that will be executed by a Chinese company in Panama since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations, said Wang Bo, a consortium representative for CHEC. According to Wang, the works will be made with 'advanced technology and [be] environment-friendly.' Completion is scheduled in 18 months. Michele Labrut in Panama contributed reporting. He'll be supporting the development of CLIA's Executive Partner Program team in North America. Lehman spent two decades with the South Carolina Ports Authority, most recently serving as GM cruise and real estate. He was instrumental in lifting Charleston's profile as a cruise destination, among other accomplishments. While with the ports authority Lehman was active in industry associations and participated in CLIA as an Executive Partner. The Act tabled in parliament in May would prohibit oil tankers from carrying crude and persistent oils as cargo from stopping, loading or unloading at ports or marine installations in northern British Colombia. Such a draconian step could lead to serious concerns being raised by Canadas international trading partners, said ICS director of policy and external relations, Simon Bennett. ICS said the ban had not been developed through and evidence-based process and could form a precedent for similar legislation in countries such as the US. We would instead encourage Canada to continue its strong history of environmental protection and support for responsible global trade through the implementation of practical measures consistent with international best practice, Bennett said. The legislation will be reviewed by a Canadian parliamentary committee, beginning on 19 October. These deliberations provided the backdrop for the central thrust of the conference. US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Paul Thomas, who now commands the Eighth District (with responsibilities spanning the entire US Gulf, who suggested that it was time for industry to step up and work towards self-regulation in the increasingly de-regulated environment in Washington, DC. Amidst discussions of the logistical challenges in Houston,particularly multiple berthing arrangements for the burgeoning chemical carrier trades, including trips out to anchorages in between actual times at docks, Admiral Thomas suggested that: Houston is the best place to demonstrate how industry devised and led initiatives might work. Representatives from two oil majors provided forecasts of shifting energy landscapes over time; both noted that the US exports of crude oil will continue to grow. The representative from BP America, Mark Finley, suggested that US LNG imports will reach wide ranging destinations and that prices of gas might take on the role as a worldwide numeraire. Finley, and his counterpart from Conoco Phillips, Casey Scott, both noted uncertainties regarding refining developments post 2020, when requirements for low sulphur (0.5%) shipping fuels kick in. In response to questions about non-availability of low sulphur fuels, Admiral Thomas reminded attendees of the USCGs reasonableness in late 2012 when the US coastal region became an ECA requiring low sulphur (1.0%) marine fuels. He also reminded attendees that fears of difficulties in sourcing 1.0% sulphur fuel proved to be unfounded. Cyber matters provided an underlying murmur throughout the day. Here too, Admiral Thomas, whose previous posting, at USCG Headquarters, as Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy, thrust him in the middle of cyber security issues played a pivotal role in the discussions- where the group contrasted the dynamic nature of cyber threats with slow plodding nature of regulatory processes/ implementations. Blockchain, an emerging way of organizing and securing all manner of data also came up, notably in several questions from Keith Letourneau, Partner in the Houston office of lawyers Blank Rome, and one of the Mare Forum panelists. He drew the linkage between complicated and inefficient processes for berthing and moving vessels around the port, suggesting that a common and secure data platform for ship movements and berthing notices may form part of a solution. In the first nine months of 2017 the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said there were 121 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships reported, including 92 vessels boarded with five hijackings, 11 attempted attacks and 13 vessels fired upon. The fear of piracy is a massive issue for seafarers. While we are encouraged that incidents of piracy are generally decreasing, piracy is a still a major concern and any incident is one too many, said Stuart Rivers, ceo of Sailors Society. Survivors of piracy and kidnappings are exposed to violence and terror, which can have a devastating impact on them and their families for years to come. The charity has set up crisis response centres in Asia, Africa and Europe to support the victims of pirate attacks. By coming alongside these survivors and their families, we can work with other agencies to help them come to terms with what has happened and give them financial, physical and psychological support to help them pick up the pieces of their lives, Rivers said. The Sailors Society has been supported the crew of Naham 3 who were held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly five years. Adi Manurung is one of the crew who turned to the Sailors Society for support and said he and his colleagues ate mice and wild cats during their captivity. I thought that I would die, he said. There was no hope. A group of Pontiac and Oakland County business leaders, governments officials, and stakeholders gathered in downtown Pontiac on the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 18, to celebrate the launch of a new program designed to better prepare would-be entrepreneurs in the microloan application process.Called the Financial Literacy Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs, the program is free to all Oakland County resdents. The Boot Camp is funded in part by a $50,000 grant from Huntington Bank.Oakland County's Financial Empowerment Center and JVS have partnered to administer the program.Though a "Boot Camp" by name, the financial literacy program actually consists of private, one-on-one education and counseling sessions."Applying for business loans can be a daunting and overwhelming process," says Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner. "We're trying to make it more friendly and welcoming."Oakland County residents can schedule a session with JVS, who will meet wherever it's convenient, be it the county's Pontiac offices, the JVS offices in Southfield, or a resident's local coffee shop."We believe that the best way to help people is to help people help themselves," said Paul Blatt, COO and executive vice president of JVS Detroit. "The boot camp does that."JVS provides a number of services to those enrolled in the bootcamp. One-on-one financial literacy education and counseling will assist residents in better understanding budgeting, money management, profit and loss statements, expense tracking, cash flow, and other essential business skills.Counselors will help resolve residents' credit collection or credit score issues. And counselors will provide assistance through the microloan application process. Microloans can range anywhere from $1,000 to $250,000.James and April Forbes, the couple behind the Menagerie pop-up dinners, kitchen incubator, and forthcoming restaurant, spoke at the press conference. James and April are currently in the process of developing the restaurant Menagerie Lounge , which is scheduled to open in downtown Pontiac in February 2018. The couple was recently awarded a $35,000 Small Business Administration loan from Center for Empowerment and Economic Development.Like Meisner, James Forbes also used the word daunting when describing the loan application process."It's daunting to have to put together business plans, P&Ls, financial projections," said James, who has 32 years of experience in the restaurant industry. "I can't imagine how people with zero experience go about approaching that process. That's why this boot camp is really important."There are a lot of people in Oakland County that might have a good idea for a small business but just might not have the business know-how to fill out the forms and engage the banks, that might not have all of their personal finances in order. The boot camp was designed for those people in mind."We want the people that start the loan application process but don't finish, the people that applied but were rejected," Meisner said.The press conference was held at 31 N. Saginaw St. in downtown Pontiac. The multi-level building is being renovated by owner Matt Russell, though the basement floor is currently occupied by Alley Cat Cafe and Indian Hill Wine Cellar. The building also serves as headquarters for Russell's event management platform LocalHop."I hope this program helps Michigan build more of an entrepreneurial mindset," said Russell. "Starting a company is stressful, scary, and hard, but it's worth it."The Financial Literacy Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs is free to all residents of Oakland County. Interested parties should visit the Treasurer office online or call (248) 233-4299 for information about enrollment and services.Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith Meka Phillips knew she wanted to start a baked good business. But she didn't know the ins-and-outs of the market or exactly in what direction she wanted to take her business.Then she came to the Can-Do Kitchen where the nonprofit commercial kitchen and food business incubator helped her narrow her market and a speciality cake business, Dessert First , was on its way.She was the recipient of a Business Builder Scholarship in 2013. Since then she has developed a special occasions custom cake design and specialty dessert business.She describes them as "Cake Boss" style cakes, those carved or tiered cakes created by design for her customers.Phillips built her business by selling her specialty desserts at the Kalamazoo Farmers Market. She took her cupcakes and cheesecake bars to the market and showed prospective customers pictures of the types of cakes she could create. Her business started to build and through marketing and word-of-mouth it has continued to grow."I got so many orders can't do the Farmers Market anymore," Phillips says. "I miss it."Thanks to the help she received at the Can-Do Kitchen she built her brand, met with marketing experts, received training on finance, and received advice from experts at WMU that she continues to see today. "You make friends," Phillips says. "I learned so much on how to run a business successfully."The business has grown to the point that she has been able to move to part-time at her job at PNC so she can focus on her cakes.Phillips is so thankful for the encouragement, advice, and support she received at the Can-Do Kitchen she now serves on its board. She adds to the board the perspective of the small business owner and what they need to get started."I can help them tweak their program by letting them know what worked for me. I can suggest they add this or focus on this a little bit more. I can offer my point of view so they don't waste time on things that don't really help your business."What would have happened with her business idea if it were not for the Can-Do Kitchen?"I think I would have been able to do it, but not without the support of someone," Phillips says. "You need someone to support to move forward and assist you. I would not have been able to do it in the timely fashion that I have."And she can't say enough about the support she received from the Can-Do Kitchen Staff, Lucy Dilley and Sheena Foster."They are like family to me. They are like my sisters because they really want to see me be successful. I could have done it, but not without their support and their continued support." Today they still inform her of workshops and ways to learn best business practices.They provide not only the business know-how, but the belief in her ability to build a business."It's important to surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed," Phillips says. "They understand this business is really important to you -- it's not only about the financials and the branding. It's about people supporting you. It's about people who believe in you. Who know you can do it. It's so important to have people who understand your mission and want to help you see it through."The Can-Do Kitchen wants to help more business owners like Phillips succeed. So it has launched a crowd-funded campaign, "Unlock the Future for Food Entrepreneurs." The goal is to raise $16,170 through the end of 2017.The $16,170 figure is what it takes to fund three $4,200 scholarships plus administration costs that are part of the campaign.And while this campaign will end with the new year, "Our goal is that it becomes an ongoing fund," says Lucy Dilley, executive director of the Can-Do Kitchen. Some local businesses are already giving. One is PFC, the food co-op, which has designated the Can-Do Kitchen is as their featured October organization for its Change for Change initiative. Tthe dollars raised when customers round up their bills go directly to the kitchen's crowdfunding campaign for its scholarship fund.The Can-Do Kitchen's campaign is on Generosity , a division of Indi-Go-Go. Dilley says they chose it because it allows participants to get rewards at certain giving levels. Posters, postcards and a T-shirt are all being developed for donors to the scholarship campaign."It doesn't take a large donation to make a difference. If enough people give $25, we're there."The first scholarship program, the one that Phillips was a part of, was originally launched with Community Development Block Grant funds made available through the city. Those funds went to support small food businesses and the program expired. Now the Kitchen is seeking donor support to fund the scholarship program.The idea is that those who receive funding will be able to get their business to the point that they can participate in the next Can-Do Camp in February.Each Business Builder Scholarship recipient will work with the Can-Do Kitchen to create a startup budget.Startup expenses covered by scholarship funds also include ingredients, packaging supplies, graphic design work with the Can-Do Kitchen partner Mazawi Design , label printing, small equipment, farmers market supplies, and food safety expenses.Scholarship recipients will also receive a Can-Do Kitchen membership, invitations to business workshops, and half-price kitchen rental for one year.The goal is that businesses will then be ready to apply for Kiva Zip loans, a partnership between LISC and various "community trustees" such as PFC Natural Grocery & Deli, Edison Neighborhood Association, and others. The way it works is a food entrepreneur would initially contact one of the partners, such as PFC and go through an application process, which would lead to PFC endorsing them for a loan. Then the entrepreneur would proceed down the path to working with LISC and Kiva.The Can-Do Kitchen has been helping food businesses grow for nine years and nine businesses have successfully grown there. All but one of those continue to be in operation.Those who are on the fence about giving can take heart in the work already being done at Can-Do Kitchen."We have a good track record for supporting businesses," Dilley says. "People can feel good about the entrepreneurs being in good hands and getting the support they need to achieve their goals. We customize the kind of support that we give to offer what works best for them."There are more reasons to give."People don't like inequality and inequity," Dilley says. "If you look around at the people who are able and going to start businesses, a lot of times it's the start-up capital that makes the difference. So we're trying to fill that missing piece and create more equity in the community."And if those don't convince you, consider the tasty food coming out of the Can-Do Kitchen."I think other people just really want to see what delicious foods are going to be created," Dilley says. "They say, 'I won't be able to try these delicious foods if these people don't get to start their businesses.'"Community members can learn more and donate to the crowdfunding campaign here Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave. She is a freelance writer and editor. Press Release October 19, 2017 CHIZ SAYS SENATE TO CONVENE AS COURT ONCE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT ARE TRANSMITTED BY HOUSE The Senate will only begin with the impeachment proceedings against Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista once the House of Representatives (HOR) transmits the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber, Sen. Chiz Escudero said. "The Senate will only convene as an impeachment body and the ball will only start rolling when the impeachment articles are already transmitted by HOR to the upper chamber," Escudero said. According to Escudero, it is not for Senate to decide yet whether they will proceed with the impeachment trial or not since the articles of impeachment are still with the HOR. Without it, Escudero said, the Senate, as a passive body that only acts on motions, requests and petitions, cannot act on its own. "Hindi para sa Senado sabihin ngayon na itutuloy namin yan o hindi na namin yan itutuloy dahil nag-resign na siya. Ang bola ay nasa kamay ng Kamara. Kapag finile na nila yung articles of impeachment, saka pa lamang gagalaw, doon pa lamang maa-activate ang Senado bilangimpeachment court," Escudero said. The senator also emphasized that although the poll chief had already resigned from his post, which will be effective in December 2017, it would not automatically absolve him of the allegations stated in the impeachment complaint. Escudero said that the impeachment court might still talk about the "lasting and lingering" effect once convicted: absolute perpetual disqualification to hold public office. "So maliban sa pagtanggal sayo sa pwesto, hindi ka na rin pwedeng manilbihan sa anumang kapasidad sa kahit anong ahensya ng pamahalaan. Isang dapat na tignan at pag-usapan din ng impeachment court 'yun na ang pagbibitiw ay isa lamang sa mga aspeto ng conviction kung maco-convict ka. May kaakibat pa 'yun na absolute perpetual disqualification na mababalewala na kapag sinabi naming 'pag nagresign ka, tapos na 'yung kaso," the senator explained. It will be recalled that the House justice committee already junked the impeachment complaint against Bautista on October 5, however, the decision was overturned during a plenary vote and impeached the poll chief just hours after he tendered his resignation to the Office of the President on October 11. Escudero, who chairs chaiman the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, said his committee will still continue its investigation on the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Bautista whether or not the impeachment proceedings will push through. Area residents interested in the current status of the Fremont Community Solar Farm project have two upcoming opportunities to receive updates about what all the approximately $2 million project entails. From 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, those gathering at Keene Memorial Library will listen to City Administrator Brian Newton, along with Michael Shonka, another Nebraska solar power advocate, speak about various topics surrounding the Fremont project and solar energy as a whole. Those unable to attend the Thursday conversation are invited to attend a Smart Energy Talks Nebraska presentation happening from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha inside of the Milo Bail Student Center. The panel discussion will focus on the importance of renewable energy in communities and the challenges and benefits of electric vehicles on the grid. Newton said that he was invited to talk primarily because Fremonts Community Solar Farm offers a unique opportunity that the dozen-or-so others scattered around the state of Nebraska do not. What is unique about Fremonts 1.5 megawatt, 5,000 panel farm, is that those utilizing the farms energy have the choice to buy actual panels on the farm, or to avoid a long-term commitment and upfront payment by subscribing to blocks of the panels monthly energy output. The farm, which sold out in 7 weeks, is comprised of 180 residential customers and approximately 20 commercial customers. There is a pretty even mix among people who subscribed to blocks of energy output and those who purchased panels at an upfront cost of $180 per panel for a 20-year term the approximate life of the solar farm. The farm is currently under construction on a 10-acre plot of land located south of Jack Sutton Drive. All customers utilizing the plot had the chance to purchase solar shares that would cover up to 80 percent of their used Kilowatt hours. On average, residential customers in Fremont use about 1200 KW hours monthly, Newton said. Those who purchased panels have an estimate return on their investment in approximately 9 years. While there is a slightly elevated monthly utility cost, there were up-front benefits to purchasing panels. The reason a lot of people decided to buy the panels is because they get 30-percent back on the $180 panel price the first year because of the investment tax credit, Newton said. Newton said that a majority of people hes spoken with elected to get involved with the solar farm because it has a positive impact on the environment. But with that being said, it also makes some business sense. Its a lock on their energy for 20 years, and a lot of people said, wow, thats a good deal, where else can I lock in my energy price for 20 years?, he said. So it made business sense to them, too. Currently, approximately 70 customers are on the waiting list to get involved with the next phase of the Community solar Farm, Newton said. As best as he knows, Fremont has the only solar farm in Nebraska that gives people the choice to purchase panels or to subscribe to blocks of energy output. I dont want to say that we are the early adopters, or that we are on the bleeding edge, but I certainly think we are on the leading edge, Newton said. And thats thanks to the Utility and Infrastructure Board and City Council for wanting to diversify some of our energy. Youve got to have leaders that believe in this first before you can even offer it. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SACRAMENTO Organizers of a campaign to qualify a ballot measure that would repeal the states gas tax and new vehicle fees unveiled their growing coalition Wednesday at the state Republican Party headquarters, where GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox said he will make a substantial donation to the effort. Cox, a wealthy businessman, declined to give specifics about how much he will donate to the campaign, which named him honorary co-chair. To qualify for the November 2018 ballot, organizers of the measure have to collect 584,000 signatures, a hefty lift for any effort. The ballot measure would be a constitutional amendment because it not only repeals the gas tax and vehicle fee increases approved this year, but it also requires voters to approve any future increases. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County) and Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Irvine, both spoke in support of the potential ballot measure. Im from the business world, and I know you cant just keep raising your prices because people just wont buy, Cox said. Thats what is happening in California. ... Working Californians are questioning if they can even stay in a state that politicians are making even more unaffordable as we speak. Political observers say such a ballot measure would surely ensure conservative voters will turn out to the polls in the 2018 general election, which will include the governors and U.S. Senate races. Another Republican running for governor, Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County), is also pursuing a ballot measure to undo SB1, the bill that increased the gas tax and vehicle fees. The state Legislature passed SB1 with two-thirds support in April to raise $52 billion in new taxes and fees to pay for repairs to the states roads and bridges. Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law. Under SB1, the states gas excise tax, which is currently 18 cents per gallon, will increase by 12 cents. The excise tax on diesel fuel, which is primarily used by the commercial trucking industry, will increase by 20 cents a gallon to 36 cents. The diesel sales tax also will rise to 5.75 percent from 1.75 percent. Those increases begin Nov. 1. Beginning Jan. 1, vehicle registration fees will increase by $25 to $175 depending on the value of the vehicle. Owners of zero-emission vehicles will begin paying an additional $100 annual fee beginning in 2020. If this gets on the ballot, we are still very confident that voters will reject it because voters are sick and tired of bad roads, said Kathy Fairbanks, spokeswoman for the Fix Our Roads coalition that supported SB1. They want better roads. They want to spend less time in traffic. They want better commutes and to spend less money on fixing their cars due to poor roads. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A San Francisco police officer on bicycle patrol three blocks from City Hall was critically injured Wednesday by a suspect in a gun-related case who ran him down in a sport utility vehicle and then drove off before being arrested several hours later, officials said. The officer was struck about 12:30 p.m. on Turk Street near Van Ness Avenue. As he was rushed in an ambulance to a hospital for emergency surgery, police officers began searching for the driver in and around Buena Vista Park in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, roughly a mile and a half southwest of the crash scene. The Lexus SUV that police said struck the officer was recovered near the intersection of Fell Street and Central Avenue, close to the Panhandle north of Buena Vista Park. Witnesses said the driver ran away after ditching the car. Now Playing: San Francisco police say they have taken a suspect into custody after an officer on a bicycle was struck by a hit-and-run driver this afternoon. Video: KTVU More Bay Area News San Francisco deputys assault conviction overturn by court Police took a suspect into custody at 3:30 p.m. more than a mile away, on the 500 block of Ellis Street in the Tenderloin. His name was not released because police have some ID issues, said Assistant Police Chief Toney Chaplin. Chaplin did not disclose details of the officers injuries, but said he was out of surgery at San Francisco General Hospital and in the intensive care unit. Hes in the ICU, so I think that speaks for itself, Chaplin said. Hes in grave condition. The officer has been with the Police Department for four years and works the bicycle beat out of Tenderloin Station, police said. His name was not immediately released. I just spoke with some of the officers at the affected station, and everyones having a tough time right now, Chaplin said. Mayor Ed Lee arrived at the hospital shortly after the officer was brought there. Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a department spokesman, said the officer was on his department-issued bicycle and investigating a firearms case when the suspect in that case saw him approach and hit him with the SUV. Police cordoned off Turk Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street after the crash. A damaged bicycle lay on its side in the roadway next to a rental truck, as investigators began documenting evidence. About 1:30 p.m., police asked people to avoid the area around Buena Vista Park. They searched the park until around 3 p.m. Neighbors were advised to shelter in place during the search. Antonio Garcia, who was working on construction on Haight Street, said he heard noise on the street as he was taking his lunch break around 12:40 p.m. I heard cops. They were everywhere in the park, driving past here so fast, he said. There were maybe 40 or 50 of them. They had people on bikes, motorcycles, horses all over the park. The license plate on the SUV that hit the officer was stolen from another vehicle, the woman who owned the plate told The Chronicle. She said her husband had noticed the plate missing around lunchtime Wednesday. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan and Filipa Ioannou of sfgate.com contributed to this report. Vivian Ho and Annie Ma are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com, ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo, @anniema15 San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon declined to file charges Wednesday against a city police officer whose fatal shooting of a car-theft suspect in the Bayview neighborhood in May 2016 prompted the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr. Gascon cited insufficient evidence while clearing Sgt. Justin Erb in the death of 29-year-old Jessica Williams, a homeless woman who was unarmed and high on methamphetamine when Erb and a second officer approached her on foot as she sat in a stolen Honda Accord on a dead-end street. According to a 21-page report by prosecutors, the two officers said Erb shot Williams once in the chest after she tried to drive off, immediately crashed into a truck, backed up and then drove in Erbs direction. A federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Williams mother accused Erb of using excessive force, suggesting he was not directly threatened by Williams or the car. But Gascon said experts who reconstructed the scene placed Erb within the Honda Accords potential path when he fired on the morning of May 19, 2016. All of the available evidence suggests Sergeant Erb faced a volatile and unpredictable situation looking uphill at an approaching car when he fired his gun at Williams, the district attorneys office said. The available evidence does not support the conclusion that Sergeant Erbs use of deadly force was objectively unreasonable. San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Wednesday he was outraged by the decision. Im flabbergasted that the DA is saying it is okay to shoot at a person who appears to have been fleeing in a car, Adachi said in a statement. How can you justify shooting a person when you easily could have stepped out of the way? The shooting happened at time when police leaders and watchdogs in San Francisco sought to stop officers from firing on vehicles and drivers, echoing concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice that the practice endangers bystanders and can lead officers to put themselves in a bad position one in which they feel they must use their gun. The city Police Commission has since amended the departments use-of-force policy to prohibit firing on moving vehicles, except in extraordinary circumstances. According to Gascon, investigators located only three witnesses to the 9:40 a.m. shooting on secluded Helena Street in the shadow of Interstate 280, including Erb and his partner, Officer Eric Eastlund. They were conducting an operation to recover boosted cars when they came across the Honda Accord, which had been reported stolen. They parked and approached the car on foot, Erb with his pistol drawn and pointed down. Both were in uniform. Williams was reclined in the drivers seat, and when the officers knocked on her window, she sat up, started the car, and sped off before crashing into a parked utility truck approximately 75 feet away, the report stated. After Erb ran to the drivers side to try to arrest Williams, she put the car in reverse, driving right at Officer Eastlund, who was standing in the street behind the car, the report stated. Eastlund told investigators that he hurried out of the way, while drawing his pistol, before Williams paused and rolled forward toward Erb. An accident reconstruction expert hired by prosecutors estimated the cars speed at this point at roughly 7 mph. I thought she was going to punch it again and if she had, then I would have got run over and I would have had nowhere to go, Erb told investigators. I was afraid for my life. He was positioned to the front left of the car, and fired one shot through the drivers side window, striking Williams in the chest. The car continued moving forward before hitting the same truck it had crashed into moments before, the report said. The third witness, a woman babysitting in a nearby home, corroborated much of the officers accounts, according to the report, saying she thought the driver wanted to run the cop over. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The report said a man who had shared a tent with Williams reported that he had been asleep during the shooting in a stolen Honda Civic parked behind the Accord. He told investigators an unidentified person had given them the cars about three hours before the shooting. The man, identified only as Daniel R., said the two had used methamphetamine before the shooting, and Williams autopsy report showed she had the drug in her system. Hours after the shooting, Suhr resigned at the request of Mayor Ed Lee. Calls for his ouster had begun six months prior, after the video-recorded police killing of Mario Woods in the Bayview, a case that Gascons office is still reviewing. After the Woods shooting, the Police Commission reopened the departments use-of-force policy for the first time in years. In addition to emphasizing using minimal force and preserving the sanctity of life, the new policy, which passed in December, prohibits officers from firing at a vehicle except in very limited circumstances, such as when a driver is also using a gun. The police union fought the policy change, saying officers needed to be allowed to shoot at cars when a driver is using the car as a weapon. Commissioners added a caveat to the policys preamble that they said would allow for officers to use their judgment in extraordinary situations. The district attorneys office said that in this case, Erb had no legal duty to retreat under long-standing California self-defense law. As a result, questions about whether he could have run out of the oncoming Accords path and found adequate cover do not alter the criminal legal analysis due to California self-defense law. Adachi disputed the analysis and said it sends the wrong message to our citizens and the police. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo Long before I had any children, I knew I wanted to raise them to learn Chinese. For me, the language exists in the reptilian part of my brain, sounds I can instantly pick out even if its spoken two aisles over in a grocery store. My own lessons were imperfect and sporadic. My grandmother, who spoke only Chinese, taught us how to count and sang nursery rhymes, such as Liang Zhi Lao Hu, or Two Little Tigers, to the tune of Frere Jacques. When I was in the third or fourth grade, my parents started me off in the kindergarten class at a weekend Chinese school. For many kids from immigrant Chinese families, its a rite of passage those Saturday mornings trapped inside, copying the characters over and over until they enter your muscle memory. Assimilation swamped like a tsunami, and after a couple of years, I rebelled and stopped going to Chinese school. In college and after graduation, I grew interested and started taking classes where I learned seemingly esoteric vocabulary such as gong chang (factory) and nong ming (peasant) and how to toast, wei ni jian kang (to your good health) all of which served me later when I went on reporting trips to the Chinese countryside, abundant with peasants, factories and banquets with local officials. I wished Id kept up my Chinese lessons in childhood. For reasons of culture, of future opportunity, of heritage, I wanted the twins to speak Chinese, too, and I vowed to start them early. Very quickly, I faltered. Being a parent is humbling, a series of compromises you make to get through the day. When they were toddlers repeating and repeating and talking nonstop I wanted to take advantage of this golden moment of language acquisition. Although I tried speaking to them in Chinese, my conversations felt stilted. I managed to teach them how to count to 10, hello, goodbye, and how to sing Two Little Tigers. But at a Chinese class for toddlers, Didi wanted to play with the toys and bolted from the room. Gege grabbed at books and toys, and every time the teacher asked him a question in Chinese, then in English, he ignored her. Nooooo! he shouted when I urged him to repeat after her. He didnt like feeling stupid. The other children sat obediently with their parents, and one superstar answered every question. During snack time, I learned that his parents spoke to him only in Chinese which sent me into a spiral of shame. Im sorry, I told the teacher. Theyre just not ready. Not then and I feared not ever. As we drove off, I regretted that I hadnt tried harder. My husband, whose grandparents were Serbian immigrants, remembered snatches of phrases from saints day celebrations, but for him, the language wasnt tied up with his culture and identity. Was it worth taking the twins to Mandarin classes, he wondered, if the education was only sporadic? Still, he wanted to comfort me. Theyre very young to take this kind of class, he said. Its not too late. I started singing Two Little Tigers, and to my amazement, from the back seat, the twins repeated after me. Hardly anything, very little, and yet more than the nothing I could not bear. In the years that followed, I tried cartoons dubbed into Mandarin, a CD of childrens songs that I played on repeat in the car, and a few private lessons with various teachers. Each time the twins squirmed away, bored or hostile. When they entered kindergarten, I thought perhaps at last theyd get more used to formal instruction, to sitting still and listening, and I enrolled them in a twice-a-week after-school program. Often Didi fell asleep in protest and Gege said he hated it. Late in the summer, as we drove past the Chinese school site, Didi cried out in excitement. Zaijian, Chinese school! Goodbye in Mandarin. How come we never go anymore? he asked. Because its summer, I said. And I thought you hated Chinese school. They didnt reply, neither agreeing or disagreeing. Maybe it hadnt occurred to them that they had a choice. More recently, Gege pulled out a cat-shaped eraser from a birthday goody bag. Mao, he said, delighted with the toy, delighted with the word. Cat, in Mandarin. Hed remembered, too. In Lenora Chus Little Soldiers a fascinating exploration of the Chinese education system she critiques the single-minded focus on quantitative achievement. Yet she also admires the emphasis that it is perseverance, not intelligence or ability, thats the key to success. And so, I signed them up for classes again. Some days the twins sit quietly doing their homework, copying out characters. Other days, they demand to speak English. Were taking it day by day, week by week. Huo, the teacher says. Fire. She gives them clues about how to decipher the character like logs topped by flames. Tian. Sky, like the tallest person, his head brushing against the heavens. Yu. Rain, like drops viewed through a window. The class repeats after her. Vanessa Hua is a Bay Area author. Her columns appear Fridays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com Two gentlemen stood outside of a corporate team-building studio space in San Franciscos Mission District on Saturday night, Oct. 14. They were wearing name tags and looked excited, thus confirming my suspicion that I was in the right place. I flung my too-big shoulder bag behind my back and readied my e-ticket on my iPhone. One of the smiling men looked up at me and asked, Are you a competitor or just here to watch? The Bay Area Pun-Off began a year and a half ago in a living room in Oakland and has grown into a wildly popular monthly event in San Francisco, consistently selling out well in advance of showtime. As its name implies, the Bay Area Pun-Off is quite literally a pun contest a tightly organized showdown of dad jokes in a friendly setting that proudly celebrates its own ridiculousness. I think it can be a radical act, nowadays, to come together and celebrate, laugh, tell jokes and be silly, said BAPO founder Jonah Spear by email, and its a very healing thing, too, I think. Ill be honest. I didnt expect to enjoy this weeks column subject. It was a last-minute replacement for an Ocean Beach sand-castle-building contest that had been postponed due to dangerous weather conditions caused by the wildfires up north. A pun contest sounded agonizing, but perhaps, I hoped, there would be something of relevant interest I could dig out of the proceedings and publish. Folks, the Pun-Off is fantastic! I didnt want it to end. Im going back next month. I arrived early enough to score a solid seat in the Go Game San Francisco headquarters. The space, designed for teams of employees to bond over wacky activities, had been transformed into a funky theater. Rows of plastic benches faced a makeshift stage, the white wall of which curved into the floor as if designed for a 1980s catalog photo shoot. A couch and a handful of mismatched armchairs joined the seating options, as did a few weathered rugs and piles of pillows strewn around the floor. I sat against a side wall made of cubbyholes labeled with things ostensibly needed for corporate team building like unicorn horns and the worlds largest underpants. Happy staffers sold $5 plastic cups of wine and cans of beer. A sheet of cookies ($2 each when ready) was baking in the Go Games kitchen. Host Carmen Meimei Olson took the stage and welcomed everyone before she went down the Pun-Offs extensive list of complicated rules. A maximum of 10 preregistered contestants competed in presenting puns on surprise themes subjects like things that are orange and animals in films. Any breach of the rules using a pun that had already been made, for example was cause for disqualification. Im still trying to wrap my head around some of the more complex guidelines, particularly the ones around syllables. Its a massive pundertaking, shouted a voice from the back of the crowd. Most puns, at least in my opinion, are eye-rollingly cheesy. But the fun of BAPO is in the sport of it. Contestants develop puns on a theme in front of strangers under a five-second time constraint within an agonizing set of parameters. I was no a fan of the product, per se. It was the process that was deliciously entertaining. As the setting encouraged, the crowd formed an instant bond. Wed champion puns that should count, and encourage Olson to disqualify anyone whod broken a rule or taken too long. I was on the edge of my seat and held my breath as contestants struggled to perfect a pun on the spot. One gentleman in plaid shorts and Mark name tag had done particularly well, churning out puns on topic with rapid and deadpan delivery. When he was finally disqualified, the crowd was on his side, chanting, Mark! Mark! Mark! as he made his way back to his seat. BAPO, said Spear, is creating an environment that feels inclusive and inviting, and celebrating something thats usually kinda embarrassing. In the end, Shantini Vyas, a 27-year-old from Palo Alto, won. It was Vyas third time competing in BAPO and her first win. In fact, shes only the second woman ever to score top honors. Vyas was soon surrounded by friends and fans, suddenly celebrated for her wonderful wordplay. Would she compete again? Oh, yes! gushed Vyas, who held her handmade trophy and beamed like a really smart Miss America. Absolutely. Beth Spotswoods column appears Thursdays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate April Spears can see it coming. Wave after wave of eager developers gobbling up land in the Bayview near her beloved soul food spot, Auntie Aprils, and replacing derelict properties with apartments and condos locals cant afford. Shortly thereafter, she says, restaurants and bars catering to the areas new clientele will pop up, raising surrounding property values, further displacing longtime residents. We all see whats happening in the area, whats going on. Its inevitable, she says. The restaurateur is talking about gentrification, the likes of which can be seen throughout the city. To help shape it, Spears is expanding her footprint in the neighborhood. For her, the question is this: Why let the Bayview and nearby Hunters Point properties fall into the hands of outsiders who dont have the communitys best interest in mind when a local can open a shop and hire from the neighborhood? My goal is to build my community and preserve African American legacy businesses in the community, Spears says. I want many of us to work and stay here as long as possible. Her latest investment is 1701 Yosemite St., where she plans to open Cafe Envy, one of several food businesses she has in the works. Still, its undeniable the cafe is shaped, intentionally or not, by the outside influences Spears sees coming down the pike. Cafe Envy is going to serve lighter fare, a stark departure from Auntie Aprils popular fried chicken and waffles, fried shrimp poboys and fried shrimp dinners. Its a business model that could appeal to residents new to the area. Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle To boost the project, Spears applied for one of the citys five new Type 87 liquor licenses. These are similar to the Type 47s that allow the sale of hard alcohol at restaurants but are relegated to underdeveloped commercial corridors like the Bayviews Third Street. And also cheaper. A Type 47 on the citys secondary market can cost $250,000. The new Type 87s are $13,800. (Over the next six years, 30 Type 87 licenses in total will be sold to San Francisco restaurateurs in tracts including Mission Street in the Excelsior, Taraval Street, Noriega Street and areas of Visitacion Valley and San Bruno Avenue.) In an industry where small businesses like Auntie Aprils are feeling the financial squeeze amid increased rents and rising operating costs, Spears says the $13,800 is a significant investment in the Bayview that not many are able to make. Theres definitely a desire among African American businesspeople that want to have spaces in the Bayview corridor. Its just hard to get in the market right now, she says. Theres a lot of blighted properties and it takes a significant amount to upgrade the property. And thats before financing everything else. April Spears is expanding in the Bayview out of choice and obligation. Opening Cafe Envy on Yosemite Street keeps the lot rooted in the community. Its one step in a long-term goal: Keep black-owned businesses alive in the Bayview, gentrification or not. Preserving this area is doable, she says. We just need to grab ahold of things now. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A San Francisco police officer on bicycle patrol three blocks from City Hall was critically injured Wednesday by a suspect in a gun-related case who ran him down in a sport utility vehicle and then drove off before being arrested several hours later, officials said. The officer was struck about 12:30 p.m. on Turk Street near Van Ness Avenue. As he was rushed in an ambulance to a hospital for emergency surgery, police officers began searching for the driver in and around Buena Vista Park in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, roughly a mile and a half southwest of the crash scene. The Lexus SUV that police said struck the officer was recovered near the intersection of Fell Street and Central Avenue, close to the Panhandle north of Buena Vista Park. Witnesses said the driver ran away after ditching the car. Now Playing: San Francisco police say they have taken a suspect into custody after an officer on a bicycle was struck by a hit-and-run driver this afternoon. Video: KTVU More Bay Area News San Francisco deputys assault conviction overturn by court Police took a suspect into custody at 3:30 p.m. more than a mile away, on the 500 block of Ellis Street in the Tenderloin. His name was not released because police have some ID issues, said Assistant Police Chief Toney Chaplin. Chaplin did not disclose details of the officers injuries, but said he was out of surgery at San Francisco General Hospital and in the intensive care unit. Hes in the ICU, so I think that speaks for itself, Chaplin said. Hes in grave condition. The officer has been with the Police Department for four years and works the bicycle beat out of Tenderloin Station, police said. His name was not immediately released. I just spoke with some of the officers at the affected station, and everyones having a tough time right now, Chaplin said. Mayor Ed Lee arrived at the hospital shortly after the officer was brought there. Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a department spokesman, said the officer was on his department-issued bicycle and investigating a firearms case when the suspect in that case saw him approach and hit him with the SUV. Police cordoned off Turk Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street after the crash. A damaged bicycle lay on its side in the roadway next to a rental truck, as investigators began documenting evidence. About 1:30 p.m., police asked people to avoid the area around Buena Vista Park. They searched the park until around 3 p.m. Neighbors were advised to shelter in place during the search. 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. Antonio Garcia, who was working on construction on Haight Street, said he heard noise on the street as he was taking his lunch break around 12:40 p.m. I heard cops. They were everywhere in the park, driving past here so fast, he said. There were maybe 40 or 50 of them. They had people on bikes, motorcycles, horses all over the park. The license plate on the SUV that hit the officer was stolen from another vehicle, the woman who owned the plate told The Chronicle. She said her husband had noticed the plate missing around lunchtime Wednesday. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan and Filipa Ioannou of sfgate.com contributed to this report. Vivian Ho and Annie Ma are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com, ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo, @anniema15 Drive 4 UR School benefiting Archbishop Bergan Catholic School will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Charlie Diers Ford, 2445 N. Broad St., Fremont. For every test drive, Ford Motor Company will donate $20 to Archbishop Bergan Catholic School. The school could earn up to $6,000 to go towards its activities and transportation programs. There is no sales pressure. One driver per address (must be 18 years old). Dianne Feinstein is more than just a U.S. senator. She is a California institution. During the Trump presidency, this state will need her brand of leadership more than ever: She is more presidential than the president himself. As fires ravaged the Wine Country, President Trump ignored the tragedy and tweeted about petty grievances instead. In contrast, Feinstein took command, expediting federal assistance and helping deliver $32,000 in aid to each impacted household. For Feinstein, being more presidential than the president is nothing new. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Mayor Feinsteins AIDS budget for San Francisco was bigger than President Ronald Reagans AIDS budget was for the entire country. Feinstein remains the voice of reason. She deserves another term in the U.S. Senate. When San Francisco was reeling from the Jonestown massacre, the assassinations of its leaders and the AIDS crisis, she was the voice of reason. When the most sweeping anti-gun laws in American history were passed, she was the voice of reason. And today, as Russia meddles with our elections, California is fortunate that she is the top Democrat on the committee investigating the matter. In this capacity, she may very well save our republic from the divisive forces that would tear us apart. Not everyone is satisfied with her reasonable approach. Some of Feinsteins critics have started a whisper campaign about her age. They would be wise to remember that at 87, Picasso produced 347 engravings in one year. The senator is cut from the same cloth. Other critics, on the left, expect ideological purity from their leaders. As a moderate, Feinstein is destined to fail some purity tests: She will never be pro-cannabis or anti-Donald Trump enough for some. Intoxicated by their own purity, two challengers have emerged from the wings. Playing the role of Brutus is Kevin de Leon, the state Senate president pro tem. He is Sacramento famous, although his modest accomplishments have been dutifully recorded by the media there, he is largely unknown outside of that insular world. Playing the role of Cassius is Tom Steyer. The hedge-fund billionaire is the star of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign. Its ostensibly about fighting climate change, but its really about raising Steyers profile. If either one of them were truly a breath of fresh air or possessed an air of leadership he might be worth our consideration. As it stands, their presence merely strengthens Trumps hand by complicating Feinsteins. Purity test Democrats like Steyer and de Leon misread the anger toward Trump in California. Its no secret that Californians have scant respect for Trump. But in poll after poll, voters here consistently view the respective extremes of the political parties as a vice, not a virtue. Californians want tested leaders who will keep our country united by the bonds of decency, common sense and the rule of law. Leaders who are brilliant, hardworking, independent, unflappable, and steady. Take all that and add clout and youve got Feinstein. She has earned our support. Recently, a group of special interests threatened those daring to propose repeal of the California Democrats $5.2 billion-a-year gas-and-car tax increases. Members of the California Republican congressional delegation and taxpayer protection advocates, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the National Tax Limitation Committee and taxfighter Carl DeMaio, are refusing to back down. They have pledged to take the gas tax repeal to the ballot. I, for one, commend their courage in taking on crony capitalism and the corruption that it breeds. For too long, we have permitted the Democrats to masquerade as the defenders of the poor. They are anything but. This enormous tax at the gas pump, along with the special-interest-driven cap-and-trade tax and huge increase in the vehicle license fee, together constitute an enormous, regressive tax increase. These taxes hit the working poor particularly hard, forcing families to choose between gas in the tank to get to work, or rent, or food on the table. The California Democratic leadership has been at war not only with working families but with small businesses, as well. Through overregulation and the worlds second-highest capital gains tax, California politicians have killed tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, and driven employers out of state. But worst of all, their socialist policies have created the worst poverty rate in the nation, penalizing the very people they pretend to protect. The money robbed from California families will be wasted by the California Department of Transportation, one of the worst-run bureaucracies in the country. In awarding Caltrans its 2016 Golden Fleece Award, the Independent Institute called Caltrans irresponsible for wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and said it even lied to lawmakers to cover its tracks. California spends 4.7 times the national average for every mile of roadway we build and maintain, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Texas, for example, has far better roads on which it spends about $1 for every $5.80 spent by California taxpayers. In Arizona, 80 percent of that work goes out to competitive bidding, but in California, the figure is only 10 percent. Is it any wonder when a government monopoly does the job, it costs more and takes longer? We also routinely discriminate against small business and nonunion workers, which explains why unions and big business joined together to finance an extensive radio-and-newspaper campaign to promote the gas and car tax increase. The corrupting influence of the special interests is hurting all of us, including taxpayers and especially the working poor. It has made California unaffordable for most working families and given us one of the worst small-business climates in the country. By putting crony capitalism on notice, our Republican congressional delegation is showing what real leadership is all about, and in so doing, laying the groundwork for the resurgence of a Republican Party that takes its principles seriously. John Cox of San Diego is a businessman and Republican candidate for governor. He is the chairman of Give Voters a Voice, the gas-tax repeal effort. Typically this time of year, tables on the airy, tree-shaded back patio at Della Santinas just off Sonoma Plaza would be filled mostly with out-of-state and international wine fans flooding the region for the tail end of the annual crush. While the bistro escaped physical damage from the Wine Country wildfires the patio is open, tables are set and the power is back on the crush thats missing now is customers. All I got is cancellations instead of reservations, said Robert Della Santina, co-owner of the restaurant. Facing a drastic drop-off in out-of-state tourists fueled by perceptions about the scope of devastation, Della Santinas and other Wine Country businesses will need to rely more heavily on the kindness of customers closer to home if they can overcome the same perceptions. Many of the restaurants, resorts and wineries that suffered no physical damage already have taken to pleading with local customers to return, if only to avoid becoming collateral victims of the blazes. Theres nothing changed. All the wineries are here, the hotels are here. We cant wait 12 or 18 months, said Della Santina, who reopened the doors on Wednesday after a weeks closing because of smoke and loss of power. Regional visitors, he said, will be crucial. There are enough people in the Bay Area thats usually our weekend business, people from the East Bay, South Bay. I dont think thats going to change, he said. In fact, I think a lot of local people are going to fill out the tourists seats. Nearly 60 percent of the 3.5 million visitors to Napa Valley in 2016 were from California, and nearly 80 percent of those are from seven cities in the Bay Area, according to tourism officials at Visit Napa Valley. More than 53 percent came from San Francisco. The numbers are even higher for Sonoma County, where Northern California accounts for at least 70 percent of visitation, according to Tim Zahner, spokesman for Sonoma County Tourism. They are an extremely important audience that we will be going back to. The customer base is there, said Craig Smith, executive director of the Downtown Napa Association. Were clearly an international destination, but we rely on that drive traffic and all-of-California traffic first and foremost. Most of the people who come to Napa day in and day out live within that two-hour drive period. But its the local customer who has breathed the smoky air and seen the alarming messages about the fires on friends and familys Facebook pages. The challenge for Wine Country businesses is to persuade the Bay Area base to not wait too long. The irony of it is businesses are under a greater threat of going out of business because of people staying away than from anything the fire caused, said Smith. The need to shift focus isnt lost on Wine Country businesses that traditionally court out-of-state and international tourists, who tend to stay longer and spend more, but who also are quick to cancel and rearrange a complex vacation. Shadybrook Estate Winery in Napa, which opened in May, is still trying to build visibility in the Bay Area market that suddenly has become crucial. Spokeswoman Kimberly Bothwell said October should be Shadybrooks heaviest time for out-of-state travelers, but she estimated that 80 percent of the visitors from outside California are canceling or rescheduling forcing the winery to shift focus to regional visitors to fill some of the gap. Long-established businesses with a local following such as Dr. Wilkinsons Hot Springs Resort in Calistoga might have an advantage, although its unclear how much it will matter through what promises to be a long winter. This has happened at one of our busiest months of the year. If tourism dries up, it could make for a difficult winter, said owner Carolynne Wilkinson, who estimates that 75 to 80 percent of the resorts visitors are from Northern California. It is going to take a little bit of an effort to convince people that were OK. Sonoma Countys Zahner said officials are optimistic about the boost in regional traffic there, not just because of distance but out of an affinity for a destination where 90 percent of businesses are locally owned. If people come support us, theyre supporting people who live here, not big companies from far away, he said. The Bay Area ethos is local and Northern California-forward. They understand that coming up here will help. Across the street from Della Santinas, Cafe La Haye owner Saul Gropman knows the need is simple: We just need people to want to come back to Sonoma. But the solution is less satisfying: Its going to take time. The smoke has to clear. Theres still a lot of natural physical beauty around. Not everything is scorched, he said. But there has been so much love in this town. It has been humbling and reassuring. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Kauffman contributed to this report. Spud Hilton is The San Francisco Chronicles travel editor. Email: shilton@sfchronicle.com Twitter and Instagram: @SpudHilton An inmate firefighter was injured Thursday morning while battling the Bear Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the seventh firefighter hurt in the blaze that started Monday night, officials said. The firefighter suffered burns when he fell into a hole in an old tree stump that was on fire, said Angela Bernheisel, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. It gets incredibly hot, Bernheisel said of conditions on the fire line Thursday morning. The injured firefighter was taken to a hospital, treated and released, she said. The fire near Boulder Creek, the latest in a series of destructive Northern California wildland infernos, has burned 320 acres. It was 30 percent contained Thursday. The blaze started about 10:30 p.m. Monday as a building fire on Bear Canyon Road and Deer Creek Road in Boulder Creek. It destroyed four structures and another 300 were threatened, according to Cal Fire. About 1,000 firefighters are working in rugged, steep terrain to stop the spread of flames. Six other firefighters have been injured. One firefighter broke his wrist and suffered facial lacerations when he fell about 30 feet Tuesday. He was still hospitalized Thursday. Of the remaining five hurt firefighters, one suffered second-degree burns to his hands, another inmate battling the blaze was treated for smoke inhalation and three firefighters suffered minor injuries when they slipped in the steep terrain, according to Cal Fire. Fire officials attributed the high number of injuries to rough, inaccessible landscape full of heavy timber still arid from years of drought. As high humidity and rain is forecast for Thursday night, containment should become more effective. Evacuation orders have already been lifted for the Las Cumbres and Skyline Boulevard communities, including areas south of Bear Creek Road. Cal Fire evacuations remain for Bear Creek Canyon Road, Deer Creek Road, Rons Road, Dons Road, and feeder streets in the areas threatened by wildfire. Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate During the holidays at the Mayette Apartments in Santa Rosa, Marilyn Ress went door-to-door to find out which of her fellow residents had no place to go for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Shed bring the list to her best friend, Cynthia Conners, who would start cooking. Then when the day came, Ms. Ress would put on an apron with hearts on it, wrap individual dinner plates in foil and make deliveries to anyone who was home alone. Shed give them a meal, and shed give them a hug, Conners said. She was ecstatic and proud. Prouder still that after 15 years in the apartment complex, Ms. Ress saved enough to buy her own home in the Journeys End Mobile Home Park on Flamingo Road. She moved in with her two cats and her vast collection of Avon figurines about a year ago, and this is where Ms. Ress was found after the Tubbs Fire swept through, lying within the frame of what had been her bed. Now Playing: Wineries, schools, hotels and neighborhoods have been destroyed in the recent Bay Area fires. Video: Ted Andersen, SFGATE Ms. Ress was 71 and had lived in Sonoma County her entire life, said Conner. Born Marilyn Carol Ress, she grew up in rural Penngrove and attended Petaluma High School, Conners said. She never married and had no direct descendants. She was like an angel on Earth, said Conners, who had known Ms. Ress since the 1970s when Ms. Ress worked as a certified nurse assistant. Later, she became a private caregiver and served the infirm until she developed her own health issues. Ms. Ress had Graves disease, which slowed but did not stop her. Ms. Ress did not drive, so Conners would take her to the grocery store. If she saw people struggling, she would say, Here, use my ATM card, Conners said. On the way home, they would stop at Sees Candies in the Montgomery Village Shopping Center. Her favorite sample was Rocky Road, said store manager Susan Murphy. She would come in and chitchat and buy gift cards for her bus drivers and peanut brittle for her friends. We are going to miss her so much. A year ago, Ms. Ress fell in her mobile home. It was during a bad winter cold snap and, when Conners could not reach her by phone, she went to Journeys End to find Ms. Ress on the floor unable to get up. She had been there for four days, her body temperature had dropped, and she was in a semicoma when she was rushed to the hospital. Doctors didnt think shed make it, but knowing Marilyn, she pulled through, Conners said. She had the greatest attitude and the biggest heart of anyone I ever knew. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Monte Neil Kirven, a wildlife biologist credited with helping ban DDT in order to save the Peregrine Falcon, was among those killed in the Tubbs Fire. He was 81 and lived in the Mark West Springs Road area of Santa Rosa, where he died in bed, according to multiple postings on Facebook. The Bureau of Land Management is saddened at the loss of our former colleague, Dr. Monte Kirven, who as a wildlife biologist dedicated his life to the recovery of the American Peregrine Falcon, said Serena Baker, public affairs specialist at the agencys central California district in El Dorado Hills. Baker had been informed by former colleagues and BLM retirees that Mr. Kirven had died in the fire. During the 1980s Mr. Kirven worked in the BLM Ukiah district office. Two decades before that, he had begun studying the diminishing population of peregrine falcons, naturalist Kate Marianchild wrote in a report for the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Along with other biologists, he collected data that revealed the role of DDT and other toxic chemicals in the problem of eggshell thinning in the falcons that was leading to their decline. This led to the banning of DDT for agricultural use in 1972. He continued his research when he went to work for the Bureau of Land Management, trekking deep into the forested areas of Northern California, where the peregrines had once thrived, but had dropped to 60 nesting pairs. In 1988, Chronicle staff writer Dale Champion accompanied Mr. Kirven and other scientists to a remote Mendocino cliff. What we know is that this is one of about a dozen peregrine nesting sites in Northern California where reproduction failure is occurring apparently due to DDT, Mr. Kirven told Champion. The birds are laying eggs that will break before hatching. As a remedy, they removed eggs from nests and substituted them with dummy eggs so the adult falcons wouldnt think something was amiss. Once the chicks had hatched, they were fed by a puppet device that resembled an adult falcon. When they were strong enough, the scientists returned the chicks to their nests and removed the dummy eggs. It was tricky work getting in and out of those nests ahead of the adult falcons, being that the peregrine was known to be the fastest bird alive. But the switch worked. Thats what we wanted to see, Mr. Kirven told Champion as he watched the adults accept the chicks through a scope. Thats great. Theyve adopted them. Working by helicopter and by foot, Mr. Kirven located over time every peregrine nest in the Mendocino National Forest. From a low of 15 pairs in 1975, the peregrines had increased to 113 pairs in 1992, Marianchild wrote. Mr. Kirven described that as a conservation success of unprecedented magnitude that resulted in the recovery of the most spectacular member of our wildlife heritage, the American peregrine falcon. Jack Booth, a retired biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said he was always impressed by Mr. Kirvens knowledge of the falcon species. But his love of Peregrine falcons was amazing, Booth said. Often, when I see them, Im reminded of things that Monte told me about them. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In the early hours of Oct. 9, they awoke with a start. Sara Spaulding-Phillips, a retired marriage and family therapist, and her husband Sam Kimbles, a clinical psychologist, were being warned by their Hidden Hills, Santa Rosa neighbors. A fire was close and very dangerous, the neighbors told them, and they needed to get out. The couple, who say they are in their "70s and 80s," heeded the warning. They gathered just a "confused" Mele Kalikimaka their "ancient" cat, called Mele for short as well as cell phones and their laptop before getting into their Subaru to escape. However, when they reached the end of their short driveway, a large tree blocked their exit. Spaulding-Phillips, who recently underwent hip surgery and uses hiking poles to get around, was unable to get over or around the tree. The couple called 911 for help, but Reibli Road, which led to their street, was compromised by fire and downed power lines. They weren't sure a rescue team would be able to reach them. Now Playing: Dash cam video from a Sonoma County Sheriff's deputy shows the intensity of flames as the #TubbsFire entered the area. The deputy was driving down a twisting road that looks like a tunnel of fire as flames were spreading into Sonoma County from Napa County. Video: KSBW "We drove back and forth on our road trying to avoid the flames that engulfed all our neighbors' homes, including ours," Spaulding-Phillips said. Fearing the worst, they began to contact their children and grandchildren to say goodbye. --- The couple's eldest daughter, Victoria Phillips-Larson, heard the soft "ping" sound of a text message on her phone at 2:48 a.m. "This may be goodbye," read a text from her mother. "I love you." "I thought the text I read was a strange sick joke," Phillips-Larson said, but she dialed her mom immediately anyway. Alarmed, she called her whole family and "anyone we could think of." Phillips-Larson's son called shelters in Santa Rosa; her sister and daughter, who live in Oregon, called the local news; her sister in Texas and her brother in Switzerland spoke with their trapped parents on the phone to comfort them while they watched their neighborhood burn down. "We have five children and I called them all to say goodbye," Spaulding-Phillips told SFGATE over the phone. "We did not think we would survive." Still, the couple tried. As propane tanks began to explode, they heeded the advice of their nephew, an EMT, to keep "moving from black spot to black spot ... (where) there's no more fuel for fire." "We said goodbye to each other," Spaulding-Phillips remembers. "We said, 'It's been a good life.'" Courtesy Victoria Phillips-Larson But when the situation seemed the most dire, she said, "some divine force was on our side." "We got a call about an elderly couple in a burning area trapped behind a side street of Reibli Road, five miles outside Larkfield," Santa Rosa CHP Officer Jonathan Sloat recalled to SFGATE. "There were a lot of fallen trees, abandoned vehicles." Sloat's colleague, Officer Ken Enger, had been at the bottom of Mark West Springs Road when he got the call about the couple's whereabouts. As Spaulding-Phillips says, it was there that Enger realized he was the only one who would be able to get to them. At around 4:30 a.m., Enger and Sloat moved close enough to the couple to use the public address system to call out to Spaulding-Phillips and Kimbles. But despite the arrival of the CHP officers, Spaulding-Phillips was unable to walk down to meet them in the street as requested. Still recovering from surgery, they couldn't get her around the tree. "Two strong young men said, 'we're coming to you,' and they climbed over the log," she recalled. As Sloat tells it, he and Enger each got on one side of Spaulding-Phillips and helped walk her, Kimbles and Mele through an already-burned path to their CHP vehicle. They then took the couple and their cat to Kimbles' office in Santa Rosa, where they took shelter for the night. Several days later, Enger moved the couple's Subaru to safety, and later brought it back to them after getting it cleaned up. Courtesy Maricela Garcia "I am grateful that my parents are safe," their daughter Phillips-Larson wrote on a GoFundMe page she started for them, adding to SFGATE that "I'm sure they never imagined having to start over at this time in their lives." As a psychologist, Kimbles went to work the next day to help other locals cope with their own traumas. "We've had a lot of training to deal with crisis," Spaulding-Phillips said of herself and her husband, "but this is the worst thing we've ever been through." The pair are quick to voice their gratitude for family and friends who have extended offers of help and lodging, including their assistant, Maricela Garcia, who has been running errands on their behalf while caring for her own son, affected by asthma. But one of the biggest thank yous goes to the CHP officers who charged into flames to rescue them. "They saved our lives and we are forever grateful," Sara Kimbles said. "We still believe in miracles." Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. A landlord has agreed to pay more than $1 million to tenants who were evicted after a fire swept through their illegal apartments in a warehouse space in the Inner Mission District in 2014, the first legal settlement related to the rash of fires that have displaced residents in the neighborhood over the past four years. Property owners Albert Joseph and David Kimmel, who own the warehouse at 1441-1451 Stevenson St. in the north end of the Mission District, have agreed to pay $1,050,000 to eight tenants who found themselves homeless after a predawn fire damaged part of the structure in January 2014. The settlement could have implications for others who have been kicked out of their homes during a widespread crackdown on illegal living spaces in the wake of the fatal Ghost Ship fire in Oakland in December, said attorney Joe Tobener of Tobener Ravencroft, who represented the displaced tenants. We have seen so many tenants displaced from warehouse spaces since the Ghost Ship fire because worried landlords or city officials have served notices, Tobener said. The Stevenson Street fire award is critical for these warehouse tenants because it shows that these tenancies have significant value under the law, even if they are unpermitted. The Stevenson Street fire, which damaged only a handful of the units, was less severe than blazes that destroyed entire structures at 29th and Mission streets and 22nd and Mission streets. Yet for those living there, the result was just as bad as the more extensive fires: Residents were not able to move back into the building and found themselves scouring Craigslist for a new place in one of the nations most expensive rental markets. While the building had been filled with residents, largely artists, since the 1970s, it was not zoned for residential use. After the fire, the property owners filed Ellis Act evictions against the tenants, stating that they planned to convert the building back to a commercial use. The Ellis Act allows property owners to evict tenants if they plan to take the units off the rental market. The complaint against the property owner alleges negligence, breach of contract, wrongful evictions, nuisance, and intentional inflection of emotional distress. As a result of the fire, Plaintiffs suffered personal injury, property loss, lost wages, medical expenses, emotional distress, moving costs and loss of their rent-controlled units, stated the lawsuit. Like many illegal warehouse spaces, the Stevenson Street building was riddled with code violations that tenants were reluctant to complain about out of fear of eviction, according to the suit. Tenants had to put up with vermin infestation, including rats and mice. There were leaky roofs, skylights and pipes. Many of the units lacked smoke detectors. At one point, there was a flood caused by broken plumbing. The complaints were not addressed by the landlord, the lawsuit charged. The Stevenson Street building was not unsafe because tenants were living in a warehouse space. It was unsafe because the landlord did not manage the property, allowing years and years of illegal construction to go unchecked, Tobener said. Rents in the building ranged from $897 to $2,650 per month, but the lawsuit argued that the actual value of the units on the open market was between $3,000 and $8,000. Jeff Woo of Cooper White Cooper, who is representing the property owner, declined to comment on the settlement. After the fire, Woo said: We have no interest in developing the property as residential, and the building in its current state is not appropriate for residential in any way. Supervisor Hillary Ronen called the settlement a great victory. Irresponsible landlords who are taking advantage of the housing crisis and renting out substandard spaces shouldnt be let off the hook, Ronen said. I wish this was an isolated incident, but its not. There are cases in my district where people are living in dangerous conditions or in illegal units at risk of eviction. We must continue to hold these landlords accountable. Graphic artist Erik Van der Molen, a party to the settlement, said he is just getting back on his feet nearly four years after the fire. He spent five months couch surfing after he was displaced before finding a live/work space on McCoppin Street, a block from the Stevenson Street building. The fire disrupted his business because he worked out of the unit. He was forced to take a full-time job rather than continue with his own freelance business. Making matters worse was the fact that his unit was not harmed in the blaze. There wasnt a scratch, he said. I thought Id have to crash somewhere for a few nights at most. He said the settlement, which was based on the size of his apartment, makes up for what happened, more or less. It did end up being fair, he said. I feel like the money I got was comparable to most of what I went through almost. Tommi Avicolli Mecca of the Housing Rights Committee said it is hard to say whether the settlement will have any lasting impact for others in similar situations. He said the city needs to put a policy in place that will make it easier to convert illegal residential buildings. He said settlements provide another tool for getting justice. People are living in fear, he said. There hasnt been any policy change on the part of the city in term of how we deal with these spaces. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen San Franciscos Recreation and Park Commission thought it voted Thursday to strip Justin Hermans name from the plaza next to the citys Embarcadero Center then found out later that it hadnt. In a confusing series of events, the commissions vote to rechristen the iconic public space was initially recorded as 4-3 in favor. Later in the day, the city attorneys office determined that Commissioner Eric McDonnell, who had to leave the meeting early, did not officially register his vote on the matter. Because there was a 3-3 tie, technically, no action was taken. Commission President Mark Buell and the panels secretary erroneously recorded McDonnell as having cast a yes vote, said Recreation and Park Department spokeswoman Sarah Madland. The panel cant go back and take another vote before its next scheduled meeting in late November, she said. At the park commission meeting, McDonnell was clearly supportive of the proposal to rename the plaza, but because he had to depart the meeting early, his vote could not be officially counted. There have been many moments like these when the city, candidly, gets it right and finally takes the step in the right direction, McDonnell said at the meeting. Before it all fell apart, it appeared as though the vote to change the plazas name had come down to Commissioner Larry Mazzola. He asked for a moment to collect his thoughts as he weighed how he would break the apparent 3-3 tie he was faced with. I have complete mixed feelings about this whole thing, he said. After several tense moments, he voted to approve the name change. In the end, Mazzola said he was swayed by the unanimous decision by the citys Board of Supervisors last month urging the parks commission to erase Hermans name from the plaza. With the commissions vote having gone for naught, Hermans name remains on the plaza. The temporary moniker it would have gotten, Embarcadero Plaza, is also on hold. In his time, Herman was a powerful San Francisco official, executive director of the city Redevelopment Agency under three mayors, from 1959 until he died in 1971. The city named the plaza after him when it opened the following year. But a growing chorus of critics, including the Board of Supervisors, has thrust Hermans fraught legacy with the city back into the spotlight, prompting calls to rededicate the plaza to commemorate a less divisive public figure. Those efforts managed to reinvigorate a public discussion about renaming the plaza that has waxed and waned over the years. In 2001, then-Supervisor Chris Daly introduced a proposal to scrub Hermans name from the space, but the board never voted on it. In 2015, a citizens campaign to rename the space after poet Maya Angelou sputtered out. Herman is perhaps best known for leveling large swaths of the Western Addition in the name of urban renewal, an effort that had disastrous effects on the vibrant African American and Japanese American communities living there. Thousands of people saw their homes and businesses destroyed as the city razed 60 square blocks. Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who represents the Western Addition and grew up there, said she was happy that the parks commission moved to get rid of the stain on the citys history that Hermans name has come to symbolize. Im really excited that this happened. This is going to be the first step in the process to do what we should have done many years ago, Breed said, before the commissions decision was undone. Breed said that despite the procedural hiccup, she expected the parks commission to again vote to remove Hermans name from the plaza. Among those who voted against changing the plazas name was Buell, the parks commission president, who worked in Hermans office in the late 1960s and in 1970. Buell said that while Hermans pursuit of urban renewal in the Western Addition was a grave mistake, he believed Herman was being unfairly demonized for policies that he was not alone responsible for. He was passionate about trying to make San Francisco a better place, Buell said. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who authored the boards resolution on the plaza, spoke to the commissioners before their vote to emphasize that while the board supported removing Hermans name from the plaza, this is not about demonizing Justin Herman the person. But that era has come to symbolize a lot of hurt, particularly for communities of color, Peskin said. Weve learned a lot, and I think its time to turn the page on this chapter of history. Numerous members of the public urged the commission to consider naming the space after San Francisco photographer David Johnson, who was in attendance Thursday. Johnson, a student of Ansel Adams, made his mark by turning his camera on the Fillmore districts vibrant African American community of the 1960s. We need to find someone or something that sheds a brighter light on such a significant public plaza in our city, Breed said. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Tubbs Fire that raged through Santa Rosa last week unleashed a series of fiery tornadoes powerful enough to flip cars, yank trees out of the ground and rip homes apart, fire scientists said Wednesday. Gusts of up to 73 mph were recorded at the weather stations after the fires broke out Oct. 8, but the extraordinary damage documented during postmortem evaluations indicated that much more powerful forces were at play. We had trees ripped out of the ground, cars turned over, garage doors ripped off their hinges and wrapped around trees in the front yards, said Scott Upton, the northern region chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and an expert on fire behavior. It was no different than a hurricane, really, but instead of rain we had a fire event. Ive been in this business 30 years and its the worst Ive seen. Now Playing: Wine Country Fires Video: San Francisco Chronicle Upton said fire whirls, also known as fire tornadoes, probably happened in all the North Bay fires, but the most destructive evidence was found in Santa Rosa neighborhoods flattened by the Tubbs Fire, which has killed at least 22 people and burned 36,432 acres. Recovery teams are still searching for remains in the rubble. The homes destroyed in the citys Fountaingrove and Coffey Park neighborhoods burned in rapid succession. As flames driven by powerful winds slammed into the neighborhoods, the heat rose up, pulling the wind with it and creating a kind of vortex of air that circled around at hurricane-force speeds. Think about the massive release of heat in a fire like that, and then the wind gets obstructed by homes and you get the eddying, Upton said. The hot air mixes with cooler air, and thats when it will start to turn, creating a fire whirl. The whirling winds blew fire sideways into homes in Santa Rosa, peeled off roofs, and even lifted and turned vehicles. Survivors recounted running out of their homes into the equivalent of a blast furnace, with embers flying everywhere amid a terrible gale. They can be incredibly powerful if you add more heat or wind or fuel, like in this fire, he said. Upton compared the situation to Lake Countys Rocky Fire in August 2015, when superheated flames, fueled by dry brush, sent huge clouds of smoke as far as 35,000 feet into the atmosphere, where they actually formed ice caps, pushing out wind in every direction. In the Tubbs Fire, superheated air also lifted off the ground and created wind, but thats where the similarities end. Upton said fire tornadoes normally occur in open spaces, kind of like the way dust devils form on farmland and fields. He said the the 2003 Cedar Fire, which burned 280,000 acres, destroyed 2,232 homes and killed 15 people in San Diego County, is the closest comparison. Just like the Wine Country blazes, the Cedar Fire spread rapidly as a result of Santa Ana winds and fire tornadoes. The 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which killed 25 people and destroyed 3,500 houses, also created its own weather a firestorm. Fire whirls can be extremely violent. They have been known to lift all-terrain vehicles off the ground. In 1926, a fire whirl in San Luis Obispo lifted an entire home into the air and carried it across a field before dropping it. Two people were killed. The phenomenon cant happen without strong winds and dry fuel, which have been in abundance throughout Northern California. The night the fires started on Oct. 8, the winds were a steady 40 mph, pushing flames east to west through a valley in the hills along Petrified Forest and Mark West Springs roads, feeding it like oxygen nourishes a torch, and driving it into the flatland neighborhoods. Just like water flows from higher to lower elevation, winds flow down a pressure gradient as they go from high pressure to low pressure, said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the UC Cooperative Extension. When they get concentrated, like through a mountain pass, they will speed up, like a river going through a narrow channel. Moritz said powerful winds also drove the Hanley Fire, which burned almost the exact same area in 1964. That fire, which ignited when a hunter discarded a cigarette, burned 83,000 acres over a week and leveled 84 homes, 24 summer cabins and countless farm buildings; included was the historic Tubbs Mansion. Nobody was killed in the fire, which was finally halted on the north perimeter of Santa Rosa, but those who fought it were traumatized. This is the craziest fire Ive ever seen, Grant King, the chief of the Guerneville Fire Department, told The Chronicle at the time. The wind just hangs back, then fire comes in a rush with the wind, and youre dead. The wind-driven Tubbs Fire shot out of the same canyon into Fountaingrove and Coffey Park. It was a very different kind of fire that happened Sunday night, said Ken Pimlott, the director of Cal Fire. The fire was almost horizontal. When it hit those homes it was like a blowtorch. With all those fires burning, it generated so much heat that it created its own circular patterns. Upton said the Atlas Fire, which blasted through Napa Valley homes and wineries, threw embers way out in front, causing spot fires, and also occasionally formed fire whirls, but it didnt display as much wind power as the Tubbs Fire did. I've seen fires melt cars and literally reduce them to little more than metal and aluminum pooled on the ground, he said, but he hadnt seen destruction like he saw last week. To flip a car over has to be some significant winds. Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Just two days after three black factory workers filed suit against Tesla for racist epithets and harassment, a former assembly line worker said he was bullied for being gay and threatened with violence at the Fremont factory. Jorge Ferro said the harassment started shortly after he began working at Tesla, and didnt stop until he left the company, according to his lawsuit. The court filing alleges that Ferro was pushed out of the company after managers repeatedly refused to stop the mistreatment. A human resources representative told him that he had to go, as there was no place for handicapped people at Tesla, a reference to a scar on Ferro's wrist from an injury 16 years ago, the suit also alleged. Tesla in denying the claims said it had a spotless record in how the company treated its workers. Now Playing: Nattakorn_Maneerat/Shutterstock Tesla recently fired scores of employees in the wake of performance reviews. A negative performance review doesn't guarantee you're about to be fired. If you want to turn things around, you need to stay calm and take proactive steps to improve. Tesla reportedly let around 400 employees go during an intense round of performance reviews last week. Video: Wochit Every lawyer knows that if they name Tesla as a defendant in their lawsuit, it maximizes the chances of generating publicity for their case, a company spokesman said. There is no company on Earth with a better track record than Tesla, as they would have to have fewer than zero cases where an independent judge or jury has found a genuine case of discrimination. This is physically impossible. But recent lawsuits paint a different picture. This week three factory workers accused the company of being a hotbed for racist behavior, where Tesla supervisors and workers used racist language and drew a Jim Crow-era caricature of a black child on cardboard boxes inside the Fremont factory. Lamar Patterson and father and son Owen Diaz and Demetric Diaz were contractors, hired to work at Tesla by third-party companies. Ferro was also a third-party contractor and so, the company said Thursday, was the supervisor he has accused of threatening him with violence. Nevertheless, a Tesla spokesman said, Tesla still stepped in to try to keep these individuals apart from one another and to ensure a good working environment. In June, Telsa fired a female engineer who accused the carmaker of gender discrimination, paying her less than her male peers and ignoring repeated complaints of sexual harassment. The woman, AJ Vandermeyden, is also suing the company. Ferros lawsuit is the latest labor dispute against Tesla this year, and the third lawsuit alleging discriminatory conditions inside its factory. Tesla fired hundreds of workers last week after poor performance reviews that may have been related to what CEO Elon Musk called production bottlenecks on the companys Model 3 car. This year the National Labor Relations Board filed an official complaint against Tesla, accusing the Palo Alto company of violating workers rights by suppressing efforts to unionize. A hearing in front of an NLRB judge in Oakland is expected to begin on Nov. 14. Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon declined to file charges Wednesday against a city police officer whose fatal shooting of a car-theft suspect in the Bayview neighborhood in May 2016 prompted the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr. Gascon cited insufficient evidence while clearing Sgt. Justin Erb in the death of 29-year-old Jessica Williams, a homeless woman who was unarmed and high on methamphetamine when Erb and a second officer approached her on foot as she sat in a stolen Honda Accord on a dead-end street. According to a 21-page report by prosecutors, the two officers said Erb shot Williams once in the chest after she tried to drive off, immediately crashed into a truck, backed up and then drove in Erbs direction. A federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Williams mother accused Erb of using excessive force, suggesting he was not directly threatened by Williams or the car. But Gascon said experts who reconstructed the scene placed Erb within the Honda Accords potential path when he fired on the morning of May 19, 2016. All of the available evidence suggests Sergeant Erb faced a volatile and unpredictable situation looking uphill at an approaching car when he fired his gun at Williams, the district attorneys office said. The available evidence does not support the conclusion that Sergeant Erbs use of deadly force was objectively unreasonable. San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Wednesday he was outraged by the decision. Im flabbergasted that the DA is saying it is okay to shoot at a person who appears to have been fleeing in a car, Adachi said in a statement. How can you justify shooting a person when you easily could have stepped out of the way? The shooting happened at time when police leaders and watchdogs in San Francisco sought to stop officers from firing on vehicles and drivers, echoing concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice that the practice endangers bystanders and can lead officers to put themselves in a bad position one in which they feel they must use their gun. The city Police Commission has since amended the departments use-of-force policy to prohibit firing on moving vehicles, except in extraordinary circumstances. According to Gascon, investigators located only three witnesses to the 9:40 a.m. shooting on secluded Helena Street in the shadow of Interstate 280, including Erb and his partner, Officer Eric Eastlund. They were conducting an operation to recover boosted cars when they came across the Honda Accord, which had been reported stolen. They parked and approached the car on foot, Erb with his pistol drawn and pointed down. Both were in uniform. Williams was reclined in the drivers seat, and when the officers knocked on her window, she sat up, started the car, and sped off before crashing into a parked utility truck approximately 75 feet away, the report stated. After Erb ran to the drivers side to try to arrest Williams, she put the car in reverse, driving right at Officer Eastlund, who was standing in the street behind the car, the report stated. Eastlund told investigators that he hurried out of the way, while drawing his pistol, before Williams paused and rolled forward toward Erb. An accident reconstruction expert hired by prosecutors estimated the cars speed at this point at roughly 7 mph. I thought she was going to punch it again and if she had, then I would have got run over and I would have had nowhere to go, Erb told investigators. I was afraid for my life. He was positioned to the front left of the car, and fired one shot through the drivers side window, striking Williams in the chest. The car continued moving forward before hitting the same truck it had crashed into moments before, the report said. The third witness, a woman babysitting in a nearby home, corroborated much of the officers accounts, according to the report, saying she thought the driver wanted to run the cop over. The report said a man who had shared a tent with Williams reported that he had been asleep during the shooting in a stolen Honda Civic parked behind the Accord. He told investigators an unidentified person had given them the cars about three hours before the shooting. The man, identified only as Daniel R., said the two had used methamphetamine before the shooting, and Williams autopsy report showed she had the drug in her system. Hours after the shooting, Suhr resigned at the request of Mayor Ed Lee. Calls for his ouster had begun six months prior, after the video-recorded police killing of Mario Woods in the Bayview, a case that Gascons office is still reviewing. After the Woods shooting, the Police Commission reopened the departments use-of-force policy for the first time in years. In addition to emphasizing using minimal force and preserving the sanctity of life, the new policy, which passed in December, prohibits officers from firing at a vehicle except in very limited circumstances, such as when a driver is also using a gun. The police union fought the policy change, saying officers needed to be allowed to shoot at cars when a driver is using the car as a weapon. Commissioners added a caveat to the policys preamble that they said would allow for officers to use their judgment in extraordinary situations. The district attorneys office said that in this case, Erb had no legal duty to retreat under long-standing California self-defense law. As a result, questions about whether he could have run out of the oncoming Accords path and found adequate cover do not alter the criminal legal analysis due to California self-defense law. Adachi disputed the analysis and said it sends the wrong message to our citizens and the police. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo The Chronicle will continue to keep readers up to date on events that have either been canceled or postponed because of the North Bay fires, as well as any benefits for fire victims. We will strive to update the story regularly. Send us announcements on closures, events and more by emailing datebook@sfchronicle.com. BENEFITS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THOSE DISPLACED BY THE FIRES So Stressed, Bad Psychics, Raised by Zebras: 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20. $10, plus donations. Bad Psychics will match donations up to $1,000. Sales from the show poster by local artist Aaron Zonka will also be included in the donations. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. www.bottomofthehill.com Stronger Together North Bay Fire Benefit: 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21. A fundraiser for North Bay Fire victims featuring Poor Mans Whiskey, New Monsoon, Ben Morrison of the Brothers Comatose, Avi Vinocur, Kelly McFarling, the Welcome Matt, John Elliott Music, Lisa Azzolino, the Sam Chase, others. All proceeds will be donated to North Bay Fire Relief. Address of venue in Piedmont to be disclosed after purchasing ticket. www.brownpapertickets.com NAPA Strong Benefit Concert: 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22. Performances by Essence Goldman, Amber Snider, Gabe Walker, Sorry Lot, Dirty Cello, Krooked, Ordinary Sons, others. Tip jar donations and silent auction proceeds will go to Napa Valley Disaster Relief Fund. $5 cover at door and $1 of every beer sold go to the Napa Valley Firefighters. Billcos Billiards and Darts, 1234 Third St, Napa. (707) 226-7506. Chamber concert: Cellist Rebecca Rust, bassoonist Friedrich Edelmann and pianist Laura Magnani play music by Mozart, Bach and Grieg in a benefit for fire victims. 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 23. $50. 1451 Scenic Ave., Berkeley. RSVP required to smithjm@berkeley.edu Distillery 209: Cocktails for a Cause: 1-2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23. San Franciscos Distillery 209 is partnering with Blackthorn Tavern (834 Irving St., S.F.) and Cabin (1750 Polk St., S.F.) to raise funds for the victims of the North Bay fires. Each bar will feature No. 29 Gin cocktail specials, with sales from these drinks to be donated to charities of the bars choice. For details, blackthornsf@gmail.com or (415) 564-6626; thecabinsf@gmail.com or (415) 549-7111. Bangers & Grass Fire with Laurie Lewis Benefit Show: 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24. No cover, but donations will be accepted and will go to the Anova Center for Education, Sonoma Countys only nonprofit school for children with autism. The Sonoma campus was completely destroyed by the North Bay wildfires. Donations during the concert will be sent directly to the schools GoFundMe campaign to rebuild. Kensington Circus Pub, 389 Colusa Ave., Kensington. (510) 524-8814. Dine and Donate Marin: Tuesday, Oct. 24. Restaurants, cafes, bars and other food and beverage outlets of Marin plan to donate proceeds from sales of the day to the North Bay Fire Relief fund. www.dineanddonatemarin.com Dan Crary, Bill Evans & Wally Barnick Fire Relief Benefit Show: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. $20 suggested donation. All proceeds will go to the Sonoma County Resilience Fund. Island Yacht Club, 1853 Clement Ave., Alameda. (267) 240-6298. Reservations can also be made by emailing iycmusicsessions@gmail.com. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show: 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays; 1:30 p.m. Sundays. Through Oct. 29. Bay Area Childrens Theatre is offering complimentary tickets to families affected by the North Bay fires. Osher Studio, 2055 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 296-4433. http://bactheatre.org Bay Area Discovery Museum: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. Free admission to those affected by the North Bay fires through Friday, Oct. 20. Fort Baker, 557 McReynolds Rd., Sausalito. (415) 339-3900. http://bayareadiscoverymuseum.org Monterey Bay Aquarium: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free admission to Northern California residents whose communities are in fire danger zones through Sunday, Oct. 22. 886 Cannery Row, Monterey. (831) 648-4800. www.montereybayaquarium.org Art Ventures Gallery: 50 percent of the proceeds from art work sold through Tuesday, Oct. 24 will be donated to the Red Cross. 888 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. (650) 400-5325. www.artventuresgallery.com Good & Kissed: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Free admission; all cash donations go to Redwood Credit Unions North Bay Fire Relief Fund. Pinole Community Playhouse, 601 Tennent Ave., Pinole. (510) 724-9844. www.facebook.com/events/123807701596828 Rocky Horror Show: 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. Free, but cash donations will be accepted. Proceeds benefit Community Foundation Sonoma County and Napa Valley Community Foundation. San Jose Stage Company, 490 S. First St., San Jose. (844) 647-6259. www.rockyhorrortickets.com Creature Features: Santa Rosa Symphony Family Concert led by conductor Richard Loheyde. Event also features free photo booth and instrument petting zoo. 2 p.m. Oct. 29. Free for families who have lost their home in the North Bay fires. All children younger than 13 also receive free admission. Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. (707) 546-8742. http://srsymphony.org Les Lunes: The lingerie and apparel retailer is accepting donated clothing and supplies at all its locations, and is now distributing them to fire victims at its Healdsburg store. North Bay fire victims can also receive a 50 percent discount on purchases, and previous Les Lunes customers affected by the fire may receive a gifted outfit. A recovery party is scheduled for Oct. 29 and will benefit Sonoma charities. 322 Center St., Healdsburg. (707) 473-8687. Sethi: The retail store will be donating 10 percent of sales to the Northern California Red Cross through the month of October. 290 Main St., Los Altos. (650) 948-5141. Modern Appealing Clothing (MAC): The company will be donating 10 percent of sales for the month of October at its two stores to a to-be-announced organization benefiting North Bay fire victims. 387 Grove St., S.F., and 1003 Minnesota St., S.F. (415) 863-3011. Elizabeth Charles: This designer womens boutique will donate 10 percent of sales through the end of October to Sonoma County Resilience Fund, Napa Valley Community Foundation and the Sonoma Humane Society. 2056 Fillmore St., S.F. (415) 440-2100. Golden Gate Wine Cellars Special Wine Tasting: 1-5 p.m. Nov. 4. $27.13. All ticket proceeds and a portion of sales will be donated to the Napa Valley Vintners Association and the Sonoma Wine Growers Association. 2337 Ocean Ave., S.F. (415) 337-4083. www.localwineevents.com Art.com: All proceeds from sales of the wine-themed print titled Our Roots Run Deep through Nov. 15 will benefit the North Bay Fire Relief Fund. $34.95. www.art.com Copperfields Books: The chain had to shutter its Calistoga location. The seven other stores, including its Napa store, are open. People may use their electrical outlets and Wi-Fi free of charge. Dogs are also welcome. https://www.copperfieldsbooks.com Napa County Libraries: All branches of the Napa County Library are open except for the Calistoga location. Napa Main, Yountville and American Canyon libraries are offering free use of Wi-Fi, areas to charge electronic devices and laptops. www.countyofnapa.org/Library NOW OPEN Napa Valley Museum: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Napa Valley Museum, 55 Presidents Circle, Yountville. (707) 944-0500. www.napavalleymuseum.org Jam Cellars Studio: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-midnight Thursday-Saturday. Operations resume this week with live JamSessions on Friday, Oct. 20 (Groovy Judy). Free. Jam Cellars Napa, 1460 First St., Napa. www.jamcellars.com/events Green Music Center: Programming resumes with Peter Sirkin (Friday, Oct. 20) and the all-star band Hudson (Sunday, Oct. 22). Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. http://gmc.sonoma.edu Silos Napa: Live music programming resumes with Second Street Band (Friday, Oct. 20) and Guitarzilla (Saturday, Oct. 21). 530 Main St., Napa. www.silosnapa.com CANCELED Funkendank Oktoberfest: Saturday, Oct. 21. Canceled due to public safety and health concerns. SOMO Village Event Center, 1100 Valley House Dr., Rohnert Park. Refunds will be issued. www.somoconcerts.com Lagunitas Beer Circus: Saturday, Oct. 21. Canceled due to public health and safety concerns. Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds and Events Center, 75 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma. https://lagunitas.com/beercircus POSTPONED OR MOVED Exhibition opening reception for David Ligares Magna Fide (The Great Belief) and Forge and Stone: Contemporary California Women Sculptors: The exhibitions are now open to the public, with opening reception postponed to Dec. 9. Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, 551 Broadway, Sonoma. www.svma.org Boz Scaggs: Originally scheduled Thursday-Friday, Oct. 19-20. Postponed to May 4-5. Refunds will be available at point of purchase and currently held tickets will be honored on new date. Uptown Theatre Napa, 1350 Third St, Napa. (707) 259-0123. www.uptowntheatrenapa.com Steel Magnolias: Originally scheduled to open Oct. 13. Opening postponed to Friday, Oct. 20. 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. Sixth St., Santa Rosa. (707) 523-4185. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com The Crucible: Originally scheduled to open Friday, Oct. 20. Opening postponed to Oct. 27 and now running only two weekends. Lucky Penny Productions will reach out to those with tickets to the canceled performances. Lucky Penny Community Arts Center, 1758 Industrial Way, Suite 208, Napa. (707) 266-6305. www.luckypennynapa.com Art Trails: Now scheduled for Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 21-22 and Oct. 28-29 at locations throughout Sonoma County. http://sonomacountyarttrails.org Pacific Coast Trail Runs Eldrith Gosneys Pure Ultra: All race distances for the Saturday, Oct. 21, have been postponed until January. PCTR and M.H. Bread & Butter are encouraging trail runners to donate new or barely used running shoes and clothing from 7:30-10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 to Runner Helping Runner at the San Francisco Running Company, 247 Shoreline Hwy., Mill Valley. M. Ward: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 29. $40. Moved to Terrapin Crossroads, 100 Yacht Club Dr., San Rafael (originally scheduled for Historic Redwood Barn, Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma). All tickets previously purchased will be honored. http://folkyeah.com Punk in Drublic: Postponed until Oct. 29 due to air quality concerns. Tickets will be honored at new date or refunds are available at the original point of purchase. Festival officials added that due to artist availability, the lineup has been updated to include: NOFX, Bad Religion, Goldfinger, Bad Cop/Bad Cop and Get Dead, with more to be announced. Concord Pavilion, 2000 Kirker Pass Rd., Concord. http://punkindrublicfest.com Clean and Sober Music Fest: Postponed until June 9-10. Refunds for tickets will be made through Eventbrite. Mendocino County Fairgrounds, Boonville. www.cleanandsobermusicfest.org CLOSED Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art: Closed through Sunday, Oct. 22. 5200 Sonoma Hwy., Napa. www.dirosaart.org Blue Note Napa: Closed through Nov. 5. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 880-2300. www.bluenotenapa.com Napa Valley Opera House: Closed through Nov. 5. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 880-2300. www.bluenotenapa.com Jam Cellars Ballroom at Margrit Mondavi Theatre: Closed through Nov. 5. 1030 Main St., Napa. (707) 880-2300. www.jamcellarsballroom.com Readers Books, Sonoma: Closed until further notice. 130 E Napa St., Sonoma. www.readersbooks.com Fairwinds Estate Winery: Weekly Wine Crush Party canceled until further notice. 4550 Silverado Trail N., Calistoga. www.fairwindsestatewinery.com Luther Burbank Center for the Arts: Closed through Nov. 5. Events will be rescheduled as soon as possible. In the event a performance is canceled, refunds will be issued once the center is operationally capable. 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa. https://lutherburbankcenter.org Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center: Closed until further notice. 2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa. https://schulzmuseum.org For most of last week, information about what exactly was damaged in Northern California wildfires was sparse, but an interactive before-and-after map has been helping people who haven't seen the damage firsthand wrap their heads around the scope of the destruction. Robin Kraft was one of those people searching for information last week as a series of deadly fires destroyed nearly 6,000 structures. A native of the Santa Rosa area, he wanted to find out if his wedding venue had burned or if his dad still had a home. But unlike most people, Kraft had access to a variety of overhead images after working as a product manager at satellite company Planet. He put his skills to work building a zoomable composite allowing people to see what areas looked like before and after the flames. The Snowman is ugly and nasty, but thats not the worst of it. The worst is that its boring and makes no sense. Based on the novel by the Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, The Snowman has the veneer of a quality product. The movie is set in Oslo and Bergen, and much of it looks not just good, but interesting. Its set in winter no surprise and the snow is ever-present. Some of the street scenes look as though they were shot in black and white, because of the snow and the gray buildings. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Jack English Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Universal Pictures/TNS Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Jack English Show More Show Less 5 of 5 The cast is full of famous names, some of whom Chloe Sevigny, Toby Jones, J.K. Simmons show up only for a scene or two:. Again, this gives The Snowman the aura of a quality project what else would attract all these people? Maybe what attracted them was that Martin Scorsese is an executive producer. OK, but what attracted Scorsese? Thats one of the lingering mysteries of The Snowman. Others include, whats going on? Why did that happen? And if I lean forward in my seat, will that make it easier to stay awake? Michael Fassbender is at the center of the movie, as Detective Harry Hole, a name we should all hope is pronounced differently in Norwegian. Harry is supposed to be our guy, the focus of our interest, but he remains vague. Were told that hes a legendary detective, but the movie shows him doing no impressive police work. He is supposed to be an alcoholic, too, but he doesnt do any impressive drinking. He just mopes around looking out of sorts. The women in his life are more vivid. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays his ex-girlfriend, with whom he is still close. And Rebecca Ferguson youve seen her even if you dont know the name is Katrine, a committed junior detective working with Harry. Both the ex-girlfriend and the detective are strong characters, enough to make one wonder in retrospect just how bad a movie has to be to have both Gainsbourg and Ferguson and yet blow it so completely. The investigation centers on a serial killer, one who doesnt even have the decency to be amusing. His gimmick is to make a snowman in front of the house of the people he kills a very ugly snowman. Virtually all of his victims are women, and maybe times have changed, or sensitivities have increased, but there is something really distasteful and prurient about seeing a movie introduce female characters just as theyre being stalked by a murderer. Lets just say it: This is not just a depiction of creepiness. Its creepiness itself. The serial killers other gimmick is to sever the head of each victim, and the arms, too, so theres a lot of that unfortunate business and blood all over the place. Speaking of all over the place, on several occasions the movie flashes back nine years, to show Val Kilmer as a detective looking into related serial killings. These are confusing diversions, and theyre oddly filmed, too, as Kilmers dialogue all seems to have been overdubbed. For a time, Ferguson carries the movie. She becomes the locus of audience sympathy, and she has an easy command of the screen. But then the movie shifts back to Harry, who stops moping in time for the climax. Alas, the big confrontation with the serial killer borders on the hilarious or at least seems that way to an audience made giddy by two hours of boredom and confusion. Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle The Snowman Thriller. Starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. (R. 119 minutes.) Trump administration officials must allow a pregnant 17-year-old to leave an immigration shelter in Texas to have an abortion, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in the first legal rebuff for the administrations ban on abortions for undocumented minors in federal custody. The girl, now about 15 weeks pregnant and identified only as Jane Doe, is entitled to decide whether to give birth and will suffer, at a minimum, increased risk to her health if she remains confined in the shelter, said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of Washington, D.C. She ordered the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement to allow Jane Doe to be taken promptly and without delay to the nearest abortion provider on Thursday for a counseling session required by Texas law, and then for the abortion on Friday or Saturday. The Trump administration criticized the ruling and filed an immediate appeal. The ruling sets a dangerous precedent by opening our borders to any illegal children seeking taxpayer-supported, elective abortions, said the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chutkans decision came a week after U.S. Magistrate Laurel Beeler of San Francisco said the Trump administration had no justification for denying an abortion to Jane Doe. But Beeler rejected the American Civil Liberties Unions request to add the girls case to an earlier lawsuit challenging abortion restrictions at federal shelters run by religious organizations. The magistrate said she had no jurisdiction over events in other states in a case that had little relationship to the earlier suit. The ACLU then filed a new suit in the nations capital on behalf of everyone affected by the administrations policy. In court papers, Justice Department lawyers, joined by attorneys for Texas and six other states, have argued that undocumented immigrants in U.S. custody have no right to an abortion. But Jane Does lawyers say Supreme Court rulings have established that the constitutional guarantee of due process of law, the basis of the right to an abortion, applies to any person regardless of immigration status. Besides ordering the refugee office to allow the abortion, Chutkan barred the office from revealing Jane Does abortion decision to anyone. The judge also prohibited the office from requiring Jane Doe to attend any more antiabortion counseling sessions at a religiously sponsored crisis pregnancy center, aside from the one she was already ordered to attend. The Trump administration imposed those restrictions in March for undocumented women under 18 who were apprehended after entering the United States by themselves. The American Civil Liberties Union said there are hundreds of pregnant minors in immigration custody most of them rape victims and sought to add Jane Does case to the ongoing lawsuit in San Francisco challenging the Obama administrations placement of minors in shelters run by church groups opposed to abortion. At last, our client will be able to get the care she needs without federal officials standing in the way, said ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri. No one should be held hostage to the extreme antiabortion views of a handful of government officials. Jane Doe entered the U.S. in early September and learned she was pregnant only after she was in custody, her lawyers said. Though they have not identified her homeland or the reasons for her departure, they said her parents were abusive and had beaten her pregnant older sister until she miscarried. Chutkans two-page restraining order applied only to Jane Doe. But its wording suggested that the judge would be receptive to an injunction guaranteeing abortion rights for all unaccompanied minors. Jane Doe is legally entitled to an abortion and is likely to succeed in proving that the administrations restraints violate her constitutional rights, Chutkan said. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko 1 Abortion ruling: An appeals court on Thursday temporarily stayed a judges ruling that would have allowed a pregnant 17-year-old being held in a Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant children to obtain an abortion. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a short ruling that still allowed the teenager to be taken to a counseling meeting with the doctor who would perform the abortion. Texas state law requires women to receive counseling 24 hours before an abortion. If the appeals court lifts the stay, the teen might still be able to have the procedure Friday or on Saturday. 2 Federal judges: President Trump says Democrats are holding up his judicial nominees, but almost nine months into his presidency, he has had more judges confirmed than President Barack Obama did in the same time period. Since taking office in January, Trump has nominated 61 people to federal judgeships, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. Seven of Trumps judicial nominees, including Neil Gorsuch, have been confirmed by the Senate. According to the Federal Judicial Center, the judicial branchs research and education agency, Obama had three judicial nominees confirmed at the same point of his presidency, including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. NEWARK, N.J. Former President Barack Obama on Thursday rallied at the side of his former ambassador to Germany, who is running for governor in New Jersey, and called on the crowd of Democrats to reject politics of division and fear. Obama did not mention President Trump in his speech while standing next to Democratic nominee Phil Murphy, but he told the crowd at a Newark hotel that you can send a message to the country and you will send a message to the world that we are rejecting a politics of division. We are rejecting a politics of fear. WASHINGTON The authors of a bipartisan plan to calm health insurance markets said Wednesday theyll push the proposal forward, even as President Trumps stance ricocheted from supportive to disdainful to arms-length and the plans fate teetered. If something can happen, thats fine, Trump told reporters at the White House. But I wont do anything to enrich the insurance companies because right now the insurance companies are being enriched. Theyve been enriched by Obamacare like nothing anybody has ever seen before. The agreement by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., on a two-year extension of federal subsidies to insurers that Trump has blocked gained an important new foe. The anti-abortion National Right to Life said it opposed the measure because it lacked language barring people from using their federally subsidized coverage to buy policies covering abortion, said Jennifer Popik, the groups top lobbyist. Meanwhile, top government lawyers representing 19 U.S. states on Wednesday asked a federal judge in California to force the administration to make health care subsidy payments that Trump abruptly cut off last week. The monthly payments would normally be scheduled to go out Friday. The states, led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, asked a judge in San Francisco for an emergency court order by 4 p.m. Thursday requiring they be paid on time. Becerra said Trump is illegally trying to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obamas health care law, which Trump opposes and has pushed unsuccessfully to repeal. Its long past time President Donald Trump learn that he doesnt get to pick and choose which laws he follows, Becerra, a Democrat, told reporters at his Sacramento office. But in another blow to the Senate deal, Doug Andres, spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Ryan does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare. With hard-right conservatives wielding considerable influence and unwilling to prop up Obamas health care law, it was unclear if Ryan would be willing to even bring the measure to his chambers floor. Overall, it was a bad day for the bipartisan accord, with several Republicans conceding that it likely needed Trumps backing to survive. Without the president supporting it, I dont think you have the votes in the House or the Senate, No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters, adding, Were stalled out. Alexander and Murray shook hands on their agreement this week after months of intermittent talks. Failure to restore the federal payments to insurers could result in higher premiums for millions buying their own individual policies and drive carriers from unprofitable markets. Many in Congress would love to avoid blame for two such tumultuous events. Alan Fram and and Jonathan J. Cooper are Associated Press writers. Pay attention to the parentheses and lowercase letters. In giving Afterglow the subtitle (a dog memoir), Eileen Myles signals that shes not about to come at the genre head-on. Its no surprise that this noted poet, teacher and 1992 presidential write-in candidate would avoid any conventional narrative about her late, lamented pit bull, Rosie. In hopscotching from poetic monologues to intensely rendered memories, ideological pronouncements to a comic dialogue between Rosie and the authors childhood puppet, Myles has fashioned an eccentric, fitfully engaging and finally vexing work. Afterglow has its decided strengths. There is, above all, the consuming power and amplitude of feeling the author had for her canine companion of 16 years. In re-creating the walks they took together in various places, Myles flowing, comma-resistant prose captures the way that ordinary dog behavior can train ones grateful attention on the transitory, mundane facts of existence. Here is the dog, she writes. Tiny paws on the side of the screen her shadow leads at a decent pace. Suddenly even wheels hubcaps are interesting. A ring a shallow cup around a central gleaming circle. The hub! And a leaf falls in the still life of the world. And you muscle around a yellow fireplug. Passages about a planned mating session with another dog (The Rape of Rosie) and her pets decline into incontinence are vividly done. So, in a very different, comic meter, is that imagined talk-show interview of Rosie by Oscar the puppet. The pathetic thing about humans, a wry and eloquent Rosie observes, is they think that everything is in their hands, and their hands are in or on everything. Pat, pat, rubbing behind the ears, looking in your eyes for years. For long stretches, however, that kind of amused self-awareness goes missing in action, replaced by a self-conscious and ponderous air of high seriousness. Far too often Myles overwhelms her subject with writing that fails to reward the effort required to unpack it. Here, to choose one of numerous examples, is the bewildering payoff to a free-association passage about a West Village churchyard, her fathers Irish ancestry and Kurt Cobains good teeth: I wont detail the fascinating overlays of rape and inferior seeing and puppet sex that favored the emergence of the disintegrated jaws of the Bourbon royalty, a cherished example. Though consider. When you say someone has a weak jaw, you are also implying that they (and their line) ate on its way to extinction. On all planes. Men grow beards popularly now to hide their dying. Things like that keep recurring, sometimes with a little more context and depth of field, but often not. Some are koan-like: The waters are coming, we can and will replace the violence with silence and wait. Others, like a reflection on the lost art of letter-writing, yield mysterious, freestanding assertions: We mourn the loss of the letter but dogs mourn the loss of the thought. Some sections, notably a talk on war and feminism Myles first delivered at the San Diego Womens Center in 2007, are shoehorned in to no readily apparent purpose. Theres not a dog to be found in those dozen pages. Memoirs of the canine sort or any kind dont have proscriptive rules or general guidelines as, say, sonnets or sonatas do. What readers seek and value is the sense of a personality sorting through her experience and making something of it. Myles, whose recent resume includes the widely reviewed I Must Be Living Twice: New And Selected Poems 1975-2014 and a highly publicized relationship with the Transparent showrunner Jill Soloway, clearly has plenty of experience to tap. Afterglow ranges widely and freely through time, geographical space (New York, San Diego, Ireland) and topics. Myles takes up, often fleetingly, gender politics, her fathers alcoholism, the physical and emotional qualities of foam, George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq and the nature of good and evil. Only the most trusting or intuitively tuned reader will be able to track the dips and swerves. Rosie, through it all, keeps winking in and out of view. There are times when she seems to bulk up and blot out almost everything else in Myles view. Goodnight, Sweet Queen, a catalog chapter about a dying dogs possessions (bed, bowl, raincoat, disposable diapers) is both unflinching and tender. As Myles says, in one of her arrestingly keen insights, she was both attentive to Rosie and phlegmatic, at times faithless to her utterly faithful dog. My pride suggests Im abusive really. Not heartless but absent like everyone says and Im saying it now but you never did, she writes in direct address to Rosie. A dogs silence is often construed as love. In its recollections of connection and loss, Afterglow has more than a few piercing insights. The problem is how frequently they get lost in the fog. Former San Francisco Chronicle arts and culture critic Steven Winn is the author of Come Back, Como: Winning the Heart of a Reluctant Dog. Email: books@sfchronicle.com Afterglow (a dog memoir) By Eileen Myles (Grove Press; 210 pages; $24) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Advocates of legalized prostitution took their challenge to Californias 145-year-old ban on commercial sex before a federal appeals court Thursday and appeared to get a hint that theyll have another chance to show why the law should be cast aside. The case was brought by three former prostitutes, a would-be client and the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Educational and Research Project. They contend the law violates the right to engage in consensual sex, as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2003 ruling overturning criminal laws against gay sexual activity. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland rejected their argument last year, saying the high court ruling protected only intimate personal relationships, not commercial sex. He said the state had adequately justified the current law as a deterrent to violence against women, sexually transmitted diseases and human trafficking. But at Thursdays hearing, members of a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco suggested that the law might need closer scrutiny, given todays less restrictive standards, as recognized by the high court, on sex between consenting adults. Why should it be illegal to sell something that its legal to give away? asked Carlos Bea, one of the courts most conservative judges. Another conservative, Judge Consuelo Callahan, pointed out that prostitution, like gay sex, had historically been subject to moral disapproval. Just as in 2003, the current case, she said, deals with individuals rights, so why wouldnt a ruling for the right to engage in prostitution be a natural extension of Supreme Court precedent? Deputy Attorney General Sharon OGrady, the states lawyer, responded that the difference is in the commercial aspect ... the commodification of sex. The state is not telling anyone who they can sleep with, OGrady said. It is prohibiting only a harmful category of business transactions, not intimate or enduring relationships, she said. But Bea said the 2003 Supreme Court ruling might require the court to send the case back to White for another review, and perhaps even a full-scale trial, in which the state would have to show a compelling need for the law. California made prostitution a crime in 1872, defining every common prostitute as a vagrant subject to a $500 fine and six months in jail. The law was updated in 1961 to reclassify prostitution or soliciting prostitution as disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. The Ninth Circuit left the state law intact in a 1988 ruling that said the relationship between a paid escort and a client possesses few, if any, of the aspects of an intimate association. H. Louis Sirkin, the plaintiffs lawyer in the current case, argued that the ruling is no longer binding. The Supreme Courts 2003 decision established the right of individuals to make their own individual choices as to how they want to behave in consensual sexual relationships, Sirkin told the court. If people put a dollar amount on it, that should not alter the intimate relationship. But Bea questioned whether the high courts ruling applied to totally anonymous sex for hire. And the third panel member, Jane Restani, a judge from the U.S. Court of International Trade temporarily assigned to the appeals court, noted that Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the 2003 Supreme Court ruling, had specified that the case before the court did not involve prostitution. On the other hand, Bea quoted from another portion of the 2003 case in which the late Justice Antonin Scalia, writing in dissent, declared that the ruling called into question state laws against prostitution. True, said OGrady, the states lawyer but Scalia, in the same opinion, also predicted the ruling would be used to strike down laws against incest and bestiality. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko Californias bar exam sets its passing score higher than almost any other state and it will stay that way for now, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday, despite plunging success rates and complaints that potentially good lawyers are being needlessly screened out. In a letter signed by all of its justices, the court, which oversees the State Bar and its 261,000 lawyers, said the downward trend appeared to be part of a broader national pattern and did not show a need to lower the standards in California. Only 43 percent of those who took the July 2016 bar exam passed it, the lowest rate in 32 years and lower than the success rates in most other states. The results fueled long-standing protests that the exams passing score, the nations second highest, was unduly restrictive and tended to reduce the numbers of low-income and minority lawyers. There is no evidence that the passing score on the California exam protects the public from unqualified persons practicing law, measures an attorneys skills or assures attorney competence, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern said in an opinion column Wednesday in the Daily Journal, a legal newspaper. A less-demanding standard may contribute to improving the diversity of the legal profession, he said. He and other critics proposed lowering the passing grade so that it was closer to the national average. State Bar leaders, torn between opposing sides in the debate, sent the states high court a set of alternative proposals to keep the current score or reduce it modestly. In Wednesdays letter to the State Bar, the court said the current passing score has been in place since 1987, while passing rates have risen and fallen over time. A decline over the past decade mirrors a 9 percent drop in nationwide success rates over the same period, the court said. The justices said they will consider changing the passing standard in the future, but for now the bar should analyze the exam to see whether changes are needed. The bar, it said, should work with law schools to determine whether changes in instruction methods would raise the scores. Examination of these matters could shed light on whether potential improvements in law school admission, education, and graduation standards and in State Bar testing for licensure, combined with effective regulatory oversight of legal education, could raise bar exam pass rates, the court said. That in turn, it said, would boost the availability of competent and effective attorneys across all demographics. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko A conservative who led a successful legal challenge to a core provision of the federal Voting Rights Act is training his sights on Californias version of the law, which allows minorities to challenge the practice of local at-large elections on the basis of racial discrimination and seek to switch them to voting by district. The 2002 California Voting Rights Act forces cities, counties and school districts to make race the sole factor in districting, said Edward Blum, president of the nonprofit Project on Fair Representation, as his Virginia-based group asked a federal judge to overturn the law. The contention is related to the reverse-discrimination argument Blums group used in 2013 when it persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the 1965 federal laws central enforcement provision. That provision, which Congress had renewed in 2006, set standards for determining whether state and local governments had a history of racial bias and therefore were required to get advance approval from the Justice Department for any changes in their voting rules or district boundaries. The court said the pervasive discrimination that may have justified the law in the past no longer existed Things have changed dramatically, Chief Justice John Roberts declared for a 5-4 majority. And although state courts upheld the California law in 2006, in a ruling the nations high court declined to review, a leading commentator on election laws says the new suit is one to watch. In view of the Supreme Courts recent scrutiny of race-based district lines, it is an argument courts are likely to seriously consider, said Rick Hasen, a law professor at UC Irvine. He said the suit could reach the high court, where its fate would be uncertain. The California law allows racial and ethnic groups to challenge the common practice of electing local government bodies from an entire city, county or school district. That system enhances majority power over governing boards and has led, at times, to stark disparities in representation in Modesto, where the first suit under the state law was filed in 2004, more than 25 percent of the local population was Latino, but only one Latino had served on the City Council since 1911. Dozens of local governments have shifted from at-large to district elections since the law took effect. A study by Common Cause in December, however, found that just 59 cities in California, 12 percent of the total, elected council members by district. Most of the larger cities have district elections, including San Francisco under a local ballot measure that took effect in 2000. Defenders of at-large elections say they encourage candidates to consider the diverse views of a larger area. Opponents say the elections allow a majority, whether racial or political, to ignore minority concerns. The state law prohibits at-large systems that have a history of racially polarized voting that is, that the majority has voted as a bloc against minority candidates and against minority interests in race-related elections and ballot measures. Blums organization, in a suit filed this month in U.S. District Court in San Diego, argued that the law violates the Supreme Courts limits on the use of race and ethnicity to create election districts. Specifically, the suit contends, the high court has allowed challenges to at-large districts only if a minority group can show that it is large and cohesive enough to form a majority in at least one new single-member district a requirement absent from the California law. The court has insisted on that condition to make sure that the law enforces the right to vote instead of requiring racial gerrymandering, the suit said. It was filed on behalf of the former mayor of the San Diego County community of Poway, which recently shifted from at-large to district elections after being warned of a forthcoming suit under the California law. A state appeals court rejected a similar argument against the California law in 2006, saying the law was racially neutral and could be used to strengthen minorities political influence as long as district lines were not drawn for racial purposes. But Hasen, of UC Irvine, said the legal climate may have changed since then, with rulings by the Supreme Court and lower federal courts taking a harder look at the racial implications of state legislative district maps and condemning racial gerrymandering. Though most of those rulings have rejected Republican attempts to isolate pro-Democratic minority groups in a few districts, the same reasoning might be used to question the racial impacts of the California law, Hasen said. Robert Rubin, a San Francisco civil rights lawyer who has been involved in more than a dozen suits under the state law, said it should survive the latest challenge. Theyre saying you cant use race to combat discrimination, he said of Blums organization. The Supreme Court, Rubin said, has found voters race to be a proper consideration in designing districts as long as its not the dominant factor. By that standard, he said, a law that allows minorities to increase their influence by challenging at-large elections should be upheld. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko Even more than 40 years later, picturing Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland in Start the Revolution Without Me sets me laughing. At a royal masquerade ball around the French Revolution, decorously dancing couples, one after another, pass around conspiratorial notes to Kill the Duke, Kill the Duchess, Kill the Queen. Until finally, the note Kill Everybody. Its much less funny, but thats what the Republican Party seems bent on doing this fall, committing communal suicide to mark its historic election successes of recent years. And in preparation for the 2018 midterm elections. As requested, voters since 2010 financed and elected Republicans to majorities in the House and Senate. In a stunning upset, they sent the Republican ticket to occupy the White House. They rejected Democrats in all the special House elections so far this year. Theyve even elected Republicans to run 34 states and both legislative chambers in 26 of them. Yet Republicans in Washington cant seem to get anything done as a team. Every faction has its own principled plan to fix its own priorities, and when nothing happens amid such disunity, everybody loudly criticizes everybody. The GOP base is angry at the establishments inaction, especially House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Conservative groups demand McConnell resign. The base suspects a conspiracy against the angry populist they elected to #DTS, Drain the Swamp. Hence, the unscheduled photo op of McConnell and Donald Trump professing strong chumminess. Trump joining the Republican Party was indeed a contrived marriage of inconvenience. According to his morning tweets, the president is angry at McConnell, though they are said to talk civilly by phone. Freed from seeking re-election next year, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is angry at Trump, who gets angry back, though Trump needs Corker to enact tax reform. Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon is angry at everyone who disagrees with him and vows to challenge in primaries virtually every incumbent Republican senator in next years elections. They were set to be GOP cakewalks with only eight seats up, compared with 25 for Democrats. Nobody is safe, Bannon warns. We are coming after all of them, and were going to win. Strangely, these dangerous disagreements have little to do with ideology. Everybody wanted Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, and they got him, thanks to McConnell. Everybody wanted Obamacare repeal. Everybody wants tax reform. The splits seem more due to attitude and fealty to Trump or to the status quo leadership. Each side silently suspects the other is taking the party over a cliff. When the reality is more like their power struggles are taking everyone over a cliff. Heres a crazy idea: In last years campaign, some people suspected Trumps impolitic behavior, erratic statements and needless fights indicated he was a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton, intentionally or not. Then, perhaps to his own surprise, Trump won. But his partys legislators on Capitol Hill seem incapable of, or maybe unwilling to, enact his agenda. Its possible they took to heart Trumps repeated denunciations of both party establishments last year. Perhaps too they fear losing their hard-won control or getting too close to the unpredictable media magnet in the Oval Office who makes nice one day, then suddenly vows to their face to do deals with Chuck and Nancy, for a couple of weeks anyway. Heres the crazy part: What if Bannons White House departure last summer wasnt really a firing? Youve never heard Bannon or Trump speak ill of the other. What if Bannons goal from outside the White House is to get rid of GOP senators who even passively oppose Trump, majorities be damned? We are declaring war, Bannon declared recently, on the party establishment that does not back the agenda that Donald Trump ran on. Doesnt sound like a spurned aide. What if that We Bannon speaks of actually includes Trump himself from offstage, of course? Thats ridiculous, right? Bannon who, dont forget, controls Breitbart.com within his armory doesnt have to win all those party primaries next year. He just needs to wound targeted establishment GOP candidates politically and financially. Last month Bannon backed the rogue Republican Roy Moore in Alabamas Senate primary against incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, a McConnell ally. Moores a loose cannon, too. But he tapped into that same antiestablishment voter sentiment as Trump and won. Perhaps even worse for the GOP establishment, Bannons bid forced McConnells Senate Leadership Fund to waste $10 million vainly supporting Strange. Thats $10 million that wont be available now to support other GOP incumbents or challenge vulnerable Democrats. Andrew Malcolm is an author and veteran national and foreign correspondent covering politics since the 1960s. Follow him @AHMalcolm Tombstones representing the 58 Las Vegas victims were taken down from the front yard of a home in North Vegas Wednesday after sparking controversy, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Neighbors had mixed reactions to the display referencing the recent tragic shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival with some saying they were touched by the tribute and another describing it as "unsettling." Hovering over rows of split rolls, Jeff Mason is alone behind the counter of Pals Takeaway. Behind him, chicken glows between spinning grates in a hellish rotisserie. Piled empty takeout containers appear to sprout onion and cauliflower pickles. Are you those guys with the big order? Mason asks. Behind me, three Uptown Oakland office workers shrug, unsure. OK, Mason says to us all wearily. Itll be a while. Im in a hurry, so I come back a day later at the moment Pals opens. If Al Swearengen from Deadwood were a crotchety fairy godfather with a trimmed white goatee and kindly blue eyes, hed resemble Mason, who similarly shows extemporaneous creativity with the f-word. Im a little behind here, he apologizes as the rotisserie whirs. Behind it, caterers, pastry chefs and picklers pinball around Forage Kitchen, the Oakland co-working food-preparation and community space that Mason occupied for several months until late September. I wait, wondering how Mason copes, unassisted, with a legitimately grueling lunch crush. I dont find out. Save for one guy at the counter barking at his cell phone between bites, the place is empty. I do find sandwiches though, and so I order enough for three lunches. Aunt Malais Almost Famous Lao Sausage Sandwich annihilates internal conflict for first-time customers trying to decide what to order. Mason roasts funky Lao sausages and splits them on rolls with a cucumber-cilantro relish, greens and a vibrant homemade mayonnaise. The excellent East Oakland restaurant Vientian Cafe hooked Mason on the sausages when he lived in nearby Maxwell Park. I couldnt make them right myself, Mason admits. I tried getting someone else to do it, but no one had time to try. Between bites at Vientian, Mason begged the women in the kitchen for help, but they would just laugh and walk away as his pleas grew desperate. Whether charmed, exhausted or simply savvy, they finally agreed to subcontract the object of his obsession. Or, take Masons tuna sandwich. As the Nicoise in its name implies, it isnt a diner melt or your moms watery lunchbox staple, but really a salad of subtle flavors and harmonious textures collapsing, ocean-y, oil-poached albacore, snappy green beans, bursting golden cherry tomatoes nestled into mayonnaise and bread. In a nod to the source material, Mason slides potato chips under the top piece of bread. But heres where the story of a very good sandwich gets interesting. The last time I had the sandwich, I didnt see any of the promised sliced egg, and I didnt miss it. The chips were corn, a minor change, perhaps, but a very different note for a flavor profile otherwise suggesting southern France more than Mission Taqueria. I ate joyfully, but the sandwich didnt make any sense. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Michael Macor/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Macor/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 That might be part of the point. I start with a simple idea. Its like a jazz solo, says Mason, who counts Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra as favorites. I take a groove thats known and I build around it with no limitations. According to Mason, these elevated grooves whether a Lao-sausage-stuffed banh mi, a Nicoise, or a homey egg salad shot through with curry arent the product of agonized conceptualizing. Components come and go, depending on whats at hand. Its no revelation that the best ingredients give you creative latitude, Mason says. So I go to the farmers market. And I drive around, I walk the dogs, I think, I try. If something tastes better than it does in my head, I keep it. Casual modifications and all, Masons method reflects the essence of sandwich. Whether mediocre or phenomenal, sandwiches are often improvised concoctions repurposing leftovers. Although, like a clam roll or a cheesesteak, they may conjure up specific places, they are often eaten in transit or over a keyboard. Even when they cost $12 (like Masons) and spill forth rosy Kobe beef or sweet Oregon shrimp, they retain a humble spirit. Like a musician switching instruments and shifting scales, bouncing from one influence to another, Mason borrows liberally, referencing culinary traditions to which he only rarely has personal attachment. The result comes filtered through the lens of his deliberately scattershot method and a tiny kitchen. I dont have tweezers, Mason says. Im inspired by seeing nine incredible chefs hover over one dish, but I work in a simple form. Im in a basement with a bare light bulb and a dirty broken knife. Mason doesnt have a philosophical interest in labor-intensive technique, much less the arsenal of gear, employees and time it requires. Aside from a few weeks in the kitchen of the late Rubicon, he doesnt have much formal training, either. Growing up in New Jersey, he loved food, but his parents didnt cook. Unsurprisingly, he says, he ate a lot of take-out sandwiches and rummaged through the family fridge to cobble together his own creations. Mason co-owned DNA Lounge in San Francisco for nine years, but tired of the youthful, druggy scene. Brant Ward/The Chronicle In the mid-90s, he owned Moxie, a Mission District restaurant and bar that did playful spins on Jewish cuisine before such concepts could fly on the corner of Florida and 17th. It was, he admits, a little ahead of its time. After Moxie, Mason catered, but the 2008 economic downturn wrecked business. Relatively inexpensive and broadly appealing, sandwiches seemed like a way to recover quickly. The pop-up ethos held no special allure; he just couldnt afford a more conventional approach. A friend, Bill Stone, co-owner of Dynamo Donuts, connected him with the owner of Tonys Market & Liquor, a corner store across 24th Street that happened to have an unused deli counter. It was there that I place a foggy 9-year-old memory of eating something delicious involving asparagus and a perfectly cooked egg. The social media-fueled truck, stand, cart, nomadic supper club and pop-up businesses that proliferated in the wake of the recession became trendy only after proprietors like Mason found new ways to stay relevant, creative and solvent. They found a community in the process. Many participants mined family traditions, heritage and personal obsessions for preparations that could occupy unique corners of the market. What began as a way to survive became, as Mason puts it, a thing. Mission Street Food, Josey Baker, 4505 Meats. People kept coming up with different things to sell. Creme brulee. Cookies. Bacon chips, Mason says. Some of the proprietors opened brick-and-mortar establishments around the country or sold products at Whole Foods. Some quit. Some, like Mason, stayed in the same lane, bouncing around to new digs every six months. Most recently, Mason was at Forage Kitchen for nearly 10 months. Ive never gotten rich, says Mason. But Ive managed to hang in there. I just wanted to make sandwiches, not be like Ikes, he adds, referencing the growing chain of sandwich shops that began with one popular Castro location. Some days, I struggle with motivation, he continues. But once I get in the kitchen, a transformation happens. A famous Polish artist in New York was interviewed about inspiration. Here, Mason lapses without warning into an accented impersonation. Inspiration? she said. Thats nothing. You cant wait for it or youll be dead. Me, I get up every day, I paint, and something good happens eventually. Michael Macor/The Chronicle And so, every day, except on weekends, Mason gets up and makes sandwiches. Something good clearly often happens. But that doesnt mean its sustainable. The elephant behind the counter is that Mason is not a young man. Im the aberrant granddad of sandwiches, not a 35-year-old line cook, he quips. Hes an actual grandfather, senior to most chefs opting for such a scrappy existence. What I witnessed on my first and second visits to the latest incarnation of Pals cant continue indefinitely. At some point, hell need to get some help. I want a little lunch counter, Mason admits. His dream, gently voiced, reflects the food he peddles: humble yet elevated with care and ingredients. A bar to lean over, some stools and sandwiches, of course. I like talking and schmoozing, says Mason. Id like to be crankier, but I cant. I try to make jokes about what people order, but its too small a town. I cant insult anyone. And Id like to. But everyones, you know He impersonates a zombified customer dabbing away at his phone. That might have been me waiting for my sandwich the previous week. And me the day before that, slipping out because 20 minutes sounded like a long time. The message is clear: The culture that encourages people to retreat into their digital selves and carefully curated worlds dampens Masons authentic routine. Its a facet of the same culture that permits entrepreneurs like Mason to attract and maintain devoted customers. And the one that boosts Caviars business at the expense of his. Mason may broadcast his sandwich ingredients on Twitter, but what gets him going besides what might taste good on a roll is the human interaction that comes with commerce. Over the course of our conversations, I try to get Mason to drop sandwich master know-how. Im hoping for a golden ratio of bread-to-meat-to-spread and so forth wonky shop talk, whatever that is. Mason doesnt care to get that molecular, but he does drop something telling. As a diner tears into a Pals sandwich, turns it over, chomps again, and repeats the process, Mason hopes that each bite offers a different tangle of flavors and textures. That makes a sandwich more interesting. I reference the oft-levied criticism of poorly rolled burritos, a form in which diners prize uniformity, not cold avocado, clumps of rice and juicy salsa in isolated segments. Mason snorts derisively. Come on. Its just lunch. You give someone a little joy and send a few jokes their way. Thats it. A minute later, though, hes excited about a monthly Friday pop-up hes starting at Temescal Brewing. Lamb sloppy joes, he says. Im on a real lamb groove right now. I cant make it for the first Friday, but I come by Forage one day after work. There are leftover sloppy joes, but I order a rotisserie lamb sandwich. He is on a groove, I think, savoring sweet roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers crinkled around the tender lamb and tart, creamy bursts of feta. There are unadvertised sweet corn kernels. There are corn chips, not pappadam but, hey, thats the sandwich I was served, and I know Masons deal enough to be more than content with that. We shake hands. I drink a soda. I dont think about my phone. Masons looking for a spot soon, something semi-permanent, but hell be back at Temescal Brewing, and doing occasional lunch pop-ups at Cole Coffee in Rockridge, too. He asks if his little luncheonette idea makes sense and suggests an unrelated story for the paper, an intriguing one Im inclined to chase. He shifts topics again. Do I know, he asks, that a lot of Caviar customers order from restaurants just a few blocks away from their houses? Who does that? We both rant. Its just a conversation over a very good sandwich, the kind of thing that ought to happen in little luncheonettes all over town. Masons lamb groove is real, but its better with a side of this, which is always on this menu, wherever and however its served. Andrew Simmons lives in Oakland. He writes for the Atlantic, the New York Times and other publications. Twitter: @adlsimmons Email: food@sfchronicle.com Pals pop-up www.palstakeaway.com This week, with the burnt-log haze beginning to thin, the power came back on in downtown Sonoma, and restaurants began to think about what the weekend might bring. The selection in the pastry case at Basque Boulangerie on the Sonoma Plaza was sparse on Tuesday, but it was enough to draw a line of women in their 60s, who greeted each other with hugs. Nearby, at Marys Pizza Shack, managers from the chains other locations converged to help reopen the restaurant, covering for workers who were still out of town. At the Swiss Hotel, owner Hank Marioni and manager Kristin Schantz straightened tablecloths and chairs while their cooks rushed to get everything prepared for dinner. The cooks had begun the day by throwing out spoiled sauces and retrieving meats they had stored in refrigerators across town where the electricity had stayed on. The hotel, which has been in the same family for 95 years, had lost many paying customers, but people were starting to come back for dinner. Weve had cancellations, but its mostly locals who are calling, wanting us to open, Schantz says. Now Playing: "There's more love in the air than smoke, " Santa Rosa evacuee Tobi O'Neill told KTVU, as she and her husband checked on their residence, and found it untouched. Debora Villalon reports Video: KTVU Its a healing process, Marioni added. These guys want to work. We want to be around people. We want to serve people like we have for 95 years. Marioni lost his home of 35 years late last week, one of many consumed by the Nuns Fire. I can feel sorry for myself, but when I see what happened in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico and Houston, Ive dodged a bullet for a lot of years. California has, he said. His children, he added, were devastated. Many restaurants had closed after Pacific Gas & Electric Co. shut off power to much of downtown Sonoma on Saturday morning. The lights came back on Monday night. But electricity wasnt the only factor keeping restaurants closed. Many had been shuttered since Oct. 9, when many staffers had to evacuate, so restaurants didnt have enough workers. On Saturday morning, the fire came within three-quarters of a mile of the eastern edge of downtown, spurring a round of evacuations. A handful of homes in the city burned. As the fires had grown closer, plenty of people left town. Some families, like Dave and Rocal Fuentes, who run a cafe trailer called Coffee + Coco on Napa Street, decamped with their small children to their parents home in Napa. The smoke was simply too thick, they felt, for them to work in downtown Sonoma. Holdouts such as Cafe La Haye, just off the plaza, weathered the loss of workers and power to prepare food for first responders. One night, owner Saul Gropman said, he invited neighbors in for wine, and on the next, he cooked a simple three-course meal at no charge. Gropman had a generator keeping the refrigerators and freezers from thawing out. Not every business was so fortunate; in nearby Boyes Hot Springs, El Molino Centrals cooks returned to work on Monday and had to throw out a mountain of spoiled food to reopen Tuesday. The power outages affected an odd patchwork of downtown Sonoma businesses through the weekend. Those on the western side of the Plaza were able to reopen earlier, and locals say the Sonoma Grille and Bar and Steiners Tavern were packed with people who had stayed in town. October is normally the busiest time of year for Sonoma hotels and restaurants because the wine grape harvest is at its peak, according to restaurateurs. Some had been anticipating the best October in years before the fires. We were on a record-setting pace until this happened, Marioni said. Karen Taylor, owner of El Molino Central, said that the restaurant only did 30 percent of its normal business on Tuesday. I think its a good thing to just try to get back to normal if you can, she said. Even if smoky air prevented people from dining on the patio, they could take food home. If its a nice weekend and the smoke has been pushed out, I think youll get a lot of people coming up from the Bay Area, Marioni said. Tourists? Well, thats another quandary. But the businesses are sure one group of customers will quickly come back: Sonoma residents. On Wednesday morning, Myra Martinez, manager of Marys Pizza Shack, reported that locals had packed her business on Tuesday night, ecstatic to feel a return to normal. Its a bad thing we went through, she said, describing their response. Were lucky we are alive and can come in and have dinner. SAO PAULO A couple of modern art exhibits and a play have become leading battlegrounds in a growing culture war in Brazil, a nation whose fame for skimpy bikinis masks a rising trend of conservatism. Protesters waved a Brazilian flag and shouted No! No! Not our children! to denounce an exhibit at Sao Paulos Museum of Modern Art in which visitors, including a child, were invited to touch a nude man. A bank-backed cultural center bowed to pressure and canceled a Queermuseu exhibit exploring sexual diversity only to have prosecutors denounce the incident as censorship. And a play portraying Jesus as a transgender woman led protesters to leap on the stage. A judge ordered one performance halted, but was overruled by another court. The outside world has long assumed Brazil is as wild as its famously minimal swimwear and the exuberant, anything-goes Carnival celebrations. But many within the nation have always seen those as exceptions. In Brazil, we have a very ugly habit of sweeping everything under the carpet, said Renata Carvalho, the actress who performs the one-woman show The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven. This just sheds light on what people think. I think its excellent that the masks are falling. Brazils conservatism has been bolstered by the rise of evangelicals, a heavy-voting group that now accounts for one in five people up from one in 20 a few decades ago in what is still the worlds most populous Catholic nation. Their fervor has been fed by a tidal wave of political corruption scandals that have led many Brazilians to believe the nation needs moral leadership. Liberal activists have struggled to make Brazil a more open place for gays and women, and they gained some traction during the left-leaning Workers Party governments that led Latin Americas largest nation between 2003 and 2016. But conservatives are fighting back aided in part by the fact that corruption scandals weakened the leftist movement. Evangelical lawmakers in Congress are pushing to ban abortion in all cases. The Supreme Court has ruled that some public schools can teach religion. A judge has waved aside objections from the nations top psychologists in ruling that homosexuality can be addressed with so-called conversion therapy and treated as an illness, though that was knocked down by higher courts. The fight over art is the most visible battleground of late. Sarah DiLorenzo is an Associated Press writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BAMAKO, Mali The Islamic militants came on motorcycles toting rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing four American service members after shattering the windows of the unarmored U.S. trucks. In this remote corner of Niger, where the Americans and their local counterparts had been meeting with community leaders, residents say the men who came to kill that day had never been seen there before. The attackers spoke Arabic and Tamashek, and were light-skinned, Baringay Aghali said by phone from the remote village of Tongo-Tongo. Who were these men and how did they know the Americans would be there that day? No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the deadly ambush on Oct. 4 and the languages reportedly spoken by the jihadists are used throughout the Sahel including Tamashek, spoken by ethnic Tuaregs. The ambush of U.S. troops in Niger has been the center of controversy in America because President Trump has been criticized in some quarters, including by one grieving family directly, for the way he spoke to the wife of one of the soldiers slain in that operation. The Niger attack appears to be the work of the Islamic State of the Sahel, a splinter group of extremists loyal to the Islamic State who are based just across the border in Mali, according to interviews with U.S. officials and authorities here in the vast Sahel region bordering the Sahara Desert. It is led by Adnan Abu Walid, who built ties with various extremists before forming his own group. Some officials believe Walids militants are also holding an American, Jeffery Woodke, who was abducted in Niger a year ago. A rebel leader approached by Niger authorities to conduct negotiations for his release confirmed that Walids group is holding Woodke, who had spent 25 years as an aid worker in Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world. Now Walids group is suspected of the attack that killed four American soldiers this month. The ambush in Niger highlights how extremist groups have shifted and rebranded since the 2013 French-led military operation ousted them from power in northern Mali. Those extremists lost Malis northern cities but regrouped in the desert, including the man suspected of ordering the attack on the Americans. The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali has become the most dangerous in the world as Islamic militants routinely attack U.N. convoys across the north. Baba Ahmed and Krista Larson are Associated Press writers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ISLAMABAD Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan until he was forced from office over corruption allegations in July, was indicted Thursday along with two other family members on corruption charges. The charges stem from revelations contained in the Panama Papers that Sharif family members owned expensive residential properties in London that were not properly reported under Pakistani disclosure rules. Sharifs daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who in recent months had become a senior leadership figure in the familys political party, was also indicted, along with her husband, Muhammad Safdar. Two sons who were mentioned in the Panama Papers were not indicted. The criminal indictment, brought by an anticorruption court that took up the case on orders from the Supreme Court, is the latest blow to a politician who served three terms as prime minister and helped define the Pakistani political mainstream. Sharifs latest stint in office began with a strong election showing in 2013, as he promised to take on the countrys all-powerful military establishment and moved to impose civilian authority in areas long run by the generals, including foreign policy. But long before he was forced out by the Supreme Court, the military had the upper hand yet again. And the judiciarys actions against him and his family were widely seen as being supported by the armys top ranks. Military officials have denied those accusations. While some Pakistani politicians have hailed the court rulings as bold moves to fight corruption and impunity for the powerful, Sharifs supporters insist that the judiciary was overstepping its role and was carrying out a political vendetta on behalf of the military and Sharifs rivals. Salman Massod and Gerry Mullany are New York Times writers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Massoud Hossaini/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Massoud Hossaini/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan An Afghan Army unit in the south of the country was almost completely wiped out Thursday, defense officials said, in a Taliban attack that used what is becoming one of the groups deadliest tactics: packing vehicles captured from security forces with explosives and driving them into military and police compounds. At least 43 soldiers were killed in the predawn attack, out of a unit of 60 based in Maywand district in Kandahar province, the Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement. Only two soldiers were found unhurt. Nine were wounded, and six were missing. Retail Food Group, the ASX-listed franchisor of food outlets including Donut King, Brumbys Bakery and Michels Patisserie, says it has taken control of the New Zealand master franchise for the Gloria Jean's chain after the failure of the local company that owned the rights. There are some 12 Gloria Jean's cafes in New Zealand, which had operated under the umbrella of Auckland-based Boost Group. In September, Boost was put into receivership by GJ New Zealand Holdings, which had provided vendor finance to Boost when it sold it the NZ master franchise. Boost was subsequently put into liquidation by shareholder Eric Chase, Companies Office records show. Retail Food Group (RFG) "owns the global rights to Gloria Jean's so we still own and operate the brand even if Boost is in liquidation," a company spokeswoman said. "All our partnerships are working as usual" and RFG is currently seeking a new master franchise owner. The Gold Coast-based company has hired someone to run day-to-day operations in New Zealand, she said. The first liquidators' report for Boost includes an explanation from Chase, who is also the company's director, for the failure. According to Chase, Boost purchased the NZ Master Franchise rights for $1.8 million "based on a leveraged buyout" with a loan from Bank of New Zealand and vendor financing from GJ New Zealand, a company ultimately owned by former ACT Party leader John Banks and Paul Ewing, an Australian who had been operating a franchise in Brisbane before establishing the New Zealand master franchise in 2003. Chase says the annual net profit of the business "was purported to be approximately $1.8 million". However, "from the date of settlement, the profitability of the system was significantly less than this and to stay afloat Boost Group had to be supported from funds input into the business by Eric Chase from other revenue sources," according to the liquidators' report from PKF Corporate Recovery & Insolvency. Boost found "numerous discrepancies" in the way Jireh International, another Ewing company which had previously sold the master franchise to GJ New Zealand, had been trading and despite due diligence by BNZ and Boost, the "misrepresentation of the true position" wasn't discovered, Chase says, according to the liquidators' report. Boost "alleged that the true position was deliberately hidden by Paul Ewing," it said. Unbeknownst to Boost, Jirah "had leased the equipment and fit outs of certain franchise stores in their name" meaning those stores were heavily encumbered. It turned out that some weren't part of the franchise system and others "were in the midst of legal disputes with Jirah/Paul Ewing", the report says. Some franchise stores weren't paying their full franchise fees. "Boost would have never purchased the franchise system had it known about the misrepresentations which were made to us during the due diligence stage as clearly the value of the franchise system was nowhere near the $1.8 million we paid for the system," it says. Ewing put Boost into receivership when Boost refused to repay $660,000 of vendor financing that was secured by a general security agreement. Ewing couldn't be reached for comment, nor could Chase. A New Zealand Herald article from June 2016, about the sale of John Bank's $5.25 million penthouse in Auckland's Stamford Residences, quotes the former Cabinet minister as saying he had joined Ewing to launch a new chain of cafes. "I've been working with Paul on opportunities for us in Great Britain, Australia and the United States and we're going to do our own brand," the newspaper quotes him as saying. "It will be coffee and food and that's where I started nearly 45 years ago, in Karangahape Rd at Becky Thatcher coffee kitchen." Retail Food Group's shares last traded at A$4.49 on the ASX and have declined 36 percent in the past 12 months. The company started in the 1980s and went public in 2006. It acquired Gloria Jean's Coffees in 2014, making it Australia's biggest coffee player, either in terms of franchise brands, store counts or market share, the Australian reported at the time. The spokeswoman said its 12 brand systems now operate in 81 countries. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: ALF - Mark Franklin Geneva Appointments new Head of Sales and Lending A shiny new system or the Wazgij of planning systems? THL - Apollo shareholders approve merger TWL - TradeWindow and EMA partner-up to build export capability November 15th Morning Report RAK 1H23 Results Business Update Webcast & Teleconference AoFrio appoints new Vice President of Product HFL - Annual report for the year ended 31 August 2022 Rob Buchanan resigns from Manawa Energy Metlifecare plans to spend $240 million developing a new retirement village in Auckland's Hobsonville with the acquisition of waterfront land in the city's northwestern suburb. Auckland-based Metlifecare anticipates the new village will have 300 living and care units, and said the conditions attached to the deal, which includes resource consent, will probably be met in the third quarter of next year. The new village would take Metlifecare's portfolio to 28, and covers an area of Auckland that's "significantly underserved" by the sector, it said. "Hobsonville Point has become a very desirable neighbourhood due to its accessibility, amenity and the quality of life that it offers its residents who can combine urban living with a waters-edge location," chief executive Glen Sowry said in a statement. "Our projections show that, with the 75+ age demographic predicted to treble in size over the next 20 years, there will be strong and on-going demand." The retirement village operator and developer says it's on track to deliver more than 250 retirement units and care beds in the year ending June 30, 2018, joining the sector on a major construction drive in anticipation of an ageing population in need of supported housing. In August, the company reported a 10 percent increase in annual profit to $251.5 million citing gains on the resale of units and widening development margins. At the time, Sowry said he hadn't seen any impact of a slowing housing market, which feeds into demand for retirement units when people cash up and move into a village. The shares last traded at $6.03 and have increased 8.7 percent this year, lagging behind an 18 percent gain on the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index over the same period. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: ALF - Mark Franklin Geneva Appointments new Head of Sales and Lending A shiny new system or the Wazgij of planning systems? THL - Apollo shareholders approve merger TWL - TradeWindow and EMA partner-up to build export capability November 15th Morning Report RAK 1H23 Results Business Update Webcast & Teleconference AoFrio appoints new Vice President of Product HFL - Annual report for the year ended 31 August 2022 Rob Buchanan resigns from Manawa Energy PELLA | Amid rising pressure from Midwest politicians, President Donald Trump has told the Environmental Protection Agency to back off potential cuts in renewable fuel volumes, according to a national report. Bloomberg, citing sources it didnt identify, said EPA was told to abandon the possibility of lowering biodiesel requirements and counting ethanol exports toward the Renewable Fuel Standard. Renewable fuels leaders said those proposed changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard would have a devastating impact on the industry and, by extension, Iowas agricultural economy. Earlier Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke by phone with Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Reynolds said she was given no promises regarding specific elements of the renewable fuels mandate, but that she nonetheless was encouraged by the discussions. I had a very productive call with President Trump. Both of them (Trump and Pruitt) affirmed to me their continued commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard, Reynolds said. Midwest politicians, led by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have been ratcheting up the pressure on the administration over the issue, frequently reminding the White House that Trump had pledged support for the RFS during the 2016 campaign. Grassley, one of the most senior lawmakers in the Senate, is a longtime promoter of renewable fuels. U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who holds a key position on a Senate committee overseeing nominees to the EPA, said Wednesday that she wanted assurances the spirit and letter of the RFS would be followed. We just need very clear answers on where they are with the RFS, and if we dont receive those assurances, then Im not likely to move anybody ahead that could undo the RFS, Ernst said Wednesday. Ernst is a member of the Senates Environment and Public Works Committee, where Republicans hold an 11-10 edge. On Wednesday, the committee postponed consideration of Trump appointee William Wehrum to head the EPAs office of air and radiation, which oversees the RFS. The postponement came after Ernst had expressed reservations about Wehrum. Midwest lawmakers met Tuesday with Pruitt to push for the RFS, and before that session Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said administration nominees to the EPA could be at stake. Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said after Wednesdays press conference that if the Bloomberg report is accurate, its good news for the renewable fuels industry and Iowa. He added, however, that advocates will continue to press the issue until the administration publishes official rules. If its true, thats great, Shaw said. If these reports are accurate, then were kind of at Step 2, which is (Trump) not just having it on his radar but making the decision to tell the EPA to get back on track. But we are not going to take anything for granted. Were not going to let up our pressure until we see final rules and official documents. When asked for Reynolds reaction to the Bloomberg report, a spokeswoman said the governor was encouraged by her conversation with Trump and will continue working on the renewable fuels issue. HAMPTON | A Hampton man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a child. Police in April said Michael Lynn Rodemeyer Sr., 72, sexually abused a child over a two-year period in Hampton and rural Franklin County. Rodemeyer was initially charged with two counts of felony second-degree sexual abuse and one county of felony third-degree sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of three counts of third-degree sexual abuse in August, according to court documents. Two charges second-degree sexual abuse and violation of a no-contact order were dismissed through a plea bargain. Judge Gregg Rosenbladt ordered a special sentence for Rodemeyer, committing him to to the custody of the Department of Corrections for the rest of his life, with eligibility for parole. The sentence begins upon completion of the prison term, according to court documents. Rodemeyer was also ordered to register as a sex offender. A $3,000 fine was suspended. Ashley Miller STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For the second time in as many weeks, a quiet and stunned South Shore neighborhood is reeling from a disturbing bias incident. Last week it was Annadale. This week it's Rossville. Early Tuesday morning, Debra Calabrese discovered her white garage door had been defaced with an anti-Semitic slur. The gray-painted graffiti said, "Kyke" with a swastika below it. "I was very devastated," Calabrese told the Advance Wednesday. "It's disturbing. It's a horrible thing." Calabrese's son came home at around 5 a.m. and first noticed the marking before telling her, she said. "It's really, really upsetting," said Calabrese's daughter, Halle, 17. "Someone took the time to paint this with a brush. It feels like a violation." Police said the home, located near Wirt and Winant avenues, was vandalized at around 12:15 a.m., and the NYPD Hate Crimes unit is investigating the incident. Calabrese, who is Jewish, said detectives were at her home Tuesday to collect evidence, and told her she could paint the garage door. But she wants everyone to get a glimpse of the cowardly act. "I just want people to see it," said Calabrese, who has lived in Rossville for 14 years. "The people driving by can't believe it. Nobody can." "We want to find out who did this," Halle added. The upsetting marking stands out in a neighborhood festively decorated for Halloween and the American flags that line the street. Several neighbors expressed their shock and disgust by the incident. They said they've lived in the area for decades, and have never experienced any racism. "I think it's horrible," said one neighbor. "You see this stuff on TV in other neighborhoods, but you never think it's your neighborhood." Last week, vandals scratched the phrase "n----- get out" into the hood of the car of a black family in Annadale. In addition to the disgusting phrase, "move b---h" was written on the trunk of a 2012 Volkswagen 4-door sedan, which was parked on the street in front of a home on Sneden Avenue near Seguine Place, according to an NYPD spokesman. The vehicle also was scratched in other places and the headlights were damaged, police said. On Oct. 11, authorities were called to the location and talked to the 42-year-old male victim whose car apparently was vandalized sometime overnight, the spokesman said. "It was a coward, an ignorant person," said the victim, who declined to have his name published in the Advance. There have been no arrests in this incident, police said Wednesday. "I just heard about it (the Annadale incident) this morning and saw it on SILive," Calabrese said. "I feel bad if happens to anyone. I don't wish this on anyone." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While the city's new cashless tolling system has helped alleviate traffic near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, some residents say it's costing them a fortune. Various Staten Islanders have complained that certain features associated with the new cashless tolling system have led to excessive fines levied by E-ZPass. Some residents have argued that the removal of individual toll plazas that gave visual indications of low balances have resulted in numerous fines. Assemblyman Ron Castorina and Councilman Joe Borelli issued a joint press release in late August encouraging E-ZPass to provide low balance notifications as part of the cashless tolling system. "Staten Islanders are all too familiar with deception when it comes to the tolls at our bridges and tunnels here in New York," said Borelli. The press release described the current cashless tolling system as depriving customers of transparency and notification. "Increasing technology to facilitate the flow of traffic for the many commuters of Staten Island remains of paramount importance; however it must happen responsibly and with a high level of accountability," said Castorina. 10 DAYS FOR REPLENISHMENT According to the MTA, customers are given 10 days to replenish their accounts before the first violation is sent. If the account is replenished before the 10-day period is up, no violation is sent. "If the account is not replenished within this period, a first violation notice is issued for the toll, plus a $50 or $100 fee per transaction, depending upon the facility, and the customer has 30 days to pay," said an MTA spokesperson. If the first violation is not paid, a second violation will be issued with an additional 30 days to pay. The MTA encourages customers to utilize other notification programs, such as mobile alerts. "The use of an E-ZPass when there are no funds available is a violation and can result in fees being assessed. To avoid this situation, we highly recommend our customers sign up for E-ZPass mobile alerts, where they can receive important information regarding their E-ZPass account, including low balance notifications," said the MTA spokesperson. Customers can visit the E-ZPass website to register for mobile alerts on the Account Profile page. FULL TOLL FOR HOV? Others have complained that despite flipping the switch on their E-ZPass to indicate they are traveling in a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV), they are still being charged the non-discounted toll for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. As part of E-ZPass's Staten Island Resident discount plan, borough residents are supposed to be charged a $5.50 toll, and a $3.20 toll when traveling in a high-occupancy vehicle. The bridge toll for non-residents is $17. Sal Lopes, of Westerleigh, says he has been charged the full toll multiple times while driving in the HOV lane because the rear windows on his vehicle are made of the manufacturer's stock tinted glass. Lopes said he went to the E-ZPass office on South Avenue, and the agents pulled up the photos of his car passing through the toll. But the images showed only the driver and the front-seat passenger, they did not show the passenger Lopes alleged was seated in the back. To be eligible for the Staten Island Carpool Plan, you must be a Staten Island resident, your vehicle must be registered on Staten Island, and there must be at least three people traveling in the car. "It made me wonder how they're going to be able to prove that there are three or more people in the car instead of auto charging the full price," said Lopes. He said that because he is on a pay-as-you-go plan, he was able to notice the issue relatively quickly. "I feel bad for people who don't have pay-as-you-go and it's getting deducted from a credit card and they don't check on a daily basis," Lopes added. Another frustrated resident claimed that the cameras at the cashless tolling plaza did not recognize his grandchildren in the back seat of his vehicle when passing through the HOV lane. Upon arriving at the E-ZPass office, he claimed he was told the camera could not see his grandchildren, and to have them roll down the windows and wave to the camera while passing. When asked about the claims that passengers were not visible in the photos taken at the toll plaza, the MTA declined to comment. The agency reminds customers they must switch their HOV tag on when there are three or more passengers in the vehicle. "There's going to be growing pains as it goes on, switching to cashless, but when your dealing with hundreds of dollars it can leave an unsettling taste in your mouth," said Lopes. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Bill de Blasio came to the Excelsior Grand in New Dorp Wednesday night for a social function hosted by the Staten Island Democratic Party. De Blasio entered the room filled with around 150 supporters around 9:30 p.m., and found clamoring Democrats hoping for a photo with the first Democratic mayor of New York City in the past 20 years. The Mayor addressed the crowd toward end of the dinner, and touted his achievements over the past four years. Universal Pre-K, and better paved roads were some of the achievements de Blasio touted to the friendly room in an unfriendly borough. At the end of the speech Mayor de Blasio was presented with a replica of the Staten Island Ferry by Staten Island Democratic Party Chairperson John Gulino. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city wants to bring Amazon's HQ2 -- a second U.S. headquarters that would employ 50,000 people and invest more than $5 billion to a city in North America -- to the Big Apple. However, the city Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) didn't include Staten Island in its proposal to Amazon. The NYCEDC received more than 24 proposals from around the city after releasing a Request For Expressions of Interest (REFI) last month. The four sites that will be in the NYC proposal to Amazon are in Midtown West, Long Island City, Brooklyn Tech Triangle and Lower Manhattan. While Borough President James Oddo requested NYCEDC consider Staten Island in its proposal, he said it wasn't chosen for good reason: We don't meet Amazon's criteria. "When the news broke about HQ2, my immediate reaction was that we can't have Staten Island forgotten about. We had just gotten the great news about Amazon's Fulfillment Center [being built on the Island's West Shore], so we wanted them to think about us," said Oddo. "But as it turns out, Amazon has very specific requirements," he added AMAZON'S CRITERIA The four potential NYC sites submitted to Amazon meet the specific requirements of the online retailer's Request For Proposals (RFP): 500,000 square feet of commercial space by 2019; accommodating up to 8 million square feet of commercial space for 50,000 jobs within a 15-minute radius; proximity to transit, highways, and airports, and connectivity to surrounding mixed-use neighborhoods. "The simple realty is, and it's pretty cut and dry, there is no site on Staten Island that satisfies the criteria," said Oddo, noting the borough doesn't have the public transportation infrastructure, or the availability of that much housing in a 15-minute radius. Oddo noted he was envisioning a "sprawling suburban campus" -- possibly in an area of the former Fresh Kills Landfill that will one day be suitable for development. "Amazon is specifically looking for a city setting. ...The administration communicated with me. Deputy Mayor Glen wanted me to be supportive of the city's application. What I didn't want was the city to forget about Staten Island," said Oddo. "I think if there was a site on Staten Island that would have made Amazon pick NYC, it would have been included in the RFP," he added. Said Mayor Bill de Blasio about the proposal: "We see this as a competition for 50,000 new job openings -- jobs we want New Yorkers to land. We win it based on the talent of our workers and the incredible diversity of industries in this town." NYCEDC cites the following as "the case for New York City" in its proposal to Amazon: 2.3 million New Yorkers have a bachelor's degree or above, more than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington and Boston combined. The New York Metro area tech workforce is the largest in the nation, with 296,000 workers, compared to 150,000 in the San Francisco area. More Fortune 500 companies than any other city. 9,000 startups changing how we live and work. 105 institutions of higher learning. Diverse array of industry leaders, from construction to fashion to tech, who have committed to forging partnerships with Amazon. Strengths in key sectors where Amazon's business is growing: tech, media, advertising, fashion, advanced manufacturing. Amazon already has made a number of key investments in New York City, including a new lease last month for 360,000 square feet on the west side of Manhattan, substantially expanding its New York City footprint. STATEN ISLAND FULFILLMENT CENTER The $100 million, 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center -- expected to employ 2,250 people -- will be open for business on Staten Island's West Shore sometime next year. "The building will open in 2018, and we're hiring for all positions," said Lauren Lynch, an Amazon spokeswoman. "The majority of associates at the Staten Island fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship customer orders. This building will support orders from all over the country and all customers will continue to enjoy super-fast shipping," she added. The new fulfillment center will be housed in Matrix Global Logistics Park on Gulf Avenue in Bloomfield. FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A deer was spotted by police and beachgoers strolling on the sand and taking a swim on a New Jersey beach early Wednesday morning. The deer, which appeared to be a six-point buck, was on Ortley Beach in Toms River. New Jersey resident Laurie Starace spotted the deer and posted a video on Facebook. "He was so scared and confused," Starace said. "Officials were afraid to sedate him for fear he would run in the water and drown." It is not unusual to have deer swim from New Jersey to Staten Island. It's suspected that deer traveled to Staten Island from New Jersey across the Arthur Kill waterway. A white-tailed deer swam to the shore at Mount Loretto Unique Area after swimming across the Raritan Bay from New Jersey in November 2014. An estimate from the city contractor giving vasectomies to borough bucks this past spring put the number of deer on Staten Island between 1,918 and 2,188 -- a 9,000 percent increase in the herd since 2008. Starace said this Jersey Shore deer was still on the beach at 11 p.m. Wednesday, but was gone Thursday morning. "I hope he made it," she said. "He deserves to live after his long exhausting day." Toms River police told residents to give the deer space and to not approach it. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Children and teenagers will have a fresh start on their city public library account -- especially those who were blocked from taking out more books until their fines were paid. New York City libraries, including New York Public Library branches on Staten Island, announced they plan to forgive the late fees of all children ages 17 and under in a one-time amnesty event. On Thursday, the library systems will forgive all children's fines and unblock their library cards. High school students ages 18 and up can have their fines cleared in person through Nov. 2. Items due after Thursday will continues to accrue fines. The library charges children 10 cents each day a book is overdue. Library patrons are blocked from taking out books if they rack up $15 or more in late fees. The JPB Foundation -- a philanthropy that supports civic causes -- is underwriting the amnesty on the late fees accrued, which makes up $2.25 million of the shortfall, according to published reports. A library card lets you take home free library books, CDs, audiobooks and DVDs. You can have up to 50 items out at one time. The NYPL offered tips to make sure you avoid late fees: Know your due dates. Highlight the due dates on your receipt and place it on your refrigerator or write the dates in a calendar. You can also find your due dates by logging in to your account online. Keep books in a special place. Pick a spot at home to keep your library books so you always know what you have checked out. Ask a librarian or log in to your account to extend your due date. You can also renew over the phone by calling 212-262-7444. You can renew even if the item is overdue. Update: Police have made an arrest in connection with this incident. Click here for more. --- STATEN ISAND, N.Y. -- A swastika and anti-Semitic slur spray-painted on a Jewish family's garage door in Rossville were removed Thursday afternoon. A member of the Where to Turn clean-up, at the request of City Councilmen Steve Matteo and Joe Borelli, power washed and painted the door, erasing the hateful graffiti. Debbie Calabrese, the homeowner, said she's still in shock someone would do this. "People are very angry and cannot believe it happened," Calabrese said. "They're in much shock and devastation, as I am. Neighbors are telling me relatives or friends outside of Staten Island caught wind of this from Facebook and are enraged by it, too." NYPD crime prevention officers came to her house Wednesday and notified her Borelli's office would send a team over to clean the scrawl. And at 1 p.m. Thursday, they showed up ready. The incident was discovered when Calabrese's son came home at around 5 a.m. Tuesday and noticed the marking before waking her. According to police, the home located near the intersection of Wirt and Winant avenues, was vandalized at around 12:15 a.m., and the NYPD Hate Crimes unit is investigating the incident No charges have been filed in connection with the incident at this time. Calabrese, who is Jewish, said detectives were at her home Tuesday to collect evidence, and told her she could paint the garage door. Her initial thought was for everyone to catch a glimpse of the cowardly act. "I just wanted people to see it," Calabrese said. "It felt like a violation. The last 48 hours, Calabrese said, have been extremely overwhelming. But, it hasn't stopped elected officials, neighbors, and people passing by from reaching out to her. Representatives from the offices of Borough President James Oddo, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, and Borelli have reached out to her. "I didn't expect this kind of attention, but it's good to know that everyone is coming together as a community and showing they care," she said. "It's definitely opening the eyes of everyone and to watch what goes on in the neighborhood. "I'm glad it's been cleared off, now we just have to find out who did this." AP Photo Top candidates Thursday is the deadline for cities to submit their bids for Amazon's HQ2 -- - a second U.S. headquarters that would employ 50,000 people and invest more than $5 billion to a city in North America. But, a look at the data may reveal which metropolis has the best chance of being chosen. Business Insider this week reported a list of the top city candidates for Amazon's HQ2, based on recently published Moody's research. Moody's took into consideration the following five factors to determine a city's appeal to Amazon: business environment, human capital, cost, quality of life, and transportation. Geography was also analyzed during the study, though not taken into consideration when determining rankings. Here's a look at some of the prime candidates. Don't Edit AP Photo/Julie Jacobson New York City/New Jersey/White Plains The New York/New Jersey area ranked 6th overall in Moody's most desirable locations for HQ2. With Amazon already pledged to open a $100 million, 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center on Staten Island in 2018, many are wondering whether it would make sense to bring HQ2 to New York City as well. But, while NYC wants to bring Amazon's HQ2 to the Big Apple the city Economic Development Corporation didn't include Staten Island in its proposal to Amazon. The metropolitan area ranked No. 1 in the human capital and quality of life categories, while ranking dead last in cost. Unfortunately, high property costs and government officials stated objections toward subsidizing Amazon may encourage the retail giant to look elsewhere. Don't Edit AP Photo/Keith Srakocic Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pa., comes in at No. 5 on the list of most desirable locations for Amazon's HQ2. The Steel City ranked fairly well in all categories, with human capital being listed as its highest rated attribute. While typically viewed as an industrial city for its historic role in the nation's steel industry, Pittsburgh has become a hot spot for tech companies, thanks to its leading universities, particularly Carnegie Mellon. When geography is taken into account, Pittsburgh skyrockets in the rankings from fifth to second overall. Don't Edit Washington Post/Becky Krystal Rochester Perhaps the surprise of the study, Rochester, N.Y., ranks at No. 4 on Moody's list of desirable locations for Amazon's HQ2. By far the most appealing attribute of Rochester is the low cost, ranking as the most cost-effective option in the study. Moody's also references Rochester's world-class research universities, allowing for an innovative work force and potential partnerships. Perhaps the biggest obstacle for Rochester is its low human capital, making it potentially difficult for Amazon to fill all the jobs that would come along with HQ2. Don't Edit AP Photo/Matt Rourke Philadelphia The second Pennsylvania city to make the list, Philadelphia comes in at No. 3 for the most appealing locations for Amazon's new headquarters. While not ranking in the top five of any of the five major categories, modest performances across the board managed to land Philly among the top contenders. The timing is good, as Philadelphia is currently experiencing an economic boom, but property values have not yet reached an exorbitant amount. When geography is taken into consideration, Philadelphia jumps from third to first in the rankings. Don't Edit Don't Edit Akili-Casundria Ramsess/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP Atlanta No. 2 on the list of most desirable locations for Amazon's HQ2 is Atlanta, Ga. The southern metropolis ranked near the top in business environment, human capital and cost, while ranking near the bottom in quality of life and transportation. Atlanta is also home to some of the nation's leading universities, including Georgia Tech, allowing for an innovative, accessible workforce. Don't Edit Austin According to Moody's research, the ideal location for Amazon's new headquarters is Austin, Texas. Already a technology hub, Austin is home to: Dell, the largest Samsung facility outside South Korea; the second biggest Apple facility, and a large IBM campus. Austin ran away with the business environment category and has a well-educated workforce, with 43 percent having completed college or graduate training, compared with about 30 percent nationally. The Texas capital also offers a relatively low cost of living considering the quality of life. Taking into account Amazon's recent acquisition of Whole Foods, which is also headed in Austin, this pairing might make the most sense. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A man who fatally stabbed his estranged wife more than four years ago in her New Springville home and then claimed outside forces had spurred him, was convicted of murder on Thursday by a judge. State Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett found Adiljan Anarbaev guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Ilona Ganzha, 44, on Feb 18, 2013, in her Country Drive North condominium. Authorities said the couple's two young children and the victim's son from a prior relationship were in the house when their mother was slain. The bearded defendant, who was garbed in a gray sport jacket and vest, white shirt and dark trousers, displayed no emotion as Garnett announced the verdict following a lengthy bench trial. The defendant opted against a jury trial. A Russian interpreter translated the judge's words for the defendant. In convicting Anarbaev, 48, the judge rejected his presentation of a defense of extreme emotional disturbance. In such a defense, a defendant contends he was so emotionally disturbed that he lost control of himself. He must prove there was a reasonable explanation or excuse for his emotional disturbance. The reasonableness of that explanation is determined "from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be." If the judge found that special prosecutor Sabeeha Madni had proven all the elements of the murder charge, but the defendant acted under extreme emotional disturbance, the conviction charge would have been reduced to a lesser count of first-degree manslaughter. Garnett said the defense failed to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Anarbaev had acted under extreme emotional disturbance. The defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison on the murder conviction when sentenced on Nov. 9. Garnett also found him guilty of two counts of first-degree burglary for unlawfully entering the victim's home and remaining there in violation of an order of protection in effect against him. In addition, Anarbaev, who did not testify, was convicted of aggravated criminal contempt. Anarbaev, who in the spring of 2014 had been found unfit for trial, was later declared mentally competent, meaning he understood the charges against him and could aid in his defense. Eric Nelson, his lawyer, declined comment outside court. A law enforcement source said Anarbaev set the fatal confrontation in motion when he showed up at the condo about 2 p.m. The door was unlocked, and he headed up to a third-floor bedroom. There, Ganzha and Anarbaev argued for about 45 minutes about finances and divorcing. Prior to the slaying, Anarbaev had recently moved to a side apartment in a house on Cambridge Avenue in Westerleigh. According to a source with knowledge of the case, the defendant told cops he and the victim had split up because "demons possess her." "Energy told me to stab everyone," the source quoted Anarbaev as telling police. Ms. Ganzha's son from a prior relationship was in the home, along with the couple's two young children and their grandmother. The son saw Anarbaev punching his mother, and, at some point, Anarbaev got a knife and started stabbing the victim, said the law enforcement source. The young man ran for help to a satellite police office then located on nearby Richmond Avenue. On arrival, cops found Ganzha in the third-floor bedroom, unresponsive and bleeding. Anarbaev was lying on the floor with two knives sticking out of him in an apparent suicide bid. The defendant moaned that "everything went bad" when the family moved to Staten Island, said the source. They previously lived in Brooklyn. Anarbaev was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, in critical condition and survived his wounds. Police sources said the couple had a stormy relationship. Between January 2011 and September 2012, officers responded to a half-dozen domestic violence calls, mainly for verbal disputes and instances of aggravated harassment, a law enforcement source said. None of the visits resulted in an arrest, said the source. According to court papers, Anarbaev was issued a one-year Family Court order of protection on Oct. 1, 2012, instructing him to stay away from his wife's home, except to pick up his children at curbside for visitation. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree PLYMOUTH, Minn., Oct. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TruStone Financial Federal Credit Union recently renovated their Kenosha branch to better serve their Wisconsin members. The branch, located at 6715 Green Bay Road, now features updated technology, new open concept layout and refreshed interior design. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/73cdb692-65fc-481f-9b85-b2171c77de8e As your neighborhood credit union, we value providing personalized service to our members in the Kenosha community, stated Kacie Osten, Vice President, Director of Wisconsin Branches. We want our members to have their financial needs met with competitive products and services in an inviting atmosphere. The branch has been renovated to facilitate and empower financial conversations by creating interactive spaces, such as the newly installed teller pods that have stand up desks and shared screens to allow partnership between employees and account holders. We invite community members to stop in for a cup of coffee and to see what their neighborhood credit union has to offer, said Green Bay Road Branch Manager, Tiffany Miceli. The renovated Kenosha branch is open between 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Monday through Friday and from 9:00 AM 12:00 PM on Saturdays. About TruStone Financial TruStone Financial is one of the fastest growing credit unions in the Midwest with assets of $1.27 billion and exceeding 107,000 members. There are 14 branches across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The credit union is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. For more information and full membership criteria, visit TruStoneFinancial.org. Contact: Katie Grindeland, Senior Vice President, Director of Marketing and Communications Phone: 763.595.4002 Katie.Grindeland@TruStone.org Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! HOUSTON, Oct. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Targa Resources Corp. (TRC, Targa or the Company) (NYSE:TRGP) announced its quarterly dividend on common shares and its quarterly dividend on its Series A preferred shares for the third quarter of 2017. Targa Resources Corp. announced today that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 91.00 per share, or $3.64 per common share on an annualized basis, for the third quarter of 2017. This cash dividend will be paid November 15, 2017 on all outstanding common shares to holders of record as of the close of business on November 1, 2017. Targa also announced today that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $23.75 per Series A preferred share for the third quarter of 2017. This cash dividend will be paid November 14, 2017 on all outstanding Series A preferred shares to holders of record as of the close of business on November 1, 2017. About Targa Resources Corp. Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream energy companies in North America. Targa owns, operates, acquires, and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and selling natural gas; storing, fractionating, treating, transporting, and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil; storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products. The principal executive offices of Targa are located at 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4300, Houston, TX 77002 and their telephone number is 713-584-1000. For more information please go to www.targaresources.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, factors and risks, many of which are outside the Companys control, which could cause results to differ materially from those expected by management of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, weather, political, economic and market conditions, including declines in the production of natural gas or in the price and market demand for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, the timing and success of business development efforts, the credit risk of customers and other uncertainties. These and other applicable uncertainties, factors and risks are described more fully in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investor contact: 713-584-1133 Sanjay Lad Director Investor Relations Jennifer Kneale Vice President - Finance The first of the ACT's eye-catching red trams will ship from Spain to Canberra in the next few weeks. Chief Minister Andrew Barr this week visited Zaragoza to view the first tram completed by rolling stock company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr inspects Canberra's new trams on the production line in Spain. Credit:karlos corbella Photos from Mr Barr's trip to Europe reveal the trams will be red with white Transport Canberra and ACT government logos. Seats will be blue with red handrails and grab rails to match the exterior. It is understood the trams could feature external wraps similar to buses. The ACT's greyhound racing fraternity could face the territory government's ban on the sport as early as March next year, leaked Cabinet documents show. While the territory government has promised to end the sport in Canberra from July next year, a Cabinet briefing and associated draft reforms leaked to the Opposition show the changes could take effect from February 28 next year. ACT Shadow Racing Minister Mark Parton has been a vocal opponent of the greyhound racing ban. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong The promised transition phase would still apply until the June 30 deadline, consistent with the government's election pledge, though it is unclear if any affected greyhound owners have applied for the $1 million transition package. But it is understood the full package has not yet been presented to Cabinet, and Racing Minister Gordon Ramsay's spokeswoman said a decision had not yet been made on the specific commencement date. An Ainslie man who allegedly used his car to hit a pedestrian and a cyclist was on Thursday committed to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court. But the higher court will first investigate whether Ashley Paul Kelly is fit to plead to the charges - including attempted murder - stemming from the early morning incident. The purple station wagon allegedly used in two separate hit-and-runs. Credit:Facebook Mr Kelly, 33, was arrested on June 4 after he allegedly struck a cyclist and a pedestrian on Alexandrina Drive in Yarralumla. Documents tendered in court on an earlier occasion allege Mr Kelly first struck the cyclist, who was knocked to the ground. The scene of a bridge which collapsed on the Gungahlin Drive Extension, over Barton Highway in North Canberra. Credit:Lannon Harley Grab a coffee and I'll talk you through the news of the day. Happy Friday! We can expect more rain this morning and in the early afternoon, but the weather bureau predicts a comfortable maximum temperature of 21 degrees. Not a bad way to see out the week. Canberra's safety watchdog has confirmed it will not launch a prosecution over a bridge collapse that hospitalised nine workers in 2010. The incident - described by a bridge engineering expert as something that usually happens in developing countries - was the subject of damning reports after 15 workers were injured. The ACT government said the decision to abandon litigation had partially been made as the statutory timeframe, which says a case must be commenced within two years, had expired. Unsurprisingly, Canberra's unions aren't happy. Read Michael Inman's story here. Canberra records 90 salmonella cases Provides FY18 non-GAAP diluted EPS outlook of $1.15-$1.25 Commits to returning $2.5 billion to shareholders in FY18, including $2 billion in share repurchases Board increases share repurchase authorization by $5 billion Board approves dividend increase of 15% to $0.075 per share SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) today held its annual Securities Analyst Meeting and provided strategy and financial updates from CEO Meg Whitman, President Antonio Neri, Executive Vice President and CFO Tim Stonesifer and other business leaders. The webcast and presentations can be found on the HPE Investor Relations Website: investors.hpe.com/SAM2017 HPE Strategy & Market Opportunity HPE CEO Meg Whitman discussed the progress the company has made since launching in November 2015 and the companys vision, strategy and market opportunity going forward. The progress weve made during the past two years has created a company that is more nimble and more focused on the solutions our customers want. We are delivering cutting-edge innovation faster than our competitors. And, we have improved our financial profile and increased shareholder value by more than 90% since we launched, said Meg Whitman, CEO of HPE. Going forward, we will accelerate profitable growth through a focus on higher margin services and solutions. We will redesign our company to deliver Hybrid IT and Edge innovations tailored to our services strengths. HPEs strategy remains focused on three key pillars. First, to make Hybrid IT simple through its data center technology, systems software, private cloud and public cloud partnerships. Second, to power the Intelligent Edge through offerings from Aruba in campus and branch networking, and the Industrial Internet of Things with products like Edgeline and the Universal IOT software platform. Third, to provide Advisory, Professional and Operational Services capabilities, including giving customers financial flexibility through consumption-based models. HPE Next HPE President Antonio Neri gave additional detail on an initiative called HPE Next. Through HPE Next, the company will simplify the organizational structure, redesign business processes and prioritize investments in growth areas. The company will also right-size its end-to-end cost structure. The goal of HPE Next is to simplify our operations, strengthen our execution and shift our investments in innovation towards high growth and higher margin solutions and services, said Antonio Neri, President of HPE. Ultimately, HPE Next will create a fit-for-purpose company and deliver the next wave of shareholder value. The HPE Next program will drive significant net savings with an attractive return on investment. Over the next three years, the program will drive gross cost savings of $1.5 billion. HPE will reinvest about $700 million of that back into the company in the form of go-to-market, operational and R&D investments in key growth areas. Net cost savings will be approximately $800 million on a run rate basis exiting fiscal year 2020. In order to achieve this level of cost savings, HPE expects approximately $1.1 billion in cash funding payments over the duration of the program. Approximately two thirds of the funding will be utilized to optimize the workforce. The remainder will be used to upgrade and simplify IT systems, in addition to other non-labor actions. These payments will be partially offset by real estate sales, which should generate approximately $300 million in cash over the next three years. Financial Update Tim Stonesifer, Executive Vice President and CFO, provided a financial update, including an outlook for FY18. FY17 expectations Revenue in FY17 is expected to grow 5% year-over-year, when adjusted for divestitures, currency and sales to tier-1 service providers. As provided on its third quarter earnings call, non-GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be approximately $1.00 for the company as it stands today, including its Enterprise Group and Financial Services segments. HPE expects to return $3 billion in cash to shareholders in FY17 through $2.6 billion of share repurchases and $400 million in dividend payments. FY18 Outlook HPE provided its outlook for FY18. The company expects modest revenue growth when adjusted for sales to tier-1 service providers. HPE expects its non-GAAP operating margin to be approximately 9.5%. With OI&E expense of approximately $300 million, a non-GAAP tax rate of 20-22% and a share count of 1.60 billion to 1.62 billion shares outstanding, it expects non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.15 to $1.25. GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be approximately $0.43 to $0.53. On a normalized basis, free cash flow is expected to be approximately $2 billion, in line with non-GAAP net earnings. However, in FY18, the company will have $200 million of legacy restructuring and separation payments, $300 million of payments for tax settlements, and $600 million of funding for HPE Next. This will be offset by $100 million of real estate sales. After these payments, as-reported free cash flow is expected to be approximately $1 billion. Given HPEs strong net cash position today and the underlying strength of its normalized free cash flow engine, HPE is committed to returning approximately $2.5 billion in total to shareholders in FY18, consisting of $2.0 billion in share repurchases and approximately $500 million in dividends. The company approved a 15% increase in its regular cash dividend to $0.075 per share, up from its prior $0.065, and also increased its share repurchase authorization by $5 billion. Over time, the company plans to return at least 75% of normalized free cash flow to shareholders, up from its prior commitment of 50%. Long-Term Financial Profile HPE provided its long-term financial model. The company expects to drive modest revenue growth of around 0-1% organically. The company expects operating profit to grow approximately 4-5% annually, driven by an optimized operating model, reduced cost structure and favorable mix shift. EPS is expected to grow at a higher rate of approximately 7-9% annually driven by share count reductions over time. Cash flow is expected to trend towards normalized levels in FY19 and track earnings over time. Webcast details A webcast of todays event, along with management presentations and other materials, are available on the Investor Relations website at investors.hpe.com. This press release contains only a summary of some of the information presented at todays event and should be read in conjunction with the management presentations and other materials made available on that website. About Hewlett Packard Enterprise Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an industry leading technology company that enables customers to go further, faster. With the industrys most comprehensive portfolio, spanning the cloud to the data center to the intelligent edge, our technology and services help customers around the world make IT more efficient, more productive and more secure. Use of non-GAAP financial information To supplement Hewlett Packard Enterprises financial information presented on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, Hewlett Packard Enterprise provides forecasts of revenue adjusted for tier-1, divestitures and currency, as well as non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP measure of earnings/loss from equity interests, non-GAAP income tax rate, non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share, free cash flow and normalized free cash flow financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the slides presented at the 2017 Securities Analyst Meeting, which will be available for a period of one year thereafter at http://hpe.com/investor/sam2017. In addition, an explanation of the ways in which Hewlett Packard Enterprises management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate its business, the substance behind Hewlett Packard Enterprises decision to use these non-GAAP measures, the material limitations associated with the use of these non-GAAP measures, the manner in which Hewlett Packard Enterprises management compensates for those limitations, and the substantive reasons why Hewlett Packard Enterprises management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors is included under Use and economic substance of non-GAAP financial measures used by Hewlett Packard Enterprise below. This additional non-GAAP financial information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for revenue, operating margin, diluted net earnings per share, cash flow from operations in accordance with GAAP. Use and economic substance of non-GAAP financial measures used by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Hewlett Packard Enterprises management uses these non-GAAP financial measures for purposes of evaluating Hewlett Packard Enterprises historical and prospective financial performance, as well as Hewlett Packard Enterprises performance relative to its competitors. Hewlett Packard Enterprises management also uses these non-GAAP measures to further its own understanding of Hewlett Packard Enterprises segment operating performance. Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes that excluding the items mentioned above from these non-GAAP financial measures allows Hewlett Packard Enterprises management to better understand Hewlett Packard Enterprises consolidated financial performance in relation to the operating results of Hewlett Packard Enterprises segments, as Hewlett Packard Enterprises management does not believe that the excluded items are reflective of ongoing operating results. Material limitations associated with use of non-GAAP financial measures These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and these measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of Hewlett Packard Enterprises results as reported under GAAP. Compensation for limitations associated with use of non-GAAP financial measures Hewlett Packard Enterprise compensates for the limitations on its use of non-GAAP financial measures by relying primarily on its GAAP results and using non-GAAP financial measures only as supplement. Hewlett Packard Enterprise also provides a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures to its most directly comparable GAAP measure in other written materials that include these non-GAAP financial measures accompanying this news release, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise encourages investors to review carefully those reconciliations. Usefulness of non-GAAP financial measures to investors Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes that providing forecasts of revenue adjusted for tier-1, divestitures and currency, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP measure of earnings/loss from equity interests, non-GAAP income tax rate, non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share, free cash flow and normalized free cash flow financial measures to investors in addition to certain related GAAP measures provides investors with greater transparency to the information used by Hewlett Packard Enterprises management in its financial and operational decision making and allows investors to see Hewlett Packard Enterprises results through the eyes of management. Hewlett Packard Enterprise further believes that providing this information better enables Hewlett Packard Enterprises investors to understand Hewlett Packard Enterprises operating performance and to evaluate the efficacy of the methodology and information used by Hewlett Packard Enterprises management to evaluate and measure such performance. Disclosure of these non-GAAP financial measures also facilitates comparisons of Hewlett Packard Enterprises operating performance with the performance of other companies in Hewlett Packard Enterprises industry that supplement their GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures that may be calculated in a similar manner. Forward-Looking Statements The information included in this press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results of Hewlett Packard Enterprise may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including any projections of revenue, margins, expenses, effective tax rates, net earnings, net earnings per share, cash flows, benefit plan funding, share repurchases, currency exchange rates or other financial items; any projections of the amount, timing or impact of cost savings or restructuring charges; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations, including the recently completed divestiture transactions and the implementation of HPE Next, the execution of restructuring plans and any resulting cost savings or revenue or profitability improvements and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the need to address the many challenges facing Hewlett Packard Enterprises businesses; the competitive pressures faced by Hewlett Packard Enterprises businesses; risks associated with executing Hewlett Packard Enterprises strategy, including HPE Next; the results of the divestiture transactions or restructuring plans, including estimates and assumptions related to the cost and the anticipated benefits of the transactions or of implementing the restructuring plans; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; the execution and performance of contracts by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and its suppliers, customers and partners; integration and other risks associated with business combination and investment transactions; and other risks that are described in Hewlett Packard Enterprises filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risks described in Hewlett Packard Enterprises Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2016 and Hewlett Packard Enterprises Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended January 31, April 30 and July 31, 2017. Hewlett Packard Enterprise assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. Editorial contact: Kate Holderness, HPE corpmediarelations@hpe.com Former prime minister Kevin Rudd will be in conversation with journalist Stan Grant at the Australian National University in Canberra later this month. The focus at the free October 27 event at Llewellyn Hall will be Rudd's autobiography, Not for the Faint-hearted, about "the unlikely rise of the 'boy from Eumundi' to the most powerful office in the land' ". Kevin Rudd's autobiography: just the first of a planned two volume exploration of his life. It is the only Canberra public event on the publicity trail for the autobiography which goes by the lengthier title Not for the Faint-Hearted: A Personal Reflection on Life, Politics and Purpose 1957-2007 and is apparently just the first of two volumes chronicling the life of Kevin07. This first volume ends at his election as the 26th prime minister of Australia in late 2007. New online investment platform, iPartners Pty Ltd, has launched its second offer to investors with a proposed $9 million, end value, property development planned in the Hunter region of NSW. iPartners' investment opportunity is a 46-lot residential development on 3.68 hectares in the Lower Hunter Valley growth corridor in Gilleston Heights. An area site of Cessnock Road, Gilleston Heights. The pre-tax, projected rate of return on the equity investment of $1.12 million, based on the project's feasibility study by the experienced developer and 51 per cent project stakeholder, Clearstate, is expected to be 38 per cent over the 14 month term. A director of iPartners, Rob Nankivell, said: "We expect this development will be very positive for our investors as it is located in a major Hunter Valley growth corridor, which has seen significant investment in infrastructure over recent years. EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict. Author Anna Krien's recent condemnation of the church's apparent hypocrisy (The Age, 17/10) in arguing that heterosexual marriage is best for children while being guilty of failing to address historical child abuse appears convincing. Same-sex marriage: church says no. Credit:AAP A closer reading, though, reveals it for what it is. While Krien's argument is emotionally persuasive she fails to provide a rational argument linking the two. Yes, the church clearly opposes same-sex marriage but to simply dismiss its arguments because of its failure to address paedophilia is wrong. Why is there only one lady Smurf? Of all the questions, existential and otherwise, that parenthood throws up, this is one I never expected to haunt me as it does. I grew up devoted to the small blue people who lived in the Smurf village, overseen by the wise and beneficent Papa Smurf. Smurfette with Papa Smurf . Credit:Phil Hearne The Smurf community was replete with different versions of masculinity there was Poet Smurf and Papa Smurf, Painter Smurf and Handy Smurf, Farmer Smurf and Brainy Smurf. All boys. There was only one type of girl. The token female was Smurfette, and according to the official Smurf website, she was originally created by Gargamel (the show's villain), but Papa Smurf the white-bearded village patriarch, and an alchemist "transformed her into the wonderful Smurf that she is today". Paul Keating has made a dramatic last-minute bid to stop Victoria's Parliament from approving voluntary euthanasia laws as state MPs prepare for their third late-night debate before a vote he characterised as "a threshold moment" for the entire country. The 73-year-old, who was Australia's 24th prime minister and has virtually unrivalled status within the Labor Party, slammed the "bald utopianism" underlying the case for change, which assumed rules would never be bent by doctors and families when it becomes more convenient for carers or financial beneficiaries to see a gravely ill person die sooner. And he also condemned the parlous state of geriatric and palliative care in Australia, which he said was where the real priority ought to lie. "The weakest link in the chain is palliative care," he told Fairfax Media. Arguing against what he called "an unacceptable departure in our approach to human existence ... and what it means to be human", he said supporters of the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill being debated in the Victorian lower house ahead of a final vote on Thursday night were misguided. An architect of the government's new energy policy has played down suggestions the scheme represents a carbon price. And the lobby group representing electricity wholesalers and retailers, the Australian Energy Council, has provided cautious approval for the Turnbull government's National Energy Guarantee, while warning significant design work was still required and that a carbon price is an inevitable outcome of the scheme. The council, which represents wholesalers and retailers such as AGL, Energy Australia and Origin Energy, said the proposal was "a considered attempt to deal with the issues of reliability and emissions reduction at least cost". On Thursday, Energy Security Board member John Pierce declared that "we are not pricing carbon. What we are pricing is reliability, what we are pricing is the ability for the mechanism to be dispatched." The elevation of Jacinda Ardern to the New Zealand prime ministership electrified pundits on social media, who predicted awkward times ahead for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. In the midst of the Barnaby Joyce citizenship crisis in August, Ms Bishop declared she would "find it very difficult to build trust" with New Zealand's Labour party following revelations that a Australian Labor figure made contact with a NZ Labour MP. Ms Ardern returned fire, calling Ms Bishop's "false claims" were "highly regrettable". "I greatly value New Zealand's relationship with the Australian government. I will not let false claims stand in the way of that relationship," she said. Renewable energy's share of the electricity sector will plateau from 2020 under the Turnbull government's new energy plan, which critics say will make it harder for Australia to meet its climate goals and dent jobs in the industry. According to the briefing document provided this week by the government, the share of renewable energy would be 28-36 per cent, including hydro and solar photovoltaics, by 2030. The share of intermittent renewable energy, such as solar and wind, would be "about 18-24 per cent" by 2030, the advice said, adding the Australian Energy Market Commission would analyse the expected mix as part of "detailed modelling" yet to be done. Energy analysts, the Greens and Labor have criticised the proposal, noting the share is less than even the "business as usual" forecast for 2030 contained in the Finkel review prepared earlier this year by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and his team. (See chart below.) German English Group assets under management up 13% to CHF 148.4 billion from 30 June 2017 and up 23% in the first nine months of 2017 Total net inflows of CHF 11.8 billion Investment management: Assets under management of CHF 78.7 billion, up 9% from 30 June 2017, driven by strong net inflows, positive investment performance and foreign exchange movements Net inflows of CHF 3.5 billion, with, in particular, strong flows into fixed income strategies Private labelling: Assets under management of CHF 69.7 billion, up 18% from 30 June 2017, driven by strong net inflows Net inflows of CHF 8.3 billion GAM to absorb all research costs following the implementation of MiFID II in January 2018 Multi-year change programme to deliver significant operating efficiencies progressing well Group CEO Alexander S. Friedman said: "I am pleased with our continued momentum in the third quarter: the investment performance for the vast majority of our funds was strong, our net inflows were very good, and we remain on track with our strategic initiatives. We continue to see healthy client interest for our products, although we do not expect the pace of third-quarter inflows to be consistently maintained. Our focus remains on providing excellent investment performance in differentiated strategies that meet our clients' needs, disciplined execution of our growth strategy and ensuring we make GAM as efficient as possible." Investment management Assets under management increased to CHF 78.7 billion from CHF 72.2 billion as at 30 June 2017, driven by strong net inflows, positive investment performance and foreign exchange movements. Assets under management movements (CHF bn) Capability Opening AuM 30 June 2017 Net flows Market movements FX movements Closing AuM 30 September 2017 Absolute return 16.1 (0.6) 0.1 0.5 16.1 Fixed income 27.4 4.1 0.3 0.6 32.4 Equity 11.0 0.1 0.5 0.3 11.9 Systematic 3.7 0.1 0.2 0.1 4.1 Multi asset 9.1 (0.1) 0.1 0.1 9.2 Alternatives 4.9 (0.1) 0.1 0.1 5.0 Total 72.2 3.5 1.3 1.7 78.7 Investment performance continued to improve, with 75% of investment management assets in funds outperforming their respective benchmark over the three-year period to 30 September 2017 (71% as at 30 June 2017). Over the five-year period, 72% of assets in funds were outperforming (72% as at 30 June 2017). Absolute return strategies had net outflows of CHF 0.6 billion as inflows into the GAM Star Global Rates and the GAM Star (Lux) - Merger Arbitrage were offset by outflows from the unconstrained/absolute return bond strategy, although this strategy has a strong pipeline. In fixed income, net inflows totalled CHF 4.1 billion. The GAM Star Credit Opportunities strategy, which predominantly invests in debt of investment grade or high quality issuers, attracted strong inflows. The GAM Local Emerging Bond fund, which invests in debt of emerging countries denominated or pegged to the respective local currency and the GAM Star MBS Total Return fund, also recorded good inflows. In equity, net inflows totalled CHF 0.1 billion, driven by inflows into the GAM Star Continental European Equity fund, partly offset by redemptions from the GAM UK Diversified, GAM Japan Equity and GAM Star China Equity funds. Systematic strategies saw net inflows of CHF 0.1 billion, driven by inflows into the GAM Systematic Alternative Risk Premia fund and related mandates. Multi asset strategies experienced net outflows of CHF 0.1 billion, reflecting redemptions in the private client advisory business. Net outflows of CHF 0.1 billion in alternatives largely reflected redemptions in the fund of hedge funds business. Private labelling Assets under management movements (CHF bn) Fund domicile Opening AuM 30 June 2017 Net flows Market/FX movements Closing AuM 30 September 2017 Switzerland 33.1 (0.6) 1.0 33.5 Rest of Europe 26.0 8.9 1.3 36.2 Total 59.1 8.3 2.3 69.7 Assets under management in private labelling, which provides fund solutions for third parties, rose to CHF 69.7 billion from CHF 59.1 billion as at 30 June 2017, driven by net inflows of CHF 8.3 billion. The majority of inflows came from an existing client with a below average management fee margin. Update on strategic initiatives In September GAM hired Adrian Gosden, a highly regarded UK investor, as investment director. A new UK equity income fund will be launched later this year. GAM also continued to strengthen its distribution capabilities with the hire of Shizu Kishimoto to lead its sales and overall business operations in Japan. The Group's multi-year change programme to deliver significant operating efficiencies is progressing well, with the new single data architecture provider selected and implementation underway. GAM has decided to absorb all research costs from January 2018, following the implementation of the new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). This underlines GAM's commitment to placing clients' interests first, while ensuring sustainable growth for all stakeholders. GAM currently expects research costs to amount to mid-single-digit CHF millions per annum. Outlook Strong investment performance across the vast majority of GAM's product range and the strengthening of distribution capabilities should continue to help support future net inflows. The Group's key priorities remain delivering operating efficiencies and achieving its targets over the business cycle. The Board of Directors is making good progress on its comprehensive review of the Group's compensation policies and structures and expects to update the market prior to the release of 2017 full-year results. Forthcoming events: 1 March 2018 Full-year results 2017 19 April 2018 Interim management statement Q1 2018 26 April 2018 Annual General Meeting 2018 For further information please contact: Media Relations: Investor Relations: Elena Logutenkova Patrick Zuppiger T +41 (0) 58 426 63 41 T +41 (0) 58 426 31 36 Visit us at: www.gam.com Follow us on: Twitter and LinkedIn About GAM GAM is one of the world's leading independent, pure-play asset managers. The company provides active investment solutions and products for institutions, financial intermediaries and private investors. The core investment business is complemented by private labelling services, which include management company and other support services to third-party asset managers. GAM employs over 900 people in 13 countries with investment centres in London, Cambridge, Zurich, Hong Kong, New York, Milan and Lugano. The investment managers are supported by an extensive global distribution network. Headquartered in Zurich, GAM is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and is a component of the Swiss Market Index Mid (SMIM) with the symbol 'GAM'. The Group has assets under management of CHF 148.4 billion (USD 153.3 billion) as at 30 September 2017. Disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements This press release by GAM Holding AG ('the Company') includes forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations and projections about the Company's future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, strategies, opportunities and the industry in which it operates. Forward-looking statements involve all matters that are not historical facts. The Company has tried to identify those forward-looking statements by using words such as 'may', 'will', 'would', 'should', 'expect', 'intend', 'estimate', 'anticipate', 'project', 'believe', 'seek', 'plan', 'predict', 'continue' and similar expressions. Such statements are made on the basis of assumptions and expectations which, although the Company believes them to be reasonable at this time, may prove to be erroneous. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets it serves or intends to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause those differences include, but are not limited to: changing business or other market conditions, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments, general economic conditions, and the Company's ability to respond to trends in the financial services industry. Additional factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update of, or revisions to, any forward-looking statements in this press release and any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based, except as required by applicable law or regulation. My earliest beauty memory is of a matching set of Poochie or Strawberry Shortcake branded lipstick and nail polish I owned in 1986. They were in little bullet-shaped tubes, white plastic covered in pink love hearts; the lipstick was fruit scented, and the nail polish was a transparent fluorescent pink. To four-year-old me, that nail polish (which was effectively a clear topcoat, it was so transparent) was the last word in glamour. Clem Bastow's nails in 2013 In fact, I have many vivid nail polish related memories, including using Mum's varnishes to repaint my Barbie dolls (1992), finally finding a bottle of Revlon "Street Wear" polish in a bargain bin and feeling like the coolest person on earth (1997), and the blue glitter polish my family worried would be "too challenging" for some conservative relatives (1999). Given this, it's amusing to me that it took another decade or so for me to fully embrace my identity as "a nails person". Chalk it up to internalised misogyny, or just a complete lack of ambidexterity, but the '00s were a bleak time of unvarnished nails for moi; I just didn't have time for that. Kirsty Gow-Gates launched Lullaby skincare because she couldn't find natural baby products that she was happy to use on her own children. Designed for newborns and kids with sensitive, eczema prone skin, the range is formulated with naturally derived ingredients from Australian plants and herbs. Sunscreen for delicate skin, SPF 30, $35, Lullaby, lullaby skincare.com . The Little Sun is a portable solar lamp designed by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. If you buy one you will be helping to light up a part of the world without electricity, through a "buy one, supply one" model. Little Sun Solar Lamp, $35, Until, until.com.au. Little Sun Solar Lamp, $35. TRUE BLUE Tait designs outdoor furniture and accessories working with local talent and keeping the Australian lifestyle in mind. The Terrace collection is a collaboration with designers bernabeifreeman and includes patterned objects such as the Bloom planter. $210, Tait, madebytait.com.au. This week you can #humblebrag your shopping by visiting one of several Australian designer sales, buy a dress and support Frocktober, which helps raise awareness and money for ovarian cancer research. This weekend is also the Garage Sale Trail, so if you're more of a vintage gal, there are more than 10,000 registered sales, with plenty of diamonds in the rough just waiting to be found. On to the sales, this week starts with a bang. Aussie fave sass & bide is having another of its legendary sales over four days. Expect up to 70 per cent off past collections, including evening wear, embellished skirts and leather. Last time I picked up a leather mini for less than $100. Declan, I am loving your work ethic, time management skills and future focus. They are three things that augur well for real-world success. I'm 17 and about to graduate from school. I hope to study maths at university. I'm interested in investment and want to start earning compound investment returns as soon as I can. I am also interested in what you've been saying about exchange-traded funds and how they're a good place to start if you have very little money. I work part-time in a service station and will be able to up my hours in the holidays. So far I've saved $1000 for schoolies and another $500 to start building my financial future. Depending on where I get accepted, I should be able to stay at home until I graduate. So how do I buy ETFs and start a portfolio? And as I always say when I deliver my Smart Money Smart sessions in high schools: stay home and stash cash for the biggest financial opportunity you'll ever have. Now I'm assuming your savings are in a high-interest bank account. Be aware you may be automatically switched to the adult account when you turn 18, which might pay less. Your age is an issue with investing too you need to be 18 to open an online broking account in your own name. But, given you are so close, that gives you a lovely window to build funds to invest. While you can trade with as little as $500, $1000 is a prudent minimum amount because mozo.com.au says you'll pay as little as $9.90 per trade, which pushes the percentage cost to below 1 per cent. That's with amscot, and several other online outfits charge similarly. Federal Court staff locked in a fight with their bosses over a new workplace agreement will strike for the first time, saying employers haven't listened to their fears about cuts to rights and conditions. Hundreds of staff at the Federal, Family and Federal Circuit courts, and National Native Title Tribunal are expected to take the half-day industrial action on Friday afternoon as negotiations remain at an impasse. CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood says Friday's planned strike shows how far Federal Court bosses pushed their staff. Credit:Lannon Harley The strike, unprecedented for court employees, comes after they heaped more pressure on management by handing open letters to people using the courts explaining their rejection of proposed cuts. Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood said the decision to strike showed how far staff, who have gone four years without a pay rise, were pushed by bosses in enterprise bargaining. Australian special forces soldiers take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan in 2002 Credit:Australian Defence Force The book was vetted by the Defence Department. Its cover is adorned with an endorsement from former defence force chief Sir Angus Houston. Houston has privately told defence watchers that the value of Masters' work extends beyond its exhaustive recounting of the heroism, humanity, ingenuity and resilience of many of the special forces members, a feat Masters has accomplished after years spent gaining the trust of the tight-lipped soldiers. Masters' book also acknowledges the moral ambiguity of some of these soldiers' necessarily ugly work and the fact that questions about some missions remain. Special forces on patrol in Afghanistan in 2005. Credit:Australian Defence Force The death of the teen on the Chora Pass is a case in point. It fuelled a deep divide in the six-man patrol, which lingers still among some of its members. Roberts-Smith says misgivings raised by his colleagues about his treatment of fellow officers coincide with his being awarded the nation's most prestigious military award, the Victoria Cross, in 2011. At the time of the award, Angus Houston praised Roberts-Smith's acts of "extreme valour" during a 2010 battle to protect fellow soldiers, with no regard for his own safety. Roberts-Smith told Masters his SAS critics were hypocrites: "The bullying is what they do to me. Bullies are cowards. They stay in the shadows. This is about group cowardice. I don't like bullies. I am sick of it." Roberts-Smith's lawyer, defamation specialist Mark O'Brien, has sent legal letters to two of the patrol members amid persistent complaints about how Roberts-Smith's interactions with his colleagues fractured relationships within the elite, secretive military unit. The schism in his patrol is just one of many ugly, unresolved spats that have been eating away at Australia's special operations group, fuelled by stories told in jumbled snippets at barbecues, pubs and, increasingly, during veterans' debriefings with psychologists. As these opaque tales have persisted, they reached Masters and also the military's top brass. They have also come under the gaze of a NSW judge, Paul Brereton, who has been commissioned by Defence to sort fact from fiction. As the Chora Pass incident makes clear, nothing is clear or certain in war, let alone in a complex battleground such as Afghanistan. Prior to the teenager's death on June 2, two SAS troopers manning the observation post had spotted him about 70 metres away. He appeared to be unarmed. The surrounding hills were used by civilians as well as the Taliban, and a later patrol report describes the teen as a spotter working for nearby insurgents. The two troopers observed the teen walk at a distance past the observation post. A short time later, he walked back in the direction he had come, this time carrying a bag. The troopers chose not to fire at him, even though killing him may have been later justified given the potential risk he posed to the patrol. But they believed that shooting wasn't necessary. The reason for the restraint, says Masters, was also "that as a clandestine observation-only patrol, a prime objective was to maintain concealment". In a tape-recorded interview in 2011, obtained by Fairfax Media and which was also relied on by Masters, Roberts-Smith provided Australian War Memorial historian Peter Pederson with his recollection of events on the Chora Pass. Roberts-Smith describes two hostile Afghans spotting the operation post. "A couple of [Afghan] blokes just walked up literally, probably about two hours before dark, walked straight up to the front of the OP [mission's observation post]." He said he and another decorated SAS member, Matt Locke, decided to hunt down and shoot dead the two "enemy" after concluding they had spotted the patrol. "A decision was made that they had seen us and we thought were just playing coy and doing a 'let's get out of here and get some other lads'. So Matt and myself left the OP and hunted them down and got rid of them. We dragged the bodies and went back to the OP." After Masters quizzed Roberts-Smith about differing accounts of the incident, Roberts-Smith wrote to the War Memorial. "Five years had passed since that day [of the mission]," he wrote. "I had conducted four more tours of Afghanistan and the interview itself was more than two hours and 40 minutes in duration. Without the benefit of the patrol report to guide me it would appear I have confused my many engagements and identified two insurgents initially locating our observation post as opposed to one. I also note I thought we cleared [moved] the insurgent bodies, but then that is not correct as identified in the patrol report." The conflict the death caused within the patrol encapsulates the moral ambiguity of battle, and questions over when and when not to fire. It's an issue some SASsoldiers believe has been left to fester. It's certainly complicated given one of many players is the iconic and polarising figure of Roberts-Smith. For those grumbling about the decorated soldier turned successful businessman, jealousy looms as an obvious motive. And yet the existence of similar and persistent rumblings extending beyond Roberts-Smith to a series of actions involving other soldiers suggests deeper issues are at play in Australia's special forces. There is a deep discontent among some SAS veterans that elements of the regiment operated without adequate oversight or accountability, leading to a culture that shirks scrutiny. That such a culture could exist in the army was flagged by a lieutenant-colonel in a post-operation report who warned: "The hyperbole surrounding the contribution of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan makes the soldiers feel entitled to be treated as Roman gladiators." Some defence insiders say high-profile soldiers may be victims of government-sponsored hyperbole, which makes them poster boys willed to increasing acts of greatness by a defence and political machine eager for a good narrative. A complaint obtained by Fairfax Media and marked "sensitive" written by an SAS Regiment sergeant, signed by five SAS members and lodged with a senior SAS officer on June 6, 2014, also alleges hyperbole has undermined the integrity of another official citation involving Roberts-Smith. The complaint refers to his leadership of a patrol in Afghanistan in 2012, for which Roberts-Smith was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service. The most scathing part of the complaint is not aimed at Roberts-Smith, though, who had nothing to do with writing the citation, but the unnamed senior officers who compiled it. This report alleges these officers glossed over bungled and dangerous incidents that dogged the 2012 special forces' rotation, including an incident in which two SAS patrols were involved in a "blue on blue" incident in which Australians mistakenly fired on each other. The complaint alleges the "incident caused a rift in the troop as there was an attempted 'cover-up'," involving senior officers unwilling to ask tough questions of what went wrong. The complaint also alleges the award citation papers over a complex reality on the ground in which some SAS soldiers allegedly took unnecessary risks. The complaint's ultimate beef, though, is not with Roberts-Smith but with those up the chain of command. "As SAS soldiers, we are responsible for accurate reporting and honesty, in the field and in camp. This citation is a contradiction of those values." Roberts-Smith lawyer, Mark O'Brien, has dismissed the critique of the citation as the work of a disgruntled SAS member. There are allegations, understood to be denied, that this member smuggled weapons into Afghanistan. Fadi Ibrahim will remain under house arrest in Dover Heights after fending off a challenge by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to the integrity of his bail guarantors. The DPP attempted to vary Mr Ibrahim's bail conditions on the basis that the people who put up the $2.2 million surety - his wife Shayda and friend Benjamin Scott - were not suitable persons, in what magistrate Les Mabbutt described as an "unusual" application. "I've never had an application such as this," Mr Mabbutt said. "In fact the application for the assessment of suitable persons has taken much, much longer than the original bail application." A quiet Wollongong neighbourhood has been left reeling after a man, wanted for a "sickening" attack on his mother, was found dead in a yard belonging to strangers. Less than 12 hours after he unleashed on his 55-year-old mother at Balgownie, James Uhr, 27, ended his life in a backyard in Coalcliff belonging to a family, including two girls, aged five and six. There are conflicting reports as to whether the girls or their parents found Mr Uhr's body. Police say a car stolen earlier in the day was located nearby and has been seized for forensic examination. A man who allegedly raped a young woman after offering her a ride in Darlinghurst two months ago has been granted bail. Tareq Mikhael Setto, 36, was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault on October 4. The woman ran into a waterfront restaurant at Woolloomooloo Wharf, raising the alarm, the court was told. Credit:Peter Rae Police allege he was working as a removalist on the morning of Sunday, August 13, when he spotted the woman on Farrell Avenue. On Thursday, Central Local Court heard the 26-year-old had just left a party because a man there tried to "get with" her. A little over two years ago Gladys Berejiklian delivered the keynote address at a high-powered business forum on the issue of women in parliament. Declaring the idea that preselection of women solely on merit is "well past its use-by date", she called for all political parties to aim at making 50 per cent of MPs in Australian parliaments women. "The odds of getting preselected are well and truly stacked against women," she said. At the time Berejiklian was NSW Treasurer and deputy leader of the NSW Liberals under Premier Mike Baird. She noted that the percentage of women in the NSW Legislative Assembly was just 20.4 per cent. This press release is also available in Francais (pdf) and Deutsch (pdf) Follow today's event live 14:00 CEST Investor call audio webcast Full details in Events ............. Vevey, October 19, 2017 Nestle reports nine-month sales for 2017 Organic growth of 2.6%, with 1.8% of real internal growth (RIG) and pricing of 0.8%. Total reported sales decreased by 0.4% to CHF 65.3 billion (9M-2016: CHF 65.5 billion), reduced by net divestments of 2.6% (mainly due to the creation of the Froneri joint venture) and negative foreign exchange effects of 0.4%. 65.3 billion (9M-2016: 65.5 billion), reduced by net divestments of 2.6% (mainly due to the creation of the Froneri joint venture) and negative foreign exchange effects of 0.4%. Organic growth was 0.8% in developed markets and 5.1% in emerging markets. We confirm our sales guidance for 2017, and now expect organic growth for the full year to be around the level of the nine-month period. The underlying trading operating profit margin for 2017 is set to improve by at least 20 basis points in constant currency, in line with our expectations. Our structural savings initiatives are progressing faster than originally planned, leading to an additional increase of CHF 400-500 million in restructuring and related expenses in 2017. As a result, our trading operating profit margin will decrease by 40-60 basis points in constant currency. We expect underlying earnings per share in constant currency and capital efficiency to increase. Total group Zone AMS Zone EMENA Zone AOA Nestle Waters Nestle Nutrition Other businesses Sales 9M-2017 ( CHF million) 65'272 20'490 11'821 11'853 6'150 7'711 7'247 Sales 9M-2016 ( CHF million) 65'514 20'086 13'046 11'623 6'134 7'707 6'918 RIG 1.8% 0.3% 1.4% 3.6% 2.1% 0.4% 5.0% Pricing 0.8% 1.0% 0.5% 1.7% 0.1% 0.6% 0.1% Organic growth 2.6% 1.3% 1.9% 5.3% 2.2% 1.0% 5.1% Net M&A -2.6% -0.7% -10.5% -0.5% -0.4% -0.4% -0.6% Foreign exchange -0.4% 1.4% -0.8% -2.8% -1.7% -0.4% 0.3% Reported sales growth -0.4% 2.0% -9.4% 2.0% 0.1% 0.2% 4.8% Mark Schneider, Nestle CEO : "Our sales results for the nine-month period are in line with our expectations communicated in July. Organic sales growth continued to benefit from industry-leading volume growth, which illustrates our ability to innovate and meet consumer demand. Pricing remained soft. Zone AOA saw further improvement in organic growth. As expected, Western Europe returned to positive organic growth, with significant contributions from coffee and confectionery. Improving our efficiency is a key priority. We have identified further opportunities to accelerate our margin improvement, leading to a further increase in restructuring and related expenses in 2017. Consequently, we now expect our trading operating profit margin to decrease by 40-60 basis points. The development of our underlying trading operating profit margin is fully in line with our expectations for 2017." Group sales Organic growth increased to 2.6%, supported by improved RIG of 1.8%. Pricing softened slightly to 0.8%. Net divestments had a negative impact of 2.6%, largely related to the creation of the Froneri joint venture. Foreign exchange reduced reported sales by a further 0.4%. Total reported sales were CHF 65.3 billion (-0.4%). Growth in Zone AMS remained subdued. North America was flat in the context of negative category dynamics. Brazil was affected by the difficult trading environment, while Mexico remained resilient and other parts of Latin America continued to deliver good growth. Zone EMENA saw a significant improvement in growth compared to the half year, as the coffee and petcare categories drove strong RIG in the third quarter. Zone AOA 's growth was strong, with steady improvement in China and sustained high growth in other sub-regions supporting the positive trend. Nestle Waters was impacted by poor weather, which weighed on growth in the third quarter. Growth in Nestle Nutrition remained soft. Nespresso reported mid-single-digit growth, with double-digit growth in North America. Nestle Skin Health benefited from the phasing of several new product launches. Nestle Health Science reported mid-single-digit growth. Growth by category was broad-based, led by coffee, petcare and ambient culinary. Zone Americas (AMS) 1.3% organic growth: 0.3% RIG , 1.0% pricing. , 1.0% pricing. Sales in North America remained flat. Latin America maintained mid-single-digit organic growth. RIG improved in the third quarter but pricing declined. Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Zone AMS CHF 20.5 billion CHF 20.1 billion 0.3% 1.0% 1.3% -0.7% 1.4% 2.0% Organic growth remained at 1.3% but the RIG component improved to 0.3%. This was due to stronger RIG in Latin America during the third quarter. Positive contributions in both North America and Latin America contributed to pricing of 1.0%. However pricing dynamics shifted during the third quarter, as North America's pricing improved while Latin America's pricing declined. Net divestments reduced reported sales by 0.7%. Foreign exchange increased reported sales by 1.4%. Reported sales in Zone Americas increased by 2.0% to CHF 20.5 billion. Our organic growth in North America was flat in a context of soft consumer demand. RIG was slightly negative, but there was a modest improvement in pricing. Our coffee creamers, petcare, U.S. frozen food and pizza businesses generated growth, offset by declines in confectionery and ice cream. In Brazil, RIG increased significantly during the third quarter, as broad-based price decreases were introduced in line with market dynamics and input cost deflation. Mexico maintained a resilient level of growth despite the impact of natural disasters. Petcare continued to see double-digit growth across Latin America. Zone Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) 1.9% organic growth: 1.4% RIG , 0.5% pricing. , 0.5% pricing. Western Europe returned to positive organic growth, with both positive RIG and pricing. and pricing. Central and Eastern Europe maintained mid-single-digit organic growth, with strong RIG and slightly negative pricing. and slightly negative pricing. Middle East and North Africa saw low single-digit organic growth, with positive RIG and pricing. Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Zone EMENA CHF 11.8 billion CHF 13.0 billion 1.4% 0.5% 1.9% -10.5% -0.8% -9.4% Organic growth improved to 1.9%, supported by higher RIG of 1.4% and sustained positive pricing. Net divestments reduced reported sales by 10.5%, mainly due to the transfer of ice cream to the Froneri joint venture. Foreign exchange effects reduced reported sales by a further 0.8%. Reported sales in Zone EMENA declined by 9.4% to CHF 11.8 billion. Organic growth accelerated across all sub-regions. RIG improved significantly in Western Europe, with good third-quarter growth in coffee, confectionery and culinary. Central and Eastern Europe continued its strong momentum, particularly in Russia, reflecting increased distribution. Petcare was strong across the zone, with double-digit organic growth in Central and Eastern Europe. Growth in the Middle East and North Africa improved in the third quarter, but the trading environment remained challenging overall. Zone Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa (AOA) 5.3% organic growth: 3.6% RIG , 1.7% pricing. , 1.7% pricing. South-East Asia continued its good organic growth, based on RIG . . China's organic growth was positive, supported by both RIG and pricing. and pricing. Sub-Saharan Africa continued to grow, and the South Asia region maintained strong RIG momentum. momentum. Japan maintained solid organic growth with strong RIG . Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Zone AOA CHF 11.9 billion CHF 11.6 billion 3.6% 1.7% 5.3% -0.5% -2.8% 2.0% Organic growth was strong, reaching 5.3% at the end of September. RIG improved to 3.6% with pricing at 1.7%. Net divestments and foreign exchange reduced reported sales by 0.5% and 2.8%, respectively. Reported sales in Zone AOA increased by 2.0% to CHF 11.9 billion. Growth in China continued to improve in the third quarter with positive momentum across the portfolio, particularly in coffee and culinary. South-East Asia maintained mid-single-digit growth, and sub-Saharan Africa reported double-digit growth. South Asia also delivered solid growth, successfully managing the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India that had a negative impact on pricing. Nestle Waters 2.2% organic growth: 2.1% RIG , 0.1% pricing. , 0.1% pricing. In the United States positive organic growth was maintained over the nine-month period, while the third quarter saw a decline. Europe saw low single-digit organic growth with negative RIG in the third quarter. in the third quarter. Growth remained strong across Latin America and solid in AOA . Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Nestle Waters CHF 6.2 billion CHF 6.1 billion 2.1% 0.1% 2.2% -0.4% -1.7% 0.1% Organic growth slowed to 2.2%, with 2.1% RIG and 0.1% pricing. Net divestments and foreign exchange reduced reported sales by 0.4% and 1.7%, respectively. Reported sales in Nestle Waters were broadly flat at CHF 6.2 billion. Nestle Waters saw a decline in developed markets in the third quarter. This was largely due to difficult comparables and poor weather that impacted demand in North America and Europe. Competition remained intense, with sustained pricing pressure across all developed markets. There was good momentum in emerging markets. The international premium brands continued to drive growth globally. Nestle Nutrition 1.0% organic growth: 0.4% RIG , 0.6% pricing. , 0.6% pricing. In China organic growth remained subdued but with an improvement in the third quarter. The United States and Mexico had slightly positive organic growth but Brazil declined on lower pricing. Organic growth in South Asia and Africa remained strong. Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Nestle Nutrition CHF 7.7 billion CHF 7.7 billion 0.4% 0.6% 1.0% -0.4% -0.4% 0.2% Organic growth remained soft at 1.0%, comprised of 0.4% RIG and 0.6% pricing. Net divestments and foreign exchange reduced reported sales by 0.4% and 0.4%, respectively. Reported sales in Nestle Nutrition increased slightly by 0.2% to CHF 7.7 billion. Growth in China improved in the third quarter due to the good momentum of NAN and Illuma. Growth in the United States remained generally subdued, while infant cereals performed well. The comprehensive re-launch of Gerber, including organic and natural ranges, began during September. Brazil declined as price adjustments were made to reflect local input cost deflation. Other businesses 5.1% organic growth: 5.0% RIG , 0.1% pricing. , 0.1% pricing. Nespresso continued its mid-single-digit organic growth, including double-digit growth in North America. Nestle Health Science maintained mid-single-digit organic growth with positive RIG and pricing. and pricing. Nestle Skin Health reported mid-single-digit organic growth based entirely on RIG . Sales 9M-2017 Sales 9M-2016 RIG Pricing Organic growth Net M&A Foreign exchange Reported growth Other businesses CHF 7.2 billion CHF 6.9 billion 5.0% 0.1% 5.1% -0.6% 0.3% 4.8% Organic growth accelerated to 5.1% driven by strong RIG of 5.0% and improved pricing, which was broadly flat. Net divestments reduced reported sales by 0.6% but foreign exchange effects had a positive impact of 0.3%. Reported sales in Other businesses increased by 4.8% to CHF 7.2 billion. Nespresso's consistent mid-single-digit organic growth was supported by double-digit growth from North America, solid growth in EMENA and strong growth in AOA . Nestle Skin Health benefited from several new product launches during the third quarter. Nestle Health Science maintained mid-single-digit growth driven by medical nutrition, particularly in pediatric care and specialty products. Outlook We confirm our sales guidance for 2017, and now expect organic growth for the full year to be around the level of the nine-month period. The underlying trading operating profit margin for 2017 is set to improve by at least 20 basis points in constant currency, in line with our expectations. Our structural savings initiatives are progressing faster than originally planned, leading to an additional increase of CHF 400-500 million in restructuring and related expenses in 2017. As a result, our trading operating profit margin will decrease by 40-60 basis points in constant currency. We expect underlying earnings per share in constant currency and capital efficiency to increase. Annex Nine-month sales overview by operating segment Total group Zone AMS Zone EMENA Zone AOA Nestle Waters Nestle Nutrition Other businesses Sales 9M-2017 ( CHF million) 65'272 20'490 11'821 11'853 6'150 7'711 7'247 Sales 9M-2016 ( CHF million) 65'514 20'086 13'046 11'623 6'134 7'707 6'918 RIG 1.8% 0.3% 1.4% 3.6% 2.1% 0.4% 5.0% Pricing 0.8% 1.0% 0.5% 1.7% 0.1% 0.6% 0.1% Organic growth 2.6% 1.3% 1.9% 5.3% 2.2% 1.0% 5.1% Net M&A -2.6% -0.7% -10.5% -0.5% -0.4% -0.4% -0.6% Foreign exchange -0.4% 1.4% -0.8% -2.8% -1.7% -0.4% 0.3% Reported sales growth -0.4% 2.0% -9.4% 2.0% 0.1% 0.2% 4.8% Effective as from 1 January 2017, Nestle Professional is reported as a regionally managed business included in the zones. Effective same date, Venezuela is excluded from RIG , pricing and organic growth to better reflect the underlying business performance. Nine-month sales overview by product Total Group Powdered & liquid beverages Water Milk products & ice cream Nutrition & Health Science Prepared dishes & cooking aids Confectionery Petcare Sales 9M-2017 ( CHF million) 65'272 14'745 5'758 9'891 11'197 8'614 5'978 9'089 Sales 9M-2016 ( CHF million) 65'514 14'417 5'735 10'779 11'022 8'812 5'929 8'820 RIG 1.8% 2.0% 2.3% 0.8% 1.9% 1.4% 1.4% 2.7% Pricing 0.8% 1.5% 0.1% 1.7% 0.4% 1.7% -1.4% 0.3% Organic growth 2.6% 3.5% 2.4% 2.5% 2.3% 3.1% 0.0% 3.0% Contacts: Media: Robin Tickle Tel.: +41 21 924 2200 Investors: Steffen Kindler Tel.: +41 21 924 3509 The deluge that hit central Queensland has broken a 64-year record for Bundaberg, with the city receiving seven times its October rain average well before the month's end. A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said Bundaberg had received 519mm of rain already this month, well in excess of the previous record of 280mm set in 1953. Areas between Bundaberg and Gladstone received staggering amounts of rainfall in just seven days with Westwood Range at 519mm and Miriam Vale 512mm. Baffle Creek residents in low-lying areas were forced to leave their homes on Wednesday with Gladstone Regional Council acting as a directory for those in need of updated flood information. There have been dramatic scenes in a Brisbane court after a man faced court accused of the daylight stabbing of another man during an argument. Brock Adrian Manning, of Mansfield, indicated he wouldn't apply for bail in the Brisbane Magistates Court on Thursday. Credit:Louise Douvis The 35-year-old sat with his head in his hands in the dock as his girlfriend sobbed, screamed and was eventually escorted from the courtroom. The woman repeatedly asked to speak to Mr Manning, who later identified her as his partner, and became distressed when told she was unable to do so. Anger has erupted in the Victorian Liberal Party over treatment of women, after a young female student claimed she was so intimidated by a Liberal club president that she needed security to escort her around campus. Days after Melbourne University Liberal Club leader Xavier Boffa was issued with an interim intervention order over an alleged stoush on campus grounds, some of the party's most senior female officials have weighed in, warning that unacceptable conduct towards women should not be tolerated. Melbourne University Liberal Club president Xavier Boffa (right) with shadow attorney-general John Pesutto. While Mr Boffa's backers insist that he is the victim of a "factional hit", tensions ignited on Thursday when country vice-president Bev McArthur declared she was "appalled" by the alleged incident and suggested that some MPs appeared to be endorsing "misogynist behaviour" by continuing to support the young Liberal. "I understand this female student requires security to accompany her around the campus... This alone, would surely appear unacceptable to our party standards," Ms McArthur wrote to the party's administrative committee, including Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, state president Michael Kroger and federal Senator Mitch Fifield. "Long-serving members, individuals like myself, have an obligation to ensure our party brand provides a 'safe' and non-threatening place in which all Liberal minded individuals, particularly young women, can participate and engage." In response to the email, the Liberals' metropolitan vice-president Karina Okotel also wrote to committee members saying they could not expect women to run for preselection "if there are unacceptable behavioural and cultural issues within our party" or if "women are expected to put up with potential bullying and abuse and there is no support provided to women who do come forward from within the party itself". "This is not the culture of the party Sir Robert Menzies and Dame Elizabeth Couchman established and it is not the culture I want to be a part of or endorse explicitly or implicitly by standing by and doing nothing." The letters come after The Age revealed that Mr Boffa, who is also the president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation and a staffer for shadow attorney-general John Pesutto, had been reported to police and was the subject of an internal university investigation. He has been unable to comment publicly due to university restrictions, but it is understood that he strongly rejects the allegations against him, which centre on claims that he hit male student in the thigh, and later verbally lashed out at a female club member from the same opposing faction. Last year the same young woman was told she had to be excluded from Liberal club event because, according to Mr Boffa, some members were "a bit uncomfortable about inviting a chick". Despite diverting 50,000 triple-zero calls to nurses and other health-care providers, Ambulance Victoria remains unable to meet its response time targets. The service's annual report, released on Thursday, shows ambulances arrived at the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in 78.3 per cent of cases. Calls turned away, more funding - but Ambulance Victoria is still unable to hit the targets for lights-and-sirens response times. Credit:Paul Rovere The target for these "code-one incidents" is 85 per cent. That figure is up from 73 per cent in 2012-13, meaning that despite huge investment and a series of new measures to reroute patients to other health services, it has improved by little more than 5 percentage points in four years. The Melbourne printing firm accused of being involved in an alleged scheme to rort parliamentary allowances has been raided by Victoria's corruption watchdog. It is understood that the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission investigators on Thursday seized items from FM Printing, the Keilor East firm accused of being involved in the alleged allowances scam alongside Labor MP Khalil Eideh. Labor MP Khalil Eideh with federal Labor senator Kim Carr. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui FM Printing declined to comment when contacted by Fairfax Media on Thursday night. The Victorian Parliament is also investigating the claims that the printing budgets of some MPs were instead funnelled into paying ALP memberships. Thousands of women report rape every year in Victoria. There were more than 4300 police investigations in 2016-17, according to the state's crime stats agency. The way data is gathered (by two separate agencies) makes it difficult to track matters through the courts. But we do know only 41 people were sentenced for rape in Victoria's higher courts (where more serious cases are heard) in 2015-2016, according to the Sentencing Advisory Council. After Lena reported the alleged rape, police asked if she would like to record a phone call to her rapist, for evidence against him. Trembling with fear, she was taken to an interview room - without a support person - where she called her ex-boyfriend. It took me such a long time to report him because he was a police officer and I was afraid. Sarah* He agreed she had said "no" many times, but claimed it wasn't rape because he was her boyfriend, and she did not ask him to stop once it started, she says. She emerged from the room exhausted, angry and in tears, but proud of having gone through with it. But when the officer plugged the device into a computer and pressed play, it became clear it had only recorded Lena's voice, not her ex-boyfriend's replies. Lena believes the recording was deliberately sabotaged, but does not have evidence of this. The female police officer then tried to convince her to drop the matter, reminding her the rapist had apologised. She said Lena should consider the "impact on his future", and informing Lena that they normally deal with "much more serious cases", Lena says. When she gathered the courage to ask to do another phone call, it was too late. Her alleged rapist had been arrested and interviewed. Almost a year later, she got a phone call to tell her there was not enough evidence to pursue the matter. Many women don't report a rape because they fear a harrowing process and a long wait for court, says Carolyn Worth, spokesperson for the Centre Against Sexual Assault Forum. But for others, reporting is fundamental to their recovery. And the court process is gruelling, with a burden of proof required for a crime which is usually committed in private with no witnesses. Even if Lena's alleged rapist had been committed to stand trial, most rape reports do not make it that far. This week a woman unsuccessfully pleaded with a Melbourne judge not to discontinue a prosecution against her former partner, a policeman. He was facing court on 14 charges, including six charges of rape. But prosecutors chose not to go ahead with a trial in the County Court, telling her the jury needed to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt. Sarah* stood up in court and told the judge it was "incomprehensible and inexcusable" for the case not to go ahead. "Justice has not been served," she said in court. "I am shocked and appalled at being denied a fair trial and that a perpetrator of serious crimes walks away free based on a probability rather than a proper trial." The case included forensic evidence and voice recordings, and that the partner had a violent image of her tattooed on his back The judge said Sarah was legally bound to accept the prosecutors' application. The former partner is on paid suspension from Victoria Police, and being internally investigated. He was not in court and his lawyers declined to comment. In court, Sarah was supported by two investigating detectives. Outside the court she said she was concerned her experience and others would deter other women from reporting family violence incidents to police. "It took me such a long time to report him because he was a police officer and I was afraid," she said. A paltry or inadequate legal response could embolden men and make them feel they can get away with crimes, says Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack. Lena's mental health disintegrated in the wake of the alleged rape. But every mental health service she approached had at least an eight-week wait for an appointment. She detailed her harrowing experience in a long letter to the Victorian Government, but got no response. And she complained to the police station where she made the phone call, and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, but was not satisfied with either response. In a letter, seen by The Age, a senior police officer from the station told Lena that police had worked in accordance with law and police practice. Members had been reminded how to use recorders, with an email sent to staff. No apology was offered. In response to questions from The Age, the Victoria Police offered "sincere regret and apologies" in relation to the recording error. "Each step of an investigation, particularly those involving allegations of sexual offences, is weighed against the need to ensure the wellbeing of the victim," a spokesman said in a statement. More than two years since a Perth prospecting couple vanished in a remote part of the state's Goldfields, Police Minister Michelle Roberts has announced a $250,000 reward for information that could help solve the outback mystery. Raymond and Jennie Kehlet were last seen on March 21, 2015 by a friend at a prospecting site about 30 kilometres from Sandstone. The whereabouts of Jennie Kehlet remains a mystery more than two years after she disappeared. The couple's dog was found a week later wandering around the area in an emaciated condition, sparking an extensive land and air search. The body of Mr Kehlet, 47, was subsequently discovered on April 8 at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft about two kilometres from the couple's camp site, but the fate of Ms Kehlet, 49, remains unknown. Atomic bomb survivors Terumi Tanaka, 85, left, and Suechi Kido, 77, centre, speak about the push to eliminate nuclear weapons and ICAN's push for a ban treaty alongside Akira Kawasaki, a member of the ICAN international steering group. Credit:Nancy Roberts Both men are heavily involved in Hidankyo, a Japanese group established in 1956 to represent the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. By the end of 1945 the number of estimated deaths had risen to 140,000 and 74,000 respectively. The remaining hibakusha, or atomic bomb victims, have been fighting to "save humanity from the same fate" that those cities experienced. They say they are "embarrassed and angry" that their country - the only one to have suffered a nuclear attack - has opted not to join the ban treaty. Now, for reasons other than the devastation of 1945, Japan has cause to be heavily engaged in the nuclear weapons debate. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's regime has test-fired several ballistic missiles over the country in the past couple of months. Residents in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido have been woken twice by early-morning emergency alerts warning that a missile was about to pass over their region. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe devoted his address at the UN General Assembly last month to the North Korean question. Credit:AP Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has seen his political stocks recover from the scandal-fuelled lows of July as he insisted on taking a firm line against North Korea. Abe, who called a snap lower-house election for this Sunday, says now is the time for pressure, not dialogue. While Abe won't comment on the appropriateness of Donald Trump's brash rhetoric which has included threats of "fire and fury like the world has never seen" - the Japanese leader supports the US President's position that all options, including military ones, should remain on the table. A bomb of the same type as the "Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki on display at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Museum in New Mexico in 1965. Credit:AP Wirephoto "North Korea is attempting to dismiss with a smirk the efforts towards disarmament we have assiduously undertaken over the years," Abe told the UN General Assembly last month. "The non-proliferation regime is about to suffer a serious blow from its most confident disrupter ever." While North Korea insists its development of a nuclear arsenal is an insurance policy against a US-led invasion aimed at regime change, Pyongyang could resort to "the unthinkable" if it believed it was about to be attacked. Sumiteru Taniguchi, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, shows a photo of himself taken in 1945. Credit:AP As many as 2.1 million people could die and 7.7 million more could be injured if North Korea detonated multiple nuclear weapons over Tokyo and Seoul, according to one recent estimate. These figures, based on the regime's current estimated weapon yields, were published by 38 North, the respected analytical service run by Johns Hopkins University in the US. Japan is upgrading its missile defence systems amid growing fears about the danger posed by North Korea. At the same time, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is looking to bolster the status of the "self-defence forces" in Japan's constitution, which was not been amended since the country renounced war after the World War II surrender. Sumiteru Taniguchi, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, shows the scars on his back from the burns. Credit:AP While there is no suggestion Japan is about to go down the path of developing its own nuclear weapons, some politicians are publicly discussing the possibility. The developments are frustrating for disarmament campaigners. Kido says he is sad to see that the current political environment is inflaming the North Korea issue and that there is no apparent movement towards dialogue. People visit the gutted Atomic Bomb Dome at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in 2016. Credit:AP For Akira Kawasaki, a member of the ICAN international steering group and of the Peace Boat executive committee, the security debate is too narrowly focused. "States surrounding North Korea are always talking about disarming North Korea; that North Korea is a bad country so we need to disarm," Kawasaki said during a presentation to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. The Atomic bomb blast over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. "But the real issue is that nuclear weapons are bad weapons. We need to eliminate the bad weapons and there's no right hand on wrong weapons." Kawasaki says he is lobbying Japanese politicians to properly debate the broader issue of nuclear disarmament during the election campaign. He thinks that the Nobel committee's decision to highlight the nuclear ban treaty is an attempt to nudge the world towards a "real solution". Signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons commit not to possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use such weapons. States that already have such weapons would be required to reach safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and cooperate with authorities to verify the irreversible elimination of their nuclear programs. The Australian government argues such a treaty "would not rid us of a single nuclear weapon" without the participation of the key nuclear states. Like Japan, Australia sees the existing non-proliferation treaty as the cornerstone of disarmament efforts. Kido says it's now even more important that his message is heard by government and citizens around the world. This is because the number of people who can share their direct experience of the horrors of nuclear weapons is dwindling. "The number of hibakusha currently alive is around 160,000 people, but the average age is 81 years and so there's not much time left to meet directly with these hibakusha," Kido says. "I would like to request all of you to listen to our story." Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: An Australian teacher has been shot and killed in a daylight street robbery while walking home in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Gabrielle Maina was gunned down about 10am on Thursday, local time, while walking on Miotoni Road in the upmarket suburb of Karen, Fairfax Media has confirmed. A security company that monitors local incidents, reported that a "Caucasian woman" was killed by "unidentified assailants" and that "a 9mm cartridge was recovered at the crime scene". Fairfax Media understands Ms Maina's purse was snatched by the rider or riders of a "boda boda" motorcycle. Washington: President Donald Trump on Thursday said the federal response to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico deserves a grade of 10 out of 10 as he met at the White House with Ricardo Rossello, the governor of the US territory. "It would say it's a 10," Trump said, arguing that the destruction wrought by Hurricane Maria "was in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen." "It went right through the middle of the island, right through the middle of Puerto Rico," Trump said as Rossello sat by his side in the Oval Office. Trump's assessment was at odds with public polling - fewer than half of Americans approve of how he's handled a succession of hurricanes this year - and the assessments of some local officials on the ground, including the mayor of San Juan. MUNICH, Germany , Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At AWE Europe this week, Augumenta, Ltd. announced release of two software solutions that bring the power of Augmented Reality (AR) to Industry 4.0 deployments. They are: Augumenta Studio, a cloud-based tool that allows developers to quickly design AR applications for smartglass-equipped workers, and Augumenta SmartPanel, a customizable virtual control panel for industrial machinery operators. With release of both solutions to the app stores of two leading makers of binocular smartglasses, Epson, Inc. and ODG, Inc., Augumenta is driving development of a platform independent ecosystem for industrial AR applications. Augumenta is also demonstrating its SmartAlert application, which empowers industrial workers to monitor and control machinery and plant operations using monocular smartglasses from such companies as Vuzix. An additional demonstration at the exhibition features a smartglass-enabled airplane fueling system recently announced by Liquid Controls. Its very exciting to roll-out our platform for industrial AR and to show applications designed for specific commercial applications this year at AWE Europe, said Tero Aaltonen, co-founder and CEO of Augumenta. Applications like FlightConnect Glass which we co-developed with Liquid Controls show that AR is ready for roll-out in vertical markets. Concurrently, we are able to show the results of ongoing pilots with Siemens in the application of SmartPanel technology in shop floor environments. Augumenta Studio, which was a finalist for the HERMES AWARD 2017 presented earlier this year by Hannover Messe, is a platform that allows organizations to build glass applications using a drag-and-drop methodology. It is used by Augumenta and its customers to design and customize applications using SmartPanel and SmartAlert templates. Applications are easy to deploy to glass devices and support for industrial machine communication protocols ensures complete integration with in-place systems. Augumenta is demonstrating its application suite and customer solutions at AWE Europe (Booth 219). More information is available at www.augumenta.com About Augumenta Augumenta supplies augmented reality applications and development tools to organizations that use smartglasses. The companys software enables new ways for smartglass users to monitor and control machine operations and interact with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with a support hub in Taipei, Taiwan, Augumenta licenses its products to global OEMs, enterprise customers, integrators and developers. More than 200 companies have engaged with Augumenta to improve their bottom lines. More information and registration for the company newsletter is at www.augumenta.com. Matthew Schmidt matt@smallplanetpr.com +1 650-345-3549 Small Planet Public Relations New York: Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump's chief envoy to the United Nations, cast Russian interference in the 2016 election as "warfare", breaking in tone, if not substance, from a president who has consistently downplayed Russian influence in American politics. US Ambassador Haley lashed out at Russia's efforts to "sow chaos" in elections across the world during a conference hosted by the George W. Bush Institute. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, left, and former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at the George W. Institute. Credit:AP "The Russians, God bless them, they're saying, 'Why are Americans anti-Russian? And why have we done the sanctions?' Well, don't interfere in our elections and we won't be anti-Russian," Haley said. "When a country can come and interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." Bangkok: The Turnbull government has upgraded diplomatic ties with Cambodia in a champagne-clinking ceremony at a time Prime Minister Hun Sen is ruthlessly dismantling democracy and the country is sliding into a dictatorship. The move comes as human rights groups are calling for countries like Australia, that have sent billions of dollars in aid to Cambodia, to pressure Mr Hun Sen to end a campaign to silence his critics and consider imposing punitive sanctions on his regime. Australia's ambassador to Cambodia Angela Corcoran and Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn toast the upgraded relationship in Phnom Penh on Wednesday Credit:Handout Official photographs show Australia's ambassador to Cambodia, Angela Corcoran, toasting the upgrading of ties with Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn during a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Australia's then immigration minister Scott Morrison was widely ridiculed for toasting his Cambodian counterpart in a similar ceremony in 2014 to sign a failed $55 million agreement for Australia to send hundreds of refugees on Nauru to Cambodia. Laguna Beach, California: Two of the technology industry's top startup investors took to the stage at a conference on Wednesday to decry the power that companies such as Facebook Inc had amassed and call for a redistribution of wealth. Bill Maris, who founded Alphabet Inc's venture capital arm and now runs venture fund Section 32, and Sam Altman, president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, said widespread discontent over income inequality helped elect US President Donald Trump and had put wealthy technology companies in the crosshairs. Alphabet stock is shown on a screen at the Nasdaq MarketSite. Credit:AP "I do know that the tech backlash is going to be strong," said Altman. "We have more and more concentrated power and wealth." The market capitalisation of the so-called "big five" technology companies -- Alphabet, Apple Inc, Amazon Inc , Microsoft Corp and Facebook -- has doubled in the last three years to more than $US3 trillion. Silicon Valley broadly has amassed significant wealth during the latest tech boom. Washington: White House chief of staff John Kelly has delivered an extraordinary denunciation of a Democratic congresswoman, accusing her of politicising what he called a "sacred" presidential effort to console the grieving loved ones of a slain soldier. Kelly, in an unexpected and emotional appearance in the White House briefing room, invoked the death of his own son, killed in Afghanistan in 2010, as he lashed out at Frederica Wilson of Florida, who earlier this week said that President Donald Trump had been disrespectful in his condolence call to the family of a soldier killed during an ambush in Niger. Kelly, speaking slowly and forcefully, said he was "heartbroken" that Wilson overheard the conversation and used it to attack the president. "It stuns me that a member of Congress listened into that conversation," said Kelly. PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher on Thursday announced that JetBlue will resume service to the island twice-weekly on its New York route as of November 1. As of November 1, JetBlue flights will service the JFK-SXM route on Mondays and Thursdays. The airline will resume its regular daily service out of New York as of January 2018. The Minister along with Head of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau Rolando Brison and her Chief of Cabinet Cecil Nicholas met with JetBlue on Thursday in New York. The airlines representatives used the opportunity to reassure the Minister of its commitment to maintaining a long-term partnership with St. Maarten and expressed confidence in St. Maartens recovery efforts. The airline's representatives also told the Minister that its confidence to return is based largely in part on the efforts of the Tourism Ministry to reassure its tourism partners after the hurricanes, maintain open lines of communication and get its airport open in the short term. We also presented our preliminary marketing plan to them and as a result, they will be looking at increasing their daily flights out of New York as of January 2018, Brison said. The Fort Lauderdale St. Maarten route is also still in the eyes of JetBlue and they fully intend to launch the route. The timeline may have shifted a bit it is still their goal to get that route open, he said. The Minister expressed her thanks to JetBlue for its continued support, for the role it played in transporting relief supplies to St. Maarten and its confidence in the destination. She said the tri-state area is historically very important to St. Maartens tourism product and getting JetBlue back online servicing St. Maarten is a key development in the islands recovery. Press Release from the Ministry of TEATT Apricorn Announces Full Compatibility Between the Aegis Configurator and their Entire Keypad-Authenticated Secure Product Line Posted by Publisher Hardware POWAY, CA (Marketwired) 10/19/17 , the leading manufacturer of software-free, hardware-encrypted USB drives, today announced the release of the Aegis Configurator for IT professionals in highly regulated industries including banking, government, education, legal and healthcare. The configurator simultaneously sets up multiple Apricorn encrypted external drives in a matter of seconds and provides the ability to create and save an infinite number of master profile settings that can be used over and over for future device configurations. Initially, the Aegis Configurator was compatible only with the Aegis Secure Key 3z, which was released concurrently with the Configurator in January 2017. Based on the positive response from early adopters and independent evaluators of the initial release, effective Sept 1, 2017, all of Apricorns keypad-authenticated secure devices can be set up using the Aegis Configurator, saving time and money for deployments of any size. Beyond being exponentially faster than manually configuring devices, the Aegis Configurator also generates a secure log file capturing the settings of individual devices at time of setup, said Paul Brown, president of Apricorn. Weve developed these new capabilities with speed and ease of use in mind to address the challenges of todays overly stretched IT teams. The Aegis Configurator is compatible with the following products: Aegis Secure Key 3z (first device to be configurable) Aegis Secure Key 3.0 (highest storage capacity in class at 480GB) Aegis Padlock 3.0 (Apricorns original encrypted device, redesigned) Aegis Fortress 3.0 (FIPS validated) Aegis Padlock DT and DT FIPS (desktop high-capacity drives up to 10TB storage) Padlock SSD (compatibility coming online in 4Q) Standard features shared by all Aegis Configurator compatible devices: Separate Administrator and User Modes for added convenience. Admin Forced Enrollment: Unique PIN must be established at setup which eliminates factory default PIN vulnerability. User Forced Enrollment: Administrator can program device at setup requiring user to establish a unique PIN upon first use. Programmable PIN Lengths: Administrator designates minimum and maximum PIN Lengths (7-16 characters) to increase password complexity. Data Recovery PINs Lock Override Mode: Option that suspends device lock function during USB port re-enumeration. Brute-Force Defense: Select the number of consecutive invalid PIN attempts permitted (4-20) before crypto-erase. Unattended Auto Lock: Programmable length of time of inactivity permitted before drive locks itself. Self-Destruct PIN: When programmed and activated, performs a crypto-erase and becomes new access PIN. LED Key Press Indicator: Option that visually confirms successful button presses with blinking LEDs. The Aegis Configurator is available for $99. Headquartered in Poway, California, Apricorn provides secure storage innovations to the most prominent companies in the categories of finance, healthcare, education, and government throughout North America, Canada and EMEA. Apricorn products have become the trusted standard for a myriad of data security strategies worldwide. Founded in 1983, numerous award-winning products have been developed under the Apricorn brand as well as for a number of leading computer manufacturers on an OEM basis. Image Available: Embedded Video Available: Media Contact: Sarah Thorson (609) 234-8531 New Ruby Partner Storm Digital stays ahead of the competition with reliable Searchmetrics data Berlin, October 19, 2017 Searchmetrics welcomes Storm Digital from the Netherlands as a new Ruby Partner in the Searchmetrics partner program. The Dutch growth marketing agency was particularly motivated to sign up to the program by the Searchmetrics attitude to always staying ahead of industry developments and by the reliable information the software company from Berlin offers. Furthermore, as a Searchmetrics partner, Storm Digital can benefit from the following exclusive advantages: Improved customer satisfaction through the best possible qualification and certification under exclusive conditions in the Searchmetrics Academy Exchange best practices among experts within the partner network Expand existing customer relationships and acquire new customers through joint marketing activities Storm Digital, with offices in Groningen and Amsterdam, works across all digital areas. They help organizations to grow their business rapidly and sustainably based on their mission to accelerate growth in a digital era. The agency believes in collecting and analyzing data and has always been committed to staying ahead of new developments this is where they found a perfect partner in Searchmetrics, which is always driving innovation in the fields of search and content. We have been working with Searchmetrics since 2013 and it has really improved the way we work with data. We are able to demonstrate to our clients more clearly what SEO does and how it can affect everything. Now, as a partner, we are gaining even more insights, which are helping us to improve continuously, says Sander Verkaik, SEO Consultant, Storm Digital Through the completion of various certifications, the new agency partner Storm Digital now has basic skills in working with the features of the Searchmetrics Suite, more in-depth knowledge of strategic customer support in the project area of the software, and pitching skills to make better use of Searchmetrics for potential customers. For Storm Digital, it is especially important to keep an organized approach regarding search and content. Here, Searchmetrics helps them to structure the content in a clear manner, enables them to monitor the results and focus on the next steps. Also, since using Searchmetrics, the agency receives insights about their own performance and that of competitors. Another useful support for the daily work of Storm Digital is the Searchmetrics Visibility Guard, which helps them to protect their high-value pages against performance losses due to unforeseen technical errors. Thanks to the fully automatic alert system, the agency can proactively spot performance-eroding page errors before search engines do, then correct them before their critical mistakes damage online presence and negatively affect revenue. But the main benefit for Storm Digital in the partnership with Searchmetrics is: We want to take our decisions based on information we can trust and which is reliable and this is something we get with Searchmetrics, concludes Sander Verkaik. It is very important for us that our partners and clients can rely on our data and it is great to hear that our new partner Storm Digital derives business decisions based on our immense historical database, with over 250 billion pieces of information, says Dagny Koch, VP Partner Development, Searchmetrics. Cogeco Peer 1 Names Paul Dyck Vice President, Human Resources TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwired) 10/19/17 Note to editors: there is a photo associated with this release. , a global provider of enterprise IT products and services, today announced the appointment of Paul Dyck to the role of Vice President, Human Resources, where he will lead and oversee Cogeco Peer 1s human resources strategies, programs and policies. With more than 20 years of experience in human resources across a range of industries, including a decade at the executive level, Paul will now be charged with building impactful initiatives around leadership and management development, engagement, succession planning, training, compensation and recruitment. Paul is both a strong change agent and a collaborative Human Resources thinker who will be able to develop a People strategy that is well aligned to our regional needs, as well as those of our parent company, said Philippe Jette, President of Cogeco Peer 1. He will lead the design, development and implementation of state-of-the-art HR initiatives with qualitative and quantitative metrics to measure success globally and to reward high performance at all levels. Im excited to join a fast-growing company with exceptionally high standards of customer service, and eager to help Cogeco Peer 1 achieve its growth objective by developing and implementing targeted HR programs to build an even stronger world class organization, said Paul Dyck, Vice President, Human Resources, Cogeco Peer 1. Paul has worked in various executive roles with COM DEV International, Toromont Energy, Armstrong Group, Spectrum Signal Processing, Bell Canada, Bombardier and Boeing. With knowledge of all facets of human resources, including talent management, compensation design, change management, and organisational transformation, he is the ideal change agent to identify competency, knowledge and talent challenges across Cogeco Peer 1. Paul has a Masters of Industrial Relations (Human Resources) from Queens University and a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Philosophy from Brock University. ABOUT COGECO PEER 1 Cogeco Peer 1 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) and is a global provider of essential business-to-business products and services, such as colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services that allow customers across Canada, Mexico, the United States and Western Europe to focus on their core business. With 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe combined, Cogeco Peer 1 is a trusted partner to businesses small, medium and large, providing the ability to access, move, manage and store mission-critical data worldwide, backed by superior customer support. More information visit: For the latest Cogeco Peer 1 news: To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: Contacts: INFORMATION AND INTERVIEW REQUESTS: Peter Morrow High Road on behalf of Cogeco Peer 1 613-688-1184 Virtual Instruments Partners with Gigamon to Provide Comprehensive Monitoring for Network-Attached Storage Deployments SAN JOSE, CA (Marketwired) 10/19/17 , the leader in application-centric infrastructure performance management, today announced a new partnership with , the industry leader in visibility solutions, to meet a broader set of customer needs for the . Virtual Instruments further extended its NAS monitoring portfolio today by introducing support for the SMB protocol for the VirtualWisdom . Through the Gigamon partnership and the enhanced NAS probe capabilities, Virtual Instruments now offers the industrys most comprehensive set of performance monitoring solutions for NAS deployments. NAS environments present unique challenges to IT organizations, such as hard to detect rogue clients and noisy neighbors, which cause performance issues that require analysis capabilities beyond the software-only-based monitoring solutions offered by many OEMs. Exacerbating these challenges is the fact that NAS environments are continuously growing and changing, making them increasingly difficult to manage. As a result, many organizations operating NAS environments dont have access to comprehensive, accurate and vendor-agnostic real-time monitoring at the protocol level. This lack of comprehensive monitoring means enterprises are unable to optimize the performance, utilization and health of their NAS deployments, which leads to wasted OpEx and CapEx spending and an inability to meet performance-based SLAs. This also leads to significant wasted staff productivity, as IT support teams struggle to identify root causes of NAS performance issues. Through the new partnership with Gigamon, Virtual Instruments VirtualWisdom platform can now ingest IP network data flows from the Gigamon GigaVUE Appliances. As a result, joint customers are now able to gain access to the comprehensive monitoring capabilities of the VirtualWisdom solution to overcome the challenges presented by NAS deployments utilizing IP networks, and Virtual Instruments is able to significantly expand its potential market opportunity to include all organizations using NAS, independent of network protocol. VirtualWisdom is clearly recognized as a leader in infrastructure performance management, said Phil Griston, senior director of partner marketing and development, at Gigamon. Our partnership with Virtual Instruments will give customers effective and efficient access to a comprehensive, real-time NAS monitoring solution, supported by an advanced set of analytics that enable both superior reactive and proactive performance management. The Gigamon Visibility Platform is an ideal solution to help ensure VirtualWisdom has access to all the relevant network packet and flow data it needs to perform optimally. development and governance practice leader David Norfolk added: Network Attached Storage (NAS) has been one of the infrastructure success stories of the last few years; but at Bloor we are always concerned that it might not be managed as effectively as traditional storage after all, should one trust any NAS vendors performance metrics without a bit of due diligence? So, we welcome the new partnership of Virtual Instruments with Gigamon. Extending Virtual Instruments infrastructure performance management into real-time NAS monitoring can only be a good thing for overall performance management, SLA resilience, and effective root cause analysis if there are performance problems. An organisation should not only own the data in a NAS installation but also its associated performance metadata, if it is to claim that it has a well-governed NAS solution. To further support IT organizations monitoring needs for their NAS deployments, Virtual Instruments is adding support for NetFlow IP network monitoring and the SMB protocol to the VirtualWisdom NAS Performance Probe, in the Storage and SAN Management Tools category of TechTargets Storage Magazine/SearchStorage.com 2016 Products of the Year Awards. As a result, Virtual Instruments now supports the two predominant file sharing network environments, NFS and SMB, which are the primary protocols upon which large enterprises deploy business-critical applications on NAS. VirtualWisdom now enables holistic visibility from the VM to the LUN or file system. Key features of the enhanced VirtualWisdom NAS Performance Probe include: The ability to ingest wire-data NAS metrics through compatibility with Gigamon Visibility Solutions; Added support for the SMB protocol, which is offered as a simple software upgrade to the current product at no extra charge; Added support for NetFlow network traffic flow visibility for IP networks; The ability to provide a single performance management solution for both SAN- and NAS-based infrastructures; and A complete suite of metrics, alarms, reports and analytics now available for SMB storage, in addition to NFS. By providing support for both the SMB and NFS protocols, Virtual Instruments is able to ensure that its customers can: Accelerate adoption and deployment of NAS implementations; Enable performance-based SLAs; Optimize OpEx and CapEx investments related to NAS deployments; and Improve application availability. The partnership with Gigamon, combined with our new NetFlow and SMB monitoring capabilities extend our award-winning NAS Performance Probe to an even broader set of customers, said Tim Van Ash, SVP of products at Virtual Instruments. Now, for the first time, IT organizations across all industries can proactively ensure the performance and uptime of their complex, multi-vendor NAS deployments from a single console. Virtual Instruments enhanced VirtualWisdom NAS Performance Probe will be generally available in December from the company and its authorized reseller partners. To learn more about Virtual Instruments NAS performance monitoring solutions, please visit: . 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 . Anne Stanley 10Fold for Virtual Instruments +1 415 800 5383 Canal Partners Reports Successful Exit from Atlanta-Based CallRail SCOTTSDALE, AZ (Marketwired) 10/19/17 , an early stage venture capital firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has sold its interest in the call analytics platform , making it the fifth consecutive successful exit for the firm. Canal Partners originally invested in the startup in 2014 as part of a Series A round that helped propel the companys incredible trajectory and prepared them for their next phase of growth. The initial investment also included capital from two well-known, and widely respected and successful serial entrepreneurs Wain Kellum, former partner at Canal Partners, and Reggie Bradford, an Atlanta-based techpreneur. Canal Partners, along with Kellum and Bradford, provided strategic advisory and helped build out the management team to ensure the companys ongoing growth and profitability. Kellum joined the board and assisted in guiding the CallRail team, sharing his expertise from previous endeavors in telecom and marketing software. CallRail not only solved a need in the call analytics space with its unique and intuitive software that challenged the status quo, they were organized, customer-focused, and were completely disrupting an otherwise legacy industry, said Todd Belfer, managing partner with Canal Partners. We recognized a product and leadership team with tremendous potential and knew we could support their continued growth with the initial injection of capital and strategic guidance at a critical time. Now, as the torch passes to new investment partners Sageview Capital and Leaders Fund, we look forward to CallRail scaling to all new echelons of growth. CallRail enables those in industries that rely heavily on phone-based business leads such as attorneys, home service providers, and auto mechanics to identify the customer journey that led to the phone call and use that data to create better, more effective marketing campaigns. With mobile search and digital advertising continuing to dominate, CallRails software is proving to be an imperative part of the digital marketers tech stack. Canal Partners has sold its interest in the company with a new investment deal from Sageview Capital and Leaders Fund which positions them to further expand and dominate in the MarTech space. When we set out to raise our initial round of capital, it was important for us to find a true partner who aligned with our vision and values, and who understood what it took to scale a SaaS company, said Kevin Mann, co-founder and CPO of CallRail. We found that in Canal Partners. They had a successful track record and standout reputation, and we had tremendous trust the strategic guidance they provided. They became an integral part of our rapid growth and market dominance. Canal Partners has invested in and advanced more than a dozen companies to date, helping them increase market share in their respective industries and move to the next phase of growth. The firm focuses on growth-stage companies with proven, scalable business models, particularly internet technology and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. CallRail provides call tracking and analytics to more than 65,000 companies and marketing agencies globally. CallRails intuitive software helps data-driven marketers optimize the performance of their advertising campaigns, increase sales effectiveness, and improve customer retention. Learn more at . Canal Partners is a venture capital firm that provides professional investor services and capital to B2B software and internet technology companies that have market-proven products and services. Canal Partners creates, and increases value for, highly scalable, revenue-generating, growth-oriented companies in a variety of internet and software-as-a-service businesses. Canal Partners serves the Phoenix, Atlanta, and San Diego markets and works with select portfolio companies, actively participating in board, advisory, strategic, and support roles to increase scalability, financial stability, and shareholder value. Learn more at . Contact: Beth Cochran 602-758-0750 Deb Caron 480-628-0270 Among the highlights of the September 2017 quarterly performance report for the ERI Scientific Beta indices: ERI Scientific Beta offers smart factor indices providing exposure to the six well-known rewarded factors (Mid Cap, Value, High Momentum, Low Volatility, High Profitability and Low Investment) that are also well-diversified in order to reduce the specific risks. This quarter, ending September 30, 2017, the best performing index in the Developed universe among those smart factor indices is the SciBeta Developed Narrow High Factor Exposure High Momentum Diversified Multi-Strategy index with a relative return of 1.62% compared to the broad cap-weighted index, while the SciBeta Developed Narrow High Factor Exposure Mid-Cap Diversified Multi-Strategy index posts the lowest relative return (-2.75%). Based on its single smart factor indices, ERI Scientific Beta also offers multi smart factor indices. This quarter, the SciBeta Developed Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy 4-Factor EW index, the SciBeta Developed High Factor Exposure Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy 6-Factor EW index and the SciBeta Developed Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy Max Factor Exposure index post relative returns of -0.65%, -1.23% and -0.46% respectively compared to cap-weighted indices. Year-to-date, the indices post relative returns of -0.05 %, -0.45% and 1.06% respectively compared to cap-weighted indices. The Scientific Beta Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy Four-Factor Equal-Weight indices, which were the first multi-factor indices to be offered by ERI Scientific Beta, show an average live annualised outperformance across all Scientific Beta Developed regions of 2.07% over their three-year live track record and an improvement in the Sharpe Ratio of 49.48% compared to their cap-weighted benchmark1. 1The average live outperformance and improvement in Sharpe Ratio across all Scientific Beta developed regions of Scientific Beta Multi-Beta Multi-Strategy Equal Weight indices is 2.07% for the outperformance and 49.48% for the improvement in Sharpe Ratio. This live analysis is based on daily total returns in the period from December 20, 2013 (live date) to September 30, 2017 for all diversified multi-strategy indices that have more than 3 years of track record for all available developed world regions - USA, Eurozone, UK, Developed Europe, Developed Europe ex UK, Japan, Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan, Developed ex UK, Developed ex USA and Developed. The benchmark used is a cap-weighted portfolio of all stocks in the respective Scientific Beta universes. As part of its policy of transferring know-how to the industry, EDHEC-Risk Institute has set up ERI Scientific Beta. ERI Scientific Beta is an original initiative which aims to favour the adoption of the latest advances in smart beta design and implementation by the whole investment industry. Its academic origin provides the foundation for its strategy: offer, in the best economic conditions possible, the smart beta solutions that are most proven scientifically with full transparency of both the methods and the associated risks. ERI Scientific Beta, 1 George Street, #15-02, Singapore 049145. For further information, please contact: Carolyn Essid, Tel.: +33 493 187 824, E-mail: carolyn.essid@scientificbeta.com , Web: www.scientificbeta.com Altify Launches the 2018 Benchmark Study to Examine the Impact of Sales and Marketing Best Practices on Business Performance DUBLIN, IRELAND and SAN JOSE, CA (Marketwired) 10/19/17 Altify,, announced the opening of the, focusing on the key business trends, company growth drivers and sales best practices from around the world. The goal of the study is to uncover insights to help companies succeed who are battling with digital transformation in a customer first world. Last year, 833 respondents based in 60 countries, across 12 different industry sectors took part in the 2017 Business Performance Benchmark Study. The 2018 Business Performance Benchmark Study builds on previous work which last year found 62 percent of enterprise sales teams tended to misidentify the correct decision makers, which contributes to wasting $579 billion on dead-end meetings. The also found that regardless of investments in technology, artificial intelligence and other factors, more gender and racially diverse sales teams and organizations, performed better compared to their peers. This year the study will once again examine the overall business sentiment and confidence in global markets while also looking to identify areas of potential disruptive factors. While the 2017 study uncovered an overall positive business outlook globally, the impacts of digital transformation, workplace diversity, currency volatility and the impact of anti-globalization policies such as Brexit are key disruptive figures to global organizations. The 2018 study will further explore these and other disruptive forces uncovered in 2017, while also uncovering best practices in sales, marketing and strategy to provide actionable insights to improve sales velocity and drive business performance such as: Retaining customers was identified as the number one strategic priority for 2017, ahead of capturing new business. However, 32 percent of companies reported that they were not effective at uncovering and understanding their customers business problems. With diversity, a hotly debated topic in the media, the 2017 study respondents understood the value of a diverse workforce on their organizations bottom line as 70 percent believe a diversity policy impacts the business performance of their organization. Companies who reported a strong policy on diversity and inclusion reported 50 percent greater success in retaining their customers. Customer Retention is a core goal for sales teams in 2017 as 87 percent of respondents in the 2017 study said it was their organizations strategic focus. Just 50 percent of sellers reported that they believe marketers understand their customers. Business success in global organizations requires a customer focused sales strategy leveraging data driven insights, and the skills, processes, methodologies and tools to execute the strategy, said Anthony Reynolds, CEO at Altify. Businesses are looking to accelerate their sales velocity by better understanding their customers and the markets they compete in. Our goal with the study is to provide actionable insights to help companies grow in 2018. Please to participate in the study. The 2018 Business Performance Benchmark Study is open for responses until December 1st and only takes 10 minutes to complete. Participants will receive a copy of the study findings and an invitation to the presentation of the study results at the end of January 2018. For further insights on how organizations can improve their business performance, Altify recently published Thriving in the Whirlwind, Four Strategies to Grow Revenue Now. The book provides updated insight on sales performance best practices uncovered in the 2017 study as well as previous research from Altify. The book is available now at and at Amazon.com. For more information about the Altify Platform, visit or connect via social media: Altify is the digital sales transformation software company, helping sales teams win the deals that matter and increase wallet share with a suite of software products that improve opportunity and account management. Built natively on Salesforce platform, Altify helps salespeople, managers and executives achieve sustained revenue growth and sales success. Altify customers include: Autodesk, Brocade, BT, GE, Honeywell, HP Enterprise, Johnson Controls, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Salesforce and Software AG. Find out more at . Positive Marketing for Altify UK Edward Stevenson | Charles Parant 0203 637 0632 BOCA Communications for Altify US Shauna Roberts English Finnish ASPO PLC PRESS RELEASE October 19, 2017 Invitation to the press conference on Aspo's interim report Aspo Plc's interim report for January-September 2017 will be published on Thursday, October 26, 2017, approximately at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time. A press conference (in Finnish) for analysts, investors and media will be held on the same day at 14.00 (Finnish time), at Hotel Kamp, conference room Paavo Nurmi, address Pohjoisesplanadi 29, 00100 Helsinki. Registrations beforehand to hilkka.jokiniemi (a) aspo.com, tel. +358 9 521 4100 by Tuesday October 24, 2017, at the latest. CEO Aki Ojanen, CFO Arto Meitsalo and Group Treasurer Harri Seppala will be present at the meeting. The conference will be held in Finnish. The presentation material (in English and Finnish) will be available on Aspo's website www.aspo.com under "News and materials > Reports and presentations" on the publication day at 14.00. ASPO PLC Aki Ojanen CEO Further information: Harri Seppala, Group Treasurer, Aspo Plc, phone +358 9 5211 or +358 400 617 201 harri.seppala(a)aspo.com DISTRIBUTION: Key media www.aspo.com Aspo is a conglomerate that owns and develops business operations in the Northern Europe and growth markets focusing on demanding B-to-B customers. Our strong company brands - ESL Shipping, Leipurin, Telko and Kauko - aim to be the market leaders in their sectors. They are responsible for their own operations, customer relationships, and the development of these. Together they generate Aspo's goodwill. Aspo's Group structure and business operations are continually developed without any predefined schedules. 19 October 2017 LSE Code: 3ITS BOOST ISSUER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY (a public company incorporated with limited liability in Ireland) BOOST FTSE MIB 3X SHORT DAILY ETP SECURITIES PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF THE AFFECTED SECURITIES ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING OF THE ETP SECURITYHOLDERS THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt about what action you should take, you are recommended to consult your independent financial adviser. If you have sold or transferred all of your Boost FTSE MIB 3x Short Daily ETP Securities (the "Affected Securities") of Boost Issuer Public Limited Company (the "Issuer"), please send this document, together with the accompanying form of proxy, at once to the purchaser or transferee or stockbroker, banker or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was made, for onward transmission to the purchaser or transferee. Boost Issuer Public Limited Company (the "Issuer") wishes to announce that the Meeting of the holders of Boost FTSE MIB 3x Short Daily ETP Securities (the "Affected Securities", with ISIN IE00B873CW36) scheduled for today at 11:00 a.m. (the "Original Meeting") has been adjourned, in accordance with paragraph 20 of Schedule 7 of the Trust Deed, for lack of a quorum. The adjourned meeting will be reconvened on 11:00 a.m. on 3 November 2017, being a date not more than 30 days after the Original Meeting, and will be held at the offices of Capita International Financial Services (Ireland) Limited in 2 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland (the "Adjourned Meeting"). The Adjourned Meeting is being held to consider certain amendments to documentation, made under the powers set out in clause 2 of schedule 7 of the master trust deed of the Affected Securities, required to effect a reduction in the principal amount of the Affected Securities from EUR 2.00 to EUR 0.20. This follows the price of the Affected Securities falling below 500 per cent. of its current principal amount on 19 September 2017, and is designed to maintain the normal trading and operations of the Affected Securities. Full details of the Proposal and Extraordinary Resolution are set out in the notice dated 20 September 2017. Holders of the Affected Securities will receive a form of proxy by post, allowing them to vote on the matters being considered at the Meeting by proxy. Under article 11.5 of the Issuer's Articles of Association, no further notification is required for the Adjourned Meeting. Holders of the Affected Securities are therefore directed to the original notification posted to them on 20 September 2017, and also available on the website of the Issuer, at https://www.wisdomtree.eu/en-gb/resource-library/prospectus-and-regulatory-reports#tab-2A942D42-5AA1-4008-9080-3C2DADB050A7. Holders of the Affected Securities should note that a duly completed form of proxy deposited in respect of the Original Meeting will continue to be valid for the Adjourned Meeting unless previously revoked or suspended by a further form of proxy prior to the Meeting. In accordance with normal practice, The Law Debenture Trust Corporation p.l.c., as trustee, expresses no opinion as to the merits of the Proposal, the terms of which were not negotiated by it. It has however authorised it to be stated that, on the basis of the information contained in the original circular and in this document (which it advises holders of Affected Securities to read carefully) it has no objection to the form in which the Proposal and Notice of Meeting are presented to holders of Affected Securities for their consideration. Holders of the Affected Securities will be notified of the outcome of the Adjourned Meeting shortly thereafter. Estonian English Baltika Groups third quarter resulted in net loss in the amount of 471 thousand euros. The result of last year same period was a net loss of 296 thousand euros. In the third quarter Groups revenue remained at the same level as last year and was 12,001 thousand euros. Retail revenue in the third quarter was 9,435 thousand euros, decreasing 1% compared to the same period last year. At the same time e-store and wholesale and franchise sales continued to increase. The retail sales in the Baltic region was mainly impacted by the August result, which stayed strongly below last years level. The number of visitors in shopping centres decreased drastically in August probably due to warm weather, which in turn had a major impact on retail sales result. In the third quarter, Estonian retail market was the only market, which showed revenue growth. Wholesale and franchise revenue increased 4% in third quarter and was 2,222 thousand euros. Starting from spring of 2017, Baltika sells Mosaic brand to Russian shopping centre chain Lady & Gentleman CITY. Mosaic collection is represented in five Lady & Gentleman CITY shopping centres in the largest cities in Russia. In addition to the new customer, sales growth is continually supported by franchise market in Serbia entered in the beginning of the year and Peek & Cloppenburg department stores chain. At the end of the third quarter there were 32 franchise stores representing Baltikas brands, forming 26% of the total stores portfolio. In nine months total the wholesale and franchise revenue increased 7% and was 5,443 thousand euros. Revenue from Baltika Groups e-store Andmorefashion.com increased 29% in the third quarter and was 321 thousand euros. The best-selling brand in e-store was Monton, comprising of 32% from e-store revenue. As usual, the most popular product was the dress, which sold 2,500 pieces in the third quarter. Development of the e-store continued in third quarter: stores providing Click&Collect service in Latvia got an addition (adding the option to order e-shop packages to Monton store in Riga Spice), the e-shop homepage and shopping cart were updated, which improves e-customers user experience. In nine months total, the e-store Andmorefashion.com revenue increased 38% and exceeded the one million euro threshold. The companys gross profit margin in the third quarter was 44.0% decreasing by 1.4 percentage points in the year. Gross profit margin continues to be affected by higher markdowns in retail business compared to last year. The gross profit for the quarter was 5,284 thousand euros, decreasing by 148 thousand euros compared to last years comparable result. The nine months total gross profit amounted to 16,548 thousand euros (9 months 2016: 16,922 thousand euros). Groups third quarter and nine months total distribution and general expense remained at the last year level. The distribution and general expense ratio to revenue in the third quarter was 46.6% i.e. ratio has decreased by 0.1 percentage points in the year. In nine months total, the ratio was 49.4% (9 months 2016: 49.5%). In nine months, Baltikas revenue increased 1% compared to same period last year. The e-store and wholesale and franchise revenue showed growth; with that one of the companys objectives for 2017 revenue growth in all of the sales channels was partly met. Company ended the nine months with a loss in the amount of 862 thousand euros, the comparative result from previous year was a loss in the amount of 443 thousand euros. The main reason for the weak result is the lower than expected retail sales due to deeper mark-downs, which in turn decreased the gross profit. Highlights of the period until the date of release of this quarterly report Financial Supervision Authority approved on 10th of July 2017 the Convertible K-bond offering prospectus. The offering comprises of 900 bonds with issuance price of 5,000 euros, therefore total of 4,500,000 euros. Bonds with the term of two year bear 6% interest p.a. Each bond gives to its owner the right to subscribe for 15,625 shares of the Company with subscription price 0.32 euros per share. The offer period ended on 16 August 2017 at 2 p.m. Public offering of bonds was exercised in 99% extent: from 900 bonds offered 889 bonds were subscribed, in the total amount of 4,445,000 euros. Subscription applications were submitted by shareholders of AS Baltika and also by other investors. In August, AS Baltika redeemed 600 J-series bonds in total issue price of 3,000,000 euros. The three-year J-series bonds were issued on 28th of July 2014, bearing an annual interest of 6.5%, issuance price per bond was 5,000 euros. Each J-series bondholder had an opportunity to convert the bonds into the K-series convertible bonds, which was used: out of 600 Jseries bonds 593 bonds with accrued interest were exchanged for K-series bonds. For the outstanding 7 J-bonds the company returned to investors the amounts paid for the bonds with accrued interests. On 30 August 2017 AS Baltika was informed of following changes in substantial shareholding: with a purchase of new shares on 30 August 2017 KJK Fund Sicav-SIF (on ING Luxembourg S.A. account) shareholding in AS Baltika has increased to 38.90 percentage and E.Miroglio Finance S.A (on Clearstream Banking Luxembourg S.A. account) shareholding has increased to 17.78 percentage. With a disposal of shares on 30 August 2017 OU BMIG shareholding in AS Baltika is 0 percentage and the shareholding under Meelis Milder control (direct holding, immediate family members and entities under his control) was 3.06 percentage. In September the biggest brand in Baltikas portfolio Monton celebrated its 15th birthday. For the occasion, Monton designers created a special collection named Freedom as a tribute to all free spirits, to freedom of creation and expression and to free Estonia. To Celebrate Estonias 100th and Canada's 150th birthday, a premiere under the concept called Northern Spirit EstoSyle was held in Toronto in Canada in September. During this event, eight internationally most recognized Estonian fashion and design brands were showcased, including three Baltikas brands: Monton, Baltman and Ivo Nikkolo. On 11 November 2017, Supervisory Board decided to recall the head of purchasing and supply chain Ingrid Uibukant from the Management Board starting from 18th of December 2017. Management Board of Baltika AS will continue with two members: Chief Executive Officer Meelis Milder and Chief Financial Officer Maigi Parnik-Pernik. On October, Baltika Group renewed its e-store growth strategy with a clear goal to increase sales outside the Baltic states. Within this process a market entry strategy was established that integrates strengths of a physical store with strengths of Baltika Groups e-store Andmorefashion.com. The goal is to offer unified customer experience across channels and connect the classical retail business with opportunities of an e-store. Currently, the first pilot project is prepared in order to use the strategy to enter Finnish market. Consolidated statement of financial position 30 Sept 2017 31 Dec 2016 ASSETS Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 428 419 Trade and other receivables 3,380 1,956 Inventories 10,716 11,096 Total current assets 14,524 13,471 Non-current assets Deferred income tax asset 228 228 Other non-current assets 529 522 Property, plant and equipment 2,519 3,022 Intangible assets 1,540 1,676 Total non-current assets 4,816 5,448 TOTAL ASSETS 19,340 18,919 EQUITY AND LIABILITIES Current liabilities Borrowings 4,197 5,835 Trade and other payables 5,461 6,923 Total current liabilities 9,658 12,758 Non-current liabilities Borrowings 5,416 1,196 Total non-current liabilities 5,416 1,196 TOTAL LIABILITIES 15,074 13,954 EQUITY Share capital at par value 8,159 8,159 Share premium 496 496 Reserves 1,345 1,182 Retained earnings -4,872 -5,049 Net profit (loss) for the period -862 177 TOTAL EQUITY 4,266 4,965 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 19,340 18,919 Consolidated statement of profit and loss 3 Q 2017 3 Q 2016 9M 2017 9M 2016 Revenue 12,001 11,966 34,490 34,289 Cost of goods sold -6,717 -6,534 -17,942 -17,367 Gross profit 5,284 5,432 16,548 16,922 Distribution costs -5,053 -4,985 -15,205 -15,094 Administrative and general expenses -541 -605 -1,820 -1,874 Other operating income (-expense) -43 -14 -23 -51 Operating loss -353 -172 -500 -97 Finance costs -118 -124 -362 -346 Loss before income tax -471 -296 -862 -443 Net loss for the period -471 -296 -862 -443 Basic earnings per share from net loss for the period, EUR -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 Diluted earnings per share from net loss for the period, EUR -0.01 -0.01 -0.02 -0.01 Maigi Parnik-Pernik Member of the Management Board maigi.parnik@baltikagroup.com Find presentation of Q3 results: http://www.baltikagroup.com/investors/presentations/ FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: Majedie Asset Management Limited (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree TESCO PLC (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 18 October 2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: ORD 5P Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 296,662,777 3.62 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 296,662,777 3.62 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit ORD 5P Purchase 15,000,000 186.7079 (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO Date of disclosure: 19 October 2017 Contact name: Matthew Hambly Telephone number: 0207 618 3900 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. But he and the company were deceiving the public. In fact, his severance pay was apparently around 80 million euros, a sum that was obscured in the company's financial statements. The lion's share of it went into the consultancy contract Gut signed when he stepped down, according to a former member of the supervisory board, who points to a clue hidden deep in EADS' annual report from 2008. The consultancy contract, including Gut's name, is mentioned in the annual report from 2007, but no figure is given. The report from the following year does provide a figure, but only in a footnote, and Gut's name is nowhere to be found. Only those in the know would have been able to put two and two together. The annual report from 2008 contains this vague statement: "Within the current year's additions to other intangible assets, EADS proceeded in December 2008 to the payment of a gross amount of 86 million to acquire the intangible rights previously embodied under a Service Provider Agreement." A roundabout statement if there ever was one. What it basically means is: EADS did not pay Gut millions right when he left the company, but slightly later, in 2008. Airbus has not commented. But according to the former supervisory board member, the consultancy contract was the vehicle used to give Gut's golden handshake its glint. Hush Money? The information obtained by SPIEGEL and Mediapart suggests that the negotiations were led by EADS CEO Louis Gallois. Mediapart has confirmed with French sources, and DER SPIEGEL with the company's supervisory board at the time, that the exit agreement was countersigned by Enders as co-CEO to Gallois. Allegedly, most of the multi-million euro sum was made up of commissions from aircraft sales which Gut claimed for himself - including the 80 A350s bought by Qatar. But it is said that the severance pay was also as high as it was to give Gut an incentive to leave. "Compensation," in other words. Or was it hush money? Gut, after all, knew a lot about making sales to corrupt countries. And if Enders had suspected Gut was failing to abide by compliance standards, why did he allow him to continue drumming up business for Airbus as an external consultant, beyond the company's direct control? Then EADS co-CEO Louis Gallois did not respond to Mediapart and DER SPIEGEL's request for comment on the exit agreements. Gut has not commented either. Airbus, meanwhile, said it was unable to comment due to ongoing investigations in France and Britain. Chahid El Hafed, Oct 18, 2017 (SPS) - The representative of the Frente POLISARIO to the United Nations, Bujari Ahmed, stated that the Saharawi leadership will take advantage of the visit of the Special Envoy for the Western Sahara, Mr. Horst Kohler, to exchange views on the peace process that is blocked by Moroccan obstructions. The Sahrawi diplomat told the Saharawi National Radio that "it is positive that the new envoy comes from Germany, a very active and influential country in international politics ". In his response to the question concerning Morocco's attempt not to echo the visit, Bujari Ahmed explained that "Morocco does not want a person of this size to put the conflict back on the international agenda and, especially in these circumstances , where the Security Council advocates compliance with the mandates of the Peacekeeping Missions in the World. " It should be noted that the POLISARIO had expressed at the meeting of its Permanent Bureau, chaired by Secretary-General Brahim Gali, its welcome to the visit of the special envoy to the Refugee Camps and the Saharawi national institutions, which will take place tomorrow, as well as its "willingness to ensure constructive cooperation with the envoy to complete the last process of decolonization in Africa by holding a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people. Kohler's first visit to the region, which aims to resume negotiations between the parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, began Monday and lasts several days. SPS 125/090/TRA Wilaya de Auserd, Oct 18,2017 (SPS) - The Consultative Council, on Wednesday, called on the international community to end the suffering of the Saharawi people, which lasted more than four decades. The Saharawi Consultative Council Vice-President, Abba Mohamed Moulud Abbali, said in an address on behalf of his organ, on the occasion of the arrival of the Personal Envoy to the camps, that the Saharawi people collaborated positively with all successive special envoys despite absence of a just solution to the Saharawi question. Aba Mohamed Moulud, reiterated that the Saharawi people demanded to put an end to their suffering and, in particular, human rights violations in the Occupied Territories of Morocco, which requires an urgent solution to the 42-year conflict. In this regard, the Advisory Council considers that the reasons why the efforts of the previous envoys were not successful are the obstructions of Morocco that seek to prevent the application of international legality. The Vice-President of the Consultative Council reiterated his confidence in the new envoy and the willingness of the Saharawi people to collaborate with him, while emphasizing his outstanding career, which will "contribute to the solution of the conflict."SPS 125/090/TRA Chahid El Hafed, October 19, 2017 (SPS) - The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Western Sahara, Horst Kohler, held a working session with members of the Saharawi negotiating delegation at the guest house in Chahid El Hafed. "This is an initial meeting with Kohler since the beginning of his tenure as UNSG Personal Envoy to Western Sahara," said Head of the Negotiating Delegation, Jatri Aduh. "He (Personal Envoy) expressed his full and complete readiness to resolve matters and the existing problems as a result of Moroccan intransigence to international legitimacy." The Saharawi people are prepared to cooperate with the United Nations, its Secretary-General and its Personal Envoy to end the illegal occupation of Western Sahara on the basis of international legitimacy and the relevant UN and African resolutions, adds the head of the negotiating delegation Jatri Aduh stressed that the Sahrawi issue is decolonization issue, whose fate has not yet been determined, calling for creating conditions for resuming negotiations. This, according to the head of the negotiating team, is done by stopping the continuous violations of human rights committed by the Moroccan state as well as the systematic looting of the Sagarwi natural resources. "The Saharawi people are enduring enough and it is time to exert real pressure on Morocco to comply with international legitimacy," said the Sahrawi official. "Everyone is convinced that Morocco is the one hindering the settlement efforts." SPS 125/090/TRA It's one of those small and forgettable moments in a movie. A soldier, returning from war, gets off a plane and hands his weapon to another soldier checking him in. "Sergeant Schumann, welcome home," the other soldier says. That's the moment, and then it's gone, and yet every time I see that scene, it makes me teary, because I'm seeing everything I've learned over the past 10 years about war, including what it can do to a man I'm grateful is still alive. The scene is in a movie called "Thank You for Your Service," which opens Oct. 27 and is based on a book I wrote about Adam Schumann, a now 36-year-old veteran whom I met in 2007 when I was reporting on the Iraq War. That was the year when President George W. Bush went on TV to announce a last-ditch expansion of the war that would become known as the surge. "Well, here are the differences," Bush said at one point, comparing the surge with the war's previous failed efforts. Meanwhile, in Fort Riley, Kansas, a commander who had just learned his infantry battalion would be part of the surge listened to Bush and thought: We'll be the difference. My battalion. My soldiers. Me. A few weeks later, that battalion of some 800 soldiers, one of whom was Adam, entered the war. Most were 19 and 20 years old, and they, too, thought they would be the difference. They had about them an air of invincibility, which lasted right up until the first of them was killed. Then came a second death, and a third, and soon the invincibility had been replaced with a soldier's singular knowledge of what heartbreak can feel like, followed by a deepening anger, followed by a coarsening of their souls. I know this because I was with them for most of their deployment, including in September, one of the cruelest months of all. On Sept. 4, a roadside bomb blasted into five soldiers in a Humvee. Three died on the spot, a fourth lost both his legs, and a fifth lost all his limbs and was burned everywhere, surviving somehow for four months before his mother sent out an email saying, "Duncan would have been twenty years old tomorrow - he will be forever nineteen now, and forever missed." On Sept. 22, when another roadside bomb killed another soldier,the cruel twist this time was that as soon as he got back to base, he was going to call his wife, who a few hours before had given birth to their first child. And on Sept. 29, another roadside bomb killed another soldier, a death that was the ruin of Adam Schumann. That soldier was the battalion's 11th soldier to die, and after the memorial ceremony, a little lost myself and in search of something encouraging, I asked around for the name of a great soldier to talk to. "Schumann," someone suggested. "If he's not our best, he's one of our best." One quiet day, with nothing to do, I went to find the great Sgt. Schumann, who turned out to be a gaunt, haunted-looking man sitting alone on his bunk. "I guess I know why you're here," he said. "I'm here because I heard you're a great soldier," I said. He laughed at that. Maybe so, he said, but he was about go home. He was midway through his third deployment. He had been in combat for a thousand days. "I've lost all hope," he had written in his private journal a few weeks before, just after that 11th death. The dead man was James Doster, who had taken the seat in the Humvee that Adam was supposed to be in, but wasn't in because of his declining mental health. Now waiting to leave, under orders to do so, he was a man tormented by that, and also by something that had happened toward the beginning of the deployment, when a soldier on a rooftop was shot in the head by a sniper. Adam had hoisted the soldier onto his back and carried him down three flights of stairs, and because of the unforgiving angle of things in war, the blood coming out of the soldier's head kept flowing into Adam's open mouth as he gulped for air. Six months later, as he sat on that bunk, he was still tasting that soldier's blood, and so the time had come for him to go. I remember walking him out of the war. He had performed as well as a soldier could. But on that day, as he walked across the forward operating base, he was cloaked in shame. As I wrote in my book about that deployment, "The Good Soldiers": "His stomach hurt as he made his way across the FOB. He felt himself becoming nauseated. At the landing area, other soldiers from other battalions were lined up, and when the helicopter landed, everyone was allowed to board except him. He didn't understand. "'Next one's yours,' he was told, and when it came in a few minutes later, he realized why he'd had to wait. It had a big red cross on the side. It was the helicopter for the injured and the dead. "That was him, Adam Schumann. "He was injured. He was dead. He was done." A few days later, Adam arrived at a little airport in Kansas. No soldier was there to greet him, only his wife, Saskia, watching through airport windows as he walked by himself across the tarmac. He's a skeleton, she thought, with a sinking heart, and she could feel whatever hope she had flowing out of her as she looked at a man who was silently wishing he had some type of physical injury - a bullet wound, a missing limb - so he could prove to anyone, especially to himself, that he had left the war legitimately. Meanwhile, I stayed on in Iraq, and then I wrote my book, and after it was published, I began hearing from soldier after soldier about how hard it was to be home. They were getting into fights. Drinking too much. Getting divorced. Describing symptoms of depression. Not all of them, not most of them, but enough that I decided to write a second book, "Thank You for Your Service," the one upon which the movie is based. Adam is at its core. There are others: Amanda Doster, James Doster's widow, whose shame was that she couldn't stop missing her husband. Tausolo Aieti, whose shame wasn't about the two soldiers he saved from a burning Humvee, but the one he didn't save and who kept showing up in his dreams, on fire and saying, "Why didn't you save me?" All of them in their own ways were versions of Adam, who, as the years went by, was sinking deeper and deeper into his own shame until a day when he ended up in the basement of his house, a shotgun jammed into the underside of his chin, its barrel glistening wet from his crying, his finger on the trigger, all of this illuminated only by the gray light of a cloudy day coming in a little window like a smudge. For 20 minutes or so, Saskia begged Adam not to kill himself, even though a part of her had become so heartbroken and then angry and then coarsened, so tired of it all, she had reached her own point of wanting it to be over. What saved him from killing himself, Adam would say later, was the sound of his son in another part of the house, waking in his crib from a nap. That sound, faint as it was as it seeped through the floorboards, brought Adam back from a place arrived at every day by 20 American veterans who commit suicide, and countless others who almost do. He allowed Saskia to take the gun, and when that happened, his shame now had a crack in it, and the crack allowed him to say out loud, finally, that he probably needed some help. All of what happened next, by no means a straight line, is documented in the book, and now, in fictionalized form, in a movie that came about through the most improbable of circumstances. Somehow, the book ended up in the hands of Steven Spielberg, who wanted his company, Dreamworks, to make it into a movie. Somehow, when I met Spielberg, and he asked me to sign a copy, and I panicked because I wasn't sure whether he spelled his first name Steven or Stephen, and I needed to buy some time to figure it out, and said to him, oh so coolly, "Let's see how the meeting goes," he still wanted to make a movie. "OK. Let's see how the meeting goes," he said, and soon he had hired Jason Hall to write and direct it, and then, filming underway, Hall invited Adam to visit the set. Nine years had gone by since Adam's homecoming, and on this day, the scene being filmed was its movie version. It was a big, complicated scene, involving hundreds of people. Miles Teller, cast as Adam, was there. So was Haley Bennett, cast as Saskia, in her last seconds of being a hopeful wife, and Amy Schumer, cast as Amanda Doster, who was about to run up to Teller and ask him whether he knew what had happened to her husband. And Adam was there, too, dressed in an Army uniform because Hall, in a moment of generosity, had decided to write him into the scene. This was the filming of the forgettable moment. Here came Miles Teller as Adam Schumann, walking across the tarmac. Here was Teller, handing his weapon to the soldier checking him in. And here was Adam, taking that weapon and looking at it, and then looking up at the fictional version of his wounded self. "Sergeant Schumann, welcome home," he said. I've spent a lot of the time over the last 10 years thinking about healing. How it has happened in some soldiers and not in others? How some people think it can be easily accomplished by following a set of instructions, as though willing away the taste of blood is just a matter of discipline. Maybe they're right, I think sometimes, and then my thoughts always return to Adam, who is as willing a person as I've ever met, and whose life is still a long way from perfect. Every so often he calls me, when things are going badly, just to talk, and I'm thankful for that, just as I'm thankful to be able to call him, too, when the one in need is me. Inevitably our conversations come down to the great truth he has learned about healing: You stop trying, or you keep trying. If you keep trying, there will be days when you want to stop. But there will be other days, too, ones beyond the imagination of someone in a basement with a shotgun, or leaving Kansas to win a war. "Sergeant Schumann, welcome home," Adam said on one of the those days, and he said it so well that Hall changed the camera angles and had him say it again. "Sergeant Schumann, welcome home," he said again. And then again, this time in a close-up, with the camera not on Teller but on Adam himself. "Sergeant Schumann, welcome home," he said, and this time, when someone yelled, "Cut," and the filming of a movie's forgettable moment, and its most beautiful moment, was done, several hundred people spontaneously began applauding. It went on for a while, and it was all for a man who was now looking around in confusion, wondering what he had ever done in his life to be so deserving. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD Six patients will be the first to receive end-of-life care next month at the states only hospice center designed as a home. The Fairfield County Hospice House will be ready to receive guests after nearly a decade of planning, making it one of the few hospice centers in Connecticut and filling a void after a 12-bed hospice on Shelburne Road, Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice, closed in 2011. Guests will use their own care providers at the 10,000-square-foot Den Road house, which has six hospice bedrooms that walk out onto the property, common areas and space for caretakers to stay overnight. The Westover hospice house is expected to serve 300 patients a year and is designed for those who are unable to receive hospice care at home and who want peaceful, non-clinical surroundings to live out their final days. If the families cant have somebody at home because they have little kids or theyre frail themselves, this is an opportunity for them to do that, board of directors member Julia Portale said. Weve tried to make it as much of a home as possible. This is an exciting an opportunity for all of us to change the way people feel about end-of-life care, said hospice house Executive Director Terry Robustelli at a gala Wednesday celebrating the near-completion of the house. The project faced hurdles getting off the ground. The land was donated by the Roxbury Community Association, as were the supplies and labor that went into building it, but founding board members still had to raise $1 million and secure another $1 million from the state to complete the project. There were challenges at the state level with regulations that had never addressed this type of hospice facility. It is considered in a different category than the 52-bed Connecticut Hospice, the first of its kind in the country when it opened in Branford in 1974, and the 12-bed regional Regional Hospice & Home Care Center in Danbury. This has been an incredible labor of love, said founding board member Rick Redniss, president of land-use consulting and design firm Redniss & Mead, who teared up during his speech. This is a dedication to making sure that those folks whose homes are simply too small or dont have a home sufficient to allow for their care (can receive) the folks who need to come and visit them, Gov. Dannel P. Mally said at the event. This is a different model, a different scale. Its community appropriate, he said. It will allow for the delivery of these services in support of the frail and the families of the frail. Includes prior reporting by Angela Carella and Keila Torres Ocasio This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he appreciates the fact that Republican and Senate leaders finally agreed to a tentative budget deal Wednesday, but warned he will review the details with skepticism. Two weeks of continuous secret talks among Republican and Democratic leaders finally yielded a tentative deal that could end the nations longest-running fiscal stalemate. But first it must survive the scrutiny of House and Senate members, as well as Malloy, who earlier this month vetoed a two-year, $41 billion budget. The legislative leaders admitted they still did not have final fiscal projections on the package, and declined to reveal more than broad-brush strokes, pending meetings over the next few days with their rank-and-file caucuses. Malloy said he still is on the lookout for budget gimmicks, including raids from agency budgets and so-called one-time revenue sources that have contributed to the states long-term budgetary problems. Im glad the leaders believe they have made progress toward a deal that I can support, Malloy told reporters minutes after the 3 p.m. announcement by lawmakers. Ill reserve judgment on those details and others until I see a full product and would advise you all to do the same. The agreement culminated daily negotiations that leaders held after breaking away from discussions with Malloy earlier in the month, said Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin. Aresimowicz said the final product will include about 50 percent of a previous Democratic budget, 20 percent from the vetoed Republican budget and 30 percent from compromises between the parties. The compromise package would not shift any costs of teacher pensions to the towns and cities that Malloy pushed throughout the year. It immediately drew approval from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. Were confident that we can come to a budget document to be voted on in the near future, Aresimowicz said, after the final four-and-a-half hour session in his office, during which lawmakers reviewed state aid formulas, school support and revenue sources. He said local aid totals have still not been finalized. The hard work has been done, in my opinion, Aresimowicz said, stressing that he would like huge bipartisan margins when the bill comes to the House and Senate, possibly next week. Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the GOPs previously proposed pension changes have been dropped from the tentative package. Fasano said a compromise was reached on a tougher cap on annual spending increases, a new cap on annual bond sales, as well as on municipal mandate relief. This story is about the leadership that got in a room, worked tirelessly day after day, ad nauseam, over everything, and as we said before, talked about issues, which allowed us to get to the heart of the issues, Fasano said. Clearly we have to caucus these issues first, House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, told reporters asking for details. Clearly its not fair to them to hear about a tentative agreement from all of you. Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, stressed that the leaders will be advocating the compromise with hope that the four caucuses will follow. Their votes are going to be the factor that decides everything, he said. On Friday, Looney and Aresimowicz will meet with Malloy. House Democrats and Republicans will then meet in caucus on the issue Thursday. The legislation will be drafted over the weekend. Earlier in the afternoon, about 30 advocates for restoring Medicaid funding held a news conference, confronted Malloy in the cafeteria of the Capitol complex, then demonstrated outside Aresimowiczs office, stressing the need to put higher taxes on the states wealhtiest. Looney, Aresimowicz and House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, stepped outside the negotiating room and met with them briefly. The state has some dire fiscal issues that were trying to deal with in the best possible way, Aresimowicz later said of the meeting. Its very difficult to balance this budget. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: Kames Capital Plc (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Paysafe Group plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 18/10/2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" NO If YES, specify which: 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: Ordinary Share Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 8,080,676 1.655 0 0.00 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: 576,573 0.1181 0 0.00 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: 0 0.00 0 0.00 TOTAL: 8,657,249 1.7731 0 0.00 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit CFD Sale Reducing a long position 9,197 5.8525 GBP (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" None (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? Date of disclosure: 19/10/2017 Contact name: Stephen Adams Telephone number: 0131 549 6714 For any issues relating to this disclosure please contact 0131 549 3288 or kamestradeoperationsmb@kamescapital.com Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK The new Chick-fil-A at 467 Connecticut Ave. began bustling with life Wednesday morning. Nearly three dozen cars crowded in the parking lot, and men in yellow aprons emblazoned with the words RAW CHICKEN POLLO CRUDO unloaded boxes of poultry from a large truck. And though the restaurant would not officially open until the next day, a small tent city had already assembled outside the front doors. Were huge Chick-fil-A fans, said Kathryn Roche of Darien, who had arrived at 5:05 a.m. The first 100 people at the new Chick-fil-A would win 52 meals what the Georgia-based fast-food chain known for its hospitality, Christian values and chicken biscuits billed as a years worth of free food. Each meal consists of a chicken sandwich, waffle fries and a medium drink. So starting around 5 a.m. on Wednesday although the contest officially didnt begin for another half hour people began setting up camp outside the new restaurant. They brought Thermoses of hot chocolate, air mattresses and at least one solar-powered battery and wi-fi hot spot. By 11:45 a.m., 19 people had set up camp. The contest is common at Chick-fil-A openings, but the restaurant does not have many locations in Connecticut (there are seven besides the new one in Norwalk). Many of those camped out had first encountered the chain in the South, where it was founded. Brad Iechner, who was camped out with his wife, Deirdre Iechner, previously camped out for a Chick-fil-A contest in North Carolina during his senior year of college. I was actually telling her if one opened in Connecticut, we should go, said Brad Iechner. The Stamford couple Googled the next opening in the area and made a point to attend. Roche, who sat outside of her tent with a laptop she had only taken a half day off and was keeping up remotely had first eaten at the chain during a work trip to Virginia. She could still remember her first chicken biscuit. The chicken has a secret flavor, Roche said. Actually, we figured it out online: Its pickle juice. Several activities were scheduled for the campers, including a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen, a lip syncing competition and an ice cream social. That morning, the campers had already participated in a name-that-tune contest. T.J. Garbera, who had arranged for Norwalk Common Council candidate Mark Suda to bring him a campaign sign to display at his tent, was a winner in the contest. The prize was a stuffed cow wearing a sign advising Eat Mor Chikin. He gave it to a fellow camper, Alexa Laub of Stamford, who was in the third trimester of her pregnancy. It was really nice, she said. Garbera shrugged with a laugh, explaining that he could only have brought the toy home if he had one for each child. I have two kids, thats the way it is if I bring only one cow home, theyll lynch me. Now Austin Laub, who is due in January, will have a lasting memento of the campout. Alexa Laub was surprised by the low turnout that morning. Its fun, and its 52 free meals, so its shocking, she said. Laub had big plans for those meals. Her husband hadnt been able to join that morning because of a meeting at work. I told him this is his birthday present from me for the next five years, Laub said. NORWALK Students, community members and teachers lined the walls, sat in aisles and filled the seats of the Gen Re Forum at Norwalk Community College to hear a panel of experts discuss tensions with North Korea Tuesday for the colleges annual United Nations Day. Organizer Hannah Moeckel-Rieke, ESL chairperson and adviser for global studies and the Model U.N. at NCC, said the timeliness of the topic as well as the quality of the panel was a major draw for attendees. The panel was such a high level and we had he right topic, Moeckel-Rieke said. It worked out beautifully. The panel included Thomas Ward, dean of the University of Bridgeports College of Public and International Affairs and one of few Americans to have visited North Korea, Sonja Bachmann, team leader for Northeast Asia in the Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations, and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and ranking member of the NSA and Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Titled North Korea Where do we go from here, the panel focused on the threatened relationship and potential crisis looming between North Korea and the U.S., and covered the ways U.N. deals with conflict prevention as it relates to North Korea, heightening tensions and concerns from the U.S. perspective, and insight into the way North Korea and its leader views the world. The panel was moderated by Bill Hass, president of the United Nations Association of Southwestern Connecticut. Events like this are important because they make people more aware of the history of events and the problems were facing, and offer the opportunity to discuss potential solutions by addressing the issue in the context of history and mindset, Hass said. Everyone on the panel cited the importance of the U.N. as a place for discussions to take place that are alternatives to physical warfare even countries with no official diplomatic relations can come together in U.N. spaces in what panel members referred to as quiet diplomacy. Its a funny moment in time to be a United States policymaker because everybody knows that our president in particular has embarked on a remarkably a-typical particularly for the Republican party isolationist policy, Himes said. ... Picking up on that theme of our more isolationist foreign policy now and how American policymakers are looking at North Korea, as a member of the intelligence committee I spend my days looking at what North Korea is capable of doing, what the situation is and thinking more strategically about it it is without question the single stickiest, thorniest, most worrisome issue that I certainly struggle with. Himes was quick to address the idea that North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, is in any way crazy, saying its frustrating that that narrative has taken off. It is the unanimous belief of our intelligence community and the people who really study North Korea which is a challenging place to study, it is by far the most hermetic country on the planet, it is not easy for journalists to get in and its not easy for information to get out there is this loose language that the leader of North Korea is crazy. None of our intelligence community believes that. He is untested, he is young, he is relatively recent in power, hes very different than his father ... he is impetuous, has a taste for violence that his father did not have, but there is no evidence that he is likely to act crazily, that is to say irrationally. Aside from the sanity of leaders of both sides of the issue, the panel discussed possible solutions, including sanctions, the possibility of nuclear defense and the idea that Jong-uns main objective is to preserve his familys regime. The discussion elicited dozens of questions from audience members, who inquired about Himes thoughts on potential outcomes, the role of the U.N. and the likelihood sanctions would do any good in bringing the two parties to the bargaining table. Overall, Moeckel-Rieke said the event was a success and an important aspect of community college education. I think its easy for students at a community college particularly, to think that learning is math and science and reading, Moeckel-Rieke said. But to learn about global issues is very important, and thats what this is for. kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Florida Chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog established by the Church of Scientology in 1969, is asking lawmakers to ban the use of the electroshock (ECT) device on children in Florida. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fbdfb638-555c-4888-871d-ed402496fca2 Following on the heels of two Pennsylvania state representatives introducing a bill in September of this year to prohibit the use of electroconvulsive therapy on children in their state, CCHR is urging Florida lawmakers to introduce a similar bill. Pennsylvania House Bill 1809, introduced by Representatives Tom Murt and Stephen Kinsey, would ban the use of ECT for people age 16 and younger. While ECT remains a controversial treatment for adults, its deplorable when done on children who have no say on whether to agree to this brutal treatment, Murt said in a press release. Yet, kids are still being shocked today. This treatment can cause brain damage. To me, its a form of child abuse. The use of electroshock therapy on children is outright cruel and unacceptable, Kinsey said. The side effects of ECT can be debilitating even for adults. Children should not be forced to undergo a treatment that can have a lasting impact on their physical and mental well-being. Children must not be subjected to this barbaric procedure, Murt said.i According to the World Health Organizations Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation, There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation." However, Medicaid records show that children aged five and younger are being subjected to electroshock in the U.S. Several states have already banned the use of ECT on children ages 0-12 and 0-16 and this year the NAACP unanimously passed a Resolution calling for a ban of electroshock treatment on children, youths and young adults up to the age of 21ii but the brutal use of ECT is still allowed on children across the rest of the United States. We are asking Floridas lawmakers to introduce and pass legislation this year that will ban the use of ECT on children in this state, said Diane Stein, President CCHR Florida. ECT is an unnecessary treatment, especially to the developing brain of young children. CCHR is asking concerned citizens to sign a petition calling for a ban on the use of ECT - Petition to Ban ECT. For more information on electroconvulsive therapy or to report harmful effects from the administration of ECT please fill out this form or call 800-782-2878. About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHRs mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the free world tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of mental health. For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org i State Reps. Tom Murt and Stephen Kinsey introduce bill to ban electroshock therapy on PA children http://fox43.com/2017/09/27/state-reps-tom-murt-and-stephen-kinsey-introduce-bill-to-ban-electroshock-therapy-on-pa-children/ [Quotes taken from an article published by FOX 43] ii National NAACP Resolutions Call for Banning Electroshock on Children https://www.cchrint.org/2017/08/16/human-rights-watchdog-supports-naacp-resolutions/ Media Contact: Diane Stein President, CCHR Florida 727-442-8820 diane@cchrflorida.org www.cchrflorida.org The last time Walter Case Jr. drove in a pari-mutuel horse race was during the fall of 2008. Although he is almost a full decade removed from that comeback, the polarizing pilot has been listed on multiple horses for this coming weekends cards of racing. Aside from the four pari-mutuel programs that Case participated in at Plainridge Racecourse during 2008, he has not steered horses in pari-mutuel races on a regular basis since the summer of 2003. Cases driving career came to a halt after an extremely serious domestic assault led to a years-long prison sentence for the now-56-year-old. Over the course of his career, Case has steered his mounts to over 11,000 wins and in excess of $43-million in purse earnings. He has participated in over 43,000 pari-mutuel races in his career, and his overall UDR is .390. One would have to look back to the 1987 campaign of racing to see a season in which Cases driving average was anything less than .391. It is clear that trainers at Scarborough Downs in Maine are interested in retaining Cases services, as he has been listed on 23 horses for the tracks 11-race Saturday (October 21) program and 19 for the tracks 10-dash Sunday (October 22) card. Besides his jail term, which was cut short due to good behaviour, Case was notorious during his heyday in the bike, as he accrued a substantial amount of driving infractions relating to urging his mounts to get to the wire first. Case will drive in all 11 of Scarborough's races this Saturday. Maine is my home. Its where my career started, and Im looking forward to coming back and competing again, a humble Case has told Scarborough Downs officials, who conveyed his comments via a press release, the contents of which appear below. Walter Case Jr. Returns To The Races This Weekend At Scarborough Downs Walter Case Jr., the legendary harness racing driver and state of Maine native, will return to action at Scarborough Downs on Saturday (October 21), nearly eight years removed from his last start in the sulky. He is listed to drive in all 11 races on the afternoon program which will get underway at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). The best place to witness Cases historic return will be live at the track, but the program will also be simulcast through the Maine OTB network and nationally through the wagering platform Day At The Track, which is the exclusive provider of the Scarborough Downs live video stream. Case, the eighth leading driver in the history of the sport with 11,038 career wins, received a provisional driving license from the Maine Harness Racing Commission last week, setting the stage for his return to racing in Maine. Case, who has not raced anywhere since 2008, was grateful for the opportunity to rekindle his career remarking, Maine is my home. Its where my career started, and Im looking forward to coming back and competing again. For the last nine years, Case has lived a relatively quiet life, training horses with his wife in Ohio. His racing career all but ended in 2004 when he was convicted of assault and ended up serving four years in prison. Until now, he had been kept out of the sport by licensing authorities. Everyone deserves a second chance, Cases attorney, Evan Fisher, said. The commissions decision is not only good for Walter, but its good for the sport and good for Maines harness racing industry. Cases prowess on the track remains vivid in the minds of longtime harness fans, but his return should prove enlightening to younger patrons of the sport who may only be familiar with Case through archives and record books. How to explain Casey to people who never saw him drive a horse, mused trainer Adam Gray, the man could make horses do things that even the horse didnt know was possible. He got speed out of horses like no other driver could do. The man had a gift, and now we get a chance to see him try to do it all over again. Caseys return will be a huge boost to harness racing in Maine. We are happy for Walter and pleased that he will be appearing at the Downs this weekend, said Denise Terry, vice president at Scarborough Downs. He has always been an integral part of the Maine harness racing industry and a generous supporter of this track, and we believe its time to allow him his chance at redemption. The reaction to the news of his return has been overwhelmingly positive and we are expecting a big day at the races on Saturday. Scarborough Downs will proudly feature live harness racing every Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. throughout the fall season. Closing day for the 2017 meet is scheduled for December 10. OSLO, Norway, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEXT Biometrics Group ASA (Oslo Bors:NEXT) today announced it shipped sensor number 3 million this week, demonstrating NEXTs proven ability to consistently mass produce fingerprint sensors with industry normal yield figures. NEXT CEO Ritu Favre said, Passing 3 million NEXT fingerprint sensors shipped, we have now over several quarters consistently demonstrated NEXTs ability to mass produce high quality, mass market robust sensors at what has become very high yield rates. She added, The NEXT organization is continuing to focus on preparations of products and scaling for leadership within our key target Smart Card and Government ID markets. The total number of Smart Card, Government ID and Access Control projects is steadily growing, showing a stronger than ever interest in the NEXT technology. ABOUT NEXT Biometrics: Enabled by its patented NEXT Active Thermal principle, NEXT Biometrics (www.nextbiometrics.com) offers large high-quality area fingerprint sensors in both rigid and flexible formats. The sensors can be implemented in a wide range of product formats, including smart cards, governments ID, notebooks, tablets, access control, wearables, payment terminals, tokens, key fobs and many more. NEXT BIOMETRICS GROUP ASA is a publicly-listed company headquartered in Oslo, Norway and with sales, support and development subsidiaries in Seattle, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Prague and Shanghai. Media and Investor contacts for NEXT Biometrics: Ritu Favre (CEO), Ritu.Favre@nextbiometrics.com and Knut Stalen (CFO), Knut.Stalen@nextbiometrics.com. TARPON SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Ruggero M. Santilli, Chief Executive Officer of Thunder Energies Corporation, a publicly traded company with OTC stock symbol (OTC:TNRG), announces $100,000 financing via the sale of restricted treasury stock, (http://presstelegraph.com/thunder-energies-100000-fundraising-ruggero-m-santilli-released-sep-25-d-filing). A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fbcb4fb1-3e87-4d4c-9da4-4f3cde1356cf Dr. Santilli states: "I am pleased to see that the financial community has invested in our new, cutting edge technologies of direct relevance for National Security. I am particularly pleased that the recent $100,000 investment was done via the purchase of restricted TNRG stock. These funds will allow our Company to complete the construction of our Directional Neutron Source which is ideally suited to scan suitcases for possible concealed nuclear material" (http://www.thunder-energies.com/index.php/ct-menu-item-18/11-articles/19-article-10). Forward Looking Statements The information provided in this presentation is covered by patent applications and other intellectual rights owed by Thunder Energies Corporation that hereby authorize their use without consultation provided authorization for any desired scientific research. The scientific priority of the prediction of the new Solar antimatter light corona belongs to Dr. R. M. Santilli according to a scientific paper in press at a refereed scientific journal. Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Dr. Ruggero M. Santilli Chief Executive Officer Thunder Energies Corporation 727-940-3944 SCOTTSBLUFF While the Western Nebraska Regional Airport awaits the decision from the Department of Transportation on the new airline to service Scottsbluff, staff continue to make updates and finish projects. The box hangar is done other than a few minor details, such as putting kick plates on the doors. The hangar has already been rented out a couple of nights. Airport Director Darwin Skelton said, depending on the size of the plane, rents range from $35 to $250 per night. Since PenAir left, staff have repainted the rooms the airline used, cleaned the counters and the back room, and put in luxury vinyl tiling in the pilots lounge. Everything is ready for the next carrier to come in. Skelton said he was told it would take one to three weeks for the DOT to sign the paperwork. Its been about three weeks and he was optimistic he would know something by the end of the week. Once that order is done and signed, we can start contacting the airline and do whatever we need to do to make things work for them, he said. Then they can start getting people lined up and hired. The Airport Authority Board is hoping SkyWest will be chosen for Scottsbluff. The DOT still has final say in the matter, but Skelton said the desire of the community holds a lot of weight in that decision. Once the DOT makes their decision, it will be an estimated 90 days before anything is started. The airline needs to get Scottsbluff into its system, move its computer systems in and get ready to serve the community. Skelton said once the order is written, he will begin contacting the chosen airline to see what can be done on his end, including advertising in the community and getting information out to the public about who the carrier is. Once the carrier is named, Skelton also hopes the airline will announce some sort of rates to entice people to come back and fly out of Scottsbluff. The board has also looked at other airports comparable to Scottsbluff who have SkyWest as a carrier, and learned the rates to Denver are reasonable. Once the DOT names the airline and flights begin, the public can then begin filling the seats. Even though an airline has yet to move in, diversions continue to come in. Skelton has received a call from Jet Blue about using Scottsbluff as a diversionary airport and United has stepped up their diversions, whether they are airline specific or affiliates. Monetarily, diversions are good for the airport, but they are also a benefit for the runways. The board has fought to keep the runway and taxiway intact and the larger aircraft diversion have shown the length and width are needed. TSA employees have also been moving around to keep up to date on their training for when the new airline arrives. Two employees have been in Florida, a few took personal leave and others are making the journey to Alliance each day to perform screening duties there. Its been working very well except it makes for long days for them, he said. It keeps the airport intact so we dont have to worry about them. Those employees will also work in Scottsbluff during an anticipated casino charter in January and are also available for any plane diversions where passengers need to deplane and be rescreened. Were trying to cover all the bases on everything we can think of to keep things going until the new airline comes in, Skelton said. SCOTTSBLUFF After serving 10 years in the Nebraska Legislature from District 10, Bob Krist announced hes running for governor as a nonpartisan independent. The states two existing parties, Democrats and Republicans, have locked down the primary system and the party bosses have framed it as my way or the highway, Krist said. I dont want to be a part of a system where party bosses dictate what needs to happen for the states 1.9 million residents. Krist said hes the independent nonpartisan candidate of a party still to be named. The name that seems to be most popular is Nebraskans United: Providing independent leadership for Nebraska. He said while he leans Republican, party leadership has tried to remove him from the party the entire time hes been in the Legislature for not always following the company line. Krist is forming a new party because of what he called onerous recently-passed legislation that raised the bar on the number of petition signatures an independent candidate must gather to get on the ballot. The required number of signatures for independents is now 150,000, but for a new party, the threshold is 5,000 signatures. Krist said he plans to have all the needed signatures gathered by the end of June 2018. The deadline to file is August. A recent GBA Strategies survey of likely voters in next years election indicates that more voters are inclined to support a new candidate for governor than re-elect Pete Ricketts. Nebraska remains a Republican state, but the Republican brand is damaged, the survey said. Independent voters in particular have soured on Ricketts and there is an appetite for a candidate who exists beyond the boundaries of the traditional two-party system. Krist said his biggest disappointment during the last legislative session was the budget. We were moving money away from the most vulnerable into pots that probably cant be spent within the biennium process. He said the budget process became so heated because senators wouldnt talk to each other to reach a consensus on what was important. Party leadership had already predetermined how the vote would go. Traveling the state Wednesday, Oct. 18 on a listening tour, he stopped first in Scottsbluff where he said theres been a lack of leadership over the past few years. I think my path to success in the primary isnt against a sitting governor with that much money, he said. We need good people to serve the state, which means that sometimes Ill disagree with the party leadership. He added that Nebraskas nonpartisan Legislature is eroding. The first group of people elected after term limits passed was mentored by the long-time legislators. We learned a lot from them and we worked together on a bipartisan basis, Krist said. The further we get into this term limit environment, the worse it gets. Part of the problem is that for the past couple of years, the governor has bought the best Legislature he can. He said that getting everyone involved early in the lawmaking process is the way to build consensus. The governor wouldnt meet with senators to hammer out many pieces of legislation, then announce he would veto the bill at the last minute. Krist said that as governor, he would make himself accessible to everyone involved in government to build that consensus. Its important to him to be available to senators when the Legislature is in session. The big issue he always hears about is property taxes and hes received many good ideas from numerous groups. I dont have specifics yet, but its time to re-balance the states three tax streams property, income and sales. Krist flew from Omaha to Scottsbluff Oct. 18 with his staff for the first of four stops across the state to announce his candidacy. Still an active pilot, he served 21 years in the U.S. Air Force, flying both in peacetime and during combat. He retired in 2000 as a lieutenant colonel. SCOTTSBLUFF The eighth annual Snow Angels Food Drive is underway with donation drop off locations all around the area. Jill Allen,executive director of the Scotts Bluff County Volunteer Center, said Snow Angels is a derivative of the Meals on Wheels program. Why we started this, is every year there are a few days we cannot deliver the Meals on Wheels, Allen said. Because the weather deteriorates too much and its just too hard on the drivers or some side streets arent cleared or were worried about them getting stuck. Allen said she has to make the decision of whether or not to send her drivers out before 7 a.m. the day of. Sometimes, its not the right decision, she said. Its Nebraska. The weather could be nicer by then or sometimes its horrible. So, just knowing that they have this food supply in their homes that they can rely upon if we cant deliver is nice. And then it doesnt put the drivers at risk either. Allen said there are some people in the Meals on Wheels program who greatly depend on those meals. So this is helping ensure they have a non-perishable emergency food supply they can tap into if they need to, Allen said. The recipients who receive this are currently on our Meals on Wheels program and then we also deliver to individuals who are on our home delivered commodities program. Depending on how well the donations drive goes, extra donations are used to make emergency food bags for the community, Allen said. She said they dont necessarily set a specific goal for the drive, they just want to get enough to stuff the emergency bags. We currently deliver up to 90 meals a day for Meals on Wheels, she said. We just want plenty for that because we have people come off and on all the time so I need to have a supply of them as well throughout the winter. The Snow Angels make roughly 150 food bags each year. The bags stuffed are reusable shopping bags donated by UPS. Thats the usual goal and its very important, everyone looks forward to that food coming, so if they dont have a meal we want to make sure they have food thats easy to fix and has a good shelf life, Allen said. The food drive kicks off on Oct. 20 and goes through Nov. 20. Were doing something fun this year with Panhandle Auto Group on Oct. 27-28, Allen said. Theyre having an open house and what were doing is theyre having a free-will donation of food both days. Itll be like hamburgers and hot dogs, chips and a drink. Just free will donation and then that donation will go toward the Snow Angel Program. The free will donation events at Panhandle Auto Group are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. both Friday and Saturday. Allen mentioned that whoever brings the most peanut butter or jelly donations to the event will win a $100 gift card from Panhandle Auto Group. And individuals, if they want to make monetary donations that works as well because then we can go buy whatever were short of, Allen said. Because we want to make sure that every bag has peanut butter and jelly, tuna, crackers and soup and then all the extras that come as well. Along with food and monetary donations, Allen is also looking for more businesses to sponsor a donation box. Sponsoring a box is easy, we prepare the box and it has angel wings on it, she said. Then from that point, whatever businesses decide to do this, they just encourage their clients and staff to contribute if they can. Donating food or sponsoring a box isnt the only way to help. Additionally, another part of this is were always looking for individuals who would be willing to sub as drivers in inclement weather, Allen said. Just to be on a sub list that I can call, maybe they have big pickups. All the drivers have small cars and its difficult, so just trucks or SUVs that can get through the snow and be willing to give a little bit of time to do that on a bad weather day that were not going to cancel. Allen explained why the name Snow Angels was chosen. So its because the individuals were basically trying to be angels during the snowy times of the year and make sure theres food in the homes, she said. Items Snow Angels is looking for include canned soup, tuna, crackers, peanut butter, jelly, macaroni cups, Ramen Noodles, canned fruits, puddings and Jello four packs. Snow Angels drop off locations can be found at Meridian Trust, Main Street Market, KNEB, Panhandle Auto Group, First State Bank Scottsbluff and Gering locations, Classic One Insurance in Scottsbluff and Gering, Scotts Bluff County Volunteer Center, Regional West Medical Center, Vertex/Faneuil, Riddles, Monument Mall, Monument Chiropractic and Lied Scottsbluff Public Library. For more information or to volunteer contact Jill Allen at scbvolcenter@yahoo.com or 308-632-3736. HARRISON - On Oct. 21, Agate Fossil Beds will celebrate National Fossil Day during visitor center hours, 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., with Paleontology 101 programs at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. At 6 p.m. join the rangers for a Night Sky photography experience. Paleontologist Intern Jess De Smet, assisted by Rangers Anne Wilson and Tony Mincu, will be leading visitors in fossil activities such as The Excavation Sandbox, Stratigraphy in a Loaf of Bread, Make a Fossil Cast Magnet, and others. At 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Paleontologist Intern Jess De Smet will present Paleontology 101. De Smets complete title as she works at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument for 12 weeks is Geoscientists-in-the-Parks Intern Paleontologist. Born in Chicago, Illinois her interest is in mammalian diversity and evolution. Her background gives her much to draw from for her presentations. She was an intern at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as a volunteer fossil preparatory and insect collections management intern and from Agate Fossil Beds she will intern at Joshua Tree National Park in Paleontology. National Fossil Day is Oct. 11 with national parks and museums around the country celebrating with events held on the weekends of October. This year the focus of National Fossil Day is on the Paleozoic fossils. The 2017 National Fossil Day artwork depicts a primitive group of fish known as heterostracans (different shields). The heterostracans represent an order of early jawless fish which existed between the Early Silurian and the Late Devonian when they became extinct (approximately 358 million years ago). Each year National Fossil Day features a different age in paleontological history. In 2015 the animals in the Miocene Epoch, with Moropus as the poster child, were featured. The Moropus is one of the mammals whose fossils were found in the Agate quarries. At 6 p.m. Rangers Tony Mincu and Anne Wilson will be encouraging visitors in their Night Sky photography. Meet at the visitor center for instruction and drive to the Daemonelix Trail for a fantastic view of the Milky Way. Visitors should dress for the weather, bring camera and tripod and a flashlight to be covered with a red balloon to preserve night sky vision, and be ready for a great experience. This is the third Night Sky Photography program that the two rangers have given and each time the participants learn more about the different seasons of night sky photography. Anne Wilson has been a ranger at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument for 18 years. Several years ago, she attended the Sky Rangers training at Yosemite National Park. As the parks Sky Ranger, she has set up many Star Programs working with amateur astronomers. Her knowledge of the night sky has grown over the years and she enjoys working with the visitors. Wilson is also a teacher who substitutes in the local school system. She and her husband ranch in Sioux County and have three grown sons. Tony Mincu is a Renaissance man, former Paramedic, Police Prosecutor and Town Manager in various mid-sized towns. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He returned to Grad School 20 years later and earned a JD (Juris Doctor) from the UNH Law School in Concord, New Hampshire. Mincu has a passion for history, old things, and anything having to do with the outdoors as well as photographing everything he sees in nature including the night sky. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is located 22 miles south of Harrison, or 34 miles north of Mitchell, Nebraska, on State Highway 29, then east on River Road for three miles to the visitor center. The visitor center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The parks two trails are open from dawn to dusk. Admission to Agate Fossil Beds is free. For more information, call 308-668-2211 or 308-436-9760, go to www.nps.gov/agfo or visit Agate Fossil Beds on Facebook and Twitter. MANALAPAN, NJ, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RxS LLC (RxS), a privately held company providing multi-channel sample management solutions to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, will be attending the sixth consecutive PDMA Alliance sponsored Sharing Conference where company founder, Mark Jara, will be co-presenting the workshop Sampling Data Analytics. The conference is scheduled to be held in Baltimore, Maryland, October 22 through October 24, 2017. Fellow attendees are encouraged to attend Jaras workshop and stop by the RxS booths 111-113 to meet him and the RxS team to learn more about the companys full capabilities. As a company, RxS has actively participated and supported this PDMA Alliance event since the companys inception in 2011, and will once again be a Signature Sponsor in 2017. This is the top conference for pharmaceutical professionals to attend each year where they collaborate and learn the latest on overcoming compliance challenges, says Jara. We are excited to have the opportunity to share how technology is critical to overcoming multi-channel sample management compliance challenges and also the critical advantages that some teams are leaving unused. The workshop Im co-presenting will show professionals how they can utilize those advantages through data analytics. Jara will be a co-presenting the workshop, Sampling Data Analytics, which is scheduled for Monday, October 23, from 2 to 3 p.m., and open to all conference attendees. Jara has presented conference workshops in other years on current trends and hot topics, such as how to use new technology to improve compliance challenges. Jaras commitment to the PDMA Alliance extends well beyond the Sharing Conference, its workshops, and exhibit space. He has been an active member of the organizations board, where his technical background brought a unique influence. He shared the immense value of technology with the board and brought technology to the forefront of compliance solutions. As a service organization enabled by technology, RxS offers clients not only superior multi-channel sample management and compliance but also other competitive advantages. For example, RxS helps clients harness data analytics for essential marketing efforts. RxS provides these services to clients of all sizes, from small to large. The innovative solutions RxS provides clients, as well as their customer-centric focus, has led to organizational growth with each successive year. During the past two years, RxS has had a surge in new clients and business expansion. To accommodate the growth, RxS recently moved to a new location in Manalapan, New Jersey. The company is now located at: 195 Route 9 S., Suite 208 Manalapan, NJ 07726 To learn more about RxS offerings, please visit rxsinfo.com. To meet Jara and the RxS team at the 2017 Sharing Conference, please visit booths #111-113. About RxS LLC RxS LLC, a privately held company in Manalapan, New Jersey, is the leading provider of multi-channel sample management solutions for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Supported by more than 75 years of combined pharmaceutical leadership experience, RxS has been partnering with pharmaceutical and biotech companies since its founding in 2011 to provide regulatory compliance in order to lessen the administrative burden of the Prescription Drug Marketing Act. RxS offerings go beyond regulatory compliance, providing solutions to increase marketing and sample effectiveness. Driven by technology, RxS offers a suite of proprietary services and software solutions to ensure regulatory compliance and maximize analytics data. RxSs commitment to innovative solutions extends beyond their service offerings and into the community through a unique partnership with Academy Learning Centers where students with disabilities are offered employment opportunities to help develop self-reliance and foster an improved sense of self. # # # Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e61565a9-6d1f-4da6-8970-c6c4e4b597f5 Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d8e30f6-2bf0-49cf-971a-f3b1450554d0 SCOTTSBLUFF The basics of QuickBooks financial software for farmers and ranchers will be taught in a series of workshops in late October and November in Kimball, Chadron, Mullen, Valentine and Scottsbluff. Jerry Terwilliger of the Center for Rural Affairs teaches the basics of desktop QuickBooks, focusing on the record-keeping needs of farmers and ranchers. Participants will learn how to input transactions, use accounts, categories, inventories, invoices, and run common reports. Cost is $55 per participant, and the classes are limited to five participants per location. These workshop are being offered by Nebraska Extension in collaboration with the Center for Rural Affairs Rural Enterprise Assistance Project and the SBA Womens Business Center. Workshop locations, dates, times, and registration information: Oct. 30, Kimball: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Kimball County Extension Office. To register call Aaron Berger 308-235-3122. Nov. 6, Chadron: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Dawes County Extension Office. To register call Jack Arterburn 308-327-2312. Nov. 15, Mullen: 9 a.m.-5 p.m., location TBD. To register call Bethany Johnston, 308-645-2267. Nov. 16, Valentine: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Cherry County Extension Office. To register call Jay Jenkins, 402-376-1850. Nov. 27, Scottsbluff: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. To register call Jessica Groskopf, 308-632-1247. Most North Carolina voters, regardless of registration, cast their ballots consistently for either Democrats or Republicans. And the swing voters who often determine electoral outcomes tend to cast their ballots against what they dislike more than they cast ballots for what they like. "We will support you today, tomorrow and the day after," President Donald Trump promised those devastated by Hurricane Harvey. "When one part of America hurts, we all hurt. When we see neighbors in need, we rush to their aid. We don't ask their names or where they're from. We help our fellow Americans every single time. This is the spirit of America," he said way back on Sept. 1. 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People with arthritis face chronic joint pain, stiffness, swelling and persistent fatigue that pose serious challenges to daily life, creating needs that are often unmet by current clinical approaches. ArthritisHack brought together over 100 programmers, designers, policy analysts, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, and people living with arthritis in a multidisciplinary approach to collaborate, dream up and produce new solutions to help address those needs. Watch: ArthritisHack 2017 A panel of distinguished judges from across the health care and technology spectrum reviewed 11 proposals, and selected the winning projects based on a variety of factors including innovation, feasibility and potential impact for people with arthritis. The winning submission, from Team Kizuna, takes a uniquely elegant and scalable approach to community building, by connecting people with arthritis who need assistance with volunteers who are interested in providing support. The top three teams receive a range of awards and prizing worth upwards of $10,000 to jump-start their idea and get it closer to implementation in the real world. They will also have the opportunity to work with The Arthritis Society to explore how to develop their solution for the arthritis community. Canada is a world leader in research, innovation and science core competencies that are helping lead to new advances in the management of arthritis and its symptoms. Through initiatives like ArthritisHack, The Arthritis Society is committed to fostering this trend in innovation to help improve the lives of people with arthritis today, and partnering with individuals, groups and organizations who share our goal of creating a future without arthritis. QUOTES Janet Yale , president and CEO, The Arthritis Society: From our work in understanding the disconnect between people with arthritis and their health care providers, it was clear that there were gaps that needed to be filled. ArthritisHack shone a light on those needs and challenged participating teams to help solve them through innovation. Were delighted with the results: the ideas that have come forward will empower many people to live better despite their arthritis. , president and CEO, The Arthritis Society: Lisa Matar , president and general manager, Eli Lilly Canada: Eli Lilly Canada is proud to sponsor this event. Our business is built on innovation, so were excited by the creative collaboration at this hackathon which produced several innovative solutions aimed at making life better for people with arthritis. , president and general manager, Eli Lilly Canada: William Charnetski , chief health innovation strategist, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care: "We want our kids and grandkids to live in an Ontario that invests and wins in the knowledge-based economy. We also need a health care system that is sustainable. For that reason, the work that these innovators are doing is of critical importance." , chief health innovation strategist, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care: Dawn Richards , vice-president, Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance: The solutions that weve seen this weekend will help people like myself with arthritis to manage their arthritis better, deal with many of the little things that people dont think about, and really empower them to take care of themselves. , vice-president, Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance: Dr. Vandana Ahluwalia (judge), consultant rheumatologist, William Osler Health System: As a rheumatologist, you only get to see your patients for a limited time. Its exciting to be able to connect them to resources that help with self-care between appointments. And the data that many of these solutions collect can help greatly with tracking of patient-reported outcomes, integrating with our data registries to better understand and provide more effective care for people with these conditions. (judge), consultant rheumatologist, William Osler Health System: John Lai (participant), Team Kizuna (first place finishers, on why they got involved): We each have different backgrounds and skillsets that we feel are valuable to society, and we wanted to contribute them here at ArthritisHack. (participant), Team Kizuna (first place finishers, on why they got involved): Tian Xiao (participant), Team Kizuna (first place finishers, on what they got out of the experience): We have gained a huge sense of accomplishment, we have made a significant impact on our community, and weve made some lifelong friends here today. About The Arthritis Society The Arthritis Society has been setting lives in motion for 70 years. Dedicated to a vision of living well while creating a future without Arthritis, The Arthritis Society is Canadas principal health charity providing education, programs and support to the over 5 million Canadians living with Arthritis. Since its founding in 1948, The Society has been the largest non-government funder of Arthritis research in Canada, investing over $195 million in projects that have led to breakthroughs in the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with Arthritis. The Arthritis Society is accredited under Imagine Canadas Standards Program. For more information about The Arthritis Society and to make a donation, visit www.Arthritis.ca. About Eli Lilly Canada Eli Lilly and Company is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by Colonel Eli Lilly, who was committed to creating high quality medicines that meet peoples needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and contribute to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. Eli Lilly Canada was established in 1938, the result of a research collaboration with scientists at the University of Toronto which eventually produced the worlds first commercially-available insulin. Lilly Canada now employs more than 600 people across the country, working in the areas of oncology, diabetes, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration, and pain. To learn more about Lilly Canada, please visit us at www.lilly.ca. About The Arthritis Society and Lilly Partnership Eli Lilly Canada is committed to making life better for people living with arthritis. On World Arthritis Day in 2016, The Arthritis Society and Lilly announced a strategic partnership that focuses on bringing the patients voice front and center for arthritis in Canada. Lillys partnership supports a series of patient-centric care initiatives, including a national pain symposium, quality of life research, and ArthritisHack. The initiatives aim to unravel the key concerns of people living with arthritis, and identify novel strategies to address them. Lilly and The Arthritis Society are working together to challenge the way people look at this disease, and create solutions so that people with arthritis can do more than just survive -- they can thrive. About Hacking Health Hacking Health is a global movement designed to improve healthcare by inviting technology creators and healthcare professionals to collaborate on realistic, human-centric solutions to front-line problems. See our previous Hacking Health Hackathon success stories. Hacking Health Toronto is powered by an incredible group of volunteers and sponsors. We'd love to have YOU join us! For volunteer or sponsorship opportunities, please email toronto@hackinghealth.ca. About World Arthritis Day Established in 1996, World Arthritis Day (WAD) is a global initiative that brings people together to raise awareness of issues affecting people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). WAD is observed every year on October 12 and is supported by a year-round global campaign. The aims of WAD are to: raise awareness of RMDs amongst the medical community, people with RMDs and the general public; influence public policy by making decision-makers aware of the burden of RMDs and the steps which can be taken to ease it; and ensure all people with RMDs and their caregivers are aware of the vast support network available to them. - 30 - Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/69ebc662-9557-4cf9-a4a6-9f72153468be President Klaus Iohannis announced in Brussels on Thursday that he agreed with European Council President Donald Tusk to have an informal meeting on Europe Day - 9 May 2019 - in Sibiu. "Today and tomorrow we have the meeting of the European Council with a full agenda and I would mention a few topics that are very important to us in Romania. The European Council President, Mr Tusk, will present the 'leaders agenda' - the agenda of the heads of state and government, an agenda which shows when and on what topics we'll meet until 2019, included, to make the Union more performing, better. We are very much interested in this matter, because in the first part of 2019 we'll be holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and we'll certainly get involved to have very good results. I agreed with Mr Tusk to have an informal meeting on 9 May, Europe Day 2019, in Romania, more precisely a meeting that will take place in Sibiu and that will be the last meeting where we'll be probably drawing certain conclusions in respect to the Union's future, the strategic agenda, as we call it," the President said in the beginning of the meeting in Brussels. Iohannis didn't mention whether the EU Summit of Sibiu of 2019 will take place on the same date, only reiterating that this event is an opportunity for Romania. "If we can celebrate Europe Day with a summit in Romania, I believe this is extraordinarily good," the President showed. Klaus Iohannis underscored that the second very important matter that will be discussed in Brussels refers to the assessment of the results of the Brexit negotiations, where "at least so far, there aren't any encouraging news." "Concretely, I don't believe that at this meeting we'll be able to say that we can enter stage two. However, what interests us the most - the rights of the European citizens in the UK, therefore those of Romanians living there too - are a topic that seems to be dealt with openness by both sides," the Romanian head of state added. In respect to Turkey, Iohannis brought to mind that this country's status as EU hopeful has been under discussion for a long time. "Besides this, through quite complicated negotiations we have reached an understanding with Turkey in respect to migration. Agreements with Turkey must continue, Turkey is an important partner both for the European Union and for Romania and we must find the best modalities to continue this procedure," the President underscored. Before participating in the European Council meeting, the head of state attended the European People's Party (EPP) Summit. "The discussions at the EPP are in preparation of the Council meeting. There were preliminary talks on the matters that we'll have on the agenda of this meeting of the Council, through which, besides the two, migration, we also have other topics that will be discussed, particularly today within both the formal and the informal session," the President said, when asked what he discussed with the EPP members. On the other hand, Iohannis mentioned the permanent lobby on relocating agencies to Romania. "Now it is known that we only applied for the Medicines Agency and we want to host it in Bucharest. The conditions are good, the offer is a solid one," Iohannis added. President Klaus Iohannis participates Thursday and Friday in the European Council meeting, which will discuss mainly topics concerning migration, the Union digital agenda, security and defence, the relations between the EU and Turkey and the North Korean file. According to a Presidential Administration release, the European Council meeting will also approach EU's future, with the leaders' agenda up for discussion in this context, a document proposed by the Council's President, detailing the calendar and topics that would be discussed by the European leaders until the end of the first semester if 2019. Furthermore, there will also be a session in a EU27 format, devoted to discussions referring to the UK leaving the EU, aimed at assessing the progress made so far in the negotiation process. The Romanian head of state will underscore in regards to migration the importance of monitoring the migration flows on the Eastern Mediterranean route, for a better management thereof. At the same time, Iohannis will highlight that implementing the EU -Turkey Statement must remain a priority for the Union. In the talks on the digital agenda, Iohannis will support the need for the Single Digital Market to become fully operational as soon as possible. Moreover, the Romanian President will underscore that cyber-security is a determining element for the well functioning of this market. In respect to the European defence policy, the head of state will inform the European Council members on Romania's decision to participate in the process of permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) right from the launch of this process, scheduled for this December. President Klaus Iohannis will highlight the importance of the relation between the European Union and Turkey, the Turkish state being a strategic partner of the EU and a NATO ally, with a relevant role in the Black Sea area. Agerpres. AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SuperSonic Imagine (Euronext:SSI) (FR0010526814), a company specializing in ultrasound medical imaging, announced today it will be exhibiting at The Liver Meeting, held at Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC, October 20 24. The company will introduce the Aixplorer Ultimate, which is an image-guided non-invasive liver disease assessment system, during the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting. The Aixplorer Ultimates image-guided ShearWave Elastography (SWE) technique enables physicians to measure tissue stiffness non-invasively with color-coded images acquired in just 60 seconds, explains Alex Exposito, Director of North America at SuperSonic Imagine. This evaluation of liver fibrosis severity* provides a highly accurate alternative to biopsy, without the high costs or risk of morbidity. This is particularly beneficial for patients with hepatitis C and other diseases that require repeated evaluations. The new Aixplorer Ultimate has expanded the technology evolution through innovation thanks to exclusive UltraFast technology. The Ultimates elegant new look and enhanced user interface make it simple to use. The systems computation power is more than 4.5 times faster and 20% more energy efficient than its predecessor. Aixplorer Ultimate also includes a barcode scanner for inputting patient information, reducing manual errors and saving time. With its new Aixplorer Ultimate and its exclusive UltraFast technology SuperSonic Imagine expands the platform, adding new innovative features, making exams easier, without compromising quality or performance. Non-invasive tools to evaluate liver stiffness and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) assessment are at the point of care, making the procedure an extension of the clinical examination. We look forward to sharing the Aixplorer Ultimates capabilities at The Liver Meeting. With SWE technology, Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists can evaluate liver stiffness for the assessment of liver fibrosis* and NASH severity without a biopsy, said SuperSonic Imagine CEO Michele Lesieur. More than 120 international publications agree that SuperSonic Imagines ShearWave Elastography has demonstrated reliability and effectiveness in the liver field. Attendees can learn more about the Aixplorer Ultimate by visiting SSI at booth #306 throughout The Liver Meeting. *Pending FDA 510k About SuperSonic Imagine Founded in 2005 and based in Aix-en-Provence (France), SuperSonic Imagine is a company specializing in medical imaging. The company designs, develops and markets a revolutionary ultrasound system, Aixplorer, with an UltraFast platform that can acquire images 200 times faster than conventional ultrasound systems. In addition to providing exceptional image quality, this unique technology is the foundation of several innovations which have changed the paradigm of ultrasound imaging: ShearWave Elastography (SWE), UltraFast Doppler and more recently Angio PL.U.S Planewave UltraSensitive Imaging. ShearWave Elastography allows physicians to visualize and analyze the stiffness of tissue in a real-time, reliable, reproducible and non-invasive manner. This criteria has become an important parameter in diagnosing potentially malignant tissue or other diseased tissue. As of today, over 300 peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated the value of SWE for the clinical management of patients with a wide range of diseases. UltraFast Doppler combines Color Flow Imaging and Pulsed Wave Doppler into one simple exam, providing physicians with exam results simultaneously and helping to increase patient throughput. The latest innovation, Angio PL.U.S, provides a new level of microvascular imaging through significantly improved color sensitivity and spatial resolution while maintaining exceptional 2D imaging. SuperSonic Imagine has been granted regulatory clearances for the commercialization of Aixplorer in key global markets. SuperSonic Imagine is a listed company since April 2014 on the Euronext, symbol SSI. For more information about SuperSonic Imagine, please go to www.supersonicimagine.com. Contact information: SuperSonic Imagine Marketing & Communication Emmanuelle Vella emmanuelle.vella@supersonicimagine.com +33 4 86 79 03 27 NewCap Investor Relations EU Pierre Laurent / Florent Alba supersonicimagine@newcap.fr +33144719855 Pascale Communication Media Relations - US Amy Phillips amy@pascalecommunications.com +1 412 327 9499 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galileo Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V:GXL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling on its Majuba Hill property scheduled for the week of October 23, 2017. Marcus and Marcus, a division of IDEA Drilling LLC, of Coeur dAlene, Idaho, has been contracted to conduct the companys drill program. The recently completed 3-line 9,000 metre Induced Polarization (IP) survey on the Majuba Hill Copper/Silver/Gold porphyry project located in Pershing County, North Central Nevada, USA, targeted the southern extension of strong copper-silver mineralization intersected in drill hole MMX-24. No drilling has been conducted previously in this area. The survey was successful in outlining an IP chargeability anomaly above 8-10 msec, over a width of 400 to 800 metres, and along a strike length in excess of 1,200 metres interpreted to be open to the south and east. The depth to the potential sulphide target varies from surface on the north to 150-200 metres on the south. Mineralization intersected in drill hole MMX-24 is associated with disseminated chalcocite-chalcopyrite-arsenopyrite-pyrite sulphides in a quartz-sericite altered porphyritic intrusive with disseminated tourmaline and quartz tourmaline sulphide stockworks. All drill platform, permitting, and bonding for reclamation is in place with the appropriate government authorities. Gary Nordin, B.Sc. (Geol Hons) is the Qualified Person of Galileo Exploration Ltd. and has reviewed and approved the exploration data contained in this news release. Gary is a member of the Company's Technical Advisory team. Galileo Exploration Ltd. recently announced the TSX Venture Exchange accepted for filing a mining lease and option to purchase agreement for the Majuba Hill Copper project. The Majuba Hill Copper is located approximately 12 miles northwest of Rye Patch Gold's Florida Canyon Mine in Pershing County, Nevada. The original Majuba Hill Mine produced 2.8 million lbs of oxide copper grading from four to twelve percent (4 to 12%) copper during the period 1907 through 1947 from the top of the porphyry system. ON BEHALF OF GALILEO EXPLORATION LTD. "Ron Rieder" Ronald A. Rieder CEO/President Galileo Exploration Ltd. 407 - 325 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6C 1Z7 Tel: (604) 629-1929 Fax: (604) 629-1930 FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Companys exploration and drilling programs on the Majuba Hill property, geological interpretations, mineral estimates and sampling results. Such forwardlooking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to exploration and drilling programs; interpretations of mineral estimates; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law. 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. LONDON The World Health Organization's cancer agency dismissed and edited findings from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that were at odds with its final conclusion that the chemical probably causes cancer. Documents seen by Reuters show how a draft of a key section of the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) assessment of glyphosate a report that has prompted international disputes and multi-million-dollar lawsuits underwent significant changes and deletions before the report was finalized and made public. IARC, based in Lyon, France, wields huge influence as a semi-autonomous unit of the WHO, the United Nations health agency. It issued a report on its assessment of glyphosate a key ingredient in Monsanto Co.'s top-selling weedkiller RoundUp in March 2015. It ranked glyphosate a Group 2a carcinogen, a substance that probably causes cancer in people. That conclusion was based on its experts' view that there was "sufficient evidence" glyphosate causes cancer in animals and "limited evidence" it can do so in humans. The Group 2a classification has prompted mass litigation in the United States against Monsanto and could lead to a ban on glyphosate sales across the European Union from the start of next year. The edits identified by Reuters occurred in the chapter of IARC's review focusing on animal studies. This chapter was important in IARC's assessment of glyphosate, since it was in animal studies that IARC decided there was "sufficient" evidence of carcinogenicity. One effect of the changes to the draft, reviewed by Reuters in a comparison with the published report, was the removal of multiple scientists' conclusions that their studies had found no link between glyphosate and cancer in laboratory animals. In one instance, a fresh statistical analysis was inserted effectively reversing the original finding of a study being reviewed by IARC. In another, a sentence in the draft referenced a pathology report ordered by experts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It noted the report "firmly" and "unanimously" agreed that the "compound" glyphosate had not caused abnormal growths in the mice being studied. In the final published IARC monograph, this sentence had been deleted. Reuters found 10 significant changes that were made between the draft chapter on animal studies and the published version of IARC's glyphosate assessment. In each case, a negative conclusion about glyphosate leading to tumors was either deleted or replaced with a neutral or positive one. Reuters was unable to determine who made the changes. IARC did not respond to questions about the alterations. It said the draft was "confidential" and "deliberative in nature." After Reuters asked about the changes, the agency posted a statement on its website advising the scientists who participate in its working groups "not to feel pressured to discuss their deliberations" outside the confines of IARC. Reuters contacted 16 scientists who served in the IARC expert working group that conducted the weedkiller review to ask them about the edits and deletions. Most did not respond; five said they could not answer questions about the draft; none was willing or able to say who made the changes, or why or when they were made. The chairman of the IARC sub-group tasked with reviewing evidence of glyphosate's effect on laboratory animals was Charles Jameson, an American toxicologist. In testimony as part of personal-injury lawsuits against Monsanto in the United States, Jameson told lawyers for Monsanto he did not know when, why or by whom the edits had been made. Monsanto is facing multiple legal claims in the U.S. from plaintiffs who allege glyphosate gave them or their loved ones cancer. Jameson is an expert witness for the plaintiffs. He did not respond to questions for this article. Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of global strategy, told Reuters the changes to the draft showed how "IARC members manipulated and distorted scientific data" in their glyphosate assessment. IARC declined to comment. Numerous national and international agencies have reviewed glyphosate. IARC is the only one to have declared the substance a probable carcinogen. Compared with other agencies, IARC has divulged little about its review process. Until now, it has been nearly impossible to see details, such as draft documents, of how IARC arrived at its decision. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that in its assessment of the weedkiller, the scientific decision-making process "can be traced from start to finish." Jose Tarazona, head of EFSA's pesticides unit, told Reuters: "Anyone can go to EFSA's website and review how the assessment evolved over time. So you can see clearly how experts appraised each and every study and also how comments from the public consultation were incorporated into the scientific thinking." In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency published a full 1,261-page transcript of a three-day scientific advisory panel meeting on its ongoing evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate in December 2016. No such record of the deliberations behind IARC's monographs is published. In a previous response to questions about the transparency of the IARC process, the agency's director, Chris Wild, referred Reuters to a letter in which he said his agency's assessments are "widely respected for their scientific rigour, standardised and transparent process." Wild also said IARC's methods are intended to allow scientists to engage in free scientific debate at its monograph meetings. Deletions and additions IARC says its working group scientists are selected for "their expertise and the absence of real or apparent conflicts of interest." For the panel that evaluated glyphosate and four other pesticides in what is known as IARC's Monograph 112, scientists from 11 countries met at the agency's headquarters in Lyon for a week-long meeting starting on March 3, 2015. The meeting "followed nearly a year of review and preparation" by IARC staff and working group members, "including a comprehensive review of the latest available scientific evidence," IARC said in a statement at the time. In June, Reuters reported how the chairman of the IARC working group was aware of new data showing no link between glyphosate and cancer in humans, but the agency did not take it into account because it had not been published. No drafts of IARC's glyphosate assessment have surfaced before. However, a draft was obtained by Monsanto as part of the legal proceedings in the United States. Reuters reviewed chapter 3, the section on animal studies, which is the only section no longer covered by a confidentiality order of the court. The glyphosate review in IARC's Monograph 112 runs to 92 pages; the chapter on animal studies consists of just over 10 pages. Reuters has not seen any other sections of the draft and cannot say whether they also underwent significant edits. In comparing draft and final versions of chapter 3, Reuters found that in several instances comments in the draft were removed; the comments noted that studies had concluded glyphosate was not carcinogenic. They were replaced in the final version with the sentence: "The Working Group was not able to evaluate this study because of the limited experimental data provided in the review article and supplemental information." This sentence was inserted six times into the final version. Each time it replaced a contrary conclusion, noted in the draft, by the original investigators on the study being considered, such as: "The authors concluded that glyphosate was not carcinogenic in Sprague Dawley rats"; "The authors concluded that glyphosate technical acid was not carcinogenic in Wistar rats"; and "The authors concluded that glyphosate was not carcinogenic in CD-1 mice in this study." Reuters also found changes to the conclusions and statistical significance of two mouse studies. These studies were cited in IARC's ultimate finding of "sufficient" evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in animals. One edit concerned a 1983 study in mice. IARC's published monograph contains a fresh statistical analysis calculation as part of its review of that study. The original investigators found no statistically significant link between glyphosate and cancer in the mice. IARC's new calculation reached the opposite conclusion, attributing statistical significance to it. This new calculation was inserted into the final published assessment, but was not in the draft version seen by Reuters. The change gave the working group more evidence on which to base its conclusion that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic. In further discussion of the same 1983 study, IARC's final published report refers to expert pathologists on a panel commissioned to re-analyse the work of the original investigators. The IARC draft notes that these pathologists "unanimously" agreed with the original investigators that glyphosate was not related to potentially precancerous tissue growths in the mice. IARC's final report deletes that sentence. Reviewing a second mouse study, the IARC draft included a comment saying the incidence of a type of animal cancer known as haemangiosarcoma was "not significant" in both males and females. IARC's published monograph, by contrast, inserts a fresh statistical analysis calculation on the data in male mice, and concludes that the findings were statistically significant. Influential monograph IARC's assessment that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen is an outlier. In the 40 or so years since the weedkiller first came to the market, glyphosate has been repeatedly scrutinized and judged safe to use. A year after IARC issued its evaluation, a joint United Nations and World Health Organization panel reviewed the potential for glyphosate in food to cause cancer in people. It concluded the weedkiller was "unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which first assessed glyphosate in the 1980s and has reviewed it several times since, says it has "low toxicity for humans." The European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency, which advise the 28 members of the EU, have also assessed glyphosate within the past two years and ruled it safe. But IARC's Monograph 112 has had great influence. It is weighing heavily on a pending European Union decision due by the end of the year and possibly to be made next week on whether glyphosate should be relicensed for sale across the 28 member states. France, one of the bloc's agricultural powerhouses, has said it wants the weedkiller phased out and then banned, provoking protests by its vocal farmers, who argue glyphosate is vital to their business. A failure to renew glyphosate's licence by the end of the year would see an EU ban kick in on Jan. 1, 2018. In the United States, Monsanto the firm that first developed and marketed glyphosate is facing litigation in California involving at least 184 individual plaintiffs who cite the IARC assessment and claim exposure to RoundUp gave them a form of cancer known as non-Hodgkin lymphoma. They allege Monsanto failed to warn consumers of the risks. Monsanto denies the allegations. The case is ongoing. Members of the Congress, concerned about what they described as IARC's "inconsistent" standards and determinations for classifying substances as carcinogenic, last year launched investigations into American taxpayer funding of IARC. The investigations are ongoing. In Europe, IARC has become embroiled in a public spat with experts at the European Food Safety Authority, which conducted its own review of glyphosate in November 2015 and found it "unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans." With IARC monograph meetings, some outside observers are selected and allowed to witness proceedings, but they are banned from talking about what goes on. Journalists are generally not allowed in. Last year, Reuters reported on an email sent by IARC to the experts on its glyphosate working group in which the agency advised them not to discuss their work or disclose documents. The email said IARC "does not encourage participants to retain working drafts or documents after the monograph has been published." Reuters sent questions about the draft version of the glyphosate assessment to members of the IARC working group that assessed the herbicide as well as to the head of IARC's monograph programme, Kurt Straif, and to Kathryn (Kate) Guyton, the staffer responsible for the glyphosate review. IARC responded by posting the following message on its website: "Members of the IARC Monograph Working Group which evaluated glyphosate in March 2015 have expressed concern after being approached by various parties asking them to justify scientific positions in draft documents produced during the Monographs process. IARC would like to reiterate that draft versions of the Monographs are deliberative in nature and confidential. Scientists should not feel pressured to discuss their deliberations outside this particular forum." IARC answered none of Reuters' specific questions about changes to the draft. PHILADELPHIA Tom Westerman voted for Donald Trump in last year's election but says he might not do so again after the president cut off billions of dollars in Obamacare subsidies to health insurance companies. "It really upset me," said Westerman, 63, a self-described "middle-class guy" with an annual household income of about $60,000 in the western Pennsylvania city of Arnold. Westerman's change of heart reflects mounting fears among middle-class Democrats and Republicans that their health insurance costs will soar as Trump weakens former President Barack Obama's signature health care law, which extended insurance to more than 20 million Americans. Trump said last week he would stop paying the monthly subsidies, which he has derided as a bailout of insurers. The money reimburses insurers for discounts on deductibles, copays and other out-of-pocket costs the firms still must provide under Obamacare to low-income households. Some insurers, anticipating that Trump would end the funding, had already raised 2018 premiums on insurance plans under Obama's Affordable Care Act to recoup those funds. Others withdrew from Obamacare markets in many states because of the uncertainty. "It seems like he is trying to hurt the middle class," said Westerman, who is retired from a manufacturing company in Pennsylvania, a state that Trump won by little more than 44,000 votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton. It was the first time a Republican candidate had won Pennsylvania since 1988. Westerman already pays $520 a month in health care premiums and about $700 a month for his 21-year-old daughter's college tuition. "He says he's going to make it better for everyone. How does a (premium) increase make it better?" A White House spokesman declined to comment and referred inquiries to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump has called subsidy payments a "gift" for insurance companies. His administration has argued that it cannot lawfully make the payments unless Congress passes new legislation. Some people said they were encouraged to see Trump deliver on a campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare, after repeated failures by congressional Republicans to repeal the 2010 law. "I support the president because I think Obamacare is imploding and it not only impacts those on Obamacare, but everybody," said Roger Heuring, 58, who lives in New Jersey. Heuring is on an employer plan but said his sister in Ohio buys insurance on the Obamacare market. "Forget the president it's the Congress's responsibility. They're the ones that passed this mess to begin with," Heuring said. In addition to cutting subsidies, Trump signed an executive order last week that could eventually make it easier for Americans to buy cheaper, bare-bones health insurance plans than required by Obamacare. On Tuesday, two senators struck a bipartisan deal to stabilize the Obamacare market, including reinstating the subsidies for two years. Trump initially said he might back the deal, but reversed course on Wednesday, as senior Republican lawmakers spoke out against a plan that might allow Obamacare to survive. Meanwhile, Democratic attorneys general have asked a California judge to intervene and direct the administration to continue the payments until their legal challenge to Trump's cutoff is settled in court. The moves created new uncertainty over the subsidies, just two weeks before Americans begin to enroll in Obamacare plans for 2018. Middle-class squeeze If the subsidies are not restored, some middle-income families and small business owners who buy insurance on the Obamacare markets could see their premiums rise the most, said Larry Levitt, health economist at the Kaiser Family Foundation. These include cash-strapped self-employed workers who rely on Obamacare to buy insurance but make too much money to qualify for government assistance. The very poor receive other forms of government subsidies to buy coverage that shields them from premium increases. Karyn Feit, a self-employed mental health therapist in Philadelphia, said a hike in premiums will strain her already-stretched finances and force her to cut back on trips to Florida to care for sick parents. Feit, 47, and her husband together earn $100,000 annually, placing her among America's vast tier of middle-income families. They bought Obamacare individual coverage four years ago, when Feit left her job at a hospital to start her own business, leaving her without employer coverage. She has no children. Her current monthly premiums are $391. She expects this to rise by $80 a month after Trump's decision. "The first thing I would have to cut is travel, and caring for other people," said Feit, a Democrat. Trump voter Stephen Lewis, 62, lost his job as a veterinarian in Wisconsin and bought a health insurance plan under Obamacare. Lewis still supports Trump although he said he fears that his premiums, now $309 a month, could rise further with the subsidy cut, making it harder for him to meet other expenses, including $611 in monthly mortgage payments. "It is a concern obviously," Lewis said. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SpiceWorld 2017 was held last week in Austin, TX. For those unfamiliar with SpiceWorld, it is Spicework's annual premier conference for IT Pros. The site itself is a vertical network that millions of IT professionals use to connect with each other and thousands of technology brands. The company simplifies how IT professionals discover, buy, and manage more than $600 billion in technology products and services each year. Every year, SpiceWorld brings together thousands of technical and marketing professionals for three days of networking and information-sharing on all things IT. The event features numerous informative sessions delivered by some of the smartest people in the industry, a vibrant exhibit hall, and one-on-one conversations with technology vendors from all over the world. This year, Wondershare exhibited as a Chipotle Sponsor to showcase PDFelement, a leading alternative to Adobe Acrobat that goes toe-to-toe on most features and has several advantages, including a low learning curve, cross platform support, and enterprise-grade PDF editing capabilities. Businesses need a powerful but intuitive PDF solution that is easy to deploy in their existing environment, and can be standardized across both Windows and Mac platforms. PDFelement is the only cost-effective solution that meets these requirements. It comes at less than a third of the price of Adobe Acrobat, which makes it an ideal fit for businesses with finite software budgets. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/400c350c-de7e-4d49-b1b1-ce7d26bf6f36 The PDFelement team was working at full force at SpiceWorld 2017, and they arrived back home with requests for follow-up from over 500 IT pros. These companies were interested in learning more about the enterprise-grade capabilities of PDFelement and how the software can be standardized across their business. SpiceWorld 2017 was a great opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the Spiceworks community. We also enjoyed connecting with the IT community and discussing the ways in which their document workflows could be streamlined and transformed for increased efficiency. PDFelement simplifies document productivity challenges while delivering measurable and meaningful ROI. We also provide a world-class customer service experience, which is a real value differentiator for our customers. - Faisal Khan, Business Development Manager at Wondershare Technology, Canada. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cffe2198-26bf-4a43-9a14-c66b67de3171 PDFelement is certainly overwhelmed by the enthusiasm generated at SpiceWorld, and plan to use this momentum to reach out to the broader Spiceworks community to raise awareness around their PDF solutions designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. Check out a detailed features comparison between PDFelement and Acrobat and review the pricing here https://pdf.wondershare.com/pdfelement-vs-adobe-acrobat/ Learn why IT pros are switching from Adobe Acrobat to PDFelement here http://bit.ly/2ggRHOW About Wondershare: With offices in Shenzhen, Tokyo and Vancouver, Wondershare Co. Ltd has a truly diverse team who work on an equally diverse array of multimedia, utility and document applications. The company today serves millions of customers across over 150 countries. It has been honored three consecutive times in Deloittes Technology Fast 50 China list and twice by Forbes in their China Potential Enterprises. Wondershare is a recognized member of the PDF Association, an international body of industry leaders dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of international standards for PDF technologies. For more information, please visit www.wondershare.com. Wondershare Contact Wondershare Media Contact Faisal Khan Business Development Manager Wondershare Technology Inc. Tel: 778 728 0618 Ext.851 faisalk@wondershare.com www.wondershare.com Rebecca Chen User Engagement Specialist Wondershare Technology Inc. Tel: 778 728 0618 rebeccac@wondershare.com www.wondershare.com Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) is a tea broker who exudes confidence a quality that attracts the attention of perkily appealing socialite Diana Blacker (Claire Foy). The two look good together, and their marriage is a foregone conclusion. Its the 1950s, and the British couple seems destined for a bright, mostly untroubled future. But their bliss is threatened when Robin contracts polio, becomes paralyzed from the neck down and is confined to a hospital bed. Dependent on a breathing machine to survive, he unselfishly beseeches Diana to pursue a life without him an idea that she refuses to accept. Diana insists that some solution can be found, and Robin has no choice but to do whats necessary to accede to her wishes. The first step is leaving the hospital and its atmosphere of doom and gloom. The second is fully reintegrating Robin into society and that opportunity comes when, with the help of his inventor friend Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), he comes up with a wheelchair with a built-in respirator. Its the beginning of Robins life as a responaut and as an advocate for people with disabilities. The fact-based Breathe is obvious Oscar bait, but its engaging story and appealing cast make that agenda easy to excuse. Working from a screenplay by William Nicholson (Gladiator), director Andy Serkis keeps the tear-jerking to a minimum as he focuses on the challenges that the Cavendishes faced in keeping Robin and their marriage alive. And yes, its the same Andy Serkis whos better known as a motion-capture actor. Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) brings his usual boyish charm to the proceedings while allowing for the occasional burst of precisely calculated angst. Foy (Netflixs The Crown) arguably has the more difficult role, hinting at Dianas inner doubts while maintaining a sunshiny demeanor. Breathe, like the recent Stronger, is ultimately a love story in which the barrier to happiness is indeed formidable, but not insurmountable. Cut, color and condoms? More than a dozen St. Louis barber shops and beauty salons have expanded their services to include education on sexually transmitted diseases. The Fade Out program, named for the popular haircut, is part of the St. Louis Health Departments effort to reduce the citys notoriously high STD rates. Public health workers started recruiting barbers and stylists two years ago based on a similar program in Dallas. The salons primarily serve African-American neighborhoods, which have disproportionate rates of STDs. The stylists receive training in their shops to learn how to broach the subject with their clients. They are taught facts about HIV and STD transmission, prevention and treatment. They receive male and female condoms to distribute to the public and can refer people to other resources for testing and medical care. Hair salons are known for being conversation hubs, with the styling chair serving as an informal version of the psychiatrists couch. The close rapport between stylists and clients in a relaxed atmosphere fits well for conversations about safe sex behaviors, stylists said. The salon is information central, said Cordell Edwards, who owns Goal Line Barber & Beauty at 2818 Vandeventer Avenue. People trust what we say about fashion and beauty. Health is a natural extension. Edwards tells his stylists the history of the barbers pole a red, white and blue signal that help is available. The first barbers of the Middle Ages also served as surgeons by pulling teeth and treating wounds. In those ancient times they also practiced bloodletting cutting open veins and letting the blood drain to treat illness. While the medieval medical treatments have stopped, the idea of helping people feel better remains. If we can tell you how to prevent it, we want to do it, Edwards said. Brittany Thornton of the Health Departments communicable disease division said hairstylists can be more effective at spreading public health messages than doctors or other authority figures. The Fade Out program targets salons in areas with higher STD rates, getting into the neighborhoods that lack medical clinics. We have reach where we didnt have it previously, Thornton said. They are the trendsetters. Public health workers have long sought the assistance of beauty professionals to spread their messages. In the late 1990s, SSM Health partnered with hairstylists to talk to women about heart disease. This year, Illinois became the first state to require hairstylists and manicurists to take a one-hour course in recognizing the signs of domestic violence to obtain or renew a cosmetology license. The St. Louis Health Department is starting a similar program that partners with tattoo artists to reduce hepatitis C infections. The two main goals for the Fade Out program are getting people tested for HIV and STDs and connecting them to treatments, Thornton said. Participating salons host events where the Health Department offers free, rapid HIV testing. For the past decade, St. Louis has had the nations highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea, with more than 6,400 cases diagnosed last year. The city also has the states highest rates of HIV infections, with 82 new cases reported in 2015. Cheryl Reed-Johnson started the program at her salon, Favah 101, 5860 Delmar Boulevard, a year ago. The salon is close to the shuttered ConnectCare, a low-cost clinic that used to provide thousands of STD tests each year. All seven of the salons employees have received training from the health department. Having open, honest conversations about sex and providing condoms has helped reduce the stigma of STD testing, Reed-Johnson said. At the salons grand opening, about 20 people were tested for HIV. One client recently got advice on talking to her teenage daughter about safe sex practices. I just really want to be the place where people can get the help they need, Reed-Johnson said. A Fairview Heights man was sentenced Wednesday to more than six years in prison for bank robbery. Michael S. Putman, 51, was sentenced in federal court in Illinois to 77 months in prison and three years of supervised release in connection with the Feb. 10 robbery of the Regions Bank, 501 Belt Line Road, in Collinsville. After he finishes his sentence in the bank robbery, Putman will serve an additional sentence in the state prison system for a burglary at the China King restaurant in Fairview Heights in January, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Donald S. Boyce. Putman pleaded guilty to the bank robbery charge. He was arrested after a chase through East St. Louis that ended when Putman crashed near the Eads Bridge. ST. LOUIS A federal judge being asked in a lawsuit to regulate police conduct on Wednesday called testimony from people claiming St. Louis police beat, pepper-sprayed and arrested them during recent protests very, very concerning. Qualifying her comments by saying lawyers for the city of St. Louis had only time to respond with partial testimony from one witness, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry also questioned whether solutions proposed by the ACLU suit would require her to micro-manage things or be any more enforceable than issues raised by a 2014 federal case in which police agreed to provide a reasonable warning before using tear gas. The testimony came during a hearing over whether Perry should issue a preliminary injunction regulating police activity before the underlying lawsuit, filed last month, is heard. The suit says police used chemical agents without warning against protesters and others. It also says that protesters, spectators and members of the press were arrested in a police kettle Sept. 17 without warning and without allowing any escape. Sixteen people testified for the ACLU Wednesday, including protesters, a legal observer, a videographer, a candidate for St. Louis license collector, a businessman, a city alderman and downtown residents. Those who were watching or were protesting told Perry they were not committing any crimes but were hit with pepper spray by police. Many said that they did not hear any orders to disperse, and no warnings that Mace or pepper spray would be used. They said the experience made them scared to protest. The protests followed the not guilty verdict on Sept. 15 in the murder trial of a former St. Louis police officer who fatally shot a drug suspect. Lawyers for the city questioned what those who testified knew about any violent or illegal activity, including people who threw rocks and bottles at police. One named plaintiff in the suit, Alison Drieth, said it felt like her face was melting after she was sprayed near City Hall. Another, Maleeha Ahmad, said, You cant see. You cant breathe and you think the world has ended. Restaurateur Chris Sommers said police shot pepper balls and tear gas at him when he questioned their presence outside his Central West End pizzeria. Alderman Megan Green said that she was tear-gassed by an armored police vehicle after the Central West End protest was broken up that same night. Six witnesses spoke of their arrests during a police kettle the night of Sept. 17, when they were corralled, pepper-sprayed and arrested at Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue. ACLU lawyers also showed a video of the arrests captured by independent journalist Jon Ziegler, known online as Rebelutionary Z. More than 120 people were arrested for failure to disperse, including an Air Force lieutenant who lived nearby, a photojournalist for Getty Images, an undercover St. Louis police officer and Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk, who was assigned to cover the protest. All those who testified said that they were pepper-sprayed when they were complying with police orders. Some said that they were sprayed and beaten after being restrained with zip ties. Several said those ties were so tight they caused nerve damage. St. Louis police Lt. Timothy Sachs, commander of the tactical operations division, was the last person to testify Wednesday. He gave a detailed account of the first day of protests, saying police just watched at first, but intervened when the civil disobedience team was trapped on buses by protesters. Sachs said protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at police, injuring officers. Individual officers used pepper spray, he said, to clear protesters. On Sept. 16, after a separate Central West End protest officially ended, a group Sachs estimated at more than 500 ended up at Mayor Lyda Krewsons house and broke windows and splattered the home with paint. Officers were overwhelmed, he said, and responding tactical officers were hit with bottles, rocks and bricks. Police used tear gas and pepper balls to move protesters away. Police heard several gunshots as they followed protesters through the streets, and were still being hit by thrown objects and what Sachs said was some type of irritating chemical agent deployed by protesters. Sachs testimony will continue Thursday, along with that of at least four other police witnesses. Sachs and a city lawyer had said that pepper spray was not considered a chemical munition and police didnt need to warn before using it. Perry had her own warning for them, however, about police spraying pepper spray in the faces of unresisting protesters. Nobodys going to argue that thats OK, she said. ST. LOUIS The mother of a man killed by a St. Louis police officer Jan. 9 has sued the department, the city and the officer, alleging the officer used unlawful deadly force and lied about the shooting. Camille Curtis on Tuesday filed suit here in U.S. District Court accusing Officer Matthew Shaw of unjustly killing Davion Henderson, 21, after a police chase. Henderson, of the 100 block of Anistasia Drive in Hazelwood, died from his wounds after the fleeing SUV he was riding in crashed and flipped at Page Boulevard and North Taylor Avenue. Officers spotted the SUV near Goodfellow and Page boulevards after an automated police license plate reader alerted them that the vehicle had been reported stolen, said then-Police Chief Sam Dotson. Dotson said two officers approached the SUV, and one of the three males inside pointed a gun at them. One of the officers identified in the lawsuit as Shaw fired his weapon, killing Henderson. Two other males in the car, 16 and 23, suffered minor injuries in the crash. The lawsuit identifies the other officer as Willie Haymon but does not list him as a defendant. According to Curtis lawsuit, Shaw and Haymon approached the crashed SUV with their guns drawn. As the SUV lay on its side, Shaw fired three shots through the sunroof before going to the front and firing three more times through the windshield, the suit alleges. Curtis claims Shaws use of force was excessive because he would have had no way to see a gun because the blacked-out tinted sunroof provided zero visibility. The suit claims Shaw has had numerous civil rights and excessive force complaints lodged against him, adding that it is common practice of some city officers to falsely claim and report African-American citizens pointed a handgun at them to justify these unlawful killings. Curtis lawsuit alleges the city failed to properly train and supervise its officers. The result, the lawsuit alleges, is a department that ignores its own use-of-force policies, then engages in a cover-up to insulate the department, its officers and the city from liability. On the day of the shooting, Dotson said police found two guns inside the car, one with an extended magazine. One had been reported stolen in Florissant in December. The other had been defaced. Dotson also said Hendersons criminal history included burglary and a gun conviction. ST. LOUIS A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to his part in stealing more than $700,000 in U.S. government funds by filing false tax returns with stolen identities. Olusola Luke, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. district court in St. Louis to taking part in a conspiracy to steal government funds and commit identity theft, prosecutors said. Luke admitted he and others stole the identities of dozens of U.S. citizens and filed false tax returns using their names, prosecutors said. Luke and his partners obtained more than $734,000 in tax refunds through the false returns. Luke, a citizen of Nigeria and resident of Guatemala, was arrested in April at Dulles International Airport in Virginia following an investigation by the IRS. He acknowledged in court that he may be deported from the U.S. because of the conviction, prosecutors said. He will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until his sentencing Jan. 17. The case was investigated by the IRS as a part of the agency's Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Initiative. VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) (OTCBB:MPSFF) (the Company) is pleased to announce the closing of the 1st tranche of its non-brokered private placement financing announced on October 13, 2017. Pursuant to the private placement, the Company has issued 4,636,363 units of the Company at a price of $0.055 per unit for gross proceeds of $255,000. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant with each warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.075 for a period of two years. Shares issued in connection with this private placement and any shares issued as a result of the exercise of warrants are subject to a statutory hold period of 4 months and 1 day from the issuance date. Cuba Ventures has received conditional acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange on the 2nd and final tranche of its $750,000 private placement. Final acceptance of the 2nd tranche is subject to certain conditions being met including the submission and review of a Personal Information Form (PIF) and the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. Closing of the 2nd tranche of the private placement will create a new insider of the Company. There were no finders fees paid in connection with this private placement. The proceeds of the private placement will be used for general working capital purposes. About Cuba Ventures Corp.: Cuba Ventures Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company capitalizing on the growth and unique opportunities in the USD 3.5 billion per year Cuban travel and tourism industry. Travelucion, a wholly owned subsidiary, is a digital media and marketing company which owns a vast portfolio of Cuba related websites and online portals providing Cuba travel information in up to six languages, featuring individual web assets for Cuba's popular cities and towns, online booking solutions and online reservations through proprietary software, catering to international visitors to Cuba. Travelucion's online travel division is a duly licensed retail travel supplier handling millions of dollars in sales annually. Cuba Ventures Corp has acquired an equity interest in a Florida, the USA domiciled, licensed and bonded travel agency which specializes in travel to Cuba. This equity ownership permits the company and, its subsidiary Travelucion, to promote U.S. compliant travel packages to Americans citizens through its equity partner International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Travelucion's 432 Cuba focused multilingual websites generate over 35 million page views per year, directing traffic to the company's online booking and e-commerce sites. These online websites cover all facets of Cuba including over 80 travel destinations, hotels & resorts, bed & breakfast, tours, car rentals, restaurants, as well as Cuban culture, history, music, celebrities, sports, medical treatments and more. Cuba Ventures FinTech division is embracing world renowned entities to bring together a global force to stimulate Cubas archaic economic systems. Financing of both internal and external debt, blockchain deployment - across the all-important private enterprises and remittance industry are primary objectives of this division. Finally, bridge loans for foreign enterprises who receive Cuban bank payment instruments will enable faster transactions and rapid advances in the economy. Cuba Ventures consulting division harnesses over 60 years of combined advisor experience in submitting and, obtaining approval, for joint ventures, joint production agreements, and import/export permits for foreign enterprises. More recently the company has taken a royalty approach for future agreements between third parties anxious to begin commercial operations with Cuba and, the companys Cuba Consulting Unit. Current contractual partnerships include Tyrval, a worldwide hotel industry supplier. Cuba Ventures intends to augment the amount of financially beneficial consulting related businesses. For further information on Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) or Travelucion, visit the Companys website at www.cubaventures.com or www.travelucion.com. The Company has 83.3 million shares issued and outstanding. CUBA VENTURES CORP. Steve Marshall ______________________________ STEVE MARSHALL CEO For further information contact myself or: Nick Findler Cuba Ventures Corp. Telephone: 604-639-3850 Toll Free: 800-567-8181 Facsimile: 604-687-3119 Email: info@cubaventures.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. FRANKLIN COUNTY A bridge carrying Highway 100 over Boeuf Creek was renamed Wednesday in honor of Lyndon Ebker, a Missouri Department of Transportation road crew member struck and killed on the job there in April 2016. Ebker, 55, was part of a MoDOT crew cleaning road salt and grime off the bridge when he was hit by a car. Ebker, of Rosebud, Mo., had worked for MoDOT more than 30 years. Family members, co-workers and other friends of Ebker took part in a ceremony Wednesday. The Missouri Legislature earlier this year passed a bill to rename the bridge, which is between Washington, Mo., and New Haven. The driver, Norman E. Haimila, then 80, of Hermann, Mo., was charged with second-degree assault and driving without insurance in connection with Ebker's death. Court records indicate that the case is pending. Visitors will get to see the new $176 million renovation and expansion of the Gateway Archs Museum of Westward Expansion in July, just in time for Fair St. Louis, which returns to downtown after four years in Forest Park. Members of the media got a tour Thursday morning of the 46,000-square-foot underground addition, which will include interactive story galleries, video walls, a fountain, a cafe and if you cant take the tram ride a replica of the keystone piece of the Arch, with windows that reveal a live webcam view from the top, 630 feet up. Were getting to the point where the real thing is starting to look like the renderings, said Ryan McClure of the Gateway Arch Park Foundation. Construction on the Arch grounds started in August 2013, and work on the museum and visitors center began in April 2015. Completion originally was projected for 2015. The museum work is part of a $380 million CityArchRiver project, which includes a new land bridge over Interstate 44 between the Old Courthouse and the Arch grounds. The museum will be free to the public, as it was in the past. Tram rides and movies will cost extra. A parking garage was demolished as part of the renovations, but other garage parking is available nearby. The new downtown-facing entrance includes drop-off areas. Outside the curved glass entrance to the visitors center, benches surround what will be a circular fountain and infinity pool. Inside, ticket desks, restrooms and security gates will be on the first level. (The existing entrances, at the north and south Arch legs, will become exits.) The entrance level overlooks a mezzanine where a terrazzo floor will feature a map of North America and historic trails that detail pioneers journeys to the west. The mezzanine will accommodate up to 250 people for events such as seated dinners and will be available for rent. Classroom space under the mezzanine will be available for school trips and education programs. Another level below will include oversize video screens displaying video of scenes out west and the explorers, Native Americans and others involved in the story of westward expansion. Visitors will be surrounded by the sights and sounds of those journeys as they enter the gallery space, explained Rhonda Schier, chief of museum services with the National Park Service. Galleries will explore colonial St. Louis, Thomas Jeffersons vision of shaping the west, railroads and industry, and the construction of the Arch. The exhibits will guide visitors from the mid-1600s to today; the old museum started with the Louisiana Purchase and didnt explore much about the Arch itself. In the tram lobby, a new 100-foot video wall will show the building of the Arch and other scenes of American innovation, as well as the keystone replica. A renovated Arch gift shop opened about a year ago. This month, renovated tram waiting areas debuted, featuring displays of video projections exploring the 1960s, when the Arch was built. While visitors wait for the trams to open, animated graphics (including facts about the monument and its designer, Eero Saarinen, a 1934 graduate of the Yale School of Architecture) are projected onto the cars doors. At every point we want people seeing something interesting something new for people to do and see, McClure said. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gave a speech Monday night that deserves to be heard or read by every American. McCain talked about what it means to be American, with all of its blessings and its obligations, and what America means to the world. McCain was being honored with the Liberty Medal of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for his efforts to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe. Press coverage of the event focused on McCains veiled shot at the Trump administration for shirking Americas leadership role in the world: To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last best hope of earth for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history. That was the money quote, but there was much more, including a condemnation of the blood and soil rhetoric of neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in August: We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad. We have done great good in the world. That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we dont. We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldnt deserve to. Context is as important as content. McCain, 81, has been given what he calls a very poor prognosis for an aggressive brain cancer. He appears to be writing the last chapter of an extraordinary life. He has gone from Naval Academy wild man to heroic prisoner of war to maverick Republican senator to conventional Republican nominee for president who, despite his Country First slogan, chose the spectacularly unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate. He is now back in maverick mode, casting the deciding vote against his partys Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill in July. He voted against GOP tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 because they were fiscally irresponsible and tilted to the rich. He might do it again. President Donald Trump was unhappy with McCains remarks, saying, Im being very, very nice but at some point I fight back, and it wont be pretty. To which McCain replied, I have faced tougher adversaries. John McCain needs no lecturing on patriotism or duty. But his country still needs him. San Diego, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starting December 9th, Hornblower Cruises & Events will once again offer San Diego visitors and residents, the epic experience of getting up close and personal with some of the most magnificent creatures on earth guaranteed. For over 25 years, Hornblowers captains have introduced thousands of passengers to the wonder and excitement of whale watching in Southern California. There is no better, safer and drier way to witness the whale migration as thousands of grays, finbacks and humpbacks journey off the coast. As Hornblowers yacht heads out to the Pacific, passengers will also enjoy 360-degree views of the San Diego skyline, as well as sightings of sea lions, dolphins and sea birds. Highlights include: Interaction with Trained Docents from the Nat (San Diego Natural History Museum): To make Hornblowers cruise truly educational, trained volunteer naturalists from the Nat provide interaction with guests, facts and maps, samples of Krill and baleen on board, ongoing commentary for spotting spouts, flukes and massive whale tails and information about whale behaviors. A Comfortable (and Dry) Experience: Unlike traditional small boat whale watching trips (where foul weather gear is a necessary accessory), Hornblower provides the ability to view these beautiful creatures from large yachts, which provide unparalleled stability through the ocean waves. With top-level outdoor sundecks rising 30 ft. above the water and climate-controlled indoor levels, Hornblower yachts ensure optimal comfort and panoramic views for everyone. Whale Sighting Guarantee: If a whale is not sighted during a cruise, passengers will receive a pass good for another Whale Watching Cruise. Hornblower guarantees that every passenger will experience the exhilaration of witnessing a whale break the surface of the water for the first time. Food Service and Full Bar: Passengers can purchase delicious snacks and lunch, complimented by a full bar service. Reservations are now being accepted: Times: With two, 3 hour cruises offered daily starting at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., everyone can find the perfect day for their adventure. Cruises leave conveniently from the San Diego waterfront downtown at 970 North Harbor Drive. Tickets: Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) costs are $47 for adults, $23.50 for children (ages 4 to 12) and $45 for seniors and the military. Weekday costs are $42 for adults, $21 for children (ages 4 to 12) and $40 for seniors and the military. Tax, service charge and landing fees are included. Children under 3 are free. Discounts for groups of 20 or more and Hornblower Whale Club Card season passes are also available for $90. For more information and to make reservations, please visit www.hornblower.com or call 800-ON-THE-BAY. Private Whale watching charters are also available to groups of 20 or more in San Diego or Newport Beach aboard the historic Yacht Mojo. Call for more details and a proposal. # # # Hornblower Cruises & Events has been the leading charter yacht and public dining cruise operator headquartered in California for over 35 years. The company operates over 70 vessels, including the three largest dining yachts on the West Coast and has ports in San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, Long Beach, Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, San Diego and New York City. Two Hornblower subsidiary businesses, Alcatraz Cruises and Statue Cruises, are National Park Service ferry concessioners to Alcatraz Island, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. In 2014, Hornblower Cruises & Events began operating the third subsidiary, Hornblower Niagara Cruises, out of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. For more information visit: www.hornblower.com or www.hornblowernewyork.com. Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7b181921-238f-4869-8e67-e4c305d104d1 Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/40ef356c-5bde-41b9-a3be-89fd9c0e165f XI'AN, China, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China Green Agriculture, Inc. (NYSE:CGA) ("China Green Agriculture", "we" or the "Company"), a company that mainly produces and distributes humic acid-based compound fertilizers, other varieties of compound fertilizers and agricultural products through its subsidiaries in China, today announced that it will host an earnings call to discuss the fiscal year 2017's financial results on 7:00 AM Eastern Time on Friday, Oct 20, 2017. To participate in the conference call, please dial any of the following numbers: PARTICIPANT DIAL IN (TOLL FREE): 1-888-346-8982 PARTICIPANT INTERNATIONAL DIAL IN: 1-412-902-4272 Hong Kong Toll Free 800-905945 China Toll Free 4001-201203 Hong Kong-Local Toll 852-301-84992 To access the replay, please dial any of the following numbers: US Toll Free: 1-877-344-7529 International Toll: 1-412-317-0088 Canada Toll Free: 855-669-9658 Replay Access Code: 10113556 End Date: Oct 27, 2017 The replay will be available 1 hour after the end of the conference. Participants will be required to state their name and company upon entering the call. About China Green Agriculture, Inc. The Company produces and distributes humic acid-based compound fertilizers, other varieties of compound fertilizers and agricultural products through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, i.e.: Shaanxi TechTeam Jinong Humic Acid Product Co., Ltd. ("Jinong"), Beijing Gufeng Chemical Products Co., Ltd ("Gufeng") and a variable interest entity, Xi'an Hu County Yuxing Agriculture Technology Development Co., Ltd. ("Yuxing"). Shaanxi Lishijie Agrochemical Co., Ltd. ("Lishijie"), Songyuan Jinyangguang Sannong Service Co., Ltd. (Jinyangguang"), Shenqiu County Zhenbai Agriculture Co., Ltd. ("Zhenbai Argi"), Weinan City Linwei District Wangtian Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd. ("Wangtian"), Aksu Xindeguo Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd. (Xindeguo"), and Xinjiang Xinyulei Eco-agriculture Science and Technology co., Ltd. ("Xinyulei"), Sunwu Xiangrong Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd. (Xiangrong), and Anhui Fengnong Seed Co. Ltd. (Fengnong). For more information, visit http://www.cgagri.com. The Company routinely posts important information on its website. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning the Company's business, products and financial results. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements depending on a number of risk factors including, but not limited to, the following: general economic, business and environment conditions, development, shipment, market acceptance, additional competition from existing and new competitors, changes in technology, the execution of its ten-year growth plan, a satisfactory conclusion of the pending securities class action litigation and various other factors beyond the Company's control. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this Safe Harbor Statement and the risk factors detailed in the Company's reports filed with the SEC. China Green Agriculture undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law or regulations. For more information, please contact: China Green Agriculture, Inc. Tel: +86-29-88266383 Email: info@cgagri.com Related Links http://www.cgagri.com We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today A womens fashion retailer with more than 40 branches across the UK has become the latest business to sign up to Stratfords new Bell Court development. Seasalt Cornwall, will open in the former Bodycare unit early next year selling clothes alongside accessories, footwear and gifts. The family-run company, currently has 45 shops around the country and was founded in 1981 in Penzance. Neil Chadwick, one of the owners of Seasalt, said: Were very much looking forward to bringing Seasalt to Stratford-upon-Avon. We have a real passion for creating beautiful clothing that is both practical and stylish. Stratford has such charisma and beautiful architecture and weve already had such a warm welcome. Bell Court is a brilliant location for our first shop in the town. It has a great, relaxing atmosphere which suits our brand perfectly. Seasalt will join other retailers including Bardias, The Naildressers and The Browstudio already operating at Bell Court. John Stacey, asset management director at UK & European Investments, the owners of Bell Court, said: With its stylish range of clothing and accessories, Seasalt will prove to be a huge draw for people visiting Bell Court. The development is already becoming a key leisure destination in Stratford and having high quality retailers such as Seasalt open will further bolster Bell Courts popularity with both local residents and tourists. This is the first of a number of national shops that will be opening at Bell Court and were hoping to announce further businesses that will be joining Seasalt in the coming months. Since Bell Court opened in July there have been some in the town bemoaning the number of units still vacant within the site. However progress seems to be speeding up in recent weeks with Miller and Carter Streakhouse, which initially confirmed its tenancy several months ago, stating that their new restaurant will open for business on 1 December. The business is currently in the process of recruiting around 50 staff in kitchen, front of house and bartending positions. Christian Fox, regional business manager at Miller & Carter Stratford-upon-Avon, said: Bringing a new Miller & Carter to Stratford-upon-Avon is a fantastic opportunity for the brand and we look forward to providing the best steaks and service that Miller & Carter is renowned for across the UK. Everyone who works for us is completely obsessed with steak and were keen to recruit people who share in our love for excellent quality, both food and service, and were looking to attract applicants with enthusiasm to join the team and become official steak geeks. We want team members to deliver a fantastic experience for every guest that walks through our doors, as we gear up to our opening in a months time. For more information on how to apply for a role at Miller and Carter call general manager Steve Payne on 07554831093. A serious head-on collision in Wellesbourne last night resulted in a man being rushed to the major trauma centre at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. The collision occurred, close to the Ettington Park housing development at 11.15pm on the A429 Ettington Road. Two ambulances, a paramedic officer, a rapid response paramedic and the Warwickshire and the Northamptonshire Air Ambulance Critical Care Car were sent to the scene. Three fire crews also attended the incident and were forced to use cutting equipment to release the casualty. A spokesperson for Warwickshire Police said: "The head on collision happened close to the Ettington Park housing development and involved a blue Rover saloon car and a grey Chrysler estate. "Ambulance and fire services also attended and a man in his 40s, who was driving the Rover, was taken to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire with what are thought to be potentially life changing leg injuries. "The road was clear as of 3.10am and police ask any witnesses to call them on 101, quoting incident number 479 of 18 October." A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman added: Crews arrived to find two cars with front end damage, one of which still had the driver, a man, trapped inside. Ambulance staff, who were told the man had lost consciousness prior to their arrival, worked closely with the fire service to safely free him from the car. Once free, he was treated for leg and elbow fractures and sedated by the air ambulance doctor in order to stabilise his condition. He was then transported to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. There were two patients from the second car, both who had suffered minor injuries and did not require further treatment at hospital. Duncan Giles A CHIPPING Campden man who had an illegal pistol and a semi-automatic shotgun in his home was jailed for three years yesterday by a judge who branded him 'dangerous' and 'grossly irresponsible. Police found the weapons at Duncan Giles' former home in Hidcote Road, Ebrington, when they were called to the house after he assaulted his wife. The shotgun was loaded and was not locked away in a cabinet, as it should have been. The Astra 4000 Falcon pistol was in a cabinet but he had no certificate for it - and he also had hundreds of cartridges and rounds of ammunition without authority, said prosecutor Janine Wood at Gloucester Crown Court. Jailing Giles, aged 47, who now lives on a farm in Minety, Wiltshire, Judge Jamie Tabor QC told him he had displayed a 'cavalier attitude and disregard' for firearms laws. Giles pleaded guilty to five charges of possessing guns and ammunition without a certificate. Mrs Wood told the court it was on 28th January that police were called after Giles assaulted his wife during an argument by 'picking her up in a bear hug and throwing her against furniture.' Giles then smashed a window of a car in which a man friend of Mrs Giles' was waiting outside. Giles was convicted of assault and criminal damage by Cheltenham Magistrates last month and had been ordered to pay almost 1,000 in compensation, fines and costs. Mrs Wood said police checked the house after Giles' wife told them he had a collection of guns in the property. There were two firearms cabinets in the bedroom wardrobe and they contained four shotguns and four rifles which Giles legally held. The pistol was also among them but the semi-automatic shotgun was wedged between the two cabinets and was loaded. Giles was permitted to have 600 shotgun cartridges but police counted 1,178. He was allowed to have 75 rounds of rifle ammunition but had 126. Some of the ammunition was in his shed and car rather than in the cabinets. Giles told police he had brought the semi-automatic shotgun back from Canada, where he was living in the 90s. He said he had 'found' the pistol last year and was using it as a humane killer in his work as a terrierman shooting vermin. Richard Atkins, defending, told the court that Giles is a 'solitary man of the land' working 50 to 70 hours a week and that shooting 'is his life outside work.' "He goes out at night helping other farmers doing what in effect is good work on the land - rabbits, etc," he said. "His marriage of the last five years was something he believed to be the making of him but that marriage has now ended in the most acrimonious divorce." Giles now appreciated that he should never have 'dillied and dallied' about telling the police he had the handgun, he said. He asked the court to take into account letters of reference for Giles, who had a clean record until the recent incidents, he added. Passing sentence, Judge Tabor said that in the UK it is a privilege and not a right to own guns and Giles had abused it. The sentences for those who had illegal firearms was 'draconian.' "The law applies equally to a member of a crime gang in an inner city as it does to a terrierman working in the countryside," he said. "You have displayed not simply a cavalier attitude to the law but I am afraid a complete disregard that was dangerous. It was grossly irresponsible - particularly so when there was disharmony in the household which broke out into actual violence. "Your references refer to you as a quiet, honest and reliable man. You have not been well for some time, having fallen ill in November last year. But these offences were committed long before that. "Nearly all the references say you are safe with guns and highly knowledgeable but I am not certain that, if they had knowledge of these offences, they would still say you are safe with guns." The judge said that taking into account Giles' good character, his lawful possession of a firearms certificate, his genuine reasons for possessing guns, his current illness and family circumstances, and the fact there had been no trouble since his arrest there were special reasons for not imposing a five year jail term. The deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif alleged that justice being murdered in his case, however, notwithstanding he hoped justice will be given to him. According to the details, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif termed the National Accountability Bureau proceedings against his family as murder of justice on Thursday. While speaking to media, he remarked You tell me if this is justice or murder of justice when asked about his indictment in corruption cases. The Opponents were included in Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) by choice to targeting me, he said while talking to media in London. He reiterated his stance why he was ousted on Iqama rather Panama after finding no evidence of corruption against him. He reiterated his earlier claims that the Supreme Courts verdict in which he was disqualified and had to step down as countrys prime minister was given on Iqama (work permit) and not Panama. First there was Panama case, which went on for a long time, then Iqama came in front, he remarked, adding that decision was not given on Panama but Iqama. So many people in Pakistani have iqamas, but because they couldnt give a verdict on Panama so they used Iqama, he added. Todays verdict [of the accountability court] is also related to the initial verdict he claimed. I would have accepted the decision had it exposed any corruption or government taking kickbacks, but nothing came to the forefront, former prime minister remarked.Criticising the Joint Investigation Team, which was formed to probe his assets, he claimed that JIT tried its best [to incriminate me] and my opposers were handpicked to become members of the JIT.Of course, they had to give such a report, he said referring to his earlier claims that the JITs report was biased against him. I think that if our justice system continues like this then we will get nothing but embarrassment. On his wifes health, he remarked that he is in London just because of his wifes treatment. Shes in pain so I am with her. However, he did promise that he will return to Pakistan soon. I will go back to Pakistan. Sharing his travel plans, he said: I will travel before October 26. Earlier, the Accountability Court hearing NAB references against Sharif family indicted former minister Nawaz Sharif in another NAB reference, Azizia Steel Mills Reference. Nawaz, Maryam, Safder Indicted in Avenfield ReferenceThe court indicted Nawaz along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif and son-in-Law Capt (retd) Safder in Avenfield Reference. Accused pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the charges. Nawaz, through his representative Zafir Khan, Maryam and Safdar rejected the charges by pleading not guilty and vowed to contest the case. The charges state that the 2006 trust deed of the London properties is fake as it used the Calibri font before it was made publicly available while the accused also submitted bogus documents in the Supreme Court. The court also adjourned the hearing of the Avenfield properties and Azizia Steel Mills references until October 26 and directed the prosecution to produce its first witness Jamshed Ahmed at the next hearing. Restaurateur Danny Meyer's bid to revolutionize the dining industry by eliminating tipping appears to have had a rocky rollout in the two years since the "Hospitality Included" model was first introduced at The Modern. An article written by a former Union Square Cafe server published on Grub Street reveals turmoil in both front and back of house operations, including high rates of staff turnover at the Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants that have implemented the practice. After seeing dips in paychecksone front of house worker reports a drop of $10,000 annually from her typical annual pay of $60,000 at Union Square Cafe, for examplethere have been mass exoduses from Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern, where the company says turnover was "up in the third quarter this year." Since 2016, most of the front of house staff at Maialino has turned over twice, and the article states that "a significant group" of both front and back of house staff have left from North End Grill. When the practice first debuted, non-salaried employees received an hourly wage and were enrolled in a "revenue share program" directly tied to the restaurant's earnings. But the restaurants haven't been able to maintain the volume of diners that showed up prior to the Hospitality Included model; as a result, employee paycheck amounts have reportedly dropped. USHG's chief culture officer Erin Moran told Grub Street the situation has "dramatically affect[ed] our front of house teams." The high volume of turnover feeds back into the system negatively in the form of undertrained staff, which, when the whole point is excellent hospitality, doesn't sit well with diners. And those staff who do stay are now in a position of having to apply for raises to see an increase in their salaries, though staff do concede that the company offers a better benefits package than most service industry gigs. Amanda Cohen, owner of Dirt Candy, went through her own adjustment period after eliminating tipping and implementing first an "administrative fee" and then to the service included model to compensate her staff. Though she says the road has been tough, she would "never go back" to the old tipping model. "It's hard to do the right thing and treat your servers as valued staff members and not as servants who work for tips, but just because it's hard, it doesn't mean it's not worth doing," Cohen told Gothamist in an email today. "Dirt Candy went no tipping long before Danny Meyer, and all the challenges he's facing are ones we had to deal with, too. But Dirt Candy learned to deal with them. Going no tipping isn't a spray-on solution, it's the most intense change to your business model you'll ever undertake and you need to do it shoulder-to-shoulder with your staff, your managers, and your customers, and it requires constant work." At the end of the day, it seems Meyer's staff are open to the idea of Hospitality Included, but haven't yet been satisfied by the manner in which the program was introduced. "In the long run, if Hospitality Included ever works, I wouldn't be surprised. But it's going to take a while," one former employee told Grub Street. "There are too many moving parts before they figure it out." A lot of that future success also depends on diners making the leap to increased prices on dishes or adapting to things like administrative or service fees added on to checks. Recently, Meyer and other restaurateurs in NYC and San Francisco were named in a new proposed class action lawsuit that alleges that the no-tipping practice is part of a "sophisticated unlawful conspiracy to put that money into [restaurant owners'] own pockets." A dog owner grieving over the death of her family's beloved miniature pinscher was shocked to learn the pup was still alivefive months after her veterinarian allegedly said the ailing dog needed to be euthanized. Keri Levy told NJ.com that her miniature pinscher Ceasar had Cushing's disease, and their vet, Dr. George Menez of Briarwood Veterinary Hospital recommended to put down the dog in May. She says that after the "procedure," she "got a call telling her Ceasar was 'at peace' and that she could come in and pick up his collar." But this past weekend, a tipster told the Levy family that Caesar was still alive and actually in the custody of one of the hospital's employees. The hospital told Levy that Dr. Menez no longer worked there, according to NJ.com: After finally getting Menez on the phone, Levy said the vet admitted Ceasar was never put down and that the dog was taken home by a now-former employee. Howell police contacted that employee and told her she had until noon to return Ceasar. The woman promptly returned Ceasar and Levy was briefly reunited with her dog... Ceasar suffered from Cushing's disease, an endocrine disorder, and received no medical treatment since May, Levy said. The dog lost 10 pounds since she last saw him. Levy said she and her mother spent about an hour with Caesar while he was examined one final time before being put down, she said. Levy contacted the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is investigating, and the police, to say the dog was stolen. "I'm dumbfounded," another member of the Levy family told WABC 7. "I don't even know how to say, I don't know how to feel." Levy added that he paid $192 for the dog's cremation and "even got a condolence letter from" Menez. On Wednesday, Howell police detective Sgt. Christian Antunez said, "Dr. George Menez, the previous veterinarian at Briarwood, allowed an employee at the office assisting in the procedure to take Ceasar home. This employee wanted to do so out of compassion for the dog and a desire to rehabilitate his health, albeit without the owner's consent." Antunez added, "There has been mention over social media that Caesar was suffering, but at the time of the dog's return, officers and the detective investigating found the dog to be in good spirits and no obvious signs of neglect were apparent. However, the dog's condition and attention it was given during the last five months will be a matter more appropriately investigated by the MCSPCA." There may be possible theft of service charges, police added. Menez and the vet tech no longer work at Briarwood. A new vet, Dr. Maureen Kibisz, had bought the practice last week and was upset by the events, telling WABC 7, "It's hard enough when you have to decide a pet should pass, but you have to deal with that twice with the same pet? It's just unthinkable." Police are investigating a violent robbery along the L line where a woman was beaten after she tried to get her wallet back from three young women.. The incident took place around 6:45 p.m. on October 14th. According to the NYPD, a 19-year-old woman was at the Union Square Subway station when she "was approached by three unidentified females who removed the victim's wallet from her purse and boarded the L train." Investigators say the woman confronted the teenage suspects and demanded they give her back the wallet. As the train pulled into the last stop at 8th Avenue, the teens pummeled the woman "about the face and body," according to police, and then ran off. The victim was treated for injuries at Healthplex Medial Center. Police are searching for three females, described as being 17 to 19 years old, and released images of them today. Images of the suspects (NYPD) Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577. If youve streamed your way through all ten episodes of the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary and still want to make a friend of Horror, head over to the New-York Historical Society for their Vietnam War: 1945-1975 exhibition. The exhibition is ambitious in scope, attempting to distill and explore the full arc of the disastrous war's causes, progression, and consequences. The exhibition looks at specific episodes from the war, with installations on the 1968 Tet Offensive and the 1970 Cambodia campaign, but keeps its thematic eye focused on the ways in which the war cut to the core of American self-image and challenged cherished ideals of patriotism and citizenship in a supposedly democratic society. The NYHS has filled a 3,000-square-foot gallery with an impressive selection of historical film footage, photographs, artwork, artifacts, and documents related to both the home front and the frontlines. In addition to exploring military campaigns on both sides, the exhibition grapples with the larger context of the Cold War as well as social tensions in the U.S., including the antiwar movement, the splintering of political consensus, and the draft. The exhibit, curated by Marci Reaven, features a troopship berthing unit and a Viet Cong bicycle alongside antiwar posters and veterans artwork. NYHS has leaned in on digital as well, with a rich exhibition website. Before you go, check out oral histories collected by high school students, a playlist that evokes a range of cultural moments from the period with songs by Nancy Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Buffalo Springfield, and a documentary short that explores the story behind the Marvin Gaye song Whats Happening Brother. For more, pair with NYHS-recommended further reading and viewing, as well as a bit of sly New Yorker side-eye on Burns's (unaffiliated) documentary. Now through April 22nd, 2018, Closed Mondays // New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, Manhattan // General admission is $21; Student admission is $13 Police investigating a serious accident on State Highway 1 are appealing for witnesses. Emergency services were called to the crash on SH1, Karapiro, at 11.30pm on Friday 13. Police are turning to the public to help in identifying the driver of a white/pearl coloured Honda Integra. The vehicle is believed to be a later model that was clipped by the alleged offending vehicle prior to the main impacts, says a post on the Waikato Police Facebook page. This occurred near the intersection with Hickey Road. The driver of that vehicle is believed to be a male Indian, aged around early 30s, average build/height, clean cut hair, beard. At this stage there is no indication that this driver has any liability but we need to speak with him. His vehicle will be missing the casing of the wing mirror, says police. Any help you can either email the officer in charge at casey.gies@police.govt.nz or contact your nearest police station. Alternatively, information can be left anonymously via the Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 line. The New York City Police Department has not bothered to back up data on millions of dollars worth of property it's seized from New Yorkers, a surprised Manhattan Supreme Court Judge learned Tuesday. "That's insane," Judge Arlene Bluth exclaimed in court, according to Courthouse News. The revelation, included in a civilian NYPD tech employee's affidavit, reaffirmed concerns that have brewed for years that the NYPD's civil forfeiture process, twice ruled unconstitutional, lacks an accountability system to track, protect, or rightfully return personal property. The NYPD is supposed to return property seized during an arrest once a criminal case ends, so long as the person has a signed release from prosecutors. But public defenders say these requests are often ignored without consequence. Tuesday's hearing regarded a lawsuit that Bronx Defenders filed last August, in an attempt to force the NYPD to disclose all of the property seized, and how said property is tracked and stored. "It's not just the property our clients are trying to get back," said Bronx Defenders staff attorney Adam Shoop, of the civil action practice. "It's their entire evidence tracking system. The reason they build it is to track not only what they have to give back to folks, but what they need as evidence in cases. [The judge] was understandably taken aback." "Particularly given that they spent $25 million to build this," he added. According to Bronx Defenders, the NYPD ignored multiple formal requests made through the state's Freedom of Information Law. Ultimately, disclosures included an accounting summary from 2013 that noted more than $68 million in seized money from month to month, and a revenue report from 2014. Police said they couldn't find "additional records responsive to the request," according to court papers. The lawsuit cites a 2014 Gothamist report on civil forfeiture, which details New Yorkers' failed attempts to recover property: In the middle of the night in March of 2012, NYPD officers burst into the Bronx home of Gerald Bryan, ransacking his belongings, tearing out light fixtures, punching through walls, and confiscating $4,800 in cash. Bryan, 42, was taken into custody on suspected felony drug distribution, as the police continued their warrantless search. Over a year later, Bryan's case was dropped. When he went to retrieve his $4,800, he was told it was too late: the money had been deposited into the NYPD's pension fund. In court Tuesday, Bronx Defenders and a City lawyer disputed the accessibility of the data the lawyers have requested, Shoop said. City attorney Neil Giovanatti argued that police don't have the technical ability to extract data from its precarious Property and Evidence Tracking System (PETS) database. An expert hired by Bronx Defenders, computer consultant Robert Pesner, countered that "it is technologically feasible to retrieve much of the data sought." Neither the NYPD, nor the City Law Department, immediately responded to a request for comment. Bronx City Councilmember Ritchie Torres introduced legislation in 2015 that would require the NYPD to give detailed annual reports on the items and money seized in arrests. It was signed into law in August. "Next year, when NYPD has to do its first reporting, it's going to be a very limited set of data they have to produce, but by 2019 they'll have to provide info more similar to what we requested," Shoop said Thursday. Still, "We're not convinced that there's a reason why we shouldn't have this information now." [Update 4:00 p.m.]: The NYPD issued a statement to Gothamist Thursday denying that PETS is vulnerable. "Contrary to some published reports suggesting that NYPD does not electronically back up the data in its Property and Evidence Tracking System (PETS), all such data is backed up continuously in multiple data center," stated Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis. Davis's statement appears to contradict a sworn affidavit from the director of Strategic Technology Programs in the NYPD's IT bureau, Christian Schedler, submitted as part of the case. In it, Schedler states: In addition, PETS is the NYPD's only property and evidence tracking system. It is an actively functioning system. Currently, there is no secondary or back-up system, and no repository of the data in PETS and outside of PETS itself. The NYPD did not immediately comment on this discrepancy. Meanwhile, Shoop said his team is frustrated by the NYPD's refusal to send an IT expert to the courtroom. This week's mixed messages compound that frustration. "They rejected our every request to sit down in the same room with a person who has the technical expertise to explain how PETS operates, so we have asked the court to compel them to testify about it in court," he said. The next court appearance is December 12th. Bill English says hes satisfied with the agreement National has reached with New Zealand First but "well have to wait and see" who Winston Peters chooses. National MPs are meeting in person at Parliament ahead of this afternoons announcement from Winston Peters, who is poised to reveal which party hell support. The agreement National has reached with New Zealand First would be able to form the basis of "a strong and cohesive" government, party leader Bill English says. However, he still has "no indication" of who Winston Peters will choose when the New Zealand First leader announces his decision on a coalition partner this afternoon. Its understood Labour is in a similar position. Bill briefly spoke to media as he headed into a caucus meeting at Parliament to update his National Party colleagues. "We have had a period of intensive negotiations and Im satisfied that the agreement weve reached with New Zealand First would be able to form the basis of a strong and cohesive government," he says. National would "have to wait and see" whether Winston felt the same though. "Mr Peters has indicated that hes going to announce his position later in the day and, like everyone else, we look forward to hearing what that is." On arriving at Parliament this morning, a senior National Party minister and a member of the negotiating team, Steven Joyce, said his party did not know any details about how this afternoons announcement would be made. "No I havent had any, I assume thats something Mr Peters will be sharing with us all in due course." Steven says whether this mornings caucus meeting would include ratification of any deal was "up to the Prime Minister". But the caucus meeting was to uphold an undertaking to MPs that they would be "updated" before any final decision was made, says Steven. Heading into this mornings caucus meeting, the New Zealand First MP Shane Jones, was leaving the questions to Winston. Asked how he was feeling today, he replied, "I feel like a pipiwharauroa" - which translates to shining bronze cuckoo in te reo Maori. Labours MPs were also being briefed on the latest developments by teleconference at 11am. Announcement follows nearly two weeks of talks Winston announced yesterday that his party would be in a position to make their decision public this afternoon. In a statement, he says he had advised the leaders of National and Labour of the timing of the announcement. He says he had advised them of "other matters", but was not specific about what they were. Last night, National Party leader Bill English says there could be further negotiations with New Zealand First this morning. Its understood Labour is in a similar position and its executive council has not yet been convened to sign off any potential final deal with New Zealand First. It is also understood ministerial positions were discussed at one-on-one talks Mr Peters held with both Mr English and Ms Ardern on Tuesday night. It was still not clear how much notice, National or Labour would get prior to the announcement about Winstons decision. The Greens were meanwhile waiting to see if New Zealand First would go with Labour before convening its 150-strong Special General Meeting so as not to risk the contents of their deal with Labour being leaked. -RNZ Family, friends and colleagues of Sergeant Wayne Taylor bid him farewell today in a private service held at Papakura Military Camp in Auckland. Sergeant Taylor, known as Tails, died during a maritime counter-terrorism training exercise off the Coromandel Peninsula on October 13. Brigadier Chris Parsons, Deputy Chief of Army, attended the service this morning. Tails and I served together in Afghanistan. He was an outstanding family man and a skilled operator. It hurts when we lose one of our own. Tails served his country with honour and to a professional standard only few attain. It is a deeply sad privilege to be at Papakura, to pay our respects to his family and see him join New Zealands pantheon of warriors who shall never grow old. "He was a loving husband, a devoted father, a loyal friend and a trustworthy colleague, says a family spokesperson. He loved his Army life, and worked hard to get where he was but he also loved a good family adventure, not only with his immediate family but with the extended whanau of friends. His untimely passing has left a huge hole. He will be sorely missed. Sergeant Taylor joined the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment as a member of the Army Reserve in 1993. He was one of the early pioneers of the Armys Commandos and he deployed on operations to East Timor and Afghanistan during his military career. He is survived by his wife and their four children. The private service for Sergeant Wayne Taylor at Papakura Military Camp. Algal blooms have resulted in a health warning has been issued for Otautu Bay of Lake Rotoehu today. The bloom is likely to be caused by the potentially toxic blue-green algae. Sampling has been undertaken to confirm if the blooms are blue-green algae. The health warning means that people should avoid any activity which results in significant contact with the lake water in Otautu Bay, says Medical Officer of Health, Dr Neil de Wet. Contact with water affected by blooms of blue-green algae can cause asthma and hayfever attacks in some individuals. Contact with the blue-green algae can also cause skin rashes, stomach upsets, and in some cases neurological effects such as tingling around the mouth, headaches, breathing difficulties and visual problems. Warning signs will be posted at Otautu Bay advising potential lake users about the algal bloom. Other parts of Lake Rotoehu do not appear to be significantly affected at this stage. Changes in wind direction and lake conditions can rapidly change where blooms occur and so it is always best to check the water before any contact with it, says Neil. If a visible algal bloom is present or the water looks discoloured or has a musty odour it is best to avoid any contact with the water. Up-to-date information on this health warning and others for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes districts is available through these channels: Bay of Plenty Police are seeking the location of 18-year-old Maaki Emery who has a warrant to arrest for escaping police custody. The current warrant is in relation to an incident in Murupara on Tuesday evening this week. A manhunt is underway for the 18-year-old following an incident that saw a police officer fire two shots on Oregon Drive in the Bay of Plenty town about 7pm on Tuesday after the teen stole a police car while handcuffed. About six patrol cars and the police helicopter were used to find the missing police car. As no handcuffs have been found, police concede there is still a possibility the 18-year-old may still be wearing them. Anyone with any information about Maaki Emery, please call Rotorua Police on (07) 3499 400 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. - Additional reporting from Stuff. The New Zealand Belly Dance Flash Mob is an event being hosted at the Honeybee House Dance Studio on Sunday, October 22 at 10am. The event is a part of a series of workshops, performances, fun shops and mini classes being held over the next six months throughout New Zealand to help raise funds for Womens Refuge. At the end of the six months, the events will cumulate in a National New Zealand Belly Dance Flash Mob day. Event organiser, Tanya Bamford-King says herself and a group of friends came up with the idea to host the Tauranga workshop. The idea came to me when I was chatting amongst friends, says Tanya. We all agreed we really wanted to help out, but we werent sure how, then we came up with this event and realized we actually can help. We recognise we are quite a privileged group of women in that we are able to dance and to go to classes, so we wanted to find a way to help women who may not have the same privileges. Events have so far been confirmed for Tauranga, Whakatane and Christchurch. The Tauranga workshop will be hosted at Tanyas own dance studio, which has a koha/donation-based entry fee. These workshops are koha-based, so whether you give 50c or $1 as a koha it all counts and well be grateful, she says. If you show up and want to give $50 well be really grateful. She says the events have been planned to allow its organisers to share their love of the dance, while also raising money. Most important of all is these workshops will help raise funds for Womens Refuge. Secondly, I also think they are really fun Ive been a belly dancer for several years and I think its an amazing dance and its a good way for people to bond. Tanya is now encouraging locals to get involved, by entering as individuals or in a team from their school or work. Locals can bring their koha on the day, or make a donation via the Everyday Hero website. For more information contact one of the team through Facebook or the Art of Movement website. Overall container numbers grew 26 per cent owing to a significant increase in transhipment containers in the three months to 30 September 2017. Transhipment is where containers are transferred from one ship to another at Tauranga. Log volumes increased by 13 per cent compared with the same period last year. The first quarter results are further proof Tauranga has cemented its role as New Zealands hub port, says Port of Tauranga Chairman, David Pilkington. The trend to larger ships, and those ships making Tauranga their only Australasian call, has led to a significant increase in transhipment, says David. Transhipment of cargo from other New Zealand ports to Tauranga has quadrupled in the past year. The largest container vessels to ever visit New Zealand have been able to call at Tauranga since the September 2016 completion of a major dredging project and $350 million expansion programme. The (unaudited) Group Net Profit After Tax is up 15 per cent on the prior corresponding period, says David. Based on the first quarters performance, and notwithstanding any significant market changes, we expect full year earnings to be between $88 and $92 million. This compares with Net Profit After Tax of $83.4 million for the year ended 30 June 2017. Port of Tauranga Chief Executive, Mark Cairns, says the Port has ample headroom to handle increasing volumes. Of its 190 hectares of land, the Port has approximately 40 hectares of land still available for cargo growth. This will allow us to handle around three million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) without any further reclamation, he says. Located in Bethlehem, Tauranga, Te Wharekura o Mauao provides tikanga Maori education for Year 7 to 13 students. Te Wharekura o Mauao Chairperson Graham Cameron says Koa, who has been in the role for five years, leaves the school with a growing roll, an exciting new curriculum and strong academic, cultural and sporting results. When he first arrived, one of Koas dreams for our wharekura was lifting the quality of Te Reo among our tauira (students), kaimahi (teachers) and whanau (familes). Theres no doubt he has achieved that aspiration, and helped contribute to our positive academic results and the confidence of our community, says Graham. Koa has also created a hub of excellence among our teachers; he can be satisfied that he has contributed to the future leadership of our Tauranga Moana iwi. We thank him for his leadership and dedication during his time at the kura and wish him the very best for his future. Koa is returning home to Rotorua, where he will remain in education leadership. Consultation with tauira, kaimahi, whanau and iwi at Te Wharekura o Mauao on the ideal skills and characteristics for Mr Douglas successor is currently underway. The NYPD is hoping the public can help them locate two girls who haven't been seen in their Bayside homes since Wednesday afternoon. Update: The police now say the girls "returned home and were reunited with family." Sofia Cadena, 10, was last seen in her house on 225th Street around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Her friend Clare Kim, 11, was last seen around the same time, and police say the girls may have have been heading to Central Park. The Daily News reports, "The two girls friends who live around the corner from each other returned from their Flushing school, claimed they were going to walk the family dog, but instead left a note saying that they were running away together. It was not immediately disclosed if they took the dog with them... The two have never run away before, police sources said." Sofia Cadena (left), Clare Kim Sofia is described as approximately 5'0" tall and 80 pounds, with black eyes and long brown hair. She was last seen wearing a maroon long sleeve shirt with ruffles, black pants and a black sweater. Clare is described as being about 5'5" tall and 170 pounds with black hair. She was last seen wearing a Khaki hooded sweatshirt and black leggings. Anyone with information in regards to the missing person is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. The Spanish government is this weekend finalising plans to intervene in the devolved government of Catalonia. It follows the expiry of a deadline on Thursday, imposed by prime minister Mariano Rajoy, for Catalan regional president, Carles Puigdemont, to clarify if he had declared independence or not for Catalonia in the regional parliament last week and, if so, to rectify the situation. In his answer to Rajoy, which came just before the 10am deadline on Thursday, Puigdemont made it clear that the regional parliament didnt vote on a declaration of independence when it last met on 10 October and threatened Madrid with an imminent formal vote if it didnt enter into talks. If the repression and lack of dialogue persists, the Parlament [regional parliament] could go ahead, if it sees it as appropriate, and vote on a formal declaration of independence, the letter stated. Focus shifts back to Madrid This meant that the focus of the constant tit for tat between Madrid and Barcelona switched back to Mariano Rajoy to decide, with ministers, how exactly to respond, using Article 155 of the Constitution to temporarily suspend some or all of the devolved elements of Catalonias regional government. Rajoy had given Puigdemont until last Monday to make his original statement on whether he considered Catalonia to be independent or not, which Puigdemont sidestepped in his longer answer on Monday, and then a further three days until this Thursday to rectify. An official statement from Madrid, which came soon after Puigdemonts Thursday morning letter to Rajoy, said that the Catalan president had failed to meet the conditions of returning Catalonia to normal constitutional order by Thursday and, as such the national government would press on with its plans. Cabinet decision On Saturday the Cabinet will meet in a special session and approve the measures that will be taken to the Senate with the aim of protecting the overall interests of the people of Spain, including those in Catalonia, and restore constitutional order to that autonomous community, the statement said. It wasnt clear to what extent Article 155 will be used. The clause in the 1978 post-Franco constitution has never been invoked before and gives central government powers to intervene in the affairs of Spains devolved regions if the interests of the country are threatened - although it doesnt actually suspend the devolved status. Cross-party support The countrys three main national political parties: Rajoys ruling conservative Partido Popular (PP), the Socialist PSOE, and centrist Ciudadanos have been coordinating behind the scenes in Madrid over the last week what the extent of the use of Article 155 will be, in a rare display of unity. Observers have variously suggested that it could involve taking control of just the regional police and security forces and the regions treasury, or keeping Puigdemont in place but without regional politicians heading their departments and employing technocrats instead controlled from Madrid. Speaking after another meeting with the government on Thursday, a PSOE spokesperson said that the measures should be, in their view, as brief as possible and very limited. Commentators also said that, if Article 155 is applied, the regional parliament could be temporarily suspended and new elections called after a cooling off period. Avoiding violence Madrid is mindful to avoid taking steps that could lead to street protests or violence following the uncomfortable images from the recent banned referendum of police confronting voters, which were focussed on by international media. Tensions with the Catalan nationalist movement were further increased this week when two independence leaders, the two Jordis, were refused bail in an ongoing sedition case. Within the separatist parties in Catalonia there was disagreement about what to do next faced with the imminent use of Article 155 by Madrid. The more moderate PdeCat party called on Rajoy to make a last effort to negotiate with them. Meanwhile members of the left-wing ERCand anti-system CUP urged Carles Puigdemont to summon parliament so the pro-separatist majority could formally declare independence first, ahead of Article 155 being used. There were also calls from Madrid for the regional government to call elections in Catalonia to avoid the use of Article 155, a move which the ruling coalition has so far rejected. All eyes on the Senate next After Saturdays cabinet meeting in Madrid, the measures the government will adopt will need to be debated by the Senate, Spains upper house, which could take a week. The PP already holds a majority here but can also expect the support of PSOEand Ciudadanos in a vote. It was the mid-1850s, and the rapidly growing city of Brooklyn needed water. Two years and one engineering marvel later, the good citizens of what was then the third-largest city in America (after New York and Philadelphia) celebrated the opening of the Ridgewood Reservoir, a double-basin design that quickly leveled out at a daily capacity of 154 million gallons, enough to quench all of Brooklyn's thirst at that time for ten days. The site sits on the Brooklyn-Queens border, in Highland Park, but the reservoir itself is in the Glendale neighborhood of Queens. In the early 1890s, the reservoir was described as "rickety," due to failing pumping engines, by the NY Times. By 1898, Brooklyn merged with New York, a decision partially made so they could gain access to that city's water supply. The reservoir hung in there as a functional, albeit minor, part of the city's infrastructure for half a century, but was finally relegated to an emergency-backup role in the late 1950s, and a third basin was filled from the vast Catskill system. An 1859 etching. (Courtesy of the NYPL) In the 1970s there were several drownings, and in the late 1980s the city drained two of the three basins (mostly, it seems, to stop the locals from swimming there). After this, they discontinued any sort of upkeep of the property, letting nature have its way with the 50-acre reservoir site, which accounts for about half of Highland Park's 101 acres. In 2004, Mayor Bloomberg transferred the land over to Parks. I learned all of this recently on a tour of the Ridgewood Reservoir grounds led by Matt Molina, the president of NYC H2O, a non-profit education and advocacy organization focused on the city's water system. The reservation-only tour was part of the weekend's Open House New York festivities, and though my group had to keep to the public areas, there was still considerable ground to cover at the site. One of the most amazing things about the place is how dense and varied the vegetation has grown over the past twenty-five years, with some 175 species of plants providing shelter to 125 species of birds, as well as raccoons, possums, lizards, and rabbits. Another fun fact: It's home to one of the few birch forests in the area. It's hard to imagine that the whole site was once water, coming right up to the iron fencing that now borders the mile-long jogging and bicycle track. And because the city didn't entirely drain the third, central basin, that area has transformed itself into a wetlands, which, if officially designated as suchand NYC H2O is fighting hard to get this donewould mean considerable protection from development under federal law. Learn more about Highland Park and Ridgewood Reservoir here. At the age of 86, Bill Neal of Rich Valley has a love of things old -- furniture and especially memories. He and his wife, Bettie Taylor Neal, renovated his parents home in the Chatham Hill community, and he and Bettie enjoyed spending time at that location and their Roanoke home for several years. Bettie died of cancer last November. Neal misses her greatly, but he enjoys living in the house on Chatham Hill that his parents built in 1935 and reflecting on his happy childhood years and the 64 years he and Bettie were married. Chatham Hill was a good place to grow up, living along the river and fishing. Daddy had the store and it attracted people. Saturday was a big day. People would pour in the store and shop. The stores were social gathering places, especially at night when farmers came in to trade. Most people didnt have cars and did their shopping locally. Going to town (Marion) was a special occasion. Lots of people came to the store and mill on horseback or in buggies or wagons. Business was good; however, a lot of it was on credit since people didnt have a lot of money and had to wait for their tobacco to be sold, Neal said. Born on July 6, 1931, to Fred and Mattie Mae Cook Neal, in the upper end of Poore Valley, which was called Asberrys and later became a part of Tannersville, Neal came to the Chatham Hill community when he was four years old. My uncle, Henry Henderson H.H. Cook, my mothers brother, owned a store at Chatham Hill. Merle Ferguson was keeping the store, but he got a job in Marion, so my parents took over the store. When daddy was in the store business, I can recall people bringing eggs, chickens, herbs, berries, fur pelts, nuts and various items to the store to barter for groceries. There was very little money since a lot of people were working for 10 cents an hour and raising families. My earliest recollection was gas selling for 18 cents a gallon and candy bars and pop for a nickel each, Neal said. Neal attended the one-room school at Chatham Hill, where the teacher taught seven grades with two to three children in each grade. He transferred to the school at Rich Valley when he was in the sixth grade, in 1943, and graduated from that school in 1948. Neal studied business administration at the Elizabethton College of Commerce in Elizabethton, Tenn., for a year before going to work for the highway department. He worked for about two-and-a-half years before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1951 during the Korean War. After enlisting in the Navy, he married Bettie Taylor from the Spratts Creek community. He was stationed in Charleston, S.C., but was sent to Norfolk where he boarded an aircraft carrier. His ship joined the fight going on in Korea. Neal was discharged in February 1955. He worked at Brunswick for a short time before he and Bettie moved to other places for more money and more dependable jobs. He ended up in Roanoke in 1957 at Roanoke Iron and Bridge Works, where he worked for 30 years until the company went out of business. He retired at that time and went into the antique business. Bettie enjoyed a successful career at Virginia Wesleyan Community College. My parents got into the antique business. I used to look for antiques in Roanoke and bring them to them. They sold them out of the store on Chatham Hill. I started selling antiques and doing shows. I still sell them out of two booths at antique malls in Fort Chiswell, but I no longer do the shows, he said. Neal enjoys reminiscing about the days he spent in Chatham Hill. A lot of activities took place at school. We used to have plays and music programs. I can remember being in a Halloween play once as a black cat. Granny Neal made me a cat costume, which was pretty realistic. I can remember the old Carter family coming there once for a show. The Lowery brothers and the Thweatt family used to come down and put on shows occasionally. We would have pretty girl contests and cake walks. It was a fun time, but we had to make our own fun. There was no TV, Neal recalled. Daddy was very insistent that we go to church, and we seldom missed a Sunday. Daddy was in charge of Sunday school and taught the adult class. One of my teachers was Mrs. Ethel Burnop. I liked her and learned a lot from her. We had a lot of programs at the church, especially at Christmas. We always had Santa Claus and a Christmas play, and daddy would bag up candy, fruits and nuts so each child would have one, Neal said. Just about every summer they would have a revival that would go on for two weeks. There would be at least two preachers, and they would preach hellfire and damnation until they sweated. Of course, they would have the usual ones to come forward to be saved. At that time, the church served both the Methodists and the Presbyterians, and we would usually go to hear both when they preached, he added. Neals grandfather was Dr. William O. Neal, who served as the communitys doctor beginning in 1925, taking over the practice from Dr. Holmes. Neal explained that many mothers in the community would name their children after the doctor who oversaw the delivery, so there were lots of children named Neal. I spent a lot of time with Granny Neal and PawPaw. They were a most interesting couple. Both were well educated. He was a character, very eccentric. She was a kind, gentle lady and one of the best persons I have ever known. PawPaw, on the other hand, was gruff and tough, but I thought the world of him. He taught me a lot about history and politics and was one of the smartest persons I have ever known, Neal said. PawPaw was so interesting that you could write a book on his life alone. He finished medical college at the University of Virginia about 1900 at the head of his class. He was the doctor at Broadford, Liberty Hill and Poore Valley before coming to Chatham Hill. He married Daisy Starritt Andes and they had two sons, Stuart Andes and William Frederick, my father, Neal added. Dr. Neal, who delivered Neal, delivered many babies during his career, but he never delivered a child in a hospital. They were all delivered at home. His wife, Neals grandmother, wrote out the birth certificates when the babies were born. PawPaw was a good doctor, especially with pneumonia. Back in those days before miracle drugs like penicillin, he had to use common medical cures. I have heard him talk about the flu epidemic of 1918 when so many people died. I have been told that he didnt lose a patient. He would go to a house and all in the family would be sick. He would leave medicine beside their beds and go on to the next house. He never became excited with a case, but kept his calm. He doctored in his home and made house calls, Neal said, adding that Dr. Neal charged $2 for an office call and $5 for a house call. That price included the medicine. His fee for delivering a baby was $20. I was checking one of his account books from about the mid-1930s. He had an entry in it that he had been to Jake Atwells on Spratts Creek to deliver a baby. Jake paid him $19.80 according to his record. About a month later, there was another entry saying that Jake came in and paid 20, which was balance owed, Neal said. Neal remembers when Daylight Saving Time was started during World War II. The farmers didnt like it. The Democrats would set their watches up, but the Republicans wouldnt. You could tell if somebody was a Democrat or a Republican by what time they told you it was, Neal recalled. During the war, everything was rationed. People had to have stamps before they could buy anything. Daddy sold everything from overalls to vinegar to kerosene to cloth for women to make dresses out of and shoes. I worked hard, both on the farm and in the store, Neal added. But along with the hard work, there were good times, like a trip Neals family made to Bristol in the early 1940s to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses. I can remember going to the Grand Ole Opry about 1945 with daddy, Uncle George, Uncle Hobart and Bill. We went down by train. We had to spend the night in Chattanooga where we changed trains. We stayed in a hotel before the days of AC and had the windows open. I laid my pants with my money and other worldly possessions in the window. When we got up the next morning, my pants were missing. They tried to tell me someone had stolen my pants through the window. They had hidden my pants and one of my uncles was the culprit. We got into Nashville in early afternoon and did a little sightseeing before the Opry started. Back in those days they only had it on Saturday night, and it started at 7 p.m. and went nonstop until midnight. It was really something back in those days with artists like Eddy Arnold, Pee Wee King, Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Uncle Dave Mason and many more that have since passed on. We came home on the bus, and Uncle George and Bill had eaten something that made them sick. The bus driver was constantly having to stop the bus and let them off. That was a trip of a lifetime for me. I had never been on a train or a long trip before. I have been to the Opry several times since, but it was never anything like that first time, Neal said. As Neal looks back on his 86 years, a smile comes to his face as he remembers the many people who have touched his life. The Chatham Hill area was full of interesting and colorful characters. They all helped make Chatham Hill an interesting place to live and grow up in. Chatham Hill was an ideal place for a young boy to grow up, and I cherish those memories, he said. It's hard to believe it's already been a year since we were forced to watch Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton trade barbs at the annual white tie Al Smith charity dinner. But time, it flies, and tonight the Catholic elites will gather again to benefit the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundationthis time, with House Speaker Paul Ryan as the keynote guest. Unsurprisingly, there's some dissent. Ryan, who is apparently devoted to Catholicism in addition to ending the nation's healthcare system, will headline the $3K-plus-a-plate dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown tonight, following in the footsteps of previous honorees like Stephen Colbert, Michael Bloomberg, Colin Powell, and James Carville and Mary Matalin. Ryan was invited to speak by the Archdiocese of New York, which heralded his "commitment to empowering local organizations in the community," as well as his involvement with his own parish in Wisconsin. New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan is a Ryan admirer, having declared himself as such in a radio interview with the Speaker back in 2014. "A lot of people are fans of yours, Congressman Ryan, and Im one of them," Dolan said, later calling Ryan a "man of deep principle and conviction." Of course, there are some who find fault with Ryan's leadership in Congress, and a number of immigration advocate groups are organizing a rally outside the Hilton to protest Ryan's failure to bring the DREAM Act to the House floor, thus leaving immigrant youths without a clear path to citizenship. "For months, Speaker Paul Ryan has refused to meet with immigrant youth from his own district, and they are deeply offended that Cardinal Dolan would give Speaker Ryan such a high profile at an event meant to raise charitable contributions for young people when his actions run so contrary to that mission," rally organizers posted on the event's Facebook page. "Paul Ryan has the power to bring a clean DREAM Act to the floor, creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers. Instead, he is playing the white supremacist game of Trump and Sessionstrying to use the lives of DACAmented young adults as bargaining chips to advance their racist agenda." Protestors plan to meet at 5 p.m. outside the hotel. Anyway, if you would like to watch Ryan's speech for some reason, it'll be live-streaming here. Speakers are usually expected to make some jokes, so, brace yourselves. This page no longer exists or may have been moved.If you believe this is a mistake please email At a time when British politics has been injected with capitalist versus socialist debates left, right and centre, we can look at the presentation of these polarisations in both a leaders policies and their pantsuits. Under the harsh critique of the public eye and fellow party members, Theresa May is under a lot of pressure in the way she dresses. Spanning back through history, fashion and materialised objects are integral to political activism and vice versa: think Black Panthers and the Beret; the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and the Headscarf; Evo Morales Bolivias first indigenous president- refusing to conform to the suit and tie vibe expected to prevent selling out his integral identity and disenfranchising voters. Theresa May wearing a Frida Kahlo bracelet does not fall in to this line of fashion statements. Why? Because Theresa May is not a revolutionary. She does not fight for inclusion and equity. She has not been systematically and violently oppressed, nor does she speak for those that have. She is not surrounded by people who are revolutionising politics and battling to get their voices heard: she is the leader of a party that still, despite denials, are misogynistic, oppressive, racist to name a few. And wearing a bracelet emblazoned with perhaps the worlds most recognisable female revolutionary does not brainwash the public into thinking that. It would be like Trump wearing an NWA hat to hide his catastrophic receding hairline whilst condoning systematic police brutality. So why on earth would May choose this? Maybe it was Mays stylist in an act of sabotage. Or maybe, as succinctly pointed out by Deborah Shaw writing for the Independent, it is the commodified vision of Kahlo that May is relating to. Kahlos market-derived identity follows much the same of Che Guevara, where their faces stand for struggle and triumph over adversity, making their radical politics and ideologies more palatable for the globalised audience. They have become trendy: look at me, Im so liberal with my Kahlo phone case and my Che poster. Yes, Kahlo is accessible and iconic, rightly so, but her aesthetic often outshines her ideologies. Is May appropriating the commodified Kahlo as an emblem for her own struggles within her own party whilst reaching the top and attempting to remain there? If so, she is ignoring the sweet irony that Kahlo strongly identified and advocated violent communism. Frida Kahlo spent her life concerned with the plight of the impoverished, nationalism, identity politics, LQBTQ+ rights before awareness of this had grown, exercised sexual freedoms and believed in classless societies. When has May ever fought for this? She has voted against LQBTQ+ rights and Equality Acts surrounding sexual orientation, voted repeatedly for the reduction of benefits in turn perpetuating the hugely class-divided society that members of her party refuse to accept exists, and voted to remove duties on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to develop a society where individuals are not limited by prejudice and discrimination. Yes, Theresa May is the second female prime minister this country has ever had, and yes that is quite a feat. Yes, she represents women when she sits opposite a vile misogynist in the White House. However, a rich, white, privileged woman climbing up to the top of the ivory tower who then uses her position of power to perpetuate an oppressive society is not a feminist. To be a feminist, to be a revolutionary, systems that are currently in place need to be dismantled. We need action. Wearing a tacky plastic bracelet of a commodified and toned-down image of a feminist hero in the vain hope that you internalise some of her history does nothing for us. Frankly, its quite insulting. Revolutionaries are not just an ~aesthetic~, they are fighters. On Wednesday I caught up with Marcel Llavero Pasquina of Zero Carbon Society Cambridge to discuss divestment and climate change at the university. Re-launched in 2015 Zero Carbon Society want to bring the university to a stage where it can be fossil-free. Marcel quickly established that overall, the direction that Cambridge university is taking is the right direction. I nudged him for comment on the broader severity of things. Cambridges carbon policies recently made the front page of the Financial Times and I suspected things werent perfect. He admitted that it isnt yet enough to counter the climate emergency we live in now. Marcel remarked that Cambridges issue is not a lack of will or incentive but the levels of bureaucracy. As an institution, Cambridge has lots of official processes to go through and for good or for bad Cambridge is a traditional institution. I think that most students would feel instinctively that both comments ring true. CUSU passed a motion in favour of divestment in 2015, and the issue clearly isnt opposition from 'higher-ups'. Rather, laboriously getting boxes ticked has affected the speed not the actual process of change. When I pushed his critique of Cambridges policy, Marcel conceded that Cambridges investment strategy in fossil fuels is indeed incompatible with the Paris climate agreement. People & Planet estimate that Cambridge has invested more than 370million in fossil fuels. Marcel carefully covered his tracks, keenly asserting that the University itself hasnt broken the Paris Agreement but the Universitys policy has? It is hard to draw a convincing line between the two. Recently the Zero Carbon Society produced a submission to the university in collaboration with People & Planet and the NUS. It was designed to persuade the university to fully divest their 6.3bn endowment, even garnering the signature of a certain Noam Chomsky. It is unclear exactly what will happen as a result, and Marcel suspected that the council is undemocratically holding back the change demanded by the submission. His concern is that the Grace approved by Regent House is being taken as advisory. What the council are obliged to do is unclear, but the pressure is mounting. As we get up to leave the room Marcel added, I would like to bring climate change out of the political agenda because we have solved it, but we havent yet, and its getting worse. Stepping out into the corridor, Marcel gasps, darts back inside and flicks off the overhead lights. Zero Carbon Society hold open meetings every Saturday at 4pm in the Sidney Sussex bar, and will be holding two town hall meetings next Wednesday and on November 9th. Following the news of allegations of sexual harassment by a frequent guest speaker towards the members of the committee, the Cambridge Union has ensured that the concerned perpetuator will not be invited back. It was early this morning (18th October) that Tim Squirrell, former Cambridge Union president, took to Twitter to state how a well-known and frequent invitee sexually harassed several of the committee members during his term as president. Out of fear of libel accusations Squirrel refrains from naming this specific individual, but assures that they are a lawyer and appear in papers regularly. He also added that later committees have had other speakers do similar. Squirrell admits to have initially failed to act. He only informally asked that the alleged perpetuator would not be invited to return and neglected to assure that he be officially blacklisted. Now, having taken the matter into his own hands, Squirrel has finally contacted current committees, informing them of the issue. The Cambridge Student has approached the Cambridge Union for comment, who has assured to release a statement by the end of the day. The news come today together with the official announcement on behalf of the University of Cambridge of a new initiative to safeguard respectable relations between students and staff members. Affirming its zero-tolerance position on the issue of sexual harassment and assault, this new approach aims to discourage intimate student-staff relationships. Tackling the rising rage against the culture of harassment is not an easy task, and while not looking for forgiveness or flagellation, Squirrell can only try not to be complicit again, though rightfully asking whether one has done everything you can to stop harassment? A new book about the life of former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is scheduled to be released on Oct. 17. The new memoir, called Endurance, uncovers an astronaut's remarkable journey into space. Endurance: A Year In Space, A Lifetime Of Discovery Those who are curious about how it feels like to live in space and experience zero gravity will now get a chance to find out from Scott Kelly's new book, Endurance. The book recounts the true life story of Scott Kelly's adventures, from his early childhood up to the years he spent in college where he took inspiration from a book by Tom Wolfe, called The Right Stuff. In Endurance, Kelly shares with his readers his extraordinary day-to-day experiences aboard a space station and how he managed to endure the challenges along the way and survive. The Man Behind The Book Scott Kelly is the first American astronaut to spend the longest time in space, having completed a total of 340 days onboard the International Space Station (ISS). His year-long mission was part of a study that aimed to investigate the long-term effects of zero gravity on human being, both mentally and physically. He graduated from Mountain High School in 1982 and received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College in 1987, and an M.S. degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee in 1996. He is an engineer, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, and now a retired astronaut who once commanded the ISS on several expeditions. His identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, was also an astronaut. What Inspired Kelly To Become An Astronaut? According to Kelly, when he was about 18 years of age in college, he was inspired by the work of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, a book based on past extensive research and interviews conducted in the 1970's. The Right Stuff was published in 1979 and was inspired by the author's desire to find out why astronauts are willing to face the dangers of space flight. The Year-Long Journey In the book, Kelly speaks to his readers with an open-mind, recounting past personal experiences and many different challenges he had to face during his expeditions, both the good and the bad side of the story. He describes one incident, in which, a Russian cosmonaut almost drifted away from the space station during a spacewalk, but fortunately managed to bounce back because of an antenna. He also relates the challenges of eating, not showering, and answering the call of nature while being weightless inside a space machine that's traveling at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour. In March 2016, Kelly heads back to Earth safely in a Russian Soyuz capsule. About a month later after his arrival, he officially retires from NASA after 20 years of service. The book tells a story of curiosity, ambition, courage, self-discipline, and of course endurance. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Samsung announced Bixby 2.0, which will be a major upgrade to the company's personal digital assistant just six months after it was launched alongside the Galaxy S8. Bixby has run into several problems since its release and has so far not proven to be a worthy challenger to other assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant. Will Bixby 2.0 be more of the same, or will it turn things around for Samsung? Samsung Bixby 2.0: What Changed? Samsung Bixby 2.0, which was announced at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, comes with a renewed focus on smart home devices, compared to the original version of Bixby that was only associated with the Galaxy S8 and eventually the Galaxy Note 8. The change means that Samsung is looking to better position Bixby 2.0 as a competitor in the digital assistant space, as other companies have incorporated their offerings into smart home platforms. Alexa has powered Amazon's Echo line of products, Google Assistant has done the same for Google Home, and the Apple HomePod coming in December will likewise have Siri inside. Samsung wants to have Bixby 2.0 in devices beyond smart speakers though, and this is where Samsung might have an advantage over its rivals. In a press release accompanying its announcement, Samsung said that Bixby 2.0 will function as "the control hub of your device ecosystem," which will include smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, and other connected devices. Compared to Amazon, Apple, and Google, Samsung has been in the electronic appliances business for a much longer time. If Samsung takes advantage of its expansive smart product line-up, the adoption of Bixby 2.0 will vastly increase. Bixby 2.0 also integrates the predictive technology that Samsung acquired from Viv Labs, the startup behind Apple's Siri, which would help in opening up the software to third-party apps. Will Samsung Be Able To Recover From Failed Bixby Launch? The launch of Bixby in the United States was a failure, as its defining Bixby Voice service was not ready in time to be released with the rest of the platform in April. The Bixby Voice delay worsened in July, as reports claimed that the English version of the service was experiencing difficulties. When Samsung allowed users to disable the dedicated Bixby button, you know that there's a problem. We'll have to find out if Samsung and Bixby can recover from all this through Bixby 2.0. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ESA takes the reins of the Disasters Charter Paris (ESA) Oct 17, 2017 When disaster strikes, a group of international space agencies pools its resources and expertise to support relief efforts on the ground. For the next six months, ESA will be leading the International Charter Space and Major Disasters as it brings information from satellites to the aid of the vulnerable. Every six months, a different member takes the role of Primus Inter Pares - or Charter lead. Last week, ESA took over this role for the sixth time, and is responsible for ensuring that the Charter ... read more Baton Rouge rapper Torrence Boosie Badazz Hatch filed a complaint Tuesday in Harrison County Circuit Court over being pepper-sprayed in Dillards at Edgewater Mall in Biloxi during spring break earlier this year. The complaint is against Dillards, Weiser Security Services, Biloxi Police Department, Jim Wilson & Associates, and an unnamed Biloxi officer. The complaint says an unknown officer pepper-sprayed Boosie as well as Larry Anderson and Hatchs cousin, Tyeon Givens. Givens was pregnant with twins at the time, and gave birth prematurely after being pepper-sprayed. Can't see the video below? Click here. An officer also called all three of them the N-word during the altercation, the complaint says. Listed as Little Boosie, he says he was shopping with friends and relatives in the Polo section of Dillards on April 9, the day after he performed at the Coast Coliseum during Biloxi Black Beach Weekend. He wanted to engage his local fans and supporters, and purchase goods in support of the local community, the complaint says. A plain clothes Biloxi Police Department officer working as an employee of the defendants approached Boosie, Anderson and the entourage. The officer eventually demanded they leave the store and sprayed both mens faces and upper bodies with Mace. The officer also referred to them in derogatory terms, including the N-word. This story originally appeared on SunHerald.com Givens was at a perfume counter when an officer approached her and tapped her on the shoulder, the complaint says. When she turned around, the officer sprayed her in the eyes and mouth, which caused her to fall to the ground. She was helped up by a family member and forced to leave the store, all while being subjected to derogatory comments, including the N-word. Givens was pregnant with twins, and began having contractions after the incident, the complaint says. She gave birth prematurely, at 27 weeks, and both children suffer from cardiac, respiratory and other issues proximately related to the assault. The lawsuit claims negligence, infliction of emotional distress, premises liability and failure to properly train and supervise. The Sun Herald talked to a woman who filmed the incident in April, Crystal Whitmore. She said a large crowd of fans followed Boosie into the store, and a security guard asked them repeatedly to leave before spraying Mace. A uniformed Biloxi officer also was there, she said. Biloxi police Lt. Chris De Back said in April that the Dillards security officer followed the crowd outside, where he was aggressively approached and responded with pepper spray. De Back said a Biloxi police officer stepped in. He said the police officer was assaulted, too. They suffered minor injuries. Click here for the original story from SunHerald.com The above image is a sample of newspaper version of the Wendover Drive flood recovery infographic, appearing in The Advocate, Sunday, Aug. 6. Click here to view the full PDF. Louisiana Resource Center for Educators, an education library and teacher training center based in Baton Rouge, is announcing only the second executive director in its nearly two-decade history. Kyle Finke, who has been director of LRCEs alternative teaching program, Teach!, is being promoted to the top job. He is replacing founding leader, Nancy Roberts, who announced this past summer she is retiring from the organization she founded in 1998. Roberts' last day is set for Oct. 27. Nancy Roberts retires from Louisiana Resource Center for Educators Nancy Roberts, who founded the educator library Louisiana Resource Center for Educators in 1 LRCE sent out a news release Thursday morning about Finkes appointment to the lead the organization. Finke was selected by LRCEs board of directors after a search. Finke said the board selected him as its executive director at a Sept. 19 meeting. Molly Quirk Alexander, chairwoman of LRCEs board, said in the release that shes excited that Finke will be taking over and leading the organization to the next level. LRCE is a vital part of the education community and Kyle is capable of continuing the tradition of delivering high quality direction and service to teachers across the state, Alexander said. LRCEs Teach!, which started in 2003, is one of the largest alternative certification programs in Louisiana with more than 1700 teacher alumni. I am extremely excited and humbled to continue the incredible education mission that LRCE embodies throughout the state. Finke said in the release. Before joining LRCE, Finke was the managing director of teacher leadership development for Teach For America South Louisiana. He has also held positions with the The New Teacher Project, which is an alternative certification program and an offshoot of Teach For America, and he spent seven years as a science teacher at Broadmoor Middle School in Baton Rouge. During his classroom days, he became a Louisiana Math & Science Teaching Initiative fellow through LSUs Cain Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Literacy. During Roberts' tenure, LRCEs library has grown from 5,000 to more than 110,000 titles at its office on Florida Boulevard. LRCE lends these titles to public, private and home-school educators alike. LRCE also offers regular teacher training in a variety of areas. This is in response to a recent column in The Advocate about Wendy Vitter. As a former assistant district attorney, district court judge, appellate court judge and the current district attorney, I believe Vitter possesses a very distinguished resume and would make a superb federal judge in Louisianas Eastern District. Wendy served this community honorably as an assistant district attorney for eight years. During that time she prosecuted over 100 felony jury trials including dozens of cases for murder, rape and armed robbery. Some of those cases she prosecuted before me when I was sitting as a judge on the Criminal District Court. I found Wendy to not only be extremely professional but also extremely effective as a prosecutor. Both my fellow judges as well as her opponents in the defense bar shared my opinions regarding her professionalism and abilities. Following her work as a prosecutor, Wendy has enjoyed a very successful career as a civil litigator. First, she focused on maritime matters, which are in federal court. Presently, she is the general counsel for the New Orleans Archdiocese, which requires her to oversee a broad range of complex legal matters. In short, as someone who has served as a district court judge, appellate court judge, and now as the citys top prosecutor, I believe I have pretty good insight into the qualities that will make for a good judge. Wendy Vitter absolutely possesses those qualities in abundance. Leon A Cannizzaro, Jr. Orleans Parish district attorney New Orleans If Louisiana is not alone, it is still far from a great distinction to have children spending nights at a social workers office, because there is no place for a child in state supervision to go. States across the nation have reported similar problems, as child welfare agencies have more children to help and fewer places to put them. Citing reporting by The Advocate, a national survey by Governing magazine said there have been similar cases in Arizona, Kansas, Texas and Washington, D.C. While such incidents reflect only a few instances, compared to the number of children served, it is a vivid example of the shortcomings of child welfare across the nation. For Louisianas top official in child welfare, Marketa Garner Walters, those incidents are part of a larger picture of social workers with too many children to supervise and too few options for them. Walters, secretary of the state Department of Children and Family Services, outlined the math to the Press Club of Baton Rouge recently. Between 2008 and 2016, DCFS's workforce was cut by more than 600 positions from about 1,800 to about 1,200. "Our caseloads have not gone down," Walters emphasized. "Let me be abundantly clear: they have gone up." The Louisiana Legislative Auditor earlier this year found the department struggles with its high caseloads, staff turnover and outdated technology affected its ability to perform some basic reviews meant to ensure foster kids' safety. The audit focused on performance during former Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration and was requested by the Edwards administration, but new management is not the only remedy needed; money is hard to come by, although legislators at least recently provided money to replace old vehicles and some equipment. Inevitably, though, morale at the agency suffered during years of cutbacks. There are few functions of government more labor-intensive than supervision of a family where a child is feared to be abused or neglected; caseworkers have to be able to work with the family, to eliminate the causes of problems and with luck keep the child safely in the home. Other cases require more intensive intervention, and that involves more time, including working with the court system and waiting in courtrooms. Again, were not alone. Walters said, as national studies have found few states serving children well in such difficult circumstances. We know that we are not meeting our own internal standards, she said bluntly of DCFS. If this is a struggle across the country, why is there not more active intervention by the Legislature to fund the improvements that will make a difference in the lives of children? Those are our future assets, or liabilities if the job is not done right. Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro was not pleased with a Criminal District Court judge's decision to declare alleged cop killer Travis Boys incompetent to stand trial Thursday. +2 Alleged cop killer Travis Boys declared incompetent for trial 'at this time' after feces incident Criminal District Court Judge Karen Herman found alleged cop-killer Travis Boys incompetent for trial on Thursday, a day after Boys smeared feces and ate it in the middle of jury selection. In a fiery statement, Cannizzaro called Judge Karen Herman's decision "extremely disturbing," noting that medical experts testified that Boys was malingering and called Boys' eating of a piece of feces and smearing it on himself during jury selection a "voluntary planned disruption" to delay his trial. He also said the city of New Orleans "sunk to a new low" by turning control of the criminal justice system over to Boys. "I had hoped that this court was too intelligent to allow an accused cop killer to hijack these proceedings, but I was incorrect," Cannizzaro said. "I fear that today's decision will only encourage similarly situated defendants to engage in such misconduct in the future." Boys is on trial for allegedly shooting and killing New Orleans Police officer Daryle Holloway in June 2015 as he was being transported to jail. Boys has entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity on a single count of first-degree murder. Boys faces life in prison if convicted. WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration's declaration of the opioid crisis as a nationwide public health emergency won't bring new dollars A bipartisan group of governors, including Montana Democrat Steve Bullock, are urging Congress to quickly pass legislation to stabilize our private health insurance markets and make quality health insurance more available and affordable. The letter comes after action from President Donald Trump last week said he would immediately end cost-sharing reduction payments made to insurance companies who give subsidies to people who buy coverage on the exchange mandated by the Affordable Care Act. About 63,800 Montanans buy health insurance on the exchange. About 43 percent, roughly 25,000, benefit from the subsides, called cost-sharing reduction payments. Average payments are $1,147. After the announcement last week, one of the three insurers who sell on the exchange in Montana said they could not offer plans for 2018 if they were not allowed to raise their rates. After an initial denial, both the Montana Health Co-op and PacificSource raised their rates. It also appears two U.S. senators have reached a deal to continue to provide the subsidies, though that is far from assured. Last week Bullock criticized the end of the payments and an executive order by Trump allowing the expansion of short-term plans as a reckless stroke of a pen." Other governors who signed the letter include Govs. Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; Kasich, R-Ohio; Walker, I-Alaska; Wolf, D-Pa.; McAuliffe, D-Va.; Bel Edwards, D-La.; Sandoval, R-Nev.; Baker, R-Mass.; and Scott, R-Vt. They wrote: Stabilizing insurance markets is one of the primary areas where Congress can take action to ensure that consumers have affordable health care options. As governors, we deal with real-life impacts of actions taken in Washington, D.C." Canberra's safety watchdog will not launch a prosecution over a bridge collapse that hospitalised nine workers. An ACT government spokeswoman said the decision to abandon litigation had partially been made as the statutory timeframe, which says a case must be commenced within two years, had expired. The scene of a bridge which collapsed on the Gungahlin Drive Extension, over Barton Highway in North Canberra. 14th August 2010. Photo by Lannon Harley. Credit:Lannon Harley Canberra unions say the failure is further proof WorkSafe ACT had been compromised by its merger into Access Canberra. The half-built Gungahlin Drive Extension bridge over the Barton Highway collapsed in 2010 when more 400 cubic metres of concrete - weighing more than 800 tonnes - was being poured onto the span on August 14. A senior Reserve Bank official has flagged concerns about the "awful lot" of apartments due to flood the Brisbane property market, and the potential hit facing investors who had bet on making capital gains. Michele Bullock, assistant governor for the financial system, on Thursday signalled that the RBA's long-running worries about an oversupply of apartments were most acute in relation to Brisbane, but it was more comfortable with the wave of high-rise construction in the other east coast capitals. The number of apartments in Brisbane is set to surge by a quarter in the next two years, the RBA says. The central bank had previously warned Melbourne's apartment market was also a risk, but Ms Bullock said fast growth in the city's population was likely to absorb the extra supply of units. The RBA's Financial Stability Review last week also noted there had been "small declines" in the prices of some new apartment developments in Sydney, but it did point to specific risks of an apartment oversupply in the city. The new chairman of mining giant BHP threw his weight behind his CEO on Thursday after attacks from activist investor Elliott Advisers prompted speculation that the end of Andrew Mackenzie's tenure was imminent. Pressure has mounted on BHP and its chief executive since Elliott went public in April with its criticisms of the miner's strategy. "Any suggestion there is a set timeline around Andrew's tenure is simply false and without merit," Chairman Ken MacKenzie told reporters in London after his first annual general meeting since taking office at the start of September. There's a separate event scheduled in Melbourne next month. Responding to one shareholder who asked if it was billionaire Paul Singer, who heads Elliott, who was really running the company, the chairman responded that it was "Mr Mackenzie and Mr MacKenzie" who are in charge - though he did not specify the order of the pair who share the same names but with slightly different spelling. Thousands of people are living and working in six potentially flammable Melbourne high-rise towers while authorities argue with builders in court over who should fix them. The potentially hazardous central city skyscrapers are clad in combustible aluminium sheets of the sort responsible for fuelling Melbourne's Lacrosse building fire and London's lethal Grenfell Tower blaze. Builder LU Simon, who constructed the Lacrosse apartment tower, has mounted a legal challenge to stop authorities ordering it to fix another six multi-storey towers it erected with non-compliant cladding. The builder - who is fighting a separate damages claim from Lacrosse's owners - sought a Supreme Court injunction to prohibit the Victorian Building Authority from giving it a "direction to fix" the towers. Domino's Pizza is doubling down on its push into Germany, buying the Hallo Pizza chain in a deal worth about $100 million. Domino's, through its majority-owned German joint venture, will buy the 170 store chain for 32 million ($48 million) with another 20 to 30 million to be spent on re-branding, store conversions and transaction costs. The deal, which is expected to close early in 2018, will give a "low single digit" boost to the company's earnings excluding those integration costs. The acquisition is expected to close in early calendar 2018, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. 7-Eleven has blamed two industry codes for standing in the way of its ability to terminate agreements with franchisees that underpay workers. The company has called for the Franchising Code of Conduct and the Oil Code to be amended to give franchisors the right to terminate a franchise agreement in the case of serious non-compliance with workplace laws. Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James. Credit:Penny Stephens "Unbelievably, underpayment (no matter what the amount) does not entitle a franchisor to terminate a franchise agreement under the existing industry codes," the company said. "Termination for underpayment is only available to a franchisor if it can be demonstrated at the requisite level of proof that the underpayment has occurred in a way that involves fraudulent conduct. Sham industrial arrangements that involve a handful of employees being asked to sign a "collective" agreement on wages and conditions on behalf of hundreds of other employees could be outlawed by Labor. Labor's spokesman on employment Brendan O'Connor said if elected, a future Labor government would introduce laws to ensure that collective bargaining was not undermined by sham agreements. Sydney electrician Peter Caldwell said he was asked to sign an enterprise agreement that would have slashed the wages of other workers. Credit:Christopher Pearce Mr O'Connor said some employers were getting away with using a small cohort of employees to vote up inferior enterprise agreements, which were then used to reduce the pay and conditions of other much larger and often very different workforces. Private contractors building the Sydney Metro Northwest have been accused of trying to slash the pay and conditions of skilled tradespeople using a controversial pay agreement like the one Carlton United Breweries used to slash worker salaries. Richard Ferlazzo, Holden GM's director of industrial design, will continue to lead a team out of the company's Port Melbourne HQ working on international prototypes. Credit:Jason South The official unemployment rate is currently 5.8 per cent, but when you take underemployment into account, about 20 per cent of Australians do not earn enough to create the house-in-the-suburbs standard of living that was taken for granted only 30 years ago. The laissez-faire capitalists have conducted a major experiment on the Australian economy and, while profits might be up, almost every other indicator of national success is down, whether it's wages, house-ownership, education standards or health care. Illustration: Andrew Dyson The advent of free trade dogma, the removal of tariffs and other industry assistance and the general denigration of manufacturing and unions the police force of living standards have fundamentally undermined the chances of all able Australians to find 40-hour work with award wages. "We have to be competitive" is the mantra of the current Prime Minister, but at no stage has Malcolm Turnbull explained how Australian workers on Australian wages were supposed to compete with third-world workers who, in many cases, are not even allowed to form unions so they can bargain for better conditions. Was the plan, initially laid down under the Hawke-Keating government, to reduce Australian wages to third-world levels? What else did they expect to happen when tariffs and assistance were withdrawn, allowing goods to flood in from low-labour-cost Asian countries? And let's not pretend that Australia was some sort of rogue protectionist state out to distort international trade patterns. Tariffs and assistance are still well established around the world. To this day, the biggest selling vehicle model in the US, the pick-up, is protected by a 25 per cent tariff. Even the German automotive industry home to famous brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW and Porsche receives extensive assistance from its Government. Estimates put before the last Productivity Commission enquiry into the car industry put the assistance per German car industry worker at more than four times the assistance that was offered to Australia's car workers under the last industry plan. The reason that Germany, the US, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and China all protect their automotive industries is that those governments value the full-time work and good wages the industry brings. Just as important, the car industry stimulates progress in the various industries that supply carmakers: metallurgy, robotics, electronics, plastics, logistics as well as all the skills and capabilities needed to stitch it all together. Without the local car industry's $1 billion-a-year research and development effort, these drivers will wither away. The loss of tens of thousands of full-time, award-wage jobs has come at precisely the wrong time. The acquiescence of successive federal governments to demands from employers for more "flexible" working regulations has seen a marked deterioration in working conditions for many people, not to mention wages. The situation is so bad that international companies now come to Australia knowing they can buy an existing company, such as Carlton and United Breweries, retrench all the workers and re-employ them as contractors on basic wages. In that instance, the plan was thwarted, but it was all perfectly legal under Australia's anti-worker laws, which heavily favour capital over labour. The closure of the car industry shows that Australia's politicians have lost sight of their basic task, to improve the living standards of all Australians. That involves creating jobs for the millions living in the suburbs. The current economic and trade settings do not do that. What company would set up a new factory in Australia to manufacture goods? Australia is already a marginal market with only 25 million people. There are no tariffs or industry assistance that prevent overseas manufacturers dumping their excess output in Australia. Instead of investing in Australia and creating jobs here, companies can exploit third-world labour in South-East Asian countries knowing they can flood the Australian market unimpeded. It appears as though the Australian government and all its high-paid economists have given up on trying to maintain the standard of living achieved in the 20th century. Where it will descend to is anyone's guess as wages stagnate and unemployment rises. Flying the flag at half-mast on October will not only mark the passing of the car industry, it will herald the opening of a new era in unemployment and mark the end of the country's period of economic growth. The state's professional and volunteer fire services have an immense responsibility. Their readiness and capacity is literally a matter of life and death. Millions of Victorians rely on these brave protectors. An extremely threatening fire season looms, bringing the risk of catastrophe. It is reasonable for Victorians to be frustrated and worried about the chaotic state of this essential service. A report obtained by The Age adds to the causes for concern. An internal inquiry by Professor Caroline Taylor, a respected expert, uncovered rampant bullying and harassment, along with allegations of sexual crime, in the Country Fire Authority. When staff became aware of the probe, Professor Taylor herself was threatened and bullied. The CFA suppressed the report. Where there's smoke ... Credit:Simon O'Dwyer For more than a decade, industrial disputation has revealed a culture of combat and distrust between management and staff, and between professional and volunteer firefighters. Several internal reviews in recent years have described dangerous dysfunction. Yet the problems have worsened. Executive after executive has been unable to create unity, and has left, often in disgrace and/or distress. The board had been replaced. The United Firefighters Union, considered by many to be a cause of the problem, is seeking to suppress in the Supreme Court a Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report. The union has challenged the report's data-gathering methods, claiming they are open to manipulation. The former minister responsible for the fire services, Jane Garrett, considered a talented and promising politician, quit the role after Premier Daniel Andrews inexplicably intervened last year. The enterprise agreement remains unsigned and legislation to reform the fire services has not progressed. Coming on top of this dismal litany, Professor Taylor's jarring revelations, which included that women have been abused to the point of contemplating suicide, have prompted Opposition Leader Matthew Guy to call for a judicial inquiry. Yes, Dr Michael Gannon, your tweet is unbecoming of an AMA president. I watched my old-school, unemotional, veterinary surgeon dad (Rod Watkins) die a horrible slow cancer death. Two suicide attempts. His words near the end: "I wouldn't let a dog suffer like this." (Love you, dad) Andrew Watkins (PhD), Highett Opponents may never have to face issue Assisted death, otherwise known as euthanasia, looks like becoming legalised in Australia. It is known to assist in the death of one who may be in excruciating pain. Whilst Deputy Premier James Merlino argues that it is "elder abuse", euthanasia is nothing but a relief for those in agony, which those who are opposed to the idea, may never have to face. Why should those who do not understand this pain, have a say in how one passes? It is up to the individual. If one does not want to go through euthanasia, they simply do not have to ask for it when, and if that time comes. Jalissa Mallamace, Caroline Springs Commentators distort rational discussion Rational discussion about the voluntary assisted dying bill is being distorted by the use by some commentators of the term "to kill". In common parlance "to kill" conjures up a horrible, brutal death. The bill offers the opposite a peaceful death, free from suffering. Meg Paul, Camberwell Peaceful 'dissent' Challenging Tasmania's anti-protesting laws in the High Court, Bob Brown has facilitated the restoration of a good dose of common sense over and above the majority justices (ie. 6:1) correct interpretation of the "implied freedom of political communication" embedded in Australia's constitution. ("Protesting laws in activists' sights after Bob Brown wins landmark High Court case", The Age, 19/10) At a time of an unprecedented hinderance of freedom of political expression under "terrorism" laws and corporatisation of government, Bob Brown has single-handedly reminded us of the importance of peaceful "dissent" in a robust democracy. "Dissent" with a purpose: To preserve our natural environment that is under severe threat by environmental vandalism like the touted Adani mining project. Thank goodness for good people like Bob Brown. You've restored my greatly diminished faith in humanity! Jelena Rosic, Mornington Finns lead the way Congratulations to Harkaway Primary for realising children need a break from learning just like adults. ("A quick break every hour has students on the ball", 18/10). I have just returned from a conference where I had the privilege of listening to many Finnish educators. We have so much more than taking breaks to learn from Finnish education. Finland selects teachers from the top 10 per cent of graduates, they are highly esteemed and not used as punching bags by politicians, Finns trust teachers' professionalism to assess students and don't subject students to nationwide high-stakes tests like NAPLAN, Finland doesn't fund private schools and, most significantly, their education program is committed to equity of outcomes and doesn't change with a change of minister or government. Dr David Zyngier, senior lecturer in curriculum & pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Peninsula Campus, Monash University Nuclear power too When Barry Ripper (Letters, 19/10) drove through Spain last month noticing wind turbines, did he not also notice nuclear power plants and the 20 per cent of Spain's electricity they supply? Michael Angwin, Surrey Hills No guilt, no worries Thank goodness they scrapped the clean energy target. Now I no longer have feel guilty about the state of my house when I have visitors. Or apologise for the state of the planet to future generations, Nothing to worry about, just consume and enjoy! Sally Creasey, Scone, NSW Who needs gas? The laissez-fare approach to energy policy of the federal government and the high price of gas have led us to reduce demand for gas by implementing "market driven" decisions to replace our household appliances. Replacing the gas "space" heater three years ago with a reverse-cycle airconditioner halved our energy usage. The 10-year old gas oven has been replaced by an electric-induction cooktop and stove. Gas is not essential in any Australian home. Bruce McGregor, Brunswick Real issues miss out Great to see the Prime Minister announcing a raft of "game changing" cliches, "reliability" slogans with a dash of "security" statements topped up with "benefits" for all Australians rather than tackling the real issues surrounding our high energy costs and the Luddites in his own party. "Motherhood statements one, real action nil." Ian Gray, Benalla Box Hill under stress While Planning Minister Richard Wynne's bureaucrats are ticking boxes for more and more high-rise boxes in Box Hill, it seems that they have given no concurrent consideration to improving the scungy so-called Box Hill Transport Interchange; nor the need for schools and parkland to service this large new population. And what about the effect of all this on those who already live in the neighbouring area, where medium density developments are already adding pressure to traffic, parking, public transport, open space and schools? The state government needs to look beyond building ever more high-rise towers and plan for the whole community, both newcomers and those who already live in the area. Elizabeth Meredith, Surrey Hills Pedant's corner Over here in pedant's corner we note that no Roman emperor was killed on the Ides of March as Julius Caesar was never emperor. He was a consul then a dictator. His adopted son Octavian was the first emperor and took the name Augustus. John Sutton, Brunswick West Stick to meters Hiring a taxi will soon become like buying a carpet in an Istanbul market. My approach will be to ask the driver the fare, then offer a quarter of that, gradually working towards the middle. Terribly time-consuming, though, for both parties. I reallywould prefer to stick with metering. Mike Puleston, Brunswick Taxi-ing change The Andrews government is going to take the taxi meters out of taxis. What can they possibly be thinking? How are overseas and interstate visitors possibly going to know what a reasonable fare for a particular trip is? What about the elderly and those with limited communication skills? As ideas go it doesn't get much more daft than this. Reg Murray, Glen Iris Safeguard will fail It's a great joy to hear someone say something like: "The doctors gave me three months to live five years ago." I have never heard this as a complaint, but always a compliment to professional treatment. It's a reminder that even the most skilled experts never know the whole picture. The apparent safeguard in Victoria's euthanasia laws that death must be within 12 months may look good in theory, but will inevitably fail in practice. Chris Little, Albury, NSW Ugly tradition Dr Michael Gannon's tweets on assisted dying exemplify the sort of medical attitude that many of us try not to exemplify. They show an archaic view of the role of the doctor. Are we here to help our patients make the best of their own imperfect lives in their own terms, by "holding a space" in which decisions can be made by the patient, using whatever knowledge and wisdom we may bring to bear? Or are we there to determine the outcome based upon our own beliefs and prejudices? There is a long and ugly tradition of the latter pattern of behaviour. One can only hope that one day we will move beyond this. Dr Gannon's personal views on this matter are irrelevant and he should not cloak them in professional authority by speaking as a representative of all doctors. Dr Andrew Watkins, Hampton Offering a choice Many people seem to forget that no matter what the outcome of the assisted dying debate might be, all it is offering is a choice. No one is being forced to do anything they don't want to do. We need to consider too, that we may have responsibilities as citizens, but as individuals that isn't necessarily the case. There is one thing that I own as an individual that no one else, politicians or religious people included, can take from me, and that is my life. Others may not necessarily approve of the decisions I make regarding my life, particularly at the end of it, but that is my business. As with everything else, if I need assistance I will seek it out. It's a very personal choice that is mine to make, and no one else can force me to do otherwise. If I am in no fit state to consider the options available, my family and friends will already know what my choice would be. Peter Dodds, Montmorency Dying with dignity A dear friend of mine is in remission after beating cancer at the age of 49. After a harrowing conversation about the excruciating pain she experienced from treatment, she stated her personal decision not to proceed with treatment if the cancer should recur. It is her choice and dying with dignity should be as well. Eleanor Lancaster, Bailieston Frighteningly inept Many years ago I, along with Don Chipp (then leader of the Australian Democrats) was invited to dinner at the home of Ted Hamilton and his wife. During friendly banter at the table I opined that "politics was a refuge for the inept", Don, with typical good humour, roared with laughter. Since then my opinion of politicians has hardened from "inept" to "frighteningly inept". Try as I may to find some mitigating factors, it's a futile exercise. It seems to me as a regular reader of "letters to the editor" that most of the correspondents display greater intelligence, analytical skills and general common sense than the vast majority of our politicians who, heaven help us, are charged with looking after the economic wellbeing and health of their constituents and the country. Instead we are faced on a daily basis with weird decisions on all fronts including the unforgivable selling off of our country and its natural resources plus the financial squeezing of social services. Kenneth Coghill, Bentleigh AND ANOTHER THING... Half-baked solutions Malcolm Turnbull gave us a dud NBN. Now, he's given us a dud energy policy to power it. Phil Alexander, Eltham Malcolm has laboured mightily, but all he's produced is a rotten NEG. Geoff Charles, Mount Waverley The government has a new energy plan. Now that should clear the air. Graham Cadd, Dromana So after we NEG Direct Action, will we be left with Indirect Action, Direct Inaction, Direct Nothing or just No Action at all? Craig Worsley, Tweed Heads, NSW Malcolm has lost connection with concerned citizens who are suffering climate indigestion from half-baked solutions. Greg Curtin, Blackburn South Saying "It's a game changer" doesn't make it so. Evidence is required, otherwise it's merely marketing. Monty Arnhold, Port Melbourne Whose decision is it? Assisted dying legislation should not be allowed. If it's your time to go, God should make that decision. Sarah Abboud, Yarraville We non-believers make our own life choices, so why should religion have an influence in our death. We have assisted living and should say yes to assisted dying. Ashlee Vella, Dandenong North Goodbye GMH GMH? Gone Missing: History. Rod Matthews, Fairfield Furthermore Donald Trump clearly has no idea what he signed up for. The same goes for those who signed him up and who signed up with him. Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills In Senator Penny Wong's much celebrated speech in the Senate opposing the Coalition's postal plebiscite, she responded with contempt to Liberal senator Mathias Cormann's comment that the plebiscite on marriage equality could be a "unifying moment". "But I tell you," she said in a steely voice, "have a read of some of the things which are said about us and our families and then come back here and tell us this is a unifying moment." She recalled the Australian Christian Lobby's description of children brought up in same-sex family units as "the stolen generation". "We love our children," Wong said passionately. Wong was right. This debate was never going to be respectful. After all, its very roots were sown in the ugliness of a Coalition backbench trying to remain relevant. But the reality is, the debate could be far more ugly and perhaps it ought to be. Last Sunday at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher told his congregation the government should "keep out of the friendship business and out of the bedroom". Preaching a "no" vote, Fisher opined: "The state has no business telling us who we should love and how, sexually or otherwise. The only kind of friendship the state has a proper interest in recognising and regulating is heterosexual marriage, because that's what leads to children new citizens and gives them the best start in life." A New Zealand MP embroiled in a controversy over his past links to Chinese military intelligence worked as an intern with the Australian Senate's committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade in the 1990s. Documents released to The New Zealand Herald under freedom of information of laws show that Jian Yang, who has found himself at the centre of a controversy over Chinese influence abroad, worked at the powerful committee for two months after leaving China, where he was a lecturer at the military-linked Luoyang Foreign Languages Institute, which trains spies. Nationals MP Jian Yang at Chinese and Korean New Year festivities in the Auckland suburb of Northcote. Credit:Denise Piper In his application for New Zealand residency in 1998, Mr Yang did not detail the sensitive nature of the institution he worked at, disclosing only employment with "Luoyang University". Before moving to New Zealand, Mr Yang spent time in Australia and attained master's degree at the Australian National University in 1994. While undertaking a subsequent PhD, he was head of the university's Chinese Students and Scholars Association, an organisation linked to the Chinese embassy. Men's magazine Playboy has featured its first ever transgender 'playmate' centrefold in its November issue, a move which the model hopes will pave the way for "all women - trans or otherwise - in fashion and other sectors". Ines Rau, a French fashion model who was featured nude in a 2014 issue of Playboy and has previously worked with Balmain and Vogue Italia, is the first transgender model to appear as a centrefold in the magazine's 64-year history. "Every woman's beauty deserves to be celebrated," Rau, 26, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her first interview about the feature. "No one deserves to be a woman more than those [trans women] who routinely suffer abuse and are treated like they're less than nothing." The 1970s was a decade of political agitation, when activism won women a range of legal and cultural freedoms, from no-fault divorce to work rights to escaping the ladies lounge in pubs. One little acknowledged aspect of feminist history at this time is the demographic and cultural shift that led to a new way of living: the share house. For the first time, women could live independently of families or husbands, and find support networks outside the nuclear family model. In these experimental living arrangements, typically located in inner urban suburbs, women were free to become activists, creatives, hedonists and intellectuals. For the first time, women could live independently of families or husbands, and find support networks outside the nuclear family model. Credit:Stocksy Before this time, women had usually gone from the family home to homemaking with a male partner. Even if studying or working part-time, they generally lived temporarily with a relative, an older, trusted family friend, or a landlady. In my interviews with women who lived in share houses in Melbourne and Sydney from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, most described these as places of freedom from the expectations of ones upbringing particularly gendered ones. The head of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has admitted its roll-out was flawed and announced a new reform will make face-to-face consultation standard practice. The move comes as people with disabilities in Canberra and across the country speak out about "soul-destroying" delays within the scheme and advocates warn of support plans being "auto-renewed" without consultation or created by staff who haven't spoken to the participant. The disability sector has welcomed the reform but warned significant changes are needed to current planning processes. Credit:Louie Douvis With the need to approve more than 2000 plans a week, agency records from March showed 70 per cent of planning conversations were happening over the phone. A Productivity Commission report released on Thursday sounded alarm bells at the speed of the scheme's roll-out, warning the quality of plans was suffering as the agency struggled to bring everyone into the NDIS by its 2020 deadline. One hundred and eighty five years since it was legally abolished in the Commonwealth, NSW is falling behind the rest of the world in acting to curb local and international slavery and human trafficking, an upper house committee report has found. The creation of an independent NSW anti-slavery commissioner and requiring government departments and corporations to prove billions of dollars in offshore imports are not the products of slavery are among the dozens of suggestions in a report by the upper house select committee on human trafficking in NSW tabled in parliament on Thursday. Calling on leadership from his Premier and the Prime Minister: Matthew Mason-Cox. The committee examined forms of slavery such as forced labour, trafficking of sex workers, cybersex trafficking of children and forced marriage. "We don't know the full scope of the problem; thousands are affected and often hidden from plain sight," said Paul Green a Christian Democrat MLC and committee chair. "Trafficking is a blight on our society that many thought had been abolished." Fallen millionaire winemaker David James is facing charges that he intimidated and harassed his estranged wife trying to make her divulge her involvement in a police investigation. The charges were brought by detectives from the State Crime Command's fraud and cybercrime squad, who are investigating how $5 million worth of Australia's best wines vanished amid the wreckage of Mr James' liquidated Hunter Valley wine empire. David James. Credit:Jonathan Carroll The former James Estate Wines boss appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday making an application to have his strict bail conditions relaxed. The court heard the former high-flyer, who is living with his elderly mother in New Lambton and collecting Centrelink benefits, has "six or seven other" court cases on the go. The price of Killara has halved as former wine boss owner David James faces criminal charges. Battling to stay solvent, Mrs James plans to challenge the sale, that was managed by co-agents Mark Kentwell, of PRDnationwide Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, and Ken Jacobs, of Christie's International Real Estate, in the Family Court. "How can the value go up by $200,000 in 15 years? It just makes no sense," she said. The price of Killara has halved as former wine boss owner David James faces criminal charges. Several real estate insiders who spoke to Fairfax Media expressed surprise at the cut-price deal for Killara, one saying the property that had sold signs out the front on Tuesday - had been "snapped up for a song". Another said it was the Hunter's most contentious real estate deal of the year. According to documents seen by Fairfax Media, Mr Kentwell put a "conservative estimate of the selling price" for the property in July 2016 between $7.5 million and $8.25 million. In May, Todd Hadley, of MJD Valuers, put the price of the property at $7 million. But the trophy home failed to sell at a public auction last week after bidding opened at $3 million and went between two registered bidders before being suspended at $3.6 million. When the property was first listed in early 2016 with Cveta Kolarovski, of Robinson Property, who was working for McGrath Charlestown at the time, there was a failed offer of $9 million. Asked about the current sale price, Mrs Kolarovski said "we had multiple parties interested at $7 million and over, both national and international". The sale, done at the behest of court-appointed receivers Ben O'Hearn, of O'Hearn Lawyers, and Bruce Heathcote, of Forsythes Business and Financial Advisors, punctuates the stunning downfall of one of the Hunter's most prominent wine empires. The receivers, who did not respond to repeated requests for comment, have Killara insured for $9.1 million. Mr James' companies collapsed in 2013, leading to the sale of assets including James Estate Wines at Pokolbin. Police are still investigating how $5 million worth of Australia's best wines vanished without a trace amid the wreckage of the liquidated Hunter wine empire. Now the sale of Killara is under the spotlight after Mrs James alleged the property had been undervalued after she lost control of the sale process last year following court orders arising from a property settlement with Mr James. When contacted by Fairfax Media about the sale process, Mrs James said she believes Killara had been "devalued" and buyers led to believe it was a "fire sale". Mrs James pointed to a case where confidential Supreme Court orders, detailing the split between Mr and Mrs James, were attached to the back of sale contracts and handed out to prospective buyers, including her neighbours. Fairfax Media asked PRDnationwide about the issue on Wednesday, but Mr Kentwell, who was engaged by the receivers, did not answer the question. "Christie's International Real Estate, PRDnationwide and the receivers ran an exhaustive and thorough national and international marketing campaign leading up to the auction," he said. "It was regrettable that the property did not sell at the auction. We have otherwise been requested not to make further comment given the matter is personal to the parties involved." Roy Gavin, who was the under-bidder at the auction, said he believed it was a "fire sale". "I got an email saying there had been a massive price reduction, the price dropped about $1 million overnight, so I thought I might get it for a steal," he said. In June last year, the Supreme Court appointed Mr O'Hearn and Mr Heathcote as independent trustees to sell Killara and a Corlette property, both owned by Mrs James. The trustees were later appointed by the court as receivers in an effort to ensure Mrs James did not have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of Killara as it was her principal place of residence. Mrs James said she had "never been in receivership" and now had no say in the sale of her home because the receivers were running the process. Mrs James said she had "never been in receivership" and had little say in the sales because the receivers were in charge. In April, the receivers' bill and associated costs from the unhappy sale ventures, that saw Killara still on the market and Corlette sold last year for $1.595 million, was hundreds of thousands of dollars. This included $81,358 in fees for Mr Heathcote to March and $181,561 for Mr O'Hearn. It's unknown what the additional costs and fees have been since. Mrs James described the process as a "nightmare". "The judge estimated it would cost about $30,000 for the sale of the properties," she said. "But the whole process has left me on the verge of bankruptcy and the costs continue to grow." The mother of two said she could pen a book detailing the saga, which, among the background of all the legal battles, would include details of the toll it took on her family and personal life. A war of words paper trail between warring lawyers reveals a complicated behind-the-scenes battle featuring allegations of mismanagement, questionable practices and harassment. It's a legal process generally reserved for those with deep pockets. But Mrs James said in this case she was being forced to pay for both sides with all costs and fees incurred by the receivers to come from the sale of Killara, her only remaining asset that has a significant mortgage. Detectives investigating a large-scale cocaine supply ring have seized luxury cars, drugs and cash in a series of raids across Sydney's south. Strike Force Nymcoola detectives arrested a Bexley man, 34, during a vehicle stop at Arncliffe on Wednesday afternoon and later charged him with large commercial drug supply, knowingly deal in the proceeds of crime and participate in a criminal group. A McLaren seized by Strike Force Nymcoola detectives. Credit:NSW Police A Kogarah man, 21, was arrested at a commercial premises at Double Bay about 40 minutes later and charged with the same offences. Both were refused bail to appear in court on Thursday. When a woman walked into the Mercedes car dealership where Chan Il Choi worked, he allegedly told people he was going to make her his girlfriend. But the woman was that day shopping at the Sydney dealership with another man, and after she repeatedly rejected Choi's advances he turned violent, a jury has been told. Mercedes salesperson Chan Il Choi has pleaded guilty to the charges. Credit:Facebook Choi, 31, is on trial in the NSW District Court accused of kidnapping the woman and threatening to damage her face so badly she couldn't be recognised. He has pleaded not guilty to six offences including intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical harm, destroying property and taking a person for advantage. A Newcastle-based photographer has been refused bail over the alleged sexual and indecent assaults of three women who were modelling for photographic sessions, police said. Allan Todd Cameron, 54, runs a photography company Primeval Edge, and claims to have done hundreds of photo shoots since 2009. Lake Macquarie Local Area Command detectives commenced an investigation after a then 19-year-old woman told police she was sexually assaulted during a photography session at a studio in Sydney Street, Gateshead, in June. Police officers seized a computer allegedly containing more than 300,000 images, including sexually explicit images. As a result of their investigation, police then spoke to two more women, both now aged 25, who also claimed they were assaulted, during photographic sessions in 2012 and 2017. Ruben McDornan, so far the only survivor from a sunken trawler with seven on board, has had an emotional reunion with his wife and mother at Gladstone Airport, after being plucked from the rough seas by a passing yacht on Tuesday morning. Police have conceded it would be "a miracle" to find any of the other six missing fishermen alive, with the search and rescue moving towards a "recovery" operation on Thursday. Ruben McDornan is reunited with his wife, Sammy, at Gladstone Airport. Credit:Nine News Queensland Were still hopeful that there would be some sort of miracle, but it would be that now, it would be a miracle if we were to find someone alive," Inspector Darren Somerville said. "At this stage, we are progressing towards a recovery operation. Parkville's most cursed apartment tower has suffered another indignity, punching a near $70 million hole in the Andrews government's finances. As Melbourne's property market continues to soar, the government can't find a buyer for the Evo apartments, because of fears it could one day be swallowed by the East West Link. The Andrews government has not found a buyer for the Evo building in Parkville. Credit:Arsineh Houspian The Evo's for sale sign is still up despite the government stripping the $10.7 billion eastern section of the East West Link from the state planning scheme more than two years ago and vowing it would never build the road. It gave a small amount of ground on that stance this week in response to a 30-year planning blueprint from Infrastructure Victoria, which recommends building a freeway connection between the Eastern Freeway and CityLink in the next 15 to 30 years. A remorseful young father cried in court as he was jailed for at least five years for killing a 22-year-old man with one punch near a Melbourne bar. Richard Vincec, 26, was on Thursday sentenced to eight years in prison, with a minimum of five years, over the death of Jaiden Walker in May. In the Victorian Supreme Court, Vincec pleaded guilty to manslaughter over Mr Walker's death. The victim died a week after Vincec punched him in Russell Street after they had been drinking in nearby Cherry Bar on May 6. Dallas: White supremacist leader Richard Spencer has expressed his disdain for voting, especially by women. But he has voted in recent years in local and national elections, according to voting records obtained by The Dallas Morning News. White nationalist Richard Spencer Credit:AP Some of those votes were for Democrats. "What did it say? I'm curious," Spencer, 39, said when asked by The News about how he cast his votes. "John Kerry in 2004, right?" Beijing: China will press to have a Communist party branch in place inside all foreign companies and joint ventures as part of its "new era" of Chinese socialism. Vice minister of the party's organisation department, Qi Yu, says it is "a priority" to build the communist party within all companies, because the private sector employs 140 million working class Chinese. Qi Yu, Vice Minister of Organisation Department of the CPC Central Committee, wants Communist Party units in all foreign companies. Credit:Sanghee Liu By the end of last year, 71 per cent of foreign joint ventures in China had a communist party unit, compared to 93 per cent of state-owned companies. The new push for more party involvement in foreign companies is part of Chinese president Xi Jinping's ideological push for a wave of "party building" to accompany a "new era" of Chinese socialism. Spain will move forward with the process of suspending the powers of the Catalan government after Regional President Carles Puigdemont refused to drop his claim to independence. Spanish stocks and bonds dropped as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government announced its unprecedented decision to directly intervene in Catalonia, a step that will further inflame the conflict over the future of Spain's biggest regional economy. The government's move to suspend Catalan's autonomy is likely to further inflame the political conflict. Credit:Bloomberg "The government will continue with the procedures set out in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore the legality of self-rule in Catalonia," the government said in a statement on Thursday morning. Spain deployed the ultimate constitutional weapon after Puigdemont said the regional parliament may declare independence unless the government in Madrid agrees to talks. New Zealand's rookie Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern, will become the nation's new Prime Minister after winning the backing of a small nationalist party that wants to curb the effects of capitalism. "I want to start by saying that is an absolute honour and a privilege to have the ability as the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party to form a Government for all New Zealanders," Ms Ardern said on Thursday. Ms Ardern, 37, will have the numbers to form a left-leaning coalition government after Winston Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First party, said it would support a Labour-led coalition that will also rely on Greens Party support. Mr Peters' dramatic announcement late on Thursday ended weeks of political uncertainty after the result of New Zealand's September 23 election was inconclusive. NOTICE OF SALE Case No.: 3:21-cv-00770-SVH BY VIRTUE of that certain Decree of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina heretofore granted in the case of ... NOTICE OF LIEN SALE Extra Space Storage will hold a public auction to sell personal property described below belonging to those individuals listed below at the location indicated: Store # ... NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF ESTATES All persons having claims against the following estates are required to deliver or mail their claims to the indicated Personal Representatives, appointed to administer these... A University of Montana benefactor is re-evaluating future giving to the School of Journalism after the dean declined to host a conservative writer as its annual Cole lecturer. Donor Maria Cole was married to the late Wall Street Journal reporter for whom the Jeff Cole Legacy Fund is named, and has given more than $1.2 million over the last 15 years to the School of Journalism. The last nine years, Cole has sponsored the Jeff Cole Distinguished Lecture, inviting former colleagues of her husband to speak. She wanted the 10th anniversary to be different and decided to create an event that would spark civil discourse. Each year, Cole said she selects a lecturer, and the School of Journalism chooses a scholarship recipient. After vetting potential candidates for speaker, she invited and entered into a contract with Mike Adams, professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Adams won a First Amendment case in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2011, and he's a columnist for Townhall.com, which aims to amplify conservative voices in political debates. Adams regularly mocks leftists in his writing and his views earlier sparked a petition for his termination at UNC. He has targeted LGBT people, Muslims and feminists, and he has described transgender people as mentally ill. For the first time in the tradition of the annual event, School of Journalism Dean Larry Abramson objected to the lecturer Cole selected, a reaction Cole said she never anticipated. She said Adams has twice been voted best professor at UNC and he's a longtime defender of free speech, a foundation of journalism. "I was so stunned," Cole said. "How can you say especially the dean of a journalism school how can you say you support free speech and deny this guy to come to campus?" Cole said she will continue to sponsor a scholarship but is reconsidering other contributions. Abramson said Adams may reserve space on campus if he chooses, but the School of Journalism will not sponsor his lecture. The dean defended the move as one that's best for students, and said Adams lacks the credentials to appear. "As the dean of the school, I do have the prerogative to make sure we are inviting people who are speaking to our concerns as a profession and who I can recommend to our students," Abramson said. He said the school has high standards for its distinguished speakers, and Adams isn't a journalist, nor is he talking about journalism issues. In one column about a new LGBTQIA Resource Center, Adams mocked the acronym as a veritable alphabet soup of liberal victim-hood. For the record, I had to ask her the meaning of A," Adams wrote, noting it stands for ally. "I thought it might stand for androgyny or, perhaps, something to do with the buttocks. We already have the feminists reclaiming the c-word in 'The Vagina Monologues.'" This week, the president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni called the School of Journalism's decision "shameful," especially for a journalism school teaching principles ensconced in the First Amendment. The ACTA is a conservative watchdog and proponent of academic freedom that advocates on a variety of higher education issues. "A free press and free society know how to challenge and expose weak ideas," said Michael Poliakoff, head of the council. " ... Take (Adams) on. My guess is that every journalist would prize that opportunity." *** Cole said she will continue to sponsor a scholarship, which provides a student with at least $2,000 a year. She also will continue to host staff from the student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, for an annual dinner at her home. But she is rethinking other funding. "I'm totally re-evaluating that," Cole said. Cole is looking for another venue to host Adams for the Feb. 13 lecture, possibly still one on campus. And she is reconsidering how to organize the Jeff Cole Distinguished Lecture in the future. "For the lecture, I think I'm going to do it differently after this year," Cole said. This time, she said she wanted to design a landmark event, and she decided to bring a person with a totally different viewpoint in order to stir civil discussion. "We're at such a point in our country where people are so polarized they are on opposite ends," Cole said. "People can't even engage in civil discourse anymore." So she contacted an agency that sent her dozens of bios of potential speakers, and she narrowed it down. She selected Adams because he has a different viewpoint and an interesting story defending free speech as a professor. "His story is very engaging, and a very good one, and it is about freedom of expression," Cole said. She was so thrilled about his upcoming appearance that she drove to Abramson's office to share the news with him in person. Cole said three minutes after she walked out of his office, the dean tracked her down and called her back to tell her he wasn't sure Adams was right for the lecture after reading about him online. "It was like an exploding cigar in my face," Cole said. Cole said she made her case. She raised the issue of UM's own "beautifully written" free speech and academic freedom policy. She also said she has a lot of faith in the students. "I think they're going to attend this thing and really engage with this guy and really think ... ," Cole said. "Are people going to squirm in their seats?'' Cole said. "I have squirmed in my seat about some of the things Mike has said. "But it's when you're uncomfortable and awkward and squirming when the greatest learning occurs." Her arguments did not fly with Abramson. In an email to her, he outlined more of his objections: "If you jump in at 3:30 on the link at the bottom, you can hear him talking about his opposition to tolerance of transgender accommodations. He appears to be siding with Christians in the 'culture war.' "In this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oX9ya3EW04 he talks about his efforts to make sure that abortion providers give time to Christian speakers, in the interest of freedom of speech. He also talks about the prevalence of 'cultural Marxism,' and exclusively speaks on right wing sites. In this one, https://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2017/04/07/why-im-banning-illegal-aliens-from-my-classes-n2310029 he talks about why he will no longer allow 'illegal aliens' into his classes. "I think we can find a speaker who will talk about free speech issues, without running the risk of offending students. We can still have a conversation with him if you want, but he is pretty extreme in his views." So Cole said she opted to move on without the School of Journalism. "He (Abramson) dug his heels in and said it's not happening," Cole said. "I was stunned. But I said, it is happening because I have a legally binding contract. So I'm bringing Mike here and have to make this thing happen by myself." *** Abramson said he's a passionate believer in the right to free speech, and he's proud the First Amendment is engraved on the first floor of the School of Journalism's building. He's also thankful for the support Cole has given the UM School of Journalism over the years, and said she's offered more than financial support, welcoming recipients of the Cole scholarship into her family. "She is a great partner, and I think that she basically supports what the journalism school is behind," Abramson said. In this case, though, he said the issue isn't the speech, but it's the sponsorship by the School of Journalism. In the past, for example, he said UM has hosted the executive editor of the New York Times as a speaker. "Somebody else wants to invite this speaker to campus and to have him speak, I would have no problem with that. But I don't think that's how we should be spending our time," Abramson said. The email he sent to Cole was early in their conversation about the lecture, he said. He subsequently offered other ideas for speakers he believed would address the topic of free speech well, including Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and author of the books "Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate" and "Freedom From Speech." Abramson said he has concerns with statements Adams has made and, he said, appears to be proud of making that "are hostile to the LGBT community and to feminists and other groups." "We don't encourage name-calling at the School of Journalism, and I think a lot of the speech that I've seen online and in videos that feature Mr. Adams raise questions about that," Abramson said. The dean said he made the decision after discussing the matter with other people on campus including the provost. In an email, Provost Beverly Edmond said she visited with Abramson several weeks ago. "He expressed concern that the individual did not have the journalism background he felt was desirable," Edmond said. "At the time he and Ms. Cole were still discussing this selection. I support the deans position but did not advise him to take any specific position on this matter. This is not typically the role I would play in any event." *** Institutions of higher education have been butting heads with controversial speakers in recent years, and some campuses have rescinded invitations to provocative figures. Last year, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education counted 43 instances of rescinded invitations or attempts to curtail speakers at campuses compared to just six in 2000, according to the New York Times. In February, police at the University of California-Berkeley, canceled a speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos after violent protests erupted. Texas A&M changed its speakers policy after part-time Whitefish resident Richard Spencer spoke there in December about white supremacy, according to CNN. The university subsequently told Preston Wiginton, also linked to white supremacy, that he couldn't hold a rally on campus. Poliakoff, with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, said instead of running away from possibly unpopular viewpoints, the UM School of Journalism should challenge Adams' ideas and embrace a spirited debate for the benefit of its students and for democracy. "It seems shameful for a school of journalism to run away from a controversial speaker," Poliakoff said. Poliakoff said shutting down controversial perspectives isn't only a disservice to students. He said it's becoming a threat to the republic, and one colleges and universities have been "aiding and abetting" since 2009 or 2010. "If this trend of shutting down unwelcomed opinions persists, all we'll have is an echo chamber of stale orthodoxy," Poliakoff said. He also said some other colleges have handled such conflicts differently, and he pointed to Columbia University as a place that is "an iconic example of what to do when there's a genuinely objectionable speaker." In 2007, Columbia invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, a leader who has denied the Holocaust. But Polliakoff said Columbia President Lee Bollinger took the opportunity to introduce Ahmadinejad, and in doing so, exposed his views, such as his "vicious attitudes" toward the West and women. "By the time Lee Bollinger was done with the introduction, my guess is that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wasn't so happy he had come to speak. But then he had the floor. "That's so different than the practice that's becoming all too common on campuses of disrupting or silencing an unwelcome voice." Earlier this year, First Amendment scholar David Hudson wrote about controversial campus speakers for the Newseum Institute. He reiterated remarks he had made in testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Rights. When dealing with controversial speakers who will offend others, college and university officials should embrace and advance the counter-speech principle rather than resort to silencing and disinviting controversial speakers," Hudson said. "Only in a true emergency should they resort to more drastic measures. *** In a column published on Townhall.com, Adams defended his views as mainstream, questioned Abramson's "intellectual courage," and also pitched himself as a new candidate for dean of the UM School of Journalism. "Try to make sense of the logic of this dean telling me I am not going to be tolerated or welcomed at the J-school because I am not as tolerant and welcoming as they are at the J-school," Adams wrote. "After finishing a career with NPR, now hes teaching future journalists. Any wonder why we have a problem with honesty both in reporting and in higher education? "If you were smart, you would lift the ban on me speaking at UM. Then, you could hire me as your new Dean of Journalism." In the post, Adams also defended himself from Abramson's other objections point by point. He agreed he supported the controversial "bathroom bill" requiring people at government offices to use facilities that matched their birth certificate genders, but he called the issue a "transgender litmus test." He also said he never referred to abortion "providers," but rather, to campus "Women's Resource Centers using mandatory student fees to fund speeches in favor of abortion but not those in opposition to abortion. That violates Supreme Court precedent." Adams also disputed Abramson's claim he spoke "exclusively" on right wing sites. "That is false. I have been on MSNBC, Air America, and numerous other left-wing stations and sites. I have also appeared on NPR where Abramson worked for nearly 30 years. "Most importantly, I have spoken at 93 different universities, the overwhelming majority of which have been dominated by left-wing academics such as Dean Abramson. In short, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and demonstrated the kind of intellectual courage the Dean lacks." This summer, Adams wrote that he was was penning his retirement letter from UNC and noted he would date it no later than August 1, 2050; UNC still lists him as a professor of sociology and criminology. *** Cole also said she was shocked to hear Abramson describe Adams' remarks as "hate speech." "The whole hate speech remark stunned me. Stunned me. Because I've got to tell you, I don't think Mike Adams is a hater. I think he's a strong Christian with strong beliefs. But that doesn't make him a hater," Cole said. She also wondered why anyone would think she would bring a hatemonger to campus. Cole is not only a benefactor to UM, she also worked on campus for more than seven years as the diversity and recruitment coordinator in the president's office. "So why would I, OK, who is giving away tens of thousands of dollars to the university, why would I be the person who hires the hater to come to campus? That just doesn't even make any sense," Cole said. Typically, the Cole lecturer has engagements on campus and visits classes, Cole said. Since the School of Journalism declined to tie itself to Adams, Cole set out to establish another agenda in Missoula for him. As part of her effort, she contacted KGVO to see if it would host him as a speaker on the First Amendment. The conservative radio station learned about the conflict behind the request and subsequently published a story about the rejection by the School of Journalism, sparking more coverage. "I couldn't have anticipated this. I'm sure my husband is laughing his ass off," Cole said. She contacted his children to share the situation with them as well and ensure they believed she was honoring his legacy. "They're like, 'Maria, you're absolutely fine. We stand by you 100 percent. This is what Dad would want. It's about freedom of speech,'" Cole said. Originally, Cole had planned to host Adams at the event and honor people from the School of Journalism, School of Business Administration, and School of Law. Adams is a professor of sociology and criminology, and now that the lecture is not affiliated with the School of Journalism, she's planning instead to honor a couple of law enforcement officers and firefighters from Ravalli County and Missoula County. "It's the 10th anniversary, and I'm willing to spend a lot of money this year to make this a really blow-out event," Cole said. Many times when we talk about Montana to people who arent Montanans, our eyes get dreamy and we talk of the quality of life we enjoy here. We live in Montana because we appreciate the healthy lifestyle, quality education, caring communities, and beautiful views. All of the many qualities that we enjoy and appreciate are ours in part because of the services provided by state employees. Our wildlife and state lands are managed by state employees. Our folks with disabilities have programs to help them live with dignity that are administered by Department of Public Health and Human Services employees. Our revenue is collected by state employees at the Department of Revenue, who work to ensure that you do not pay more than your fair share of taxes. Our clean air and water, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, law enforcement, care for the elderly, infant health, mental health, prison security, transportation safety, roads, bridges, and waterways are watched over, cared for, and administered by state employees. The services provided by state employees are essential to the lifestyle and health we enjoy and expect, and must be financed. I urge the Legislature to find the revenue to continue these services. Valerie Clague Helena From 3 to 5 p.m., the mosque will be open for a come-and-go visit from anyone interested in learning more about the Muslim community and Islam in general. Snacks will be served and families with children are welcome. Two candidates are seeking the Single Member District 2 seat on the Bryan school board. Julie Harlin, who was appointed to the role in 2016 after trustee John Street and his family relocated out of the county, is the incumbent. Her challenger, Diektrich Morgan, is seeking office for the first time. The two answered questions regarding their ideas for the school board and what's next for the Bryan school district. Q: What is the role of the school trustee in your eyes? Harlin: Oversight and advisory. Our job is to take information that has been provided to us by the superintendent and her staff and make decisions. Having been a teacher in the past, this is a role -- you don't know what it's going to be like until you are in it. You can attend some board meetings and kinda see how things work, but until you are in that position you really don't feel the weight of spending taxpayers' dollars and making decisions that impact kids in your community, families in your community. I mean, it's a burden to bear. But for me it's worth it, because seeing all kids have opportunities, no matter where they are at in life, no matter what their career goals and expectations are that makes it worth it for me." Morgan: Well, to kind of organize and set visions and goals for the district. To adopt policies that give the district direction. To set priorities to achieve those goals. To hire and evaluate superintendents. To adopt and oversee annual budgets. To manage collective bargain processes for employees throughout the district. Q: What are you top three goals for the school district? Harlin: I wouldn't say that they are goals, but they are the three things that sort of frame everything that I see things through -- so my lens, so to speak. Number one would be that I want every child in Bryan ISD to have the very best opportunities for them. And that's a real personal kind of thing, because some students -- you know, the high achiever who says, "I want to be a surgeon," that's a different path than a kid who says, "I want a job right out of school" or "I want to be a welder or an auto mechanic," some sort of skilled job. I'm super glad we have those kind of options for kids. The reverse side is we have students who are, what I call life skill students. They come to the district really needing something different, they are disabled in some way. Physically or mentally. Number two is, "the teacher makes the difference." It's the role of the administrator to support the good work that teachers do by providing the resources necessary for them to have that impact and help those kids. Number three is this thing called, "rigor, relevance and relationships." A lot of times people, especially in the legislature, they'll want to talk about rigor all day long, you know, "raise the standard, make things harder," and you can't really have that conversation without talking about relationships to the community, to the world, to where we live, to how students apply those things in the real world. And then the relevance to teaching things that are important to helping students see the application. So it's those three things that I think about as we make decisions and vote on things that impact kids. Morgan: To have a safe learning environment for every student -- with everything going on in the media related to Columbine and Sandy Hook, our schools are violent. So we have to take precautions to keep our kids safe at all times. We need new, innovative ways to keep kids safe, maybe metal detectors. Guns have been found in elementary schools and middle schools. To increase expectations for their achievements. Encourage innovation and parent involvement. Provide resources for teacher trainings. Improving graduation rates -- the graduation rate is important because most of the students who aren't graduating are minority students. That really pulls at my heartstrings. You know, I think all kids can learn, and all kids should be given the opportunity to learn. I'm just going to try to be a role model to show the kids that education is good for everybody. I just believe everybody should receive some sort of form of education to better their life. Q: Do you think Bryan-College Station is doing an effective job of predicting and managing growth? Harlin: I've only been on the board a year, but one of the things I've learned is we hire demographers to help us make [growth] predictions. From what I can tell we were close this year. We predicted no growth and I think we have a little bit, because the kindergarten class was bigger than the class that graduated kind of thing. So I think they've done a good job with that. We talk about the growth at A&M and its impact on schools, and I can sure see how those things interplay. As Texas A&M tried to contain their growth -- you know, we've reached the point there were our president has said "no growth" -- [we've looked at how] that then impact[s] our school districts. Morgan: I think they are working toward alleviating the overpopulated schools, with the new school realignments. Turning the middle schools into intermediates so some schools won't be over populated. Building new schools like Stephen F. Austin. Recently -- Davila in the past -- just building schools to relieve pressure so we can get our teacher-students ratio in perspective...You don't want too many students in one class or you might have academic problems. If you have 20-plus students that's going to put a strain on teachers. I think is we alleviate some of the students, the teacher can get more achievement and academic improvement from each student. Q: Is the lack of affordable housing in the district a problem? and, if so, how does the impact the school district? Harlin: I attended the intergovernmental committee -- I represent the board there -- and we had a presentation last month from Bryan-College Station Realtors Association. Bryan has more affordable housing than College Station -- do we have enough affordable housing? I would say probably not. And that's just anecdotal. I think it's tough with families. I mentored a young lady through [Save Our Streets] Ministries a couple years ago, and you know the hardest part of mentoring that young lady was finding her, because they moved all the time. So that's really tough on kids. You know single moms trying to make ends meet on minimum wage. I don't know that there's housing for that around here. I think that's really tough. I spoke recently with someone who works with Habitat through Humanity through Texas A&M -- you know the good work they do in partnering with families in the community to help people become homeowners -- I think that's super important for families. Morgan: I think there is a lot of affordable housing in Bryan -- there are programs like Habitat for Humanity. I believe housing is reasonable, fair. You just have to look around and do your research. I think Bryan is a great place to live with great education and great citizens. Q: How do you think the district is handling transportation after the issues at the start of the semester? Harlin: It's a problem, and we heard from parents -- I'm a parent. My kid used to ride the bus, and he's not this school year. It's a problem. I think the district is working to correct the problem. I think more information will come out in the next couple of weeks on what the plans are. I think they are in the stages of talking to parents groups, teachers and staff. Whatever plan you move forward with, you have plenty of input on. Obviously when we went forward with realignment, that added an extra layer of complexity when we bus kids for special programs. It really messed it up. I think it just got messed up. Obviously, it got messed up. When it went south, I looked at the bus card on the counter and thought, "man, none of this can be right," because the times weren't right. I'm sure it wasn't. I would have been one of those parents hunting down their kids. So I'm sad that it happened. I know that they've done some things to rectify problems in the short term, but I think the long term changes they are going to roll out a little bit later. Hopefully it'll solve the problem. Morgan: Well, I just read something about them shutting down the hub system. Now I was unfamiliar with the schools' transportation pick-up and drop off processes, but busing and transportation needs to be fixed to the point that we get kids home safely and on time. So when I get into office I can talk with other members and try to find an efficient and effective way to get the buses there on time and get kids to the right places. Q: Why should voters vote for you? Harlin: The two things that set me apart are my education and my experience. This was a bucket list thing for me. If someone had asked me 20 years ago, would you want to serve on the school board, I would have said "oh yeah" I think that would be an interesting way to have an impact. The timing was kind of interesting, in that I wasn't ready to run for an election and if they said last year this time, you need to run, I probably wouldn't have done it. But the fact that I was interviewed and appointed made that transition work for me. Then I've had this year of experience under my belt -- and lots of training goes into this. You can't just get on. You have training to get on. I don't know exactly how many hours of training I've done this year, but it's significant. So I feel well prepared to serve the students in our community. I think my education and background in the jobs that I've had helped me do a better job of being able to help the district Morgan: If elected as a member of the Bryan school board, I will ask in-depth questions about policies and programs so that we as a community understand the value that we will bring to the classroom. I will encourage the proposal of new incentives to improve the education of our children. I will listen to and reflect the concerns of our community and work collectively with fellow board members of our school. Although budget season gets tougher each year, I believe together we can find creative solutions to address those challenges while maintaining the superior quality of education that we've all come to expect. With new superintendents, new schools and new school realignment I'm hopeful with a fresh eye and a new perspective that for the next few years we can do some cost effective innovations and new solutions. In our community we provide a top-notch education and we are able to provide that education, however I am committed to improve and take our education system to an even higher level. It would be an honor to serve on the Bryan school board. As the saying goes, Dont stumble over dollars to pick up pennies. Cutting State services and projects might temporarily balance the budget, but the long-term consequences will be more costly than the cuts. Some of these consequences make headlines when they reduce or stop services for children, the disabled and seniors. Others are less obvious. Giving up federal matching dollars, for example, is foolish. In my department, the technology area, its already difficult to recruit and retain the skills required for a modern organization. Most folks can make a lot more in the private sector. I know because I spent most of my career in the private world. Cuts and unfilled vacancies make it much harder to support state agencies and protect the vital information they handle. We read of breaches all the time, like the Equifax data breach. Our own State has dealt with this issue. From our birth to our death, from a license to serve food to a hunting license, our personal information is loaded into many systems. These systems require diligence and attention. Cutting efforts to modernize them is dangerous. Our security folks are excellent, but the hundreds of systems interfacing with Montana citizens require constant changes. We dont have the luxury of stopping improvements without consequences. Change is relentless, as is the need to meet it and manage it. The governor proposed reasonable steps to address the budget shortfall in the last legislature. Legislative leaders need to meet and manage their challenge. Mike Earley Helena The schedule of events for this weekend's 20th anniversary celebration of the Bush Library. Friday At 1 p.m. Friday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, a Sharing the Story: Researching the Bush Administration panel will feature former Bush White House speechwriter and 41ON41 documentary executive producer Mary Kate Cary, along with fellow panelists Jeff Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University; Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginias Miller Center of Public Affairs and Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. At 3 p.m. Friday at the conference center, Unlocking the Mystery: Declassifying the Bush Administration Documents panel will discuss the classification and declassification of government information between University of Colorado-Boulder American diplomatic history professor Tom Zeiler, U.S. Department of State historian Stephen Randolph, George Washington University National Security Archive Director Thomas Blanton and Bush School senior lecturer James Olson. At 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, a discussion on current events will be led by the Bush Schools current dean, retired Gen. Mark Welsh, who will be joined by Dr. Charles F. Hermann, the first director of the Bush School, serving from 1995 to 1999 and who remains a professor emeritus at the school; Dr. Benton Cocanougher, interim dean from 2009 to 2010 who is the dean emeritus of the Mays School of Business at A&M; Andrew Card, acting dean from 2011 to 2013 who was White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush; and Ryan Crocker, dean from 2013 to 2016 who also is a career ambassador in the U.S. State Department. The discussion will be preceded by a reception. Fridays events are free. To register, go online to http://bit.ly/bushpanel. Saturday An invitation-only gathering is scheduled for Saturday afternoon on the grounds of the Bush Center where seven or eight of Bushs grandchildren are expected to participate in a panel discussion about the 41st president and former first lady, Barbara. Saturday night, a historic benefit concert will kick off at Reed Arena where Bush will be in attendance, along with the four other living former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The five joined together to form One America Appeal, an effort kicked off by the senior Bush as a way to raise funds for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Registration is not required for Family Fest, which will be 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday with carnival games and bounce houses at the pond. There will be free admission to the museum where storyteller Bernadette Nason will share a two-story program, linked with President Bushs career. Organizers said its perfect for age 4 and up. These will be in the orientation theater at 10:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. The authors of a new book detailing the history of the Bush School of Government shared an overview of their work Wednesday -- including a look at President George H.W. Bush's commitment to the school that bears his name, the deans who have led the institution and successful alumni -- to a crowd of more than 100 at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center. Charles F. Hermann, the first director of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, and Sally Dee Wade, former writing instructor at the Bush School, gave a 90-minute summary of their book, Called to Serve: The 20-Year History of the Bush School, which divides the school's timeline in eras based on the terms of each dean. Each of these sections also includes short biographies of alumni success stories. Hermann opened the discussion by speaking of Texas A&M's fight to persuade President Bush to establish his museum in College Station. He spoke of hiring the first faculty members, fundraising for the erection of the complex's buildings and developing the first curriculum. "President Bush wanted a lobby just like one in the CIA headquarters in Lansing, Michigan, which is now in the great hall [here]," Hermann said. "I think I had just made the following statement that put a smile on President Bush's face. I said: 'Mr. President, you now have a new title. Welcome to Texas A&M, Professor Bush.' " After gaining a $3 million endowment from the 104th Congress under President Bill Clinton, the school was moving forward, Hermann continued. "Not everything was rosy," he said. "In fact, the size of the school and its cost were totally out of proportion. How could you justify a school whose only degree was a master's degree serving a total of four students, and with faculty from all over the campus? How could you compete with schools from all over the country?" Change came when the Texas Legislature offered the school $2 million a year on the condition that the Bush School show a level of independence from Texas A&M, with its own dean and provost. This began a stretch of interim deans leading into full-time deans over the past 20 years. Wade spoke of each dean's term with one to two stories of successful Bush School alumni, including the stories of La Porte City Manager Corby Alexander, Daniel Morales, a communications leader with Walmart and Federal Emergency Management Agency representative River Stuckey. Wade discussed one portion of the book dedicated to Bush School alumni who have gone on to do undercover work for the CIA. The collective stories of four CIA employees with protected identities is compiled under the title "Zoe Zebra." "It's rather difficult to call up the CIA and say 'I'm Sally Wade from the Bush School and we plan to talk to your secret agents who have gone to the Bush School,'" Wade said. "That didn't work, but we have a resource and made an arrangement whereby four Bush School students with the CIA were sent questions, and they would answer them." "Zoe Zebra" is quoted in the book: "This is what I remember most about the Bush School: I remember late nights working on assignments in our office listening to Bob Gates recount stories... meeting President Bush... and of course, the Dixie Chicken." Hermann went on to talk about President Bush's involvement with the museum and school, and how famous dignitaries, political leaders and diplomats would pay visits to College Station because of the school. "Imagine the president of the United States and president of the Soviet Union, two people who brought the Cold War to an end, sitting down in a classroom with 30 Bush School students," Herman said. "Imagine students here having a service project teaching children how to read at [a local elementary school] and the president says 'I'll read with you.' That is the influence of President George H. W. Bush. He has had a powerful impact on the first 20 years of the Bush School." Called to Serve: The 20-Year History of the Bush School is available in hardcover copy on Amazon. A College Station man has been convicted of arson after lighting his girlfriend's apartment on fire in October 2015. Jurors deliberated for an hour Wednesday before convicting Logan Marquies Newsome, 30, of causing a fire in the closet of his girlfriend's home at Briarwood Apartments on Oct. 25, 2015. Testimony the jury heard during the trial's first two days revealed a troubled relationship between Newsome and his girlfriend, who said Newsome had threatened to hurt her and allegedly had broken into her apartment three days before the blaze. Newsome's girlfriend -- who was four-months pregnant with his child at the time of the fire -- testified Tuesday that, after Newsome had threatened to hit her, she asked herself, "What do I do next? And what do I do to protect this baby?" Shortly after the threats, she said she "hit the road to Houston" to get away from her boyfriend. Assistant District Attorney Ryan Calvert said jurors had "seen and ... heard with [their] own ears" the extent of Newsome's rage, referring to a recording played in court Tuesday in which Newsome threatened, screamed and cursed at his girlfriend in 2014, the year before the fire. Calvert said prosecutors had played the recording because it "gives you a window into who he is and what he does" to establish and maintain control over his girlfriend. Calvert said Newsome had lit the woman's scarf on fire that night, connecting that action with lighting her clothes on fire in the apartment closet in October 2015. Newsome's attorney, Richard Price, told jurors his client's girlfriend "had her own issues." "She got so mad at him during a tirade, she took a car and ran him down... knocked the side mirrors off the car she hit him so hard," Price said of the night in which she recorded Newsome yelling at her in the car. Authorities arrested her on a misdemeanor assault charge, but prosecutors eventually dropped it and it was expunged, said Price. "Logan is charged with arson, not with having relationship issues. You can't find him guilty of the first because of the second," Price said. "You can't find a man guilty because he has a lousy personality... because he's possessive of his loved ones." Reminding jurors that no physical evidence or witnesses linked Newsome to his girlfriend's apartment on the day of the fire, Price said the arsonist "just as easily could have been a secret admirer who was fixated on her and grew angry with her relationship with Logan Newsome," since his client's girlfriend is "drop dead gorgeous." Assistant District Attorney Jessica Escue told jurors "you know you would have heard" if more violence had been inflicted upon Newsome's girlfriend after he had been booked into jail on Nov. 5, 2015, where he has remained since. "This isn't something that's completely out of character for Logan Newsome," said Escue. Having been convicted of a first-degree felony, Newsome faces an enhanced sentence between 15 and 99 years in prison because of a prior felony conviction, according to court records. The trial's punishment phase began late Wednesday afternoon and will continue this morning in 361st District Court Judge Steve Smith's courtroom. The Texas A&M System Board of Regents will hear a proposal today that -- if approved -- would result in the establishment of a Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. "The proposed center will expand the role of the Bush School to support the nonprofit and philanthropic sector in Texas and beyond, through high-quality research, professional outreach and engaged learning," William A. Brown, professor and director of the Nonprofit Management Program at the Bush School, said in an e-mail statement to The Eagle. "The center will engage faculty and students from across campus to support learning, inform policy, guide sector leaders and build the capacity of nonprofits, while strengthening the reputation of the university and the school. "We anticipate enhanced learning opportunities for students and enriched engagement with the community," he said. Among the research the center would conduct would be on a variety of topics related to the scope, structure and management of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations in Texas. The center has a goal of creating a web portal that would make data and research easily accessible to both the academic and nonprofit and philanthropic communities, as well as publishing research in academic journals on governance, strategic management, grant making and philanthropy. Other goals listed for the center in System documents include a plan to partner with university programs and community partners to develop program initiatives, offer learning opportunities for underserved professionals in Texas through workshops and develop training materials for nonprofit leaders both domestically and internationally. Students would be provided with opportunities to facilitate ongoing discussions on nonprofit issues and engage in research, the documents state. According to the documents, funding for the center is being provided by the Bush School and a private gift. The Bush School will provide about $150,000 annual for three years, with sustaining support from external grants -- primarily from private foundations, individual donors and revenue from executive education programs. The regents are set to meet at Tarleton State University in Stephenville today. You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being sexualised , and then an audience that does the same thing. Franchise marketing excellence recognised and celebrated at the 12th annual Franchise Marketing Awards. Finalists gathered eagerly to hear the results of the annual Franchise Marketing Awards on Friday evening, 13 October. A key indicator of a good franchisor is the marketing support they provide to their franchisees. Proudly sponsored by Business Franchise, The Franchise Marketing Awards celebrate and affirm innovative and effective marketing programmes, which deliver results to their franchise networks. As such, over the last 12 years, the Franchise Marketing Awards have become one of the industry's most sought-after accolades. A panel of independent experts judged a strong list of entries, from a wide spectrum of franchise brands, across six categories. The award for Best Print Advert was presented to easyGym for their eye-catching and informative advert with clear calls-to-action for its target audience of prospective franchisees. Dream Doors won the award for Best Online Marketing Campaign, thanks to a well-designed and executed campaign, which excelled at delivering leads to the Dream Doors franchise network. In a crowded field of entries, The Creation Station secured the award for Best Website. The judges commended the websites combination of visual appeal and functionality. Maggie Seager, head of awards and operations manager for The Creation Station, was present to collect the award. She commented: This award means the world to us and is testament to the vision of our founder, Sarah Cressall, who has worked tirelessly for 18 months to deliver a website which makes the lives of the franchisees better, delivers a great customer experience, and reflects our creative brand. Premier Sport were winners of the Best PR Campaign, with what the panel judged to be a campaign which not only achieved impressive reach within its target audience, but also utilised a key social message, driving positive change within the community and additional business to the franchise network. The award for Best Franchisee Marketing Support went to Snap-on Tools, thanks to the brand demonstrating how they support their franchisees with a clear, multi-faceted and responsive framework for local marketing, alongside a strategic national campaign. Best Overall Marketing Campaign was awarded to EnviroVent for a well-structured and consistent multi-media campaign, which delivered fantastic results for the brands franchisees. Helen Wood, portfolio sales manager at Venture Marketing Group, who organise the event, summarises: I am delighted for the finalists and winners of these respected awards. Each category reflects excellence in franchising and the winners can feel very proud of the high levels of marketing support they deliver to their networks, empowering franchisees to thrive. The awards organisers would like to thank the judges for giving up their time: Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchise Association; Andrew Brattesani, UK head of franchising at HSBC; Adam Shoefield, director of Smithfield agency; and Jane Masih, Partner at Owen White Solicitors. Published: 19 October 2017 Back to news This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Longtime New York TV anchor Michele Marsh died this week at her home in Connecticut. She was 63. Marsh was one of the few women in the late 70s and 80s who broke into the mostly all-male club of evening anchors in the nations No. 1 TV market. A Wednesday New York Times article reported she was at her home in South Kent at the time of her death Tuesday. The cause, according to Marshs son, John Paschall, was complications of breast cancer. Marsh made an almost immediate splash during her time at San Antonio's KSAT, where she worked as the station's main anchor in the late 1970s, near the start of her career. She became so popular that guards were assigned to fend off her admirers, the Times noted. Former colleague and current KENS-TV anchorwoman Deborah Knapp, another veteran of local television news, remembered her as a real pro and go-getter. I worked with Michele at KSAT my first year out of college, until I went to KENS 5, Knapp said via text message. Even though we were so young, she was a true professional. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. Knapp recalled that Marsh anchored the 5 or 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. After Marsh graduated from Northwestern University, the Detroit native started her news career at WABI-TV in Bangor, Maine, where, according to the Times, she ran the teleprompter with her toes while on the air. Back then, Marsh also was a hit with the younger set. She told The Bangor Daily News in 1976 that she had gotten fan mail from little boys who say, Lets run off together, my father owns an ice cream truck. Maine was the home state of another San Antonio TV news veteran, former KSAT anchor Don Colson. In fact, Colson may have been instrumental in KSATs hiring of Marsh. I was home in Maine on vacation. Saw Michele on WABI-TV. I called her and asked her to send a tape. History, he recalled in a Facebook message. Colson said he was Marshs co-anchor for most of her KSAT tenure. I liked her a lot. She was great to work with and a good friend, said Colson, who anchored at KSAT until 1979, jumped to KMOL for a time, then finished out his career at Marshs old station in Bangor. Never, ever heard anyone say a bad word about Michelle, he said. Much too young. Im a better man because Michelle was my friend. After New York beckoned, Marsh spent 17 years at the citys CBS flagship station, WCBS, alternating between jobs as an anchor and correspondent, depending on the ratings. After what the Times called a housecleaning in 1996, when she was one of seven anchors and reporters dismissed by the station, she was hired by WNBC. She left after losing her anchor post in 2003. Marsh was married twice. Her first marriage, to Nathaniel Price Paschall, ended in divorce. In addition to her son, she is survived by her second husband, P. H. Nargeolet. Marsh was an Emmy winner and a groundbreaker, the Times reported, one of a handful of women who had by 1980 swept into anchor positions at all five of the New York stations that had late-night news programs. On Twitter, the reaction to Marshs death by former New York co-workers and fans was both extensive and heartfelt. Her former WCBS co-anchor Mike Schneider said she was a true professional and a joy to work with. Longtime WCBS traffic anchor Tom Kaminski tweeted that she was a big star in New York in the 80s and 90s. San Antonio viewers also remembered Marsh. Local cartoonist and former KSAT intern Bill Field, 54, wrote an R.I.P post on Facebook. She was the first female local anchor that I remember, and the first anchor that I noticed (for) delivery and showmanship, Field said via Facebook message. She was the definition of professional. jjakle@express-news.net Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media WILTON Jim Fowler, host of the Emmy Award-winning show Wild Kingdom on Animal Planet, is coming to the Connecticut Friends School from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday at 317 New Canaan Road in Wilton. There, he will show animals and tell stories shortly before the grand opening of the Silvermine-Fowler Preserve from 2-6 p.m. at 763 Silvermine Road in New Canaan. Tickets for the live animal show are $25 per family, and proceeds benefit the Connecticut Friends School. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Development and city management were among the topics raised during a Meet the Candidates forum at The Marvin on Gregory Boulevard Wednesday evening. One East Norwalk resident asked Norwalks four mayoral candidates how they would get visitors of The SoNo Collection the upscale mall under construction off West Avenue and Interstate 95 to spend their money elsewhere in Norwalk. Im not against the mall, but it makes me a little bit nervous, answered Lisa Brinton, an unaffiliated voter who is running as a petitioning candidate. In order to connect the mall and Wall Street, you first have to make Wall Street a desirable place to visit and its not. How to prevent the mall from harming Norwalks existing businesses has been a matter of ongoing dialogue among officials, said Mayor Harry Rilling, a Democrat running for a third term. He said his administration is working with downtown business owners. We want to make sure you just dont get into the mall and go back home, Rilling said. We just had a beautiful opening of the Ultimate Theater, down on the SoNo 8, where they have an iPic Theater. They have reclining seats, you can buy a meal, so all those things are going to help people come down. When they go to the mall, theyre going to go down and go to the movies, have dinner and so forth. Republican Andrew Conroy, a former District E councilman who is also running for mayor, expressed his support for existing plans to place large signs to direct mall visitors to Washington Street in SoNo, The Maritime Aquarium and other riverfront attractions. State Rep. Bruce Morris, a South Norwalk Democrat who is running as a petition candidate, said a circulator bus would help but added a strategic plan is needed. He said Norwalks diversity is a draw for visitors. He counted The Maritime Aquarium as among the attractions and foresees Wall Street becoming an arts district. Its a matter of us marketing, Morris said. By marketing the city and marketing all these wonderful things we have, people will come not specifically for a mall. More than 100 people attended the forum, which was co-sponsored by the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association, the East Norwalk Business Association and the East Norwalk Library Association. Conroy pitched himself as a businessman who came to Norwalk, served five terms on the Common Council and immersed himself in school improvement projects, including at Rowayton Elementary. He promised to maintain the citys reserves amid state budget pressures in Hartford. The state, as Ive been talking about, is really in horrible shape, Conroy said. The impact on us will grow over time, and depending upon which administration is there and what bills get passed, there seems to be an effort to offload expenses down to the towns and cities. Conroy, however, rejected Brintons suggestion to bring aboard a city manager at City Hall. I really think our form of government is functional. I think we can make it work well, Conroy said. I dont think that the mayor needs to be removed and replaced with a city manager. Brinton has called for putting a ballot question to voters on hiring a city manager. She described herself as a former business manager who settled in Norwalk and engaged herself in education reform. Two phrases for why Im running, Brinton said. Political reform and professional management. I petitioned as an independent candidate because I believe the two-party system is broken. Rilling described himself as a lifelong Norwalker who worked his way through the ranks to become the citys police chief. He said Norwalk is moving in the right direction. Right now, our economy is booming because we have so many people coming in, working on the mall and helping us get that up and running, Rilling said. So its an exciting time in Norwalk. Im honored to be your mayor. Ive enjoyed the last four years and I hope I can count on your support come Election Day. Morris said he came to Norwalk to work as a minister and expanded his service to the community by becoming a business owner and later state representative. As a lawmaker, he said he has helped boost education funding, reform criminal justice and expand affordable housing. When Bruce Morris makes a promise, he keeps it, Morris said. A forum for District C and at-large Common Council candidates followed the mayoral candidates forum. NORWALK U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., sat down with a dozen residents to discuss the future of the now dismantled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in Norwalk City Hall on Wednesday evening. Its trying to predict the future with an uncertain and unpredictable president, so Ill do the best I can, Himes said. He began by painting a picture of the intensifying problems employers and universities will face if DACA a policy allowing undocumented residents who moved to the U.S. as children to legally enroll in college, secure jobs and pay taxes that is set to expire March 5 is not replaced with a similar policy. Employers would have to scramble for new employees, and universities would have to begin rescinding financial aid. Thats massively disruptive, Himes said. The politics around DACA is potentially poisonous for the president and for Republicans. ... So I have some confidence that there will be a legislative fix for this, most likely in the early part of next year. However, he acknowledged he could make no guarantees. Representatives of Connecticut Students for a Dream, Parents of Students for a Dream, Make the Road Connecticut and the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants were present at the conversation, including DACA recipients and their parents. Eric Cruz Lopez, an undocumented student at the University of Connecticut and an organizer for Connecticut Students for a Dream, described an array of options legislators will navigate as they craft a replacement for DACA. Potential Democratic concessions include border enforcement, funding for the border wall, and mandatory e-verification. Many DACA activists urge pushing for legislation without any such concessions a clean Dream Act. Where do you stand on these different compromises? Cruz Lopez asked. Himes said not all of the concessions President Donald Trump has demanded will happen, but neither would legislation without compromise. A clean Dream Act will not happen, he said. You can count on me to fight like hell. Im just being realistic with you right now. Himes indicated moral justification would be a guiding factor for him as talks progress. I mean, separating families theres no moral justification for that, he said. But he would be willing to compromise on finding better ways to discourage the travel of unaccompanied minors into the United States. Other questions included whether the government monitors social media. If youre here, youre in the eyes of the law a U.S. person entitled to constitutional protections, regardless of your status, Himes said. They would require a warrant to look into your social media or look into your phone. However, Alicia Kinsman, of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, cautioned such issues could become fraught at the countrys borders and if a social media page is public, it is open to everyone. Since the legislative replacement for DACA is still in the early stages, Himes promised another conversation once a proposal came forward. Lets do exactly this meeting again, he said. Himes finished by suggesting a next step for those who want to keep DACA protections intact: Pressuring Republican legislators in districts that could be persuaded to support such legislation, such as Maine and New Jersey. These are persuadable people, he said. And the more advocacy these groups can bring to bear on those persuadable people, the faster this will get done. Julio Lopez-Varona, director of Make the Road Connecticut, was not satisfied with the congressmans answers to his questions. I think our focus is to protect our communities, and there wasnt a clear answer that itll happen, he said. By protecting the community, Lopez-Varona referred to legislation that would not separate families or use criminal records to choose who could stay and who would be deported. Cruz Lopez thought his questions were answered to the best of Himess knowledge, but seemed shaken by the politicans blunt assertion that a clean Dream Act would not happen. That was something that caused me a little bit of fear, he said. Because as someone who has been at the negotiating table, when you start out willing to compromise, you end up very far away from where you wanted to be against your favor. However, both agreed they were happy to be having an honest conversation. We appreciate that the congressman is being open to at least listening to us, Lopez-Varona said. rschuetz@hearstmediact.com; @raschuetz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Twitter Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Getty images Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A British man who disappeared for a decade without a word has revealed he stayed hidden due to his "controlling" wife. Malcolm Applegate, 62, told the Daily Mail that he was married to his wife for three years before he couldn't take it anymore. He claims his wife got angrier at him the more he worked. Special Events Saturday, Oct. 21 Innovation Day, 1-5 p.m. Discover, Dabble, Do-It-Yourself at Wilton Librarys annual Innovation Day! Join us for a festival of making, creating and demonstrating. Test out virtual reality, snap circuits and Makey Makey; light up an apron with LEDs; make jewelry, gift tags and button pins; check out a telescope; watch 3-D printing; see our Hovercraft in motion; enjoy a wine tasting; get a Henna or spray tattoo and more! Food trucks parked outside. Free admission; certain activities will have a nominal fee to offset costs. Sunday, Oct. 22 Wilton History Film Screening: Hear It From Those Who Lived Here!, 3-5 p.m. Bob and Carol Russel host a screening of the 2002 documentary film about Wiltons history. A number of long-time residents, some with family histories going back to the 17th and 18th centuries, were interviewed in this significant oral history project. Narrated by David and Maureen Canary with music by Chris and Dave Brubeck. The film covers Wiltons early start through its post WWII growth. Screening includes recognition of some of the still living oral history participants from the 2002 project as well as remembrances of those no longer with us. No charge. Registration recommended. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Thursday, Oct. 26 Wilton Reads Back into the Heart of Cuba with Daryl Hawk, 7-8:30 p.m. In 2016 and 2017 explorer and international documentary photographer Daryl Hawk embarked upon a 2,700-mile circumnavigation of Cuba. The resulting photographs depict a people and place both lost in time and on the cusp of change. Hawk is a photographer, travel writer, lecturer, and explorer whose articles and photographs appear in national magazines and publications worldwide. See librarys registration link for more speaker details. No charge. Registration recommended. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Part of the Wilton Reads programming. Saturday, Oct. 28 Hot & Cool: Jazz at the Brubeck Room The Paquito DRivera Ensemble, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Paquito DRivera defies categorization. The winner of fourteen GRAMMY Awards in both jazz and classical categories, he is celebrated both for his artistry in Latin jazz and his achievements as a classical composer and performer. Performing on clarinet and saxophone, he will be joined by Cesar Orozco on piano, Zach Brown, contrabass and Arturo Stable, percussion. Please see registration link for more details. Informal reception follows the concert. Suggested donation: $10. Funded by William and Karen Tell Foundation with special thanks to Ed and Catherine Romer and Chris and Tish Brubeck. Advance registration strongly suggested. Pre-registrants should arrive by 7:20 p.m. to be guaranteed seating; wait-listed and walk-in registrants will be admitted after 7:20 p.m. if space is available. Calendar More Information 137 Old Ridgefield Road 203-762-3950 www.wiltonlibrary.org See More Collapse Monday, Oct. 23 Weir Farm Artist-in-Residence Exhibition/Reception: Liz Leggett, 6-7:30 p.m. October brings Liz Leggett to the Weir Farm Artist-in-Residence program. Liz's paintings utilize the landscape and natural world as a foundation and departure point for her artistic exploration of the space between abstraction and representation where forms and images are suggested but left open for a multitude of interpretations and meanings. See registration link for details. Co-sponsored by Weir Farm Art Center and Weir Farm National Historic Site and presented by Wilton Library. No charge. Registration suggested. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Tuesday, Oct. 24 Senior Center Book Discussion: Louisa The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, 11 a.m. to noon. Barbara Jones leads a discussion of Louisa The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa. Call the Senior Center for details and to register at 203-834-6240. Comstock Community Center, 180 School Road, Wilton. Tuesday, Oct. 24 Wilton Reads Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, Book Discussion with Susan Boyar, 7-8:30 p.m. Professional book discussion leader Susan Boyar discusses our Wilton Reads selection, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Wednesday, Oct. 25 Wilton Reads Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, Book Discussion with Susan Boyar, 12 - 1:30 p.m. This is a daytime discussion of Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Wednesday, Oct. 25 Wilton Reads 90 Miles to Havana-Childrens Book Discussion, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Kids in grades 5-7 are invited to join this book discussion as part of the Wilton Reads program. The book selected is 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis. This is a coming-of-age story inspired by real events from the author's life. Includes discussion, activities and delicious Cuban sandwiches provided by Craft 14. Registration required; space limited. No fee. Books are sponsored by Fairfield County Bank. Register online or call 203-762-6336. Thursday, Oct. 26 WLA/SCORE Income Tax Strategies for Your Small Business, 6-8 p.m. SCORE of Fairfield County, Wilton Library, and the Wilton Chamber of Commerce present a seminar that will help small business owners get a head start with their year-end planning for 2017 taxes due in 2018. Speaker Thomas Figgatt is a tax advisor and an accountant with an MBA from Harvard Business School. Visit www. fairfieldcounty.score.org or call SCORE at 203-831-0065 with any questions and to register. Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m. Registration required. No charge. Classes in Innovation Station this week The library is getting ready for Innovation Day on Oct. 21 fun for all! Monday, Oct. 23: New Life for Old Videos, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Monday, Oct. 23 & 30: Stitch Time for Knitters and Crocheters, 1-2:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Oct. 24: Personalized Wine Bottle Stoppers, 6-7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 25: Monogrammed Tea Towels, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 25: Paint it Up!, 6-8 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 26: Enhancing Your Pictures with Photoshop, 2-3:30 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 27: Make Fun Buttons!, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Ongoing Childrens programs Monday, Oct. 23 through Monday, Nov. 13: Ready Readers, 4:15-5 p.m.; Tuesday, Oct. 24 through Tuesday, Nov. 14: Terrific Tales for Twos and Threes, 10:15-10:45 a.m.; Tuesday, Oct. 24: Storytime STEM, 4:15-5 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 25 through Wednesday, Nov. 15: Books for Babies, 10:15-10:45 a.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 25 through Wednesday, Nov. 15: Wonderful Ones and Twos, 11-11:30 a.m.; Friday, Oct. 27: Haunted Chamber, 2:30-5:30 p.m. Firefighters from the Cairo, Alda, Grand Island Rural and Wood River fire departments responded Thursday to a fire at 10487 W. Capital Ave. southeast of Cairo. A fire call came across the scanner shortly after 2 p.m. for a structure fire that was fully engulfed in flames. The Cairo Rural Fire department arrived on scene within 10 minutes of receiving the call, according to Joe Grabowski, assistant fire chief. The roof collapsed shortly after firefighters arrived. The blaze was under control 45 minutes later. The homeowners were not home when the fire started, and are temporarily staying in Wood River. Firefighters also worked to put out hotspots that jumped the road and started in bean stubble. The fire marshal is still investigating the possible cause. Dear Annie: A close friend, Jenna, has a mental illness: She hoards. Her house would be condemned if the health administration were to go there. I can start tracing this behavior back to when she first became a mother and discovered that raising children requires more than just buying them new clothes and getting pictures taken. She worked and had trouble juggling everything. Fortunately, her mother lived next door and helped out a lot did her laundry and fixed meals for the kids. But then her mother died, and Jennas personality began to change even more. She could not keep up with the daily needs of her family. Then her husband died, only 10 months after her mother. Long story short, her life has continued spiraling downward. Her house is a disaster, with holes in the walls that let the outside air in, mice, snakes and cat urine and feces everywhere because the litter box never gets changed. Shes met a man who lives out of state. He will never be invited to her home, yet shes talking of marrying him and moving to his location. Her kids are well-adjusted to their hometown. The older one will be a senior in high school next year, and the younger one will be a sophomore. These kids dont want to move, but with her illness, she can only think of herself and getting a new start. Shes not being totally honest with her new mate. Others close to her need to know how to help her and her kids. Stressed Out in Middle America Dear Stressed Out: Start with Jenna. Express your concerns about her mental health, and encourage her to seek professional counseling. Then expand to her circle of family and close friends. Make sure everyone is aware of the problem. If shes been preventing people from coming into the house, its possible they have no idea how severe the situation is. Visit the International OCD Foundations hoarding website at https://hoarding.iocdf.org for more resources. Dear Annie: I read your column every day. Ive never sent a letter, but I had to respond to Ex In or Ex Out. I married my second husband 29 wonderful years ago and met his ex a few months later at his daughters high school graduation. I was so pleased to find out how friendly and outgoing she was toward me. I was a little jealous because he still cared for her, as he had two children with her. She wrote me a beautiful, kind, generous letter saying how happy she was with our marriage and how he deserved the best. From then on, she invited us to Christmas and Thanksgiving in Florida to stay with her and see the children. We each bonded as close friends from then on and have taken several trips together by ourselves and with others, separate from my husband. I came to know her as the most honest and caring woman I know and think of her as my best friend. She dubbed us wife-in-laws! The children and grandchildren were the important thing. They have all of us! I suggest that Ex In or Ex Outs fiancee, Beth, grow up and think about whats really important. Jealousy doesnt become her, and it really complicates matters for her husband and her in-laws. Ex In or Ex Out shouldnt make his family members choose between his ex and Beth, or Beth might lose. Friends With the Ex Dear Friends With the Ex: Your example is a reminder that women can often find so much common ground if they just look for it. Thanks for sharing. Annie Lane, a graduate of New York Law School and New York University, writes this column for Creators Syndicate. Email questions to dearannie@creators.com. The office of Congressman Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) will host a Senior Services Fair in Grand Island on Thursday, Oct. 26. The Senior Services Fair will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grand Generation Center at 304 E. Third St. Officials from the Nebraska Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) will offer one-on-one consultations with seniors on available plans. Seniors seeking assistance should bring a complete list of their prescriptions, including dosage information. Experts will be available to answer questions about Social Security and veterans benefits. Nursing students from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) will also provide complementary blood pressure screenings. BLOOMINGTON Medication abortions are now being offered at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington. Julie Lynn, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said the clinic began offering the abortion pill to clients at the beginning of the month. Like any of our services, we want to offer the full range of reproductive health care, she said. Lynn said she was unsure how many clients had used the pill so far at the Bloomington clinic, 1319 N. Veterans Parkway. Decatur's Planned Parenthood, 3021 N. Oakland Ave., also provides the pill and has done so since October 2014, Lynn said. The abortion pill is offered up to 10 weeks after the start of the last menstrual period. Patients take one pill, mifepristone (RU-486), during a scheduled appointment and then take a second pill, misoprostol, within the next 48 hours. A follow-up appointment, including ultrasound or blood draw and birth control consultation, is scheduled during the subsequent two weeks, she said. Most women have a complete abortion within four to 24 hours after taking the second pill, but some bleeding and cramping may persist for a few days to weeks. Patients are given post-abortion self-care, medications and a birth control method, and they are told to report any complications experienced during or after an abortion procedure to Planned Parenthood immediately. Thomas Shilgalis, president of the McLean County Right to Life Committee, said he was disappointed to hear about the pills being distributed there. "I would like to know what prompted them to do this, why they are doing this and what they hope to accomplish," he said Wednesday. "They have made it easier to kill a developing baby and those that do that have blood on their hands." The abortion pill is 97 percent effective, according to Planned Parenthood. Before taking the pill, patients are asked to discuss the options available with Planned Parenthood counselors, discuss medical history, have laboratory tests, have an ultrasound and read and sign documents. Patients are given a medication guide, instructions and other information to take home, including a telephone number that is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Eagles rally, then get sloppy in 4th quarter as undefeated hopes end Several observations from the Eagles' Monday night game against the Washington Commanders. CHARLESTON A man received prison time after he admitted leading police on a high speed chase that started in Oakland and ended with a wrecked, abandoned vehicle. Devin W.F. Miller pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude a peace officer in connection with the Aug. 17 incident. Miller, 23, for whom court records list a rural Windsor address, was sentenced to two years in prison with the agreement reached in his case. Also with the agreement, that sentence will run at the same time as others he received for convictions in two other counties. He was also recommended for a prison system discipline program that could lead to an early release. Records in Miller's case indicate that an Oakland police officer first saw the vehicle Miller was driving and recorded its speed at 97 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. During the chase the followed, the vehicle reached speeds of more than 100 mph and police eventually lost sight of it, the records say. It was later found wrecked and abandoned, according to the records. The records also say authorities contacted the vehicle's registered owner, an Effingham woman, and that led to an investigation that identified Miller as the driver at the time. The investigation also discovered that before the chase Miller left the Casey's convenience store in Oakland without paying for gasoline and other items. Coles County Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien agreed to order the two-year prison sentence for the conviction that could have resulted in a one- to three-year prison term. However, the judge also agreed to recommend Miller for the Illinois Department of Corrections' Impact Incarceration Program, sometimes called a prison boot camp. Prisoners who complete the program can be released early but a judge's recommendation is needed for eligibility. O'Brien also ordered the sentence to run at the same time as the three-year prison sentences Miller recently received for Effingham and Shelby county convictions, where he was also recommended for the discipline program. A misdemeanor theft charge in connection with the incident at the Casey's store and several traffic citations were dismissed. Records show that Miller recevied the Effingham County sentence for a theft conviction and for a revoked probation sentence he originally received in an earlier burglary conviction. The Shelby County sentence was also because of revoked probation from a theft conviction. In the Coles County case, O'Brien based the sentence on the terms of the plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Jenifer Schiavone and defense attorney Todd Reardon recommended. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin APP Sinar Mas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Fri, October 20, 2017 Asia Pulp and Paper (APP Sinar Mas) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry on the acceleration of the village development program. The MoU was signed on Oct. 18 at the ministrys office building in Kalibata, South Jakarta, by the ministrys general-secretary, Anwar Sanusi, and APP Sinar Mas director Suhendra Wiriadinata. The signing was witnessed by Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Eko Putro Sandjojo and Sinar Mas managing director G. Sulistiyanto. According to Sinar Mas managing director G. Sulistiyanto, there had been an overlap between APP Sinar Mas and the ministrys mission in developing villages across Indonesia, making both parties ideal partners to conduct the program. One of the programs main objectives is to overcome economic inequality. The main social problem faced by our nation, as in other parts of the world, is economic inequality. The ministrys program is in line with our mission to improve welfare in villages where our concession areas are located, he said. The MoU outlined a development program targeting more than 100 villages across Indonesia. One of the highlights of the MoU is the economic growth acceleration in Indonesian villages to mitigate inequality through the establishment of village-owned enterprises (locally referred to as BUMDes). According to the Village Law No. 6/2014, the establishment of the BUMDes sought to boost economic activities and growth in villages by optimizing village assets so that they could contribute to the improvement of local peoples livelihoods as well as the improvement of the economic potentials of villages. Since 2015, APP Sinar Mas had been involved in a number of activities empowering village residents who live in its concession areas by teaching them sophisticated agricultural skills in order to attain self-sufficiency. The company implemented the program by taking care of both its upstream and downstream aspects, including equipment and seed procurement, mentoring as well as marketing strategies. Eko said he had been grateful for APP Sinar Mas initiative in contributing to and synergizing with the governments mission as written in the third point of the nawacita (nine key programs) that sought to build Indonesia from its fringe areas, including villages, to support national advancement. The involvement of Sinar Mas in this program could serve as a positive role model for other businesses to demonstrate how they can support the governments program in accelerating economic growth in villages. Through the help of the companys resources, hopefully we can create new job opportunities for village residents [through this program], Eko added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jalur Rempah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Fri, October 20, 2017 Sebastian Partogi The Jakarta Post/Depok, West Java The success of adopting the local Malay dialect as our national language, coupled with the adoption of the Latin alphabet, resulted in only 3.5 percent illiteracy rate in 2015, according to the Education and Culture Ministry. The sad fact is that, although most Indonesians are literate, this ability to read and write is not followed by proper reading habits and a strong literary tradition. Last year, the Central Connecticut State University in New Britain in the United States ranked Indonesia the second-lowest out of 61 measurable countries for its literacy behavior characteristics ranging from reading habits, book availability and years of schooling, among others. We dont have a tradition of separating science and religion. Therefore, many people are afraid of being accused of blasphemy or tarnishing local traditions if they write or express something that runs contrary to local religious and cultural practices, Mohammad explained. He added that as long as intellectuals were afraid to express their ideas openly through their writings, a proper ecosystem for a literary tradition, which encouraged reading habits, would never flourish in Indonesia. He cited the United States as a good example on how science and religion have been separated, resulting in a strong literary tradition and scientific advancements. When the administration of George W. Bush -- a conservative Christian -- faced a class action suit by religious fundamentalists to teach the creationist version of science in schools, the lawsuit failed despite the Constitutional Court judge being a conservative himself, for example. Even Pakistan is able to separate religion and science. For instance, Pakistani physics Nobel prize laureate Abdus Salam, despite being a devout Muslim, was able to make peace with the fact that his scientific findings ran contrary to his faith, Mohammad said. Grassroots activism Aside from the gloom and doom, heres good news for Indonesia. Many grassroots activists are working hard to promote a literary tradition among Indonesians and change the status quo. In Parung village, Bogor, West Jakarta, a 54-year-old woman named Kiswanti has been running a community library named Warabal (Warung Baca Lebak Wangi; Lebak Wangi Reading Room). Hundreds of children and adults alike flock to her weekly creative classes, not to mention those who come to the library to read its books and periodicals. I dont want children, who cant afford to go to school, to miss out on opportunities. They can in fact still acquire knowledge by reading books, said Kiswanti, who dropped out of school after finishing sixth grade. The activities at her mobile library include reading poems together and encouraging children to write their own. Similar initiatives encouraging children to think critically are also facilitated by a community called Rumah Cerita (House of Stories). It has been entrusted by the ASEAN Literary Festival to organize a National Literary Gymboree aimed at students from elementary to senior high school. We encourage [senior high school] students to join our young journalist workshop to apply critical thinking by interviewing people, probing deeper as well as verifying their answers on the subject of literature, Rumah Cerita founder Aqmarina Andira said. A more in-depth version of this article will be published in The Jakarta Post on Oct. 24. . (./.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jalur Rempah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Fri, October 20, 2017 Sebastian Partogi The Jakarta Post/Depok, West Java The development of the Indonesian language spanned hundreds of years, and was influenced by foreign traders from various parts of the world. Cultural factors, however, have hindered critical thinking and the establishment of a proper literacy tradition. The development of both oral and written usages of our national language Bahasa Indonesia essentially a dialect of Malay, a major language of the Austronesian family has occurred over thousands of years and involved numerous foreign influences thanks to human migration, trade and colonization. The successful nationwide adoption of Bahasa Indonesia is owed, in particular, to the history of the spice trade, starting in the 15th and 16th centuries, which saw Europeans arrive in Indonesia seeking fortune from the countrys prized endemic spices. According to University of Indonesia Cultural School linguistics department lecturer Mohammad Umar Muslim, the Malay language was brought to Indonesia by migrants from Thailand who arrived in the country as early as the first century. The migrants introduced the language to people living on the islands we know today as Kalimantan and Sumatra. In Sumatra, for instance, the ancient Malay language evolved into the local Minangkabau language. From there, Malay in Indonesia has continued to evolve, he said. Although ancient Indonesians spoke Malay, the letters used for written communication varied based on the influences of foreign traders who arrived as early as the fifth century, according to National Archaeology Research Center researcher Bambang Budi Utomo. Inscriptions found in the ancient Tarumanegara kingdom in West Java, for instance, use the ancient Pallawa letters brought by Indian traders who started coming to Indonesia in the fifth century, he said. During the eighth and ninth centuries trends started to shift whereby inscriptions started to use a Javanese variant of the Arabic letters brought by Arabic traders who came to Indonesia. The Javanese variants of the Arabic letters eventually became what we know today as ancient Javanese letters, Bambang explained. Things, however, started to change under Dutch occupation, when van Obhuisen introduced Latin letters to local elites, which are used until today for written communication. During the time of the ancient kingdoms right through to the period of colonization, written language was monopolized by the political elite, who adopted letters from Indian traders to communicate with one another. The kingdoms subjects, meanwhile, used only oral communication, according to Bambang. He said that this was also the reason for the scarcity of local sources related to the history of the ancient kingdom of Sriwijaya, which rose to power in the seventh century and declined around 500 years later. Most of the sources we have are from records written by Arab and Chinese traders, who had a strong tradition of written communication, Bambang explained. Toward the end of Dutch occupation, however, the colonists began introducing schools for poor Indonesians so more people could become literate. During the national movement period, nationalist campaigns called for the Indonesian language derived from its Malay roots to be used as the national language. The use of our local Malay dialect as the national language, called bahasa Indonesia, was established by nationalists during the Second Youth Congress in 1928. The campaign was successful not only because Malay had been used as a lingua franca for trading purposes across Indonesia for centuries but, curiously enough, also because the Malay ethnic group constituted only a small percentage less than ten percent of Indonesias entire population, Mohammad said. According to Mohammad, ironically, if Indonesia had chosen the Javanese language spoken by an ethnic group that constitutes more than 50 percent of Indonesias total population as the national language instead, it might have triggered social jealousy because of the higher visibility of the Javanese people. This is also the reason why the adoption of Hindi as the national language in India has not been as successful as the Indonesian language here, not only because Hindi is associated with a particular ethnic group, which is quite large there, but also because English is more popular among Indians, he explained. In a way, we should acknowledge the contributions of the Thai migrants, the Indian and Arab traders as well as the Dutch colonialists in shaping the use of our national language as we know it today. A more in-depth version of this article will be published at The Jakarta Post on Oct. 24. . (./.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sharon Nadeem (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 08:38 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a251b86e 4 People female,feminist,award Free Twelve years ago, Pinky Lilani embarked on a mission with her Women of the Future award to identify, recognize and celebrate emerging women leaders in the UK. The award, for women under 35, celebrates women who have achieved tremendous success in their respective fields covering a range of categories including technology, bussiness, sport, media and entrepreneurship. Past recipients included the youngest CEO of a catering shop on one of Londons exclusive streets and a 19-yearold who discovered two asteroids. Earlier this year, Pinky visited Malaysia where she met a number of successful and inspirational Southeast Asian women. An entrepreneur herself, who has been working tirelessly for the last 30 years to empower women, she thought: Why not bring the award to South East Asia where there is a need to encourage and support up-and-coming women? As with most things Pinky sets her mind to, she succeeded in finding sponsors, gaining support and setting up the award in the region. Categories for the award include professions and business; entrepreneurship; arts and culture; community and public service; construction and infrastructure; media and technology and science. The nominations opened in July and we have already received our first entries, said Pinky. Were really excited about branching out into South East Asia. Candidates for the award are judged by a panel that will make its deliberations on Nov. 20. Winners will be announced at an awards evening at the Hilton Singapore on March 20. Women who are citizens and residents of Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines are eligible for the award. What were looking for are inspirational people with interesting stories who have battled the odds to achieve what they have. That doesnt mean were trying to take anything away from people who have had easy lives. Were looking for role models with great personalities, said Pinky. While the award doesnt have a monetary benefit, it creates opportunities, access to a global community of female leaders and to validate their achievements, she added. We once had a nurse, who was also a poet, performing her poetry at one of our events. She did such an amazing job that she was invited to perform at Buckingham Palace in front of Queen Elizabeth. It was an incredible opportunity for her, said Pinky. Shortlisted candidates are invited to join The Women of Achievement Ambassadors Program that arranges for women to visit schools and inspire young girls. In the UK, these women are also part of The Inspirational Womens Network, another group that Pinky founded. Its a vibrant community of inspirational and emerging women whom other women can take inspiration from, she said. Pinky hopes to replicate this model in South East Asia, bringing together women in the region to help, support and motivate one another. But all good things take time. We spent 12 years in the UK to get to where we are. It will take some time to build it up here, she said. Southeast Asia is the first step to achieving Pinkys goal of building a global community of female leaders. Women are inspiring wherever they go. I want to bring them together, she said. Pinky added that it is easier for women to achieve their dreams nowadays compared to 30 years ago when she started her journey. There are policies in place, but I think its all about selfbelief first. If you believe in yourself and are passionate, you can achieve what you want. When asked what the secret of her success is, Pinky has an unusual answer for someone who has carved out a name for herself in the often ruthless world of business. Kindness and collaboration are key factors. People often dont realize that a little kindness can go a long way, she said. *** The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post Topics : female feminist award Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 16:30 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2533dc5 1 Art & Culture Russia,#Russia,Russian,gamelan,#gamelan,traditional-dance,dance,#dance,arts-and-culture Free A concert showcasing gamelan and traditional dances was held in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the Russian capital on Oct. 17. Titled Charming Sounds of Indonesia, the concert brought around 200 viewers on a trip across the archipelago by showcasing various traditional art performances, including the Javanese gamelan composition Udan Mas, the Gambyong Pareanom dance from Surakarta in Central Java, the Pendet dance from Bali, the Malino dance from South Sulawesi and more. The concert also presented several Russians artists playing gamelan and performing a jaipong dance. Konser Budaya Indonesia di Tchaikovsky Conservatory, 17.10.2017 A post shared by KBRI MOSKOW (@kbrimoskow) on Oct 18, 2017 at 1:42pm PDT As reported by Antara news agency on Oct. 19, the Russian performers joined the art team at the Indonesian Embassy in Moscow and were trained under the watchful eye of choreographer Elisabeth Nur Nilasari and gamelan teacher Tri Koyo. Some of the performers, such as Ekaterina Makanina who performed the jaipong dance, were said to study traditional dances and gamelan through scholarship programs, namely the Darmasiswa and Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship (BSBI). Read also: Recalling the history of the gamelan Yuli Ryzhaya was among the performers who learned gamelan at the embassy. She expressed her hopes to further study the traditional music instrument in Indonesia. The embassy's deputy head of representative, Lasro Simbolon, said the concert only presented a small part of Indonesian culture as well as the friendship between Indonesia and Russia. Lasro said that like Russia, Indonesia is home to cultural diversity and a plethora of traditional music and dances. Meanwhile, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory head of international relations, Margarita Karatyagina, said that Russians have a strong interest in Indonesian culture as seen from the concerts positive turnout. Karatyagina expressed her hopes to see further collaborations between the two countries in the near future. (jes/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) San Francisco, United States Thu, October 19, 2017 11:09 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252088c 2 Science & Tech Twitter,social-media,sexual-harassment Free Twitter has announced tough new rules on tweets containing "non-consensual nudity" and sexual harassment, which could be seen as fallout from the Harvey Weinstein abuse scandal. The rules will come into force in the coming weeks, Twitter said in a statement late Tuesday, after company co-founder Jack Dorsey on Friday posted a series of tweets promising policy changes. The San Francisco-based social media giant will "immediately and permanently suspend any account we identify as the original poster/source of non-consensual nudity and/or if a user makes it clear they are intentionally posting said content to harass their target," the statement read. Twitter defines "non-consensual nudity" as including "content like upskirt imagery, 'creep shots,' and hidden camera content." Since people appearing in these pictures "often do not know the material exists, we will not require a report from a target in order to remove it," the statement said. Twitter said that while it recognizes that there is "an entire genre of pornography dedicated to this type of content, it's nearly impossible for us to distinguish when this content may/may not have been produced and distributed consensually. Read also: Twitter users can now avoid accounts deemed annoying "We would rather error on the side of protecting victims and removing this type of content when we become aware of it," the statement read. Twitter also said that sexually charged conversations and the exchange of sexual media will now be "unacceptable," and promised to take action when such exchanges are reported by participants or by observers. Twitter's statement follows an uproar caused by the temporary suspension of the account of Rose McGowan, an actress who says that Weinstein raped her. The account was suspended after McGowan posted an obscenity directed at actor Ben Affleck, whom she said lied about his ignorance of Weinstein's history of sexual abuse. Twitter however said her account was suspended because McGowan broke usage rules by including a personal phone number in a tweet. Weinstein was fired from his job as co-chairman of The Weinstein Company on October 8, and resigned from the company board of directors on Tuesday. Some 40 actresses, including stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Mira Sorvino, have come forward saying they were sexually harassed by the Hollywood film producer. The revelations sparked an avalanche of messages on platforms like Twitter and Facebook from women all over the world, using the hashtag #MeToo to speak out on and condemn experiences of sexual harassment. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Joe Dyke (Agence France-Presse) Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories Thu, October 19, 2017 14:32 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252dd3e 2 Art & Culture Donald-Trump,Mark-Zuckerberg,West-Bank,graffiti Free Newly daubed graffiti on the Israeli wall cutting off the occupied West Bank lambasts US President Donald Trump and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The work has appeared in recent days after secretive Australian artist Lushsux crowdsourced ideas for what to paint on the controversial separation wall, which in many areas cuts through the Palestinian territory. But residents and visitors warned the art, much of which is not explicitly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, risks undermining the purpose of painting on the wall. One painting depicts Trump penning a letter to the rapper Eminem, alongside a caption from his 2000 hit song "Stan" in which Eminem is stalked by a superfan. The rapper attacked Trump in a widely publicised rap last week. Another shows failed US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton asking "What happened?" -- which without the question mark is the title of her new autobiography. Next to her Trump says "I happened." Read also: Jerusalem the focus of first Palestinian Museum show A third features Zuckerberg with red eyes and the caption: "The more of your data I gather, the more I understand what it means to be human." Some of the ideas were crowdsourced, with the artist asking fans on Twitter for suggestions for captions. He is currently asking fans which famous figure he should paint next, with suggestions ranging from another of Zuckerberg to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Asked via Twitter why he chose to crowdsource his ideas, Lushsux told AFP he was "just trying to be social on social media". In a previous interview, the Australian, whose identity is protected, has said he aims to be the "anti-Banksy" -- the British street artist whose artworks have been major hits all over the world. Read also: Israeli firm offers 'anti-terrorism' adventure to tourists 'Here to paint memes' Two men walk past a new piece of graffiti depicting Chief Executive Officer and founder of Facebook Inc Mark Zuckerberg. (AFP/Thomas Coex) Lushsux, whose work often includes nudity, told Australia's ABC he wanted to "paint things that don't please everyone". Israel began erecting the up to eight-metre wall during the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s citing security concerns, but Palestinians call it the "apartheid" wall. It has long been a site for artists to highlight the Israeli occupation, with Banksy painting on it multiple times. In March, he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, with all rooms looking out onto the wall. Visitors said Wednesday they were concerned Lushsux's art didn't highlight Israeli policies. "The wall risks becoming a street art gallery rather than actually politicising what it is about," Paul Saxton, a 30-year-old Briton visiting the site, told AFP. "While it is great to look at -- these are fantastic works of street art -- maybe they could fit in any city rather than being in this place where there is a very deliberate issue." Read also: Banksy's art in West Bank hotel with world's 'worst view' A man takes a selfie in front of a new piece of graffiti depicting US actor Morgan Freeman who played the role of former African president Nelson Mandela in the film 'Invictus'. (AFP/Thomas Coex) Bethlehem resident Khader Jacaman said there was "no relationship" between the art depicting Clinton and Trump and the Palestinian cause. "The Palestinian people don't want them to come, paint and go. Their (social media) followers don't do anything." Lushsux brushed aside the criticism. "To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he told AFP. "I'm not pushing a number required to solve it. I'm here to paint memes." In 2004, an International Court of Justice advisory opinion called the wall illegal, but Israel rejects this and argues it is necessary to protect its citizens. Around 400,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sebastien Blanc (Agence France-Presse) Richmond, United States Thu, October 19, 2017 13:22 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252a379 2 World Obama,US,politics,election-campaign Free Barack Obama is returning to the political arena for the first time in months after keeping a low profile and avoiding direct confrontation with his White House successor. The 56-year-old former president is scheduled to attend campaign rallies in New Jersey and Virginia on Thursday to support Democratic party candidates for governor. Voters in both states will decide the gubernatorial contests on Nov.7, one year after Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton and stormed into the White House on a wave of anti-establishment fury. The races are a potential indicator of voter sentiment ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, which will be a major test for Trump and his Republican party. "There are only two big elections this year, for governor in NJ and VA," political science professor Larry Sabato told AFP. "What's at stake is bragging rights headed into the 2018 midterm elections," Sabato said. It is unclear what Obama's message will be. The former US leader has remained largely detached from the political debate since leaving office on January 20, in keeping with presidential tradition. Trump has meanwhile used his first nine months in the White House to methodically demolish key Obama administration policies. After three months of vacation Obama began writing his memoirs. He has said little in public and granted almost no interviews. The few times Obama broke his silence was to comment on issues of national importance, such as immigration, health care and climate change. But the 44th president may be tempted on Thursday to take aim at Trump, who has frequently and publicly excoriated his predecessor. Test for Trump In New Jersey, the post of governor will almost certainly go to Democrat Philip Murphy, who would succeed Chris Christie, a Trump ally whose popularity has plummeted to record lows. New Jersey "is a runaway win for the Democrats, so Virginia is the only competitive contest. Obama is needed much more in Richmond than Trenton," said Sabato, referring to the capitals of the two states. Virginia is a pivotal state and the only southern US state that Clinton won in 2016. Its importance is amplified by its proximity to the US capital. "If the GOP loses in Virginia, Trump will be widely blamed since he is so unpopular in a state carried by Hillary Clinton," Sabato said. "Should the Republicans win Virginias governorship, then Trump will not be viewed as such a liability for the GOP in 2018." In Richmond, Obama will back Ralph Northam, a former military doctor who was credited Wednesday with a slight lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in a Quinnipiac poll. Obama's impending arrival in the city of over 220,000 people sparked long lines of people seeking tickets to the campaign event. Well aware of the importance of the vote, Trump has backed Gillespie and accused Northam of "fighting for the violent MS-13," a Hispanic gang, as well as "sanctuary cities" that offer shelter to illegal immigrants. Gillespie, a former advisor to president George W. Bush who has become a millionaire lobbyist, has so far kept a cautious distance from the mercurial Trump, whose backing recently failed to ensure the election of his pick in a Republican Senate race in Alabama. CHICAGO The University of Illinois is proposing a new public-private innovation center near downtown Chicago that would partner the Urbana-Champaign campus with Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Gov. Bruce Rauner backs the University of Illinois-led Discovery Partners Institute, which would be built in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. The partnership, which would focus on an array of fields such as computing, food and agriculture, and health and wellness, is to be officially announced today, the Chicago Tribune reported. The center is intended to bring together faculty, students and companies to collaborate on research and turn it into new products and companies, University of Illinois president Timothy Killeen said. The University of Illinois wants to recruit 90 new faculty members and up to 1,800 students to the center, he said. "It's an attempt to really take advantage of the assets that the state and the city have to accelerate economic development and to provide opportunities for our students to stay in the state and for innovations to flow into our economy," Killeen said. However, the newspaper reports that details are lacking regarding the project's funding, including how much it would receive in state money and how much has been committed in private money. Rauner said he wants to see Illinois' top universities work together to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in Chicago. Rauner also said part of the reason he wanted to run for governor was to advance this vision from Springfield. No opening date has been set but the center would be located on land along the Chicago River donated by the development company Related Midwest. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Bekasi Thu, October 19, 2017 13:40 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252bffa 1 City #scholarship,#Bekasi,#budget Free The Bekasi city administration plans to allocate Rp 15 billion (US$1.1 million) in the 2018 regional draft budget to university scholarships for students from poor families, an official has said. Bekasi Education Agency secretary Inayatullah said on Wednesday that the scholarship program would focus on high school and vocational school graduates who are financially unable to continue their higher education. Those students, Inayatullah added, could register to the agency if they were Bekasi residents and pass the minimum score required. "They have the freedom to continue their studies outside Bekasi. The scholarship program is designed to improve the qualities of Bekasi residents in facing the global competition through the ASEAN Economic Community," Inayatullah said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com. The program, he added, also aimed to reduce unemployment in the city. "Nowadays, it is hard enough for university graduates to find a job. It is even harder for high school graduates," he said. He further said that each scholarship recipient would also receive Rp 5 million per semester. (rdi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Novan Imam Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Beijing, China Thu, October 19, 2017 12:47 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2529866 1 World China,CommunistParty,Xi-Jinping,Fujian,CPC Free Fujian delegates at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened a discussion on Thursday to deliberate the 18th Central Committee report. The report was delivered by the party's Secretary-General Xi Jinping to 2,280 delegates at the Great Hall of People on Wednesday to mark the opening of the 19th congress. Thursdays meeting started at 9 a.m. and was led by the secretary of the CPC Committee in Fujian province, You Quan. He was accompanied by Fujian Governor You Weiguo and Vice Governor Zhang Zhinan. Fujian is one of the main origins of Indonesians of Chinese descent as well as expat Chinese in Southeast Asia. The province is being represented by 41 delegates at the 19th congress. Read also: CPC members told to clinch 'decisive victory' The delegates supported the report made by Xi who is also Chinas president on the progress that has been made in the past five years, as well as his 14-point thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era, and the plans to make china a great and modern socialist country by 2050. Being a coastal province, the delegates emphasized various connectivity efforts through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Fuzhou CPC secretary said that the city is the starting point of the maritime connectivity, which was proposes by Xi when he was working in the provincial capital. The Xiamen CPC secretary supported further trade, and investment facilitation and liberalization, saying BRI means a balance of "going out and inviting in. (bbs) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 16:32 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2534399 1 Politics Tjahjo-Kumolo,Home-Ministry,Pancasila Free The government has said it will ban organizations it believes promote anti-Pancasila values while claiming to be defenders of the state ideology. They try so hard to portray themselves as supporters of Pancasila while their public speeches contradict their claims, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said as quoted by kompas.com during a gathering at his office on Wednesday. Tjahjo did not provide details about the groups or individuals he was referring to, but assured that the government had strong grounds to act against them. They can deny it but we have gathered evidence that confirms these groups and individuals obviously aim to replace Pancasila, he added. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) senior politician defended the governments decision to issue a regulation-in-lieu of law (Perppu) on mass organizations, which granted the government the power to disband organizations without due process. The House of Representatives is currently deliberating the Perppu and will soon decide whether or not it will pass it into law. The Perppu is not meant to apply pressure to certain groups. It was issued because the state is obliged to create strong legislation to protect Indonesia, he said. (msa/ahw) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 18:12 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2538682 1 Business BP-Batam,Batam,free-trade-zone Free The government has made changes to the board of Batam Indonesia Free Trade Zone Authority (BP Batam), which manages the Batam free-trade zone, to regain investors' trusts. The overhaul comes after businesspeople expressed their dissatisfaction with Batams dual-governance system, which they said was a headache for potential investors. "We appreciate BP Batams old management, but we need to hear suggestions from private companies, too, because they are the ones who invest and do business there," Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said in an inauguration ceremony in Jakarta on Thursday. Located just an hours ride by ferry from Singapore, Batam refers to both an island and a municipality in the province of Riau Islands. The region is managed by two authorities: BP Batam, which has the authority to distribute land for industry, issue business licenses and develop infrastructure, and the municipal administration, which is in charge of public services and administrative affairs. To build a factory, for example, an investor must secure a land allotment from BP Batam, while at the same time applying for a building permit from the municipal government. The government appointed the economic coordinating minister's secretary, Lukita Dinarsyah Tuwo, as BP Batam chairman, replacing Hatanto Reksodipoetro. Meanwhile, Purwiyanto became the deputy chairperson for finance, replacing Sigit Priadi Pramudito. Yusmar Anggadinata replaced Junino Jahja as deputy for planning and development, while Dwiyanto Eko Winaryo took Eko Santoso Budianto's position as deputy for business facilities. Bambang Purwanto replaced Gusmardi Bustami as deputy for general affairs and human resources. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 18:56 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a253bcb5 1 Business Mitsubishi,textile,petrochemical Free Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto has expressed hope that Japan-based Mitsubishi Corporation invests further in Indonesia and seeks more partnerships with local industries, saying the giant company has the potential to boost competitiveness and productivity among the countrys manufacturers. During a meeting with Mitsubishi executives in Tokyo on Wednesday, Airlangga invited the company to pour in more money in the garment sector as Indonesia was revitalizing its textile industry by boosting the production capacity of rayon fiber. Rayon has become the new basic material [for textiles] and Indonesia will produce rayon fiber from forest pulp in large quantities, he said in a statement on Thursday. Exports of textiles and textile products reached US$11.78 billion in 2016, 8.2 percent of Indonesias total shipments. Meanwhile, investments in textiles and textile products reached Rp 7.54 trillion (US$557.8 million) last year, contributing 1.16 percent to the countrys gross domestic product. Airlangga said he also expected Mitsubishi to invest more in the petrochemical sector as its subsidiary, Asahi Glass, which operates in Indonesia under the name Asahimas Flat Glass, started to expand its caustic soda and glass factory. Mitsubishi Corporation senior executive vice president Eiichi Tanabe said the company was looking to expand its business in infrastructure and the automotive sector as well as consumer goods, such as food products, as it partners with Japanese convenience store Lawson and retailer Uniqlo, both of which are popular in Indonesia. (gda) Topics : Mitsubishi textile petrochemical Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19 2017 The West Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agencys plan to hold art performances on the stage at Taman Intan shopping and culinary park to attract visitors may be hindered by budgetary issues. The agency head, Linda Erniany, said her predecessor had returned the funds allocated for activities on Jl. Cengkeh in Taman Sari, West Jakarta, to the citys coffers to be included in the revised 2017 budget, as he was afraid he could not use all of the allocated funds. She said the budget for the art performances could be disbursed once the revised budget was approved. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Depok Thu, October 19 2017 A thief has left a message for his victim after stealing 12 goats from a pen in Rangkalan Jaya Baru, Pancoran Mas, Depok, West Java. Please take care of the young goats. Once they are adults, I will take them too, the message said, as conveyed by Pancoran Mas Police chief Comr. Rudi Wowor to kompas.com on Wednesday. The thief apparently butchered the goats on site on Tuesday evening and left their innards inside the pen, he added. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta Thu, October 19 2017 A large mansion, which showcases a blend of Javanese and European architectural styles, stands out magnificently on a 3,077-square-meter plot of land in the modest neighborhood of Laweyan batik village in Surakarta, Central Java. At a glance, the compound which contains three buildings previously owned by former chief of the National Police traffic corps Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo looks like a hotel, with dozens of rooms filled with vintage Javanese furniture and an array of palm trees neatly growing in its vast yard. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan Thu, October 19, 2017 22:20 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a253d9fc 1 National BNN,Budi-Waseso,drug-abuse,shoot-on-site,human-rights-violations,Medan,North-Sumatra Free National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said that investigators would continue to shoot on site suspected drug dealers who refused to surrender. People said that the BNN cannot shoot on the spot. Why not? he said at Merdeka Square in Medan, North Sumatra, on Thursday. According to the BNN, 15,000 Indonesians die every year because of drugs. Budi said that because of this statistic, "stern actions" against drug dealers were justifiable. Read also: Jokowi launches national program to combat illegal drugs The majority of drug dealers, Budi said, were repeat offenders after serving prison terms. There are too few drug dealers who are dead, while they have killed thousands of people, he said. Therefore, Budi emphasized that he would not care about criticism against the policy to shoot on site suspected drug dealers. He encouraged all BNN officers across Indonesia to not hesitate to shoot suspects on the spot. Read also: Police seize 19,000 ecstasy pills at popular Bali nightclub Medan Metropolitan Police chief Sr. Comr. Sandi Nugroho said there were 42 suspects who were shot dead by the police in Medan in the past 10 months. "This fact should have been a warning to the dealers but illegal drug distribution seems to remain rampant," Sandi told The Jakarta Post. (dra/bbs) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 16:08 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a253358a 1 City Jakarta-administration,Alexis-Hotel,Anies-Baswedan-Sandiaga-Uno Free Some 1,000 people who intended to demand the closure of North Jakarta's Alexis Hotel, widely believed to be a high-class brothel, have canceled their protest plans for Thursday afternoon following discussions with the police. Mohamad Yusuf, coordinator of the North Jakarta Community Forum Presidium that initiated the plan, said the protesters had met with the North Jakarta Police and agreed to cancel Thursday's planned protest. Yusuf said the group agreed to cancel the protest, because they had been able to convey their wishes to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan through the police We have asked a person close to Pak Anies to remind him about his [campaign] promise to close Alexis, Yusuf was quoted by kompas.com on Thursday. Although the group had canceled Thursday's protest, Yusuf said the group might still hold a demonstration in the next few days. During his gubernatorial campaign, Anies had promised to close the Alexis Hotel in connection with cleaning up the city. He criticized his rival, then Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, for only acting firmly in evicting low-income residents, but not in curbing high-class prostitution. (cal/wit) STONINGTON A Stonington man who received $10,000 from President Donald Trump earlier this year is coming to the president's defense after a grieving military fathers assertion that Trump also promised him money, but never delivered. Shane Bouvet volunteered for Trumps campaign in Illinois and traveled to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, a visit chronicled in The Washington Post. Trump read the article, invited Bouvet to meet with him and promised the 25-year-old that he would send a $10,000 check, which Bouvet said arrived a few weeks later. That experience motivated Bouvet to defend the president Thursday, a day after The Washington Post published a report that Trump offered, but did not send, $25,000 to the father of Army Sgt. Dillon Baldrige. Some people are trying to say that Donald Trump doesnt follow through with his promises, said Bouvet, who said he was contacted by several national media outlets Thursday with questions about his experience. Im a living testimonial that he does follow through with his promises. The Post reported Wednesday that Trump offered the money during a telephone conversation with Chris Baldridge a few weeks after his 22-year-old son was killed in Afghanistan on June 10. The Post reported that White House officials declined to discuss the matter when contacted Wednesday morning. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said later Wednesday that the check has been sent. She did not say when. Walters also criticized the news media and accused reporters of using a "generous and sincere" gesture made privately by Trump to advance what she describes as a "biased agenda." Walters called it "disgusting." Bouvet took issue both with Chris Baldridges remarks and with what he described as unfair treatment by the media. Its very sad. People that are writing these horrible articles dont even know (Trump), Bouvet said. I had 45 minutes with him. Hes the most generous, caring, loving person Ive ever met. A guy with integrity, love and passion for this country. Bouvet said he used the money from Trump to pay the deductible for medical treatment for his 52-year-old father, who was battling cancer. He is now in remission, Bouvet said. Trumps interactions with military families have come under scrutiny since the president earlier this week suggested that his predecessors fell short in sufficiently in honoring the nation's fallen. Trump said in a news conference Monday that he'd written letters to the families of four soldiers killed in an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger and planned to call them, saying he took extra steps in honoring the dead properly. "Most of them didn't make calls," he said of his predecessors. The statement drew a heated response from former staff members for previous presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who said they witnessed such calls. Trump on Wednesday also rejected a Florida congresswoman's account that he told the widow of a soldier killed in an ambush in Niger that her husband "knew what he signed up for." The Associated Press contributed to this story. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Kendari Thu, October 19, 2017 14:20 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252d5b9 1 Politics murder,North-Kolaka,Southeast-Sulawesi,Councilors,PDI-P,DPRD,crime Free A woman identified as AE has been named a murder suspect for allegedly fatally stabbing her husband, Musakir Sarira, the speaker of the North Kolaka Legislative Council (DPRD) in Southeast Sulawesi. North Kolaka Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Satriawan said AE was arrested after she confessed to killing her husband. The suspect is the victims wife. We are conducting an investigation to ascertain her motive, but she has admitted to committing the murder, Bambang said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com. Investigators were still examining evidence and witness testimonies, he added. The evidence includes a knife that she [allegedly] used for the murder, a shirt stained with blood and a pair of scissors, he said. Read also: Pulo Mas robbers get death penalty for murder Meanwhile, an autopsy conducted at Kendari Bhayangkara Hospital revealed the victim sustained stab wounds 1.9 centimeters wide and more than 4 cm deep to his abdomen and chest. The autopsy results reveal that the victims death was caused by a sharp object that struck [] the liver, he said. Musakir, who was also a local Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) executive, was found severely wounded and covered in blood in the bathroom of his home on Wednesday. His family rushed him to hospital. The politician died at Kolaka Public Hospital at 4.30 p.m. the same day. (dra/bbs) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Aman Rochman (The Jakarta Post) Malang, East Java Thu, October 19, 2017 18:32 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a253884c 1 National Malang,East-Java,flood Free Personnel from the regional disaster mitigation agency (BPBD), the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), as well as the police and the military were on standby at a command post set up at the GKJW Ebent Heazer church in Sitiarjo village in Malang, East Java, on Thursday. Flooding that hit the village on Wednesday has begun to ease, but hundreds of houses were still inundated, temporarily displacing more than 1,000 residents. The flooding was caused by an overflow of water from the Penguluran River following intense rain over the past few days. Read also: Heavy downpour causes inundation on Jakarta inner-city toll road Malang BPBD head Bambang Istiawan said there were no reports of major damage caused by the disaster. We hope there will be no more heavy downpour, so the personnel can help clean the houses and public facilities, he said. The Tsanawiyah Hargokuncaran Islamic high school in Malang, East Java, is inundated by four meters of floodwater on Wednesday. (The Jakarta Post/Aman Rochman) Meanwhile, Arif Rizal, a teacher at the Tsanawiyah Hargokuncaran Islamic high school, which has been heavily flooded, said three of the schools six classrooms could not be used. The school is still in operation, but students spend less time, because they have to share the remaining three classrooms, he said. (bbs) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 12:22 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a25279bc 1 City church,Tangerang,permit Free Tangerang Regent Ahmed Zaki Iskandar denied that a permit had been issued for the construction of what could be the biggest church in Southeast Asia. He added that his administration only gave the go-ahead for the opening of a school on the land purported to be allocated for the church. "There is indeed a permit for the construction of a school building, but for the church the regency administration never got a request for a permit, especially for the Sindang Jaya church," Zaki said as quoted by tempo.co, referring the mega-church, which would be constructed in Alam Sutra, in Tangerang, Banten. Rumors have been circulating in Tangerang communities that a mega-church is expected to be built on the location allocated for Santa Laurensia school, and that a protest is expected to take place this Friday to oppose the project. Zaki said that news of the church was a hoax and urged the public not to take it seriously. Pilonedi Sioangen, project manager for Santa Laurensia, said that the project commenced after it secured a permit from the regency administration. "We have all the permits and we would not start the project if we did not have a permit," he said as quoted by tempo.co. Topics : church Tangerang permit Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 16:35 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2534625 1 Business tobacco,Excise,cigarette,tobacco-industry Free The government has announced it will raise tobacco excise by an average of 10.04 percent next year. "We have 12 categories of cigarettes, with each category having its own excise increase. The average increase will be 10.4 percent," said Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution after a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday. Indonesia classifies cigarettes based on production method, nicotine level and whether the tobacco is imported or locally sourced. Read also: Cigarette production up in spite of lesser firms, workers Darmin said the average increase next year was lower than the 10.54 percent increase in 2017 as President Joko Jokowi Widodo had ordered a crop replacement program for tobacco farmers. "We need to think about persuading tobacco farmers to move to other productive plants," he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Tunis, Tunisia Thu, October 19, 2017 11:02 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252034e 2 World Tunisia,conservatism,prison,French Free A Frenchman and a Tunisian woman were convicted Wednesday on appeal in Tunis for "public indecency" after an altercation with police who arrested the couple while they were hugging in a car. The couple, who maintain that they were not kissing, were given a lighter sentence than the original term handed out at their Oct. 4 trial, after widespread outrage on social media and in the press over the incident. The man was handed four months in prison for "public indecency" and "refusing to obey the police", with the woman given a two month sentence on the first charge only. "It's an independent decision," a spokesman for the public prosecutors office, Sofiene Sliti told AFP. "What has been reported nationally and internationally is wrong -- they weren't arrested for a kiss, the couple was naked," he added. At the hearing Wednesday, the woman collapsed into tears when the court president read a police description saying a sexual act was in process when the couple were stopped on October 1 in a suburb of Tunis. Because kissing in public in Tunisia is a crime yeah you better kiss in unpublic places :) said the most democratic country in the world. khouloud (@harrytagram) October 5, 2017 The woman said that her friend had simply taken her into his arms when the plainclothes police stopped them and made them get out of the car. The Frenchman confirmed to the judge that he had tried to film the police to make a complaint about their behaviour. A dozen defence lawyers had been arguing for an acquittal for the couple. The majority of the lawyers were working for free on the case, which has triggered an uproar in Tunisia over morality campaigns and police behaviour. The defence pointed to numerous flaws in the case, including hearings in Arabic which the Frenchman, who is of Algerian origin, did not understand. "It is normal that he reacts badly when his fundamental rights were being violated," said lawyer Ghazi Mrabet, whose client is accused of intimidating police. English summery of the story of in prison for a kiss https://t.co/7w4zeiYj1K Karima bouraoui (@HoKarima) October 11, 2017 He pointed to what he said was "bad faith" on the part of the police, who he said were looking for revenge after being implicated over their handling of the case. "This case highlights key problems with the judicial system and the police. Abuse of powers... lack of respect for citizens and their rights, attacks on individual liberty," said former deputy Nadia Chaabane, who is a member of a group to support the couple. "The problem is that we have judges now who accept all these breaches and procedural problems," she said before the judgement. Topics : Tunisia conservatism prison French Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, October 20 2017 West-Java province-owned enterprise, PT Bandara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB), will team up with national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia in a series of airport management activities. Under a memorandum of understanding signed by both parties on Thursday in Jakarta, BIJB, which is building Kertajati Airport, will join hands with Garuda in the development of domestic and international routes, catering, ground handling and cargo warehousing at the airport, among other activities. The latter owns several subsidiaries, such as Aerowisata, Sabre Travel Network Indonesia and Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia, that are considered capable of performing the activities. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) London Thu, October 19, 2017 15:39 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a25315dd 2 News Big-Ben,London,United-Kingdom Free Big Ben, the bell inside London's iconic clock tower which has been silent since August, will chime again on key upcoming dates but the timing might be a bit off kilter, Britain's parliament said on Wednesday. The bell, housed in the Elizabeth Tower, has been off since a four-year renovation of the building began. It will be reconnected to sound for Armistice Day, on November 11, and Remembrance Sunday the following day, and throughout the Christmas holiday season. "It has always been the intention throughout the Elizabeth Tower conservation works for Big Ben to ring out for important national events, and whenever we safely can without disruption to the refurbishment project," a statement said. The bell in the famous 315-foot (96-metre) tower which looms over Britain's Houses of Parliament in Westminster will be reconnected in advance of the occasions. It will start chiming on the hour from 9am on November 9 until 1pm on November 12, and from 9am on December 23 until 1pm on January 1, 2018. Read also: Fantasy, history and shopping in London But parliamentary authorities said they expected "slight inaccuracies" after an 11-week break. The structure is undergoing much-needed renovations, which started on August 21 and could end up costing as much as 61 million ($80 million, 68 million). The work is repairing the clock faces and mechanism, cracks in the tower's masonry and corrosion in the roof, as well as restoring the edging around the clock faces to its original 19th-century colour. A lift will also be installed as an alternative to the steps up the tower, and the lights illuminating the clock will be replaced by low-energy LEDs. Completed in neo-Gothic style in 1856 by parliament architect Augustus Pugin, the tower has suffered from considerable degradation over time, and now even leans 46 centimetres (18 inches) off the vertical. However, silencing Big Ben -- whose chimes feature on British television and radio news bulletins -- has proved contentious, sparking protests including from Prime Minister Theresa May. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta Thu, October 19, 2017 13:09 1853 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a252a2a0 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Riau-Islands,dragon-boat-race Free Riau Islands is set to hold the Dragon Boat Race (DBR) 2017 international festival on Oct. 20-22 at Sei Carang Waters in Tanjungpinang. The event is part of Riau Islands Marine Festival (FBK) 2017 and supported by the Tourism Ministry. Riau Islands Tourism Agency head Buralimar said up to 48 teams would be competing in the race, of which five of them are from neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Eleven teams are from provinces outside Riau Islands, namely Riau, West Sumatra, Jambi and South Sumatra. This event is one of Tanjungpinangs leading events, said Buralimar. Read also: Gorontalo promotes Bongo village as religious tourism The committee has prepared a total prize of Rp 150 million (US$11,000) for the winners. Apart from the dragon boat race, the festival will also host other activities, such as kayaking competition, cultural and decorated vehicle parade. Tanjungpinang Mayor Lis Darmansya said DBR event was inspired by a traditional activity of one ethnic group who lives in Tanjungpinang. For four years, the event has always been held at Sei Carang. Sei Carang has more attractions than other beaches in Tanjungpinang. We also seek to introduce the place as a tourist destination as it is home to a historical site from the Malay kingdom called Kota Rebah Castle, said Lis. (kes) Members of Community Board 3s land use committee agreed last night to become co-applicants with community groups of a rezoning proposal in the Two Bridges area. The initiative is being fast-tracked to stop three proposed mega-towers now being reviewed by the City Planning Commission. Some members expressed doubts about some of the details (including affordable housing levels above 50%) but everyone agreed something must be done to curtail out of scale projects. Well have a full report on the site later today. Artist Omer Fast responds to the local outcry over his show at the James Cohan Gallery in Chinatown. [Art News] A 95-year-old resident says shes under assault from the new owner of her building on First Avenue. [Gothamist] City Council member Rosie Mendez and her likely successor, Carlina Rivera, sound off on the Trump administrations response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. [City & State] Theres a public meeting concerning the new District 1 school diversity plan at P.S. 20 tonight. [Facebook] HiFi Bar on Avenue A is closing. [EV Grieve] Heres a profile of Scrap Yard, a mecca of graffiti culture in Soho. [New York Times] CHICAGO The University of Illinois is proposing a new public-private innovation center near downtown Chicago that would partner the Urbana-Champaign campus with Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Gov. Bruce Rauner backs the University of Illinois-led Discovery Partners Institute, which would be built in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. The partnership, which would focus on an array of fields such as computing, food and agriculture, and health and wellness, is to be officially announced Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reported . The center is intended to bring together faculty, students and companies to collaborate on research and turn it into new products and companies, University of Illinois president Timothy Killeen said. The University of Illinois wants to recruit 90 new faculty members and up to 1,800 students to the center, he said. "It's an attempt to really take advantage of the assets that the state and the city have to accelerate economic development and to provide opportunities for our students to stay in the state and for innovations to flow into our economy," Killeen said. However, the newspaper reports that details are lacking regarding the project's funding, including how much it would receive in state money and how much has been committed in private money. Rauner said he wants to see Illinois' top universities work together to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in Chicago. Rauner also said part of the reason he wanted to run for governor was to advance this vision from Springfield. No opening date has been set but the center would be located on land along the Chicago River donated by the development company Related Midwest. Classic musical Guys And Dolls will return to the stage in the UKs first ever all-black cast production of the show this Christmas. Directed by Michael Buffong, it will run at Manchesters Royal Exchange Theatre between December 2 and January 27. The New York-set story, based on the gangster and hustler tales by Damon Runyon, will move to 1939 uptown Harlem for the fresh re-telling, produced in collaboration with the Talawa Theatre Company and hip-hop dancer Kenrick H2O Sandy. The Christmas countdown begins, we have a Guys and Dolls cast >> https://t.co/opeueRfyBV pic.twitter.com/070yOnWdHl RoyalExchangeTheatre (@rxtheatre) October 18, 2017 Beauty And The Beast star Ray Fearon takes centre stage as Nathan Detroit, leading a cast including Ashley Zhangazha, playing Sky Masterson, Abiona Omonua and Lucy Vandi. Buffong said: Pre-war Harlem was all about the hustle. The creativity of that era was born from a unique collision of talent and circumstance as people escaped the agricultural and oppressive South via the underground railroad into the highly urbanised and industrialised North. Much of our popular culture, from dance to music, has its roots in that period. Our Guys And Dolls brings all of this to the fore, in superb, celebratory style. The story sees Nathan and Sky live life on the edge, taking every opportunity to hustle and settle disputes with a roll of the dice. While luck always seems to be on their side, things change when they decide to take a chance on love and the story unfolds with the help of classic show numbers Luck Be A Lady, Sit Down Youre Rocking The Boat and the memorable title number. A message in a bottle is being returned to its owner 29 years after she sent it out to sea as a child. Linda and David Humphries found the note while clearing litter from Nanny Goat Beach on Sapelo Island, off the coast of the US state of Georgia, with some friends. The letter was inside a deteriorated plastic bottle which broke as David opened it. It said it was from Miranda Dawn Moss, aged eight, who had spent the weekend at Edisto Beach in South Carolina about 90 miles across the sea from where it was found. David Humphries on the day he and Linda found the note (Linda Humphries) The writer is now 37, with the surname Chavez, and has three children. I think we can all look at this as a reminder that anything is possible, Miranda told the Press Association. For a bottle with a letter in it to have survived the ocean, hurricanes and 29 years is amazing. It was a reminder of the happiest moments of my childhood and to me symbolises hope. Miranda said her mother insisted on adding the date to the letter (Linda Humphries/Facebook) David and Linda found the letter on a Friends of Sapelo sweep, the first litter pick-up there since Hurricane Irma hit the area. My first thought was This little girl will be so excited to find out that her letter was found!' Linda said. Then I saw the date September 26, 1988! I was floored. Linda and her husband started a frantic search on their return home, inputting what information they had into specialised websites but ultimately drew a blank. In the end it was Lindas post to Facebook which led her to Miranda. David made a remarkable discovery while we were doing a beach sweep on Sapelo Island this morning. He found this message Posted by Linda Shouse Humphries on Saturday, October 14, 2017 Things exploded, said Linda. Within a short time, someone messaged me a screenshot of Mirandas Facebook page. I contacted her via instant message and got a response right away. Miranda is expected to receive the letter on Thursday, and said she wants to frame it. She also plans to visit Linda and David really soon. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. 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An emolument is usually defined as compensation of some kind or an item of value. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson pursued private business interests when they were president, Justice Department attorneys argued before Judge George B. Daniels, saying that Trump is no different. When foreign governments book rooms in Trump hotels, they said, it is not an emolument. Daniels challenged the Justice Departments narrow definition of emolument and said that if a foreign entity expects something in exchange for a payment, that would be an emolument, not a gift, even if the president did not follow through on a presumed quid pro quo. The judge asked the parties if the president is automatically prohibited from selling goods and services at fair market value to a foreign government, a seemingly open legal question. He then pressed the plaintiffs over their arguments for what's known in the legal world as standing, or their right to sue. The plaintiffs argued, for example, that there are four midtown Manhattan restaurants with two Michelin stars, excluding sushi restaurants. One is Trumps Jean Georges, and thats where foreign delegations want to host their parties. The universe is small and Trump properties are in direct competition with plaintiffs, they claimed. Daniels shot back that the emoluments clause is an anti-corruption provision and is not intended to protect you from unfair competition. The judge also suggested that the plaintiffs havent shown specific harm, and that the "injury would have to be more accurately characterized." Lawyers for CREW said their right to sue rests on the impairment of their resources in fighting for good governance. Daniels said he expects to rule on the Justice Departments motion to dismiss in the next 30 to 60 days. If the case moves forward, the plaintiffs said they will want four to five months for discovery, which could potentially result in the unveiling of some of Trump's unreleased tax returns, before a one week trial. The plaintiffs' attorneys also said they are open to a settlement arrangement with the president if, for example, he agreed to divest or segregate some of his profits. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. John Lennon's lyrics in the song "Imagine" cleverly put to music the materialist/collectivist "ideals" of Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto. Ironically, the vast majority of "progressives" will never read, let alone understand, Marxist dogma, but faithfully swoon to Marxism when dressed up in naive pop culture lyrics of "Imagine." Easily exploited as useful idiots by fifth-column media, these same progressives rant against sovereign America, private property, private enterprise, police, military, border security, firearms and free speech other than their own, all explicit or implicit constitutional guarantees that have made America great. By the way, how is Communism working out for humanity? Over a hundred million innocent lives have been sacrificed thus far to Marx' "workers' paradise," but who's counting? Certainly not the American progressives who are apparently as ignorant of 20th century world history as they are the Communist Manifesto. Fortunately, the progressive left's contempt for religion is not reflective of humankind. Ancient mythologies and traditions along with paleoanthropological and archaeological research tell us that human cultures, past and present, overwhelmingly believe in religion. Imagine that. As scripture teaches, "only fools say 'there is no God.' " Don Carmichael Decatur New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High near 55F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 41F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Davit Sukiasyan, Chief of Staff of Armenias Special Investigation Service (SIS), has so much wealth at his disposal that it would suffice to manage several state institutions - pay salaries, maintain the buildings, and so on. But Sukiasyan prefers to invest his wealth in Armenias mining industry, as we shall soon see. He also likes to spread his money around, loaning huge amounts to others whose names are officially protected. According to his financial disclosure filed with the Ethics Committee of High-Ranking Officials, he had 2.344 million AMD (US$4,870) and a loan of $ 20,000 in income as of July 1,2017; all derived from wages. Despite these paltry sums, Sukiasyan has so much additional money that, in the same disclosure, he declared four loans to unnamed individuals or organizations totaling 1 billion 126 million 500 thousand AMD, U.S. $375,000, and 20 thousand euros. So where did Sukiasyans additional resources come from. Better still, does the Ethics Committee see a need to delve into his finances given the huge disparity between what he declares as income and what he doles out in loans to others? Sukiasyan also declared four cars- a Mercedes-Benz 500S, a Range Rover Supercharged 5.0, a Lexus GX460, a ZAZ 968 - and a private house. Although real estate addresses are not published in the disclosures, Hetq found out that the private house is located in the village of Arinj. Davit Sukiasyan also owns some commercial companies. As of July 1, he mentioned three that he owns. According to the Law on Public Service, the names of the companies are not subject to publication, but Hetq has found out that DLS GROUP, MVVINING and ML MINING belong to the official, and in all cases Davit Sukiasyan owns a 100% equity stake. Moreover, after submitting the disclosure, the official has become the sole proprietor of another company ANI-KVARTZ LLC. ANI-KVARTZ LLC was founded in 2011 by Ruzanna Hovsepyan, the wife of ex-Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan's brother Henrik (Jonik) Abrahamyan. He left the company on August 8 this year and Davit Sukiasyan became 100% shareholder of ANI-KVARTZ LLC the same day. According to the tax authority, the company has temporarily suspended operations. It is engaged in gravel and sand mining, with the extraction of clay and kaolin. ANI-KVARTZ LLC has received a permit for mineral mining for 50 years; until 2062. The company exploits the Shahumyan communitys sand and chalk mine in Armenias Ararat Province. Let's also mention that the Shahumyan mayor is the son-in-law of former MP Karo Karapetyan. Karo Karapetyan was a member of the Prosperous Armenia faction, headed by Hovik Abrahamyan's in-law Gagik Tsarukyan. DLS GROUP LLC (formerly Getn Group CJSC) is also engaged in mining, particularly with sand and gravel mining. The company has extraction permits until 2032. It exploits Getap sand and gravel mine in Armavir province. DLS GROUP LLC was founded in 2013. Davit Sukiasyan became the sole owner of the company in March 2014. MVVINING LLC (formerly Vahan-Artyom LLC) is also engaged in sand and gravel extraction. The company exploits the Karajour sand and gravel mine in Armavir Province and has a permit until 2061. Vahan-Artyom LLC was established in 2008 and operated until 2012, when MVVINING LLC became the legal successor of the company. Davit Sukiasyan has been the sole shareholder of the company since February 2012. ML MINING LLC is engaged in the same industry. It exploits the Vanina sand mine in Ararat Province, extracting sand and gravel. The companys permit runs until 2064. Davit Sukiasyan has been the sole proprietor since December 2010. It should be noted that on June 23, 2017, the Armenian government granted ML MINING LLC a customs exemption for equipment. The company must import two pieces of mining equipment from Bulgaria, worth 75 million drams. According to the governments draft decision, the company has already invested 400 million drams, and plans to invest another 100 mln AMD and create at least 15-20 workplaces with an average salary of 180,000 AMD. Production volumes will generate 240 million drams, of which 180 million drams of product will be exported to Eurasian Economic Union countries, and 55 million drams to other countries. Hetq tried to reach Davit Sukiasyan for clarification on all the above, but nobody answered the phone in his office. According to the SIS website: The Special Investigation Service conducts preliminary investigation of criminal cases, related to the complicity of officials of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Power Bodies, persons carrying out state special service, connected with their official positions or with crimes committed by them, as well as electoral processes envisaged by Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia. In other words, the SIS is tasked with investigating government officials and state agencies suspected of criminal activities. It would seem that the SIS doesnt have to look far for its next case. Actor John Abraham says he is going to celebrate a cracker-free Diwali, and will ensure he sticks to his skin and body care regime. The actor, brand ambassador of Garnier Men, talked about his perfect Diwali: * Not so sweet Diwali: I do love looking at sweets, but from a distance. I never indulge in them. I am very particular about my fitness regime and keep sweets at bay, while enjoying the occasion with friends and family to the fullest. * Going cracker-free: Bursting crackers during Diwali is bad not just for the environment, but also your own health. The smoke, noise and pollution does so much harm to our surroundings, to animals and to our body. While some may believe that crackers are the only way to celebrate Diwali, there is so much more one can do. * Taking care of skin: Irrespective of the occasion or festival, taking care of your skin is a must. Diwali will come and go, but the residue of all the pollution, the effects of all the partying stay on, unless cleansed correctly. So, I make sure not to wander away from my regular routine of cleansing my face with the facewash that consists of Matcha green tea in it as it gives my skin a pleasant, clean and 100 per cent oil-free feel while respecting its natural moisture. * Go traditional: I love how men and women today are equally excited about dressing up for the festive season. From picture-perfect traditional clothes, matching accessories, groomed beards and impeccable skincare, both men and women are going the extra mile to look glamorous for the occasion. * Me time: Diwali brings happiness, togetherness and crazy celebrations along with an excessive dose of food. It feels like the whole country lights up in the warm glow of Diwali lights, dispersing positivity all over. This makes it very special for me the positive vibes all over, and the time that I get to spend with my family is truly precious and the best gift I could ask for. READ ALSO: Parmanu is based on true story: John Abraham If traditional education system is spiced up with little digital literacy, it can give some fruitful results. This was evident in Jawahar Navodoya Vidhalaya, Noida, where a Class IX student developed an app on his own. Thanks to a smart class project, students grasping power has increased many folds, and there is improvement in school-leaving results. Not only this, teachers also find it easy to explain concepts to the students with the help of videos and images. The Samsung Smart Class project helped classrooms to be equipped with computers and Internet. As a part of their CSR activities, the South Korean tech giant, in collaboration with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools, provides technical equipment to every Samsung Smart Class. Started in 2013, under this programme each classroom has Samsung tablets or laptops, Wi-Fi connection, interactive Samsung Smartboard and power backup. The project was started in 2013, with the purpose of giving digital literacy to the students, especially rural students, informed the spokesperson of Samsung Smart Class. Compared to their urban counterparts, students are getting an equal platform to study and learn more through advanced interactive technologies offered through Samsung Smart Class. The purpose of this programme is to promote digital education among underprivileged students as they are those who remained untouched by the growing technology. Under this programme, one can find many visually-attractive methods of teaching, videos and presentations that appeal to students and help them retain information quickly and more effectively. Usually these students, when they freshly graduate from schools or colleges and enter their professional life, face challenges as they are not well-versed with computers. With this programme, they are at par with their urban counterparts in digital literacy, said the spokesperson. Under this programme, Samsung has so far set up over 500 Samsung Smart Classes in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, a residential school under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, all over the country, free of cost. Samsung claims to have benefitted over 2.5 lakh students and over 8,000 teachers have been trained to use the interactive technology to teach students. The Smart Class not only helped the students get digital education but also helped them improve their results. Last year, we had around 10 students, who got 100 CGPA. Isnt it an achievement? The number of toppers are increasing dayby-day and students are participating in extra-curricular activities and are more confident, said G S Tomar, principal of JNV Noida. The classrooms of smart classes are quite different from traditional classes. They consist of a huge smart board, connected to computers and Internet, the latest audio-visual tools, Samsung tablets (41 per class), printer and other devices. The whiteboard is equipped with lessons in audio, video and pictures from all subjects. Every teacher takes at least one class in this smart classroom, like a supplement classes, in mathematics, science and social science, to explain the concepts in an interactive manner. There are lots of benefits one could see after introducing the smart class. For instance, a student developed his own app, students have started doing intensive research about their subjects. And when they are taught with the videos and 3D pictures, students can remember things easily and for longer, informed Amit Sharma, a biology teacher JNV. Not only students but teachers also benefited for this. With this white interactive boards, they dont use chalk and duster and are saved from the harmful dust. Moreover, explaining concepts through videos, pictures and audio is easier. Samsung smartclasses ar turning out to be quite helpful for us as well, said another teacher. We also learnt digital literacy and teaching has become easy. We are very happy taking classes like this. There are 500 such schools, which have helped the students. And there are many success stories. A Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya boy from Maharashtra, Sadanand Ugale, recently won a study trip to Australia. Marking the auspicious occasion of Diwali, India on Thursday promised medical visas all those people abroad, including in Pakistan, seeking treatment. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Thursday. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 Keeping to a promise made on Independence Day, India on Wednesday issued six more medical visas to Pakistani nationals, including three children. We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your eight-year-old child in India, Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Wednesday night in response to a request from Nazir Ahmed who said that his son Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting a medical visa from India for one year. We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8 year old child in India. https://t.co/416vzZsWox Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 In a separate tweet, she also promised a visa to Muhammad Asif Maliks son, who is currently in an intensive care unit (ICU) in childrens hospital in Lahore, and to Kasif Chachas child who is running out of medicine. The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 Visas were also issued to Irfan Ahmed Shaikh, Nasir Mahmood and the mother of Rafique Menon for liver surgeries. Lubna We will give medical visa for the liver surgery of your husband Irfan Ahmed Shaikh in India. https://t.co/ZKZpdC9F4G Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 18, 2017 This month, Sushma Swaraj has announced the issuance of 19 medical visas to Pakistanis for treatment in India. Last month, India issued a medical visa to a Pakistani child seeking open heart surgery. On Independence Day, the External Affairs Ministry had announced that India would provide medical visas to all bonafide Pakistani patients. As ties between the two countries soured over various issues, the ministry had announced in May that only a letter of recommendation by then Pakistan Prime Ministers Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz would enable a Pakistani national to get a medical visa for India. The action was termed highly regrettable by Islamabad, which said that asking for such a letter violated diplomatic norms and such a requirement had not been prescribed for any other country. However, on July 18, a patient from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, seeking treatment in New Delhi for liver tumour, got a visa. Sushma Swaraj then said that he needed no recommendation from the Pakistani government for a medical visa because the territory is an integral part of India. Since August 15, however, Pakistani nationals seeking medical treatment have not been denied visas. 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. (With agency inputs) Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali with soldiers of Indian Army and Border Security Force (BSF) at the Gurez sector, along the Line of Control (LoC) in Badipore district of North Kashmir, on Thursday. Addressing the soldiers, the Prime Minister, said that like everyone else, he too wishes to spend Diwali with his family. Therefore, he had come to spend Diwali with the soldiers of the Armed Forces, whom he considers to be his family. PM Modi said, Union Government is committed to the welfare and the betterment of the Armed Forces, in every way possible and added that he gets new energy when he spends time among the soldiers of the Armed Forces and appreciated their penance and sacrifice, amid harsh conditions PM Modi exhorted soldiers to regularly practice Yoga. He said that Yoga would definitely enhance their abilities, and give them a sense of calm. Spending time with our Forces gives me new energy. We exchanged sweets & interacted. Happy to know the Jawans practice Yoga regularly. pic.twitter.com/zvHmaO8bPv Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 19, 2017 He also encouraged the soldiers to innovate, so that their routine tasks and duties become easier and safer. The Prime Minister offered sweets and exchanged greetings with the soldiers on the occasion of Diwali. The Chief of Army Staff, General BS Rawat, and other senior Army Officers were present on the occasion. In the visitors book, the Prime Minister wrote: Protecting the Motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nations borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication. I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians. To accomplish the dream of New India, this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it. Greetings to all of you on Diwali. Also read : Omar Abdullah thanks PM Modi for spending Diwali in Gurez According to media reports, the PM flew to Srinagar en route to the Gurez sector on Thursday morning to meet with Corps soldiers and officers. The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Army Chief, Northern Command chief Lt General Devraj Anbu and Chinar Corps Lt Gen JS Sandhu to Gurez, according to army official. This is PM Modis second visit to Kashmir on the occasion on Diwali. In 2014, PM Modi had visited the state after the state was was affected by floods. In 2016, PM Modi had visited a strategic area in Himachal Pradesh near the Chinese border and in 2015 the Prime Minister had visited Amritsar to celebrate Diwali with soldiers. Earlier in the day, PM Modi shared a message on social media and said Diwali ke pawan parv par sabhi deshvasio ko hardik shubhkamnaye #HappyDiwali to everyone! (On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, greetings to the nation). President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday greeted the nation on Diwali. Diwali greetings to all. As we celebrate with our families, let us promote sensitivity to others and to our environment, the President tweeted on his official handle. Diwali greetings to all. As we celebrate with our families, let us promote sensitivity to others and to our environment #PresidentKovind President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) October 19, 2017 PM Modi shared a message on social media and said Diwali ke pawan parv par sabhi deshvasio ko hardik shubhkamnaye #HappyDiwali to everyone! (On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, greetings to the nation). Union Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh on Thursday greeted the nation on social media saying, Warm greetings and best wishes to you and your entire family on the auspicious occasion of Deepawali. Wishing you a Shubh and #HappyDiwali. Warm greetings and best wishes to you and your entire family on the auspicious occasion of Deepawali. Wishing you a Shubh & #HappyDiwali Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) October 19, 2017 Popularly known as the festival of lights, Diwali is also celebrated by Hindus in Nepal, Malaysia, Mauritius and Pakistan. According to the Hindu holy books, the festival marks the return of Lord Ram from Sri Lanka to Ayodhya after defeating Raavan. A hand grenade attack at a restaurant in Pakistans Balochistan province has left 20 labourers injured on Thursday, the media reported. The labourers were dining at the restaurant in the coastal city of Gwadar when unidentified militants hurled hand grenades at them before fleeing the scene, 92 news said. Most of the injured were from neighbouring Sindh and east Punjab province working on some projects in the city, the report said, adding that the wounded have been rushed to a nearby hospital. At least five among the injured people are said to be in critical condition. No group or person has claimed the attack yet. Such attacks in the past have been mostly attributed to nationalist groups who want Baloch people to work in place of Sindhi and Punjabi labourers. Police cordoned off the area for investigations. On the eve of Diwali, a Gandhi museum has been inaugurated on a small piece of land once owned by Mahatma Gandhi in the coastal city of Durban. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh inaugurated the museum yesterday, which will reflect the life and universal influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi owned the land in 1897 and used to hold public meetings there when the Natal Indian Congress planned its fight against laws discriminating against Indians in South Africa. When Gandhi left Durban in 1914, he transferred the ownership of the premises to the Natal Indian Congress, which had planned to erect a new building in 1964. But the plans were scuppered by the apartheid-era laws prohibiting this, resulting in the site being used as a car park by the 1980s before the MGMT initiated the museum plans. Many original artefacts, some retained unrestored, such as a spinning wheel, are on display at the museum. Singh, who was in Durban to attend the 8th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission and the 17th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, also inaugurated two other projects in the city that were sponsored by India following pledges after a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July last year. The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, first conceived eight years ago, in what was once the heart of Durbans Indian community, has been established after a grant of over R 1.25 million was provided by the Government of India to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust (MGMT). The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government also contributed about a million rand for the project. An exhibition titled Gandhi in Durban has been set up at the newly-constructed venue by the Durban Local History Museum in consultation with the MGMT, reflecting the life and universal influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Singh also inaugurated kitchen and dining facilities at Ramakrishna Abalindi Home in Inanda, adjacent to the Phoenix Settlement started by Mahatma Gandhi during his tenure in the city. Modi had announced during his visit a grant of R1 million for the organisation, which provides support to indigent aged people, terminally ill, AIDS/HIV patients and also runs a cr che for poor children, an orphanage and a skills development centre for youth. At the Phoenix Settlement, which also received a grant of R1m from India, Singh inaugurated the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Information Technology. The facility at the venue where Gandhi started and ran his newspaper Indian Opinion is now equipped with latest computers and other IT equipment, dedicated to providing quality IT education to South African youth. A prominent Pakistani cleric, who fled from a court in Multan following rejection of his bail plea today, was arrested in connection with the murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch. Mufti Abdul Qavi today appeared before the sessions court in Multan in Punjab province, some 350-km from Lahore, to seek extension to his bail in the Qandeel murder case. The court, however, did not grant him extension and ordered his arrest. Mufti Qavi managed to flee the court but later in the day was arrested on the highway from Multan to Jhang. We alerted the highway police after Mufti Qavi managed to flee from the court premises with the help of lawyers. At a picket on Jhang Road he was arrested and brought to the Multan police, Investigating Officer Noor Akbar told reporters. We will interrogate him for his alleged role in the murder of Qandeel before submitting a report to the court. Qavi is accused of inciting Qandeels brothers to kill her after she allegedly humiliated him by posting some objectionable pictures with the cleric on social media platforms. Qandeel, 26, was found strangled to death in her house in Multans Karimabad area, some 350-km from Lahore, on July 16, 2016. Her younger brother, Waseem, confessed to police that he had killed Qandeel for disgracing familys honour. Waseem said he drugged Qandeel before strangling her. She brought dishonour to the Baloch name due to her risque videos and statements posted on social media, he had said. Qavi was embroiled in the controversy after Qandeel took selfies with him in a meeting in a hotel and made them viral on social media. Qavi said Qandeel was killed because she committed a sin by humiliating a religious person. Qandeel, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, had received threats from the supporters of Mufti Qavi. Prior to her death, Qandeel spoke of worries about her safety and had appealed to the interior ministry to provide her with security. No help was provided by the ministry. A case has been pending in the Multan sessions court. Waseem and two others have been chargesheeted in the case. Killing of women relatives in the name of honour is a menace still prevalent in many parts of Pakistan. More than 1,000 women are killed every year by their relatives on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. MOUNT PLEASANT The Mount Pleasant Community Development Authority Wednesday evening recommended creating the tax increment district that will finance the Foxconn Technology Group project. The vote was 5-1. Matthew Cramer, a citizen member of the CDA, cast the lone no vote. Proposed TID No. 5 is a 3,921-acre industrial TID that would, if approved by the Village Board, pay the costs of public infrastructure, land acquisition and other expenses needed to fuel construction of the massive Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing campus. Cramer said his biggest beef with this whole thing has been related to relocation for residents now living within the proposed Foxconn location. I think that by incorporating forced relocation in this plan were therefore putting the village finances ahead of the residents themselves, which I dont feel to be proper and correct in the best interests of open government, Cramer said. I suggest that we let fair market reign and let relocation be voluntary. Alan Marcuvitz, a Milwaukee attorney who has been working as special counsel for the Village of Mount Pleasant, said according to law all projects that involve some displacement require that relocation benefits be provided to the landowner. If the Village Board were to act on a plan that did not include this displacement (benefit, the law) would not allow this Foxconn project to go ahead, Marcuvitz said. I appreciate your comments, but what youre really saying is if the Foxconn project is going to require any displacement, where people are going to have to move anything their home or business or farm then this community does not want the Foxconn development. Cramer replied, You can phrase it as bluntly as that; Im not going to disagree with what you just said. Largest economic development in state history Foxconn has announced its intention to invest up to $10 billion to build 20 million square feet of manufacturing space, in the southwest corner of Mount Pleasant, to produce liquid crystal display panels for many types of devices, as well as finished televisions. According to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the Foxconn project will be the largest economic development project in state history, and also the largest greenfield investment project in U.S. history, as measured by jobs. The Taiwanese companys chosen area, where acquisition specialists have been negotiating purchase agreements with property owners, is on 1,198 acres between Interstate 94, highways H and KR and Braun Road. A second, 1,073-acre area directly north of that will be acquired for Foxconn expansion. A third, 622-acre area east of the manufacturing campus will be acquired for construction staging during the building of that campus, and in the future for other development. Referring to areas two and three, Ehlers Inc., which prepared the TID plan wrote, Further development of the approximately 2,723 acres remaining by the developer, supply-chain vendors and other businesses will create additional incremental valuation which is expected, but not quantified, within this project plan. All three areas lie within the TID boundaries. The TID also includes land, called the North Area, that lies outside of all the Foxconn zones. The TID will be used to foster development in that area also. TID financing Tax incremental financing allows a municipality to pay for improvements in a district with the future taxes generated as development occurs there. The project plan for the TID anticipates a total investment in the project from the TID of $764 million. Foxconns $10 billion investment will generate more than $31 million per year in new tax revenue that will more than pay for all public improvements and development costs, according to the 39-page TID project plan. Foxconn is providing financial guarantees to support a minimum valuation of $1.4 billion. That evaluation is expected to be reached in four years with a projected $350 million in new property valuation each of those years. Ehlers projects that this TID will generate enough tax increment to recover all project costs within 25 years. Its maximum life can be 30 years. Upon closure of the TID, the additional property tax base created can begin flowing to all the taxing districts instead of paying for expenses within the district. The Village Board is expected to consider approving the TID No. 5 project on Nov. 13. Joint Review Board forms Before the CDA meeting, the Joint Review Board for TID No. 5 met for the first time. That body is comprised of one representative for each of the taxing entities that would be affected by creation of the new district. The members of the Joint Review Board are: Dave Hazen, chief operations officer for Racine Unified School District; Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave; Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot; Bill Whyte, senior vice president of operations for Gateway Technical College; and John Schneider, public member. The Review Board is scheduled to meet next on Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. Job Title: Education Subsidy Officer Organization: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Reports to: Education Subsidy Manager About US: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-profit organization which implements the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. Job Summary: The Education Subsidy Officer will work closely with the Education Subsidy Manager to ensure efficient, effective and timely roll out of strategies and guidelines to support the implementation of the education subsidy program. The incumbent will also participate in reviewing existing guidelines and Standards of Practice based on field experiences and in the development of appropriate tools to track progress at household, community and school. The Officer will work closely with the Implementing Partners and CSO staff during selection and enrollment of beneficiaries into the education subsidy initiative and selection of schools ensuring adherence to the program guidelines. The Officer will ensure that planned activities with the districts, schools, communities and caregivers are implemented with the utmost efficiency and in a timely manner, identify challenges and bring them to the attention of the Education Subsidy Manager and entire SOCY management for a timely response. The Officer will ensure adherence to school fees payment procedures, track payments and put in place measures to track receipt of scholastic materials and other supportive logistics by the beneficiaries. The Education Subsidy Officer will work closely with field IP and CSO staff to ensure a coordinated and complementary approach to implementation of all SOCY interventions at household, community and district level including strengthening of available platforms such as the monthly integrated case conferences, quarterly referral reflection meetings while linking with the Subcounty and District OVC Committees. Key Duties and Responsibilities: The Education Subsidy Officer will carry out the following duties: The Education Subsidy Officer will carry out the following duties: Render support to the Education Subsidy Manager in the design of strategies and activities to support implementation of the intervention Actively participate in the review of existing guidelines and Standards of Practice based on field experiences and update as needed Support IPs and CSOs in the selection and enrollment of subsidy beneficiaries as well as selection of schools in line with the program guidelines The jobholder will also support IPs and CSOs to integrate monitoring of education subsidy beneficiaries school attendance into current home visit schedules/activities and ensure reporting Support IPs and CSOs to develop school monitoring plans and develop tools to facilitate the process and ensure tracking and reporting Offer technical guidance to IPs and CSOs in structuring and implementing of comprehensive and supportive interventions to the education subsidy program including strengthening of school clubs, conducting care giver group meetings, engagement with school management committees, the district leadership and other community activities to create a protective environment around children. Work in liaison with the Education Subsidy Manager and the Finance Officer to put in place mechanisms to track school fees payment and receipt of scholastic materials by OVC in the subsidy Work closely with the M&E unit to strengthen data collection, analysis and reporting for the education subsidy within existing project system Ensure proper storage of all education subsidy documentation including beneficiary and school related information Qualifications, Skills and Experience: The ideal candidate for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Education Subsidy Officer job opportunity should hold a Bachelors degree in Education, Social Work and Social Administration, Development Studies Previous work experience in a similar position, preferably with an International NGO or UN Agency with a good understanding of project management, administration, HR and finance. Ability to plan resources and actions to ensure timely and efficient service delivery. Ability to work in a fast- paced office environment, ability to assimilate and analyze situations, plus skills in handling competing work priorities Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with internal and external counterparts at various levels. Fluent in both written and spoken English. Computer literacy i.e. proficiency in Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet) required. Show a desire to work effectively in a team oriented environment with minimum supervision. Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff): Serves with Integrity, Models Stewardship, Cultivates Constructive Relationships, Promotes Learning, Trusting Relationships, Professional Growth, Partnership, Accountability How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested Ugandan candidates are encouraged to send their cover letters, CVs and three work references (names and contact information only) to ug_recruitment@crs.org st October 2017 by 5:00PM Deadline: 31October 2017 by 5:00PM 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 Organization: DanChurchAid (DCA) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Reports to: Head of Finance About US: DanChurchAid (DCA) is a faith-based, non-missionary relief and development organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark and founded in 1922. DCA has supported development and humanitarian programs in Uganda for over 35 years, working in partnership with local partners. DCA is a member of the ACT Alliance. Our key competencies in Uganda are livelihoods and food security, humanitarian response, and civil society development. Job Summary: The Procurement and Logistics Officer will actively contribute to the efficient and effective procurement, IT, security and administrative management of the DCA Great Lakes Office, with a particular responsibility for initiating and overseeing the Procurement and Logistical related activities, management of all projects and programmes implemented by DCA and its partners in agreement with the Head of Finance and the Country Director. The jobholder will provide proper filing of documentation related to Procurement and logistics on intranet. The incumbent will also provide training, advice and assistance to and liaise with, all the relevant stakeholders involved in DCA programmes and projects in Uganda and the region, to ensure the appropriate and effective use of the DCA Procurement Manual and the efficient procurement by partners of materials required, in a timely manner. These include cooperation and coordination with implementing Partners, DCA Regional Office staffs, Regional Procurement Officer and DCA Procurement & Logistics Department in Denmark. The Procurement & Logistics Officer is a key member of the DCA GLRO finance and administrative unit and as such, works under the daily supervision of the Head of Finance. Further technical support and sparing is to be provided by the DCA Regional Procurement Officer and PROLOG unit in headquarters. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Specific Procurement & Logistics Assignments: Ensure proper archiving of all DCA GLRO documentation (Procurement files, key project Ensure compliance with DCA and back-donor Procurement policies and procedures, through adherence to the DCA Procurement Manual, when implementing projects and all activities both for DCA and partners. Provide technical input regarding timeframe, budget line details, unit costs, etc., prior to Final Project application. Prior to Final Project application, identify any procurement challenges / possible need for derogation and draft the procurement appropriate clause for inclusion in the project application Prepare Procurement Plans, schedule for all Office procurement. Provide introductory training to staff on the basics of the DCA Procurement Manual and Stores Management (where necessary) as required Procurement and Logistic management Procurement Ensure professional implementation e.g. through frequent and in-depth monitoring visits, of DCAs procurement and logistics activities according to the DCA Procurement Manual Support implementing partners in developing Procurement Plans and Lot Breakdowns Provide procurement advice &backstopping support to DCA partners and other relevant stakeholders Build capacity of Partners, DCA Kampala, Yumbe &Moroto Offices, sister organizations and other relevant stakeholders in DCA Procurement Manual and donor rules Plan and carry out procurement training workshops for relevant stakeholders in liaison with the HOF. Provide inputs regarding procurement prior to finalization of concept notes and full applications for back donor funding Take charge of all DCA Kampala Office procurement needs as well as disposal of assets. Ensure proper archiving of all DCA GLRO documentation (Procurement files, key project documents, etc.) Logistics: Maintain updated assets register for DCA GLRO assets. Develop and manage tracking systems of DCA GLRO assets and equipment. Ensure, with assistance from the Driver / Office Assistant, state of the art fleet management for all DCA GLRO vehicles. Provide monthly as well as ad hoc analysis re. Fleet management (fuel consumption; cost of repairs, etc.) Participate in procurement and logistic network(s) if relevant. Manage flight bookings and travel arrangements/ allocation of vehicles for staff and DCA visitors offices Monitoring of Procurement Activities for partners &DCA fieldoffices In discussion with the HOF (who approves), HOP, and relevant PO and in coordination with partners, plan for field visits of the projects including preparing ToRs on issues to be dealt with. Conduct project and partner monitoring; capacity building and procurement reporting / updates including expenditure verification. Within a maximum of 5 working days after coming back from the field, prepare a monitoring report with observations and recommendations to be shared with partner organization, HOP, HOF, PO and CD. Final report uploaded on the intranet. Bring to the notice of the HOF, HOP and PO any matter, which might be hampering the smooth running of the project. Where relevant share experiences from the monitoring visits and partners meeting with other stakeholders i.e. other donors of the project, ACT network, etc. Local Area Network and IT equipment Ensure that all DCA IT equipments and networks (internet, Backup drive etc.) are in good working order at all times. This entails: ensuring regular contact with IT Maintenance Company and DCA IT unit to ensure good maintenance and cleaning of computers, updating of programmes, including the anti-virus system. Maintain e-mail system and addresses, as well as a high level of internet security. Back up of all the DCA documents/information and trouble-shooting support and ensure all the staff have worthy computers. All this task can be accomplish with the help of the Office/Admin. Assistant. Setting of computers for new staff and the addresses. Administration Duties: Ensure that new staff have furniture and all the equipments needed for them to conduct their day to day work. Responsible for booking of accommodation for DCA staff and visitors. Support in processing of work permits for international staff. The PRLOG officer participate in administrative tasks as needed and ensures the back up for the Administrative Assistant or the Office Assistant in their absence. General and other Specific Security tasks Take charge and participate in the review and input on the DCA security Manual and ensure update of the manual and all appropriate SOPs associated with security Key focal point person on security at DCA Responsible for the security of DCAs Data, Assets, digital and IT and staff travel. Take active and constructive part in the teamwork at the DCA GLOffice. Ensure that excellence in performance by the partner is recognised and deviation of such cases may be brought to the attention of the CD. Build and develop meaningful and effective relationship with partners at all levels and other NGOs in Uganda and with other people of importance to DanChurchAids work. Take active part in the discussion and developing of the regional and country strategies, Vision and Plans etc. Assist in building up an inventory of consultants and capacity building institutions relevant to the work of DCA. Carry out your work diligently and efficiently, respecting deadlines and other colleagues workload and priorities. When DCA GLR office receives visitors, whether they be volunteers, journalist, politicians, consultants or others, be willing to assist with facilitation including logistical arrangements. Assist in the emergency operations of DCA and any other duties assigned as the situation may demand Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The applicant for the DanChurchAid (DCA) Procurement and Logistics Officer job opportunity should preferably hold a Bachelors degree in Procurement, Logistics, Supplies Management or any related field from a recognized institution. Possession of a Masters in a relevant field will be an added advantage. At least three to five years experience in procurement and logistics (stock control, and distribution of goods), three years in an INGO Clear understanding of procurement ethics and donor compliance Experience in budget and financial management Strong written and oral communication skills, excellent interpersonal, and organization skills Strong negotiation, and problem solving skills High level of integrity and independency Ability to guarantee condentiality of vendors /suppliers specications and price quotations. Computer skills in MS Ofce Personal Competencies: Deciding and Initiating Action Takes initiative, acts with confidence and works under own direction. Makes prompt, clear decisions which may involve tough choices or considered risks. Initiates and generates activity. Takes responsibility for actions, projects and people. Adhering to principles and values Upholds ethics and values. Demonstrates integrity. Promotes and defends equal opportunities, builds diverse teams. Encourages organisational and individual responsibility towards the community and the environment. Planning and Organising Sets clearly defined objectives. Plans activities and projects well in advance and takes account of possible changing circumstances. Manages time effectively. Identifies and organises resources needed to accomplish tasks. Monitors performance against deadlines and milestones Delivering Results and meeting customer expectations Focuses on customer needs and satisfaction. Sets high standards for quality and quantity. Monitors and maintains quality and productivity. Works in a systematic, methodical and orderly way. Consistently achieves project goals. How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates should send their handwritten applications with a detailed CV indicating email and phone contacts, copies (not originals) of academic and work certificates, indicating a minimum of three professional referees to the email below. E-mail to: application@ppg.co.ug th October 2017 Deadline: 25October 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 Organisation: Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development (MoLHUD) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Reports to: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development About US: The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development is implementing the land component of the Competitiveness Enterprise Development Project (CEDP). This project builds upon the Second Private Sector Competitiveness Project (PSCP II), which helped improve the business environment by: decreasing policy constraints; strengthening institutions, such as the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU); enhancing the private sector dialogue; and providing support to firms. The project aims at improving the competitiveness of Uganda and has five components which will be implemented by separate institutions. Job Summary: The Programme Support Co-ordination Officer will provide the necessary coordination support to the Land Component of the CEDP. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Ensuring effective coordination with staff members and Departments/ Units responsible for the implementation of the CEDP Land Component. Tasked with delivering timely project implementation plans, including annual work plans and budgets. Specifically, support for the preparation of procurement plans, terms of references, monitoring and evaluation plans, stakeholder participation and other implementation plans in accordance with the World Bank and Government of Uganda approval processes and procedures. Offering technical input to strategic documents, analytical work and initiatives geared to improving MLHUD performance in close collaboration with the implementing Departments/Units, MoFPED and the World Bank. Tasked with preparing timely accurate project implementation progress reports indicating both the technical and financial position of the CEDP Land Component. Fostering a team environment, mentoring staff, and ensuring that capacity building is integrated into all project activities. Providing support supervision of project staff, international and local consultants, to ensure effective resource allocation, quality and timeliness of work. In charge of maintaining quality assurance and facilitating effective project monitoring and evaluation. Offering technical support and input for the Internal and External Auditing on financial reviews. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The applicant must hold an Honours Bachelors Degree in the fields of Land Administration and Management plus a Masters Degree in Business Administration specializing in Management or in any field related to Land Management and Administration from a recognized University/Institution. A minimum of ten (10) years relevant working experience in Land Management and Administration, three (03) of which should have been acquired at a Principal level in Government or equivalent level of experience from a reputable organization. Experience in work with Government and World Bank funded projects will be an added advantage. Demonstrate high managerial and organizational skills Ability to steer implementation and to meet the diverse needs and expectations of the National Programs, Donors and Stakeholders Strong management skills, including ability to provide support in strategic guidance, technical oversight, mentoring staff, building strong teams and developing work plans Excellent negotiation, multi-cultural, and inter-personal skills, with experience and demonstrated skills in networking with ministry-level partners, donors, private sector. Excellent written, analytical, presentation and reporting skills, with proven skill in writing reports and project management plans Possess effective skills in computer applications for project planning and appraisal. How to Apply: All applications should be accompanied with detailed Curriculum Vitae, copies of academic certificates and testimonials, recommendations from at least two competent referees, one of whom MUST be your current or previous employer and addressed to: The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Plot 13-15 Parliament Avenue P.O. Box 7096 Kampala. Uganda Applications must be delivered in the Security Registry at Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Note: Only short listed applicants will be contacted. Any form of canvassing shall automatically lead to disqualification of a candidate. Applicants who responded to the previous advert, need not to re-apply. th December 2017 by 5:00pm Deadline: 4December 2017 by 5:00pm 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 The Centre has issued advertisements inviting bids for six properties belonging to absconder mafia don Dawood Ibrahim in south Mumbai and Aurangabad, to be e-auctioned on November 14. The properties owned by Dawood and his family, which were acquired by the government after the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, have been put up for auction at least thrice in the past. However, none of them could be auctioned off due to fear of reprisals from the fugitive don, who is now living in Pakistan, as per the latest revelations by his sibling Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar, who was arrested last month by Thane police in extortion cases. The properties include: Damarwala Building Room nos. 18-20, 25, 26, 28, and 34-40 tenanted properties on Pakmodia Street and Yakub Street, for a reserve price of Rs 1,55,76,000. The next is the two-storied Shabnam Guest House on Yakub Street with a reserve price of Rs 1,21,43,000. The other major property is Hotel Raunaq Afroz on Pakmodia with a reserve price of Rs 1,18,63,000, which was once earlier bid for Rs 4.28 crore but the sale could not be completed. Two other properties are flat No. 602 in Pearl Harbour Society in Mazagaon, reserve price of Rs 92,69,000, and a tenancy Room No. 2 in Dadriwala Chawl on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, reserve price of Rs 65,90,000. Another is a factory plot in Paithan MIDC in Aurangabad with a reserve price of only Rs 102,000. The earnest money deposits for the premises on the auction block range from a minimum of Rs 26,000 (Aurangabad property) to Rs 62,30,400 for the Damarwala Building. The auction of all the properties on 'as is where is' basis is scheduled for November 14, 10 am at the Indian Merchant Chamber at Churchgate. 70 years is a long time. But that did not stop Mumbai-based Pankaj Kumudchandra Phadnis, a consultant in IT-enabled education to petition the Supreme Court of India pleading that the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948, be re-investigated to reveal the larger conspiracy that led to the murder. It took even the court by surprise as there was seemingly no solid reason to investigate what had already been done. But, it ignited curiosity and was on the front pages of newspapers. Incidentally, Phadnis is a researcher and follower of Abhinav Bharat, a right wing organisation formed by Lt Col Shrikant Purohit. He is also a follower of Veer Savarkar, who was also one of those who were suspected to plot the assassination. Phadniss plea had questioned how the trial had relied on the three bullet theory to convict accused Nathuram Vinayak Godse who was closely aligned to the Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Godse was sentenced to death by hanging along with Narayan Apte. Phadnis argued in his plea that there was a possibility of a third assassin. He also wanted an investigation into the possibility of the how the Office of Strategic Services that was an intelligence outfit of the United States during World War II before the CIA was formed, had tried to protect Gandhi. When Justice S.A. Bobde specifically asked him if a third assassin was involved in the assassination, Phadnis said there could have been an organisation. When asked to name the organisation, Phadnis said it was a successor of Force 136 which was a secret British Special Intelligence Unit. Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was surprised that the court did not dismiss such a blatantly frivolous plea. On the petitioners contention that Gandhi died because of the fourth bullet fired by somebody other than the three bullets fired by Godse, Tushar says that the fourth bullet was not recovered as it never existed! Phadnis told the court that a telegram sent from the US Embassy on January 30, 1948, indicated that disbursing officer, Herbert Tom Reiner, was within five feet of Gandhi when he was shot. With the help of Indian guards, he had apprehended the assassin, he said. Though Reiner was not alive, the fact was that his de-briefing proceedings to the US Embassy was available, he said. In fact, the bench comprising Justices Bobde and L. Nageshwara Rao asked Phadnis why he was raking it up now when it had already been investigated with the matter being affirmed by a trial court and subsequently by the high court. The bench appointed Amarendra Sharan, former additional solicitor general as amicus curiae in the case who will now assist the court to decide whether it should proceed with the petition. The bench told him that it did not know what to tell the petitioner as it found it difficult to tell him that nothing can be done on the issue. Phadnis said that he needed time to produce the required documents to back his claim. He claimed the documents were there in the National Archives and Research Administration, Maryland, United States, and were not yet declassified. He told the court that his plea for the documents was pending before the US authorities. Nachiketa Desai whose father Narayan Desai had written four volumes of a biography on Gandhi, says that what must be investigated is the role of Veer Savarkar in the assassination case. When the bench asked Phadnis what it could do at this stage as it was already decided by the court, he said that the Supreme Court had not heard the case as it was not formed at that time. The East Punjab High Court had dismissed the appeals filed by the convicts way back in 1949. Celebrated film maker Anand Patwardhan told THE WEEK: "I am amazed that the Supreme Court is entertaining a petition on the Gandhi murder after almost 70 years ! In fact I do believe the Gandhi murder should be re-visited, if for no other reason than to take the Kapur Commission Report on board and fix responsibility on the probable mastermind of the plot, V.D. Savarkar. Notice that I do not call him Veer because not only did this gentleman file 5 mercy petitions before the British, promising eternal gratitude, he then went on to spew venom against Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest foe of the British. In court as an accused conspirator at the Red Fort in 1948, Savarkar sat quietly in the back row while Godse protected him by taking sole blame for Gandhi's murder. But it is recorded history that Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte who were both hung, were proteges of Savarkar. Badge, the approver in the case, was categorical that Savarkar was the mastermind, yet Savarkar escaped conviction and today his portrait hangs in Parliament alongside Gandhiji, the man Savarkar passionately hated and probably killed through his accomplices. This is the re-trial I would like to see. Another man who inexplicably got away was Parchure, an RSS pracharak who supplied the murder weapon to the killers." Earlier, Phadnis had filed a PIL pleading for the re-investigation of the assassination in the Bombay High Court, But, it was dismissed on the grounds that a court had already ruled on it and that there was also the Justice J.L. Kapur Commission of Inquiry set up to examine it. Sudarshan Iyengar, former Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, and a staunch Gandhian, told THE WEEK: Right from his South African days, Gandhiji was clear that he would not nurse any grievance against anyone who physically attacked him as the attack was not personal; it was only for what he stood for and believed in. Gandhiji arrived at this decision on the night in 1893 when he was pushed out of the train in Maritizberg. He said that the attack on him was aimed not at him, but for his principled stand or position he took. He was assaulted thrice in South Africa. But despite white men agreeing to depose in court as witnesses to the assault, he refused. He has even written in his autobiography that he did not carry any ill will for those who beat him in Natal as they were angry that he had written against Britishers and Europeans. When he was shot in 1948, all he uttered was Hey Ram. I am sure if he was alive, he would never have wanted any action taken against his attackers. There is absolutely no need to open up the assassination case as it would go against Gandhijis spirit. It would go against the spirit of India and would not be in the interest of the country. It will deepen the schism further between sects and communities and create another round of disturbances and hatred. It is highly unlikely that anything substantial will come out of the case. Observers say that it is just another ploy of right-wing forces to whitewash the RSS involvement in the assassination as the BJP now invokes Gandhi all the time to push its agenda and propaganda machine. Tushar Gandhi has said that the fakers have successfully trivialised ancient history and are now trying to trivialise and discredit contemporary history and replace it with a narrative more suitable to their needs. Gopal Krishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and former Governor of West Bengal, told THE WEEK that he completely agreed with what Tushar had said. A senior researcher at the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), has warned that cyber espionage groups are not just after personal data anymore, but also attacking financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In an interview given to ANI on the sidelines of the third annual APAC Cyber Security Weekend, which was held on the theme 'Cyberespionage in APAC: A Real Threat', recently in Phuket, Thailand, Yury Namestnikov, head of the lab's research and analysis center in Moscow, Russia, said, cyber criminals operating in the Asia-Pacific region are now targetting banks and other financial institutions for monetary gain. He said active Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have successfully breached financial institutions in Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, China (Hong Kong), Bangladesh, and Vietnam. This year, we have monitored the tectonic shift in APT actors behavior. These groups who are initially data-hungry are now going beyond traditional cyber espionage. They added money-stealing on their attack menu as they hunt for vulnerable banks in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region which they can infect mostly through the rising epidemic, said Namestnikov. He said that in 2017, Kaspersky Lab has been able to monitor active APT actors in the region, namely the infamous Lazarus group and the Cobaltgoblinother group that use Carbanak-style attacks. Lazarus is the cyber gang believed to be behind massive breaches including the Sony Pictures hack in 2014 and the multi-million cyber robbery against the Central Bank of Bangladesh last year. They are known for hacking C&C servers of banks and governments as launchpads for their malicious campaigns. Carbanak made headlines in 2014 for the USD one billion bank heists in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and China dubbed as The Great Bank Robbery. The group infiltrated their victims networks through spear phishing emails or infected Word documents exploiting known vulnerabilities. With remote and covert access to the system, they gained control of the banks ATMs or websites and collected a significant amount of money. The degree of sophistication in terms of tools and the skilled manpower of the hackers behind these groups suggest that some of them are state-sponsored actors. Actors are switching towards using legitimate software instead of deploying unique malicious programs, which can allow them to perform the attack stealthly. Also, they have the ability to penetrate networks through supply chain attacks: in last three months, there were four huge incidents of similar pattern. In terms of monetisation, it could be attacks against ATM infrastructure, SWIFT servers or databases with transactions and debit/credit cards information. They are undoubtedly investing time, money, and effort so they can have good Return on Investment (ROI). So far, we can assume that cyber criminals are earning good ROI when attacking financial institutions in the region, adds Namestnikov. Namestnikov told ANI that the attackers are mainly targetting banks, ATMs and Bitcoins, but added that the exact monetary losses from financial institutions attacks in APAC are unconfirmed as of this time. He said that some of these attackers are sponsored by nation-state groups and actors, who use ransomware as payload. He said Kaspersky Lab researchers have been able to foil breaches before financial firms lose their money. In order to protect enterprises from sophisticated financial threats, the lab has suggested the use of a highly sophisticated solution that enables businesses to detect targeted attacks and other malicious actions through careful monitoring of network activity, web, and email like the Kaspersky Anti-Targeted Attack Platform. Kaspersky Lab also highlights the importance of threat intelligence to keep financial institutions knowledgeable on the latest trends of threats against banks. Kaspersky Lab has a portfolio of "Threat Intelligence" services designed to mitigate massive attacks by providing enterprises with insights on the latest, constantly emerging threats currently targeting businesses around the world. Namestnikov said there is an urgent need to invest more; to educate people; to implement information related to security threats; to update multi-technologies; to secure networks and have separate networks. "All players need to be involved and must avoid bad behavior in social engineering. There is no way you can build a 100 per cent secure system. There must be instant responses and you need to log everything, as attackers have a lot of time and also the required budget to carry out their attacks," Namestnikov said. When asked specifically about what steps need to be taken in the future, Namestnikov listed five key points: Ensure proper registration and upto date standards and guidelines to ensure facing less problems Ensure consistent auditing and information sharing Collect information on security talent as it is the need of the hour Invest money in cyber security to cut down on losses Go digital as it is good for the economy and good for livelihood He emphasised that there is a challenge out there in the cyber world and reiterated that everything stays forever on the internet. Kaspersky Lab is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and its deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The companys comprehensive security portfolio includes leading end point protection and a number of specialised security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and 270,000 corporate clients are protected. ANI On December 29, 1997, then Congress president Sitaram Kesri received a note from 10 Janpath. As he read it, his expression changed, and he almost jumped up from his chair at the party headquarters. Sab kuch khatam... woh aa rahi hain [It is all over... she is coming], he blurted. Kesri knew his time as Congress president was up. The eight-line note heralded the entry of Sonia Gandhi into the heat and dust of Indian politics. The Italian-born bahu of Indira Gandhi, through the note written by her secretary Vincent George, had announced her decision to campaign for the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, to be held in early 1998. Kesri was shocked. After all, Sonia had, for seven years since the assassination of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, maintained silence on the entreaties made to her by Congress leaders to take charge of the party. Most Congress leaders were surprised, and those who had hoped Sonia would nominate someone else in place of Kesri were upset. The rival BJP, on the other hand, had to go back to the drawing board. Thus began the political journey of Sonia. A few months later, she took over as Congress president. This year, Sonia completes two decades in politics. And, THE WEEK, through articles penned by those who have closely observed her politics, traces her evolution as a politician, assesses her handling of the party and weighs her political legacy. Sonia arrived in India 50 years ago as the bride of Rajiv in 1967. She found herself in an alien land. The customs were completely unfamiliar. So was the food, which she did not like. She had in her bag a return ticket that her father had given her in case she wanted to go back to Italy. Sonia Gandhi | PTI Thirty years later, when she took charge of the Congress, her opponents harped on her foreign origin. She also faced rebellion in her own party over her un-Indianness. But it proved to be a non-issue for the masses. Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni says it is because Sonia has become the personification of Indian traditions. And writer Pranay Gupte notes in his article that Sonias success is also a testimony to Indias welcoming nature. A fiercely private person, Sonia found herself in political centre stage. The beginning was tentative. She waved awkwardly at the crowds, read out from prepared speeches with a heavy accent and avoided the media. Her critics gleefully pointed all this out. But as senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar writes, What was much less evident was her transformation into a politician of considerable guile and dexterity. And, the BJP underestimated her in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2004. Sonia led the Congress to a surprise victory in 2004. The coalition of regional parties she stitched up contributed to the win. It was a vote for Sonia. However, yet again, she stumped everyone, declaring that her inner voice did not allow her to become prime minister. She nominated trusted leader Manmohan Singh to the top job. She turned sacrifice into stratagem. It kept her over the fray. Her critics say it gave her power without accountability. Senior journalist Sanjaya Baru, who was media adviser to Manmohan, writes that Sonias aim was to facilitate the political rise of the next generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family. .... the historical verdict may finally well be that she saw her role as that of Queen Regent, holding fort till her son was ready for dynastic succession. Sonia instead became chairperson of a newly created body called the National Advisory Council. Its members were mainly drawn from the civil society, and the NAC came to be known as the super cabinet. Its recommendations were binding on the government because of the influence Sonia wielded. However, through the NAC, she put in place a rights-based legal framework. Social activist Aruna Roy, who was an NAC member, writes that history will credit Sonias leadership in steering the law and for promoting more open and responsible governance. Once a decision had been taken in the NAC to make a recommendation, Sonia Gandhi stood by it and made every attempt to advocate its implementation, says Roy. For ten years (2004-2014), when the Congress ruled at the Centre, Sonia was the most powerful person in India. As she grew in stature, comparisons between her politics and that of Indira were natural. In her early days in politics, Sonia emulated her mother-in-law, including the way she draped her sari or wore her watch and even speech delivery. However, Sonia was cast in a different mould. THE WEEKs resident editor K.S. Sachidananda Murthy writes that while Indira would split the party in the face of rebellion, Sonia waited it out or used the resignation weapon to retain control. As Sonia matured in politics, she used the sari as a metaphor and a medium, as Indira had done, writes crafts activist Laila Tyabji. Over the years, Sonia won the admiration of political rivals. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha recalls that Sonia as leader of opposition was no match to prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. She did lose out in some debates, but soldiered on undeterred, he writes. Taking charge of the Congress, Sonia worked to strengthen the organisation, and under her, a formidable leadership was established in the states, with the likes of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Sheila Dikshit, Digvijaya Singh, Ashok Gehlot and Capt Amarinder Singh. However, over the years, she has been criticised for relying too much on her coterie at the cost of senior leaders who felt sidelined and even left the party. Sonia failed to revive the party in the Hindi heartland. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear lost forever, while the party has not been able to wrest Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh back from the BJP. She had entered politics when the Congress was in crisis. And, as she recedes from the forefront, mainly because of health reasons, the party is at its weakest, with just 44 MPs in the Lok Sabha, and in power in just a handful of states. It is a time of transition in the Congress. Sonia will soon hand over the reins of the party to son, Rahul. The 70-year-old leader has few official engagements. And for all practical purposes, Rahul is taking decisions. Recently, when a senior Congress leader asked Sonia about her post-retirement plans, she simply smiled. She still likes to keep people guessing. However, she is not retreating to a cottage in the hills. Not yet. Authorities have released the names of two men who are missing after a helicopter they were in disappeared off the northwest coast of Molokai. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports rescue crews are searching for 27-year-old Jeremy Dossetter and 25-year-old Oliver Kirsch. The helicopter they were in disappeared Monday night. Molokai resident Tim Emmanuel says he saw a red blinking light descend quickly toward the ocean while fishing that night. The U.S. Coast Guard, Navy and Maui Fire Department are conducting the search. The company whose helicopter they were in, Mauna Loa Helicopters, is assisting with the search. The two men were aboard the helicopter for flight training when they left Honolulu and were heading back to Oahu when the airports control tower lost communications. The chopper, which was on its way back to Honolulu with a flight student and instructor on board, was from Mauna Loa Helicopters. The company is also assisting in the search. Our thoughts and prayers are for the people involved and their families, said company President Benjamin Fouts. You try to prepare in the training and do the best you can in the situation youre given. Officials said debris and chemlights were located about one and half miles from shore, but its unclear if the items were from missing helicopter. Coast Guard officials were notified of the suspected downed helicopter at 7:26 p.m. Monday, when it vanished from radar. Fouts said the two men left Honolulu about 6 p.m. Monday for a training flight to Molokai, and were supposed to return by 8 or 8:30 p.m. There was no mayday call, according to Mauna Loa Helicopters. Please say Tehillim for Yirmeyahu Matan ben Shoshana Bracha. (Charles Gross YWN / AP) Police Chief Roni Alsheich was warned a number of weeks ago in a telephone message that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is dissatisfied with him. according the Ynet report, the police commander was phoned by an associate, warning him persons in the Prime Ministers Office view him today as a traitor and being ungrateful, and that PM Netanyahu has him in his crosshairs. It is further report that the belief if that Alsheich, who was deputy director of the Shin Bet when tapped to become police chief, was angry because he was not appointed director of the Shin Bet. Alsheich contradicts this, explaining once he was selected for the top police slot, he phoned Mr. Netanyahu and told him he was giving up on the Shin Bet leadership slot. Ynet adds that Alsheich was warned that there would soon be an attack targeting him personally, but the police chief was not worried and he preferred to only share the contents of the call with a few close associates, not wanting to further strain the difficult relationship with the Prime Minister due to police investigations against him. Alsheich did however share the phone call with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, the report adds. The report adds that the tensions between the two have resulted in Alsheich refraining from giving regular government briefings regarding the departments work. This Ynet report follows the comment recently made by Mr. Netanyahu against Alsheich and his department for the tsunami of leaks to the press pertaining to ongoing probes against him, seeking to place Alsheich on the defensive. Alsheich told the media there were no leaks coming from his office. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Migrating pelicans can once again stop by for a mouthful of fish in Israel. The Agriculture Ministry says Wednesday it will keep funding a pet project to feed thousands of Great White Pelicans who fly annually over the country. The idea is to centralize their feeding ground at a central Israeli reservoir so the birds do not harm the livelihood of farmers by poaching fish from nearby breeding grounds. The ministry had previously said it was going to stop the project, claiming it was not responsible for feeding migrating animals passing through from Europe to Africa. But under pressure from farmers and environmentalists, it reconsidered. Israels nature reserves authority welcomed the decision and said it hoped funding would continue for the sake of both farmers and pelicans. (AP) American Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt released a statement Thursday backing Israels position that Hamas recognize the State of Israel and disarm. This follows the recent agreement between Hamas and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) Fatah party to end hostilities and work together. From Israels perspective, all talks between Israel and the PA are off until such time Hamas disarms and changes its position to officially recognize the State of Israel as part of the PA Government. This was the decision reached by the Political Security Cabinet on Wednesday, 28 Tishrei, refusing all negotiations with the PA until Hamas meets its obligations and this is the minimum obligation to be included in the PA Government as far as Jerusalem is concerned. All parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine, and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there, Greenblatt wrote, signaling American support for Israels position. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Glittering: Shares in Acacia Mining soared GOLD DEAL Shares in Acacia Mining soared after a deal with the Tanzanian government to resolve a long-running dispute. Its owner, Barrick Gold, will hand over a 16 per cent stake in three gold mines, a 50 per cent share of revenues from those mines and a payment of 227.8million. GAMES BOOM Fantasy miniatures maker Games Workshop said its sales and profits are running well above the same period last year, sending shares up 12.1 per cent, or 243p, to 2250p. In July, it reported a 126pc increase in profit to 38.4million, while sales had soared 34 per cent to 158million. HURRICANE HIT Billionaire Jim Ratcliffes firm Ineos took a 44million hit from hurricane Harvey in Texas. The chemicals and oil company made 519m profit during the third quarter, according to unaudited results, compared to 582million in the same quarter the year before. M&S MORTGAGES Marks and Spencer is to start selling mortgages through M&S Bank, which it set up five years ago. NUCLEAR DEAL Swiss firm ABB has won a 98million contract to design, supply and install cables to feed power from the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset to the grid. CONCRETE SALE Landscaping firm Marshalls has bought concrete maker CPM Group for 38.3million. CHINA GROWTH The economy in China grew at an annual rate of 6.8 per cent between July and September slightly slower than the 6.9 per cent in the previous quarter. PIZZA ACTION Pizza firm Dominos has bought German chain Hallo Pizza for 28.8million. RENTOKIL RISE Pest control specialist Rentokil reported a 13.7 per cent rise in third-quarter sales to 579.5million after a spate of acquisitions. RBS SALE Bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland may sell its stake in markets business Euroclear, which could net a profit of tens of millions of pounds. AMEX CHANGE The boss of credit card firm American Express Kenneth Chenault, 66, is stepping down after 16 years. GOING OUT Norways Helly Hansen has snapped up British outdoor clothing brand Musto in a deal valued at about 50million. TRUCKING ON First-half profits at Stobart have soared 933 per cent, from 10.8million last year to 111.6million. Singapore billionaire Kwek Leng Beng has made a third bid for Millennium & Copthorne The Singapore billionaire vying to take over Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has made a third bid for the chain. Kwek Leng Beng, the chairman of M&C, which owns about 65 per cent of the group, is trying to buy the remaining share. His first offer, in August, worth 510p per share in cash, was rejected by shareholders outright, while a revised proposal, made in September, was also rebuffed. His third offer, earlier this month, for 545p per share, values the firm at 1.8billion but that has faced criticism by investors, who believe it undervalues the company. International Value Advisers and MSD Partners say the latest offer fails to reflect the underlying value of its assets, which give the firm a book value of 820p per share. They also criticised directors for considering the offer without talking to independent shareholders. Two other City investors, Aberdeen Standard Investments and Fidelity International, also oppose the offer. Interserves woes continued today after it issued another profit warning and said that it may breach its banking covenants, which sent shares plunging more than 30 per cent. The support services group, which worked on huge construction projects such as Wembley stadium, said it now expected operating profit in the second half to be 50 per cent lower than last year. It blamed rising staff costs, squeezed margins and poor performance at its justice and construction businesses. Profit warning: Interserve has worked on huge construction projects such as Wembley stadium The group also said it had to set aside another 35million in provisions due to contract slippages on a number of energy-from-waste contracts, on top of the 160million put forward last year. In light of all these problems Interserve, which started talks with lenders last month after warning on profits, said that there was a realistic prospect that they will not be able to meet its lenders debt tests. To shore up its financial position, Interserve said it would roll out a plan to improve margins. As previously announced, we are engaged in constructive and ongoing discussions with our lenders, the group said in a statement. We have engaged a financial advisor to assist us in these discussions, as well as looking at options to maximise the short and medium term cash generation from the business. Interserve has to set aside another 35million in provisions due to contract slippages on a number of energy-from-waste contracts Shares in Interserve were down 33.5 per cent, or 30.12p, to 59.88 in morning trading. Chief executive Debbie White said: Despite our challenges, Interserve has a strong client base and many strengths as an organisation and I believe there is considerable potential for business improvement across the company. My team will focus on improving our margin performance in UK support services and ensuring good contract selection in UK construction, while reducing our cost base across the company. Interserve's order book stands at 7.4billion, boosted by contract wins at the Department for Work and Pensions, Durham University and the Department for Transport. The London Stock Exchanges boss is leaving after his mega-merger plans were wrecked by an insider trading probe, stubborn Brussels regulators and greedy German politicians. Xavier Rolet championed a 21billion takeover of LSE by Frankfurt-based rival Deutsche Boerse ignoring British critics who warned the deal was against the national interest. LSE eventually pulled out after refusing demands from Brussels competition authorities to sell a key business in Italy. Xavier Rolet, pictured with his wife Nicole at their Chene Bleu vineyard in southern France, is stepping down as boss of the London Stock Exchange Frenchman Rolet, 57, who owns 74 acres of vineyards in Provence, has announced he will leave next year after a successor has been found. The boss has run LSE for eight years and is popular with shareholders, boosting its value from 800million when he took over to nearly 14billion. But the collapse of the Deutsche deal is likely to cast a shadow over his reign. VINTAGE FIGURES 38.4m - Xavier Rolet's pay since taking charge of LSE in 2009 1,575 per cent - R ise in shares since then 4,580 - Cost of wine tasting course at his French vineyard 5.2bn - Daily value of UK trades on LSE 11.4trillion - Funds which rely on the company's indexes Seven - Failed takeover attempts of the exchange in past 17 years When the takeover plans were announced in March last year, analysts gave them a high chance of success and a slick lobbying operation was launched to counter sceptics. But the mood changed dramatically after the Brexit vote, as German politicians demanded the merged firm shift its headquarters to Frankfurt amid a clamour to steal business from the City. Regional prosecutors then launched an insider trading probe into Deutsches boss Carsten Kengeter, over 60,000 shares worth 4.9million which he bought days before the merger was made public. Kengeter denies any wrongdoing and the investigation is continuing. LSE pulled the plug in March, citing unacceptable demands from the European Commission to sell a trading platform in Italy. LSE insiders said that Rolets departure was announced early so that the board has time to consider a successor. Protection: A legal loophole sees the tribe holding tech patents A Native American tribe is suing Amazon and Microsoft after accusing the tech giants of breaching patent laws. The Saint Regis Mohawk tribe will take on two of the worlds biggest companies in the federal court in Virginia, in one of the more unusual courtroom dramas. In a quirk of American law, the tribe owns the patent for supercomputer technology, which it believes has been copied by the Silicon Valley giants. In the US, Native American tribes have been handed numerous patents by tech and pharmaceutical companies because they are covered by so-called sovereign status. This means that any rights the tribes hold are shielded from administrative review so when a patent expires the tribe can prevent it from being copied by rival firms, as is usually the case. In exchange for looking after the patents, the tribes are paid by the companies that handed them over. But it means the tribe is also legally responsible for any court actions. As a result, it has to lead the way in suing Amazon and Microsoft over alleged breaches in data-processing technology. On Wednesday it submitted a filing against Microsoft to the US district court for the eastern district of Virginia. If successful the tribe could win damages and royalties. The Saint Regis tribe struck a deal for the supercomputer patent with SRC Labs, which invented the technology. However, these deals are open to increasing scrutiny. The tribe had already struck a similar deal with drug maker Allergan over the patent for an eye medicine called Restasis. Its partnership with Allergan netted it 10.5million, with the firm transferring the patents to it and then licensing them. But in a hearing earlier this week, four of the Restasis patents were ruled invalid by a court in Texas. In his ruling on the agreement reached by Allergan and the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe, US circuit judge William Bryson wrote: Sovereign immunity should not be treated as a monetisable commodity that can be purchased by private entities as part of a scheme to evade legal responsibilities. Handing Native American tribes patents in this manner has also sparked controversy and drawn criticism from lawmakers, some of whom have called the moves a sham. Missouri senator Claire McCaskill has introduced a bill to ban attempts to take advantage of tribal sovereignty. She said: This is one of the most brazen and absurd loopholes Ive ever seen, and it should be illegal. The tribe says that its partnerships on high-tech patents are vital to its plans to diversify its economy, after its traditional income from running casinos stagnated. In its case against Microsoft, the Saint Regis tribe said: To overcome these economic disadvantages, the tribe took steps to diversify its economy with investments in innovative business and various enterprises to foster jobs and entrepreneurship. Microsoft and Amazon did not comment. Lord Hain has accused HSBC and Standard Chartered of money laundering Two of Britain's largest banks face corruption probes after being accused by former Cabinet minister Lord Hain of money-laundering in South Africa. HSBC and Standard Chartered face investigations over their alleged role in laundering 400million linked to the controversial Gupta family. Labour peer Hain named the pair among several lenders which are alleged to have facilitated a gigantic bribery scandal gripping South Africa. The Guptas are accused of exerting enormous influence on president Jacob Zuma, and undermining the rule of law to make themselves rich, with some of the City's biggest names dragged into the crisis. It has destroyed City spin firm Bell Pottinger, forced out a string of senior staff at accountant KPMG and triggered an apology from consultancy McKinsey. Hain, a former anti-apartheid campaigner born in Kenya, wrote to Chancellor Philip Hammond urging him to investigate. He said a 'transnational money-laundering network' had enabled 'corruption and cronyism, plundering taxpayer resources on an industrial scale'. The peer said: 'Several Standard Chartered US dollar accounts in Dubai were used by the Gupta network to launder the proceeds of their illicit gains.' He added that much of the cash seemed to have passed through the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong. 'In both these jurisdictions, two of the UK's largest financial institutions Standard Chartered and HSBC have their biggest footprints,' Lord Hain said. 'Experts I have talked to cannot see how they will not have been exposed to this network.' Hain also included a list of people and companies linked to the family, and urged UK finance firms to urgently check if they provided any services to them. Hammond said the Government took corruption claims very seriously and that he had passed the letter to the Financial Conduct Authority, Serious Fraud Office and National Crime Agency. In the House of Lords yesterday, Hain also identified Indian lender Baroda Bank as a possible money launderer. He said he had written to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker about several banks on the Continent which he feared could be involved. The scandal is a fresh blow for HSBC, which is hoping to put a string of corruption cases behind it when new chief executive John Flint takes over next year. Standard Chartered fined 187million in 2012 for breaking sanctions against Iran is also trying to clean up its act. HSBC declined to comment and a Standard Chartered spokesman said: 'We are not able to comment on the details of client transactions but can confirm that, following an internal investigation, accounts were closed by us in 2014.' None of the Guptas, who have denied any wrongdoing, are thought to have opened any accounts in their own names. Victims could be told to dial a new 555 hotline under plans to beat bank fraud. Modelled on the 999 emergency number, it would alert banks to illegal money transfers and help crack down on scams. Campaigners cautiously welcomed the idea, which is being developed by ministers, police and financial chiefs. 'When it comes to fraud, time is of the essence,' said Martyn James, a consumer champion. 'Setting up a new hotline for fraud victims where the number is as easy to remember as 999 is a great idea in theory as it will hopefully encourage more people to report scams. Victims of bank fraud (stock photograph) could be told to dial a new 555 hotline under news plans 'But if the person that answers then has to call someone else who has to call someone else, the worry is that it could actually slow the process of tracking the victim's money. 'Banks have only a tiny window for getting money back so they must be told immediately.' UK Finance, an industry body, recorded 937,518 cases of fraud in the first half of the year. That works out at more than 5,000 a day and customers lost over 366million between them. Criminals have masqueraded as police officers, government officials and bank staff to trick customers into handing over their account details. Other gangs use scam text messages or emails to obtain personal information. Police rarely investigate individual instances of bank fraud, instead compiling details for a City of London force database. Victims are advised not to dial 999 but to contact Action Fraud on a 24-hour number, 0300 123 2040. The lack of an emergency response can mean those who realise they have been duped are unable to stop money being moved out of their accounts. It is thought this is the main problem the 555 number would tackle. A faster response would allow banks to freeze money in the clearing system. However, precise details of how the hotline would work are unclear as the proposal is still in its very early stages. The idea was mooted at a meeting last month of the Joint Fraud Taskforce, which was set up by Theresa May to combat crimes that she said 'shamed our financial system'. Minutes of the meeting reveal that Brian Dilley, director of fraud and financial crime prevention at Lloyds Banking Group, said: 'At its simplest the number could be a triaging facility directing victims to the appropriate agency. 'At its most ambitious it could sit in front of enhanced data sharing/analytics which would take in all reporting and provide standardised reporting and a collective intelligence picture across fraud and money laundering leading to improved coordinated activity for victims, law enforcement and industry.' Members of the committee, including Home Secretary Amber Rudd and police chiefs, agreed to take the idea forward. James Freedman, fraud ambassador for City of London Police, said: 'The problem is that people may liken the number to 999 and expect an emergency response. In reality fraud can take time to investigate. Modelled on the 999 emergency number, the hotline would alert banks to illegal money transfers and help crack down on scams 'However, it is vital to encourage more people to report scams, even in instances where they have got their money back or not fallen for them at all, as this is the only way the body of information available to the police will grow.' Graeme Batsman, of the Data Security Expert consultancy, said an easy to remember number would increase awareness if displayed prominently. He added: 'If 100 people all report the same dodgy website it would be easier for the authorities to shut it down than if they get a couple of reports from different police forces.' However Richard Emery, fraud expert at consultancy 4Keys, warned that police resources were the key factor. 'If dialling 555 generated a better response than victims get now then great,' he said. 'But unfortunately I don't think it will make a jot of difference until the police are properly resourced to respond to fraud. It is so difficult to trace these people and so many cases are not investigated.' Last night Mr Dilley told the Daily Mail that Financial Fraud Action UK, a body which he chairs, was exploring initiatives to help cut fraud, including that of a central phone number. A UK Finance spokesman said: 'Protecting customers from fraud is a top priority for all banks and the industry is always investigating new ways to improve its response. This is one potential idea that is being explored and is in the early days of development.' Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. MBABANE The Swaziland Tourism Authority (STA) is without a substantive CEO because the contract of Eric Maseko has expired. The Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Christopher Gamedze has confirmed that Masekos contract came to an end. The minister said they were working around the clock to appoint Masekos successor within the next three months. Asked who would make decisions and ensure efficient administration of the authority in the interim, Gamedze said there had been an individual that was earmarked to lead STA, albeit on an acting basis. I can confirm that the CEOs contract has lapsed but can assure there will be no vacuum since there will be an acting CEO that will ensure that work continues without any major challenges, Gamedze disclosed. When pressed to state who was the acting CEO, the minister requested to be given until next week to make a public announcement. Further queried why he was not in a position to state who the acting CEO was since he claimed there would be no vacuum following expiration of Masekos contract, Gamedze said they were still following due processes to officialise the appointment. Probed what these due processes he was referring to were, the minister said he had already received a recommendation from the Board of Directors that he would table before Swaziland Committee of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) for approval. When asked to comment on his contract Maseko humbly referred all questions to the board chairperson. Board Chairperson Nomsa Mabila refused to engage on STA issues that were being dealt with at board level to the media. She also requested that all questions regarding expiration of Masekos contract to the minister. I can only confirm that the contract has expired, she briefly said. When it was put to her that the minister had informed the Business Desk that a name had been forwarded to him as a recommendation from her board, she insisted that she would not publicly comment any further. NHLANGANO - A heavily bruised man, whose hands and feet were tied with wires, was found dumped in a field next to the road. Shocked commuters and a kombi driver discovered the man who was reported missing nine days ago at Thunzini, outside Nhlangano, shortly after 6pm. A passenger in the kombi that was travelling from the textile firms in Nhlangano to Zombodze spotted the man and signalled for the driver to stop. The man was lying about 200 metres from the road and facing down. Upon taking a closer look, the commuters discovered the man had several injuries to his head, suggesting he had been beaten. He showed little signs of life but he wasnt talking. It appeared his capturers were in the process of setting him alight as suggested by a 5-litre container with petrol that was found next to him. Fearing for the worst, the commuters called the police who arrived promptly. The man was positively identified as Sakhile Mtsetfwa (27) of Maliyaduma, an Africa Cooperation Action Trust (ACAT) Lilima fieldworker who was reported missing last Tuesday. Mtsetfwa was based at the organisations Mthombe branch and was last seen when he set out to do field work at Mampondweni. As part of his duties, Mtsetfwa travelled extensively around neighbouring communities, assisting residents with development projects. Police discovered that the man still had a pulse and he was whisked to hospital in a critical condition. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Khulani Mamba confirmed that Nhlangano police responded to a report about a man who was found with his hands and feet bound by wires. He said there were no details surrounding the incident last night and the matter was subject to police investigation. Mamba said initial investigations indicated it was a criminal matter. No arrests had been made at the time of compiling this report. MHLAMBANYATSI For the first time in the country, a group of men is conducting Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) communication. EME, also known as moon bounce, is a radio communication technique that relies on propagation of radio waves from an earth-based transmitter directed via reflection from the surface of the moon, back to an earth-based receiver. In simple terms, moon bounce is a form of wireless communication in which the moon is used as a passive satellite. John Sygo, a member of the expedition which set base at Mhlambanyatsi, said they were doing this purely as a hobby and they had set up a temporary radio station to communicate with others who have similar stations around the world. The expedition consists of eight men from Switzerland, South Africa and the Netherlands. The team consists of Sygo, Chris Ploeger, Andrew Van Heerden, Bernie Van de Walt, Lins Berben, Alex Artiede, Dan Gaitschi and Sami Hediger. Sygo said they had been in the country for four days, and they had communicated with about 500 stations in 50 countries. He said they were able to send and receive messages from people who had permanent set up around the world. He said among these countries were the United States of America (USA) and New Zealand. On certain frequencies, Swaziland was activated on the moon for the very first time, he said. He said they were able to send out coded messages through their computers, and they could also receive the same via the moon transmission. Their gear includes satellites, transmitters and computers, which are all used for the communication. We are able to decode the messages that we receive from other people since it is a language we understand, he said. He explained that the moon was approximately 350 000km away from the earth, and a signal sent to the moon did not return until 2.5 seconds have elapsed. This means that if two people are engaged in a conversation and one person asks a question, that person cannot expect a reply until at least five seconds later. The team received a licence for their amateur station from the Swaziland Communications Commission, and this was displayed in their station. Sygo said they had chosen Mhlambanyatsi as their station because the area already had someone dealing in radio. He said the place was also very quiet and was ideal for them since noise from cities was counterproductive to what they were doing. He said it was not his first time to visit Swaziland, but it was the first time for other members of the team. LOBAMBA Was the timing for the salary adjustments for senior government officers right? This was a question put to the Ministry of Public Service during the ministrys appearance before senators yesterday. The issue was raised by Senator Meninjeli Mahlalela who placed a copy of the Times of Swaziland before the Acting Chairperson Senator Ndumiso Mdluli. Mahlalela asked the ministry if the news reported by this publication about the secret salary adjustment was true. He clarified that he was not necessarily saying that the increment was wrong but wondered if the timing was ideal. Why increase senior officials salaries while at the same time there is the issue of zero per cent because unions may use this against government in the negotiation table? wondered Mahlalela. Mahlalela opined that the increment should have been done when civil servants got their bumper pay dubbed dvuladvula. He made the House aware that the public blamed the increment on parliamentarians and not the ministry alone. Minister of Public Service Owen Nxumalo explained that the issue was not about timing but merely fixing something that was wrong. Nxumalo also explained that some civil servants were earning more than their superiors and added that this was an anomaly they had to fix right away. He clarified that they spotted a mistake and could not then sit and do nothing about it because they were discussing the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) issues on the side. Government saw it proper to do a review and correct the anomaly because it made the working environment unfavourable, the minister said. Nxumalo also addressed the issue of government houses which senators had noted as a cause for concern. He stated that they were still weighing if it was still viable for government to continue maintaining the houses. The ministry wants to look into other options which would be affordable to government. The minister asked senators to help them address the issue of government having to pay electricity and water for certain civil servants as others had the tendency of abusing those resources. MBABANE Over 200 nurses marched to deliver a petition to the PM Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini yesterday and threatened to down tools today if their concerns are not addressed. INSET: A nurse dances in the middle of the road. (Pics: Sithembile Hlatshwayo) MBABANE Nurses bid farewell to the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini yesterday, assuring him that if their concerns were not addressed, they will shut down all hospitals starting from today. Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President Bheki Mamba warned government to take their visit seriously. Mamba said it was the second time they visited Cabinet offices and no one in government showed concern about their issues. The nurses are demanding immediate intervention from the Prime Ministers office regarding the Mkhuzweni Health Centre investigations. About 200 nurses took part in the march. They said if not attended to, the matter may result in unhealthy relations, which may grossly affect service delivery in all health institutions countrywide. According to Mamba, yesterday was the last time they visited the PM. He said they had resolved that if it was governments decision to ignore and look down upon nurses in the country, as of today, they would do same by downing tools. According to Mamba, no one in government was bothered by the same petition they delivered at the PMs Office in 2015. Mamba said government would not like what would follow next with its continued evasiveness. Lokutawulandzela sitawufaka leligiya lesingeke sisalikhipha. Loosely translated; they will proceed with their resolution to ignore patients in the countrys hospitals by downing tools. Mamba said last Wednesday during a conference, nurses resolved that it was the last time they set foot at the Cabinet offices but what would happen was that hospitals would not be operational. He said visiting the Cabinet offices did not excite him but they were seriously concerned as nurses about the treatment they were getting from the ministry of health. We consider it as governments position to look down upon nurses in the country, Mamba said. He said even at the PMs office, they were ignored. He said this had resulted in them taking the resolution not to attend to any patients as of today. MBABANE In a report that will ruffle the countrys top brass, a committee of the House of Assembly has called for the immediate transfer of the PS in the Ministry of Home Affairs, a senior officer in the Interpol department and the acting chief Immigration officer. This is according to the much awaited report of the House select committee, which was tasked with investigating the influx of illegal immigrants in the country, particularly those of Asian origin. The explosive report, which was tabled by the committees Chairperson, MP Titus Thwala, in the House yesterday, further calls for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to within 30 days after the removal of the three officers, investigate all temporary residence permits, work permits and citizenship certificates issued dating back to 20 years. The officers are the Principal Secretary (PS), who is also a reverend, Anthony Masilela, acting Chief Immigrations Officer Makhosi Simelane and senior officer in the Interpol section Senior Superintendent Christopher Lukhele, whom it was said they should be redeployed. The report states that Masilela and Simelane were among other things alleged to be floodgates of illegal immigrants in the country, particularly those of Asian origin. This they do through bribery, abuse of power in issuance of memos, visas, dependents pass and such related documents, alleges the report. These are allegations contained in the Parliament report which is yet to be debated and adopted. On Lukhele, the committee alleged that the officer was purported to be having a corrupt relationship with the Home Affairs officials namely; Masilela and Simelane. The committee further said the three public officials should further be investigated for abuse of power. In its main recommendation, the Asian Committee said the position of chief Immigration officer must be filled with utmost urgency. It said in the event that there was no one ready yet, government should consider giving a contract to a previous well serving officer until there was a substantive one. The committee found that the post of chief Immigration officer had remained vacant for the last four years and the tasks were shared on a rotational basis by senior Immigration officers. The committee found that visitors-pass and dependent passes documents were used to allow immigrants into the country, who do not qualify for that status, reads the 80-paged report. In October 2012 over 1,000 people laid down on a San Francisco beach to spell out their cause: DUMP CITIZENS UNITED! Two new recordings from the Albany Symphony Orchestra and maestro David Alan Miller have recently arrived. With strong works and sturdy performances, they add to the orchestra's already impressive and continually growing legacy on compact disc. A CD on Albany Records has music by Aaron Jay Kernis and performances by soprano Talise Trevigne from the 2012 and 2016 American Music Festivals. Trevigne is becoming a favorite of contemporary composers and has been heard frequently in our area. She played Bess this past summer in the Glimmerglass Festival production of "Porgy and Bess" and she appears on the ASO's disc of music by Christopher Rouse, which was nominated for a 2015 Grammy Award. There's a depth and wisdom to Trevigne's singing. Her voice is both warm and austere. These qualities add a certain groundedness to the two large compositions by Kernis. My only complaint is that her diction here is sometimes vague or cloudy, which is a pity because of the texts are so rich. The CD booklet does include the poetry. A pervasive theme to Kernis' works is mysticism and transcendence. This is most apparent in "Simple Songs," which opens the disc. Its five movements are settings of various inspirational texts, including a couple of rather free-form psalm translations by Stephen Mitchell. Despite his title, Kernis' writing here is still sophisticated, just not busy or overly complex. Sometimes he takes the orchestra in unexpected directions, as when a setting of Rumi's earthy and philosophical poems take on high pitched urgency in the fourth movement. On top of his simplified language, Kernis probably named the collection "Simple" because of the emotional character of the songs. The composer's heart really opens during the finale, which was written shortly after the death of Leonard Bernstein and is dedicated to him. The music deliberately evokes Mahler, an appropriate language to salute Bernstein. It can't be a coincidence that "Simple Song" (singular) is a Bernstein work, the opening aria to his 1971 Mass. "Valentines" is a more varied and narrative kind of music and features texts by the British poet Carol Ann Duffy. To quote Duffy, the piece is "not a cute card or a kiss-o-gram." The poems are unexpectedly funny and frequently concerned with the temporal stuff of living on Earth, which cues Kernis into some word painting. The third movement, "Mrs. Midas," at 11 minutes in duration, is more like a monodrama or a scene from an opera. Performances are redoubtable. The crisp and exacting orchestra playing made me picture Miller on the podium, with his habit of pulling his feet together and straightening his back when he's about to make an important cue to the brass or percussion. More than exactitude, there's heartfelt expression from the musicians as well, especially the lush string playing in "Simple Songs." Tsontakis' latest From the Naxos label comes the other new ASO disc, which consists of three recent works by George Tsontakis. This is the second all-Tsontakis release from the ASO, a distinction given to only a handful of other Miller favorites Morton Gould, John Harbison and Michael Torke. All three works on the new disc are concertos, and Tsontakis shows a flair for balancing a mighty orchestra with solo instruments. "Anasa" features soloist David Krakauer on clarinet. Krakauer has been expanding the clarinet repertoire by inviting composers to create new works that utilize klezmer style. Tsontakis does that and more, adding into the mix dance rhythms from his Greek heritage. But his chilly prelude to the opening suggests a dystopian atmosphere. That's followed by an energetic opening dance punctuated by small explosions in the brass, which mimic the pistols that are fired during Cretan weddings. Although the second movement is titled "Soliloquy," the somber and pulsing orchestra makes a strong impression. Silas Brown's engineering deserves some of the credit for the layered depth of the orchestra sound. The whole movement suggests a hallucinatory state. When the cadenza starts, there's a turn from minor to major that feels revelatory. Throughout it all, Krakauer plays with elegant style and character. Next up is "True Colors," a trumpet concerto written specifically for the ASO's Eric Berlin. It has some of the most sedate and romantic writing that I've heard from Tsontakis. That's not to say that it doesn't still have a contemporary feel and what I see as references to pop culture. One extended section brought to mind cool jazz of the '60s. I also kept hearing a rising, questing theme reminiscent of the old "Star Trek" theme. Berlin, as usual, is solid and secure. Tsontakis gives him plenty of challenges and showcases the trumpet's wide range piercing and declarative, heroic and stately, and dark and ruminative, along with some dollops of belligerence for good measure. Working through some mighty tangled melodic lines, Berlin maintains his clear and concentrated sound. No wonder Tsontakis titled the main movement of the piece "Magic Act." The final piece on the disc, "Unforgettable," is a concerto for two violins with soloists Luosha Fang and Eunice Kim, who play admirably. However, listening to the piece immediately after hearing Tsontakis' imaginative works for clarinet and trumpet, "Unforgettable" doesn't quite live up to its title. It feels insistent, predictable and chatty. On the other hand, it is accessible and pleasant enough, making it well-suited to classical radio. Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The supervisor of a local town wants Schenectady County to tear up its sale-tax distribution deal with Schenectady and the towns, arguing the deal is too favorable to the county and that pact cheats the towns. State law requires counties to negotiate sale-tax deals with the cities in their jurisdictions, but Glenville Town Supervisor Chris Koetzle said that arrangements takes power and money away from the town governments. On Wednesday, he introduced legislation asking the county to renegotiate two years before the current deal ends. And he says he's pressing a state Association of Towns to push state officials to change the rules to allow towns at the bargaining table. Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy says he sees no reason to reopen negotiations. "We've got an agreement in place," Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy said. "I'll live up to the terms of that agreement, and when the agreement comes up, then we'll renegotiate it." Koetzle, a Republican, called McCarthy, a Democrat, shortsighted. A Times Union analysis of sale-tax distribution deals and revenue in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady counties shows Schenectady County keeps the largest portion 66.20 percent of the sale tax collected in the county. Albany County keeps 59.70 percent, Saratoga County keeps 50.8 percent and Rensselaer County keeps 64.46 percent. Schenectady County kept $62.5 million of the $94.4 million it collected in sales tax while doling out $31.8 million to the cities, towns and villages. In New York, cities originally had the authority to collect sales tax, but the state ceded that authority to counties in search of more sources of revenue. At the time, the cities were given the choice to continue collecting their own sales tax or strike a deal with the county. In the Capital Region, there are different formulas, many based in part on population, when it comes to how sales tax dollars are distributed. Payments are typically disbursed every four months. Koetzle contends the deal with the city of Schenectady ignores the growth retail revenue in the towns In 2016, Schenectady reaped $12.3 million - 13 percent - while Glenville got $2.6 million - 2.8 percent. Joe McQueen, a spokesman for Schenectady County, pointed out that the pool of sales tax money municipalities receive also includes the portion they get through legislation that created the Metroplex Development Authority, a taxpayer funded agencies that handles economic development in Schenectady and some surrounding towns. That stipulates that 30 percent of one half a percent of the county's sales tax revenue will be distributed to towns. In 2015, 46 of 57 counties outside of New York City shared a portion of their sales tax collections with other local governments within their borders, according to the state comptroller's office. The sales tax is a tax on the retail sales of goods and services. Saratoga County distributes half of its monthly sales tax receipts to towns, cities and villages almost entirely based on the municipalities assessed value as a percentage of total county assessed value, according to the county treasurer. Albany County Comptroller Mike Connors says the county keeps nearly 60 percent of its proceeds from sales tax with most of the communities within its borders sharing the remaining 40 percent. The city of Saratoga Springs has been collecting its own sales-tax revenue since 2002. By virtue of that, Clifton Park Supervisor Phil Barrett said it makes his town, which he noted generates "a very large percentage of the hotel and sales taxes" in Saratoga County, an "even bigger player." "All the municipalities share in that, but Clifton Park is the driver," he added. "I think our formula could use some changes as well to have that better represent our role in the county, but over the years, I think it's been pretty fair. I don't think there's any formula that's perfect." Still, he said, he keeps a close eye on the numbers but hasn't formally challenged the system in place. The 6-year deal in Rensselaer County between the cities of Troy and Rensselaer, which is up in 2021, calls for the county to keep 64.46 percent while those two cities receive 19.5 and 2.9 percent. The number is largely based on their population size, according to Mike Slawson, Rensselaer County chief fiscal officer. He said the county legislature, more as a matter of policy, split 13.1 percent of the total gross sales tax receipts with the other 14 towns and five villages based on assessed values for property. "We haven't changed our percentages significantly in many years," Slawson said. "It's easier to keep things the status quo, that way no one's budget is really impacted that greatly." More recently, retail growth has shifted from the cities to the towns, Slawson said, echoing a point Koetzle made. "So, all the towns are growing, but the county is sucking up all the benefit of that, and we're the ones that have to provide public safety and infrastructure and highway services," Koetzle said. "We provide the core services, but we're not getting the revenue to grow with the need." Barrett said the changing nature of retail the soaring growth of Amazon and other online retailers forced Clifton Park to look at the store-dense area around Exit 9 on the Northway. The town, he said, re-examined development in the corridor to "prepare for an evolving commercial market place" and expand into the hospitality and health-care fields. It allows for more mixed used building projects, Barrett said. "We all share a long-term concern about sales tax as well and that's intertwined with concerns about commercial properties in the future and brick and mortar retail," Barrett said. "If our big box stores just become showrooms so people can browse looking for a product and then buy it online, the future of bricks and mortar retail is obviously tenuous." The details of the sale-tax deals vary from county to county. Connors, of Albany County, said the county deal allows the six villages and the towns they are located in to negotiate how the money is split between those governments. In 2016, the municipalities received $107 million of the $257 million the county took in. In the city of Albany, that translated into $33.1 million based on the 2010 census numbers, Connors said. "The reason the county keeps so much of the sales tax, in some counties they keep all of it, is because of the amount of state unfunded mandates," he said, adding that Medicaid alone costs Albany County $70 million annually. Like Barrett, Connors says online shopping is growing a portion of retail sales. "It's a reality that's coming at us," he added. Cathleen Crowley contributed to this report. ALBANY Three local men were arrested after Albany police say they recovered a loaded .32 caliber handgun and eight pounds of marijuana from a residence on Second Street. Police officers executed a search warrant Wednesday evening at 321 Second St. as part of an ongoing investigation, and made the following arrests: ALBANY Albany police are seeking information about a robbery that occurred at a Delaware Avenue gas station Thursday morning. Officers responded to the Sunoco at 477 Delaware Ave. at about 11:25 a.m. for a report of a robbery, according to police. Upon arrival, an employee told officers that a man had entered the store, implied he had a weapon and demanded cash. The employee gave him an undetermined amount of cash and the man fled. No one was injured during the incident, which remains under investigation. Police are asking anyone with information about the robbery to call the department's detective division at 518-462-8039. The suspect was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt that covered his face, police say. TOWN OF BURLINGTON An employee at an assisted-living facility is facing a felony charge after allegedly stealing from residents. A charge of felony theft, crime against an elderly or disabled person, was filed Monday against Elizabeth J. Reda, 20, of the 200 block of Lewis Street, Burlington. According to the criminal complaint: At about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Racine County Sheriffs Office deputies were dispatched to Arbor View Communities, 34201 Arbor Lane, Town of Burlington, after being advised that an employee, Reda, was allegedly stealing from residents. One of Redas coworkers had allegedly observed Reda, who works third shift, carrying a large black garbage bag and laundry basket and looking through patients rooms. When asked what she was doing, Reda reportedly replied she was cleaning up. When another coworker went out to smoke a cigarette, she reportedly saw two black garbage bags in Redas vehicle. The vehicle was unlocked; the coworker looked inside the garbage bags and reportedly found a watch, vase and jewelry box with earrings and a necklace in the bags. The coworker took photo images of the bags content, contacted the facilitys director and sent her the images. The director reportedly recognized the watch as one belonging to a 97-year-old resident at the facility. Deputies spoke to Reda and asked her what was in the bags. Reda told deputies that the bags contained nail polish and other of her personal items. Reda refused to let deputies search the bags and stated she wished to remain silent. When shown a picture of a watch found in one of the bags, a 97-year-old resident said the watch belonged to her deceased husband. Reda was not in custody as of Monday. Her next court appearance was not available Monday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Baltimore A man suspected in a workplace shooting in Harford County that killed three people and critically injured two others was in custody Wednesday night after a multistate manhunt. State and federal authorities located Radee L. Prince, 37, late Wednesday in Delaware, the Harford sheriff's office confirmed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the arrest occurred in Newark, Del., "without incident." Police said Prince's vehicle was first spotted about 5:35 p.m. near a high school in Newark. After police surrounded the area and set up a perimeter, Prince was arrested by three ATF agents after a brief foot chase about 7:05 p.m., police said. No one was injured during the arrest. Prince is believed to have shot five people about 9 a.m. Wednesday at a kitchen countertop company in an Edgewood, Md., business park where he had worked for the past four months, police said. The five victims were all employees of the business, Advanced Granite Solutions. Prince is also alleged to have shot another person in Delaware later in the morning. The three victims killed in the Edgewood shooting were identified by the sheriff's office late Wednesday as Bayarsaikhan Tudev, 53, of Virginia; Jose Hidalgo Romero, 34, of Aberdeen, Md.; and Enis Mrvoljak, 48, of Dundalk, Md. The wounded victims were not identified. Burak Caba, the owner of Advanced Granite Solutions, said Prince worked as a machine operator, and Tudev, Romero and Mrvoljak all worked as granite polishers. Caba said Tudev, Romero and Mrvoljak were all "the nicest people." "They never even raised their voices to their co-workers," he said. "They were peaceful, happy people." As the manhunt unfolded and police flooded the Interstate 95 corridor seeking the suspect, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said: "There's an individual out there on the loose who's committed one of the most heinous acts in our county; we certainly consider him armed and dangerous." Gahler called the shooting "a targeted attack, limited to that business." Later in the day, however, police in Wilmington, Del., said Prince was also being sought in connection with a shooting that occurred around 10:45 a.m. at a used-car dealership there. A single victim was shot in the head but is expected to survive, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy said. He said the victim was shot twice, but was alert and identified Prince as his attacker. Tracy said that Prince had a prior history with the shooting victim and that the two men had a "beef." "Every one of the victims that this individual shot, the victim and the attacker knew each other," Tracy said at a news conference. "This is targeted. This individual knew the people he wanted to go shoot. This was not a random act of violence." The two wounded victims from the Edgewood shooting were listed in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center as of Wednesday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said. Tracy said officers spotted Prince walking down a street in Newark after receiving a tip that he was in the area. When Prince saw law enforcement approaching, Tracy said, he took off running and threw a handgun the same caliber as the gun used to kill three people in Maryland. Tracy said his department is coordinating with Maryland law enforcement officials to transfer Prince back to Maryland. Advanced Granite Solutions said in a statement: "Words cannot express our feelings. We mourn the loss of our friends. May God give our friends eternal rest and the families the strength to bear the great pain." For hours police had been seeking a black 2008 GMC Acadia with Delaware tags that they believed Prince was driving. The FBI and ATF were both involved in the search. Tracy said he believed the gun used in the Wilmington shooting was the same weapon used in the Edgewood shooting. After Prince's arrest, the ATF said it had recovered a handgun that it is tracing to determine where it came from and whether it was the weapon used in both shootings. ALBANY Local governments are seeing millions of dollars in revenue flushed away because of water loss, inaccurate meters or improper billing, a new comptroller's report on municipal water systems shows. Audits of 161 local government and seven public authority water systems statewide between 2012 and May of this year conducted by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office show that in some cases, water loss between the source and customers exceeded 50 percent of the water produced. A review of 22 audits that found water loss was an issue for those systems estimated that as much as $2.2 million could be saved if the losses could be eliminated. "Water leaks, broken pipes and aging infrastructure are costing local governments millions of dollars annually," DiNapoli said in a statement Thursday. "Across New York, my audits have revealed infrastructure problems, poor budget practices and a lack of long-term planning are straining municipal finances and increasing costs for taxpayers. If these problems aren't addressed, the issues plaguing water systems will only get worse." In some areas, money set aside for water operations actually was used for other purposes. The report uses Troy as an example, with the city using its water fund to subsidize its general fund to the tune of $6.4 million over three years. Troy City Deputy Comptroller Andrew Piotrowski said that transfers cited by DiNapoli totaling $6 million from the water fund to the capital projects fund in 2013 and 2014 were done with approval of the city council and were reflected in amended budget documents. Piotrowski added that while the water fund balance did decrease, the city's position is that "it did not leave the water fund in any precarious position in any way." "(By law) you cannot create a deficit in the water fund to subsidize a general fund," he said. "Every year of that transfer, after the transfer the water fund still had a surplus." Aging municipal infrastructure has been a point of keen focus of state elected officials in recent years. The most recent state budget pledged $2.5 billion for clean drinking water projects statewide. The bulk of that money is $1.5 billion specifically for water infrastructure improvement grants. But that money scratches only the surface of need. State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos told lawmakers earlier this year that the total need over the next two decades for both drinking water and wastewater is near $80 billion. The focus on water infrastructure follows some serious breakdowns in recent years. In Troy, a 33-inch transmission main burst in January 2016, gushing 10 million gallons of water and flooding city streets and basements. In August of this year, a $3.2 million water main replacement project was finished as the city opened the valve on the new pipe. Other areas aren't immune to catastrophe. In Albany, an August 2016 water main break on Elberon Place created a sinkhole that swallowed an SUV. Impacts from that incident also were felt in Guilderland, Bethlehem and Colonie. mhamilton@timesunion.com 518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10 ALBANY - Former Public Employee Federation officers-turned-dissidents Sue Kent and Carlos Garcia may not officially participate in next weeks union convention in Lake Placid. But they will be allowed to to speak, congregate, lobby, politick and publicize at the event. And Kent can address conventioneers from the podium as an invited guest, according to a federal court decision released earlier in October. Kent was PEFs president until she was defeated by current President Wayne Spence in a bitterly fought 2015 election. Garcia was secretary-treasurer until he lost to Kevin Hintz. In March, Kent and Garcia filed suit in federal court alleging that after the election they were wrongfully expelled for four and five years respectively from union activities, including running for office. PEFs next elections are in 2018 so the expulsion, if it holds, could keep Kent and Garcia from running again until 2021. Also suing are Maureen Kellman, a PEF trustee from Nassau County, and Kenneth Johnson, a former council leader who lives in Bergen County, N.J. The plaintiffs name Spence, Organizing Director Kevin Jones and a now-retired former union member, Don Morgenstern, as defendants. Kent and Garcia are challenging their expulsions over their handling of an alleged embezzlement scandal that unfolded when they were in office. A PEF council leader in Rockland County, Deborah J. Lee was found in 2013 to have misused a union-issued bank card, making numerous personal purchases, which led to a court judgment of $64,105 against her. Opponents of Kent and Garcia charged them with covering up Lees purchases, although Kent maintained it was an internal matter. The Lee case became an issue during PEFs 2015 triennial elections in which Spence and Hintz unseated Kent and Garcia. As that suit has been working its way through the system, Kent and Garcia sought an injunction overturning the expulsions ban on their participation in the unions convention set for Oct. 22-25 at the Lake Placid convention center. The 20-page decision from federal Judge Glenn Suddaby concluded that any loss of reputation experienced by Plaintiffs Kent and Garcia would be both slight and fleeting. While noting that Kent must be allowed to take the podium as a guest at one point in the three-day event, the Court is reluctant to disturb the PEFs list of convention delegates, not to mention the governance of the duly elected leadership of PEF, on the eve of a state Convention. The decision also suggested that Kent and Garcia have less than a 50 percent chance of winning their suit, based on the evidence so far. Disputes and internecine conflict among PEF factions have boiled over in past conventions. In addition to debates over resolutions that delegates can offer, there have been lengthy disputes over the schedule of speakers and even who gets assigned to which room in the various hotels the union books for convention delegates. Conflicts continued to surround other areas of PEF. Spence on Wednesday had a legal summons filed against one of his vice presidents, Peter Banks, demanding what the legal document says is $10,024 that Banks owes the union. PEF spokeswoman Jane Briggs said the union wouldn't comment because the matter involved ongoing litigation. Banks in an email noted it involved an audit and he said he hasn't misused any funds. He also noted that the summons came out just days before the convention although the auditors issued a report in June. "I will not be intimidated by Spence's bully tactics. If his intention is to diminish the credibility of a potential election opponent then he has miscalculated. The resolve of general membership will not tolerate a xenophobic president," said Banks, who is from England but has lived in the Syracuse area since 1998. "This was political," Banks' lawyer, Terry Kirwan, said. Banks as well as some other vice presidents, including Hintz, have been at odds with Spence on a number of issues. PEF is one of New Yorks largest public-sector unions, representing 53,000 mostly white-collar state employees. Leadership of the union has been heavily contested for the past two election cycles. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Queensbury Tina Bureaus decision to try an experimental treatment to fight her cancer was an easy one, despite the possibility of brutal side effects. Late last winter, the 53-year-old fifth-grade teacher had spent five months suffering through three types of chemotherapy, each time seeing her non-Hodgkin lymphoma subside and then return full force. She was weak, losing weight and muscle tone, and staring at a bleak, brief future. So when doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston told her about CAR T-cell gene therapy, which would spur her own immune system to attack her cancer, she didnt hesitate. That was my best shot, she said. Bureaus gamble looks so far to be a good one, and the study she participated in helped Los Angeles-based Kite Pharma win approval Wednesday from the federal Food and Drug Administration for a treatment dubbed Yescarta. Another company, Novartis, received FDA approval in August to use CAR T-cell therapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The treatment is a form of immunotherapy, an alternative to chemotherapy that has held promise for decades, according to J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. While chemotherapy attacks cancer cells by killing, shrinking or interfering with their growth, immunotherapy supports the bodys own immune system in mounting an assault on cancer cells. The potential of CAR T-cell therapy to treat other cancers remains unknown, and its side effects are potentially deadly, Lichtenfeld said. But it is an auspicious treatment in that it is administered once, and if the side effects are managed successfully, they are short-term. Chemotherapy treatments, by comparison, often take months and can make patients too sick to enjoy life. This is a one shot. If this produces meaningful results that allow people to resume their lives in a positive way, then that has to be brought into the equation, Lichtenfeld said. Bureau began to feel sick in August 2016, waking up at night with sharp abdominal pain. When a doctor noticed a lump in her groin, she was referred to a gynecologist and then a cancer specialist in Albany. As she waited for appointments, the pain increased to the point where it bothered her all day. She guessed she needed surgery to remove the mass. But a CAT scan showed her lymph nodes were swollen, and a biopsy in early October determined non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is inoperable. Chemotherapy was the right next step, though Bureaus fast-growing cancer proved resistant to the treatment, said Dr. Ann LaCasce, a lymphology expert at Dana Farber. A stem cell transplant was unlikely to work, as it is effective on cancers that respond well to chemo, LaCasce said. So she suggested Bureau try the CAR T-cell study. Bureaus blood was drawn and the T cells, which play a key role in fighting infection, were separated out. The T cells were then engineered in a lab to produce chimerin antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. The CARs enable the T cells to identify the cancer cells and then kill them by attaching to a specific protein, according to the National Cancer Institute. The T cells were then released back into Bureaus blood. She was warned of side effects like inflammation and neurologic toxicity, which could cause confusion. In fact, Bureau had swelling around her brain that caused bleeding, as well as episodes where she didnt recognize her family. She was closely monitored in the intensive care unit, and doctors were ready to perform surgery if needed. But with the help of the manipulated T cells, her body healed. A PET scan showed her free of cancer. Her disease really vanished in front of our eyes, during her hospital stay, LaCasce said. After missing almost the entire school year, her class welcomed her back in June. Last month, she returned to her regular teaching schedule, as well as hot yoga and reading, and spending time with her husband, John, and their two adult daughters. A week ago, on Friday, Oct. 13, Bureau turned 53. It was an unusually emotional day. I appreciate that I got to celebrate this birthday, because I know it could have been very different, she said. Every day is a gift. Thats what cancer gave me. MILTON A Corinth man has been charged with burglary more than two weeks after he allegedly broke into and stole from a Milton business. The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office says 46-year-old Donald J. Koenig III, of 790 County Route 24, forced entry into an office building in Milton in the early morning hours of Oct. 4. In the process, he damaged a window and stole more than $2,000, deputies said. The president of ICMSA has urged the Government to take advantage of a window of opportunity that has opened up and might enable us to delay the prospects of a Mercosur agreement that will gravely threaten our beef sector. John Comer was referring to a speech on agriculture made in Paris by French President, Emmanuel Macron, in which he indicated that the French Government was not in favour of rushing to conclude negotiations (on Mercosur) by the end of the year. Mr Macron cited the fact that the situation has changed profoundly since the mandate for the talks was outlined in 1999 and he indicated that he will discuss the matter with other EU leaders at next weeks European Council. Mr Comer said that realisation by the French that the EU was sleepwalking into trade deals that would inflict irreparable damage on its own EU farm and beef sectors was very welcome indeed. ICMSA have repeatedly pointed out that - certainly as far as Ireland is concerned - matters have changed, and changed utterly, since the British Referendum and the idea that the EU would even contemplate a trade deal with the Mercosur bloc possibly involving a quota of over 70,000 tonnes of beef while we still have no idea whatsoever where the Brexit talks will finish up at is, to our mind, absolutely ludicrous. The obvious thing to do, the sensible thing, was to suspend or park all trade talks and negotiations until such time as the present uncertainty and confusion around Brexit is cleared and then review the situation in light of the new reality and circumstances. The French thankfully seem to see that this is the only logical way to proceed and have called for a halt to this gallop towards concluding a deal before Christmas that and lets be clear here will do enormous damage to our beef sector even without the enormous threat represented by the possibility of, say, tariffs on our beef exports to the UK, said Mr Comer. Ireland must support categorically the French position at next weeks European Council and work to convince other Member States that any deal with Mercosur on beef imports is highly questionable at any time, but in the context of the uncertainty over the trade terms with the UK post Brexit, proceeding with the talks at present is nonsensical and probably disastrous, he concluded. Meanwhile, ICSA president Patrick Kent has accused the Taoiseach of not hearing the concerns of the Irish beef sector if he believes that the Mercosur talks are about ensuring higher standards in Brazilian beef imports. Mr Varadkar needs to understand very quickly that the issue is the flooding of the EU market with 70,000 extra tons of beef at a time when our exports of 270,000 tons to the UK are under threat from Brexit. The Brexit threat means that any EU beef quota for Brazil is unacceptable especially as the UK could end up with a separate import deal from South America, he said. Mr Kent was reacting to comments by Mr Varadkar that he would insist on the highest standards of animal welfare, health and safety should a deal on beef be struck with the Mercosur trading bloc. Guest of honour for 60th Anniversary of Comhaltas na Breataine at the embassy of Ireland was Labhras O Murchu. Despite storm Ophelia, Labhras travelled from Cashel and managed to make it to London and told the audience that when he saw the tricolour blowing in the remaining 'Ophelia wind' and hearing the distant sound of Irish music I knew I was at home". Ardstiurthoir (Head) of Comhaltas worldwide and a retired member of Seanad Eireann, Labhras acknowledged that the expansion of Comhaltas throughout Britain is central to the story of Ireland at home and abroad maintaining its culture for future generations. Reflecting on the Fleadh in Derry a few years ago he regaled the audience with an anecdote that as Irish people throughout the Island it is sometimes just flags that divide us but Irish people from different historic backgrounds share many of the some tunes and dances. Ambassador ONeill heralds a great future for Irish music, song and dance in Britain.Speaking at the Irish Embassy London on Monday October 16th Aiden ONeill complimented the young British born people who have maintained a connectivity to their home culture by learning Irish music and dance from Comhaltas branches throughout Britain and he heralded them as being vital to the success of Comhaltas today. He also traced the history of Comhaltas in Britain from its foundations in Glasgow 60 years ago and is rapid spread to the conurbations where Irish people settled. Focusing on the local stories of success in Britain Michael Nevin (Cathaoirleach, Comhairle na Breataine) reminded the large audience/guests that in recent years three of the Presidents of Comhaltas Worldwide came from branches in Manchester, Luton and Birmingham. He made a profound point that people involved in promoting Irish traditional music in Britain are ordinary people and in reference to the young musicians from all over the UK who performed music and dance at the embassy, he described them to audience approval as truly brilliant musicians Another highlight of the night was the launch of Pete Fawcetts photographical chronicle of Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann over 40 years. From a simple hearing of The Dubliners on Radio Caroline this self-deprecating gurt lummox of a Yorkshire man has travelled to many a Fleadh in Ireland and Britain and now we have a permanent record of those days. With stories of the improvement is Irish Ferries services (to which we all concur) to escapades with his banger of a Ford Anglia (we had one of those!) this book is a beautiful pictorial record and told by Peter in a witty and concise way. As a true photographer he introduces briefly in words and make space in his book to let the pictures tell the story. We got to speak with Labhras and he chimed "Tipperary is full of Molumby! We complimented him and Comhaltas for reviving storytelling as part of Fleadh Cheoil since this year, and he asked who were our influences in storytelling? On hearing Eamon Kelly and Jack Glasheen, Labhraschuckled "I meet Jackie Glasheen often in Holycross." On Monday 9th October, Sisters Miriam and Teresa returned to join the school community in Presentation Ballingarry for a farewell Thanksgiving Liturgy. The sisters were joined by Sr. Patricia, former Principal of the school, who continues to work tirelessly among the people of Ballingarry and Sister Colette who lives with Sr. Teresa in the Clonmel community and who completed her leaving certificate in Ballingarry in 1942. Sr. Teresa and Sr. Miriam moved into The Commons in 2006 and this summer they said goodbye to their many friends there as they moved to pastures new. Sr. Teresa returned from the Philippines in 1998, joining the Staff of Presentation Secondary School in Sept 1999, retiring, in 2008. Sr. Teresa taught Religion, Irish, Maths, Music - (inclusive of singing) and she recalled how Presentation Day was always a very big school event in the school when all the staff and students walked up to the Parish Church where the Choir generally surpassed themselves, with singing and creative dance. Sr. Teresas Choirs were also involved in other big events, such as First Year and Leaving Cert masses. Sr. Miriam having returned from America was very active among the people of the village teaching knitting to local primary school children. As an avid card player she soon found herself enjoying new friendships and these were cemented through her work with the local senior citizens committee. Following her retirement from the school, Sister Teresa continued, on a voluntary basis to teach music and direct the choir in the secondary school. She also played an active role in the parish playing the church organ, directing a prayer group and visiting her neighbours and fellow parishioners. In his homily Fr. Quike thanked them for their dedication and prayed Gods blessing on them in their new communities. This liturgy also marked the opening of a new school year and parents of first year students were invited to attend as their children were welcomed into this new community. Before the mass began, Sr. Teresa lit the lantern flame and passed it onto Principal, Ms. Cahill who in turn passed it onto the head boy and girl who then passed it onto the first year prefects. As the candle was passed from one to another each group acknowledged how we are stronger because of the ones who have gone before us and how it was now their responsibility to keep that flame alight for the ones who would come after them. To symbolise their planting of roots in the school, the first years were invited to plant a daffodil bulb which, like themselves will grow, flourish and blossom during their six years in the school. The Seinn choir provided music for this very meaningful liturgy and at the end of mass Ms. Cahill made a presentation to the sisters and thanked them for their work in both the school and the community. AudioCodes Expands BroadSoft BroadCloud Integrations By Paula Bernier - Executive Editor, TMC On the eve of BroadSoft Connections, AudioCodes has announced that some of its products have recently been tested for interoperability with the BroadSoft BroadCloud. That includes the AudioCodes 400DH IP phone series, Mediant session border controllers, MediaPack 1288, and MediaPack 20x. "By leveraging BroadSoft Business cloud unified communications, team collaboration and contact center solutions, AudioCodes has demonstrated its commitment to reinventing how people work," said Taher Behbehani, chief digital and marketing officer at BroadSoft. "We're thrilled to welcome these AudioCodes devices into our growing user environment, and eager to see the reception of this announcement at Connections." BroadSoft Connections is BroadSofts annual customer and partner gathering. This year itll take place Oct. 22 through 25 in Phoenix. BroadSoft BroadCloud is the companys cloud-based hosted solution that serves as the foundation for BroadSofts software-as-a-service communications capabilities. That includes an array of unified communications services that enterprises and communications services providers can leverage. AudioCodes has just added its 405GH entry level IP phone to the list of its solutions in this product category that are validated for BroadCloud. This device was designed for use in service provider hosted services offers, enterprise IP telephony environments, and contact centers. It has four programmable soft keys, SIP support, Power over Ethernet, a graphical backlit multilingual LCD, and more. The Mediant SBCs provide security and quality assurance in enterprise and service provider VoIP networks. They provide a demarcation point between the business VoIP network and the service provider SIP trunk. The MediaPack 1288 is a high-density analog gateway. It supports up to 288 analog ports; has a 3U chassis; and allows for connections to legacy phones, fax machines, modems, and more. The MediaPack 20 x is an analog telephone adaptor. It allows for integration of analog devices into BroadCloud. These devices also feature BroadSoft PacketSmart analytics for BroadCloud service assurance. Please enable JavaScript to view the Edited by Mandi Nowitz [October 19, 2017] Golden Leaf Secures City Licenses to Sell Cannabis in Additional Nevada Jurisdictions PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. (GLH or the Company) (CSE:GLH) (OTCQB:GLDFF), a leading cannabis oil solutions company and dispensary operator built around recognized brands, today announced that it has been granted business licenses by Henderson County and Washoe County, in the State of Nevada, to sell cannabis to the adult-use markets in these locations. The Company plans to commence sales in these jurisdictions immediately. The Company previously announced in September 2017 that it secured a business license to sell into the adult-use market in the city of Sparks, Nevada, and the acquisition of a state-wide cultivation and extraction license in Nevada, in March 2017. Receiving these licenses is expected to enable the Company to expand beyond its home market of Oregon, and to sell its high quality cannabis-infused products to a larger market. The Company continues to work towards securing the requisite licenses to sell into Las Vegas, which requires a separate license. Mr. William Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, We remain committed to replicating our successful Oregon operating model of building out an internally produced and distributed portfolio of premium cannabis brands, sold through a channel of retail dispensaries. Securing these additional city licenses in Nevada supports this key strategic initiative, as Nevada became the fifth state to allow adult-use cannabis sales earlier this year, opening a new market opportunity for Golden Leaf. We have already begun to gain early sales traction in Reno, Nevada, where we are using a licensed distributor to generate sales, as well as in Sparks, Nevada, and look forward to continuing to expand our customer base and product reach. To be added to the email distribution list please email [email protected] with GLH in the subject line. About Golden Leaf Holdings Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd., based in Portland, Oregon, is one of the largest cannabis oil and solution providers in North Ameica, and a leading cannabis products company built around recognized brands. Golden Leaf Holdings cultivates, extracts and manufactures and distributes its products through its branded Chalice Farm retail dispensaries, as well as through third party dispensaries. Golden Leaf leverages a strong management team with cannabis and food industry experience to complement its expertise in extracting, refining and selling cannabis oil. Visit http://goldenleafholdings.com/ to learn more. Media Contacts: Anne Donohoe / Anne Szustek KCSA Strategic Communications [email protected]/[email protected] 212-896-1265 / 212-896-1210 Investor Relations: Steve Silver / Phil Carlson [email protected] 212-896-1220 / 212-896-1233 Company: William Simpson Chief Executive Officer Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. 503-477-7626 [email protected] Disclaimer: This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Companys future business operation, expectations of gross sales, the opinions or beliefs of management and future business goals, statements regarding the timing for receipt of the additional licenses, and management's expectations with respect to the impact of receipt of the additional licenses. Generally, 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 general business, economic and competitive uncertainties, regulatory risks including risks related to the expected timing of the Companys participation in the Adult Use market, market risks, risks inherent in manufacturing operations and other risks of the cannabis industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Forward-looking information is provided herein for the purpose of presenting information about managements current expectations relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purpose. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. This Release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States, and such securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration or an exemption from registration. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Municipalities to receive funding for 103 infrastructure initiatives across Canada OTTAWA, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and Jenny Gerbasi, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) today announced funding for 103 initiatives in communities across Canada through two new funding programs: the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP) and the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP). Improving Canada's infrastructure lays in large part in the hands of the municipalities. Communities across the country want to be sure they are investing their infrastructure money wisely, and that they are aware of and ready to adapt to the potential effects of climate change as they make local infrastructure investment decisions. The projects announced today demonstrate the work being done on these fronts in municipalities large and small. For example, through MCIP, communities such as Surrey, British Columbia are studying how to adapt to coastal flooding and increase community resiliency, and Edmonton, Alberta is working on a Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Strategy. These types of projects are crucial as communities deal with climate change and its environmental impacts. MAMP is helping Canadian municipalities make informed decisions on infrastructure investment based on sound asset management practices. For example, in St Clair, Ontario that means integrating new software that will make existing data more useful during decision making processes. The Town of Paradise, Newfoundland is working towards a full-fledged asset management plan to ensure they are more strategically funding the town's basic infrastructure needs. MCIP and MAMP are delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada. Quotes "These new programs will help municipalities to plan, build and maintain their infrastructure more strategically, and will enable them to invest in infrastructure projects reducing greenhouse gas emissions and better preparing for the impacts of climate change. Innovative green infrastructure projects contribute to a clean growth economy and strengthen the middle class by ensuring communities are healthy and sustainable places to live." - The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities "Communities large and small are looking for ways to maximize their infrastructure dollars, plan for, and adapt to the impacts of climate change, and undertake programs that benefit the environment. Local solutions are helping tackle national challenges and are building a more livable, competitive Canada. We are proud of the great work communities are undertaking with the help of these federally funded programs." - Jenny Gerbasi, FCM President Quick facts The Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program is a new five-year, $75-million program designed to encourage Canadian municipalities to better prepare for and adapt to the new realities of climate change as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Today's announcement includes just over $3.7 million in MCIP grants towards 28 projects in municipalities across Canada . program designed to encourage Canadian municipalities to better prepare for and adapt to the new realities of climate change as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Today's announcement includes just over in MCIP grants towards 28 projects in municipalities across . The Municipal Asset Management Program is a five-year, $50-million program designed to help Canadian municipalities strengthen infrastructure investment decisions based on sound asset management practices. Today's announcement includes over $3.1 million in MAMP grants towards 75 projects in municipalities across Canada . Backgrounder Municipalities to receive funding for 103 infrastructure initiatives across Canada 103 new initiatives approved in 97 communities A new list of initiatives approved for 103 initiatives in communities across Canada through two new funding programs: the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP) and the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP). These programs are delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada. The following 103 projects in 97 communities have been approved for federal funding amounting to just over $3.8 million. Funded initiatives Alberta Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87, AB Asset Management Initiatives Project Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Camrose County, AB Video Data Collection & Video Asset Processing Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Castor, AB Managing Risk and Building Resilience through Asset Management Sub-sector: Asset management system assessments MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Coaldale, AB Asset Condition Assessment Program Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Devon, AB Asset Management Plan & Policy for the Town of Devon Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Devon Partners for Climate Protection Milestones Strategy 1-3 Plan Energy MCIP grant: $27,200 City of Edmonton, AB City of Edmonton PACE Feasibility Study Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $157,600 Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $175,000 City of Leduc, AB City of Leduc GHG Inventory and GHG Reduction Plan Plan Energy MCIP grant: $113,600 Red Deer County, AB Asset management maturity, strategy and plan development. Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Ryley, AB Infrastructure Assessment and Ten-Year Capital Plan Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 County of St. Paul No. 19, AB Level of Service, Risk and Database Update - Transportation Infrastructure Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of St. Paul, AB St. Paul Roads, Sidewalks and Walking Trails Infrastructure Assessment Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 British Columbia City of Abbotsford, BC Municipal Green Fleet Management Plan Feasibility Study Transportation MCIP grant: $57,600 Village of Belcarra, BC Municipal Roads Condition Assessment Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $29,600 Regional District of Central Kootenay, BC RDCK Water Services Asset Management Plan Project - Funding Water Infrastructure for the Long Term Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $38,257 Columbia Shuswap Regional District, BC Asset Condition Assessment Plan, Implementation Framework and Data Capture Program Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Courtenay, BC Courtenay Land Disposition and Acquisition Strategy Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Kelowna, BC Corporate Asset Management Program Policy and Strategy/Framework Development and Asset Management Assessment Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Regional District of Mount Waddington Operational Biocover Feasibility Study for Small Landfills Operational Study Waste MCIP grant: $175,000 Village of Nakusp, BC Inventory of Major Assets and Preliminary State of Infrastructure Reports Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $24,800 District of North Vancouver, BC Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) Plan Energy MCIP grant: $158,600 City of Penticton, BC Condition Risk Assessment on Water, Sanitary, Storm, Roads, Electrical and Building Assets Sub-sector: Asset mnagement system assessments $50,000 Village of Silverton, BC Inventory of Major Assets and Preliminary State of Infrastructure Reports Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $22,400 Village of Slocan, BC Inventory of Major Assets and Preliminary State of Infrastructure Reports Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $29,600 Township of Spallumcheen, BC Building Asset Management Capacity and Strategy Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Surrey, BC Improving Coastal Flood Adaptation Approaches to Minimize Infrastructure Risk Using Engineers Canada PIEVC Protocol (ICFAA) Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $102,800 Surrey Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $175,000 Low-Carbon Thermal Energy Study Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 Prioritizing Infrastructure and Ecosystem Risk from Coastal Processes in Mud Bay Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $171,400 Village of Warfield, BC Inventory of Major Assets and Preliminary State of Infrastructure Reports Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $24,800 Manitoba Rural Municipality of Springfield, MB Enterprise Asset Management Solution Sub-sector: Data reporting and collecting MAMP grant: $50,000 New Brunswick Village of Blackville, NB Capital Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Campbellton, NB Asset Management City of Campbellton Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $48,560 Village of Doaktown, NB Capital Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Data Collection and Reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Edmundston, NB Implementation of a geographic information system (GIS) for asset management Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Hillsborough, NB Capital Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Moncton, NB Renewable Energy and Energy efficiency project Biomass (PEREEB-AFMNB) Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 Village of New Maryland, NB Asset Management Improvement Project Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Petitcodiac, NB Capital Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Rexton, NB Capital Asset Management Plan Sector: Asset management (MAMP) Data Collection and Reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Riverview, NB Asset Management Plan Development Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $41,482 Village of Rogersville, NB Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of St. George, NB Development of an Asset Management Policy and Asset Inventory Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Saint John, NB An Urban Blueprint for Water: Securing Our Shared Water Future in Saint John, New Brunswick Feasibility Study Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $175,000 Ville de Saint-Quentin, NB Projet SAUVeR (Regional electric car sharing system) and AFMNB Feasibility Study Transportation MCIP grant: $156,100 Newfoundland and Labrador Town of Paradise, NL Town of Paradise: Asset Management Initiative Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Placentia, NL Feasibility Study - Town of Placentia Energy, Sustainability and Facility Renewal Project Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $75,440 Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, NL Level of Service Review Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $49,680 Nova Scotia District of Barrington, NS Barrington Municipality Infrastructure Assessment Phase One Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Port Williams, NS Inventory and desk top condition assess for the Village of Port Williams sewer and water assets Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $18,400 Ontario Municipality of Bayham, ON Comprehensive Municipality of Bayham Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $28,000 Municipality of Brockton, ON Developing Brockton's Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $50,000 Village of Brooke-Alvinston, ON Asset Management Capacity Building project Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Town of Carleton Place, ON Sanitary Pumping Stations Condition Assessment Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $48,000 Municipality of Centre Hastings, ON Asset Management Capacity Building in Centre Hastings Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $36,800 Township of Clearview, ON Long-range operating and capital asset management planning Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Municipality of Dutton and Dunwich, ON Asset Management Plan Update 2017 Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $20,560 Town of Espanola, ON Town of Espanola - Mobile Sensing Roads Assessment and Facility Condition Index Assessment Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $37,360 Development of overall Bio-solids strategy Feasibility study Water MCIP grant: $118,240 Town of Gravenhurst, ON Asset Management Training and Financial Implementation Sub-sector: Training and organizational development MAMP grant: $39,360 City of Guelph, ON Guelph Community Energy Initiative Update 2016-2017 Plan Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 Town of Halton Hills, ON Scenario-Based Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Town of Halton Hills Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $175,000 Municipality of Hastings Highlands, ON Buildings & Facilities Strategy Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $20,000 Township of Huron-Kinloss, ON Building Asset Management Analytical Capacity in Huron-Kinloss Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $43,120 City of Kenora, ON Mobile Sensing Roads Assessment and GIS Based Software Analytics Platform Sub-sector: Data reporting and collecting MAMP grant: $42,335 Town of LaSalle, ON Phase #1 Condition analysis of 135 kms of storm sewers throughout the Town of LaSalle Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Township of Machar, ON Asset Management Development Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $33,600 Municipality of Machin, ON Asset Management Roadmap Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Municipality of Middlesex Centre, ON Green Energy Fleet Plan Operational Study Transportation MCIP grant: $39,440 Township of North Frontenac, ON Detailed Building Condition Assessments Sub-sector: Asset management system assessments MAMP grant: $32,000 Municipality of North Grenville, ON North Grenville Asset Management Initiative Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $30,720 Township of Norwich, ON Update to our Enhanced Road Needs Study Sub-sector: Asset management system assessments MAMP grant: $8,800 Village of Oil Springs, ON Oil Springs Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $40,000 Regional Municipality of Peel, ON Corporate Climate Change Master Plan for the Regional Municipality of Peel Plan Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 County of Perth, ON County of Perth Facility Condition Assessment Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $20,000 The Corporation of the County of Peterborough, ON Peterborough Paramedics - Fleet GHG Emissions Mitigation Study Feasibility Study Transportation MCIP grant: $31,800 United Counties of Prescott and Russell, ON Finalizing the Asset Management Plan to include all assets Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $40,000 Township of St. Clair, ON Implementation of a New Asset Management Platform Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Sarnia, ON Building Condition Assessments for Asset Management Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Township of Seguin, ON Increasing Asset Management Capacities Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc, ON Asset Management Program Development in Strathroy-Caradoc Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $42,940 City of Greater Sudbury, ON Greater Sudbury Community Energy and Emissions Plan Plan Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 Town of Tecumseh, ON Town of Tecumseh Storm Drainage Master Plan Feasibility Study Water MCIP grant: $175,000 City of Temiskaming Shores, ON City of Temiskaming Shores Mobile Sensing Roads Assessment and GIS Based Software Analytics Platform Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $49,754 Town of The Blue Mountains, ON Facility & Accessibility Condition Assessment Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 City of Toronto Transforming Evergreen Brick Works into a Zero Carbon Campus Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $175,000 City of Vaughan, ON Work order management improvements to track and manage asset maintenance and repair activities Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $50,000 Regional Municipality of Waterloo, ON Community Climate Adaptation Plan for Waterloo Region Plan Climate Change Adaptation MCIP grant: $175,000 Prince Edward Island City of Charlottetown, PE Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan Plan Energy MCIP grant: $99,900 Town of Stratford, PE Stratford's Program for Energy Audits and Renewable's (SPEAR) Operational Study Energy MCIP grant: $40,700 Saskatchewan Town of Bruno, SK Development of Asset Management Plans Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $20,000 Rural Municipality of Calder No. 241, SK RM of Calder No. 241 Asset Management Plan Development Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $21,200 Town of Carnduff, SK Town of Carnduff Development of Asset Management Plans Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $22,000 Town of Churchbridge, SK Asset Management Plan Development Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $25,200 City of Meadow Lake, SK Meadow Lake Road to Asset Management: Planning for the Future in Northern Saskatchewan Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $50,000 Rural Municipality of Meadow Lake No. 588, SK Equipment and Inventory Tracking Project Sub-sector: Data collection and reporting MAMP grant: $25,338 Town of Osler, SK Small Community Single Concise Asset Management Plan Sub-sector: Multiple MAMP grant: $37,440 Town of Outlook, SK Town of Outlook Development of Asset Management Plans Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $20,000 Prince Albert Police Service, SK Prince Albert Police Service Planning for Growth Sub-sector: Data reporting and collecting MAMP grant: $50,000 Rural Municipality of Rudy No. 284, SK RM of Rudy Development of Asset Management Plans Sub-sector: Asset management plans, policy and strategy MAMP grant: $20,000 Town of Shellbrook, SK Technical and Financial Feasibility Study to Improve Energy Efficiency and Reduce GHG Emissions of the Affinity Credit Union Recreation Centre Feasibility Study Energy MCIP grant: $98,200 Town of Wakaw, SK Municipal Infrastructure Asset Management Program Sub-sector: Data reporting and collecting MAMP grant: $50,000 Quebec municipalities are currently not permitted to receive funding from FCM's Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program and FCM's Municipal Asset Management Program. FCM is working with the province of Quebec's Ministere des Affaires municipales et de l'Occupation du territoire (MAMOT) to find a solution that will provide Quebec municipalities access to MAMP and MCIP funding as soon as possible. Source: FCM Associated links Municipal Asset Management Program Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program FCM Funding Government of Canada's $180 billion+ infrastructure plan Federal infrastructure investments since 2002 SOURCE Infrastructure Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 18, 2017] ofo appoints former Uber executive as Vice President overseeing U.S. operations SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Following launches in cities across the United States including Seattle, WA; Washington, DC; Worcester, MA; Revere, MA; and Aurora, CO, ofo announces the hire of Chris Nakutis Taylor to run ofo U.S. "We are thrilled to bring Chris on to run ofo's U.S. operations," said Dai Wei, founder and CEO. "Since launching in August, we have seen ofo taking off in the U.S., where we have enormous potential. Chris's strong background in tech, whether at his own start-up or his time at Uber, make him the right person to expand ofo even further." "I'm very excited to join this team and a company that is leading in the bike-sharing space," said Taylor. "Around the world, they have shown that station-free bike-sharing can improve everyday lives by making transportatio more convenient, more affordable, better for the environment and more fun. I look forward to continuing to bring this offering to more American cities in the near future." Taylor joined Uber as one of the first 250 employees and was most recently a Regional General Manager South & West for UberEATS. He attended Northwestern University as well as University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and is based in San Francisco. 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 16 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: [email protected] Global Headquarters Angela Cai Mobile: +86 138 1063 8166 Email: [email protected] Hilary Shi Mobile: +86 136 9336 7685 Email: [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ofo-appoints-former-uber-executive-as-vice-president-overseeing-us-operations-300538896.html SOURCE ofo [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 18, 2017] Aconex Creates the Global Industry Council (GIC) to Drive E&C Innovation and Digitisation Including Leaders From AECOM, Bechtel, Fluor, John Holland and Lendlease Aconex Limited (ASX: ACX), the #1 platform for digital project delivery, today announced the company has formed the Global Industry Council (GIC) with participation from the world's largest contractors including AECOM, Bechtel, Fluor, John Holland and Lendlease. Council members are thought leaders who are passionate about evolving digitisation in engineering and construction (E&C) through sharing ideas and finding solutions to the industry's most pressing challenges. "As a leading international property and infrastructure group, Lendlease has a vested interest in supporting the ongoing transformation of our industry," said Kate Nelson, Head of Business Technology & Innovation, Design, Building at Lendlease. "More than that, we have a responsibility to challenge and change the future of the industry, for the better. As a foundation member of the GIC, we look forward to collaborating with our global peers to deliver on this purpose." One of the GIC's first tasks was to identify the major roadblocks to wider technology adoption in the sector and to facilitate more rapid digital investment, automation of business processes and integration of information and communication technology. Together with Aconex and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), GIC members have dedicated significant time and resources to generate the report, "Digital Technology: The Key to Unlocking Construction's Potential". "Many construction companies in this industry struggle to consolidate fragmented platforms, standardise processes or develop savvy digital talent," said Leigh Jasper, CEO of Aconex. "The aim of the report is to unlock the challenges to accelerated digitisation across the industry. It's a practical guide for asset owners, EPCs and contractors to help innovate and improve performance, and address the transformation taking place across the asset life cycle." Key findings of the report will be discussed for the first time at the second annual Construction Technology Summit on October 25, 2017, in Melbourne with GIC member Ms. Nelson from Lendleae leading the discussion. The one-day event, hosted by Aconex and the Victorian Government, will connect Australia's leading contractors, developers, and consultants with the nation's savviest digital innovators. More than 350 delegates are expected to attend. "The smarter use of digital solutions in the design and construction space has the potential to be a major game changer, particularly in terms of project design, procurement, manufacture, and delivery," added Ms. Nelson. "This report will help influence a more standard approach to digitisation, which along with continuing to think differently, will further unlock innovation in the industry." "Talking about digitisation in our industry with GIC colleagues from around the world that are facing similar challenges was stimulating," said Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu, Director of Engineering and Design at TAV Construction. "Various experiences along with valuable ideas and perspectives were shared during our meetings, many which are incorporated in the report which others will surely benefit from." The report "Digital Technology: The Key to Unlocking Construction's Potential" is due for release later this year. Construction Technology Summit 2017 To learn more about Construction Technology Summit 2017, please visit http://www.constructiontechsummit.com.au. About Aconex Aconex provides the #1 cloud collaboration platform for digital project delivery. This platform connects owners, contractors and their project teams in the construction, infrastructure, and energy and resources sectors, providing project-wide visibility and control between the many different organisations collaborating across their projects. With more than 70,000 user organisations in 70 countries, Aconex is the industry's most widely adopted and trusted platform. Founded in 2000, Aconex has 47 offices in 23 countries around the world. Supporting Resources For more information on Aconex, please visit: Website: http://www.aconex.com Twitter (News - Alert): http://www.twitter.com/aconex LinkedIn (News - Alert): http://www.linkedin.com/company/aconex Facebook (News - Alert): https://www.facebook.com/Aconex View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006690/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 18, 2017] SWIFT to streamline standard migration process with new message translation offering TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SWIFT is launching a message translation offering that will allow users to define and validate messages from any format to ISO 20022, streamlining the process of migrating to a new standard. As many market infrastructures (MIs) move to ISO 20022, financial institutions using older or proprietary message formats must ensure their messages remain compatible. Many legacy systems will need to be upgraded in order to process the new standards. This can be a costly and labour-intensive process, placing further time pressures on institutions and increasing operational risk. SWIFT Translator provides users with a new offering to tackle these challenges, making it easier, faster and more efficient for institutions to define, validate and translate messages. With the first phase of the offering available in early 2018, institutions will be able to: Customise and define formats and translation rules Translate messages to a new format and validate messages against defined formats, ensuring pre-defined rules are followed correctly Easily maintain standards as they evolve, reducing manual input required In addition, SWIFT Translator is a network-agnostic and flexible solution, allowing users to implement it where most appropriate, including within back office and middleware applications. The offering is complemented by existing SWIFT products, with MyStandards customers able to link dirctly with SWIFT Translator. For example, MyStandards users can define translation rules to a format previously defined in MyStandards as well as validate messages against pre-defined formats. Fabien Depasse, Head of Standards Products at SWIFT, comments: "Migration to a new harmonised standard is a lengthy process and we understand the challenges faced by large and small institutions alike in moving to ISO 20022. Institutions must be able to reduce the risks associated with the migration process and translate messages in a cost-effective and efficient manner. "SWIFT Translator addresses this market need whilst reducing development costs by up to 50% compared to manual implementation. With over 40 years of experience and expertise in developing industry standards, SWIFT is uniquely positioned to deliver this innovative new offering." About SWIFT SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance. Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world. As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together -- at global, regional and local levels -- to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT's international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres. For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT Contacts: Chatsworth Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 74409780 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160127/8521600559Logo SOURCE S.W.I.F.T.SCRL [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 18, 2017] Boulder Startup Launches a New Platform for Helping Students Learn Algebra and Advanced Mathematics BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Figure Math is aiming to increase math test scores by helping students understand algebra and by helping teachers blend technology and learning to bring excitement for math back into classrooms. The interactive math app, launched a Kickstarter campaign on Oct. 11, 2017 that will run until Nov. 10, 2017 9:18 a.m. MST. Figure is seeking $25,000 to help in business development and marketing efforts. The app has been Beta tested, is fully functional and is available for multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Windows and the Web. Figure is intended to help students learn how to solve equations in an environment that simulates and follows the rules of algebra. Figure allows the user to input any equation and explore and solve using simple drag and explore gestures that breaks down the equation step-by-step. This method turns the equation into a dynamic puzzle that not only teaches the user how to solve the problem but gives them an opportunity to play with equations without fear of making mistakes. The app is designed to make math an exploration instead of a drill and to cater to students with different learning styles. Located in Boulder, Colorado, Figure began their journey two years ago. Andrew Randono, Ph.D. and ans Westman, Ph.D. created the idea for the app while doing research in Theoretical Physics. During their research, they worked with long, complicated equations and soon became frustrated with the lack of modern tools to easily explore these equations. They decided a tool was needed that would allow them to easily manipulate and solve math problems. Through this process, they realized students also needed this tool and created Figure. Figure strives to give students great technology and tools that excite them and give a powerful edge when it comes to math, especially algebra. Randono and Westman say, "We are trying to fundamentally transform the way we do mathematics for the better." Figure is partially funded by the National Science Foundation to ensure that the technology being created is improving students' lives across the country. To learn more or get involved with the campaign visit Figure on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/229497416/figure-math-more-than-just-a-solution Media Contact Sterling Engelhard 720.982.9266 [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg image2.png image3.jpg Related Links Website Kickstarter View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boulder-startup-launches-a-new-platform-for-helping-students-learn-algebra-and-advanced-mathematics-300539496.html SOURCE Figure Math [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Budget Direct Insurance partners Sitecore to build an unprecedented digital experience for customers SINGAPORE, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Budget Direct Insurance, a brand under the Auto & General Group in Southeast Asia, launched their e-commerce website leveraging Sitecore's technology solutions to offer customers a seamless experience while purchasing insurance online. The results: lower operating costs and high user satisfaction rate thanks to Sitecore Experience Platform's unique ability to help Budget Direct Insurance deliver consistently great and contextual personal experiences to customers. In this robust insurance industry, people are insuring their vehicles and travel plans every minute of the day. In the case of Budget Direct Insurance, their business model is to provide direct-to-market solutions, where policies can be customised and purchased online. This means that they cannot afford to have access to their e-commerce website disrupted due to any IT-related complications, impairing the customer experience. A study[1] conducted states that it takes 12 positive user experiences to negate a poor impression left behind from one bad experience. Given that insurers do not usually have the opportunity to make things right again in today's competitive market, it is critical to get things right, the first time. One of the main requirements for the Budget Direct Insurance site was to find a solution that could help the team deliver a positive customer experience, while being simple to administer and cost-efficient to manage. A study in Electronic Commerce Research and Applications[2] states that the likelihood of consumers completing an online transaction is highly influenced bythe site quality, technical reliability, and web experience of the particular e-commerce site. As Budget Direct Insurance was considering various Content Management Strategy (CMS) platforms, Sitecore stood out as they could offer an integrated one-stop solutions package. Additionally, the Sitecore Connector tool built into Sitecore Experience Platform made it a simple process to seamlessly integrate with its insurance core system and business layers. "To build a fully functional, fully transactional e-commerce site takes time. Sitecore made that process seamless for us. Unlike other platforms we compared, Sitecore's built-in connector made it easy to streamline our delivery, processes, and testing" said Geoffrey Dickman, Head of Marketing at the Auto & General Group in Southeast Asia. "Since we launched budgetdirect.com.sg in October 2016 and easycompare.co.th in Thailand earlier this year, the results have been promising; customers consistently provide positive reviews on our site experience and feedback on how easy it is to buy the products and services offered by our brands on their respective website, no mean feat given we operate different brands and journeys. Sitecore Experience Platform has made it easy for us to deliver customers a quote for their insurance in 30 seconds or less, and this is a key part of our strategy to win customers over." About Sitecore Sitecore is the global leader in experience management software that enables context marketing. The Sitecore Experience Platform manages content, supplies contextual intelligence, and automates communications, at scale. It empowers marketers to deliver content in context of how customers have engaged with their brand, across every channel, in real time. More than 4,600 customers - including American Express, Carnival Cruise Lines, easyJet, and L'Oreal - trust Sitecore for context marketing to deliver the personalized interactions that delight audiences, build loyalty, and drive revenue. About the Auto & General Group in Southeast Asia The Auto & General Group in Southeast Asia makes it easy for people to buy quality insurance at great prices, quickly and easily from or through their trading brands, Budget Direct Insurance in Singapore and EasyCompare in Thailand. The Auto & General Group in Southeast Asia is part of the international Budget Insurance Group, which operates multiple insurance and comparison businesses, helping millions of people worldwide buy and manage their insurances. The Budget Insurance Group includes comparethemarket.com, one of the most loved and recognized comparison sites in the United Kingdom, and Budget Direct in Australia. Media Contact Rasheed Abu Bakar Email: [email protected] Phone: 65-6361 0257 [1] Brands form customer loyalty even after they purchase an item, BI Intelligence [2] Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Elsevier Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171017/1967883-1LOGO SOURCE Sitecore [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Daqo New Energy Announces Phase 3B Expansion Plan for Its Polysilicon Facilities in Xinjiang CHONGQING, China, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) ("Daqo New Energy", the "Company" or "we"), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry, today announced that the board of directors has officially approved the Company's Phase 3B expansion plan ("Phase 3B Project") for its polysilicon facilities in Xinjiang. Phase 3B Project is expected to increase the Company's polysilicon annual nameplate capacity from the current 18,000 MT to 25,000 MT. By adopting additional technology improvement and debottlenecking projects, the Company may be able to further increase its capacity to 30,000 MT per annum by the end of 2019. The Company expects to complete project design and initial preparation works for Phase 3B Project by the end of 2017, complete constructions and installations by the end of 2018, start pilot production in the first half of 2019 and reach full capacity by the end of the second quarter of 2019. For the Phase 3B Project, the Company plans to adopt new designs, processes, technologies and equipment that would further improve the quality and purity of its polysilicon products. The polysilicon products of the Phase 3B Project are anticipated to reach electronics grade and will be targeting the mono-crystalline wafer and semiconductor markets, which have more stringent requirements on polysilicon quality and purity, and therefore have higher entry barriers. The Company may potentially enjoy higher profit margin if it could successfully access these markets with its differentiated ultra-high purity electronic-grade polysilicon products. In addition to polysilicon quality upgrading, the Company expects to implement new production processes to improve operational efficiencies, which would further reduce our total production cost. Once Phase 3B Project is ramped up to full production capacity, we anticipate te overall total production cost for our Xinjiang facilities could potentially be decreased to US$7.50 per kilogram, benefiting from better operating leverage, adopting new production processes and equipment with higher efficiencies, and achieving greater economies of scale. About Daqo New Energy Corp. Founded in 2008, Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) is a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry. As one of the world's lowest cost producers of high-purity polysilicon and solar wafers, the Company primarily sells its products to solar cell and solar module manufacturers. The Company has built a manufacturing facility that is technically advanced and highly efficient with a nameplate capacity of 18,000 metric tons in Xinjiang, China. The Company also operates a solar wafer manufacturing facility in Chongqing, China. Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the demand for photovoltaic products and the development of photovoltaic technologies; global supply and demand for polysilicon; alternative technologies in cell manufacturing; our ability to significantly expand our polysilicon production capacity and output; the reduction in or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy applications; and our ability to lower our production costs. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the reports or documents we have filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Daqo New Energy does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Daqo New Energy undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law. For investor inquiries, please contact: Daqo New Energy Corp. Investor Relations Department Phone: +86-187-1658-5553 Email: [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/daqo-new-energy-announces-phase-3b-expansion-plan-for-its-polysilicon-facilities-in-xinjiang-300539585.html SOURCE Daqo New Energy Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Wirecard Checkout Portal Gains Trusted Shops and kajomi MAIL as Partners, Thereby Expanding its Value-added Services MUNICH, October 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - Checkout Portal customers can now benefit from the reliable brand Trusted Shops and optimise their e-mail marketing using the web-based mailing system kajomi MAIL The Wirecard Checkout Portal is entering into a new strategic cooperation and offering retailers new value-added services from now on. Checkout Portal customers can now increase their sales due to a higher level of customer trust by using the Trusted Shops seal of approval. Thanks to the expansion of the Checkout Portal with the web-based mailing tool kajomi MAIL, online retailers can also make their e-marketing more efficient and targeted. Shop operators can flexibly choose premium services when setting up their payment methods via the Checkout Portal and integrate them in their online business. The Wirecard Checkout Portal offers SMEs and start-ups alike a plug-in tool to guarantee online payment options that are suited to individual requirements. The registration process is fast, uncomplicated and can be completed directly online with minimal administrative effort. The Checkout Portal allows e-commerce merchants to offer any desired payment methods and integrate them. Checkout Portal customers can now benefit from a trusted seal of approval and comprehensive buyer protection on account of the collaboration between Wirecard and Trusted Shops. This maximises online traffic, conversion rates and customer retention. Trusted Shops customer experiences have shown that the seal of approval can lead to an increase in sales of up to 30%. Tobias Tullius, Partner Manager at Trusted Shops: "Thanks to the new cooperation with the Wirecard Checkout Portal, we are delighted to be able to support even mor shop owners with our seal of approval. Above all else, trust is required for success in e-commerce." Another collaboration by the Wirecard Checkout Portal offers a new e-marketing approach for online merchants. With the web-based mailing system kajomi MAIL, shop operators can send newsletters safely and tailored to individuals. The profiling conducted by kajomi takes into account previous target group user behaviour in order to continuously adapt the mailing system to target groups. Celal Mentes, Head of Checkout Portal at Wirecard: "The Checkout Portal is now more than just a payment portal. We are expanding our portfolio of value-added services in order to offer merchants a variety of services from a single source." About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard. About Trusted Shops: Trusted Shops is the European trust brand in e-commerce. The Cologne-based company provides a comprehensive security package with its seal of approval, including buyer protection, customer review system and anti-warning module: Trusted Shops uses strict individual criteria such as price transparency, customer service and data protection to verify its members and award its highly coveted seal of approval. Buyer protection, offered by every certified online shop, ensures that consumers are protected against issues such as non-delivery. Furthermore, the customer review system creates trust over the long term between retailers and customers. The Trusted Shops project entitled 'Locatrust' enables local retailers to obtain authentic reviews from real customers. This means that Trusted Shops offers local retailers the chance to create greater visibility for their business and online range, all of which strengthens local businesses. The project is supported by the European Union within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For further information, please visit: http://www.trustedshops.de. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 E-Mail: [email protected] Trusted Shops media contact: Trusted Shops GmbH Mustafa Ucar Tel.: +49-221-77536-7531 E-Mail: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Augumenta Drives Augmented Reality Application Development, Releases Tools and Industry 4.0 Solutions at AWE Europe 2017 MUNICH, Germany , Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At AWE Europe this week, Augumenta, Ltd. announced release of two software solutions that bring the power of Augmented Reality (AR) to Industry 4.0 deployments. They are: Augumenta Studio, a cloud-based tool that allows developers to quickly design AR applications for smartglass-equipped workers, and Augumenta SmartPanel, a customizable virtual control panel for industrial machinery operators. With release of both solutions to the app stores of two leading makers of binocular smartglasses, Epson, Inc. and ODG, Inc., Augumenta is driving development of a platform independent ecosystem for industrial AR applications. Augumenta is also demonstrating its SmartAlert application, which empowers industrial workers to monitor and control machinery and plant operations using monocular smartglasses from such companies as Vuzix. An additional demonstration at the exhibition features a smartglass-enabled airplane fueling system recently announced by Liquid Controls. Its very exciting to roll-out our platform for industrial AR and to show applications designed for specific commercial applications this year at AWE Europe, said Tero Aaltonen, co-founder and CEO of Augumenta. Applications like FlightConnect Glass which we co-developed with Liquid Controls show that AR is ready for roll-out in vertical markets. Concurrently, we are able to show the results of ongoing pilots with Siemens in the application of SmartPanel technology in shop floor environments. Augumenta Studio, which was a finalist for the HERMES AWARD 2017 presented earlier this year by Hannover Messe, is a platform that allows organizations to build glass applications using a drag-and-drop methodology. It is used by Augumenta and its customers to design and customize applications using SmartPanel and SmartAlert templates. Applications are easy to deploy to glass devices and support for industrial machine communication protocols ensures complete integration with in-place systems. Augumenta is demonstrating its application suite and customer solutions at AWE Europe (Booth 219). More information is available at www.augumenta.com About Augumenta Augumenta supplies augmented reality applications and development tools to organizations that use smartglasses. The companys software enables new ways for smartglass users to monitor and control machine operations and interact with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with a support hub in Taipei, Taiwan, Augumenta licenses its products to global OEMs, enterprise customers, integrators and developers. More than 200 companies have engaged with Augumenta to improve their bottom lines. More information and registration for the company newsletter is at www.augumenta.com. Contacts: Tero Aaltonen [email protected] +358 8 4154 1303 Augumenta, Ltd. Matthew Schmidt [email protected] +1 650-345-3549 Small Planet Public Relations [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] China Online Education Group Appoints Michael Farley as Head of North American Operations BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51Talk", or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform in China with core expertise in English education, today announced that Mr. Michael Farley has joined the Company as Head of North American Operations, effective immediately. Mr. Farley will be in charge of the Company's teacher sourcing, recruiting and training, as well as branding and business development in North America. Mr. Farley has over 30 years' experience in educational management and reform in the United States, during which time he developed innovative educational programs and established new schools in Washington, D.C., Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, and Utah. Through his work, Mr. Farley has engaged with over 500 schools in more than 20 states and several different countries. Student-centered learning and the use of technology in the classroom to enable effective personalized learning have been core areas of his concentration. Mr. Farley has also developed a keen understanding of Chinese culture and educational practices, while helping establish international schools in China. Before joining 51Talk, he served as the Founder and Superintendent of American International School of Utah ("AISU"), where he led the formation of a strategic partnership between 51Talk and AISU in October 2016. Mr. Farley received his master's degree in Educational Administration from Arizona State University in 2008 and his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University in 1989. Mr. Jack Jiajia Huang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, "We are excited to add Michael to our management team as the Head of North American Operations. We believe that his extensive experience in education management in the United States, coupled with his entrepreneurial orientation, will greatly strengthen our North American operations. Additionally, his cross-cultural education experience in both United States and China will be a great asset for our future development in our North American teacher resource expansion, as well as potential business cooperation opportunities in Noth America." Mr. Michael Farley, added, "I am excited to take on the role of Head of North American Operations for 51Talk. I look forward to collaborating with the 51Talk leadership team and generating synergistic results to enhance 51Talk's core business as well as enable the Company to strengthen its leadership position in the dynamic online education marketplace." About China Online Education Group China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE) is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live one-on-one interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students. For more information, please visit http://ir.51talk.com. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "aims", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "likely to" and similar statements. Among other things, 51Talk's business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as 51Talk's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. 51Talk may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about 51Talk's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: 51Talk's goals and strategies; 51Talk's expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and platform; 51Talk's ability to retain and increase its student enrollment; 51Talk's ability to offer new courses; 51Talk's ability to engage, train and retain new teachers; 51Talk's future business development, results of operations and financial condition; 51Talk's ability to maintain and improve infrastructure necessary to operate its education platform; competition in the online education industry in China; the expected growth of, and trends in, the markets for 51Talk's course offerings in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to 51Talk's corporate structure, business and industry; general economic and business condition in China, the Philippines and elsewhere and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in 51Talk's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and 51Talk does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. For investor and media inquiries, please contact: Contacts: China Online Education Group Investor Relations +86 (10) 5692-8909 [email protected] The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente +86 (10) 6535-0148 +1-212-481-2050 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-online-education-group-appoints-michael-farley-as-head-of-north-american-operations-300539623.html SOURCE China Online Education Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Great Place to Work and FORTUNE Name Innovative Architects One of 2017's Best Workplaces DULUTH, Ga. , Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovative Architects, a Microsoft Gold Certified enterprise consulting firm headquartered near Atlanta, Georgia, was recently named one of the 2017 Best Workplaces by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE, the third consecutive year IA has won this award. Their profitable sales growth, according to IA leadership, would not be possible without the dedication of their employees, successful projects and customers. Innovative Architects team outside of their office in Duluth, GA A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3199c4aa-9e6a-438b-9888-544bb87f5c45 This ranking considered 74,000 surveys from employees at hundreds of U.S. businesses in all sectors of the economy. IA earned a top spot on this list based on co-workers assessment of the camaraderie, leadership, fairness, rewards and career opportunities enjoyed by all in their workplace. Innovative Architects ranked in the Top 100 Mid-Size Nationwide companies according to FORTUNE. Weve built a reputation for solving hard problems with enterprise, innovative technology driven by the exceptional quality of our team, said President of IA, Scott McMichael. We have celebrated double-digit growth across industries. We offer a unique, friendly atmosphere where people work together to bring their best to our clients each day. The Best Workplaces is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE based on research into employee feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. IA was also recognized as a Best Workplace in 2015 and 2016 by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE. About Innovative Architects Innovative Architects has been serving industries to help solve business and technology challenges since 2005. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, the company leverages Microsoft's technologies to build cost-efficient, scalable, and secure cloud solutions that address clients' specific business objectives and provide customers quick, positive returns on IT investments. Based in Duluth, Georgia, Innovative Architects has additional locations in Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach, FL. Contact Info Innovative Architects Laurie Walmsley, VP of Client Experience (770) 623-5734 Contact Laurie Walmsley [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] NSS Labs Announces 2017 Breach Detection Systems Group Test Results 4 Products Receive Recommended Rating; 1 Receives Neutral Rating; 1 Receives Security Recommended Rating; 1 Receives Caution Rating AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NSS Labs, Inc., a global leader and trusted source for independent fact-based cybersecurity guidance, today announced the results of its Breach Detection Systems (BDS) Group Test. For the 2017 BDS Group Test, NSS Labs expanded test techniques to include new evasions. Evasion techniques are a means of disguising and modifying attacks in order to avoid detection and blocking by security products. These methods are increasingly selected by threat actors to circumvent security controls. Test results indicate that most breach detection systems are unable to stop all evasions, which is a major concern. According to the Verizon 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, 75% of data breaches are perpetrated by outsiders. BDS products are now more widely adopted in enterprise security deployments to catch attacks that bypass other perimeter defenses such as next generation firewalls. The NSS Labs 2017 Enterprise Security Architecture Study indicates that 44.1% of US enterprises deploy BDS products. These products provide enhanced detection of advanced malware, zero-day attacks, and targeted attacks. Data obtained by BDS threat analysis helps to accelerate investigation and remediation, thereby reducing the business impact of threats. The BDS Group Test reports offer insights into which infection vectors were effective and how long it took for products to detect them. When evaluating breach detection systems, time-to-detect metrics are critical as they directly impact ROI for enterprises. Seven products from six market-leading security vendors were tested for security effectiveness, performance, stability and reliability, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Of the seven products tested, four received a Recommended rating and two scored 100% for security effectiveness. Key findings from the test: Five out of the seven products tested missed evasions. Overall Security Effectiveness ranged between 80.2% and 100.0%. The average Security Effectiveness rating was 93.2%; five products received a Security Effectiveness rating above the average, and two received a Security Effectiveness rating below the average. False positive rates ranged from 0% to 0.36%. TCO per Protected Mbps ranged between US$16 and US$128, with most tested products costing less than US$44 per protected Mbps. The average TCO per Protected Mbps (Value)/em> was US$48.82; five products demonstrated value above the average, and two demonstrated value below the average. The following products were tested: Check Point Software Technologies 15600 Next Generation Threat Prevention & SandBlast (NGTX) Appliance R77.30 Cisco FirePower 8120 v.6 & Cisco AMP v.5.1.9.10430 FireEye Network Security NX 10450 v7.9.2 & EX 8400 v7.9.0 FireEye Network Security 6500NXES-VA v7.9.2 Fortinet FortiSandbox-2000E v.FSA 2.4.1 & FortiClient (APT Agent) v.5.6.0.1075 Lastline Enterprise v7.25 Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector Model 4000 v3.8 SP5 & OfficeScan (OSCE) v.12.0.1807 NSS Labs is committed to providing empirical data and objective group test results that enable organizations to make educated decisions about purchasing and optimizing security infrastructure products and services. As with all NSS Labs group tests, there is no fee for participation, and the test methodology is available in the public domain to provide transparency and to help enterprises understand the factors behind test results. Click here for more information about our group test policies. Click here for more information on this test, and the test methodology used, or to purchase the individual Test Reports. Click here to download the Security Value Map, which provides a graphic comparison of Security Effectiveness and TCO across the tested products. Additional Resources: About NSS Labs, Inc. NSS Labs, Inc. is recognized globally as the most trusted source for independent, fact-based cybersecurity guidance. Our mission is to advance transparency and accountability within the cybersecurity industry. We empower enterprises by providing them with timely, relevant information on which to base their decisions. Our unmatched foundation in security testing, along with our extensive research and global threat analysis capabilities, provide the basis for our CAWS Continuous Security Validation Platform. CAWS measures the ongoing effectiveness of security controls, providing a real-time score card to help business leaders substantiate their security investments. Businesses can also leverage the threat data delivered by CAWS to strengthen their cyber risk posture and mitigate threats to their operating systems and applications. CISOs, Chief Security Architects, SOC and Threat Analysts, and information security professionals from many of the world's largest and most demanding enterprises rely on trusted insights from NSS Labs. For more information, visit www.nsslabs.com. Contact: Tom Resau W2 Communications Phone: +1 703-877-8103 [email protected] [October 19, 2017] Yellow Pages Limited Announces Closing of Offering of $315 Million of Senior Secured Notes and the Redemption by Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited of all its Outstanding 9.25% Senior Secured Notes due November 30, 2018 /NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/ MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) ("Yellow Pages" or the "Company") announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited (the "Issuer"), has closed its previously announced offering (the "Offering") of senior secured notes. The Issuer issued $315 million in aggregate principal amount of 10.00% Senior Secured Notes due November 1, 2022 (the "Notes") at an issue price of $980 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes. The Notes will accrue interest from October 19, 2017 at a rate of 10.00% per annum, payable in semi-annual instalments in arrears on May 1 and November 1 of each year commencing May 1, 2018. The Notes were offered in a private placement in Canada under available prospectus exemptions. The Notes were also offered in the United States to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and outside the United States to non U.S. persons as defined in and in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. Redemption of the Existing Senior Secured Notes The Issuer will use the net proceeds from the sale of the Notes, after deducting the underwriters' commissions and estimated expenses of the Offering, to redeem all of its outstanding 9.25% senior secured notes due November 30, 2018 (the "Existing Senior Secured Notes") on the following terms: Redemption date: November 18, 2017 Redemption price: $1,000 for each $1,000 principal amount of Existing Senior Scured Notes for each principal amount of Existing Senior Scured Notes Accrued and unpaid interest (up to but excluding the redemption date): $20.30 for each $1,000 principal amount of Existing Senior Secured Notes for each principal amount of Existing Senior Secured Notes Total redemption price: $1,020.30 for each $1,000 principal amount of Existing Senior Secured Notes. December 20, 2012 governing the Existing Senior Secured Notes. Unpaid and accrued interest on the Existing Senior Secured Notes will be paid up to but excluding the redemption date. As of October 19, 2017 , an aggregate principal amount of $292,248,000 of Existing Senior Secured Notes were issued and outstanding. All dollar amounts in this news release are in Canadian dollars. Securities Law Matters The Notes are not qualified for sale to the public under applicable Canadian securities laws and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the Notes in Canada has been 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 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 have been 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 have been 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. Any public offering of any securities made within the United States is required to be made by means of a prospectus that would contain detailed information about the Company and management, as well as financial statements. The Issuer did not and does not intend to file a prospectus in connection with the Offering which has been made solely on a private placement basis. About Yellow Pages Limited Yellow Pages Limited (TSX: Y) is a Canadian digital media and marketing company that creates opportunities for buyers and sellers to discover, find, 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. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, the Company's corporate website is neither part of this press release nor incorporated by reference herein. SOURCE Yellow Pages Limited [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Mastercard Launches "Grow Your Biz Contest" to Support Small Businesses Ready to Grow Smart Today Mastercard launched the Grow Your Biz Contest in support of Bank of America Business Advantage, calling all Boston area small business owners to pitch their businesses for the opportunity to win $25,000 and expert one-on-one advice. "Growing and expanding business capabilities is always a primary focus for small business owners," said Kevin Kelly, New England Small Business Division Executive at Bank of America. "Together with Mastercard, we provide the resources that give small businesses a competitive advantage to achieve successful and sustainable growth." Small business owners are more confident and optimistic than ever before. According to the Bank of America Spring 2017 Small Business Owner Report, it is estimated that more than half of small businesses nationwide are planning to grow their businesses over the next five years. Mastercard and Bank of America are making it a priority to help these small businesses grow - and grow smart. "It's our mission to help small businesses get a jump start on taking their businessto the next level," said Ginger Siegel, Head of North America Small Business, Mastercard. "By partnering with Bank of America we can deliver the tools and solutions that this important and growing segment needs to make that happen." To enter the Grow Your Biz Contest, Boston area small business owners must answer the question, "How do you plan to grow your small business?" by either: Submitting a video (up to 30 seconds) online or Sharing a video on Twitter (News - Alert) using the #GrowYourBizContest hashtag Four finalists will receive a $1,000 Mastercard prepaid card and the opportunity to pitch their businesses to the Grow Your Biz Panel live in Boston on December 4, 2017. The Grow Your Biz panel includes certified mentor for SCORE Barry Charton, host of CNBC's "Cleveland Hustles" Bonin Bough, Head of North America Small Business for Mastercard Ginger Siegel and New England Small Business Division Executive for Bank of America Kevin Kelly. The judges will select one grand-prize winner who will receive a one-on-one business consultation with a Bank of America small business expert and $25,000 to pursue their business plan. Mastercard and Bank of America together are helping equip small business owners with the right tools and resources to drive their businesses forward and grow smart. About the Grow Your Biz Contest No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Open to small business owners in the Greater Boston Area, 18+. Ends November 3, 2017. Restrictions apply. Click here for Official Rules and complete details. About Mastercard Mastercard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world's fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities - such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances - easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005902/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] OSE Immunotherapeutics Publishes New Data on FR104, CD28-Antagonist Immunotherapy FR104 shows immune tolerance superiority over CTLA4-Ig in humanized skin transplant model FR104 efficacious in graft-versus-host reaction in bone marrow transplant model NANTES, France, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (ISIN: FR0012127173) (Mnemo:OSE), today announces the positive results of two preclinical studies evaluating FR104, an anti-antagonist antibody of CD28, a receptor which controls the activity of effector T lymphocytes. The first study, conducted in collaboration with the University of Oxford, was published in the JCI Insight (Journal of Clinical Investigation) (1). The second study was conducted in collaboration with the Childrens Cancer Research Institute (Washington) and the University of Vienna, and was published in Frontiers in Immunology(2). The research conducted in collaboration with the University of Oxford demonstrated the efficacy of FR104 in a humanized human skin transplant model, which is recognized as representative and predictive of clinical situations. In this model, FR104 significantly prolonged allograft survival compared to an immunosuppressant control product, CTLA4-Ig. The differential advantage provided by the selectivity of FR104 is to significantly reduce the activation of T lymphocytes, while sparing the activity of regulatory T lymphocytes. This is a further demonstration of the ability of FR104 to promote immunological tolerance. A separate study conducted in collaboration with the Children's Cancer Research Institute and the University of Vienna focused on the control of the graft-versus-host (GVHD) reaction that can follow a bone marrow transplant. The results demonstrated that FR104 blocked the alloreactivity of T-cells, allowing a control of the reaction of the GVHD, without compromising their control of anti-infectious immunity. Bernard Vanhove, COO of OSE Immunotherapeutics, Head of R&D and International Scientific Collaborations, commented: "These new preclinical FR104 data are indicative of the vast expertise of our R&D team and that of the Nantes teams of the Center for Research in Transplantation and Immunology (Joint Research Unit of INSERM and the University of Nantes) in transplantation and immunology. Their research has been conducted with multiple international partners, including the Universities of Oxford and Vienna. Following positive Phase 1 clinical results, OSE Immunotherapeutics announced Janssen Biotech, Inc. exercised its option to further develop FR104. In exchange for this exclusive worldwide license, OSE Immunotherapeutics is eligible to receive up to 155 million, plus royalties. "Our research in immunology and transplantation has led to a multitude of significant immune system-related findings, and provided OSE Immunotherapeutics with a number of new product development opportunities in immuno-oncology, especially on suppressive myeloid cells where original targets and products are under development, concluded Dominique Costantini, CEO of OSE Immunotherapeutics. (1) Selective blockade of CD28 on human T cells facilitates regulation of alloimmune responses Masaaki Zaitsu,1,2 Fadi Issa,1 Joanna Hester,1 Bernard Vanhove,3,4,5 and Kathryn J. Wood1 1Transplantation Research Immunology Group, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2Department of Gastroenterological Surgery I, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. 3Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie UMR 1064, INSERM, Universite de Nantes, Nantes, France. 4Institut de Transplantation Urologie Nephrologie (ITUN), CHU Nantes, Nantes, France. 5OSE Immunotherapeutics, Nantes, France. Reference information: JCI Insight. 2017;2(19): e89381. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.89381. This program is part of a European and international research support: TRIAD (Tolerance Restoration in Autoimmune Diseases), a collaborative project funded by the European FP7-Health 2011 program. (2) CD28 Blockade Ex Vivo Induces Alloantigen-specific Immune Tolerance but Preserves T-Cell Pathogen Reactivity 1 * , Sarah Ahmadi-Erber 1 , Klara Soukup 1 , Angela Halfmann 1 , Silke Schrom 1 , Bernard Vanhove 2,3,4 , Peter Steinberger 5 , Rene Geyeregger 6,7 , Stephan Ladisch 8 and Alexander Michael Dohnal 1* 1 Tumor Immunology, Childrens Cancer Research Institute (CCRI), St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung e.V., Vienna, Austria, 2 Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie UMR 1064, INSERM, Universite de Nantes, Nantes, France, 3 Institut de Transplantation Urologie Nephrologie (ITUN), CHU Nantes, Nantes, France, 4 OSE Immunotherapeutics, Nantes, France, 5 Institute of Immunology, Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 6 Clinical Cell Biology, Childrens Cancer Research Institute (CCRI), St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung e.V., Vienna, Austria, 7 Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 8 Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, Childrens Research Institute, Childrens National Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States Frontiers in Immunology | www.frontiersin.org, doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.01152, September 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 1152 ABOUT OSE Immunotherapeutics Our ambition is to become a world leader in activation and regulation immunotherapies: OSE Immunotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative immunotherapies for immune activation and regulation in the fields of immuno-oncology, autoimmune diseases and transplantation. The company has several scientific and technological platforms: neoepitopes, agonist or antagonist monoclonal antibodies, ideally positioned to fight cancer and autoimmune diseases. Its first-in-class clinical portfolio offers a diversified risk profile. In immuno-oncology: Tedopi , 10 combined neo-epitopes to induce specific T activation in immuno-oncology Phase 3 trial in advanced NSCLC; follow-up of patients included ongoing after temporary pause of new patient accrual end of June 2017. Phase 2 with Tedopi in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor planned in advanced pancreatic cancer, in collaboration with GERCOR, a cooperative group of clinical research. , 10 combined neo-epitopes to induce specific T activation in immuno-oncology Phase 3 trial in advanced NSCLC; follow-up of patients included ongoing after temporary pause of new patient accrual end of June 2017. Phase 2 with Tedopi in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor planned in advanced pancreatic cancer, in collaboration with GERCOR, a cooperative group of clinical research. OSE-172 (Effi-DEM), new generation checkpoint inhibitor targeting myeloid cells via the SIRP-a receptor - In preclinical development for several cancer models. Clinical program planned end of 2018. (Effi-DEM), new generation checkpoint inhibitor targeting myeloid cells via the SIRP-a receptor - In preclinical development for several cancer models. Clinical program planned end of 2018. OSE-703 (Effi-3), cytotoxic monoclonal antibody against the alpha chain of IL-7R - Under a research collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. In auto-immune diseases and transplantation: FR104 , CD28-antagonist in immunotherapy - Phase 1 trial completed For the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for use with transplantation - Licensed to Janssen Biotech Inc. to pursue clinical development. , CD28-antagonist in immunotherapy - Phase 1 trial completed For the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for use with transplantation - Licensed to Janssen Biotech Inc. to pursue clinical development. OSE-127 (Effi-7), interleukin receptor-7 antagonist - In preclinical development for inflammatory bowel diseases and other autoimmune diseases. Clinical phase planned end of 2018. License option agreement with Servier for the development and commercialization. The portfolios blockbuster potential gives OSE Immunotherapeutics the ability to enter global agreements at different stages of development with major pharmaceutical players. Immunotherapy is a highly promising and growing market. By 2023 Immunotherapy of cancer could represent nearly 60% of treatments against less than 3% at present * and the projected market is estimated at $67 billion in 2018 **. There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases that represent a significant market including major players in the pharmaceutical industry with sales towards $10 billion for the main products. The medical need is largely unmet and requires the provision of new innovative products involved in the regulation of the immune system. *Citi Research Equity **BCC Research Click and follow us on Twitter and Linkedln Twitter LinkedIn Contacts OSE Immunotherapeutics Sylvie Detry [email protected] +33 143 297 857 French Media: FP2COM Florence Portejoie [email protected] +33 607 768 283 U.S. Media: LifeSci Public Relations Matt Middleman, M.D. [email protected] +1 646 627 8384 U.S. and European Investors Chris Maggos [email protected] +41 79 367 6254 Forward-looking statements This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as expect, anticipate, believe, target, plan, or estimate, their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import. Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Reference Document filed with the AMF on 28 April 2017 under the number R.17-038, including the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2016, available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics website. Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Lockheed Martin Next Generation Missile Defense Sensor Technology Receives Prototyping Contract SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a contract for the technology maturation of Lower Tier Air & Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) prototypes. DOTC, commissioned by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, is a DoD initiative intended to facilitate collaboration between the government, industry and academia for technology development and prototyping. The funding from DOTC is used for technology development efforts that will further define performance requirements, mature technology and reduce risk for the LTAMDS program. "Receiving DOTC funding is indicative of the rapid capabilit need the LTAMDS will fill for the U.S. Army," said Mark Mekker, director of next generation radar systems at Lockheed Martin. "Lockheed Martin is ready to leverage our significant experience, Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology and sensor capabilities in the LTAMDS concept definition phase to accelerate much needed enhanced capability to the warfighter." Lockheed Martin is using its AESA Radar for Engagement and Surveillance (ARES) prototype investment program to mature technology and capabilities necessary for the future LTAMDS mission. Combined DOTC funding and Lockheed Martin investment will continue to mature technology for the prototype, including AESA and dual-band technology. The prototype will include mature Gallium Nitride (GaN) transmitter technology and advanced signal processing techniques including Lockheed Martin's proven 360-degree rotational capability. "Technology is maturing at such a pace that continuing to incrementally upgrade the heritage Patriot MPQ-65 radar system is no longer the most efficient and cost effective option," said Mekker. "A next generation LTAMDS radar will leverage recent advances in radar technology to provide a cost effective, scalable, long term solution that can address current threats and adapt to emerging and future threats." Lockheed Martin has developed and produced ground based radar systems for more than 40 years, and our latest open-architecture prototype leverages building blocks from several other successful radar products, including the Q-53, Long Range Discrimination Radar and Space Fence. Lockheed Martin's low-risk solution is based on decades of development, backed by demonstrable technology and will be the first sensor specifically designed to operate within the Army Integrated Air & Missile Defense (IAMD) framework. 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. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lockheed-martin-next-generation-missile-defense-sensor-technology-receives-prototyping-contract-300539940.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] MINNEAPOLIS How can Amazon or any company fill a second headquarters with 50,000 people? Let me show you, said Thomas Paulson, a Minneapolis investment analyst who has followed Amazon for 17 years, as he pulled up a staffing chart on his iPad. Their success has surprised even them. Beneath the hype of Amazons search for a second headquarters are numbers that defy gravity and a business strategy that investors wouldnt tolerate from most companies. Seattle-based Amazon has expanded from a base as the worlds largest online retailer to become a major competitor in several other industries. Its web services business is the largest provider of data warehouses for corporate America. Its logistics unit is building out airfreight, trucking and shipping lines. And its media business is now one of Hollywoods biggest producers. All four businesses have reached a size that make Amazon the fastest-growing large company in the United States at the moment and perhaps ever. Its leaping from $100 billion to $200 billion in annual sales faster than all but one of the handful of U.S. companies that have accomplished that. Exxon crossed $200 billion instantly when it bought Mobil in 1998. Amazon is mostly growing organically and could hit $200 billion next year, just three years after reaching $100 billion. Apple did it in five years, Walmart six and Berkshire Hathaway seven. UnitedHealth Group is on the verge of doing it in six years. In the process, Amazon is gobbling up employees like a maw, adding a net 111,000 to its worldwide staff last year. Thats nearly as many people as it employed in 2013. Amazon started this year with 341,000 people and was expected to add 136,000, not counting the 87,000 who joined with its acquisition of Whole Foods or its 120,000 holiday-season temps. Last month, Amazon announced that it envisions spending $5 billion on a second corporate home that may someday employ 40,000 to 50,000 people. It gave political and development leaders in U.S. and Canadian cities six weeks to prepare real estate and incentive proposals, which were due Thursday. Willingness to fail Amazon turned from a fast-growing company to an ultra-fast-growing one in 2011, a year when it accelerated the construction of giant distribution centers for its retail business, and its web services business also hit the gas. Its staffing grew 67 percent that year, the fastest since its earliest years when the base was small. From 2012 through last year, it averaged 44 percent annual growth to its head count a staggering pace usually seen in much smaller or younger companies. Amazon declined to comment for this story. In a letter to shareholders early last year, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos ascribed the rapid growth as the payoff from a distinctive organizational culture built around a few principles. Im talking about customer obsession rather than competitor obsession, eagerness to invent and pioneer, willingness to fail, the patience to think long-term, and the taking of professional pride in operational excellence, he wrote. Bezos, a former hedge fund investor, started Amazon in 1995 as a way into the then-nascent world of internet retailing. He first offered books from a small warehouse near the Seattle Kingdome, added music and videos a few years later and rolled into other categories to become an everything store. Amazon is now spending heaviest to build its shipping infrastructure and to make shopping even less of a hassle for consumers. One example: Amazons voice-activated Echo devices shorten ordering time and give the company deeper insight into buying patterns. Bezos encourages risk and tolerates failure at a level beyond whats seen in most large companies. Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right, he wrote to shareholders last year. Given a 10 percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. A Wall Street anomaly In 1998, Bezos took the critical step to make such risk-taking possible by telling shareholders that Amazon would focus on long-term growth more than short-term profits. Hes repeated that idea every year since and investors have gone along, accepting small profits and occasional losses from Amazon even now, 20 years after the company went public. Its stock price, which started at $1.50 in 1997, closed above $1,000 Tuesday. Amazons stock keeps getting bid up despite the fact they run at break-even, said Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor and author of the new book The Four, which explores the high-level strategies of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. They have reshaped the compact between investors and companies. Nearly all other U.S. companies are under pressure to hit quarterly profit targets or deliver dividends while Amazon reinvests nearly everything it makes into future businesses. If you said to Best Buy or General Mills, were going to give you access to the debt and equity markets so you can raise almost an infinite amount of capital, and their boards said all they needed to do with that capital is break even, those companies could be remarkably innovative, Galloway said. Theyre not given that luxury. [October 19, 2017] Attorney Carney Shegerian Issues Comments on Tesla's Decision to Fire 400 Employees LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carney Shegerian, trial lawyer and founder of the Los Angeles-based employment discrimination firm Shegerian & Associates, released a statement regarding the announcement that Tesla recently fired around 400 employees. The luxury electric automobile maker claimed performance issues motivated the decision, but the employees that were fired disagree. "Employees from all levels within the Tesla organization were suddenly fired, including associates, team leaders, and supervisors," Shegerian says. "The announcement shocked many within the industry since firing hundreds of employees at once is not something that a growing company typically does." "The company claims the decision to fire these employees was based solely on their annual performance reviews," Shegerian continues. "However, a few of the fired employees deny ever receiving a negative review." "It is not uncommon for an employer to use mass fiings to mask an illegitimate targeting of select employees," Shegerian added. "What's even more disturbing is Tesla will not confirm the number of employees that have been fired," Shegerian says. "Many have estimated that 400 employees were terminated, but some sources have reported it could be closer to 700." "It is important to note that the employees were terminated shortly after Tesla announced the company had fallen short of its production goal for September," Shegerian says. "It seems as if Tesla may be looking for ways to cut expenses in order to boost the company's bottom lineeven if that means getting rid of hundreds of workers." Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, & New York, Shegerian & Associates is a law firm specializing in protecting the rights of employees who have been wronged by their employers. Carney Shegerian, Trial Lawyer of the Year Award winner for 2013, has won 76 jury trials in his career, including 33 seven figure verdicts. Shegerian & Associates is passionately dedicated to serving the needs of its clients. For more information about the firm, visit www.ShegerianLaw.com. Media Contact: To arrange interviews with Carney Shegerian regarding employment law matters, please contact [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/attorney-carney-shegerian-issues-comments-on-teslas-decision-to-fire-400-employees-300539927.html SOURCE Shegerian & Associates, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Plantronics Honored by Frost & Sullivan With 2017 North American Augmented Reality Technology Innovation Award for Habitat Soundscaping SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plantronics (NYSE:PLT), an audio pioneer and communications technology leader, today announced that it has been named by Frost & Sullivan as its 2017 North American Augmented Reality Technology Innovation Award recipient for Habitat Soundscaping the companys industry-first service for addressing open office noise and distraction. Habitat Soundscaping is an intelligent service that mitigates the noise and distractions often associated with open office designs and allows people to focus and collaborate. The multisensory experience uses natural sounds and complementary visuals along with adaptive software. Together, these dynamically diminish ever-changing noise, and most particularly intelligible speech, within open office environments. Frost & Sullivan cites the companys forward-thinking technology and business insight as the basis for the recognition, specifically stating, Plantronics has identified a significant business problem and then applied cutting-edge technology to address that problem. Its Habitat Soundscaping service allows businesses to reap the rewards of open office spaces while minimizing the problems associated with them. Its gratifying to have Frost & Sullivan validate the innovation and augmentation of the open office environments that were making possible with our Habitat Soundscaping solution, said Beau Wilder, Vice President, Innovation Waves and New Products, Plantronics. The days of compromise are gone. Now any company with a workspace that looks gorgeous but is noisy and uncomfortable or architects working-up new open office plans can ensure the space will be peaceful, productive, and conducive to employee well-being with Habitat Soundscaping. About Habitat Soundscaping Habitat Soundscaping uses nature-inspired audio and visuals, cupled with intelligent software to mitigate distractions due to speech the most common complaint employees have about their open workspaces. Nature-inspired Audio Intelligible speech is highly distracting for humans, who are hard-wired to pay attention to speech and fill in any missing pieces of conversation. Research has proven natural water sounds are the most effective means to reduce the impact of intelligible speech while also creating a comfortable, rejuvenating environment to work in. The Habitat Soundscaping service brings these natural water sounds to the open office creating a space that is highly functional and promotes overall wellbeing. Natural Scenes The Habitat Soundscaping service uses a combination of natural audio and real waterfalls, or virtual displays of serene landscapes, to help reinvigorate the office. The visuals complement the nature-inspired audio to create a harmonious, multisensory experience. Research has also shown that bringing visual connections to nature into the office can improve cognitive functioning and mood of the people in that space. Intelligent Software To reduce distraction, the service actively senses disruptive, intelligible speech and dynamically adjusts the natural sounds in the surrounding work zones in real time to help others stay focused without interrupting any collaboration. It even works at the subconscious level, acoustically incentivizing the right behavior, so that especially loud talkers are encouraged to keep their voices down. The system also automatically analyzes its performance to ensure its running optimally day-in and day-out. Please visit habitat.plantronics.com to learn more about this industry-first solution for open office environments. In addition to the 2017 North American Augmented Reality Technology Innovation Award, Plantronics was honored to receive Frost & Sullivans 2015 Global Contact Center and Office Headset Market Leadership Award for its continued pursuit of excellence in the professional office headset space. About Plantronics Plantronics is an audio pioneer and a global leader in the communications industry. We create intelligent and adaptive solutions that support our customers most important needs: experiencing and facilitating simple and clear communications while enjoying distraction-free environments. Our solutions are used worldwide by consumers and businesses alike, and are an optimal choice for open office environments. From Unified Communications and customer service ecosystems, to data analytics and Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers high-quality communications solutions that our customers count on today, while relentlessly innovating on behalf of their future. For more information visit plantronics.com. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics, Inc., is under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Press Contact: LeAnne Schrotzberger Senior PR Manager [email protected] 831-420-3139 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Bibby Transportation Finance Uses AI Platform to Speed Up Services and Increase Accuracy in its Factoring Process Bibby Transportation Finance (BTF), a division of Bibby Financial Services (BFS), announces its new client portal powered by HubTran. The new BTF client portal brings more efficiency for the company's FreightCheck offering, by simplifying the factoring process to provide proof of delivery invoicing for factoring clients. BTF works with owner-operators, small and medium size trucking companies, and freight brokers to keep America's goods moving with its freight factoring offerings. HubTran is the leading provider of back-office automation solutions for factoring and transportation companies. HubTran will help BTF to speed up processing, increase accuracy and improve customer service by providing a proactive platform that is reliable and easy to use while addressing the most critical challenges for factors like BTF. The BTF client portal project implementation was supported by Mary Ann Hudson, EVP and Head of BTF and HubTran CEO Matt Bernstein, along with a combined team of associates from both companies. "BTF provides stellar customer service, with Net Promoter Scores higher than 2016 NPS industry benchmarks (according to Net Promoter Network). This new client portal will only further our success in supporting the clients who rely on us to keep their cash flowing with a simplified factoring process so they can run more truckloads," said Hudson. "The client portal for our FreightCheck clients was one of our top strategic initatives for 2017. HubTran has made implementation seamless and easy; best of all, we experienced no delays in our operations." After seeing the immediate benefits provided by the platform, BTF has plans to enhance mobile capabilities for the one- to four-truck owner/operator businesses served through FreightCheck. Additionally, HubTran plans to release verification and invoice/payment status modules to further help BTF manage risk and improve cash flow to their customers, a challenge faced by many transportation factoring companies. Bernstein concludes, "HubTran isn't just a tech company; we work closely with our customers to understand their operations and business challenges at the detail level. Bibby is one of the most respected teams in the industry and we're delighted to be working with them to bring our AI platform to their fast-growing operations." About Bibby Financial Services Bibby Financial Services is a leading independent financial services partner to more than 10,250 businesses worldwide providing more than $1.25 billion in funding annually and handling $11.6 billion in annual client turnover globally. With over 44 operations in 13 countries spanning Europe, North America and Asia, we provide asset-based lending and factoring solutions to help businesses grow in domestic and international markets. Established in 2001, Bibby Financial Services North America has seven offices in the U.S. and Canada that support businesses in virtually any industry. We hold memberships in the Commercial Finance Association, the International Factoring Association, and the American Finance Association. Bibby Financial Services is part of Bibby Line Group (BLG), a diverse and forward-looking family business with over 200 years' experience of providing personal, responsive and flexible customer solutions. To find out more about Bibby USA and Bibby Canada, please visit www.bibbyusa.com or www.bibbycanada.ca. About HubTran HubTran (www.hubtran.com) is the leading provider of back office automation technology for factoring and transportation companies. HubTran's SaaS (News - Alert) platform streamlines invoice processing, document management, and exception handling. Customers increase productivity 4X, reduce errors and increase capacity. HubTran's innovative technology leverages Optical Character Recognition and Artificial Intelligence to simplify back office work without requiring massive investments of time in training and integration. Per-transaction pricing makes it as economical as it is easy. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005870/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Wondershare exhibited as a Chipotle Sponsor at Spicework's SpiceWorld 2017 Conference to showcase PDF solutions VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SpiceWorld 2017 was held last week in Austin, TX. For those unfamiliar with SpiceWorld, it is Spicework's annual premier conference for IT Pros. The site itself is a vertical network that millions of IT professionals use to connect with each other and thousands of technology brands. The company simplifies how IT professionals discover, buy, and manage more than $600 billion in technology products and services each year. PDFelement team with IT Pros SpiceWorld 2017 - PDFelement Team Every year, SpiceWorld brings together thousands of technical and marketing professionals for three days of networking and information-sharing on all things IT. The event features numerous informative sessions delivered by some of the smartest people in the industry, a vibrant exhibit hall, and one-on-one conversations with technology vendors from all over the world. This year, Wondershare exhibited as a Chipotle Sponsor to showcase PDFelement, a leading alternative to Adobe Acrobat that goes toe-to-toe on most features and has several advantages, including a low learning curve, cross platform support, and enterprise-grade PDF editing capabilities. Businesses need a powerful but intuitive PDF solution that is easy to deploy in their existing environment, and can be standardized across both Windws and Mac platforms. PDFelement is the only cost-effective solution that meets these requirements. It comes at less than a third of the price of Adobe Acrobat, which makes it an ideal fit for businesses with finite software budgets. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/400c350c-de7e-4d49-b1b1-ce7d26bf6f36 The PDFelement team was working at full force at SpiceWorld 2017, and they arrived back home with requests for follow-up from over 500 IT pros. These companies were interested in learning more about the enterprise-grade capabilities of PDFelement and how the software can be standardized across their business. SpiceWorld 2017 was a great opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the Spiceworks community. We also enjoyed connecting with the IT community and discussing the ways in which their document workflows could be streamlined and transformed for increased efficiency. PDFelement simplifies document productivity challenges while delivering measurable and meaningful ROI. We also provide a world-class customer service experience, which is a real value differentiator for our customers. - Faisal Khan, Business Development Manager at Wondershare Technology, Canada. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cffe2198-26bf-4a43-9a14-c66b67de3171 PDFelement is certainly overwhelmed by the enthusiasm generated at SpiceWorld, and plan to use this momentum to reach out to the broader Spiceworks community to raise awareness around their PDF solutions designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. Check out a detailed features comparison between PDFelement and Acrobat and review the pricing here https://pdf.wondershare.com/pdfelement-vs-adobe-acrobat/ Learn why IT pros are switching from Adobe Acrobat to PDFelement here http://bit.ly/2ggRHOW About Wondershare: With offices in Shenzhen, Tokyo and Vancouver, Wondershare Co. Ltd has a truly diverse team who work on an equally diverse array of multimedia, utility and document applications. The company today serves millions of customers across over 150 countries. It has been honored three consecutive times in Deloittes Technology Fast 50 China list and twice by Forbes in their China Potential Enterprises. Wondershare is a recognized member of the PDF Association, an international body of industry leaders dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of international standards for PDF technologies. For more information, please visit www.wondershare.com. Wondershare Contact Wondershare Media Contact Faisal Khan Business Development Manager Wondershare Technology Inc. Tel: 778 728 0618 Ext.851 [email protected] www.wondershare.com Rebecca Chen User Engagement Specialist Wondershare Technology Inc. Tel: 778 728 0618 [email protected] www.wondershare.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Sharp INTELLOS Security Robot Earns Two Industry Awards at ASIS MONTVALE, N.J., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- One year after product launch at ASIS International 2016, the Sharp INTELLOS Automated Unmanned Ground Vehicle (A-UGV) was awarded two industry honors during ASIS 2017 in Dallas, Texas, last month. The Sharp INTELLOS A-UGV was named "New Product of the Year for Outdoor Perimeter Protection" by Security Today. The Sharp INTELLOS A-UGV also earned the "Security Solutions Award for Security Monitoring" by Security Sales & Integration. Security Today magazine announced the winners of their 2017 "New Product of the Year Award" in August and presented each recipient with their honor at ASIS. The Security Today "New Product of the Year Award for Outdoor Perimeter Protection" honors the outstanding product development achievements of security equipment manufacturers whose products are considered to be particularly noteworthy in their ability to improve security. More than 100 entries were received in the ninth successful year of the independently juried contest. Winners were honored in 40 product award categories and those manufacturers will be highlighted in the December 2017 Security Today issue. Ralph C. Jensen, Editor-in-Chief of Security Today, said, "The New Product of the Year contest gives us a terrific sampling of security solutions, but what is more amazing each year is the technical savvy that comes along with new products. Our juried judges must be able to understand technology and innovation to be able to stay on top of security solutions that will blend into the platforms in use today, and what will be expected of them tomorrow. Our New Product of the Year contest allows forward-thinking manufacturers to be able to share their vision of security." On hand to accept Security Today's award was Alice DiSanto, Director of Marketing for the Sharp Robotics Business Division. "The last twelve months have validated that security robotics are the future. SOs (Chief Security Officers) are looking for solutions to their initiatives that traditional manpower and technology cannot alone fulfill. Security needs are too great and ever-increasing. In order to hit productivity and profitability goals, yet also protect critical infrastructure, assets and people, automation is critical. Corporations have experienced automation success stories in the business areas of accounting, recruiting, and customer tracking. The time is now to automate routine safety, maintenance and surveillance tasks." As for Security Sales & Integration (SSI), this was the third year for their "Security Solutions Awards" program. The program recognizes manufacturers whose products have been field-tested and successfully deployed to solve real customer challenges. Sharp Electronics was one of eight winners in seven application areas. The Sharp INTELLOS A-UGV met several needs for a global pharmaceutical company, which included adding another tier of protection to their onion-layer model of intrusion detection; extending air quality monitoring to the exterior; and further supporting security officers. Case study details about Sharp's outdoor robot will be featured in SSI's annual December 2017 Technology Issue. SSI's Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher, Scott Goldfine, shared about the winners, "The real test for manufacturers' products ? especially when dealing in the sometimes life or death realm of security and safety ? is how they truly meet the needs of both the security integrator and their customer. How does a given device or system deliver problem-solution results in the field deployed in real-world scenarios? That is the true litmus test and why SSI founded the "Security Solutions Awards". This unique program is an outstanding platform for security product suppliers to showcase their wares and a unique source for integrators to identify project solutions." Mike Kobelin, National Sales Director for the Sharp Robotics Business Division, at ASIS for the award announcement, stated, "It is one thing for a manufacturer to claim it can satisfy security and safety needs. Demonstrating proof of concept is the tipping point for accelerated adoption and that's what Sharp has been able to do. Sharp is grateful to Security Sales & Integration for assembling a panel of independent industry professionals, integrators and consultants, to evaluate the technical merits and ease of use for products, like the Sharp INTELLOS A-UGV." About Security Sales & Integration (SSI) "The #1 Technology & Business Authority Since 1979" reaches executive, sales & technical professionals who recommend, buy and/or install electronic security equipment, including video surveillance, access control, biometrics, IT networking, intrusion, fire alarm, home controls/automation plus other security products and services. Editorial features include commercial & residential product applications, technology updates, systems design installation techniques, sales & marketing case studies, statistical research and operation management. www.securitysales.com About Security Today Security Today magazine is the product and technology resource for security dealers, integrators and end-users seeking comprehensive security information. Security Today provides coverage for both physical and IT security serving the multi-market industries of suppliers, dealers, and end-users of security products and systems. SecurityToday.com About Sharp Electronics Corporation Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation. Sharp is a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, professional displays, robotics and energy systems. For more information, visit SharpUSA.com. Contact: Alice DiSanto, SRBD Director of Marketing Telephone: 914-582-8464 Email: [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sharp-intellos-security-robot-earns-two-industry-awards-at-asis-300539975.html SOURCE Sharp Robotics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 'Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years' AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is honored to announce a significant milestone: this year marks the observation and celebration of AHF's 30th anniversary, an accomplishment that now includes providing HIV/AIDS prevention, care and services-including lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, to more than 817,000 people in 38 countries in the US, Europe, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. As part of its 30th anniversary, AHF will mark the achievement throughout the remainder of 2017 with a series of global events and activities, including screenings of the new one-hour documentary, 'Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years.' Through interviews with key AHF stakeholders from over the years coupled with archival video footage culled from AHF's 30 years of advocacy, care and activism, 'Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years' tells a compelling story of AHF's history while offering a glimpse of, and road map to its future. Staff and public screenings of the film start in October and will continue through the end of the year as the observation of World AIDS Day approaches (observed each year on December 1st) when AHF will also host a number of World AIDS Day/AHF 30th Anniversary concerts and community activations around the globe. 'Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years' was made by Foxhound Productions and will also be subtitled in at least nine additional languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Nepali, Khmer, Russian, Ukrainian and Hindi-languages spoken in many of the countries and regions where AHF currently operates and provides care and services. Founded in 1987 first as the AIDS Hospice Committee and later the AIDS Hospice Foundation, AHF's earliest days were a heartfelt, grassroots community effort to provide end-of-life hospice care to people with AIDS in Los Angeles, California at a time in the mid-1980s before lifesaving drug treatment was available for people with HIV/AIDS. Thirty years later, AHF has now grown to become the largest global AIDS organization. "On this occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of AHF, I want to thank our board of directors, our staff of 5,600, our 817,000 patients and the community of supporters we have around the country and the world. Everything we have accomplished is because of your dedication. AHF stands as living proof that the world can be changed for the better if you are willing to work hard and dedicate yourself to a mission," said Michael Weinstein, AHF's President and founder. "I really wish that Chris Brownlie, my dear friend and co-founder of AHF, could be alive today to see what his voice inspired. While we celebrate this milestone, we recognize that there is still so much more work to be done before we defeat AIDS once and for all time." "Congratulations to all of the AHF staff, Board members, volunteers, partners and our patients for contributing your best to help AHF meet this remarkable thirty-year milestone with over 821,000 patients now in AHF's care somewhere in the world," said Cynthia Davis, MPH, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and Chair of AHF's Board of Directors. "On behalf of the Board, we are honored and proud of the work done-and to work alongside you-in the fight against AIDS each day. Members of the Board also look forward to celebrating this milestone with many of you at these events, celebrations and film screenings at AHF locations around the corner and around the globe, as well as during our upcoming 'Keep the Promise' World AIDS Day concerts and community events. Again, heartfelt congratulations and thanks to all those involved in this remarkable AHF accomplishment." AHF provides medical care and services at over 445 global clinics in 37 other countries outside to U.S. including: THE AMERICAS-11 countries, including: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru (as well as the previously cited United States). AFRICA-11 countries, including: Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia. ASIA-9 countries, including: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. EUROPE-7 countries, including: Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine. In addition, AHF operates 48 free HIV/AIDS healthcare centers in 14 states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. (California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Washington [state] and Washington, DC). AHF's Early History AHF began operations in 1987 as the AIDS Hospice Foundation by a group of activists in response to the urgent need to provide hospice services to patients dying of AIDS on the streets of Los Angeles. By July 1990, the organization had changed its name to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, as the need for ongoing medical care for HIV/AIDS patients grew. When the advent of lifesaving antiretroviral medications ushered in a treatment revolution in 1996, AHF began supplying these medications to patients for free without guarantee of reimbursement and at great financial risk. In 2002, at the invitation of local South African activists, AHF opened its fist free HIV/AIDS clinic outside the U.S. in this hard-hit country. In 2004, AHF declared its pledge to reach 100,000 people worldwide with its services, and by 2009, AHF reached that major milestone. Today, in addition to its clinics and treatment centers, AHF also operates a chain of 46 AHF Pharmacy outlets in 11 states and runs managed care and disease management programs for people with AIDS or HIV in Florida and California under AHF's Positive Healthcare umbrella. Through AHF's Public Health Division, AHF operates one of the largest community-based free HIV testing programs in the US (176,950 free tests in the US in 2016). In addition, nearly five million free HIV tests were done globally by AHF in 2016 (4,876,600 tests). AHF also operates 21 Wellness Centers in eight states (and four additional Wellness Centers in two other countries) and also operates two AHF Dental Clinics in South Florida and Southern California. The AHF Research Division has nearly 23 years of experience with antiretroviral (ARV) studies. AHF also operates the award-winning chain of 'Out of the Closet' thrift stores-currently 21 outlets in seven states in the U.S., many of which are free HIV testing sites as well. 'KEEPING THE PROMISE-AHF 30 YEARS' World theatrical premiere of new documentary! Thursday, October 19th at Hollywood's historic Arclight Theater's Cinerama Dome to mark AIDS Healthcare Foundation's 30th Anniversary. WHAT: 'KEEPING THE PROMISE-AHF 30 YEARS' - Film Screening & Celebration/Reception WHEN: Thursday, October 19, 2017 6:00 PM reception 7:00 PM film screening (one hour) with brief 30th Anniversary Ceremony to follow WHERE: Arclight Theater Hollywood, 6360 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA (News - Alert) 90028 MEDIA CONTACTS: Ged Kenslea, AHF, 323.791.5526 mobile, [email protected] Christopher Johnson, AHF, 310.880.9913 mobile, [email protected] 'KEEPING THE PROMISE-AHF 30 YEARS' - Film Trailers Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years - trailer #1 - https://youtu.be/pW5yRz0z3i0 Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years - trailer #2 - https://youtu.be/vwwCzLaU8QY Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years - trailer #3 - https://youtu.be/L9ukf6pUa88 Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years - trailer #4 - https://youtu.be/I_ezSYxONQY Keeping the Promise-AHF 30 Years - trailer #5 - https://youtu.be/7XKhVlArZcI AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 817,000 individuals in 38 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @aidshealthcare. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006458/en/ [October 19, 2017] Catalent, Inc. Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2018 Earnings Conference Webcast Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) ("Catalent"), the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies and development solutions for drugs, biologics, and consumer health products, today announced that it will release financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 ended September 30, 2017, before the market open on Monday, November 6, 2017. The Company's management will host a webcast to discuss the results at 8:15 a.m. ET on the same day. Catalent invites all interested parties to listen to the webcast, which will be accessible through Catalent's website at http://investor.catalent.com. A supplemental slide presentation will also be available in the "Investos" section of Catalent's website prior to the start of the webcast. The webcast replay, along with the supplemental slides, will be available for 90 days in the "Investors" section at www.catalent.com. About Catalent, Inc. Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) is the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies and development solutions for drugs, biologics and consumer health products. With over 80 years serving the industry, Catalent has proven expertise in bringing more customer products to market faster, enhancing product performance and ensuring reliable clinical and commercial product supply. Catalent employs approximately 10,000 people, including over 1,400 scientists, at more than 30 facilities across five continents, and in fiscal 2017 generated over $2 billion in annual revenue. Catalent is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.catalent.com. More products. Better treatments. Reliably supplied. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006545/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 19, 2017] Creative Canada: Minister Joly Reiterates the Government's Vision for the future of Canada's Creative Industries at an Event in Halifax Creative Canada is a roadmap that focuses on supporting Canadian creators, delivering their content to audiences at home and abroad, and ensuring that there is always a space for diverse, Canadian voices HALIFAX, Oct. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Last month, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, launched Creative Canada: the Government of Canada's vision for the future of Canada's creative industries. During the 2017 Creative City Summit in Halifax today, Minister Joly reiterated the main themes of Creative Canada, Canada's first-ever strategy to strengthen our diverse and vibrant creative sector. Creative Canada offers a renewed policy approach that rests on three pillars: investing in Canadian creators and cultural entrepreneurs, promoting the discovery and distribution of Canadian content at home and globally, and working to strengthen public broadcasting and support local news. Canada is a world leader in the quality of our creative industries. That is why, as part of Creative Canada, Minister Joly announced funding of $125 million over five years to support an export strategy for Canada's creative industries. Consistent with this new direction, Minister Joly also announced her intention to lead Canada's first creative industries trade mission to China in April 2018. Through business-to-business pairings, information sessions, mentoring and networking activities, and other initiatives, the mission will help delegates build business relationships in China and acquire the knowledge and skills needed to better access the Chinese market. The arts and culture sector is valued at $54.6 billion and is a cornerstone of Canada's economy. It employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians in various field across the country, in addition to the numerous spin-off jobs in local communities. These high-value jobs are essential to our economyand with Creative Canada, the Government of Canada will ensure they remain sustainable well into the future. Quotes "Canadians are extremely proud of our creators and creative entrepreneurs. Our culture plays an essential role in our economy and in building identity, pride and a shared sense of values. Canada's creative sector supports numerous high-quality jobs that help grow our middle class and support families all across the country. Through Creative Canada, we will enact policies that help our creators and cultural entrepreneurs address the challenges that they are facing, and ensure that Canada's voice will be heard loud and strong on the world stage." The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage Quick Facts Canada's creative sector grows our country's economy and provides important jobs that help support the middle class. The arts and culture sector provides direct jobs for more than 630,000 Canadians, as well as numerous spin-off jobs created as a result of cultural production. Creative Canada supports high-quality content in both English and French for Canadians and audiences around the world. The Government of Canada has invested $1.9 billion in arts and culture, currently the largest investment of any G7 nation. The creative industries trade mission to China in April 2018 will support cultural organizations and businesses looking to build new partnerships and business relationships. Associated Links Creative Canada website Creative CanadaA Vision for Canada's Creative Industries Creative Canada: Changes to Policies, Programs and the Law New CRTC Chair's Leadership Will Help Shape the Future of Canada's Communication System Order in Council Section 15 BackgrounderMinister Joly Announces Her Intention to Lead Canada's First Creative Industries Trade Mission to China in April 2018 Related Products Creative Canada Policy Framework SOURCE Canadian Heritage [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] BelAir Cantina elevates the chips and salsa experience. Facing a wait of 35 to 45 minutes on a Saturday night, two friends and I headed to the sprawling bar, where we found one open seat in the corner. Two adjacent seats opened up about 15 minutes later. After we ordered margaritas from an impressive list of 10 specialty ones served on the rocks, we were offered chips and salsa. These were no ordinary chips and salsa. The excellent tortilla chips were served warm with three beautiful-looking salsas in the kind of multi-compartment condiment holder you might see in an Indian restaurant. The tomatillo salsa was unrivaled, with the roasted tomato and arbol salsas providing a nice contrast. Our bartender also brought out a generous cup of the restaurants outrageously spicy habanero salsa. We could barely tolerate the chip with just a touch of salsa, but the flavor was fantastic. We were seated after 40 minutes and quickly presented with new chips and salsa. Our waitress recommended the Cali guacamole ($6.98), which was almost too sweet with roasted pineapple and pomegranate. We also asked for a side ($1.49) of the regular guacamole to compare it, and found that the lime overpowered whatever other little flavors there were. It could have used more garlic, onions and maybe cilantro. Tacos are the main attraction, and when you order three you get rice and beans, both of which are worthwhile. The red beans have beer in them and therefore gluten, and because one of my companions has a gluten sensitivity we went with the refried black beans. The Mexican rice was also a fine complement to the tacos, and I appreciated the slice of fried plantain on top, for both looks and taste. The tacos come on flour tortillas or two, thin white corn tortillas, both great options. I preferred the ninja pig ($3.81) with crispy pork, hoisin glaze, and crisp cucumber and jicama providing a wonderful contrast to the flavorful meat; and the Korean beef ($4.45), with big hunks of dark, marinated meat and lots of veggies on top. One of my companions encountered a piece of tough meat, but the bites I had were all tender. The housemade chorizo taco ($3.89) was also inspired, a cant-miss combination of ground pork marinated with guajillo chilis, potatoes, radish, cilantro and queso fresco. The only taco I could have done without was the cochinita pibil ($3.98) with slow-roasted pork cooked in orange juice, earthy achiote and banana leaves and topped with pickled onions. It was the least compelling to me, but one of my companions thought it most perfectly represented the tacos she loved about her time in Merida, Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. She was surprised to find authentic tacos at such a trendy, mainstream fusion restaurant. The Madison location of the Milwaukee-based success story opened Aug. 28 where Francescas al Lago was on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The large space is colorful, frenetic and loud with a lot of youthful energy. One of my friends, who is 67, noted that the average age in the place was about 30. The only older people we saw seemed to be parents with their college-age children. This is the sixth restaurant for BelAir Cantina, which has five locations in the Milwaukee area and is part of the Toro, Toro, Toro restaurant group. BelAirs version of a cobb salad ($5.97) was the ideal counterpoint to the tacos, chips and guacamole. It had ribbons of romaine, along with egg, cheddar, tomato, queso fresco, black beans, sweet corn, and bacon in every bite. Instead of being laid out in sections, everything was tossed together and thoroughly dressed with a habanero ranch. For dessert, there are smores and churros, but the queso fresco cheesecake ($5.98) sounded the most interesting. The circular cake wasnt as smooth and creamy as a regular cheesecake and came surrounded by a raspberry sauce. It was fine, but not a must-have. That designation goes to the margarita section of the menu, where pitchers and half pitchers are the way to go if everyone in your party is on the same page. Its hard to top the house BelAir margarita ($6.50 for a pint glass, $14 for a half pitcher, $26 for a full pitcher). Although perfect for a lightweight like me, my friend knocked it, saying, I like it when I can taste the tequila. Later, during dinner, he was happier with a much stronger big kahuna ($9 for a pint glass). Meanwhile, I had a charred pineapple margarita ($9), made like BelAirs other fruit margaritas, with a homemade puree. It had mezcal rather than tequila, which gave it a smoky flavor. I preferred the basic BelAir margarita, and would stick to that next time. Dozens of people weighed in on the proposed 2018 Dane County budget at a public hearing Wednesday, with most focusing their ire on a plan to renovate the countys jail facilities. Among the proposals in Dane County Executive Joe Parisis $538 million 2018 budget proposal is a $76 million plan to remodel the countys jail. At a Dane County Board of Supervisors public comment meeting, that plan was mostly opposed, although supporters have said the plan resolves issues around jail safety while increasing programming. Those who spoke against the plan Wednesday urged the county supervisors to reject the plan and instead invest in crime prevention, mental health and housing resources to keep people out of the criminal justice system altogether. At some point it has to stop, said Madison resident Damon Terrell at the meeting. Dont fund more incarceration. We have so much going on in this city that we can fund ... theres a lot going on that we can put money towards. In addition, several dozen protested the new jail plan outside Madisons City-County building before Wednesdays meeting. Under the proposal, the countys three jail facilities would be combined into one. The number of beds would be reduced by about 100, with $110,000 used for re-entry programming for inmates. The outdated City-County Building jail, which has been called dangerous, would be closed, along with the work-release Ferris Center. Current jail facilities also exist in the Downtown Public Safety Building, which would be remodeled to add four floors, with an increase in medical and mental health beds and an increase in jail programs. Even many of those who spoke in support of investing in the jail were cautious about the approach and encouraged the county to increase access to mental health and housing resources while still renovating the jail. District 2 Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner said shell be introducing amendments to the budget to help house people in need. Housing, she said, is one of the main solutions to reducing the need for jails. The proposed budget would also allocate more than $1 million for mental health providers at schools so children who are in crisis or on the edge of a crisis can connect with services. Parisis budget also includes money to study the countys mental health resource system and for a Porchlight Inc. program called Safe Haven that provides transitional housing, a drop-in day center and other resources to the homeless with mental illnesses. Other than disagreement with Parisis jail proposal, there were few comments the rest of the meeting over the budget that would increase taxes for the average Madison home, valued at $269,377, by about $54.74 a year. If passed, Dane County drivers would also have to pay a $28 vehicle registration fee to help pay for road repair and construction. Other provisions included in the budget are: $4 million to help expand Highway M to connect the Far West Side of Madison to Verona, and $2 million to improve Fish Hatchery Road south of the Beltline to Highway PD. $2.5 million to help clean up county waterways and lakes by removing sediment from creeks, rivers and streams that feed into the countys lakes. In addition, a $45,000 grant program would identify ways to reduce carbon emissions. Give new or adoptive mothers and fathers that are county employees 10 weeks of paid parental leave. $1.9 million for off-road bike and pedestrian trails. Amendments to the budget can be made until early November. The board is scheduled to vote on the budget later in November. At its annual developer conference, Samsung celebrated many of its XR initiatives, particularly those related to content. From video streaming and web browsing to photo-sharing and gaming, it's clear that Samsung wants its VR products to be more than expensive paper weights. Samsung didn't announce new programs at the conference, but it did offer some more details about its existing ones. The company said that its Gear VR platform "features more than 1,000 apps, 10,000 high-quality videos through the premium 360-degree immersive Samsung VR service, and noteworthy collaborations with top content creators and media brands." That should be enough to ensure Gear VR owners never get bored. Here are the initiatives Samsung highlighted at the conference: Samsung VR, a premium video service offering the best in 360 immersive content taking you anywhere from the cockpit of an airplane, to the depths of the ocean or the far reaches of the universe with your Galaxy phone and a Gear VR. Samsung Internet VR, a Gear VR-optimized browser that allows users to surf the web and enjoy videos and photos on a large, virtual screen creating an immersive experience as if users were at the theater. Samsung PhoneCast VR, a first-of-its-kind application that translates 2D apps into 3D VR through mirroring for improved VR playtime providing an entirely new mobile experience. VRB Foto, a fun and social 360 photo sharing solution developed as part of Mobile Platform and Solutions lab of Samsung Research America, which allows users to create and share fun effects on top of 360 photos shot using cameras like Gear 360. Black River Studios, a division of Samsung R&D Institute of Amazonia (SIDIA) in Brazil, produces titles for Gear VR and Galaxy devices including Angest, Rock & Rails, and Finding Monsters perfectly suited for the upcoming HMD Odyssey. Samsung Gear VR Framework, an open source VR rendering engine with a Java interface for developing mobile VR apps offering a simple and familiar SDK for traditional Android developers without having to know multiple underlying VR SDKs. Even more important were Samsung's efforts to show that it's building a comprehensive VR ecosystem. The company isn't merely dabbling with mobile VR with its smartphones; it's also releasing VR cameras like the 360 Round to encourage more content creation, for example, and embracing Windows Mixed Reality with its Odyssey headset. Samsung wants to be involved with every aspect of the burgeoning VR industry. The company also revealed a new SDK for its Gear 360 cameras that will allow "developers to build experiences that control Gear 360 cameras directly from an app while new software updates simplify how photos are shared with Samsung cloud integration." Gear 360 owners will likely be happy to hear that Samsung doesn't plan to abandon the platform just because it announced the higher-end 360 Round (which shoots in 3D, too) at this event. But perhaps the most telling aspect of Samsung's press release celebrating its XR efforts is the section on AR. The company's focus up to now has been on VR, but Samsung said it wants to get more involved in AR because it envisions "a future in which digital experiences like AR break through to wide consumer adoption, providing users with a powerful new experience in their daily lives." It also said "the opportunities are endless." Considering how much effort Samsung has put into the VR industry, its affirmation that it wants to expand its work on AR could also be good news. The more companies investing and competing in these industries the better, especially when Samsung has made it clear that it wants to have its hands in everything from content creation to the devices through which those photos, videos, and games are experienced. KCUR: "Former aide Tonia Titus has accused Brooks of choking, punching and slapping her in several different confrontations from March, 2012 to November, 2014. The Kansas City Police Department has investigated the allegations, and Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has asked for a special prosecutor to be appointed to the case." And the holiday season starts on a surprising note . . . Following a. . .And here's his resignation letter . . .December 17, 2014Mayor/City Manager/Council,I regret to inform you of my decision to resign from the Council. Due to the ongoing media circus, and out of concern for my family, loved ones, colleagues, church members, and citizens of Kansas City, as well as myself, I believe it is in everyones best interest to take this action at this time. Sometime ago, I made the decision to not to run for reelection, and based on all that has occurred, I feel it is not prudent for me to continue my duties at this time.Therefore, I am offering my resignation today, to become effective January 2, 2015. There are a few projects with the Health Commission, Violence Free KC Committee, and Head Start Advisory Board I'd like to complete and pass on to their leadership. There are personnel issues I need to speak the Director of HR about. I will clear out my office over the holidays. If that is not desirable on your part please just let me know.It has been an honor serving on the City Council and the citizens of the 5th District. Thank for the opportunity to serve and best wishes.Sincerely,Michael E. Brooks, City Councilman5th District Kansas City, Mo.#############Developing . . . Hoodie-wearing KC woman killed homeless man, wounded his brother, police say Prosecutors believe a 30-year-old woman wearing a hoodie fatally shot a homeless man and wounded his brother in a double shooting early Sunday in Kansas City. Stephanie Sandstrom was charged Wednesday with one count each of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of armed criminal action. Scary look at local street life and increasingly desperate circumstances for locals as the weather starts to get colder. Checkit: KCPS Conversation Today KCPS students raise concerns, questions, suggestions with superintendent KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- MaKenzie Ammons, a freshman at East High School, did quite a bit of homework last night, writing down questions. "I was up until 11:00 last night," MaKenzie said. But it wasn't for her class. It was for her superintendent, Dr. Mark Bedell. Ward Parkway Infrastructure Redux KC's Meyer Circle Fountain back in operation After a $600,000 restoration, Kansas City's Meyer #AssJamz Shooter Suspect Three Lawrence police: Third suspect in custody, charged with multiple counts of murder Police say a third suspect is in custody with connection to a shooting that killed three and wounded two others. Anthony Laron Roberts, 20, is in custody according to police. Roberts will be charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. Local Radio Dayz Naming More Local Dead Police identify man found dead in street Monday night Kansas City police have identified a man found dead in the street Monday night. Melvin Blackmon, 41, was found dead in the 8200 block of Lydia Street about 10:30 p.m. Homicide detectives are investigating. Police said Blackmon's death does not appear to be from natural causes. Hiding Out Below Mom of person of interest claims three runaways stayed in basement KANSAS CITY, Mo. - 41 Action News uncovered the alleged living situations of three runaway teenaged sisters and information that points to their biological mother's involvement. Rigoberto "Rico" Rangel, the person of interest connected to the case, is still a free man as of Wednesday afternoon. Tragedy & Scary JoCo Mugshot Overland Park man sentenced in DUI crash that killed school instructor A Johnson County judge sentenced an Overland Park man to more than nine years in prison for a DUI wreck that took an Olathe school instructor's life. James McAllister was sentenced 115 months in prison after pleading guilty in the case in August. Caitlin M. Kansas City Fake Gronk Famous That's So Travis: Chiefs' Star TE Not Afraid To Be Himself The league's most exciting tight end got where he is by being himself. Now, with his Chiefs tied with the Eagles for the best record in the NFL, Kansas City fans are pleading, 'Dear God, please just do your thing and let's move on.' Sorry, no chance Hottieinspiration and all of these Kansas City news links today. Take a look:And this is thefor right now . . . More KCMO HQ2 Deets Coming Soon Kansas City to reveal details of bid for Amazon HQ KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City announced that it will reveal details of its proposal to convince Amazon to build its headquarters in Kansas City. Amazon is promising 50,000 jobs and a $5 billion investment in the city that wins its new headquarters. Social Justice Off-Season Training Why Royals' Dayton Moore is taking his staff to Atlanta to study Martin Luther King Jr. The idea was born last summer. The inspiration hit all at once. On a steamy July day in Atlanta, Royals general manager Dayton Moore had taken his teenage son, Robert, to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood near downtown. Moore had long admired the civil rights icon, he says. Tragedy On Local Streets Pedestrian killed near 40 Hwy & Phelps in KCMO KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City police say a pedestrian was killed near 40 Highway and Phelps Wednesday evening. Officials believe the victim is a 52-year-old woman. It appears the dark pick-up truck was heading eastbound on 40 Highway when the accident occurred. A witness told 41 Action News that it appeared the woman walked into traffic. Questioning Crackhead Tactics Blue Springs homeowner: 'Who steals carpet?' BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - On Monday, Cheri Crowley came to the home she and her husband recently sold. "Saw my garage door wide open, knew something was wrong," she said. Then her neighbor, Kristin Wood, told her she saw two men outside that afternoon. Wood said, "I knew that they were moving. Kansas City Old School Ride Out Of Commission Despite Petition Worlds of Fun announces closing of Finnish Fling One of Worlds of Fun's inaugural rides will be closing soon. The park announced Wednesday evening that Finish Fling's cycle is over. The final ride will come on Oct. 29. Finnish Fling was at ... Helping Hand As Winter Approaches Old School KCMO Street Life Reporting Delaware one of the city's oldest streets Most of the buildings shown in this Southwest News Company postcard published in 1907 were demolished in the late 1940s to make way for the new 6th Street Expressway that connected the inter-city viaduct with downtown and Independence Avenue. Today that expressway is known as the north portion of the downtown loop. We start our morning 1st look with tribute to classic. From there we move forward and take a look at top MSM links for today. Checkit:is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . . "The jury awarded $356,694.69 for lost wages and future lost pension." Translation: This isn't just a Black Vs. White problem but a systemic "old school" issue that many firefighters have battled against. Last week our blog community offeredand now here's anon the damage . . .In a groundbreaking case of discrimination and failure to promote an African-American worker, the KCFD lost an EPIC case this week.Here's the word:More word and reporting coming soon but this bit of legal consequences should inspire local leaders to look at the culture of the KCFD and it's legacy. Fact is, cronyism and family connections have dominated the department andTo be fair, there have been quite a few reformers who have challenged leadership and worked to create an environment that awards merit rather than political connections mostly held among a small circle of legacy leaders. Nevertheless, those efforts have yet to evoke change throughout the organization and now KCFD confronts courtroom battles because of their failure to adapt.Developing . . . More than 40 eminent speakers will discuss with each other and with the public the issue of reforms, in a conference organized by the Hellenic American Union on Oct. 20-22 in Athens. Reform, as a demand for the full adjustment to the demands of modernity and integration into the modern world, has been one of the great driving forces of Modern Greek history. "There is an effort to start a dialog with that part of the public that wants reforms," the organizers announced in a press conference on Wednesday. And it is precisely about this Reform that the organizers of the conference titled "The Quest for Reform during the Recent History of Modern Greece", wish to open a dialog along seven lines of inquiry: International environment-International standards, State-political institutions, Political ideology vs. political action, the role of society, Economy, Intellectual endeavours and Locality and urban environment. Bank of Greece head Yannis Stournaras will address the event on Friday. The conference is held on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Hellenic American Union in cooperation with the Hellenic American College (HAEC) and with ten publishing houses headquartered or active in the district of Neapolis: Hestia Publishers, Metaichmio Publications, Agra Publications, Papadopoulos Publishing, Patakis Publishers, Gutenberg Scientific Books G. Dardanos, Nefeli Publishing, Melissa Publishing House, Kastaniotis Editions and Melani Editions. 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 Source: ANA-MPA Two organizations are being recommended by Madison officials to run peer-support programs to prevent violence and reduce recidivism. The Community Services Committee on Wednesday recommended Nehemiah Community Development Corp. to operate a program aimed at helping people affected by or involved in violence. Madison-area Urban Ministry was recommended for an initiative to assist individuals re-entering the community after being incarcerated. Both groups would receive up to $150,000 each for the remainder of this year, largely for program startup costs such as training peer-support specialists and acquiring client management software. Next year, each group would get $200,000 to run the programs. Madison has seen a rise in shootings this year and reached a record number of homicides at 11. There have been 168 shots-fired calls through the end of September, a 90 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2016, according to Madison police. Nehemiah proposes partnering with: the Focused Interruption Coalition, a collection of faith and nonprofit leaders, to have trained support specialists available 24 hours a day to go to crisis situations caused by violence; Anesis Therapy, as a referral option for people needing trauma or mental health services; and the Urban League of Greater Madison, to provide employment support and career training. Urban Ministry would work with people who have been released from jail or prison to find transitional and permanent housing options, as well as provide access to life-skills and employment training, and offer help from peer-support specialists for up to a year. The organization had requested $282,810 for next year, so the scope of the program will have to be altered, said city community development director Jim OKeefe. Its important to have a lot of peer-support specialists who have experienced incarceration, said committee member Kim Genich. Theyre going to be the most effective. Nehemiah was the sole applicant to lead the violence prevention program, while Urban Ministry, Nehemiah and Zion City International Church Ministries applied to run the recidivism reduction initiative. The Focused Interruption Coalition and Nehemiah have been running a short-term violence prevention program since the city awarded the organizations $50,000 earlier this year. As part of the committees recommendations, Nehemiah and Urban Ministry would work with city staff and other partners to form a collaborative network of service providers for those leaving incarceration within six months of contracts being signed. The recommendations are expected to go to the Finance Committee on Monday and the City Council at its Oct. 31 meeting. One of the most beautiful towns in the area of Argolis (in eastern Peloponnese) as well as one of the most romantic cities all over Greece, Nafplio was the first capital of the newly born Greek state between 1823 and 1834. According to mythology, the town was founded by Nafplios, the son of god Poseidon and the daughter of Danaus (Danaida) Anymone. The towns history traces back to the prehistoric era when soldiers from here participated in the Argonautic expedition and the Trojan War alike. The town declined during the Roman times and flourished again during the Byzantine times. Frankish, Venetian and Turkish conquerors left their mark in the town and strongly influenced its culture, architecture and traditions during the centuries. Ancient walls, medieval castles, monuments and statues, Ottoman fountains and Venetian or neoclassical buildings mesmerize the visitor with their unique architecture and beauty. While you are here: Follow a dream trail to discover Nafplios precious gems starting from the medieval Old Town, the narrow cobblestone alleys, the neoclassical well preserved mansions with the Bougainvillea trees adorning their yards and balconies and the Turkish fountains. In the very heart of the city stands the Italianate Syntagma Square where you can admire important historic buildings and monuments. Two Turkish mosques (the first used to house the first Mutual Learning School and now operates as a cinema/theatre whereas the second was home to the first Greek Parliament), the Archaeological Museum with important artifacts from the Prehistoric and Mycenaean Era and the Municipal Gallery are among the buildings that stand out. Very close to the modern city stand the church of Agios Spyridonas, in front of which Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias was assassinated, and the church of Agios Georgios boasting important murals such as a copy of the famous Leonardo Da Vinci work The secret Dinner. Next stop: the Palamidi Castle, which proudly stands 216 m above sea level. In order to reach it you have to climb all of its 999 steps carved into the rock. Not to worry, though:the view from above here is totally rewarding! Venture into a place drenched in history, where the famous hero of the Greek Revolution Theodore Kolokotronis had been imprisoned; it seems as if its battlements -named after the renowned ancient heroes Themistocles, Achilles, Fokion, Leonidas, Epaminondas and Miltiades- are still carefully protecting the city. Agios Andreas battlement built at the top of the Castle by Venetian conquerors undoubtedly offers stunning views to the Argolic gulf and the Mycenaean plain. Akronafplia is the historic rock at the foot of Palamidi hill, also known by its Turkish name Its Kale (meaning inner castle). Inhabited since prehistoric times, the peninsula consists of three levels, among which stand three independent castles, the oldest being the western one. It was there that the ancient acropolis was situated, fortified with polygonic Cyclopean walls. The most photographed spot of Nafplio and its point of reference as well is Bourtzi, the Venetian small fortress standing on the rocky islet of Agioi Theodoroi. During the Venetian rule it was connected to Akronafplia through a huge metal chain that secured the port against enemy ship attacks. At the beginning of 1860 in Bourtzi used to live the executioners of Palamidi prisoners. In the summer you can reach the fortress by boat departing regularly from the port. If you are lucky enough you may even be able to attend one of the fascinating festivals taking place on the islet! Also worth visiting: The War Museum, housed in the buildings of the former (first) Military Academy/ the houses of regent Armansberg and Mauer/ the Lion of the Bavarians standing in the suburb of Pronia/ the prestigious Peloponnesian Folk Art Museum/ The Childrens Museum / the one of its kind Komboloi Museum/ The Town Hall in the Trion Navarhon square/ The statue of Ioannis Kapodistrias, modern Greeces first prime minister in the square bearing the same name/ Theodoros Kolokotronis Park with his statue standing there/ the recently renovated Pili tis Ksiras (Shore Gate). Activities: at sunset take a romantic stroll around the so-called Arvanitia Promenade, the most popular walk in town (1 km in length) dominated by the rocky landscape of Akronafplia/ use the tourist trains to enjoy a leisurely tour around the town/ buy some souvenirs from the Old Towns souvenir shops, certainly komboloyia (a circular chain with beads, usually made of amber used by Greeks to keep hands occupied and ease stress) for the production of which Nafplio is particularly famous/ enjoy a cup of coffee or a delicious meal in Syntagma Square/ sip a drink at the port taking in the amazing view of Bourtzi always lit up at night. Beaches: In the summer, take an invigorating swim on the beaches of Arvanitia, Karathonas, Nea Kios, Miloi and Kiveri. You will also find a nice beach offering all kinds of facilities in Tolo, only 15 min away from the town. Short escapes: Tiryns (7 km N) is worth visiting for its famous archaeological site, Ancient Tiryns. The first buildings were constructed during the Neolithic Period. The cyclopean walls were built in the 14th and 13th century B.C. and embrace the upper, middle and lower acropolis. The city extends around the acropolis. You can also visit a Mycenaean tholos tomb situated 1km NW. Nea Kios (7 km W) is a very popular town by the sea, situated at the edge of Nafplio bay. It is worth visiting for the Cultural-Conference Centre (in the central square) and the Laskarideio Folk Art Museum. Enjoy fascinating events during Carnival, summer (Mikrasiatika and Kiana) and in September (The Papalinas feast). Myloi (12 km SW), where the ruins of ancient Lerna stand; it is where Hercules performed his second labour by killing Lernaean Hydra. Accommodation: Choose among luxurious hotels overlooking Bourtzi, fabulous mansions, traditional guesthouses and lovely houses converted into rooms to let with respect to the local architecture. Getting there: Nafplio is approximately 94 km far from Athens. You can reach the town either by car or by suburban buses (KTEL) departing regularly from Kifissos bus station. (More information at www.ktelargolida.gr) Source: visitgreece.gr 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: Jeanhousen License: CC-BY-SA Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has launched a new real estate refinance company, in line with its Vision 2030 objectives of improving the performance of the real estate market, increasing its contribution to the GDP, and raising the rate of homeownership among its citizens to 52 per cent by the end of 2020. The demand for real estate financing in the kingdom is expected to increase from the current SR280 billion ($74.6 billion) to SR500 billion ($133.2 billion) in 2026, said a statement from PIF. Launched in partnership with the Ministry of Housing, and under the chairmanship of Majed Al Hogail, the Minister of Housing, the new entity Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC) is designed to stimulate housing sector development in the kingdom by injecting liquidity into the real estate market. A leading new initiative for the kingdom's housing sector, SRC was launched in line with the highest international standards. The new Saudi firm is likely to refinance up to SR75 billion ($20 billion) for the kingdom's housing sector over the next five years, reaching SR170 billion ($45.3 billion) by 2026, it stated. According to PIF, the new company will act as an intermediary access point for investors, aligning the liquidity, capital, and risk management requirements of real estate mortgage companies, with the risk acceptability and return on equity to meet investor targets. It endeavours to create stability and growth in the kingdom's housing sector by injecting liquidity into the secondary mortgage market, improving standards, and facilitating access to local and international financing sources. SRC will adopt a strategy of acquiring mortgage funds to increase financial capabilities and broaden the activities of real estate financing companies. It will also work on linking the investment capital of foreign and local investors with the range of opportunities available in the Kingdom's growing housing market, said the statement. In addition, the company's activities will include issuing bonds as securities, supported through real estate mortgage contracts over the short and long term, to real estate financing companies, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Oman-based Ithraa, the sultanate's inward investment export development agency, in partnership with Arab-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently held a one-day Invest in Oman Forum at Genevas Hotel President Wilson, Switzerland. The forum helped underline the importance of Switzerland as a key investment and trading partner, said a statement from Ithraa. Attracting 50 plus high-profile Swiss businesses operating in logistics, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries, the forum was opened by Ambassador Abdulla Nasser Al Rahbi, Omans permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, it said. The forum featured speakers from Duqm Special Economic Zone, ASAAS, Petroleum Development Oman, the Port of Duqm and HSBC, it added. Alya Al Hosni, director of industrial investment, Ithraa, said: In an effort to boost trade and investment relations between Omani and German companies we held a series of successful meetings in Dusseldorf last week. Capitalising on HSBCs extensive German business network, as well as the sultanates existing investment ties in Germany, she said. Weve now moved on to Geneva where colleagues presented on key sectors and the exciting commercial opportunities Oman offers potential Swiss partners, she added. Al Hosni continued: This has been a very successful trade mission to Europe and I congratulate all of the Omani companies involved. This visit has served to strengthen our economic ties with Germany and Switzerland as well as raise awareness of what Oman can offer in terms of world-class infrastructure, workforce, products and services. It is clear that there is great potential for partnership between Germany, Switzerland and Oman. Sajda Al Ghaithi, media director, Ithraa, said: We are working hard to build on recent inward investments into the sultanate as well as the success of Omani non-oil exports. Indeed, this success clearly demonstrates how Omani companies can meet the needs of German and Swiss companies operating in sectors that include logistics, tourism, petrochemicals, manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries, she said. Our B2B meetings in Dusseldorf as well as todays Invest in Oman Forum are part of Ithraas drive to help increase inward investment, export market penetration and further support Omani companies growth and diversification, she added. Al Hosni said: The sultanate is open for business and the Government is committed to supporting non-oil Omani export growth and encouraging inward investment. Significant opportunities exist for German-Swiss companies to set-up and grow in Oman. This is the message we delivered loud and clear in Dusseldorf and Geneva, she concluded. TradeArabia News Service Taliban forces nearly wiped out an entire Afghan army post, killing 43 soldiers, when they stormed a base with suicide bombers in the strife-torn southern province of Kandahar. The attack comes as 3,000 more US troops begin to flow into Afghanistan, and others push out of their bases to work more closely with small Afghan units. The attack took place on Wednesday night after two Humvees packed with explosives were driven into the Afghan National Army base in Kandahars Maiwand district, where 60 soldiers were stationed, reported The Washington Post. Taliban fighters then assaulted the facility, setting off several hours of fighting that killed nearly every Afghan soldier there and wounded nine. The battle ended with a US airstrike that killed nine Taliban fighters, Nato officials said. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defence Ministry, said just two soldiers remained unharmed on the base, while six had disappeared. Taliban attacks on Afghan military and police compounds have increased this past week after US officials met with delegations from Afghanistan, Pakistan and China to discuss the possibility of restarting peace negotiations with the insurgent group, said The Washington Post report. . Earlier this week, a string of Taliban attacks in three separate provinces killed 74 people in some of the deadliest attacks of the year. Another 12 police officers died in two smaller Taliban strikes earlier Wednesday, government officials said. Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the worlds leading sovereign wealth funds, announced today that top speakers from the investment world had confirmed their attendance at the invitation-only Future Investment Initiative (FII), to be held in Riyadh from October 24 to 26. It is estimated that the speakers at FII control a combined asset value of $22 trillion. Confirmed speakers represent the leaders of major asset managers, such as: Thomas Barrack - executive chairman, Colony NorthStar; Leon Black - chairman and CEO, Apollo Global Management; Victor Chu - chairman and CEO, First Eastern Investment Group; and Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock, said a statement. Asset managers will be joined by speakers represent a range of sovereign wealth funds and pension funds including: Kirill Dmitriev - CEO Russian Direct Investment Fund; Jeffrey Jaensubjakij - managing director and Group CIO, GIC; Azman Mokhtar - director and CEO, Khazanah Nasional Berhad Malaysia; and Shahmar Movsumov - chief executive officer, State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan. Leading GCC sovereign wealth funds will also be represented, including by Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji - CEO, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company; and Khaldoon Al Mubarak - group chief executive and managing director, Mubadala Investment Company. Over the past five years, sovereign wealth funds have significantly increased their exposure to emerging markets, while at the same time moving away from investment in foreign government bonds. While this partly reflects geopolitical instability, it is also a recognition that high yield returns are more readily available in the private sector. In particular alternative, unlisted and private investment portfolios, often in emerging technologies, are becoming increasingly popular with managers. The growth of funds in the Middle East and Asia enables managers from these regions to increasingly drive the global investment agenda, said the statement. The highly collaborative and interactive programme has been carefully structured to allow investment leaders to discuss a range of topics pertinent to the current and future trends. The programme will also explore how investors can reconcile the demands to consider the environmental, social and governance benefits alongside the traditional returns drivers. Another key focus area will be how to meet transparency requirements and actively build trust with public constituents. Participants will also gain insights direct from global sovereign wealth fund leaders on how they can adapt to new technology driven strategies. The investment themes have been developed through three key content pillars: Shifting centers of power; the new investment paradigm; and innovation for a better world, said the statement. The UAE's cabinet was reshuffled today by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, adding some young ministers and ministries. Announcing the minitry changes, Shaikh Mohammed tweeted that the new structural shake-up came after the governments recent annual meetings and the launch of the UAE Centenial plan 2071. The new government is a government for the new Emirati people, to develop knowledge, support science and research and involve youth in the leadership of the nation's march towards progress, he said. Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, 27, has been named State Minister for Artificial Intellegence. "We want the UAE to become the worlds most prepared country for artificial intellegence, Shaikh Mohammad said in his tweet. Sarah Al Amiri, 30, was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for advanced sciences, while Maryam Al Mehairi will be the Minister of State whose portfolio will cover food security. Minister of State for Higher Educational Affairs Dr Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi will be in charge of the portfolio of advanced skills. He will also preside over the UAE Federal Human Resources Development Authority. Petrofac, a leading international service provider to the oil and gas processing and production industry, has been awarded a $30-million contract to undertake project management consultancy (PMC) services for the Halfaya Contract Area in southern Iraq. The contract award was announced in a regulatory notice filed with the London Stock Exchange. Working in support of PetroChina International Iraq FZE as the lead operator of Halfaya, Petrofacs Engineering and Production Services, EPS, East business will undertake project management services for five years, said the company in a statement. As per the deal, Petrofac is responsible for managing and supervising the development and progress of several engineering, procurement and construction work scopes, including the central processing facility, power plant expansion, gas process plant and all associated facilities. For each work scope, activities will include the management of detailed design, procurement, construction and commissioning. Manivannan Rajapathy, the managing director, Petrofac EPS East, said: "This important award reflects our growing capabilities in a core market. Through the provision of PMC services, we are demonstrating our competence and capabilities to oversee large programmes of work." "This builds upon our long track record for in-country execution for existing clients, through the delivery of engineering, operations, maintenance and training activities," observed Rajapathy. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to support PetroChina and the Halfaya partners in the delivery of this key infrastructure project. Our focus is to support sustained production, through the successful conclusion of each phase, towards the overall production plateau target of around 400,000 barrels per day," he added. With 31 offices and around 13,000 staff worldwide, Petrofac has had a presence in the UAE since 1991, when it established its Sharjah office, which now supports both regional and international projects. It also owns 75 per cent of its subsidiary, Petrofac Emirates, a joint venture with Nama Project Services. A component of the FTSE 250 Index on the London Stock Exchange, Petrofac has undertaken major projects both onshore and offshore for Abu Dhabis oil and gas industry. Current major projects include work on the Satah Al Razboot, Sarb, Project for Adma-Opco and on the Upper Zakum UZ750 project for Zadco.-TradeArabia News Service Bahrain will be hosting the Sea Festival and the Bahrain Light Festival this month, an initiative that aims to celebrate the kingdom's rich links with the sea as well as introduce the latest lighting innovations. The event was announced by Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority during a press conference held at Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay on October 18. The second edition of the Sea Festival will be held from October 26 - November 4. The festival will be an ideal platform to raise awareness about the history of the sea as well as educate tourists and the new generation. Additionally, the festival will integrate the past with the present to highlight the rich history of Bahrains sea industry. Furthermore, the Bahrain Light Festival, which will be held from November 23-30, will introduce the latest lighting innovations by international contemporary artists. The festival will also include technical artistic dynamics in addition to remarkable artistic performances. Due to the success achieved in the previous year, we are delighted to host the Sea Festival and Bahrain Light Festival again this year. The festivals will include a series of fun and exciting events for the whole family. Both festivals come in line with the BTEAs strategy to promote and showcase the kingdoms identity to residents and tourists. This further develops the kingdoms tourism sector and strengthens its position as an ideal tourist destination for families, said the chief executive officer of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa. During the press conference, the director of Tourism Marketing and Promotions at the BTEA, Yousif Al Khan, mentioned that the BTEA aims to attract visitors from neighboring GCC countries by providing a variety of activities suitable for visitors of all ages. The Sea Festival features a number of activities, including the Techno Aqua World area for games and leisure activities, a central display related to the history of pearl diving, and the 360 virtual reality gaming zone. The festival will also include a designated area for pearl and jewelry merchants, a painting zone where children will be able to showcase their painting skills by participating in the dhow painting activity, in addition to several live performances. Furthermore, the outdoor area will include a painting zone where artists will have live painting demonstration dhows that will be displayed throughout the festival. Other activities include deshelling oysters, free diving shows, and many more. The festival will take place from Saturday to Thursday from 4 pm to 10 pm and from 4 pm to 11 pm on Friday. The price of tickets is BD2 ($5.2) per person and free for children under the age of 4. Moreover, the Bahrain Light Festival aims to showcase technical artistic dynamics; the latest innovations in lighting by artists from France, Japan and the US, and will also include remarkable artistic performances. - TradeArabia News Service Movenpick Hotels & Resorts Oman expansion strategy is gathering pace with the company revealing plans to operate its third property in the sultanates capital, Muscat. The global hospitality company has inked an agreement with Omans Golden Group of Companies to manage the 370-key Movenpick Hotel Muscat Airport, part of a new upscale mixed-use project under development near Muscat International Airport, which will also feature retail and commercial space covering 3,000-sq-m and 10,000-sq-m respectively when it opens in 2021. It expands Movenpicks inventory pipeline to almost 1,000 keys countrywide after deals to operate Movenpick Hotel & Apartments Al Azaiba Muscat and Movenpick Hotel Bausher Muscat were recently signed. The three properties will capitalise on Omans growing importance as a regional hub for business and leisure tourism, spurred by the development of new infrastructure that ranges from conference centres to cruise terminals. At the same time, Muscat International Airport is undergoing extensive renovations and expansion that will boost its annual capacity from 12 million to 48 million passengers when the redevelopment project is fully completed. Adding a third property to our Muscat portfolio cements our position as a prominent hotel operator in the Sultanates capital and supports our cluster strategy for the city, with each hotel offering a unique product, design and location to target different guest demographics, explained Andrew Langdon, chief development officer, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts. Movenpick Hotel Muscat Airport is just minutes from one of the Gulf regions most active airports and as Muscat International and its home carrier, Oman Air, continue to witness strong growth, bringing millions of visitors to Muscat each year, the property is well placed to meet this demand with a convenient and high-quality hospitality offering. The property, which is located at the intersection of two major roads, Sultan Qaboos Highway and Al Mouj Street in the residential districts of Mawaleh and Seeb, will feature 245 rooms and suites and 125 serviced apartments, 2,450sqm of conference and banqueting space, one specialty restaurant, an all-day dining outlet, a lobby lounge, executive lounge and 24-hour room service. - TradeArabia News Service SSGA Launches Suite of Ultra-Low-Cost SPDR Portfolio ETFs State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the asset management business of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), announced the launch of SPDR Portfolio ETFs, a suite of 15 ultra-low-cost ETFs that provide access to a wide range of equity and fixed income asset classes to help investors meet their goals. Comprising 15 existing funds, including three that will track new indices, and with over $11B[1] in existing assets under management, the SPDR Portfolio ETFs include: New Name and Ticker New Total Expense Ratio SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market ETF (SPTM) 0.03% SPDR Portfolio Large Cap ETF (SPLG) 0.03% SPDR Portfolio Mid Cap ETF (SPMD) 0.05% SPDR Portfolio Small Cap ETF (SPSM) 0.05% SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF (SPYG) 0.04% SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value ETF (SPYV) 0.04% SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPYD) 0.07% SPDR Portfolio World ex-US ETF (SPDW) 0.04% SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF (SPEM) 0.11% SPDR Portfolio Aggregate Bond ETF (SPAB) 0.04% SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF (SPLB) 0.07% SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond ETF (SPIB) 0.07% SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF (SPSB) 0.07% SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF (SPTL) 0.06% SPDR Portfolio Short Term Treasury ETF (SPTS) 0.06% We are truly excited to be able to offer ultra-low-cost ETFs to investors. Since launching SPY nearly 25 years ago, State Street Global Advisors has continually looked for opportunities to help investors build better portfolios with ETFs, said Nick Good, co-head of the Global SPDR business at SSGA. Investors have been asking us to provide these solutions to offer them a greater choice for low cost ETFs. The launch of the SPDR Portfolio ETFs provides a solution that meets this growing demand. "Each fund in the SPDR Portfolio suite is priced equal to or below the lowest fee ETF in the category," said Rory Tobin, co-head of the Global SPDR business at SSGA. Some of these changes in price are significant - such as offering Emerging Markets exposure at 11 basis points. In addition, these funds have a combined total of over $11B[2] in assets and trade actively, so there is no incubation period needed." Today's launch of SPDR Portfolio ETFs coincides with the launch of TD Ameritrades newly expanded ETF Market Center. The 15 SPDR portfolio ETFs will all be available to purchase commission free on TD Ameritrades ETF Market Center. "TD Ameritrade has been a great collaborator, said Good. With their help, and by repurposing existing SPDR ETFs, we have been able to offer investors a very compelling solution for their portfolios." The suite of SPDR Portfolio ETFs will provide investors access to a broad range of asset classes to assist in the construction of a core portfolio strategy, including fixed income, domestic equity, emerging market and international equity. Research has long shown that asset allocation decisions explain over 90 percent of the variance in portfolio returns, said Matt Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas Research. Simply put, it all starts with asset allocation. And todays low return expectations make building an ultra-low-cost, diversified core more important than ever, as costs accumulate over time, eroding a portfolios total return. SSGA also announced changes to the names and tickers of the 15 ETFs now included in the suite of SPDR Portfolio ETFs. Effective October 16, 2017, the below changes will be made and no action is required by shareholders to effect these changes. The Madison Police Department has updated its guide on the use of deadly force, instructing officers to exhaust other options before using a gun in a change lauded by both a police union official and an attorney who has sued the city over the issue. When it comes to the rules our police officers are trained to follow, language matters, said Andrea Farrell, a Madison attorney who earlier this year won a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city on behalf of the family of a woman killed by Madison police. The police department was ordered by the City Council in May to change its standard operating procedures for how officers use deadly force, as well as one for how they use non-deadly force and to include language emphasizing an officers duty to intercede, de-escalate and preserve life. The changes were recommended by a special committee that studied police policy and practices. Assistant Police Chief Vic Wahl said the language ordered by the council has already been emphasized in other standard operating procedures in the department as well as in training manuals and the departments list of core values. He said the new language puts the departments policies on use of force in harmony with bigger agencies as well as the International Association of Police Chiefs and the Police Executive Research Forum. In terms of an officers decision-making, I dont think (the new policy) changes it, Wahl said. I think it just emphasizes that its an important part of our core values and how we do business. Preservation of all human life But Farrell said the changes offer more clarity, which she hoped would help officers make the right decisions in crisis situations. Farrell represented the family of Paul Heenan, which received a $2.3 million settlement from the city after Heenan was fatally shot by a Madison police officer in 2012. She also represented the family of Ashley DiPiazza, which was awarded $7 million by a jury in federal court this year after the 27-year-old woman was fatally shot by two Madison police officers in her apartment in 2014. Farrell noted that there are key, subtle differences between the old policy, which told officers they had a legal and moral obligation to use force wisely and judiciously, and the new policy, which tells officers their primary duty is the protection and preservation of all human life including the lives of individuals being taken into custody. These may be two sides of the same coin, but I think the new policy does a better job of embodying what we want from our officers, Farrell said. Can you imagine squad cars with using force judiciously painted on the side instead of protect and serve? The bottom line is that all officers who believe it is their job to protect human life will, de facto, use force judiciously. Officers who have used deadly force in the line of duty often say that their training takes over in those situations, according to Jim Palmer, the executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. Thats one of the most common statements that I hear. So I think the training and policies that reinforce their obligations as officers do have a benefit, he said. The facts of each case ultimately dictate the officers reaction, according to Palmer. But these are critically important concepts and themes to reinforce in every officer, he said. The public benefit is to diminish the confusion that exists. Palmer said there have been 23 officer-involved shootings in Wisconsin so far in 2017, 20 of which were fatal. While the number of shootings is consistent with the previous three years, the number of fatalities is three more than 2016 and 10 more than 2015, he said. Most notably, Palmer said, the WPPA data show that 80 percent of the officer-involved shootings this year involved confrontations with individuals who had a firearm. That is 27 percentage points higher than in 2016 and 30 points higher than 2015. Its not just urban areas anymore, either, Palmer said. It reinforces the need for every agency to have policies (for using deadly force) that closely reflect what the state mandates. Exhausting options Farrell said the new policy requiring an officer to believe that all other options have been exhausted or would be ineffective before using a gun is a higher standard than the previous instruction that deadly force would not be used unless a lesser degree of force would be insufficient. This new text encourages officers to actually exhaust other options, rather than just hypothesizing that they would be ineffective, she said. Another change in the new procedure for deadly force removes language that says, the purpose of deadly force is to stop the threat. Farrell called that a welcome change. This phrase has been misconstrued by some to mean that the purpose of deadly force is to kill a threatening person, she said. I think most people would agree that killing a threatening person is a necessary evil rather than the end goal, and that deadly force should only be used when necessary in true self-defense, or to save the life of another, and the new policy better embodies this notion. Farrell also gave Madison police high marks for its new policy on use of non-deadly force, since it emphasizes a layered tactical response that divides responsibilities among officers at emergency scenes and avoids what she called a gun-or-nothing approach. It makes little sense for six officers to respond to a scene, yet all be doing the same thing shouting orders and pointing guns, she said. This model gives officers more tools and more options on any given scene, so they can actually use a lower amount of force when appropriate something that would be unavailable if every officer was holding a gun. Many times, under this model, non-threatening verbal de-escalation is all that will be needed. Wahl said the language spells out how less-lethal weapons should be used to prevent a situation from escalating to the point that lethal force is needed. If someone has a knife and they are 20 feet away from you, you deploy less-lethal, he said. If they are on top of you and trying to stab you, that is definitely a deadly force threat and that is not the time to try a bean bag (gun). Also, if officers see someone with a gun but its down to the side, that might be a good time to use less-lethal means to stop the person. Given the right circumstances, (less-lethal means) can be appropriate and a potential lifesaver, Wahl said.Madison police also created new standard operating procedures for backup, responding to persons with an altered state of mind and to Mendota Mental Health Institute, and made changes to policies for major case investigations and restricted duty, among others. I have learned the hard way not to put my personal life on the Internet. But suffice it to say that, God willing, things should be pretty much back to norm... 4 weeks ago Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 The three-day tourism festival, Paryatan Parv, sponsored by the Union government concluded at Gobindgarh Fort here today. Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was the chief guest on the concluding day. On the directions of the Ministry of Tourism, the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board (PHTPB) organised various activities to create a favourable environment for tourists in the city. Earlier in the day, a cycle rally was held. Besides, an exhibition of handicraft items prepared by national awardees was also held at Town Hall. A range of activities were held to mark the occasion. PHTPB Community Development Officer Harpreet Kaur said various programmes were held in the city to create awareness among professionals associated with the industry. London, October 19 An Indian-origin security guard and his accomplice have been sentenced to over six years in jail by a UK court for their role in a 7-million-pound staged robbery from their own vehicles transporting cash. Ranjeev Singh and fellow security guard Mohammad Siddique were jailed for conspiracy to steal at Kingston Crown Court in south-west London on Wednesday. They have been jailed for six-and-a-half years each. The duo, both employees of European cash handling company Loomis, claimed they had been robbed to cover their tracks after they stole 26 bags of cash on March 14 this year. The audacious robbery involving cash belonging to Credit Suisse bank, which has never been recovered, took place near a cargo depot at Heathrow Airport and was described in court as being akin to a Hollywood script that could be titled The Heathrow Heist. You Siddique and Singh played your parts to perfection. You had been involved for a considerable period in the planning, said Judge Stephen John during sentencing. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) A third man, named Rafaqat Hussain, was jailed for 10 years and three months as the mastermind of the raid which was branded as a classic inside job. You were an organiser, trying to keep your involvement at a distance. No doubt there were others in the plot as yet unidentified, but you were the principle, expecting a large slice of the proceeds and above Siddique and Singh in the hierarchy, the judge told Hussain. The court was told that after driving from the depot, Singh and Siddique reported their van missing. Siddique was later found bound by cables on a service road near the M40 highway in Buckinghamshire, with the van abandoned and the cash missing. The two security guards pretended to be victims of a raid, but phone records showed Siddique had been in contact with Hussain and Singh. Secret recordings made by a device planted by police in Hussains car caught him admitting he had all the cash and boasting that he could buy any car he wanted with it. Both Singh and Siddique had previously denied one count of conspiracy to steal, but the jury found them guilty at the end of a trial. Hussain had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, money launder and commit burglary. He had arranged to buy a house in Buckinghamshire with the stolen cash, the court was told. The mastermind wept in the dock as his barrister, Bairaj Bhatia, said he had failed his family by carrying out a crime. PTI Washington, October 19 US Vice-President Mike Pence and several other lawmakers have sent their Diwali greetings to Indian-Americans and those celebrating the festival of lights across the globe. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Happy Diwali to those celebrating with friends and family, Pence said in a tweet. May we all strive for peace, prosperity and the triumph of light over darkness, said the US Vice-President. Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who last year celebrated Diwali in a temple sent in her greetings by a tweet and said she was looking forward to her visit to India next month to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Wishing Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world a joyful Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for GES2017, Ivanka tweeted along with a picture of President Trump celebrating festival of lights in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Tweeting Happy Diwali to all those who celebrate, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said the Festival of Lights has always been special for her. May the light guide your path, she said in another tweet. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wished her friends in Southern Florida celebrating the Festival of Lights a very Happy Diwali. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent his Diwali greetings. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson started his major India policy speech by sending Diwali greetings to all friends in the US, India and around the world celebrating the Festival of Lights. Generally, fireworks accompany that. I dont need any fireworks; Im getting too many fireworks around me already. So well forgo the fireworks, he said, amidst laughter from a Washington audience. Americas top corporate leadership too joined the festivities. Happy Diwali! May the festival of lights spread love, peace & prosperity to all! Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet. Today, lets light up the world with the glow of our diyas and the warmth in our hearts. From my family to yours, best wishes for Diwali! tweeted Pepsico Chairwoman Indra Nooyi. PTI Shimla, October 19 Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday greeted people on Diwali. The festival of lights symbolises joy and happiness, celebrates victory of good over evil and light over darkness, the Governor said in a statement. He urged everyone to celebrate the festival in a pollution-free manner. On the eve of Diwali, Devvrat visited the Cancer Hospital in Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital here and distributed fruits among patients. He also served food on behalf of NGO All Mighty Blessings among them. IANS Washington, October 18 India can help the US keep an eye on Pakistan as President Donald Trump has taken a tougher approach to Islamabad harbouring terrorists, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said. Noting that Trump recently announced a new strategy for combating terrorism in Afghanistan and South Asia, Haley said one of the pillars of that strategy is the development of Americas strategic partnership with India. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Americas overriding interest in Afghanistan and throughout South Asia is to eliminate terrorist safe havens that threaten us. And to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, we will use all the elements of our national power economic, diplomatic and military to pursue these goals, she said. Critically, we will look to our economic and security partnerships with India, she added. In her address to an event organised by the US India Friendship Council, Haley said Trump has taken a tougher approach to Pakistan harbouring terrorists. Pakistan has been a partner to the US at times. We value and respect that. But, we cannot tolerate this government or any other government giving safe haven to terrorists who target Americans. This new approach will require understanding and restraint from both Pakistan and India, she said. The US, she said, is looking at India to help US more in Afghanistan, particularly in economic and development assistance. We are really going to need Indias help in Afghanistan. They are the good neighbours and partner that we have in the region, she said. So, having them help not only with infrastructure and the aid that they can give towards rebuilding Afghanistan, (they can) also help us to keep an eye on Pakistan, Haley said. PTI Srinagar, October 19 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday celebrated Diwali with troops posted along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Gurez sector and lauded the soldiers for their penance and sacrifice saying he considered them his family. In an unannounced visit, Modi arrived at Gurez on Thursday morning to celebrate Diwali with the army and BSF soldiers posted along the LoC, officials said. He spent two hours with the soldiers in Gurez valley, which is shouting distance of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and has witnessed many gunfights with infiltrating militants in the past 27 years. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) This is the fourth successive Diwali that the Prime Minister has celebrated with jawans on the border. Chief of the Army Staff Gen BS Rawat and other senior Army officers were present on the occasion. Modi offered sweets and exchanged greetings with the jawans, the officials said. Addressing the jawans, he said like everyone else, he too wished to spend Diwali with his family. Therefore, he had come among the jawans of the armed forces, whom he considered to be his family, he said. Modi said he got new energy when he spent time among the jawans and soldiers of the armed forces and appreciated their penance and sacrifice, amid harsh conditions. The Prime Minister said he had been told that the jawans present at the gathering regularly practised yoga. He said this would definitely enhance their abilities, and give them a sense of calm. He said jawans, who left the armed forces after completing their duty tenure, could become excellent yoga trainers subsequently. The Prime Minister spoke of the new resolve that each Indian citizen must make for 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. He also encouraged the jawans to innovate, so that their routine tasks and duties became easier and safer and mentioned how best innovations were now being recognised and awarded at the Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day. Modi said the Centre is committed to the welfare and betterment of the Armed Forces, in every way possible. In this regard, he mentioned the implementation of One Rank, One Pension, which had been pending for decades. Protecting the motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nations borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication, Modi said. I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians, the Prime Minister wrote in the visitors book. To accomplish the dream of New India, this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it, he added. PTI Washington, October 19 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in his first major India-policy speech set the tone of bilateral relationship between India and the US for 100 years, a State Department official said, observing that the talk had many audiences, including China. Chinas obviously an audience of the speech. But this is a speech, obviously, which we hope all countries in the Indo-Pacific region will take to heart, that the Secretary and the President has placed a priority, a State Department official told reporters. He was speaking after Tillerson described India as an opportunity for the US. Its a speech that was designed for many audiences, the official said. Noting that a free and open Indo-Pacific is a priority for both the President and the Secretary of State, the official said, because India is one of the anchors of an Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump Administration wants to devote a lot of time to this country. Tillerson is travelling to India next week. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and Philippines next month. So thats the reason for the speech today; there are many audiences for this. But we really view this as a speech with a global audience, the official said. The speech on US-India relations for the next hundred years to implement President Trumps new strategy for South Asia is culmination of several months of deliberation within the national security cabinet on the best approach to address challenges in South Asia and on the opportunities. The Trump Administration considers India as an opportunity and he wanted to present extended remarks and reflections on many ways that US can deepen its ties with India for the next hundred years, and how it is a critical component to a free and open Indo-Pacific, the official said. There is a lot of bilateral benefits that follow deepening economic, cultural, diplomatic, and security ties with India. But there are a range of benefits that also follow for the region, the Indo-Pacific region, the State Department official said. China has risen alongside India, but China has done so less responsibly and China has undermined the international rules-based order while countries like India operate within this rules-based order, the official said. We obviously want constructive relations with China. The Secretary is in regular contact with Chinese leadership. But we are not going to shrink or ignore Chinas challenges to the rules-based order, or where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries, the official said. What we like is for many decades, the US has supported Chinas rise, we have also supported Indias rise, but those two countries have risen very differently, the official said. As Tillerson said about the shared values, shared security, shared national security interests, shared economies, shared democracies, this is a great friendship that US wants to expand and deepen on all areas. The official argued that there are good reasons bilaterally for the US and India to deepen its ties, but there are opportunities to grow the connectivity in the region. Referring to the India-US and Japan tri-lateral in New York last month, the official said Japan is very supportive of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Ive had many consultations with the Japanese about this. We have also talked with the Australians, and we envision a quadrilateral sort ofan anchoring the Indo- Pacific anchored by these four countries of Australia, the US, India, and Japan, he said. While the speech was mostly about India, the subtitle of the speech was The Foundations of a Free and Open Indo- Pacific. So thats what he talked about, including financing mechanisms, and he did talk about some of the predatory economics that we see in the area, and you have countries that are looking for better financing mechanisms and better partners, and we believe that countries like the US and India are those partners, the official said. PTI Nikhil Bhardwaj Ludhiana, October 19 Head constables Balraj and Deep Chand were suspended on Thursday in connection with the RSS worker Ravinder Gosain murder case. The two had had not pursued the complaint of a motorcycle theft received on October 10. The same motorcycle was used by the two armed men while killing the RSS worker on October 17. The complaint was filed by Rohit Pal, the owner of the bike, a resident of Lohara. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The two policemen are posted at the Miller Ganj police post where the complaint was lodged by Rohit Pal. The bike was found abandoned on Wednesday morning at Manj Phaguwal village near Jalandhar bypass on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana highway. Kishan, a resident of Phullanwal, had sold the bike to Rohit Pal of Lohara. The bike was stolen on October 10 from Miller Ganj where Rohit had parked it. Kabul, October 19 Taliban militants killed at least 43 Afghan troops early on Thursday when they stormed a military base in southern Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Of 60 soldiers manning the base in the southern province of Kandahar, 43 were killed, nine were injured and six were missing after Taliban militants stormed the base in the middle of the night, the ministry said in a statement. At least nine Taliban were also reported killed. The Taliban ahve claimed the attack in a media statement. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush in the northern Balkh province late Wednesday killed six policemen, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Agencies Sydney, October 19 Australias lawmakers have rejected legislation that would tighten citizenship and foreign worker visa rules, a blow to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who had sought to stop a loss of his support base to far-right political parties. In April, Turnbull said Australia would abolish a temporary work visa popular with foreigners and replace it with a new programme requiring better English-language and job skills. Turnbull had also announced plans to raise the bar for citizenship by lengthening the waiting period and adding a new Australian values test. But Australias Senate, where Turnbulls centre-right government does not enjoy a majority, rejected the proposal in a late vote on Wednesday, with Opposition lawmakers insisting the rules were counter to Australian multicultural values. The Senate rejection may further drag on support for Turnbull, which, according to the widely watched Newspoll poll on Monday, languishes at its lowest level in more than two years. The next election is not due until 2019, but continued poor polling could undermine Turnbulls leadership. Mathias Cormann, Australias special minister of state, said on Wednesday the government will seek to move the legislation through the senate again as soon as they have secured the necessary support. We will keep working with all non-government senators to secure the necessary support, Cormann told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. A spokeswoman for Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said visa applications would now be considered under the previous rules. Reuters London, October 19 A special team of Pakistans anti-corruption watchdog has arrived in the UK to probe the offshore assets of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his children in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal, a media report said on Thursday. The team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) includes members of the combined investigation team that had prepared four corruption and money laundering cases against Sharifs family and one case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for having assets beyond his known sources of income, Dawn News reported. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified 67-year Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. During its stay [in London] the team will contact the UK authorities to seek a reply to its queries regarding the Sharif familys Avenfield properties. Besides, it will reach out to some important witnesses to record their statements ahead of the indictment of the Sharif family members, an official with the NAB was quoted as saying by the paper. Before the team arrived in London, NAB authorities wrote a letter to British authorities and appealed for cooperation in the investigation. The posh Avenfield flats of Sharifs family reverberated during the hearing of the Panama papers case and the team is likely to collect more information about its ownership as well. Sharif is still in London with his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz. According to Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, the PML-N president would be arriving back in the country soon. An accountability court in Islamabad indicted 67-year- old Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference. NAB has initiated the process of declaring Sharifs sons proclaimed offenders on the order of the accountability court. They have been given a deadline of November 10 to appear before the court in the graft cases, otherwise they will be declared proclaimed offenders and the process of issuing red warrants for them will begin. PTI Islamabad, October 19 Pakistans ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were indicted on Thursday by an anti-graft court in a corruption case related to the Avenfield property in London. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registered three cases of corruption and money laundering against 67-year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the accountability court in Islamabad on September 8. The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Sharif is in London with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Maryam and Safdar were present in the court during todays hearing. All three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to a court official. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. Sharif and his sons Hassan and Hussain are likely to be indicted in the other two references later today. At the start of the hearing by Judge Muhammad Bashir, the defence filed application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to illness of his wife. The defence team also argued that head of Sharifs legal team Harris was out of country due to an emergency and in his absence Sharif should not be indicted. But the court rejected the application after hearing the argument. The second lawyer from Sharifs legal team, Ayesha Hamid, filed an application seeking a delay in the indictment until the apex court decides on a petition filed by Sharif against the filing of multiple corruption references against him by NAB. The court rejected this application as well. Sharifs leagal team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case. The court has reserved its decision on the application. During the proceedings, the judge thrice stopped hearing and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications. Sharifs family alleges that the cases are politically motivated. Maryam, in informal chat with reporters, said that it was for the first time that Sicilian mafia was appearing in the court. She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by the Supreme Court Bench which disqualified him. It is for the first time that first decision was given (about disqualification of Sharif) and now trial is being held, she said. Sharif, his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and independent lawyers had objected to the use of phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will. Maryam said that one day there would be accountability of the accountability process her family is going through. Injustice and atrocities cannot continue together, she told reporters outside the court. She said that her party is still united despite the differences of opinion. Sharif was re-elected as the president of the PML-N on October 3 and immediately demanded that those who disqualified him should respect the peoples mandate. Maryam said the government is an institution which should be respected. Each institution should do its job. Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth. Judge Bashir was set to indict Sharif and his family on October 13. However, after the violent clash between the PML-N lawyers and police, he had postponed the indictment until today. During the hearing on October 9, the court had decided to separate the trial of Sharifs sons - Hussain and Hassan from Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law. It had also ordered to start the process of declaring Sharifs sons proclaimed offender for failing to appear before the court. The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts and seized properties of Sharif and his family members to put pressure on them to appear before the court. A steel tycoon cum politician, Sharif had served as the Prime Minister for the first time from 1990 to 1993. During his first tenure, Sharif developed serious differences with conservative president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dissolved the National Assembly using his powers in April 1993. In July, Sharif resigned under pressure from the army. His second term as Prime Minister from 1997 ended in 1999 when then powerful Army Chief Pervez Musharraf carried out a bloodless coup. Sharif, who leads the countrys most powerful political family and the ruling PML-N party, successfully managed to swim through all the tsunamis since he assumed power for the third term in June 2013, but the Supreme Court ruling against him in the Panamagate case struck a heavy blow to his career. His political future has been hanging in balance since then. PTI Marawi City (Philippines), October 19 The Philippine military said on Thursday there was a big possibility that a top Malaysian militant tipped to become Islamic States point man in Southeast Asia has been killed in a battle overnight. Twenty rebels among the remaining Islamic State loyalists holed up in the devastated heart of Marawi City were killed in the latest fighting, likely including Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad, said Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of a military task force. There is a big possibility that Dr Mahmud is among them, Brawner told reporters. But we will only be definite once we have a match of probably DNA samples, maybe of the dental records. If confirmed, Mahmuds death would be a blow to any effort by Islamic State, which is on the back foot in Syria and Iraq, to establish a presence in Mindanao, an island with a history of rebellion and home to the predominantly Roman Catholic nations Muslim minority. The Marawi siege has been the Philippines biggest security crisis in years, but some experts see it as a prelude to a more ambitious bid by militants to exploit Mindanaos poverty and use its jungles and mountains as a base to train, recruit and launch attacks in the region. The armed forces in a statement said 13 militants were killed overnight and seven on Monday morning. Two hostages were rescued and information they provided meant the authorities were increasingly becoming confident that Mahmud was dead. Pivotal role The 39-year-old former university lecturer is believed to have been pivotal in raising and channelling funds for the alliance and its foreign fighters during an occupation that has lasted 150 days, killing more than 1,000 people, mostly rebels. Central Marawi has been flattened by government air strikes. Some experts say Mahmud could become Islamic States Southeast Asian emir after the death on Monday of Isnilon Hapilon, the head of the alliance that seeks to carve out an Islamic State Wilaya in the southern Philippines. Philippine soldiers on Monday killed Hapilon, a target of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also killed Omarkhayam Maute, one of two brothers at the helm of the Maute militant clan. Mahmud was seen in a video alongside Hapilon and the Maute brothers plotting the Marawi siege. Security experts say he studied in Pakistan and learned to make bombs in an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. He left Malaysia in 2014. Brawner said the military was relentless in finishing off the rebels, but was unsure how many were left. Estimates on Monday were 20 to 40 fighters. The resistance is still there. In fact, we can hear from the background, the battle is ongoing, he said. Security analyst Rommel Banlaoi said the end of Mahmud would not mean the end of the extremists presence in Mindanao. There are still high-value terrorist personalities who are still at large in Mindanao, not to mention other foreign fighters coming from Indonesia and elsewhere in the Arab world, he said on television. They are very, very elusive and because they mixed with the communities and at the same time, they hang out with the armed groups that have the mastery of the terrain in Mindanao. Its very difficult for them to be caught by the military. Reuters Washington, October 18 The US Navy Seals were ready to mount an operation inside Pakistan, similar to the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden, if it failed to act decisively on a US tip off to rescue a Canadian-American family abducted by the Haqqani network in 2012, according to a media report. The whereabouts of the hostages were located by a CIA drone in a remote valley in northwest Pakistan last month. The grainy images captured by the drone of a young woman and children in a militant camp were a breakthrough, The New York Times reported, citing senior American officials. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Caitlan Coleman, an American citizen, and her husband Joshua Boyle, a Canadian citizen, were kidnapped in 2012 in Afghanistan while on a backpacking trip. Military planners mobilised members of the Navys SEAL Team 6, an elite group of commandos, to mount a rescue, the paper said, quoting officials. The commandos of SEAL Team 6, tapped to rescue the family, started rehearsing. The raid was to take place not far from where the CIA had originally spotted the family, according to a military official. But the risky operation planned on Pakistani soil was called off because some in the US government were not certain that the people spotted by the drones were Coleman, Boyle and their children. Days later, the CIA watched in alarm as militants drove the family out of the camp and across Pakistans lawless tribal lands. On October 11, as they headed towards Kohat, a city farther inside Pakistan, American intelligence officials realised they could not let the opportunity to save the family slip by the US had to act. American officials formed a plan to press the Pakistan government. US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale delivered an urgent message to the Pakistani government: Resolve this, or the US will. PTI Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan has been added as a defendant in an amended lawsuit alleging that his agencys unconstitutional policies and deficient training led to the death of Terence Crutcher. The federal civil rights lawsuit, initially filed in June, was expanded this week to include as defendants Jordan and two officers who were present during the 2016 shooting by then Officer Betty Shelby. The original suit listed only Shelby and the city of Tulsa as defendants. Shelby, who is now a reserve deputy for the Rogers County Sheriffs Office, was acquitted in May of first-degree manslaughter at the conclusion of a contentious trial in Tulsa County District Court. The lawsuit that followed accused Shelby of using excessive force during her fatal encounter with Crutcher, and the city of allowing racially biased policing. Attorneys working on behalf of Crutchers estate have named Jordan in the revised suit because he is the final policy maker responsible for the Police Departments supervision, discipline and training. The complaint alleges that Jordan helped create and allowed the agencys culture of excessive and unnecessary force against unarmed suspects by knowingly failing to discipline officers. The City, through Chief Jordan, has been deliberately indifferent to the systematic and continual civil right violations that the Citys residents have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of TPD, the complaint states. The suit outlines a list of excessive-force lawsuits between 2000 and 2016 in which the city reportedly paid settlements to the plaintiffs. Another list details incidents during the same time frame that illustrate what the plaintiffs attorneys say is the Tulsa Police Department engaging in a pattern and practice of discriminatory policing. A police spokesman said Jordan cannot comment on pending litigation. The amended lawsuit also names Officers Tyler Turnbough and Jason Roy as defendants. Turnbough was the first other officer at the scene after Shelby called for backup during her confrontation with Crutcher. He testified during Shelbys criminal trial that he deployed his Taser at the same time Shelby fired a single shot. He said he redeployed the Taser at the end of its five-second cycle. The complaint states that Crutcher did not pose a threat to officers, especially after being shot, and that Turnbough never warned him that he was about to deploy his Taser. It places further blame on Turnbough for reportedly instructing Shelby not to provide medical assistance to Crutcher after the shooting. Attorneys say Roy was added as a defendant because he did not provide medical assistance until at least two minutes after the shooting. The suit seeks in excess of $75,000 in actual damages as well as punitive damages. It also requests injunctive relief, including independent investigations conducted by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and independent prosecutions of Tulsa police shootings by the Oklahoma attorney general. Additional requests include declarations that Crutchers shooting and the citys racially discriminatory policing of African-Americans are unconstitutional. Crutchers twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, said she hopes the lawsuit will force the city to implement police reforms that will end what she described as a pattern and practice of discrimination against African Americans. This complaint clearly shows why we want reforms implemented, she told the Tulsa World. If this is their (police officers) training, it is flawed. We can no longer have a culture that shoots first and asks questions later. We can no longer have a culture that gambles with citizens lives. We feel it will bridge the mistrust and fear between people in Tulsa and law enforcement. We want those officers held accountable for the pain, the suffering and the death of my twin brother so this will never happen again. The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that sea levels have risen roughly eight inches since 1880 a trend that is expected to accelerate over coming decades, and warm ocean temperatures are one of the factors that strengthen hurricane development. The Union states increasingly destructive hurricanes are putting a growing number of people and structures at risk. Jeff Goodall, writing for Rolling Stone, discussed, Why the back-to-back blows of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have certainly woken people up to the risks of climate change. Goodall discussed the impact of climate change in his book, The Winter Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World. When I was young, my friends and I roamed the various hills and mountain streams of western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. It was desolate, without people and unbelievably pleasant and peaceful. Since then, I have often had bad dreams of seeing massive strip malls in these hills, I assume from people leaving the underwater coasts and settling in the mountains. I would ask the people in the mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Are you ready for the massive impact of people displaced from the cities along the coast? Goodall says Miami now is only about six feet above sea level. This administration, denying that global warming is impacting the seas and loss of coastal land, might be wrong, and it might not be long before it realizes how bad the problem will get. Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? | By Chris Zang Davidge Hall has been witness to some enlightening presentations over its 205 years, but chances are few foes discussed there have been more formidable than sepsis, which Robert K. Bob Ernst, PhD, addressed in his Founders Week Researcher of the Year presentation on Oct. 17. (View a photo gallery.) A death from sepsis occurs every two minutes in the United States. Hospitals spend $23 billion on it annually, making it the most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals. Robert K. Bob Ernst, PhD, professor and vice chair, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, presented "Structure Matters -- Making Bacterial Molecules Work for Us," in Davidge Hall. Ernst, professor and vice chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis in the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD), and his colleagues are engineering rationally designed mimetics based on bacterial surface molecules that will inhibit the ability of the body to mount the damaging immune response present in sepsis. In particular, he is at the forefront of innovative research studying the molecular basis by which bacteria modify the lipid component of their membrane, specifically lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and how these alterations affect normal host innate immune system responses, potentially resulting in septic shock. Before his presentation Ernst was saluted by University of Maryland, Baltimore President Jay A. Perman, MD, and School of Dentistry Dean Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA. We recognized Dr. Ernst at the Gala Saturday night, but now he needs to work for it, said Perman, eliciting laughter from the 100-plus Ernst colleagues, students, faculty, and staff on hand. Perman praised Ernst not only for his groundbreaking body of work but also as a generous collaborator, entrepreneur, and very dedicated mentor. When Perman spoke of the scientist inspiring the next generation of Bob Ernsts an oh, no from the crowd brought another round of laughter, with the jovial Ernst leading the way. Indeed, Reynolds said Ernsts enthusiasm for science and mentoring is contagious, which he showed in his 45-minute presentation Structure Matters Making Bacterial Molecules Work for Us. Without notes, the award winner chronicled the journey his research has taken. He thanked a long list of collaborators and funders, saying you cant just rely on NIH, which has supported Ernst and his team with $3 million in the last decade. UMBs seed grant program and MedImmune also have provided strong support. He discussed E coli, pattern recognition receptors, and the bar code in bacterial molecules. Pathogens are detected by pattern recognition receptors on host cells that recognize structures that are broadly shared by pathogens, Ernst said. These bacterial patterns represent a signature or bar code that informs the host on the level of danger of the invading organism and how to respond. Ernst came to UMB in the fall of 2008, moving his laboratory from the University of Washington in Seattle. David R. Goodlett, PhD, who worked closely with Ernst in Seattle studying the structure function relationships of lipid A, also came to UMB and is now a professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. In 2016, Ernst and Goodlett co-founded a startup diagnostic company called Pataigin. Last fall, the company received a $25,000 Maryland Department of Commerce Life Award for its patented test called BACLIB that inexpensively identifies bacteria- and fungi-causing infections in less than an hour, allowing clinicians to make decisions in the hospital at the point-of-care. Thank you to Jim Hughes and the UMB tech transfer office for all their help, Ernst said. When he turned to sepsis, Ernsts tone turned more serious. Each hour delay in antibiotic treatment the mortality rate goes up 7 percent, he said. Ernst admits hes willing to talk to anyone in his quest for research advances. That approach has taken him to Maastricht in the Netherlands to utilize multimodal imaging, tracking where the blood flow is in sepsis. Theyre among the best in the world, with an image every 20 minutes instead of every three to six hours. Ernst was the picture of a passionate scientist, enthused and lifted when he discussed advances with E coli and the LPS, bemoaning the setbacks, praising unheard of assistance from the Food and Drug Administration, and recognizing his colleagues in the professional schools at UMB. Absolutely, this is the most collegial university that Ive been associated with. The Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine and our department work together hand in glove. We are now branching out to do work with cancer researchers at UMB, MedImmune, and the National Cancer Institute, as they are also looking for novel mechanisms to attack cancer cells in the body. Ernst concluded his presentation with thanks to his many colleagues and a final PowerPoint slide: Yes, structure does matter Modulation of the host innate and adaptive immune systems Adjuvant development Just the tip of the iceberg We are expanding our library rapidly Weve neglected the carbohydrate portion core and O-antigen The potential for a novel antisepsis therapeutic is promising Inhibiting at the earliest intervention point Asked earlier if a cure for sepsis in his lifetime is a realistic possibility, Ernst responded, Cure, no, there will always be infections. But being able to modify the host response to give physicians a better chance to treat the symptoms associated with sepsis, potentially. Popular UW Lecture Series Scheduled in Cody Oct. 28 The University of Wyomings one-day free public lecture series, featuring diverse topics from UW professors, will be offered in Cody for the first time Saturday, Oct. 28. Saturday U -- the half day of college lectures and discussion -- will be in the Buffalo Bill Center of the Wests Coe Auditorium. The program begins with coffee and donuts at 8:30 a.m., followed by welcoming remarks at 8:50 a.m. The guest lectures begin at 9 a.m. Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures. A free lunch and question-and-answer session will follow the program at 12:30 p.m. During the fall and spring terms, Saturday University visits locations throughout Wyoming discussing todays most captivating topics, says Saturday U Coordinator Paul Flesher, a UW religious studies professor. In its ninth year, Saturday U is a collaborative program that connects popular UW and Wyoming community college professors with lifelong learners. Offered nine times a year -- twice each in Jackson, Gillette and Sheridan, and once in Rock Springs, Pinedale and Cody -- Saturday U is sponsored by the university, the UW Foundation and Wyoming Humanities. The program is presented locally by UW, Wyoming Humanities and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Enjoy three intriguing lectures delivered by professors from the University of Wyoming, Flesher says. Complimentary lunch is provided, giving participants an opportunity to engage with the speakers during a roundtable discussion following the three lectures. Listed below are program topic descriptions and professors lecturing: -- 9 a.m.: Did Shoshone Cavern National Monument Become Just Another Hole in the Ground? A Case Study in State/Federal Debates over Control of Public Lands, Phil Roberts, UW Department of History professor. Shoshone Cavern National Monument, five miles from downtown Cody, became Wyomings second national monument soon after it was discovered by Ned Frost and his dog in the early 20th century. The cavern mouths location, unfortunately, made access difficult, even with horses. Development as a tourist site never overcame this problem, Roberts says. After years of conflict between the National Park Service and Cody residents, Congress delisted the monument and transferred it to the city of Cody. The result could have been a model for the success of local control over former federally owned lands, Roberts says. But, instead, the story forms a cautionary tale of how local towns often are unable to manage public lands any better than the federal government -- and these failures often result in damage of the resource. -- 10:15 a.m.: How the Brain Learns to See: Studying Tadpoles to Understand People, Kara Pratt, UW Department of Zoology and Physiology associate professor. Brains process information through neural networks, but a new brain contains masses of neurons without connections. Pratt will discuss how the proper connections are made. The study of Xenopus tadpoles -- whose see-through skin lets us view the brain directly -- reveals how the brain creates itself by self-assembling neurons into networks that transform external stimuli from the environment into internal perceptions, Pratt says. One key discovery is that visual experience -- the act of seeing -- actually guides the precise wiring up of the visual system. Pratt will describe her research and explain what it reveals about the nature of human sight. -- 11:30 a.m.: Will We Ever Have Beautiful Forests Again? Bark Beetles, Resilience and Future Forests, Daniel Tinker, UW Department of Botany associate professor. The intermountain Wests bark beetle epidemic that began in the late 1990s is unprecedented in recorded history. Its intensity and geographic scale have been overwhelming, and it continues today in many forests of the western United States, Tinker says. The ramifications for such an intense and prolonged epidemic are far-reaching, and many are not well understood, especially considering the changes in our climate happening at the same time, he says. Tinkers lecture will explore the bark beetle phenomenon, its ecology and management, and the resilience of current and future forest systems. For more information, call Flesher at (307) 766-2616 or email pflesher@uwyo.edu. For more information about Saturday U, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/saturdayu/index.html. UW Computer Science Students Benefit from Department Program Dozens of students at the University of Wyoming have taken part in unique educational opportunities outside the scope of campus recently, thanks to a program in the Department of Computer Science. The Industrial Affiliates (IA) program in the College of Engineering and Applied Science was developed to link industrial and business partners with potential employees and faculty members. Forming a relationship between industry and the department reduces recruitment costs, while also developing a channel of communication between affiliate partners. One crucial aspect of the program, however, directly benefits the students in the department. IA funding can be used for opportunities for undergraduates and graduates to travel to conferences to expand their knowledge base and gain valuable networking skills. Women in Computing Conference Nine students attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHCWC) Oct. 4-6 in Orlando, Fla. The group included Katherine Chawla, Arvada, Colo.; Madison Cooley, Lois Rachocki and Dustin Rubin, all from Cheyenne; Moriah Miller, Powell; Fiona Moss, Hyderabad, India; Raylyn Pettigrew, Casper; Thao Phung, Laramie; and Talitha Trippel, Worland. The GHCWC is an annual event that brings the worlds top women technologists and best minds in computing together to highlight the contributions of women to computing. Organizers say the conference results in collaborative proposals, networking and mentoring for attendees, while conference presenters are leaders in industry, academia and government. Additionally, there are professional development activities. Keynote speakers at the conference included Melinda Gates, Ayanna Howard, Fei-Fei Li and Mary Spio, while smaller sessions covered topics that included data science, computer systems engineering, artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, software engineering and security/privacy. The UW contingent was fortunate to snag spots, as attendance at the conference has increased from 4,500 in 2013 to more than 18,000 in 2017. DefCon Cybersecurity Conference Seven computer science students had the opportunity to attend the 2017 DefCon Cybersecurity Conference July 27-30 in Las Vegas. Attendees of the event typically include computer security professionals, federal government employees, researchers, students and hackers with an interest in software, computer architecture and hardware modification. In the past, DefCon attendance has been reported at 25,000, many of whom have the technical skill to hack into computers, phones and other connected devices. Authorities say a 5-year-old boy is dead after a tree fell on him in his own backyard. According to the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office, the child was playing on a hammock with other children outside his home in Big Lake Township, when a tree fell and hit him on the head. Deputies say the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as Edward Joseph Michalek. The accident happened Tuesday evening. Big Lake Township is near Monticello, Minnesota, about an hour northwest of Minneapolis. This was a freak accident that led to the tragic loss of a young life, said Sheriff Joel Brott in a press release Wednesday. Our thoughts are with Edwards family during this difficult time. On October 15th, Lisa Claridy, Kitty Metzer, Sindi Keene, Ginny DePaso and Allyson Ashihara teamed up to put together a fund raiser yoga session among the animals at the Lion Habitat Ranch (Photos courtesy of Lion Habitat Ranch). The Lion Habitat Ranch is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit located at 382 Bruner Ave in Henderson, NV. It was a resounding success with about 40 yogis showing up to enjoy the session highlighted by lions roaring close by. The yoga fundraiser proceeds from this event went entirely to the Lion Habitat Ranch for the care and feeding of 36 lions, Ozzie the Giraffe, and all the other rescued birds and animals. A highlight was Sindi Keene playing resonating crystal bowls which provide an effect you have to hear in person to appreciate. An international conference in HCM City discussed the latest research in biotechnology as it relates to agriculture and medicine. Photo courtesy of HCM City Open University Bio-pesticides, for example, have been used in coffee and pepper crops, two of the seven main perennial crops of Viet Nam, Dr Pham Nguyen uc Hoang of the Biotechnology Centre of HCM City, said at an international conference on biotech research and application held yesterday at HCM City Open University. Most microbial bio-pesticides are used to control plant pathogenic fungi and nematodes. The main purposes of microbial fertilisers for these crops are for nitrogen fixation, decomposition of organic matter, and nutrient absorption, he said, adding that many microorganisms are used in fertilisers and bio-pesticides help to increase crop yield. The Biotechnology Center was able to create bio-products for these purposes using domestic microorganisms collected in southern Viet Nam, Hoang said. Biochar from coffee husks and other crop waste can be used to enhance the effect of microbial products, he said. The process improves crop quality and yield, decreases the use of chemical farming, and maintains the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystem, he added. Associate Professor Nguyen Anh Dung of Tay Nguyen University said that bio-tech products were needed in the Central Highlands region, where agriculture plays an important role, to maintain sustainable development. Microbiological biotechnology, nanotechnology and enzymatic biotechnology should be the focus of more research, Dung said. The conference, which was held by HCM City Open University, also heard presentations from Japanese and Thai scientists on biotech research and application in agriculture. Professor Akira Suzuki of Tokyo City University said that automated technology used in mushroom cultivation was effective but that its use was still not widespread. Mushroom companies are also eager to apply new technologies to save energy during cultivation. LED lights, for example, are used instead of fluorescent lamps, especially during budding and growth. In a related matter, Dr Takashi Yamanaka of Japans Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, gave a presentation on the cultivation of the Tricholoma matsutake, one of the most economically important edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms in the world. Pharmaceutical biotechnology, a relatively new field, involves the discovery and development of biomedicine. In Viet Nam, many biomedicines, including therapeutic drugs as well as kits for diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases, are now available. The bell, housed in the Elizabeth Tower, has been off since a four-year renovation of the building began. (Photo: AFP/Daniel Leal-Olivas) The bell, housed in the Elizabeth Tower, has been off since a four-year renovation of the building began. (Photo: AFP/Daniel Leal-Olivas) The bell, housed in the Elizabeth Tower, has been off since a four-year renovation of the building began. It will be reconnected to sound for Armistice Day, on Nov 11, and Remembrance Sunday the following day, and throughout the Christmas holiday season. "It has always been the intention throughout the Elizabeth Tower conservation works for Big Ben to ring out for important national events, and whenever we safely can without disruption to the refurbishment project," a statement said. The bell in the famous 315-foot (96-metre) tower which looms over Britain's Houses of Parliament in Westminster will be reconnected in advance of the occasions. It will start chiming on the hour from 9am on Nov 9 until 1pm on Nov 12, and from 9am on Dec 23 until 1pm on Jan 1, 2018. But parliamentary authorities said they expected "slight inaccuracies" after an 11-week break. The structure is undergoing much-needed renovations, which started on Aug 21 and could end up costing as much as 61 million (US$80 million, 68 million). The work is repairing the clock faces and mechanism, cracks in the tower's masonry and corrosion in the roof, as well as restoring the edging around the clock faces to its original 19th-century colour. A lift will also be installed as an alternative to the steps up the tower, and the lights illuminating the clock will be replaced by low-energy LEDs. Completed in neo-Gothic style in 1856 by parliament architect Augustus Pugin, the tower has suffered from considerable degradation over time, and now even leans 46 centimetres (18 inches) off the vertical. However, silencing Big Ben - whose chimes feature on British television and radio news bulletins - has proved contentious, sparking protests including from Prime Minister Theresa May. Its time Viet Nam shift its attention to quality and sustainable development and eye industry 4.0 technologies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), experts said at an online dialogue on FDI promotion strategies organised on Tuesday in Ha Noi. Photo baobinhduong.vn Three decades since the Law on Foreign Investment was issued in December 1987, FDI has become an important part of the Vietnamese economy, although it has also brought with it problems such as environment pollution, outdated technologies, transfer pricing and below-expectation technology transfer. During the event held by nhadautu.vn, Dang Xuan Quang, deputy director of the Viet Nam Foreign Investment Agency, said the country needs to review the policies of attracting FDI towards ensuring economic, social and environmental sustainability. In particular, industry 4.0 should also be taken into account to attract FDI, Quang said. It is incorrect to say developing countries cannot approach industry 4.0. We still can participate in the fourth industrial revolution if we follow the right path and find the right niche, Quang said. Quang said selecting appropriate FDI would help Viet Nam engage deeper in industry 4.0. Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, said industry 4.0 would have significant impact on every rule, every economy and every industry, adding that new technologies would lead to changes in power, cause security concerns and have an impact on the gap between the rich and the poor. Viet Nam should focus on attracting FDI in hi-technology sectors that generate high added value, such as information technology, electronics, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, as well as virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing and big data, along with automation, new materials, education, R&D and healthcare, he said. It is critical to say no to polluting projects, Mai stressed. According to Nguyen Van Phuc, former chairman of the National Assemblys Economic Committee, comprehensive evaluation should be undertaken on FDI attraction. Its time Viet Nam not longer remains lax while attracting FDI, but is selective, to ensure capital flows according to the countrys targets. Phan Huu Thang, former director of the Viet Nam Foreign Investment Agency, said policies should highlight responsibilities of FDI investors towards Viet Nam, especially in technology transfer and promoting Vietnamese firms to become suppliers of foreign firms and engage deeply in the global value chain. Viet Nam also needs to improve its legal framework, especially in competition and ownership, Vo Tri Thanh, former deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said. As of September 20, there were 24,200 existing FDI projects nationwide, with total registered capital of US$310 billion, 54 per cent of which was disbursed, so far. In 2016, FDI sector contributed 50 per cent to Viet Nams industrial production and 18.6 per cent to the State budget collection. Rohingya refugee Khalida is seen wading across a canal with her three children near the no man's land area between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Over half a milion Rohingya have fled Myanmar since late August, Photo source: AFP Rohingya refugee Khalida is seen wading across a canal with her three children near the no man's land area between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Over half a milion Rohingya have fled Myanmar since late August, Photo source: AFP The statement from the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, and the special adviser on the responsibility to protect, Ivan Simonovic, added the international response to the crisis was a failure. "Despite warnings issued by us and by many other officials, the government of Myanmar has failed to meet its obligations under international law and primary responsibility to protect the Rohingya population from atrocity crimes," said a joint statement. "The international community has equally failed its responsibilities in this regard," they added. Since late August more than 500,000 Rohingya have fled an army campaign in Myanmar's Rakhine state that the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing. The UN Security Council has called on Myanmar to end military operations in Rakhine, grant access to aid workers and allow the safe return of the Rohingya refugees. The council however has not followed up its appeal with action such as imposing sanctions, a move diplomats said is opposed by China, a supporter of the Myanmar's former junta, and Russia. "Once again, our failure to stop atrocity crimes makes us complicit. When will we live up to our countless promises of 'never again'?" the advisers asked. Myanmar authorities argue the military operations in Rakhine are to root out militants following attacks on police posts in late August. A recent report by the UN human rights office accused Myanmar of seeking to permanently expel the Rohingya, by planting land mines at the border with Bangladesh where the refugees are sheltering. UN rights officials spoke to refugees who gave accounts of soldiers surrounding homes and firing indiscriminately as residents ran for their lives, and of uniformed men gang-raping women and girls, some as young as five. "In some cases, before and during the attacks, megaphones were used to announce: 'You do not belong here - go to Bangladesh. If you do not leave, we will torch your houses and kill you'," the report said. The UN's top political affairs official, Jeffrey Feltman, returned on Tuesday from five days of talks in Myanmar that failed to yield a breakthrough. Feltman is expected to report to the Security Council on his talks. EU President Donald Tusk said he does not expect a breakthrough on Brexit at the European summit. (Photo: AFP/Dario Pignatelli) EU President Donald Tusk said he does not expect a breakthrough on Brexit at the European summit. (Photo: AFP/Dario Pignatelli) Leaders of the other 27 EU members meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday are set to postpone until at least December a decision on whether enough progress has been made in talks to move on to discussing Britain and the EU's future relationship. Fears are growing that Britain may fail to strike a withdrawal agreement before its formal departure on Mar 29, 2019 and London had hoped the summit - where Prime Minister Theresa May will plead her case at a working dinner - might clear the logjam. "I don't expect any kind of breakthrough tomorrow - we have to work really hard in between October and December to finalise this so-called first phase and to start our negotiations on our future relations with the UK," Tusk said. Five rounds of talks have made some progress but major differences remain on the key issues of citizens' rights, the future of the Irish border after Brexit and in particular how much Britain will pay in to EU budgets as it leaves the bloc. Britain wants Brussels to acknowledge the progress made in talks, particularly since May's speech in Florence last month in which she pledged that no other country would have to pay more into the EU or receive less from it as a result of Brexit. But EU leaders and officials insist that London needs to translate the goodwill into detailed commitments. "I am absolutely sure that it's still possible to achieve this final first phase in December but for this we need more concrete proposals from the British side to be honest," Tusk said. 'PEANUTS' Underlining the increasingly tense atmosphere around the talks, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani ignited a fresh row late on Tuesday when he derided Britain's 20 billion offer on the financial settlement as "peanuts". "I have never seen 20 billion peanuts in my life," Tusk joked when asked about Tajani's comment. Tajani's comments came on the same day that the British and EU chief negotiators clashed over a claim by London that Brussels is deliberately stalling the divorce haggling to extract more cash. A German government official struck a more positive note, highlighting progress on the issue of citizens rights and suggesting there could be room for flexibility on the thorny question of Britain's exit bill. "If you look at the dimension of the European-British relations, then the financial questions may not be as important as they are made now," the official said. "The major issues of the future between Great Britain and the European Union outweigh the current dispute about finances. And I believe everyone is aware of that and that is why we are optimistic that we are going to find a solution there - along with a bit of drama." Tech companies and traditional taxi firms are encroaching on Uber and Grab through the use of technology Fighting fire with fire According to the latest move, Viettel Telecom recently signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement to purchase 30 per cent of Vietnamese transportation startup Gonow, officially joining the online ride hailing market. Accordingly, Viettel will provide Gonow with support in developing its website, sales network, customer care system, and payment services. Founded one year ago, Gonow is a platform which connects drivers and car owners with customers to provide passenger and goods transport services, as well as car leasing. However, Gonow, Uber, and Grab target different customer bases. Accordingly, Gonow focuses on car leasing services for tour-travel trips and customers looking for long-distance trips between provinces. Gonow currently operates in 63 cities and provinces nationwide and plans to expand to international markets from the end of 2018. At present, the platform has more than 170,000 members, a whopping rise from the just 3,500 in the first quarter of this year. Previously, in late 2016, 123Xe, another Vietnamese ride-hailing developed by VNG, was officially launched, marking VNGs endeavour into the ride-hailing market. Due to its late launch, 123Xe focused on a niche market, accepting only customers who travel from 15 to 500 kilometres. However, VNGs service is considered an advantage compared to Uber and Grab because the 123Xe application permits customers to hail cars between 4-45 seats, while Uber and Grabs fleets consist of four and seven-seaters only. Along with Gonow and 123Xe, numerous ride-hailing applications like Vivu, Rada, iMove and Go-ixe have been launched to directly compete with Uber and Grab. Traditional taxi companies join the fray In late September, Mai Linh Mien Bac, a major taxi company in Vietnam owned by Mai Linh Group, officially launched motorbike transport services called M.Bike and M.Bike Premium, to compete with uberMoto and GrabBike. Besides, Thanh Cong Taxi Group introduced the @ThanhCongApp application to become the first taxi company in Vietnam to apply technology based on Chatbot, the latest technology of Facebook. At present, @ThanhCongApp is present in five cities and provinces, including Hanoi, Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, and Thua Thien-Hue. Furthermore, other taxi companies, namely Taxi Group, The Ky Moi, Sao Thu Do, and Vinasun have also implemented their own ride hailing applications with interfaces similar to those of Uber and Grab. Uber and Grabs additional advantages According to technological developers and traditional taxi companies, it is simple and cheap to invest in ride-hailing applications to compete with Uber and Grab, however, in reality, the two major rivals have other advantages in terms of fare, promotion programmes, and tax incentives, making it difficult to break their hold on the market. Notably, both Uber and Grab have the strong financial foundations and do not suffer from price restrictions, thus they continually launch promotion and discount programmers to lure in customers. Meanwhile, traditional taxi companies have to comply with price regulations. Furthermore, traditional taxi companies have to pay a series of taxes, including 10 per cent added-value tax (VAT), 20 per cent corporate income tax, and other fees, while Uber and Grab only need to pay 2 per cent corporate income tax and 3 per cent added-value tax. Additionally, taxis are subject to 13 different lines of regulations, such as being prohibited from entering certain road sections during peak hours, and from altering fares, among others. An investor monitors stock prices at Tan Viet Securities Company. VNS Photo Doan Tung The benchmark VN Index inched down 0.07 per cent to end at 827.72 points. It rose to 831.15 points during the session after gaining 1.08 per cent on Tuesday. Nearly 199 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND4.76 trillion (US$211.8 million). Wednesdays trading figures were up 12.2 per cent in volume and 21.7 per cent in value compared to the previous session. Market breadth became quite negative with 166 declining stocks against 105 gaining ones, while 45 stocks ended flat. Large-cap stocks performed badly, with 18 of the 30 top companies by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket ending lower than they started. The VN30 Index fell 0.20 per cent to 816.84 points. Banks, property developers, brokerage firms and steel producers saw their share prices decline after they had performed well to lift the stock market on Tuesday. Among the seven listed banks on the southern market, MBBank (MBB), Vietcombank (VCB), Sacombank (STB) and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID) were decliners. VCB lost 0.7 per cent and BID edged down 0.5 per cent. VCB jumped nearly 5 per cent on Tuesday while BID rose a total of 6.7 per cent in the previous three sessions. On the opposite side, the VN Index avoided a slump as shares of FLC Faros Construction Corp (ROS) hit its daily rising limit rate of 6.9 per cent and consumer goods producers such as brewer Sabeco (SAB) and food and beverage company Masan (MSN) kept growing. The VN Index struggled with rising pressure from profit-takers, which was triggered when the benchmark touched the level of 831 points, according to Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Co (SHS). However, the pressure was not high enough to push the benchmark into a slump, the Ha Noi-based securities firm wrote in its daily report. The positive thing on Wednesday was the rising liquidity, which proved investor confidence remained good and it was expected to keep supporting the market in next sessions. On Thursday, the VN Index could fluctuate between 822 and 831 points, SHS said, adding that it would need a strong boost to clarify its trend in the near future. On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index was down 0.38 per cent to close at 109.43 points, ending a three-day increase of 1.3 per cent. More than 53.5 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth nearly VND990 billion. 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. Photo: Momento Film Some spoilers for BPM (Beats Per Minute) below. Its impossible to even begin talking about a movie like BPM (Beats Per Minute) French director Robin Campillos thrilling, heartbreaking portrayal of the AIDS activist group ACT UP Paris in the early-to-mid-1990s without stating first that such a film about the epidemic has never been made, nor perhaps ever will be made, in the United States. Here, weve been beholden to scripted narratives (some of them quite good) that have always sentimentally framed any progress against the disease as the heroic work of one person, always a white man. We had Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart, Larry Kramers apoplectic song of himself. We had Prior Walter in Angels in America, raging against his own death in a lonely, martyred fight in the middle of New York City even though, at that time, AIDS activism and community swirled all around him. And, more recently, we had Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, the only person capable of getting potentially lifesaving drugs to Texas AIDS patients even though hes a homophobic straight man (who, of course, comes to see the error of his ways thanks to a tough yet tender transgender sex worker, who of course must die). In America, at least in our pop-culture reflection of our reality, we dont seem to want movements. We want magic. ACT UP Paris (in which Campillo was a deeply involved member) began in 1989 and was inspired by the founding chapter, ACT UP New York, which formed in 1987 and went on to do extraordinary work fighting the epidemic in the U.S.: shaming, discomfiting, and even assisting government entities into action. All of this was done within the framework of open-floor weekly meetings, often grindingly tedious, sometimes devolving into ideological and temperamental mayhem. But its no surprise that France, with its traditionally deeper socialist regard for the messy collective rather than the rugged individual, beat America to the punch in creating a film that shows how changes in dealing with HIV/AIDS actually happened: in long, difficult meetings; among many people of different priorities, dispositions, genders and sexualities; and never magically. (Until, that is, the drudgery of recon and planning exploded into those fabulously scary public actions that stopped traffic, upended bureaucratic business as usual and mesmerized the mainstream media.) One of the keen thrills of BPM (which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes earlier this year, disgorging a roomful of weeping viewers at its end) is the prodigious amount of time it spends in those meetings, deep in the trenches with its characters as they struggle for a collective goal. There, members of Paris ACT UP a preternaturally good-looking group of mostly queer young Parisians in jeans and combat boots, smoking, dancing, and fucking their nights away to Bronski Beats Smalltown Boy applaud one another for small victories won, haggle over the finest, most technical points of strategy and policy, and debate how far their actions should go in terms of violence or vandalism. Related Stories The French AIDS-Crisis Film That Had Journalists Weeping at Cannes Their disagreements sometimes boil over into painful explosions and walkouts, especially from members of the group actually living with HIV and facing their likely imminent deaths. This includes Sean (played with both acidity and vulnerability by Nahuel Perez Biscayart), the dark-featured, sharp-tongued waif who is the movies center, but never its hero. Sean is energized and outspoken in meetings, driving actions forward, but hes so scared and angry that hes often also hurtful and disruptive, lashing out at and demonizing other members. Its a painful and truthful depiction of how such meetings often went down. Yet the fact that Sean doesnt exactly save the day or command one valiant centerpiece speech, as he would in an American film, doesnt detract from our empathy for him when he becomes the center of the films final segment. Despite their raw face-offs, the members of ACT UP Paris always come back together, whether for the next meeting or at the next street action. They march in the otherwise tepid Paris LGBT Pride parade, dressed as American cheerleaders in order to promote condoms and HIV testing, chanting, Fags, dykes, wake up now! They ride out their often bitter disputes for the sake of the larger project: shaking Frances government and its pharmaceutical powers into action to prevent more infections and to bring lifesaving drugs to market fast. And they learn the hard way that when it comes to forcing change, they cant choose between civilly negotiating with power brokers or rudely embarrassing them in public they have to divvy up roles and do both at the same time. It is an incredible lesson in activism for our present moment. BPM is also joyously sexual in a way that few American AIDS films and even recent American LGBT screen narratives, made in a more permissive time have allowed themselves to be. The French tend to see sex as akin to good wine or a long vacation (a pleasure to be savored, not a megillah to torture oneself over), and the militants of BPM have sex all the time, even as theyre fighting and sometimes dying, embracing condoms and safer sex practices as tools that allow them to go on enjoying a vital part of life. One of the films most tender and pathos-eliciting scenes is a sex scene. And, particularly in the films final lines of dialogue, BPM is unashamed in how it portrays lust and grief existing in the exact same moment in time. BPM passes in something of a fever dream of medical minutiae, bureaucratic disruptions, revels on dance floors to pulsing house music (which whoosh through the film in great emotive waves that will undo anyone, like this writer, who spent too many nights lost in the endless loop of a four-four thump), and scenes of almost unbearable grief and anger. In its emotionally overpowering final 30 minutes, the film fuses all of these elements, underscoring the fact that, for the members of ACT UP Paris, political activism and personal love were the same thing, inextricably bound even if, at times, such a double helix could make for harrowing ruptures in friendships and alliances. Why are you here? Sean, hospitalized, asks of Thibault (based on ACT UP co-founder Didier Lestrade), also HIV-positive, who pays him a motherly visit. The two had often sparred sharply in meetings. Thibault shrugs as if the the answer is obvious. We dont like each other, he says. But were friends. Activist alliances, prickly and charged yet bonded in shared struggle, have never been more pithily described. As BPM moves inexorably toward a major loss for its community of hard-charging queers, rather than closing in on one person whose face is supposed to stand in for multitudes, the camera instead pulls back to reveal the collective. As we see the members of ACT UP Paris file, one by one and two by two, into the claustrophobic apartment where one of their own has just died, the film makes it clear that there is no separation between grief and activism, love and anger. The last shots cut between people fucking, sobbing, dancing and, finally, throwing the ashes of their dead compatriot onto the lavish conference banquet tables of the drugmakers who have been withholding key treatments from them. All four actions look equally necessary and cathartic. Blaine. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Magician David Blaine has been accused of raping a former model more than a decade ago. The Daily Beast reports that police in London are investigating a claim made by Natasha Prince that Blaine allegedly raped her at a private home in Chelsea during the summer 2004, in the months after she turned 21. In a statement from Blaines lawyer to the Daily Beast, he has denied the allegation and says hes never raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever. Scotland Yard has confirmed that Prince reported the rape to the police in November 2016 and that there have been no arrests at this stage and enquiries continue. (There is no statute of limitations on sex crimes in Britain.) Theyve reportedly requested that Blaine return to England to be questioned. Blaines lawyer says the famed magician will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide. According to Prince, she met Blaine at a club and he invited her for drinks at a mansion the following day. There, Prince says Blaine offered her a drink then brought her to a bedroom where he forced her to finish the drink and allegedly proceeded to rape her. Prince doesnt recall much of what happened after she drank the cocktail, saying, I was limp, and I was very floaty; I was in and out of a deep sleep during the incident. When I woke up, I was very relaxed very stoned, she remembers. On a shoot the next day, Prince says she felt hazy and completely out of it and could not remember consenting to sex with Blaine or how she got home. A month later, she says Blaine called her to check up on her but that he sounded very creepy, and it made [her] feel a bit bullied. The next year, she says she ran into Blaine at a party where he allegedly told her, You were really good in bed. Six years later, Prince says she bumped into Blaine on the subway in Manhattan, and he then showed up at the art gallery where she works the next day to check up on her again. Blaines lawyer disputes that account, telling the Daily Beast it was Prince who approached Blaine and invited him to her gallery. Since the alleged rape, Prince says she suffered from anxiety, quit modeling, and sought treatment to get sober. She says she didnt initially go to the police because she had blamed herself for the incident. Prince now says, I want him to know that Im not stupid, and I know what happened. Katya Mtsitouridze. Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Katya Mtsitouridze, CEO of Russias state film board Roskino and host of Russian TV series This Is Cinema, is the latest woman to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mtsitouridze says that Weinstein sexually harassed her at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. The pair reportedly met at the Berlin Film Festival in 2003, and the TV host says Weinstein would often invite her up to his hotel room and offer to fly her to New York. She says she would always decline, but in Venice, Weinstein moved their public meeting into his hotel room at the last minute. As in many of the accusations, she says Weinsteins assistant then disappeared, and the mogul greeted her in only a bathrobe, telling her that his masseuse was late, but that they could have fun without her. She says he also described himself as a guru and told her you will love it. Mtsitouridze says she only escaped when a waiter entered the room to bring Champagne. She says she avoided Weinstein for years afterward, but crossed paths with him at Cannes a decade later, where he allegedly whispered to her, Dont even think about saying anything, forget all about it, be a smart girl. Women Share Their Experiences With Sexual Assault and Harassment Harvey Weinstein Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for National Geographic Earlier this month, both the New York Times and the New Yorker published reports on decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. And now, the New Yorker offers an inside look into what it was like at the Weinstein Co. on the days both exposes were released. The day the Times story was published October 5 Weinstein allegedly showed up at his 375 Greenwich Street office express[ing] satisfaction that the piece had come out on a Thursday rather than a Sunday, when, by his reckoning, more people would have seen it. An assistant at the Weinstein Co. told the producer he was resigning that day, and Weinstein offered to give him a reference. Per the New Yorker: Later, as the assistant was leaving to spend the afternoon drinking and strategizing with his colleagues at a nearby pub, he says that Harvey reached for his arm. Sobbing, Harvey said, Im not that guy. Im not that guy. The next Tuesday, as Ronan Farrows The New Yorker story on Weinstein was published, the remaining Weinstein Company staff gathered in a conference room with soul-food takeout from Bubbys. The employees read the story in silence, and then listened to the NYPD tape of Weinstein confessing to groping a woman. They knew that voice too well. Some began to shake, and many of them wept as they contemplated the roles they might have played as accomplices, unwitting or not. A longtime employee then offered to answer any questions the staff may have about the producers behavior. A creative executive told The New Yorker, One of the female assistants was, like, Tell us everything. The full story, which details employees reactions to the Weinstein allegations and what they knew, can be read here. Harvey Weinstein. Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage As dozens of women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and even rape against Harvey Weinstein, various law-enforcement groups have opened investigations into the disgraced Hollywood mogul. According to the Los Angeles Times, the LAPD is looking into a claim from an Italian model and actress, who told the police that Weinstein sexually assaulted her at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2013. According to the Times, this is the first Weinstein case reported in Southern California, while the New York police has two active sex-crime probes, and the London police is investigating allegations from three women. In the California case, the alleged crime falls within the ten-year statute of limitations that existed for felony sex offenses in California in 2013 (the statute of limitations was eliminated in 2016) and thus could lead to criminal charges. Weinsteins representative told the L.A. Times that he has unequivocally denied allegations of nonconsensual sex, and that in this specific case, I cant respond to some anonymous complaint. The accuser, who asked to remain anonymous, told the L.A. Times that she had met Weinstein once in Rome before the alleged rape. There, he invited her up to his hotel room, but she declined. She saw him again at the Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February 2013 and he didnt seem to remember her. Then, she says he appeared without warning in the lobby of her hotel, asked to come up to her room, refused to take no for an answer, and bullied his way into my hotel room. Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked, she said. He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do. He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me. The actress said she told a priest, a friend, and a nanny what happened, but was afraid to report the incident to the police at the time. She decided to come forward now with the encouragement of her children. LeVar Burton. Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images for John Varvatos Soak up this glorious news because it may be the best youll hear all week: LeVar Burton is no longer being sued for using his famous Reading Rainbow catchphrase, but you dont have to take my word for it, on his podcast, LeVar Burton Reads. All settled, but you dont have to take my word for it, Burton told me when I spoke to him recently at a New York Comic Con event he did with Neil deGrasse Tyson for the Audible book of Andy Weirs Artemis. Its all good. Its all good. I can say it. You may remember the news in early August of a strongly worded lawsuit filed by WNED, the PBS affiliate in Buffalo, New York, that owns the Reading Rainbow brand, against Burton and his digital reading company RRKidz (recently renamed LeVar Burton Kids), for theft and extortion regarding a series of alleged trademark violations including promoting his podcast as a Reading Rainbow for adults and his repeated use of a catchphrase he used on-air for over 20 years but didnt technically own. Well, I didnt take Burtons word for it: I double-checked the legal history, and called WNED. According to a statement from WNED, as well as documents filed with the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on August 28, just as Burton said, both sides have reached a settlement and WNED has withdrawn its suit. Burton credits the turn of events to the outcry that arose among fans when news of the lawsuit first broke, particularly around WNEDs assertion that Burtons contributions to RR and the value of RR could be separated. (The exact language: Mr. Burtons goal is to control and reap the benefits of Reading Rainbows substantial goodwill goodwill that unquestionably belongs to WNED.) As the public made their feelings known, Burton said, the company changed their minds: There was an amazing outpouring of love and support of fans. It was very heartwarming. I didnt have to say anything. I did not make a comment. I was advised not to comment, and as difficult as that was for me, it was nice to have people come to my defense. The full story is a little more complicated. As WNED wrote in its statement, while encouraging everyone to read the full court documents: It is important to note that the basis of this case is about protecting the integrity of the Reading Rainbow brand and its future, not just about a catchphrase. The dispute between WNED and Burton stems back to a 2011 licensing agreement for Reading Rainbow intellectual property that was meant to set up a divide and conquer system for reviving the brand. Burtons RRKidz would take over digital development, like an iPad app and an online library for elementary schools. WNED would be in charge of figuring out how to revive the filmed show; if that ever happened theyd split profits with Burton 50-50. Then, WNED claims, Burton crossed a line by running a 2014 Kickstarter campaign to revive the show which raised $6.5 million and led to alleged secret negotiations with Netflix about a new RR series without WNEDs involvement. Soon after, WNED started restricting RRKidzs license, upon which RRKidz sued WNED. The lawsuit claims that Burton persisted in acting as if there were no restrictions, including hijacking the Reading Rainbow website to redirect traffic to his own endeavors, and leading the public to believe he still represented the brand via his podcast, even after the licensing agreement was terminated. (Burtons timeline for when that termination happened is vastly different than WNEDs.) Whatever the terms of the settlement, theyre confidential, according to WNEDs statement. RRKidz is no longer a licensee of the RR brand, and a Google search for rrkidz.com goes directly to the website for LeVar Burton Kids. WNEDs statement says its working on the next chapter of Reading Rainbow, and wishes luck to RRKidz (which, again, no longer exists). Heres what Im allowed to say, Burton told me. WNED and I have settled all of our differences and I wish them well, and I look forward to seeing what they do with the brand next. I was the brand ambassador and the steward for 23 years and Im really proud of my time with the brand. Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall. Photo: Open Road Films One of the most striking details about the storied lawyer and first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, is from a professor at the University of Maryland law school. He described him as the kind of man who in his youth wore life like a loose garment. When researching Marshalls early years, this detail struck me, because it contradicts how pivotal civil-rights figures are often portrayed in Hollywood films staid, sanitized men and women hyperaware that they are making history. Marshall, the Reginald Hudlinhelmed film starring Chadwick Boseman, falls into the trap of flattening its titular character, choosing to render him as a hollow legend in the making rather than taking an interest in who he was as a person. The film centers on an early case in Marshalls long career from 1941, when he was in his early 30s. He crisscrosses the U.S. as a traveling lawyer for a struggling NAACP, under the guidance of Walter Francis White (Roger Guenveur Smith). The case brings him to Greenwich, Connecticut, to defend a black chauffeur with a sullied past, Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), from a rape charge leveled at him by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson). Its actually a Jewish insurance lawyer, Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), who defends the case, as Marshall isnt allowed to even speak in the courtroom hes forced to only advise by the hostile Judge Colin Foster (James Cromwell), who just so happens to be a family friend of the prosecutor. The film gestures at that striking quality I discovered in reading about the real-life Marshall: Boseman grants the man a distinct swagger and forceful sense of humor, seemingly designed to rile white people and disabuse them of their preconceived notions about him. A scene at the very end of the film after Marshall has moved on to a new case in the Deep South shows him drinking from a whites-only water fountain, an older black man looking on in shock at his brazenness. Its supposed to be a humorous and cutting moment, nodding to how Marshall is in a class apart from others around him. It only reminded me how little effort the film makes in understanding why Marshall makes such bold decisions on a deeper level, and who he was beyond this arrogant, quick-witted man it presents. Marshalls filmic characterization ultimately comes down to big speeches on courtroom steps, a lot of swagger, and little else. But the issues with the film are apparent long before Marshall ever makes a grand speech about the power of the law. All you have to do is look at Boseman to see that this film has a blinkered view of history and blackness: The real-life Marshall was a light-skinned man, and his place on the color spectrum undoubtedly influenced how he became such a legend. Thurgood Marshall takes his seat as the first black member of the United States Supreme Court. Photo: Bettmann Archive American film often flattens pivotal black figures, treating the experience of blackness as if it has no particular textures or contradictions. In Hollywood movies, racism is something we all experience in the same way, which couldnt be further from the truth. This is often clearest when it comes to issues of colorism, which stretch across the black diaspora, as well as other communities of color. In reality, being of a lighter complexion grants a level of privilege in moving through the world, while being of a darker hue is derided, aligned with its own noxious stereotypes about intellect and sexuality, and can play a factor in prison time. The issue of colorism is multifaceted and wide-ranging, touching on a host of complex issues the history of how some black people have passed for white, how lighter-skinned black women are deemed more beautiful because of a perceived proximity to whiteness, internalized racism. Typically, films will cast lighter actors in roles they are ill-suited for. Remember when Zoe Saldana was burdened with laughable prosthetics and darker makeup in order to play Nina Simone last year? Marshall is a rare example of the opposite happening, but its just as insidious it signals that the film deems colorism, and the way it touches Marshalls life, as inconsequential to blackness and the history it seeks to untangle. Being light-skinned granted Marshall access. Marshall was aware of the effects of colorism, thanks to stories hed heard growing up from his father a man light enough that he could pass, but chose not to and an incident in his high-school years, in which a brawl broke out when a man called him a nigger and his Jewish boss had to bail him out of jail. Its hard to imagine his light skin didnt have a role in his survival of this incident, giving him access to jobs in which a white boss would even be willing to defend him. This isnt to say that Marshall didnt experience racism. He was a still a black man who looked like a black man, and white people were quick to remind him of it. Just look at what Marshall experienced during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court: At one point, committee chairman James Eastland, a Democrat from Mississippi, asked Marshall if he was prejudiced against white people in the South. But in watching the film, I couldnt help but notice how better suited Bosemans co-star, Roger Guenveur Smith, would have been for the role, if it were a story about Marshall later in life. Smith is cast in the movie as Walter White, a man who could easily pass something he used to advantage whenever traveling to the South. In his autobiography, White wrote, I am a Negro. My skin is white, my eyes are blue, my hair is blond. The traits of my race are nowhere visible upon me. (Smith may be light-skinned, but under no circumstances could I see him ever being able to fully pass as a white man.) Marshall and White dictate, in dramatically different ways, how entrenched colorism is, and also how it exists on a continuum: Marshall may have been light, but he could not pass and move through the world in the ways White did. Its a shame the film doesnt explore these dynamics. Roger Guenveur Smith as Walter White. Photo: Open Road Films Marshalls refusal to grapple with colorism is quickly revealed to be a symptom of a larger problem its blunt understanding of race and utter disinterest in Marshall himself. In ignoring the lived reality of colorism, Marshall creates a circumscribed version of blackness thats easy for white audiences to consume, lacks any sort of challenging narrative, and bypasses the more fascinating wrinkles in its characters lives. Despite his name being its title, the film doesnt care about Marshall so much as it does Sam Friedman its his journey from reluctant lawyer to ally that proves to be the true bedrock of the film. Sure, there could be an interesting narrative developed from interrogating how two very different communities in this case, blacks and Jews handle bigotry and come together. But that the first major biopic about Marshall pushes him to be a supporting player in his own story and instead explores Friedmans Jewish faith, marriage, and ultimately, the importance of his allyship is insulting. Marshalls impressive legal mind is nowhere to be found in the film. Yes, hes shown capably helping Friedman. Yes, hes shown using whatever venue hes in as a stage, facing press and protesters from the community, who hold signs riddled with slurs, with a confident disposition. Ultimately, though, the film doesnt answer the one question necessary to make this biopic work: Who was Thurgood Marshall, really? Film isnt necessarily responsible for teaching people a history they arent already curious about. But it would be ignorant to act as if film Hollywood and otherwise doesnt reflect, reimagine, and sometimes even reshape the world we inhabit. In many ways, Hollywood history is American history. It tells us what we value, what we ignore, what we choose to glorify. What Marshall chooses to ignore despite having a black director is how being light-skinned shaped Thurgood Marshalls path in life. It also refuses to grapple meaningfully with who he was. Hes painted instead as a dashing, sometimes wry symbol in a three-piece suit. If theres anything that registers from watching civil-rights biopics of this ilk, its that while grandiloquence makes the legend, it is minutiae that informs the man. Photo: Peter Kramer/USA Network In this weeks episode of Mr. Robot, Elliot hits the reset button a bit too hard, Price and Zhang get down to the nitty-gritty of their currency war, and Darlene gets deeper into her corroboration with the FBI. Most shocking, Joanna is murdered by her ex-lover, leaving the Wellick baby orphaned and remanded to social services, where hell probably wind up like Dexter Morgan. We took our best stab at decrypting the second episode of Mr. Robot season three, but if you want to offer an independent analysis, feel free to upload your thoughts in the comments. Did Elliots dad really push him out of that window? Elliot appeared to summon a pretty lucid memory in Kristas home office, but our addled lead isnt exactly a reliable archivist, and he dismissed Darlenes attempt to drill down into the details of that fateful day that started with Home Aloneinspired snowman art and concluded tragically with Elliots two-story fall. Theories will abound about whether Edward, malevolently or not, sent his 8-year-old son smashing through that window, or if Elliot perhaps in the throes of delusion launched himself to near-oblivion. (Or, for that matter, if his tyrant mother gave the final shove.) No matter the answer, shedding light on the significance of that window might also train our attention on Elliots true trigger. Who made that fsociety video? Whatre the odds that Elliot directed and/or starred in that latest clip while hunkering down below ground with Tyrell, Angela, and Irving? It would be the perfect diversion to keep the FBI off their scent while Stage 2 goes ahead as planned. Or maybe thats Dom behind the mask (she did recall that film so well) and the FBI whipped it up as another tool to squeeze information out of Darlene. Then again, since everyones playing all angles, Darlene could have reprised her role as the mustachioed menace to keep the FBI on their toes while she figured out how to wriggle out of this mess unscathed and get justice for Ciscos death. Never underestimate an anarchist scorned. How will Tyrell react to Joannas death? This will be a very telling moment in his development and his dependability as a Dark Army asset. While mere yards away from Mrs. Wellicks corpse, Agent Santiago makes his case to Dom that nothing not even informing next of kin that theyve got an ostensible orphan on their hands is more important than their mission. For the FBI, that mission is making Tyrell pay. But for Tyrell, the mission is executing Stage 2 at all costs, even when it meant shooting his idol Elliot. But will he still put the destruction of E Corp above all when he learns that his wife is six feet under? How much will Mr. Sutherland say? The poor guy will probably wish he were dead in lieu of Derek and Joanna. Whats unclear is where his loyalties lie now that Mrs. Wellick is out of commission. The implications of whatever her former bodyguard concedes will be massive, and its the one wild card Santiago and Dom can keep close to the vest for leverage even if it means an innocent, blood-splattered baby gets caught up in red tape as a result. (Though this would bode well for Scott Knowles, no?) Has someone been watching Trainspotting? The sequence of Elliot going through the motions as cubicle warrior and hacker vigilante by day and loneliest of the lonely come nightfall effectively echoed his Allsafe days back in season one. But it seemed like an homage to this virtual-redemption scene midway through Trainspotting, which likewise preceded a crushing comedown and eventual crossroads. Which road will Elliot travel when he arrives at his? Whats the deal with Frank Cody? Is he a conservative news commentator, pure sensationalist, or a partisan hodgepodge of cable and network news personalities? Did he come up with the title Lets Be Frank on his own, or was that focus-grouped? Is it potentially a propaganda arm for one of Mr. Robots adversarial cells? For that matter, is the broadcast even real or merely a surreal expository device for our benefit, not unlike Elliots narration itself? Frankly, we have no idea. This show does love mirroring, huh? A crucial first-season episode, one that restaged much of that pivotal day with Kevin McCallister and the broken window, was actually titled Mirroring. The aforementioned Trainspotting-esque time lapse reflected our earliest glimpse into Elliots routine. Theres even mirroring in Mr. Robots numerology, as with the 17 of 71 E Corp facilities whose data had been shipped to New York. And Krista gets really up close and personal with Mr. Robot himself, one slab of the finely cracked mirror image that Elliots all but disembodied from. Is Krista working with the FBI? She knows all about Elliots intrusion into her personal life and his subsequent stay in prison, her reasoning for work from home seems awfully suspect, and shes prying into Elliot more perniciously than usual, not unlike Darlene in last weeks season premiere. Odds are shes on the up and up, but anticipating Elliots paranoia is part of Mr. Robots pull. Anything to that NUQ 1724 license plate? That close-up sure lingered on Mr. Sutherland/Joannas grill. It so happens the same alphanumeric plate was featured in John Wick and in episodes of Person of Interest. Is it the Hollywood license equivalent of 555 numbers and Morley cigarettes? Will Whiteroses vengefulness be her undoing? She seems to have the upper hand on Phillip, including a likely U.N. vote in favor of China annexing the Congo, which would bolster their oil-mining operations. So why buck global pacts and spark a currency war? Not to mention level threats Phillips way and harbor intentions to screw them all with Stage 2, even if diplomatic means meet their practical ends? This is, however, a woman who literally pissed on the grave of Phillips predecessor, whom she had assassinated. Phillip may be advised not to, as she says, mistake her generosity for generosity. But Whiterose may learn that you cant control everything, certainly not when your American ally in subterfuge is disassociated from himself half the time and guys like Derek go and murder his sidekicks wife. Time, as Whiterose knows all too well, will tell. What is Elliot doing in Darlenes apartment? Darlene tried bugging Elliots computer, he jammed the cartoonishly susceptible FBIs system in some way, and hes now poking around her place for something to confirm his suspicions that shes up to no good. Sadly, he doesnt realize that Darlene is trying to save him from himself and spare him a life in prison. Worse yet, Mr. Robot would rather spend decades behind bars than risk blowing their explosive plans for E Corp. Elliots internal warring may prove more fatal than any conflict Phillip and Whiterose could ever rile up. Some men always look good on paper. Theyre attractive, intelligent, and ambitious. But when values intersect with real-world dilemmas and tangled family history, things can get complicated and force assured romance to fall apart. With regard to Queen Sugar, the relationship between Nova and Robert always had an expiration date. Yes, they make sense together given their shared activism and interest in bettering the black community, but there were signs their values did not align from the very beginning. His willingness to use outright racist white men to further his own causes, her fierce interest in remaining a part of New Orleanss neglected communities like the lower Ninth Ward, and her carefree nature reveal that they were too different to work together. Nova eventually blamed her inability to commit on fear and how her mothers past influenced her own approach to romance. But I had a suspicion that Nova was forcing herself to make this relationship work because she felt she should want a man like Robert. Live in the All Along considers various threads in the lives of the Bordelons Charleys ongoing issues with Sam Landry, Ralph Angel and Darla planning their wedding but it is Novas internal life that takes focus. Things first seem to be going well between Nova and Robert as they wait in the green room before their TV appearance. They seem to be a united front with their talking points finely tuned and their energy at an all-time high. Robert even gives Nova a black-pearl necklace as a gift before they go on air. But something changes when theyre in front of the camera. Whatever united front they have dissipates after Nova blames father neglect a terminology she coined to address the white patriarchal structures that habitually devalue black life for the issues in New Orleanss poorest communities and the potential Zika outbreak. Robert isnt convinced, calling her use of the term hysterical. Hysterical is an insult that when lobbed at a woman is a tactic to undermine. It suggests you lack the intellect and sanity to deserve a voice that should be heard. Cute soundbites like father neglect dont clarify, Robert counters, they confuse. Nova is not the kind of dame who backs down from such criticism, and so she immediately goes on the attack, turning their staid conversation into a fiery debate. After their appearance, Robert admits he flipped the script in order to get them trending. It worked, but the cost was high: Nova is rightfully pissed off and uncomfortable that Robert would make such claims without consulting her first, choosing internet chatter over respect for her. Youve just trivialized how Im trying to help the people in my community. I dont want you around any of us, Nova says. Its an intriguing choice of words that nods to how Nova doesnt see Robert as fully a part of her life. When Nova expresses her displeasure to Charley about the incident and how she didnt want Robert coming back with her to New Orleans, she gets advice she wasnt expecting. I thought it was good TV, Charley says. Yes, their brief battle of wits made for good TV since most people wont tune in to simply see them agree and spout rhetoric, no matter how important the message. But Nova doesnt value trending on Twitter or being the face of a movement. Shes interested in the hard work of helping her community that often doesnt get recognition. When Robert later shows up at the festival trying to make amends, it isnt surprising that Nova breaks up with him. The breakup scene between Nova and Robert is expertly shot. The way they speak about their lives makes it clear they are on different paths. Both actors are marvelous as well. The problem, however, is that the scene doesnt feel fully earned. The relationship between Robert and Nova gave me whiplash with its many changes, which had less to do with Novas approach to romance and more to do with an inability to decide how the relationship should play out. But even though I felt the scene wasnt fully earned, it was still a complex portrait of the ways women often have to play second fiddle to whatever desires men may have. I shouldnt have to disappear into you to make this work, Nova says after listening to Robert extol how they could be the face of a movement and that she should aim for a bigger national stage. These arent things shes interested in, but instead what Robert wants to mold her into. When he tells her, I know what you could be, it doesnt seem like a point of admiration. It sounds like a vague insult, as if her interest in New Orleans is too small-scale for the kind of activism and fame he seeks. I think youre a very good man. But youre no good for me, Nova finally admits. While Nova is mired in romantic fallout, Charleys biggest issue this week is unsurprisingly work-related. Sam Landry uses his influence in the community to steal her venue for the Brown Sugar Queen Festival and undermine her attempts to find a new one. Davis gives Charley the suggestion that she downsize the event. Even though everyone is happy with the festival, which occurs at her mill, shes deeply disappointed. Look around. Landry won, she tells Remy and Nova. Charley judges herself by the yardsticks of perfection and success that men like Landry have set. Its something that Nova is very aware of, given how she notes that Charley hasnt changed despite being a very different woman than who she was when she first came back to St. Josephine. Charleys story line is richest when focusing on how she and Davis are awkwardly negotiating life after divorce. Notice her tense reaction to the pop star that Davis was able to get to perform at the festival? What about her decision to kiss Remy in front of everyone at the festival, which felt both genuine and a way to tell Davis she has moved on? It doesnt seem like Davis has done the same. Perhaps his upcoming surgery has him feeling wistful. When Davis goes to Charleys office after the festival, he is wearing his regret and sorrow as boldly as the shirt that bears his teams name. He apologizes, genuinely. He also notes that the pop star Tamar isnt a big deal. But for Charley, Remy has become a crucial part of her life. Although Davis seems open to the idea of rekindling romance with Charley, she knows that isnt wise. The scenes between Davis and Charley have some of the most tender moments of Live in the All Along. Its in Charleys relationships that the Queen Sugar writers show how deftly they can craft the contradictory and exhilarating terrain of modern love. Watching Charleys arc puts into further relief the way Novas story line has been mishandled. Dont get me wrong, I love Rutina Wesley in the role. I also feel Nova has the tricky hurdle of having to speak to modern concerns of black resistance in ways that are heavy on rhetoric but light on emotional impact. Since the show curiously nixed Calvin and any meaningful mention of him after the events of the first season finale, Novas romantic life has simply lacked the emotional impact necessary for me to get fully invested. Perhaps one reason why Nova and Roberts relationship felt so unstable was because the writers didnt quite know what they wanted to say beyond offering commentary on black political resistance. Surprisingly, Ralph Angel and Darlas relationship is going well. Theyre even making decisions about their wedding. Darla originally just wanted to go down to a courthouse to get things done, but she comes around to Ralph Angels desire for a wedding involving family because she finally hears back from her mother. With Darlas parents coming, I wonder if shell be able to handle such a fraught encounter. Ralph Angel is great when life goes smoothly, but when he faces emotional expectations, he grows cold and withdrawn in ways that deeply hurt Darla. Can he really be there for her when she needs him most? As each of the Bordelon siblings enter new phases in their lives, it is clear that their old habits may very well be lurking under the surface of the progress theyve made. Other Notes I loved Novas outfit during her TV appearance. It isnt surprising that Keke won the Brown Sugar Queen title, since shes the only nominated woman whom the show has focused on and shes dating Micah. Instead of a true good-bye for Lorna, the episode opens on a one-sided phone conversation between her and Charley. I hope shes on the show again soon. I find their dynamic fascinating. Now that the women are back from Boca, Margaret is preparing to throw a boardwalk-themed party for her new line of summer cosmetic bags. The only problem is that her house is still very much under construction, in large part because her contractor husband Joe (did you know that every woman in New Jersey is legally required to marry a man named Joe?) wont allow another contractor to set foot in the house. Maybe thats because the last time Margaret hired one, she left her then-husband to marry him. Hey, Joe. But the Sigtuation remains unresolved. When she went to invite Siggy to her party, Margaret discovered shed blocked her on social media. How juvenile! Adults soft-block one another, thank you very much. So Margaret who is making an effort here, I have to say calls up Siggy to invite her. She respectfully declines because shes not ready to move on from the offense Margaret caused her in Boca. And then on top of it, you calling me Soggy Flicker. I didnt appreciate it. Have a great life, she says, hanging up. Jesus, Mary, and Joe Giudice. I wish I could tell you this was the last youd ever hear of Soggy Flicker, a truly stupid insult that required three quarters of a brain cell to come up with, but I lost count of all the times its mentioned throughout this episode. One-sided though it may be, Siggy and Margarets fight stems in theory from Siggy feeling insulted that Margaret has shown no loyalty to her, despite being the person who brought her into the group. But as best I can tell, its just as much a power struggle for status within the show. Siggy simply doesnt enjoy being upstaged, particularly not in Boca. Teresa and Siggy sit down for drinks to work through their own tension. Siggy ends up sounding decidedly apologetic, even though it was Teresa who threw the cake and Teresa who stormed out of dinner, for which Sexz Chef and I will never forgive her. But Margaret? Siggy detests Margaret, as she is more than happy to tell Teresa. What was at one point a conversation between two people devolves into a evening of hatred-fueled spoken-word poetry with a single subject, which no one wanted and no one understands: I want to take her and pull on those pigtails until they come out of her head [] Beware, no soul, pigtails, cant stand, stay away. Anyway, Joe Gorga bought a restaurant. What? I know. I gave you just as much of a heads-up about that development as Joe did his wife. He takes her out to lunch at a generic little Italian bistro, only to reveal that hes the owner. Surprise! Hes an entrepreneur, so its fine, and we all know the restaurant industry is famously stable and universally lucrative. Melissa knows her husband is torn up about the loss of his mom and he thinks the restaurant could be good for his still-grieving father but come on, dude. This, after the hell you put Melissa through when she was opening Envy? At least, thanks to her efforts, the good people of New Jersey can finally buy a pre-distressed denim jacket emblazoned with the message Will Work for Champagne. Show some respect, pal. Thanks to Margarets comically huge front door, which is three times the height of a human being, just entering her house makes guests look like they took a bite of the wrong mushroom in Wonderland. The party is filled with bright, swirling psychedelic colors, cotton candy martinis, glittering Henna tattoos, and confetti (intentionally?) strewn all over the floor. I know Margaret said her aesthetic was Lilly Pulitzer on crack, but this feels more like a Kate Spade x John Wayne Gacy collab. Meanwhile, Siggy hosts Dolores, who RSVPd no to Margaret out of solidarity, for a two-gal slumber party. The dress code is matching pajamas and pigtails because Margaret and her pigtails can go fuck themselves. Imitation, the sincerest form of hatred? Dolores brings a picture of the two of them together, which Siggy jams into a frame in front of a family photo. Back at the party, Teresa who, lets be real, is not nearly as loyal to Siggy as Siggy would like to be believe tells Margaret what Siggy said about her. (She doesnt reenact the whole one-woman show, just the I hate that fucking bitch part.) This inspires Margaret to try for a reconciliation again, sending Siggy the following text: Weird youre not here especially with the girls you introduced me to. Lets try to put this past us and meet in person. Let me know. Xo Margaret. Well, that was actually nice. Surely no one could be offended by Im sorry, what was that, Dolores? That was the most insincere fucking text I ever heard, she fumes to Siggy. That text made me more mad than the act itself. But Siggy accepts Marges invitation. The next day, they meet on neutral territory at a diner, New Jerseys all-chrome answer to Switzerland. As their discussion gets more and more heated, the editing makes it look like other patrons are glancing over, displeased by the noise, but I would bet you an order of cheese fries that they werent even the loudest booth in there. Margaret doesnt understand the depth of Siggys anger toward her, specifically when it comes to Soggy Flicker. Margaret says she takes herself too seriously; Siggy criticizes her timing. There is simply nothing I could say or do to make the exchange that follows any funnier than the way it unrolled naturally, so I now present a one-act play, I Know Joan Rivers. MARGARET: My timing is fucking perfect. Im like fucking Joan Rivers. SIGGY: I think Im more like Joan Rivers. MARGARET: Soggy Flicker is a Joan Rivers line. Bring it. SIGGY: This is where Joan Rivers is. [She raises her hand above her head.] This is where you are. [She drops her hand toward the floor.] This is where I am. [She lifts her hand to the level of the table.] MARGARET: I know Joan Rivers. Do you know Joan Rivers? Because Ive been to a million parties at her house. Before she passed away. SIGGY: Honey, I did meet her. Three times. But thats okay. MARGARET: Ive been to a million parties at Joans house and believe me SIGGY: Margaret. Margaret. Margaret. You know Joan Rivers better, okay? MARGARET: Yeah. So Im just saying: no Joan Rivers. Feel free to stage a production at your local high school or senior center! When Siggy learns that Margaret and the other women talked about her at the party, she begins to cry. That melts ice queen Margarets heart, which, thanks to an incredible anatomical anomaly, is located inside one of her pigtails. (She wont tell you which one, though.) Im a fucking wiseass, she says. But I never would want to hurt your feelings. Margaret offers a true apology, which Siggy accepts, ready to move their relationship forward by baby steps. Why do I have a sinking feeling that the proverbial baby will be kneecapped by seasons end? Michael Fassbender. Photo: Jack English/Universal Pictures Most directors are effusive when discussing their movies on a press our, but the director of The Snowman has been a little icy. Tomas Alfredson, who previously directed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Let the Right One In, seems pretty certain that his new crime thriller, which stars Michael Fassbender, isnt any good. (Its already opened to poor reviews abroad.) Instead of playing up the fact that the movie touts Martin Scorsese as an executive producer or simply stating that the movie is a good excuse to stare at Mr. Alicia Vikander for two hours, Alfredson has basically just been warning people about his adaptation of the Jo Nesb novel. Our shoot time in Norway was way too short. We didnt get the whole story with us and when we started cutting we discovered that a lot was missing, Alfredson told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK. After Scorsese switched from directing the movie to just executive-producing it, The Snowman had to start very quickly, perhaps before everything was ready. It happened very abruptly, suddenly we got notice that we had the money and could start the shoot in London, Alfredson said. About 10 to 15 percent of the script wasnt filmed, he suggested, and even after reshoots, Alfredson didnt think the movie fully came together: Its like when youre making a big jigsaw puzzle and a few pieces are missing so you dont see the whole picture. Maybe Mister Police can try again next winter. Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection Leatherface, the eighth entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Cinematic Universe, finally hits theaters this weekend which means its time to refresh our memories on the misadventures of our favorite chain-saw-wielding super-killer. While Leatherface has stayed mostly on the back roads of Texas since he first picked up a chain saw back in 1974, his story has had more twists and turns than an escape route out of the Sawyer family basement. The new Leatherface updates the characters origins, framing him as a teenager whos just escaped from a psychiatric-care facility, and takes place before the date of the original massacre. So if you havent brushed up on your TCM lore in a while, heres a breakdown of what Leatherface (and his family) have been up to over the years. Well begin with Tobe Hoopers original from 1974, and work our way through the subsequent movies, addressing intra-universe discrepancies in who, exactly, comprises the Sawyer family and whether or not theyre dead. To make things extra confusing, there are three timelines that spring out of the original massacre date of August 18, 1973: One is depicted in TCM 74; one is depicted in the 2003 reboot, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (in which the Sawyers become the Hewitts); and the third is depicted in 2013s Texas Chainsaw (which is a revived but also revised version of the Hooper timeline from 74). Now, fill the chain saw with gas, because weve got a lot of crazy to cut through. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Tobe Hoopers dirty slasher that started it all! In the original, Leatherface is a member of the Sawyer family, comprising himself, his dad (who we learn in TCM 2 is named Drayton), a brother (known only as the hitchhiker), and the rotting human husk that is his grandpa. All of the Sawyer men used to work at the town slaughterhouse, but once the company transitioned to automation, they were all out of a job. Poor, extremely disenfranchised, and possessing no skills besides cutting up cattle, the Sawyers can only afford to eat what they kill. We pick up their story on August 18, 1973, a day that will become known as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After the family murders a vanload of young adults who were visiting a property adjacent to the Sawyer house, the hitchhiker is killed in pursuit of the escaping Final Girl, Sally Hardesty. We learn in the prologue of TCM 2 that when the authorities arrived at the Sawyer house later that day, they found no killers and no victims. No facts; no crime. Meaning: Leatherface and his chain saw got away to terrorize another day. Related Stories Reviewing the 1st Horror Movie Ive Ever Watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) The opening scroll of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 tells us that, while the Texas Chainsaw Massacre never officially happened (at least according to state authorities), it also didnt ever stop, because the Sawyers were never apprehended, and theyve been cutting a bloody path through Texas for 13 years since the original 1973 murders. TCM 2 was also directed by Hooper, and is the only movie that exists in the same timeline as the original. In it, Leatherface who his family now calls Bubba lives with his dad, Drayton, who is now a prize-winning caterer making the best chili in Dallas (hint: Its because he uses human meat!). Theyre also joined by the grandpa husk, the corpse of his hitchhiker brother, and another living brother who goes by Chop Top. Chop Top, apparently, was away in Vietnam at the time of the first movie, but has returned with PTSD and a metal plate in his head. This time, the family is hunting down a radio DJ named Stretch and a dogged cop whos the uncle of Sally Hardesty, the franchises first Final Girl. By the end of TCM 2, everyone including Leatherface is dead, with the exception of Stretch. This was the last TCM movie Hooper would direct, so he went out with a bang and killed the whole damn family. But the third movie, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, retcons that conclusion. Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) According to the prologue in TCM 3, a single Sawyer survived the night of the 1973 massacre, and was apprehended by law enforcement. His name was W.E. Sawyer, a character not previously introduced; a jury determined that Leatherface was the murderous alter ego of W.E., and so sentenced him to die in 1981. That means this mystery lone Sawyer was dead before the events of TCM 2 which is our first example of the post-Hooper Massacre movies deviating from what happened in the first two chapters. (Be forewarned: Continuity is going to get crazy from here on out.) One thing is for sure: Leatherface is very much his own man in TCM 3, and there are more Sawyers left killing people in Texas. This time around, Leather goes by Junior at home and is set up with his grandma, the grandpa husk, two brothers (one of which, Tex, is played by Viggo Mortensen), and a daughter. Presumably, the daughter is the product of raping a previous victim, and Grandma Sawyer tells their female captor that Junior likes private parts and knows what to do with them, which is truly the most disgusting moment in the entire franchise. Theres also a hanger-on creep named Alfredo who could be another relation, or just an associate of the family, but its unclear. In the finale, Tex, Alfredo, and grandma are killed, and even though Leather has his head beaten in with a giant rock, he rises again before the end. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) The fourth movie goes farthest afield of the Sawyer family roots. The prologue references the events of the original, which took place on August 18, 1973, and says that no family members were apprehended. (For those keeping track of continuity at home, this refutes the foundational story of TCM 3, but agrees with TCM 2.) Were also told that, after a ten-year quiet period, a few mysterious killings happened over several years, and then there was another five years of silence, which would make the movies release year a reasonable anchor point for its timeline. Related Stories The 9 Worst Matthew McConaughey Movies When we meet the family this time, though, they are going by the name Slaughter, and they work for an organization that, for some reason, has enlisted them to capture people and show them the true meaning of horror. Leading the Slaughters is Vilmer (actually Matthew McConaughey going full-tilt insane), who is a sort of torture ringmaster in charge of his brothers, Leatherface and W.E. Since the W.E. mentioned in TCM 3 was executed in prison, this is presumably just an homage to the previous story and not a direct tie-in between films. Vilmer gets killed in pursuit of his escaping captive (hello, Renee Zellweger) after being buzzed by a biplane, and he bleeds purple. This possibly confirms a line from earlier in the movie in which it is posited that Vilmer is actually an alien. W.E. and Leatherface survive, and it is unclear whether or not they are aliens as well. Next Gen bears the least resemblance to the franchise of any movie in it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) Its the reboot universe! This is the fifth movie in the franchise, and the first to introduce the Hewitt family. It is a remake of Hoopers 74 film, but this time the victims are on their way home from Mexico when theyre sieged and brought to the Hewitt house for slaughter. Awaiting them is Leatherface, his mom Luda May, her brother Monty, the vicious patriarch who goes by Hoyt (the name of the police officer whose uniform he stole after he killed him), and a feral little boy named Jedidiah. In the reboot universe, Leatherface is presented as upright, muscular, methodical, and duty-bound, serving as the enforcer for his family. He doesnt really kill out of passion, which stands in contrast to how hes presented in all of the movies leading up to this point: heavyset, childlike, erratic, prone to fits and emotional outbursts, afraid of abuse at the hands of his family members, and also frequently seen wearing makeup and womens clothing. All the Hewitts survive besides Hoyt, whos eliminated by the Final Girl, leaving the rest of the family to, you guessed it, keep killing their way through Texas. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) Ready for it to get more convoluted? The Beginning is a prequel to the reboot timeline established in TCM 2003. In this reboot canon, we see Leatherface being born on a slaughterhouse assembly line in Fuller, Texas, in 1939. Disfigured and unwanted, hes thrown in the trash before being rescued by a woman who brings him home and names him Thomas Hewitt. During the credits sequence of the movie, we see medical notes explaining that he has a degenerative facial disease causing his disfigurement. He also has tendencies toward self-mutilation. This is the only movie where we see Leatherface in a half-mask, which he eventually trades for the full excised face of Matt Bomer. And really, wouldnt we all if we could? Related Stories Leatherface Is a Thoroughly Unnecessary Horror Origin Story Flash forward to 1969: Thomas has grown into the family trade of working at the slaughterhouse, but similar to the original TCM, hes fired when the plant shuts down. We see the Hewitts become the only residents left in the dead town, and they turn to cannibalism to survive (and for fun). In addition to Leather, the 1969 Hewitt family includes all the same folks from the 2003 movie: his mother Luda May, her brother Monty, and Hoyt, who we now know is actually named Charlie Hewitt. The slaughter of road trippers in The Beginning is referred to in the epilogue as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is the only time in the franchise that the Massacre label is given to a day besides August 18, 1973. Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) Despite bringing back the Sawyer name, Texas Chainsaw 3D is the only installment to fully change the events immediately following the original 73 massacre. The seventh movie would also like you to not think too much about the timeline. The movie picks up immediately after Sally Hardesty reaches authorities following her harrowing escape on August 19, 1973. A law enforcement officer goes to the Sawyer house, where the Sawyers have multiplied in the hours since Tobe Hoopers TCM. The living room is now filled with lots of grizzled men holding guns, instead of the four family members that existed in Hoopers first TCM. The cop demands that they turn over the boy, meaning Leatherface, and the Sawyers are about to comply when a vigilante army shows up and kills everyone inside the house with guns and Molotov cocktails. A single Sawyer woman and her newborn baby manage to escape, and one of the vigilantes takes the baby before beating the mom to death. In TC 3D, the stolen baby grows up to learn that shes the long-lost Sawyer, and that shes inherited an estate in Newt, Texas, from a grandma she never knew she had, Verna Sawyer-Carson. Along with the estate comes caretaking duties for her cousin, Jedidiah, known commonly to the world as Leatherface. His new ward, Heather (Alexandra Daddario), looks to be in her mid-20s, which means the movie would be set around the year 2000. However, the song 2 Reasons by T.I. plays, and that came out in 2012, the year the movie was made. That would make Heather 40, which is possible, but it also seems really weird to cast Daddario as a 40-year-old. Also, assuming Leatherface was even just 18 at the time his house burned down and his family was killed, hes either in his mid-40s during Texas Chainsaw or approaching 60, depending on how seriously you want to take T.I. as a time stamp. Either way, Leather and Heather are looking extremely spry for their ages. (Since the Jedidiah from TCM 2003 was a Hewitt, and this movie deals with Sawyers, we can assume that little Jed from 1973 did not grow up to succeed Thomas Leatherface Hewitt behind the flesh mask. But this franchise does love a name callback.) Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Spike Staffers of the Weinstein Company are asking to be freed from their non-discolsure agreements so they may speak out about the dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding former co-chair Harvey Weinstein. In a letter to The New Yorker, employees said their former boss formed a toxic ecosystem where his abuse could flourish unchecked for decades. Weinstein reportedly covered up decades of allegations against him through NDAs and at least eight settlements with accusers. The employees say they did not know of the sexual-harassment allegations and were never used as the honeypots Weinstein reportedly used to lure actresses into meetings. The group of employees say that by writing the letter to The New Yorker they are violating their contracts, but that non-disclosure agreements only reinforce the industrys culture of silence. We have nothing to hide, and are as angry and baffled as you are at how Harveys behavior could continue for so long. We ask that the company let us out of our NDAs immediately and do the same for all former Weinstein Company employees so we may speak openly, and get to the origins of what happened here, and how, the letter states. We unequivocally support all the women who have come forward, many of whom we count among our own friends and colleagues. Photo: Ben Rothstein/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. In the middle of this falls big tentpole movies Justice League, Thor: Ragnarok sits little Geostorm, the Gerard Butler movie just trying its very best. Without having seen Geostorm, because it is, ominously, not screening for critics, I can say that it looks like a total cinematic turducken: a political-intrigue drama inside of a space-station thriller inside of an environmental disaster inside of a movie poster that is stunningly identical to Inceptions. Which is to say, I have a lot of questions about this movie, and Im sure you do, too. Lets explore them together. Why are we talking about this movie? Gerard Butler. But the production drama alone would make for a pretty compelling HBO limited series, or maybe a three-episode Entourage arc. Geostorm started shooting in Louisiana in fall 2014 (thats, like, before Trump even announced). It was slated to come out in October 2016, but when a cut of the movie was shown to test audiences in December 2015, Geostorm looked like a dud. Afterward, The Hollywood Reporter reported that up to $15 million was being spent on reshoots, and Jerry Bruckheimer was brought in to oversee them. The movies director, Dean Devlin, wasnt on set for the reshoots, even though the changes were significant. Dean Devlin? Hes co-produced a lot of Roland Emmerich movies. Oh. Yeah. Anyway, during the reshoots, new characters were added, an actress (Dark Towers Katheryn Winnick) was recast, and Terminator Genisys/Shutter Island screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis wrote new pages. Danny Cannon, who has mostly done TV work since directing the Sylvester Stallone movie Judge Dredd, directed the reshoots. Okay, so whats Geostorm about? Gerard Butler. Hes been in a couple movies. Also went to Wimbledon with Bradley Cooper that one time. Okay, but actually As I said Gerard Butler. Very few people seem to have actually seen this movie yet, but strangely, the Wikipedia page details its entire plot. So lets get into it. Theres a natural-disaster defense system with a series of satellites orbiting the earth, controlled by the International Climate Space Station. This defense system is nicknamed Dutch Boy. Gerard Butler (Jake Lawson) created and operated Dutch Boy, but then he, like, went crazy during a Senate subcommittee hearing. After the fallout from that incident, he was replaced by his brother. Whos his brother? Gerard Butlers brother is Jim Sturgess. When Jim Sturgess (Max Lawson) is in charge of Dutch Boy, a freak glitch in the system causes a village in Afghanistan to freeze. The president wants to cover up the whole thing to avoid war, which means one man needs to go up to the International Climate Space Station alone to see whats what. Jim Sturgess suggests Gerard Butler. So then what happens? Other crazy climate stuff, like a heat wave in Hong Kong. Basically, all the good guys (Butler, Sturgess) and their compatriots get locked out of Dutch Boy. Wait, Dutch Boy? Please, lets stay focused. The men spend a while trying to investigate before a deputy figures out that the whole system has been infected by a virus that predicts and executes natural disasters. Gerard Butler suspects the president is behind this. Trump? No. The president in Geostorm is Andy Garcia, although going from Bellagio owner in the Oceans movies to Geostorm president is a very Trump-era rise. Is President Andy Garcia brought to justice? Well, yes, in the most National Treasure way possible: Gerard Butler kidnaps the president. Stunningly, it turns out Secretary of State Ed Harris wanted to weaponize Dutch Boy and use it to kill enemies of the United States and everyone running against President Andy Garcia. After some random drama involving supporting characters, they realize that they can stop the impending Geostorm, but they cant save the ICSS. Once everyone is safe, Gerard Butler gets his job back! Anything else I should know? Well, there is this utter bastardization of Cash Cab: I could tell she was worried as she sat beside me in the car. My 9-year-old daughter was dancing with her group later that afternoon at the Waco Cultural Arts Festival, and as we drove toward Indian Springs Park she was uncharacteristically quiet. After a lengthy silence she finally said softly, Daddy, Im nervous. I said I understood completely and that she was going to do a great job, but that I get nervous myself when I get up in front of an audience to play music or to give a talk. Moreover, I told her that performing artists of every kind felt what she was feeling. Even people who perform in the big Broadway productions get nervous. She was going to be okay, and it would all be worth it when she took her bow in front of an appreciative audience. For performers in the arts, stage fright is almost as common as applause. No less a titan than Laurence Olivier, widely acclaimed as one of the greatest actors in history, knew well what it was like to be afraid to go on. He referred to it as the actors nightmare, and when it strikes, you either battle or walk away. Countless other famous actors have suffered from it, and in some cases had to walk away. Ian Holm, whom most audiences know today for his role as Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings movies, had to leave the stage in 1974 in the middle of a performance of Eugene ONeills The Iceman Cometh and couldnt do live theater again for 20 years. Actor Stephen Fry, whose lengthy credits include his memorable portrayal as Jeeves in the English Jeeves and Wooster series, admitted that every time he went on stage there was that heavy feeling. I felt the audience was not on my side from the get-go, he noted. As a young comedy writer for television in the 1960s, Dick Cavett was shocked to discover that even the greats he had worshiped since childhood felt those anxieties as well. He remembers being backstage at The Tonight Show and watching in amazement as Jack Benny (seemingly the calmest, most assured and relaxed man in all of show business) asked for, was given, and then downed a scotch to settle his nerves before walking out through the curtain to banter with Johnny Carson. And its not just actors: Musicians are particularly susceptible. William F. Buckley, Jr., while known mostly as an author, columnist, talk show host, and magazine editor, also had several successful public performances as a harpsichord player under his belt. Nevertheless, when he was approached by the Phoenix Symphony with the idea of playing a concerto with the orchestra he initially declined, in part he said, because the butterflies-in-the-stomach problem is not one I could predictably overcome. Another time he described himself as sick with nervousness before a similar performance. Famed soloists like the great Vladimir Horowitz, Pablo Casals and Van Cliburn all battled it for years, as do position players in orchestras around the world today. But for an artist, giving a successful live performance is an utterly unique feeling that keeps him or her coming back to the stage again and again to experience an art with a live audience. The next Saturday again found my daughter and me driving to another of her dance performances, this one at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo. She was happy to discover that her fear was not as bad as the week before. I feel less scared this time, but Im still a little nervous, she smiled. It was worth it. Veterans, active-duty military members and their families can learn about starting or growing a business during an Entrepreneurship Boot Camp scheduled Saturday at the Waco-McLennan County Public Library conference room, 1717 Austin Ave. The free program is sponsored by Momentum Texas Inc., a statewide nonprofit based in Dallas, and is being held in collaboration with the McLennan Small Business Development Center. During a seven-year period ending in 2017, Momentum Texas will have trained 3,150 veterans throughout the state, according to a press release from the organization. Speakers Saturday will include Randy Price, a U.S. Navy veteran who owns a digital marketing company; and Jim Reid, a U.S. Army veteran who will discuss resources available to veteran-owned businesses. The boot camp lasts from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and attendees need to register by Thursday at WacoVeteransBootCamp. Eventbrite.com. Ive been doing this for seven years, but this is our first trip to Waco, Reid said. He said he has raised about $1.3 million, including $863,000 from the Texas Workforce Commission, to hold sessions around the state for veterans wanting to go into business for themselves. I think those attending will find it very substantive, and I will provide a free lunch, Reid said. Wide reach He has a database containing the names of about 3,000 veterans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and 4,000 statewide. He said he has specifically invited veterans from Greater Waco and from Killeen because of its proximity to Waco and to Fort Hood. I know how to start a business, Reid said. Four times I have won a national award from the Small Business Administration for minority business recruiting. He said he and others he recruits to take part in the boot camps typically discuss management, marketing and money: the three Ms. Those are keys to success, Reid said. He also helps sponsor an 18-hour course for entrepreneurs spread over five Saturdays. You can listen and learn from successful veteran entrepreneurs and small business experts, the press release on the boot camp states. Learn how to network and give a great elevator pitch to grow your business. A death row inmate convicted of murdering his estranged wife in 2012 will receive a new hearing to determine if his death sentence was constitutionally appropriate following a U.S. Supreme Court decision questioning how the state determines intellectual disability. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals awarded Carnell Petetan Jr., now 41, a new hearing Wednesday after he was found guilty and sentenced to death in 2014 for the 2012 murder of his estranged wife, Kimberly Farr Petetan. The rehearing was ordered after a recent Supreme Court ruling questioning the states definition of mental retardation in the 1980 conviction of Bobby James Moore, who murdered a store clerk in Houston in 1980. In late March, the Supreme Court ruled Moores guilt is apparent, but his death sentence is considered cruel and unusual punishment since he suffers from an intellectual disability. The death penalty has long been off limits for people with intellectual disabilities. The Supreme Court decision in the Moore case calls into question Texas methods for determining who meets the definition. During his trial and sentencing, Petetans attorneys, Russ Hunt and Michelle Tuegel, argued Petetan suffered from a mental deficiency and that the death penalty would be unconstitutional. Petetan appealed his sentence, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed it in early March, while the Supreme Court was still considering on the Moore case. Eight judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals voted to reject Petetans 30 points of appeal, while one judge dissented, saying she preferred not to rule on Petetans case while the Texas standard for determining whether someone is intellectually disabled is in legal flux. The United States Supreme Court agreed in the Moore case that the Texas standard for determining intellectual disability violated the Eighth Amendment, Tuegel said. This was something that we argued and objected to in Mr. Petetans trial. The rehearing granted by the Court of Criminal Appeals today is encouraging and a validation of our work and the fight we put up for a client we believed to be intellectually disabled. Petetan, a Port Arthur native, was convicted of breaking into his estranged wifes Lake Shore Drive apartment and shooting her in front of her daughter and two men who rode from South Texas with him in September 2012. He was convicted of capital murder in 2014. Joanie Simpson woke early one morning with a terrible backache. Her chest started hurting when she turned over. Within 20 minutes, she was at a local emergency room. Soon she was being airlifted to a hospital in Houston, where physicians were preparing to receive a patient exhibiting the classic signs of a heart attack. But tests at Memorial Hermann hospital revealed something very different. Doctors instead diagnosed Simpson with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a condition with symptoms that mimic heart attacks. It usually occurs following an emotional event such as the loss of a spouse or child. That link has given the illness its more colloquial name: Broken-heart syndrome. In Simpson's case, the event that she says tipped her over the edge was the recent death of her beloved Yorkshire terrier, Meha. "I was close to inconsolable," she said. "I really took it really, really hard." Simpson's 2016 experience is described this week in the New England Journal of Medicine - not because of the dog's role, according to one of her doctors, Abhishek Maiti, but because hers was a "very concise, elegant case" of a fascinating condition that research has established as quite real and sometimes fatal. Although not the first published case linking broken-heart syndrome to stress over a pet's death, it underscores something many animal owners take as a given: That grieving for sick or deceased pets can be as gutting as grieving for humans. A growing body of research supports this notion, which was echoed in a recent study that found pet owners with chronically ill animals have higher levels of "caregiver burden," stress and anxiety. It's the flip side of evidence that links pets to health and happiness, which gets more attention. Not that people who have lost beloved animals are likely to be surprised. Simpson certainly wasn't shocked. At the time of what she calls her "episode," she'd been having a rough stretch: Her son was facing back surgery. Her son-in-law had lost his job. A property sale was proving to be complicated and lengthy. Meanwhile, 9-year-old Meha was suffering from congestive heart failure. The dog was like a daughter, Simpson said. She adored jumping into the swimming pool, and when Simpson and her husband grilled on Friday nights, Meha was given her own hamburger. "The kids were grown and out of the house, so she was our little girl," said Simpson, a 62-year-old retiree who previously worked in medical transcription. But Meha started having more bad days. By May of last year, she was ill enough that Simpson made an appointment to have her euthanized. When the day came, the dog seemed fine, and Simpson canceled the appointment. Meha died the next day, and not peacefully. "It was such a horrendous thing to have to witness," recalled Simpson. "When you're already kind of upset about other things, it's like a brick on a scale. I mean, everything just weighs on you." After the helicopter carrying Simpson landed on the roof of Memorial Hermann, she was rushed to the cardiac catheterization lab. Cardiologist Abhijeet Dhoble quickly threaded a thin tube into a blood vessel in Simpson's groin and up to her heart. The team expected X-rays to show blocked arteries, said Maiti, then an internal medicine resident. They didn't. "The artery was crystal clear. It was pristine," he said. Another artery was, too. Further tests indicated this was a case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which is most common in postmenopausal women. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005 is among those that confirmed that a flood of stress hormones may be able to "stun" the heart to produce spasms in otherwise healthy people. Once medications stabilized Simpson, the physicians talked to her about the stress in her life, and they told her about broken-heart syndrome. It "made complete sense," Simpson said. She was sent home after two days, and though she still takes two heart medications, she is doing fine. Simpson, who now lives about two hours northwest of San Antonio in the town of Camp Woods, only has a cat named Buster these days. She hasn't yet made the right connection with a dog, though she's sure it will happen. She is the kind of person who takes "things more to heart than a lot of people," she said, and she figures this tendency means her heart will break again, though maybe not so literally. And it will be worth it, Simpson said. "It is heartbreaking. It is traumatic. It is all of the above," Simpson said. "But you know what? They give so much love and companionship that I'll do it again. I will continue to have pets. That's not going to stop me." Bobby S. Wilson Sept. 29, 1941 - Oct. 15, 2017 Bobby Stephen Wilson passed away on Sunday, October 15, 2017. The family will receive guests at 10:00 a.m., Friday, October 20, at Richfield Christian Church. Services will follow at 11:00 a.m., with Rev. Alec Ylitalo and Chaplain Sarah Miller officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Bob was born in Elajay, Georgia, and lived in Akron, Ohio. He relocated to Waco in 1983 with his job. He met and married Barbara Castillo in 1984. Bob worked for General Tire for 18 years, two of which he traveled internationally as a consultant to India, Iran and Venezuela. When General Tire closed, he worked for Packless Industries, in the plant and as a private pilot. He left there and went to work for M&M Mars, where he retired when he could no longer work because of his Parkinson Disease. Bob was in the Air Force from 1959 to 1963. He was a pilot and a flight instructor. Bob was also in the Civil Air Patrol and was president of the Cobra Car Club. When the club went on road trips, he had to drive at the back because he didn't have a Cobra. He only had a black Corvette. He was preceded in death by his father, Henry S. Wilson; mother, Imogene McArthur; and stepfather, Creston McArthur. Survivors are his wife, Barbara, and his puppy, Hannah. He is also survived by his sons, Jon and Gary Wilson; granddaughter, Alex Wilson, of Ohio; stepchildren, David Scott, Denise Castilleja and husband, Julian, and Donna McCrory; step-grandchildren, Nick Engelbrecht and wife, Ana; and twins, Bianca and Savannah Castilleja. Pallbearers are David Scott, Nick Engelbrecht, Julian Castilleja, Andy Pedigo, James Yates and Pete Moffatt. Honorary Pallbearers are Helen Bunting, in memory of Bob's faithful friend, Max Bunting, and Ida McBride, in memory of Mickey McBride. Special thanks to Southern Care Hospice for their loving care. They are very special and like family. Thanks to the caregivers at Senior Care of Hewitt. Memorials may be given to Waco Humane Society or to Richfield Christian Church. The family invites you to leave a message or memory on our "Tribute Wall" at www.WHBfamily.com. Australia's unemployment rate has hit a four-year low after falling to 5.5 per cent in September, beating market expectations. The rate, which has not been bettered on trend or seasonally adjusted terms since February 2013, comes on the back of 19,800 jobs added in September, topping market predictions of a 15,000 rise and stirring hopes sluggish wage growth may soon turn a corner. The 5.47 per cent seasonally adjusted result beat the 5.53 per cent figure achieved in May, according to a release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. The trend employment-to-population ratio, a measure of how employed the population aged 15 years and over is, increased to 61.6 per cent, the highest it has been since August 2012. Julie Bishop: "Not one person in the party has raised with me any suggestion that there would be a change of leader." Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Newspolls come around every fortnight, which means that based on the current trend, Turnbull is on track to hit 30 loser polls around the end of February, beginning of March next year (taking Christmas into account). And with each poll, we can expect more of the festival we've had this week. This includes Abbott being quizzed about whether he'd try to lead the Liberal Party again. As he told Ray Hadley on Monday: "The only way an ex could ever come back would be by way of a draft and that's almost impossible to imagine." Malcolm Turnbull announcing he intended to challenge Tony Abbott in September 2015. Credit:Andrew Meares It seems like he's playing things down here. But in Canberra, simply leaving the door open, even the tiniest bit, is akin to throwing a few more firecrackers on the barbie. The speculation-fest also includes inevitable leadership questions to senior ministers, who sound like they are hiding something, whichever way they answer. "Not one person in the party has raised with me any suggestion that there would be a change of leader," said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday, while trying valiantly to talk to the ABC about Australia's new spot on the United Nations' Human Rights Council. However, while the 30 Newspolls loom, they are more arbitrary molehill than game-changing mountain. It's worth bearing in mind, there is nothing in the constitution that will force action if the "magic" number is reached. While the marker guarantees awkwardness and distraction for the government over the next few months, it is not - in and of itself - going to bring it down. Rest assured, Turnbull is not going to dutifully hand back the keys to The Lodge and trundle back to the backbench if he replicates Abbott's milestone. Illustration: Matt Davidson. And there is no one in the party that will hold him to the milestone either. The strong view within the Liberal Party - even among those who are not Turnbull's biggest ideological fans - is that while ideally, he wouldn't have set up the Newspoll target, it's just one of those things. As one MP said, "it will make for a few good headlines [but] it's more symbolism than anything else". While the government would obviously prefer its primary vote to be stronger, another senior Liberal described the 30 poll line as something the Canberra bubble will obsess over and nothing more. Indeed, its hard to imagine people earnestly talking about the Newspoll tally in pubs, cafes and at school gates. True, there is twitchiness about what might happen to a raft of seats - particularly in Western Australia and Queensland - at the next election, but this is not tied to a certain number of Newspolls. Critically, there is no genuine challenger. People can keep putting forward Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton's names, but there is nothing to suggest the Liberal Party would benefit from a change to any of these senior ministers. It's time for me to call it a day. What happened? the government continued to prosecute the case for its energy policy ; continued to prosecute the case for its ; it denies its package contains an emissions trading scheme or a carbon price by stealth ; its package contains an ; the opposition is leaving its options open about whether or not to support it; about whether or not to support it; but it is still criticising the package for not doing enough to help consumers or the environment; for not doing enough to help consumers or the environment; the major parties are against an inquiry into the allegations about Crown Casino ; and ; and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says he will press ahead with citizenship changes but with some modifications to try and revive their prospects in the Senate. My thanks to Alex Ellinghausen and Andrew Meares for their super work and to you for reading and commenting. You can follow me on Facebook. Alex, Andrew and I will be back on Monday. Until we meet again, go well. Pono Aperahama was a big boy with a big heart, friends said. He was a "lovely and caring" teenager who, for whatever reason, lashed out at staff at a Newcastle swimming pool as they intervened while he suffered a medical episode and began to hurt himself, striking his head several times. Pono Aperahama, who died after a medical episode at Lambton Swimming Pool in Newcastle. The Maitland High student, who had a pre-existing medical condition, was unable to be revived on Tuesday afternoon, devastating pool staff and his carer, who was with him at the time. Friends paid tribute to Pono, 17, who, the Newcastle Herald was told, had been hit by a car a few years ago in an accident that left him in hospital for an extended period of time. The new-look Sonos app. You can crank up the volume on the Sonos One with minimal distortion, or for an extra boost you can link two speakers as a stereo pair (but not a Sonos One and Play:1). Otherwise you can step up to the more powerful Play:3 or Play:5 to fill a larger room. You can also take advantage of Trueplay to calibrate Sonos speakers for your room, which makes a noticeable difference to the sound quality. The Sonos One is well-suited to the kitchen, bathroom or bedroom the kind of place where you might want to place a smart speaker. While it's a bit more bulky than the $199 Google Home or the US$99 Amazon Echo, the Sonos One easily surpasses them in terms of sound quality, not to mention the tiny Google Home Mini and Echo Dot. It's easy to tell whether or not Alexa and Google Assistant are listening in for their trigger words. It will be interesting to see how the Sonos One's sound quality stacks up against the upcoming Apple HomePod, which is roughly the same size, or the upcoming Google Home Max which appears to be a rival to the Sonos Play:3 or 5. Bending the rules Alexa can send music to every member of the Sonos multi-room audio family. The Sonos One's party trick is that it features a six-microphone array so it can play host to the new generation of talkative smart assistants. It supports Amazon's Alexa out of the box, with Google Assistant coming next year. Alexa doesn't officially work in Australia yet, although she shouldn't be far away considering that Amazon's local expansion plans are imminent. Thankfully it's not too difficult to bring Alexa into Australian homes today, especially if you have some geo-dodging experience under your belt. Firstly set your Sonos account to the US, then download the Alexa app on your mobile device from the US iTunes or Google Play store. Now you should be able to use your existing Amazon.com account, linked to an Australian mailing address, and then add Sonos to your list of Alexa "skills'. Alexa's timezone will be out, but you can fix this in the Alexa app. The processing of jumping between apps to authorise everything is a little time-consuming and cumbersome, but you'll get there. You'll also need to add a US credit card if you want to sign up for Amazon's streaming music service. You might be able to get around this by adding a Visa Load & Go card as a payment method on your Amazon account (my card has expired so I need to grab a new one from the post office to test this). Ensure the card is registered to a US street address Delaware is a good location to avoid state-based sales tax. Alternatively you can save your money and just upload some of your own music to your Amazon account for Alexa to access. UPDATE: I've used a Load & Go with US Amazon in the past but I can't get it to accept it as a valid payment method for Amazon Music, so you'll need to investigate other options. Thankfully this will all be much simpler when Amazon finally gets serious about Australia in the next few months, as well as when Google Assistant comes to the Sonos One. Speak up With Alexa hanging on your every word you can put the Sonos One through its paces. To grab her attention just start your sentences with "Alexa", which quickly feels more natural than "Okay Google" but is also easier to accidentally drop in conversation. A look at the top of the Sonos One speaker reveals a key design difference to the Play:1. The new speaker features touch-sensitive play/pause and volume buttons, along with a backlit on/off mic button that you can press when you want to ensure that Alexa isn't listening. When you say her name, Alexa plays a subtle tone to reassure you that she's listening unlike Google Home which only flashes its lights, which is of little help if you can't see the speaker. Both speakers' noise-cancelling microphone arrays make them good listeners and their performance is on par in noisy environments or when you're calling out from the next room. Alexa recently gained Google Assistant's ability to recognise different voices. Both smart assistants have an impressive grasp of natural language and are a fountain of information. They can handle contextual follow-up questions, but you still need to say their name again. Both can also control smart home gear and tap into personal information like your calendar, although in terms of capabilities it's not really a fair comparison until Alexa has been localised for Australia. Even so, it's a moot point here as Sonos One will eventually support both Google and Amazon's assistants so you can test them yourself. Ignoring the elephants in the room One of the biggest frustrations at this point is that Alexa can only access music from Amazon Music (including your uploads), Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn, with Spotify coming soon. Apple Music and Google Play Music subscribers are out of luck for now, you can still play these services via the Sonos One speaker using the Sonos app but Alexa can't access them. Presumably Google Play Music access will come when Sonos adds support for Google Assistant, while Apple fans will benefit from support for AirPlay 2 also coming to the Sonos One "next year" in a firmware update. If you already have a home full of Sonos speakers, you can ask Alexa to play different songs to different Sonos speakers around the house a feature which Google Home sadly lacks, preferring Chromecast Audio speakers. It will be interesting to see whether Google Home ever fully embraces Sonos now that Google is releasing a rival in the Home Max speaker. So what's the verdict Small enough to tuck away out of sight, the Google Home Mini smart speaker puts the talkative Google Assistant at your beck and call. The device was launched in the USA recently and goes on sale in Australia on October 24. At $79, the Mini has the same footprint as the standard $199 Google Home but is only a quarter the height making it a lot less obtrusive on your coffee table, kitchen bench or bedside table. Four lights, hidden beneath the cloth top, light up when you have the speaker's attention. Small, but chock full of charm. Size aside, the Mini offers all the same features as its big brother. Starting with "OK Google" you can check on calendar appointments, travel times and weather forecasts as well as ask general questions. Need to know the capital of Queensland, the height of Mount Kosciusko or the recipe for pavlova? Google Assistant has you covered. The Mini is particularly useful in the kitchen, where you can look up recipes, set timers, add things to your shopping list and control smart home gear without the need to stop what you're doing. Firefighters in a remote part of the Pilbara currently battling an out-of-control blaze near a WA minesite have expressed their frustrations with an arsonist believed to have set a second fire while volunteers continued to battle the first blaze. The original fire is believed to have started at Mount Nameless on October 8, and was brought under control by the Tom Price Fire and Rescue Service. Nameless Hill has been burning for around two weeks, and the bushfire is believed to have ripped through 24,000 hectares. Credit:Alamy A second breakout fire forced the closure of the Western Turner mine site, forcing crews working along the access road to commence evacuation. As firefighter resources stretched to their limit and temperatures begin to sit around the late thirties, a second fire was started near the intersection of Nanutarra Road and Nameless Valley Road on Thursday morning. The gas price war in Western Australia is heating up with Origin Energy becoming the third supplier to enter the market in five years, offering customers a 35 per cent discount off their gas bill. The energy giant, which already has four million customers nationally, announced its entry into WA's residential gas market on Thursday, claiming the discounted charges could save households around $210 a year. Origin Energy has announced its entry into WA's gas market. Credit:Tanya Lake Origin retail sales general manager Duncan Permezel told Radio 6PR the company decided to move west after watching the Perth market for some time. "We've certainly got the opportunity to buy gas at the right price and pass that onto customers," he said. A jury has convicted a former Oklahoma police officer of first-degree manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of his daughter's 19-year-old boyfriend. Shannon Kepler, 57, who is white, was found guilty on Thursday in his fourth trial on a first-degree murder charge for the August 2014 shooting of Jeremey Lake, who was black. Kepler, who was an off-duty police officer at the time of the incident, said he was acting in self-defence when he fatally shot Lake. He said he thought Lake was armed with a gun, the Associated Press reported, but no weapon was found on Lake and Lake's aunt testified that he was actually reaching out to shake Kepler's hand. Kepler's three previous trials, in November, February and July, were all declared mistrials after they ended with hung juries. Each trial was tinged with racial overtones and civil rights activists accused Kepler's lawyers of trying to minimise the number of black jurors, CBS reported. Each of the three hung juries had only one African American juror. Washington: Former President George W. Bush has delivered a scathing warning about Donald Trump, saying his "America first" philosophy portends a dangerous inward turn that is eroding democracy at home and threatening stability around the world. "The health of the democratic spirit is at issue," the 43rd president said during a speech in New York on Thursday, local time. "And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand. "Since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of the free markets, from the strength of democratic alliance and from the advance of free societies," Bush said. "Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children." Wellington: Jacinda Ardern is New Zealand's newest prime minister. Labour will lead the next government in a coalition with NZ First. The Greens are expected to back Labour on confidence and supply, giving the combined parties 63 seats, two more than the 61 majority they need. Stepping into government brings the left out of the cold of opposition for the first time in nine years. Ms Ardern, who only found out the news at the same time as the rest of the country, opened her first press conference as prime minister elect by acknowledging her predecessor in the role, National leader Bill English. Gainesville, Florida: Students and other audience members heavily booed white nationalist Richard Spencer on Thursday as he gave a speech at the University of Florida, where the atmosphere was tense but mostly peaceful as police in riot gear kept watch. "We represent a new white America," said one speaker who came onstage to introduce Spencer. "Black lives matter," student protesters responded. "Black lives matter! Black lives matter!" Later, Spencer's supporters, some of whom filled the front rows of the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, chanted back: "You will not replace us!" Mogadishu: As tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Somalia to show their frustration with repeated terrorist attacks, its government hailed the Turkish as the only other people who cared about a truck bombing who killed almost 300 last weekend. Protesters wore red bands around their arms and heads in support of the families of the victims of the most recent attack by Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Some carried placards addressed at al-Shabab that read "stop killing innocent people". "We are telling [al-Shabab] that we are ready to take up arms and fight them from now on," a 16-year-old protester said in Mogadishu. The march took the people through the capital, Mogadishu, and to a rally at its Konis stadium, where President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo vowed the government would soon take revenge on those behind the attack. By WestKyStar & Lourdes-Mercy Medical Staff Oct. 17, 2017 | 07:16 PM | PADUCAH, KY Statistics show that one in eight women will develop breast cancer. Early detection can save your life. Get checked today at one of our two advanced imaging centers which use 3D Mammography to get fast, accurate results. Call 270-366-7854 or visit mercy.com/mammograms for more information. Lourdes is part of Mercy Health, one of the largest Catholic healthcare ministries in the country. Lourdes faith-based Mission values and promise form the cornerstones of its healthcare system. These bedrock beliefs unite its doctors, nurses and employees to strive to deliver the highest quality healthcare possible. Lourdes Hospital is a 359 licensed-bed facility accredited by The Joint Commission and was named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission. Lourdes is home to the regions largest multi-specialty physician network, Mercy Medical Associates, which consists of over 100 providers serving in over 30 locations throughout western Kentucky. Lourdes offers the following services: Cardiovascular, Neuroscience, Orthopaedics, Rehabilitation, Primary Care, Womens Health, Emergency Medicine, Behavioral Health, Home Care, Hospice and Palliative Care, Sleep Disorders, Surgery, ENT, Urology, Gastroenterology, Pain Medicine, Radiology and Wound Care. For more information, visit mercy.com. Lourdes will honor breast cancer survivors at a special luncheon on Friday, Oct. 27 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Robert Cherry Civic Center, 2701 Park Ave. in Paducah.General surgeon Dr. Daniel Howard of Mercy General Surgery and OB/GYN and breast cancer survivor Dr. Lisa Chaney Lasher will be the guest speakers. Lunch is free and will be provided by Texas Roadhouse. Space is limited. Survivors may register for themselves and one guest by October 20 by calling 270-444-2131. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 18, 2017 | 02:22 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY One person was killed and another is hospitalized after a head-on collision Wednesday morning in Graves County. According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, the crash happened just before 9 am on Highway 58 West, just east of the Graves-Hickman county line. Deputies said a car driven by 41-year-old Christina Weeks, of Clinton, was eastbound on KY 58 West when, for unknown reasons, she crossed the center line and collided head-on with a westbound car driven by 80-year-old Marilyn Armbruster, also of Clinton. Both Weeks and Armbruster had to be extricated from their vehicles. Both were flown by Air Evac to out of state hospitals for treatment of their injuries. Armbruster later died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Two passengers in Armbrusters vehicle, 41-year-old Joseph Green and six-year-old Gracie Green, both of Wingo, were treated on scene for minor injuries. KY 58 West was completely shut down to traffic for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Deputies said the investigation is continuing and charges may be filed. By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 19, 2017 | 10:18 AM | MARSHALL COUNTY, KY Marshall County authorities arrested a man on drug charges Wednesday. According to the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, a deputy was dispatched to Olive Hamlet Road in reference to a man that was possibly under the influence. The deputy located the man, 53-year-old Brian West, of Fairdale, KY, and determined he was under the influence of some kind of illegal drug. EMS transported West to the emergency room at Marshall County Hosptial. According to police, methamphetamine was found in a container on West's key ring. West reportedly admitted to using meth and heroin in the last two days. West was arrested and charged with possession of controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Over $400,000 raised at BBQ on the River Advertisement By The Associated Press Oct. 18, 2017 | WASHINGTON, DC By The Associated Press Oct. 18, 2017 | 06:49 PM | WASHINGTON, DC President Donald Trump's former campaign manager has met with the Senate intelligence panel amid its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Corey Lewandowski spoke to staff on the panel Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the meeting. The source declined to be identified because the interview was behind closed doors. Lewandowski left his post as campaign manager after he was accused of roughing up a reporter. Since then, he has remained close to Trump. The panel is investigating the Russian meddling and whether there are any links to Trump's campaign. Lewandowski was ousted in June 2016, shortly after several other campaign officials held a meeting with Russians. The meeting was first reported by CNN. By The Associated Press Oct. 17, 2017 | 03:01 PM | FRANKFORT, KY Kentucky's Republican leaders say they have agreed on how to change the state's struggling public pension system. Gov. Matt Bevin, state House Speaker Jeff Hoover and Senate President Robert Stivers will announce the plan Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the state Capitol. All are Republicans. The state Legislature is not scheduled to reconvene until Jan. 2. But Bevin has vowed to call lawmakers back to Frankfort for a special legislative session to take up the pension bill. Kentucky's pension system is among the worst funded in the country. The state is at least $33 billion short of the money that will be required to pay retirement benefits over the next 30 years. More than 400,000 people are members of the state's various public pension systems. CELEBRATING LOCAL HISTORY... AS WHKP CONTINUES TO CELEBRATE 71 YEARS! Truman Joins His Predecessors in Raleigh, 1948 Truman speaking at the statue dedication. Image from UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries.On October 19, 1948, President Harry S. Truman visited Raleigh and delivered the main address at the unveiling of the Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation monument on Union Square, which surrounds the State Capitol. The work honors the three presidents born in North Carolina: Andrew Jackson of Union County, seventh president of the United States (1829-1837); James Knox Polk of Mecklenberg County, eleventh president of the United States (1845-1849); and Andrew Johnson of Wake County, seventeenth president of the United States (1865-1869). Interestingly, while North Carolina claims all three presidents as native sons, all were elected while residents of Tennessee. The idea for the statue was conceived by Commissioner of Revenue A. J. Maxwell. He took the idea to several legislators and a resolution calling for the monuments creation passed the General Assembly in March 1943, though work didnt get underway until a commission was created to complete the project in 1945. Several sculptors submitted designs for the monument, but the commission ultimately chose New York sculptor Charles Keck for the project. It was one of Kecks last major works as an artist. Image from UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries.Governor R. Gregg Cherry, Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall, U.S. senator and former governor Clyde Hoey and descendants of each of the three presidents joined Truman in dedicating the monument. The FORMS from which the statues were made are still displayed in the Hendersonville City Hall, lower floor, next to the Police Department. THE PARENT TOOL KIT Education officials with the U.S. Department of Educations Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA), and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) met with parents of Henderson County Public Schools students on Wednesday, Oct. 18, to gather input on a new Parent Tool Kit being designed for families of English Learners (students for whom English is not the native language). Henderson County Public Schools is the first of many school districts nationwide to be invited to participate in providing parent collaboration and feedback for the national publication. The Parent Tool Kit, to be published by the OELA in multiple languages including Spanish, will be a companion piece to the OELAs Newcomer Tool Kit and English Learner Tool Kit. KITWhile the two existing OELA tool kits offer guidance to states and school districts in meeting the legal education obligations to English Learners required by the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice, the Parent Tool Kit will be primarily for non-native English speakers navigating the U.S. school system with their English Learner students. At a roundtable discussion with parents at Dana Elementary on Wednesday, Dr. Samuel Lopez, OELA Senior Education Program Specialist, said the Parent Tool Kit has a tentative framework with chapters based on feedback from parents in school districts nationwide. Existing tentative categories include a school systems identification of English Learners, services offered, school performance information, extracurricular activities, and tips to succeed in the U.S. school system. Some of what we learn from you will either be inserted here, or there will be some new categories, Lopez said. Were putting together what you think works. At the parent workshop, Lopez was joined by OELA Asst. Deputy Secretary & Director Jose Viana, NCELA Title III Director Dr. Jobi Lawrence, and NCDPI ESL/Title III Consultant Xatli Stox, in asking parents about their experiences with the U.S. school systems. The education officials asked what particular challenges parents faced as non-native English speakers, how schools currently communicate with them, what specific improvements could be made, and what cultural differences could be noted in the Parent Tool Kit that may assist other parents participation in their childrens education. We want to hear from you about your wishes for your childs education, Viana said. What information would be the most useful for you to have in order to facilitate your involvement in school and best support your childs academic success? What information do you want from your childs teacher, school principal? What information do you wish you had known prior to enrolling your child in school? Superintendent Bo Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jan King, and ESL/Migrant Education Programs Director Simone Wertenberger thanked the federal and state education officials for inviting HCPS parents to take part in the collaboration process. Thank you for allowing Henderson County parents to have a voice, King said. During their visit to HCPS, the education officials toured and met students at the Innovative High Schools and Dana Elementary. ### By PTI: Kolkata, Oct 18 (PTI) More than 2,000 additional state police personnel, most from specialised forces, have been deployed in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, a top West Bengal police official said today. The officers comments came in the backdrop of the union home ministrys statement that paramilitary forces cannot substitute state police and should be deployed only in emergencies. advertisement The police officer told PTI on the condition of anonymity that 2,500 state police personnel were already posted in the districts which witnessed a three-and-half-month long shutdown over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state. An additional 2000-strong force has also been deployed there over the past few months, he said. "The state police is being fully utilised for duties in the area. Apart from this the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) deployed in the two districts are being fully utilised," he said. The union home ministrys communication to the state said, "CAPFs cant substitute the state police force as their deployment is related to emergency crisis in states for maintaining law and order." The ministrys missive came after the West Bengal government moved the Calcutta High Court and got a stay against the central governments move to withdraw 700 CAPF personnel from Darjeeling. PTI PNT SUN KK ANB --- ENDS --- As many as 41 people were killed in an attack by Taliban at an Army camp in Kandahar province of Afghanistan. By Press Trust of India: Afghan officials say the Taliban have carried out two suicide car bombings at an army camp in the southern Kandahar province, setting of several hours of fighting and killing at least 41 soldiers. Khalid Pashtun, a member of parliament from the province, provided the toll from the attack. An Afghan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information, confirmed the toll. advertisement The Taliban claimed the attack in a media statement. Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since the US and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush in the northern Balkh province late Wednesday killed six police, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief. --- ENDS --- India and Russia are set to kick off the first-ever tri-service military exercise which will see participation from more than 400 Indian personnel. By India Today Web Desk: On Friday, India and Russia will kick off 'Indra', a ten-day military exercise that will see, for the first time, all the three services - the Army, the Air Force and the Navy - taking part. The military exercise, to be held in Russia, will mark a "a landmark event in the history of Indo-Russian defence cooperation", the Defence Ministry said in a statement. advertisement An IL-76 aircraft transported the Army and Air Force contingents to Russia on Wednesday while two Navy ships - the indigenously built INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt - docked at the Vladivostok Port on Thursday. The 10-day military exercise will be conducted at the 249th Combined Army Range Sergiyevisky and in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok. In its previous nine editions, Indra has been conducted as a single-service exercise alternately between India and Russia. This year, all three Indian and Russian military services will take part in the annual exercise. The Indian contingent comprises of 350 personnel from the Army, 80 from the Air Force, two IL-76 aircraft and one Frigate and Corvette each from the Navy. Russia will be represented by approximately 1,000 troops of the 5th Army, marines and ships of its Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District, an official release said. "Indra-2017 will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries," the statement said. "The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations," it added. (With IANS inputs) --- ENDS --- Local landowners and others are invited to attend a tour of Ahrensfeld and Rush Creeks on Saturday, Oct. 28. The tour begins at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the City of Rushford Village Community Hall, 43038 Hwy. 30. The tour provides an opportunity to understand how a watershed functions and the practices used by local farmers that are most beneficial for healthy streams. Guest speakers will be Dr. Dylan Blumentritt, Winona State University Assistant Professor of Geology, and Jake Overgaard, University of Minnesota Extension at Winona County. The tour will conclude with lunch at the Community Hall. Both speakers will also be available to answer questions during an informal luncheon after the tour. Transportation on the tour and lunch are provided at no cost. All need to pre-register as seating is limited. Those interested are asked to call Erik at 507-796-0152 or Sheila at 507-457-6522. Reservations can also be made online at tinyurl.com/driftlesswatershed. St. Johns United Church of Christ, 303 S. Hill St., Fountain City will be hosting its annual Fall Bazaar from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4. Available for sale will be baked goods, deli items, homemade candies and wine, as well as craft items. Join your friends for coffee and delectable desserts in the fellowship hall. An elevator is available for use. Numerous theme gift baskets will be on hand with the opportunity to win by purchasing raffle tickets. Winners of the baskets will be drawn and announced Sunday, Nov. 5. The Winona Sons of Norway meeting will feature a program on the book A History of Norwegian Settlers in Cedar Valley, Minnesota by Caryl Radatz and Anah Munson. The meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, at Central Lutheran Church, 259 W. Wabasha St., and is open to everyone. A slide presentation will tell the story of the early pioneers in Cedar Valley, including the first settlers, the Nils Sebo and Halvor Myhre families in 1854, and some of the 22 other families who followed them between 1854 and 1870. It will cover their migration, hardships, early roads, springs, Cedar Valley Church, homes, schools and traditions. There will be a display of artifacts, including a double woven Norwegian shawl from the 1800s. Radatz will talk briefly about verifying dates and how to locate family information in Norway. MINNEAPOLIS Watching a rooster pheasant rise ahead of an eager gundog is a priceless experience. But sometimes the value of a florid cock pheasant flushing from cover can in fact be measured in dollars and cents. Witness the efforts by nine southwest Minnesota counties to enhance the bottom lines of area businesses by marketing the region as the states go-to place to hunt Phasianus colchicus. Call it trickle-down economics, with a blaze orange twist. Unique in Minnesota, the endeavor (swmnhunting.com) recognizes that hunters in this case, pheasant hunters spend a lot of money when they travel, not just for licenses and stamps, but for gas, lodging, food and equipment. The leisure and hospitality industry in Lyon County alone in 2015 was a $52 million business, said Darin Rahm, director of the Marshall Convention and Visitors Bureau. Not all of that is related to hunting and visits to our parks, trails and other outdoor activities, but a large portion is. Most traveling pheasant hunters who tramp the uplands of Lyon, Lincoln, Murray, Pipestone, Cottonwood, Jackson, Rock, Redwood and Nobles counties are from the Twin Cities, Rahm said, with a sprinkling from Wisconsin, Iowa and other states. Hunters are attracted to the region by its relatively vast amount of public lands. Twenty federal waterfowl production areas totaling approximately 3,800 acres lie within 25 miles of Marshall alone, along with 132 state wildlife management areas covering 24,407 acres. Additionally, the states walk-in access program has added 8,725 acres of hunting land in the southwest in recent years. Overseen by the states Department of Natural Resources, the walk-in program pays landowners to leave lands open to public hunting. In addition to providing places for hunters to pursue game, the program supports Minnesotas overall hunting economy. Each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters spend more than $700 million in Minnesota, generating nearly $100 million in taxes for the state. Opportunities to hunt are what drive economic impact, Rahm said. And the state walk-in program provides so many more opportunities to hunt in our area than we had before. To sell themselves to pheasant hunters, the nine counties collectively spend about $25,000 annually to advertise in magazines and on television. This is in addition to the counties individual marketing efforts. Regional representatives also appear at Game Fair in Ramsey and similar festivals and trade shows attended by wingshooters. Boosting its hunting credibility, southwest Minnesota each year harbors some of the states highest pheasant numbers. Yet those populations fluctuate, as they have this year, when birds statewide are down 26 percent compared to last year, according to the DNR. We dont throw a parade when pheasant counts are high or hang our heads when theyre low, Rahm said. Theres a certain percentage of hunters who will look at those survey numbers and react. But most hunters are going to hunt, regardless. Underpinning the regions hunting advocacy program are civic pride and public spiritedness, said Karen VanKeulen, chief organizer of last Saturdays Governors Pheasant Hunting Opener in Marshall. We set the bar high when we hosted the same event in 2012, and this year were trying to raise the bar even higher, VanKeulen said. Everyone in this community is pretty giving and willing to work together. The governors festivities began Friday night with a banquet for 300 people at Southwest Minnesota State University, followed by a pheasant hunt Saturday morning in which Dayton, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, various DNR officials and a phalanx of media attendees will scatter throughout the area in search of ringnecks. Hosting the event, VanKeulen said, cost Marshall as much as $30,000, at least some of which will be offset by a community raffle and other fundraisers. Payback is also expected in the exposure the area will receive from participating writers and broadcasters. These types of events bring attention not only to our pheasant hunting but to our business and hospitality climate, Dahm said. Hunting during the Governors Pheasant Opener group is forecast to be great. But the shooting part might lag, not only because pheasant numbers are lower this year, but because most corn and soybeans remain unharvested, providing places for birds to hide. Ron Prorok is treasurer of Lyon County Pheasants Forever (PF), whose members have planted about 150,000 trees and completed 716 projects covering nearly 8,000 acres, making it one of PFs most enterprising chapters. Working with VanKeulen, Prorok and other PF members have secured 47 local guides for the governors event and about 40 tracts of private land to hunt. At his request, Dayton will walk public land. But the remaining 100 or so hunters in his party will scour private property, leaving the bulk of the regions public areas open for other wingshooters. The private land, Prorok said, was somewhat challenging to acquire this year, because some area farmers oppose Daytons stream and ditch buffer initiative. But in the end, we came out OK and well have plenty of land to hunt, he said. Bruce Bjelland owns the Travelers Lodge Motel in Marshall, a popular destination for visiting hunters and other tourists. The combined efforts of Rahm, VanKeulen, Prorok and many others in Marshall and the surrounding region have paid off for him, he said. To sell themselves to pheasant hunters, the nine counties collectively spend about $25,000 annually to advertise in magazines and on television. MADISON Federal jurors needed about 13 hours Wednesday to find a Madison man guilty of robbing a Plain bank in October 2014. After a two-day trial, jurors found Julian Thomas, 40, guilty of armed bank robbery and brandishing a weapon in the commission of a crime. Thomas faces maximum penalties of 25 years in prison on the armed robbery charge and a mandatory seven consecutive years on the weapons charge. He remains in custody until his Jan. 10 sentencing before District Judge William Conley. Thomas was indicted in May 2016 with James Thompson, of Madison, for the robbery of the Peoples Community Bank. Thompson, 29, pleaded guilty earlier this month and agreed to testify against Thomas. Thompson admitted to pointing a gun at two tellers and told them to empty their cash drawers. Thompson faces the same maximum penalties as Thomas at his Dec. 5 sentencing. During Thomas trial, former jail inmates testified that while Thomas was in the Dane County Jail on another charge, he planned to rob a small-town bank. Thomas also wanted a good soldier to assist him in the robbery, according to trial testimony. Thompson said he and Thomas were driven to Plain on Oct. 7, 2014, by a Madison woman. Thomas got the bank manager to take cash from the vault and then pepper sprayed the three employees before fleeing the bank with nearly $64,000. In Madison, Thompson said he saw Thomas divide the robbery proceeds in the bedroom of Thomas girlfriend. Thomas bought a $30,000 Mercedes-Benz within days of the robbery and had it titled in a womans name, according to court documents. Surveillance cameras at a Madison casino recorded Thomas car on the premises within a month of the robbery. Thomas paid the woman driver $20 for transporting the two on the round trip from Madison to Plain. She testified to not knowing the purpose of the trip and being a heroin customer of Thomas. She said she expected to be paid in heroin. Thomas had promised Thompson $20,000 to $30,000 for his participation in the robbery and promised a former inmate $5,000 to recruit a reliable soldier for the robbery. The Wisconsin Bankers Association offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the two masked robbers, the largest amount it ever offered. An association spokesman said this week that police and the WBA representatives will meet after the case concludes to determine if any of the reward should be awarded. Friends, family and colleagues of Thomas Pleger will gather Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County to commemorate the former campus leader. The university will hold a ceremony to name its science building after Pleger following remarks from community leaders, friends and family. UW-BSC Campus Administrator Ed Janairo said the diverse panel of about a dozen speakers demonstrates the impact Pleger had on the campus and surrounding community. He wasnt just brilliant; he was a very accessible, gregarious, outgoing guy, and people came to love him, Janairo said. He influenced a lot of what was going on on the campus, and also what was going on in the community. The dedication ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the lecture area of the science building, where refreshments will be served. Speeches will commence at 5 p.m., followed by the unveiling of new lettering on the side of the science building at 6 p.m. Tours of the newly named Thomas C. Pleger Science Building will conclude the ceremony. Pleger passed away in May after undergoing emergency brain surgery in Michigan. At the time, he was serving as president of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie. Pleger previously spent 21 years working throughout the University of Wisconsin System, most recently as campus executive officer and dean at UW-Baraboo from 2006 to 2014. Baraboo Mayor Mike Palm, whos slated to speak during the ceremony, said campus and community leaders sought to name the science building after Pleger soon after his death. Pleger championed construction of the building when $5 million in additions were made to the college in 2014. The UW-BSC Campus Commission approved the building dedication in May. The school then gained permission from the UW System, Sauk County Board of Supervisors and Baraboo City Council to name the building in Plegers honor. Janairo said the community is welcome and encouraged to attend the ceremony, and no RSVP is required. By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Oct 19 (PTI) Former Odisha chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik today said he has resigned as the president of the proposed Vedanta University. "Yes, I have resigned as the president of the proposed Vedanta University. My service is now under notice period. It will expire after the notice period," Patnaik told reporters here. Patnaik had joined Vedanta Group as president of the Vedanta University project after he resigned from the post of member, Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC). Patnaik was appointed as the member of the OHRC after his retirement from the government service. advertisement "I had tried my best for the establishment of the Vedanta University. We formed collaboration with different foreign universities. But, there was not much interest from the foundation," Patnaik said adding that land is a major hurdle before the establishment of the Vedanta University. The Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) has been the promoter of the proposed world class varsity. However, activities of varsity should not stop due to unavailability of the land immediately. "The varsity is not an industry. It can be started from rented houses also," Patnaik said. With Patnaiks resignation, the uncertainty over establishment of the Vedanta University has further intensified. The varsity is entangled in a legal battle over land acquisition after the Orissa High Court termed the land acquisition made for it as illegal. The Vedanta Foundation on July 19, 2006 had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government to set up the university. Therefore, the state government confirmed availability of 8,000 acres of land and made notifications to acquire of 6137.90 acre land covering 18 villages along Puri-Konark marine drive. The state government had also acquired 4004.48 acre land and handed it over to the Vedanta Foundation. However, the people opposing the project filed a public interest litigation in the High Court which rejected the state governments land acquisition. Vedanta Foundation in December 2010, filed a special leave petition (SPL) in the Supreme Court challenging the verdict of the Orissa High Court. The apex court in 2012 ordered status quo on the land acquisition. The case is now pending in the Supreme Court. PTI AAM RG --- ENDS --- Thomas Sollmann Thomas J. Sollmann, 49, of Merrimac, passed away at University Hospital in Madison on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Thomas was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 1968, to Adam and Klara (Bandle) Sollmann. He graduated from Mather High School in Chicago, class of 1986. Following high school, he obtained an associates degree and enlisted in the United States Navy. In the Navy, he served aboard the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt as an AO aviation ordnance, further services as a SeaBees connected with the aircraft carrier the USS Eisenhower. He retired as an I.T. 1 internet tech from the Navy after 25 years of service. Once retired, he moved back to the Merrimac area near the shores of Lake Wisconsin where he enjoyed fishing and hunting. He was a recognized marksman, and enjoyed playing darts and pool. He was a lifetime member of the VFW. Tom is survived by his father, Adam Sollmann (Rose Barth); his mother, Klara (Tony) Kozar; stepmother Rosemary Sollmann; brother Lorenz (Patty) and their children, Lea, Josef and Jehannah Sollmann; close friends, Shellie (John Jr.) Benish and their boys, Kyle and J.J. and their dog that Tom adored, Clover. A memorial mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, at St. Marys Catholic Church in Merrimac. A visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until the time of service. Military honors will be accorded by the Lachmund-Cramer VFW Post 7694. Toms family would like to thank the doctors and nurses of University of Wisconsin Hospital Neuroscience ICU and his military family for all their care and support at this time. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to UW Organ & Tissue Donation, 450 Science Dr., Suite 220, Madison, WI 53711-9135. Fair winds and following seas. Hooverson Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. For online condolences, visit hooversonfuneralhomes.com. There are some flaws in the behavior of our current president and his attitude toward people who are different than he is. For example: blacks, gays, Jews, Muslims and a host of others. Donald Trump was raised in a household that did not value the lives of these minorities. His father, Fred, was arrested in 1927 for attacking black demonstrators during a KKK rally in Queens, New York. His name and criminal behavior appeared in the June 1, 1927 New York Times. Later, when Fred had established a real estate empire, he and Donald were sued by the Justice Department for allegedly barring blacks from the rentals they ran as chairman and president of Trump Management. An investigation later found a long history of racial bias in the firms properties, according to the Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2016. These examples of discriminatory behavior in the Trump family have been refuted by the current White House occupant as fake news. He says its a completely false, ridiculous story, when responding to accusations against his father. It's yet another Trump lie to cover up the racist bigotry of his father and himself. Unfortunately, we are stuck with this man as president of our country. Nick Kelly, Baraboo Blood drives were held recently in Dodge County for the BloodCenter of Wisconsin. In September, drives were held at the American Legion Post 157 in Horicon and at St. Katharine Drexel in Beaver Dam. Both drives were a success, collecting 30 percent more units than expected. Blood from these drives supply the hospitals in Dodge County and some was sent to hospitals in the Houston area affected by Hurricane Harvey. The large turnout showed that people in our area committed to do whatever is needed to help others. Many people helped make these drives a success. Thank you to the volunteers who coordinated the drives, volunteers at each site who helped with set up/donor check-in and volunteers who provided and served refreshments. Thanks to the Daily Citizen who advertised the drive. Special thanks to WBEV for the extra effort made to advertise for support to the Houston hospitals. Thanks to the Beaver Dam Community Hospital Foundation for providing a grant that helped offset the expenses of the blood drives. BloodCenter of Wisconsin is the sole source of blood used for patients at BDCH. For more information, call BloodCenter of Wisconsin at 1-877-BE-A-HERO (1-877-232-4376). Phyllis Tratar and Ed Cody, Beaver Dam Nancy Alars 39-year-old son, Matthew Ward, has autism, but he lives in his own Downtown Madison apartment, works at the library and sells art he makes. With Dane Countys state-required shift next year to Family Care and IRIS both Medicaid programs for people with disabilities and the frail elderly Alar worries Ward wont get the help he needs to continue his meaningful life. How am I going to tell if these people are going to be a fit for my son? asked Alar, of Cottage Grove. I havent been able to get any reasonable information about which agency to choose. I feel like Im throwing darts at a dart board. Alar was among about 120 people who attended an information session about the programs Thursday at the Alliant Energy Center, sponsored by The Arc-Dane County, an advocacy group for people with developmental disabilities. Family Care started in 2000 as a managed-care alternative to traditional Medicaid programs that offer long-term care services. IRIS which stands for Include, Respect, I Self Direct is a similar program that lets people design their plan for services such as home care, transportation and job assistance. The state has shifted nearly all counties to the programs, saying they slow spending growth. It is now requiring Dane County, where about 2,000 residents receive long-term care through county-based Medicaid services, to switch to the state programs starting in February. County officials say they provide richer services that help many people work and live independently, by contributing additional county funds that bring in a federal match. The state says similar services will be provided under Family Care and IRIS, and nearly 500 people on a waiting list in the county will be able to get services. But many people fear their services will be cut. In other counties where Family Care and IRIS have been implemented, fewer people with disabilities work and more live in group homes than in Dane County, said Lisa Pugh, state director of The Arc Wisconsin. For people with developmental disabilities, their lives can be very complicated, Pugh said. When one small piece falls apart, its like the thread that unravels a persons life. The Aging and Disability Resource Center of Dane County started counseling people this month about whether Family Care, IRIS or a third option, called Partnership, might best meet their needs. The ADRC can also help people choose among seven agencies that will run the three programs. People will transition to the new format in February through May, when the current programs will end, Jennifer Fischer, manager of the ADRC, told the audience Thursday. We realize this is a very stressful time for everyone, Fischer said. We want you to feel like in this situation youre able to make a decision that is right for you. Lea Kitz, manager of the states Family Care and IRIS ombudsman program, operated by Disability Rights Wisconsin, said that if services are reduced, people should get notices about the changes with instructions on how to appeal. Roland Rosenkranz, of Madison, is concerned about his son, who was born with developmental disabilities. His son, who is 50 and lives with his parents, gets a ride five days a week to a MARC workshop and goes to the YMCA on weekends. The family receives periodic respite care. Roland Rozenkranz wonders if the services will continue. Were in a comfortable situation; he has everything, he said. Now were going into the unknown. They call him Mr. B. Hes patient. Hes encouraging. Hes been helping kindergartners at Woodridge Primary School for the past eight years. I say the letters with him. I say them so fast, said student Emma Hewitt, volunteering to talk about Larry Barrows Mr. B in Nancy Klafkes classroom Wednesday morning. Emma, like her classmates, receives one-on-one reading help from Mr. B, whos there from 9 to 11 a.m. every day. Hes nice and kind, said Leah Paulino, another student of Klafkes. Leah took a minute to think about what Mr. B means to her. He listens to me, she said. Barrows was working with Gage Mecum in the library that morning. Gage didnt have as much to say about Mr. B as Leah and Emma did. He was busy with a book. When Gage finished reading out loud, he gave Mr. B a high-five. Hes a celebrity, Klafke said. Barrows, 68, was a librarian at the Federal Correctional Institution in Oxford before he retired in 1999. His granddaughter, eight years ago, told Barrows that her teacher Mrs. Klafke needed volunteers to help students improve their reading skills. I was looking for something to occupy my time, Barrows said. I liked it so much, I started going every day. Obvious differences exist between teaching reading skills to adult male inmates and kindergartners, Barrows said. But similarities exist, too. Peoples lives can be changed for the better when their reading skills improve. Some of the men came to us and didnt know how to read at all, Barrows said. And thats just a crying shame, to think someone could come into adulthood and not read. What children learn in kindergarten and first grade really becomes the foundation for how theyll do in later years, continued Barrows, who moved from Washington state to the Portage area with his wife and two children in 1980. You want to see them get off to a good start, to be motivated, to learn and achieve their potential. Reading is the basis for everything else youll learn. Contagious laugh The ways Klafke and Principal Salina Thistle describe Barrows suggest his presence at Woodridge might be as important as his work with students. Hes always happy, Thistle said. He brings a contagious laugh and smile, Klafke said. Thistle added, Hes easy-going. I think all the kindergarten classes get to know him, Klafke said. He gives them high-fives and smiles on the playground and in the hallways. Do schools need more volunteers, like Mr. B? Yes, Klafke said. We really appreciate him reading with kids because a lot of them dont have that opportunity at home. What he does At the beginning of any school year, Barrows and students work on their letters first identifying them, sounding them out, learning the upper and lower cases. They also work on their numbers and counting, eventually using flash cards. Its a lot of fun being around 5- and 6-year-olds, he said. They have such a joy for life, theyre so eager and happy, they want to learn and that just makes it fun for me. Some of his subjects like Gage on Wednesday already read well. In these cases, Mr. B just listens. I wish everybody would volunteer, but everybody has their own situation, Barrows continued. Working makes it difficult (for others). But I think the teachers would be thrilled to have more volunteers in the lower grades the parents or retired folks like myself its a great way to give back to the community. Seeing achievement The best part of volunteering is seeing children make progress, Barrows said. The students who come into a school year not knowing the alphabet face more challenges than the ones who do, but thats not anything they cant overcome. The ones that start at the ground level, I mean, really, theyre so excited when they can read a book, Barrows said. Thats a big turning point for them. Watching any individual young or old reading a book for the first time is an experience unlike any other, he said. Children, especially, make it clear to anyone there that its a phenomenal achievement, not afraid to exude a tremendous amount of excitement. Still, its hard to know whats going on in another persons mind. Its a big deal to them, Barrows concluded. I dont really have the words to describe that any better. Message to parents Everybody learns differently, Barrows said. That some children need more time than others shouldnt be discouraging to anyone: theyll get there in time. The teachers at Woodridge do a very good job of motivating these students, he added, making learning exciting. But improving reading skills is largely a matter of repetition, Barrows said. So his biggest message to the Portage community aside from encouraging volunteerism is reminding parents how critical it is for them to read to their children. The help a parent or parents give their child is invaluable. I dont think that can be emphasized enough, Barrows said. Unfortunately, some kids dont receive too much help at home, and then a lot of it is up to the teachers. If you cant read very well, everything is going to be difficult. Ive always been a reader. I read for pleasure. Reading has given me enormous satisfaction in my life, and Id like to see the same for these kids. By PTI: Kolkata, Oct 19 (PTI) Deepavali, along with Kali Puja, was celebrated in West Bengal today with pomp and religious fervour, despite intermittent rains. Both the festivals coincided this year and were being observed together, making the entire occasion a gala event. On the occasion of Deepavali, the festival of lights, the city wore a brighter look with illumination everywhere, including on all vital installations, attracting people of all ages. advertisement Braving the intermittent rains, people came out on the streets in the evening and were seen enjoying fireworks. However, bursting of crackers was much less this time due to restrictions. A large number of devotees visited the Kalighat, Dakshineswar and Adyapith Kali temples in and around the city to offer prayers to the goddess on the auspicious day. At the Tarapith temple in Birbhum district, the devotees had to stand in long queues to offer puja. Among other places, Kali puja was also held at the Thanthania Kali temple in north Kolkata, Lake Kali temple in south Kolkata and Firinghee Kali temple in central Kolkata. Like the previous years, Kali puja was also held at the residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Many important personalities, officials and other dignitaries attended the puja and exchanged greetings with the chief minister. Banerjee greeted the people on the occasion saying, "Heartiest greetings to all on the occasion of Kali Pujo and Deepavali." Many community pujas at Barasat and Naihati in North 24 Parganas district were major attractions for the people. All arrangements were made by the police and Fire Services department to prevent any untoward incident. "So far, the celebrations have been peaceful and without any incident," an official said. PTI AKB RG RC --- ENDS --- By PTI: (Eds: Updating with more details) Bhubaneswar, Oct 19 (PTI) Heavy rains lashed many parts of Odisha today due to a depression over the Bay of Bengal which is likely to trigger more downpour. The depression over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 30 kmph and lay centered over northwest Bay of Bengal, about 40 km south-southwest of Paradip and 90 km south-southwest of Chandbali, the meteorological centre here said. advertisement The depression system will continue to move north- northeastwards and cross Odishas coast close to Paradip shortly, it said. Under its impact, rain or thundershowers are likely to occur at most places of Odisha during the next 24 hours. There is also a possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in districts of coastal Odisha and heavy rainfall at some places in interior parts of the state during the next 24 hours, the Met office said. In view of the weather conditions, it has been advised that local cautionary signal Number Three (LC-III) be kept hoisted at Paradip and Gopalpur Ports in Odisha. Strong and gusty surface winds, reaching up to 65 kilometres per hour (kmph), from the northeasterly direction would blow along the Odisha coast. Sea condition is likely to be rough to very rough and fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea, the Met office said. Diwali and Kali Puja celebrations were badly affected in the state due to the rainfall. PTI SKN RG ANB --- ENDS --- The experts in trade and commerce have blamed demonetisation, GST, strict vigil by tax department and a significant thumbs up to online sales and avoidance of Chinese goods for this year's low sales. By Rahul Shrivastava: The streets are beautifully lit up with fancy festive decoration but this year the crowds and sales in markets and malls are nowhere close to last year. Well, the experts in trade and commerce blame demonetisation and GST, even strict vigil by tax department and a significant thumbs up to online sales and avoidance of Chinese goods. So, this festive season's sales may not be higher than last year. advertisement The festive season's biggest money spenders were the corporates in form of gift purchases. According to a series of surveys by industry and trade body ASSOCHAM, festivities this year are low key and due to stressed balance sheets, corporate India has tightened its purse strings in Diwali gifts this year. The survey says that corporates have slashed the budget for corporate gifts by a minimum of 35-40 per cent. The reduction in gifts is across the spectrum. The other cuts by the corporates which will impact the sales this year is the reduction in bonus payments. Companies which were known for hefty bonus this year hit by debt, note ban, GST and lack of demand have cancelled or reduced bonus payments. "The bonus was used by employees to buy white goods or invest in gold jewellery", said a senior corporate official. The worst hit are fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and white goods manufacturing companies. While this period is considered auspicious, but the sales of white goods items like refrigerator, TV, washing machines etc has gone down. There is a reduction in sales of even cookies and sweets. "This is considered perhaps the best period of the year for sales for these goods. At a time when new products have hit the market and there are offers available even the sale of smartphones have taken a hit," a trade expert said. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) came to the conclusion about huge trimming of Diwali budgets after a telephonic survey of about 758 companies across tier I, II and III cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai. Modi government's drive against black too is having an impact. One of Delhi's top whole seller of electronic items said, "Till last year Diwali was a time to blow up black money. Gifts and purchases worth crores were made to use part of the dishonest money. But post note ban and GST, the elbow room for pushing untaxed wealth or making unaccounted sales has lessened. People know more than Rs 50000 sales need KYC elements. There is relatively cleaner money flowing this time". advertisement But the crowds at the market are not missing only because the mood is cautious. Trade bodies say online sales have made a huge dent in the monopoly of over the counter sales. The assessment after a quick survey conducted in 10 cities- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Dehradun, is that online sales may touch Rs 30,000 crore as against Rs 22,000 crore spent last year. Experts say consumers are increasingly opting for online shopping especially of mobile phones, electronic gadgets, consumer durables, apparel, home appliances and gift articles on the occasion of Diwali. This year the sale of mobile phones was 78%, electronic gadgets (72%), consumer durables (69%), gift articles (58%), accessories (56%), apparel (49%), and home appliances (45%). The government's digital push is also being cited as a key reason for the boost in online sales. A ministry of information technology official speaking off the record said, "The rise of online sales is hugely due to the spreading footprint of high-speed internet. Especially in smaller towns, it is encouraging people to buy online". advertisement Top online sales come naturally from top metros such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. But the upward trend is also visible in tier II and III cities like Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Indore, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Vishakhapatnam. The increase in sale from such towns is almost 60-65 percent every year. If India is a young nation, then the young are driving the digital market. As 35 percent of frequent online shoppers are in the age group of 18-25, 55 percent in 26-35, 8% in 36-45 and 2% in the age group of 45-60. Reasons for this switch are lifestyle, lack of time, nuclear families, simpler return and refund processes, free home delivery and huge bargains. Credit cards are the most favourite mode of payment in e-commerce sales. More men buy online than women as 65% of online shoppers are male as against 35% female. The most active online festive shopping category is men and women between the age group of 25 and 34 years. The other interesting element of trends in purchasing this festive season is a tilt towards made in India. During the Diwali season, idols of Hindu gods like Ganesha-Lakshmi, decorative items, lights, gift items, lamps and wall hangings from China used to rule the market. But by precipitating a visible and long drawn Doklam crisis, China has hurt its own manufacturers and exporters. advertisement An ASSOCHAM survey says that the sale of Chinese products is likely to decline at least by 40-45 percent this Diwali. The demand for Chinese made electronics goods including mobiles and LCDs is also down at least by 20 percent. The Supreme Court order on crackers in the NCR has led to a steep decline in sales of Chinese crackers across the country. Shopkeepers say many customers at the time of purchase make a specific demand, "we want made in India products not made in China ". A wholeseller in Delhi said, "it's in sync with the wave of nationalism. But customers now want Indian products as they also have concerns about the quality of goods manufactured in China". Estimate say that in 2016 the value of Chinese goods sold during Diwali alone was around Rs 6600 crore and two-third of this were Diwali related items. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Chennai, Oct 19 (PTI) After a gap of nearly a year, during which he was hospitalised twice, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today made his first public appearance at an exhibition here, held to showcase the 75-year journey of the partys mouthpiece, Murasoli. Clad in a white shirt, dhoti and his trademark yellow shawl, the 93-year old five-time Tamil Nadu chief minister went around the exhibition at the dailys office premises on his wheelchair. advertisement Karunanidhi, who is wheelchair-bound since 2010, did not make a public appearance since October, 2016 as he was ill. He was getting medical treatment at home and did not attend any public event as per doctors advice to avoid any possibility of infection. The nonagenarian leader spent about 40 minutes at the expo, during which he took a look at a statue of late Murasoli Maran, his nephew and a former Union minister. Karunanidhi was accompanied by his son and DMK working president M K Stalin and former state ministers Duraimurugan, E V Velu and Ponmudi, besides his other family members. The expo catalogues the journey of Murasoli, which was founded by Karunanidhi in 1942. The daily celebrated its 75th year jubilee in a grand fashion in August when top actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan attended the event among others. Karunanidhi fell ill in October, 2016 due to a drug- induced allergy. In December, he was admitted to the Kauvery Hospital here twice. The veteran leader was admitted to the hospital for "optimisation of nutrition and hydration" in the first week of December and later, due to a throat and lung infection. He had undergone tracheostomy, a procedure to optimise breathing. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had called on the DMK patriarch at his residence in December, 2016. PTI VGN VS RC --- ENDS --- China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Wide interest in small reactor plan, says CNL 19 October 2017 Share Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has released a summary report of its request for expressions of interest on small modular reactors (SMRs). Responses were received from 80 organisations, including 19 expressions of interest in siting a prototype or demonstration SMR at a CNL site. The Canadian nuclear science and technology organisation earlier this year released a long-term strategy including the goal of siting a new SMR on its Chalk River site by 2026. It issued the request on 1 June, to inform the conversation on the potential for an SMR industry in Canada and CNL's potential role in bringing SMR technology to market. The request for expressions of interest (RFEOI) closed on 31 July. CNL has now reviewed and analysed the submissions received through the request. On 17 October, it released a summary of its findings. The report - titled Perspectives on Canada's SMR Opportunity - was issued during an industry-focused vendor roundtable discussing SMR deployment on the sidelines of Natural Resources Canada's Generation Energy Symposium in Winnipeg. The event, hosted by CNL, discussed the obstacles and opportunities in deploying SMR technology in Canada. In total, 381 organisations and individuals were represented in the 80 submissions. Of these, 51 responses were received from Canada, followed by 11 from the UK and nine from the USA, with the remainder from countries in Europe, Asia and South America. Twenty-two responses came from reactor developers; 27 from companies in the nuclear supply chain; five from utilities and other endusers; 12 from academic/research institutions or other agencies; and 14 from communities and individual contributors. "While submissions came from a variety of organisations representing the feedback of a diverse group of interested parties, there were areas of general agreement, including the positive economic benefits to Canada, alignment with Canada's commitment to fight climate change, important applications for remote communities, and the potential to enhance nuclear safety through next-generation nuclear technology," CNL said. A number of "important challenges" were raised by respondents, CNL said. These include funding for technology development and demonstration, social acceptability, the business case, and government and regulatory support. CNL said that, as a result of the RFEOI, it now has better information on what the needs are of an SMR industry, and of an SMR initiative at CNL. "Over the coming months we will include the information obtained through this RFEOI to help shape CNL's SMR initiative", it said. Corey McDaniel, vice-president of business development and commercial ventures at CNL, said: "Based on the volume and quality of responses CNL received to the RFEOI, it is clear there is enormous interest in establishing an SMR industry in Canada, and in testing the technology through a prototype reactor at a CNL site. The information we have received through this exercise has been invaluable, giving us better visibility on the requirements for SMRs to be successful in Canada, and will help shape our program in the years ahead." CNL's Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario is the home to the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, which is due to close down on 31 March 2018 after 60 years of operations. During that time, the NRU has been one of the largest and most versatile high-flux research reactors in the world, and an important supplier of medical isotopes. Over the next 10 years, the site is to be developed to support the nuclear research needs of the Canadian government and the science and technology needs of the Canadian and global nuclear industry. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Calling it 'un-Islamic', Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa that bans Muslims from posting pictures on social media sites. By India Today Web Desk: The Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, one of the largest Islamic seminaries in India, has issued a fatwa that bans Muslims from posting pictures on social media sites. Yes, that's correct. No Facebook, no Instagram, no SnapChat. Darul Iftaa, which issues edicts for the Darul Uloom Deoband, is said to have announced that Muslims, men and women alike, should not post pictures of themselves or their family members on social media. They counted this act as 'un-Islamic'. advertisement WHY THE FATWA? A few days back, a person submitted a written question to the Fatwa department at Darul Iftaa, asking whether posting pictures of himself or his wife on Facebook and Whatsapp was un-Islamic or not. In the wake of this query came the fatwa saying that Islam doesn't allow the act. Reports have it that earlier this month, the Darul Uloom Deoband also issued a fatwa calling ban on women plucking, trimming, shaping their eyebrows and cutting hair. [With inputs from ANI] --- ENDS --- IAEA sees safety commitment at EDF's Bugey plant 19 October 2017 Share EDF's Bugey nuclear power plant in eastern France has demonstrated a commitment to safety, an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has concluded. However, the mission identified areas for further improvement. The four-unit Bugey plant (Image: EDF) An Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) today completed a 17-day mission to the plant, which comprises four 900 MWe pressurised water reactors. The 15-member team consisted of experts from Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Ukraine, the USA, as well as three IAEA experts. OSART missions aim to improve operational safety by objectively assessing safety performance using the IAEA's Safety Standards and proposing recommendations for improvement where appropriate. The review at Bugey covered areas of leadership and management for safety; training and qualification; operations; maintenance; technical support; operating experience; radiation protection; chemistry; emergency planning and preparedness; accident management; human, technology and organisation interactions; and long-term operation. The OSART team said it identified a number of good practices at the Bugey plant that will be shared with the nuclear industry globally. These include the use of 3D digital technologies in an innovative way to enhance the training and performance of plant workers. The team also said Bugey uses an environmentally-friendly way of treating plant cooling water to remove scale and other impurities. The mission also made a number of recommendations to improve operational safety at Bugey, including the plant strengthening its control over revision and application of plant operational documents. The plant should also evaluate the effectiveness of its operational experience program. The team also recommends the plant should improve preparation and conduct of its maintenance activities to optimise plant performance and further improve equipment reliability. Team leader Vesselina Ranguelova, a senior nuclear safety officer at the IAEA, said: "The staff at the Bugey nuclear power plant apply a rigorous approach to ensure the plant is operated in a safe and reliable manner, and are currently implementing a comprehensive modernisation program. The OSART team's recommendations and suggestions will help further improve the plant's operational safety, and we also identified good practices that can help improve safety worldwide, if applied by other operators." The OSART team provided a draft of its report to Bugey plant management and will submit the final report to the French government within three months. Bugey plant director Pierre Boyer said, "The input from this OSART mission is very valuable for the plant. We are committed to implementing the necessary actions to address our areas for improvement in an effective manner." Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Most people think that every country has a capital city, but that is not always the case. Some countries such as Bolivia has two since the countrys Supreme Court meets in Sucre while its parliament meets in La Paz. Other countries like South Africa have three where the three branches of government are located in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. On the other hand, there are smaller countries such as Singapore, Vatican City, and Monaco where the nation itself is the capital city. However, the big question is, how does a nation get by without a capital city at all? A good example of a country with no capital city is Nauru. Where Is Nauru? Nauru is an island located in the Pacific Ocean, and it is the worlds second-smallest republic. Nauru does not have any official capital city, but government offices are located in the Yaren District. The country covers an area smaller than all the worlds nations except for Monaco and the Vatican City. With an estimated population of 9,400, Nauru is the second smallest country in the world by population after the Vatican City. The country is so obscure such that its national flag is a map showing people how to find the place. The flag features a horizontal line representing the Equator with a white star right beneath it indicating where Nauru lies. No Official Capital City Yaren is often assumed to be the capital city of Nauru, but that is not the case. Nauru is a beautiful but tiny country, and has no official capital city, and even has no cities at all. Yaren District, which is located on the southern shore of the island, happens to be where most of the countrys prominent buildings are located, including Naurus Parliament House, the Nauru International Airport, and the Australia and Taiwan embassies (they are the only countries that have an ambassador to the country). Nauru is so tiny such that the airport's runway almost stretches across the entire Island. The countrys official airline used to land its only jet there until 2005 when Australian creditors acquired it. Challenges Facing Nauru At the time of Naurus independence in 1968, the island was the richest country on earth mainly because of valuable deposits of phosphates formed through centuries of bird droppings. Unfortunately, the countrys economy collapsed when bird droppings ran out. At present, Naurus unemployment rate is estimated to be at 90%, and there is a high rate of obesity due to the consumption of unhealthy Western foods. Such foods became popular during the countrys boom years. Things in Nauru have become so bad that the country has turned to importing prisoners to avoid going bankrupt completely. The country has become the Southern Hemispheres version of Guantanamo as it accepts large numbers of overseas asylum-seekers, especially those found in Australia in exchange for foreign aid. Meneng District, which is located east of Yaren, is the location where the detention center is situated. Meneng District also happens to be the site where the countrys presidential residence was located. Unfortunately, it was razed down by an angry mob in 2001. The current trend in the growing number of detainees imported to Nauru poses a big threat. However, the big question remains if the prison in Nauru continues to grow faster than the rest of the country, will Meneg District become the countrys capital? We can only wait to see what will happen. A city-state denotes a politically independent city whose territory also includes its dependent territories. This type of political structure was common in antiquity, as seen in the city-states of Carthage, Rome, and Athens. Italy's territory featured merchant city-states in the course of the Renaissance from Venice, Ancona, Florence, Naples, Pisa, Bari, to Lucca. City-states are not as numerous in the modern day, with Vatican City, Singapore, and Monaco considered as being the true definition of the term. City-states also go by the name micro-states, a term which is also used to denote other configurations of particularly small nations. A handful of other small states bear similarities to the structure of city-states and are thus regarded as modern city-states such as Malta, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Brunei. These territories each possess an urban settlement hosting a substantial proportion of the population although they have a number of distinct settlements in addition to a de facto capital city. Ancient City-States Numerous city-states prospered in medieval times in various parts of the world from Russia, Greece, Central Asia, Egypt, to the Swahili Coast. Rome is one of the notable example of these cities. It developed from a series of settlements surrounding a ford on the river Tiber. Italy's Latin tribe is credited with the formation of the city-state. The Roman Republic began around 509 BC, and it featured such democratic elements as a constitution, representative assemblies, Senate, and annually elected magistrates. The city expanded its mandate through conquest to include territories in North Africa, western Europe, the Mediterranean region, Eastern and Northern Europe, and Asia Minor. At the city's height in AD 117, it covered 5.0 square kilometers and had 50 to 90 million residents. Rome inspired numerous modern republics. Another medieval city-state was Tyre which was among the most prominent city-states in all of Phoenicia. Tyre was made up of two areas. The older part of the city developed on the mainland from c. 2750 BCE while the island complex grew as a trade center. The island's prosperity necessitated its heavy fortification. Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged the city for thirteen years and did not manage to breach its defenses. The city also attracted the attention of Alexander the Great. The inhabitants of Tyre were experts in the making of dye from the crushed shells of the Murex shellfish. The purple dye that was produced was highly prized in the medieval era. The city's alliance with Israel further facilitated its prosperity. Italian City-States Venice, Sienna, Florence, Lucca, and Genoa arose as the most notable Italian city-states from the 9th to the 15th century. Venice arose as a great maritime power and as a commerce hub for spice, silk, and grain. Venice also benefited from a lucrative banking sector, and it is regarded as the 1st proper international financial center. Genoa was another Mediterranean trading power, and the city's bankers lent money to monarchs such as those of Spain. Florence flourished in the 12th century through trading with foreign nations. Numerous palazzi and churches were built going into the 13th century which featured Gothic architecture. Florence also had a lucrative wool manufacturing industry. Lucca was renowned for its silk industry while Siena arose as a commercial center. These city-states implemented a republican form of government fashioned after medieval Rome and Greece. Several interlinked councils made significant decisions in the states while prominent adult men were chosen or elected to perform legislative or executive duties. The city-states did not, however, allow substantial political rights to the residents of their subject territories out of the capital city. Decline Of The Medieval City-States Several city-states had already lost their sovereignty in the 16th century. The Florentine Republic evolved into the Duchy of Tuscany in 1532 under the reign of the Medici family, while Sienna was conquered by Spain in 1555 and bought by Florence in 1557. The city-states were fewer and weaker by the 18th century. Venice struggled to retain its independence after it was engaged in a series succession wars with the Turks from 1645 to 1718. Napoleon Bonaparte managed to conquer Venice in 1797. The European city-states were major losers in the time between the Renaissance to the French Revolution as they could not afford the manpower and wealth to defend themselves against powerful monarchies. Current City-States Monaco Monaco is among the world's current city-states. It lies in the French Riviera in the western part of Europe. Monaco sits on an area of 0.78 square miles and has an estimated 38,400 residents. Monaco has implemented a constitutional monarchy type of government. The House of Grimaldi has maintained rule over the territory despite several brief interruptions. The state's independence is guaranteed by the 1861 Franco-Monegasque Treaty, although its defense is in the hands of France. In 1993, Monaco was awarded full voting rights by the UN. The state also participates in some EU policies such as border control and customs even though it is not an EU member, although it has been a participant in the Council of Europe since 2004. Singapore Singapore is an Asian city-state whose territory features one primary island and an additional 62 islets. Its colonial history includes British occupation and Japanese occupation in the course of the WWII. Singapore joined other ex-British colonies to create Malaysia, but it detached itself two years later citing ideological differences and established itself as a sovereign country in 1965. Singapore faced initial challenges such as a hinterland and lack of natural resources, but its focus on external trade propelled its economy. Singapore's constitution provides for a representative democracy structure of politics. The country has in place a sophisticated and technological advanced military system to defend its sovereignty if the need arises. Vatican City Vatican City occupies an area of 44 hectares inside Rome. The city's establishment is credited to the 1929 Lateran Treaty negotiated between Italy and the Holy See. The figure in charge of the Roman Catholic Church assumes political power in the state, and the Pope is therefore at the center of the city's legislative, judicial, and executive functions. The highest state officials are Catholic clergy of different national origins. Vatican City has a unique economy as it relies on the sale of publications and postage stamps, the admission fees to museums, as well as the sale of tourist mementos. (Scroll down for video) A tourist was lectured by a judge in Florida over womens rights after he was arrested for beating his wife in a hotel room. Abdullah Alhorir, who is from Saudi Arabia, was on vacation with his family in Miami Beach, when he was arrested for the domestic violence incident. He was brought before Judge Mindy Glazer who handed him an order of protection and told Allhorir to stay away from his wife. I understand you are on vacation here in America, in Florida, but in the United States, women have equal rights to men unlike I believe in your country, Judge Galzer said. According to the arrest report, the couple and their daughters were at the Monte Carlo Hotel off Collins Avenue, when the victim ran out of the room, asked an employee for help and police were called. The woman told officers that she had been beaten by her husband over the past several days, and when she tried to get help, he restrained her with zip ties. The victim showed officers many bruises on her body. The wife said that Abdullah also poured boiling water over her during their vacation. She also showed them photos of their daughters who had red marks on their faces, which she told police was from them being hit by their father earlier when they were in Orlando. Abdullah denied beating his wife. He told police that his wife woke up with the red marks. However, officers who searched the hotel room found a leather whip and several zip ties. Abdullah asked the judge to allow him to go free because his family needed him. He explained that it was their last day in the hotel and his wife had no money to pay for the room or for anything else, and she cannot drive his vehicle so he needed to get out of jail to help them. The judge set bail at $6,500 but ordered him to have no contact with his wife. By PTI: Jammu, Oct 19 (PTI) Festivity took over the otherwise tense border regions along the Line of Control (LoC) with security forces and civilians celebrating Diwali, undeterred by the spree of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops this month. People living in villages along the border lit diyas and candles outside their homes, while personnel from the armed forces and the BSF illuminated several places along the border with earthen lamps. advertisement "The mood was festive all along the border as elsewhere in the region. Luckily, there was no fresh violation of ceasefire and people celebrated Diwali along with the security forces," a senior security official said. In October, Pakistan violated the ceasefire at least six times. Yesterday, eight civilians, including a two-year-old girl, were injured in indiscriminate firing by Pakistani troops in Poonch and Rajouri districts. "Security forces are fully prepared to meet any challenge from across the border and are maintaining a close vigil to ensure its sanctity," the official said. Night patrolling has been intensified and regular exercises are being undertaken to scuttle attempts by terrorists to sneak into the Indian side, he said. The BSF did not exchanging sweets with Pakistan this time on Diwali, the official said, adding that the frequent ceasefire violation by Pakistan failed to dampen the spirit of border residents. Temples across the Jammu region were decorated along with markets for the festival, and firecracker shops witnessed a heavy rush of customers since morning. PTI TAS AB ANB --- ENDS --- 800k National Lottery grant for exciting project to revive former Brymbo Iron and Steelworks site This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 19th, 2017 A local trust aiming to develop its vision to revive the former Brymbo Iron and Steelworks and Brymbo Fossil Forest, has received a grant of more than 800,000 from the National Lottery. The ambitious project, being undertaken by the Brymbo Heritage Trust, focuses on the major restoration of the Brymbo Iron and Steelworks site, with plans to convert the historical landmark into a vibrant, heritage-led, mixed-use visitor destination and community / enterprise hub. Built in the late 1790s by prominent industrialist and cast iron pioneer John Iron Mad Jack Wilkinson, and producing steel from 1884 onwards the works ceased operation in 1990. The remaining buildings on the site currently lay derelict but if successful in securing a full grant of 5million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Trust aims to transform them along with the nearby Brymbo Fossil Forest into a major visitor attraction, learning centre and vibrant local space known as Brymbo Heritage Area. John Iron Mad Wilkinson pioneered the manufacture of cast iron during the Industrial Revolution. He invented a precision boring machine that could bore canon and cast iron cylinders, such as those used in steam engines of James Watt and Matthew Bouton his boring machine has been credited as being the worlds first machine tool. He also improved the efficiency of blast furnaces, and led the early development of the worlds first metal single span bridge the Iron Bridge in Shropshire. Brymbo Fossil Forest was discovered in 2005 and contains a wealth of fossiled trees, stems, seeds, roots from the late carboniferous period 280 to 320 million years ago. These were found within 100 metres of the iron works and show how the botany and climate of the time combined to lay the coal seams that led directly to the UKs industrial growth. Along with Wilkinsons story and the plant fossils, Brymbo Heritage Area will tell the tale of the later steelworks and its impact on the local area. John Glen, UK Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, said: This exciting project will tell the story of Brymbos illustrious industrial past and boost the local economy through a new cultural tourist attraction. It is a fantastic example of how the National Lottery is helping to preserve and celebrate the unique heritage of Wales. Richard Bellamy, Head of HLF Wales, said: In its heyday, Brymbo was at the centre of Britains engineering prowess. Its coal was medal winning and its iron and steel fuelled the expansion of steam and the railways. This project will regenerate Brymbos historic buildings and boost the local economy but it will also revive this powerful story and a sense of local pride in what was achieved here. The grant award will now enable the Trust to grow and to engage the full range of design, engineering and legal professionals needed develop fully costed proposals, ahead of a second stage application in late 2019. If that application proves successful the building work will get underway in 2020 with the facilities opening a year later. In September 2017 the Trust received the backing of Wrexham Council, who provided a financial boost in the form of a 170,000 grant to help support the project. Nick Amyes, Chair of Brymbo Heritage Trust, said: We faced tough competition to secure this funding, and were absolutely delighted with this news it came 27 years to the day after Brymbo Steelworks closed its doors on 27th September 1990. Thank you to all of the National Lotterys players up and down the country for helping us bring a big part of our community back to life. Cllr Paul Rogers, Local Member for Brymbo, added: This is absolutely fantastic news everyone at the Heritage Project has put in a lot of hard work on this over the past few years with the support of Wrexham Council This isnt just something thats started up recently and a lot of work went into preparing this bid to ensure its success and all those at the project deserve to be congratulated for the effort theyve put in. Im sure this project will be a huge benefit to Brymbo and a key part of the regeneration of the Steelworks site. This project has potential to redevelop the site for a range of purposes and also support the creation of jobs MP calls for Poppy Appeal support in Wrexham This article is old - Published: Thursday, Oct 19th, 2017 Wrexhams MP Ian Lucas is calling for members of the public to lend their support to the towns annual Poppy Appeal. Mr Lucas, who works alongside the Royal British Legion team in Wrexham each year to help out with the appeal in the town, is asking people to volunteer to help collect for the appeal in the weeks in the lead up to Remembrance Day. Volunteers would be very welcome on Friday November 3, Saturday 4 or Saturday 11. The collecting shifts would be between 10am and 3pm. Volunteers should come to the Poppy Drop in on Chester Street and they should bring some ID. Mr Lucas said: The Royal British Legion does great work in Wrexham all year round. Its one of the reasons why I help with the Poppy Appeal each year. This is a great chance for people in Wrexham to help out with the Legions work on the streets of our town. They simply need to pop down to the Poppy Drop in on Chester Street with their ID the Royal British Legion will do the rest. For those who simply wish to donate, its also worth remembering that the Poppy Appeal will happily accept the old round pound coins in the collecting boxes this year too. This morning Kevin Forbes tweeted the below information sheet outlining other sessions that require volunteer help plus contact information for those who wish to get involved. The letter also notes that the Poppy Appeal this year will also recycle and old style round pound coins if you did not manage to spend them in time! Pic: Poppies are on lamp posts all around town, this was a picture taken yesterday near to Queens Square. By PTI: (Eds: Updating with more inputs) Kolkata, Oct 19 (PTI) A massive fire broke out today on the 16th floor of a commercial building in central Kolkata, gutting the global market office of the State Bank of India (SBI). Thirteen fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire that originated from the server room of the SBIs global department at the Jeevan Sudha building, a fire brigade official said. advertisement "The furniture and computer peripherals were damaged in the fire but there was no fear of data loss as the files were stored in the disaster recovery cells of Mumbai and the local head office in Kolkata," the general manager (global market office) of SBI, Ventakesh Bharadwaj, said. The chief general manager (Kolkata circle) of SBI, P P Sengupta, said there was no news of anyone getting trapped on the floor. Eyewitnesses said the fire was fast spreading to other floors of the building. Although it was a holiday for Diwali, the employees rushed to the site as soon as the news of the fire spread, the general manager said. The building on the Jawaharlal Nehru Road has 19 floors and houses the offices of the SBI and the LIC and other financial organisations. PTI DC BSM RMS ASK ASK --- ENDS --- Contamination, an investigative television report which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Four Corners program last week, confirmed that the Australian Defence Department ignored explicit warnings issued three decades ago about the danger of fire-fighting foam used at its facilities. While it was previously thought the defence department only learnt in 1991 of the risks posed by the foam leaking into water supplies, the program cited a 1987 consultants report which called for the foam to be treated as toxic waste. Defence deliberately withheld this knowledge from the public. The fire-suppressant aqueous film forming foam, also known as light water, was manufactured by the giant 3M chemical company. It contains perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Both are part of a grouping of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). The foam began to be used for aviation fire-fighting in 1964. Up to 18 air force bases around Australia have been potentially contaminated by the foam. The total number of sites currently under government investigation exceeds 70. This includes some local fire stations and civilian airports. The foam was widely employed throughout Australia until 2003 when the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme called for the end to any unnecessary use of the product. The following year, the Defence Department claimed it would phase it out, but this was not completed until 2012. Two years after receiving the 1987 consultants warnings, the defence department established the Tindal air force base in Katherine, in the Northern Territory, where it used the toxic material. It failed to warn defence personnel and residents of the dangers posed. Tindal base fire-fighters told Four Corners that they trained with the toxic material for years and were told it was safe. Former flight sergeant Brian Wrigglesworth said fire-fighters had no idea of the risks and were often saturated in the product. He estimated that roughly two-hundred litres of foam would overflow into local waterways and groundwater each week. PFAS has been identified by international bodies, such as the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, as potentially dangerous to human health and highly persistent in the natural environment. Large-scale epidemiological studies conducted by the C8 Science panel in the US have shown probable links to six diseases, including thyroid and testicular cancer. Philippe Grandjean, an assistant professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Four Corners that PFAS chemicals can suppress the bodys immune system. With immune dysfunction, the body does not pick up the abnormal cells that are spreading and developing into a cancer, he said. Grandjean cautioned that further action was needed to protect humans against these exposures. The contamination of water supplies in Katherine has placed its 6,000 residents at significant risk. Defence Department testing of bore water, which is relied upon by families for daily use including drinking and washing, has showed PFAS levels up to 80 times the safe limit. Two months ago, the town was put on water restrictions. While the tropical community receives high rainfall, the restrictions have been imposed so town water supplies do not have to be topped up with the contaminated ground water. The Bartlett family, who were featured on Four Corners, own a mango farm in close proximity to the airbase. They are among more than 40 people who rely entirely on bottled water because their bore water is unsafe. Kirsty Bartlett was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at around the same time that her family were told their water was contaminated. The Defence Departments failure to act on previous warnings was just disgusting, Bartlett said. It feels a bit like were collateral damage. I know that sounds a bit extreme, but it just really feels like our lives here really dont matter. Defence Department representative Steve Grzeskowiak attempted to deflect political responsibility for the disaster, telling Four Corners that standards and practices in place before the early 2000s were not as good as they should have been. He claimed to have had no prior knowledge of the consultants report in 1987 and refused to explain why residents and fire-fighters had not been warned of the dangers. Residents of Oakey, Queensland and Williamtown, New South Wales, who live in areas contaminated by PFAS fire-fighting chemicals, have mounted separate class action suits to litigate for compensation. A Senate inquiry launched in late 2015 called for compensation and land acquisition but none of its recommendations were binding. Oakey resident Brad Hudson told Four Corners about the impact of the contamination on his family. Hudson was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly before he was informed that water on his property was toxic. Four Corners also cited a 2012 internal email from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which the defence department acknowledged elevated levels of PFAS chemicals leaving the Williamtown air base. The department, however, instructed the EPA to keep the information confidential. It was another three years before residents surrounding Williamtown were alerted. During this period, several people purchased properties in the area and set up their lives, only to find out later that their homes had been placed in the red zone. These homes lost their value and now the banks will not lend to residents living in the zone. Water in some parts of the Williamtown red zone is currently registering PFAS readings 18 times the safe drinking level. The federal government, which has offered free blood testing to the residents of contaminated areas around Williamtown and Oakey, has refused to do the same in Katherine until environmental investigations are completed, a process that will drag on well into 2018. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended this decision, reiterating government and defence department claims that there is no consistent evidence that PFAS is harmful to human health. According to Four Corners, the clean-up has already cost the Defence Department $100 million nationally with defence spokesman Steve Grzeskowiak admitting that it was possibly the largest environmental investigation in Australian history. The Australian government is fighting the class action by residents and strenuously resisting demands for compensation for the poisoning of water supplies and the consequent health and social consequences, for which consecutive Liberal-National and Labor governments are directly responsible. Utterly indifferent to the plight of residents and their families, it continues to spend billions on the military and, in lock step with Washingtons pivot to Asia, is preparing for war against North Korea and China. The author also recommends Australian governments knew about the dangers of airforce fire-fighting foam for decades [6 September 2017] Study: Flints poisoned water caused drop in number of healthy pregnancies and births [23 September 2017] Unsafe levels of carcinogenic chemicals found in drinking water of 6 million Americans [10 August 2016] By PTI: (Eds: Updating with details) Kolkata, Oct 19 (PTI) A massive fire broke out today on the 16th floor of a commercial building in central Kolkata, gutting the global market office of the State Bank of India (SBI). Thirteen fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames that originated from the server room of the SBIs global department at the Jeevan Sudha building, a fire brigade official said. advertisement "Fire that broke out at around 10.20 AM was finally controlled and extinguished at about 7.15 PM after about nine hours of operation," he said, adding that no injury or casualty was reported in the incident. City police officials said normal traffic has been restored around the building after the fire was extinguished. "The furniture and computer peripherals were damaged in the fire but there was no fear of data loss as the files were stored in the disaster recovery cells of Mumbai and the local head office in Kolkata," General Manager (Global Markets Units) of SBI Ventakesh Bharadwaj said. Chief General Manager (Kolkata circle) of SBI P P Sengupta said there was no news of anyone getting trapped on the floor. Although it was a holiday for Diwali, the employees rushed to the site as soon as the news of the fire spread, the general manager said. The building on the Jawaharlal Nehru Road has 19 floors and houses the offices of the SBI and the LIC and other financial organisations. PTI DC BSM AKB RG AQS --- ENDS --- MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) - Sunday come join Cat Family Records for their 2nd Annual Cat Festival. Cat Fest features more than 70 musical acts, food trucks and pet adoption organizations. President of Cat Family Records Scott Bell joined Christine Souders on Sunrise to talk about the event to raise money for "Black Cats, Old Dogs." Cat Fest is Sunday, October 22, from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m at Railroad Square Art Park. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Independent Colleges of Florida has announced several of its affiliated schools are now offering financial support for students forced to leave Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after the devastation from Hurricane Maria. The schools, which include Keiser University, is offering tuition assistance, expedited admissions, fee waivers and scholarships. President of the organization, Dr. Ed Moore, says the students and faculty coming together after this tragedy has been remarkable. "Many of our faculty, students and their families are from the areas affected by Hurricane Maria. To see our schools and students coming together to help our neighbors and families in the Caribbean has been truly remarkable, said Dr. Ed Moore, President of ICUF. All of the ICUF schools are committed to finding ways to bring relief to those hardest hit by the storm and working to make sure that students from these areas do not lose progress towards their degrees." You can find a full list of relief efforts here: Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU) Conducted a week-long supply drive for Puerto Rico, in collaboration with Florida Hospital and the Florida Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church; provided two pallets containing 20 boxes of food and non-food items and cases of water. Volunteered at a Blessings for Puerto Rico sorting and packing project hosted by Florida Hospital; part of a collective effort at this event that sent six 24-foot trucks of supplies to Puerto Rico. Engaged in relief efforts in the USVI through an ADU faculty member who assisted a team from Florida Hospital on a medical mission; also promoting a link for monetary donations. Discussing a framework of assistance to students from Puerto Rico and the USVI. Barry University Offering expedited, flexible admissions and financial aid to affected students; current students affected will be able to file an appeal to have their financial aid re-evaluated and will not be assessed a penalty fee for late payment of fall tuition. Chartered a commercial airline to evacuate more than 70 students, faculty, staff, family members and pets from Barrys St. Croix Physician Assistant program as Hurricane Maria approached; housed, fed and provided other on-campus amenities to these individuals. Coordinating various relief efforts, including fundraising, collection of items, volunteer/mission trips and monitoring the needs of hurricane victims. Reached out individually to all students from the Caribbean and offered guidance based on students unique needs. Everglades University Providing leave-of-absence and appropriate academic interruption assistance to online students in Puerto Rico. Offering institutional scholarships to Puerto Rican students to assist them and welcoming and expediting transfer students from Puerto Rico. Collecting and shipping supplies to Puerto Rico from a drop-off location at the Everglades Boca Raton main campus. Flagler College Responding to inquiries from students enrolled in institutions in Puerto Rico and the USVI related to opportunities to complete or continue their college education. Admissions, Financial Aid and the Registrars offices are making every effort to accommodate the students requests and to ensure that credits earned at Flagler will be transferable to the institution that will award their degrees, if Flagler College is not to be that institution. President Joyner also established an emergency aid fund to assist any students who needed financial support for travel or other short-term needs. Florida Southern College Working with students who may have difficulty paying tuition due to storm effects; students can meet with financial aid specialists for assistance on an individualized basis. Several clubs and organizations have held or plan to hold fundraising activities for victims. A relief trip is planned for spring break if conditions permit. Reached out to students with Puerto Rico or USVI as country of origin to offer emotional support and counseling as needed. Jacksonville University (JU) Waiving the application fee for prospective students in affected regions; the Honors deadline has been extended on a case-by-case basis for these students. Working individually with JUs Puerto Rico-based Master of Fine Arts in Choreography program students to provide support and continuity in their education and programming. Contacted all current students from the affected areas (Puerto Rico, USVI and throughout the Caribbean) to provide support or assistance as needed, including financial aid; Student Counseling Center is offering natural disaster support group meetings. Its students are engaged in various projects to fundraise for and support disaster relief for hurricane victims; the College of Fine Arts will use funds raised through its three-day Fall Dance concert in November to help provide relief for residents of Puerto Rico. Keiser University Offering affected students the opportunity to enroll at one of Keisers 19 campuses within Florida, the Nicaragua campus or through the Online Division. Keiser operates on a modular schedule which offers monthly enrollment in new courses and intakes (accepted) new (and transfer) students, allowing these students to not delay/interrupt their education. Offering Disaster Relief Scholarships to displaced students in need. Due to transcripts and school records possibly not being readily available to support transfers, the institution will work with these students and rely on other verification processes to determine admissibility. Lynn University Offering institutional scholarships to incoming Lynn students from areas impacted by the hurricanes. Organized a donation drive for Hurricane Irma victims in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean Islands, with the supplies to be distributed first to the Florida Keys, and remaining items delivered to the Caribbean Islands via a Norwegian Cruise ship; volunteers also worked with Feeding South Florida to distribute meals to affected Florida Keys residents; coordinating relief volunteer trips to Naples, Florida and the Florida Keys, as conditions permit. Volunteered at Boca Ratons Red Reef Park to clear hurricane trash and debris. Reached out to all students whose families were impacted by disasters in affected areas of Florida and the Caribbean; offered support including counseling, health and financial services to affected students and employees, as needed. Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Using a plane and carrying medical supplies and personnel provided by NSU donor Dr. Kiran Patel, NSU officials flew three relief missions, each with 500 pounds of supplies provided by the university to Puerto Rico; also organizing collection drives and donating supplies to relief organizations. Opened a path for graduate students who could make their way to the mainland to be accommodated and continue their studies at NSUs Florida campuses; also adapting curricula and delivery methods to allow affected graduate students to continue their education after normalizing their living situation. Established an outreach program to confirm NSU students wellbeing and whereabouts via multiple means; launched a dedicated webpage and sending daily messages on all platforms advising of aid/support. Created and utilized NSUcares, a fundraising/volunteer channel originally established by President Hanbury, to help NSU victims of Hurricane Irma as well as aid NSU victims of Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Harvey. Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) Working with SF4PR (South Florida for Puerto Rico), which was created by an alumnus and adjunct instructor to collect needed donations. Holding themed donation events on campus, i.e., soliciting flashlights and batteries for Light for Puerto Rico; prepping donations for shipment. PBA has a representative on Palm Beach County Cares, which is gathering donations county-wide for Puerto Rico; PBA is providing volunteers for those efforts as well. Considering staging a relief trip to Puerto Rico. Rollins College Offering a discounted transfer program for the Spring 2018 semester to degree-seeking students currently enrolled in Puerto Rican and Caribbean colleges and universities. Eligible, admitted students will be charged a flat fee of $8,500 for the semester, covering tuition and room and board. Students enrolled at Rollins for the Spring 2018 semester under this program may continue their studies at Rollins for the 2018-2019 semester with satisfactory academic performance. Working individually with each currently enrolled student from the affected areas to provide maximum financial and emotional support through its Offices of Financial Aid and Student and Family Care. Saint Leo University Tracking all affected current students to locate them and check on wellbeing; assisting these students with continued attendance, if able, or to take temporary leave. Offering counseling and disaster assistance/relief to affected students; have begun disbursing relief funds. Offering free room and board and discounted tuition of $8,500 for the Spring 2018 semester to college students in Puerto Rico whose studies have been affected by the hurricanes; these students may continue their studies at Saint Leo with satisfactory academic performance. Southeastern University Four trips planned to Puerto Rico to assist with relief efforts, starting Thanksgiving break. Reached out to affected students, resulting in efforts including shipping supplies to students families, purchasing airplane tickets for students and providing for a delayed exam schedule. Social Work Club and Department sponsoring a donation drive gathering essential items to send to Puerto Rico, as well as holding weekly support meetings for those with family in Puerto Rico. Established a fund to provide financial assistance to those impacted by the recent hurricanes. Stetson University Waiving all room charges for the Spring 2018 semester to new students from the affected islands. Reaching out to students able to be identified who may be affected. Offering support such as counseling, academic support and financial assistance as needed to those students. Created a Hurricane Relief fund to assist students submitting financial appeals related to the hurricanes; funds are granted to students from the USVI, Puerto Rico and Florida not able to make payments for hurricane-related reasons. St. Thomas University Offering free room, board and books to prospective students from the affected islands transferring in to St. Thomas; Metz providing free meal plan and Follett providing books. Making it possible through testing and other means for these students to continue with the current semesters work. Offering 50 percent Disaster Relief Scholarships through Spring 2018; received a $250,000 gift from the Knight Foundation to support the Universitys efforts to help these students, the funds of which will apply directly to scholarships. Offering support to sister institutions in Puerto Rico and USVI. University of Miami (UM) As with Hurricane Katrina, accepting undergraduate students into classes at no tuition charge, committing to prohibit these students to transfer to UM or remain at UM once their home institutions reopen so as not to deplete future revenue from these schools when they reopen. Hosting faculty and graduate students from Puerto Rico and USVI institutions so they can continue their academic/scholarly endeavors and activities; providing access to UM offices, labs and resources at no cost. UM estimates the ability to support up to 300 such undergraduate students across its schools and disciplines at UM. The University of Tampa MITCHELL COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - The Mitchell County coroner confirms that one person was killed in a crash on County Line Road near the intersection of Whigham Road. Investigators say three people were in a vehicle that overturned about 5 p.m. Wednesday. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two were flown to the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The Georgia State Patrol's special crash reconstruction team is investigating the fatal crash along with the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. Honeypreet's meeting with her family members inside the jail lasted for nearly 35 minutes. By Satender Chauhan: This Diwali, Honeypreet Insan's family visited her at Ambala's Central Jail in Haryana and gifted her candles and sweets. Honeypreet, jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's 'adopted' daughter, broke down on seeing her family members. The meeting lasted for 35 minutes during which Honeypreet's parents, brother and sister-in-law spoke to her in turns through intercom. A lawyer also accompanied Honeypreet's family but was not allowed to meet her. Honeypreet is lodged in cell number 11 of Ambala Central Jail. advertisement On Wednesday, Honeypreet's father Ramanand Taneja, mother Asha, brother Sahil and sister-in-law Sonali reached Ambala Central Jail to visit her. A thick glass partition separated Honeypreet and her family members when they met inside the jail. On seeing her family, Honeypreet got emotional and started crying. Honeypreet's family spoke to her through intercom for nearly 35 minutes, and gifted her candles and a box of sweets. Honeypreet initially declined the gifts but later agreed to take them. SHO of Baldev Nagar Rajnish Yadav verified the identities of Honeypreet's family members before letting them meet her. Recently, police found documents related to property worth crores from bags seized from Gurusar Modia in Rajasthan. Most of these properties allegedly belong to Honeypreet. These properties are located in Mumbai, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab among other places. ALSO WATCH: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh pocketed Rs 6.5 crore, Honeypreet got Rs 60 lakh for their movies --- ENDS --- CAMILLA, Ga. (WTXL) - A prosecutor says a Mitchell County man in jail may face 50 years in prison for molesting a child. On Monday the Mitchell County Superior Court convicted Bobby Beck of child molestation and incest. Court records suggest Beck had sex with a relative who was under the age of 16. The district attorney is pressing for a 50-year sentence. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. SARASOTA, FL (WWSB) - Five schools in Sarasota County are on lockdown Thursday morning. The following message was sent to the schools listed below about the current lockdown at their schools: "Hello, this is a message from the Sarasota County School District. This morning we received a report that a high school student had a gun on a bus and did not remain on campus. All students are safe and in an abundance of caution we have locked down Riverview and Suncoast Polytechnical high schools, Suncoast Technical College and Phillippi and Wilkinson elementary schools. Students are in locked classrooms and learning is continuing. We are working closely with the Sheriff's Office and will update you as the situation changes. Please do not attempt to come to your child's school during the lockdown, as no one is currently permitted to enter or exit the campuses. Again, all students are safe and we will keep you posted." MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. JEFFERSON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Gov. Rick Scott has removed Jefferson County Clerk Kirk Reams from his position amid allegations Reams lent an office laptop to his girlfriend for her personal use. For that, Reams is facing petit theft charges. The Jefferson County board of County Commission held an emergency meeting Wednesday night to write up a letter as a character witness for reams. In the letter, they say he did improperly use the county's technology and showed a lapse of judgment, but they say he is a good clerk. His lawyer claims he had ability to use the technology as he saw fit and therefore committed no crime. Officials estimate the first draft of the letter to be completed and in the governor's hands by noon Thursday. According to a probable cause document, the Florida Department of law Enforcement met with the Jefferson County Sheriff regarding allegations against Reams from his ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend alleged that Reams had taken nude photographs of her inside the Jefferson County Courthouse. Though authorities were able to find evidence of the photos, "the circumstances surrounding how they were obtained did not constitute a crime." The ex-girlfriend also claimed that Reams gave her a laptop for personal use that was the county's property. She said Reams told her that it was an extra laptop from the courthouse that was not currently in use. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Second Lady of the United States Karen Pence was in Tallahassee Wednesday. She started at Florida State University to announce her art therapy initiative called "Healing with the Heart." Pence says art therapy is a viable option for treating trauma, injury and other life experiences. From children with cancer, to autism patients, to military service members suffering from PTSD, art therapy is making a positive difference in people's lives. Pence says her goal with this initiative is to help people understand art therapy is an option for various conditions, while encouraging young people to go into the profession. FSU is home to a nationally acclaimed graduate education program for art therapy. The program is one of the five doctoral programs in the country for the field. There are many services individuals can turn to for improving their quality of life and art therapy should be one of them. Pence says that unfortunately art therapy is not well-known and she hopes her initiative will bring awareness to the community. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - There was a sugar daddy surprise at Florida A&M University. Melanie Williams, the founder of Sugar Daddy Foundation, was inspired to find a way to help those in need in our community. The foundation was a creative way to channel her experience growing up with a single mother living on a teacher's salary. House, car and school expenses are some of the many things a parent must provide to children. The foundation asks for single parent nominations in the greater Tallahassee area that deserve a helping hand. Come out and support the cause on October 21st at a Tallahassee night of inspiration held in the Lee Auditorium on FAMU's campus. CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA (CBS46) - A Cherokee County teacher who asked students to leave her class because they were wearing pro-Donald Trump shirts has resigned. A math teacher at River Ridge High School "erroneously told two students their shirts with campaign slogans were not permitted in class," according to a statement from the Cherokee County School District. The school district said the "Make America Great Again" shirts worn by the students were not in violation of the district's dress code, adding that the teacher acted inappropriately when she shared her personal opinion about the campaign slogan during class. The teacher, identified as Lyn Orletsky, requested that the school board accept her resignation and release from her teaching contract effective Nov. 1. The school district says her resignation has been added to the board's meeting on Oct. 19. Copyright 2017 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Tallahassee woman charged with accessory after the fact in the murder of Hoyt Birge has now been charged with first-degree murder. Paige Vowell went before a grand jury earlier this week. Vowell was also booked into the Leon County Detention Facility on Wednesday on a charge of kidnapping to inflict great body harm. She was arrested in May and was accused of cleaning up the crime scene. Prosecutors sought to have her charges upgraded after they say she contacted Peter Tournay, another victim in the crime that occurred when Birge, 32, was killed. Vowell had once failed to show up for court in Wakulla County and her $25,000 bond was revoked but was later reinstated. She is among eight people charged in connection to Birge's death. He was killed during a fight over a drug deal and robbery. MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional local news and hourly updates. Copyright 2017 WTXL via Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - It's more than just a helping hand over the holidays. One Tallahassee organization is giving back in a big way, turning hot meals into so much more. Every month, more than 50,000 people in need of food look to America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend for support. Sadly, experts believe the number of people in our community who are food insecure is double that. Thanks to local donations from businesses and the public, close to 5.2 million meals were provided last year alone. "Second Harvest is a food bank that serves the 11 counties in the Big Bend area and we provide food to 130 different agency partners," said Rick Minor, the CEO of Americas Second Harvest of the Big Bend. "These are churches, community organizations and non-profits like Big Bend Homeless Coalition and the Hope Community." Located on West Pensacola Street in Tallahassee, HOPE Community is a residential facility offering services for homeless families with children. But tonight, the service they are receiving is a warm meal to fill up their bellies. According to HOPE Community Resident Amie Childers, "We heard about the services when we first came here and first got homeless. We both lost our jobs and kind of needed a place to stay. It's me, my husband and my kids. We know they give us breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and that really helps us out." On the menu, Shepherds Pie and green beans. The warm meal is nourishing more than just the body. For those receiving this assistance, knowing someone is out there willing to help, gives them faith things can get better. "Everyone hits a rough patch and I kinda hit one and with me not having too much family, I really had nowhere else to go," a single mom taking shelter at the HOPE Community explained. "If you're fortunate enough, it's important to give because it helps out a lot of families that can't do." On any given night, at least 50 families call HOPE Community home. One of seven programs under the Big Bend Homeless Coalition, HOPE Community does more than just offer meals, it offers temporary shelter. "The relief on a mother's or a father's face or a guardian's face when they see that they have a warm bed, a hot shower and a warm meal to put in their kids' bellies is huge," said Sara Jean Hargis, who's with the HOPE Community. In the last seven years, more than 1,200 HOPE Community residents have moved out into stable housing of their own. So as folks gather items to donate this year, know your dollars and food are going a long way to help local families and individuals get back on their feet. And to put in perspective just how far your dollars can go, for every $10 donated, America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend can offer 40 meals for area families. By PTI: By Aditi Khanna London, Oct 19 (PTI) One of Britains senior-most Indian-origin MPs has tabled a parliamentary motion, calling for Prime Minister Theresa May to apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar during the Raj in 1919. Virendra Sharma tabled his Early Day Motion (EDM) titled Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 earlier this week and has attracted five additional signatures from British MPs so far. advertisement "This was an important moment in the history of Britain in India. Many suggest it was the beginning of the end, a moment that finally emboldened the Independence Movement. It must be commemorated, and the British government should make clear its repudiation of such a barbaric act," said the Labour Party MP for Ealing Southall. The massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar over Baisakhi in April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Colonel Dyer fired machine guns at a crowd of people holding a pro-independence demonstration. It claimed thousands of lives and injured thousands others. The EDM calls on the House of Commons to recognise the importance of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre as a turning point in the history of the British Empire in India. The EDM notes that as the centenary of the event is approaching, it is appropriate to commemorate it. It also recognises that former British Prime Minister David Cameron referred to the massacre as a "deeply shameful act" during a visit to India. It urges the government to ensure that "British children are taught about this shameful period and that modern British values welcome the right to peaceful protest; and further urges the government formally to apologise in the House and inaugurate a memorial day to commemorate this event". EDMs are formal motions tabled in the House of Commons as a means of drawing attention to a particular issue or cause. PTI AK MRJ --- ENDS --- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his stark warning just days after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats to end his commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord which limits Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for slackened sanctions. By Indo-Asian News Service: The Iranian supreme leader on Wednesday warned that his country would shred its multinational nuclear deal should the US decide to quit and criticized Europe's weak defence of the landmark agreement. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his stark warning just days after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats to end his commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord struck by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the US, Germany and the European Union that limits Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for slackened sanctions. advertisement "JCPOA serves their interests; but, we will not tear up the deal before the other party does: if they tear up JCPOA, we shred it," Khamenei told a gathering of academics in a speech relayed on his official website. He accused Trump of taking a nonsensical approach towards the deal, which was struck by the US President's predecessor, Barack Obama, but also called on the JCPOA's European signatories to step up their opposition to Washington's threats. "Europe's emphasis on maintaining the nuclear agreement is simply not enough," he said, adding: "We do not think it is acceptable for the Europeans to join America in its bullying." The US has singled out Tehran's ongoing ballistic missile programme as a cause of strain on the nuclear deal, although Iran has repeatedly insisted that its programme was not in breach of the international agreement and that it only served to bolster the country's self-defence capabilities. In a press conference last week, Trump announced that he had authorized the US Treasury to draw up fresh sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a branch of the armed forces with close links to the theocratic elite. Khamenei, who has held the highest office of Iranian power for almost three decades, suggested that the Trump administration was maddened by the fact that Iran had managed to "foil US plots in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt." Trump has previously branded Iran as a supporter of global terrorism. Iran's Shiite leadership holds considerable influence over a vast array of sectarian paramilitaries in war zones across the Middle East, from the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq to Hezbollah in Lebanon. --- ENDS --- You are the owner of this article. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Donald Trump is portrayed as a president of many words and little action. Bombastic declarations and minimalist performance. Sometimes, its a calming quality. Its terrifying to imagine what America and the world would look like if President Trump insisted on implementing his statements. He usually avoids keeping his word, and God bless him for that. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Trumps supporters are defending him by saying that his declarations, his speeches and his tweets are not future lines of action but simply warnings. Trump, they say, is making threats in a bid to make changes and is speeding up those changes through executive orders. The orders force different arms of the government, the executive authority, to prepare amendments to laws and regulations that would make it possible to implement the order. The road from the moment the order is signed to its actual implementation is long, and considering the nature of the ordersthats a good thing. Netanyahu likely understands the risks, which is why he worded his announcement on preparations for a possible future withdrawal from UNESCO with great caution (Photo: AP) In international relations, threatening words obviously have their own dynamic, which may lead to their implementation even if the person making the threats didnt intend for that to happen. Its a strategy of walking on the edge, which is recommended as a last resort by game theory experts. Walking on the edge requires strict risk management, an understanding of the other side and a willingness to pull back when the edge is already threatening to throw you from its thin line. Do Trumps recent announcementsabout the United States withdrawal from UNESCO and about his decision to decertify the nuclear agreement with Iran point to a significant change in his approach, from all talk to all action? Not necessarily. The actual exit from UNESCO has been postponed till the end of next year, and until then it will remain a threat hovering in the air. The same applies to a one-sided cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran: It will only happen when President Trump reaches the conclusion that he is unsatisfied with the rectification of the faults in the existing agreement. Will that happen in a year from now? Who knows. Trumps Iran speech included no times or dates. This does not downplay the importance of his declarations as a means of pressure. In UNESCOs case, the pressure possibly led to the election of French Jew Audrey Azoulay as the organizations new director-general We should remember, however, that the US stopped funding UNESCO in 2012, during the Barack Obama era. In practical terms, it was a much heavier blow than the planned American withdrawal. Nevertheless, the funding cuts did not lead to a de-politicization of the organization. On the contrary, its dependence on donations from Arab states only grew. The organizations outgoing director-general wasnt anti-Israel either, but her personality didnt make much of difference. The hands of the organizations leaders are tied in light of the automatic majority that supports Arab and Palestinian resolutions. President Trump (Photo: EPA) Now, with the combined impact of the financial shortage, the American threats, the Israeli diplomacy and the cracks in the Arab bloc itself, there seems to be a trend in UNESCO of withdrawing from the previous outrageous resolutionsnot cancelling them altogether yet, but avoiding their reaffirmation like in previous years. Its also worth mentioning that the US already pulled out of UNESCO in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan and returned 18 years later. Israel, however, has never pulled out of an international organization, regardless of its resolutions. It didnt quit or even consider quitting the United Nations when the General Assembly adopted the shameful resolution comparing Zionism to racism. In general, Israels non-political relations with UNESCO are quite good. Need I mention the decision to proclaim Tel Avivs White City as a World Cultural Heritage Site? The talk about an Israeli withdrawal from UNESCO is thus complete foolishness, and Israel only stands to lose from such a move. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely understands the risks, which is why he worded his announcement on preparations for a possible withdrawal in the future with great caution, just like he worded his declaration of support for Trumps new strategy against Iran. Official Israel isnt keen on nixing the nuclear deal and prefers to see amendments being made to the agreement. All the more so in the UNESCO case: After all, were not going to withdraw from the organization, so we shouldnt be threatening to do so. MIAMI President Donald Trump emphatically rejected claims Wednesday that he was disrespectful to the grieving family of a slain soldier, as the firestorm he ignited over his assertions of empathy for American service members spread into a third contentious day. "I have proof," he insisted. The controversy over how Trump has conducted one of the most sacred of presidential tasks generated new turmoil in the White House. After one slain soldier's father accused the president of going back on a promise to send a check for $25,000, the White House said the money had been sent. Chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general whose son was killed in Afghanistan, was left angry and frustrated at the way the issue has become politicized. The dispute was fresh evidence of Trump's willingness to attack any critic and do battle over the most sensitive of mattersand critics' readiness to find fault with his words. The aunt of an Army sergeant killed in Niger, who raised the soldier as her son, said Wednesday that Trump had shown "disrespect" to the soldier's loved ones as he telephoned them to extend condolences as they drove to the Miami airport to receive his body. Sgt. La David Johnson was one of four American soldiers killed nearly two weeks ago; Trump called the families on Tuesday. ISTANBUL Turkish police have detained the prominent civil society figure and businessman Osman Kavala at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport as part of a secret investigation, the T24 news website and other media said on Thursday. The T24 news website cited Kavala's lawyer as saying he had been taken to the counter-terror police department after an order was issued for him to be detained for seven days. Police in Istanbul were not immediately available to comment. Kavala is the chairman of the Anadolu Kultur cultural institution and police seized computers from the organisation's offices, the website said. Two Palestinians were arrested after crossing the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip. They were searched and not found to be carrying weapons, and were taken in for questioning by security forces. Israels Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that despite earlier comments by Irans military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri that the Islamic Republic would not accept Israeli violations in Syria, provocative statements would not dictate changes of course in Israeli policy. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter We wont change our policies according to statements like these by the Iranians or anyone else, Lieberman told Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day , Baqeri, speaking alongside his Syrian counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayyoub at a press conference during a rare visit to Damascus, told a crowd of journalists "It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate Syria anytime it wants." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: EPA) Baqeris comments came against the background of a skirmish that took place between Israeli and Syrian forces earlier this week when the latter launched an SA-5 anti-aircraft missile at Israeli Air Force planes on a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. In retaliation, the IAF bomb the SA-5 battery, destroying its fire control radar. Despite the Iranian hints that acts of force such as these would be responded to in kind, Lieberman indicated that the IDF would not be deterred from continuing its policy of destroying weapons convoys in Syria heading for terror proxies such as Hezbollah bent on using them against Israel in a future confrontation. ran's military chief Baqeri, left, and his Syrian counterpart Ayyoub Repeating the mantra frequently peddled by the Israeli government, Lieberman said during a tour of the Binyamin region that Iran was undoubtedly attempting to spread its control into Syria and establish a military presence in a quest to become the dominant regional power. We wont allow this. We have the tools to cope with this challenge, said Lieberman, echoing a statement made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous day during a meeting in Jerusalem with Russias Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu. "I only advised my fans not to distribute the drink until its effectiveness is proven" Kamal Haasan said in a statement. By Pramod Madhav: Actor Kamal Haasan has defended his decision to request his fans not to distribute 'nilavembu kashayam', a Tamil Nadu government-endorsed remedy for dengue. Tamil Nadu's Health department, and Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, have recommended the drink, which is made from papaya leaves. But no data has been released so far on its effectiveness. Panic ensued after 'news' spread that consuming the drink causes impotency. advertisement Kamal Haasan made his request on Twitter on Wednesday. ?????? ????????? ????????? ????????????? ??? ??????????? ????????? ????????????? ????????????? ??????????????????. ???? ?????? ??????????- Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) October 18, 2017 In response, Tamil Nadu Minister Kadambur Raju said Kamal wasn't a scientist. A complaint was even filed against the actor. Kamal Haasan then released a statement explaining his stand. "I'll praise anybody who tries to help the people. I only advised my fans not to distribute the drink until it's effectiveness is proven" He added that he had only criticised the fact that "huge amounts" were being distributed "without any surety or doctor's guidelines." He also said he doesn't categorise medicine into siddha or allopathy. The veteran actor said that if the state had problems tackling dengue, it should learn from its neighbour, Kerala. More than 50 people have died as a result of dengue in Tamil Nadu. But that's just the official figure. The Opposition says the number is greater than 500. ALSO WATCH | Traitors EPS, OPS drink more blood than dengue mosquitoes: DMK's mouthpiece releases cartoon --- ENDS --- Despite a myriad of preliminary discussions, debates and preparations over the past few months, the "French Bill"intended to prevent criminal investigation from commencing against a sitting prime ministermay be shelved before making it to a vote. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The proposed bill was originally submitted by Chairman of the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee MK David "Dudi" Amsalem (Likud), long considered to be a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. MK Amsalem (L) wishes to protect PM Netanyahu from criminal investigation However, following talks that have been held in the past few days between heads of the coalition parties, a consensus appears to be forming around the belief the proposed bill is problematic on several levels. Firstly, since it would be an amendment to a Basic Law, all parties in the coalition would be required to agree to it. Soliciting the consent of the Kulanu partyheaded by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlonwould potentially prove an insurmountable stumbling block since it currently stands in opposition to the proposal. No less significantly, a second reason is Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's pointed objection to the bill. According to a senior legal source Mandleblit's veto alone would suffice to quash the bill in its infancy. MK Dudi Amsalem (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) The attorney general's legal opinion, as Israel's foremost legal authority, carries notable weight particularly since the bill risks, according to its detractors, placing the prime minister above the law and undermining the concept of equality in the eyes of Israeli law. The source further described the bill as unnecessary in any case, since any decision made by either the police of State Attorney's Office, no matter how small, is scrutinized by the attorney general, weighed and deliberated and only then decided upon, by the attorney general himself. AG Mendelblit pointedly objects to the bill, effectively scuttling it (Photo: Yariv Katz) The legal source also assumed the public hullabaloo around the proposed bill caused certain elements in Netanyahu's inner circle to backtrack on their proposal. In any event, if the law was to be enacted, it would only enter into force after the next elections. The source concluded by cautioning that freezing such investigations into alleged wrongdoing by senior public figures may well disrupt them altogether, as the passage of time may cause witnesses to hold their peace, evidence to disappear and suspects to coordinate their testimonies with one another. In the fourth consecutive day of the ultra-Orthodox protests against the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers, thousands of demonstrators from the Jerusalem Faction blocked traffic in the capital for about three hours on Thursday afternoon, clashing violently with both police and other drivers. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter At least 120 Haredim were arrested in protests in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh. Clashes in Jerusalem between Haredim and police (: ) X The Haredim blocked major throughways across the city, including the Shabbat Square, the Sarei Israel-Yafo Street junction, the junction outside the International Convention Center, and the exit to Highway 1. Drivers passing by confronted the ultra-Orthodox demonstrators, with some forcefully driving through the angry mob. (Photo: Amit Shabi) (Photo: Amit Shabi) (Photo: Amit Shabi) (Photo: Amit Shabi) The protesters set fire to garbage bins, chanted "Death before conscription" and waved signs saying, "Israel Police, let us demonstrate without turning us disabled," referencing the disabled protests some Haredi leaders have complained received much lighter treatment from police. Driver clashes with Haredi protesters blocking his path (: ) X In Safed, several dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked the southern entrance to the city on Route 89. Protesters clashed with drivers, which included kicking and shoving. Drivers clashing with Haredi protesters in Jerusalem (Photo: Amit Shabi) Drivers clashing with Haredi protesters in Jerusalem (Photo: Amit Shabi) Drivers clashing with Haredi protesters in Jerusalem (Photo: Amit Shabi) Drivers clashing with Haredi protesters in Jerusalem (Photo: Amit Shabi) Earlier Thursday, members of the protest blocked traffic near Modi'in's Shilat junction, with protesters shouting slogans such as "Death before conscription" and "Prison before army service." (Photo: Jorge Novominski) (Photo: Jorge Novominski) (Photo: Jorge Novominski) (Photo: Jorge Novominski) In Bnei Brak, some 70 Haredim blocked the road on the border of Rabbi Akiva and HaShomer streets. They were dispersed by police, with three members of the Jerusalem Faction arrested. The Haredi struggle commenced following the arrest of two draft dodgers earlier this week, causing leaders to declare a "day of wrath," sparking numerous protests. (Photo: Amit Shabi) (Photo: Yishai Porat) (Photo: Yishai Porat) "We're demonstrating for just one thing: the State of Israel wants to desecrate us and for us to no longer be Haredi. We'll fight with every fiber of our being; we'd accept death before transgression on this. We'll fight to our last drop of blood. We will not give up. We'll die before joining the army," said Moshe Cohen, a yeshiva student from Hadera. Footage of Thursday's protest with police removing protesters (: ) X On Wednesday, six people were arrested in Jerusalem for trying to prevent an Israel Prison Service vehicle from transporting the arrested ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers to the military police. Photo: Yishai Porat (Photo: Avihu Shapira) Dozens of ultra-Orthodox members of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach's extremist Jerusalem Faction arrived at the Magistrate's Court in Jerusalem and gathered around an IPS vehicle that led detainees to The Russian Compound Interrogation Center and Prison, in an attempt to prevent its departure. (Photo: Amit Shabi) A police force dispersed the protesters and allowed the vehicle to continue on its journey. After three hours of demonstrating near the court, some 200 Haredi protesters moved to demonstrating on Jerusalem's Bar Lev road, while also disrupting the light rail's traffic for a time. (: ) (Photo: Amit Shabi) In addition, three protesters were arrested in the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim after failing to comply with police instructions to clear the road they were blocking. In Tuesday's protest in Bnei Brak, some 40 Haredi protesters were arrested after assaulting officers and disturbing the peace on the city's roads. Simultaneous protests were also held in Jerusalem, where some 100 protesters blocked the Jaffa-Sarei Israel junction and 17 were arrested. (Photo: Amit Shabi) This week's ultra-Orthodox protests were sparked by the arrest of two Jerusalem Faction yeshiva students, who returned from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem and were flagged down for routine check by police. When the officers ran their names, they found they were defectors from the army. The demonstrations were also called to protest the 20-day term in military prison handed down to two draft dodgers. (Photo: Amit Shabi) Numerous claims have been made by Haredi figures purporting their protest has received a harsher treatment by police, compared to their attitude towards the disabled protesters, for instance. Rabbi Avraham Mancks, speaker for the Committee to Save the World of Torah, said protests against the Conscription Law and the High Court's rulings on it have received disproportional treatment. (Photo: Amit Shabi) "We're being treated differently than other sectors with absolute certainty, there's no doubt about it. That different attitude is expressed by documents, arrests, the use of water cannons, violence and even drawing weapons," he said. The players in the Middle East, including Israel, are closely following the Palestinian reconciliation process, which led to an Egyptian-brokered agreement signed between Hamas and Fatah , and its ramifications to each of the players. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The agreement, brokered by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, boosts Cairos standing as the only one capable of bridging the tensions between Hamas and Fatah, out of a declared intention of creating momentum for the peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. If talks between Israel and the Palestinians are actually renewed, Egypt will likely play an important role in these negotiations and regain leadership of the axis of Sunni states, supported by the United States and Europe, against the Russian-backed Shiite-Iranian-Syrian axis. Israel is becoming a key element in the transformation of the initial agreement signed in Cairo into a Palestinian unity agreement (Photo: AFP) The reconciliation agreement is already considered, rightfully, as a significant achievement for Fatah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Its a first step in a long process aimed at, theoretically, reunifying the PA under one law, one police and one government, according to Fatah official Jibril Rajoub. Alongside an improvement in the harsh living conditions in Gaza, this first step is expected to include the opening of the Rafah Crossing while handing back control of the crossings to the PA. The integration of PA people in Gazas policing system and the transfer of administrative control authorities over to the Palestinian government are considered an achievement for Abbas. Following the combined Egyptian-PA pressure and in light of the weakness of Qatar, which provided Hamas with political and financial support that allowed the organization to keep controlling the strip, Hamas is now forced to accept the PAs foothold in Gaza. The organization refused, however, to discuss the important issue of disarming its military wing. In a preliminary reference to the issue, Hamas representatives declared that as long as the Israeli occupation continued, they would not give up their weapons, which are directed at Israel. The disagreements The internal Palestinian battle between the Fatah-led national movement and the religion-based movement led by Hamas, focuses on three fundamental matters of contention, which naturally would not be solved by the reconciliation agreement. The first issue is a definition of the occupation. Hamas seeks the liberation of all lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, and Fatah is willing to settle for a return of the lands occupied in 1967. The second bone of contention is whether the Palestinians efforts to end the occupation should focus on armed resistance, which is Hamass position, or on a combination of an unarmed popular uprising and international activity, which is Fatahs position. And the third question is regarding the image of the future Palestinian statea sharia-based Islamic state or a democratic state. And what about Israel? Israel is becoming a key element in the transformation of this initial agreement into a Palestinian unity agreement. Israels justified demand to disarm Hamas may only be fulfilledif at allas a result of an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which will be perceived by the Palestinian society as a genuine process leading to a two-state agreement. The PA will be able to lead such a movewhich has been perceived as impossible until nowin the spirit of Rajoubs comments (and Israels demands), only if it has the Palestinian streets support. Now, with the absence of a peace process, about 75 percent of the Palestinian public are in favor of armed violence. In the 1990s, during the peace process, the Palestinian majority was in favor of diplomacy and opposed Hamass terror attacks. On the one hand, the reconciliation agreement strengthens Fatahs relatively moderate approach and weakens Hamass violent approach. On the other hand, Hamas is becoming a significant part of the united Palestinian leadership and may physically and ideologically take over that leadership one day. To prevent this risk, and to work firmly to disarm Hamas and counter the security threat on Israel, we must give the Palestinian public a reason to favor Fatahs approach over Hamass approach, and see the Palestinian unity as an opportunity rather than just as a danger. In order to increase the potential positive trends, Israel must convey a real willingness to reach a two-state-for-two-peoples solution in a gradual, reliable and consistent manner. The best way to do so is by announcing that Israel has no sovereignty claims over all the lands outside the settlement blocs, and expressing this declaration through action, by enacting a voluntary evacuation law for settlements located outside the main settlement blocs, within Palestinian territory. Naturally, the IDF will remain in the area until a full agreement is signed and the security responsibility will remain in Israels hands. Furthermore, there will be no forced evacuation of any community before the fate of settlers living east of the security fence is determined in a permanent agreement. The American administration, which likely supported the reconciliation agreement, must also keep up the momentum and advance the process to the next stage. If President Donald Trump really believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can serve as a milestone in a process aimed at creating stability and reducing the level of violence and terrorism in the entire Middle East, he has the ability to point Israel and the Palestinians in the right direction. The Cairo agreement presents a challenge not only to the Palestinian leadership and society, but also the Israeli society, the Israeli government, the Egyptian-led Arab world and the entire international community. This challenge is an opportunity that should be seized by anyone who is interested in solving the conflict, so that this intra-Palestinian reconciliation agreementthe latest in a series of agreements and unifications that have all failed in the past decadecan succeed and make it possible to move forward toward a permanent agreement with Israel. After news broke out Wednesday of the disturbing call Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh received from a source close to the Prime Minister's Office, cautioning him he was earning a reputation for being an "ungrateful traitor", both senior police officials and politicians railed against the incident. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A few weeks ago, Alsheikh received a phone call from an associate, who also has ties to the prime minister's closest associates, warning him he was in the Prime Minister Office's "crosshairs." Reactions poured in after news broke out of an associate of PM Netanyahu (L) calling to warn Commissioner Alsheikh (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, Marc Israel Sellem) The associate allegedly also told the police chief that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's entourage view him as a "traitor" and "ungrateful." The police chief's associate warned him he would soon face an attack targeting him personally, following Prime Minister Netanyahu's stinging condemnation of a " tsunami of leaks " coming from the police relating to the various investigations into the prime minister's affairs. Alsheikh categorically denied the charges leveled against the police, while not sharing the contents of the warning phone conversation until just recently confiding with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. On Wednesday the call became talk of the day at the Israel Police. Some said the commissioner should have disclosed the threats immediately after receiving them. "Those who threatened him should be put in their place. It's frightening to imagine this is how things are behind the scenes," said one senior officer. Police officers said those threatening their commissioner should be 'put in their place' (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum) Sources closer to Alsheikh also commented on the call, comparing it to the underworld. "This is conduct more in line with the underworld and mafia. These threats are a danger to Israel's democracy more than a personal injury against the commissioner himself." Politicians were quick to respond to the controversy as well. "The conduct towards the commissioner resembles Cosa Nostra tactics," said MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union). His fellow party member MK Yoel Hasson also weighed in, saying, "Every Israeli has to understand political persecution against the police commissioner will end up being used on every citizen who objects to Netanyahu's rule." MK Cabel said the PM's tactics were those of the Cosa Nostra (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum) MK Ksenia Svetlova, also from the Zionist Union, said that while Netanyahu complained of a "witch-hunt" waged against him, he is the one trying to "hunt down the rule of law and the media." MK Michal Rozin (Meretz), said, "This is a famous Netanyahu tactic, meant to draw attention away from the investigations conducted against him. He and his associates attack the High Court and every other Israeli institution." An Israeli man from the northern Arab town of Sakhnin was sentenced Thursday to five years and ten months in prison for joining ISIS, along with his wife and three children. The sentence is the heaviest to have been meted out against an Israeli for joining the terror group. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Receiving his sentence at the Haifa District Court, Wisam Zabidat was also ordered to pay a fine of NIS 14,000. His wife, Sabrin, who was also convicted of similar crimes, was sentenced a few months ago to serve four years and two months in prison. Wisam Zabidat (Photo: Ido Erez) Last June, Zabitat was found guilty by the Haifa District Court for committing the offense of membership in a terror organization, He was further found guilty of taking part in prohibited military training and establishing contact with a foreign agent. Zabitat and his wife, together with his eight-year-old son and two daughters, aged 6 and 4, travelled to Romania in June 2015 in order to attend a ceremony for a relative who completed his academic studies. There, the family decided to continue on to Turkey from whence they crossed into Syria. Four of their family relatives travelled to Turkey in order to persuade them to return to Israel. However, they failed to establish contact with them. After joining the group, Zabitat served as a guard in an ISIS compound but decided to return back to Israel with his family due to the difficult situation they were enduring in Mosul. After being arrested in Turkey, they were handed over to Israel last year. Yes, I was in Mosul and I joined ISIS, confessed Zabitat during his court hearing last year. I decided to return to Israel without anyone pressuring me. Wisam and Sabrin Zabidat Zabitat also participated in raids on the Iraqi army and suffered a wound to his leg as a result of his activities. His wife and children returned to Israel in August 2016 via Turkey after one of the family members convinced them to do so. A few days later they arrived in Israel and were arrested upon their arrival. According to a Shin Bet statement, during the investigation of the couple, before they departed from Israel they were exposed to ISIS videos and content that had a profound influence on their decision. In Turkey they contacted a resident of Umm al-Fahm via Facebook who also joined ISIS in 2013 who helped them cross the border into Syria using people smugglers. Arriving at the Turkey-Syria border, the Zabitat family was picked up by members of ISIS who took their Israeli passports and transported them to Raqqa. (Photo: Ido Erez) Wisam was separated from his wife and children and sent to a camp in Iraq where he underwent training and was indoctrinated on religious scripture and ideology. Thereafter, Wisam was taken to a military training camp where he learned to shoot guns and RPGs. Upon completion of his training, Wasim was subsequently sent to participate in operations. During one such operation, he sustained a leg injury and was evacuated to the hospital in Mosul. Since ISIS was founded, 40 Israeli citizens have succeeded in joining its ranks, and five of them have been killed. To date, ten Israelis have been arraigned out of a total of 50 arrested on suspicion of joining ISIS abroad before returning to Israel. Others who planned to exit the country to join the organization were arrested beforehand. Scores of Israelis, as many as around 60, have joined ISIS, many of whom have been killed while fighting, arrested or remain abroad. A Israel Border Policeman was indicted Thursday for assisting an Israeli-Arab acquaintance in moving Palestinians from the West Bank to Jerusalem through the Walaja (Tunnels) Checkpoint without inspection. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The 49-year-old policeman was charged with fraud and breach of trust offenses. His accomplice was also indicted for fraudulently obtaining benefits. File photo: Border Police checkpoint (Photo: Ministry of Defense Passages Authority ) The indictment, which was submitted to the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court by attorney Batya Kolitz on behalf of the Department of Internal Police Investigations (Internal Affairs), purports the suspected cop assisted his acquaintance in passing through the Tunnels Checkpoint with Palestinian Authority residents on several instances. The policeman served as a commander of a company that operates in areas surrounding Jerusalem. As part of his position, he served as a field officer in the Tunnels Checkpoint, and checkpoint commanders who carried out the actual inspections were his subordinates under his command. The indictment specifically mentions an incident dated August 6, 2016, in which his accomplice contacted him asking for help in passing through the checkpoint in a car carrying two other women, who she claimed had a "medical pass to a hospital." Photo: Gil Yohanan "Okay. I'll come around and pretend to inspect you and then wave you through, as if I don't know you," the officer replied. Pursuant to her request, he contacted the checkpoint commander and ordered him to allow her carwhich he describedto proceed without inspection. Later that same day, the indictment further alleges, the Arab-Israeli contacted the officer again to request his assistance in getting a bus carrying Palestinian children and their parents through the checkpoint. Photo: Gil Yohanan Internal Affairs claimed the officer's conduct was severely detrimental to the routine security operations in the areas around Jerusalem with which he was entrusted. Moreover, he is said to have abused his position, which provided him access to police information systems, several times for his own private needs and requests made by his friends. BRUSSELS European Union leaders will on Thursday reaffirm their full commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, regardless of whether an increasingly critical United States pulls out. But the bloc, reluctant to isolate itself completely from Washington, is also looking at whether it should as a next move step up criticism of Iran's ballistic missile program and its role in what the West sees as fomenting instability in the Middle East, a senior EU official said. President Donald Trump last week adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with the nuclear deal, struck with the United States and five other powers including Britain, France and Germany after more than a decade of diplomacy. EU leaders will "reaffirms (their) full commitment to the Iran nuclear deal," after talks in Brussels on Thursday, according to a draft statement. JERUSALEM - Germany is criticizing Israel's plans to build some 3,000 new housing units in West Bank settlements, saying they undermine the possibility of a two-state solution to the long conflict with the Palestinians. The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now says that Israel this week advanced plans for the new units. The German Foreign Ministry called Thursday for Israel to refrain from going ahead with the plans. The ministry says new "settlements are not the only obstacle to a two-state solution, but each new housing unit consolidates a one-state reality in which the Palestinians are denied the ability to fully exercise their political rights." President of Israel Reuven Rivlin has decided to shorten the prison sentence of former Ramat Gan Mayor Zvi Bar from three years to a year and three months. The president decided the remainder of Bar's term will become a suspended sentence. Bar will be eligible for parole on November 1. The decision came following Bar's advanced years and the serious condition one of his family members is in. Kerala High Court today said that every inter-caste or inter-religion marriage in the state is being portrayed as "love jihad" or "ghar wapsi", which is illegal and incorrect. By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: Kerala High Court today said that every inter-caste or inter-religion marriage in the state is being portrayed as "love jihad" or "ghar wapsi" , which is illegal and incorrect. In fact, such marriages should be encouraged, observed the high court bench while considering the case of Sruthy who married a Muslim man. The court had earlier in its interim order had let off Sruthi with her husband citing that their marriage was not forced. Sruthi's family had earlier taken her to the controversial yoga centre in Thripunithura after she decided to marry Anees. Sruthi had alleged that she was tortured and threatened in the yoga centre for marrying a man of Islam faith . advertisement The court also ordered a detailed inquiry against the alleged Sivasakthi Yoga Centre in Kochi and said people should be vigilant against forced conversion centres. It also observed that such conversions are against the constitution. The court also directed officials to take stern action against such religious conversion centres in the state. --- ENDS --- After families of fallen soldiers expressed dismay at the governments failure to send any representatives to attend a Yom Kippur War memorial service, the Government Secretariat has instituted new regulations to ensure the same oversight does not occur again in the future. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter While the service held at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Military Cemetery earlier this month was attended by President Reuven Rivlin, none of the government's ministers, nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, were in attendance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed remorse for what he acknowledged to be an ignominious error and pledged to rectify it by ensuring that Israels fallen soldiers would henceforth be appropriately honored. President Rivlin at the Yom Kippur memorial (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) "I apologize for the fact no government representatives attended the memorial service for fallen Yom Kippur War soldiers. This is a regrettable mistake, and I apologize wholeheartedly to the bereaved families," Netanyahu said at the beginning of October. In the same remarks, he pledged to formulate new regulations that would make mandatory the presence of at least one government minister at every major ceremony honoring Israels fallen soldiers of six major wars fought since its birth. "I've instructed the Government Secretariat to ensure, starting now, a government representative will be present at all ceremonies for Israel's fallen soldiers. This is a duty of unsurpassed magnitude to our loved ones who fell in battle, so that we may live," the prime minister added. (Photo: Mark Neiman, GPO) While it was not made immediately clear which wars would make it onto the list requiring a ministers presence, the list is expected to include the 1948 War of Independence, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 1982 First Lebanon War, the 2006 Second Lebanon War and either the 1956 Sinai War (also known as Operation Kadesh) or the 1967-1970 War of Attrition. The new regulations will also only be applicable to ceremonies organized by the Defense Ministry, even if they are not official state ceremonies, as those take place once every ten years. The Government Secretariat will decide on which minister is selected to attend each ceremony. A rocket fired from Syria landed in an open area in the northern Golan Heights on Thursday afternoon. It is believed to be errant fire from the fighting across the border. No one was hurt and no damage was reported. IDF forces are searching the area. Former IDF soldier Elor Azaria, who is imprisoned for shooting dead a neutralized terrorist in Hebron, asked President Reuven Rivlin for a pardon on Thursday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "I unfortunately did not receive a just trial," Azaria wrote in his request. "This is how I feel, and nothing can change it. In any case, I ask for a measure of justice and mercy, the essence of the presidential pardon, from His Honor the President in this request." Azaria was convinced of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in military prison, but last month IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot decided to shorten his sentence by four months . He began serving his sentence in August, after a series of appeals and postponements. Elor Azaria (Photo: Shaul Golan) "I read and hear the reactions to my decision not to express remorse for shooting the terrorist," Azaria wrote to Rivlin. "That is inaccurate: Had I known for certain, in those tense seconds on the scene, that the terrorist was not carrying a bombI wouldn't have shot (him), clear and simple. Therefore, and only in hindsight, shooting the terrorist was an operational mistake." Azaria went on to write: "The trial is behind us, Mr. President. I accepted the judgment. I'm sitting in prison, far from my family, isolated from the world. Believe me, I am sitting and thinking of the circumstances: An Israeli soldier whose freedom was taken from him because he acted against the evildoers who came to shed Jewish blood." "We would never again be the same Azaria family from Ramla," he continued. "I believe we've been punished harshly, even without me serving the entire sentence given to me. This is the time for mercy. I wish to return to my family, to help mend what has been broken, to help my parents return to their former lives and to try to rehabilitate myself after this difficult experience that befell us because of my decision to serve my country, my homeland, faithfully." Only two junior officers from the Kfir Brigade have agreed to recommend to the president to pardon Azariaboth served as deputy commanders in companies he served in. Other officers who recommended clemency were from the Nachshonim base, where Azaria was held in open detention during his trial. The more senior commanders, Company Commander Maj. Tom Na'aman, Battalion Commander Lt. Col. David Shapira and Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Guy Hazut, whom Azaria accused of lying during the trial, avoided recommending pardon. Rivlin's office said on Thursday the plea would be considered by "relevant authorities," in consultation with the Defense Ministry and the IDF. Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, stressed Thursday afternoon that the terror organization's disarmament was off the table and that it has no intention of recognizing the State of Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "Gone is the time in which Hamas discussed recognition of Israel. The discussion now is about when we will wipe out Israel," Sinwar said in a speech in Gaza. Addressing the demand from both Israel and the United States for Hamas to be disarmed, Sinwar declared: "No one will disarm us. No one can disarm Hamas." Yahya Sinwar (Photo: AP) Sinwar said that Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, told him a few days ago that Hamas's military wing has recovered its strength, and if Israel thought of carrying out any "foolish act" against the Palestinians, they would "break its army as it was never broken before." He further asserted that "If the Fatah movement and President Mahmoud Abbas use the weapons of resistance in the negotiations (as a threat to Israel), it will greatly advance the Palestinian issue." Sinwar went on to stress the importance of the reconciliation efforts with the Palestinian Authority, inviting Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to hold the next unity discussions in Gaza. "We must not allow the reconciliation to fail," he said, and invited Abbas to Gaza. "I will personally ensure the safety of President (Abbas), if he visits the Gaza Strip. I call on the Fatah Central Committee and the PLO Executive Committee to hold their next meeting in Gaza." US President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy, Jason Greenblatt, said Thursday that if Hamas wants to play a role in any Palestinian government, it must renounce violence and commit to peaceful negotiations with Israel, adding that they must meet the international demands to recognize Israel and accept previous agreements with it. Greenblatt (L) and PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Kobi Gidon/PMO) "The United States reiterates the importance of adherence to the Quartet principles: any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the partiesincluding to disarm terroristsand commit to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," Greenblatt said. Hamas has always refused similar demands in the past. On Wednesday, the Israeli Political-Security Cabinet decided the country will not negotiate with the Palestinians until Hamas is disarmed. The reconciliation agreement did not broach the issue of Hamas disarmament. A video has been released that reportedly shows 11 Mali soldiers held hostage by an extremist group linked to al-Qaida. The Islam and Muslim Support Group aired the video, dated Oct. 1, through MENASTREAM on Wednesday. In it the soldiers, in gray clothing, ask Mali's government and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to find a solution to achieve their release. The soldiers were captured from various locations in jihadist attacks between July 2016 and March 2017. The video could not be independently corroborated. A Mali intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the press, said Mali's government is discussing what can be done to free the soldiers. Jihadist groups remain in northern Mali despite being pushed from strongholds by French-backed forces in 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that a global ban on nuclear weapons can be achieved in the future. Putin said Thursday at the Valdai forum for international policy experts that total nuclear disarmament is a possibility that Russia would welcome. He said Russia would "want it and will be striving to achieve that." Putin noted that new precision weapons now under development could be just as devastating as nuclear weapons. He said Russia is also working on such weapons. The comments contrast with earlier statements by Putin and other Russian leaders, who have underlined that a global ban on nuclear weapons is unrealistic. The IDF attacked a Syrian army post on the outskirts of Quneitra on Thursday afternoon in retaliation for an errant rocket that landed in Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to reports in Sham FM radio, which is affiliated with the Syrian regime, and the Lebanese news site Elnashra, no one was hurt in the IDF attack. The rocket, which is believed to be "spillover" from the fighting raging across the border, landed in an open area in the northern Golan Heights. No one was hurt and no damage was reported. Israel-Syrian border (Photo: Avihu Shapira) "The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to undermine the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its citizens. The IDF views the Syrian regime as responsible to what is happening on the ground," the IDF Spokesman's Office said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the attack during a ceremony marking 50 years of settlement in the Jordan Valley on Thursday evening. "Our eastern line of defense starts here in this place. And if we were not here, Teheran and Hamastan would be; we will not allow this to happen," he said. "We see what is happening a short distance north of here, when they take up a positionor try toover the border. We have a clear policy: Whoever tries to hurt us, we will hurt them. We will not tolerate 'trickles' and if they attack us, we return fire, and this does not take a lot of time." Earlier this week , the Syrian army launched an SA-5 anti-aircraft missile at Israeli Air Force planes on a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. In retaliation, the IAF bomb the SA-5 battery, destroying its fire control radar. Netanyahu followed up the IDF's retaliation strike against Syria on Monday by stating, "Whoever strikes at us, we strike at them. Today they tried to harm our planesunacceptable. "The air force acted precisely and swiftly, destroying what needed to be destroyed. We will continue to act in the space as much as necessary to defend Israel's security." Iranian military chief of staff General Mohammad Baqeri said Wednesday the Islamic Republic would not accept Israeli violations in Syria. "It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate Syria anytime it wants," Baqeri said during a meeting in Damascus with his Syrian counterpart, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub. Baqeri, on a rare visit to Syria, pledged to fight Israel and Sunni insurgents. "We are in Damascus to assert and coordinate and cooperate to confront our common enemies, the Zionists and terrorists," he said. "We drew up the broad lines for this cooperation." Argentina extradited to Israel Yaakov Shimon, suspected of attempted murder and conspiring to commit a crime, after fleeing abroad and staying in South America for two years. Upon his landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, he was brought to the offices of Lahav 433 for questioning and tomorrow he will be brought before the court for an extension of his remand. Yemeni tribal leaders say a suspected US drone strike has killed three alleged al-Qaida fighters in the country's southeastern Bayda province. They say the men were traveling on Thursday in the Soum area when a missile hit their car, engulfing it in flames. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Yemen fell into chaos following its 2011 Arab Spring uprising that deposed longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, now allied with Shiite rebels from the north who have occupied much of the country and are fighting his successor. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the rebels and Saleh's forces since March 2015. Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the security breakdown to seize territory and expand operations in impoverished Yemen, which sits along strategic oil shipping routes. After British Prime Minister Theresa May refused the Palestinians' demand for the United Kingdom to apologize for the Balfour Declaration, the London municipality rejected an anti-Israel campaign claiming the Balfour Declaration was "the harbinger of the Palestinian disaster." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Balfour Declaration was a document signed in November 2, 1917, by then-British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, which declared Britain would "view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." In preparation for the 100th anniversary of the historic declaration, the Palestinian delegation in London launched an accusatory campaign according to which "the declaration helped establish the State of Israel and led to the Palestinian disaster." The ad The campaign includes posters with photographs of what is described as "the peaceful life of the Arab population in Palestine" before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, alongside photographs taken after the establishment of Israel that purport to show the "destruction and bereavement among the Palestinian people." The Palestinians planned to hang the posters at London Underground stations, where hundreds of thousands of people pass every day. But Transport for London (TfL), the authority responsible for the transport system in Greater London, refused to allow the hanging of the posters on the grounds that the ads "did not comply fully with our guidelines." These guidelines bar "images or messages which relate to matters of public controversy or sensitivity." "Palestinian history is a censored history," Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, claimed. "There has been a 100-year-long cover-up of the British governments broken promise, in the Balfour declaration, to safeguard the rights of the Palestinians when it gave away their country to another people. TfLs decision is not surprising as it is, at best, susceptible to or, at worst, complicit with, all the institutional forces and active lobby groups which continuously work to silence the Palestinian narrative. There may be free speech in Britain on every issue under the sun but not on Palestine." The British Foreign Office denied Palestinian claims it was involved in the decision to disqualify the campaign. By PTI: By Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Oct 19 (PTI) A local court today granted bail to former premier Khaleda Zia after she appeared before it on her return to Bangladesh, a week after the court issued an arrest warrant against her in graft and defamation cases. "The bail was granted on conditions that she would inform the court before leaving the country in future," an official of the court told reporters. advertisement He said Zia, 72, also the chairperson of main opposition outside parliament Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had to give a bond of Taka 100,000 for obtaining the bail. Surrounded by her party activists, Zia came to the court complex in old Dhaka and surrendered before the judge, a day after she returned home from London after a three-month visit. Court officials and lawyers said she appeared on the dock and sought the bail this morning at the makeshift court set up on Alia Madrasha ground at Bakshibazar in the old city. After granting the bail, the court held a routine hearing wherein she gave an hour long statement claiming her innocence in the graft cases. The judge fixed October 26 date for the next hearing. "She also claimed that cases filed against her are false, motivated and imaginarily made up and aimed at harassing her," a defense lawyer said, adding she was allowed to speak as the court accepted her petition to give a statement. Court officials and lawyers said Dhaka?s Metropolitan Magistrate issued the first warrant as Zia failed to appear in another court over a case accusing her of undermining the Bangladesh?s map and national flag. She is being tried for inducting in her 2001-2006 cabinet the people who were opposed to the countrys independence and committed crimes against humanity by siding with the Pakistani troops. She obtained the bail against the second warrant issued by Dhaka?s Fifth Special Judges Court as she evaded appearance in a case involving her alleged corruption with funds of an orphanage trust named after her husband and slain president Ziaur Rahman. PTI AR ZH --- ENDS --- CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Thursday that North Korea is months away from perfecting its nuclear weapons capabilities. "They are close enough now in their capabilities that from a US policy perspective we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving" their objective of being able to strike the United States, Pompeo told a national security forum in Washington. But he said there's a difference between having the ability to fire a single nuclear missile and the capability of producing large amounts of fissile material and developing an arsenal of such weapons. Speaking later at the same event, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said, "We are in a race to resolve this short of military action." "We are not out of time," he told the forum, organized by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. "But we are running out of time." Every American deserves the utmost respect when they interact with their government, but sometimes they can encounter complicated hurdles and federal red tape. When this happens, I encourage you to contact my office. My staff members across Nebraska can assist those trying to navigate the federal bureaucracy. In Scottsbluff, Kearney, Norfolk, Lincoln, and Omaha, my staff has years of experience and a strong track record of aiding constituents as they confront roadblocks. My offices often help Nebraskans with a broad array of problems, from struggling to acquire VA medical records or proper designation for their military pensions to trouble with Social Security and tax refunds owed by the IRS. Outreach and casework staff can assist in other types of cases you might not expect. For example, Amanda Knobbe, a zookeeper at Omahas Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, recently needed to travel to South America, but couldnt obtain the proper travel visa. Last year, Amanda was chosen to travel to Brazil to partake in the Giant Armadillo Project, an organization looking to establish an ecological study of giant armadillos in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. One of three people selected worldwide, joining the project was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Amanda, but the problem with her visa made the trip seem unlikely. Disappointed, she decided to contact my office to see if I could help. We got started immediately. My staff went to work, discussing the issue with the State Department, and soon after, Amanda received her travel visa. While in Brazil she helped to expand research about giant anteaters and giant armadillos. This knowledge will help us protect endangered species and preserve natural wildlife. When Amanda returned, she sent us a thank you note that included some great pictures from her trip, including an armadillo she and her team saved. It was great to see Nebraskans changing the world by conserving nature. While Amandas case is unique, the most common circumstances involve Nebraskans fighting for what they deserve. In a recent case resolved by staff in Scottsbluff, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) charged a Wilbur resident with an alleged erroneous debt collection for overpayment of program funds. Facing a bill of over $7000, my office helped him prove that the NRCS was in the wrong, saving him from a debt he never accrued. My offices also receive requests from those facing dire circumstances, especially when it involves receiving payment earned by those who served our country. Recently, my Omaha office assisted a mother and daughter facing a dispute in the mothers non-service connected pension from the VA. A member of the WWII WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), a branch of the Naval Reserves, she was facing the prospect of being forced out of her assisted living residence if she did not receive the proper compensation for her service to our country. Our office spoke with the VAs Pension Management Center and helped the process move along. When everything was settled, the former WAVE member was awarded a monthly pension of $1,794.00. This allowed her to stay in her current assisted living residence. These are all examples of how my offices can serve you during interactions with federal agencies and programs. Making a real-world impact in the lives of Nebraskans in need of help continues to be the most rewarding aspect of my job. Im always ready to remind the federal bureaucracy that they serve the people, not the other way around, and my staff knows how to get the job done. If you need help with a federal program or agency, please reach out to any of my state offices or contact me through my website: www.fischer.senate.gov. Thank you for participating in the democratic process, I look forward to visiting with you again next week. YORK McLean A. Christiansen, 24, of York, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first degree forgery. He appeared in York County District Court for arraignment proceedings with his attorney Steve Fillman, before Judge James Stecker. Each of the three counts is a Class 3 felony. If convicted, he could be facing a possible maximum sentence of four years in prison with two years of post-release supervision, and/or a $25,000 fine. If he was convicted of all three counts, that means he could be facing a possible maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. Christiansen is accused of stealing blank checks from a York woman, writing them to make a friend of his the recipient of the payment and then forging the victims name so it appeared she authorized the payment. The scheme was then to have the friend deposit them in their account and withdraw the cash, according to court documents. The victim reported to the police that the checks were stolen, once she discovered it, and local banks participated in the investigation which was conducted by the York Police Department. A jury trial has been scheduled for December. News Washington, DC - Servicemembers must plan carefully for a successful transition to a new civilian career. Earning a degree or taking some courses can be the first step toward a profession outside the service. But the military community needs trustworthy information to choose programs that work. Thats why the FTC just announced a proposed settlement with Victory Media, alleging that its school search tool promoted schools that paid the company, while claiming it gave independent advice. Victory Media is known for its annual list of military friendly schools which appeared in its Guide to Military Friendly Schools and at militaryfriendly.com. The company based this list on a survey of post-secondary schools that asked about things like the schools job placement and graduation rates, and programs relating to military students. But according to the FTC, while Victory Media said its online School Matchmaker tool would search schools designated as military friendly, it didnt. Instead, the tool served up as matches only schools that paid Victory Media to be included. Because the tool operated on a pay-to-be-included basis, it even searched some schools that Victory Media itself found were not military friendly. Victory Media widely circulated the Guide and its other publications G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse on military bases, hospitals, and where the military holds its mandatory Transition Assistance Programs. It also was active online, recommending schools in its online Hot Degrees articles and in social media posts and emails. But the FTC says the companys endorsements of schools in its Hot Degrees articles and certain of its posts and emails were advertising in disguise, because the schools it promoted paid Victory Media to be included. The FTC is accepting public comments about the proposed settlement until November 20, 2017. Military families deserve the opportunity to make the most of their education benefits. That includes being told when school recommendations are really advertising in disguise. The bottom line is, if youre taking payments from advertisers to recommend their products and services to your audience, or to promote them in your search results, you need to disclose that your content is sponsored or payment-influenced. You might even want to take a little refresher on the rules of the advertising road. If your employees or customers include servicemembers or veterans, send them to MilitaryConsumer.gov for tips to help find a school to suit their needs. Arizona News Phoenix, Arizona - On Saturday, October 21st, 2017 MADD Arizona will be hosting its Annual Phoenix Walk Like MADD fundraiser. Victims, survivors and supporters will line up for a non-competitive 5K walk to remember lost loved ones, inspire change and commit to a nation with No More Victims. WHEN: Saturday, October 21st, 2017 from 6:00 am 10:00 am WHERE: Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, Arizona This event is your chance to lace up your sneakers and help stop drunk and drugged driving in our community! The Phoenix 5K Walk Like MADD event day is a chance to honor victims and survivors of impaired driving crashes and come together as a community in support of MADDs mission. The day features a leisurely 5K walk on the Phoenix Zoos beautiful walking paths, pre-walk snacks, a route filled with cheerleaders and a water stop, and post-walk festivities where you can interact with your local law enforcement agencies. By joining us at this event and raising funds on behalf of MADD, you are making our families and communities safer. To register or donate, please visit http://www.walklikemadd.org/phoenix. MADD Arizona would like to announce and give a special Thank You to, our event sponsors: Phillips Law Group as our Presenting Sponsor, United Claim Solutions as our Walk Warrior Sponsor, and Geico of Tucson, Circle K, Desert Diamond Casino West Valley Sial Ke:k, and Whataburger of Arizona as our Friends of MADD Sponsors. This event would not be possible without the incredible support of our generous sponsors. Thank you for walking with us as we lace up for a future of No More Victims. For those personally impacted by drunk driving, drugged driving and underage drinking consequences, MADD Victim Services are available at no charge, serving one person every fifteen minutes through local victim advocates and MADDs 24- Hour Victim Help Line, 1-877-MADD-HELP. Latest News Washington, DC - Ask Rusty - SSDI and the Ticket to Work Program: Dear Rusty:I am 60 and currently getting Social Security Disability, but I would like to return to work as much as possible. I am concerned with how my earned income would affect my Social Security at age 65 (or even at age 70). I understand that Social Security has a "trial work" program that allows me to keep receiving disability for a while, to allow me to test my physical limits. I wish to make sure that my Social Security Disability does NOT automatically convert to the standard (early) benefit at age 62 (Ouch!). I read something about a 96 month period that is crucial. So many factors involved, so I wish to make the right decision. ~ Wanting to Work While Disabled. Dear Wanting: Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, provides eligible disabled workers with a financial lifeline in return for the insurance premiums they've paid into the program during their working years. Although the criteria are stringent, once awarded the benefit provides income to partially replace earnings that are lost due to a long term disability. Social Security encourages those receiving SSDI benefits to eventually return to the workforce and offers a "Ticket to Work" program to help achieve that goal. This program gives you the chance to test your ability to work for at least nine "trial work months" during a 60 month period, and during this trial work period you'll receive your full SSDI benefit regardless of how much you earn. Briefly, any month you earn more than $840 (for 2017) counts as a trial work month. After you have reached nine trial work months, you can still receive your SSDI benefits for another 36 months, except that you won't receive benefits for any month that your earnings exceed what Social Security considers "substantial", which for 2017 is $1,170 (note that these dollar amounts can change annually). If your benefits stop because your earnings regularly exceed "substantial", and within 5 years you are again unable to work due to your disability, your disability benefits can be restarted (without having to re-apply). You can get full details about the Ticket to Work program by going to https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf , but this program should allow you to work and test your physical limits without a negative impact to your Social Security benefits. To address a few of your other concerns: Your earnings from attempting to return to work while disabled shouldn't negatively affect your future Social Security retirement benefit at your full retirement age. Your disability benefits will not automatically convert to early retirement benefits at age 62, but they will automatically convert to retirement benefits when you reach your full retirement age (which is 66 years plus 6 months if you were born in 1957). However when they convert, your benefit amount will remain the same as you were receiving in disability benefits. If you are on Medicare and your benefits stop as a result of exceeding the substantial earnings limit, as long as you are still disabled your free Medicare Part A coverage will continue for at least 93 months after the 9 month trial work period. However, you will still have to pay a Medicare Part B premium in order to receive Part B coverage. By PTI: New Delhi, Oct 18 (PTI) Mahindra Lifespace Developers today announced a joint venture with HDFC Capital to develop affordable housing projects with an investment of Rs 500 crore in the next three years. The Mahindra groups realty firm will have 51 per cent stake in the JV -- Mahindra Happinest Developers Ltd, while HDFC Capital will have 49 per cent shareholding. advertisement Mahindra Lifespace has partnered with HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (HDFC Capital), which is managed by HDFC Ltds subsidiary HDFC Capital Advisors Ltd, to form a "platform focused on the development of affordable housing projects in India", the company said in a statement. The first development to be undertaken by the JV will be Happinest, Palghar, expected to be launched in the second half of this fiscal. The JV announced "investment commitment of Rs 500 crores over three years". The JV plans to rapidly scale up in order to address the demand-supply gap in affordable housing in India with an estimated development of 5-10 million sq ft. Mahindra Lifespace MD Anita Arjundas said, "Affordable housing is a critical component of quality urban infrastructure as also a growth driver for the real estate industry in India." She said the JV will leverage the experience and commitment of each organisation to develop affordable homes. Vipul Roongta, CEO, HDFC Capital Advisors said the objective of this platform is to invest in residential affordable housing projects by providing long-term equity. "Lack of patient long-term capital is one of the key challenges facing growth and development of low and middle- income housing in India," he said. HDFC Capitals first fund is dedicated to addressing this funding gap by providing long-term equity-oriented capital for development in urban and semi urban peripheral areas, Roongta said. "With the affordable housing segment expected to see healthy growth going forward given the impetus provided by the government through various incentives and subventions, this platform with MLDL is the need of the hour," he added. The government has accorded infrastructure status to the affordable housing and is also providing interest subsidy to buyers. Mahindra Lifespace has been present in the affordable housing segment since 2014 under Happinest brand. Over 1,600 units have been launched in the companys ongoing affordable housing projects in Chennai (Happinest, Avadi) and MMR (Happinest, Boisar), with delivery of almost 1,000 homes. Its products are currently priced between Rs 17? 27 lakh. PTI MJH SA --- ENDS --- advertisement Living Section San Luis, Arizona - Need help preparing for the Citizenship exam? On Wednesday, November 1st, 8th, 15th, and 29th, the San Luis Library will host a citizenship classes at 5:00 p.m. Review test subjects, learn interview tips, and more! Instruction will be in English. Please note, the library will close at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 22nd, and remain closed Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th, in observance of Thanksgiving. There is no charge to attend; however, space is limited and registration is required. For more information, and to register, call Monica Colorado at (928) 627-8344. The San Luis Library is located at 1075 N 6th Avenue in San Luis, Arizona. Living Section San Luis, Arizona - Are you looking for advice on writing a great resume? In November 2017, the San Luis Library will offer bilingual resume assistance on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Learn how to create a resume that will effectively market your talents to employers! There is no charge to attend. Thursday, November 2nd, 9th, 16th 30th @ 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th @ 10:00 a.m. The San Luis Library is located at 1075 N 6th Avenue in San Luis, Arizona. For more information, call (928) 627-8344. Living Section Wellton, Arizona - Adults and children of all ages are invited to the Wellton Library for movies, crafts, and fun! There is no charge to attend any program. Please note, the library will be closed on Saturday, November 11th, for Veterans Day, and will also be closed Thursday, November 23rd, and Friday, November 24th, for Thanksgiving. Wednesday, November 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th @ 3:30 p.m. After School Craft Ages 10+ are welcome to join us each week for a different craft. Wednesday, November 1st, 8th, 15th, 29th @ 4:30 p.m. Fun with Bots Teens are invited to meet the librarys bots, Dot and Dash! Thursday, November 2nd, 9th, 16th, 30th @ 4:30 p.m. Teen Gaming Challenge your friends to Xbox and Wii games! Friday, November 3rd, 10th, 17th @ 10:30 a.m. Storytime Young children can participate in stories, rhymes, songs, and crafts while building language and learning skills. Most beneficial for ages infant to six years old. Saturday, November 4th, 18th, 25th @ 2:00 p.m. Ride the Range Film Series Get reacquainted with Roy, Gene and Gabby when you join us for a 10-week movie series featuring golden oldie Westerns! Films are unrated, and run 1-2 hours. For a list of titles, visit the library or call (928) 785-9575. The Wellton Library is located at 28790 San Jose Avenue in Wellton, AZ. For more information, call (928) 785-9575. Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-18 17:35:41|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close JAKARTA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia said on Wednesday that it would intensify coordination with the Philippines over possible return of militants taking part in the siege of Marawi following liberation of the southern Philippines city from terrorists' control. Lauding the defeat of terrorists in Marawi, spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia would continue monitoring the situation, particularly the anticipating wave of Indonesian militants' return to the country. "Indonesia positively welcome the latest results (defeat of terrorists) in Marawi. This is what Indonesia and the Philippines have been attempting for. It is resulted from the trilateral cooperation between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia," Nasir said. The three Southeast Asian nations have conducted joint patrol to address security threat in southern Philippines waters, mostly from piracy of Philippine terrorist groups. Nasir confirmed death of Indonesian militants during the battle in Marawi that erupted since May, saying that it had also been verified by the Philippines authorities. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced liberation of Marawi from terrorists earlier this week after the military killed terrorist groups' leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omarkhayam Maute. The five-month siege over Marawi has claimed 1,000 lives and displaced 400,000 others, reports said. By India Today Web Desk: Ilayathalapathy Vijay's action drama Mersal is the big Diwali release this week. Ever since the release of the first look poster, fans have been madly waiting to watch their Thalapathy on the screen. Much to everyone's expectations, Mersal has opened to positive to mixed response from critics and audience. Released in 2500 screens in India, Mersal had a phenomenal opening on Wednesday. As per early trade estimates, the Thalapathy-starrer has earned Rs 31.3 crore on the first day. advertisement In Tamil Nadu, Mersal is said to have done a business close to Rs 18-19 crore. The film has gotten fantastic response in the overseas market as well. A midweek release [Tue], yet Tamil film #Mersal takes a SUPERB start in USA... Tue $ 346,050 [? 2.25 cr] from 129 locations. @Rentrak- taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) October 18, 2017 According to reports, Mersal has raked in Rs 2.25 crore in US. Made on a lavish budget of Rs 120 crore, Mersal is expected to emerge as one of the biggest hits this year, according to trade pundits. Directed by Atlee, Mersal tells the story of Vetri and Maaran, who fight against medical mafia. Despite mixed reviews, the film was highly appreciated for Vijay's performance as Thalapathy. Produced by Sri Thenandal Films, the film also stars Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha, SJ Suryah and Vadivelu in important roles. WATCH HERE: Mersal Teaser --- ENDS --- NEW DELHI: India on Thursday took aim at Pakistan for its support of terrorist groups which carried out the attack in Kandahar in Afghanistan that killed 43 people earlier in the day. States hosting the terrorists and their sanctuaries must eliminate them immediately and without distinction, said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement. The terror attacks demonstrate that safe havens and support systems continue to be available to the terrorists, it added. New Delhi has been vocal about Pakistan's inaction to weed out terrorism from its home turf. Last month, at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meet, India had urged for the implementation of sanctions crippling the source of funds for Afghanistan-based terrorists, many of whom have safe havens across the border in Pakistan. The country's big diplomatic win came when the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations unanimously condemned, the violence carried out by terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad based out of Pakistan. US President Donald Trump also hit out at Pakistan saying "it has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists," while unveiling the Afghan strategy on August 22. Terming the Thursdays attack on Afghan troops barbaric, the MEA said, India is gravely concerned at the recent escalation of terrorist violence against Afghanistan, despite hopes recently kindled by new strategies as well as efforts for bringing peace in the country. The beginning of Afghan-owned and Afghan-led national reconciliation requires an end to violence. Coming on the heels of similar tragedies in Paktia and Ghazni, we share the grief of the families of the victims and the suffering of the Afghan people. More than 120 people died this week after terrorists launched three separate attacks in Afghanistan. On Thursday, 43 Afghan soldiers died after insurgents attacked a military base in southern Afghanistan. The death toll is expected to go up. Jammu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived in the Gurez Sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmirs Bandipora district to celebrate Diwali with the troops there. According to ANI, the PM arrived here this morning to celebrate Diwali with the troops of 15 Corps in Gurez Sector. He was accompanied by Army chief General Bipin Rawat, Northern Command chief Lt General Devraj Anbu and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu. Addressing the troops, PM Modi said that the Union Govt is committed to welfare and betterment of armed forces in every way possible. The PM also mentioned the implementation of OROP scheme by the Centre. On a lighter note, PM Modi said that jawans who leave armed forces after completing their duty tenure can become excellent yoga trainers subsequently. PM Modi, in J&K, said that jawans who leave Armed Forces after completing their duty tenure, can become excellent yoga trainers subsequently pic.twitter.com/QP6D2Uugbe ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2017 This is the second time that Modi is celebrating Diwali with troops in Kashmir after he became the PM. His first visit was in 2014. In 2016, the Modi had met the jawans of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Indian Army and Dogra Scouts in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Diwali. He had even launched a campaign named Sandesh for Soldiers to send Diwali greetings to those serving on Indias borders and prominent celebrities like film actors Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar as well as several Union Ministers had participated in the campaign. In 2015, the PM had celebrated Diwali with soldiers at the Dograi War Memorial in Khasa in Amritsar. In 2014, Modi paid a surprise visit to Siachen to celebrate Diwali with soldiers posted at the worlds highest battlefield and hailed the role of the armed forces in securing the country. He also announced a Rs 570 crore package for Jammu and Kashmir, which had been hit by the worst floods in 100 years the same year. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to visit the Kedarnath Shrine in Uttarakhand on October 20 where he is expected to inaugurate the temple protection wall which will block 2013-like floods from hitting the shrine, sources added. Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundarajan has said some scenes in Vijay's big Diwali release - Mersal - show GST and Digital India in a bad light. She accused the veteran actor of reflecting his political ambitions through such scenes. Mersal opened today, and according to trader estimates, it has earned over Rs 31 crore. 'Ilayathalapathy's' ('Leader of the youth' in Tamil) fans have been asking him to enter politics. In some places, Mersal posters were placed on stages resembling the Tamil Nadu secretariat. advertisement The film faced roadblocks from the Animal Welfare Board of India, but it gave the film a No Objection certificate just days ago. 'POLITICAL AMBITIONS' This isn't the first time Vijay has courted controversy. In 2013, there was a 'cold war' between the actor and the then-chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Permission wasn't granted for the release of his movie Thalaiva (or 'leader'). Sources said the title was seen as Vijay's attempt to project himself as one - and that Jayalalithaa didn't like that. "He (Vijay) has political ambitions. But he will surely come at the right time," sources close to Vijay told India Today. Political analyst RK Radhakrishnan told India Today, "Almost all heros in the Tamil film industry, barring Ajit, seem to nurse secret ambitions of leading the state. Movie after movie is full of hate for politicians, and the administration, and paints the hero as the one with all solutions. "Vijay has been repeatedly brought down to earth by governments that have been in power in Tamil Nadu. He is possibly testing the waters given the fact that he's much younger and can afford to wait and watch what happens to the aging stars who have jumped into politics," Radhakrishnan said. WATCH | Official trailer of Mersal (Video Courtesy: Sony Music India/YouTube) --- ENDS --- Mumbai: Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees' ongoing strike for demanding the implementation of 7th pay commission entered its third day on Thursday. An eight-hour long meeting of the MSRTC staff with the state government representatives had remained inconclusive yesterday. Pressing for their demand of salary hike, the workers of MSRTC asserted that the strike won`t be called off until their demands are met. "Ours, along with other transport unions want 7th pay commission to be implemented in the MSRTC. We were also in conversation with the government but they paid no heed to our problems. Therefore, we have now called an indefinite strike," Dileep, a member of a staff union said earlier. More than 17 thousand buses run throughout the entire state, and about one lakh workers are on strike. Meanwhile, this strike has left the daily commuter troubled. The passengers have appealed to the government to look into the matter. With ANI inputs New Delhi: It is Diwali today and while each one of us is submerged in celebrations, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar has something special to say. The 50-year-old actor wished everyone a very Happy Diwali and said something which must be kept in mind for all the upcoming festivals. Akshay took to Twitter and said that this Diwali, all of us must light at least one diya in honour of the Jawans. After all, 'Voh Hai toh Hum Hai'. We couldn't agree more with the Bollywood superstar as the Jawans are on duty, away from their families so that we can have a safe and Happy Diwali. Akshay has added his inputs to a Tweet by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in which the latter has praised the Army for keeping us safe and has urged everyone to light a diya for the Jawans. He was also the man behind the Bharat Ke Veer initiative launched by Rajnath Singh. Here's Akshay's Twitter post: ... ! https://t.co/7Ne7GOsRnu Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) October 19, 2017 On the work front, Akshay's most recent, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha garnered a lot of attention and was well received by audience and critics. The movie was based on a real life incident in which a man's wife leaves him after coming to know that there's no toilet in his house. Akshay will now be seen in Rajinikanth starrer 2.0 which releases in January 2018. He will be playing a negative role in the film and the excitement for the film is already high. Deoband: Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a new fatwa (decree) that bans Muslims from posting pictures on social media sites. Darul Uloom Deoband, which is one of the largest Islamic seminaries in India, is based in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. Darul Iftaa, which issues edicts for the Darul Uloom Deoband, is reported to have announced that Muslims, men and women alike, should not post pictures of themselves or their family members on social media. Darul Uloom Deoband terms the act of Indian Muslims posting pictures on social media as 'un-Islamic'. Justifying the move, Shahnawaz Qadri, Darul Uloom Deoband, said, ''Unnecessary uploading of pictures on social media is wrong. Fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband is appropriate.'' Unnecessary uploading of pictures on social media is wrong. Fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband is appropriate: Shahnawaz Qadri,Darul Uloom Deoband ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 19, 2017 The seminary issued the fatwa days after a person submitted a written question to Darul Iftaa, asking it to explain whether posting pictures of himself or his wife on Facebook and Whatsapp was un-Islamic or not. In the wake of this query came the fatwa saying that Islam doesn't allow the act. Reports have it that earlier this month, the Darul Uloom Deoband also issued a fatwa calling ban on women plucking, trimming, shaping their eyebrows and cutting hair. Darul Iftaa had then clarified that there are ten acts, including eyebrow plucking and hair-cutting which are banned for Muslim women under Islam. With ANI inputs Ayodhya: The controversy over Taj Mahal refuses to die down, and now a senior BJP MP has claimed that the Mughal mausoleum was actually a Hindu temple and that its named should be changed. BJP MP Vinay Kaityar said that the Taj Mahal was known as 'Tejo Mahal' and had a shivling, which was later removed from the monument. It was Tejo Mahal, Lord Shivas temple, where Shahjahan buried his wife and turned it into a mausoleum, Katiyar, who had been in the forefront of the Ram temple movement of Ayodhya, claimed. It was constructed by Hindu kings, the rooms and carvings there prove that it was a Hindu monument it has also been termed as one by historian PN Oak, he claimed. The firebrand BJP lawmaker said like a Shiva temple, water drips from the ceiling in the Taj Mahal, which is not a case in any mausoleum anywhere and is like that only on a Shivlinga. It was a famous monument and was grabbed by Shahjahan, Katiyar said. It was our temple but was made a mausoleum as they had more power. But it is a grand monument and national heritage people come to see it and so it should be kept safe and secure, he said. Katiyar, who is also an accused in the Babri case, said no political meaning should be derived from UP Government's grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya. The aim is to develop Ayodhyathe effort is to recreate the scene of Lord Rams return to Ayodhya from exile, Katiyar said, adding there is no politics behind the function as seen by the opposition. Earlier on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave a clear snub to his BJP colleague and MLA Sangeet Som for stirring the Taj Mahal controversy, stating that "it does not matter who built it and for what reason; it was built by blood and sweat of Indian labourers". Som had courted controversy on Sunday, stating that the iconic Taj Mahal was built by traitors and hence, cannot be included in the Indian history. In an important development, the Taj Mahal, which has been in the crosshairs of controversy, found a place of pride in the 2018 calender brought out by the Uttar Pradesh government. The 17th century architectural marvel has now been included in the month of July in the calendar brought out by the State Information Department, days after it was not included in the UP Governent's newly released Tourism Booklet. With ANI inputs KANO: At least three soldiers were killed when Boko Haram fighters ambushed a military convoy in northeast Nigeria, security and civilian sources told AFP on Thursday. The attack, which happened on Wednesday near the town of Damboa, on the edge of Boko Haram`s Sambisa Forest enclave in Borno state, is the second against the military within a week. Last Friday, one soldier was killed and nine others were wounded as the jihadists overran a military base in the town of Marte, near the shores of Lake Chad. They then fled with arms and ammunition. A senior military officer said the attack, which happened early on Wednesday, targeted a convoy travelling between Damboa and state capital Maiduguri. "We lost three soldiers in the ambush by Boko Haram terrorists. "The terrorists in large number opened fire on the convoy of the commanding officer of 81 Battalion... Five other troops were injured in the intense battle that broke out when soldiers engaged the attackers." The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media, said the arrival of reinforcements forced the rebels to retreat. A commercial bus driver who was caught in the ambush gave a similar account. "I was one of those trailing behind the military convoy when Boko Haram opened fire and soldiers responded with fire," said Sani Mato by telephone from Maiduguri. "The soldiers were able to repel the attack but lost three men. Five were also injured." Roads to and from Maiduguri are nominally open to traffic but in reality, vehicles require a military escort because of the risk of attack. Nigeria`s military and government maintain that Boko Haram is a spent force as a result of sustained counter-insurgency operations against them since early 2015. Deadly attacks have dropped in recent weeks, which security sources attribute to renewed military offensives after the end of the rainy season in September. But suicide bombings remain a threat, particularly to civilians at "soft" targets such as mosques, markets and camps for those displaced by the conflict. On October 12, five people were killed in a suicide attack in the remote village of Belbelu, near Kayamla, in the Konduga area of Borno state. ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, opening a trial that could see the former leader jailed. The Sharifs have called the corruption proceedings against them a conspiracy, hinting at intervention by the powerful military, but opponents have hailed it as a rare example of the rich and powerful being held accountable. Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. Judge Bashir Ahmad of the court that tries cases registered and investigated by an anti-graft body, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Sharif and her husband, Muhammad Safdar. They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Safdar were present in court, but Sharif, who was prime minister twice in the 1990s, sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment. Maryam said in the court that the charges were unfounded and baseless. "This will go down in history as a travesty of justice," she said. Outside the court, Maryam again hinted at military interference in the judicial process by saying the trial was "a repeat of 1999", the year her father was toppled in a military coup led by former army chief Pervez Musharraf. It is not clear if she was comparing the trial to the coup, or subsequent corruption accusations and investigations that Musharraf ordered into Sharif. Sharif`s disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London. The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Sharif but ordered an investigation into his family`s wealth. A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the family`s wealth did not match its income, and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats. After the probe, the top court disqualified Sharif and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial. Sharif denies ever receiving the small source of income that led to his disqualification. The NAB has in the past been described as toothless because of its low conviction rates, especially when it comes to powerful politicians, and investigations that last many years. But the Supreme Court has ordered the trial to be concluded within six months. Opening arguments are due to begin on Oct. 26. Washington: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States held Myanmar`s military leadership responsible for its harsh crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority. Tillerson, however, stopped short of saying whether the United States would take any action against Myanmar`s military leaders over an offensive that has driven more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the country. Washington has worked hard to establish close ties with Myanmar`s civilian-led government led by Nobel laureate and former dissident Aung San Suu Kyi in the face of competition from strategic rival China. "The world can`t just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area," Tillerson told Washington`s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what`s happening," said Tillerson, who said the United States was "extraordinarily concerned" by the situation. Forty-three U.S. lawmakers urged the Trump administration to reimpose U.S. travel bans on Myanmar`s military leaders and prepare targeted sanctions against those responsible for the crackdown. The request, in a letter to Tillerson from Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives, said Myanmar authorities "appear to be in denial of what has happened" and called for Washington to take "meaningful steps" against those who have committed human rights abuses. Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar in large numbers since late August when Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response, with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape. Tillerson said Washington understood Myanmar had a militancy problem, but the military had to be disciplined and restrained in the way it dealt with this and to allow access to the region "so that we can get a full accounting of the circumstances." "Someone, if these reports are true, is going to be held to account for that," Tillerson said. "And its up to the military leadership of Burma to decide, `What direction do they want to play in the future of Burma?`" Tillerson said Washington saw Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, as "an important emerging democracy," but the Rohingya crisis was a test for the power-sharing government. He said the United States would remain engaged, including ultimately at the United Nations "with the direction this takes." The European Union and the United States have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar`s military leadership. Punitive measures aimed specifically at top generals are among a range of options that have been discussed, but they are wary of action that could hurt the wider economy or destabilize already tense ties between Suu Kyi and the army. Tillerson also said he would visit New Delhi next week as the Trump administration sought to dramatically deepen cooperation with India in response to China`s challenges to "international law and norms" in Asia. Tillerson said the administration had began a quiet conversation with some emerging East Asian democracies about creating alternatives to Chinese infrastructure financing. Meyaadha Maan starring Vaibhav and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead is one of the Diwali releases this week. The script is fresh and the film deserves a watch, says our review. By Srivatsan: With a new brigade of filmmakers coming up with fascinating scripts, 2017 is turning out to be a fantastic year for Tamil cinema. Rathna Kumar's Meyaadha Maan (Deer which doesn't graze) is yet another gem that doesn't disappoint. Even before the release, Meyaadha Maan was projected as the La La Land of Royapuram. We are not sure about the La La Land part, but the film is definitely not vanilla. It's extremely gratifying, especially when a filmmaker makes an impressive debut. advertisement Meyaadha Maan begins with a Shakespearean quote that all men and women are 'merely' players. In some ways, the screenplay's structure is written in such a way that Meyaadha Maan is primarily about Murali (Vaibhav), who runs a wedding music band called 'Meyaadha Maan', and his college mate S Madhumitha (Priya Bhavani Shankar, who's very beautiful). Long before Ranbir Kapoor became the poster boy of 'unrequited love', Tamil cinema had 'Idhayam' Murali. The Murali in Meyaadha Maan, too, is unable to express his love for Madhu, who's already engaged. Rathna Kumar wants to tell a rom-com that calculatedly avoids mainstream approach, which could have easily been an Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara. As unusual as it may sound, the film opens with a shot of Murali attempting suicide. But we feel for Murali because he's torn between the surrounding (It's centered in North Chennai) and male ego. The latter in the sense that when Madhu wants to sleep with him, Murali says, "Alaiyara (lustful)." He's innocent, but he keeps referring to Madhu as "ketta ponnu". He's also self-indulgent. For instance, Murali doesn't ask his friend Vinoth IF he wants to marry his sister. In fact, there's a scene in the second half, where Murali's sister Soodar (Induja, who's really, really good) chides him and says, "Poi saavu anna." From the descriptions above, Meyaadha Maan may appear to be this really intense and emotionally draining film that is usually associated with Karthik Subbaraj. But, it isn't. Remember, it's Royapuram La La Land and hence, it has musical bits, lots of humour (Vinoth Prasanna is the best thing to have happened), and a not-bad romance. As with the setting, Meyaadha Maan provides certain exquisiteness, thanks to Pradeep Kumar and Santhosh Narayanan's soulful songs, especially the sublime guitar interludes in Enna Naa Seivan. The theatre was filled with laughter when Address song popped up. That's the thing with Meyaadha Maan. It could be unwittingly funny and a tad bit boring at times. There are more than a couple of moments to cherish in this wonderfully written film. Mainly because of its homespun proceedings and rooted dialogues. For once, the heroines don't look alien and sound naive to the film's milieu. Consider the scene where a woman sings Kolangal song at a wedding. It largely works perhaps due to Vaibhav's rawness and his one-liners like "Aadhar card la kooda azhaga irupa." He's damn good when he breaks into dance at a hospital. Meyaadha Maan doesn't shy away from its stereotypes. Only in the second half do we come to know about the bigger problem in Murali-Madhu's love story -- the caste angle, which seemed very weak in an otherwise decent film. Madhu is a Brahmin! This, we're not explicitly told, but Rathna Kumar wants to you notice her mother's fake TamBrahm accent. How come Madhu's father speaks Chennai slang then?The romance, too, is not properly established here. advertisement When there's so much freshness in the script, these minor issues can be brushed aside. ( The writer tweets as @LoneWolf_7126 ) WATCH HERE: Meyaadha Maan Trailer --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: PM Modi tweets Diwali greetings, likely to celebrate festival with Indian Army On the occasion of Diwali, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation through a Twitter post. He is likely to celebrate this year's Diwali with troops of the Indian Army and the ITBP on the China border in Uttrakhand. Iranian leader Khamenei threatens to shred nuclear deal if US quits advertisement Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued his stark warning just days after US President Donald Trump reiterated threats to end his commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord which limits Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for slackened sanctions. 3rd ODI: Imam-ul-Haq and Hasan Ali seal seven-wicket win for Pakistan over Sri Lanka Imam-ul-Haq's debut ton and Hasan Ali's 5/34 helped Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Deepika FINALLY loses her cool, slams goons for destroying Padmavati rangoli Padmavati, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, has attracted the ire of the Karni Sena ever since they started filming. --- ENDS --- Barkley Rosser | October 19, 2017 7:26 am Iraq Conquers Kirkuk The central Iraqi government based in Baghdad has conquered oil-rich and ethnically-mixed Kirkuk from its recent Kurdish rulers, who hoped to continue ruling it as part of their recently declared independent state of (Iraqi) Kurdistan, clearly consisting of three provinces, but which they also wanted to include the fourth one of Kirkuk province. This now appears not to be going to happen. Juan Cole has made an excellent discussion of this, noting 7 reasons why this is not about Iran as many commentators in the US claim. I shall not repeat most of his arguments here but suggest people look at the link. I shall note the crucial point that what looked like it was going to be a major military conflict over Kirkuk thankfully turned out not to be is that the Kurdish Pesh Merga, who were ruling Kirkuk, actually are tied to the main opposition party in Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union Party (PUK) led by the Talabani family,whose old patriarch, once a president of all of Iraq, has just died. The Pesh Merga has simply withdrawn peacefully from Kirkuk, handing a major embarrassment to Massoud Barzani, the current president of newly independent (maybe) Kurdistan, who leads the center right Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK). This suggests that while the opposition nominally supported Barzanis independence referendum, they lack enthusiasm, and Barzani may end up in trouble as things are not going well with this. As I noted in a previous post, Barzani is in a tight position because he canceled an election in 2015, and Kurdistans economy has been weak due to low oil prices. I also add that apparently the fall of Kirkuk temporarily shuts down 350,000 barrels of oil per day production, which will add to the ongoing increase in world oil prices. Barkley Rosser YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The modern electric train (EMU electric multiple unit), which was supplied to Armenia from Russia, will operate the Yerevan-Gyumri route, South Caucasian Railways spokesman Vardan Aloyan told ARMENPRESS. Aloyan said the train is currently undergoing tests. I believe we wont have any issues and it [the train] will soon begin to operate, he said, adding that it is a 129-seat train. The train is equipped with all technical requirements, ranging from ACs to information screens and fire prevention systems. It the new train is justified, then new shipments are possible in the future. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Many of the factors caused by the April four-day war do not only exist, but they have further aggravated, Magdalena Grono representative of International Crisis Group said at the hearings on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the US Congress Helsinki Commission, Voice of America reports. She said the sides today neither trust each other nor the mediation process. Thus, Azerbaijan suspects the mediators in an attempt to perpetuate the current status quo, and the Armenian side no more trusts the security guarantees. Moreover, through the weapons of Russia, Turkey, Pakistan and Israel the number and quality of weapons has further increased by the Azerbaijani policy run in the conflict region. As a result, the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan is one of the most militarized zones in the world, Magdalena Grono said. She stated that the humanitarian organizations in the region are so concerned that at the moment they develop action plans in case of possible war. Former US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Carey Cavanaugh (1999-2001) said the sides should implement the already reached agreements to minimize the possibility of military operations, which are the followings: to increase the number of international observers in the line of contact and give them powers to investigate ceasefire violation cases. If the sides are unable to implement them, perhaps, we should reach signing of agreements between other forces instead. For instance, Turkey and Russia can be committed not to interfere if the conflict turns into military operations. The United States can exchange data of special services with Russia over the ceasefire violations in Nagorno Karabakh, Carey Cavanaugh said. Former OSCE Minsk Group American Co-Chair James Warlick (2013-2016) stated that despite the media reports the stances of the sides are in fact quite close to each other. The sides have reached an agreement almost for several times, and the last one was in 2011, James Warlick said. According to the Ambassador, the proposals on the table, as well as the referendum on Karabakhs status, the international security guarantees, the land border between Armenia and Karabakh and the return of Azerbaijani regions must be viewed as one collective agreement. Regardless of contradictions all experts agree that no one needs a new war and new victims. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has an extremely good chance to boost its development in the world which has taken the 4th industrial revolution path, Armenian PM Karen Karapetyan said in his opening remarks at the opening of the Machine Learning For Discovery of Sciences international workshop, jointly organized by the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The PM thanked the initiators of the event and the guests for visiting Armenia and their willingness for sharing experience with Armenian experts. The PM noted that FAST can assume the role of an integrator with its partners thus providing the contacts of top global experts of science and technology with Armenian experts. Todays world is going through the 4th industrial revolution phase, information technologies, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions and innovative methods of renewable energy have a key role in advancing the world. I am sure that the countries which rapidly adapt to the new situation and create and propose innovations will succeed, he said. He mentioned that the government is ready to contribute to the creation of necessary eco-system and innovation campuses throughout the country. All of us, the government, the individuals of Armenia and the Diaspora who are united in FAST, are guided with one goal to have an advanced nation by ensuring a place for Armenia on a global level, Karapetyan said. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Canada Levon Martirosyan on October 17 had a meeting with Mayor of Ottawa Jim Watson, press service of the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress. The Ambassador thanked the Ottawa Mayor for the close cooperation with the embassy and expressed readiness to continue the joint works in future. Jim Watson in his turn congratulated the Armenian Ambassador on assuming the post and expressed hope that his efforts will further develop the Armenian-Canadian bilateral ties. The sides discussed different spheres of bilateral relations highlighting the achievements recorded. They attached importance to the active cooperation between Armenia and Canada within the frames of the International Organization of La Francophonie. The officials also exchanged views on further developing the decentralized cooperation. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) has identified four major directions for progress in Armenia, reports Armenpress. Based on the research results conducted over the past 6 months, the opportunity on implementing projects in the fields of information science, biotechnology and advanced materials has emerged. FAST plans to make investment programs worth 250 million USD in Armenia in the upcoming 5 years, the executive director of the Foundation Armen Orujyan told reporters. The Foundation operates since April of this year, at the moment we are in the stage of strategic planning. Our goal is to create a favorable environment in Armenia for promoting scientific research. We have several initiatives, we will announce them today, he said. Commenting on the works of Machine Learning For Discovery of Sciences international workshop and the cooperation with the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Armen Orujyan said their main goal is to establish ties between the Armenian and foreign scientists which will contribute to conducting joint research in the future. We are happy that our young specialists, who study math science, physics, computer technologies, are communicating with progressive scientists, and it is very good to see such a great interest, he said. Markets began the Hindu Samvat year 2074 on a dull note, with both Sensex and Nifty falling in the special one-house Muhurat trading session that is held every Diwali. Brokers react during the Muhurat trading session to mark the start of the Hindu New Year (PTI photo) By Press Trust of India: Benchmark Sensex surrendered early gains to end over 194 points lower at 32,389.96 in a special Muhurat trading session today to mark the beginning of Hindu Samvat year 2074. Banking stocks led the fall as participants booked profits to write their first entry with gains on the first session of Samvat 2074, brokers said. advertisement The broader NSE Nifty too dipped below the 10,200-mark in the special one-hour Muhurat session. The BSE Sensex opened higher at 32,656.75 and advanced to a high of 32,663.06 on token buying activity as investors and funds opened their new accounts on the first session of Samvat 2074. BSE Building Illuminated for #DiwaliMuhuratTrading Tag us and let us know if you are coming for #DiwaliMuhuratTrading at BSE pic.twitter.com/zTBCvA4lTS- BSE India (@BSEIndia) October 18, 2017 However, higher levels could not be sustained due to sudden sell-off by participants and the index slipped to 32,319.37, before settling 194.39 points, or 0.60 per cent down at 32,389.96. The gauge had lost 49.29 points in the previous two sessions. On similar lines, the broad-based NSE Nifty index, after shuttling between 10,211.95 and 10,123.35, ended 64.30 points, or 0.63 per cent lower at 10,146.55. A weak trend at the European stock markets on Spain's escalating political crisis also fuelled selling towards the fag-end at the domestic bourses here, brokers added. The Sensex gained 4,642.84 points, or 16.61 per cent, in the Hindu Samvat year 2073, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 1,572.85 points, or 18.20 per cent. The laggards in the Muhurat session were banking, metal, PSU, infrastructure, power, oil and gas, auto, consumer durables, healthcare, realty, FMCG and IT sectors. The broader markets outperformed the overall trend as investors created fresh positions, lifting the BSE small-cap index by 0.54 per cent and mid-cap index by 0.17 per cent. Both the exchanges will be closed tomorrow for Diwali Balipratipada. Globally, in the euro zone, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.63 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 shed 0.54 per cent. London's FTSE too fell 0.35 per cent. In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.92 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.34 per cent, while Japans Nikkei ended 0.40 per cent higher. --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on October 19 delivered a speech at the 4th European Armenian Convention in Brussels. ARMENPRESS presents the full text of his speech provided by the foreign ministry: Your Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, Honorable Members of Parliaments, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, I would like to welcome the participants of the fourth European Armenian Convention. Speaking in the premises of the European Parliament, first of all I would like to recall that one of the first resolutions on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was adopted here back in 1987. On the eve of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015 the European parliament once again reaffirmed its principled stance, paid tribute to the memory of innocent Armenian victims and joined the commemoration in a spirit of European solidarity and justice. In the same spirit on the year of the centennial and since then a number of countries, including the parliaments of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Luxembourg joined many others in Europe and beyond adopting resolutions on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. These efforts are of utmost importance not only for the remembrance but also as a significant contribution to the international prevention efforts. As a nation that passed through the horrors of the genocide we feel a moral obligation but also an authority to speak out and act against recurrence of genocides, crimes against humanity. The most recent initiatives of the Republic of Armenia in this regard made in 2015 were the adoption of the resolution on Genocide prevention at the UN Human Rights Council and the adoption of the resolution on International Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide at the UN General Assembly. These efforts will continue. Next year we will mark the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention. 70 years passed, unfortunately, the world is not immune from this evil. The actions of terrorists against ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East vividly indicate the relevance of the Convention. Armenia was among the first to condemn these acts of terrorist groups. Unfortunately the Syrian carnage has not bypassed our fellow Armenians, who have suffered along with the Syrian people, other ethnic and religious groups. The Syrian crisis has once again demonstrated that due to the large geographic presence, having hundreds of communities all around the world, Armenians are vulnerable to many global threats. Armenia takes this into full account in its engagements on the international stage among others on prevention efforts, protection of ethnic and religious minorities, addressing issues of refugees and migrants, participating in peacekeeping missions, joining efforts in the fight against terrorism. Ladies and gentlemen, Since we are gathered here for the European Armenian Convention, in the close vicinity to the head offices of a number of European structures, let me brief you also on the Armenia-EU relations which are among the main pillars of the Armenian foreign policy. Armenia enjoys close ties with the European Union and intends to expand the comprehensive cooperation in all areas of mutual interest. The European Union provides valuable assistance for the ongoing reforms in our country, supports the efforts made by Armenia towards the continuous promotion of human rights and the rule of law, further strengthening of democratic institutions, improving judiciary and effective governance. I would like also to emphasize our cooperation in the context of parliamentary elections held in Armenia last April. The support of the European Union also extends to different sectors of Armenias economy, including energy, transport, agriculture. Some of them have a regional importance, like the modernization of the Armenia-Georgia border checkpoints and the construction of the high voltage transmission lines. We actively cooperate in the fields of education, innovation, science and culture, including through such programs as Horizon 2020, Erasmus Plus and others. This year we have concluded the negotiations with the European Union on "Creative Europe" programme and the Common Aviation Area Agreement. In this regard I would like to specifically highlight that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement has been finalized and initialed. The signing of the Agreement can become one of the main achievements of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels in November. Among the issues on the Armenia-EU cooperation agenda, I would like to emphasize the importance of launching the visa liberalization dialogue that was one of the commitments enshrined in the Riga declaration of the EU Eastern Partnership and is an important component for the enhanced mobility and deepening of people to people contacts. Ladies and gentlemen, Needless to say, that the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the highest priorities on Armenias foreign policy agenda. As you know three days ago a Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Geneva. When it comes to the outcome of the meeting itself everything was clearly indicated in the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers and the Co-Chairs. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere. The Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact. The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval. They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the Co-Chairs will organize working sessions with the Foreign Ministers in the near future. So much about the Summit. As you know the Armenian side has long been advocating for the peaceful negotiated settlement and for the reduction of tensions and all these have been reflected in the joint statement. The meeting of the Presidents after about sixteen months interval was made possible due to the able mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and this in itself can be considered as a positive thing. For the first time in about four years it was possible to adopt, although quite brief, a joint statement with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan together with the Co-Chairs. As you know on numerous previous occasions Armenia expressed its readiness to join the statements of the Co-Chairs, however Azerbaijan always refused to have a common statement. Against this backdrop, it is regrettable, that after the Summit Baku, time and time again, has been engaged in cheap and primitive manipulations, claiming that allegedly an agreement was reached in Geneva to refrain from making any comments not on the outcome of the Summit but the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution as a whole. It is clear, why Azerbaijan does this: obviously it tries to avoid the responsibility for its own destructive policy. First, the damage caused to the peace process by the April 2016 Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh has not been overcome yet. Second, Baku has refused to implement Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, which were aimed at creating conducive conditions for moving the peace process forward. It is well known, that Azerbaijan has backtracked from the agreements on numerous occasions previously questioning its credibility as a negotiating party. Third, Azerbaijan refuses to reiterate the principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution that have been presented by the Co-Chair countries as a basis for the settlement, namely: the non use of force or threat of use of force, self-determination and territorial integrity. Fourth, despite numerous calls of the Co-Chairs to respect the 1994-95 trilateral ceasefire agreements, that do not have time limitations, Baku continues grossly violate the ceasefire. Yes, Armenia is convinced that there is a need to conduct intensive negotiations. We strongly believe that if Baku abides to the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implement previously reached agreements, reiterate its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs and constructively engage in the negotiations that will open the possibilities for moving the peace process forward. Armenia, together with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group will continue the efforts aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means. Ladies and Gentlemen, As I started my speech with the references to the resolutions of the European Parliament, I would like to conclude it also by recalling one of them adopted in 1999, which stipulates that Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence following similar declarations made by the former Soviet Republics. Indeed, Nagorno-Karabakh has never been part of independent Azerbaijan and, as President Sargsyan stressed on numerous occasions, can never be. Ladies and Gentlemen, The coordinated and concerted efforts are essential for the success of many endeavors. I wish you productive deliberations on charting your common approaches and defining your joint actions. Thank you. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is ready to accept the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group, whereas Azerbaijan is not, Australian MP John Alexander said in the Parliament, reports Armenpress. After the 1994 ceasefire the OSCE Minsk Group has been responsible for moving forward the negotiations aimed at monitoring the ceasefire and settling the conflict. The talk is about the three main proposals aimed at reducing tension: withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact, increase of number of OSCE observers in the region and installation of investigative mechanisms to determine which side is responsible for future ceasefire violations. These proposals refer to both sides of the conflict, the Australian lawmaker said, adding that these proposals on establishing trust and security are directed for the stabilization of the region and control of further aggression. John Alexander said as an OSCE partner Australia also has a role on sharing the norms and commitments. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. During the meeting in Geneva the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said in his speech at the 4th European Armenian Convention, reports Armenpress. The peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is one of the highest priorities on Armenias foreign policy agenda. As you know three days ago a Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Geneva. When it comes to the outcome of the meeting itself everything was clearly indicated in the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers and the Co-Chairs. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere. The Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact. The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval. They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the Co-Chairs will organize working sessions with the Foreign Ministers in the near future, FM Nalbandian said. He stated that the Armenian side has long been advocating for the peaceful negotiated settlement and for the reduction of tensions and all these have been reflected in the joint statement. The meeting of the Presidents after about sixteen months interval was made possible due to the able mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and this in itself can be considered as a positive thing. For the first time in about four years it was possible to adopt, although quite brief, a joint statement with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan together with the Co-Chairs. As you know on numerous previous occasions Armenia expressed its readiness to join the statements of the Co-Chairs, however Azerbaijan always refused to have a common statement, the Armenian FM stated. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. After the summit of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Geneva Baku again makes cheap and primitive manipulations claiming that allegedly an agreement was reached in Geneva to refrain from making any comments not on the outcome of the Summit but the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution as a whole, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said at the 4th European Armenian Convention commenting on the recent statement of Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov, reports Armenpress. Baku tries to avoid the responsibility for its own destructive policy. First, the damage caused to the peace process by the April 2016 Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh has not been overcome yet. Second, Baku has refused to implement Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, which were aimed at creating conducive conditions for moving the peace process forward. It is well known, that Azerbaijan has backtracked from the agreements on numerous occasions previously questioning its credibility as a negotiating party. Third, Azerbaijan refuses to reiterate the principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution that have been presented by the Co-Chair countries as a basis for the settlement, namely: the non use of force or threat of use of force, self-determination and territorial integrity. Fourth, despite numerous calls of the Co-Chairs to respect the 1994-95 trilateral ceasefire agreements, that do not have time limitations, Baku continues grossly violating the ceasefire, FM Nalbandian said. The minister said Armenia is convinced that there is a need to conduct intensive negotiations, strongly believes that if Baku abides to the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implement previously reached agreements, reiterate its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs and constructively engage in the negotiations that will open the possibilities for moving the peace process forward. Armenia, together with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group will continue the efforts aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means, he added. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia enjoys close ties with the European Union and intends to expand the comprehensive cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said in his remarks at the 4th European Armenian Convention in Brussels, reports Armenpress. The European Union provides valuable assistance for the ongoing reforms in our country, supports the efforts made by Armenia towards the continuous promotion of human rights and the rule of law, further strengthening of democratic institutions, improving judiciary and effective governance. I would like also to emphasize our cooperation in the context of parliamentary elections held in Armenia last April, the FM said. Edward Nalbandian added that the support of the European Union also extends to different sectors of Armenias economy, including energy, transport, agriculture. Some of them have a regional importance, like the modernization of the Armenia-Georgia border checkpoints and the construction of the high voltage transmission lines. We actively cooperate in the fields of education, innovation, science and culture, including through such programs as Horizon 2020, Erasmus Plus and others. This year we have concluded the negotiations with the European Union on "Creative Europe" programme and the Common Aviation Area Agreement, he stated. The FM specifically highlighted that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement has been finalized and initialed. The signing of the Agreement can become one of the main achievements of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels in November. Among the issues on the Armenia-EU cooperation agenda, the minister also highlighted the importance of launching the visa liberalization dialogue that was one of the commitments enshrined in the Riga declaration of the EU Eastern Partnership and is an important component for the enhanced mobility and deepening of people to people contacts. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Addressing the conference on the Armenian Cause at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 19 October 2017, His Holiness Aram I said, the Armenian Genocide is no longer an exclusive concern of Armenian-Turkish relations; this well-documented fact of history, the first genocide of the 20th Century, has become a matter of historical justice on the global agenda, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia told ARMENPRESS. He continued: Following President Erdogans 2011 overtures to religious minorities, I was convinced that the return of confiscated church properties could be the first step towards the reparation process, and, in that spirit, I wrote to the President requesting the return of the Armenian Churchs historical seat. When Mr. Erdogan did not respond, the Catholicosate of Cilicia, following the provision of international law that genocide recognition and reparations are closely connected, filed a lawsuit before the Turkish Constitutional Court on 25 April 2015, which claimed the restoration of the ownership of the Churchs centuries-old seat in Sis, present-day Kozan. The Catholicos informed the Conference that following the recommendation of Turkeys Ministry of Justice, the Constitutional Court refused to address this matter and proposed to send it to the lower courts, knowing well that we had no effective remedy because only the Constitutional Court has the jurisdiction to address constitutional challenges to the unjust property laws and regulations that deny Armenians even the right to examine deeds at the property register. His Holiness Aram I then said that the Catholicosate of Cilicia, being left with no option, filed an Application on 8 December 2016 before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Catholicos added that following this, the attempted military coup in Turkey resulted in systematic purges of the judiciary, including members of the Constitutional Court and the arrest of many lawyers and judges. Aram I stated: We expected that in these circumstances, the European Court of Human Rights would give us justice; but it had decided that our case was inadmissible and gave no explanation of its decision. Why would the European Court of Human Rights so easily reject our case knowing that no lawyer would dare to bring such a case before the Turkish courts? How could a single judge throw out a 900-page Application, historically and legally well substantiated by some of the best international lawyers? Why was our legal team not given a chance for a hearing? Is everybody now afraid to confront Turkeys appalling record of human rights violations? We are astonished and, in fact, deeply disappointed at this miscarriage of justice, particularly at this crucial juncture of modern history when Europe is expected, in faithfulness to its values and principles, to consider justice above geopolitical interests. Catholicos Aram I concluded with the following remarks: Europe is essentially a community of values, not merely political and economic interests. Therefore I still hope that the European Court of Human Rights will reconsider the admissibility of the case on the basis of justice and human rights. He ended by saying that in spite of the denial of justice, the Armenian people will continue to struggle for justice. The conference was attended by Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, several members of the European Parliament, local politicians, representatives of NGOs and delegations representing the Armenian Communities of Europe. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin, press service of the government told Armenpress. The sides discussed the current agenda of Armenian-Russian allied relations. They attached importance to the further development and expansion of economic cooperation between the two countries, and in this context discussed issues relating to increasing the trade turnover volumes. Other issues relating to the upcoming official visit of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Armenia and the session of the Eurasian inter-governmental council to be held in Yerevan were touched upon. YEREVAN, 19 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 19 October, USD exchange rate up by 0.23 drams to 481.73 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 3.45 drams to 568.97 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 8.37 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.13 drams to 633.72 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 60.97 drams to 19827.71 drams. Silver price down by 2.35 drams to 262.52 drams. Platinum price down by 86.06 drams to 14279.92 drams. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited on October 19 in Brussels the office of the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) organization and met a group of the structure's members headed by EuFoA director Diogo Pinto. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of Artsakh Presidents Office, a set of issues related to the domestic and foreign policy of Artsakh, regional processes as well as the Artsakh-Europe relations were addressed during the meeting. The President rated high the activities of the European Friends of Armenia in providing objective insight into the Artsakh cause in various countries and platforms, establishing and reinforcing ties between our republic and diverse European structures. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Respects and taking into account the interest of each member state is the institutional base of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which gives an opportunity to make decisions acceptable for all the member states and allow maximally utilizing the strategic advantage, ARMENPRESS reports Chairman of Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Tigran Sargsyan announced at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna. He spoke about the economic priorities of the Eurasian integration union, principles of cooperation with 3rd countries and international organizations, as well as presented his view on the opportunities to cooperate with the OSCE. Afterwards, Tigran Sargsyan discussed with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger the aspects for dialogue between the EEC and the OSCE, as well as economic and environmental security issues. Thomas Greminger invited the EEC representatives to participate in the digital summit to be held in January, 2018 under the auspices of the OSCE. Italy is the organizer of the large-scale forum. The EEU has elaborated a development agenda for the period until 2025 that is based on the obvious advantages of the Union transit, industrial, intellectual potential, diversity of raw and natural resources, 180 million-strong market and simplicity in mutual interactions, Sargsyan underlined. According to him, projects that will be able to harmonize with the Chinese initiative Silk Road will be the main directions of EEUs progress. The EEC Board Chairman added that the works on the trade and economic agreement between China and the EEU are currently underway. Tigran Sargsyan specially focused on the cooperation prospects in transport and logistics, the benefits of which will be enjoyed not only by China and the EEU member states but also Europe. The creation of a common transport area, the establishment of trans-border corridors will raise the effectiveness of transportations creating new opportunities for business partnership. In what has become a tradition of sorts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked Diwali 2017 by meeting soldiers and officers of the armed forces posted in the Gurez sector near the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked Diwali 2017 by visiting the Gurez sector near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. In what has become a tradition of sorts, PM Modi spent the Diwali greet troops of the Indian Army and the Border Security Force, distributing sweets and gifts to the jawans and officers whom he called "his family". advertisement Clad in an Army jacket and sporting sunglasses, PM Modi addressed the troops in Gurez, saying, "When I greet you and shake hands with you, you may think it is just a formality. But for me, it isn't just a formality. I get energised when I meet you and see the penance and sacrifice you make amid harsh conditions." #WATCH: PM Narendra Modi celebrate #Diwali with jawans in Gurez Valley, near LoC, in J&K pic.twitter.com/gu2HxLRtq0- ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2017 Speaking about Diwali, PM Modi said that, like everybody else, he too wishes to spend the festival with his family. And so, the prime minster said, he had come to meet the jawans of the armed forces in order to spend Diwali with "his family." PM Modi, whose comments were put up on his blog on NarendraModi.in, brought up yoga during his trip to Gurez, saying he had been told how the soldiers posted there regularly practised yoga. Practising yoga will enhance your abilities, and give you a sense of calm, PM Modi told the gathered soldiers. PM Modi went on to say that the jawans, after leaving the armed forces, could become excellent yoga trainers. PM @narendramodi celebrating #Diwali with the jawans of #IndianArmy and #BSF, in the Gurez Valley, near the Line of Control, in J&K pic.twitter.com/eSfjqPmv57- PIB India (@PIB_India) October 19, 2017 On his Diwali day address to the jawans, PM Modi also brought up his pet theme of 'New India by 2022.' PM Modi spoke of the personal resolve that all Indians must make for 2022, the 75th anniversary of the country's independence. This was the third time Prime Minister Modi spent Diwali with the armed forces. He spent the last two Diwali days with troops in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. On his visit to Gurez, the prime minister was accompanied by the Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat, and other senior Army officers. Click here to Enlarge Have come to meet you on Diwali in order to spend the festival with PM Modi left a message in a the visitors' book, writing, "Protecting the Motherland, far from your loved ones, displaying the highest traditions of sacrifice, all soldiers at the nation's borders, are symbols of bravery and dedication. advertisement I have an opportunity to spend the festival of Diwali with you. The presence of brave soldiers at the border, on this festive occasion, lights the lamp of hope, and generates new energy among crores of Indians. To accomplish the dream of "New India," this is a golden opportunity for all of us to work together. The Army too is a part of it. Greetings to all of you on Diwali." Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah lauded PM Modi for spending Diwali "with the people & troops in Gurez". Physical & mobile connectivity would be your biggest gifts to the area this Diwali jenab. #HappyDiwali @narendramodi Sahib.- Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 19, 2017 Abdullah, in a series of tweets, asked the prime minister to help get a tunnel constructed in the area and to help ensure mobile and data connectivity in the region. "You will have noticed that you can't tweet from there sir. That's because there is no data and almost no mobile service," Abdullah tweeted. DEF MIN IN ANDAMAN Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too celebrated Diwali with the armed forces. Sitharaman was in Andaman and Nicobar, where India's only tri-services command is located. Smt. @nsitharaman celebrating Diwali with the families of Tri Services personnel at Port Blair @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/6JBRNYyHdf- Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) October 18, 2017 advertisement The defence minister reached the strategically important command yesterday on a two-day visit. During her trip there, Sitharaman visited the colonial-era Celluar Jail, which was used by the British to exile political prisoners, where she laid a wreath. --- ENDS --- YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan has signed a decision on holding Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting in Yerevan on October 24-25. ARMENPRESS reports heads of different state agencies have been given relevant instructions for the proper organization of the session. The Heads of Executives of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kirgizstan, as well as Board Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan will arrive in Armenia to participate in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. By violating the ceasefire regime on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line Azerbaijan shows that its not ready to constructive negotiation for the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, RPA spokesperson, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov said after the Executive Body meeting of the party, commenting on the ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan on October 19, as a result of which one serviceman was killed. Unfortunately, by this shooting Azerbaijan showed the existing gap between its acts in theory and practice. By this Azerbaijan showed that it does not respect its international commitments assumed just a few days ago in Geneva and declared by the Co-chairs and the foreign ministers of the negotiating sides. This shooting was not only against Armenia, but also against the Geneva talks, ARMENPRESS reports Sharmazanov saying. He reminded that a joint statement was issued in Geneva and this was the first joint statement of the recent years adopted not only by the Co-chairs but also by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both the Co-chair countries and the negotiating parties point out the necessity of a peaceful settlement in that statement and document that measures aimed at alleviating tensions on the contact line should be taken. And alleviating tensions on the contact line means the implementation of the agreements reached and declared by the Co-chairs in Vienna and St. Petersburg, the Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia emphasized. Sharmazanov hoped that at least now the international community will give a clear and direct assessment. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The People of the Republic of Artsakh declared independence taking into account the international norms and the Constitution of the USSR of that time, RPA spokesperson, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov told the reporters after the Executive Body meeting of the party. If in some countries referendums contradict to the constitutions of those countries, the referendum of Artsakh and the declaration of independence by Artsakh not only did not contradict to the constitution of the USSR but was fully in line with it. And like Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the Russian Federation and the other countries gained independence from the Soviet Union through a legal procedure, the same way the people of Artsakh held a referendum prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, ARMENPRESS reports Sharmazanov saying. He stressed that this point should be the main axis of NK conflict settlement. He stressed that without the full participation of Artsakh in the talks its difficult to achieve any serious progress in the conflict settlement negotiations. No one has the right to decide the fate of Artsakh without the people and the leadership of Artsakh, he emphasized. Eduard Sharmazanov stressed that a number of steps are necessary to take to achieve progress in the talks Azerbaijan should not fire but should be constructive, should implement the Geneva agreements instead of violating the ceasefire, and if the sides and the co-chairs want a quick settlement of the conflict, they should understand that there can be no progress without Artsakhs full participation in the talks. CYPRUSxHamster is looking for a team of male performers to sponsor for the annual Movember fundraiser for mens health. Performers who contact the site and commit to growing a mustache will receive a donation in their name to the Movember Foundation, as well as special promotion of both their work and their #pornstache, on xHamster.com and through xHamsters social media networks. While all facial hair is encouraged and will be supported, xHamster will reward double the donation for the performer who comes closest to a stereotypical porn mustache. The company will work with winner to showcase and promote the work to the xHamster audience, in conjunction with the performer. This November, we want to bring back the Ultimate Porn Stache, says Alex Hawkins, vice president of xHamster. The Movember Foundation does important work fighting testicular and prostate healthtwo organs at the heart of the adult community. We want to make sure we do all that we can do to help save lives and erections for our stars and our audience. In addition to the promotion, xHamster will also be featuring links to the Movember Foundation through the month of November. Male performers who wish to be part of the xHamster promotion should contact Hawkins at [email protected], or by tweeting #pornstache at @xhamstercom on Twitter. SAN FRANCISCO Today, NakedSword Originals' releases episode two of their new spooky and salacious series, The Devil's Deal & Other Sordid Tales, now playing only on NakedSword.com. Episode one debuted last week. Episode two is the first mainstream gay porn release to feature a trans porn star in well over a decade. Viktor Belmont has garnered a lot of column inches since it was announced that he would be appearing in a NakedSword feature and now fans get a chance to see the trans superstar in action. Belmont says, "It was the first shoot Ive done where Im the only trans person on set. But, mr. Pam and I have known each other for years, and she made me feel so comfortable. I loved my experience working with her, and will gladly shoot again with NakedSword!" Episode two also stars Justin Brody, who is fond of mixing witchcraft with religious iconography, so he decides to visit a cemetery chapel for quiet contemplation when suddenly he can't seem to shake the feeling that he is being watched. Justin goes outside among the tombstones to do a seance, when out of no where, moving at an otherworldly speed, a tattood specter (Viktor Belmont) thrusts the sexy stud into another dimension. Lust leads to Viktor sucking Justin's perfect piece of manhood as he experiences new sexual pleasures he had never known before. Justin is almost driven mad by the aggressive sexual dual-spirit of Viktor Belmont, so he mercilessly fucks him anyway he feels like before he pulls out and shoots his load into Viktor's willing mouth. As quickly as he left, he finds himself back at the cemetery only to wonder was it all a dream? Belmont says, "Hes (Brody) such a wonderful combination of sweet and sexy. When we were getting ready for the shoot, we had an almost schoolyard romance. I felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest! His frame felt so good pressed against mine, and hes so damn sensual. Im naturally a very dominant person. I took control from the second the cameras were rolling. But we flipped roles half way through the scene and he really took me there. I think I came twice? Three times?" Mr. Pam says, "I'm honored that Viktor trusted us to do this film with us. I've been involved with the trans community for over a decade and I've seen Viktor out around San Francisco for years. When this unique concept for the series came to life I thought it was the perfect opportunity to cast someone very different and explore another faucet of sex in the gay community. Viktor shines and couldn't have been more perfect in this role. The sexual chemistry is off the charts between Viktor and Justin. Even off camera before shooting they were getting acquainted with one another, so I knew it would be a special scene. I'm really glad that we were able to do an episode that reflects different aspects of sex in the gay community as a whole in 2017. The result is hands down one of the most chemistry-filled and authentically sexual scenes of the year so far!" "North Carolina can point to no meaningful legislative inquiry into what it now rightly identifies as the key issue: whether a new, enlarged District 1, created without a focus on race but however else the State would choose, could lead to [Section] 2 liability. ... To have a strong basis in evidence to conclude that [Section] 2 demands such race-based steps, the State must carefully evaluate whether a plaintiff could establish the ... preconditions - including effective white bloc-voting - in a new district created without those measures. We see nothing in the legislative record that fits that description." Republican legislators have generated criticism for ignoring voters' race when drawing North Carolina's latest congressional and legislative election maps. But recent electoral redistricting rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court could support their decision.An attorney who has represented GOP lawmakers in redistricting cases explained why during a recent appearance on Capitol Hill.That attorney - Thomas Farr - has been nominated to serve as a U.S. District Court judge. During a Senate committee meeting tied to the judicial confirmation process, Farr tackled the issue of addressing race when drawing district lines.said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, referencing a key portion of 1965 federal legislation that was designed to help combat the impact of Jim Crow laws. The Voting Rights Act continues to serve as the basis for taking racial impacts into account when drawing election maps and changing other election laws.Coons asked.Before sharing Farr's answer, it's worth noting that federal courts have demonstrated inconsistency in rulings linked to race and redistricting. During a recent Carolina Journal Radio interview , constitutional scholar Ilya Shapiro of the libertarian Cato Institute offered this technical legal assessment:Shapiro added.Shapiro doesn't consider the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the recent N.C. congressional redistricting case, Cooper v. Harris, to be groundbreaking. Nor does he believe it sets a significant legal standard.Farr offered a different take on the issue while addressing Coons' question on Capitol Hill.Farr testified.he added.Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices of procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group spelled out in the act. People who file suit based on Section 2 often call for "remedial districts," or new election maps, to replace those that are deemed to have violated the VRA.Farr said.he continued.Farr then turned to a key element of the latest redistricting rulings.he said.he said.Farr concluded.In summary form, Farr simply restated a key element of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's opinion in Cooper v. Harris. In striking down a congressional district as an example of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, Kagan wrote for the court's majority:In the Cooper case, this finding ended up helping Democrats and their allies. But it's not clear that this new standard will generate long-term benefits for ideological foes of the Republican-led General Assembly.The GOP legislature's latest congressional map, drawn without taking race into account, already has survived one court challenge and the 2016 election cycle. Legislative maps drawn without taking race into account face legal scrutiny now. They head back to federal court today.If the nation's highest court confronts this issue again, we'll learn whether Farr's assessment of the latest Supreme Court "clarification" proves correct. A federal court signaled Thursday that General Assembly Republicans' gambit to create race-neutral legislative districts may backfire.A three-judge panel in North Carolina's U.S. Middle District Court ordered both sides in the Covington v. North Carolina lawsuit to speed a potential resolution, redrawing 19 House and nine Senate seats that unconstitutionally relied too heavily on race. The Republican-controlled General Assembly redrew the maps saying they used no racial considerations."In order to avoid delay should the court decide that some or all of the plaintiffs' objections should be sustained, the parties are directed to confer and to submit the names of at least three persons the parties agree are qualified to serve as a special master" to redraw the maps, the order states.The judges also could redraw the maps themselves by picking their own mapmaker if the sides can't agree on a slate of candidates for special master.The judges raised that prospect in earlier court hearings.David McLennan, political science professor at Meredith College, said of the judges' order.If the three-judge panel ordered another body to redraw the maps,McLennan said.He offered some empathy for GOP lawmakers because the court returned the case to them without clearly defining a remedy. Additionally, courts are considering so many gerrymandering court cases in North Carolina and across the country that lawmakers have to wonder if anything they do would satisfy judges.While Republicans said they did not consider race when drawing the maps, the judges were skeptical. If the court ultimately rejects these maps, voters may conclude Republicans are incapable of creating fair maps, said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University.in the next election, possibly eliminating their supermajority voting strength, Taylor said.Although redrawing legislative boundaries is a political process constitutionally delegated to the legislative branch, Taylor said courts have shifted that power to outside entities in the past when deciding that electoral maps violated the Constitution and legislatures were not going to solve the problem.The three-judge panel held a hearing in late July after the case was returned to it by the U.S. Supreme Court. They ordered the legislature to redo the maps, but rejected pleas by plaintiffs to order a special election this year. Lawmakers held redistricting hearings and got an earful from unhappy constituents (see here and here ) before submitting the current plan on Sept. 7.Eight days later the plaintiffs filed objections, saying some redrawn districts are still racial gerrymanders. They cried foul on other redrawn that were not included in the lawsuit, saying they could not legally be altered between the decennial census. Plaintiffs had asked for a special master to redraw the maps. State Sen. Rick Horner can quip with the best of them. During a recent debate about school construction needs in North Carolina , the Wilson County lawmaker and former school-board chairman argued that the state lottery ought to fulfill its original mandate by producing more money for local facilities.Horner deadpanned.It was a funny line, and got lots of laughs from his audience of educators, community leaders, journalists, and parents assembled at the Booker T. Washington Theatre in Rocky Mount. Horner, a Republican, joined Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram (D-Northampton), John Locke Foundation analyst Terry Stoops, and North Carolina Justice Center analyst Matt Ellinwood on the panel for the debate, which was hosted by Loretta Boniti, a reporter and anchor for the statewide cable channel Spectrum News.But Horner's point was a serious one. For decades, advocates of a government-run lottery for North Carolina promised that its net revenues would boost education spending in the state.Opponents, including me, predicted that whatever the original language of a lottery bill might be, future legislatures would find it convenient to redirect money to whatever budget hole lawmakers wanted to fill at the time - even if that meant supplanting current education funding, derived from generally applied taxes, with gambling proceeds.I don't think the government should prohibit gambling, mind you. I believe in individual freedom, including the freedom for individuals to make incredibly bone-headed decisions coupled with the responsibility of living with and learning from the results of those decisions.What I and others objected to was putting state government in the gambling business, with a monopoly that would manipulate its marks into bearing a disproportionate share of the cost of government services. The propensity to play the lottery isn't equally distributed, and the resulting tax bite is a regressive one - poorer households spend a larger share of their incomes buying tickets than wealthier ones do.To swap broader taxes on sales, income, or property with a narrower revenue source was, of course, one of the main attractions of the state lottery for some proponents, who didn't plan to play themselves but welcomed the idea of someone else paying government's bill. This was and is bad public policy, however.One way to lean against it - and one that Horner, Smith-Ingram, Stoops, and Ellinwood all endorsed in some form - would be to restore the share of net lottery proceeds dedicated to school construction to the original 40 percent contained in the 2005 law that created the lottery. In recent years, that percentage has dropped into the teens, although state leaders already seem to be headed in the direction of pushing it back up.As the lawmakers and policy experts emphasized during the Rocky Mount forum - the first in a series of " Hometown Debates " on education hosted by the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership and its local partners - school construction has traditionally been the primary responsibility of local government, not the state. Thus dedicating more lottery funds to it poses less of a risk of supplanting other state funding streams, at the very least.During the debate, which was broadcast on television by Spectrum News and on radio by the North Carolina News Network , the panelists disagreed about other funding approaches for school facilities. Smith-Ingram and Ellinwood said the legislature ought to place a $2 billion school-construction bond on the statewide ballot in 2018.Stoops said the 2016 Connect NC bond package should have included K-12 capital needs, while Horner questioned the wisdom of statewide borrowing for local school construction, arguing that local communities are in the best position to determine and address their own needs and that putting out lots of capital projects for bid at the same time across the state would bid up the price tag, given the limited number of contractors available.I don't think a radical rewrite of the division of labor between the state and localities is warranted. But a more-honorable government casino would be welcome. The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day? Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount. Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what so called "Democracy" does exists. Tom Campbell If there were one theme that defined North Carolina's legislature this decade it would be that they are a body of reformers. Lawmakers have reformed elections, taxes, education, healthcare, the courts and state government - and those are just the ones that come to mind.Too often these reforms result in costly lawsuits and our legislators don't have a good won-loss record. It's not that courts are packed with Democrats, as some maintain. The truth is that too many decisions are quickly made behind closed doors with too little consideration given to potential unintended consequences and there is no attempt to seek consensus or compromise.For this and other reasons our General Assembly needs to reform the one area they have conspicuously ignored - their own structure and process.Sitting in the galleries above either chamber one quickly realizes that the legislature isn't a representative sampling of our state. Our legislature is largely old, white, male and either retired or wealthy. The working class can neither afford to run nor take the required time away from their livelihoods. Current leadership has strived to keep both the long and short sessions from running interminably long, but they have failed to control the growing number of called special sessions and, when not in session, committee meeting that require many to be in Raleigh several times a month. Our state pays the price when potentially good candidates are unable to make the sacrifice. We need better discipline regarding the time required to serve.Speaking of price, we don't pay legislators adequately. If we want better legislators we need to pay them better. Each legislator receives compensation of $13,951 per year, plus an expense allowance of $559 per month and per diem expenses when in Raleigh averaging around $89 a night for room and $51 per day for meals. In exchange for fairer compensation we would do away with the legislative retirement plan. If we truly have a part-time legislature we should not be socking money into a retirement plan that rewards lawmakers based on how many years they serve.Term limits are also needed. Too many serve too long. We would suggest leadership serve no more than 8 years and all legislators be restricted to twelve years. Fresh blood will have fresh solutions to problems.Another needed reform is to change the length of a legislator's term from two to four years. When lawmakers constantly have to seek re-election they have to be constantly raising money. To win a seat in our legislature costs a minimum of $100,000, and when you have to raise that amount every two years you go where the contributions money is...mostly lobbyists and PAC groups, who either want to pass or to block legislation from passing.No reform is more badly needed than redistricting. It is incontrovertible that lawmakers currently choose voters, not the other way around. If we want competitive elections with good candidates North Carolina must rid itself of gerrymandering by establishing an independent redistricting commission. Why would anyone want to run in a contest where the outcome is essentially already determined? This one change could easily make our legislature more accountable and more effective.Finally, we need to reform the legislative process itself and return to times when the budget was fully heard and debated in sub-committee meetings, then taken to the respective revenue or finance committees for further discussion and debate before coming to the floor for final debate and a vote.We've made the case and suggested solutions. Legislature, reform thyself. By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Oct 19 (PTI) Odisha governor S C Jamir was admitted to a private hospital here after he complained of chest pain in the morning, Raj Bhavan sources said. Jamir is stable, but under observation, said cardiologist P K Sahu. There was no immediate threat to his health, he said. Born on October 17, 1931, Jamir had also served as the governor of Maharashtra and Goa, and was elected chief minister in the north-eastern state four times. PTI AAM RMS LNS --- ENDS --- advertisement Berkeley student protesting exam. Screenshot via YouTubeshowing students at the University of California, Berkeley protesting an exam, and demanding a "take-home essay with significant time to prepare." The reason? "Our well-beings are being put on the line because of our emotional, mental, and physical stress that [Berkeley] is compounding with what is already going on in our every day lives," according to one of the students in the video.one protester stated.After nearly four minutes of non-stop speaking, one student asked if this was "a filibuster." A female protester was outraged by his sarcasm:You listen! You have to listen, okay? Listen to us, okay? You talk so much already, okay?... Are you trying to silence us right now? Is that what you're trying to do?The student responded:Another protester snapped back:When the protesters finally allowed Professor Harley Shaiken to speak, he only eked out about one sentence before he was interrupted:On a campus like the University of California, Berkeley, I am not about to let 50 right-wing demonstrators -one of the protesters interjected.Shaiken's words fell on deaf ears, as one protester smugly stated:The students told Shaiken that they were going to take their complaints to the Department of Ethnic Studies, to which the professor responded:Kudos to Shaiken for standing his ground. The Daily Wire has reached out to the professor for comment, but as of this publication, he has yet to respond.You can watch the video in its entirety here: President Donald J. Trump Supports Tax Reform for Hardworking Americans News Release: "Your government is working for you once again, not for the donors, not the special interests, but the hardworking taxpaying citizens of our country." - President Donald J. Trump RAISE WAGES AND BRING JOBS HOME: President Donald J. Trump supports the unified framework for tax reform to bring back jobs and raise wages for American workers. Most economists agree that our corporate tax rate harms American workers by keeping their wages down. o More than 70 percent of the corporate tax burden falls on American workers, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, as proposed in the unified framework, could boost wage growth for the median household to almost four times its current rate, according to analysis from Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). o This increase could provide $4,000 in additional income to the average American household, according to CEA analysis. Corporate profits are being kept offshore, benefiting foreign workers and harming our own. In 2016, firms kept 71 percent of foreign-earned profits abroad, according to the CEA. Tax reforms and cuts like those in the proposed framework encourage the investment needed to create jobs so Americans can get back to work and get well-paying jobs, based on date from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. o After President Bush's 2003 tax cuts, the economy created 7.8 million jobs over five years. o After President Reagan's 1981 tax cuts, the economy created 14.8 million jobs over five years. o After President Kennedy's tax cuts, the economy created 12.0 million new jobs over five years. FAIR TAXES FOR HARDWORKING AMERICANS: The unified framework will cut taxes and put in place a fair tax code for American workers. Double the standard deduction so that more income is taxed at zero percent. o The first $12,000 of income for individuals and $24,000 for married couples will be income tax-free. Consolidate the seven existing income tax brackets for taxable income to only three brackets: 12 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. Increase the Child Tax Credit and expand it to benefit more middle-income families and eliminate the marriage penalty. Create a new $500 tax credit for those caring for an adult dependent or elderly loved one. EASY TAXES FOR HARDWORKING AMERICANS: The unified framework will make taxes easy for hardworking Americans and let them recover the hours wasted on filing complicated forms. The vast majority of Americans will be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper. o American individuals and businesses spend more than 6 billion hours complying with the tax code, according to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate. o Individuals spend 13 hours, on average, and $210 to comply, plan, and file their tax return each year. o $33.7 billion is the estimated out-of-pocket costs taxpayers spent on software and professional tax services, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. The plan repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax, which effectively requires many taxpayers to do their taxes twice. The plan ends the job killing "Death Tax." o Close to 20 percent of family business owners say planning for the death tax affects their ability to create jobs, according to Family Enterprise USA. o In 2016, family business owners spent an average of $74,940 on insurance for the death tax and $170,800 on other planning costs, according to Family Enterprise USA Contact: White House whitehouse.gov/the-press-office Late on Tuesday evening, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), one of the more radical members of the House of Representatives, told the media that one of her constituents, Myeshia Johnson, had been called by President Trump. Johnson is the widow of one of the soldiers, Sgt. La David Johnson, killed in Niger two weeks ago. According to ABC News:In an interview with CNN Tuesday night, the Democratic congresswoman said of Trump's comment about Sgt. Johnson: "Basically he said, 'Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for. But I guess it still hurt.' That's what he said." When asked by ABC Miami affiliate WPLG if she was sure that is what she heard Trump say, Wilson responded, "Yeah, he said that. To me that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldn't say that to a grieving widow. And everyone knows when you go to war, you could possibly not come back alive. But you don't remind a grieving widow of that. That's so insensitive."Which led Wilson to return fire:The media are running with the story; Wilson was, after all, present on speakerphone during the conversation. But the level of initial, unchallenged credibility accorded to Wilson is somewhat troubling. It is worth noting that back in May, Wilson stated that Trump was "on the brink of impeachment"; she made her national name by wearing colorful hats and crusading for the imprisonment of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. She's an ardent opponent of Trump's. Just two days ago, President Trump enraged his opponents by stating (in evidence-free fashion) that President Obama did not call the families of slain American troops; it's rather convenient that within 48 hours, an ardent Democrat would come up with a quote from Trump proving his lack of compassion to those same family members.It's entirely possible that Trump said what Wilson alleges. But we're not hearing anything from Myeshia Johnson, who should be the one making this allegation. And we're not seeing a transcript or hearing a recording. Which means that once again, we're stuck in he said-she said land, where various partisan players can choose whether or not to believe their political favorites.Here's the position we should all be taking: we don't know yet. We can have our suspicions, but we simply don't know. Even Wilson's replay of the conversation is a paraphrase, and there are ellipses in her quotes that do a lot of heavy lifting. Did Trump say that Johnsonin response to something Johnson's wife said? Did he say something else that got lost in the ellipses? We just don't know.So let's wait for the transcript or the recording before either jumping to the conclusion that Trump is an unfeeling monster or that Wilson is an exaggerating hack. Is that too much to ask? Featured Post Native Women Speak out at COP27 in Egypt: No More Stolen Sisters, No Fossil Fuel Greenwashing Julia Fay Bernal, Sandia Pueblo, in Egypt at COP27. Native Women Speak out at COP27 in Egypt: No More Stolen Sisters, No Fossil Fuel Greenwa... White Mesa Ute Spiritual March to Shut Down Uranium Mill Mohawk Warrior Society Book Launch Lakota Jean Roach: The True Story of Leonard Peltier Justice for Dad: Taylor Dewey Shares the Harsh Road to Justice Justice Dept Files Lawsuit Against Rapid City Hotel Western Shoshone Ian Zabarte Speaks on Radiation Archive Search This Blog About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com Translate How To Shine Your Shoes Keep Your Leather Shoes Looking New With These Genius Hacks The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Any signature look can be predicated on the way a man wears his shoes. The style. The choice of designer. The shine? Precisely. Its a make or break society were living in, gentlemen. And how a man chooses to polish his oxfords or dressy boots tends to determine how much he values his appearance. Shopping for shoes gets expensive. In fact, most guys barely have the budget for a nice pair of leather monk straps. But owning a fashionable style isnt always about upgrading your wardrobe closet. With the right approach to shoe maintenance, any guy can revamp his entire shoe collection to look brand new out the box, granting him a distinguished presence and saving tons of money over the next few years. Shoe polishing may seem like a tedious and uneventful grooming chore. That's because it can be, which is why most business buffs come out of pocket to have their loafers spit-shined by professionals. However, its ridiculously easy to perform and remains the most budget-friendly option to work with at the moment. Keep in mind were avoid unnecessary costs here. This is where we start seeking out the best shoe-polishing techniques to get the job done ourselves, even if at the expense of losing out on some Netflix and chill time. RELATED: The 5 Types Of Dress Shoes Sure To Snag You The Corner Office Lincoln Stain Wax Shoe Polish Why We Love It: Leaves impeccable shine and requires little-to-no effort. Consistent, crass, and capable Lincolns signature polish is one of those products military types have sworn by for decades. And youre bound to follow suit as a shoe conformist. This small tin offers true polishing performance to service all leathers, sealing damaged areas and withstanding the high activity of your daily grind. Practicality even extends to its design with an easy open-can setup for seamless application. Its use of carnauba wax and other fine materials also makes the polish one of the better waterproof solutions out. Spoil your loafers and plain-toe derbies with long-lasting gleam. No discoloration. No clumps. No dull spots. $6.95 at Amazon.com How To Shine Your Shoes The Post-Shine Prep Before even considering a cream, paste, or polish, youll be required to perform a bit of shoe-cleaning maintenance. Nothing too strenuous. Start by removing your laces to avoid getting any polish on them. Doing this provides enough space to clean the tongue. After that, take a slightly dampen cloth (or shine brush) and wipe away any loose dirt or debris from the shoe surface. Wait for your shoes to dry and move forward. Insert Shoe Trees A solid and sturdy surface is required for shining. Dont be a cheapo and stuff each shoe with rolls of newspaper. Use shoe trees instead to help maintain their shape and simplify the application process. Apply Conditioner First Experts believe starting with a conditioner earns you the best possible shine. Apply a small amount over the shoe and seek out areas suffering from visible wear and tear. Give the edges some love too by applying a dab of the solution. Pull Out Your Applicator Brush No accessory works better for the first layer of polish than one of these. Always remember dark bristles for dark shoes, light bristles for light shoes. Cream-based polishes might require a sponge applicator. Buff & Polish It takes time and practice to achieve a desired level of shine. Grab a polishing cloth and wrap tightly around a finger to gently spread a thin film of polish on areas requiring it. Be sure to do so across the entire shoe surface. Execute short, circular motions with a horsehair applicator to bring out natural shine. Let it dry. Removed Trapped Polish Any brogue shoe collectors will frequently encounter cream or wax stuck in the holes at the tip. You can go the DIY route and pull out some toothpicks to clean them out, but do so with caution for you dont want to expand the openings. Familiarizing yourself with these practices will surely extend the life of your once worn-down dress shoes. Owning the right shoe care products only amplifies such luxury. So start clearing out the closet and make room for some of these shoe-shinning essentials. RELATED: How To Swap Out Your Sneakers For A Pair Of Equally Chill Dress Shoes Woodlore Cedar Shoe Tree Woodlore spares no expense in maintaining the profile of your finest wingtips by carefully selecting each piece of cedar for its shoe trees to absorb odor, sweat, and salt. Were talking three common threats known for altering the shape of each shoe, while eating away at the interior. Its choice of premium wood blesses footwear with anti-moth protection and a natural scent most outdoorsmen will find refreshing. Experts suggest placing them in as soon as possible and keeping them in for up to 24 hours to provide balanced polishing. $25.00 at BespokPost.com Kiwi 100% Horsehair Shine Brush Nothing gives your shoe the natural glow it deserves better than 100% natural horsehair bristles. This is where Kiwis earned its pedigree status manufacturing coveted brushes that promote such splendor. Bristles are gentle, yet sturdy enough to support serious buffering action without scratching the leather. And it accomplishes this no matter the solution: cream or paste. The soft-wood handle fits firmly in hand to sweep smoothly across the toe cap and vamp, as well as around edges. Its the ideal tool for initial polishing and restoring shine. $6.99 at Amazon.com Saphir Renovateur Luxury Leather Care Balm Part cleaner, part conditioner, this pigment-free hydrator is one of those greatly overlooked products that serves as the foundation of your polishing routine with a dynamic formula guaranteed to rejuvenate leather. It relies on mink oil as a key ingredient to soften up the exterior and absorb polish better, even cleaning off any dirt or dust that your brush misses. Many deem it safe for use on light colors and found it leaves a nice sheen effect. The small jar container and small cloth add to its usefulness. $11.99 at Amazon.com Kiwi Leather Shoe Shine Cloth Speaking of fabrics, a soft polishing cloth is essential for earning mirror-like shine. Kiwis 3-pack comes highly recommended by most dress shoe snobs, plus it possesses an Amazons Choice badge based on consumer popularity. Many have found one order to be sufficient for cleaning up a pair or two sitting in their closet. Tough it doesnt hurt to buy in bulk. Use them as well on duty boots or your patent-leather Jordan 11s. $6.96 at Amazon.com Kiwi 100% Horsehair Polish Applicator Designed for smoother application, Kiwis polisher boasts soft bristles to spread any shoe-cleaning substance effectively into folds, seams, and grooves. Flexibility is one of its strong suits backed by a long wooden handle with a medium-stiff feel that supports balanced grip control and application. Several reviews claim one brush is enough to last through 4-5 cans of polish. So the cheap pricing makes it a sweeter deal to where you can re-up on extra brushes when the one in your shoebox kit takes on too much gunk. $5.98 at Amazon.com RELATED: 5 Shoes Every Guys Should Own Saphir RenoMat Clean and Stain Remover Suitable for use on most leathers, Saphir formulated its shoe cleaner as a more aggressive alternative to cleaning soap that restores your footwear to its original appearance by removing all forms of buildup from dirt to silicone. Buff out darker polishes without compromising its original finish. Shake the bottle, proceed with a soft cloth, and work the cleaner into the shoe using small, circular motions. Then let it sit for about 15 minutes before moving on. $14.32 at Amazon.com Moneysworth & Best Instant Shine Sponge For instant, neutral shine jobs, place all your chips on Moneysworth & Best. The brand sells one of the top shine sponges, which supports continual lubricating moisture to retain its shine factor for leathers and other man-made garments. Rubbing it gently over surfaces can clean off lingering debris and leave a smooth finish on beaten materials. Its portable form factor means you can throw it into any carry-on bag and buff on the go. $6.22 at Amazon.com AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. Just For Laughs has announced a restructuring after nine women came forward with allegations of harassment and sexual assault against its founder and now former president. The women are accusing Gilbert Rozon of misconduct spanning three decades, according to French-language newspaper Le Devoir and radio station 98.5 FM. The allegations have not been verified by CBC/Radio-Canada and have not been proven in court. As part of the restructuring, Rozon is officially no longer part of any of the business affairs of the company after he announced he would be stepping down on Wednesday night. Guylaine Lalonde will take over as president, and an independent board of directors will be put in place immediately. Rozon, also vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce Metropolitan Montreal and the man in charge of Montreal's 375th anniversary celebrations, said he would resign from those roles as well. Rozon, 62, made the announcement on his Facebook page Wednesday within hours of the allegations being published online. In the statement, he did not admit to or even comment on the allegations, only saying he was "shaken." Quebec actress Salome Corbo told Le Devoir that Rozon assaulted her at a party in 1990 when she was a teenager. She said Rozon grabbed her and slid his hand into her underwear. "I told him 'I'm 14 years old, I'm 14 years old, I am a young girl.' I spoke loudly and hoped that witnesses around me would react, but nobody reacted. Gilbert let me go and I left." Producer Lyne Charlebois told Le Devoir that she and her partner had dinner with Rozon in 1982, and then went with Rozon to his place so he could change his shirt. "The next thing I knew was that we were in his room, he was on me and I froze," she said. "In my head, the guy that I just met was penetrating me. He met my boyfriend." Fallout continues Following the allegations, M6, a television channel in France, announced Thursday it was pulling the most recent season of La France a un incroyable talent off the air. Rozon was a member of the judging panel on the show, which is similar to America's Got Talent. Story continues Radio-Canada announced on Twitter that Rozon would "no longer be part" of its show Dans l'il du dragon. French-language television station TVA also announced it is taking broadcasts of the Just For Laughs Gala off the air until further notice. In 1998, Rozon pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He received an unconditional discharge, a decision that angered many women's groups at the time. Radio-Canada has confirmed that Montreal police have opened an investigation into Rozon for an incident reported to have happened in Paris in 1994. 'We will listen to you,' mayor says Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said Rozon sent him a text message Wednesday evening that said he was quitting, presumably from his position as head of the city's 375th anniversary celebrations. Coderre said he only learned of the scope of what led to his resignation later on. "I was shocked. I salute the courage of all the women," Coderre said. Rozon was appointed by former mayor Gerald Tremblay as the head of the city's 375th anniversary celebrations. However, Coderre sidestepped a question about whether he would have asked Rozon to step down if he had heard about the accusations, saying that decision would be up to the board of directors. But he said that in this kind of situation, "We would have sent [the board] a message." Coderre also said it is important that victims feel they can come forward. "For me, it's imperative that we protect those who have the courage, and saying [you] can take the time that you want, but we will listen to you, we will protect you." He said the law allows for the presumption of innocence, but at the same time, "we can't defend the indefensible." Mayoral candidate Valerie Plante released a statement about Rozon on Wednesday night, saying her thoughts were with those making the allegations, and she wants to see justice run its course. A movement afoot The allegations come after Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was also accused of sexual harassment and assault, prompting social media users to flood the internet with their own experiences using the hashtags #metoo and #moiaussi. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters during a media availability in Roberval, Que., on Thursday he believes "we're seeing a moment of an awakening." "It's unacceptable for anyone to feel insecure or harassed at work, at home, in the streets, and I think people are beginning to get it. Mindsets are beginning to change and there is more support for people coming forward and sharing their stories," he said. Helene David, Quebec's minister responsible for the status of women, said it appears a global movement has started. "Something is happening right now in regards to a change in the culture, and we should salute this culture change," she said. Montreal police set up hotline The Quebec media scene was rocked by another scandal involving one of its own on Wednesday. Montreal's La Presse published a story containing allegations from 11 people who said TV and radio star Eric Salvail either sexually harassed them or they witnessed such behaviour by him. Those allegations have not been verified by CBC/Radio-Canada and have not been proven in court. Montreal police have set up a special hotline, encouraging alleged victims of sexual assault and harassment to come forward. Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blog spot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. . ..Algemeiner.com..18 October '17..An old adage, often attributed to Mark Twain, states that the truth is stranger than fiction because we dont meet it as often. But readers ofmight wish for more facts and less fiction.When it comes to coverage of Israel, theseems increasingly unable to discern the difference between truth and fantasy. In fact, the paper even contradicts its own reporting in order to advance a false narrative.Take, for instance, the issue of settlements.Thehas featured inordinate coverage of Jewish homes in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), filing dozens of dispatches on this topic from 2015-17 often at the expense of fully covering Palestinian political affairs.For example, an October 6, 2017, article by Ishaan Tharoor claimed that Israeli settlers continue to expand across the West Bank and that negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians only give settlers more time to build settlements. But settlements are not expanding beyond existing boundaries. Most of the population growth there is the result of natural increase not from new arrivals.And to find out as much,could have just read The Washington Post.A March 31, 2017report, for example, was entitled Israel set to approve first new settlement in 20 years. That hardly squares with a description of Israeli settlers continuing to expand across the West Bank in Tharoors October 6 piece. Education Policy California Colleges Dumping Test Scores, Adopting GPA to Define College Readiness Some state legislators were listening last year when a report from Education Northwest encouraged the use of grade point averages and school work in helping to determine how "college-ready" prospective students were. Traditionally, schools have used placement tests such as the SAT or ACT to decide whether a student needed to attend non-credit remedial classes before they could move into credit-bearing courses. Those test-based measures, however, have held some students back from ever obtaining their degrees. Now a new law in California has locked the use of GPA into place, at least for community colleges. Assembly Bill 705 requires those schools to use high school performance in course placement decisions. The new bill authorizes the state's Board of Governors, which sets community college policy, to establish regulations for achieving two goals: 1) to maximize "the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in English and mathematics within a one-year timeframe"; and 2) to ensure that a student enrolled in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instruction "will enter and complete degree and transfer requirements in English within a timeframe of three years." The change could be massive. The state's community colleges identify more than three-quarters of its 2.1 million students as underprepared; most are directed into remedial classes. As a result, those students are more likely to drop out of college. Those who remain take longer to finish their degrees and incur more debt by extending the duration of their college schooling. However, AB 705 doesn't dictate specific placement rules or criteria. Its purpose, according to the Campaign for College Opportunity, is to set standards that colleges must use in their local decision-making. These standards are designed to ensure that placement decisions maximize a student's likelihood of completing math and English milestones. According to the text of the law, the use of placement tests for deciding the early fate of a student tends to "underplace" them even when there's other evidence that those students could have succeeded in college-level courses. "The reliance of test scores as the determinant factor for high-stakes placement decisions runs contrary to testing industry norms," the legislation noted. "Research shows that a student's high school performance is a much stronger predictor of success in transfer-level courses than standardized placement tests." California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley applauded the mandate. In a prepared statement, he called the new law "a win-win for our students, colleges and the state's taxpayers." Presently, he said, "too many of our students are stuck in courses that do not count toward their educational goals and cost them valuable time and money. I applaud the governor for signing this bill that establishes a stronger assessment process and will ultimately lead to a dramatic improvement in our student completion rates. This is an important milestone in the drive to improve student success and the first of several steps our system is taking to put students at the center of all policy discussions because they come with different circumstances and we need to be able to adapt to meet their needs." By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Oct 19 (PTI) Odisha governor S C Jamir was admitted to a private hospital here after he complained of chest pain in the morning, Raj Bhavan sources said. Jamir is stable, but under observation, said cardiologist P K Sahu. There was no immediate threat to his health, he said. Born on October 17, 1931, Jamir had also served as the governor of Maharashtra and Goa, and was elected chief minister in the north-eastern state four times. PTI AAM RMS --- ENDS --- advertisement Networking & Wireless Emory & Henry College Turns to Managed WiFi for Wireless Revamp In an effort to boost recruitment and retention as well as enhance the student and faculty experience, Emory & Henry College has upgraded its wireless network with a managed WiFi service from Apogee. The cutting-edge network extends campuswide, across academic and administrative spaces and 20 residence halls, offering speeds of up to triple digits per device, according to a news announcement. Also included: 24/7 support for the school's 1,200-plus students and 300 staff, available via phone, chat, text and e-mail. "Part of our 2013-2020 strategic plan was to undergo a complete overhaul of our technology services to help enhance teaching, learning, research and the overall campus experience," said Rick Gaumer, E&H vice president for business and finance, in a statement. "We looked at our technology dollars very closely and realized how challenging it is to innovate to meet student demand, recruit and retain adequate IT staff, and create a sustainable business model. Our goal was to exceed student demand, innovate within a sustainable financial model, and refocus our IT efforts on other strategic initiatives." The Apogee solution also provides IPTV services, managed social media, a digital signage solution and a Campus Life Channel. As a result of the network revamp, more students are staying on campus on weekends to do homework, and students' WiFi complaints have decreased significantly, the announcement said. The college has also been able to increase its marketing efforts, touting the technology to prospective students. "The return on investment on students who might leave or never enroll due to poor technology has more than recouped costs," noted Gaumer. Blockchain MIT Pilots Digital Diplomas Based on Bitcoin's Blockchain The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun offering some students the option to receive digital diplomas through an app, in addition to a traditional paper degree. Based on Bitcoin's blockchain technology and integrated with the school's identity provider, the new diplomas are the result of a partnership between MIT and Learning Machine, a local software company. The electronic credentials were rolled out over the summer and offered to 111 students as part of a pilot program. Dubbed Blockcerts Wallet, the app allows students to share a tamper-proof diploma with employers, schools, friends or family. Blockchain technology records each transaction, or block, in a distributed database. Each block is timestamped and encrypted. To alter a particular block, each subsequent block would also have to be altered and the distributed nature of the information renders such tampering practically impossible. Bitcoin's blockchain is only one of many, these days, but Chris Jagers, founder and CEO of Learning Machine, said its prioritization of security instead of speed or ease of use or cost makes it the best choice for something like a diploma. "We believe it's still the right choice for official records that need to last a lifetime and work anywhere in the world," he said in a prepared statement. One disadvantage to the Bitcoin blockchain is that it requires users to create public and private encryption keys. "Blockcerts Wallet solves that problem," according to an MIT news release. "After the student downloads the app, it generates the public-private key pair and sends the public key to MIT, where it is written into the digital record. Next, a one-way hash (a string of numbers that can be used for verification later) is added to the blockchain. The diploma information itself doesn't go onto the blockchain, just the timestamped transaction indicating that MIT created the digital record. Finally, MIT emails the digital diploma (a JavaScript Object Notation file, or JSON) with the student's public key inscribed into it. Because the mobile app on the student's phone has their unique private key, the student can prove ownership of the diploma." Blockcerts is an open-source toolkit Learning Machine built using tools developed by Philipp Schmidt, director of learning innovation at MIT's Media Lab. Mary Callahan, registrar and senior associate dean at MIT, said that the partnership was a natural choice. "It was the perfect confluence: technology developed at MIT and a vendor who was aware of MIT's culture as a community that values learning, at a time when a comprehensive record of lifelong learning was an evolving need," Callahan explained in a prepared statement. Students who participated in the pilot have nearly immediate access to their digital diplomas and can share them with anyone, for free and without involving a third party, such as the registrar's office. Any individual seeking to confirm the legitimacy of a diploma can simply visit a portal and upload a file or paste in a link. The portal then consults the blockchain to ensure nothing has been altered and verifies that the diploma is accurate, if indeed it is. "The Registrar's Office has expanded the digital diploma pilot to include a cohort of students who graduated in September," according to a news release. "Over the long term, Callahan hopes to explore the possibility of offering digital records for other learning credentials MIT students may obtain from programs such as MIT Professional Education, the Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program, and the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program." "Our goals were to build our own knowledge and confidence, while utilizing student feedback," Callahan said in a prepared statement. "We believe this adds great value to higher education." Mobile Santa Monica College Reaching Students with Mobile Santa Monica College is turning to mobile tech to get its students' attention and ultimately boost enrolment and degree completion. The California community college partnered with Modo Labs to deploy a mobile app and communicate with students on their preferred platform: the mobile phone. "Traditional communication methods weren't effectively reaching students e-mails were going unread, creating an inbox full of soon-to-be irrelevant information. Today's student expects to be reached on mobile," noted Esau Tovar, dean of enrollment services at the college, in a statement. "We were immediately impressed by the modern and flexible interface, robust communication platform, and ease of management offered by Modo Campus." The Modo Campus platform is designed to provide a "scalable, highly personalized, engaging, mobile experience to diverse student bodies, visitors, alumni and applicants, according to the company. Students can access the college course catalog, register for classes, view their class schedule and more, all from a mobile phone. In its first few weeks, Santa Monica College's app was downloaded 12,000 times, according to a news announcement. Based on user feedback, the institution has planned a number of improvements, including adding campus maps, financial aid deadlines and full integration with the academic portal. "In the next year, we'll be promoting campus events with special event modules, which you can easily switch based on institutional needs, and also getting more departments, like career services, involved," said Tovar. "The app has already been hugely successful and we're excited to continue enhancing our mobile offerings with the critical information that students are looking for." Mombacho Cigars Cosecha 2012, the first installment of the companys limited edition, single-vintage project is now en-route to retailers. This was a cigar that was showcased earlier this year at the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show The name cosecha is Spanish for harvest. Each release will feature what the company considers to be the best Nicaraguan tobaccos from a harvest year. In particular, Cosecha 2012 features the high-quality Nicaraguan tobaccos solely from a 2012 crop. Its a concept that is analogous to the wine world namely premium fruits from a particular harvest. Its a cigar released in one size a 6 x 52 Toro. The cigars have been aging at the companys Casa Favilli factory located in Grenada, Nicaragua since 2013. Mombacho has additional vintages from 2013, 2014, and 2015 that are currently aging at Casa Favilli. Five years is a long time to wait for a cigar. Claudio [Sgroi] hand-picked the tobaccos for Cosecha 2012 so we cant wait for Mombacho fans to get their hands on this special cigar, said Mombacho Cigars National Sales Manager, Mo Maali in a press release. There is one additional change from what was seen at the IPCPR Trade Show, the Cosecha 2012 now features new orange and gold primary and footer bands that are consistent with the band design implemented bypassing Mombacho over the past year. The Cosheca 2012 is available in ten-count boxes. Production has been limited to 500 boxes (5,000 cigars total). Pricing for the Cosecha 2012 is set at $21.95 per cigar. A unique and rare cigar has landed in the United States. Cosecha 2012 is a game-changer. Get yours soon they are selling out fast! added Claudio Sgroi, Mombacho Cigars President and Master Blender. Photo Credits: Mombacho Cigars MONDAY, Oct. 16, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- State laws that mandate a waiting period before gun purchases were associated with roughly 36 fewer gun homicides per year in that state, new research shows. "We show that waiting periods, which don't limit anyone's right to own a gun, have a large impact on gun deaths," said study co-author Deepak Malhotra, a professor at Harvard Business School. Seventeen states (including Washington, D.C.) require at least some firearm buyers to wait before they can take a firearm home, according to background information in the study. At one point around 1994, 44 states had a waiting period. Sometimes states require buyers to get a license or permit, and that can take time. The researchers launched the new study to get a better handle on the effects of waiting periods. Waiting periods are designed to allow potential buyers to "cool off" if they're angry at someone, or suicidal. The investigators reviewed data on gun deaths in the United States from 1970 through 2014, and looked for patterns in states with and without waiting period laws. Malhotra and colleagues especially focused on the years 1990 to 1998, when the federal Brady law forced some states to put waiting periods into effect. The study didn't examine whether individuals actually changed their minds due to a waiting period. However, the authors did report that "waiting periods have no significant effect on non-gun homicides, suggesting that people subject to waiting period laws do not substitute other means of committing homicide." During the overall study period (1970-2014), homicides with guns fell by 17 percent in states with waiting periods (about 36 fewer gun deaths per year in a typical state). Suicides by gun fell by 7 percent to 11 percent (an average of 22 to 35 fewer suicides) in states with waiting periods. The findings from the years 1990-1998 in particular suggested that "what we had found was a cause-and-effect story, not just a correlation," Malhotra said, because the changes in laws created a kind of "natural experiment" that allowed researchers to track what happened after laws were changed. According to Malhotra, researchers didn't find any evidence that the length of the waiting period mattered. Periods of two to three days appeared to have the same effect as four to seven days, he said. "If the benefit of a waiting period is to create a 'cooling off' period, it may be that a few days is sufficient to do so," he said. Matthew Makarios is an associate professor at the University of Northern Iowa who has researched waiting periods. He said the study is rigorous and "provides evidence that flies in the face of findings from pre-existing research on these types of laws." However, "all we know from the current study is that after the law went into effect, crime dropped. We do not know why," he said. "It would provide a much more compelling argument if we could link waiting period laws to cooling down periods and then to crime. This suggests to me that the jury is still out on waiting periods. Instead of calling for policy change after a single study, what we really need is more research," Makarios said. But Malhotra thinks more laws are the answer. "What makes this research especially important is that it shows that we can begin to reduce gun deaths without further restricting anyone's right to own a gun," he said. "Given that majorities of Democrats and Republicans support waiting periods, as do a majority of gun owners, it is exactly the kind of legislation that policymakers should consider: It is evidence-based policy that is politically viable," Malhotra said. The study was published online Oct. 16 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More information For more about preventing gun violence, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics. By PTI: (Eds: Updating with more details) By Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Oct 19 (PTI) Pakistans anti-graft court today indicted ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in a corruption case related to the Avenfield properties in London. The case was one of the three cases registered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on September 8 against 67-year-old Sharif, his children and son-in-law in the Accountability Court in Islamabad. advertisement The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal. The accountability court indicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country. Sharif was indicted in the presence of his representative Zafir Khan. Sharif was also indicted in Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment corruption but he pleaded not guilty through his representative Zafir Khan. His sons Hasan and Husain are co-accused in both Avenfiled flats and Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment references but their trial would be held separately as they have refused to appear in the court so far. Sharifs daughter has been charged with being the beneficial owner of the Avenfield flats, while her spouse Safdar as an accomplice. He is also accused of not declaring these "assets" at the time of election in 2013. The court adjourned the hearing in the Avenfield flats reference case till October 26, when formal trial would start. Meanwhile, the court adjourned hearing in the Flagship Investments case, the third case filed by NAB against Sharif and his sons, till tomorrow. The court is expected to indict Sharif in this case also, though he is still in London and is sure to miss the hearing. But his legal team and representative will attend the hearing, according to his party officials. Sharif, talking to media in London, once again assailed his disqualification and termed his indictment in absence as "murder of justice". He also announced to come back before hearing of October 26. There were also reports that he would come back on Sunday. Sharif is with his ailing wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throat cancer and has undergone three surgeries so far. Earlier, at the start of the hearing, the defence filed application to postpone the indictment as Sharif was absent due to illness of his wife. The defence team also argued that head of Sharifs legal team Khawaja Harris was out of country due to an emergency and in his absence Sharif should not be indicted. advertisement But the court after hearing the argument rejected the application. The accountability court also rejected another application by Sharif to stop trial until a decision by the Supreme Court where Sharif has filed a petition to convert three corruption cases into one case as they all deal with the same issue of income beyond known means. The court, however, rejected the application after arguments by defence and prosecution lawyers. Sharifs team then filed a third application in the accountability court and asked that all three cases should be changed into a single case. The court also rejected it after hearing arguments. The hearing started at around 9.00 am and went on till after midday. The judge stopped the hearing three times and went to his chamber to contemplate on the different applications. Maryam in a chat with reporters said that it was for the first time that "Sicilian mafia" was appearing in the court. advertisement She was referring to a term used against Sharif and his family by a Supreme Court bench which later disqualified Sharif and ordered cases against the family. "It is for the first time that first decision was given (about disqualification of Sharif) and now trial is being held," she said. Sharif, his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and independent lawyers had objected to the use of phrase by the Supreme Court, saying mafia groups are seldom held accountable or appear before courts with free will. Sharif once again missed the hearing as he has not returned from London. But his daughter and son-in-law were present in the court, said Minister of State for Information Mariyum Aurangzeb. "He (Sharif) has faced courts and he believes in rule of law. He will soon come back to face the cases," she said. Earlier, the court had announced to indict the accused on October 9 but postponed it till October 13 as Sharif was not present. The court during the hearing on October 9 decided to separate the trial of Husain and Hasan from Sharif and his daughter and son-in-law. It also ordered to start the process of declaring proclaimed offender to Sharifs son Husain and Hasan for failing to appear before the court. advertisement Heavy security arrangements were made to deal with any untoward situation. Unlike the previous hearing on October 13 when lawyers created chaos, the situation was totally different, peaceful and smooth. The cases are based on July 28 verdict by the Supreme Court which disqualified Sharif and ordered to launch three corruption cases against him and his family and one case against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Dar has already been indicted and his trial has begun. PTI SH/ZH MRJ MRJ --- ENDS --- Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Beirut, October 19, 2017The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Israeli authorities to stop harassing Palestinian media and to release two staff members of a media company arrested during a series of raids in the West Bank yesterday. Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson for Arabic Media, said in a statement published on an IDF Facebook account yesterday that at least eight Palestinian telecom and production companies were raided, but he did not specify the companies names. Adraee said 11 offices of the companies were raided because they provide services to the Hamas-affiliated stations Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds, which incite against Israel. In early morning raids in several West Bank cities, Israeli forces, in cooperation with the Israeli home security service Shin Bet, confiscated documents and broadcast equipment, and closed the media companies down, according to news reports and the pro-Palestinian press freedom group Journalists Support Committee. Footage on the IDF Facebook page shows soldiers using plywood and metal to physically prevent access to the offices. Notices were left on doors saying that the companies were closed for six months, and warning employees to stop assisting terrorism and incitement. Three of the companiesTransMedia Palestine, PalMedia and RamSatprovide production services, facilities, camera crews, and studios to Hamas-affiliated TV channels including Al-Aqsa, Al-Quds, and Palestine Today, and to international channels including Russia Today, BBC, and France 24, according to the Journalists Support Committee and the local press freedom group, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom. The IDF also arrested two Transmedia staff on suspicion of incitement, according to Adraee and a news report. The men, who are brothers, were named in a Facebook post by one of their relatives as Amr al-Jaabari, director of TransMedia, and Ibrahim al-Jabaari, a cameraman and managing director at the company. Israeli soldiers cannot simply allege incitement and raid broadcasters offices, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said from Washington, D.C. We call on the Israeli military to release Amr al-Jaabari and Ibrahim al-Jabaari, return all equipment seized from TransMedia, PalMedia, Ramsat, and any other outlets, and allow the media companies to resume their work without fear of reprisal. Israeli troops raided PalMedias offices in Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Ramallah; TransMedias offices in Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah; and RamSats Hebron office, according to news reports. As well as allegedly providing services to Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa, the stations were raided for broadcasting inflammatory material that promotes terrorism, according to the IDF spokesperson. Transmedia broadcasts footage on its website and social media of Israeli military raids and clashes, and PalMedia broadcasts more general news coverage on its site and social media, according to news reports and video footage posted on Facebook. TransMedia and PalMedia didnt immediately reply to CPJs calls and emails requesting comment. CPJ was unable to find contact details for RamSat. The Israel Defense Forces has previously said that it is illegal for companies to provide services to Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa because the stations incite violence against Israel, according to reports. The raids came hours after the Israeli government said in a statement that it would not recognize an emerging Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless it made radical changes, including recognizing Israel and handing over its weapons. Major General Yoav Mordechai, head of the IDF Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, was quoted by local and international media as saying after the raids that Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds TV channels broadcast incitement against Israel and have inspired terrorists on several occasions to carry out attacks. He did not mention specific coverage, but the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories Arabic Facebook page linked to a clip of what it said showed instances of incitement. Mordechai did not immediately respond to CPJs request for comment sent via social media. PalMedia was raided earlier this year, in a separate incident. CPJ documented a July 29 raid by Israeli soldiers raided the companys Ramallah office, during which troops seized storage devices and documents. The fate of an inmate convicted of murdering a Montgomery police officer 20 years ago is in the hands of the nations highest court. The Alabama Attorney Generals Office Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Thursdays scheduled execution of Torrey McNabb to go forward, arguing the inmate has failed to show that a challenge to the states method of execution is likely to succeed. (McNabb) offered no new evidence in support of his request for a stay, essentially relying on the same allegations, expert reports, and deposition excerpts that he attached to his complaint and that have been part of the record for some time, lawyers for the Attorney Generals Office wrote. If the high court lifts the lower courts stay, officials will execute McNabb, 40, on Thursday evening. McNabbs attorneys argue that should not take place before a federal district court holds hearings on the inmates challenge. McNabb shot Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon III on Sept. 24, 1997 while Gordon was in a parked police car responding to an accident. McNabb fired at another officer who pursued him before police captured him. At his trial in January 1999, McNabb admitted to shooting Gordon and apologized to Gordons family from the witness stand. Both he and his attorneys argued that McNabb ingested a large amount of cocaine that day, which made him paranoid. The jury convicted McNabb and recommended a sentence of death. That sentence has been upheld in federal and state courts. Alabama executes condemned inmates using a three-drug lethal injection process. The inmate is first administered midazolam, which aims to render the condemned inmate unconscious. After a consciousness check, officials inject the inmate with rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the muscles, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The state has executed four inmates under the protocol since the beginning of 2016. Three executions took place without visible incident. But Ronald Bert Smith gasped and coughed for 13 minutes of his 34-minute execution last December, a reaction similar to other botched executions involving midazolam. Critics say the drug cannot maintain unconsciousness in the face of high-stress events, such as an inmates pending execution. The inmates argue for alternative methods of execution, such as large single-dose injections of midazolam or pentobarbital. The state argues the inmates have not shown those methods would be less painful, or practical. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins dismissed the inmates lawsuit last November, but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered new hearings in the case last month. Citing that directive, Watkins stayed the execution of Jeffery Borden earlier this month and entered his stay of McNabbs execution on Monday. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. Supreme Court OKs execution of Montgomery cop-killer The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for tonight's execution of Alabama death row inmate Torrey Twane McNabb. The execution by lethal injection is set for 6 p.m. at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. McNabb, 40, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Montgomery police officer, had tonight's execution stayed by a federal judge on Monday. A three-member panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday kept that stay in place. The Alabama Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the Alabama Department of Corrections, then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday in an effort to have the execution go on at 6 p.m. tonight. In a brief order issued just after 4 p.m. today, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the stay be lifted, clearing the way for tonight's execution. Justices Breyer and Sotomayor dissented. "Alabama has already carried out four executions using this protocol," the AG stated in its appeal to the Supreme Court. "Three of those executed inmates were co-plaintiffs in this case, and their stay requests were denied by both this Court and the Eleventh Circuit." McNabb has spent the last 18 years on death row, after being convicted of fatally shooting Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon in September 1997. McNabb was convicted on two capital murder counts-- one for killing Gordon while he was on duty, and one for killing him as Gordon sat in his patrol car. McNabb also was found guilty of two additional counts of attempted murder. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Montgomery Advertiser, October 19, 2017: al.com, October 19, 2017 The President, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determined the Administration is unable to certify under a domestic law that the benefits Iran receives from the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, are proportionate to the measures Iran has taken. After completing a review of U.S. policy toward Iran, President Donald Trump announced on October 13 that he cannot and will not make this certification. He also cited the Iranian regimes destabilizing activity including support for terrorist proxies in the Middle East; its financing of terrorism around the world; and its ballistic missile program as part of the totality of concerns he has with the Iranian regime. The refusal by President Trump to make the certification under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 does not mean that the United States has withdrawn from the deal. It means that the Administration will work closely with Congress and international partners to address what President Trump calls the JCPOAs many serious flaws: So that the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons. These include the deals sunset clauses that, in just a few years, will eliminate key restrictions on Irans nuclear program. The flaws in the deal also include insufficient enforcement and near total silence on Irans missile programs. Congress has already begun the work to address these problems, President Trump said: As we have seen in North Korea, the longer we ignore a threat, the worse that threat becomes. It is why we are determined that the worlds leading sponsor of terrorism [Iran] will never obtain nuclear weapons. President Trump expressed the hope that new U.S. measures directed at the Iranian regime -- including new sanctions against Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pursuant to a counter terrorism authority -- will compel Iran to reevaluate its pursuit of terror at the expense of its people[and] will help bring about a future of peace, stability and prosperity in the Middle East. Opinion articles written in the style of their author." These texts are to be based on verified facts and must be respectful towards people, even though their actions may be criticized. shall feature, along with the author's name (regardless of their greater or lesser renown), a footer stating their office, academic title, political affiliation (if any) and main occupation, or the occupation related to the topic being assessed Mariano Rajoy, during a recent interview where he insisted that Carles Puigdemont renounce the declaration of independence. Angel Diaz (EFE) The serious political and social tensions gripping Catalonia right now shouldnt obscure the one thing that can still give us hope: the fact that nothing irreparable has happened yet. Before the situation is allowed to deteriorate further, the leaders who have dragged us to this point, and who share different degrees of responsibility, need to answer the questions of people overwhelmed by an outlook we dont want to face up to. Is the objective of those leaders to push forward without allowing anything irreversible to happen, or is it merely to be successful at imposing their agenda? Since October 1, the only thing that's been at stake politically is the validity of the Constitution in the territory of Catalonia If the answer is the latter, or in any way ambiguous or uncertain, then lets admit it right now: there is no possible solution. In that case, we are not being represented by leaders willing to conform to what is possible, but by fanatics who fail to understand the costs of whats improbable. By making citizens into partners of their scripted crusade, they in turn will become characters that history will remember, not for having bravely safeguarded freedom, but instead for having frivolously endangered our chance for coexistence. The Catalan leaders who have developed the independence program within the institutions established by the Constitution of 1978, thinking they could be seen as what they arent by showing a little nerve or wit here and there, have settled into the mistaken position of portraying a noble image of their cause. Since they claim to speak in the name of Catalonia, in a certain light their proclaiming independence from Spain could seem like a democratic cause except that, in addressing Spain in the name of Catalonia, they have ignored the will of Catalans who do not want independence, and there is nothing democratic about that will being ignored. Obviously, Catalan leaders can claim that this was the reason for calling the referendum, and it was the central government that prevented it. But the fact that the central government prevented it still does not legitimize their use of public institutions as a means to further their own agenda, which is what they did when they decided to use a regional election as a plebiscite and when they legitimized those results in a local parliamentary session that once again completely ignored the will of Catalans who do not want independence. Its even less justifiable to argue that the results of a partial referendum, called by and for the pro-independence alliance alone, is enough proof to jeopardize the future of Catalans, meaning all Catalans. Their initiatives would never have prospered thus far had they met with something other than inaction from the central government Their initiatives would never have prospered thus far had they met with something other than inaction from the central government, which they chose to interpret as resignation or indifference. This feckless attitude permitted them to advance not only in deeds, consolidating institutional positions that sooner rather than later will endanger civic peace in Catalonia and the rest of Spain, but has also reduced the chances of a strictly political response on behalf of those who reject independence. By not reacting politically within the Constitution, the central government, along with other parties that have have not been able to break the paralysis, are now forced to play politics with the Constitution, making it part of the program for Catalonia. Thats why since October 1, the only thing thats been at stake politically is the only thing that should never have been put into question in the first place: the validity of the Constitution in the territory of Catalonia. The pro-independence agenda wants to have it repealed once and for all by de facto means, and the central government is one step away from upholding it through another instrument, Article 155. This suspends the regions autonomy and barely hides what is the states recourse of using legitimate force; legitimate, yes, but force nonetheless, a force that, when applied suspends the possibility of a solution until the return of political order. These politicians will become characters that history will remember for having frivolously endangered our chance for coexistence The crisis in Catalonia is generating widespread bewilderment and even a sense of intoxication that in some cases is expressed as euphoria while in others it is closer to dread. Intoxication is not an ideal state for decision-making, especially when these decisions seem predicated on looking for ways to prove how deeply rooted the will for Catalan independence is, or to prove the strength of the Spanish state. Because if something irreparable should occur in the squabbling, something irreparable in the same streets where people are marching today and where others will be marching tomorrow, the only thing it will prove yet again is that historys ironclad law, the only ironclad law we know, has once again proven itself: that bad governance of institutions always comes before a catastrophe. If, in response to the question we as citizens are addressing to our leaders, they are not willing to commit themselves fully to the conscious objective of avoiding a catastrophe while there is time, should they choose instead to win their cause at whatever cost, then what freedom of what nation or what triumph of what state could ever give us back everything that well have lost? Translation by Aurelio Major and Valerie Miles. Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras, on October 15. ALBERT GARCIA More information Live | Catalan premier threatens formal vote on independence The Catalan premier, Carles Puigdemont, is waiting until the last second to clarify whether he declared independence for the region on October 10, following an ambiguous statement that most observers took to be a symbolic declaration. The entire country is waiting to see what will happen at 10am on Thursday, when a deadline established by Madrid runs out. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sent Puigdemont an official request demanding to know what the status of Catalonia is, or face a partial suspension of home rule. Marta Pascal, the coordinator for PDeCAT, said that a snap election is not on the table If Puigdemont makes a full-blown independence declaration on Thursday morning, or if he skirts the issue again, as he did in his written reply to Rajoy, the government plans to invoke a constitutional provision letting it temporarily take over a regions internal affairs. If Madrid were to activate Article 155 of the Constitution, Puigdemont already has the backing of his own Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDeCat, the former Convergencia), as well as that of Catalan Republican Left (ERC), its partner in the governing coalition Junts pel Si, and of their parliamentary ally, the anti-establishment CUP, to openly declare independence. The central government on Wednesday expressed a willingness to halt 155 proceedings if Puigdemont agrees to call early elections in the region. But there seems to be little support for that option within pro-independence forces. Marta Pascal, the coordinator for PDeCAT, said that a snap election is not on the table. Yet other party heavyweights have expressed support for that option, including former regional premier Artur Mas, under whose administration the secessionist drive got real traction. After championing independence while in office, Mas recently told the Financial Times that Catalonia may not, in fact, be ready for full independence yet. Secessionist leaders in the region are already preparing street demonstrations for Friday In the meantime, Rajoy met with Albert Rivera, leader of the reform party Ciudadanos, which supports the activation of Article 155. Pedro Sanchez, head of the main opposition Socialist Party (PSOE), has also pledged to support the Popular Party (PP) administration if it finally invokes this obscure provision that has never been used since the Constitution was ratified in 1978. But all three leaders know that such a move would meet with significant popular rejection in Catalonia. Already, secessionist leaders in the region are preparing street demonstrations, with direct action promised for Friday. The secessionists reasoning is that the central government will not recognize the outcome of the referendum held on October 1 a vote that had been ruled unconstitutional, that did not meet organizational requirements established by international organizations, and where turnout was 43% on a day when most remainers stayed home in protest. Yet separatists claim that the 90% of yes votes cast that day give them a popular mandate to secede. Their views have been helped by widely shared images of police violence on October 1 as riot officers were sent in to prevent the vote from taking place. A decision this week by a High Court judge to take two leading separatist leaders into custody as part of a sedition probe has fueled the theory that there is a coordinated, Madrid-led action against pro-independence Catalans. In response, messages have started to circulate on social media saying that the time has come to show the power of the people with peaceful action, so the feeling of the people will be heard. There were pledges of direct peaceful actions aimed at forcing the Spanish state to react to the cry for freedom of the Catalan people. It is unclear how many Catalans support independence at this point. An opinion survey carried out by the Catalan Opinion Studies Center (CEO) in July found that 41.1% of people in the region were in favor of independence, and 49.4% were against. English version by Susana Urra. Alarmed. This is how several Spanish diplomats admit to feeling in the face of the boom in distribution of false messages spread by the Catalan separatists and faced with the Spanish executives late and improvised strategy to deal with the crisis in the region . The prime ministers office has hardly a role in this dispute and the Foreign Ministry has distributed six documents since late September with very basic arguments and ideas regarding the conflict to its embassies. Minister Alfonso Dastis is almost the only person facing the international media. Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, listens to his counterpart, Teodor Melescanu, during a meeting in Bucharest. Andreea Alexandru (AP) In the very heart of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys government, it is recognized that the battle to win over international coverage on Catalonia has already been lost, and for many reasons, but mainly because its a battle thats barely been fought. Some diplomats believe the Spanish state has failed in the international media out of laziness and a lack of a coordinated message What some Spanish diplomats stationed abroad consider alarming is that so many years have gone by without quickly and categorically explaining and opposing the Catalan separatists claims as a totally undemocratic objective and [highlighting] that the Spanish state is as democratic as any other country in our region. The prime minister, many of his ministers and other senior central officials in the administration have not taken on that task out of laziness or the lack of an articulated and coordinated message, according to some diplomats consulted. And when they did try, in late September, right before the Catalan referendum on October 1, it was already too late. The government has argued it has more important things to busy itself with. It is clear that the Catalan regional government spends much more time on this task and uses its media resources more effectively. The prime ministers office has hardly done anything to build a common strategy against the narrative and falsehoods imposed by the Catalan separatists. International correspondents themselves admit that when they come to Spain they have serious problems finding a government official to give them a direct version of the facts, let alone on a live broadcast and in a language other than Spanish. The exact opposite is true of several of the top representatives of the regional government of Catalonia. The Foreign Ministry gave their ambassadors the order to encourage direct meetings with journalists However, since late September, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has stepped up its contacts with international media and Spanish embassies. Six fact sheets have been sent, in Spanish and English, with some basic ideas for the ambassadors to use in an interview. The Foreign Ministry gave its ambassadors the order to encourage direct meetings, with or without publication as the final end result, with journalists. In the first two weeks of October, since receiving those instructions there have been 87 interviews on radio and television, and in printed media, nine letters to the editor of various media outlets requesting clarifications and corrections, 91 off-the-record meetings, and about 500 tweets from 60 embassies. Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, who is almost exclusively appearing in international media, has offered 12 interviews on foreign television and radio, held three press conferences, and held five private meetings with media outlets including The Times, The Economist, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and Der Spiegel. In the documents sent to the embassies, which then end up being distributed by the consulates and other services, the conflict in Catalonia is exposed in an often technical or bureaucratic way. On Tuesday, after the arrest of the ANC and Omnium leaders, the documents described what happened, what the crime of sedition is, the facts that were investigated and concluded that in Spain there is separation of powers, respect for judicial decisions and that bypassing the law has consequences. In a previous document, after King Felipe VIs speech, it spoke of a calm, transparent and firm performance of the executive when facing the anti-democratic farce of the disorganized referendum on October 1. English version by Debora Almeida. Educational exposure of ideas, assumptions or hypotheses, based on proven facts" (which need not be strictly current affairs) Value in judgments are excluded, and the text comes close to an opinion article, without judging or making forecasts , just formulating hypotheses, giving motivated explanations and bringing together a variety of data People hold a Catalan flag during candle-lit demonstration in Barcelona on October 17, 2017. LLUIS GENE (AFP) A century ago now, an American senator stated that the first victim of war is the truth. This statement holds true for political and ideological wars, especially in this era where politicians have decided that it is in their interest to harass the media so as not to have to submit to the rigors of fact-checking. The current crisis in Catalonia is no exception. Under a mountain of lies, exaggerations, unfounded rumors and post-truths, there are a series of facts that we the media have the obligation to preserve and transmit, despite a toxic atmosphere that is putting our very existence at risk. Lets consider the facts behind two pro-independence leaders ending up in pre-trial custody without bail. Just the facts, chronologically: On September 20, the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard carried out searches and arrests to stop a referendum from going ahead in Catalonia, after the poll was declared illegal by the Spanish courts. The two major private associations that work in favor of secession from Spain, the National Catalan Assembly (ANC, with 80,000 members), and Omnium Cultural (with 73,000 members), called for protests where Spanish officers were working. One of those areas was the headquarters of the regional economy department in Barcelona. The Civil Guard officers entered at 8am and left three patrol cars with weapons and ammunition inside outside the front entrance. While the police were carrying out the work that had been ordered by a judge, around 40,000 people gathered outside the doors and blocked off the exit. The officers were trapped inside until after 2am, and the last to leave did so 24 hours after having entered. Outside, the crowds broke the cars windows, burst their tires and stole the material. A number of protestors got up on the hoods of the cars. During the night, the two leaders of ANC and Omnium Cultural, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, also got up on the hoods of the cars, with a megaphone. The only video that has circulated of that incident is one of Cuixart saying to the demonstrators on top of the destroyed car: We call on you, as far as is possible, for this protest to disperse. The two independence leaders on top of a Civil Guard vehicle on September 20. For the High Court judge in charge of the probe into the days events, these facts are sufficient to accept the charges of sedition against the two pro-independence leaders, given that she believes that there is proof that they tried to encourage the masses to impede the actions of the justice system. Under Spanish law, the offense of sedition carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence for those who publicly and tumultuously rise up to prevent, by force or outside the legal channels, application of the law, or any authority, official corporation or public officer from the lawful exercise of their duties, or implementation of administrative or judicial resolutions. The pairs trial has yet to start, but the judge in charge of the investigative stage believes that there is a flight risk in the case of the two suspects, or that they will not appear in court. These are the facts facts on which there are a huge amount of opinions. One could think, as the pro-independence supporters do, that the referendum was legitimate and the two activists are unfairly jailed defenders of democracy. One could also think the opposite: that not only do they deserve to be held in pre-trial custody without bail, but also deserve a conviction for having facilitated a situation that saw Civil Guard officers effectively held hostage until the early hours of the morning. These, however, are only opinions. The media should report on facts. We cannot adapt our news stories to a political or ideological narrative, no matter how honorable their aims may be. And that is the part of the press. Then there is the part about Spain as a whole. Spain is a country with the rule of law, and with a democratic system as young as it is complex. Of course, it is not a perfect democracy, if such a thing even exists. Spain has some serious problems: high levels of unemployment, corruption within the party that is in government, inequality between its different regions, and high abstention in election processes. Even so, since 2006 it has scored 9/10 in The Economist magazines Democracy Index, above the United States, France and Italy. Spain also has high benchmarks of pluralism and civil liberties. In its 40 years of democracy, Spain has managed a complex balance: it is not a centralist state such as France, but neither is it completely federal, such as Germany. Its a hybrid, in which there are regions with less autonomy and others with a level of self-governance on a par with that of Switzerland, as is the case of Catalonia. This is also a fact: the Catalans have their own health system, education system and police force, among many other powers. In terms of rights, Spain does not have death penalty, there is a public, universal healthcare system and elections are regularly called on the local, regional and national levels. And above all else, there is freedom of expression and information. After so many years of dictatorship, the press is finally able to operate as Thomas Carlyle defined it in the 19th century: as a fourth estate, one that monitors the other three: the executive, the legislative and the judicial powers. One of the damaged Civil Guard vehicles on September 20. QUIQUE GARCIA (EFE) What is genuinely worrying is that this freedom of the press is in danger due to the Catalan crisis. The starting gun for the persecution that journalists are being subjected to was fired in August, when the Catalan regional premier, Carles Puigdemont, said that an editorial from EL PAIS was miserable for calling for the independence process to be halted given the severity of the terrorist attacks in Barcelona. Journalists from EL PAIS are being called fascists, nazis and murderers. We are being harassed on social networks with insults directed at us and our families. Anonymous profiles post messages saying that they know where we live. Those of us who appear on television have been shouted at and insulted on the street. The atmosphere is stifling, above all in Catalonia. Using activists on Twitter, with Julian Assange taking the lead, and media outlets that are highly subsidized by the Catalan government such as El Nacional pro-independence forces have put a tremendous campaign into action in a bid to silence us or adapt our reporting to their narrative. Even Reporters Without Borders (RWB) has got involved: Driven by the intimidation maneuvers of the executive of Mariano Rajoy, the regional government has gone too far in its attempts to impose its vision on local, Spanish and international media, the head of the RWB office for the EU-Balkans, Pauline Ades-Mevel, has said. RWB has compared these tactics with the campaigns of Donald Trump and far-right movements, and they are. When pro-independence supporters hurl insults at veteran journalists who risked their lives to do their jobs during a dictatorship, and call them fascists, they are acting like Trump, who qualifies every story that he doesnt like as being fake news. Separatist politicians have begun treating the press as their worst enemy, making the entire construct of Spanish democracy tremble. They are seeking any kind of suspicious insinuation among the owners and stakeholders of media companies. In the case of EL PAIS, which is fully and only owned by Grupo PRISA, they have even suggested absurd and ill-intentioned relations such as being behind funding for so-called Islamic State. Anything goes for these politicians and activists, in order to destroy the media and do away with any story that does not bend to their will. Another of the strategies they follow is to say that this newspaper is acting under the orders of the central government during this Catalan crisis. And that is a serious affront, because the independence of this newspaper and its professionals are completely protected from any interference from the powers-that-be by a charter that is an example among the European press. In its editorials, EL PAIS has been and continues to be incredibly tough and critical of the Popular Party government: for not having engaged in politics when it had the chance, for having been irresponsible and indolent with this crisis, for not having spearheaded reforms to the Constitution to grant Catalonia greater autonomy. In fact, it went so far as to support the alternative that was led by the Socialist Party at the last elections. An old photo used to denounce police brutality by independence supporters. That position cannot stop the flagship newspaper in Spain from pointing out lies and inaccuracies. When pro-independence forces say that the police charges during the referendum ended up with 900 people injured, this newspaper has a duty to check that figure. When they claim the day saw the worst violence in Europe since the Second World War, we must reject that statement, because it isnt true. When they distribute old photos to denounce the current violence, we must report this fact. When they call on us to talk about political prisoners, we cannot yield, because the facts do not back up that information. It is true that in the current crisis that the Western model of democracy is going through the press is being subjected to a persecution by political forces of all stripes, whether they be populist, extremist or nationalist. These politicians are availing themselves of the new environment more plural and more fragmented of social networks. The media is facing the challenge of knowing how to operate in this new ecosystem in order to continue to do our job by resisting, no matter how strong they are, the pressures from political power, wherever they may come from. English version by Simon Hunter. Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont on Thursday morning. CARLES RIBAS Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont on Thursday sent a new letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy threatening to declare independence. In response, Madrid confirmed its plans to activate emergency powers that will temporarily suspend elements of self-rule in the region. In his letter, Puigdemonts wrote that if the state government persists in hampering dialogue and continuing with its repression, the regional assembly may, if it deems it opportune, vote on the formal declaration of independence that was not voted on October 10. A democracy cannot accept blackmail Albert Rivera, Ciudadanos The letter conveys the message that Puigdemont plans to carry on with his secessionist plans while admitting that independence was not, in fact, declared on Tuesday of last week, when he delivered a confusing speech in the regional assembly that most took to be a symbolic breakaway from Spain. That event triggered a series of formal written exchanges between Madrid and Barcelona in which the former demanded clarification of Catalonias status, while the latter skirted the issue and demanded talks instead. In line with his strategy throughout the crisis, Puigdemont insisted that his government is open to dialogue but keeps getting stonewalled by Madrid. Government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo gave a news conference on Thursday. Javier Lizon (EFE) Despite all our efforts and our openness to dialogue, for the only reply to be a suspension of self-rule indicates a lack of understanding about the nature of the problem, and a refusal to talk. But by ignoring the ultimatum given by Madrid to drop plans for secession, which expired at 10am on Thursday, this latest letter opens the door to the full activation of Article 155 of the Constitution, a provision that allows the central government to take direct charge of Catalan affairs. This would be an unprecedented step in the democratic history of Spain, a highly decentralized country where the regions particularly Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country enjoy extensive powers of self-rule. Cabinet meeting On Thursday morning, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo confirmed that the Cabinet will hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday to approve the specific measures to be rolled out in the coming weeks, following meetings this week with representatives from the opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) and Ciudadanos. The fourth major group in Spanish Congress, Podemos, is not supporting the move: its leader, Pablo Iglesias, said on Thursday that triggering Article 155 before Catalonia declares unilateral independence would be a democratic step backwards. Triggering 155 procedures now would be a democratic step backwards Pablo Iglesias, Podemos Following the Cabinet meeting, the measures will move to the Senate, which has to approve them. The PSOEs organization secretary, Jose Luis Abalos, said that his party wants the activation of Article 155 to be very, very limited and to last the shortest period of time possible, but warned that democracy and the rule of law cannot yield before this inadmissible threat. A democracy cannot accept blackmail. We didnt accept blackmail on 23-F (February 23, 1981, the date of a failed coup in Spain) and we wont accept blackmail now, said Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera. What is Article 155? It is unclear how far the central government and its allies are willing to go down a road that nobody has explored since the Constitution was signed into law in 1978. Article 155 only contains a generic statement about the possibility of using the necessary measures to compel regional authorities to obey the law when the latter are acting outside of it. In a release, the central government said that it had taken note of Puigdemonts refusal to honor the official request dated October 11. As a result, the government said it would follow the procedures set out in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore the law in Catalonias self-government. Snap election Puigdemont, whose Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) coalition won the 2015 election with 48% of the popular vote, also ignored Madrids suggestion that holding a snap election in the region could prevent the application of Article 155. The Catalan premier reportedly discussed the idea with his Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDeCat) and their coalition partner, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) but it was rejected. The coalition only holds 62 seats in the 135-seat parliament, and relies on the small, anti-capitalist CUP party for legislative support. The radical CUP wants Puigdemont to declare full-blown independence straight away, while the more conservative PDeCat the new name for the former Convergencia, which ruled Catalonia uninterruptedly from 1980 to 2003 with a different partner is taking things more slowly. The previous Catalan premier, Artur Mas, who championed independence while in office, recently told the Financial Times that Catalonia may not be ready for complete independence yet. People in Barcelona protesting the decision to imprison civil society leaders without bail in a sedition probe. Emilio Morenatti (AP) In the meantime, around 800 companies have already changed their registered corporate addresses to locations outside Catalonia, out of fear that an independence declaration could affect their business. These include highly symbolic firms such as Cava maker Freixenet and the lenders Caixabank and Sabadell. Rhetoric of repression Rajoy and his team are aware that triggering Article 155 will lend new arguments to the separatists, who are already talking about political prisoners following this weeks decision by the Spanish High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, to send two prominent pro-independence leaders to jail without bail in connection with a sedition investigation. This move prompted a mass demonstration in Barcelona. Puigdemonts letter alludes to this, saying that repression has been increased, leading to the imprisonment of the president of Omnium Cultural and the president of National Catalan Assembly (ANC), two bodies with an accredited civic, peaceful and democratic history. English version by Susana Urra. Iranian parliaments Audit Court has announced that former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the last 18 months of his presidency, spent 4.6 trillion tomans or approximately $1.3 billion of Irans oil income illegally. On Wednesday, parliaments news website published the report of the court about oil related infractions of the Ahmadinejad government. The court has ordered the former president to repay $1.3 billion to the treasury. The ruling accuses Ahmadinejad that during his tenure oil revenues were spent without proper transfer from the oil ministry to the treasury. Although the court has found Ahmadinejad directly responsible, it has not issued any other measures against him. Parliaments Audit Court has limited powers of punishment. It can reduce an officials pay or at most fire officials from government jobs, but it is not empowered to issue harsher verdicts. The court has alleged that in one kind of illegal activity, Ahmadinejads government swapped unrefined oil with imports of gasoline and kerosene, without going through the legal process of obtaining permits. It has also alleged that a lot of accounts in the energy sector remained unsettled after the former president ended his term. In one instance, the police were given permission to sell approximately $170 million of oil and the money was never seen again. The Chairman of Parliamentary Budget and Planning Commission, Gholamreza Tajgardoon said that the reason for publishing the court decision was all kinds of speculations about corruption in the Ahmadinejad administrations. There are widespread speculations that corruption in this period was astronomical; otherwise how could the country be in dire economic shape when from 2005-2013 oil prices were high and Iran exported close to $750 million of oil. On July 30, the head of the Audit Court announced seven verdicts against Ahmadinejad but the full report was not made public. At the time, the former president dismissed the charges and threatened to disclose a cowardly scenario by bands of power and wealth. He alleged that a cabal was waging war against the former leading officials of his administration. One of them, Hamid Baghaei was arrested and kept in prison for months. The charges stem from a trove of documents leaked from a Panama law firm that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. By AP: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been indicted on corruption charges stemming from leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. An accountability court on Thursday indicted Sharif, as well as his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar. A lawyer for Sharif, who is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. advertisement The former prime minister's daughter Maryam Sharif and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended the hearing and also pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were headed by Justice Muhammad Bashir. The charges stem from a trove of documents leaked from a Panama law firm that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing. Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as "baseless" after exiting the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would "face these cases with courage." The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail. The Sharif family has the option to challenge the court's decision within two weeks however following the indictment a further probe will be initiated. A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said "we knew justice would not be done." Rana Sanaullah said there were "hidden hands" behind Sharif's dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations. Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. In July this year, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a member of the National Assembly in the Panama Papers leak case. The court had also disqualified Pakistan's finance minister Ishaq Dar from office. In the wake of Supreme Court's judgment, Nawaz Sharif had resigned as prime minister of Pakistan. Following a high-level investigation, the Supreme Court had found Sharif and his family members possessing assets in excess of the known sources of income. It had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file case against Nawaz Sharif and his children within six weeks. The NAB had filed three cases of corruption and money laundering against Nawaz Sharif, his family members and Ishaq Dar in the accountability court. (Inputs from Hamza Ameer) ALSO WATCH: Panamagate probe: Pakistan Supreme Court dismisses review petition of Nawaz Sharif --- ENDS --- advertisement Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu Has reportedly told Israeli officials that Moscow has agreed to a buffer zone along the Syrian- Israeli border, where Hezbollah and Iranian forces will not be allowed to enter, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Wednesday. According to the London based publication, an Israeli diplomatic source revealed that Moscow had not accepted an Israeli demand of a wider, 40-kilometer zone, but had agreed to a 10-15-kilometer belt along the border. Russia and Iran are close allies in the Syrian conflict and their cooperation turned the war around in favor of Bashar al Assads government. Israel has repeatedly warned Russia that it will not accept a strong Iranian presence in Syria, which could enable the Lebanese Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian groups to obtain sophisticated weapons and get entrenched on the Israeli border. Based on what Asharq Al-Awsat attributes to the Israeli diplomat, Shoygu told Israel that the 40-kilometer demand was exaggerated and superfluous, and that Iranian backed forces have not approached the Israeli border since Russian forces entered Syria. But Israel seems adamant to drive the message home to Russia that it will not tolerate an Iranian domination of Syria. Hours before the Russian defense minister arrived in Israel, a Syrian anti aircraft battery was hit by Israeli jets. According to the Jerusalem Post, this incident created some tension during Shoygus visit and the Russian defense minister told Israeli officials that the attack was a dangerous hostile operation that almost caused a severe crisis. It is also to be noted that concurrent with Shoygus visit to Israel, Irans Chief of Staff, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri visited Syria, where he warned that Israels aggression on Syria is not acceptable. (Reuters) - The United States accused Iran on Wednesday of violating several United Nations Security Council resolutions, saying it would no longer "turn a blind eye" and asking the 15-member council of Tehran's behavior: "where's the outrage?" U.S. President Donald Trump struck a blow on Friday against a 2015 Iran nuclear deal when he refused to formally certify that Tehran is complying with the accord curbing its nuclear program, even though international inspectors say it is. "Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat. Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing, and unlawful behavior. To do otherwise would be foolish," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council. Most sanctions on Iran were lifted at the start of 2016 under the nuclear deal brokered by world powers and enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution. The resolution still subjects Tehran to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions that are technically not part of the nuclear deal. "The regime continues to play this council. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior," Haley told the Security Council. "Where's the outrage of this council?" she said. "The United States will not turn a blind eye to these violations." During a Security Council meeting traditionally focused on Israel and the Palestinians, Haley spoke exclusively about Iran, leading her Russian counterpart Vassily Nebenzia to later ask: "Perhaps they confused the agenda item?" The U.N. chief is required to report every six months to the council on violations of the remaining sanctions and curbs on Iran. Concerns have been raised that Iran may have violated the arms embargo and that ballistic missile launches were "not consistent with the constructive spirit" of the nuclear deal. Haley also accused Iran of violating Security Council resolutions on Lebanon and Yemen. No council members have proposed taking any action against Iran. Diplomats say veto-powers Russia and China were unlikely to agree to more measures. "If we had hegemonic ambitions the nuclear deal would never have been reached. The new U.S. administration approach and the recent dangerous strategy toward the deal and Iran runs counter to the will of the international community," Iran's U.N. Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo told the Security Council. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The voting of Turkish MPs from Republican Peoples Party (CHP) against Azerbaijan in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is regrettable, Necdet Unuvar, chairman of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group at Turkey's Grand National Assembly, told Trend Oct. 19. According to him, the MPs, who voted against Azerbaijan in PACE, have no idea about social development and democracy in Azerbaijan. Unuvar noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan always and in all international platforms acted on the basis of principles of brotherhood. Thanks to the efforts of the two countries presidents, the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are stable and fraternal, he added. According to him, the actions of the MPs will not affect the Turkey-Azerbaijan relations. The Turkish people and government have always supported Azerbaijan, and will continue to support the fraternal country in the future, said Unuvar. It should be reminded that PACE has recently adopted two resolutions on Azerbaijan, including on The functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan report authored by co-rapporteurs Cezar Florin Preda and Stefan Schennach, and on Azerbaijans Chairmanship of the Council of Europe: what follow-up on respect for human rights? report made by Belgian MP Alain Destexhe. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Leyla Abdullayeva Trend: The Baku Transport Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan has announced an open tender for provision of maintenance and technical support services for a period of one year. All those interested to participate in the tender must send their proposals in two copies, signed and sealed in envelopes. The tender participation fee is 1,300 manats ($765.42 as of Oct. 19), which should be transferred to the following account: AZ88CTRE00000000000008147701 Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN): 1503112971 Bank: State Treasury Agency Code: 210005 TIN: 1401555071 Correspondent account: AZ41NABZ01360100000000003944 Swift code: CTREAZ22 Bidders should submit the following documents: - a written application for participation in the tender; - a bank check on transfer of participation fee; - tender proposal (must be valid within 30 days from the date of opening of the envelope); - a 2-percent bank guarantee (must be valid within 60 banking days from the date of opening of the envelope); - a certificate on absence of tax arrears and other overdue obligations from the Ministry of Taxes of Azerbaijan; - a copy of financial statement for the last one year of activity confirmed by tax authorities; - a bank statement on financial condition for 2016; - companys full name, legal status, charter, country of registration and details; - certificates of origin and conformity with the relevant goods; - other documents. Bidders must submit the abovementioned documents (excluding the tender proposal and bank guarantee) until 12:00 (GMT +4), Nov. 21, 2017 and the tender proposal and bank guarantee in a sealed envelope until 12:00, Nov. 29, 2017 at: Z. Bunyadov Str., 111, Baku (contact person: Tural Mahmudov, tel.: (+994 12) 404 41 20 (ext. 4785). Tender envelopes will be opened on Nov. 30, 2017 at 12:00. Authorized representatives of applicants can take part in the tender. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Trend: Next year, Italy, within the framework of the OSCE chairmanship, will try to contribute to the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Senator Benedetto Della Vedova, Secretary of State of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Vedova made the remark at the conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Italy, the Azerbaijani embassy reported. Vedova highlighted the high level relations established between the two countries in all spheres, Italy-Azerbaijan strategic partnership, efforts by the Italian government to deepen relations, the importance of TAP project and the steps taken by the government for the timely realization of the project, the full support of Italy for further deepening of the cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan. Chairman of the Standing Committee on EU Affairs of the Italian Senate Vanino Kitty, addressing the event, touched upon the relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union and the contribution that Italy can make to their expansion. He further recalled his last year's visit to Azerbaijan jointly with the members of the commission and informed about the meetings held during this visit, positive impressions of Azerbaijan. Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, spoke about the difficulties faced by Azerbaijan in the early years of independence, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the conflict resolution process, the growing influence of Azerbaijan in international arena, the independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan on bilateral and multilateral basis, and country's success in political, economic, social and other areas. He stressed that Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring stability and security in the region. Vice President of the Italian Senate Linda Lanzilotta expressed her satisfaction with the strategic partnership established between the two countries, the dynamics of relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres and spoke about the opportunities for further expansion of cooperation between the two countries, as well as the contribution of interparliamentary contacts to the Azerbaijani-Italian relations. The senator recalled the great geopolitical importance of Azerbaijan for established 'political geography and location'. President of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Italy-Azerbaijan Sergio Divina, for his part, highlighted the importance of the event, the friendship between Italy and Azerbaijan and the excellent relations in all areas. Azer Kerimli, the deputy chairman of the working group on Azerbaijani-Italian inter-parliamentary relations in the Parliament of Azerbaijan, spoke about the history of Azerbaijani-Italian relations, cooperation between the two countries in various spheres, mutual visits, the contribution made by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to the development of ties, importance of the interparliamentary cooperation, the successes achieved by Azerbaijan in the period of independence, as well as the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Italian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Augusto Massari, who joined the event via a video call, stressed the importance of strategic partnership between the two countries, the importance of Azerbaijan for Italy and the opportunities that exist for further deepening of ties. Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy Mammad Ahmedzade, speaking at the event, informed about the way that led the sides to the achievement of the strategic partnership level, high-level visits, a joint statement on strategic partnership, adopted during the official visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Italy in 2014, an important exchange of experience in the cultural, scientific, educational spheres, in particular the contribution of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, as well as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Azerbaijan's expectations in connection with possible contrubutions of Italy's chairmanship in the OSCE in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The event, which saw a very large participation, achieved the goal of highlighting all the way done in the relations between Rome and Baku, the many achievements made and to shed light on the new challenges on the horizon of cooperation strategic between the two countries. The event held at Palazzo Giustiniani Palace on October 18 was one in the series of events organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and Azerbaijan, was attended by representatives of the Italian parliament, government, academic circles, diplomatic corps accredited in the country and mass media. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: The model of autonomy of Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy may become one of the successful models to be studied in the context of the autonomous status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with chief researcher of the Nodo di Gordio think tank Andrea Marcigliano. In his interview, Hajiyev touched upon the prospects of development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU, and Italy. Speaking of Azerbaijan's close ties with Europe, its important role in the fight against terrorism, illegal migration, extremism and radicalism, the contribution to the energy security of Europe, Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan is a "natural partner" of the European Union, including Italy. He noted that intensive talks are underway to conclude an agreement on strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU, and that this deal will play an important role in the development of comprehensive cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU in the coming years. Answering the question about the steps that can be taken to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hajiyev said that the political and legal bases for the settlement of the conflict and the steps which should be taken are known. "The four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in connection with the settlement of the conflict, once again confirming the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, require the complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories," he said. As for the contribution that Italy can make to the conflict settlement, Hajiyev said that the model of autonomy of Trentino-Alto Adige region in Italy can become one of the successful models for considering in the context of the autonomous status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan. Taking into account Italy's membership in the OSCE Minsk Group and Italys 2018 OSCE chairmanship, the consideration of this model could be very useful within the OSCE Minsk Group and Italys experience. During the interview Hajiyev also touched upon such issues as diversification of the Azerbaijani economy, development of the non-oil sector, stabilization of oil prices in the world market. The interview was published in Il Giornale authoritative Italian newspaper. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is impossible without respect to Azerbaijans sovereignty, said James Warlick, the former US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group . He made the remark during the briefing on Averting all-out war in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Role of the U.S. and OSCE" organized by the U.S. Congress Helsinki Commission. He pointed out that the risk of escalation is higher than ever. We need to redouble our efforts for the lasting peace, added Warlick. The challenge is to find the way how the sides can take the last step forward to breach their remaining differences and deliver peace and stability, according to Warlick. Talking about the benefits of achieving a peaceful settlement of the conflict, he noted that as a result of achieving peace, Armenia will immediately benefit from open borders, greater security and new opportunities to engage with its neighbors. Azerbaijan will eliminate the impact of impediment to its growth as a player on the world stage, added the former co-chair. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: The issue of liberation of Azerbaijans occupied territories should be raised in any discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani MP Asim Mollazade told Trend. He assessed the recent statement by former US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick, as positive. Warlick recently said the conflict resolution is impossible without respect for Azerbaijans sovereignty. MP Mollazade noted that the norms of international law on the conflict resolution were flagrantly violated. Peace is possible after four UN Security Council resolutions are implemented, according to him. The path to peace lies through the liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories. On Oct. 19, James Warlick addressed a briefing on Averting All-Out War in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Role of the US and OSCE, organized by the US Congress Helsinki Commission. He noted that six elements, based on the Madrid Principles, should be an integral part of the peace agreement and be accepted as one package. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Armenian leadership would better read the UN Security Councils resolutions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Oct.19. He was commenting on the remarks made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during the 4th European Armenian Convention. "It would be better for Armenian foreign minister not to repeat his nonsense thoughts and at least try to behave as a professional," noted Hajiyev. In its resolutions, the UN Security Council condemns the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, confirms Azerbaijans territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of borders and demands the immediate, absolute and unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces, he said. At the same time, these resolutions once again reiterate that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. "Regretfully, alongside with creating negative experience for the negotiations, this purposeful and biased ignorance by the Armenian side deceives Armenian citizens, as well as Armenian diaspora," added Hajiyev. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: The second stage of the restoration work carried out in line with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs order in the Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil district, construction of 100 more houses and other infrastructure are nearing completion, said Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov. Hasanov, who also chairs the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, was addressing a Committee board meeting Oct. 19. Calling the restoration of Jojug Marjanli the Beginning of a Great Return, Hasanov said this historic event was once again given special attention in the speech by the Azerbaijani president during the last Cabinet meeting, and the second stage of restoration work being done in the village is implemented under instruction and control of President Ilham Aliyev. The most important thing is that as a result of the presidents successful ideological policy, the whole world is informed of the Jojug Marjanli village, its occupation and destruction, and of the fact that the village has already been liberated from occupation and is being restored, he noted. Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on June 15, 2017 on measures to continue the restoration work in the liberated Jojug Marjanli village. 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. By PTI: Ahmedabad, Oct 19 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed around 23,000 BJP workers in poll-bound Gujarat through a telephone conference call. Modi connected with the party workers on their mobile phones through the "audio bridge" technology and extended Diwali greetings to them, a BJP release said here. He also spoke to around 2,000 party workers in his Parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, using the same technology. advertisement Modi told the party workers in Gujarat that the development-oriented policies of the ruling BJP in the last 22 years in the state had made development the main point in todays national politics. He said the people of Gujarat were emotionally attached to the saffron party because they were "progressive and development-oriented". On the other hand, development and betterment of people had no place in the "negative politics of the opposition party", the prime minister added. The people of Gujarat reposed their faith in the BJP because they knew that truth was on its side, Modi said. Addressing the party workers in Varanasi, the prime minister said their contribution was significant in the development of the region. The policies of the Centre had provided new opportunities to those coming from villages, cities, as well as the poor, farmers, Dalits, women and youth, he added. PTI KA PD KRK RC --- ENDS --- Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Samir Ali Trend: The recent remarks by former US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick relating to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement should be assessed positively, Azerbaijani MP Tahir Karimli told Trend. On Oct. 19, James Warlick addressed a briefing on Averting All-Out War in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Role of the US and OSCE, organized by the US Congress Helsinki Commission. He noted that six elements, based on the Madrid Principles, should be an integral part of the peace agreement and be accepted as one package. The MP expressed hope that Warlicks comments are realized in the US activities on the conflict resolution. It would be better if what Warlick has said is discussed in the US Congress and adopted as a resolution, as a statement, Karimli added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: The rule of law is developing in Azerbaijan, the countrys statehood is being strengthened, and successful reforms are constantly held in the governance system, the countrys MP Musa Guliyev told Trend. He said that recent decrees signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initiated implementation of reforms in the governance system, the supreme executive body in accordance with the latest amendments to the Constitution. Firstly, an institution of vice-presidency was established, first vice-president was appointed, the vice-presidents office was formed and it functions successfully, the MP noted. In accordance with another decree of the Azerbaijani president, structural changes were carried out in the countrys Cabinet of Ministers, important measures were taken to ensure that activity of the Cabinet of Ministers becomes more operative, effective and functional. All this is aimed at increasing efficiency in the governance system, bringing it closer to people and eliminating bureaucracy. Guliyev believes that these reforms will continue. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on Aug. 23 approving the structure of Office of the Cabinet of Ministers. The decree sets a limit on the number of employees of the Cabinet of Ministers Office (excluding the Department for Affairs) at 200 established posts. The limit on the number of employees of the Department for Affairs of the Cabinet of Ministers Office is to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received a delegation led by Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani Oct. 19. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys press service told Trend that during the meeting, the parties expressed satisfaction with the development of cooperation of Azerbaijan with the Gulf Cooperation Council and its member states. It was noted that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Azerbaijan and the Gulf Cooperation Council plays an important role in the development of bilateral relations on institutional basis. The recent increase in the number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan from member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council and opening of direct flights have been emphasized as positive developments and the two sides highlighted the importance of further joint efforts in this direction. The parties also expressed confidence that the Azerbaijan-Gulf Cooperation Council Forum, to be held in Baku on October 19-20, will create favorable conditions for the further development of cooperation in economy, trade, investments and tourism. Moreover, the sides exchanged views on issues of mutual interest during the meeting. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Twenty-five documents were today signed in Baku at the 78th session of the CIS Council of Commanders of Border Troops. Addressing the event, Chairman of the Coordination Service of the CIS Council of Border Troops Commanders Alexander Manilov noted that nine issues on strengthening border security on external borders of the CIS member states are on the agenda of the meeting. The meeting was attended by representatives of border services from eight countries. Details added (first version posted at 16:13) Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of the IDEA Public Union, Leyla Aliyeva met with UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, Ghulam Isaczai, the Foundation said Oct. 19. During the meeting, the sides discussed new opportunities for cooperation between IDEA and the UN institutions, including the prospects of joint activities to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals and solve environmental problems. They also exchanged views on the project which is being implemented with the UNDP support to improve the management in coastal ecological systems in the specially protected territories of Azerbaijan. The project is aimed at development and effective management of specially protected areas with the purpose of preservation of unique and rare samples of the biological diversity of Azerbaijan. Thanks to the reconstruction and improvement work carried out in the Gizilaghaj State Nature Reserve complex within this project, the first specially protected marine area in the region will be created in Azerbaijan. During the meeting, an agreement was reached to continue and further strengthen cooperation on environmental issues, issues of sustainable development and others. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with First Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Eshaq Jahangiri in Istanbul Oct. 19. President Ilham Aliyev noted that the bilateral relations are developing successfully, and hailed the political ties between the two countries. The Azerbaijani president said the economic cooperation has expanded, and important infrastructure projects have been implemented between the two countries. The head of state pointed out that the meetings at the level of the presidents contributed to the expansion of the relations. First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri noted that the economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran is developing successfully, and stressed the importance of Astara-Astara railway in terms of cooperation both in bilateral and regional formats. Eshaq Jahangiri said there are terrorism threats in the region, and highlighted the significance of increasing efforts in the fight against terrorism. Hailing the development of the economic ties between the two countries, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that there is a great global interest in Astara-Astara railway project, adding that this project contributes to the development of the economic cooperation in the region. The head of state noted that Azerbaijan is one of the most active countries which fight against international terrorism and spare no efforts in this area. During the conversation, they stressed that Azerbaijan and Iran enjoy good cooperation prospects in energy, pharmaceutical industry, investment making, industry, as well as joint car production and other spheres, and exchanged views over the development of the bilateral ties. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: The fourth "congress" of European Armenians was held in Brussels on October 18-19 with the organizational support of the Armenian Diaspora. Within the framework of the congress, during the session that took place in the building of the European Parliament, there was planned to commit provocations, with the participation of "representatives" of the illegal regime established in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia. Despite attempts by the "head" of the occupation regime, Bako Sahakyan and his accomplices to come to Brussels to participate in the event, as a result of the taken measures, participating of representatives of the illegal regime were prevented in the event held in the building of the European Parliament. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: The Public Relations Department of Azerbaijans State Security Service has told Trend that 619,500 counterfeit excise stamps for illegal vodka production in Azerbaijan, smuggled through the customs control of Azerbaijan-Georgia border, were seized by the State Security Service. The investigation said the stamps were found at certain vodka production spots, where the drink was being made with mix of low-quality alcohol and water. Additionally, many storage tanks for keeping low quality alcohol have been found. A criminal case on the matter has been initiated, investigation continues. The Public Relations Department of Azerbaijans State Security Service said all similar further attempts targeting health of the country's citizens, will be prevented. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov paid a visit to Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey. During the visit, Elmar Gasimov and BHOS Vice-rector for General Affairs Rashad Hasanov, who also participated in the trip, met with METU President, Professor Mustafa Versan Kok and Vice Presidents, Professors Dr. Dilek Sanin, Dr. Mehmet Zeyrek and Dr. Meliha Altunisik. At the meeting, the participants discussed a wide range of issues related to prospects of development of cooperation between the two higher educational institutions. They reached an agreement to set up new departments at BHOS on the basis of Electric & Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering departments of Middle East Technical University. Prospects of implementation of joint projects including student exchange program and dual diploma program were also discussed at the meeting. BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov invited METU President, Professor Mustafa Versan Kok to visit the Higher School in the nearest future. The President and Vice Presidents of the Middle East Technical University highly praised successes achieved by BHOS within a short period of time and expressed their interest in familiarization with, and learning more about, activities of the Baku Higher Oil School. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Customers of the branch of Russia's mobile operator MTS in Turkmenistan can, on the basis of an application, issue a refund of unused funds being kept on personal accounts, as well as funds for non-activated express payment cards, said the company in a message. It should be reminded that Turkmentelecom, Turkmenistans state telecommunications company, disabled international and intercity communication, and internet access services for the Russian mobile operator MTS branch in the country. MTS branch in Turkmenistan said in a press release that due to this, it had to suspend rendering communication services in the country starting from 00:00 (GMT +5) on Sept. 29. When you return money from your personal account, the subscriber number is saved, and you can use it after the resumption of services, said the company. As for the end of the second quarter of 2017, MTS rendered services to 1.7 million customers in Turkmenistan. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has ordered that the probe into the murder of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain be handed over to the NIA. Ravinder Gosain, the RSS leader who was murdered earlier this week By India Today Web Desk: The National Investigative Agency, India's top counter-terrorism agency, is likely to probe the recent murder of a senior RSS leader in Punjab. Captain Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of Punjab, said on Twitter that after receiving a request from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he has ordered the transfer of the murder case to NIA for "better coordination between central agencies & Punjab police". advertisement There was no immediate confirmation from the NIA on whether the agency would begin an investigation into the October 17. 60-year-old Ravinder Gosain, the RSS functionary who was murdered, was shot dead by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants in Ludhiana's Kailash Nagar on Tuesday. The murder took place in the morning while Gosain was returning from a drill at a local RSS shakha. On request of @RSSorg, I've ordered transfer of Gosain murder case to NIA for better coordination between central agencies & Punjab police.- Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 19, 2017 In the immediate aftermath of the murder, the Punjab police constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police-rank officer to probe the killing. An official spokesperson said that orders handing over the murder probe to the NIA probe were issued by Chief Minister Amaridner Singh on the request of an RSS delegation that met him at his residence today. The chief minister acceded to their request taking into account the "international ramifications" of the case, the spokesperson added. CM Amaridner Singh also announced a Rs 5 lakh compensation for the murder RSS leader's family and a government job for one of Gosain's four children. The spokesperson went on to say that the investigations into similar incidents that took place in the past indicated that assailants' handlers were operating from foreign soil. Sharing the RSS delegation's concern over the murder, the chief minister condemned the act, saying there was no place for such violence in the state. Asserting that his government would not tolerate such lawlessness, CM Singh said his administration was taking all measures to prevent such targeted killings. Singh assured the delegation that the state police was working hard to solve all the previous similar cases and that he had issued directions for expediting the investigations. No effort would be spared to catch the culprits and bring them to book in cases of targeted killings, which were clearly aimed at destabilising the state and destroying its peace, said the chief minister. (With PTI inputs) --- ENDS --- Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Azad Hasanli Trend: The moratorium on business inspections in Azerbaijan will be extended until 2021, Ziyad Samadzade, chairman of the countrys parliamentary committee on economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship, said Oct. 19. The business activity inspections have been suspended in Azerbaijan since November 1, 2015. The moratorium is valid for two years. The moratorium does not apply to the inspections of the Prosecutor General's Office and the inspections related to the state security, healthcare, and protection of the country's economic interests. Samadzade noted that a new paragraph will be added to the bill. This paragraph emphasizes that Azerbaijani government agencies must check the quality of medicines and food products, he added. He said that Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers will prepare a list of cases when business inspections must be carried out. They will cover spheres related to citizens health, Azerbaijans state security and economic interests, he noted. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Lithuania was not excluded from the Silk Road initiative, Trend learned from Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communication. Earlier, some media outlets reported that the decision to exclude Lithuania from the Silk Road initiative was made during the meeting between Latvias President Raimonds Vejonis and First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin. Reportedly, Latvia, but not Lithuania was selected as operator for construction of the northern part of the "Economic belt of the Silk Road" from China to the Baltic Sea. Let us reiterate that nobody has excluded Lithuania from Silk Road initiative or the One Belt, One Road initiative on a wider scale. Kazakhstan is free to cooperate with all partner countries along Euro-Asian transport connections, as do all other countries, including Lithuania, said a source in the ministry. The source noted that as mentioned before, collaboration of Lithuanian Railways in the projects of Euro-Asian connections becomes more intense. The latest example could be a new route of freight transporting by rail, connecting Lodz (Poland), Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Belorussia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Chengdu (China), which has been opened in September 2017 in cooperation with the Railways of Kaliningrad, said the source. By 2030 the international trade volume between the East and West transport corridor is planned to account for 1 trillion euros annually as compared to 552 billion euros today. The ambition of distribution network of the Southern part of the Baltic Sea region including Lithuania is to serve 2.3 percent of Asia - Europe trade segment, added the source. The ministry representative pointed out that as the Baltic Sea Region, which Lithuania belongs to, is mentioned in the Chinas strategy One belt, one road, the enhancement of the cooperation with Peoples Republic of China in transport and logistics sector taking an active part in the One belt, one road and becoming a leading supply chain between China and Europe is among the major Lithuanian transport strategic goals. "The goal of Lithuania is to direct as much freight transported from China to Europe as possible through Lithuania. We are completely ready for this we can ensure operative clearance of all required transit procedures, technical and commercial train inspection as well as loading of the freight to 1,435 mm wide gauge wagons and ensuring its further trip to the final destination in Europe, said the source. Moreover, commenting on the issue, Lithuanian Railways told Trend that the information about Lithuanias exclusion from the project is incorrect and Lithuania aspires to take part in this project. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, better known as the One Belt and One Road Initiative, The Belt and Road and The Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy proposed by China that focuses on connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian countries, primarily the People's Republic of China and the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the oceangoing Maritime Silk Road. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: A delegation headed by chairman of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov is participating in the 67th meeting of the Railway Transport Council of the CIS and Baltic countries in Riga Oct. 19, spokesperson for the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Sevinj Gadirova told Trend. The issues on the implementation of the decisions of the 66th meeting of the Council, the outcome of the international passenger transportation for the nine months of 2017, freight cars registered in May 2017 and containers registered in September 2017, will be discussed at the meeting, she said. The peculiarities of applying the various provisions of the agreement among the railway administrations of the CIS countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the mutual settlements of the railway administrations for the eight months of 2017, the tariff policy of international rail freight transport in 2018, as well as the agenda, date and venue of the 68th meeting of the Council will be also discussed. A protocol will be signed following the meeting. The meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of the CIS and Baltic countries will end on October 20. Azerbaijan Railways CJSC has been a member of the Council since 1992. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: OPECs ultimate goal is beyond the oil market rebalancing, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said in an exclusive interview with Trend. The longer term focus is on ensuring sustainable stability, which benefits producers, consumers, the industry, and the world economy at large, he said. "We believe the rebalancing process is well underway. Alongside the positive conformity numbers from the Declaration of Cooperation and the ongoing destocking process, we also see optimism going forward for global oil demand growth. It is estimated to increase by close to 2 million barrels a day from the first to the second half of this year," said OPEC secretary general. Barkindo pointed out that OPEC forecasts healthy demand growth in 2018 as well. "Undoubtedly, this boost in demand will contribute to normalization in commercial oil inventories. It is also important to note that we have recently seen a slight deceleration in non-OPEC supply growth, particularly in some tight oil basins as evidenced by falling rig counts," he said. In December 2016 in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to curtail oil output jointly by 558,000 barrels per day. The agreement was signed for the first half of 2017. On May 25, OPEC member countries and non-OPEC parties, Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan agreed to extend the production adjustments for a further period of nine months, with effect from July 1, 2017. The reductions will be on the same terms as those agreed in November. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.17 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The ongoing tension between the US and Iran over the nuclear deal will affect the decision-making process of various European and other international companies, Francis Perrin, Senior Research Fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, told Trend. "The refusal of the US President Donald Trump to certify that the suspension of sanctions under the July 2015 agreement is appropriate and proportionate to measures taken by Iran to terminate its nuclear program is an important factor of uncertainty which will weigh on the decision-making process of various European and other international companies," he said. Moreover, President Trump indicated that the US would impose additional sanctions on Iran and he called for the US Congress and its allies to work with his administration in order to improve the agreement on Iran's nuclear program, added Perrin. "Of course, as often, President Trump overplays his hand. US allies are not at all ready to change the JCPOA as the strong joint reaction from Germany, France and the United Kingdom shows. The European Union, Russia and China also support the JCPOA. The Trump Administration is thus very isolated but the US is a superpower with a long arm. For several companies President Trump's decision will have a negative impact on their investment plans and projects in Iran as the level of political risk linked to this country will be higher," he noted. Perrin pointed out that there will be a need to study carefully the content of future US sanctions and of the decisions that will be taken by Congress. "The two key issues are: will these sanctions impact directly and indirectly the oil and gas sector? And will the US reintroduce extraterritorial sanctions against non-US companies buying hydrocarbons produced in Iran and/or investing in the oil and gas sector in Iran? Pending these future decisions companies will remain cautious. This situation will very probably delay the negotiation process between Iran and international oil companies," said the expert. As for the current situation on the oil market, he said that the worsening of tensions between the US and Iran has an upward impact on oil prices. "It seems that traders are rediscovering the importance of geopolitics after a period characterized by an oil glut on the world oil market. OPEC and non-OPEC production reductions and the ongoing negotiations between exporting countries with a view to extend the validity of these reductions beyond end-March 2018 as well as the increase of world oil demand are other important factors which must be taken into account to explain the rise in oil prices," said Perrin. He believes that US-Iran tensions could have a medium-term impact on prices. "It is very unlikely that their relationship will improve before the end of 2020, which is the normal end of President Trump's term. It is in fact very likely that a further deterioration will be registered," added the expert. Iran is a country which has a great potential to increase its oil production and exports, he said, adding that if these tensions with the US, the threat of new US sanctions and higher regional instability deter several international oil companies from investing in Iran the rise in its production and export capacities will be slower than forecast. Such a trend could imply higher oil prices as world oil demand will go on increasing during the coming years, he concluded. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.19 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The first gas turbine turbo compressor units to be installed in compressor station of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) near Kipoi, Greece, have been delivered to site, said the message from TAP AG consortium. On 17 October, the first turbine compressor unit was successfully offloaded and located onto the previously constructed concrete foundation within the compressor station, said the consortium. The turbo compressors were manufactured by Siemens in Germany. The power of each of the three compressors to be installed at TAPs Kipoi compressor station is 15 MW. Works at TAPs compressor station in Kipoi started in the second quarter of 2017 and are progressing according to schedule, according to the message. TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries. The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. TAPs shareholders are: BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albanias mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Huseyn Valiyev Trend: Electronic signatures will be free for Azerbaijani citizens starting 2018, a source close to the matter told Trend. Currently, for Azerbaijani citizens the cost of e-signatures issued for three years is 18 manats. In addition, individuals and legal entities engaged in entrepreneurial activities can get e-signatures for 36 manats and 72 manats, respectively, while employees of state institutions can get them for 58 manats. The source noted that it is planned to issue new identity cards in Azerbaijan from January 2018, and given the fact that e-signatures will be integrated into IDs, citizens will be able to get them for free. The validity of e-signature certificate in new IDs will be 5 years. Upon completion of the specified period, it will only be necessary to extend the certificates validity period. There will be no fees for integration of an e-signature in the ID card. That is, digital signatures will be issued free of charge, the source said. E-signature simplifies the access of citizens to electronic services of state institutions that are available on the Electronic Government Portal. Currently, 353 e-services of the total number of approved e-services (455) are integrated into the portal. (1.7001 manats = 1$ on Oct. 19) Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Ashgabat hosted an international conference titled Peace, Stability and International Cooperation in Caspian Region with participation of representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news service reported. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Department for Caspian Sea Affairs under the President of Turkmenistan were the hosts of the event. During the conference, special attention was paid to the discussion of five-sided documents, in particular, to the agreement on cooperation of Caspian states in trade, economy and transport. Today, there are all opportunities for Caspian states to further develop economic cooperation, says the report. According to the report, the Caspian region is of great interest to the international community, primarily, for its rich hydrocarbon resources and geostrategic location. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sapar Isakov discussed a number of important issues with his Kazakh counterpart Bakytzhan Sagintayev, during an official visit to Astana. We just completed the meeting with the Kyrgyz delegation. It was a team of about 30 representatives, which allowed us to hold a detailed conversation on a wide range of economic issues, said the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzan Sagintayev, the press service of the Kazakh Government said in a message. The parties discussed present issues of bilateral economic relations, including the border, transport, phyto-sanitary and veterinary control of the cattle stock and agricultural production, transported through the border of the two countries. We also went over issues related to customs and tax administration, taking into account the relevant rules and regulations of the EEU and the WTO. For example, our customs authorities reveal the facts of unreliable declaration of Chinese goods, transported through the territory of Kazakhstan, said Sagintayev. The countries agreed to develop a joint Roadmap within five working days. The sides will ensure the full implementation of the concluded agreements, after the adoption of the Roadmap. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed the strategic nature of the Turkmen-Russian partnership that meets the objectives of welfare of the two countries peoples, the Turkmen government said in a message. The Turkmen president made the remarks during his meeting with Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in Ashgabat. Berdimuhamedov said that Turkmenistan and Russia are linked by long-term fruitful cooperation, which has a solid potential and is built on an equal, long-term basis. The Russian diplomat reiterated the continued interest of the Russian side in further strengthening and expanding the traditionally friendly interstate dialogue across its entire spectrum. The parties exchanged views on priority directions of bilateral cooperation in the context of implementation of agreements reached at the highest level. Moreover, the effectiveness of the Turkmen-Russian talks, which took place in early October as part of the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ashgabat, was emphasized during the meeting. By PTI: Patna, Oct 19 (PTI) The RJD today said it would hold another grand rally to mobilise the opposition parties against the NDA governments at the Centre and in Bihar. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad told reporters here that the date for the rally would be announced after consultation with the other party leaders. The RJD, which is the main opposition party in Bihar, had on August 27 organised a rally at the Gandhi Maidan here, which saw participation from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad among others. advertisement Prasad said the JD(U) needed to take note that the Centre was in favour of holding the next Bihar Assembly election simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election. "This would drastically cut short the life of the present Assembly in Bihar, which was elected in 2015, and the ruling JD(U) MLAs ought to take note of it," he said. Prasad and his family members are facing a probe into various corruption charges. PTI NAC RBT AQS --- ENDS --- Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has received Moshe Kamhi, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Israel to Turkmenistan, the countrys government said in a message. Moshe Kamhi presented his credentials to the Turkmen president. The diplomat noted that the Israeli government expresses interest in further expanding interstate relations with Turkmenistan. Berdimuhamedov stressed that Turkmenistan pays much attention to building up bilateral relations based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit. During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation. The ambassador said that Israel, which has rich experience and interesting developments in many spheres, is ready to provide Turkmenistan with the accumulated experience and know-how in various fields. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 19 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Specialists of the Incheon International Airport Corporation (South Korea) have been invited to Tashkent for consultations on optimization of operation of the city airports Tashkent 2 terminal. This is expected to increase the level of comfort and services provided in this terminal of Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport, as well as increase its capacity by revising design decisions. Besides, officials of Uzbekistans flag carrier airline Uzbekistan Airways and Incheon International Airport mulled the design of the Tashkent 4 passenger terminal. The capacity of the Tashkent 2 terminal is more than 1,000 passengers per hour. It annually serves more than 2.5 million passengers. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 19 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Tashkent hosted an international conference, titled Islamic Solidarity: on the example of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, on Oct. 18. The conference was organized by the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan, the Muslims Board of Uzbekistan, the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus Muslims Board. The event was attended by well-known state and public figures of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, heads of international organizations, scholars-theologians, representatives of the governments and parliaments of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, as well as the diplomatic corps accredited in Uzbekistan. The message of greetings of Uzbekistans President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the participants of the international conference was read by the State Advisor to the President of Uzbekistan Hayriddin Sultanov. The message of greetings of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was read by the Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations of Azerbaijan Mubariz Gurbanli. The conference was aimed at popularizing the ideas that are historically formed in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan for religious tolerance and interethnic harmony, maintaining peace and tranquility, interreligious tolerance and cooperation, protecting people, especially the younger generation, from alien ideas, broad promotion of the achieved results. At the conference, issues such as freedom of religion, interreligious dialogue, religious and national values, severe consequences of extremism and terrorism, and their threat to international stability were discussed on the example of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The forum demonstrated the commitment of the two countries to the ideas of religious solidarity and tolerance, the traditions of interreligious dialogue, a joint position on countering current threats and challenges was developed. The international conference served to raising the scientific and cultural cooperation between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan to a new level of development, contributed to bringing the peaceful and creative essence of Islam to the world community. Following the event, a communique of the conference was adopted. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 19 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: The Uzbek Justice Ministry has released a mobile inspection registration app. According to the ministry, while using the e-digital signature, a business entity (user) must visit www.etk.minjust.uz website and receive a password to use a mobile inspection registration app. The business entities can review the legislation regulating this sphere and the schedule of inspections, send appeals to the single portal of interactive state services portal and the justice bodies through a mobile inspection registration app. This system is of great importance for assessing the legality of inspections. It is a mechanism that limits illegal inspections. Moreover, it serves as an additional factor in restoring the violated rights and interests of business entities. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct. 19 By Diana Aliyeva Trend: Executive Director of the Open World Leadership Center John OKeeffe and a delegation of Uzbekistan, on a visit to the US, discussed the ways to expand the Uzbek-US interparliamentary cooperation at the Library of the US Congress in Washington. During the meeting, the delegation led by Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Foreign Economic Relations, Foreign Investment and Tourism of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis Alisher Kurmanov also discussed an exchange of visits of legislators of the two countries and development of parliamentary diplomacy tools. The Open World Leadership Center was founded in 1999 upon the decision of the US Congress. The center organizes exchange programs to promote the development of public diplomacy. During the visit the Uzbek delegation will hold several meetings with representatives of the US Congress and Administration, as well as experts from leading US think tanks. The Uzbek delegation will also hold a briefing in the Senate with participation of representatives of the US political, business, expert, analytical and public circles. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Azer Ahmadbayli Trend: For decades France has been one of the most outstanding trade partners of Iran, and after signing a JCPOA in 2015 France remained true to its Iran-related economic policy. The proof - Total, France-based Airbus, Renault and Alstom, which made multibillion contracts with Tehran just recently. Now, while there is complete uncertainty in regards to possible return of (at least) US sanctions, France has been concerned about incurring losses. President Macron has strongly defended safety of the nuclear deal trying to persuade official Washington to keep it intact and, on the other hand, to ensure unified European position over the issue. But it seems that Totals top management can voice what the French Government would not want to hear about. Totals Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in an interview with International Oil Daily that the company would wait to see the consequences of Trumps decision, and if there are any laws that obliges it to withdraw from Iran, then it will comply, Reuters reported. The company would wait to see the consequences of Trumps decision is clear admission of that the US position cant be ignored. In July Total signed a deal with Tehran to develop phase 11 of Irans South Pars, the worlds largest gas field, having made a symbolic step to return into Irans energy market where it was the biggest investor once. However, it was not sentimentalism. It is worth taking the risk at $1 billion because it opens a huge market, Pouyanne said in his summer interview. The project is estimated to cost almost $5 billion with $1 billion to be invested at the initial stage. The FID has not been taken yet. Meanwhile, Pouyannes comments could be interpreted differently. Which laws that obliges it [Total] to withdraw from Iran will be taken into account - Iranian, French or international? Maybe a US law? When Mr. Pouyanne is speaking about laws he probably means complying with the international law which is the UN resolutions, or French and Iranian law, Narsi Ghorban, Iranian energy expert and the Managing Director of Narkangan Gas To Liquid International Company, told Trend. The expert ruled out that Total would consider the US law and its possible unilateral sanctions against Iran as a serious obstacle to the companys business with the Islamic Republic. However, the projects development still depends on direct and indirect effect of US sanctions, if re-applied. It can also depend on the kind of sanctions. Petropars which has a 19.9 percent share in the project is not affiliated with Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). If sanctions affect only IRGC, then Total will likely go on with the project. But if sanctions cover the entire oil and gas sector, Total probably will have to pack up and go. Even so, Total seems ready for that as, according to Pouyanne, we are perfectly conscious of some risks. We have taken into account (sanctions) snap-backs; we have to take into account regulation changes. Another side of this complicated issue is that even if Washingtons European allies stay firm against the US unilateral sanctions, they could face blockage of financial flows necessary to feed any economic activities in Iran (a law that restricts the access of third-country financial institutions making transactions with Iran, to the US market). Total was going to finance the project in euros due to US ban to trade with Iran in US dollars. Could this detail help move the project further? Washington has also an option to implement the cherry-picking approach to allow international companies enter Irans market by proposing amendments in its Iran-related sanctions bill. All those things are clear to be only assumptions and the real story will become known soon, but there are factors that nevertheless will have an influence on taking the US decision: European allies position and Irans possible response. According to Congressional Research Service Report prepared for Members and Committees of US Congress, if U.S. sanctions are re-imposed, Iran might potentially use the justification in Paragraph 26 of the JCPOA to cease performing its nuclear commitments. Irans reaction might depend on whether other parties to the JCPOA, and companies in those countries, re-impose sanctions or exit the Iran market in response to the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: The latest statistics by Iranian transportation organization proves that Turkey has played a significant role in exports of goods to Iran through roads in recent months. According to Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, Turkey accounted for 64 percent of goods exported to Iran by trucks over the first half of the current fiscal year (starting March 20). About one million tons of freight was imported into Iran through road checkpoints across the country, indicating an increase of 12 percent year on year. In the meantime, Irans exports through its road checkpoints amounted to three million tons, indicating an increase of two percent. Meanwhile, oil products amounted for 25 percent of the countrys exports in the mentioned period. The non-oil products accounted for 99 percent of the countrys imports. In this period of time, Iranian trucks transported 69 percent of the countrys exported goods and 44 percent of goods imported into the country. Tehran, Iran, October 18 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: After a long period of no-show of the banking benefits of Irans landmark nuclear deal with world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it seems that Iranian businesses are at last starting to enjoy the benefits that followed the deal. The deal, reached in 2015 and implemented in January 2016, removed international sanctions on Iran in return for limiting Irans nuclear program. However, international banks seemed hesitant to start working with Iranian clients, fearing punishment by the United States, whose Treasury had previously exacted heavy fines from some violators of embargoes on Iran. Now after nearly two years, Iranian companies are saying that they have managed upon occasions to engage in financial transactions with partners overseas. "Recently we imported steel rolls from Japan. We worked directly with a Japanese bank instead of using a third party as was the norm when Iran was under sanctions," Amir Mansouri, the head of promotion at Calup Corp. told Trend October 18. Calup is a manufacturer of pipes used in water, oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. It is currently providing 900-km 12-inch tubes with 6.35 mm thickness based on API 5L-Gr B standard for the National Iranian Gas Company, as well as 85-km 12-inch tubes with 6.35 mm thickness based on API 5L Grade X42 for Khuzestan Gas Company. "It has become much easier to open SWIFT connections directly and also to open lines of credit," he noted. Thanks to such developments, he said, the company is also improving its markets abroad, including in Iraq and Turkmenistan. Iranian banks, their overseas branches and affiliates were officially removed from SWIFT's list of sanctions in January 2016 as the embargo against the country was officially lifted when Iran's nuclear deal with global powers came into effect. In March, Valiollah Seif, the governor of Central Bank of Iran, reported that the countrys banking system had established relations with 264 foreign banks since the lifting of the sanctions. Although sanctions had been lifted, US measures, including a ban on dollar trading and a freeze on US banks engaging in trade, remain in place. This left for some time many non-US banks and insurers wary of processing transactions with Iran. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: An important and first step in the restoration of Iraqs integrity is to withdraw Peshmerga military forces from Iraqs city of Kirkuk, which is of strategic importance. As is known, not only the Iraqi Armed Forces, but also Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi forces were involved in the liberation of Kirkuk city. During the liberation operation, the Turkish Foreign Ministry made two statements and called the Iraqi authorities for restoring the ethnicity of the city that is, creating conditions for ethnic Turkmans who were driven out by the Peshmerga forces, to return to their historical lands. But the Iraqi authorities have not reacted to this appeal. Turkey, in its turn, welcomed the restoration of Iraqs integrity. The Iraqi Armed Forces and Hashd al-Shaabi have recently established control over the Bashiqa town, where once the Peshmerga forces were trained. The Turkish military base is also located in Bashiqa town. Once Baghdad and Ankara had serious problems due to Turkey's military base in Iraq. The foreign ministers of the countries of the League of Arab States (LAS) held an emergency meeting in 2015 to discuss the presence of Turkish troops there. LAS Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said that the presence of Turkish troops, which was not coordinated with the Iraqi authorities, violates the norms of international law and Iraqs sovereignty. Turkey has explained that the presence of its military contingent in Bashiqa town is aimed at training of Peshmerga forces against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group. At that time, Ankara and Erbil were allies, but today there is a completely different situation in Iraq. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that chaos in the region is observed due to Erbil, led by Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). That is, it is possible to say that after the referendum on independence in Iraqs Kurdish autonomous region, Ankara lost its ally, against which it imposed economic sanctions. As a result of the recent military actions, the Kurdish autonomous region lost such important cities as Kirkuk, Sinjar, Mukhmur, Celavla, Hanekin within 48 hours, while Baghdad has been demanding to withdraw the Peshmerga forces from Sulaymaniyah city. The Iraqi Armed Forces managed to barely control previously lost lands and the authorities still hope that it would be possible to establish full control over Iraq. And the Iraqi authorities are unlikely to make any concessions to their new "ally" - Turkey. After the establishment of control over Sulaimaniya city, Baghdad will be able to demand Ankara to immediately withdraw its military contingent from Bashiqa town. Earlier, Hashd al-Shaabi announced its readiness to fight the Turkish army if Turkey does not withdraw its military contingent from Bashiqa town. Iraq will unlikely to fulfill Turkey's demand for the restoration of the ethnicity in Kirkuk city. Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Alan Hope - Trend: On Oct. 1, Spains autonomous region of Catalonia, defying Madrids warnings, had staged a unilateral referendum on independence, which was preceded by a secession campaign full of Nazi slogans advocating Catalan supremacy. While Spains future as a unitary state, as well as its political system and economic prosperity hang in limbo, the world awaits Barcelonas response to the deadline on clarification of the independence declaration set for 10 A.M. on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, an increasing number of high-ranking European politicians, concerned with the possibility of a dramatic uprising of separatism in the Union, swirl away from the previous internal issue of Spain interpretation of events, urging Madrid to firm its grip and even support Rajoys threat of a nuclear option, the enactment of Article 155. Referendum in a scope At first glance, Catalan referendum should have had a limited geopolitical scope, since the Generalitats government has reaffirmed its pro-Europe nature, while the fringe of the parliamentary leftists had proposed a non-committed Republican form of a state. Nevertheless, the events have raised tensions within the EU and created a chain of additional institutional difficulties, which, on top of Macron proposed EU reform initiative, present particular interest to three other players, having outstanding issues with Brussels the Transatlantic Union (US and UK), Russia and China. EUs double standards The first key element to understanding the problems created by the Catalan referendum for EU is based on the European attitude towards the self-determination and territorial integrity principles of the Helsinki Accords. For a long time EU politicians had exercised the Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi (What is permissible for Jupiter is not for cattle) principle, supporting separatists in Eastern Europe (Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, etc.), while bashing the unionists by accusing them of violating Helsinki Accords' Human Rights principles. Well, sooner or later this kind of mistreatment and mismanagement of the Helsinki Act was bound to backfire. As such, ignited by the Catalan events, residents in Italys Northern League-governed Lombardy and Veneto regions, seeking greater autonomy from Rome, will hold their own referendum on Oct. 22. Thus, it is not surprising that the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had openly voiced his concern over a possibility of unmanageable 98, rather than currently barely manageable 28 states having their say on Brussels' future. EUs decision on Catalonia The second element of the puzzle is associated with the dilemma of a quick resolution for Catalonias probable new role. The proclamation of Catalan independence had created pressing matters of institutional instability and the ensued thereafter lack of control, especially over the Spanish economy. Europe is currently facing a dilemma of a forced decision. EU cant abandon Madrid, since that would create a serious problem for the Unions internal credibility, nor leave Catalonia out in the cold, since losing London (Brexit) and Barcelona in a short time frame would create an enormous economic turmoil. Legal way out Taking into consideration that the existing EU treaties do not provide any legal precedence for the direction, Brussels is stuck with a not-so-straightforward political solution. The scenario of Catalonia being left out of the EU or the Spanish pride being hurt by the acceptance of a new Catalan member state is unacceptable to all the parties involved. Thus, the very complex decision, in view of the geopolitical ramifications, will have to include EU lead mediation of the long-lasting negotiations, while keeping the current status quo of indecision. On the other hand, if Puigdemont stands on his decision of independence, EU will be forced to throw its full support of Rajoys enactment of harsh methods of resolve. The outcomes for EU Notwithstanding the outcome of the Oct. 19 Mexican standoff, few things have already become quite clear. First of all, the policy of bias and double standards has created a frozen conflict within the EU territory, hopefully without any future military confrontation, yet full of human rights violations. Secondly, since the revolution like Saturn, devours its children, current rulers of Madrid and Barcelona, will in all probability lose their current political support, as witnessed by protests in Galicia and Catalonia. Third, accepting Catalan independence will set precedence to the other disaffected nationalities of not only Spain, but UK, France, Germany, Italy etc. Finally, though not claimed as of yet, there are no guarantees that an independent Catalan state will not have any future territorial claims to its neighbors (i.e. Roussillon province of France populated by Catalans). What about NATO? In the mayhem of the events, the issue of security, for now left in the background, will undoubtedly create another headache for EU. Distracted by the institutional instability issues, Europeans have completely forgotten that Spain has been an indispensable NATO member since 1982 and the views of member states of the Alliance, which is not entirely comprised of EU countries, will undoubtedly differ from the Brussels' own. Notwithstanding the EU decision on the form of Catalonias acceptance, the breakaway autonomy cannot become a part of the Alliance in any form, de-jure, since it should be accepted by a unanimous vote, and de-facto, since it doesnt possess any military capabilities, thus cant be possibly integrated into the NATO structure. The Transatlantic angle Since the Brexit had already strengthened the hereditary Anglo-Saxon alliance, the Transatlantic Union stands first in the line of interest. United States diplomatic recognition of any new self-determined nation doesnt depend on the presidents whim or the powerful machinery of Congress. By accepting Catalan independence the US might itself face the same type secessionist threats in Texas and California. Meanwhile, Brexiting United Kingdom has already stopped acting as a bridge between the US and EU, thus rendering it in search of a new role on the geopolitical theater. On the other hand, in view of the Gibraltar issue still lurking in the background, an under the table axis between London and Barcelona might become as much science-fictional as the UK-Chile alliance was once estimated. In any case, the Transatlantic Union could, if deemed necessary, become instrumental in the amendment of the continental map, thus creating enormous difficulties for Brussels and isolating it from the prime player position on the European stage. The Russian angle Though a probable Anglo-Saxon competition is of some concern for Brussels, there is a common understanding that it is an internal competition between allies. In contrast, the hypothesis that an independent Catalonia would cozy up to Russia, presents a true nightmare for Brussels. Russia has been very cautious in taking a stand on the Catalan secession, as its supposed involvement and support of the separatists was already alleged by some of EU politicians. Nonetheless, Russia has always been viewed as keen player of the tit-for-tat strategy (i.e. Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Crimea and Syria). Thus, even a hypothetical scenario for the mythical possibility of a Russian military base near Barcelona sends chills up the spines of many European politicians. Chinas angle On top of Russias possible rapprochement of Catalonia, Brussels is even more concerned by a potential Chinese involvement in the matter. In this case, the ideological and military components are outweighed by the economic ones. China with its ambitious New Silk Road project, aims to reconfigure world commerce around Beijings interests. This initiative is designed to change the economic structure of the entire world, and has already had an enormous impact in Asia and Africa. Moreover, China has already managed to get a foothold in the Balkans (especially in Serbia) and has obtained some facilities in Greece. Given the opportunity, China would not stand oddly by, but will try to incorporate the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona as a major part of its trade strategy. United we stand, divided we fall The possibility that any of the mentioned parties could take an advantage of the Catalan secession gravely complicates Brussels response to threats, and, at the same time, given the intransigence of both sides, poses serious difficulties as much for Madrid as for Barcelona. Nonetheless, standing decision on independence, which already has gravely wounded regions economy, will surely isolate Catalonia even further. Furthermore, in view of EUs permanently skidding bureaucratic machine, which has impended Unions ability to reach any decision in a timely matter, Catalonia should reconsider its secession from Spain. By PTI: By Lalit K Jha Washington, Oct 19 (PTI) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that he holds the military leadership in Myanmar responsible for the current refugee crisis affecting the countrys Rohingya Muslims. Tillerson said it is up to the military leadership of Myanmar to decide what direction they want to play in the future of the country because the US consider Myanmar as an important emerging democracy. advertisement "But this is a real test. Its a real test of this power-sharing government as to how theyre going to deal with this very serious issue," he said. The US is extraordinarily concerned by what is happening with the Rohingyas in Myanmar, he added. Tillerson has been in contact with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the civilian side of the government. "As you know, this is a power-sharing government that has emerged in Myanmar. We really hold the military leadership accountable for what is happening with the Rohingya area," Tillerson said. "Whats most important to us is that the world cant just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area," he said. "What weve encouraged the military to do is, first, we understand you have serious rebel/terrorist elements within that part of your country as well that you have to deal with, but you must be disciplined about how you deal with those, and you must be restrained in how you deal with those," he said. Tillerson said that Myanmar must allow access in this region again so that the US can get a full accounting of the circumstances. He described the situation in Myanmar as heart breaking. "We have been asking for access to the region. Weve been able to get a couple of our people from our embassy into the region so we can begin to get our own firsthand account of what is occurring," he said. The US is encouraging access for the aid agenciesso that they can at least address some of the most pressing humanitarian needs, he said. "But more importantly, so we can get a full understanding of what is going on. If these reports are true, someone is going to be held to account for that," Tillerson said referring to news reports of human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims. PTI LKJ AJR --- ENDS --- Two Americans were killed and three more injured in an attack at an Afghan special forces base near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, the US military has confirmed. The unidentified attacker was killed as well. One member of the US military and one civilian were killed, while one service member and two civilians were wounded, during an attack near a coalition base by an unknown assailant, said the US command in Afghanistan on Wednesday. The Americans killed and injured in the attack were part of NATOs mission to train, advise, and assist the Afghan security forces. The exact circumstances of the attack were being investigated, the US Forces Afghanistan command said, but there were unconfirmed reports in Kabul that the attacker wore an Afghan Army uniform. The Iraqi Transport Ministry announced Wednesday that Iraq and Saudi Arabia resumed air traffic after the first plane of the Saudi airliner Flynas airlines landed at Baghdad airport, Sputnik reported. Iraqi Transport Minister Kazem Finjan and Saudi diplomatic staff in Baghdad welcomed the aircraft at the airport. Flynas is expected to carry out flights to different Iraqi regions. According to the ministry, Iraq is open for cooperation with all states and, first of all, with neighboring countries. The civil air traffic in Iraq was suspended after the invasion of Kuwait by the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1990s. However, over the years some countries resumed flights with Turkey making the step in 2008 and the European Union in 2010. The next round of multilateral Syrian peace talks will be held in Kazakhstans capital of Astana in late October, Sputnik reported, citing the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. "Ceasefire guarantor states have agreed to hold the seventh international high-level meeting on Syria within the Astana process on October 30-31," the ministry said in a statement. "The talks will aim to agree a provision establishing a working group that will deal with hostage and prisoner release, return of [fallen soldiers] bodies and search for the missing," the ministry added. Negotiators will also look at how to combat international terrorism and will make a joint statement on humanitarian demining efforts in Syria. Issues of mutual interest may also be raised during the talks. Talks on the military aspect of the Syrian peace process have been held in Astana on a nearly monthly basis since this January. The latest round in September led to an agreement to create a so-called de-escalation zone in the northern province of Idlib. Russia, alongside Iran and Turkey, is a guarantor of the ceasefire regime in Syria. It has been aiding the Syrian government both by supporting its struggle against terrorist groups and by providing humanitarian assistance to people in the war-torn country. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Erbil has cancelled holding of the so-called parliamentary election scheduled for Nov.1, the Iraqi media reported Oct. 19. The cancellation was caused by the recent military clashes in Kirkuk province, as well as the fact that no political party in the Kurdish autonomy of Iraq has nominated a candidate so far. Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Haider Al-Abadi ordered security forces to ensure the safety at military bases and state facilities in Kirkuk province. The authorities of the Kurdish autonomy of Iraq had announced about the offensive of government forces in Kirkuk. On Oct. 16, the Iraqi Armed Forces took full control of Kirkuk. The Kurdish autonomy of Iraq held the so-called independence referendum Sept. 25. The referendum wasnt recognized by the international community. At least five militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch were killed when a U.S. drone strike hit their vehicle in the country's central province of al-Bayda on Thursday, Xinhua reported. "The pilotless aircraft hit a vehicle belonging to al-Qaida group, destroying it and killing five terrorists in the mountainous area of Sharqan in al-Bayda province," the security source said on condition of anonymity. He said that the U.S. airstrike precisely targeted the al-Qaida militants who were moving into their hideouts located in a tribal region. The strike came just two days after the United States launched a series of airstrikes targeting several hideouts of al-Qaida and the Islamic State (IS) group in al-Bayda province. In recent months, the U.S. military has carried out several airstrikes against al-Qaida militants in different provinces of the war-torn Arab country since U.S. President Donald Trump approved expanded military operations against the extremist group. That included intensified overnight airstrikes and ground military raids against the al-Qaida hideouts in the mountainous areas of al-Bayda and southeastern province of Shabwa. The Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, seen by the United States as the global terror network's most dangerous branch, has exploited years of deadly conflict between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels to expand its presence, especially in southeastern Yemeni provinces. North Korea initiated construction of a new ballistic missile submarine, US intelligence officials told the Diplomats Ankit Panda October 17, Sputnik reported. US military intelligence assesses that North Korea has started building a "Sinpo-C-class" submarine at the Sinpo shipyard on the country's east coast, the outlet reports. The sub's specifications include a displacement of 2,000 tons, a maximum width of 11 meters and a diesel-electric propulsion system. North Korea's military receives a remarkable bang for its buck with submarines, given the advanced threats it faces, according to some analysts. "US and South Korean naval and air forces are now so overwhelmingly superior that the only viable way for Pyongyang's navy to survive is to go underwater," Kyle Mizokami wrote in an August 1, adding that "North Korea's submarines have the advantage of numbers and, in peacetime, surprise." In the eyes of the Pentagon, North Korea's "pursuit of a submarine-launched ballistic missile capability also highlights the regime's commitment to diversifying its missile force, strengthening the force's survivability, and finding new ways to coerce its neighbors," according to a 2015 report to lawmakers. The Pentagon report states the North Korean navy "maintains one of the world's largest submarine forces, with around 70 attack-, coastal-, and midget-type submarines." The new Sinpo-C-class vessel would "likely" be North Korea's largest sub to date, according to the Diplomat. A 38 North analysis from October 11 corroborates a key element of Panda's reporting. "Given the continued movement in the parts yards [at the Sinpo shipyard], a shipbuilding program is probably underway," the website reported, citing satellite images captured September 21. Report author Joseph S. Bermudez predicted, though, "the current imagery does not indicate an imminent test" of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. Meanwhile, in Seoul, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said at an event Wednesday, "it might not be wrong to say there is no change for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, because [Pyongyang] believes nuclear weapons" are the North Korean government's "lifeline," the Korea Times reports. Cho is a veteran South Korean government official who the nation's lawmakers approved as unification minister July 3. The post's duties included handling inter-Korean issues. "He believes his regime and North Korean society will collapse if he gives up nuclear weapons, so he will hold out for as long as possible in such circumstances," Cho said. The EU and British authorities are closing on a pact that will guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the United Kingdom and UK expats in EU countries, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday. "We are in touching distance of agreement. I know both sides will consider each other's proposals for finalising the agreement with an open mind. And with flexibility and creativity on both sides, I am confident that we can conclude discussions on citizens' rights in the coming weeks," she wrote in an open letter to EU citizens, as quoted by the ITV news channel. According to some media reports, EU citizens would be permitted to travel to the United Kingdom without visas after Brexit, but there would be a limited number of people who would be permitted to work in the country. An explosion at an unlicensed firecracker factory killed at least eight workers and injured 20 others in eastern India on Wednesday, a day ahead of Hindu's most popular Diwali festival, ABC News reported. A police officer said the number of casualties was likely to go up because several people were feared trapped under the collapsed building in a town in Balasore district in Orissa state. The area is nearly 195 kilometers (130 miles) south of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital. Balasore district administrator Pramod Kumar Das said a huge explosion took place as firecrackers were being made in a house used as a factory without a legal license, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast. Accidental explosions are common at Indian firework factories as owners often ignore safety standards. Setting off firecrackers is part of celebrations during festivals and weddings in India. In June, another explosion at a fireworks factory killed 23 workers and injured seven others in a village in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The explosion triggered a blaze that engulfed the factory before firefighters put it out. Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The declared principles of partnership between the US and Turkey, in fact, are not reflected in their relations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, the countrys media reported Oct. 19. Commenting on the recent crisis in relations between the US and Turkey, Erdogan said that the lack of progress in resolving this crisis is a serious problem. Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected conditions put forward by the US delegation, which arrived in Turkey Oct. 17 to resolve the crisis in relations between Washington and Ankara. One of the conditions was to present evidence that the previously arrested employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul had links with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of being involved in the 2016 military coup attempt in Turkey. Another condition was that Turkey had to provide the US with full information about the progress of the investigation. The US suspended issuance of visas to Turkish citizens due to the arrest of an employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul. Turkey also suspended the issuance of visas to US citizens. Turkish authorities, commenting on the arrest of the Consulate Generals employee, noted that he had links with the movement of Fethullah Gulen. ----- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey and Iran will use national currencies in trade operations, Turkish media outlets quoted Irans first Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri. Jahangiri made the remarks at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara. He noted that Ankara and Tehran are interested in strengthening trade and economic ties. Using national currencies in trade between the two countries will increase the trade turnover, according to Jahangiri. He said Iran may also increase the supply of oil and gas to Turkey. Elsewhere in his remarks, Jahangiri said that Turkey and Iran have a common opinion on the settlement of conflicts in the region. Earlier, during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Iran, Ankara and Tehran reached an agreement on using national currencies in trade. By PTI: Chandigarh, Oct 19 (PTI) The Punjab government has decided to hand over the probe into the killing of RSS leader Ravinder Gosain in Ludhiana to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh issued orders in this regard today while announcing a Rs 5 lakh compensation for the deceaseds family and a government job for one of his progeny. advertisement Gosain lost his wife to cancer some years ago and is survived by four children. Orders regarding an NIA probe were issued by the chief minister on the request by an RSS delegation that met him at his residence today, an official spokesperson said. The chief minister acceded to their request taking into account the "international ramifications" of the case, he added. Investigations into similar incidents in the past suggest that the handlers of the assailants were operating from foreign soil, said the spokesperson, adding that Singh felt that with the NIA stepping in, there would be better coordination between the central agencies and the state police. Two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants had shot dead RSS leader Gosain in Kailash Nagar in Ludhiana on Tuesday. Sharing the delegations concern over the brazen killing, the chief minister strongly condemned the act, saying there was no place for such violence in the state. Asserting that his government would not tolerate such lawlessness, Singh said it was taking all measures to prevent such targeted killings. Singh assured the delegation that the state police was working hard to solve all the previous similar cases and that he had issued directions for expediting the investigations. No effort would be spared to catch the culprits and bring them to book in cases of targeted killings, which were clearly aimed at destabilising the state and destroying its peace, said the chief minister. PTI VSD TR ADS --- ENDS --- Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19 Trend: Saban Disli, chief adviser to the chairman of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party, has resigned, the Turkish media reported Oct. 19. The reason of resignation is Dislis unwillingness to harm the party and the partys chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. An MP from Sakarya province, Saban Disli is one of the founders of the Turkish ruling party. On July 15, 2016, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country as a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. More than 250 people were killed during the attempted coup. KYODO NEWS - Oct 18, 2017 - 23:39 | All, World The Japanese government is arranging a meeting between Emperor Akihito and U.S. President Donald Trump when the U.S. leader visits Tokyo on Nov. 5 to 7, a government source said Wednesday. When Trump's predecessor Barack Obama made his first visit to Japan as president in 2009, he met with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and had lunch with them. During the upcoming trip to Japan, Trump is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 6 and is also likely to meet the parents of a Japanese national abducted by North Korean agents. Trump's visit to Japan is part of his Asian tour that will also take him to South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. By Samrudhi Ghosh: After packing a solid punch with Dangal, Zaira Wasim and Aamir Khan return in Advait Chandan's Secret Superstar. Has the film lived up to expectations? Here is our Secret Superstar review. "Maine kaha tha mujh se maang jo maangna hai, zindagi se nahi," says the ever-supportive but helpless mother of Insia (Zaira Wasim) when she requests permission to go to Mumbai to participate in a singing competition. It has been over two decades since Farida Jalal told Kajol in the iconic Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ), "Sapne dekho, zaroor dekho. Bas unke poore hone ki shart mat rakho," but family dynamics haven't changed much. It is still not uncommon to find the men in the family calling the shots, while their wives are forced to be silent spectators. advertisement Such is the family of Insia, a 15-year-old girl from Vadodara who dreams of becoming a singing sensation. Supporting her is her Ammi (a remarkable Meher Vij), but from behind the scenes. No one dares stand up to the vile-tempered man of the house (Raj Arjun), who does not hesitate to heap blows on his hapless wife. To her father, Insia is a liability, and unsurprisingly, he is not on board with her musical dreams. Insia finds fame as an anonymous burkha-clad YouTube sensation, Secret Superstar, whose videos promptly go viral. She is then approached by Shakti Kumaarr (Aamir Khan), an ostentatiously-dressed, foul-mouthed music director, who turns out to be surprisingly helpful. The story is not one that we have never seen before, but Advait Chandan (writer and director of Secret Superstar) ensures that the journey to the finish is an enjoyable one. It is an unapologetically melodramatic film, but manages to strike a chord - you will find yourself wiping a tear when Insia's guitar is broken by her father, and cheering for her when her Secret Superstar videos become a hit. Zaira Wasim, who had her best years traded in for wrestling shorts in her debut film, Dangal, gets to play the temperamental teenager in Secret Superstar. She snaps at her doting little brother, calls her mother "stupid" and breaks stuff when things don't go her way. At the same time, she is also the mature one who is constantly trying to find an out for her abused mother. After wowing the audience with her powerful performance in Dangal, Zaira delivers yet another sixer in this film. Meher Vij, in an exceptional role, is the secret superstar of the film. It is her scenes with Zaira that form the most heartwarming parts of the film. Equally brilliant is Raj Arjun as the abusive husband and father, who does not for a second let his performance become over-the-top. Aamir Khan, who has steadily gained a reputation as the thinking man's hero, is refreshing as the boisterous and offensive Shakti Kumaarr. His character remains something of an enigma, we know his story in bits and pieces, but Advait Chandan lets the focus be on Insia. A special mention for Tirth Sharma, who gives an earnest performance as the young infatuated boy who never leaves Insia's side. advertisement For a film with music as its theme, the songs of Secret Superstar aren't too memorable, with the exception of Nachdi Phiran and Main Kaun Hoon. Secret Superstar is not a perfect film. Insia becomes an internet sensation overnight all too easily and without explanation. The climax is one that you can see coming long before it actually does. But in spite of these shortcomings, Secret Superstar is a soul-stirring film that deserves a watch. ALSO WATCH: Aamir, Zaira and Advait Chandan on the journey of Secret Superstar --- ENDS --- In an interesting development in the multi-core solar scam, the Kerala government has decided to seek further legal opinion about the findings of Solar Judicial Commission. By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: In an interesting development in the multi-core solar scam , the Kerala government has decided to seek further legal opinion about the findings of Solar Judicial Commission. The new move from the government comes after doubts emerged about some of the findings by the Justice (Retd.) G Sivarajan Commission. Some legal experts observed that some findings in the report were outside the terms of reference of the commission. Earlier, the Opposition had also made similar allegations. advertisement Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who met the media last week, had told that the commission inquiry found that former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his office were involved in the scam. The report allegedly had mentioned about other Congress leaders as well. On the basis of this report, the chief minister said that vigilance and criminal cases will be filed against Oommen Chandy and other leaders including ex-ministers in the UDF cabinet. Despite the announcement, which was made 9 days ago, no order has been issued till date. It is learned that further proceedings have been put on hold after some legal experts pointed out the issues with some of the commission's findings. CM should apologise: Congress The Congress has come down hard on the state government demanding an apology from CM. Congress leader K C Joseph said, "The CM jumped to conclusions without verifying the actual facts. That's why now they are running behind senior lawyers for detailed legal opinion. CM should apologise for causing damage to the reputation of Congress leaders in the state. How can he share the findings of the commission with the media without tabling the report in assembly ?" --- ENDS --- While the billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson was largely offline during and after Hurricane Irma , which ravaged the British Virgin Islands in September, a conman impersonated him and stole $2 million. "This story sounds like it has come straight out of a John le Carre book or a James Bond film, but it is sadly all true," the iconic entrepreneur says on his blog Tuesday . Branson found out about the heist when he got back online after the storm. A "very successful businessperson" friend of Branson's wrote asking when he could expect to be repaid the money he had lent Branson to help the British Virgin Islands recover after Irma."I had no idea what they were talking about," Branson says in his blog.His (unidentified) friend had gotten an email from someone who said they were Branson's assistant and arranged a call."When the call happened, the conman did an extremely accurate impression of me and spun a big lie about urgently needing a loan while I was trying to mobilize aid in the BVI. They claimed I couldn't get hold of my bank in the UK because I didn't have any communications going to Europe and I'd only just managed to make a satellite call to the businessman in America," Branson says.The businessman friend gave $2 million towards what he thought were recovery efforts. The money went directly to the conman instead.Branson's friend "has spent his life being cautious and told me he couldn't believe how stupid he had been. He is an incredibly generous person who gives to all sorts of causes, and it is just too sad for words that of all people it was he who had fallen for it," Branson says."It's a heist of enormous scale," the iconic entrepreneur says of the millions lost.Branson says he expects the conman is the same individual who had tried to steal $5 million from him six months ago. In that situation, Branson's assistant received a written request "on what appeared to be official government notepaper" for a call from a British official. "I called Sir Michael on the number given. He told me it was an incredibly sensitive matter and that he wanted to be sure there was nobody else in the room whilst I talked to him. He asked that we speak in strict confidence and said that a British diplomat had been kidnapped and was being held by terrorists," says Branson . "He told me that British laws prevented the government from paying out ransoms, which he normally completely concurred with. But he said on this occasion there was a particular, very sensitive, reason why they had to get this diplomat back. So they were extremely confidentially asking a syndicate of British businesspersons to step in. I was asked to contribute $5 million dollars of the ransom money, which he assured me the British government would find a way of paying back."Branson was suspicious and called Sir Michael's office to confirm the legitimacy of the request. The governmental official informed Branson that he had not called making a request and nobody had been kidnapped. The call and request for $5 million was a hoax. He informed the police of the attempted con, Branson says. "There has been a big rise in fake ad scams online recently, and I'd urge everyone to look out for them and report any you see. It's not just online it can happen it could be on the phone or even in person," says Branson . "But this one really takes the biscuit!" Going forward, the billionaire entrepreneur would like to see law enforcement resources currently being used to arrest drug felons redirected toward finding and stopping scam artists."This is happening all the time, but worse, it is happening to people for $1000 here, $500 there, $2000 there who can't afford it," says Branson on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "I think the police need to put their attention on this much more. The war on drugs has been failed for 60 years. They should regulate and decriminalize drugs and help people with a drug problem and put all those people that are dealing with drugs, they should concentrate on all the vulnerable people that are being hurt in this way I think."Though most people are unlikely to have millions of dollars available for the stealing, there are certainly precautions worth taking to thwart scams. See the stories below for tips on how to avoid being caught unaware.Ex FBI agent: 2 things you need to know to avoid falling for a money scamHow to protect yourself from hurricane repair scamsFraud alert! Don't fall for these financial scamsBuyer beware! The top 10 investment scams'Shark Tank' investor Robert Herjavec: 7 simple steps to protect yourself from hackersLike this story?Like CNBC Make It on FacebookThis story has been updated. While the billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson was largely offline during and after Hurricane Irma , which ravaged the British Virgin Islands in September, a conman impersonated him and stole $2 million. "This story sounds like it has come straight out of a John le Carre book or a James Bond film, but it is sadly all true," the iconic entrepreneur says on his blog Tuesday . Branson found out about the heist when he got back online after the storm. A "very successful businessperson" friend of Branson's wrote asking when he could expect to be repaid the money he had lent Branson to help the British Virgin Islands recover after Irma. "I had no idea what they were talking about," Branson says in his blog. His (unidentified) friend had gotten an email from someone who said they were Branson's assistant and arranged a call. "When the call happened, the conman did an extremely accurate impression of me and spun a big lie about urgently needing a loan while I was trying to mobilize aid in the BVI. They claimed I couldn't get hold of my bank in the UK because I didn't have any communications going to Europe and I'd only just managed to make a satellite call to the businessman in America," Branson says. The businessman friend gave $2 million towards what he thought were recovery efforts. The money went directly to the conman instead. Branson's friend "has spent his life being cautious and told me he couldn't believe how stupid he had been. He is an incredibly generous person who gives to all sorts of causes, and it is just too sad for words that of all people it was he who had fallen for it," Branson says. "It's a heist of enormous scale," the iconic entrepreneur says of the millions lost. Branson says he expects the conman is the same individual who had tried to steal $5 million from him six months ago. In that situation, Branson's assistant received a written request "on what appeared to be official government notepaper" for a call from a British official. "I called Sir Michael on the number given. He told me it was an incredibly sensitive matter and that he wanted to be sure there was nobody else in the room whilst I talked to him. He asked that we speak in strict confidence and said that a British diplomat had been kidnapped and was being held by terrorists," says Branson . "He told me that British laws prevented the government from paying out ransoms, which he normally completely concurred with. But he said on this occasion there was a particular, very sensitive, reason why they had to get this diplomat back. So they were extremely confidentially asking a syndicate of British businesspersons to step in. I was asked to contribute $5 million dollars of the ransom money, which he assured me the British government would find a way of paying back." Branson was suspicious and called Sir Michael's office to confirm the legitimacy of the request. The governmental official informed Branson that he had not called making a request and nobody had been kidnapped. The call and request for $5 million was a hoax. He informed the police of the attempted con, Branson says. "There has been a big rise in fake ad scams online recently, and I'd urge everyone to look out for them and report any you see. It's not just online it can happen it could be on the phone or even in person," says Branson . "But this one really takes the biscuit!" Going forward, the billionaire entrepreneur would like to see law enforcement resources currently being used to arrest drug felons redirected toward finding and stopping scam artists. "This is happening all the time, but worse, it is happening to people for $1000 here, $500 there, $2000 there who can't afford it," says Branson on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "I think the police need to put their attention on this much more. The war on drugs has been failed for 60 years. They should regulate and decriminalize drugs and help people with a drug problem and put all those people that are dealing with drugs, they should concentrate on all the vulnerable people that are being hurt in this way I think." Though most people are unlikely to have millions of dollars available for the stealing, there are certainly precautions worth taking to thwart scams. See the stories below for tips on how to avoid being caught unaware. Ex FBI agent: 2 things you need to know to avoid falling for a money scam How to protect yourself from hurricane repair scams Fraud alert! Don't fall for these financial scams Buyer beware! The top 10 investment scams 'Shark Tank' investor Robert Herjavec: 7 simple steps to protect yourself from hackers Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook This story has been updated. More From CNBC By PTI: scam report Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 19 (PTI) The Kerala government today decided to convene a special Assembly session next month to table the judicial commission report on the solar scam, days after it ordered a vigilance probe against Former chief minister Oommen Chandy in connection with the scandal. A cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan resolved to recommend to governor Justice P Sathasivam that a special session be convened on November 9, to table the Solar scam probe report, an official release here said. advertisement The state government also decided to seek expert legal opinion from former Kerala High Court Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat on further steps to be taken on the report, Vijayan said in a Facebook post. The governments decision comes in the backdrop of the demand made by the Congress-led UDF Opposition to make public the commission report with Chandyseeking a copy of it to know about the "facts and findings" of the commission. The state government, after seeking legal opinion on the report submitted last month by Justice Sivarajan Commission, had on October 11 decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to further probe the multi-crore scam. Announcing the probe, Chief Minister Vijayan had said a criminal case would be registered and an Special Investigation Team would probe allegations of rape levelled by Saritha S Nair, the main accused in the scam, against some politicians in her July 17, 2013 letter. In a related development, Nair today submitted to the chief minister a complaint in which she reiterated her allegations. Sources in the chief ministers office said the complaint has been forwarded to state DGP Loknath Behra for further action. Besides Chandy, the government had also decided to order a probe on October 11 against former ministers Aryadan Mohamed and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan after registering a case against them. The commission was appointed by the previous Chandy government after allegations surfaced about duping of several people of crores of rupees by prime accused Saritha Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan, who offered them solar panel solutions. Some Congress state ministers, MPs and MLAs were named by Saritha in the letter written by her when she was behind bars in connection with the solar scam. PTI JRK ROH ASK ASK --- ENDS --- While the rest of Wall Street was gushing over Netflix's earnings results on Monday, there were two major analysts on the sidelines, citing concerns about lower profit margins as the video streaming giant spends big on content.Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju and Jefferies analyst John Janedis both expressed concerns that much of Netflix's revenue will be offset by mounting content expenses.Netflix's CFO, David Wells, said Monday that the company could spend up to $8 billion for original content alone.On the other hand, both the Credit Suisse and Jefferies analysts agreed that Netflix's recently announced price increases in the United States would be helpful in handling the "cash burn." The company's $10-a-month high-definition plan will now cost $11 , according to changes reflected on Netflix's subscription page earlier this month. Netflix's 4K streaming plan, which provides higher-quality content, will cost $14 per month, a $2 increase. "It does appear that Netflix will roll out to the relevant markets at one time, which does raise our revenue estimates for 2018," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju. "This is offset by increased content acquisition spend expectations of between $10.9-$12.4b next year ... We remain on the sidelines on balanced risk/reward and maintain our neutral rating."Jefferies analyst John Janedis added, "we expect the business will remain cash flow negative for several years, largely driven by significant cash spend on original programming." The analyst said spending on original shows will overtake spending on other programming as many rein in licensed content. Ju cut his 12-month price target on Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to $209 from $210, while Janedis raised his target to $190 from $180. Netflix closed at $199.48 on Tuesday: Ju's target is roughly 3 percent higher than its current price while Janedis' target implies a approximate 6 percent decline. The company's shares have rallied 64 percent this year through Monday versus the S&P 500's 14 percent return. However, shares fell 0.25 percent Tuesday, a morning after the earnings report."It's exciting that everyone is trying to make over-the-top television better and better, and I think that is good for all of us," said Theodore Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, on Monday. "We just have to focus on creating content that our members can't live without and get excited about every month." While the rest of Wall Street was gushing over Netflix's earnings results on Monday, there were two major analysts on the sidelines, citing concerns about lower profit margins as the video streaming giant spends big on content. Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju and Jefferies analyst John Janedis both expressed concerns that much of Netflix's revenue will be offset by mounting content expenses. Netflix's CFO, David Wells, said Monday that the company could spend up to $8 billion for original content alone. On the other hand, both the Credit Suisse and Jefferies analysts agreed that Netflix's recently announced price increases in the United States would be helpful in handling the "cash burn." The company's $10-a-month high-definition plan will now cost $11 , according to changes reflected on Netflix's subscription page earlier this month. Netflix's 4K streaming plan, which provides higher-quality content, will cost $14 per month, a $2 increase. "It does appear that Netflix will roll out to the relevant markets at one time, which does raise our revenue estimates for 2018," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju. "This is offset by increased content acquisition spend expectations of between $10.9-$12.4b next year ... We remain on the sidelines on balanced risk/reward and maintain our neutral rating." Jefferies analyst John Janedis added, "we expect the business will remain cash flow negative for several years, largely driven by significant cash spend on original programming." The analyst said spending on original shows will overtake spending on other programming as many rein in licensed content. Ju cut his 12-month price target on Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to $209 from $210, while Janedis raised his target to $190 from $180. Netflix closed at $199.48 on Tuesday: Ju's target is roughly 3 percent higher than its current price while Janedis' target implies a approximate 6 percent decline. The company's shares have rallied 64 percent this year through Monday versus the S&P 500's 14 percent return. However, shares fell 0.25 percent Tuesday, a morning after the earnings report. "It's exciting that everyone is trying to make over-the-top television better and better, and I think that is good for all of us," said Theodore Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, on Monday. "We just have to focus on creating content that our members can't live without and get excited about every month." More From CNBC Remember when Louisville doctor David Dao was physically dragged off an overbooked United flight back in April, for the heinous offense of refusing to give up his seat? Well, two aviation security officials involved in the incident, in which the 69-year-old received concussion and a broken nose and teeth, have been fired. The firings were revealed in a quarterly report from the Chicago inspector general, Joseph Ferguson. Neither of the sacked officials were named in the report. One officer was fired for escalating a non-threatening situation into a physically violent one and for the injuries caused by his excessive force. A sergeant also lost his job because he deliberately removed material facts from a report about the incident. Two other officers also received five-day suspensions for making misleading statements and material omissions in their reports. According to Fergusons report, his offices investigation showed that there was significant confusion at the Chicago Department of Aviation over the roles and expectations of aviation security officers. The Dao incident caused global outrage, partly because a video of it went viral. United escaped a fine for violating Daos civil rights, due to a lack of evidence. Dao sued the airline and received an undisclosed settlement. It wasnt the last such incident. Just last month, Southwest Airlines had to apologize after a similar incident in which a woman was dragged off her flight for objecting to another passengers pet being on the flight. Again, cellphone footage of the incident went viral. When Amazon announced in September that the Seattle-based company was inviting cities to bid for its second headquarters, there was immediate pressure for metros to apply and to figure out how to set themselves apart from everyone else keen to attract an estimated 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment. Economic developers around the country have raced to put together proposals ahead of the Oct. 19 deadline, and theyve touted different traits in the process, whether their locale has no state income tax or is home to thriving research universities. Meanwhile, other local leaders have taken wackier tacks with the hopes of piquing Amazons attention and pushing their proposal toward the top of the pile. Here are six examples. Tucson, Ariz. tries to plant an idea Sun Corridor Inc., the economic development organization spearheading the Southwestern citys bid, sent Amazon a 21-ft. Saguaro cactus, which the company politely declined, saying via Twitter that we cant accept gifts (even really cool ones). The plant, Sun Corridor said, was meant to symbolize that Amazon had room to grow in the area. Among Amazons long wish list of qualities that the winning city will have is a metro area with more than 1 million people. Tucson is one of the smallest of the roughly 50 places that pass that threshold in the U.S. While Sun Corridor Inc. expressed excitement that Amazon acknowledged the cactus even if the firm did regift it theyre staying mum about their more serious bid. We wont be releasing any details due to the competitive nature of the project, chief marketing officer Laura Shaw tells TIME. Thx @SunCorridorInc! Unfortunately we cant accept gifts (even really cool ones) so we donated it to @DesertMuseum ???? https://t.co/ZJPQfs44cq pic.twitter.com/Fot06Kgs9P Amazon News (@amazonnews) September 19, 2017 Stonecrest, Ga. asks whats in a name With hopes of highlighting the Atlanta area, the suburb of Stonecrest proposed de-annexing up to 345 acres of land and naming the new town Amazon, Ga. There are several major U.S. cities that want Amazon, but none have the branding opportunity we are now offering this visionary company, Mayor Jason Lary said, according to local reports. Topeka, Kansas once (unsuccessfully) used a similar gambit in an attempt to lure a high-speed internet project to town, changing its name to Google, Kansas for a month. Story continues Some locals in Atlanta say the fever surrounding the pitch to be Amazons second home reminds them of bidding for the Olympics, which the city successfully did in 1996. Atlantas always been a great city for promoting itself, says Charlie Battle, an attorney who worked on that bid. His take was that it was the Georgian people who tipped the scales that time. Theres something real to Southern hospitality, he says. Its just in the DNA, making people feel welcome. ICYMI: The city of Stonecrest wants to change their city name to Amazon. (SEE WHY HERE) https://t.co/dMCzh6imEO pic.twitter.com/j6IXthPHU9 Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) October 4, 2017 Charlotte, N.C. declares a new holiday The mayor of Charlotte declared Oct. 18, the day before the bids are due, to be an official Amazon-themed day in the metro area: #CLTisPrime Day. City leaders promoted that hashtag not just in proclamations but on buses and billboards, too. In a show of solidarity, local owners of those advertising spots donated the space with hopes of helping the message spread. Many pundits believe that the biggest draw for Amazon will be human capital, pools of highly skilled workers and executives. And Charlotte is home to big banking operations, including Bank of Americas HQ. At one brainstorming session, locals even floated the idea of offering Amazon executives on loan from such companies, as a way to help build up the workforce for HQ2. Tariq Bokhari, a candidate for city council who helped organize that session, also worked on building an app that taught Alexa to sing the citys praises. Kansas City, Mo. goes shopping Amazon positioned the public process of soliciting bids as a way to make sure every metro had a chance to woo the $485 billion company. Intentional or not, it also led to a ton of free advertising, including cases where hopeful politicians actually engaged advertising companies to help them figure out how to impress the e-commerce giant. Thats what happened in Kansas City, Mo., where the mayors office worked with a local ad agency in executing a five star scheme. With their help, Mayor Sly James ordered 1,000 items from Amazon, representing 117 products, and wrote five-star reviews for each that doubled as promotions for the Midwestern city. (BBQ was mentioned several times.) Local charities suggested and received the items, which ranged from hot-dog Halloween costumes to wind chimes. NEW: Like horses on a backpack, Kansas City is the perfect place for Amazon HQ2. Tell Amazon why you love KC on Twitter with #KC5Stars. pic.twitter.com/B7NAi8w4qi Mayor Sly James (@MayorSlyJames) October 14, 2017 Birmingham, Ala., touts the whole package In recent weeks, locals in Birmingham could find Amazon boxes the size of bread of trucks sitting around town in three separate locations. As in other areas, leaders there also promoted a hashtag, asking residents to snap selfies with the giant boxes and post pictures on social media with the hashtag #bringAtoB. The city also installed giant buttons that resemble Amazon Dashs instant-ordering units. When people press them, promotional tweets are sent out onto the web. Though cities of all sizes expressed interest in being part of a bid, places like Birmingham are a long shot. Among Amazons stated preferences for the new site include a world-class airport with daily flights to places like San Francisco and Seattle, a strong university system and robust mass transit, as well as land for a building bigger than the Mall of America. As the Birmingham Business Journal noted, the city leaves several of those boxes unchecked, even if it does have verve. New York City turns on the lights The City That Never Sleeps announced that on Oct. 18 several iconic landmarks around the city would be lit up in Amazon Orange to highlight the citys bid, including the Empire State Building. The case for bringing Amazons new headquarters to New York City is simple, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. We are the global capital of commerce, culture and innovation. Though New York meets the bulk of the criteria in Amazons request for proposals, the citys hometown paper was skeptical in their own handicapping of which metro area has the best chance of winning HQ2. While the New York Times notes that the city has plenty of tech talent, it also has a rents that are too damn high. The papers pick among favorites ranging from Boston to Dallas was Denver, a place with a growing tech sector, high quality of life and relatively low cost of living. The world will found out if theyre right in the next 12 months or so. Amazon has said the company will make its decision in 2018, earlier or later in the year depending on factors like just how many proposals show up at their doors this week. A U.S. court ruling on Monday invalidating Allergans patents on its blockbuster $1.5 billion dry-eye medicine, Restasis, has cast doubt on the companys novel and controversial strategy to enlist a Native American tribe to help shield those patents from challenge by generic drugmakers. In a deal announced last month, Allergan transferred the Restasis patents to New York states Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, claiming the groups status as a sovereign nation meant the patents could not be reviewed by the U.S. patent office. Allergan said the move was justified because the same patents were already being reviewed in federal court, but critics said it was a cynical attempt to prolong the companys monopoly on Restasis. The federal judge, William Bryson, expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the tribal transfer, calling it a ploy by Allergan to rent the tribes sovereign immunity. He did not rule directly on whether the transfer was legal, however, because that question was not squarely before him. But his decision on Monday rendered Allergans move largely meaningless, since he invalidated the Restasis patents himself instead of waiting for the patent office to rule. Allergan said it was disappointed by Brysons decision to invalidate the patents and vowed to appeal. Legal experts said the rebuke from a prominent judge will make other patent owners reluctant to copy Allergans maneuver. This should flash some serious yellow lights, if not red lights, in front of parties considering a deal like this, said Michael Carrier, a professor of patent law at Rutgers Law School. Read: Botox Maker Allergans CEO Defends Selling Drug Patents to Native American Tribe to Thwart Rivals The dispute over the Restasis patents dates back to 2015 when generic drug companies led by Mylan NV asked a federal judge sitting in Texas to invalidate Allergans Restasis patents, in the hope of launching their own generic versions of the medicine. The generic drugmakers also asked the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), an administrative court run by the patent office, to revoke the patents. Companies often ask both a federal judge and PTAB to cancel patents. Story continues Allergan said in September that it had transferred its Restasis patents to the tribe, which agreed to license the patents back to Allergan in exchange for ongoing payments. The company said the PTAB proceeding should be terminated because the tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the tribe. Allergan said it wanted to avoid defending the patent in both federal court and before PTAB. But after Brysons ruling, other patent owners will be less likely to transfer such patents to tribes to shield them from review, said Rachel Sachs, a professor of patent law at Washington University in St. Louis. Read: Amgen Is Taking On a $3 Billion Cancer Drug. But Will It Cut Costs for Patients? Bryson said sovereign immunity should not be treated as a monetizable commodity that can be purchased by private entities as part of a scheme to evade their legal responsibilities. Sachs said Bryson is a well-regarded judge and that his reasoning could be cited by other courts, including PTAB judges. She noted the ruling comes after weeks of criticism on Capitol Hill, where politicians have slammed Allergans move as a sham, with one U.S. senator introducing a bill to ban attempts to take advantage of tribal sovereignty. In a research note on Monday, analysts at Credit Suisse said Allergan suffered a public relations backlash from the deal without helping its bottom line. Read: Why Allergan Thinks Botox Can Treat Depression Allergan said in a statement on Tuesday that its deal with the tribe has helped raised awareness about the need to reform the PTAB process, which the company said does not provide due process to patent owners. Some legal experts said it is too early to declare Allergans patent gambit a failure. Jacob Sherkow, a professor of patent law at New York Law School, said PTAB may still rule in favor of Allergan on its sovereign immunity defense. If that happens, Allergans deal with the tribe could be copied by other patent owners, said Joshua Landau, a patent lawyer with the trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association. Brysons decision will make patent owners question the arrangement, but I dont know if the ruling will prevent it entirely, Landau said. By Jan Wolfe (Reuters) - A U.S. judges ruling on Monday invalidating Allergan Plc's patents on its blockbuster $1.5 billion dry-eye medicine, Restasis, has cast doubt on the company's novel strategy to enlist a Native American tribe to help shield those patents from challenge by generic drugmakers, legal experts said. In a deal announced last month, Allergan transferred the Restasis patents to New York state's Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, claiming the group's status as a sovereign nation meant the patents could not be reviewed by the U.S. patent office. Allergan said the move was justified because the same patents were already being reviewed in federal court, but critics said it was a cynical attempt to prolong the company's monopoly on Restasis. The federal judge, William Bryson, expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the tribal transfer, calling it a ploy by Allergan to "rent" the tribe's sovereign immunity. He did not rule directly on whether the transfer was legal, however, because that question was not squarely before him. But his decision on Monday rendered Allergan's move largely meaningless, since he invalidated the Restasis patents himself instead of waiting for the patent office to rule. Allergan said it was disappointed by Bryson's decision to invalidate the patents and vowed to appeal. Legal experts said the rebuke from a prominent judge will make other patent owners reluctant to copy Allergan's manoeuvre. "This should flash some serious yellow lights, if not red lights, in front of parties considering a deal like this," said Michael Carrier, a professor of patent law at Rutgers Law School. PR BACKLASH The dispute over the Restasis patents dates back to 2015 when generic drug companies led by Mylan NV asked a federal judge sitting in Texas to invalidate Allergan's Restasis patents in hopes of launching their own generic versions of the medicine. Story continues The generic drugmakers also asked the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), an administrative court run by the patent office, to revoke the patents. Companies often ask both a federal judge and PTAB to cancel patents. Allergan said in September that it had transferred its Restasis patents to the tribe, which agreed to license the patents back to Allergan in exchange for ongoing payments. The company said the PTAB proceeding should be terminated because the tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the tribe. Allergan said it wanted to avoid defending the patent in both federal court and before PTAB. But after Bryson's ruling, other patent owners will be less likely to transfer such patents to tribes to shield them from review, said Rachel Sachs, a professor of patent law at Washington University in St. Louis. Bryson said "sovereign immunity should not be treated as a monetisable commodity that can be purchased by private entities as part of a scheme to evade their legal responsibilities." Sachs said Bryson is a well-regarded judge and that his reasoning could be cited by other courts, including PTAB judges. She noted the ruling comes after weeks of criticism on Capitol Hill, where politicians have slammed Allergans move as a sham, with one U.S. senator introducing a bill to ban attempts to take advantage of tribal sovereignty. In a research note on Monday, analysts at Credit Suisse said Allergan suffered a "public relations backlash" from the deal without helping its bottom line. Allergan said in a statement on Tuesday that its deal with the tribe has helped raised awareness about the need to reform the PTAB process, which the company said does not provide due process to patent owners. Some legal experts said it is too early to declare Allergan's patent gambit a failure. Jacob Sherkow, a professor of patent law at New York Law School, said PTAB may still rule in favur of Allergan on its sovereign immunity defence. If that happens, Allergan's deal with the tribe could be copied by other patent owners, said Joshua Landau, a patent lawyer with the trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association. Bryson's decision "will make patent owners question the arrangement, but I don't know if the ruling will prevent it entirely," Landau said. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis) amazon seattle biosphere dome Matt Weinberger/Business Insider More than 200 cities, states, and regions submitted proposals to host a new $5 billion Amazon campus, dubbed HQ2. Amazon claims its second headquarters would create 50,000 jobs in the to-be-determined city. But some residents worry that the new headquarters would increase traffic, spur gentrification, and lead to prolonged construction similar to "Amazonia" in Seattle, the location of Amazon's original headquarters. A new report looked at HQ2's potential impact on 15 cities, and found that it could increase rent prices by up to 2% annually. More than 200 cities, states, and regions across North America are vying to become the home of Amazon's second headquarters. The company said in late last year that it plans to invest $5 billion in the construction of a new campus, dubbed HQ2, which it hopes will eventually hold 50,000 Amazon employees. CEO Jeff Bezos said HQ2 will be equal in size to Amazon's current headquarters in a Seattle neighborhood locals now call Amazonia. Since the late 1990s, the company has grown from a small set-up in Bezos' garage into a global e-commerce giant. Cities in the running include New York City, Philadelphia, Denver, San Jose, and Toronto. Many city leaders are optimistic about the thousands of jobs Amazon claims HQ2 would create. But some residents worry that it would also spur the same problems that Seattle has seen since Amazon arrived: increased traffic, soaring housing prices, and prolonged construction. In The Oregonian, a Portland resident questioned how the city would cope with the population growth HQ2 could bring. Meanwhile, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch expressed worries about higher rents that could price out "young artists and dreamers ... crushing any and all cultural diversity and vibrancy." Story continues James Thomson, an ex-head of Amazon Services (the division that recruits sellers to the company's marketplaces), told the Toronto Star that inviting an Amazon HQ comes with risks. "The expense is a trade-off against schools, infrastructure, health care, etc.," he said. "Can Toronto support 50,000 high-net earners who all want nice homes, nice restaurants, easy commutes, etc.? Amazon is NOT a fan of unions or regulation." As of bid day, 73 community organizations across 21 states have signed an open letter to Bezos listing several concerns around a possible HQ2 in their cities, including out-of-state hiring, lack of investment in transportation infrastructure, unaffordable housing, and gentrification. Their worries about higher rent prices are not be unfounded, according to a recent report from the real estate website Apartment List. The site made a few predictions about HQ2's potential impact on housing prices in 15 major cities, based on historical home-building statistics and data from the US Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the report, the metro areas with the highest rent increases would include Raleigh, North Carolina (1.5% to 2% annually); San Jose, California (1% to 1.6%); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1.2% to 1.6%); and Baltimore, Maryland (1% to 1.3%). The study suggests that most cities would add more jobs than they would housing units and struggle to keep up with residential demand, though different cities would likely have different rates of housing construction. seattle Seattle Capitol HillIn Seattle, Amazon is the largest property taxpayer and private employer. Since 2000 , the area has added 99,000 new jobs, with 30% of them in tech, contributing to a construction boom. Since then, Amazon has continued to spur an influx of high-skilled, majority-white tech workers. According to the Washington Technology Industry Association, there are now 250,000 people working in tech jobs in Washington state, a number that's growing at about 10% annually. Nearly 90% of those jobs are in King County, Seattle, the home of Amazon's campus. Seattle is also now the second-highest-paying city in tech, with an average salary of $99,400, according to the tech recruiting company Dice Holdings. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the growth has made Seattle's housing less affordable for some longtime residents, who have accused Amazon of perpetuating income inequality in the city. From 2005 to 2015, Seattle's median rent went from $1,008 to $1,286, an increase nearly three times the national median. Recent data shows Seattle's median home price hit $730,000 in mid-2017, up nearly 17% from a year ago. As Bloomberg notes, the expansion of the city's tech industry (most notably Amazon) has clogged roadways as well. Seattle drivers spent an average of 55 hours in traffic in 2016, placing it among the top 10 worst US cities for congestion, according to the most recent analysis by Inrix. In June 2017, King County Metro even added more buses to accommodate Amazon's summer interns. In The Seattle Times, columnist Danny Westneat warned Amazon's next, "Other North American City" about all these issues. "If theres one thing we know in Seattle, its boom and bust. Weve gone from billboards urging the last one leaving to turn out the lights to now, our first million-dollar neighborhood. Both the rush, and the relapse, of the fast buck are in our civic DNA," he wrote. "So heads up, Other North American City: Amazon is about to detonate a prosperity bomb in your town." Amazon has recently tried to temper this image. In May last year, it announced efforts to house 200 local homeless people in one of its new Seattle buildings. Two months earlier, Bezos gave $35 million to Seattles Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in addition to earlier gifts of $30 million. And in 2016, Amazon donated $10 million to fund a new University of Washington computer science and engineering building. It's not yet clear where Amazon will make its new home. The company plans to announce a decision in 2018, and start construction by 2019. The company said the ideal city would have at least 1 million people, an international airport, and a "stable and business-friendly environment." NOW WATCH: Amazon can 'overwhelm the competition with brute force' See Also: SEE ALSO: The 10 spots in the US that are most prepared for disaster By PTI: Chennai, Oct 19 (PTI) DMK today alleged that the ruling AIADMK was not disclosing the actual deaths due to dengue in the state since it is "high." "Since those who were affected by dengue and the number of people who died due to it is high, they (the State government) are not disclosing the details and hiding the truth," DMK working president M K Stalin told reporters here. advertisement Stalin, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, has been taking potshots at the AIADMK government, describing it as "dengue regime," while alleging inaction on the issue. "I have already said that the dengue problem will be over only if the dengue regime is out," he said. Chief Minister K Palaniswami recently slammed Stalin for his remarks alleging that he was levelling such allegations "wantonly in a planned fashion," and doing it to "denigrate this government." Palaniswami had also said the state government was working at full swing to halt the spread of dengue and eradicate it besides hitting out at the DMK for seeking to politicise the issue. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar had said yesterday that dengue will be eradicated within 15 days. He had also warned against spreading rumours in social media about "Nilavembu Kudineer," a concoction of neem to fight fever. He had said Nilavembu is a proven medicine and test results made at State-run King Institute here had revealed that the traditional drink leads to increase in immunity. AIADMK government has been facing flak from opposition parties on the dengue issue. Recently, a team was deputed by the Centre to study the situation in the state. Central team member and professor of medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Ashutosh Biswas had said 40 deaths since January due to dengue was "minimal". It had invited a sharp reaction from DMK which said the remark was "insulting" and "trivialising" the lives of the people of the state. PTI VGN BN TRK --- ENDS --- American Express (AXP) on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations and raised its forecast for the year. The company also announced that Stephen Squeri will succeed Kenneth Chenault as CEO , effective Feb.1, 2018. Here's how the company did in the third quarter compared with what Wall Street expected: EPS: $1.50 vs. $1.48 expected, according to Thomson Reuters Revenue: $8.44 billion vs. $8.285 billion expected, according to Thomson Reuters The company also raised its full-year guidance and now expects earnings per share between $5.80 and $5.90. Analyst had previously forecast full-year earnings per share of $5.74, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate. In the year-earlier quarter, AmEx reported earnings of $1.20 per share on revenue of $7.77 billion. "We are pleased to be able to both raise our earnings expectations while also funding some incremental investments aimed at driving moderate to long-term results," said American Express CFO Jeffery Campbell during the earnings call. "We are seeing the payoff in our 2017 results with the strong and consistent performance over the first three quarters." The company's stock initially gained as much as 1.5 percent after the report in after-hours trading but gave back those gains and was down modestly. Incoming CEO Squeri also joined the call saying, "Our next chapter will be about building on the momentum we have generated with a special focus on innovation, expanding our core product offerings, enhancing our brand and our customer relationships and partnering with others to stay ahead of the curve." In September, the company said that it would be launching a new card, called Blue Delta SkyMiles, that's aimed at new travelers, mainly millennials. Total engagement spending hit $3.1 billion in the third quarter, up 11 percent versus the prior year. "As a reminder," assured Campbell, "we expect marketing and promotion to be down significantly for the full year relative to 2016 as we realize efficiencies in our marketing spend." AmEx has been competing with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) for customers willing to pay high fees. Chase's widely popular Sapphire Reserve card wooed consumers with fat travel credits and other perks, such as airport lounge access. But the company is also under increased scrutiny as the U.S. Supreme Court examines whether American Express is violating federal antitrust law . Eleven states have filed an appeal of a lower court ruling that the company could legally stop merchants from encouraging customers to use rival cards. On Monday, American Express shares hit at a fresh 52-week intraday high of $93.35. As of its Wednesday close, the stock had surged roughly 24 percent since January. WATCH: Chenault departing Amex February 1 More From CNBC E*TRADE Financial Corporation ETFC is scheduled to report third-quarter 2017 results on Oct 19. While the top line is expected to grow year over year, earning per share will likely remain flat. In the last reported quarter, E*TRADE Financial reported a positive earnings surprise of 8.3%, supported by increased net revenues and benefit from provisions. Further, the quarter witnessed an increase in daily average revenue trades along with growth in customer accounts. However, the positives were partially offset by higher expenses. Notably, E*TRADE Financial delivered positive earnings surprises in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 17%. The stock has gained 26.3% year to date, outperforming the industrys rally of nearly 7%. E*TRADE Financial Corporation Price and EPS Surprise E*TRADE Financial Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | E*TRADE Financial Corporation Quote Earnings Whispers Will the upcoming earnings release give a boost to E*TRADE stock? A lot depends on whether the firm posts a beat for the fifth straight quarter. However, our quantitative model does not conclusively predict a beat. Heres why: E*TRADE doesnt have the right combination of the two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better to increase the odds of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for E*TRADE is 0.00%. Zacks Rank: E*TRADE currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Also, activities of E*TRADE during the quarter were inadequate to win analysts confidence. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter remained stable over the last seven days. Factors That Might Influence Q3 Results Margin Pressure Likely to Ease: The June 2017 rate hike is expected to make a full-quarter impact on net interest margin. However, a flat yield curve during the quarter might curb this improvement to some extent. Story continues Interest Expense Savings: The companys expenses are expected to reduce on the back of its restructuring moves to lower debt level. Revenues Likely to Improve: Continued momentum in investment banking business is likely to support E*TRADEs top line. Also, the revenue synergies from OptionHouse acquisition is expected to be partly reflected in the upcoming results. However, owing to low volatility in the bond and equity markets during the quarter, trading revenues are likely to remain low. Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is projected to be $596.3 million, up 22.7% year over year. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some stocks worth considering, as they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation AMTD is slated to report third-quarter results on Oct 24. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.82% and a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.s TROW Earnings ESP is +3.25% and it carries a Zacks Rank of 2. The company is expected to release results on Oct 26. Lazard Ltd. LAZ has an Earnings ESP of +1.39% and a Zacks Rank of 3. It is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Oct 26. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ETFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (AMTD) : Free Stock Analysis Report T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lazard Ltd. (LAZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Qatar is presently the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas ("LNG") in the world. The country is alone responsible for 32% of global LNG exports. It also has the third largest proven reserves of natural gas of 24.5 trillion cubic meters. Moreover, cost of production of LNG in Qatar is the lowest in the world. However, there is a new contender for the top spot now, Australia. Australia is expected to overtake Qatar following the completion of its new LNG projects. Per the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science of Australia, yearly LNG export capacity of Australia is expected to reach 74 million tons by June 2019 from 63.8 million tons estimated for 2017 and 52 million tons in 2016. On the other hand, Qatars LNG export in 2016 was 77.6 million tons. By 2020, the $200 billion investment in the country's LNG industry is expected to push Australia to the top spot in the list of the largest LNG exporters. Australias LNG exports are expected to increase 41% year over year by this time period. How Will Australia Climb to the Top? Big Projects The $54 billion Gorgon project deserves a mention here. It has increased Australias LNG production rapidly since it came online in March 2016. Energy giant Chevron Corporation CVX is the majority shareholder (47.3%). Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM the largest U.S. oil company by market value and Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A have a 25% stake each in the development. The remaining stake is held by Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Chubu Electric Power. Notably, 15.6 million metric tons of LNG will likely be produced every year once the Gorgon project is fully completed. New projects that are supporting the country's rise include Chevron's Wheatstone LNG project in Western Australia. It started this month. The Wheatstone fields are estimated to contain over 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas deposits. In July, Shell's flagship project, Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility set sail from a South Korean shipyard toward north-west Australia where the next phase of the project will commence. Prelude will handle production, liquefaction, storage and transfer of LNG at sea. It will also be responsible for processing, export and condensate liquefied petroleum gas. The facility has a production capacity of around 5.3 million tons per annum (mtpa) of liquids, with LNG accounting for 3.6 mtpa or 68% of the total capacity. Production is likely to start in early 2018. Story continues Inpex Corp.s Ichthys LNG off the northwestern coast of Australia is scheduled to come online in 2018. The floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO) vessel, Ichthys Venturer of Inpex's project has a huge capacity of 1.12 million barrels of gas condensate with 40 years of operating life. The $34 billion Inpex project is expected to tap more than 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. It will be a milestone in the country's journey to the top. Besides these mammoth projects, others worth mentioning are ConocoPhillips COP massive Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) facility that started shipment of liquefied natural gas in early 2016. The APLNG facility is located on Curtis Island in Queensland, Australia. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation SNP also has stakes in this project. Tax Structure The tax structure of the countries, pertaining to income from the royalties levied on the companies, is markedly different. Qatar government has levied a higher tax rate than the Australian government on LNG exports. Per IMF, the tax scenario in Qatar will help the country to receive AU$12.54 billion in royalty payments from LNG exports in 2020, from sales of AU$53.73 billion. On the other hand, by 2020, Australias LNG export value is expected to be around AU$40.63. However, Government of Australias Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT) receipts from all oil and gas production is estimated to be AU$0.8 billion, showing a huge difference in both the countries tax structure. This fact can attract more oil and gas majors to Australia. Geographical Position Increasing LNG demand in the Asian market from China, India, Japan, South Korea and other countries is benefiting Australia. Rising demand from the East Asian market can absorb and secure Australia's LNG supplies. It has made Australia the biggest rival in this market for Qatar. How is Qatar Rising to the Challenge? In July 2017, Qatar announced plans to increase its LNG production for the next decade. The energy department of the country expects the move to increase its LNG output to 100 million tons annually between 2022 and 2024. Also, Qatar enjoys a favorable geographical location. Its supplies can reach Europe and most of the Asian market at low cost. However, distance from Qatar to East Asian countries is more than that of Australia, which benefits the latter. Low cost of supply in addition to very large-scale plants and marketing operations can provide Qatar with strategic advantages over Australia. Qatar's cost of production is much lower than rival Australia, making its LNG business more profitable. Also, the export controls installed by the Australian government to fulfill domestic energy needs can act as a positive for Qatar. To Conclude We can say that even though Qatar is planning to increase its exports in the future, the tax friendly environment in Australia, which has already drawn several oil and gas mammoths, can make it challenging for Qatar to retain the top spot in the near future. Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7%, and +90.2% respectively. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SNP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report ConocoPhillips (COP) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Christian Shepherd and Philip Wen BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials on Thursday heaped praise on President Xi Jinping's political ideology, unveiled a day earlier at a key Communist Party Congress, a sign that it could be enshrined in the party's constitution and further cement his power. Some ruling Communist Party officials were moved on Thursday to song, dance and tears in adulation of Xi, a day after he opened the twice-a-decade conclave pledging to build a prosperous "modern socialist country" for a "new era". Three outgoing members of the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee that Xi heads lauded "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Such statements indicate that Xi could cement his power with his new eponymous slogan being incorporated into the party's constitution. Whether the theory is included bearing his name will be a key measure of his status, analysts have said. No other leader has had an eponymous ideology included in the document while in office since Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China. Xi is poised to begin a second five-year term next week. Party officials hailed Xi as a wise and great "lingxiu", or leader, a reverent honorific bestowed on only two others: Mao and his short-lived successor Hua Guofeng - another sign that Xi has accumulated more power than his immediate predecessors and could revive a party chairmanship as a precursor to staying on in some capacity beyond the end of his second term in 2022. "Xi Jinping... has obtained the heartfelt love and respect of the entire party, army and people, he deserves to be called wise leader," Beijing party secretary Cai Qi, a Xi ally and one-time colleague, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the city delegation, according to the official Beijing Daily. Officials lavishing praise on the party's top leader at a congress is not unusual, but overt displays of emotion or personal adulation are rare. One female delegate from the southern province of Jiangxi broke into song to praise Xi's treatment of ethnic minorities, while another from Guangdong province said that, listening to Xi's speech, her eyes had brimmed with tears. "I feel that the reason for my country's accomplishments is fundamentally the helmsmanship of Xi Jinping," said Jing Junhai, Beijing's deputy party chief, invoking a phase often used to describe Mao. The 64-year-old Xi has consolidated power swiftly since assuming the party leadership in 2012, locking up rivals for corruption, tightening controls on civil society, revamping the military and asserting China's rising might on the global stage. Some party officials painted Xi as a saviour. "Because of the Party Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as its core, in five years, the party has been saved, the army has been saved, the country has been saved," Liu Shiyu, head of China's securities regulator, said on Thursday. Others were more restrained. Hu Chunhua, party chief in Guangdong province and a potential contender for a spot on the new Politburo Standing Committee to be revealed next week, simply referred to Xi as general secretary and did not mention his theory during an open session on Thursday, in contrast with more than a dozen other delegates who spoke. State media reported that he had praised Xi's theory the day before. For an interactive graphic on Chinas economic report card, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2kT7Xuv NEW IDEOLOGY, MORE POWER The exact meaning of Xi's new banner term is not yet clear, although it is not unusual for Communist Party leaders to announce lofty slogans and then fill in the details as they go. An ideology named after Xi to guide China and the party would further consolidate his power, said Ryan Manuel, a Chinese politics expert at the University of Hong Kong. "This is a good umbrella for him to just keep saying whatever he wants and the system having to respond and study it," he said. Xi's immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, have had their ideological concepts enshrined in the constitution, but not their names. The party gave Xi the title of "core" leader a year ago, a strengthening of his position ahead of the congress, adding to speculation that Xi could retain power beyond a customary second term and even revive Mao's chairman title. For a graphic on Chinas leadership, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2xKEEQZ (Reporting by Christian Shepherd, Philip Wen and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Yawen Chen, Meng Meng, Tom Daly and Min Zhang.; Editing by Tony Munroe and Nick Macfie) At a time when the United States is worried about North Korea developing a nuclear weapons program, The Coming Collapse of China author Gordon Chang tells FOX Business China is equipping the country with weapons. [Chinese President] Xi Jinping has been kind of fueling North Korea, transferring very important weapons and equipment and technology to the North Koreans, especially their ballistic missile program They are weaponizing the North, he told Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria. In July, North Korea test fired intercontinental ballistic missiles for the first time over Japan, sparking fears that the ICBMs could reach the U.S. According to Chang, the missiles were transported by Chinese mobile launchers. This makes North Korea a real threat because their missiles can now hide, he said. Also, the missiles North Korea tested in August of last year and February and May of this year looked to be variants of Chinas JL-1 submarine launch missile, Chang said and added that this is something the Trump administration needs to discuss with China. Nevertheless, in Changs opinion, President Trump has taken the necessary steps so far in dealing with China and North Korea. He pointed out how imposing sanctions is the right approach. [President Trumps] September 21 executive order where he basically says to the world, you do business with North Korea or you do business with us, but not both at the same time that was directed toward China as everybody knows that was really good policy and its really a monumental step forward, especially if the president enforces it, Chang said. Related Articles Chinese former president Jiang Zemin (C), 91, is occasionally the subject of rumours of his demise but proved these reports were greatly exaggerated by taking a prominent place at the Party's leadership Congress (AFP Photo/NICOLAS ASFOURI) (AFP) Beijing (AFP) - Rumoured to have died a few months ago, 91-year-old former Chinese president Jiang Zemin roused social media users Wednesday by taking a prominent place at the ruling Communist Party's leadership Congress. Proving that reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated, the former leader sat next to President Xi Jinping and stood for the national anthem as the twice-a-decade congress opened on national television in Beijing's vast Great Hall of the People. Many Chinese internet users gushed over the elderly "Frog" -- an affectionate nickname inspired by Jiang's wide grin and prominent bespectacled eyes -- marvelling over the apparently still hale nonagenarian in postings sprinkled with frog emojis. "I want to ask about his secret for longevity," said one posting on China's Twitter-like social network Weibo. "How many organs must he have had replaced to be standing in the middle of the stage?" asked another, before China's notorious internet censors swooped in to delete most of the postings within a couple of hours. Guided into his chair by two ushers, Jiang and his oversized glasses stood out in the crowd of dark-suited party leaders. He occasionally glanced at his watch or examined Xi's speech text with a large magnifying glass while his comrades sat motionless, and flashed his trademark smile in a conversation with Xi. The former party leader and Chinese president for a decade from 1993, Jiang is occasionally the subject of rumours about his demise. Most recently, in May online speculation swirled that Jiang had died of a stroke in Shanghai, the financial centre he formerly governed as mayor and party chief. He subsequently was seen in public. Past presidents are typically on hand for the congress, during which the top leadership and party policies for the next five years are set in stone. Jiang's immediate successor Hu Jintao, 74, was on Xi's right hand. Story continues - 'Younger than ever' - A former factory engineer, Jiang came to power in the traumatic aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and led China through an era of stunning economic transformation. Jiang's legacy remains mixed, however, as rapid economic growth led to ills such as rampant environmental degradation and a widening wealth gap, which today's leaders are wrestling with. But with his big smile, grasp of several languages, and sometimes clownish behaviour including making jokes in English, Jiang is fondly remembered by many as a relatively colourful Chinese leader compared to his stiff successors Hu and Xi. A music lover who played the piano, Jiang was known for bursting into song on foreign trips, including a memorable rendition of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" during a state visit to the Philippines. "Holy (expletive)! He is getting younger than ever," said one Weibo posting. Other than the live television broadcast, Jiang's presence was largely ignored by state-run media. Official mention of past leaders has become increasingly rare under Xi, who took power in 2012 and moved swiftly to clamp down on dissent as party mouthpieces push a cult of personality around him. By Tom Daly and Melanie Burton BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government's campaign to reduce smog pollution and whittle down excess production is set to take around a tenth of its aluminum smelting capacity out of the market by the year-end, potentially adding fuel to a months-long price rally. That impact could have been even more severe - if the world's largest aluminum producer, privately-held China Hongqiao Group, had been forced to cut output by 30 percent this winter. But, in an apparent reprieve late last week, its cuts are likely to be far less than that. China last year accounted for over half the world's annual primary aluminum production of almost 59 million tonnes, according to the London-based International Aluminium Institute. It has annual aluminum smelting capacity of 45 million tonnes, according to consultancy CRU. New capacity has still come on line in China this year, even as illegal, unlicensed capacity has been shut down. A Reuters survey of six consultancies and brokerages last week, before the Hongqiao news, showed that up to 1 million tonnes of the light metal, used in making cars and white goods, could be cut during the 4-month heating season in northern China, which begins in mid-November, in the country's first winter restrictions on aluminum. That works out at as much as 3 million tonnes on an annualized basis and is on top of the 3-4 million tonnes of annual capacity estimated to have closed permanently this year as part of a crackdown on facilities built without necessary permits. The prospect of supply cuts in China has roiled markets, particularly in the eastern province of Shandong, home to several smelters including Hongqiao, which will shoulder 80 percent of the winter cuts, according to Wood Mackenzie analyst Ami Shivkar. Chinese aluminum prices hit 6-year highs above 17,000 yuan ($2,581.74) per ton in August, and are on track for their best annual performance in eight years, as investors have bet that government policy will help trim a global glut that has dampened prices for years. BEIJING BACKLASH? The Chinese government has told 28 northern cities, including Binzhou and six others in Shandong, to take stringent steps to curb smog this winter. Among these is a requirement for smelters to cut primary aluminum production by at least 30 percent. However, an order on Friday by the city of Binzhou, where Hongqiao is based, for smelters to reduce operations this winter appeared less stringent than had been expected. The city's plan includes in its calculation illegal pots that Hongqiao has already closed. The company shut 2.68 million tonnes of illegal annual capacity by end-July. That means it will now only have to shut another 900,000 tonnes of annual operational capacity over the winter months, estimates CRU consultant Jackie Wang. Hongqiao "will need to close a lot less than previously thought," noted Victor You, an analyst at CLSA in Hong Kong, who had calculated a 30 percent Hongqiao reduction at nearly 2 million tonnes. Hongqiao did not respond to a request to clarify how much it was cutting this winter. Standard Chartered analyst Paul Horsnell said in a client note that the let-off "essentially creates an issue of moral hazard and threatens the integrity of cuts to both illegal capacity and the winter heating season." He warned of a central government backlash "to a policy guideline that effectively means Hongqiao benefits from its development of illegal capacity." (Reporting by Tom Daly in BEIJING and Melanie Burton in SYDNEY; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) Chandrashekhar shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Alfred Fowler. Google's Doodle illustrates an idea called Chandrasekhar's Limit. Read on to learn more. By India Today Web Desk: On Diwali, when blooming fires of varying hue obscure the stars, Google's Doodle paid tribute to an astrophysicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for studying them. Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar, an Indian-American scientist, won that honour in 1983, for "his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars." He was born 107 years ago today in Lahore, in British India. advertisement Genius, it seems, ran in Chandrasekhar's family. His uncle was Sir C V Raman, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1928. And his mother - as he himself said* - was "a woman of high intellectual attainments" who translated the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House into Tamil. Google's Doodle illustrates a theory that Chandrasekhar presented at London's Royal Astrophysical Society before he turned 24. It shows a small cosmic object falling on a weighing scale. The little haloed orb effortlessly outweighs a weight marked '1.44,' which rests on the other side. Like a bowling ball closing its finger holes, it shuts its eyes, and explodes. What does this mean? A profile of Chandrashekar published by India Today in 1983, the year in which he won the Nobel Prize, contains a description of his theory. "In a nutshell his (Chandrasekhar's) theory stated that dying stars have a critical mass that is 1.4 times the mass of the sun. Stars whose mass is less than this critical mass, after exhausting all their nuclear fuel, collapse due to gravity into a dense mass called the "white dwarf." But stars heavier than the critical mass simply go on collapsing beyond the dwarf star stage getting denser and denser and smaller and smaller. Such objects are today known as black holes and the critical mass has gone into textbooks as "Chandrasekhar's Limit." At the time, as the author of the article notes, Sir Arthur Eddington (the very same Eddington who performed that famous test of Einstein's general theory of relativity) thought Chandrasekhar's theory was "outlandish" and "absurd." But NASA, which named a space observatory after him, says the discovery "is basic to much of modern astrophysics, since it shows that stars much more massive than the Sun must either explode or form black holes." Chandrasekhar was educated at the Presidency College in Madras, and at the University of Cambridge. He became a US citizen in 1953, and taught at the University of Chicago. He died in 1995. With a name that alludes to the moon and awards for his work on stars, "Chandra" - said Britain's Astronomer Royal - "probably thought longer and deeper about our universe than anyone since Einstein." advertisement * The quote was taken from a biography published on the Nobel Prize's official website. WATCH | Black Holes - 60 Second Adventures in Astronomy (Video courtesy: OpenLearn from The Open University/YouTube) --- ENDS --- Apple already sold millions of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus units, but launch weekend estimates fell short of whats expected from typical iPhone launches. Its not that the iPhone is losing its appeal all of a sudden, but this year isnt a usual one for Apple. The best iPhone of 2017 hasnt even launched yet, as the iPhone X wont be released until early November, which is why many buyers skipped the iPhone 8 models. But the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are still great phones. In fact, we called the 8 Plus the best smartphone in the world right now, boring though it may be. The testers over at Consumer Reports dont agree though, and they believe that old Samsung phones are better than the iPhone 8. Don't Miss: The hot new Nest Thermostat E is now the best-selling smart thermostat on Amazon The organization ranked the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus as the top two devices when it comes to performance, Yonhap News reports. The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8 were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with Samsungs 2016 Galaxy S7 sitting in the third position. Thats right, Consumer Reports thinks the 18-month-old Galaxy S7 is a better phone than either new iPhone 8 model. Its not all good news for Samsung, whose Galaxy Note 8 only comes in sixth, after the two iPhone 8 models. Apparently, weak durability and weight affected the Note 8s review. The LG V30, which is an iPhone 8 and Galaxy Note 8 rival, has not been included in Consumer Reports ranking as it wasnt yet launched in the US while the site was testing. Itll be interesting to see how the iPhone X will fare in the same performance and user experience tests. After all, the iPhone X has almost the same internal components as the 8 and 8 Plus. That said, the iPhone X does have plenty of unique features that may affect the overall experience, including an all-screen design, no home button, a new dual-lens rear camera, a bigger battery, and Face ID that replaces Touch ID. Story continues Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com This past summer I was able to travel a lot more for less money. In fact, my family and I spent several weeks abroad in Paris without paying a single euro for our accommodations. How? Through member-only home-exchange sites we were able to find a French family who wanted to swap apartments with us during their visit to New York. Because theres no money exchanged, we were able to stay in their three-bedroom apartment for free, saving thousands on what we could have spent on a tiny hotel room. For less than the price of a one-night hotel stay, a $100 to $200 membership to a home-sharing platform like HomeExchange, HomeLink or Intervac could save you over 50% on travel expenses and accommodations. HomeExchange.com boasts 1 million property swaps since it was founded in 1992, with over 65,000 members in 150 countries. Another sharing platform, HomeLink.org was founded in 1953, long before the world wide web, when David Ostroff, a teacher looking for economical ways to travel, established a Vacation Exchange Club by mail. That same year, across the Atlantic, Intervac was established by a group of teachers in Europe, and currently has over 30,000 members who offer reduced rentals in addition to home swaps. While handing over my keys to a stranger is completely outside of my comfort zone, I was intrigued by the experiences of a friend who had traded her home several times to travel the world. Skeptical, I prodded her for any negative accounts, but she didnt have a single one to share. Instead, she was proud to have been part of a respectful community of swappers and said it restored her faith in humanity. So when I found out these exchange sites offered generous free trial memberships (some up to 4 weeks), I decided to give it a try. At the very least, it would be fun checking out different peoples homes around the world. Heres how it worked: Six months before the trip, I frantically cleaned my apartment and posted a profile with photos of our home on a few different sites where we reached out to families whose homes we wanted to stay in. We were pleasantly surprised to receive daily emails from swappers all over the world who were interested in our home. Despite being distracted by a few tempting offers from Spain and Italy, we decided to hold out on our dream to stay in Paris. Story continues It took some time and work to find the perfect fit because many homes offered to us werent child-friendly or in the location we wanted. On the flip side, we were also turned down by potential swappers who felt our home wasnt right for them, or had already booked their exchange a year in advance. After about 3 weeks, a family with a child-friendly home in the heart of Paris came through. They were equally excited about our home as we were theirs, and available to swap during the month we wanted to travel. After video-chatting with them, and giving each other virtual tours of our homes, we felt comfortable enough to send each other the sites exchange contract where we laid out certain ground rules like non-smoking, plant care, and housekeeping. Once the contract was signed, we planned to meet in-person to swap keys, and booked our flights accordingly. Leading up to the exchange, we did quite a bit of purging and cleaning to prepare our home for our new guests. For personal items like underwear and sensitive files, we learned that some families lock up entire rooms that are off-limits, but we were able to stuff our personal items into one closet and installed a lock on that door. To make sure they knew how to use our appliances like our TV or washer, we took some videos and uploaded them to view. Excited to welcome our new friends to NYC, we left them a bottle of wine along with a map, our unlimited metrocards, and a personal guide for some of our favorite places to eat and hang out. For those of you who are interested but hesitant to do a full swap, there are other options like hosting, where you can host a family first and visit their country at a later date to be their guests. When we arrived in Paris, our new friends welcomed us into their beautiful home with homemade pastries. Their apartment was sunny, clean, cozy, and filled with toys much to the delight of our children. After an hour or so of getting acquainted, they took our keys and flew off to NYC. There was absolutely no money exchanged just our keys. All of this took some coordination, but my friend was right: not only did it restore my faith in humanity, but it also gave my family the rare opportunity to experience Paris leisurely like locals. We didnt have to rush our kids around to all the tourist attractions. Instead we took our time enjoying long strolls in different neighborhoods, discovering new playgrounds and restaurants, and spending hours with our neighbors over meals together. When it was time to return home, we cleaned up their place, replenished whatever we used up, and flew back to NYC where wed swap our keys and return to reality. Thankfully, they were respectful of all our belongings, kept it spick and span, and before they flew back to Paris, we had about an hour to exchange stories of our adventures. Of course it wouldve been easier to book a hotel, but after an experience like this, weve decided to swap as often as we can. In fact, were already planning our next trip! Jeanie is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Reach out by email jeaniea@yahoo-inc.com; follow her on Twitter @jeanie531. MORE FROM JEANIE: Used-car prices are at a record high. Heres how to negotiate the best deal. Why you have over 70 different credit scores 3 money-saving tips for your next family trip The most accurate way to calculate how much home you can afford How I bought my sons entire wardrobe for under $100 (Adds Israeli defence minister) By Ellen Francis and Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Iran's military chief warned Israel against breaching Syrian airspace and territory on a visit to Damascus on Wednesday, raising tensions with Israel as it voices deep concern over Tehran's influence in Syria. General Mohammad Baqeri pledged to increase cooperation with Syria's military to fight Israel and insurgents, Iranian and Syrian state media said. Iranian forces and Iran-backed Shi'ite militias, including Hezbollah, have provided critical military support to Damascus, helping it regain swathes of Syria from rebels and militants. "It's not acceptable for the Zionist regime to violate the land and airspace of Syria anytime it wants," Baqeri said at a news conference with his Syrian counterpart. "We are in Damascus to assert and cooperate to confront our common enemies, the Zionists and terrorists," he said, a reference to Israel and Sunni Muslim jihadists including Islamic State. "We drew up the broad lines for this cooperation," Syrian state media cited the Iranian military chief of staff as saying. Iran's expanding clout during Syria's more than six-year war has raised alarm in Israel, which has said it would act against any threat from its regional arch-enemy Tehran. Israel's air force says it has struck arms convoys of the Syrian military and Hezbollah nearly 100 times during the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran was strengthening its foothold in Syria and that Israel would "do whatever it takes" to protect its security. Tensions have risen this year between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel, which have avoided a major conflict since 2006. This week, the Israeli military said it attacked a Syrian anti-aircraft battery that had fired at its planes over Lebanon. But the Syrian army said it hit an Israeli warplane after it breached its airspace at the Syria-Lebanon border. [nL8N1MR2EX "Our job is to prevent war, and you do that through deterrence. What we saw in Syria (on Monday) fell within this framework," the Israeli defence minister told Israel Radio on Wednesday before the Iranian military chief's comments. "We will do whatever is necessary for (our) security," Avigdor Lieberman added. "We will not change our operating procedures because of shooting or a threat of this type or another." (Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Tom Perry and Richard Balmforth) Donald Trump speaks to the Heritage Foundation's President's Club Meeting in Washington, DC on October 17, 2017: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump pitched his tax plan to a friendly audience on Tuesday night, promising a conservative gathering that broad tax cuts would bring prosperity. Speaking at an event put on by the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, Mr Trump touted his sweeping tax plan as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revitalize our economy by overhauling Americas outdated, complex and extremely burdensome tax code. Lower taxes mean bigger paychecks, more jobs, and stronger growth, said the billionaire, calling the current corporate tax rate a giant self-inflicted wound. The President mostly stuck to reciting a list of accomplishments and touting the effects of lower taxes, though he did indulge a brief aside about his oft-invoked seasonal greetings preferences, telling his audience that youre going to be saying merry Christmas again. Thwarted in his push to dissolve Barack Obamas healthcare law, Mr Trump has turned to tax reform as his best chance at securing a still-elusive legislative victory. But the prospects remain uncertain, with administration officials and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan warning the push may be the latest to languish in the Senate. We look at the Senate and go, What the hell is going on? White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told POLITICO last week. You ask me if the Republican-controlled Senate is an impediment to the administrations agenda: All I can tell you is so far, the answers yes. Still, the Senate has moved closer to the goal by voting to advance a budget plan that opens the door to a tax overhaul. The tax plan embraced by Mr Trump and Republican leaders would reduce the number of income tax rates from seven to three, slash the corporate tax rate, and eliminate the estate tax and various deductions. The President said the lower tax rate would encourage companies to bring profits stashed abroad back into the country. We are going to bring back trillions of dollars currently parked overseas, Mr Trump said. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, the plan would slim federal revenue by about $2.4tn over a decade. While the average tax bill would decline across all income groups, the report found, about half of the total benefit would go to the wealthiest 1 per cent of Americans. LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.Youve no doubt seen the headlines. Facebook, Google, Twitter asked to testify on Russian meddling reported Reuters. How Russia used social media to divide Americans explained the Guardian. Facebook Knows More About Russias Election Meddling. Shouldnt We? asked the New York Times. It has no doubt been a year of reflection for Menlo Park, Calif. media giant Facebook, whose namesake social network unknowingly played a part in the extraordinary result of the 2016 U.S. election. The company has long emphasized that its network reflected society as a whole; this year, its optimism dimmed somewhat following the networks apparent misuse by Russian operatives, who ran Facebook ads that amplified social and political messages to sway voters opinions. The narrative about Facebook as of late has not been super positive, said David Marcus, Facebooks vice president of messaging, here at the Wall Street Journals D.Live conference. Thats a shame, Marcus said, because it does so much good, too. If you suffer from an unusual disease and cant find people like you to talk to, Facebook can help with that. Much of the social networks global impact is good, he argued: Lets not just forget all the good that the Facebook platform and its various products bring to the world. Still, Marcus acknowledged that Facebooks role had grown to a point where it couldnt just wish away the ills of the world. When you design a platform that reaches 2 billion people every month, sometimes bad things happen, Marcus said. We shouldnt tolerate those things or let them happen. Thats why Facebook is hiring more than a thousand human editors to review ads, he said, despite the fact that such a move goes against the core value of what a platform offers: technology at scale. Im absolutely confident that we have the right plan and that we will be able to remediate those things, Marcus said. It wont be perfect, he cautioned, but Facebook will try its best. Michael Brown, the former FEMA head who was widely blamed for the Bush administrations slow response to Hurricane Katrina, sees some familiar patterns in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The same breakdown in coordination between different levels of government that exacerbated the disaster of Katrina also contributed to struggles to respond adequately to Maria, Brown told TIME this week. Brown, who resigned as FEMA director under President George W. Bush amid criticism of his handling of Katrina, praised the Trump administrations overall response to Maria. But he said that the unified command center in Puerto Rico was ineffective at coordinating and managing resources, as some local officials would not or could not make it there because they were isolated by the storms damage to the islands infrastructure. In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, New Orleans lacked a federal command center on the scene altogether, according to a government report commissioned to assess the event. I think presidents and certainly FEMA have learned that you got to have a unified command structure to respond to any disaster, Brown said. In Puerto Rico, we see that there are many people who havent learned that. David Paulison, who succeeded Brown as FEMA leader under Bush, offered a similar assessment. What we had in Katrina was a disconnect between the federal, state and local level, he said. In Puerto Rico I see that same breakdown. Those assessments were challenged by a senior FEMA official in Puerto Rico. I know both Mike and Dave and I have a lot of high regard for them, but thats just not the case on the ground here, Mike Byrne, the federal coordinating officer for Puerto Rico, said in a phone interview from San Juan. Byrne said he meets daily with Puerto Ricos governor at the command center established early on in San Juan and several times a day with his staff, and has an inter-governmental coordinator in each of the islands 78 municipalities. I not only have ground troops at the most minute level, I also have constant access to the highest levels, he said. Story continues Byrne, who took over for another FEMA official a week ago, acknowledged that Puerto Ricos physical isolation and the comprehensive damage of the storm which knocked out power and cell phones, and many roads slowed the initial response. But with 77 helicopters and 19,000 troops on the island three weeks after the storm, the relief effort was robust, Byrne said, delivering one million liters of water on Oct. 17, and 600,000 meals. So theres always slow ramp up time, but once you get the pump primed, things get moving. And it took longer to get this pump primed, because its 1,000 miles from the mainland. Despite these efforts, Puerto Rico remains in dire straits, with much of the island without electricity or access to clean drinking water nearly a month since the storm struck the U.S. territory, leaving at least 48 people dead. Still, many natural disaster experts agree with Byrne that delays in response have been due to the islands location and lack of infrastructure, rather than issues with the federal governments response. Brown said the Trump administrations response in Puerto Rico was pretty much textbook. James Lee Witt, who served as FEMA director for the entirety of the Clinton presidency, told the Washington Post he would give the Trump administration an A-plus for its handling of the storm something Trump picked up on in remarks this week. I was very honored, Trump said Monday. Hes the FEMA director of the Clinton administration. Gave us an A-plus for how we responded to the hurricane aftermath. Perceptions of the response have also been affected by President Trumps social media habits. While Trump put resources at FEMAs disposal, he distracted from recovery efforts at times with tone-deaf comments and online feuds with some local officials, including San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. Last week, Trump threatened to pull FEMA and the Department of Defense from the island. Trumps advisers would prefer not to focus on the Presidents Twitter feed. Judge us by the actions, Mick Mulvaeny, Trumps director of the Office of Management and Budget, told CNN earlier this month. Judge us by whats happening on the island. -With reporting by Karl Vick Trade representatives from the US, Mexico, and Canada at the latest round of NAFTA negotiations. The talks did not go well, and they will extend into 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Officials from the United States, Mexico, and Canada said this week that the negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would extend into 2018. The extension is not an auspicious sign for a deal, and the Trump administration has already said that he will probably end up terminating the agreement. In U.S. circles, thoughts on NAFTAs long-term prospects have become more grave of late, but the tone is very different south of the border. As some U.S. business leaders lobby for NAFTA, their Mexican counterparts have already completely moved on months ago. Psychologically, Mexico has already accepted that NAFTA is coming to an end, said Jorge Guajardo, former Mexican ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013 who now consults for both Mexican and American companies. You have President Trump posturing and negotiating as if Mexicos life depends on NAFTA. Mexico is like, weve already walked away. This week, Guajardo met with three prominent CEOs of Mexican multinational conglomerates who were in Washington, D.C., to speak on a pro-NAFTA panel. They couldnt be more blase about the whole NAFTA pullout, he told Yahoo Finance. Despite the CEOs reason for coming, they were circumspect. The attitude was that Mexico will take a little beating, but were used to it dealing with economic crisis, Guajardo said. The Mexican population writ-large may not view NAFTA particularly favorably many see it as a bad deal in a history of bad deals with its bullying northern neighbor. But business leaders in Mexico generally have a favorable outlook on the agreement, said Guajardo, making their attitude even more striking. Mexican companies will be fine For an example of how companies in Mexico will fare, Guajardo pointed to Grupo Alfa (ALFAA.MX), a massive conglomerate whose portfolio is incredibly diverse. Thanks to NAFTA, the company imports 20% of the U.S. total production of turkey legs and boneless chicken to be processed. If and when the agreement founders, it will simply source that from somewhere else and open those markets. Its much easier now to do that, Guajardo said, because many countries like Brazil and Argentina are now far more open to free-trade. Story continues Guajardo also pointed to the automotive business. Half the cars in the North American region has a component made by [Grupo Alfas] auto parts business, he said. They have six foundries in the U.S. and eight in Mexico. Nobody else has that product. Even without NAFTA, American car manufacturers will still have to buy the parts and produce in Mexico. Only now, Guajardo said, with a tariff that will be passed on to the U.S. consumer. The economy will suffer, said Guajardo. No one denies that. But on a company basis, they all seem to be saying: well be okay. This is not a new attitude This attitude may be surprising to those north of the border, but Guajardo said that this sentiment has been present for months. In the U.S. you still find opinion pieces making the case for NAFTA, he said. You dont find this in Mexico. Everyones like, lets move on. In January, Guajardo, who regularly makes trips back and forth from D.C. to Monterrey, saw doom and gloom, a feeling of helplessness. Monterrey, one of Mexicos largest cities, has benefited from NAFTA, and Guajardo expected pessimism. Thats not what I saw. Everyone started to think about worst-case scenarios and realized its not so bad and started moving on. American companies, some of which Guajardo also advises, have not reached this point, he realized. Theyre still trying to find a way and work something out. But in Mexico, its like, meh, its over, he said. Its an underreported story in the U.S. how much Mexico has moved on. Nobodys talking about [saving NAFTA] down there. Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Confidential tip line: emann[at]oath[.com]. Read More: Vanguard, genocide, and a $18 million campaign to get you to vote Venmo is one step further to becoming a full-service digital wallet ATM fees have shot up 55% in the past decade Big bitcoin-friendly companies like Microsoft and Expedia hedge their bet The real reason Mexico will never pay for the Trumps wall: Itd be treason How Waffle Houses hurricane response team prepares for disaster Trump weighs slashing one of the most popular tax deductions A robot lawyer can fight your parking tickets and much more Consumer watchdog is making it easier for consumers to sue banks How ringless spam voicemails became a partisan issue The child's father, Kashif, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. By Press Trust of India: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has directed the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to issue a visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India. The child's father, Kashif, had requested Swaraj on Twitter to grant medical visa for treatment of Abdullah, saying he needed post-liver transplant evaluation in India. "The treatment of your child must not suffer for want of medicine. I have asked Indian High Commission to issue medical visa. @ChachaKashif," the minister tweeted yesterday. advertisement Kashif had said the child's medicines were about to finish and he needed immediate medical consultation in India. In another tweet, Swaraj said a medical visa has also been approved for a Pakistani woman, who wants to undergo liver surgery in India. The woman's son, Rafique Memon, had requested Swaraj to intervene and grant visa to his mother. Swaraj also responded positively to a request by Nazir Ahmed that his eight-year-old child Mohammad Ahmed is awaiting medical visa for a year. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your 8- year-old child in India," she said. Swaraj has been taking a sympathetic approach in granting medical visas to Pakistani nationals, notwithstanding strain in ties between India and Pakistan over a host of issues, including cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. DIWALI PROMISE Marking the auspicious occasion of Diwali, India on Thursday promised medical visas all those people abroad, including in Pakistan, seeking treatment. "On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today," Swaraj tweeted. On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan- Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 Keeping to a promise made on Independence Day, India on Wednesday issued six more medical visas to Pakistani nationals, including three children. "We will issue visa to facilitate treatment of your eight-year-old child in India," Sushma tweeted on Wednesday night in response to a request from Nazir Ahmed who said that his son Mohammad Ahmed was awaiting a medical visa from India for one year. In a separate tweet, she also promised a visa to Muhammad Asif Malik's son, who is currently in an intensive care unit (ICU) in children's hospital in Lahore, and to Kasif Chacha's child who is running out of medicine. Visas were also issued to Irfan Ahmed Shaikh, Nasir Mahmood and the mother of Rafique Menon for liver surgeries. This month, Sushma announced the issuance of 19 medical visas to Pakistanis for treatment in India. advertisement WITH INPUTS FROM IANS --- ENDS --- The corporate logo of General Motors is seen at the facilities of the company in Valencia, Venezuela, August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares/Files (Reuters) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Co has agreed to pay $120 million to resolve claims from 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over faulty ignition switches, state attorneys general and the company said on Thursday. The largest U.S. automaker had previously paid about $2.5 billion in penalties and settlements over faulty ignition switches that could cause engines to stall and prevent airbags from deploying in crashes. The defect has been linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries, and prompted a recall that began in February 2014 of 2.6 million vehicles. GM spokesman David Caldwell said the Detroit automaker had reached a settlement with states over the more than 3-year-old consumer protection investigations. "GM will continue ongoing improvements it's made to ensure the safety of its vehicles," Caldwell said. These include retaining a new organizational structure devoted to global vehicle safety and a program that encourages employees to speak up about possible safety issues. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement GM had "turned a blind eye for years and chose to conceal the safety defects associated with several models of their vehicles." Under the settlement, GM dealers must not sell certified pre-owned vehicles with uncompleted recalls, and is required to have a team to "improve and enhance recall awareness to car owners with open recalls." Some states said they would use settlement funds to investigate and prosecute future deceptive practices. In 2015, GM paid $900 million to settle a U.S. Justice Department criminal investigation and agreed to three years of oversight by an independent monitor after being charged with wire fraud. GM shares closed up 0.5 percent at $45.35. No individuals were charged, but Chief Executive Mary Barra fired 15 people, including eight executives, over the issue. Barra said last week the ignition recall was "a moment in time where the company committed deeply to safety." Story continues The states said GM knew as early as 2004 that the ignition switch posed a safety defect because it could cause airbag non-deployment, but company officials decided it was not a safety concern and delayed recalls. The issue prompted an industrywide jump in recalls in 2014 to an all-time high and cast a spotlight on GM's safety record as Barra testified before the U.S. Congress. The company still faces some lawsuits in connection with the ignition switch recall, including economic loss claims. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang) Harvey Weinstein. (REUTERS/Steve Crisp) The actress Rose McGowan, the Italian model Ambra Battilana, two Miramax employees, and an employee of the Weinstein Company have at least two things in common. First, these women all accused the now-disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. They also all entered into into settlement agreements that effectively bought their silence about that alleged misconduct for years, according to The New York Times. What I think happens when you have these nondisclosure agreements is that everybody assumes its just them, says L. Camille Hebert, a professor at The Ohio State Universitys law school and an expert on sexual harassment and workplace discrimination. These types of agreements, she says, give people in positions of power the ability to hide patterns of harassment or abuse. A murky and untested area of the law The New York Times revelations on Oct. 5 that Weinstein paid off his accusers have spurred more than 40 women to come forward to accuse him of harassment or assault but the report has also started a bigger conversation about sexual harassment and sexual assault, especially in the workplace. Anybody on Twitter (TWTR) or Facebook (FB) in recent days has likely seen women, and some men, tell their own stories of harassment or assault using the hashtag #metoo. Some participants in the #metoo campaign may very well be defying confidentiality clauses in agreements like the ones that Weinsteins accusers have agreed to. But in recent years, these clauses have faced increased scrutiny, with some judges even throwing them out because theyre against public policy, according to Hebert. The #metoo campaign and Weinstein allegations may end up empowering even more women to violate these clauses almost sort of daring the former employer to go after them, according to David C. Yamada, director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk Universitys law school. Rose McGowan. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) In theory, employers could sue these women for violating these agreements. But its unclear how this litigation would play out since most accusers end up complying with these deals for fear of getting sued. As Yamada noted to Yahoo Finance, This is a murky and untested area of law. Story continues Cost of doing business While this might be a relatively untested area of the law, confidentiality clauses in settlements with employers are nothing new in the U.S. Over the last 20 years they have become increasingly popular to the point where theres almost a presumption that there will be some kind of nondisclosure clause in an employment-related settlement, Yamada told Yahoo Finance. Back in 2011, then-GOP presidential contender Herman Cain brought some attention to confidential settlements after admitting that hed agreed to one to settle a sexual harassment claim against him. At the time, Caren Goldberg, a human resources management professor at American University, told CNN that such settlements are the cost of doing business for companies. Rather than fighting a costly legal battle, she noted, companies could opt for a low-cost settlement right there that makes the problem go away and swears everyone to secrecy. Sometimes these settlements arent always so low-cost and they arent always a secret, though. In August, 21st Century Fox revealed in a securities filing that it had paid out $50 million to settle sexual harassment claims made against the network in the prior year. Of course, the settlements involving Weinstein didnt remain a secret, either. They would look pretty tone-deaf to sue right now Even though those Weinstein settlements didnt stay under wraps, the Weinstein Company is highly unlikely to sue anybody who violates one of those deals, according to Yamada and Hebert. They [The Weinstein company] would look pretty tone-deaf to sue right now, Hebert noted. Its less clear whether other companies would go to the trouble of suing sexual-harassment or assault accusers who violated confidentiality agreements under less high-profile circumstances. If a company does go after somebody who violated that agreement, a judge might throw out the confidentiality clause as being against public policy particularly if a company is asking an accuser not to reveal information that might be against the law, according to Hebert. In that case, the accuser probably wouldnt have to give back their settlement money, she said. If the confidentiality agreement was part of a settlement agreement, and only the non-disclosure/confidentiality provision was found to be against public policy (as opposed to the entire settlement agreement), she noted, then a judge would likely strike only that portion of the agreement. Is sexual harassment a public hazard? In other cases, Hebert said, judges have upheld confidentiality agreements in workplace harassment settlements forcing victims to return all of their settlement money. Still, Yamada said, there is some hope that the #metoo campaign will change the way employers handle sexual harassment claims and how the legal system deals with them. Indeed, several states including Florida already ban confidentiality clauses in settlements that involve a public hazard. In the legal publication Law360 last year, a lawyer named Chloe Roberts suggested these laws might apply to sexual-harassment settlements. The legislative intent behind public hazard laws specifically aims to prohibit parties to a settlement agreement from being able to hide dangerous people and conditions from the public consciousness, she wrote. Secret settlements that protect sexual harassment in the workplace, and cover serial sexual harassers privacy, are toxic for lawyers, clients, the legal system and the public. Still, Merrick Rossein, a professor at CUNY School of Law, believes most companies wont hesitate to sue those who violate confidentiality clauses in agreements, despite the spotlight the #metoo campaign is shining on rampant harassment in the workplace. I would suggest the companies are going to be just as aggressive at enforcing those confidentiality provisions, Rossein said. If you keep things secret, then it benefits the corporation. Erin Fuchs is deputy managing editor at Yahoo Finance. Read more: Why somebody like the KB Home CEO would get to keep their job after a profane outburst How Americas tech giants reached crisis mode Moodys: Amazon may actually be the weakest retailer Heres what the fired anti-diversity engineer would have to prove in his case against Google A fight over gay employees will almost certainly hit the Supreme Court A legal fight over NYC dog sitters highlights a bigger problem in America (UPDATED with lawyer statement) As NYPD and the London Metropolitan Police have begun investigating potential criminal complaints against Harvey Weinstein, the Los Angeles Police today formally announced its is now looking into rape allegations against the disgraced producer. The Los Angeles Police Departments Robbery Homicide Division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein which allegedly occurred in 2013, LAPD Officer Sal Ramirez said today. The case is under investigation, the police officer added of potential charges that could see Weinstein jailed for nearly a decade if found guilty. There is no more information at this time. Spotlighting an assault that allegedly occurred following a fashion and film event at the Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel in February 2013, an Italian women met this morning for several hours with detectives in the departments Robbery-Homicide Divisions rape unit. A detailed statement of what happened and what Harvey Weinsteins action were was provided, a law enforcement source tells Deadline of the model/actress time with the detectives. Mr. Weinstein obviously cant speak to anonymous allegations, but he unequivocally denies allegations of non-consensual sex, reps for Weinstein said Thursday in response to the LAPD action. My client is grateful to all the courageous women who have already come forward to finally expose Weinstein, said attorney David Ring on Thursday. These women may not have realized it, but they gave my client the support and encouragement to hold Weinstein accountable for this horrible act. The LAPD meeting and announcement comes exactly two weeks after the New York Times first posted its devastating story of decades of alleged sexual harassment by the volatile Weinstein. As more and more women came forward, a subsequent New Yorker piece added more claims and at least three allegations of rape against Weinstein. Story continues This 2013 incident falls well within the 10-year range of the old statute of limitations of such sex crimes in the state of California. Late last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law removing any limit in the state on criminal prosecution of sexual assault. However, the law, based in great part on Bill Cosbys ability to escape prosecution in many of the more than 60 allegations against him, only affects such sexual assaults that take place after January 1, 2017. On October 12, Deadline exclusively reported the LAPD was considering an investigation into the much-accused Weinstein. Todays announcement follows LA City Attorney Mike Feuer this week asking alleged victims to contact his office or the LAPD, saying October 17 said we take allegations like these very seriously, and where the facts support conviction, we will prosecute. Any investigation conducted by the LAPD could be passed on to both the City Attorneys office and the L.A. County District Attorneys office. With Weinstein potentially facing up to eight-years behind bars under California law, D.A. Jackie Laceys team would then assess whether it thought criminal charges were warranted. In clear anticipation of such actions, Weinstein retained powerhouse criminal attorney Blair Berk on October 11 to represent him. Berk did not respond Thursday for request for comment on the LAPD investigation. Related stories Ex-Actress Latest To Accuse Harvey Weinstein Of Sexual Assault APA Investigating Agent As Two Men Come Forward With Sexual Assault Allegations TV Academy Board Votes To Initiate Disciplinary Proceedings On Harvey Weinstein; Hearing Set For November NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) will be discussing their earnings results in their Q3 Earnings Call to be held on October 19, 2017 at 8:00 AM Eastern Time. To listen to the event live - visit https://www.investornetwork.com/company/2876. Replay Information The replay will be available online at https://www.investornetwork.com/company/2876. About Investor Network Investor Network (IN) is a financial content community, serving millions of unique investors market information, earnings, commentary and news on the whats trending. Dedicated to both the professional and the average traders, IN offers timely, trusted and relevant financial information for virtually every investor. IN is an Issuer Direct brand, to learn more or for the latest financial news and market information, visit www.investornetwork.com. Follow us on Twitter @investornetwork. SOURCE: Investor Network NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2017 / Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (NYSE: TSM) will be discussing their earnings results in their Q3 Earnings Call to be held on October 19, 2017 at 2:00:00 AM Eastern Time. To listen to the event live - visit https://www.investornetwork.com/company/2371. Replay Information The replay will be available online at https://www.investornetwork.com/company/2371. About Investor Network Investor Network (IN) is a financial content community, serving millions of unique investors market information, earnings, commentary and news on the whats trending. Dedicated to both the professional and the average traders, IN offers timely, trusted and relevant financial information for virtually every investor. IN is an Issuer Direct brand, to learn more or for the latest financial news and market information, visit www.investornetwork.com. Follow us on Twitter @investornetwork. SOURCE: Investor Network Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has claimed Harvey Weinstein angrily marched her out of a hotel after she rejected his advances. The British actress posted a series of tweets in which she detailed meetings between the two where the Hollywood mogul allegedly made "suggestive" comments towards her and became enraged after she rejected his advances. It comes as Weinstein has resigned from the board of The Weinstein Company - the film studio he co-founded in 2005. The 65-year-old reportedly owns an approximate 20% stake of the company, which is in talks with Colony Capital over a potential buyout. :: Why #MeToo is trending on social media Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister, said she first met Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival. She wrote: "Harvey asked me to take a walk down to the water, I walked down with him and he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture, I just laughed it off, I was genuinely shocked. "I said something like, oh come on mate?! It'd be like kissing my dad!" Headey said in another meeting at a Los Angeles hotel about potential work, the pair talked about films before the producer turned his attention to the "state of my love life". :: Amazon Studios boss resigns amid Weinstein claims "I shifted the conversation back to something less personal," Headey wrote. She claimed Harvey Weinstein then asked her up to his room to give her a film script. "We walked to the lift and the energy shifted, my whole body went into high alert, the lift was going up and I said to Harvey, I'm not interested in anything other than work, please don't think I got in here with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen," said Headey. "I had such a strong sense of don't come near me." The actress said Weinstein was "silent" and "furious" as they walked towards his room. She said: "His hand was on my back, he was marching me forward, not a word, I felt completely powerless, he tried his key card and it didn't work, then he got really angry. Story continues "He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm, he paid for my car and whispered in my ear, don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent. "I got into my car and I cried." A series of women - including Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne and Ashley Judd - have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment. The producer has "unequivocally denied" the claims against him. By PTI: By Lalit K Jha Washington, Oct 19 (PTI) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to India and Pakistan next week as part of his five-nation tour that also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Switzerland. Tillerson will make Saudi Arabia his first stop on the week-long tour beginning tomorrow. He will take part in the inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. advertisement The Secretary will also meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf crisis, Iran and a number of other important regional and bilateral issues, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. Tillerson will then travel to Doha, where he will meet with Qatari leaders and US military officials to discuss joint counter-terrorism efforts, the ongoing Gulf dispute and other regional and bilateral issues, including Iran and Iraq, she said in a statement. Nauert said Tillerson will then make his inaugural visit to South Asia as Secretary of State, reaffirming the Trump Administrations comprehensive strategy toward the region. In Islamabad, he will meet with senior Pakistani leaders to discuss Americas continued strong bilateral cooperation, Pakistans critical role in the success of US President Donald Trumps South Asia strategy and the expanding economic ties between the two countries, she said. The exact dates of his visits to these countries are yet to be announced. In New Delhi, Tillerson will meet with senior Indian leaders to "discuss further strengthening of our strategic partnership and collaboration on security and prosperity" in the Indo-Pacific region, Nauert said. "The Secretarys visit to India will advance the ambitious agenda laid out by President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Prime Ministers visit to the White House in June," she said. In Geneva, Tillerson will meet with the office of theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organisation for Migration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss a number of the current global humanitarian crises. PTI LKJ MRJ --- ENDS --- On Oct 16, we issued an updated research report on Meritor Inc. MTOR. On Aug 3, Meritor reported adjusted earnings per share of 64 cents for third-quarter fiscal 2017 (ended Jun 30, 2017), comfortably beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents. Quarterly revenues rose 9% year over year to $920 million. Thus, the top line too significantly surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $841 million. On Nov 15, the company will release fourth-quarter and fiscal 2017 results. Meritor, Inc. Price and Consensus Meritor, Inc. Price and Consensus | Meritor, Inc. Quote For the fiscal-end, Meritor expects revenues to be roughly $3.25 billion, an increase from the projection of $3.1 billion. The adjusted EBIDTA margin is likely to be around 10.2%, while the anticipated adjusted earnings from continuing operations is $1.7 per share, a rise from the previous expectation of $1.4. The company achieved its objectives under the M2016 plan, having improved operational excellence and reduced debt, among other financial gains. The plan also helped Meritor gain new customers across Europe, North & South America and India. This success has in turn encouraged the company to set new objectives with its M2019 plan. Per the plan, the company will continue with expansion motives through new business acquisitions and investments to develop products and technologies. Further, the company intends to offer innovative products to customers, aiming to launch 20 products over the next three years. The companys stock has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly and annual earnings being revised 2.2% and 0.59% upward respectively, over the last seven days. Price Performance Shares of Meritor have soared 108.9% year to date, substantially outperforming the 32.6% rally of the industry it belongs to. Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Comsider Meritor currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). A few other top-ranked auto stocks are Lear Corporation LEA, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company GT and Magna International Inc. MGA, all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Lear has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 7.1%. Goodyear has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12.4%. Magna has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9.5%. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Magna International, Inc. (MGA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lear Corporation (LEA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Meritor, Inc. (MTOR) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Attendants walk in Tiananmen Square as they wait for delegates during the opening ceremony of the 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing on October 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/GREG BAKER) (AFP) North Korea issued an unusually short congratulatory message to China's Communist Party Wednesday as President Xi Jinping opened its five-year congress amid strained ties between the two traditional allies. China is North Korea's longtime ally and economic benefactor, saving the country from defeat during the 1950-53 Korean War. But the relationship has soured in recent months over Pyongyang's growing weapons ambitions, which have seen Beijing agree to toughened United Nations sanctions. In a three-paragraph message carried by the official KCNA news agency, the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) "warmly congratulated the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China and sent warm greetings to all the party members and other Chinese people". "The Chinese people have made great progress in accomplishing the cause of building socialism... and we are greatly pleased over this," it added. But the statement made no mention of the historic ties between Beijing and Pyongyang, in contrast to the one issued for the last Chinese Communist congress in 2012, when outgoing leader Hu Jintao was praised by name. It referred to "the fraternal Chinese people" and, using the acronym for the North's official name, said the Workers Party would "protect the traditional DPRK-China friendship provided and cultivated by the elder generation of the two parties and countries and invariably develop it generation after generation". China's foreign ministry expressed thanks for the many congratulatory messages about the party congress it said had been received from foreign political parties and organisations, including North Korea. "This has shown the great attention" paid to the event, spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing. The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang was forged in the blood of the Korean War, when Mao Zedong sent millions of "volunteers" to fight US-led United Nations forces to a standstill. Story continues Mao described the allies as close as "lips and teeth", and China has long been accused of failing to enforce sanctions even after voting for them at the UN. While Beijing's official goal is to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table to curb its nuclear ambitions, it has grown increasingly frustrated by its belligerent neighbour. After a flurry of missile launches by the North and its sixth nuclear test last month, China backed new UN sanctions that included bans on imports of coal, iron ore and seafood from the North, as well as limits on exports of oil products to it. But analysts say there still appears to be scope for the fractured relationship to improve. "The fact that North Korea sent a congratulatory message signals that the relationship is not at its lowest point," said Kim Han-Kwon, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy. China will not easily abandon North Korea, Kim said, which serves as a buffer state against the United States. "From the outside China will bolster sanctions against the North, but it will not risk actions that will devastate the leadership in Pyongyang," he said. Related Video: Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. The Saudi Aramco listing could be the biggest in history - REUTERS Norways $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund has joined a growing number of critics to the proposals made by the UK financial watchdog that will ease rules for companies listing in London - a move widely seen as an attempt to lure oil giant Saudi Aramco to float in Britain. In July, the Financial Conduct Authority proposed launching a new category in its premium listings, exempting state-controlled companies from certain requirements. The changes to listing rules would cover relations between the company and its controlling shareholder, and whether smaller shareholders get to vote on independent directors. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) - which has 44bn invested in companies listed on the London Stock Exchange - has criticised the plans in a letter to the FCA, saying it regards the protection of minority shareholder rights as a requirement to safeguard and promote the funds long-term financial interests. FT report on Saudi Aramco IPO is entirely speculative. All listing venues under review for optimal decision,IPO process is on track for 2018 aramco | (@Saudi_Aramco) October 14, 2017 The fund, which is the worlds largest was founded on Norways North Sea oil holdings, claimed the new proposals would create a new category where companies benefit from the advantages of premium listing including investor confidence without having to meet some key requirements for investor protection. Current rules provide necessary checks and balances to protect the interests of minority shareholders from potential abuse, NBIM said It added: "These safeguards [are] particularly important when the company has a controlling shareholder, such as a sovereign state." The fund continued: Without such safeguards, a controlling shareholder could be in a position to take measures that are not aligned with the long-term interests of either the company or other investors. Investors expect todays high standards of shareholder protection to apply to the premium listing category, whether controlled by a sovereign state or private investors. Story continues NBIM also said the current rules about independent directors let small investors participate in a meaningful way in boardroom appointments, adding relaxing these rules would reduce the voice of minority investors and undermine board independence. Attracting the $2 trillion Aramco IPO would be a major boost for London. Reports that growing worries about the float meant Aramco has shelved plans to list have been refuted by the company. It also denied reports it was instead considered selling a stake in the business to a foreign government. The UK's Investment Association has also voiced criticism of the rule changes. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association said the purpose of easing the rules was unclear, and called for a rethink that would still attract state-owned companies to London listing but without compromising the UKs hard-earned reputation for high governance standards. The FCAs consultation on the proposals closed last week and the watchdog said it would now collate the submissions and publish its response next year. Last week the FCA admitted it met with executives working for Saudi Aramco before it proposed changing its listing rules. Who rules Saudi Arabia? It was a week where both oil and gas prices logged handsome gains. On the news front, global energy provider Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A agreed to buy electric car charging network owner NewMotion, while American supermajor Chevron Corporation CVX dumped plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight. Overall, it was a good week for the sector. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped about 4.4% to close at $51.45 per barrel, while natural gas prices gained 4.8% to $3 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: CVX Starts Wheatstone Production, PSX Approves $3B Buyback.) The U.S. oil benchmark registered its best close of the month after the U.S. Energy Department's inventory release showed that crude stockpiles fell unexpectedly as refinery throughput rose. The bullish impact from the surprise crude inventory draw was supported by other developments including strong Chinese data, mounting tensions between Iraq and Kurdistan near an oil-rich region, President Trumps decision not to certify Irans compliance with the nuclear deal, and a falling U.S. rig count. Meanwhile, natural gas futures finished higher following an in-line increase in supplies. Current stocks, at 3.595 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), are now 8 Bcf (0.2%) under the five-year average, while dropping 153 Bcf (4.1%) below the year-ago figure. Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories 1. European oil giant Royal Dutch Shell plc recently inked a deal to acquire NewMotion, one of Europe's largest electric vehicles charging networks. Per the deal, NewMotion will retain its brand and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell. NewMotion has around 30,000 private electric charge points in the Netherlands, Germany, France and UK. It also runs around 50,000 public charge points in various countries in Europe for over 100,000 customers. With this deal, Shell wants to cash in on the wide acceptance of the electric cars and thereby increase its customer base and revenues. Shell believes that the deal will provide customers range of re-fueling choices in future and bring diversification to its asset portfolio. Story continues By 2025, Shell aims to attain 20% of its global fuel station sales from electric vehicles recharging and alternative and low carbon fuels like biofuels, battery recharging and liquefied natural gas. The company will invest approximately $1 billion per year till 2020 in its New Energies division as it intends to shift its focus on cleaner and renewable energy sources. (Read more Shell Clinches Maiden EV Deal, Acquires NewMotion) 2. U.S. oil and gas biggie Chevron Corporation recently announced plans to discontinue the exploration drilling program in the Great Australian Bight (GAB). The company purchased two deepwater exploration permits in 2013 with the acreage spanning more than 32,000 square kilometers. Chevron intended to drill four wells but has decided not to proceed with the plans owing to weak oil price environment. The supermajors decision to exit the region is not based on waning prospects or regulatory and environmental concerns but has been guided by commercial factors. Deepwater/ultra deepwater drilling with its associated risks and steep costs requires much higher oil prices than the current rates. Thus, with oil rates unable to stay above the psychologically-critical $50 threshold for a sustained period, the project did not seem to be a viable one. The move underscores Chevrons strategy of balancing its global portfolio with its long-term business priorities. It will help the company to slash costs and streamline business models. The company wants to focus on the development of offshore natural gas resources in Western Australia. It recently increased its North-West gas acreage by acquiring three exploration blocks spanning 23,170sqkm in the Northern Carnarvon Basin off Dampier. Chevron invested billions of dollars in Western Australia to commercialize its large gas resource base through its two mega projects Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG project in the region. (Read more Chevron Calls Off Great Australian Bight Drilling Program) 3. Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. CQP a subsidiary of liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG recently announced the completion of its fourth liquefaction train at Louisiana facility. Construction of the Train 4 of the Sabine Pass liquefaction project was completed by the contractor Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc. On completion, Bechtel handed over custody of the train to Cheniere Energy Partners which is ready to operate. Train 4 is set for first commercial delivery in March 2018 under a 20-year sale and purchase contract with GAIL (India) Limited. With the completion of Train 4, revenues of the partnership are likely to benefit from increased LNG sales. Cheniere Energy Partners intends to construct six liquefaction trains at Sabine Pass. Each train has an estimated nominal production capacity of 4.5 million tons per annum of liquefied natural gas. Construction of the Trains 1, 2 and 3 had been completed in March. First commercial delivery for Train 3 took place in June under a 20-year supply contract with Korea Gas Corporation. The partnerships request for regulatory approvals in March to commence commissioning activities at Train 4 has been granted. With the completion of the Train 4 on Oct 9, the total capacity at the export terminal has risen from 13.5 million tons per annum (Mtpa) to 18 Mtpa. Train 5 is under construction and is expected to begin exporting in the second half of 2019. Train 6 is being commercialized and has secured the necessary regulatory approvals. (Read more Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass Train 4 Comes Online) 4. A cloud of uncertainty looms over Brazilian energy giant Petrobras PBR divestment agreement with France-based TOTAL S.A. The Brazilian federal court has put a partial hold on the $2.2-billion deal signed in March. Per the deal, Petrobras was to sell some of its upstream and downstream assets to TOTAL. On the upstream front, TOTAL was to purchase stakes in the Lapa and Lara offshore prospects in the Santos Basin. The company was to acquire a 35% interest in the Lapa field and a 22.5% stake in Lara field. On the downstream end, TOTAL was to acquire a 50% interest in two thermal co-generation plants in the Bahia area and a re-gasification unit in the LNG terminal. However, a federal court in Brazil has blocked the sale of Petrobras stakes in the Lapa and Lara oilfields. The judge granted a ruling in favor of members of a local oil workers union who raised anti-competitive concerns pertaining to the sale. The members of the union were of the opinion that the company should have opted for a public tender instead of a private negotiation. Petrobras announced that it has not received any notice regarding the same. The company declared that it will take necessary legal steps to protect the interest of shareholders only after receiving an official statement from the court. (Read more Petrobras' $2.2B Asset Sale to TOTAL Shelved on Court Order) 5. London-based oil and gas producer Tullow Oil plc TUWOY recently declared that it has bought a 90% stake in Ivory Coast's four onshore blocks. These are located on the coastline to the west of Abidjan. The rest 10% of the onshore blocks are held by Petroci, the national oil company of the country. The acquisition is in line with the company's strategy of focusing on value-enhancing growth. Tullow bought stakes in CI 518, CI519, CI301 and CI302 blocks spreading over 5,035 square kilometers. The Anglo-Irish firm has plans to start work in the blocks shortly so that a full tensor gradiometry survey process can begin by early 2018. The result from the survey will help the company to determine the potential of the acquired blocks. In addition, Tullow expects the cost of production from the blocks to be low and will enrich the company's existing exploration portfolio. The company has a 20-year presence in Ivory Coast. We would like to remind investors that the company currently has non-operating stakes in Ivory Coast's offshore Espoir field, where Canadian Natural Resources Limited) is the major shareholder and operator. Tullow receives net production of 4,000 barrels of oil per day from Espoir. (Read more Tullow to Gain from Ivory Coast Onshore Block Acquisition) Price Performance The following table shows the price movement of some the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last six months. Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM +0.5% +1.7% CVX +0.5% +13.2% COP -0.6% +1.6% OXY +0.6% +1% SLB -2.5% -15% RIG +3% -8.4% VLO +1.1% +19.1% ANDV 0% +31.6% Notwithstanding the bullish oil market sentiment, the Energy Select Sector SPDR, a popular way to track energy companies, failed to keep up and generated -0.7% returns last week. The worst performer was oilfield services behemoth Schlumberger Limited SLB, the stock of which fell by 2.5%. Longer-term, over the last six months, the sector tracker is down 1.6%. It was again Schlumberger that was the major laggard during this period, experiencing a 15% price decline. Whats Next in the Energy World? As usual, market participants will be closely tracking the regular releases i.e. the U.S. government statistics on oil and natural gas, one of the few solid indicators that comes out regularly. Energy traders will also be focusing on the Baker Hughes data on rig count. Finally, the 2017 Q3 earnings will remain under scrutiny this week, with the oil services companies, providers of technical products and services to drillers of oil and gas wells, kicking off what is expected to be a good earnings season for U.S. energy firms. Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7%, and +90.2%, respectively. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Tullow Oil PLC (TUWOY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Schlumberger N.V. (SLB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cheniere Energy Partners, LP (CQP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By PTI: By Lalit K Jha Washington, Oct 19 (PTI) US President Donald Trump intends to nominate an Indian-American financial services expert as a commissioner to the Federal Trade Commission, the White House said today. The nomination of New York-based Rohit Chopra, currently a Senior Fellow at the Consumer Federation of America where he focuses on consumer protection issues facing young people and military families, is for the reminder of a seven-year term expiring on September 25, 2019, a White House statement said. advertisement From 2010-2015, Chopra served at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as Assistant Director, where he oversaw the agencys work on student financial services issues. The Secretary of the Treasury also appointed him as the agencys student loan ombudsman. In 2016, Chopra served as Special Adviser to the Secretary of Education. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and pursues companies accused of deceptive advertising. It is an independent agency that is headed by a chairman and four commissioners. No more than three commissioners can come from any one party. The agency is currently headed by Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, with Democrat Terrell McSweeny the only other commissioner. The president has long been expected to name a permanent chair and fill the three empty commission seats, two Republican and one Democrat or independent. To fill the empty Democratic seat on the commission, the president tapped Chopra who holds a bachelors degree from Harvard University and a masters in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his government service, he was an associate at McKinsey & Company, where he served clients in the financial services and consumer technology sectors. PTI LKJ MRJ MRJ --- ENDS --- The Progressive Corp.s PGR third-quarter 2017 operating earnings per share of 41 cents beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 30 cents. Earnings improved 13.9% year over year. Including net realized losses, the net income per share was 38 cents, up 13% year over year. Behind the Headlines Progressive recorded net premiums written of $7.1 billion in the quarter under review, up 18% from $6 billion in the year-ago quarter. Also net premiums earned, grew 14% year over year from $6.5 billion to $5.7 billion. Net realized losses on securities were $24.7 million, wider than $20.7 million loss incurred in the year-ago quarter. Combined ratio percentage of premiums paid out as claims and expenses deteriorated 80 basis points (bps) from the prior-year quarter to 97.4%. Progressive Corporation (The) Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Progressive Corporation (The) Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Progressive Corporation (The) Quote Numbers in September Operating revenues improved 15% year over year to $2.1 billion in the quarter. The top-line growth was driven by a 15% increase in premiums, 20% higher investment income, 16% rise in fees and other revenues, plus 22% jump in service revenues. Total expense increased 21.5% to $2.1 billion. This rise in expenses can be primarily attributed to 22.5% higher losses and loss adjustment expenses, 14.2% increase in policy acquisition costs and 21% higher other underwriting expenses. In September, policies in force were impressive at the Personal Auto segment, improving 11% from September 2016 to 11.4 million. Special Lines inched up 2% from the prior-year month to 4.4 million. In Progressives Personal Auto segment, both Direct Auto and Agency Auto ascended 11% year over year to 5.9 million and 5.5 million, respectively. Progressives Commercial Auto segment grew 4% year over year to 0.6 million. The Property business had about 1.4 million policies in force in the reported month, up 16% year over year. Progressives book value per share was $15.97 as of Sep 30, 2017, up 14.6% from $13.94 as of Sep 30, 2016. Return-on-equity on a trailing 12-month basis was 18.4%, having expanded 200 bps from 14.0% in September 2016. Debt-to-total capital ratio contracted 170 bps year over year to 26.3% as of Sep 30, 2017. Zacks Rank and Performance of Another Insurer Progressive carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO reported third-quarter 2017 earnings of 53 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.2%. Stocks to Consider A couple of stocks worth considering from the insurance industry are Radian Group Inc. RDN and Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. RGA. Radian Group supports homebuyers, mortgage lenders, loan servicers and investors with a suite of private mortgage insurance and related risk-management products and services. The company is set to release third-quarter results on Oct 26. The Zacks Consensus estimate for earnings per share is pegged at 42 cents. Reinsurance Group is primarily engaged in life reinsurance and international life and disability insurance on a direct and reinsurance basis. The company is set to release third-quarter results on Oct 26. The Zacks Consensus estimate for earnings per share is pegged at $2.57. Story continues Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside? Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. See the pot trades we're targeting>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Radian Group Inc. (RDN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Progressive Corporation (The) (PGR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Ducks perch on the branch of a tree next to a home destroyed by Hurricane Maria in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. President Donald Trump lashed out at hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico on Thursday, insisting in tweets that the federal government canAt keep sending help AforeverA and suggesting the U.S. territory was to blame for its financial struggles. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) It has been one month since Hurricane Maria charged through the Caribbean towards Puerto Rico, wiping out the islands power grid and much of its infrastructure. As of Tuesday, only 18% of electric utility customers actually have access to power while others are dependent on diesel-fueled generators. APR Energy says it will have the lights back on in the capital city of San Juan very quickly through its mobile power plants. Weve already placed them on the site in a place called Palo Seco which is a power plant in San Juan, APR Energy CEO and Chairman John Campion told FOX Business Ashley Webster. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired the Jacksonville, Florida-based company to deliver two electricity-producing turbines. The APR turbine rentals, built by General Electric (NYSE:GE), will produce up to 60 megawatts of electricity to power 300,000 homes. Campion said assessing the impact of Hurricane Maria on the transmission lines that power San Juan delayed the shipment of the turbines. Part of the problem is San Juans power, a lot of that comes from the south and thats transmission lines coming over the mountains, and those transmissions were pretty much wiped out, he said. APR Energy is working very closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, General Electric, local utility companies and government officials to turn the lights back on in Puerto Rico. We wont solve the full problem, but we will solve part of the problem and then we will bring more machines on and solve more of the problems, Campion said. Related Articles A month after Hurricane Maria struck, around 90 per cent of the island is without electricity: Getty As many as 500,000 people - as much as 14 per cent of the population - could leave Puerto Rico for good in the aftermath of Hurricane Marias destruction, a new report suggests. The exodus would have a devastating impact on the islands already stagnant and flailing economy. A month after the category four storm made landfall with winds of up to 155mph, the first hurricane of such strength since 1932, around 90 per cent of the island remains without electricity. Hundreds of thousands of people are scrambling to find fuel, food and clean water, and to access medical services. A report published by the Centre for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York, suggests between 114,000 and 213,000 residents will leave the island over the next 12 months. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz speaks to the media as she arrives at the temporary government center setup (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) It suggests that by 2019, up to 470,335 residents could have left for the US mainland, mostly to the states of Florida and New York. In other words, Puerto Rico will lose the same population in a span of a couple of years after Hurricane Maria, as the island lost during a prior decade of economic stagnation, says the report. Our projections indicate that Florida is the state most likely to be affected by the exodus. Since the storm struck, the Trump administration has been trying to fight off accusations that it has done insufficient to help the residents of Puerto Rico, especially when compared to how it dealt with powerful storms that tore through Florida and Texas. Mr Trump, who has engaged in a series of back-and-forth insults with the mayor of San Juan, has said the island should do more to help itself. He also said the claims of Carmen Yulin Cruz, who said her residents had been left to die, were politically motivated. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said this week it had 1,700 personnel deployed in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Around 2,600 FEMA staff remain deployed to Hurricane Harvey, nearly two months after that storm hit the Gulf Coast of the mainland US. Story continues As emergency officials appeal to islanders not to drink water that may be contaminated, CNN said 35 per cent of households still did not have access to safe drinking water. Professor Edwin Melendez, Director of the Centre for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College and co-author of the report, said the depopulation they estimated for Puerto Rico, using an econometric model of the costs of storms over the last 60 years, would be similar to that experienced by New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Today, the Louisiana citys population is 20 per cent less than it was before Katrina hit. He told The Independent the major driver for people leaving Puerto Rico was employment opportunities. He said following Maria, infrastructure had been badly damaged, hotels were not hiring people and around 80 per cent of agricultural crops had been destroyed. He said others researchers had found Maria could lower Puerto Rican incomes by up to 20 per cent over the next 15 years, a cost of $180bn to the islands economy. We will need to wait for the release of data on employment and net movement of passengers in the months after Hurricane Maria to fully assess the exodus of Puerto Rico residents to stateside communities, his report adds. Yet the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the population exodus and ensuing unemployment in New Orleans offer an example of what lies ahead for Puerto Rico. Credit card giant announced Wednesday that Kenneth Chenault, its CEO of 16 years, was passing on the torch to younger blood: 58-year-old Stephen Squeri. "We're starting a new chapter from a position of strength and this is the right time to make the leadership transition to someone who's played a central role in all that we've accomplished," Chenault said of Squeri, who was previously a vice chairman at the company, in a statement. "Steve knows the industry. He knows the business and the brand. He knows the marketplace and how important the relationships we build with customers are to our success. He's an excellent strategist and a strong leader." Chenaults retirement has been long in the making. The CEO has been with American Express since 1981, and became CEO in 2001. By 2015, he had already passed on oversight of the companys operations to his protege, Vice President Edward Gilligan. But in May, Gilligan died suddenly of a blood clot -- leaving Chenault at the reins at a time when the companys stock had fallen to a four-year low around $52 after losing one of its biggest customers: . Today, the stock is trading at $92 a share, just off its all-time high of $95. Perhaps thats why American Express stock remained relatively silent on the news of Chenaults retirement, effective Feb. 1. Yet while American Express valuation did not fall as a result of Chenaults departure, it was a loss in terms of diversity among the already largely homogenous Fortune 500 companies. Squeri is of Irish-Italian descent. Chenault is the first black CEO to helm American Express'(number 86 on the Fortune 500). He is also one of four black CEOs on the list. Thats already down from January, when CEO Ursula Burns stepped down from her post, leaving no black women among the countrys largest companies by revenue. With Chenaults departure, the Fortune 500 will boast just three black CEOs: TIAAs Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., Mercks Kenneth C. Frazier, and J.C. Penneys Marvin R. Ellison. Story continues Leaders of the Fortune 500 are already overwhelming the same when it comes to the diversity figures: roughly 72% of CEOs on the Fortune 500 are white and male. "Ken's been the gold standard for corporate leadership and the benchmark that I measure others against. He led the company through 9/11, the financial crisis and the challenges of the last couple of years, said Warren Buffett, CEO of and American Express largest shareholder in a statement. American Express always came out stronger. Ken never went for easy, short-term answers, never let day-to-day challenges distract him from what was right for the moderate to long term. No one does a better job when it really counts and he's always done it with the highest degree of integrity." American Express also posted earnings Wednesday that beat expectations. The company posted earnings per share of $1.50 and revenue of $8.4 billion, above Wall Streets expected $1.48 earnings per share on revenue of $8.3 billion. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com FILE PHOTO: A sign displaying the logo of Russia's Gazprom Neft oil company is seen at the company's office in the West Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) will work with the world's largest oil producer Saudi Aramco in hard-to-recover oil production and on a technology known as hydraulic fracturing, Gazprom Neft chief Alexander Dyukov said on Wednesday. Earlier this month, both companies signed an agreement on technological cooperation during a state visit to Russia by Saudi King Salman. Dyukov said that the companies had pinpointed six spheres of cooperation, such as equipment localisation, to boost oil production and exploration. "We have to find the format of cooperation,... financing of the work," Dyukov said. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of gas giant Gazprom (SIBN.MM), is the fastest growing oil producer in Russia in terms of output. It is keen on production of hard-to-recover oil, a new source of crude output in the country. Dyukov also told reporters that Gazprom Neft expects its borrowings to rise to at least between 200 billion rubles and 210 billion rubles (2.6 billion - 2.7 billion) next year without possible new funds for Messoyakha greenfield. "There could be additional borrowings, we have been in talks with the banks," he said. This year's borrowings are set at 77 billion rubles. (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Mark Heinrich) LOS ANGELES (AP) Children in lower-income families spend more time watching TV and using electronic devices than kids in more affluent homes, according to a survey released Thursday. The report by the nonprofit group Common Sense Media on the viewing habits of more than 1,400 children nationwide age 8 and under found that less-affluent youngsters spend nearly three-and-a-half hours daily watching TV and using varied devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops and video game players. By comparison, kids in higher-income homes spend just under two hours on such activities. The offspring of better-educated parents also spend less time with media (1 hour, 37 minutes) compared with children of those with less education (2 hours, 50 minutes). "Before we can begin to understand the impact of media and technology on kids and families, we have to better understand their attitudes and behaviors," James P. Steyer, the nonprofit group's CEO and founder, and Reveta Franklin Bowers, chair of its board, said in a preface to the report. The survey found that Latino parents expressed the most concern about what their children are exposed to in media, including sex, violence and racial and gender stereotypes. African-American parents voiced somewhat less concern, with white parents expressing the least worry among ethnic groups. But a majority of parents overall said their children's use of digital media helps boost learning and creativity. The time youngsters spend reading or being read to has remained steady at 30 minutes daily, compared with previous studies in 2011 and 2013. But fewer than half (43 percent) of children under 2 are read to each day, counter to the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that reading to kids should begin at infancy to help develop language and literacy skills. Nearly half (49 percent) of children are watching TV or using electronic media shortly before bedtime, contrary to the academy's recommendation of an hour gap between such activities and sleep. Story continues According to its conclusion, the survey "should not be read as a judgment on the quality of children's time with media; rather, it is a snapshot of how media and technology are infused into daily life. Additional experimental and qualitative work is essential to better understanding the full implications of children's media use." Other key findings: Children 8 and younger spend an average of 2 hours, 19 minutes daily with screen media, about the same as in prior study years. TV gets the lion's share, 58 minutes, but mobile has risen rapidly from 5 minutes daily in 2011 to 48 minutes in 2017. ?The "digital divide" is narrower but still exists between more and less affluent families. Home computers and internet access were found in 72 percent and 74 percent, respectively, of low-income homes, compared with 97 percent and 96 percent for higher-income families. In a surprising twist, children pick "old-fashioned" paper books over digital reading. Only three of the 29 minutes that kids spend reading each day are on electronic devices. ___ Online: www.commonsense.org/research ___ Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber. By PTI: Washington, Oct 18 (PTI) The US Navy Seals were ready to mount an operation inside Pakistan, similar to the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden, if it failed to act decisively on a US tip off to rescue a Canadian-American family abducted by the Haqqani network in 2012, according to a media report. The whereabouts of the hostages were located by a CIA drone in a remote valley in northwest Pakistan last month. The grainy images - captured by the drone - of a young woman and children in a militant camp were a "breakthrough", The New York Times reported, citing senior American officials. advertisement Caitlan Coleman, an American citizen, and her husband Joshua Boyle, a Canadian citizen, were kidnapped in 2012 in Afghanistan while on a backpacking trip. Coleman, 31, was pregnant at the time of abduction. All the three children were born in captivity. "Military planners mobilised members of the Navys SEAL Team 6, an elite group of commandos, to mount a rescue," the paper said, quoting the officials. The commandos of SEAL Team 6, tapped to rescue the family, started rehearsing. The raid was to take place not far from where the CIA had originally spotted the family, according to one military official. But the risky operation planned on Pakistani soil was called off because some in the US government were not certain that the people spotted by the drones were Coleman, Boyle and their children, according to the officials. Others voiced worries about the difficult terrain and the moon ? it was too bright for a nighttime airborne raid. Days later, the CIA watched in alarm as militants drove the family out of the camp and across Pakistan?s lawless tribal lands. On October 11, as they headed toward Kohat, a city farther inside Pakistan, American intelligence officials realised they could not let the opportunity to save the family slip by ? the United States had to act. American officials formed a plan to press the Pakistan government. President Donald Trump was briefed, and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson both backed the idea that should the Pakistani government decline to try to rescue the family, the Navy SEALs would go in. US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale delivered an urgent message to the Pakistani government - "Resolve this, or the US will", the paper quoted one of the officials as saying. "The implication was clear. If the Pakistanis did not act decisively, the US would set aside its unease and launch a raid deep inside the country to free the family," it said. "It would be another humiliating episode for the Pakistani government, reminiscent of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, conducted by the same elite Navy SEAL commandos well into Pakistan without its government?s knowledge. And a failure to act would underscore American officials? belief that the Pakistani government gives safe haven to the Taliban-linked Haqqani network," it added. advertisement "The push worked. American officials said the Pakistanis acted quickly, intercepting the vehicle with Coleman and her family," the paper said. Pakistani officials later said they acted within hours. In a statement, the Pakistan Army said they recovered 5 Western hostages including 1 Canadian, his US National wife and their three children from terrorist custody through an operation based on actionable intelligence from US authorities. Trump administration officials cast the rescue as a win for Pakistan without publicly acknowledging that officials there had to be pressured into conducting the operation. PTI ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with members of the House Ways and Means committee in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Following negotiations that lasted for more than a month, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have reached a deal to stabilize the insurance markets, just two weeks before the ObamaCare open enrollment period is set to begin. The short-term deal was based on bipartisan hearings before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and engaged nearly 60 senators, according to Sen. Alexander. While President Donald Trump initially indicated support for a deal on Tuesday, by Wednesday the president said he would not get behind any plan that proposes a bailout to insurance companies. Some other members of the GOP are criticizing the deal because they are still pushing for a full repeal and replace measure. Heres a look at some of the main pieces of the Alexander-Murray proposal and how it would impact the health care landscape. Subsidy payments Key cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidy payments, or reimbursements to insurers for discounted care provided to low-income individuals, would be funded through 2019 under the plan. Insurers were scheduled to receive about $10 billion in subsidy payments for 2018, according to Reuters, before President Trump eliminated the payments altogether last week. Trumps decision, as previously reported by FOX Business, was largely seen as a negotiating tactic to force lawmakers to come to the table. The CSR subsidies have been a main focus for not only President Trump, but also other members of the GOP including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who has also told FOX Business these payments amount to a bailout for insurance companies. With or without the payments, however, insurance companies are required to provide plans as if they are receiving the subsidies. As a result, some companies hiked premiums in anticipation that the president might eliminate them for the coming year. More flexibility to states In a nod to Republicans, the proposal would grant more flexibility for individuals to buy less comprehensive health insurance plans. It would expand the availability of so-called catastrophic health coverage options, which are policies that are more affordable at face-value, but often carry higher costs if the recipient falls seriously ill or becomes injured. Story continues Sen. Lamar also said on Tuesday that the bill proposes to give states meaningful flexibility in using section 1332 innovation waiver which allows states to pursue alternative policy options that dont meet certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act so long as the basic protections of the law are maintained. ObamaCare outreach funding With open enrollment imminent, Sen. Alexander and Sen. Murrays bill includes more than $100 million in outreach funding, which was previously cut by the Trump administration. This money would be put toward recruiting eligible individuals to participate in the health care exchanges, in order to stabilize the pool with a greater quantity of younger, healthier individuals. There were concerns that with less advertising, less qualified applicants would sign up for the exchanges for 2018. Related Articles A woman exits the Viacom Inc. headquarters in New York, U.S. on April 30, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo By Jessica Toonkel (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) and Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) have agreed to a distribution deal that puts eight of Viacom's most popular networks in Charter's cheapest U.S. cable bundle, a source told Reuters on Wednesday. Under the deal, which has not been finalised, five of Viacom's six flagship networks - MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and BET - would be in the basic package of Charter's Spectrum cable service, according to the source, who wished to remain anonymous because the discussions are confidential. The other three channels included would be VH1, TV Land and CMT. Viacom and Charter declined to comment. Having its most popular networks in the least expensive cable bundle on Spectrum means more audience and revenue for Viacom, which like its peers, is struggling to keep viewers as people increasingly watch shows on smartphones and tablets. Viacom's other networks, including flagship channel Nick Jr., would be in the more expensive Spectrum packages. Charter and Viacom agreed in principle on Tuesday night to the deal, which would see Viacom's networks remaining accessible to 16.6 million households. Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish, who took on the role last year, has made improving relations with distributors a key part of his turnaround strategy for the company. Six of the largest U.S. pay-TV providers lost a total of 723,000 subscribers during the second quarter, including 90,000 subscribers leaving Charter. An agreement between the two companies would be "mutually beneficial," wrote Evercore ISI in a note on Sunday. Having Viacom content helps Charter add video subscribers at a time of increasing competition from virtual streaming services like Hulu and DirecTV Now, while Viacom is still heavily dependent on cable and satellite companies for distribution, according to Evercore ISI. For Viacom, the agreement "eliminates a significant overhang" to Viacom's stock, JPMorgan wrote in a note Tuesday night. (Reporting by Jessica Toonkel in New York; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Lisa Shumaker) FILE PHOTO: A security guard speaks into a microphone in his sleeve as he stands outside the Viacom Inc. headquarters in New York April 30, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (Reuters) (Reuters) - Viacom Inc and cable operator Spectrum have agreed on a multi-year programming deal that keeps Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Viacom's 21 other networks in 16.6 million households, the companies said on Tuesday. "Viacom and Charter have reached an agreement in principle. Spectrum subscribers will continue to have access to Viacom's networks, without disruption, while we finalize terms," the companies said in an emailed statement. Viacom and Spectrum, which is owned by Charter Communications Inc, reached the deal after negotiations that prompted Viacom to run TV ads urging viewers to call Spectrum to complain about a potential blackout.. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who took on his role last year, has made improving relations with distributors a key part of his turnaround strategy for the company. Like its peers, Viacom is struggling to keep viewers as more people watch shows on smartphones and tablets. Six of the largest U.S. pay-TV providers lost a total of 723,000subscribers during the second quarter. Of that total, Charter reported 90,000 subscriber losses. (Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby and Andrew Hay) Vietnamese model and actress Vu Thu Phuong is adding her voice to the chorus of women who are accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. On Thursday, Phuong posted a candid Facebook post (translated by the Vietnamese culture site Saigoneer) about a disturbing encounter she had with the producer almost a decade ago. I believe that I cant be silent anymore. Its time that I liberate myself, she wrote. Its time that I can explain about the Shanghai failure and why I shelved my American dream as well as the contract with Weinsteins film company. According to Phuong, in 2008 she was cast in the film Shanghai, a drama starring John Cusack and Gong Li. The film was produced by TWC Asian Film Fund, which was launched by The Weinstein Company in 2007. Phuongs supporting role eventually devolved into a brief cameo in the final cut of the film, which she said left her disappointed. Phuong agreed to meet with Weinstein about being cast in a future project. Unfortunately, when Phuong met with Weinstein, the meeting quickly became sexual. Everything suddenly turned dark when I saw Mr. Harvey Weinstein standing before me with only a towel around his waist, smiling, she wrote. According to Phuong, Weinstein told her that the role he had in mind for her involved sex scenes, and asked her if she was ready to take them on. I can teach you, dont worry. Many stars have also been through this, Weinstein told Phuong, according to her post. Just treat this as necessary experiences so that youll have a stronger foundation in the future. Phuong said that she rejected his advances. I was thinking at the moment that if he were to rape me or kill me, would anybody find out and stop him? Phuong wrote on Facebook. It was an extremely horrifying feeling. Phuong said the experience was part of the reason why she eventually left show business, writing that she decided I didnt want to sell myself to become a star. Phuongs story resembles those of other actresses such as Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and Gwyneth Paltrow who have come forward to accuse the Hollywood producer of sexual misconduct in the wake of the wake of The New York Times and The New Yorkers unsettling exposes. Story continues Weinstein should be punished for disrespecting and devaluing women, Phuong wrote on Facebook. I encourage other females who were abused to tell their story to caution others. 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. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Photo credit: Getty From Popular Mechanics Natural disasters have always played a role in geopolitics, given their ability to utterly destroy anything in their path, governments included. International researchers from Yale, Berkley, Ireland and Switzerland believe they've found yet another historic example of nature's ability to control the destiny of man. It seems volcanoes were at least partially responsible for the demise of Cleopatra's Egypt, the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Using ice-core-based volcanic records or eruption dates and cross-referencing them with the Islamic Nilometer (an ancient device which was used to measured the rising water of the Nile) and Egyptian records of social unrest researchers were able to study the effect volcanoes had on society. "Ancient Egyptians depended almost exclusively on Nile summer flooding brought by the summer monsoon in east Africa to grow their crops. In years influenced by volcanic eruptions, Nile flooding was generally diminished, leading to social stress that could trigger unrest and have other political and economic consequences," says Joseph Manning, lead author of the resulting paper and historian at Yale, in a press release. Volcano eruptions all around the globe would be able to affect African monsoon formation, as proven by the reach of a massive eruption out of Alaska in 1912. Looking at Ptolemic history, there are 96 years during which Nile flood quality evaluations can be made from written record. Manning and his team found that "Eight of these years correspond to eruption years and 88 years do not." These volcano eruptions and their soot's dampening of monsoon generation might help explain why, according to Roman historians, time and again Ptolemic leaders were "recalled to Egypt by disturbances at home." The complexity of an empire's fall can rarely be placed on a single event. Rome's increasing militarism, as well as the romantic entanglements of Cleopatra VII, no doubt played a role. But "it is very rare in science and history to have such strong and detailed evidence documenting how societies responded to climatic shocks in the past," says Jennifer Marlon, an environmental researcher at Yale and a co-author on the study, in a press release. Story continues Climate change undoubtedly has the power to alter civilizations, the study says. Scientists are warning that nature still has that same power today. Source: The Guardian You Might Also Like The fire was reported from the server room of an office on the 15th floor of the building. By India Today Web Desk: A major fire broke out at a high-rise building on the Jawaharlal Nehru Road in Kolkata today. Ten fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the fire. The 19-storey building houses the offices of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI). The fire was reported from the server room of an office on the 15th floor of the building. advertisement According to eyewitnesses, the fire was fast spreading to the other floors of the building. Since offices were closed for Diwali, no one was present inside the building as per last reports. The chief general manager (Kolkata circle) of SBI, P P Sengupta, said there was no news of anyone getting stuck on the floor. SBI's server room is on the same floor where the fire broke out. Ten fire tenders have been pressed into service to douse the fire at the Jeevan Sudha building, a fire brigade official said. WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE FIRE HERE: #WATCH: Fire continues to rage at LIC building on Jawahar Lal Nehru road in #Kolkata. 10 fire tenders working to douse the fire. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/QWGgYy4mYL- ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2017 (Inputs from PTI) --- ENDS --- BEIJING, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 30: (CHINA OUT) Chinese people visit a national flag show at Chaoyang park September 30, 2006 in Beijing, China. Chinese people are preparing for National Day Celebration, the 57th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China which falls on October 1. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images) Expect to see plenty of censorship news coming out of China over the next week. The country's National Congress is a hugely influential political summit that takes place every five years, and includes the selection of central party leadership. It is also a time when Chinese censors are on high alert, particularly when it comes to online media. The next summit, the 19th, takes place on Wednesday, and is likely to last around a week. Already, on the eve of the gathering, we have the first glimpse of internet restrictions for Chinese users. WeChat, China's top messaging app with more than 800 million registered users, has prevented its users from changing their nickname, profile photo or tagline until the end of October, as noted by WeChat expert and ChinaChannel blogger Matthew Brennan. It may seem subtle, but it is a move to prevent the spread of political ideas and opinions that Beijing would prefer kept silent through user profiles and alias updates, a common form of expression that reaches beyond a single conversation. Eve of the 19th party congress: WeChat suddenly announces users are blocked from changing avatars, nicknames and taglines till end of month pic.twitter.com/QoEMnY1eyF Matthew Brennan (@mbrennanchina) October 17, 2017 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js That's not likely to be the only piece of censorship rolled out on WeChat. The company has long self-policed its users by blocking specific sensitive words in response to government demands to take responsibility for user content, but it is harder than ever to detect. That's because last year WeChat quietly removed a setting that informed users when a word they used was censored. WeChat will not be alone in clamping down, though. Expect Weibo, China's top social network, among others to impose limitations. Story continues Weibo blocked photo uploads from users around the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in June and last month it gave users a final deadline to verify their identity. That's a key tactic that helps the government clamp down by making users directly accountable for their content, and it explains why "anonymous content" in general is banned on the Chinese internet. Elsewhere, WhatsApp may be impacted once again as it is seen as a popular channel for dissidents and activists. The service suffered interruptions in September after it was heavily used following the death of dissident Liu Xiaobo, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, who lost a battle to liver cancer after been denied permission to leave custody to seek medical treatment overseas. Airbnb is another foreign company that has been impacted by the upcoming congress after it removed all availability in Beijing during October. "Due to external circumstances, homes in certain areas in Beijing are unavailable through October 31," the company told Beijing-based hosts last week, according to Reuters. These disruptions are just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond long-term blocks on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other Western internet services, China has increasingly cracked down on freedom of speech online in recent years under President Xi Jinping. Most recently, pressure from the government led Apple to remove VPNs, services that help circumvent China's "Great Firewall" internet censorship system, from its App Store in a move that drew criticism from many quarters. The Chinese government has continually placed limits on VPNs, going as far as to ban them from hotels and force any remaining providers to apply for a license in order to operate. This week began on a positive note for Afghanistan as the countrys diplomats joined their Pakistani, U.S., and Chinese colleagues to restart peace talks with the Taliban and cultivate a cooperative relationship between Kabul and Islamabad. But days later, the relentless attacks in Afghanistan have changed the conversation. By using explosive-laden, captured government vehicles -- mostly U.S.-made Humvees -- the Taliban have killed more than 120 security forces and destroyed three small Afghan security bases in three southern and southeastern provinces. A range of factor appears to be driving the attacks. The most important seems to be the Talibans zeal to be seen as central to any effort to end the nearly four-decade-long war in Afghanistan after U.S. President Donald Trump committed Washington to help Kabul in defeating the Taliban insurgency. People who oppose peace are keen to emphasize that there can be no peace talks without them, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, told Radio Free Afghanistan. He said that given the recent thaw in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, its possible that dissidents within the insurgent ranks are launching attacks to torpedo new efforts to reset fraught relations between the two neighbors. It is possible there are rivalries within the [Taliban] organization, he said. So if there is an agreement on ceasing attacks between some elements of the Taliban and their foreign backers, such as Pakistan, other factions unhappy with this arrangement might now be launching these attacks to underscore their importance. The Taliban, however, are clearly gloating over their ability to foment so much violence. A laudatory article on the Talibans Voice Of Jihad website noted that killing and injuring hundreds of Afghan security forces in two separate attacks in the southeastern provinces of Paktia and Ghazni on October 17 sent a clear message to Kabul and Washington. These attacks show that the Taliban are managed well, their manpower is disciplined, and they are using their own resources for achieving their aims, the article said. Without naming Pakistan, it pushed back against a central pillar of Trumps approach that warned Islamabad to stop supporting the Taliban. [These attacks] have refuted claims that the Taliban are fighting a proxy war, the article said. If we were fighting for the interests of other countries -- countries that are supposed to unable to withstand [international] pressure, then how could they allow such attacks while the quadrilateral meeting in Oman was going on? But the insurgents seem to be feeling the brunt of new U.S. rules of engagement in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told Congress his countrys troops would be freer to hit insurgents. Requirements such as that stating U.S. troops could only respond to enemy fire or need to be close to the enemy before engaging are now gone. In his August 21 strategy speech, Trump pledged to hit terrorists hard in Afghanistan. We will also expand authorities for American armed forces to target terrorist and criminal networks that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan, he said. On October 18, an article in the pro-Taliban website Nun Asia -- Pashto for Asia Today -- cited Afghan Defense Ministry figures saying government forces killed at least 629 terrorists during the past 10 days as a claim that Taliban violence was revenge for the persecution of its members. Recent years have shown that people [Afghans] see the Taliban killing as a natural thing in the ongoing situation, the article said. But when the Taliban pick up guns in revenge or to protect themselves then they are urged to join peace and abandon their foreign weapons. While the Taliban arent hesitant to comment on the Afghan battlefield, they largely keep mum on the rapidly changing situation in Pakistan, where their leaders and foot soldiers have sheltered since the demise of their hard-line regime in late 2001. A wave of suspected U.S. drone strikes this week has killed scores of Taliban fighters in the northwestern Pakistans Kurram tribal district along Afghanistans border. The region is seen as a main hideout for the Talibans deadly military wing, the Haqqani network. Islamabad seems complacent with the attacks. In a statement on October 18, the Pakistani military supported the attacks, which it claimed were being conducted inside Afghanistan. There has been no air violation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in that area nor any drone strike in Kurram Agency as being misreported by a few, the statement said. Based on timely sharing, the Pakistani Army is vigilant on its side of the border. Better security coordination will take both countries toward enduring peace and stability, defeating the common enemy. In a major boost to Pakistan counterterrorism efforts this week, two important Pakistani Taliban leaders were confirmed killed by U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan. The Tehreek-e Taliban (TTP) Pakistan confirmed on October 18 that one of its key commanders, Umar Mansour, was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year. Islamabad accused him of having masterminded the massacre of 150 students and teachers at an army-run school in December 2014. On October 19 a splinter group of Jamaat-ul Ahrar confirmed to Reuters that its leader, Omar Khalid Khorasani, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in southeastern Afghanistan this week. He was blamed for some of the deadliest attacks across Pakistan this year. Speaking to a think tank audience in Washington on October 18, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reiterated his administrations resolve to defeat militant groups operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We will deny terrorists the opportunity, the means, the location, the wherewithal, the financing, the ability to organize and carry out attacks, he said. Radio Free Afghanistan senior correspondent Zarif Nazar contributed reporting from Prague. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Oct. 16, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FRINX releases version 3.1.0 of its FRINX ODL network automation solution. FRINX now offers a solution that provides out of the box automation capabilities for many standard network services and devices in heterogeneous networks. Our open source device library supports a growing number of operating systems and platforms from many major networking vendors. FRINX is using the industry standard OpenConfig to give customers a unified interface to their networking layer, independent of vendor and operating system. Changing an IP address will always be done using the same REST call to FRINX ODL no matter which platform or operating system version our customers are using in their network. FRINX is also introducing a unified node manager module in FRINX ODL 3.1.0 that allows customers to provide network transaction capabilities for devices and services. This functionality ensures that your network devices are free from configuration left-overs and your network is always in a well-defined state. Enterprise and service provider customers are choosing FRINX to automate branch offices, core, edge and access networks. FRINX ODL is a robust open source based alternative to antiquated templates and shaky scripts and frees up your networking team to do the tasks that human brains are optimized for. Our mission is to make open source simple to use, highly available and supported, so our customers can focus on their job and grow and run the network. We recognize that open source has become the de-facto standard for new networking applications and we are committed to being a part of this thriving ecosystem. Come and meet us at ONUG on October 17th and 18th in New York. About FRINX FRINX was founded in 2016 in Bratislava and consists of a team of passionate developers and industry professionals who want to change the way networking software is developed, deployed and operated. FRINX offers network automation solutions for branch offices, core and access networks. FRINX solutions are built upon open source projects like OpenDaylight and FD.io and transform such community platforms into supported products that solve real customer problems. FRINX proudly serves enterprise and service provider customers from the Fortune Global 500 list. Visit us at: https://frinx.io/ Follow us: @Frinxio https://www.linkedin.com/company/10599365/ Contact: Veronika Kardosova info@frinx.io +421 2 209 101 41 Sulekova 19 Bratislava 811 03 Slovakia Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 18 October 2017 - With reference to the press release dated 3 October 2017, Refresco Group N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: RFRG) today announces it has entered into negotiations with PAI Partners SAS (PAI). On 3 October, Refresco received an unsolicited, indicative and conditional proposal from PAI, which was carefully reviewed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board in line with their fiduciary duties. Since, interaction has taken place with PAI on a number of topics, including the financial and non-financial conditions. Following this interaction, the company has now entered into negotiations with PAI. The Boards will take the interest of all stakeholders into account, and will continue to focus on the closing of the transformational acquisition of Cott's bottling activities. Further announcements will be made if and when required. For further information, please contact: Investor relations Gerard van Buttingha Wichers +31 (0)10 440 51 64 investor.relations@refresco.com About Refresco Group N.V. Refresco (Euronext: RFRG) is the leading independent bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers and A-brands with production in the Benelux, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK and the US. The company realized in 2016 full year volumes and revenue of circa 6.5 billion liters and circa 2.1 billion, respectively. Refresco offers an extensive range of product and packaging combinations from 100% fruit juices to carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters in carton, PET, Aseptic PET, cans and glass. Focused on innovation, Refresco continuously searches for new and alternative ways to improve the quality of its products and packaging combinations in line with consumer and customer demand, environmental responsibilities and market demand. Refresco is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and has about 5,500 employees. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stamper Oil & Gas Corp. (TSX-V:STMP) (FSE:TMP2) (OTCQB:STMGF) (Stamper or the Company), is pleased to announce that the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") has approved the Company's application for reinstatement of trading in Stamper's common shares, and trading is scheduled to resume on Thursday, October 19, 2017. The resumption of trading in the Company's shares is a major step forward toward completion of the Stamper's proposed combination with State Oil Corporation (State). The Company is continuing to work with the Exchange regarding the review of the transaction, although the Exchange has not yet made its acceptance. As detailed in the October 10, 2017 news release, 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 potential Sudapets exploration and production operations 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. David Greenway, President of Stamper, commented: The resumption in trading of Stamper's common shares is a major success as we work to re-establish Stamper through the proposed combination with State Oil Corporation with its drill ready projects in Sudan." Stamper is encouraged with the US State Departments announcement on the amendment of the Executive Order 13761 on Recognizing Positive Actions by the Government of Sudan and Providing for the Revocation of Certain Sudan-Related Sanctions. Qualified Persons The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. 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. 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 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. We're sorry, you encountered a page that doesn't exist. SUBJECT TO CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS, NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. Eurotorg LLC announces pricing of USD 350 million debut loan participation notes Minsk, 19 October 2017 - Eurotorg LLC announces that Bonitron Designated Activity Company has successfully priced USD 350 million aggregate principal amount of loan participation notes with an annual coupon rate of 8.75% per annum maturing on 30 October 2022 (the "Notes"). The Notes will be issued by, with limited recourse to, Bonitron Designated Activity Company for the sole purpose of financing a loan to Eurotorg LLC. The Notes are expected to be rated B- by Fitch and B- by Standard & Poors. The closing and settlement are expected to be completed on 30 October 2017. The issue of the Notes is the first ever Eurobond placement by a Belarusian corporate issuer. Eurotorg LLC intends to use the proceeds of the transaction primarily to refinance existing debt, and for general corporate purposes. Andrei Zubkou, CEO of Eurotorg LLC, said: "Our debut offering was very well received by investors, which reflects the strength of our business and its potential for further growth going forward. We saw significant demand from a broad range of high-quality investors from Asia, Europe, the United States and Russia, and the order book was several times oversubscribed. Thanks to this diversified demand, we were able to significantly reduce the coupon from our initial guidance. "We are pleased to have been able to capitalise on the opportunity established by Belarus's successful sovereign Eurobond this summer. By becoming the first corporate issuer from our country to access international capital markets, we have established a precedent and benchmark for others to follow. We believe that this opens the market for more high quality Belarusian issuers, and will make a positive contribution to the development of the country's investment environment and economy as a whole." About Eurotorg group Eurotorg group ("Group") is the largest food retailer in Belarus by food retail revenue with an operating presence in 97 of the 129 territorial units of Belarus. The Group operates 460 stores of five different formats ranging in size from E mini and E+ convenience stores to E++ supermarkets and E+++ and E++++ hypermarkets. The Group's strategy based on offering a focused assortment of high turnover products at market low prices delivers a value proposition that is well-tuned to the needs of Belarusian consumers. In 2016, the Group had revenue, interest and commission income of BYN 3.64 billion (USD 1.83 billion based on the average National Bank of Belarus exchange rate for 2016). The Company has produced IFRS financial statements since 2008. The Group's senior management team has extensive experience and deep knowledge of the Belarusian retail market. The ultimate owners of Eurotorg LLC are its founders, Uladzimir Vasilko (49.75%) and Sergey Litvin (49.75%), and Chief Executive Officer Andrei Zubkou (0.50%). THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DIRECTED ONLY AT PERSONS WHO (I) ARE OUTSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM OR (II) HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN MATTERS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS FALLING WITHIN ARTICLE 19(5) OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (FINANCIAL PROMOTION) ORDER 2005 (THE "ORDER") OR (III) ARE PERSONS FALLING WITHIN ARTICLE 49(2)(A) TO (D) ("HIGH NET WORTH COMPANIES, UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS ETC") OF THE ORDER OR (IV) TO WHOM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MAY OTHERWISE BE DIRECTED WITHOUT CONTRAVENTION OF SECTION 21 OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (ALL SUCH PERSONS TOGETHER BEING REFERRED TO AS "RELEVANT PERSONS"). THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MUST NOT BE ACTED ON OR RELIED ON BY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT RELEVANT PERSONS. ANY INVESTMENT OR INVESTMENT ACTIVITY TO WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO RELEVANT PERSONS AND WILL BE ENGAGED IN ONLY WITH RELEVANT PERSONS. IN MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA, THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DIRECTED ONLY AT PERSONS WHO ARE "QUALIFIED INVESTORS" WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 2(1)(E) OF DIRECTIVE 2003/71/EC (THE "PROSPECTUS DIRECTIVE") ("QUALIFIED INVESTORS"). THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF APPLICABLE MEASURES IMPLEMENTING THE PROSPECTUS DIRECTIVE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES (INCLUDING ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA), EXCEPT TO "QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS" ("QIBS") AS DEFINED IN RULE 144A UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 THAT ALSO QUALIFIED PURCHASERS ("QPS") AS DEFINED IN SECTION 2(A)(51) OF THE U.S. INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM A PART OF ANY OFFER OF, OR SOLICITATION TO PURCHASE OR SUBSCRIBE FOR, ANY SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY SUCH SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 (THE "SECURITIES ACT"). ANY SUCH SECURITIES MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT THAT THE SECURITIES MAY BE OFFERED FOR SALE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO QIBS THAT ARE ALSO QPS IN RELIANCE ON THE EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER RULE 144A. NO PUBLIC OFFERING OF SECURITIES WILL BE MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH AN OFFERING IS RESTRICTED OR PROHIBITED. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN IS NOT AN OFFER, OR AN INVITATION TO MAKE OFFERS, TO SELL, EXCHANGE OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER SECURITIES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION TO OR FOR THE BENEFIT OF ANY RUSSIAN PERSON OR ENTITY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ADVERTISEMENT OR OFFERING OF SECURITIES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF RUSSIAN SECURITIES LAWS. INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS INTENDED ONLY FOR PERSONS WHO ARE "QUALIFIED INVESTORS" WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 51.2 OF THE FEDERAL LAW NO. 39-FZ "ON THE SECURITIES MARKET" DATED 22 APRIL 1996, AS AMENDED (THE "RUSSIAN QIS") AND MUST NOT BE DISTRIBUTED OR CIRCULATED INTO RUSSIA OR MADE AVAILABLE IN RUSSIA TO ANY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT RUSSIAN QIS, UNLESS AND TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE OTHERWISE PERMITTED TO ACCESS SUCH INFORMATION UNDER RUSSIAN LAW. THE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED IN RUSSIA AND ARE NOT INTENDED FOR "PLACEMENT" OR "CIRCULATION" IN RUSSIA (EACH AS DEFINED IN RUSSIAN SECURITIES LAWS) UNLESS AND TO THE EXTENT OTHERWISE PERMITTED UNDER RUSSIAN LAW. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN IS NOT AN OFFER, OR AN INVITATION TO MAKE OFFERS, SELL, PURCHASE, EXCHANGE OR TRANSFER ANY SECURITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS TO OR FOR THE BENEFIT OF ANY BELARUSIAN PERSON OR ENTITY, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ADVERTISEMENT OR OFFERING OF ANY SECURITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS WITHIN THE MEANING OF BELARUSIAN LAWS. INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT INTENDED FOR ANY PERSONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS, UNLESS AND TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE OTHERWISE PERMITTED TO ACCESS SUCH INFORMATION UNDER BELARUSIAN LAW. THE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED OR ADMITTED FOR PLACEMENT AND CIRCULATION IN BELARUS AND ARE NOT INTENDED FOR "PLACEMENT" OR "CIRCULATION" IN BELARUS (EACH AS DEFINED IN LAW NO. 231-Z "ON THE SECURITIES MARKET" DATED 5 JANUARY 2015, AS AMENDED) UNLESS AND TO THE EXTENT OTHERWISE PERMITTED UNDER BELARUSIAN LAW. A RATING IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY, SELL OR HOLD SECURITIES AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO REVISION, SUSPENSION OR WITHDRAWAL AT ANY TIME BY THE ASSIGNING RATING ORGANISATION. SIMILAR RATINGS FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF ISSUERS AND ON DIFFERENT TYPES OF SECURITIES DO NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THE SAME THING. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EACH RATING SHOULD BE ANALYSED INDEPENDENTLY FROM ANY OTHER RATING. French English EDMONTON, Alberta, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas provincial and territorial health ministers met with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) over breakfast today to learn the results of one of the first national surveys of nurses perspectives on home care and hear nurses recommendations for improving care. Nurses are witnessing first-hand how Canadas aging population is leading to increased demand and an overloaded system, said CFNU President, Linda Silas. We need a safe-at-home policy and more nurses providing care to address the risks both patients and nurses are facing every day. The survey of 1,116 nurses from across the country revealed that nine out of 10 home care nurses say their clients acuity has risen compared to three years ago, and more than half said their clients sometimes or frequently did not have services reassessed or coordinated. Almost three quarters of the nurses surveyed said regular core health care staff is not enough to meet their clients needs. The evidence supports what nurses are saying, said Silas. Nurse-led community-based care has the potential to actually save money and result in better outcomes for patients. The landmark survey was unveiled today at an event co-hosted by Albertas Deputy Premier and Health Minister, Sarah Hoffman, during this weeks provincial and territorial Health Ministers Summit in Edmonton. It comes as provinces are set to receive an increase in federal dollars allocated for home care as part of the recently-signed bilateral health accords. Home care expert and Dalhousie University School of Nursing Professor Dr. Marilyn Macdonald was also featured at the event. My research shows that health care delivery in the home creates unique challenges, said Dr. Macdonald. Its vital that we recognize the elements needed to make home care safer for clients, caregivers and health care providers. Nurses are concerned about being able to meet patients needs and prevent injuries, said Silas. When workers are present, the home is a hospital without walls, and we need policy that recognizes this reality. Read detailed survey results here. The Vector Poll conducted the survey, which has a sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) is Canadas largest nurses organization representing nearly 200,000 nurses and student nurses. The CFNU has been advocating for national discussions on key health priorities, such as a national prescription drug plan, a comprehensive approach to long-term and continuing care, greater attention to health human resources, and federal government engagement on the future of public health care. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AbraPlata Resource Corp. (TSX.V:ABRA)(OTCQB:ABBRF)(Frankfurt:1AH) ("AbraPlata" or the "Company") is pleased to report results of the latest drill results from the Fantasma Mineralized Zone on its Diablillos property in northwestern Argentina. Hole DDH-17-152, which was collared 130m WSW of hole DDH-17-128 (the first hole of the current campaign and subject of news release dated August 1, 2017), intersected 89.6g/t Ag over 9m (from 109m 118m down the hole), including 227.0g/t Ag over 2m (from 112m 114m). Drilling to date at Fantasma has indicated mineralization and alteration over a 400m zone oriented along a WNW trend. A high grade core (~100-150g/t Ag) manifests itself in the SE half of this zone (Figure 1) and appears to have a strike of some 200m (Figure 1) and a width of about 30m (Figure 2). This high grade core is open to the ESE towards the Oculto deposit some 600m to the E of the Fantasma Zone, and the higher grade core seems to plunge down below lower grade mineralization (30-60 g/t Ag) towards the WNW. These results have been sent to RPA Inc of Toronto for inclusion in the PEA which is currently underway, commented AbraPlatas Executive Chairman, Hernan Zaballa. Moreover, we plan to continue to drill-off mineralization towards the ESE at Fantasma, before moving the rig to the other satellite deposits on the property. Sampling Procedures & Quality Control Protocols AbraPlata applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the Companys geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility where drill data is compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed, and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals; these include blanks and certified reference materials as well as duplicate core samples which are collected in order to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags which are sealed with numbered tags in order to maintain a chain-of-custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory. All samples are received by the SGS offices in Salta who then dispatch the samples to the SGS preparation facility in San Juan. From there, the prepared samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Lima, Peru where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multi-element technique consisting of a four acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50g Fire Assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100g/t are reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish. An independent party has been appointed to review and report on the QA/QC program at the project. Qualified Person Willem Fuchter, PhD PGeo, President & CEO of AbraPlata Resource Corp. and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. About AbraPlata Abraplata is a junior mining exploration company focused on delivering shareholder returns by unlocking mineral value in Argentina. The Company's experienced management team has assembled an outstanding portfolio of gold, silver and copper exploration assets, and is focused on advancing its flagship Diablillos property, with an indicated resource of 81.3m oz Ag and 755k oz Au, through the various stages of feasibility. In addition, AbraPlata owns the highly prospective Cerro Amarillo property with its cluster of five mineralized Cu-(Mo-Au) porphyry intrusions located in a mining camp hosting the behemoth El Teniente, Los Bronces, and Los Pelambres porphyry Cu-Mo deposits. Further exploration work is also planned for the Companys Samenta porphyry Cu-Mo property south of First Quantums TacaTaca project as well as its Aguas Perdidas Au-Ag epithermal property. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD ABRAPLATA RESOURCE CORP. "Willem Fuchter" Willem Fuchter President & Chief Executive Officer For further information concerning this news release, please contact: Willem Fuchter Karl Cahill President & Chief Executive Officer VP Investor Relations AbraPlata Resource Corp. AbraPlata Resource Corp. Tel: +54.11.5258.0920 Tel: +1.858.531.6100 E-mail: willem@abraplata.com Email: karl@abraplata.com This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such 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. The Company 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 required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information about AbraPlata and its projects, please visit the Companys website at www.abraplata.com. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e40ab5fd-6be6-4756-95af-3a22ba05eb3d http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5e2af8bf-f8f6-46f2-b84c-a80c38a9275d Answering Opposition's criticism on the grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that no one can question his faith. By India Today Web Desk: A day after the Uttar Pradesh government celebrated a grand Diwali in Ayodhya, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today visited the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site and other temples in the town. Yogi Adityanath said that as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh he is "committed towards the development of every place in the state". "People from across the country and world come to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi; I went there to inspect if the place is clean and safe (Shri Ram Janmabhoomi mein shradhalu desh aur duniya se aate hain, unki suraksha aur suvidha, saaf safai dekhne ke liye bhi wahan gaya tha)," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister was quoted by news agency ANI. advertisement He said that he has directed officials to work on improving the drainage system, drinking water supply and toilets in the area. "(We) need to run the Swachhta Abhiyan effectively here, (have) directed administration to ensure basic facilities to people here," Yogi Adityanath said. On Opposition's barbs at the Uttar Pradesh government for the mega Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, Yogi Adityanath said it was a matter of "personal faith and how can the Opposition interfere in this". "Opposition has no work. There is a transparent government in Uttar Pradesh now. How can we expect any good from negative powers," he said. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister today visited Surgriva temple and Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya. He said he has come to Ayodhya to pray for peace and prosperity in Uttar Pradesh. Days after BJP MLA Sangeet Som called Taj Mahal a "blot on Indian culture", the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that the iconic monument is a great tourist site and his government is working on a plan to ensure more tourists visit it. "Taj Mahal paryatan ka ek behtareen kendra hai, paryatakon ko aamantrit karne ki humari ek yojna hai. Us disha mein prayas kar rahe hain," he said. Ahead of the Assembly election in Gujarat, Yogi Adityanath said that he can campaign "wherever the party wants me to go". "(I) will go to Gujarat also to campaign if the party says so," he said. Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government organised mega Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya on Wednesday and while addressing the gathering said the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to establish "Ram Rajya" in the country. "Your sentiments are being honoured one by one, all the work is being done. You will have to join in that ambition. If you have power, you can do anything. The power will be that of development... Rest assured, your dream of Ram Rajya will be realised," Adityanath said in Ayodhya on Wednesday. advertisement ALSO WATCH: Yogi Adityanath invokes Ram rajya in Ayodhya, says will work for UP's development --- ENDS --- VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX-V:CXB) (the Company or Calibre) is pleased to report additional drilling has been initiated on the Eastern Borosi Gold Project, Nicaragua (the Project), which is being funded by Calibres JV partner IAMGOLD Corporation (IAMGOLD). In addition, an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Project, which will incorporate results from 26,000 metres of drilling in 138 drill holes completed over the last four years, is proceeding as planned. Highlights An additional 1,600 to 1,700 metres of diamond drilling in an estimated ten or eleven holes has begun and will be completed as part of an expanded 2017 exploration program. Drilling will consist of step out holes following up on previous high grade intercepts on structures not currently part of the on-going resource estimate including; Veta Loca (GP16-046) 6.31metres grading 10.26 AuEq g/t Cadillac (LS15-008) 4.10 metres grading 9.81 AuEq g/t Independent engineering firm RPA Inc. (RPA) has been contracted to complete the on-going resource update and data transfer is advancing, a site visit is scheduled for the last week of October, and the resource update remains on-schedule for completion before the end of 2017. Calibre Mining and our partners now have four drill rigs active on the Borosi projects: one diamond drill rig on the Eastern Borosi Project with IAMGOLD, two diamond drill rigs on the Siuna Gold Project with Centerra Gold and one RC rig active on Calibres 100% owned Primavera Gold-Copper Project. President and CEO Greg Smith stated: We are very pleased to be able to complete additional drilling on the Eastern Borosi Gold Project in 2017 in an expanded program and excited to be able to follow-up on the high grade intercepts on these two gold discoveries at Veta Loca and Cadillac. The updated NI 43-101 resource estimate which will include the maiden resource estimates for the newly defined zones at the Guapinol, Vancouver, Main Blag and East Dome gold-silver systems continues to advance and will be a significant step forward for the Project. Calibre is aggressively exploring the Borosi Gold-Silver-Copper Project with our partners with four drill rigs currently active on our 876 km2 property." IAMGOLD Eastern Borosi Project Drilling in Q4 2017 will consist of step out holes following up on previous high grade intercepts on structures not currently part of the on-going resource estimate. An additional 1,600 to 1,700 metres of diamond drilling in an estimated ten or eleven holes will be completed as part of an expanded 2017 exploration program. The drilling will test two high grade gold-silver discoveries specifically; 1) Veta Loca (GP16-046) which included 6.31metres grading 10.26 AuEq g/t (10.15 g/t Au and 6.9 g/t Ag) between 88.0 and 94.31m, and 2) Cadillac where drilling (LS15-008) intersected 4.10 metres grading 9.81 AuEq g/t (8.93 g/t Au and 57.4 g/t Ag) between 65.6 and 69.7m. Exploration to date on the Eastern Borosi Project has outlined several tens of kilometres of highly prospective mineralized structures located in an historic gold-silver mining district. Low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver mineralization intersected on the Eastern Borosi Project is hosted within porphyritic andesite and consists of structurally controlled, high energy quartz-carbonate vein breccias, vein-stockworks and discrete smokey quartz veins containing fine grained sulphide minerals. Targets have been defined by surface soil and rock sampling, trenching and drilling. All drilling completed by Calibre/IAMGOLD between 2014 and 2017 totaling 26,000 metres in 138 drill holes will now be incorporated into an updated NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Riscos de Oro Deposit and maiden NI-43-101 mineral resource estimates for the Guapinol, Vancouver, Main Blag, and East Dome gold-silver systems. RPA has been selected to complete the on-going resource update and data transfer has been advanced. A due diligence site visit is scheduled for the last week of October, and the resource estimate remains on-schedule for completion before the end of 2017. IAMGOLD has completed the First Option having made US$450,000 in payments to Calibre and completed US$5 million in expenditures and has vested a 51% interest in the Eastern Borosi Project. IAMGOLD has entered the Second Option with the right to earn a further 19% in the Project (by paying $450,000 and further exploration expenditures of $5 million) having paid the first installment of $150,000 and the 2017 work program continues. The total potential investment by IAMGOLD to earn a 70% interest in the Project is US$10.9 million. Calibre is committed to best practice standards for all exploration, sampling and drilling activities. Drilling was completed by independent firm Kluane Drilling Ltd. Analytical quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates into the sample strings. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to Acme Labs (a Bureau Veritas Group Company) in Managua, Nicaragua for sample preparation and then to Acme Labs in Vancouver, Canada for 50 gram gold fire assay and ICP-MS multi element analyses. The technical content in this news release was read and approved by Gregory Smith, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. About Calibre Mining Corp . Calibre owns a 100% interest in over 413 km2 of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua including the Primavera Gold-Copper Project and Santa Maria Gold Project. Additionally the Company has optioned to IAMGOLD (176 km2) and Centerra Gold (253 km2) concessions covering an aggregate area of 429 km2 and is party to a joint venture on the 33.6 km2 Rosita D gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corporation. Major shareholders of Calibre include gold producer B2Gold Corp, Pierre Lassonde and management. Calibre Mining Corp. Greg Smith Greg Smith, P.Geo. President and CEO For further information contact: Ryan King 604 628-1012 www.calibremining.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 release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as expects or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate plans, estimates or intends or stating that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements including but not limited to those with respect to the price of gold, potential mineralization, reserve and resource determination, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Calibre to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such 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. Many students fail to maximize their quant score NOT because they lack the skills to solve certain questions but because they dont understand what the GMAT is truly testing Learn more Brent Hanneson Creator of gmatprepnow.comIve spent the last 20 years helping students overcome their difficulties with GMAT math, and the biggest thing Ive learned is Re: Measuring the performance of British business in Asia from the late 18 [ #permalink 7 Kudos A Nigerian man identified as Nwachinemere Emeka-Obewe has won the World Banks Ideas for action initiative. The programme is organised yearly by the World Bank Group in collaboration with the Zicklin Centre for Business Ethics Research. Emeka-Obewe presented a proposal titled Kitovu and came up as the winner among the 743 proposals from 118 countries. The Kitovu proposal is an innovative platform and system that matches fertilizer type and quantity, improved quality seeds and other inputs to the right soil. Nigerian man Emeka Obewe wins 2017 World Bank Ideas for Action initiative Photo Source: Trends of Nigeria READ ALSO: Nigerian man Omotoyosi Craig wins best outstanding award in South Africa (photos) According to Emeka-Obewe, noted that the Kitovu platform sought to create market access for smallholder farmers in distant locations by using a mix of web, mobile and SMS platforms to link farmers to processors. He added that the platforms would also link producers with buyers, transporters and other ecosystem stakeholders. It would also tackle post-harvest losses and enable producers traceability while increasing the income of farmers. The Kitovu proposal is an innovative platform and system that matches fertilizer type and quantity, improved quality seeds and other inputs to the right soil Photo Source:Olorisupergal Ugandas proposal of Gifted Hands and Indias proposal of Agratam were announced as first and second runner-up in the competition. PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest gossips on NAIJ News App Mahmoud Mohieldin, the vice president of World Bank Group announced the results of the competition during annual meetings and the International Monetary Fund. It was gathered that the winners were selected through a three-stage selection process. It composed of evaluating the creativity, significance, feasibility and clarity of the proposals. Young talented artist paints prominent Nigerians - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng A university lecturer has just been arrested by police officers in Cross River state after trying to lure one of his female students to a hidden hotel. This arrest was reported to have taken place on Wednesday, October 18, at a hotel in barracks road, Igoli Ogoja area of the state. According to reports, the lecturer is married and was instructed to supervise the said female student for her final year project when he was tempted to carry out this act. The married lecturer caught in a hotel room READ ALSO: Lady calls out bestfriend who allegedly slept with her boyfriend for iPhone 6 Looking at the video the married lecturer was seen pleading to be allowed to go for his promotional exams but unfortunately, he missed it and was taken to the police station. It was further revealed that he works at the College of Health Technology Iboko, Yala in Cross River state. The lecturer is also Head Of Department (HOD) of the Laboratory Services Department at Ogoja General Hospital. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! What kind of punishment does he deserve? Who cheats more in a relationship, the man or the woman? - on Legit.ng TV. Source: Legit.ng In trying to keep Cross River states roads free of dirts, some female secondary school students were punished and made to use your hands to pack refuse from the ground. According to a Facebook user Emmanuel Ulayi who took to his wall to reveal how a Green Sheriff made these girls go through this punishment, he said they were caught dumping refuse by the roadside. Ulayi further disclosed that when the students were done the officer reported them to the school authority. This happened on Wednesday morning, October 18. Female students spotted packing with their bare hands by the roadside in Calabar READ ALSO: How married Cross River state lecturer lured unsuspecting student to a hotel (video) He said: Green Sheriff ensuring environmental sanity in Cross River state as the men of the sheriff this morning caught students of Edgerly Memorial Girls Secondary School dumping refuse on the ground. They were taken to their school authority and seriously warned never to repeat the act again. This happened at Edgerly street. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! See post below: Looking at the pictures on Facebook the officer who caught them was a woman. Also, people who pack dirts were also seen looking at the girls doing their job. Is it really difficult to get a job in Nigeria? - on Legit.ng TV. Source: Legit.ng 27-year-old Nigerian lady identified as Chigoziem Emereuwa is currently being celebrated after she survived a ghastly car crash that claimed the lives of her entire family on August 17, 2001. Despite the trauma of losing her family many years ago Emereuwa was able to pull herself back together to achieve success. She is now set to graduate with a PhD in Pure Mathematics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. According to Flourish Africa, the 27-year-old lady disclosed that all she could remember was her being in the back seat playing a game and woke up in the hospital afterwards. 27-year-old Chigoziem Emereuwa READ ALSO: How married Cross River state lecturer lured unsuspecting student to a hotel (video) She said: I only remember being in the back seat, playing a travel game with my sister and then waking up in hospital. I dont recall any form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as my paternal family made sure I wasnt alone, I didnt even get a chance to mourn properly. It seemed like the loss hit my aunts more than it did me so I had to be strong. However, my grades did go down and my mom was no longer there to push me. I felt no urge to work hard since I had learnt that you could lose everything in a second so, why bother? On why she had to study mathematics, Emereuwa disclosed that she discovered she loved numbers from a very young age. The survivor added that she wanted to become a chemistry lecturer just like her late mother but God had his way. Chigoziem Emereuwa PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Emereuwa said: I am not one of those who realised their passion for numbers at a young age. I always wanted to be a chemistry lecturer just like my mum so I planned to study Chemistry in University. I was only 15 when I finished high school and began my university education so when it became time to choose a discipline, my family narrowed it down to Banking and Finance, Mathematics and Geography. I did well in Mathematics but I thought that was normal for every student and Geography was because the environment always fascinated me and I had sworn to travel so I could see more. I chose Mathematics eventually because it was one of the few subjects that didnt bore me and I thought it would give me a wider career option in the future. I credit my family for helping me understand my strengths and weaknesses. As she gets older, she has found support in good friends, cousins that have become siblings and a constant comfort that no matter what happens everything works out in the end. My life after the plane crash Nigerian plane crash survivor Kechi Okwuchi speaks to NAIJ TV - on Legit.ng TV. Source: Legit.ng The October webinar focused on the feed and forage outlook, both from a production and cost standpoint. University of Illinois Mike Hutjens kicked off the webinar with a trend overview. The price of milk has remained steady throughout the past few months. Some milk cooperatives have imposed milk quotas, which limit production, and may account for the steadier milk prices. Weather has also caused a few blips on the radar, with hurricanes in the South and drought conditions in parts of the Upper Plains. USDAs average predictions are to be 169 bushels per acre for corn and 49 bushels for soybeans. Of course, certain acres will exceed these averages. Mike Rankin, managing editor of Hay & Forage Grower magazine, then discussed the forage outlook. The price of alfalfa typically rises in the spring, with May as the highpoint. It gradually decreases as inventories build. However with the erratic weather this year, finding enough high-quality alfalfa may be an issue. Another factor driving price is exports. China and Japan continue to want North American alfalfa. The west coast states are great for alfalfa production and have close proximity to several shipping ports. Exports are up 20 percent over last year. Winterkill, excessive rainfall, the end of Californias drought, higher (not high) milk prices, and solid inventories all contributed to alfalfa prices. With unusual weather patterns, it seemed that August and September flipped on the calendar. However, it was the unseasonably warmer September that probably saved the corn crop in the Midwest and Northeast. There was a lot of ugly corn this year due to widespread wet weather. Fields ran out of nitrogen, resulting in a short, yellow crop with reduced yields. When weather can go either way, the decision of when to cut hay is always a tough one. Should I wait? Will it rain? Few get it right every time, but that decision should not be taken lightly. Cut hay that gets rained on can suffer reduced forage quality. There is the loss of soluble carbohydrates, a drop in energy, potential for mold and mycotoxins, higher ash content due additional attempts to dry the hay, and yield loss. California dairies report alfalfa usage on farm. The typical Holstein in California now consumes about 7 pounds of dry alfalfa as compared to 9 pounds a few years ago. Hutjens suggests purchasing corn silage on a dry matter basis, and aiming for a cost of 6 cents per pound of dry matter with 30 percent starch. Mycotoxins can be an issue this year, so Hutjens suggests contacting your feed analysis lab for updates on mold incidents. A strong supporter of Feed Val 2.0, Hutjens enters feed costs and ration data, along with milk prices to determine if certain feeds are worth the price. He noted that there are still many good buys, with the exception of cottonseed, as it still is too expensive for the value it brings. More details were shared in A 2017-2018 forage and feed outlook webinar. The archived webinar can be viewed here, and our past presentations are archived on our webinar page. This presentation was sponsored by Zinpro Performance Minerals. Patti Hurtgen The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, she was raised on a California dairy and frequently blogs on youth programs and consumer issues. Join us next month Dave Barbano The webinar Fine tune herd care with new milk analyses will be held on Monday, November 13, at noon (Central time).Milk quality specialist, Dave Barbano, Cornell University, will discuss milk fatty acid (FA) testing technology. The mid-infrared milk analysis tool is a new concept for improving efficiency of milk production when used in combination with other herd data. Register at www.hoards.com/webinars The November webinar is sponsored by Quality Liquid Feeds (QLF). American Agricultural Editors Association1st Place, AAEA webinar:Reimagining the future of dairy Maintaining our social license by improving animal welfareby Nina von Keyserlingk, University of British Columbia3rd Place, AAEA webinar:Three key points for exceptional hoof healthby Karl Burgi, Dairyland Hoof Care1st Place, AAEA webinar:The implications of high pregnancy rates on reproductive strategiesby Paul Fricke, University of Wisconsin-Madison2nd Place, AAEA webinar:Feeding and management for milking system successby James Salfer, University of Minnesota Extension3rd Place, AAEA webinar:Calcium and the transition cowby Garrett Oetzel,University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine1st Place, AAEA webinar:Feeding Cows to Reach Their Peakby Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University2nd Place, AAEA webinar:Focusing on Fresh Cow Strategiesby Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois3rd Place, AAEA webinar:The World Record Milk Cow: Shes Just One of the Herdby producers Scott Pralle and Pam Selz-Pralle1st Place, AAEA webinar:Calf rearing affects lifetime eating behaviorby Trevor DeVries, University of Guelph2nd Place, AAEA webinar:Cutting feed costs without cutting milkby Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University3rd Place, AAEA webinar:The dairy situation and outlook for 2019by Mark Stephenson, University of Wisconsin -Madison1st Place, AAEA webinar:Animal Fats: Separating Fact from fictionby Nina Teicholz,Best-Selling Author2nd Place, AAEA webinar:Monitoring and managing metabolic diseases in the transition cowby Daryl Nydam, Cornell University3rd Place, AAEA webinar:How they achieve 40,000 pounds of milk per cowby Tom Kestell, Ever-Green-View,and Steve Woodford, dairy nutritionist2017 Awards:1st Place, AAEA webinar:by Jack Rodenburg, DairyLogix2nd Place, AAEA webinar:by Bob James, Virginia Tech3rd Place, AAEA webinar:by Paul Fricke, University of Wsconsin-Madison2016 Awards:1st Place, AAEA webinar:by Rick Grant, Miner Institute2nd Place, AAEA webinar:by Ken Nordlund, D.V.M., UW-Madison2015 Awards:1st Place, AAEA webinar:by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois2nd Place, AAEA webinar:by Leo Timms, Iowa State University3rd Place, AAEA webinar:by Geof Dahl, University of Florida Hosted By Hosted bySenior Associate Editor Abby Bauer, each one-hour webinar will include nationally known and carefully selected presenters who will discuss the most timely and relevant topics and challenges faced by dairy producers today. Presentations will cover input costs, finances, feeds and nutrition, milk quality, and herd management.The webinars are designed to be interactive. If you have questions during the presentation, they can be typed directly to the presenter, and everyone can learn from the response and discussion. Polls may also be conducted during the webinar to give the presenter an understanding of the audience's demographics.Our webinars are approved for continuing education units (CEU) from the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Each hour-long webinar will earn one CEU. There is no cost to register or view the webinars. Once registered, you will receive e-mail reminders of the webinar date and time. If unable to attend a webinar, they will be recorded and can be accessed later. A fake/satire website named Freedum Junkshun posted an article titled "BREAKING: Illegal Muslim From Iran Arrested For Starting California Wildfire" which opened: The California wildfires devastated the northern part of the state. Police initially arrested one suspect but released him after an investigation was conducted because the investigation led them to the actual person responsible for the fires: a 23-year-old man named Muhammad Islam. Islam was born in Tehran, Iran and came to the United States in 2015 on a student visa, which expired when he dropped out of Dartmouth in November 2016. Fox News reported Thursday: It is unclear what he has been doing since last November. Islam has no social media presence, no phones in his name, no known addresses, and no known aliases. "It's like he's a ghost," a source at the California FBI told Fox. "The Obama administration just lost him." The fact that he has no social media presence etc. is probably because he doesn't exist. The image used with the story shows Omar al-Abed, 19, from the village of Kobar near Ramallah in the Palestinian territories, an actual terrorist who killed three people. He's not Iranian and was not in California because he is imprisoned in Israel awaiting trial. Freedum Junkshun carries a 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. Apparently falsely blaming a disaster on an Iranian terrorist and using the picture of a Palestinian terrorist in order to fool conservatives into liking and sharing a hoax story is now considered satire. The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites such as asamericanasapplepie.org, ourlandofthefree.com and nunadisbereel.com (formerly thelastlineofdefense.org). Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". He has at least one 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 often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up. If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ The representatives from Italy said that they wanted to draw Freelands attention to the 1988 massacre that occurred in Iran. During the summer of 1988, around 30,000 political prisoners were executed following the issuance of a fatwa by the countrys Supreme Leader at that time. He basically ordered the execution of all members of the opposition. Last year, an audio recording was released in which ayatollah Montazeri told judicial authorities that the crime they were to commit would go down in history. They noted that the international community and the people of Iran have been shaken by the emergence of this new evidence last year and described it as one of the most heinous crimes after the 2nd World War. The representatives also pointed out: All the ones responsible for this terrible crime are now serving in the highest positions of the Iranian regime. The letter continued: The killings of the political prisoners started after Khomeinis declaration of a fatwa in July 1988, which ordered to eliminate all the dissidents in the prisons. Several among those executed had already been condemned and were already serving the sentence or had concluded their detention period. Following the fatwa of Khomeini, many dissidents previously released from prison were newly detained and then hanged. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and some other international organization for human rights have already condemned the massacre as a crime against humanity. Moreover, hundreds of European MPs defined it a crime against humanity in an appeal sent to Strasbourg on 7th October 2016 and they requested to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, to the Council on Human rights, to the UN General Assembly and to the UN Security Council to urgently set up an international committee to investigate on the genocide of 1988. The representatives also drew Freelands attention to the UN Special Rapporteur on the state of Human Rights in Irans report. It was released on 14th August 2017 to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and states several reports testify that after 1988 thousands of people have been hanged and their relatives have the right to know the truth about the genocide and the fate of their beloved ones. They urged the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act: The Iranian regime must put an end to the violations of Human Rights. For this reason, we ask you to put in place all the necessary actions to set up an independent international committee to investigate on the massacre of political prisoners in the Iranian prisons during the summer of 1988. Related Trumps statements on Friday, as he declined to certify the Iran nuclear deal, are only the beginning, she believes. She said Trump and the international community should now work toward the ultimate solution: the overthrow of the regime and establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran. She also told reporters that a major step in that direction, would be the designation NCRI as the sole democratic alternative to the terrorist, religious dictatorship ruling Iran to rectify the past disastrous policy. Mrs. Rajavi described the four steps the U.S. could take to urge other countries to take steps against the present government in Tehran. One step would be to deny Iran access to international banking systems, in addition to referring the dossier on the regimes crimes to the United Nations Security Council, including the massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners in 1988. Another step would be the expulsion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its mercenary militias from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Lebanon. They must be prevented from shipping arms and dispatching forces to these countries, she said. Implementation of previous U.N. Security Council resolutions on the regimes nuclear weapons projects, including a ban on nuclear enrichment and as well as free and unconditional inspections of military and non-military centers, were other step Mrs. Rajavi outlined. NCRI was founded in 1981, and it represents political figures, academicians, and other Iranians who have fled their homeland who are dedicated to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic , as well as replacing it with a secular democracy. Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the nationalist and elected prime minister of post-war Iran was ousted in a U.S-backed coup in 1953, which led to the return to power of the exiled Shah of Iran. The groups leaders are lineal heirs to him. Tens of thousands of NCRI activists have been executed by the Iranian regime. The NCRI blew the lid off Irans clandestine nuclear weapons program in 2002 by revealing the existence of the Natanz enrichment facility, and the Arak heavy water site. Their revelation triggered inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and led to sanctions against the Tehran regime. Source: News Max Trumps speech at the U.N. General Assembly described the Iranian regime as an enemy of its own people, as well as a major contributor to regional instability. Maryam Rajavi the president-elect of the pro-democracy coalition known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in her response to the speech, called Trump the first American president to ever underscore the need for regime change in Iran by the Iranian people. Clearly, she would like the American president to make a commitment to show greater support for the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom against the brutal and oppressive extremist regime that governs their nation. The Trump administration has already moved away from the policies that led to the Iran nuclear deal, which did not address issues like ballistic missile development or human rights abuses. In a series of remarks delivered before his decertification of the Iran deal, President Trump said the Tehran regime is at odds with the aspirations of its own people. He also criticized the Iranian regimes central power network, the Revolutionary Guards, and marked it for potential terrorist designation. Trumps U.N. speech emphasized the Iranian people. He said, the day will come when the people will face a choice: Will they continue down the path of poverty, bloodshed and terror, or will the Iranian people return to the nations proud roots as a center of civilization, culture and wealth, where their people can be happy and prosperous once again? Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a congressional committee that American policy should include support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government. Still, Tillerson has not outlined any means by which this might be done. There are some things that we should expect if the Trump administration is serious about following up on its preliminary statements regarding peaceful transition and the future choices that the Iranian people will face, writes Walid Phares, Ph.D., who serves as Middle East and terrorism experts for Fox News and was a foreign policy adviser to Trump when he was a Republican presidential candidate. The U.S. government must be prepared to make more concrete gestures of support for the entire citizenry of that country and, by extension, the opposition movement. In his Fox News article, Phares writes, Toward that end, perhaps the most imperative such gesture is American leadership in the push for an international inquiry into past Iranian government crimes against the nations pro-democracy movement. He is referring to the massacre that occurred in Iran in the summer of 1988, when approximately 30,000 Iranian political prisoners were executed. This crime followed in response to a fatwa from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. While human rights organizations have long recognized the incident as a crime against humanity, it has been largely ignored in Western media and certainly within Western policy circles. Phares cites other crimes, such as the Iranian government killings of protesters and opposition figures in Iranian Kurdistan, the Ahwaz province and in Iranian Balushistan, and the brutal repression of the Green Revolution as well as the killing of demonstrators during the June 2009 protests in Tehran and other cities, which also seem to be ignored by the West. President Trump appears to have already broached the topic of regime change in Iran. Will he also address Irans human rights violations? Showing solidarity with the Iranian people gives a reason for optimism about the Trump administrations intentions, but it remains important to keep up the pressure on the U.S. and its allies to make the necessary changes for the Iranian people. The followers of the path of Al-Imam movement are not believed to be at the level of organization and intelligence as Hezbollah, but it is necessary to study both, and to what extent their roles overlap among the Arab Shiite minorities of Gulf countries, especially among Saudi Shiites. In 1979, one of Al-Husseinis preachers in Al-Qatif warned his listeners against responding to Khomeinis call to the Islamic Revolution. He said that Khomeini had interests contradictory to the interests of countries with which the Arab Shiites identify themselves. This is according to an article in Al-Arabiya English by Kamel Al-Khatti, the Saudi writer and researcher, who writes, The Iranian discourse addressed members of the Shiite sect, just as an Iranian political ploy to threaten the security and stability of its neighbors by inciting their Shiite citizens to rise up against the ruling dispensation in their countries, on the pretext that this protest sought equality and justice. This preacher was a distinguished luminary of Al-Qatif and was among the prominent Arab intellectuals. However, he was ostracized for expressing his adverse opinion about Khomeini. Rumor-mogering was used as a weapon for the moral assassination of this preacher. Thus, rumours were circulated about his alleged statement that Ben-Gurions shoes were purer than Khomeinis beard. Still, in the revolution, Iran used Arab Shiite minorities as one of its main weapons, according to Al-Khatti, who writes, for this it relied on its elite cadres to be at the vanguard for directing public opinion to defend its positions in the Arab Shiite communities. As an example, during the Iran-Iraq war, security authorities in the Eastern region arrested a group of Saudi Shiite Aramco employees from Al-Ahsa. The group, led by Aramcos Director of Communications, were charged with leaking schemes and coordinates of the companys network stations. Following investigations, they confessed to their crime, saying that their motivation was to assist Iran in its war against Iraq and the Gulf countries allied with Iraq. One of the 16 arrested belonged to Hezbollah, but he was not the leader of the group. All of the members of the group risked their lives and the security of their country in support of Iran. Following the investigation, the Emirate of the Eastern Province summoned prominent Shiites and showed them video and audio confessions made by members of the group. All members were eventually released following a special royal amnesty. As well, militants of Hezbollahs regional branch were assigned actions to benefit Iran, which were carried out by sections of the Khomeini movement, whether by the The followers of the path of Al-Imam or Hezbollah. Al-Khatti claims that these actions, included hindering local religious men from choosing their jurisprudential references by influencing them into choosing doctrinal references in support of the Vilayat Al-Faqih doctrine in order to tighten control of Arab Shiite communities, directing the sentiments and behavior of the Shiite Arab communities in accordance with Iranian interests, conducting moral assassination of Shiites Sheikhs and dignitaries who did not subscribe to the doctrine of the Vilayat-e-Faqih doctrine. The actions also included conducting violent attacks such as assassinations and bombings like the one at Sadaf company in Jubail Industrial City east of Saudi Arabia, the mayhem caused in 1989 during the pilgrimage season in Mecca, the bombing of al-Juaima laboratory, the failed attempt to blow up the escalator tower at the RasTanura oil-gas plant and the bombing of Al-Khobar Towers in 1996. He adds, These crimes were carried out by citizens of Gulf countries, recruited by Iran for more than one reason. Their most important reason was to cause a trust deficit between the Shiite minorities in Gulf countries and their governments, as well as with the majority Sunni Arab population. The crisis of trust has already taken place and along with other factors has contributed toward isolating the Shiite minorities from their Sunni Arab community. In this way, Arab Shiite minorities grew closer to Iran due of the rising sense of alienation of these minorities in their national community. Irans discrimination has harmed the cause of Arab Shiite minorities. Al-Khatti has two recommendations: One is to study the social issues faced by members of the Arab Shiite minorities in Gulf countries, who sympathize with Iranian policies, especially those in Saudi Arabia. Specialized research may reveal the best options for stopping Irans influence on Shiite minorities in Gulf Arab states. The second recommendation relates to making the local socio-political dynamics immune to regional influences. Still, Al-Khatti admits he doesnt know how this might be implemented. Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. Madgex, the classified technology provider, is expanding its North American footprint, with a new office in New York City. North America is a key territory for Madgex, who already power the job boards of many major US media brands, including the Washington Post, Media Bistro and the New England Journal of Medicine. The software company also recently partnered with DHI Group, demonstrating their status as a significant out-sourcing solution for many leading online recruitment businesses, says the company. Madgex has been based in Toronto since 2015, and this new office in the heart of Manhattan has been set up to support and expand its business in North America. With a sales and marketing team based in NYC, Madgex says they will be able to expand their new business activities at the same time as growing their service and success teams in Toronto. According to CEO Tom Ricca-McCarthy, the US represents a massive opportunity for Madgex: We have around 40 high-profile, enterprise clients in North America, and the opening of our new office means we can further our commitment to bring quality service and software solutions, while expanding our global reach. Executive Vice President Mike Fahey has relocated from Madgexs head office in the UK to New York to build a team there and increase the companys market share. Having a team on the ground in New York will put us in a far stronger position to look for new opportunities. It will also enable us to provide more focused support to our existing clients and help shape our product development to meet their needs. New York is one the most exciting cities in the world, and these are very exciting times for Madgex, said Mike. American writer George Saunders has won the 2017 Man Booker Prize for his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo. The story is an imaginary account of a real event on February 22, 1862. That night, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visited the grave of his 11-year-old son Willie, who was buried in a Washington cemetery. The story imagines Lincoln walking around alone in the dark, troubled by the death of his son and the American Civil War. Meanwhile, Willie is trapped in Bardo a Tibetan Buddhist term for purgatory. Other dead souls in the graveyard watch young Willie waiting for his father to return. Lola Young, an author and member of Britains House of Lords, led the group of judges. She praised the deeply moving book and said it was utterly original. In his acceptance speech, Saunders said we live in a strange time. He noted the most important question is how to respond to events: with, in his words, exclusion and negative projection and violence or with love. The 58-year-old Saunders became the second American writer to win the prize. Last year, Paul Beatty became the first American to win for his novel The Sellout, a satire about race relations in the United States. In the past, the Man Booker Prize was given only to writers from Britain, Ireland, Zimbabwe or countries in the British Commonwealth. The rules were changed in 2014 to permit authors of any book written in English and published in Britain to compete. Critics of the rule change say it Americanized an important British literary prize. The winner receives a cash prize of about $65,000. Other past winners include this years Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Iris Murdoch and Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. Im Caty Weaver. Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on the Man Booker Prize and Reuters news reports. Mario Ritter was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story account --n. a record, a story purgatory n. a state where souls go after they have died to be purified, neither heaven nor hell author n. a person who writes or starts something utterly adv. completely, totally exclusion n. the act or process of keeping someone or something out satire n. using humor to show that someone or something is foolish or bad Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has launched a school to teach computer science and technology-related skills. Wozniak last week announced creation of what is being called an online university, known as Woz U. In the beginning, Woz U will only offer classes through electronic devices connected to computers. Later, the school plans to open up classrooms in more than 30 cities so students can attend in person. Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, with Steve Jobs, in 1976. They developed and hand-built the companys first computer, the Apple I, mainly working in Jobs home, near San Jose, California. The following year, Wozniak designed the Apple II, which marked a revolution in computer design and development. The Apple II became the worlds first successfully mass-produced personal computer. Throughout its history, Apple has been seen as one of the most innovative technology companies. In addition to computers, it developed industry-changing products, such as the iPod and iPhone. According to Forbes, Apple is currently the ninth largest public company in the world. Steve Wozniak left Apple in 1985. He has said he left because he did not agree with some of the companys business goals at the time. Since then, he has been involved with several other technology companies. Wozniak has been a supporter of local education in areas where he has lived. He even taught computer classes for young people and has donated technology equipment to schools. Now Wozniak is teaming up with a for-profit company to provide programs for students interested in learning about technology. Our goal is to educate and train people in employable digital skills without putting them into years of debt, Wozniak said in a statement. He added that his goal is to inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators to join the workforce of the future. People often are afraid to choose a technology-based career because they think they cant do it, he said. I know they can, and I want to show them how. Woz U currently offers training in software development and computer support. The school plans to add several other subjects in 2018. Students who finish the programs will receive a certificate of completion upon graduation. Wozniak says the school will also work with technology companies to help them identify new workers and train the ones they already have. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on information from the Woz U website and other sources. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story innovative adj. using new methods or ideas inspire v. make someone want to do something certificate n. document that is official proof that something happened graduation n. act of completing an education program Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized President Donald Trump this week on her visit to South Korea. Clinton, a former U.S. presidential candidate, said she disapproved of Trumps angry words about North Korea. There is no reason for us to be bellicose and aggressive, she said in a speech to the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul. Clinton expressed concern about the presidents description of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as little rocket man. She also criticized Trumps threats to answer a North Korea provocation with fire and fury. Clinton said that threats to start a war are dangerous. She noted that a conflict with North Korea could endanger millions of people if a diplomatic solution is not found. She also said that starting fights with Kim Jong Un puts a smile on his face and gives him the attention he wants. Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended Trumps public words and comments on the Twitter messaging service. Tillerson said they help to create action forcing events to move diplomacy forward. While Clinton disagreed with Trumps words, she seemed to support his administrations efforts to pressure North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. She agreed that North Korean plans to develop a nuclear-armed ballistic missile that can reach the U.S. mainland represent a serious threat to the United States. But the former secretary of state did not suggest other ways to prevent North Korean testing, and offered no ideas to start talks. She did not say anything about the Russian and Chinese plan to suspend the North Korean nuclear program if the U.S. and South Korea end military exercises. Instead she said that other countries, including China, should increase economic pressure on North Korea. She also said the U.S. and its allies need to have strong military defenses. Clinton also was critical of Chinese actions against South Korean businesses operating in China. The actions came after the United States deployed an anti-missile system in South Korea. Clinton said the actions of the United States and its allies should react with proportional force to North Korean actions against their interests. Trump has said the United States would totally destroy North Korea if attacked. Any preventative military action directed at North Koreas nuclear or missile test areas could start a war. Some leaders and observers say economic pressure alone will not make the North Korean leadership give up its nuclear activities. Gary Samore is with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He believes Americans must accept the idea that North Korea will have nuclear arms. He thinks it is no longer realistic to believe the situation can be reversed. Samore worked as an arms control expert in the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama. Clinton also said the action of the United States must be calm and predictable to keep peace in Asia. Trumps methods, she believes, have been dangerous and damaging. She said U.S. allies have expressed concerns about whether they can depend on the United States. They note Trumps comments about unfair trade and criticism of allies for failing to provide enough financial support for U.S. military forces. President Trump to set to make his first official visit to Asia in early next month. He will visit Japan, South Korea and China before going to attend trade and security meetings in Vietnam and the Philippines. The South Korean presidential office said that it expects the U.S. president to talk about relations between the countries and North Koreas activities. The office said it also expects Trump to explain his policy for the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia. VOAs Brian Padden reported this story from Seoul. 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 bellicose - adj. having or showing a tendency to argue or fight fury - n. violent anger proportional adj. having a number or amount that is directly related to reverse - v. to move to an opposite direction peninsula - n. a piece of land that is almost entirely surrounded by water and is attached to a larger land area The NUJ joined The European and International Federations of Journalists in condemning the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb on 16 October in the town of Bidnija, near her family home. As reported by the National Union of Journalists: Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, was known for her investigative journalism and her blog Running Commentary, which was one of the most widely read websites in Malta. The journalist had been sued many times for her blog posts in which she revealed several corruption scandals involving Maltese politicians. In 2016, she was named by Politico as one of "28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe", after being the first to break news of Maltese politicians involvement in the Panama Papers leak. In February this year, The EFJ denounced the freezing of her bank accounts and libel suits filed against her by Maltese economy minister and his consultant, following a report revealing that both men visited a brothel during an official trip in Germany. Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, EFJ president, said: We are appalled by yet another killed journalist in Europe. This killing and its circumstances must be swiftly and thoroughly investigated. It reminds us that the safety of journalists must still be considered a priority in the European Union. According to media reports, Daphne Caruana Galizia had filed a police report 15 days ago saying she was being threatened. The self-declared Islamic State (IS) group appears to be nearing collapse. IS fighters have lost control of Raqqa the city the group has called its capital. They are now fighting to keep control of small areas of Iraq and Syria. Local forces are said to be attacking them from all sides. But almost no one believes the group will disappear or that the fighting will end soon. The Associated Press notes that the Islamic State was created from what was left of another group: al-Qaida in Iraq. That group battled United States forces after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In early 2014, the Islamic State began to spread across the Middle East. Its supporters quickly captured the Iraqi city of Fallujah and parts of nearby Ramadi. In Syria, IS militants forced competing Syrian rebel groups to flee Raqqa and took control of the city, naming it as the capital of its caliphate. In June 2014, IS fighters captured Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city. It was there that the groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared creation of the caliphate. IS promised justice, equality, and an Islamic religious system. But over the next few years, it terrorized people living under its control. The group killed members of Iraqs small Yazidi community. It executed Western reporters and aid workers. And it destroyed some of the areas most important archaeological and cultural treasures. Some foreigners traveled to the Middle East to support IS. Many of them were young men from Europe. However, IS angered many Sunni Muslims. They worried as they saw the groups version of Islam spread to areas far from Syria and Iraq. When IS declared a caliphate, it created a target. Soon, an international anti-IS coalition was formed. The United States launched its campaign of airstrikes on Islamic State forces in Iraq in August 2014, and a month later on IS targets in Syria. In Iraq, the U.S. military partnered with government forces working with state-approved Shiite-led militias and with Iraqi Kurdish fighters. In Syria, the U.S. partnered with Syrian Kurdish-led fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Supported by tens of thousands of U.S.-led airstrikes, these fighters ousted IS militants from the territories they controlled. The worst defeat for IS took place in July, when they were forced out of Mosul. IS also appears to be heading for collapse in Syria. The SDF and Syrian government forces supported by Russia are attacking IS forces in separate offensives. This week, a top SDF commander announced his forces had taken Raqqa from IS militants. Over the weekend, Syrian troops captured Mayadeen, a town in the Euphrates River Valley near the border with Iraq. The militants had been expected to fight to the death in the town. In northern Iraq, IS forces no longer hold any cities or towns. They lost control of Hawija earlier this month. Iraqs army is now preparing to fight IS in the last place the terrorists control -- Anbar province, which stretches to the Syrian border. In Syria, IS still controls the town of Boukamal, near the Iraqi border, and small areas in the East. Syria and Iraq have paid a high price to destroy IS. And many people suffered in areas controlled by the militants. The fighting and airstrikes have destroyed cities and towns that had been economically strong. Many apartment buildings, homes, roads and bridges have been destroyed. Two weeks ago, the U.S.-led coalition said it had returned more than 83 percent of IS-held land to local populations since 2014. It said more than 6 million Syrians and Iraqis had been freed from IS control. At least 735 civilians are reported to have been accidentally killed in coalition airstrikes, but activists believe the number is much higher. The rise of the Islamic State group -- and the wars and alliances that defeated it -- have worsened tensions in Syria and Iraq. Kurdish populations in the two countries gained power, worrying the central governments. Iran and Turkey are also fighting Kurdish separatist movements within their countries. In 2014, during the fight against IS, Iraqs Kurds seized the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Iraq has now regained control of the city, seizing oil fields and other infrastructure to try to stop the Kurdish independence movement. More violence may result from the Syrian civil war, tensions between Kurds and ethnic Arabs, and the presence of Shiite militias and government troops in the Sunni towns and cities. In many ways, the fight over former IS territories has just begun. All of the forces fighting IS will have to watch their territories closely even after they recapture the last militant-held areas. Experts say in some ways they face a more difficult fight. Groups linked to the Islamic State continue to carry out attacks in Egypt and Libya. Experts fear IS could re-form and gain strength in the years ahead. Associated Press Correspondent Zeina Karam reported this story from Beirut. AP Writer Philip Issa provided reporting from Baghdad. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story caliphate n. the office of an important Muslim leader or the land he governs archeological adj. of or related to the study of past human life and activities valley n. a stretch of land between hills or mountains apartment n. a room or set of rooms that is used as a place to live infrastructure n. public services, such as roads, bridges and water treatment centers The United States has long offered asylum protection to people who have fled their own countries and fear they will face threats or harm if they go back. In the latest available report, over 26,000 were granted asylum in 2015. Many came from China, El Salvador and Guatemala. However, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session said recently the current system is hurt by a lot of abuse and fraud. And he demanded stronger rules for people seeking asylum in the U.S. Sessions said current policies let some people enter the country without a good reason. The immigration court system, he added, is overwhelmed with 600,000 cases awaiting a hearing, although not all are asylum cases. President Donald Trump has called for major changes to immigration and asylum rules. He has called the current system broken. Asylum, a form of protection for refugees Asylum-seekers could face persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The requirements are part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It is a 1952 law to protect refugees in the U.S. that has been updated over the years to meet changing needs. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security supervises immigration. Recently, the departments Executive Office for Immigration Review wrote a document, which could influence how judges consider some asylum cases. The document deals with people younger than 18 who entered the country without their parents. It suggests that these minors could find it harder to seek asylum if they are reunited with their parents in the U.S. The document says such young people could lose protections under a 2008 law if they turn 18 during court proceedings. Another possible new standard for immigration judges could require faster decisions on immigration issues in court. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says asylum laws exist to ensure due process. The laws oversee anyone caught at the U.S. border without documents or immigrants detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Any foreign national can seek asylum protection no matter what their immigration status is. However, asylum-seekers have to apply within one year from the date of their last arrival in the U.S. or show an exceptional change in their situation. Most importantly, asylum-seekers must prove to the asylum officer that they have a credible fear of returning to their home country. Top U.S. lawyer sees problems with some asylum cases In his speech, Sessions said many asylum cases were not real. He added that the system cannot deal effectively with just claims, and the Sessions said the number of people claiming they had a credible fear of returning to their home country had increased very sharply. In 2009, there were 3,000 cases. By 2016, there were more than 69,000. Session added that 88 percent of asylum cases are approved. Numbers from the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service show that the approval rate for 2017 was 76 percent. Mana Yegani is an immigration lawyer in Houston, Texas. She said the credible fear interview is a very difficult process for people seeking asylum. I had a client who went through a credible fear interview, Yegani said, She was 19 and she had been gang raped. Yegani went on to say that the interviewing officer was a male and her client could not tell the officer about the gang rape. She was scared. So, she failed the interview, Yegani said. An immigration judge reviews the questions an interviewing officer asked an asylum-seeker if a credible fear claim is denied. The judge wants to know if there were errors or if the officer missed something. Lawyers for the asylum-seeker, however, cannot speak or present new evidence during the hearing. And the immigration judges decision cannot be appealed. Hearings on credible fear claims usually last between five and 10 minutes. Yegani said once she had photographs of dead people from a persons family that she wanted to introduce as evidence, but they were not accepted. Lawyers say that asylum-seekers also must show that law enforcement or government officials in their home country did not protect them. Yegani said this could lead to denial of a credible fear claim because you have to establish proof that your government is not willing to support you. Yegani said that many of the people she represents come from countries where they do not trust the police. They also may fear officers could raid their homes or harm their families. However, some immigration groups note that it is very difficult to know if asylum-seekers are telling the truth. The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a group pushing for reform of immigration laws in the U.S. On its website, the group says, Because of the nature of asylum claims, the claimants true background and history are difficult to verify. As the number of cases increase, so has the number of people waiting for court hearings. The Associated Press has reported that about 70,000 asylum-seekers were being held at family detention centers waiting for a hearing. Im Mario Ritter. Aline Barros reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story fraud n. using dishonest methods to get something persecution n. to treat someone unfairly because of race, religion or other reasons proceedings n. the process of appearing before a court so a legal action can go forward due process n. the guarantee that all legal proceedings shall be fair and follow the processes established by law status n. the position of someone relating to law exceptional adj. unusual, not happening very often verify v. to find out if something is true We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 smartphone earlier this year, the company also introduced a new system that allows you to connect your phone to an external display, mouse, and keyboard and use your phone like a desktop. Up until now thats meant when you use the Samsung DeX docking station you can run Android apps in a desktop-like environment. But soon youll be able to run a full-fledged Linux operating system. Samsung says its developing an app called Linux on Galaxy that will let you load a DeX-compatible Linux environment. In other words, your Android phone could also be your GNU/Linux desktop PC. Developers have been finding ways to load Linux distributions on Android phones for years. But Linux on Galaxy is different in a few ways. First, its an experience thats built and supported by the company that makes the phone. Second, its designed to work with a DeX station, which means its optimized for desktop usage. And third, todays top phones have processors powerful enough to run Windows 10, so they should be able to handle desktop operating systems like Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. Linux on Galaxy is described as a work-in-progress and Samsung isnt providing a lot of details about how it will work, what kind of Linux distributions or applications it will support, or when it will be available. But you can sign up to get more information when its available. The Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8 should be supported. In some ways, this reminds me of another (failed) attempt to combine Android and a Linux-based, desktop-like environment. In 2011 Motorola introduced the Atrix 4G smartphone and an optional laptop docking station. When you connected the Android phone to the dock you could run a desktop version of the Firefox web browser thanks to a customized Linux environment. At the time Android wasnt particularly laptop-friendly, so Motorola developed this odd workaround. It didnt really catch on and the product category was eventually scrapped although weve seen renewed interest in the idea of laptop docks for phones in recent years. Meanwhile, while Samsung is working on bringing Linux to its Android phones, the folks at Linux laptop maker Librem are working on a phone that runs a GNU/Linux-based operating system called PureOS. Itll also be a phone that you can use as a desktop. The difference is that itll only have a single operating system that you can use in both modes. Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Jamie Dimon speaks at a Fortune 500 event at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on May 7, 2012. Dimon, like many establishment players, likes blockchain but not bitcoin. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time) Blockchain Good, Bitcoin Bad Why so many establishment players back blockchain technology, but not bitcoin WASHINGTONJPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is perhaps the best example of the type: He thinks bitcoin investors are stupid and that the digital blockchain money will be closedyet his company is developing its own blockchain called Quorum, and it backs a bitcoin competitor called ethereum. Dimon is not alone. Across established institutions like the big banks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Federal Reserve, there is a pattern of thinking that goes like this: Bitcoin is bad, but blockchain technology is good. You must not confuse the general concept of a decentralized ledger for trading ownership claims with the specific application of this decentralized ledger that we started with, which was bitcoin, said Willem Buiter, chief economist of Citigroup, who also called bitcoin an unfortunate start to the blockchain revolution. However, he thinks blockchain technology could lead to interbank and central bank settlement systems. Along the same lines, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told CNBC the fund may design its own cryptocurrency to make the IMF money, the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), more efficient. She has also spoken about the possibility of bank and central bank clearing on a blockchain. It would actually not be in our powers to prohibit and regulate [bitcoin]. Mario Draghi, president , European Central Bank Fintech is really in fashion. Is it hype? Is it reality? What is it that is generating that much interest? she asked at an hour-long panel discussion on financial technology, during the IMF annual meetings in Washington earlier this month. And yet, when discussing the answers to Lagardes questions, the panelists made no mention of bitcoin, and there were no bitcoin representatives on the panel. Even intellectuals outside of the mainstream, like best-selling author James Rickards, buy into blockchain technology but dont like bitcoin. I separate the blockchain technology from the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Blockchain technology has a very bright future. Thats a very cool technology, he told The Epoch Times. Bitcoin looks like a bubble or a sandbox for criminals. Control Freaks In reality, bitcoin is used for only a fraction of all payments, including criminal activity, which is mostly done in cash or goes through the banking systemhence, the $2 billion fine JPMorgan had to pay because it failed to report the suspicious activity of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. And thats one of many examples of big banks paying billions in fines because they break the rules. The real issue, however, is control. The establishment hates bitcoin because it cant control it. The Federal Reserve chair has said it has no [technical] authority to regulate bitcoin. Transactions will clear if valid, and will not clear if not valid, and there is nothing that regulators can do to overturn the consensus of the network processing power, writes professor Saifedean Ammous, in a research paper on blockchain technology. The president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, also said as much at the European Parliament in September. It would actually not be in our powers to prohibit and regulate [bitcoin], Draghi said. So far, bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency sufficiently decentralized to the point where no individual or single group of people can change the protocol, including the amount of money issued. Any blockchain designed by JPMorgan or the IMF may have a distributed ledger, but its probably going to reside behind a firewall and wont be open source. And even then, there will be a group of people controlling the protocol and the network, which makes it a centralized decentralized solution. Back to square one. The only commercially successful application of blockchain technology so far is digital cash, and in particular, bitcoin. Saifedean Ammous, author, The Bitcoin Standard Bitcoin is inconvenient for central banks because it doesnt allow them to print money at will, and therefore they cannot control the money supply. The banks also cannot control the lending and issuance of their own credit money, the source of their oligopoly profits. It is inconvenient for credit card companies because they cannot control the relatively low fees bitcoin charges for transactions, which may be one reason Mastercard is also backing ethereum. And at the highest level, with the bitcoin protocol, the IMF cant control who gets how much of its nonexistent SDR money, which at this moment is just a claim on its members individual currencies. The IMF could save itself the trouble of developing its own blockchain and make the most successful blockchainbitcoina reserve asset. And yet it shows no inclination to do so. Instead, it talks about controlling and regulating other cryptocurrencies and fintech companies, which are trying to fill the gap in services that banks cannot and dont want to provide to poorer people, especially in developing countries. Vector of Attack If its true that bitcoin is sufficiently decentralized such that it cannot be shut down as Dimon would like, or regulated as Draghi says, then there are only two vectors of attack left. The first one is to talk it down like Dimon and Buiter do. This approach has been ineffective, as bitcoin is up 483 percent this year, roughly 48 times better than JPMorgan stock at 11 percent. In fact, when priced in bitcoin, JPMorgans stock fell almost to zero in 2017. [Bitcoin] is definitely more decentralized than say ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash, or any of these other ones. Jimmy Song, bitcoin core developer So this strategy may have the opposite effect, as more people become curious about bitcoin even if the news coverage is negative. The other strategy is to ignore bitcoin and focus on different blockchain and fintech systems, which was very apparent at the IMF annual meetings in Washington. This strategy is working because many people dont understand the difference between a system that is truly decentralized and one that is decentralized in name only. Theres a lot of different implementations of bitcoin. Theres a lot of different nodes and software and wallets. You have exchanges, you have this whole infrastructure thats very motivated to make it good, Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song told The Epoch Times. Its definitely more decentralized than say ethereum, or Bitcoin Cash, or any of these other ones. A lot of them have foundations or a group of developers who run the show. So by funding and promoting other blockchain-type solutions, big companies and governments can divert resources away from bitcoin, thereby slowing its growth. This is why bitcoin only has 54.5 percent of the total market capitalization of all cryptoassets worth $176 billion. As for their initiatives, they remain little more than words for now, according to a survey done by Ammous in late 2016. He wrote, The only commercially successful application of blockchain technology so far is digital cash, and in particular, bitcoin. Russia Increasing Pressure on North Korea A day after enacting new U.N. sanctions, Russia says it won't start new joint projects with North Korea North Korea is finding itself increasingly isolated as Russia and China have joined the United States in imposing new sanctions on the regime. Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday enacting new sanctions, which were agreed on by the U.N. Security Council last month. On Tuesday, Russian media reported that the country wont move ahead with new joint projects between the two countries. However, existing projects in trade and economics will not be frozen, Russian media cited Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka as saying. Russia also condemned North Koreas latest underground nuclear test and called on its regime to start negotiations with South Korea, something the North has refused so far. China had already started implementing the U.N. Security Council sanctions last month. The new sanctions prohibit all sales of natural gas to North Korea and limit the amount of oil that can be sold to it. China also took additional steps and ordered Chinese banks to stop providing financing to North Korea and ordered North Korean businesses in China to shut down within 120 days. The move came after months of pressure by President Donald Trump on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to take action on the rogue regime. China is North Koreas largest trading partner by far, accounting for an estimated 90 percent of all trade with North Korea. However, North Korea has been looking to Russia as an alternative to China. According to a high level North Korean economic official who defected in 2014, the North Korean regime started looking to Russia after relations with China started to decline. Ri Jong Ho, who spoke at the Asia Society in New York on Oct. 16, said relations between North Korea and China had been declining under Chinas new leadership. Ri said that Kim Jong Un convened a meeting with high level North Koreans in 2014, after Xi visited South Korea in an apparent snub to the North, saying all economic and military ties with China should be severed. Related Coverage US and South Korea Kick Off Military Drills Amid Threats from North Korea According to Ri, Kim told the high level officials to focus all efforts on creating commerce and trading with Russia. However, this did not work out as planned, and cooperation between Russia and North Korea has been limited. They wanted to import crude oil from Russia however, without money, nobody will give you anything, Ri said. One of the major export products of North Korea to Russia, is its laborers. According to Ri, in 2014 there were around 40,000 to 50,000 North Korean laborers working abroad. This provided the communist regime with a vital access to foreign currency. The laborers in Russia and China are reportedly working in slave-like conditions, while their wages are used to boost the North Korean regime. President Trump is currently running a massive pressure campaign on North Korea in an attempt to get the regime to denuclearize. Trumps administration is combining diplomatic, economic, and military options to pressure the regime. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier this week that Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic options, while military options are also being prepared. However, he said that the diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops. Insurance Back BELARUS Re's rating by Fitch affirmed at B- Fitch Ratings has affirmed Belarusian National Reinsurance Organisation's (BELARUS Re) Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating at 'B-'. The Outlook is Positive. Find bellow the Fitch press release: KEY RATING DRIVERS The rating reflects the 100% state ownership of BELARUS Re, its exclusive position in the local reinsurance sector underpinned by legislation, its strong capitalisation, and fairly strong underwriting profitability. The rating also takes into account the fairly low quality of the reinsurer's investment portfolio and significant amount of reinsured domestic surety risks. The Belarusian state has established strong support for BELARUS Re in its legal framework, with the aim to develop a well-functioning system of reinsurance. Fitch believes that the government is in a good position to support BELARUS Re rather than other state-owned companies, due to its small size and systemic importance for the financial sector. Regulation obliges local primary insurers to cede risks exceeding the permitted net retention of 20% of their equity. These obligatory cessions need to be offered to BELARUS Re first, and the reinsurer has the right to reject the cessions. In practice, BELARUS Re often influences primary underwriting of large risks, as it approves original terms. Insurance of domestic financial risks is the largest line in BELARUS Re's portfolio, which gradually increased to 46% of net written premiums in 2016 from 32% in 2012. The company mainly retains these risks more than for other lines, which explains the considerable difference in the structure of the premiums on a net and gross basis. This line of business includes various types of credit default insurance for loans and bonds issued by Belarusian banks as well as reinsurance of export credit risks. BELARUS Re's risk-adjusted capital position, as measured by Fitch's Prism Factor-Based Capital Model (Prism FBM), was "Very Strong" based on end-2016 results. From a regulatory perspective, BELARUS Re is comfortably in compliance with solvency requirements. The regulatory solvency margin, calculated using the Solvency-I formula, was 16x at end-1H17 (end-2016: 17x). BELARUS Re reported profitable financial performance in 2016, in line with 2015 results. In 2016 net income of BYN15 million was driven by investment returns and, to a lesser extent, by a positive underwriting result. The return on equity was robust at 12% (2015: 10%). Based on interim local GAAP reporting in 6M17 the company reported a net profit of BYN7 million, supported by positive underwriting and investment returns. BELARUS Re's combined ratio, as calculated by Fitch, rose to 92% in 2016 from 49% in 2015, driven by a larger loss ratio. Poor performance in the property line resulted in the increase of the loss ratio to 68% in 2016 from 30% in 2015. In 6M17 BELARUS Re reported a combined ratio of 67%, with a loss ratio of 41%. Fitch views the credit quality of BELARUS Re's investment portfolio as weak. This reflects the credit quality of locally available investment instruments, constrained by sovereign risks, and the presence of significant concentrations by issuer. BELARUS Re's ability to achieve greater diversification is limited by the narrow local investment market and strict regulation of the reinsurer's investment policy. RATING SENSITIVITIES A change in Belarus's Local-Currency Long-Term IDR (B-/ Positive) is likely to lead to a corresponding change in the reinsurer's IFS Rating. Significant changes to the reinsurer's relationship with the government would also likely have a direct impact on BELARUS Re's ratings. Author: Daniela GHETU on 19.10.2017 Archive Comment this article 0 comments Atention! "Comment" and "E-mail" are mandatory Name: If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered If you are not logged on, your name will appear preceded by '(Anonymous)'. For authentication, click here If you are logged on and you do not fill in your name, will be used the name that you used when you registered E-mail: Comment: < 10.000 car. Fill in the code from the image: Boys involved in school shootings often struggle to live up to what they perceive as their school's ideals surrounding masculinity. When socially shunned at school, they develop deep-set grudges against their classmates and teachers. The shooters become increasingly angry, depressed, and more violent in their gendered practice. A shooting rampage is their ultimate performance, says Kathryn Farr of Portland State University in the US. In a study published in Springer's journal Gender Issues, she investigated the characteristics shared by 31 school boys involved in 29 mass shootings at American schools between 1995 and 2015. Farr's analysis suggests that boys' social status in middle and high school is determined in great part by peers' acceptance of them as "appropriately masculine." Their guidelines for gender appropriateness are found in a set of Adolescent Insider Masculinity norms that describe masculinity as the ideal that men are cool, heterosexual and tough, shy away from "sissy stuff" and embrace activities, behavior and mannerisms that are typical of "guys". Falling short of this ideal sets some boys up for school-situated problems and reactions that are typical of adolescents. Ten of the 31 shooters had a history of serious psychiatric problems, while another ten grew up in extremely abusive households. The remaining eleven boys tended to react explosively and inappropriately to incidents that they perceived as unjustly discrediting them. Twenty-five boys were white and all but one identified as heterosexual. "Many of the adolescent shooters had personal troubles that affected their ability to manage their social performances at school," explains Farr. "Moreover, the potential rampage of a boy with severe mental illness and rampage-related risk factors could be especially injurious." Most were repeatedly and publicly tagged with homosexual and feminized epithets such as being a "homo", a "cry baby" or a "fag". All 31 shooters were made aware of their failings through their classmates' emasculating bullying, rejection by girlfriends, and marginalization in general. Some reported being physically and sexually victimized by their male peers. According to Farr, the shooters' gender performances at school were typically 'off', either not meeting or exaggerating the Adolescent Insider Masculinity imperatives. They saw the responses they received as undeserved injustices that denied them their masculine entitlements. Most used dramatic displays of masculine bravado to try and show that they were indeed tough and powerful. They, for instance, brought guns to school, or emphasized violent themes in their writings, drawings, and class presentations. Almost all had bragged about their rampage plans. Such behavior violates the moral boundaries of masculinity, and further damaged the boys' already low social status. Farr believes that schools should teach their students about such shooting incidences, and the possible warning signs that need to be reported. In-school and referral services should be provided. School curriculums should also address adolescent masculinity issues and discussion-based forums about issues of gender should be instigated. "How often are adolescent boys given the opportunity to talk with one another about masculinity norms and their challenges, including norms embracing violence or the effects of emasculating bullying? Such classroom-based discussions could also help schools identify, provide and give value to activities that appeal to boys whose interests and skills lie outside the norms of insider masculinity," Farr says. She warned against unnecessary stigmatizing of troubled adolescents: "Although many boys display at-risk behaviors and attitudes, very few will actually become school shooters." More information: Kathryn Farr, Adolescent Rampage School Shootings: Responses to Failing Masculinity Performances by Already-Troubled Boys, Gender Issues (2017). Kathryn Farr, Adolescent Rampage School Shootings: Responses to Failing Masculinity Performances by Already-Troubled Boys,(2017). DOI: 10.1007/s12147-017-9203-z Credit: University of Liverpool A novel contact lens device developed by University of Liverpool engineers to improve the treatment of glaucoma has been found to reliably track pressure changes in the eye and be wearable by people who took part in its first clinical study. The contact lens device is able to continuously measure fluid pressure in the eye known as intraocular pressure (IOP) the elevation of which is a cause of glaucoma and if not managed can lead to loss of vision. Currently IOP is measured in glaucoma patients during clinic visits which are usually twice a year, but this characterisation of IOP is unreliable as IOP is dynamic and easily affected by psychological and environmental factors such as stress or sleeping. The device, which is made of a soft silicone hydrogel material to ensure it is comfortable to wear, contains a pressure sensor which detects changes in IOP continuously over a period of up to 24 hours. These changes are then transmitted wirelessly to an easily portable external controller (the size of a mobile phone) which collects the data and provides clinicians with much needed, but currently unavailable, data to assist with glaucoma treatment. A small scale, first in man, clinical study of the novel device involved 12 volunteers who wore the new contact lens device for more than an hour while under constant clinical observation has been completed at St. Paul's Eye Unit in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. Credit: University of Liverpool Results from the study found the device was able to measure changes in the IOP, with minimal impact and little discomfort to the patient. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, affecting 0.5million people in the UK (67million worldwide) and costing the NHS more than 1billion a year. The aim of glaucoma treatment is to control IOP in order to minimise further damage, and avoid loss of vision. The device has been developed by University biomedical engineers in conjunction with engineers from specialist contact lens manufacturer, Ultravision CLPL, St Pauls Eye Unit, Liverpool and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. The development team is now looking to refine manufacturing techniques in order to take the device to the next step towards commercialisation. Ahmed Elsheikh, Professor of Biomaterial Mechanics in the University's School of Engineering, said: "The results of this study are very positive and show that the device is comfortable for people to wear and gives good measurements of the IOP. "This device has the potential to provide millions of sufferers of glaucoma with much needed information which will ensure that they are being treated correctly, and that their good vision can be maintained and damage kept to a minimum." Scientists of the A*STAR Singapore Immunology Network Olaf Rotzschke group who participated in the study (from left: Puan Kia Joo, Nurhashikin Binti Yusof, Dilip Kumar, Olaf Rotzschke). Credit: A*STAR Singapore Immunology Network Everyone who has ever had to endure eczema knows just how irritating the symptoms are. Now A*STAR researchers have pinpointed a genetic predisposition to the condition, opening possibilities for new treatments. The itchy, red and cracked skin typical of atopic dermatitis, otherwise known as eczema, is an inflammatory condition which affects up to one in five children, many of whom continue to suffer into adulthood. Topical corticosteroid creams and other medication can treat persistent symptoms and severe cases, but can induce side-effects. With the number of cases increasing, scientists are searching for what causes the condition. Now, Olaf Rotzschke and his team at the A*STAR Singapore Immunology Network have uncovered a common genetic mutation which increases the risk of atopic dermatitis. As part of a large study aimed at identifying drug targets for allergies and other immune conditions, Rotzschke's team collected blood samples and clinical data from 600 Singaporean residents. The scientists analyzed the activity of more than 30,000 genes in each of the blood samples and compared this to 5 million common genetic mutations, referred to as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), for each individual. After analyzing this extensive database, the researchers discovered that the activity of the gene VSTM1, which encodes a protein called SIRL-1, was heavily dependent on a specific SNP. This mutation, analysis revealed, lowered SIRL-1 levels on a subset of immune cells called monocytes and increased the risk of atopic dermatitis by 30 per cent. SIRL-1 is a molecule found on the surface of monocytes, and other immune cells, and functions to regulate the defense against invading pathogens. It is not currently known which molecule, or ligand, naturally docks to SIRL-1 inside the human body, but identifying such a molecule could result in new intervention strategies for eczema, Rotzschke explains. "Our Dutch colleagues are very active in the hunt of the ligand," he says. "Topical application of this compound through a cream or ointment could help suppress rashes and other symptoms." His own team is casting a wider net, investigating the genetic profile of VSTM1 and how this gene could be involved in other conditions. "We have already looked in a subset of potential diseases but the search is by no means exhausted," he says. More information: Dilip Kumar et al. A functional SNP associated with atopic dermatitis controls cell type-specific methylation of the VSTM1 gene locus, Genome Medicine (2017). Journal information: Genome Medicine Dilip Kumar et al. A functional SNP associated with atopic dermatitis controls cell type-specific methylation of the VSTM1 gene locus,(2017). DOI: 10.1186/s13073-017-0404-6 Yang Chen, with the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center at the Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, was first author on a study that found mitochondrial DNA damage in veterans with Gulf War illness. Credit: Mitch Mirkin Researchers say they have found the "first direct biological evidence" of damage in veterans with Gulf War illness to DNA within cellular structures that produce energy in the body. The findings appeared in the journal PLOS One in September 2017. A study that focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) included 21 veterans with Gulf War illness (GWI) and seven controls. In blood tests, researchers observed more lesions and more mitochondrial DNAthat is, extra copies of genesin veterans with Gulf War illness, relative to controls without the illness, suggesting excess DNA damage. Lesion frequency gives a direct measure of DNA damage, while the increased number of mtDNA copies reflects a response to the damage. Both lesion frequency and the number of mtDNA copies vary in response to environmental toxins and together provide a reading of overall mitochondrial health, according to lead researcher Dr. Mike Falvo, a health sciences specialist at the Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System. He notes that everyone experiences some level of mtDNA damage, perhaps due to aging and environmental exposures, such as air pollution. In the study, the mtDNA damage was 20 percent greater in the veteran group, compared with a control group that included three veterans without GWI and four non-veterans. "Greater mtDNA damage is consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction, which may contribute to symptoms of GWI, as well as persistence of this illness over time," the researchers write. "We interpret these findings as evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathobiology of GWI." Falvo explains that the researchers used a new technique developed in the lab of his team's collaborator that allowed them to evaluate the quality of the mitochondrial DNA directly from total DNA without having to isolate the mitochondria. This approach is simpler to execute and does not require analysis through a biopsy of a piece of tissue, such as skeletal muscle, he says. Although Falvo and his team were interested mainly in mtDNA, they also looked at nuclear DNA, which is vital, too, to overall mitochondrial health. The levels of nuclear DNA damage were also elevated in the veterans with GWI, but did not reach "statistical significance," the researchers say. Nuclear DNA damage is a major cause of cancer, neurodegeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, and many age-related diseases. Mitochondria are organs that act as spark plugs within cells. They are like a digestive system that takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy-rich molecules for the cell. They are very sensitive to potential damage caused by toxins. Patients with mitochondrial dysfunction have symptoms involving multiple organ systems, primarily nerves and muscles. Veterans with Gulf War illness have reported similar symptoms. Many Gulf War veterans believe they were exposed to harmful chemicals and other toxins during the conflict. "Mitochondrial dysfunction among veterans with GWI may help explain, in part, the persistence of this illness for over 25 years," the researchers on Falvo's study write. "For example, chemical and environmental exposures during deployment may have provided the initial [harm] to mtDNA and accumulation of damage." Falvo, also an assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, researches how cardiovascular, cardiorespiratory, and other systems respond to physical and environmental stress. Soon after joining VA in 2010, he learned that many Gulf War veterans experience major fatigue and other symptoms across many areas of the body. "To me, that sounded awfully consistent with the symptoms of mitochondrial disorders," he says. "After reviewing the literature, I realized at that time there was no published study on GWI that investigated whether mitochondrial dysfunction contributed to symptoms." He explored that potential link with Dr. Helene Hill, a colleague at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who has studied mitochondrial DNA. Their discussion led to preliminary data that supported Falvo's 2017 study, on which Hill is a co-investigator. Falvo's study follows work by Dr. Beatrice Golomb at the University of California, San Diego. Golomb was formerly on VA's Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses. With Department of Defense funding, she and her team reported in 2014 what they called "the first direct evidence supporting mitochondrial dysfunction in Gulf War illness." Falvo and his colleagues performed tests directly on the mitochondrial genome. In contrast, Golomb used an imaging technique to examine the oxidative capacity of muscle in veterans with Gulf War illness. Oxidative capacity of muscle is a measure of how well tissue, or muscle, is able to use oxygen. In essence, the more mitochondria that are functioning well, the more that tissue is able to use oxygen. The researchers in Golomb's study called, in part, for replication of their findings in a larger study. Falvo's research includes three times the number of veterans with Gulf War illness. In a separate 2014 study of 46 veterans with GWI, Golomb and her colleagues reported promising results for the nutritional supplement coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) as a way to address the fatigue created by mitochondrial dysfunction. CoQ10 is thought to promote healthy mitochondria. VA recently launched a three-year trial to determine if treatment with ubiquinol, a form of CoQ10, improves the physical function of veterans suffering from Gulf War illness. The study is being carried out at four VA medical centers: Miami, Boston, Minneapolis, and the Bronx, New York. Officials there are recruiting 200 veterans with GWI for a double-blind placebo study. The initiative is based on data supporting the need for methods that repair mitochondrial function and that replenish depleted antioxidant stores related to the illness, according to the principal investigator, Dr. Nancy Grace Klimas of the Miami VA Healthcare System. Antioxidants are substances, such as vitamin C or beta carotene, that remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents in a living organism. In a sister study, Dr. Mary Ann Fletcher of the South Florida Veterans Affairs Foundation for Research and Education, a nonprofit group that supports VA research, is exploring changes in biomarkers related to CoQ10 treatment. These biomarkers include inflammatory cytokines, which are substances that are secreted by certain cells in the immune system and impact other cells; and natural killer (NK) cells, which play a major role in the hosting and rejection of tumors and virally infected cells. Falvo, for his part, is expanding his team's efforts to study mitochondrial DNA damage in veterans with Gulf War illness. He's part of a new DoD-supported study led by Dr. Joel Meyer, an associate professor at Duke University in Durham who studies environmental toxicology. The researchers are seeking to recruit about 150 veterans with and without GWI in hopes of confirming the findings in Falvo's 2017 study. "More importantly, we want to gain new knowledge of the damage of mtDNA on mitochondrial function and the recovery process," he says. "We need to be sure that our findings are robust," Falvo says. "For us, that means confirming the present results but also investigating what might be contributing to mitochondrial DNA damage or its lack of repair." Provided by Veterans Affairs Research Communications Credit: University of East Anglia New research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) recommends increased support for adoptive families and early intervention for those at risk of breaking down. The study, led by the Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF) at UEA, surveyed more than 300 adoptive parents to gather detailed information about how they and their most recently adopted child were getting on. It also aimed to measure risk and protective factors that may affect children's development, and to gain an up-to-date picture of what services families had used, wanted or needed. Most parents (79 per cent) said their adoption was going 'really well' or they were 'managing', but in 21 per cent of families, parents were experiencing many difficulties and struggling to manage. More problems were reported by parents of older children. Even when parents felt they were 'managing', many children had emotional, behavioral or mental health problems at a clinically significant level. Despite some problems, the vast majority of parents surveyed felt love and commitment towards their children. More than half (56 per cent) felt they had experienced more rewards than they expected prior to the adoption. The researchers recommend that prospective adoptive parents be given full and detailed information about children's histories and likely future challenges, particularly on the specific needs of children with whom they are being considered for a match. Other recommendations for policy and practice include: Reducing risks before adoption, for example through support for birth families; Reducing risks in the system, such as the number of moves a child has while in care; Early assessment of children's psychological health and early intervention if needed; Planning the move to adoption at the child's pace; Increasing availability of therapeutic support for children with complex emotional/behavioural issues The project was funded as part of the Department for Education's Regionalising Adoption programme, in conjunction with the new adoption group One Adoption in Yorkshire and Humberside, which commissioned the survey to inform future work with families in the region. Most of the parents (88 per cent) had adopted a child who was previously unknown to them. The children ranged in age from birth to 17. The findings, which come during National Adoption Week, will be presented today at a One Adoption conference by lead researcher Prof Beth Neil, professor of social work at UEA. Prof Neil said the recommendations were relevant nationally and reinforce results published last month from a survey of 3000 adoptive families by Adoption UK and the BBC, which found more than a quarter of families surveyed are experiencing significant challenges. Prof Neil said: "Adoption offers the chance of a stable family life for children in care who cannot return to their birth families. However, while most adoptions do not breakdown and most adoptive parents show great coping, resilience, love and commitment to their children, many children experience complex and enduring developmental problems for which they and their parents need vital, ongoing support. "Especially where children have several risk factors in their backgrounds, it is important to assess children's needs at an early stage and plan in post-adoption support, providing early intervention before problems escalate. Timely and appropriate support services are needed to cater for fluctuating levels of need as well as times of crisis. "In this survey we can see that hardly any of those families who have adopted recently are reaching crisis point, but for those who might now is the time to intervene, be proactive and provide the services they need to stop them getting there." Crucially, the report showed, transitions from foster care to adoptive families need careful planning, as poorly managed moves can create an additional risk for children. Prof Neil said: "Children need to express feelings of loss and separation, to be emotionally supported through the transition, and to have an overlap in caregiving. It's important that they are not moved abruptly, as this can be particularly distressing, but that it is done at the child's pace. This can reduce the risk of them having problems later on. "Transitions are often emotionally stressful for the adults involved too, so support is also needed for foster carers and adopters to ensure the needs of the child are kept in focus." Sarah Johal, head of service for One Adoption West Yorkshire, welcomed the preliminary findings of the survey. Ms Johal said: "All adoption agencies are keen to listen to the experiences of adopters, adopted young people and parents who live apart from their children. We are all committed to learning about the best ways to address the challenges that they have experienced and to working with colleagues in social care, education and health to enhance future services." More information: A Survey of Adoptive Families: Following up Children Adopted in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region: A Survey of Adoptive Families: Following up Children Adopted in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region: www.uea.ac.uk/crcf Sugary carbonated drinks for sale at a market in Vietnam. Credit: Shutterstock This week, representatives from most of the world's governments are meeting at a World Health Organization global conference in Uruguay to tackle the global pandemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). These NCDs are the chronic diseases including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes that now kill around 40 million people each year. They are responsible for 70 per cent of all deaths globally and have a much bigger impact than infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria. Reducing the preventable deaths they cause is one of the key health targets of the new Sustainable Development Goals. The good news is that the meeting's draft agreement recognizes the need to address conflicts between public health goals and private sector interests in tobacco, unhealthy foods and alcohol products. Alongside physical inactivity, consumption of these products is one of the main drivers of NCDs. The bad news is that the agreement is virtually silent on the role of trade and investment agreements in promoting the global rise in NCDs. Trade agreements boost heart disease and obesity There is plenty of research evidence of the impact of trade and investment agreements on NCDs such as heart disease, and on major risk factors such as obesity and tobacco use. One of our studies, for example, revealed that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Vietnam spiked dramatically after that country opened itself to trade and foreign investment. Soft drink companies based in the United States increased their market presence even as the World Health Organization identified the rise in consumption of high-sugar content drinks as a major cause of rising youth obesity. Another study found that consumption of unhealthy foods and sugary drinks increases after implementation of trade agreements, often those with the U.S. There was also a correlation between such trade agreements and higher rates of heart disease and obesity. Other research has found that when countries opened themselves to trade, cigarette consumption rose; as more cigarettes entered the domestic market, price competition made them more affordable. Limiting government power to prevent disease Trade and investment agreements are not the only cause of these NCD-promoting patterns. Globalization processes more generally are also involved. This includes the way that products such as high-sugar drinks and cigarettes can function as symbols that people in low-income countries have "made it" to the middle class. But as our analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has found, such agreements can limit the ability of governments to implement laws, policies and regulations aimed at controlling these NCD risk factors. These agreements require governments to have scientific proof for any new control measure they introduce that could interfere with trade rules. But what if the measure, by being new, has only limited evidence? Agreements also call on governments to prove that their control measure is "necessary" and that no other less trade-restrictive options might exist, such as mass education campaigns. Extended patent protection on drugs used to treat NCDs, meanwhile, price them beyond poor peoples' reach. And they drain limited government health budgets. Government fear of being sued Many trade agreements also contain rules that allow foreign investors to sue governments over perceived losses due to new regulations. Philip Morris did just that when Australia introduced tobacco plain packaging. Several tobacco-exporting countries launched government-to-government disputes under the World Trade Organization (WTO) system. These challenges were not successful in the end, although the final WTO ruling has yet to be made public. But the very fact that they were considered possible creates a "regulatory chill" in which governments grow reluctant to enact new public health measures for fear of a future trade or investment dispute. This is especially concerning for low-income countries that lack the financial resources to fight such a regulatory challenge. Few NCD control measures have actually gone to formal trade or investment dispute. But under the WTO system, there are an increasing number of challenges being raised against government policies on food or alcohol labelling intended to inform consumers of health risks, on marketing restrictions and on tobacco control measures. As a result of these informal challenges, governments in some instances have delayed or backed away from their policies to avoid the risk of a dispute. Three steps to reduce preventable deaths So what should governments do, especially since much of the liberalized global diffusion of NCD risks has already occurred? Fortunately, there are three simple steps they can take to ensure the "policy coherence" that is the theme of the Uruguay meeting. First, governments should agree that all future trade and investment agreements contain a full carve-out for any non-discriminatory public health measure aimed at controlling NCD risks (or any other health concern), whether or not there is scientific proof or other less trade-restrictive means available. Second, since there are already scores of existing agreements potentially tying public health's regulatory hands, governments should commit to not initiating a dispute against another country's non-discriminatory public health measure. Third, governments should refrain from increasing patent protection on drugs used to treat NCDs. These diseases will continue to surge before prevention measures lead to their eventual decline; affordable treatments will be needed. These three commitments should be written into the final Uruguay agreement. They respect the aim of global trade by ensuring public health measures are not used to discriminate against another country's products or trade interests. They also respect the policy space governments need now, and into the future, to protect the health and well-being of their citizens. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the U.S. by non-U.S. residents is growing. These "reproductive tourists" are more likely, compared to Americans, to use egg donors and carriers and genetically screen early embryos. The study is the most detailed picture of cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) in the United States to date. It analyzed more than 1.2 million ART cycles that were submitted to the National ART Surveillance System (NASS) from 2006 to 2013. NASS is the federally mandated reporting system that collects ART procedure information under the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992. During that time frame, the number of non-residents receiving ART treatment in the United States more than doubled, growing from 1.2 percent of the total number of cases to 2.8 percent (nearly 5,400 in 2013). "While the number of cycles is relatively small, it is definitely growing," said Georgia Tech's Aaron Levine, the associate professor in the School of Public Policy who led the study. "Non-U.S. residents are increasingly coming here for specialized ART treatments that may not be available in their home countries. And they're using these techniques at greater rates than Americans." Non-resident cycles had a higher use of oocyte (or egg) donation (42.6 percent vs. 10.6 percent of American cycles). They were also nearly eight times more likely (12.4 percent vs. 1.6 percent) to use gestational carriers/surrogates, and almost four times more likely to receive preimplantation genetic diagnosis or screening (19.1 percent vs. 5.3 percent). American and non-American patients had similar embryo transfer and multiple birth rates. Patients from 147 countries received care in the U.S., with the largest number coming from Canada. Nearly 50 percent of Canadian patients used donated eggs, likely reflecting Canadian legal restrictions on payment for egg donors. Patients from the United Kingdom and Japan, the third and fourth most common source countries, also made frequent use of donated eggs more than 50 percent of U.K. patients and more than 90 percent of Japanese patients used this technique. The second largest number of patients came from Mexico, with these patients using specialized techniques at about the same rate as U.S. patients. Levine admits the numbers are small but not trivial. Data has been limited, and CBRC hasn't been well studied in the past. "Our results highlight real challenges for patients to access this important medical care," said Levine. "Understanding these challenges is critical to improving access to ART today and to helping ensure patients who travel across borders to receive ART treatment receive high-quality care." Levine also says understanding CBRC ties into other issues, such as treatment for egg donors and carriers, and the health concerns that may be linked to some ART procedures. The paper, "Assessing the use of assisted reproductive technology in the United States by non-United States residents," was published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility earlier this month. More information: Aaron D. Levine et al. Assessing the use of assisted reproductive technology in the United States by nonUnited States residents, Fertility and Sterility (2017). Journal information: Fertility and Sterility Aaron D. Levine et al. Assessing the use of assisted reproductive technology in the United States by nonUnited States residents,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.07.1168 HIV infecting a human cell. Credit: NIH In a decades-long game of hide and seek, scientists from Sydney's Westmead Institute for Medical Research have confirmed for the very first time the specific immune memory T-cells where infectious HIV 'hides' in the human body to evade detection by the immune system. The team, led by Associate Professor Sarah Palmer from the University of Sydney, developed a pioneering full-length genetic sequencing assay for HIV. Using this test, the team found that genetically-intact HIV hides in specific subsets of CD4+ T-cells. Associate Professor Palmer said that this next-generation test showed that HIV hides in the body's immune memory T-cells, which is how it avoids detection from the immune system. "Previously it was thought that HIV was hiding primarily in central memory T-cells, but our new HIV genetic sequencing test has revealed that the majority of replication-competent virus is actually hiding in effector memory T-cells. "HIV is really very clever. Essentially, it is hiding in the exact same cells within the immune system that are meant to attack it," she said. Effector memory T-cells are the cells in the body that 'remember' previous infections and how to defeat them. These are the cells that provide life-long immunity to infections such as measles or chicken pox. Associate Professor Palmer explained that only a very small proportion - approximately five per cent - of HIV is genetically intact. However, it is this small proportion of virus that hides in the effector memory T-cells and stops the immune system from fully destroying the virus and eliminating it from the body. "When HIV replicates it makes a lot of errors and releases a lot of defective virus. "But this five per cent of genetically intact HIV is the key. This virus inserts its genome into the body's memory cells and sits there quietly avoiding detection by the immune system," Associate Professor Palmer explained. "These infected cells go into a resting state and stop producing HIV, but these latent cells can wake up and start making infectious HIV. "It is a ticking time bomb waiting to re-infect a patient. "The other 95 per cent of defective virus does send the immune system into overdrive. We suspect that this 'junk' HIV can act as a decoy and draw attention away from the "real" virus hiding in the effector memory T-cells," she said. Despite groundbreaking advances in the treatment of HIV, it remains a chronic illness across the globe. Neither a cure nor a vaccine has been achieved. "Current HIV drugs stop the virus from replicating, but there is still no way for us to 'cure' an individual with HIV. Patients need drugs or chemotherapy for the rest of their lives. "This is a particular problem in the developing world where only 50 per cent of people have access to regular HIV therapies. "If a person suddenly stops taking their HIV treatments, the virus hidden in effector memory T-cells would spring to life and start producing more HIV, and the virus will spread throughout the body within two weeks. "Now that we've identified where the replication-competent virus is hiding, we can start work towards targeting these cells with new therapies aimed at fully eliminating HIV from the body," Associate Professor Palmer concluded. More information: Bonnie Hiener et al, Identification of Genetically Intact HIV-1 Proviruses in Specific CD4 + T Cells from Effectively Treated Participants, Cell Reports (2017). Journal information: Cell Reports Bonnie Hiener et al, Identification of Genetically Intact HIV-1 Proviruses in Specific CD4 + T Cells from Effectively Treated Participants,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.081 Provided by Westmead Institute for Medical Research Credit: University of Manchester University of Manchester researchers have found that reports of self-harm in girls aged between 13 and 16 rose by 68 percent between 2011 and 2014. Overall, girls had much higher rates than boys. The study, published in the British Medical Journal and carried out in over 600 general practices, also found that young people living in the most socially deprived areas with often the most complex needs, were the least likely to be referred to specialist services. The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Self-harm - intentional self-poisoning or self-injury - in children and adolescents is a major public health issue in countries across the world. Experts acknowledge self-harm as the biggest risk factor for subsequent suicide. Suicide is now the second most common cause of death in the under 25s worldwide. Unlike most previous studies, Dr Cathy Morgan and a team from The University of Manchester, examined self-harm recorded in general practice rather than in hospital. To estimate rates of self-harm, they analysed data for 16,912 patients aged between 10-19 years from 674 general practices, who harmed themselves during 2001 to 2014. To assess mortality, they compared data from 8,638 of the patients with 170,274 unaffected children, matched by age, gender and general practice. Credit: University of Manchester For girls, the rate of self-harm was 37.4 per 10,000, much higher than 12.3 per 10,000 in boys. It rose by 68 percent in girls aged 13 to 16 from 45.9 per 10,000 in 2011 to 77.0 per 10,000 in 2014. Referrals to specialist mental health services within 12 months of self-harming were 23 percent less likely for young patients registered in practices in the most deprived areas, even though the rates of self-harm were higher in these areas. Children and teenagers who self-harmed were nine times more likely to die unnaturally than unaffected young people with an especially marked increased risk of suicide and acute alcohol/drug poisoning death. Professor Nav Kapur is Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at The University of Manchester. He chaired the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidelines on Self-harm and is one of the authors of the study. He said: "Though the higher rates of self-harm in girls than boys and a strong link with the risk of later suicide has confirmed previous work, perhaps our most striking finding was the apparent rapid increase in self-harm recorded for girls aged 13-16. "Of course we need to bear in mind the weaknesses of our study we used routine general practice data and some episodes of self-harm might have been missed. And the level of detail for things like method of self-harm was limited. "But these results do emphasise the opportunity for earlier intervention in primary care to reduce suicide risk. We know talking treatments can help. There is also a need for more integrated care involving families, schools and health and social care providers and the voluntary sector to enhance safety among these distressed young people and to help secure their future mental health and wellbeing." He added: "We can't really explain this possible rapid increase in self-harm among girls. It could reflect better awareness or recording of self-harm in primary care. "But it could also be a result of increasing stress and higher levels of psychological problems in young people. There is some evidence indicating that common mental health disorders are becoming more common within this age group The internet and social media can be really helpful in preventing self-harm but could have negative effects too and this is a focus of significant research and activity. "It's very important that young people, parents and carers aren't unduly alarmed by these findings. "We know that for many young people things get better and they no longer hurt themselves as adults. But of course we must take self-harm seriously; it's important to understand its underlying causes." More information: Incidence, clinical management, and mortality risk following self harm among children and adolescents: cohort study in primary care, BMJ (2017). Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Incidence, clinical management, and mortality risk following self harm among children and adolescents: cohort study in primary care,(2017). www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j4351 (HealthDay)Workers who "telecommute" appear to have a lot more job satisfaction than folks who report to an office every day. But that positive comes with tradeoffs. Remote employees may also have a harder time separating work from their personal lives, and they can become socially isolated, researchers report. "The upside for workers is that they are happier when they are not tied to a fixed place of work," said study author Alan Felstead, a research professor of social science at Cardiff University in Wales. But, "while workers love working remotely, working this way carries costs, in that work and home often overlap, and it may therefore be difficult for workers to turn off," Felstead added. Computers, smartphones and other advanced technology have allowed more Americans than ever to telecommute, said David Ballard, the American Psychological Association's assistant executive director for organizational excellence. "Work is no longer somewhere you go from 9 to 5. It's something you do," said Ballard. "With available technology, that means we don't necessarily have to be sitting at a desk in an office to do that." In the United States, the share of workers performing some or all of their work from home has grown from a little less than 20 percent in 2003 to over 24 percent in 2015, Felstead and his colleagues said. Workers are responding well to this newfound freedom, the researchers found in survey results of British employees: Seven out of 10 remote workers said they would not move to another company for higher pay, compared with six out of 10 brick-and-mortar employees. Telecommuters also were likelier than office workers to report their jobs as more pleasurable and stimulating. And they were significantly more enthusiastic about their jobs. These findings mirror those of U.S. workforce surveys, Ballard said. "People reported that being able to do that enhanced their productivity and gave them more flexibility," Ballard said of telecommuting. However, there are downsides. "It is difficult for workers to draw boundaries between work and nonwork when work is no longer fixed to a particular place," Felstead said. Remote workers are more likely to worry about job problems than office workers, and often work longer hours, the researchers found. Nearly 40 percent of telecommuters said they often work extra time to get the job done, compared with 24 percent of office employees. Telecommuting "makes it more difficult for them to stop thinking about work and take a break," Ballard said. "That's really important for people's work stress levels ... They need to have time where they're not thinking about work." Ballard recommends that telecommuters set boundaries like specific hours when they work, when they have their cell phone on, or when they will answer e-mails. "There's no one right way to do it. It really depends on the individual and their needs and preferences," Ballard said. And it's important to communicate those boundaries to bosses and co-workers, he added. Remote workers also need to fight social isolation, both on a personal and professional level, Ballard said. They should use video conferencing and instant messaging to attend meetings or stay in touch, and regularly get out to do work elsewhere. "Stay connected to members of your team," Ballard said. "That's a challenge when somebody's telecommuting. It's easy to get isolated, and it's easy to be left out of the loop." Finally, telecommuters should remember to take regular breaks, and not get caught up in multitasking. "We all think we're good at multitasking, but really we're just dividing our attention, which means it's taking us longer to get things done and we make more mistakes and errors," Ballard said. The new review was published recently in the journal New Technology, Work and Employment. More information: Alan Felstead, research professor, social science, Cardiff University, Wales, U.K.; David Ballard, Psy.D., assistant executive director, organizational excellence; American Psychological Association; Oct. 4, 2017, New Technology, Work and Employment Alan Felstead, research professor, social science, Cardiff University, Wales, U.K.; David Ballard, Psy.D., assistant executive director, organizational excellence; American Psychological Association; Oct. 4, 2017, For more on telecommuting, visit the American Psychological Association. Copyright 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Credit: Vera Kratochvil/public domain New research at the University of Adelaide has found that a specific combination of techniques will increase people's chances of having lucid dreams, in which the dreamer is aware they're dreaming while it's still happening and can control the experience. Although many techniques exist for inducing lucid dreams, previous studies have reported low success rates, preventing researchers from being able to study the potential benefits and applications of lucid dreaming. Dr Denholm Aspy's research in the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology is aimed at addressing this problem and developing more effective lucid dream induction techniques. The results from his studies, now published in the journal Dreaming, have confirmed that people can increase their chances of having a lucid dream. The study involved three groups of participants, and investigated the effectiveness of three different lucid dream induction techniques: reality testing which involves checking your environment several times a day to see whether or not you're dreaming. wake back to bed waking up after five hours, staying awake for a short period, then going back to sleep in order to enter a REM sleep period, in which dreams are more likely to occur. MILD (mnemonic induction of lucid dreams) which involves waking up after five hours of sleep and then developing the intention to remember that you are dreaming before returning to sleep, by repeating the phrase: "The next time I'm dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming." You also imagine yourself in a lucid dream. Among the group of 47 people who combined all three techniques, participants achieved a 17 percent success rate in having lucid dreams over the period of just one week significantly higher compared to a baseline week where they didn't practise any techniques. Among those who were able to go to sleep within the first five minutes of completing the MILD technique, the success rate of lucid dreaming was much higher, at almost 46 percent of attempts. "The MILD technique works on what we call 'prospective memory' that is, your ability to remember to do things in the future. By repeating a phrase that you will remember you're dreaming, it forms an intention in your mind that you will, in fact, remember that you are dreaming, leading to a lucid dream," says Dr. Aspy, Visiting Research Fellow in the University's School of Psychology. "Importantly, those who reported success using the MILD technique were significantly less sleep deprived the next day, indicating that lucid dreaming did not have any negative effect on sleep quality," he says. "These results take us one step closer to developing highly effective lucid dream induction techniques that will allow us to study the many potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares and improvement of physical skills and abilities through rehearsal in the lucid dream environment," Dr. Aspy says. More information: For more information and to take part in the study, see: For more information and to take part in the study, see: www.luciddreamingaustralia.com Denholm J. Aspy et al, Reality testing and the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams: Findings from the national Australian lucid dream induction study., Dreaming (2017). dx.doi.org/10.1037/drm0000059 WhatsApp use by ambulance doctors in Argentina was associated with faster treatment of heart attack and lower mortality in an observational study presented today at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology (SAC 2017). The free messaging application was used to send diagnostic electrocardiograms (ECGs) directly to hospital catheterisation (cath) laboratories, enabling patients to bypass the emergency department. The annual congress of the Argentine Society of Cardiology is being held in Buenos Aires from 19 to 21 October. Experts from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will present a special programme. "More than 42 000 heart attacks occur in Argentina every year," said first author Dr Nicolas Lalor, cardiologist, Cardiovascular Institute of Buenos Aires - Sanatorio Anchorena, Argentina. "The mortality rate from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has declined in recent years but is still 8-12%." "Patients have the best chance of survival when they receive primary angioplasty to restore blood flow to blocked arteries within 90 minutes of contacting the health service," he continued. "Numerous delays can occur before and after patients reach the hospital which lead to this treatment target being missed." This study assessed whether the delay between first medical contact and primary angioplasty could be reduced by ambulance staff using WhatsApp to notify hospital staff that a patient was coming for treatment. The observational study prospectively enrolled 896 patients with STEMI between 2012 and 2016 who were treated at Insituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires and Sanatorio Anchorena in Buenos Aires. Hospital admission occurred by three routes: 1) patients arrived at the emergency department by their own means (211 patients); 2) ambulance delivered patients to the emergency department (325 patients); 3) ambulance delivered patients to the cath lab (emergency room bypassed) (360 patients). In group 3, an ambulance doctor conducted an ECG on arrival at the patient's home or public place. If STEMI was the diagnosis, the ECG was transmitted using WhatsApp on a smartphone to a cardiologist at the hospital to confirm the diagnosis and prepare the cath lab. On arrival at the hospital by ambulance, patients were taken directly to the cath lab and did not stop in the emergency department. Treatment times and outcomes were compared between patients who received an ECG diagnosis of STEMI in the emergency room (groups 1 and 2) and those who received an ECG diagnosis by ambulance staff and were directly transferred to the cath lab (group 3). The primary objective was to determine if direct transfer to the cath lab led to quicker treatment. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the impact of direct transfer on improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction during hospitalisation, length of hospital stay, and mortality. The researchers found that the time between symptom onset and treatment was significantly lower in group 3 (150 minutes) compared to groups 1 and 2 (200 minutes) (p <0.001). The overall mortality rate of all STEMI patients in the study was 2.23%. Mortality was significantly lower in group 3 (0.83%) compared to groups 1 and 2 (3.17%) (p <0.001). Patients in group 3 had a shorter hospital stay (4.88 days versus 5.58 days; p <0.001) and better left ventricular ejection fraction at discharge (51% versus 48%; p <0.03) than those in groups 1 and 2. Dr Lalor said: "We found that notifying the cath lab in advance using WhatsApp and transferring patients directly from the ambulance, bypassing the emergency department, led to quicker treatment and better outcomes for patients with STEMI. Advanced notification enables hospital staff to prepare the cath lab and the doctor is ready to start primary angioplasty when the patient arrives." He continued: "Using WhatsApp on a smartphone is a cheap and easy way for ambulance and hospital doctors to communicate and we will be rolling this procedure out to other hospitals in Argentina." Dr Alberto Fernandez, scientific programme coordinator of SAC 2017, said: "This is a very easy way to improve the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in our country. Given the very long distances between centres that have percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) facilities, particularly in cities in the interior of the country, the opportunity to call the interventional cardiologist and prepare the cath lab could improve the prognosis of patients." Dr Fernandez continued: "In the last registry of AMI in Argentina (ARGEN-IAM-ST), the median delay between pain and hospital admission was 2.5 (1.2-5.6) hours and in-hospital mortality was 8.8%. This data shows that all efforts to improve the outcome of patients will be very important." Professor Michel Komajda, a past president of the ESC and course director of the ESC programme in Argentina, said: "Time delay to treatment has a significant impact on survival of patients with STEMI. This study highlights one strategy to reduce delays. Other strategies include increasing public awareness of common symptoms and the importance of calling the emergency services, or the use of ambulances with doctors who can deliver first aid including thrombolysis if access to centres with interventional facilities is too far as developed in my own country." More information: Borja Ibanez et al. 2017 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation, European Heart Journal (2017). Journal information: European Heart Journal Borja Ibanez et al. 2017 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation,(2017). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehx393 When affordable fibre projects for townships in South Africa come online, they will destroy the prepaid mobile market in those areas, said Vumatel CEO Niel Schoeman. Schoeman said it is not their aim to erode the prepaid mobile market, but it will be an unintended consequence of Vumatels plan to roll out fibre to townships. Vumatel plans to offer uncapped 100Mbps fibre for R89 per month in SAs townships, with Alexandra its pilot site. Should the pilot succeed, Vumatel will expand its network to Diepsloot. It then aims to connect 10 million residents in 2.5 million homes within the next two years. While the technical and commercial feasibility of the project is being assessed in Alexandra, Schoeman said it is important to consider the social impact affordable fibre will have in South Africa. We need to find ways of dealing with the digital divide as an industry, said Schoeman. Poor subsidising the rich Schoeman said mobile operators have essentially created a market where the poor are subsidising the rich. The more you consume the less you pay, and yet mobile operators talk about data like its a scarce resource, he said. Why charge approximately 12-times more per megabyte to those who cant afford data, while charging significantly less per meg to those who can afford it in abundance? Schoeman argued that mobile operators complain about the availability of spectrum, but their business models say otherwise. For any utility, the rates are consistent up to a point. Beyond that, the heaviest users are charged more to try and prevent large consumption. With the mobile operators, it is the other way around. Run the numbers here the average household income in Alex is R2,500 per month and the average revenue per mobile prepaid user is R90 to R110. Operators have 90% penetration in townships, and SIM penetration is over 100% because subscribers hop between networks to capitalise on the promotions networks offer. This means subscribers in townships are probably paying closer to R140 per month for cellular connectivity, said Schoeman. For a household with two subscribers, that is almost 12% of the total household monthly income well above Vumatels R89 per month price point. Uncapped Vumatel conducted research in Alexandra and found that 2% of residents understood the term uncapped data. Schoeman believes that when homes in the area have access to unlimited data, opportunities will emerge. It has the potential to have a significant impact on mobile operators, and will be good for competition in the telecommunications industry. Were laying the foundations for smart cities in South Africa, but how can we say were building a smart city if were only building smart leafy suburbs? U.S. believes that meeting between Biden and Jinping was strong signal to rest of world Karabakh MFA welcomes resolution adopted by French Senate Italy bans facial recognition technology and smart glasses Germany to establish maintenance center in Slovakia for weapons supplied to Ukraine French Senate passes resolution calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan Rishi Sunak hints that he will abandon plans to declare China 'threat' to national security EU supports any call to phase out fossil fuel use Borrell: EU countries must work together to replenish their military stocks French Senator: Are the lives of Armenians worth less than the lives of Ukrainians? Turkey plans to strike targets in northern Syria Lavrov calls Zelenskyy's speech at G20 summit performance beyond all regulations and decency Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince embarks on Asian tour Ukrainian media report missile strikes in number of areas Chinese 50-year-old man runs marathon smoking Bloomberg: Paris overtakes London to become Europe's largest stock market Anti-Iranian rally held in Baku Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Pashinyan's approaches and wordings do not contribute to solving urgent problems Borrell announces appearance of EU rapid reaction force in 2023 Norwegian Defense Minister pledges $30 million to NATO fund for Ukraine Italy auctioned biggest truffle for record 184 thousand euros Serviceman kills fellow soldier in Armenia Kyodo: 67-year-old Japanese princess diagnosed with breast cancer Mehriban Aliyeva hurriedly gives up her role of UNESCO 'Goodwill Ambassador' before French Senate meeting Jeff Bezos says he's ready to give away most of his fortune Britain to allocate $11.8m to rebuild Ukraine's energy infrastructure Peskov: Kyiv cannot and doesn't want to negotiate, SVO will continue Turkey detains another suspect in planning terrorist attack in Istanbul Tasnim: Iranian authorities released 38 protesters in southeast Terrorist attack: Number of detainees in Istanbul grows to 50 Armenian FM presents to Europeans consequences of September Azerbaijani aggression 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 Minimum wage to rise in Armenia 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, 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 YEREVAN. Any negotiation, even if it does not yield any result, is better than war. Edmon Marukyan, a member of the National Assembly Way Out Faction opposition bloc of Armenia, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am, as he reflected on the recent talk between Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev of Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively, in Geneva, Switzerland. But as for Sargsyans assurances that an arrangement was reached with the Azerbaijani president to reduce tension on the border, Marukyan said: I dont trust any arrangement with Azerbaijan because such arrangements have been repeatedly made. To note, Serzh Sargsyan had said also that he had noticed interest in Aliyev with respect to this arrangement. On 17 October the delegation headed by Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan arrived in the Kingdom of Belgium on a working visit. On 18 October President Bako Sahakyan partook at the opening of the 4th European Armenian Convention and delivered there a welcoming speech. The President highlighted such events noting that they are a good platform for discussing national issues, marking ways of their solution, elaborating new plans and projects, implementing various programs to develop and strengthen the Diaspora communities, Mother Armenia and Artsakh on a consistent basis. It is crucial to have a constructive exchange of thoughts, express sound opinions and adopt mutually agreed decisions aiming at uniting different parts of our nation around the implementation of national programs ,- underlined the Head of the State in his speech. Bako Sahakyan expressed gratitude to all those who constantly support Artsakh, live with its problems, do everything possible for objective introduction of the Artsakh issue in various instances and protect the rights of our people. During the event President Sahakyan handed in the Gratitude medal to the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy for substantial contribution to the recognition of the Artsakh Republic. Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, minister Diapora of the Republic of Armenia Hranoush Hakobyan and other officials partook at the congress. For the first time in about four years it was possible to adopt, although quite brief, a joint statement with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The FM of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, stated about the abovementioned at the Fourth European Armenian Convention, in Brussels. Reflecting on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Nalbandian said as follows: Needless to say, that the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the highest priorities on Armenias foreign policy agenda. As you know three days ago a Summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Geneva. When it comes to the outcome of the meeting itself everything was clearly indicated in the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers and the Co-Chairs. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere. The Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact. The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval. They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the Co-Chairs will organize working sessions with the Foreign Ministers in the near future. So much about the Summit. As you know the Armenian side has long been advocating for the peaceful negotiated settlement and for the reduction of tensions and all these have been reflected in the joint statement. The meeting of the Presidents after about sixteen months interval was made possible due to the able mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and this in itself can be considered as a positive thing. For the first time in about four years it was possible to adopt, although quite brief, a joint statement with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan together with the Co-Chairs. As you know on numerous previous occasions Armenia expressed its readiness to join the statements of the Co-Chairs, however Azerbaijan always refused to have a common statement. Against this backdrop, it is regrettable, that after the Summit Baku, time and time again, has been engaged in cheap and primitive manipulations, claiming that allegedly an agreement was reached in Geneva to refrain from making any comments not on the outcome of the Summit but the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution as a whole. It is clear, why Azerbaijan does this: obviously it tries to avoid the responsibility for its own destructive policy. First, the damage caused to the peace process by the April 2016 Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh has not been overcome yet. Second, Baku has refused to implement Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, which were aimed at creating conducive conditions for moving the peace process forward. It is well known, that Azerbaijan has backtracked from the agreements on numerous occasions previously questioning its credibility as a negotiating party. Third, Azerbaijan refuses to reiterate the principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution that have been presented by the Co-Chair countries as a basis for the settlement, namely: the non use of force or threat of use of force, self-determination and territorial integrity. Fourth, despite numerous calls of the Co-Chairs to respect the 1994-95 trilateral ceasefire agreements, that do not have time limitations, Baku continues grossly violate the ceasefire. Yes, Armenia is convinced that there is a need to conduct intensive negotiations. We strongly believe that if Baku abides to the calls of the Co-Chairs to strictly respect the ceasefire, implement previously reached agreements, reiterate its adherence to the principles of the conflict resolution proposed by the Co-Chairs and constructively engage in the negotiations that will open the possibilities for moving the peace process forward. Armenia, together with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group will continue the efforts aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means. The Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement has been finalized and initialed. The signing of the Agreement can become one of the main achievements of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels in November. The FM of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, noted about the above-said at the 4th European Armenian Convention, in Brussels. Commenting on Armenia-European Union (EU) relations, Nalbandian said as follows: Let me brief you also on the Armenia-EU relations which are among the main pillars of the Armenian foreign policy. Armenia enjoys close ties with the European Union and intends to expand the comprehensive cooperation in all areas of mutual interest. The European Union provides valuable assistance for the ongoing reforms in our country, supports the efforts made by Armenia towards the continuous promotion of human rights and the rule of law, further strengthening of democratic institutions, improving judiciary and effective governance. I would like also to emphasize our cooperation in the context of parliamentary elections held in Armenia last April. The support of the European Union also extends to different sectors of Armenias economy, including energy, transport, agriculture. Some of them have a regional importance, like the modernization of the Armenia-Georgia border checkpoints and the construction of the high voltage transmission lines. We actively cooperate in the fields of education, innovation, science and culture, including through such programs as Horizon 2020, Erasmus Plus and others. This year we have concluded the negotiations with the European Union on Creative Europe programme and the Common Aviation Area Agreement. In this regard I would like to specifically highlight that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement has been finalized and initialed. The signing of the Agreement can become one of the main achievements of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels in November. Among the issues on the Armenia-EU cooperation agenda, I would like to emphasize the importance of launching the visa liberalization dialogue that was one of the commitments enshrined in the Riga declaration of the EU Eastern Partnership and is an important component for the enhanced mobility and deepening of people to people contacts. Armenia was among the first to condemn the acts of terrorist groups in the Middle East. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated about the aforesaid at the Fourth European Armenian Convention, in Brussels. Speaking in the premises of the European Parliament, first of all I would like to recall that one of the first resolutions on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was adopted here back in 1987, said Nalbandian. On the eve of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015 the European parliament once again reaffirmed its principled stance, paid tribute to the memory of innocent Armenian victims and joined the commemoration in a spirit of European solidarity and justice. In the same spirit on the year of the centennial and since then a number of countries, including the parliaments of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Luxembourg joined many others in Europe and beyond adopting resolutions on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. These efforts are of utmost importance not only for the remembrance but also as a significant contribution to the international prevention efforts. As a nation that passed through the horrors of the genocide we feel a moral obligation but also an authority to speak out and act against recurrence of genocides, crimes against humanity. The most recent initiatives of the Republic of Armenia in this regard made in 2015 were the adoption of the resolution on Genocide prevention at the UN Human Rights Council and the adoption of the resolution on International Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide at the UN General Assembly. These efforts will continue. Next year we will mark the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention. 70 years passed, unfortunately, the world is not immune from this evil. The actions of terrorists against ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East vividly indicate the relevance of the Convention. Armenia was among the first to condemn these acts of terrorist groups. Unfortunately the Syrian carnage has not bypassed our fellow Armenians, who have suffered along with the Syrian people, other ethnic and religious groups. The Syrian crisis has once again demonstrated that due to the large geographic presence, having hundreds of communities all around the world, Armenians are vulnerable to many global threats. Armenia takes this into full account in its engagements on the international stage among others on prevention efforts, protection of ethnic and religious minorities, addressing issues of refugees and migrants, participating in peacekeeping missions, joining efforts in the fight against terrorism. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. YEREVAN.- By this shooting Azerbaijan showed that it does not respect its international commitments, RPA spokesperson, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov said after the Executive Body meeting of the party, commenting on the ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan on Thursday, as a result of which a 19-year-old serviceman was killed. He noted that after the Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting in Geneva, Azerbaijan showed the existing gap between its acts in theory and practice. By this Azerbaijan showed that it does not respect its international commitments assumed just a few days ago in Geneva and declared by the Co-chairs and the foreign ministers of the negotiating sides. This shooting was not only against Armenia, but also against the Geneva talks. By violating the ceasefire regime on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line Azerbaijan showed that its not ready to constructive negotiation for the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Sharmazanov noted. Sharmazanov hoped that at least now the international community will give a clear and direct assessment It was reported earlier that a soldier of Karabakh army was fatally wounded in the fire of Azerbaijani side. Tigran Khachatryan, 19, was killed on Thursday afternoon at a military outpost in the north-eastern direction of the line of contact, Karabakh army said in a statement. Al-Qaeda's Branch in Mali Gives Infographic on 6 Months of Operations, Claims Ambush in Koulikoro Fusion GPS founders plead the Fifth at House Intelligence hearing regarding questions over BOGUS Trump dossier Ill just come out and say it: On most occasions, whenever a suspect pleads his or her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when being questioned under oath, that generally means theyve got something to hide. It doesnt necessarily mean guilt, just that theyre hiding something that would make them look bad if they responded to the questioning. As reported by The Daily Caller, two co-founders of Washington, D.C.-based opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which commissioned a former British spy to produce the infamous (and totally discredited) Trump dossier, involved the Fifth during appearances before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday, according to a source who spoke to the website on condition of anonymity. The Fusion GPS founders Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan pleaded the Fifth to every question asked of them, said the source. Earlier this month the intelligence panel sent subpoenas to Fritsch, Catan and a third partner, Glenn Simpson, in order to discuss their link to and involvement with the bogus dossier which the FBI reportedly used to justify investigations into Trumps campaign last year. The dossier was compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spook who has since disowned it. House Intelligence Committee members had been forewarned that the session would be unproductive. Fusions lawyers sent a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the panels chairman, informing him that all three partners former Wall Street Journal reporters, all would not cooperate with lawmakers. The letter cited First Amendment protections and agreements regarding confidentiality. The panel had every reason to call Fusions partners to appear. Previous reports noted that the firm was working on behalf of an ally of Hillary Clinton a year ago in June when Steele was hired to probe any of Trumps personal and/or business dealings with Russia. The investigation produced a 35-page document chock full of wild claims and unsubstantiated salacious charges regarding Trump himself and some of his campaign officials. In addition to some politicians, the FBI has also used it to justify an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and Russia to steal the election from Clinton. (Related: FBIs Comey made inconsistent statements about Trump dossier.) The Daily Caller noted further: Congressional Republicans have questioned the FBIs decision to rely on the dossier given that its most sensational allegations have not been proved. They are also interested in who hired Fusion. But alas, no one is talking. Yet, anyway. For their part, Fusions attorneys blasted the panel and Nunes in particular for issuing the partners subpoenas. No American should have to experience todays indignity, railed attorney Josh Levy after the Wednesday session. No American should be required to appear before Congress simply to invoke his constitutional privileges. Well, yeah, they should have to appear if theyre subpoenaed. Whats more, why are Fusion partners protected from indignity after imposing it on Trump and his campaign staff with their BS dossier? The fact is there is smoke here, and its likely being caused by a great big fire that is smoldering just below the surface. Here are some other key facts and findings regarding this case: Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who held a controversial meeting with Donald Trump, Jr., last year during the campaign, has publicly dismissed the dossier as cheap gossip. When I read some parts of this dossier in the media I laughed, Veselnitskaya said. What kind of idiots does one have to take Americans for to think that they can believe that stupid and incompetent [and] absurd [dossier]? How does Fusion enter into this? As Fox News reported: Last month, CEO of Hermitage Capital Bill Browder testified before a Senate committee that Veselnitskaya orchestrated a smear campaign against him as part of an effort to fight anti-Russia sanctions, working with the firm Fusion GPS and co-founder Glenn Simpson. Fusion was the same company behind the anti-Trump dossier. This detail was swiftly picked up by President Trump and his allies, who pointed to the alleged Fusion-Russia connection as proof Moscow was actually working against him in 2016 despite collusion claims. Steele himself has said the dossier is bogus and has publicly criticized Buzzfeed for publishing it in its entirety. In April he admitted that none of what he put in the dossier had been verified, and he lashed out at the Internet news site for publishing it after scores of establishment media outlets passed on it last year as it made its rounds in the Washington-NYC media corridor because nobody could substantiate any of it. The Washington Times noted: In a court filing, Mr. Steele also says his accusations against the president and his aides about a supposed Russian hacking conspiracy were never supposed to be made public, much less posted in full on a website for the world to see on Jan. 10. Whats more, Buzzfeed is being sued over its publication of the dossier by XBT Holdings, a Cyprus-based company owned by Russian tech magnate Aleksej Gubarev. The ex-spy accused Guvarevs company of hacking the Democratic National Committees computers with pornography and bugging devices. As for punishment, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., an ally of the president, said he believes someone should go to jail over the leaking of the dossier. I think its unseemly that people in our intelligence community, the CIA director, is out there giving press conferences, criticizing the incoming president I think thats inexcusable and I would not have anybody in the CIA thats publicly criticizing the president, Paul told CNNs Wolf Blitzer in January, just days before Trump was inaugurated. Theres only a few people who could have leaked this information, he said. A leak like that is so significant if it came from the intelligence community, they should go to jail. If it came from the Obama administration, they should go to jail. You cannot allow the leaking of classified documents, particularly when it goes to someones character. J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel and a long-time contributor to NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com. Sources include: TheNationalSentinel.com DailyCaller.com Breitbart.com Submit a correction >> The Ring is so iconic I always forget there was a second bc it sucked so badly Reply Thread Link I looked up the sequel and damn Sissy, Emily Van Camp, and Ryan "Disney Channel original movie" Merriman? Is it really bad? Reply Parent Thread Link i enjoyed the second one cause it was fun in a mindless way but it made NO sense Reply Parent Thread Link yeah it was disappointing when it didn't need to be. Reply Parent Thread Link and then there's RINGS a film that completely forgets the story of the previous 2 movies Reply Parent Thread Link rings was so bad and it doesn't help that everyone in the movie was so bad at acting Reply Parent Thread Link I re-watched recently and it still holds up. Its just a great movie, imo. Reply Parent Thread Link Me, too. After watching it at the theater, we drove past a horse trailer and I was spooked for 7 days. Reply Parent Thread Link I was scared of horses for years lol Reply Parent Thread Link i had nightmares for about a month lmao Reply Parent Thread Link I'm not a huge horror fan, but every October I have to watch Ryan Reynold's Amityville Horror and Cabin in the Woods. Reply Thread Link You wrong for the Ring gif!!!! Reply Thread Link I remember being so upset about his beautiful face being ruined. /tenyearoldmepriorities Reply Parent Thread Link What's particularly annoying is there are people (yes I've been in class with some) who deny that it was originally a Japanese property and think the Watts film is a genuine creative first-of-its-kind work of art. And I'm like "No......its a fucking remake" Also I felt more for Reiko than Rachel...sorry Naomi. Ringu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Ring. Fight me.What's particularly annoying is there are people (yes I've been in class with some) who deny that it was originally a Japanese property and think the Watts film is a genuine creative first-of-its-kind work of art. And I'm like "No......its a fucking remake"Also I felt more for Reiko than Rachel...sorry Naomi. Reply Thread Link having to listen to white guys in black t-shirts debate for hours over whether the original version is called ringu or the ring is one of many reasons why i can't wait to leave la Reply Parent Thread Link I call it Ringu. But like, I don't call it Mononoke-hime. I don't call it Pafketo Buru. I don't call it Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. I call them by their english names lol Reply Parent Thread Link Sadako > Samara, especially in Ring 0. Reply Parent Thread Link offended @ the haunting remake making so much. what a fucking travesty. catherine zeta-jones and lili taylor deserved better Reply Thread Link lol I looked it up and wtf it had so much potential with the cast. Qui Gon, Catherine Zeta, Lili, and Woody Allen worshiper Wilson, and the dean from Mona Lisa Smile??!!! lol shocked its a flop Reply Parent Thread Link Okay but like...I have to watch it every time it's on tv lol Reply Parent Thread Link Same LOL Reply Parent Thread Link It's so terrible but I'll probably watch it before the end of the month Reply Parent Thread Link lol Reply Thread Link lmao omg. Reply Parent Thread Link I remember seeing this in the theater and liking it. Then again it was one of the 1st movies I saw with friends in the theater and I was like 12. Reply Parent Thread Link I knew the answer was Ryan Reynolds but I didn't know the film. Reply Thread Link i really like the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre tbh. the original remains my favorite tho, the atmosphere alone fucks me up every single time. Reply Thread Link i have no balls whatsoever for this one Reply Parent Thread Link I saw this in theaters and people were losing their shit during this scene lol it was so fun Reply Parent Thread Link The Ring terrified me when i first saw it. I was watching with my mom and when she came out of the tv I told my mom to turn the movie off. I was like the kids in IT when the projector starts going crazy. then I saw what her face looked like and was like "uhh that's not that bad." watched the movie again and realized the scariest parts are the beginning and the end. the middle gets a bit boring, but good movie overall. Reply Thread Link I remember amityville was around when Reynolds got "hot" and closeted 8th grade me def enjoyed the view. Reply Thread Link My mom didn't let me see the ring when it premiered because she said it would be too scary for me (I was a weenie when i was a kid) and I would catch bits of it when it came on tv and I knew the premise of you watch the video you get a phone call you die. A few years later when YouTube became a thing I looked up the cursed video at my cousins house and right after we watched it the fucking phone rang and we almost shit ourself lolll. A few months later she slept over at my house in my living room and the tv turned on by itself into static and i screamed and we had to sleep with the lights on xD any good horror movie recs ONTD? I don't like slashers anymore. And I'm not a weenie anymore no movie scares me now actually lol Reply Thread Link Ryan Reynolds was fucking hot back then (also in Blade Trinity) The Ring was one of my faves, but I've seen it so, so, SO many times now, it does nothing for me anymore. Reply Thread Link I had such a crush on him around that time. I watched Blade Trinity so many times just for that body. Reply Parent Thread Link The world became a little poorer this week. Roy Dotrice has died. Rest in Peace, Roy https://t.co/WkAllwGYvp :( pic.twitter.com/u4gReytGbN George RR Martin (@GRRMspeaking) October 18, 2017 The world became a little poorer this week. Roy Dotrice has died. He was ninety-four.Roy first took up acting in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II, and went on to become one of the giants of British stage and screen, decorated by the Queen. He set a record for his one-man play BRIEF LIVES, and performed the key role of Mozart's father in the film of AMADEUS, among a hundred other credits. He was a supremely gifted actor.He was also my friend. He lived in the United Kingdom and I lived in New Mexico, so we did not see each other often, but whenever we did get together, it was a delight. I will always treasure the memory of the dinner I shared with Roy and his wife Kay (who passed away a few years ago) at his club, the Garrick, a centuries-old haunt of the legends of the British stage. That was a truly amazing evening. The last time I saw Roy was in Los Angeles, however, at the party his daughter threw him on the occasion of his 90th birthday.Many of the news stories about Roy's death identified him as a GAME OF THRONES cast member. He was that, of course. He played the pyromancer Hallyne in two episodes during our second season... and, as with everything he did, he played him wonderfully.Truth be told, Roy might have had a much larger role in the series. When we first cast the show, he was our choice to play Grand Maester Pycelle, and I have no doubt that he would have been magnificent in that role. Sadly, health problems forced him to bow out. Julian Glover stepped up and performed admirably in his stead, but sometimes I still wonder at what might have been.Roy's association with GAME OF THRONES runs far deeper than the television series. He was also the reader of the audiobooks of all five volumes of the series... though calling him a "reader" does not truly reflect his work. Roy performed those books. He gave every character his (or her) own distinctive voice, despite the fact that there were hundreds of them. So many, in fact, that the Guinness Book of World Records recognized him for voicing the most characters in an audibook for his work on A GAME OF THRONES, a record he still holds today (though actually I suspect he broke it himself for his readings of the later books).I loved what Roy did on the audiobooks. He did not just read my words aloud, he brought them to life, in a way few actors could. And the fans agreed. Roy did the audiobooks for A GAME OF THRONES, A CLASH OF KINGS, and A STORM OF SWORDS, to great acclaim. When it was time to record A FEAST FOR CROWS, however, he was unavailable. Off doing a play in Birmingham, I was told. So my publishers used another reader. But the fans were having none of it. After the audiobook of FEAST was released, Random House received so many complaints that they had no choice but to go back and re-record the book with Roy, and release a second version. So of course when it was time to tape A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, there was never any question as to who would read it.With Roy gone, I have no idea who will can possibly get to do the audiobooks for THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING. But whoever it is, they will have a hard, hard act to follow.For all the great work he did on A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, my own memories of Roy Dotrice go back earlier, to the three years we worked together on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST for CBS. Great memories, for me; that was a wonderful show, and a joy to work on. We had an amazing team of writers, and of course a terrific cast, with the likes of Jay Acovone, Linda Hamilton, Jo Anderson, the incredible Ron Perlman... and Roy, of course, as Father. It was an honor and a privilege to write for him.Those years on B&B meant a lot to Roy as well. Just last month, he posted a farewell messages to all the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST fans around the world.Such a fine actor. Such a sweet man.Everyone who knew him is sad today.source: 1 Good. I hope he's started treating his wife better too. Reply Thread Link I thought she left him. Didn't he like attack her in public? Reply Parent Thread Link He did, but she's still with him somehow. This month marks their one year wedding anniversary :/ Reply Parent Thread Expand Link groundbreaking Reply Thread Link American Honey came out last year (which he was really good in, ngl). And the Borg/McEnroe biopic was at TIFF last month Reply Parent Thread Link wtf insult to Lilo and Stitch Reply Parent Thread Link ontd ugly post Reply Thread Link If an actress got into as much bullshit as he does, she would not have a career. Yet, he somehow manages to survive it all. Reply Thread Link Throw the whole dude away. He's a lost cause. I hate saying that about people but damn. There just comes a point when you've got to accept that the person doesn't want to get better. Reply Thread Link It's crazy to me that a decade ago he was being positioned as Hollywood's next everyman golden boy, got his pick of blockbuster franchises, etc. and now he flits from arrest to indie movie to weird performance art project to arrest. Reply Thread Link Like, dude, you better. U gotta chill the fuck out. Cos all the shit you've done in your past relationships were so NAGL on you. Damn bruh, that was a ugly mess Reply Thread Link LMAO, maybe 10 years ago Reply Parent Thread Link lmaooo they should have done that Reply Parent Thread Link Would have been more age appropriate for Hammer considering right now it looks like a 35+ old male romancing a 15-year-old kid. Reply Parent Thread Link True. Although I cannot but help that think that since Shia considers himself so method he'd jack into the peach and eat it. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link DO IT JUST DO IT DO IT SHIA DO IT Reply Thread Link Waste of money tbh. Just put him in front of a firing squad. Reply Thread Link That's too harsh Reply Parent Thread Link i mean...hopefully this well help but i think he probably has other issues that he needs to work on too. Reply Thread Link cinematic masterpiece Reply Parent Thread Link Apprenticeship Expansion Task Force's Members Announced An executive order from President Donald J. Trump called for the secretary of Labor to establish a Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion that will identify strategies and proposals to promote apprenticeships, especially in sectors where apprenticeship programs are insufficient. U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta this week announced the members of the President's Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion. The task force represents companies, trade and industry groups, educational institutions, and labor unions, with its members having experience in addressing the nation's skills gap, according to DOL. "Expanding apprenticeships will help Americans learn the skills they need to fill jobs that are open right now and in the future. I am pleased to see business leaders, unions, educational institutions, and industry groups come together to help the American worker," said Acosta. "The members of the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion will provide varied perspectives that will help guide the Administrations strategy on growing apprenticeship programs nationwide. I am grateful for their participation in this important effort." This follows an executive order from President Donald J. Trump to expand apprenticeships in America. It called for the secretary of Labor to establish a Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion that will identify strategies and proposals to promote apprenticeships, especially in sectors where apprenticeship programs are insufficient. The task force's members include Acosta; Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross; Michael Bellaman, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors; Joshua Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable; Cari Dominguez, director of Manpower Inc.; Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Andrew Liveris, executive chairman of DowDuPont; Douglas J. McCarron, general president, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America; Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association; and Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. First Floating Wind Farm Starts Production in Scotland Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, officially opened the 30MW farm, which Statoil operates in partnership with Masdar. The farm is located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The world's first floating wind farm, named Hywind Scotland, has begun delivering electricity to the Scottish grid, the Norwegian energy company Statoil reported Oct. 18, saying Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, officially opened the 30MW farm, which Statoil operates in partnership with Masdar. The farm is located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800 meters, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind. The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy. Through their government's support to develop the Hywind Scotland project, the UK and Scotland are now at the forefront of the development of this exciting new technology. Statoil looks forward to exploring the next steps for floating offshore wind," said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of the New Energy Solutions business area at Statoil. Sturgeon said the farm "will provide clean energy to over 20,000 homes and will help us meet our ambitious climate change targets. This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland," she added. "Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government's commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil's Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world center for energy innovation." The onshore operations and maintenance base for Hywind Scotland is located in Peterhead and its operations center is located in Great Yarmouth. Linked to the Hywind Scotland project will be Batwind, a 1MWh lithium battery storage solution for offshore wind energy that the partners will install. Mohamed Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, pointed to upcoming opportunities. "Masdar has a long-standing commitment to renewable energy in the United Kingdom, and we are immensely proud to deliver our first project in Scotland alongside our partners," he said. "Hywind Scotland is showing that floating wind technology can be commercially viable wherever sea depths are too great for conventional fixed offshore wind power. This opens up a number of new geographies, and we are already looking at future opportunities with our partners, building on our existing international portfolio in onshore and offshore wind energy and solar power." Texas on the Lookout for School Bus Passing Violators During 2016 and so far in 2017, Texas Highway Patrol troopers have issued 1,100 citations and 573 warnings for passing a stopped school bus. The Texas Department of Public Safety has stepped up its enforcement of laws prohibiting drivers from passing stopped school buses during National School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 16-20). DPS is asking Texans to comply with the laws, which make it illegal to pass any school bus, in either direction, when it is stopped and operating a visual signal either flashing red lights or a stop sign. During 2016 and so far in 2017, Texas Highway Patrol troopers have issued 1,100 citations and 573 warnings for passing a stopped school bus. "Motorists should always be alert and practice safe driving habits when traveling near school buses or anywhere school children gather, including bus stops," said DPS Director Steven McCraw. "Texas parents can rest assured that DPS will not tolerate those who recklessly endanger children by ignoring the law." "Ensuring our students have a safe trip to and from school is a commitment the Texas Education Agency shares with the Texas Department of Public Safety," added Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath. "We commend the dedication of our Texas Highway Patrol, as well as local law enforcement, during National School Bus Safety week and throughout the year in working to keep our students safe." During the week, troopers in many areas are riding on or following school buses to catch motorists who break the law and also are patrolling areas where school buses pick up and drop off students. Drivers who violate the law could face fines as high as $1,250. State law says a motorist may not proceed until one of the following occurs: the school bus resumes motion; the operator is signaled by the bus driver to proceed; or the visual signal is no longer activated. If a road is divided only by a left-turning lane, drivers on both sides of the roadway must stop for school buses with alternating red flashing lights activated. However, if the lanes are separated by an intervening space or physical barrier, only motorists traveling in the same direction as the bus are required to stop. According to the Texas Education Agency, more than 42,000 school buses transport approximately 1.5 million Texas children every school day. Season's eatings! The weather may be getting colder, but Dining Month on OnMilwaukee is just cooking up, dishing out your winning picks in this year's Best of Dining poll. Dining Month is brought to you by Fein Brothers, your premier food service equipment and supply dealer in Wisconsin since 1929. Congratulations to all of the winners, and happy eating for all those who voted! See all the winners for the month so far here. No, unfortunately we did not get to roll ice cream with Samuel L. Jackson's superhero character from Pixar's "The Incredibles." This afternoon on Facebook Live, however, we did the next best thing: We rolled into Fro Zone (the ice cream shop, newly opened at 1320 E. Brady St. just this past summer) to roll some special ice cream sundaes with the help of co-owner Mike Kaid all under the watchful eye of a Fro Zone (the superhero) wall mural. OK, so maybe Mike made ice cream rolls, and I made more of a mess of their kitchen. But still, we learned a lot about the hottest craze in frozen desserts, a Thai-inspired process in which you quickly freeze an ice cream mix, mash in the flavor, flatten the delicious mess into a thin plate and scrape it up into several thin ice cream rolls, crowned with tasty toppings. It's a fun and flashy play on the classic ice cream sundae that's taken the country by storm, inspiring all sorts of tantalizing tributes to the snazzy, sugary spirals via YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and more. Or, say, a Facebook Live! The good news is that I will never be behind the ice grill ever again. The even better news is that, after less than half a year in its Brady Street spot, Fro Zone ice cream rolls are such a hit that it's expanded to a second store. Just this week, Kaid and company partnering up with the East Side donut shop Donut Squad, co-owned by Kaid's brother opened a new tandem location found in the food court at Brookfield Square. So now you've got a place to cure your cravings for ice cream rolls AND donut holes at the same time. If you'd rather spin by the original, however, the Brady Street spot complete with a new menu of sundae options is open during the winter from 2 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and from 2 p.m. until midnight the rest of the week. For the past decade, the Forest County Potawatomi have had held their Hunting Moon Pow Wow in Milwaukee. The pow wow gives tribes a chance to bring both Native and non-Native people together to celebrate Native American traditions and cultures in a fun, family-friendly and educational environment. For the next three days, the Wisconsin Center will be filled with traditional Native American dancing, drumming and singing. Open to the public, the Hunting Moon Pow Wow will also feature various competitions with cash prizes totaling more than $100,000. Where: Wisconsin Center (400 W. Wisconsin Ave.) Hours: Friday, doors open at 3 p.m.; Saturday, doors open at 10 a.m.; Sunday, doors open at 10 a.m. Admission: Free Highlights: Fun, family-friendly, fast-paced music and dancing and the opportunity to experience a new culture. For more information: (414) 847-7320 or huntingmoonpowwow.com. Asterix, the plucky Gaul with the rotund sidekick, has come charging back in the 37th book in the legendary comic series, which went on sale across Europe on Thursday. "Asterix and the Chariot Race" recounts the adventures of the shrewd Gallic hero and his perennial partner in mischief Obelix during a mad dash down the length of the Italian peninsula. Five million copies of "Asterix et la Transitalique", as it's titled in the original French, have been printed for the first edition, with two million alone reserved for France and 1.7 million for Germany. In a sign of the enduring global appeal of France's favourite comic duo, it has been translated into 16 languages. In keeping with tradition the Albert Rene publishing house has kept the details of the story under wraps, releasing just the bare outline of the only Asterix story set entirely on the Italian peninsula. The action 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 line first," the publishers said. Caesar's charioteer and the latest Asterix baddie is a masked villain called Coronavirus, named after the bug that caused SARS, the respiratory disease at the centre of 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. "It's very much Obelix driving the chariot and the story," Conrad said after the new book was announced. Apart from the two Gauls, the book also features Bretons, Picts (Scots), Goths and Phoenicians. 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 magazine Pilote. The United States and Turkey made "substantial progress" during talks to resolve an ongoing visa row, but Washington continues to protest over the arrests of Turkish employees from its diplomatic missions, the State Department said Thursday. An American delegation that traveled to Turkey and was led by senior State Department official Jonathan Cohen "made substantial progress," spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington. Nauert added the United States "will remain engaged" in order to "address the relevant issues with a view to restore a normal visa procedures swiftly." Already-strained relations between the NATO allies deteriorated further early this month after a court formally charged an Istanbul mission staffer with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish government. In reaction to the employee's arrest, the US ambassador October 8 announced the suspension of all visa services in Turkey, except immigrant visas. Ankara responded with similar measures. According to Washington, two of its Turkish diplomatic mission staff were arrested this year, while a third was summoned by prosecutors. "The government of Turkey has still not provided us the evidence," Nauert said Tuesday, referring to the accusations of "terrorist-tied activity" against the employees. "If they have evidence, by all means do provide it," she added. How can Amazon - or any company - fill a second headquarters with 50,000 people? "Let me show you," said Thomas Paulson, a Minneapolis investment analyst who has followed Amazon for 17 years, as he pulled up a staffing chart on his iPad. "Their success has surprised even them." Beneath the hype of Amazon's search for a second headquarters are numbers that defy gravity and a business strategy that investors wouldn't tolerate from most companies. Seattle-based Amazon has expanded from a base as the world's largest online retailer to become a major competitor in several other industries. Its web services business is the largest provider of data warehouses for corporate America. Its logistics unit is building out airfreight, trucking and shipping lines. And its media business is now one of Hollywood's biggest producers. All four businesses have reached a size that make Amazon the fastest-growing large company in the United States at the moment - and perhaps ever. It's leaping from $100 billion to $200 billion in annual sales faster than all but one of the handful of U.S. companies that have accomplished that. Exxon crossed $200 billion instantly when it bought Mobil in 1998. Amazon is mostly growing organically and could hit $200 billion next year, just three years after reaching $100 billion. Apple did it in five years, Walmart six and Berkshire Hathaway seven. UnitedHealth Group is on the verge of doing it in six years. In the process, Amazon is gobbling up people like a maw, adding a net 111,000 to its worldwide staff last year. That's nearly as many people as it employed in 2013. Amazon started this year with 341,000 people and was expected to add 136,000, not counting the 87,000 who joined in its acquisition of Whole Foods or the 120,000 holiday-season temps. For Paulson, who started his own investment firm, Inflection Capital Management, this year after two decades working for Alliance Capital and Cornerstone Capital Management, Amazon's ability to keep hiring at a fast rate is so important that he checks on the company's top human relations executive, Beth Galetti, every time he visits the Seattle headquarters. "I want to make sure she's liking her job and succeeding in her job," Paulson said. "These are really big (hiring) numbers when you go forward." Last month, Amazon announced that it envisions spending $5 billion on a second corporate home that may someday employ 40,000 to 50,000 people. It gave political and development leaders in U.S. and Canadian cities six weeks, until Thursday, to prepare real estate and incentive proposals. - Amazon turned from a fast-growing company to an ultrafast-growing one in 2011, a year when it accelerated the construction of giant distribution centers for its retail business, and its web services business also hit the gas. Its staffing grew 67 percent that year, the fastest since its earliest years when the base was small. From 2012 through last year, it averaged 44 percent annual growth to its head count - a staggering pace usually seen in much smaller or younger companies. Amazon declined to comment for this story. In a letter to shareholders early last year, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos ascribed the rapid growth as the payoff from a "distinctive organizational culture" built around a few principles. "I'm talking about customer obsession rather than competitor obsession, eagerness to invent and pioneer, willingness to fail, the patience to think long-term, and the taking of professional pride in operational excellence," he wrote. Bezos, a former hedge fund investor, started Amazon in 1995 as a way into the then-nascent world of internet retailing. He first offered books from a small warehouse near the Seattle Kingdome, added music and videos a few years later and rolled into other categories to become an "everything store." Bezos encourages risk and tolerates failure at a level beyond what's seen in most large companies. "Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right," he wrote to shareholders last year. "Given a 10 percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time." In 1998, Bezos took the critical step to make such risk-taking possible by telling shareholders that Amazon would focus on long-term growth more than short-term profits. He's repeated that idea every year since and investors have gone along, accepting small profits and occasional losses from Amazon even now, 20 years after the company went public. Its stock price, which started at $1.50 in 1997, closed above $1,000 Tuesday. "Amazon's stock keeps getting bid up despite the fact they run at break-even," said Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor and author of the new book "The Four," which explores the high-level strategies of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. "They have reshaped the compact between investors and companies." Nearly all other U.S. companies are under pressure to hit quarterly profit targets or deliver dividends while Amazon reinvests nearly everything it makes into future businesses. "If you said to Best Buy or General Mills, we're going to give you access to the debt and equity markets so you can raise almost an infinite amount of capital, and their boards said all they needed to do with that capital is break even, those companies could be remarkably innovative," Galloway said. "They're not given that luxury." Amazon is now spending heaviest to build its shipping infrastructure and to make shopping even less of a hassle for consumers. One example: Amazon's voice-activated Echo devices shorten ordering time and give the company deeper insight into buying patterns. - As Amazon mushrooms from retail giant into a major player in enterprise data, transportation logistics and media, some analysts say its chief constraint is likely to emerge from government regulators. Earlier this month, the European Union told Luxembourg to force the company to pay nearly $300 million in back taxes, part of a crackdown on sweetheart tax deals in Europe. Antitrust regulators always have an eye on the company; its growth fueled a debate in legal circles this year about whether U.S. competition laws can keep up. Other analysts note such challenges are unlikely because it has many competitors. Amazon's No. 2 executive, Jeff Wilke, recently told the Wall Street Journal that Amazon has "incredible competition" in all its businesses and that its biggest, retailing, gets less than 1 percent of what people worldwide spend to shop. In China, the world's most populous country, Amazon is a bit player and a local company, Alibaba, is also using dominance in online retailing to expand into new businesses. The other challenge Amazon faces is finding enough people to sustain its growth. The company's recruiters already swamp U.S. business schools looking for workers. Amazon's mammoth warehouses, which need about 1,300 people apiece, are constantly advertising. It offers starting hourly pay at $17 and benefits, including education for other vocations, that are unseen elsewhere. Of the four tech giants Galloway profiles in his book, he said he thinks that Amazon has the best chance to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization first. That means more than doubling its present value of $478 billion and leaping past Apple, Google and Facebook, which investors now value more highly. Where the four overlap competitively - in voice services, artificial intelligence, media - Amazon is currently winning, he said. "If there's one that's pulling away from the other three, it's Amazon," he said. "If I wrote the book two years from now, I would predict the name of it would be 'The One.'" 2017 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Professor Senftleben explains more in detail the content of the proposal. Heres what he writes: Article 13 of the Proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSMD) and the accompanying Recital 38 are amongst the most controversial parts of the European Commissions copyright reform package. Several Members States (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands here ] and Germany here] ) have submitted questions seeking clarification on aspects that are essential to the guarantee of fundamental rights in the EU and to the future of the Internet as an open communication medium. A closer analysis of these questions in the light of jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) shows that the measures contemplated in Article 13 DSMD can hardly be deemed compatible with the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under Articles 8, 11 and 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights . The application of filtering systems that would result from the adoption of Article 13 DSMD would place a disproportionate burden on platform providers, in particular small and medium-sized operators, and lead to the systematic screening of personal data, even in cases where no infringing content is uploaded. The filtering systems would also deprive users of the room for freedom of expression that follows from statutory copyright exceptions, in particular the quotation right (Article 5(3)(d) of the InfoSoc Directive ) and the right to parody (Article 5(3)(k) of the InfoSoc Directive). LOreal/eBay CJEU decision. The general requirement of knowledge of, or control over infringing user-generated content is missing. In the absence of any reference to this central requirement, Recital 38 DSMD is incomplete and fails to draw an accurate picture of the current conceptual contours of the safe harbour for hosting. The adoption of Recital 38 DSMD would moreover lead to a remarkable restriction of eligibility for the liability privilege following from Article 14 of the E-Commerce Directive . Recital 38 DSMD does not adequately reflect the current status quo in the area of the safe harbour for hosting laid down by Article 14 E-Commerce Directive. Instead, it takes the assessment criteria of promoting and optimising the presentation of user-generated content out of the specific context of theCJEU decision. The general requirement of knowledge of, or control over infringing user-generated content is missing. In the absence of any reference to this central requirement, Recital 38 DSMD is incomplete and fails to draw an accurate picture of the current conceptual contours of the safe harbour for hosting. Furthermore, there can be little doubt that according to the CJEU, Article 15 of the E-Commerce Directive is fully applicable to user-generated content platforms and intended to shield these platforms from general monitoring obligations. The Courts jurisprudence shows clearly that an obligation to filter any information uploaded to the server of a platform hosting user-generated content would lead to a prohibited general monitoring obligation and be incompatible with Article 15 of the E-Commerce Directive. In general, the Commission Proposal and subsequent Council Presidency Compromise Proposals confuse and mix different legal questions by bringing together the issue of the scope of the safe harbour for hosting under Article 14(1) of the E-Commerce Directive, and the issue of whether (and when) platform providers themselves carry out an act of communication to the public and fulfil the requirements of Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive. Looking for a safe harbour Considering the criteria which the CJEU developed in the context of Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive, it becomes moreover apparent that the mere act of storing and providing access to the public is not sufficient to establish copyright infringement. Recital 38 would dismiss additional infringement criteria that have evolved in the jurisprudence of the Court. Because of the ambiguous wording of Recital 38 DSMD, there is a real risk of modifying the notion of communication to the public considerably. Professor Neophytos Loizides. Credit: University of Kent The research, undertaken by Professor Neophytos Loizides and Muzaffer Kutlay of the University's School of Politics and International Relations, and Dr Darren Dinsmore, of its Kent Law School, is published in a special section of the journal International Migration. Entitled Peace Processes and Durable Returns, the section includes contributions from around the world and focuses on consultation processes and innovative methods to examine the views of victims. The research has led to new projects to address seemingly intractable displacement issues in countries such as Cyprus, where talks at the UN recently ended in stalemate. The academics highlight both failures and successes in addressing forced displacement, and challenge conventional wisdom on whether forced displacement can be reversed and the absence of lasting solutions to protracted conflicts. The findings show that gender and age have a major impact on whether people return to areas they were forced to leave that were formerly a centre of conflict. Older people with positive memories of before wartime were more likely to return, while women were less likely to want to go back. Muzaffer Kutlay's research focuses on the forced migration of the Turks of Bulgaria and their voluntary return in the aftermath of the country's transition to democracy. More than 340,000 Turks were forced to leave the country during the final phases of the Communist regime in 1980s, but almost 40 per cent voluntarily returned to Bulgaria after democracy was restored. Her research exemplifies that peaceful transition to inclusive democracy and power-sharing, dual moderation between majority and minority leaders and the role of international actors, primarily the EU, account for voluntary and sustainable return. Dr Dinsmore examines the geographical territory in Turkey previously populated by Kurds who alleged their villages had been destroyed to move them out. He argues that the Turkish cases are an example of how to use human rights claims to expose situations of impunity for human rights violations and to challenge state denial. Despite European human rights law offering protection to those who were forced to leave their homes, he found that the displaced Kurds could not take forward cases without co-ordinated action between local lawyers and outside legal experts in human rights. His research highlights the crucial role of lawyers and non-governmental organisations after cases have been won as there is a 'genuine risk that dealing with displacement is side-lined by broader efforts at conflict resolution and development'. More information: Peace Processes and Durable Returns by guest editors, Neophytos Loizides, Djordje Stefanovic and Ayse Betul Celik is published in International Migration, October 2017. DOI: 10.1111/imig.2017.55 Map shows location of a 3-mile, figure-8 loop of optical fibers installed beneath the Stanford campus as part of the fiber optic seismic observatory. Credit: Stamen Design and the Victoria and Albert Museum Thousands of miles of buried optical fibers crisscross California's San Francisco Bay Area delivering high-speed internet and HD video to homes and businesses. Biondo Biondi, a professor of geophysics at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, dreams of turning that dense network into an inexpensive "billion sensors" observatory for continuously monitoring and studying earthquakes. Over the past year, Biondi's group has shown that it's possible to convert the jiggles of perturbed optical fiber strands into information about the direction and magnitude of seismic events. The researchers have been recording those seismic jiggles in a 3-mile loop of optical fiber installed beneath the Stanford University campus with instruments called laser interrogators provided by the company OptaSense, which is a co-author on publications about the research. "We can continuously listen to - and hear well - the Earth using preexisting optical fibers that have been deployed for telecom purposes," Biondi said. Currently researchers monitor earthquakes with seismometers, which are more sensitive than the proposed telecom array, but their coverage is sparse and they can be challenging and expensive to install and maintain, especially in urban areas. By contrast, a seismic observatory like the one Biondi proposes would be relatively inexpensive to operate. "Every meter of optical fiber in our network acts like a sensor and costs less than a dollar to install," Biondi said. "You will never be able to create a network using conventional seismometers with that kind of coverage, density and price." Such a network would allow scientists to study earthquakes, especially smaller ones, in greater detail and pinpoint their sources more quickly than is currently possible. Greater sensor coverage would also enable higher resolution measurements of ground responses to shaking. "Civil engineers could take what they learn about how buildings and bridges respond to small earthquakes from the billion-sensors array and use that information to design buildings that can withstand greater shaking," said Eileen Martin, a graduate student in Biondi's lab. The Fiber Optic Seismic Observatory successfully detected the 8.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Central Mexico on Sept. 8, 2017. Credit: Siyuan Yuan. From backscatter to signal Optical fibers are thin strands of pure glass about the thickness of a human hair. They are typically bundled together to create cables that transmit data signals over long distances by converting electronic signals into light. Biondi is not the first to envision using optical fibers to monitor the environment. A technology known as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) already monitors the health of pipelines and wells in the oil and gas industry. "How DAS works is that as the light travels along the fiber, it encounters various impurities in the glass and bounces back," Martin said. "If the fiber were totally stationary, that 'backscatter' signal would always look the same. But if the fiber starts to stretch in some areasdue to vibrations or strainthe signal changes." Previous implementation of this kind of acoustic sensing, however, required optical fibers to be expensively affixed to a surface or encased in cement to maximize contact with the ground and ensure the highest data quality. In contrast, Biondi's project under Stanforddubbed the fiber optic seismic observatoryemploys the same optical fibers as telecom companies, which lie unsecured and free-floating inside hollow plastic piping. "People didn't believe this would work," Martin said. "They always assumed that an uncoupled optical fiber would generate too much signal noise to be useful." But since the fiber optic seismic observatory at Stanford began operation in September 2016, it has recorded and cataloged more than 800 events, ranging from manmade events and small, barely felt local temblors to powerful, deadly catastrophes like the recent earthquakes that struck more than 2,000 miles away in Mexico. In one particularly revealing experiment, the underground array picked up signals from two small local earthquakes with magnitudes of 1.6 and 1.8. "As expected, both earthquakes had the same waveform, or pattern, because they originated from the same place, but the amplitude of the bigger quake was larger," Biondi said. "This demonstrates that fiber optic seismic observatory can correctly distinguish between different magnitude quakes." Crucially, the array also detected and distinguished between two different types of waves that travel through the Earth, called P and S waves. "One of our goals is to contribute to an early earthquake warning system. That will require the ability to detect P waves, which are generally less damaging that S waves but arrive much earlier," Martin said. The fiber optic seismic observatory at Stanford is just the first step toward developing a Bay Area-wide seismic network, Biondi said, and there are still many hurdles to overcome, such as demonstrating that the array can operate on a city-wide scale. A newly described species of brown-and-white Philippine butterflyfish -- the charismatic Roa rumsfeldi -- made a fantastic, 7,000-mile journey before surprising scientists with its unknown status. Live specimens collected from 360 feet beneath the ocean's surface in the Philippine's Verde Island Passage escaped special notice until a single black fin spine tipped off aquarium biologists back in San Francisco. Deep-diving researchers from the California Academy of Sciences' Hope for Reefs team -- with genetic sequencing help from a parent-son team -- share their discovery of a fifth species of Roa this week in ZooKeys. Credit: 2017 Luiz Rocha and the California Academy of Sciences A newly described species of brown-and-white Philippine butterflyfishthe charismatic Roa rumsfeldimade a fantastic, 7,000-mile journey before surprising scientists with its unknown status. Live specimens collected from 360 feet beneath the ocean's surface in the Philippine's Verde Island Passage escaped special notice until a single black fin spine tipped off aquarium biologists back in San Francisco. Deep-diving researchers from the California Academy of Sciences' Hope for Reefs teamwith genetic sequencing help from a parent-son teamshare their discovery of a fifth species of Roa this week in ZooKeys. "We named this reef fish Roa rumsfeldi because, as Donald Rumsfeld once said, some things are truly 'unknown unknowns,'" says senior author Dr. Luiz Rocha, Academy curator of ichthyology and co-leader of its Hope for Reefs initiative to research, explore, and sustain global reefs. "This fish caught us completely off-guard. After traveling from the deep reefs of the Philippines to our aquarium in San Francisco, former Academy aquarium biologist and co-author Matt Wandell noticed a black fin spine that looked different from other known Roa we've collected in the past. It was a light bulb moment for all of us." Butterflyfishwhich sport bold patternsare iconic coral reef species. Because this group's taxonomy is relatively well understood, scientists didn't expect to find an unknown species on a recent expedition. Under pressure Roa rumsfeldi and its close relatives are only know to live in mesophotic "twilight zone" reefsa place where sunlight is scarce and divers with traditional scuba gear cannot safely visit. In the narrow band between the light-filled shallow reefs and the pitch-black deep sea, these little-known mesophotic reefs, located 200 to 500 feet beneath the ocean's surface, are home to fascinatingly diverse and previously-unknown marine life. As part of its Hope for Reefs initiative, specially trained Academy scientists are exploring these relatively unknown frontiers with the help of high-tech equipment like closed-circuit rebreathers, which take extensive training and allow them to extend their research time underwater. "The team effort between our museum's scientists and aquarium biologists helped add a new fish to the tree of life," says Rocha, adding that the collaboration isn't the only reason this fish discovery feels particularly special. "My teenage son Gabriel helped sequence its genes during a summer internship -- his mother and I helped show him how to use complicated genomic processes to take a closer look at the fish's DNA. This is part of how we prove a species is distinct, and it's always a pleasure to share that learning with young people."Gabriel Rocha, a high school sophomore at the time, helped sequence the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene, also known as the "barcode" gene. The process from DNA extraction to amplification and sequencing takes just a few days -- an ideal project for short, in-depth internships. Credit: 2016 Luiz Rocha and the California Academy of Sciences As part of their expedition-driven research, Rocha and his Academy colleagues sometimes collect live fish they believe to be unknown species in order to study their behavior (making for more robust research) and inspire the public to connect with beautiful and unique reef life during aquarium visits. "Our human bodies are not really compressible," says Bart Shepherd, Director of Steinhart Aquarium and co-leader of the Academy's Hope for Reefs initiative, "but fish have swim bladders for buoyancy that can't make the journey from twilight zone depths to the surface. We gently moved this Roa to a special lightweight decompression chamber designed just for fish, brought it to the surface, and attentively cared for it through the flight back to San Francisco and into our aquarium." A family affair "The team effort between our museum's scientists and aquarium biologists helped add a new fish to the tree of life," says Rocha, adding that the collaboration isn't the only reason this fish discovery feels particularly special. "My teenage son Gabriel helped sequence its genes during a summer internshiphis mother and I helped show him how to use complicated genomic processes to take a closer look at the fish's DNA. This is part of how we prove a species is distinct, and it's always a pleasure to share that learning with young people." Gabriel Rocha, a high school sophomore at the time, helped sequence the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene, also known as the "barcode" gene. The process from DNA extraction to amplification and sequencing takes just a few daysan ideal project for short, in-depth internships. After the sequence is obtained, the work moves from the lab to the virtual world: Major online databases contain thousands of sequences of this gene for known species, and are a great comparison tool. This new butterflyfish was collected by the Academy's deep-diving researchers at 360 feet beneath the ocean's surface in the Philippine's Verde Island Passage. Credit: 2017 Luiz Rocha and the California Academy of Sciences New discoveries and Hope for Reefs Considered the "rainforests of the sea," coral reefs are some of the most biologically diverse, economically valuable, beautiful, and threatened ecosystems on Earth. They cover less than 0.1% of the ocean but contain more than 30% of marine species. Coral reefs provide critical habitat to vast marine communitiesfrom the tiny coral polyps that make up the reef's foundation to the colorful fishes and sharks that live among them. Coral reefs are integral to the livelihoods and well-being of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, providing protection from erosion and generating income through ecotourism and fishing. In response to coral reef threats, the Academy launched the Hope for Reefs initiative in 2016 to explore, explain, and sustain the world's coral reefs by making fundamental breakthroughs in coral reef biology; developing new conservation solutions and restoration techniques with partners like SECORE International and The Nature Conservancy; and sharing what we know through innovative exhibits and educational programs. Every Academy expedition yields new understanding and surprising discoveries, and the public can see new and rare species, many of which have never been displayed in a public aquarium, at Steinhart Aquarium. Explore the great unknown alongside our scientists as they uncover the secrets of our world's critically important reefs. Visitors to the Academy's aquarium can take a closer look at many mesophotic marine creatures from around the worldand discover why they deserve protectionin Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed. Artist's concept of the Psyche spacecraft, which will conduct a direct exploration of an asteroid thought to be a stripped planetary core. Credit: SSL/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech A spacecraft destined to explore a unique asteroid will also test new communication hardware that uses lasers instead of radio waves. The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package aboard NASA's Psyche mission utilizes photonsthe fundamental particle of visible lightto transmit more data in a given amount of time. The DSOC goal is to increase spacecraft communications performance and efficiency by 10 to 100 times over conventional means, all without increasing the mission burden in mass, volume, power and/or spectrum. Tapping the advantages offered by laser communications is expected to revolutionize future space endeavors - a major objective of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The DSOC project is developing key technologies that are being integrated into a deep space-worthy Flight Laser Transceiver (FLT), high-tech work that will advance this mode of communications to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. Reaching a TRL 6 level equates to having technology that is a fully functional prototype or representational model. As a "game changing" technology demonstration, DSOC is exactly that. NASA STMD's Game Changing Development Program funded the technology development phase of DSOC. The flight demonstration is jointly funded by STMD, the Technology Demonstration Mission (TDM) Program and NASA/ HEOMD/Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN). Work on the laser package is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Things are shaping up reasonably and we have a considerable amount of test activity going on," says Abhijit Biswas, DSOC Project Technologist in Flight Communications Systems at JPL. Delivery of DSOC for integration within the Psyche mission is expected in 2021 with the spacecraft launch to occur in the summer of 2022, he explains. "Think of the DSOC flight laser transceiver onboard Psyche as a telescope," Biswas explains, able to receive and transmit laser light in precisely timed photon bursts. DSOC architecture is based on transmitting a laser beacon from Earth to assist lineofsight stabilization to make possible the pointing back of a downlink laser beam. The laser onboard the Psyche spacecraft, Biswas says, is based on a master-oscillator power amplifier that uses optical fibers. The laser beacon to DSOC will be transmitted from JPL's Table Mountain Facility located near the town of Wrightwood, California, in the Angeles National Forest. DSOC's beaming of data from space will be received at a large aperture ground telescope at Palomar Mountain Observatory in California, near San Diego. The Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) device will beam high data rates to a telescope at Palomar Mountain, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Biswas anticipates operating DSOC perhaps 60 days after launch, given checkout of the Psyche spacecraft post-liftoff. The test-runs of the laser equipment will occur over distances of 0.1 to 2.5 astronomical units (AU) on the outward-bound probe. One AU is approximately 150 million kilometers-or the distance between the Earth and Sun. "I am very excited to be on the mission," says Biswas, who has been working on the laser communications technology since the late 1990s. "It's a unique privilege to be working on DSOC." The Psyche mission was selected for flight in early 2017 under NASA's Discovery Program, a series of lower-cost, highly focused robotic space missions that are exploring the solar system. The spacecraft will be launched in the summer of 2022 to 16 Psyche, a distinctive metal asteroid about three times farther away from the sun than Earth. The planned arrival of the probe at the main belt asteroid will take place in 2026. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is Director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe. She is the principal investigator for the Psyche mission. "I am thrilled that Psyche is getting to fly the Deep Space Optical Communications package," Elkins-Tanton says. "First of all, the technology is mind-blowing and it brings out all my inner geek. Who doesn't want to communicate using lasers, and multiply the amount of data we can send back and forth?" Elkins-Tanton adds that bringing robotic and human spaceflight closer together is critical for humankind's space future. "Having our robotic mission test technology that we hope will help us eventually communicate with people in deep space is excellent integration of NASA missions and all of our goals," she says. In designing a simple, high-heritage spacecraft to do the exciting exploration of the metal world Psyche, "I find both the solar electric propulsion and the Deep Space Optical Communications to feel futuristic in the extreme. I'm proud of NASA and of our technical community for making this possible," Elkins-Tanton concludes. Biswas explains that DSOC is a pathfinder experiment. The future is indeed bright for the technology, he suggests, such as setting up capable telecommunications infrastructure around Mars. "Doing so would allow the support of astronauts going to and eventually landing on Mars," Biswas said. "Laser communications will augment that capability tremendously. The ability to send back from Mars to Earth lots of information, including the streaming of high definition imagery, is going to be very enabling." More information: For more information about NASA's Technology Demonstration Missions program, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/main/index.html Social network diagram. Credit: Daniel Tenerife/Wikipedia It's a small world after all - and now science has explained why. A study conducted by the University of Leicester and KU Leuven, Belgium, examined how small worlds emerge spontaneously in all kinds of networks, including neuronal and social networks, giving rise to the well-known phenomenon of "six degrees of separation". Many systems show complex structures, of which a distinctive feature is small-world network organization. They arise in society as well as ecological and protein networks, the networks of the mammalian brain, and even human-built networks such as the Boston subway and the World Wide Web. The researchers set out to examine whether this is a coincidence that such structures are so wide-spread or is there a common mechanism driving their emergence? A study recently published in Scientific Reports by an international team of academics from the University of Leicester and KU Leuven showed that these remarkable structures are reached and maintained by the network diffusion, i.e. the traffic flow or information transfer occurring on the network. The research presents a solution to the long-standing question of why the vast majority of networks around us (WWW, brain, roads, power grid infrastructure) might have a peculiar yet common structure: small-world topology. The study showed that these structures emerge naturally in systems in which the information flow is accounted for in their evolution. Nicholas Jarman, who recently completed his PhD degree at the Department of Mathematics, and is first author of the study, said: "Algorithms that lead to small-world networks have been known in scientific community for many decades. The Watts-Strogatz algorithm is a good example. The Watts-Strogatz algorithm, however, was never meant to address the problem of how small-world structure emerges through self-organisation. The algorithm just modifies a network that is already highly organised." Professor Cees van Leeuwen, who led the research at KU Leuven said: "The network diffusion steers network evolution towards emergence of complex network structures. The emergence is effectuated through adaptive rewiring: progressive adaptation of structure to use, creating short-cuts where network diffusion is intensive while annihilating underused connections. The product of diffusion and adaptive rewiring is universally a small-world structure. The overall diffusion rate controls the system's adaptation, biasing local or global connectivity patterns, the latter providing a preferential attachment regime to adaptive rewiring. The resulting small-world structures shift accordingly between decentralised (modular) and centralised ones. At their critical transition, network structure is hierarchical, balancing modularity and centrality - a characteristic feature found in, for instance, the human brain." Dr Ivan Tyukin from the University of Leicester added: "The fact that diffusion over network graph plays crucial role in keeping the system at a somewhat homeostatic equilibrium is particularly interesting. Here we were able to show that it is the diffusion process, however small or big gives rise to small-world network configurations that remain in this peculiar state over long intervals of time. At least as long as we were able to monitor the network development and continuous evolution". Alexander Gorban, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Leicester commented: "Small-world networks, in which most nodes are not neighbours of one another, but most nodes can be reached from every other node by a small number of steps, were described in mathematics and discovered in nature and human society long ago, in the middle of the previous century. The question, how these networks are developing by nature and society remained not completely solved despite of many efforts applied during last twenty years. The work of N. Jarman with co-authors discovers a new and realistic mechanism of emergence of such networks. The answer to the old question became much clearer! I am glad that the University of Leicester is a part of this exciting research." More information: Nicholas Jarman et al, Self-organisation of small-world networks by adaptive rewiring in response to graph diffusion, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12589-9 Journal information: Scientific Reports The midge species Chironomus riparius in the standardised laboratory study. Credit: Carsten Bruhl Researchers of the University Koblenz-Landau studied the sensitivity of midges, central food resources of wetlands in a standardised laboratory design against the biocide Bti used in mosquito control. The young larval stages were up to 100 times more sensitive than the older stages and are more than 200 times below the environmental concentrations used in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany. The data indicate the crossing of a risk threshold factor used in biocide regulation by three orders of magnitude. A potential risk for other animal groups via food web effects in treated conservation areas cannot be excluded. Mosquito control is established at a global scale and along the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany a treatment scheme is in place for decades. Mosquito control based on the use of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) is regarded as an environmental friendly method, because it efficiently kills mosquitos but has no lethal effects on other organisms. However, the closely related non-biting midges, present in high abundances and species numbers in wetlands, are also Bti sensitive. Midges represent central food sources in wetland food webs because of their high biomass and protein content. Their larvae are eaten by other aquatic insects and fish, the emerging adults represent food for birds, bats or dragonflies. The environmental scientists of the University Koblenz-Landau studied the sensitivity of the midge Chironomus riparius against Bti concentrations following the entire life cycle including four larval stages. Until now only data for older larval stages were available, and generally a higher sensitivity of younger, smaller larvae is assumed. The researchers around Carsten Bruhl used an OECD approved test design for their study, established for the risk assessment of pesticides. The results show that the youngest larvae are up to 100 times more sensitive than the oldest 4th instar larvae. Their sensitivity was more than 200 times below the lowest field application concentration used in mosquito control in the Upper Rhine Valley. Using the new data of the most sensitive larval stage together with the lowest resulting Bti field concentration indicates a 2000 time exceedance of a risk threshold factor. The conducted laboratory study represents a simplification of environmental conditions. "In reality the efficiency of Bti can be reduced by the presence of sediments, water turbidity and other factors" explains Carsten Bruhl, however "the high values indicate probable effects on midges in Bti treated wetlands." In currently available field studies in different ecosystems around the world some showed effects on midges, others did not. "The results are dependent on the environmental conditions of the studied wetlands; salt marshes have different species compositions than floodplains of large rivers" clarifies the researcher. Recent studies in France showed effects on wetland food webs in Bti treated areas. "A solid evaluation of possible Bti food web effects in the Upper Rhine Valley are difficult since, contrary to Sweden, the USA or France, no long-term monitoring with control areas was established in Germany" regrets Carsten Bruhl. As an environmental friendly alternative compared to other insecticides Bti is used multiple times per year in the Upper Rhine Valley in nature conservation areas of European value. The sensitivity of midges against Bti and their possible large scale reduction in treated areas might violate nature protection goals. More information: Anna Kastel et al. Decreasing Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis sensitivity of Chironomus riparius larvae with age indicates potential environmental risk for mosquito control, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-14019-2 Journal information: Scientific Reports Provided by Universitat Koblenz-Landau Francisca Oye (left) and Anne Pisor during Carnaval 2015. Credit: Anne Pisor Despite the global headlines emphasizing division and conflict, humans actually have a long history of forming friendships across group boundaries. But which criteria do they use for picking friends from a different group? In collaboration with three populations of horticulturalists in Bolivia, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of California Santa Barbara found that we use very similar criteria when choosing friends from among in-group and out-group strangers individual cooperative qualities are most important in both cases. Only when it comes to dividing limited resources, qualities associated with a group can affect partner preference. Humans have relied on friends living at a distance, or in different ethnic groups, throughout history and prehistory. Out-group friends can help us get access to resources when they are not available locally or when they run out. Even though many of us now buy most or all of what we need to live day to day, friends at a distance remain important: all that has changed are the relevant resources. When it comes to picking a new out-group friend, we may not only pay attention to whether or not she seems like a cooperative person; we may also pay attention to whether or not her group has access to important resources. To study the extent to which individual qualities and group qualities are important in picking an out-group friend, Anne Pisor of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and Michael Gurven of the University of California Santa Barbara, USA, collaborated with three populations of horticulturalists in Bolivia. Horticulturalists traditionally rely on slash and burn farming, fishing, and hunting; however, horticulturalists in Bolivia are increasingly buying and selling goods in markets, and these three populations vary in their market participation. As individuals participate more consistently in markets, they are exposed more to individuals from other ethnic and religious groups, and the importance of friendships with members of these groups can change. Pisor conducted an experiment in which each participant was given money that she could give away to strangers from the same or from a different ethnic or religious group, or that she could keep for herself. Each participant was shown pictures of these individuals and told that any money she sent to each person would be given to that person in her name. Pisor also asked participants to report their perceptions of each candidate recipient in several domains, and to report the benefits, costs, and stereotypes they associated with the recipient's group. She and Gurven found that regardless of whether candidate recipients were from an in-group or an out-group, participants always showed a preference for recipients they thought were "good people"that is, friendly and open, in Bolivian Spanishby giving them more money. "This is something I find again and again in Bolivia," Pisor says. "Having a friend who is a 'good person' is important above all else." However, the fact that the experiment measured interest in out-group friendship with money led to some informative twists in the findings. "People preferred more wealthy in-group recipients, but didn't want to tell me they did," says Pisor. "Participants were more likely to give money to in-group recipients everyone else rated as wealthy, but they themselves said were not wealthyin other words, they were probably perceiving these recipients as wealthy too, but telling me the recipients were in need in order to justify giving them money." Pisor and Gurven also did not find any consistent effect of group qualities on preference for out-group friends, except where money was concerned: while the stereotypes a participant knew about an out-group did not affect her giving to individuals from that group, participants from the Tsimane', one of the three populations, gave much less to out-group recipients if they perceived the out-group as having more market access. The Tsimane' have less market access than the other two populations, and also are regularly discriminated against by out-group members. "Given a long history of exploitation by other populations, Tsimane' participants may simply prefer to give to other Tsimane' instead of wealthier out-groups they could potentially benefit from," says Gurven. "This is consistent with other studies, which suggest that as close-knit communities become more market-integrated, they sometimes keep money close to home." "While these results are specific to the Bolivian context, they suggest that in general, whether we are picking new friends from the same ethnic or religious group as ourselves, or from a different ethnic or religious group, we may use very similar criteria when choosing them", says Pisor. "Individual qualities matter more than group qualities in this context, and cooperative qualities are the most important." The fact that group qualities matter only when members of one group perceive themselves as having a lot less than another group, or regularly are discriminated against by this other group, is consistent with research in social psychology, which suggests that group boundaries are broken down only when two groups have a common ground. "This is the next step for us," says Pisor. "Finding out how well an individual's interactions with out-group members have to go for her to want to befriend members of that group." More information: Anne C. Pisor et al. When to diversify, and with whom? Choosing partners among out-group strangers in lowland Bolivia, Evolution and Human Behavior (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.09.003 Journal information: Evolution and Human Behavior In a first for a G7 meeting, representatives from Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter will take part in the talks between the seven ministers Tech giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter will come under pressure in Italy this week to go further and faster in helping G7 powers tackle the ever-greater threat of extremists online. A two-day meeting of Group of Seven interior ministers, which kicks off on the Italian island of Ischia on Thursday, comes just days after US-backed forces took full control of Raqa in Syria, which had become a byword for atrocities carried out by the Islamic State group. Despite the breakthrough in the battle against IS, the head of Britain's domestic intelligence service said Tuesday that the UK was facing its most severe terrorist threat ever, particularly due to the spread of jihadist material online. MI5 head Andrew Parker said attacks could now accelerate rapidly from inception to action, and "this pace, together with the way extremists can exploit safe spaces online, can make threats harder to detect". In a first for a G7 meeting, representatives from Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter will take part in the talks between the seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. "The internet plays a decisive role in radicalization. Over 80 percent of conversations and radicalisation happen online," said Italy's Marco Minniti, who is hosting the summit on the volcanic island off Naples. 'Wake up' "We need to study a system for automatically blocking specific content. IS contaminated the web with a 'terror malware'. The providers need to help us block this malware with an automatic antivirus," Minniti said. "We don't want to impose anything, success will rely on us having a collaborative spirit," he added. In June, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube announced the launch of an anti-terror partnership, the "Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism", aimed at thwarting the spread of extremist content online. Facebook has launched campaigns in Belgium, Britain, France and Germany to develop "best practices". Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti (R) welcomes France's Interior Minister Gerard Collomb on October 19, 2017 for the G7 summit of Interior Ministers And in September, Twitter touted victories in the battle against tweets promoting extremist violence, saying it has been vanquishing those kinds of accounts before governments even ask. But last month top Western counter-terror chiefs said they need more support from social media companies to detect potential threats, particularly with jihadist attacks increasingly being carried out by home-grown "lone wolves". Tough privacy laws and protections enjoyed by the largely US-based web giants are impeding authorities, they said. Some firms are using software aimed at helping them quickly find and eliminate extremist content, developed by Dartmouth College computer science professor Hany Farid, a senior advisor to the US Counter Extremism Project. But Farid told AFP it was unclear how broadly it was being deployed and urged the G7 to "give serious consideration to legislative relief" if the tech giants fail to "wake up and respond more aggressively" to abuses of their systems. Dark web vs 'likes' While some warn terror online will be difficult to conquer, with extremists simply moving onto the dark web, Italian expert Marco Lombardi said jihadists would not readily give up the mass-audience potential of social media. Opportunities for "conversion, propaganda and dissemination" lie "on sites capable of influencing thousands of youngsters with a few 'likes'," said Lombardi, director of the research centre ITSTIME (Italian Team for Security, Terrorist Issues & Managing Emergencies). The British government has outlined an internet safety strategy with proposals it will likely share with fellow G7 members, including an attempt to persuade leading web players to pay for measures to combat dangers. While Germany has focused particularly on defending itself from cyber attacks, it launched the ZITis surveillance agency last month, which will specialise in "digital forensics" as part of its strategy to fight terrorism. For its part, despite being labelled an enemy by IS, Japan has escaped attacks to date. Nevertheless, in June its lawmakers passed a controversial bill allowing authorities to target terror conspiracies. 2017 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain Google on Tuesday rolled out a nasty-complicated but insanely secure version of its Google accounts aimed at "those who need it most," such as journalists, politicians and activists. It's not pretty but stands a good chance of keeping the bad guys out. Called the Advanced Protection Program, it requires users to jump through a series of hoops most Internet companies have worked for years to make go awaydongles, extra passwords, locked-down systems that can't talk to anything else and a non-intuitive sign-up procedure. This is so not plug-and-play. What it is, however, is safe. Not "I work for the National Security Agency and print out the nuclear codes every time they change" safe, but more "I'm working on a Senate campaign and we really don't want the Russians, or anyone else, to get into our email system" safe. Signing up requires a Google account and then linking not one but two dongles, or small devices that connects to a computer's USB port or via Bluetooth. Each produces a highly secure code key that uses the standards of the international FIDO Alliance (for Fast IDentity Online.) These plastic keys are about the size of a regular door key but instead hold codes Google uses to verify that you're you and that you should have access to the account. The key can go into the USB drive on a computer or via Bluetooth to a mobile device such as a phone. While the secure accounts are free, the hardware to make them secure costs money. A USB security key runs about $25 while the Bluetooth-enabled keys are about $18. Once you've tied these keys to your Google account, you've got to have one of them present in order to access your mail and files. Otherwise take noteit's Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect Your Email. "What I think has changed is that people recognize they may never be able to 'learn' how to act optimally in a defensive sense, so this program literally eliminates many sources of humans messing up," said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist with the Washington D.C.-based non-profit the Center for Democracy & Technology. That means using a locked-down Gmail account which may not have all the functionality a more open one could have, though Google does say it's exploring adding access to some trusted partners as time goes by. And about that dongle? You really, really don't want to lose it, or forget your password. Google hasn't even said what the recovery process will look like, but it is expected take three to five days. This isn't an email system for everybody, Hall said. Those who are considering it should think carefully about the threats they face before they sign on. For most regular email users it will be overkill. But if someone's possibly being targeted by a nation state attacker or very determined attackers or organized criminals, the answer is a clear yes, he said. "Sexual assault and domestic violence victims, billionaires, finance employees, judges and law enforcement officersthey certainly face these threats and should use it," he said. The system also doesn't allow users the freedom that non-secure Google accounts have. Once signed up, their Google account is only able to gather data from a few secure apps so that miscreants can't get to their inbox or Google drive via them. In a way, this is an admission of defeat but also of reality. The Holy Grail of online security has long been a system with serious security that was as easy to use as any other program. With the launch of Advanced Protection, Google is acknowledging that while no one has come up with something that's both easy to use and secure, there are enough people out there who really need protection that even a somewhat gnarly program is going to find users. 2017 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Google has briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees ahead of two Nov. 1 hearings that will examine Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections through social media. Officials from Google talked to investigators behind closed doors in recent weeks as part of the committees' probes into Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the briefings. The people declined to be named because the meetings were private. Google spokeswoman Andrea Faville said Wednesday that Google representatives will participate in the public hearings Nov. 1. The panels have recently focused on the spread of false news stories and propaganda on social media and have pressured Google, along with Twitter and Facebook, to provide any evidence of Russian efforts to intervene on their platforms. Facebook recently provided three congressional committees with more than 3,000 ads they had traced to a Russian internet agency and told investigators of their contents. Twitter also briefed Congress last month and handed over to Senate investigators the profile names, or "handles," of 201 accounts linked to Russians. While both of those companies have made public statements about their efforts to discover those accounts, Google has declined to publicly confirm reports that it has also discovered Russia-linked ads on its platforms, such as Google Search and YouTube, or whether ad-buying occurred on its ad networks DoubleClick and AdSense. It is unclear what Google discussed with the investigators, or whether the company turned over any information. The Senate and House intelligence panels have invited Facebook, Twitter and Google to testify at separate hearings that day. Republican Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, the head of the House investigation, said last week that he expects all three companies to attend. 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. [October 18, 2017] AstraZeneca Announces New Data Showing US Preterm Infants at Significantly Greater Risk of RSV Hospitalizations Following 2014 Guidance Change AstraZeneca today announced new results of a study that investigated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization risk and costs during the 2014-2016 RSV seasons compared to the 2012-2014 RSV seasons. Results of the study were presented as a poster on Wednesday, October 18 at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus meeting in Dallas, TX. This study is the first national analysis of serious RSV disease in US preterm infants from the two seasons following the 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidance that recommended against the use of RSV immunoprophylaxis in preterm infants born at 29-34 weeks gestational age (wGA). The 2014 guidance asserted that 29-34 wGA infants were not at a significantly increased risk of RSV hospitalization relative to full-term (FT) infants. The study demonstrated that RSV immunoprophylaxis use declined dramatically in preterm infants born at 29-34 wGA in 2014-2016 relative to 2012-2014, consistent with recommendations in the 2014 guidance. Associated with this decline, RSV hospitalization risks increased among infants 29-34 wGA who were <6 months of age for both Commercial-insured and Medicaid-insured infants. Preterm infants 29-34 wGA who were <6 months of age were approximately 2.5 to 5 times more likely to be hospitalized than FT infants in 2014-2015, which increased to approximately 3.5 to 5.5 times more likely in 2015-2016. These risks were higher than those observed in seasons prior to the guidance change. This study confirms and extends the results of a recently published study that similarly demonstrated a significant national increase in RSV hospitalizations among infants 29-34 wGA who were <3 months of age during the 2014-2015 RSV season compared to the previous four seasons. Greg Keenan, Vice President, US Medical Affairs, AstraZeneca said: "The results from this study emphasize that preterm infants are at substantially elevated risk of RSV hospitalization compared to full-term infants. As a science-led organization, AstraZeneca remains committed to partnering with the academic community to conduct research that characterizes and ultimately reduces the burden of disease for this vulnerable population of patients." The study examined national US Commercial andMedicaid insurance claims databases containing data from more than 1.5 million claims of infants <1 year of age. In addition to the increased RSV hospitalization risks among preterm infants, the study found that RSV hospitalization costs were also higher. The average RSV hospitalization cost during the 2014-2016 RSV seasons for Commercial infants <3 months of age at first RSV hospitalization was $17,416 for FT infants and $39,174 for infants 29-34 wGA. The average cost for Medicaid infants <3 months of age at first RSV hospitalization was $9,824 for FT infants and $22,316 for infants 29-34 wGA. RSV hospitalizations were identified using ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes on inpatient claims; confirmatory laboratory results were not available for this study, as insurance claims databases do not provide these results. Utilization of inpatient RSV immunoprophylaxis among infants <3 months of age discharged from their birth hospitalization during the RSV season is not recorded in claims databases, and this could impact rates of RSV hospitalization in this subgroup. RSV immunoprophylaxis use prior to discharge would be expected to reduce RSV hospitalization rates in infants <3 months of age. Dr. Mitchell Goldstein, from Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, CA (News - Alert) and the lead author of the study, said: "RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants in their first year of life in the United States and can be especially severe for preterm infants during the first months of life. These data build on previous studies and should prompt additional discussion of the importance of RSV prevention efforts among these high-risk infants. This is an important topic among advocates for preterm infant health and the health care community." NOTES TO EDITORS About the study Between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2016, RSV hospitalization risks were evaluated during the RSV season of each year. Rates were calculated per 100 infant-seasons. RSV hospitalization costs for the 2014-2016 seasons were averaged separately for FT and preterm infants by age at first RSV hospitalization. Children with chronic lung disease of prematurity or hemodynamically significant congenital heart disease were not studied. These populations have risks of severe RSV disease above those observed with otherwise healthy preterm infants and continue to be recommended for RSV immunoprophylaxis. Results of the study were presented as a poster on Wednesday, October 18 at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus meeting in Dallas, TX. About RSV RSV is a contagious, seasonal respiratory virus that nearly 100% of children will contract, at varying levels of severity, by the age of two and most will recover from within one to two weeks. In certain high-risk babies, however, RSV can lead to a serious lung infection and hospitalization. Preterm infants are at increased risk of developing severe RSV disease because their lung volume is significantly less than that of full-term infants, and their airways are smaller and narrower than those of a baby born at term. About AstraZeneca AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three main therapy areas - Oncology, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Diseases and Respiratory. The Company also is selectively active in the areas of autoimmunity, neuroscience and infection. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information, please visit www.astrazeneca-us.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @AstraZenecaUS. US-15496 10/17 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006289/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) Consortium has released a blueprint for the international initiative's efforts to create a comprehensive reference map of all human cells, a project that will form the basis for a deeper understanding of human health and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. The blueprint's releaseposted as a white paper to the HCA websitecoincides with the publication of a Nature commentary by the HCA organizing committee summarizing the consortium's vision and mission. In addition, the consortium today also announced the impending release of gene expression profiles from the first one million immune cells collected under the HCA, toward an initial milestone of collecting at least 30 million cells representing several tissues and organs for the atlas' first draft. These data, to be posted on an online repository by early November, will be freely available for researchers' use. The blueprint and data release were presented at the second HCA General Meeting, hosted by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. The meeting celebrates the consortium's one-year anniversary and marks its official transition from its planning to its operational phase. "Over the past year, the international scientific community, from physicians to computer scientists, has engaged in an open process to plan how to go about making this revolutionary atlas," said Aviv Regev, a core member, chair of faculty, and director of the Klarman Cell Observatory and Cell Circuits Program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; an HHMI Investigator; professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and co-chair, with Sarah Teichmann of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, of the HCA Organizing Committee. "Together, we've drawn the blueprint. Now it's time to start building the house." "The data that will be collected for the atlas, when complete, will provide an entry point for deeper study of cells' functions and interactions, both within their home tissues and more broadly throughout the body," said Teichmann, head of cellular genetics at the Sanger Institute, a director of research in the Physics Department at the University of Cambridge, and a senior research fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. "Such knowledge will, over time, have a transformative effect on the scientific understanding of human biology and on human health." Global strategic blueprint The HCA launched in 2016 with a goal as ambitious in scope as the Human Genome Project: to create a reference catalog of all human cells, their proportions, their locations, and the interactions between them. The white paper states that for the first draft of the atlas, the consortium will study and map between 30 and 100 million cells from select organs and tissues, using massively-parallel single-cell RNA sequencing (a suite of genomic techniques capable of identifying gene expression profiles in thousands of individual cells at a time), related technologies to characterize other molecules, and spatial methods to map cells' locations and interactions. The consortium's long-term goal is to profile at least 10 billion cells covering all tissues, organs, and systems, representing healthy tissues as well as those affected by particular diseases and conditions. The full atlas will be as diverse as possible, capturing a range of diseases, geographic locations, environments, and age groups. Governance In addition to setting the goals and scope of the atlas's first draft, the white paper outlines the consortium's organizational and governance structures, with significant emphasis on scientific diversity and inclusiveness. It also provides a set of guiding principles grounded in ethics, equity, and openness, reflecting the consortium's scientific grass-roots origins. The HCA is steered and governed by an Organizing Committee (OC), the decision-making body of the HCA. The OC comprises 27 scientists from 10 countries and is currently co-chaired by Aviv Regev (Broad Institute) and Sarah Teichmann (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute). View the full list of HCA leadership here. "HCA was conceived and initiated by scientists, and it is being governed and run by scientists from 19 institutions across 10 countries," said Piero Carninci, director of the division of genomic technologies at RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research) in Japan and deputy director of the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies. "Already dozens of scientists from around the world, including various Asian countries, have expressed their interest in participating in and contributing their expertise to HCA studies." Data from the first one million cells, and the path to ten billion The immune cell expression data announced today will be available in a public online resource by early November, and include single-cell RNA expression profiles of approximately one million cells collected from bone marrow and cord blood from healthy human donors. This expression data will be freely available, allowing members of the scientific community to use the information in research. A commitment to open access is one of the core values of the HCA, along with key ethical considerations. The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is an international collaborative consortium, which aims to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cellsthe fundamental units of lifeas a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. The HCA is a foundational, open resource charting cells, tissues, organs and systems throughout the body. The HCA will impact every aspect of biology and medicine, propelling translational discoveries and applications and ultimately leading to a new era of precision medicine. More information: For more information about The Human Cell Atlas, visit www.humancellatlas.org Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen et al. The Human Cell Atlas: from vision to reality, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/550451a Journal information: Nature The JRC's new dataset shows maps of migrant communities across Europe. Credit: EU, 2017 This week scientists unveiled a unique dataset that maps the diverse migrant communities living in the EU. The maps will provide policy makers with new insights and a better overall picture to develop local policies to help migrants integrate in their host countries. The maps show residential patterns of migrant communities by their nationality or the country where they were born, at the level of neighbourhoods. From the underlying data researchers can calculate the concentration, diversity and segregation of migrants from different countries and compare these indicators within and across cities. For example, JRC scientists found that Chinese and Filipino communities in Europe are likely to be highly clustered and segregated from their host communities. Scientists also found that there is a general correlation between how segregated a migrant community may be and the geographical and linguistic distance between their countries of origin and destination. Data has been spatially processed to produce high resolution maps like this one of Milan. Here, the map shows levels of concentration of migrants from the Philippines (orange), China (yellow), Egypt (green), and Peru (red) across residential areas. Levels of segregation may correlate with cultural and geographical distance Data has been spatially processed to produce high resolution maps like this one of Milan. Here, the map shows levels of concentration of migrants from the Philippines (orange), China (yellow), Egypt (green), and Peru (red) across residential areas. Credit: EU, 2017 In order to highlight the potential of the data and inspire potential applicants, JRC scientists presented some preliminary analysis of the dataset at the European Week of Regions and Cities. For example, large migrant communities tend to be more spatially dispersed, yet have lower exposure to their host community. Segregation may also be linked to a community's history of migration, or to intrinsic socio-cultural and economic characteristics affecting the tendency of the community to maintain cohesive groups. With further investigation, these kinds of observations can help authorities to design targeted policies. For example, knowing where migrants live could help ensure that language training - to help migrants find work, socialise and carry out general tasks like opening a bank account - is held in a venue that is easily accessible. Knowing the origin countries of migrants across neighbourhoods also helps authorities communicate integration services that are adapted to the cultural background of the communities in the vicinity. JRC launches data challenge to harness the power of research for better policymaking The data has the potential to inform a wide range of policy areas, including social services, education, housing and employment. Users can view maps of whole cities or specific local authority areas. This one shows migrant communities from Suriname and Turkey in Amsterdam. Credit: EU, 2017 In order to maximise this potential and foster innovative policy ideas, the JRC has launched a data challenge inviting researchers worldwide to propose research projects connecting the dataset with their area of expertise. The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday 30 October. An event is planned for the second half of 2018 in Brussels to present the results of the best papers to EU policy makers and local authorities. Background The datasets and resulting maps have been produced in the context of the JRC's Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD). The KCMD works towards better knowledge management for sound EU policy making. To strengthen the Commission's overall response to the opportunities and challenges related to migration, the KCMD aims to be the point of reference to support the work of Commission services and Member States on migration and related issues. The project is designed to support the European Commission's action plan on the integration of third-country nationals and the urban agenda for the EU. Specifically, it supports the Commission's aim to facilitate evidence based migrant integration policies. The maps cover 8 countries and 45,000 local administrative units, with a detail down to street level. JRC scientists generated the maps by harmonising and spatially processing official census statistics collected from national institutes in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Monstrillopsis planifrons, or "flat headed monster." Credit: Aurelie Delaforge A University of Manitoba graduate student discovered Canada's first, genuine, scientifically sound monster lurking under our Arctic sea ice. In adult form, the beast uses eight bristly legs to paddle its mostly translucent body through the dark water. It has one weak eye, no mouth, and two antennas adorned with ragged, flowing hairs. Thankfully, for sleep's sake, it is only 2mm long. Aurelie Delaforge did not purposefully seek this monster out in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. But she found it, and now Canada's arctic biodiversity includes a new copepod of the Monstrilloida family, derived from the word "monster". There are more than 160 different Monstrilloida zooplankton floating around the oceans, and now Canada's Arctic has a species of its own. Happy Halloween. This discovery came thanks to two noteworthy coincidences. One, Delaforge studied the taxonomy of small ocean animals and plants for her masters back home in France and so knew enough to recognize the oddity. Two, while living on an ice camp in Canada's high arctic, she was sampling the ocean to support her PhD thesis on what causes plankton blooms under the sea ice, and she took the samples during the short two-month window these animals take adult formMay and June. Outside of these months, the animal would be nearly invisible as larvae or busy living as a parasite inside animals like clams and sponges. But by luck, the creature kept showing up in her samples, suggesting it didn't just drift over from somewhere else. It was local. Monstrillopsis planifrons sp. n., adult female holotype from the canadian arctic. (A) cephalic region, dorsal view (B) habitus, dorsal view (C) urosome, ventral view, showing fifth legs (D) urosome, dorsal view (E) insertion of ovigerous spine on dorsal surface of genital double-somite (F) terminal section of ovigerous spines (G) eggs along ovigerous spines. Credit: University of Manitoba After returning to her lab at the U of M, Delaforge sent a text to a Department of Fisheries and Oceans researcher, Wojciech Walkusz: "I have this alien!!!" He immediately suspected it was a Monstrilloida so she sent her specimen to Mexico where the world's foremost monster identification specialist resides. Eduardo Suarez-Morales dissected the tiny creature and confirmed the Canadian Arctic's first, true monster: Monstrillopsis planifrons, or flat headed monster. Delaforge and her colleagues published their discovery, "A new species of Monstrillopsis (Copepoda, Monstrilloida) from the lower Northwest Passage of the Canadian Arctic", in the latest edition of the ZooKeys journal. Aurelie Delaforge did not purposefully seek this monster out in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. But she found one while living on an ice camp. Credit: University of Manitoba More information: Aurelie Delaforge et al. A new species of Monstrillopsis (Crustacea, Copepoda, Monstrilloida) from the lower Northwest Passage of the Canadian Arctic, ZooKeys (2017). DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.709.20181 Journal information: ZooKeys Aquaculture fish. Credit: Elhuyar Fundazioa Researchers from AZTI, Biopolis S.L. (Spain), University of Aveiro (Portugal) and the Aguacircia Aquaculture company (Portugal) have evaluated the impact of the use of bacteriophages that fight the pathogens responsible for diseases that affect species bred in fish farms. Replacing antibiotics with phages is a highly promising option in aquaculture to control the transfer of bacteria may be harmful to fish and consumers. Use of these organisms, which infect and destroy bacteria, would significantly reduce the environmental impact of fish farms, whilst increasing their profitability by lowering mortality in the early stages of the breeding process. These results emerge from the LIFE13 ENV/ES/001048-ENVIPHAGE European project. Use of natural bacteriophages, which do not affect the health of fish or consumers, is an interesting alternative to the use of antibiotics. Research projects have obtained promising results in the lab, but before widespread use of bacteriophages at an industrial level, it is necessary to know about the impact of their use on the environment and marine ecology. The Enviphage project has sought to address this gap between the laboratory and industrial-scale treatment. In the search for a strategy that improves the health of aquaculture fish without affecting the environment or consumer safety, this project has worked on the identification of phages that infect and eliminate the pathogens of interest without affecting the environmental and intestinal bacteria communities, two of the critical points for the use of this technology in fish farms. The most promising bacteriophages with specific action against the pathogens of relevant fish have been selected for possible use in industry. Their effectiveness has been proven in real conditions, and the impact of phage treatment on fish has been evaluated through veterinary monitoring, and on the marine and intestinal bacteria communities through mass sequencing technologies and bacterial ecology studies. The results obtained during 2017 study show that the bacterial community of the intestinal tract of the fish is not significantly affected following treatment with the selected phages. It has also been shown that this treatment does not modify the marine bacteria population in the tanks on the fish farm or in the river where the fish farm is located, so it has zero impact or very limited impact on the bacterial ecology. Bacteria resistant to antibiotics Aquaculture is the world's fastest growing food production sector, with an evident social and economic impact. Aquaculture is a complementary activity to fishing, which provides over 50 percent of the world's supply of fish and seafood. However, the aquaculture sector also faces problems derived from the development and rapid transfer of bacterial infections in the fish farms. The most common treatment to prevent such infections and reduce the corresponding heavy economic losses is the use of antibiotics. However, in spite of the fact that the health authorities have called for responsible use of antibiotics, their prolonged use in aquaculture has led to the development of resistant bacteria. On the other hand, many of these antibiotics are non-specific, acting not only against the problematic pathogen, but also against other bacteria naturally present in the environment. All of this, together with the consumer call for antibiotic-free products, has led to the search for alternative solutions to the use of antibiotics to fight bacterial infections, particularly in the early stages, when vaccination is not possible and the maintenance of the bacterial ecosystem is vital. Model of the crystal structure of the lipoyl synthase enzyme (LipA) from the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis revealing the destruction of one of its iron-sulfur clusters (orange and yellow balls) to use as a sulfur source for the production of lipoic acid. New research demonstrates that the iron-sulfur cluster that is destroyed during the production of lipoic acid is replaced by an iron-sulfur carrier protein, NfuA, so that LipA can continue to produce lipoic acid. Credit: Booker laboratory, Penn State University New research shows how a protein is consumed and then reconstituted during the production of lipoic acid, a compound required by our bodies to convert energy from food into a form that can be used by our cells. The lipoyl synthase enzyme (LipA) removes two hydrogen atoms from an inert carbon chain and replaces them with sulfur atoms from one of its own iron-sulfur clusters to create lipoic acid, rendering itself inactive in the process. The new research from Penn State University, which will be published in the journal Science on October 20, 2017, shows that another protein, an iron-sulfur cluster carrier called NfuA, replaces the destroyed iron-sulfur cluster in LipA, allowing it to continue producing lipoic acid. The results also could help scientists to understand why humans with defects in the iron-sulfur carrier genea fatal conditionhave deficiencies of lipoic acid. "LipA cannibalizes itself to provide the sulfur atoms needed for the production of lipoic acid," said Squire Booker, professor of chemistry and of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the corresponding author of the research paper. "When we demonstrated this in 2011, it was perplexing because if LipA is destroyed, how could the cell make enough lipoic acid?" LipA is a member of the radical SAM (S-adenosylmethionine) family of enzymes. Like most radical SAM enzymes, it contains a cluster of four iron and four sulfur atoms, which it uses to convert SAM into a high energy radical. In turn, that radical can remove hydrogen atoms from other molecules, a step required to activate many important cellular metabolic reactions. The hydrogen atoms are replaced with sulfur to complete the process. Where the sulfur atoms that LipA uses to produce lipoic acid come from and how they are attached have been major questions in the field. How other enzymes attach oxygen atoms to inert carbon centers is fairly well understood. In those instances, oxygen, which is ubiquitously available in the atmosphere, is used to create high-energy radicals and is also the source of the appended oxygen atom. Sulfur, on the other hand, is not similarly available, but unlike most other radical SAM enzymes, LipA has an additional iron-sulfur cluster. "We knew from earlier work that LipA used its second iron-sulfur cluster as the source of sulfur atoms to create lipoic acid," said Erin L. McCarthy, a graduate student in Booker's laboratory and the first author of the paper. "But this created a problem. If LipA stole sulfur atoms from its own iron-sulfur cluster, the enzyme would be destroyed and therefore could not create any more lipoic acid. When we learned that humans with defective NFU1 genes, the human equivalent of the bacterial NfuA gene used in our experiments, had deficiencies in lipoic acid, we thought that this iron-sulfur carrier could be replacing the consumed iron-sulfur cluster in LipA, allowing it to continue making lipoic acid." To test this hypothesis, the researchers performed two key experiments. First, they tested whether LipA and NfuA associate with each other by assessing how fast the molecules migrate through a gel by a technique called gel-filtration chromatography. In this technique, large molecules migrate faster than smaller molecules. When LipA and NfuA were combined and then analyzed by this technique, they migrated faster than either molecule does on its own, suggesting that the two molecules were bound together to form a larger, faster migrating molecule. The researchers then created a version of NfuA that contained a slightly different form of sulfur (34S rather than 32S) atoms, a form that they could trace if it was incorporated into LipA and then into lipoic acid. In this second experiment, the researchers showed that after the 32S originally present in LipA was consumed in the chemical reaction to produce lipoic acid, lipoic acid was produced containing 34S, which could only have come from their engineered NfuA. "We've been interested for quite some time in both the process that adds sulfur to an inert carbon compound to make lipoic acid and the source of the added sulfur," said Booker. "Lipoic acid is a vital component of the basic metabolic processes that keep our cells alive. Understanding the reaction that creates it not only allows us to understand this process better, it also gives us insight into human diseases like the one caused by mutations in NFU1 that result in lipoic acid deficiency and death." More information: "Destruction and reformation of an iron-sulfur cluster during catalysis by lipoyl synthase" Science (2017). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aan4574 Journal information: Science Marine waters are an important source of food for Inuit. Credit: Judith Slein/Flickr, CC BY-SA When the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a satellite into orbit on Oct. 13, it did so despite opposition from Inuit leaders in Canada and Greenland over its potential to contaminate an important Arctic area. Most, but not all, of the rocket's highly toxic fuel is burned during the launch. So, when the second stage of the rocket detached and fell back to Earth, it may have contained up to a tonne of unburned hydrazine fuel that was "deliberately deposited" into the North Water Polynya in northern Baffin Bay, between Nunavut and Greenland. The polynya, or Pikialasorsuaq in Inuktitut, is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is a critical habitat for Arctic species such as narwhal and seals, and is one of the Arctic's most biologically productive areas. It is also considered to be an important part of the food supply for the Inuit communities who fish and hunt there. Prior to the launch, the former Prime Minister of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, called the deposit of potentially dangerous rocket fuel into the Pikialasorsuaq "unacceptable." According to a study published earlier this month, at least 10 similar launches have discarded rocket stages in Pikialasorsuaq or in the Barents Sea, off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia, since 2002. Article 29 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples asserts that states must ensure hazardous materials are not disposed in Indigenous territories without their consent. However, last week's launch like the others before it involved no prior consultation with Inuit. For Inuit, the rocket launch transcends geopolitics. It strains their ongoing concerns over food safety and food security. It also raises tensions over the rights of Indigenous peoples in contemporary Canada, including their right to food. In Nunavut, food security remains a serious public health issue. More than two-thirds of Inuit households lack reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. Climate change, environmental contaminants, high food prices and low income all affect food security. The average cost of healthy foods in Nunavut is considerably more than the average in Canada, including chicken ($13.54 vs. $7.17 per kilogram), apples ($6.70 vs. $3.85 per kilogram) and carrots ($5.93 vs. $2.03 per kilogram). Meanwhile, employment income in small Nunavut communities such as Arctic Bay is less than half the median income of $32,800 that is the norm across Canada. What if something goes wrong? Hydrazine is an extremely toxic chemical now rarely used by space programs due to its immediate dangers. Researchers know little about how humans may be affected by long-term exposure to hydrazine, nor have they studied its behaviour in Arctic marine environments. Hydrazine was used in last week's ESA atmosphere-monitoring satellite launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. The ESA has denied the rocket stage presents any threat to the Arctic environment and Global Affairs Canada deemed risks to the marine environment as "very low." Yet Micheal Byers, Canada research chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, has highlighted that no information currently exists on how much unused hydrazine actually hits the water. The Sentinel-5P satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on Oct. 13, on a rocket using highly toxic hydrazine fuel. Credit: ESA/Stephane Corvaja In theory, debris from the rocket will burn up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and never reach the surface. But what if something goes wrong? The Government of Nunavut has said the likelihood of fuel reaching the Earth remains low. But there should be no risk at all. The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) has demanded that space agencies use less toxic alternatives. When governments evaluate risk, they must evaluate the probability of an event and its potential consequences. History shows they could do better. When Nunavut Justice Susan Cooper struck down the Eastern Canadian Arctic Seismic Experiment in August 2010, she acknowledged these consequences. Inuit communities feared irreparable harm to the animals vital to their food system if the experiment went ahead. In her decision, Justice Cooper wrote that while only the "potential for harm" was established by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, such potential was sufficient to grant an injunction due to the degree of harm, which equated to a "loss of culture no amount of money" could compensate. As Inuit have repeatedly pointed out, any risk associated with the Arctic environment may have an impact on their food security, nutrition and health, as well as on their livelihood and culture. To what extent have the potential harms to Inuit food systems been taken into account when governments evaluate the risks associated with falling rocket debris or other industrial activities? 'This is our home' Even though much of the Arctic is far removed from the world's industrial centres, global pollution is having a profound effect on the North. Contaminants can travel long distances along ocean currents, rivers and streams, and in the atmosphere, reaching high levels in Arctic ecosystems. Inuit generally prefer to eat food obtained through fishing, hunting and gathering, collectively called country foods. It is mostly through these country foods that Inuit are exposed to environmental contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals such as mercury. Studies show that Inuit living in Nunavut have higher levels of contaminants in their blood than the general Canadian population. Contaminants are among many contemporary pressures on Inuit food systems. In July 2017, the Nunavut hamlet of Clyde River won a bid against the National Energy Board (NEB) in the Supreme Court of Canada to halt a seismic survey in Baffin Bay. The hamlet's lawyer argued that the potential impacts of the seismic survey on food security, which had been dismissed by industry representatives and the NEB as minimal, were a central concern. "Hunting and gathering, this is how we live. This is our humanity," said Jerry Natanine, the former mayor of Clyde River. These mounting pressures on marine ecosystems highlight how country foods are an existential matter for Inuit. Inuit food systems can no longer simply be an afterthought to international sovereignty disputes and risk assessment. Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally have drawn attention to the false imagination of their homes, lands and waters as a terra nullius an empty no-man's land. As Okalik Eegeesiak, former chair of the ICC, has said of previous launches: "This rocket will not be falling into no-man's land This is our home." This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Artist's impression of Hayabusa in proximity to Itokawa's surface. Curtin University planetary scientists have shed some light on the evolution of asteroids, which may help prevent future collisions of an incoming 'rubble pile' asteroid with Earth. The scientists studied two incredibly small particles brought back to Earth from the asteroid Itokawa, after they were collected in 2005 from the surface of the 500 metre-wide asteroid, by the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft. The capsule and its precious cargo returned to Earth in 2010, landing near Woomera, Australia with only about 1500 asteroid dust particles on board most of them much smaller than the width of a human hair. The Geology-published research, "Collisional history of asteroid Itokawa," used the Argon-Argon dating technique to investigate when impact crater events happened on Itokawa, offering a glimpse into the asteroid's impact history. Lead author of the study, Associate Professor Fred Jourdan from the Department of Applied Geology within the Curtin WA School of Mines, explained Itokawa was no ordinary asteroid, with fly-by pictures taken by Hayabusa prior to sampling in 2005 showing it had a peanut-like shape and resembled a rubble pile of boulders and dust more than solid rock. "In fact, analyses by Japanese scientists revealed the asteroid had a violent past. Prior to being a rubble pile, Itokawa was part of a much larger asteroid that was destroyed by a collision with another asteroid. Our job was to try to find out when that collision happened," Dr. Jourdan said. Dr. Jourdan explained that the analyses were not without challenges, due to the extremely small size of the particles. "Using our noble gas mass spectrometer at Curtin University, a revolutionary new machine that we customised for extra-terrestrial samples, we were able to measure tiny amounts of gas and analyse these fragments from Itokawa," Dr. Jourdan said. "The impact-shocked particle indicated a small-scale collision that occurred 2.1 billion years ago, whereas the other non-shocked particle preserves a very old age, similar to the formation age of the solar system itself." According to these results and a series of models, the scientists concluded that asteroids do not always break up due to a single cataclysmic impact. Instead, they can internally fragment due to the medium-sized collisions that constantly batter large asteroids until they shatter from impact. "The final impact could be seen as 'the straw that broke the camel's back'," Dr. Jourdan said. "Our results tell us that Itokawa was already broken and re-assembled as a rubble pile about 2.1 billion years ago, showing that 'rubble pile' asteroids can survive a much longer time in this state than researchers previously thought. "This is due to their cushion-like nature and the abundance of dust in between the boulders." He continued to explain these research results are not only important to understand how our solar system works, but can inform us on the best way to prevent any future collisions of an incoming 'rubble pile' asteroid with Earth. Due to the success of the team's study, they have been awarded four new particles from Itokawa, and will now look for more information to be unlocked from this asteroid. Manager of the Curtin Argon-Argon Laboratory Ms Celia Mayers said the team plans to work on samples from the Hayabusa 2 mission, which is on its way to Asteroid Ryugu, and is anticipated to bring back samples in 2020. "We also recently set up a collaboration with China that plans to bring back samples from the moon in a few years," Ms Mayers said. Dr. Jourdan and his colleagues at Curtin University conducted their research at the John de Laeter Centre. More information: F. Jourdan et al. Collisional history of asteroid Itokawa, Geology (2017). DOI: 10.1130/G39138.1 Journal information: Geology Drawing by Valderrama of the solar flare he observed on 10 September 1886 on a sunspot (with the penumbra shown with hashed lines and the umbra in black). It shows the tadpole-shaped flare. The original document is held at the Library of the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute. Credit: IAC Satellites have detected powerful solar flares in the last two months, but this phenomenon has been recorded for over a century. On 10 September 1886, at the age of just 17, a young amateur astronomer from Madrid, using a modest telescope, observed one of these sudden flashes in a sunspot. He wrote about what he saw, drew a picture of it, and published the data in a French scientific journal. This is what researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and the Universidad de Extremadura have recently found. "A huge, beautiful sunspot was formed from yesterday to today. It is elongated due to its proximity to the limb ... by looking at it carefully I noticed an extraordinary phenomenon on her, on the penumbra to the west of the nucleus, and almost in contact with it, a very bright object was distinguishable producing a shadow clearly visible on the sunspot penumbra. This object had an almost circular shape, and a light beam came out from its eastern part that crossed the sunspot to the south of the nucleus, producing a shadow on the penumbra that was lost in the large mass of faculae surrounding the eastern extreme of the sunspot," wrote Juan Valderrama y Aguilar. His telescope had an aperture of just 6.6 cm and was equipped with a neutral density filter to dim the solar light. The young man wrote down the details of his observations, made a drawing of the bright flash he had seen coming from the sunspot, and sent all the information to the French journal L'Astronomie. "The case of Valderrama is very unique, as he was the only person in the world more than a century ago to observe a relatively rare phenomenon: a white-light solar flare. And until now no one had realised," says Jose Manuel Vaquero, a lecturer at the University of Extremadura and co-author of an article about the event, now being published in the journal Solar Physics. A flare is a sudden increase in the brightness of a region of the sun's atmosphere. It occurs in the outermost layers (chromosphere and corona) when the configuration of the magnetic field changes and releases energy, which can be detected in several bands of the electromagnetic spectrum as visible or ultraviolet light, although they are most commonly recorded in X-rays. During the last two months, several of these powerful solar flares have been observed, some with associated coronal mass ejections that, in turn, can produce geomagnetic storms that perturb the communication systems in some regions of the Earth, especially radio broadcasts and GPS systems. "White-light flares correspond to the most extreme cases of this phenomenon, where so much energy is dumped into the chromosphere and corona that the energy propagates downward to the photosphere, heating it up, and producing the excess brightness that we observe in white light," according to another of the authors, Jorge Sanchez Almeida, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). Scientists studying solar flares employ special satellites and instruments that do not operate with visible light, but a white-light flare can be observed with optical telescopes, as Valderrama y Aguilar did in 1886. "It is extraordinary that in the Spain of the 19th century, a 17-year old kid would make such a scientific discovery, and it is even more impressive that he had the courage of submitting it for publication to a foreign scientific journal," says Sanchez Almeida. "Furthermore, the white-light flare observed by Valderrama is, chronologically, the third one recorded in the history of solar physics," adds Vaquero. The first solar flare was recorded by British astronomer Richard C. Carrington on 1 September 1859, and the second was described on 13 November 1872 by the Italian Pietro Angelo Secchi. The two flares were widely known in their day, as they sparked a debate on whether or not they could have an impact on the Earth. Much less is known about the life of Valderrama than about the other two pioneers in solar studies. However, Sanchez Almeida, along with fellow IAC researcher and study co-author Manuel Vazquez, will soon publish the biography of this man, who was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, spent his adolescence in Madrid and returned to his birth city, where he was the director of the meteorological observatory of the city until his death. More information: J.M. Vaquero, M. Vazquez, J. Sanchez Almeida. "Evidence of a White-Light Flare on 10 September 1886". Solar Physics 292: 33, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/sll207-017-1059-6 Journal information: Solar Physics Solar panels were among the few precious possessions Rohingya refugees grabbed as they fled their villages in Myanmar The squalid camps in Bangladesh that are now home to nearly 600,000 newly arrived Rohingya have no running water and barely any toilets, but they do have powerthanks to a proliferation of solar panels. That means refugees can charge their phones and power electric lights and fans, a lifeline in tents that become baking hot in the strong sun. Some of the refugees say the panels were among the few precious possessions they grabbed as they fled villages in Myanmar that have been burned to the ground in a campaign of retribution following militant attacks on police posts. Others have used their meagre resources to buy them after arriving in Bangladesh, where they have had to set up home in the overcrowded refugee camps near the border. At the entrance to the Balukhali camp, one of the ubiquitous blue panels powers Kabir Ahmed's makeshift grocery store. The 46-year-old, who worked in a shrimp farm in his native Myanmar, set up his small business when he arrived in Bangladesh at the start of August after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar that the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. He gets enough power from the sun to run four lightbulbs and two small fans. "Now we can have light at night, and when it's really hot the fan gives us a bit of relief," he told AFP as he wiped the sweat from his body with a cloth. Solar only power source In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by. But many villages in the isolated and under-developed northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine state where the refugees have travelled from also lacked access to mains power. In the absence of mains electricity, the sun is a precious source of energy for the Rohingya now living in camps, where even food and clean water are hard to come by The refugees AFP spoke to accused mainly Buddhist Myanmar of being unwilling to invest in areas inhabited by the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that the government regards as illegal immigrants. In fact it is not just the Rohingya50 percent of the population of Myanmar lacks access to mains electricity. Solar power was "the only source of electricity in the area," said Anwar Sadeq, one of Kabir's sons, as he minded the store selling sweets and baskets of dried fish. The family left Rakhine in such a hurry they had to leave their 20-watt solar panel behind, but they have bought a bigger one in Bangladesh. On cloudy days, they put out the lights early to save enough energy to run the fans through the night. A handful of power points in tents, served by long electricity cables, are available for the 582,000 Rohingya the UN estimates have arrived in Bangladesh since an upsurge in violence on August 25. Kabir and his family recharge their phone batteries at a nearby market at a cost of 30 taka (36 US cents). But not all of the refugees have the money to do that and most cook on firewood and use little if any electricity. In the neighbouring Kutupalong camp, Anwara Begum has placed her miniature solar panel on a brick in the middle of an alleyway to absorb as much sun as possible. The panel is connected to a small battery powering a mobile charger and a small bedside light. In a place where the sun sets at 5:30pm, that means the refugees don't have to eat their dinner in the dark, said the 30-year-old, who arrived in Bangladesh at the beginning of last month. But after barely an hour, the light goes out, plunging the tent once again into darkness. 2017 AFP AtlantikSolar takes off for a 13-hour flight. Credit: Sun2Ice / ETH Zurich Solar-powered flying platforms have yet to prove their real-world applicability outside of targeted demonstrations. Monitoring glaciers in polar regions is in pole position to become a primary application, as the midnight sun offers ideal conditions for perpetual flights. What better place than the Arctic for testing the new generation of solar-powered aircraft? The Autonomous Systems Laboratory ASL has developed a pioneering solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), AtlantikSolar, capable of flying for multiple days. Glaciologists from ETH Zurich who use UAVs to monitor glaciers in Greenland need further endurance to deal with the immensity of the glacial landscape. Continuous daylight conditions in the Arctic Summer provide potentially ideal conditions for a solar-powered plane, which would drastically extend the flight time of surveying UAVs. Theoretically yes, but does it work in practice? To answer this question, we autonomous systems scientists and glaciologists designed a collaborative project called "Sun2Ice" to fly AtlantikSolar far north under the midnight sun. Flying a fragile drone in a rough environment Qaanaaq, northwest Greenland (77N, about 600 permanent inhabitants), is surrounded by tens of calving glaciers, reachable by airplane, and has all facilities (shop, renting house, internet, ...). It is therefore an ideal place for hosting this project! Sun2Ices overview video. Credit: Sun2ice / ETH Zurich Shortly after arriving in early June, we had to face our first major issue: the sand of the landing spot identified last year was blown away by strong winds in winter time. Without any smooth, non-rocky landing site, AtlantikSolar could potentially break when touching the ground, or at minimum damage the downward facing camera payload. After almost one week of manual work to improvise a safe landing strip over Qaanaaq's rocky terrain, another unexpected obstacle presented itself: fog started to cover the sky of Qaanaaq in a sustained fashion, with the consequence of grounding AtlantikSolar for another several days. First-ever solar-powered flight in the Arctic The sky finally cleared up on June 20 in the morning. At noon time, AtlantikSolar was in the air, scheduled to circle and perform the first-ever 24-hour flight of a solar-powered aircraft in the polar regions. Coincidently, the landing should therefore occur on June 21 around noon, which is not only the solstice the best thing we could hope for with a solar-powered aircraft! but also Greenland's national day. This means that AtlantikSolar would establish a record during and next to celebrations in front of the Qaanaaq people, who are already intrigued by us and our strange plane. All planets were best aligned for a unique event, the excitement was rising after each hour, and the coffee machine was working hard to keep the team warm and awake for 24 hours ... until the fog came back at around 1 am, forcing the team to interrupt the mission after 13 hours of flight. AltantikSolar on the way to Bowdoin Glacier. Credit: Sun2Ice / ETH Zurich It doesn't matter! Despite 6 hours of cloudy and windy conditions throughout the flight, causing greater than typical power consumption, the battery record shows that they remained above 60% of their capacity, indicating that even with sustained poor conditions, ~20 hours of flight would have been possible, and under less severe conditions for sure more than 24! Now, AtlantikSolar is ready to fly toward a glacier. On the way to Bowdoin Glacier The next non-foggy, clear-sky, and minimally windy day occurred on July 3. AltantikSolar reached the glacier within 1 hour and 15 minutes after take-off and started a photogrammetric scan of the calving front. Constantly tracked by satellite, everything looked good until unpredicted valley winds began to enter the fjord. Despite the strongest winds AtlantikSolar has ever flown in up to 6 m/s vertical gusting and a sustained tail wind of 15 m/s, considering that its cruise speed is only around 10 m/s! AltantikSolar successfully came back to Qaanaaq, after 5 hours and 230 km still nearly fully charged. This last flight demonstrated the potential of this platform to monitor the cryosphere, a mission requiring the combination of long-endurance performance and payload capacity. Most interestingly, AltantikSolar's mapping revealed a large crevasse upstream at the front. A few days later, some glaciologist colleagues went to Bowdoin and kept monitoring the propagation of the crack, until it suddenly collapsed. All together, we now have a unique set of data describing all the fracturing phases for improving the numerical modelling of calving, a complex and still not fully understood mechanism, which play a major role in the sea level rise. [October 18, 2017] Zentera Systems to Address Security for Hybrid Environments at Cyber Security Chicago 2017 SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zentera Systems, Inc., the leader in security and connectivity for workloads in hybrid computing environments, today announced the company's participation in the inaugural Cyber Security Chicago event, Chicago, IL, October 18-19. The event will see leading organizations in cybersecurity coming together to showcase their latest defenses. Zentera's VP of Technology and Products, Mike Ichiriu, is speaking about the elements of advanced security for hybrid environments and how enterprises can prepare themselves to become cloud-ready with Zentera's CoIP Security Enclave solution. Cloud adoption, together with today's complex information technology landscape, is prompting new approaches to security. The cloud's benefits are clear to enterprises, but cloud environments today lack enterprise-grade security and defense-in-depth. Furthermore, security threats are coming from both inside and outside of the conventional corporate datacenter. Enterprises need consistent security across hybrid environments to meet their dynamic business equirements. CoIP Security Enclaves protect applications and workloads by connecting them across a unified overlay network called an enclave. CoIP Enclaves are a type of software-defined perimeter, providing what is known as security segmentation. They offer multiple networking and security features to shield applications, including network encryption, and both east-west and north-south micro-segmentation along with CoIP Application Interlock to limit network access to specified applications. Because CoIP uses an overlay approach, enclaves can span across multiple environments. Enterprises can meet compliance requirements and protect their security-sensitive applications and workloads regardless of their physical locations. Furthermore, CoIP can be set up without changing existing infrastructure in less than a day. "I'm honored to join the cybersecurity community in Chicago at this critical juncture in addressing IT attacks," said Ichiriu. "We at Zentera particularly want to draw attention to vulnerabilities exposed by trusted external access to sensitive corporate data and applications. Our CoIP Enclave product can shield just what your company values most with minimal effort." About Zentera Zentera, named a Cool Vendor in Cloud Security 2017 by Gartner, Inc., secures application workloads in hybrid environments by connecting them through a unified virtual overlay network, or enclave. The CoIP Security Enclave platform provides security and connectivity. It works with any infrastructure in any environment, does not interfere with existing environments or security, and can be up and running in less than a day. It provides defense-in-depth for enterprise applications in the cloud, moving to the cloud or on-premise. CoIP is deployed for worldwide operations by global corporations. The company has received numerous honors, including consecutive Red Herring Top 100 Awards, and is based in Silicon Valley. For more information, see www.zentera.net. Media Contact Mike Loftus, VP Strategy & Marketing Zentera Systems, Inc. +1 408-436-4810 [email protected] All trademarks cited here are the properties of their respective owners. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zentera-systems-to-address-security-for-hybrid-environments-at-cyber-security-chicago-2017-300539240.html SOURCE Zentera Systems, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] This illustration shows the chemical architecture of amino acids that make up the D4 receptor bound to the antipsychotic drug nemonapride (pink). Credit: UNC / UCSF One way or another, many psychiatric drugs work by binding to receptor molecules in the brain that are sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical signal that is central to how our experiences shape our behavior. But because scientists still don't understand the differences between the many kinds of dopamine receptors present on brain cells, most of these drugs are "messy," binding to multiple different dopamine receptor molecules and leading to serious side effects ranging from movement disorders to pathological gambling. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Stanford University report a major step forward towards designing more powerful psychiatric drugs with fewer side effects. As reported online on October 19, 2017 in Science, the team has determined ("solved" in the terminology of structural biology) the crystal structure of a specific dopamine receptor called D4 at an incredibly high resolution - the highest for any dopamine, serotonin, or epinephrine (aka adrenaline) receptor to date - allowing them to design a new compound that tightly binds only to D4 and none of the other 320 receptors they tested. Earlier this year, the same team solved the crystal structure of LSD bound to a serotonin receptor to learn why acid trips last so long and how to perhaps tweak the drug to be less potent. The D4 dopamine receptor has been implicated in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cancer metastasis, and even erectile dysfunction. Similar dopamine receptor subtypes are crucial factors in conditions including schizophrenia, addiction, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and Parkinson's disease. However, there are currently few specific drugs for the D4 subtype that can target it and it alone, which has prevented researchers from isolating the specific function of D4 compared to other dopamine receptors. Current drugs that target dopamine receptors also cause side effects such as Parkinson's-like movement disorders. "We now have the ability to get a crystal-clear image of these receptors to see details like never before," said co-senior author Bryan L. Roth, MD, PhD, the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Protein Therapeutics and Translational Proteomics at the UNC School of Medicine. "That's the key. Seeing these details allowed us to create a compound that tightly binds only to one kind of receptor. Our ultimate goal is to avoid so-called 'scattershot drugs' that hit many unwanted receptors and cause serious and potentially fatal side effects." Brian Shoichet, PhD, co-senior author and professor of pharmaceutical chemistry in UCSF's School of Pharmacy, said, "Our computational modeling capabilities allowed us to virtually screen over 600,000 compounds much faster than traditional screening methods and create a hierarchy of compounds that potentially bind only to the D4 dopamine receptor. Our work to create better drugs is far from over, but the computer-based screening tools used here are becoming an ever-more reliable tool in our arsenal." Video file visualizing the structure of the D4 receptor bound to the antipsychotic drug nemonapride. Credit: Anat Levit, PhD (UCSF) Collaborators crack the case using crystals and computers Dopamine receptors are part of a large family of molecules called G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, which are the intended targets of approximately 35 percent of all drugs on the market. Despite their importance, very little is known about the structures of the vast majority of GPCRs, including D4 and other dopamine receptors, making it challenging to design more precise drugs with fewer side effects. Typically, scientists have solved the chemical structure of proteins using a technique called X-ray crystallography: they cause the protein to condense into a tightly packed crystal lattice, then shoot x-rays at the crystal and can calculate the protein's structure from the resulting diffraction patterns. However, getting the D4 protein to crystallize with a drug bound to itin order to pinpoint the receptor's site of action had proved an unsolved challenge. To solve the high-resolution structure of D4, Roth lab postdocs Sheng Wang, PhD, and Daniel Wacker, PhD, - two of three co-first authors - conducted a series of intense experiments over three years to get the D4 receptor to crystallize. They dissolved receptor molecules in water-based buffers and then slowly removed the water. Then, in order to be sure the receptors were sitting perfectly still so they could be imaged, Wang and Wacker employed a variety of experimental tricks - outlined in the Science paper - to carefully draw out water at the exact right conditions until the receptors were packed tightly into crystals that could then be bombarded with x-rays. The result was the first-ever super high-resolution image of the chemical architecture of D4 bound to the antipsychotic drug nemonapride. "We had to get a high-resolution structure like this so we could see exactly how a compound can bind to D4," Wang said. "It's like seeing details in a photograph that you just couldn't see unless the photo was super high resolution. Once we had that, we teamed up with our UCSF colleagues to computationally screen for compounds that might potentially bind to this receptor but not others." Anat Levit, PhD, a postdoc in Shoichet's lab at UCSF and the third co-first author, led the computational modeling and new compound discovery, in collaboration with co-author Ron Dror, PhD, and his Stanford lab. "Theoretically, there's an almost infinite number of chemical compounds that could be made, and this chemical space is enormous and largely unexplored. However, we have large libraries of virtual compounds that at least edge into this space," Levit said. "Using the new high-resolution structure and our computational modeling program, we fit each of 600,000 virtual compounds into the dopamine/nemonapride binding site of the D4 receptor, as you might fit candidate puzzle pieces into a partially constructed puzzle." Levit and colleagues in the Shoichet lab evaluated all 600,000 of these chemical "puzzle pieces" to see how well they fit into the full D4 receptor that the Roth lab team had solved. Once they had identified the top ten candidate compounds that computer modeling pointed to as likely binding partners with the D4 receptor, they sent them back to Wang and Wacker to test experimentally in the lab. The Roth lab team found that two of the compounds indeed fit into the D4 receptor, but did so relatively loosely. "The initial two compounds were just starting points," Wacker said. "A drug or even a 'probe' used to explore the biology of the receptor must fit the receptor tightly. A compound needs to stay attached for a period of time to have an effect inside the cell." The research then bounced back and forth between the computer modelers at UCSF and the experimental lab at UNC-Chapel Hill to design and test dozens of new chemical compounds that might bind tighter to the D4 receptor. Finally, by tinkering with chemical links and ionic attractions here, adding new chemical groups there, Levit identified a virtual compoundcompound UCSF924that computer simulations suggested could bind extremely tightly to the D4 receptor. Upon testing this compound in the lab, Wang confirmed the molecule could bind to the D4 receptor 1000-times more powerfully than the initial virtual compounds. D4-specific compound will help researchers understand, and one day drug, specific dopamine receptors The researchers now plan to test their new compound in animal models to determine exactly how it activates the D4 receptor, and how activating the D4 receptor alone alters brain function. "No one knows what the D4 receptor precisely does," Wang said. "The high specificity and high potency of this new compound will allow us to begin to address this for the first time." The team also plans to use the highly-selective UCSF924 compound to learn more details of how existing drugs work by altering specific cellular pathways inside cells. "This work has implications beyond D4," Wacker said. "For instance, antipsychotics are dirty drugs; they hit everything. To better understand them and improve upon them, we need to understand what they do at every single target they hit. Our work is an important step toward that goal." Shoichet added, "Whereas UCSF924 is far from a drug, it is a great probe, and we are making it openly available to the community via Sigma-Aldrich, as SML2022." Looking back on progress in this field, Shoichet said, "When structure- and computer-based screens were first developed at UCSF 30 years ago, the idea that we would have such beautiful views of drug targets as crucial and subtle as the dopamine D4 receptor, and that we could exploit it so quickly and effectively, was far from anyone's mind. But the National Institutes of Health invested in these lines of basic research for decades. Now that long-term research effort is beginning to pay off in the ability to computationally screen new GPCR targets and find new and exciting chemical leads for biology and for drug discovery." More information: "D4 dopamine receptor high-resolution structures enable the discovery of selective agonists" Science (2017). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi 1126/science.aan5468 Journal information: Science Upper Panel: schematic of optical excitation in the K valley of WS2 monolayers. Lower Panel: Photoluminescence (PL) intensity map of a triangular monolayer island of WS2 and the associated valley polarization map demonstrate the clear inverse relationship. Each map covers a 46 x 43 micron area. The regions exhibiting smallest PL intensity and lowest quality are found at the center of the flake and radiate outward toward the three corners. These regions correspond to the highest valley polarization. Credit: US Naval Research Laboratory An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has uncovered a direct link between sample quality and the degree of valley polarization in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). In contrast with graphene, many monolayer TMDs are semiconductors and show promise for future applications in electronic and optoelectronic technologies. In this sense, a 'valley' refers to the region in an electronic band structure where both electrons and holes are localized, and 'valley polarization' refers to the ratio of valley populationsan important metric applied in valleytronics research. "A high degree of valley polarization has been theoretically predicted in TMDs yet experimental values are often low and vary widely," said Kathleen McCreary, Ph.D., lead author of the study. "It is extremely important to determine the origin of these variations in order to further our basic understanding of TMDs as well as advance the field of valleytronics." Many of today's technologies (i.e. solid state lighting, transistors in computer chips, and batteries in cell phones) rely simply on the charge of the electron and how it moves through the material. However, in certain materials such as the monolayer TMDs, electrons can be selectively placed into a chosen electronic valley using optical excitation. "The development of TMD materials and hybrid 2D/3D heterostructures promises enhanced functionality relevant to future Department of Defense missions," said Berend Jonker, Ph.D., principal investigator of the program. "These include ultra-low power electronics, non-volatile optical memory, and quantum computation applications in information processing and sensing." The growing fields of spintronics and valleytronics aim to use the spin or valley population, rather than only charge, to store information and perform logic operations. Progress in these developing fields has attracted the attention of industry leaders, and has already resulted in products such as magnetic random access memory that improve upon the existing charge-based technologies. The team focused on TMD monolayers such as WS2 and WSe2, which have high optical responsivity, and found that samples exhibiting low photoluminescence (PL) intensity exhibited a high degree of valley polarization. These findings suggest a means to engineer valley polarization via controlled introduction of defects and nonradiative recombination sites "Truly understanding the reason for sample-to-sample variation is the first step towards valleytronic control," McCreary said. "In the near future, we may be able to accurately increase polarization by adding defect sites or reduce polarization by passivation of defects." Results of this research are reported in the August 2017 edition of the ACS Nano. More information: Kathleen M. McCreary et al. Understanding Variations in Circularly Polarized Photoluminescence in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, ACS Nano (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b02554 Journal information: ACS Nano Credit: University of Wyoming Wildlife managers and ranchers in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem soon will have a new mapping tool for reducing the risk of brucellosis outbreaks in cattle. That's thanks to research led by scientists at the University of Wyoming (UW) and the U.S. Geological Survey. The team of biologists built a computer model of elk behavior during spring migration to identify habitats with the highest risk of brucellosis spilling over from elk to cattle. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease carried by elk and bison that can cause pregnant females to abort their fetuses. It is transmitted by direct contact with the infected placenta, fetus or birthing fluid. Cattle can be infected by commingling with elk between February and June. Transmission peaks from March to May, the same months when most elk migrate to calving grounds and mountain summer ranges. The scientists' migration model tracks spring snowmelt and green-up of forage to predict where elk will be when they abort. That information is crucial for managers charged with preventing disease transmission. If a cattle herd contracts the disease, it can lead to herd quarantines, increased testing and potential culling of the index herd and any contact herds sharing a fence line. These movement restrictions can be very costly for cattle producers. "Keeping elk and cattle separate during that crucial migration period ensures cattle don't come into contact with brucellosis," says Jerod Merkle, a postdoctoral researcher with the Wyoming Migration Initiative at UW. Merkle was lead author on a paper recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, a leading publication in the field. Using GPS collar data from nearly 300 elk captured on supplemental feedgrounds in Wyoming, the team of researchers built models of elk movement that decipher how elk respond to snow depth, plant green-up and other landscape features such as slope and aspect. The researchers then simulated elk distribution at daily intervals across five weather scenarios, varying the amount of winter snow and the timing of spring green-up. Given an average population of about 15,000 adult and yearling female elk in the southern greater Yellowstone ecosystem during the study period, the team's model predicts that, on average, about 700 abortions occur per year. As expected, the modeled distribution of where these abortions occur varies drastically depending on when snowmelt and green-up happen. In an average snow year, about 33 percent of the abortions occur within 1.5 miles of feedgrounds; 43 percent occur on national forests; 12 percent occur on private land; 7 percent occur on national parks or national wildlife refuges; and the rest occur across Bureau of Land Management, state and local government lands. During heavy snow years, the model showed the highest brucellosis transmission risk at lower elevations on or near feedgrounds, because elk are likely to abort before they migrate into the mountains. In years of winter drought with little snowfall, the modeled rate of abortions on feedgrounds declined 64 percent compared to heavy snow years. That's because elk migrated earlier in the calving season and were more likely to abort on higher-elevation transitional and summer ranges on other public lands (mainly national forests). Notably, the research team predicted little difference in the number of abortions that occur on private lands across the weather scenarios. While cattle in Wyoming are essentially free of brucellosis today thanks to testing and antibiotics, bovines were the original hosts from which the bacteria infected elk populations. Efforts to inoculate free-ranging elk against the disease have been largely unsuccessful, leading managers to turn to management measures to reduce the risk of disease transmission. Recent mitigation work by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has focused on changing practices at state-operated elk feedgrounds. By spreading out hay over larger areas of feedgrounds, and shortening the period of feeding, wildlife managers can reduce the chances of an elk aborting its fetus in a crowded situation where other elk would be exposed. That, in turn, may help lower the prevalence of the disease in elk and the risk of transmission to cattle. Importantly, the new modeling tool helps managers prioritize mitigation responses in areas outside of feedgrounds, by responding to when and where elk migrate during calving season. "Wildlife and livestock managers can utilize this model to focus prevention efforts in high-risk areas and minimize disease transmission," says Brandon Scurlock, leader of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department brucellosis program. Strategies to reduce elk and cattle contact include hazing elk away from cattle feeding areas, or postponing cattle turnout dates until risk of brucellosis transmission has subsided. This research was conducted in collaboration with the Game and Fish Department and supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, National Science Foundation, Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee, Grand Teton National Park, the National Elk Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and U.S. Geological Survey. More information: Merkle JA, Cross PC, Scurlock BM, et al. Linking spring phenology with mechanistic models of host movement to predict disease transmission risk. J Appl Ecol. 2017;00:110. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13022 , onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10 1365-2664.13022/full Journal information: Journal of Applied Ecology Provided by British Ecological Society All summer long, at Dartmouth's organic farm, Poli Sierra-Long '19 has been nurturing what she thinks of as a miracle of nature. Happen upon her watering or weeding her huge, rainbow-colored squash nestled in a robust web of vines, and you'll hear a remarkable story of botanical survival. In 2008, Canadian archaeologists excavating a site on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin found an 850-year-old pot containing squash seeds, which were planted a few years later. Second-generation seeds from those plants were given to Sierra-Long, a pre-med chemistry major modified with environmental studies. "I sometimes work on a traditional Native American farm owned by the Tohono O'odham Nation on the San Xavier reservation in Arizona, not far from where I live, In Tucson," says Sierra-Long. "One day, a fellow farm worker gave me a vial of seeds, which came from the first plants grown from those ancient seeds." While not everyone agrees about which tribe was the first to discover the original heirloom seeds, there is broad consensus that this variety of summer squash was grown by indigenous farmers long before colonists arrived. Sierra-Long didn't know what to expect, but decided to plant them at the organic farm this year and see what would happen. The 10 hardy seeds began life in a pot in a small greenhouse at Dartmouth's farm. When the seedlings were big enough and sturdy enough, Sierra-Long transplanted them into soil sheltered by a larger greenhouse. "I have given them as much love and care as I could," she says. Credit: Dartmouth University Her TLC has paid off. The bright green squash vines fill every nook and cranny of the greenhouse, snaking around and over each other. Some of the vegetables are roundish, in shades of green; others are oblong, with orange and yellow stripes. On a warm autumn day, Sierra-Long inspects the bounty. She isn't sure, she says, why there's so much variety in shape and color. But the whole crop looks beautiful to her. "I hand pollinated these," she says, pointing to the plants nearest the door. "It's really incredible that they grew so big, with a 70 percent germination rate. And the vines are really strong. For the first six weeks or so I didn't even have to weed because the vines would yank out the weeds as they grew." Now that the squash is ready to harvest, Sierra-Long is extracting seeds so she can help preserve this ancient variety once thought to be extinct. She says the horticultural experiment has deepened her appreciation of organic farming, and of her own Native American roots. "To see the life cycle of any plant is amazing, and to know that these come from ancient seedsthat's even more amazing. It's a miracle of nature that seeds were able to survive in a pot for 850 years, and then they were bought to life, and now all this squash is growing in a greenhouse in New Hampshire." [October 18, 2017] Infoblox Partners with McAfee for Unified Security LAS VEGAS, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MCAFEE MPOWER -- Infoblox Inc., the network control company that provides Actionable Network Intelligence, today announced it is partnering with McAfee to improve the security of a customer's network by combining the power of web and Domain Name System (DNS) security to deliver unified security. The Infoblox and McAfee solution enables sharing of threat intelligence and security event information to deliver comprehensive protection and faster incident response. Today, 91 percent of malware uses DNS to carry out malicious campaigns and the longer it takes to discover, the higher the cost of damage. Furthermore, the various security tools that organizations have today work in silos. Traditional security tools do not address DNS security, thereby creating a security gap often exploited by malicious actors to inject and propagate malware inside the network and to exfiltrate valuable data out of the enterprise. A recent Gartner report entitled, "Competitive Landscape: Secure Web Gateways" noted emerging trends, including Secure Web Gateway blocking and threat defense coupled with DNS services. "By coupling DNS with SWG web proxying, SWG service providers can widen their basic threat prevention and filtering capabilities beyond just HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. Technology strategic planners should seek ways to leverage both DNS and proxy-based inspection methods in order to compete with this new emerging complementary capability to appropriately protect against advanced threats and improve SaaS performance."1 The Infoblox McAfee joint solution combines a best in class DNS security solution with a leading secure web gateway solution to deliver comprehensive network security for web and non-web traffic. The Infoblox ActiveTrust Cloud solution provides comprehensive DNS security and flags potentially infected devices that can then be redirected to McAfee's Web Gateway Cloud Service for deeper content inspection including malware scanning and SSL inspection. Another challenge facing organizations are siloed security solutions. Lack of interoperability and inability to share threat intelligence across security solutions inhiits an organization's capability to respond effectively to ever-increasing amount of attacks. The joint Infoblox and McAfee solution addresses these challenges by automating data sharing between Infoblox DNS security, and McAfee Endpoint and Web Security offerings. The joint Infoblox and McAfee solution includes the following product integrations: Infoblox ActiveTrust Cloud with McAfee Web Gateway Cloud Service unifies DNS and web security for detection and blocking of malicious traffic and data exfiltration from infected devices. unifies DNS and web security for detection and blocking of malicious traffic and data exfiltration from infected devices. Infoblox DDI and ActiveTrust with McAfee Data Exchange Layer and McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator - enables ecosystem solutions that subscribe to DXL topics to take action on network and security events detected by Infoblox and contain threats faster - enables ecosystem solutions that subscribe to DXL topics to take action on network and security events detected by Infoblox and contain threats faster Infoblox DDI and ActiveTrust with McAfee Enterprise Security Manager - allows for comprehensive threat data correlation and detection. Infoblox also shares valuable network context and actionable intelligence to help assess risk and prioritize alerts in order to enable more efficient incident response "A key goal behind the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance program is to accelerate the development of interoperable security products and break down security silos within the customer environment," said D.J. Long, head of McAfee Security Innovation Alliance. "The joint integration between McAfee and Infoblox enriches a customer's network with the ability to provide protection for non-web protocols via DNS while improving the visibility into web traffic and enabling customers to use threat intelligence to more effectively respond to the ever-increasing amount of attacks." As a member of the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance, Infoblox plays a critical role in the program's mission to accelerate the development of interoperable security products and to simplify the integration of these products within complex customer environments, bringing better value and more protection against the growing threat landscape to joint customers. Through this partnership, Infoblox and McAfee address a rising industry need to shorten response times from security events and more easily remediate compromised systems, leading to a simplified Threat Defense Lifecycle. "By bringing together McAfee, a leader in cyber security, and Infoblox, the leader in DDI, we are breaking down the silos between security operations and network operations," said Kanaiya Vasani, vice president of business development at Infoblox. "The integrated solution from Infoblox and McAfee provides visibility into DNS and web traffic, plugs the DNS security gap in organizations, automates data sharing, and enables automated workflows to quickly remediate threats." Infoblox is a sponsor of the 10th annual McAfee MPOWER Cybersecurity Summit taking place in Las Vegas, October 17-19. Attendees who come to the Infoblox booth #302 will see a live demo of the joint Infoblox and McAfee solution. Infoblox was also recognized by McAfee as the Most Innovative Partner of the Year at the MPOWER DevCon Awards 2017. 1 Gartner Inc, Competitive Landscape: Secure Web Gateways, by Lawrence Pingree & Ruggero Contu, September 12, 2017 About Infoblox Infoblox delivers Actionable Network Intelligence to enterprise, government, and service provider customers around the world. As the industry leader in DNS, DHCP, and IP address management, the category known as DDI, Infoblox (www.infoblox.com) provides control and security from the coreempowering thousands of organizations to increase efficiency and visibility, reduce risk, and improve customer experience. Media Contact: Erica Coleman Infoblox [email protected] (408) 986-5697 Note: McAfee, ePolicy Orchestrator, and the McAfee logo are trademarks of McAfee LLC in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/infoblox-partners-with-mcafee-for-unified-security-300538946.html SOURCE Infoblox Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Demonstrators rally before the speech by Richard Spencer, an avowed white nationalist and spokesperson for the so-called alt-right movement, on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, U.S., October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (Reuters) By Zachary Fagenson GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - Protesters shouted "Go home Nazis" as a white nationalist gave a speech on Thursday at the University of Florida, where hundreds of police set up barricades and separated supporters and demonstrators to guard against violence. Richard Spencer's event at the university in Gainesville, which prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency to prepare for possible conflict, came about two months after rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to a deadly clash with counter-protesters. The violence on Aug. 12 added fuel to a national debate on race, and Republican President Donald Trump came under fire for blaming both sides for the melee. White supremacists have been working to bring Spencer to various public universities, saying he has a constitutional right to free speech. The effort has forced college leaders to allow what they see as hate speech on campus and provide security to prevent violent clashes. On Thursday, several hundred protesters shouting "We don't want your Nazi hate" marched outside a campus performing arts centre where Spencer spoke. Two people were arrested, including a man hired as security for media for illegally carrying a firearm on campus, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said. Another man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas emerged from a crowd of protesters with a bloody lip. "There were a few scuffles, but for the most part it was an extremely peaceful event," said Chris Sims, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. Inside the venue, Spencer and protesters yelled at one another, and he criticized them for trying to suppress his speech. "Im not going home," said Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, a nationalist think tank, and promoted the Charlottesville rally. "We are stronger than you and you all know it!" He appeared to have few supporters in the crowd. About 15 white men, all dressed in white shirts and khaki pants, raised their hands when Spencer asked who identified with the alt-right, a loose grouping characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Story continues Spencer left the campus soon after the event ended, university public safety officials said on Twitter. Police worked to separate those who attended the event as they left the venue from protesters gathered nearby. One Spencer supporter appeared to have been sprayed in the face with an irritant. Police were not immediately available to speak about the incident. Anais Edwards, 26, was inside the venue and supported those trying to disrupt Spencer. "Im really proud of how our community came together. Many of them were willing to stand up and not let him speak," Edwards said. The university said it did not invite Spencer to speak, but was obligated by law to allow the event. The school said it would spend more than $500,000 on security, and the National Policy Institute is paying more than $10,000 to rent the facility and for security within the venue. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. hate groups, said Spencer is "a radical white separatist whose goal is the establishment of a white ethno-state in North America." An outspoken supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity after widely circulated videos showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidate's win. Trump condemned the meeting. The death in Charlottesville, home to the flagship campus of the University of Virginia, occurred as counter-protesters were dispersing. A 20-year-old man who is said by law enforcement to have harboured Nazi sympathies drove his car into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman. (Reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Dan Grebler) Greece on Thursday defended its decision to upgrade its fleet of US-made F-16 warplanes, arguing that the multi-million cost will not destabilise its precarious budget. "We are discussing the upgrade of (around 90) aircraft at a maximum cost of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) over a period of ten years," government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told reporters. "I do not judge the fiscal cost excessive...it's about 110 million euros per year, this does not affect fiscal targets at almost any point," he said. The programme would start running after 2018, when the country is scheduled to exit its current European economic bailout, the spokesman said. He said it was "logical" that European creditors may have questions on the issue and Athens is prepared to provide details "if formally asked". "The (upgrade) has not been concluded, we are in advanced talks," Tzanakopoulos said, adding: "(We) do not intend to repeat the mistakes of the past when defence spending was inordinately inflated." Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who rubber-stamped the upgrade during an official visit to Washington this week, has said the planes risked being rendered inoperable without the upgrade. Speaking at the Brookings Institute, Tsipras -- who took a surprise flight aboard an F-16 just before the Washington visit -- said Greece is obliged to keep up defence spending because of its geographic proximity to volatile areas. Greece spends two percent of its budget on defence, one of only five NATO members to meet this alliance requirement. The F-16 upgrade falls within this threshold, Tzanakopoulos said. By Marcy Nicholson SAN CARLOS, Colombia (Reuters) - Farmers who fled war in the Colombian Andes are returning to revive their abandoned land, cultivating coffee trees that are boosting global supplies of the highest-quality beans. Colombia's five-decade civil war, the longest in the Americas, displaced millions and disrupted farming for decades in areas that produce coffee for the most exacting consumer. The revival of coffee farming in the former conflict zones could help boost Colombia's coffee output by 40 percent, according to government estimates. That would raise global supplies of mild arabica beans by about 13 percent. The additional supply could reduce the cost of the raw material for the world's top roasters, many of whom are seeking to secure increased supply from Colombia. About 950 coffee-growing families have returned to the San Carlos area, representing about 60 percent of the 1,600 families who left during the war, according to data from the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC). The supply from this region, about 330 kilometers (205 miles) north west of the Colombian capital of Bogota, could expand further as farmers plant more of their land and more people return to the region to provide the needed labor. The area now has about 800 hectares of coffee farms, double the low of 400 hectares during the war. That's still only about half of the 1,500 hectares prior to the conflict, according to FNC data. Among those who returned was Libardo Garcia, who lost two brothers in the conflict - one was shot and the other killed by a landmine. He and his family moved back to their 12-hectare (30 acres) farm in 2015 after fleeing in 2001. "All the coffee trees were dead when we came back," said Garcia, who has since planted 8,000 trees on two hectares of steeply sloped land. Arabica is the highest quality coffee bean, and Colombia is the world's top producer of mild arabica. To make that variety, beans are separated from the cherry then dried to increase quality. Story continues Arabica makes up about 60 percent of global coffee supplies, with lower-quality robusta beans accounting for the rest. While some coffee roasters add robusta to their highly secretive blends, premium brands are typically 100 percent mild arabica. A peace deal between the government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in late 2016 paved the way for many to return to their homes and farms, including thousands of coffee growers. About 220,000 people died and millions were displaced in decades of fighting among leftist guerillas, paramilitary groups, criminal organizations and government forces. The conflict impacted large areas of the country, and the government struggled to exert control over highlands and remote jungle areas in the west and south of the country. Some farmers who stayed through the violence have also switched to coffee from growing coca and other illegal crops that they cultivated during the conflict. Coca is used for cocaine production, and the cash from growing it helped finance armed groups during the war. The combination of farmers returning to their abandoned land and others switching to coffee could help boost the country's total output to a record 20 million 60-kg bags by 2020, the government estimates, up from 14.2 million bags in 2016. GOING HOME In the Andean region of San Carlos, the revival in coffee production has advanced quickly since conflict in the region abated around 2014, when the peace deal was still being negotiated. The country's conflict with rebels began in 1964 and peaked in this region around 2000. After fleeing his farm, Garcia spent time in the city of Medellin and then in the town of San Carlos. "We came back because we love the land," he said, leaning against the fence outside his home, a brick house adorned with baskets of flowers. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Garcia pointed out a former FARC stronghold in the distance, in tree-covered mountains about an hour's walk from his farm. Most of his neighbors have yet to return, he said, either because they are skeptical the peace will last or because they have made lives elsewhere. Before moving his family back, Garcia traveled the 13 kilometers from nearby San Carlos every weekend for three years to plant new coffee trees and remove the dead ones. Garcia has plenty of land to expand his farm further but cannot yet find the labor because too few people have returned to surrounding communities. New high-yielding trees have helped boost harvests, but the region is still far from reaching its potential because of the labor shortage, said Rosa Velasques, manager of the local cooperative where about 1,000 local farmers sell their beans. 'A LOT OF WORK' International roasters have jumped at the opportunity to buy more beans from Colombia, the world's third-largest coffee producer and the source of a third of the world's mild arabica supplies. Italian roaster illycaffe has expanded its buying to parts of the country that were unreachable during the violence. "Now they've opened up," said illycaffe Chairman Andrea Illy. The firm had increased purchases from the region by double digit percentages for the last two to three years, Illy said, and it expects growth to continue at similar rates. In 2016, Nestle Nespresso bought its first coffee from a post-conflict region of Colombia and launched it this year as a limited edition. "A lot of these regions, nobody had even been in and tasted the coffee until recently," said Katherine Graham, Nestle Nespresso's corporate communications manager. "There are some areas with strong potential," Graham said. "But it needs a lot of development, a lot of work." Starbucks Co expanded its partnership with the United States Agency for International Development to give 1,000 farmers in post-conflict zones agricultural training. It also partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank to support 2,000 farmers in Colombia - mainly women - with a loan initiative. Colombian entrepreneur Gonzalo Navarro launched a roasting company called Piccolo Piacere in Medellin earlier this year, focusing on sourcing from small coffee growers, many in former conflict zones. "We have access to farmers who in the past were growing other things, such as coca," he said. Back near San Carlos, farmer Rubiela Cuervo works a remote farm with her family. She fled to Medellin to escape the violence in 2005 but struggled to make a living and returned a year later despite the ongoing violence. She has expanded the farm as peace returned to the area in recent years. "We hope that peace will bring us more employment, more income for our work," she said. "I'm hoping not to be displaced again." (Editing by Simon Webb and Brian Thevenot) FILE PHOTO: A young boy stands behind an Iranian flag at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, Iran, May, 5, 2010. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo (Reuters) By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday its ballistic missile programme would accelerate despite U.S. and European Union pressure to suspend it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. In a significant U.S. policy shift on Oct. 13, President Donald Trump disavowed Iran's compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and launched a more aggressive approach to the Islamic Republic over its missile development activity. "Iran's ballistic missile programme will expand and it will continue with more speed in reaction to Trump's hostile approach towards this revolutionary organisation (the Guards)," the IRGC said in a statement published by Tasnim. The Trump administration has imposed new unilateral sanctions aimed at impairing Iran's missile programme. It has called on Tehran not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs. Iran says it has no such plans. Tehran has repeatedly pledged to continue what it calls a defensive missile capability in defiance of Western criticism. "Trump's anxiety and trembling voice in his speech was a sign of beginning of the era of failure for America's hegemony," Tasnim quoted IRGC chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari as saying. "Boosting Iran's defence power remains our top priority." Iran has one of the most advanced ballistic missile programmes in the Middle East, viewing it as an essential precautionary defence against the United States and other adversaries, primarily Gulf Arab states and Israel. "Imposing cruel sanctions against the Guards and hostile approach of the rogue and brute (U.S.) president shows the failure of America and the Zionist regime's (Israel) wicked policies in the region," the Guards statement said. Signalling no respite in tension in the Middle East, where Shi'ite Muslim Iran has waged a long proxy war with U.S.-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the Guards also vowed to continue confronting the United States and Israel. Story continues "More decisive and stronger than ever, the Guards will continue to defend Islamic Iran and its interests," the statement said, alluding to the Quds force, the Guards' overseas arm that operates in Iraq, Syria and Yemen among other places. Trump's hardened Iran stance has united officials behind the IRGC. "Today, Iranians, boys, girls, men, women, are all IRGC. Standing firm with those who defend us and the region against aggression and terror," U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his twitter account after Trump's speech. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alison Williams) By Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The battlefield deaths of two leaders of an Islamic State alliance in the southern Philippines could thrust a Malaysian who trained at an Al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan as the militant group's new regional "emir", experts and officials say. Intelligence officials describe Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad as a financier and recruiter, who helped put together the coalition of pro-Islamic State (IS) fighters that stormed Marawi City in May. Isnilon Hapilon, Islamic State's anointed "emir" in Southeast Asia, and Omarkhayam Maute, one of two Middle East-educated brothers at the helm of the militant alliance, were killed in a raid on a building in Marawi and their bodies recovered on Monday, Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. Philippine authorities said they were still searching for Mahmud. Based on our information, there is still one personality, Dr. Mahmud of Malaysia, and he is still in the main battle area with some Indonesians and Malaysians, military chief, Gen. Eduardo Ano, said on Monday. But their attitude is now different, they are no longer as aggressive as before. He did not elaborate. Ano urged the 30 militants remaining in a shrinking combat zone to surrender and free hostages as troops stepped up their fight. Abdullah Maute, the alliance's military commander, was reported killed in August, though no body was found. Intelligence officials in Malaysia believe Mahmud left Marawi months ago. Malaysia's police counter-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay told Reuters in July that Mahmud "managed to sneak out from Marawi city to another safe place with his followers". The 39-year-old Mahmud, who holds a doctorate in religious studies and was a university lecturer in Kuala Lumpur, was Hapilon's second-in-command in the IS's Southeast Asia "caliphate", according to a July report by Indonesia-based Institute of Policy Analysis and Conflict (IPAC). RECRUITMENT AND FINANCING Sitting in the inner circle of the Marawi command centre, Mahmud controlled recruitment and financing, the IPAC report said. He was the contact for foreigners wanting to join the fight in the Philippines or with IS in the Middle East, it said. "It wasn't just Indonesians and Malaysians contacting Dr. Mahmud ... he was also the contact for Bangladeshis in Malaysia who wanted to join the fighting in Mindanao," IPAC's director Sidney Jones told Reuters. Rohan Gunaratna, an analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, described Mahmud as "the most important IS leader in Southeast Asia". Ahmad El-Muhammady, a lecturer at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) and a counter-terrorism advisor to the police, said Mahmud often solicited funds for IS operations. "He's always the one asking people "does anyone have any money they'd like to donate?", and he will usually reply when followers in the region ask him about the situation in the Philippines," Ahmad said. 'JUST DISAPPEARED' Mahmud grew up in Batu Caves, a crowded Kuala Lumpur suburb, famous for a Hindu temple housed in a large complex of caverns. Mahmud's wife and three children were last known to be living there, although Reuters could not locate them. Before leaving Malaysia in 2014, Mahmud taught young Muslim students at a tahfiz, a school to memorise the Koran, in Nakhoda, a village near Batu Caves, residents said. "When he (Mahmud) started the school, he did stay there for the first one or two years, but then he just disappeared," said 50-year-old Zainon Mat Arshad, a Nakhoda resident who went to the mosque where Mahmud prayed. "When he was at the tahfiz school, he kept mostly to himself and if he had come over to pray on Friday, I don't think anyone would have recognised him," said Zainon. "He didn't mingle with the local community." Security experts say Mahmud studied at Pakistan's Islamabad Islamic University in the late 1990s before going to Afghanistan where he learnt to make improvised explosive devices at an al Qaeda camp. In 2000, he returned to Malaysia to get a doctorate, which earned him a post as a lecturer in the Islamic Studies faculty at the University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Former students described Mahmud as a quiet person who kept to himself. "He wasn't the kind of lecturer who hung out at cafes with his students as some others did," said one former student, who declined to be identified. WROTE JIHAD BOOK The few signs of his militant beliefs were discovered later, including a book he wrote on jihad under his nom de guerre, Abu Handzalah, said Ahmad, the IIUM lecturer. He was put on Malaysia's most-wanted list in April 2014 after leaving the country with several others, including his aide, a Malaysian bomb maker named Mohammad Najib Husen, to work with the Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for violent kidnappings and beheadings in the southern Philippines, Ahmad said. Mahmud received funding for the Marawi operation directly from IS headquarters, through the group's Southeast Asian unit led by Syrian-based Indonesian militant Bahrumsyah, the IPAC report said. In a video released by the Philippines army in June, Mahmud is seen alongside Hapilon as well as Omarkhayam and Abdullah Maute - the pair of brothers who orchestrated the Marawi siege. (Editing by Praveen Menon and Bill Tarrant) [October 18, 2017] Global Artificial Intelligence Market in Healthcare Sector: Analysis & Forecasts, 2017-2025 (Focus on Real-Time Monitoring, Precision Medicine, Personal Health & Nursing Assistants, and Robot-Assisted Surgery) LONDON, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Artificial Intelligence Market in Healthcare Sector is Estimated to Reach $28 Million by 2025 Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5149259 Artificial intelligence continues to propel the healthcare industry with increasing revenue at a global level. The rapid pace at which the scientific innovations are taking place, the spanning of artificial intelligence into various healthcare verticals and the fact that the efficiency of systems can be improved using artificial intelligence led to the global emergence of artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector. The global Artificial Intelligence market in healthcare sector is estimated to witness a growth at a CAGR of XX% over the period 2017 to 2025. This growth is expected due to increasing need for driving huge amount of complex data which can be achieved with the usage of artificial intelligence. The North American industry was an early adopter of artificial intelligence technologies which has now made it a hub for the companies providing artificial intelligence solutions for the healthcare market. With the presence of all the major companies in the artificial intelligence market, this region acquires the major market share and is currently dominating global artificial intelligence in the healthcare market. The region also offers companies potential growth opportunities because of the increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies across various verticals of the healthcare industry. The most often used strategy for developing a better hold on to the market has been through partnerships & collaborations, followed by new product launches. Moreover, the company profile section includes highlights of significant information about the key companies involved along with their financial positions, key strategies, and developmental activities of recent years. Some of the key players involved in this market are iCarbonX.com, GE Healthcare, Medtronic PLC, Enlitic Inc., Alphabet Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, Next IT Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., International Business Machines Corporation, Intel Corporation, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Flatiron Health Inc., and Welltok Inc. The report is a compilation of different applications of Global Artificial Intelligence Market in Healthcare Sector including real-time monitoring, precision medicine, personal health & nursing assistants, drug development & discovery, robot-assisted surgery, administrative workflow assistance, clinical trials, and diagnostic & clinical decision support. It further takes in market dynamics. The report also discusses in detail about the key participants involved in the industry. The report answers the following questions about the Global Artificial Intelligence Market in Healthcare Sector: What is the size, in terms of value ($million), of artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector in 2016, and growth rate during the forecast period, 2017-2025? What are the major market drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector? What is the market share of the leading applications of the global artificial intelligenc market in healthcare sector in 2016 and 2025? How will the industry evolve during the forecast period between 2016 and 2025? Which geographical location will dominate the artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector? What are the new strategies adopted by the existing market players to make a mark in the industry? Who are the key players in the artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector? Executive Summary The rapid pace at which the scientific innovations are taking place, the spanning of artificial intelligence into various healthcare verticals and the fact that the efficiency of systems can be improved using artificial intelligence can be ascribed as the prime reasons for the enhancing growth rate of the global artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector. In terms of value, the artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector is estimated to reach $XX million by 2025 at a CAGR of XX% through the forecast period. This growth in the artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector is attributed to the increasing need for driving huge amount of complex data which can be achieved with the usage of artificial intelligence. However, governmental regulations, lack of skilled workforce and high upfront investment are acting as restraints for the growth of artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector. The artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector has been tracked along the lines of its application areas, and geography. Revenue generated from various application areas, namely real-time monitoring, precision medicine, personal health & nursing assistants, drug development & discovery, robot-assisted surgery, administrative workflow assistance, clinical trials, and diagnostic & clinical decision support have been analyzed. The report also covers the artificial intelligence market in healthcare sector on a global scale, and consequently provides revenue data of the key regions. A separate segment has been made for the key global regions: North America , Europe , Asia Pacific (APAC), and Rest of the World (ROW). Artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector has maximum usage in the personal health & nursing assistant application. The adoption of personal health and nursing assistants has witnessed a robust growth, over the recent years. Presently, people are more focused on spending their time in something productive rather than wasting it in the hospitals waiting for their turn. Personal health and nursing assistants support the patients by analysing their historical medical reports and present conditions. Babylon is the perfect example of a personal health and nursing assistant application. Babylon is an application for android and iOS users, which is based on common medical knowledge and personal medical history. The app checks the symptoms reported by the user against a database of diseases with the help of speech recognition. The app suggests an appropriate action after analyzing the circumstances and the patient's history. Moreover, the app follows up with the patients about their health and also notifies them for the medication. This will help the patients to decrease their waiting time at the hospitals and increase the efficiency of diagnostic process. The market is dominated by North America region and Asia Pacific is expected to grow with the highest rate in the coming years. In North America , the U.S. acquires the major market share and is currently dominating the market. The healthcare industry in the U.S. is driven by the presence of several key players and the high investments. In 2016, the U.S. government invested $1 billion in funding towards artificial intelligence research. The U.S. government has also been the single largest purchaser of healthcare services in the U.S. In 2015, the U.S. government launched the Precision Medicine Initiative with the aim of collecting genetic data from people. Asia Pacific has been the fastest growing region in terms of developments and innovations due to presence of the leading companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Siemens and GE Healthcare, among others. Japan has always been one of the leading regions when it comes to the technological developments because of its refined communications infrastructure. Some of the key players in the industry are iCarbonX.com, GE Healthcare, Medtronic PLC, Enlitic Inc., Alphabet Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, Next IT Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., International Business Machines Corporation, Intel Corporation, Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Flatiron Health Inc., and Welltok Inc. Countries Covered North America U.S. Canada U.K. Germany France Japan India China South Korea ROW Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5149259 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 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-artificial-intelligence-market-in-healthcare-sector-analysis--forecasts-2017-2025-focus-on-real-time-monitoring-precision-medicine-personal-health--nursing-assistants-and-robot-assisted-surgery-300539446.html SOURCE ReportBuyer [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A group of investors, mainly Singaporeans, won a years-long battle over a property investment in South Island... View of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu, taken from the platform next to the Skyline Restaurant. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) A group of investors, mainly Singaporeans, won a years-long battle over a property investment in South Island, after New Zealands top court ruled that they could get back their NZ$8 million (S$7.8 million) deposits, which includes interest, reported The Straits Times. The investors, who also included Thais and Malaysians, will also recover NZ$800,000 in legal costs, revealed counsel Phil Creagh, who represent a large group. This comes after the court upheld the investors right to back out of the three-stage project on the shores of Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown, which stalled during the first stage when its developer went bankrupt. Between 2006 and 2010, the investors inked contracts to acquire luxury apartments that were part of the first stage of the development. Dubbed Kawarau Falls Station, the three-stage project involved an integrated lakeside resort development, featuring over a dozen hotels as well as serviced apartment complexes. Halfway through the construction of the blocks, however, the global financial crisis occurred. With this, developer Peninsula transferred the stage-one assets to Melview (Kawarau Falls Station) Investments in 2007. But since the latter was placed in receivership in 2009, ownership of the assets was then passed to its subsidiary, Kawarau Village Holdings. Upon completion of the apartments, the sellers demanded payment from the buyers, who refused. In ruling for the buyers, NZ Chief Justice Sian Elias said the completion of the whole project was an essential term in the contract. Because the (seller) had put it out of its power to complete the development at the time it called for settlement, the purchasers of the apartments in the first stage were not obliged to settle the purchases, explained Dame Elias. This article was edited by Keshia Faculin. A top aide to US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, following a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. "Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties - including to disarm terrorists -- and commit to peaceful negotiations," Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, said in a statement. "If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements," he added in the first detailed US response to last week's Palestinian unity deal. The statement from Greenblatt was similar to the Israeli government's response this week in which it vowed not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless the Islamist group agrees to a list of demands. The demands included recognising Israel and renouncing violence. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in Cairo a week ago aimed at ending a bitter 10-year split. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation has recognised Israel, but Hamas has not and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008, and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Egypt has also kept its border with Gaza largely closed in recent years. Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since seizing it in a near civil war with Fatah in 2007 following a dispute over elections won by the Islamist movement. Amnesty International on Thursday alleged police and justice authorities in Poland are suppressing anti-government protesters, a claim flatly rejected by the interior ministry. "The Polish government is cracking down on peaceful protesters in a blatant attempt to dissuade further protests," AI said in a new report published on Thursday. Titled "Poland: on the streets to defend human rights", it focuses on several demonstrations against the rightwing government's approach to justice issues, the rule of law and the women's rights organised earlier this year. AI insists that protesters who hit the streets in July to demonstrate against judicial reforms by the Law and Justice (PiS) government "were exposed to abusive police practices that were unnecessary or disproportionate". The international human rights group alleges that Polish "authorities use techniques such as surveillance, harassment and prosecution to disperse and prevent mass protests", insisting that these practices must stop. Amnesty also urged Warsaw to respect freedom of assembly and expression. Poland's interior ministry termed the allegations made by AI "unjustified" in a Thursday email to AFP. Since taking office in 2015, the PiS government has provided heavy police protection for street demonstrations organised by groups on the right of the political spectrum, including the extreme right. In August, police used force to remove protesters blocking a march by members of a far-right youth organisation in central Warsaw, insisting they were protecting a legal event. Poland's foreign minister in August denied accusations his EU country was drifting towards authoritarianism amid a string of government reforms that have triggered mass protests at home and warnings from the EU. (Photo: Thinkstock) Two teenagers who assaulted a chef for hurting a female friend of theirs were sentenced to reformative training and probation at the State Courts on Thursday (19 October). Muhammad Danial Lufti Abdul Karim and Ahmad Zikri Muhammad Zain, both 19, pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt each. Ahmad was ordered to undergo reformative training, while Danial was given a 24-month probation. Both were unrepresented in court. On 18 February, Ahmad Zikiri had gathered Danial and another friend, Adam Mohammad Sesth, at The Cathay after informing them that his female friend had been hurt by a male chef 35-year-old Ahmad Saiful Mohd Ramdan who worked at the Eighteen Chefs restaurant outlet there. It is unclear if the hurt caused to the female friend entailed physical injury or otherwise. When the trio spotted Ahmad Saiful walking out of The Cathay later that day, Ahmad Zikri and Danial decided to tail the him. Around 11.05pm, the pair approached Ahmad Saiful outside the mall. Ahmad Zikri then asked why Ahmad Saiful had stared at him, before proceeding to punch and kick Ahmad Saiful on the face and body multiple times. Danial had also joined in the attack, which continued even after Ahmad Saiful had fallen to the ground. Both the attackers then ran away. The assault was witnessed by four members of the public, who called the police. Two of them gave chase to the attackers and managed to detain Danial with the help of another member of the public. Danial was arrested after police arrived while Zikri was nabbed the next day, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Soh. Ahmad Saiful was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital via ambulance. A medical report said that he suffered eight injuries, including a fracture around the area of his eye. In his own defence, Danial said that he did not know what would happen when Zikri had called him down to The Cathay that day. However, District Judge Eddy Tham Tong Kong dismissed Danials suggested, pointing to the severity of the injuries that Saiful had suffered. More Singapore stories: The grieving mother of a US soldier slain in an ambush in Niger reportedly said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had disrespected her son during a call he made to offer his condolences. "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband," Sergeant La David Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Washington Post. She said she agreed with an earlier account of the conversation given by a lawmaker who heard part of the call and accused Trump of insensitivity after he told Johnson's pregnant widow that the young soldier "knew what he was signing up for." Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida, said she listened in to part of a group phone call between the president and the grieving family. "I didn't hear the whole phone call, but I did hear him say, 'I'm sure he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts,'" she told CNN. Trump denied making the comments, tweeting Wednesday: "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" He later told reporters: "I did not say what she said," and that "I had a very nice conversation." When asked about what "proof" he could offer, Trump said: "Let her make her statement again then you will find out." Johnson was among four US soldiers killed October 4 in Niger, where Islamic State fighters have established a presence. The Miami native's body was returned home Tuesday afternoon. He is survived by his wife Myeshia Johnson, who is expecting the couple's third child. After the phone call, Myeshia "was crying, she broke down. And she said 'he didn't even know his name,'" said Wilson, referring to Trump. Trump had faced criticism for not contacting the families of the soldiers killed in Niger right away. At a press briefing on Monday, he said he had written them letters and would call soon, while accusing his predecessor Barack Obama of neglecting to call as many grieving families as himself. He also suggested on a call to Fox News radio Tuesday that Obama had not made a condolence call to retired Marine general John Kelly, Trump's White House chief of staff, after his son was killed in action in Afghanistan. The statements sparked outrage from former Obama aides, who said Trump's claims were baseless. Turkish police have detained businessman and leading civil society activist Osman Kavala, reports and his lawyer said Thursday, raising fresh alarm over freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kavala was detained at Istanbul's Ataturk airport after flying in from the southern city of Gaziantep, the Dogan news agency said. His lawyer Ferat Cagil told AFP that Kavala was apprehended immediately after the flight landed late Wednesday and has been remanded in custody for seven days ahead of a court hearing. Cagil said it was unclear what his client was accused of. "The case is confidential. Whatever is said would be speculative now. We will find out when he testifies," he said. - 'Watching closely' - Kavala is chairman of the Anadolu Kultur (Anatolian Culture) NGO which aims to overcome differences within Turkish society especially through culture and the arts. It has a focus on cultural collaboration with Europe, supporting joint projects between cities and co-producing initiatives ranging from theatre to magazines. "France, like other European countries, cooperates regularly with Mr Kavala, who is a frequent point of contact for our embassy," said French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne. "France will be watching developments in this case very closely," she added, emphasising that Turkey's international obligations were based on observing human rights and freedom of expression. Anadolu Kultur has also sought to reach out to Armenia. Turkey has no relations with the country partly due to the dispute over the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which Yerevan considers a genocide. Richard Giragosian, director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center (RSC) think tank, described Kavala as "our longtime partner in efforts to 'normalise' relations with Turkey." "He has greatly contributed to the restoration of Armenian churches and monuments in Turkey," Giragosian told AFP. The Dogan agency reported that Kavala had been in the city of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, to discuss a project with Germany's cultural outreach organisation, the Goethe Institut. It said he was detained as part of an investigation by Istanbul prosecutors, without giving further details. The Hurriyet daily said Kavala was detained on the plane after it landed and police had simultaneously conducted a search of Anadolu Kultur's offices in Istanbul. - 'Latest attack on civil society' - The arrest comes as rights concern intensify under the state of emergency imposed after last year's failed coup against Erdogan. Eleven human rights activists, including the two top figures from Amnesty International's Turkey branch, will go on trial in Istanbul next week on hugely controversial terror charges. The case has raised tensions with Sweden and Germany, whose nationals are among those detained. In telephone talks this week, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland told Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul the activists should be released as "pre-trial detention should be a measure of last resort." In total 156 journalists, most detained under the state of emergency, are currently behind bars, according to the P24 activist group. Amnesty's Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner said on Twitter that the arrest of Kavala was the "latest attack on civil society in Turkey". "Osman Kavala has worked tirelessly to build reconciliation, dialogue and support the rule of law in Turkey," added Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch. Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, described the arrest as "very disturbing" and said she would ask EU lawmakers "to launch (an) urgent call for his release". Reports said Kavala was born in Paris but took over the family business when his father died. He is also the co-founder of the Iletisim publishing house. "The arrest of our friend Osman Kavala is a turning point in the oppression of the human rights movement" under Erdogan, said Benjamin Abtan, president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM). Prominent Turkish opposition commentator Hasan Cemal wrote on the T24 website: "You (Kavala) are not alone. We are beside you! Together we will continue to fight together for the rule of law, human rights and freedom in Turkey." The United States on Wednesday was headed for a showdown at the United Nations with Russia over prolonging the mandate of an investigative panel looking into who is responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The joint UN-OPCW probe is set to present its final report on October 26 on who was behind the sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, just weeks before its mandate expires. Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has said that it wants to study the report on Khan Sheikhun before deciding whether to support another one-year mandate for the panel. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the Security Council must vote on renewing the panel, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), before the report is released. "The Russians have made it very clear that should the report blame the Syrians suddenly they won't have faith in JIM. If the report doesn't blame the Syrians, then they say that they will," Haley told reporters. "We can't work like that." The United States will circulate a draft resolution on Wednesday aimed at extending the JIM and will seek a vote at the Security Council "as soon as possible," Haley said. Russia could decide to use its veto to block the draft resolution and effectively shut down the investigation of deadly gas attacks in Syria. "It would be a shame if Russia chose to decide whether to have an investigative mechanism based on who is to blame in Khan Sheikhun," said Haley. - Russia says sarin bomb used in Khan Sheikhun - The United States, France and Britain have accused Assad's forces of carrying out the April 4 attack on Khan Sheikhun, an opposition-held village in Idlib province. At least 87 people, including more than 30 children, died in the attack that drew global outrage over the use of banned sarin as a weapon. During a briefing last week to UN member-states, Russian foreign ministry official Mikhail Ulyanov said the sarin attack was most likely caused by a bomb set off directly on the ground and not by a Syrian air strike. Russia will study the report on Khan Sheikhun by the JIM to "judge if it deserves the extension," said Ulyanov. Haley said there was "overwhelming support" in the council to allow the JIM to continue its work and stressed that "we can't go and pick and choose who we want to be at fault and who we don't." The JIM has already determined that Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine attacks on three villages in 2014 and 2015, and that Islamic State jihadists used mustard gas in 2015. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) earlier this year presented a report confirming sarin gas was used in Khan Sheikhun, but did not assign blame, leaving that determination to the JIM. In total, the OPCW is investigating as many as 45 suspected chemical attacks in Syria since mid-2016 including the recently-disclosed use of sarin on an opposition-held village on March 30. Those investigations are then sent to the JIM which seeks to determine who is responsible for the attacks. Chipotle had its stock downgraded on Wednesday by an analyst at Bank of America. It makes sense. The chain has endured a tough time. Health-safety issues that had scared customers away resurfaced this summer. Bill Ackmanthe erratic, hypomanic hedge-fund managerhas amassed a large stake in the company, which is often a contrary indicator. Chipotles latest game-changing productqueso!hasnt met a rapturous reception. In this golden age of lunch, competition is intense, and consumers have fantastic, affordable choices. The stock has fallen about 20 percent in the past yeara year in which the S&P 500 rose 20 percent. Advertisement So, yes, an analyst might question Chipotles prospects. But this one had another problem: the wages of the generally low-paid people who staff Chipotles locations. While the company has aggressively cut down on the number of hours per employee as its sales have fallen, analyst Gregory Francfort noted, We believe further gains from trimming hours will prove difficult which limits the opportunity to get labor below 27 percent of sales even if traffic recovers. Simply put, Francfort is down on the stock because Chipotle cant lower the percentage of every dollar of revenue it spends on labor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Which tells you everything that is wrong about our economy. There is a widespread mystification about why wages have failed to grow in the past several years even as the labor market has tightened. Technology and automation and the decline of unions are of course partially to blame. But the underplayed, unspoken, and often unrecognized problem is a broader pathology about wages. Weve raised a generation of managers, executives, investors, and stock analysts to believe that labor costs shouldnt have to rise, that people dont deserve raises in line with the rising cost of living, and that the labor market shouldnt function like all the other markets that businesspeople have to negotiate. Advertisement Advertisement But the labor market is a market in which people have to compete for resources. As with any market, supply and demand fluctuate, which influences prices. When theres a glut, you can get what you want for very little. When theres a comparative shortage, you have to cough up more and start thinking of how you can do more with less. Alas, too many people believe that the dynamics of the labor market are frozen where they were in 2009. The most damaging thing about the deep recession was the sharp rise in unemployment. Millions of people were thrown out of work in 2008 and 2009, and the unemployment rate spiked to 10 percent in October 2009. The competition for jobs was Darwinian: In July 2009, there were 6.6 unemployed people for every job opening in the U.S. Thats a horrific ratio. And it meant that every type of employer could find the exact employee it wanted at prices it could dictate. Desperate for work, even highly paid professionals were willing to work at places like Chipotle and Starbucks for the low hourly wages on offer. They needed the income. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But that was supposed to be temporary. The economy and the labor market move in cycles. And as the economic expansion gained its footing in 2009 and 2010, the economy began to add jobs at the same time that companies began posting higher numbers of new jobs. (Thanks, Obama and Bernanke and Yellen!) In fact, the economy added jobs for 83 straight months, until hurricanes interrupted the streak in September of this year. With each passing month, there were more people on payrolls, fewer people desperate for work, and importantly, more employers looking to fill positions. In August 2010, there were 2.92 million job openings in the U.S.; in August 2017, there were 6.1 million. The ratio of unemployed people to job openings now stands at a mere 1.1 to 1, an 83 percent decrease from July 2009. Thats a terrible ratiofor employers. Advertisement Advertisement In a world in which employees should have the upper hand over employers, youd expect those fishing in the shallow end of the labor pool to confront the most difficulty. People with skills are largely able to put them to work in todays economy. Despite the retail apocalypse, there are hundreds of thousands of open service positions at stores, restaurants, and hotels. Retailers are trying to add hundreds of thousands of temporary employees for the holiday shopping season. Of course a labor-intensive outlet like Chipotle would have a hard time clamping down on labor costs. Advertisement Advertisement Chipotles inabilityor unwillingnessto drive labor costs proportionally lower may actually be a positive sign. In fact, given what is going on in the marketplace, managing only a small increase in labor costs may show a high level of competence, or at the very least, recognition of reality. Indeed, when you look at the actual numbers, it seems like Chipotle is doing a pretty good job of doing so. In the most recent quarter Chipotles labor costs were 26.2 percent of revenues. Thats actually down from 27.7 percent of revenues in last years comparable quarter. Advertisement Advertisement You could even argue that Chipotles inabilityor unwillingnessto drive labor costs proportionally lower is a positive sign. While automation gets a ton of ink, its clear that in many areas the robots just arent ready to do humans jobs. When I look at a company whose labor costs are rising or staying the same, that indicates to me that its not simply signing up any warm bodies it can get at the lowest possible wages. Rather, its actually competing at some level for talent. It means its staffing up sufficiently to keep things moving along. (Nothing kills traffic at a fast-food chain like having to wait 20 minutes for your burrito bowl.) Advertisement Advertisement Theres another thing that analysts have forgotten: There are no winners in the race to the bottom. When companies with large numbers of employees raise wages (either because theyre responding to regulations, or to the market, or because they want to differentiate themselves), they push their competitors and those in adjacent industries to do so as well. And when wages rise, especially for those on the lower end of the labor market like restaurant and retail workers, more money gets plowed into consumption. If Bank of America gives 10 analysts a $100,000 bonus, it wont lead to $1 million more being spent at Walmart and Chipotle. If Walmart and Chipotle give 100,000 employees a $10 bonus, a substantial chunk of that money will wind up in retail outlets and restaurants. Maybe then even professional financial analysts would understand that rising wages arent a bad thing. [October 18, 2017] Samsung Addresses IoT Data Security at the Chip Level with New Hardware/Software Turn-Key Solution Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today introduced its integrated Secure Element (SE) solution for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that offers a turn-key service for both hardware and software needs. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006313/en/ Samsung's new Secure Element Solution (Photo: Business Wire) As the benefits of IoT devices grow, so does the importance of security throughout the network that spans from cloud, servers and hubs to the individual connected devices. With both hardware and software support for the security requirements in today's IoT devices, Samsung's SE solution will help chip manufacturers to easily employ reliable security features, and bring innovative products ad services to market faster. At the hardware level, Samsung's SE will stop and reset itself the moment it detects abnormal activity, thus protecting the sensitive data stored within the security IC (integrated circuit). The SE adopts embedded flash (eFlash) for the first time in the industry at the 45-nanometer (nm) process node, which brings faster data processing and more flexible software modifications compared to traditional EEPROMs (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory). Samsung's dedicated software for the SE supports various tasks such as personal verification, security key storage, and encoding and decoding. This software also allows key and authentication information to be safely transferred between devices, servers and clouds. "Securing personal information stored on electronic devices and in the cloud is a top priority," said Ben K. Hur, Vice President of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung's Secure Element solution is another demonstration of our advanced security technology that has been proven through mobile application processors (AP), smart card ICs and other semiconductor products. We believe that applications for Samsung's SE solution will continue to diversify along with the vastly expanding IoT industry." The SE and developer board are on display at the Samsung Developer Conference on October 18 and 19, 2017, in San Francisco, USA. About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006313/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The relationship between sales and marketing has always gotten a bad rap. After all, both teams share the same ultimate goal, which is driving revenue. The problem is they use different yardsticks to measure their success along the way. Sales has specific quotas for deals closed and dollars earned. Marketers, on the other hand, use measurements like impressions, clicks and leads. As a result, its always been difficult to coordinate efforts between sales and marketing. And it can be even harder to connect the dots between marketing efforts and sales results. In the last few years, though, customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have changed everything by combining sales and marketing tools in a single platform. A CRM lets everyone access and use complete customer information in one place. Now, sales and marketing have a shared view of whos engaged with a customer, how theyve done it, how customers have responded, where they are in the funnel and much more. For small and midsize businesses, CRM has been an especially huge boon because it gives them the same technology as larger enterprises. And now, B2Bs are in the midst of three dramatic changes that have made CRM more indispensable than ever for closing the gap between sales and marketing. Customers are Engaging Later The first change has to do with your customers themselves. A typical B2B customer is 57 percent into the purchase process before they engage directly with a supplier. Thats because todays customers dont want to talk to your sales reps until theyve fully educated themselves about you, your product and your competitors. They do that through extensive online research and by talking to their peers in person and via social media. By starting their research without you, customers have shortened the sales cycle and blurred the line between sales and marketing. That makes it more difficult to know where and when to engage with customers, and who should be engaging. A good CRM will help you make those decisions by giving visibility into what actions potential customers are taking, what the context of those actions are, and what your best response is. For instance, if your CRM shows a lead accessed an educational video via your Twitter feed, marketing might follow up with an email offering a white paper. On the other hand, if a lead clicks from the company website to a trial, sales knows they need to jump in quickly for their best shot at a hot opportunity. Account-based Marketing is Proving its Potential The next big change for B2B marketing is related to strategy. Todays customers are not only more educated about the products theyre looking at, they also have more options to choose from. As a result, they expect your marketing materials to offer something they wont find anywhere else. Marketers cant meet those high expectations by casting a wide net, so were seeing a significant shift toward account-based marketing (ABM). ABM uses highly personalized marketing to focus intensely on fewer big wins rather than many smaller ones. And the results are hard to argue with. Almost 85 percent of marketers who measure ROI say ABM delivers higher returns than any other marketing approach. CRM plays a critical role in ABM because it allows sales and marketing to collaborate closely on creating the seamless customer experiences that are the key to making it successful. Working in the same system with the same information makes it easier to identify the most valuable accounts, zero in on the right decision-makers and orchestrate the most effective personalized campaigns. The third compelling advancement for B2B is a technology breakthrough that makes CRM and ABM even more powerful. AI is Huge for Automation Engaging effectively with todays ever-changing digital, social, mobile customers is a tough feat for any sales or marketing team. And its especially challenging for SMBs with limited resources. A good CRM already earns its keep by freeing you up from routine tasks and automating key processes that support the customer journey. But now, artificial intelligence is taking automation to a place that sales and marketing professionals only dreamed of a couple years ago. With AI, CRM can guide sales and marketing teams step by step through the entire lifecycle of a deal its all about getting the right content to the right person at the right time and on the right channel. It starts by determining which accounts have the greatest potential to be valuable customers. Then it selects which leads within an account are most worthwhile to pursue. It can predict which channel will most likely solicit a response and what action any given lead is most likely to take next, and then recommend the best form of engagement to capitalize. It can tell you whether marketing or sales should make the next move, and even what content they should share with the lead to drive them most effectively toward a deal. Smart SMBs have learned that the fastest, easiest way to adapt new technologies and strategies like AI and ABM is to choose a CRM that automatically integrates them into existing business processes. With every improvement that comes along, the CRM becomes more powerful and closes the gap between sales and marketing. Tighter relationships between sales and marketing lead to stronger relationships with your customers and it all starts with the right CRM. Businesses in several states and territories are struggling to recover after recent hurricanes. Harvey, Irma, Jose and Nate all had an impact on residents and businesses in the U.S. And for small businesses especially, recovery can be a lengthy process. But the early stages of recovery can be critical for small businesses. If you wait too long to secure financing and get your business back up and running, it could be too late. In fact, 40% of small businesses never recover after a disaster. Vernon Tirey, founder and CEO of LeaseQ, an online marketplace for business equipment financing, said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, The most important thing for any business is their customers. And the longer you delay serving your customers, the more risk there is that your customers will go get that service someplace else. So its very important to get back to operating as usual as quickly as possible. Sources of Financing for 2017 Hurricane Season Business Recovery So if your business was impacted by one of the recent storms, you could very well be looking for financing options to get your business back up and running. Here are some options for you to consider, broken down by state. Texas Small businesses were impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas on August 25 through September 3. and many still are struggling to keep their doors open to customers. Here are funding resources for small businesses recovering from Hurricane Harvey in Texas. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance Businesses in certain counties in Texas may be eligible for up to $2 million in loans to aid with disaster recovery efforts. Additionally, the Small Business Development Centers, Womens Business Centers, Veterans Business Outreach Centers and SCORE offices are available to help businesses with financial counseling and other services. FEMA Disaster Assistance FEMA offers a wide range of disaster assistance options for residents in Texas. This isnt specifically a business related offering. But if you have a home office, the program could help you repair any space or equipment that you use for your business. Houston Recovers Houston Recovers offers resources for businesses and individuals trying to recover from Harvey and other disasters. This includes a list of banks in the area offering low interest loans to businesses. Houston Business Development, Inc. Houston Business Development, Inc. offers several different types of business loans ranging from $5,000 to $5 million. You can use these loans for equipment, real estate or working capital. Louisiana Certain counties in Louisiana were also impacted by Harvey, and then again by Nate in early October. Here are some resources for those businesses affected. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance The SBA also has loan assistance available to businesses in the counties affected by Harvey. You can receive up to $2 million to help with the costs associated with recovering and rebuilding. Louisiana Economic Development Small Business Loan and Guarantee Program Qualified businesses may receive between $5,000 and $1.5 million in guaranteed loans and financial assistance. Businesses must create or retain at least one job, depending on the amount of the loan. Mississippi Parts of Mississippi were adversely affected when Hurricane Nate made landfall in early October. Here are some resources for businesses in those areas. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance The SBA also has loan assistance available to businesses in the counties affected by Nate. You can receive up to $2 million to help with the costs associated with recovering and rebuilding. Small Business Capital Fund of MS The Small Business Capital Fund of MS provides non-traditional financing options for small businesses. Small businesses can apply for loans for equipment, location rehab or working capital. Alabama Hurricane Nate also made an impact on some counties in Alabama. Here are resources for those businesses. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance The SBA also has loan assistance available to businesses in the counties affected by Nate. You can receive up to $2 million to help with the costs associated with recovering and rebuilding. LiftFund Alabama LiftFund is a non-profit organization in Birmingham that helps businesses access loans, microloans and training. Small businesses can access loans of up to $1 million through this program. Florida Hurricane Irma made a huge impact in many parts of Florida from August 30 to September 16. For businesses in the state looking for financing options, check out the list below. SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans FEMA and the SBA recommend that businesses and homeowners in disaster areas in Florida apply for loans through the SBA. Businesses may be eligible for up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged real estate or other assets. FEMA Disaster Assistance FEMA offers a wide range of disaster assistance options for residents in Florida. This isnt specifically a business related offering. But if you have a home office, the program could help you repair any space or equipment that you might use for your business. Enterprise Florida Small Business Loan Support Program Enterprise Florida offers credit and microfinancing options to small businesses needing help with startup costs, equipment, inventory, real estate or working capital. Amounts and rates vary depending on the type of financing your business requires. LiftFund Florida LiftFund Florida is a non-profit organization that helps small businesses access capital through business loans up to $1 million, microloans and business training. Puerto Rico Hurricanes Irma and Maria made a huge impact on the island of Puerto Rico. With many still struggling to rebuild, here are some resources for businesses. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance The SBA also has loan assistance available to businesses in the counties affected by Harvey. You can receive up to $2 million to help with the costs associated with recovering and rebuilding. You can learn more from the San Juan district office. FEMA Disaster Recovery Assistance FEMA is offering disaster recovery assistance for individuals and families in Puerto Rico to help with things like debris removal and repairs to bring locations up to safety standards. Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico The Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico offers loans and financing options for small and medium sized businesses that qualify. You can apply online or by phone, though amounts and rates vary. U.S. Virgin Islands The U.S. Virgin Islands also suffered due to the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September. Here are resources for those businesses. SBA Disaster Loan Assistance The SBA also has loan assistance available to businesses in the counties affected by Harvey. You can receive up to $2 million to help with the costs associated with recovering and rebuilding. You can learn more from the San Juan district office, which also features a location on St. Thomas and St. Croix. Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center The Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center also offers resources for small businesses in the area, including advising and support to help small businesses find other funding sources. Eighteen electric buses will be deployed by next June at the latest Font size: A - | A + Citizens and visitors of Bratislava can look forward to travelling in electric buses. The Bratislava Transport company (DPB) will acquire a total of 18 electric buses for 9.5 million from EU funds and the state budget by the end of this year. It will deploy them gradually, but not later than next June. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The electric buses will be another step to making the capital more ecological. Money is already approved and the buses will be purchased, said Bratislava Mayor Ivo Nesrovnal. We are following the path of modern European metropoles. DPB will procure a total of 16, 12-metre-long buses and two mini nine-metre electric buses. All will be low-floor, air conditioned and equipped with modern technologies including wi-fi. DPB general director Milan Urban specified that the electric buses will replace the diesel ones. This will decrease emissions as well as noise in the streets. Operation of these buses will also be cheaper. From the viewpoint of operations, it is advantageous that these buses are suitable for the hilly terrain that makes up part of Bratislava, said Urban as cited by the TASR newswire. The public transport company plan to deploy the mini e-buses on lines 27 in Dubravka and 151 in Nove Mesto. The big e-buses will run on lines 43, 52, 53, 65, 66, 80 and 94, for example. In order that the electric buses can travel the streets in Bratislava, it is necessary to build charging stations for them. DPB will build them in the depots of Krasnany and Jurajov Dvor. Two charging stations will also be built along the routes of the electric buses. Despite a mounting list of scandals Andrej Babis, the billionaire ex-finance minister of Slovak origin, and his ANO party remain the frontrunners in the Czech Republics October 20-21 general election. Font size: A - | A + Babis placed his Agrofert agro-chemical conglomerate in a trust earlier this year, but is still the trusts beneficiary. That company, the countrys largest private employer, also owns the MAFRA publishing house. The interview took place in early October at ANO headquarters in Prague, just days before Mr. Babis received fraud charges from police related to his Capi Hnizdo resort and the Slovak Constitutional Court ruled on his alleged ties to the communist-era secret service, the StB. In the Capi Hnizdo case he is alleged to have intentionally used his family to collect EU subsidies earmarked for small firms to develop the resort, before reabsorbing that company back into Agrofert. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement We need to start with Capi Hnizdo Andrej Babis: Did you visit Capi Hnizdo? You have to go there. The investment is close to 40 million, and we are talking here about less than 2 million in subsidies. If I weren't in politics, you would never hear about Capi Hnizdo. The politicians are constantly lying about this investment. This is public, 40,000 people are visiting the place Its not public. A national forest is public. Its private and for profit, isnt it? AB: Okay, but [the candidate of Social Democrats for prime minister Lubomir] Zaoralek, who doesnt know anything about economy or how to run a company, said this is kept private, which is a lie. Our politicians, and some journalists too, are repeating that this is only my family ranch or whatever. There are 68 employees. The farm pays more to the state than it got. And this is a 10-year-old case, which of course is organised to influence the election. Read aslo: Read aslo: Babis did not re-write the past Read more What is not 10 years old is the discovery your family were the owners. That was a secret until much more recently. AB: The owners were members of my family. It occurred within the law. In 2008, there were 140 companies, receiving 3.8 billion crowns in subsidies, which had anonymous shares. If I wanted to cheat and commit fraud it would be much simpler to do it in the British Virgin Islands. So why not just say your family was in charge years ago? If there was nothing to hide, why were the shares anonymous? AB: No one asked about it. My family did not want to make it public. And it was not against the law. Find me one project financed by EU money where the proportion of money is 5 percent from the EU and 95 percent from private ownership. You will never find such a project, never. Now there is a campaign against me from all these anti-Babis websites which belong to ex-journalists from the media I bought. So you dont regret keeping the owners a secret? AB: No. Tell me why the European Anti-Fraud Office [which is still investigating the case] is so interested in such a small amount. Everything is politics. Last year in January the European Commission requested an audit of the Capi Hnizdo subsidies. You were finance minister then, and the independent auditor, Evzen Mrazek, was under the supervision of the ministry. You fired him in February and replaced him before he could do the audit, right? AB: I never fired anybody. There were seven deputy ministers. I fired two of them. I have nothing to do with this. There were several audits. There is nothing. All audits have confirmed that the money was given by the rules. So it is just a coincidence that the chief auditor, one month after the European Commission requested an audit, lost his job, and then the audit occurred after that? AB: I dont even know what I am speaking about. I have nothing to do with this. All of this stuff comes from anonymous leaks by Mr. [Lukas] Wagenknecht, who is somebody who is really ill. He should look for a psychiatrist. He is constantly lying. [NOTE: Lukas Wagenknecht is a former deputy finance minister and auditor that has become a prominent critic of how Mr. Babis ran the finance ministry.] You fired Mr. Wagenknecht though, yes? AB: I did fire him, too late. I should never have hired him. He is a real danger. He is always fighting against Czech interests. He is a fanatic. He is constantly flying to Brussels, this Capi Hnizdo investigation is his work. I am sure this is his revenge because he was fired. He told me that you fired him from a deputy minister job, but offered him another job as a political appointee instead and that he turned you down. AB: It was a job as somebody that is not under the law for state employees. I made a big mistake in taking him in. He is a fanatic. So is Capi Hnizdo the most important thing for you? It is important. AB: Why? Because you facing prosecution would be a pretty big deal. AB: Maybe you need to read the story of Chirac or Berlusconi. But Berlusconi was a crook. AB: I am not a crook. I am just saying that in the past there were some cases where the police were used, that this is not the first time the police were used to change the political situation. What makes ANO a good choice to change the political situation? AB: I am not corrupt. The other guys are corrupt? AB: Yes, and it is very funny when they are speaking about conflict of interest. All tenders my company applies for are public. The only criteria is price. And of course, subsidies, they are constantly lying about the subsidies. Every Czech farmer got the same subsidies, 5,500 crowns per hectare. You have a lot of farms though. AB: Well yes, but these Czech journalists forget to write 100,000 hectares are rented. Most of the subsidies go for rent. Why did they come with this Capi Hnizdo now, in the last days of the possible request? This is just a game to keep this affair in media everyday. Our independent [public-service] Czech Radio and TV, do you know who nominates these councils? The traditional parties. They are inviting only my enemies on TV. Only ex-employees of my media, who hate me. I broke not only the political system, but also the media system. All media belonged to German investors. They didnt care about the journalists. They just took dividends and the journalists were the voice that said you could or could not be in politics. MAFRA [the publishing house I now own] was for ODS, they were just writing speeches for ODS. Everybody is says that I am a danger of democracy, but meanwhile [leader of the far right SPD party Tomio] Okamura is fine. I am not saying Okamura is fine. Are there parties you would not cooperate with in a government? AB: Not with the communists, nor Okamura. [TOP 09 leader Miroslav] Kalousek also no. These traditional parties are playing this game left and right, but they are not left and right. They have had the same program. Power and money. Now they also have the same program, anti-Babis. The right destroyed the Czech banks, left privatized the banks, the right increased VAT from 5 to 15 percent. If [former Prime Minister and President Vaclav] Klaus had gone for a traineeship on how to build capitalism in January 1990. We would already have these TGVs, and highways, and dual system and direct democracy and parliamentary procedure. I am just saying that the state, and the government mainly, should be managed like a company. The biggest problem there is nobody managing the government. There are only two guys who have managed the government in the history of the Czech Republic, Klaus and Zeman, and I am not speaking about the quality. Read also: Read also: Surprise bakery audits possibly connected to Babis Read more Speaking of Mr. Zeman, is he a good president? AB: Mr. Zeman has of course people around him, who should not be there, who are making very negative publicity for him. Of course, unfortunately, he did not try to unify the nation. When he won against [former Foreign Minister Karel] Schwarzenberg, the people who voted for Schwarzenberg have continued to fight against him, and of course he has given them a lot of reasons to do so. So do you support Mr. Zeman for reelection in January? AB: We said we would have an ANO referendum after the elections. Is it possible there will still be an ANO candidate? AB: No. We dont have anybody. Besides being against corruption, are there actual policies that differentiate ANO? AB: Of course, today they will announce my results as minister of finance. I accomplished my promise and the debt will be 73 million crowns lower than when I started. There will be a surplus in budget. If you won the election, would you run a balanced budget every year? AB: It depends. The problem is that the growth is made by consumption and exports. We need to make growth by investments. So we did not the finish the base highway infrastructure yet. We still dont have the ring road. So you would run deficits to finance infrastructure? AB: I am sure that we can have a surplus. We can reduce the number of ministers. We can reduce the cost of government. We can use the base management approach like central purchasing, IT systems. We can be like Estonia, digitalisation. You dont have any power over regional governors or mayors. Somebody has to manage things with them, give names and dates. This is nothing against democracy. This is just to manage the state and with the governors and mayors. We need an inventory of all the investment plans of everybody, mayor, governors, senior houses, port facilities. I dont agree that we grow because of Europe, of course that matters, but we have growth in our own hands. We need to move tourists from Charles Bridge and Telc and Cesky Krumlov to other sites. Like Capi Hnizdo? AB: Capi Hnizdo is still losing money. Should the Czech Republic join the eurozone? AB: No. Why? AB: Because the eurozone needs to reform first. Everybody knows that Greece is bankrupt. The eurozone was an economic project that became political. Creditors have written off 100 billion for Greece and the eurozone has practically helped the European banks with 600 billion. We have very safe banks here, they are full of money. They are paying dividends. In the eurozone there are more negatives than positive. Most Czech exports go to the eurozone though. AB: Of course, there would be some positives, our companies would not have to hedge on currencies and so on. For Czech companies it would be positive of course. The question is what would be the conversion rate? For us the Czech currency and independent national bank is a good thing, because if there is a big crisis you can use the rate to help the economy. Read also: Read also: Political prisoners are against Memory Institute reform Read more Eurozone membership would be good for Agrofert wouldnt it? AB: Yes, for Agrofert it would be good probably, but I am not here for Agrofert. The up front fees, the bank union, that they would force us to buy the bonds of Italian, or I dont know, Greek banks. Our commercial banks prefer to buy bonds of the Czech state. What do you think about what we are seeing from some other governments in the region, like Hungary and Poland? They are not exactly giving the Visegrad Group a strong reputation globally right now. AB: Europe is criticising Poland. If there is some not democratic procedure I am sure that the Polish people during the next elections, they will express their opinion. If Europe is criticising Poland, fine, but what about Turkey? Turkey is not in the European Union. AB: No, but it is in NATO. Europe is criticising Poland but is giving 3 billion to Turkey because it was not capable to solve the immigration problem. We should really be objective. What about Mr. Orban ? AB: Mr. Orban was obliged to build a fence because central Budapest was full of immigrants. He was right. Frontex is not functioning and Europe could not solve the problem. The Hungarian people are also free, they have free elections. And Mr. Fico? AB: I know Mr. Fico, but my partner was [Finance Minister Peter] Kazimir. Mr Kazimir, [German Finance Minister Wolfgang] Schauble and the UK were my partners on the reverse charge tax policy. We were on the same boat. On the other side was France. I met [French President Emmanuel] Macron in 2015, he is fine, but he should probably concentrate on France. You are not excited by his plans for reforming the European Union? AB: No, we dont need any minister of the eurozone. He promised to decrease taxes in 2018 and France needs lots of reforms. So he should concentrate on France. Small countries like the Czech Republic can propose solutions, not only big nations. Luxembourg is also small and Mr. Juncker is always proposing something. Sme Voters indifference affects regional votes - Can Slovaks be lured back from Britain? - Petit Press majority owner dies Font size: A - | A + video //www.sme.sk/vp/36219/ These top 3 stories from Slovakia are a selection of headlines from a weekly overview that subscribers of The Slovak Spectator can read or listen to. Sociologists estimate the turnout of the upcoming vote to be below 25 percent. The low turnout could bring extremists to the helm in some regions, particularly in Banska Bystrica and Nitra. Foreigners with permanent residence in Slovakia can also vote in the November 4 elections. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement As EU and UK politicians debate the terms of Brexit, the Slovak government contemplates how to motivate its citizens to come back home from Britain. Official estimates point to up to 90,000 Slovaks currently working in the UK and the government lays its hopes on a prepared campaign to persuade tens of thousands of them to return.On Sunday, a major Slovak entrepreneur, Peter Vajda, died in Prague. Vajda co-founded the Sme daily in 1993 and was the majority owner of the Petit Press publishing house, which also owns The Slovak Spectator. He was exceptional in his innate sense of democracy and believing in equal opportunities for all, Petit Press CEO Alexej Fulmek wrote in his obituary for Vajda. Below you can listen to all the headlines from Last Week in Slovakia published on October 18. The case is still not concluded. The Supreme Court will have to deal with the appeal of ex-ministers; the case of embezzlement by the non-licensed banking institution of Jozef Majsky has also become protracted. Font size: A - | A + This May marked ten years since the moment when officers working under the then-construction minister, Marian Janusek (SNS) published the announcement of a public tender, worth 120 million, on a bulletin board in the closed lobby of the ministerial building. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement This Wednesday, October 18, Janusek was sentenced to 12 years in prison. His successor in the position, Igor Stefanov, also received a prison sentence of nine years. Why did one of the biggest corruption scandals become protracted for years until only now do we have the first verdict, which the former politicians immediately appealed? The case went no-where with the police, too. Although the first suspicions of avoidance of the law go back to 2007, the police launched the first criminal prosecution in this case as late as September 2009. They ultimately charged specific people, including both the ex-ministers, only two years later, in March. Read also: Read also: Historically first ex-ministers were sentenced for the bulletin-board tender Read more By that time, their sentencing seemed unrealistic and the suspects no longer feared any consequences. These criminal complaints are jokes, Stefanov said while still serving his term as a minister. He added that his fault was that as an officer working under Janusek, he had signed contracts worth millions. At that time, he really did not have anything to fear . He was still protected by the MP's immunity, while the General Prosecutor's Office, then temporarily led by Ladislav Tichy, refused to ask parliament to strip him of this. Tichy argued that the police failed to prove any guilt on behalf of Stefanov. So far, not all the facts that would entitle me to file a request for approval of the criminal prosecution of MP Igor Stefanov, have been established, explained Tichy who returned the whole file of the bulletin-board tender for re-investigation. Janusek, when commenting on the tender, only repeated that he had signed what was given to him to be signed, and he had no clue about any bulletin board. They did a sloppy job with expert opinions Over the course of time, statements from both ex-ministers became more moderate, especially after their party, the SNS, left parliament. Consequently, Stefanov was finally charged shortly after the 2012 election when he lost the MP's immunity. In the following months, the police claimed that they were finishing up their investigation which would be completed by the end of 2013. However, not even this deadline was kept and at the beginning of the next year, they started to elaborate on new expert opinions. The prosecutor claimed it was not possible to specify what damage the state did suffer. The volume of the order will be compared with real delivered goods and services, Police President Tibor Gaspar explained. Finally, the investigation was concluded in March 2016 with a total of five people being charged the two ex-ministers as well as three more ministry officials. The trial at the Specialised Criminal Court started this March and ultimately showed that other people may have been guilty in this case too. The testimonies of several witnesses in the court session implied that the lawyers of the company which won the tender, Avocat belonging to Robert Lences and Juraj Hatvany, were involved in the case. They allegedly prepared the whole tender so that it could be later won by Avocat, a firm close to the SNS. Marta Budisova, too, could have problems; she oversaw the tender from the position of Public Procurement Office official. The Majsky trial also becomes protracted Despite the fact that Janusek with Stefanov have announced that they will appeal the verdict, they are already the first top politicians to be sentenced by the courts. Former education minister Laszlo Szigeti, charged with subsidy fraud, was close to being sentenced. The Bratislava Regional Court acquitted him last month, however. The case involved subsidies of 116,000 from 2006, to renovate a school gym in the village of Zemianska Olca, which was in fact not renovated. Other court cases involving well-known personalities have also become protracted for years. Among them is the case of businessman Jozef Majsky, accused of embezzling the bankrupt non-licensed bank institution, Horizont Slovakia, with damages amounting to about 40 million Slovak crowns. Although the police first arrested him on the Austrian border 15 years ago, and later, he was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Specialised Court in Pezinok, he appealed the verdict. Since last year, the case has been stuck at the Supreme Court. The chairperson of the panel dealing with this case, Gabriela Simonova, last year told Sme that the court deals preferentially with other cases. The latest news is that the Majsky trial is scheduled for the end of November. Sme Doctor boasted about slapping a mother-to-be to calm her down, now losing his job. Font size: A - | A + A doctor was trying to calm down a hysterical mother-to-be, so he slapped her. His discussion with a nurse, with whom he was boasting about this experience, is captured in the recent childbirth documentary Before I Met You, directed by Zuzana Limova. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The University Hospital Bratislava (UMB) has now decided to dismiss the doctor, who was working for its branch in Kramare, the Sme daily reported. We will terminate our working relationship with the doctor, UMBs general director Juraj Kovacs said, as quoted by Sme. The doctor is currently on holiday. Though it has not been proven that he really slapped the mother-to-be, according to his statements he violated the code of ethics, explained Igor Rusnak, head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kramare. The film captures women giving birth in the UMB, the biggest hospital in Slovakia. Its representatives were trying to block the document, but lawyers later made concessions. The screening of the documentary started in October. Read also: Read also: Maternity wards pay little attention to human rights Read more The hospital representative still dislike the film though. It is very biased, Kovacs said, as quoted by Sme. Entrepreneurs complain that needless bureaucracy discourages them from further investments and growth. Font size: A - | A + Companies in Slovakia still consider red tape a problem worsening the countrys competitiveness and discouraging them from growing and employing more people. This stems from the recent survey carried out by the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS). Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Nonsensical state bureaucracy in Slovakia has been a barrier that is not getting smaller, but increasing instead, said Peter Kremsky, executive director of PAS, as quoted by the TASR newswire. In the recent competitiveness ranking issued by the World Economic Focus, managers described red tape as the second biggest obstacle for doing business, after corruption. The business environment index also suggests that bureaucracy belongs among the biggest problems, Kremsky added. Read also: Read also: Slovakias competitiveness has improved Read more Red tape is not only annoying, but prevents Slovak companies from competing against rivals from other countries. This results in the country not having as high an economic growth as it could. The same applies for the creation of jobs, the possibilities of expanding to foreign markets and higher salaries. Nearly three-quarters of respondents consider this a serious problem, while one-quarter say it is only a partial problem, TASR reported. The needless red tape mostly impacts the motivation of entrepreneurs to do business, invest, grow and hire new staffers. More than half of the respondents chose this possibility, while one-quarter complained mostly about the loss of time. The rest picked the waste of energy and money, the PAS survey suggests. Moreover, the respondents complain most about the red tape accompanying various permits, confirmations and certificates, as well as reporting various data and statistics. Read also: Read also: Slovakias business environment keeps deteriorating Read more The third most annoying area is the personnel agenda, followed by the tax and payroll levies agenda. The results of the survey suggest that entrepreneurs in Slovakia still need to deal with many documents for the official authorities. The fact is that most of them are issued by the state or one of its offices, which turns people into couriers who have to spend their time visiting various authorities and delivering documents to them, TASR reported. The Defence Ministry considering a change of law. Font size: A - | A + A total of 55 people have applied for the second annual active reserves training project. The Defence Ministry will thus fail to meet its aim of training as many as 219 people to become part of the active reserves next year, the TASR newswire reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The ministry now wants to amend the law so that more potential active reservists will meet the conditions. Defence Minister Peter Gajdos (a nominee of the Slovak National Party) admitted that this cannot be called a success. We spoke about the need of amending the law back when we were launching the project, Gajdos said, as quoted by TASR. The amendment has already been submitted for interdepartmental review. I believe that we managed to set the conditions so that more people can meet the criteria, since the number of those who have shown interest in joining the project within recruitment groups is much higher than the number of those who have actually applied. A total of 49 men and six women have applied, including 17 people who have undergone voluntary military training. Those who have applied for the active reserves have not yet been assessed in terms of meeting the legal conditions and their psychological condition. Based on the results, the Armed Forces will decide whether to launch training in all planned professions, i.e. chemists, artillery crews and sappers. Those concerned will receive a motivational contribution of 600 for each calendar year for them to remain in the active reserves. The sum will be paid to them retroactively if they undergo at least 75 percent of the training, TASR reported. [October 19, 2017] Huntkey Introduces Its New Product - The USB-C Adapter Which is Well Suited When Charging Notebook Appliances and Electronic Devices SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Huntkey has released a new product called The USB-C Adapter. Below are the main features and characteristics of the product and also a comparison to some of its competitors. USB-C, also known as USB Type-C, is the new standard port for both charging and data transferring on electronic devices such as laptops, smart phones and tablets. It enables significantly faster charging and data transferring. Owing to its superior performance to its predecessors, USB-C is slowly replacing previous USB types, including USB-A, USB-B and USB Mini-B ports that have been prevalent over the past several decades. Huntkey USB-C Notebook Adapter Presented at GSE: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Huntkey-USB-C-laptop-adapter.jpg At present, not every device has this powerful port yet, but as many of the world's most recognized manufacturers are supporting this new technology, it is likely that more and more devices will employ it. Consequently, many USB-C accessories will come out in the mean time to meet the charging and data transferring demands, such as USB-C notebook adapters, USB-C chargers and USB-C cables. There are a few notebooks which have employed USB-C ports, including Apple MacBook, Dell XPS 13 and Asus ZenBook 3 Deluxe. According to the USB-C notebook users, it is a much better experience than ever before when using a USB-C adapter for notebook charging. Faster and more stable power delivery make USB-C adapter the best choice for notebooks. Take The Huntkey 60W USB-C adapter for example, which was presented at Global Sources Electronics (GSE). Not only does it deliver SuperSpeed charging, it is universal for charging for multiple devices. Huntkey 60W USB-C Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/USB-Type-C-adapter.jpg SuperSpeed Charging with USB Power Delivery Technology USB Power Delivery, or USB PD, is a charging technology and protocol used in the field of power delivery. The theoretical statistics shows that USB PD can charge devices up to 70% faster than traditional standard 5W charging, and provide more power to charge tablets and laptops quickly. Applied with this powerful charging technology, the USB-C notebook adapter is undoubtedly competitive among all kinds of adapters. USB-C Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-type-c-adapters.jpg Universally Compatible with Different Kinds of Devices USB-C connector is small enough for a smart phone but powerful enough for a laptop, which means it can be used to charge a wide range of electronic devices, such as smart phones, power banks, tablets, laptops, monitors and drones. Thanks to this impressive performance, it gives manufacturers the flexibility in designing devices that are thinner and lighter, while also improving usability by reducing the number of cables connected to multiple devices. USB-C Notebook Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-typec-adapter.jpg Reversible Connector for Convenient Access Different from all the previous USB types, USB-C connector features a new and standardized small reversible-plug that can be plugged in either way for easy access to the electronic devices, meaning the users no longer have to get the plug the right way round. This "reversible" design is the main feature of USB-C connector, which kills off the most irritating problem of connection and hence less inconveniences. USB Type-C Laptop Adapter: https://en.huntkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/usb-c-adapter.jpg About Huntkey Huntkey Group, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Shenzhen, is a member of The International Power Supply Manufacturer's Association (PSMA) and a member of The China Power Supply Society (CPSS). With branch companies in the USA, Japan and other areas, and cooperating factories in Brazil, Argentina, India and other countries, Huntkey has specialized in the development, design, and manufacturing of PC power supplies, industrial power supplies, surge protectors, adapters and chargers for many years. With its own technologies and manufacturing strength, Huntkey has served Lenovo, Huawei, Haier, DELL, ZTE, Bestbuy and many other large enterprises for years, and has received unanimous recognition and trust from many customers. For more information about Huntkey, please visit http://en.huntkey.com/ Media contact: Homer Phone: +86-755-89606545/ +86-13763373238 Email: [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huntkey-introduces-its-new-product---the-usb-c-adapter-which-is-well-suited-when-using-notebook-appliances-and-electronic-devices-300539723.html SOURCE Huntkey [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Constitutional Court decided in favour of National Memory Institute which included Andrej Babis in its list of communist secret service confindants. Font size: A - | A + The day after Soviet Union leader Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died in November 1982, two members of the State Security (StB) secret service and Andrej Babis met at the wine bar at the centre of Bratislava. At that time Babis was deputy director for one of the divisions belonging to the Petrimex foreign trade company. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Babis was a then confidant of StB for two years, according to StB documents. Confidants helped secret service agents to gather information on their fellow citizens. Usually they targeted those who were suspicious of opposing the communist regime. The candidate was approached for a response on the death of comrade Brezhnev. Then the candidate was invited to comment on whether he would continue to cooperate with counterintelligence bodies and he agreed, reads the StB document published by the Czech weekly Euro. Read also: Read also: Babis: I am not a crook Read more The state security co-operation ended in 1985 when Petrimex sent Babis to Morocco. Babis, who is of Slovak origin and is now the second wealthiest man in Czech Republic, serves as Czech Finance Minister and in October 2017 running in the parliamentary elections. He has denied his cooperation with StB and sued the Slovak National Memory Institute (UPN), which included him in its list of StB confidants in 2013. The Bratislava Regional Court and the Supreme Court decided in Babis favour from then until the Constitutional Courts senate issued a verdict on October 12, which stated that the UPNs rights were violated and changes the way courts are supposed to deal with such cases. What a coincidence, Babis commented on the verdict, as quoted by the Czech news portal ihned.cz. A few days before elections the Slovak Constitutional Court decides to negate all of its previous decisions and creates chaos and unpredictability in the Slovak legal system. But the Health Ministry claims the patients do not have to fear the changes. Font size: A - | A + Units dealing with minor injuries will close from 22:00, after President Andrej Kiska signed the amendment to the law on health care to this effect on October 19. Moreover, the medical first aid service will be closed next summer at the latest and replaced by the so-called solid and additional network of urgent care units. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The former type will be opened in every district capital from 16:00 to 22:00 during workdays and from 7:00 to 22:00 during weekends and holidays. The latter will be voluntary and should be opened at least two hours at the same time as the first type of the urgent care units, the TASR newswire reported. The urgent care units will close earlier because patients do not visit them after 22:00, according to the ministry. Doctors are currently on duty at the urgent care units until 7:00, without having any patients, and then they start work at their own surgeries, Health Minister Tomas Drucker (Smer nominee) said, as quoted by TASR. Patients need not fear the changes, he added, explaining that the urgent care units are not set to deal with serious health conditions like heart attacks and serious injuries. In these cases, they can go to emergency departments or call an ambulance, Drucker explained. Read also: Read also: Emergency departments will change Read more The amendment brings changes to the operation of outpatient departments run by general practitioners as well. Under the new rules, they will serve more. They will have to be available for their patients for at least 35 hours and twice a week their outpatient department will have to be opened until 15:00. The aim is to improve the availability of medical treatment. We know everyone cannot be lumped together, but the practice has shown that there have been cases when general practitioners were not available for patients after 12:00, so people had to go to the urgent care units in the evening, Drucker said, as quoted by TASR. The doctors associations disagreed with longer surgery hours, though. The Bratislava regional authority turned its attention to the Adelais Clinique one year ago, following complaints of health complications by some patients. Font size: A - | A + Vienna has asked the Bratislava regional authority for assistance in dealing with the activities of an illegal Bratislava-based plastic surgery clinic called Adelais Clinique following reports that, via a contact company, it is offering its services to people in Austria. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Governor of the Bratislava region, Pavol Freso, has confirmed that his office has been in contact with Vienna city hall. This communication with Vienna city hall included a statement by doctor [Yassine] Ghazi [Abou Ghoneim] that he holds all the necessary permits, said Freso as cited by the TASR newswire. Vienna city hall asked us to verify this claim. However, the Bratislava regional authority reports that the clinic does not have the necessary licence and neither does Ghazi have attestation in plastic surgery, said chief regional authority doctor, Valerian Poticny. He added that the authority is continuing to carry out inspections at the facility. The most recent inspection took place on Monday, said Poticny. We didnt see any activity at the facility and the phone listed among the clinics contacts was turned off. Bratislava regional authority began turning its attention to the Adelais Clinique one year ago, following complaints of health complications by some patients. The following companies are subsidiares of LyondellBasell Industries: A. Schulman, A. Schulman 's-Gravendeel B.V., A. Schulman AG, A. Schulman Asia Limited, A. Schulman Belgium BVBA, A. Schulman Canada Ltd., A. Schulman Castellon S.L., A. Schulman Europe GmbH & Co. KG, A. Schulman Europe International B.V., A. Schulman Europe Verwaltungs GmbH, A. Schulman Gainsborough Ltd, A. Schulman GmbH, A. Schulman GmbH (Austrian Branch), A. Schulman Holding Company France S.A.S., A. Schulman Holdings (France) S.A.S., A. Schulman Holdings S.a.r.l., A. Schulman Inc., A. Schulman Inc. Limited, A. Schulman International Inc., A. Schulman International Services BVBA, A. Schulman Ireland Limited, A. Schulman Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, A. Schulman Nordic AB, A. Schulman Plastics (Branch), A. Schulman Plastics (Dongguan) Ltd., A. Schulman Plastics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., A. Schulman Plastics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., A. Schulman Plastics BVBA, A. Schulman Plastics India Private Limited, A. Schulman Plastics PTY. LTD., A. Schulman Plastics S.r.l., A. Schulman Plastics SAS, A. Schulman Plastics bvba Bornem Sucursala Cluj-Napoca, A. Schulman Plastics organizacni slozka, A. Schulman Plastk Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, A. Schulman Plasticos do Brasil Ltda., A. Schulman Polska Sp. z o.o., A. Schulman Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, A. Schulman S.A.S., A. Schulman S.a.r.l., A. Schulman Thermoplastic Compounds Limited, A. Schulman Thermoplastic Compounds Sdn Bhd, A. Schulman de Mexico S.A. de C.V., A. Schulman del Peru S.A.C., A.Schulman Poznan Sp. Z o.o., ARCO Chemical, AS Global Holdings Inc., AS Mex Hold S.A. de C.V., AS Worldwide LLC, AS Worldwide LLC & Cie S.C.S., ASI Akron Land Co., ASI Employment S.A. de C.V., ASI Investments Holding Co., Al Waha Petrochemical Company, BKV Beteiligungs- und Kunststoffverwertungs-gesellschaft mbH, BMC Deutschland GmbH, BMC Dongguan Limited, BMC Far East Limited, BMC TetraDURTurkey Plastik Hammadde Kompozit Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limted Sirketi, Basell (Thailand) Holdings B.V., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Basell Advanced Polyolefins (Thailand) Company Ltd., Basell Arabie Investissements SAS, Basell Asia Pacific Limited, Basell Bayreuth Chemie GmbH, Basell Benelux B.V., Basell Chemie Koln GmbH, Basell Europe Holdings B.V., Basell Germany Holdings GmbH, Basell Holdings Middle East GmbH, Basell Iberica Poliolefinas Holdings S.L., Basell International Holdings B.V., Basell International Trading FZE, Basell Italia S.r.l, Basell Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Basell Moyen Orient Investissements SAS, Basell North America Inc., Basell Orlen Polyolefins Sp. Z.o.o., Basell Orlen Polyolefins Sprzedaz Sp. Z.o.o., Basell Poliolefinas Comercial Espagnola S.L., Basell Poliolefinas Iberica S.L., Basell Poliolefinas Ltda., Basell Poliolefinas S. de R.L. de C.V., Basell Poliolefine Italia S.r.l., Basell Polyolefin Istanbul Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Basell Polyolefine GmbH, Basell Polyolefines France S.A.S., Basell Polyolefins Company BVBA, Basell Polyolefins India Private Limited, Basell Polyolefins Korea Ltd., Basell Polyolefins UK Limited, Basell Sales & Marketing Company B.V., Basell Service Company B.V., Basell Slovakia s.r.o., Basell Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Basell UK Holdings Limited, Basell UK Ltd., Brindisi Servizi Generali S.c.a.r.l., Bulk Molding Compounds Inc., Bulk Molding Compounds Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bulk Molding Compounds do Brasil Industria de Plasticos Reforcados Ltda., Citadel Brazil Holdings LLC, Citadel Intermediate Holdings LLC, Citadel Plastics Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc., Citadel Plastics Mexico Holdings LLC, Citadel Plastics Netherlands Holdings LLC, Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre SAS, Compagnie de Distribution des Hydrocarbures SAS, EMS Holding Ltd., EPS Ethylen-Pipeline-Sud Geschaftsfuhrungs GmbH, EPS Ethylen-Pipeline-Sud GmbH & Co. KG, Elian S.A.S., Equistar Bayport LLC, Equistar Chemicals LP, Equistar GP LLC, Equistar LP LLC, Equistar Mont Belvieu Corporation, GuangZhou Basell Advanced Polyolefins Co. Ltd., HGGC Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc., HGGC Citadel Plastics Intermediate Holdings Inc., HMC Polymers Company Limited, HPC Holdings LLC, Hadlock Plastics LLC, Houston Refining LP, I.F.M. S.c.a.r.l., ICO Europe C.V., ICO Holdings LLC, ICO Holdings New Zealand Limited, ICO Petrochemical Cayman Islands, ICO Polymers Cayman Islands, Indelpro S.A. de C.V., Infraserv GmbH & Co. Hochst KG, Inmobiliaria Satchmo S. de R.L. de C.V., Innovacion Y Desarrollo en Materiales Avanzados A.C., J.R. Courtenay (N.Z.) Limited, LPI Holding Company, LYB (Barbados) SRL, LYB Advanced Polymer Solutions Ireland Limited, LYB Americas Finance Company LLC, LYB Equistar Holdings LLC, LYB Export Holdings Limited, LYB Exports Inc., LYB Finance Company B.V., LYB International Finance B.V., LYB International Finance II B.V., LYB International Finance III LLC, LYB Ireland 2 Limited, LYB Ireland Limited, LYB La Porte Hyperzone LLC, LYB Luxembourg S.a r.l., LYB Matrixx Holdings Inc., LYB Receivables LLC, LYB Trading Company B.V., LYB Treasury Services Ltd., Limited Liability Company "LyondellBasell Polyolefins", Limited Liability Company A. Schulman, Lucent Polymers Inc., Lyondell Asia Holdings Limited, Lyondell Centennial Corp., Lyondell Chemical Company, Lyondell Chemical Europe Inc., Lyondell Chemical Overseas Services Inc., Lyondell Chemical Products Europe LLC, Lyondell Chemical Properties L.P., Lyondell Chemical Technology 1 Inc., Lyondell Chemical Technology L.P., Lyondell Chemical Technology Management Inc., Lyondell Chemie (PO-11) B.V., Lyondell Chemie (POSM) B.V., Lyondell Chemie Nederland B.V., Lyondell Chimie France SAS, Lyondell China Holdings Limited, Lyondell Greater China Holdings Limited, Lyondell Greater China Ltd., Lyondell Greater China Trading Limited, Lyondell Japan Inc., Lyondell PO-11 C.V., Lyondell POJVGP LLC, Lyondell POJVLP LLC, Lyondell POTechGP Inc., Lyondell POTechLP Inc., Lyondell Refining Company LLC, Lyondell Refining I LLC, Lyondell South Asia Pte Ltd, LyondellBasell Acetyls Holdco LLC, LyondellBasell Acetyls LLC, LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins Mexico S.A. de C.V., LyondellBasell Australia (Holdings) Pty Ltd, LyondellBasell Australia Pty Ltd, LyondellBasell Brasil Ltda., LyondellBasell Canada Inc., LyondellBasell Central Europe Kft., LyondellBasell China Holdings B.V., LyondellBasell Circular Economy B.V., LyondellBasell Covestro Manufacturing Maasvlakte V.O.F., LyondellBasell Egypt LLC, LyondellBasell F&F Holdco LLC, LyondellBasell Finance Company, LyondellBasell Holdings France SAS, LyondellBasell Hungary Kft, LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V., LyondellBasell Industries N.V., LyondellBasell Investment LLC, LyondellBasell Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., LyondellBasell Polyolefin (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., LyondellBasell Services France S.A.S., LyondellBasell Subholdings B.V., LyondellBasell Taiwan Co. Ltd., LyondellBasell Transportation Company LLC, Millennium Chemicals, Natpet Schulman Specialty Plastic Compounds, Ningbo ZRCC Lyondell Chemical Co. Ltd., Ningbo ZRCC Lyondell Chemical Marketing Co. Ltd., OE Insurance Ltd, Oil Casualty Insurance Ltd., Oil Insurance Limited, PD Glycol LP, PO JV LP, PO Offtake LP, POSM II Limited Partnership L.P., POSM II Properties Partnership LLC, PT A.Schulman Plastics, PT ASchulman Plastics Commercial, PTT Chemical PCL, Poly Pacific Polymers Sdn. Bhd., Poly Pacific Pty. Ltd., PolyMirae Co. Ltd., Premix Holding Company, Premix Inc., Prime Colorants Inc., QCP B.V., QCP Holding B.V., QCP IP B.V., Quantum Composites Inc., RIGK GmbH Gesellschaft zur Ruckfuhrung industrieller and gewerblicher Kunstoffverpackungen mbH, Rayong Olefins Co. Ltd., Rexene - LDPE and PP Businesses, SCG ICO Polymers Company Limited, SJS Plastiblends, San Jacinto Rail Limited, Saudi Ethylene & Polyethylene Company, Saudi Polyolefins Company, Sociedad Espanola De Materiales Plasticos Semap S.A., Societe des Stockages Petroliers du Rhone SA, Solvay Engineered Polymers, Surplast S.A., TRV Thermische Ruckstandsverwertung GmbH & Co. KG, TRV Thermische Ruckstandsverwertung Verwaltungs-GmbH, Technology JV LP, The Matrixx Group Incorporated, ULSAN PP Co. Ltd., YNCORIS GmbH & Co. KG, Zylog Plastalloys, and tetra-DUR Kunststoff-Produktion GmbH. Read More [October 19, 2017] Reuters launches next generation live video service for news broadcasters and digital publishers on Reuters Connect platform NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Reuters, the world's largest international multimedia news provider, today launched a new live video service providing real-time coverage of up to six concurrent news events for use by television broadcasters and professional video publishers. Available via the Reuters Connect platform for media publisherswhich now features access to more than 13 million photos, videos, graphics and text assetsthe new service is designed to integrate with both digital and broadcast production workflows, allowing publishers to stream live coverage to television, websites and social media platforms from one simple, easy-to-use source. The new platform leverages cutting edge, cloud-based delivery systems to meet a wide range of needs: from mobile streaming on social media to broadcast quality HD giving publishers the flexibility to give viewers a broader range of live coverage from around the globe. "This new live video service offers publishers an unprecedented amount of flexibility and builds on Reuters Connect's already remarkable ability to help our customers tell engaging stories like never before," said Sue Brooks, Global Head of Product forReuters News Agency. "As more and more publishers see live video as an essential part of their story-telling capabilities, we can now offer best-in-industry choice with up to six concurrent live streams. Add this to our vast video and picture archives, as well as our breaking news coverage, Reuters customers now have everything they need to tell richer stories." Launched in May of this year, Reuters Connect is designed to be a faster, more intelligent way for Reuters News Agency customers to source all the content they need via a single destination. Reuters Connect is built to make content discovery quicker and easier, improving clients' editorial efficiency and enabling them to deliver more stories to their audiences faster than ever before. For more information on the new live video service and Reuters Connect, visit connect.reuters.com. Reuters Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Follow news about Reuters at @ReutersPR. For more information on Reuters News Agency, visit: www.reuters.com/newsagency. CONTACT Heather Carpenter PR Manager, Head of Special Projects Reuters [email protected] 646-223-8551 Pete Biggs PR Manager [email protected] +44 (0) 207 7542 4214 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/reuters-launches-next-generation-live-video-service-for-news-broadcasters-and-digital-publishers-on-reuters-connect-platform-300539741.html SOURCE Reuters [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Credit: E.ON (Tech Xplore)A battery installation at a UK biomass power plant is making news this month. Supporters call it an important recognition of the "enormous potential for battery solutions" in the UK. The company is E.ON. The challenge, as they attempt to meet it, is doing their bit to balance the grid. "Power supply and demand on the UK grid have to be matched closely in real-time to maintain a safe frequency so household electrical appliances function properly," said their company press release. "Balancing the grid is becoming more challenging because the growing range of renewable generation sources make the electricity system less stable and more prone to changes in frequency." A 10MW battery has been installed and connected to the grid near Sheffield. This is an installation and grid connection of a 10MW lithium-ion battery at the Blackburn Meadows biomass plant near Sheffield. The facility, is next to an existing power plant, said The Guardian. The E.ON release said the Blackburn Meadows plant is a 30MW renewable energy plant that can produce enough power for around 40,000 homes. The energy storage project is aimed to help keep power supplies stable, supporting the range of power sources feeding into the UK's national grid. The Guardian said the Facility, run by E.ON, will help the UK grid cope with fast-growing amount of renewable energy. Yes, you may consider this a giant battery. The battery is housed in four 40ft-long shipping containers. E.ON said the battery has the same power as roughly 100 family cars and holds the same amount of energy as 500,000 mobile phone batteries. The Guardian said the Blackburn Meadows battery is one of the biggest in Britain so far. The battery initiative is in response to a request from National Grid, said Adam Vaughan, The Guardian energy correspondent, for contracts to help it keep electricity supply and demand in balance a grid challenge "as more intermittent wind and solar comes online." Battery systems play important roles in this context, as they can immediately discharge power. Leon Walker, Commercial Development Manager at National Grid, stated: "Using battery storage is a significant development for managing the national grid. It's an ultra-fast way of keeping electricity supply and demand balanced. Over four years we estimate that this service will save the system operator around 200m. This is good news for consumers who benefit from our cost efficiencies, and paves the way for battery technology to establish itself as an important component of our energy system." Vaughan discussed grid balancing too. "Balancing supply and demand is essential for keeping the frequency of electricity constant at 50Hz across the UK. The ability of batteries to respond to demand in less than a second makes them ideal for the task, with earlier sources of backup power much slower at just under 10 seconds." Interestingly, Scientific American had a look at large-scale battery storage in January where Daniel Cusick, E&E News, said that "the technology is preparing for unprecedented growth in the United States over the next several years." That would translate into stored electricity that can be dispatched quickly in case of power outages, shave peak demand charges or enhance grid reliability. Cusick also said that "batteries can smooth the ebbs and flows associated with wind and solar power by supplementing the grid when those resources are not available." 2017 Tech Xplore STEM & STEAM Elementary School Taps Texas A&M Students for STEM Fair Greens Prairie Elementary School recently held a science, technology, engineering and math fair for students with the help of undergraduates and graduate students from Texas A&M University. For the event, TAMU students set up booths around the school covering topics such as petroleum engineering, biology and entomology. Emily Bloom, a junior in the university's petroleum engineering program and a member of the Society for Petroleum Engineers helped host a booth that demonstrated permeability and porosity with water poured over marbles and sand. "We go give presentations, just educating little kids on the oil and gas industry and energy and especially how it impacts our society positively instead of negatively," Bloom said, according to a report in a TAMU student publication. "What we try to do is educate the kids on petroleum engineering because it is such a specific field, and not a lot of kids understand petroleum. That's a big word. They hear petroleum and they get scared, but we try to break it down for them." Bloom was herself inspired to study petroleum engineering because of a similar event, hosted by Chevron, when she was in the 8th grade. Joanie King, a doctoral candidate, was on hand to help explain a booth filled with displays of native and non-native insects. She told The Battalion that it's important for both students and their parents to attend these kinds of events so that everyone understands the possibilities and why it's important to encourage young scientists. "It's good to get kids exposed at an early age so they can start thinking about it," King said. "A lot of people aren't exposed and they don't know that it's an option. 'Oh I can study bugs when I grow up? That's pretty cool,' but there's actually a lot of jobs in entomology." Parent Darin Paine said he agreed and told the newspaper that college students connect with the younger students in a way other adults can't. "I think anytime you have Aggie students that they can experience, they're going to listen to more than their parents and get a different experience from maybe their teachers might present," Paine said. "It's really nice to get to see young people who are seeing and doing different things and how it relates to what they've learned in school and what they may experience for a career when they get older." Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. A conference in Hanoi on Wednesday drew a bleak picture of Vietnams national debt, with experts urging that action be taken to stop the mountain of government debt from piling up. Vietnams public debt has been plagued by an average annual increase of 18.4 over the last five years, a pace three times faster than its economic growth, according to Dr. Vu Si Cuong from the Academy of Finance. In 2016, government debt was estimated at around 64.3 percent of GDP, just shy of the 65 percent ceiling capped by the legislature. Cuong elaborated that Vietnam mostly borrows from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Japanese government. As of the end of 2015, Vietnams debt to the World Bank had topped VND274.2 trillion (US$12.08 billion), an 11-fold climb from 2001. Similarly, debt to the ADB surged to VND151 trillion ($6.65 billion) in 2015 from only VND7.5 trillion ($330.4 million) in 2001. Loans from Japan, the countrys third-largest creditor, totaled VND35.9 trillion ($1.58 billion) in 2001 before skyrocketing to VND243.9 trillion ($10.74 billion) by the end of 2015. As far as the public debt to GDP ratio is concerned, Vietnams national debt is one of the highest in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. High risks The massive debt comes with high risks, including the need for the country to earmark an increasing proportion of its state revenue for debt repayment, Cuong underlined. This has forced the government to adapt a rollover technique of taking out new loans to repay old debts. The practice indicates that the government does not have enough resources to repay its original debts, Cuong said. The expert added that countries with a high level of public debt are normally rich nations, but it is a surprise that this happens to middle-income Vietnam. Our population is aging steadily, accompanied by low average productivity, so Vietnam could become a country that is not yet rich but already old and also carries an enormous debt, Cuong said. Many countries with similar growth to Vietnams do not have such a high level of public debt. Dr. Le Dang Doanh, former head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said tightening management on public spending is the only solution for Vietnam to rid itself of the mountain of public debt. Vietnams government deficit has continued to build up over the last few years so the government is forced to borrow more in order to invest in development, according to Doanh. Vietnam has to earmark 71 percent of its state revenue for regular spending, and 24.5 percent for debt repayment, so there is not much left for investment and development spending, he elaborated. At some point, well need to borrow debt for both development and regular spending, which is worrying. Doanh advised that Vietnam consider international practices and create a policy on public spending management to resolve the problem. He added that debts borrowed by state-run enterprises should also be counted as public debt, as either way, the government will have to use the money from the state budget to repay when state companies default on loans. Cuong, from the Academy of Finance, said Vietnam would breach its ceiling on public debt if these state-run enterprises debts are counted as suggested by Dr. Doanh. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Five Vietnamese institutions for higher education have been listed in a ranking of Asian universities, placing them amongst the top 400 universities on the continent. In the 2017 QS University Rankings: Asia, five Vietnamese schools made the list, a boost to Vietnams contribution from two and three in 2016 and 2015, respectively. QS Intelligence Unit (QSIU), an independent source of global intelligence in the higher education sector, provides comprehensive rankings for universities around world. The QS ranking is a tiered list, with the first 250 schools in the top tier, followed by separate tiers for 251-260, 261-270, 291-300, 301-350, and 351-400. Leading the Vietnamese schools, the Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNU-Hanoi) was listed at 139, followed by the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) at 142, a five-spot jump from 2016. Having both of Vietnams national universities listed amongst the top-150 is a significant achievement for the Southeast Asian country. Can Tho University in southern Vietnam, Hue University in central Vietnam, and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology were grouped in 291-300, 301-350 and 351-400 respectively. The top 10 universities listed for Asia included two schools from Singapore, four from Hong Kong, three from mainland China, and one from Korea. The National University of Singapore topped the chart for Asia, maintaining its rank the 3rd year in a row. QSIU relies on ten Indicators for the ranking of the universities, with their proportions as follows: 1. Academic Reputation from Global Survey 30% 2. Employer Reputation from Global Survey 20% 3. Faculty Student Ratio 15% 4. Citations per Paper from Scopus 10% 5. Papers per Faculty from Scopus 10% 6. Proportion of staff with PhD 5% 7. Proportion of International Students 2.5% 8. Proportion of International Faculty 2.5% 9. Proportion of Inbound Exchange Students 2.5% 10. Proportion of Outbound Exchange Students 2.5% (Scopus is the worlds largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed academic literature.) Commenting on Indicator 5, Prof. Nguyen Huu Duc, vice-president of VNU-Hanoi, says the average number of published journal articles per Asian lecturer from 2011-2015 was 4.5, while that per Vietnamese lecturer was a modest 0.7 (or 0.14 journal articles produced per year). However, Vietnamese schools are making improvements elsewhere. In 2017, the Faculty Student Ratio score neared the overall average (31.7 for VNU-Hanoi) along with citations per paper from Scopus (39.3 for VNU-Hanoi and 36.5 for VNU-HCM). Concerning Academic and Employer Reputation from Global Survey, both VNU-Hanoi and VNU-HCM fared above average among the listed Asian schools. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Two vessels from the Indonesian naval force have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City for a four-day visit. The Kri Sultan Hasanuddin-366 and Kri Sultan Iskandar Muda-367 of the Indonesian Navy docked at Nha Rong Wharf on Wednesday morning, commencing their trip to the southern Vietnamese city. Officers from the two naval ships were welcomed by representatives from the Ministry of National Defense, the 7th Military Region Command, the municipal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the citys military command and border guard office. A Vietnamese official gives flowers to a representative of the visiting delegation from the Indonesian Navy in Ho Chi Minh City on October 18, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre Speaking at the welcome ceremony, Colonel Ha Xuan Xu from the Vietnam Peoples Navy wished success for the visit. He expressed his hope that the friendly relationship between the two countries naval forces and militaries in general will continue strengthening. Colonel Ha Xuan Xu (L), a representative from the Vietnam Peoples Navy, welcomes the Indonesian delegation. Photo: Tuoi Tre Captains Bina Irawan Marpaung and Sumarji Bimoaji of the two Indonesian vessels extended their gratitude for the warm welcome, expressing their belief that the port call will contribute greatly to the Vietnam-Indonesia friendship and comprehensive partnership. On the afternoon of the same day, the Indonesian delegation met with leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee. They are scheduled to conclude their visit on October 21. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Good morning from Vietnam! Politics -- Indonesian naval vessels KRI Sultan Hasanuddin 366 and KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda 367 on Wednesday arrived at the Nha Rong Wharf in Ho Chi Minh City to commence a four-day visit to the southern hub, during which the countries naval forces will join activities to strengthen bilateral ties. Society -- Tran Vinh Tuyen, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City, on Wednesday stressed the importance of applying technology in solving urban issues as an integral part of the development of a smart city, during his remarks at the 21st annual conference of the Asian Science Park Association (ASPA 21). -- A police officer in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City is under investigation for allegedly offering to help a burglary suspect walk free in exchange for VND300 million (US$13,200). -- Rescues have found the bodies of the last three missing victims of a tragic landslide in northern Hoa Binh Province last Wednesday, which buried four houses with 18 people sleeping inside. -- The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has expressed its concern over the slow capital allocation for the first metro line project in Ho Chi Minh City and other JICA-supported projects developed by Vietnams Ministry of Transport. Business -- Vietnams pharmaceutical market continues to be dogged by fake drugs, which constituted between 0.03 and 0.1 percent of drugs in the country from 2012 to 2016, according to statistics from the National Institute of Drug Quality Control. -- A decision by the Ministry of Industry and Trade this week to halt Vietnams competitive power generation market has raised concerns that electricity prices will hike in the coming time as a result. -- Pig farmers and merchants have 3-5 days from Wednesday to adapt to Ho Chi Minh Citys origin traceablitity requirements, after which time non-traceable pigs will not be allowed to enter the southern hub, the municipal Department of Industry and Trace announced on Wednesday. -- The will be no limit to the percentage of shares a foreign entity can hold in Vietnams dairy giant Vinamilk, said Nguyen Duc Chi, chairman of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) on Wednesday during an event to put on sale 3.33 percent of the firms stakes currently owned by the state. Lifestyle -- The Southern Womens Museum in Ho Chi Minh City has just launched a new exhibition featuring the ao dai, the traditional costume of Vietnam, which takes visitors on a journey through the development history of the elegant garment. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Circulating Tumor Cell Diagnostics Market - Drivers and Forecasts by Technavio Technavio analysts forecast the global circulating tumor cell (CTC) diagnostics market to grow at a CAGR of over 9% 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/20171019005910/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global circulating tumor cell (CTC (News - Alert)) diagnostics market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global CTC diagnostics market for 2017-2021. CTC diagnostics helps in the identification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) shed by tumor cells. CTCs are cancerous cells which detach from primary tumor and migrate to the bloodstream or lymphatic system of the patient. The market is growing steadily in developed countries and has a high growth potential in emerging countries such as India, China, and Brazil. The outsourcing of biopharmaceutical companies to the CROs is increasing, impacting the adoption rate in the emerging economies. Acquisition of CELLSEARCH Circulating Tumor Cell System from Janssen Diagnostics by Menarini Silicon Biosystems was one of the pivotal moments in the global CTC diagnostics market. 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 factors that are contributing to the growth of the global CTC diagnostics market: Increasing incidences of cancer Demand for CTC diagnostics for personalized cancer treatment Rising demand for liquid biopsy 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. Increasing incidences of cancer Cancer is one of the lethal diseases, which has increased mortality rate worldwide. Various types of cancer occur due to genetic changes, high consumption of alcohol, smoking, and other lifestyle changes. The overall burden of cancer is increasing across the globe. Some of the most common type of cancers are breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and melanoma of skin. According to the OECD, the death rate is high in colon cancer cases. Germany and Italy have contributed highest to the mortality rate of cancer in the region. The scenario remains same in APAC, where the diagnosis of cancer suffers due to negligence, lack of awareness, and late diagnosis of cancer. However, the global CTC diagnostics market is propelled by the rising incidence of cancer worldwide. Demand for CTC diagnostics for personalized cancer treatment Srinivas Sashidhar, a lead in-vitro diagnostics research analyst at Technavio, says, "CTC-based diagnostic tests are trending in the market for the diagnosis of cancer. CTC-based diagnostic test is a regular blood test used for tumor analysis. It is being preferred over painful bone marrow examination and surgical biopsies for the diagnosis of cancer metastasis. CTC analysis and quantification based on molecular research helps in the development of personalized cancer treatment." The demand for CTC-based diagnostics is increasing because it offers faster diagnosis, and the analyzers have user-friendly interface. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR (News - Alert))-based identification methods are one of the most effective and sensitive methods for CTC genetic profiling. PCR-based methods are preferred over molecular identification and other protein-based methods for the detection of CTCs. Rising demand for liquid biopsy With the rising incidence of cancer, there is also a growing demand for improved detection and diagnosis in the market. Blood test for the screening of sticky DNA molecules released by the dead cancer cells helps in cancer diagnosis at an early stage. Liquid biopsy has been in demand for the early detection of cancer. It is one of the new technologies introduced in the medical field. The collection of tumor tissue through biopsies is the gold standard for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This diagnosis eliminates the use of biomarkers for the early detection of cancer. There are various academic research institutes, cancer associations and market vendors engaged in the development of liquid biopsy technology. Top vendors: ApoCell Qiagen Menarini Silicon Biosystems Browse Related Reports: About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005910/en/ As of Wednesday, 775 meters of the 781-meter long underground passage had been completed. The tunnel runs from Ba Son Station to the Municipal Theater in District 1, part of the citys metro route No.1 connecting Ben Thanh Terminal in District 1 with Suoi Tien Terminal in District 9. The installation of the boring machine was started in March and tunnel construction began in May. The Japanese-made tunnel boring machine (TBM) is about to finish drilling a 781-meter long metro tunnel in Ho Chi Minh City. According to a representative of Japans Shimizu-Meada Joint Operation, the main contractor for the tunnel project, over 40 engineers and workers have been working around the clock to finish the job. The underground passage is expected to be finished on October 31, two months ahead of schedule, he stated. Following the completion, the TBM, a 70-meter long machine weighing 300 metric tons, will be disassembled. About 775 meters of the 781-meter long underground passage has been completed. Its parts will be transported back to Ba Son Station to be re-assembled a three month project before construction of a second tunnel between Ba Son and the Municipal Theater begins. This entire passageway is anticipated to be completed in mid-2018. Engineers carry out the final phases of the construction. The Japan International Cooperation Agency, a provider of capital assistance for the metro project, says this is the first time a TBM has been operated in Vietnam. The technology used with the machine helps minimize vibrations and noise during the tunnel construction. The entrance of the tunnel at Ba Son Station According to the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authorities for Urban Railways, the construction of metro route No.1 began in August 2012 with the total investment capital of US$2.49 billion. Plans for the metro line call for 19.7 kilometers of track to pass from District 1 through District 2, District 9, Binh Thanh District, and Thu Duc District. The expected completion date is in 2020. The railway has been installed on the the completed section of the tunnel. A worker operates the machine at a control center. Ba Son Station is being constructed. Material is transported into the tunnel. The pipeline system inside the underground passage The pipeline system inside the underground passage Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! DGAP-News: ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. SMEs in Romania benefit as the EIB and ProCredit Bank Romania sign first credit line agreement in local currency worth EUR 20 million Bucharest 19 October 2017. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and ProCredit Bank SA, in Bucharest, Romania today signed a credit line agreement amounting to approximately RON 90 million (EUR 20 million), which will be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Romania. The EIB was represented by Andrew McDowell, Vice President and ProCredit Bank by Mariyana Dimitrova Petkova, Member of the Management Board. This represents the first credit line in Romanian leu from the EIB and marks the continuation of the cooperation between the EIB and the ProCredit group in the region. It will support ProCredit Bank SA in providing financing to businesses in Romania that contribute to development and employment in the country. The credit line will be disbursed to ProCredit Bank business clients who are active in the production, trade and service sectors, and who comply with the bank's ethical, social and environmental standards. This agreement is a clear sign of the strong commitment on the part of both institutions to building a sustainable private sector in Romania. "Cooperation of EU bank with ProCredit Bank in Romania will provide Romanian companies with much needed access to long-term, reliable and affordable financing. This is important for the private sector development in general and for small and medium-sized enterprises in particular," said EIB Vice-President Andrew McDowell. ProCredit Bank SA Member of the Management Board, Mariyana Dimitrova Petkova, highlighted the importance of this event for Romanian SMEs: "This sends a strong positive signal to the business community in Romania, as loans in local currency will support the long-term planning of investments. This will allow small and medium-sized enterprises to upgrade and expand their operations. The signing of today's contract also reflects the shared principles and goals of both institutions, as well as our joint commitment to promoting growth and employment by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises." Borislav Kostadinov, Member of the Management Board of ProCredit Holding, the Frankfurt am Main (Germany) based parent company of the ProCredit group, added: "We are very pleased to see that our well-established cooperation has resulted in the signing of another agreement between the EIB and the ProCredit group in South Eastern and Eastern Europe, greatly easing access to financing for SMEs in this region." Contacts: Andreea Pop, ProCredit Bank S.A., Tel: +40 744 306 973; email address: andreea.pop@procredit-group.com Andrea Kaufmann, Group Communications, ProCredit Holding, Tel.: +49 69 951 437 138: Andrea.Kaufmann@procredit-group.com 19.10.2017 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de Aggressive turkeys in a Massachusetts town south of Boston have gained a reputation after police recorded a group of the birds chasing a cruiser on Sunday, October 15, and footage of the wild creatures attacking a resident surfaced online. This video shows a Bridgewater resident Bob Smith being attacked by a group of wild turkeys. They actually came from over a hill behind me, Bob Smith told WCVB5. One pecked me in the calf. Bridgewater police also shared footage of four turkeys coming after a police car on Twitter, stating that the turkeys are a problem in town, but that state law, which classes them as wildlife, does not police or animal control officers to tackle them. Police Lt. Thomas Schlatz said that despite their aggression, they are not a threat to the community. They have followed me to the back door (leading to the police station parking lot) and like to hang around police cars, but they do not attack, he said to Wicked Local Bridgewater." Outside of Bridgewater, other towns Somerville, Belmont and Brookline reported an increase in the number of turkey complaints, with 140 reports received since the start of last year. Credit: Bob Smith via Storyful BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Austria's likely next chancellor assured European Union leaders on Thursday of his support for the EU, allaying concerns that his country would become a dissonant voice in the bloc with the far right expected to enter its government. Sebastian Kurz of the mainstream conservative OVP party won a parliamentary election on Sunday after campaigning on an anti-immigration platform, and a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) is widely anticipated. Arriving at a meeting of conservative EU leaders, the 31-year-old Kurz said he would speak to all parties in the Austrian parliament before deciding on a governing partner. "Any government I form will be a pro-European one," Kurz, who has been the Alpine republic's foreign minister since 2013, told reporters. "I'm not just glad we have this European Union, but I also see it as the responsibility of my younger generation to actively engage and shape the EU in a positive way." Kurz, who will not represent Austria at regular EU summits until he forms a government, also met European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, hailed Kurz on Twitter as a "truly pro-European winner of the Austrian elections". Austria became a member of the European Union in 1995 after a two-thirds majority voted to join the bloc. Recent opinion polls show three-quarters of Austrians want the affluent country to remain a member of the EU. The FPO, which won over a quarter of Austria's vote to the conservatives' nearly 32 percent, gained from public unease over a large influx of mostly Muslim migrants into Europe in 2015. Once anti-EU, the FPO now professes to be pro-Europe but wants Brussels to hand back more powers to member states. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek and Robin Emmott; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Mark Heinrich) The British man jailed for drinking alcohol in Dubai has recorded a video message to thank supporters and loved ones back home. Jamie Harron, who is also facing a possible three-year sentence for touching a mans hip in a bar, said all he wanted was to be back home and sleeping in his own bed. The 27-year-old electrician from Stirling, Scotland, was last week sentenced to 30 days in prison for being drunk but he is not in custody while his lawyers appeal the sentence. Jamie Harron recorded a message thanking supporters during his ordeal in Dubai (SWNS) Speaking on a video message, Jamie said: I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all the people around the world who have supported me in this awful time for me and my family. Your good wishes mean an awful lot, and they keep me hopeful for the future. All I want is to be back in Scotland with my friends and family, sleeping safe in my own bed. Most popular on Yahoo News UK: Vladimir Putin laughs uncontrollably at suggestion Russia should export pork to Muslim country Heres what you need to know about the Melania Trump body double conspiracy theory Britain to be battered by high winds this weekend as weather warning is issued Love to you all, and thanks again. Ill hopefully see you soon. Jamie was arrested after German businessman Emad Tabaza called the police and claimed he had been very drunk and had repeatedly touched him during the incident in July. Jamie claimed that he had only made contact with Mr Tabaza to stop himself falling over and spilling his drink. The 27-year-old faces a three-year sentence for touching another man in a bar (SWNS) It emerged last week that Mr Tabaza, who works for Neuman & Esser, dropped his complaint after realising the punishment Jamie is facing. However, UAE officials are continuing with the prosecution and Jamie has lost his job and racked up huge debts while being detained. Jamies parents, Graham and Patricia, said their sons life has been ruined and they have even been warned they could be arrested if they visit him in the UAE after they spoke out against the countrys government. Lashing out at Mr Tabaza for making a complaint in the first place, Graham said: People need to understand that it is not a joke to make complaints to the police, especially in that country. Story continues Jamies parents have been warned they face arrest if they fly out to visit their son in the UAE (SWNS) The consequences are very serious and they can ruin peoples lives as they have Jamies. Maybe it wasnt his (Mr Tabazas) intention for it to go so far, but it has, and we are all suffering for it. A spokesman from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: We have been in contact with a British man following his arrest in Dubai in July. We are providing consular assistance. Jamie is due to appear in court on 22 October. Quebec has voted to ban burkas from anyone giving or receiving public services (Rex) The burka has been banned in some parts of Canada but supporters are demanding that the law goes further in outlawing the face veil. The traditional Islamic clothing has been banned by the Quebec government, making it illegal for anyone to receive or give public service with their face covered. The controversial legislation even applies to people riding the bus. Premier Philippe Couillard defended the legislation, saying is was necessary for security and identification reasons. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned face-covering bans (Rex) He said: The principle to which I think a vast majority of Canadians by the way, not only Quebecers, would agree upon is that public services should be given and received with an open face. I speak to you, you speak to me. I see your face. You see mine. As simple as that. Speaking about the opposition to the ban, he added: This has been a debate thats been tearing Quebec apart for the past few years. Most popular on Yahoo News UK: Vladimir Putin laughs uncontrollably at suggestion Russia should export pork to Muslim country Brit jailed for 30 days for drinking in Dubai records heartfelt message thanking supporters Heres what you need to know about the Melania Trump body double conspiracy theory Britain to be battered by high winds this weekend as weather warning is issued We need to hail this exercise. We need to remind people we are the only jurisdiction in North America to have legislated on this issue. Opposition has come from the provinces Islamic community, who say it targets Muslim women and violates their right to express their religion. Ontarios Liberal government also stated that the new law on religious neutrality runs contrary to Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms and will lead to legal challenges. When it comes to what people can & cannot wear my position has always been known, and its where Ill always be: https://t.co/Sb0CloBeLw Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 18, 2017 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government would respect the choices made by various parliamentarians at different levels. Story continues However, he added: But here, at the federal level, we defend the rights of all Canadians. Trudeau also tweeted a link to a speech he gave in 2015 where he condemned face-covering bans, adding that his position hasnt changed. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said they were looking at its options with regards to a possible court challenge. FILE PHOTO A still image from a video posted by the Taliban on social media on December 19, 2016 shows American Caitlan Coleman (L) speaking next to her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle and their two sons. Courtesy Taliban/Social media via REUTERS/File Photo (Reuters) By David Brunnstrom and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the CIA said on Thursday a U.S.-Canadian couple kidnapped by Islamist militants in Afghanistan were held inside neighbouring Pakistan for five years before being freed. "We had a great outcome last week when we were able to get back four U.S. citizens who had been held for five years inside of Pakistan," CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington. Pompeo's remarks appeared to be the first time a U.S. official has publicly stated that the couple and their children spent their captivity in Pakistan, contrary to accounts from Pakistani officials. Pakistan's military and government have indicated U.S. citizen Caitlan Coleman, her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle and their children were rescued shortly after entering Pakistan from Afghanistan. The couple were kidnapped in 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan and their children were born in captivity. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have previously said there was no indication the hostages had been in Afghanistan in the days before they were freed. The officials said the United States believed the hostages were probably held by the Haqqani militant group in or near its headquarters in northwestern Pakistan the entire time. Regarded as the most fearsome and effective Taliban ally, the Haqqani network gets support from elements of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistans powerful military-run intelligence agency, U.S. officials say. Pakistan denies it. A senior Pakistani security source said last Friday that Pakistani troops and intelligence agents, acting on a U.S. intelligence tip, zeroed in on a vehicle carrying the family as they were being moved into the Kurram tribal region near the town of Kohat, some 60 km (37 miles) inside Pakistan. Pakistani officials bristle at U.S. claims Islamabad is not doing enough to tackle Islamist militants, particularly the Haqqanis. Story continues After the release of the family, Pakistani officials emphasized the importance of co-operation and intelligence sharing by Washington, which has threatened to cut military aid and take other punitive measures against Pakistan. However, two Taliban sources with knowledge of the family's captivity said they had been kept in Pakistan in recent years. The Haqqani network operates on both sides of the porous Afghan-Pakistani border but senior militants have acknowledged they moved a major base of operations to the Kurram region. As part of a strategy unveiled in August to end the war in Afghanistan, the Trump administration is demanding Pakistan cease providing what U.S. officials say is safe haven to militants, or face repercussions. Those measures could include further cuts in U.S. assistance and sanctions targeted at Pakistani officials with links to militant organizations. 'VERY FRUSTRATED' Pompeo's remarks came ahead of a visit to Pakistan next week by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said on Wednesday the United States expected Pakistan "to take decisive action against terrorist groups." A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday the United States considers the family's rescue a "template for more cooperation" by Pakistan. "We see this as a first step and we hope that we can build on it," said the official, adding that Washington is "very frustrated that Taliban and Haqqani militants continue to find sanctuary in Pakistan." "It's freedom of movement, it's the ability to transport weapons and materiel, the ability to raise funds. This is what makes a sanctuary," the official added. Pompeo said the United States would do everything if could to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, but added it could not be achieved if the militants had safe havens. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Alistair Bell and Paul Simao) DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Author Dogan Akhanli flew back to Germany on Thursday after he was briefly detained in Spain at Turkey's request, and lambasted Ankara for launching a "failed manhunt". Turkey issued an Interpol warrant for the Turkish-German writer, a critic of President Tayyip Erdogan's government, in August. Akhanli was quickly released. But the move inflamed a row between Germany and Turkey, both NATO members. His lawyer at the time said the detention was part of a Turkish crackdown on dissidents. As Akhanli embraced loved ones at Duesseldorf airport, a man shouted at him in Turkish: "This country cannot save you". The author told reporters: "I would say Turkey's manhunt has failed, that might be why this man is so annoyed and feels the need to threaten me." Denouncing "despotism" in Turkey, he said reports that prominent activist and businessman Osman Kavala was arrested on Wednesday in Istanbul showed that "if this country arrests even him, then really nobody is safe there." Akhanli, detained in the 1980s and 1990s in Turkey for opposition activities, including running a leftist newspaper, fled Turkey in 1991 and has lived and worked in the German city of Cologne since 1995. Ties between Ankara and Berlin have been increasingly strained in the aftermath of last year's failed coup in Turkey as Turkish authorities sacked or suspended 150,000 people and detained more than 50,000, including other German nationals. (Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Andrew Heavens) FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the beginning of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bernd Von Jutrczenka/POOL/File Photo (Reuters) By Robin Emmott and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - After months of verbal jousting with Turkey, European Union leaders will take a more conciliatory stance towards Ankara at a summit on Thursday, although some still want to cut aid linked to Turkey's stalled EU membership bid. German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised the debate with EU leaders during her re-election campaign last month to discuss ending accession talks with Ankara, a position she unexpectedly backed when her main rival took a hard line on the issue. But now re-elected, Merkel and her fellow leaders will not push for Turkey's decade-long membership bid to be formerly cancelled, diplomats said, despite EU concern at President Tayyip Erdogan's growing authoritarianism and a large-scale purge of his opponents. Instead, the debate over dinner will return to a familiar balancing act between recognising NATO-ally Turkey's help dealing with refugees and militants in Syria and expressing concern about Erdogan's crackdown on the armed forces, state institutions, media and academia since a failed coup last July. "We don't want to be the ones to walk away from this relationship," said a senior EU diplomat said. "It's a game of who blinks first," the diplomat said, noting that the debate will take place as Erdogan's attentions are focussed elsewhere on a visa dispute with the United States. EU diplomacy was on display on Tuesday when Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, standing beside U.S. President Donald Trump at a news conference in Washington, avoided criticism of Ankara when asked by a reporter if Turkey was still a democracy. "We continue to support the Turkish course towards Europe," Tsipras said. "We respect it as a regional power and we believe that it must stay oriented towards the European perspective." Polish President Andrzej Duda went further in Warsaw, saying he hoped Turkey would eventually join the European Union and reaffirming a position held along with Britain that the bloc should enlarge eastwards. Story continues RE-ROUTING FUNDS Launched in 2005 after decades of seeking the formal start of an EU membership bid, the negotiations dovetailed with Erdogan's first economic reforms after he took power in 2003. However, Germany and France were sceptical about absorbing a large, mainly Muslim nation even before Erdogan's crackdown following the failed coup. After years of stalemate, top EU officials say the process is now dead, also citing Erdogan's referendum earlier this year giving him sweeping new powers that rights groups say lack checks and balances. With 50,000 people jailed pending trial, including German-Turkish nationals, EU membership looks more distant than ever, diplomats and EU officials say. The European Commision, the EU executive, is expected to come forward with a report early next year on whether EU governments should annul the membership talks with Turkey, a decision likely to further harm Ankara's image with investors. Meanwhile, some northern EU governments say the European Union should reduce funding to Turkey linked to EU membership talks because they are effectively stalled, or redirect the money to non-governmental organisations and charities in the country. Aside from money that the EU gives Turkey for taking in Syrian refugees, Ankara is set to receive 4.4 billion euros between 2014 and 2020, but only a small part of that has been committed for projects such as infrastructure. "We should try to diminish the number of the funds, the volume, and reroute them from the government to NGOs," said a second senior EU diplomat. Some of the funds could go to finance the 2016 migration deal with Turkey, under which the European Union is set to pay another 3 billion euros by the end of 2018, diplomats said. (Reporting by Robin Emmott and Gabriela Baczynska; Additional reporting by Peter Maushagen; Editing by Hugh Lawson) President of the European Council Donald Tusk listens at a news conference during the European Union Tallinn Digital Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, September 29, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins (Reuters) By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to provide "stronger support" to Italy for its work in Libya and replenish their Africa fund to further curb immigration to Europe. "We have a real chance of closing the Central Mediterranean route," chairman Donald Tusk said after 28 EU leaders meeting in Brussels discussed migration, stressing the need to lower the number of arrivals from Africa going through the Mediterranean to Italy. EU executive European Commission told the group they needed to immediately chip in an extra 225 million euros for migration-related projects in Africa due to run this year and early next. "If we do want to be as present as possible in Africa - mainly in the Northern part of Africa - we have to increase financial means," Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said. Brussels has so far committed 2.9 billion euros to the so-called Africa Trust Fund, with another 234 million euros from EU states, according to the Commission. Brussels said 1.6 billion euros would be spent by the end of 2017 on Turkey. In 2016 the bloc promised 3 billion euros for Syrian refugees in exchange for Ankara shutting down the route traffickers and smugglers were using to get people to Greece. Despite sour EU-Turkey relations on several issues, German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Ankara for hosting refugees from Syria and said the bloc should pull together another 3 billion euros to that end. "We have promised 3 billion euros for the coming years in addition to the 3 billion that we have already committed. We need to deliver on this promise," Merkel told reporters on arriving for the two-day EU leaders' summit in Brussels. "This money helps the refugees who are living under very difficult conditions. Once again, Turkey is doing a great job here," she said. Since 2015, the bloc has helped Greece, Italy and Bulgaria with nearly 2 billion euros to manage immigration flows. It spent another 100 million euros on controlling migratory routes in the Western Balkans, according to figures provided by the bloc. Story continues It has been spending on more deportations and financing United Nations projects for refugees and migrants in Africa, and mulling a centre in Libya to assess asylum requests there. IMMIGRATION DECLINES Despite criticism from rights groups that the EU is violating international humanitarian law by striving to curb immigration, the bloc has applauded itself for reducing arrivals by more than 70 percent in 2016 from the peak in 2015 when more than a million people entered in an uncontrolled flow. The influx of immigrants in 2015 caught the bloc by surprise, alarmed the EU's 500 million people and fuelled support for anti-immigration, populist and nationalist groups. The bloc's asylum system broke down under the sheer numbers and the cherished Schengen zone of control-free travel was strained as member states introduced emergency border checks. EU states have since sought to agree on how to change their asylum laws, with bitter disputes deepening east-west divides. Tusk said on Thursday the 28 EU leaders would discuss the issue again in December and were aiming for an agreement by mid-2018. Earlier this week, the European Parliament agreed its own stance on asylum reform, including an option to cut EU funds to states that refuse to host asylum-seekers reaching the bloc. It proposed moving away from the current rule mandating that the first country through which a person enters the EU must handle his or her asylum request, saying it puts too much burden on frontline states like Italy, Greece, Malta or Spain. Southern frontline states want a scheme that would automatically lift people off their soil during periods of exceptionally high immigration and take them elsewhere in the EU. Westerners like Germany and Sweden, which eventually receive most of the refugees, have said more of the burden must be shared and that solidarity was needed. Eastern EU countries like Poland and Hungary have refused to admit anyone, saying doing so could compromise national security and affect the traditional composition of their populations. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Additional reporting by Lily Cusack; Editing by Toni Reinhold) By Tife Owolabi and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Four Britons have been kidnapped in Nigeria's southern Delta state, a police official said on Wednesday. The police are attempting to rescue the four people, who were taken by unidentified gunmen on Oct. 13, said Andrew Aniamaka, a spokesman for Delta state police. Kidnapping for ransom is a common problem in parts of Nigeria. A number of foreigners have, in the last few years, been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region, which holds most of the country's crude oil - the country's economic mainstay. "The abductors have not made any contact but we are doing our investigations to know the motive and have them rescued without jeopardising their lives," said Aniamaka. "Information available to us shows they are missionaries giving free medical services," he said, adding that the British nationals had been working in a very rural area. There was an increase in crime in the southern region last year that coincided with a series of attacks on energy facilities. However, there have been no militant attacks on energy installations so far this year. (Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Alison Williams) PARIS (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic watchdog chief said on Thursday his inspectors had yet to encounter problems with Iran a week after U.S. President Donald Trump refused to certify that Tehran was complying with a 2015 nuclear deal. In a significant U.S. policy shift on Oct. 13, President Donald Trump disavowed Iran's compliance with the deal it sealed with world powers, and launched a more aggressive approach to the Islamic Republic over its missile development activity. "We haven't had sufficient time to see (a change) in the attitude of the Iranians, but they are cautious and we continue our control and verification activities without any problems," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said after meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The pact between six major powers and Iran restricts its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Compliance with those curbs, meant to help ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear arms capability, is being verified by Amano's IAEA. Amano, who had earlier met President Emmanuel Macron, said that Tehran was also giving the IAEA full access to all the sites it needed to inspect. Macron had earlier urged the Vienna-based U.N. watchdog to continue to ensure strict compliance with the nuclear deal, a message echoed by his foreign minister. "Thanks to the IAEA, we don't have any concerns on this. The (deal) is being implemented transparently and we believe that Iran up to now has met its commitments since 2015," Le Drian said. Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Thursday its ballistic missile programme would accelerate despite U.S. and European Union pressure to suspend it, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. When asked whether Paris wanted to add sanctions on the IRGC, as the U.S. administration has called for, Le Drian said it was crucial to keep the nuclear dossier separate from Iran's other activities. Story continues "The other activities are serious, but are not part of the (nuclear) accord," he said. "We will soon have the opportunity to strongly press the Iranians on these two subjects (missiles and activities in the Middle East) and we shall then be able to draw consequences," he said, mentioning his plan for a trip to Tehran in coming weeks. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta) By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - A potential deal with the United States to upgrade dozens of Greece's F-16 fighter jets is not expected to harm its fiscal progress and should not worry its EU lenders, a Greek government spokesman said on Thursday. Defence spending has been reduced during Greece's seven-year debt crisis, which shrank the size of its economy by more than a quarter and drove its jobless rate to nearly 28 percent. "It (the deal) is not expected to impact in any way the country's progress on fiscal targets or the fiscal balance of its budget," spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told reporters. Discussions have progressed but the deal over the Lockheed Martin fighter jets upgrade has not yet been sealed, Tzanakopoulos said. Greece has about 160 F-16 fighter jets. Any deal would involve upgrading about 85 to 95, he added. The upgrade is not expected to cost more than 1.1 billion euros (0.99 billion pounds), a sum which would be paid in annual instalments of about 110 million euros over a decade. "It is the cheapest and most appropriate solution to upgrade our air defence," he said, adding that Athens has paid dozens of billions euros in past decades to purchase such jets. Greece's current EU bailout programme, its third since 2010, ends in August and the leftist-led government has cut pensions, increased taxes and implemented unpopular reforms to meet targets. Greek media reported on Thursday that European Union lenders were concerned about the possible arms deal. Asked about the reports, Tzanakopoulos said Athens was ready to provide any information to the Commission. "There is no reason for any concern," he said. "It is logical that the EU Commission would want to be briefed and it will get all the necessary information, if requested." The potential deal came to light during Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's visit to the White House this week. Story continues Greece spends about 2 percent of its gross domestic product - roughly 3.5 billion euros - on defence, more than the EU's average, largely due to long-standing tensions with its neighbour and fellow NATO member Turkey. Spending on arms is expected to reach 475 million euros in 2018, according to Greece's 2018 draft budget. Asked whether Greece, as it emerges from crisis, was returning to past habits of overspending on arms, Tzanakopoulos said: "The government has no intention to reiterate the mistakes of the past." (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Keith Weir) By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Leaders of four eurosceptic governments in the east of the European Union sat down for a nearly three-hour dinner with the head of the bloc's executive in an effort to narrow their differences on issues from migration to labour rules. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic highlighted the positive after their leaders dined with Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission over scallops with Jerusalem artichokes and venison medallions on the eve of an EU summit starting in Brussels on Thursday. "On the menu: consensus through compromise and cooperation. Unity," Juncker said. Czech EU affairs minister Ales Chmelar said the five had an "excellent debate". Another diplomat from one of the four states said their delegation was pleased by Juncker's apparent readiness to listen to their arguments. No decisions were made public after the meeting, but the mere fact of the lengthy dinner was intended as a gesture by the Commission to woo the reluctant states closer. Brussels has annoyed the ex-communist countries by embracing calls for faster and deeper integration, demanding they take in refugees, and contemplating restrictions on the right of their citizens to work in wealthier EU states for lower salaries than native workers receive. French President Emmanuel Macron says cheap labour from eastern Europe puts his people at a competitive disadvantage, and is pushing to curb that right with the backing of Belgium, the Netherlands and other more-developed EU states. After EU leaders are expected to discuss the matter on the sidelines of their two-day summit, their ministers will try to seal an agreement on the divisive issue at further talks in Luxembourg on Monday. Poland and Hungary, with nationalist populist governments, also have a number of disputes with Brussels over upholding democratic principles and ensuring judicial independence. Such issues have fuelled talk in the EU that the reluctant easterners could be left behind as others in the bloc seek to deepen their ties in the wake of Britain's exit. Story continues Italy has been going even further in calling on the bloc to take away some of the generous EU handouts the easterners receive to punish them for failing to show enough solidarity on handling migration and undercutting the rule of law. "The EU 27 must avoid any splitting into east or west," said the Czech Republic's outgoing Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. "We agreed... that any further discussion on the future of the EU must be led in the format of 27 member states. No member state can be excluded from these negotiations. All states must be treated equally." Sobotka is likely to be replaced in an election this weekend by tough-talking billionaire Andrej Babis, who has often criticised Brussels and the bloc's push for all member states to host some asylum seekers who make it to Europe. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by Peter Graff) GENEVA (Reuters) - A probable case of plague in the Seychelles, imported from Madagascar, is believed to have sparked the Indian Ocean country's first outbreak of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Plague, which is mainly spread by flea-carrying rats, is endemic in Madagascar. A large outbreak has killed 57 people since late August, according to the U.N. agency, the first time the disease has appeared in non-endemic urban areas, including in the capital Antananarivo. Seychelles health authorities reported a probable case of pneumonic plague on Oct 10 in a 34-year-old man returning from a visit to Madagascar, the WHO said. "The patient continues to be hospitalized in isolation until completion of the antibiotic treatment. He is currently asymptomatic and in stable condition," the WHO said. Nearly 70 percent of cases in Madagascar have been pneumonic plague, a form spread human-to-human that is more dangerous than bubonic plague and can trigger epidemics. The pneumonic form invades the lungs, and is treatable with antibiotics. If not treated, it is always fatal and can kill a person within 24 hours. An initial diagnostic test on the Seychelles man had been "weakly positive" for pneumonic plague, but definitive laboratory results are expected from the Institute Pasteur in Paris, the WHO said. Eight of his contacts "developed mild symptoms and have been isolated," it said, adding that two other suspected cases, without any known link, had been isolated and were on treatment. In all, 11 close contacts and one foreign national, who was not exposed to the probable case but recently arrived from Madagascar, are hospitalized as a precautionary measure but do not present signs of respiratory distress, the WHO said. Nearly 1,000 people who were exposed to the man or his close circle were given a prophylactic course of antibiotics to prevent infection and spread, it said. They included children, teachers, passengers, flight crew and health workers. Story continues Seychelles, which has 93,000 people, largely depends on tourism for government revenues. "Air Seychelles flights to-from Madagascar were stopped from 8 October to reduce likelihood of further importation of cases from Madagascar," the WHO said. However, the WHO did not recommend restrictions on travel or trade. The Madagascar health ministry has implemented exit screening for passengers at Antananarivo airport to prevent international spread, it said. "The risk of further spread in the Seychelles (should the case be confirmed) is considered as low and the overall regional and global risk levels as very low," the WHO said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) See Also: FILE PHOTO: Portugal's Finance Minister Mario Centeno speaks during an interview with Reuters in Lisbon, Portugal May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante By Axel Bugge and Sergio Goncalves LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal has taken a swipe at its bigger neighbour Spain, saying it takes no pleasure from the Catalan independence crisis but hopes investment and tourists will be persuaded to cross the border in search of "political stability". Portugal and Spain have a centuries-old rivalry, dating back to the time when they divided the world between them as colonial adventurers. Now they compete for business. "There is a point which is worth mentioning, which is our political stability. Unlike others, even next door," Finance Minister Mario Centeno told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday. He regretted the Spanish turmoil, saying he had "friends both in Catalonia and in Madrid", but continued: "This is a worry, also for us, but it differentiates Portugal from political turbulence and will surely help to attract more investment, more tourism and more people." Since 2015, Portugal has had a minority Socialist government, backed by the Communists and Left Bloc in parliament, which has overseen a robust economic expansion, helped by investment and tourism. This year the country is set to record its highest growth in at least ten years, helped by foreign investment and exports. Spain has also staged a strong economic recovery, but Catalonia's push for independence has plunged it into its worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981. Hundreds of companies have moved their headquarters out of the wealthy region, raising fears of a stampede if it breaks away. It has also prompted Spain to downgrade its economic growth forecasts and rattled the euro. The crisis could worsen on Thursday, the deadline set by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for the Catalan government to renounce independence. If it does not -- and it has shown sign of doing so -- he has said he will take direct central control of the region. Spain this week cut its 2018 economic growth forecast to 2.3 percent from 2.6 percent Story continues The turmoil in Catalonia, which has an economy about the size of Portugal, has also weighed on Spanish shares and bonds. "There are negative risks, like to (Spain's) GDP, but I can't hide that there are positive risks; obviously companies look for more stable situations, and if you mention companies you can also say that tourism could create some gains (for Portugal)," Centeno said. "Obviously these would be collateral effects of processes that we would prefer did not exist," he said, adding that he hoped Spain would resolve the stand-off. (Reporting By Axel Bugge; editing by Giles Elgood) Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen gestures as he attends a plenary session at the National Assembly of Cambodia in central Phnom Penh, October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Samrang Pring By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Sweden said on Thursday it would rethink its engagement with Cambodia if the main opposition party is dissolved, in the strongest warning yet from a Western aid donor. The government has filed a suit to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) after charging its leader, Kem Sokha, with treason. He rejected the charge as politically motivated. Excluding the opposition party would allow veteran Prime Minister Hun Sen a clear field to extend his 32-year rule at the next election in 2018. Swedish Human Rights Ambassador Annika Ben David told a news conference at the end of a five-day visit the banning of the opposition party could have consequences. "Should the Cambodia National Rescue Party be dissolved, this will force my government to rethink our engagement Cambodia," she said. Other Western countries have condemned the arrest of Kem Sokha and warned against dissolving the CNRP, but have not raised the possibility of action. David did not elaborate on what Sweden might do. Government spokesman Phay Siphan rejected David's comments as interference in Cambodia's sovereignty and an insult. "This is language that the royal government can't accept," Phay Siphan told Reuters. "This is an invasion and insult to the Cambodian national institution." Sweden had given Cambodia an estimated $100 million in aid over five years, David said. According to Cambodia's database of donors, Sweden ranked third for aid among individual EU member states last year after France and Germany. David also pointed out that Swedish fashion group H&M was an important buyer of clothes from Cambodia's garment factories - the country's main export earner. Hun Sen's ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP) has launched a crackdown on its critics, including politicians, independent media and non-government groups. This week, parliament changed the law so that the CNRP's seats can be shared amongst other parties if it is dissolved. While Western governments have for years tried to put pressure on Cambodia over the stifling of democracy and the trampling of human rights, China has become an increasingly important ally and business partner. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Robert Birsel) FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A Swiss man accused of spying on a German tax authority to find out how it obtained details of secret Swiss bank accounts set up by Germans to avoid tax is due in court on Wednesday for the start of his trial on espionage charges. German prosecutors suspect the 54-year-old man, identified only as Daniel M., of having spied on the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia's (NRW) tax authority and some of its employees for nearly four years until February 2015. He was arrested in April on suspicion that he tried to find out how German states obtained CDs containing details of bank accounts held secretly in Switzerland by Germans hoping to avoid tax. The case triggered outrage in Germany but Swiss authorities defended their efforts to combat theft of business secrets. Germany's federal prosecutor's office has said the man also gathered personal information on state tax investigators so that Swiss authorities could prosecute the officials involved in the purchase of tax data CDs. It said in August that he received close to 13,000 euros ($15,293) for the assignment, of which he passed on around 10,000 euros to a German security firm that helped him obtain the information. He also placed a source at NRW's tax authority, the prosecutor's office said. The state of NRW has for years irritated Switzerland by buying data as part of a crackdown on Germans stashing cash in secret accounts to avoid paying tax. The state has spent 17.9 million euros since 2010 on data that has helped it recover nearly 7 billion in tax revenue. The Swiss government has acknowledged that police asked intelligence agency NDB in 2011 to help with an investigation related to the stolen data in Germany but has declined to give more details. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Catherine Evans) See Also: FILE PHOTO - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends the news conference after his meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel (Reuters) ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey may shut its border with northern Iraq "at any moment" after closing its air space to the region, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday, reviving a threat first made after Kurds there voted for independence. "We have completely closed our air space to the regional government in northern Iraq," the paper cited Erdogan as telling reporters on his plane returning from a trip to Poland. "Talks are continuing on what will be done regarding the land (border) ... We have not shut the border gates yet but this could happen too at any moment," he added. Turkey announced on Monday it was closing its air space to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and said it would work to hand control of the main border crossing into the region to the central Iraqi government. The Habur gate is the main transit point between Turkey and Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. A Sept. 25 referendum, in which Kurds in northern Iraq voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence, alarmed Baghdad, Iraq's neighbours and Western powers, all of whom feared further regional conflict could arise from the vote. Subsequently Kurdish Peshmerga forces retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after the referendum, a senior Iraqi commander said on Wednesday. Ankara, which has been battling a three-decade insurgency in its own mainly Kurdish southeast, fears an independent Kurdish state on its borders would heighten separatist tension at home. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A judge has ruled an 18-year-old Utah man accused of helping a friend kill herself and filming the act because he was fascinated with death should stand trial for murder. Judge James Brady in a ruling Tuesday called the case unusual but said Tyerell Przybycien should be tried on allegations that he was deeply involved in 16-year-old Jchandra Brown's suicide planning. The judge noted that police found a receipt showing Przybycien bought the rope she used and tied a knot in it for her. Przybycien also told her at times that he would also kill himself. Przybycien was fascinated with death and told a friend that helping her would be "like getting away with murder," prosecutors have said. His lawyers, though, have said the girl made her own choice pointing to two suicide notes in her handwriting. Defense lawyer Gregory Stewart has said Przybycien's actions "probably weren't very smart, not very kind" but did not amount to murder. Brady said it will be up to a jury to decide whether the girl would have taken her life without Przybycien's help. The Associated Press does not typically identify juveniles in crime cases, but the girl's mother has said she wanted her daughter identified to prevent anything similar from happening again. The two drove on May 5 to a canyon about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City, where they tied the rope to a tree and fashioned a makeshift platform of rocks and wood underneath the tree. Brown stood on the platform with the rope around her neck while Przybycien recorded a cellphone video of her inhaling compressed air from a canister, giggling and stepping off the platform, officials have said. Authorities found a receipt showing Przybycien bought the rope and a phone containing the recording. While detectives were investigating, Przybycien showed up at the scene crying. He has been jailed since his arrest. Przybycien is charged with murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Story continues A jury could also be asked to consider convicting Przbycien of a lesser charge, like manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The case comes after Michelle Carter was convicted this year of involuntary manslaughter in Massachusetts for encouraging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in dozens of text messages. See Also: FILE PHOTO: Vladimir Lazarevic enters the courtroom of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague January 23, 2014. REUTERS/Peter Dejong/Pool By Matt Robinson and Aleksandar Vasovic LJUBLJANA/BELGRADE (Reuters) - In 2009, Serbian general Vladimir Lazarevic was convicted by a U.N. court of war crimes over the forced deportation of more than 700,000 ethnic Albanians during the 1989-99 Kosovo war. The squat, bespectacled Lazarevic was one of the chief executors of a systematic effort to empty the then-Serbian province of ethnic Albanian civilians and raze their homes in the last bloody chapter in the collapse of Yugoslavia. This week, two years after he was released from jail, the 68-year-old found a new job lecturer to the next generation of Serbian soldiers at the country's Military Academy. Where a war crimes conviction might count as a minus in most countries, in Serbia it has become a badge of honour. "The role models for the cadets should be Serbian generals, in particular those who have proven themselves in the toughest of times," Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin told the Vecernje Novosti newspaper on Wednesday, confirming the appointment. The move has alarmed human rights activists in the Balkan country. But Lazarevic is not alone. He is one of a trio of convicted Serbian war criminals who have risen to political prominence since serving out their sentences, testing trust in the country's claim to have left behind its dark past and embraced Western democracy. Civil society activists and Western diplomats are warning of the damage to Serbia's image abroad and to the slow process of reconciliation in the region a key condition of integration with the European Union. Accession talks with the EU opened at the end of 2015 and are not expected to end before 2022. "The message is very dangerous; it's playing with fire," said Natasha Kandic, a prominent human rights lawyer in Serbia who has spent years documenting war crimes in Kosovo and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. "This is not even historical revisionism, it's the introduction of crime as a recommended act," Kandic told Reuters. "It's the end of any vision of European integration, good neighbourly relations, regional cooperation none of that makes any sense after this." Story continues A spokeswoman for the EU's foreign policy arm did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not obtain a phone number for Lazarevic, who rarely appears in the media. A spokeswoman said Vulin was not immediately available to comment. "BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE" Convicted war criminal Nikola Sainovic, a close ally of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the Kosovo war, was appointed to the governing board of Serbia's co-ruling Socialist Party within a week of being released in 2015. Former army officer Veselin Sljivancanin, convicted in The Hague over the killing of more than 200 Croat prisoners of war at a pig farm in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991, is now a regular feature at events of the ruling Progressive Party of conservative President Aleksandar Vucic. Lazarevic, Sainovic and Sljivancanin have always denied any wrongdoing. While there is no law barring them from political roles, their prominence and the enthusiasm with which they have been embraced sit uneasily with the image Vucic has projected of a reformed former ultranationalist determined to take Serbia into the European mainstream. Vucic, Serbia's information minister during the Kosovo war, wowed European capitals this year with his choice of a lesbian technocrat as prime minister. The appointment of Vulin, a hardliner and former ally of Milosevic's exiled widow, as defence minister in June was seen as a nod to nationalists and Serbian ally Russia, however. Last week, Vulin told a gathering of army veterans that Serbia need no longer feel ashamed but "quietly proud" of officers such as Lazarevic, "the bravest of the brave." Afterward, Washington's ambassador to Belgrade, Kyle Scott, took to Twitter. "Unfortunately, months of work on improving Serbia's image in the US can be undermined with just one statement," he wrote on Oct 11. Kosovo, which declared independence with Western backing in 2008 but is not recognised by Serbia, said the appointment demonstrated that "Serbia has never changed." "We are deeply disturbed by the systematic glorification of war criminals in Serbia, and their rehabilitation in senior political, security, and education institutions," Kosovo's deputy prime minister, Enver Hoxhaj, told Reuters. Kosovo's prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, is himself a veteran of the war, a former guerrilla fighter against Serbian forces who was twice tried and twice acquitted of war crimes by the U.N. court in The Hague. But convicted war criminals have made it into public office in other parts of the former Yugoslavia: the mayor of the northern Bosnian town of Velika Kladusa, Fikret Abdic, is a notorious former warlord, while Johan Tarculovski, the only Macedonian to be convicted of war crimes in The Hague, is now a member of parliament. The gradual "normalisation" of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is central to Serbia's EU accession hopes, but the process has dragged on for years. Hoxhaj lamented what he called "the silence of the international community on Serbia's derailing from the alleged commitment to European values, democracy, rule of law and international justice." (Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci in PRISTINA; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) Walter P. Blass has a storied career. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he worked as an assistant foreign aid officer in Laos and Cambodia, a country director for the American Peace Corps in Afghanistan, an economist and strategic planner for AT&T, a professor at Fordham University, and now a visiting professor at international institutions in France, Singapore, Mexico, and Russia. But none of these compare to his own personal story of being a Holocaust survivor. From Nov. 13-17, Blass will share his stories on all five of the University of North Georgia (UNG) campuses. The 87-year-old New Jersey man will participate in a weeklong residential program as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. One of the purposes of the Fellow program is to create a better understanding of connections between the academic and nonacademic worlds. With his expertise, Blass can speak on a range of topics such as foreign aid, Afghanistan's history and present reality, globalization and technology change, mentoring, and teaching. Sheila Caldwell, advisor to the president on diversity and director of Complete College Georgia, explained UNG applied for three fellows to visit the campuses. Blass was the top choice because of his experience in the business community, military and his personal story. "One of the things that was captivating about his profile was him being a Holocaust survivor, his military background, and professional experiences," Caldwell said, noting that it would enrich the entire university community to hear first-hand experiences from a Holocaust survivor. "To learn from his personal accounts is very powerful, because he is not a figure in a history book. We can engage and ask him questions. His journey is priceless, and that's why he was our No. 1 choice." Blass is looking forward to visiting UNG, especially since his favorite career has been as a teacher. "I love the contact that I have with students," he said. "My approach is to respond to what the students say." Blass' schedule will include a daylong visit to all five campuses, featuring sessions with students, professors and a trip to kindergarten through 12th-grade schools in each city. Caldwell said student groups and professors wishing to hear from Blass may speak with her for a scheduling opportunity. Blass said he is willing to speak with students or community members, but noted UNG has never had a Holocaust victim speak. Blass explained he and his family escaped from Nazi Germany and later Belgium as a young boy. At one point, he was separated from his parents for four months while his father was interned as an enemy alien and his mother was in a concentration camp. They were reunited after his father was liberated. "I can talk about it as a personal experience," he said, pointing out his mother kept letters they wrote to each other while they were apart. "When I read them (as an adult), I burst out crying. It brought the immediacy of the hurt and uncertainty back to life for me." Blass said it is important for people to share their experiences, but emphasized the Holocaust during World War II was not the only one in history. "There have been a ton, like what Stalin did and when the Rwandans Hutus slaughtered the Tutsi in the 1990s," he said. "This is a human problem." His personal challenges, however, are not the only topics up for discussion. He has seen the workings of other countries as a foreign aid officer and Peace Corps director. In fact, he spent two years in Afghanistan with his wife and two young sons. "When you live overseas and you have to learn the local language," said Blass, who speaks French, German and a little Farsi. "I'm quite interested in the advantages of learning another language and living in another culture it is marvelous learning about the world." Walter Blass' schedule for the week of Nov. 12-17 Sunday, Nov. 12 6-8 p.m. Welcome Reception with UNG faculty, staff and students on the Gainesville Campus Monday, Nov. 13 9-9:30 a.m. Cabinet introduction on the Dahlonega Campus Noon to 1 p.m. meeting with Dean of Honors, Dr. Tanya Bennett and Corps of Cadets on the Dahlonega Campus 3:30-5 p.m. Turkey Ball Football Game on the Dahlonega Campus Tuesday, Nov. 14 9-10 a.m. World Language Academy fifth-grade class for Q&A at 4670 Winder Highway, Flowery Branch 11 a.m. to noon at Cumming Leadership Meeting on the Cumming Campus 12:30-1:30 p.m. SGA meeting with faculty and staff invited on the Cumming Campus 6-8 p.m. Holocaust and refugee Q&A in the Martha T Nesbitt building room 3110 on the Gainesville Campus Wednesday, Nov. 15 11 a.m. to noon student presentation on the Blue Ridge Campus Noon to 1 p.m. faculty and staff presentation on the Blue Ridge Campus 1:45-3:15 p.m. Fannin County Schools presentation in Blue Ridge Thursday, Nov. 16 9-9:30 a.m. Student Affairs Council Meeting in the Robinson Ballroom in the Student Center on the Gainesville Campus 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Rose Proctors Class on the Dahlonega Campus 6-8 p.m. International Education Week presentation in Hoag Auditorium on the Dahlonega Campus Friday, Nov. 17 The University of North Georgia (UNG) is looking for a select group of candidates who are thinking about going to graduate school, but lack the support to make that next big step. UNG has been awarded $1.13 million over five years by the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program to continually serve 25 high-achieving, low-income, first-generation and/or underrepresented students to gain the necessary skills to become competitive candidates for doctoral programs. The McNair program is designed to identify and prepare second-term sophomores, juniors and seniors from all UNG campuses for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. Participants are either first-generation college students with financial need or members of a group traditionally underrepresented in graduate education (African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander) but have shown strong academic potential. Dr. Bryan Dawson, associate professor of psychology at UNG, has worked for more than a year on the McNair proposal and is the principal investigator for the program. In the proposal, Dawson outlines the obstacles that prevent low-income and underrepresented students from completing baccalaureate programs and moving on to graduate work: limited knowledge or preparation for graduate school, ineffective study and organization skills, and lack of exposure to undergraduate research. The McNair program is designed to give these students the academic and social tools needed to succeed in a postgraduate environment. "The goal is to introduce these students early on to research opportunities, to develop leadership and research skills, so that they get the guidance and experience they need to succeed in post-graduate studies," Dawson said. The UNG McNair program will match participants with faculty members to conduct scholarly research, establishing a formalized mentoring program. Faculty members will not only mentor students in their research, but provide them the skills necessary to enroll in graduate school with confidence. Students also will have a range of services available to them to help them succeed in their graduate journey, including personal counseling, academic advisement, financial aid guidance, and tutorial services. Dawson said financial stipends, ranging from $500 to $2,500, will be available for study aids, test preparation and other necessities. "Most students work, at the very least, a part-time job to make ends meet, even if they're on a scholarship," Dawson said. "A stipend will help alleviate that need to work a part-time job and allow the student to focus on research, preparing for tests or just plain study time." To recruit potential undergraduates to the program, the grant provides funding for hiring a program director and two support staff. Dr. Sheri Hardee, associate dean in the College of Education, participates in the McNair program in a supporting role, has first-hand knowledge of the opportunities the McNair program affords. Hardee was a McNair scholar and later worked in the program office while at the University of South Carolina. "I wouldn't have gone to graduate school if it wasn't for the McNair program," Hardee said. "I wouldn't be teaching here at UNG. I was very excited when I found out that UNG received the grant. It has the power to change student's lives." Hardee said the program aligns perfectly with the Institution's strategic goals of expanding engagement and educational opportunity for students in this region, and creating a climate of academic excellence and innovation. "McNair is looking for students who are engaged in learning, who have shown interest in and a potential for research," Hardee said. "We want students who have taken advantage of all of UNG's educational opportunities and want to advance to the next level with help from the McNair program." For more information on the UNG McNair Scholars Program, contact Bryan Dawson at 706-867-4514 or bryan.dawson@ung.edu. It is important that caregivers take care of themselves while caring for their loved ones. Taking care of yourself means more than just eating well and sleeping; it means to take care of your body as a whole. Getting a massage is something that can really help relax the body and allows you to clear your mind. Massage has positive effects on mental and physical health of caregivers. It directly impacts our immune system, digestion, respiration, circulation, nervous system, and muscle health. These are all important factors when providing care to a loved one. It also reduces stress. Did you know that 80-90 percent of disease is directly related to stress? Massage helps to lower stress levels to improve health of the mind and body. Yoga is another way for caregivers to take care of themselves. Yoga is good for the body and mind; it allows the caregiver time to let go and focus on them. It helps caregivers take a step back from their busy life and recognize their own needs. One thing that yoga helps with is improved sleep quality and enhanced respiratory function. It is also important to make sure that caregivers are aware of legal responsibilities of themselves and the one they are providing care to. You should know where all of your legal and important documents are, as well as make a family plan. This will help keep things organized for later. Caregivers need to know the death plan for their loved one and make sure they are able and willing to follow through with their wishes. In honor of National Family Caregiver Month, the Family Caregiver Resource Center and AARP will be hosting Caregiver, Coffee, and Conversations at your LifeSpan Center. We invite you to join us for informative conversations with community professionals about different areas of interest to caregivers while also learning ways to take care of yourself. A delicious array of pastries and coffee will be available to all who attend. A selection of community partners will join us in a relaxed atmosphere to answer caregiver questions and share tips and helpful information to help make caregiving easier. Our special partners will be available to focus on the physical, emotional, legal, and financial aspects of caregiving. The goal of the program is to encourage open discussion to assist caregivers in navigating resources available to help with providing quality care for their loved ones. Our professionals are easy to talk to and are excited to help you stay informed and take better care of yourself. We will be giving away chances to win door prizes for all who attend this event. There is no fee to attend. However, reservations are required. Please call 217-639-5150 and reference the Caregivers, Coffee, and Conversations event. Remember, a cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent. This program is generously provided by AARP and co-hosted by the Family Caregiver Resource Center. The Family Caregiver Resource Center, sponsored by the Coles County Council on Aging, is partially funded through the Federal Older Americans Act, East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging and client contributions. The Coles County Council on Aging offices are located at the LifeSpan Center, 11021 E. Co. Rd. 800 N., Charleston. The telephone number is 217-639-5150 for the Coles County Council on Aging and LifeSpan Center. Come join us each weekday at noon for Lunch at LifeSpan. Peace Meals, sponsored by Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, are served Monday through Friday at a suggested donation of $3.50. To register, reserve a lunch or learn more, call 217-348-1800. Ecopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated energy company. The company operates through four segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels; and Electric Power Transmission and Toll Roads Concessions. It engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas; transportation of crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, including diesel, jet, and biofuels; processing and refining crude oil; distribution of natural gas and LPG; sale of refined and petrochemical products; supplying of electric power transmission services; design, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of road and energy infrastructure projects; and supplying of information technology and telecommunications services. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 9,127 kilometers of crude oil and multi-purpose pipelines. It also produces and commercializes polypropylene resins and compounds, and masterbatches; and offers industrial service sales to customers and specialized management services. It has operations in Colombia, the United States, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was incorporated in 1948 and is based in Bogota, Colombia. For example, fewer employers are offering traditional defined benefit pensions, which pay retirees a monthly stipend. Instead, more employers are offering defined-contribution plans usually 401(k) plans. These plans often require employees to make complex financial decisions that they are ill equipped to handle, the GAO says. In addition, the report notes that in 2016, 34 percent of private-sector workers did not have an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The GAO also pointed out that many lower-income workers who may have access to a retirement plan through their jobs cannot afford to take advantage of it. And the Social Security trustees project that, beginning in 2035, the trust fund will be unable to pay full retirement benefits, which might reduce or delay future payments. Another factor influencing retirement is the added longevity of Americans. A man born in 1915 could expect to live to nearly 80, but one born in 2015 can expect to live to reach an average age of 86. With such increases in life expectancy, workers need to plan better and save more, the report says, or they could be in danger of outliving their savings. If no action is taken on these challenges, the report notes, a retirement crisis could be looming. GAO suggests five goals to fix the retirement system: Promote universal access to a retirement savings plan. Ensure individuals have adequate retirement income, because too many Americans are at risk of relying solely on Social Security. Improve options on how to tap retirement savings. Remove some of the complexity and risk in retirement plans. Stabilize federal retirement programs. In preparing the report, the GAO relied on findings and recommendations from prior federal commissions, international studies, previous GAO reports and input from a 15-member panel of experts. That panel included David John, AARPs senior strategic policy adviser. CHARLESTON -- Becoming a police officer was in Brad Oyers blood long before he donned the uniform. Oyer remembers dreaming of becoming a part of the police force when he was a kid. He never thought of being anything else. Right out of high school he made steps to train to become a part of law enforcement. Now, after 28 years as an officer, Oyer has retired his badge, which for him raised mixed emotions. I wouldve enjoyed staying, Oyer said. I really didn't want to leave. Last week was his last as part of the Charleston Police Department. His career as a police officer ended with a call to a home in the city. A man had accidentally driven into the side of his house with his car, knocking the wall in. The mans foot had slipped and the vehicle accelerated into the home. Oyer said it was a less than usual call but nothing he had not seen before citing a time he had seen a vehicle that had made it into a kitchen of one home. But, his last call was not something he thought about as his last day waned. It could have been any number of things, he said. What was more on his mind was the people that he had a chance to work within his years at the department. I came here as an outsider. I wasn't born and raised here in Charleston. I grew up in Shelby County, he said. The people of Charleston, of Coles County hired me and accepted me I have worked with some really wonderful people (community members and police officers alike) and that is what I want to remember. Oyers career started out at the Coles County Sheriffs Office in November of 88 at 21 years old as a correctional officer in the jail. There he said helped develop a program that would train correctional officers so that they can do work on the streets as well. But, Oyer was looking toward a town or city department specifically, Charleston. In 94 after few times applying for a position, he transferred over to the CPD, where he stayed for the rest of his law enforcement career. After about five years in the role, he was tasked with helping compile and develop a tactical team in the area, the Crisis Response Team. It was probably one of the highlights of my career, Oyer said. Before the team was formed, situations in the area required external assistance from other tactical response teams. Tasked with helping build the program, Oyer had to research the training and equipment needed for the task. The ability to start a program from nothing was a big deal for him, he said. Since the team was formed, other jurisdictions joined in their support of team including Mattoon Police Department, Eastern Illinois University Police Department and Lake Land College Police Department. In 2005 he got promoted to Sergeant, and in 2009, he was moved up again to Lieutenant. Looking back on those years, Oyer can only think about how much the job has changed. The job has become much more militarized, Oyer said. The world has become a different place then was 29 years ago. When I started, nobody would have ever thought that cops would carry rifles in their squad cars. And now, nobody would think to go on patrol without a rifle. He said he certainly won't miss the bad that he has seen on the job. I am not going to miss watching people victimize each other and watching children be victimized in various ways, he said. Those are the kind of things I am glad that I do not have to deal with anymore. Now retired, Oyer said he plans to enjoy relaxing and hunting before he potentially goes back into part-time or full-time work. I never had a backup plan, he said of a life after a career in law enforcement. He said he is not sure what comes next for him. An officer has not been selected to take his place yet. City Councilor Dan Lewis first ad of the mayoral runoff election attacks state Auditor Tim Kellers record on public safety, but the Keller campaign is hitting back, accusing Lewis of reaching into the dirty tricks playbook to falsify Kellers record and distort the truth. The runoff election will be on Nov. 14. Lewis 30-second television ad features a woman walking to her car at night as a hooded man appears to follow her. Tim Keller says hell keep us safe, but his record tells a different story, a male voice says. Keller voted to abolish the death penalty for child killers and rapists. Keller said no to laws that keep convicted sexual predators from living near their victims, and Keller wont call out catch-and-release judges who dump violent criminals back on the street. Now, does Tim Keller make you feel safe? Lewis campaign issued a news release highlighting the ad over the weekend. There is a bright line of distinction between our records on crime, Lewis said. My plan puts the criminals and catch-and-release judges on notice. Tims strategy is hug-a-thug nonsense. As mayor, I will always put our law-abiding citizens before criminals in this city. The Keller campaign fired back on Monday. Dan Lewis is the only hope that right-wing extremists have of keeping City Hall. While he gives lip service about change, his election would signal four more years of the exact same do-nothing approach that hes taken for the last eight years, Keller said in a news release. With the vast majority of voters rejecting his failed rhetoric, Lewis has resorted to the same bag of dirty tricks weve seen time and time again. The choice is clear I will stand up and own our challenges and refuse to pass the buck to judges or anyone else when it comes to the solutions for attacking crime. His campaign noted that a coalition that included more than 140 grassroots organizations, whose members include family members of murder victims, supported repeal of the death penalty. And, the release said, Keller fought for the nations strongest sex offender laws. New calls for probe: The state Republican Party, meanwhile, is also jumping into the fray, renewing its calls for an investigation into accusations that Keller circumvented the citys public financing system by accepting checks made out to Rio Strategies, the firm running his campaign, and reporting them as in-kind contributions. In a letter dated Oct. 17 and copied to the Journal, Republican Party attorney A. Blair Dunn asks State Police Chief Pete Kassetas to investigate the potential illegal campaign practices by Keller and City Council candidate Cynthia Borrego. Keller and Borrego are both Democrats running against Republican opponents, although city races are nonpartisan, which means that political affiliation wont appear on the ballot. Colon backs Keller: Brian Colon, one of the mayoral candidates who didnt make the runoff election, has endorsed Keller. From the beginning of the campaign, it was clear Tim and I shared far more in our vision for this city than we differed on, Colon said in a news release issued by the Keller campaign on Wednesday. That is why I am endorsing his campaign today. Tim is from Albuquerque and is raising his young family here just like I did. He is committed to helping not just the privileged few, but every single one of us who believe that Albuquerque has the potential to be a safe and smart city. We need a leader like Tim who will move past hateful rhetoric and focus on the things that bring us together and make us stronger. Martin Salazar: msalazar@abqjournal.com Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal Nearly 1,000 pages of Archdiocese of Santa Fe court records were released to the public on Wednesday, including letters written showing that church leaders knew of allegations of sexual abuse against three priests long before the priests left or were barred from ministry. The records, released by order of District Judge Alan Malott, mark the largest release of Archdiocese of Santa Fe records since alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse began filing lawsuits against the archdiocese in the early 1990s. The records include a wide variety of documents from the archdioceses personnel files, including letters written by three archbishops of Santa Fe, some in correspondence with bishops of other dioceses where the three priests lived and worked. The records comprise what had been a secret history of the careers of former priests Jason Sigler and Sabine Griego, who both live today in New Mexico, and Arthur Perrault, who has fled the country. Malott issued the order in response to a request by KOB-TV LLC, which filed in July as an intervenor in seven clerical abuse cases for the purpose of obtaining court records. The records were obtained in the course of lawsuits filed by Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall, who has filed more than 70 lawsuits since 2011 on behalf of alleged clerical abuse victims. Hall compiled the records to support timelines he uses in ongoing lawsuits against the archdiocese. In a written response, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe said that church leaders hope that the disclosure of documents will serve as an additional step in healing for survivors, their families, our Church, and communities. The archdiocese had the same intent when it disclosed on Sept. 12 a list of clergy accused of sexual misconduct. Going forward, the archdiocese intends to continue promoting transparency in its efforts to protect children and young people from sexual abuse by clergy or anyone else in the community, while at the same time being careful to respect the rights of those who may be falsely accused, and the privacy of victims, the archdiocese said. The records paint a picture of a diocese that repeatedly assigned priests accused of sexually abusing children to posts where they could abuse again. They include letters and reports from psychologists to church leaders that detail allegations against the three. Perrault, who is alleged to have sexually abused at least 38 boys in New Mexico, was recommended for a teaching post at St. Pius X High School in 1966 by a psychologist under contract with the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, a religious order that ran a treatment center for pedophile priests. We would like to recommend that you consider (Perrault) for acceptance to this Diocese and to permanent assignment to keep him at either the high school or the college level, Dr. John Salazar, clinical director at the facility, told Archbishop James Davis in a letter. Perrault was sent to the Jemez Springs facility in 1965 after he was accused of molesting some of the young men with whom he was working at the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn., where he was ordained in 1964. Perrault ignited the clerical abuse scandal in New Mexico when he vanished from his Albuquerque parish in 1992, just days before an attorney filed two lawsuits against the archdiocese alleging Perrault had sexually assaulted seven children at his parish. After vanishing for a quarter century, Perrault turned up last year in Morocco, working at an English-language school for children, where he was subsequently fired. It is not clear where he is now. While Perrault brought to light abuse in New Mexico, fellow priest Jason Sigler far surpassed Perraults victim count and supervisory priests had numerous opportunities to take him out of circulation. In the court documents amassed documenting Siglers trail through rural parishes in New Mexico, attorney Hall counts at least 63 young male victims who endured often semiweekly fondling, oral sex and, later, as Siglers conduct remained unchecked, forced anal sex. Sigler served mostly in rural northern New Mexico churches, but finished his career at St. Therese Parish and St. Therese Little Flower School at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Albuquerque. He was given the Albuquerque assignments after one of several stays at the Servants of the Paraclete. The priest in charge of that facility, in a letter dated 1978 to then-Archbishop of Santa Fe Robert Sanchez, himself later accused of sexual misconduct involving young women, told the archbishop that Sigler has been a great help to the older priest residents and has been asking for his own church again. I feel that this would be good for him and I am confident that he will be able to function responsibly, the Rev. Joseph McNamara writes in the letter. After release from the facility and in charge of his church in Albuquerque, Sigler assaulted another 14 boys, according to Halls documents. He is never reprimanded by the church, and is instead thanked graciously for his service when he decides to leave the priesthood to get married. Sigler and his wife live in Taylor Ranch. He was the only one of the three to be charged or convicted, and is on the states sex offender registry. Griego was the only one of the three who was born and raised in New Mexico. Halls timeline indicates that he is accused of assaulting 32 children at New Mexico parishes, including a 9-year-old girl at Queen of Heaven Parish in Albuquerque. Former Archbishop Michael Sheehan wrote in a 2004 memorandum that Griegos case is extraordinary because of the sheer volume and heinous nature of the accusations. Payments to 17 of Griegos victims approached $3 million, he wrote. Messages left on Siglers voice mail were not returned Wednesday. Griego declined to comment when reached by phone on Wednesday. Predator priests Jason Sigler Lives in Albuquerque Sigler, 79, who left the priesthood in 1982, pleaded guilty in Albuquerque to a charge of criminal sexual penetration of a minor in 1983 and received a deferred sentence, according to Journal reports. Sigler was sentenced in 2003 to a year in prison for molesting two boys in the 1970s while serving in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Later, in 2003, he pleaded guilty to molesting two other boys in another Michigan parish in the 1970s and was sentenced to a seven- to 15-year prison term in the Michigan Department of Corrections. He was released on parole in May 2012 and resided in Michigan until completing his parole on Nov. 29, 2013, according to MLive.com, a Michigan news website. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe settled at least 26 lawsuits in the 1990s filed by people who said Sigler had sexually abused them as children while he served as a priest in Albuquerque, Fort Sumner and Las Vegas, N.M., in the 1970s and early 1980s. Sabine Griego Lives in Las Vegas Records released Wednesday show Griego, 79, has been alleged to have sexually abused 32 children at New Mexico parishes he has pastored since he was ordained at St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe in 1964. Griego has been identified as an abuser in a number of lawsuits. A 1993 lawsuit alleged that then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez transferred Griego to Albuquerque in 1979 after allegations surfaced that he had molested boys in Las Vegas. Griego served as pastor from 1979 to 1991 at Queen of Heaven parish in Albuquerque. Griego resigned from Queen of Heaven in 1991 after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him there, according to news reports. He was later suspended by the archdiocese. Arthur Perrault Fled the U.S. Court records released Wednesday show that Perrault, 79, allegedly sexually abused at least 38 New Mexico children since he was sent by the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn., to a now-closed facility in Jemez Springs operated by the Servants of the Paraclete, which received pedophile priests from around the nation. He left Jemez Springs in 1967 and became a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, serving posts at St. Pius X High School and several Albuquerque parishes. He fled Albuquerque in 1992, just days before an Albuquerque attorney filed a lawsuit alleging Perrault sexually assaulted seven children in his parish. After vanishing for a quarter century, Perrault turned up last year in Morocco, working at an English-language school for children, from where he was subsequently fired. It is not clear where he is now. Griego Sigler Perrault New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment, blessed with breathtaking natural vistas and a rich multicultural history. And our people are some of the warmest and kindest you will ever meet. With all of those blessings you would think our great state would be prospering and rank at the top of every national indicator in growth, jobs and education. Unfortunately, that is just not the case. In June 2017, New Mexico had an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent, and it was ranked 42nd by Forbes for growth prospects with a poverty rate of 20.4 percent. How do we explain to our children that we, the business and political leaders of our state, have failed to provide them with the prosperity and opportunity they deserve? Its time we stop explaining our failures and start taking the bold and necessary steps to secure a future for our youth. One of the things we can do is let employees decide if they want to join a union rather than forcing them to do so. Right-to-work laws allow workers to opt out of union membership and dues without fear of losing their jobs. Twenty-eight states have right-to-work laws on their books, including nearly all of New Mexicos neighbors. But thanks to a recent federal court decision, local governments can pass their own right-to-work ordinances. And thats exactly what Sandoval County and the City of Rio Rancho have decided to do. As president of the New Mexico Business Coalition, I support the officials of those jurisdictions in their decision. I am proud to sponsor and include the New Mexico Business Coalition in a letter of support which can be read on our website at nmbizcoalition.org. Other business organizations, community leaders, and liberty-oriented nonprofits have co-signed, and we are glad to have them all. Organized labor says that right-to-work increases poverty. But thats ridiculous. New Mexico already has an unacceptable poverty level without right-to-work protections, and California, also without right-to-work, has the highest poverty rate in the nation. The New Mexico Business Coalition (NMBC) is a statewide nonprofit association that works to improve the business environment for companies and the quality of life for all New Mexicans. NMBCs nonpartisan educational efforts focus on providing New Mexicans the facts about regulation, legislation and elected officials decisions affecting them. In a story in Wednesday's newspaper, it was stated that the maximum penalty provided for by law was two years in prison in the case of a woman who pleaded guilty to charges after a collision with a Teutopolis school bus. In fact, the two-year sentence was the maximum requested by the state's attorney. The newspaper regrets the error. If a metaphor could be used for this White House, it might be a two-sided coin with President Trump the head and Vice President Mike Pence the tail. The president tends toward the bombastic to get peoples attention and make his points, while his vice president is calm and measured in his response to questions, sometimes resembling a contemplative monk. In many ways they complement each other. During an interview last Thursday, the vice president said tax reform is now the administrations top domestic priority and that we have the best opportunity between now and the end of the year to do that. He believes it will get done. Why the optimism? Because, he says, there is broad-based and more than a little bipartisan support for tax relief to get this economy growing again. Pence thinks the failure to repeal Obamacare in 2017 has created (an) even greater sense of urgency. Theres a great sense of anticipation among the American public. I think members of Congress are very aware of that. What about Obamacare and the failure of Republicans to repeal and replace it, leading to a number of executive orders issued last Thursday to address what the president feels is the harm caused by that law? Pence predicts the Senate will go along with the House next spring when a new budget bill comes up for consideration. The word we got from Sens. (Lisa) Murkowski, R-Alaska, and (John) McCain, R-Ariz., was very favorable toward the Graham-Cassidy bill, which would have repealed the individual mandate, repealed the business mandate and block grant(ed) resources back to the states. Their attitude on the substance was very favorable, but both of them wanted to give the Senate time to go through the committee process, the hearing process, for full floor consideration and amendments. What about Iran and the decertification of the nuclear deal made during the Obama administration? Pence said the president considers the deal a disaster agreement for the United States. From the White House on Friday, the president announced he was decertifying the deal, imposing new sanctions and asking our allies and Congress to address the deals serious flaws. North Korea? Pence notes how truly remarkable he believes it is that there is a global consensus around a commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. What weve seen from the Kim regime in recent months is a series of provocations and a nuclear missile test I believe has created an environment that has made it possible for us to forge not only stronger relations with our allies in the region, but given President Trumps strong relationship with President Xi of China, weve seen China take action regarding North Korea that theyve never taken before (including) cutting off access to financial institutions in China. I ask if a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and getting Kim to stop production of nuclear weapons can be achieved without war and get the standard answer the president has given: We remain hopeful well be able to achieve it by economic and diplomatic means, but all options are on the table. As might be expected of a loyal vice president, Pence suggests the president is not getting the credit he thinks he deserves for undoing some of the policies of previous administrations, attempting to loosen the grip of ISIS in Iraq and for his businessmans approach to government, emphasizing more private-sector jobs and relaxing or eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle economic growth. Would he care to comment on the Harvey Weinstein story everyone is talking about? He smiles and demurs, possibly adopting the philosophy that when your liberal political enemies are destroying themselves, why get in the way by changing the subject? On the way out of the White House Mess where we had lunch, Pence pauses to admire a model of an old ship. To employ a nautical phrase, Mike Pence is a calming influence on sometimes stormy political seas. He may be President Trumps greatest political and personal asset. Email: tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Copyright, Tribune Content Agency LLC. The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education is accepting applications to fill the District 1 seat vacated by Analee Maestas earlier this month. On Wednesday, the APS board unanimously approved a resolution outlining the process. Under state statute, the remaining six board members have the power to appoint Maestas replacement through majority vote within 45 days of the vacancy, placing the deadline at Nov. 24. Maestas resigned on Oct. 10 in the wake of embezzlement and fraud investigations at the charter school she founded, La Promesa Early Learning Center. According to the boards timeline, applications including a letter of intent, resume with references and a questionnaire are due Nov. 2. A community forum to meet the candidates is scheduled for Nov. 9 and the board will select the winning candidate on Nov. 13. That person will hold the seat until the next election in February, according to state statute. The elected person will serve the remainder of Maestas term, which expires in 2019. Applicants must be at least 18 years old, a registered New Mexico voter and a resident of District 1, the southwest section of the city. The district includes Atrisco Heritage Academy and Rio Grande High School. Convicted felons and APS employees are disqualified. The application materials will be available on the APS website by Friday. Earlier this month, board members told the Journal they had not talked to Maestas about stepping down before her abrupt resignation, which came just as the board was about to meet in committee. The board is incredibly dedicated to working together and moving forward, said board member Elizabeth Armijo. So we will move forward, and we will be stronger and better as a team. In late September, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas demanded Maestas immediate resignation, claiming she was no longer fit for office. The long-time school administrator had repeatedly said she knew nothing about the roughly $700,000 in questionable transactions at La Promesa, a kindergarten through eighth grade charter school at 7500 La Morada Pl NW. Maestas blamed her daughter, Julieanne Maestas, the schools former assistant business manager, for the alleged financial improprieties, which were uncovered by State Auditor Tim Keller in September. Dr. Maestas now understands that Julieannes unresolved substance abuse problem is directly related to the issues highlighted within the State Auditors report, Analee Maestas attorney said in a statement. SANTA FE New Mexicos booming medical marijuana program is undergoing changes that are intended to help alleviate growing pains, a state Department of Health official told lawmakers this week. The changes that are either being considered or are already in the works include allowing patients to submit online applications theyre currently required to be submitted by mail and the hiring of seven new staffers, including an investigator and an environmental scientist. The new hires would bolster the Medical Cannabis Programs authorized staff positions by 33 percent from 21 to 28 positions for the budget year that started in July. New Mexico launched its medical marijuana program in 2007 the law is officially called the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act and the number of people enrolled in the program has skyrocketed in recent years. There were 48,861 active patients around the state as of last month, up from 9,950 in September 2013. While some legislators still harbor concern over qualifying conditions and whether the supply of medical cannabis is enough to meet demand, they also said the program appears to be taking important strides to keep up with the growth. Theyre making an effort to make this program what it has been described as all along a medical program, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said Wednesday. Most of the states 48,000-plus patients have been diagnosed with either post-traumatic stress disorder or severe chronic pain, which are among the nearly two dozen conditions under which patients are eligible for medical cannabis identification cards. During a Tuesday hearing of the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, several lawmakers took issue with Health Secretary Lynn Gallaghers decision this summer to reject an advisory boards recommendation that opiate addiction and Alzheimers disease be added to the list of conditions that qualify someone to legally buy medical cannabis from a state-licensed producer. Gov. Susana Martinez also vetoed legislation in April that would have added opiate use disorder as a qualifying condition. The committee voted Tuesday to send a letter to Gallagher to ask her to reconsider her decision, a stance supported by groups that have pushed for the change. We know that cannabis is a bridge to recovery and that it helps people who are in recovery stay in recovery, said Jessica Gelay with the Drug Policy Alliance in New Mexico. Meanwhile, the Health Department has also faced criticism in recent years for its handling of a backlog of applications for state-required medical marijuana cards, both from new patients and those seeking renewals. Current state law requires the agency to approve or deny an application for ID cards within 30 days of receipt. The cards expire one year after being granted, so qualified patients must go through the renewal process annually. Although Ortiz y Pino said he still thinks the Martinez administration is suspicious of the legitimacy of marijuana as a medical treatment, he said the backlog appears to have been largely fixed. And Department of Health officials said Wednesday theyre looking for other ways to improve the programs overall operation to ensure patients have safe access to medical marijuana. One change being considered is allowing online applications. However, applicants would still have to provide the same information as they do now, including a valid certification that the patient has been diagnosed with one of the qualifying conditions. As patient enrollment increases, we are looking at the feasibility of implementing an electronic patient application to improve this process, DOH spokesman Paul Rhien told the Journal. It was unclear Wednesday when such a policy might be enacted. Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal State Attorney General Hector Balderas is weighing in for the first time on the tragedy involving two Albuquerque-based nonprofits accused of siphoning millions of dollars from the accounts of veterans, elderly and special needs clients. This week, his office filed civil lawsuits seeking penalties against the two firms, and he said Wednesday that he wants legislative approval for his agency to increase its oversight authority to protect such clients from future harm. Balderas office, in the two lawsuits filed this week, contends the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians and Desert State Life Management violated the reporting requirements of the New Mexico Charitable Solicitations Act for nonprofit organizations. The action is separate from the continuing investigations into the missing client funds. And any money collected through the AGs civil action wont likely go to the dozens of alleged victims harmed by the two firms victims who collectively have lost more than $8 million. If there is any restitution for the victims, it will come from the outcome of any federal prosecution, said an AG spokesman. In his first public statement on the recent controversies that have engulfed New Mexicos guardian and trust industry, Balderas said through a spokesman, The various agencies that have direct oversight of these vulnerable populations clearly failed. It is a crisis in our state. Unfortunately, the Charitable Solicitations Act would never have prevented this type of tragedy, AGs Office spokesman James Hallinan said Wednesday. New Mexico desperately needs meaningful reforms, he said. And the Attorney General will advocate for the Legislature to increase oversight authority in the Office of Attorney General and provide adequate funding. Allegations surfaced over the summer about alleged theft by top executives of Ayudando Guardians Inc. and Desert State Life Management trust company. Desert State, like Ayudando, is no longer in business. In late May, state financial regulators announced in a lawsuit their discovery that at least $4 million was missing from Desert State accounts, but no one has been criminally charged in that alleged theft. The U.S. Attorneys Office has filed for forfeiture of several properties tied to Desert State, but it is unclear which law enforcement agency is investigating. The U.S. Attorneys Office in July announced the indictment of the two top executives of Ayudando: the firms president, Susan Harris, and chief financial officer, Sharon Moore. That came after a yearlong investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies, which found that the women were living lavish lifestyles with client funds. The 28 counts, which include conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering, in the Ayudando case are based chiefly on money missing from the accounts of military veterans and Social Security recipients who received federal benefits. But questions have surfaced about other victims who allegedly lost non-federal funds. The Journal on Sunday, for example, profiled the case of a 34-year-old former client of Ayudando, whose $110,000-plus inheritance from his father has disappeared. Justin Bowers, who is mentally impaired and under court-approved guardianship, said he was told by chief state District Judge Nan Nash of Albuquerque during a hearing Monday that it may take up to three years for him to recover his lost money. His new guardian, Cheryl Yerby of Necessity CMC, said she plans to exhaust all avenues to try to recover funds for her former Ayudando clients. Balderas office declined to say whether he is investigating criminal violations of state law involving either Ayudando or Desert State. Meanwhile, Balderas office as the enforcement agency for the Charitable Solicitations Act filed the two civil lawsuits in state District Court in Santa Fe. Any penalties collected may go back to the AGs Office for enforcement, Hallinan said. One of the suits says that Ayudando, from 2013 to 2016, at least, failed to register and file annual financial reports with the AGs Office, as required by law. The company is also alleged to have accepted grants and solicited donations since 2013 without complying with the Charitable Solicitations Act. As reported by the Journal in September, two filings by Ayudando to the AGs Office revealed red flags of irregular accountings, and nearly $80,000 in employee advances from client funds in 2011 and 2012. The independent audits and tax records Ayudando filed with the AG showed most of the clients money was repaid, but not all. The AGs Office has said it reviews such filings, but the content and level of scrutiny varies. The AG lawsuit against Desert State alleges that the firm was required to register and report as a charitable organization but never successfully did so. Each of the violations of the act subjects the firms to payment of restitution and a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation. FARMINGTON A former Farmington resident who survived the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., has started a fund to give gift baskets to the first responders who responded to the shooting. Chad Robertson, 38, with the help of others, has started the Las Vegas First Responder ThankYou Fund with the goal of raising $100,000 to make and deliver 1,000 gift baskets to first responders, including law enforcement, firefighters and nurses. Its important for Robertson to recognize the hard work and danger the first responders faced as they ran into the festival grounds amid the gunshots fired by Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 people and injured nearly 500 people on Oct 1. Those guys are victims as well, Robertson said in a phone interview. Theyll have a hard time going through things. Chad is the son of former Farmington Deputy Fire Chief Phil Robertson, who worked for the Farmington Fire Department for 20 years. He graduated from Farmington High School and is the vice president of employee benefits at Moody Insurance Agency in Denver, Colo. Chad and his wife, Jennifer Robertson, reside in Northglenn, Colo. It was the second year for Chad and Jennifer to attend the three-day country music festival at the Las Vegas Village. The couple was on the southwest corner of the property near the Mandalay Bay Resort, about 60 to 70 feet from the stage where Jason Aldean was performing. Jennifer said in an email the couple got married at the Mandalay Bay Resort on March 21, 2005. Chad initially thought he heard fireworks but he looked up in the sky and didnt see fireworks exploding in the sky. He then saw Aldean run off stage. I knew right then something was wrong, Chad Robertson said. Chad grabbed Jennifers hand and they started running away from the stage. The couple spent a couple of seconds pushing against the crowd when everyone started running as another wave of gunfire started. We just saw people getting shot, Chad Robertson said. As we were running, we saw people get hit. Scared the gunfire might be from a gunman on the festival grounds, the couple briefly laid on the ground and pretended to be dead. A short period of time passed before they got up and started running again toward the northern portion of the festival grounds, across the street from the Tropicana Las Vegas. The couple wedged their bodies between a hot dog cart and a generator near a mesh fence to protect themselves from the gunfire. After hiding in that spot, the Robertsons got up and ran toward the festival entrance. Chad and Jennifer exited the festival grounds, crossed the street and entered the Tropicana as they heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off the street. The Robertsons hid in parts of the Tropicana, including a kitchen and womens locker room, before being allowed to exit through a back entrance. It was about 4 a.m. on Oct. 2 when people were allowed to leave after a lockdown was removed, Chad said. The Robertsons returned to their hotel rooms at the Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort, about 5 or 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 2. After taking a shower, the couple started calling family members to tell them they were safe. After returning home, Chad was eager to find a way to give back to the first responders. The project came together after Chad met Melody Mesmer, a co-founder of the Foundation 1023 nonprofit, on Oct. 6 at an event in Arvada, Colo. The organization provides mental health and wellness services for first-responders. The fund had raised $13,184 as of Wednesday night. You can donate to the fund at http://bit.ly/lvshootingfund. Former Farmington man starts fund for Las Vegas first responders MARAWI, Philippines Smoke wafted from the smoldering carcasses of buildings and houses, with the dome of a mosque blasted out with holes, as Philippine troops battled Thursday to defeat a final stand by the last dozens of pro-Islamic State group militants in a southern city. The desolate war scene, witnessed by Associated Press journalists on board a navy patrol gunboat in Lake Lanao, could herald what the government hopes will be the end of a nearly five-month siege by the militants in Marawi city. Filipino troops killed 13 more suspected militants Wednesday night, including one believed to be a top Malaysian terror suspect although his body hasnt been recovered yet, military officials said. Our troops are continuing their assault, army Col. Romeo Brawner said after his news conference in Marawi was disrupted by loud explosions reverberating from the final area of battle, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. About 20 to 30 militants continue to fight back, he said. While troops pressed their assault with artillery and gunfire, officers used loudspeakers to ask the militants, many of them positioned in a bullet-pocked two-story building, to surrender. The building stands on a pier by the lake near a huge gunfire-scarred welcome sign that says I (love) Marawi. Sporadic fighting continued even after President Rodrigo Duterte visited the Islamic city on Tuesday and announced its liberation, sparking hopes that hundreds of thousands of residents could begin returning home. The speed of their return, however, will depend on how quickly the city is declared safe of militants and rebuilt. Volunteers and displaced residents have begun a government-led cleanup in neighborhoods that were declared safe. Power has been restored in more than half of the lakeside city, along with water supply, officials said. On Monday, the defense secretary and military chief of staff announced that two of the last leaders of the siege Isnilon Hapilon, who is one of the FBIs most-wanted terror suspects, and Omarkhayam Maute were killed in a gunbattle. Their deaths were the turning point that partly convinced the president he could declare Marawi liberated from the gunmen, Brawner told the AP. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Malaysian Mahmud bin Ahmad was believed among 13 militants killed overnight and another seven in the morning. Six soldiers were slightly wounded in the fighting. Two civilian hostages a mother and her teenage daughter were also rescued, Padilla said. The information about Mahmud was based on what the rescued mother and daughter told the military, Padilla said. Mahmud, who uses nom de guerre Abu Handzalah, is a close associate of Hapilon. Military officials said he had linked up Hapilon with the Islamic State group and provided funding to bankroll the siege of Marawi. Padilla said troops discovered that there may be more militant fighters remaining in a small battle area than earlier estimated. Marawi, a mosque-studded center of Islamic faith in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, has been devastated by the siege by the militants who waved IS-style black flags and hung them on buildings they had occupied in Marawis business district and outlying areas, according to the military. The insurrection prompted the military to launch a ground offensive and airstrikes, with the United States and Australia later backing the troops by deploying surveillance aircraft. Duterte declared martial law across the south, the homeland of minority Muslims and the scene of a decades-old separatist rebellion, to deal with the uprising and prevent other insurgents from waging attacks elsewhere and reinforcing the fighters in Marawi. The surprise occupation of the city and the involvement of foreign fighters set off alarms in Southeast Asia. Analysts said parts of the southern Philippines were at risk of becoming a new base for IS as it lost territory to international forces in Iraq and Syria. Some of the residents who returned to Marawi for the cleanup Thursday became emotional after seeing their devastated city and homes. Esnairah Macabunar saw weeds growing around her two-story house but became more stunned when she went inside and realized her home had been ransacked. Everything was stolen in my house, she said. I am still shaken because I cannot accept what happened, my whole life savings are gone. ___ Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila contributed to this report. CHARLESTON, S.C. Chris Allens phone started buzzing as word broke that invisible attacks in Cuba had hit a U.S. government worker at Havanas Hotel Capri. Allens friends and family had heard an eerily similar story from him before. The tourist from South Carolina had cut short his trip to Cuba two years earlier after numbness spread through all four of his limbs within minutes of climbing into bed at the same hotel where American government workers were later targeted. Those werent the only parallels. Convinced the incidents must be related, Allen joined a growing list of private U.S. citizens asking the same alarming but unanswerable question: Were we victims, too? It may be that Allens unexplained illness, which lingered for months and bewildered a half-dozen neurologists in the United States, bears no connection to whatever has harmed at least 22 American diplomats, intelligence agents and their spouses over the last year. But for Cuba and the U.S., it matters all the same. It is cases like Allens that illustrate the essential paradox of Havanas mystery: If you cant say what the attacks are, how can you say what theyre not? With no answers about the weapon, culprit or motive, the U.S. and Cuba have been unable to prevent the attacks from becoming a runaway crisis. As the United States warns its citizens to stay away from Cuba, there are signs that spring breakers, adventure-seekers and retirees already are reconsidering trips to the island. After years of cautious progress, U.S.-Cuban relations are now at risk of collapsing entirely. That delicate rapprochement hadnt even started to take hold in April 2014 when Allen felt numbness overtake his body on his first night in the Havana hotel. It was so noticeable and it happened so quickly that it was all I could focus on and it really, really frightened me, said Allen, a 37-year-old who works in finance. The Associated Press reviewed more than 30 pages of Allens medical records, lab results, travel agency records and contemporaneous emails, some sent from Havana. They tell the story of an American tourist who fell ill under baffling circumstances in the Cuban capital, left abruptly, then spent months and thousands of dollars undergoing medical tests as his symptoms continued to recur. One troubling fact is true for tourists and embassy workers alike: Theres no test to definitively say who was attacked with a mysterious, unseen weapon and whose symptoms might be entirely unrelated. The United States hasnt disclosed what criteria prove its assertion that 22 embassy workers and their spouses are medically confirmed victims. So its no surprise that even the U.S. government has struggled to sort through confusing signs of possible attacks, odd symptoms, and incidents that could easily be interpreted as coincidences. The AP has learned that an FBI agent sent down to Cuba this year was alarmed enough by an unexplained sound in his hotel that he sought medical testing to see whether he was the latest victim of what some U.S. officials suspect are sonic attacks. Whether the FBI agent was really affected is disputed. But theres no dispute that a U.S. government doctor was hit in Havana, half a dozen U.S. officials said. Dispatched to the island earlier this year to test and treat Americans at the embassy, the physician became the latest victim himself. How badly he was hurt varies from telling to telling. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the sensitive investigation. The FBI and the State Department declined to comment. While the U.S. hasnt blamed anyone for perpetrating the attacks, President Donald Trump said this week he holds Cuba responsible . Cubas government, which declined to comment for this story, vehemently denies involvement or knowledge of the attacks. Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cubas first vice president and presumably its next leader, last week called the allegations bizarre nonsense without the slightest evidence, with the perverse intention of discrediting Cubas impeccable behavior. When Allen visited Havana three years ago, the sicknesses and political drama were all still in the distant future. After spending his first day walking the city, he checked into room 1414 of the recently refurbished Hotel Capri. Within minutes of going to bed, he started losing feeling. The tingling originated in his toes, like that prickly feeling when your foot falls asleep. It spread into his ankles and calves, then to his fingertips. He got up to investigate, and the sensation went away. He got back in bed. The tingling returned, reaching his hands, forearms, ears, cheek and neck. Allen assumed hed never identify the cause of all his trouble. Then in September, the AP revealed the hotel where he stayed was the site of other puzzling events later declared attacks by U.S. officials that left embassy staffers with their own set of varying and seemingly inscrutable symptoms. I wanted to wave a flag and be like, I know this, I know what it is like to stay there and have something weird happen to your body and not be able to explain it, Allen said in an hour-long interview in his office in Charleston. While the State Department says its not aware of any tourists being attacked, it has given credence to the notion that the unidentifiable danger could potentially ensnare any American who sets foot on the island. Its extraordinary warnings last month noted that assaults have occurred at popular tourist hotels, including the Capri, and that the U.S. is in no position to guarantee anyones safety. Among the hundreds of thousands of Americans whove thronged to Cuba in recent years, Allen isnt the only tourist who believes he was attacked. The State Department has received reports of several citizens who visited Cuba and say theyve developed symptoms similar to what embassy victims experienced. The government says it cant verify their accounts, but hasnt indicated its trying hard to do so. Asked if anyone is investigating such reports, the State Department said its advice to concerned tourists is to consult a medical professional. Since the AP began reporting on the Cuba attacks, roughly three dozen American citizens have contacted the news agency to say they believe they may have been affected by the same or related phenomena. The AP has not published those accounts, because closer examination gave ample reason to doubt their situations were connected. Allens case is different. He stayed on the 14th floor of the same Havana hotel where U.S. government workers have been attacked, including on an upper floor. He described sudden-onset symptoms that began in his hotel bed, but disappeared in other parts of the room similar to accounts given by U.S. government workers who described attacks narrowly confined to just parts of rooms. They also spoke of being hit at night, in bed. And medical records show Allen conveyed consistent, detailed descriptions of what he experienced to at least six physicians almost two years before the public knew anything about the attacks. Still, other parts of Allens story dont neatly align with what embassy workers have reported. The U.S. has said the attacks started in 2016, two years after Allens Cuba visit. His primary complaints of numbness and tingling arent known to have been reported by the government victims, though their symptoms , too, have varied widely and included many neurological problems. Allen also didnt recount hearing the blaring, agonizing sound a recording of which the AP published last week that led investigators to suspect a sonic weapon. Then again, neither did many of the 22 medically confirmed government victims. When Allen traveled to Havana for a long weekend of sightseeing, Americans were still prohibited from visiting under U.S. travel restrictions that were later eased. He booked flights through Mexico using a Canadian travel company that specifically recommended he stay at Capri, travel records show. Whatever happened on his first night in Havana, it came back the next evening. Again the numbness set in within minutes of getting into bed, this time stronger and in more parts of his body. It didnt go away. So the next morning Allen rushed to the airport and took the first available flight off the island. But the numbness stayed with him to varying degrees for six months. In that time, he saw an urgent care doctor, then his family physician, and then one neurologist after another at the Medical University of South Carolina. Every time the numbness seemed to ease, it would return without explanation. Specialists performed nerve conduction tests, full blood workups, exams to check muscle function, a CT of the head, an MRI of the spine, a sonogram of the heart. Doctors considered infections, tumors, the temporarily paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome, poisoning from heavy metal contamination and even ciguatoxin, contained in some Caribbean fish. When you have these vague symptoms, sometimes all you can do is prove what its not, said Dr. George Durst, Allens longtime physician. No ones smart enough to figure out what it was. Durst said Allen was right to be worried and didnt imagine his symptoms. He said Allens loss of sensation on both sides of the body ruled out peripheral nerve damage, suggesting the problem was in his central nervous system instead. Outside medical experts say its difficult if not impossible to determine whether different symptoms experienced by different individuals in Cuba are causally connected. The U.S. has declined to say what criteria separate the medically confirmed victims from others whove reported concerns or symptoms. I am sure that between April 2014 and October 2017 there must have been a very large number of people who were in Cuba and who were affected by various symptoms. But thats not unusual, said Mario Svirsky, who teaches neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine. If Allen was targeted by anyone, its not clear why. He would have been one of the first Americans to come through Hotel Capri after a major renovation . The iconic high-rise, known as a flashy mobster hangout before Cubas 1959 revolution, had re-opened a few months earlier under a partnership between Cubas state-run tourism company and a Spanish hotel chain. Hotel spokespeople declined to comment for this story. To an outsider, Allen could have looked like a U.S. government agent, potentially even a spy. A clean-cut 33-year-old at the time, he had worked for years in Republican politics, including on former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsmans 2012 presidential campaign. He also performed advance work in George W. Bushs administration that involved setting up logistics for official trips, a contract job that meant he briefly had an official passport. Allen approached the AP after it reported on the Capri attacks to ask how he could contact investigators to volunteer information. He agreed to tell his story publicly once it became clear the U.S. government was not actively looking into cases of potentially affected tourists. Allen said he was uninterested in publicity, and declined APs requests to be photographed and to tell his story on camera. The harrowing symptoms aside, Allen said he doesnt regret visiting Cuba. Eight months after his trip, as former President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced they would restore diplomatic relations, Allen took to Instagram to reflect on a few wonderful days wandering the streets and photographing the people of Havana. If the latest news makes it easier for you to visit, I encourage all of you to do so sooner than later, he wrote. ___ AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard and news researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report along with Matthew Lee and Bradley Klapper in Washington and Jake Pearson in New York. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP. Follow the APs coverage of the Cuba attacks at http://apnews.com/tag/CubaHealthMystery. AZTEC The city of Farmington and San Juan County have decided to intervene in the Public Service Company of New Mexicos Integrated Resource Plan case. Both the City Council and the County Commission met in closed executive session during their meetings Tuesday to discuss intervening. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is hearing arguments in the case. State legislators who represent San Juan County intervened in the case earlier this year. The integrated resource plan calls for PNM pulling out of the San Juan Generating Station at the end of 2022 and being coal free by 2031. The local governments are concerned about the economic impact PNMs plan will have on the area. PNM is the majority owner of the San Juan Generating Station. The integrated resource plan could mean the coal-fired power plant would close in 2022. The four-unit generating station has nine owners. The city of Farmington owns 8.5 percent of the shares in unit four. Two of the owners M-S-R Public Power Company and the city of Anaheim, Calif. are required by California law to divest from coal power. The California utilities plan on exiting the San Juan Generating Station by the beginning of next year. The M-S-R Public Power Company filed a motion to intervene in the PNM case last week. During his annual report about the assessors office during the Tuesday meeting, County Assessor Jimmy Voita discussed the property taxes that PNM pays. Voita said about 10.8 percent of the property tax base for the county comes from PNM and the San Juan Mine, which supplies the generating station with coal. While the integrated resource plan could mean the plant closes in 2022, the local area will start seeing the impact of the retirement of two units at the generating station at the end of this year. A 2012 agreement between PNM and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called for closing units two and three at the end of this year. Hannah Grover covers government for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652. 2017 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ President Trumps move to end federal subsidies paid to insurers who offer individual Obamacare plans has already been priced into premiums on plans being offered in New Mexico for the coming year, according to state insurance officials. State Superintendent John Franchini earlier this year approved rate hikes ranging from 36 percent to 41 percent for mid-level insurance coverage on the state exchange, according to an analysis by his office. This (Trumps action) is just confirmation of what we saw was coming, Heather Widler, a spokeswoman for Franchini, said Friday. How the higher premiums will affect enrollment for the coming year the signup period begins Nov. 1 was not immediately clear, but insurers are obligated to sell the policies that have been approved, she said. Back in the marketplace for 2018 are Molina Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Christus Health Plan, and New Mexico Health Connections the same as this year. Between them, the providers are offering 216 individual plans in the new enrollment year. The subsidies, called cost-sharing reductions, are paid to insurers to keep down the cost of co-payments and deductibles on plans bought by individuals who meet income qualifications. About 47 percent of New Mexico enrollees in ACA exchange plans have benefitted, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The subsidies are one of two funding mechanisms that make health care affordable for the majority of the the 55,000 people signed up through the states exchange, known as beWellnm. Many individuals who buy insurance on the ACA exchanges are also eligible for tax credits. About 73 percent of enrollees in New Mexico are eligible for those credits, which vary in size based on income. Those credits are separate and unaffected by the administrations action this week. Dr. Martin Hickey, chief executive of New Mexico Health Connections, a nonprofit insurer, said the tax credits could cushion the blow for many people. He pointed out that under the ACA, the tax credits grow to keep pace with rate increases. But, he said, that will not help middle-income New Mexicans who earn too much to qualify for the tax credits. And he said Trumps action on the cost sharing reduction payments could continue to deplete the ACA pool, both individual and small group, of healthy risk, which will then spiral the prices up so only sick people will buy. The presidents action was roundly condemned by ACA supporters and prompted threats of lawsuits. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas and a coalition of 18 attorneys general on Friday said they will file a lawsuit in the Northern District of California to fight the administrations decision. President Trumps Executive Order violates the law and threatens healthcare coverage for thousands of New Mexicans particularly those with pre-existing conditions, said Balderas in a prepared statement. FORT COLLINS, Colo. Three people, including a Colorado State University student, were killed and one person was wounded Thursday in a pre-dawn shooting outside an apartment complex about a mile (1.6 kilometers) west of the campus, police said. The shooting suspect was among those killed. A motive for the 2 a.m. shooting in Fort Collins wasnt known. University police alerted students and faculty via text and email to stay inside after shots were heard. The Larimer County coroners office says Savannah McNealy, 22, of Fort Collins, was among the three found dead. She had been shot multiple times, and her death has been ruled a homicide. The Fort Collins Coloradoan reports McNealy was studying liberal arts, art and art history. She also was a designer for CSU Life, a monthly campus publication. The other three involved, whose names have not been released, were not affiliated with CSU, a public university with more than 33,000 students about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Denver. City police Sgt. Dean Cunningham said it appeared that the shooter was known by one of the victims. Grief counselors tended to students and others at an on-campus student center. We are deeply saddened by this terrible loss to our campus community and will share more information as we have it, the university said in an email to students and staff. Yellow police tape cordoned off a parking area outside a drab gray apartment building in the City Park neighborhood, a residential area that abuts the universitys 590-acre (230-hectare) campus. Many students and faculty live in the neighborhood. Darren Rutz, a former CSU student who lives near the scene, told The Rocky Mountain Collegian he was awakened by a womans call for help, followed by gunfire. It seemed like quite a few gunshots to me, Rutz said. CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- City tourism funds were OKd for advertising for the Embarras Valley Film Festival. Charleston City Council members voted on the use funds at their meeting Tuesday. Eastern Illinois Universitys Doudna Fine Arts Center has requested $600 in tourism funds to cover advertising expenses related to the film festival. The film festival is a Eastern hosted event exploring and discussing film. According to the festival website, it is the festivals 13th year-running. The festival will run from Oct. 25-28. Also, council members approved extending an insurance agreement with the Dimond Brothers Insurance Agency. According to meeting documents, Dimond Brothers is currently the broker of record for placement of property, casualty and workers compensation coverage and administration of an insurance program for the City of Charleston. The new agreement would extend the citys use of Dimond Brothers insurance to 2020. If it hasnt already happened to you, let Rio Rancho City Councilor Cheryl Everett be the first to tell you that sending a text message to an unintended recipient can be embarrassing. In her case, in late September, she sent a message that read F*** Judge Cook. Hope you agree :( to Rio Rancho Municipal Judge G. Robert Cook himself. Cook responded by filing an ethics complaint early this month, calling the text vulgar, offensive, slanderous and arguing that sending such a message from a city-issued cellphone is improper. I thought I was texting a friend who shared some of my sentiments politically, Everett said in an interview Thursday. In politics, when youre under so much scrutiny, you just have to own it and move on. According to his complaint, Cook, who was hoping to secure a spot on a City Council meeting agenda, called Everett the afternoon of Sept. 28 and left a message asking her to call back. Late that night, she sent him a text message addressed to someone else, which said she was visiting friends and would call the next day. Cook responded and said, Ill call you Saturday, sorry to bother you while youre out of town. But, this is Judge Cook. Minutes later, she responded, using an abbreviation of a swear word: F*** Judge Cook. Hope you agree And soon after, presumably still believing she was talking with her friend, Look forward to your call :) Everett said another city employee theorized that Cooks city-issued phone at one point belonged to the friend and former city worker Everett believed she was texting. Cook said his judicial role restricts his ability to comment on the issue, but he said he doesnt use a city cellphone. Asked to respond, Everett said that was only speculation, and she wasnt sure whether anyone actually looked into it. In his complaint, Cook also alleged that Everett claimed her phone had been hacked, which he said was a clear lie. Everett said that was not an attempt to weasel out of responsibility and that she was confused about how Cook wound up with access to the message. When she realized what happened, she called the judge to apologize, and later she sent an apology email. A city ethics official determined that the complaint was unsubstantiated and that the message did not constitute a violation of the citys Code of Conduct ordinance. Her response to (Cooks) original message appeared to be to another individual and upon learning she was communicating with Judge Cook, the official wrote, she responded inappropriately, but her conduct does not rise to the level of a violation of the ordinance. Cook said he respects the decision. I want to move on, he said. Councilor Everett has a few months left on her term, and I look forward to working with her replacement in March. Albuquerque plays host to dozens of festivals throughout the year, celebrating everything from beer to balloons. Friday marks the beginning of a festival celebrating something most people dont want to even think about: death. The inaugural Before I Die ABQ Festival aims to start a dialogue on the subject of mortality and planning ahead for ones own death. My motto is, Talking about sex wont make you pregnant; talking about funerals and end-of-life issues wont make you dead,' said event organizer and death educator Gail Rubin. By bringing some levity, humor and creativity to the subject, Rubin hopes the festival will encourage a conversation and educate people on the four biggest end-of-life issues: financial, medical and legal decisions and funeral arrangements. The six-day festival will kick off with a panel discussion, What You Need to Know Before You Go, led by local funeral directors at 10:30 a.m. Friday at 3301 Menaul NE, Suite 18, in Albuquerque. At 5:30 p.m. Friday, a Prelude to Eternity kickoff party featuring Death Over Dinner discussions will be at the Pavilion of Sunset Memorial Park. That event costs $25 per person. Other highlights of the festival include Before I Die walls, where bypassers can use chalk to finish the sentence Before I die I want to at Sunset Memorial Park and on the campus of Central New Mexico Community College. On Saturday, local artists will showcase mortuary art including urns at the Mary Sharp-Davis studio. On Sunday morning, historian Susan Schwartz will lead a tour of the historic section of Albuquerques Fairview Cemetery, established in the late 1800s. Several funeral homes, crematoriums and end-of-life financial planning groups sponsored the festival, which Rubin hopes to continue next year. A hundred years ago, you had people still dying at home (by the way, you can do a home funeral in New Mexico still). Our society has gotten away from dealing with our own dead, Rubin said. These are hard questions that people dont really want to talk about. Thats part of why were having this event. There are many other events planned through the end of the festival. Rubin said those interested in attending events may register online at www.beforeidieabq.com. Events are free or low cost. BizVibe, a smart B2B networking platform for global buyers and suppliers, announced today the next generation of its B2B networking platform for Japans automotive industry. This press release features multimedia. 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Browse News Related to the Automotive Industry in Japan Japanese Automotive Industry Spikes to Its Best Level in 2017 Top 10 Auto Parts Manufacturers in the US Top 20 Automobile Manufacturing Countries Connecting on BizVibe BizVibe has been specifically designed to help industry professionals connect with like-minded businesses, providing them with a seamless, efficient, and easy-to-use platform. Using cutting-edge technology and advanced match-making algorithms, BizVibe has launched the smartest networking platform on today, a platform that can truly help companies find the right matches. With extensive feedback from communities across multiple industries, BizVibe was able to identify the core problems and uncertainties when finding potential trade partners. Using this feedback, BizVibe developed an efficient networking platform dedicated to buyers, sellers, importers, exporters, manufacturers, and suppliers, helping thousands of users to connect, engage, and make business deals daily. About BizVibe The single-minded focus of BizVibes platform is to make networking easier. Over the years, we've searched far and wide to figure out how businesses connect and enable trade. That first interaction is usually fraught with the uncertainty of finding a potential partner vs. a potential nightmare. With this in mind, we've designed a robust set of tools to help companies generate leads, shortlist prospects, network with businesses from around the world and trade seamlessly. BizVibe is headquartered in Toronto and has offices in London, Bangalore, and Beijing. For more information on the BizVibe network, please contact us. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019006370/en/ BizVibe Sony Gomes Media & Marketing Executive media@bizvibe.com October 15, 2017 In Iran, both government officials and regular citizens have reacted with anger to the Oct. 13 speech made by US President Donald Trump on his new Iran strategy. Though Trump attempted to distinguish between the Iranian people and the Iranian state, his reference to the Arabian Gulf instead of the "Persian Gulf" caused widespread outrage among ordinary Iranians, with #NeverTrustUSA trending on Twitter. The term Arabian Gulf was first used by pan-Arab movements in Iraq in the 1960s and then by nationalist Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in reaction to Tehrans siding with Israel in its conflicts with Arab states. Shortly after Trumps speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave a televised address in which he slammed the US president, urging him to be ethical and polite. Mentioning Trumps use of the term Arabian Gulf, Rouhani said, I invite the US president to read more about history and geography. How [has] a president not yet learned the name of a famous, historical and global gulf the Persian Gulf, through which, unfortunately, American warships are constantly coming and going. He should have at least asked his military advisers how they write the name of this gulf on their maps. Noting Trumps threats to kill the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian president said, As long as our rights are guaranteed, and as long as our interests require, and as long as we enjoy its benefits, we will respect the JCPOA within the framework of the interests of our nation. He added, [Trump] says that, in cooperation with Congress, he will amend the JCPOA. [Seemingly], he doesnt know that [it is not possible] to add any clause, article and paragraph to the JCPOA. Hinting at Europes opposition to Trumps strategy toward Iran, Rouhani continued, The great people of Iran saw that for the first time the United States took a stand against a multilateral international commitment, and immediately, major countries of the world and the European Union took a stand against the United States. The US today is lonelier than ever on the JCPOA and its conspiracies against the Iranian nation. On Oct. 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif joined Rouhani in condemning Trumps speech. Mentioning Trumps assertion that Iran is not committed to its obligations under the nuclear deal, Zarif said in an interview on Iranian state TV, It has been mentioned in the JCPOA that the only center responsible for pursuing and determining Irans commitment to the JCPOA is the International Atomic Energy Agency. He added, The US domestic laws are not valid for us and [the Trump administration] is obligated to act within the framework of the JCPOA, which is [endorsed by] a resolution of the UN Security Council. Zarif continued, We are taking appropriate measures in response to US actions. The Committee for Monitoring the JCPOA [an Iranian committee consisting of senior officials] will determine the necessary framework for responding to the US. Zarif said, We have written nine letters [to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as the coordinator of the JCPOA] about the US delay or failure in honoring its JCPOA commitments. He added that he will write a letter tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to Mogherini about Trumps remarks. Zarif continued, If they revive the sanctions and we face an inability to use [the JCPOA] in oil, gas and shipping arenas, and for bringing our money to the country, [then] we have the right to make a decision about the continuation of our presence in the JCPOA. Asked what will happen to Irans multibillion-dollar contract with US airplane manufacturer Boeing, Zarif said, In our view, there is no problem [regarding the deal], but if the US government impedes this contract, then they havent honored their commitments under the JCPOA. Zarif also tied Trumps use of the term Arabian Gulf to Saudi Arabia and other neighboring Arab states, saying that the US president did it to please these states, referring to their status as major purchasers of US weapons. In reaction to European officials remarks about the US presidents speech, Zarif said, The reaction of Mrs. Mogherini and European countries to the remarks of Trump is not limited to the JCPOA, but they are concerned about the [broader] behavior of the Trump government. [US] failure to comply with international obligations can create problems for the international order. Zarif added, This is a positive point for us because, previously, every time the US government decided to impose sanctions on us, Europe supported them, but today, the Europeans have stood against the US." He added: We will see in the coming months to what extent Europe will resist the excessive US [demands], and this will demonstrate whether the JCPOA will continue [to remain in place] and whether Europe can play a role on the international stage. Meanwhile, the head of Irans Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, warned the United States, saying, If the JCPOA is scrapped, we will stop implementing the Additional Protocol, because we are implementing it voluntarily and it hasnt been ratified by parliament. He stated, We are committed to the inspections [by the International Atomic Energy Agency] under the JCPOA, and we are pursuing these commitments within this framework, but we wont fulfill any other demand outside this framework. Baidu Inc. seems to be advancing its stake in the autonomous driving segment, with the companys chief executive officer and chairman, Robin Li, announcing that the Chinese search giant is planning to deploy a self-driving bus at its home country in 2018. According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, Baidu is relying on Apollo, the companys open-source software for autonomous vehicle that uses artificial intelligence (AI), for that goal. The Apollo program is part of a wider effort by the Chinese internet giant to complete the deployment of autonomous vehicles by 2020. Under the self-driving effort, Baidu intends to collaborate with other companies which will be responsible for the specific components of the initiative such as the vehicles and sensors, among others. In 2018, the company said it plans to work with a Chinese bus manufacturer to build a fully self-driving bus that can navigate a predetermined route all by itself. When it comes to how Apollo is different from other AI-based software used by other major autonomous driving players, Li explained that Baidus open-source software provides extensive control over how users manage their data and experience riding an autonomous vehicle controlled by Apollo. It remains unclear, however, how Baidu plans to generate revenue from Apollo since the software is open source. Nevertheless, the companys CEO is looking to other business opportunities such as selling map or simulation technologies, among others, as it is unlikely that the Chinese company can ever sell the open-source software. Over the long term, Baidu aims to become a major player in the autonomous vehicle category, with huge investments such as the recently announced $1.52 billion funding for the Apollo program in a bid to advance AI solutions that form part of the companys broader goal to compete with Waymo, Tesla, and Uber in this emerging market. The fund will be allocated to 100 autonomous driving projects over the next three years. Baidu also previously formed a partnership with NVIDIA to develop AI-powered technology for various segments including smart cloud computing, self-driving cars, and digital home assistants that all rely on artificial intelligence. In addition to the autonomous bus planned for rollout next year, Baidu also wants to start manufacturing Apollo-based semi-autonomous cars by 2019 and fully autonomous cars by 2021. CHARLESTON -- A man received prison time after he admitted leading police on a high speed chase that started in Oakland and ended with a wrecked, abandoned vehicle. Devin W.F. Miller pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude a peace officer in connection with the Aug. 17 incident. Miller, 23, for whom court records list a rural Windsor address, was sentenced to two years in prison with the agreement reached in his case. Also with the agreement, that sentence will run at the same time as others he received for convictions in two other counties. He was also recommended for a prison system discipline program that could lead to an early release. Records in Miller's case indicate that an Oakland police officer first saw the vehicle Miller was driving and recorded its speed at 97 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. During the chase the followed, the vehicle reached speeds of more than 100 mph and police eventually lost sight of it, the records say. It was later found wrecked and abandoned, according to the records. The records also say authorities contacted the vehicle's registered owner, an Effingham woman, and that led to an investigation that identified Miller as the driver at the time. The investigation also discovered that before the chase Miller left the Casey's convenience store in Oakland without paying for gasoline and other items. Coles County Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien agreed to order the two-year prison sentence for the conviction that could have resulted in a one- to three-year prison term. However, the judge also agreed to recommend Miller for the Illinois Department of Corrections' Impact Incarceration Program, sometimes called a prison boot camp. Prisoners who complete the program can be released early but a judge's recommendation is needed for eligibility. O'Brien also ordered the sentence to run at the same time as the three-year prison sentences Miller recently received for Effingham and Shelby county convictions, where he was also recommended for the discipline program. A misdemeanor theft charge in connection with the incident at the Casey's store and several traffic citations were dismissed. Records show that Miller recevied the Effingham County sentence for a theft conviction and for a revoked probation sentence he originally received in an earlier burglary conviction. The Shelby County sentence was also because of revoked probation from a theft conviction. In the Coles County case, O'Brien based the sentence on the terms of the plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Jenifer Schiavone and defense attorney Todd Reardon recommended. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is arguably the best smartphone on the market right now, and it is a bit cheaper over at eBay than anywhere else right now. The Galaxy Note 8 is going for $799 over on eBay, and it is an unlocked model, so it will work on GSM carriers around the world. This is a dual-SIM model of the Galaxy Note 8, so it is not a carrier version, so it is unlocked and ready to be used on any GSM carrier. Unfortunately, it wont work with Verizon and Sprint in the US. This also means that it is of the Exynos variety, and doesnt sport the Snapdragon 835 inside. Otherwise, its specs are the same, with a 6.3-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There is also a 3300mAh battery inside which is non-removable but will keep the Galaxy Note 8 charged up and running all day long. eBay is offering free shipping on the Galaxy Note 8 here, and it ships from Houston, Texas. There are also no taxes being collected on this purchase, making it $799 out the door and nothing more. This is a good price for the Galaxy Note 8 since all other prices are north of $900, and those do have taxes and shipping costs on top of it. Today, the Moto X4 launches at Amazon and other retailers, finally. The Moto X4 is priced at $399, however since it is available at Amazon, you are able to pick it up for a discounted price with ads on the lockscreen. The Moto X4 is available for $329 at Amazon with its lockscreen ads. Thats not a bad price for a pretty decent smartphone from Motorola. Also, the Moto X4 does have Alexa built-in, which makes the Amazon model a bit more desirable. Of course, there are other deals available today, like LGs 65-inch OLED TV that is still on sale. That TV is priced at $2199 which is actually an all-time low, making it a great price for those that are interested in picking up an OLED TV right now. On top of that, there are some good prices on the LG G6 and Galaxy S8, not to mention Amazon has discounted Halloween candy today in its Gold Box Deal of the Day, to get you ready for Halloween which is right around the corner. All of the deals listed below that have expirations dates expire at midnight PST on their respective dates. So if you are looking to pick one of these up, youll want to do so before midnight PST. JBL announced a line of new speakers at IFA back in September, the JBL Link 10, 20 and 300. These are all powered by the Google Assistant, and now they are finally shipping from select retailers. The JBL Link series are now available from JBL.com, Verizon and B&H Photo, all three models are priced the same with the JBL Link 10 costing $149, Link 20 at $199 and the Link 300 at $249. These are more expensive than the Google Home, but also output a whole lot more sound than the Google Home does, particularly the Link 300 which is more on par with the Google Home Max, which is much more expensive at $400. The JBL Link 10 and Link 20 are both waterproof, so you can take them poolside or to the beach and not worry about them getting damaged. These two are also portable, with the Link 10 lasting about 5 hours on a charge and the Link 20 getting about 10 hours. These numbers may seem low, especially compared to other JBL speakers, but it is important to remember here that these speakers are always listening, since there is Google Assistant included, which does affect the battery life. Now the JBL Link 300 is not a portable speaker, and it does not have a battery built-in. This one is quite a bit larger and is meant to sit on a table or a counter-top somewhere. And that is really where the differences end. You can expect the same sound quality from the Link 300, itll just be a bit louder than the Link 10 and 20. All three support 96kHz/24-bit audio over both WiFi and Bluetooth, and itll usually stream over WiFi instead, if you are streaming using the Google Assistant. Since the Google Assistant is included here, you are able to do things like ask the JBL Link 10 to adjust the thermostat in your home to 70 degrees. Or you can ask it to turn off the lights when you get into bed. Of course, you can also ask it regular questions like hows the weather today, or will you need an umbrella tomorrow. The Google Assistant can already do thousands of things, and Google is continuing to make it better thanks to both artificial intelligence and machine learning. Samsung looks to borrow concepts from the Simband platform it launched in 2014 as a reference for new health monitoring devices it plans to build in the near future, according to Francis Ho, chief of digital health at the company. For those who are not familiar with Samsung Simband, as it has stopped making the rounds in the internet quite a while back, it was a proof-of-concept announced three years ago in a bid to respond to the imminent debut of Apple Watch in the same year. The company intended for Simband to gather health data through monitoring sensors incorporated into the platform. The platform was a major part of the Samsung Architecture Multimodal Interactions (SAMI) program meant not as a commercial product, but as a resource to help developers build devices that could track blood pressure, heart rate, sweat production, oxygen levels, glucose levels and other bodily activities related to human health. The idea was for SAMI to collect and analyze those pieces of data. Samsung later shifted its focus to the Samsung Gear family of smartwatches and away from Simband after the South Korean company saw that the Apple Watch did not significantly shake the health devices market. A few years later, it turns out that the original equipment manufacturer has still been silently developing Simband through its tech investments arm Samsung Innovation and Strategic Center. Ho revealed that for the last few years, Samsung has been working with researchers and other companies to perform new health-related studies that use ideas from Simband. That means it is possible that the Simband concept could still be introduced into future health monitoring devices as Samsung has been heavily investing in digital health monitoring tools and solutions created by external startups and in new sensor technologies built inside its own labs. It would have been interesting to see how developers would have been able to create health monitoring apps by gaining access to information uploaded by Simband-based devices to SAMI through the cloud. Nonetheless, Samsung has been advancing its efforts in this segment with the Samsung Health app embedded in the Gear family of wearable devices. It remains to be seen what role Simband concepts will play in Samsungs push to beef up its position in the health device market. MATTOON (JG-TC) -- The City of Mattoon's fall leaf collection for all residential properties in the city limits is scheduled to start on Monday and will provide residents with weekly collection opportunities. The city has divided Mattoon into four zones for the leaf collection, which will conclude on Dec. 15. The zone map will be posted on the city's website, http://mattoon.illinois.gov/, to display the designated days of zone leaf collections. Leaves will be collected on Mondays in Zone 1 on the northwest side of town, from 19th Street west to the city limits and from Western Avenue north. These materials will be collected on Tuesdays in Zone 2 on the northeast side, from 19th Street east to the city limits and from Charleston Avenue north. The collection will be held on Wednesdays in Zone 3 on the southeast side of town, from the Canadian National railroad east to the city limits and from Charleston Avenue south. Leaves will be collected on Thursdays in Zone 4 on the southwest side, from the Canadian National railroad west to the city limits and from Pine Avenue south. Mattoon requires that the leaves be in 30-gallon paper yard waste bags, not plastic bags. Paper yard waste bags are available at Home Depot, Kull Lumber, Rural King, County Market and Wal-Mart. Leaf bags must be placed within 10 feet of the curb of a public street by 7 a.m. to ensure pickup on scheduled days. Anything placed after 7 a.m. may not be picked up until the following week. Residents are welcome to take their leaves to the city's yard waste facility along North Logan Street. This facility is open seven days a week during daylight hours. Leaves must either be in paper yard waste bags or dumped loose on the leaf pile. The city noted that mulching by mowing leaves into lawns is an easy alternative option for disposing of leaves. CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- Three men with both Charleston and Chicago residency were arrested after allegedly shooting paintball guns at unsuspecting pedestrians on Saturday, according to city police. Charleston police report that they discovered the suspects -- Jonas J. Hall, 20, Jacob J. Myers, 19, and Javauris L. Montgomery, 19 -- after investigating a report of shots fired that was called in at approximately 7:49 p.m. Saturday. The shots reportedly were heard in the area of the 900 block of Sixth Street. Six victims, three who were under the age of 18, came forward and reported shooting incidents in the 600 block of Ninth Street and the 2100 block of Fourth Street, police reported. According to police, it was confirmed the weapons in question were air-powered paintball guns and not actual firearms. The three were arrested for multiple counts of aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for the incident. Hall has an additional charge of obstructing justice for providing police with a false name, police stated. Anyone with information on this matter is asked to contact the Charleston Police Department. Gilbert + Tobin (G+T) and Baker McKenzie are acting as another Australian bank unloads business units.Wealth manager IOOF, advised by G+T, is acquiring The Australia and New Zealand Banking Groups (ANZ) OnePath Pensions and Investments and aligned dealer groups businesses for $975m. The acquisition is expected to be completed by late 2018.Baker McKenzie acted in the $461m institutional placement, which closed this week, by IOOF to partially fund the acquisition. The global firm was the Australian and US counsel to Morgan Stanley, which was the sole underwriter of the offer.The deal, which will make IOOF the second largest wealth advice business by both number of advisers and funds under advice in the country, is particularly complex, said G+T. The deal includes a 20-year partnership where IOOF will distribute wealth products through the ANZ network. In addition to the placement, the transaction involves the separation of the business from the larger ANZ group and satisfaction of relevant regulatory requirements.G+T lead partner, Craig Semple, said that the firm is drawing on its mergers and acquisitions, technology, regulatory, banking, and equity capital markets practices for the deal.Semple, along with lawyers Robert Sinni and Grace Chia, is advising on all aspects of the acquisition and is coordinating the firms efforts. Partner Tim Gole, special counsel Melissa Fai, and lawyer Clare Harris are advising on the strategic partnership, transitional services, and separation arrangements. Partners Paula Gilardoni and Gina Cass-Gottlieb are leading on regulatory matters, while and partner Simon Lynch and lawyers Jeff Browne and Andrew Kourpanidis are acting on debt arrangements. Partners Peter Cook and Alex Kauye are leading on capital raising matters, aided by lawyers Ana de Navi and Ciara Coleman.The Baker McKenzie team was led by partner Craig Andrade, the firms Australian head of equity capital markets. He was assisted by partner Lauren Magraith and associate Ivo Basoski.The deal follows the Commonwealth Bank of Australias sale of its CommInsure Life and Sovereign businesses in Australia and New Zealand. The $3.8bn acquisition involved Debevoise & Plimpton, Ashurst , Bell Gully, Herbert Smith Freehills , and Russell McVeagh. Following a major move of Ince & Cos international senior partner to Asia, the firm has named its inaugural London head.Andrew Jameson, the firms human resources director, has been named as the firms London leader. The appointment comes after the firm announced that Jan Heuvels is relocating to Hong Kong Jameson is a former Royal Navy officer. He was also once the Navy Boards head of legal services and general counsel.Heuvels moves to Asia as the firms clients are growing in region, particularly in the transport, trade, energy and infrastructure, and insurance sectors, the firm said.My relocation to Hong Kong is simply about playing to our strengths, Heuvels said. Our established presence in Asia, coupled with our focus on sectors of strategic importance to clients with interests in the region, give us a strong foundation for future growth. I will be responsible for helping to drive that growth, while maintaining my role as international senior partner.David Beaves, Ince & Cos Hong Kong managing partner, said that Asia has long been strategically important to many of the firms clients.We opened our first Asian office in Hong Kong in 1979 to assist those clients with interests in the region, Beaves said. Chinas growing influence on the international stage, most notably through its Belt & Road Initiative, continues to further increase Asias importance. We are excited about the growth prospects that this presents, not just in Asia, but across our international network and look forward to Jans relocation. King & Wood Mallesons ( KWM ) has added the five-lawyer team of a boutique firm in Mainz, Germany.The integration of the RoosLegal team into KWM Germany goes live on 1 November, with the lawyers of the smaller firm moving into the Frankfurt office of the global firm on that date.RoosLegal was established by Michael Roos, who was the head of the corporate practice of legacy SJ Berwin in Frankfurt. Roos left SJ Berwin in 2009 ahead of the doomed merger of SJ Berwin and KWM in 2013.Not long after the collapse of the Europe, UK, and Middle East arm of the firm, however, KWM formed a new European business Roos team includes Dr Johannes Reitzel, Markus Herz, Floris Schilling, and Dr Katrin Thoma.We decided to take this step to continue keeping pace with future challenges of the legal service industry as well as changing client demands and to continue to guarantee optimal legal advice in an increasingly international environment, RoosLegal said in a statement.The team said that their focus will remain on mid-cap mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity transactions, advisory of managers, employment law, and M&A-related litigation. The firm said that there will be no changes to existing clients. Created in anticipation of the SEMA convention in Las Vegas, the special ZR2 models are nothing more than trim packages. Two variations of the same motif, the Midnight and Dusk editions start with 17-inch five-spoke wheels, off-road LED lights mounted on a sport bar, ZR2 logos on the sail panels, and black bow ties at the front and rear. The cabin, on the other hand, doesnt feature any piece of trim or design thats different from the bog-standard ZR2.The Colorado ZR2 Midnight and Dusk Edition models offer customers even more personalization choices from the only company with three distinct trucks: midsize, full-size and full-size heavy-duty, declared Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president of truck strategy, performance vehicles, and motorsports. Chevrolet offers more choices because the truck market is too diverse for a one size fits most strategy. Having said these, are you ready to get somewhat confused?Even though the ZR2 Midnight Edition is exclusively available in black, the ZR2 Dusk Edition can be had in white or any other exterior color from the palette. Because why not? After all, Chevrolet can do whatever it wants with the Colorado ZR2 considering the off-road truck is unique in the mid-size pickup segment.Beyond the more aggressive styling, 3.5 inches wider track, and 2 inches higher ground clearance, the Colorado ZR2 prides itself on cast-iron control arms and Multimatic DSSV dampers . The off-road capability is enhanced by two electronic locking differentials, Autotrac transfer case, and 3.42 gearing for the rear axle. Coming as standard with a naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V6, the ZR2 is also available with a 2.8-liter four-cylinder Duramax turbo diesel that offers best-in-segment 368 pound-feet of torque. FWD AWD ICE Available on the 2018 Nissan Rogue SL as part of the Platinum Package, the function is engaged through a two-button operation. What can ProPILOT Assist do for you? Well, it maintains lane control while keeping a set speed and a set distance to the vehicle ahead, it can navigate stop & go traffic, and assists steering, braking, and acceleration for single-lane highway driving.The limitations are obvious, but on the flip side, ProPILOT Assist works from zero to 90 mph, which is 5 miles per hour more than the highest speed limit in the United States (Texas State Highway 130). The Rogue isnt cheap when equipped with the said system, retailing at $31,060 for the SLand $770 for the Platinum Package. The new Rogue SLis $1,350 more expensive.Customers who couldnt care less about the self-driving technology will be happy to find out the Rogue continues to offer great value, with the entry-level S FWD kicking off at $24,680 minus the $975 destination and handling. And beyond ProPILOT Assist, the U.S.-spec counterpart to the European X-Trail welcomes an extensive list of updates, including improved phone connectivity.One additional USB port and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on all trim levels. The SV adds the motion-activated liftgate as standard, and the SL boasts Intelligent Cruise Control, Intelligent Lane Intervention and Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, as well as Lane Departure Warning. Optional packs were revised too, as was the color palette.For 2018, the Rogue can be had in Scarlet Ember and Midnight Pine. Details on the SV Hybrid and SL Hybrid will be released at a later date. The-only model, meanwhile, soldiers on with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder powerplant with 170 hp and 175 lb-ft harnessed by a continuously variable transmission. If the report turns out to be right on, then theres no denying the ZR1 will make its world debut at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show in January. For the 2019 Corvette, workers will employ an all-new assembly line that relies heavily on automated guided carriers.The total cost of expanding and retooling? Thatd be $900 million, thank you! Though its a hefty sum of greenback, it must be noted that Bowling Green features a new paint shop designed specifically to optimize the performance of carbon fiber and other materials that are used in the Corvette body panels."Whats more, the build process is different. Heres just one of the many examples, coming courtesy of communications representative Lauren Langille: the 2019 Chevrolet Corvettes body panels will be installed near the end of the build process in one location, as opposed to several locations throughout the process. All in all, the production process is more efficient from start to end.Having said these, the C7 ZR1 will certainly be worth the wait, at least until General Motors decides to focus on the C8. A question thats been left unanswered is, will the C8 be available exclusively as a mid-engine supercar or will a front-engine variant also make the cut sometime in the future, probably for model year 2020?Regardless of what the future holds for the halo vehicle in the General Motors lineup, the Corvette looks ready to duke it out with the big boys in the industry. As a brief reminder, pre-production prototypes of the C8 have been spied benchmarking against the Porsche 911 Turbo S (991.2). In light of the ongoing controversy concerning appropriate behavior during the playing of the National Anthem, it may be worthwhile to look at a bit of the history and legal status of this issue. Of special note is a 6-3 Supreme Court decision, handed down in 1943, at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans were fighting a brutal war with Nazi Germany, affirming the unconstitutionality of prescribing public behavior at the opening of the school day. The case was West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. School children, who were Jehovah's Witnesses, refused to salute the flag, claiming it was against their religion to do so. Consequently, they were expelled or threatened with expulsion. The majority supreme court decision, upholding a lower court decision that this Board action was unconstitutional, was written by Chief Justice Robert Jackson (who later took a leave of absence from the Supreme Court to act as Chief Counsel for the United States in the Nuremberg Trials). Justice Jackson made it quite clear that this decision was based on much broader grounds than religious freedom, speaking rather to the core of the Constitution's original intent. Quoting from his written decision: "But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order. If there is any 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 or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." The current President has tried to turn a silent protest against racial discrimination and police brutality into a question of national honor and patriotism. Of course, this is richly ironic coming from someone who fairly recently tried to gain political advantage by publicly belittling the sacrifices of a Vietnam POW and a Gold Star family. However, when the Vice President this past weekend made a public point of leaving a game because players protested during the anthem or when school officials in Tennessee and Louisiana threatened to penalize student athletes for quiet pre-game displays it is clear to me that this misguided opinion has spread and that many people in authority in the country have a severely limited view of what the constitution stands for and of how love of country can be demonstrated. Let me finish simply with another sentence from Chief Justice Jackson's 1943 opinion. "To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds." Peter Andrews, Charleston The government of Malaysia is considering a proposal from seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, a U.S. company, to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370, according to news reports on Thursday. MH370 vanished in March 2014 in the southern Indian Ocean, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people aboard. Ocean Infinity has offered to search on a no find, no fee arrangement, according to Australian officials. The latest search, coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, was suspended in January, after exploring about 46,000 square miles of seafloor. Those searchers identified a smaller area of about 10,000 square miles they said had a high probability as the site of the aircraft. Ocean Infinitys search will focus on that part of the sea floor. The ATSB released its two final reports on the search earlier this month. In all, 661 areas of interest were identified in the sonar imagery of the seafloor. Of these areas, 82 with the most promise were investigated and eliminated as being related to MH370. The reasons for the loss of MH370 cannot be established with certainty until the aircraft is found, the report concludes. It is almost inconceivable and certainly societally unacceptable in the modern aviation era with 10 million passengers boarding commercial aircraft every day, for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of the aircraft and those on board. About $200 million has been spent on the search so far. The enthusiasm and awareness that often accompanies a new job can be an exhilarating experience. There were, no doubt, many thoughts running through this pilots mind as he lifted off on the next leg of his flight into the black of night. But one thought should have taken precedencefly the airplane. Flying Freight The commercial pilot held ratings for single- and multi-engine land airplane and instrument airplane. He also held a flight instructor certificate with the same privileges. A review of his logbook, after the accident, indicated a young, but experienced pilot, albeit he was light in make and model. His logbook listed 1921 hours of which 142 hours were at night and 47 hours were in actual instrument conditions. But he had only 34 hours in a Cessna 208B Caravan. As a rule of thumb, pilots are generally not considered experienced in an aircraft until they have accumulated at least 100 hours of make and model time. The pilot joined the company a little over a month before the accident. He successfully completed his training and Part 135 check ride over the course of 10 days. A month after completing his training program, the pilot began an initial operating experience (IOE) period with a senior company captain by his side. This IOE training was completed in five days. The pilot was then deemed proficient to fly under IFR and he began flying solo until the accident flight just three days later. The Environment Although the equipment, by some standards, has improved over what was available in the old piston-powered twin-engine aircraft freight-dog days, feeding the larger city hubs is still predominantly conducted single-pilot, at night, and from rural airports in poorly lit areas of the country. There is a lot of pressure to complete each flight quickly and efficiently. Keeping contracts with the major freight companies is a priority in this highly competitive business. Three witnesses who spoke with the pilot when he arrived at Pellston Regional Airport (KPLN), in Pellston, Michigan, all said the pilot appeared alert and awake. The pilot wanted 30 gallons of fuel and needed to make a quick turn. It was night and the weather was VFR. The automated report an hour before the accident indicated winds out of the southwest a 10 knots gusting to 16 knots. Visibility was 10 miles and the ceiling was reported as broken at 3600 feet and 4800 feet respectively, and then overcast at 5500 feet. Another pilot who was also flying a Cessna Caravan, for a competing freight company, began taxing out from the ramp. He noticed and waved to the accident pilot. This pilot noted nothing unusual about the accident Caravan or pilot. He did, however, comment on the weather conditions he encountered during his departure five or so minutes before the accident flight. This pilot described the flight conditions as bumpy. He also noted that when the wind is out of the southwest, as it was that evening, it is usually a turbulent departure to about 1000 feet AGL. This pilot further emphasized that he would not characterize it as being wind shear conditions, just bumpy. During his interview with the NTSB this pilot also described Runway 23 departures at night as being black hole departures, and he routinely was on the gauges during climb-outs from this particular runway. The pilot also commented that conditions were VFR all the way to 6000 feet that evening. While this pilot didnt comment on the ground lights, conditions had to be dark over the sparsely lit northern Lower Michigan terrain. Vestibular Illusions Once the cargo was loaded, the accident pilot started the Caravan and began to taxi to Runway 23. The pilot would be departing IFR for a flight to Lansing, Michigan. Nothing unusual was noted by the ramp personnel, who went back inside the FBO as the aircraft rolled away. Inside the aircraft the pilot had a Garmin 696 handheld GPS. These units have memory chips from which considerable flight information can be gleaned by investigators, but only if the unit is not too severally damaged by the accident. Essentially, some of the modern electronics in general aviation are beginning to act as de facto flight recorders. In this case the data was recoverable, and a study of the data allowed the NTSB to create an extensive flight simulation model. The first significant GPS point has the Caravan climbing at 700 feet-per-minute and accelerating to 91 knots through 14 feet AGL. This was on a heading of 223 degrees. The aircraft continued climbing at a rate of 500 to 700 feet per minute to an altitude of 240 feet above the ground while also continuing its acceleration. Then the rate of climb begins to slow as the aircraft reaches 260 feet AGL. At this point the aircraft starts a descent that continues until it impacts wooded terrain a mile away. Moreover, shortly after liftoff, the Caravan entered a right turn with a bank angle of up to 12 degrees. This bank caused the aircraft to turn 42 degrees right of runway centerline. During this bank the aircraft was also in a nose down pitch attitude of at least two degrees. Based on the GPS information, the NTSB estimated the elapsed time from take-off to impact to be 54 seconds. The study went further. It investigated the load factor vectors, which would have been present, and then compared this information to the human vestibular system. This allowed the investigators to estimate the apparent sensations of motion being experienced by the pilot. Based on the study, the pilot would not have felt any roll, and he would have believed his pitch angle was always greater than zero. In other words the pilot would have sensed he was holding heading and climbing out straight ahead. Its almost certain the pilot succumbed to somatogravic illusion even while the aircraft was descending. This illusion creates a sensation of climb in the vestibular system, when a smooth and rapid acceleration is sensed by the body. A great way to personally experience the sensation is to close your eyes and keep your head motionless the next time you are seated in the back of an airliner waiting for it to begin its take-off roll. As the aircraft accelerates down the runway your vestibular system will indicate a pitch-up sensation well before the aircraft starts to rotate. Based on the above, it is difficult to disagree with the NTSBs probable finding: The pilots inadvertent controlled descent into terrain due to spatial disorientation. Contributing to the accident was lack of visual reference due to night conditions. Trust Your Instruments Trusting our instruments is an old aviation adage, but it needs to be followed while we perform hawk-like instrument scans in IMC. This pilot wasnt a neophyte to flight, even with his low make and model time, and a Cessna Caravan is not overly difficult to fly, so what happened? Perhaps the pilot relaxed his instrument scan because the conditions were being reported as VFR, or perhaps he was distracted from concentrating on the task at hand by his need to quickly depart in order to make the next leg. Any pilot can be affected by spatial disorientation, regardless of his or her experience level, even when the flying is in an airline crew environment. Unfortunately, spatial disorientation accidents repeat themselves with regularity in the NTSB reports. A quick and unscientific review of NTSB records, during a recent five year period, listed spatial disorientation as a probable cause in more than 100 accidents. Even more depressing is the fact that over 90-percent of these accidents had a fatality. These fatality rates are worse than what would be expected when playing Russian roulette with five loaded chambers in a six-round revolver. Checkpilot Recriminations The thoughts that may have consumed the company pilot who performed the pilots checkride might also be considered. Most certainly he covered all of the pertinent maneuvers and procedures required of the new pilot to demonstrate competency. But how do you evaluate a persons potential mind-set that prevailed that fateful night. No doubt this senior captain may add an awareness factor to subsequent reviews of new pilots and their understanding of the black hole syndrome and the need to maintain focus on the task at-hand. Lets do ourselves and others a favor by making a commitment to become and/or remain proficient on the gauges, and to never relax our scan during night VFR departures. Armand Vilches is a commercial pilot and instructor who lives in Brentwood, TN. He is the 2015 Nashville District FAASTeam Honoree. His extensive background in risk management and insurance allows him to bring a unique perspective to aviation and flight instruction. This article originally appeared in the October 2015 issue ofIFR Refreshermagazine. Read More from IFR Refresher, and learn how you can receive a FREE BOOK! Cities across the country are falling over themselves to score the winning ticket in the biggest local lottery Amazon's second North American Headquarters. Today's the deadline for them to submit proposals. But luring Amazon's promised 50,000 jobs comes with costs that may outweigh the benefits for some cities. Why cities care: Mayors see dollar signs in Amazon's pledge to bring 50,000 jobs that pay an average salary of $100,000 to the winning city. They know "HQ2" will instantly put even the most obscure city on the map as a tech hub that will attract more businesses and talent. But an influx of people brings higher costs, and probably only marginal increases in local taxes thanks to the tax breaks most cities are prepared to offer. The cost of tax credits: As Axios' David McCabe reported last month, bids for Amazon's new HQ could reach upward of $10 billion in tax breaks and other incentives. That high price tag could undercut a locality's ability to fund good public schools, hospitals and infrastructure the very qualities Amazon is looking for. The cost of population growth: 50,000 high-paying jobs are attractive to any city council. But they sometimes don't factor in the associated costs of population growth. In Seattle, home to Amazon's first headquarters, the population has grown by 20% in past 10 years, and median home prices went up 50%, Ethan Phelps-Goodman of the organization Seattle Tech 4 Housing told Marketplace. Cities will have to prepare for that boom to make sure low- and middle-income people don't get priced out of the housing market. Home-grown growth: Some experts say the Amazon sweepstakes will likely go to a community that's already doing pretty well, rather than helping to lift up a struggling town. That's because Amazon's criteria more than a million people, proximity to higher education, strong public transportation are the makings of places that are already succeeding in the modern economy. To meet Amazon's criteria and to be able to afford to offer a big tax incentive, a city is likely to already be doing relatively well in today's economy, said John Lettieri, Co-Founder and Senior Director for Policy & Strategy at Economic Innovation Group. "Economic development strategy can't be based on these once-in-a-lifetime location opportunities," he said. "Cities can understandably go crazy over something of this scale, but it's no substitute for the benefits of having home-grown growth. That's the foundation for stable growth in the longer term, not the lottery ticket." Spearheading collaboration: Regardless of who wins, bidding will spur city leaders to talk about ways to get attract companies both big and small. Detroit, for example, pulled together close to 100 consultants who offered their time for free to develop the city's bid. "I've never seen a community come together like that," said Dan Gilbert, CEO of Quicken Loans who has been involved in reviving Detroit's business scene. "If we don't win this bid, we're going to die trying." Gilbert said Detroit teamed up with Windsor, Canada, just across the border, which "gives Amazon a huge edge on immigration issues" and international talent recruitment. "You're not going to get that in another city." Startup focus: Cities who don't win the bid could consider putting that money and incentives toward investing in startups that trigger more organic job growth. "So hopefully the losers will keep fighting and use this process to be winners," said Steve Case, CEO of Revolution, a venture capital firm. Data: The Brattle Group; Note: Figures are for production and mining jobs for coal-fired power generation; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios An analysis by an energy-focused consultancy circulated Tuesday concludes that President Trump's sweeping push to bolster fossil fuels across the board by cutting regulations and production constraints means natural gas will likely keep and even expand its advantage over coal in electricity markets. Why it matters: The Brattle Group's analysis, which was presented to the Energy Bar Association Tuesday, highlights a major tension running through Trump's pro-fossil fuel initiatives: Helping coal is tougher when you're supporting natural gas too. What they examined: Brattle forecast the production and employment effect of pro-coal policies, like killing EPA's big power industry climate rule and rolling back mining regulations, in concert with the Trump administration's wider support of fossil fuels. The bottom line: Their analysis predicts that the pro-coal efforts in isolation would indeed likely boost production of coal used for power generation and mining jobs, compared with what's expected under the baseline of Obama-era rules in the near-term (2020) and medium term (2030). However, combined with policies that affect oil-and-gas producers, like making more areas available for drilling and cutting royalties, Trump's overall approach (the "pro-fossil" case in the chart above) is actually forecast to be worse for coal than the Obama policy baseline. The gritty details: The report shows that the across-the-board support for fossil fuels will cut coal production by 220 million tons in 2020 and 210 million tons in 2030 compared with the Obama baseline, leading to net mining employment losses of 13,000-16,000 jobs. Yes, but: Like any effort to predict the future, a few dollops of caution are warranted here, and the presentation notes that the findings are "preliminary results" based on "what if" scenarios. Wild card: Those potential outcomes do not include the effect of the new Energy Department proposal to bolster revenues for coal and nuclear plants in some markets based on their "resilience and reliability" contribution to the grid. The White House has told the Environmental Protection Agency to stand down on two changes regarding ethanol quotas after backlash from Iowa politicians, according to a Bloomberg report. Why it matters: Head of federal affairs for petroleum refining company Andeaver, Stephen Brown, told Bloomberg that "the administration essentially had no choice but to relent," because Iowa senators were "threatening to hold nominees hostage" until they got their way. Republican senator Chuck Grassley said it was a matter of the president sticking to his promise. The changes being reportedly dropped by the EPA are a reduction in biodiesel requirements, and a proposal letting exported biofuels count toward domestic quotas. The ethanol industry (and Iowa politicians "seeking to preserve demand for corn and soy") strongly opposed the latter. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in Wednesday's press briefing that Trump had a call with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, and that they plan to continue looking at the renewable fuels standard program, which requires refineries to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the nation's gasoline supply. Go deeper: Axios' Jonathan Swan and Amy Harder discuss why Trump has to work with Grassley.. More than 140 women, including legislators, senior legislative aides, and lobbyists, have called out what they describe as sexual misconduct by powerful men in the "nation's most influential legislature" in California's capital, the LA Times writes. That includes "groping, lewd comments and suggestions of trading sexual favors for legislation." Thought bubble: Unfortunately, this is surely not the whole picture and the wave set off by the Harvey Weinstein revelations is likely only just the beginning. Barack Obama will participate in two campaign events later today. Photo: AP Today, per his office, Barack Obama "will participate in two campaign events to support Democrats running for governor in Virginia and New Jersey." Cases of Hepatitis C have almost tripled in the past few years, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention an effect of the opioid crisis and the unsanitary use of needles by drug users. There were 2,436 reported cases of the liver disease in 2015, up from 853 cases in 2010. Data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Chart: Chris Canipe / Axios Why it matters: Hepatitis C can be deadly if not treated, and treatment can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Americans will be paying for the opioid crisis for years to come, with the total tab coming to an estimated $100 billion. "If we don't cure a significant number of the people who are injecting, in 20 years from now, the hospitals in this part of the world will be flooded with these people with end-stage liver disease, which has no cure," Judith Feinberg, professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, told the Washington Post. Political solutions: There have been some state and local efforts to establish "syringe exchanges," which offer drug users clean syringes as a way to prevent the spread of Hepatitis C. These controversial programs are now legal in some states like North Carolina, New Hampshire and Vermont, but have recently been shut down in counties in Utah and Indiana. The Federal Trade Commission building in Washington. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP "Trump has selected Joseph Simons, an antitrust attorney from a Washington law firm, to head the Federal Trade Commission," which enforces antitrust laws, Reuters reports. President Trump has begun calling House Republicans to urge them to pass the Senate budget without going to conference, according to three sources familiar with the calls. The House passed a budget earlier this month that has more conservative wins, particularly on spending cuts, than the one expected to pass the Senate. But the budget process is primarily a vehicle to get to tax reform, and Trump doesn't want to wait for the House and Senate to work out a compromise. Paul Ryan has previously indicated that he plans to take the budgets to conference. Why this matters: Trump needs a win urgently and wants to move on to tax reform as quickly as possible. But expect some consternation among fiscal conservatives in the House if Trump gets his way and they're asked to vote on the Senate budget. 1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted. 2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks. 3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown". 4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam). I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published. Armenias Foreign Ministry on Wednesday paid tribute to an ethnic Armenian businessman and philanthropist who died overnight while serving a controversial prison sentence in Russia. Levon Hayrapetian, who was born in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1949 and made a fortune in Russia after the Soviet breakup, was first detained in July 2014. He was then placed under house arrest only to be sentenced to four years in prison in April 2016. A Moscow court convicted Hayrapetian of embezzling $700,000 from the mother of a jailed senator from the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. The businessman, who suffered from a serious disease, flatly denied the accusation. Hayrapetians arrest was part of a high-profile criminal case stemming from the takeover by the state oil giant Rosneft of a majority stake in Bashneft, a Bashkortostan-based oil company, completed in 2015. Russian law-enforcement authorities accused Bashnefts previous owner, the business conglomerate Sistema, of resorting to serious fraud prior to the deal. The Bashneft affair also led to the November 2016 arrest of Russias Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev. Ulyukaev has strongly denied a bribery case against him, saying that it was engineered by Igor Sechin, the powerful Rosneft chief close to President Vladimir Putin. Politicians and public figures in Armenia and Karabakh repeatedly appealed to Russian authorities to free Hayrapetian. The businessman remained behind bars despite his deteriorating health. Hayrapetians daughter Anzhelika told RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that he died in a prison in Russias Mordovia region early on Wednesday. The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, described Hayrapetian as a great son of the Armenian people and an exemplary patriot in a Twitter statement that announced his death. May he rest in peace, Balayan wrote in Russian. We will never forget Levon Gurgenovich and his legacy. Arayik Harutiunian, Karabakhs state minister, likewise called Hayrapetian a great benefactor of the Armenian nation and noted his invaluable contributions to Karabakh. This is undoubtedly a great loss for all Armenians, he told the Armenpress news agency. Hayrapetian spent millions of dollars on various charity projects in Karabakh. In particular, he financed the 2000-2002 restoration of the 13th century Gandzasar monastery located just outside his native village of Vank. Hayrapetian also famously sponsored the collective wedding in 2008 of about 700 Karabakh couples. He covered their wedding expenses and paid each couple $2,500 as a bonus. Medical services in Karabakh struggled to cope with a resulting surge in child births the following year. Hayrapetian spoke of his desire to relocate from Moscow to Karabakh when he was interviewed by RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) in October 2015. 19 October 2017 10:12 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 137 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on October 19. Armenians were using large-caliber machine guns. 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 10:28 (UTC+04:00) By Asit K. Biswas and Kris Hartley Last month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released a status report tracking progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data, which were meant to highlight efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and reduce premature deaths, was also intended to cajole. Countries can, and must, do more to address the global development challenges that the planet collectively faces, the report concluded. No country was singled out in the Gates report for its potential to restore the worlds commitment to development. Rather, leaders everywhere bear responsibility for ensuring that the SDGs are met by 2030. But we believe there is one country that can do more than others to build the world envisaged by the SDGs: China. Two years into the SDG program, international development is at a crossroads. The United States, long the torchbearer of foreign aid, is retreating; so is Europe (albeit to a lesser extent). But China, with its newly articulated global ambitions, has an opportunity to reinvigorate the conception and delivery of humanitarian assistance. Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, the SDGs outline a vision for global development that targets poverty, education, public health, inequality, sustainability, and climate action over the next 15 years. It presents a broad vision for development, whereby issues once viewed as country-specific are treated as challenges for the entire world to tackle collectively. By contrast, the Millennium Development Goals, which ended in 2015, were more narrowly focused, and primarily targeted at issues affecting poor countries. But the Gates study suggests that some of the SDG targets are already in jeopardy. For example, the health goal (SDG 3), which includes a target for eliminating preventable deaths among newborns and children, is unlikely to be achieved in the allotted timeframe. At the current pace, mortality reduction in South Asia and Africa will not be realized until mid-century. Clearly, more investment is needed globally in the types of interventions that have proven effective locally. Ethiopias Health Extension Worker program and Malawis Health Surveillance Assistant program have been proven to reduce child mortality. Aid dollars should be earmarked to help programs like these expand to other regions. Instead, the opposite is happening. The growing isolationism associated with the populist backlash around the world is having severe consequences for foreign assistance. According to the OECD, bilateral aid to the worlds least-developed countries fell by nearly 4% in 2016. This is an alarming drop for these countries, given that official development assistance (ODA) accounts for more than two thirds of the aid they receive. The US, which remains the worlds largest donor for nutrition programs and for maternal and child health initiatives, is leading the funding retreat. President Donald Trumps 2017 budget proposal includes a staggering 45% cut to funding by the US Agency for International Development for water and sanitation projects, a 26% cut to global health funding, and the elimination of funds for family planning. While it is not clear whether Congress will support Trumps budget request, which would amount to billions of dollars in lost aid, even a minor reduction in US aid spending would hurt many of the worlds poorest. The US is not alone in its foreign aid retrenchment. The European Unions 2018 draft budget proposes a 90 million ($106 million) cut to development spending, while Austria, Germany, and Italy have all diverted development assistance budgets towards migration crises viewed as imminent national security threats. These are troubling trends, because private philanthropy cannot replace aid withdrawn by governments. The world needs a new champion for international development, and China should assume the role. With weakening ODA commitments from traditional donors, China has a chance to lead in human development, poverty alleviation, and public health spending. It is true that Chinas aid model differs from the Wests. Europe and the US have historically focused on funding health care and education initiatives, while encouraging civil-society growth and participation. China, on the other hand, grants aid on a bilateral basis, and has typically targeted its funding toward infrastructure projects. But Chinese leaders have also recently shown interest in aid to strengthen civil society and improve livelihoods. Although Chinese ODA is still a fraction of what OECD countries spend, China has signaled its interest in becoming a development leader, especially in the health sector. At the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York, China pledged $2 billion to help implement the SDG agenda, and Chinas flagship Belt and Road Initiative includes health cooperation as part of its proposed strategy. In 2014, China also committed $47 million to help contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. While that was significantly lower than the US pledge of $1.8 billion, China was among the fastest to deliver on its commitment. Chinas geopolitical and economic influence is growing, and so, too, must its role in promoting international peace and development. Skepticism about Chinas development intentions will no doubt emerge, given Chinas political and ideological differences with the West. But the skepticism could yield positive results, especially if it prompts Western powers to reevaluate their foreign aid retreat. Even if it does not, China has the tools to become a leader in international development. And, having lifted some 470 million of its own citizens out of extreme poverty between 1990 and 2005, it also has the experience. But, more than anything, China now has the political opportunity. As the US and Europe turn inward, ensuring the SDGs success will increasingly depend on encouraging and becoming accustomed to Chinese leadership. Copyright: Project Syndicate: A Chinese Model for Foreign Aid --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 13:00 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The first international conference titled Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan: Development Perspectives, was held in Baku on October 19. The Hub will allow expanding significantly the export of Azerbaijani products and increasing the inflow of both portfolio and direct investments into the country. The attendees of the conference presented reports on the general concept of development of digital hubs, on cooperation in this field, as well as use and mutual recognition of electronic signatures. Speakers made presentations on new opportunities for simplifying export procedures, issuing electronic signatures to non-residents, online registration and company management. Moreover, new solutions in the field of electronic banking and investment were presented at the event. Vusal Gasimli, the executive director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication of Azerbaijan, addressing the conference, noted that Azerbaijan's Digital Trading Hub became the first model of cooperation between the state and the private sector in the post-Soviet area. The Digital Trade Hub enables non-residents in Azerbaijan after receiving electronic signatures and ASAN Signature to carry out operations to open LLCs, bank accounts, hire employees, carry out export-import operations, he said, adding that the Hub also provides an opportunity to create an electronic wallet. Another important detail is that the Digital Trade Hub performs the role of an electronic single window for export, Gasimli noted. In other words, any Azerbaijani exporter, without leaving the office, can by means of a computer or a mobile device pass all necessary procedures related to documentation and registration of export of products, Gasimli explained. During the conference, Gasimli, on behalf of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication of Azerbaijan, signed memorandums of cooperation with a number of companies. He signed the documents with Zaur Gardashov, head of Azexport.az portal, Valery Pustarnakov and Vladimir Kustov, heads of Russias Gazinformservis, Andrzej Rucinski, adviser to the president of the management board at Polands Asseco Data Systems, and Sardor Mukhamedaliev, CIS general director at Zoodel B2B platform of Switzerland-based company OrientSwiss. Gasimli said that signing of the agreements will help improve relations between countries towards the development of e-commerce and foster the economic development of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev, also spoke at the event, noting that during the past 23 months, 113 inspections were held in the country's business sector. The inspections were carried out by the Ministry of Taxes, Babayev said. In previous years, hundreds of thousands inspections were carried out for the same period. He noted that the reduction of inspections significantly improved the business environment in Azerbaijan. Improvement of the business environment and implementation of systemic reforms made it possible to significantly expand export of Azerbaijani products, Babayev said, adding that this attracted a lot of investments in the created industrial parks. The Deputy Minister noted that at present more than $1.1 billion have been invested in these parks. He also mentioned the mechanism for encouraging investments, saying that investments worth about 1.7 billion manats ($1 billion) were allocated for the implementation of 204 projects within this mechanism. Speaking at the event, Kestutis Jankauskas, the head of EU Delegation to Azerbaijan noted that the European Union and Azerbaijan are very important to each other. The EU is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan, noted Jankauskas, adding that currently, the EU accounts for about 50 percent of Azerbaijani exports and about 25 percent of imports. The EU has been supporting Azerbaijan in the issues of economic diversification and expansion of exports over past few years, said the diplomat, adding that the sides work together on an economy that can provide quality jobs. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 16:11 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova "Silk Treasury: Azerbaijani Patterns of the 16th-18th centuries" exhibition opened in the Azerbaijan National Art Museum on October 18. The exposition is presented within Fifth International Symposium on Azerbaijani carpets, Trend Life reported. Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev, addressing the event, stressed the significance of the exhibition as propaganda of Azerbaijani carpet art in the world. The curators of the exhibition-Alberto Boralevi, Chair of ICOC Academic Committee and independent expert of Azerbaijan Culture and Tourism Ministry Asli Samadova, highlighted the importance of the event not only for Azerbaijan but also for international museum practice. The exhibition features exhibits of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Museum of Islamic Art (Berlin), as well as private collections. Also at the exhibition along with exhibits from foreign museums, exhibits are kept in the Azerbaijan National Museum. The exposition is a successful result of international cultural and scientific activity. The Fifth International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets (ISAC 2017), titled "Traditions and Innovations" is organized in Baku on October 17-20. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 16:35 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The long-awaited recent meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on the Nagorno-Karabakh talks has brought an activity to some extent in the negotiation process. The presidents met in Geneva on October 16 under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, and the foreign ministers of the two conflicting countries also attended the meeting. Soon after the meeting, the Minsk Group reported that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions along the frontline. As a next step, the co-chairs are going to hold a working meeting with the countries foreign ministers. A well-known Russian expert, President of the Aspect Center for Social and Political Studies Georgy Fyodorov, has commented in an interview with Day.az on the presidents meeting and on the ways to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Fyodorov believes that the Geneva talks were of ceremonial character. The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia made declarations of intention, but nothing more, he said. The contradictions of the conflicting sides are very deep, and it is difficult to draw any far-reaching conclusions on the basis of one meeting, albeit of such a high level. The expert added that Azerbaijan and Armenia showed diplomacy towards the OSCE Minsk Group who initiated the meeting, and this meeting was a progress, but still insufficient. Speaking of the possible ways to resolve the conflict, Fyodorov suggested a phased solution, adding that this is true for most interstate contradictions. As for international pressure, it cannot be an effective incentive in the negotiation process. Only the interest of the parties multiplied by the mediation efforts of the OSCE Group members can become a reference point in the process of resolving this problem, the expert said. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in a conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, but Armenia has not fulfilled them to this day. Baku has repeatedly emphasized that the time has long come to take effective steps to resolve the conflict. However, Armenia, wishing to preserve the status quo in the conflict zone, continues to avoid constructive peace talks. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 17:13 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Next year, Italy, within the framework of the OSCE chairmanship, will try to contribute to the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Senator Benedetto Della Vedova, Secretary of State of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Vedova made the remark at the conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Italy, the Azerbaijani embassy reported. Vedova highlighted the high level relations established between the two countries in all spheres, Italy-Azerbaijan strategic partnership, efforts by the Italian government to deepen relations, the importance of TAP project and the steps taken by the government for the timely realization of the project, the full support of Italy for further deepening of the cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan. Chairman of the Standing Committee on EU Affairs of the Italian Senate Vanino Kitty, addressing the event, touched upon the relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union and the contribution that Italy can make to their expansion. He further recalled his last year's visit to Azerbaijan jointly with the members of the commission and informed about the meetings held during this visit, positive impressions of Azerbaijan. Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, spoke about the difficulties faced by Azerbaijan in the early years of independence, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the conflict resolution process, the growing influence of Azerbaijan in international arena, the independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan on bilateral and multilateral basis, and country's success in political, economic, social and other areas. He stressed that Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring stability and security in the region. Vice President of the Italian Senate Linda Lanzilotta expressed her satisfaction with the strategic partnership established between the two countries, the dynamics of relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres and spoke about the opportunities for further expansion of cooperation between the two countries, as well as the contribution of interparliamentary contacts to the Azerbaijani-Italian relations. The senator recalled the great geopolitical importance of Azerbaijan for established 'political geography and location'. President of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Italy-Azerbaijan Sergio Divina, for his part, highlighted the importance of the event, the friendship between Italy and Azerbaijan and the excellent relations in all areas. Azer Kerimli, the deputy chairman of the working group on Azerbaijani-Italian inter-parliamentary relations in the Parliament of Azerbaijan, spoke about the history of Azerbaijani-Italian relations, cooperation between the two countries in various spheres, mutual visits, the contribution made by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to the development of ties, importance of the interparliamentary cooperation, the successes achieved by Azerbaijan in the period of independence, as well as the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Italian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Augusto Massari, who joined the event via a video call, stressed the importance of strategic partnership between the two countries, the importance of Azerbaijan for Italy and the opportunities that exist for further deepening of ties. Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy Mammad Ahmedzade, speaking at the event, informed about the way that led the sides to the achievement of the strategic partnership level, high-level visits, a joint statement on strategic partnership, adopted during the official visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Italy in 2014, an important exchange of experience in the cultural, scientific, educational spheres, in particular the contribution of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, as well as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Azerbaijan's expectations in connection with possible contrubutions of Italy's chairmanship in the OSCE in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The event, which saw a very large participation, achieved the goal of highlighting all the way done in the relations between Rome and Baku, the many achievements made and to shed light on the new challenges on the horizon of cooperation strategic between the two countries. The event held at Palazzo Giustiniani Palace on October 18 was one in the series of events organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and Azerbaijan, was attended by representatives of the Italian parliament, government, academic circles, diplomatic corps accredited in the country and mass media. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 18 October 2017 14:00 (UTC+04:00) On October 16, 2017 the Fullerton College of California hosted a lecture by Azerbaijans Consul General in Los Angeles Nasimi Aghayev. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Reza Yeganehshakib, the Colleges Dean of Social Sciences Dr. Jorge Gamboa and Chair of History Department Dr. Anu Mande spoke of the importance of educating the younger generation about global affairs and various strategically important regions of the world today, and thanked, in this regard, the Consul General for returning to the College after his initial lecture that took place in 2015. Then Consul General Aghayev was invited to address the audience of around 100 students of the Fullerton College. In his presentation, the Consul General spoke about Azerbaijans rich history, culture, its development since restoring the independence in 1991, its energy strategy, as well as multifaceted relations with the U.S., Europe and neighboring countries. He also highlighted the long-standing traditions of ethnic and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, and said in this regard that the Government of Azerbaijan is paying a special attention to strengthening these traditions and fostering the atmosphere of interfaith harmony in the country. Speaking of Azerbaijans experiences as an independent nation, Aghayev highlighted the tremendous role played by Azerbaijans late President (1993-2003) and National Leader Heydar Aliyev, whom he characterized as the Founder of Modern Azerbaijan. Highlighting the illegal military occupation of Azerbaijans lands by Armenia, Consul General Aghayev spoke about the ethnic cleansing and war crimes carried out by the Armenian army against the Azerbaijani civilian population in the occupied territories. Aghayev noted that the policies pursued by the Armenian government damaged primarily the people of Armenia and jeopardized Armenias own future as an independent nation. As a result of the self-damaging policy of the Armenian leadership, during the last 26 years of its independence Armenia has lost around half of its population, and is now confronted with huge economic problem, remaining heavily dependent on foreign remittances and assistance, the Consul General said. The diplomat noted that the resolution of the conflict with Armenia could only be achieved once Armenia withdrew its troops from Azerbaijans sovereign territory and enabled the forcefully displaced Azerbaijani people to go back to their homes and lands. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session, during which Consul General Aghayev responded to various questions from the students. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 09:58 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The guarantee of security in Azerbaijan is coordination of efforts, information exchange and joint struggle against dangerous manifestations. President Ilham Aliyev made the remark as he received participants of the 78th session of the CIS Council of Commanders of Border Troops, attended by the delegations from the member-states on October 18. The head of state noted that the issues of strengthening security and state border protection for all CIS countries are of great importance. "This is the basis for the security of our countries and peoples. And the normal and quiet life of our citizens depends on the successful activities of the services you manage. Therefore, of course, the sustainable, normal, and stable development of our countries largely depends on cooperation, exchange of information, interaction between you, he said. Noting that Azerbaijan pays much attention to the development of the border service infrastructure, the President said much has been done in recent years in terms of strengthening borders and providing modern equipment. President Aliyev expressed regret on growing risks in CIS region and in general, in the world, thus calling for coordination of efforts, exchange of information and joint struggle against dangerous manifestations to ensure the security. Ilham Aliyev said the situation is stable in Azerbaijan. The country is successfully developing; there are no internal risks and potential threats. The issues of combating international terrorism occupy a dominant position in today's agenda, according to the President, noting that the fight against extremism, organized crime, drug trafficking are the most urgent topics almost at all international summits. All these are modern threats and challenges that our countries, naturally, should adequately answer. I am glad that in the CIS space, in general, the situation is quite stable. Specially in today's world, when very disturbing processes are taking place in many regions -- destabilization, internal conflicts, wars, and bloody clashes. Therefore, we must continue to strengthen safely of our countries and help to ensure that cooperation between our countries, including in the sphere that you are heading, is further strengthened, he said. The head of state expressed his confidence that the Council of Commanders will be held at a high level, and the issues to be discussed will lead to further strengthening the security of the CIS countries and strengthening the protection of borders. We are all interested in ensuring that our borders are reliably protected from those who want to harm us, but at the same time they were open to friends, tourists, businessmen, and those who just want to come and get acquainted with our countries, he said. Stressing that finding the balance in this situation is not an easy deal, President Aliyev said that we in Azerbaijan strive for this. He noted that the liberalization of the visa regime with many countries, and the fairly free access of foreign citizens from many countries to Azerbaijan led to a tangible growth of tourism, which this year grew by more than 20 percent, while last year even by 25 percent. At the same time, reliable security also suggests that a balance can be found. We are striving for this. Undoubtedly, without coordinating work with neighbors, with CIS member-countries, our long-time friends making this will be difficult for any country. So, we attach great importance to cooperation within the CIS in this sphere, he said. Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service, Head of the Border Service, Vladimir Kulishov expressed gratitude to President Aliyev for the possibility of holding the 78th meeting of the Council of Commanders, the Executive Committee and the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center in Azerbaijans capital. He further talked about the details of the meeting targeting to discuss the state and forecasts for the operational situation at the external borders of the Commonwealth states. The meeting is expected to sum up the results of the Councils work in 2017 and plan the activities for 2018. A number of issues related to the implementation of six national programs to combat cross-border crime and enhance border security will also be considered. He stressed that these issues are of a purely applied nature and contribute to ensuring the security of our citizens, preventing and suppressing the channels for the movement of persons involved in international terrorist organizations, drug trafficking, illegal migration that is everything that affects the security of our citizens and countries. The 78th session of the CIS Council of Commanders of Border Troops took place in Baku on October 19. Addressing the event, Chairman of the Coordination Service of the CIS Council of Border Troops Commanders Alexander Manilov said that the sessions agenda included nine main issues on strengthening the security of the member states borders. The session ended with the signing of 25 documents. "The majority of the documents concerned the outcome of discussions on the situation at the borders of the two countries, including the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan where there can be threats to the security of CIS countries. The sides agreed to cooperate and exchange information in the field of border security," he said. The Russian Border Service deputy command added that the parties discussed organized crime, drug trafficking, migration processes at borders and other issues. The parties also raised the issue of training military officers in educational facilities in the CIS region.\ -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 11:15 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan and Latvia have discussed ways of expanding legal cooperation as Justice Minister Fikrat Mammadov met with his Latvian counterpart Dzintars Rasnacs in Baku. Mammadov highlighted measures taken by the Azerbaijani government in recent years to improve the legal and court systems in the country, Azertac reported. He emphasized the necessity of expanding the bilateral cooperation in the legal sphere and carrying out reciprocal visits and experience exchange. Latvian minister Rasnacs`s itinerary includes visits to local justice authorities in Azerbaijani regions as well as ASAN service center where he will familiarize himself with modern court infrastructure and the application of information technologies. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Nelnet on Thursday announced the largest acquisition in its history. The Lincoln-based company said it has entered into an agreement with Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. to buy its student loan servicing company, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc., for $150 million. This is a perfect match of two student loan servicing organizations with closely aligned values anchored on delivering unparalleled customer experiences, Jeff Noordhoek, Nelnet chief executive officer, said in a news release. Noting that the two companies combined have more than 90 years of experience in the student loan industry, Noordhoek said they "now have the opportunity to transform student loan servicing for millions of borrowers, providing a consistent and unmatched borrower experience and the best technology for student loan servicing. Great Lakes, a nonprofit company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, has 1,800 employees. Nelnet said the companies will continue to operate separately, with Great Lakes CEO Jeff Crosby staying in place. The two companies are among the four major servicers of federal student loans, and both have contracts that go until June 2019. Nelnet said they will continue to compete separately for that business. Eventually, the companies plan to consolidate some operations, Nelnet said in a news release. Asked what if any effect the deal would have on Nelnet's Lincoln operations, spokesman Ben Kiser said it will be "great" for the city. "Anytime a hometown company is growing and successful, its good for our community," Kiser said. Growth has been an almost constant theme for Nelnet over the past several years. Since 2009, it has more than tripled its local workforce to more than 2,400 workers and has grown the company through acquisitions and diversification. In late 2015, Nelnet bought telecommunications company Allo Communications, and it is a major investor in Hudl and other local startups. It also has invested in several major local real estate developments, including the Telegraph District east of downtown. All the while, it has steadily grown its federal student loan servicing business. Nelnet and Great Lakes already had been collaborating, forming a joint venture last year to bid on a new federal contract that seeks to create a single servicing solution for student loans. The companies said that project will continue. Nelnet said the acquisition of Great Lakes is expected to be completed in January, although it still must be approved by regulators. Investors were pleased with the merger news. Nelnet's stock closed up more than 10 percent to an all-time high of $56.55 a share. 19 October 2017 16:59 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Carpet weaving, the oldest kind of applied art in the region, is originated since ancient times on the Azerbaijani land. The carpet is a symbol of comfort and security at Azerbaijani home. The Land of Fire was famous for its carpets for centuries, long before oil was discovered here. The national carpets can be seen on the canvases of many European artists of the 15th-16th centuries. To acquaint foreigners and local population with the beauty and colorfulness of national carpets, Baku city is hosting the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets, ISAC 2017 with participation of representatives of carpet weaving industry from 25 countries. The opening ceremony of the Symposium held under the motto Traditions and Innovations kicked off at the International Mugam Center on October 18. The event is organized in accordance with the presidential decree "On holding of the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets in Baku." The history of this event dated back to 1983, when 30 years ago the capital hosted an international symposium on oriental carpets under the patronage of UNESCO. The previous symposium was held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the outstanding Azerbaijani carpet artist, Latif Karimov. Participants of the conference first viewed an exhibition of carpet weaving in the foyer of the center. Addressing the conference, Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev gave detailed information about the symposium, saying that the event will give a great impetus to the promotion of the Azerbaijani carpet in the world. The minister drew the audiences attention to a relevant action plan on holding the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani Carpets by the Ministry, the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) and the Azerxalcha Open Joint Stock Company. He said that the main partners of the event are the International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC) and the Hali magazine, which has been published since 1978 illuminating the processes taken place in the world of carpet weaving and enjoying a broad reader audience. The minister further highlighted the achievements in the field of carpet weaving. He pointed out successful continuation of measures to promote the Azerbaijani carpet art internationally, which was inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as one of the achievements of the world culture are successfully being continued. Vice-president of ANAS, academician Isa Habibbeyli spoke about scientific research in the field of study, research, propaganda of the art of the Azerbaijani carpet in the world. He said Azerbaijan is one of the leading centers of carpet weaving in the world, adding that ANAS studies the art of carpet in several directions. Azerkhalcha President, Professor Vidadi Muradov hailed holding this symposium as exceptional importance in the world of carpet weaving. The Azerbaijani carpet is a national and, at the same time, universal value, known and recognized on a global scale. The symposium allows to popularize the Azerbaijani carpet and Azerbaijani carpet weavers to get acquainted with the historical centers of carpet weaving. In the days of the event, we will be able to get acquainted not only with the historical past of the Azerbaijani carpet, but also with its current state, the development of carpet weaving as an independent branch of the economy. We will get an opportunity to assess the prospects, he said. Talking about the significance of the event, Alberto Boralevi, Chair of the ICOC Academic Committee said that this symposium brought together authoritative scientists representing the East and West. He noted that the international carpet-making event that held in Baku in 1983 was one of the first opportunities for a meeting of experts on Eastern carpet, representing various republics of the former Soviet Union, with their Western counterparts. Speaking about the history of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan, Wendel Swan Chair, Executive Committee ICOC noted that the Azerbaijani carpets cause great interest in the world, pointing out that the ancient traditions of carpet weaving in this geographical area belong to the Azerbaijani people. The Culture and Tourism Ministry continues to remain faithful to the tradition of holding international symposiums, creating a platform for dialogue between Azerbaijani and foreign researchers and selectors of Azerbaijani carpets. Aademic sessions and a cultural program as well as number of exhibitions are held within the framework of the Symposium. As part of the Symposium the capital also hosted two exhibitions -- "Carpet-plane" and "Contemporary art in carpets". The exhibitions to run in Baku until January 15, 2018 are put on display at the Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum, the world's first museum of the kind, specializing in the study of these centuries-old craft. Built in the form of a collapsed carpet in 2014, the museum has a collection of almost 5,000 exhibits. A constant temperature and special lighting are maintained in the halls not to damage natural dyes. The first exhibition Carpet-plane - was organized by the Ministry, the Carpet Museum, Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts in cooperation with the Vienna University of Applied Arts with the financial support of this university and the Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Austria. This exhibition was the final part of the "Crossing" project, aiming to reflect the connection between Azerbaijani and Austrian contemporary art, to strengthen intercultural dialogue between the peoples and exchange experiences. During the "Crossing" project, five students of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts visited Vienna, and three students of the Vienna University of Applied Arts came to Baku to get acquainted with the culture of both countries and worked together on the concept of the exhibition, based on the theme of the Symposium "Traditions and Innovations". The second exhibition - "Contemporary Art in Carpets" gathered five works of famous Azerbaijani artists - Faig Ahmad, Farid Rasul, CHINGIZ and Butunay Hagverdiyev, who over the past decade successfully represented modern Azerbaijani art abroad. 19 October 2017 16:23 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat hosted an international conference, titled Peace, stability and international cooperation in the Caspian region, on October 18. The event was attended by the authorized representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia. Delegations outlined the positions of their states on the issues facing the Caspian states, related to their economic and environmental activities, possible ways of solving these problems, the establishment of scientific marine centers and the development of a national marine strategy, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message. Most provisions of the future convention on the status of the Caspian Sea have already been agreed upon, the special envoy of the president on delimitation and demarcation of the border with neighboring CIS member states Igor Bratchikov said, RIA Novosti reported. "It is well known that only an insurance policy gives a full guarantee. But seriously speaking, there are all chances and all conditions for a successful outcome of the negotiation process on the status of the Caspian next year," he said. The issue of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea became relevant after the collapse of the USSR, when the emergence of new subjects of international law - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - raised the issue of delimitation of the Caspian Sea between the five countries. The difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea are linked, in particular, with the recognition of it as a lake or sea, the delineation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law. "All parties are aware that the Convention will be a compromise legal instrument that should provide clear and transparent rules for our interaction in various fields, resolve possible disputes, become a reliable basis for preserving a safe and predictable situation in the region, preserving the Caspian Sea as a sea of friendship and good neighborliness," the diplomat, who heads the Russian delegation at the talks on the Caspian, said. In June 2017, a meeting of the special working group on the development of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian states was held. During the meeting, delegations discussed the remaining provisions of the draft Convention that had not been agreed upon. As a result of the negotiations, a number of provisions of the draft Convention were agreed upon. The delegations positively assessed the outcome of the talks. The Caspian Sea is surrounded by the five coastal countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The Sea has a total surface area of 371,000 square kilometers, holding 78,200 cubic kilometers of water. The legal status of the Caspian Sea has remained unsolved during the past two decades, preventing development and exploitation of its disputable oil and gas fields and creating obstacles to the realization of major projects. Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan hold to the principle of dividing into national sectors based on the median line principles since it is an international boundary lake, and leaving the sea surface for general use, i.e. they are for demarcation of mineral resources and the Caspian Sea shelf, but against dividing up its waters. Iran seeks an equal division of the Caspian into 5 even sectors, mainly because most of the offshore energy resources are located away from the Iranian coastline. Turkmenistan also demands the division of the Sea into equal parts between the pre-Caspian countries so that each country has 20 percent of the sea. The Caspian littoral states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November 2003. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 16:21 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, founder and head of the IDEA Public Union, Leyla Aliyeva met with UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Azerbaijan, Ghulam Isaczai, the Foundation said on October 19. During the meeting, the sides discussed new opportunities for cooperation between IDEA and the UN institutions, including the prospects of joint activities to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals and solve environmental problems. They also exchanged views on the project which is being implemented with the UNDP support to improve the management in coastal ecological systems in the specially protected territories of Azerbaijan. The project is aimed at development and effective management of specially protected areas with the purpose of preservation of unique and rare samples of the biological diversity of Azerbaijan. Thanks to the reconstruction and improvement work carried out in the Gizilaghaj State Nature Reserve complex within this project, the first specially protected marine area in the region will be created in Azerbaijan. During the meeting, an agreement was reached to continue and further strengthen cooperation on environmental issues, issues of sustainable development and others. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 18:24 (UTC+04:00) By Trend SOCAR Petroleum CJSC, a subsidiary of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR, will start the retail sale of compressed natural gas (CNG) at all the filling stations under the SOCAR brand in Azerbaijan in 2Q18, said the company in a message on October 19. According to the message, along with the retail CNG sale, special equipment will be installed at SOCAR filling stations to operate cars that run on CNG. Registration for the provision of these services has already begun on the official website of the company and on its Facebook page, says the message. CNG in Azerbaijan is used by modern passenger buses of Iveco brand (belongs to BakuBus LLC). SOCAR Petroleum operates 25 filling stations in Azerbaijan. Currently, SOCAR is the sole producer of petroleum products in Azerbaijan, and operates more than 400 filling stations in Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 10:56 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Ashgabat hosted an international conference, titled Peace, stability and international cooperation in the Caspian region, on October 18, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry in a message. The conference was organized by the Turkmen Foreign Ministry together with the State Enterprise on Caspian Sea Issues under the President of Turkmenistan. Authorized representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia attended the event. Delegations outlined the positions of their states on the issues facing the Caspian states, related to their economic and environmental activities, possible ways of solving these problems, the establishment of scientific marine centers and the development of a national marine strategy, says the message. Turkmenistans commitment to the development of constructive interaction between the Caspian states was noted during the conference. In June 2017, a meeting of the special working group on the development of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the Caspian states was held. The latest meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group for the development of a Convention on the Caspian Seas legal status was held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Ashgabat on June 1-2. During the meeting, delegations discussed the remaining provisions of the draft Convention that had not been agreed upon. As a result of the negotiations, a number of provisions of the draft Convention were agreed upon. The delegations positively assessed the outcome of the talks. Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to the agreement in May 2002. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea and a protocol to it on Nov. 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, respectively. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003. The Caspian littoral states Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran signed the Framework Convention for Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November of 2003. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 11:27 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan intend to increase the frequency of direct flights with further expansion of the geography of cooperation. The details of this were discussed at a meeting between the representatives of Uzbekistan Airways and Air Astana in Uzbekistan, the press service of Uzbekistan Airways said in a message. The parties discussed the importance of development of passenger transportation between the two countries in order to increase the tourist flow. The companies also concluded an agreement on increasing frequency of flights from Tashkent to Almaty, Astana and back. The sides agreed to open new flight directions from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan's Urgench, Bukhara and Samarkand cities and to repair the Kazakh aircraft at the Uzbekistan Airways Technics. The companies signed a negotiations protocol during the meeting. Currently, Uzbekistan Airways and Air Astana perform regular flights between Tashkent and Almaty (six times a week) and between Tashkent and Astana (twice a week). --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 11:46 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkmenistans Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov met with Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in Ashgabat, said the Turkmen Foreign Ministry in a message on October 18. During the meeting, the parties discussed issues of mutual interest in political, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The parties stressed the role of high-level visits, which are a solid foundation for the comprehensive and consistent development of bilateral relations, says the message. The high level of political and diplomatic cooperation was noted and a commitment was expressed to further building relations within international organizations. The two sides also exchanged views on implementation of agreements reached at a high level. Following the talks between the presidents of Turkmenistan and Russia, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Vladimir Putin, a Treaty on Strategic Partnership was signed between the two states in Ashgabat on October 2, 2017. A plan of measures and projects was also agreed for the implementation of the Program of Economic Cooperation between the two countries governments for the period until 2019. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 11:37 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Ashgabat will host a meeting of Russias ambassadors in Central Asian states on October 18-19, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release. The meeting will be chaired by Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, who is in Ashgabat on a working visit. The meeting will be attended by Russian ambassadors to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as by heads of a number of departments of the Russian Foreign Ministrys central office. The participants of the meeting will analyze current trends in developments in the region and adjacent areas and consider issues related to the implementation of Russias agreements with the Central Asian states, the message said. The sides will pay special attention to the personnel and logistics support to the Russian foreign offices in Central Asian states. These meetings are held from time to time. The previous one took place in Tashkent in December 2013. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 14:15 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The guarantor countries of the ceasefire in Syria - Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed on the date of the next Astana meeting. The seventh high-level international meeting on Syria within the framework of the Astana process will be held on October 30-31, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a message on October 19. "During the talks, it is planned to approve the provision on a working group on the release of hostages, prisoners, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for missing persons, the message said. The parties also intend to consider combating international terrorism and adopt a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria, according to the message. Other issues of mutual interest might be discussed as well," the ministry said. Astana talks also involve Kazakhstan - as an organizing country, sides to the Syrian conflict - governmental and opposition, and observers from the United States and Jordan. To date, six rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in Astana. The sixth round of talks in Astana ended in September with the adoption of a joint statement confirming the intention of the parties to continue work on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria and other decisions previously adopted in the course of the Astana process. Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime - Russia, Turkey and Iran - had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish "de-escalation zones" in war-torn Syria. The zones would cover the city of Idlib and certain parts of Latakia, Homs, Aleppo and Hama as well as Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Quneitra. The establishment of the fourth one in Idlib province was the spotlight of the sixth meeting in Astana. De-escalation zones in Syria allowed to significantly reduce the scale of the conflict and contributed to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria. While the Astana process is separate from the UNs Geneva talks on Syrian crisis, the attendance of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura links the Kazakh platform to broader international efforts. Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. According to UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, around 400,000 people have died in the conflict while half the population has been driven from their homes. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 13:58 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Although Ankara and Washington are taking steps to normalize ties between the two countries, the achievement of practical results may need some time. Declared principles of partnership between the U.S. and Turkey, in fact, do not manifest themselves in the relations between the two countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media outlets reported on October 19. He noted that the U.S. by its actions against Turkey, in fact, goes beyond cooperation. Commenting on the recent aggravation of relations between the two countries, Erdogan said that the lack of progress in resolving this crisis is a serious problem. The U.S. special delegation arrived in Turkey on October 17 in an effort to resolve the crisis between the two countries which erupted following the arrest of an employee of the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul. The U.S. State Department delegation will return to Washington after the talks in Ankara and inform the leadership of the country about Turkey's position. As part of the negotiations aimed at normalizing Ankara-Washington ties, the U.S. delegation put forward a number of conditions. One of the conditions is to present evidence that the previously arrested U.S. consular officer in Turkey had links with Fethullah Gulen movement, as Turkish authorities claim. Moreover, Turkey should provide the U.S. with full information about the progress of the investigation. The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected the conditions of the U.S. delegation. The U.S. and Turkey previously suspended the mutual issuance of non-immigrant visas. Non-immigrant visas are issued to people who travel for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work or study. This decision followed the October 4 arrest of a Turkish national who works at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul for alleged involvement in the July 2016 coup attempt aimed to overthrow the Turkish president. The U.S. embassy stated earlier that it was deeply disturbed over the arrest and rejected the allegations against the employee as wholly without merit. Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in New York, where Trump praised Erdogan as a friend despite tensions in two countries relations over a number of issues. This latest incident aggravated the already tense relationship between Washington and Ankara. The two countries have clashed over the U.S. support for Kurdish rebels in Syria as well as Turkish demands that the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric whom Ankara blames for a military coup attempt of last July. In addition, Ankaras rapprochement with Russia and purchase of S-400 missiles become the subject of criticism by the U.S. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Eric Underwood says that Lincolns citizens like to socialize. They like to go out and be active at events that involve people and experiences. That is something that Underwood general manager and part owner of Lincolns Rodizio Grill in the Haymarket area appreciates. Especially because it meshes so well with the service, attitude and atmosphere of Rodizio Grill. With the slogan The Brazilian Steakhouse, the Rodizio concept of introducing the southern Brazilian tradition of churrasco (barbeque) dining was brought to America in the mid-1990s by native Brazilian Ivan Utrera. The Lincoln franchise the only Rodizio Grill in Nebraska opened in August 2013, presenting the concept of having patrons interact with each other as well as appreciate the actual act of dining as opposed to just eating. Underwood acknowledges some initial challenges such as What is Brazilian food? But the enthusiastic Underwood knew that the beef, poultry, pork and more on the Rodizio menu in the end was pretty much Midwestern fare served with Brazilian touches, flavors and flamboyance, such as the meats being delivered on 3-foot skewers and cut at the table by Gaucho-attired servers. He says that the tastes in the meats are achieved through the use of oils, vegetables, herbs and spices. Also, that there is no MSG in the offerings and that everything, except breads, is gluten-free. There is little doubt that the restaurants pageantry and flare are directly tailored to its diners positive experience. It is important that every single guest, every single time, has a positive experience, Underwood emphasizes. Functioning under the concept of unlimited abundant service, the restaurant has two dining options: an impressive salad bar featuring 70-some unlimited sides and salad options ($19.99/$14.99 for brunch); and the Full Rodizio ($29.99/$21.99 for brunch), which includes the above-mentioned salad bar, plus limitless grilled options of 16 entrees. Gaucho servers move from table to table, offering diners selection after selection. Brazilian appetizers are also included with either the salad bar or the Full Rodizio. Full Rodizio beef offerings include Picanha (top sirloin), Bife Com Alho (steak basted in garlic), Assado (marinated Brazilian brisket), Maminha or Raquete (seasoned tri-tip sirloin or flat iron steak), Fraldinha or Miolo da Paleta (beef tender or beef center cut). Four pork options include Brazilian sausage, marinated pork loin, pork tender cut with parmesan and bacon, and lean cut of ham. Four poultry options are turkey breast wrapped in bacon, sweet and spicy chicken, marinated and seasoned chicken, and chicken hearts served with a twist of lime. There is also boneless leg of lamb, a daily fish selection, glazed and grilled pineapple, and grilled tomatoes with parmesan. From the salad bar, guests can choose from such hot dishes as Brazilian black bean stew, sauteed collard greens and bacon, chicken or beef stroganoff, whipped potatoes, or a plethora of salads including BLT salad, mozzarella salad, strawberry salad, hearts of palm, marinated quail eggs, fruit salad, Caesar salad or turkey pastrami and cheese salad. There are also numerous decadent desserts. Underwood says that among the customer favorites are the glazed and grilled pineapple and the BLT salad. Some upcoming special grilled promotions will include wild game in November, Baconfest in January and February, and corned beef for St. Patricks Day. The restaurants customer base is generally patrons in the 40- to 50-plus range, but through some recent target marketing, Underwood has noticed an expansion that includes more family dining. There are childrens rates for 3- to 6-year-olds ($4.99) and 7- to 11-year-olds ($9.99). Underwood remarks that some 40 percent of Rodizio Grill guests travel to the Lincoln location from Omaha and surrounding areas. Patrons have also come from Des Moines, Sioux Falls and beyond. He singles out the dedication and service of the Rodizio staff and the restaurants high-quality food as a major reason for the businesss positive reputation. Underwood feels that Rodizio is one of the few restaurants in the downtown area that can handle a large number of customers when Pinnacle Bank Arena has an event. Guests can instantly dine and be in-and-out before arena events start, he says. According to Underwood, Rodizio provides one of the most unique dining experiences in Lincoln. One can get a meal anywhere but one can have a sizzling experience at Rodizio Grill, he says. 19 October 2017 13:14 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Uzbekistan expressed interest in purchasing crude oil from Iran. This was stated by Irans Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh who also informed that the sides continue negotiations in this area, Iranian media outlets reported. Uzbek oil officials are discussing imports from Iran with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), according to the minister. The option of exporting Iranian oil to Uzbekistan by rail is being considered, he said. Uzbekistans oil production is limited. Therefore, it has to import this strategic product. Given that Uzbekistan has no access to sea, exports to the country need to be carried out through land and probably by rail. Given that Uzbekistan has no access to sea, exports to the country need to be carried out through land and probably by rail, Zanganeh said. During the visit, a large delegation from Uzbekistan led by Foreign Minister Abdulazim Kamilov held talks on various areas of cooperation with Iran. In particular, the chairman of the board of Uzbekneftegaz JSC Alisher Sultanov discussed the issues of interaction in the fuel and energy area with the heads of the Oil Ministry. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a meeting with Uzbek Foreign Minister that the necessary conditions for intensifying ties between Tehran and Tashkent have been prepared in all directions. He added that Iran is fully ready to meet the energy needs of Uzbekistan. Iran's current oil export capacity stands at about 2.6 million barrels per day most of which is shipped to Asia, a quarter to Europe and the rest to the other markets. Uzbekistan is rich in hydrocarbon resources, and about 60 percent of its territory possesses potential oil and gas reserves. However, the supplies no longer meet the demand for oil products in the country. Oil production drop in the last years has resulted in only 60 percent operation of its full refining capacity. Moreover, oil production in the country is forecasted to further decline. As a result, Uzbekistan has turned from a net exporter into a net import of crude oil to process it in its refineries. While oil-processing capacity of Uzbekistan will remain within the same range of 225,000 and 230,000 bbl/day up until 2024, the volume of the refined oil products is expected to decline from 75,640 bbl/day to 69,050 bbl/day by 2024. Therefore, Uzbekistan will have to increase the volume of crude oil imports in the near future from Russia, Kazakhstan and now Iran if it decides to take the advantage of its oil refining capacity. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 16:48 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan might create joint economic zones in future to boost interregional cooperation. Kazakh-Uzbek business forum, organized by the National Company "KAZAKH INVEST" jointly with Uzbek Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the assistance of Kazakh Embassy, kicked off in Uzbek capital on October 19. Kazakhstans Ambassador to Tashkent Yerik Utembayev, who delivered a welcoming speech at the event, provided the forum participants with detailed information about the developing economic ties between the two countries and proposed to strengthen them through creating joint economic zones. "I would like to see that in the near future we started working to create our joint economic zones. One of such opportunities is working with border regions. Just recently, during the visit of Kazakh President to Uzbekistan, we signed an agreement with all the border regions of Uzbekistan. The next step should be creating joint economic and industrial zones. In this respect, the Uzbekistan has a lot of experience. At the same time, it will be significant if the implementation of joint economic zones begins in South Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda, Aktobe and Mangystau directions. This makes it possible to realize not only transit and economic and investment potential, but also the development of the whole regional cooperation," he said. In addition, Kazakh envoy noted the importance of the task set by the leaders of the two countries in bringing the trade turnover up to $5 billion. One of the key roles in this process is the organization of similar business forums in the B2B format (Business to Business), according to Utembayev. "There is a big task, set by the heads of the two countries, to hold the first, large interregional forum between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan next year, he added. As part of the Kazakh delegation, 32 manufacturers of industrial, chemical, automotive, food and military products held talks with wholesale and purchasing companies and distributors of Uzbekistan on the possible supply of goods to the country. Meanwhile, contracts for the supply of transformer equipment worth $6 million, fiberglass pipes worth $6 million as well as plastic and aluminum profiles in the amount of 1,000 tons have been signed within the framework of this event. To date, this is the fourth such event, held by KAZAKH INVEST in Tashkent. Based on the results of past trade missions, with the participation of more than 60 companies, contracts worth more than $40 million were signed. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 17:41 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The newly elected president of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov may pay his first official visit as a head of state to Russia. This demonstrates Kyrgyzstans clear intentions to further deepen cooperation between the two countries, Izvestia newspaper reported. The trip will take place immediately after the inauguration, in the second half of December, according to he president's office. At the same time, the diplomatic sources stressed that the priority topics for discussion will be economic integration within the framework of the EAEU, military-technical cooperation within the CSTO framework as well as the issue of quotas for labor migrants. Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly raised appealed for increasing quotas for labor migrants, allowing more Kyrgyz citizens to work in Russia. In addition, practical scenarios of combating international terrorism and extremism in Central Asia, especially in connection with the unstable situation in Afghanistan, are expected to be discussed. Despite the fact that the fifth head of Kyrgyzstan will take the office only in December, his entourage has already begun to plan the first steps in the foreign policy arena. Moreover, as the chairman of the committee of Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kubar Rakhimov noted, the priorities of the new Kyrgyz leader will not differ much from the main strategic guidelines of his predecessor, who also relied much on developing relations with Russia, other EAEU countries and China. Former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooranbai Jeenbekov won the presidential election on October 15 gaining 54 percent of the votes. Presidential term of the current President Almazbek Atambaev ends on December 2017. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 October 2017 11:00 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov In recent years, sea cruises have gained increasing popularity among tourists from all over the world. More importantly, they have become more affordable for a wide range of travelers. The Caspian Sea, the Earths largest inland body of water, has good potential to be among the most popular destinations on the cruise tourism map. Therefore, it is important to develop this type of tourism among the countries surrounding the sea. Azerbaijan started negotiations with Russian partners on the organization of cruises on the Caspian Sea, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Nazim Samadov said on October 18. He made the remarks during a meeting with members of the Caspian European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) in Baku. However, the Deputy Minister noted that the biggest problem is the absence of cruise liners. Currently, Russia is building two liners. Although other Caspian states also wish to subsequently join this project, Azerbaijan and Russia have already reached an oral agreement on the organization of such cruises, Samadov said. How much did the tourists spend in Azerbaijan this year? The Deputy Minister further touched upon this years tourism statistics in Azerbaijan. He noted that during the first nine months of 2017, the number of domestic and foreign tourists in the country amounted to 3.5 million people. As many as 2,271 million of them were foreign tourists, and the growth was mainly provided thanks to tourists coming from Russia, Iran and Arab countries. Samadov said that a 20-percent increase was recorded in the tourism sector in the summer season. Only in June-August, 860,000 people rested in the regions of Azerbaijan. The deputy minister further noted that for the eight months of this year foreign nationals made payment by bank payment cards on 703 million manats ($414 million). This figure is by $59 million greater that the same statistics for first eight months of 2016. Common estimates suggest that foreign visitors spent about $765 million in Azerbaijan this year. Samadov also pointed out another great statistics as many as 141 travel companies were registered in Azerbaijan. Thus, the figures confirm that Azerbaijan is experiencing a boom in tourism, and this positive trend continues to grow. Over the past 10 years, the number of tourists visiting the country increased by five times. Travelers can explore the famed medieval Old City, hailed as a must-visit, which houses the UNESCO-listed Shirvanshahs Palace, and Maiden Tower. Tourists can also admire the citys contemporary buildings such as the Heydar Aliyev Center, designed by Zaha Hadid, and the Flame Towers a trio of skyscrapers covered with LEDs and displaying the mesmerizing movement of a flame. The country hosts a series of luxury hotels Jumeirah, Excelsior, Hilton, Four Seasons, Fairmont, JW Marriott, Kempinski, as well as many budget hotels for cost-conscious travelers. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Warsaw, Ind.-based Grossnickle Eye Center's ASC celebrated 30 years. Here are four things to know: 1. The ASC performed its first surgery in 1987. 2. Since then, the total ASC staff has jumped to 100-plus employees. 3. Twelve physicians practice out of the center. 4. Grossnickle Eye Center offers laser cataract surgery, LASIK procedures, laser treatments for diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma surgery, among others. Four of the top vendors hospitals use to attest to the meaningful use program are Allscripts, Cerner, Epic and Meditech, according to June 2016 ONC data. Here are 20 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking EHR and IT expertise in the past two weeks. Editor's note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from job seeker websites. Allscripts 1. Children's of Alabama (Birmingham): Seeks a senior application analyst 2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York City): Seeks a senior system analyst 3. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City): Seeks an IT analyst 4. Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.): Seeks an IT application analyst 5. RWJBarnabas Health (New Brunswick, N.J.): Seeks an enterprise clinical information system interface analyst Cerner 1. Advocate Health Care (Downers Grove, Ill.): Seeks a senior application support analyst 2. Emory Healthcare (Atlanta): Seeks an application solution analyst 3. Southeast Georgia Health System (Brunswick): Seeks an EMR application analyst 4. Shriners Hospitals for Children (Los Angeles): Seeks a clinical analyst 5. Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle): Seeks a clinical system analyst Epic 1. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: Seeks a health information manager 2. Orange Regional Medical Center (Middletown, N.Y.): Seeks an Epic Radiant analyst 3. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus): Seeks a senior app development analyst 4. Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): Seeks an Epic analyst 5. UMass Memorial Health Care (Worcester, Mass.): Seeks a senior app and system analyst Meditech 1. Exeter (N.H.) Hospital: Seeks a senior clinical analyst 2. Methodist Health System (Dallas): Seeks a health informatics director 3. Samaritan Medical Center (Watertown, N.Y.): Seeks a vice president of information services 4. St. Joseph Medical Center (Kansas City, Mo.): Seeks a clinical system analyst 5. Wilson Health (Sidney, Ohio): Seeks a data integration analyst The following hospitals announced or completed plans in the last week to expand, upgrade or renovate their facilities. 1. U of Texas Health San Antonio breaks ground on $70M medical center facility University of Texas Health San Antonio broke ground Oct. 12 on a $70 million building to house a new institute for longevity and aging. 2. New $110M Nebraska hospital to compete with CHI Health Grand Island (Neb.) Regional Hospital's groundbreaking is set for Oct. 19. 3. Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic receives $3M donation for expansion Marjorie Morris and G.W. Lisk Co. have committed a combined $3 million toward the expansion of Clifton Springs (N.Y.) Hospital & Clinic. 4. Premier Health, Ohio hospice partner to build $10M facility Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health and Ohio's Hospice of Dayton are partnering to create a new healthcare center Pure Healthcare to serve patients with serious and chronic diseases. 5. Orlando Health seeks approval for $90M hospital tower Orlando (Fla.) Health is seeking approval for its proposed $90 million, 103-bed hospital tower in Horizon West. 6. Lurie Children's Hospital seeks state OK for 24 more ICU beds Chicago-based Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital is seeking approval from Illinois regulators for 24 more intensive care unit beds for children with cancer and blood disorders. 7. Phoenix Children's Hospital unveils new laboratory facility Phoenix Children's Hospital unveiled its brand-new laboratory facility that combines the hospital's 10 once-separated labs under one roof. 8. Minnesota's Northshore Health to complete $24.5M expansion project Grand Marais, Minn.-based Northshore Health Hospital and Care Center will soon complete its $24.5 million expansion and renovation project. As hospitals and health systems juggle compliance issues under the ACA and implement new payment models to transition away from fee-for-service medicine, many institutions are looking to strengthen their financial management arms. Below are 14 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking revenue cycle management expertise during the past week. Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from online job seeker websites. Hospitals and health systems are listed in alphabetical order. 1. Alameda Health System (Oakland, Calif.): seeks a director of revenue integrity 2. Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh): seeks a revenue cycle supervisor 3. Allina Health (Minneapolis): seeks a patient access specialist 4. Gila River Health Care (Sacaton, Calif.): seeks a revenue cycle billing specialist 5. Harris Health System (Houston): seeks a revenue cycle coordinator 6. Houston Methodist: seeks a revenue cycle client manager 7. Lawrence (Kan.) Memorial Hospital: seeks a chargemaster and revenue integrity analyst 8. Mission Health System (Asheville, N.C.): seeks a manager of billing and denials services 9. Mount Sinai Health System (New York City): seeks a revenue cycle manager 10. NYU Langone Health (New York City): seeks a revenue cycle systems analyst 11. OhioHealth (Columbus): seeks a revenue cycle information specialist 12. Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta): seeks a manager of revenue cycle integration 13. South Shore Hospital Massachusetts (South Weymouth): seeks a revenue recovery analyst 14. Torrance (Calif.) Memorial Medical Center: seeks a patient access representative Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare will close Abrazo Maryvale Campus, a 232-bed hospital in Phoenix, by the end of the year. The hospital is closing primarily because of dwindling patient volumes, said Frank Molinaro, market CEO for Abrazo Community Health Network, which encompasses six acute care hospitals. "Over the past several years Abrazo Maryvale has experienced a significant decline in community demand for its services," said Mr. Molinaro. "The Abrazo Community Health Network's top priority is delivering high-quality, cost-effective care to residents of the greater Phoenix area, and we are properly allocating our resources to meet our patients' and our communities' healthcare needs." Although the hospital will remain open until Dec. 18, it will no longer admit patients after Dec. 1. "We will assist patients and their physicians in transitioning their care to other Abrazo Network facilities or the healthcare provider of their choice," said Mr. Molinaro. Officials said the closure of Abrazo Maryvale should not impact the community's access to care, as there are four acute care hospitals and 11 urgent care centers within the 6-mile area surrounding Abrazo Maryvale. The closure of the hospital will affect around 300 employees. All Abrazo Maryvale employees who are in good standing will receive priority for open positions within Abrazo Community Health Network and its affiliated partners, said Mr. Molinaro. Tenet, Abrazo Maryvale's parent company, is exploring a number of strategic options, including the sale of assets, divisions or the entire company. The 77-hospital chain ended the second quarter of this year with a net loss of $56 million, compared to a net loss of $44 million in the same period of the year prior. Tenet will release its earnings for the third quarter in November. More articles on healthcare finance: Dignity Health's operating loss widens to $66.8M with loss of state provider-fee revenue Proposed changes to CJR model will cost Medicare $90M over next 3 years Where to invest $10k right now? Chinese hospitals, says one fund manager Cardiac Connection Home Health Care Nursing Services, a home healthcare company in Richmond, Va., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The company, which provides home care to patients with serious cardiac issues, plans to continue business as usual while it restructures its debt. In documents filed in the bankruptcy case, the company listed its assets as between $100,001 and $500,000 and its liabilities as between $500,001 and $1 million, according to the report. More articles on healthcare finance: CMS releases preliminary CJR program results: 7 things to know Tenet to close 232-bed Phoenix hospital Where to invest $10k right now? Chinese hospitals, says one fund manager The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services released a report Wednesday that outlines progress it has made on programming, improved security, mission-specific housing and construction projects, and added prison beds. Director Scott Frakes said the department has an "unparalleled commitment" to charting a new course for the agency and deepening public trust. The report highlights work done between July 2016 and June 2017, and corrections reform from February 2015 through October 2017. Everything we accomplish is done in the middle of a high-risk setting that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, Frakes said in a news release. The prisons have had numerous incidents, two riots, assaults by inmates on staff members, escapes and violent deaths of five inmates since February 2015. Those have taken time and resources away from the reform efforts, Frakes has said. Highlights of the report include: * A $207 million investment in state general fund dollars that will increase to $211 million in fiscal year 2018; * A 500 percent increase in capacity of the department's violence-reduction program; * A 59 percent increase in vocational and life-skills participants within the prisons; * Partnerships with grant-funded and volunteer organizations; * Improvements to safety efforts, including stepped-up searches for contraband, investments in equipment, addition of less-lethal weapons for crowd control, resiliency training, increases in emergency drills, addition of supervisory sergeants, dialogue sessions on staff safety, email provision to all staff, increased visibility of management, and middle-management leadership training; * Increased retention strategies, including a recruiting bonus for the Nebraska State Penitentiary and Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, and merit pay incentive for Tecumseh; * A 25 percent increase in mission-specific housing; * Addition of prison beds at Community Corrections Center-Lincoln and startup construction of a reception and treatment center in Lincoln. The Legislature's Judiciary Committee will meet Friday morning for interim study hearings on recruitment and retention efforts by the department and the work detail and work release at the community corrections centers. The Nebraska Justice System Special Oversight Committee will meet in the afternoon. Here are eight recent news updates on health IT companies. 1. Allscripts certified Odoro as part of its developer program, enabling integration with Allscripts Practice Management solution. 2. Cerner President Zane Burke discussed the health IT company's data sharing efforts at the Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, Mo., last week. 3. Cerner and IBM joined the American Medical Association's effort to develop a common data model, called the Integrated Health Model Initiative. 4. CVS Health will integrate with Epic's Healthy Planet population health and analytics platform to help prescribers access better data on prescription drugs. 5. IBM posted financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 Oct. 18, noting $2.7 billion in net income, a decrease of 4 percent from one year prior. 6. Healthcare practitioners ranked M*Modal, a clinical documentation solutions provider, No. 1 for medical transcription technology solutions and services, according to a Black Book report. 7. A subset of employees at Outcome Health allegedly manipulated pricing and sales information to mislead pharmaceutical advertisers, according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal. 8. Zocdoc, an online scheduling service for healthcare organizations, integrated its platform with the Allscripts EHR. The digital health sector raised $5.5 billion in venture capital funding during the first nine months of 2017, according to a Mercom Capital Group report. For the report, the global research firm tracked and analyzed VC funding and mergers and acquisitions activity for the digital health sector in the third quarter of 2017. In total, digital health companies raised $1.5 billion in VC funding and engaged in 227 deals during the third quarter. Here are the top categories for digital health VC funding in the third quarter, according to the report. 1. Data analytics: $554 million 2. Telemedicine: $232 million 3. mHealth apps: $150 million 4. Mobile wireless: $132 million The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and SRC Labs joined together to file lawsuits against Microsoft and Amazon, alleging the two tech companies infringed on their patents, reports CNBC. SRC transferred some of its patents to the tribe in early August. The small tech firm, which claims the two tech giants have been infringing on its data processing technologies patents for years, and the tribe are seeking damages and royalties. The tribe made headlines earlier this month for a patent deal with drugmaker Allegran. The deal received backlash from lawmakers since Native American tribes have sovereign immunity to patent challenges. Both of the tribe's partnerships are to designed shield the patents from these types of challenges, according to CNBC. According to the tribe, the patent deal with Allegran was an effort to economically diversify itself, since revenues from a casino have leveled in recent years. The terms of the SRC partnership are not yet known. "To overcome these economic disadvantages, the tribe took steps to diversify its economy with investments in innovative business and various enterprises to foster jobs and entrepreneurship," the tribe said in its complaint against Microsoft, filed Wednesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to CNBC. Amazon and Microsoft did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. More articles on health IT: California Representative: Silicon Valley needs to represent the 'common good' Intermountain Healthcare joins 10x Genomics in precision medicine project Google, Goldman Sachs two most active blockchain investors Four executives from San Antonio-based Baptist Health System are leaving their roles, a Baptist spokesperson confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review. The executives include CEO Trip Pilgrim; President and COO Graham Reeve; CFO Gary Whittington; and Vice President of Human Resources Sarah Spinharney. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, Baptist's parent, made the leadership changes to eliminate regional and market management layers in hopes of creating a more nimble organization, while also providing leaders with more direct access to Tenet's hospital service center in Dallas, a Baptist spokesperson told Becker's. Tenet sent a letter to Baptist employees informing them of the departures. In the letter, Eric Evans, president of hospital operations for Tenet, states "it is vital that we continue to improve operational effectiveness," according to a San Antonio Business Journal report. Mr. Evans also said the leadership changes will take place over the next few weeks. Matt Stone, who was CEO of San Antonio-based Northeast Baptist Hospital, will serve as group CEO with oversight over all of Tenet's San Antonio-based hospitals, a Baptist spokesperson confirmed. He will be based based at Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio, and will report directly to Mr. Evans. Like other Florida healthcare organizations, Altamonte Springs-based Adventist Health System has been busy with relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. These efforts included temporary relief from medical bill payments for patients affected by the storm. For instance, AHS hospitals gave patients the option to request a 30-day pause on payments, with their payments adjusted accordingly, hospital officials said. Patients could also potentially take advantage of other financial relief options, such as an additional 30-day extension, fee waivers or other hardship arrangements. AHS President and CEO Terry Shaw recently answered questions from Becker's Hospital Review about the system's hurricane response efforts, including the financial relief options. Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: How were AHS hospitals affected by Hurricane Irma? Terry Shaw: It's interesting. Hurricanes can be tricky and Irma was a prime example. The projected path had it affecting the east coast of the state initially. The safety and security of our patients, visitors and employees is of the utmost importance. So, with a couple of hospitals on the east coast of the state, we proactively transferred patients to safer locations as a precaution. Then Irma shifted course and headed west, so out of an abundance of caution, we moved patients from our facility on the Gulf Coast. Overall, our hospitals across Florida did well. We are still assessing some things, but most importantly, we did what we needed to do with the information we had to ensure that people were safe and that we could maintain a high level of care, even with the storm bearing down. More than 30,000 of our own employees live and work in areas affected by the storm. Our people waded into harm's way to staff the hospitals on behalf of our communities. I was without power, myself. That's the remarkable part. We had so many people who, even though they were impacted, still had the dedication to serve the needs of patients and the community. I couldn't be prouder of them for that. Q: How did hospitals respond? TS: It took a great deal of planning and preparation. Our response to the hurricane started before the storm hit. When we confirmed that we could be affected by Irma, we went into action. That started with safeguards at our hospitals. Our supply chain team ensured that we had materials to take care of patients and then we stocked up on water and food for patients, staff and visitors. We did safety checks at our buildings. We solidified our power supply to ensure we would be able to provide exceptional care if there was an outage. In fact, we brought in several semi-trailers to Central Florida, with each being a generator on its own. We ended up using a few of them. We also ensured our staff and care teams were prepared, on stand-by, and knew exactly what needed to be done before, during and after the storm. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. We had business staff members looking after kids while their parents carried out their duties at the hospital. We had command centers set up. We had our IT people working to maintain our clinical and business systems as well. I was able to visit multiple command centers leading up to the storm. Our hospital leaders and staff did a great job preparing and executing in some pretty tough conditions. Our care teams delivered dozens of babies, performed critical, life-saving procedures and surgeries, and we were able to provide additional services during the storm for those who needed them. Knowing that it wasn't safe to drive and wanting to keep the emergency department clear for patients with critical emergencies, we offered our live, secure telehealth service free of charge. Also, while many pharmacies in Central Florida were closed, our outpatient pharmacy at Florida Hospital Orlando remained open during the hurricane. We filled quite a bit more prescriptions that weekend than we do normally. People in the community were able to get their essential medications. It was a complete and total team effort, and I'm thankful for all the employees who, to a great degree, put their personal obligations aside to care for patients and fulfill our mission. Q: How did hospitals change their billing practices? TS: Hurricane Irma devastated so many lives. It's going to take time for the state to rebuild. Our mission of "Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ" goes beyond the walls of our facilities. There are so many ways that we are trying to help our communities and employees rebuild and heal. We wanted to proactively get information on our websites and in our billing statements to let people know we wanted to work with them on their hospital bills. Some of our hospitals set up funds to provide assistance to employees who were affected by the storm. We also encouraged employees to give as they could to organizations like the United Way and the Adventist Development Relief Agency. Even recently, one of our hospitals held a major fundraising drive to support those affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. That's who we are as people. That's probably why they became caregivers in the first place. They sincerely want to help. On June 12, 2016, a shooter opened fire on Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., killing 49 and injuring 58 more. At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist strike in the U.S. since the September 11 attacks and the nation's deadliest mass shooting. All of the victims were rushed to Orlando Health, where CEO David Strong's team was charged with not only caring for dozens of critically injured patients, but navigating the aftermath of unprecedented tragedy. Mr. Strong had no blueprint to follow in his response to the Pulse shooting. In the year since the incident, he and his colleagues have become devoted to helping other hospital leaders with their own disaster preparedness plans. Orlando Health produced a short film sharing stories from departmental leaders and will soon release a book on the topic, while Mr. Strong and his colleagues have toured the country speaking with healthcare executives. "We really felt this was our obligation, because there wasn't a script for many of the challenges we had to deal with. So, we talked about how to be prepared for what you can't prepare for; how to respond and work through activities as best as you can," Mr. Strong said. "So that's the idea. It's related to everything from billing and registration of patients to how long until you take down memorial here are the things no one knows about until you have to deal with it." When people think about dealing with a tragedy of this magnitude, many focus on the logistics of critical patient care. While this is undoubtedly any provider's highest priority, the effects of a mass casualty event stay with an organization long after the news cycle moves on. In fact, the news cycle is the first of many non-care related challenges for which Mr. Strong and his team had no preparation. "I've had individuals come and say, 'I never would have though about how to handle the media response.' We had Geraldo [Rivera] and Anderson Cooper and everyone else camped on our front lawn for a week. You have reporters trying to sneak into the hospital, you have long-range microphones focused on the organization and picking up conversations between our staff and others," Mr. Strong said. Mr. Strong does not resent aggressive media efforts he says journalists were just doing their jobs but he urges hospital administrators not to underestimate the hurdles that may arise from increased media presence. Mr. Strong even recalled one meeting with Gov. Rick Scott (R) on the floor of the hospital where an unidentified man, whom the governor's staff thought was a member of the hospital team and hospital staffers thought was an aide to the governor, was revealed to be a foreign journalist recording the entire conversation. Remaining aware of the media presence and learning to conduct private business under intense public scrutiny are just two lessons Mr. Strong learned. The outpouring of support from around the country overwhelmed the staff at Orlando Health, but even gestures with the best intentions raise their own set of logistical issues. Supporters turned a sign outside the hospital into an ever-expanding memorial that was adorned with gifts from all over the world. However, when is it appropriate for the hospital to take down the decorations and return the sign to its original state? A man who made 49 large crosses to commemorate victims who died presented them to the hospital, but where could they be kept? Eventually, Orlando Health established a permanent memorial on its grounds that gives the victims of the shooting the recognition they deserve while allowing the system to continue and provide care for the community. Administrators at the hospital had to find a place to store thousands of bottles of water shipped as gifts, and even pizzas sent to the hospital were flagged by FBI investigators as posing a potential threat of poisoning. The team at Orlando Health faced these challenges with no expectations for what lay ahead, but it is Mr. Strong's goal to educate others who may benefit from his firsthand experience. He says the only way an organization can be prepared to respond to a crisis such as the Pulse shooting is to ensure every member of the staff feels as though they are part of a team. Only with a strong sense of duty and community can a hospital handle the seemingly insurmountable task of providing necessary patient care. This kind of environment is established from the top down, and Mr. Strong made it clear that teamwork extends beyond clinicians. "It takes a team. That day, there were security guards, nurse techs, nurses, physicians that were working well beyond what they would typically do. There were administrators getting supplies it took a team," Mr. Strong said. "It takes a team every day in healthcare. We think about the outstanding clinicians, but if the operating room isn't cooled properly, then the operation can't occur. It confirms that in healthcare, a good functioning team is essential in making things great." For his team to perform to the best of their abilities, Mr. Strong deployed counselors on the hospital floor just hours after the first victims arrived. He knew the stressful circumstances could take an intense mental toll on his staff, and felt it was essential to deploy professionals to help work through these complex emotions. Over the past year, these counselors have spoken with more than 2,000 employees at Orlando Health. For all the grief and pain that caregivers experienced when treating victims of the senseless shooting, the most significant employee response came from those employees who were not on site when patients were admitted, says Mr. Strong. These workers expressed overwhelming feelings of guilt because they were not there to help. For Mr. Strong, this kind of dedication holds a lesson he hopes hospital administrators will not forget, a lesson he believes is vital when responding to even the most adverse circumstances. "We should not confuse the work we do with the business we're in. As a health system CEO, I spend a lot of my time trying to grow the system, add a hospital, open a new ambulatory center and negotiate with different managed care companies," Mr. Strong says. "But the real work we do is the work that occurred that day in the trauma center, in the units and across the enterprise. And that work is what really gives dignity and value to the business." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blamed President Donald Trump's rescinded support of the Alexander-Murray bill on a lack of knowledge of the proposal, according to The Hill. The bill, drafted by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., would fund cost-sharing subsidies for two years while also providing states more flexibility with innovation waivers. President Trump initially praised the measure Tuesday afternoon before reversing course that evening during a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation and later tweeting he could "never support" the bill. Mr. Schumer believes this quick opinion shift represents President Trump's misunderstanding of the actions outlined in the bill. "Frankly the president doesn't know what he's talking about in the compromise. ... The president ought to know what he's talking about when he tweets about bills. Because on this one he had no understanding of what it's about," Mr. Schumer said from the Senate floor, according to The Hill. President Trump is not the only Republican to oppose the Alexander-Murray bill. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, stated Wednesday he could not support the bill because he doesn't agree with its temporary nature, according to The Register-Herald. Senate Democrats are expected to support the bill, but Sens. Alexander and Murray may struggle to find support from the 12 Republicans necessary to reach 60 votes, which would ensure the bill's passage. Significant changes must be made to the Alexander-Murray bill in order to receive President Donald Trump's approval, an unnamed White House official told The Hill. President Trump initially supported the Alexander-Murray bill Tuesday afternoon before later tweeting he could "never support" a bill that funds cost-sharing subsidies. However, the official said President Trump could approve the bill if certain concessions regarding ACA regulations were made, according to The Hill. "These benefits should include relief from the individual and employer mandates; an expansion of affordable coverage options, such as the ones referenced in last week's executive order; a greater ability for middle-income families to control their healthcare dollars; and meaningful flexibility for states to allow their residents to escape onerous ObamaCare requirements," the official said, according to The Hill. Jamison M. Foster, DO, was indicted Sept. 25 on 30 felony charges, including acquisition of narcotic and dangerous drugs by fraud, fraudulent schemes, forgery and taking the identity of another, after he allegedly forged the signature of his former physician employer to obtain opioids for his personal use, the Arizona Attorney General's Office announced Oct. 18. The AG's office began investigating Dr. Foster, 40, after he attempted to fill a forged prescription for oxycodone at a pharmacy in Globe, Ariz. The pharmacist contacted police on suspicions Dr. Foster may have forged the prescription. Investigators contacted Caren Borjeson, DO whose signature Dr. Foster allegedly forged and discovered she had not written the prescription or the 71 other prescriptions Dr. Foster allegedly filled at various pharmacies across the state between June 2016 and May 2017, according to the indictment. Globe-based Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center told ABC-15 Arizona in a statement Dr. Foster worked at the hospital from March until his arrest in May. "CVRMC does not condone this type of behavior from any of our staff, especially a doctor who is providing direct patient care for those we serve," the hospital told ABC-15 Arizona. "We wish Dr. Foster strength in his recovery efforts as well as all those we know who are suffering from some sort of addiction." Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor, MD, emphasized that physician burnout is a systemic issue the industry must address, according to a Stanford Medicine blog post. Dr. Minor revealed his insights at the American Conference on Physician Health: Creating an Organizational Foundation to Achieve Joy in Medicine, which was held in San Francisco last week. "This is not just individuals acting out, this is really a systemic issue we face as a profession and it's affecting our ability to deliver the very best care to our patients," Dr. Minor said. "We realized quickly that this was an issue we needed to address. And not just that we wanted to address, we wanted to lead." Now, as the dean of the university medical school, Dr. Minor has the opportunity to understand the factors contributing to physician burnout to ultimately ensure better conditions for patients. A factor contributing to physician burnout, according to Dr. Minor, is the current EHR model. He suggested amending the design of the EHR to create more efficient portals, adding that a more efficient EHR "can't come soon enough." In addition, Dr. Minor emphasized that showing compassion and empathy is something leaders of healthcare organizations need to demonstrate in their interactions to help ensure physician wellbeing. A former Lincoln family is mourning two children and praying for a third after their oldest son apparently fatally stabbed his little brother and sister before turning the knife on his father. Malik Vincent Murphy, 19, is accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his siblings, 5-year-old Sophia and 7-year-old Noah, early Tuesday at their home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The father, Jefferson "Vinnie" Murphy, a former banquet manager at the Cornhusker Marriott hotel, suffered neck injuries but was released from the hospital later Tuesday. The mother, Melissa (Mason) Murphy, was uninjured, as were the couple's two other children, 12-year-old Hannah and 14-year-old Elijah. "Obviously, the family is in a lot of grief," said Eddie Brown, a Lincoln businessman and longtime friend of Melissa Murphy and her family. "They love their son. They love their son Malik. They don't know what possessed him to do this other than him looking for answers in life and, you know, the devil." Malik Murphy is in jail, being held without bond. He appeared in court by video Wednesday wearing handcuffs. He has struggled with mental health issues, including depression, since at least age 14, Brown said Thursday. Early Tuesday, Murphy's father woke up when he heard screaming in the basement of the family home, and was attacked by his son when he entered the basement, according to local media reports. He restrained his son until police arrived. Their mother and police tried to save the children, who later died at a hospital. Malik Murphy had talked about killing before, his father told investigators. He had also run away from home more than once, and has received psychiatric treatment in Lincoln as well as in Colorado. In March, he was arrested in Illinois for setting fire to his parents' SUV, then standing in a crowd of onlookers and watching it burn, Effingham, Illinois, Police Chief Jeff Fuesting told the Denver Post. "He wasn't a bad kid," Brown said Thursday. "He needed more help." Brown said he did not know whether the couple has seen their oldest son since the incident. A funeral for Noah and Sophia is planned for Monday morning, he said. An online fundraising campaign Brown launched after the killings has already raised about $15,000 to help the family with expenses, which will probably include moving to a new home. The Murphys attended Lincoln City Church, near U.S. 77 and Old Cheney Road, until they moved to Colorado Springs, where Vinnie Murphy grew up, almost three years ago. Pastors Solo and Sarah Mwania drove to Colorado this week to be with the family. Sarah has helped clean the house, Brown said, and Solo helped Vinnie Murphy remove the children's furniture and other items from the home. "You don't want those memories," Brown said. Malik Murphy "turned away from God" many years ago, Brown said, something his family believes contributed to his troubles. "They have a strong belief in the good Lord above." Madison-based University of Wisconsin Medical School and Public Health leaders are warning that the state's proposed bill limiting abortion training "would cost the school its OB/GYN accreditation," according to the Wisconsin Public Radio. Under the proposed bill introduced by Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Wis., and Rep. Andre Jacque, R- Wis. employees and students of the UW System and UW Hospital and Clinics would be banned from performing or assisting the performance of an abortion. In addition, the bill bars employees from performing abortions at Planned Parenthood, where many UW faculty members currently train students. The bill would allow abortion training for students only in a hospital setting. Opponents of the measure claim it would pose a serious threat to the school's OB/GYN accreditation and lead to declining enrollment in the medical school's OB/GYN program. "If this bill passes, it destroys our OB-GYN residency training program," Robert Golden, MD, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health told WPR. "This is not a bill about abortions; this is a bill about training the next generation of OB-GYN doctors." During a public hearing on the bill, Joseph Lalli, a medical student argued that women will suffer if students are not properly trained on these techniques and that an emergent hospital setting would be a "chaotic" learning environment. Supporters of the bill claim the medical school wouldn't lose its accreditation from limiting training on one procedure and also raise questions about whether UW physicians are being paid with state money to perform abortions. "You really cannot stand for any more babies being killed and, even worse, on the state's dime," one of the co-sponsors of the bill, Sen. Leah Vukmir, R- Wis., told WPR. The bill was first heard in an Assembly committee in July. Neither Senate nor Assembly committees have voted on the measure. In February 2016, a Missouri state jury ordered New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million in a legal suit involving the company's talcum powder and a woman dying of ovarian cancer. But the Missouri Eastern District appeals court tossed that award Tuesday based on jurisdiction-related issues, according to The Kansas City Star. Jacqueline Fox of Birmingham, Ala., died of ovarian cancer in 2015 after decades of using Johnson & Johnson's talc-based powders. She was 62 years old. Months after Ms. Fox's death, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $72 million to the woman's family in damages. But the Missouri appeals court tossed the $72 million award, saying Ms. Fox's lawsuit did not have Missouri jurisdiction due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that limits where people may file injury lawsuits, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The appeals court said Ms. Fox's case should not have been held in St. Louis as Ms. Fox resided in Alabama. In a statement cited by the publication, Johnson & Johnson spokesperson Carol Goodrich said, "In the [talcum powder] cases involving non-resident plaintiffs who sued in the state of Missouri, we consistently argued that there was no jurisdiction and we expect the existing verdicts that we are appealing to be reversed." Attorney Jim Onder, who represents Ms. Fox as well as other talcum powder case plaintiffs, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was disappointed the award was tossed but "optimistic that the Missouri Supreme Court will find otherwise." More articles on legal and regulatory issues: 5 latest healthcare industry lawsuits Former Cleveland Clinic executive pleads guilty in $2.7M fraud scheme Police: Man posted video of himself holding gun in Ohio children's hospital An appeals court in Missouri recently overturned a lower court's order that required Mercy Springfield (Mo.) to pay $751,000 to a physician who claimed she was fired for raising concerns over the hospital's treatment and billing practices, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Shanti Yerra, MD, who sued Mercy Springfield in 2013, claimed she repeatedly objected to unnecessary treatment and billing practices at Mercy, to no avail. One instance of unnecessary treatment allegedly occurred in March 2012. According to Dr. Yerra's lawsuit, she admitted a patient for surgery to be performed by another physician. Although Dr. Yerra indicated the patient was cleared for surgery and did not require a cardiology consult, another physician called for the consult, resulting in increased charges to Medicare. Dr. Yerra reported the incident to Mercy's manager of medical staff services and expressed that she would report "unnecessary treatment and billing practices to the proper authorities," according to the lawsuit. However, a subsequent internal investigation revealed the additional cardiology consultation did not result in unnecessary cost and was warranted, according to the Springfield News-Leader. In August 2012, the health system's chair of internal medicine recommended Dr. Yerra keep her job "only if she would not make any more public threats or criticism of healthcare delivery or her peers," according to the lawsuit. Dr. Yerra was fired in January 2013, and she filed her wrongful termination lawsuit that same month. In 2016, a jury ruled in favor of Dr. Yerra and ordered Mercy Springfield to pay her $1,000 in actual damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. The health system appealed the ruling. In a 2-1 decision issued Oct. 11, the appeals court ruled in Mercy Springfield's favor. "In short, Dr. Yerra failed to show that public policy forbade [the surgeon] to have a cardiologist confirm this heart-troubled patient's cardiac fitness for surgery," the majority decision written by Judge Daniel Scott said, according to the Springfield News-Leader. "If anything, Missouri law and public policy purported to protect [the surgeon] in seeking the 'second opinion or consultation' that Dr. Yerra tried to cancel and of which she later complained." Dr. Yerra's attorney told the Springfield News-Leader he planned to ask for a rehearing or to have the case transferred to Missouri Supreme Court. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: DOJ: Personal trainer posed as physician in $25M scheme Florida medical group will pay $448k to settle false claims allegations 5 latest healthcare industry lawsuits Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs officials on Wednesday confirmed two residents at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy recently contracted Legionnaires' disease, according to the Herald-Whig. One of the residents died last week. However, officials said the death was not a direct result of the illness, as the patient had a long and complex medical history. Veterans Home staff members are monitoring patients as officials test the facility's water supply. The source of the infection is currently unknown. "The clinical indications (from the two cases) are not matching with our water quality results," said Troy Culbertson, an administrator at the VA facility, according to the Herald-Whig. "We have had very good water quality results for this whole year. In fact, none of our sites on campus are testing positive." In the summer of 2015, the state VA department initiated a $5 million extensive rehabilitation of the Veterans Home after an outbreak of Legionnaires' at the facility sickened 53 residents, contributing to 12 deaths, according to the Herald-Whig. Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. It is transmitted through the inhalation of small droplets of contaminated water. The bacteria can be particularly harmful to the elderly individuals with lung disease and those with compromised immune systems. To read the full report, click here. More articles on infection control: San Diego VA administers 1.5k ineffective flu shots Possible norovirus sickens 45 in Hawaii 11M men have oral HPV in US Drug companies produce eye drops at a size much larger than the human eye can hold, reports ProPublica. When patients administer large eye drops, the overflow liquid runs down their faces or drains into their bodies through their eye ducts, which creates waste that drug companies profit from, according the report. Baltimore-based ophthalmologist Alan Robin, MD, told ProPublica many of his patients struggle to make bottles of often expensive eye medications last before the next refill. Dr. Robin served as a consultant for the eye care giant Alcon Laboratories when the company was developing a microdrop in the 1990s. Alcon researchers found patients could safely administer microdrops as an effective treatment that eliminated waste and reduced side effects, such as stinging eyes. However, the microdrop never hit the market. Alcon executives shut down the project because the decreased waste threatened the company's profits. "It was a dead issue," Dr. Robin told ProPublica. "They would say, 'It's not profitable. We're going to sell less drugs' They had no interest in people, their pocketbooks or what the cost of drugs meant." More than two decades later, eye drops from nearly all drug companies are still too large for the human eye. Novartis, which acquired Alcon in 2010, declined ProPublica's request to discuss the microdrop research. More articles on supply chain: This biohacker is creating a recipe book of medicines patients can make at home 6 drug, devicemakers in the headlines Roche taps drug discovery firm to develop new antibiotic classes ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. 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Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. The U.S. Attorney's Office has asked to dismiss an indictment accusing a Michigan man of bilking a Nebraska woman he met on an online dating website of nearly $300,000. After Calvin M. Anderson, of Detroit, met the woman on farmersonly.com, she ended up wiring him $298,295 between Feb. 27 and March 10 of last year, the indictment said. Anderson was arrested in May but had been out on pretrial release. It was unclear why the case, which had been nearing trial, was dismissed last week. An attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office would say only that it was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled. First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain. Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that. And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details. If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices It will focus on all aspects of AMR, including prevention and control of infection, environmental and veterinary science. The Academy of Medical Sciences recently announced the pledge from The Yusuf and Farida Hamied Foundation for a scheme to build stronger research links between the UK and India to jointly address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The new five-year Academy of Medical Sciences programme will include a UK-India visiting professor scheme and two major scientific meetings, supported by The Yusuf and Farida Hamied Foundation. The Yusuf Hamied-Academy of Medical Sciences UK India Exchange Programme on AMR provides a timely opportunity to bring together leading researchers and to develop new capacity for international collaboration. It will focus on all aspects of AMR, including prevention and control of infection, environmental and veterinary science. Over five years the scheme will support 25 visiting professorships between India and the UK and two major international scientific meetings on AMR, one in the UK and one in India. This will strengthen UK-India links to share knowledge, foster research collaborations, and increase awareness, which will deliver the ultimate goal of developing robust interventions to tackle AMR across the world. Ever Wondered Why Diwali Is Celebrated 20 Days After Dussehra? Life oi-Lekhaka Diwali is a big thing in India! Diwali is not only celebrated in India but it is celebrated even in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, Fiji, Guayana, Surinman and recently in the Sindh province of Pakistan. One among the beliefs, which is related to Diwali is that it signifies the victory of light over darkness, hope over despair, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. The celebration of Diwali extends for 5 long days, but the main day of Diwali accidentally coincides by the darkest new moon night. Most of the temples celebrate Diwali by organising maha aartis and lighting the temple with thousands of diyas. Diwali is one among the most important festivals for the Hindus in India. It starts with Dhanteras, which is followed by Naraka Chaturdasi on the second day. The third day is celebrated as Diwali, where fireworks are burst by one and all. Forth day is Diwali Padva, which is dedicated to a husband-wife relationship and the festival ends with Bhai-Dooj, a day which is dedicated to brother and sister relationship. There is a ritual followed where people worship God on the eve of Diwali to bring luck, prosperity, and wealth to the family. Goddess Lakshmi, God Ganesha, God Kubera, Hanuman, Goddess Kali and many other deities are worshipped on this day. People from different states and castes worship the gods and perform pujas in their own way. One among the popular questions, which everyone is concerned about is why is Diwali celebrated 20 days after Dusshera? Let us give you an answer to this! Importance Of Dusshera According to the Hindu beliefs, Dussehra is said to be the auspicious day when Goddess Durga destroyed demon Mahishasura. The festival of Dussehra is celebrated to remember power, courage, and braveness of Goddess Durga. The festival is celebrated for 9 long days, where nine different forms of Durga are worshipped on each day. Many people keep fasts during Navratri, while a few others celebrate the festival by playing garba, Durga puja, and many other traditions. Dussehra is celebrated in different ways in different states of India. Importance Of Celebrating Diwali Diwali is observed exactly after 20 days of Dussehra on the new moon day, typically in the month of October or November. This year, Diwali will be observed on 19th October 2017. On the day of Diwali, it is believed that Lord Ram won his battle against the demon Ravan, which took place for ten long days. He returned with his wife - Sita, brother - Lakshman, and Hanuman after 14 years of exile. After Sita was returned to Lord Ram, the celebration took place in Ayodhya in glory and courage of Lord Rama. Celebration In Ayodhya To celebrate the return of Lord Rama (the incarnation of Lord Vishnu) to the kingdom after a long period of time, people in Ayodhya celebrated Diwali by bursting fireworks and crackers. On this day, many pandals also enact the drama to show Lord Rama's win against the demon, Ravan. The Reason Behind Why Diwali Is Celebrated 20 Days After Dussehra Diwali falls on the last day of the Ashwini month, which is also known as the darkest new moon day. This transition from Dussehra to Diwali typically takes 20 days, when the moon actually starts its waning phase. Another mythology says that it took 21 days for Lord Rama to walk from Sri Lanka to return to his own kingdom, Ayodhya, along with Sita and the others. You Can Also Check The Google Maps If you check the google maps, you would notice that if you travel by car, you may need 82 hours to travel from Sri Lanka to Ayodhya, whereas, the walking time from Ravana's place to Ram's kingdom is said to be of 20-21 days. Well, we're speechless after getting to know about this strange fact. Wishing everyone a very happy and safe Diwali! GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, October 19, 2017, 12:09 [IST] Diwali 2020: Significance Of Amavasya On This Auspicious Day Festivals oi-Lekhaka The first day of Diwali is celebrated as Dhanteras. Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Kuber are worshipped to seek abundance of wealth and prosperity. On the second day, Naraka Chaturdashi is celebrated. The third day is the main Diwali festival and an important day, as it is a very auspicious time for Lakshmi Puja. The fourth day is dedicated to Gowardhan Puja. On the fifth day, Bhai Dooj is observed. It is dedicated to every brother-sister (or even sister-sister and brother-brother now) relationship where the sister applies tilak on the forehead of the brother and seeks blessings for him. Diwali 2020 will be celebrated on Saturday, 14 November. ALSO READ: Diwali 2020: Eco-friendly Items To Decorate Your House This Festival While many Indian festivals are held on a Poornima day, Diwali is observed on the day of Amavasya every time. Let us look at the reason. Amavasya is the new Moon day. It is one of most sacred days of the month. Every lunar month starts on a full moon day. Amavasya is the 15th day of each month. And according to the Solar calendar, it is the 30th day of the month. How Most Hindus Consider Amavasya Astrologically, during Amavasya, there is darkness everywhere. This day is considered inauspicious by many communities among the Hindus. No new ventures or purchases are done during this day. People take part in various Pujas and homa-havan to get rid of the negativity. It may be completely contradicting to say that Diwali is celebrated grandly on the day of Amavasya. But why is such an important day celebrated on the day which is inauspicious according to astrology?What is the Amavasya significance of Diwali? Let us explore. Significance Of Celebrating Diwali On Amavasya Diwali falls in the month of Karthik. It is a festival spread across five days, each day having some significance. It also marks the start of a new lunar year in the Hindu calendar. On this day, the planetary positions are said to be very favourable, as the Sun and the Moon are in complete alignment with each other. Unlike other Amavasyas, this day is more auspicious to start any new business ventures or buy any new valuables. During the time of Diwali, the Sun and Moon are said to enter the Libra constellation. Libra Makes Diwali Auspicious Libra is the sign that rules business and professional lives. This makes Diwali a very auspicious time for businesses. That is why the Amavasya that falls in the Karthik month is different from the others. A Time When The Dark Energies Are The Strongest There is another reason why Diwali is celebrated on the day of Amavasya. It is that day when the Sun is at its weakest and the Moon is without its powerful paksha bala. This is the time when the dark forces are the strongest. Our ancient sages had recommended that worships be done during this time to nullify the effects if any of the negative energies. Good forces sustain themselves where there is divine prayer and light. Hence, all the Pujas and lighting of lamps are done to counter the effects of these bad forces and promote the good forces. That is why there is a heavy emphasis on light during the festival. festivals Most Read: How To Do Diwali Puja Local news will be available in the future, but it may not look like what people are used to seeing today, according to local media representatives participating in a panel discussion Wednesday. People want to be part of their community. They want to know what is going on. And local news is how you find out what is going on, said Julie Gade, market manager and general manager at Alpha Media, which includes six Lincoln radio stations. The prevalence of silos where people choose specifically what they want to follow through social media apps or content-specific programming will continue, said Ariana Brocious, a reporter/producer at NET. So local media need to establish themselves as the source of local news, she said during a luncheon hosted by Leadership Lincoln. "I cant believe the changes that have taken place in the last few years," said Gade, predicting that the changes in media will occur even faster in the future. Radio as we know it today will not exist in a few years, she predicted. But what radio, TV and newspapers bring to the community won't change. It just will be in a different form, with more digital components, she said. Panelists discussed the growing digital audience, and what comes with it, notably the "appalling tone" of some of the online conversations about news stories. "The problem with digital conversations is that people dont actually believe there is a human being on the other side. They will say the most vile, disgusting things," said Matt Waite, University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor, about online comments. What happens on Facebook would not occur in person. "You dont see people going down to a corner in Lincoln, screaming their heads off." Several panelists also described the conflict between stories that get the majority of the clicks on the internet and other news stories. Everyone says they want rainbow and butterfly stories, but they click to find out who got arrested for meth on the interstate, said Ryan Robertson, assignments manager for 10/11 News. And covering only crime is dangerous, said Andrew Ozaki, KETV's Lincoln Bureau chief. The easiest thing for TV to cover is crime. It captures people's attention and there are great visuals. "But it gives people this illusion that your community is unsafe. It gives people a skewed impression of what our community is like," he said. News media outlets are also trying to find a balance between immediacy (reporting quickly) and accuracy. And there are different rules for the different ways to share news Twitter, Facebook and traditional radio, TV and newspaper. Before Twitter, reporters generally did not report what they heard on the emergency radio without first checking it out. Now it's an expectation. As a result, viewers wanted to know why his TV station didnt report on a body in a lake that was described on the scanner. They didn't report it because it turned out to be a glove stuck in some mud, Robertson said. Panelists agreed that people will still want local news in the future, but the transition may not be smooth. Local radio, TV and newspapers are still figuring out how to operate in the growing digital world. Newspapers are like other businesses that have to make money. But while newspapers still have as many people as ever consuming news, said Dave Bundy, editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, "weve traded print dollars for digital dimes" in terms of advertising revenue. Advertising on a local media website is not as valuable as print advertising because fans in Hong Kong browsing Big Red content at HuskerExtra.com are not going to shop at the local Hy-Vee. Ozaki pointed out that newspapers face losing good and experienced reporters because of financial issues. A newspaper "is the heart and soul of the community ... that hometown identity," he said. How people access their news is also changing. The number of mobile users outstripped desktop users three years ago, and people are averaging five hours a day consuming digital media, mostly using the phone, Waite pointed out. The question becomes how you get people to stay with a story online. That requires a different mindset, he said. There's apparently no rush to tune up the snowblower that stayed parked in your garage last winter. On the same fall day on which temperatures climbed to 80 degrees in Lincoln, forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gazed into the future, offering a best guess for winter conditions. Their outlook, which calls for equal chances of above- or below-normal precipitation and temperatures in the Lincoln area, is based largely on expectations of a La Nina weather pattern emerging for the second year in row. Last season, Lincoln recorded measurable snow on just nine days. And the total of 7.5 inches ranked 117th in 118 years of snowfall data. Only 1967-68, with 7.2 inches of snow, came in behind last season. Temperatures in Lincoln last winter were well above normal in February after coming in near normal in the previous two months. La Nina, the direct opposite of El Nino, occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean drop to lower-than-normal levels. That typically leads to more wintry conditions along the northern tier of states and warmer, drier conditions in the south. If La Nina conditions develop, we predict it will be weak and potentially short-lived, but it could still shape the character of the upcoming winter, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAAs Climate Prediction Center. Above-average precipitation this winter is expected over the northern Rockies and eastern Great Lakes, including the Chicago area. Cooler-than-average temperatures are limited to a thin strip from the Pacific Northwest to Minnesota. Looking for warmer-than-average temperatures? Head south to Texas or New Mexico. Temps across parts of southwestern Nebraska are expected to be above-average, along with the East Coast. Wheels up. Sen. Bob Krist embarked Wednesday on his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, piloting a turbo-prop aircraft that took him soaring west on a bright October morning to launch his independent bid. At stops from Scottsbluff back to Lincoln, the Omaha state senator pointed to high property taxes as the issue concerning most Nebraskans and suggested that it's time to "start to rebalance" the load shared by property, sales and income taxes. But Krist also cited his legislative record and centered on the nature of his gubernatorial bid, pledging to provide "independent leadership" not beholden to partisanship or political party interests. And, he said, he would "like to restore separation of powers" in state government, promising to work cooperatively with the Legislature and "stay out of the election of state senators." Nebraska's nonpartisan Legislature has turned more partisan in the last few years, Krist said, while Gov. Pete Ricketts has provided endorsements and campaign funding for challengers to some incumbent senators who have not fallen in line with his wishes. Krist has changed his party registration from Republican to nonpartisan and will avoid a GOP primary confrontation with Ricketts next May by forming a new party which probably will be named Nebraskans United to offer Nebraska voters an independent choice a year from next month. The nine-year legislative veteran can gain access to the general election ballot next year through a petition process that requires about 5,000 signatures gathered statewide. "The Republican Party has tried to kick me out and take my card away two or three times," Krist said, because of its displeasure with his independent nature and performance as a state senator. Krist made media-centered stops in Scottsbluff, North Platte, Lexington, Holdrege and Lincoln during the initial phase of a two-day campaign tour, touching down at wind-swept airports across the state. A 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force with more than 15,000 hours of military flight time, Krist piloted a Merlin 111B turbo-prop aircraft on Wednesday's tour. During his first stop, at the Cappuccino and Company coffee shop in Scottsbluff, Krist introduced himself to western Nebraskans, suggesting that "what you see is what you get." "Do I have all the answers?" he asked. "I do not. But I have a lot of ideas." At North Platte, he said his initial campaign tour will allow voters to "put a face to the name." Krist said his nine years in the Legislature give Nebraskans "a voting record to measure," one that includes efforts to protect health and human services and enact prison reforms. "People and property taxes are my priorities, in that order," he said. "And I am a fiscal conservative." "I'm not a stranger to bucking the system a little bit," he added. "I've never stayed completely in the box." Krist said he is "passionate about the nonpartisan Legislature" and that he as governor would be "accessible to senators and talk to them about their ideas" early in the legislative process. At one stop, Krist suggested that "we are starting to emulate the Kansas model and that is not where we want to go" in terms of state tax and budget policy. During a live television interview at the NTV studio near Kearney, Krist said his candidacy "offers Nebraskans another choice" next year. Ricketts is a slam dunk to win the Republican nomination for a second four-year term. Democrats have not yet fielded a candidate. Krist said he is not close to naming a lieutenant governor running mate. It's fairly well known that there's a skills shortage in the world of IT. But what's not so well known is how creative some companies are getting in order to get around it. Zendesk vice president Amy Foo and managing director Brett Adam run the Melbourne office together. Credit:Darrian Traynor General manager of Zendesk in Australia and New Zealand, Brett Adam, says the customer service software company has taken a multifaceted approach to the problem. "It's challenging. When you look at the data you see that the number of people graduating from universities in Australia with these skills is decreasing, while demand is increasing," he says. The eye of the collective beholder may be changing for the better. At least, this is the first-glance appearance of new analysis of how beauty has changed over the past 30 years. It found there is more diversity in age and ethnicity when it comes to what we consider beautiful. While facial symmetry (believed to be a sign of a strong immune system) is a universally standard measure of attractiveness, ideal body shape, skin colour, size of eyes, lips, noses and even jawlines have all morphed and morphed again over time. Our image of beauty is becoming more diverse, but is it enough? Credit:AP We've moved from desiring sensuous Botticelli bodies to fleshier Ruben figures, from the lean lines and broader shoulders of wartime-era women, back to the softer Monroe-esque shapes of the 1950s and the androgynous and childlike Twiggys of the 60s, from heroin-chic of the 90s to stronger being sexier in the 2000s. Our aesthetic tastes are influenced by culture and pop culture alike, leading to stark differences between countries as much as differences over between eras. The Bowen Place Crossing in Canberra has been lauded with all kinds of architectural awards but we're pretty sure this is the first time the stunning landmark has been immortalised in paint. Christopher Oates' rendering of the funky crossing on the southern shores of Lake Burley Griffin is among the works in his new exhibition Infrastructure which is on at the M16 Artspace in Griffith until November 5. Bowen Place Crossing 2016 gouache by Christopher Oates, part of his exhibition on Infrastructure at the M16 Artspace last month. We told you in February about Oates' at times unorthodox working space - in that case painting Parliament House from the middle of the six-lane Adelaide Avenue. It's all part of his efforts to capture the built environment of Canberra and the fact he "fascinated by the architecture of Canberra, by its streetscapes and by the whole concept of a city growing out of the wilderness". A man died after he was swept out to sea while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef with his wife on Thursday morning. Sergeant Jeff Barnett said the man appeared to struggle in the tide off Heron Island and his wife lost sight of him as she swam back to shore from the nearby shipwreck. Heron Island Credit:Timothy Burgess The alarm was raised about 8.40am and the RACQ Capricorn Rescue Helicopter, involved in the search for the missing fisherman after their trawler sank on Monday night, was diverted to help local police search. Crossbench MPs have lashed out at the government and opposition for rejecting a parliamentary probe into explosive allegations against Melbourne's Crown Casino, accusing Australia's major parties of being unduly influenced by the powerful gambling and poker machine industry. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and crossbench senator Nick Xenophon called for a federal inquiry after releasing the accusations that Crown illegally tampered with poker machines, undermined federal government efforts to track money laundering, and ignored domestic violence. The move was backed by the Greens and fellow crossbencher Jacqui Lambie but the Coalition and Labor quickly joined forces to oppose it, arguing that state authorities were responsible for gambling and casino oversight. In the 30-minute video interview presented to Parliament on Wednesday, three unidentified whistleblowers said to be former Crown employees also accused the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation of being "complicit" in covering up alleged misconduct, a claim the regulator promised to investigate. An extra 1000 Queenslanders will be given access to a drug trial that could help them reduce the chances of contracting HIV. PrEP, or Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, is a preventative pill taken daily which, if taken as directed, dramatically reduces the risk of HIV transmission in HIV-negative people. Pills used for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Credit:Marc Bruxelle In early 2016 Health Minister Cameron Dick announced the Queensland government would fund 2000 places for an expanded four-year trial of the drug. "To date, 1970 of these places have been filled, hence the need for expansion," he said. To another, she replied: "Also rubbish. Read what I said." "Rubbish," Ms Bishop flatly responded to one journalist on Twitter. "Read what I actually said." Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has lashed out at the Australian media over suggestions she had damaged her government's ability to work constructively with an incoming Ardern Labour government in New Zealand. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday there was no need for Ms Bishop to apologise for the August fracas, in which she said it would be "very difficult" to trust Labour MPs in the event the party formed government comments newly minted New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described at the time as "highly regrettable". Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop arrives to address the media at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday Credit:Alex Ellinghausen A Fairfax Media investigation earlier this year led to the revelation Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand potentially rendering him ineligible to serve in Australia's Parliament. The High Court is expected to rule on Mr Joyce's case, and that of six other current and former parliamentarians, in coming days. The case inflamed tensions between the two countries when it was revealed an Australian Labor figure made contact with NZ Labour MP Chris Hipkins about Mr Joyce's case, before questions were raised on the matter in New Zealand's Parliament. The chances of Northern Ireland's political parties restoring a power-sharing agreement are "not positive" and Britain will have to impose a budget early next month if talks cannot be salvaged, the minister for the region said on Wednesday. Northern Ireland has been without a regional administration since its collapse in January, raising the prospect of direct rule being reimposed from London, potentially destabilizing a delicate political balance in the British province. Britain will need to draw up a budget - a move one of the region's smaller parties said would effectively constitute direct rule - if an executive is not formed by the week starting Nov. 6, James Brokenshire said. "If I had given evidence to this committee last week I might have indicated some momentum, more progress. That progress stalled at the end of last week," Brokenshire told a parliamentary committee, adding London would also have to pass legislation by Oct. 30 to enable an executive to be formed. "Unless there is a renewed spirit of compromise then the outlook for imminent resolution is not positive." Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who played a central role in brokering the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland, used a brief trip to Dublin this week to travel to Belfast and meet the main parties. But the main impediment in the talks between the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Irish nationalists Sinn Fein remains disagreement over improved rights for Irish language speakers, an issue that has dogged negotiations for months. Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, described Brokenshire's budget comments as "not helpful in the sense that it clearly signifies that would be the end of this phase of negotiations." Considerable challenges remain, she said. The Irish government, which is co-facilitating the talks, has said Northern Ireland needs a devolved government to give it a greater say in Britain's negotiations to leave the European Union, set to have a bigger impact on the province than on any other part of the United Kingdom. Ireland's foreign minister last week said reverting to direct rule from London for the first time in a decade would be a "devastating" blow for reconciliation in the province. Brokenshire said while he has no desire to do so, all options - including direct rule - must be considered if no agreement can be reached. "We are on a glide path to greater and greater UK government intervention," Brokenshire said. "We can't go on much longer." (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie More than a quarter (26%) of Irish employers experienced a workplace dispute in 2016 while almost one in five (17%) organisations experienced a personal injury claim. In addition, one in five Irish employers are noting performance management as a HR priority in 2018 alongside retention and employee engagement. These are among the key points learned at a seminar held in Shannon yesterday, organised by Shannon Chamber in association with Adare Human Resource Management. The study surveyed over 250 organisations representing more than 50,000 employees from across the private and public sector. The research found that almost 1 in 5 (17%) organisations had experienced a personal injury claim in 2016 whilst 9% of them attended the Workplace Relations Commission or Labour Court during the year. Thirty-five per cent of organisations who experienced a dispute in 2016 have been referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) or the Labour Court. Of these, the majority have been invited on more than one occasion, with 30 per cent attending on more than three occasions. This underlines the additional burden that workplace disputes place on HR resources with the vast majority of organisations saying they believe that time spent by HR dealing with these issues has either increased (37%) or stayed the same (49%). The reported average absence rate was 4% amongst organisations recording absences, a very significant proportion of payroll costs, yet 42% of organisations have no initiatives in place to reduce it. Minor illness (95%) is the most likely reason for short-term absence. Home, family, and caring responsibilities was noted as the second most likely reason provided. Despite acknowledging it as an issue, more than half of the organisations surveyed for the Adare HR Barometer are not recording the extent of their employee turnover. In those organisation that are recording turnover, average rates of 11% are being experienced. Of the organisations recording the reasons for employees leaving, career progression was cited as a factor by two thirds of their departing employees, just 22% were leaving due to an enhanced remuneration and benefits package being offered by a new employer, and 20% were changing career path. Increased remuneration and enhanced benefits account for 35% of initiatives taken to improve retention. Increased investment in learning and development are also prevalent (19%), with increased social events (17%) and internal promotions also playing a role (15%). Worryingly, almost a third of organisations say they have not introduced any initiatives to improve employee retention in 2017. Speaking yesterday, Managing Director at Adare Human Resource Management, Derek McKay said, "Without putting in place measures to monitor and record absence, organisations will find it difficult to understand if a problem exists and if it does, to determine the extent and cost of the problem. Organisations who measure and analyse the level, frequency and reasons for employee absence will be equipped with the information to support employees who are genuinely absent as well as address absence poor attendance or misuse of this policy should it occur." Source: www.businessworld.ie At least half of the women in Nebraska prisons have a diagnosed mental illness, compared with a quarter of male inmates, and judges sent a majority of them there for nonviolent crimes, according to a new report released Thursday. The ACLU of Nebraska, which was responsible for the report, already has filed a federal lawsuit against the state to address crowding and inmate access to medical care at the state's prisons. But Thursday, the civil liberties group called on Scott Frakes, director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, to act immediately to address an issue unique to incarcerated women: access to menstrual products. The ACLU report said the prison provides some menstrual pads to inmates, but routinely treats menstrual supplies, such as tampons and panty-liner products, as "luxury items" for purchase at the commissary, like candy bars or chips. They said women in prison across the state and in jails in Lincoln and Omaha often pay as much as 50 percent more than they would at local grocery stores and pharmacies for the items. Late Thursday afternoon, Frakes said in an email that the prison provides feminine hygiene products at no charge to incarcerated women. "Sanitary napkins are available in the restrooms and on the housing unit," he said. "Additional items are available for purchase in the canteen." Scout Richters, Legal and Policy Counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska, said, "Women who have spoken with the ACLU have told us stories of bleeding for days in jail or prison due to not having access to tampons or pads." Richters said others have gone months without access to medical care after reporting issues, like one woman, who had a three-month-long menstrual cycle. Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, said Nebraska should follow the lead of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which started providing tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products free of charge as of Aug. 1. "This is one small but important step Nebraska leaders can and should take to improve prison conditions. Its about gender equity, reproductive justice, and basic dignity and respect for our Nebraska neighbors who are incarcerated, she said. It was just one issue for Conrad, who said the state's prisons and jails are overburdened with women "who don't need to be there." According to the report, as of June, some 422 women, or about 45 of every 100,000, were in prison in Nebraska, many of them mothers and serving time at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, an hour or more from most of their families. "The explanation for the increase in women being jailed and imprisoned can be traced to the 'war on drugs,' or aggressive law enforcement response to drugs, including drug possession," the report said. Nearly half are in custody for drugs or theft, the investigation found. Yet, nearly 16 percent leave prison without getting access to programs and services related for substance-abuse issues. Conrad said the decline in funding for mental health services also has led to more women in the state being placed behind bars. "Reform requires our state and counties to look at all aspects of our system, from modern-day debtors' prisons to the misguided war on drugs," she said. "While these reforms may take time, women in Nebraska facilities need better access to health care today." Seventy three Irish medical technology companies will meet with over 300 international blue-chip company buyers from 42 countries at Enterprise Irelands bi-annual Med in Ireland event in the RDS in Dublin today. Med in Ireland is Irelands largest medical technologies event showcasing the entire spectrum of the Irish medtech sector. With the sector employing over 38,000 people directly in Ireland approximately 6,500 employed by indigenous Irish firms- the event promotes Ireland as a globally recognised centre of excellence in medtech innovation and technologies. Ireland is one of the leading clusters for medtech product globally, and in 2016, Enterprise Ireland recorded 7% export growth for the twelve-month period with the sector experiencing in excess of 5% export growth year- on-year since 2012. Source: www.businessworld.ie The transition period for the UK to leave the EU post the Brexit vote should be "as long as it takes to find a solution", according to former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. Kenny was speaking to Bloomberg TV in New York yesterday ahead of a Brexit themed conference organised by Matheson - the Irish law firm for internationally focused companies doing business in and through Ireland. Kenny also described the prospect of a hard Brexit as "catastrophic for business" and noted that "sufficient progress had not been made" to allow negotiations move on to their second phase. Over 200 people from a wide range of sectors attended the event in New York, including Irelands foreign direct investment agency, IDA Ireland. Speaking yesterday, Kenny said, "Nowhere is the challenge of politics and taking decisions in the interests of the people more clearly demonstrated than in trying to deal with the consequences of the Brexit vote in the UK. And when it comes to the negotiations between the UK government and the EU I believe that not enough progress has been made in the first phase of talks to allow progression to the second phase. Its also my view that a transition arrangement will be necessary, if and when the two-year timetable for negotiations is not met, and I think that transition period should take as long as is required to find a solution that works in the interest of all the people affected." He added, "Finally, the prospect of a Hard Brexit that many are now discussing would, in my opinion, be catastrophic for business and by extension terrible for the people that politics is meant to serve. That is the challenge now for those involved directly in the ongoing talks." Source: www.businessworld.ie The Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD, yesterday announced the latest results on Irelands success in the EUs programme on research and innovation, Horizon 2020. From the programmes inception in 2014 to September 2017, Ireland has won 475 million in Horizon 2020. Higher Education Institutes accounted for just under 255 million out of this funding. Industry won just over 160 million, of which 98.6 million was awarded to SMEs. Speaking yesterday, Minister Halligan said, "To date, Ireland has won 475 million in competitive funding and is now poised to capitalise on the opportunity of the Horizon 2020 work programme for 2018 -2020 with its budget of 30 billion. Ireland is already a winner in Horizon 2020 but we cannot be complacent As we enter the final work programme of Horizon 2020, I encourage all researchers; in companies, Higher Education Institutes and public bodies, to be ambitious in the next stage of Horizon 2020. These are the entities which are already competing at the highest levels of European research, I urge them to engage with the National Support Network for Horizon 2020 to seize this opportunity." Source: www.businessworld.ie The largest independently branded accounting firm in Ireland, RBK, has officially opened a new office in Dublin 4 and the launch of their new brand. The firm will formally announce 80 new positions in its Dublin and Midlands offices at all levels within the firm over the next 3 years in addition to our annual intake of 20 plus third level graduates in September each year. RBK provide audit, accounting and taxation services to domestic and overseas individuals and companies. The firm delivers a wide range of additional services ranging from wealth management to payroll, corporate finance and HR. They also provide management support and technology based services. With offices in Dublin, Athlone and Roscommon, RBK currently ranks in 12th position in a list of Irelands top accountancy firms by Finance Dublin magazine. RBK is currently led and managed by 19 Partners who are supported by a 180 plus strong team of technical and advisory specialists. Source: www.businessworld.ie Ryanair reached a settlement with Google and online travel agent eDreams to end legal proceedings in the Irish High Court over what it said were misleading advertisements for Ryanair flights, the airline said on Thursday. Ryanair accused Google in 2015 of allowing eDreams to use "misleading" subdomain www.Ryanair.eDreams.com and a website with branding similar to Ryanair's to sell plane tickets at higher prices than on the Irish airline's own website. Ryanair said terms of the settlement would remain confidential. Ryanair, Google and eDreams said in a statement that they were pleased to have resolved the issue. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie While all solar power-generating facilities are allowed to sell their electricity to the national grid at above-market rates, these rates were lowered last year for larger farms but kept unchanged for distributed systems. Photo: Visual China Chinas installation of distributed solar power systems soared in the first nine months of the year, as companies and individuals raced to set up small-scale generators typically based on rooftops and in factory compounds to take advantage of government subsidies. Solar power production is generally divided into two camps: traditional big solar farms spread out over large areas and capable of producing several megawatts per year; and smaller distributed projects that generate power used on site by a home or business owner. China has focused on the latter this year, following recent construction of many larger solar farms that often have problems due to insufficient planning. China installed 15 gigawatts of distributed power systems in the first nine months of the year, four times more than the same period a year earlier, according to data released at an event hosted by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association on Wednesday. Distributed projects represented about 35% of all new solar power installation in the first nine months, up sharply from just 10% a year earlier, according to the associations data. The total 42 gigawatts in new solar power installations during the first nine months brought the nations total to 120 gigawatts, of which nearly 80% is from larger solar farms. China has aggressively promoted the development of renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydropower, in a bid to create cutting-edge technologies that can be exported and lessen its reliance on polluting coal-fired plants. But in a typical national pattern for such promoted sectors, incentives meant to encourage development led to construction of poorly planned new solar farms, many of them in remote western parts of the country. By comparison, distributed power projects are less prone to such problems because they are much smaller and usually in urban areas for use by the actual builder. In order to encourage development, builders of solar power-generating facilities are allowed to sell their power to the national grid at rates well above market levels. But Beijing lowered those rates by 13-18% last year for builders of big solar farms. By comparison, it left the rates unchanged for builders of distributed systems, which may be fueling this years construction boom, according to photovoltaic association Secretary General Wang Bohua. He said promotional programs by regional governments may have also helped to fuel the boom, as well as concerns that subsidies for distributed power projects might be reduced next year. Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) OMAHA Police say the vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Omaha has been found. Police had been searching for the vehicle and its driver since it slammed into a man before dawn on Oct. 2 on a central Omaha street. The crash killed 34-year-old Anh Tuan Phan of Omaha. Officers dispatched to the scene found the man near the curb in the northbound lanes of 72nd Street. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not announce any arrests Wednesday when the news of the found vehicle was released. Police say investigators are actively following up leads and that the case is still under investigation. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Xinjiang cement industry returns to profit ICR Newsroom By 19 October 2017 The cement industry in Xinjiang province is faced with higher rates of overcapacity than any other part of China, making losses in three consecutive years. However, sector reform is expected to return the industry to profit, according to a government official. Cement makers in Xinjiang have taken on a staged approach to operation, under which they stop production during the winter heating period and pick back up in the spring, which has played a positive role in reducing overcapacity. In addition, the region ceased making 32.5-grade cement on 1 May 2017, leading to a rebound in market prices, an official told China Cement Association. In the January-July 2016 period the Xinjiang industry reported a loss of CNY217m (US$32.8m) but is expected to turn a profit of CNY244m in 1H2017, ending the three-year run of losses. Xinjiang government proposed to invest CNY1.5trn in infrastructure at the end of last year. However, 1H17 data suggest that the campaign has not been effective yet. The government expects this to change next year. Published under Are we still talking about Obamacare? Somehow, over seven years since the Affordable Care Act became law, Americans still have to worry about it, discuss it, and scream at members of Congress about it. No matter how popular it has become, hardly a week goes by without lawmakers trying to repeal it. After another repeal effort failed in September 2017, President Donald Trump took matters into his own hands. In the second week of October, Trump signed an executive order to end subsidies to people with the Affordable Care Act who have the hardest time affording deductibles and copays. According to figures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nearly 6 million low-income Americans depend on these subsidies. Once the government stops making payments, insurance companies either will have to raise premiums by huge amounts or abandon the market. Already regulators approved rate increases of over 40% in some states. If insurance companies decide to leave, hundreds of thousands will lose coverage. So welcome to Trumpcare. If you live in a state with a high number of people benefiting from subsidies, health care costs will soar, pushing prices beyond reach. Here are the 15 states that will be hit hardest by Trumps executive order on health care. 15. Hawaii On the Hawaiian islands, the number of Affordable Care Act enrollees receiving subsidies (9,859) might not be high, but the percentage is quite significant. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services statistics show 59% of those with the Affordable Care Act benefit from the cost-sharing reductions. Hawaii is one of the few states on this list that did not vote for Trump in the 2016 election. Next: This states lone House representative stands with Trump in ending subsidies. 14. South Dakota In South Dakota, where Trump received over 60% of the vote in the 2016 election, about 6 in 10 Affordable Care Act enrollees will see subsidy payments end. Stats from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show 16,144 people receiving these subsidies in 2017. As a percentage of those on Affordable Care Act plans, 59% will be affected. But Kristi Noem, the states lone House representative, said she supported Trumps executive order. What that will mean for the rest of South Dakota should worry anyone with private insurance. While Sanford Health will remain in the state for the time being, a Sanford spokeswoman told the Associated Press rates would rise more than the company expected a few weeks ago. Next: More than 100,000 people in this Southern state will see subsidies end. 13. Tennessee The percentage of Tennessee residents who voted for Trump (61%) is quite close to the number of Affordable Care Act enrollees who will see subsidy payments end (59%) as a result of the executive order. All told, some 118,901 people in the Volunteer State will be affected. Prior to the Trump order, Cigna had approval for 36% rate increases in Tennessee, while Blue Cross quoted 21% increases. Those numbers will rise again without a change in policy. Next: Over 200,000 residents here will kiss subsidies goodbye. 12. Virginia If the number of Tennessee residents receiving cost-sharing subsidies sounds high, Virginias statistics will give even more people pause. The Centers for Medicare and Medicare reported 218,241 Old Dominion residents were set to receive subsidies. However, the state government had already planned for the Affordable Care Act sabotage. This move might keep prices stable for 2018, but Virginia officials expect more rate hikes and possible insurer exits. Next: After a 75% increase in rates, this state will once again see higher prices. 11. Oklahoma Most Oklahoma residents thought health care could not be more expensive. Following a 75% rate increase in 2016, the lone insurance company left on the states exchange (Blue Cross) said prices will go up again after Trumps action. Currently, 80,548 residents (62%) of the Sooner State receive subsidies for their Affordable Care Act plans. Blue Cross announced rate hike before Trumps executive order, citing potential instability in the marketplace. Thats all it takes for people to pay more for health care. Next: Out west, this state raised rates 39% in anticipation of Trumps executive order. 10. Utah In late September, Utah officials were bracing for something like the Trump order that came weeks later. Tanji Northrup, the states assistant health insurance commissioner, described it as the million-dollar question in comments to the Salt-Lake Tribune. Anticipating that 109,204 Utah residents (62%) will lose federal subsidies, insurance companies got approval for 39% rate hikes for 2018. That will price out many people who pay for their own plans. Next: More than 150,000 in this New England state will see subsidies disappear. 9. Massachusetts Only one blue state made the top 10 among those that will feel the sting most from Trumps executive order. Some 62% of those on the Affordable Care Act (150,682) in the Bay State will no longer have subsidies go to insurers on their behalf. As a result, others without employee-sponsored plans will see rates go up as much as 29%, according to CommonHealth. Maura Healey, attorney general of Massachusetts, joined 18 other states in a lawsuit aimed to block the executive action. Next: Over 600,000 people in this populous state will watch subsidy funding end. 8. Texas The bigger the state, the more people who will lose federal subsidy funding. Texas, where some 605,000 people (63% of enrollees) qualified for subsidies, will be a major test case for Trumps executive order. According to one Dallas-based health care startup, Texans who pay for the full cost of their insurance will crushed by the move. The 20% increases baked into next years rates will likely take another jump when insurers crunch the numbers in 2018. Next: More than two-thirds of this red state receive subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage. 7. Idaho Trump won Idaho in a landslide, but he didnt do the states middle class any favors with his executive order. According to the Statesman, the cost of silver plans on the exchanges soared 40% in expectation of Trumps move. Someone will have to pay for the lost subsidies of 56,000 people (66% of enrollees). As in every other state, insurers respond first by passing along the cost to consumers. In 2018, they might exit the market if the math gets worse. Next: More than 300,000 people will have subsidy payments cut in this Atlantic state. 6. North Carolina As in 2012, North Carolina voted for the GOP nominee, and this Trump state will see 300,255 residents (67%) on the Affordable Care Act lose subsidy payments. In mid-October, Blue Cross announced a modest (14%) rate hike in response. However, any North Carolina residents with cheaper plans grandfathered in prior to 2010 will see costs double or triple, News & Observer reported. One Outer Banks couple saw monthly premiums jump from $1,241 per month to $2,919. Next: More than 7 in 10 residents of this Southern state depended on subsidies. 5. Georgia In the five states with the highest number of residents receiving subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, more than 7 in 10 depend on the funding. Insurance companies in Georgia, which has 286,076 people (71%) fall under this category, prepared for the worst by raising premiums 50% in September. Tens of thousands of people with insurance will feel the effects until the terms get evaluated again in 2018. Next: Responding to threats and verbal warnings, this state got out in front with a 31% rate hike. 4. South Carolina Blue Cross, the only Affordable Care Act insurer left in South Carolina, said it prepared for instability like many other companies: by baking big premium increases into the cake. Before setting rates for 2018, Blue Cross decided on a 31% hike over the previous year. Thats the only way it could manage the change to plans for 72% of Affordable Care Act enrollees (132,649 residents) receiving subsidies. If that doesnt work, Blue Cross might have to leave South Carolina. Next: More than 1 million people in this state depend on subsidies. 3. Florida Though Florida is nowhere near the most populous state in the union, the Sunshine State has the most residents (1.07 million) receiving subsidies on Affordable Care Act coverage. In fact, 3 in 4 low-income Floridians (75%) qualified in 2017. These massive figures would explain why insurance companies raised premiums 45% ahead of the new coverage year. Any Florida resident without employer-sponsored coverage will pay dearly. Next: In this state down south, 94% of those insured under the Affordable Care Act receive assistance. 2. Alabama The Affordable Care Act stats in Alabama, where voters went for Trump at a 2-to-1 margin, are staggering. Between the 77% (116,722) receiving subsidies and others receiving tax credits for health care, some 94% receive assistance for their health care coverage. Their fate will remain uncertain in the coming months as Trumps order starts to play out, but one state expert predicts steep rate hikes for anyone with a pre-existing condition in the near future. Next: The red state where 4 in 5 depend on subsidies 1. Mississippi Whether you look at the numbers insured under the Affordable Care Act or the percentage of those benefiting from subsidies, Trump states have the most to lose. In Mississippi, where 80% low-income residents (53,632 enrollees) receive this type of help, no other state can match the percentage at risk. We imagine thats why state officials approved a whopping 47% rate hike for 2018, the Clarion-Ledger reported. As a result, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told the newspaper as many as 10,000 people could lose their insurance. They simply wouldnt be able to afford coverage anymore. When the Clarion-Ledger asked how they would regain insurance, Chaney was at a loss. I have no answer for that, he said. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! In another stunningly insensitive move, President Donald Trump feuded publicly with Democratic congresswoman Fredericka Wilson this week. This comes as the latest in Trumps ongoing campaign to turn even the most sacred presidential duties into publicity stunts. His latest faux pas added to the pile of situations the president cant own as his own mistakes. In turn, that demonstrates a serious disconnect, as his relations with everyone from military families to John McCain and Barack Obama, illustrate. Trump insults fallen servicemans widow Wilson said she heard Trump tell the widow of a U.S. serviceman killed in an ambush in Niger that he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt. Sgt. La David T. Johnsons mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Washington Post she heard the call from the White House to Johnsons widow, Myeshia Johnson. Johnsons mother also stood by Wilsons account. President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband, Jones-Johnson said. Wilson said Trump was almost like joking. He said, Well, I guess you knew something to the effect that he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway. You know, just matter-of-factly, that this is what happens, anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die. Thats the way we interpreted it. It was horrible. It was insensitive absolutely crazy, unnecessary. I was livid. CNN reported that Sgt. La David Johnson died by enemy fire in an October 4 ambush. She was crying the whole time, and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, He didnt even remember his name. Thats the hurting part, Wilson told MSNBC. He made her cry. Trump, characteristically, denied those claims both in person and on Twitter. A very insensitive he-said, she-said I didnt say what that congresswoman said. Didnt say it at all, Trump told reporters. She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said. I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people arent too surprised to hear that. Minutes later, Wilson responded on Twitter to Trumps remarks. She stood by her account and told local station WPLG that Mr. Trump is crazy. Hours earlier, she told CNN that the president has a brain disorder. Wilson told CNN affiliate WPLG, That is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldnt say that to a grieving widow. Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive, but you dont remind a grieving widow of that. That is so insensitive. So insensitive. The White House neither confirmed nor denied Wilsons claims. The presidents conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private, a White House official said in a statement. Trump tweeted that he has proof of his side of the story, but has not come forward with any. Earlier this week, he actually congratulated himself on the phone calls. The president pats himself on the back, again With his usual modesty, Trump turned his response to soldiers killed in an ambush into a publicity stunt. He bragged about calling deceased soldiers loved ones, according to CNN. I really speak for myself. I am not speaking for other people. I dont know what [George W.] Bush did. I dont know what Obama did, he said. I believe his policy was somewhat different than my policy. I can tell you, my policy is I have called every one of them. Even after it took him days to respond to the Niger ambush, Trump found a way to use it against his predecessors. The New York Times reported that he said past presidents have not always contacted families of those killed in action. Trump suggested Obama never called John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general and now the White House chief of staff, when his son died in Afghanistan in 2010. You could ask General Kelly, Did he get a call from Obama? Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio. I believe his policy was somewhat different than my policy. I can tell you my policy is I called every one of them. That comment sparked swift backlash from Obama aides. Obama invited the Kellys to his home About six months after Kellys son died in Afghanistan, Obama hosted him at a breakfast at the White House. Kelly attended the breakfast held in May 2011 for the relatives of U.S. troops killed in action, according to the Associated Press. The Hill relayed that Kelly and his wife sat at the table of former first lady Michelle Obama during the breakfast for Gold Star families. When questioned, Trump said he was told Obama didnt call families often. Former Obama deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco sent an angry tweet about the issue, the LA Times reported. Hes a deranged animal, she said of Trump. Former White House photographer Pete Souza posted on his Instagram account a photo of Obama meeting with parents of a fallen sergeant. He recounted meetings with hundreds of wounded soldiers and those killed in action. Given Trumps military track record, his response in this case hardly comes as a surprise. John McCain enters the fray McCain used his acceptance speech for the National Constitution Centers Liberty Medal to make a statement, Politico reported. He denounced half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems. That McCain said, is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history. Trump once said McCain was not a hero even though he had been tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. As the president put it, I like people who werent captured. People have to be careful because at some point I fight back, Trump responded. Im being very nice. Im being very, very nice. But at some point, I fight back, and it wont be pretty. McCains response came as a figurative shrug. Ive faced far greater challenges than this, he told reporters at the Capitol. Id be glad to converse with him, he said in a CBS interview. But I also understand that were very different people. Different upbringing. Different life experiences. He is in the business of making money, and he has been successful I was raised in a military family. I was raised in the concept and belief that duty, honor, country is the lodestar for the behavior that we have to exhibit every single day. McCain also noted his excellent relationship with Obamas White House, something he cannot replicate with Trumps. That may have something to do with Trumps consistent antagonizing of, well, everyone. Trump blames Obama for basically everything McCain and Obama may have gotten along well, but the two men fall at odds almost constantly. According to Politico, Trump even blamed his own shoddy vetting on the former president. Multiple high-level officials opposed Michael Flynns appointment to a high-level post. Obama even warned him about Flynns erratic ways. After Trump hired him anyway, Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his meetings with a Russian ambassador. When asked about why Flynn got clearance anyway, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer blamed Obamas administration. That was something adjudicated by the Obama administration in April of 2016. They took no steps to suspend that, so thats not really a question for us. Its a question for them at that time, he said. Using Obama as a focal point probably works because hes so polarizing with Republicans, said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. Hes just reminding them how much they disliked Obama and that hes better than the other guy. Trump uses that tactic just about every time something goes wrong. Remember the alleged wiretapping? Did Obama tap actually Trumps phone? Zelizer noted that Trumps antagonism contrasts starkly with previous presidents. Many distance themselves from their predecessors, in order to continue garnering favor. These are wilder, continual attacks, he said. The difference is in scale and scope. Trump famously blamed Obama for tapping his phones during the very sacred election process. He tweeted the accusation in March, calling him a bad (or sick) guy! TIME reported that the Department of Justice found no evidence Obama ever wiretapped Trump Tower. Both FBI and NSD [Department of Justices National Security Division] confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets, the DOJ wrote in a summary judgment court filing on September 1. FBI again confirmed that they do not have any such records by consulting with personnel knowledgeable about Director Comeys statements and the surveillance activities of the FBI. Trump also blamed failed military action on Obama. Trump even blamed Obama for his own military failures After a botched raid in Yemen that killed a Navy SEAL, Trump said, this was a mission that was started before I got here. The president made the final decision to forge ahead with the raid, according to Politico. When he announced that 59 missiles flew into a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack there, he immediately cast the blame on his predecessor. These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administrations weakness and irresolution, he said. According to Business Insider, dozens of people died in a bombing on a hospital during that event. Activists described the attack as among the worst in the countrys six-year war. President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing, Trump said. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack. The presidents inability to take accountability for his actions points to a larger problem. Trump cant take responsibility for his actions, and the cracks are beginning to show As a Vox commentary pointed out, When presidents and commentators talk about the sacred and solemn duty of honoring wounded and dead soldiers, theyre not just speaking in cliches. Theyre making a statement about the kind of moral psychology you must have to make regular decisions about death and war without growing emotionally calloused and inhumane. Trump, by his actions, demonstrates he cannot fathom the idea that he must express empathy for loss of life. He cannot accept that he may have made a mistake in the Niger mission, or that he may have made a mistake, period. This marks a dangerous lack of empathy that means the president cannot consider others positions. If he cant show empathy during a phone call to a bereaved widow, can he do it when writing policy? Even if an action is, all told, still justifiable, its costs should weigh on the actor, Vox writes. He should feel the gravity of his role in what happened, and take seriously the human toll, even if his mind does not change in response. Wise words, indeed. Follow The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Academics slam 'Christian A-levels' that 'fail to prepare pupils for modern world' So-called Christian A-levels fail to prepare pupils for the modern world and mainly involve rote-learning and 'unthinking memorisation', according to academics. The International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE) is offered in up to 50 schools around the UK but, although claimed to be comparable to GCSEs and A-Levels, they are not recognised by the university admissions group UCAS or Ofqual, the government's Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. The research paper, published by Professor Michael Reiss of University College London's Institute for Education and Dr Jonny Scaramanga last month, said that exams are based largely on fill-in-the-blank question with one science paper asking: 'True happiness can only be found...' The response required is 'through faith in Jesus Christ'. Scaramanga, who went to a school that taught a similiar programme for three and a half years and has since campaigned strongly against them, told Christian Today because almost all the exams revolved around rote-based learning and fill-in-the-blank questions that demanded a very limited range of correct answers, there was no evidence pupils were understanding what they learned a claim the schools denied. 'Students that have been given this education have been disadvantaged,' Scaramanga, who now campaigns with Humanists UK, told Christian Today. The paper cites an example from a Geography exam where students are asked to complete the sentence: 'After nine generations of history, God decided to destroy mankind and Earth because of man's...' The correct answer is 'unrepentant wickedness' but other options such as 'sinfulness' which demonstrate understanding are marked wrong. 'This incentivises unthinking memorisation,' the paper, seen by Christian Today, says. 'Some students might conclude that learning consists only of recall, and remain unaware of gaps in their own understanding.' The researchers conclude: 'If readiness for university involves the development of skills of analysis, creativity and evaluation, the ICCE seems unlikely to constitute suitable preparation.' The paper also points out that no distinction is made between religious knowledge and subject-specific knowledge so in an English exam, 30 per cent of questions related to 'The Bible of Evolution'. The academics said: 'Religious lessons are integrated into every academic subject. Most tests also contain at least some questions of a religious nature. This means that a student's knowledge of the Bible, or of fundamentalist doctrine, affects their test scores in such unrelated disciplines as science and geography.' But Nigel Steele, a spokesperson for the ICCE, said: 'The paper grossly misrepresents the ICCE qualification its rationale, its breadth and its outcomes and we would welcome the opportunity to refute its serious allegations in detail. 'Scaramanga and Reiss are addressing a problem that doesn't exist. There is no evidence whatsoever that ICCE graduates are ill-prepared for university. We have well-documented proof of the very significant success of ICCE graduates including the many achieving firsts, prizes and distinctions.' Steele went on to point to a list on the ICCE website that details the universities pupils have gone on to attend. 'The lead author, Jonny Scaramanga, far from being a neutral academic researcher, is much better known for his online attacks as a campaigner against faith schools,' Steele continued. 'His campaign is part of a wider agenda that seeks to rid the UK educational system of the historic Christian faith upon which it was founded. Another example of this was seen only yesterday at a CofE school in Kent.' AMD Raven Ridge rumors: leaked bencharks unmask interesting comparison with NVIDIA MX150 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is bringing the power of Ryzen to people's laps, as the new "Raven Ridge" Ryzen mobile central processing units (CPU) just got their benchmarks leaked. Hot on the heels of the Hewlett-Packard's (HP) announcement for their new Raven Ridge powered laptops, performance data for the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U were leaked online. The "U" branding on the model names of both CPUs indicate that they are low-powered designs, similar to Intel's model names for its laptop CPUs. This means that they are not as powerful as their desktop counterparts. The design of the two Raven Ridge CPUs is also based on the Zen core architecture of AMD, which started with the Ryzen series of CPUs. The difference is that the Raven Ridge mobile CPUs also come bundled with AMD Radeon Vega mobile graphics on its die. The benchmarks were done on the 3DMark11 synthetic CPU and graphics processing unit GPU performance software, with the stronger Ryzen 7 2700U scoring a 6419 on Physics and its mobile Radeon Vega chip scoring 4072 on Graphics. This was still comparably lower than Intel's Core i5-8550U and MX150 GPU, which scored 8278 and 4570 on the Physics and Graphics, respectively. Oddly enough, while the Graphics score of Ryzen 5 2500U is lower (3655) than the Ryzen 7, its Physics score it notably higher (6595) but still not enough to beat Intel. While this is not much of a contender for Intel in terms of raw performance, WCCF Tech suggests that if the Raven Ridge CPUs manage to stay at a thermal design power (TDP) of 35 watts, then it will be a strong competitor against the much more expensive Intel and MX150 configurations for laptops. This is because Intel's mobile CPU bundled with NVIDIA yields a TDP of 40 watts. It is worth noting that the benchmarks leaked were only for 3DMark11 that utilized a DirectX 11 application program interface (API), which means that the results might be vastly different when a DirectX 12 API is utilized for the benchmark since AMD Radeon has had a clear advantage on DirectX 12. Also, other synthetic benchmarks may still provide diverse results compared to 3DMark11. People who have been wanting to purchase a new laptop may still want to wait until further benchmarks are released. A South Dakota midwife has sued a Nebraska county, prosecutors there and the Nebraska State Patrol for a case brought against her for manslaughter and other crimes in connection to the death of a newborn in 2011. Nebraska prosecutors dropped the case against Judy Jones in 2015. Investigators had said Jones helped deliver a baby in a rural Custer County, Nebraska, home on Sept. 24, 2011, defying orders prohibiting her from practicing as a midwife in Nebraska and South Dakota. The boy died 26 days later. This week in U.S. District Court in Omaha, the 69-year-old Irene, South Dakota, woman sued, alleging she was "unconstitutionally extradited, arrested and maliciously prosecuted, on two different occasions, for the death of (the child), in which she had no role." Jones' attorney, Stuart Dornan, wrote in the suit that the defendants ignored the facts, as well as evidence in her favor, "to knowingly plow ahead with a baseless prosecution." The Custer County Attorney's Office charged Jones in 2012 with practicing midwifery without a license and criminal impersonation, but a county court judge dismissed the case after a preliminary hearing in April 2013. One of the issues was whether the Nebraska Attorney General's Office alone had the authority to file complaints related to professional licensing. Another was the child's cause of death, listed on the death certificate as malnutrition. Two months later, the county attorney's office filed the case again, adding a criminal impersonation charge. This time, a different judge found the case had cleared the hurdle to go on to district court. But in 2015, as the case neared trial, Custer County Attorney Steven Bowers dropped the charges, saying the parties involved didn't want to proceed, but the state could refile charges later if they were to change their minds. Dornan said in 2011 Jones was working and participating in her religious ministry in Nebraska as a direct-entry midwife, which was not subject to licensure in the state at the time. He said Jones was contracted by a couple to spiritually minister to and support the wife during her pregnancy and in the delivery of their child. Dornan said Jones didn't hold herself out to be a certified-nurse midwife, and the arrangement included a Broken Bow physician to be on standby in case of a medical emergency. Not long after birth, the couple's baby began having trouble breathing and Jones performed rescue breathing until he got to a hospital. He was air-lifted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, which discharged him Oct. 10, 2011. He died nine days later. A medical expert enlisted by the state to review the records later gave an opinion that the baby died of a serious congenital metabolic disorder, according to the lawsuit. "During the lengthy pendency of the charges, plaintiff's business and religious practice as a direct-entry midwife was destroyed in the state of Nebraska," Dornan said, "and her reputation was irrevocably tarnished." In the lawsuit, he alleged the investigators ignored crucial evidence they could have found by doing a thorough investigation to determine the child's true cause of death sooner. Dornan is seeking damages to compensate Jones for the alleged civil rights violation and for her pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages and an order to keep the defendants from destroying any evidence in the case. Jones' husband had a heart attack and died right before she was set to go to trial. Dornan said his death was at least in part because of the stress of the charges against his wife. Bowers didn't respond to a messages seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. Are Education Inspectors Unfairly Targeting Christian Schools? A group of Christian schools that use Bible-based education methods are claiming they have been targeted unfairly by inspectors. The independent schools are appealing against Ofsted and seeking advice from the Christian Legal Centre about whether there is potential for a judicial review on the grounds that the government's schools inspectorate has exceeded its powers. The nine schools that belong to the Christian Education Europe network were criticised earlier this year for failing to promote British values adequately and told they are inadequate or require improvement. Two of the schools have now closed. The schools use the Accelerated Christian Education programme, where the emphasis is placed on learning rather than teaching and children are taught to take responsibility and use their initiative. This curriculum is based on the Bible and takes children from pre-school at age four to university entrance at 18. Among the criticisms by Ofsted this autumn were failing to teach enough about Darwin's theory of evolution and about other faiths. Andrea Williams of the Christian Legal Centre told Christian Today: "What the schools are going to do is appeal the Ofsted report. It is inconceivable that a set of schools that did so well when last inspected now find themselves in the 'inadequate' category or 'needing improvement'. "Parents of children at these schools want the children to be educated using the curriculum that they have. The children do very well on this curriculum. It is right that parents should be free to decide how their children are educated. It seems the Ofsted inspectors cannot think outside the national curriculum. There is a lack of understanding by Ofsted on what this curriculum means for the children." Chris Oakey, principal of Luton Pentecostal Church Christian Academy, claimed Ofsted had targeted Christian schools to show "even-handedness" after the scandal of the so-called Trohan Horse plot in Birmingham where Islamists were accused of plotting to take over schools. "I think they have done it to show they will do it to everyone and not just the Muslims," he told The Sunday Times. Wesley Richards, of The King's House School, Windsor, said one inspector asked: "Do you teach pupils about other religions or do you pretend they don't exist?" Ofsted denied it was being unfair and said it had been specifically asked to look at schools using the Accelerated Christian Education programme. "Ofsted said found them to be failing to meet the government's standards in a number of areas, including safeguarding, leadership and governance, and the quality of the curriculum. In addition, a number of these schools were not promoting British values effectively enough." Last year, Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of schools, denied that Ofsted had a political agenda against Christian schools after strong criticism from MPs following after inspectors issued critical reports on some other Christian schools. Labour MP Alex Cunningham said one parent claimed her daughter had been asked whether she was a virgin. The headteacher of one of the schools accused Ofsted of asking inappropriate questions on lesbianism and transexuality. Grindon Hall Christian school in Sunderland was among the Christian schools those placed in special measures in 2014. The latest inspection of Grindon Hall this summer concluded: "Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures." Azerbaijan pastor fined for leading house group in 'illegal' trial An Azerbaijani pastor fined for leading a house church without state permission has faced 'multiple violations of law and process', according to a source cited by World Watch Monitor. Hamid Shabanov and another church member, Mehman Agamammadov, were ordered to pay a fine equating to $900 after a police raid on Shabanov's house in Aliabad. Several appeals were rejected. However, the source said the hearings had been held in the Azeri language though Shabanov speaks Georgian, and the court did not provide a translator. The source said Shabanov had been 'asked repeatedly to sign documents he could neither read nor understand, both in the appeals process and police investigations, including a document that waived his rights. This is both illegal and negligent of the legal process in Azerbaijan.' While the country technically has freedom of religion, in practice authorities can make it difficult for congregations to register with the authorities as required by law. Many house churches choose to worship underground to avoid onerous registration requirements. Azerbaijan was ranked number 34 on Open Doors' 2016 World Watch List of the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to be a Christian. According to Open Doors: 'The government has a negative attitude towards any form of religious fanaticism. This also applies to the attitude towards Christians. Official checks are becoming increasingly strict. The government has become more active in controlling religion.' Christian women and children murdered in latest slaughter by radical Islamists in Nigeria Islamic Fulani herdsmen have reportedly killed at least 28 people, including Christian women and children, in a raid on a village in Plateau State, Nigeria. Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported on the recent attack on Tuesday, explaining that the violent raids by the Fulani on Christian villages are escalating as the terrorists migrate further south. The Rev. Andrew Okebe, the Zonal Coordinator of Christian Association of Nigeria, Miango District, explained what happened during the attack: "The soldiers had told the women and children to go and hide in the primary (elementary) school class at night while the men in the village constituted a vigilante group and join[ed] the soldiers in patrolling the area. Sadly, the militia descended and the soldiers fled, leaving the defenseless villagers to be massacred by the terrorists." Nigerian military has reportedly been unable to stop the continued assault by the Fulani on villages. Civilians have been left defenseless in the face of Islamic jihadists who want to occupy their land, Okebe said. There have been more than 30 attacks on Christian villages alone in 2017, with the herdsmen slaughtering over 250 people and burning down hundreds of homes. "We pray for those who are suffering the pain of loss. This unbelievable act of violence is becoming all too common for Christian villages in Nigeria's Middle Belt region," said ICC Regional Manager for Africa Nathan Johnson. "The government of Nigeria must not only condemn the violence, but take the necessary steps to ensure that the perpetrators are punished and unable to commit these acts again. Until then, Christian villagers in the Middle Belt will be left to wonder if their community will be next." Naij.com reported on the increasing attacks in Plateau state, with President Muhammadu Buhari speaking out against the growing number of casualties. "President Buhari believes that this madness has gone too far. He has instructed the military and the police to not only bring the violence to an instant end, but to draw up a plan to ensure that there are no further attacks and reprisal attacks by one group against the other," read a statement by Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity. "President Buhari is devoted to the sanctity of Nigeria's unity, and he encourages Nigerians of all groups to learn to live together in peace and harmony. "He commiserates with the governor and people of Plateau state, and with those who lost their loved ones, friends and family: May God comfort them as only He can." In September, 20 Christians, including nine children, were slaughtered by the Fulani in the village of Ancha. Nineteen of the casualties were members of the Salama Baptist Church. According to Morning Star News, police believe the attack was an act of revenge for a Fulani boy who was beheaded in a nearby village. In August, the Rev. Jen Moses, a pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All, was kidnapped by suspected Fulani hersdsmen while on his way to a church leadership seminar, but was later released. ECWA General Secretary the Rev. Yunusa Nmadu accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect the people. "The Evangelical Church Winning All is seriously worried about the growing spate of insecurity and criminality in Nigeria which appears to have overwhelmed the government and its security agencies as nowhere home, market places, work places, worship places and our highways are safe," he said then. "Like many other Nigerians, ECWA members are suffering the brunt of insecurity on our highways which have been taken over by armed robbers and kidnappers who kill, maim, torture, rape, steal and extort outrageous ransoms from their helpless poor victims while security agents looks away." This article was originally published in The Christian Post. 'Church Clarity' on sexuality or church control? In the complicated and often fractious world of Christian faith and sexual identity in the US, a new website has appeared that deeply concerns me as a gay, celibate Christian (or 'Side B' Christian). From the last few months fallout with the Nashville statement that polarised the evangelical world (and that I could not sign), a new website called churchclarity.org has appeared from a small but well-organised group of Christian LGBTQI activists. The world is becoming increasingly a difficult place to be a measured, biblically-convicted same-sex attracted or gay Christian. The website is calling for all churches to be scored or rated according to their own self-determined and select criteria. I am, as much as the next person, deeply concerned about the pastoral failures of many orthodox or evangelical churches in their treatment of LGBTQI people. I am equally concerned by many churches and pastors caving in to the pressure of culture and changing their views. That is why I work with livingout.org and spiritualfriendship.org, both organisations that help churches with an orthodox view on sexuality. The site states: 'Church Clarity is not advocating for policy changes. Together, we're establishing a new standard for church policy disclosure: We believe that churches have a responsibility to be clear about their policies on their primary websites.' And yet no one I know from the other side of this supposed conversation was contacted. For these reasons and many others, as soon as I saw this website it made me feel deeply unsafe and concerned about the new conversation emerging. Instead of seeking the organic, community-focused solution that is desperately needed, my church would have to be artificially forced and categorised into a position. Second, I am being told by those I disagree with deeply how I am to be framed, perceived, categorised and understood. While I am all for clarity, the vital question is, what clarity and on whose terms? This could easily be a cover for an attack that must be avoided for the sake of young SSA/gay youth who are making their mind up about their sexuality so they don't feel wedged. Churches all across the US, mainly ones I personally love, are rated as either 'non-affirming, affirming or unclear: non-affirming'. These labels might seem superficially harmless and the whole project itself as justified in encouraging clarity, but underneath it seems to be a further power grab and reaction against the signers of the Nashville statement. What we are seeing here is classic grabs for power between two groups that have deep wounds and show no sign of healing them. This is deeply damaging to the witness of the Church. What is actually happening is a politicising, framing and controlling of the discourse so that churches can be earmarked and classified, and down the track, pressured to change their perspective. While the website denies that this is its goal, I am sceptical as none of the advocates or leaders are Side B (orthodox-traditional gay or SSA Christians who do not support gay marriage in the Church), and to my knowledge, no one from Side B was consulted. Their goal generally is to stage a 'reformation' of the whole church so that it will marry LGBTQI people. The reality for people like myself is that the secular world is a deeply unsafe place where our perspective is already marginalised in academia, the arts and government. The discourse they like to adopt however often contradicts that in the public sphere. It goes a little something like this: 'we don't want to change churches or make them adopt our view of sexual ethics, we just want to "educate" them.' However this reasonable surface message is not the substance that accompanies many of these 'reformation' activists. The reality is most evangelical churches are underprepared and deeply fearful of this issue. In my own work as a speaker and writer, the way the church has been treated by activists has paralysed them into fear. Now they are being rated on a church website by people they don't know. Many people have been commenting that this will shine the light on churches that aren't welcoming to LGBTQI people. Apparently, having an orthodox or biblical view of sexuality is necessarily unwelcoming or bigoted. That is the real inference underneath this. The next step will simply be to persecute the churches that are 'non-affirming'. If I were invited to be involved in a project that really wanted to achieve work that made the Church a safe space, not a political victim of my sexual identity politics, I would have framed it very differently as 'accepting vs. affirming'. The goal of the group according to Religion News Service is 'pressuring pastors and churches to disclose positions on homosexuality'. What the affirming side likes to do is to pick the best possible resources to make itself look like the liberating, progressive group, and put the rest of us faithful disciples of Jesus under the steam train of 'the right side of history'. What really should be a conversation is becoming a war, and that is the worst thing that could happen for same-sex attracted or LGBTQI people who want to follow Christ. The reality is Jesus Christ welcomes all people, but calls all to a life of repentance and purity that reflects the coming Kingdom of Heaven. That is the 'right' side of history we all as Christians need to be seeking in this. David Bennett is an adjunct speaker for the RZIM Zacharias Trust. Church Clarity: US pastors pushed to define the 'limits of their welcome' for LGBTQ persons A new online initiative is pressuring US churches to clearly declare their stance on homosexuality, separating the 'affirming' from the 'non-affirming'. Launched yesterday, Church Clarity is an online database that aims to provide a means for discerning church-goers to know a given church's position on homosexuality, with churches scored on how well they communicate their stance and detailed as 'affirming' (supportive of same-sex relationships) or 'non-affirming'. Church Clarity's website writes: 'There are millions of churches around the world. They represent a wide spectrum of beliefs, which are translated into actively enforced policies. At the level of the local church, policies are often communicated unclearly, if they disclosed at all. In many churches, especially evangelical ones, clarity is elusive. 'In the first phase of Church Clarity, our focus is on policies that directly impact LGBTQ+ people...No person should have to wonder the limits of their "welcome."' The group adds that it is 'not advocating for policy changes', but rather 'establishing a new standard for church policy disclosure' one where ambiguity is minimal. The website has rated 24 churches so far, and plans to update its database with new 'batches' as research is completed. For example, Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City (the church until this summer pastored by Tim Keller) has been classed as 'Unclear: Non-Affirming', while New York City's Forefront Church is 'Clear: Affirming'. Regarding its own policy, Church Clarity describes itself as 'unequivocally inclusive, affirming and celebrating of all people', but adds that its agenda is not to conform others to its stance. Were arent asking for churches to change their theology. Were simply advocating for clarity. Read more: https://t.co/ir0ATw4UxX pic.twitter.com/zo9BOutaYB Church Clarity (@churchclarity) October 18, 2017 The website writes: 'We acknowledge that there is a potential tension between our policy-views and our organizational goal, but we also believe that remaining completely free of bias is impossible for any organization.' Progressive, gay Christian voices such as Brandan Robertson and Julie Rodgers (who serves as an adviser to Church Clarity) have praised the initiative. Church Clarity has also begun sharing quote-memes from popular pastors who have enthused about the importance of 'clarity' but not clearly disclosed their position on sexuality, which co-founder Sarah Ngu told RNS was part of an attempt to put 'pressure' on leaders to 'help them become more clear'. RNS columnist Jonathan Merritt opined that the 'fascinating' initiative might be celebrated by conservatives who also oppose evasiveness on the question of sexuality. But, he cautioned that 'we don't want to further polarize the Christian community on an issue that is riddled with nuance. If Church Clarity has its way, the messy middle on this issue will shrink or be eliminated.' Church Schools 'Homophobic' If They Oppose Gay Marriage, Government's Integration Chief Warns Church schools cannot be "anti-gay marriage" the government's integration chief has warned. Dame Louise Casey, head of the Prime Minister's review into community intergration, told MPs "it is not okay" for church schools to teach marriage is between one marriage and one woman. She warned such a view was "often veiled as religious conservatism" but in reality was "homophobic". Casey, who formally ran the government's Troubled Families programme, warned religious extremists were infilitrating schools in a similar way to the Trojan horse scandal. "It is happening elsewhere," she said but went on to say that she saw extremism in other areas apart from Islamic fundamentalism. Giving evidence to MPs on the communities and local government select committee on Tuesday, she said: "I have a problem with the expression 'religious conservatism', because often it can be anti-equalities. "We have got to be careful that people can choose, obviously, to live the lives that they want to live, but that they cannot condemn others for living differently. "That is a grey line, and the more we can talk about it the better. That is the most important thing: that people are able to talk about it." Casey's year-long review published in December found successive governments have failed to ensure cohesion keeps up with the "unprecedented pace and scale of immigration", which has left some communities increasingly divided. She found racial segregation and social exclusion have reached "worrying levels" in the UK. Casey put a spotlight on Muslim-majority areas, noting that some mosques teach women and girls regressive ideas about their role in society. She warned the fear of being labelled racist had led to public bodies ignoring or even condoning divisive and harmful religious practices. She told MPs on Tuesday: "Everybody is frightened of being branded a racist - there are some nasty people on the right who clearly aren't - but most normal people are frightened of being branded a racist. "The very genuine fear in all of this is we have two extremists alive in our communities. We do have the extreme right wing which is milking all of this for its worth. "We have extreme right wing in our country which we are all utterly appalled by. "But we also have Islamist extremism at play and I have felt at points it has been easier to talk about one than it is to talk about the other. "It is a disservice to thousands of people caught up in actually being on the receiving end of not having the start in life they should have in the UK." The Coalition for Marriage campaign group said her remarks were "astonishing" and "one of the clearest indications" that those backing traditional marriage were seen as extremists. "Believing that marriage is between one man and one woman doesn't make you homophobic or an extremist. It's Dame Louise Casey's comments which are extreme," a statement read. Church shocked and grieving after beloved pastor is found 'burned beyond recognition' The body of a South African pastor has been found "burned beyond recognition" with his hands tied behind his back in a small farming town about 50 miles outside of Johannesburg. The body of 45-year-old Martin Beneke, the senior pastor and founder of the Johannesburg-based Life in Christ Network, was discovered in Magaliesburg on Monday. The Life in Christ Network confirmed the pastor's death in a Facebook post Wednesday. "It is with heavy sadness and sorrow that we have to inform everyone that the founder and head pastor of LICN, Pastor Martin, has passed away on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017," the statement reads. "There are still so many questions we have and answers we need but we trust the process. Thank you to each and everyone who are supporting his wife, two daughters and family. We appreciate it." Police spokesperson Sergeant Mpho More told media that the discovery of Beneke's body was made by a local farmer who noticed smoke as he traveled a gravel road on his farm. The Roodereport Record reports that when the farmer went to investigate the smoke, he found Beneke's Nissan pickup truck on fire and a body burned beyond recognition. Gauteng police announced that Beneke's body was found with his hands tied behind his back and believe that he was kidnapped. "He was kidnapped and found dead at a farm in Magaliesburg yesterday," Gauteng police spokesperson Kay Makhubela said in a statement, according to Times Live. "The man's hands were tied behind his back and his body was burnt beyond recognition. He and his car were found by a farmer in the area and his car was burning. The motive is unknown and at the moment no arrests have been made. He was reported missing on Monday this week by his family after he did not come back home that night." Beneke was last seen on Monday at a gas station on 14th Avenue in Johannesburg with two unknown men, according to the Record. "My son is now part of statistics hacked and killed!" Beneke's mother, Elaine, wrote in a Facebook post, according to Times Live. On Wednesday, the Northcliff Melville Times reported that Beneke's killers are still at-large as police search for a motive and have yet to arrest any suspects in connection with the pastor's murder. Numerous people have taken to Facebook to voice their sorrow after hearing of Beneke's death and to comment on what kind of man he was. "RIP Pastor Martin K. Beneke. You will be sadly missed by everyone you have touched and everyone's lives you changed in amazing ways and your inspiration you brought, especially mine, helping me with addiction," Daniel Meissenheimer wrote in a Facebook post. "[T]hanks for changing my life and showing me a new way of life with God by my side. You have left a lagecy [sic] rip forever missed." This article was originally published in The Christian Post. Churches Still Under Threat Over Ofsted Inspections, Evangelical Alliance Warns Plans to register and possibly inspect Sunday schools are still in place and threaten churches, the Evangelical Alliance has warned. In a statement marking a year since the government consultation closed, the evangelical umbrella body warned that the programme to monitor what Sunday schools teach is still under consideration. Education minister Lord Nash confirmed the government is "committed to regulating out-of-school settings" at questions in the House of Lords on Wednesday afternoon. "We want a system that regulates out-of-school settings and works effectively but is not overly burdensome, because we know that many of these settings are small and staffed by volunteers," he told peers. The suggestion in place would force any setting that educates children for more than six hours a week to register with the government. This would include a number of Sunday schools and church youth groups. Ofsted inspectors would then be allowed to check on what was taught if a complaint was made. Opponents say this leaves churches open to vexatious complaints if they teach against gay-marriage. Simon McCrossan, head of public policy at the Evangelical Alliance, said this showed religious freedom was "an after-thought at best" in Theresa May's government. "These plans could lead the way to a register of Sunday schools, and making the government the arbiter of what doctrine is or isn't desirable," he said. "Instead the government need to ensure freedom of religion is at the heart of their plans because it is a key British value. It is currently an after-thought at best. "Theresa May said this week: 'When the state intervenes it intervenes effectively, it intervenes when it is right for the state to intervene.' We call on the prime minister to heed her own words and acknowledge it is neither right for the government to intervene to regulate Sunday schools, nor effective to do so." The comments come after Dame Louise Casey, the government advisor on integration, told MPs "it is not okay" for church schools to teach marriage is between one man and one woman. Church schools cannot be "anti-gay marriage" she said in a select committee hearing and warned such a view was "often veiled as religious conservatism" but in reality was "homophobic". McCrossan said: "Dame Louise Casey appears to conflate legitimate concerns about safeguarding and terrorism with trying to enforce new social norms on church schools. "We won't tackle terrorism and violent extremism by stamping out religious freedom, we can't have school inspectors becoming regulators of peaceful religious doctrine." Fears For Abducted Malaysian Pastor After Son Says He May Have Been Murdered Fears are growing for a Malaysian pastor who has been missing for almost three weeks. Raymond Koh Keng Joo, 62, was abducted by masked men on 13 February. Now, his son has filed a report with police on the suspicion he has been murdered, according to reports from Free Malaysia Today. Jonathan Koh says he's reached the disturbing conclusion on the basis that the family hasn't received a ransom demand, and there is very little information about his father's whereabouts or condition. Malaysia is a majority Muslim country and there have been periodic attacks on Christians. World Watch Monitor reports that, 'in 2011, Mr. Koh was questioned after being accused by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, following a raid on a fundraising dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church. That case was eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence.' The pastor's wife is also quoted appealing for her husband's captors to give some information. 'I don't know what is happening. I appeal to whoever has taken him not to harm him,' she said. 'He is a good husband, father and pastor, who helps the poor.' Thousands have signed an online petition calling for more to be done to locate the missing church leader. Four British missionaries kidnapped in Nigeria include Christian couple David and Shirley Donovan The four British missionaries kidnapped in southern Nigeria are thought to include a couple from Cambridge who have worked in the country for 14 years. Former GP Dr David Donovan and his wife Shirley were taken from where they were staying in rural Delta State around 2am last Friday, according to the Times. They run a medical charity called New Foundations providing aid to remote villages in the Nigerian delta. Two other victims, known only as 'Alana' and 'Tyan' were also kidnapped by the gang, which is thought to be well known for making ransom demands. Since the kidnapping the New Foundations website and a number of links to Donovan have been taken down and Michael Coleman, the UK director, declined to comment other than telling the Times he was working with the Foreign Office. The charity began when the couple launched a boat clinic, serving remote villages along the creeks of the delta. Over a two-year period leading up to 2008 they carried out 500 cataract operations, treated more than 16,000 patients, vaccinated more than 4,000 children and installed rain harvesting systems in eight villages. Donovan is still linked to the Riverside GP Practice in Cambridge but is thought to have worked mainly in the Delta region of Nigeria for more than a decade. The area has a history of separatist movements and has suffered a spate of kidnappings recently linked to the central government's crackdown on Islamist militants. Zanna Ibrahim, the police commissioner for the state, said: 'The kidnap may not be unconnected with the present onslaught on militant activities embarked upon by the military, codenamed Operation Crocodile Smile.' Andrew Aniamaka, from Delta State police, said: 'The abductors have not made any contact but we are doing our investigations to know the motive and have them rescued without jeopardising their lives.' The UK Foreign Office has not commented but had advised against all but essential travel in parts of southern Nigeria, including the region from where the Donovans are thought to have been taken. Kidnapping for ransom is a common problem in parts of Nigeria and high-profile individuals and Westerners are often the target. A number of foreigners have, in the last few years, been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region, which holds most of the country's crude oil the country's economic mainstay. Chief Theo Fakama, from the local Enukorowa community, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that villagers were saddened by the kidnapping because the victims had 'brought succour to residents of the community for the past three years'. After the Las Vegas shooting, commentators on Fox News recently offered three arguments promoting gun rights. First, one commentator said the Democrats have gone to their usual playbook, attacking guns and gun rights for their own personal gain. But what gain is that? Second, one guest on Fox said his brother didnt really need his assault rifles. The other commentator accused him of wanting to infringe on his brothers rights. But what purpose do assault rifles serve? Do those 59 people in Las Vegas, or the 20 kids and six adults at Sandy Hook have a right to be alive today? Third, the commentator said that since so many people had such massive firepower, the police were overmatched. His solution -- give police and other citizens the firepower to match the criminals. Wow! What about the Republicans usual playbook? Now is not the time to talk about gun laws. OK, when is it a good time? Gun laws wont stop mass killers. OK, motivated criminals can get guns. What about those with mental health issues? Should it be so easy for any of these people to acquire such firepower? Lip service is paid to increasing mental health treatment. Congress allowed the 1994 federal assault weapons ban (including large capacity clips) to expire in 2004. Since that law expired, mass shootings have increased significantly. I was raised with pheasant hunting and own a variety of guns. I have never believed that the government wants to get my guns. My father was a lifelong Republican and a life member of the National Rifle Association. In the late 1970s, when the NRA began opposing even reasonable gun laws, he resigned his membership. Once again, we will see the NRA obfuscate and misinform the conversation on gun control. In 1991, Warren Burger, a conservative Republican and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, discussing how the Second Amendment had been misinterpreted, said, This has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud -- I repeat the word 'fraud' -- on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Now, some Republican congressmen and the NRA seem willing to regulate bump stocks, which can be purchased legally to convert a semiautomatic weapon into something resembling an illegal fully automatic. This would be throwing a bone to the public, the majority of which supports most reasonable gun control laws. If this narrow piece of legislation passes, I would predict this outcome: After the next mass shooting, the NRA will say that gun control laws obviously do not work. They might even add, as they did after Sandy Hook, that the only thing that will stop bad guys with guns is good guys with guns. It is easy to believe that meaningful action is close to impossible. Congress has earned its extremely low approval ratings. But maybe, just maybe, now is the time to act. Here is my proposal I believe it would reduce the frequency and severity (lives lost) of mass shootings, as eliminating them is impossible, but reducing them is possible. * Comprehensive gun control legislation * Expand background checks * Expand waiting periods * Reinstitute the ban on assault rifles * Reinstitute the ban on large-capacity clips * Make it a felony to buy, sell or own bump stocks Also, Congress should kill the NRA-backed SHARE Act (Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement). Should we legalize silencers, loosen regulations on armor-piercing bullets and mandate reciprocity across state lines for concealed carry by undermining stricter state and local laws? The bill had been fast-tracked but has now been tabled because, of course, now is not the time. Is there hope? Maybe. Polls show a large majority of Americans support a variety of gun control laws. Perhaps political activism by the majority is the only thing that will work. Flood congressional offices with demands for action. President Trump promised to drain the swamp. The NRA used to have admirable goals, but it's now a prime example of the swamp. Trump wont drain it, but the voters could. It would be very satisfying to see the NRA return to its positive roots. In the meantime, lets all go out and get a musket, join a militia so we can be well regulated and protect the free state. Jews Are The Best Educated Of All Religious Groups Around The World Jews are the best educated of any religious group, averaging 13.4 years of schooling and with a majority going on to higher education, according to a new report by the respected Washington-based Pew Research Center. This is because Jews mainly live in Israel and the US, two countries with high levels of education. At the same time, the worst educated group are Hindus, 98 per cent of whom live in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The levels of education for Muslims, who are more spread out around the world, varies according to whether they reside in countries with strong economies or developing regions. Muslim girls fare worse than boys when it comes to schooling. However, some areas of the world show significant differences in education levels among different religions. For example, Christians who are the second best educated religious group overall are on the whole better educated than Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings are published today in the Pew report, Religion and Education Around World. Christians have 9.3 years of schooling on average, compared to 7.9 for Buddhists, and 5.6 for Muslims and Hindus. According to the report, adults with no religious affiliation spend 8.8 years in school on average. Intriguingly, religious minorities in the US are more likely to have college degrees than the Christian majority: Hindus 96 per cent, Jews 75 per cent, Muslims 54 per cent, Buddhists 53 per cent, Unaffiliated 44 per cent, Christians 36 per cent. In sub-Saharan Africa, Muslims are more than twice as likely as Christians to have no formal schooling, and the gap is widening. The report says: "Some scholars suggest that the source of the Christian-Muslim attainment gap is rooted in the location of Christian missionary activity during colonial times. Missionary-built educational facilities were often located in what became heavily Christian areas rather than predominantly Muslim locales... As a result, Christians gained an educational edge over Muslims that lasted decades." Overall, almost one in five of the world's adults more than 680m people have received no formal schooling. However, with Muslims and Hindus the number missing out on education is around two in five. Nonetheless, the report shows that gains are being made by younger adults of all religious groups. The youngest Hindus in the study (born between 1976 and 1985) spent an average of 7.1 years in school, which is nearly twice as long as the oldest Hindus (born 1936-1955). Muslims were similarly spending an extra three years at school within three generations, with an extra 2.5 years for Buddhists. Meanwhile, over the same period Christians gained just one extra year, and Jews less than half a year. Among religiously-unaffiliated adults, the youngest had gained an extra 2.9 years in school, overtaking Christians for the number of school years within this age group. Similarly, the gender gap is improving over time. Overall a much higher proportion of women had received no formal education, though the gap was shrinking with successive generations. However, there was still a 19 point gap between the youngest men and women among Hindus, with 38 per cent of women having no formal education, compared to 20 per cent of men. Among the youngest Muslims, 33 per cent of women were not going to school, compared to 23 per cent of men. Strikingly however, among Jews the gender gap is reversed when it comes to higher education among the youngest group, with 69 per cent of women having gained degrees compared to 57 per cent of men. Meanwhile, Christians in Europe and North America tend to be much more highly educated than those in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaysian Pastor Raymond Koh Kidnapping: Man Arrested After He Asked For Ransom Money Police in Malaysia have arrested a man in connection with the alleged kidnapping of Pastor Raymond Koh, who went missing on February 13. According to Channel NewsAsia, the 32-year-old man was arrested after he asked Koh's family for ransom money and has been remanded in custody. Koh is believed to have been targeted because of his Christian faith and evangelistic work and the incident has led to fears of increasing pressure on Christians in the Muslim-majority country. Koh's abduction in Petaling Jaya was captured on a video, which is still under investigation. In the CCTV footage, a vehicle, which reportedly carried Koh, was seen turning from a highway. It was surrounded by three black SUVs, and after the vehicles stopped, at least five armed men clad in black got out of the car and a struggle ensued. A petition aimed at spurring on attempts to find him reads: 'Since his abduction, the Malaysian authorities have been very slow to respond to his families requests for a speedy and forthright investigation. 'Moreover, they have not voiced any support for the Christian community in Malaysia or pledged to make sure such attacks stop. At this juncture, many of the religious freedoms that Christians have enjoyed in Malaysia and its multi-cultural atmosphere could come under increasing attack.' Among those to have expressed their support for the pastor is the head of the World Council of Churches, Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. Tveit wrote to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Abdul Razak, saying he was 'gravely concerned' for Koh's safety. He said: 'Pastor Koh is well known in his community for the work he has done to help the most marginalised people, including through setting up and nurturing a community centre to assist single mothers, drug addicts and people living with HIV/Aids. However, he has been accused of proselytising and has received death threats on several occasions.' He said the incident was 'causing deep anxiety and concern for the life and wellbeing of Pastor Koh' and was 'promoting fear and mistrust among the religious minorities'. Polish Archbishop vows to ban priests who back anti-immigrant marches Poland's top Catholic will ban priests who take part in right-wing anti-immigrant marches. Archbishop Wojciech Polak, primate of Poland, said if clerics took a side in the polarising debate he would need to act. 'If I hear... of a protest against refugees where my priests participate, I will have a swift response: Each priest that joins in will be suspended,' he said in an interview with a Roman Catholic weekly magazine. 'There's no other path to take, as I am responsible for my diocese. In situations where (priests) explicitly support one side in a conflict, I need to act immediately.' Immigration is a divisive topic in Poland and recent surveys show most Poles oppose allowing refugees to settle in their country. The Archbishop's comments drew scorn from conservatives on social media but it falls in line with Pope Francis' call on Poland's government to accept more refugees. The highly devout country, where 96 per cent of the population identify as Catholic has, alongside Hungary and the Czech Republic, refused to take part in the EU's resettlement of refugees and declined to accept any Muslim migrants. The state's position has been criticised by church leaders and Polish bishops have called for some selected Syrian refugees to be taken in. But the government's stance is largely popular and earlier this month tens of thousands took part in a controversial prayer event which was seen as endorsing the refusal to allow Muslim refugees in. Held on the feast day marking a Christian victory over the Ottoman Turks in 1571, Catholics from more than 300 churches were bussed to 4,000 locations all along the border. The crowds stood in lines along the border, including on the beaches of the Baltic Sea, as well as in towns and fields. Halina Katarska, 65, said she was praying for the survival of Christianity in Europe as well as giving thanks for the survival of her son in a car crash. 'Islam wants to destroy Europe,' she told the Associated Press. 'They want to turn us away from Christianity.' Rid Church schools of Christianity: Parents' campaign extends to removing crosses, Bibles and clergy A widespread campaign to rid Church schools of Christianity is under way, according to local clergy near where a school was forced to ban a Christian group from taking lessons or assemblies. St John's Church of England Primary School in Tunbridge Wells agreed to block CrossTeach, a Christian charity, after complaints from a number of parents who said children were being told 'men can't marry men' and 'they would not go to a good place when they died' if they did not believe in God. But the orchestrated campaign goes further and demands the removal of crosses, Bibles and even the banning of Church of England clergy from Church of England school assemblies, according to local clergy in Tunbridge Wells. A 13-page briefing document circulated by concerned parents to raise support and seen by Christian Today includes criticism of a 'large cross' at a worship area in the school and specifically demands Jono Chalklin, the youth leader at local St John's Church, not take any more assemblies. The pamphlet, written by the St John's Concerned Parents group, cites Twitter posts by Chalklin unrelated to his work at the school as 'evidence' of his unsuitability. Among them is a retweet of a post quoting lines from William Cowper's hymn, 'There is a fountain filled with blood'. It demands the headteacher remove any links to groups with 'an evangelistic agenda'. Rev Peter Sanlon from the nearby St Mark's Church and Rev Giles Walter of the school's affiliated St John's Church, who has been taking assemblies there for 24 years, accused parents of launching a 'hand-grenade' into a happy environment and said it was they who were 'extremist', not the Christian teaching in the school. Sanlon told Christian Today the parents' 'bullying tactics' would never have been tolerated against a minority group other than Christians and 'have intimidated and victimised other parents and school staff'. He went on to attack the Diocese of Rochester for failing to stand up for the school after the director of education thanked parents for raising concerns around CrossTeach but offered no defence. 'We are witnessing the impotence of England's great institutions,' he told Christian Today. 'This is no playground squabble, it is the car crash of England's great institutions as they are revealed to be unable to uphold their own convictions or heritage. 'The pressure group are complaining about clergy and the Diocese of Rochester Collective Worship programme - but the Church of England has thus far struggled to defend itself publicly. The pressure group are using the governments's PREVENT Strategy and undefined "British Values" to portray mainstream Christianity as extremist. This is precisely what the government was warned would happen. 'This dispute in Tunbridge Wells is highlighting the inability of both our government and the Church of England to effectively preserve freedom of religion and diversity. As the bullies are allowed to have their way, all suffer.' It comes after John Constanti, the interim director of Rochester Diocesan Board of Education, said: 'The Government is clear that schools should ensure that the content of any assembly or act of collective worship should be appropriate for the pupils who are taking part, and that it should allow for pupils who are not part of Christian families to join in. The Diocese of Rochester is committed to this principle and works closely with schools to ensure that religious education and collective worship are engaging, respectful and useful to students in helping them to live in a diverse society we will continue to do this across all of our schools. He added: 'We are grateful to parents for raising this issue with the school. Church of England primary schools seek to offer a broad education to children and young people, while always being respectful of the diversity of pupils' cultures and beliefs.' Walter, who leads the primary school's linked church, also hit back at the parents saying he had never been asked to 'withdraw, or apologise for, anything' he had said or done at the school until now. 'The behaviour of this small group of parents has hurled a hand grenade into a previously happy and harmonious environment. They seem determined to drive mainstream Christian teaching out of our church school: and it is they and not ourselves who should be charged with extremism and non-inclusiveness,' he said in a statement to Kent Live. The national director of CrossTeach, Wayne Harris, agreed the issue was wider than just the charity's teaching and said the parents' complaints relate to comments made by other people not involved with CrossTeach. He told Christian Today the campaign was part of a wider campaign against Christianity rather than just his charity. 'Some of the things that have been mentioned have all been attributed to us but they do not all come from activities we have done,' he said. 'They have bunched them all together.' Christian Today has contacted the St John's Concerned Parents group for comment. Russian poet faces criminal charges for calling atheists 'despicable' in alleged hate-speech A Russian poet is facing criminal prosecution for hate speech after calling atheists 'despicable' in a poem published online, and inciting violence against the group. Amateur poet Maksim Drozdov, of Russia's southern Krasnodar Region, said he hoped for a return to the Holy Inquisition the medieval Catholic practice associated with the torture of heretics in poems published on social media in May, that have since been removed. Drozdov's defence lawyer Aleksy Avanesyan said Drozdov, who was charged earlier this month, faces charges under article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code, which prohibits disseminating hatred, strife or insulting the dignity of representatives of any social group, according to Newsline. In a statement on Wednesday, the regional directorate of the Investigative Committee Russia's main federal investigating authority said: 'According to investigators, in May this year the man posted a poem on a social-media network that was extreme in its content. 'Linguistic research concluded that the published text contained some negative statements about a group of citizens who are united in their attitude to religion, and it calls for hostile action towards these citizens.' Drozdov had told investigators that his poem was not intended as an insult to anyone, only as a work of satire, according to Avanesyan. Terror can't keep Egypt's Christians from worship Devastating terror attacks have failed to deter Egyptian Christians from gathering for worship, according to a Christian TV network. Hundreds of Christians met for a two-day worship festival within 15 miles of the terror attack that claimed the lives of 28 Christians in May. The Days of Harvest event at Maghagha in the Minya governorate was one of at least six large-scale conferences that have drawn Christians for worship and teaching and have been screened live by satellite TV network SAT-7. All the festivals have taken place since the summer, when security threats forced churches to cancel any large meetings offsite. It was from Maghagha that a convoy of vehicles, carrying Coptic Orthodox families, was travelling to a nearby monastery on May 25. Around 10 masked gunmen fired on the convoy and then shot victims at close range. Three major conferences have been held in different towns in the volatile Minya area. The Show Me Your Glory ll conference on September 29 united all of Egypt's evangelical denominations and was held in Deir Abou Hinnis in the south. Two Days of Harvest conferences, organised by the influential Kasr El Dobara Evangelical Church (KDEC) in Cairo, were held in Etsa and Maghagha. Rachel Fadipe of SAT-7 UK said: 'Crucially, these festivals have been organised after detailed consultations and arrangements with Egypt's Interior Ministry and security forces. Nevertheless, Egyptian Christians' willingness to travel after a wave of terrorism since last December shows their depth of faith and refusal to surrender to fear.' As well as the gatherings in the south of the country, large festivals have also been held in September at Wadi Natroun, 100 km north of Cairo. The One Thing prayer festival gathered several thousand young people, while the Freedom Meeting conference gathered members of Egypt's Brethren congregations. At the end of October, Count it Right, a family festival that can attract as many as 10,000 people, will be held at the same venue and transmitted by SAT-7. The Greek Orthodox Church has a prayer for gender transition despite opposing new trans laws The Greek Orthodox Church has an official prayer devoted for gender reassignment despite its vociferous opposition to trans equality laws. The reading published in the 1980s entitled 'A Prayer at the Giving of a New Name Upon Modification of Gender' asks God's blessing on the person undergoing transition and says,'for the biological alteration of nature is a wondrous work of Your all-powerful right hand and Your inscrutable will'. It is likely to cause embarrassment to the current leadership who have been outspoken in their opposition to Greece's new legislation to allow people to legally change their gender on all official documents. Greek Orthodox leaders have urged churches to ring funeral bells every day to mourn the new policies. Clergy have threatened excommunication in light of the laws and the Bishop of Piraeus said: 'Anyone who votes for the law need not set foot in the Greek Orthodox Church again,' according to the Pappas Post. But the prayer was written by the highly respected Metropolitan Timotheos, who served in the 1980s as Metropolitan of Nea Ionia and Philadelphia, a populous Athenian district. It is published in the prayer book alongside hundreds of others to mark a variety of occasions. An English translation of the prayer reads: All-good and greatly compassionate Lord, above [all conceptions of] being and divinity, Who alone exists eternally and without change: "He who is" unto the ages; Whose glory is incomprehensible and Whose mercy is immeasurable; Who created the entire human race to dwell over the entire face of the earth; and Who honored the human being with Your image, newly shaped in form and beauty from a rational soul and dignified body; Who made male and female and gave to each its own appearance and substance; Who knows the weakness of our nature and knows the name and age of each; Who gives each a name to be distinct, distinguished in their own appropriate gender, personality and worth. Master, Yourself acquiring our infirm and impoverished blend [of soul and body] in Your saving dispensation, accept at this time Your servant (new name, if applicable) as You accepted Peter the first Chief [of the Apostles], formerly Cephas, son of Iona, to whom You gave the keys to the Kingdom of the Heavens; [as You accepted] Paul the Renown, formerly Saul, whom You showed to be the Herald of the Gospel by a revelation and a chosen vessel. Likewise, send down upon [Your servant] Your heavenly grace upon undergoing the organic modification of gender, for the biological alteration of nature is a wondrous work of Your all-powerful right hand and Your inscrutable will, and amazed by this new and astounding work, we confess Your grace, we herald Your mercy and, declaring Your magnificence, we glorify Your indescribable love for humanity. Grace Your servant (name) in Your sanctification and make HIM (or "HER") worthy to keep HIS (or "HER") own vessel without stain and blameless, likewise guarding the pledge of baptism inviolate and undefiled, and as a child of light, advancing in Your precepts and completing HIS (or "HER") remaining years, ascribing glory to You all the days of HIS (or HER) life. By the intercessions of Your All-pure Mother, the radiant Archangels, the Honourable Forerunner and Baptist John; the holy glorious and all-famed Apostles, and all Your saints. Amen. WeChat begins censoring users ahead of China's National Party Congress Censorship isn't new in China. But they are not shy about adding some more. It seems that there will be a lot of news regarding censorship that will be coming out of China in the next days. According to WeChat expert Matthew Brennan, the app, which is the country's top messaging app with 800 million registered users, has prohibited its users from editing their usernames, profile photos or taglines until the end of the month. From an outside perspective, it may seem like nothing, but political experts have noted that this is a move to prevent the spread of progressive political ideas and opinions that Beijing would prefer to be subtly quelled through user profile changes and updates on their aliases. In the Chinese progressive political landscape, this is a common form of expression that can get across even beyond a single chat log. China's National Congress, a large and influential political summit that happens every half a decade, will happen this week and this will also be the time when the government's censors will be on high alert especially on social media. This is not the only form of censorship being implemented on WeChat. The company has set up a long-standing self-policing measure on its users that blocks certain sensitive words in response to the call of the Chinese government for the app to take responsibility for user content. Being the popular channel for dissidents and activists, WeChat will be impacted once again with the state-mandated social media lockdown. It can be remembered that the app already encountered several service interruptions last month. This was after the government detected the app's heavy traffic after the death of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who died of liver cancer after the government denied his request to travel abroad to seek treatment. Even Airbnb services will be affected. In a statement to Reuters regarding the clampdown, the company said, "Due to external circumstances, homes in certain areas in Beijing are unavailable through October 31." These disruptions are just the tip of the iceberg. Recently, Apple was forced to remove its VPN service from its App Store. There is also the long-term block placed on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other Western internet services. Why I'd ban Christianity from school assemblies So, a Muslim and an atheist walk into a church. "Who's taking the service today?" asks the Muslim. "I think it's my turn," says the atheist. "You did it last week." If that happened in a church, we'd probably be outraged not because we have anything against either Muslims or atheists, but because it wouldn't be appropriate for someone of a different faith, or of no faith at all, to conduct a service of Christian worship. But all over the country, every day, that's exactly what's happening. The 1988 Education Reform Act requires an act of worship in schools which is "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character". There are opt-outs, in that worship can reflect the "family backgrounds" of the pupils and not every act of worship has to be Christian; but legally, you have to worship. At its worst, this means that teachers with no faith of their own might have to conduct a service in the name of a God in whom they don't believe, with a congregation of similar non-believers who are all being encouraged to sing lustily, "O Jesus, I have promised". It's against this background that the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has got himself into a spot of media bother. He's the head of education for the Church of England, and he says that compulsory participation in religious worship is a relic of the 1940s (it was part of the groundbreaking 1944 Education Act) and should be dropped in favour of a time of "spiritual reflection". His comments came after the National Governors' Association, which represents more than 300,000 school governors in England, also called for the requirement to be scrapped for all non-religious schools. Say that religious assemblies are scrapped. Is this just another nail in the coffin of Christian Britain? Some would certainly say so. Adults who grew up singing "All things bright and beautiful" and "Morning has broken", and who remember the Lord's Prayer in the traditional version might regret the fact that succeeding generations won't. There's a loss of continuity; another few words of our shared vocabulary have dropped into history's dustbin. Society, too, will become marginally less "Christian". There'll be even less knowledge of the foundational Gospel stories than there is now, and so the argument runs it'll be even harder to convert people. The really apocalyptic scenario, of course, is that we descend into a sort of pagan barbarism again. Without their daily dose of corrective morality, children will become feral or even worse, according to a spokesman from Christian Concern: not really British. (Andrew Marsh referred in an interview on Voice of Russia to calls from politicians to beef up teaching on British values after the Birmingham schools scandal and said: "It's striking we have that on the one hand and then have calls to remove the act of common worship that helps young people understand what has given rise to British values and what undergirds them.") Now, in practice, the scenario on the ground doesn't usually justify extreme rhetoric from either side. Certainly, Church schools can produce daily worship with integrity, as long as they remember that a good number of those they are asking to sing the aforesaid "O Jesus, I have promised" will have done no such thing. In fact, even in non-Church schools, assemblies are often sensitive and thoughtful and many have taken the pragmatic decision to ignore the letter of the law and deal with the fallout if there is any. Nevertheless, there are some points of principle at stake. * Are we really happy that non-Christians conduct Christian worship, even if it's only "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character"? * Do we fundamentally believe that it's up to the state to mandate the formation of children as Christians? * Do we believe that schools are about religion, or about education? * Is our resistance to dropping religious assemblies really about fear of losing Christianity's historic advantage in the spirituality stakes? * If so, shouldn't we be a bit ashamed of ourselves? Let's be clear: I'm all for religious education. This Government has been roundly criticised by the Religious Education Council for cutting support to RE teachers and MPs have come out in its defence. But the place for religion in schools is the classroom, not the assembly hall. I still recall an old head-teacher who told me that religious assemblies should be dropped, long before the idea gained the sort of traction it has now. "It inoculates children against religion for life," he said. So instead of Churches fighting tooth and nail to retain a privilege they don't need and shouldn't want, I'd love to see them just for a change in the vanguard of calls for its abolition. I'm backing the bishop. Rev Mark Woods is a freelance writer and Baptist minister. In September of 2001, Congress approved the Authorization for Use of Military Force to deploy armed forces to use necessary and appropriate force against those behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Sixteen years later, that same document is still being used to justify continuing military action in the Middle East and elsewhere. Article I of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress alone the power to declare war. Accordingly, Congress must assert its war powers by requiring a new AUMF to end a blank check that has allowed three presidents to fight whenever and wherever. Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon is among four congressmen two Republicans and two Democrats who recently introduced a new AUMF in the House. Seeing how the war on terror has evolved in a way that hardly resembles its 2001 form, a new, specific authorization would rein in and refocus a war that has far exceeded its declared intent. A 2016 Congressional Research Office report indicated administrations had cited the 2001 AUMF on 37 occasions under the Bush and Obama administrations in connection to military actions in 14 countries on three continents. Drone strikes carried out in East Africa under President Obama, for instance, are, at best, tangentially related to the Sept. 11 attacks despite being justified under the same order. The Department of Justice has also invoked it to defend warrantless surveillance, a program weve long opposed as being illegal and in violation of Americans civil rights. Bacon, a retired Air Force general, hit the nail on the head when he said: Article I of the Constitution bestows on Congress the authority to declare war and Congress needs to do its job. Our military must know it has the support of the American citizens reflected by Congress debating and voting on the use of lethal military force. Momentum to clarify and specify who and what the U.S. military is combating is promising. A House committee approved an amendment this summer to wind down the existing authorization in hopes of approving an update, though that measure later died. Now, Bacon and the bipartisan coalition want to harness that energy in pursuit of a belated resolution. Further buoying the effort, the Trump White House told Congress that it isnt specifically seeking a new AUMF but had no opposition to the passage of one, according to The Hill. Defense Secretary James Mattis also indicated support for a new authorization to the House Armed Services Committee. Given the high costs, thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, of the ongoing war on terror, Americans deserve to know the precise scope of this war. Congress, in turn, must capitalize on this newfound drive to reclaim its atrophied war powers and pass an updated Authorization for Use of Military Force that specifically spells out who and why Americans troops are fighting. Witness of Pastor Raymond Koh's kidnapping says snatch resembled a 'police operation' A witness testifying to an inquiry into the disappearance of Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh described his February kidnapping as resembling a 'police operation'. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) today began a publicly inquiry regarding the disappearance of pastor Raymond Koh, who has now been missing for more than eight months. A witness to Koh's kidnapping, Roeshan Celestine Gomez, told the inquiry that an investigating police officer had likened the abduction to a police operation, according to The Malay Mail Online. 'He told me not to worry. In a casual conversation he told me based on how I described the incident, it looked like a police operation because it was done very quickly and in broad daylight,' said Gomez, a 25-year-old law student. 'He also asked his colleague to check if there was any police operation that day and said he would get back to me.' Commission chair Datuk Mah Weng Kwai interrupted to say that Gomez's statement would be regarded as 'hearsay' until it could be confirmed by the police officer in question. Gomez said that he and a female friend had witnessed the dramatic kidnapping of Koh from his car on February 13, on operation that involved seven vehicles and at least 15 men and was captured on video. Gomez said he and his friend were driving when they first saw three black vehicles surrounding a silver car on SS4 Petaling Jaya road. The assailants were allegedly dressed in black, with black ski-masks, in outfits resembling a US SWAT team. He then witnessed a struggle between one of the men and the silver car's driver, which Gomez's companion attempted to film on her phone before in Indian man appeared before them and gestured for her to stop. Gomez said he then reversed his car while still being followed by the Indian man. The black vehicles then drove away. 'After that I called the police to make them aware of what just happened. The officer I spoke to asked me to head to Kelana Jaya Police Station to lodge my report. Two hours later, I was brought to see the investigating officer,' Gomez said. The video footage of the swift, 40-second abduction appears to show an uninvolved car being ushered away from the scene of the crime. He also detailed a disturbing incident in June just days before he was due to attend an identity parade regarding the kidnapping at Petaling Jaya police headquarters. Gomez said: 'I was out with my friend at Kota Damansara and someone broke my rear left car window and stole a laptop bag. In the bag were copies of my IC, some work notes and a personal statement I prepared for SUHAKAM. 'After going for the identity parade on July 6 and speaking to SUHAKAM on July 17, someone left that same bag in front of my house's gate. When I first saw it I was afraid it was a bomb. When I opened it I saw that they left everything there except for a plastic file.' One man is in custody in connection with Koh's kidnapping, accused of approaching his family for a ransom. It is unclear, however, whether he was involved. In June, police said they had found an unexpected link during an operation against a smuggling syndicate photographs of Koh's house and his two vehicles were found at the home of a suspect killed during a shootout. Meanwhile, a group comprising 48 civil society organisations, Citizen Action Group On Enforced Disappearance (CAGED) has been formed to put pressure on the government over the disappearance cases. Its spokesmen have been warned by police after accusing them of complicity in the kidnappings. Thomas Fann told the Guardian: 'We say that there is a high probability there have been enforced disappearances, which means that the state may be directly or indirectly involved. 'We have a reason to believe that there is a relationship because they are all faith-based workers.' The police have denied the suggestion. The SUHAKAM inquiry is also investigating the disappearances of another pastor, Joshua Hilmy, his wife Ruth Sitepu and social activist Amri Che Mat. The past few weeks have witnessed plenty of immigration activity among Canadas Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), as provinces across the country continue to welcome applications from a wide range of workers, graduates, and entrepreneurs. The PNPs allow Canadian provinces and territories to nominate individuals for permanent immigration. Some PNP streams, known as enhanced streams, are aligned with the federal Express Entry selection system. An enhanced nomination results in the applicant receiving 600 additional points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) and an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence at a subsequent draw from the pool. Streams that are separate from Express Entry are known as base streams. These streams may be of particular interest to individuals who may not currently be eligible to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry, though in many cases Express Entry candidates may also their immigration goals through a base PNP stream. Under Canadas Immigration Levels Plan for 2017, the government has set a target to bring in up to 54,000 new permanent residents through the PNPs this year alone. The governments new Immigration Levels Plan is set to be unveiled within the next two weeks; this upcoming plan may provide even more room for provinces to nominate people for immigration to Canada. [metaslider id=9682] Saskatchewan Since the previous CICNews PNP round-up, published mid-July, the province of Saskatchewan has made some notable updates to its skilled worker sub-categories, in doing so opening up those options to more potential applicants. Two popular sub-categories of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), namely the International Skilled Worker Express Entry and International Skilled Worker Occupations In-Demand sub-categories, allow eligible individuals to apply without needing a job offer if they have work experience in an in-demand occupation. In late July this list was expanded to include more than 40 occupations. At the same time, the Express Entry sub-category opened to receive 600 new applications. This intake was filled quickly, as is often the case. Soon afterward, on August 9, the Occupations In-Demand sub-category reopened to receive 1,200 new applications. This intake was filled within a day. Later in August, Saskatchewan increased its annual application intake threshold for the Express Entry sub-category from 1,700 to 2,600, with a more marginal increase of 300 in the allocation for the (non-Express Entry-aligned) Occupations In-Demand sub-category. These increases may point to further intakes under both or either of these SINP sub-categories before the end of 2017, though it should be noted that Saskatchewan has not typically given prior warning of intake periods for these first-come, first-served sub-categories. Nova Scotia Another popular Express Entry-aligned PNP option is the Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry (NSDEE) stream, part of the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP). Like the Saskatchewan sub-category, NSDEE has an eligible occupations list and operates on a first-come, first-served basis. A job offer is not required, but potential applicants must have an active Express Entry profile and satisfy other criteria. On October 11, Nova Scotia opened this stream for up to 300 new applications. The intake was filled later the same day. Nova Scotia has stated that NSDEE is set to reopen intermittently as the province aims to welcome newcomers who can settle quickly into the labour market. British Columbia (BC) August and September were busy months in BC, with more than 2,000 invitations to apply to the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) issued to a range of workers, graduates, and entrepreneurs within those two months. BC has also continued to conduct tech-only draws, an initiative started earlier this year in line with the new BC PNP Tech Pilot. The BC PNP is divided into many categories, some of which are aligned with the federal Express Entry system. Manitoba Manitoba has continued to invite skilled workers and business people to apply for provincial nomination under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP). On August 15, a total of 443 skilled worker candidates were invited to apply, with a further 349 invited following a draw that took place on September 26. The majority of these invited candidates were invited under the Skilled Worker in Manitoba category, though a substantial minority were in the Skilled Worker Overseas category. These MPNP skilled worker immigration categories may offer a pathway to Canadian permanent residence to individuals who may not be eligible to enter the Express Entry pool, though Express Entry candidates may also explore their options through these base PNP categories. Since July, three draws have also been conducted under the Manitoba Business Stream (MPNP-B), with a total of 98 business candidates invited to apply to the MPNP. Unlike many other business-focused PNP streams, the MPNP-B offers a straightforward pathway to permanent residence no period on temporary status is required, and therefore the acquisition of permanent residence is not contingent on the ongoing success of the business. New Brunswick Last month, New Brunswicks enhanced stream, known as the Express Entry Labour Market Stream (EELMS), began accepting applications for a temporary period from eligible candidates in the pool who had work experience in an eligible occupation and had attended an information session hosted by the immigration authorities of New Brunswick. The EELMS functions on an Expression of Interest (EOI) basis, whereby eligible candidates interested in settling in New Brunswick must first enter a pool of candidates. Authorities from the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) then invite the highest-ranked candidates to apply for an enhanced provincial nomination. Over time, the EELMS has proven to be a highly dynamic stream, one that has been tweaked by NBPNP authorities in order to respond to local needs. As such, it is a stream worth monitoring for candidates in the Express Entry pool, as it is unknown how the EELMS may develop and which candidates it may attract. Ontario There have been a few developments within the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) since mid-July. Following a surge in applications, Ontario placed a hold on intake for the Express Entry-aligned Human Capital Priorities stream in late July. This followed innovate strategies taken by immigration authorities in Ontario, among them a strategy whereby the OINP searched for candidates in the Express Entry pool with experience in certain Information and Communications Technology (ICT) occupations. These candidates were prioritized for selection, even if they scored less than 400 CRS points. Normally, Ontario only invites candidates with 400 or more CRS points under this stream. The Human Capital Priorities stream which may reopen its intake at any time is a passive stream, whereby candidates in the Express Entry pool may be invited by the OINP to apply for a nomination. In the meantime, individuals interested in immigrating to Ontario may still be able to do so through one of the federal programs, such as those managed under Express Entry. Other OINP updates include the launch in August of a pilot, not aligned with Express Entry, for workers in high-demand construction and agriculture occupations with a job offer in Ontario. In September, the province began accepting online applications under its Corporate Stream, and in October online applications were also accepted under the International Masters Graduate and PhD Graduate streams. Alberta At the time of writing, Alberta has issued 4,300 provincial nomination certificates so far in 2017 under the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP). Around 1,150 of these nominations have been issued over the past three months, showing the ongoing efforts of AINP staff to welcome newcomers, as well as existing temporary residents, as new permanent residents. Though no AINP categories are currently with Express Entry, individuals with a nomination certificate may apply to the government of Canada for permanent resident status. The AINP consists of three streams: The Strategic Recruitment Stream is for tradespersons, engineers, and post-graduate workers. The Employer-Driven Stream comprises of three categories for skilled workers, international graduates, and semi-skilled workers. The Self-Employed Farmer Stream is a way for individuals to purchase and develop a farm in Alberta. To find out if you are eligible for immigration to Canada, please fill out a free online assessment today. 2017 CICnews All Rights Reserved The latest Express Entry draw for immigration to Canada has taken place, with 2,757 candidates in the pool invited to apply on October 18. The number of Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points required in order for a candidate to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) on this occasion was 436, down from the 438 required in the previous draw, which took place on October 4. Invited candidates now have 90 days to submit a complete application for Canadian permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Accompanying family members, including a spouse or common-law partner, as well as dependent children, may also come to Canada along with the principal applicant. The CRS cut-off threshold has been around the mid-430s for the past six draws, though over this time there has been a slight dip in the number of ITAs issued per draw, compared to the size of draws that took place earlier in the year. The record low threshold of any draw so far was 413 on May 31 of this year, right before IRCC made improvements to the CRS that took effect on June 6. These changes introduced new additional points factors for candidates with a sibling in Canada, while candidates with French ability also benefited from additional points. The total number of ITAs issued so far in 2017 now stands at 74,978, with 24 draws having taken place over this period. This total more than doubles the 28,409 ITAs issued over the first 24 draws of 2016, and also surpasses the total number of candidates invited in all of 2016. Scenarios The following hypothetical scenarios reflect the diversity of candidates who receive ITAs under the Express Entry system. Lou is 35. He has a masters degree, an initial advanced proficiency in English, and has been working as an electrical engineer for four years. He has never worked or studied in Canada. His CRS of 436 means that he has an ITA following the October 18 draw. Lynn is 30, has a bachelors degree, and an advanced English language proficiency. She has been working for five years as a computer programmer but has never worked or studied in Canada. Her CRS of 436 means that she can now submit an application for permanent residence. Shaun is 32, has bachelors degree, and has been working as a financial manager for three years. He wrote his IELTS and scored an 8 in each category. Shaun has never worked or studied in Canada, but does have a sister who is Canadian permanent resident living in Ontario. His CRS score of 437 would be sufficient to secure on ITA in the latest draw. Serena is a 30-year-old married woman with three years of work experience in accounting. Both she and her spouse have completed a bachelors degree and advanced English, and neither partner has ever worked or studied in Canada. Her CRS score of 438 means that they can look forward to applying for permanent residence. IRCC continues to invite thousands of candidates in the pool to apply for permanent residence on a regular basis, as the latest draw shows. We are likely to find out soon just how many newcomers to Canada may arrive through Express Entry next year once the government unveils its new Immigration Levels Plan, which it scheduled to do within the next two weeks. The Minister of Immigration stated earlier this year stated that the current overall target of 300,000 new immigrants annually will form the baseline target over the coming years. A higher target for Express Entry programs would result in either larger or more frequent draws, or both, thereby contributing to the possibility of decreased CRS thresholds over time, says Attorney David Cohen. For individuals and families around the world who wish to make Canada their new home, it is imperative to assess your full options, beginning with evaluating your eligibility to enter the Express Entry pool. The CRS Calculator The CRS Calculator allows you to find out what your score would be under the CRS. To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form. Candidates who receive an ITA and want to learn more about the next steps may complete this short form. 2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved New York seems to be following in the footsteps of Los Angeles, where municipal politics has long met with collective uninterest. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who enjoys a large polling lead in his November reelection bid, took a vacation prior to his late August debate with Sal Albanese, a former city councilman little known to most New Yorkers. Earlier this year, when de Blasio feared that his mishandling of the citys homeless problems and the multiple city, state, and federal investigations into his ethics violations might pose a threat, he concocted a new slogan for his 2017 campaign: One city for all New Yorkers, a pointed contrast with his winning 2013 message decrying New Yorks Tale of Two Cities. He also announced that he would pay for the legal costs involved in his numerous mayoral shenanigans. But after federal attorney Preet Bharara decided against prosecuting him for trading campaign money for influence, de Blasio dropped his contrived slogan about unity, while also announcing that hed changed his mindcity funds would be used to cover his multimillion-dollar legal costs, after all. A man who often naps after his morning workouts, de Blasio has dropped the pretense of working hard as mayor. Instead, he works hard at opposing President Donald Trump, even journeying to Berlin to join street demonstrators against the G-20 summitrather than sticking around to console the family of NYPD officer Miosotis Familia, assassinated in her squad car that same week. A similar mayoral dynamic can be seen in Los Angeles, where Democrat Eric Garcetti, running for reelection this year on an anti-Trump, pro-sanctuary-cities platform, won with a record 81 percent of the vote. But running virtually unopposed against a slate of also-rans, Garcetti garnered barely 330,000 votes in a city of almost 4 million people. That amounts to just 20 percent of registered votersthough that didnt beat the record-low of 17.9 percent achieved by previous L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in his 2009 reelection victory. Garcettis easy victory left him with a campaign war chest amounting to $3 millionmoney that will serve him well should he try, in 2018, to succeed 84-year-old Dianne Feinstein in the Senate. Its not clear yet whether Feinstein will retire, but even if she does, L.A. mayors, no matter how popular, have never been able to win statewide office. The civic indifference that makes such incumbent dominance possible in both cities is driven by the same source: the sharp decline of middle-class voters for whom the city is a matter of civic responsibility, on the one hand, and the mounting power of public-sector interest groups, for whom the city is a matter of financial interest, on the other. By de Blasios good fortune, these same public-sector interest groups, particularly the teachers unions, will play a major role at the 2020 Democratic convention. In his first term, de Blasio invested his limited energies in styling himself as a leading light of the partys progressive wing. He was slow to endorse the insufficiently progressive Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, though hed served as her campaign manager in her successful 2000 Senate run. De Blasio tried to leverage the popularity of Thomas Pikettys much-noted book on capitalism and income inequality, but he was humiliated when none of the Democratic Party presidential candidates showed up at his forum on the growing class divide. Undeterred, de Blasio will likely spend much of his second term trying to fashion himself into a plausible presidential candidate. His campaign will be initially underwritten by several million dollars in public funds distributed by the citys Campaign Finance Board (created to ensure that monied interests dont dominate city politics). The 56-year-old de Blasio can argue that hes a more attractive candidate for millennial voters than Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who will be 71, or Bernie Sanders, who will be 78, come 2020. He can also tout his progressive bona fides by pointing to, among other policies, his institution of universal pre-K schooling in New York. But before he can focus on events outside the five boroughs, de Blasio will turn his attention to undermining New York governor Andrew Cuomo, his rival for state and national power. De Blasio has been quietly backing Sex in the City star Cynthia Nixon, who seems to be preparing a challenge in 2018, when Cuomo will be seeking a third term. Nixon, who has lobbied for more education funding, is an identity-politics triple threat: a gay female with celebrity status who will run to Cuomos left. Even if she loses, she could tarnish the governor, thus enhancing de Blasios prospects. What comes of de Blasios possible presidential run in 2020 is contingent, of course, on what happens over the next two years. Will his ethical failures come back to haunt him? Emails, obtained through a records request, show [Jim] Capalinos stable of lobbyists were so entrenched in the minutiae of de Blasios first term, they formed an unofficial, additional layer of governmentsometimes instructing staffers how to do their jobsall while advancing the interests of their paying clients, Politico reported in August. The de Blasio ethics drama hasnt seen its last act. Meantime, what becomes of President Trump? Will Hillary Clinton try to run again? Will any Democrat emerge from the heartland? How strong is Californias first-term senator, Kamala Harris? Harris, of Indian and Jamaican descent, is already looking to 2020. De Blasio has his own identity-politics card to play: his wife, Chirlane McCray, is African-American, allowing de Blasio to present himself as the candidate who closes the racial gap. Like Garcetti, de Blasio labors under a historical shadow: no New York mayor has moved on to higher office since the mid-nineteenth century. But no New York mayor has ever had a target quite like Donald Trump. Illustration by Arnold Roth The advertising landscape is undergoing its most sweeping transformation in years. Apple just released the new version of Safari, which prioritizes user privacy; an updated version of Googles Chrome, with a new ad filter, comes out in January; and new rules on data protection in the European Union take effect in May. These changes will give individuals more control over their data and rein in annoying and intrusive advertising. Digital user data has become the lifeblood of modern advertising. Ads are increasingly targeted based on behavioral data, rather than on demographics. This is why nearly all of digital advertising revenue growth now goes to platforms like Google and Facebook: Those platforms are able to collect unimaginable amounts of data on billions of users and to deliver ads directly to them. ICYMI: Q&A: Joe Hagan on his explosive biography of Rolling Stones Publisher Jann Wenner But the tradeoffs for such precision in ad delivery have led to a chaotic, and potentially catastrophic, landscape for publishers who rely on ad dollars. More than 28 percent of US internet users have installed ad blockers. This has been the worst year since 2000 for WPP, the worlds largest ad agency, after, earlier this year, two of the biggest ad spenders in the world, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, decided to slash ad spending in part because of concerns around the transparency and performance of hyper-targeted ads served by algorithms. The ad industry and the publishers that depend on it continue to struggle, with the decline of print ads and now the loss of faith in digital advertising. While some publishers are uneasy about the coming months, they ought to welcome the wake-up call. Heres what publishers can expect: Sign up for CJR 's daily email The platforms Apples Safari update, released last month across desktop and mobile, prioritizes user privacy and experience over ad dollars. This is an easy move for Apple to make, considering advertising is a negligible revenue source for the company. The Safari update contains two features relevant to publishers: Autoplay Blocking, which allows users to block autoplay video, including ads (on iOS, video is only blocked if it isnt muted), and Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which reduces cookies used for cross-site user tracking. Many publishers have become aggressive in their use of trackers as they try to compete with the data collection capacity of Facebook and Google for advertising dollars. Read more: What iOS 11 means for news publishers and readers Google is tackling the rise of ad blockers by putting out a filter for Chrome, the most popular browser in the US, in 2018. Google has been hit hard by ad blockers because it serves ads across sites on the open web, and has had to pay to get its ads through the most popular blocker, AdBlock Plus. Google is a founding member of the Coalition for Better Ads, and released guidelines for what types of ads are acceptable on Chrome. In Googles first ad experience report, the LA Times was one of dozens of publishers listed as failing, primarily for use of pop-up ads, while others like The Salt Lake Tribune and Smithsonian got warnings. This puts the burden on publishers to overhaul their ad systems while skirting a major issue users have with how Google serves ads: a lack of privacy. For users who still want to continue using ad blockers while visiting a publishers site, Google has a program in place for publishers called funding choices that allows users to do sofor a priceand takes a cut of what goes to the publisher. Google has responded to Apples plans by introducing a Google Analytics cookie so that AdWords campaigns on Safari will not be affected by the browsers data purge. Google will also end autoplay video in Chrome in January, unless the video is pre-muted or a user has previously expressed an interest in the type of content on the site, whatever that means. The GDPR Next May, the European Union will begin to enforce the General Data Protection Regulation, the most sweeping data protection legislation in decades. It will require both publishers and platforms to obtain consent from users in the EU to have their data collected, and to know exactly what is collected, and how it will be used. Readers will have to be presented with a clear option to explicitly opt in, and to easily opt out if they change their minds. While some publishers are concerned this will affect their bottom lines, it could work out in their favor. For example, if platform companies are less able to aggressively collect data, this could level the playing fieldslightlybetween platforms and publishers competing for advertisers. While it will take effort to figure out how to convince readers to consent to data collection, it will be easier for quality publishers who have invested in a relationship with readers, like the subscription-supported Financial Times. That consent, in turn, could motivate publishers to reduce their dependence on shady trackers, and brands to place ads on their sites. ICYMI: The story behind one of the best reported pieces of the year The publishers News publishers are overdue for a radical rethinking of the future of advertising and publishing. And with all of the upcoming changes, it makes sense to do so now. Some publishers are seeking new sources of revenue, while others are taking steps to improve the advertising itself: Fusion recently promised to give engaging ads bonus impressions. One of the most significant efforts yet on the part of publishers to address trust with advertisers is a new ad exchange created by Digital Content Next, the leading trade association for digital publishers. While it doesnt directly address user targeting and tracking issues, TrustX cuts out platforms like Facebook and Google as middlemen. According to the site, the trust between marketers, publishers, and consumers has deteriorated. (See, for example, the latest controversy around Russian ad spending on Facebook leading up to the election, concerns about ads placed next to terrorist and hate content on YouTube, and mismeasurement of ad performance on both platforms.) It promises to bring an unprecedented level of transparency, by showing all participating marketers and publishers what ads are on the exchange, and monetizing only ads seen by humans. Even the Association of National Advertisers endorsed the exchange because, according the the groups CEO, Trust, safety, and transparency have dominated the digital media conversation in recent years. There is no guarantee that TrustX, Fusions bonus impressions, or any other effort will work, but its a good sign that publishers are beginning to take things into their own hands. As user trust erodes toward those data-hungry platforms, so too will trust toward journalists for participating in their ad ecosystems. ICYMI: She identified herself as a reporter. He then walked behind her and punched her Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Nushin Rashidian is the research lead on the Platforms and Publishers project at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. She also teaches at the Columbia Journalism School. @nushinrashidian AUSTIN JONATZKE of Stevensville, Michigan, didnt live a long life, but his family wants you to know how meaningful it was. He adored his redheaded nieces and nephew. He fished, camped, and cheered for the Dallas Cowboys. He had a kind heart. His family also wants you to know that when he died at age 24 on July 2, 2017, it wasnt for vague reasonsan unspecified illness or accident. They didnt say he passed away suddenly, and leave it at that. Austin died, as they wrote in his obituary, when he lost a courageous battle with heroin addiction. During the last seven years of Austins life he struggle[d] and fought hard to overcome his substance abuse disorder. Austin was blessed to have the love and support of his family and many caring individuals to stand and fight with him during his battle. Austin attended Families Against Narcotics, where he shared his personal battle with opioids, in hopes to inform the community on the dangers of drug addiction and to offer support, acceptance and encouragement to all who have been affected by this terrible disease. ICYMI: The story behind one of the best reported pieces of the year Stories about the opioid crisis arent just being told in expansive features and smartly reported articles. Theyre being told in the obituaries. They carry the most weight across the huge swaths of the country that are near-news deserts, like southwest Michigan, where the Jonatzkes live. In these places, there arent any deeply reported local stories about heroin use. But there are obituaries. Lots of them. Obituaries for people who arent public figures are written by family members and distributed on memorial sites, funeral home webpages, celebration of life programs, crowdfunding sites that raise money to support the deceaseds family, and whatever community papers remain. When STAT News put together a snapshot of a years worth of obituaries for people who suffered addictionone for each of the estimated 636 Americans who die of an opioid-related overdose each weekit relied on Legacy.com. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project These obituaries track the devastating human cost of a modern-day plague, challenge the stigma of addiction, and build a case for better public policy and social services. In some cases, the person who died specifically requested that their story be told honestly. Like the Jonatzkes, the families of the 52 people featured at STAT News felt it was important to use the obituary as a place for advocacy. The disease of addiction thrives in darkness and must be defeated in the light, read the obit for a 22-year-old Pennsylvania woman. There was a direct plea in the obituary for 38-year-old man, also from Pennsylvania: In honor of Dans memory, please contact your local legislators to advocate for an increase of funding for addiction and mental health research and treatment. The reason I want to tell the story is, well, number one, I dont want Austin to be forgotten, I dont want his struggle to be forgotten, and on top of that, I dont want his struggle to be all people know of him, said Jill Jonatzke, one of Austins sisters. Austin is part of my extended family, my brothers brother-in-law. Ive seen up-close how well-loved he was, and how his struggle has made advocates out of his family members. Amy Jonatzke, his mother, is the board president of the Southwest Michigan chapter of Families Against Narcotics. Austin, as his obituary noted, attended FAN meetings and shared his story as a way to counsel and educate others. Jill Jonatzke is a schoolteacher who hoped to help her brother arrange a series of school assemblies where he could talk to students about his experience with drugs. AN HONEST OBITUARY LIKE AUSTINS is a tried-and-true strategy for humanizing a public health epidemic. In the early days of the AIDS crisis, obituaries often elided the cause of death because of the reluctance of newspapers to reveal not one but two things due to stigma and shame: certain details of someones life (the fact that they were gay), as well as how they died, said Vanessa Gould in an email. Gould directed Obit, a documentary about The New York Times obituary section. In an era when members of the White House administration suggested that HIV/AIDS was a just punishment for people who were gay or used intravenous drugs, community papers like the Bay Area Reporter were at the forefront in changing the culture. Some weeks, the Reporter published as many as 31 obituaries. In 1989, it published an eight-page section titled AIDS Deaths which pictured all the people who had died of the disease during the previous year. ICYMI: Newspaper publishes shocking teacher investigation In those days there were a lot of gay men who came to San Francisco to escape their families of origin, and often the BAR obituary was the only public sign of where they had gone or what had happened to them, the writer Ralph Buchbalter observed when the BAR obituary archive went online in 2009. In 1989, the Chicago Tribune published a story about how newspapers were split on whether, in the AIDS era, it was important to publish a cause of death in an obituary. If it wasnt mentioned, a good obit writer left clues so that a discerning reader could figure it out, according to the story. It noted that the Tribune itself didnt require a cause of death in its obituaries, but when it appeared, it was often AIDS. That was because some members of the homosexual community have encouraged friends and family to acknowledge AIDS as a cause of death, in order to de-mystify the disease. When no obituaries were submitted to BAR in 1998, for the first time since the crisis hit the San Francisco area, it was so newsworthy that BAR published both an article and an editorial about it. The Los Angeles Times reprinted the article (Good NewsOn An Obit Page) and news outlets from Philadelphia to Detroit to Austin picked up the AP report. By diligently chronicling the lives of those that died, the weekly paper became a de facto metric for a sign of progress in treating the disease. OBITS HAVE LONG SERVED as our collective memory, reflecting what our society prizes and what it abhors. As recently as the 1950s, cancer was unmentionable in obituaries. Some believed it to be contagious, and it often affected body parts that were seen as unseemlybreasts, ovaries, cervix, prostate, testicles, colon, bladderso families didnt want the neighbors to know about it. Suicide has also long been a taboo in death notices. Today, another public health crisis shows no signs of letting up. About 59,000 people died of overdoses last year, a 19-percent increase over the previous year, making overdoses the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. Many grieving families feel that honesty is their first and best weapon. Silence = Death, as the old slogan goes. After Austins obituary was published and shared, coworkers reached out to Amanda Jonatzke, Austins other sister, and her husband (my brother) to tell them how their families, too, are fighting addiction. But Jill Jonatzke said that people responded only by saying, Im so sorry. Nobody said to her, I understand. Ive been in a similar situation. Given the numbers, she believes thats not because their lives havent been touched by addiction, but because theres still so much shame around it. By being transparent, even while the Jonatzkes struggle with the loss of Austin, her family hopes that his obituaryalong with tens of thousands of others each yearinspires others to speak up and create the change needed to save lives. CJRs health care reporting is sponsored in part by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund. ICYMI: A copyeditor was looking at early Charlottesville images. While doing so, he made a big realization. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the Bay Area Reporter. CJR regrets the error. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Anna Clark is a journalist in Detroit. Her writing has appeared in ELLE Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Next City, and other publications. Anna edited A Detroit Anthology, a Michigan Notable Book, and she was a 2017 Knight-Wallace journalism fellow at the University of Michigan. She is the author of The Poisoned City: Flints Water and the American Urban Tragedy, published by Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt. She is online at www.annaclark.net and on Twitter @annaleighclark. Northern California homeowners allege in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. failed to adequately protect its power lines before the regions deadly wildfires, a theory that state investigators are considering as they try to determine the cause. The lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of Santa Rosa homeowners Wayne and Jennifer Harvell says drought-like conditions over the summer put fire dangers at an extraordinarily high level, particularly after heavy winter rains increased vegetation. It says PG&E failed to trim and remove vegetation as it should have. PG&E Corp., the utilitys parent company, said Friday that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was investigating its power lines and equipment as a possible cause of the fires that have killed at least 41 people and destroyed 6,000 homes. The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates PG&E, would investigate only if state fire investigators determine that that the utilitys equipment is suspected as a cause. That could lead to significant fines and penalties. The San Francisco-based utility said it would not speculate on causes of the fire and that it was cooperating with investigators. PG&E says it has told state regulators of seven incidents of damage to its equipment, including downed power lines and broken poles. It did not say whether they may have caused or contributed to the fire. Gerald Singleton, an attorney representing other homeowners and renters, said winds were strong but PG&E should have anticipated them. We cant get rid of all possible risks, he said. It really is based on reasonableness and that is what their duty is. PG&E shares jumped 7.5 percent, or $4.01, to close at $57.44 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Still, the shares are down 17 percent since Wednesday. Earlier this year, the utility commission fined PG&E $8.3 million for failing to maintain a power line that sparked a massive blaze in Northern California that destroyed 549 homes and killed two people. A state fire investigation found the utility and its contractors failed to maintain a gray pine tree that slumped into a power line igniting the September 2015 fire in Amador County. Previously, California regulators fined PG&E $1.6 billion for 2010 natural gas explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Also Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California wrote the Federal Communications Commission to express concern that the federal government has yet to adopt rules that would require wireless carriers to more precisely target neighborhoods with orders to evacuate. As fires rapidly spread Oct. 8, authorities sought to avoid alarming unaffected residents. These emergency services are caught in a bind between notifying individuals in imminent danger and risking mass panic. As a result, these services are compelled to rely on emergency messaging systems with far less reach and far less capacity, they wrote. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MOUNT PLEASANT The Mount Pleasant Community Development Authority Wednesday evening recommended creating the tax increment district that will finance the Foxconn Technology Group project. The vote was 5-1. Matthew Cramer, a citizen member of the CDA, cast the lone no vote. Proposed TID No. 5 is a 3,921-acre industrial TID that would, if approved by the Village Board, pay the costs of public infrastructure, land acquisition and other expenses needed to fuel construction of the massive Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing campus. Cramer said his biggest beef with this whole thing has been related to relocation for residents now living within the proposed Foxconn location. I think that by incorporating forced relocation in this plan were therefore putting the village finances ahead of the residents themselves, which I dont feel to be proper and correct in the best interests of open government, Cramer said. I suggest that we let fair market reign and let relocation be voluntary. Alan Marcuvitz, a Milwaukee attorney who has been working as special counsel for the Village of Mount Pleasant, said according to law all projects that involve some displacement require that relocation benefits be provided to the landowner. If the Village Board were to act on a plan that did not include this displacement (benefit, the law) would not allow this Foxconn project to go ahead, Marcuvitz said. I appreciate your comments, but what youre really saying is if the Foxconn project is going to require any displacement, where people are going to have to move anything their home or business or farm then this community does not want the Foxconn development. Cramer replied, You can phrase it as bluntly as that; Im not going to disagree with what you just said. Largest economic development in state history Foxconn has announced its intention to invest up to $10 billion to build 20 million square feet of manufacturing space, in the southwest corner of Mount Pleasant, to produce liquid crystal display panels for many types of devices, as well as finished televisions. According to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the Foxconn project will be the largest economic development project in state history, and also the largest greenfield investment project in U.S. history, as measured by jobs. The Taiwanese companys chosen area, where acquisition specialists have been negotiating purchase agreements with property owners, is on 1,198 acres between Interstate 94, highways H and KR and Braun Road. A second, 1,073-acre area directly north of that will be acquired for Foxconn expansion. A third, 622-acre area east of the manufacturing campus will be acquired for construction staging during the building of that campus, and in the future for other development. Referring to areas two and three, Ehlers Inc., which prepared the TID plan wrote, Further development of the approximately 2,723 acres remaining by the developer, supply-chain vendors and other businesses will create additional incremental valuation which is expected, but not quantified, within this project plan. All three areas lie within the TID boundaries. The TID also includes land, called the North Area, that lies outside of all the Foxconn zones. The TID will be used to foster development in that area also. TID financing Tax incremental financing allows a municipality to pay for improvements in a district with the future taxes generated as development occurs there. The project plan for the TID anticipates a total investment in the project from the TID of $764 million. Foxconns $10 billion investment will generate more than $31 million per year in new tax revenue that will more than pay for all public improvements and development costs, according to the 39-page TID project plan. Foxconn is providing financial guarantees to support a minimum valuation of $1.4 billion. That evaluation is expected to be reached in four years with a projected $350 million in new property valuation each of those years. Ehlers projects that this TID will generate enough tax increment to recover all project costs within 25 years. Its maximum life can be 30 years. Upon closure of the TID, the additional property tax base created can begin flowing to all the taxing districts instead of paying for expenses within the district. The Village Board is expected to consider approving the TID No. 5 project on Nov. 13. Joint Review Board forms Before the CDA meeting, the Joint Review Board for TID No. 5 met for the first time. That body is comprised of one representative for each of the taxing entities that would be affected by creation of the new district. The members of the Joint Review Board are: Dave Hazen, chief operations officer for Racine Unified School District; Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave; Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot; Bill Whyte, senior vice president of operations for Gateway Technical College; and John Schneider, public member. Meal kit makers Blue Apron announced in an SEC filing on Wednesday that the company is laying off 6% of its employees, or approximately 300 people. The layoffs hit salaried employees hardest, and affected few shift workers in the company's warehouses, according to two sources with direct knowledge -- one current and one laid-off employee. The company's CEO had described the layoffs as a "company-wide realignment," in an email to employees. Blue Apron let go of marketing, software development, operations and business development talent in its New York headquarters, sources confirmed. Blue Apron did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The layoffs on Wednesday followed a period of aggressive marketing and other expenditures by Blue Apron leading up to its IPO in June. It recently established a new, high-tech fulfillment center in Linden, New Jersey. And its hiring rate had been aggressive before and after its public market debut. In Blue Apron's IPO registration filing, published in June this year, the company noted its personnel expenses: "Our expenses increased sequentially quarter-to-quarter for all periods presented, primarily due to...headcount...facilities costs...[and] an increase in personnel costs driven by increased hiring in corporate positions." Blue Apron's stock is down almost 50% since its IPO. The company has seen a strong onslaught of competition for customers from meal kit brands that range from smaller startups like Sun Basket and Green Chef to behemoths like Amazon, which acquired Whole Foods and sells meal kits, or Plated, which was acquired by Albertsons in a deal valued at $200 million. Interns at work at start-up company Hacklab.in in Bangalore. In the basement of a Bangalore building, hundreds of young Indians sit and type furiously, all dre MANJUNATH KIRAN | AFP | Getty Images If there's an idea, there will be funding. That's been the reality for India's start-up community for years but it might be ending. India's start-up dudes largely male, young engineering graduates or dropouts are being jolted out of their fantasy world as investors tighten their purse strings and demand a greater bang for every buck they spend. India is the third-largest start-up hub in the world, according to industry group Nasscom. It saw a peak in funding in 2015 when close to $6 billion was invested in new companies, according to research company Venture Intelligence. Start-ups were originally seen as job creators and innovators who were solving India's problems. But that reputation has taken a hit and investor confidence in the sector is the lowest it has been in two years, industry insiders said. Days of 'super funding' are over "Millions of dollars were being given away to young graduates, who got used to playing with other people's money and not sharing any risks," said Sunil Kalra, an investor who has invested in over 80 start-ups. Kalra told CNBC that, just two years ago, he found at one of the prestigious Indian Institute of technology campuses that half of the graduating batch had decided to sit-out the regular job placements as they wanted to become entrepreneurs. "That percentage has drastically come down now," he said. Kalra added that he's also changed his investment strategy, looking to back "mature entrepreneurs with deeper credentials." In the first nine months of 2017, about $3 billion has been invested in companies less than 10 years old, a steep fall from the 2015 high, data from Venture Intelligence show. No more than 1,000 significant start-ups have been founded year-to-date compared to over 6,000 in 2016, industry insiders said. A survey conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value released in May this year concluded that 90 percent of Indian start-ups fail within the first five years of operations, as Indian entrepreneurs largely have yet to display unique business models they're still inclined to emulate successful global ideas. Older start-ups like online retailer Flipkart and app-based taxi survey Ola, though iconic names in India, were borrowed ideas. But now, investors are looking at Indian entrepreneurs to change their "copy paste" model. According to the IBM survey, 77 percent of venture capitalists said they believe many Indian start-ups lack "pioneering innovation based on new technologies." "The days of 'super funding' are over. Replications [of a foreign idea] are not getting money," said Rishabh Lawania, co founder of Xeler8, which represents a Chinese fund looking to invest in India. Valuations get realistic Valuations of companies that are raising their first round of funding have also come crashing down. In 2015, anyone with a serious idea for a start-up could hear a valuation from potential investors between $1.5 million and $3 million, according to Amit Singal, CEO of Startup Buddy Services. This year, he said, assessments for similarly meritorious ideas are down more than 50 percent from those levels. "Start-ups were overvalued in 2015. Now investors are not looking at an idea alone. They want to see a growth plan that can deliver returns in four years. Earlier they were willing to wait for up to 10 years," Singal told CNBC. No wonder then that early stage funding in start-ups is down 37 percent in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year, according to Venture Intelligence. "What's worrying these guys [entrepreneurs] is that the bar for an early-stage start-up has just been raised considerably by their predecessors who have themselves raised a lot of money to get ahead. It is difficult for technology-led early-stage start-ups to achieve profits. They have a steep investment stage. This is why early-stage funding is so critical," said Santosh Dawara, an entrepreneur and one of the founders of the Pune Open Coffee Club, an informal platform open to anyone connected with the start-up industry to meet and brainstorm. To invest or not? MOUNT PLEASANT Seven contracts related to development of Foxconn Technology Groups future manufacturing campus here were approved by a committee Wednesday and have moved to the Village Board for approval. The contracts were approved by the Finance/Legal/License Committee after the Village Board failed to have a quorum to pass the contracts last week. The contracts the committee approved are with: The Sigma Group, for environmental and site assessments. Underwriting services for appraisal review. Single Source, for appraisal services. G.J. Miesbauer and Associates/Terra Ventures, for acquisition and relocation services. Pitts Brothers and Associates for appraisal services. The Nicholson Group for appraisal engagement letter. The Acquisition Connection for site acquisition and site assessment. Village President Dave DeGroot said the contracts didnt need to be approved by committee originally. Because time being of the essence, because we had the public hearings and all of that, we wanted to have these contracts signed so that the relocation people and all those people would be working under contract; it made sense to take it right to the board, DeGroot said. There not being a quorum, we let it fall back to the committee which is the normal way for these things to work, DeGroot said. The committee also continued to work on a memorandum of understanding between the village, Racine County and Wisconsin Department of Transportation regarding highway and road construction around the Foxconn sites. A pump jack and pipes at an oil field near Bakersfield, California. Lucy Nicholson | Reuters Oil prices slipped on Thursday, pressured by larger-than-expected product inventories in the United States and some profit-taking after a recent run-up in oil benchmarks. Ongoing tension in the Middle East has kept a bid under the market, however, as reduced flows from the Iraqi Kurdish pipeline through Turkey have raised worries about supply. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended Thursday's session down 75 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $51.29 per barrel. Brent crude futures were down 84 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $57.31 by 2:11 p.m. ET (1811 GMT). from Wednesday's mid-week high of $58.15 a barrel. Analysts said they have seen some profit-taking after two weeks of gains as upward momentum in prices appears to be waning. Energy equities were also weaker, falling to three-and-a-half week lows. "There seems to be a macro selloff across the board with energy stocks also coming down," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC. watch now The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels in the week to Oct. 13, to 456.49 million barrels. U.S. distillate and gasoline inventories rose, however, even as refining activity fell. U.S. output slumped by 11 percent from the previous week to 8.4 million barrels per day (bpd), its lowest since June 2014, as Gulf of Mexico production had to be shut because of tropical storm Nate. Instability in the Middle East is increasing risks to supply from key oil-producing areas. "The 'Fragile Five' petrostates Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela continue to see supply disruption potential, with northern Iraq crude exports at risk due to an escalation of tensions between the (Kurdistan Regional Government), Baghdad and Turkey, while the U.S. has decertified the 2015 Iran nuclear deal," said U.S. bank Citi. Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports more than halved to 200,000 bpd on Wednesday as the Iraqi military retook some of the biggest fields from Kurdistan's Peshmerga forces. However, Iraq said Thursday that it expects to restore Kirkuk's oil production to last week's levels by Sunday. Adding to these tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump last week refused to certify Iran's compliance over a nuclear deal, leaving Congress 60 days to decide further action against Tehran. During the previous round of sanctions against Iran, some 1 million bpd of oil was cut from markets. watch now Jose Luis Pelaez | Getty Images Your workplace inbox will likely soon be inundated, if it hasn't been already, with exhortations from human resources to make the most of the upcoming short window to change your benefits for 2018. That may trigger a deep-seated urge to punt. An Aflac survey of 5,000 employees found that 92 percent of workers last year kept the same selections, and more than 80 percent spent less than an hour sussing out their options. "People who roll into the same plan for the next year think they have the same coverage," said Skip Johnson, an advisor at Great Waters Financial in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. That can be a costly assumption. Even if you don't make any changes, your plan may have. For instance, employers are increasingly shifting more of health care costs onto employees. And more employers have been adding the Roth 401(k) to their retirement plan. If you now have that option, it's worth considering. Granted, inertia is only partly to blame for why you're not prone to give your benefits package the fine-tooth comb treatment. Two-thirds of employees surveyed by Aflac complain that making sense of benefits is too complicated and nearly 3 in 4 employees report there is some part of their coverage they don't understand. All that comes at a cost: Aflac reported that more than half of employees estimate that are wasting up to $750 a year because of suboptimal benefit choices. "At the end of the day, open enrollment is a trigger to try and get you to review your benefits," said Greg Hammer, president of Hammer Financial Group, in Schereville, Indiana. "It can be a pain, but it is so important." Here's a cheat sheet to help you zero in on the big-ticket items to review: Health insurance Look beyond the premium. It's increasingly rare for employers to cover the entire bill for health insurance. The annual premium employees are on the hook for has risen 75 percent over the past 10 years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. More workers also must now cover a deductible, which has also been on the rise. And then there's the creep of rising co-insurance payments. At a minimum, understanding your potential out-of-pocket costs might goose you to add to your emergency fund. Or you might want to check out other plans offered by your employer. It can be a pain, but it is so important Greg Hammer president, Hammer Financial Group Carefully consider a high deductible health plan with a Health Savings Account. In return for taking on the financial responsibility of a higher deductible, the triple-tax break of saving in an HSA makes them a powerful back-door retirement savings strategy. A recent Vanguard analysis estimates that $1 saved in a traditional or Roth IRA could be worth $1.64 in 20 years. The same dollar saved in an HSA could be worth $2.19. Just go in with eyes wide open: In the event you need medical care, you are going to cough up a sizable deductible. In 2018, the minimum single-coverage deductible is $1,350 and it's $2,700 for families. The annual out-of-pocket limit is $6,650 for individuals and $13,300 for family coverage. Life insurance Free can be an expensive mistake. Even if your employer provides a life insurance benefit, the free coverage likely has a death benefit that is a fraction of what you need to protect young children or other dependents. Once you decide the right amount of coverage, you can either buy additional coverage through your workplace group plan or purchase an individual policy. "If you have any sort of health issue, even just high blood pressure, buying more coverage through the group plan can be cheaper than what you would pay for an individual policy," said Hammer. Even then, there can often be a limit on how much additional coverage you can purchase through your plan. If you are in good health, shopping for your own individual term life insurance policy is typically smarter. watch now Retirement savings plan An image of the HIV virus taken with transmission electron microscopy. BSIP/UIG | Getty Images Scientists are inching toward developing a vaccine for AIDS, an immunodeficiency disease caused by the HIV virus that currently affects 36.7 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In a paper published in the journal Science in September, scientists from the National Institutes of Health and Paris-based pharmaceutical company Sanofi described a "three-pronged" antibody, engineered in a lab, that binds to three critical sites on the HIV virus. By attacking the virus from three sides, the "trispecific" antibody creates a roadblock that even HIV known for its constant mutating should struggle to circumvent. "This is very impressive and really very exciting for people who are looking for ways to prevent HIV acquisition," said Rowena Johnston, director of research at amfAR, a foundation that raises money for the study of AIDS. Though therapies for HIV/AIDS now allow people to more effectively manage the disease, it still claims 1 million lives around the world every year and represents about $3.5 billion in annual U.S. health-care costs. The rate of new infections in the U.S. has fallen in recent years, to 37,600 in 2014 (the most recent year for which stats are available). But in Africa where two-thirds of all new infections occur there were 960,000 new AIDS/HIV cases in 2016. Further alarming health advocates is the Trump administration's decision to slash its global HIV/AIDS spending by 24 percent, leaving nonprofits like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation scrambling to make up the shortfall. "There's no way to balance a cut in a rich country's generosity," said Mr. Gates in September. Quest for a cure The promise of an AIDS vaccine has tempted, but eluded, scientists for decades. It's been 37 years since Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Ronald Reagan, infamously told reporters at the press conference announcing the discovery of AIDS that a vaccine would be ready for testing within two years. Twenty-one years after that, the New England Journal of Medicine following the collapse of yet another promising phase-3 study referred to the flagging search for an AIDS vaccine as "a Sisyphean onslaught of disappointments." The HIV virus currently affects 36.7 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Above, outside the Kenya center for HIV+ women. HIV rates in Kenya are now at 5 to 1 in terms of women to men. Brent Stirton | Getty Images HIV is spread through the sharing of specific bodily fluids blood, semen, breast milk and vaginal or rectal fluids which typically occur during intercourse or the sharing of intravenous needles. Once inside the body, HIV attacks a certain kind of immune-system cell known as CD4. By destroying these cells, the virus makes it harder for your body to fight off disease, increasing the risk of major illness from even minor infections. But in recent years, scientists have discovered a kind of antibody in people living longer with the virus, which has reinvigorated the pursuit. Known as broadly neutralizing antibodies, these Y-shaped proteins which occur in about 20 percent of infected people living with HIV for two or more years helps defend against multiple strains of HIV and are thought to play a role in helping people fend off the infection. Multiple studies have since tested ways in which broadly neutralizing antibodies could help stave off HIV infection or slow its growth in those already infected. More from Modern Medicine: Growing old with HIV after decades of drug success A party drug could become next blockbuster antidepression treatment New cure under way for the 80 million people in US dealing with hair loss Of course, the antibodies have their limitations. "Each individual antibody only binds to one very specific component of the HIV envelope, or the outer covering," said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who helped oversee the new study. But HIV is constantly mutating, so no single antibody can hold off the virus for long. Eventually, the virus will happen upon a mutation that allows it to get around the protection provided by the single antibody. Genetic engineering feat What the NIH and Sanofi scientists did was combine three broadly neutralizing antibodies into a single compound. Johnston, who was not involved in the research, compared the approach with antiretroviral therapy, which has become the standard in HIV treatment by slowing the virus' growth through a strategic combination of drugs. "If you're only taking one type of drug, then your HIV would escape from that," she said. "It's possible two would work, but three really seals the deal." The redundancy of three different antibodies makes escape-by-mutation practically impossible. "HIV would have to come up with such an elaborate set of mutations to escape from all three of these antibodies simultaneously that it's almost certainly not going to happen," she said. This is a solid incremental increase in our capability of dealing with and preventing HIV infection. Anthony Fauci director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Airbus debuted its A330neo Thursday as the new plane took off from Toulouse, France on its maiden test flight. The aircraft is a medium-to-long-range wide-body jet with a Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine. The two versions, the A330-800 and A330-900, can accommodate 257 and 287 passengers respectively. 'Neo' stands for new engine option. The A330-900 version, which took to the skies this morning, is destined for full certification around the middle of 2018. The slightly smaller A330-800 is set to follow in 2019. Tweet 1 Airbus has claimed the latest A330 will use 14 percent less fuel per seat. Industry observers suggest the fuel-friendly revision is designed to up competition with the latest version of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The A330-800 is built to fly a maximum of 13,900 kilometers while the 900 should cover 12,130 kilometers. Airbus has said both plane configurations have the ability to take greater payloads, allowing it to be used comfortably on such routes as Kuala Lumpur to London, which is approximately 10,600 kilometers. In a recent post , Gates wrote about meeting with famed epidemiologist Dr. Bill Foege , who sparked the tech billionaire's interest in global health through a reading list. Bill Gates is an avid reader . The Microsoft founder reads every night , has reviewed hundreds of books on his blog and regularly shares reading lists of his favorite books. Foege has served as a mentor to Bill and Melinda Gates since 1999 and has helped inform their global health philanthropy ever since. Beyond answering questions and giving academic advice, Foege gave Gates a list of 81 books and reports on global health issues. "All these books opened a new world for me," writes Gates. "Making Bill's passion for fighting poverty and disease a passion of my own." These three books stood out in particular: Princes and Peasants Smallpox in History by Donald R. Hopkins Hopkins' thorough history of Smallpox the first disease to be medically eradicated was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. Mosquitoes, Malaria & Man: A History of the Hostilities Since 1880 by Gordon Harrison This book follows the history of Malaria, which the Gates Foundation intends to eradicate. According to the foundation's website, "Given sufficient global commitment, major investments in research and development, and transformative new tools and delivery strategies, the ambitious goal of malaria eradication can be met." Investing in Health: World Development Report 1993 by The World Bank Gates describes this paper from The World Bank as, "a groundbreaking report on the importance of global health investment." When President Donald Trump proposed a 31 percent cut to the U.S. foreign aid budget in April, Gates said, "I'm a big fan of America's investments in the health and well-being of the world's poor. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way." He argues, "When people in one place do better, the rest of us do better, too." According to Gates, Foege is surprised by how popular these books have become with people outside of the global health community. "It is incredible what has happened. We've gone from global health being a total backwater of study. Anyone who wanted to get into it had to discover their own way," says Foege. "All that changed and within a few short years it turned out to be one of the most popular subjects in school after school." Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook Don't miss: RACINE COUNTY Ask the county executive and you may receive. In the proposed 2018 county budget, about 20 community nonprofits and organizations may have funding coming to them next year. In the world of nonprofits, every dollar counts, and the county is preparing to spread almost $500,000 over groups that provide community-based programs or projects that demonstrate tangible public benefit, M.T. Boyle, county chief of staff, said during the county budget meeting Tuesday. The allocations were put in the cultural and community services section of the proposed 2018 budget. One thing thats different this year is that the county implemented an online application program to help streamline and organize the pitches from organizations. Money was only given if people asked and applied through this online process, Boyle said. These are one-time grants and are subject to (Racine County Board) approval. Two of the biggest appropriations are heading to the Racine Heritage Museum, which is proposed to receive $102,000, and the Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization, which is on tap to get $100,000. Spreading the wealth Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin is budgeted to receive $50,000 from the county to hire staff to prepare for veterans to be living at the James A. Peterson Veterans Village, which provides tiny houses to homeless veterans. They are looking to have this money go toward a resident coordinator, (to) help these vets get the services they need while theyre in their tiny houses, Boyle said. Youth for Christ, which works with at-risk kids, teenage parents and those in juvenile detention, would also receive $50,000. Visioning Greater Racine, which is working to make Racine a better place to work and live, would receive $10,000 from the county, Boyle said. This year we chose to give to everyone that applied at least something; most people didnt get everything they asked for, Boyle said. A lot of these allocations were in the budget already, but we wanted them to be kept in one place so we would be more transparent and have more of a set process when we do get asked for money. The proposed budget also includes major capital project funding to provide the Burlington Community Pool Corp. and the Racine County Zoo $100,000 each. Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said hes often approached by organizations hoping to fund projects, and this budget helps give back to the community. Most of these (allocations) are a return on investment, Delagrave said. Bling and hope County Board Supervisor Thomas Roanhouse of Waterford called the funding the bling and hope account. For all intents and purposes, people hate to pay taxes, and I can go even further, they dont have trust in government, Roanhouse said. At some point government has got to give them bling or show them something that theyre getting something for their dollar or they got to give them hope. As the Chinese government works toward controlling the country's capital outflows, it could be U.S. stocks that suffer as a result. Specifically, real estate-related investments in the U.S. could be hurt most, according to Larry McDonald of the Bear Traps Report. "The government's effort to simultaneously clamp down on capital outflows and property speculation could see new inflows in the Chinese stock market in search of a domestic investment alternative," McDonald wrote in a recent report to clients. In recent years, China's commercial property outflow has ballooned as individual and institutional investors in the country have looked globally for real estate investment. The "winner" in the Chinese government's efforts to pull back on capital outflows would be mainland Chinese equities over the next couple of years, McDonald said, as "more investors in China will be forced to keep their money at home." Furthermore, investment product provider MSCI's decision earlier this year to include mainland Chinese stocks in its benchmark emerging markets index will open up mainland equities, which are still "drastically under-owned globally," McDonald wrote. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, speaks during a press conference at the media center on March 10, 2017 in Beijing, China. China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Thursday that he is likely to retire soon, confirming an earlier Reuters report. "Either way it'll be soon," Zhou said on the sidelines of the Communist Party Congress, when asked whether he would retire this year or next. Sources with ties to the leadership and close the central bank had told Reuters that Zhou is likely to retire around the time of the annual session of parliament next March. China's top banking regulator Guo Shuqing and veteran banker Jiang Chaoliang are front runners to succeed Zhou Xiaochuan, the country's longest-serving central bank head, according the sources. CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday said ISIS remains an "enormous threat" despite setbacks the terror group has suffered on the battlefield, including being driven from the group's self-declared capital of Raqqa. "It is clearly the case that there are terrorists around the world who are intent upon using commercial aviation as their vector to present a threat to the West," the CIA director said in remarks at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' National Security Summit in Washington. Pompeo said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has taken actions at airports in response to "perceived threats" to commercial airliners. Yet he said the terror risk still exists because it can be difficult to learn about attacks. Fears of another 9/11-style attack were raised this week after comments attributed to the acting DHS secretary, Elaine Duke, in remarks at the U.S. Embassy in London. Her remarks were published Thursday in Britain's Express newspaper. "The terrorist organizations, be it ISIS or others, want to have the big explosion like they did on 9/11," Duke said, according to reporting by Express. "They want to take down aircraft, the intelligence is clear on that." Pompeo said bad actors willing to do harm to the West can go online to learn bomb-making skills from terrorists without ever getting on a phone or sending email. "Tools that we have developed to take down [terrorist] networks are less likely to be successful," he said. "This is difficult stuff in a faraway place," Pompeo said. "This is a challenge for the intelligence community to figure out how that technology may have transferred." The U.S. intelligence community was faulted by some for not anticipating the 9/11 attacks. "We often talk about the things we know," Pompeo said. "I always remind everyone to remember the things that we simply may not see. Call them an intelligence failure, if you will." Meantime, ISIS is on the run in the Middle East. Thousands of the terror group's militants have suffered, and the area the caliphate controls is a small fraction of what it once was. "The fall of the caliphate is great news," the CIA chief said. "It is a historic achievement ... But it's partial at best." Pompeo called ISIS "an incredibly difficult adversary" because of its ability to inspire and direct attacks from afar. Also, he said there's always a potential for ISIS to essentially morph into something else in the future. "It would be foolish to predict that there was going to be no son of ISIS," he said. "You'd be betting against historical fact." Some consider ISIS itself as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The two terror groups reportedly severed ties a few years ago. "Whether they call themselves ISIS or ISIS 2.0 or whatever you want to call the name, this threat from radical Islamic terrorism is real," said Pompeo. Pompeo said the global reach of ISIS and its followers is something that the U.S. continues to take seriously. He said ISIS or affiliates of the terror group operate in many regions other than the Middle East, including Southeast Asia. He said the Internet continues to help the terrorist group recruit followers and conduct attacks. "They still have the capacity to control and influence citizens all around the world," Pompeo said. "Technology enables it and their desire to even do these small-scale attacks." The CIA chief said he's spent a lot of time with his counterparts in the U.K., which has suffered from several vehicle and other types of terror attacks this year. He said these attacks are often directed with help from abroad or with the aid of the Internet. "I often hear folks talk about 'lone wolf,'" he said. "I prefer not to use that term because it is seldom the case that they were completely individual, acting autonomously. It's almost always the case that the ideology that drove them was driven by someone who had great intent to deliver that idea into their head." Investors shouldn't let worries about Apple 's iPhone orders keep them out of the stock's likely run higher, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday. Shares of Apple and some suppliers were lower Thursday after Taiwan-based newspaper The Economic Times reported, citing a source, that the tech giant may be cutting orders for the iPhone 8. Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street" that news about supply concerns or iPhone orders has plagued Apple investors "since the beginning of time." "How many times have people sold it on that kind of stuff?" said Cramer, whose charitable trust owns Apple shares. "It has just kept people out of one of the great runs of all time." "And I think it's going to do it again," the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" added. Apple unveiled the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in September alongside the high-end iPhone X. Some analysts believe the company is likely to focus more on the iPhone X, which looks radically different with an edge-to-edge display. Shares of Apple were down more than 2 percent midmorning Thursday, at around $155 a share. The stock is up more than 34 percent this year, according to FactSet. Reuters contributed to this report. Cryptocurrencies are not "mature" enough to be considered by the European Central Bank (ECB) for regulation, Mario Draghi said. At a press conference last weekend, the ECB president addressed a question about the potential of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. "With anything that's new, people have great expectations and also great uncertainty. Right now we think that especially as far as bitcoins and cryptocurrencies are concerned, we don't think the technology is mature for our consideration," Draghi said. He expressed caution and said that while innovation should be "cherished for its potential benefits," it should also be "critically assessed" for risks. "One of the lessons of the great financial crisis is that financial innovation, in this case it's financial and technology innovation... should be embraced with lots of attention to its potential risks," Draghi told a room of reporters. Anca Mariana Petculescu, a 64-year-old retiree, tries on a pair of boots at a mall in Bucharest, Romania. Somewhere inside the vast shopping mall beneath the roller coaster, across from the IMAX theater and down the corridor from the electronic casino Anca Mariana Petculescu spotted an appealing pair of black leather boots. She remembered her credit card debt. She recalled the expensive repairs needed on the heating system at her apartment. Then she thought of the extra 500 lei about $130 the government had just added to her monthly pension. She bought the boots. "Shopping is like my therapy," said Ms. Petculescu, 64, who retired five years ago from her accounting job at a state-owned telephone company. "To feel good, I buy." More from New York Times: Nissan suspends production in Japan because of flawed inspections The Fed claims to be independent. That's mostly a myth. Nike's chief of design doodles all day The inclinations of this retiree at the AFI Cotroceni mall help explain why Romania is the fastest-growing economy in Europe. In the first half of the year, it expanded at a blistering 5.8 percent pace compared with the same period a year earlier. Given that Romania is one of Europe's poorest nations, still recovering from the kleptocratic excesses of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, this performance has resonated as affirmation of a bright new era. It has underscored the reinvigoration of Europe, now finally growing after years of crisis. Yet the scene at the mall also illustrates why many economists are pessimistic that Romania's fortunes can continue to improve and why some fret that the next crisis in Europe is already taking shape. Much of the growth Romania has experienced is the product of a consumer bonanza one financed by public sector raises handed out by a government whose populist generosity is pressing the killjoy limits of arithmetic. To pay for wage hikes, the government has been cutting spending on investment for highways and other public works a decision not unlike withholding a child's college tuition to finance a new swimming pool. Romania's dilapidated infrastructure has long limited commerce. The fear is that pay raises plus tax cuts have generated a momentary jolt of economic activity that will leave the country indebted. "We are making the same mistakes as Greece," said Cristian Paun, an economist at Bucharest University of Economic Studies. "We are still continuing to increase the public debt when we are in a boom." For now, any comparison to Greece, the most extreme example of an economy wrecked by unrestrained government largess, stretches credulity. At the end of last year, Romania's public debt was about 39 percent of its annual economic output, a fraction of the ratio for the United States (74 percent), Britain (92 percent) or Greece (182 percent). Still, Romania's public debt has roughly doubled over the last two decades. "This is very dangerous," Mr. Paun said. "When the crisis comes again, as it inevitably will, we are exposed." Government officials dismiss such talk. Romania's median disposable income is less than one-tenth those of Sweden and Austria, according to the European Union. Donkey carts still operate in the countryside. In Bucharest, modern offices sit alongside grand old buildings with crumbling facades. The government is facing pressure to improve living standards. Lifting wages is one way to do it. "We're making a lot of progress," said Andrei Pop, a member of Parliament who is part of the governing Social Democratic Party. "This growth is sustainable." But Fitch Ratings, the global research firm, recently warned that Romania's spending risks generating a budget deficit larger than 3 percent of economic output. That would put it crosswise with European Union rules limiting budget deficits. "It cannot end well," said Senator Florin Citu, a member of the opposition National Liberal Party, and a former chief economist for Romania at the investment bank ING. "It's going to explode in our faces." Even union leaders say the government is handing out money absent a serious strategy. "There's no question that wages had to be increased, but not like this," said Bogdan Iuliu Hossu, president of the National Trade Union Confederation (Cartel Alfa), which represents some 600,000 Romanian workers among them teachers, police officers and civil servants. This year alone, he said, the government has decreed more than a dozen raises. It lifted the minimum wage for all workers by about 16 percent to approximately 8.375 lei an hour (about $2.18). Then, medical workers received 25 percent increases. The entire public sector is due another 25 percent bump in January. "The government gives money to the chosen people," Mr. Hossu said. Romania has sought to amplify economic growth by courting foreign investment. The effort has been enhanced by an assault on official corruption undertaken by an agency created more than a decade ago, as part of Romania's successful campaign to join the European Union. Operating out of a fortresslike building that served as a military headquarters during World War II, prosecutors at the National Anticorruption Directorate have convicted ministers, members of Parliament and even a sitting prime minister. But in recent months, the government has sought to weaken anticorruption laws. In January, it barred prosecution for corruption involving sums less than about $50,000. Enraged citizens took to the streets, and the decree was rescinded. But fresh drafts of legislation could constrain prosecutors and judges anew. "There are moments when the political will shows us that there is no intention, there is no real wish to eradicate corruption," said the directorate's chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi. "There is a real assault against the justice system." Over the first seven months of the year, incoming foreign investment plunged more than 17 percent, according to the Romanian central bank. If worries about corruption are a factor, the sudden turn of money also speaks to a sense of befuddlement as the government seeks money to finance its wage increases. In recent weeks, the government has outlined plans to force state-owned companies to hand over their cash reserves. In a contentious move, it has proposed shifting pension funds to shore up those for older workers. "They keep saying things, they keep adjusting," said Dragos Neacsu, chief executive officer of the Romanian branch of Erste Asset Management, an Austria-based investment fund manager. "It's like they are musical producers trying out different versions of the song before they know what to play." As local entrepreneurs convened for a recent networking breakfast, many fretted over the government's plans for an accounting change that would force companies to manage separate accounts for taxes a measure they said would sow chaos. They wondered how to make investment decisions in light of perpetual uncertainty over wages. "They are making our lives miserable," said Mona Mirea, an insurance broker. "It feels like we are heading into another crisis." This year alone, the government has tweaked the tax code 22 times, complained Valentina Saygo, an accountant. "It's impossible," she said. Among the biggest concerns is what the government is not doing upgrading and expanding Romania's notoriously awful infrastructure. Noriel, a Romanian toy company bought last year by a Polish and American private equity fund, has expanded from 46 shops nationwide to 60. Yet Noriel would be expanding even faster if the highways were better, said its chief executive officer, Marek Maciejko. The company designs its toys in Romania and manufactures them in China. They are shipped to a port on the Black Sea, then trucked to Bucharest. But getting toys to Noriel's stores in Timisoara a city some 340 miles to the west can take two days in winter, on one-lane highways. "The lack of infrastructure has an impact on our business," Mr. Maciejko said. Sorin Popa curses the highways, too. He grows lettuce in greenhouses in a village outside Bucharest, farming the same land that his father and grandfather did. Back in the Communist era, the family took whatever price the state offered for its crops. They huddled around a wood fireplace for warmth. Today, gas heat filters through their home, which glows with televisions. They sell their crop to national supermarket chains, a sign of Romania's progress. But getting their crop to the distribution center, only 28 miles away, can take more than two hours. "We don't like it at all," Mr. Popa said. "It's keeping us from our work." For now, many are too busy reveling in these bountiful times to worry about what comes next. On a recent afternoon at the AFI mall, Claudiu Vacarus, a bar manager, surveyed new smartphones. He had just returned from several months of working in London. He planned to stay. "Now is the moment to create something in my country," he said. Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R), R-N.C.; and Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., hold a news conference on the status of the committee's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, October 4, 2017. The lawmaker overseeing the probe into how Russian agents used Facebook to sway last year's U.S. election was hoping to hear from one of the company's technical experts. Instead, Facebook will send its top lawyer and a former Washington insider to testify on Nov. 1. Facebook said Thursday it will send Colin Stretch, its vice president and general counsel for more than four years, to testify before House and Senate panels. Neither CEO Mark Zuckerberg nor COO Sheryl Sandberg, who met privately with lawmakers last week, will appear at the public hearings, as previously reported by CNBC. The Republican chairman of the Senate committee investigating the matter, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, has previously said he hoped the company would send someone with a technology background. "I think it's more important that we get the person who's most capable of talking about the technical aspects of what they need to do to identify foreign money that may come in and what procedures, if any, need to be put in law that make sure elections are not intruded upon by foreign entities," Burr said last month. Stretch's background, however, is rooted firmly in the legal profession. Prior to joining Facebook in 2010, he was with the high-powered Washington law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick for most of a decade. Prior to that, Stretch, a graduate of Harvard Law School, was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. His knowledge of the Washington landscape helped him negotiate a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which had charged Facebook with deceiving consumers about whether it would keep their data private. Former President George W. Bush on Thursday warned that "bigotry seems emboldened" in America, and "our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." Speaking at the Bush Institute's Spirit of Liberty event in New York, the 43rd president warned against the isolationism and trade protectionism that Trump has long espoused. "People are hurting, they're angry and they're frustrated [and] we must help them," Bush said. "But we cannot wish globalization away, any more than we could wish away the Agricultural Revolution or the Industrial Revolution. One strength of free society is its ability to adapt to economic and social disruptions, and that should be our goal." A Bush spokesman later said the former president was not explicitly criticizing President Donald Trump, whose name Bush never mentioned in the speech. Nonetheless, the parallels were obvious. "We've seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty," Bush said. "At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. "Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions, forgetting the image of God we should see in each other. We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism. Forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America." Bush's speech also appeared to be a direct rebuke to the populist, nationalist themes that defined much of Trump's 2016 president campaign, personified by the views of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bush, a lifelong Republican, did not vote for Trump. Instead, he left the presidential section of his ballot blank in 2016. "Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood," Bush said Thursday. "People from every race, religion, ethnicity can be full and equally American." White supremacists at a violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August shouted the Nazi slogan "blood and soil." The former president also made an oblique reference to Trump's claim this past summer that both sides were to blame following the white supremacist rally. "Bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed," Bush said. He argued that America must strengthen its defense of democracy and democratic institutions under attack from foreign powers, and Russia in particular. This defense, Bush said, "begins with confronting a new era of cyberthreats. America has experienced a sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our country's divisions. According to our intelligence services, the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other." He added that "foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated." Trump has repeatedly claimed that a Russian campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election is a "hoax," perpetuated by Democrats. Bush said that the weakening of democratic institutions has made American politics "more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication," he said. Trump has often repeated falsehoods and promoted false conspiracies, such as the claim of widespread voter fraud during the 2016 elections. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond Thursday to a CNBC request for comment on Bush's speech. While receiving the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Monday, another Republican, Sen. John McCain, took issue with the nationalist and isolationist policies that Trump campaigned on to win the White House. Without mentioning Trump by name, McCain said: "To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain 'the last best hope of earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history." Trump responded in an interview with Washington's WMAL radio, saying: "I'm being very, very nice, but at some point I fight back and it won't be pretty." OPEC General Secretary Mohammad Barkindo said Thursday that oil markets are rebalancing at "an accelerating rate" and that he foresaw "no peak" for oil demand for "the considerable future." Speaking at the Oil & Money conference in London, Barkindo said confident prices would rise and global oil demand would grow as the global economy continued to strengthen. "We expect global oil demand to surpass 100 million barrels per day by 2020," Barkindo told the audience of oil industry leaders. This figure is far above the oil producing group's forecast for 2017 in which global oil demand is expected to be around 96.8 million barrels per day. This strengthening in global oil demand meant that there was "no peak demand for the considerable future," Barkindo said. As such, continued investment within the oil industry was crucial, he said, as was a continued working partnership with non-OPEC producers. "There is a need for us to continue to strengthen our relationship with non-OPEC countries like Russia. the world will continue to need oil for the foreseeable future," he said. "Together with non-OPEC producers we must continue to invest to make sure the global community and global economy can rely on us as dependable suppliers of oil." WIND LAKE While no one hit the jackpot in Wednesdays Powerball drawing, two big winning tickets were sold in Racine and Kenosha counties. The $1 million Powerball ticket was sold at Speedway, 3012 Washington Road in Kenosha. The winner matched five out of five numbers, but not the Powerball, according to a Wisconsin Lottery news release issued Thursday morning. The $50,000 Powerball ticket was sold at Schmidts Country Gas N Go, 26480 Fries Lane, in the Wind Lake area of the Town of Norway. Wednesdays winning Powerball numbers were 30, 49, 54, 66 and 69, with a Powerball of 8. The Power Play number was 2, the release said. Winners at all prize levels have 180 days from Wednesdays drawing to claim their prizes. The $1 million ticket must be claimed at the Lotterys headquarters in Madison. Since there was not a Powerball jackpot winner Wednesday night, the jackpot continues to grow. The Powerball jackpot for Saturday nights drawing is estimated at $173 million ($109 million cash), according to the release. A customer picks up a Nike shoe, deciding what size he wants to buy. The lackluster year for Nike shareholders isn't going to turnaround anytime soon, according to Goldman Sachs. The firm lowered its rating for Nike shares to neutral from buy, citing an intense promotional environment for the company's products. The call sent the stock down 1.2 percent at Thursday's market open. "The drivers of domestic pressure will take some time to work through, exacerbated by persistent excess inventory sitting at Nike's brick and mortar retail partners and the high visibility this markdown product gets as it is funneled online via amazon.com and other platforms," analyst Lindsay Drucker Mann wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "Near-term dynamics are challenging with an inventory overhang in the US hampering Nike's ability to 'reset' the market." Nike shares have underperformed the market year to date with its shares up 3 percent through Wednesday, compared with the S&P 500's 14 percent return. The analyst reaffirmed her $54 price target for Nike, representing 3 percent upside from Wednesday's close. Drucker Mann noted that Nike's North American sales growth has deteriorated in the past year from 6 percent in fiscal first-quarter 2017 to a 3 percent decline in the most recent fiscal first-quarter 2018. She said sales trends in Asia are also getting worse. "International has been a critical growth engine, driving about half of Nike's revenue growth over the last decade, and with substantial opportunity ahead," she wrote. "Nike's business has cooled in key regions, with signs of deceleration in China giving us particular pause." Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story. Maybe not a knockout blow to London, but certainly a stiff jab. The CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs , Lloyd Blankfein, took to Twitter Thursday to offer fulsome praise of the German city of Frankfurt as a great place to do business. Tweet 1 In the tweet, Blankfein said: "Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there." Just in case anyone missed the point, Blankfein ended the tweet with "#Brexit". Germany's Frankfurt and Paris, France, have both pushed themselves hard as a replacement location for London-based firms in the financial industry worried about the effect of Britain leaving the European Union. In June, Goldman Sachs said it would "very probably" at least double its headcount in Frankfurt, where it currently employs 200 people. LONDON, UK 19th October, 2017 The Sohn Conference Foundation, in partnership with CNBC, announces today the speaker lineup for its 6th Annual London Investment Conference on 30 November 2017 at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. The Conference brings together industry leaders and Europe's most influential hedge fund managers to present their most compelling investment ideas. Sir Paul Ruddock, Co-Founder of Lansdowne Partners, is to open the conference with a short talk addressing how the hedge fund industry has evolved, and the importance of philanthropic activity. Piers Butler, Director of the Sohn Foundation London said: "Once again, the Sohn conference has attracted the utmost talent and influence within the European hedge fund space, whilst continuing to support our overarching aim of fighting pediatric cancer. We are confident this year will be another successful meeting of minds for speakers, presenters and attendees alike." The speaker lineup for the 6th Annual Sohn London Investment Conference includes: Pierre Andurand, CIO, Andurand Capital David Craigen, Partner and Portfolio Manager, Lansdowne Partners Bruno Crastes, CEO, H2O Asset Management Adrian Croxson, Head of European Equities, Och-Ziff Capital Management Reade Griffith, Chief Investment Officer, Polygon Global Partners' European Event-Driven Fund and Co-Founder and Head of Investment Committee, Tetragon Financial Group Per Johansson, Founder and CIO, Bodenholm Capital Beltran de la Lastra, CEO and CIO, Bestinver Stephen Loukas, Partner and Portfolio Manager, FrontFour Capital Group Selvan Masil, Founder and CIO, Westray Capital Management Michel Massoud, Co-founder and CIO, Melqart Asset Management Emeric Preaubert, Founding Partner and Co-Head of Portfolio Management, Sycomore Asset Management Davide Serra, Founder, CEO and CIO, Algebris Investments Dean Tenerelli, Portfolio Manager, T. Rowe Price Ross Turner, Founding Partner, Pelham Capital Management Christian Vogel Claussen, CEO & CIO & Founder, Alanda Capital Management Under the leadership of the Sohn London Committee, including Piers Butler, Alexandre Casin, Dina Geha, Armenio Keusseyan, and Manuel Stotz, the Sohn London Conference has developed a reputation as London's premier investment conference and charity event. Conference beneficiaries have included, Cambridge Research UK Cambridge Institute, DKMS, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and the New York Academy of Sciences Sohn Scientific Conference. For more information about the Sohn London Conference, visit www.sohnconference.org/london/. Follow Sohn on Twitter @SohnConf, #Sohn2017 and #SohnLDN2017 for meeting updates, news and highlights. For all enquiries please contact: Greenbrook Communications Rob White, Matthew Goodman, Clare Glynn SOHN@greenbrookpr.com +44 20 7952 2000 ABOUT THE SOHN CONFERENCE FOUNDATION The Sohn Conference Foundation is dedicated to the treatment and cure of pediatric cancer and other childhood diseases. The Foundation supports cutting-edge medical research, state-of-the-art research equipment, and innovative programs to ensure that children with cancer survive and thrive. The Foundation raises its funds through premier investment conferences and special events, including the renowned annual New York Sohn Investment Conference. Founded in 1995, the Conference honors the memory of Ira Sohn, a Wall Street Professional who lost his battle with cancer at age 29. The Foundation has expanded its reach to include the Sohn Australia Conference, Sohn Canada Conference, Sohn Hong Kong Conference, Sohn India Conference, Sohn London Conference, Sohn Monaco Conference, Sohn San Francisco Conference, Sohn Tel Aviv Conference, and Sohn Zurich Conference. To date, the Foundation has raised $80 million. More information on the Sohn Investment Conference is available at www.sohnconference.org ABOUT CNBC With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 409 million homes worldwide, including more than 91.4 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com. Developer Mohamed Hadid has built dozens of decadent homes for wealthy clients. But the mansion he designed for himself and lived in for over a decade with his famous family, including model daughters Gigi and Bella Hadid, is truly one-of-a-kind. Hadid House Coldwell Banker / The Agency And one affluent buyer could soon call it home themselves: The Beverly Hills estate where the Hadid sisters grew up is currently on the market for $85 million, as featured on an upcoming episode of CNBC's "Secret Lives of the Super Rich." Let's take a look inside. Hadid Property Coldwell Banker / The Agency The 35,000-square-foot house stretches across 2.2 acres of land. On the first floor, guests can take a seat in the Parisian-style sitting room or grab a chair at the dining room table as crystal chandeliers sparkle overhead. There's abundant places to relax, including the colossal kitchen and two adjacent family rooms. Kitchen Coldwell Banker / The Agency Much of the artwork found throughout the house are original pieces painted by Hadid himself. Upstairs, the house features six bedrooms, including Gigi's former living space. The sister's stayed there when with their dad. (Hadid is divorced from their mother, Yolanda Hadid.) Bella and Gigi Hadid at Milan Fashion Week The 5,000-square-foot master suite is twice the size of the typical American home and cloaked in custom-made silk dressings. Hadid's closet takes up a good amount of that space, with floor-to-ceiling, glass-fronted cabinets and an enormous center island. Master Suite Coldwell Banker / The Agency And this isn't your parents' basement. In place of old carpet and forgotten treadmills, the lowest level of Hadid's home features a walk-in wine cellar, card room filled with leather furnishings and a grand ballroom. There's also a home theater with custom-designed furniture and intricate crown molding. Movie Theater Coldwell Banker / The Agency Hadid's favorite space, however, is the subterranean Moroccan room, laden with silk pillows and calming candles. The hidden space is a signature for Hadid, who incorporates a form of the room into every house he designs. Moroccan Room Coldwell Banker / The Agency "This room, specifically, was built totally in Morocco," Hadid tells "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" host Robert Frank. "It was sent over here to be assembled." Inside the Moroccan room, Hadid also placed an underground Turkish bath and a false wall that slides away to reveal a soundproof bedroom fit for a king. Turkish Bath Coldwell Banker / The Agency In the backyard, a sweeping infinity pools overlooks Beverly Hills from above. Pool Coldwell Banker / The Agency The estate's lucky buyer won't just be getting impeccable design and a breathtaking property, however. "Whoever buys it, I will paint two portraits for him and her," Hadid says. Watch new episodes of CNBC's "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" Thursdays at 10P/ET . Don't miss: The designer of this $27.5 million Dallas mansion has worked with Kim Kardashian and Andy Warholtake a look inside White House chief of staff John Kelly said Thursday that President Donald Trump had done the best he could in calling the widow of a slain U.S. Army sergeant killed in Niger earlier this month. "If you've never been in combat, you can't even imagine how to make that call," Kelly told reporters in a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing. Kelly, a Gold Star father, delivered an emotional defense of the president, who was criticized on Wednesday for his comments on a call with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four Americans killed in Niger on Oct. 4. "There's no perfect way to make that phone call," Kelly said, adding that when Trump asked him how to call the families of the four slain service members, "My first recommendation to him was that he not do it, because it's not the phone call that parents and family members are looking forward to." Kelly described how Trump had asked him, "What do I say?" Kelly said he replied that there was nothing the president could say that would lighten the burden for the four families. But to help Trump prepare for the calls, Kelly explained to the president what he himself had been told in a phone call after his son Robert Kelly was killed in combat in Afghanistan. "He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed," Kelly said, recalling what his best friend, Gen. Joe Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told him. "He knew what he was getting into by joining that one percent. He knew what the possibilities were, because we were at war. And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth." Kelly added, "That's what the president tried to say to the four families." Dunford's line about a soldier knowing what he was getting into is precisely what Trump tried to say to Myeshia Johnson in a phone call on Tuesday, first described publicly by Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who had known the Johnson family for years and was sitting with Johnson when she received the call. Wilson said she heard Trump tell Johnson that her late husband, "knew what he was signing up for .... but when it happens it hurts anyway," and that the president's call left Johnson in tears. Wilson was in a car with Johnson when the call came and only heard it after Johnson put it on speakerphone. Nonetheless, Kelly sharply criticized Wilson for listening to the call. "It stuns me that a member of Congress would've listened in on that conversation," Kelly told reporters. "I thought at least that was sacred." The duty of presidential condolence calls has been complicated in recent days by Trump's decision to compare the calls he's made with those of his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Earlier this week, Trump claimed that Obama had not called families of the fallen and that he had called the families of every soldier killed during his presidency. Neither statement was true, and both Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have walked back Trump's claims since then. Kelly also appeared to refute Trump's insistence that Wilson had "totally fabricated" her account of the call, and that Trump had "proof" of that. Trump tweet Asked by reporters Wednesday what he had talked to Johnson about, Trump quickly grew defensive. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said; didn't say it all," Trump said at the White House. "I did not say what she said, and I'd like her to make the statement again because I did not say what she said. Had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who was sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren't too surprised to hear that," Trump said. A two-hour drive from the tech-fueled riches of San Francisco, Stockton, Calif., is a completely different world from its Silicon Valley neighbor. But the small city is taking a big bet to try to fix its lagging economy with a strategy that many of the tech elite have been largely only pontificating about: universal basic income, or cash handouts. In 2013, Stockton became the most populous city in the United States to enter bankruptcy. The city of 300,000 was toppled when the housing bubble burst, its basic operating expenses dependent on developer fees and increasing property tax revenue that never came to bear. Four years later, Stockton is still very much struggling. The median household income there is $44,797, well below California's median household income of $61,818, according to a statement from the city's 27-year-old mayor, Michael Tubbs. Stockton's unemployment rate is 7.3 percent, close to double the 4.3 percent national average. One in four residents live below the poverty line and 18 percent of Stocktonian residents experience food insecurity. Mayor Tubbs sees universal basic income as a possible way to alleviate some of the pains of poverty the city is experiencing. Mayor Michael Tubbs, Photo by Kevin Richtik - Caroline photography Tubbs, who was born and raised in Stockton and first elected to city council at 22, read about the idea of a guaranteed basic income in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last book, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" In the book, King writes: "I'm now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income." Called the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), Tubbs and the city of Stockton announced their initiative Wednesday. In the coming six to nine months, SEED will go through a design period where the city will work with social scientists and community leaders to determine, among other things, the number of residents who will be part of the initial test phase of the program and how to select participants. Checks of $500 per month are expected to start being distributed to Stocktonians in the second half of 2018. The goal is to grow the program as the city can afford to do so. Stockton's SEED program is being funded initially with a $1 million grant from the Economic Security Project. It's also accepting crowdfunded donations to the project with a Crowdrise campaign. The Economic Security Project is an organization aiming to raising awareness of universal basic income in the United States and is co-chaired by future of work expert Natalie Foster, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and scholar and leader Dorian T. Warren. When the Economic Security Project reached out to Tubbs to talk about universal basic income as a possible poverty alleviation tool for Stockton, he had already been thinking about it. "A few months ago I called Mayor Michael Tubbs, the charismatic young mayor of Stockton, CA, to hear his thoughts about the universal basic income, an idea that my colleagues at the Economic Security Project and I were exploring," writes Foster in a Medium post. "It turned out he was a step ahead of me. He told me that he'd been tracking the conversation...." For the Economic Security Project, the pilot program will provide information about how a universal basic income can work in the United States. "Our goal in providing this grant is to explore and learn from the impact of these cash transfers and the economic security they provide in the lives of Stockton residents," says Foster. "At this point in our journey, we believe unconditional cash has the power to end systemic poverty and rebuild the middle class." Stockton is not the only universal basic income program underway in the United States. Silicon Valley start-up accelerator Y Combinator has initiated a long-term study of universal basic income. Y Combinator's research arm has piloted a program in Oakland, Calif., and is preparing for a larger program which will involve 3,000 individuals: 1,000 will receive $1,000 per month for up to five years, while 2,000 will receive $50 a month as a control group. "Eliminating poverty is such a moral imperative and something that I believe in so strongly," Y Combinator president Sam Altman has told CNBC Make It. "I think about the amount of human potential that is being wasted by people that are not doing what they want to do. I think about how great it would be to undo that. And that's really powerful to me." Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also talked about universal basic income as a strategy to unlock creativity and encourage risk-taking. Other business leaders including Elon Musk and Richard Branson have called for universal basic income as a counter to the job loss caused by a rapid acceleration automation. Musk has said the government should make such payments and Branson has proposed that the companies who profit from the acceleration of artificial intelligence ought to contribute. For its part, Stockton hopes to prove that a given a chance, its residents will thrive. "Stockton is in many ways a microcosm of the United States: in recent years, major shifts in our economy, persistent wage stagnation, and rising inequality have made it increasingly difficult for hardworking residents to make ends meet," the SEED website says. "We believe this initiative will highlight the resiliency and grit of our people. And it will show the nation and the world that ours is a community of hardworking, determined individuals who can forge ahead if only given the opportunity." New and more advanced transmissions as well as more complex infotainment systems are hurting the reliability of cars and trucks. That is the conclusion of the Consumer Reports annual auto reliability survey. "It is really the new technology that is being added to the new vehicles that has really been the problem," said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports. The survey, based on the impressions of more than 640,000 vehicle owners, is considered a benchmark report in the auto industry. This year, Fisher says, vehicle owners continue to be frustrated with new systems that are filled with bugs and glitches. In particular, new transmissions designed to improve the performance of new models are often delivering an inconsistent ride for drivers. Fisher says these technologies have more than their fair share of problems. So which brands get the highest marks from their owners? This year, Toyota was No. 1, with Lexus coming in second and Kia moving up to third, the highest ranking that brand has ever achieved. What stands out to Fisher about the most reliable brands is their conservative approach to introducing new systems into vehicles. "These are auto manufacturers that are very slow and methodical as they add to that technology," said Fisher. As a result, Toyota and Lexus owners complained less about seeing glitches in their vehicles. On the other end of the survey, three domestic brands were ranked as having the least reliable models, with Cadillac falling six spots to dead last in the survey. "With General Motors, they put out a lot of new product very recently, and they are struggling with that," said Fisher. "We expect that over the years, over the generations, the life generation of these vehicles, they are going to get a lot of the bugs worked out." Source: Consumer Reports Questions? Comments? . Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member, are seen during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Dirksen Building titled 'Examining How Healthy Choices Can Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Costs,' on October 19, 2017. A bill that seeks to stabilize Obamacare markets by restoring key federal payments to health insurers has drawn 24 senators as sponsors, evenly split between Republicans and Democratic caucus members, lawmakers said Thursday. Among the GOP co-sponsors are John McCain of Arizona, whose opposition to recent Republican Obamacare replacement bills helped doom them. Joining McCain is his close friend, South Carolina's Lindsay Graham, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who together last month sponsored a last-ditch, failed bill, to replace Obamacare. The announcement of the two dozen sponsors of the Alexander-Murray bill came on the heels of a new poll showing strong public support for restarting the payments to insurers. But the deal as currently written faces opposition from Republican leaders in the House, and from President Donald Trump, who cut off the payments last week. "We have reached an agreement on bipartisan legislation that will extend cost-sharing reduction payments during 2018 and 2019," said Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash. The duo also said their bill will "protect consumers facing higher premiums this year, and give states meaningful flexibility to create greater choices among health insurance policies in the individual health insurance market." In addition to restoring the cost-sharing payments, the bill would give individual states flexibility in setting rules for what kind of health plans can be sold, and allow people of all ages to buy lower-cost, less-comprehensive catastrophic health insurance. Some cities put off by Amazon's request for incentives in HQ2 bids 12:59 PM ET Mon, 23 Oct 2017 | 01:54 Amazon is wrapping up what amounts to a contest with a multibillion-dollar prize for the North American city that becomes the site of the online retailer's second headquarters. Based on the response, the company will have a tough time making a decision, and CNBC wants to help. To get the bidding started last month, Amazon promised to invest more than $5 billion and hire 50,000 people for its new headquarters, which it says will rival its sprawling Seattle campus in size and scope. In return, state and city governments are expected to offer generous tax benefits and other incentives. The result has been a flood of pitches from across the country, from big cities such as New York and Chicago to small regions such as Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. More than 100 cities and counties have expressed interest. Those proposals, due Thursday, sought to highlight each city's strengths, based on the wish list the company created to help it find the perfect spot for its new campus. The list included a population of more than 1 million people, an international airport, mass transit, quality higher education, an educated workforce and a solid business climate. RACINE Kathy Ippolite of Kenosha has donated $100,000 to help Wadewitz Elementary School build its new playground. Ippolite is the aunt of Wadewitz teacher Lisa Johnson. For close to a year, Johnson and a group of Wadewitz staff have been fundraising, hoping to raise enough money for new playground equipment, and they had raised about $45,000. With the donation, the group moved much closer to its goal of $200,000. According to a press release, the new playground will be handicapped-accessible, designed to accommodate special-education students, which the current playground equipment does not. Ippolite surprised the group with the check at Wadewitz on Tuesday. We are beyond excited and speechless, Wadewitz special education teacher Krista Munoz said. To know that the students in my classroom will finally have a playground that is accessible for them to play on, as all of my students use wheelchairs as their way of moving, is unbelievable. They will now have daily access with their regular-education peers. I cannot wait. Words cannot express how much this playground is needed for all of our students at Wadewitz and the community, Wadewitz teacher Heather Eisenman said. Especially for the students that have physical challenges and cannot use our current playground. Now the dream of our students having accessible equipment and being able to play with their friends is coming true. Principal Chad Chapin said the hope is to break ground on the playground next spring. In the meantime, they will still hold fundraisers and accept donations. Shares of Philip Morris sank Thursday after the international tobacco company's earnings missed analysts' expectations. The company reported earnings of $1.27 per share versus an estimate of $1.38 by Thomson Reuters. Revenue of $7.47 billion also missed expectations of $7.72 billion. The company cut its full-year reported diluted EPS forecast to a range of $4.75 to $4.80, down from its previous range of $4.78 to $4.93 that it had issued in July. Philip Morris makes cigarette brands including Marlboro, L&M and Parliament, but it has adopted the manifesto "designing a smoke-free future." Shares of Philip Morris were down more than 4 percent in Thursday trade, the stock's largest fall since November. Quarterly cigarette shipment volume fell 4.1 percent. "For the full year, we continue to anticipate a cigarette industry decline of around 3 percent due mainly to the soft economic environment and related pressure on consumer spending," said CFO Jacek Olczak. "Our cigarette market share declined by 60 basis points in the quarter." The company has focused on expanding iQOS, a heat-not-burn tobacco product it says is potentially less harmful than combustible cigarettes. "The strong momentum for iQOS continues. To date, we have launched iQOS in key cities in 31 markets and more than 3.7 million adult consumers have already stopped smoking and switched to iQOS," Olczak added. Philip Morris recently announced a slate of personnel and structural changes in a move the company said will help it transition to a smoke-free future. Among the moves, the company appointed Olczak to its new chief operating officer position, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Olczak has been CFO since 2012. If you need evidence that the situation in Puerto Rico is still dire, look no further than the reports this week of islanders who have been forced to turn to water mixed with raw sewage for hydration and hygiene. It's been almost a month since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, and municipal water services have still not been restored for about a third of the people on the island. Meanwhile, nearly half of the island's sewage treatment plants remain out of service, so wastewater isn't necessarily being purified as it runs through the island's water system. In desperation, Puerto Ricans are bathing and washing their clothes in rivers that have raw sewage pouring into them, the Associated Press reported, exposing them to bacteria like Leptospira, which causes leptospirosis. Some Puerto Ricans are even drinking from condemned wells and Superfund hazardous waste sites, which contain potentially dangerous chemicals. More from Vox: Spain is moving to crush Catalonia's independence movement once and for all Trump just publicly accused the FBI of having conspired against him France's "Me too" campaign may come with legislation @DavidBegnaud: The EPA cites reports of Puerto Ricans "obtaining, or trying to obtain, drinking water from wells at hazardous waste "Superfund" sites" Let's be clear: This would not be happening unless people were desperate and had no other options. Thousands of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel and 14,000 members of the military are on the ground right now distributing bottled water, food, and other supplies. But many Puerto Ricans' basic needs like clean water are still not being met. The water crisis is directly related to, and reinforced by, the electricity problem. More than 80 percent of the island's electricity customers still have no access to power after the electrical grid was wiped out in the storm. As my Vox colleagues Eliza Barclay and Brian Resnick explained, "No electricity means no power to pump water into homes, no water to bathe or flush toilets." Electricity is needed to clean and distribute water too. Even islanders who do have access to running water are being warned by the territory's water utility to boil the water or use chlorine tablets first, since many water treatment plants are out of commission. But of course, with most Puerto Ricans without power in their homes, it's not so easy to boil water. As of October 18, the government had restored water services for 69 percent of people on the island a number that mysteriously declined on Tuesday from 72 percent, according to Food & Water Watch. FEMA has provided 23.6 million liters of water since September 20 but that's less than 10 percent of the drinking water needs for the territory, according to a new CNN report, and an even smaller fraction of their consider cooking and hygiene needs. They've also passed out water purification tablets and mobile filtration systems. But the efforts aren't enough, CNN said: Lines for water potable or not are long in many parts of the island. Rumors of contamination are rampant. Even as some taps turn back on, residents worry about drinking from faucets, which sputter and, in some locations, produce hazy liquid. "This will be the most challenging environmental response after a hurricane that our country has ever seen," Judith Enck, an Environmental Protection Agency administrator who worked in Puerto Rico under President Obama, told CBS News on Tuesday. The Khurais oilfield operated by oil giant Saudi Aramco, about 160 km (99 miles) from Riyadh. Ali Jarekji | Reuters Oil giant Saudi Aramco is readying what's set to be the biggest initial public offering ever. But as it turns out, investors might not be all that interested. In fact, fund managers told CNBC that the Saudi energy behemoth the valuation of which has seen estimates from $1 trillion to $2 trillion comes up short for all three basic tests investors apply to potential IPO investments: growth, an attractive dividend and solid corporate governance. Saudi Arabia, which plans to float 5 percent of the state-owned oil giant, may earmark the lions' share of the issue to strategic investors, reportedly from China, if the response from the broader market seems lukewarm. The initial signals don't look positive. watch now Even portfolio managers with a reasonably bullish view on the price of oil are thinking twice about buying into Aramco because of uncertainty about the true extent of the company's and effectively the Kingdom's oil reserves. "That's going to be the biggest hurdle. What are we buying?" said Kunal Ghosh, portfolio manager of global emerging markets at Allianz Global Investors who manages $2.1 billion. "For the last 100 years there's never been a published number that's validated. My enthusiasm for the IPO is very low." Though Ghosh said he believed a higher price environment for oil may support the valuation during the initial stages when Aramco does come to market, the perceived lack of transparency over reserves and what's seen as weak corporate governance stemming from decades of state control represent longer-term structural hurdles for many investors. On the sidelines "When I'm buying an oil company, I'm doing it because I have a view on the commodity, a view on reserves and a view on the management and their respect for my view as a minority shareholder," Ghosh told CNBC on Thursday. "Saudi Aramco has been a private company for decades, and needs a change of mindset," Ghosh added. "Until there's a change of mindset, it will keep us on the sidelines. What multiples it will get for its reserves and earnings will be determined by their corporate governance." watch now To be sure, Aramco is in the process of attempting to answer the markets' questions. The company has appointed international auditors to independently assess its massive oil reserves, a process that's expected to be completed by the end of the year. The result of that audit and whether it undershoots or overshoots the official Saudi figure of over 261 billion barrels will have a direct impact on the all-important valuation. National interests "In Saudi, they have done some verification in some small areas, but the full verification will take several years and will take time," said Fereidun Fesharaki, founder of energy consultancy, FACTS Global Energy. "However, based on the crude production capability, I think they may have more reserves than they said." How Aramco handles the transition from national oil company to one answerable to shareholders, though in a minority, will be closely watched by the market. Offering only 5 percent of the company "means investors are a very small minority and minority rights might be subordinated to national interests," said Bryan Goh, chief investment officer at private bank Bordier & Cie in Singapore. "Aramco is not just an oil and gas company, it's the sovereign wealth fund and economic and social development fund of Saudi Arabia. We can't be confident that the company will be managed from a purely commercial perspective." watch now Beyond questions of corporate priorities, many fund managers are also concerned that Aramco's business model simply won't stand up over the longer term as the rise of renewable energy undermines the future growth prospects for traditional oil and gas producers. "It's a bit like asking if you would buy Ford if it was to IPO tomorrow. Unlikely. Its day in the sun has passed," said Warren Gilman, chairman and CEO of CEF Holdings. Sunset industry watch now $52,660.57. It's a number Shannyn Allan knows by heart. That's how much money she painstakingly saved for a 20 percent down payment and closing costs on her dream home one with a claw-foot tub and enough room to run her fundraising group for dog rescues. It was "the only house in San Antonio in our price range," she said. And it's how much money the first-time homebuyer nearly lost this spring to an increasingly common scam. "It was a nightmare every single day," Allan said of the three-week ordeal. "I almost lost the house." Variations of so-called email access scams have become a $5.3 billion problem affecting businesses and consumers in all sectors, the FBI warned in a May public service announcement. The bureau's notice called out real estate transactions as a trending forum for the scam, targeting "all participants including buyers, sellers, agents, and lawyers." In particular, complaints to the FBI from victimized title companies jumped 480 percent in 2016. Don't dismiss this as an interesting news story and distance yourself thinking this is something that won't happen to you. Jessica Edgerton associate counsel, National Association of Realtors "They're tough numbers to digest because we do think they're underreported," said James Barnacle, chief of the FBI's money laundering unit. In some of the largest real estate cases, he said, losses have been "in the low millions." But even smaller losses are significant. "They're people's life savings," Barnacle said. Tactics for the scam vary, but thieves' aim is the same: Compromise the computer or email account of a person or business involved in real estate to monitor upcoming transactions. That gives them an opportunity to impersonate that party and try to intercept funds. Shannyn Allan and her partner Aaron. Source: Shannyn Allan "Scammers and hackers want to target you when you're either scared out of your mind or extremely happy," said Ryan O'Leary, vice president of the Threat Research Center at WhiteHat Security. "Real estate is the perfect one-two combo, and there's a lot of money at stake." Elements of real estate transactions are becoming increasingly digital, giving would-be thieves plenty of opportunities, he said. Nor does it hurt that a home purchase is one of the few instances where a request to wire money won't set off alarm bells for the consumer. In Allan's case, the thieves interceded just hours before the closing. "They waited and they watched, like a damn gator in the water," she said. She was on her way to the bank when she got an email that appeared to be from her title company, with a change of wire transfer instructions. Suspicious, Allan reached out to her real estate agent who, she says, simply apologized for the hassle. I don't want to set false expectations for consumers. The chance of recovery here is slim. James Barnacle chief of the FBI's money laundering unit Allan wired the money at 9:34 a.m. Central time. By a lucky coincidence, the real title company reached out to Allan shortly after, to give her the final closing instructions and confirm the money would be wired. "They were like, 'You wired the money? Who did you wire it to?'" she said. How to avoid real estate wire fraud An educated homebuyer is the first line of defense, said Jessica Edgerton, associate counsel for the National Association of Realtors. No matter what security precautions other parties, such as your title company or real estate agent, have in place, ultimately you're the one wiring the money. "This is happening all the time," she said. "Attempts are happening on a daily basis. "Don't dismiss this as an interesting news story and distance yourself thinking this is something that won't happen to you," Edgerton said. Here's how to avoid falling victim to this kind of scam: 1) Verify everything When you're buying a house, you expect to hear from your real estate agent, attorney and other parties in the transaction. So you're naturally less suspicious of emails that appear to be from those people which thieves take advantage of, said the FBI's Barnacle. Don't assume any emailed instructions or account details are legit. "You have to call, and you have to confirm," Barnacle said. "Having some kind of redundancy and some kind of check in place is the number one way of avoiding being hit by these frauds." But don't call the phone number in the email, he said. That may redirect you to the would-be thieves. Instead, call a number you know to be correct for say, that title agency or mortgage broker, based on a web search or previous interactions. 2) Be suspicious of changes Last-minute changes to closing procedures are a red flag especially requests that you change the payment method or send money to a different bank or account, said Doug Johnson, senior vice president and senior advisor of risk management policy for the American Bankers Association. Real estate closings are a "standard process," he said, and it would be unusual for those details to change. Ian Nolan | Getty Images Again, verify any changes by calling the other parties involved. "Trust your instincts on this kind of stuff," Johnson said. "We tend to know when something smells a little fishy." 3) Secure your emails Given the risk of compromise, don't send sensitive data such as bank account details or your Social Security number over email, Edgerton said. Use a secure file-transfer service to send documents required for that home purchase, or a secure client-access portal that the business (be it your title company, mortgage broker, etc.) has set up. Be suspicious of communications that don't follow whatever protocol has been set up for example, a request that you email details that you've previously securely submitted via a portal. 4) Use good cybersecurity hygiene This scam begins with thieves gaining access to the computer or email account of someone involved in the real estate transaction, said O'Leary make sure that someone isn't you. Scammers and hackers want to target you when you're either scared out of your mind or extremely happy. Real estate is the perfect one-two combo, and there's a lot of money at stake. Ryan O'Leary vice president, WhiteHat Security's Threat Research Center Keep your antivirus software and operating system up to date, use unique, complex passwords and enable protections such as two-factor authentication where available. Don't click on any suspicious links in emails, he said. 5) Pick a secure payment method Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., left, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., speak about online political ads and preventing foreign interference in U.S. elections, during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Three senators began a bipartisan push Thursday to rein in social media political ads amid fears about Russian meddling in American elections. Should the bill gain more bipartisan traction, it would mark one of the strongest efforts yet to check companies like Facebook and Google . Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., crafted the bill, called the "Honest Ads Act." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., signed on as a co-sponsor. The senators hope the bill will curb the reach of foreign-bought political ads during American elections. The U.S. intelligence community has concluded Russia launched a campaign to influence the 2016 election and will try to do so again during next year's midterm elections. It is not clear how many more of the majority Republicans in Congress will get behind the bill. It will need broader GOP support to pass. Klobuchar and Warner expressed optimism that more Republicans would support the plan. Here's what the legislation would do, according to the senators' offices: Expand federal rules to require a disclaimer and disclosure to the Federal Election Commission for paid online political ads. Ads advocating for or against a specific candidate online would also need a disclaimer. Disclaimers say whether a campaign paid for or supported the message. Digital platforms with 50 million or more unique monthly visitors would have to keep a public database of political ads. They would have to maintain records for entities that bought more than $500 in political ads in the preceding 12 months. The database would have to include a copy of the ad, the rate charged and a summary of its target audience, among other pieces of information. It would also require the platforms to make a "reasonable" effort to stop foreign nationals from using ads to influence elections. The Russian effort "exposes a national security vulnerability when it comes to online political advertisements," Klobuchar said. American laws "have failed to keep up" with the technology foreign entities can use, she added. Tech titans Facebook and Google parent Alphabet have said they found Russia-linked ads on their platforms during the election. Klobuchar described new regulation as necessary because of both companies' vast reach. She noted that Facebook and Google accounted for nearly all digital ad revenue growth last year and now serve as a news source to millions of voters. It remains to be seen what measures the social media platforms will support. Major technology companies have opposed similar rules in the past. Warner on Thursday described the measures as "common sense, light touch regulations." In a statement Thursday, Facebook said it will work with lawmakers to increase transparency in political ads. "We have already announced the steps Facebook will take on our own and we look forward to continuing the conversation with lawmakers as we work toward a legislative solution," the company said. A Google spokesperson said the company supports "efforts to improve transparency, enhance disclosures and reduce foreign abuse." "We're evaluating steps we can take on our own platforms and will work closely with lawmakers, the FEC, and the industry to explore the best solutions," the spokesperson said. Twitter has also found fake accounts and bots linked to Russia. The company has said it is taking steps to stop malicious bots and misinformation on the platform. In a statement to CNBC on Wednesday, Twitter said it looks forward to "engaging" with Congress and the Federal Election Commission on ad transparency. Representatives from all three of those companies will attend a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Nov. 1. Klobuchar serves as the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, which has a role in elections. Warner is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the congressional panels investigating Russian meddling and possible collusion with the Donald Trump campaign. Rep. Pat Tiberi, a senior member of the House tax-writing committee, will leave office by the end of January. The Ohio Republican announced his plan on Thursday, as his party aims to overhaul the American tax system. The GOP hopes to approve a tax plan by the end of the year, but the process could leak into next year. Tiberi, 54, serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and its tax policy subcommittee. He has held the House seat since 2001. In a statement, Tiberi said he will lead the Ohio Business Roundtable when he leaves office. "We have helped thousands of constituents with problems they have had with the federal government and fought for solutions to improve the lives of Americans everywhere," Tiberi said. "I am proud of my team's work and everything that we have accomplished together." Tiberi easily won his 12th District with more than 66 percent of the vote last year. President Donald Trump carried the state of Ohio. Four months since the start of a public dispute between Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his siblings, the leader of the Southeast Asian island nation said he is not sure whether the matter has been solved. Lee's two younger siblings, neurologist Lee Wei Ling and businessman Lee Hsien Yang, shocked the country with a public statement accusing the prime minister of abusing power and exploiting their father's legacy for political gains. The three are children of the country's founding and longest-serving prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away in 2015. The rare public feud among the siblings over the fate of their late father's home led to the prime minister calling for a special sitting of parliament to defend the integrity of his government. "I'm not sure that it is solved," was Lee's short response to CNBC's question on whether the dispute among members of the first family is over. Lee gave long answers to topics ranging from North Korea to domestic leadership succession, but he took on an emotional tone and kept his responses short when CNBC brought up his siblings. He admitted that he is "of course" sad about the incident and that he has not communicated with his brother and sister recently. "I think they are where they are. Perhaps one day when emotions have subsided, some movements will be possible. These things take time," said the 65-year-old, who has been prime minister since 2004. Here's the full transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's interview with CNBC. watch now watch now "These are thoughts which cannot be completely suppressed and if in fact it goes that way, and South Korea and Japan go closer to being nuclear powers or actually cross the threshold, it means a different strategic and security balance in northeast Asia," Lee said on Thursday. Not only would that scenario produce more risk and tension, "the Chinese will be very alarmed," he added. "I don't think that will make for a safer world, there will be implications elsewhere in the world." The current tensions are not just dangerous because of the chance of immediate flare ups, but also because they may introduce "longer-term trends, which are set off in northeast Asia if things persist in this direction," the 65 year-old leader said. Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong Terence Tan | MCI | Getty Images Last month, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis discussed the prospect of returning American nukes to Asia's fourth-largest economy. Washington stationed nuclear weapons in South Korea in 1958 but withdrew them in 1991. Former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba also suggested placing American nuclear weaponry on Japanese territory last month. Both governments, however, dismissed the idea. On Trump and TPP MADISON Former state Rep. Mandela Barnes said Wednesday that he is strongly considering running for lieutenant governor next year, making him the first prominent Democrat to express interest in the position. More than a dozen Democrats are either running or considering running for governor against Republican Scott Walker, who said Wednesday that hell formally announce early next month that hes seeking a third term. The winner of the August Democratic primary for lieutenant governor would be paired with whomever wins the gubernatorial primary to run as a ticket in the general election. Barnes, 30, of Milwaukee, served in the state Assembly from 2013 until January. He ran for state Senate but lost in the primary to Democratic incumbent Sen. Lena Taylor. He now works for State Innovation Exchange doing research and policy work for state lawmakers. In response to his consideration of running statewide, the Wisconsin Republican Party said he was unfit for office and referenced a 2015 incident caught on tape where Barnes confronted a well-known protester outside of the Capitol. Mandela Barnes record of irresponsible behavior in office, which includes attacking a man for asking questions about a vote, shows that he is not up to the serious task of fighting for Wisconsin families, Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman said. Miles Kristan alleged that Barnes pushed him after Kristan had asked him why he voted for public financing to help pay for construction of a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks. Barnes said he pushed the camera away but did not assault Kristan. The immediate aftermath of the confrontation can be seen on the video. I just got assaulted by a politician; did anybody else see that? Kristan says on camera as Barnes walked away. Barnes, who is black, accused Republicans of race baiting by bringing up the incident. Race baiting helped get them a president, of course theyll use it to protect a failing governor, he posted on Twitter, referring to President Donald Trump and Walker. Kristan was a well-known protester in and around the Capitol starting in 2011. He was cited for disorderly conduct in 2011 after he dumped a glass of beer on state Rep. Robin Vos, who is now speaker of the Assembly. Neither Kristan nor Barnes was cited in their altercation. Political newcomer Robert Louis Slamka, of Madison, is the only Democratic candidate who has registered to run for lieutenant governor. watch now Tiny Singapore's leap from developing world to advanced economy within a single generation depended on a strong government hand in external relations, economic policies, citizens' retirement savings and more leading to a perception that the country is a "nanny state." Even though Singapore is now a developed economy the only country with that status in Southeast Asia Singaporeans still hold high expectations of their government. And they're right to do so, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told CNBC. "Well if you asked a Singaporean, on the one hand they'll say, 'Let us do our own things.' On the other hand, when an issue comes out, they'll ask, 'What is the government doing about it?' And they have very high expectations of what the government should be doing, which is right because they've voted for the government and they expect the government to be able to perform. So we have to keep that balance," Lee said. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong greets guests during an official visit to the White House on August 2, 2016. Pete Marovich | Pool | Getty Images "No government prospers by saying, 'I don't need to do anything. Just by being there, we have made the country thrive.' You have to have an idea of what you need to do, what needs to be fixed, what can be improved, what we should now imagine together which we didn't previously imagine. And having thought of it, decide to go it. And that's the government's role," he said. Jobs in a fast-changing world Lee said a major challenge the government faces domestically, as in many developed countries, is making sure its workforce can adapt. The government's strategy is three-fold: get the education system to produce people with the right skills, upgrade and refresh the expertise of those already in the workforce, and transform 23 industries with different plans for each. Those strategies are laid out in a report by the Committee on the Future Economy, set up last year to address challenges arising from stagnating economic growth, an aging population and technological disruption. watch now "You have here to deal with a very tangible and concrete way with individual industries, individual firms and not just in a stratospheric, macro, philosophical approach," Lee said. "And you need to have a specific sense for each industry: what are the skills which are needed, which are the market areas that can be exploited, what are the changes that the companies need to make, how can we help the companies to achieve these changes, and if there has to be some rationalization, how can we help them to shake out and make it less painful." Singapore's trade-reliant economy is expected to grow between 2 percent and 3 percent this year a level Lee described as "very significant" by developed countries' standards. The question of succession watch now The Catalonia crisis is expected to reach new heights on Thursday with Spain looking likely to use its so-called "nuclear option" against the region, unless there is a last-minute change of heart from the pro-separatist leadership. Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont has until 10 a.m. local time Thursday morning (9:00 a.m. London time) to withdraw the declaration of independence he made albeit ambiguously last week. Puigdemont refused to clarify his government's intentions at an earlier deadline on Monday, at which point the Spanish government gave him one last chance to retract his equivocal response. If there is no last-minute change of heart, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is likely to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution its "nuclear option" which would allow Madrid to take control of the region, following approval from the Spanish Senate. "All I ask of Mr. Puigdemont is that he acts with good sense," Rajoy told the Spanish parliament in Madrid on Wednesday. As the latest and perhaps last deadline nears, it looks unlikely that Puigdemont will back down, however. Thousands of demonstrators g Antonio Masiello/Getty Images In Barcelona on Wednesday evening, he told members of his Catalan Democratic Party that he would press ahead with a more formal declaration of independence if Rajoy suspends Catalonia's political autonomy, Reuters reported citing sources within the Catalan government. Article 155 If Article 155 is triggered Thursday its effects would not be felt for several days due to it requiring approval from the upper house of parliament, the Senate. Rajoy would have to submit a list to the Upper House detailing the specific actions that the government is planning to take under Article 155. This list is also sent to a separate committee within the Senate that deals with autonomous communities, like Catalonia, before finally being debated by the Senate. A majority is then required to approve the proposals the Spanish government has suggested. Currently, Rajoy's People's Party has a majority in the Upper House meaning the proposals should pass. watch now Article 155 has never been invoked before so its effects and how exactly the Spanish government would implement direct rule are unknown. Teresa Gimenez Barbat, a founding member of Ciudadanos, a party allied with Rajoy's People's Party and against Catalan independence, told CNBC that Article 155 was the only option. "The Catalan government has hijacked the institutions in Catalonia. And the solution is to trigger Article 155 of the Constitution and to organize new elections to have new representatives with a clear transparent election that change the scenario in Catalonia and we can then initiate dialogue with everybody." Javi Lopez, member of the European Parliament and member of the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (the PSC), the Socialist party in the region which backs the Rajoy government and does not support independence, told CNBC Thursday that snap elections were needed. "If the Catalan government doesn't give this answer (on independence) then the Spanish government probably has to force, with Article 15, snap elections in Catalonia ... The political problem will be there after elections but the point is to force the elections and have new actors and to start dialogue to have constitutional reforms from Spain," he said. Crisis a long-time coming At an e-commerce start-up called Tophatter, employees used to contact its people operations chief, Sana Hafeez, with questions, because she's been there for years. She would do her best to answer those questions, but that took time out of her day. Now, all around the start-up's San Francisco headquarters there are red posters advertising the technology of another start-up, called Spoke, whose chatbot in the team communication app Slack can answer people's questions. "I just point to the sign and say, 'Have you asked Spoke?'" Hafeez told CNBC in an interview. "Need to know how to use the printer? Ask Spoke." She said she spends much less of her time at work answering the same mundane questions. She says she can do more important things, like meeting with colleagues individually. Word about Spoke has gotten around, and on Thursday the company said it has raised $28 million in funding. First, when founders David Kaneda, Pratyus Patnaik and Jay Srinivasan left Google last year to work on the start-up, they took on an $8 million round led by Accel. Earlier this year they raised an additional $20 million led by Greylock Partners. Other investors include Felicis Ventures, Index Ventures, Red Dog Capital, Spider Capital and Webb Investment Network. Part of the allure of a start-up like Spoke is that its product can be used inside Slack, as opposed to being just another stand-alone app. Messaging platforms like Slack are increasingly being used in place of email for work communication, and information is becoming more accessible to everyone on the team as a result. But in addition to Slack, Spoke is accessible as a web app, over email or even in a text message conversation. It also helps that Spoke's technology uses artificial intelligence to figure out which existing answers in a knowledge base apply to an employee's inquiry, and then provide better answers over time as it learns from whether people tell Spoke if its answers adequately respond to their questions. "It's basically human-curated machine learning," Srinivasan, the start-up's CEO, told CNBC. He and Patnaik arrived at Google in 2014, when the tech company acquired their previous start-up, Appurify, whose technology tested apps on real mobile devices to make sure they were working as they should. (But Srinivasan isn't the Spoke employee who's most skilled in AI. That would be chief data scientist Rajhans Samdani, who was a senior research scientist at Google before leaving to join Spoke last year. Samdani has built Spoke's learning system atop, among other things, TensorFlow, the open-source AI software that Google released under an open-source license in 2015.) If an employee feels an answer from Spoke is insufficient, the software reaches out to admins in the right part of the company to come up with something better. The system gets better at determining the right people to field questions based on its understanding of who has answered certain kinds of questions in the past. Consumers have come to expect that sort of intelligence in apps from web companies like Facebook or Google, but in the world of enterprise software, it's not always there. Many companies are in the habit of spending money on internal service desk software, so the company will have a way to sell revenue. Publicly traded Atlassian and ServiceNow are among the companies that sell software in the so-called service desk category. ServiceNow has been focused on automating parts of its software with AI thanks to an acquisition announced earlier this year. But as a rule, many existing ticketing and knowledge management systems "are clunky, slow and hard to understand," as Greylock investor Jerry Chen put it in a blog post on the funding news. And while ServiceNow typically rolls out its software inside big companies, Spoke is interested in gaining adoption among smaller companies, like Tophatter, which has 86 employees. Other early access customers include DoorDash, Neura and Turo, Srinivasan said. Spoke, which has 20 employees mostly in engineering is only taking on a few early customers each week, before letting any company start using it early next year. Hafeez doubts that Tophatter would stop using Spoke even as the e-commerce start-up keeps growing. Because if it were to give up Spoke, "we will not be disseminating information in a way that is easy, quick and accessible," she said. President Donald Trump's drive to overhaul the U.S. tax code is headed for a pivotal moment today, with Senate Republicans poised to approve a budget measure that would help them pass tax legislation without Democratic support. (Reuters) *Puerto Rico governor and Trump to meet at White House today (Chicago Tribune) *Obama to hit campaign trail today for first time since leaving office (USA Today) The odds of passing a newly proposed bipartisan "short-term fix" for Obamacare got longer as House Speaker Paul Ryan's office indicated he opposes the bill, and President Trump's spokeswoman said he does not support the legislation as now written. (CNBC) *Judge plans to rule next week in Obamacare subsidies fight (Politico) *Republicans gear up to fight Trump over NAFTA (Financial Times) Senators this week are slated to announce a bill they hope will curb foreign governments' influence on U.S. elections. It will call for more transparency in ads on social media platforms run by companies such as Facebook (FB), Google (GOOGL) and Twitter (TWTR). (CNBC) President Trump has selected Joseph Simons, an antitrust attorney with a Washington law firm, to head the Federal Trade Commission, a White House official said Wednesday. (Reuters) Spain's central government threatened today to suspend Catalonia's autonomy after the region's leader said it could go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid continued its "repression." (Reuters) New crash tests show automakers have made strides in passenger safety. Tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed 10 of the 13 cars tested were graded as doing a "good," the highest mark given by the IIHS. (CNBC) General Electric's new CEO, John Flannery, is expected to cut thousands of corporate-level jobs next month as part of a strategic review, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources. The company announced plans earlier this year to reduce costs by $2 billion. *Former GE CEO Immelt reportedly used two corporate jets on some trips (CNBC) Kenneth Chenault will step down as chairman and CEO of American Express in February, ending a 17-year run at the helm of Amex. Named CEO in 2001, Chenault, 66, is among the first African-Americans to run a Fortune 500 company. (CNBC) *Amex beats estimates on earnings and revenue, raised full-year forecast (CNBC) Amazon (AMZN) will close the bidding process for its second headquarters today. More than 100 cities have expressed interest in making a run for the company's HQ2. Amazon plans to invest more than $5 billion and hire 50,000 people at its second headquarters. (CNBC) *That email from Amazon is not a scam: Here's why you're getting money (CNBC) Blue Apron (APRN) cut approximately 6 percent of its workforce, as the meal kit company comes under pressure from intense competition. Blue Apron said the cuts would come in both corporate officers and in its fulfillment centers. (CNBC) *Blue Apron layoffs hit the office hardest, warehouse workers mostly spared (CNBC) Gilead Sciences (GILD) won FDA approval for its immunotherapy treatment designed to treat lymphoma. The treatment had been developed by Kite Pharma, which Gilead acquired earlier this year. The price for the one-time treatment will be $373,000. (CNBC) Scientists claim they have made a research breakthrough in the relationship between sugar and cancer. Researchers in Belgium said yeast with high levels of glucose can overstimulate proteins found mutated inside human tumors. (USA Today) If you're one of the 42,000 people that traverse through New York City's 34th Street every day, you've got a new shopping option starting Friday. Target has taken over a former Foot Locker store, directly across the street from Macy's flagship Herald Square location. It's one of three small format stores opening in and or near New York City, and one of 12 Target stores opening nationwide this week. The two-story, 43,000-square-foot store Target's 55th small format store showcases a key part of the discount retailer's strategy. While other retailers like Macy's and J.C. Penney close stores, Target is leaning into its physical footprint. The big box retailer has plans to open 130 small format stores by 2019. Target hopes the smaller stores will make it easier for time-pressed shoppers to dart in and out, picking up their purchases. While this Herald Square site won't quite fulfill the "city that never sleeps" slogan, it gets close. It will be open from 7 a.m. to midnight. The new stores, and remodeling of existing stores, is all part of the retailer's $7 billion, three-year investment strategy to improve its digital and physical store experience and efficiency. "Our strategy is driving results," CEO Brian Cornell said. "In the first two quarters of the year, our traffic is up, our sales are improving. Because of that we are moving faster and with greater confidence than a few months ago. You will see us accelerate our pace." Each small format store is quite different, with the merchandise tailored to local shopper demand. But what is consistent is the productivity of the small format stores. "Easily, sales per square foot [of small format stores], are two-plus-times that of a regular store," said Cornell, speaking to media gathered for a preview of the store. Here's a peek at what's inside. Today, Mars is the founder and CEO of global charity Epic Foundation. The charity brings leading investors and corporations together with selected youth and children's charities. Dubbed the "French Bill Gates," Mars made his fortune creating and selling start-ups to the likes of multinationals Publicis and Blackberry. Tech entrepreneur Alexandre Mars wants to reshape how we think of donating to charity. Talking to CNBC in an episode of Life Hacks Live, Mars said that although big-name billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are pledging their fortunes to charity, no amount is too small. "We [at Epic] want to make giving the norm because we don't want just the Gates and the Zuckerbergs of the world doing all the work," said Mars. "Don't think that you have to become Gates to start this. Don't think that if you are not working at the UN, you cannot be someone who will have an impact on the world. It's easy." The philanthropist said that the amount you give to charity must depend on what you can afford to give. "Try to define your level of pain regarding giving when you're 27, it's different than when you're 35," Mars said. "If it starts hurting you, it's no longer joyful. Giving has to bring you joy, nothing else." Mars founded Epic Foundation in 2014, but his philanthropic passions started much earlier. "My mom was always helping people, so I grew up within that kind of spirit, and that's why very quickly I said to myself, 'How can I help other people?'" he said. Life Hacks Live is a series produced by CNBC International for Facebook, where tomorrow's leaders get to ask some of the world's biggest influencers for advice. You can watch the full episode here. General Electric CEO John Flannery is considering every cost-cutting measure for his company, putting new scrutiny on his predecessor Jeff Immelt. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Immelt had an empty business jet follow his corporate plane on several trips around the world. That version exaggerates Immelt's travel practices, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC. These people said it was not a regular practice to fly, or even keep on standby, multiple planes at the same time. The sources said a second plane was kept on standby on the ground in certain locations while Immelt was visiting for security purposes or in case his GE-owned plane had mechanical issues. For example, this was done on some parts of a multistop trip in Africa and another trip that included Mexico. There was a time when GE used a chase plane a second, empty plane that would follow along but that practice was ended in 2014, sources said. At that time, Immelt changed the policy to use locally sourced planes. Those people familiar with the matter emphasized that this was done especially for added security after 9/11. Business critical purposes, sources said, included time-sensitive meetings with leaders of countries. Winnie Byanyima describes herself as an "angry girl" when she fled her home country of Uganda as a university student. A daughter of two schoolteachers, Byanyima loved academics. She was studying among childhood friends when Ugandan dictator Idi Amin became a direct threat. "Our university professors were being killed and running away," Byanyima told CNBC in an episode of Life Hacks Live. "There was a clamp down on students." Byanyima found refuge in the United Kingdom, where she said she was welcomed into friends' homes. She received a refugee scholarship at the University of Manchester and got involved with human rights and political organizations on campus. Byanyima became the first female Ugandan to graduate with a degree in aeronautical engineering. "I channeled my anger in activism, and I became a very serious human rights activist, political activist, as a result of my fleeing my country," she said. Byanyima is now the executive director of Oxfam International, a foundation focused on reducing poverty around the world. She said her experience as a refugee continues to shape her fight for human rights and gender and wealth equality. "I think being a refugee makes you aware of the political circumstances that have made you vulnerable," she said. "So you can either shun politics or you can say I'm going to get in there and fight. And, for me, it was, I had to fight." Bloomberg | Contributor | Getty Images If China, Russia, Iran, Britain, Germany, the European Union and the United States have found something upon which they can agree and that thing is something as important and dangerous as nuclear weapons perhaps rejecting it outright isnt such a great idea. President Donald Trump seems inclined to walk away from the landmark 2015 agreement who called it the worst deal ever when he was a candidate in which all of the above political entities are signatories, regarding Irans nuclear capabilities. As Iran has a long history of allegations of being a state sponsor of terrorism, and its leaders have questioned Israels right to exist, the fact that Iran and Iranian allies and adversaries would come together for such a pact was a giant step forward in Middle Eastern stability and security. Did the U.S. unquestionably come out on top on the deal? Not necessarily. The deal did involve the handover of billions of dollars at an airport in the middle of the night, in one often-cited example. But its worth noting, as the Chicago Tribune did on Oct. 13, that some of the money was Irans to begin with the deal included the unfreezing of overseas Iranian assets and the rest was a refund of money the Iranian government gave the U.S. for an order of military equipment; that order went unfulfilled after the 1979 collapse of the existing Iranian government during the Islamic Revolution. As that same Tribune report notes, Iran is abiding by the agreement: Iran is meeting all of its obligations under the deal, according to International Atomic Energy Agency investigators, who noted some minor violations that were quickly corrected. President Trump is right that Iran exceeded the limit on heavy water in its possession on two occasions. Both times, international inspectors were able to see that Iran made arrangements to ship the excess out of the country so that it could come back into compliance. Trump and other critics of the agreement point in particular to Irans continuing missile tests, which may or may not defy the United Nations Security Council resolution that enshrined the deal. But those tests do not violate the deal itself. We would urge the president to look within his own Cabinet, and among our allies, at the world leaders who support the Iran deal: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, have held the agreement to be vital to international security, the New Yorker reported in its issue dated Oct. 23. Not one of those three men would ever be listed as Friends of Tehran. This is not to suggest that any of those three men think its a perfect deal with regard to the national interests of the U.S. or Israel. But it seems safe to say that all three recognize the value of the existing agreement. Is the presidents apparent inclination toward walking away from the Iran deal part of, as some have suggested, his desire to undo as much of President Barack Obamas legacy as possible? Youd have to ask President Trump that. But this particular matter goes far beyond one presidents enmity toward his predecessors accomplishments. We would urge President Trump to ponder the question posed by Global Times, a state-backed Chinese newspaper: If America would overturn a pact it made to the rest of the world, solely because of a transition in government, how can it retain the reputation of a great power? If the president expects Chinas help in dealing with North Koreas belligerence, walking away from the Iran deal seems like a sure-fire way to get the Chinese to stop returning our calls. Perhaps this is a negotiating position on the presidents part. He does seem inclined to bring tactics and techniques from his experience in the business world to the presidency. But, Mr. President, until you get a better deal on reining in Irans nuclear capabilities, dont walk away from the existing deal. It is actually better than no deal at all. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has an impressive resume. He's been a successful investment banker, hedge fund founder, and even a Hollywood film producer. But as a salesman for a national tax reform policy, he's simply not cutting it. Perhaps the best example of how Mnuchin is falling short on that job came Wednesday morning when he warned in an interview with Politico that the stock market would tank if Congress doesn't pass tax reform: "To the extent we get the tax deal done, the stock market will go up higher. But there's no question in my mind that if we don't get it done you're going to see a reversal of a significant amount of these gains." When salesmen use scare tactics like that, you know they're just not that good. Besides, Mnuchin's claims about the stock rally are far from accepted by a lot of key market experts. For example, prominent stock bull Jeremy Siegel believes the gains have a lot more to do with growing global economic growth and corporate profits. But if scare tactics are the weapon of choice, the pro-tax reform forces could do a lot better by focusing on what the people who will vote on the tax reform bill fear the most: Losing elections. So how can the Trump team use that re-election fear factor to make tax reform a reality? Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has been launching campaigns to oust Republican incumbents in Congress in the months since he left the Trump team. One key Republican in the Senate, Lindsay Graham, thinks Bannon is using those challenges against his GOP colleagues as a prod to get tax reform done. Graham even told The Hill that "there's one antidote to Bannon: success," on the tax bill. The White House should start with those congressional Republicans and remind them that they're doing worse in the polls than even President Trump is right now. Time is running out for them to prove they can pass a major bill. In addition to that pressure, President Trump may want to use the tried and true tools most of his predecessors have used when trying to twist arms: Federal programs. A pork barrel project or two can go a long way and it would add a carrot to the usual Trump stick of threatening tweets or comments at rallies. On the other side of the aisle President Trump has been reaching out to vulnerable red state Democrats like Senators Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly trying to rally their support on tax reform. He could follow that up with promises not to campaign against any incumbent from either party who votes for the plan. Given his lack of real GOP party loyalty, he could even campaign for a Democrat or two who votes for the eventual bill. So far, the Democrats are vowing to not vote for any tax bill that helps the rich, but the president has nothing to lose by testing that vow as much as possible. Heitkamp and Donnelly come from states that went clearly for President Trump in November. So the question is will they choose party loyalty over employment? And that brings us to who really is the best possible salesperson for the job: President Trump. For all his polarizing characteristics and lousy approval ratings, President Trump still has the nation's undivided attention in an unprecedented way. The added scrutiny puts him in a position to wield tremendous power on this and all issues. He just needs to hone it better for the best results. But he also needs to be more of a deal maker than just a guy pounding the bully pulpit. He has the opportunity to offer some form of federal funding for certain states and districts so on-the-fence senators and representatives get the chance to tell the voters how they brought home the bacon just before election time. He can nominate people close to those senators and representatives to key federal jobs or judicial seats. Even if Mnuchin or Bannon were the best and most persuasive speakers out there, these are powers only President Trump truly has at his disposal. So the question is: Will President Trump use all the public and private persuasive weapons in his arsenal to get tax reform passed, or will he allow the wrong people like Steven Mnuchin carry the ball for him? The longer the president waits to take the reins in this fight, the worse his chances of success will be. Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. Alexander said Thursday the bill has 24 co-sponsors in the Senate 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Republicans hold the majority of seats in the chamber. Since then, a number of senators, along with groups representing health providers, patients and others, have clamored for Congress to restore the payments. Insurance prices already were much higher for next year because of his prior threat to kill the payments. They are projected to be even higher in coming years because of Trump's action. The steep demands, laid out for CNBC by a White House spokesman, further complicate the chances of passage for a bipartisan deal in Congress that aims to restart the payments and keep many insurers from leaving the Obamacare exchanges altogether. In exchange for supporting a deal to restore billions of dollars in federal reimbursements to health insurers, the Trump administration would want the suspension of enforcement of Obamacare mandates that have expanded health coverage, as well as several other conditions. Trump has given conflicting signals about whether he would support that proposal. On Wednesday, the president repeated his vow that he would not back a deal that provides "bailouts" for insurers. CNBC asked the White House for clarification on what would constitute a "no-bailout" deal for insurers. In response, a White House spokesman, speaking on background, said that for the administration to support legislation like the Alexander-Murray deal, the plan would have to provide immediate benefits to Americans. Those benefits would include relief from enforcement of Obamacare individual and employer mandates, the spokesman said. The individual mandate requires nearly all Americans to have some form of health insurance or face a tax penalty. That health coverage can be from a job-based insurance plan, an individual market plan, Medicaid, Medicare, or coverage through a military plan, as well as from several other sources. The employer mandate requires employers with 50 or more full-time workers to offer its employees affordable health coverage, or pay a penalty. The individual mandate, in particular, has been credited with helping add 20 million people to the ranks of Americans with health coverage in the years since the Affordable Care Act became law. Insurers and Obamacare advocates would be strongly opposed to the suspension of enforcement of that mandate because it could lead to an exodus of younger, healthier customers from insurance plans. If that were to happen, the remaining risk pool of insurance customers would tend to be older, and sicker, increasing the cost of the health plans because of their higher use of medical services. That, in turn, could lead to a "death spiral" for Obamacare plans. In a death spiral, premium rates have to be raised sharply again and again to account for higher costs, which leads to departures of healthier customers who don't see the value of maintaining coverage in the face of those prices. Earlier this year, the Congressional Budget Office, in analyzing a Senate plan that would repeal both Obamacare mandates, said 16 million Americans would become uninsured over the next decade. CBO also projected that individual health plan premiums would be 20 percent higher than they would be under the current law. The White House spokesman said the administration also would want affordable health coverage options for consumers expanded in order to win support of a bill to restore the CSR payments to insurers. As an example, the spokesman cited Trump's executive order on health care last week, which ordered federal agencies to explore loosening rules controlling short-term health plans, and association plans offered by groups of small businesses. Both types of plans would tend to be less expensive than plans sold on Obamacare marketplaces. But they also would tend to offer fewer health benefits. The spokesman said another condition of the administration's support of a deal is that it includes flexibility for states to obtain waivers for their residents from compliance with Obamacare rules about their health plans. Iranians walk past Sejjil (L) and Qadr-H medium range ballistic missiles displayed next to a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on September 25, 2017, on Baharestan square in Tehran. Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images #1: Have your cake and eat it, too In the most benign interpretation, responsible members of the Trump team are letting the president play to his domestic political base by denouncing the deal, but not allowing him to withdraw or reimpose sanctions that would violate it. This interpretation depicts decertification as a "legal placebo" a harmless, if ineffectual, way to make a petulant president feel better. It assumes that Iran will honor its nuclear obligations so long as the United States does not reimpose nuclear sanctions, thus preserving the benefits of a deal that Trump's secretary of defense testified does serve U.S. interests. Do Iranians really expect the economic benefits of the deal to outweigh the costs incurred by adhering to an agreement that is continually being undercut by the United States? They might but that hope is fading fast. In June 2017, 64 percent of respondents to our survey said that their economy was bad and 50 percent thought it was getting worse. Seven in 10 said that the deal had not improved living conditions of Iranians at all. Two-thirds still support the nuclear deal. But, U.S. actions are eroding optimism that the deal will eventually make life better. That has dropped to 59 percent, down from 66 percent a year earlier. Iranian confidence that the United States will uphold its end of the bargain has already dropped precipitously, from 45 percent shortly after the deal was signed to 24 percent in June 2017. Confidence in the other parties to the agreement Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia is higher at 53 percent. But 71 percent of Iranians do not think the Europeans are moving as rapidly as they could to engage economically with Iran, mostly due to U.S. obstructionism and pressure. A clear majority, 55 percent, say that if the United States takes measures against Iran that violate the nuclear deal, Iran should retaliate by restarting aspects of its nuclear program. Only 41 percent want to abide by the agreement and try to resolve the problem diplomatically. Trashing the Iran deal without tearing it up, in other words, is not a harmless outlet for Trump's animosity. The more he makes threats and sows uncertainty, the more likely Iran's leaders are to decide that the gains are not worth the grief. #2: Hardball bargaining strategy The second interpretation takes at face value Trump's claim that decertification is meant to increase U.S. bargaining leverage and get more out of the nuclear deal. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson implied that allied support for tougher sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile tests might be required to keep the United States in the nuclear deal. The administration is also supporting legislation co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Tom Cotton that would automatically reimpose sanctions if Iran does not obey demands that go well beyond the terms of the nuclear deal itself. The Iranian public is strongly opposed to the kinds of additional restrictions that Trump wants Congress to impose. Seventy percent said that Iran should not agree to end enrichment under any circumstances, while 62 percent said categorically that Iran should not extend the duration of the special nuclear limits it accepted. When asked whether Iran should curtail certain nonnuclear activities in order to get all U.S. sanctions lifted, 63 percent opposed reducing ballistic missile tests. Fifty-nine percent opposed ending aid to Syrian President Assad. Iranians would be even more firmly opposed to these policy changes if they got nothing new in return. Thus, threatening to reimpose nuclear sanctions is counterproductive if the objective is to get more from Iran. #3: Killing the deal to provoke regime change For two separate weeks recently, the U.S. exported as much oil onto the world market each day as was being pumped in either Nigeria or Venezuela and by several other OPEC countries together. Those roughly 1.9 million barrels a day are not a minor splash for the global oil market, and they are the equivalent of about one-fifth of U.S. daily oil production. The extra barrels, about a million more a day than the U.S. exported in the first half of this year, may have been an anomaly due to Hurricane Harvey's impact several weeks earlier. But they are also a sign of things to come an even bigger U.S. presence on the world market and an increasing role for U.S. shale as a lever on world oil prices. That influence is also expected to grow, as U.S. oil production increases and the U.S. is able to send a larger and larger amount of oil and gas production outside its borders. With oil prices at a more comfortable $50-plus per barrel, American oil producers have picked themselves back up after last year's collapse and are producing at nearly the same pace as 2015, when production hit its recent peak. Analysts expect production will soon surpass the all-time high of 10 million barrels a day reached in the early 1970s. "The thinking is really struggling to catch up to the new reality of America's transformed energy position," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit. Edward Morse, head of Citigroup's global commodities research, said North America is clearly edging toward energy independence, when counting U.S. production along with Canadian oil output. Independence from foreign oil and geopolitical market forces has been a goal that has been set by every president going to back to Gerald Ford, Morse said. In fact, in theory it may have been briefly achieved when U.S. crude exports neared 2 million barrels a day in late September. "Net U.S. oil imports fell to 2.75 million barrels a day, less than the total volume of imports from Canada, a harbinger of things to come as U.S. production continues to grow, " he said. Both he and Yergin said the U.S. for the first time is far less worried about energy security, which goes hand in hand with independence. "There's a real turnaround in and a shift away from the focus on energy security, to really trying to understand how geopolitics is being changed by the emergence of the U.S. back as a big time oil and gas producer," said Yergin. Yergin said as a result, oil prices have already been less subject to spikes from geopolitical threats than they were previously, due to increased supply and output. "We have a cushion we didn't have when we were importing 60 percent of our oil. There's not the same vulnerability." By some measures, the U.S. has already become the biggest energy producer. It certainly is the largest producer of natural gas and has increasingly become a bigger exporter, both by pipeline and liquefied natural gas shipments. But it still relies on a large amount of oil imports from Canada and elsewhere. "On the oil side if we look at crude oil we're producing 9.6 million barrels a day. We expect next year to be at 10.6 million or higher. That would be about even with Saudi Arabia," said Morse. "The thing about the U.S. is we have several other things that go into production numbers. We have natural gas liquids. We are the biggest natural gas liquid producer in the world, and we have biofuels. If you add the bio fuels, natural gas liquids and refinery efficiency gains, it's closer to 15 million barrels a day." Morse said this puts the total U.S. liquids output about several million barrels a day ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia. Saudi Arabia was closer to 10.1 million barrels a day in September, and Russia was at 11.1 million barrels a day, including oil and other liquids, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The rise in U.S. production also changes the dynamics on the world oil market, where OPEC and Russia are working together to keep prices stable. Saudi Arabia turned to Russia when OPEC could no longer control prices, striking a deal to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market in an effort to rebalance after crude's plummet below $30 in February 2016. But the U.S. oil industry, which is made up of a group of independent public and private companies, continued to pump oil onto an already saturated market until it became too unprofitable. Now that the price is steadier, the outlook is for more U.S. production. Morse said there's a new geopolitics of energy evolving among the three largest producers, which produce about 40 percent of total liquids globally. On the oil front, he said Russian and Saudi Arabian efforts to steady oil prices have helped subsidize not just U.S. producers but Canadian and Brazilian producers as well. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia are heavily reliant on oil revenue. The U.S., however, is far less dependent on the sector, which contributes about 10 percent of GDP, Morse said. So as the U.S. ups its game, OPEC and Russia are considering extending their agreement to reduce the oil they put on the market. "OPEC has bought a lifeline in their relationship with Russia, but I think they have a hope in that relationship that U.S. production is going to falter, and that has proven to be wrong in every move they made since 2014, and I don't see why it's not wrong today," said Morse. "I think they're going to keep postponing the end of the agreement. The question is how far can they do this, and what the consequences are," Morse added. The U.S. still imports a large amount of oil 7.5 million barrels a day last week, according to EIA. But the U.S. also exported 5 million barrels a day of refined products, along with 1.8 million barrels of crude. Of the refined fuel, 1.4 million barrels was diesel or distillates, and 636,000 barrels was gasoline. The U.S. sends about half its gasoline exports to Mexico, but it also imports gasoline to the East Coast from Canada and Europe. Imports of refined products totaled 2.8 million barrels. Rocket company Vector will conduct three commercial missions from Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops launch center. This is the first orbital contract with a spaceport for Vector, the next major step toward the company's goal of launching more than 100 times per year, chief executive Jim Cantrell told CNBC in an exclusive interview. "These will go all the way into orbit with satellites onboard," Cantrell said. "We need to break the classic handcuffs on the costs of launching, and that requires people thinking differently." The Vector-R vehicle is a low-cost rocket intended to meet the growing demand from the microsatellite sector, which is expected to become a $7.5 billion industry in five years. At less than $3 million per launch, Vector is aiming for a 20th the cost of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. An additional advantage for Vector, Cantrell said, is its mobility. Vector requires minimal infrastructure to launch its rockets as little as a concrete pad. Tweet: Jim Cantrell Where Waldo today ? @vectorspacesys Vector-R on the road again ! Vector is targeting its first Wallops launch for July, with two or three more in the second half of the year. The contract includes an option for five more launches, a possibility Cantrell is optimistic about. Dale Nash, CEO and executive director of Virginia Space, told CNBC that Cantrell's rapid cadence vision is possible from his spaceport. "It's entirely conceivable that, with the three separate launch locations on Wallops, we could launch three rockets in one day," Nash said. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form So, you're ready to leave your iPhone for greener pastures specifically, the bright green hue of Google's Android ecosystem. It's a major move, to be sure, but it doesn't have to be daunting. Beneath the surface-level differences, Android and iOS actually have a lot in common and with the right steps, you can switch from an iPhone to an Android device without losing anything significant (including your sanity). Make your way through this easy-to-follow guide, and you'll be happily settled in your new high-tech home in no time. All-in-one iOS-to-Android switching tools First things first: Google itself now offers a universal iOS-to-Android switching service that works with any device running 2020's Android 12 software or higher. That's hands-down the simplest way to get everything from your old iPhone onto your new Android device in one fell swoop and with the least amount of hassle possible. If you're moving into a Samsung-made Android phone, specifically, Samsung also offers its own app for iPhone-to-Android migration that's available as an alternative. Those two options are generally the smartest places to start but they aren't available for every phone, and they don't always work flawlessly or across all of the areas relevant to your needs. So next, we'll get into the step-by-step details of how you can get every important category of data moved over on your own, bit by bit, without giving yourself a migraine. Calendar, contacts, and photos We'll start with a simple three-for-one special. Believe it or not, the core categories of calendar, contacts, and photos are among the easiest things to migrate from iOS to Android. All you've gotta do is install the Google One app onto your iPhone, then sign into the app using your primary Google account. (If you don't yet have a Google account, the app will give you the opportunity to create one.) On your iPhone, open the Google One app and tap the "Set up data backup" option on the screen that comes up. You can then select all of the associated areas and tap the blue button to begin the process. JR Raphael / IDG The Google One iOS app provides an easy way to move your calendar, contacts, and photos data over to Android. Your backup may take a while and burn through a fair amount of data and you have to leave the Google One app open and active the entire time so you'll probably want to save it for a time when your phone can be plugged in, connected to a reliable Wi-Fi network, and not immediately needed for anything else. All done? Excellent: Now just sign into your new Android phone with that same Google account. You should be able to find your calendar data in the Google Calendar app, your contacts data in the Google Contacts app, and all of your photos and videos in the Google Photos app. (Depending on your device, those apps may or may not all be preinstalled by default. If you don't see any of them on your home screen or in your app drawer, just head over to the Google Play Store to install it.) One exception to the rule: If your contacts or calendar data is connected to a Microsoft Exchange account, it won't be moved over as part of this process. In that scenario, you'll need to add your Exchange account into the Gmail app on your Android phone (see the next section for more detail), and your contacts and calendar info should then automatically show up in the appropriate places. Email All right ready to bring all of your email over to your shiny new smartphone? That migration will range from "ridiculously simple" to "relatively hassle-free," depending on the specifics of your setup. Choose your own adventure: If you're currently using Gmail: There's nothing to do; just make sure you sign into your Android device with the same Google account associated with your Gmail address, and all your mail will automatically appear in the Android Gmail app and be waiting for you. If you have more than one Gmail address and want to be able to access them all on the phone, open the Gmail app's settings and look for the "Add account" option, then follow the steps to add any additional Google accounts into the mix. If you're currently using a webmail provider like Outlook.com, Hotmail, or Yahoo: Add the account into the Gmail app on your new phone, using the same steps described above but selecting the appropriate account option on the "Add account" screen. JR Raphael / IDG The Gmail app provides options for connecting different types of email accounts to your Android device. If you're currently using Apple Mail: Once again, just add the account into the Gmail app on your Android phone using the "Other" option. If the app doesn't immediately accept your credentials, you might have to do a bit of extra manual setup: After typing in your email address, select "Personal (IMAP)" then put in the various mail server settings provided on Apple's support site. If you're currently using Exchange: Same basic deal, but select the option for "Exchange and Office 365" in the "Add account" section of the Gmail app's settings. The app will walk you through the rest of the setup procedure. Of course, you can also opt to use Microsoft's official Outlook Android app if you're accustomed to that program and want a consistent experience. One final option to consider: If you're using any of the aforementioned non-Gmail account types and want to ditch your old address and move entirely into Gmail, you can import all of your old account's email into Gmail by following the steps on this Google support page. You may also want to instruct your old mail service to forward all new messages to your Gmail address so you don't miss any important missives from people who haven't yet learned about your move. Messaging Not surprisingly, Apple's iMessage system doesn't play nicely with non-Apple platforms. (See: the squabble over Android to iPhone texting.) But that doesn't mean it's impossible to leave; you just have to take the right set of steps to avoid missing-message misery. First, go into Settings on your iPhone, tap "Messages," and then toggle "iMessage" to off. While you're in Settings, you'll probably want to look for the "FaceTime" option and toggle it to off, too, since you presumably won't be active on that platform anymore. Second, open Apple's "Deregister iMessage" web page and scroll down to the section labeled "No longer have your iPhone?" Put in your phone number, click the link to send a confirmation code, and then type the confirmation code you receive into the page. Both of these steps are critical; if you don't complete them, Apple will likely intercept at least some of your incoming text messages, and you'll never even know you missed 'em. JR Raphael/IDG Get your phone number out of the iMessage system or forever wonder if Apple is snatching your messages. If you want to keep all of your existing text messages and bring them over to your new phone, an app called iSMS2droid can get the job done. The process is a bit gnarly and involves manually backing up your iPhone to a computer, then finding specific files and transferring them onto your Android phone but if you really need to save all your old messages, it's about the best option you have. The silver lining is that once you're on Android, keeping your messages synced and available on any device can be thought-free. Just be sure to pick a messaging app that automatically backs up and restores data from the get-go, and you'll be fine as wine. Files So long, iCloud Drive hello, Google Drive. The most direct way to get all your data off of Apple's cloud storage service and onto Google's is to install the desktop apps for both iCloud Drive and Google Drive on your Mac or Windows PC. Then, open Finder or File Explorer windows for both locations, select everything from iCloud Drive, and drag it over to Google Drive. Wait for the transfer to finish, and that's it: Every one of your precious files is now available via Google Drive on Android (as well as on iOS and the web). Apps The bad news: Any apps you've installed on your iPhone won't automatically transfer over to Android, and any apps you've paid for on iOS will likely have to be purchased again. The good news: These days, most major productivity apps are readily available on both platforms. And once you're all set up with Android, all of your apps and app data will automatically sync with Google's servers and follow you to any future Android devices. Take a few minutes to go through Google's Play Store either on your Android phone or via a web browser on any computer and search for the apps you want. If you install an app onto your phone and it asks you to sign in when you first open it, make sure to use the same username or email address you used on your iPhone so that any data tied to your account will carry over. After you've settled in, you may want to explore a bit further beyond the apps you already know. Unlike iOS, Android allows you to use all sorts of clever tools for customizing and controlling the core user interface and even completely replacing your home screen environment with something more well-suited to your specific style of working. That opens the door to some intriguing forms of personalization that can enhance your efficiency in pretty interesting ways. Music Thank your lucky stars, because bringing music over from iOS to Android is no longer the absolute nightmare it once was. There's nothing to it if you use a streaming service like Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or even amazingly Apple Music: Just download the equivalent app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and your entire collection will be at your fingertips in seconds. If you have your own personal music collection, you can upload most common file formats directly to the YouTube Music website on a computer. Once you're signed in, just click your profile picture in the upper-right corner and select "Upload music" to get started. The service currently supports MP3 files as well as files saved as FLAC, M4A, OGG, and WMA. The main area where you'll run into trouble is with music purchased from iTunes prior to 2009, as such songs were encoded into a proprietary and DRM-protected AAC format. Those files, by design, won't be compatible with any other music service. Your best option there is to find the same songs in YouTube Music and simply add them into your library as part of your cloud-based streaming collection. If that isn't possible, you can always employ the old-school workaround of burning any such tracks to a CD (assuming your computer still has a CD burner, of course), then putting the CD back into the computer and ripping the songs into a standard unlocked format. That'll result in lower-quality audio than you'd get purchasing the tunes directly from almost any music service nowadays, but well, it is what it is. Welcome to Android Well, wouldya look at that? You've done it! All your important info is now off your iPhone and on your new Android device, and you're ready to start anew as a card-carrying Android phone owner. Before we bid adieu and send you scampering off on your new adventure, let's take a moment to go over a few things of note as you learn your way around this wild new world. First, the getting-around basics: No matter where you are in Android, you can always swipe down once from the top of the screen to see any pending notifications and swipe down a second time to see the full Quick Settings panel. And speaking of notifications, Android makes them exceptionally easy to control so learn the ins and outs of notification management and don't let your phone's alerts control you. JR Raphael / IDG Android's notifications panel (left) and Quick Settings panel (right) are never more than a swipe away. (Their exact appearance may vary from one phone to the next.) All reasonably recent Android versions include what's sure to be a somewhat familiar-seeming gesture-driven system for getting around your phone: From anywhere in the operating system, you can flick your finger upward from the bottom of the screen to return to your home screen or swipe upward about an inch from the bottom of the screen and then stop to open the system Overview interface and browse through your recently used apps. You can also swipe inward from the left or right side of the screen to move back one step in whatever you're doing. And you can find lots of other little tricks for making the most of Android gestures in this quick 'n' simple guide. On phones with quite old Android versions or those where gesture navigation isn't enabled by default you'll find three buttons along the bottom of your screen that provide tap-friendly ways of accessing those same basic functions. If you see that sort of interface setup, it's well worth your while to look in the device's settings to see if gesture navigation is available, as you'll likely find it to be much more intuitive and similar to what you're accustomed to using. One more thing: You've no doubt seen some scary-seeming stories about Android security. Be aware: Most of that stuff is overly sensationalized and woefully misleading. Malware really isn't a real-world issue on Android, and Google has its own multilayer security system in place to protect you from all sorts of threats including the most realistic one of all: a lost phone. Craving even more practical tips and foundational knowledge? My, aren't you a tenacious little monkey! Check out the following Computerworld guides to continue your Android optimization education: This article was originally published in August 2017 and most recently updated in October 2022. J.P. Morgan has created what is arguably one of the largest blockchain payments networks to date. The financial services company announced that the Royal Bank of Canada and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. are the first two banks to join the blockchain network, "representing significant cross-border payment volumes." J.P. Morgan created the Interbank Information Network (IIN), which it said will significantly reduce the number of participants needed to respond to compliance and other data-related inquiries that delay payments. "IIN will enhance the client experience, decreasing the amount of time from weeks to hours and costs associated with resolving payment delays," said Emma Loftus, Head of Global Payments and FX, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services. "Blockchain capabilities have allowed us to rethink how critical information can be sourced and exchanged between global banks." Other banks are expected to join the IIN in the coming months, J.P. Morgan said. Thinkstock The IIN unveiling came after a Polynesian payments system provider and IBM unveiled their own cross-border blockchain payments service. That FinTech network was heralded as being able to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of making global payments for business and consumers. IBM's Blockchain Platform, a cloud service, was used to enable the electronic exchange of 12 different currencies across Pacific Islands as well as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. KlickEx Group, a United Nations-funded, Pacific-region financial services firm, and Stellar.org, a nonprofit organization that supports an open-source blockchain network for financial services, are backing the new cross-border payments service powered by IBM's platform. Payments made and received through KlickEx transfer between bank accounts in the Pacific Islands and Australia, New Zealand and Europe; the service also allows consumers in developing nations to transfer funds directly to mobile wallets. [ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ] The Bank of England is also piloting blockchain technology to create a more efficient and less costly payments, clearing and settlement network. Cross-border payments are complex due to regulatory standards Emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and robotics are being deployed by J.P. Morgan to improve platforms and develop innovative solutions. In the case of cross-border payments, processing is complex and includes multiple layers of communication among payment participants to verify transactions an operation known as payment and settlement. Earlier this year, Accenture released a report claiming blockchain technology could reduce infrastructure costs for eight of the world's 10 largest investment banks by an average of 30%, "translating to $8 billion to $12 billion in annual cost savings for those banks." Payments, clearance and settlement in the financial services industry including stock markets is rife with inefficiencies because each organization in the process maintains its own data and must communicate with the others through electronic messaging about where it is in the process. Because of that, settlements typically take two days. In turn, delays in settlements force banks to set aside money that could otherwise be invested. Because it can instantly share data with each organization involved in a blockchain database or ledger, the technology reduces or eliminates the need for reconciliation, confirmation and trade break analysis as key parts of a more efficient and effective clearance and settlement process, according to Accenture. "It's a very hot topic right now," Zulfikar Ramzan, CTO of RSA Security, said in an earlier interview with Computerworld. "We are definitely getting a lot of inbound inquiries around blockchain and its implication within enterprise environments." Ramzan said his customers are asking about blockchain for audit logging and or verifiable logs, which is viewed as a reliable way of tracking what happened in an organization to satisfy regulatory auditors. Other RSA customers are interested in it for user authentication to ensure users are accessing the correct digital records at the right time. By leveraging blockchain technology, the new IIN "will significantly reduce the number of participants currently needed to respond to compliance and other data-related inquiries that delay payments," J.P. Morgan said. So what is blockchain? Blockchain is a public electronic ledger similar to a relational database that can be openly shared among disparate users and that creates an unchangeable record of their transactions, each one time-stamped and linked to the previous one. Each digital record or transaction in the thread is called a block (hence the name), and it allows either an open or controlled set of users to participate in the electronic ledger. Each block is linked to a specific participant. While it natively provides a level of security because blocks cannot be changed, encryption is also added as an additional safeguard against intrusion. Blockchain can only be updated by consensus between participants in the system, and when new data is entered, it can never be erased. The blockchain contains a true and verifiable record of each and every transaction ever made in the system. As a peer-to-peer network, combined with a distributed time-stamping server, blockchain databases can be managed autonomously. There's no need for an administrator. In effect, the users are the administrator. The new IIN was developed in-house by J.P. Morgan and is powered by Quorum, a permissioned-variant of the Ethereum blockchain. Quorum's focus on privacy enables secure data sharing via IIN, the bank said. Alex Tapscott, the CEO and founder of Northwest Passage Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in blockchain technology companies, said while no system is "unhackable," blockchain's simple topology is the most secure of any network today. "In order to move anything of value over any kind of blockchain, the network [of nodes] must first agree that that transaction is valid, which means no single entity can go in and say one way or the other whether or not a transaction happened," Tapscott said. "To hack it you wouldn't just have to hack one system like in a bank..., you'd have to hack every single computer on that network, which is fighting against you doing that." Judy Terry is a marketing professional and a former local councillor in Suffolk. Labour threatens to bludgeon taxpayers with billions of pounds in extra taxes to pay for an endless range of uncosted promises. Just re-nationalising Energy and Water is estimated at 185 billion, and abolishing student loans a mere 11 billion a year; new announcements to take back Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects, and revive the Regional Development Agencies (RDA), are further evidence of why their ambitions are nothing more than rhetoric. We hope. The Blair/Brown government escalated the PFI programme for new hospitals and schools, without standardising contractual terms for best value. Hence, shadow ministers admitted that contracts would have to be individually examined (taking time and, inevitably, requiring consultants). The likely outcome being that PFIs cannot be taken back without significant compensation being paid to the providers; some contracts have already been re-negotiated and a few paid off early. Others are so valuable they were sold on by the original contractor. So, the bill would run into yet more billions of pounds money which would have to be added to hard working peoples tax bills, and/or borrowed, but would anyone lend when the debt would bring no new benefits? There has to be a viable return on borrowings for loans to be repaid. There is, however, a hint that assets would simply be seized, or compensation would be in the form of government bonds, for which yields have already collapsed in the wake of Brexit, contributing to the 30 per cent growth in the bill for public sector pensions now at a record 1.8 trillion. Last year, The National Audit Office reported: There is a limit to the level of pensions the government can finance annually as a proportion of GDP without having to reduce spending in other areas, or increase income through higher taxes or further borrowing. Gordon Browns 70 billion raid on private pensions mean that its not just public sector pensions at risk. BT and other companies are being forced to review final salary pension schemes, potentially capping benefits, to reduce future, unaffordable, liabilities for employees lucky enough to be still part of such schemes, most of which closed to new staff after 2001. Surprisingly, the shadow chancellor seems to recognise the potential impact on the British economy resulting from his largesse, planning for a rush on the pound, and businesses facing punitive tax rises heading for the exit instead of investing to grow and create jobs. These financially illiterate policies remind me of The Suns headline on election day in 1992, when everyone expected Kinnock to win: Let the last person to leave the country, turn the lights off. And the Regional Development Agencies? Introduced by Labour in the nineties, they were huge bureaucratic talking shops, occupying expensive premises and employing large numbers of highly paid staff; in the Eastern region, the Chief Executives salary was more than 300,000 a year (plus benefits). Dictating policy to local authorities, instead of listening to local need, little was achieved beyond inter-authority squabbling over priorities, and endless consultants reports. More effective, and accountable, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) replaced RDAs in 2011, with the New Anglia LEP amongst the most effective and focused. In contrast with the RDA, management costs are tightly controlled, and accommodation modest. A true partnership between business, local authorities and education, covering Norfolk and Suffolk, it is non-political, with Leaders of both Labour and Conservative councils on the board. Led by business, it secured 117.5m government funding for a range of grants and loans targeting small business, growing places and an agricultural technical growth initiative. From my own experience, when I occasionally sat on the Board, relatively small sums can make a huge difference, enabling equipment to be purchased, or land released for development. Decisions are made within a few months, or even weeks, following applications being lodged and evaluated by helpful, knowledgeable, advisers; it is this speed which makes things happen, but every project is carefully scrutinised by the Board. As the second Chairman, Mark Pendlington, retires at the end of his three and a half year term, it is time to celebrate NALEPs success during that period: Creating 43,500 new jobs Supporting 5,700 new business, and Enabling the development of 18,850 new homes, and Unlocking a grand total of 267.2m of private investment. It also secured 1.4 billion for the new Great Eastern mainline franchise, and channelled investment into the Norwich Aviation Academy, Easton & Otley College Construction Centre and the East Coast College Energy Skills Centre, as well as supporting various apprenticeship programmes. Another innovation is regular free business support roadshows, enabling existing and new businesses to seek advice on funding, share ideas and receive guidance from a range of experts. As Mr. Pendlington says: NALEP provides the best opportunities for investment because we are local and connected to the business community, which is really reaping rewards for the regions economy. The next stage is to give our region a stronger voice to attract investment from across the world. We have 60,000 small businesses, as well as some of the most advanced science and agricultural research centres, which are ambitious to grow and employ talented people. As he hands over the reins to new Chairman, Doug Field, joint Chief Executive of the East of England Co-op, Mr. Pendlington suggests three priorities: Encourage and support social enterprises; Connecting the region via improved transport and communications infrastructure; and Developing an enhanced reputation as a digital hub. Local authorities across the two counties could never have achieved such results alone; economic development on this scale requires a level of communication, commitment and focus which few councils can offer because they lack the skills. Essentially, it demands an understanding of business and how it works, as well as a willingness and confidence to share a broad vision to benefit the wider community, regardless of political affiliations. The Eastern Region was neglected by successive governments for decades; because it appeared affluent, without visible disadvantage. How wrong those governments were! The New Anglia LEP has been a revolution, directing investment where needed; it is proof that, by listening to local council and business leaders, regions can be much better at determining their own future with visionary strategies. LEPs have a unique insight which London-centric politicians too often ignore at their peril. If Labour plans to unravel the LEP infrastructure, it will be making a big mistake; these organisations are a great innovation and mustnt be undermined out of spite. They are proof that a strong economy both national and local breeds success. Garvan Walshe is a former National and International Security Policy Adviser to the Conservative Party. He runs Brexit Analytics. What connects Donald Trump, the Kurdish retreat from Iraqs oil-rich Kirkuk region, a Syrian government push against some remnants of ISIS, a bloody, expensive war by the Saudis in Yemen and the continuing strength of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics? The answer, of course (the reference for Hezbollah might have been a clue), is Iran. Trump, as was his way in business, never regards an agreement as final. There he gained a reputation for never paying suppliers in full, and seeing how much they were willing to drag out with litigation. He behaves the just same way with friends (demanding NATO members pay more on defence if they want American support) as with foes. For months a battle has been raging within his administration over the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) to control Irans nuclear ambitions. Trump wants to decertify Iranian compliance, and begin the process that would lead to the US pulling out of the agreement. The administrations adults Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, and James Mattis, Secretary of Defence are opposed. The compromise reached was for Trump to ask Congress to do this for him. By doing so, he has damaged reputation of the United States, split Washington from its allies, and strengthened, not weakened, Tehran, which will chalk up another miscalculation of which it can take advantage. That much is done. What matters is whether Congress will now take out the rubbish for him. The JCPOA works by tightening loopholes in the international nuclear non-proliferation regime that have allowed Iran to get very close to developing a bomb without being caught breaching the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new measures include forcing Iran to eliminate its stock of medium-enriched uranium (which can quickly be converted into the high-enriched stuff needed for weapons) and cut the number of enrichment centrifuges it can operate. Irans justification for continuing with this is the transparent fiction that it is engaged in civil nuclear fission research, framed as a matter of national pride. This obviously makes no sense for a country with huge oil reserves and abundant sun, mountain rivers and wind. Plentiful energy can be obtained right now from fossil fuels while pride in Iranian science would be better served by research into exciting renewable energy instead of expensive dangerous and ever-so-20th-century fission. Nevertheless, the effect of the agreement is to delay Irans acquisition of nuclear weapons. The relevant question is not whether it will stop Irans nuclear programme for good it wont but whether it is better than alternative, military means of non-proliferation. To see whether it is, Congress should apply a test I first heard from Binyamin Netanyahu not, shall we say, a known friend of Iran. This is not the cartoon drawing of a bomb with a lit fuse which he presented at the UN General Assembly, but the image of Irans two clocks that he used to use the last time Iran had, as it does now, a reformist president. Iran, he used to say, ran on two timelines: a nuclear clock, how long would it be before its nuclear research effort bore fruit? And a political clock: how long could the regime maintain control of an unhappy people long tired of repressive, inward-looking theocracy, and which was nearly overthrown by them in 2009? Open military intervention, with all its attendant risks, is thought to be able to set the programme back at most about five years. The JCPOA, if it is upheld, by around fifteen. And war, like it did in the 1980s, when Iraq attacked Iran, will in all probability strengthen the hardliners of the Revolutionary Guards, who answer directly to Irans executive Supreme Leader, and weaken its elected institutions. This will be of particular importance in the next few years, because Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, is ailing, and proposals are being aired to replace him with a council, or even leave the post vacant altogether. Political change in Iran is coming, and it would be a major strategic mistake to snuff it out. The Netanyahu Test recommends sticking with the agreement. It slows down the nuclear programme, giving time for political change to occur. Its collapse would allow Iran to resume its programme impeded only by sanctions that have been shown to be of limited effectiveness, and increase the chances of a counter-productive war breaking out. Perhaps the European Commission and the EU27 arent serious about striking a reasonable deal with the UK in the Brexit talks. And perhaps they are. It is impossible to know at this stage given the bluff, game-playing and brinkmanship that are an intrinsic part of the negotiations. Were our Government now to walk out of the talks, it may be that the EU, if it really does want a sensible deal after all, would swiftly back down, and seek to re-open them, conceding trade discussions immediately. So a beneficial deal might happen after all. Or it could be instead that, having been put in a corner, the EU would feel that it couldnt back down even if it wants a reasonable deal. Ministers would presumably feel that they couldnt back down either. So a beneficial deal which might have happened wont happen. Which of these two outcomes would be more likely? It is worth trying to make the calculation because a group of senior Leave-backing MPs, peers, campaigners and business people have written to the Prime Minister urging her to walk out of the negotiations if progress is not made at the European Council this week or, in the more diplomatic wording of the letter, we should formally declare that we are assuming that we will be subject to WTO rules from 30th March 2019. Its signatories argue that this would provide businesses with absolute certainty about the future. Is that so? ConservativeHome was early to the debate about taking the WTO route and, as Lee Rotherham pointed out in his opening essay for our series on it, a deal/no deal is not a black-and-white alternative: it is a spectrum. At one end of it, there would be, as Lee put it, a trade war with the EU refusing to sign up to new legal agreements which would replace the present ones that guarantee the flow of trade, commerce and information. On the other, there might be, say, tariffs between the UK and the EU (since no fully-fledged trade deal had been reached in these circumstances), but that flow would continue (subject only to the negative effects of tariffs on exporters). Were the Government to walk out of the talks, would business really have absolute certainty about which of these two outcomes would take place? Indeed, would Ministers really still not seek to discuss to pick a topical example the exchange of security-related information post-Brexit? A further question follows: would the UK walking out of talks make such a trade war more or less likely? It will rightly be said that such a conflict would be against WTO rules and against the EUs interests, too. But nations and institutions dont always act legally or even rationally. That the EU does not always or even mostly do so is a foundation stone of Eurosceptic belief. All in all, a point may come in the talks at which it is evident that the EU really isnt interested in a reasonable deal. It would then follow that the Government, without formally breaking off talks, would have no alternative but to make roughly the declaration proposed in the Leave signatories letter. The WTO model in question would presumably be WTO default. But this site is not persuaded that this point has been reached yet given the brinkmanship, game-playing and bluff to which we refer. Earlier this week, for example, it was reported that Germany has drafted the outline of a broad partnership that includes at a minimum the fields of foreign and security policy; fighting terrorism; cooperation on criminal justice; agriculture and fisheries; energy; transport, and especially air transport; research and digital issues. In the words of our fellow-Brexiteering site Guido Fawkes: sounds sensible. The Government should keep talking to the EU; resolve its position on what economic, social and regulatory model it wants Britain to follow in either event, and crucially be as Ready on Day One as it can be: Deal or No Deal (of whatever variant). To help achieve this end and reboot economic policy, Michael Gove should be moved to the Treasury. On October 26, Dream Cruises will take delivery of the World Dream in Bremerhaven. The ship will then head for a November launch in Guangzhou (Nansha), China, also interporting for her inaugural season in Hong Kong, offering tropical itineraries to the Philippines and Vietnam. The Genting Dream will then be redeployed to Marina Bay, offering two-night weekend sailings, as well as five-night cruises, all of which can be combined into a 12-night voyage. According to Thatcher Brown, president, there is also a special five-night departure on Nov. 26 with calls in Penang, Phuket and MacLeod Island. The move to Sinagpore opens up tremendous sourcing opportunities for the Genting-owned company. With the homeport deployment of the Genting Dream in Singapore, we hope to encourage more vacationers from Singapore and internationally, including neighboring countries, to explore and expand their holiday experience, Brown said, in an interview with Cruise Industry News. Also, Singapore, as an aviation hub, creates huge opportunities to further grow and develop interesting fly-cruise travel options for the high-end Asian segments. We are optimistic of the continued growth of the Singapore and the ASEAN region, as both a key source market and a highly popular cruise destination in Asia. Read the full interview with Dream Cruises' Thatcher Brown in the Cruise Industry News Fall 2017 Quarterly Magazine. --- 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. Carnival Cruise Line celebrated its fifth anniversary in Australia earlier this year with the worlds longest conga line at sea, marking the first ever World Conga Day, according to a statement. Over 60,000 guests took part in the Carnival Conga over the past week, which traveled across 25 Carnival ships, via 13 countries and seven time zones. Carnival has also commissioned Carnival Conga, a song released especially for the occasion with all proceeds from the sale goning to The Childrens Hospital at Westmead. The release of Carnival Conga is a first for any cruise line globally, the company said. The Carnival Spirit sailed into Sydney Harbour on Tuesday morning with 1,500 guests and crew conga-ing on the top deck - five years to the day since she arrived through the heads for the first time in 2012. Carnival Cruise Line Vice President Australia and NZ, Jennifer Vandekreeke, said: "Were delighted that Carnival guests and crew from around the globe have joined together for a bit of fun to celebrate our five year anniversary in Australia. Since the arrival of Carnival Spirit in 2012, more than 750,000 Australians and Kiwis have enjoyed the fun of a Carnival Cruise. Were excited by what the next five years will bring, especially given by 2020, we will have two ships sailing year-round from Australia. Australia is Carnival Cruise Lines first international home-port outside of the U.S, with Carnival Spirit sailing year-round and Carnival Legend sailing seasonally. In 2020, the brand will have two ships sailing year-round from Australia. Five Years in Australia By the Numbers: Norwegian Cruise Line announced it has retrofitted new exhaust gas cleaning systems (i.e. scrubbers) on two of its ships, the Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Jade. "Early in 2014, Norwegian Cruise Line was the first cruise line to commit to retrofitting six vessels and has exceeded that commitment with now eight total ships," the company said, in a prepared statement. The ships new lightweight in-line scrubbers are a hybrid technology developed by Yara Marine Technologies that are able to operate in open loop, closed loop and closed loop with bleed off mode. In each ship, five scrubbers were installed, one per engine, covering the whole propulsion system. Norwegian now has eight ships outfitted with scrubbers, with Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Sun joining Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Joy and Pride of America and the lines newest ship sailing in June 2018, Norwegian Bliss. Norwegian Cruise Line is on track to meet its MARPOL Annex VI compliance goal of reducing its global sulfur cap from 3.5 percent to 0.5 percent by 2020. Denver-based, state-chartered Fourth Corner Credit Union has asked the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for a master account to help social groups pushing for the legalization of marijuana. According to a report in CUInsight, the master account would enable the credit union (CU) to serve such social groups. In a civil complaint filed at the end of September, Fourth Corner Credit Union argued the federal law unambiguously creates a non-discretionary statutory obligation requiring the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to issue a master account to all depository institutions. The lawsuit also contends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has invoked an illegal discriminatory procedure by asking the CU for information that the government agency doesnt obtain from any other depository institution seeking a master account. Fourth Corner Credit Union has requested that a Denver federal judge order the Fed to issue the master account immediately, noted the CUInsights report. Cast set to perform 'Anastasia' The musical follows Anya, suffering from amnesia, as she takes up with two con men, who claim they can prove she is Grand Duchess Anastasia. Calix, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud and software platforms, and systems and services in the United States, rest of Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company's cloud and software platforms, and systems and services enable broadband service providers (BSPs) to provide a range of services. It provides Calix Cloud platform, a role-based analytics platform comprising Calix Marketing Cloud, Calix Support Cloud, and Calix Operations Cloud, which are configurable to display role-based insights and enable BSPs to anticipate and target new revenue-generating services and applications through mobile application. The company also offers EXOS, a carrier class premises operating system and fully integrated with its GigaSpire family of systems to be ready for deployment as a complete subscriber experience solutions for BSP's residential and business subscribers; and AXOS, a software platform to access edge of the network by its architecture and operations. It offers its products through its direct sales force and resellers. Calix, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. Ex-Gurkha man jailed for 14 years after nearly hacking his wife to death A British court has sentenced a former Gurkha soldier to 14 years in prison for attempted murder of his wife. Emera Incorporated, an energy and services company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to various customers. The company operates through Florida Electric Utility, Canadian Electric Utilities, Other Electric Utilities, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Other segments. It generates electricity through coal-fired, natural gas and/or oil, hydro, wind, solar, petroleum coke, and biomass-fueled power plants. The company is also involved in the purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of natural gas; and the provision of energy marketing, trading, and other energy asset management services. In addition, it transports re-gasified liquefied natural gas from Saint John, New Brunswick to consumers in the northeastern United States through its 145-kilometer pipeline. As of December 31, 2021, the company's electric utilities served approximately 810,600 customers in West Central Florida; 536,000 customers in Nova Scotia; 132,000 customers in the island of Barbados; 19,000 customers in the Grand Bahama Island; and 35,700 customers in the island of Dominica, as well as gas utilities and infrastructure served approximately 445,000 customers across Florida and 542,000 customers in New Mexico. It also provides insurance and reinsurance services to Emera and its affiliates, as well as offers financing services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada. 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. GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom. Govt needs Rs820b to build offices and human capacity at local bodies Construction of crucial physical infrastructure projects that are required to unlock private investment and rekindle economic growth may not move ahead at a desired pace in this fiscal year as well, as the governments capital spending has not shown signs of gathering speed. Littering on Annapurna Circuit raises concerns The Annapurna Circuit trekking route draws hordes of foreign and domestic sightseers who inject cash into the local economy, but leave behind mounds of trash on the trails raising concerns over the sustainability of adventure tourism Locals have complained that trekkers and mountaineers are polluting the environment by their littering. 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. Read More Aetna Inc. operates as a health care benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Health Care, Group Insurance, and Large Case Pensions. The Health Care segment offers medical, pharmacy benefit management service, dental, behavioral health, and vision plans on an insured and employer-funded basis. It also provides point-of-service, preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization, and indemnity benefit plans, as well as health savings accounts and consumer-directed health plans. In addition, this segment offers Medicare and Medicaid products and services, as well as other medical products, such as medical management and data analytics services, medical stop loss insurance, workers' compensation administrative services, and products that provide access to its provider networks in select geographies. The Group Insurance segment offers life insurance products, including group term life insurance, voluntary spouse and dependent term life insurance, group universal life insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance products; and long-term care insurance products, which provide the benefits to cover the cost of care in private home settings, adult day care, assisted living, or nursing facilities. The Large Case Pensions segment manages various retirement products comprising pension and annuity products primarily for tax-qualified pension plans. The company provides its products and services to employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. Aetna Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut. Malaria downs 60 in Mugu Malaria has downed scores of people in Righa Village of Khatyad Rural Municipality in Mugu. Nelnet, Inc. engages in loan servicing, communications, education technology, services, and payment processing businesses worldwide. The Loan Servicing and Systems segment provides loan conversion, application processing, borrower updates, customer service, payment processing, due diligence procedures, funds management reconciliation, and claim processing services. This segment also provides student loan servicing software; business process outsourcing services specialized in contact center management, such as inbound calls, outreach campaigns and sales, and interacting with customers through multi-channels. The Education Technology, Services, and Payment Processing segment offers financial management services; school information system software; website design and cost effective admissions software; FACTS Giving, a donation platform; and customized professional development and coaching services, educational instruction services, and technology products that aid in teacher and student evaluations. It also offers tuition payment plans, and service and technology for student billings, payments, and refunds; solutions for in-person, online, and mobile payment experiences on campus; payment processing services, such as credit card and electronic transfer; faith community engagement, giving management, and learning management services and technologies; and an integrated commerce payment platform, financial management, and tuition payment plan services, as well as a school management platform that provides administrative, information management, financial management, and communication functions for K-12 schools. The Communications segment provides fiber optic service to homes and businesses for internet, television, and telephone services. The Asset Generation and Management segment acquires, manages, and owns loan assets. The Nelnet Bank segment operates internet industrial banks. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company's marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom. The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and: Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Alverix Inc, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience Inc, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Bard International Holdings B.V., Bard International Inc., Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company, Bard Korea Ltd., Bard Limited, Bard MRL Acquisition Corp., Bard Malaysia Healthcare Sdn. Bhd., Bard Medica SA, Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical SA (Proprietary) Limited, Bard Mexico Realty S. de R.L. de C.V., Bard Norden AB, Bard Norway AS, Bard Pacific Health Care Company Ltd., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Bard Poland Sp. z.o.o., Bard Productos Plasticos e Medicos Ltda., Bard Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Bard S.r.l., Bard Sdn. Bhd., Bard Shannon Limited, Bard Singapore Private Limited, Bard Sourcing Office Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bard Sweden AB, Bard UK Newco Limited, Bard de Espana S.A., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Management Limited, Becton Dickinson (Mauritius) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Pty) Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Thailand) Limited, Becton Dickinson A.G., Becton Dickinson A/S, Becton Dickinson Argentina S.R.L., Becton Dickinson Asia Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Asia Limited, Becton Dickinson Austria GmbH, Becton Dickinson Austria Holdings GmbH, Becton Dickinson B.V., Becton Dickinson B.V. Saudi Limited Company, Becton Dickinson Benelux N.V., Becton Dickinson Biosciences Systems and Reagents Inc., Becton Dickinson Canada Inc., Becton Dickinson Caribe Ltd., Becton Dickinson Croatia d.o.o., Becton Dickinson Czechia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Dispensing Belgium BVBA, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Denmark A/S, Becton Dickinson Dispensing France SAS, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Norway, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Spain S.L.U., Becton Dickinson Dispensing UK Ltd., Becton Dickinson Distribution Center N.V., Becton Dickinson East Africa Ltd., Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl, Becton Dickinson Europe Holdings S.A.S., Becton Dickinson France S.A.S., Becton Dickinson GSA Beteilgungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings I Inc., Becton Dickinson Global Holdings II LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings IV LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings V LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VIII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Services Centre Sdn. Bhd, Becton Dickinson GmbH, Becton Dickinson Guatemala S.A., Becton Dickinson Hellas S.A., Becton Dickinson Holdings Limited, Becton Dickinson Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Hungary Kft., Becton Dickinson India Private Limited, Becton Dickinson Industrias Cirurgicas Ltda., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy AB, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Holdings UK Limited, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc. S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy UK, Becton Dickinson Insulin Syringe Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings II Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings III Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Israel Ltd., Becton Dickinson Italia S.p.A., Becton Dickinson Ithalat Ihracat Limited Sirketi, Becton Dickinson Korea Holding Inc., Becton Dickinson Korea Ltd., Becton Dickinson Ltd., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Global Holdings Sarl, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings II S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings III S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings V S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Malaysia Inc., Becton Dickinson Management GmbH & Co. KG, Becton Dickinson Matrex Holdings Inc., Becton Dickinson Medical (S) Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Products Pte. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Global Holdings II C.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings II B.V., Becton Dickinson Norway AS, Becton Dickinson O.Y., Becton Dickinson Overseas Services Ltd., Becton Dickinson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., Becton Dickinson Penel Limited, Becton Dickinson Philippines Inc., Becton Dickinson Polska Sp.z.o.o., Becton Dickinson Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Becton Dickinson Pty. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Research Centre Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH, Becton Dickinson Rowa Italy Srl, Becton Dickinson S.A., Becton Dickinson Sample Collection GmbH, Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.L.P., Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.P., Becton Dickinson Sdn. Bhd., Becton Dickinson Slovakia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Sweden AB, Becton Dickinson Sweden Holdings AB, Becton Dickinson Switzerland Global Holdings SarL, Becton Dickinson Technology Campus India, Becton Dickinson U.K. Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing I Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing II Limited, Becton Dickinson Venezuela C.A., Becton Dickinson Venture LLC, Becton Dickinson Verwaltungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Vostok LLC, Becton Dickinson Worldwide Investments Sa.r.L., Becton Dickinson Zambia Limited, Becton Dickinson and Company Ltd., Becton Dickinson de Colombia Ltda., Becton Dickinson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson del Uruguay S.A., Bee IT Solutions, Benex Ltd., Biometric Imaging, Bridger Biomed Inc., C. R. Bard (Portugal) - Produtos e Artigos Medicos e Farmaceuticos, C. R. Bard Do Brasil Productos Medicos Ltda., C. R. Bard GmbH, C. R. Bard Inc., C. R. Bard Netherlands Sales B.V., C.R. Bard Inc, CME America LLC, CME Ltd., CME Medical (UK) Limited, CME UK (Holdings) Limited, CRISI Medical Systems, CRISI Medical Systems Inc., Caesarea Medical Electronics, Cardal II LLC, Care Fusion Development Private Limited, CareFusion (Barbados) SrL, CareFusion (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co. Limited, CareFusion 213 LLC, CareFusion 2200 Inc., CareFusion 2201 Inc., CareFusion 302 LLC, CareFusion 303 Inc., CareFusion Asia (HK) Limited, CareFusion Corporation, CareFusion Corporation., CareFusion D.R. 203 Ltd., CareFusion France 309 S.A.S., CareFusion Israel 330 Ltd., CareFusion Italy 312 S.p.A., CareFusion Manufacturing LLC, CareFusion Mexico 215 S.A. de C.V., CareFusion Netherlands 328 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 503 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 504 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands Financing 283 C.V., CareFusion Resources LLC, CareFusion S.A. 319 (Proprietary) Limited, CareFusion Solutions LLC, CareFusion U.K. 244 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 305 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 306 Limited, Carmel Pharma AB, Carmel Pharma Inc, Cato Software Solutions, Cell Analysis Systems Inc, Cellular Research, Cellular Research Inc., Clearstream Technologies Group Limited, Clearstream Technologies Limited, Clontech Laboratories Inc, Corporativo BD de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Critical Device Corporation, Cubex, Cytognos, Cytopeia Inc, DLD (Bermuda) Ltd., DVL Acquisition Sub Inc., Davol Inc., Davol International Limited, Davol Surgical Innovations S.A. de C.V., Difco Laboratories Incorporated, Distribuidora BD Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dutch American Manufacturers (D.A.M.) B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences Canada ULC, GeneOhm Sciences Inc, Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, Glentech Inc, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Iontophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Luther Medical Products Inc, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc, Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C. (Isialys) Societe a responsabilitie limitee, PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PharMingen., Plasso Technology Ltd, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med Inc, Safety Syringes Inc., Scanwell Health Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen Group Limited, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical AG, Straub Medical AG, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical Inc, TVA Medical Inc., Tepha Inc, Tepha Inc., Tissuemed Ltd., Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging Inc., Tru-Fit Marketing Corporation, Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Velano Vascular, Velano Vascular Inc., Venclose Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Visitec, Y-Med Inc., Y-Med LLC, and ZebraSci Inc.. Read More Many quake survivors are still without proper homes Many earthquake displaced families in Sindhupalchok are still living in huts they had built in the aftermath of the disaster. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns, manages, and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in three segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors. The Assisted Living and Memory Care segment owns or leases communities consisting of freestanding multi-story communities and freestanding single-story communities, which offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living for the Company's residents. This segment also operates memory care communities for residents with Alzheimer's and other dementias. The CCRCs segment owns or leases communities that provides various living arrangements, such as independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing; and services to accommodate various levels of physical ability and healthcare needs. It also manages communities on behalf of others. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 347 communities, leased 299 communities, and managed 33 communities on behalf of others. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. NA inaugurates first project camp in Makkhu Besi The Nepal Army (NA) on Wednesday inaugurated the first camp for the Kathmandu-Terai Expressway, at Makkhu Besi in Dakshinkali Municipality. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao engages in the retail of food, clothing, home appliances, electronics, and other products through its chain of supermarkets, specialized stores, and department stores in Brazil. It operates in Brazilian Retail, Grupo Exito, and Other Businesses segments. The company sells non-perishables, beverages, fruits, vegetables, meat, breads, cold cuts, dairy products, cleaning products, disposable products, and personal care products; and home appliances and other non-food products, such as clothing and baby items, shoes and accessories, household articles, books, magazines, CDs and DVDs, stationery, toys, sports and camping gears, furniture, mobile phones, mattresses, pet products, and gardening equipment and tools, as well as electronic products, including personal computers, software, computer accessories, and sound and image systems. It also offers medications and cosmetics at its drugstores; and non-food products at gas stations, as well as rents commercial spaces and e-commerce sales. The company operates its supermarkets under the banners of Pao de Acucar, Extra Supermercado, Mercado Extra, and Compre Bem; hypermarkets under the banner of Extra Hiper; and proximity stores under the banners of Mini Extra, Minuto Pao de Acucar, Pao de Acucar Adega, and Aliados Minimercado; and gas stations and drugstores under the banners of Extra and Pao de Acucar, as well as sells its products through its Websites. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 667 stores, 74 gas stations, and 68 drugstores in 16 Brazilian states and the Federal District, as well as 15 distribution centers and warehouses across Brazil. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao operates as a subsidiary of Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A. VMware, Inc. provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and digital workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer; vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; and vRealize Cloud Management solutions that manages hybrid and multi-cloud environments running in virtual machines and containers, as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with vRealize Cloud Management into an integrated stack and delivers enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. The company also provides networking solutions, such as VMware NSX, NSX Distributed and Gateway Firewalls, NSX Network Detection and Response Engine, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, Tanzu Service Mesh, and VMware SASE; security solutions consisting of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, Workload, and Container; and digital workspace solutions comprising Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, Access, Intelligent Hub, and Horizon. In addition, it offers application modernization solutions, such as Tanzu Application and Operations Platform, Tanzu Application Service Platform, Tanzu Observability, Tanzu Community Edition, and Tanzu Labs; and cloud management solutions, including vRealize Cloud Management, vCloud Suite, and CloudHealth by VMware Suite. The company sells its products through distributors, resellers, system vendors, and systems integrators. VMware, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Amazon Web Services to build and deliver an integrated hybrid solution. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. No change in election dates, reiterates poll governing body The Election Commission (EC) reiterated on Wednesday that there wont be any changes in dates of the provincial and federal elections scheduled for November 26 and December 7. Prez concerned about current political events President Bidya Devi Bhandari has instructed the constitutional bodies to remain alert and work responsibly. WEX Inc. provides financial technology services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Fleet Solutions, Travel and Corporate Solutions, and Health and Employee Benefit Solutions. The Fleet Solutions segment offers fleet vehicle payment processing services. Its services include customer, account activation, and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions with access to web-based data analytics platform that offers insights to fleet managers; and ancillary services and tools to fleets to manage expenses and capital requirements. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to commercial and government vehicle fleet customers with small, medium, and large fleets, as well as with over-the-road and long haul fleets; and indirectly through co-branded and private label relationships. The Travel and Corporate Solutions segment provides payment solutions, including embedded payments; and accounts payable automation and spend management solutions. Its products include virtual cards that are used for transactions where no card is presented. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to commercial and government organizations. The Health and Employee Benefit Solutions segment offers healthcare payment products and software-as-a-service consumer directed platforms for healthcare market, as well as payroll related and employee benefit products in Brazil. This segment markets its products through health plans, third-party administrators, financial institutions, payroll companies benefits consultants, software providers, and individuals. The company was formerly known as Wright Express Corporation and changed its name to WEX Inc. in October 2012. WEX Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Portland, Maine. Rasuwa border closed for 6 days Chinese authorities have stopped cross-border movement from Rasuwagadi border point, the only trade route currently in operation between Nepal and China, for six days from Tuesday. Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, and international news to media organizations, professional, and news consumers through news agency and industry events. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation operates a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited. The following companies are subsidiares of TransDigm Group: 17111 Waterview Pkwy LLC, ARA Deutschland GmbH, ARA Holding GmbH, Acme Aerospace, Acme Aerospace Inc., Adams Rite Aerospace GmbH, Adams Rite Aerospace Inc., Advanced Inflatable Products Limited, Aero-Instruments, AeroControlex Group Inc., Aerosonic, Aerosonic LLC, Air-Sea Survival Equipment Trustee Limited, Airborne Acquisition Inc., Airborne Global Inc., Airborne Holdings Inc., Airborne Systems, Airborne Systems Canada Ltd., Airborne Systems Group Limited, Airborne Systems Holdings Limited, Airborne Systems Limited, Airborne Systems NA Inc., Airborne Systems North America Inc., Airborne Systems North America of CA Inc., Airborne Systems North America of NJ Inc., Airborne Systems Pension Trust Limited, Airborne UK Acquisition Limited, Airborne UK Parent Limited, Aircraft Materials Limited, AmSafe, AmSafe Aviation (Chongqing) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Private) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport Ltd., AmSafe Global Holdings Inc., AmSafe Global Services (Private) Limited, AmSafe Inc., Angus Electronics Co., Arkwin Industries, Arkwin Industries Inc., Armtec Countermeasures Co., Armtec Countermeasures TNO Co., Armtec Defense Products Co., Auxitrol SAS, Auxitrol Weston Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Auxitrol Weston Services China Ltd., Auxitrol Weston Singapore Pte. Ltd., Auxitrol Weston USA Inc., Aviation Technologies, Aviation Technologies Inc., Avionic Instruments LLC, Avionics Instruments, Avionics Specialties Inc., AvtechTyee Inc., Beta Transformer Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Beta Transformer Technology Corporation, Beta Transformer Technology LLC, Breeze-Eastern Corporation, Breeze-Eastern LLC, Bridport Erie Aviation Inc., Bridport Holdings Inc., Bridport Ltd., Bridport-Air Carrier Inc., Bruce Aerospace Inc., Bruce Industries, CDA InterCorp LLC, CEF Industries LLC, CMC Electronics Aurora LLC, CMC Electronics Inc., CMC Electronics ME Inc., Champion Aerospace LLC, Chelton Avionics Holdings Inc., Chelton Avionics Inc., Chelton Limited, Cobham Aero Connectivity, Cobham CTS Limited, Cobham Defence Communications Limited, Cobham Defense Products Inc., DART Aerospace, DDC Electronics K.K., DDC Electronics Ltd., DDC Electronics Private Limited, DDC Electronique S.A.R.L., DDC Elektronik GmbH, Darchem Engineering Limited, Darchem Holdings Limited, Data Device Corp., Data Device Corporation, Dukes Aerospace Inc., EST Defence Company UK Limited, Edlaw Limited, Electromech Technologies LLC, Elektro-Metall Export GmbH, Elektro-Metall Paks KFT, Esterline, Esterline Acquisition Ltd, Esterline Europe Company LLC, Esterline Foreign Sales Corporation, Esterline International Company, Esterline Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Esterline Technologies Corporation, Esterline Technologies Corporation, Esterline Technologies Europe Limited, Esterline Technologies France Holding SAS, Esterline Technologies French Acquisition Limited, Esterline Technologies Global Limited, Esterline Technologies Holdings Limited, Esterline Technologies SGIP LLC, Esterline Technologies Unlimited, Esterline do Brasil Assessoria e Intermediacao Ltda, European Antennas Limited, Extant Components Group Holdings Inc., Extant Components Group Intermediate Inc., GQ Parachutes Limited, Guizhou Leach-Tianyi Aviation Electrical Company Ltd, Harco, HarcoSemco LLC, Hartwell Corporation, Hytek Finishes Co., ILC Holdings Inc., IRVIN AEROSPACE LIMITED, IrvinGQ France SAS, IrvinGQ Limited, Janco Corporation, Johnson Liverpool LLC, Kirkhill Elastomers, Kirkhill Inc., Korry Electronics Co., Kunshan Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Leach Holding Corporation, Leach International Asia-Pacific Ltd, Leach International Corporation, Leach International Europe S.A.S., Leach International Germany GmbH, Leach International Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., Leach International UK Ltd, Leach Mexico Holding LLC, Leach Technology Group Inc., MarathonNorco Aerospace Inc., Mason Electric Co., Mastsystem Int'l Oy, McKechnie Aerospace, McKechnie Aerospace (Europe) Ltd., McKechnie Aerospace DE Inc., McKechnie Aerospace DE LP, McKechnie Aerospace Holdings Inc., McKechnie Aerospace US LLC, Mecanismos de Matamoros S. de R.L. de C.V., NAT Seattle Inc., NMC Group Inc., Norco, Nordisk Asia Pacific Limited, Nordisk Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Nordisk Aviation Products (Kunshan) Ltd., Nordisk Aviation Products AS, Nordisk Aviation Products LLC, North Hills Signal Processing Corp., North Hills Signal Processing Overseas LLC, Norwich Aero Products Inc., Palomar Products Inc., Pexco Aerospace, Pexco Aerospace Inc., PneuDraulics, PneuDraulics Inc., Pressure Systems International Ltd, Schneller, Schneller Asia Pte. Ltd., Schneller LLC, Schneller S.A.R.L., Schroth Safety Products, Semco Instruments, Semco Instruments Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Signal Processing Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Skandia, Skandia Inc., Skurka Aerospace, Skurka Aerospace Inc., Symetrics Industries, Symetrics Industries LLC, Symetrics Technology Group LLC, TA Aerospace Co., TA Mfg Limited, TDG Bavaria GmbH, TDG ESL Holdings Inc., TDG France Ultimate Parent SAS, TDG Germany GmbH, TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc., TEAC Aerospace Technologies Inc., Tactair Fluid Controls Inc., Takata Protection Systems, Telair International, Telair International GmbH, Telair International Services PTE Ltd, Telair US LLC, TransDigm (Barbados) SRL, TransDigm Canada ULC, TransDigm European Holdings Limited, TransDigm Ireland Ltd., TransDigm Receivables LLC, TransDigm Technologies India Private Limited, TransDigm UK Holdings plc, Transicoil (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad, Transicoil LLC, Wallop Defence UK Limited, Weston Aerospace Ltd, Whippany Actuation Systems, Whippany Actuation Systems LLC, XCEL Power Systems Ltd., Young & Franklin, Young & Franklin Inc., and exas Rotronics Inc.. Read More VeriFone Systems, Inc. provides payments and commerce solutions at the point of sale (POS) worldwide. It offers countertop solutions that accept payment options, including contactless, NFC, mobile wallets, and EMV; PIN pads that support credit and debit card, EBT, EMV, and other PIN-based transactions; and multilane consumer facing commerce devices. It also provides portable payment devices, including small, portable, and handheld devices that enable merchants to accept electronic payments wherever wireless connectivity is available; and mobile solutions that attach to and interface with iOS or Android based smartphones and tablets. In addition, it offers integrated electronic payment systems that combine electronic payment processing, fuel dispensing, and ECR functions, as well as secure payment systems for integration with petroleum pump controllers; unattended and self-service payment solutions designed to enable payment transactions in self-service, high-transaction volume, and public transportation environments; and network access solutions. Further, it provides installation, deployment, training, and application development and delivery solutions; project management, client education program, and consulting services; helpdesk support, equipment repair and maintenance, and software post-contract support services; and application libraries and development tools. Additionally, it offers omnichannel commerce, terminal management, and security solutions; and cloud-based managed, transaction payment, and other value added services. It sells its products directly; and through third party and channel partners. It serves financial institutions, payment processors, government organizations, and retailers; petroleum, transportation, and healthcare companies; and quick service restaurants. The company was formerly known as VeriFone Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to VeriFone Systems, Inc. in May 2010. VeriFone Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California. RJP-N leaders stage sit-in demanding PR list correction Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal leaders including its two general secretaries have started a sit-in at the party headquarters in Babarmahal demanding that the party leadership correct its proportional representation list submitted to the Election Commission. RPP joined govt to ensure elections Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy Kamal Thapa said on Wednesday that the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) joined the government to ensure the elections. Spain moves to suspend Catalan autonomy Spain is to start suspending Catalonian autonomy on Saturday, after its leader threatened to declare independence, BBC reported. Sangam Prasain is Business Editor at The Kathmandu Post, covering tourism, agriculture, mountaineering, aviation, infrastructure and other economic affairs. He joined The Kathmandu Post in October 2009. Tihar in Tarai: Shopping, decoration and celebration (Photo feature) Locals in various Tarai districts have decorated their localities as Tihar, the five-day Nepali festival of lights, began from Tuesday. The second largest British investor in Azerbaijan, Anglo Asian Mining , disclosed on Thursday a recent visit by representatives of the British Embassy in Azerbaijan to its Gedabek gold, copper and silver mine. During the visit, the largest mining investor in Azerbaijan conducted a presentation to the British Ambassador, Dr Carole Crofts, and the Head of the Department for International Trade, Mr Steven Smith. In it, the company highlighted the many corporate social responsibility projects it was carrying out in the local community as well as the contribution made by the company to the Azerbaijan economy. The company added that the delegation was given a tour of the Gedabek contract area mines and processing facilities, including a visit to the company's newly opened Ugur Mine which had boosted Anglo Asian's gold production since mining commenced in September. Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented: "It was a great pleasure to host the British Ambassador and her colleagues at the Gedabek mine site. We look forward to continuing our excellent relationship with the British Embassy with a view to further contributing to the ongoing mutual benefit of the association between Britain and Azerbaijan." MySQUAR signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into partnership with relevant service providers for the financing and delivery of Wi-Fi services and digital content on Myanmar Railways, a state-owned agency operating the entire railway network in Myanmar, it emerged on Thursday. That Partnership, MySQUAR said, would collaborate with Myanmar Railways, which had sales of between 100,000-150,000 tickets per day, for the installation of free Wi-Fi network in carriages, platforms and stations of the Yangon Circular train as well as the national rail network for train travellers. Digital content such as video games, chat platforms, advertisements and internet access would also be included with revenues expected to stem from advertising and telecoms through direct carrier billing from video games and streaming content. The company also disclosed that there will be a revenue share agreement between the Partnership and Myanmar Railways inclusive of net operating and administrative fees necessary for the deployment of the network. Commenting on the news, Eric Schaer, CEO of MySQUAR said the company continued to seek strategic partnerships. "MySQUAR continues to actively seek strategic partnerships that build brand awareness and allow us to broaden our user base through new channels. "We anticipate this partnership could have vast long-term potential as the railways are improved and railway use is projected to multiply over the coming years as roads become more congested." VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund , the flagship fund of VinaCapital, has invested approximately $11m in Orient Commercial Bank, for an interest of less than 5%, the company announced on Thursday. Investment in the mid-tier retail bank in Vietnam, established in 1996 and currently ranking 17th out of 34 banks in total assets, was made via a privately negotiated deal, the company said, adding that it had recently received regulatory approval. Andy Ho, managing director of VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund, said, "This investment is a rare opportunity to own a meaningful stake in a bank that has high lending and earnings growth, and a strong management team with a clear strategy for expansion. Over the past five years, OCB has been restructuring its business, and is now well-positioned to implement its growth strategy. In addition to negotiating an attractive price, we were able to obtain certain minority protections and performance commitments, which made this transaction all the more attractive." UK public finances will come under the microscope on Friday 20 October, while later on US Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks and there are results from InterContinental Hotels, Acacia Mining and Renishaw. The Office for National Statistics will report on September's UK public finances at 0930 BST, a month after public sector borrowing was revealed as 5.09bn or 6.7bn when excluding stakes in banks. The finances have been on a bit of a roller-coaster this year, noted HSBC, recovering from a poor start with better outturns for June and July, meaning that year-to-date borrowing is actually down very slightly on the same period of last year. "However, with weak output and wage growth, as well as some on-off factors that reduced the deficit last year, we expect it to widen over the remainder of this fiscal year. "With the OBR apparently poised to revise down its productivity forecasts in the next economic and financial outlook, this will make for some difficult questions for the Chancellor ahead of the 22 November Budget." Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics expect borrowing of 6.5bn on the PSNB excluding stakes in banks "Borrowing in 2017/18, however, still is set to be about 8bn lower than the OBR forecast in March." COMPANY RESULTS InterContinental Hotels is scheduled to report on third quarter results. In August, the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza operator reported first-half growth in revenue per available room (revpar) of 2.1%, down from the 2.7% at the start of the year. Revpar growth slowed to 1.5% in the second quarter, including a decline of 0.4% in the US due the timing of Easter. Underlying revenue hit 788m for the first six months of the year, up 4% year on year at constant exchange rates, with operating profit rising 7% to $365m. New chief executive Keith Barr, who was promoted in July after 17 years at the company, hailed the continued progress in executing predecessor Richard Solomons' strategy to deliver high quality sustainable growth, and said he would continue the company's focus on cost efficiency to generate funds for reinvestment. Analysts at UBS forecast global revpar will be lower than than the second quarter due to hurricane and calendar. "We expect up circa 1% with circa 7k rooms opened." Barclays was going for 2%, with 1.2% in Americas, 3.9% in Europe, 1.6% in AMEA and 4.2% in Greater China, overall expecting US commentary to be more favourable than in the second quarter, with a smaller underperformance than the market. Broker Numis noted that market data for the US was largely unchanged in the third versus the second quarters at 2.2%, whereas Europe and China have both showed an improving trend, leading it to forecast 2.8% revpar growth. Acacia Mining is scheduled to release its Q3 results a day after parent company Barrick Gold agreed a revenue-sharing deal with the Tanzanian government, which will be subject to a shareholder vote. Ahead of the trading statement Acacia revealed last week that it produced 191,203 ounces of gold and sold 132,787 ounces of gold during the third quarter. Before the Barrick intervention, analysts at Jefferies said most of the newsflow for had already been and do not expect any material update on Friday. "In our opinion, the medium- to long-term share price performance will be, in large part, determined by a resolution over the concentrate export ban and resulting fiscal and operating landscape for the company in country." UBS expects total cash costs up the top of the guidance range of $580-620/oz and all-in-sustaining costs to be 2% up the top of guidance range of $880-920/oz, with a small cash position of $60m and a small net debt position of around $5m. Engineer Renishaw's first quarter trading update is expected to reveal some details on both revenues and profits. Guidance at July's full year results was for growth in both revenue and profits in the current financial year despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit and FX volatility. For the year, the company reported an adjusted profit before tax of 109.1m and a statutory profit before tax of 117.1m, an increase of 25% on an adjusted basis, on underlying revenues up 14% to 537m with growth in all regions. For the new year, UBS forecast revenues of 606m with 8% organic growth and EBITA of 130m with 21.5% margins. Friday October 20 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Current Account (EU) (09:00) Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00) Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00) Public Sector Net Borrowing (09:30) FINALS Oncimmune Holdings TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Acacia Mining, InterContinental Hotels Group, Record, Renishaw AGMS Vast Resources ANNUAL REPORT James Halstead FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Green Reit, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hargreaves Services, HML Holdings, Kainos Group , Norish Units INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Applegreen, Barr (A.G.), Braime (T.F.& J.H.) Holdings (Non-Voting), Christie Group, Convatec Group , Costain Group, Derwent London, Eddie Stobart Logistics , Epwin Group, Henry Boot, Hunters Property , Inmarsat, Petrofac Ltd., Phoenix Spree Deutschland Limited Shs NPV , Shire Plc, Stadium Group, Vitec Group Shares of US tech giant Apple were suffering their biggest decline in the last month after Wall Street opened on Thursday amidst reports that the Apple Watch was suffering from service issues in China . According to the Wall Street Journal, the devices independent service connection has been cut in the country without explanation, and is likely to suffer further problems there in the coming months. Cellular connectivity for the Apple Watch has been cut since September 28, having been previously available through China Unicom. Apples stock price was retreating by 2.51% as of 14:57 BST, having tacked on over 30% in the year-to-date. The company led by Tim Cook also came under pressure on Thursday as traders speculated about poor demand for the new iPhone 8. Apple simultaneously revealed the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, the latter of which will be made available for sale next month. Wall Street opened lower on Thursday after pushing on to new record highs in the previous session after positive results from IBM. A stronger euro despite the continuing political stand-off in Spain is weighing on stocks, even as investors wait on the results of the summit of European Union heads of state later in the day. To take note of, the selling pressure was taking place against a backdrop of considerable 'market chatter' concerning possibly stretched equity valuations, oversold readings on some benchmark indices and talk of the potential for a large correction due to secular changes in the structure of markets, which reminded some observers of conditions prior to the market crash of late 1987. Against that backdrop, as of 1227 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.79% or 3.09 points to 388.46, while Germany's Dax was off by 0.78% or 101.37 points at 12,942.22, alongside a dip of 0.75% on Spain's Ibex 35 to 10,196.70. "Black Monday vibes? European equities fell in lockstep at precisely the time we were due an update on Catalonias fight with Madrid over independence. "It seemed there anxiety rose to a peak with sell orders flooding in as the deadline approached, triggering stops and further selling after it was reached. Broad based selling hit all the main European indices while the euro also lost ground and Spanish bond yields jumped as expected given the impasse," commented Neil Wilson at ETX Capital. Nevertheless, the single currency was in fact higher against the greenback come midday, adding 0.35% to 1.1833, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Spanish government bond was little changed at 1.63%. According to local reports Catalan officials continued to play 'cat and mouse' with authorities in Madrid. Significantly too, according to Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia, on Wednesday evening the centrist nationalist PDECat party closed ranks behind regional president Carles Puigdemont's push for independence. That was followed by a somewhat coy letter from Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on Thursday morning which appeared to shift the responsibility for declaring independence to the Catalan people, instead of himself. For authorities in Madrid, Puigdemont's missive appeared to fall short of the clarity asked of him, although according to Madrid-based El Mundo the main political parties in Madrid had decided overnight to 'de facto' extend a third deadline to Puigdemont, as it would take several days to obtain approval from the Spanish Congress to apply Article 155, most likely between 27 October and 31 October. Specifically, hopes were that the Catalan leader would call early elections. Still on the economic calendar for the current session was the summit of EU 27 leaders later in the day, alongside a reading on consumer confidence in Belgium due out at 1300 BST. Stateside, the main release on traders' radar would be the so-called Philly Fed manufcaturing sector survey for October at 1330 BST. Meanwhile, in the corporate space, German battery-maker Varta began trading in Frankfurt following an IPO that saw its shares priced to go at 17.5, at the to end of the indicative range. Pernod Ricard announced stronger-than-expected underlying sales for its first fiscal quarter of 5.7% thanks to strong demand in China and the US. Carrefour on the other hand saw revenue growth slow over the three months to September, chiefly as a result of soft demand in France. Stocks have started the morning trading lower, with investors focused on the summit of European Union heads of state later in the day and events in Spain given the looming deadline for Catalan officials to make their intentions clear. Against that backdrop, as of 0831 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.26% or 1.01 points to 390.55, while Germany's Dax was off by 0.15% or 20.0 points at 13,023.48, alongside a dip of 0.11% on Spain's Ibex 35 to 10,263.00. Commenting on what was at stake in Brussels, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "It's also EU summit day today and for all the talk of compromise there seems to be precious little of either coming from either side, with the EU side actually tightening up their guidelines when it comes to money. With nerves starting to fray on the part of business there is a concern that politicians on both sides are playing with fire. A hard Brexit would not only be damaging for the UK but also for Europe, and Ireland in particular." Regarding Spain, according to local reports Catalan officials continued to play 'cat and mouse' with authorities in Madrid. According to La Vanguardia, on Wednesday evening the centrist nationalist PDECat party closed ranks behind regional president Carles Puigdemont's push for independence. Puigdemont was also reportedly set to send a second letter to the Spanish PM on Thursday morning stating that he would 'reactivate' the up until now suspended declaration of independence if Madrid used Article 155 of the country's constitution in order to impose a return to legality. For their part, the main political parties in Madrid decided overnight to 'de facto' extend a third deadline to Puigdemont as it would take several days to obtain approval from the Spanish Congress to apply Article 155, most likely between 27 October and 31 October, El Mundo reported. The prior deadline had been Thursday at 1000 CET. On the economic calendar for the current session was the summit of EU 27 leaders later in the day, alongside a reading on consumer confidence in Belgium due out at 1300 BST. Stateside, the main release on traders' radar would be the so-called Philly Fed manufcaturing sector survey for October at 1330 BST. Meanwhile, in the corporate space, German battery-maker Varta began trading in Frankfurt following an IPO that saw its shares priced to go at 17.5, at the to end of the indicative range. Pernod Ricard announced stronger-than-expected underlying sales for its first fiscal quarter of 5.7% thanks to strong demand in China and the US. Carrefour on the other hand saw revenue growth slow over the three months to September, chiefly as a result of soft demand in France. Sales growth from Unilever fell short of expectations for the third quarter, with turnover negative, with the consumer goods colossus generating only minimal volume growth for the sixth quarter in a row. Reiterating guidance for full year underlying sales growth of 3-5% despite again having undershot this target, chief executive Paul Polman said conditions in developed markets remained challenging and that growth in the quarter was adversely affected by poorer weather in Europe and natural disasters in the Americas. The silver lining was that signs of improvement are appearing in major emerging markets such as India and China, contributing to total emerging markets sales growth of 6.3%, with volume growth an encouraging 1.8%. Underlying sales in the three months to the end of September rose 2.6% year on year, or 2.8% excluding the spreads, which was well short of the 3.9% the market expected. Turnover of 13.2bn was down 1.6% year on year, reflecting a 5.1% headwind from currency and a positive 0.9% contribution from M&A, or down 1.5% to 12.5bn if excluding spreads. Polman said the savings from his 'Connected 4 Growth' restructuring programme were delivering faster than expected and putting the business well on track towards the 6bn savings target, and a targeted underlying operating margin of 20% by 2020. This was underlined as he said target for underlying operating margin of at least 100 basis points and strong cash flow remained in place. Preparations for the exit from spreads via a sale or demerger were said to be fully on track, following September's sale of the South African spreads business, and with reports that suitors for a sale were to submit their bids by Thursday. A review of the group's dual-headed Anglo-Dutch legal structure was said to be "progressing well". Unilever shares fell 3.7% in early trading on Thursday to 4,382.5p. Analyst Darren Shirley at Shore Capital said the numbers missed even the lowest of the range 3.2% of City forecasts for the quarter. "Once again we believe the focus to be on the lack of volume growth, with just a 0.2% increase reported against a negative 0.4% comparative. He noted that the price contribution continued to ease back, albeit slowly with a 2.4% increase reported down from 2.8% in the second quarter. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the company was seeking to compensate for negligible volume growth by squeezing prices higher "a testament to the power of the groups awesome range of brands". However, price rose at the slowest rate for seven quarters as perhaps even Unilever found that loyal customers can only afford so much and are becoming ever-more price sensitive a trend to which Reckitt Benckiser hinted yesterday when it flagged increased competition, especially in areas such as home care (Vanish) and laundry." This will be a huge source of concern to shareholders, whose long-term support of companies such as Unilever and Reckitt is based on the high margins they generate as a result of the pricing power conferred upon them by their brands especially as Unilever is being much more careful with its marketing spend, as one means of driving group operating margins toward boss Paul Polmans 20% target for 2020." Charlie Huggins, a fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown who holds Unilever in his portfolio, said the update was "slightly disappointing" but was was encouraged by the positive volume performance in emerging markets. "Life is becoming more difficult for the consumer goods giants, as competition from smaller, nimbler players intensifies and consumer preferences shift towards niche and alternative brands. "Unilever has responded by cutting costs and raising prices, however, these are short term fixes. To succeed in the long term Unilever will need to adapt its business model, becoming more agile and responsive to changing trends." Despite the challenges, he likes that the business throws off cash that can either be returned to investors or used to acquire fast-growing brands. "The group is only at the start of a major cost cutting programme, so there should still be plenty of scope for margins to rise. And in the long run, Unilevers significant exposure to some of the fastest growing areas of the world, like India and China, should stand it in good stead. " Britains low pay culture traps people in poorly paid jobs and prevents them from escaping into full-time work with better pay, according to a major study by the government-backed body that tracks social mobility. Only one in six workers on low pay managed in the last 10 years to push themselves up the pay ladder and stay there, while most remained stuck in a cycle of part-time and insecure jobs. Guardian The chancellor has asked UK enforcement agencies to look into whether British banking groups HSBC and Standard Chartered are linked to South Africas corruption inquiry into alleged ties between the wealthy Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma. According to letters seen by the Guardian, Philip Hammond has passed concerns raised by former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain to the Serious Fraud Office(SFO), National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Guardian Lloyds Banking Group mugged shareholders by withholding vital information about the catastrophic financial state of HBOS prior to its takeover in the teeth of the financial crisis, the High Court has heard. Richard Hill QC, acting for 6,000 shareholders suing Lloyds for 600m in losses they claim were incurred due to the HBOS deal, said in court: We are saying shareholders were mugged in this acquisition and should never have been kept in the dark. Telegraph Norways $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund has joined a growing number of critics to the proposals made by the UK financial watchdog that will ease rules for companies listing in London - a move widely seen as an attempt to lure oil giant Saudi Aramco to float in Britain. In July, the Financial Conduct Authority proposed launching a new category in its premium listings, exempting state-controlled companies from certain requirements. The changes to listing rules would cover relations between the company and its controlling shareholder, and whether smaller shareholders get to vote on independent directors. The Telegraph Ministers are to be urged to show solidarity with workers at the Bombardier aerospace factory in Northern Ireland and select the C-Series aircraft, part-built in Belfast, as the new jet for the Queens Flight. It is also understood that the slow-selling C-Series, which has been rescued by a deal with Airbus this week after being caught up in a transatlantic trade row with Boeing and the US government, could be close to nearly tripling orders thanks to a big contract with Qatar Airways. The Times There will be no billion-dollar bets on green energy by BP because it is too early to tell which technologies will triumph, Bob Dudley has said. The oil majors chief executive said that it had learnt lessons from its dash into renewables and low-carbon technologies two decades ago under Lord Browne of Madingley, who led the companys Beyond Petroleum rebrand. The Times Red Hat on Tuesday announced the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Solutions, a new platform that combines two existing systems for analytics and data management into a single offering. The new platform combines the existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP Applications and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP HANA into a single, consolidated platform. Complex Challenges There is no single technology stack to solve every enterprise challenge, and big data analytics is no different, said Jim Totten, vice president and general manager of the Platforms Business Unit at Red Hat. Increasingly we are seeing IT organizations use multiple SAP solutions to tackle the complex challenges of their evolving markets. Built upon the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 operating system, the platform adds a few new wrinkles, including Red Hat Insights, which offers proactive analytics and real-time intelligence. It allows customers to build and deploy cloud-based systems while providing warnings about potential technical problems and security threats. Other technologies included in the new platform include Red Hats High Availability Add on, which isolates unresponsive applications; the Smart Management Add-0n, which helps to provision and patch large deployments of the software; and Update Service, which provides four years of extended support, including critical security updates and bug fixes. The new platform is available through the Red Hat Customer Portal. High Anticipation Big data has been fueling innovation, said Mark Dendinger, CEO of 3V Solutions, a reseller of Red Hat software, but large enterprises typically want to deploy multiple or layered technologies to address their specific data analysis and management needs. The new Red Hat platform definitely will enhance the customer experience, Dendinger told LinuxInsider. The new platform marks the latest collaboration in a long relationship between SAP and Red Hat, which have worked as partners in the open source space for about 17 years, noted Lis Strenger, Red Hat product marketing manager, digital transformation. Both companies are committed to open source initiatives, she told LinuxInsider. Red Hats open source OS, virtualization and Java middleware technologies provide a leading platform upon which to run SAP applications. Customers of the two companies have begun to test the new platform, which will move into production shortly, Strenger said. Customers migrating to SAP S/4HANA have been anticipating this new integrated platform, she added, as it provides consistent infrastructure for both transactional and analytical workloads. Growing Demand The new platform demonstrates the growing acceptance of open source alternatives, said Jeffrey Kaplan, managing director at ThinkStrategies. Open source can enhance and extend the capabilities of traditional enterprise applications and tools, like those provided by SAP, he told LinuxInsider. The announcement from Red Hat and SAP came just one day after Red Hat announced an agreement with Microsoft to offer Microsoft SQL Server 2017 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Ancient Egypt is often described as an exotic placepyramids, hieroglyphics, lavishly worshipped kings and queens. But in many ways, it has a lot of parallels to modern life. It was an economically diverse, culturally vibrant and unequal place. The millenniums-old society also struggled with a phenomenon that people today know all too well: climate change. And it may have ultimately led to the civilizations demise, according to a new paper by a team of researchers at Yale University. The team of researchers studied the tail-end of ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic dynasty between 305-30 BCE. Their research shows how climate change can stress a society, causing a chain reaction of drought, famine, instability and conflict, and it provides useful lessons for the urgency of acting to avert such developments today. Ancient Egypt was dependent on floodwaters from the Nile River to irrigate crops that could feed society, the report explains. When the region faced drought, crop yields would plummet and cause widespread unrest. The researchers were able to determine that the worst of these droughts were caused by volcanic eruptions, which released sulfurous gases into the atmosphere, altering precipitation patterns and disrupting seasonal monsoons. Because this period of ancient Egypt was well-documented, the researchers were able to correspondingly chart volcanic eruptions with periods of conflict. In years influenced by volcanic eruptions, Nile flooding was generally diminished, leading to social stress that could trigger unrest and have other political and economic consequences,Joseph Manning, a professor at Yale and lead author on the paper, said in a press release. This dynamic mirrors on a local level whats happening on a global level today. More than 70 percent of the worlds population is dependent on consistent monsoon seasons, according to the researchers, and the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere is destabilizing precipitation patterns, putting the livelihoods of billions of people at risk. As critical resources are compromised through drought, heatwaves, extreme weather and other factors, military experts fear that the ensuing instability could cause conflict. The example of ancient Egypt provides a sobering example that such conflict is possible. The U.S. Department of Defense refers to climate change as a threat multiplier, meaning that it can put pressure on existing societal tensions, accelerating the likelihood of conflict. Thats basically what happened in ancient Egypt, argue the researchers. Diminished Nile flooding acted to trigger revolts and constrain Ptolemaic war making explaining that the shocks from poor Nile flooding would have occurred against a background of multiple socioeconomic and political difficulties that would have compounded the impacts of Nile variability, the press release states. Theres one key difference between now and then, however. The climate change faced by ancient Egypt was caused by volcanic eruptions. Todays climate change is driven by human activities that release greenhouse gas emissions. And the worlds current predicament would be worsened by another large-scale volcanic eruptionwhich the team at Yale says were long overdue for. Sooner or later we will experience a large volcanic eruption, and perhaps a cluster of them, that will act to exacerbate drought in sensitive parts of the world, said Manning. Global Citizen campaigns on the Global Goals, which call for strong climate action. You can take action on this issue here. Reposted with permission from our media associate Global Citizen. By Stacy Malkan The Independent Womens Forum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has taken money from tobacco and oil companies, partners with Monsanto, defends toxic chemicals in food and consumer products, denies climate science and argues against laws that would curb the power of corporations. IWF began in 1991 as an effort to defend now Supreme Court Justice (and former Monsanto attorney) Clarence Thomas as he faced sexual harassment charges. The group now says it seeks to improve the lives of Americans by increasing the number of women who value free markets and personal liberty. A key message of IWF is to shift the blame for health or environmental problems away from corporations and toward personal responsibilityfor example arguing that parents, not food companies, are to blame for Americas obesity problem. Funding by right wing billionaires and corporations According to data collected by Greenpeace USA, IWF has received more than $15 million in funding since 1998, largely from right-wing foundations that promote deregulation and corporate free reign. IWFs leading contributors, with donations topping $5.3 million, are Donors Trust and Donors Capital Funds, the dark money ATM of the conservative movement connected with Charles and David Koch. The funds channel money from anonymous donors, including corporations, to efforts that champion corporate agendas, as a Greenpeace investigation established. IWF has also received $844,115 in combined donations from Koch family foundations. Other top funders include the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, Randolf Foundation (an offshoot of the Richardson Foundation) and Searle Freedom Trustall are leading funders of climate-science denial, according to a Drexel University study. ExxonMobil and Philip Morris are among IWFs funders, according to documents from the UCSF Tobacco Industry Documents Library. Phillip Morris named IWF in a list of potential third party references and those who respect our views. The book Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway described IWF as one of the seemingly grass-roots organizations funded by the Phillip Morris Corporation that focuses on Individual Liberties, Regulatory Issues, or both. Rush Limbaugh has donated at least a quarter of a million dollars to IWF, according to this report in The Nation: Guess Which Womens Group Rush Limbaugh has Donated Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to? Hint: its the one that defends him whenever he launches into a sexist tirade. IWF leaders IWF Board Chair Heather R. Higgins has held senior positions in numerous right-wing foundations, including the Randolph Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Philanthropy Roundtable. Kellyanne Conway, White House advisor and former Trump campaign manager, is an IWF board member. Directors Emeritae include Lynne V. Cheney, wife of Dick Cheney and Kimberly O. Dennis, president of the board of directors of Donors Trust and president and CEO of Searle Freedom Trust. Nancy M. Pfotenhauer, a former Koch Industries lobbyist, left Koch Industries to become president of IWF in 2001 and she later served as vice chairman of IWFs Board of Directors. She has a long history of promoting dirty energy and pushing for deregulation of polluting industries. IWFs agenda closely follows the lobbying and messaging agenda of tobacco, oil and chemical industry interests. Following are some examples: Argues standard Phillips Morris PR In August 2017, IWF lobbied FDA to approve Phillip Morris IQOS e-cigarettes, arguing that women need the products for various biological reasons to help them quit smoking regular cigarettes. Clearly, the FDA doesnt intend to punish women, simply for their gender. Yet, thats precisely whats going to happen if women are limited to smoking cessation products that biologically cannot provide them with the help they need to quit traditional cigarettes, IWF wrote. In response to the IWF letter, Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, said, This is standard Philip Morris PR. There is no independent confirmation that IQOS are safer than cigarettes or that they help people quit smoking. Denies climate science The Independent Womens Forum is a Koch Industries Climate Denial Group that has spread misinformation on climate science and touts the work of climate deniers, according to Greenpeace. Jane Mayer reported in The New Yorker: The (Koch) brothers have given money to more obscure groups, too, such as the Independent Womens Forum, which opposes the presentation of global warming as a scientific fact in American public schools. Until 2008, the group was run by Nancy Pfotenhauer, a former lobbyist for Koch Industries. Mary Beth Jarvis, a vice-president of a Koch subsidiary, is on the groups board. A Denver Post story reported in 2010 that IWF thinks global warming is junk science and that teaching it is unnecessarily scaring schoolchildren. Through a campaign called Balanced Education for Everyone, IWF opposed climate science education in schools, which the group described as alarmist global warming indoctrination. IWF President Carrie Lucas writes about the growing skepticism about climate change and argues the public could pay dearly for the hysteria. Promotes toxic chemicals / Partners with Monsanto IWF is a leading messenger for promoting toxic chemicals as nothing to worry about, opposing public health protections and trying to build trust for corporations like Monsanto. According to IWFs Culture of Alarmism project, sharing information about hazardous chemicals in consumer products leads to wasted tax dollars, higher costs and inferior goods for consumers, fewer jobs and a needlessly worried, less free American populace. In February 2017, Monsanto partnered with IWF on an event titled Food and Fear: How to Find Facts in Todays Culture of Alarmism, and an IWF podcast that month discussed How Monsanto is Vilified by Activists. IWF pushes the talking points of Monsanto and the agrichemical industry: promoting GMOs and pesticides, attacking the organic industry and opposing transparency in food labels. Examples include: Vermonts GMO labeling law is stupid. (The Spectator) Sinister GMO labeling will cause grocery costs to skyrocket. (IWF) Anti-GMO hype is the real threat to the well being of families. (National Review) General Mills caved in to the food police by removing GMOs. (USA Today) Chipotle is stuffing their non-GMO burritos with nonsense. (IWF) Reasonable moms need to push back on the mom shaming and guilt tripping organic food narrative. (IWF podcast) GMO critics are cruel, vain, elite and seek to deny those in need. (New York Post) Educating celebrity moms about GMOs with Monsantos talking points (IWF) Champions corporate-friendly food freedom IWF attacks the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as government nannies, for example describing the agency as food Marxists and completely out of control for issuing voluntary guidance to food manufacturers to cut sodium levels. A June 2017 IWF event tried to stoke fears about public health guidance. In 2012, IWF launched a Women for Food Freedom project to push back on the nanny state and encourage personal responsibility for food choices. The agenda included opposing food regulations, soda and snack food taxes, junk science and food and home-product scares, misinformation about obesity and hunger, and other federal food programs, including school lunches. On obesity, IWF tries to shift attention away from corporate accountability and toward personal choices. In this interview with Thom Hartmann, Julie Gunlock of IWFs Culture of Alarmism Project argues that corporations are not to blame for Americas obesity problem but rather people are making bad choices and I think parents are completely checking out. The solution, she said, is for parents to cook more, especially poor parents since they have a worse problem with obesity. Attacks moms for trying to reduce pesticide exposures IWF pushes industry messaging, using covert tactics, in attempt to ostracize moms who are concerned about pesticides; a prime example is this 2014 New York Post article, Tyranny of the Organic Mommy Mafia by Naomi Schafer Riley. Under the guise of complaining about mom shaming, Rileywho is an IWF fellow but did not disclose that to readersattempts to shame and blame moms who choose organic food. Rileys article relied on information from industry front groups that she falsely presented as independent sources: Riley described Academics Reviewa front group funded by the agrichemical industry and started with the help of Monsanto to attack the organic industry and critics of GMOsas a nonprofit group of independent scientists. Riley used the Alliance for Food and Farming, a food industry front group, to counter the most common mommy worrypesticides with the message that pesticides are nothing to worry about. A key source, Julie Gunlock, was identified as an author but not as an employee of IWF and Rileys colleague. Partners with chemical industry front groups IWF partners with other corporate front groups such as the American Council on Science and Health, a leading defender of toxic chemicals with deep ties to Monsanto and Syngenta. ACSH is funded by chemical, pharmaceutical, tobacco and other industry groups. In a February 2017 IWF podcast, ACSH and IWF debunked Rachel Carsons alarmism on toxic chemicals. ACSH was fully behind IWFs culture of alarmism letter opposing efforts to remove hazardous chemicals from consumer products. IWF events attacking moms who are concerned about toxic chemicals, such as this hazmat parenting event, featured ACSH representative Josh Bloom and chemical industry public relations writer Trevor Butterworth. As many journalists and articles have pointed out, IWF also partners with many other Koch-funded activist groups that deny climate science and push the deregulatory agenda of corporations. For further reading: The Intercept, Koch Brothers Operatives Fill Top White House Positions, by Lee Fang (4/4/2017) The Nation, Meet the Feminists Doing the Koch Brothers Dirty Work, by Joan Walsh (8/18/2016) Center for Media and Democracy, Most Known Donors of the Independent Womens Forum are Men, by Lisa Graves (8/24/2016) Center for Media and Democracy, Confirmation: the Not-so-Independent Womens Forum was Born in Defense of Clarence Thomas and the Far Right, by Lisa Graves and Calvin Sloan (4/21/2016) Slate, Confirmation Bias: How Women for Judge Thomas turned into a conservative powerhouse, by Barbara Spindel (4/7/2016) Truthout, Independent Womens Forum Uses Misleading Branding to Push Right Wing Agenda, by Lisa Graves, Calvin Sloan and Kim Haddow (8/19/2016) Inside Philanthropy, The Money Behind the Conservative Womens Groups Still Fighting the Culture War, by Philip Rojc (9/13/2016) The Nation, Guess Which Womens Group Rush Limbaugh has Donated Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to? Hint: its the one that defends him whenever he launches into a sexist tirade, by Eli Clifton (6/12/2014) The New Yorker, Covert Operations, by Jane Mayer (8/30/2010) Oxford University Press, Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics, by Ronnee Schreiber (2008) Inside Philanthropy, Look Whos Funding This Top Conservative Womens Group, by Joan Shipps (11/26/2014) Ben-Gurion University Introduces Israel's First Underwater Robotic Vehicle at NextTech Conference 2017 New Company Formed by BGN Technologies Will Commercialize the HydroCamel II for Military, Security and Underwater Operations Beer-Sheva, ISRAEL...October 19, 2017 - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has developed Israel's first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The robotic "HydroCamel II" will be commercially available for use in the military, security, and oil and gas sectors, as well as in environmental applications and marine research. BGN Technologies Ltd., BGU's technology-transfer company, also announced the formation of a new company, BG Robotics (BGR), to commercialize the HydroCamel II, developed by researchers in BGU's Laboratory for Autonomous Robotics (LAR). Tzvika Goldner was named chief executive officer of the new entity, which will be headquartered in Beer-Sheva, adjacent to the University. The new technology will be introduced at the NexTech Conference 2017, taking place on October 19th in Beer-Sheva at the Advanced Technologies Park adjacent to the University. The AUV market according to Markets and Markets will reach $1.2 billion by 2023, increasing annually by 22 percent due to the growing importance of security measures worldwide and expanding offshore oil and gas production. AUVs are being used around the world for underwater exploration, underwater cable layout and inspection, marine biology and geology sampling, archeology, and different types of military uses. Click here to watch a video of the HydroCamel II. "The autonomous HydroCamel II integrates state-of-the-art technologies, including high-level maneuvering in six degrees of freedom and an ability to dive almost vertically," says Prof. Hugo Guterman of the BGU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and head of LAR. "Until now, these capabilities were limited to remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), which must be tethered by an umbilical cable to a host ship for its power and air source. The HydroCamel II is completely autonomous." The eight-foot-long HydroCamel II AUV combines full autonomy and maneuverability while enabling quick integration of specialized payloads such as sonars, cameras, sensors, and a specimen collection arm. BGR has begun cooperation with payload manufacturers to supply customers with an integrated solution. "BGR will be offering HydroCamel II at a competitive price compared to other underwater vehicles in the same category," says Goldner. "This gives us a distinct advantage in the market. We believe HydroCamel II will expand the AUV customer base and enable us to deploy AUVs in new areas." ### About BGN Technologies BGN Technologies is the technology company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. BGN Technologies brings technological innovations from the lab to the market and fosters research collaborations and entrepreneurship among researchers and students. To date, BGN Technologies has established over 100 startup companies in biotech, high-tech and cleantech, and initiated leading technology hubs, incubators and accelerators. During the past decade, BGN Technologies focused on creating long-term partnerships with multinational companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Dell-EMC, Lockheed Martin, and PayPal, securing value and growth for BGU and the Negev region. For more information, visit the BGN Technologies website. About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more. AABGU, which is headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org. Bottom Line: More than 20 percent of non-Hispanic white women ages 18 to 30 who reported using an indoor tanning device one or more times in the past 12 months were dependent on indoor tanning. Dependence was strongly associated with beliefs about physical appearance and depressive symptoms. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Author: Darren Mays, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Background: Indoor tanning increases a person's risk for melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, by about 20 percent, according to The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent Skin Cancer. It also increases risk for other forms of skin cancer. Mays explained that although indoor tanning is becoming less common overall in the United States, research indicates that it can be a problematic behavior for some young women similar to other forms of addiction. If we are to reduce this risky behavior and ultimately reduce skin cancer risks, we must understand what factors--such as behaviors, beliefs, and psychological comorbidities--are associated with indoor tanning dependence, he added. How the Study Was Conducted and Results: The researchers studied indoor tanning dependence and the factors associated with it in young adult non-Hispanic white women because this group has the highest prevalence of indoor tanning in the U.S. adult population, according to Mays. Three-hundred and eighty-nine non-Hispanic white women ages 18 to 30 who had used an indoor tanning device one or more times in the prior 12 months completed online questionnaires; 46.7 percent of the participants were current college or university students. Indoor tanning dependence was assessed using two questionnaires modified from screeners for other addictive behaviors, the CAGE and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) screeners. To be classed as dependent on indoor tanning, individuals had to screen positive on both modified questionnaires. Overall, 22.6 percent of participants screened positive for indoor tanning dependence. In bivariate analysis, those who screened positive were more likely to have started tanning at an earlier age, be concerned about their appearance, and have depressive symptoms. Further analysis showed that indoor tanning dependence was strongly associated with beliefs about physical appearance and depressive symptoms. As women's beliefs that appearance is important grew stronger, they were 73 percent more likely to screen positive for indoor tanning dependence. Women who screened positive for depressive symptoms were almost four times as likely to screen positive for indoor tanning dependence than those who did not have depressive symptoms. Author Comment: "Our study has identified a subgroup of young adult women who are dependent on indoor tanning," saidd Mays. "These young women are unlikely to respond to public health messaging and we will need to develop a more intensive resource to motivate behavior change. Given that we found strong associations between indoor tanning dependence and beliefs about physical appearance and psychological comorbidities like depression, these intensive behavior-modification resources likely need to address these co-occurring psychological concerns. "One of the next steps is to develop and test interventions to address indoor tanning dependence," he continued. "There is very little research in this area, so we may need to draw from successful approaches to changing behaviors like cigarette smoking." Limitations: According to Mays, the main limitation of the study is that the researchers analyzed indoor tanning dependence in a group of young women from a single geographic area, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Thus, the findings may not be the same for the entire population or other groups, such as young men. ### Funding & Disclosures: This study was supported by funds from the Harry J. Lloyd Charitable Trust and the National Institutes of Health. Mays declares no conflicts of interest. To interview Darren Mays, contact Julia Gunther at julia.gunther@aacr.org or 215-446-6896. Follow us: Cancer Research Catalyst http://blog.aacr.org; Twitter @AACR; and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org About the American Association for Cancer Research Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 37,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and patient advocates residing in 108 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 30 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 21,900 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes eight prestigious, peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients, and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration, and scientific oversight of team science and individual investigator grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and other policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit http://www.AACR.org BETHESDA, MD - Genetics professionals around the globe hold varying views on genome editing in humans, agreeing with the general public on some aspects and differing in others, according to survey results presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2017 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. Led by Alyssa Armsby, MS, of the Stanford University School of Medicine, researchers surveyed members of ten international genetics organizations on their attitudes toward research and potential clinical applications of genome editing, as well as how this relatively new technology fits in with their world view. The CRISPR/Cas9 system, a genome editing tool introduced in 2013, has quickly become widely used in genetics research due to the ease with which it can be customized and its effectiveness across cell types and species. Its quick adoption has sparked social and ethical questions, within both the scientific community and society more broadly, about how it should be studied and used. "There is a need for an ongoing international conversation about genome editing, but very little data on how people trained in genetics view the technology," said Ms. Armsby. "As the ones who do the research and work with patients and families, they're an important group of stakeholders," she said. Among the 500 genetics professionals included in the analysis, the researchers found high support (>85%) for research into somatic uses of gene editing, which mirrors surveys of the American public. On germline uses, an ethically more complex issue because of potential effects on future generations, geneticists were more divided, but most (78%) felt it would be acceptable for therapeutic purposes in the future; in this respect, they tended to differ from the public, who were less supportive of germline applications. "However, public views on genome editing are rapidly changing, and some newer surveys show increasing acceptance of germline uses," Ms. Armsby said. "As people become better educated about genome editing, they're able to use that information to flesh out their opinions, and surveys can start to reflect more nuance in why people believe what they do." Within the genetics community, the researchers found some associations with demographic factors. For example, younger geneticists, those with fewer years of experience, and those who self-identified as less religious were more likely to find germline genome editing acceptable. Analyses are ongoing, but early results suggest that views may differ among genetics occupational groups, such as research scientists and clinicians. Overall, there was little support for using genome editing to enhance certain traits; less than 15% of respondents supported these uses, compared to more than 75% who supported future clinical therapeutic applications. These findings highlight the importance of continued international comparative research into scientific questions with social implications, Ms. Armsby said. "There is a need to include a variety of perspectives in this conversation - not just health care providers, but researchers, ethicists, policy experts, and other stakeholders." ### Presentation: Kelly Ormond, MS, CGC, will present this research on Thursday, October 19, 2017, from 11:15-11:30 a.m., in Room 310A, Level 3, South Building, Orange County Convention Center. Press Availability: Prof. Ormond will be available to discuss this research with interested media on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, from 12:30-1:00 p.m. in the ASHG 2017 Press Office (Room 210D). References: Armsby A et al. (2017 Oct 19). Abstract: International attitudes of genetics professionals toward human gene editing. Presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2017 Annual Meeting. Orlando, Florida. ASHG. (2017 Aug 3). 11 organizations urge cautious but proactive approach to gene editing. Year-long trial suggests no safety concerns for hydroxyurea treatment and the rate or severity of malaria infection in Ugandan children with sickle cell anemia The drug hydroxyurea does not appear to increase the risk of malaria infection in patients with sickle cell anemia who live in malaria-endemic regions, according to a study published online today in Blood, a Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is an inherited disorder characterized by abnormal red blood cells that stick together in patients' blood vessels, blocking the blood flow to organs, which can lead to severe pain, organ failure, stroke, and even death. In low-resource regions of sub-Saharan Africa, more than 50 percent of children with SCA die before the age of five. Hydroxyurea, a medicine recommended for children with SCA in high-resource settings like the United States and Europe, is not widely prescribed in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest burden of SCA in the world. This is partly because of a lack of data that hydroxyurea will be effective and safe in low-resource regions. In particular, some research suggests that hydroxyurea could make people with SCA more susceptible to malaria, a serious and sometimes fatal disease spread by mosquitoes and common across sub-Saharan Africa. "Research has been unclear over whether the changes in immune response caused by hydroxyurea could increase the risk of malaria," said Chandy John, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, principal investigator of the trial. "Because hydroxyurea provides such positive outcomes for people in high-resource regions, we want to be sure that this drug is safe for children in low-resource, malaria-prone settings. To understand if hydroxyurea use is associated with higher rates of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers from the United States and Uganda established the Novel use Of Hydroxyurea in an African Region with Malaria (NOHARM) trial, a year-long, randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled study. NOHARM was led on the ground by co-principal investigator Robert O. Opoka, MMED, of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The team recruited 208 children aged 1-4 years and randomly assigned them into one of two treatment arms, in which they received either a fixed dose of hydroxyurea or a placebo for a full year. All patients also received standard bed netting and anti-malaria medication. "Not only were we pleased to see that the overall incidence of malaria was low, but there was also no correlation between hydroxyurea treatment and the rate or severity of malaria," said co-principal investigator and head of data coordination Russell E. Ware, MD, PhD, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The treatment arms did not differ in terms of incidence or severity of malaria infection or other adverse events. Three children on hydroxyurea experienced a total of five malaria episodes, while seven of those receiving placebo had a total of seven malaria episodes. Two children in the hydroxyurea arm died, one from presumed sepsis and the other from unknown sudden death; one child in the placebo arm died, presumably from sepsis. Children receiving hydroxyurea also had lower rates of pain crises and hospitalizations. "Because the children prescribed hydroxyurea experienced significantly better outcomes without any increase in malaria risk, we are incredibly encouraged to further explore the drug's use in sub-Saharan Africa," said Dr. Ware. As overall malaria incidence was low in the NOHARM study population, it will be important to monitor the rate and severity of malaria with hydroxyurea use in areas of higher malaria transmission. Drs. John, Ware, and Opoka are currently in the process of recruiting participants for a follow-up study to gauge the optimal dose for children with SCD in resource-limited, malaria-prone regions. "It is our hope that these research studies can help establish hydroxyurea as the standard of care for children with sickle cell disease in Africa," said Dr. John. ### Addmedica, Inc. donated the oral hydroxyurea and placebo for the NOHARM trial and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation provided study funding. Blood, the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field of hematology, is available weekly in print and online. Blood is a journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world's largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatment of blood disorders. ASH's mission is to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and vascular systems by promoting research, clinical care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. blood is a registered trademark of the American Society of Hematology. New research represents a promising step towards better understanding of a key cancer gene. A long-running collaboration between researchers at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge and the AstraZeneca IMED Biotech Unit reveals new insights into how the PTEN gene may control cell growth and behaviour and how its loss contributes to the development and advancement of certain cancers. PTEN is reportedly the second most commonly altered gene in human cancers. The study, led by Dr Len Stephens and Dr Phill Hawkins and published today in the journal Molecular Cell, reveals why loss of the PTEN gene has such an impact on many people with prostate cancer, as well as in some breast cancers. These results, which also include work from Akita University, Japan, and contributions from GSK could help to identify patients likely to benefit from novel targeted therapies. PTEN is known as a tumour suppressor gene meaning that it typically slows the growth of cells and its loss can lead to cancer. By regulating the levels of the chemical phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3), PTEN helps to limit cell growth and so prevents cancer. Yet, the new paper shows that this is only part of the story. The team at the Institute, supported by GSK and together with AstraZeneca have identified another way that PTEN may prevent uncontrolled cell growth. PTEN can also reduce the levels of another similar molecule known as phosphatidylinositol-3,4-bisphosphate (PI(3,4)P2). The role of PI(3,4)P2 is still becoming clear but it may be able to alter the activity of the AKT protein, a key regulator of cell growth. PI(3,4)P2 may also influence several other proteins that regulate the process of invasion; how cancer cells spread and move through the body. Speaking about the research, Dr Hawkins said: "We were really surprised that loss of PTEN caused such a dramatic increase in PI(3,4)P2 in our mouse model of prostate cancer. PI(3,4)P2 has generally been a bit of an enigma and many thought it was just a by-product of PI(3,4,5)P3. Our work suggests that studying PI(3,4)P2-regulated processes may reveal why PTEN is such a powerful tumour suppressor and may also help us to identify new therapeutic targets in PTEN-mutated cancers." "Over 40% of prostate cancers lose PTEN and some lose both PTEN and another tumour suppressor gene, INPP4B, but we didn't previously have a clear picture of how this affects tumour growth," says IMED Biotech Unit scientist Sabina Cosulich, at AstraZeneca. "The new discovery has given us an important link between the biochemical function of PTEN and its role in prostate cancer, and in some triple negative breast tumours for which treatment is currently limited." By studying human cancer cells and animal models of cancer in the lab, our researchers have shown that loss of PTEN leads to high levels of PI(3,4)P2, which could result in hyperactivation of AKT. This may indicate AKT as an effective target for new cancer treatments. AstraZeneca's AKT inhibitor is currently in clinical trials for prostate, breast and other cancers. This collaboration could help to devise tests to identify patients who will benefit from these targeted therapies. Dr Cosulich concludes: "Having such an open collaboration was essential for addressing a scientific puzzle of great significance to cancer research. Our team members are in regular contact and frequently work alongside each other. Hearing about the lipid biochemistry research from the Babraham Institute team and realising how we could translate its potential from an oncology perspective was a great moment for all of us!" ### Easier access to concealed firearms is associated with significantly higher rates of handgun-related homicide, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, suggests that current trends towards more permissive concealed-carry laws are inconsistent with the promotion of public safety. "Some have argued that the more armed citizens there are, the lower the firearm homicide rate will be, because the feared or actual presence of armed citizens may deter violent crime," said lead author Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences at BUSPH. "Our study findings suggest that this is not the case." Currently, all states allow certain people to carry a concealed handgun, but there are variations in permitting policy. Nine states have "may issue" laws, in which law enforcement officials have wide discretion over whether to issue concealed carry permits; police chiefs can deny a permit if they deem the applicant to be at risk of committing violence even if there is not a criminal history. In 29 states, there is little or no discretion; these are referred to as "shall issue" states. No permit is necessary to carry a concealed handgun in 12 states. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting Systems database, the researchers mapped out the relationship between changes in state concealed-carry permitting laws over time and total firearm-related homicide rates between 1991 and 2015. They also examined the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports Supplemental Homicide Reports (SHR) to differentiate between handgun and long-gun homicides. Previous studies have only examined homicide by all firearms. The researchers found that "shall issue" laws were associated with a 6.5 percent higher total homicide rate than "may issue" laws, as well as an 8.6 percent higher firearm homicide rate and a 10.6 percent higher handgun homicide rate. The researchers found no impact of shall-issue laws on long-gun shootings. The findings are particularly relevant, the researchers said, because Congress is currently considering "national concealed carry reciprocity" legislation. The legislation would allow anyone to carry a gun in any state as long as they have a concealed carry permit in their own state of residence. The researchers argue that adopting such a policy could lead to significant public health risks. "The trend toward increasingly permissive concealed carry laws is inconsistent with public opinion, which tends to oppose the carrying of guns in public," the authors wrote. "Our findings suggest that these laws may also be inconsistent with the promotion of public safety." ### Other BUSPH authors include: Ziming Xuan, associate professor of community health sciences; Craig Ross, research assistant professor of epidemiology; Sandro Galea, dean and Robert A. Knox Professor; and Bindu Kalesan, assistant professor of community health sciences and assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Other authors include: Eric Fleegler, specialist in emergency medicine at Children's Hospital Boston; and Kristin A. Goss, associate professor of public policy at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. About Boston University School of Public Health: Boston University School of Public Health, founded in 1976, offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments (biostatistics; community health sciences; environmental health; epidemiology; global health; and health law, policy & management) conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations -- especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable -- locally, nationally, and internationally. THINK. TEACH. DO. FOR THE HEALTH OF ALL. SAN FRANCISCO (Oct. 19, 2017) -- A newly described species of brown-and-white Philippine butterflyfish -- the charismatic Roa rumsfeldi -- made a fantastic, 7,000-mile journey before surprising scientists with its unknown status. Live specimens collected from 360 feet beneath the ocean's surface in the Philippine's Verde Island Passage escaped special notice until a single black fin spine tipped off aquarium biologists back in San Francisco. Deep-diving researchers from the California Academy of Sciences' Hope for Reefs team -- with genetic sequencing help from a parent-son team -- share their discovery of a fifth species of Roa this week in ZooKeys. "We named this reef fish Roa rumsfeldi because, as Donald Rumsfeld once said, some things are truly 'unknown unknowns,'" says senior author Dr. Luiz Rocha, Academy curator of ichthyology and co-leader of its Hope for Reefs initiative to research, explore, and sustain global reefs. "This fish caught us completely off-guard. After traveling from the deep reefs of the Philippines to our aquarium in San Francisco, former Academy aquarium biologist and co-author Matt Wandell noticed a black fin spine that looked different from other known Roa we've collected in the past. It was a light bulb moment for all of us." Butterflyfish -- which sport bold patterns -- are iconic coral reef species. Because this group's taxonomy is relatively well understood, scientists didn't expect to find an unknown species on a recent expedition. Under pressure Roa rumsfeldi and its close relatives are only know to live in mesophotic "twilight zone" reefs -- a place where sunlight is scarce and divers with traditional scuba gear cannot safely visit. In the narrow band between the light-filled shallow reefs and the pitch-black deep sea, these little-known mesophotic reefs, located 200 to 500 feet beneath the ocean's surface, are home to fascinatingly diverse and previously-unknown marine life. As part of its Hope for Reefs initiative, specially trained Academy scientists are exploring these relatively unknown frontiers with the help of high-tech equipment like closed-circuit rebreathers, which take extensive training and allow them to extend their research time underwater. As part of their expedition-driven research, Rocha and his Academy colleagues sometimes collect live fish they believe to be unknown species in order to study their behavior (making for more robust research) and inspire the public to connect with beautiful and unique reef life during aquarium visits. "Our human bodies are not really compressible," says Bart Shepherd, Director of Steinhart Aquarium and co-leader of the Academy's Hope for Reefs initiative, "but fish have swim bladders for buoyancy that can't make the journey from twilight zone depths to the surface. We gently moved this Roa to a special lightweight decompression chamber designed just for fish, brought it to the surface, and attentively cared for it through the flight back to San Francisco and into our aquarium." A family affair "The team effort between our museum's scientists and aquarium biologists helped add a new fish to the tree of life," says Rocha, adding that the collaboration isn't the only reason this fish discovery feels particularly special. "My teenage son Gabriel helped sequence its genes during a summer internship -- his mother and I helped show him how to use complicated genomic processes to take a closer look at the fish's DNA. This is part of how we prove a species is distinct, and it's always a pleasure to share that learning with young people." Gabriel Rocha, a high school sophomore at the time, helped sequence the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I gene, also known as the "barcode" gene. The process from DNA extraction to amplification and sequencing takes just a few days--an ideal project for short, in-depth internships. After the sequence is obtained, the work moves from the lab to the virtual world: Major online databases contain thousands of sequences of this gene for known species, and are a great comparison tool. New discoveries and Hope for Reefs Considered the "rainforests of the sea," coral reefs are some of the most biologically diverse, economically valuable, beautiful, and threatened ecosystems on Earth. They cover less than 0.1% of the ocean but contain more than 30% of marine species. Coral reefs provide critical habitat to vast marine communities -- from the tiny coral polyps that make up the reef's foundation to the colorful fishes and sharks that live among them. Coral reefs are integral to the livelihoods and well-being of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, providing protection from erosion and generating income through ecotourism and fishing. In response to coral reef threats, the Academy launched the Hope for Reefs initiative in 2016 to explore, explain, and sustain the world's coral reefs by making fundamental breakthroughs in coral reef biology; developing new conservation solutions and restoration techniques with partners like SECORE International and The Nature Conservancy; and sharing what we know through innovative exhibits and educational programs. Every Academy expedition yields new understanding and surprising discoveries, and the public can see new and rare species, many of which have never been displayed in a public aquarium, at Steinhart Aquarium. Explore the great unknown alongside our scientists as they uncover the secrets of our world's critically important reefs. Visitors to the Academy's aquarium can take a closer look at many mesophotic marine creatures from around the world -- and discover why they deserve protection -- in Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed. ### The Academy's Hope for Reefs initiative is made possible through the support of visionary donors. The Academy gratefully acknowledges the lead partners listed below. William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation Wendy and Eric Schmidt Eva and William S. Price Diana Nelson and John Atwater Huifen Chan and Roelof F. Botha Dalio Ocean Initiative Jennifer Caldwell and John H. N. Fisher The Hellman Foundation Frances Hellman and Warren Breslau Study Acknowledgements This work is also funded through a generous grant from the National Science Foundation to Dr. Terry Gosliner, Dr. Rich Mooi, Dr. Gary Williams, and Dr. Luiz Rocha (DEB 12576304). This is a collaborative research initiative with key Philippine partners including: former Secretary of Agriculture P. J. Alcala; former Philippine Consul General M. Paynor and the Consular staff in San Francisco; former BFAR Director A. G. Perez; BFAR colleagues, especially A. Vitug and L. Labe; and NFRDI colleagues especially, Acting Director D. Bayate and N. Romena. About Research at the California Academy of Sciences The Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences is at the forefront of efforts to understand two of the most important topics of our time: the nature and sustainability of life on Earth. Based in San Francisco, the Institute is home to more than 100 world-class scientists, state-of-the-art facilities, and nearly 46 million scientific specimens from around the world. The Institute also leverages the expertise and efforts of more than 100 international Associates and 400 distinguished Fellows. Through expeditions around the globe, investigations in the lab, and analysis of vast biological datasets, the Institute's scientists work to understand the evolution and interconnectedness of organisms and ecosystems, the threats they face around the world, and the most effective strategies for sustaining them into the future. Through innovative partnerships and public engagement initiatives, they also guide critical sustainability and conservation decisions worldwide, inspire and mentor the next generation of scientists, and foster responsible stewardship of our planet. The alliance's target is to internationally promote and strengthen the Spanish centers and units accredited with this distinction, to give their research a higher profile The 25 centres and 16 research units accredited with the "Severo Ochoa" and "Maria de Maeztu" excellence distinctions formally established this afternoon the Severo Ochoa and Maria de Maeztu Alliance (SOMMa) in their first official meeting. Chaired by the Secretary of State for R&D+i, Carmen Vela, the gathering was attended by directors and representatives of all centres and units that have approved creation of the Alliance and defined the strategic and working plan for the coming months. The Spanish "Severo Ochoa Centres" and "Maria de Maeztu Units" Excellence Program promotes excellence in scientific research. Their goal is to promote Spanish science through the recognition of research efforts at the forefront of their fields, help them increase their impact, and international scientific leadership and competitiveness. "Excellence attracts excellence, and therefore this alliance is another step toward generating synergies and strengthening the quality of the Severo Ochoa and Maria de Maeztu centres and research units," states Carmen Vela, Secretary of State for R&D+i. "The future of impactful research and innovation in Spain and Europe lies in the convergence of technologies, methodologies and disciplines, capable of carrying out ambitious projects performed in cooperation among centres, units and teams from different organisations. This alliance is a major step forward in this direction, as it will let us strengthen the links of cooperation among existing research centres and units that we have in Spain," says Vela. The excellence program is one result of the consolidation. The Severo Ochoa centres and Maria de Maeztu units propose reaching new lines of cooperation with the creation of the Alliance of Severo Ochoa and Maria de Maeztu Centres of Excellence (SOMMa). Luis Serrano, director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation, will head the alliance over the next two years, while Teresa Garcia-Mila, director of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics will be its vice-president. "In science, alliances are always positive. Joining forces at all levels enriches the R&D+i ecosystem," explains Luis Serrano, director of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and president of the new SOMM Excellence Alliance. According to Serrano, "We hope that this union of centres and units of excellence in Spain will generate a long-term synergetic effect, and will have an exponential impact on talent recruitment and the advancement of research in Spain and beyond our borders. Such projects are fundamental to guarantee stimulating, creative environments of excellence." SOMMa aims to raise the national and international profile of science in Spain; promote the exchange of knowledge, technology and best practices among its members, the international scientific community and the main stakeholders; cooperating with other research centres in Spain to strengthen the R&D+i system; and having a voice in Spanish and European science policy. Ready for first actions SOMMa will have a number of working groups to achieve its goals. Among them are raising the profile, increasing cooperation, furthering scientific policy, results dissemination or project sustainability, among others. Soon, the http://www.somma-excellence.es web platform will bring together all of the information on SOMMa. This website, in addition to being a window into the world of the science of excellence being conducted in Spain, will also be a unique resource for the scientific community, policy makers, journalists and the general public. Another of SOMMa's activities is the organization of future runnings of the 100xCiencia conferences, thus continuing the series that began in 2015 in La Palma, the second running of which will be held in Alicante on November 2 and 3. The SOMMa centres and units will meet again in this second running of 100xCiencia which, under the title "Co-creating Value in Scientific Research", will be focused on the transfer of knowledge generated in the centres and research units, and facilitating society's appreciation of its value. ### About the Severo Ochoa Centres Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence The centres and units of the alliance cover a broad range of scientific disciplines, from biology and medicine, to mathematics, chemistry, physics, engineering, economics and social sciences. According to their classifications by scientific area, the accredited organizations participating in the alliance are: Life Sciences Centres Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) - http://www.cnic.es Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) - http://www.cnio.es Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) - http://www.irbbarcelona.org Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) - http://www.crg.eu Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP) - http://www.cbgp.upm.es/ National Center for Biotechnology (CNB) - http://www.cnb.csic.es/ Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante (IN) - in.umh.es/ Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) - http://www.ibecbarcelona.eu Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) - http://www.cragenomica.es/es Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE) - http://www.cicbiogune.es/ Units Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) - http://www.upf.edu/cexs/ Structural Biology Unit (SBU) - http://www.sbu.csic.es/ Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) - ictaweb.uab.cat Departamento de Regulacion Genica y Morfogenesis (GEM) - http://www.gem.es/ Mathematics, Experimental Sciences and Engineering Centres Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) - http://www.bsc.es Institute of Mathematical Sciences - http://www.icmat.es Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM) - http://www.bcamath.org/es/ Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) - http://www.iac.es Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) - http://www.icfo.es Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT) http://www.ift.uam.es Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE) - http://www.ifae.es Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) - http://webific.ific.uv.es Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) itq.upv-csic.es ? Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) - http://www.iciq.es Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) - http://www.icn.cat Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) - http://www.icmab.es Nanoscience Institute (IMDEA) - http://nanoscience.imdea.org Units Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath) - http://www.bgsmath.cat/ Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) - http://www.uam.es/ifimac/ Particle Physics- http://www.ciemat.es Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) - http://icc.ub.edu/ Institute of Molecular Science (ICMOL) - http://www.icmol.es Information and Communication Technologies Engineering Department (DTIC-UPF) - portal.upf.edu/web/etic/inici Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI, CSIC-UPC) - http://www.iri.upc.edu/ Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE) (IGFAE) - http://www.usc.gal/es/institutos/fisica_ae/index.html Signal Theory and Communications Department (COMMSENSLAB) - http://www.upc.edu/ CIC nanoGUNE Association - http://www.nanogune.eu Social Sciences and Humanities Centres Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE) - http://www.barcelonagse.eu Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL) - http://www.bcbl.eu Units Laboratory mice that are given the gut bacteria of wild mice can survive a deadly flu virus infection and fight colorectal cancer dramatically better than laboratory mice with their own gut bacteria, researchers report October 19 in the journal Cell. The immunological benefits from the wild mice's gut bacteria may, in part, explain a persistent problem in disease research: Why disease experiments in lab mice, such as vaccine studies, turn out very differently in humans or other animals. "We think that by restoring the natural 'microbial identity' of laboratory mice, we will improve the modeling of complex diseases of free-living mammals, which includes humans and their diseases," said Barbara Rehermann, M.D., senior author of the paper. Rehermann is chief of the Immunology Section, Liver Diseases Branch, of the NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). "By being so different, natural microbiota will help us to discover protective mechanisms that are relevant in the natural world and absent in the laboratory," said Stephan Rosshart, M.D., first author of the paper and NIDDK postdoctoral fellow. Mammals--humans included--depend on their microbiota, the collection of microorganisms they host in and on their bodies. Evolution shapes each animal's microbiota, favoring populations of microorganisms that help the animal survive their environment and diseases they encounter. But laboratory mice aren't random house mice plucked from a field or basement. Laboratory mice are carefully bred, fed, and raised in tightly controlled conditions so that each mouse has predictable traits and genetics. This is a great advantage in basic biology research, but creating that predictability means that a controlled environment, and not the survival pressures of the outside world, shaped the microbiotas of laboratory mice. "We hypothesized that this might explain why laboratory mice, while paramount for understanding basic biological phenomena, are limited in their predictive utility for modeling complex diseases of humans and other free-living mammals," said Rosshart. So, the researchers tried to give laboratory mice back what they have lost: a naturally co-evolved wild mouse gut microbiota. The researchers trapped more than 800 wild mice from eight locations across Maryland and the District of Columbia to find healthy, suitable candidates for a gut microbiota donation. They then tested and compared the gut microbiomes (collective genomes of the gut microbiota) of the wild mice (Mus musculus domesticus) and a common strain of laboratory mice, called C57BL/6, from multiple sources. The researchers confirmed that C57BL/6 mice had distinct gut microbiomes from wild mice. Researchers then introduced (engrafted) the microbiota of wild mice to pregnant, germ-free C57BL/6 mice. Germ-free mice are raised in a sterile environment and don't have microbiomes of their own. For a control group comparison, the researchers also engrafted microbiota from regular C57BL/6 mice into a separate group of pregnant, germ-free mice. Four generations later, the mice still carried either the wild microbiomes or the control laboratory microbiomes passed down from their foremothers. When exposed to a high dose of influenza virus, 92 percent of the laboratory mice with wild microbiomes survived, whereas only 17 percent of laboratory mice and mice in the control group survived. In other experiments, the laboratory mice with wild microbiomes had better outcomes in the face of induced colorectal tumors, whereas the other mice had a greater number of tumors and more severe disease. The beneficial effects of the wild microbiota were associated with reduced inflammation in both models. The researchers note that more work and evaluation is needed for definitive results, and they hope to improve and expand upon the method of using natural microbiomes in laboratory mice. "We are planning to create a complete microbiological fingerprint of natural microbiota and its potential trans-kingdom interaction by describing all components of the microbiome--for example, viruses and fungi--in parallel and at various body sites," Rehermann said. ### This study was funded by the intramural research programs of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), all part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with additional support through NIH grants (U19AI100625 and F30MH103925) made to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). The research was a collaboration between scientists at NIDDK, NIAID and NCI, as well as the Baylor College of Medicine, UNC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Cell, Rosshart et al.: "Wild Mouse Gut Microbiota Promotes Host Fitness and Improves Disease Resistance." http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31065-6 Cell (@CellCellPress), the flagship journal of Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. Rechargeable batteries based on magnesium, rather than lithium, have the potential to extend electric vehicle range by packing more energy into smaller batteries. But unforeseen chemical roadblocks have slowed scientific progress. And the places where solid meets liquid - where the oppositely charged battery electrodes interact with the surrounding chemical mixture known as the electrolyte - are the known problem spots. Now, a research team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, led by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has discovered a surprising set of chemical reactions involving magnesium that degrade battery performance even before the battery can be charged up. The findings could be relevant to other battery materials, and could steer the design of next-generation batteries toward workarounds that avoid these newly identified pitfalls. The team used X-ray experiments, theoretical modeling, and supercomputer simulations to develop a full understanding of the chemical breakdown of a liquid electrolyte occurring within tens of nanometers of an electrode surface that degrades battery performance. Their findings are published online in the journal Chemistry of Materials. The battery they were testing featured magnesium metal as its negative electrode (the anode) in contact with an electrolyte composed of a liquid (a type of solvent known as diglyme) and a dissolved salt, Mg(TFSI)2. While the combination of materials they used were believed to be compatible and nonreactive in the battery's resting state, experiments at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), an X-ray source called a synchrotron, uncovered that this is not the case and led the study in new directions. "People had thought the problems with these materials occurred during the battery's charging, but instead the experiments indicated that there was already some activity," said David Prendergast, who directs the Theory of Nanostructured Materials Facility at the Molecular Foundry and served as one of the study's leaders. "At that point it got very interesting," he said. "What could possibly cause these reactions between substances that are supposed to be stable under these conditions?" Molecular Foundry researchers developed detailed simulations of the point where the electrode and electrolyte meet, known as the interface, indicating that no spontaneous chemical reactions should occur under ideal conditions, either. The simulations, though, did not account for all of the chemical details. "Prior to our investigations," said Ethan Crumlin, an ALS scientist who coordinated the X-ray experiments and co-led the study with Prendergast, "there were suspicions about the behavior of these materials and possible connections to poor battery performance, but they hadn't been confirmed in a working battery." Commercially popular lithium-ion batteries, which power many portable electronic devices (such as mobile phones, laptops, and power tools) and a growing fleet of electric vehicles, shuttle lithium ions - lithium atoms that become charged by shedding an electron - back and forth between the two battery electrodes. These electrode materials are porous at the atomic scale and are alternatively loaded up or emptied of lithium ions as the battery is charged or discharged. In this type of battery, the negative electrode is typically composed of carbon, which has a more limited capacity for storing these lithium ions than other materials would. So increasing the density of stored lithium by using another material would make for lighter, smaller, more powerful batteries. Using lithium metal in the electrode, for example, can pack in more lithium ions in the same space, though it is a highly reactive substance that burns when exposed to air, and requires further research on how to best package and protect it for long-term stability. Magnesium metal has a higher energy density than lithium metal, meaning you can potentially store more energy in a battery of the same size if you use magnesium rather than lithium. Magnesium is also more stable than lithium. Its surface forms a self-protecting "oxidized" layer as it reacts with moisture and oxygen in the air. But within a battery, this oxidized layer is believed to reduce efficiency and shorten battery life, so researchers are looking for ways to avoid its formation. To explore the formation of this layer in more detail, the team employed a unique X-ray technique developed recently at the ALS, called APXPS (ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). This new technique is sensitive to the chemistry occurring at the interface of a solid and liquid, which makes it an ideal tool to explore battery chemistry at the surface of the electrode, where it meets the liquid electrolyte. Even before a current was fed into the test battery, the X-ray results showed signs of chemical decomposition of the electrolyte, specifically at the interface of the magnesium electrode. The findings forced researchers to rethink their molecular-scale picture of these materials and how they interact. What they determined is that the self-stabilizing, thin oxide surface layer that forms on the magnesium has defects and impurities that drive unwanted reactions. "It's not the metal itself, or its oxides, that are a problem," Prendergast said. "It's the fact you can have imperfections in the oxidized surface. These little disparities become sites for reactions. It feeds itself in this way." A further round of simulations, which proposed possible defects in the oxidized magnesium surface, showed that defects in the oxidized surface layer of the anode can expose magnesium ions that then act as traps for the electrolyte's molecules. If free-floating hydroxide ions - molecules containing a single oxygen atom bound to a hydrogen atom that can be formed as trace amounts of water react with the magnesium metal - meet these surface-bound molecules, they will react. This wastes electrolyte, drying out the battery over time. And the products of these reactions foul the anode's surface, impairing the battery's function. It took several iterations back and forth, between the experimental and theoretical members of the team, to develop a model consistent with the X-ray measurements. The efforts were supported by millions of hours' worth of computing power at the Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. Researchers noted the importance of having access to X-ray techniques, nanoscale expertise, and computing resources at the same Lab. The results could be relevant to other types of battery materials, too, including prototypes based on lithium or aluminum metal. Prendergast said, "This could be a more general phenomenon defining electrolyte stability." Crumlin added, "We've already started running new simulations that could show us how to modify the electrolyte to reduce the instability of these reactions." Likewise, he said, it may be possible to tailor the surface of the magnesium to reduce or eliminate some of the unwanted chemical reactivity. "Rather than allowing it to create its own interface, you could construct it yourself to control and stabilize the interface chemistry," he added. "Right now it leads to uncontrollable events." ### Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source, Molecular Foundry, and National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center are DOE Office of Science User Facilities that are open to visiting researchers from around the nation and world. Researchers from the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Berkeley Lab and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico comprised the team, together with scientists from the University of Maryland, and from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology in China. The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov (http://www.lbl.gov). DOE's 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 (http://science.energy.gov). Scientists find that AA related mutations are common in Asian liver cancers, with Taiwan most intensely affected; Scientists call for greater public awareness of the dangers of AA in herbal products Scientists from Singapore and Taiwan have revealed a decisive link between Aristolochic Acids (AA), a natural product of some plants used in herbal remedies, and liver cancers. Using mutational signature analysis, the researchers found that liver tumours had been exposed to AA, which had mutated many genes that cause cancer. The team, led by Professor Steven Rozen from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), Professor Teh Bin Tean from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), Professor Alex Chang from Johns Hopkins Medicine Singapore and Professor Hsieh Sen-Yung from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, first sequenced the DNA of 98 liver cancers from Taiwan. Using mutational signature analysis, they found high numbers of AA-related mutations in over three-quarters of these cancers. Mutational signatures are patterns of changes in the DNA caused by mutagens, compounds that cause cancer. "Although we knew that there was exposure to AA in Taiwan, we were very surprised to find such a high proportion of liver cancer sufferers had exposure to AA," said Professor Hsieh. The team then looked at publicly available data on mutations from 1,400 liver cancers from around the world. While AA is found in plants used in traditional medicine worldwide, the team found high prevalence of exposure in other parts of East and Southeast Asia (see Fig. 1). Professor Rozen noted: "This also was an unexpected finding. We did not suspect that exposure to AA was so prevalent in so many different areas." AA, a known mutagen, was previously implicated in kidney and urinary tract cancers in Taiwan. In this new study, the researchers confirm that AA mutations are involved in causing liver cancer as well. "This was also another surprising finding of this study," added Professor Rozen. Professor Teh from NCCS added, "This is a follow up study for our 2013 paper, when our team made a breakthrough in understanding the cancer-promoting action of AA in urinary tract cancer. Our new study establishes that AA is also implicated in liver cancer." AA is a natural compound found in Aristolochia and Asarum plants. These plants are commonly used in traditional herbal remedies for many purposes including weight loss and slimming. AA has been officially banned in Europe since 2001 and in Singapore since 2004. Some herbs that contain AA have been banned in Taiwan since 2003, and in China, the use of some, but not all, AA-containing herbs in traditional medicine is restricted. While the United States Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about herbs containing AA, their sale is unrestricted as long as they are labelled correctly and no health claims are made. However, the effects of such bans may take years to materialise; so it could be years before rates of AA-associated cancers fall. In addition, herbs containing AA are easily available online. To complicate matters, herbs are often bundled and sold as formulations rather than individually, and some formulations might use herbs containing AA. Furthermore, herbs containing AA are sometimes improperly labelled, making it difficult for suppliers and consumers to be certain of the constituents of multi-herb formulations. Plants that may contain AA include Asarum plants ((, xi xin), and powered xi xin products manufactured in Taiwan and China were recalled in Singapore in 2014 because they contained AA. Other herbs that are likely to contain AA are: (ma dou ling), (qing mu xiang). (tian xian teng), (guang fangji), (guan mu tong), (xun gu feng), (zhu sha lian, also written as ). As AA-containing plants and remedies are still widely available, Professor Alex Chang, noted that "public education and awareness are very important for avoiding exposure." This study was published online on 18 October 2017, 14:00 US Eastern Time, in Science Translational Medicine, a publication with high scientific impact that focuses on practical medical advances. The research was supported by the Singapore Medical Research Council (NMRC/CIRG/1422/2015), the Singapore Ministry of Health via the Duke-NUS Signature Research Programmes, and the Chang Gung Medical Foundation in Taiwan. Notes to Editors Chinese Glossary: The JRC's annual forest fires report confirms a trend towards longer and more intense fire seasons in Europe and neighbouring regions, with wildfires now occurring throughout the year. The report coincides with an international study which finds that global wildfire trends could have significant health implications due to rising harmful emissions. The 2016 report, which is the only official source of information on the number of fires and area burnt for countries both inside and outside the EU, provides policymakers across the EU with the best available data and tools to support them in preventing the destructive effects of forest fires. Through the collation of individual country reports, the publication also supports the sharing of good practices in forest management. Despite authorities' efforts, the current trend is towards longer fire seasons with peaks of fire intensity that cause catastrophic fires like those seen in Portugal both this summer and last year. In 2016, Portugal suffered many fires in just over a week that burnt over 100,000 hectares of land and contributed significantly to the overall results of the fire season. With over 700,000 hectares of land already burnt, 2017 will be remembered as one of the most devastating for wildfires in Europe. The latest data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) suggests that nearly all wildfires are man-made, with very few resulting from natural phenomena like lightning. However, the hot and dry conditions induced by climate change result in more severe fires and a higher frequency of small fires growing to become uncontrollable. On top of the immediate danger to lives and livelihood, smoke from these destructive fires also poses a substantial risk to human health. It is in this context that an international group of researchers from the JRC, Lund University in Sweden and the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) sought to investigate that risk. Their results have been published in the scientific journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. The scientists used mathematical models to simulate how vegetation fires are likely to burn and how the resulting release of small particles into the Earth's atmosphere may affect air quality. World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines state that even very low concentrations of small particulate pollution can be dangerous. The guideline values laid out for countries are an average yearly concentration of below 10 microgrammes per cubic metre and a daily average below 25 microgrammes per cubic metre. The simulations found that, when countries implement effective measures to reduce air pollution, emissions from wildfires may not cause average annual levels to rise above the guidelines' recommended thresholds. Scientists observed this result for most regions of the world. However, during fire seasons these emissions are likely to cause severe air pollution, with severe health impacts. As these seasons get longer, the potential problems for health will inevitably grow. Scientists simulated the level of small particle pollutants (PM2.5) in microgrammes per cubic metre. The atlas at the top shows the current-day average pollutant concentration for the whole year and the image at the bottom shows the average for the month with the highest concentration of pollutant at each grid point. In regions likely to become prone to wildfires, air pollution could reach dangerous levels during fire season. In addition to southern Europe, regions that are growing towards a medium population density (South America, Central America, sub-Saharan Africa, eastern and southern Europe, central Asia, South East Asia, and southern China) are likely to become more prone to air pollution from fires. The JRC is leading a global initiative in the context of the Group on Earth Observations (GOE) and EU Copernicus programme to develop a Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), intended to monitor and assess the trends and effects of wildfires globally. Air quality policies currently don't target wildfires. And so far, there is no widely accepted method for wildfire management that has been shown to lead to lasting reductions in fire activity or emissions. This fact, coupled with the trend evident in the 2016 forest fires report and the severe fire season seen in Europe this year, highlight the need for countries to continue to collaborate on finding the best way to manage fires effectively. -Working together to find solutions Each year, the JRC asks national fire authorities to provide information on their activities and experiences of fighting and preventing fires in order to compile the annual forest fires report. Participation in the report has grown from 5 EU member states in 2000 to a wide-reaching dossier covering more than 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Israel has recently joined the network and national authorities will offer their own input for next year's report. Participating countries provide important information on things like fire danger, fire causes and impacts, fire prevention and response activities, information campaigns and examples where countries have helped one another to fight fires when they have occurred. This is a large undertaking and the JRC relies on the voluntary participation of all countries involved. The result is a report that is the only official source of information on the number of fires and area burnt for countries both inside and outside the EU. Countries also continue to collaborate by providing their own experts to participate in the expert group on forest fires, which meets twice a year to discuss fire prevention, firefighting and post-fire evaluations. Currently, this group consists of experts from 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. -Background The JRC's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) supports the services in charge of the protection of forests against fires in the EU countries and provides the European Commission services and the European Parliament with updated and reliable information on wildland fires in Europe. As the focal point of information on forest fires, EFFIS supports the national services in charge of wildfire management. In 2015, EFFIS became one of the components of the Emergency Management Services in the EU Copernicus program. In addition to the annual reports, a number of specific applications are available through EFFIS that provide near real-time monitoring and updates during the fire season, fire danger forecasts and harmonised information on impacts before, during and after fires. ### This week scientists unveiled a unique dataset that maps the diverse migrant communities living in the EU. The maps will provide policy makers with new insights and a better overall picture to develop local policies to help migrants integrate in their host countries. The maps show residential patterns of migrant communities by their nationality or the country where they were born, at the level of neighbourhoods. From the underlying data researchers can calculate the concentration, diversity and segregation of migrants from different countries and compare these indicators within and across cities. For example, JRC scientists found that Chinese and Filipino communities in Europe are likely to be highly clustered and segregated from their host communities. Scientists also found that there is a general correlation between how segregated a migrant community may be and the geographical and linguistic distance between their countries of origin and destination. Data has been spatially processed to produce high resolution maps like this one of Milan. Here, the map shows levels of concentration of migrants from the Philippines (orange), China (yellow), Egypt (green), and Peru (red) across residential areas. -Levels of segregation may correlate with cultural and geographical distance In order to highlight the potential of the data and inspire potential applicants, JRC scientists presented some preliminary analysis of the dataset at the European Week of Regions and Cities. For example, large migrant communities tend to be more spatially dispersed, yet have lower exposure to their host community. Segregation may also be linked to a community's history of migration, or to intrinsic socio-cultural and economic characteristics affecting the tendency of the community to maintain cohesive groups. With further investigation, these kinds of observations can help authorities to design targeted policies. For example, knowing where migrants live could help ensure that language training - to help migrants find work, socialise and carry out general tasks like opening a bank account - is held in a venue that is easily accessible. Knowing the origin countries of migrants across neighbourhoods also helps authorities communicate integration services that are adapted to the cultural background of the communities in the vicinity. -JRC launches data challenge to harness the power of research for better policymaking The data has the potential to inform a wide range of policy areas, including social services, education, housing and employment. In order to maximise this potential and foster innovative policy ideas, the JRC has launched a data challenge inviting researchers worldwide to propose research projects connecting the dataset with their area of expertise. The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday 30 October. An event is planned for the second half of 2018 in Brussels to present the results of the best papers to EU policy makers and local authorities. -Background The datasets and resulting maps have been produced in the context of the JRC's Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD). The KCMD works towards better knowledge management for sound EU policy making. To strengthen the Commission's overall response to the opportunities and challenges related to migration, the KCMD aims to be the point of reference to support the work of Commission services and Member States on migration and related issues. The project is designed to support the European Commission's action plan on the integration of third-country nationals and the urban agenda for the EU. Specifically, it supports the Commission's aim to facilitate evidence based migrant integration policies. The maps cover 8 countries and 45,000 local administrative units, with a detail down to street level. JRC scientists generated the maps by harmonising and spatially processing official census statistics collected from national institutes in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK. ### Satellites have detected powerful solar flares in the last two months, but this phenomenon has been recorded for over a century. On 10 September 1886, at the age of just 17, a young amateur astronomer using a modest telescope observed from Madrid one of these sudden flashes in a sunspot. He wrote about what he saw, drew a picture of it, and published the data in a French scientific journal. This is what researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and the Universidad de Extremadura have recently found. "A huge, beautiful sunspot was formed from yesterday to today. It is elongated due to its proximity to the limb ... by looking at it carefully I noticed an extraordinary phenomenon on her, on the penumbra to the west of the nucleus, and almost in contact with it, a very bright object was distinguishable producing a shadow clearly visible on the sunspot penumbra. This object had an almost circular shape, and a light beam came out from its eastern part that crossed the sunspot to the south of the nucleus, producing a shadow on the penumbra that was lost in the large mass of faculae surrounding the eastern extreme of the sunspot". In these words, Juan Valderrama y Aguilar, a 17-year-old amateur astronomer, described what he saw from Madrid on 10 September 1886 with his small telescope, with an aperture of just 6.6 cm and equipped with a neutral density filter to dim the solar light. The young man wrote down the details of his observations, made a drawing of the bright flash he had seen coming from the sunspot, and sent all the information to the French journal L'Astronomie, which did not hesitate to publish it. "The case of Valderrama is very unique, as he was the only person in the world more than a century ago to observe a relatively rare phenomenon: a white-light solar flare. And until now no one had realised", explains Jose Manuel Vaquero, a lecturer at the University of Extremadura and co-author of an article about the event, now being published in the journal Solar Physics, to Sinc. A flare is a sudden increase in the brightness of a region of the sun's atmosphere. It occurs in the outermost layers (chromosphere and corona) when the configuration of the magnetic field changes and releases energy, which can be detected in several bands of the electromagnetic spectrum as visible or ultraviolet light, although they are most commonly recorded in X-rays. During the last two months, several of these powerful solar flares have been observed, some with associated coronal mass ejections that, in turn, can produce geomagnetic storms that perturb the communication systems in some regions of the Earth, especially radio broadcasts and GPS systems. "White-light flares correspond to the most extreme cases of this phenomenon, where so much energy is dumped into the chromosphere and corona that the energy propagates downward to the photosphere, heating it up, and producing the excess brightness that we observe in white light", according to another of the authors, Jorge Sanchez Almeida, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). Scientists studying solar flares employ special satellites and instruments that do not operate with visible light, but a white-light flare can be observed with 'normal' telescopes that use visible light, as Valderrama y Aguilar did in 1886. "It is extraordinary that in the Spain of the 19th century, a 17-year old kid would make such a scientific discovery, and it is even more impresive that he had the courage of submitting it for publication to a foreing scientific journal", points out Sanchez Almeida. "Furthermore, the white-light flare observed by Valderrama is, chronologically, the third one recorded in the history of solar physics", adds Vaquero. The first solar flare was recorded by British astronomer Richard C. Carrington on 1 September 1859, and the second was described on 13 November 1872 by the Italian Pietro Angelo Secchi. The two flares were widely known in their day, as they sparked a debate on whether or not they could have an impact on the Earth. Much less is known about the life of Valderrama than about the other two pioneers in solar studies. However, Sanchez Almeida, along with fellow IAC researcher and study co-author Manuel Vazquez, will soon publish the biography of this man, who was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, spent his adolescence in Madrid and returned to his birth city, where he was the director of the meteorological observatory of the city until his death. ### References: J.M. Vaquero, M. Vazquez, J. Sanchez Almeida. "Evidence of a White-Light Flare on 10 September 1886". Solar Physics 292: 33, 2017. DOI 10.1007/sll207-017-1059-6. Is glass a solid or a liquid? This question, which has been vigorously discussed by specialists in the field for some decades, has just been answered anew: "Glass is a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline state of matter that appears solid on a short time scale but continuously relaxes toward the liquid state." A more elaborate alternative definition is this: "Glass is a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline condensed state of matter that exhibits a glass transition. The structure of glasses is similar to that of their parent supercooled liquids (SCL), and they spontaneously relax toward the SCL state. Their ultimate fate, in the limit of infinite time, is to crystallize." "There are several definitions of glass, but most of them contain serious errors", said Edgar Dutra Zanotto, one of the new definitions' authors, who coordinates Center for Research, Teaching, and Innovation in Glass (CerTEV), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) funded by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP. "Many definitions say a glass is a solid, and others say it's an isotropic material [whose properties are the same in all directions], but many glasses are not." Jointly with John C. Mauro, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Penn State University in the United States, Zanotto signs the article in which he argues that glass's "structure is very different from that of solids. Glass relaxes continuously and crystallizes." The article was published in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. The researcher points that dozens of articles have already placed glass outside solids category, for basically three characteristics. One of them, according to him, is that the structure of glass is very similar to that of the liquids from which it is formed. Another is that glass flows (deforms) spontaneously over time and in response to minimal pressure, which can be less than the action of gravity. Crystalline solids deform only in response to external pressure that is inversely proportional to temperature. The lower the temperature, the greater the pressure that must be applied to a crystalline solid to deform it, Zanotto explained. "On the other hand, any positive pressure or stress different from zero is sufficient for a glass to flow at any temperature," he said. "The time it takes to deform depends mainly on temperature and chemical composition. If the temperature to which glass is submitted is close to zero Kelvin [absolute zero], it will take an infinitely long time to deform, but if it is heated, it will at once begin to flow." The third characteristic that distinguishes glass from a solid is that at the end of its existence, it eventually crystallizes, whereas a crystal, for example, neither flows nor crystallizes because it is already in a solid state. Based on these three characteristics, Zanotto and Mauro propose to define glass as a "frozen liquid" - a material with the structure of a liquid that has been frozen without crystallizing by being cooled (quenched) below a certain temperature, known as the glass transition temperature. "It took us a long time to bring together these concepts of solid and liquid, crystal and non-crystal, and frozen, which in the article has the meaning of a temporary state, and to arrive at the modern enhanced definition of glass," Zanotto said. Heated debate The initiative of proposing a new definition of glass arose when Zanotto gave the Turner Memorial Lecture, entitled "Glass Myths and Marvels," during the Society of Glass Technology (SGT) Centenary Conference at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom in September 2016. Zanotto is the first Brazilian to have been invited to deliver the lecture. Held at the university since 1966, the Turner Memorial Lecture has been delivered by such luminaries as Sir Harry Kroto (1939-2016), who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes (allotropes of carbon also known as carbon nanotubes); Sir Alastair Pilkington (1920-95), who invented the float process used worldwide to make sheet glass; and Larry L. Hench (1938-2015), the inventor of bioglass. One of the questions raised by Zanotto during the lecture was precisely whether glass is a solid or a liquid. The question resulted in a heated debate with several scientists in the audience, and especially Arun Varshneya, Emeritus Professor of Glass Science & Engineering at Alfred University in the United States, a well-known "glass guru" and the author of one of the most widely read books on glass in the world. Following the discussion, Zanotto began exchanging emails with Varshneya and writing what would become the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids article, with the aim of demystifying the idea that glass is a solid, as advocated by the Indian-born American scientist. ### About 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. Boulder, Colo., USA: A new volume prepared in conjunction with GSA's 2017 Annual Meeting offers ten guides that geographically focus on the Seattle, Washington, area within the Puget Lowland, and also includes descriptions of trips in the Cascade Range, the region east of the Cascades, and the Columbia River Basin and western Idaho. Volume editor Harvey Kelsey (Humboldt State University) explains, "This field volume highlights geologic excursions that define the range of contemporary Earth science research in the Pacific Northwest, from Quaternary investigations that inform hazard assessments to geology-based engineering solutions for transportation corridors, to academic investigations that allow better understanding of the evolution of the plate boundary zone of the Pacific Northwest over the last 40 million years." Guides include a journey through the region that was affected by an earthquake on the Seattle fault 1100 years ago, a trip to the coast to look at tsunami deposits, and trips that show evidence of past glaciations that inundated the Puget Lowland. Trips also highlight catastrophic flooding and blankets of wind-blown silt, both of which covered the area east of the Cascades due to continental glaciations. These one- and multiday trips help unravel the complex but fascinating geological history of the Cascade Range. ### Individual copies of the volume may be purchased through The Geological Society of America online store, http://rock.geosociety.org/Store/detail.aspx?id=FLD049, or by contacting GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org. Book editors of earth science journals/publications may request a review copy by contacting April Leo, aleo@geosociety.org. From the Puget Lowland to East of the Cascade Range: Geologic Excursions in the Pacific Northwest edited by Ralph A. Haugerud and Harvey M. Kelsey Geological Society of America Field Guide 47 FLD047, 254 p., $60.00, GSA member price $42.00 ISBN 978-0-8137-0047-2 View the table of contents: http://rock.geosociety.org/store/TOC/FLD049.pdf http://www.geosociety.org Integrated photonic circuits, which rely on light rather than electrons to move information, promise to revolutionize communications, sensing and data processing. But controlling and moving light poses serious challenges. One major hurdle is that light travels at different speeds and in different phases in different components of an integrated circuit. For light to couple between optical components, it needs to be moving at the same momentum. Now, a team of researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Peking University in Beijing, has demonstrated a new way to control the momentum of broadband light in a widely-used optical component known as a whispering gallery microcavity (WGM). The paper, whose co-authors also include researchers from Washington University in Saint Louis, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Magdeburg, is published in Science. "The broadband optical chaos in microcavity is creating a universal tool to access many optical states," said Linbo Shao, a graduate student in the lab of Marko Loncar, the Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering, at SEAS and co-first author of the paper. "Previously, researchers need multiple special optical elements to couple light in and out WGMs at different wavelengths, but by this work we can couple all color lights with a single optical coupler." A WGM is a type of optical microresonator used in a wide variety of applications, from long-range transmission in optical fibers to quantum computing. WGMs are named for the whispering galleries of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where an acoustic wave (a whisper) circulates inside a cavity (the dome) from a speaker on one side to a listener on the other. The similar phenomena occurs in the Echo Wall in the Temple of Heaven in China and in the whispering arch in Grand Central Station in New York City. Optical whispering galleries work much the same way. Light waves trapped in a highly-confined, circular space -- smaller than a strand of hair -- orbit around the inside of the cavity. Like the whispering wall, the cavity traps and carries the wave. However, it is difficult to couple the optical fields from waveguides to the optical fields in whispering galleries in photonic circuits because the waves are traveling at different speeds. Think of a WGM as a highway roundabout and optical fields as UPS trucks. Now, imagine trying to transfer a package between two trucks while both are moving at different speeds. Impossible, right? In order to solve for this difference of momentum -- without breaking Newton's law of the conservation of momentum -- the research team created a little chaos. By deforming the shape of the optical microresonator, the researchers were able to create and harness so-called chaotic channels, in which the angular momentum of light is not conserved and can change over time. By alternating the shape of the resonator, the momentum can be tuned; the resonator can be designed to match momentum between waveguides and WGMs. Importantly, the coupling is broadband and occurs between optical states that would otherwise not couple. The research provides new applications for microcavity optics and photonics in optical quantum processing, optical storage and more. "The work illustrates a fundamentally different approach to probe this important class of microresonators while also revealing beautiful physics relating to the subject of optical chaos," said Kerry Vahala, the Ted and Ginger Jenkins Professor of Information Science and Technology and Professor of Applied Physics at Cal Tech, who was not involved in this research. Next, the team will explore the physics of optical chaos in other optical platforms and materials, including photonic crystals and diamonds. ### Additional co-authors of the paper include Loncar, Qihuang Gong, Yun-Feng Xiao, Xuefeng Jiang, Shu-Xin Zhang, Xu Yi, Jan Wiersig, Li Wang and Lan Yang. The research was supported in part by the SEAS-based Center for Integrated Quantum Materials and the National Science Foundation. The computations were run on the Odyssey cluster supported by the FAS Division of Science, Research Computing Group at Harvard University. Plasma technology could hold the key to creating a sustainable oxygen supply on Mars, a new study has found. It suggests that Mars, with its 96 per cent carbon dioxide atmosphere, has nearly ideal conditions for creating oxygen from CO2 through a process known as decomposition. Published today in the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology, the research by the universities of Lisbon and Porto, and Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, shows that the pressure and temperature ranges in the Martian atmosphere mean non-thermal (or non-equilibrium) plasma can be used to produce oxygen efficiently. Lead author Dr Vasco Guerra, from the University of Lisbon, said: "Sending a manned mission to Mars is one of the next major steps in our exploration of space. Creating a breathable environment, however, is a substantial challenge. "Plasma reforming of CO2 on Earth is a growing field of research, prompted by the problems of climate change and production of solar fuels. Low temperature plasmas are one of the best media for CO2 decomposition - the split-up of the molecule into oxygen and carbon monoxide - both by direct electron impact, and by transferring electron energy into vibrational excitation." Mars has excellent conditions for In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) by plasma. As well as its CO2 atmosphere, the cold surrounding atmosphere (on average about 210 Kelvin) may induce a stronger vibrational effect than that achievable on Earth. The low atmospheric temperature also works to slow the reaction, giving additional time for the separation of molecules. Dr Guerra said: "The low temperature plasma decomposition method offers a twofold solution for a manned mission to Mars. Not only would it provide a stable, reliable supply of oxygen, but as source of fuel as well, as carbon monoxide has been proposed as to be used as a propellant mixture in rocket vehicles. "This ISRU approach could help significantly simplify the logistics of a mission to Mars. It would allow for increased self-sufficiency, reduce the risks to the crew, and reduce costs by requiring fewer vehicles to carry out the mission." ### BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- One of the most anticipated cases to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this term -- Leidos v. Indiana Public Retirement System -- was settled Monday. But two professors in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business continue to raise serious questions as to why the case ever would have come before the nation's highest court. The securities law case was getting attention because many legal scholars said a decision would help better define public companies' obligations to disclose information to investors. Matthew Turk and Karen Woody, both assistant professors of business law at Kelley, argued that that simply wasn't the case, in a Harvard Law School blog post published this summer and in an upcoming article in the Stanford Law Review Online. The legal question presented in the case was whether the failure to comply with a regulation issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Item 303 of Regulation S-K, can be grounds for a securities fraud claim pursuant to Rule 10b-5 and the related Section 10(b) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. "This was a significant securities law case, because Item 303 concerns one of the more controversial corporate disclosures mandated by the SEC -- an overview of known uncertainties facing a company's financial future, which must be provided in the company's 'Management's Discussion and Analysis,'" Turk and Woody said. "Although Leidos has been billed in both the briefing to the Supreme Court and academic commentary as presenting a classic circuit split, a careful reading of the underlying precedents revealed no genuine dispute among the federal courts," they said. In the article, "Leidos and the Roberts Court's Improvident Securities Law Docket," they noted that while there were differences between the 9th and 2nd Circuits, all of the relevant circuit court opinions agreed that a violation of Item 303 "may" constitute a viable fraud claim under of the rule in some, but not all, circumstances. The opinions also followed the same underlying reasoning for how those circumstances were to be determined. Thus, even before the settlement, Woody and Turk thought the Leidos case left "so little to be resolved that it is ripe for removal from the Supreme Court's docket." "The confusion surrounding Leidos is of broader importance for understanding the evolution of the Supreme Court's securities law jurisprudence since John Roberts became Chief Justice in 2005," they write in the Stanford article. "A consensus across the growing body of scholarship on that topic is that an uptick in the number of securities law cases taken up for review is one of the salient features of the Roberts Court thus far," Turk and Woody added. "Leidos highlights what is quickly becoming another defining characteristic: that the Roberts Court's enthusiasm for granting certiorari on securities law petitions has been accompanied by a tendency to misapprehend the issues (or lack thereof) which those cases raise. "This practice reflects an inefficient use of the Court's scarce docket space. It also represents a missed opportunity to clarify the many areas of securities regulation that remain mired in doctrinal incoherence." In the Stanford paper, Turk and Woody highlighted that the Supreme Court under Roberts has issued about 20 securities-related decisions and said three major trends have emerged: an increase in the number of securities cases taken up for review, a high level of consensus among the justices on how those cases should be decided and narrow decisions that leave the pre-existing legal landscape largely in place. "Leidos not only encapsulates these trends but also points to a bigger-picture takeaway: that the Roberts Court is compiling a growing line of securities cases which should have avoided review in the first place," Woody and Turk said. They cited a case from the previous term as an example of another securities law that should have avoided review: Salman v. United States. The case was billed as a much-anticipated blockbuster case on insider trading but instead upheld a longstanding legal test. Two other cases were withdrawn prior to argument because either the Supreme Court or parties decided the issues weren't worth litigating. "These cert decisions represent a significant misallocation of judicial resources, given the ever-shrinking docket of the Supreme Court. This is a critical issue because there are legitimate areas of securities regulation that need to be cleaned up," Woody and Turk said. "Often, these issues are right under the Court's nose in cases it has taken up, but the Court chooses to avoid these issues in favor of deciding the case in the most formulaic manner. "Given this essay's interpretation of Leidos and related Supreme Court opinions from recent years, the Roberts Court's track record on securities law cases could be summed up in revisionist terms as: welcome enthusiasm, workmanlike decision-making, limited foresight." ### New Orleans, LA - A pilot case control study of veterans of the US armed forces with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) or persistent post-concussion syndrome (PPCS), with or without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has found significant improvements in persistent post-concussion syndrome and PTSD symptoms, neurological exam, memory, intelligence quotient, attention, cognition, depression, anxiety, quality of life, and brain blood flow following hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Compared to controls, the patients' brain scans were significantly abnormal before treatment and became statistically indistinguishable from controls in 75% of abnormal areas after treatment. "Simultaneously and most importantly, subjects experienced a significant reduction in suicidal ideation and anxiety, possibly the most significant finding in the study given the current veteran suicide epidemic," notes Dr. Paul Harch, Clinical Professor and Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. "The PTSD symptom reduction is one of the greatest reductions in PTSD symptoms in a four-week period with any reported treatment, and combined with the effect on PPCS outcomes, HBOT represents the only reported effective treatment for the combined diagnoses of blast-induced PPCS and PTSD." The improvements, including a discontinuation or decreased dosage of psychoactive medications, continued to increase over the six-month post-treatment period. Dr. Harch and Dr. Edward Fogarty, Chair of Radiology at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, led the research. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Medical Gas Research, available here. "Mild traumatic brain injury, persistent post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder are epidemic in United States Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans," adds Dr. Fogarty. "The only effective treatment of the combined diagnoses that is available and well studied is via these chambers - this is not solely a biochemical intervention. Gas pressure physics impacts neurobiology beyond simple oxygen chemistry" Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the use of increased atmospheric pressure and increased oxygen levels as drugs to treat disease by turning genes on and off. Treatment effects are a function of dose and timing of intervention in the disease process. Thirty active-duty or retired military service men and women 18 to 65 years of age with one or more mild-to-moderate blast TBIs characterized by loss of consciousness that were a minimum of one year old and occurred after 9/11 participated in the study. They were matched to a control group. HBOT was performed in monoplace hyperbaric chambers on a protocol the investigators developed in 1989. Patients were compressed and decompressed at 1-2 pounds per square inch per minute on 100% oxygen for 60 minutes total dive time, twice a day with a 3-4 hour surface interval five days a week for 40 HBOTs. After HBOT, 52% of patients no longer met the threshold criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD. Ten of the 12 patients who expressed suicidal ideation prior to the HBOT did not express suicidal thoughts after treatment. One patient with anxiety who required an emergency department visit for increased anxiety had increased suicidal ideation after treatment. Of the patients who indicated significant anxiety before treatment, 75% were no longer anxious after treatment. The patients' abnormal brain blood flow pattern became nearly indistinguishable from the controls after HBOT treatment. Six patients experienced mild reversible middle ear injury due to pressure change, five of whom at the start of upper respiratory infections. Seven patients experienced transient deterioration is some symptoms that resolved over the next 4-6 HOBTs. Two patients had anxiety associated with exacerbation of PTSD that was treated with medication. Eleven patients experienced protocol breaks due to unrelated adverse events but 10 of them finished the protocol. The researchers conclude that this 30-day course of 40 HBOT treatments was safe with no persistent adverse events. A 2008 Rand Report estimates that 300,000 (18.3%) of 1.64 million military service members who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan war zones have PTSD or major depression, and 320,000 (19.5%) have experienced a TBI. Overall, approximately 546,000 have one of the three diagnoses, and 82,000 have symptoms of all three. "Dr. Paul Harch, for the past three and a half decades, has meticulously researched and published quality laboratory and clinical research about the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen in treatment of sub- acute and chronic TBI, convincingly demonstrating its efficacy by favorable outcomes with careful statistical substantiation of his findings," says Dr. Keith Van Meter, Clinical Professor and Chief of Emergency Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. "He has added to his quality team of researchers, and their steadfast persistence has achieved these remarkable results." ### In addition to Drs. Harch and Fogarty, the research team also included Dr. Keith Van Meter, Juliette Lucarini and Dr. Susan Andrews. Dr. Harch and Juliette Lucarini own a small hyperbaric consulting company. Dr. Van Meter owns a hyperbaric equipment leasing company and the treatment facility. Dr. Fogarty is President of the International Hyperbaric Medical Foundation and owns a holding company for a mobile hyperbaric clinic. LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSUHSC faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas in a worldwide arena, the LSUHSC research enterprise generates jobs and enormous economic impact. LSUHSC faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment, or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC. CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Researchers at MIT have developed a synthetic gene circuit that triggers the body's immune system to attack cancers when it detects signs of the disease. The circuit, which will only activate a therapeutic response when it detects two specific cancer markers, is described in a paper published today in the journal Cell. Immunotherapy is widely seen as having considerable potential in the fight against a range of cancers. The approach has been demonstrated successfully in several recent clinical trials, according to Timothy Lu, associate professor of biological engineering and of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. "There has been a lot of clinical data recently suggesting that if you can stimulate the immune system in the right way you can get it to recognize cancer," says Lu, who is head of the Synthetic Biology Group in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics. "Some of the best examples of this are what are called checkpoint inhibitors, where essentially cancers put up stop signs [that prevent] T-cells from killing them. There are antibodies that have been developed now that basically block those inhibitory signals and allow the immune system to act against the cancers." However, despite this success, the use of immunotherapy remains limited by the scarcity of tumor-specific antigens -- substances that can trigger an immune system response to a particular type of cancer. The toxicity of some therapies, when delivered as a systemic treatment to the whole body, for example, is another obstacle. What's more, the treatments are not successful in all cases. Indeed, even in some of the most successful tests, only 30-40 percent of patients will respond to a given therapy, Lu says. As a result, there is now a push to develop combination therapies, in which different but complementary treatments are used to boost the immune response. So, for example, if one type of immunotherapy is used to knock out an inhibitory signal produced by a cancer, and the tumor responds by upregulating a second signal, an additional therapy could then be used to target this one as well, Lu says. "Our belief is that there is a need to develop much more specific, targeted immunotherapies that work locally at the tumor site, rather than trying to treat the entire body systemically," he says. "Secondly, we want to produce multiple immunotherapies from a single package, and therefore be able to stimulate the immune system in multiple different ways." To do this, Lu and a team including MIT postdocs Lior Nissim and Ming-Ru Wu, have built a gene circuit encoded in DNA designed to distinguish cancer cells from noncancer cells. The circuit, which can be customized to respond to different types of tumor, is based on the simple AND gates used in electronics. Such AND gates will only switch on a circuit when two inputs are present. Cancer cells differ from normal cells in the profile of their gene expression. So the researchers developed synthetic promoters -- DNA sequences designed to initiate gene expression but only in cancer cells. The circuit is delivered to cells in the affected area of the body using a virus. The synthetic promotors are then designed to bind to certain proteins that are active in tumor cells, causing the promoters to turn on. "Only when two of these cancer promoters are activated, does the circuit itself switch on," Lu says. This allows the circuit to target tumors more accurately than existing therapies, as it requires two cancer-specific signals to be present before it will respond. Once activated, the circuit expresses proteins designed to direct the immune system to target the tumor cells, including surface T cell engagers, which direct T cells to kill the cells. The circuit also expresses a checkpoint inhibitor designed to lift the brakes on T cell activity. When the researchers tested the circuit in vitro, they found that it was able to detect ovarian cancer cells from amongst other noncancerous ovarian cells and other cell types. They then tested the circuit in mice implanted with ovarian cancer cells, and demonstrated that it could trigger T cells to seek out and kill the cancer cells without harming other cells around them. Finally, the researchers showed that the circuit could be readily converted to target other cancer cells. "We identified other promoters that were selective for breast cancer, and when these were encoded into the circuit, it would target breast cancer cells over other types of cell," Lu says. Ultimately, they hope they will also be able to use the system to target other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other autoimmune diseases. The researchers now plan to test the circuit more fully in a range of cancer models. They are also aiming to develop a delivery system for the circuit, which would be both flexible and simple to manufacture and use. ### WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 19, 2017 - The science of agriculture grows more complex every year. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced support for projects to help bridge the gap between biotechnology innovations and the policies on how to use them. These grants are funded through NIFA's Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants (BRAG) Program. "Biotechnology offers innovative tools to address the problem of ensuring a safe, nutritious food supply," said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. "It is imperative that we help policymakers understand these tools and base their policy decisions on high-quality science and evidence." Established in 1992, the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grant (BRAG) program supports research to help evaluate hazard potential and other effects of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The program also supports conferences that bring together scientists, regulators, and other stakeholders to discuss topics related to biotechnology and assessments of risk. Projects are supported in several program areas including: management practices to minimize environmental risk of GE organisms; methods to monitor, and understand the dispersal of GE organisms; gene transfer to domesticated and wild relatives; and environmental impacts of genetic engineering in agricultural production systems. Among projects funded in Fiscal Year 2017, Cornell University researchers will investigate whether genetically engineered probiotics - often used as alternatives to antibiotics - may spread from an animal's microbiome into their environment. Oregon State University researchers will conduct greenhouse and field tests of CRISPR gene-edited poplar and eucalyptus trees to evaluate the ecological concerns that may pose barriers to their commercial adoption. In all, 13 grants totaling nearly $5.4 million are being awarded through the BRAG program. They are: Infinite Eversole Strategic Drop Services, Jonesboro, Arkansas, $25,000 University of California, Davis, California, $500,000 University of California, Davis, California, $25,000 USDA-ARS, Western Regional Research Center, Albany, California, $500,000 Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, $500,000 University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, $500,000 Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, $469,277 University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, $499,998 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, $500,000 Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Ithaca, New York, $380,830 Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, $500,000 Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $499,422 Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $496,361 More information on these grants can be found on the NIFA website. Among previous BRAG projects, University of Tennessee researchers measured armyworm resistance to corn and cotton crops bred to include an insecticidal bacteria that occurs naturally in soil. The research has resulted in new monitoring methods to help farmers detect, monitor, and predict the movement of these pests. Another project at North Carolina State University looked at ways to stop the northward spread of screwworm from South America. During the past century, the presence of screwworm cost the U.S. livestock industry an average of $20 million annually. As a result, the team developed and evaluated a sterile male screwworm strain to help manage the buffer zone along the Panama-Colombia border. NIFA's mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA's investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural sciences, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA (link is external), #NIFAImpacts. ### WASHINGTON - An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has uncovered a direct link between sample quality and the degree of valley polarization in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). In contrast with graphene, many monolayer TMDs are semiconductors and show promise for future applications in electronic and optoelectronic technologies. In this sense, a 'valley' refers to the region in an electronic band structure where both electrons and holes are localized, and 'valley polarization' refers to the ratio of valley populations -- an important metric applied in valleytronics research. "A high degree of valley polarization has been theoretically predicted in TMDs yet experimental values are often low and vary widely," said Kathleen McCreary, Ph.D., lead author of the study. "It is extremely important to determine the origin of these variations in order to further our basic understanding of TMDs as well as advance the field of valleytronics." Many of today's technologies (i.e. solid state lighting, transistors in computer chips, and batteries in cell phones) rely simply on the charge of the electron and how it moves through the material. However, in certain materials such as the monolayer TMDs, electrons can be selectively placed into a chosen electronic valley using optical excitation. "The development of TMD materials and hybrid 2D/3D heterostructures promises enhanced functionality relevant to future Department of Defense missions," said Berend Jonker, Ph.D., principal investigator of the program. "These include ultra-low power electronics, non-volatile optical memory, and quantum computation applications in information processing and sensing." The growing fields of spintronics and valleytronics aim to use the spin or valley population, rather than only charge, to store information and perform logic operations. Progress in these developing fields has attracted the attention of industry leaders, and has already resulted in products such as magnetic random access memory that improve upon the existing charge-based technologies. The team focused on TMD monolayers such as WS2 and WSe2, which have high optical responsivity, and found that samples exhibiting low photoluminescence (PL) intensity exhibited a high degree of valley polarization. These findings suggest a means to engineer valley polarization via controlled introduction of defects and nonradiative recombination sites "Truly understanding the reason for sample-to-sample variation is the first step towards valleytronic control," McCreary said. "In the near future, we may be able to accurately increase polarization by adding defect sites or reduce polarization by passivation of defects." Results of this research are reported in the August 2017 edition of the American Chemical Society's Nano, The research team is comprised of Dr. Kathleen McCreary, Dr. Aubrey Hanbicki, and Dr. Berend Jonker from the NRL Materials Science and Technology Division; Dr. Marc Currie from the NRL Optical Sciences Division; and Dr. Hsun-Jen Chuang who holds an American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) fellowship at NRL. ### Mars has an invisible magnetic "tail" that is twisted by interaction with the solar wind, according to new research using data from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft is in orbit around Mars gathering data on how the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere and water, transforming from a world that could have supported life billions of years ago into a cold and inhospitable place today. The process that creates the twisted tail could also allow some of Mars' already thin atmosphere to escape to space, according to the research team. "We found that Mars' magnetic tail, or magnetotail, is unique in the solar system," said Gina DiBraccio of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It's not like the magnetotail found at Venus, a planet with no magnetic field of its own, nor is it like Earth's, which is surrounded by its own internally generated magnetic field. Instead, it is a hybrid between the two." DiBraccio is project scientist for MAVEN and is presenting this research at a press briefing Thursday, Oct. 19 at 12:15pm MDT during the 49th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Provo, Utah. The team found that a process called "magnetic reconnection" must have a big role in creating the Martian magnetotail because, if reconnection were occurring, it would put the twist in the tail. "Our model predicted that magnetic reconnection will cause the Martian magnetotail to twist 45 degrees from what's expected based on the direction of the magnetic field carried by the solar wind," said DiBraccio. "When we compared those predictions to MAVEN data on the directions of the Martian and solar wind magnetic fields, they were in very good agreement." Mars lost its global magnetic field billions of years ago and now just has remnant "fossil" magnetic fields embedded in certain regions of its surface. According to the new work, Mars' magnetotail is formed when magnetic fields carried by the solar wind join with the magnetic fields embedded in the Martian surface in a process called magnetic reconnection. The solar wind is a stream of electrically conducting gas continuously blowing from the Sun's surface into space at about one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) per hour. It carries magnetic fields from the Sun with it. If the solar wind field happens to be oriented in the opposite direction to a field in the Martian surface, the two fields join together in magnetic reconnection. The magnetic reconnection process also might propel some of Mars' atmosphere into space. Mars' upper atmosphere has electrically charged particles (ions). Ions respond to electric and magnetic forces and flow along magnetic field lines. Since the Martian magnetotail is formed by linking surface magnetic fields to solar wind fields, ions in the Martian upper atmosphere have a pathway to space if they flow down the magnetotail. Like a stretched rubber band suddenly snapping to a new shape, magnetic reconnection also releases energy, which could actively propel ions in the Martian atmosphere down the magnetotail into space. Since Mars has a patchwork of surface magnetic fields, scientists had suspected that the Martian magnetotail would be a complex hybrid between that of a planet with no magnetic field at all and that found behind a planet with a global magnetic field. Extensive MAVEN data on the Martian magnetic field allowed the team to be the first to confirm this. MAVEN's orbit continually changes its orientation with respect to the Sun, allowing measurements to be made covering all of the regions surrounding Mars and building up a map of the magnetotail and its interaction with the solar wind. Magnetic fields are invisible but their direction and strength can be measured by the magnetometer instrument on MAVEN, which the team used to make the observations. They plan to examine data from other instruments on MAVEN to see if escaping particles map to the same regions where they see reconnected magnetic fields to confirm that reconnection is contributing to Martian atmospheric loss and determine how significant it is. They also will gather more magnetometer data over the next few years to see how the various surface magnetic fields affect the tail as Mars rotates. This rotation, coupled with an ever-changing solar wind magnetic field, creates an extremely dynamic Martian magnetotail. "Mars is really complicated but really interesting at the same time," said DiBraccio. ### The research was funded by the MAVEN mission. MAVEN began its primary science mission on November 2014, and is the first spacecraft dedicated to understanding Mars' upper atmosphere. MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. NASA Goddard manages the MAVEN project and provided two science instruments for the mission, including the magnetometer. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory also provided four science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, provides navigation and Deep Space Network support, as well as the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. New NASA research is helping to refine our understanding of candidate planets beyond our solar system that might support life. "Using a model that more realistically simulates atmospheric conditions, we discovered a new process that controls the habitability of exoplanets and will guide us in identifying candidates for further study," said Yuka Fujii of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, New York and the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, lead author of a paper on the research published in the Astrophysical Journal Oct. 17. Previous models simulated atmospheric conditions along one dimension, the vertical. Like some other recent habitability studies, the new research used a model that calculates conditions in all three dimensions, allowing the team to simulate the circulation of the atmosphere and the special features of that circulation, which one-dimensional models cannot do. The new work will help astronomers allocate scarce observing time to the most promising candidates for habitability. Liquid water is necessary for life as we know it, so the surface of an alien world (e.g. an exoplanet) is considered potentially habitable if its temperature allows liquid water to be present for sufficient time (billions of years) to allow life to thrive. If the exoplanet is too far from its parent star, it will be too cold, and its oceans will freeze. If the exoplanet is too close, light from the star will be too intense, and its oceans will eventually evaporate and be lost to space. This happens when water vapor rises to a layer in the upper atmosphere called the stratosphere and gets broken into its elemental components (hydrogen and oxygen) by ultraviolet light from the star. The extremely light hydrogen atoms can then escape to space. Planets in the process of losing their oceans this way are said to have entered a "moist greenhouse" state because of their humid stratospheres. In order for water vapor to rise to the stratosphere, previous models predicted that long-term surface temperatures had to be greater than anything experienced on Earth - over 150 degrees Fahrenheit (66 degrees Celsius). These temperatures would power intense convective storms; however, it turns out that these storms aren't the reason water reaches the stratosphere for slowly rotating planets entering a moist greenhouse state. "We found an important role for the type of radiation a star emits and the effect it has on the atmospheric circulation of an exoplanet in making the moist greenhouse state," said Fujii. For exoplanets orbiting close to their parent stars, a star's gravity will be strong enough to slow a planet's rotation. This may cause it to become tidally locked, with one side always facing the star - giving it eternal day - and one side always facing away -giving it eternal night. When this happens, thick clouds form on the dayside of the planet and act like a sun umbrella to shield the surface from much of the starlight. While this could keep the planet cool and prevent water vapor from rising, the team found that the amount of near-Infrared radiation (NIR) from a star could provide the heat needed to cause a planet to enter the moist greenhouse state. NIR is a type of light invisible to the human eye. Water as vapor in air and water droplets or ice crystals in clouds strongly absorbs NIR light, warming the air. As the air warms, it rises, carrying the water up into the stratosphere where it creates the moist greenhouse. This process is especially relevant for planets around low-mass stars that are cooler and much dimmer than the Sun. To be habitable, planets must be much closer to these stars than our Earth is to the Sun. At such close range, these planets likely experience strong tides from their star, making them rotate slowly. Also, the cooler a star is, the more NIR it emits. The new model demonstrated that since these stars emit the bulk of their light at NIR wavelengths, a moist greenhouse state will result even in conditions comparable to or somewhat warmer than Earth's tropics. For exoplanets closer to their stars, the team found that the NIR-driven process increased moisture in the stratosphere gradually. So, it's possible, contrary to old model predictions, that an exoplanet closer to its parent star could remain habitable. This is an important observation for astronomers searching for habitable worlds, since low-mass stars are the most common in the galaxy. Their sheer numbers increase the odds that a habitable world may be found among them, and their small size increases the chance to detect planetary signals. The new work will help astronomers screen the most promising candidates in the search for planets that could support life. "As long as we know the temperature of the star, we can estimate whether planets close to their stars have the potential to be in the moist greenhouse state," said Anthony Del Genio of GISS, a co-author of the paper. "Current technology will be pushed to the limit to detect small amounts of water vapor in an exoplanet's atmosphere. If there is enough water to be detected, it probably means that planet is in the moist greenhouse state." In this study, researchers assumed a planet with an atmosphere like Earth, but entirely covered by oceans. These assumptions allowed the team to clearly see how changing the orbital distance and type of stellar radiation affected the amount of water vapor in the stratosphere. In the future, the team plans to vary planetary characteristics such as gravity, size, atmospheric composition, and surface pressure to see how they affect water vapor circulation and habitability. ### The research was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Program through the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science; the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered by Oak Ridge Affiliated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland; and a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan (No.15K17605). The world's most prestigious award for pioneers in environmental science was given to Hans Joachim Schellnhuber this week in Tokyo. He is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), a member of the Leibniz Association. The Blue Planet Prize, coming along with 50 million yen, honors outstanding thinkers who help to meet challenges of planetary dimensions. It is awarded by the Asahi Glass Foundation and handed over in presence of Japan's Imperial Prince and Princess. Schellnhuber received the prize for establishing a new field of science, Earth System Analysis, and introducing most influential concepts including the notion of tipping elements in the climate system. The second recipient is Gretchen Daily of Stanford University, USA, who was honored for her research about biodiversity and natural capital. "Professor Schellnhuber pioneered a new field of climate science," said Yoshihiro Hayashi, Chairman of the Blue Planet Prize Selection Committee and Director General of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. The Director of PIK provided "groundbreaking interdisciplinary science," Hayashi said. Furthermore, "one of his greatest successes was communicating the magnitude of the challenge of climate stabilization to a broad public as well as decision-makers," he added, calling Schellnhuber "the father of the 2 degrees limit for global warming". On the same note, the official declaration by the Blue Planet Prize organizers says: "His activities eventually created a torrent of measures against global warming worldwide, resulting in the 2-degree guardrail agreed upon by more than 190 countries at the UN climate summit COP21. Professor Schellnhuber and PIK have played a central role in this field for many years." "I believe that the two recipients are leading us to a new era of tackling environmental issues," commented Hiroyuki Yoshikawa of the Blue Planet Prize Committee in his speech. He is a Special Counselor to the President of the Japan Science and Technology Agency, member of the Japan Academy, and a former President of both the Science Council of Japan and the University of Tokyo. The committee includes internationally renowned scientists such as Nobel Laureate Ryoji Noyori who met Schellnhuber on the eve of the prize ceremony. *Strong messages from Japan's Prime Minister Abe and the Imperial Prince Akishino* "This prize is said to be the Nobel Prize for environmental research," said Japan's minister of the Environment, Masaharu Nakagawa, in a personal meeting earlier this week. He thanked Schellnhuber "for helping with the long-term strategy of our country. We're in the midst of a broad change." Schellnhuber has visited Japan on a number of occasions for talks with high-ranking officials in the past years. Stabilizing the climate "is a global challenge which requires concerted action by all countries," Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a message congratulating the awardees. "My government remains committed to climate action." Marking the outstanding significance of the event for Japan, His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino attended the ceremony. "In recent years, we humans have pursued the progress of science and technology," - yet precisely by this way of economic development, "the ecosystems have been affected," said the Prince. He specifically mentioned the increase of dangerous weather extremes. "We need a correct understanding of the human effect on the environment - as well as actions. It is hence satisfying that the laureates have developed the science as well as they have sounded the alarm." In a congratulatory message His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Charles, emphasized that Schellnhuber's work is important to persuade the world to counter climate change, and to save the planet for our children and grandchildren. "Germany and Japan must take the lead in this race against global disaster" Previous recipients of the prize include the godfather of climate modelling, Syukuro Manabe, from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Norway's former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, and Charles Keeling from the University of San Diego, California, who gave his name to the famous Keeling curve of atmospheric CO2 concentration measurements. "The sun first rises in the East," said Schellnhuber at the ceremony. "Philosophers in China and Japan have deliberated upon the harmony between nature and humanity for many centuries." Today, scientists around the world, including those at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research that Schellnhuber founded in 1992, are successfully investigating the nonlinear dynamics of the complex climate system, and religious leaders like Pope Francis - whose green Encyclical Schellnhuber had the honor to present to the world in 2015 - joined in the call for avoiding dangerous climate change. "Yet man-made climate change has roared on, since policy has largely failed us," said Schellnhuber. Now, on the basis of the Paris Agreement to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a great transformation of the global economy is required. "Germany and Japan must take the lead in this race against global disaster," Schellnhuber said. "They shall become closest partners in sustainable innovation - for the sake of our two nations and for the sake of our Blue Planet." ### For further information please contact: PIK press office Phone: +49 331 288 25 07 E-Mail: press@pik-potsdam.de Twitter: @PIK_Climate http://www.pik-potsdam.de As of 2016 there were more than 165,000 health and wellness apps available though the Apple App Store alone. According to Rice University medical media expert Kirsten Ostherr, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates only a fraction of those. Americans should be concerned about how these apps collect, save and share their personal health data, she said. On Oct. 26 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will host a gathering of national experts to discuss "Data Privacy in the Digital Age." Ostherr, who is a professor of English and director of Rice's Medical Futures Lab, has been doing research on health and medical media for over 20 years, from "old" media like celluloid films used for medical education to "new" media like smartphone apps. She will present "Trust and Privacy in the Ecosystems of User-Generated Health and Medical Data" during a panel discussion. "Members of the general public, including patients, have begun to play a newly important role in collecting data about health and disease," Ostherr said. "With the rise of mobile apps and the growth of smartphone and wearable-device use, people's daily lives have become experiments 'in the wild.'" The data collected through these devices offer new opportunities and challenges to researchers who want to gather information about human behavior outside the controlled settings of lab-based studies, she said. However, what the researchers can achieve with the user-generated health data relies heavily on participants' willingness to share their data, even when doing so may not serve their own best interests. "Part of my research is looking at ways the boundaries between medical and nonmedical environments are dissolving through the proliferation of apps that allow people to manage their own care outside of clinical settings," she said. "In some ways those boundaries are breaking down because a lot of things that used to only happen inside of hospitals can happen outside of them now." Federal and state policy regulations that shape how personal health data is shared are currently in place. They set rigid boundaries between traditional clinical settings or "medical domains" and domains outside of traditional clinical settings, Ostherr said. But depending on how an app is classified by the FDA, the health-related data an app collects might not be protected. She said apps that make medical or therapeutic claims are considered a medical device and must go through the FDA procedures for approval and regulation. For some companies, that process is worth the time and effort, because their product could become covered by insurance. But the vast majority of apps provide "helpful hints" in response to user-entered data, such as ideas for alleviating symptoms of a migraine. "If your app carefully sidesteps claiming any kind of medical intervention, then it's a health and wellness app and not a medical device -- and it is not regulated," Ostherr said. Regardless of whether an app is regulated, Ostherr said, they are all "capturing tons of personal data, some of which would be classified as personal health information if it were subject to oversight by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act." And, she said, the likelihood that the data from the unregulated health apps makes its way back into a medical setting where a patient could benefit from a physician's review of that data is "almost nil." ### Ostherr has a forthcoming book on the topic, "Quantified Health: Learning From Patient Stories in the Age of Big Data." She is available for media interviews prior to, during and after the Washington, D.C., event. Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7. Images for download: http://news.rice.edu/files/2015/06/0601_HEALTH-b.jpg Image courtesy ThinkStockPhotos.com/Rice University http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/03/0403_SCIENTIA-Ostherr-1jdr0st.jpg Image courtesy of Rice University This release can be found online at news.rice.edu. Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews. Follow Ostherr on Twitter @KirstenOstherr. Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview. HOUSTON -- (Oct. 19, 2017) -- Scientists from Rice University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies have discovered that Earth's sea level did not rise steadily but rather in sharp, punctuated bursts when the planet's glaciers melted during the period of global warming at the close of the last ice age. The researchers found fossil evidence in drowned reefs offshore Texas that showed sea level rose in several bursts ranging in length from a few decades to one century. The findings appear today in Nature Communications. "What these fossil reefs show is that the last time Earth warmed like it is today, sea level did not rise steadily," said Rice marine geologist Andre Droxler, a study co-author. "Instead, sea level rose quite fast, paused, and then shot up again in another burst and so on. "This has profound implications for the future study of sea-level rise," he said. Because scientists did not previously have specific evidence of punctuated decade-scale sea-level rise, they had little choice but to present the risks of sea-level rise in a linear, per-year format, Droxler said. For example, the International Panel on Climate Change, the authoritative scientific source about the impacts of human-induced climate change, "had to simply take the projected rise for a century, divide by 100 and say, 'We expect sea level to rise this much per year,'" he said. "Our results offer evidence that sea level may not rise in an orderly, linear fashion," said Rice coastal geologist and study co-author Jeff Nittrouer. Given that more than half a billion people live within a few meters of modern sea level, he said punctuated sea-level rise poses a particular risk to those communities that are not prepared for future inundation. "We have observed sea level rise steadily in contemporary time," Nittrouer said. "However, our findings show that sea-level rise could be considerably faster than anything yet observed, and because of this situation, coastal communities need to be prepared for potential inundation." The study's evidence came from a 2012 cruise by the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor. During the cruise, Droxler, study lead author and Rice graduate student Pankaj Khanna and Harte Research Institute colleagues John Tunnell Jr. and Thomas Shirley used the Falkor's multibeam echo sounder to map 10 fossil reef sites offshore Texas. The echo sounder is a state-of-the-art sonar that produces high-resolution 3-D images of the seafloor. The fossil reefs lie 30-50 miles offshore Corpus Christi beneath about 195 feet of water. Sunlight does not reach them at that depth, but because corals live in symbiosis with algae, they need sunlight to live and only grow at or very near sea level. Based on previous studies of the Texas coastline during the last ice age as well as the dates of fossils samples collected from the reefs in previous expeditions, the Rice team surmised that the reefs began forming about 19,000 years ago when melting ice caps and glaciers were causing sea level to rise across the globe. "The coral reefs' evolution and demise have been preserved," Khanna said. "Their history is written in their morphology -- the shapes and forms in which they grew. And the high-resolution 3-D imaging system on the R/V Falkor allowed us to observe those forms in extraordinary detail for the first time." All the sites in the study had reefs with terraces. Khanna said the stair-like terraces are typical of coral reef structures and are signatures of rising seas. For example, as a reef is growing at the ocean's surface, it can build up only so fast. If sea level rises too fast, it will drown the reef in place, but if the rate is slightly slower, the reef can adopt a strategy called backstepping. When a reef backsteps, the ocean-facing side of the reef breaks up incoming waves just enough to allow the reef to build up a vertical step. "In our case, each of these steps reveals how the reef adapted to a sudden, punctuated burst of sea-level rise," Khanna said. "The terraces behind each step are the parts of the reef that grew and filled in during the pauses between bursts." Some sites had as many as six terraces. The researchers said it's important to note that even though the sites in the study are as much as 75 miles apart, the depth of the terraces lined up at each site. Droxler and Nittrouer credited the find to Khanna's determination. Analysis of the data from the mapping mission took more than a year, and the time needed to respond to questions that arose during the publication's peer-review process was even longer. "That's the way science works," Droxler said. "This is the first evidence ever offered for sea-level rise on a time scale ranging from decades to one century, and our colleagues expected ironclad evidence to back that claim." Nittrouer said the scenario of punctuated sea-level rise is one that many scientists had previously suspected. "Scientists have talked about the possibility that continental ice could recede rapidly," he said. "The idea is that sudden changes could arise when threshold conditions are met -- for example, a tipping point arises whereby a large amount of ice is released suddenly into global oceans. When melted, this adds water volume and raises global sea level." Khanna said it's likely that additional fossil evidence of punctuated sea-level rise will be found in the rock record at sites around the globe. "Based on what we've found, it is possible that sea-level rise over decadal time scales will be a key storyline in future climate predictions," he said. ### The research was supported by Rice University, the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the Schmidt Ocean Institute. VIDEO is available at: https://youtu.be/jv9VA797Veo High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at: http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-falkor2-lg-1fcgljx.jpg CAPTION: The Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor mapped, with the latest generation of multibeam echo sounder, 10 fossil reef sites offshore Texas. The echo sounder is a state-of-the-art sonar that produces high-resolution 3-D images of the seafloor. (Photo courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute) http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-tri-lg-16metod.jpg CAPTION: Rice University researchers (from left) Pankaj Khanna, Andre Droxler and Jeffrey Nittrouer. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-terrace-lg-2b7v64b.jpg CAPTION: A high-resolution 3-D map of Southern Bank off the South Texas coast clearly reveals terraces, which are a characteristic coral reef response to rising sea level. (Image courtesy of P. Khanna/Rice University) http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-adpk-lg-xosxri.jpg CAPTION: Andre Droxler (seated) and Pankaj Khanna aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor in 2012. (Photo by Mark Schrope/Schmidt Ocean Institute) http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-backstep2-lg-28xb8xx.jpg CAPTION: A 3-D representation of Dream Bank, a long-dead reef offshore South Texas. The vertical scale of the image has been increased to clearly illustrate the terrace structures that form due to rising sea levels via a process known as backstepping. (Image courtesy of P. Khanna/Rice University) http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/09/0918_SEALEVEL-three-lg-1damwin.jpg CAPTION: Rice researchers (from left) Caleb McBride, Andre Droxler and Pankaj Khanna aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor in 2012. (Photo courtesy of A. Droxler/Rice University) The DOI of the Nature Communications paper is: 10.1038/s41467-017-00966-x A copy of the paper is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00966-x This release can be found online at news.rice.edu. Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview. It's really surprising: it turns out that among simple electronic circuits, built of just a few components, many of them behave chaotically, in an extremely complicated, practically unpredictable manner. Physicists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow have discovered, examined and described dozens of new, unusual circuits of this type. What is especially interesting is that one of the circuits generates voltage pulses very similar to those produced by neurons, only it does so a thousand times faster. Just a few transistors, resistors, capacitors and induction coils are enough to build electronic circuits that behave in a virtually unpredictable way. Even in such simple systems chaotic oscillations of a complex nature turn out to be not the exception but the norm, according to researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Cracow. In a paper published in the journal Chaos, they have presented 49 new, unusual chaotic electronic oscillators - not designed but discovered by computer simulations. "Electronics is usually associated with devices that work precisely and always according to expectations. Our research shows a completely different picture. Even in electronic circuits containing only one or two transistors, chaos is ubiquitous! The predictable and always the same reactions of electronic devices that we all use on an everyday basis do not reflect the nature of electronics but the efforts of designers", says the first author of the paper, Dr. Ludovico Minati (IFJ PAN). By chaos we generally mean lack of order. In physics, this concept works a little differently: circuits are said to behave chaotically when even very small changes in input parameters result in large changes in output. Since various types of fluctuations are a natural feature of the world, in practice chaotic systems show an enormous wealth of behaviour - so great that precise prediction of their reactions is very difficult, and often impossible. The circuit can thus seem to be behaving quite randomly, even though in fact its evolution follows a certain complicated pattern. Chaotic behavior is so complex that to this day there are no methods to effectively design electronic circuits of this type, so physicists from the IFJ PAN approached the problem differently. Instead of building chaotic oscillators from scratch, they decided to... discover them. The structure of the circuits, made up of commercially available components, was mapped as a sequence of 85 bits. In the maximum configuration the modelled circuits consisted of a power source, two transistors, a resistor and six capacitors or induction coils, connected in a circuit containing eight nodes. The strings of bits thus prepared were then subjected to random modifications. The simulations were made on the Cray XD1 supercomputer. "Our search was blind, in a gigantic space offering 2 to a power of 85 possible combinations. During the simulation we analyzed more or less two million circuits, so an extremely small area of the available space. Of these, about 2,500 circuits exhibited interesting behaviour", says Dr. Minati, and emphasizes that chaotic electronic oscillators were known about previously. Up to now, however, it seemed that they occurred in only a few variants, and that their construction required some effort and an appropriately complex system. Physicists from the IFJ PAN analyzed the behavior of the new circuits using the SPICE program, commonly used in the design of electronic circuits. However, in the case of chaotic behaviour, SPICE's simulation capabilities turned out to be insufficient. So the 100 most interesting circuits were physically built and tested in the laboratory. In order to improve the quality of the signals generated during the tests, delicate tuning of the component parameters was often performed. Eventually the number of interesting circuits was reduced to 49. The smallest chaotic oscillator consisted of one transistor, one capacitor, one resistor and two induction coils. Most of the circuits found showed non-trivial, chaotic behaviour with a sometimes astonishing scale of complexity. This complexity can be visualized using special graphs - attractors, geometrically reflecting the nature of changes in the circuit over time. Statistical analyses of the signals generated by the new oscillators did not, however, reveal any traces of two important features found in many self-organizing systems: criticality and multi-fractality. "We could talk about multi-fractality if different portions of the voltage variation diagram, magnified in different places in different ways, revealed changes similar to the original characteristics. In turn, we would be dealing with criticality if the circuit was in a state in which it could at any moment switch from regular to chaotic mode or vice versa. We did not notice these phenomena in the examined oscillators", explains Prof. Stanislaw Drozdz (IFJ PAN, Cracow University of Technology) and adds: "Critical systems generally have more opportunities for reacting to changes in their own environment. So it is no wonder that criticality is a phenomenon quite often encountered in nature. A lot points to the fact that a system operating in a critical condition is, for example, the human brain." Of particular interest was one of the found oscillators, which generated voltage spikes resembling stimuli typical for neurons. The similarity of impulses was striking here, but not complete. "Our artificial neuron analogue proved to be much faster than its biological counterpart: pulses were produced thousands of times more often! If it were not for the lack of criticality and multi-fractality, the speed of operation of this circuit would justify talking about an electronic super-neuron. Perhaps such a circuit exists, only we have not found it yet. At the moment, we have to be satisfied with our 'almost super-neuron'," comments Dr. Minati, with a smile. The Cracow-based physicists have also demonstrated that as a result of combining the found circuits in pairs, behaviours of even greater complexity appear. Coupled circuits in some situations worked perfectly synchronously, like musicians playing in unison, in some one of the circuits took over the role of leader and in still others the mutual inter-dependence of the oscillators was so complicated that it was revealed only after careful analysis of statistics. In order to accelerate the development of research into electronic systems that simulate the behaviour of the human brain, the diagrams of all the circuits found by physicists from the IFJ PAN have been made public. Anyone interested can download them from: ftp://ftp.aip.org/epaps/chaos/E-CHAOEH-27-012707 The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ PAN) is currently the largest research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The broad range of studies and activities of IFJ PAN includes basic and applied research, ranging from particle physics and astrophysics, through hadron physics, high-, medium-, and low-energy nuclear physics, condensed matter physics (including materials engineering), to various applications of methods of nuclear physics in interdisciplinary research, covering medical physics, dosimetry, radiation and environmental biology, environmental protection, and other related disciplines. The average yearly yield of the IFJ PAN encompasses more than 600 scientific papers in the Journal Citation Reports published by the Thomson Reuters. The part of the Institute is the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) which is an infrastructure, unique in Central Europe, to serve as a clinical and research centre in the area of medical and nuclear physics. IFJ PAN is a member of the Marian Smoluchowski Krakow Research Consortium: "Matter-Energy-Future" which possesses the status of a Leading National Research Centre (KNOW) in physics for the years 2012-2017. The Institute is of A+ Category (leading level in Poland) in the field of sciences and engineering. ### CONTACTS: Prof. Stanislaw Drozdz The Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences tel.: +48 12 6628220 email: stanislaw.drozdz@ifj.edu.pl Dr. Ludovico Minati The Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences tel.: +48 12 6628241 email: ludovico.minati@ifj.edu.pl SCIENTIFIC PAPERS: Atypical transistor-based chaotic oscillators: Design, realization, and diversity" L. Minati, M. Frasca, P. Oswiecimka, L. Faes, S. Drozdz Chaos 27, 073113 (2017) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4994815 LINKS: http://www.ifj.edu.pl/ The website of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. http://press.ifj.edu.pl/en/ Press releases of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. IMAGES: IFJ171018b_fot01s.jpg HR (dark): http://press.ifj.edu.pl/news/2017/10/18/IFJ171018b_fot01a.jpg HR (light): http://press.ifj.edu.pl/news/2017/10/18/IFJ171018b_fot01b.jpg Many simple electronic systems can behave in a difficult to foresee, chaotic manner, as shown by researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow. The image shows a device built from two recently discovered oscillators. In the background are so-called attractors, illustrating the diversity and richness of behaviour of the new circuits. (Source: IFJ PAN) IFJ171018b_fot02s.jpg HR (dark): http://press.ifj.edu.pl/news/2017/10/18/IFJ171018b_fot02a.jpg HR (light): http://press.ifj.edu.pl/news/2017/10/18/IFJ171018b_fot02b.jpg Chaotic voltage changes are common even for electronic circuits made up of only several elements. In the top left corner is a diagram of the simplest chaotic oscillator found by physicists from IFJ PAN in Cracow. On the right, a series of pulses showing a great resemblance to neural activity, generated by one of the newly discovered circuits. In the lower row several so-called attractors, illustrating the complexity of behaviour of the new circuits. (Source: IFJ PAN) Virtual reality has nothing on nature. Just ask the UC Santa Barbara students who one recent day trekked to a forest before dawn to listen to a chorus of early birds. They had hiked into the woods for that very purpose as part of a field study course, tasked with identifying as many species as possible by their vocalizations. After 20 minutes, most had picked up the territorial call of the a red-shouldered hawk and two acorn woodpeckers chattering in the trees. A few careful listeners detected the twitter of a hummingbird. Amid their discussion of birds, no one expected to meet up with a mammal cameo. But when UCSB biologist Douglas McCauley, who co-teaches the class with Hillary Young -- an associate professor in the campus's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology -- emerged from the bushes with the small rodent in hand, he delivered a brief impromptu lecture about its features and then let it go. That kind of spontaneous encounter -- and the feeling it evokes -- would be next to impossible to reproduce in a virtual reality (VR) setting. It's the kind of unpredictable thing nature does best, inspiring awe and wonder -- and hopefully a love of learning outdoors. In a new paper in the journal Science, McCauley discusses the pros and cons of VR and augmented reality (AR) as environmental science teaching tools. "While they have a place in the pedagogical toolbox, the newest technologies aren't necessarily the best options," he said. "It's unclear whether they improve on more traditional methods like taking students outside before dawn to listen to birds." Rapid advancements in VR and AR have recently opened up a new genre of "electronic field trips" that mimics hikes, dives and treks through nature. Half a dozen UCSB seniors enrolled in McCauley's Laboratory and Fieldwork in Vertebrate Biology course, however, said they wouldn't have traded the experience of seeing their professor wrangle a rodent for staying in bed and using VR goggles to "recreate" the encounter at their leisure. In fact, many said the field trip marked the first time in years they had sat quietly in nature, listening and learning, for more than a couple minutes. Nonetheless, according to McCauley, both VR and AR have their potential upsides, such as the capacity to move back and forth in time. "With virtual reality we could have transported the students on our birding trip back to a Pleistocene dawn in those same woods when they were full of 20-foot-tall ground sloths and hungry saber-tooth tigers," McCauley said. "Or we could have taken them forward in time to a climate-altered future where bird migrations had been disrupted." In the paper, McCauley argues that AR holds some promise if not used heavy-handedly. Consider Harvard University's AR simulation of Black's Nook Pond in Massachusetts, in which users can take photos of pond wildlife, catch bugs in the mud, measure virtual weather, collect population data and sample water chemistry using their smartphone. At certain points predetermined by GPS coordinates, a digital teaching assistant appears, who might prompt participants on how to take a water sample. Or, when the smartphone is shown a plant, the program could supply an animation of a carbon atom moving through the plant during photosynthesis. "You have this augmented experience of looking at a detail or process you can't see in real life," McCauley explained. "I think there's an interesting possibility there to enhance the outdoor experience. But how far do you push that before you lose some of the core values of being in nature: the opportunity to chat with the person next to you rather than staring at your phone, or the capacity to actually see the plant and experience nature with your own eyes rather than on a digital screen." ### One way or another, many psychiatric drugs work by binding to receptor molecules in the brain that are sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical signal that is central to how our experiences shape our behavior. But because scientists still don't understand the differences between the many kinds of dopamine receptors present on brain cells, most of these drugs are "messy," binding to multiple different dopamine receptor molecules and leading to serious side effects ranging from movement disorders to pathological gambling. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Stanford University report a major step forward towards designing more powerful psychiatric drugs with fewer side effects. As reported online on October 19, 2017 in Science, the team has determined ("solved" in the terminology of structural biology) the crystal structure of a specific dopamine receptor called D4 at an incredibly high resolution - the highest for any dopamine, serotonin, or epinephrine (aka adrenaline) receptor to date - allowing them to design a new compound that tightly binds only to D4 and none of the other 320 receptors they tested. Earlier this year, the same team solved the crystal structure of LSD bound to a serotonin receptor to learn why acid trips last so long and how to perhaps tweak the drug to be less potent. The D4 dopamine receptor has been implicated in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cancer metastasis, and even erectile dysfunction. Similar dopamine receptor subtypes are crucial factors in conditions including schizophrenia, addiction, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and Parkinson's disease. However, there are currently few specific drugs for the D4 subtype that can target it and it alone, which has prevented researchers from isolating the specific function of D4 compared to other dopamine receptors. Current drugs that target dopamine receptors also cause side effects such as Parkinson's-like movement disorders. "We now have the ability to get a crystal-clear image of these receptors to see details like never before," said co-senior author Bryan L. Roth, MD, PhD, the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Protein Therapeutics and Translational Proteomics at the UNC School of Medicine. "That's the key. Seeing these details allowed us to create a compound that tightly binds only to one kind of receptor. Our ultimate goal is to avoid so-called 'scattershot drugs' that hit many unwanted receptors and cause serious and potentially fatal side effects." Brian Shoichet, PhD, co-senior author and professor of pharmaceutical chemistry in UCSF's School of Pharmacy, said, "Our computational modeling capabilities allowed us to virtually screen over 600,000 compounds much faster than traditional screening methods and create a hierarchy of compounds that potentially bind only to the D4 dopamine receptor. Our work to create better drugs is far from over, but the computer-based screening tools used here are becoming an ever-more reliable tool in our arsenal." Collaborators crack the case using crystals and computers Dopamine receptors are part of a large family of molecules called G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, which are the intended targets of approximately 35 percent of all drugs on the market. Despite their importance, very little is known about the structures of the vast majority of GPCRs, including D4 and other dopamine receptors, making it challenging to design more precise drugs with fewer side effects. Typically, scientists have solved the chemical structure of proteins using a technique called X-ray crystallography: they cause the protein to condense into a tightly packed crystal lattice, then shoot x-rays at the crystal and can calculate the protein's structure from the resulting diffraction patterns. However, getting the D4 protein to crystallize with a drug bound to it -- in order to pinpoint the receptor's site of action -- had proved an unsolved challenge. To solve the high-resolution structure of D4, Roth lab postdocs Sheng Wang, PhD, and Daniel Wacker, PhD, - two of three co-first authors - conducted a series of intense experiments over three years to get the D4 receptor to crystallize. They dissolved receptor molecules in water-based buffers and then slowly removed the water. Then, in order to be sure the receptors were sitting perfectly still so they could be imaged, Wang and Wacker employed a variety of experimental tricks - outlined in the Science paper - to carefully draw out water at the exact right conditions until the receptors were packed tightly into crystals that could then be bombarded with x-rays. The result was the first-ever super high-resolution image of the chemical architecture of D4 bound to the antipsychotic drug nemonapride. "We had to get a high-resolution structure like this so we could see exactly how a compound can bind to D4," Wang said. "It's like seeing details in a photograph that you just couldn't see unless the photo was super high resolution. Once we had that, we teamed up with our UCSF colleagues to computationally screen for compounds that might potentially bind to this receptor but not others." Anat Levit, PhD, a postdoc in Shoichet's lab at UCSF and the third co-first author, led the computational modeling and new compound discovery, in collaboration with co-author Ron Dror, PhD, and his Stanford lab. "Theoretically, there's an almost infinite number of chemical compounds that could be made, and this chemical space is enormous and largely unexplored. However, we have large libraries of virtual compounds that at least edge into this space," Levit said. "Using the new high-resolution structure and our computational modeling program, we fit each of 600,000 virtual compounds into the dopamine/nemonapride binding site of the D4 receptor, as you might fit candidate puzzle pieces into a partially constructed puzzle." Levit and colleagues in the Shoichet lab evaluated all 600,000 of these chemical "puzzle pieces" to see how well they fit into the full D4 receptor that the Roth lab team had solved. Once they had identified the top ten candidate compounds that computer modeling pointed to as likely binding partners with the D4 receptor, they sent them back to Wang and Wacker to test experimentally in the lab. The Roth lab team found that two of the compounds indeed fit into the D4 receptor, but did so relatively loosely. "The initial two compounds were just starting points," Wacker said. "A drug or even a 'probe' used to explore the biology of the receptor must fit the receptor tightly. A compound needs to stay attached for a period of time to have an effect inside the cell." The research then bounced back and forth between the computer modelers at UCSF and the experimental lab at UNC-Chapel Hill to design and test dozens of new chemical compounds that might bind tighter to the D4 receptor. Finally, by tinkering with chemical links and ionic attractions here, adding new chemical groups there, Levit identified a virtual compound -- compound UCSF924 -- that computer simulations suggested could bind extremely tightly to the D4 receptor. Upon testing this compound in the lab, Wang confirmed the molecule could bind to the D4 receptor 1000-times more powerfully than the initial virtual compounds. D4-specific compound will help researchers understand, and one day drug, specific dopamine receptors The researchers now plan to test their new compound in animal models to determine exactly how it activates the D4 receptor, and how activating the D4 receptor alone alters brain function. "No one knows what the D4 receptor precisely does," Wang said. "The high specificity and high potency of this new compound will allow us to begin to address this for the first time." The team also plans to use the highly-selective UCSF924 compound to learn more details of how existing drugs work by altering specific cellular pathways inside cells. "This work has implications beyond D4," Wacker said. "For instance, antipsychotics are dirty drugs; they hit everything. To better understand them and improve upon them, we need to understand what they do at every single target they hit. Our work is an important step toward that goal." Shoichet added, "Whereas UCSF924 is far from a drug, it is a great probe, and we are making it openly available to the community via Sigma-Aldrich, as SML2022." Looking back on progress in this field, Shoichet said, "When structure- and computer-based screens were first developed at UCSF 30 years ago, the idea that we would have such beautiful views of drug targets as crucial and subtle as the dopamine D4 receptor, and that we could exploit it so quickly and effectively, was far from anyone's mind. But the National Institutes of Health invested in these lines of basic research for decades. Now that long-term research effort is beginning to pay off in the ability to computationally screen new GPCR targets and find new and exciting chemical leads for biology and for drug discovery." ### The National Institutes of Health funded this research. About UCSF: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland - and other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the Bay Area. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/news. University of California San Diego researchers have developed the first 3D spatial visualization tool for mapping "'omics" data onto whole organs. The tool helps researchers and clinicians understand the effects of chemicals, such as microbial metabolites and medications, on a diseased organ in the context of microbes that also inhabit the region. The work could advance targeted drug delivery for cystic fibrosis and other conditions where medications are unable to penetrate. A team led by Pieter Dorrestein, PhD, professor in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego and a leadership team member in the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation, published the study October 19 in Cell Host & Microbe. Every nook and cranny of a human organ has its own microbiome -- the microorganisms and their genes that are present in a particular environment. The anatomy of the organ and its environment (temperature, pH level, nutrient availability, etc.) determine which microorganisms are present. In turn, the microorganisms respond to and affect the presence of therapeutics. "Our understanding of the spatial variation of the chemical and microbial make-up of a human organ remains limited," said Dorrestein. "This is in part due to the size and variability of human organs, and the sheer amount of data we get from metabolomics and genomics studies." To address this challenge, Dorrestein's team developed an open-source workflow for mapping metabolomics and microbiome data onto a 3D organ reconstruction built from radiological images. First, the researchers obtained a lung from a patient afflicted with cystic fibrosis and sectioned it. They analyzed the samples for the presence of bacteria, their metabolites and virulence factors (molecules that add to bacterial effectiveness and enable them to colonize a niche in the host), and any medications given to the patient during treatment. Next, Neha Garg, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Dorrestein's lab at the time, and Mingxun Wang, a graduate student in the UC San Diego lab of Nuno Bandeira, PhD, modified an existing Google Chrome extension called "ili" to visualize microbiome and metabolome distributions on an entire organ. "The application enables the user to map data onto a 2D or 3D surface, so we modified the code to allow us to map the abundance data not only onto surfaces, but also within the model," said Garg, who is now an assistant professor at Georgia Tech. In order to visualize the spatial localization of the bacteria and molecules, the team procured CT scan images of a human lung and processed them to generate a 3D model. With the "omics" data from the cystic fibrosis lung superimposed on the 3D lung in the modified version of "ili," the researchers were able to make important observations. "We could see that one of the antibiotics administered to the patient prior to collecting the tissue did not penetrate the bottom of the lung -- a phenomenon that has not been observed before," said Garg. "This correlated with a higher abundance of the cystic fibrosis-associated pathogen Achromobacter. Thus, different drugs may differentially penetrate the lung, limiting exposure to effective dosage. Our tool allows researchers and clinicians to visualize this significant clinical concern within a human organ for the first time. This has implications for treatment of CF and other diseases." The researchers created open-source maps of 16,379 molecules and 56 microbes that will now serve as a resource for scientists researching cystic fibrosis and other lung-associated diseases. "As future studies unravel more about the microbiome and metabolome, their spatial visualization will provide a means to infer their biological significance," said Dorrestein. "Furthermore, the methodology developed can be extended to any human organ -- notably those with tumors, which are known to be associated with their own unique microbiomes." The team hopes that the work will help enable improved targeted drug delivery, which could be used to rectify poor penetration of antibiotics. ### Additional co-authors of this study include: Embriette Hyde, Ricardo R. da Silva, Alexey V. Melnik, Amina Bouslimani, Richard Wong, Greg Humphrey, Gail Ackermann, Timothy Spivey, Sharon S. Brouha, Grace Y. Lin, Douglas J. Conrad, Rob Knight, UC San Diego; Ivan Protsyuk, European Molecular Biology Laboratory; Yan Wei Lim, Forest Rohwer, San Diego State University; and Theodore Alexandrov, UC San Diego and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Disclosure: Nuno Bandeira is a co-founder, has an equity interest and receives income from Digital Proteomics, LLC. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of California San Diego in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. Digital Proteomics was not involved in the research presented here. Media Contacts: Deb Jude and Heather Buschman Athens, Ga. -- A sharp rise in the number of women seeking BRCA genetic testing to evaluate their risk of developing breast cancer was driven by multiple factors, including celebrity endorsement, according to researchers at the University of Georgia. "BRCA testing and counseling provide important information on the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers among women with family history of the cancers," said Zhuo "Adam" Chen, an associate professor of health policy and management at UGA's College of Public Health and lead author on the study. "Appropriate use of BRCA testing would lead to reduction in avoidable cancer mortalities and morbidities." Women with hereditary BRCA gene mutations have a 45 to 65 percent risk of developing breast cancer before age 70, compared to 7 percent in the general population, according to the National Cancer Institute. Chen and his colleagues wanted to understand the trends in BRCA testing costs and utilization. Their study analyzed testing rates, payment to the provider, and out-of-pocket costs for patients from 2003 to 2014, and compared findings to reported revenue from Myriad Genetics, the only provider of the test until 2013. Overall, BRCA testing increased 80-fold during those 11 years, with a large spike in testing occurring in 2013. That same year Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie published an op-ed in The New York Times promoting BRCA gene testing and the Supreme Court struck down the patent on BRCA gene testing. "This could provide insights on the impact of the policy changes and the media coverage of celebrity endorsement," said Chen. Current U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines recommend BRCA testing for women at high risk, and the Affordable Care Act requires most private health plans to provide in-network coverage to women with family history of breast and ovarian cancer without cost-sharing for BRCA genetic counseling as a preventive service for women. Though it may be tempting to connect the whirlwind of media coverage surrounding Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy following a positive BRCA test, Chen says the available data cannot point to which event had a greater impact. "Jolie's op-ed, the Supreme Court decision on BRCA gene and the USPSTF recommendation occurred in a very compact timeline," Chen said. His team has done some analyses examining the difference in the use of BRCA testing among women at elevated risk versus women at low risk, but any significant differences were hard to tease out from available data. "In a companion study, we did examine whether women had follow-up surgical procedures and found an urban and rural disparity in the follow-up rates," said Chen. "Women residing in urban areas consistently had a higher rates of follow-up surgical procedures than those in rural areas, though the gap is narrowing." As genetic testing becomes more accessible, Chen sees potential for individuals to make more informed decisions about their health. "We live in a fortunate time where technology advances have greatly improved the quality of human life," he said. ### The study, "Trends in utilization and costs of BRCA testing among women aged 18-64 years in the United States, 2003-2014," was published in Genetics in Medicine. It is available online at: https://www.nature.com/gim/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/gim2017118a.html Co-authors on the study include Katherine Kolor, Scott D. Grosse, Juan L. Rodriguez, Ridgely Fisk Green, W. David Dotson, M. Scott Bowen and Muin J. Khoury with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Julie A. Lynch with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. A multidisciplinary group that includes the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Washington at Tacoma has developed a novel platform to diagnose infectious disease at the point-of-care, using a smartphone as the detection instrument in conjunction with a test kit in the format of a credit card. The group is led by Illinois Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Brian T. Cunningham; Illinois Bioengineering Professor Rashid Bashir; Dr. Ian Brooks, a research scientist affiliated with the School of Information Sciences at Illinois; Professor Steven Lumetta, faculty at Illinois Electrical and Computing Engineering department; and, University of Washington at Tacoma Professor David L. Hirschberg, who is affiliated with Sciences and Mathematics, division of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. Findings have been published in Analytical Chemistry, demonstrating detection of four horse respiratory diseases, and in Biomedical Microdevices, where the system was used to detect and quantify the presence of Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya virus in a droplet of whole blood. An additional project collaborator included Dr. David Nash, a private practice equine expert and veterinarian in Kentucky. The low-cost, portable, smartphone-integrated system provides a promising solution to address the challenges of infectious disease diagnostics, especially in resource-limited settings or in situations where a result is needed immediately. The diagnostic tool's integration with mobile communications technology allows personalized patient care and facilitates information management for both healthcare providers and epidemiological surveillance efforts. Importantly, the system achieves detection limits comparable to those obtained by laboratory-based methods and instruments, in about 30 minutes. A useful capability for human point-of-care (POC) diagnosis or for a mobile veterinary laboratory, is to simultaneously test for the presence of more than one pathogen with a single test protocol, which lowers cost, saves time and effort, and allows for a panel of pathogens, which may cause similar symptoms, to be identified. Infectious diseases remain the world's top contributors to human death and disability, and with recent outbreaks of Zika virus infections, there is a keen need for simple, sensitive, and easily translatable point-of-care tests. Zika virus appeared in the international spotlight in late 2015 as evidence emerged of a possible link between an epidemic affecting Brazil and increased rates of microcephaly in newborns. Zika has become a widespread global problem--the World Health Organization (WHO) documented last year that since June 2016, 60 nations and territories report ongoing mosquito-borne transmission. Additionally, since Zika virus infection shares symptoms with other diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya, quick, accurate diagnosis is required to differentiate these infections and to determine the need for aggressive treatment or quarantine. For the research effort, horses were used as an animal model for respiratory disease in man and food animals. Says Dr. David Nash "You can often more easily develop diagnostic tools for human use by coming in to development from the animal side of things first. Many diseases show up first in animals, kind of the canary in the coal mine." A key project contributor, Dr. Nash comments on the financial impact of infectious disease outbreaks in horses: "It's costly to horse owners and trainers, and disrupts the business operations of all equine sports. Consider this--on December 25, 2016 a single horse stabled at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans experienced a fever and subsequently developed neurological symptoms. The state diagnostic lab was 100 miles away and was closed for the Christmas holiday. The end result was an equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) outbreak that resulted in the quarantine of over 200 horses at the racetrack and a serious financial loss for horse owners and the racetrack owner, Churchill Downs, Inc. Imagine the consequences if they ever had to postpone the Kentucky Derby due to a disease outbreak." The technology is intended to enable clinicians to rapidly diagnose disease in their office or in the field, resulting in earlier, more informed patient management decisions, while markedly improving the control of disease outbreaks. An important prerequisite for the widespread adoption of point-of-care tests at the patient's side is the availability of detection instruments that are inexpensive, portable, and able to share data wirelessly over the Internet. The system uses a commercial smartphone to acquire and interpret real-time images of an enzymatic amplification reaction that takes place in a silicon microfluidic chip that generates green fluorescence and displays a visual read-out of the test. The system is composed of an unmodified smartphone and a portable 3D-printed cradle that supports the optical and electrical components, and interfaces with the rear-facing camera of the smartphone. The software application operating on the smartphone gathers information about the tests conducted on the microfluidic card, patient-specific information, and the results from the assays, that are then communicated to a cloud storage database. Dr. Nash observes that, "This project is a game changer. This is the future of medicine--empowered front-line healthcare professionals. We can't stop viruses and bacteria, but we can diagnose more quickly. We were able to demonstrate the clear benefit to humankind, as well as to animals, during the proposal phase of the project, and our results have proved our premise. Next, I want to go into the field, multiple sites, multiple geographic locations, and test in real-world situations." U of I graduate student and research assistant Fu Sun sees this project as fulfillment of one of her primary career objectives: "I entered graduate school with the hope to make a better world by developing biomedical devices that can facilitate effective disease prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. This project is in line with my goal since it provides a point-of-care solution for the fast diagnosis of infectious diseases. Connected to a cloud database through a smartphone, it helps healthcare providers in the field embrace the era of big data and the Internet of Things." The system represents the only platform to date that can multiplex detection of viral and other nucleic acid targets on a portable point-of-care setup using one droplet of bodily fluid, including whole blood. For Dr. Nash the experience of working with the University of Illinois team and other project collaborators was a great one, as he remarks "A diverse team was actually created here. A wicked smart group of people! I can't envision going into a project without engineers now." ### Members of the research team include: Weili Chen, Hojeong Yu, Fu Sun, Akid Ornob, Ryan Brisbin, Anurup Ganguli, Vinay Vemuri, Piotr Strzebonski, Guangzhe Cui, Karen J. Allen, Smit A. Desai, Weiran Lin, David M. Nash, G.L. Damhorst, A. Bhuiya, David L. Hirschberg, Ian Brooks, Rashid Bashir, and Brian T. Cunningham. To reach Brian T. Cunningham, please email bcunning@illinois.edu. Acknowledgments The work was funded by NSF grant 1534126 and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. About the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory The University of Illinois Micro + Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL), one of the country's largest and most sophisticated university facilities for conducting photonics, microelectronics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology research. A crown jewel of the University of Illinois College of Engineering, MNTL is the place where campus researchers and visiting scientists come to design, build, and test innovative nanoscale technologies with feature sizes that span the range of atoms to entire systems. The building houses faculty and graduate students from the departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, Physics, Mechanical Science & Engineering, Material Science & Engineering, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. For more information on this story, or for other MNTL media inquiries, please contact Janet McGreevy, Assistant Director of Communications, at mcgreevy@illinois.edu. A global scientific project has finally observed the collision of neutron stars, directly, for the first time, with great significance for cracking enduring challenges in astrophysics around gravitational waves and gamma ray bursts. Prof Soebur Razzaque from the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) contributed theoretical modelling of the expected behavior of gamma rays when neutron stars collide to the discovery. Prof Razzaque, from the UJ Department of Physics, based his work on data provided by the global Fermi-LAT research collaboration, which UJ is a member of. More than 3000 researchers across the world contributed to the groundbreaking event, which started with a prediction from a genius in the previous century, and took until now to prove. "In 1916, Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves or ripples in space-time, squeezing and squashing of dimensions, due to violent movement of massive objects in the universe. Einstein predicted gravitational waves as part of his General Relativity Theory, in which he sought to predict how the force of gravity works in space and time," says Prof Razzaque. "However, gravitational waves are very faint and their detection is extremely challenging. It was only on September 14, 2015, that the first Gravitational Wave event, known among researchers as GW150914, was finally detected. Two instruments in the USA, called ALIGO, picked up the signals created by the collision of two huge black holes," he adds. "The one black hole was 36 times the mass of the sun, and the other 29 times the mass of the sun. After that, ALIGO detected several more black hole mergers. But a key puzzle piece to understand gravitational waves remained missing: the ability to detect the collision, or merger, of two neutron stars," adds Razzaque. Prof Razzaque, along with the thousands of other scientists working on the challenge, expected that a neutron star merger would produce gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation, in the form of a burst of gamma rays emitted during the collision. However, none of the scientific teams detected neutron star collisions, so the puzzle piece remained missing. Everything changed on Thursday 17 August 2017, when the gravitational-wave event GW170817 was observed by the ALIGO detector in the USA and the Virgo detector in Italy, he says. "Just 1.7 seconds after GW170817, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a burst of gamma rays (named event GRB170817A) from the same direction. This confirmed a long-standing theoretical view that mergers of neutron stars produce short-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts. These bursts have been routinely detected by space-borne telescopes since 1960s, but no-one could prove what created them," says Prof Razzaque. Since 17 August, teams working with detection instruments at more than 70 observatories across the world and in space, decided to try and detect more such events, in all electromagnetic wavelengths. When the data from all the detected events was combined, it became clear that the 17 August events (GW170817 and GRB170817A) took place in the galaxy NGC4993, which is about 130 million light years away from us. (That means the galaxy is so far away, light will take 130 million years to travel from that galaxy to Earth.) "Finally, the puzzle piece Einstein has been looking for came to light as it were. The combined data also showed that the 17 August gamma ray burst, which only lasted a few seconds, was created by the merging of two neutron stars, which then produced an explosion, called a kilonova," says Prof Razzaque. "Next, the kilonova emitted visible light from the burning of radio-active materials of the stars for several days. In that burning, which was a nuclear reaction taking place in a short period of time, gold and platinum were produced. The process is called rapid nuclear synthesis, the main mechanism to produce Gold and Platinum in the universe," concludes Prof Razzaque. ### Prof Razzaque's Astroparticle Physics Group in the UJ Department of Physics conducts Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) and Gravitational Wave (GW) research. Prof Razzaque is a coordinator of the GRB and GW science group of the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration. The University of Johannesburg is the only Full Member Institute of the Fermi-LAT Collaboration on the African continent. Prof Razzaque's group is also involved in theoretical modelling of GRBs and binary mergers. Prof Razzaque is a co-author of the GW170817/GRB170817A discovery paper as well as the Fermi-LAT paper on observations of this event. Research at the University of Kent into how areas like the Balkans have developed ways to address the challenges of their past -- including ethnic cleansing -- offers a toolkit for others facing similar conflict The research, undertaken by Professor Neophytos Loizides and Muzaffer Kutlay of the University's School of Politics and International Relations, and Dr Darren Dinsmore, of its Kent Law School, is published in a special section of the journal International Migration. Entitled Peace Processes and Durable Returns, the section includes contributions from around the world and focuses on consultation processes and innovative methods to examine the views of victims. The research has led to new projects to address seemingly intractable displacement issues in countries such as Cyprus, where talks at the UN recently ended in stalemate. The academics highlight both failures and successes in addressing forced displacement, and challenge conventional wisdom on whether forced displacement can be reversed and the absence of lasting solutions to protracted conflicts. The findings show that gender and age have a major impact on whether people return to areas they were forced to leave that were formerly a centre of conflict. Older people with positive memories of before wartime were more likely to return, while women were less likely to want to go back. Muzaffer Kutlay's research focuses on the forced migration of the Turks of Bulgaria and their voluntary return in the aftermath of the country's transition to democracy. More than 340,000 Turks were forced to leave the country during the final phases of the Communist regime in 1980s, but almost 40 per cent voluntarily returned to Bulgaria after democracy was restored. Her research exemplifies that peaceful transition to inclusive democracy and power-sharing, dual moderation between majority and minority leaders and the role of international actors, primarily the EU, account for voluntary and sustainable return. Dr Dinsmore examines the geographical territory in Turkey previously populated by Kurds who alleged their villages had been destroyed to move them out. He argues that the Turkish cases are an example of how to use human rights claims to expose situations of impunity for human rights violations and to challenge state denial. Despite European human rights law offering protection to those who were forced to leave their homes, he found that the displaced Kurds could not take forward cases without co-ordinated action between local lawyers and outside legal experts in human rights. His research highlights the crucial role of lawyers and non-governmental organisations after cases have been won as there is a 'genuine risk that dealing with displacement is side-lined by broader efforts at conflict resolution and development'. ### Special section: Peace Processes and Durable Returns by guest editors, Neophytos Loizides, Djordje Stefanovic and Ayse Betul Celik is published in International Migration, October 2017. ELWar - its full name Electoral Legacies of War: Political Competition in Postwar Southeast Europe - focusses on the evolution of political competition and electoral behaviour over three decades in six postwar states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. War profoundly changes people and their communities over decades. It destroys societies' social, economic, and physical fabrics and deeply alters social, gender and class structures. "After an armed conflict, the political decisions that individuals and parties take, either consciously or unconsciously, will essentially reshape their society," explains Prof Josip Glaurdic. "Yet we know very little about how these decisions are influenced. Our task is to identify the agents of postwar politics and how they encourage or impede, deliberately or not, this process." "The ways in which members of a society experienced and in particular remember violence is essential in this process. In all Southeast European countries, political actors keep using the past for political schemes, in order to mobilize votes or create policies, which is making it difficult for people to overcome deep frustrations and move on." A different research perspective Political science tends to focus on elections or democratization in the period shortly after the end of a conflict. However, the exposure to violence has long-lasting effects on people's voting or political actions. Likewise, political scientists often study political actors as independent players, but they are part of a large and intricate context. "This means there is little understanding of how conflict molds an entire political system for years to come, what determines electoral results and the quality of governance in these states," Prof Glaurdic carries on. "One question for us to address for instance is whether it is voters' experiences and perceptions of the conflict that influence postwar elections, rather than their considerations of the parties' peacetime performance." ELWar aims to fill this gap in political science research. Over the course of the project, the team will share results through a series of interactive maps, books and three international conferences in Luxembourg. A dedicated website will host the material: elwar.uni.lu. A comprehensive research methodology In order to deliver a comprehensive view of postwar political life, the research team around Prof Glaurdic will explore three postwar groups: political parties, voters and communities. Analysis of party documents and platforms, party relations with the civil sector, as well as interviews with party officials and activists will shed light on the influence of war on electoral strategies, policy preferences, and recruitment methods. At the level of municipalities, electoral, economic, social, and demographic data, as well as data on human losses and physical destruction, will uncover how people were exposed to violence and how war continues to exert its influence on politics even decades after the violence has ended. ### About the principal investigator Prof. Glaurdi? joined the University of Luxembourg in April 2017. Before, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Clare College of the University of Cambridge and the Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies of the University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD in political science from Yale University in 2009 and is the author of the book "The Hour of Europe: Western Powers and the Breakup of Yugoslavia" (2011). Notes to editors Contact: Josip Glaurdi?, T. 46-66-44-6259, E. josip.glaurdic@uni.lu ERC Grant: This project, hosted by the Institute of Political Science of the Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education, has received a 1.5 million euro Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 714589). Current other ERC grant holders at the University are physicists and material scientists Jan Lagerwall, Alexandre Tkatchenko, and Massimiliano Esposito, the engineering scientist Stephane Bordas, and the IT scientists Lionel Briand and Bjorn Ottersten. Photo copyright: University of Luxembourg Photo caption: Christophe Lesschaeve, Josip Glaurdi?, Michal Mochtak PITTSBURGH, Oct. 19, 2017 - University of Pittsburgh scientists are unlocking the complexities of a recently discovered cell death process that plays a key role in health and disease, and new findings link their discovery to asthma, kidney injury and brain trauma. The results, reported today in the journal Cell, are the early steps toward drug development that could transform emergency and critical care treatment. Damaged or malfunctioning cells can wreak havoc on the body, so it's essential to destroy and recycle them safely and efficiently. One way this is accomplished is through ferroptosis, a highly regulated cell death program that uses iron ("ferro" means iron), and was first discovered in 2012, explained senior author Valerian Kagan, Ph.D., D.Sc., professor in the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. The work also was led by Sally Wenzel, M.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC, and Hulya Bay?r, M.D., research director of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. To function harmoniously, the billions of cells in the body use a sophisticated and coordinated language to communicate. Last year, the team published two papers that uncovered the signaling language that cells use to initiate ferroptosis. The communication process they found requires a group of naturally occurring oxidized phospholipids called OOH-phosphatidylethanolamines (OOH-PEs). Phospholipids are the basic building blocks that make up cell membranes, which separate what's inside a cell from everything else outside. However, if too many of these phospholipid signals are generated and too many cells die, the organs and tissues of the body cannot function normally. "Discovering ferroptosis was just the tip of the iceberg - it's essential that we learn how to keep it under control. If we want to do that, we must understand how it works," said Kagan. "And, by discovering how several key proteins interact with the phospholipid molecules to cause ferroptosis, that is what we did. Now we can move forward with the translational work of finding ways to limit ferroptosis and prevent the massive cell death that leads to catastrophic organ and tissue failure." In the new work, the team used a variety of methods, including a new technique called lipodomics, to discover that the production of OOH-PE is a major crossroads at which a cell decides whether to initiate ferroptosis. Previous research had shown that OOH-PEs were made by a group of enzymes known as 15-lipoxygenases (15LOs). In the course of its study, the team discovered that a protein called PEBP1 was acting as a "warden" controlling whether the 15LO enzymes made either OOH-PEs or another type of membrane building block. When the cell made increasing amounts of OOH-PEs, it initiated ferroptosis. The researchers also used several cell culture experiments to demonstrate that PEBP1 and other key players in this pathway play a role in driving ferroptosis in several diseases, such as in kidney cells during renal failure, neurons in brain trauma and airway cells in asthma. Preventing PEBP1 from binding to 15LOs might be a way to prevent ferroptosis, says Kagan. "Better treatments for traumatic brain injury and acute kidney injuries are desperately needed," said Bay?r, co-senior author of the new work. "Gaining insight into these conditions at the molecular level is extremely crucial to developing new therapies." In traumatic brain and acute kidney injuries, there is typically an ever-widening area of cell death, indicating that ferroptosis is continuing unabated, even after cells involved in the initial injury have been cleared, said Bay?r, also a professor in Pitt's departments of Critical Care Medicine and Environmental and Occupational Health. This points to a longer therapeutic window of opportunity during which the ferroptotic pathway could be targeted with drugs to halt these devastating injuries. A future therapy targeting ferroptosis could work differently for asthma, noted Wenzel, the lead author. "Asthma is not just about stopping an attack, it's also about prevention - and both are a major unmet need among patients," said Wenzel, also a professor of medicine in Pitt's School of Medicine. "Our study identified how ferroptotic death signals can damage the cells lining the airway. Targeting these pathways could lead to both preventative and treatment options for asthma exacerbations." ### This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants HL114453, U19AI068021, NS076511, NS061817, ES020693, GM097204, AI106684, HL098177, HL109152, DK070910, DK083961, HG008540, P30 DA035778, S10OD021540, and the Human Frontier Science Program. Additional authors on the study are Yulia Tyurina, Ph.D., Jinming Zhao, Ph.D., Claudette St. Croix, Ph.D., Haider Dar, Ph.D., Gaowei Mao, Ph.D., Vladimir Tyurin, Ph.D., Tamil Anthonymuthu, Ph.D., Alexandr Kapralov, Ph.D., Andrew Amoscato, Ph.D., Karolina Mikulska-Ruminska, Ph.D., Indira Shrivastava, Ph.D., Elizabeth Kenny, B.S., Qin Yang, M.D., Joel Rosenbaum, Ph.D., Louis Sparvero, Ph.D., David Emlet, Ph.D., Xiaoyan Wen, M.D., Feng Qu, Ph.D., Simon Watkins, Ph.D., Andrew VanDemark, Ph.D., John Kellum, M.D., Yoshinori Minami, M.D., Ph.D., and Ivet Bahar, Ph.D., all of Pitt; and Theodore Holman, Ph.D., of the University of California, Santa Cruz. About the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences include the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Graduate School of Public Health. The schools serve as the academic partner to the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). Together, their combined mission is to train tomorrow's health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care. Since 1998, Pitt and its affiliated university faculty have ranked among the top 10 educational institutions in grant support from the National Institutes of Health. For additional information about the Schools of the Health Sciences, please visit http://www.health.pitt.edu. http://www.upmc.com/media Contact: Allison Hydzik Office: 412-647-9975 Mobile: 412-559-2431 E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu Contact: Arvind Suresh Office: 412-647-9966 Mobile: 412-509-8207 E-mail: SureshA2@upmc.edu New research suggests that rheumatoid arthritis may increase the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings, which appear in Arthritis Care & Research, indicate that greater vigilance may be needed to protect the respiratory health of individuals with chronic inflammatory conditions. Research has demonstrated an association between COPD and inflammation, raising the question of whether prolonged inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis predispose individuals to COPD. To investigate, a team led by Diane Lacaille, MD, FRCPC, MHSc, of Arthritis Research Canada and the University of British Columbia, examined information on individuals in the province of British Columbia who were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis between 1996 and 2006, and compared it with information on matched individuals in the general population. The analysis included 24,625 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 25,396 controls. The investigators found that the incidence of COPD hospitalization was greater in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than in the general population. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, individuals with rheumatoid arthritis had a 47% greater risk of needing to be hospitalized for COPD than controls. The increased risk remained significant after modelling for smoking and with varying COPD definitions. "These findings are novel because it has only recently been recognized that inflammation plays a role in the development of COPD, and clinicians treating people with rheumatoid arthritis are not aware that their patients are at increased risk of developing COPD," said Dr. Lacaille. "Our results emphasize the need to control inflammation, and in fact to aim for complete eradication of inflammation through effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis." Dr. Lacaille added that clinicians and people living with rheumatoid arthritis should be vigilant in watching for early symptoms of COPD. "That way, appropriate tests can be administered to diagnose COPD early, at the onset of symptoms, so that effective treatments for COPD can be initiated before irreversible damage to the lungs occurs." Such steps will improve long-term outcomes for patients and reduce the costs of COPD. The study also points to the need to address COPD risk factors--such as smoking--in people living with rheumatoid arthritis. ### Full Citation: "Risk of Incident Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Population Based Cohort Study." Katherine McGuire, J. Antonio Avina-Zubieta, John M. Esdaile, Mohsen Sadatsafavi, Eric C. Sayre, Michal Abrahamowicz, and Diane Lacaille. Arthritis Care & Research; Published Online: October 19, 2017 (DOI: 10.1002/acr.23410). URL Upon Publication: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/acr.23410 Author Contact: Mira Galperin, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Arthritis Research Canada, at mgalperin@arthritisresearch.ca or +1 (604) 207-4010. About the Journal Arthritis Care & Research is an official journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), and the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP), a division of the College. Arthritis Care & Research is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes both original research and review articles that promote excellence in the clinical practice of rheumatology. Relevant to the care of individuals with arthritis and related disorders, major topics are evidence-based practice studies, clinical problems, practice guidelines, health care economics, health care policy, educational, social, and public health issues, and future trends in rheumatology practice. The journal is published by Wiley on behalf of the ACR. For more information, please visit the journal home page at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/acr. About Wiley Wiley, a global company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 200 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. In a decades-long game of hide and seek, scientists from Sydney's Westmead Institute for Medical Research have confirmed for the very first time the specific immune memory T-cells where infectious HIV 'hides' in the human body to evade detection by the immune system. The team, led by Associate Professor Sarah Palmer from the University of Sydney, developed a pioneering full-length genetic sequencing assay for HIV. Using this test, the team found that genetically-intact HIV hides in specific subsets of CD4+ T-cells. Associate Professor Palmer said that this next-generation test showed that HIV hides in the body's immune memory T-cells, which is how it avoids detection from the immune system. "Previously it was thought that HIV was hiding primarily in central memory T-cells, but our new HIV genetic sequencing test has revealed that the majority of replication-competent virus is actually hiding in effector memory T-cells. "HIV is really very clever. Essentially, it is hiding in the exact same cells within the immune system that are meant to attack it," she said. Effector memory T-cells are the cells in the body that 'remember' previous infections and how to defeat them. These are the cells that provide life-long immunity to infections such as measles or chicken pox. Associate Professor Palmer explained that only a very small proportion - approximately five per cent - of HIV is genetically intact. However, it is this small proportion of virus that hides in the effector memory T-cells and stops the immune system from fully destroying the virus and eliminating it from the body. "When HIV replicates it makes a lot of errors and releases a lot of defective virus. "But this five per cent of genetically intact HIV is the key. This virus inserts its genome into the body's memory cells and sits there quietly avoiding detection by the immune system," Associate Professor Palmer explained. "These infected cells go into a resting state and stop producing HIV, but these latent cells can wake up and start making infectious HIV. "It is a ticking time bomb waiting to re-infect a patient. "The other 95 per cent of defective virus does send the immune system into overdrive. We suspect that this 'junk' HIV can act as a decoy and draw attention away from the "real" virus hiding in the effector memory T-cells," she said. Despite groundbreaking advances in the treatment of HIV, it remains a chronic illness across the globe. Neither a cure nor a vaccine has been achieved. "Current HIV drugs stop the virus from replicating, but there is still no way for us to 'cure' an individual with HIV. Patients need drugs or chemotherapy for the rest of their lives. "This is a particular problem in the developing world where only 50 per cent of people have access to regular HIV therapies. "If a person suddenly stops taking their HIV treatments, the virus hidden in effector memory T-cells would spring to life and start producing more HIV, and the virus will spread throughout the body within two weeks. "Now that we've identified where the replication-competent virus is hiding, we can start work towards targeting these cells with new therapies aimed at fully eliminating HIV from the body," Associate Professor Palmer concluded. ### This curative research was conducted in conjunction with Drs. Frederick Hecht and Steven Deeks from the University of California, San Francisco. It is part of the Delaney AIDS Research Enterprise to Defeat HIV (DARE) and the research was funded by the NIH and the NHMRC. This research was published today on the prestigious journal Cell Reports: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdf/S2211-1247(17)31386-4.pdf Key facts: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet There are 5,000 new HIV infections every day in adults and children. 36.7 million people globally were living with HIV in 2016. 1.8 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2016. The United Nations Aids has a 90-90-90 HIV target to reduce HIV by 2020: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/909090 90% of people living with HIV know their status 90% of people who know their status are on antiretroviral therapy 90% of people on antiretroviral therapy achieve viral suppression. New Haven, Conn.-- Glucose levels are reduced in the brains of individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes compared to lean individuals, according to a new Yale study. The finding might explain disordered eating behavior -- and even a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease -- among obese and diabetic individuals, the researchers said. The study was published Oct. 19 in JCI Insight. Both obesity and type 2 diabetes are linked to decreased metabolism in the brain. This hypometabolism is also associated with Alzheimer's disease, but researchers have not pinpointed why. To examine the mechanism, the Yale team studied brain glucose levels in three different groups of adults: individuals who are lean and healthy, and those with either obesity or poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. After fasting overnight, the study participants received intravenous infusions of glucose for two hours. During the infusions, the researchers used a brain scanning technique -- magnetic resonance spectroscopy -- to measure levels of glucose in the brain. While blood glucose levels among the participants were similar, the researchers detected significant differences in brain glucose. Among the obese and diabetic participants, "we found decreased or blunted entry of glucose into the brain," said first author and assistant professor of medicine Janice Hwang, M.D. That blunting could be one mechanism that undermines the ability of the brain to sense glucose, she noted. The researchers also rated participants' hunger, satisfaction, and fullness before and after the infusions. "The lean people who had more glucose entry into the brain also felt more full, even though they hadn't eaten overnight," she said. Hwang explained further: "Glucose is the most primitive signal to the brain that you've eaten. Could it be that obese individuals are not getting sugar into the brain, and not sensing it; thus the feedback loop to stop eating could also be blunted?" The study points to the importance of sugar transport from the blood into the brain as both a target for further research and possible pharmacological intervention in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes, the researchers noted. ### Other study authors are Lihong Jiang, Muhammad Hamza, Elizabeth Sanchez Rangel, Feng Dai, Renata Belfort-DeAguiar, Lisa Parikh, Brian B. Koo, Douglas L. Rothman, Graeme Mason, and Robert S. Sherwin. This study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Award, the Endocrine Fellows Foundation, and the American Diabetes Association. Hwang reports research support from Pfizer and Regeneron. Citation: JCI Insight Wednesday, October 18, 2017 There are more than 12,000 bodies buried in historic Fairview Cemetery. Among the headstones dating back to 1881, youll find some of the leading families of Albuquerque and New Mexico: Deitz, Galles, Ross, Harwood, Huning, and others. Increase your knowledge of Albuquerques history by learning about those resting in peace in this cemetery. The tour will be led by historian Susan Schwartz, along with descendants of selected famous families. Come to Fairview Memorial Park at 700 Yale Blvd. SE and proceed to the cemetery office on the east side of the cemetery. The tour will depart from the entrance to the historic area just north of the cemetery office. Please arrive prior to the 10:00 a.m. start time. Heres a brief preview of a few resting places youll see on the tour, one of the many fascinating events in the inaugural Before I Die ABQ Festival. The festival starts on Friday, October 20 and continues for six days until Wednesday, October 25, 2017. Before I Die festivals foster reflection about how we as individuals and as a society manage death and dying. By providing space and opportunities to openly discuss end-of-life issues, we can improve the percentage of those who plan ahead and take actions to address our mortality. Heres a link to a Google map for all festival events. Youll find more information at www.BeforeIDieABQ.com. [embedded content] Many thanks to the sponsors of the Before I Die ABQ Festival: Share this: Hello again, friends; We lost two local stalwarts of our farming community this past week. Raymond was 97 and Warren was 89. Last names are not needed because neither of these men farmed to get their name in the paper. They would rather have their names on the Corn Club trophy. Lifelong farmers Farming was their life. They were progressive farmers who were not afraid to try new techniques, to innovate on the farm, and to share their knowledge with others. At the same time, they were throwbacks to a simpler day and age. They were quiet, unassuming, and just farmed because that is what they were. Both their obituaries, written separately, contained the phrase lifelong farmer. Their commitment was to take care of their farm, take care of their families, and take care of their community. Values The values they possessed were passed on to those around them. When a local farmer was seriously injured in a tractor rollover late this summer, it was Warrens son who was one of the group who assured the injured man and his family that their crops would be harvested timely. Prior to that it was Raymond who, on several occasions, opened his home to people from foreign countries, to allow them to come in and learn farming techniques to take back to their homeland. He took time out of his busy schedule to help others better themselves. Community That is a great word. I am very fortunate to live in an area where my neighbors are people like Raymond and Warren. Farming is such a thumbnail of life in general. While there are some great individual accomplishments, sometimes the most satisfying and worthwhile achievements are what you do for the community. I learned that from my father and from watching people like these two gentlemen. Both Raymond and Warren were men of few words. They were leaders not by word, but by action. However, if you were fortunate enough to be able to sit down with them and get them started, the stories would spill out. They would tell a tale that was lighthearted, and you would see a little half-grin on their face. They truly loved their life on the farm and being part of the ag community. Rain It rained during calling hours and before the funeral for both men. Some people might comment on the poor weather. They would be wrong. It was perfect weather. Lifelong farmers would not want anyone to be in line at a funeral home or in line anywhere else during harvest season when the sun is shining. I am sure Raymond and Warren got together and brought this rain. Just another contribution to the farming community. Thats all for now, FSA Andy UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Students from across the Penn State system now have an opportunity to study abroad in in Lima, Peru. The program is called Cross-cultural Engagement and STEM, and is a six-week, Penn State faculty-led, and interdisciplinary effort. The new program gives participants an opportunity to learn in a mixed cohort of Penn State and Peruvian students, while studying Spanish, earning six Penn State credits. In addition to engineering and Spanish majors, the program is open to science majors, education majors, and liberal arts majors at all Penn State campuses. Various disciplines The goal is to bring together Penn State and Peruvian students from a variety of disciplines. Theyre going to learn how disciplines intersect, how they connect, said Patrick Tunno, director of the Office of Global Engineering Engagement. Classes will be held at a local university. All participants will take ENGR 399, Global Engineering Culture and Society. This three-credit class will be team-taught by Penn State and Peruvian faculty, utilizing local resources as an integral component of the academic experience. Topics to explore Students will explore global engineering culture and social issues through multidisciplinary, cross-cultural teams. The course will address STEM challenges, Tunno said. What are the opportunities in the U.S. and Latin America? What are the challenges? Students will analyze these based on the expertise of the different faculty and then complete group projects. A student majoring in Spanish or education might focus on those aspects while a student majoring in engineering might focus on the engineering aspect. Theyll put them all together in one cohesive project with a local Peruvian on the team as well. Real life So it will mimic real life, with interdisciplinary teams and people from different cultures working together. The application deadline for the summer 2018 session which runs May 6 through June 16 is Feb. 1, 2018. Students can learn more about the program by attending a Study-Abroad Summer in Peru information session on Nov. 8, Nov. 14 or Jan. 18. Times and locations are listed on the Global Engineering Engagement website at global.engr.psu.edu/events. Place Your Advert Register or sign in to advertise your job A farmer has been arrested on suspicion of assault following a fiery argument with hunt saboteurs who trespassed on his land. The 44-year-old man was arrested after the incident in Ratcliffe Culey, Leicestershire, at the weekend. Leicestershire Police received a report at 12.31pm on Saturday (14 October) in relation to a man sustaining an injury as a result of being involved in a collision with a quad bike. On Wednesday (18 October), officers arrested the farmer on suspicion of assault and he has since been released under investigation pending further enquiries. The clip, which went viral on social media, shows a farmer, dressed in green overalls, speeding up to three West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs on a quad bike. The West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs were recording evidence of a suspected hunt on the land. In the footage, the farmer demands the activists leave, telling the cameramen they are on private property. The farmer then jumps off his quad bike before pushing one of the saboteurs into a ditch, and then turning on the other two protesters. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has captured the assault on camera they are urged to contact PC 1682 Richard Wilson on 101, quoting crime reference number 17* 444928. A new report aimed at identifying a strategy for the UK dairy industry post-Brexit has concluded the future is bright for British dairy farmers. However, the report said long-standing issues surrounding productivity, marketing, the management of volatility and use of technology must be addressed. The report was presented at the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers' (RABDF) policy and business conference in London on Wednesday (18 October) by report author Mike Houghton, a partner with Andersons. At the conference, Mr Houghton argued that while prospects for lowland farms retaining subsidy look slim unless clear public benefit is being delivered, this isnt necessarily a bad thing. Forty years of income support appears to have done little to improve productivity and efficiency in the dairy sector, and so a change to the support system should not automatically be seen as a negative, he explained. But there are some stumbling blocks how we manage volatility of price for one. Risk management tools are an obvious solution, particularly for heavily invested businesses which are viable at 26-28p per litre but would not survive for long at sub-20p. 'Improved management' Mr Houghton said that some processors and independents are developing such tools, but banks and Government might also assist in this area. Much of the variation in price could also be ironed out through better communication, use of technology, and improved management of supply and demand, he added. A quicker reaction to oversupply situations is in everyones interests; at present the industry appears to respond to reducing milk prices by producing more milk, at least in the short term. At farmgate level, this might be take the form of better A and B pricing models. At a global level it could mean setting up an OMEC the milk producing equivalent of OPEC which manages fluctuations in price by balancing supply and demand. Dairy monitor farms The report explains that many dairy farmers would benefit from a wider network of dairy monitor farms to help them improve their understanding of production economics. For example, I estimate that achieving an average yield from forage of 3,000 litres per cow would save the industry over 60 million each year, Mr Houghton explained. Marketing is also an important consideration. We have an extremely large domestic population on our doorstep with a range of chronic health problems that good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can help to address. Dairy can be part of that solution, marketing on the back of what is, globally, a very good standard of animal welfare and food quality. The Trehane Trust, a dairy education charity, has welcomed the report. It said dairy farmers must view Brexit for the opportunities. Domestic Agricultural Policy The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has also released a new Brexit document. It outlines what it would like the government to adopt as part of a new domestic agricultural policy. The document aims to ensure UK farming is profitable and competitive in the future as the UK leaves the EU. The paper, entitled 'Delivering a Bold and Ambitious Future for Farming' sets out opportunities for a British agricultural policy. It builds on the key themes the NFU sees as being integral to an agricultural policy; volatility, productivity and the environment. NFU President Meurig Raymond said its "what farming and Britain needs" and urged the Government to adopt the measures to help make a success of Brexit for the nation. For decades, UK farming has been subject to policies set at a pan-European level, implementing successive CAP reforms driven from the European stage, said Mr Raymond. Firefighters have battled a huge fire on a Scottish farm where more than 700 hay bales were caught alight. Police and fire crews were called on Wednesday (18 October) at 4.16pm after reports of hay bales on fire within a farm building in the Garvock area of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire. A total of 16 firefighters were at the scene as they attempted to tackle the major blaze at the horse breeding farm. No people or horses have been reported injured. A Police Scotland spokesman said: We were called by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at 4.35pm today after reports of a fire within a farm building. Inquiries are still at an early stage. Farmers across the UK are seeing a rise in deliberate acts of fire starting on their land. Hundreds of tonnes of straw were set on fire at a farm just outside Cambridgeshire in September. The blaze, which set fire to around 500 tonnes of straw, is thought to have also been a suspected arson attack on the farm. Assessing the risk A quick survey around a farm will identify where an arsonist could strike. Stacks should be of a reasonable size and at least 10 metres apart. Removing hay and straw from the field quickly after harvest will take away a potential arson target. It is also essential to maintain firefighting equipment and to prepare a fire routine and action plan for the safety of your family and employees Genetic modification of crops will be essential to avert future food shortages, a group of agricultural scientists have concluded, but a lack of knowledge is hindering development. The scientists have reviewed how biotechnology developments over the past 35 years have shaped the efficiency of crop production. GM crops able to repel insect pests or to resist herbicides have transformed the farming of soybean, cotton, maize and canola, reducing costs and increasing productivity. But a lack of knowledge hinders further improvements in yield, particularly in testing climatic conditions, they say. Scientists have identified some genes that affect crop yields, such as those influencing grain size and leaf growth, but have still to fully understand the cellular and developmental processes, and how these processes behave in a field environment, they note. The team, from Rothamsted Research in the UK and from Syngenta Crop Science and Symmetry Bioanalytics in the US, present their review as an online opinion article in Trends in Plant Science. 'Don't know enough' Our knowledge of the genes that limit yield in field conditions needs to be developed, said Matthew Paul, plant biochemist at Rothamsted and leader of the review team. At the moment, results that show promise in the lab dont always work in the field. Mr Paul continued: We are emphasising the great potential of GM, and of genome editing and emerging chemical technologies as well, but in a sense the potential of the technologies on offer is running ahead of our ability to deploy them because we still dont know enough about the many processes and genes that determine yields. He highlighted how GM research at Rothamsted identified a sugar, trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P), that controls the volume of starch in cereal grain and, in GM field trials, substantially improved maize yields in the field, from 10% in well-watered crops to 120% under drought conditions. But we got there only because field trialling was conducted in parallel with fundamental science of which genes to target and how to target them in the field environment, said Mr Paul. Enhancer Subsequent collaboration with chemists at the University of Oxford led to the development of a chemical method to alter T6P that, if commercially successful, would enable farmers to spray an enhancer onto crops to increase grain yield. In the case of trehalose signalling, fundamental science has run alongside field evaluations to deliver yield improvements with a strong element of understanding mechanisms, concluded the review paper. Such a strategy is necessary, added Mr Paul: If GM and future genome editing approaches and chemical technologies are to deliver on their promise of step changes in yield in a range of environments. GM in the UK The issue of GM crops in the UK has long been one of debate, with environmentalists opposed to their "unnatural" state. A staunch supporter of GM, however, is Princess Anne. She said she would be open to growing GM crops on her own land as they have 'important benefits' for providing food. The Princess Royal also said GM livestock 'would be a bonus'. Her beliefs puts her against brother Prince Charles, who has long opposed GM food and has said it will cause the biggest disaster environmentally of all time. The Scottish government has also shown its dislike towards GM. Scotlands rural affairs minister has written to the UK Government to seek assurances that it will not impose cultivation of GM crops against Scotlands will. Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has sought confirmation that current EU opt-out provisions on the cultivation of genetically modified crops, which have allowed Scotland to adopt its GM-crop free approach, will continue following Brexit. The letter by Mr Ewing has been sent to Environmental Secretary Michael Gove. The SNP has previously said it does not want to dismantle Scotlands GM-free status. The wet weather has made it "nearly impossible" to spread slurry safely on many farms across Northern Ireland and farmers are concerned as the closed period deadline has passed. A ban on slurry spreading came into effect at the weekend and will last until February. But the situation has been described as "very stressful" due to the ground and weather conditions since summer. Farmers have been urged to use the reasonable excuse clause if they are forced to spread when conditions are not suitable. It covers exceptional circumstances when, through no fault of their own, farmers cannot fully comply with the rules. The reasonable excuse clause is as a last resort. No farmer wants to risk their basic payment by spreading slurry during the closed period, explained UFU President Barclay Bell. However, the current ground and weather conditions are making compliance impossible and some farmers may be left with no other choice. It is better to spread slurry during the closed period under this clause at a time when conditions are more favourable than rush and risk a farm accident or pollution. EU law The slurry ban is an EU rule intended to protect the environment by limiting the spread of slurry during winter months when grass growth is limited and nutrient uptake is low. Mr Bell said that EU Commission officials are keeping a close eye on Northern Ireland in relation to the current rules. They have scrutinised the monitoring of spreading practices and water quality data. Mr Bell continued: We do not want to give the EU Commission any excuse to impose more legislation. Being able to show we acted responsibly in these difficult conditions is our best defence. I would, however, encourage the EU Commission and government authorities to be mindful of the stress farmers are currently under. Farmers are the first friends of the earth and since the introduction of the closed spreading period we have made every attempt to comply with the regulations. However, farming by calendar dates poses a real challenge when it comes to the practicalities of running a farm and unpredictable weather. A turkey supplier has called on butchers to stop selling imported turkey 'butterflies', calling it a threat to the traditional British turkey sector. A call for butchers to adopt the stance of all major supermarkets in supporting British turkey for 100 percent of their fresh offer has been made by supplier Kelly Turkeys. In recent years, butchers have begun selling imported turkey butterflies. The supplier said this presents a "serious and growing threat" to the whole traditional British turkey sector. A turkey butterfly is a whole turkey breast opened up, with all bones removed, giving a joint of white breast meat. I know its easy and very profitable but selling imported butterflies is taking a short term view, said Kelly Turkeys director Paul Kelly. If local farmers cannot sell enough turkeys, they will stop producing them and independent butchers will be left with a supply base that will offer them no point of difference to the major retailers. In supplying premium traditional turkeys direct to their local butchers, British turkey farmers are providing a unique offer that these independent butchers should hang their hats on and market to the utmost. This is what consumers want. Theyre really not expecting to be sold eastern or western European butterflies for the most important meal of the year. Major supermarkets support British turkey for 100 per cent of their fresh offer, but independent retailers are not doing the same, according to Kelly's Turkeys. Maamaankam, the upcoming Mammootty starring epic drama is said to be one of the most expensive projects ever made in Mollywood. The movie, which is directed by newcomer Sajeev Pillai, features Mammootty in the role of 'chaver'. In a recent interview given to Radio Mango, producer Venu Kunnapilly revealed some interesting facts about the highly anticipated facts about Maamaankam. The producer revealed that the Mammootty starrer will be simultaneously released in 5 languages. Reportedly, Maamaankam will be made completely in Malayalam, by will get dubbed to four more languages. Producer Venu Kunnapally also admitted that the Baahubali, the blockbuster movie, was the biggest inspiration to make a huge project like Maamaankam. According to Venu, Mammootty was the first and only choice for the central character of the movie, from the beginning stage itself. The producer assured that Maamaankam has some really strong acting moments and exceptional fight sequences in store. The majority of the technicians of the movie are the foreign artists from Hollywood and Hongkong. About 30 percent of the movie will be picturised using most modern VFX technology. A renowned cinematographer of Indian film industry has been roped in as the director of photography. Devoleena Bhattacharjee significant highlights of Kali Puja has to be the bhog that is served in the pandals, which could either contain the khichudi and labra or luchi and some vegetables. Debina Bonnerjee People also enjoy this festival with a lavish spread at the end of the day in their homes - one of the highlights of most meals is 'Sandesh' (sweet) which is enjoyed by the devotees after the conclusion of Puja. The much celebrated Kali Pooja of West Bengal coincides with the Diwali festival. Gusto and enthusiasm for Kali Puja in West Bengal is same as seen for Diwali in rest of India. Parineeta Borthakur The only apparent difference one can see is that while rest of India worships Goddess Lakshmi on this day, in Kolkata Goddess Kali is the chief deity for the occasion. We enjoy the Dhak and Khichudi bhog are really special. I miss it in Mumbai, but do visit kali temples for blessings. Kali Puja is one of the major festival for people in West Bengal and north east. Being from Assam we celebrate the occasion with much gusto and enthusiasm. Neha Marda Just as people in other parts of India light lamps to honor Lakshmi Ma during Lakshmi Puja, people in West Bengal celebrate Kali Puja by lighting lamps in honor of Goddess Kali. The pujo is performed at mid-nights. I remember we use to prepare bhog and use to go to temples for puspanjali. I'm grown up at Kolkata and have enjoyed Diwali and Kali Pujo together. Houses are decorated and elaborate Rangoli pattern are drawn in front of houses and courtyard. Elaborate Kali Puja is carried out during the evening. Shiwani Chakraborty As Goddess Kali is regarded as the Goddess to be feared Bengalis leave no stone unturned in carrying out a special Pooja for her. Through Puja people seek happiness, prosperity and protection against hardships. I really miss Bengali bhogs which includes sweets and Khichudi. I'm devoted to mother Kali. So the festival is really important for me. I feel her blessings to be with me in my good and bad times. I have many childhood memories. We all use to enjoy with great fun and glory in our societies. Puja happens during mid-nights and then we use to enjoy bhogs. Here, in Mumbai, I do visit kali maa temple for blessings. Mahika Sharma The Diwali in north-east and at my home town Tinsukia, Assam is observed as Kali pujo too. This momentous day is celebrated by performing the Puja with faith devotees seek protection against drought and war and blessings of general happiness, health and prosperity. Kali Poojan is performed only at midnight on Amavasya and later the bhog and dhak nach is enjoyed. I'll be going to Kali temple here in Mumbai and will take blessings and will be part of puspanjali too. Toyota (TM 0.63%) said that it will show off two new electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells at the Tokyo Motor Show this month. Both are "concepts," or show vehicles, but at least one will go into limited production. It's a sign that Toyota is still committed to the idea of hydrogen fuel cells despite tiny sales of its current fuel-cell-powered Mirai sedan, a lack of refueling infrastructure, and a growing consensus that battery electrics will be the dominant automotive drivetrain in the future. What's the auto giant thinking? A city bus and a new type of vehicle, powered by hydrogen Toyota's two fuel-cell concept vehicles are both roomy, but they're quite different. One is a quirky cross between an SUV and a minvan, while the other is much more practical: It's a city bus. Toyota calls the SUV-minivan mashup the "Fine-Comfort Ride," and it might be best thought of as a living room -- or maybe a conference room -- on wheels. The vehicle's design was optimized to provide a roomy, quiet interior, taking advantage of the layout possibilities offered by its fuel-cell electric drivetrain. In-wheel motors allowed Toyota designers to put the wheels at the very far corners of the vehicle, maximizing the amount of space available in the interior. While the Fine-Comfort Ride has show-car futuristic takes on the usual driving controls like a steering wheel and pedals, the idea is that it might be self-driving. The seating can be arranged in several different ways to allow for individual isolation, or something more like a rolling meeting room, with touchscreen displays positioned for easy access. What's the point? Toyota said that it's exploring ways in which a vehicle can provide comfort and value to its passengers beyond being "just a ride." But the fact that Toyota gave it a fuel cell rather than a battery pack is significant. Two advantages that Toyota played up: The concept has a range of 621 miles, much longer than the range of any current battery-electric vehicle, and it can be "recharged" in just a few minutes. Also significant: Toyota's other fuel-cell show vehicle is a city bus that the company plans to produce, at least in a small way: 100 will be built and put into service during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The bus is called the Sora, an acronym from the words sky, ocean, river, and air. It's an allusion to the Earth's water cycle, and a reminder that a fuel cell's only "emission" is water vapor. The Sora has two fuel-cell "stacks," or power units, developed from the stack used in Toyota's Mirai sedan. It has some high-tech show-vehicle touches, like cameras that automatically detect pedestrians, but it's basically a city bus. Why electric-vehicle advocates are skeptical of fuel cells Most of the rest of the auto industry seems to have come to the conclusion that fuel cells, devices that chemically convert the energy in hydrogen gas to electricity, are likely to be a niche product, at best. The extreme view is represented by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has derided the technology as "fool cells" and argued that research resources would be better spent on batteries. Musk is famous for his snark, but he has a point. The objections to fuel cells go beyond the expense of the technology itself -- which is huge. There's essentially no infrastructure today for refueling vehicles that run on hydrogen gas, and there are concerns about the efficiency and environmental friendliness of existing processes to make hydrogen gas. But some companies, like General Motors (GM 0.66%), still see a role for the technology. GM has said that fuel cells make more sense than batteries in electric vehicles intended for military use and first responders, where low refueling/recharging times are critical, and in larger vehicles like trucks and buses that would require particularly large and expensive battery packs. In those cases, a fleet operator could provide the needed refueling infrastructure as part of its investment in the vehicles. Toyota's Sora bus fits right in with that line of thinking. But the Fine-Comfort Ride -- or more to the point, the signal that it gives that Toyota is still thinking about fuel-cell passenger vehicles -- is more puzzling. Toyota's sole fuel-cell car to date, the Mirai, is a well-regarded product, but it's hardly setting the sales charts on fire: Toyota has sold just 1,044 Mirais in the U.S. this year through September. What Toyota is probably thinking Toyota executives say that putting fuel-cell vehicles on the market is one way to spur development of refueling infrastructure, by creating demand. The company is also responding to a push from the Japanese government, which wants to see 40,000 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on Japan's roads by 2020, and 800,000 by 2030. Those are big numbers, but not huge ones: Things like buses and ambulances might get Japan most of the way there. Toyota will almost certainly be a significant player in that effort. But it's also signaling that it's not done tinkering with ideas that might help fuel cells catch on more widely. The chances seem long from today's vantage point, but Toyota is a serious and smart company, and its efforts shouldn't be dismissed: In time, it could turn out that Toyota was onto something. At the 2013 economic conference in Davos, Switzerland, Bank of America (BAC -1.17%) CEO Brian Moynihan analogized the bank's predicament to a mountain climbing competition in which the bank was weighed down by a 250-pound backpack. He was referring to the tsunami of costs that washed over the bank in the wake of the financial crisis. At one point, Bank of America estimated that the crisis had cost it nearly $200 billion in legal costs and loan charge-offs. But those costs are now in the rearview mirror. Over the past two quarters, Bank of America's efficiency ratio has come in below 60%, better than even the notoriously efficient Wells Fargo (WFC -1.26%). In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find any non-regulatory remnants from the crisis anywhere in Bank of America's financial documents. The only place you are likely to come across them is in its "All Other" unit, a non-operating unit that houses, among other things, $77 billion worth of residential mortgages and home equity loans dating back to the pre-crisis period. Paradoxically, it's a trend in this business segment that's so auspicious for Bank of America. Over the past year, the bank's average total loans and leases have increased by only $17 billion, growing from $901 billion in the third quarter of last year up to $918 billion in the third quarter of this year. One reason the total figure grew so little, at 1.9%, is because the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank had to absorb a $28 billion decline in loans in the bank's All Other segment that either matured or were written off. Excluding that, the growth rate in Bank of America average total loans would have more than doubled. The good news is that, relatively soon, the loans in Bank of America's All Other unit will dwindle so far that the portfolio's run-off will no longer have a material impact on the growth rate of the bank's total loans. As you can see in the chart above, the nation's second biggest bank by assets has $77 billion in loans in its All Other unit today. But at the current pace of the portfolio's run-off, it could be gone within three years. In sum, assuming that the economy doesn't descend into a recession, Bank of America appears positioned to grow its loan portfolio at an increasing pace for the foreseeable future. China to Seattle: an America more diverse than the movies Neurobiologist Dr. Jihong Bai grew up in Beijing in an academic family his dad a professor, his mom an engineer. Early on, he developed a strong intellectual curiosity, which was part of what drove him to apply in 1998 to the University of Wisconsin in Madison to do his doctoral work in biophysics. Science was much, much better in the United States, especially in the years before China began investing heavily in academic research, Bai said in a recent interview in his Hutch office. He joined Fred Hutchs Basic Sciences Division in 2011 after a postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. What also fueled Bais leap across the ocean was curiosity about another culture. I grew up hearing a lot of things about America, in a time when China was becoming more open movies, music were getting to China, he said. It turned out that the America Bai found in Madison and later in Boston and now Seattle was different from the one he saw in the sci-fi and horror movies he watched in Beijing. (This was probably a good thing.) I had kind of a naive view of what American families were like, what American culture was like, he said. But coming to the states, I found it was very different. Every family is different. Thats a good thing about the U.S. its very diverse. True, after Beijing, the bucolic college town of Madison population about 250,000 did not offer much of a cityscape. (Where is downtown? Bai recalled asking his then-girlfriend in his first days there. We just drove past it, she replied.) But the atmosphere was friendly, open and fun. It was just normal, he said. Sometimes normal is the best thing happening. He doesnt recall ever having a what have I done? moment after the move. Only once did he feel even a little that he didnt fit in. On his first Greyhound bus trip from Madison to Chicago, he walked out of the bus station and a police officer asked, What are you doing here? The cop wasnt hassling him, though, just making sure he was safe. Actually, Bai was on familiar terrain. The next morning, the city boy rose at 5 a.m. to admire the skyscrapers along Lake Shore Drive. In life as in science, be open The first time he realized that the U.S. had come to feel like home was when he and his now-wife they met in college and married in graduate school were returning to Madison from a trip home to visit their parents. On the plane, we were chatting, and I said, Were going home. And then I said, Wow. Somethings changed. After so many years in Madison he had finished his doctorate in 2003 and stayed on to do a two-year postdoc Bai realized that now he had to make an effort to fit in when he visited Beijing. In the U.S., where Bai feels most different is in the lab. And that is not a bad thing. In graduate school, I realized I can think about the same thing [as others] from a different angle, he said. People like me bring a different view. We trained differently. We have different family backgrounds. I find things that a different person, not thinking the same way, may not find. Bai investigates how neurons communicate with other cells, using the microscopic C. elegans worm research that could lead to therapies for neurological diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons as well as provide insights into cancer biology. Recently, his research has expanded to explore spatial perception and behavioral biology. The team he heads up includes researchers from China, Israel, Japan, Nepal and the United States. There is no shortage of different views and new angles brought to bear on complex scientific questions. His advice to young immigrant scientists today is applicable to both science and life: Just be open. There is not one way you should live your life, he said. Just make yourself feel at home. Then a lot becomes easier. Does he miss Beijing? Of course, especially friends and family. His in-laws visit Seattle, but his elderly parents dont travel any more. Every time you go back, you see theyre aging, he said. Thats the most difficult thing, emotionally. Last year, his dad turned 80. Bai had already told his parents that he would not be able to get back for a visit that year because his work schedule was too harried. But his wife kept saying, Really? Youre not going for his birthday? On the last possible day, she pointed out that there was one airline seat still available. Bai flew to Beijing for a 24-hour visit. It was his dads best gift. Specifications Measuring 141.2 x 71.45 x 7.92mm in dimension, the Nokia 7, which is also blessed with a fingerprint sensor on the back, is designed with a 7000 series aluminum chassis with diamond-cut beveled edges. This phones also uses a Corning Gorilla Glass on the back, which gives it a sleek and premium touch. Display Talking about the hardware of the device, the Nokia 7 comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD display (1920 x 1080 pixels). Further, the 2.5D curved glass display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which should make Nokia a pretty sturdy device, for which Nokia is mostly remembered by fans. Performance hardware Processing engine for Nokia 7 is quite average as it uses 2.2 GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 630 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 508 GPU for better gaming experience. However, the company is offering the device in 4GB and 6GB LPPDDR4 RAM variants which means a lot for any Android user. Also to enhance the level of convenience, the Nokia 7 gives a 64GB (eMMC 5.1) internal memory which can be further expanded up to 128GB with microSD. Android There is not much to talk about on the software front as not much of the native software features have been described so far. However, the fact that it is running Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), which is upgradable to Android 8.0 (Oreo) is in itself a relief. Also a dear-feature in the Indian market, the smartphone comes with a Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD). Camera The Nokia 7 is equipped with 16MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, ZEISS optics, 1.12um sensor, f/1.8 aperture and 80-degree wide angle lens. And for the slefie lovers, there is a 5MP front-facing camera which is seated over a 1.12um sensor offering a f/2.0 aperture, 84 wide-angle lens for better exposure and image quality. Similar to Nokia 8, the Nokia 7 also uses a Dual-Sight technology. This means that it engages both the front and the rear cameras simultaneously via your camera app to create Bothie, which is a split screen visual for both photos and videos. Others Other hardware includes 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS and USB Type-C. Lastly the Nokia 7 draws its power from a 3000mAh built-in battery HTC U11 Plus alleged renders and specifications leaked: Is it better than HTC U11? News oi -Samden Sherpa Its looking like HTC has something to announce on November 2 and rumors are starting to suggest that they will use the time to unveil the HTC U11 Plus. HTC is scheduled to launch a new smartphone on November 2 at an event in Taipei and the company has already sent out invites for the event. While the company has not provided any details on which smartphone it is launching but the invite does provide some hints. There is a letter U printed on the invite. From the reports that we have been hearing so far, it will likely be the HTC U11 Plus. Having said that, things just got interesting this morning. Well, renders and details of the alleged smartphone have just been leaked. The renders have been published by Couponraja.in and @OnLeaks. The renders are said to be based on the factory case schematics which are usually sent in advance to accessory makers. Talking about the renders, the upcoming HTC U11 Plus bears great similarity to HTC U11. The smartphone seems to come with a liquid metal unibody design along with a glass layering at the back. The device looks like it will have a higher screen to body ratio with minimum bezels at the top and bottom. All in all the device looks sleek and modern. Further, the fingerprint scanner has been moved from the front to the rear but unfortunately, the 3.5mm headphone jack seems to be missing in this device. There is a USB-C port and a microphone at the bottom. The smartphone or phablet features a single rear camera and it seems the camera has no bulge making a smooth surface at the back. The handset has a pretty interesting color scheme as well. Apart from the renders, some spec details for the HTC U11 Plus have also been leaked. As per the leaked details, the device will come with a 6-inch Quad HD+ panel (1440 x 2880 resolution) which is slightly larger than that of U11. The HTC U11 Plus will reportedly be powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor and will come in variants with 4GB and 6GB of RAM. The handset is said to also come with Boom Sound audio enhancements, and HTC's Edge Sense and AI features. The smartphone has been spotted in the GFXBench portal as well. The listing also confirms similar features. The benchmark result also shows a 6-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Adreno 540 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of onboard storage. In addition, the listing reveals that the handset will come with a 12MP main camera and an 8MP front-facing one, and the latest version of Android - 8.0 Oreo. However, there is no official word as to what HTC might actually announce, but most probably we could see this device being unveiled at the event. Source Best Mobiles in India Nokia 5 gets Android 7.1.2 Nougat and October security update after Nokia 6 News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia 5 is the next one to get the update. Back in the last week, the Nokia 6 received the Android 7.1.2 Nougat update along with the October security update. Also, the Nokia 8 received the October security patch and reports tipped that the flagship smartphone will directly get Android 8.0 Oreo skipping Android 7.1.2 Nougat. As per a recent report by NokiaPowerUser citing the information from a tipster, the Nokia 5 has followed suit and has got the Android 7.1.2 Nougat update in select markets. The update is also said to bring the October security patch to the smartphone. A few days back, we came across a report tipping that the Nokia Android smartphones will receive the Android 7.1.2 Nougat update before they receive the Oreo update by the end of this year. For now, there is no clue about the markets those have received the Nokia 5 update but we can expect the same to be rolled out to the all the users in phases. From the screenshot above, it is clear that the Nokia 5 update packing both the Android 7.1.2 Nougat and October security update will measure around 690.2MB in size. The changelog shows that the update will bring in user interface improvements and a better system stability. It will also bring in battery usage alerts, enhanced notification stability, a better fingerprint swipe performance and more. Besides these, there will be a number of bug fixes and other additional features. The update for the Nokia 5 does not come in as a big surprise as the company as been releasing monthly security update and Android OS updates on a consistent basis. HMD has also mentioned it clearly that all the Nokia smartphones will receive two years of OS support for sure. So, we will continue to see a number of updates being rolled out to these smartphones. 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 Oppo F5 might feature 12MP dual cameras at the front, suggests new leak News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Oppo is all set to launch another selfie-centric smartphone soon. The Oppo F5 is likely to be unveiled on October 26 in the Philippines and in India on November 2. Though the launch is a few more days ahead, we already know that the device might arrive with a new AI selfie technology. Now, a new leak from a retail store in the Philippines has revealed the key specifications of the upcoming Oppo smartphone. According to the same leaked by YugaTech via GSMArena, the Oppo F5 is believed to flaunt 12MP dual front-facing cameras. This is contradictory to the previous leak, which tipped that the smartphone might arrive with a single 16MP selfie camera. However, both the leaks hint that there will be a 20MP rear camera on board the Oppo F5. Besides the camera aspects, the smartphone is said to adorn a 6-inch FHD+ display, which means that it will be the first full-screen smartphone from Oppo with an aspect ratio of 18:9 similar to Vivo V7+, Vivo X20, and X20 Plus. It is said to employ an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC paired with 6GB RAM and 64GB of default memory capacity that can be further expanded using a microSD card. The other specifications of the Oppo F5 are said to include a 4000mAh battery, a 3.5mm audio jack, a micro USB port, Bluetooth 4.2, and dual-band Wi-Fi. The smartphone is believed to be pre-installed with Android 7.0 Nougat. Furthermore, Oppo has revealed that the smartphone will arrive with the AI Beauty Recognition feature, which is a technology that will use artificial intelligence to detect the skin tone, age and gender of the subject in an image. This technology is said to be capable of analyzing the ambient lighting conditions by referencing other facial images in order to beautify a selfie. It is also said to be capable if differentiating between the male and female subjects, and infants and adults to enhancement the subjects in an image. 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 Samsung announces that its 8nm FinFET LPP Process is now ready for production News oi -Samden Sherpa Samsung completes qualification of 8nm LPP process. Samsung Electronics is a well-known player in the advanced semiconductor technology space. While the company has been working on developing an efficient manufacturing process for the chipsets, the tech giant has now announced that its 8-nanometer (nm) FinFET process technology, 8LPP (Low Power Plus), has been qualified and is ready for production. Samsung has stated that the new process node, 8LPP provides up to 10-percent lower power consumption with up to 10-percent area reduction from 10LPP through a narrower metal pitch. Now with the new process, 8LPP will provide differentiated benefits for applications including mobile, cryptocurrency and network/server, and is expected to be the most attractive process node for many other high-performance applications. The new process will be the company's most advanced and competitive process node before the launch of 7nm EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) technology that is expected to go live in 2018. "With the qualification completed three months ahead of schedule, we have commenced 8LPP production," said Ryan Lee, Vice President of Foundry Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung Foundry continues to expand its process portfolio in order to provide distinct competitive advantages and excellent manufacturability based on what our customers and the market require." "8LPP will have a fast ramp since it uses proven 10nm process technology while providing better performance and scalability than current 10nm-based products," said RK Chunduru, Senior Vice President of Qualcomm. Meanwhile, the 8nm LPP process technology is basically an upgrade over Samsung's 10nm FinFET process and basically, fills the gap between the older process. Notably, the 10nm FinFET process was used in building the Snapdragon 835 and Exynos 8895 chipsets. While Samsung has learned the lessons with the production of 10nm chips the 8nmm Snapdragon chipsets are expected to power flagship phones that will be arriving in 2018. Samsung could further be shifting its focus to 6nm and 5nm chipset manufacturing process in future. In any case, details of the recent update to Samsung's foundry roadmap, including 8LPP availability and 7nm EUV development, will be presented at the Samsung Foundry Forum Europe on October 18, 2017, in Munich, Germany. The Samsung Foundry Forum was held in the United States, South Korea and Japan earlier this year, sharing Samsung's cutting-edge process technologies with global customers and partners. Source 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 Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 8.0 Oreo update will come in December News oi -Samden Sherpa There is a high possibility for the Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 8.0 Oreo update to reach other markets much earlier than Japan. Sony, the Japanese smartphone manufacturer has already listed the smartphones that will be getting the latest version of Android 8.0 Oreo. However, while the list has been out for some time now, there was no indication of a proper timeline as to when the Sony's Xperia models would receive the Oreo update. But the situation may be changing now. Sony Mobile Japan has just confirmed that one of the Xperia models, Sony Xperia XZ Premium (review) will receive the new Android 8.0 Oreo update starting December 2017. While this is good news for the fans as well as the device owners there is a high possibility for the update to reach other markets much earlier than Japan as well. We will come to know about it in the coming days and we will update you on the same. But again, one thing is for sure, XZ Premium models will be getting the update soon. Moreover, other devices might also receive the update along with the said model. Apart from this interesting news, Sony has also officially announced a new color variant of Xperia XZ Premium. The smartphone has been introduced a red color hue. The handset will go on sale in Japan on October 27 via Docomo which is the country's biggest carrier. All of the features and specifications are the same as the earlier launched model. Just to recall, Sony Xperia XZ Premium comes with a 5.5-inch 4K (2160x3840 pixels) HDR Triluminos display with an sRGB 138 percent spectrum and the X-Reality for Mobile display engine.The smartphone is powered by the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC which is coupled with 4GB of RAM. The phone offers 64GB of inbuilt storage and it is further expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The smartphone is equipped with a 19-megapixel Motion Eye camera with a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS memory stacked sensor and as per the company, it is capable of shooting videos at 960 frames per second. Camera features include predictive hybrid autofocus and predictive capture, a 25mm f/2.0 lens, and 1.22-micron pixel sensor. Talking about the front camera, there is a 13-megapixel 1/3.06-inch Exmor RS sensor that is supported by a 22mm wide-angle f/2.0 lens. The company also says that the camera has been optimized with its SteadyShot technology that provides 5-axis stabilization. Sony Xperia XZ Premium is backed by a 3230mAh non-removable battery and it comes with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology as well. While Sony has launched the dual-SIM (Nano-SIM) variant of the XZ Premium in India, it runs on Android 7.1 Nougat. The device is dust and water resistance with an IP65/68 rating, and it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and back of the smartphone. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C (3.1), and a 3.5mm audio jack. Sensors like accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, digital compass, gyroscope, and a proximity sensor. The smartphone phone measures 156x77x7.9mm and weighs in at 191 grams. It is available in Luminous Chrome, Deepsea Black, and Bronze Pink variations. Xperia XZ Premium is priced at Rs. 59,990 and is available at Sony Centers, select retail outlets, and exclusively on Amazon.com. Meanwhile, you can also check the list of smartphones that will receive Android Oreo update. Source Best Mobiles in India Diwali gift for armed forces: Govt slashes call rates News oi -Priyanka Satellite phone service was provided by Tata Communications but now State-run telecom operator BSNL will provide. In order to give Diwali gift to armed and para-military forces, telecom ministry has slashed call rates on Digital Satellite Phone Terminal (DSPT), to ensure that they can speak to their loved ones for "longer durations." Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha said that "In order to use the facility of DSPT, the soldiers & officers at present are required to pay the monthly fee of Rs.500/- and call charges of Rs.5/- per minute. But, looking at the requirement of Soldiers & Officers and also the heavy cost they have to incur for talking to their family members, the government has taken an important decision on the auspicious occasion of Diwali." Sinha said, from Diwali day (19th October 2017), no monthly fee will be taken for using DSPT service, that is, the current monthly fee of Rs.500/- will be 'Zero'. Earlier satellite phone service was provided by Tata Communications but now State-run telecom operator BSNL will provide. " The present telephone charges of Rs.5/- per minute is being reduced to Re.1/- per minute, Sinha added. Meanwhile, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said the cost will have an impact of Rs 3-4 crore per annum which will be borne by the government. At present, there are 2,500 satellite phone connections is present in the country. "We have the capacity of 5,000 connections. We are informing the defense and the home ministries that more connections can be given. The total capacity can be further increased, if required, in six months," Sinha further added. With this special Diwali Gift from government of India, Defence personnel can now talk without worrying about more expenses to their home and their headquarter ministry said. 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 Reliance Industries' shares hit record high in September 2017: Up by 4.5 percent News oi -Samden Sherpa Reliance Industries has reported total revenue at Rs. 71,761 crore and net profit stood at Rs. 8,265 crores. As of Wednesday, October 18, shares of Reliance Industries have now crossed Rs 900-level. This is the first time the shares have reached such high mark and it has reportedly gone up by 4.5 percent further ending at record closing high of Rs 914.50 per share. This rise in share levels has mainly gone up due to Jio's earnings and "strong refining margins in the quarter which ended September 2017." Money Control reports that majority of analysts further expect the telecom business to show higher profits in the December quarter after a positive performance in September quarter. Just a few days back, Reliance Industries had also reported a net profit of Rs. 8,097 crore for September quarter (up 12.8 percent YoY) on revenue of Rs 101,169 crore (up 24 percent YoY). The company gross refining margins reached up to USD 12 per barrel against street expectations of USD 12.5 a barrel. Following such achievements, Reliance has outperformed benchmark Singapore Complex margins by USD 3.7 per barrel. However, Reliance Jio also suffered a net loss of Rs. 270.6 crore in July-September quarter against a loss of Rs. 21.3 crore in June quarter. This was much lower than what analysts' had estimated - around Rs. 2,000 crores. As per the reported data, Jio's revenue for the quarter remained at Rs 6,147.06 crore and EBITDA stood at Rs 1,442 crore with margin at 23.45 percent. The success of the company can also be attributed towards the strong business model of the Jio telecom business. Further, the company has been adding subscribers at a robust pace and going forward this will surely contribute to the bottom line from Q3FY18 onwards. Apart from the telecom space, the company is also planning on spending $1.4 billion to produce 7 million cubic meters a day of natural gas from KG-D6 deep-sea fields in the Bay of Bengal. Via 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 Samsung to introduce a new VR headset featuring positional tracking News oi -Chandrika This revelation has come from the company's VP Taeyong Kim, who held a small talk at Samsung's Developer Conference. Samsung plans to bring out a new VR headset that will come equipped with positional tracking. This revelation has come from the company's VP Taeyong Kim, who held a small talk at Samsung's Developer Conference. As of now, there is not much information available regarding the upcoming headset. We don't even know what is it going to be called. This is because Samsung did not officially mention anything about the headset during the conference keynote. Hence, we assume that the product is still in its early development phase. Having said that, at least, we can expect the positional tracking feature for sure. Other than that, the VP hinted about a few other features. In addition to the inside-out positional tracking capabilities, which Samsung is said to be working with Intel to bring it to life, the headset will also arrive with 6DoF motion controls. The 6DoF motion controls will allow for more depth of field like effects. For example, users could have the ability to reach out in front and touch or even grab objects. Currently, the majority of mobile VR headsets use 3DoF controls. Even the Samsung Gear VR headset is equipped with it. So it is needless to say, 6DoF controls will significantly change the VR experience for users. Samsung didn't clarify whether this would be the next member of the Gear VR lineup. Presumably, it could be a standalone mobile VR headset just like the HTC VIVE Focus. Apart from that, we are also expecting a few new features on the headset. Source 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 Intel Official Says Turkish Military Base Was 'Target' of Somalia Truck Bomb By Harun Maruf October 17, 2017 The newly Turkish-built military base in Mogadishu was the original target of Saturday's deadly truck bomb, a senior Somali intelligence official told VOA Somali. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says all the intelligence reports received before this attack -- and information gathered since the explosion occurred -- indicated the Turkish military base was the target. "This base is the most strategic target for them, it's going to produce an organized army and they have to preemptively destroy that," the source said. The official said the National Intelligence and Security Agency had prior information that al-Shabab was planning to attack the Turkish military base. Turkish and Somali officials inaugurated the base on Sept. 30. More than 200 Turkish troops will train 1,500 Somali troops with a target of training at least 10,000 Somali soldiers. The chief of staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, General Hulusi Akar, said during the opening ceremony that his government plans to help Somalia until the country gets "militarily stronger." Somalia has published a plan to establish a 22,000-strength army before the African Union troops leave the country. AMISOM will start gradual withdrawal by October of next year. Al-Shabab did not claim the attack but Somali government officials and terrorism experts strongly believe that al-Shabab militants were behind the explosion. "Whether they claim or not claim makes no difference. We know the act that has happened, it's al-Shabab," former intelligence officer Abdi Hassan Hussein told VOA Somali. "The information we are getting so far shows this is the work of al-Shabab. It has their hallmarks." The bombing was the deadliest in Somalia's history killing more than 300 people. The truck Somali security officials have confirmed to VOA Somali that they have questioned the driver of a Toyota Noah minivan who was arrested on Saturday after trying to walk away from the scene. According to the source, the driver parked the minivan and got out and made a phone call, possibly to get instructions. The public tipped off security officials who shortly arrived at the scene. While police were waiting for the bomb in the minivan to be dismantled, it exploded. No one was injured. The main deadly bombing and the minivan explosion were connected and believed to both be part of a complex attack, officials said. Intelligence sources also confirmed that four other al-Shabab suspects were arrested in connection with the bombing including a member of Amniyat, al-Shabab's security and intelligence branch, who operated in Mogadishu. In addition, Somali intelligence has identified the driver of the truck who carried out the attack and is known to be an al-Shabab member, according to the sources. His name has not yet been released. The truck that carried out the attack was an old construction site vehicle imported from Italy. It was stopped by security forces manning a main checkpoint at Siinka Dheer outside Mogadishu. The driver called out to a man known to the soldiers who allowed the truck and driver to proceed, the sources say. It was then stopped at a second checkpoint inside Mogadishu near the former U.S. embassy. The security team there asked if the driver knew anyone who would be able to identify him and allow him to pass through the checkpoint. He did not. "One of the soldiers made a radio call listened (to) by multiple officers and reported that they have a truck and they suspect it could be al-Shabab. He asked for bomb experts to inspect the truck," said a security official at Mogadishu's Joint Special Operations Command. "The driver was ordered to park the truck on the side of the road but the driver panicked, maneuvered and sped past the checkpoint," he said. "A soldier chased the truck as it collided with a three-wheeled motorcycle and a minibus before detonating in the midst of the busy junction." The bomb The heaviest bomb al-Shabab detonated in Mogadishu before Monday's explosion was 250 kilograms. Officials believe this was at least twice that weight. Former director of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, told VOA that the truck bomb was "prepared" in the vicinity of Afgoye, about 30 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu. The town is controlled by government forces, but al-Shabab controls large farmlands and forests to the east and west of the town. "This truck came from Lower Shabelle in particular the farmland near Afgoye that is where they prepared it," Fiqi said. Abdi Hassan Hussein, the former lead intelligence officer of Puntland region, confirmed that he learned the vehicle came from an al-Shabab controlled areas outside Mogadishu. "This truck passed through the government checkpoints," he said. Hussein said the government needs to pacify the regions neighboring Mogadishu where such massive attacks are organized. "You cannot defend Mogadishu from the outskirts, you have to conduct operations and stabilize those neighboring regions." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Army, allies strive for greater interoperability in Europe By David Vergun, Army News Service October 18, 2017 WASHINGTON -- Next year will be called "the year of integration," where the U.S. will work even harder to improve interoperability with all NATO allies as well as with other partners such as Sweden and Finland, said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges. The commander of U.S. Army Europe said 2017 has been a "year of implementation," meaning initiating rotational armored brigade combat teams and combat aviation brigades, emplacing Army preposition stocks, and standing up an enhanced forward-presence battle group in Poland. That implementation was a direct result of decisions reached by NATO at the 2016 Warsaw Summit, which was in essence a transition from assuring allies to deterring would-be aggressors, he said. Hodges and three European allies spoke at a press briefing at the Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 11. Besides working on interoperability, Hodges said "we will continue to learn from the massive Zapad exercises" just completed by the Russians in Belarus. "Some things will take us a few months as we continue to study the forensics." Other lessons already gleaned are that improved intelligence sharing with NATO and other partners helped the alliance to better understand the Zapad exercises. "It's the best I've seen in years in terms of intelligence sharing," he said. "We were all focused on trying to understand the Zapad exercises. People had their eyes wide open." INTEROPERABILITY FOCUS Hodges said there are three things that need to be more interoperable among allies in Europe. First is secure, tactical FM radios at the company and battalion level. At that level, he said, there's a lot of interdependence. Also, he said, radios at that level must be able to operate effectively inside a "real nasty" cyber or electronic warfare environment that allies "might face in the Baltics or Poland, for example." Second, the common operating picture, or COP, must be truly "common." No matter who manufactures a device, there must be seamless information sharing among allies, he said. Blue-force tracking is one example of what a COP can share, he said. Third is digital fires, he said, providing an example of getting into a counter-fire situation, where the radar from one country should still be able to relay the mission digitally to the fire direction center and then onto the guns to do the counter-fire. "If you can't do that in a very short amount of time, then you're never going to be able to strike back at who's shooting at you," Hodges said. Dynamic Front is an exercise that will be begin in February at U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany, he said, where several nations using 100 different firing systems will focus on making them interoperable. The Army is also honing its interoperability with allies during current exercise Swift Response 17-2, taking place Oct. 2-20 in Hohenfels, Germany, and including more than 7,000 participants from Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. SHARING THE LOAD Hodges said that there are many times that the U.S. must rely on European partners for capabilities that it lacks. He provided some examples. The Army depends on Romania, the United Kingdom and Germany to provide bridging capability, and their bridges have been used a number of times for river crossings, he said. Also, the Army doesn't have much in the way of short-range air defense. Romania is one of the countries providing that, he noted. The Army is also leasing British heavy equipment transports to move tanks on European highways, he said. Lt. Gen. Leo Beulen, commander, Royal Netherlands Army said that unfortunately, his nation's defense budget was slashed in 2011 and the army was forced to sell off all of their Leopard main battle tanks to Finland and Canada, "not that we didn't need them anymore, but because we had to find the money." With changes in the world since then, the Netherlands needs them badly, he said. "Now we find cooperation with Germany, where we have a German battalion of Leopard 2 tanks, [embedded in] a Dutch company that is operating within a Netherlands brigade," he said. "So together with Germany, we could restore the main battle tank capacity." Another example of where the Netherlands contributes to the collective security, he said, is providing protection with its Patriot air defense system. The Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe that has them. Maj. Gen. Karl Engelbrektson, Swedish Army chief of staff, said there are niche capabilities partners can bring. For instance, Sweden provides other nations with artillery-locating radar, ground-based air defense radar and smart munitions, among others. He framed cooperation in terms of economics as well as security, particularly after the Russian invasion of Crimea. Although Sweden is not a member of NATO, "it is not a neutral country," he said. "We are military non-aligned. But, we adhere to NATO's principles of military business because we believe that we need to do things together. ... So for us it's logic that we have to deploy troops far from home to be part of securing the world order and the values we live for." Last month, Sweden hosted an exercise with 20,000 troops from NATO and European partners, he said. During exercises such as this, "we learned that we can learn from each other. For example, there are some tactical things we developed living close to Russia in similar terrain and climate." Maj. Gen. Jaroslaw Mika, general commander of the Polish Armed Forces, said his nation has increased its military budget to contribute more to the collective defense of Europe. ROTATIONAL FORCES Hodges was asked if he'd prefer Army aviation to be permanently stationed in Europe. "I would prefer to have Army aviation permanently stationed in Europe, as opposed to rotational units," he said. "Rotational aviation is expensive, and I worry that at some point the Army [will say] 'I can't keep this up.' If [European Reassurance Initiative] money dries up or we get less of it, it becomes more difficult for the Army to fund." On the other hand, Hodges said, "I like rotational forces because I can do more with them and they're here for nine months, like the armored brigade. Their opstempo is three times what it is back at home station, so you get a lot of strategic effect." Regarding ground forces, Hodges said he's pleased with U.S. Stryker capability in Europe, in that they can be fitted with the 30mm cannon, Javelin missiles, and counter-unmanned aerial vehicle systems. Additionally, he said, they can also navigate the highways. Tanks, while essential, have to be transported by rail or heavy equipment transporters, so they're less visible to the populace, restricted to the training areas. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Installation Readiness board to examine, prioritize installation readiness By David Vergun, Army News ServiceOctober 18, 2017 WASHINGTON -- The acting secretary of the Army recently authorized formation of an Installation Readiness Board of Directors that will examine and prioritize installation readiness programs and funding, said J. Randall Robinson. The board will be responsible for, among other things, making decisions such as which of the 23 percent of Army-wide poor or failing facilities should be renovated, and which installation programs will be kept or jettisoned. Robinson, the acting assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, spoke earlier this month at the Association of the U.S. Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition. He said board decisions will be directly linked to "warfighter readiness, not wants and needs." The new board will be chaired by the vice chief of staff of the Army, as well as the assistant secretaries of the Army for IEE and Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Voting members will be Army four-star generals. Decisions by the board will take into account stakeholder input and information gathered through collaboration with academia and industry, Robinson said. The board will also take into account inputs from U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. In the coming months, for instance, TRADOC will host the "Installations of the Future Mad Scientist Conference," he said, where military experts, as well as representatives from academia and industry will be encouraged to weigh in on installation readiness. INSTALLATION VULNERABILITIES One factor likely to weigh heavily on the minds of those making decisions about Army installations is facility security. Robinson said it can no longer be taken for granted that where Soldiers work and live is 100 percent secure. "Installations are no longer a safe haven --- they are part of multi-domain battle's strategic support area and are constantly under attack, even today," he said, referring to cyberattacks, as well as insider threats. Robinson noted that Russian drones over Ukraine, for instance, were able to exploit vulnerabilities at military bases there, and the same could happen to the U.S. Army's own military bases. "What happens when the Army's ability to project combat power is disrupted by attacks, both physical and cyber, against our installations, our transportation and communication infrastructure, and the communities in which they sit?" he asked, adding that technology provides both opportunity and threats. Robinson said personnel must guard against social media posts that may put families and Soldiers at risk, hacked computer systems that may impede the flow of critical operational information, power disruptions that affect infrastructure, and even contaminated water supplies that could result in units being unable to deploy due to sickness. RESILIENT POWER PROJECTION PLATFORMS Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for Installation Management, said that along with addressing vulnerabilities from threats, installations of the future must be energy secure and resilient. To do that, "we must leverage artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and smart-city research," she said, along with developing partnerships with community organizations. Army Directive 2017-07 establishes the "requirement to secure critical missions on our installations by providing necessary energy and water for a minimum of 14 days," she noted. As a result, the Army is implementing policies and initiating projects that "add reliable, diverse and redundant energy sources to our installations. We also work to improve our current infrastructure condition, ensuring the lines and equipment on our sites reliably distribute energy where we need it most," she said. Bingham provided some examples of energy successes that are underway now in the Army. At Fort Hood, Texas, for instance, there's a 65-megawatt wind and solar project that's providing lower electricity costs, she said. That project saves the Army approximately $2 million per year, and is expected to reduce costs by over $100 million over the 30-year contract term. At U.S. Army Garrison Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, a 50 MW biofuel project will provide Field Station Kunia and Wheeler Army Airfield with secure energy generation during emergencies, she said, noting that the facility will be above the tsunami strike zone. At Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, a 10 MW solar project will include the Army's first commercially available battery-energy storage system, she said. Finally, Bingham said that the Army has awarded a total of $2.6 billion in energy savings and performance contracts and utility energy services contracts. These contracts include third-party financing and reduce energy, water and operating costs, address maintenance backlogs, and repair or replace aged and failing equipment. Bingham said the Army pays back private partners, over time, with savings generated by energy and water project upgrades. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Formidable Shield 2017 Concludes with Ship Engaging Supersonic Target Navy News Service Story Number: NNS171018-06 Release Date: 10/18/2017 10:20:00 AM From U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- Ships from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States participated in a successful live-fire integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) scenario, defending against a supersonic target Oct. 17. This concludes exercise Formidable Shield 2017 (FS17), which began Sept. 24. Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) conducted Formidable Shield on behalf of the U.S. 6th Fleet. During the collective self-defense scenario, the Netherlands frigate HNLMS Tromp (F803) fired a Standard Missile (SM) 2 and an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) against the supersonic target. U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons from 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano Air Base, Italy, were designated as "opposition forces" and fired the supersonic target during this exercise scenario. "Events like this require a joint effort, from all different type of assets, and represent a great opportunity to demonstrate the cooperation among Allies on development of integrated air missile defense capabilities," said Italian Navy Rear Adm. Francesco Covella, STRIKFORNATO deputy chief of staff of operations. "Formidable Shield is the right opportunity for forces to practice together and to allow them to adapt tactics and procedures to strengthen and improve NATO collective ability to defend against increasingly complex ballistic missile and air threats." The two missiles fired against the supersonic target Oct. 17 occurred during the third live-fire event of FS17. During FS17, four nations conducted a total of 11 successful missile launches. During the first live-fire event Oct. 7, the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal (FFH 336) fired three Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57) fired two SM-2s at four incoming anti-ship cruise missiles. During the second live-fire event on Oct. 15, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) fired one SM-3 Block IB guided missile against a medium-range ballistic missile target. Also on Oct. 15, the Spanish frigate SPS Alvaro de Bazan (F101) fired one ESSM against an incoming anti-ship cruise missile while Tromp fired two ESSMs against a pair of incoming anti-ship cruise missiles. Notable 'firsts' that occurred during FS17 include: the first time NATO's smart defense concept was demonstrated with ships serving as air defense units protecting naval ballistic missile defense units; the first no-notice launch of anti-ship cruise missiles as part of an IAMD scenario; and the first time a NATO IAMD task group was exercised at sea. "The IAMD Task Group demonstrated our ability, as an alliance, to operate at the highest end of warfare," said Vice Adm. Christopher W. Grady, commander, STRIKEFORNATO; commander, U.S. 6th Fleet. "Our NATO allies and partners are committed to working together in any environment, even in hurricane conditions. I applaud the 3,300 professionals from 10 nations who showed their flexibility, adaptability, and teamwork during the highly successful, challenging, no-notice scenarios." More than 14 ships, 10 aircraft, and approximately 3,300 personnel from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S., participated in FS17 on the U.K. Ministry of Defense's Hebrides Range located on the Western Isles of Scotland. "We are stronger together," said Grady. "By using the Smart Defense concept and pooling our resources, we can maintain our competitive edge in the maritime environment. The commitment to BMD, IAMD, and the collective defense of NATO European territory, populations, and forces was obvious during Formidable Shield 17, and I look forward to what we can accomplish in 2019." FS is designed to improve allied interoperability in an IAMD environment, using NATO command-and-control reporting structures and datalink architecture. FS17 was the inaugural iteration of what is planned to be a recurring, biennial event designed to assure allies, deter adversaries, and demonstrate our commitment to collective defense of the NATO alliance. U.S. ships that participated in Formidable Shield include Donald Cook, Mitscher, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), and the Louis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE 13). STRIKFORNATO is a rapidly deployable headquarters that provides scalable command and control across the full spectrum of the alliance's fundamental security tasks. As part of that mission, STRIKFORNATO is responsible for integrating U.S. naval and amphibious forces into NATO operations. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Somali president pledges war on Shabab after fatal attack Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 06:56PM Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has vowed to step up the fight against the al-Shabab Takfiri terrorist group following the weekend truck bombing that claimed the lives of over 300 people in the capital Mogadishu. Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, made the remarks during an address to thousands of angry protesters at a rally in Mogadishu. The people had taken to the streets in solidarity with the victims of the Saturday bombing. The outraged protesters marched through the scene of the attack wearing red bands around their heads before gathering at a stadium where they chanted, "We are ready to fight." No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, al-Shabab, a Takfiri militant group linked to al-Qaeda, is often behind similar deadly terrorist attacks in the conflict-stricken country. Farmajo said the explosion "shows that we have not done enough to stop Shabab." "If we don't respond to this now, the time will surely come when pieces of flesh from all of us are being picked up off the ground. We need to stand up together and fight al-Shabab, who continue massacring our people," the president said. It was unclear what Farmajo planned to do to stop the Takfiri militants from conducting such assaults. The attack also prompted similar protests in large towns in southern and central Somalia. "This attack seems to have united the people because everyone is angry now and needs to fight violence, there are thousands of young men, women and children out there protesting," said a protester. Ibrahim Mamud, another demonstrator, said, "I think the ones who have masterminded this attack will not spare anyone ... we need to stop these guys before they kill all of us." The Takfiri group has in the past carried out terrorist attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia in a bid to intimidate the country's vulnerable government and drive out African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops deployed there for support. Government forces have been battling al-Shabab militants since 2006. The militants controlled Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011, when they were driven out of the capital with help from the AU troops. A period of relative calm started in Mogadishu afterward. However, since last month, the group seems to have started to resume its attacks in Mogadishu. Outside the capital and beyond specially protected zones, the militants are still a threat, reportedly roaming freely. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Spain PM warns Catalan president to drop secession bid Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 09:50AM Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned the regional president of Catalonia to "act sensibly" and renounce his push for a breakup with Madrid, 24 hours before a final ultimatum comes to an end. Addressing lawmakers at the parliament on Wednesday, Rajoy said, "I ask [Catalan President Carles] Puigdemont to act sensibly, in a balanced way, to put the interest of all citizens first." Rajoy has given Puigdemont until Thursday to come up with a definitive answer on the independence question or face the consequences: the suspension of the region's autonomy. Catalonia missed a first deadline, on Monday, to clarify whether it had dropped its bid to secede from Spain following a banned referendum held on October 1. In a letter sent to the central government early Monday morning, Puigdemont instead called for negotiations with the central government on the issue. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence last Tuesday, but suspended it shortly afterwards and called for talks with the central government on the fate of the region. "Our call for dialog is sincere, despite everything that has occurred, but it is obviously incompatible with the current climate of escalating oppression and threats," he wrote in the letter. Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, however, said on Monday that Puigdemont's call for dialog was "not credible." She once again warned the Catalan leader on Wednesday that if he did not provide a satisfactory response to Madrid by 0800 GMT Thursday, he would "provoke the application of article 155 of the constitution." If invoked by the Spanish government, the provisions contained in Article 155 of the constitution would allow Madrid to impose direct rule over the autonomous region. That move may provoke civil unrest in Catalonia, where tensions have been running high since Spain deployed thousands of police officers to block the independence vote. Puigdemont is also under growing pressure from his pro-secession government to unilaterally declare independence. The far-left Catalan Party (CUP) threatened to withdraw its support for the minority government in the regional parliament unless Puigdemont made an unequivocal declaration of independence in defiance of Madrid's deadlines. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bahrain signs $3.8bn F-16 fighter jet deal with US Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 09:45AM Bahrain has concluded a $3.8-billion deal with a US aerospace and military equipment giant to purchase 16 upgraded F-16 fighter jets. The Bahrain Defense Force announced on Monday it signed the agreement with Lockheed Martin during a military exhibition in the Persian Gulf sheikhdom, AFP reported. The State Department had informed Congress in March that it planned to approve a request by Manama to purchase the fighter jets. The US multi-billion dollar arms deal with Bahrain, which is home to America's Fifth Fleet, comes as US President Donald Trump has eased restrictions on arms sales to certain countries including Bahrain. In September, Reuters cited an unidentified US official as saying that the $3.8-billion agreement was a package arms deal, which included 19 F-16 fighter jets, upgrades, 35-meter patrol boats equipped with machine guns, and 221 anti-tank missiles. The US State Department removed human rights conditions on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain after US President Donald Trump announced in May that Washington's relations with Manama were set to improve. The announcement came after Trump met Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah during a visit to Saudi Arabia. The deal comes as the Manama regime has been under fire by the international community for its heavy-handed crackdown on dissidents and political activists. Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime's ruthless clampdown, which has the backing of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They are demanding that the ruling Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Maduro warns US, EU against new sanctions after election win Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 06:40AM Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned the United States and the European Union (EU) against imposing new sanctions on his country over alleged fraud in recent regional elections in which his socialist party claimed a landslide victory. Maduro's party said it had won 17 of the 23 governorships in the country in the Sunday elections, and an opposition coalition managed to grab only five. The opposition Democratic Unity Coalition refused to recognize the results and alleged that there had been irregularities in the voting process. The US, which has already imposed sanctions on Maduro's government, vowed to put more pressure on Venezuela after accusing the government of "authoritarian dictatorship" and describing the vote as "neither free nor fair." On Tuesday, Maduro told international correspondents that his country's "election system is the most secure and audited in the world." "Our people have given a strong message to imperialism, to Trump, to its regional allies and to the local right," he added, referring to the US president. Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, had earlier called for an audit of the electoral process. Maduro also said, "President Donald Trump, I am not a dictator; I am a humble worker... I have a mustache and look like Stalin, but I'm not him." The socialist president further said that he extends his "hand to my worst enemies of Venezuela, to my worst adversaries." 'EU must open its eyes' Maduro also reacted to the EU, which has it found the poll results "surprising" and is preparing to raise pressure on Maduro's government. The bloc said it needs to "find out what really happened." Maduro called on European countries to "open their eyes," saying his country would not be stopped by more sanctions. He urged EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to visit or receive him in Brussels to discuss the issue. The EU, too, has imposed sanctions on Caracas. Maduro also had harsh words for Canada, which has refused to recognize the vote results. "There goes the stupid government of Canada saying that they don't recognize the elections," Maduro said. "It is of little importance to me if Canada recognizes Venezuela or not. We recognize them and we are independent and sovereign." Opposition divided over vote results Meanwhile, two opposition candidates who failed to win in the Sunday vote, have diverged from the official coalition position by conceding defeat in the elections. Henri Falcon, of Lara State, and Alejandro Feo La Cruz, of Carabobo, said on Tuesday the opposition "need courage to recognize truth in adversity." "Responsibly I say we lost, it is that simple, and that we have to accept it," Falcon said. The opposition candidates who have won should now decide if they will swear allegiance to the county's new Constituent Assembly, which itself was a cause of controversy when it took over legislative powers from the opposition-dominated parliament in July. The opposition does not recognize the body. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senior Taliban Commanders Reported Killed In Suspected U.S. Drone Strikes RFE/RL October 18, 2017 A second round of missile strikes by suspected U.S. drones has killed at least 11 more Taliban, including senior commanders, a day after strikes killed 20 militants in the southeastern border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said. Baseer Khan Wazir, the top administrative official in the Kurram Agency, part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, told Reuters on October 17 that the drones fired on Taliban hideouts and killed at least 31 people over two days. Taliban sources told Reuters that 24 members of the extremist Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan and allied with the Taliban, were killed in drone strikes over two days, including some commanders. An Afghan official told the Associated Press that the latest drone strikes on October 17 killed 35 Taliban fighters, including a commander of the Pakistani Taliban, Abu Bakr, and other senior insurgents. Abdullah Asrat, spokesman for the governor of Paktia Province, told AP that another 15 militants were wounded in the strikes. Mujeeb Rahman Chamkani, a lawmaker from Paktia, told AP that the latest strikes occurred as the Taliban were collecting the bodies of the 20 militants killed the previous day. Intelligence officials said the drone strikes had targeted the Haqqani network and Bakr. They said the large number of militants present in the compound struck on October 16 showed the site was a main center for Haqqani network militants in the area. The latest drone strikes came after attacks by Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 74 people on October 17. Most of the deaths from the bombings occurred in the southeastern provinces of Paktia and Ghazni. Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Murad Ali Murad told a press conference in Kabul that the string of attacks, including one in western Farah Province that killed at least three people, were the "biggest terrorist attacks this year." Many policemen as well as civilians were killed in the suicide bombings, which came one day after four nations sought to revive stalled peace talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban in Muscat, Oman, despite a boycott by the militant group. Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah in an interview with RFE/RL on October 17 vowed "a complete investigation" into the suicide bombings. With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, AP, Reuters, dpa, and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/senior-taliban- commanders-reported-killed-suspected-us- drone-strikes/28801179.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address McCain Blocks Trump Defense Nominees To Get Afghan War Information RFE/RL October 18, 2017 U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has said that he'll hold up President Donald Trump's nominees for Defense Department posts until the Pentagon provides more information on its new Afghan war strategy. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on October 17, McCain said his committee needed details of the strategy so it can provide the U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan with appropriate training and equipment. McCain deplored what he said was a lack of communication from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and accused the administration of treating Congress as a lesser branch of government despite its power over spending under the U.S. Constitution. "I had a better working relationship [with President Barack Obama's Defense Secretary Ash Carter] than I do with an old friend of 20 years," McCain said of Mattis. McCain said though he and Carter often disagreed, "there was a lot of communications" between them. He contrasted that with a lack of information from the Pentagon under Trump. "I think they had this idea, once that Trump won, that we are a unicameral government...and that they don't have to respond to what the constitution says," McCain said. "We will not sit by without having a complete understanding of what is going on," he said. Trump outlined his plan for Afghanistan in August, declaring that U.S. troops would "fight to win" by adding about 3,500 U.S. troops, attacking enemies, and "crushing" militant groups. But McCain said it remained unclear how such a modest increase in troop strength could turn the tide in Afghanistan when that goal couldn't be achieved by tens of thousands of U.S. forces earlier in the war. Trump also announced a shift in strategy that would link assistance in the future to getting results on the battlefield and to cooperation from the Kabul government and Pakistan. McCain said he wanted to know specifically what Trump's conditions are for providing assistance. He said he was also seeking answers for how and when Trump would accomplish his goal of a political settlement in Afghanistan that includes elements of the Taliban. McCain's demands come amid a renewed breakout of violence by the Taliban, which launched a string of suicide attacks on October 17 that killed at least 74 people. They also come as missile strikes by suspected U.S. drones have killed more than 30 Taliban militants hiding in a border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent days. A Senate website shows 17 Defense Department nominations pending before the Senate committee could be affected by McCain's blockade. Among them are Mark Esper, the nominee for army secretary, and Joseph Kernan, the nominee for undersecretary of defense for intelligence. While vowing to block nominees until the Pentagon provides more information, McCain has made some exceptions. McCain's committee and the full Senate last month confirmed Marine General Joseph Dunford for a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And on October 17, the Senate confirmed David Trachtenberg to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense. McCain said he did not block Trachtenberg's nomination because he was "partially satisfied with [the Pentagon's] commitment to provide us with answers to the questions." With reporting by AP and DefenseNews.com Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/mccain-blocks- trump-defense-nominees-get-afghan-war- information-/28801185.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bosnian Serb Lawmakers Pass Resolution On 'Military Neutrality' RFE/RL's Balkan Service October 18, 2017 Bosnian Serb lawmakers have passed a nonbinding resolution insisting on the "military neutrality" of Bosnia-Herzegovina's ethnic Serb-dominated entity, as part of an effort to oppose the country's potential membership in NATO. Republika Srpska's legislative body in Banja Luka, the 83-member National Assembly, approved early on October 18 the text that also states that Bosnian Serbs will coordinate all future decisions on the issue with Serbia. Opposition lawmakers were prevented from attending the session because they were protesting over unrelated issues. The text was initiated by Republika Srpska's nationalist leader, President Milorad Dodik, who has championed Russian interests, voicing opposition to NATO, the EU, and U.S. influence in the Balkans. Ahead of the vote, Dodik said, "They want to take the barracks without asking anyone in Banja Luka whether they want NATO troops in the Kozara barracks so they can show that there is no need for Republika Srpska to decide about anything." "And then all of the sudden you have NATO here," he added. "The people do not want that and that's why my position is as it is and why I won't change it." Since the Bosnian war ended in 1995, Bosnia has been split into two entities -- Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosniaks and Croats. The two entities are linked by joint state-level institutions, including a tripartite presidency that must reach consensus before decisions can be made. Pro-Russia Serbs in Bosnia are opposed to NATO membership, while Bosniaks and Croats who account for over 65 percent of Bosnia's population are generally in favor. The 1995 NATO bombing of Bosnia targeted the Bosnian Serb Army and together with international pressure led to the signing of the U.S.-brokered Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian war. The Western military alliance has led multinational forces deployed to Bosnia after the war. In 2006, the country joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program and engaged in a dialogue with the alliance on its membership aspirations and related reforms in 2008, but the process has since stalled. With reporting by AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia- serbs-pass-resolution-military- neutrality/28801992.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Attorney General Says He Answered Russia-Related Questions 'Honestly' RFE/RL October 18, 2017 WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions insisted he answered truthfully when he earlier said that he had no contacts with "anyone connected to the Russian government" about the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, although he acknowledged he had meetings with the Russian ambassador at the time. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 18, Sessions said he believed the previous questions referred to whether he actively participated with the Russians in the U.S. presidential election, "not any casual conversation." "I did not meet with them in any way about the elections," Sessions insisted. Sessions is one of several past and current Donald Trump associates whose interactions with Russian officials have come under scrutiny after U.S. intelligence services determined that Moscow actively interfered in the U.S. presidential election to support Trump. The contacts included interactions with Sessions, former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn, and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Kislyak Meetings At least two congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating Russia's actions during the presidential election and if there was any collusion between Trump's team before or after the November 2016 election. In March, Sessions, who heads the Justice Department, was forced to recuse himself from any Russia-related investigations due to his own interactions with Russian officials before Trump's January 20 inauguration. Sessions told the Senate panel he would not comment on his private conversations with Trump about the probe into Russian election meddling or the firing of former FBI Director James Comey until the president specifically waived his claim to executive privilege. Comey was fired by Trump in the midst of the Russia investigation, leading to the appointment of Mueller as special counsel. Sessions has admitted to having met with Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, at least twice after initially failing to disclose the meetings. 'History Will Judge' Kislyak's contacts with senior members of Trump's team during and after the presidential campaign raised concerns by many Democrats and others after the reports of possible Russian meddling surfaced. Kislyak has since left his post as Russia's ambassador to Washington. In his October 18 testimony, Sessions was grilled by Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat-Vermont) on his previous answers in response to written questions, leading to a heated exchange between the senator and Sessions. "I asked you in writing whether you'd been in contact with anyone in the Russian government about the 2016 election. You answered emphatically, 'No,'" Leahy said. "We later learned about several meetings between you and Russian Ambassador Kislyakduring the height of the 2016 presidential campaign," Leahy added. "Do you understand why members of this committee consider your answer 'No' was false testimony? "I've never accused you of colluding with Russians, but you clearly, in your answer 'No,' you concealed your own contact with Russian officials at a time when such contacts were of great interest of the committee," Leahy said. Sessions responded by insisting that "I believe my answer was correct." "The entire context of all your questions dealt with interference in the campaign by Russian officials," Sessions added. "I took [the question] to mean not any casual conversion, but did I participate with Russians about the 2016 election -- that something was wrong." Sessions also said he has not been questioned by special counsel Mueller's team in the Russia investigation, a probe Trump has often called a "witch hunt." Sessions declined to directly say whether he considered it to be a witch hunt, but said, "I think he [Mueller] will produce the work in the way he thinks is correct and history will judge." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/sessions -senate-russia-related-question -honestly/28802554.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Norway Expands Training Routine With Allies, Paves the Way for More US Troops Sputnik News 17:05 18.10.2017 The Norwegian government is determined to increase training with NATO forces on the Nordic country's home turf. This particularly applies to US Marines stationed in the Nordic country on a rotating basis. In a recent development plan for the Armed Forces and the Home Guard, Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Sreide proposed increased cooperation with Norway's key allies. At the same time, a separate work group at the Defense Staff has been established to facilitate the training in practice. Its work is closely monitored by the Security Police Department of the Defense Ministry, which maintains close contact with the US and other NATO allies. "The government is supportive of increased allied practice and training on Norwegian territory," the plan stated, as quoted by the Norwegian daily Klassekampen. Furthermore, Sreide's long-term plan provides guidelines for investments and a defense-related economic framework for the next 20 years. It involves giving parts of the Norwegian army "increased operational availability than today," which paves the way for increased NATO cooperation, prioritizing "practice, and training with selected allies and partners" that will be relevant for the purpose of reinforcement, in case of a crisis or a conflict "too great for Norway to handle it alone." The cooperation with US Marines, who currently maintain a force of 330 men at the Vrnes air base in Trndelag region in northern Norway, was emphasized as "particularly important." "The agreements with the US, our most important ally, about the reserve storage of defense materiel, and especially the binding cooperation with the US Marine Corps, are of major importance for joint operational efforts in case of a security crisis," Minister Ine Eriksen Sreide was quoted as saying. Earlier in October, Klassekampen reported that the Norwegian Armed Forces were working to establish extra facilities for US troops in the inner part of the Troms County, of which the parliament's Foreign and Defense Committee was not informed. Liv Signe Navarsete of the committee called this a problem, arguing that her authority should have at least received prior notice. The news outlet Nordlys reported that the US and Norway were in talks about placing an extra rotating force of 400 troops in Setermoen, Troms County in 2018. Several military sources confirmed this information to Klassekampen, describing the plans as a "badly concealed state secret." Despite the Norwegian government's official narrative that the US troops were only stationed in the country temporarily for training, a US Marine Corps document stated their purpose as "establishing a sustained rotating presence in Vrnes" as early as one month before Norwegian Defense Minister officially confirmed their arrival, Klassekampen reported, referring to documents obtained via the US Public Freedom of Information Act. In another document dated December 2016, the Marine Corps expressed plans for further expansion in Norway, including facilities for maintenance and the storage of fuel, as well as barracks, a command and control center and hangars for the F-35, MV-22 helicopter and C-130 aircraft, all slated for construction by 2021. In May 2017, Captain Alexandra B. Anderson of the US Marines Corps described Norway as a "battlefield in a potential future conflict with Russia" in an article published in the Marine Corps Gazette. According to the 1949 Base Declaration, however, Norway shall not conclude any agreement with other states which imposes obligations on Norway to open up bases for foreign forces on Norwegian territory as long as Norway is not attacked or threatened with attacks. An anonymous source in an unnamed government party told Klassekampen that there was "little doubt" that the rotation-based training with the US Marines in reality constituted a base. The same notion was expressed by defense sources, which claimed that the base was internally viewed as permanent. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Council strongly condemns terrorist attacks across Afghanistan country 18 October 2017 The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned a wave of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan that killed at least 70 people and injured more than 200. "The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attacks that took place in Paktia, Ghazni and Kabul," said a press statement issued by the 15-member body on Tuesday. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks that reportedly targeted police and Government facilities across the country. The Council also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that all States need to combat such threats by all means. The Council also underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these acts to justice, urging all States to cooperate actively with the Government of Afghanistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard. The Council expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Afghanistan and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemen: UNICEF warns conflict shutters one in 10 schools; teachers unpaid for a year 18 October 2017 The conflict in Yemen now into its third year continues to take a toll on millions of children, with their education now under threat, adding to an already long list of bitter hardships including malnutrition, displacement and violence, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned. "As of July 2017, 1,600 schools have been partially or totally destroyed, and 170 have been used for military purposes or as shelter for displaced families," said Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement today. The violence has forced one in ten schools across the country to close, and textbooks and other school materials are in severely short supply, he added, noting that the beginning of the school year has been postponed several times from its usual September start. Adding to the crisis is the fact that three-quarters of the teachers in Yemen have not been paid in nearly a year, compelling them to resort to extreme measures to survive. One such case is that of Hassan Ghaleb, a teacher for the past 20 years and the sole breadwinner for his family of four, who was evicted from his home with his children. He had to sell what was left of his furniture just to feed them and treat his sick sister. "How can [they] teach if [they themselves are] in need?" questioned UNICEF, noting that over 166,000 teachers across the war-torn country are in a similar situation. Lack of education and the protective environment provided by a school is not only robbing the children of some semblance of a normal childhood, it is also leaving them vulnerable to recruitment into fighting or early marriage. "Ongoing humanitarian efforts are only a drop in the ocean of suffering that Yemen has become," underscored Mr. Cappelaere, urging the parties to the conflict to protect schools, refrain from using schools for military purposes and work together to find an urgent solution to the salary crisis so that children can learn. He also called on donors to step up their assistance and enable the payment of incentives to education personnel, health workers and other civil servants who deliver vital services for children. "The children of Yemen have suffered in ways that no human being should have to bear. Education is their only way to secure a better future and to help put Yemen on the path to peace," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Chief to Visit Central African Republic By Margaret Besheer October 18, 2017 The United Nations Secretary-General said Wednesday that the Central African Republic is at a critical moment and everything must be done to ease growing communal tensions and preserve gains to keep the fragile nation on the right path. Antonio Guterres will travel to the Central African Republic next week, to meet with the country's leaders and visit the nearly 12,000-member U.N. peacekeeping mission. The country has been struggling with sometimes deadly inter-communal tensions for the past five years between two armed groups -- the mostly Muslim Seleka and largely Christian anti-Balaka. Another serious outbreak of violence between the two groups erupted in May, and Guterres warned that the situation remains very troubling. "Across the country, communal tensions are growing, violence is spreading, and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating," he said. The numbers of people in need of humanitarian aid is surging, with almost 600,000 internally displaced and more than half-a-million driven to seek refuge in neighboring countries. The violence has been deadly for peacekeepers and aid workers, as well as civilians. Guterres said he has asked the Security Council for an increase in peacekeepers to calm the situation. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the C.A.R. has been the epicenter of sexual abuse and exploitation allegations against the United Nations. One mission chief has been fired and peacekeepers from accused countries have been repatriated. Guterres will be accompanied on his visit by his recently appointed victims' rights advocate. "We are determined to ensure that the voices of victims are heard I will myself be ready to meet with victims and their families in and beyond the Central African Republic. Victims must be at the center of our response if we want our zero-tolerance policy to be successful," he said. Guterres said despite challenges, fragile gains such as the election of a president and government and the establishment of a special criminal court must be preserved and strengthened. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kenya Elections Chief Gives 'Yellow Card' to Politicians as Tensions Rise By Mohammed Yusuf October 18, 2017 The head of Kenya's electoral commission had tough words for the country's politicians the day after one of his commissioners resigned and fled the country. The resignation casts further doubt on whether the commission can organize a credible re-run of a presidential poll next week. The chairman of Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Wafula Chebukati, spoke hours after one of the commissioners resigned and fled to the U.S. "Let me be very clear, I am giving a yellow card to all political leaders in this country. I will not tolerate threats on my staff anymore. I will not tolerate interference in the commission anymore," Chebukati said. Announcing her resignation, Commissioner Roselyn Akombe said she had received death threats which she found particularly concerning, given that the IEBC's technology manager was found tortured and killed just a week before the polls in August. In her statement, Akombe said that infighting and political pressure have rendered the IEBC incapable of holding a credible re-run of the presidential poll on October 26. The IEBC chief also expressed doubts in his remarks Wednesday. "Without critical changes in key secretariat staff, free, fair and credible election will surely compromised. I, therefore, call on the staff who have been adversely mentioned to step aside to allow the project team to function without interference," Chebukati said. Opposition candidate Raila Odinga has pulled out of the re-run saying the IEBC has failed to remove the individuals responsible for the botched August 8 vote. Opposition protests demanding electoral reform have turned violent, with three people killed this week. Kenya's Supreme Court voided the results of the August presidential poll saying the IEBC had not followed the constitution and electoral law. The ruling put Kenya on a tight deadline, with the constitution giving IEBC just 60 days to organize a fresh election. Further adding to tensions, lawmakers from the ruling Jubilee party pushed through changes to the electoral law in parliament last week to prioritize manual transmission of results over the electronic system. On Wednesday, IEBC chief Chebukati called for a meeting with all political leaders. "I cannot move forward with a divided commission. Before the 8th of August election, the commission amicably worked, devoid of any division. I cannot move forward when presidential candidates refuse to put their personal interest aside and for once serve the country. I took this job to make Kenya better, not to draw it in a crisis," Chebukati said. In a series of tweets Wednesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta called "for an extended period of prayer and reconciliation this weekend." Kenyatta has been campaigning nationwide. He has condemned the Supreme Court's nullification of his win in the August 8 poll, calling the judges "crooks," but has said he is ready for the re-run on October 26. Addressing a rally in the capital Wednesday, Raila Odinga reiterated his decision to boycott the poll and called for a large demonstration on voting day, saying it would be the biggest yet. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson Embraces Closer US Ties With India, Calls Out China By Cindy Saine October 19, 2017 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has given a rare, major foreign policy speech outlining the Trump administration's south Asia policy, reaching out to India to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking to a packed auditorium at the Center for Strategic and International Studies research center in Washington, D.C., Tillerson looked forward to the next 100 years of close U.S.-India ties. "President Trump and [Indian] Prime Minister Modi are committed - more than any of our leaders before them - to building an ambitious partnership that benefits not only our two great democracies, but other sovereign nations working toward greater peace and stability." Bookends of stability Tillerson said the U.S. and India are "bookends of stability" on either side of the globe, noting the nations share a commitment to upholding the rule of law, freedom of navigation, universal values and free trade. Tillerson said the Trump administration is determined to "dramatically deepen" ways for the United States and India to work together, and he announced that he will be visiting New Delhi next week. Asia expert Michael Kugelman said that while Tillerson's focus on defense and security cooperation was predictable, he "was also struck how he spoke in great detail, and at the very beginning of the speech, about economic partnership. Economic cooperation has lagged behind defense cooperation, and so we can read this as an effort to expand the relationship beyond its main comfort level of defense and security." Tillerson took a more strident tone on China. "China's provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for. The United States seeks constructive relations with China," said Tillerson. "But we will not shrink from China's challenges to the rules-based order, and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries, and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends." The secretary of state said India and China both have risen over the past decades to become global powers. He contrasted their paths, though, saying China "has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international, rules-based order even as countries like India operate within a framework that protects other nations' sovereignty." China responds The Chinese embassy responded later Wednesday to Tillerson's comments, saying in a statement to VOA: "China contributes to and defends the rules-based world order and seeks to enhance international cooperation with the United Nations at the center. "We are fully committed to forging a fair and just world order together with the rest of the world, providing the greatest good for the greatest number of people through win-win cooperation. For example, we put forward the Belt and Road Initiative which aims to boost common development and has earned the support and participation of many countries across the globe," the statement said. Kugelman said U.S. policy toward India has been consistent for the last 15 years, but he noted that what makes the policy outlined by Tillerson a bit different is its explicit focus on China. "The Obama administration agreed that shared concern about China was a major strategic issue that brings the U.S. and India together. And yet, the Obama administration chose to be less overt in calling out China and in highlighting it as a point of convergence for U.S.-India ties," said Kugelman. "The Obama White House struggled in its relations with Beijing, but at the same time it didn't want to alienate the Chinese. With the Trump administration, there is a tendency to take less of a 'kid gloves' [cautious] approach." A senior State Department spokesman told reporters later Wednesday that Tillerson's speech was the culmination of several months of deliberation between the State Department, the White House and the National Security Council. The spokesman confirmed U.S. eagerness to strengthen ties with India, saying, "India is looking for a partner - America is that partner." Tillerson said India is a partner for peace in Afghanistan, and he welcomed India's assistance to that war-torn country. He called on Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders there that threaten its own people and the broader region. Asked about concerns Pakistan might have about a U.S. shift toward India, a senior State Department spokesman said a stronger U.S. relationship with India does not come at the expense of Pakistan, and vice versa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar leader killed in US drone strike in Afghanistan Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 06:42PM The leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), an offshoot of the country's Taliban militant group, has been killed in a US drone strike in neighboring Afghanistan. The JuA spokesman said Thursday that Umar Khalid Khorasani was killed after succumbing to injuries he received in a US drone attack. "Chief of our Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Umar Khalid Khorasani, who sustained serious injuries in a recent US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday evening," said Asad Mansoor, adding, "At least nine close associates of Khorasani were also killed in the strike." On Monday, a total of 26 people, including several members of the notorious Haqqani network, had been killed in US drone strikes that targeted tribal regions along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Haqqani is allied to the Taliban in Afghanistan while the JuA is linked to the al-Qaeda and is an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban. The JuA said the group's leadership would soon meet to appoint a new chief for the outfit. Other sources within the Pakistani Taliban said, however, that Asad Afridi, a JuA senior commander, had already been appointed to the job. Many children were killed in a JuA bombing attack in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday last year, which left a total of 75 people dead. The group has been behind many other terror attacks in Pakistan over the past years. It pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in 2014, but withdrew its support for the outfit a year later and remained allied to the Pakistani Taliban, a partner of al-Qaeda. Some recent intelligence reports suggest the JuA and Daesh have been cooperating in several areas in Pakistan, including in those populated by Shia Muslims. The two both claimed an attack on a hospital that killed 73 people in the city of Quetta last year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taliban storm Afghan military base, kill 43 soldiers Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 08:48AM Taliban militants have attacked a military base in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 43 soldiers. According to a statement released by the country's Defense Ministry, the attack was carried out on a security forces facility in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district in Kandahar Province early in the morning on Thursday and was claimed by the Taliban militant group later in the day. "We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one," said Dawlat Waziri, a ministry spokesman, adding that the massive blast further wounded nine soldiers. He said six of the 60 soldiers who had been at the base were still unaccounted for. Only two soldiers were unharmed. An unnamed military source told the Afghan Tolo News television channel that after the initial explosion, "other insurgents opened fire on security forces." According to the source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, while the two sides were exchanging heavy fire, "foreign troops carried out an airstrike" against invading Taliban militants, killing at least 10 of them. Waziri confirmed the death of the 10 Taliban militants, adding that the ministry had already dispatched a delegation to "assess the situation." He further said that the base was under the Afghan National Army (ANA)'s control. On Tuesday, the militant outfit carried out two separate attacks in Afghanistan. The first targeted a police training center in Gardez, the capital of Paktia Province in southeast Afghanistan, and the other was carried out against a police station and a checkpoint in the center of Andar District, in the southern Ghazni Province. The coordinated attacks together killed at least 80 people and inflicted injuries on nearly 300 others, in the bloodiest day in the war-ravaged country in almost five months. Afghanistan is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. The invasion removed a Taliban regime from power, but militancy continues to this day. The Takfiri Daesh terror group has also recently emerged in eastern Afghanistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Catalonia defiant as Madrid-set deadline arrives Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 07:42AM Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has threatened to formally declare independence if Spain moves to suspend the region's autonomy, a regional government source says, as a Madrid-imposed deadline arrives for Catalonia to unambiguously drop its secession bid. Puigdemont told members of his Catalan Democratic Party (CUP) on Wednesday that he would issue a formal independence declaration if the central government in Madrid started the process of suspending the region's autonomy, as it has threatened to. Catalonia held a banned referendum on secession on October 1. The Catalan leader claimed that 90 percent of the voters in the referendum had backed secession, but the turnout had been put at only 43 percent. Last Tuesday, Puigdemont signed a symbolic declaration of independence but suspended it shortly afterwards and called for talks with the central government on the fate of the region. The Spanish government had given Puigdemont until 10 a.m. local time (08:00 GMT) on Thursday to retract that symbolic declaration and drop the illegal secession bid altogether. The Catalan government source said, "The president (Puigdemont) said [at] his party's meeting that he will lift the suspension of the independence declaration if the government executes Article 155." The article allows Madrid to take over any of the country's 17 autonomous regions should they break the law. Government 'to invoke Article 155' Meanwhile, the government in Madrid has said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would hold a special cabinet meeting on Saturday and invoke Article 155 to take some or full control of Catalonia's powers. The decision was announced minutes after the region's separatist leader threatened to unilaterally declare independence from Spain if Madrid continued its "repression." The two sides thus seem to be on a course to a more serious confrontation. Rajoy had earlier called on the Catalan president to offer a definitive answer on the independence question, repeating his call for clarity on the matter. "It's not that difficult to reply to the question: Has Catalonia declared independence? Because if it has, the government is obliged to act in one way, and if it has not, we can talk here," Rajoy said in an address to parliament. Puigdemont is reportedly under pressure from his pro-secession government to unilaterally declare independence. Meanwhile, people in Catalonia have been protesting the imprisonment of the two separatist leaders. Catalonia had held a symbolic referendum back in November 2014, during which more than 80 percent of participants voted for independence, according to Catalan officials. The region has a population of 7.5 million people, who speak their own language and have their own cultural traditions, and a political movement for splitting from Spain that has strengthened in recent years. Catalonia, Spain's wealthy region, accounts for a fifth of the country's economy. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dozens Of Soldiers Killed In Taliban Attack On Afghan Army Camp RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan October 19, 2017 The Afghan Defense Ministry says 43 soldiers have been killed and nine wounded in a Taliban attack on an army camp in the southern province of Kandahar. Ministry spokesman Dawlat Wazeri told RFE/RL that six soldiers were unaccounted for after the attack on the Afghan National Army base in the Maiwand district early on October 19. Only two of the soldiers stationed at the base escaped the attack unhurt. Waxeri said 10 militants were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, the third major attack on Afghan security forces this week. The Western-backed government in Kabul is struggling to beat back insurgents in the wake of the exit of most NATO forces in 2014. A local security official told RFE/RL that a suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives near the base, before a number of gunmen launched an assault against the facility. The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants failed to overrun the base as reinforcement arrived at the scene. Some reports said there were two suicide bombings. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, six police officers were killed in an ambush in the northern Balkh Province late on October 18, according to Shir Jan Durani, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. In the western province of Farah, the authorities said that militants attacked a government compound in the Shibkho district, killing at least three police officers. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the two attacks, which came after the extremist group launched two separate suicide and gun assaults on government forces on October 17 that left at least 80 people dead and about 300 others wounded, including soldiers, police officers, and civilians. The attacks targeted a police compound in the southeastern city of Gardez, capital of Paktia Province bordering Pakistan, and a security compound in the neighboring province of Ghazni. U.S. President Donald Trump recently unveiled a strategy to try to defeat the militants, and officials said more than 3,000 additional U.S. troops were being sent to Afghanistan to reinforce the 11,000 already stationed there. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-army -base-taliban-attack/28803513.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Catalan, Spanish Leaders Dig In Heels in Independence Standoff By VOA News October 19, 2017 Spain's government set plans in motion Thursday to strip Catalonia of its autonomy after the region's leader vowed to continue a vote on independence. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's office said it planned a special Cabinet meeting for Saturday to trigger Article 155 of Spain's constitution, which gives the government the power to take away some or all of Catalonia's autonomy. Hours earlier, Catalonia's leader, Carles Puigdemont, said the Catalan parliament will go forward with a vote on independence if the Spanish government does not engage in dialogue and follows through on its threat to strip the region of its autonomy. Rajoy had given Puigdemont a Thursday morning deadline to clarify whether he had in fact already declared independence following a referendum earlier this month. Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence in an address last week, but said he was suspending any formal steps in favor of talks with the government in Madrid. He delivered his updated stance in a letter Thursday shortly before the deadline. EU watching closely At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bloc was watching the situation closely. "We hope that there will be solutions that can be found on the basis of the Spanish constitution," she said. French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a discussion of the crisis and a show of solidarity with the Spanish government at the EU summit, but a number of leaders and EU officials oppose adding it to the agenda, saying that the tensions are an internal affair. Voters in Catalonia voted in favor of independence in an October 1 referendum, but fewer than half of those eligible to cast a ballot took part, with opponents boycotting the process. Rajoy's government dismissed the referendum as illegal. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kentucky Air Guardsmen Process 7.2 Million Pounds of Aid in Puerto Rico By Air Force Lt. Col. Dale Greer 123rd Airlift Wing LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 18, 2017 Thirty-five members of the Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Contingency Response Group returned home yesterday after a three-week deployment to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they processed more than 7.2 million pounds of humanitarian aid for recovery operations following Hurricane Maria. The airmen arrived in San Juan Sept. 23 and were among the first U.S. military forces to deploy for the relief effort, said Air Force Col. Bruce Bancroft, the unit's commander. They established an aerial port of debarkation at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport the day they arrived and began accepting military aircraft the next day, eventually receiving food, water, electric generators and other essential cargo from 268 aircraft. The airmen also processed 3,887 arriving passengers from a variety of agencies -- including the Defense Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- to assist with relief efforts. While the Kentucky airmen are now home, the cargo mission will continue for the foreseeable future, Bancroft said. Primary responsibility for the aerial port has been turned over to the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. "Standing up this aerial port of debarkation was an extremely important mission for us," Bancroft said. "Like all units in the U.S. military, our group has an important combat role to play, but as National Guardsmen, we also specialize in providing humanitarian aid to the homeland. It has been very gratifying to know that our skills and capabilities are making a difference for the people of Puerto Rico. "Now, that mission will be carried forward by the next group of airmen from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard." Busy Year The San Juan operation was the 123rd CRG's second mobilization for hurricane relief this year. The unit also sent 43 airmen to Texas Aug. 29, where they established an aeromedical evacuation hub in Houston following Hurricane Harvey. In the past six weeks, the Kentucky Air National Guard has deployed more than 150 airmen for relief operations following three major storms -- Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Those airmen include 18 members of the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, who rescued 333 residents stranded by flooding in Houston in the aftermath of Harvey. Kentucky Air National Guardsmen also were instrumental in the evacuation of more than 1,000 U.S. citizens from the Dutch island of St. Maarten following Irma by providing air traffic control and flying passengers to safety in Puerto Rico aboard two Kentucky Air National Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft. The Kentucky Air National Guard still has 35 airmen deployed for hurricane recovery operations, including seven who departed for Puerto Rico Oct. 11 to staff a mobile field kitchen that can serve up to 4,000 hot meals a day. Other Kentucky Air National Guardsmen are providing airfield management in the U.S. Virgin Islands and aircraft maintenance in Savannah, Georgia, where the National Guard Bureau has established a major cargo hub to fly relief supplies from the mainland to the Caribbean. Kentucky has contributed three of its C-130 aircraft for the Savannah-based operation, and currently has 21 aircrewmen and support personnel dedicated to the effort. "This has been an unprecedented hurricane season, with three major back-to-back storms," said Air Force Col. David Mounkes, commander of the 123rd Airlift Wing, the Kentucky Air Guard's main operational unit. "I'm pleased to say that the response of our airmen has been equally unprecedented. From saving lives in Texas to setting cargo records in Puerto Rico, our airmen continue to step up for these extremely important missions." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Second federal judge blocks Trump's new travel ban Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 04:38PM A second US federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's newest travel ban, saying it has basically targeted Muslims in violation of the US Constitution. Maryland federal judge Theodore Chuang said Wednesday the travel ban on citizens from six majority-Muslim countries and North Korea, and on many officials from Venezuela, essentially had not changed from the first two versions, which were also blocked in lower courts for discriminating against a single religion. The judge cited various statements made by Trump, including his 2015 call for a "total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the United States." "To the extent that the Government might have provided additional evidence to establish that national security is now the primary purpose for the travel ban, it has not done so," Chuang wrote. On Tuesday, Federal District Court Judge Derrick Watson for the District of Hawaii issued a nationwide order blocking the third version of Trump's controversial travel ban, calling it discriminatory and in breach of immigration law. Together, the pair of rulings are a prelude to a battle over the president's executive authority that is expected to wind up again before the US Supreme Court. Trump has issued three travel bans since coming to office in January. His third ban was announced September 24 and takes effect October 18. Trump issued the new order to replace an expiring 90-day temporary ban on travelers from the Muslim-majority nations of Iran, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. The new ban removes Sudan from the list of affected countries and adds Chad and North Korea, along with several officials from the government of Venezuela. Iraq, which was included in the first travel ban, was removed from the list in the revised second ban. In June, the US Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's request to reinstate parts of the second travel ban, after months of legal battle between the government and some states in federal courts. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House Condemns Judge's Decision Halting Travel Ban By Steve Herman October 18, 2017 The White House is reacting furiously to a federal judge blocking President Donald Trump's latest executive order that would have banned entry to travelers from several countries beginning Wednesday. "Today's dangerously flawed district court order undercuts the president's efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States," the White House said in a statement issued Tuesday. The White House response came shortly after Judge Derrick Watson ruled against restrictions on travelers from six countries the Trump administration said could not provide enough information to meet U.S. security standards. On Wednesday, a judge in Maryland joined the suit, arguing that Trump's own words led to the decision to block the ban. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang heard arguments Tuesday brought by advocacy groups led by the International Refugee Assistance Project, which argued that the current travel order still amounts to a Muslim ban, and that it exceeds presidential authority. The travel order would have barred to various degrees travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Watson's temporary restraining order does not interfere with restrictions on North Korea and Venezuela. The Justice Department "will vigorously defend the president's lawful action," the White House said, contending its proclamation restricting travel was issued after an extensive worldwide security review. The Justice Department called the ruling incorrect and said it will appeal the decision "in an expeditious manner." Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke said: "While we will comply with any lawful judicial order, we look forward to prevailing in this matter upon appeal." The new travel order "suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor: it lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be 'detrimental to the United States,'" Judge Watson wrote in his opinion. Vital restrictions The White House argues that its restrictions "are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation." Officials in the White House expressed confidence further judicial review will uphold the president's action. Consular officials have been told to resume "regular processing of visas" for people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, a State Department official said. The suit on which Judge Watson ruled on Tuesday was filed by the state of Hawaii, the Muslim Association of Hawaii and various individuals. "This is the third time Hawaii has gone to court to stop President Trump from issuing a travel ban that discriminates against people based on their nation of origin or religion," said Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin. "Today is another victory for the rule of law." 'Tailored' approach Trump said in the September 24 proclamation announcing the new order: "As president, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people. The restrictions announced are tough and tailored, and they send a message to foreign governments that they must work with us to enhance security." The new ban dropped Sudan from the list, but it added Chad, Venezuela and North Korea to the original six Muslim-majority countries. And in each case, the directive varies. For Syria and North Korea, all immigrants and visitors are banned. The same is true of Iran, except that students are exempted. Immigrants and people on business or tourist visas are blocked from Chad, Libya and Yemen. Visitors from Somalia may come to the United States while immigrants are barred. In the case of Venezuela, only certain government officials are disallowed. The September proclamation provides varying rationales for the new strictures, thought to be more defensible in court than something more sweeping. "North Korea does not cooperate with the United States government in any respect and fails to satisfy all information-sharing requirements," the presidential declaration said. Venezuela was cited for failing to cooperate "in verifying whether its citizens pose national security or public safety threats." U.S. officials also said the Caracas government does not willingly receive Venezuelans deported by the United States. Chad, a "valuable and important" counter-terrorism partner, failed to share terrorism-related and other public safety information, the proclamation said. Chad has responded by pulling troops from the fight against Boko Haram in Niger. Molly McKitterick contributed to this report NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Deputy Secretary General attends Cyber Security Conference NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 19 Oct. 2017 NATO Deputy Secretary General, Rose Gottemoeller, spoke of the vital importance of cyber defence when she addressed industry experts at the NATO Information Assurance Symposium (NIAS) Cyber Conference today (19 October 2017) in Mons, Belgium. "Cyber-attacks are serious. They have the potential to undermine NATO's missions around the world and to hamper our ability to deliver collective defence. That is why cyber defence is a top priority for NATO and for NATO Allies," said the Deputy Secretary General. "We have to be just as effective in the cyber domain as we are in the physical world," added Ms Gottemoeller. The Deputy secretary General also addressed a workshop on Women in Cyber Defence. "Cybersecurity is a team sport, but we're leaving half our players on the bench," said the Deputy Secretary General. Only around 1-in-10 people working in cyber defence is female. Worldwide by 2022, it is estimated that another 1.8 million professionals working cyber-security. If we solve the gender gap, we can also solve the workforce gap. NATO is committed to gender equality in cyber-defence as we are in all areas of security. It is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to our collective defence. The annual NATO Cyber Symposium is hosted by the NATO Communications and Information Agency. It provides an opportunity for NATO and national cyber experts as well as the industry to discuss the latest advances in cyber technologies, as well as cyber-related threats and challenges. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese President Xi Jinping Unveils Country's Development Strategy Sputnik News 07:56 18.10.2017(updated 13:11 18.10.2017) At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping spoke about military strategy, the policy of non-expansion and expressed his opinions on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. BEIJING (Sputnik) Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China must fully implement the Communist Party's goal to strengthen the army for modern warfare, and adapt its military strategy to new conditions. "We will make it our mission that by 2035, the modernization of our national defense and armed forces will be basically completed," the Chinese leader said. Xi added that China should build a powerful and modernized army, navy, air force, rocket force, and strategic support force, develop strong and efficient joint operations for theater commands, and create a modern combat system with distinctive Chinese characteristics. One China Principle Xi Jinping said that the so-called one China principle must be preserved in the future to ensure the development of the country in the right direction as well as to restrain separatist trends. "Since the 18th Congress, we have seen new progress on the issue of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan We are responding to the changes taking place on the island, resisting and restraining 'Taiwan independence' and separatist forces," Xi said in his speech at the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Beijing seeks to maintain peace and stability on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Xi noted. The Chinese leader added that the "one country, two systems" policy had proved to be the best institutional guarantee for the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao. "We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China," Xi stressed. In 1992, representatives of mainland China and Taiwan reached a consensus on the "one China principle," implying that both mainland China and Taiwan are inalienable parts of the one single Chinese state. Policy of Non-expansion Beijing will never engage in expansion and will not pursue its development at the expense of other state's interests, Xi Jinping said. "China will by no means sacrifice the interests of other countries for its own development and will not give up its legitimate rights and interests under any circumstances," Xi said in his speech. The Chinese leader stressed that "no matter what level of development China has achieved, it will never claim a hegemonic position, will never pursue a policy of expansion." China to Counter Separatism, Extremism Chinese president stressed that state security was at the core of ensuring peace and stability in the country. "We will improve our state security system, boost legal options allowing to ensure state security and will build up the capabilities for prevention and countering security risks," Xi said. The Chinese leader added that the party had to protect the country's sovereignty and fight resolutely against any actions attempting to "undermine the national unity, societal harmony, and stability." According to the Chinese authorities, a separatist group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (banned in Russia), is operating in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing suspects the group of links to international terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaeda, also banned in Russia, and attempts to split China. According to media reports, the group is recruiting local residents and sending them to extremist boot camps in Iraq and Syria. The 19th National Congress of the CPC will last for a week. The party delegates at the congress will elect the new leadership of the Communist Party of China, including the CPC Central Committee. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi Lays Out New Vision for Communist China By William Ide October 18, 2017 At the opening of a top level political meeting Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a sober assessment of the challenges facing the world's second largest economy and its ruling Communist Party, laying out an ambitious vision that stretches forward to the middle of this century and pledging to build what he called a "modern socialist country" for a "new era." In a near three-and-a-half hour speech at the opening session of the 19th Party Congress, Xi spoke confidently about the country's future and its opportunities. He also stressed that an increasingly strong Communist Party would continue to chart the path forward. But such an effort is not without its challenges. Xi has overseen a massive anti-corruption drive since rising to power five years ago, which has punished more than one million officials and led to the downfall of several high-ranking party members as well. He said the fight against corruption will always be in progress and is still the party's biggest threat. In his speech, he spoke frequently about the struggles China's leadership faces, mentioning the word "struggle" more than two dozen times. "As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, the party must apply new approaches. To forge iron, one first needs to get strong," Xi said. "A party and its authority rests on winning the hearts and minds of the people. What the public opposes and hates, we must address and resolve." Growing demands Xi said the demands of China's near 1.4 billion people are becoming increasingly broad. "Not only have their material and cultural needs grown; demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security, and a better environment are also increasing each day," he said. But much like other topics Xi spoke about in his address, which left some struggling to stay awake and hungry as it pushed past noon, it was unclear how China's ruling party would do just that. Although the Chinese leader mentioned growing demands for democracy, he made it clear that no major political reforms were on the horizon. "A political system cannot be criticized abstractly without consideration for social and political circumstances, and historical cultural traditions. It cannot look up to one man as the highest authority or blindly copy foreign political systems without regard for specific conditions," Xi said. Tighter controls Xi's first five years as China's top leader has been marked by an ever-increasing tightening of expression both online and in society. As Xi has sought to forward his vision for China, he has led a sweeping crackdown on civil society and locked up dissidents and lawyers. He has shown little signs of loosening that grip. In fact, the 19th Party Congress is expected to further expand his power. During the twice-a-decade gathering, China's Communist Party rulers will reshuffle their leadership and install a new Politburo Standing Committee, a top group of leaders that will rule the country for the next five years. The body is expected to be filled with more members who are loyal to Xi and part of his faction within the party. Economic development On the economy, Xi said that China's development is not a threat to any country and that it would continue to open its doors to foreign companies. He said that China would expand access to its services sector and deepen market oriented reforms, while strengthening state owned companies. In his speech, Xi tried to balance his emphasis on socialism and state control with promises of fair play towards foreign companies who can bring in the new and innovative technologies his government eagerly wants. "All businesses registered in China will be treated equally," he said while promising to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors." Analysts say Xi's pledge, which did little to boost markets in China on Wednesday, is a response to growing complaints of discrimination that foreign-invested companies say they face here. They add that it also highlights the government's preference for foreign companies establishing joint ventures and offering up their technical know-how, as opposed to operating from overseas destinations. Xi said in his address that the Communist Party aims to develop China into a "basically" modernized, innovation-driven country by 2035 and to become a modern "strong power" by 2050. Saibal Dasgupta contributed to this report NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address N Korea Vows to Hit US With 'Unimaginable' Strike if US-S Korean Drills Continue Sputnik News 09:43 19.10.2017(updated 11:36 19.10.2017) Pyongyang could stage an unprecedented strike on the US at an unexpected time, the North Korean state run news agency KCNA warned on Thursday. The threat came as the South Korean and US navies conduct massive joint drills amid increasing tensions over the north's nuclear and missile ambitions. As the US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan appeared in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's emergency committee for opposing nuclear war drills condemned the joint move between the US and South Korea to mobilize strategic nuclear assets near the peninsula, Yonhap News Agency reported. "The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time," the Korean Central News Agency warned. The KCNA accused the US and "its South Korean puppet forces" of intentionally driving the tension to the verge of explosion with their maritime drills in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan, which it described as the "largest ever." "The South Korean puppets will not go scot-free as they are introducing strategic US nuclear assets and turning the whole land of South Korea into the worst-ever field of a nuclear war, without seeing the imminent catastrophic disaster," the KCNA added, pledging that the North will mercilessly smash the "war frenzy" with concerted efforts and inflict "the most miserable death" upon the invaders. On Monday, the US and South Korean navies kicked off a five-day round of military drills, featuring the USS Stetham and the USS Mustin guided-missile destroyers, as well as the USS Reagan supercarrier. The joint US-South Korea drills, dubbed the Maritime Counter Special Operations Forces Exercise (MCSOFEX), are said to "promote communications, interoperability, and partnership" between the militaries of the two countries. Moreover, the US Forces Korea announced that it would coordinate with the US State Department and South Korean military in a drill to evacuate non-combatant US citizens from South Korea, dubbed "Courageous Channel," denying having direct ties to the present situation. The North Korean state-run news agency warned, however, that "reckless military gambling against the DPRK" may result in the "total destruction" of the US. Tensions in the area have previously soared amid North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and increasingly bellicose "exchange of pleasantries" between the North Korean leadership and US President Donald Trump. Kim Jong-un called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" and pledged to "tame him with fire," while the US president called the North Korean leaders a "little rocket man on a suicide mission." Furthermore, Kim Jong-un has vowed to take "highest-level" measures against Washington, as Trump threatened to "totally destroy" the country of 26 million, should the US be forced to defend itself and its allies from Pyongyang's nukes. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, however, that President Donald Trump had personally instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to calm the rising tensions with North Korea, pledging that the diplomatic efforts will continue "until the first bomb drops." North Korea fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July and conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September. Nearly 28,000 US troops are currently deployed in South Korea due to the North's perceived threat. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address French Defense Minister Set to Garner New Contract for Rafale Jets in India Sputnik News 19:59 18.10.2017(updated 20:50 18.10.2017) Dassault Aviation has already expressed its eagerness to set up a manufacturing unit in India. The proposal will be taken up for further discussion during Parley's meeting with India's top officials who are likely to insist on the 'Make in India' model. New Delhi (Sputnik) Aiming to bag an additional order of Rafale fighter jets from the Indian Armed forces, French Defense Minister Florence Parley is visiting India next week. He will be meeting top political figures and officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Parley will be accompanied by a delegation of defense officials and French defense industry representatives. The French delegation is scheduled to meet with Indian defense ministry officials on October 26, when potential defense projects under Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative will be primarily discussed. The discussion is expected to include a proposal by French firm Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale double engine fighter jet and Falcon 2000 business jets, about setting up a manufacturing unit in India. Sources told Sputnik that the discussions will focus on clearing the hurdles in defense cooperation including technology transfer; primarily from Safran, to several long-delayed Indian projects. "We are waiting for the final words on the jet engine program from the Indian side for a long time. It has not been moved as per our expectation," a French firm official told to Sputnik in New Delhi. Safran, Thales, and several other French firms are expecting major collaboration with Indian counterparts on the approximately $4 billion Rafale offset contract. Safran hopes to bag a contract for its high-power Aneto engine from India's state-owned HAL for its 12-ton multi-role helicopter program. Thales is also hoping to make a major push for its proposal to supply the $1.8 billion AESA radar systems for India's Tejas light combat aircraft. The Indian Air Force is also negotiating with France to procure 36 of its grounded Jaguar fighter aircraft to improve the serviceability of the six squadrons of the Jaguar deep penetration bombers which are in dire need of spare parts. Parley's visit will also mark a major precursor visit before French President Emmanuel Macron's arrival in India on December 8 for a three-day visit. During her stay in India, Parley will also launch Dassault-Reliance production facility in Nagpur which is part of India's largest greenfield aerospace project. Apart from the Dassault-Reliance offset facility, the park is also home to the proposed facilities of Thales, DAHER, and Strata amongst others. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India to Receive High-Tech US Carrier Launch System Sputnik News 00:09 19.10.2017 The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) to help jets take off from aircraft carriers - which has only just been tested on the US Navy's brand new USS Gerald Ford - will now find its way onto India's aircraft carriers. The US has agreed to provide the Indian Navy with EMALS for its new aircraft carrier under construction, the INS Vishal, India Times reported October 18. EMALS provides several advantages over previous carrier launch systems. It allows sailors to launch heavier aircraft or aircraft with extra weapons and more fuel than older systems, and it launches the aircraft more gently than the rough jolt of the steam catapults the US Navy presently uses. EMALS is less expensive to operate and takes up less space in a carriers' innards than steam catapult systems, according to General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, the California-based company that developed EMALS. The request to integrate EMALS on Indian carriers dates back to 2016, when New Delhi sent the Pentagon a letter of request (LoR) to buy the system for future supercarriers. US President Donald Trump previously blasted the launch system as "no good" in a rather colorful discussion on the technology. Speaking with Time Magazine in May, Trump explained, "You know the catapult is quite important. So I said what is this? Sir, this is our digital catapult system I said you don't use steam anymore for catapult? No sir. I said, 'Ah, how is it working?' 'Sir, not good. Not good. Doesn't have the power. You know the steam is just brutal. You see that sucker going and steam's going all over the place, there's planes thrown in the air.'" The president continued, "it sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital? What is digital?" before asserting "you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out." Regarding whether the technology would be on future carriers purchased by the US Navy, Trump recalled, "I said what system are you going to be 'Sir we're staying with digital.' I said no you're not. You're going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it's no good." The US Navy completed its first successful test of EMALS on the USS Ford earlier this year. It's expected EMALS will be on future US supercarriers despite the president's reservations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military advisor: Iran missile might, regional interests non-negotiable IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tabriz, Oct 18, IRNA -- Supreme Leader's senior military adviser Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said on Wednesday that Iran's missile might and the country's regional interests are non-negotiable. The US should understand that Iran's missile might and regional issues such as Syria and Iraq are related to Iran's national security and security of the region which are non-negotiable and the Americans have no options except withdrawing from their political stances and lift unfair economic sanctions against Iran, he said. Recent allegations made by the US president once again proved that he suffers lack of insight on global strategic issues mainly those in west of Asia, he said. The Americans are unable to understand developments in Iran and the region and suffer mental backwardness, Rahim-Safavi said adding that they have been defeated by Iran for several times and we should not neglect conspiracies by them and their allies such as Zionists. The US president should understand that the era of bullying is over and the US hell power is on downfall. Labeling the IRGC as terrorist was among other mistakes of the US president, Rahim Safavi said, adding that 'I do advise the US president ask about IRGC's power from its military forces in Iraq, Syria and Persian Gulf'. The US president should understand that the Iranian nation, the IRGC and armed forces are united in defending the county, he said. The Iranian armed forces and brave Iranian nation under leadership of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution are ready to deal with any scenario and will be the triumphant with reliance on Almighty God, Safavi said. 1430**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Leader: Europe should avoid meddling into matters of our defense IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Oct 18, IRNA -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatoallah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Europe should avoid meddling into the matters related to Iran's defense. The Supreme Leader made the remarks in a meeting with a group of outstanding university students and Olympiad winners this morning. 'We managed to stop the dominance of the US; furthermore, despite animosity of the US, we became powerful and progressed,' Ayatollah Khamenei said. Commenting on Trump's irrational behavior towards Iran, the Supreme leader said, 'The President of the United States displays nonsense; however, this should not lead us to ignore the mischief of the US regime. Everyone should be certain that the US will, once again, be beaten and defeated by the Iranian nation.' The United States is an international Zionist agent, the creator of the ISIS terrorist group, as well as takfiri terrorist fronts. Therefore, do you expect the US president not to be angry at IRGC that stands against ISIS? They are angry, because today the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to spoil their plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, etc, the Supreme Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say, 'JCPOA serves their interests; but, we will not tear up the deal before the other party does: if they tear up JCPOA, we shred it.' The Leader of the Islamic revolution touched on Europe's decision to maintain the JPOA stating: 'Europe's emphasis on maintaining the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) is simply not enough.' He went on to offer a strategy: First, Europe must oppose moves by the US; second, Europe must avoid intruding into our defensive affairs. If they ask questions like, 'why Iran is active in the region?'--well, it is none of their business. Or if they ask, 'why does Iran have missiles?'--then, our response is, 'why do they have missiles and nuclear weapons?' In a final statement, Ayatollah Khamenei warned, 'We won't accept Europeans singing along to the American's coercive words.' 1430**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran will rip nuclear deal to pieces if other party tears it up: Leader ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed / 18 October 2017 / 14:48 Tehran (ISNA) - Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that Iran will cut the nuclear deal with six world powers into shreds if the other party chooses to tear it up. Speaking at a Wednesday meeting with a group of Iranian academic elites in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei welcomed the European governments' condemnation of US President Donald Trump's recent decision not to certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "But this is not enough for them (EU) to say that he (Trump) should not tear up the JCPOA. The JCPOA serves their interests. As long as the other party has not torn up the JCPOA, we will not tear it up," said the Leader, warning that Iran will cut the deal into shreds if the other side tears it up. He said Europeans need to take practical measures in the face of Washington's threats to the deal, and refuse to join voices with the US in its opposition to Iran's regional role and defense program. Europe, the Leader said, should "avoid meddling with our defense issues." Ayatollah Khamenei also dismissed Western criticisms of Iran's conventional missile program, noting, "Why do you, yourself, have missiles? Why do you have atomic bombs?" The Leader went on to say that Iran has managed to stand against "the US hegemony" and make progress under pressure and sanctions, adding that Washington's anger stems from the Islamic Republic's strong role in the fight against the Takfiri Daesh terror group. "The US is the agent of the international Zionism; the US is the creator of Daesh and the Takfiri current; Do you expect the US not to be angry with the very force which is standing against Daesh? They are furious because the Islamic Republic has managed to thwart their plots" in regional states, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out. The Leader further denounced Trump's latest insults against the Iranian nation, saying it would be "a waste of time to respond to such blatherings and nonsensical remarks by the foulmouthed US president." End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Warmongers worried Iran abide by JCPOA: Zarif ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Wed / 18 October 2017 / 10:20 Tehran (ISNA) Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed that warmongers were more worried that Iran abide by the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement than violate it. "Warmongers confess they're more worried that we abide by #JCPOA than violate it. No spin will mask this," Zarif said on his official Twitter account on Tuesday referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent remarks. "US should try to comply-just like us," he added. When on Saturday Zarif in a tweet staged support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was targeted by US President Trump, the tweet came under spotlight all over the world. On Monday, Netanyahu posted a video message on his social network account asking Zarif to delete his Twitter account. Zarif described Netanyahu's remarks as belligerent and added that the reason the "Warmongers" are angry is that Iran has been committed to the nuclear agreement. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran will rip nuclear deal to pieces if other party tears it up: Leader Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:04AM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that Iran will cut the nuclear deal with six world powers into shreds if the other party chooses to tear it up. Speaking at a Wednesday meeting with a group of Iranian academic elites in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei welcomed the European governments' condemnation of US President Donald Trump's refusal to certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "But this is not enough for them (EU) to say that he (Trump) should not tear up the JCPOA. The JCPOA serves their interests. As long as the other party has not torn up the JCPOA, we will not tear it up," said the Leader, warning that Iran will rip the deal into shreds if the other side decides to tear it up. He said Europeans need to take practical measures in the face of Washington's threats to the deal, and refuse to join voices with the US in its opposition to Iran's regional role and defense program. Europe, the Leader said, should "avoid meddling with our defense issues." Ayatollah Khamenei also dismissed Western criticisms of Iran's conventional missile program, noting, "Why do you, yourself, have missiles? Why do you have atomic bombs?" The Leader went on to say that Iran has managed to stand against "the US hegemony" and make progress under pressure and sanctions, adding that Washington's anger stems from the Islamic Republic's strong role in the fight against the Takfiri Daesh terror group. "The US is the agent of the international Zionism; the US is the creator of Daesh and the Takfiri current; Do you expect the US not to be angry with the very force which is standing against Daesh? They are furious because the Islamic Republic has managed to thwart their plots" in regional states, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out. The Leader further denounced Trump's latest insults against the Iranian nation, saying it would be "a waste of time to respond to such blatherings and nonsensical remarks by the foulmouthed US president." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Rants and Whoppers': Ayatollah Khamenei Dismisses Trump's Remarks on Iran Sputnik News 22:13 18.10.2017(updated 22:14 18.10.2017) Iran's highest ranking leader does not want to dignify certain questions about US President Donald Trump's recent speech that was described by some observers as "bitter," "abusive" and "violent." On Wednesday, shortly after Trump moved to decertify the 2015 nuclear deal struck with Iran, all the while blasting Tehran as a sponsor of terrorism, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of students in Tehran, "I don't want to waste my time on answering the rants and whoppers of the brute US president." Trump refers to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program as a terrible deal. On Friday, the president falsely stated that Iran has not complied with the multilateral accord. The claim contradicts assertions from top US officials, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, who recently said "Iran is not in material breach of the agreement." Radio Sputnik's Loud and Clear spoke with several experts on Friday about the situation vis-a-vis Iran. Trump vilified the Iranian government in the most "violent" terms possible, said Mohammad Marandi, professor at the University of Tehran. Speaking to hosts Brian Becker and Walter Smolarek from London, Shabbir Razvi, managing director at International Finance Solutions Associates, called the president's remarks "bitter and abusive." Khamenei berated the real estate mogul-turned chief executive for displays of "stupidity" while noting "this should not cause us to ignore America's mischief." Trump accused Iran of engaging in excessive "destabilizing activities" in the Middle East; Khamenei suggested that it's only the US leadership's vision for the region that's been upended. "They are angry as today the Islamic Republic of Iran has disrupted their plans in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq," the Ayatollah said. The White House announced new sanctions Friday targeting the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The "core elements of the president's new Iran strategy," according to a White House fact sheet, include seeking "to deny the Iranian regime and especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps funding for its malign activities." The Iranian leader rebuked French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestion that renewed negotiations were needed to target Iran's ballistic missile program, Agency France-Presse reports. European leaders "must refrain from entering into our defense issues." Regarding Tehran's regional operations, Khamenei said American and European leaders must simply "deal with it." Khamenei also pointed out the hypocrisy of nations with ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons accusing Iran of wrongdoing. "To ask why Iran has missiles well, why do you have missiles? Why do you have nuclear weapons," he queried, noting that these discussions amounted to little more than "bullying." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At UN, US Envoy Cites 'Laundry List' of Iranian Bad Behavior By Margaret Besheer October 18, 2017 U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley lashed out Wednesday at Iran for what she called a "laundry list" of bad behavior, and she criticized the U.N. Security Council for not holding Tehran accountable. "Every six months the Security Council is presented with a laundry list of bad news but only somehow manages to only hear the good news," Haley said, referring to the twice-annual report the U.N. secretary-general sends to the council on implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal. Haley spoke at a monthly council meeting that primarily reviews the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Since arriving at the U.N. in January as President Donald Trump's envoy, she has sought to highlight Iranian behavior and that of its regional proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, during the monthly session. Last week, Trump said he could not certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal, and he opened the door to Congress re-imposing some or all U.S. unilateral sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the international agreement. "Judging Iran by the narrow confines of the nuclear deal misses the true nature of the threat," Haley said. "Iran must be judged in totality of its aggressive, destabilizing and unlawful behavior to do otherwise would be foolish," she said. She called Iran out for its support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and its supply of weapons to Shi'ite Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Ballistic missiles Even more troubling, she said, is Iran's ballistic missile activity. In July, Tehran launched a space launch vehicle that the United States, Britain, France and Germany all parties to the nuclear deal said was "inconsistent" with the U.N. resolution endorsing the agreement. The allies characterized it as a "threatening and provocative step" in a letter to the U.N. secretary-general. Under the resolution, the international community "calls upon" Iran not to undertake any ballistic-missile-related activity that could carry nuclear warheads, including launches using such ballistic missile technology. "Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior," Haley said. "And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop." Israel U.N. envoy Danny Danon also devoted his entire remarks to Iran, and he did not mention the situation in his own country and the occupied Palestinian territories. Danon said the nuclear deal did not eliminate the threat of nuclear destruction. "At its best, if Iran does not cheat on the agreement, the pact just delays the nuclear program," he told council members. He warned that Israel would take action if it felt threatened. "We will defend our citizens, our values and our way of life, with all necessary force and the full power of our convictions," Danon said. "If we are attacked by Iran, the regime will face no fiercer enemy than Israel." Israel He did not address Israel's announcement this week of plans for more than 2,000 new housing units in the occupied West Bank or the conditional approval of building permits in Hebron. Israeli settlement activity is illegal under international law. Nor did Danon mention the deal last week between feuding Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to reconcile, with Hamas ceding the administrative control it has had of the Gaza Strip for the past decade to President Mahmoud Abbas' government. Russia's envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, indirectly chided Haley for focusing on the Iran deal and not mentioning the Palestinian issue. "The agenda for the meeting today is the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at least this is what the paper in front of me states," Nebenzia said. "The absence of even a reference to that is something that cannot infuse us with optimism." Of the handful of council members who did mention Iran, it was to express their continued support for the nuclear deal. Iran's U.N. ambassador, Gholamali Khoshrro, said the U.S. actions on the Iran deal have served to isolate it internationally. "If we had hegemonic ambitions, the nuclear deal would never have been reached," Khoshrro told the council. "The new U.S. administration approach and the recent dangerous strategy toward the deal and Iran run counter to all of these efforts, and intend to add another crisis to the regional issues." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address EU reiterates commitment to Iran deal amid US threat to scrap it Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 05:05PM The EU foreign policy chief has reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to the 2015 international nuclear agreement between Iran and six other countries in the face of the belligerent US rhetoric against the accord. "At a time of acute nuclear threats the European Union is determined to preserve the JCPOA as a key pillar of the international non-proliferation architecture," Federica Mogherini said in Luxembourg on Thursday. The JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany is officially called. She also described the agreement as "the culmination of 12 years of diplomacy facilitated by the European Union" and endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231. "The European Union is committed to the continued full and effective implementation of all parts of the JCPOA. The European Union underlines that the lifting of nuclear related sanctions has a positive impact on trade and economic relations with Iran," she added. Under the deal, Iran undertook to apply certain limits to its nuclear program in exchange for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran. Donald Trump, who rose to the US presidency a year after the implementation of the deal had begun, has opposed it. On Friday, Trump refused to certify Iran's compliance with the terms of the nuclear accord under a domestic American law, kicking a decision to Congress over whether to restore sanctions against the Islamic Republic. He also threatened to "terminate" the JCPOA if he could not "reach a solution working with Congress and our allies" to change it. On Monday, Trump further termed the JCPOA "a horrible deal for the United States" and warned that the agreement's "total termination" was "a very real possibility." Elsewhere in her comments, Mogherini said the EU "encourages" Washington to maintain its commitment to the JCPOA. Russia supports JCPOA Separately on Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Ryabkov in Moscow. During the meeting, Ryabkov said Moscow remains committed to the Iran nuclear deal, according to a statement by Russia's Foreign Ministry. He also stressed that Moscow and Tehran could not be indifferent to the "irresponsible" US stance on the JCPOA, IRNA reported. The Iranian official, for his part, said the JCPOA is not a bilateral agreement between Iran and the US, but rather an international document that is endorsed by the UN Security Council. "We should not allow a country to make decision for the world and I think that Russia and Iran share a common stance on this issue," Araqchi pointed out. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian Opposition Figure Karrubi Allowed To Meet With Activist For First Time Since Arrest RFE/RL October 19, 2017 Iranian authorities have allowed opposition figure Mehdi Karrubi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, to meet with an activist from his own party, the first such meeting in the past six years. Karrubi's son, Hossein Karrubi, revealed the meeting in an October 19 interview with the Iranian news site Ensafnews. He said the meeting took place last week following a decision by Iran's Supreme National Council. "They took Esmail Doosti, a member of the central council of the National Trust Party to Karrubi last week," Hossein Karrubi said. Karrubi, 79, along with former prime minister Mir Hossein Musavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard, were placed under house arrest in February 2011 for challenging the establishment over the disputed 2009 presidential vote and for highlighting human rights abuses. They have not been officially charged, and were allowed only meetings with immediate family members. Karrubi's son quoted the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council as saying that could change. "A while ago [Ali] Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, had informed lawmakers [working] to remove the house arrest about this and told them: 'We want to take some friends to visit Karrubi and Musavi.' "I've heard that the Supreme National Security Council has voted to gradually allow some to meet with Karrubi and Musavi," Karrubi's son said, adding, "They've started with Karrubi." Health Problems There was no immediate confirmation about the meeting from Iranian authorities. Karrubi, a former speaker of parliament, has been hospitalized several times in recent months due to heart problems. Musavi and Rahnavard are also suffering from health problems, their daughters have said. Rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of the opposition figures. Amnesty International has said that it was "high time" Iranian authorities ended their "unjust treatment" of Karrubi, Musavi, and Rahnavard. "All three have been unjustly deprived of their liberty in a chilling illustration of Iran's zero tolerance approach to political dissent," the London-based watchdog's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi said in July. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-karrubi-meets- activist-doosti/28804308.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq Recaptures More Kirkuk Oil Fields By Ken Bredemeier October 17, 2017 Iraqi forces advanced rapidly through the northern reaches of the country Tuesday, recapturing territory and the two largest oil fields from Kurds, virtually ending their hopes for an independent state. A day after seizing Kirkuk, a city of a million people, Baghdad's troops took back towns and the countryside, with the Kurds retreating without a fight. The Bai Hasan and Avana oil fields accounted for about 250,000 barrels of production a day of the 650,000 the autonomous Kurdish region exported to finance its operations. Their loss deals an economic blow to Kurdish efforts to declare independence from the central government in Baghdad. Kurds voted in a referendum last month for a separate state, but Baghdad declared the vote illegal. Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi said Baghdad would now try to boost production at the Kirkuk oil fields to more than one million barrels a day. The U.S. has trained both the Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, aligning with them jointly in the fight against Islamic State jihadists. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has taken no sides as the balance of power shifts in northern Iraq. 'Peaceful handover' U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-supported coalition fighting Islamic State, said, "What we have seen is a peaceful handover of areas around Kirkuk. They handed over the keys if you will." He said that aside from a skirmish south of Kirkuk early Monday that claimed the lives of Iraqi forces and Peshmerga fighters after miscommunications at a Kurdish checkpoint, "there have been no further reports of armed conflict or contact between the two groups." He said U.S. military commanders are continuing to "monitor the situation, and our leaders, talking with counterparts in both the Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga, urge all sides to avoid escalation. These tensions distract from our unified fight against ISIS, which remains a very real threat here in Iraq." A Yazidi group allied with Baghdad also took control of the town of Sinjar, with Kurdish forces leaving before dawn Tuesday. The Peshmerga also pulled out of the long-disputed Khanaqin region near the Iranian border. The Kurds had taken control of the territory they yielded this week in the chaos following the Islamic State advance through northern and western Iraq in 2014. Now the jihadists have also lost much of the vast sweep of lands they claimed in Iraq and Syria, including Raqqa in northern Syria, once the self-proclaimed capital of their religious caliphate. Iraqi flags raised Tuesday's developments followed a swift move by Iraqi government forces Monday to capture the Kirkuk governor's office, key military sites and an oil field. The U.S.-trained troops, acting on orders from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, raised Iraqi flags in place of Kurdish banners. The U.S. Defense Department, which has supported the Iraqi forces and helped train Kurdish fighters in the battle against Islamic State militants, said Monday the Iraqi troop movements were "coordinated" with Peshmerga force withdrawals. "We continue to support a unified Iraq. Dialogue remains the best option to defuse ongoing tensions and longstanding issues," Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Robert Manning told reporters Monday. 'Heavy price' However, the Peshmerga said Baghdad would pay "a heavy price" for the "war on the Kurdistan people." When asked about the situation during a press briefing at the White House, Trump said the United States is remaining neutral, noting the "very good relationship" with the Kurds and that "we've also been on the side of Iraq." "We don't like the fact that they're clashing," Trump said. "We are not taking sides in that battle." Carla Babb, Nike Ching, Michael Bowman, Serhan Akyildiz and Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kurdish Officials Blame Iran as Disputed Territories Fall to Iraqi Forces By Rikar Hussein, Mehdi Jedinia October 17, 2017 Officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government are accusing Iran of playing a key role in the fall of disputed territories in northern Iraq including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a claim rejected by Iranian officials. This week the Iraqi government forces backed by Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) marched into the Kurdish-controlled disputed territories after Kurdish forces known as Peshmerga withdrew from the region. "Iranians were leading the battle on Kirkuk and our forces had to withdraw to protect the lives of Peshmerga," Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, the commander of Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk, said in a statement Monday. "The decision [to withdraw] was not a mistake," he emphasized. The Iraqi army and the PMF started their advances into Kirkuk on Monday after weeks of threats following the Kurdish referendum. Faced with minimum confrontation from Kurdish forces, the army captured the entire city including its key military installations and oil fields in a few hours. While claiming that it respects Iraq's sovereignty, Iran has refused its involvement in the takeover. "Iran has no role in Kirkuk operation and most Iraqi Kurdish people are opposed to [KRG president] Masoud Barzani's ambitions," Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters Tuesday after a meeting with France's special envoy for Syria. "We saw that almost without any conflict, the region came under the control of Iraqi central government. Barzani must realize and admit that he has made a mistake," he said referring to the controversial referendum vote that Kurdish leader adamantly supported. Importance of Kirkuk Kirkuk is rich with natural resources including gas and oil, and is part of territories claimed by both the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan region. The city came under the control of Kurds in 2014 when the Iraqi forces left their bases following a large scale push by the Islamic State terror group. The conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi government over control of the city is decades old. What exacerbated that situation was Kurdish Regional Government's decision to proceed with the controversial referendum and the inclusion of Kirkuk in the vote, despite strong opposition from the central government in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider-al-Abadi said the takeover is within the "national constitutional mandate" to reinstall Baghdad's power over the "federal facilities" in Kirkuk and other disputed territories. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition spokesperson told reporters Tuesday that based on their available intelligence, they have not seen Iranian IRGC units or the PMF in Kirkuk. "We don't have any reporting or any indications that there are units in and around Kirkuk of [IRGC] elements," Colonel Ryan Dillion said. But a statement from the Peshmerga Ministry on Monday claimed the Iraqi operation was led by an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) known as Iqbal Pur. Domestically, some put the blame on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party (PUK) as well, alleging that because of their rivalry with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, they yielded the way for advancing Iraqi and PMF forces. "The attack, which came from the Iraqi government, the Popular Mobilization Forces, and IRGC's Quds forces, is in retaliation to the calls for freedom by the people of Kurdistan," the Ministry of Peshmerga said in a statement. "Unfortunately, some PUK leaders aided the conspiracy by leaving some key defense lines to the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Iranian IRGC." Ruling PDK officials blamed Iran for sowing the division among Kurdish political parties and using PUK as a means. PUK officials denied the allegations of teaming up with Iran and cited the prevention of casualties to Kurdish forces as reason behind their retreat. Monday's retreat continued onto Tuesday as well, with Kurds withdrawing from more territories in Nineveh Plains and the town of Sinjar. Regional Influence Experts say the neighboring countries, including Iran, Turkey and Syria, which are home to a significant number of Kurdish population, fear that an independent Kurdistan could have a domino effect in the region. To prevent that, they argue that these powers take advantage of the internal divisions amongst Iraqi Kurds. "It is clear that there is no coherence between Kurdish leaders and their forces," said Ammer Goli, a Hamburg-based Kurdistan affairs analyst. "Kurdish forces are not lined under one banner or joint command but show their allegiances to various leaders and factions," he added. Goli said Tehran has tried to sustain its leverage on the PUK for strategic purposes while the ruling PDK has warmed up its relations with Ankara. Tehran strongly opposed the Kurdish referendum from the beginning and its strongman Ayatollah Khamenei called it a "plot by Zionists." Iranian officials reportedly met with the PUK leaders several times in an attempt to dissuade them from their September 25 independence referendum. Some experts believe Iran has maximized its benefits from the recent developments in northern Iraq and the region. "Tehran has been the winner of the conflicts in the region so far," Julian Roepcke, a Germany-based analyst with Bild newspaper, told VOA. "It is difficult to know if the Iraqi forces and its affiliated Shiite PMF militia started their attacks with a green light from Tehran, but the result seems to be in Tehran's benefits," Roepcke added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Kurdistan vote postponed as 'civil war' looms large Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 05:02PM Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has decided to postpone the presidential and legislative elections in the northern semi-autonomous region amid spiraling tensions with the Baghdad government in the wake of last month's Kurdish independence referendum and a dire "threat of civil war" there. The KRG's Independent High Electoral Commission announced on Wednesday that it had "opted to suspend temporarily preparations for the November polls due to the current situation." The commission said it was up to the regional parliament to set a new date for elections, adding that it had not received any nominations for the presidential poll by the deadline. The KRG's elections commission had set October 3 as the last day to nominate candidates for the presidential election in the Kurdistan region. Mohammad Tawfiq Rahim, the coordinator of diplomatic relations in the Movement for Change and a prominent rival of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, was the only candidate registered to run, but the commission ruled he had missed the deadline. Barzani has repeatedly said he will not stand for another term. Meanwhile, a senior leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has warned that the Kurdistan region may split, leading to a "civil war" that would prompt regional and international powers to intervene. "There is a grave danger of the Kurdistan region splitting into two administrations. This is expected to cause civil war and regional and international interference," Mala Bakhtiyar, the executive head of the PUK politburo, warned in a statement. The referendum on secession of the Kurdistan region was held on September 25 despite strong opposition from the central government in Baghdad, the international community, and Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey and Iran. Following the vote, Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales. On October 12, an Iraqi government spokesman said Baghdad had set a series of conditions that the KRG needed to meet before any talks on the resolution of the referendum crisis could start. "The KRG must first commit to Iraq's unity. The local authorities in the [Kurdistan] region must accept the sovereign authority of the federal government on oil exports, [as well as] security and border protection, including land and air entry points," the unnamed Iraqi official added. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has already demanded the annulment of the referendum. During a recent press conference in Paris, Abadi said his government did not seek confrontation with Iraqi Kurds, but reiterated Baghdad's position that the vote was illegal and that problems should be solved within the framework of Iraq's constitution. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kurdish forces withdraw to June 2014 line: Iraqi commander Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 09:05AM A senior Iraqi military commander says Kurdish Peshmerga forces have pulled back to the positions they held in June 2014, before the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group swept through the Arab country. The commander told Reuters on Wednesday that the withdrawal came after the Kurds handed over their positions in the northwestern Nineveh Province to Iraqi troops. Additionally on Wednesday, Iraqi forces said that they had achieved their objectives in a 48-hour operation against Kurdish forces in the disputed areas. "Security has been restored in sectors of Kirkuk. Forces have been redeployed and have retaken control of Khanaqin and Jalawla in Diyala province, as well as Makhmur, Bashiqa, Mosul Dam, Sinjar and other areas in the Nineveh plains," the federal government's Joint Operations Command said. Earlier in the day, the Iraqi military said in a statement that government forces had managed to retake control of parts of the northwestern Nineveh Province that were controlled by the Kurdish forces over the past three years. The Nineveh areas were evacuated by Kurdish forces before the arrival of Iraqi soldiers, the statement read. Kurdish forces have been holding parts of the Iraqi territory since 2014, when they joined the fight against Daesh. Baghdad has long wanted the Kurds to pull out of the territories they seized during their advances against Daesh. On Monday, Iraqi government forces and allied fighters entered the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Kurdish Peshmerga forces withdrew without a fight and thus Iraqi troops recaptured some neighborhoods, the Kirkuk provincial governor's office, key military bases and several oil fields. The oil fields won back accounted for over 400,000 of the 650,000 barrels per day that Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region used to export. The last Kirkuk oil field still in Kurdish hands is the Khurmala field, south of Erbil, the main city in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region. On Tuesday, the Izadi Kurdish town of Sinjar, situated in Nineveh Province, was also retaken from the Kurdish forces. The developments followed weeks of simmering tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over a recent controversial referendum on the secession of the Iraqi Kurdish region. The plebiscite took place on September 25, sparking strong objection from Baghdad. Iraq's neighbors and the international community also voiced concerns about the repercussions of the vote, which was only supported by Israel. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that the independence referendum was now "a thing of the past," adding, "Central authority must be imposed everywhere in Iraq." President Fuad Masum also blamed the Kurdish vote for triggering Baghdad's operation. "Holding a referendum on the Kurdistan region's independence from Iraq stirred grave disagreements between the central government and the government of Kurdistan," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Oil Giant Rosneft Says Signs Production Deal With Iraqi Kurdistan October 18, 2017 Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft says it has signed a production-sharing agreement with Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region worth up to $400 million. The October 18 announcement comes at a time of high tensions in the oil-rich Kurdish region after officials there last month held an independence referendum that the federal government in Baghdad has refused to recognize. Rosneft said it would pay up to $400 million for 80 percent in the production-sharing deals for five oil blocks, although half of the amount could come in the form of crude oil pumped from the facilities. Rosneft said a "conservative" estimate put recoverable oil reserves in the five blocks at some 670 million barrels. The deal envisions a joint-exploration program and pilot production to begin next year. If all goes to plan, Rosneft said full development of the blocks would start in 2021. On September 25, Iraqi Kurds voted overwhelmingly in an independence referendum to split from Baghdad, leading to an armed standoff between Kurdish and Iraqi troops. On October 16 and 17, Iraqi troops retook without almost any resistance the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which had been under Kurdish control since 2014. Kirkuk Province, which lies outside the official Kurdistan region, is claimed by both Kurdish and Iraqi officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is not taking sides in the dispute between the Kurds and the government in Baghdad. Based on reporting by AFP, Bloomberg, and TASS Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iraq-rosneft-oil- deal-kurdistan/28802689.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Divide & Conquer: Daesh Advances Amid Rift Between Baghdad, Kurdish Authorities Sputnik News 21:58 18.10.2017(updated 22:10 18.10.2017) A source from the Iraqi Security Forces has told Sputnik that Daesh militants have taken advantage of the political crisis between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Erbil, and have freely advanced into recently liberated villages in Kirkuk province. The terrorists advanced into the area from villages under their control from the Al-Hawija area, west of Kirkuk province, the source said. Locals told Sputnik that they saw terrorists enter the area of al-Dabas, about 24 km north of Al-Hawija, and several other nearby villages in Kirkuk province. Daesh freely entered the villages, locals said, because Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were absent, and residents had fled from the area to the cities of Sulaymaniyah and Erbil. The fighters have now established themselves in the area, the source added. Late last month, Iraqi Kurdistan held a referendum on independence, with 92.7% of voters voting for independence amid turnout of 72.8%. The referendum has led to an increase in tensions in the Middle East, with global and regional actors searching out ways to establish their position vis-a-vis Erbil. Iraq's neighbors of Turkey, Iran and Syria are particularly concerned, given the Kurdish populations in their own countries. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Haider Abadi said that Iraq's dialogue with Erbil should be based on Iraq's constitution. Over the weekend, Iraqi police and military in Kirkuk province secured bases and federal facilities including oil fields and transport infrastructure. Erbil, which has administered the facilities over the past three years, offered no resistance. The United States has been left in a bind by the conflict, calling on Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to avoid provocations in Kirkuk. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Prime Minister Sees Kurdish Autonomy Referendum Problem as 'Passed Stage' Sputnik News 07:22 18.10.2017 Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced that he had brought the idea to Iraqi Kurdistan's leadership that the referendum would harm their own interests. CAIRO (Sputnik) The problem of the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan remains in the past, the dialogue with Erbil should be based on the country's constitution, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said Tuesday. Late on Sunday, Abadi ordered the country's army and police to secure bases and federal facilities in the Kirkuk province following the Kurdish independence referendum on September 25, which was deemed illegal by Baghdad. "Now the referendum problem is over and has become a passed stage," Abadi said at a weekly press conference in Baghdad. The prime minister also urged the Kurdish leaders to conduct a dialogue on the basis of the constitution. "I brought the idea to the Kurdish leadership that the referendum would primarily harm their own interests," Abadi said. On Monday, Iraqi troops regained control over a number of military and transport facilities in the province, including the airport, military base, oil fields and the city of Kirkuk, which was under the direct administration of the Kurdish autonomy for the past three years. On Tuesday, the army of the country and the Shia militiamen also took the town of Sinjar and the dam near the city of Mosul without any resistance from Kurdish paramilitary groups Peshmerga. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address State Department: Kirkuk Crisis 'Not Over by Any means' By Nike Ching October 18, 2017 Iraq's military said Wednesday its forces recaptured control of more areas from Kurdish fighters, including the Mosul Dam, after carrying out an operation to reclaim the city of Kirkuk and oil fields in the northern part of the country. The military statement said "security has been restored" in Kirkuk. Kurds had taken control of the area in 2014 during the chaotic sweep by Islamic State militants through northern and western Iraq. The country's central government demanded the Kurds relinquish control, and acted after Kurdish authorities went through with an independence referendum last month. The Iraqi forces have faced little resistance, with Kurdish fighters retreating without a fight in most of the areas reclaimed in the past few days. The two sides have fought alongside each other during the campaign to oust Islamic State from Iraq and each has received military support from the United States. "Our efforts for the moment is aimed at minimizing potential for additional confrontation, aimed at de-escalating tensions, returning to a sense of normalcy and stability," U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq Joseph Pennington said Tuesday. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters the United States is not taking sides in the tensions between its allies. "Our advisors are not supporting the government of Iraq, and we're not supporting the Kurdistan Regional Government activities," Nauert said. "We're trying to get the situation calmed as best as possible." The United States was among those that joined with Iraq in opposing the Kurdish referendum. Iran and Turkey, which each have large Kurdish populations as well, were also against it. Questioning the goal behind the vote, Iraq's ambassador to the United States, Fareed Yasseen, told VOA on Tuesday: "The whole idea was to keep our focus on fighting ISIS. This is why all the countries in the world, including the U.S., tried to convince the Kurdish leadership to postpone at the very least, this idea of referendum." "Who wants war?" Yasseen added, referring to concerns that tensions may escalate into a civil war between Iraqi and Kurdish forces. A fight for independence Earlier Tuesday, President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani said the Kurdish vote for independence "won't be in vain." He also defended his intention to prevent a civil conflict, saying "We never wanted to fight, but fighting has always been imposed on us." Some analysts said while Iraqi forces are trying to restore their control over disputed territories, Baghdad already has in Kirkuk what it needs to block independence. "What is needed now is to calm the situation," said Daniel Serwer of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "Baghdad and Irbil need to be back to the negotiating table, where they can discuss Kurdistan's relationship with the rest of Iraq." In a statement, the State Department said it supports a "peaceful exercise of joint administration by the central and regional governments" in all disputed areas. Pennington told VOA under Iraq's constitution, the central government has the rights to have a presence in disputed territories, and there is a "constitutional mechanism." "Obviously before we can get to the details of what that would look like, you need to have a stabilized environment to have those discussions" and to bring people together, added Pennington. U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-supported coalition fighting Islamic State, said: "What we have seen is a peaceful handover of areas around Kirkuk. They handed over the keys if you will." He said that aside from a skirmish south of Kirkuk early Monday that claimed the lives of Iraqi forces and Peshmerga fighters after miscommunications at a Kurdish checkpoint, "there have been no further reports of armed conflict or contact between the two groups." He said U.S. military commanders are continuing to "monitor the situation, and our leaders, talking with counterparts in both the Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga, urge all sides to avoid escalation. These tensions distract from our unified fight against ISIS, which remains a very real threat here in Iraq." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq warns oil companies against Kurdistan deals Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 06:29PM Iraq's oil ministry has cautioned oil companies against signing contracts with authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region without its approval. "This department and the Iraqi federal government are the only two bodies with whom agreements should be reached for the development and investments in the energy sector," the ministry said in a statement. Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaybi also denounced the "irresponsible announcements coming from certain officials in Iraq or abroad, or from foreign companies about their intention to conclude deals with parties in Iraq without the federal government being aware." "The federal government and the oil ministry are the only bodies responsible for developing oil and gas strategy and authorized to sign agreements with foreign countries and companies," the minister stressed. This comes a day after Russian energy giant Rosneft signed a deal to put production sharing agreements into force with respect to five production blocks in the Iraqi Kurdistan. On Wednesday, the Russian state-controlled giant said it would pay up to $400 million for 80 percent in the venture as part of the deal with the Kurdistan authorities. A joint exploration program and pilot production is to start next year. If successful, Rosneft said it would start full-field development of the blocks in 2021. Recoverable oil reserves at the five blocks are around 670 million barrels, the Russian company said, calling the estimate "conservative." Rosneft and the Iraqi Kurdistan are already cooperating on crude purchases and sales, but the new deal "will allow us to talk about full-fledged entry of the company in one of the most promising regions" of the developing global energy market, Rosneft said. On Thursday, Rosneft boss Igor Sechin told Russian news agencies that the company strictly followed the law and said that "if there are problems between the government of Iraq and Kurdistan then they need to solve the problems themselves." "I am not a politician, my job is to produce oil," Sechin added The agreement came as the Iraqi forces took control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Monday, removed Kurdish flags from government buildings and replaced them with the Iraqi flag. Kurdish leaders have coveted Kirkuk for long and described it as part of their territory even as roughly two-thirds of the city's population is non-Kurd. Kirkuk is not one of the three provinces that have made up the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region since 2003. However, Kurdish militants used a vacuum created when government troops were fighting against Daesh terrorists to overtake the city. Tensions flared up between Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad after the KRG held a highly controversial plebiscite on secession. The referendum was held on September 25 despite strong opposition from the central government in Baghdad, the international community, and Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey and Iran. Following the vote, Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi court issues arrest warrant for Kurdistan's vice president Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 03:16PM An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), accusing him of provocation against the Arab country's armed forces, which managed to take over Kirkuk province earlier this week. Baghdad's Rusafa Investigation Court on Thursday ordered the arrest of Kosrat Rasul, who had referred to the Iraqi army and federal police as "occupation forces" in a statement he released a day earlier. In his statement, Rasul, who is also the vice president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish parties alongside the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), had also criticized his group for not having resisted the entry of Iraqi forces into Kirkuk on Monday. The court announced that it "considers these comments as provocation against the armed forces, under Article 226 of the penal code," an offence, which can entail a prison term of up to seven years or a fine, said a judiciary spokesman for the court. Rasul entered Kirkuk with his Peshmerga fighters on Sunday, but withdrew from the oil-rich northern city without a fight. The withdrawal came after the Kurds handed over their positions in the northwestern province of Nineveh to Iraqi troops following a 48-hour operation against Kurdish forces in the disputed areas. Kurdish leaders have coveted Kirkuk, which houses some 10 percent of Iraq's oil reserves, for long and described it as part of their territory even though roughly two-thirds of the city's population is non-Kurd. Kirkuk is the capital city of a province with the same name, which is not one of the three provinces that have made up the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region since 2003. However, Kurdish militants used a vacuum created when government troops were fighting against Daesh terrorists to overtake the city. The developments followed weeks of simmering tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over a highly controversial independence referendum the KRG held on September 25 in open defiance of the central government in Baghdad. Following the vote, Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales. Last week, Iraq's judiciary also issued arrest warrants for three senior Kurdish officials, who were allegedly behind the contentious plebiscite, which also faced strong opposition from regional countries, including Iran and Turkey. Iraq's Supreme Court has already ruled the referendum unconstitutional. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tillerson blames 'Myanmar military' over Rohingya Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:29AM US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said Washington holds Myanmar's military leadership responsible for a harsh crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims but stopped short of saying whether Washington would take any action to address the issue. "The world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in the area," Tillerson said at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday. "We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening in the Rakhine area," he added, referring to the state in Myanmar where the Rohingya Muslims have been facing government-sanctioned violence since late last year. "Someone, if these reports are true, is going to be held to account for that," Tillerson said, apparently referring to the widespread reports of killings, rapings, and other abuse against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Apart from expressions of concern, the US has taken no action to pressure the government or the military in Myanmar to end the abuses. Forty three US lawmakers recently called on the administration of President Donald Trump to re-impose US travel bans on Myanmar's military leaders and slap sanctions against those responsible for the crackdown. Their call, however, was not heeded. Tillerson's Wednesday remarks may also be an attempt at diverting blame away from Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with whose government America has had close ties. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has taken almost no meaningful action to end the abuses against the Rohingya. While some reports have said she may not have an influence over the military leaders, she has taken a stance that most resembles theirs. Tillerson's comments came a day after a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that nearly 300 villages of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority had been burned in Myanmar since the start of the latest military offensive in Rakhine. The Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine have been subjected to violence by soldiers and Buddhist mobs since October 2016. The violence has seen a sharp rise since late August. Over the past weeks, there have been numerous reports of systematic violence against the Rakhine-based Muslims, including random shootings, rape, and arson attacks, in what is censured by the UN as an ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority group. Rohingya Muslims, recognized by the UN as the world's most persecuted minority group, are denied Myanmarese citizenship as the country's leadership brands them illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. According to the latest UN figures, some 582,000 Rohingya refugees have now fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since late August, while between 10,000 to 15,000 others have amassed near a crossing point, waiting to join the makeshift camps on the Bangladeshi border. Myanmar has failed to protect Rohingya: UN Separately on Wednesday, two UN special advisers said Myanmar's government had failed to meet its international obligations and protect Rohingya Muslims from the atrocities taking place in Rakhine. Adama Dieng, the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, and Ivan Simonovic, the special adviser on the responsibility to protect, said in a joint statement that the international response to the crisis in Myanmar had been a failure. "Despite warnings issued by us and by many other officials, the government of Myanmar has failed to meet its obligations under international law and primary responsibility to protect the Rohingya population from atrocity crimes," the statement said. "The international community has equally failed its responsibilities in this regard," it added. The UN Security Council has called on Myanmar to end the military operations in Rakhine, grant access to aid workers, and allow the safe return of the Rohingya refugees. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bangladesh Registers Thousands of Orphans in Rohingya Refugee camps By Joe Freeman, Muktadir Rashid October 19, 2017 The Bangladeshi government has registered thousands of orphans in Rohingya refugee camps as officials and aid groups attempt to figure out a plan to deal with large numbers of unaccompanied minors. Nearly 600,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmar since attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on August 25, sparking a military response that rights groups and the United Nations have described as ethnic cleansing. A majority of those who have fled are children, and many may have lost their parents in Myanmar or along the way. Children in UNICEF's child-friendly centers have drawn gruesome pictures of military raids and violent attacks on villagers, though Myanmar vigorously denies targeting civilians. Difficult task Pritam Kumar Chowdhury, the deputy director of the Social Welfare Department in Cox's Bazar district, said there may be more than 15,000 orphans, though he says verifying individual claims is difficult with scant additional information. "In Bangladesh, when we identify any orphan, our officials visit their house to confirm it. But here it is not possible to go to Myanmar to verify the claims. So whatever they are saying we are collecting that information," he told VOA, adding that the government is also talking to neighbors and people whom the children may have traveled with from Myanmar. "But there is no evidence, rather we are depending on the verbal statement. We are maintaining our strategy to complete the formalities. We are not claiming it is 100 percent correct but it is not all a wrong list." Jean-Jacques Simon, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said in an email that out of the 14,740 children registered as "orphans" with the government, half of the cases have been reviewed and entered into the Ministry of Social Welfare database. There were only 15 known cases of children actually living completely alone in the camps. UNICEF says it is in contact with the government at the local level "to know where these 15 children are right now and to ensure their protection." Chaotic situation The dusty roads of the camps and makeshift settlements in southern Bangladesh are teeming with children, some attended by adults and others not, and the chaotic situation makes them vulnerable to abuse and other risks. "We really need to have a space for the children," said Dr. Erum Mariam, the director of the BRAC Institute of Educational Development. BRAC, an NGO based in Bangladesh, has helped organize clothing donations for children, build child-friendly spaces, and provide on-site counselors. "We are really working on many different levels now," she said. The government has also floated the idea of building orphanages, and discussed the idea with aid groups this week, Mariam said. If the idea does move forward, it's important to have the capacity to make it work, she added. "There has to be so much engagement with the children, and understanding, understanding the trauma," she said. Pritam, with the Social Welfare Department, said more concrete options will be considered once officials have a clearer idea of the scope of the problem. "Their fate will be decided by the government. But until then, we are concentrating on registration. Whatever the decision will be will come afterwards," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Taliban Confirms Death of Its Top Leader By Madeeha Anwar October 18, 2017 Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) on Wednesday confirmed the death of Umar Mansoor, one of the group's top leaders and who allegedly was responsible for carrying out several deadly attacks in Pakistan. Mansoor was reportedly the mastermind behind the 2014 massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar, which claimed the lives of more than 140 people, a majority of them children. "We confirm the death of Khalifa Umar Mansoor, and announce that Khalifa Usman Mansoor Hafizullah will succeed him as TTP's ameer (commander) in Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar," said a TTP statement emailed to Pakistani media. The message didn't reveal any further information on how and under what circumstances the Taliban leader was killed. Pakistani media however reported that Mansoor had been killed in a U.S. drone strike. There has been two drone strikes against militants in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent weeks, which reportedly killed 31 militants, including Mansoor. The Pentagon has not commented on the development. Tallal Chaudhry, Pakistan's minister for interior affairs, confirmed Mansoor's death and treated it as a success against the TTP terror group. "This Taliban commander was involved in many deadly attacks in Pakistan. If we are able to carry on like this, it will definitely help us to win the war against terrorism," Chaudhry told VOA. "It will also help us to develop the much-needed trust between both Afghanistan and Pakistan," he added. Attacks on Afghan soil Pakistani officials allege that Mansoor, also known as Umar Naray and Khalifa Mansoor, was based in Afghanistan and carried out attacks on Pakistan from the Afghan soil. The 39-year-old Pakistani Taliban commander was a hard-line militant who was staunchly apposed to peace talks between TTP and the government. Shortly after the 2014 Army Public School attack, he defended the attack and vowed to carry out more. "If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape. We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents," Mansoor said in an online video posted in the aftermath of the attack. The Army Public School terror attack shook the country and was met with worldwide condemnation. Mansoor also claimed responsibility for carrying out a fatal attack on the University of Charsadda in the county's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2016 that left 20 people dead, including 18 students. The news of Umar Mansoor's death also surfaced in the media last year. It was reported at the time that Mansoor along with another militant leader, Qari Saifullah, were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province in of July 2016. Pakistan's Tehreek-i-Taliban didn't issue any statement on the news at the time. The militant group, however, confirmed the death of Mansoor. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan Builds Afghan Border Fence in Bid to Stem Terrorist Attacks By Ayaz Gul October 19, 2017 Pakistan's military is installing a robust fence along its largely porous 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan and establishing new forts as well as outposts on mountain peaks. Officials hope the fortification plan of hundreds of millions of dollars will effectively prevent militant infiltration and stabilize both sides of what has been traditionally an open border with numerous regular and irregular crossings. Afghanistan opposes the fence project. It has traditionally disputed the colonial-era demarcation drawn up by the British in 1893 and does not recognize it as an international boundary. Kabul maintains the fence plan would add to the problems of divided families and tribes, mainly ethnic Pashtuns, straddling the dividing line. Islamabad dismisses Afghan objections over the status of the boundary and insists it inherited the international frontier when Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. On Wednesday, the Pakistan army flew reporters to the tribal border regions of South Waziristan and adjoining North Waziristan, which together share a more than 300-kilometer border with Afghanistan. The two semi-autonomous tribal districts are part of the volatile Federal Administered Tribal Areas, known as FATA, and were until a few years ago notorious for harboring militants blamed for terrorist attacks on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistani commanders say security operations have neutralized the threat of militancy in almost all of FATA, prompting authorities to launch the construction of a pair of 12-feet high chicken wire fences topped with barbed wire. The fence is a "paradigm change" and an "epoch shift" in the border control management, said local army commander, Major-General Nauman Zakaria while briefing reporters at a newly built fort on in Angoor Adda, which overlooks Afghan district of Barmal. "I have a border of about 106 kilometers that this [South Waziristan] agency shares with Afghanistan," [which] is going to be completely fenced, and the border forts will be completed. There will not be an inch of international border [here] which shall not remain under our observation by December of 2018," said Zakaria. He noted while Pakistani troops occupy over 150 outposts in the area under his command, Afghan forces maintain only 21 posts on their side due to capacity issues and lack of sufficient forces. "We are sitting here to stay now, inshallah [God willing]. So, while we do this for our sakes, we complement our Afghan brothers and we complement their capacity issues, so that they are also very sure that there is no place left unguarded on the Pakistan and Afghanistan border," said the general. High-tech surveillance Modern surveillance systems, including drones, are also being deployed to ensure day-and-night monitoring of the border. The fencing plan, expected to be fully implemented within the next two years, will cost Pakistan an estimated cost of $532 million. Around 180 of the 750 forts the army plans to build along the border have been either completed or are under construction. Military officials say they have thus far fenced off more than 40 kilometers of what is considered as most critical and vulnerable to militant infiltration. Strict border controls have been introduced at the two main border crossings of Torkham and Chaman to document identities of daily crossers. Area military commanders admit the fencing plane will divide villagers around Chaman but say the government plans to relocate Pakistani families by offering them financial compensations. But despite Pakistan's border security measures, the country remains under scrutiny amid persistent Afghan and U.S. allegations that Islamabad is covertly helping the Taliban and its ally, the Haqqani terrorist network, to use safe havens on Pakistani soil for plotting attacks against the Afghan government. Pakistan rejects charges Afghan officials allege insurgent leaders are located on the other side of the border and are being protected by the Pakistani spy agency. Islamabad strongly rejects the charges and says sustained security operations have cleared all areas of militants on its side of the border. In turn, Pakistan alleges militants have taken refuge in ungoverned Afghan areas and plot cross-border deadly raids. Speaking in Angoor Adda, General Zakaria vowed that by the time the border management plan is completed "we will be very sure of one thing: that nobody can cross this place." He said the fence will address mutual concerns "once forever" and help Pakistan maintain a stable relationship with the neighbors he described as "Afghan brothers." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia urges US to destroy chemical weapons Iran Press TV Wed Oct 18, 2017 06:06PM After destroying the remainder of its chemical weapons in September, Russia is now calling on the United States and other countries in possession of such weapons to immediately "follow suit" and do away with their stockpiles. Speaking at a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Yermakov blasted the US for undermining the international treaties banning chemical weapons. "We call on all other countries still possessing chemical weapons to follow Russia's lead without delay," he said. "That concerns, first and foremost, the country that initiated the convention, which has always been the most active proponent of its ideas when it came to other countries and now, for some reason, it continues to be the largest possessor of chemical weapons." Russia and the US are both parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which originally required them to get rid of their stockpiles by 2007 with a potential extension until 2012, a deadline they missed. Yermakov hailed as "historic" Moscow's elimination of its stockpiles and called for the event to be enshrined in a relative UN resolution. "You know that we inherited the world's largest arsenal of this type of weapons of mass destruction, and we have coped with the task of eliminating it in a worthy manner, thereby once again reiterating Russia's commitment to strict observance of its obligations under international treaties," the diplomat said. Moscow signed the CWC in 1993 and ratified it four years later, declaring at the time that it had 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons. After Russia destroyed its last weapon on September 27, inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) officially confirmed that the country had fully eliminated its stockpiles. "We expect this to be properly reflected in the resolution of the current session of the UN General Assembly on the Chemical Weapons Convention," Yermakov said. US response Robert Wood, the US Permanent Representative to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, said the US was committed to destroying its chemical stocks by 2023. The official also noted that Washington had helped Moscow by allocating $1 billion to its chemical weapons elimination program. According to the US Arms Control Association (ACA), to date, the US has eliminated nearly 90 percent of its stockpiles of chemical warfare agents, or about 28,000 tonnes. In September, ACA head Daryl Kimball told Russia's TASS news agency that the 2023 deadline could be extended. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Testing New Silo-Based Ballistic Missile Sputnik News 00:19 18.10.2017 Russian Defense Ministry did not provide details on the missile, saying only that the new silo-based rocket is being tested using Yasny - Kura trajectory. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia's Strategic Missile Forces are testing a silo-based ballistic missile using launches from the Dombarovsky missile base in the Orenburg region to the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula, chief of the Kapustin Yar testing range, Maj. Gen. Oleg Kislov, told reporters. "The testing range is working on the development of a prospective silo-based missile system using the Yasny [launch site at Dombarovsky base] Kura trajectory," Kislov said. Kislov did not provide further details on the missile. However, Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Col. Gen. Sergey Karakayev said last December that Russia had been developing a new heavy-class intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed Sarmat, that was expected to be put into service in 2019-2020. It was previously reported that the Krasnoyarsk Machine-Building Plant is ready to start mass production of the super-heavy thermonuclear armed missiles. The Defense Ministry also announced that tests of a new missile for the Iskander tactical ballistic missile system have been completed at the Kapustin Yar testing range. "The completion of the testing of a new missile for the Iskander system is among the most significant events that happened recently," Kislov said. The general added that the Kapuistin Yar is currently working on 160 projects in the interests of all branches and arms of the Russian armed forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin: We will finally beat terrorists in Syria soon Iran Press TV Thu Oct 19, 2017 06:48PM Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorists will be defeated in Syria soon, stressing that the intra-Syrian peace process was developing in a positive way despite problems. "There are all grounds to believe, I would say, cautiously, that we will finally beat the terrorists there [in Syria] in the near future," Putin told the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting of foreign policy experts in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday. He, however, warned that the elimination of terrorists would not mean that the threat posed by them was over "for Syria, as well as for the region and for the world in general," underlining the need "to be on alert." The Russian president further warned that terrorism has "deep roots," ranging from unfairness of the modern world to the lack of systematic education. Putin said there is a proposal to create a congress of Syrian people, bringing together representatives of all ethnic groups in the Arab country. Syria has been grappling with foreign-backed militancy since 2011. Russia has been conducting air raids against Daesh and other terrorist groups inside Syria at the Damascus government's request since September 2015. US not abiding by nuclear, chemical arms treaties Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin accused Washington of not fulfilling its obligations under nuclear and chemical weapons treaties, saying the US was demonstrating a "selfishness" in that regard. "As is known, in 2002, the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and as the initiator of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons... it initiated the agreement but does not fulfill its obligations," he said. "The country remains the sole and most powerful possessor of that type [of weapons] of mass destruction. Moreover, the US moved the deadline for the destruction of its chemical weapons from 2007 to 2023. For a state proclaiming itself to be a champion in non-proliferation and arms control, it is inappropriate," he noted. North Korea crisis should be settled through dialog Additionally, the Russian president highlighted the necessity of resolving the North Korea crisis through dialog, stressing that the Asian country is "a sovereign state." "But it is absolutely necessary to resolve this problem through dialog and not drive North Korea into a corner, threatening it with the use of force, and not to fall into outright insolence," he said. Putin further said the situation surrounding North Korea was "dangerous" and doubted that a possible so-called US preventative strike on the Asian state would be successful. Tensions have been simmering in recent months between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea, under an array of sanctions, says it is developing arms as deterrence against US hostility. Unsettled by North Korean missile and military nuclear programs, the US has adopted a war-like posture against Pyongyang. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Pushes For Quick UN Vote On Syrian Gas-Attack Inspections, Defying Russia RFE/RL October 19, 2017 The United States is pushing for a quick vote by the United Nations Security Council on extending the authority of an inspection team charged with determining who is responsible for chemical-weapons attacks in Syria, putting itself at odds with Russia. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on October 18 that she was circulating a resolution that would extend by another year the work of the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), and she called for a vote on the extension before a scheduled October 26 report by the group on who is responsible for an April 4 sarin-gas attack on Khan Sheikhun that killed nearly 90 people. Haley said that "there's overwhelming support" on the council for her proposed extension of the JIM's inspection mandate, which expires in mid-November, but she expects Russia to object to any rushed vote. Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov, who heads the country's delegation to the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee, said last week that Russia wanted to wait to see the report on the Khan Sheikhun attack before deciding whether to extend the inspectors' mandate. "Russia has made it very clear that should the report blame Syria" for the attack, Moscow will vote against renewing the JIM's authority, Haley said. "We can't work like that. We need to look at the attack. We need to prove that it was actually a chemical, and then we need to look at who did it. We can't go and pick and choose who we want to be at fault, who we don't." The United States and its Western allies on the council have maintained that the April attack was launched by a Syrian government aircraft that took off from the Shayrat airfield in Syria. Based on intelligence that came to that conclusion, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered retaliatory missile strikes on the airfield shortly after the attack occurred. But Russia and its ally Syria blame Syrian rebel groups for the attack. Ulyanov last week accused the JIM team of failing to sample for sarin at the Shayrat airfield, a move he said was "scandalous" and likely would result in a "biased" report on the incident. Russia could decide to use its veto power on the Security Council to block renewal of JIM's authority, effectively shutting down dozens of investigations of deadly gas attacks in Syria. "It would be a shame if Russia chose to decide whether to have an investigative mechanism based on who is to blame in Khan Sheikhun," Haley said. A fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported on June 30 that sarin nerve gas was used in the Khan Sheikhun attack, but it is up to the JIM inspection team to determine who is responsible. The UN has said that its inspectors are looking at more than 60 alleged incidents of chemical-weapons use in Syria between December 2015 and the end of March 2016. "Given the multiple chemical attacks that we have seen in Syria, renewing the mandate for the Joint Investigative Mechanism...is critical," Haley said. "We need to ensure accountability for these attacks, which have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including children who were sleeping or trying to go to school," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on October 18 agreed that the JIM's investigative authority should be renewed, calling it a "very important tool" that he "fully supports." The JIM has already determined that Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine-gas attacks on three villages in 2014 and 2015. It also determined that Islamic State extremists used mustard gas in 2015. With reporting by AP and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-haley-pushes- quick-un-security-council-vote-syrian-gas-attack inspections-defying-russia/28803333.html Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan, U.S. sign MOU on defense affairs ROC Central News Agency 2017/10/18 19:06:36 Princeton, New Jersey, Oct. 18 (CNA) Taiwan Defense Industry Association head Han Pi-hsiangand U.S.-Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers (signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday to advance U.S. defense cooperation with Taiwan. The signing of the MOU will not only boost collaboration on defense affairs between Taiwan and the U.S., but will also create an integrated platform for the association members to extend exchanges on defense issues with the U.S., said Han. Under the MOU, which was signed a day after the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference that took place Oct. 15-17 in Princeton, New Jersey, the two sides will foster industrial cooperation, arrange mutual visits by specialists in various fields, and facilitate mutual understanding and learning, he added. Hammond-Chambers for his part revealed that a conference will be held in Taipei next spring to increase business opportunities in the defense and security industries in both Taiwan and the U.S. The annual conference, hosted by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council since 2002, serves as a crucial platform for U.S. and Taiwan to discuss national security needs, weapons procurement and defense cooperation. (By Rita Cheng and Isabel Wang) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan urges new model for cross-strait ties ROC Central News Agency 2017/10/18 17:37:35 Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Leaders on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should show wisdom, determination and patience to forge a new model for bilateral ties and lay a solid and long-lasting foundation for perpetual peace in the region, the Presidential Office urged Wednesday. "We are keeping a close tap on the development in cross-strait relations and all situations in the region," the Presidential Office said in a statement responding to remarks by Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier in the day. Speaking at the opening of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi stressed Beijing's intent to safeguard its "one China principle" and the "1992 consensus" in handling cross-Taiwan Strait ties. He also said China will deal appropriately with changes in Taiwan's situation and spare no effort to oppose Taiwan's independence movement while maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Xi's comments offered little that was new, and the Presidential Office's response essentially echoed remarks made on previous occasions by President Tsai Ing-wen (), including during her National Day address on Oct. 10. In terms of cross-strait ties, the Presidential Office stressed that "we are fully committed to building peace in the region and across the strait." The government has done its best to stabilize two-way relations, "extending maximum goodwill to the other side hoping to mend hostilities and differences step by step," it said, noting that "the international community should have seen efforts made by Taiwan in this regard." Maintaining cross-strait peace and stability and creating benefits for the people are common goals of the leaders on both sides, the Presidential Office reiterated. It also repeated a previous Tsai pledge: "We will not revert to the old path of confrontation, and we will not bow to pressure." The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the agency responsible for charting Taiwan's policy toward China, said in a statement that the Chinese Communist Party's advocacy of the "one China principle" and the "one country, two systems" formula will have trouble winning over the hearts of the Taiwanese people. It called on Beijing to think of a new model in its dealings with Taiwan. The MAC also expressed regret that Xi's talk demonstrated Beijing's longstanding stance of wanting to contain Taiwan, saying that long-term political disputes across the strait can be resolved, but man-made barriers and hostilities have led to confrontation and stalemate. The MAC urged Beijing to engage in implementing policies conducive to "democracy, peace, fairness and justice," and adopt new thinking to face a new relationship across the strait and become a genuine peacemaker and protector in the region. (By C.H. Liao and Flor Wang) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi stresses 'one China principle,' '1992 consensus' at CPC congress ROC Central News Agency 2017/10/18 11:27:34 Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Chinese President Xi Jinping () stressed Beijing's intent to safeguard its "one China principle" and the "1992 consensus" at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday. China has firmly opposed and prevented Taiwan independence over the past five years and also achieved a historical meeting between leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, said Xi, who is also CPC general secretary, in a speech opening the congress. Xi and former President Ma Ying-jeou () met for the first time in Singapore on Nov. 7, 2015, marking the first-ever meeting between the top leaders of Taiwan and China. China will appropriately deal with changes in Taiwan's situation and will spare no effort to oppose the Taiwan independence movement and maintain peace and stability across the strait, Xi reiterated. The 19th Party Congress is seen as the most significant political gathering in China since Xi came to power in 2012, and his remarks on cross-strait relations will serve as an important indicator of Beijing's policy toward Taiwan. The 1992 consensus, a tacit agreement reached between Beijing and Taiwan's Kuomintang administration in 1992, served as the political foundation for relations between Taipei and Beijing during the Ma administration from 2008 to 2016. The consensus is that there is only "one China," with each side of the strait free to interpret what "one China" means. President Tsai Ing-wen (), who took office in May 2016, and her Democratic Progressive Party argues that a consensus was never reached and generally rejects it because it implies that Taiwan is a part of China. Because of that stance and Tsai's pivot to Southeast Asia, Beijing has halted official contacts with Taipei since Tsai took office, and overall cross-strait relations have turned cold. Premier Lai Ching-te (), who assumed office in September 2017, may have added to the impasse when he described himself as a pragmatic supporter of Taiwan independence in his first report to the Legislative Yuan in late September. (Flor Wang) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China urged to accept Taiwan existence ROC Central News Agency 2017/10/19 20:56:41 Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Taiwan's top China affairs agency on Thursday called on Beijing to squarely face the fact of the Republic of China's (Taiwan) existence and to conduct dialogue with Taipei to settle their differences. China's policy and stance on Taiwan have not changed, judging from the remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping () at the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Minister and spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (). During the opening session, Xi again emphasized the "1992 consensus" as Beijing's basis for cross-strait talks and reiterated that China has the determination, confidence and ability to defeat any activities related to Taiwan independence. At the MAC's first press conference since the CPC congress opened, Chiu said Taiwan's cross-strait policy is clear and consistent. Specifically, the government respects the historical fact of the 1992 talks and some understandings reached during the talks, he said. However, the peaceful and stable development of cross-strait ties is a responsibility that must be shared by both sides, Chiu said. China should abandon its threats and hostility toward Taiwan and seek a new mode of cross-strait communication and interaction to settle the differences between the two sides and improve relations, he said. The 1992 consensus refers to an understanding reached between Taipei and Beijing in 1992 that there is only one China, with the two sides free to interpret what that means. Beijing has insisted that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen () explicitly recognize the 1992 consensus -- in effect that Taiwan is part of "one China" -- as the political foundation for any continuation of the relatively warm cross-strait relations that existed under her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou (). (By Miao Zong-han and Evelyn Kao) Enditem/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Diplomats Working to Ease US-Turkey Tensions By Dorian Jones October 18, 2017 A high-level U.S. delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jonathan Cohen met Wednesday with senior Turkish diplomats to resolve bilateral tensions. A diplomatic crisis erupted earlier this month with the arrest of local U.S. consulate employee Metin Topuz on terrorism charges, triggering tit for tat sanctions on the issuance of visas. "I believe this problem will be resolved soon," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Wednesday in a television interview. In an apparent gesture to ease talks before the U.S. delegation's visit to Istanbul, Turkish authorities released Topuz's wife and son from custody, although they still face charges. Resolving bilateral tensions could prove key to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement to challenge Turkey's neighbor Iran. "Assuming he [Trump] is committed to combating Iran's influence in the region, he needs a new wingman," said political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, referring to Turkey. Yesilada added that Trump's current new ally, the Syrian Kurds, "are too lightweight to [do] the job, so Turkey comes to mind." But he said Turkey is "Iran's new best friend and America's worst enemy. There is obviously [a] current visa ban and [the] arrest of consular employees as well." Washington's support of the Syrian Kurdish militia the YPG in its fight against the Islamic State has infuriated Ankara. The YPG was part of efforts to capture Raqqa, the jihadists self-declared capital in Syria. But Ankara accuses the YPG of being linked to the PKK that is fighting the Turkish State and is designated by Washington and the European Union as a terrorist organization. The Turkish government has accused the YPG of seeking to create an independent state on its border, which it fears could lead to similar demands from its own restive Kurdish population. Common ground Analysts say Turkey and Iran have found common ground over thwarting Kurdish independence and share lucrative trading interests. This month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went to Tehran to coordinate efforts against Iraqi Kurdish secession. "It seems there is a deal in place, although the Iranian foreign policy spokesman denied it, but news from the ground the Iranian Revolutionary Guard closed two of the three border gates with Iraqi Kurdistan and they also closed their airspace," notes former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who opened Turkey's consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan. But Ankara's long term strategic interests may well coincide with Washington's. While Turkey and Iran have a common position toward Kurdistan, Djamchid Assadi, an Iran expert at France's Burgundy Business School, said politically, there are regional tensions they cannot solve. He said "once they have solved the problem over Kurdistan, then problems which appear secondary will again come to the fore, like Syria." Until recently, Erdogan was equally vocal with Washington in expressing concern over what he called "Persian expansionism." Iran and Turkey are historically regional rivals. Ankara strongly supported rebels fighting the Tehran-backed Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. And until recently, Erdogan frequently accused Baghdad of pursuing a sectarian agenda against Iraqi Sunnis at Tehran's behest. Foreign policy shifts But observers say Turkish domestic politics is increasingly dictating its foreign policy. Erdogan is facing re-election by 2019 in what is expected to be a close vote. Cracking down on Kurdish independence aspirations plays well with Turkish nationalists, a key Erdogan voting constituency. Wednesday he renewed his attack on the Iraqi Kurdish leadership, accusing them of acting "hysterically" and warning they will be "held to account. "Monday, Turkish forces carried out a cross border raid against PKK bases in Iraq for the first time since 2008. Erdogan also warned Wednesday Syrian Kurdish forces could face attack. "When the time comes, one night we will come to you suddenly and will do what we have to.Have we done it in Idlib? We have. "Earlier this month, Turkish forces entered the Syrian Idlib region as part of a deal with Moscow and Tehran to create a de-escalation zone. Former Turkish diplomat Selcen suggests there will be no change in Turkish foreign policy toward the Kurds until presidential elections. But analysts warn the price of that policy could be high for both Ankara and Washington. "We [Turkey] could capitalize on Trump's desire to punish Iran to bargain a more pro-Turkey policy in Syria and to expand our sphere of influence in the Middle East geography," claimed analyst Yesilada. "What we risk is greater Iranian influence that will eventually exclude us [Turkey] from our hinterland." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address F-35 jet cleared for Carrier take-off, Defence Minister tells Select Committee 17 October 2017 The UK's cutting-edge F-35 fighter jet is now cleared for take-off from HMS Queen Elizabeth following successful trials using the ski-ramp design featured on the UK flagship. The UK's cutting-edge F-35 fighter jet is now cleared for take-off from HMS Queen Elizabeth following successful trials using the ski-ramp design featured on the UK flagship, Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin announced at the House of Commons Defence Select Committee this afternoon. Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin said: "Successful ski-ramp trials mean the F-35 is cleared to fly from the carrier as the momentum continues for this game-changing jet. This milestone comes as our pilots and planes prepare to return from the States, ready for next year's unforgettable flight trials from the deck of the nation's new flagship." The UK currently has 12 F-35 jets out in the United States where they are being tested ahead of flight trials from the Royal Navy's 65,000 tonne carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, next year. Two more aircraft are set to be delivered by the end of the year. During today's Select Committee session, the Defence Minister announced that the F-35 Integrated Test Force, which includes five British pilots, has now successfully completed ski ramp trials. That milestone clears the aircraft for take-off from the deck of the Carrier. Speaking about the jet, Squadron Leader Andy Edgell, part of that Integrated Test Force, said: "She's marvellous. She has an incredible amount of thrust but it's more than just brawn that makes her so fantastic to fly - it's the brains behind her as well." "She's a masterful piece of engineering and it makes her so effortless to fly. It's impossible not to be exhilarated every time. She's a beast when you want her to be and tame when you need her to be. She's beautiful." "The launch of the F35s from the HMS Queen Elizabeth is a once in a generation historical event. To be the first to fly off the carrier, to have a front row seat, would be an absolute privilege. It wouldn't just be about the pilot - there are hundreds of people who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this happen and the honour will be theirs too." There are already 150 UK personnel out in the US working with the state-of-the-art jets, and today it has also been revealed that the latest course of UK pilots have just finished their ground school training and are now ready to fly the F-35B at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. Amongst those to have graduated from that course are four pilots who started F-35 training straight from their advanced pilot training at RAF Valley, and Wing Commander John Butcher, who will be the Commanding Officer of the RAF's new 617 squadron. The new home of 617 squadron, RAF Marham, continues to build towards the arrival of the jets next year, moving a step closer earlier this month when the runway intersection resurfacing was completed. 617 Squadron will be the first operational British F-35 unit. And elsewhere, just last week, the first F-35 flight with the latest software was conducted on one of the UK's F-35Bs at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This software upgrade, technically known as Block 3F, represents the full warfighting capability the UK F-35s will have at Initial Operating Capability in December 2018. UK industry will provide approximately 15% of the value of each F-35 to be built, more than 3,000, worth some 1 billon and generating around 25,000 British jobs. The programme remains on time, within costs and offers the best capability for our Armed Forces. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Earlier this month, Samsung announced a new VR headset dubbed HMD Odyssey. The company confirmed the device, which is built for Microsoft's Mixed Reality AR experience, will be available in the US, but there was no word on its European availability. Now, that information is out, and sadly, it's not good news for Europeans. The company has confirmed that the headset won't officially launch in the region. The info comes courtesy of a Samsung spokesperson who didn't provide any details on why the company isn't bringing the device to Europe. Meanwhile, in the US, the headset will be on sale starting November 6, carrying a $499 price tag. Other markets that are currently confirmed to get the HMD Odyssey include China, Korea, Brazil, and Hong Kong. Via Haiti - Politics : President Moise Commemorates the 211 Years of the Death of Dessalines Tuesday, President Jovenel Moise accompanied by his wife Martine, Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant and members of the Government participated in Marchand Dessalines, to the commemoration of the 211 years of the death of Emperor Jacques I, Founder of the Fatherland. After a floral offering at the foot of the Monument of Emperor Dessalines at the Pont Rouge he attended to the Church of Saint Ignatius of Marchand Dessalines, at the Te Deum of commemoration, which took place under the sign of national consciousness and of the unity of all Haitians. In the presence of, among others, the Vice-President of the National Assembly, the Honorable Cholzer Chancy, the President of the Court of Cassation, Me Jules Cantave, members of the Government, parliamentarians and many citizens, the Head of State saluted the memory of this hero of independence who marked the history of Haiti, the Haitians and the slave nations. After the Te Deum, the Head of State went to the Place d'Armes of Marchand Dessalines, where he addressed an imposing crowd, inviting it to thank Emperor Jacques 1st for the Haitian nation which he founded and for allowing the peoples of the world to enjoy freedom today. "Li pa mouri. Li pa ka mouri. Le yon Neg leve kanpe, li di : moun pa machandiz, libete se byen tout moun, tout pep, tout ras, bal ka mete li ate, men bal pa ka tiye'l," launched the Head of State who is convinced that Jean Jacques Dessalines is among us, inside each and every one, and that thanks to him we can today unite freely and we can look in the eyes all the peoples of the earth and speak to them as equal. President Moses deplored the division in the country, which weakens citizens' impulses and paralyzes economic and social development. He believes that this situation is abnormal and that it is imperative to rehabilitate the institutions in order to drive out corruption, injustice, insecurity and strengthening Haiti's education, economy and development. Because , according to him, "Dessalines has already fought the victorious battle of universal history against colonization and slavery." "The time has come for the break. We must all, each and every one of us, as far as we are concerned, get out of Haiti's historical constraints and turn the page of periodic turbulence and chronic instability," insisted the Head of State who took the opportunity to recall some key elements of the action plan of his quinquennium... HL/ HaitiLibre U.S., state officials visit ESL programs here A student leader welcomes NCDPI ESL/Title III Consultant Xatli Stox (right), OELA Senior Education Program Specialist Dr. Samuel Lopez (center), and HCPS Migrant Education Program Coordinator Hunter Ogletree, to his classroom at Dana Elementary. Related Stories Education officials with the U.S. Department of Educations Office of English Language Acquisition, the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction met with parents of Henderson County public school students on Wednesday to gather input on a new Parent Tool Kit being designed for families of English Learners (students for whom English is not the native language). Henderson County Public Schools is among the first of many school districts nationwide to be invited to participate in providing parent collaboration and feedback for the national publication. The Parent Tool Kit, to be published by the OELA in multiple languages including Spanish, will be a companion piece to the OELAs Newcomer Tool Kit and English Learner Tool Kit. While the two existing OELA tool kits offer guidance to states and school districts in meeting the legal education obligations to English Learners required by the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice, the Parent Tool Kit will be primarily for non-native English speakers navigating the U.S. school system with their English Learner students. At a roundtable discussion with parents at Dana Elementary on Wednesday, Dr. Samuel Lopez, OELA Senior Education Program Specialist, said the Parent Tool Kit has a tentative framework with chapters based on feedback from parents in school districts nationwide. Existing tentative categories include a school systems identification of English Learners, services offered, school performance information, extracurricular activities, and tips to succeed in the U.S. school system. Some of what we learn from you will either be inserted here, or there will be some new categories, Lopez said. Were putting together what you think works. At the parent workshop, Lopez was joined by OELA Asst. Deputy Secretary & Director Jose Viana, NCELA Title III Director Dr. Jobi Lawrence, and NCDPI ESL/Title III Consultant Xatli Stox, in asking parents about their experiences with the U.S. school systems. The education officials asked what particular challenges parents faced as non-native English speakers, how schools currently communicate with them, what specific improvements could be made, and what cultural differences could be noted in the Parent Tool Kit that may assist other parents participation in their childrens education. We want to hear from you about your wishes for your childs education, Viana said. What information would be the most useful for you to have in order to facilitate your involvement in school and best support your childs academic success? What information do you want from your childs teacher, school principal? What information do you wish you had known prior to enrolling your child in school? Superintendent Bo Caldwell, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jan King, and ESL/Migrant Education Programs Director Simone Wertenberger thanked the federal and state education officials for inviting HCPS parents to take part in the collaboration process. Thank you for allowing Henderson County parents to have a voice, King said. During their visit to HCPS, the education officials toured and met students at the Innovative High School and Dana Elementary. Rachel Carson's expose shocked the world. And we're better for it Homewood Suites by Hilton, part of Hilton's (NYSE: HLT) All Suites portfolio, announced today its newest property, Homewood Suites by Hilton San Jose North. Designed for guests who want to travel on their own terms, Homewood Suites by Hilton San Jose offers guests all the comforts of home, whether they are traveling for work or enjoying a well-earned getaway. With 145 new suites, the hotel provides guests easy access to renowned locations within the city as well as other neighboring areas in the region, including San Francisco, Palo Alto and Silicon Valley. Developed, owned and managed by OTO Development, LLC, a Johnson Management company, Homewood Suites by Hilton San Jose North offers a combination of studio, one- and two-bedroom accommodations, featuring fully equipped kitchens and separate living and sleeping areas. Guests are also provided all the essentials needed for a smart, reliable and convenient stay including complimentary daily full-hot breakfast, evening social Monday-Thursday, Wi-Fi and a grocery shopping service*. Homewood Suites by Hilton San Jose North also makes it easy for travelers to unwind with an outdoor pool, fitness center, billiards and ping-pong tables. Other helpful amenities include 609 sq. ft. of meeting space, a 24-hour business center and laundry service. Located at 4315 N. First Street, Homewood Suites by Hilton San Jose North offers guests convenient access to Levi's Stadium and the Santa Clara Convention Center. It is also close to major companies, including Broadcom, Cisco, Samsung, PayPal, eBay, Tesla, Oracle and Apple, as well as San Jose International Airport (SJC) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Hotel website Travelers can now feast their eyes on eclectic and robust local art scenes in new communities across North America thanks to the latest additions to the growing portfolio of hotels from DoubleTree by Hilton, one of Hilton's (NYSE: HLT) 14 market-leading brands. DoubleTree by Hilton is bringing its globally recognized hotels - each featuring its signature welcome and warm DoubleTree Cookie - to two new destinations: Greeley, Colo. and Halifax, Nova Scotia. With each hotel touting easy access to regional art exhibits, galleries and museums, these communities offer the perfect getaway or reason to extend any business trip into the weekend. Hotel website Aimbridge Hospitality, the nations largest and most recognized independent hotel investment and management firm, named Harold Mirambell the new General Manager for the DoubleTree Evansville. Mirambell brings to his new role nearly 20 years of hotel operations experience. He joins the Doubletree Evansville from Eilan Hotel & Spa in San Antonio, TX, where he was the Director of Operations. In that role, Mirambell was responsible for managing all of the Four Diamond hotels internal operations, including an award-winning restaurant and a 10,000 square foot spa. Before that, Mirambell served as the Director of Operations at a number of hotels including Hiltons La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa, the Westin Fort Lauderdale, Sole on the Ocean Resort & Spa, Trump International Beach Resort and others. Mirambell is a graduate of the University of New Orleans, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration. His versatility in hotel experience ranges from serving as front desk manager to hospitality manager to restaurant manager. HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during September 2017, according to data from STR. In a year-over-year comparison with September 2016, the industry posted the following: Occupancy: +1.4% to 69.7% Average daily rate (ADR): +1.0% to US$128.52 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +2.4% to US$89.54 "The industry set September records for demand (more than 108 million roomnights sold) and occupancy, but the lowest ADR growth figure since June 2010 limited RevPAR growth to well below the September average," said Brad Garner, STR's senior VP of client relationships. "Trends in the data are difficult to identify because we had the Jewish holiday calendar shift pulling performance down, while at the same time, post-hurricane demand provided a lift. It will probably be November before the trends become more identifiable." Garner also noted that RevPAR has now increased year over year for 91 consecutive months in the U.S. Among the Top 25 Markets, Houston, Texas, reported the largest increase in each of the three key performance metrics: occupancy (+42.7% to 85.4%), ADR (+12.5% to US$114.39) and RevPAR (+60.5% to US$97.74). "Houston, as expected, saw a tremendous amount of demand amid the Hurricane Harvey recovery as hotels filled up with displaced residents, media members, relief workers and insurance adjustors," Garner said. Three additional Top 25 Markets reported double-digit increases in RevPAR: Orlando, Florida (+24.8% to US$84.96); Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida (+15.0% to US$74.42); and Nashville, Tennessee (+12.6% to US$120.43). RevPAR growth in Orlando was driven by the only other double-digit increases in occupancy (+12.5% to 76.3%) and ADR (+10.9% to US$111.35). Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, reported the steepest decline in RevPAR (-16.9% to US$90.84), due primarily to the only double-digit decrease in ADR (-10.9% to US$121.59). Occupancy in the market fell 6.7% to 74.7%. The market hosted the Ryder Cup late last September into early October, creating the difficult year-over-year comparison. Miami/Hialeah, Florida, experienced the only double-digit decrease in occupancy (-13.0% to 59.3%) and the second-largest decrease in RevPAR (-10.6% to US$85.61). New Orleans, Louisiana, reported the second-largest decrease in ADR (-5.8% to US$128.07) and the only other double-digit drop in RevPAR (-10.4% to US$83.39). "Miami and New Orleans were markets that saw results negatively affected from the devastating hurricanes," Garner said. "Overall, the major markets vastly underperformed all other markets in the country with significant supply growth playing an obvious role in the equation." About STR STR provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 15 countries with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an international headquarters in London, and an Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. STR was acquired in October 2019 by CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP), the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. For more information, please visit str.com and costargroup.com. Jeff Higley (STR) VP, Digital Media & Communications +1 (615) 824-8664 ext. 3318 STR ALPHARETTA, GA. and BETHESDA, MD. The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), a leading provider of cloud-based hospitality revenue management software solutions, and StayNTouch, an innovator in mobile technology and property management systems for hotels, today announced a partnership agreement whereby Rainmaker's guestrev solution is integrated with StayNTouch's Rover cloud-based property management system. The integration will help hotels increase bookings, optimize revenue and boost profitability. An early adopter of the integrated solution is Basecamp Boulder, a boutique property in Colorado managed by Filament Hospitality. "We are excited about the integration between Rover PMS and guestrev because it will enable us to easily leverage the data that exists in our PMS to improve the accuracy of our demand forecasts and pricing," said Ingrid Summerfield, president of Filament Hospitality. "Each of these solutions is powerful on its own; together, they provide an unbeatable combination that not only will ensure more profit-driven business decisions but also will give our property a competitive advantage." The guestrev solution, Rainmaker's flagship product, provides hoteliers with the tools they need to forecast demand at the finest level of granularity, model the impact of events and detect demand patterns often missed by human analysis, and strategically align sales and marketing efforts to increase bookings and maximize revenue. Built on Rainmaker's total guest valuation methodology, guestrev enables properties to better understand demand and set rates that optimize guest room and non-room revenue across various segments to maximize total guest value. The Rover PMS is StayNTouch's cloud-based property management system that streamlines operations from front desk to housekeeping. It is compatible with any device and offers simple monthly pricing that includes training, integrations and configuration. "We are pleased to partner with StayNTouch to bring our innovative revenue optimization solution to its customer base," said Tammy Farley, president of The Rainmaker Group. "This integration will allow Rover PMS users to leverage the power of guestrev to suggest the most appropriate room rates; and, as a result, increase profitability. This is an exciting partnership for hotel customers and for us, as we look forward to helping properties outperform their revenue and profit objectives." "In the highly competitive hospitality industry, accurate and timely information is critical to success," said Jos Schaap, chief executive officer at StayNTouch. "The integration between the Rover PMS and guestrev enables properties to forecast demand, set accurate pricing and improve year-over-year performance. We are committed to providing state-of-the-art technology to our customers and are thrilled to partner with Rainmaker to bring this groundbreaking solution to hotels around the world." About Rainmaker Rainmaker is the hotel revenue and profit optimization cloud. The company partners with hotels, resorts and casinos to help them outperform their revenue and profit objectives. Rainmaker's cloud-based solutions for transient and group pricing optimization, forecasting, and revenue-centric business intelligence are designed to help hoteliers streamline operations, enhance revenue optimization processes, improve lead performance, and drive guest bookings. Recognized as one of the top privately held companies in the United States, Rainmaker has been named to Inc. 5000's 'Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies' for the last seven years and to the Atlanta Business Chronicle's list of '100 Fastest Growing Companies in Atlanta'. Rainmaker serves hospitality customers throughout the world from its corporate headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. and from offices in Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and Singapore. To learn more about Rainmaker and its suite of hotel revenue and profit optimization solutions, visit www.LetItRain.com. About StayNTouch StayNTouch is a software-as-a-service hotel property management systems company focused on developing solutions that help hotels increase service levels, drive revenue, reduce costs and change the way they attract guests. Developed with mobility in mind, the company's pioneering platform enables properties to create lasting relationships with guests by delivering personalized service levels. StayNTouch operates on tablets and smartphones, empowering hotel employees to go above and beyond in exceeding guest expectations at every touch point. Powering more than 75,000 rooms globally, the company's game-changing solution frees hotels from the constraints of legacy and premise systems and dramatically streamlines operations, increases margins and revolutionizes the way front-line staff connect with guests. StayNTouch is a partner to many of the industry's leading hotels, resorts, casinos and chains. For more information, visit www.stayntouch.com. Media Contacts: Melissa Andrews, The Rainmaker Group, 407-342-7829, [email protected] Frewoini Golla, StayNTouch, 301-799-3280, [email protected] Dana Glaze Marketing Manager 470-440-2041 Many people think of customer service as a department. If you've been following me, you'll know my belief is that customer service is a philosophy, not a department. It should be embraced by every employee, regardless of their job and how long they've been there. With that said, the focus on this topic is on what many consider to be the customer service and support department the people who have contact and interaction with the customer. Direct interaction can come in many forms. It can be the traditional customer service team who fields questions and complaints. It can come through a customer simply calling, for any reason, to connect with someone inside the company. The customer may reach out to the company via social channels, a website, a text message really any interaction with the company. So here is the big question to ponder: Does your company just answer questions and manage complaints, or do they validate the customer's decision to do business with you? In other words, when the interaction with the customer is over, does the customer think, "I love doing business with this company"? Now, that makes common sense, but here is where some companies get it wrong. They focus on metrics or should I say, the wrong metrics. Metrics are important, as they can tell a big part of the story. If one of your key metrics is about getting the customer off the phone as quickly as possible, however, you could be shortsighted. The best customer support does several things. First, it answers the customer's question. Second, it gives an opportunity for the service provider to make suggestions, answer future questions the customer may have (but, doesn't know it yet), and more. This doesn't happen if you're trying to rush a customer off the call. Customers will call for help and support and even to complain. And, this is when the company gets to prove itself. Through an employee's knowledge, communication skills, patience, willingness to help, and ability to build rapport, he or she can ensure the customer is not only happy but has also made the right choice. In other words, validate the reason a customer chose to do business with the company in the first place. But, that can't happen if efficiency is how you measure success. Instead, the focus should be on the customer's level of delight and willingness to want to do business with you the next time they need whatever it is that you sell. Validation needs to be a part of the customer experience. It creates confidence, and that can lead to loyalty! Shep Hyken Shepard Presentations, LLC. The public dispute between Black Lives Matter groups and police has been going on for some time now, as various divisions of regional law enforcement in the United States battle against rampant allegations of racism and violence against minorities across the country. Today, a report from Mother Jones has revealed stunning new information concerning a BLM chapter in Rockland County, New York, who claim that police personnel had been spying on them for a year at minimum. As per Mother Jones, police in Clarkstown, New York set up a Strategic Intelligence Unit in 2013 that, in conjunction with the county District Attorneys office, was meant to gather intelligence on suspected criminals. However, the unit used social media to spy on members of the BLM group using geofence techniques after they were told to cease their surveillance activity. A police intelligence report from November of 2015 confirms that, twice in the same month, the technique was used to keep a close eye on the Twitter and Instagram activity of specific people that the unit purported to be working with Black Lives Matter. Clarkstown police supposedly used a monitoring platform and other investigatory tactics on multiple social media platforms to search, monitor and analyze real time social media content of their various surveillance targets. The special units actions are now being described as unlawful. Mother Jones also copped an email exchange between the former chief detective for the Rockland County DAs officeand the former head of Clarkstowns Strategic Intelligence Unit, where the ex-detective mentioned that the Unit really should not have Black Lives Matter listed as a target of surveillance. According to Susan Freiwald, a professor at the University of San Francisco Law School, police should not be tracking people without legitimate suspicion that they are involved in criminal wrongdoing. Social media doesnt necessarily help this cause though, providing a ton of publicly available information that is accessible to anyone, not just law enforcement groups. Thats not to say that tactics described are scrupulous or even legal, but the ease at which someone can grab the data and use it as they please. If any more details surface about the lawsuit, we will update you. Black Lives Matter Carmelo Anthony will make his Oklahoma City Thunder debut tonight as OKC hosts Melos former team, the New York Knicks. Tonights game will air on TNT at 8:00pm ET, and tip off cant come soon enough 33-year old forward. Ahead of tonights much anticipated matchup against the Knicks, Carmelo took to twitter with a simple message, You watch me walk through hell, now watch me walk up out it. According to Sportsline.com, the Thunder are 12.5 point favorite over the Knicks tonight, but after Melos tweet about walking out of the hell that is the Knicks franchise, dont be surprised if that number doubles, or triples. In a recent interview with Marc Stein, Carmelo spoke about his final season with the Knicks and how he had no support from the organization. Carmelo told Stein that Phil Jackson, who is no longer with the team, was willing to trade for a bag of chips. Needless to say, Carmelo is ready to bust the Knicks collective asses tonight. Via The New York Times Marc Stein, There was no support from the organization, he said. When you feel like youre on your own and then on top of that you feel like youre being pushed out His voice trailed off, but his implication was clear. Anthonys long-held determination to outlast Jackson in New York had eroded, and even after Jacksons departure from the Knicks in late June he no longer wanted to stick around. I think at that point it was too far gone, Anthony said. I already had in my mind that I wanted to win, that I wanted to move on. We didnt think it would take as long as it did, but my mind was already made up. The delay to find a workable trade, in Anthonys view, stemmed from the fact that Jackson was willing to trade me for a bag of chips, while Scott Perry, who became the Knicks new general manager after Jacksons departure, took a harder line in trade talks with Houston and Cleveland that eventually fizzled. They went from asking for peanuts to asking for steak, Anthony said with a laugh. Carmelo Back in a time that seems like ages ago, Tina Feys star vehicle series 30 Rock was all the rage over at NBC. Even after it ended its initial run in prime time, the show is still very popular in syndication, as well as with fans who enjoy revisiting their favorite moments via streaming outlets. However, in the series big move from Netflix over to Hulu at the beginning of the month, fans spotted a peculiar absence from an episode that aired in Season 3 Chris Browns name and a rendition from one of his songs has been cut from the original footage. According to The Hollywood Reporter, part of 30 Rocks history is now without Breezy, as his name has been stricken from the Episode 13 of Season 3, which is titled Goodbye, My Friend. The original cut has Tina Feys Liz Lemon finds herself in a 24-hour doughnut shop where she strikes up a conversation with Becca, a pregnant counter clerk who is played by Phoebe Strole. Becca complains to Lemon that the people shes met during the adoption process are out of touch because they dont even know who Chris Brown is. To prove to Becca that shes not one of those out-of-touch people, Lemon is supposed to sing a bit of Browns hit song With You. However, this is no longer the case. THR has confirmed that the Emmy-winning NBC comedy no longer mentions Brown now that it was moved to Hulu, with Lemons choice of artist being Ne-Yo instead. Apparently, the footage shows that the line has clearly been re-dubbed and the cuts moved around to accommodate this change. When the shot cuts back to Lemon, only the muffled singing part of her song rendition is shown and its not inherently clear what song shes meant to be singing. The odd part is that there seems to be no real reasoning behind the decision, with Hulu, Fey and Strole refusing to return requests for comment. NBC has stayed silent on the issue so far as well. Eagle-eyed users on Reddit picked up on the edit too, speculating that it could be a leftover residual effect from his assault incident with Rihanna. The infamous event that marred Browns reputation with the press took place in February of 2009, one month before the episode first aired. Chris Brown As of this writing, Drakes birthday is only days away. If youre a close friend or family member of his, gift shopping must be the worst at this stage of the rappers career. I mean, what do you get the man who, with a $90 million net worth (as reported in the spring of this year), has or could have seemingly anything hed ever want? The answer, if youre his pal and luxury design magnate Ferris Rafauli, is simple: diamonds. Lots of diamonds. On a statue. In a video clip that Drake shared as part of his Instagram story, you can see this bejeweled token of Rafaulis (platonic) love for the rap icon in all its splendor. Drenched from top to bottom in precious gemstones, the statue resembles a child, sitting in a Buddha-style pose, with a spiked mohawk hairstyle giving it an edgy, modern feel. Theres no telling how much such a creation wouldve cost to purchase and/or custom make for the hip-hop superstar, but as far as we can tell, no cost was too great for Rafauli. The two go way back as well, with the designer lending his creative mind to the plans and overseeing of Drakes recent mansion constructions in Los Angeles and, to a lesser degree, in Toronto, Canada. In other Drake-related news, the rumors about his latest dating ventures are heating up as he inches closer to celebrating his born day. According to the New York Post, the rapper is not dating actress Bria Vinaite, as the European-born beauty referred to their relationship as just friends. However, thats not what the rumor mill continues to think, with social media selfies and late-night post-dinner walks where they were spotted hand in hand painting a very different picture. Conversely, Drake has also been linked to Bella Hadid, who has been supposedly seeing the Canadian music star on the down-low for a minute now. No confirmations of relationships have been made public by the rapper himself, but when youre gearing up for what should be an incredible memorable birthday celebration, why limit yourself? Drake Kevin Hart may be fine and dandy and excited about his baby coming soon, but the woman who was exposed in his sex tape scandal isnt feeling so hot her self. In the trailer for Kevins upcoming Irresponsible tour, he takes a few jabs at himself for the Las Vegas video that surfaced of him and Montia Sabbag getting really close. Give me one example of me being irresponsible, Kevin says in the promo, to five other versions of himself. Boy, we talking about you in that car with that girl in Miami. Where the lead Kevin responds, I dont even know who she is! Another Kevin character pipes in with, What about Las Vegas, where the lead Kevin yells back, Fuck you man! According to Montias attorney, Lisa Bloom, this video is a clear slap in the face alluding to Kevin just making a cash grab out of the situation. TMZ reports that both Montia and Lisa think that Kevin using the scandal for his tour teaser is very distasteful. Montia is apparently the victim of slut-shaming, social media hacks and death threats since the video surfaced. This stuff takes a toll mentally and physically, and now with this tour its like this whole thing was a joke, Lisa says. Montia told her side of the story not too long ago saying she met Kevin on a private plane from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where the two were surrounded by mutual friends. I met him (Kevin) on the plane, I was with a friend and we had no idea he was gonna be there, she said. He was with his friends. I thought he was cute, hes an attractive man, but I wasnt star-struck or anything like that, it was super casual, he was a gentleman, a nice guy. Montia alleges she didnt know of his marital status, especially since he had been paying so much attention to her. She shared that the two had sex three times, and despite claims that Kevin was drunk, she said he was stone cold sober. If you really look at the tape it was during the day, it wasnt a night thing, he was sober, there was obviously a connection, Im not just someone he was with at night when he was intoxicated or something, it was more than that, she added. Watch the Irresponsible tour promo below. Kevin Hart Rihannas Puma Creeper has been released multiple times in numerous colorways and a handful of different materials including leather and suede, but theres still more in store for 2016s Shoe Of The Year. One of the newest Rihanna x Puma collabs features the familiar Creeper upper, with the addition of a chunky boot-like outsole beneath the already bulky Creeper midsole. The Cleated Creeper, which originally debuted in a sueded golden brown joint and an all-black colorway, returns to retailers today in two new colorways dubbed the Suede Pack. This time around, the Rihanna x Puma Cleated Creeper includes a more colorful vibe, with one pair sporting a yellow and pink motif while the other opts for an olive green suede accompanied by yellow Puma branding an inner lining. Just like Rihannas previous Puma Creeper collabs, we except these shoes to be released in a variety of different colorways even after todays Suede Pack release, especially if they are as well received as the OG Creepers. Check out some additional pics, as well as purchase links for the Rihanna x Puma Fenty Cleated Creeper Suede Pack, below. In addition to working with Rihanna, Puma has also partnered up with other artists and celebs this year including The Weeknd, Jay-Z and Kylie Jenner. Last week, The Weeknd officially launched his first Puma collab, the Puma Parallel, and the brand has also teamed with Jay-Z on a collaborative sneaker in honor of 4:44. Puma has also agreed to sponsor Jays 4:44 tour, furthering their ties within the hip-hop community. Rihanna x Puma RZAs been popping up much more frequently the past few months. Mind you, hes always working and has ventures past music that he frequently puts his focus to. In the past week, he, along with the rest of the Wu, delivered their compilation record The Saga Continues. Today, he hit up Funkmaster Flex to deliver an impeccable freestyle. Funkmaster Flexs radio shows become a place for up and comers to show and prove as well as a place for veterans to continuously prove that they still got game. Over the years, hes helped facilitate some of the most memorable freestyles in hip hop history. Bringing the legendary Wu-Member, RZA, through today is an example of the task that he puts on artists. RZA goes off for about 9 minutes straight, hitting some classic beats as well as some newer hits. He kicks off the freestyle by tackling A Boogie Wit Da Hoodies Drowning dropping gems and flexing his influential career. Funkmaster later throws on Jay-Zs Aint No Nigga, where RZA opens up the track with a reflection on Americas current climate, addressing racism, poverty, police brutality while simultaneously shedding a bit of hope. He also flexes the fact that the Once Upon A Time In Shaolin record was sold for 2 million at Art Basel. My portrait got flipped at Art Basel, he raps, The last Wu-Tang album, two million appraisal. Later on, the Wu-Tang member tackles Tunnel Vision by Kodak Black. He concludes the last bit of his freestyle while reminiscing about his early relationship with hip hop. He raps in the first portion, From the rugged land of Shaolin to 125th, he raps, These kids used to spin on their heads. Its a lengthy freestyle. However, RZA takes the moment to bring his off-kilter flow and address some of the bigger issues. Its also a little bit of a history lesson from the perspective of one of hip hops most revered figures. With the release of The Saga Continues as well as the release of his upcoming movie Loves Beats Rhymes, RZA continues to spread his legacy into the next generation of rap. Watch the clip below: 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 Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter 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 Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A few years ago, Google gave people the ability to freely explore objects in space but that experience was mostly locked up in Google Earth, the company's 3D-mapping software. This week, however, the company announced that far-out destinations can now be summoned directly in web browsers through a new feature of Google Maps called "Planets." Fortunately the name is a misnomer, since there are also moons, dwarf planets, and even the International Space Station to explore. There's no search box within "Planets," so it's difficult to, say, find the Apollo mission landing sites on Earth's moon. The maps also restrict the degree to which you can both rotate and zoom in on a world, especially at the poles. Regardless, it's fun to play with and bound to give you a new perspective on the solar system. Here are six new outer-space destinations in Google Maps we recommend checking out. International Space Station Google Maps starts you out inside the Cupola module, a multi-pane window that looks down on Earth. Make sure to spin around and click Node 3: the home of NASA's famous Waste and Hygiene Compartment (a toilet). Next to the toilet is the relatively new Water Recovery System The device collects astronaut urine, sweat, and breath, then recycles 93% of it into fresh drinking water. Farther down the module, you can also check the station's spacesuits, called external mobility units Earth's moon Striping is seen on many of the worlds in Google Maps because it layers the highest-resolution imagery available from NASA, ESA, and other sources over lower-resolution images. If you know where to look you can even track down moon landing sites, like this one of Apollo 15 Mars Peppered with volcanoes, deep canyons, and robotic probes, the red planet is easily the most fun to explore in Google Maps. Decades' worth of images and other data taken by satellites, including altitude information, allows you to get a feel for what it's like to travel through Martian canyons The canyons are the deepest in the solar system. And if Elon Musk and SpaceX have their way, we may someday be able to explore them for real. Enceladus This ice ball that orbits Saturn looks unassuming, but it is one of the most exciting destinations in the solar system right now. NASA has repeatedly photographed and flown through water jets shooting out of these "tiger stripe" features on Enceladus' south pole That warm, salty water indicates the moon has an ocean that might be habitable to alien life. Ceres This dwarf planet is the largest object in the Asteroid Belt (though you've probably never heard of it), and an exciting destination for NASA's Dawn mission. Ceres is littered with perplexing features, like these bright white spots in Occator Crater Researchers suspect they're salts left by melted ice. There's also a pyramid-shaped feature on the world. Pluto Until July 2015, no one knew what Pluto actually looked like. But the New Horizons mission changed all of that with a high-speed flyby and discovered the distant, icy world even has an ocean hiding below its surface. Google Maps doesn't have elevation data for Pluto's mountainous terrain, but the images are striking and fun to explore On the opposite side of the world is a big, fuzzy patch and an exciting new space mission waiting to happen. Read more: This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed How Uber became the world's most valuable startup These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. London, Oct 19 (IBNS): A new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, conducted by researchers from the University of Liverpool, Maastricht University and King's College London, shows that bilingual speakersa ability to speak a second language is improved after they have consumed a low dose of alcohol. It is well-established that alcohol impairs cognitive and motor functions. Executive functions, which include the ability to remember, pay attention, and inhibit inappropriate behaviours, are particularly sensitive to the acute effects of alcohol, read the University of Liverpool website. Given that executive functions are important when speaking a second (non-native) language, one might expect that alcohol would impair the ability to speak a second language. On the other hand, alcohol increases self-confidence and reduces social anxiety, both of which might be expected to improve language ability when interacting with another person. Furthermore, many bilingual speakers believe that it can improve their ability to speak a second language. The aim of this experimental study was to test these competing predictions for the first time. Language performance The researchers tested the effects of a low dose of alcohol on participants self-rated and observer-rated ability to converse in Dutch. Participants were 50 native German speakers who were studying at a Dutch University (Maastricht) and had recently learned to speak, read and write in Dutch. Participants were randomized to consume either a low dose of alcohol or a control beverage that contained no alcohol, before they chatted with an experimenter in Dutch for a few minutes. The exact dose of alcohol varied depending on participants body weight, but it was equivalent to just under a pint (460ml) of 5% beer, for a 70kg male. The chat was audio-recorded and participants foreign language skills were subsequently rated by two native Dutch speakers who did not know if the participant had consumed alcohol or not (observer-ratings). Participants also rated their own Dutch language skills during the conversation (self-ratings). The researchers found that participants who had consumed alcohol had significantly better observer-ratings for their Dutch language, specifically better pronunciation, compared to those who had not consumed alcohol. However, alcohol had no effect on self-ratings of Dutch language skills. Implications and Limitations Dr Inge Kersbergen, from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, who was involved in the study, said: Our study shows that acute alcohol consumption may have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language in people who recently learned that language. This provides some support for the lay belief (among bilingual speakers) that a low dose of alcohol can improve their ability to speak a second language Dr Fritz Renner who was one of the researchers who conducted the study at Maastricht University, said: It is important to point out that participants in this study consumed a low dose of alcohol. Higher levels of alcohol consumption might not have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language. Dr Jessica Werthmann who was one of the researchers who conducted the study at Maastricht University, said We need to be cautious about the implications of these results until we know more about what causes the observed results. One possible mechanism could be the anxiety-reducing effect of alcohol. But more research is needed to test this. The study was funded by Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Image: Creative Commons Washington, Oct 19 (IBNS): Powerful solar eruptions could electrically charge areas of the Martian moon Phobos to hundreds of volts, presenting a complex electrical environment that could possibly affect sensitive electronics carried by future robotic explorers, according to a new NASA study. The study also considered electrical charges that could develop as astronauts transit the surface on potential human missions to Phobos, read the NASA website. Phobos has been considered as a possible initial base for human exploration of Mars because its weak gravity makes it easier to land spacecraft, astronauts and supplies. The idea would be to have the astronauts control robots on the Martian surface from the moons of Mars, without the considerable time delay faced by Earth-based operators. We found that astronauts or rovers could accumulate significant electric charges when traversing the night side of Phobos the side facing Mars during the Martian day, said William Farrell of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. While we dont expect these charges to be large enough to injure an astronaut, they are potentially large enough to affect sensitive equipment, so we would need to design spacesuits and equipment that minimizes any charging hazard. Farrell is lead author of a paper on this research published online Oct. 3 in Advances in Space Research. Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. Although this study focused on Phobos, similar conditions are expected at Deimos, since both moons have no atmosphere and are directly exposed to the solar wind a stream of electrically conducting gas, called a plasma, thats constantly blowing off the surface of the Sun into space at around a million miles per hour. The solar wind is responsible for these charging effects. When the solar wind strikes the day side of Phobos, the plasma is absorbed by the surface. This creates a void on the night side of Phobos that the plasma flow is obstructed from directly entering. However, the composition of the wind made of two types of electrically charged particles, namely ions and electrons affects the flow. The electrons are over a thousand times lighter than the ions. The electrons act like fighter jets they are able to turn quickly around an obstacle -- and the ions are like big, heavy bombers they change direction slowly, said Farrell. This means the light electrons push in ahead of the heavy ions and the resulting electric field forces the ions into the plasma void behind Phobos, according to our models. The study shows that this plasma void behind Phobos may create a situation where astronauts and rovers build up significant electric charges. For example, if astronauts were to walk across the night-side surface, friction could transfer charge from the dust and rock on the surface to their spacesuits. This dust and rock is a very poor conductor of electricity, so the charge cant flow back easily into the surface -- and charge starts to build up on the spacesuits. On the day side, the electrically conducting solar wind and solar ultraviolet radiation can remove the excess charge on the suit. But, on the night side, the ion and electron densities in the trailing plasma void are so low they cannot compensate or dissipate the charge build-up. The teams calculations revealed that this static charge can reach ten thousand volts in some materials, like the Teflon suits used in the Apollo lunar missions. If the astronaut then touches something conductive, like a piece of equipment, this could release the charge, possibly similar to the discharge you get when you shuffle across a carpet and touch a metal door handle. The team modeled the flow of the solar wind around Phobos and calculated the buildup of charge on the night side, as well as in obstructed regions in shadow, like Stickney crater, the largest crater on Phobos. We found that excess charge builds up in these regions during all solar wind conditions, but the charging effect was especially severe in the wake of solar eruptions like coronal mass ejections, which are dense, fast gusts of solar wind, said Farrell. This study was a follow-up to earlier studies that revealed the charging effects of solar wind in shadowed craters on Earths Moon and near-Earth asteroids. Some conditions on Phobos are different than those in the earlier studies. For example, Phobos gets immersed in the plasma flowing behind Mars because it orbits Mars much closer than the Moon orbits Earth. The plasma flow behind Mars orbit was modeled as well. The research was funded by Goddards Dynamic Response of the Environment at Asteroids, the Moon, and moons of Mars (DREAM2) center, as well as the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), based and managed at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. SSERVI is a virtual institute that, together with international partnerships, brings science and exploration researchers together in a collaborative virtual setting. SSERVI is funded by the Science Mission Directorate and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Credits: ESA/NASA/SOHO Kolkata, Oct 19 (IBNS): Continuing the mood of festivity and enjoyment, Kolkata and people of West Bengal are celebrating Kali Puja on Thursday. Kali Puja or Shyama Puja is a Hindu festival predominantly celebrated by the Bengali community. Being a nocturnal event, it calls for special preparation Goddess Kali is the destroyer of evil as she is the female form of Lord Shiva and the more expressive form of Goddess Shakti. Kali, as the very name suggests, means black or dark, the colour of the Goddess herself. She embodies the extreme of everything. The Bengali community celebrates the festival in West Bengal. This year, it has coincided with the celebration of Diwali. Diwali on the other hand is the worshiping of Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Be it Kali Puja or Diwali, both are incomplete with the bursting of crackers and the distribution of sweets. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Heartiest greetings to all on the occasion of Kali Pujo and Deepavali." New York, Oct 19 (IBNS): Search engine Google on Thursday celebrated India-born US scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's 107th birth anniversary by decorating its homepage with a doodle. Chandrasekhar was an Indian astrophysicist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler "for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the best current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes. The Chandrasekhar limit is named after him. Google decorated its homepage with a wonderful doodle to mark the scientist's birth anniversary. Augmented reality refers to the enhanced user view of reality by superimposing a computer generated input such as sound, graphic or even video. Augmented reality is being widely used in the news and media business to enhance user experience of reality. In the world of education, a transformation is occurring, whereby with the help of image scans using mobile phones or tablets, students can view overlaid data relevant to that image. Augmented reality is a segment of edtech just like elearning and mlearning. It is changing the way education was imparted. Even though AR is greatly entrenched in the gaming sector, research shows that it is impacting the education sector by changing the way students interact with their environment and how they learn from it. Moreover, the customer value of AR enhanced products is 33% higher than that of the non-augmented products. One of the key aspects of augmented reality is the personalization that can be done because of the current advance technology. With the help of AR teachers can actually add videos, images or written text related to the subject matter to a trigger image; thereby enhancing the way the student looks at that information. For example, students learning about a certain function in excel, could scan an image related to it and actually see a step by step graphic depicting how to use that function. The applicability of AR is immense and it is not limited to any one grade. Students from junior classes onwards have a learning advantage. For example, students learning about solar system for the first time could scan an image of solar system and watch a video related to the solar system that has been overlaid on that image link. This will give them a more enhanced and possibly a 3D view of what the solar system is like and how the planets rotate and revolve at the same time. Even students who have a difficulty in otherwise understanding the complex topics of rotation and revolution will understand it better and faster. Augmented reality is a useful learning tool as it supports the user learning through prompting and helps in enhanced interpretation without controlling their takeaway. Currently, there are a number of apps available which can help educators create AR content for their students and help augment their learning experience by enhancing what they see and their perspective of the same. Also, these apps allow teachers to create highly customized content and thus, teachers can make use of it to create content pertaining to each different lesson. The engagement ability of augmented reality is incredible and hence, students respond to AR content much faster. It is easier for them to relate with what they are learning because they can see and find greater perspective. Simply reading and listening to the teacher becomes a drab activity for students. Now they can actually engage with the content. For example, for someone reading a particular topic, it is far more easy to develop perspective when one interacts with AR content. Moreover, teachers can create worksheets enabled with AR technology which students can work on and engage with even at home. This would make homework more engaging and students will have the opportunity to involve themselves with the technology as well as the content at their own pace at home. It is believed that this will inculcate a positive outlook towards education and technology among students. Currently, there are two kinds of AR devices used in classrooms: 1. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets which have GPS and position and motion sensors. 2. Relatively fixed devices such as computers and laptops which also have motion and position sensing capabilities. The future of AR technology in classrooms As of yet, the technology available is largely dependent on a screen and though, it provides a very enhanced realistic experience to students, critics say it could be better. It is believed that the technology can and must be improved to provide an even more realistic experience where without the use of a screen, students can actually use their hands to touch and feel the 3D object being studied. Already, huge strides are being made in that direction with the development of AR goggles which are being used in gaming and other tech related fields. With engineers engaged in research and development on an ongoing basis, it is only a matter of time before these goggles are available in the market. Even though currently such gear is extremely expensive and hence, not available for students, it can be hoped that the technology will soon be available for students at affordable prices. Teachers who have already been using AR technology feel the need of the technology to become widespread, so that there is a healthy exchange of ideas, 3D content and resources across geographical borders. What was seemingly fantasy until a few years ago is now available in the form of AR technology and is already being utilized in classrooms by certain teachers and students. The only barriers that have been felt regarding the technology is the ease of use and affordability as well as speed of recognition in devices. With constant research and development, it is hoped that these issues, especially the speed issue will be tackled effectively. The educational value that the AR products create in future will determine the success of AR technology in the field of education. Image: twitter.com/narendramodi New Delhi, Oct 19 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday greeted the nation on the occasion of Diwali. "Greetings to my countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Diwali," the Prime Minister's greetings in Hindi read. He further added, "May this auspicious festival brighten your lives with prosperity and good health and may there be happiness all around." Diwali, the festival of lights, is one of the biggest Hindu festival, predominantly celebrated by the said community mostly living in the northern part of India. According to epic Mahabharata, it celebrates the return of the Pandavas after 13 years of exile. The festival is closely associated with Goddess Lakshmi, the Vedic goddess of wealth. New Delhi, Oct 19 (IBNS): External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, on the occasion of Diwali, granted medical visas to all deserving cases from Pakistan that were pending on Thursday. Swaraj took to Twitter to say: "On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan." On the auspicious occasion of Deepawali, India will grant medical Visa in all deserving cases pending today. @IndiainPakistan Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 Minutes later, Amna Shamim tweeted urging Swaraj to grant her visa so that she could meet her ailing father in New Delhi. "@SushmaSwaraj mam pls grant us visa my dad is alreadyin delhi for his liver treatmnt i want tovisit him as anattendantndmy bro wil comeback" Shamim said on Twitter. @SushmaSwaraj mam pls grant us visa my dad is alreadyin delhi for his liver treatmnt i want tovisit him as anattendantndmy bro wil comeback Amna Shamim (@AmnaShamim4) October 18, 2017 Swaraj replied to say: "Pls contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this." Pls contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this. https://t.co/AYYENKtf7E Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 19, 2017 Earlier, the external affairs minister granted medical visas to several people. In late August, Swaraj took the step to grant medical visa after the mother of a Pakistani child named Rohaan sought assistance from the minister. Sushma Swaraj, on September 27, said her ministry will grant medical visa to a seven-year old Pakistani girl, Maha Shoaib, for open heart surgery in India. The external affairs minister's responses came at a time when the two countries are having bitter tastes in the bilateral relation over a range of issues. Months ago, Swaraj slammed Pakistan in the parliament for continuing support to terrorism. She attacked the neighbouring country for the Pathankot and Uri attacks in India which took place in 2016. Even in the last month, Swaraj made an unsparing attack on Pakistan while delivering a speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Raising the issue of terrorism at the UNGA, Swaraj criticised Pakistan for turning their country into a hub of terrorism. New Delhi, Oct 19 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Kedarnath, one of the holy Dhams of the Himalayas, on Friday, according to media reports. This will be his second visit to Kedarnath in the same season. PM Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for a new Kedarpuri as well as lay the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the 'samadhi sthal of Shankaracharya, according to media reports. Kedarnath was devastated by a flash flood and landslides in 2013. Usually, the four dhams of the Himalayas -- Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri -- close for the winter season soon after Diwali. This year Kedarnath is scheduled to close its doors on Oct 21. Prime Minister Modi reached the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, to celebrate Diwali festival with the Indian troops, media reports said. Image: AirNews/Twitter New Delhi, Oct 19 (IBNS): Following his customary Diwali ritual, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spent his time with Indian army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and said that doing so gives him energy. Sharing pics from his visit on social media, the Prime Minister tweeted, "Glad to have celebrated Diwali with our brave Army and BSF Jawans in the Gurez Valley, Jammu and Kashmir." The Prime Minister also exchanged sweets with the army men. "Spending time with our Forces gives me new energy. We exchanged sweets & interacted. Happy to know the Jawans practice Yoga regularly," an ensuing tweet read. Image: twitter.com/narendramodi Guwahati, Oct 19 (IBNS) : Security forces have arrested two rhino poachers along with AK-series rifle in northern Assamas Biswanath district on Thursday, officials said. According to the reports, following a tip-off, police and forest officials had launched operation at Lohere Chapori area in the northern Assam district and arrested two rhino poeachres, who were hided at the area to kill one horned rhino in Kaziranga National Park (KNP). The arrested poacher duo has been identified as Joseph Hangol and Digen Pegu. A top police official said that Joseph is hailing from Manipur. Security personnel had recovered an AK-56 rifle and several rounds of live ammunition in possession from them. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) New Delhi, Oct 17 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a video call on Thursday to the crew of Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, currently on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. The Prime Minister wished the crew of INSV Tarini a Happy Diwali, on behalf of the nation. He also wished them success in their mission,read a government statement. The Prime Minister had earlier met the crew of INSV Tarini on 16 August 2017 before they embarked on the 22,100 nautical mile circumnavigation journey. INSV Tarini is currently approaching their first stop in Fremantle, Australia and is expected to reach there on Oct 22 after covering 4770 nautical miles. The Prime Minister also conveyed birthday greetings in advance to two of the crew Lt. Cdr. Vartika Joshi, and Lt. Payal Gupta - whose birthdays are coming up shortly. Mumbai, Oct 19 (IBNS): Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has wished all his fans and followers on the occasion of Diwali. Khan shared a video on Twitter to wish his followers. Wishing on Diwali, Khan said: "Wishing you (people) a very very happy Diwali and lots of love, light and laughter." "Have a great night and year ahead" he added. Love, light and happiness to everyone this #Diwali... pic.twitter.com/euIGrcOSJu Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) October 19, 2017 Diwali, the festival of lights, is one of the biggest Hindu festivals, predominantly celebrated by the said community mostly living in the northern part of India. According to epic Mahabharata, it celebrates the return of the Pandavas after 13 years of exile. The festival is closely associated with Goddess Lakshmi, the Vedic goddess of wealth. McLean, Oct 19 (IBNS): The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced the election of Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, as the councilas next chairman. Nassetta joined Hilton in 2007, bringing with him an extensive background in real estate and hospitality. Since assuming the role of the CEO he has transformed the company, bringing Hilton hospitality to 27 new countries by adding 2,200 hotels to a network of more than 5,000 properties in 103 countries and territories. Before taking the company public in 2013, Chris instilled a guest- and employee-focused culture that is recognised today on multiple Great Place to Work lists. He joined Hilton from Host Hotels & Resorts where he was the CEO. Chris has been a member of WTTCs Executive Committee since 2011 and vice chairman for North America since 2014. Nassetta will take over from current chairman, Gerald Lawless, following the councils annual general meeting, which will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 17 April 2018. WTTC Chairmen are elected for a two-year term. Lawless, who has been the chairman of WTTC since April 2016, said: It has been an honour to serve as Chairman of WTTC for the past two years and I am delighted to be handing over to Chris Nassetta to steer the council into its next phase of development. I am sure that he and Gloria Guevara, WTTCs president & CEO, will form a strong team to advocate for the economic and social benefits of travel & tourism. Nassetta said: I would like to thank Gerald for his tireless advocacy on behalf of the global Travel & Tourism industry. I am also honoured to accept the role as WTTC chairman at a time of amazing opportunity and growth. I believe the council can play an important role to bring governments and the industry together to deliver smart plans that support both security and international travel. I also believe that the unique scale and reach of WTTC members can be used to tackle significant global issues, including climate change and global youth unemployment. A travel & tourism industry focused on these challenges can deliver great things for this generation and the next. Gloria Guevara, WTTC president & CEO, said: I would like to thank Gerald for his contribution during his chairmanship and congratulate Chris on his selection. Their guidance is instrumental to continue to position travel & tourism as the best partner for job creation. WTTCs latest data shows that travel & tourism accounts for 10% of the worlds GDP, contributing over $7.6 trillion. In 2016, travel & tourism supported a total of 292 million jobs around the world, 1 in 10 of all jobs. New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): The conflict in Yemen a now into its third year a continues to take a toll on millions of children, with their education now under threat, adding to an already long list of bitter hardships including malnutrition, displacement and violence, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned. As of July 2017, 1,600 schools have been partially or totally destroyed, and 170 have been used for military purposes or as shelter for displaced families, said Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement on Wednesday. The violence has forced one in ten schools across the country to close, and textbooks and other school materials are in severely short supply, he added, noting that the beginning of the school year has been postponed several times from its usual September start. Adding to the crisis is the fact that three-quarters of the teachers in Yemen have not been paid in nearly a year, compelling them to resort to extreme measures to survive. One such case is that of Hassan Ghaleb, a teacher for the past 20 years and the sole breadwinner for his family of four, who was evicted from his home with his children. He had to sell what was left of his furniture just to feed them and treat his sick sister. How can [they] teach if [they themselves are] in need? questioned UNICEF, noting that over 166,000 teachers across the war-torn country are in a similar situation. Lack of education and the protective environment provided by a school is not only robbing the children of some semblance of a normal childhood, it is also leaving them vulnerable to recruitment into fighting or early marriage. Ongoing humanitarian efforts are only a drop in the ocean of suffering that Yemen has become, underscored Cappelaere, urging the parties to the conflict to protect schools, refrain from using schools for military purposes and work together to find an urgent solution to the salary crisis so that children can learn. He also called on donors to step up their assistance and enable the payment of incentives to education personnel, health workers and other civil servants who deliver vital services for children. The children of Yemen have suffered in ways that no human being should have to bear. Education is their only way to secure a better future and to help put Yemen on the path to peace, he said. Photo: UNICEF/Mahmoud Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday urgently appealed to Iran to halt tomorrowas execution of Amirhossein Pourjafar, who was sentenced to death when he was 16 years old. The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the execution of this juvenile offender and annul the death sentence against him in compliance with their international obligations, said the experts in a statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). International standards unequivocally forbid imposing the death sentence on anyone under 19 years of age, they added. The experts said that despite being strictly prohibited by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is party, the country continued to execute juvenile offenders. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child strongly urged Iran to end the execution of people who committed a crime while under the age of 19. However, the country has executed at least four juvenile offenders since January, and at least 86 more are known to be on death row although the actual figure may be higher. Several months ago, Iran executed Alireza Tajiki, who was arrested in 2012 at age 15. Prior to his execution, he had spent four years on death row amid reports of torture and violations of his right to a fair trial. Pourjafar was sentenced to death in September 2016 after being convicted of raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl. The court said he had attained mental maturity at the time of the crime and had understood the nature and consequences of his actions. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in January 2017. We deplore the continued scheduling of the executions of juvenile offenders, the experts stressed. Iran should immediately and unconditionally abolish the sentencing of children to death, and engage in a comprehensive process of commutation of all death sentences issued against children, in line with juvenile justice standards. The experts are: Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Renate Winter, current Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work. UN Photo/Martine Perret Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): A senior United Nations political affairs official on Wednesday highlighted at the Security Council some positive developments on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, particulalry on intra-Palestinian reconciliation efforts. On Wednesdays briefing is taking place as important developments unfold to end the more than 10-year-long Palestinian divide and return Gaza to the full control of the legitimate Palestinian Authority, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca said, referring to the 12 October agreement between the Fatah and Hamas factions that enables the Palestinian government to resume its responsibilities in Gaza. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority should take control of the crossings of the Gaza Strip by 1 November. A statement released by Egypt, which facilitated the accord, further highlighted that the Palestinian Government should assume its full responsibilities in the management of the enclave by 1 December. Jenca said that the agreement does not contain any provisions related to elections, the formation of a national unity government, or the disarming of Hamas. On the humanitarian situation, he said that power supply restrictions have continued for the sixth consecutive month, leaving two million people in Gaza without electricity, except four to six hours per day. Gaza is also an unfolding environmental disaster that has no regard for borders, he said, as the equivalent of over 40 Olympic-size swimming pools of virtually raw sewage continues to flow daily into the Mediterranean Sea, leaving the whole shoreline contaminated. The quality of health care inside Gaza is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Access to medical care outside Gaza has also become increasingly difficult. As the Government returns to Gaza, it is critical that urgent measures are taken to reverse these trends, he stressed. He emphasized that despite the overall negative trajectory that has characterized the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for far too long, there are reasons for cautious optimism. This past month, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women united in a two-week march for peace that brought forward participants of all ages and backgrounds. The yearning for peace amongst both peoples remains strong. These grass-roots initiatives by civil society are critical to building the foundation for peace and must be supported, he said. Jenca also recalled that the July 2016 report of the Middle East Quartet comprising the UN, Russia, the United States and the European Union identified the lack of Palestinian unity as one of the main obstacles to achieving a two-state solution, which is to establish a viable, sovereign Palestinian state that lives in peace and security with Israel. The parties (Hamas and Fatah) have taken a crucial first step in this process, he said. Success carries with it an enormous opportunity, just as failure carries with it great risks. Palestinians need to decide which path they will take. UN Photo/Cia Pak Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): The Security Council on Wednesday expressed concern over recent reports of violence near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. According to media reports, the city was reportedly seized by Iraqi Government forces from Kurds. Council members called on all sides to refrain from the threat and use of force, and to engage in constructive dialogue as a pathway to de-escalation and a means to preserve Iraqi unity while upholding the provisions of the Iraqi constitution, said a press statement issued by the 15-member body. The Council reaffirmed its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of Iraq, as well as the importance of remaining focused on efforts to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh). The Council likewise voiced its full support for UN efforts to facilitate dialogue between Iraqi stakeholders. Photo: IOM Source: www.justearthnews.com Toronto, Oct 19 (IBNS): The front man of Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip-Gord Downie- has passed away, media reports said on Thursday. He was 53. "Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by," read a statement issued on the band's official Twitter handle. It further said: "AcGord knew this day was coming -- his response was to spend this precious time as he always had -- making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss ... on the lips." According to reports, Downie died after losing his battle with cancer. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau mourned the loss of Gord Downie. He said: "For almost five decades, Gord Downie uncovered and told the stories of Canada. He was the frontman of one of Canadas most iconic bands, a rock star, artist, and poet whose evocative lyrics came to define a country." "In the wake of his diagnosis, Gord only fought harder for what he believed in: social justice, environmentalism, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Before passing, he shined his light on the story of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack who died from hunger and exposure after trying to find his way home from a residential school. For his work raising awareness of Indigenous issues, he was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada in 2017," the PM said. Gord did not rest from working for the issues he cared about, and his commitment and passion will continue to motivate Canadians for years to come," he said. On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to Gords family, friends, bandmates and crew members, and his many, many fans. He will be sorely missed," he said. New York, Oct 19 (Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres is urging all sides involved in the fight for Raqqa, Syria, to protect civilians, abide with international law, and allow humanitarian access to those in need. In a statement from his Spokesperson, the Secretary-General also said the latest developments in Syria point once against to the urgent need to reinvigorate the political process. The Spokesperson said that Guterres had directed his Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to intensify efforts, in consultation with all concerned, to reconvene the next round of the intra-Syrian talks on the basis of the Geneva communique and relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2254 (2015). The next round is expected to be held at the end of this month or in early November, according to comments de Mistura made at the Security Council in September. The 10-15 July round of the UN-facilitated talks, ended with incremental progress but no breakthrough. Photo: UNICEF/Soulaiman (file) Source: www.justearthnews.com New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned a wave of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan that killed at least 70 people and injured more than 200. The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attacks that took place in Paktia, Ghazni and Kabul, said a press statement issued by the 15-member body on Tuesday. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks that reportedly targeted police and Government facilities across the country. The Council also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that all States need to combat such threats by all means. The Council also underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these acts to justice, urging all States to cooperate actively with the Government of Afghanistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard. The Council expressed its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Afghanistan and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured. Photo UNAMA/Fardin Waezi Source: www.justearthnews.com Islamabad, Oct 19 (IBNS) : A Pakistan court on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar in the Avenfield properties case, Geo News reported. The accountability court hearing corruption cases against the Sharif family indicted the three after dismissing their separate pleas to suspend proceedings and halt their indictment. All of them have denied charges against them. Nawaz also faces charges in two other references against him. Sharif, through a counsel, had submitted an application praying the accountability court to halt the proceedings of the references against him till the Supreme Court decides his petitions against the NAB references. Maryam Nawaz and Captain retired Safdar also filed an application before the accountability court Islamabad hearing NAB references against them, praying the court not to indict them. However, the judge dismissed both pleas after which Nawaz filed another plea requesting the court to combine the three references but that too was dismissed. The charges against the former PM state that the 2006 trust deed of the London properties is fake as it used the Calibri font before it was made publicly available. The hearing of the Avenfield properties case was then adjourned until October 26. Nangarhar, Oct 19 (IBNS): At least five militants have died in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province after the ISIS and Taliban faithfuls engaged in a gun battle, local Khaama Press reported. The incident took place in Khogyani district of the province. According to an official statement from the provincial government, two ISIS militants were killed while the Taliban lost three of its men, including a local leader. The slain Taliban leader has been identified as Ismail, who was better known as Fawad. At least nine militants were killed on Sunday in a similar clash. The clash took place amid Taliban leader Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada's call to reach a ceasefire agreement. Akhundzada stated that both the Taliban and ISIS have a similar agenda and is driven by the passion of Jihad. No group has commented so far. New York, Oct 19(Just Earth News): The United Nations migration agency and its partners are supporting Bangladesh in coordinating assistance for the influx of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, including with clean water and sanitation, shelter, food and psychosocial care for the most vulnerable. The world has rarely witnessed a refugee crisis of such speed, with more than half a million crossing into Bangladesh in just over a month, said William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), on Wednesday, as he completed a three-day visit to Bangladesh. The arc of misery that exists between Northern Rakhine state and Cox's Bazar is deeply upsetting too many people suffering desperately with too little support, he said, adding that just two days ago, some 1,500 more Rohingya refugees waded through a river as monsoon rains drenched the country. The Bangladesh Government has confirmed that it will move an estimated 15,000 people currently stranded in a so-called no man's land near the Anjuman Para border crossing point in Cox's Bazar's Ukhia District, into more appropriate settlement areas. Director General Swing began his visit with a day-long tour of the makeshift settlements in Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts, where an estimated 800,000 refugees are now living, to observe the scale of the crisis and the sheer enormity of needs. I saw women carrying small babies, only a few days old, sometimes born while their young mothers were fleeing deadly violence in torrential rains. I saw young children, who had lost not just their parents, but any remnants of hope, Swing stated. He called for global commitment to these women and children, who are among the most vulnerable in the world, to do everything possible to ensure that their suffering stops here. If adequate resources are not mobilized by the international community, we cannot make that commitment. Thousands will suffer without food, shelter, health care and protection, he emphasized. Based on the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State established by Myanmar's Office of the State Counsellor and the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Director General highlighted the critical importance of a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Humanitarian aid alone is not a solution. The root causes of this crisis are in Myanmar and there can be no lasting peace in Rakhine without inclusive development, he said, pointing to the recommendations as a roadmap to peaceful co-existence and welcoming the Myanmar Government's commitment to implementing the Commission's findings. The first step in that implementation process will be to urgently allow UN agencies to resume their work in Rakhine state, Swing said. Since late August, IOM has scaled up quickly, providing: shelter to 379,000 people; health consultations to 47,000 individuals; over 11,000 dignity kits; 678,000 litres of water; and 200 staff to assist the Health Ministry in vaccinating 679,000 people against cholera. IOM staffing has also been boosted with 443 staff and in-country volunteers. OCHA/Anthony Burke Source: www.justearthnews.com Washington, Oct 19 (IBNS): Joining the other world leaders on greeting Indians on the occasion of Diwali, Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, says she's looking forward to her visit to India sometime later this year. "Wishing Hindus, Sikhs & Jains around the world a joyful #Diwali. Saal Mubarak to all! Looking forward to my visit to India for #GES2017," Ivanka's tweet read. Ivanka is expected to lead the team of US delegates in November to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017. The summit, which will take place in Hyderabad, will be co-hosted by India and the US. In an earlier tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, "India and US will co-host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Hyderabad from 28-30 November 2017. @realDonaldTrump @IvankaTrump." "The Summit is a unique opportunity for bringing together entrepreneurs and start ups with global leaders. #GES2017," an ensuing tweet read. Modi had also invited Ivanka to come to India and take part in the programme. "Look forward to Ms. Ivanka Trumps presence at #GES 2017 Hyderabad as the leader of the US delegation. @realDonaldTrump @IvankaTrump,' he had tweeted. Ivanka too had accepted the call and said, "Honored to lead the US delegation to #GES2017 in India & meet with Prime Minister Modi & passionate entrepreneurs from around the globe!" Later, her participation was confirmed by the US President himself, who said, "@IvankaTrump will lead the U.S. delegation to India this fall, supporting womens entrepreneurship globally. #GES2017 @narendramodi." Image: twitter.com/IvankaTrump There are some people who inspire with their achievements and then there are some who inspire with their struggles. This woman does it with both. Her struggles and achievements are something that will compel most of us to idolize her. Meet Maysoon Zayid, a stand-up comedian who didnt let cerebral palsy bog her down. Twitter For the uninitiated, Cerebral Palsy or CP, is a condition marked by impaired muscle coordination (spastic paralysis) and/or other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth. Maysoon Zayid suffers from CP which makes her shake all the time. However, she has managed to find humour in all the aspects of her life. Interestingly, she described her birth in the most creative way in this video. She said it was because of a drunk doctor that her mother had to be cut six different times during childbirth which resulted in her getting Cerebral Palsy. And it was her father who never differentiated her with her three elder sisters and made her do everything they did. She said he didnt believe in Cants. Screengrab Zayid, who is also the co-founder of the New York Arab Comedy Festival, has become a viral sensation on social media, thanks to her talk on TEDWomen, a three-day conference on the power of women in 2014. Even though it is almost three years old, the video again started circulating on the internet recently. While the clip is light-hearted and hilarious, the comedienne managed to talk about serious issues like CP, disability, discrimination, social media bullying etc in a fun way. Watch Maysoons hilarious take on her disability right here: We're not surprised how women completely ruled the roost at the 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Rima Das's Village Rockstars won the Golden Gateway award in the India Gold Category and Carla Simon's Summer 1993 won the honour in the International category. Twitter The seven-day event, which concluded on Wednesday night, screened over 220 films from 51 countries including features, documentaries and short films. Das is ecstatic as her movie has also won the Oxfam Best Film -- Gender Equality Award and the Young Critics Choice Award at the festival. Twitter/Rima Das The director-cinematographer-editor-producer said: "I am grateful to the MAMI jury and especially my children. Most of the people thought I was mad. But the children and my family believed in me. "When I started making movies, the movies were earlier selected in festival but my mother used to ask whether I will win. So this is to my mom." Simon, who was on her first visit to India, said it was an "incredible experience". Twitter Rina Soni, Director of Oxfam India, said: "Globally, women seldom get fair credit and recognition for their work. There's no shortage of talented female filmmakers out there, they just need a platform to shine. "The Award is to support and encourage filmmakers to make films that break gender norms or challenge the conventional portrayal of women and girls. "'Village Rockstars' deserves the award as it brings on screen the story of hope and aspirations of a young girl fighting inequality and disasters. We are delighted that another path-breaking film 'The Hungry' received a special mention in this category." Twitter Actors Radhika Apte and Sayani Gupta were the presenters for the ceremony, after which a closing night party saw attendance of names like Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Rajkumar Hirani, Kabir Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Rajkummar Rao, Ashutosh Gowariker, Konkona Sen Sharma and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Anupama Chopra, the festival director, said: "This has been a week long celebration of movies. I want to thank our enthusiastic audience and our generous partners for helping us make this edition of MAMI a roaring success." Instagram/Omerta Hansal Mehta's film Omerta, starring Rajkummar Rao, was the closing film of the festival. Rajkummar gave away the Audience Choice Award to the Hungarian drama "On Body and Soul" by Ildiko Enyedi. In the India Gold Section, the Jury gave a special mention to "Sexy Durga" by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and to "Up, Down and Sideways" by Anushka Meenakshi and Ishwar Srikumar. The Silver Gateway Award went to "Machines" by Rahul Jain. The gala ended with the announcement of the dates for the 20th Edition of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star -- October 25 to November 1. MAMI will resume its year round programme next week with the first screening in India of Disney's Thor: Ragnarok.